#did i write this while i was supposed to be drafting chapter 5 of my wip? yes yes i did

[burnthatbridge]

far from my care and keeping

buddie (side buck/tommy, mentioned eddie/marisol) | T | 3k | angst, pining, one-sided feelings realization Buck's in hospital, but that's nothing new. What is new is the extra person in the waiting room. That, and Eddie's understanding of his own heart.

Another day, another visit to the hospital.

They should be used to this by now: sitting in the sterile space off the main hallway, waiting, waiting, waiting. It should feel routine, ordinary, typical with how often they find themselves in the situation. But Eddie doesn’t think it’s ever going to feel that way when it’s one of them behind the doors fighting for their life, the rest sitting anxious on the other side. He wishes the universe would stop adding instances, would cease trying to make it, force it to be, normal.

It’s the usual crew; they’re practically all there: Eddie, Bobby, Hen, Ravi, Maddie, Athena. Chim had taken Jee-Yun from Maddie and left with her about an hour after Maddie arrived — it’s getting late, past Jee’s bedtime. And Karen is at home with the baby and Denny. Eddie is lucky Marisol was supposed to be coming over for dinner anyway, that she offered to get Chris and stay with him till Eddie could leave. Athena showed up at the end of her shift with coffee and donuts for everyone, caffeine and sugar to keep them going.

Eddie’s cup is sitting cold on the table, his donut already split between Chim and Ravi when he shook his head in a refusal of it. He’d struggle to eat or drink anything in his condition, plus the knot in his stomach is too large for anything else to fit. It’d come back up, and he’s afraid of what else might spill from him with it.

It’s the usual crew. Plus–

“Hey,” Tommy’s voice sounds. Eddie looks up to him crossing the floor towards them, not at a run, but not far off. “What happened? How’s he doing?” he asks, directed at Eddie, as his eyes sweep over him, take in the state of him.

“He’s– It was–” Eddie tries, but his mouth is dry and the lump in his stomach extends to his throat too, blocking it, making him choke on the words.

Hen, sitting in the chair next to him, takes over. “He’s in surgery.”

read more on ao3

[chaoticallyfluffy]

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that start with each letter of that word.

Thank you do much to @zorilleerrant for tagging me! It’s been so long since I’ve been tagged in one of these I’m so excited :D My word is JUICE.

—-

1: J (Unnamed WIP. Yes obviously Billy is the kid, who do you think I am?)

Just as he was about to start CPR, the kid opens his eyes, looking blearily up at him and breathing calmly as if he hadn't just died. No gasp of air to make up for at least five minutes of breathlessness, no panicked glancing around wondering why they're under tons of rubble. The kid just… blinks at him.

—-

2: U (Unnamed WIP, Clark's POV)

Ugh. Magic. He should have minded his own business from the start. Unfortunately, there's no way he can run from this now, not with Zatanna looking at him with so much hope in her eyes.

—-

3: I (From an almost completed one shot)

"... Is he high?" Barry questions. Victor turns around to glare at him. "What!? I'm just asking!"

—-

4: C (From chapter 6 of 'Learning to Live')

Captain Marvel pulls a jar of metal screws from… who knows where, and hands it to Clark with the most innocent face known to man. He was practically glowing. Hal has no clue whether he did this to screw (hah) with Clark or if he was genuinely just trying to help, but he honestly couldn't care less when he sees the resigned look cross Clark’s face before he eats the entire jar, glass and all, in seven seconds flat.

—-

5: E (from and unfinished fic called ‘Two Halves, Never Whole’)

Excuse him?? Was he just profiled by an old rich jerk with an ego big enough to purchase a gold encrusted pen? (Yes, you heard him right, there is a golden pen laying on the coffee table.) Just because Billy doesn’t have any money, a home, or any way to sustain himself doesn’t mean he’s a thief by default! He’s a hero for goodness sakes! Billy walks past the table, now lacking a golden pen, and plops down onto the ridiculously comfortable couch. Rich people are so annoying.

—-

Doing this made me realize that I dont have nearly as much writing done as I thought. It was really difficult to find all the sentences! Also I got tagged in like three more of these while I was working on this one! Am I supposed to do all of them? I want to but I’m not sure if I have enough drafts!

Tagging @teehhhhhhhhhhh and @wildglitch ! Anyone else is encouraged to join as well! I don’t know who has been tagged already or not.

Your word is “WORD”

[cher-rei]

afterglow- pt 6 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold x fem!reader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

genre(s): friends to lovers, workplace romance, fluff

[wc: 4.6K] [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10] [part 11] [part 12]

notes: this chapter is a bit longer but it was so funny to write. and of course, it was sitting in my drafts for like 50 years... enjoy!

if someone were to ask you to pick between your mother and your father you wouldn't be able to answer the question, much like most people in the world. they both offered qualities you needed respectively and you were grateful to have them both in your life. kind of.

seeing as you spent most of your life in london, despite being born in liverpool you grew up with your mother and spent a solid 22 years in her presence with nowhere to go. you loved it in london, it was your home and you couldn't let it go. but what it lacked was your father— your best friend.

you were living with him right now because of the whole "alex has chicken pox" situation but you were welcomed home to a facetime from your nephew so that was fun. it was easier with your father, you didn't have to walk on eggshells around him, you could talk about anything and laugh about everything together and that's what you loved about him— his neverending support.

it started with taking you to football practice without your mother knowing, her thinking that he was accompanying you to weekly ballet. when instead, he'd have your kit in the car ready at all times, and supporting you from the sidelines all the way until high school.

and then when your mum was against your university major in marketing instead of law as you had "agreed" upon, your father took the drive from liverpool to london so that he could have a chat with her. and to your surprise she gave up and let you do as you pleased with much reluctance.

so when they got the divorce when you were 16 and he moved back to liverpool, the decision was seamless but you still stayed with your mother seeing as maya already had a job position on that side. after all, you couldn't leave your mother alone. the woman gave birth to you for crying out loud.

