#cross posted from twitter for the tumblr archive

[createandconstruct]

I will NEVER be okay about izuku and toshinori's relationship. Like, THEY SAVED EACH OTHER. THEY LIVE FOR EACH OTHER.

THEY CANNOT BEAR TO LOSE EACH OTHER

A MAN WITH THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD ON HIS SHOULDERS. WEIGHED DOWN BY INJURY AND SELF-IMPOSED ISOLATION. WHO HAD RESOLVED TO WALK FORWARD, WHITTLING HIS BODY AWAY UNTIL HE REACHED A HORRIFIC AND LONELY DEATH. WHO FOUND A REASON TO AGAIN LIVE IN A QUIRKLESS, FRIENDLESS BOY

A BOY WHO ONLY HAD HIS MOTHER. WHO DESPERATELY NEEDED JUST ONE SINGLE PERSON TO BELIEVE IN HIM. WHO FOUND THAT PERSON IN THE HERO HE ADMIRED THE MOST. A HERO WHO SWORE ON HIS LIFE THAT HE'D RAISE IZUKU. THAT HE'D D I E FOR HIM. AND THEN, EVEN HARDER: THAT HE'D L I V E FOR HIM.

LIKE THAT'S TOSHINORI'S PRIDE AND JOY. THE REASON HE IS S T I L L HERE. BUT ALSO: VICE VERSA. WHEN IZUKU THINKS BACK ON OFA HE THINKS BACK TO THE UNCONDITIONAL BELIEF AND SUPPORT. THE "YOU CAN BE A HERO." THE ONE THING THAT LONELY 14 YO BOY NEEDED MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

All Might IS the father figure in Izuku's life. He IS, definitively, the most important adult in Izuku's life RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOY'S MOTHER. HE IS TO IZUKU WHAT NANA WAS TO HIM. Life flashing before his eyes, faced with death, Izuku cries out to the two of them. His PARENTS.

I can't sleep, I can't eat. I will think about these two forever. Beyond the end. All Might the hero who was shown how to be just a man by being a father. Izuku the fan, who discovered his worth through the support of his hero, who came to love & raise him as a father does a son

[eliotlime]

End of September Update

Just as a heads up, I'll be closing my commissions after the first week of October (06/10/2024) just so I can focus on other projects! If you'd like to order a bug from me or get any of my other regular commissions now's a good time to do so!

(Bugstyle | Regular Comms)

I made a really brief post on twitter about what I'm up to but since tumblr supports more text I'll just go into more depth on what projects I'm working on at the moment and general life updates!

I used to write blog posts on wordpress for school and it's just hilarious that I stopped doing that considering it feels like I was born to blog!

In general, I've been trying to crawl out of this very odd mood swing-y state I've been in for the past year. I've been semi-public about it but I graduated with a degree in animation same time last year and have sort of been recovering from the absolute burn out of that as well as watching the animation industry essentially collapse just as I left college.

I'm hoping to get into UI/UX design this coming October and try to piece what little control I have of my life back together. I don't really know what I'm doing to be honest and it feels like I'm just pawing in the dark with a lot of this stuff.

In lighter news I've been trying to get into something I've always wanted to for years which is comics! I'm not sure how much I can speak about it at the moment but I just got into an anthology which is very exciting.

I applied to shortbox last year but didn't get in :( but fingers crossed I'll get in next year! On a related note I've made a Cara profile which I'm using as a comics portfolio and archive.

--

Those of you who've been following me for years know that I've had a webcomic project called, Happenstance (which I've restarted endlessly for about 10 years at this point). While I don't really have a concrete update of that for you guys I will say that the story is more or less fixed and whatever version of it I have now is most likely the version I'll proceed with in the future.

I did try to get the ball rolling with this at the start of the year with a pilot comic but it made me so miserable to work on it I abandoned it and started making an unrelated zine instead haha

I do have plans on finishing this eventually and it'll be up on my itch.io and gumroad like everything else!

Speaking of the zine, I'd just like to thank everyone who purchased Cute Thing! I think for my first independent book project it did pretty well! It was incredibly embarrassing and nerve wrecking to promote it but I'm glad I did it.

I don't know why there's an 18+ warning on this considering this zine is pretty tame.

I guess it also helped that that stupid ass diary comic i made blew up at the same time so I got to shill my wares in relation to it. Even though I think it gave me some kind of psychological damage but every time i gain minor internet fame i shrink back into my shell anyway, this is just the first time i really felt so much.. vitriol from randos lol.

It's just hilarious it overlapped with whatever guilty gear obsession I had at the time as well. Thank you to everyone who stuck around and uh.. sorry! I walk wherever the wind takes me and it's frequently towards my own characters.

But! Speaking of Guilty Gear, I am working on an Abacelsus zine I briefly talked about on twitter a couple months back. The title is sort of pending at the moment and while I did say it might be free as a digital download, I'm probably going to charge a couple of dollars because of how much effort I'm putting into this.

On the plus side that means I'll probably be putting more effort into it! I'm aiming for 24 interior pages of stuff and hoping to release a digital version of it by Halloween 2024!

I'm trying to work on more prints and stickers for conventions as well and I never posted about my convention escapades here all too much but you can check out this instagram post for what I had up the last time I boothed!

That's kind of all for the stuff I'd like to get done within this year but other projects that I'd like to aim to get done by 2025 is a continuation of my Cute Thing zine that I'm aiming to collate by Valentines Day, hehe how romantic.

There's nothing terribly concrete for that at the moment but I do know I want it to have more pages than Cute Thing. It's called My Boy and yes it's named after another Car Seat Headrest song.

I've got a lot of irons in the fire and another iron is that I'm also planning a 4-panel comic series for my band characters that I've posted some pilots about before!

Pretty messy planning but most of my long form stuff looks like this.

A 4-panel comic series is just less intimidating than a fully coloured webcomic series (Happenstance) that I know will be finished decades later. I've also seen a lot of webcomic artists I've beloved just.. abandon their years long project and it's kind of scary to me that will definitely happen to me!!!

--

The long and short of it is that I've got a lot of projects and a majority of it is not making me any money. I'm extremely lucky to be surrounded by people that support my work but it gets hard to just do all of this by yourself with no guarantee that it'll go anywhere.

Patreon's a beast I've tried to tackle but it's kind of an ass of a website to use so I'll probably try to use ko-fi a bit more. I've kind of never really liked the subscription model and really do prefer to launch curated PDFs of my work every few months, but again I'm really just clawing at the dark and grasping at anything I can.

Let's wrap up this long post by mentioning that I might want to give streaming a shot! I used to stream a little when I was a teenager but I'd like to give it another go!

I don't think I'm going to have a dedicated persona or vtuber avatar but a small little png-tuber would be frankly hilarious. Maybe something casual to start of with, it gets pretty lonely spending everyday working on images alone.

--

Thank you for reading! It's an extremely long post to all but say that I'm scared but working on projects still! If you'd like to support me, here's my ko-fi page and while I'm working on getting more stuff on there here's my itchi.io & gumroad as well.

As I mentioned before I'm closing my commissions on the 6th of October to work on my Abacelsus zine so if you'd like to get a bug or any of my regular style commissions now's a good time to do so!

(Bugstyle | Regular Comms)

I'm hoping to make more update posts like these in the future and not psyche myself out every time because they're really good for me to collect my incredibly jumbled thoughts. Thanks again to everyone who's followed, supported or even just looked at my stuff it really means the world.

If you have any questions or just generally want to talk to me about my characters, my DMs and askbox is always open! Any professional enquires can be shot towards me email as well: eliotlime@gmail.com

XOXO, Stay weird!

-Eliot :)

[perfectlysanexd]

So, what have I been up to...? Since I was in Tumblr's spam-bot prison for more than 5 months, I thought I would create a little ICYMI post. (That's "In-Case-You-Missed-It" for the old folks like myself that have to look up all these new acronyms.) Basically, I'm gonna highlight/link to some of the posts I made this year, and you can check them out if you like. :) I didn't want to necessarily do a bunch of reblogs of my own content and clog up the system or something...

I finished posting up my 100's of edited screenshots from Advent Children Complete! You can view the archive of 53 different posts, separated by character, here. It also includes a fun side post about the Mysterious Case of Sephiroth's Missing Straps. :3

I confess, I haven't made too many wallpapers this year. But it's September now, and I have a thought rolling around in my head. We'll see. The archive of wallpapers is here.

Speaking of, so many cool wallpapers came out for Ever Crisis, and I've posted them all! Find them here, at the bottom of this archive post. I swear I'll eventually beat TFS season 1, but...they sure made it difficult for people who don't purchase their packs.

Did you know that Tumblr is feeding your posts(including reblogs) to theird party AI? Well, they are, and you can set it to be prevented in your settings. I talked about it here.

Rebirth coming out was the biggest thing this year, and I made my first manipulation for it back in March! You can see the post here, as well as a simple tutorial for it using GIMP(GNU Image Manipulation Program, free at gimp.org) here.

I also made a second manipulation for Rebirth! If you want to see the additional dialogue that goes with it, that's here.

When I played the demo for Rebirth, I noticed that they had changed Sephiroth's eyes, and it reminded me of something...

Did you know that in Advent Children, Sephiroth's gloves are not as tight as in Remake and you can see his wrists? 😏Check it out! What? Of course this is important!

I took a look at Sephiroth and all his forms over the years. Then I did the same for Cloud.

My AO3 sefikura work In Death was finished on April 26th, and came with a special manipulation. That was also the first story where I was accused of writing non-con, when it obviously wasn't, so that was fun. If you need to hydrate, you can go drink that tea in the comments of, I think, chapter 16 and after. Several people have asked about a sequel, and I do have eventual plans. Hang in there.

