#did i make this game to be nosy about other people's wips and to also maybe feel better about myself? that's none of your business-

[messrsbyler]

writing wip game!

tell me in the tags:

how many wips you currently have (the ones you've worked in whether is the actual fic, or an outline, or random scenes, etc)

what's the total word count they sum up

the word count of your shortest wip

the word count of your longest wip

[kmlaney]

WIP questionnaire

tagged by @coffeewritesfiction and I am so sorry to take this long on a reply. Thanks for the tag!

Tagging @fallenscintilla (if you want! No pressure!) and @waywardwizzard and anyone who wants to!

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

The very first line was: “D’ya think I care how it tastes?” I posted an edited version here. There's a snip of the original here.

For the record, it started as a character background for a TTRPG. In fact, it wasn’t even going to be the character I was going to play. Harrowed (undead/revenant) gunfighter? *eyeroll* Too cliché. I even made a homebrew archetype to play: a “spiritualist” in the late 1800’s sense. But that first line kept bugging me so I figured, okay. Fine. I’ll write this one scene and then work on my spiritualist. 

Yeah. No. I never played the spiritualist.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

I did all the fan stuff for Phil and Skyfallen, like playlists, faceclaims, all of that. I never did that before. I selected music for the theoretical TV show: main theme, a rotating list of outro/credits roll music, pieces for certain kinds of scenes. So if Skyfallen were a TV series, this would be the theme:

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

That’s like asking which of my pets was my favorite. I love them all. I guess I loved Phil enough to make them the viewpoint character. They’re a more-mature version of the kind of character I wrote when I was a kid, now with serious problems I can explore as an adult. I like Phil’s father, whom I was determined to fridge in the beginning because fridging is usually a female character. Ha Ha! Then I went and gave him a character arc that could only end in his death so he’s not fridged after all. 

I like Travelling Sam for being a conniving, money-grubbing jerk, but he’s fun to write. I like Eva as Carnival Mom; Maury for being a flamboyant, fun-to-be-around person hiding a serious drinking problem that everyone knows about. I like Doc Butcher for his name, for actually being trained as a vet but caring about everyone, and trying to do his best when he’s in over his head because he can’t do nothing. 

I like Maker Lewis for his change of heart, though he was already on the fence and just needed a shove. And I like Miss Warren for being a nosy reporter whom Phil doesn’t want to like but ends up liking anyway. She also lets me play at muckraking reporter. Choosing words to specifically slant a piece is a load of fun.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

Skyfallen has its roots in Westerns, so people who like cinematic westerns are a potential fanbase. I include horror, steampunk, and gothic elements, so if your venn diagram of interests includes those things then it might be for you. 

Things I like that influenced or feel like this story: Silverado, The Magnificent Seven, RIPD 2 Rise of the Damned (movies. I hate to admit that last one but it was fun). Deadlands (TTRPG game. I created Phil for this setting). The Dark Tower novels--primarily Wizard and Glass but any of the parts dealing with Roland’s world. 

There is zero romance. Phil’s ace, there is no main love interest, and anyone who gets together does so very off-screen. 

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

When writing the draft, the individual scenes flew out of my brain. I could hardly write them fast enough. In deep editing, though, it’s the big-picture stuff I find challenging. Which themes do I want to emphasize and which are less important? Do I really need all this buildup or should I start later? I need to show certain things so the later ones make sense, but that makes it even longer. It’s already very long; shouldn’t I be cutting things down? Argh. It's frustrating.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

There are animals. Most are utilitarian: Horses, dogs, cats, chickens, cows. There are monsters also (for certain values of “monster”) all along the continuum from “non-sapient animal” through to “self-aware human intelligence.” 

The way they figure into the story is more interesting. In life, Phil liked animals in general and had a special fondness for horses and mules. After dying and coming back reanimated, animals can’t stand to be around them. Phil doesn’t figure it out right away, and it hurts when they do.

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

For the area the characters are in for the bulk of the story, most people walk, ride horses, or ride in wagons, carts, or coaches pulled by horses or teams of horses. There are a couple of trains but they are rare. In other areas, trains are common, as are ferries and lake boats. Airships exist; they are novelties and considered simultaneously luxurious and dangerous. In larger cities, along with the horse-drawn vehicles, people have bicycles, rickshaws, pedal-powered rickshaws, and palanquins. Automatons in a variety of configurations may be subbed in for horses or people in any of those conveyances. 

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

I’ve identified some specific foreshadowing that needs to happen. So I need to add that in. There are a few names that aren’t consistent; they’re flagged so I can fix them. I need to put in a few encounters so later ones make sense. It’s not exactly foreshadowing so much as worldbuilding. So editing stuff.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

I have a hard time identifying tropes in my work, probably because I’m in the trees, so to speak, and can’t see the forest. Or groves, to push the metaphor. Having said that, here’s an attempt:

Portal/isekai

Found family

Unlikely group of heroes

Humans can be evil; monsters can be sympathetic

Religion, Magic, and cults 

Monsters dwelling among humans

Enemies to not-friends (don’t push your luck)

Things get worse

Everyone has secrets

Lost memories, memory tampering

Weird West

Steampunk and Gothic Horror

Gunslinger/trick shot

Noble Demon/antihero

Good is not nice

I did come up with one of those taglines that you might see on the bottom of the cover of a book: 

“Every Skyfallen has something they want to forget. And everyone in the Mistlands is Skyfallen.”