all that just for you to move to liverpool eventually because of a really bad break-up. which brought you to your current point— the one where your father wanted to wring every single man's neck no matter how they looked at you.

you felt like a teenager sneaking out like this but you had no other choice. you were going on a drive to lord knows where with a freaken football player, "the most unloyal men on this planet", as your father liked to say.

but of course, he had to catch you in the act, a look of confusion plastered on his face as he stood in the living room, getting ready for bed. "why are you walking around like you did something wrong?" he gasped at your guilty expression, "are you leaving me already? you're just like your mother."

your anxiety vanished in an instant at his joke, an attempt to get the truth out of you. "it's too late to be making jokes like that."

he crossed his arms over his chest. "and it's too late for you to be walking around the house like you're in the 'quiet place'. seriously jamie, why are you tiptoeing?"

you raised your hands in defence, "I thought you were sleeping. my bad for being considerate."

he let out an unconvinced hum and eyed you up and down. he took in the fact that you were in a pair of sweats and a navy blue zip-up hoodie. "you're not a teenager anymore." he shook his head and let out an amused chuckle.

you watched as he made his way to the kitchen and you couldn't help but follow behind him, "what's that supposed to mean?"

he didn't answer your question for a moment and continued to rummage through the fridge for something, happily taking out a box of doughnuts you two had bought earlier. "it means that you can leave the house when you want to. just tell me first."

it was times like this that you forgot you were an adult. to be fair you never really considered yourself to be one, or to act like one either. "oh." there was a moment of silence that passed but it was interrupted by your phone going off.

the way that you darted to check the message said enough to your father, and he let out another amused chuckle. "go on now. don't keep the boy waiting."

your eyes widened in shock, your mouth dry in disbelief but he waved you off. "leave before I go outside to meet him. or should I just--"

"--stay here! I'll be home soon!"

"so do you always drag girls out of bed to keep you company in your car?"

trent rolled his eyes at your question from the driver's seat but kept his attention on the empty road, only the city lights illumating the dark night. "first of all: I didn't drag you out of bed, you could have said no. and second: no I don't usually do this."

you looked at him with your eyes narrowed, not sure what possessed him to call you at 10 in the evening for a drive. "oh so I get special privileges now? care to explain why?"

"I just wanted to go for a drive that's all," he answered honestly with a shrug of his shoulders but that still wasn't quite the answer you were looking for.

you fought back your amused smile. "you have friends for that trent, I'm sure."

the car stopped at a red light which allowed him to look over at you sitting comfortably in the passenger seat of his car. it wasn't the first time after all— there were many trips to the academy, sometimes having to shoot content with him and even that one morning when he picked you up at your sister's apartment for work.

you'd never forget that day and the innocent look on his face when he called you to say that he was outside just as you were grabbing your car keys. it was strange but you didn't mind it.

he let out a sigh and continued to drive after the light had turned green. "all my friends prefer to spend their evenings with their girlfriends and wives so yeah no thanks. and besides--" he shot you an appointed look, "--are we not friends?"

your mouth dried up. that was a little more than you wanted to get out of him, not sure how to respond. colleagues? definitely. banter buddies? sure. but friends?? you were sure that there was some sort of boundary for that and you were never sure if you two had managed to get there yet.

"you could have asked skylar."

oh shit.

you bit your tongue in immediate regret. it was a genuine accident at how quickly it left from your lips and telling by the flicker in trrent's expression, you had hit a nerve. you were just about to apologise when he interjected.

"skylar," he emphasized her name, his lips curved into a smile as he spoke to you, "wouldn't be caught dead eating takeout in a mcdonald's parking lot at 10 in the evening with me though."

you didn't know what to think of his answer, but instead of overthinking it, you decided to make the most of the moment at least. there was no point in making this awkward and it's not like you didn't enjoy his company. trent was easy to be around. most of the time.

so that's how you found yourself parked at the far end of an empty mcdonald's parking lot with hardly any street lights in sight. you unbuckled your seat belt and reclined the seat further back for some more leg room, trent watching you as you did so.

"oh, you're definitely not new to this."

which was true, you weren't. you've had your fair share of late-night drives to get some fresh air back in london. the only difference was the person you were with, a distant memory that you weren't too fond with but maintained at the back of your mind.

you were sat with a large fries, a chocolate milkshake and a mcflurry. you dubbed it the ultimate late-night combo and trent was eager enough to take your word for it, and to his surprise it did not disappoint despite being so simple.

it didn't take long for the atmosphere to clear and for you to ease into conversation. dabbling a bit in random aspects of your lives, to movies, to football and to just nothing. you loved how easygoing it was, not much thought had to be put into anything you said which left you with room to just relax.

"so your mum's not from liverpool?"

you shook your head and took another sip from your milkshake. "she's from london, my dad's from liverpool. but they lived together here for a bit, and two or three years after I was born we moved back to london."

the explanation made trent tutt in disappointment. "and here I thought you were a purebred brit. your accent's probably fake too."

"the accent is real thank you very much," you defended with a hand to your chest.

he quirked a brow, "let's be honest here. you probably dated colwill. you were probably neighbours or something."

your eyes widened a fraction at his comment in utter shock. "levi?" well wasn't this just lovely, you couldn't help but laugh at the thought. "he's three years younger than I am."

trent scrunched his face at you, not convinced by your answer almost as if he knew something you didn't. "age is just a number or whatever they say. but no," he thought for a moment, "you couldn't have been with him because he would have said something by now."

it was strange to see this considering that trent literally played with levi in the england team, so the dots would've been connected long ago if you were in fact in cahoots with levi. it was quite the compliment, knowing that you were paired up with someone that attractive.

"if I were with levi then I wouldn't be in liverpool right now. I'd be back in london living my best life." your answer seemed to pique trent's interest, questions bubbling at his throat the more he found out about you.