I made my first(of many) Rebirth memes, which also came with a blank template.

A peek under Sephiroth's jacket, courtesy of Rebirth. 😏Yes, this is important, obviously.

Another Rebirth meme, featuring Sephiroth being badass.

I put my design for Lucrecia's locket onto my edited EC Sephiroth artwork! This one actually got a lot of notes thanks to reblogging. 💕I also put the locket on Sephiroth's EC in-game model.

I wrote a long one-shot as a thank you for 400+ followers! It's based on my most popular sefikura manipulation of all time—a very indulgent work, and my first time writing for Rebirth. Thanks, guys!

Another meme, haha...oops, and another one. Damn, another one? AND a Sephiroth/Cloud arms-crossed companion meme set?

I did another Rebirth manipulation, this time of the famous sefikura hug scene. I added a second part to it here. AND a third part to it here! This set has quickly become one of my favorites. I also gave it some Japanese dialogue+translation here.

I did a little PSA because I've seen a lot of awfully suspicious digital paintings lately...

I made an account on Twitter/X, just in case they never fixed my blog, so if you're over there, follow me @ perfectlysane77 and say hi. :)

The FF7 crew have super hearing, confirmed??

Do you play Ever Crisis and want to join a sefikura guild? Check here. All skill levels are welcome, and you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to.

My first ever edited Rebirth video: "Fill your hollow heart...with me-ow."

And now I've been released from Tumblr spam-bot prison, so I'm sure you've seen even more silly memes from me. So what now? I hope to release the rewrite of Stranger Inside very soon, maybe by the end of the month if possible? The sequel will follow, for real this time. At that point, we'll be back to voting, so you guys will be able to choose what comes after that. I'm really focused on writing now, which is probably why I'm mostly making memes and silly things. Still, if it makes you laugh, I'm happy. 🥰

If you read this to the end, you're amazing.💕

[puzzledjay]

Another Palestine Masterpost

Here is another compiled list of ongoing Palestine links. Feel free to add more + attributions / sources if you can! Many additional resources and be found in Sulfurcosmos’s Help Palestine tumblr masterpost Donation / Advocacy

Aid for Children and Families via PCRF (direct donation page)

Emergency Food Donations via World Food Program

Donate to Doctors Without Boarders*

Donate to Anera (provides hygine kits and menstrual products)*

Donate to UNICEF (explaination page)* *Humanitarian Aid article / links sourced via NPR article, cross-referenced with article / links via CharityWatch, further supported by this Build Palestine article Charity verification sites: CharityWatch & CharityNavigator

Donate E-Sims, from Mirna El Helbawi on twitter Purchase tutorial for E-Sims Tumblr post E-Sim explainer by blackpearlblast

Trees for Life via Land of Canaan Foundation

Resources / Education / Art

Advocacy for Palestine booklet (downloadable), from wizard_bisan1 on insta

Boycott list and quick reference via BDS (may be outdated) Additional info via FOA To check involvement of complicit companies, use WhoProfits and Investigate

Food Insecurity Map via IPC

History education via Decolonize Palestine

Free Palestine Posters from Artists Against Apartheid found via wikipediadogdotnet’s tumblr post

Tumblr masterpost of Palestinian books by virgomoon

Palestinian media tumblr post by randomthoughtswhileeatingdonuts

Support Palestinian Businesses via this tumblr masterpost from Sulfurcosmos

Petitions / Contacting Representatives

Action Network

Amnesty International

Move On

Teachers for Palestine

USCPR

Call US reps via 5calls (US Congress ceasefire tracker)

Tumblr Resource Posts

Help Palestine masterpost by Sulfurcosmos

Links to other masterposts & resources by maraschino-fairy

Dated archive of information (+links to ‘23 info) by mauesartetc

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.

[steviewashere]

This is my @steddiebang2024 that was initially posted on AO3, but I figured I'd cross-post it to here, too. Featuring beautiful artwork by @maikaartwork, which you can find here on Tumblr, or here on Twitter. And beta'd by the wonderful and ever-patient, @billystarpip. ———————————————————————————————————————— Rating: Explicit | Genres/Tropes: Drama & Romance, Angst & Hurt/Comfort, Slowburn, Future Fic, Canon Divergence | WC: 56, 917 | Chapters: 11/11 | Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings ———————————————————————————————————————— Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson & Wayne Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Past Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington & Original Child Character(s) Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Wayne Munson, Steve Harrington's Mother, Robin Buckley, Original Female Character(s), Original Child Character(s) Tags: Cancer Diagnosis in a Secondary Character, Mentions of Past Spouse Death, Implied/Referenced Past Alcohol Abuse/Addiction, Implied/Referenced Past Drug Addiction, Parent Steve Harrington, mailman!Steve Harrington, retired rockstar!Eddie Munson, Second Chances, Getting Back Together, Middle Aged Steddie, Tender Sex, POV Alternating, Eventual Happy Ending

You are at Chapter One! Read Below the Cut!

———————————————————————————————————————— The alarm rings into the silence of his room at 5am sharp, just as he set it to be. It’s sound blaring—a marimba being played up and down from bottom of the scale to the top. His hand juts from under his blanket, grabs loosely for the phone vibrating against the bedside table, and brings it up close to his face. Light flashes very briefly as he turns the sound off and checks the time. Sure enough, it’s 5am. September 27th, 2015 spells itself out in blurry text. He’s got a normal day ahead of him, but it’s still difficult to wake up this early after all this time.

He peels the blanket from him, welcomes the cold as it kisses his bare thighs and tickles the soles of his feet. When he first bought the home he now resides in, he figured that hardwood flooring was going to be terrible. While he did enjoy carpet in the first apartment he had and the bedroom he grew up in, Steve’s perfectly content with being pulled into waking existence through the cold in his floor. He twists left then right, back and hips popping. And he stands.

Showers. Brushes his teeth. Dries his hair and slicks it back with a light layer of pomade, it has to fit under his hat. He trims up his mustache, handlebar, white haired, and tight to his top lip. Sets his glasses—thick and plastic black frames, square and magnifying lenses—on the bridge of his nose. It’s always a startling experience, to see himself in the mirror now, his vision being blurry and dwindling as time pushes. But he looks almost the same. Maybe a new deep wrinkle on his face. Or a few strands of dirty blonde he didn’t notice he still had on the top of his head. Got all his moles, thankfully none of them are new or worrying. And then he just stands in his bathroom for a few minutes. Wondering how he’s forty-eight, but looks to be ten years older. He’s still got his muscle, toned nicely on his arms and legs. A soft layer to his belly, earned with time and the stress of a normal working life. Doesn’t have the dark circles and eye bags that he carried in his twenties. But he’s older—older than he thought he could be.

In those few minutes, he takes the time to work his clothes on slowly. Joints aren’t all that replaceable and he’s going to need all his limbs in good enough condition to do his work. Underwear. Khaki slacks, straight cut, regular fit. Long sleeve, white undershirt tucked neatly into the waistband. His watch—wrinkled brown leather strap from decades of use, slight crack on the glass from being dropped during some roughhousing, and gently rusted. Dainty, gold chain cross necklace gifted to him by his mother, hidden away in the collar of his undershirt. A grey henley overtop. He emerges from his ensuite, down the hall because his bedroom is the farthest in the house, past his home office and a guest bedroom and a half-bathroom, takes a left corner into the kitchen, and flicks on the warm amber light.

Breakfast isn’t anything crazy. Doesn’t require any fanfare. But he makes two warm bowls of plain oatmeal, sprinkled lightly with brown sugar, topped with a handful of blueberries from his garden. He sets them on the table, where it’s tucked against the far side of his living room (there wasn’t a dining room when he bought the house and he didn’t care to make one), and goes to the guest room.

“Mom?” he softly calls out into the room. She startles awake anyway, but relaxes back into her blanket when she notices who’s calling for her. “Sorry to wake you up so early, but I made breakfast.”

She started staying with him five years ago. The arrangement came out of necessity. His dad had passed, left the house to her, but it was too much to deal with alone. And he didn’t want to move back to his childhood home, so he offered his empty guest bedroom. Packed her up, moved her in within a month. And the rest’s history. At first, he thought he made a mistake. Worried that she’d be the way she was when he was younger, uptight and in his space, stressing about doing well in the world, doubting him when he failed. But it wasn’t that way, surprisingly. In fact, she was grateful and happier than she ever had been.

The decision to let her stay very quickly grew on him. They were almost inseparable now, considering he’d been living alone and she would’ve been alone otherwise. He makes her breakfast, she knits him new beanies and sweaters, they watch Jeopardy! together, and he helps her back to bed.

Her mornings always start out with Steve carefully pulling her up into a seated position. Hands in his, they’re small, wrinkled, soft. She goes to the half-bathroom, uses it as usual, and changes into a pair of stretchy denim-like pants and a soft cotton sweater that Steve grabs for her. He helps her put on socks, sheer and like tights that slide easily into loafers. Every morning, he takes the time to comb through her hair, pin straight and completely white, thinning and falling to her shoulders. Sometimes he catches himself drifting to the mirror, caught up in how similar their eyes are to one another. It’s odd, in those moments, how he feels like a little boy again. Helping his mom brush her hair. When she was younger, with fine wrinkles on her face like he has now, put together by makeup she no longer wears. But he goes back to getting the last bit of sleep tangles at the ends of her hair and helps her back out to the living room.

Once she’s settled in her dining chair, he sets out about the kitchen again. “Do you want coffee, tea, or juice with your oatmeal, Mom?” he loudly asks from where his head is shoved in the fridge.