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

Originally I was hoping for traditional publishing. I might still try to go that way. I’m also looking into self-pub, and websites that host serial stories. I think this story fits better into a serial format than a traditional book format. I need to make it more coherent (hence editing phase)

[lorirwritesfanfic]

Hi, Lori! I hope you're having an amazing time! For the WIP titles ask game, could you please share a bit about the upcoming chapters of A Promise? I love Damid in all your series, but I'm particularly invested in this one :)

Dani, my dear 😍 I hope you're doing well ❤️

Oh, the joy and the pain of writing Hamid and Daphne in A Promise AU

I've been writing and rewriting part four for quite a long time. Because it's a miniseries, sometimes I think the story is too rushed or that I forgot to mention something and tend to infodump. Then I delete it because it feels unnecessary...🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, the next part will be on Hamid's POV again. It will show a little bit of how Hamid and Sibel are together and why he proposed to her. We'll have some revelations, teen years memories, understand why Daphne believes she can't be with Hamid and hearts breaking. But since I refuse to write unhappy endings for Damid, I still have a trick on my sleeve to save these two (or to be more specific, to save Daphne from herself 😑).

Here's a snippet of part four:

"Daph, come on... I haven't talked to you in person since the lunch we had when I was here in May. I miss you." He pouted. "I miss you too." "Then talk to me! You talk more to Sibel than I do." "She's my client! I'm designing the gown of her dreams for her wedding day! I have to keep in touch with her." "But you're my best girlfriend, not hers!" "Girl friend," she emphasized the last word. "Potayto, potahto..." He waved his hand dismissively. "You're so sloshed, Hamidciğim." He sticked his tongue out, making her giggle, then sat up and poured them another dose of scotch. "You know what we should do?" "What?" "Play that drinking game we used to on winter breaks. We make each other questions and for every question one of us try to dodge or lie, the person will have to drink and spill the secret." "I think we both have established that is dangerous game." "That's the fun part!" Daphne shook her head. "What? Are you chickening out?" He teased. She mockingly glared at him. "Oh, please! You're just salty I made you confess you had your first time with that girl on the summer trip. What's her name again?" "You nosy weirdo..." She guffawed. "Fine. Since you just brought that up, let's start the game with it. Why did you want to know about that?" "Because you were so strange that night." "Why is it strange that I wanted to talk my best friend until I fell asleep?" "Because you did strange things. You woke me up in the middle of the night and lied saying you had a nightmare and couldn't sleep." "That wasn't a lie." "But whilst you kept denying you two shagged, Chloe gossiped about you in the locker room for a week." "I thought you said you didn't remember her name." He arched an eyebrow. "That's beside the point." "Is it?" "Whatever... I don't like when people spread lies about you, but you were also lying to me. I needed to know the truth." "Weirdo..." He grumbled. "Why did you lie about it to me?" He scratched the back of his head. "Aha!" "What? I didn't say anything." "But you paused. Which means you have to drink." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Ugh, whatever..." He said chugging down the entire content of his tumbler.

Have a wonderful weekend ❤️

Ask me about my WIPs

[thebookworm0001]

I'm terribly nosy, so-- 3,5,11, 19 for the ask game? Or whichever you prefer! ❤️

Gonna answer 3&5 for another ask in a second, so hold on tight!

11. Do you believe in the old advice to "kill your darlings?" Are you a ruthless darling assassin?

What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

The way that my professors explained this one to me is that sometimes you have lines/sections/etc that you may love, but just don’t work for your piece. So you ditch them. However, you don’t get rid of them. You throw them into a special dead darlings document/folder/notebook and hold onto them. They may live there forever, or you may find that they work perfectly somewhere else.

So, I say less ‘kill your darlings’ and more ‘put them in retirement and they can come out of it if they feel like working again’

I actually combined a lot of my fic wips into one single wip doc, so now I can pull out my darlings and they just hang around. Usually any sadness I feel is replaced once I figure out what actually is working. Then I can try to find a new home for whatever I had to ditch. I’m much more attached to getting the thing right than I am making sure that a single line or phrase sticks around.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey.

When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to read. Stories were everything to her. Why be in the real world when the pages between covers could offer so much more? One day, the brilliant idea came to her - what if she made her own adventures? She quite liked this one World, where children had been given wings and sought to find a place to live in peace far away from the terrible people who had done so. So why not tell a new story there? So she did! And my goodness, she didn’t stop. She filled up notebook after notebook of stories - using the sandbox other people had made to play with new stories and ideas. Many of them very dark, most of them always working toward a happy end. She even shared some of them with people. Some she knew and some she would never meet. And at some point, she started trying out her own worlds and own people. None of them very original, but what can you expect when you’re first starting out. And she liked that so much she decided to keep doing it, and to pay quite a bit of money to learn how to do it better.

And at this point I’m dropping the fairy tale thing. Tired.

Anyway, went to college for creative writing. Figured out not only do I kinda love poetry, I’m actually quite good at it. Got some of mine published internationally, even. Turns out writing short stories makes my brain hurt but I want to do it more than I want to write the poems. College included some Trauma, some of which I wrote about, some of which I can’t write about still (hello burn injuries) and then I wrote a book. 61k words in one year for a single project - a first for me. And a fucking fantastic way to burn myself out. Like, I do think I actually hurt myself doing that. (Perfectionism and anxiety combined to form procrastination and I’m a slow writer as-is.) Very proud of the project. Still have not read it all the way through (that’s a summer project, actually) because reading my own work is some of the most terrifying shit I have to do and I actively avoid it.

Got a job doing writing and editing things professionally. Then a pandemic happened. And somehow that allowed me to write and publish my first ever bit of erotica. Which continues to be my most popular piece of writing.