"why is it that you left london?" he leant back into the seat, his full attention now on you in the dimly lit car. "I'm sure it's not just because of work."

oh definitely not. you just happened to get lucky there.

your lips pursed as you thought, not sure just how much he wanted to know or how much you were willing to tell. but it wouldn't hurt right?

"uhm," you cleared your throat, "bad breakup."

trent's intrigue increased at your answer, one that he wasn't expecting to be honest. he was expecting something more along the lines of running away from home because your parents' divorce or to be closer to maya.

"you don't look like the relationship type," he answered truthfully and your eyes widened in slight shock, feelings mixed and a bitter taste in your mouth.

how were you supposed to interpret that? negatively? positively? was he calling you independent?? the internal struggle was mind boggling.

you pushed the comment to the back of your mind and let out a hum. "no yeah, he cheated on me."

"oh fuck."

"with my best friend."

"oh fuck."

a laugh escaped your mouth at his reaction and how it got progressively more concerned with each passing second, and your nonchalance wasn't making him feel any better. he fumbled over his words for a bit, switching between the usual "I'm so sorry" and "you've got to be joking right now".

you assured him that you were fine, a closed lippsed smile drawn across your lips. "but like hey," you raised your hands jokjngly, "his name was michael so..."

trent blew out a breath at that and quirked a brow. "yeah, no you definitely asked for it then."

your rolled your eyes and played along for a moment, "I know right. and it didn't help that she was literally his best friend before we got together."

it was every cliché in the book to trent which only made the situation less serious, and seeing that you weren't showing any sort of discomfort towards it he didn't stop himself from laughing and getting back at you. "you just love making horrible life choices."

you nodded eagerly in agreement, saying that it was actually your forte— a gift that you just happened to be born with. it didn't take long for you to ask trent how he didn't know about the breakup. "I'm not famous but it was all over twitter for quite some time."

you came to learn that he wasn't a social media buff and preferred to keep to himself by just staying at home and enjoying his own company and you respected him for that. for you however, it was slightly different because your entire life was on social media but you didn't regret it.

the people that you met and the content that you had the opportunity to create were more than you could ever ask for. but obviously there were the downs— public breakups, hate comments, death threats. nothing out of the ordinary. quite a bit of your life was on display for the world to see so you understood trent's want to keep his life as private as possible.

you were getting to that point as well. you had a total of two friends— maya and clara. your daily routine consisted of waking up, going to work, pilates, pop into a barnes and noble, settling in at home and going live for a few hours. that was your quiet life and you were thoroughly enjoying it.

and trent did a damn good job at keeping his life private, skylar was an absolute myth to everyone. that and you felt that it was time to shift the attention to him for a bit.

"so what happened between you and name not to be mentioned? seeing as we're getting emotional here."

he wouldn't use the word "emotional" but a heart-to-heart was blatantly taking place, even though it wasn't planned. there was a look on his face that screamed how do I explain this? and it had you chewing on your lip for answers, any sort of answer.

it took trent a moment but he eventually let his guard down. "well rumors say that I cheated on her with some random youtuber's girlfriend— which is insane by the way."

not really.

"we dated for nearly two years, she was nice, came to my matches, said I made her heart do flips or something like that." the way it fell from his lips wasn't the slightest bit tasteful, no good reminisce or fondness in his tone at all.

you continued to listen to trent as he explained his relationship with skylar a bit more, furthering into how they met and whatnot. it wasn't anything crazy, just through a mutual friend and he decided to take her on a few dates just for fun, until they're eventually hit it off.

"I thought it was going well but then she said she needed a break out of nowhere, and I was like excuse me?" he said with just as much enthusiasm as if he were still in the moment, his forehead creased in confusion as he looked at you.

he was hurt and it was subtle but not subtle enough to miss. "and she just left without explaining?"

"no," he sighed. "she said she couldn't handle the restriction and needed some time to live her life but obviously the lads thought otherwise. robbo said it was emotional manipulation but I don't know."

"that girl is insane trent. she uses your bank card more than you do. she flakes out on most of your dates and when you try to speak to her about an issue or how you're feeling she gets emotional and starts playing the victim, while you try and apologise. get her out of your life."

this was at least a ten times worse than your situation and you were sympathising at this point. skylar was in fact a manipulator and trent wholeheartedly did not want to admit that.

"and now what? she just shows up and you're fine?" the question came out a little harsher than you intended so you immediately apologized, not wanting to ruin the moment and make him feel awkward. but it was a genuine question and you were borderline worried for him.

there was a moment of silence that enveloped the two of you, filled with even more uncertainty than before. "I don't know to be honest. she hasn't said anything yet but I haven't really been in the mood to confront her yet— I have bigger things to worry about right now."

okay, that was true. his head had to be in the game, and with his team, not some girl who came to lounge around for whatever reason. but you genuinely felt bad for him, a new light shone over him after this evening— one that revealed a little more vulnerability than he let on and it tugged at your heart strings.

driving home about an hour later with that knowledge sitting at the back of your mind wasn't the easiest and you just knew that it was going to keep you up tonight. plaguing your mind, sounding over your other thoughts that were probably more important, for example— the script that you had to give to one of the p.r members for an episode of Up the Reds!, the schedule for certain uploads and how the accounts had to be managed, as well as certain photoshoots and interviews that needed to be prepared beforehand and the packing you had to finish before--

"hey sweetheart," you cooed into the receiver end of your phone which just happened to catch trent's undivided attention but yours was out the window, as you adorned a soft smile.

"don't 'hey sweetheart' me," the voice of the teenager bit back but you swear you could hear him smiling. "you didn't tell me you were making the trip."

oh, he just had to go and tell the entire world huh?

you huffed out a breath, "in my defence, I only made the decision today." an unconvinced hum rang through your hear and you stifled a laugh. "are you going to be there?"

"no duh."

you rolled your eyes at the attitude he was giving you, which was nothing out of the ordinary. "I'm leaving in two days for the week so--"

"a week??" the shock in his tone was evident and you knew were this was leading. "he convinced you to stay for the week? and you said yes?!"