“A cup of hot coffee would be great,” she chirps. “With a tablespoon of that vanilla creamer that you like? You seem really happy every time you have it, I want to know what all the fuss is about.”

He chuckles as he leaves the fridge with the creamer. It shuts gently behind him. The pot is turned on, burbling as it pours the hot water over the coffee grounds. “I think it’s the sugar,” he relays, “It’s funny, though. I don’t even like this crap. Had a friend who showed it to me, reminds me of him, I guess.” Which is true. One hundred percent. Eddie Munson, the guy he knew all too briefly, liked cruddy vanilla creamer in his cup of coffee. So much that it went from a hot mug to a near chilled thing. Of course Steve remembered it. And of course, since Eddie left town all too abruptly all those years ago, he clung on to whatever remnants of the guy he had. Even if it made his coffee drinking experience become the ugliest thing he endured everyday.

The coffee is poured in two mismatched mugs. His: World’s Best Dad. And hers: a white mug with painted bluebells on it. He sets them out on the dining table, fills up a glass with water and sets a straw into the liquid, and grabs his mom’s daily pill sorter. When he settles in front of her, she begins taking her medications one by one.

“Remind me to refill that tonight,” he says, gesturing at the pill sorter. “I’ve gotta swing by the pharmacy for a few refills; yours should hopefully be ready by then, too.”

She hums, swallowing her last pill, and asks, “Work today?”

“Yup, should be my last shift until Monday morning. We’ll have the weekend to ourselves. It’ll be completely quiet, too.”

Her left thumb runs over the lid for Friday morning on her sorter. Eyes looking down at her oatmeal thoughtfully. “You know,” she murmurs, “while I appreciate your company, I really wish that you’d find a few friends to spend your weekends with.”

“Mom”—

“No, Steven, listen to me. I’m a seventy-seven year old woman who likes to spend her days knitting and reading and napping. You’re still young.” He sighs as she leans across the table to gently pat the back of his right hand. “I know you don’t like the idea of going out and meeting new people, but I think you should give it a chance. You’ve been through a lot in your life, I understand that. And you like things quiet and peaceful, which I can understand, too. But I can tell you’ve been doing alright for a while. Don’t you think it’s time to…get a couple drinking buddies or maybe go to some car shows? Could even try dating again”—

“I’m not doing that,” he grumbles. “That ship has sailed so many years ago. I’m perfectly fine with what I have now.” She gives him an incredulous look. In response, he rolls his eyes. “Seriously, Mom. Everything’s just to my liking. Now…How are your hands doing this morning? They still shaking like they were last night?”

She relents, holding out her hands to show off the heavy tremor to them. He scoots his chair closer, dragging his bowl to the new spot he’s made, and grabs for her spoon. Willingly, she takes the offered bite he scoops up. And that’s how breakfast goes. He feeds her the oatmeal, wiping away any bits that get on her lips, and transfers her water straw to the mug of coffee. Sure, his food congeals, gets a little cold, but he does what he must do.

Before he can get up to take care of their bowls, she stops him with a shaking hand on his wrist. “Is there something you need, Mom?” He checks.

“No,” she sighs. “But I just—Look at me for a second.” So he does. Her tone is serious and sage. Her eyes are wrinkled and drooping, shiny with unshed tears, dark brown and enriching. “Baby, I worry about you,” she says, but squeezes his wrist before he can interrupt. “Really, I do. Steve, what are you going to do when I’m not here?”

“That’s nonsense, Mom,” he murmurs.

She raises an eyebrow. “Is it? I…I’m only here because your dad is gone. And I know—I know—that you two had a very rocky relationship. But I can’t just ignore that he’s not in our lives anymore. If something happens to me, you’ll just be in this house. Alone,” she explains. “There’s nobody here to keep you company. You don’t really have neighbors. And I know that you’re friendly with everybody around town, it’s basically part of your job, but they aren’t your friends. Honey, most of your work stories are about people my age. Doesn’t that…You aren’t concerned about that?”

He sighs and places his free hand on the back of hers. Looks down at the table, zeroed in on a spot of paint that’s been there for years, not coming up with any sort of cleaner. Knows exactly what it’s from. An art project from when his daughter was a little girl. He doesn’t want to admit it, that his mom is right. There’s no partner that he shares his bed with. His daughter’s room is now a guest room; she’s in college, out of state, far from home.

Doesn’t allow himself to think about her mother, his late wife. He’s been a widower for over a decade now. It does get lonely around the house. There’s nobody that he encounters in the kitchen, ready to wrap his arms around their waist. He doesn’t have a partner to hold close on the couch and watch rom-coms with. Or his wife, who loved completing puzzles and would quietly and happily sit and do them while he watched baseball games. Who used to lean over and kiss his forehead just because. He misses her. Misses all of that. The companionship in that relationship. 

And he does notice. The absence of his social life. Sometimes he does get bored of sorting out pills for his mom, watching rerun game shows, all that nonsense. Yes, he does talk with Robin and Nancy and Dustin over the phone still, they’ve been friends for forever. But they aren’t here in Hawkins. Not anymore.

His mom is company, though. He isn’t lonely if he’s with her.

“Being with you is enough for me, Mom. I’m not concerned because I have you,” he murmurs sadly.

She gives him a smile. A slightly upset one. Pats his cheek and runs her thumb under his eye. “I appreciate that, baby, but…” She sighs. “Never mind, okay? As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters, right? Put our dishes in the sink and I’ll wash them. You get the rest of yourself ready for work.”

He nods once, setting their dishes in the sink. Slips on his blue postman’s jacket, zips it up, and sets his postal hat firmly on his head. “I’ll be home probably around eight, Mom. Our shows should record for tonight, so don’t watch them without me!” He calls out to where she’s clambering around the kitchen.

“Steve?!” She shouts. He looks back. She’s leaned over the sink, dish gloves over her hands and up to her elbows. Smiles at him. “Remember that I love you and that today is going to be a good day.”

He smiles, teeth and all. “Love you, too, Mom. Be safe. Call me if you need anything.”

And then he’s off. The mail won’t deliver itself.

———————————————————————————————————— The phone call rattled his bones. Tumor, was said. More times than the amount of fingers on his hands. He’s never bought road trip materials fast enough. It’s weird, to think of and to act upon returning to a place that seemed to be a shadow in his past. But he supposes that he should’ve expected to come back at some point. Hawkins, Indiana—the odd spot on a paper map.

There’s a million reasons to not come back. Being hunted for sport being one of them. Chrissy Cunningham and Patrick McKinney’s deaths being their own reason. And his short time with Steve Harrington is a mess in itself. But as his car gently rolls by the ‘Welcome to Hawkins’ sign, the nerves seem to dissipate.

A few spots never recovered from the Vecna battle aftermath. There’s several restaurant fronts still bordered up and condemned. An entire grassy field with nothing but dead plants and broken glass bottles, probably a result from teenagers going where they shouldn’t be. Family Video is closed, a lack of interest. A small Walmart that replaces the RadioShack that once stood tall and mighty. Never thought he’d feel nostalgic for a place like Hawkins, but the missing floods back into his chest like a sudden rush of water.

There’s a lot of rebuilt homes. With plastic grass in the front yards. Fences that are plain cedar wood and tall. Faces he’s never seen. Some young, others as old as him—forty-nine or older. Children at playgrounds with Justice tops from the mall, bedazzled to all hell, pink plaid shorts, and blue Sketchers. Younger dudes with red beanies threatening to slip off the top of their heads, fake black glasses, cuffed skinny jeans and Timberland boots. Hipsters.

But he turns down familiar roads, non-replenished and cracked still. Spots the sign for Forest Hills Trailer Park and slows over the non-existent drive. The gravel clinking against the underside of the car, which he loathes. It’s a nice one, too—one of those BMW Sedans, all black with leather interior. Named her Carla after a suggestion from one of the Corroded Coffin boys (who were all drunk out of their minds, sans Eddie), but it stuck. And it cost a good chunk to purchase, but it’s gotten him safely over state borders, so he can’t complain that much. It still sits oddly in the trailer park, though. Next to Wayne’s old and well-loved pick-up truck—a baby blue Toyota. Tried and true. Hasn’t put anybody out, not yet at least. Still…Something crawls up his spine as he notices he’s the odd one out now.

He parks unceremoniously and takes a deep breath. Eyes trailing up to Wayne’s home. The mess of miscellaneous books. An empty ashtray, a little ceramic thing, painted bright orange; something Eddie made when he was in middle school. There’s the orange sofa, old and rusting on the legs, sun-bleached. A little dark blue rocker sitting in the corner of the porch, also sun-bleached, but the fabric is matted down. His hands come off of the steering wheel, grabs the keys roughly from the ignition, and hefts himself out of the driver’s seat.

Doesn’t even have to knock on the door before Wayne’s ushering him inside.

“Let me take a good look at you, boy,” his uncle’s brittle voice demands. Lets him put his weathered hands on his shoulders.

And Eddie does look drastically different from the last time he’d been home. A good decade ago, when he caught the time during a tour break. His hair is close cut to his scalp now, just above his ears, curly and dark brown with a few baby grays at his temples. Face creased with good wrinkles, crows feet and smile lines, a few creases under his eyes from how he’d squint on and off for years before getting contacts. Doesn’t have any facial hair, could never grow any that was good enough. Clean shaven with a five-o’clock shadow. His ears are pierced, but he’s stopped putting anything heavy in their holes, so for now there’s just a plain pair of black studs. Got more tattoos on his arms: bluebells and a nailed bat on the left bicep, robin’s nest just below on his forearm, a d-20 die at the soft give of his right wrist, and his Warlock to cover up the bats. Scars that he received are now silvery and pale. Body still lithe and lean, more muscle on his arms and legs from lifting around equipment over the years. Fundamentally, he’s changed on the outside. But inside, he’s still the same wild child boy that used to give Wayne a run for his money.