I don’t write nearly as much as I used to these days - a combo of that burnout and just not having the time/energy anymore (also that perfectionism that I have been getting slowly better about) - and I’m trying to be kind to myself about it. Writing feels a lot like pulling teeth for me - but the end product makes it worth it. And I don’t think I could ever stop writing. I love stories too much. But I’m at a place where if I want to be able to keep doing it, I can’t push myself the way I once did. And while that is frustrating, it does mean that when i can get my writer brain to turn on, it’s a lot easier to get stuff down. If only because I’ve spent four months working out the details of a scene in my head before writing out a single word.

[takaraphoenix]

R, T, W for the writers asks but with a twist! (I am 100% cheating the game to be specifically nosy so feel free to ignore me 😅)

R + how would you pitch those ships to a fandom outsider?

T - since you already did favourites, most overused and underused?

W (...would really love to know about any Jace wips in particular 👉👈)

Thanks for playing! Let's see how good I do on twists xDDD

R. Romance - Do you write for any certain ship? What's your OTP or main pairing?

See ur being nosy but not specifically nosy because do you know HOW MANY fandoms I have? *sobbing*

I'm a multishipper so it's rare for me to only have one ship for a character. Much less for a fandom. But I do have what I'd call flagships, my biggest ship per fandom.

And since you did not specify if you wanted this for a particular fandom, I'ma just go with Shadowhunters and Jagnus!

They were roommates! Seriously, when Jace is at his lowest, when he leaves the only place he knows as home, he comes to Magnus to ask to live with him. That's canon. Magnus takes him in. That's canon. They're just convenient roommates or bros living together, their rooming together is born from Jace being in a desperate and vulnerable state and he seeks out Magnus and that shit just hits hard.

They have both lost a parent in a traumatizing manner as little children and are REALLY shit at coping with their trauma like they both suck so badly at it but that is what makes it fun because they also fundamentally care about other people so it can be like a dual "I will help you through your trauma".

Magnus Bane canonically has a thing for blue eyes and Jace has blue eyes in the show and I will never let that die. Magnus Bane also has magical golden eyes that made him feel isolated and lonely - and guess who ALSO canonically has magical golden eyes? JACE.

Both of them are fun-loving and promiscuous and I do think that this shared energy when it comes to sex really makes them go well together.

When they first meet in book canon, just before they meet, we as the readers are introduced to the concept of flying motorbikes existing and Jace whining about always having wanted one. After one (1) meeting with Jace, Magnus just gives Jace a flying motorbike. For free. Just like that. As a present. To this boy he met once. And, might I add, that is the same day he meets his canon endgame romance too and in the same scene we learn that Jace always wanted one, we also learn that said canon endgame romance also always wanted a flying motorbike. But the author chose that no Magnus should just randomly gift Jace a motorbike. How am I supposed to not come out of that shipping them?

T. Trope - What's your favorite fanfic trope? What's one you avoid like the plague?

Most overused and most underused? That is so much harder somehow because I don't really read all THAT much fanfiction and if so I read only specific things so I don't really know how the overall on these tropes is.

I think soulmate AUs are underused there should be more soulmate AUs because there are so many different takes possible for this, it is such a broad variety of possibilities!

And I think that modern/non-powered AUs are overused but that is also because I really don't like them. Personally, I don't read them at all. I come here because I like what's going on in canon, I want to read these bitches falling in love in their world. Making them average people in today's time usually removes vital elements of their canon dynamic and severely undercuts just how much they have going for them.

I know that sounds a bit hypocritical because I have written a shit-ton of modern/non-powered AUs myself but that's also because I have literally written over 1000 fics and at one point you do run out of ways to make these bitches fall in love in the canon setting and after satisfying that urge, I do feel tempted to go "okay but what if they met under different circumstances" and play around more.

And I'm saying that this trope is overused because sometimes, with some ships, you really will find more modern day AUs than in-universe fics and that just completely baffles me that really shouldn't be a thing in my opinion?? Canon-set and canon-divergent should definitely outweight "so I removed the fun supernatural/scifi/fantasy elements and made them average people" takes on supernatural/scifi/fantasy shows?

W. Wips - How many wips do you have? What is taking the majority of your time currently?

Okay in this case your addition is actually helpful because it narrows this broad-ass question down for me. xD

So I'm going with a broad definition of WIP as "fics that are on my private schedule, even if they are only ideas for now and I am not actively writing them yet" (because that's a distinction for me from the active WIPs I am currently writing).

So Jace WIPs! Well, the most obvious is The High Warlock's Vampires, my current multi-chapter Malace fic. Which was supposed to be three chapters but then I failed so it became five chapters but then I failed again and now it's at a definitely it's gonna be seven chapters. I'm just having way too much fun with this What If scenario.

For March, I have a Malace oneshot coming up on the 2nd that's called Visitors From Another World that's inspired by a comment I got on another Malace fic, asking for the boys being visited by alternate ABOverse versions of themselves that are actually dating and where Jace is currently pregnant with Alec's kid and you know me, how can I resist ABOverse Malace and pining Jace, mh?