"I said yes so I could spend more time with you I swear. if you really think about it, I'm doing this for you."

"hm, oh really?" he dragged out and you pursed your lips to stop the laughter from escaping your lips. "I'm holding you to this. bye I'm leaving to try and comprehend the amount of lies that just came from your mouth."

"come on you can't be a--" you interjected but the boy was adamant.

"--bye!!"

you laughed sheepishly. "I love you."

"liar!"

that was nothing short of the usual phone call you seemed to get, a ghost of a smile still on your lips as you put your phone back down into your lap while trent mustered up the courage to say something.

"so." he gained your attention, his gaze immediately averting in front of him to the empty road as he drove a little slower than usual. "you're going somewhere?"

you perked up and nodded. "It's supposed to be to relax but I'm pretty sure I'll be more stressed out on that side of the world. I'll be back by next week though."

he probably should have asked where you were going but before you knew it, you were in front of your dad's house. and as suspected, all the lights were off but you knew he wasn't sleeping. he wouldn't even think about it until he knew that you were at home safely.

it was exactly 1:42 a.m., and only then had it hit you just how long you had stayed out. trent got out of the car and watched as you walked to the front door— the urge to say something tickling at his throat. something other than "goodbye" but it wasn't there yet.

you gave him a small wave and put your hand on the door handle, but before you could turn it, it was pulled open from the inside— your dad stood against the doorframe with a sly grin that you were so close to slapping off his face but he was quick.

he put his hand out and waved at trent, the footballer slightly amused at your reaction and harsh movements to push your dad back inside, a laugh echoing as he waved back politely. "good evening mr carter."

you whipped around and sent a glare trent's way but he was far more than pleased.

"jamie, why didn't you say that your boyfriend was a footballer?"

your heart dropped to your stomach. "dad! i swear I'm going to--"

your father continued on playfully. "and he plays for us? so you do have reasonable taste in men. and here I thought I raised an idiot."

trent was as a loss for words by now, his eyes flickering from you as you tried to loosen yourself from your father's grip on your shoulders. he knew you were blushing, but his was masked well by the lack of lighting.

"anyway, thank you so much for returning my daughter in one piece trent. I hope she didn't bother you too much." he tightened his grip on you and ruffled your hair. "she's rather irritating in my opinion."

"not at all," trent managed through a laugh. "she's great company."

your father didn't agree with his answer at all and he made it blatantly obvious until he finally bid trent goodbye and got back into the house where you basically jumped onto his back, your arm wrapped around his neck in a chokehold.

"why are you like this?? I have to see him at work!"

"that's your fault for dating a colleague!"

"we're not dating!"

"that's exactly what your mother told me about her and shawn. and now look where that led us!"

[enzstr]

Long Live The Queen | K. Bakugo

A story where families of two connects a pair to go through their life together with having no choice. Things get messy, but will their bubble burst? That's one secret you won't know unless you read.

Just a small detail about the reader: Reader loves writing and journaling. It's your passion but as a princess, you only had to make your kingdom proud by serving and marrying a king.

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugo x reader

💭: This was actually my draft few months ago but I don't really like it so it'll be just a shitpost.

Chapter one: Forgive and Forget

19th May.

Being part of the royal family was not simple but not difficult either. That's how it was for the princess. Every time she's at the kingdom, all she feels is sorrow and spiritlessness while roaming around the kingdom. The queen, also her mother, mentioned that the princess will be the next queen in line to serve her kingdom.. but without a king?

The princess has had her future planned since she was a small girl. She didn’t want a man to be satisfied, hell she didn’t need anyone to make her feel overjoyed. Princess (Y/n) didn’t even want to be a princess, living in a royal environment while having servants to serve her. Most people would think it’s a dream to be living in an environment like royalty, but not her. All she wanted to do was be an aspiring journalist, writer, any career that will not treat her the same as anything related to royalty. That was her dream.

“Her Royal Highness. Her Majesty called me to tell me that the Royal Briefing is starting in an hour. Shall I start the bath now?” Her thoughts were soon disrupted but a smile formed on her face.

“Yes, Roberta. And I told you to not call me that anymore. You’re part of the family, remember?” Y/n had a look of sympathy while speaking to her. Even though Roberta is just a servant, she’s looked out for her since her birth.

“I know.. I know.. But it is a force of habit. If His Majesty or Her Majesty notices me lacking in my work, who knows?” Roberta looked down while she sighs in disappointment. Princess (Y/n) rested her hands on her shoulder as she grinned from ear to ear. Oh Roberta already knows what look she just gave to her.

“Not to worry Roberta! I will not let them harm you and your family, you have my word! Well I’m going to get ready for the brief meeting. Bye!” Before Roberta could speak, (Y/n) had already run off to her chamber with speed. Roberta sighed and smiled  then continued with her work.

As Princess (Y/n) arrived at her chamber, she glanced at the time and her eyes widened, she really did take her time and is thus rushing to change for the royal briefing. 5 minutes had passed and she was still struggling to put on her dress, loud grunts could be heard promptly before she walked out of her chamber like nothing happened. 

Roberta heard running footsteps from upstairs and chuckled at the clumsy girl. Princess (Y/n) was muttering under her breath while walking into the briefing room.

“Her Royal Highness has arrived!” The Lord Steward announced as everyone's eyes were on her and she smiled awkwardly while walking at a fast pace to The Queen. 

“Where on earth were you?! You were supposed to be here 2 minutes ago.” The queen aggressively whispers through her clenched teeth. She hates when (Y/n) arrives late to any meeting. It didn’t matter if it was 1 minute late, or 3 minutes late, it’s still counted as late.

“I’m sorry, I lost track of time...” (Y/n) apologized, Princess (Y/n) never spoke much with her stepmother, they weren’t close, never tried to be. She’d like it to stay that way.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m here to discuss something important. About you.” The queen spoke in the most blunted way to her and turned back to everyone. On the other hand, Princess (Y/n) tilted her head in confusion at what she just said.