“Now, that’s the face of an award winning musician,” Wayne drawls.

Eddie chuckles. “It’s not the face that got the awards, Wayne. It’s the fingers. Didn’t earn these callouses on my fingertips for nothing,” he says, wiggling his fingers where Wayne can see them clearly.

He hums. “Think it’s that creative brain of yours, too,” Wayne surmises. “You wanna beer or somethin’, considerin’ the circumstances?”

“No,” he answers, “quit drinking about ten years ago. Wasn’t good to me anymore, remember?” Wayne’s face dawns surprise, a grand raise of his eyebrows, the squinting of his eyes, small purse to his lips. “Seriously, Wayne. Have a little faith in me, old man. I quit for good. I’ve got smokes, though, if you want one.”

“Ain’t allowed to. Not if I wanna keep myself healthy enough to shrink that tumor.”

Right, Eddie remembers, he’s gotta get on track to get surgery, you idiot. He nods slowly. Sucks on his bottom lip. “Then I’ll just have a pop, if you got it. Water if you don’t.”

As Wayne leaves towards the kitchenette, moving slow and careful like, Eddie looks around the living room, same as it’s always been. The mugs and hats on the wall. Old magazines and instruction booklets splayed out on the coffee table. He has the landline phone on the wall, above the small dining table. Garfield is still proudly displayed on one of the shelves by the front door. The only differences: TV replaced for one that’s slimmer and sleeker, a few throw blankets that appear brand new are placed over the back of the ugly floral patterned sofa, his clothes are put away in Eddie’s old bedroom, and it’s less cluttered on the kitchen counters. Otherwise, it’s remotely the same. Brown carpet, red curtains, four odd lamps, washing machine tucked by the fridge, old fold out bed from when Wayne slept in the living room. It’s still home.

Except, Eddie doesn’t live here anymore. Doesn’t have his clutter mingling with Wayne’s. Something twinges in his chest when he notices. But he ignores the sensation, sitting down on the sofa instead. Lets Wayne disappear to his reclining chair in the corner and sips on the can of Coke he’s given.

“So…What’s my rockstar nephew been up to?” Wayne asks into the silence.

Eddie shrugs. “I mean…Not much these days. Touring is over for me now. Corroded Coffin has put up our instruments for the last time. Now I just spend a lot of time at my house, writing songs when I feel the need to, watch shows and such, maybe give advice to new artists.”

Wayne scoffs. “You act like that’s nothin’ compared to what a lot of people are doing. You’ve got—what—three Grammys? Bunch’a your songs gone platinum. Just actin’ like your dream ain’t exciting.”

“It is,” Eddie mutters. “But…It’s sort of a lonely thing, you know? Can’t go out in public all that often, unless I want to be swarmed. Or people take pictures of me without permission. Makes me look bumfuck when I don’t know it’s coming,” he explains. Chuckling a little at the absurdity of it. “I’ve got my friends, but we don’t see each other a lot. Lots of ‘em drink or do other things and that’s not my scene anymore. So…I don’t know, it’s not as exciting as it used to be.”

When Wayne’s silent for too long, Eddie glances over. Finds that he’s being looked at, perceived like a bug under a microscope. “Could always come home,” he offers. “Or at least closer than damned Los Angeles.”

“Maybe,” Eddie murmurs. “Do you think—Is it safe for me to come back?”

“Lot of those bastard adults that chased you around are dead, Ed,” Wayne states bluntly. “The kids that used to bully you, they ain’t around. All the people who live in Hawkins, either they’re from that group of folks that you were with in ’86, or they’re new. In fact, the only one that I still see around here is the Harrington’s son and his mama.”

Eddie winces. “Didn’t think he’d still be here,” he grumbles.

“Don’t act like you’ve got the right to be ugly about him living here, Eddie. You’re the one that up and left all of us, mind you,” Wayne states rather agitated. “Besides, that kid…There’s an air about him that tells me he’d suffer somewhere else. Like a haunt to him.”

Instead of answering, Eddie takes a long pull from his can of Coke. Maybe he should’ve taken the beer if they’re going to sit here and talk about the ghosts of his past. If they were going to talk about the one guy that Eddie actually loved despite everything. Who made the perfect bowl of oatmeal, something that even Eddie can’t replicate after two decades. The guy that Eddie’s been pining and yearning over for all too long. The one he ran away from.

He stands abruptly with his empty can. Gestures loosely to the front door. “I’m gonna go have a smoke by my car. I’ll—We can talk about you know what when I get back inside. Can practically feel a headache coming on.” And he goes outside before Wayne can say something logical like: “That cigarette will do you in for a headache, boy. Stop running away from me.”

———————————————————————————————————— In a small town like Hawkins, there aren’t many mailmen to go around. Steve is one of them, on duty more often than not, but he’s just one of a handful. He spends the first couple hours in his early mornings training new post office employees. How to scan a package, where to put said package, making sales on stamps and envelopes, assigning P.O. boxes to those who need them. Those training mornings are some of his favorites. Where he’s respected for his career and not because of his age or his notoriety in town. The people who come to work are easy to get along with, smile at him, make small talk, and appreciate when he pulls out photos from his wallet—gesturing to a new one received from his daughter or an old small print from Robin in 2004. The mornings aren’t anything grandiose. But they do come to an end.

And then he’s on his own in his mail truck, Betty as he calls her. He’s able to use the radio, flip it to whatever FM station he wants, even try his hand at finding out how the aux works, but never takes advantage of that. Listens to the oldies—which are just the songs he listened to in his twenties—and drives through the scenery. Places packages full of staples on the counter at Melvald’s. Fills Claudia Henderson’s mailbox with too many cat themed magazines and personal coupons for the salon up her street. He drives up the off-beaten path to Hopper’s cabin and hands personal letters from El and Jonathan and Will—sometimes he’ll stay for a few minutes just to hear how Joyce is doing if she isn’t home. Makes his way to the Sinclair home and gets to hear about how Lucas is doing in Arizona with Max, or how Erica’s ripped apart another defendant. Visits the Buckley’s and gets to squeal about his Robin’s exciting translator career up in Seattle. He’ll meet new faces, compliment their gardens or simply place mail in their box if they aren’t home. When it’s a family with little kids that always scream that “Mailman Steve is here!” he’ll hand over stickers that he brought out from his own collection, ones that weren’t used up before his own little girl went to college. Pet the fur of dogs that are getting up there in years. Carefully tiptoe around easy to agitate cats, where they’ve fallen asleep on their owner’s porch.

He loves his job. Loves the community that comes with it. Even if the interactions are small. Even if the relationships he comes to create are majorly unimportant or too much of nothing to structure in his life. He still enjoys what he does. And is pleasantly surprised every single time he’s on route.

Today is no exception. He trains like usual in the morning before making all his normal stops. The last one on his route, though, is Wayne Munson’s home. He drives down the full length of Forest Hills Trailer Park, makes a small U-turn when he reaches the end, and parks near Wayne’s. There’s a figure standing outside, leaned against the bumper of a very nice car, smoking, but he doesn’t know who it is. Or if Wayne even knows this complete stranger is there. However, he chooses to ignore the stranger…for now.

Grabs the stack of mail that he needs, but realizes he also needs to grab a hefty package. He clambers into the back, hefts the last package in his truck, and gently grasps the rest of the mail, stacking it on the very top of the box. When he finally places his feet on the dirt and gravel path, he makes a steady effort to keep his head up, line of sight straight on. But then the stranger’s head whips up from where they’ve been looking down at their feet.

Steve is a very graceful person. Has been. Continues to be. Needs to in order to do his job. The sight of this stranger, though, nearly makes him drop the contents in his arms.

He’d recognize those damn soft brown eyes anywhere.

Stopping himself from going further, he stands roughly five feet away from the guy. Blinks. Blinks harder when said guy doesn’t stop staring at him. “Holy shit,” he breathes. “Eddie…is that you?”

Eddie—or who he believes to be Eddie, he can never trust his vision these days—raises a tentative hand. Wiggles his fingers in a gentle greeting. “Uh…Yeah, it’s me. Eddie. Eddie Munson. Who are—“ And then he stops talking altogether. Squinting. The cigarette dangling between his fingers drops to the ground. His right hand falls away from where he’d been smoking, drags itself over his face, pushes up into his very noticeably short hair, and he laughs incredulously. “Oh. My. God. Steve Harrington! As I breathe…You’ve—wow—You’re so different from what I remember. But holy shit, it’s you!” He exclaims, voice pitchy and scratchy.

Steve giggles. “Yeah, guess I have changed. Could say the same about you, Eds. Lots of things have happened, you know?” He shrugs, but his sore arms remind him greatly that he’s still working. “Shit, hold on. Let me put these on your uncle’s porch and then…We can talk for a little bit? I’ve gotta head back to the post office and clock out afterwards, but I can spare some time. Give me—Just give me a second.” Carefully, he carries the package closer to himself, but he moves faster up the porch steps. Sets down the stack in his hands on one of the cluttered shelves outside, and knocks. When Wayne answers, Steve smiles bright and big. “Hey, Mr. Munson,” he greets. “Brought some mail for you. There’s a package, it’s a little bit heavy. Could…I could bring it in if you need me to.”

Right back at him, Wayne smiles just as big. “Don’t worry about it today, boy. As long as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated, it can stay out here for a little bit,” he states softly, “Eddie’s back in town, he can get it. Maybe you guys can catch up for a little bit?”