There's also the poly week in March and I have a Malace/Jimonael fic planned for the "metamours" prompt on the 9th called Husbands-in-Law, also ABOverse but where Jace gets twice the love. ;D

Then there is another Malace fic for March 30th (March seems to be very Malace heavy, I am just noticing), called The Turned Double Agent that was born over on our Jace Appreciation Discord Server where I went "kay but what if FBI agents Alec and Jace, sent undercover to spy on mob boss Alec but both fall in love with Magnus and also Jace ALREADY is a double agent because his father is Valentine, another big mob boss, so Magnus is trying to turn both his FBI agents" aaand yeah I have to write that too. xD

April's gonna be Jimon and also less Shadowhunters, I'm afraid (poly-week added one fic and March's length and timing of the Wednesdays also added one, but with me currently serving four different fandoms, I kinda... am going to have a rotation this year to alter between DCMK, Shadowhunters, PJO and DC Comics). Anyway, Jimon on April 27th, called The Vampire King's Pet Angel and it's still very vague and conceptual - haven't decided if it's gonna be ABOverse or just blood-drinking, but either way Simon is going to buy himself a Jace when the Downworlders finally decide to say fuck the Clave, take em down and take over, ending with all Shadowhunters either dead or captured. To save Jace, and also because he's really in love with Jace, Simon - the new Daylighter King of all vampires - buys Jace. It's gonna be smutty and kinky, that much I know.

And with that we are actually in May, at which point The High Warlock's Vampires will be over... and replaced with a new multi-chapter Malace fic on May 7th. This one is going to be called Demon On Your Shoulder and it's going to be a soulmate AU featuring daemons. Because I love writing angsty Malace soulmate AUs and it is DAMN time that I write a multi-chapter angsty Malace soulmate AU. And if I go long, that feels like the perfect opportunity to incorporate daemons. But since this is gonna be a while, no spoilery details. ;)

The next Shadowhunters oneshot's going to be on May 25th and while I have the title and what I want it to be about, I actually haven't decided on a ship for it yet. It will be called Praise the Puppy and it was entirely born from the trailer for The Bad Guys featuring the wolf protagonist being called a "good boy" and wagging his tail and me going "holy shit HOW have I not written dogboy!Jace wagging his tail every time he gets praised?! I PRAISE KINK HIM SO HARD AND I PUPPY HEADCANON HIM SO HARD WHY HAVE I FAILED HIM?". So. That needs to be a thing.

Aaand that's how far ahead my schedule's currently laid out, all the way through May, not farther yet. ^^°

(But also I do have plans of posting another prompt list before then because I'm enjoying the writing shorter things right now. So it may also lay in YOUR hands who and what ships can get additional focus by sending me prompts when I reblog prompt lists! ;D)

Fanfic Ask Game

[calumbringbackthewatermelonshirt]

Hiraeth (C.H.)

Hiraeth: a homesickness for a home you can never return to, a home which maybe never was. 

a/n: welcome back. please enjoy this entirely too long calum hood boarding school au. I did my best, but if there are any discrepancies PLEASE send me an ask and tell me!!! I included the women of 5sos for more character diversity and I low-key kind of love it! this is about the first 10 pages and theres dozens more to come that are already written! come hell or high-water, I am committing to finishing this wip, please feel free to send me thoughts and questions!!!

“Crap.” Sierra muttered under her breath when she noticed the sign on the old RA’s door. Even though she wouldn’t have considered them friends, Sierra was at least comfortable enough with the old RA to go to her when Sierra needed to get into her room. She really had to start keeping track of her keys better.

Stalking back down the hallway, she went to go find Kaykay, knowing her roommate would definitely have her keys.

….

“A new RA?” Calum sounded skeptical over dinner the next day. “It’s kind of late in the school year for that.”

“What do you care, Hood?” Michael rested his weight on his elbows on the table and smirked at Hood over his sandwich. “Afraid of a little competition?”

“What competition?” Luke looked up from his latest novel, some clunky old thing he was reading in french.

“Competition for the best RA, duh.” Kaykay kicked her feet up onto the table, only to have Hood shove them back onto the ground. Hood never let her have her feet on the table when they were eating but that didn't stop her from putting them up there. One day, one day she would be able to keep them up there for the entirety of the lunch. It was like her white whale. “Maybe this one will let us play poker on her floor.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not off to a great start. I got locked out earlier and had to find Kaykay to let me into our room.” Sierra was still a little bothered by that. Even though rationally she knew she should cut the new RA some slack, her blisters were making it kinda hard to forget her trek.

“Come on now, Si. A little walking never killed anybody.” Michael gave Sierra a grin that stretched wide across his face, but if there was anyone who could resist it, it was Sierra.

“You’re not the one who had to walk all the way across campus.” Sierra was grumbling into her food, but it was still audible to Kaykay, who smothered a snicker.

“Give her a chance, Sierra. The new RA was probably still moving in. Be nice.” Crystal was palming orange slices into Luke’s hands as he read, who was robotically eating them. Kaykay, on the other hand, was blowing her straw wrapper at Luke’s face, cheering when she hit him. Luke didn’t seem to register either one of them.

“Coach says we’re getting someone new on the soccer team. Maybe it’s also the new RA?” Kaykay picked at her food absentmindedly, as if contemplating the odds of it being the same person. Kaykay was pretty good friends with everyone on the team, but she was on JV and the coach said the new girl would be on varsity.

“Maybe. Everyone finish up. Curfew’s in 15 minutes, and you all need to be back in the dorms by then.” Hood didn’t seem like he put much thought into the conversation that had gone down at the table, more concerned with corralling his bunch into following the rules. It almost never happened, but Hood still tried.

“It’s not like it’ll matter much. Sierra and I don’t have anyone there to tell us we're late.” Kaykay was still playing the cat and mouse game with Hood, her doc martens gracing the table with their presence once more. Hood, to his credit, pushed them off not even a minute later.