“The main reason why I called a brief meeting is about The Princess. I may have made some minor mistake, but as I thought more into it, I figured it would be for her own good.” The more The Queen spoke, the more confused Princess Y/n was. 

“As you all know, Princess (Y/n) is going to be the next queen once I retire. But because of the minor mistake, she’s going to be the next queen in line for another kingdom.”

“Kingdom of Orane.” 

Princess (Y/n) immediately spat out her water and looked at her mother in shock. She knew that The Queen did this on purpose so that she wouldn’t need to serve her kingdom. Her face was filled with rage and fury.

“How could you, Mother?! You did this on purpose. I know you did! Was this payback from all the things I made you crazy about? I can’t believe you!” Her mother looked into her eyes with a cold stare and shook her head, feeling as though her daughter was acting crazy and immature. 

“(Y/n), some things just won’t come easy to you. Look at you, you’re a princess, start acting like one. You should be grateful that you’ve been born into this family. You are to be heading to the Kingdom of Orane first thing in the morning and that is final.” The Queen and the other upperclassmen proceed out of the door leaving her with her emotions holding back. This was never expected from The Queen. Nonetheless, her own mom, sending her away just so she wouldn’t rule her kingdom.

20th May.

This is it. Princess (Y/n) is getting shipped to the Kingdom of Orane for good. No last goodbyes and promises from her family. How cruel could The Queen even be? Especially to her own daughter, her only daughter? 

The door creaked and Princess (Y/n)'s head shot up, only to see a sad Roberta dragging her feet towards her. She didn't want her to leave since she was the only thing that kept Roberta positive, other than her family. 

"I'm sorry I have to leave this kingdom, Roberta. It all just happened so fast and.. I didn't know this would happen, and you know that too right, Roberta?" 

"Please, don't feel sorry Princess (Y/n).. It is my job as a servant.. although I will miss you." Roberta went in for a tight hug and it was really comforting.

(Y/n) hugged her back exuberantly as a response. Soon she had to break away from the hug and had to get going to the Kingdom of Orane.

[festivating]

hi!!!! absolutely LOVING attrition, I wanted to ask about your writing process...

how long have you had the idea for the story? what's your outlining process like? how big of a backlog did you have before you started posting?

your dedication and committment to this fic is incredibly impressive and i am astonished (and grateful!!!!) for the consistent weekly updates and fr i just wanna know how you manage it all... (speaking as someone who has been working on the same 40ish chapter fic for over 5 years lol....)

keep up the fantastic work!!

Omg hiiiii friend thank you for the questions I LOVE talking about writing!! I usually start writing long stories after I get an idea for a particular scene, and then I heavily outline around that scene and I plan everything down to the smallest detail, but for attrition I just.... didn't plan at all, that fic spawned to existence out of pure whimsy and happenstance. It was supposed to be a ONE SHOT 😭I started writing it in May of 2023 after I read the first book and I was like mm wouldn't it be interesting if Glinda found Elphaba at the convent surely this won't be longer than 5k words...

I am a severely delusional person.

By the time I hit 20k words I realized perhaps it would not be a one shot lol. I didn't really have an outline I just kept throwing ideas on the page thinking eventually I would just run out of things to say, but it actually took a very long time before that happened. The backlog is pretty much the whole fic tbh, I finished it all and sent it to my beta reader (who was horrified because the whole thing was one massive document not even divided into chapters) and then we went back and forth for months while I polished things up, tightened loose ends, added foreshadow, cleaned up the prose and things like that.

I'm still working on revising the final chapters, but the fic was 80% done before I started posting in November! I am truly more of an editor than I am a writer, the first draft of this thing was finished very quickly and it was very rough, so it took a lot of revisions before I was satisfied.

But anyway, yeah! I may not be the best person to ask how to manage it all because my process is weird I write super fast very unpolished first drafts then spend two lifetimes editing and revising. Mad respect to you and other writers who are able to write exactly what they want from the start and post that to incredible results!!

[melishade]

Attack on Prime Alternate Scene Part 5

Part 4

I FUCKING DID IT EVERYONE! I've finally completed the rough draft for Guren No Yumiya with 56,423 words! I finally written the end game! All I need to do is make edits to Last Ditch Effort and then Guren No Yumiya and I can publish them both! Not at the same time, this is a lot to digest! But I finally made it and completed the climax! FINALLY!

Alright, so which scene am I gonna talk about today?

Actually I can just talk about my multiple edits for both chapter 90 and chapter 91. For now, I'm just going to focus on chapter 90. Next Part will be chapter 91.

So when I had initially started writing up draft for introducing Primus, the Fourth Notebook idea hadn't existed yet. The original idea was that Kenny found the drawing of Optimus' holoform in Grisha's notebook and brought it over to Megatron in a fit of rage:

Erwin and Nile jolted when Kenny kicked open the door to Erwin’s home. Nile backed away when Erwin took a step forward.

“Kenny, what-,”

“Out the fucking way,” Kenny growled ominously. He walked over to Megatron and punched him in the face, startling both Erwin and Nile.

“You fucking liar!” Kenny shouted.

Megatron glared at Kenny before choking him with one arm and lifting him in the air. “You better have a good reason for your insolence.”

“My insolence?!” Kenny strained.

“Megatron, put him down!” Erwin ordered as he tried to pull the arm down.

“Explain this bullshit!” Kenny demanded as he showed Megatron the paper.

Megatron stared in shock as he snatched the paper and dropped Kenny on the ground. Nile went to his side while Erwin turned his attention to Megatron.

“What the hell-,”

Erwin was startled when he saw the paper. It was a drawing. A drawing of…

Optimus Prime in his human form.

“What the hell?” Erwin breathed.

“Where did you get this?” Megatron demanded.

“From those fucking notebooks!” Kenny shouted, “You sons of bitches sayin’ that you haven’t been here! That bastard keeps saying he’s seen his face! I thought you bastards were in a war!”