There’s something in his belly that tightens and loosens wildly. A crisp edge to his posture, something in him heavier yet lighter at the same time. He’d run a hand through his hair if it wasn’t blocked by a hat. “Think I will,” he says quietly, “I’ve missed him, despite…Well, you know.” Instead of answering, Wayne nods once, smile softening, and gestures behind Steve.

He climbs back down the steps and stands closer to Eddie, but not quite in his space.

Eddie looks��fantastic. Clothes nearly all black: dark blue denim jeans with gentle rips in the knees, black quarter sleeve t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, white Reeboks that are fresher and newer, chains and rings per usual. Lean body, bright eyes, the same beautiful dark brown hair. He’s older, sure. But he’s still got the same air and poise to him that Steve came to know twenty-nine years ago. His arms covered in beautiful tattoos, a splash of color on a few of them. But when he zeroes in on the flowers on Eddie’s arm, the sleeve just above them gets tugged down. Trying to hide the tattoos rather unsuccessfully.

In front of Steve, Eddie visibly shifts from side to side. A nervous habit he’s always done. “So you’re still here,” Eddie gently starts. “Thought that…Well, I honestly thought you’d follow Robin or something.”

Steve’s eyes jump to Eddie’s face. Leans his hip into the bumper of what must be Eddie’s car. “I thought about it very briefly,” he admits. “But there were—“ Well, he was busy mending a broken heart. Then, he stayed behind for the girl he fell in love with. Stayed for his child. For his mother. Stayed because his job was actually good. He enjoyed how he lived. That’s a lot, though. “—There were things that kept me here. Like my job, I really enjoy what I do here. But uh…You’re back in town. How’d that happen?” A part of him wants to be bitter. Ask something insensitive like: “Why’d you come back? Why’d you only come back after us…Why couldn’t you be here during us?” But knows better of it. He’s in his forties now, he should have at least a sliver of etiquette.

Yet, Eddie swallows heavily. With enough force to take down his teeth. “I…That’s not a conversation I’m ready to have,” he answers honestly. “I’m back, but not for the greatest reason. Is it okay with you if we leave it at that right now?”

“‘Course,” Steve immediately responds. “We’ve all got things that we gotta keep close, right? I know that I certainly do,” he says nonchalantly. Chuckling a bit with it. But that makes Eddie frown. His eyebrows furrow. A tilt to his head. Concern, Steve recognizes. “Nothing awful,” he scrambles hastily to add. “Just…Something brought you back here and it must be unpleasant. I’ve got shit, too. That’s all I’m saying.”

Eddie flashes him a gentle smile, one that lightly squints the corners of his eyes. They dart over all of Steve’s appearance. His uniform and facial hair, the hat on his head. He makes a cut-off surprised noise in the back of his throat. “Never thought I’d see the day that you’d be willingly hiding your hair,” he comments. “Do you have to wear the hat all the time? I mean…Like while you’re working. Not when you’re at—You get my point.”

Steve snickers. He bites back the foolish grin that tickles to make itself known. Relaxes completely on Eddie’s bumper, though. “Not in the summer,” he answers. “I don’t mind it, though. It’s not the worst uniform I’ve ever had to wear.” His hand rises up to his hat, carefully lifts it off his head, and runs his other hand through his hair. It’s slightly crispy from the product he put in this morning, but it’s otherwise pretty clean. Maybe not the softest, but it’s nothing like what Eddie surely remembers. “Still like doing my hair. It’s just not something I show off all that often. There’s not a lot of reason to. Not when I’m alo—“ But he stops himself with the shaking of his head. Mouth clamping closed. He could lay out all his cards, be completely honest to Eddie right now. Yet. It’s one thing, though, admitting to your ex that you’re lonely and another to admit the same thing to your mom. He sighs. “—It’s not my crowning feature nowadays. That’s my mustache, I think,” he states, stroking the back of his right index finger over his facial hair.

That gets a small laugh out of Eddie, something breathy, done and gone. Steve will take that as a graceful first step. Then, tentatively, Eddie grasps his cheeks. Fingers digging into the soft flesh. He twists Steve’s head left then right. Gently dragging his eyes over his features. “Think I’d say they’re both crowning features, Stevie,” he murmurs. With how close he is to Steve’s face, his breath mingles between them. Minty, a little sugary, with the end of a cigarette. Something in Steve craves. Fluttering and shifting within him. Tampers it, though. It’s not the time. Probably won’t ever be.

Eddie continues, “But wow…You’ve aged pretty magnificently, dude.” Steve ignores the butterflies that raise their heads in his stomach. Even though he knows they’ve surely risen from some deep hibernation within him. Hasn’t felt anything like it in an insanely long time. But before he can say anything, something surely stupid and too strong, Eddie drops his hand away. “Anyway,” Eddie sighs. “You’re a…mailman now. Said you like it. Maybe you can tell me more?”

Quickly, Steve checks his watch, hoping their time isn’t up. 6:45PM, shit. He looks back up. Stares at the face of a guy he once knew pretty intimately and lets himself spark with curiosity. And with a twist to his stomach, the way it is before it growls. Hunger lurks with Eddie, he notices. He wants to take a nibble. 

“I have to drive back and clock out, but…You could follow me and we can grab some dinner?” He offers. Almost says something stupid like ‘Please.’

“Oh—uh.” Eddie shrugs. Steve wants to sour already, but he can be patient. Especially when Eddie looks over his shoulder to Wayne’s front door. Glances back at Steve very briefly. “I’ll check in with Wayne. Make sure he doesn’t need anything from me. Then, I’ll meet up with you? Where’d you wanna—“

“Benny’s Burgers is under new ownership. Apparently one of his sisters came back to town and bought it. Kept it mostly the same. We could—“

“Yeah!” Eddie agrees eagerly. He must be trying to reign himself in, judging by the way he softens and his cheeks flush in subtle embarrassment. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “That sounds great, Steve. I’ll be over there in fifteen-ish minutes?”

Steve nods. Smiling gently. Lets himself spark a little more, prodding the butterflies in his stomach. They raise to his chest and he wants to do something ridiculous like scream. Stand on the edge of the universe and shout about how his day is glowing brighter, something cheesy like that. But he looks away to his truck, back at Eddie’s gorgeous eyes, and nods one more time. “See you then, Eds. I’ll order a vanilla shake for you.” Ignores how Eddie’s face colors with surprise, probably wondering how Steve remembered after all these years. But he wouldn’t know how to explain himself, without baring his complete soul. He puts a hand on Eddie’s right bicep, squeezes softly, and turns back to his truck.

When he pulls away from Forest Hills, he keeps the radio off. The silence like a warm blanket on his shoulders. But his chest is bursting like fireworks, crackling and popping, searing him on all sides, colorful flashes of light working through his fingertips. He hasn’t been this excited since his kid was born. That should say something about him, he’s sure of it. Whatever it means, though, surely isn’t something to analyze. It’s good. Something gooey he’s willing to stick his fingers in.

———————————————————————————————————————— End of Chapter One! Read the Next Chapter Here —>

[obikinbb]

✨Authors✨

One day before your Final Check-In Begins!

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[theworldremixed]

Fic Masterpost

I figured it's about time I did this. I mean they're all on AO3, but I figured having a Tumblr masterpost might put things in perspective as regards how much I've actually written lmao. Here we go.

Disclaimer: I mean, my writing is pretty mediocre, but I honestly find that the fandom space had to be filled out somewhat, so I started writing fic.

EarthMix

This is the pairing I've begun writing fic for again, so I have the most fics for EM.

Now unlocked. I don't think Joong is looking around for fic anymore, and certainly not on Tumblr. There are tons of unlocked fic in the tag, too, so there 'ya go!

The Stars, Our Witness 'Verse

The universe that started it all, partly as a way to archive EM activity before I became a fan, and partly as a way to stave off my delulu.

The Stars, Our Witness

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: 16 (finished) Summary: They’re scared to cross boundaries. What happens when the lines blur? Tags: slow burn, friends to lovers, FWB, "canon rewrite" (in the sense of IRL being "canon" Warnings: divorce era. 'Nuff said.

2. supernova

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: One-shot Summary: the same versions of 🌏 and 🪐 as in TSOW, but basically D/s pwp. Tags: pre-negotiated D/s; still a whole lot of longing.

3. of longing and loudness

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: One-shot Summary: Oneshot set in the The Stars, Our Witness (TSOW) 'verse, and a reactionary fic post-LOL 2024. Tags: engaged!EarthMix

4. Beneath the Sunrise (in progress)

Rating: M (for now, but knowing me, this might go up) Chapters: 2 (so far, out of a slated 10) Summary: EarthMix get outed. They deal with the consequences. Tags: married!EarthMix, social media elements, bullying

General EarthMix fic

Mostly one-shots written as a reaction to a post, among other things.

laissez-faire

Rating: M Chapters: one-shot Summary: featuring Earth's obsession with mix's grey sofa Tags: engaged!EarthMix; domesticity

long distance

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: one-shot Summary: of short reunions and busy schedules (lol honestly this has zero plot. I just missed them when they were in Japan for Happy Weekend, so I wrote a fic) Tags: PWP, quickie.

so here's the situation

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: one-shot Summary: ~situationship~EarthMix (written after the Vivi interview had been released, and after they went on a museum simulation Van Gogh date literally the day after) Tags: situationship; we're dating but aren't together

househusbandry

Rating: G Chapters: one-shot Summary: Dreame gets EarthMix as endorsers for their vacuum. Why are they everyone's Favorite Married(TM) Couple? Tags: domesticity Note: This was written on my Notes app in like, 10 minutes, so the link is to my Twitter post to that fic.

in pari delicto (in progress; converting to prose)

OK so let me just write an author's note here. This is an unfinished Twitter social media AU because I would be writing about a topic I knew very, very well: law school. Now, I'm inclined to transform the fic to prose and transfer it to AO3 because I have no patience for the whole edit-edit concepts of socmed AUs and I honestly respect anyone who's done it. That said, I will likely continue this once I finish Beneath the Sunrise, or simultaneously as I write it.