Crystal stood up, dragging Luke with her. “Yeah, but we do.”

….

“Do you think she’ll be nice? Or like super strict? God, I hope she’s not super strict. Maybe we’ll get super lucky and get someone like Hood. Michael and Luke are so lucky.” Sierra was kind of nervous. She always got like this when she was gearing up to meet new people. Yet, her rambling subsided when she heard voices echoing down the mahogany hallways.

“No, you cannot set their rooms on fire. I don't care that they replaced your lip gloss with jelly, arson is not the answer. Please just shave their eyebrows like normal students. And go late at night so you don’t get caught. If you get caught, I’ll have to play dumb and that’s kinda hard for the valedictorian.” Kaykay and Sierra watched as two sophomores ran giggling down the hallway, armed with freshly acquired shaving cream and devious new plans.

Sierra and Kaykay locked eyes then spoke in unison. “Definitely cool.”

They took the short walk down to your doorway, where you were leaning and watching the two girls run off. You wore casual clothes, white school t-shirt, blue plaid men’s boxers, and mix-matched socks, one short with an avocado on it and one tall with mini corgis. You were chugging iced coffee through straw like your life depended on it. Sierra took it all in, deciding she liked you by the time her eyes made it up to your metal straw.

You took one look at Sierra and Kaykay, almost studying them. “You heard nothing.”

Sierra was quick to reply, already wanting your approval. “Not a peep. I’m Sierra, and this is Kaykay. We’re on your floor.”

“Ah. Cool beans.” You introduced yourself, looking at Kaykay a second longer than Sierra. “You’re on the soccer team, right?”

“Yeah.” Unlike Sierra, Kaykay clammed up around people she didn’t know, and she was still quiet around the ones she did. “Are you the new girl the coach told us about?”

“I am indeed. I start practicing with you guys tomorrow.” You glanced at a notification that popped up on your phone, scrunching up your eyes a bit to read it. “It’s kinda late. Shouldn’t you two youngsters be asleep? You’ll need it if you wanna grow up big and strong.”

“Yeah, yes, of course. We promise we won't set anyone’s room on fire either.” After a withering glance from you, Sierra grinned. “Not that we would ever do that. Where would someone even get an idea like that?”

You smirked right back at them. “You know where I am if you ever need anything. But be warned, I’m not a morning person.”

With that you turned and shut your door, leaving Sierra and Kaykay standing in the hallway right outside your door.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sierra’s smile was as wide as her face allowed. She had a devious look on her face, one that only a person who had illegally downloaded thousands of shows on her laptop could have.

“I never am. I’m pretty sure no one ever is.” Kaykay was skeptical, knowing that whatever was going on in that genius brain of Sierra’s could not be good. Sierra had a nose for sticking her nose in other people’s business.

“Her, plus Hood, equals literally the most perfect couple in the world. Maybe to ever exist.” Oh, she could already see them together, holding hands, you making Hood laugh for once in his life. Him cheering you on at your soccer games. You cheering him on at his if the gang could force him to have fun. Oh, this was perfect. Beyond perfect.

“Are you sure? We probably shouldn’t meddle in other people’s love lives. It might be kinda rude.” Kaykay scrunched up her nose, allowing Sierra to drag her by the wrist back to their room. Kaykay wasn’t a particularly nosy person.She was a big fan of giving herself rules to not get attached, such as ‘hey, don't insert yourself into other people’s love lives.’

“Oh, hush, I’m literally the best cupid. I even have the wings for it.” Sierra was jogging a little now, so many plans already rushing through her head. Sierra had always considered herself a bit of genius, but she had outdone herself this time.

…

“Hello, my darlings!” Sierra was buzzing with excitement. This was a big moment for her. Her scheme was about to be set into motion, and god, was she excited. Hood was stuck in a floor meeting for Lincoln house, which meant you were, too. She took the timing of the meeting as a sign from the gods that this was meant to be. “Listen up please. I have news.”

Sierra remained standing as the others gathered round and took their seats. She waited until everyone sat down and was too busy with their food to interrupt her.

“So. Kaykay and I have met the new RA, and let me tell you, she is amazing.”  Sierra grinned leaning forward on the table. Her words all came out a teensy bit rushed, as they were prone to do when she was excited.

“Weren’t you just hating on that chick yesterday? What changed your mind?” Michael was halfway through his eggs, and three-quarters of the way awake. Sierra could be loud when she got excited, and he wasn’t looking to be all the way awake yet.

“Hush, your leader is speaking. Anywho, she is not a chick, she is a queen. She is also perfect for one pseudo dad floor advisor we know.” Sierra was swatting at Kaykay, who was barely awake, trying to get her to pay attention to her all-knowing speech. Kaykay to her credit, hummed in agreement, albeit with her eyes closed.

“Wait, perfect as in like dating?” Luke looked almost disgusted at the idea of two people in a relationship. Crystal almost let Luke catch her smiling, but hid it at the last second. Crystal guessed he was still in the ‘girls have cooties’ phase, and it amused her to no end.

“She’s pretty cool.” Kaykay's words were soft with sleep, but there was enough of a lull in the conversation from everyone to hear her. “She’s on the soccer team with me.”

“As the most responsible person here, I cannot condone this and will not partake in any scheme you may or may not dream up. However, I also know I can’t stop you. Please just don’t do anything too stupid.” Crystal was sipping a glass of tea, trying not to look bemused by the idea of Hood in a relationship. Even though he was only a year younger than her, she reminisced on her own young love. It would be good for him, Crystal thought to herself. Plus, she had seen you around the library quite a bit. The two of you had chatted, and Crystal already liked you. Maybe she wouldn't have an active role in the forging of the relationship, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t support it.