“We were in a war!” Megatron shouted, “Optimus was stranded on Earth and I was halfway across the universe looking for dark energon!”

“Then why the hell is that bastard seeing your ex?!” Kenny shouted.

Erwin took the paper from Megatron and read the information on the back. “I keep on seeing him. I don’t know if I should share or withhold this information, so I will keep it hidden for the time being. I try to touch him, to speak to him, but he seems to be out of my sights. An after image in the back of my mind. I feel like I have seen him, but I do not know his name. All I know, is that he is referred to…as god.”

“’God’?” Kenny hissed, “Is that bastard fucking insane?”

“He’s seeing Optimus in his memories!” Erwin shot back, “How is that even possible?!”

“Timey-whiney mumbo jumbo!” Kenny answered, “We already said memories can be sent back!”

“Optimus has only been here for four years!” Erwin reasoned, “Grisha has never seen him!”

“But Eren has!” Kenny reminded, “This is bullshit!”

“This isn’t Optimus,” Megatron proclaimed, gaining everyone’s attention.

“You’re joking, right?” Kenny demanded.

“No,” Megatron answered, “This is someone wearing the holoform’s skin, most likely to blend in with the humans.”

“What are you suggesting?” Erwin asked.

“Someone else is interfering,” Megatron answered as he handed the paper back to Kenny, “Someone that has more power than us.”

“Do you know who?” Nile asked.

Megatron grimaced in response. “No idea, and I’m not sure if it’s wise to find out. Leave this alone for the time being.”

“That’s it?” Kenny demanded, “We’re just supposed to leave this shit alone?”

“Shouldn’t this be something we should be worried about?” Nile asked in confusion.

“This is clearly supernatural,” Megatron explained as he rubbed his temple, “And I’ve had my fair share of getting involved with that.

The idea of the humans and Megatron figuring out that there was something supernatural involved didn't sit right with me. Because what was I even supposed to do with it. Where would I even take it? Where would it go? I felt like this wouldn't have worked long term so I figured a fourth notebook with Megatron concluding later on that the Attack Titan can see into the future would be the better option. It allows the characters to be aware of the situation while also keeping the twist that Primus is involved just a little bit longer.

Now when Primus was initially introduced into the Paths, I had him acting just a little bit different....:

“Next memory,” Eren told his brother as he opened the door. He stopped when he saw a man at the door, wearing a large, black trench coat that looked exactly like…

“Optimus?” Eren whispered.

Zeke stared in shock and merely took a step back as Optimus walked past Eren. The two noticed that Grisha didn’t see him as Optimus began rummaging through the cabinets. The two grew confused when Optimus hit his head on top of one of the cabinets.

Optimus rubbed his head as he sat on the ground. “I don’t know why I still have to have pain receptors. Time doesn’t even work here.”

Eren grew stiff. That wasn’t Optimus. That sounded nothing like Optimus! Who the hell was he?!

“Who are you?!” Zeke demanded at the man.

The man looked at Zeke and Eren in surprise and stood up. “You can see me?”

“Yes! Who are you?!” Zeke demanded.

The man smiled and grabbed Zeke’s shoulders. “Great! You can help me!”

“Help you?” Eren asked.

“Yes!” he answered, “I am currently looking for someone. Time doesn’t work here, that much I know. And I am currently limited to this form. It’s been a long time since I’ve had digits.”

The man looked down at his fingers and wiggled them. “What an odd sight, don’t you think?”

“I guess,” Eren shrugged, “But…I don’t know what you’re looking for. Could you describe it?”

“That’s the thing…I’m not sure,” the man admitted, “I have been dormant for eons. I wake up hearing a cry from across the universe, and I can’t go because this was the closest I could to achieving a physical form. I had to send Optimus here to get close.”

“What?” Eren said.

“But I see that the two of you are busy,” the man said, “And I have an eternity to wait,”

The man walked back over to the door, still unnoticed by Grisha. He gestured to the door and smiled.

“I’d like to come with the both of you,” he requested, “Going through this place by myself is difficult. One minute I find myself in a calm setting, the next I find myself in a war zone. I would like some clarification or order to the chaos.”

Zeke looked at the man with warning, causing the man’s smile to disappear.

“I swear to…myself?, I will not get involved with…this,” the man gestured to the scene before him.

Zeke grimaced in response. “Fine.”

Eren eyed the man as he happily followed Zeke into the next memory.

There's obviously no weight to this scene, not compared to the final draft. It feels extremely rushed. But the idea was the same. Primus comes in, Eren and Zeke are surprised, and Primus asks to come with them. Now when writing Primus initially, I was characterizing him as someone who had control of the situation, and you'll see glimpses of that in later drafts. It's almost like he was completely fine with his situation and he knew what was going on. I didn't want to make it too easy for Primus for obvious reasons, but I knew I had to rewrite Primus where he's in a situation that's out of his control. There's also other things that I decided to change, like Primus dropping Cybertronian terminology and Primus swearing to himself instead of the One: the being he originally came from. I wanted there to be more of a build up to Primus' identity and I feel like have Primus swear to himself would have been a dead giveaway.

Now this is one of the scenes that I've changed. It's about Primus learning of Eren's interactions with Mikasa and his kill count and also Primus confronting Zeke for a brief moment.

Eren could only watch as the man tried to interact with his younger self, kneeling down and waving to the nine year old.

“This is strange,” he remarked before looking at Eren, “Is it strange for you to see a younger version of yourself walking around? Or is this only limited to humans?”

“Will you stop?” Zeke demanded.

“So this is normal?” the man asked for clarification.

“No!” Zeke exclaimed, “Can you stop?! I am trying to prove a point to my brother!”

The man raised an eyebrow at the both of them. “You two don’t look alike.”

Zeke growled in irritation. Eren was merely trying to put some pieces together. What did this man mean when he said he sent Optimus here? He clearly wasn’t human. He used a different terminology for body parts and other phrases. Optimus had to tell him something about this, right?