PhuTian

Ah, ATOTS. Why do I love you so? Of course I'd write ATOTS fic.

re/live

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: one-shot Summary: In which Tian celebrates his fifth year with his new heart in the best way. Tags: tian's birthday as an excuse to write smut, sloppy blowjobs, insecurity issues

old wives and the tales they tell

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: one-shot Summary: Mayhaps Phupha has a kink. He refuses to validate the good Doctor Nam's speculation. Tags: domesticity kink, villager!tian, headcanon epilogue to ATOTS Note: Written in response to @earthmixsclowderofcats's Thai BL Kink Meme! Please show it some love and answer the prompts too please PLEASE!!

bad behavior

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: one-shot Summary: Tian watches as Phupha grabs something from the nightstand – a pen? – and uncaps it. He holds Tian’s chin with one hand, and Tian feels the wet drag of the pen against his cheeks. “Chief, what are you—” “There,” Phupha says, “Whiskers.”

betwixt bewitched entanglements (in progress. might possibly discontinue.)

Rating: E/NC17 Chapters: 19 (out of a planned 15 lmao, I swear this was supposed to end earlier. Summary: Magic meets royalty meets a society walled off from the rest of the world. Tags: Royalty AU, Magic AU, political intrigue, slow burn Notes: Look. I got carried away writing this, and to be honest, the concept's flown so far away from me and the worldbuilding had been so solid in my head and I even know how this fic will end, but honestly? It's not getting engagement. That's not the sole reason for writing fic - of course not - but I'm not quite sure if it's worth my time and effort writing this out.

JimWen

10/31: So I just wrote this today woohoo!

the ebb and the flow

Rating: E Chapters: one-shot Summary: The first time after their last time. (Wen learns how to swim. Jim learns how to trust. A one-shot on the wandering thoughts of Wen and Jim as they navigate being in a relationship: the fear of stagnation, for Wen; and the fear of betrayal, for Jim.) Tags: introspective; plotless; PWP; alternate ending

OngsaSun

The first half of 23.5 excited me so elfin much that I'd write little tiny Ongsa character-explorations in between episodes. Here are the two I'd actually published.

gravity

Rating: G Chapters: one-shot Summary: Ongsa muses on the meadows of her mind. Tags: anxious!Ongsa

nightfall/daybreak

Rating: G Chapters: one-shot Summary: Ongsa is no stranger to the dark—that is, until she gives in to the light. Tags: depressed!Ongsa TW: "dark" as a metaphor for depression

[seisubtanabatafest]

SeiSub Tanabata Fest 2024 Prompts and FAQ

Prompts and FAQ

Welcome to SeiSub Tanabata Fest 2024!

July 7-13, 2024

#SeiSubTanabataFest is a fest ship event organized for Sakurazuka Seishirou and Sumeragi Subaru. Pick whichever version of CLAMP works you feel like creating something for with SeiSub (Tokyo Babylon, X/1999, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, etc.).

It is in celebration of the coming Tanabata (July 7th in Japan). Each day features prompts relating to traditions or imagery commonly associated with Tanabata. It will run from 7 July to 13 July 2024.

It marks the halfway point (138 days) in between Seishirou’s birthday (November 22nd) and Subaru’s birthday (February 19th). This indicates their relationship as star-crossed lovers, which makes their relationship on Tanabata all the more intriguing.

Everyone is allowed to participate!

DATE DAY PROMPT

Jul 7 DAY 1 -

soulmates

red thread of fate

marriage

Jul 8 DAY 2 -

stars

constellations

deities

Jul 9 DAY 3 - FREE DAY (choose your own prompt)

Jul 10 DAY 4 -

longing

separation

reunion

Jul 11 DAY 5 -

wishes

bamboo

tanzaku

Jul 12 DAY 6 -

promises

Milky Way

punishment

Jul 13 DAY 7 -

kimono

paper cranes

lanterns

Click the jump for the FAQ. Feel free to ask questions!

FAQ

How do I participate?

Create something in line with the themes above and just tag #SeiSubTanabataFest! We also have a SeiSub Tanabata Fest Ao3 collection available for you to post to. Fic, art, podfics, webcomics, moodboards, etc.—it’s all welcome!

As we will be retweeting and reblogging posts for the weekly fest, please make sure to check our socials to support all the participants!

Twitter (@SeiSubTanabata)

Tumblr (@SeiSubTanabataFest)

The AO3 collection is here:

Can I use a work I’ve already started?

Yes, if it fits the theme of the day you are posting on and the work has not been published yet.

Do I have to include all the prompts listed for the day into my work?

That isn’t necessary. The prompts are merely suggestions.

Can I include other prompts not included in prompts for the day?

Of course! Again, the prompts are merely suggestions. As long as your work follows at least one prompt for the day, you can submit it.

Do I have to participate every day?

No, that is not necessary.

What if my work incorporates prompts from 2 different days?

You can choose to post it on any of the 2 days, e.g. if you write a fic of characters being soulmates and stars, you can choose to post it on either day 1 or day 2.

Can I submit a late entry?

If you’re posting while the event is running (between 7 July and 13 July 2023), we are fine with that. However, if you can’t make that day, we will accept late entries. Keep in mind you will be posting outside the original posting period, but you can post whenever you can post afterwards.

Are there any content restrictions?

No, we do not believe in restricting problematic fictional content. As long as it’s properly tagged, we accept content of all ratings and themes.

Are there minimum requirements for works?

No. Do whatever you want as long as you create a work for the event. It can be any length or amount of effort you want to put in.

What does "FREE DAY - choose your own prompt" mean on Day 3?

You can choose a prompt that is not on our prompt list to use. This day has the most flexibility for the idea you want to create.

[mecachrome]

for an incredibly new f1 follower, what would you recommend for getting up to date with teams and racers and performances and history? apart from dts lol

oh that is a good question!!! i don't think i'm even the best person to answer this but honestly i think it all comes naturally if you pick a specific thing/team/person you're interested in and set out to learn more about that topic, because everything is so connected and with time you can fill in those knowledge gaps pretty quickly :') more under the cut:

dts is imo perfectly acceptable for learning names and faces for the first time and basically creating a vague outline of a given subject (i've said it's like using duolingo for learning a new language lol), so if you watch it and are like oh—i'm interested in charles or mercedes or learning more about technical regulations or whatever, then you can just dive deeper into that via wiki / youtube / podcasts + published media + old race archives and build up from there!

otherwise i think the main thing is just to start watching the actual races when the season gets underway, and in order to properly appreciate them then also read up on + watch videos about the technical/strategy side of the sport as well. back in the day i used to really like chain bear and i still always recommend it to anyone who asks! after that i would just seek out like... a community/server/place where other people are discussing news real-time; this could be meeting people on tumblr and twitter, but personally i'm subscribed to r/formula1 because it's the most active composite source of f1 news and Discourse. if you're reddit-averse i also just keep a big list on twitter with a bunch of random data accounts, official driver/team accounts, journalists, etc. that helps me keep up with the season in a tidy fashion—though honestly f1 journalism is so unserious that you don't really need to do that because most journos regurgitate the same three quotes in slightly different formats, so if you want to follow One Guy who won't disseminate bs info i'd recommend chris medland. or just general sport publications like autosport, motosport.com, the athletic if you're already subscribed to it (pretty lacking for f1 though since it's american lol), etc... some sites like the-race are very contentious though so i'd say just tread with caution!!! on the data side i personally enjoy fdatanalysis and f1telemetrydata (i've also used f1-tempo to do my own telemetry analysis but idk if that's useful). but again i'd highly recommend the subreddit since it keeps everything i just mentioned in one place anyway 😭

other media recs:

f1tv, if it's available in your area, has pretty much everything you need to follow f1 in its entirety. i hate to shill for paid media but i genuinely think it's good; you can watch every f1, f2, f3 session real-time, as well as go to the archives and revisit old races for each series from most seasons. it also has technical shows and a whole host of minidocs with bite-sized info that are probably less sensationalized than dts. if you don't have f1tv though then a lot of decent content is cross-posted to the f1 youtube so honestly the official channels are all pretty good for keeping up with the sport.

podcasts: if you're an auditory person then podcasts are a great way to deepdive into f1 history. personally i believe that 80% of men running f1 podcasts should be legally barred from ever having an opinion on motorsport, so i don't listen to that many, but i do enjoy the official f1 podcast beyond the grid (i listen to it on spotify but you can also find full transcripts on the f1 site) since, you know, they get official personnel on and i appreciate the wide range of personalities interviewed—from drivers to tps to various types of engineers. i've also heard good things about shift+f1, the race, and engine braking, but i haven't checked them out so i'd recommend just looking podcasts up yourself and seeing what vibes with you! though some podcasts are just like... I'll eat this because you're interviewing my guy but i would never watch/listen to you otherwise. (cough pit stop...)

books & autobiographies: again if you want to dive more into old f1, then you can always read a book!! i read jenson's autobiography life to the limit earlier and was very endeared, it's a super breezy but charming read ❤️ adrian newey's memoir is also a decent overview of a clearly brilliant and accomplished mind, i enjoyed the technical details and found his early career path especially interesting.

docus, movies, tv: there's also plenty of f1 media outside of f1tv, so you can always check those out; f1 movies aren't necessarily that accurate or frankly good but sometimes it's fun just for the Vibes and the love of the sport. for ex rush (2013) covers james hunt & niki lauda's rivalry, netflix has a schumacher (2021) doc, the brawn gp miniseries ft. jense came out last november, just things like that... some current individual drivers also have their own random miniseries so you can always seek those out, for ex i watched maxv's anatomy of a champion the other day just for the fun of it LOL.

i don't know whether any of this is helpful... but maybe other people can reply with their own recommendations!!!

also if you're interested in f2, f3, etc. then honestly just follow feeder series on whatever platform since they cover everything pretty well; feeder_series on twitter, r/f1feederseries, plus they do interview podcasts on youtube/spotify so i like watching those to keep up with young drivers. you can also watch chasing the dream for succinct f2 narratives; it used to only be on f1tv but it gets uploaded on youtube now so it's fairly accessible. lmk if you have any other questions or something specific you'd like more info about!!!