“I dunno. I’d have to meet her before I could make a judgment on whether she’s good enough for Hood.” Even though Micahel didn’t care to admit it, Hood was the dad to their little group of misfits. Michael didn't want him to get hurt, especially if it would be their fault.

Sierra was grinning her ‘I’m a genius and this is genius’ grin again. “Oh, trust me. She is.”  

…

You were lying on a couch in the commons when their gaggle found you, chewing forbidden gum and texting on a forbidden phone. You had seen them approaching, but still didn’t care enough to put your phone away. You hadn’t taken either of the girls you met last night as a snitch, and from the looks of the girl in the against dress code denim jacket, you were probably right to assume the same about all of them.

“Sup kiddies.” You didn’t even glance up at them. If they weren’t screaming, it wasn’t an emergency. And if it wasn’t an emergency, it wasn’t worth looking up from your intense game of 8-ball for.

“We require assistance.” Sierra was acting as the pseudo leader of the group, speaking up before the others got the chance.

“In what form? We talking ‘hide a body’ or ‘I got locked out’  kind of assistance?” This time you looked up, taking in seven sets of eyes upon you, including Crystal and a different senior you didn’t know. Immediately, you were suspicious. Why would two seniors be needing your help?

“More of the second one, but also not.” You sighed and stood up, stretching as you did so. Nothing like a second-day, midafternoon crisis to get your blood flowing.

“What’s up?” You introduced yourself to the rest of the bunch and gave a quick nod to Crystal. “You’ve got me for 20 minutes and then I have a soccer practice. Actually, you do too, Kaykay.”

“This won’t take long. You have extra library privileges since you're a RA, right?” Sierra took off as soon as you stood up, the rest of the group following, clearly already knowing whatever plan they had formed. You stayed silent, waiting for them to explain more before you promised to be able to help. It was a bit confusing why they needed your help since Crystal actually worked in the library.

“Moving on. We wanna rent out a study room for a little bit this evening and...,” there was a pregnant pause as they all made eye contact between Sierra’s words, “study.”

“Yeah, I’m still not seeing how any of this involves me.” You were near the back next to Crystal, noting Sierra’s wild hairstyle and purple lip gloss, and Kaykay’s various piercings. The group didn’t exactly seem like the rule following type, which made you even more perplexed for their need for you. What could they be getting at?

“We need you to persuade the librarian to bump one of the study room spots open. They’re all filled.” Ah, finally, the truth came out. Luckily for them, you had made good with the librarian after spending most of your free time with her. Being the new kid, plus the pressure from your parents to keep your grades up, equaled having you living in the library. But none of them knew that except for Crystal.

The need for your help in the library made you pause for a second. Crystal worked in the library. She could definitely be of more help than you, and you were pretty sure everyone in the group knew it.

“They like you. They just don’t know how to ask to hangout with you in a normal way.” Crystal lowered her voice, almost whispering. She loved her little band of misfits, but their methods were...unique sometimes. Crystal still tried to support them as much as she could, even if she had to spoil their dramatics sometimes.

“Ah. I see.” You nodded thoughtfully. Crystal was a level headed person. But you could tell she definitely had a fun side, too. “Follow my lead?”

After a smirk and a quick nod, you tried to act thoughtful for a second.

“I dunno. Ms. Robins is a real rule follower. It’s gonna be a hard sell to get her to bend the rules our way. I might need some incentive to help me want to risk getting caught.”  And just like that you had a scheme of your own.

“What are you saying?” Michael, he said his name was, was eyeing you. It was pretty clear he didn’t trust you. It wasn’t your problem, but you figured you should try and look approachable as a new RA.  After all, it was kind of your job.

“Just that. Like, if someone was to offer to buy me a coffee as a thank you, I would be much more willing to take part in your little scheme.” Luke, the young one, opened his mouth as if to deny your calling what they were doing a scheme. “Don’t even deny it, boyo. This is most definitely a scheme.”

The younger kid huffed out a ‘fine,’ easily defeated.

“Back to the matter at hand. What’s in it for me?” You smirked back at them, adrenaline buzzing through your veins.

You could have sworn you heard Kaykay mutter ‘a boyfriend.’

Sierra covered, not that you were sure anything was actually said. “Ashton has a car. He can take you to town and stuff.”

You made eye contact with Ashton, the one who allegedly had a car. It was a bit tempting. Really tempting. There was a coffee shop on campus, and you had a keurig in your room, but it was nothing compared to the taste of mass-manufactured Dunkin Doughnuts coffee. Plus, off campus meant no uniform. That was a win enough.

“Well, then. I think we have ourselves a deal.”  You could already taste the coffee.

…

God, these kids were not slick. You were chatting with Ms. Robins about nothing in particular, not even broaching the subject of the study rooms. You knew Ms. Robins would bump one if you asked, but it was way more fun to do it the hard way. It was kind of funny to watch the little group you were with try to be slick and spy on the conversation without getting spotted, but not one of them was successful.

“Hey, is the room for RAs empty?” There was a study room set aside for RAs when they needed a break from the typical chaos on the floors of the dorms. You wouldn’t call it secret, per say, but you could agree that not well-known was a fitting term.

“Of course dear. It’s all yours if you want it. Do you need the key?”

You said no and thanked the kinder older lady. It was like you said, sometimes it was more fun to do it the hard way.