“What point are you trying to prove to him?” the man asked as he pointed at Eren.

“I’m trying to save the world,” Zeke answered, “And our father brainwashed him into believing that the world shouldn’t be save. That our father forced his ideology on him and forced him to use the power of the titans. I’m trying to save Eren, too.”

The man stood up and walked around the people before facing Zeke. “How do you intend to save the world?”

Eren felt the air suddenly get colder and terrifying. Zeke seemed to notice this change, but didn’t associate it with the man.

“I have to free the Eldians,” Zeke declared, “And I will use the power of the titans to free them and end their suffering.”

The man didn’t respond to Zeke, causing the man to grow tense. But they both grew confused as the man placed a hand on Zeke’s shoulder.

“That is very admirable of you,” the man smiled.

Eren noticed that the man’s smile was forced. He wore Optimus’ face, so he knew the subtle changes in his expression and how that related to what he was feeling. Something told him this man knew more than he let on.

“While I am looking for the being I came here for, I can help your brother see the error in your creator’s ways,” the man offered.

“You won’t find anything,” Eren declared, “My father never forced a thing on me.”

The memory shifted into the aftermath of Eren and Mikasa’s first kill. The man looked down in surprise, then horror as he realized that the two children were responsible for the deaths of the three men.

“You did this...,” The man began, “As a sparkling?”

“Those three men killed Mikasa’s parents,” Eren explained, “They were going to force Mikasa into sexual slavery at the age of nine. They tried to take away the freedom of someone else, so I took away theirs.”

Eren noticed guilt appearing on the man’s face before he turned away from him.

“I understand why you did what you did,” the man began as he saw Grisha yelling at Eren outside of the cabin, “But…it is unfortunate that you had to sacrifice your innocence at that age.”

“At least you had a choice in the matter,” Zeke retorted, “I never did.”

“Dad didn’t force me to do anything,” Eren declared as he gestured to the house. “This was all my choice.”

“Grisha raised you freely,” Zeke accepted, “But that does not make him a good man. It makes him a hypocrite.”

Zeke walked away from Eren down the steps, but stopped when he saw the man watching Eren wrap his scarf around Mikasa with a warm smile.

“I don’t agree with the method,” the man began, “But I am happy that you saved her life.”

Eren wanted to throw up as the man looked at him with that same smile.

“Thank you,” the man said before noticing the guilt on Eren’s face, “Are you okay?”

“I…,” Eren began, “You look like someone I know.”

“Oh, I didn’t know,” the man insisted, “I had to get a human form to blend in with humans, but I wasn’t aware this was of someone you knew.”

“You’re acting as if you aren’t human,” Zeke remarked as he crossed his arms.

“Well, I’m not,” the man shrugged before turning back to Eren, “If you want I can find another form.”

“It’s fine,” Eren said, “I can deal with it.”

“Are you sure?” the man asked, earning a nod from Eren.

“But…who are you?” Eren asked.

“Even if I told you my name, you wouldn’t know who I am,” the man proclaimed, “Sorry.”

“I need you to stop interfering with us,” Zeke ordered the man, “I need to make my point to him.”

“But I still need help,” the man reasoned.

“This is more important than you finding some random person,” Zeke declared, “I need to save multiple people. That’s more important than saving one person.”

“For someone who wishes to save the world, you’re not very compassionate,” the man proclaimed.

Zeke blinked at the man’s word before he stormed off. The man gestured to Eren and the titan shifter followed him into the next memory.

“The person I am,” the man began, “Is he someone close to you?”

Eren thought it over before looking down despondently. “He…he’s like a father to me. And after I lost my dad, that was something I needed. But…I’m pretty sure I hurt him.”

“Hurt him?” the man questioned.

“I lied to him, hurt his feelings, did something that made him disappointed in me,” Eren listed, “I don’t think he’s going to forgive me.”

The man seemed to be deep in thought before looking back at Eren. “Perhaps there is time to apologize to him. Even if he doesn’t forgive you, it wouldn’t hurt to try, especially if he means so much to you.”

“I appreciate the thought, but I’m not going to get that chance,” Eren proclaimed.

The man raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

Eren shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

The man shrugged. “If you’re willing to talk about it, I’d be happy to listen.”

“Um…yeah,” Eren trailed off, “How…did you even get here?”

The man raised an eyebrow as Zeke began listening in on the conversation.

“Like in this dimension?” the man asked, earning a nod from Eren, “Well as I said before, I had to send Optimus to get close. Vector was the one who had to open a portal at the exact moment in space and time in order to get into this dimension. He said it had to be an exact moment.”

So the main bulk of the dynamics hasn't really changed much, just the dialogue. Primus is trying to interact with the world of the humans. Zeke is obviously annoyed and Eren is more willing to hear Primus out due to him wearing Optimus' face. At this point, Primus hadn't revealed his name to Eren yet, but the younger of the two was still trying to put the pieces together in regards to who Primus was.

In terms of Primus asking Zeke for his intentions and motivations, a few things. I was originally thinking of making Primus aware of Zeke's plan, and wanting to give Zeke a proper chance to explain himself and why he wants to do his plan, but Zeke doesn't give the full details of his plans, knowing from experience that people tend to oppose it. But Primus is fully aware. He's not happy with Zeke's explanation, so much so that his anger and disappointment is affecting the environment around him. But Primus keeps it together for the sake of keeping up appearances.

Same thing with Eren. Primus has some knowledge of Eren's intentions and capabilities but is still playing dumb to get a much more honest reaction out of him. He's aware of Eren's relationship with Optimus and just wants to see the impact. I ultimately decided against Primus being knowledgeable about the AOT world because it ultimately does him a disservice when it comes to giving Eren a choice. Having Primus figure out everything as he goes along just seemed like the better option.