[okanra]

That’s my comic announcement on Twitter (I refuse to call it X and no one can make me). The new chapter for the web series returns today, but it’s not like what we’re used to seeing with my comics in here. In here, I mostly archive stuff when they’re finished, but idk, maybe I wanna be active here too, this quiet place somehow has turned into my second (or third, if we count Patreon) home base.

From this point onwards, I think I’ll cross-post the comic on Twitter as well as on Tumblr. The system in here works differently but maybe it can be nice if you guys could experience the same feeling of “waiting for each updates” on Twitter too, that’s what I think tho, I’m not sure about what you guys think so:

I’ll leave this poll here for a day for you guys to decide ✌️

The soft-revised version will also be posted on Tapas but maybe like, tomorrow (August 4th) bc my schedule is packed today 💀 Will try my best to get back soon!

[fallloverfic]

ENNEAD tags and finding fanworks and community

If you're looking for fanworks and discussion for ENNEAD by Mojito, the boy's love manhwa about ancient Egyptian gods, here's a collection of things to try on different platforms:

ENNEAD (English) / Ennead (sometimes lowercasing part of it returns different things) / 엔네아드 (Korean) / 九柱神 (Chinese) / エネアド (Japanese) / Эннеада (Russian) / เอนเนด (Thai)

Horuseth (English), HorusxSeth, HorusSeth, HorusxSeth / 호루세트 (Korean) / ホルセト (Japanese) / 繋がらなくてもいいから俺のホルセトを見てくれ (Japanese) / ฮอรัสxเซธ (Thai)

Anuseth (English), Anubis/Seth, AnubisSeth, AnubisxSeth / 아누세트 (Korean) / アヌセト (Japanese) / 繋がらなくてもいいから俺のアヌセトを見てくれ (Japanese)

Osiseth (English), Osiris/Seth, OsirisSeth, OsirisxSeth / 오시세트 (Korean) / オシセト (Japanese) / 繋がらなくてもいいから俺のオシセトを見てくれ (Japanese)

FGSeth (English), FG/Seth, FGxSeth / 이국세트 (Korean = Exotic Set) / 髭セト (Japanese = mustache Set) / 繋がらなくてもいいから俺の髭セトを見てくれ (Japanese)

NephthysSeth (English), Nephthys/Seth, NephthysxSeth / ネフセト (Japanese)

The main ENNEAD tags (just the series name) are all the most populous for stuff, regardless of platform, particularly the English and Japanese. Horuseth is the next most populous.

As a caveat, exploring these tags and communities assumes you are either up to date with the latest episode in Korean or don't care about spoilers. Fans will sometimes spoiler block panels, meta, or fanworks for the latest episode, but usually nothing older than that, and communities are increasingly flooded with panels from the new episode on the day of the update as the community grows bigger. Your best bet if you don't want to be spoiled because you're reading a version that's behind the Korean (e.g., the English, which is usually multiple episodes behind) is to mute the number for the latest Korean episode while browsing. If you'd like to read the Korean, I made a carrd and a Tumblr post to help. If you'd like to share panel screengrabs/screencaps/captures from the comic on socials, please either stick to the previews shared by Witchcomics on their twitter, or 1-2 panels max, at Mojito's request.

In terms of socials, there are active fan communities basically everywhere!

At the moment, twitter is by far the most populous for anything ENNEAD, cross-language, including fanart, sharing fics in a number of languages (or at least links to them, if not also twitter fics), discussion, meta, and cosplay. Japanese fandom in particular is very active there and posts a lot about fandom events. If you'd like good twitters to follow:

RT ENNEAD is a good general trawler of all things ENNEAD. They do all ships and characters, as well as news, and usually update 2-3 times a day

Mojito is also on twitter and posts things sporadically

Witchcomics, one of the official Korean chapter posters, regularly promotes ENNEAD and raffles for merch. They also post previews for new episodes some hours before the episodes go up.

ENNEAD Japan is an official twitter run by b-boy, who manage the Japanese license for ENNEAD. They use the twitter to announce distribution (webcomic updates), publication (physical book updates), and merchandise.

Papyrus Studio/Studio Papyrus is a group of artists who create fanworks for ENNEAD, including phone calendars, and regularly run fandom events

HoruSeth365/365_with_HS, another fangoods collaboration

Following that, pixiv is a very populous site for fanworks, including fanfics (each tag will have its own fanfic hub, just go to the "novels" tab to see if anything is there). Pixiv is free to use, very accessible if you read English (or obviously Japanese since it's a Japanese art site) but easier to use if you have an account (though you don't have to pay for it, and you don't have to post anything). A lot of twitter artists have been mass dumping all their art on pixiv lately, or near-simultaneously publishing there, so if you hate twitter, pixiv is the place to go.

Archive Of Our Own has a fanfic archive for the community across many languages, with English and Mandarin Chinese dominating (followed by Spanish).

Instagram is the next most populous site for fanworks, mostly just fanart and cosplay, though it's pretty heavily censored, so people just mention their work is on twitter or somewhere else. Also be wary, IG is full of art reposters and folks sharing scanlations. They've also gotten rid of chronological search, so it's hard to browse anything but what came out years ago.

Tumblr also has a lovely archive of art if you want to browse.

If you'd like a Discord, many are locked or dead, but I have an adult Discord open if folks would like to join, where I try to do regular news and event updates on different platforms, as well as share links to fanworks and resources on different platforms, and there are lots of channels to talk about the story, the mythology, and fanworks.

(if the link is down, reply and/or DM me and I'll send you/post a new one!)

There is a growing but still somewhat small Blue Sky Social community.

There is also a very small pillowfort community.

There are some locked communities on Facebook, and some artists apparently do well there, though there is also a lot of art theft and scanlation there.

I would not recommend using sites like Pinterest, as it's almost entirely stolen and reposted art, without credit. A few artists actually post their art directly there, but by and large, it's the worst place for art theft. TikTok and YouTube are also full of art theft, scanlations, and vitriol.

However, there are a couple of YouTube accounts I'd recommend:

Mojito has a YouTube account, where Mojito rarely posts videos

Papyrus Studio/Studio Papyrus has made collaborative AMVs for the series

There is a subreddit, enneadmanhwa, which is very quiet.

There are fics on Wattpad, but most of them use stolen fanart, or include scanlations. There's a lot there if you want to check them out, just be wary, and please support actual artists, not reposters. There is also a collection of Thai fanfics on readawrite (but again be wary as a lot of them also use stolen fanart).

For information on characters, side comics, physical releases, locations, etc., the ENNEAD fanwiki on FANDOM exists, though it's still under heavy construction. I also have a tumblr post about side comics and extra art by Mojito.

I will update this post as I find more tags and sites.

[4th-make-quail]

Heyy

So I guess your blog is one of the blogs I can come to for this.

I loooove your rpfs that you post with Eric and Assad, but theres a part of me that feels kinda.... guilty? For reading rpf in the first place? And the cast is wonderful i just worry about what their reactions would be if they knew lol.

Idk. Maybe its just me!

🤷‍♀️

oh sure, you can always come to me for this tbh!!

so it's definitely not just you, this has been an rpf debate as old as time!! the way you gotta think of it is like... for the most part, we're seeing a public persona from the people involved. they present themselves a certain way on screen or in articles, interviews etc. and we as members of the public have no way of knowing what they're actually like in their home lives etc.

ofc there are people who do tinhatting to the extreme (think for example the spn rpfers who really were absolutely convinced that Jared and Jensen were together and there was a whole media coverup about it with their wives as beards and so on), but for the most part what we're engaging with is those specific public personas, you know? we're sort of spinning a "what if" story, and many people into rpf may prefer not to include the person's rl family, partners, friends because that tips it over that line in the sand, if that makes sense?

obviously that line is different for everyone, and that's up to you to decide where your comfort level starts and ends. like, we're all engaging in the shared fiction that the actors are gay or bi and seeing each other - some people take that a little further into personal traits or neurodiversity headcanons, which is where my own personal rpf line is crossed (like 'headcanoning' that the person is autistic or has adhd) and i don't engage with that sort of work.

but as for your final question about what they would think if they saw it, well, we just soldier on under the desperate hope that they will not see it!! this includes different methods for different people: some people archive lock their fic, some people don't tag with actor names on socmed, some don't even talk about the ship on socmed at all or prefer to be on anon when posting fic or online. again, that's up to your own personal comfort levels - for me, i'm not really bothered or expecting that the actors will see my work or my tumblr, ao3 etc. i mostly don't post them on twitter and if i did, i definitely would not use the hashtags or actor names because those can come up in searches very easily! (ofc my twitter dn atm is literally "hot girl old man rpf summer" but you know 😂)

i personally take comfort in the fact that Assad is fairly offline on socmed, and Eric seems to only post on insta! my only request would be that people don't share or mention my work on insta at all, or anyone else's tbh! that way lies panic and terror (believe me, i've had some scares in britcom rpf way back in 2010!! but Charlie Brooker was always a LOT more online savvy than either Eric or Assad, so)

so all that to say, don't feel guilty about it, anon! you're not physically reaching through the screen and forcing them to kiss, nor are you sending them people's fic or edits or deranged textposts. they'll never know!! and if they do, well we just lock our fics down, move to a discord server or something, or talk in dms only.