Everyone gathered around as you walked back to where Crystal and Ashton had been sitting and chatting.

“Bad news. Robins wouldn’t budge.”  You sighed and leaned on the table suppressing a smirk. You had to draw them in first to have a big reveal.

“Damn.” Ashton swore under his breath.

“But…” You raised your finger and cocked your head, finally allowing a grin to cross your face. “I know a secret room.”

“A what?” You finally had Kaykay’s attention, at least. Probably the secret part of your sentence.

“A secret room. Follow.” The floor advisor study room was at the very end of the hallway and had the overhead light above the door flickering, which only added to the “secret room” illusion.

Michael reached the door first, shaking the older knob, which did not open. It was locked, after all. “What now?”

They all looked at you expectantly, but you had come prepared.

“Step aside, peasants.” You whipped out your student I.D., sliding it into the gap between the door and the frame. With a quick swipe and twist of your wrist, the door opened with a click.

Sierra looked like she could hug you, Luke was already in the room, and Michael nodded his head approvingly. Ashton and Kaykay both gave you a high five, though.

“You gotta teach me how to do that!” Kaykay was practically beaming at you, as if you were the coolest person she knew.

“Uh, no. There’s no telling what you would do with that knowledge.” Crystal crossed her arms, but she winked at you as she crossed the threshold into the room.

“Alrighty. Kaykay and I have to get a move on lest we want to run laps til we puke. Enjoy don’t destroy kiddos.” You shut the door behind you and Kaykay, grinning at your little rhyme.

…

“So?” Sierra was excited, and for good reason. She was right. You were perfect, both in general and for Hood.

“Alright, Si, you got me. She’s pretty cool.” Michael was letting his features transform to a smile, ready to hear out the rest of Sierra��s plan. It was official. He was now an accomplice.

“I like her. She’s...fun.” Ashton was studying the corners of the room, finding it up to his posh standards. There was no way this was just a “secret hidden” room, but he didn’t particularly care to give up their new friend’s ruse. “But I’m with Crystal. I’m not going to be a willing participant.”

Sierra gave him her best puppy dog eyes. She had already planned up to step twelve of your and Hood’s relationship, and they would need Ashton’s help if they wanted to get past step five.

“Fine. I will not be an active participant.” They were relentless. Ashton knew that if he didn’t agree now, he’d end up caving later. Might as well agree now on his own terms.

“I think she’s cool. You don’t meet very many people who know how to pick locks any more. Hey, did you guys know that that specific type of lock is actually-” Luke was starting to spiral into obscure facts, as he did sometimes.

“Good, so we're all in agreement.” Sierra was ready. It was time to tell everyone the first few steps of operation “lovebirds.”

The name was a work in progress.

….

You had been adopted. Well, in a way you were. The group from the library had adopted you as one of their own, but you had already adopted all of them as your children. Minus Crystal and Ashton, of course. They had also adopted the younger kids, Crystal in a maternal way and Ashton in an uncle sort of way. But a fun uncle.

You had been eating with them at meals, walking to and from the various buildings with each other, even turning the lounge you had broken them into into your own little hangout. It was kind of nice to be a part of their own little family.

That’s exactly what it was. A family. There was just one piece missing. The “dad”.

“Hood”.

Pretty much all the younger kids did was talk about him, making it clear that he was basically their dad. And that he was a “super cool person if you didn’t count the stick up his ass,” according to Kaykay. You had yet to find out his name. Well, his real name. Apparently, he was the RA to your own brother dorm in Lincoln house and you had still yet to meet him. He was clearly a huge part of this group, though. That just kind of added to your puzzling view of him.

He most definitely was a mystery.

Whenever you brought him up to the group, all they did was look at each other and do a poor job at hiding their smiles. You ignored it for the most part, though. If you were destined to meet Hood, you would. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t.

Still you couldn’t help but wonder about him. Who he was, what he watched on Netflix, what he looked like.

You were in fact thinking about these very things in your morning elevator ride up to your first class of the day. You were still kind of out of it, only on your second cup of coffee and still in your zombie mode.

But, you were awake enough to hear a voice calling out to stop the elevator. And lucid enough to stick your hand in the doors a second before the closed.

Into the elevator rushed a guy about your age, taller and definitely cute. His dark hair was kind of shaggy, but that only added to his appeal for you.

“Thanks.” His voice was deep, but still soft. If you were any more awake, you’d ask for his number.

“No problem.” Instead of laying on the moves, you resigned yourself to taking another long slurp of your coffee, relaxing back against the railing of the elevator.

“You, um, you have something in your hair.” You looked up at him, cocking your eyebrow. Of course you had something in your hair. With the cutest guy you've met at this school thus far staring at you. Yet again, the stranger burst into your thoughts. “Can I get it for you?”

“That’d be great. I’d hate to walk around looking like an idiot all day.” You gave him your most witty, charming smile as you turned to face elevator guy.

“Got it.” You gave him a smile in lieu of a thanks, trying not to embarrass yourself any further. It was unlikely, but hey, worth a shot. It was then elevator guy chose to mutter something under his breath.

“I’m sorry?” With all the muttering that was happening lately you were starting to contemplate getting your hearing checked. It’d be a worthy investment. You were under the impression that private school kids would be a bit more poised and able to speak a touch more clear. You were wrong yet again.

“Um, your hair smells nice.” Elevator guy was now a bright shade of red. Like a cute tomato. You looked down at your shoes, rolling your lips into your mouth but smiling. Yeah, definitely still smiling.