[tippenfunkaport]

Official Dreamworks Digital SPOP Releases

I put a bunch of these in other posts I've posted before or things I queued up to post later when i was archiving everything form the Twitter account but since we were talking about this I might as well collect them all in one post...

The She-Ra Page on the Dreamworks activity center links to many (some of the links are broken) of the official digital merch they made.

There are Zoom backgrounds, watch along bingo cards, recipies, and some printable paper craft things like the mini-figs from Roll With It, the She-Ra Sword, and the valentines (which also include a papercraft model of Bow's arrow).

The She-Ra virtual reality room which is kinda boring but props to them for trying, I guess.

For use with VR set ups, obvs, but you can view it in a browser as well.

Want something really random? Scholastic had a math handout they did as part of their newsletter for schools featuring Marcus Scribner as Bow. Brand synergy is a mysterious thing.

The text version is here if you prefer to read

Lastly, there was a handout on how to read First Ones language also done by Scholastic to cross promote the books...

There was also a paper hand out they had at the Scholastic booth at cons and I actually own that but I don't have time to find / scan it at the moment.

There was an official She-Ra Instagram filter (beloved of my children) which is alas no more but you can see their IG story about it here (assuming that link works?)

And, of course, there is the sticker app which is still available in an app store near you and I uploaded most of the stickers from it to Tumblr a while ago as well.

Lastly, a lot more of the printable crafts they did can be found on @dreamworksshera which is the official tumblr of the show. There's a pattern to make Bow's shirt, Spinnerella themed pinwheels, a Sea Hawk flag, Netossa net and Mermista smoothie that I remember off the top of my head. Unfortunately, whoever ran that account did not understand tagging at all so they are very hard to find but such is life!

cc-ing @n7punk and @clarenecessities just since this conversation is all over the place and confusing as hell

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Heyyy! I follow you on Twitter and I'm very new to Tumblr 💀 I'm so incredibly glad I found your page tho, I followed you instantly. If possible, could you share some of your fellow eruri Artists and writers on here whom I can follow? I'm still learning and therefore having a little trouble finding them. Just want a curated timeline and would appreciate absolutely anyyy help you can provide 💜

Hello and welcome to the hellsite Anon! I was just thinking that it might be useful to post something for Eruris fleeing the shitshow that is twitter.  

So the easiest way to find active Eruri blogs to follow is to look at my blog and to follow the people I’m reblogging. You can do that by hovering over the name of the blog and clicking follow.  You can also choose whether or not to get alerts from blogs you follow. I would open up my own list of the blogs I follow, but tbh my own timeline is a mess.  I’ve been here so long that a lot of the blogs I follow are defunct, or are no longer active in the fandom.  

One nice feature of tumblr is that most blogs have an archive, like this https://lostcauses-noregrets.tumblr.com/archive, which will give you a quick overview of the content they post.  Not sure whether a blog is regularly posting content you’re interested in?  Look at the archive.  It's also a good way to see if the blog is still active. We lost a lot of amazing content during the tumblr purge but there's still a wealth of amazing Eruri content going right back to 2014 in old blog archives.

I have a tags page on my blog here https://lostcauses-noregrets.tumblr.com/tags, which links to lots of Eruri artists, but it’s very out of date.  Many of the artists linked here are no longer active (though their archives are *chef’s kiss*) and I haven’t got round to adding many of the more recent artists who are active. It’s still worth taking a look at though. 

Another way to find blogs is to follow the tags.  On your tumblr dash you’ll see Following (blogs you follow), For you (shit tumblr recommends) and Your tags (posts tagged with any tags you choose to follow).  I follow #eruri #erwin smith and #levi ackerman.  Be warned though, you’ll get all kinds of shit in the tags, including spam, pornbots and stuff you may not be interested in.  Reader fic is hugely popular on tumblr for example.  I have nothing against it, but it’s really not my thing, so I just ignore it. 

Look out for blogs that re-post other people’s art without permission.  This used to be a cardinal sin both here and on twitter but people seem to be ignoring that basic rule more and more often. I tend to block blogs that repost without permission.  Luckily there are still few excellent blogs that cross post gorgeous Eruri art with permission from the artists.  @story-kat is one of the best. 

Fic and meta isn’t as widespread on tumblr as it used to be in the heyday of the manga, however I can highly recommend following @tsuki-no-ura who is one of the most active and conscientious translators in the fandom.  It’s worth following @momtaku too, they’re not currently active, but their blog is the fount of all canon knowledge.  Several of the ship weeks have active tumblr blogs too including @eruriweek

I hope that helps Anon, if you’re looking for anything in particular, just ask! 

[androxys]

The Great Big Pinned Post

After about two years on this blog, I suppose it’s about time to make a pinned post. I figure that most folks who follow me know the rundown, but if you’re new to here I want to wish you welcome and show you around!

So hello! I’m Androxys! I spent an absurd amount of my childhood reading Batman comics and then never grew out of it. So now I read comics, read about comics, and write about comics, mainly as fic and the occasional nonfiction essay. I’m currently in the works of trying to get some of that nonfiction published, so hold on for more info on that, but my fic can all be found on the Archive of Our Own. There’s also a link to my AO3 in my bio.

I try to maintain a pretty consistent tagging system on this blog for my own reference. Every post that has my original words or commentary is tagged #chit chat, and everything reblogged is tagged as, you guessed it, #reblog. All my writing can be found under #my writing, with my fic also being under #fic.

DC Comics stuff is, you guessed it, #dc comics, and comics characters are generally tagged by their real names. That helps eliminate some confusion from mantle swapping. I tag posts about fandom as a whole as #fandom logistics, including things like updates from the Organization for Transformative Works.

When I’m not behind this computer, I’m usually doing library things. I got started on this career after 4+ years in social work/social services, and found that while I loved serving the public, I needed to do it in a different venue. I started in public libraries, but am currently in an academic library as I work on my MLS. I love my work, and I love to talk about it. Library stuff is tagged #librarianship, should you want to see my musings there.

Other than tumblr, there are a few other ways to keep up with me, namely on Dreamwidth or on BlueSky. Dreamwidth is where I cross post my more substantial or long-form work from here: things like my Nada Parbat primer, my write up on DC’s government agencies, or my post-Crisis Batman read-through. I tend to use BlueSky (and Twitter before it, RIP) for comic news.

I suppose that’s as good a primer as any. Welcome to my blog! Stay a while! I’m glad you’re here.

[spnfanficpond]

Weekly Pond Newsletter

Everyone not in Hawaii right now is having terrible FOMO as we sit at home and watch videos of Jensen singing and playing guitar. Well, at least I am. Loving the rock star hair!! Thanksgiving in the US is this week and I, personally, will be giving thanks for everything that has contributed to his current look.

Old Business:

Secret Santa 2023 - Signups are closed and everyone has received their assigned recipients! If you have not received a message, send a message to Admin Marie!

New social media platforms - Though we have no plans to leave Tumblr, Twitter, or Discord, we may try to expand our reach to Bluesky. If nothing else, we'll create an account over there soon just to have it there. Thanks to everyone who submitted a response to our survey!

Fishing for Treasures - This weekend is FFT weekend and we are celebrating Gen fics!! Check out our queue for some quality fics that are not centered around romance. Due to the lack of submissions, y'all have been stuck with mostly fics written by Admin Michelle because she loves a gen fic. To increase participation for next year, we will be redefining the fics we celebrate in November to include any fic that does not have smut.

Last week's #TweetFicTues prompts were -

New Business:

SPNFanFicPond Fic Highlight - As a birthday present to @hoboal87, we highlighted their series Don't Speak! Click here to read our review!

Manta Ray in the Discord server - On Friday, Manta Ray Kat will spend part of her day off in our Discord server chatting with you! Keep an eye out for announcement posts with the exact date and time, or take a look at our calendar!

Competitive Writing Sprints - On Saturday, Manta Ray Dean will be hosting a session of competitive writing sprints! With the Rewatch chats starting up, we've slacked off a bit, but we're trying to get back into the swing of things. Everyone who participates gets a prize, but the winner(s) get first pick. So, come hang out, add words to your WIP, and win fabulous prizes! Announcement posts with details will come out in a couple of days or so!

SPN Rewatch: Fanfic Edition - Our next chat about our rewatch of Supernatural will be on Saturday! We will be discussing episodes 1.07 Hook Man and 1.08 Bugs. The docs for these episodes have been created in the Archive and are ready for you to enter whatever notes you'd like to add. As of this posting, all docs are updated. Thematic docs have related notes from episode docs pasted in them, and everything is cross-linked for easy reference. Is there a theme you think we should create a doc for? Let us know! Send us an ASK, or DM @mrswhozeewhatsis.

(Divider by @glygriffe!)

That's all for this week! To see all Pond events, and also other SPN-related things like conventions and online concerts, check out our Google calendar! Click here for a static view in Eastern US/Canada time (desktop only, no mobile app access, sadly), and click here to add our calendar to your own Google calendar! We try to keep it as up to date as possible. If there's something you want to see on the calendar that's not there (maybe a convention we missed, or cast birthdays, or something similar), send us an ASK and let us know!

Hope you have a great week! - From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @katbratsupernaturalwhore and @heavenssexiestangel!