“Thanks.” You were smirking at him now. You kinda liked having all the power in the elevator, considering elevator guy looked like he was ready to die at any second now. “I’d repay the compliment but I’ve yet to catch a whiff of your shampoo.”

“I’m Cal.” He stuck out his hand, as if suddenly remembering he went to private school. A handshake, like you two were CEOs of companies or something. It was endearing. You took another sip of your coffee, maintaining eye contact, before you reached your hand out and joined it with his.

You had just finished the last syllable of your name when the elevator pinged, announcing your arrival on your floor. You walked out of the elevator without another word, knowing that Cal’s eyes were following you the whole time.

[assassinsuit]

Man I cant remember the last time i spent so much effort on one drawing. And I can STILL see things that could be fixed. But it’s time to give it a rest. Anyway, here’s my (New) New Vegas OC Broc Flower. I’ve got quite a bit I want to say about him so I’m gonna leave that under a cut.

Since i’ve started playing Fallout (which was actually a year ago as of last Friday, I just found out!) the series has brought me endless amounts of joy and (approximately) a thousand hours of gameplay. I’ve never experienced a love for a game like this before and I don’t think its going to be something that ill forget any time soon. As I have a tendency to just “play as myself” in games that allow for that kind of thing so for awhile I didn’t really bother getting creative. Which is odd as I am the type of person to think “lets make an OC” as soon as i get into something new and Fallout is a platform that very much encourages that type of thinking. It wasn’t until more recently that I decided that I wanted to create a character for this series but I could never nail down something I was happy with. (my wip folder is chalk full of scrapped ideas for this.)  Then I realized that it would probably be best to just go with what was working already. Broc Flower is a character I created using both elements from myself and the multitude of dead end ideas I had sitting around and now I think i’m in a very comfortable place with him.

Now that that’s out of the way, allow me to tell you about his backstory. Broc Flower is a Khan boy whos adopted mother always told him that she “found him abandoned, yet seemingly protected by the tall stalks of Broc Flowers” He always found this just a little too fantastical to be completely believable but its not like he had much else to go on. Growing up in a post-apocalyptic desert tends to kill the magic, even for the children. It wasn’t until some time after her passing (this happened when he was around age 16-17) that he learned the truth from Papa Khan himself as Broc Flower had pleaded for Papa to tell him. It had turned out that his mother and multiple other khans whom she had been surviving with since their distruction at the hands of the chosen one, fueled by drugs and a lust for a return to the khan lifestyle, had succsessfully attempted to raid a traveling caravan. They murdered everyone traveling in the caravan including a small family save for the child who was no more than a year old. She took the child back with her, despite the protest of her peers. Not long after this, the Khans had finally settled and had begun raiding and pillaging once again comfortably from the ruins of las vegas. She however, refused to take part in that as she only wanted to care for her child. She would no longer take any kinds of drugs or medications as her trust for the other Khans had begun to dwindle. She began to feel great remorse for the things she had done and no longer felt at home with the Khans. She knew she no longer wanted that lifestyle and yet she stayed with them as she had no place else. Papa Khan did his best to support her by showing her how to make natural medicines and would offten accompany her when going out into the wastes for ingrediants. Even as she got on in years she would venture out to find broc flower and xander root. Broc flower had very fond memories of gathering these with her when he was younger. 

Not long after his learning of this truth, was the Bitter Springs Massacre. Broc Flower, of corse living in Bitter Springs with the rest of the Khans at the time was present for this. Though he was able to assist a few during the attack he of corse was powerless in the grand scheme. He lost many friends and aquaintences that day and as the Khans picked themselves up and migrated to red Rock, Broc Flower chose not to follow. It was then he decided it was time to escape, as it was clear to him now that the Khans just weren’t a society that was built to last. So he departed for the wasteland, off to find meaning and hope elsewhere. He would not be gone forever though; the Khans were still his family, and he would never forget that.

He gathered what was left of his supplies, and his weapon of choice- an old Varmint rifle that he fitted with a silencer and scope. Then disguised himself as a civilian and took up work with the Mojave Express in hopes that it would allow him to see more, do more, and meet more people. During his travels he meets and falls in love with a man named Niner.

Now I should probably tell you what hes actually like as a person. Hes quite soft spoken, yet assertive. (Paladin Ramos makes a good comparison.) Growing up the way that he did, essentially living the life of a raider child, He lacks people skills. Murdering, stealing and using hard drugs, at such a young age no less, tends to do that to people. Though He’s not shy. One of the things he loves most about traveling is getting to meet interesting people of the wasteland. (Exhibit A being Niner.) He’s also a bit awkward, being quite nosy at times and every once and awhile forgetting personal space. This kind of thing ranges anywhere from standing just a little too close when speaking to somebody, to wiping the dirt and dust off of people he hardly knows the name of in a very motherly fashion. One of his favorite hobbies is salvaging old guns that he finds and then using those guns to harass giant bugs from a distance. During his raiding days he would always tinker with the guns and gadgets that he pillaged, becoming very good at fixing them up and salvaging what was beyond repair for the parts. For awhile he was the Khans go-to weapons guy, up-keeping their weapons in exchange for whatever they had to trade. Weather that be caps, drugs, fruits or even more spare scraps. While he is quite knowledgeable about guns and survival, he’s not great at reading or writing, but he gets by. He’s Yes Man aligned as he strongly dislikes both the NCR and the Legion and doesn’t see the point in giving Mr house full control when he has the opportunity to do it himself. (with yes mans help.) 

And that’s about all I’ve got right now. If you read all of this I love you very much. Bye.