A few other scenes before I go into the final moment in chapter 90:

Primus seeing baby Eren and gushing about him:

Eren looked out of the corner of his eye to see the shadow staring at the child version of himself. There was awe and curiosity in those eyes as the child was playing with his family. Zeke noticed the expression on the shadow’s face and was also confused.

“What’s wrong?” Zeke demanded.

“I want to say something, but I said that I wouldn’t interfere with your dispute.” The shadow explained.

“...go ahead,” Zeke sighed.

The shadow slid over to the family and gestured to the smaller version of Eren. “It’s so cute!”

“Huh?!” Eren exclaimed while Zeke covered his mouth to hide his smirk.

“You were so small, and chubby!”  the shadow exclaimed as he pointed to the smaller version of himself, “Now you're so tall, and thin! And your hair is longer!...it doesn’t suit you.”

Eren blushed in embarrassment while Zeke stifled his laughter.

“Still, I’m curious as to how you’re able to turn from that into this,” the shadow said as he pointed from his younger self to the older child, “Especially in such a short amount of time.”

Zeke stopped laughing while Eren was startled.

“Fifteen years is not a short amount of time,” Eren told him.

“It isn’t?” The shadow questioned, “Hm. Maybe I’ve been in here for too long and my perception of time has been warped.”

“How long have you been in here?” Zeke asked.

The shadow thought it over before counting his fingers. He paused and thought about it again before he continued counting.

“...a long time,” the shadow responded, “There was no linear construct of time when I came to this dimension. I just know that I’ve been here for ages.”

The shadow noticed their staring and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry that’s not a really solid answer.”

“This place does not follow the same construct of time as the real world,” Zeke said, “I can imagine why you would not be able to keep track.”

“I’m just glad that I have some company,” the shadow proclaimed, “Thank you for letting me accompany you.”

Showing Primus' adoration for new life while also revealing information about him to the brothers and the audience.

This scene also got cut as well, it was basically Primus talking to Friede before Grisha transformed:

 “I cannot change what will happen today,” the man told her, “This is already set in stone.”

Frieda hung her head. “My family will die, won’t they?”

“Yes,”

“I…will die,”

The man hesitated. “Yes. I am sorry I cannot save you. The guilt you must have been feeling for so long has tormented you for years. Tormented your family, and tormented your ancestors.”

“…it has,” Frieda whispered.

“You did what you could to end the suffering brought on by your ancestors,” the man proclaimed, “With what options you had, you did not do so bad. But the Eldians now do not deserve that suffering. It will continue to lead in a never ending cycle of violence. I will end the power of the titans; you have my word, but I cannot find out how. Do you happen to know that answer?”

Eren snapped out of his thoughts and yelled at his father. “Kill them right now!”

“No, father! Don’t!” Zeke pleaded.

“What guarantee can you give me that the power of the titans will end?” Frieda asked, “What guarantee can you give me that the Eldians will be safe?”

“My word,” the man answered, “It is not much, I know, but it is all that I can give you.”

Frieda looked up at the man, looked him straight in the eye to determine if he was lying. All she saw was pure honesty…and kindness. Frieda touched the man’s head with her own as Grisha muttered the courage and raised his scalpel.

“For Aunt Faye!” Eren shouted.

“She wouldn’t want this!” Zeke proclaimed.

“You started this story didn’t you?!” Eren challenged.

“That is all I can give you,” Frieda sighed solemnly as she let him go, “I have nothing else.”

The man opened his eyes and smiled at Frieda before placing his hand on her head. Frieda gasped as she saw…Historia, in a beautiful dress, looking happy as she kissed another woman by the ocean. Frieda began crying with tears a joy as the man removed his hand from her head.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“May your next life be one of peace and happiness,” the man prayed.

It was the original route of Primus being aware of everything, but I ultimately didn't go through with it because the way I wrote it out, it was implying that Primus was just going to let Frieda die at Grisha's hand. I just thought it would be better for Eren to cause trouble and have Primus' emotions ultimately influence Grisha's decision. I was also having this be a callback to Primus praying for Kruger's soul in the next life.

And finally this scene:

Eren tried to reach Ymir, to stop her from reaching the glowing tree. He was almost able to touch her, but something stopped Eren dead in his tracks. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. Ymir was almost going to reach the tree, but the man from earlier walked out of the tree. He kneeled down in front of Ymir and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight hug. Ymir did not move or struggle from the man, and merely stood in place.

Eren was shocked at the sight, forgetting about his current predicament. He stopped her. The guy stopped her. Who was he? Eren saw the man speaking, but couldn’t understand a word coming from his mouth. He then connected his forehead with Ymir’s in a gesture of comfort. He kissed her on her forehead and wrapped his arms around her once more.

“I found you,” he spoke.

Eren was shocked as he felt the force let him go. Zeke saw what was going on and ran towards the man.

“You can’t do this!” Zeke shouted, “Ymir, I order you!”

Ymir cried out in pain as she clutched her head. The man immediately covered her ears before glaring at Zeke. He raised his hand, and Zeke was forced to stop in his tracks. Eren looked back at the man and froze when he saw his eyes glowing an electric blue.

“Rest, little one,” he told Ymir, “I will be right back.”

He placed Ymir on the sand and laid her down. The man removed his coat and placed it over Ymir like a blanket. She curled into the warmth and fell asleep.

Eren took small steps back as he saw something glowing at the center of the man’s chest. He had blue, glowing veins throughout his arms, and his eyes…weren’t human. They resembled that of a Cybertronian.

“You said you wouldn’t interfere!” Zeke shouted.

“Zeke, shut up!” Eren warned.

“You’re right,” the man began ominously, “But I’ve seen enough to finally step in, Zeke Jaeger.”

Zeke felt himself being lifted high into the air before being slammed into the sand.

“Wait, stop!” Eren pleaded. He yelped when a forced pulled him towards the man. The man grabbed Eren’s shirt and gave an ominous look.

“Eren Jaeger,” the man bellowed, “Son of Grisha and Carla Jaeger, current holder of the Attack Titan, the foolish child who wishes to destroy the world. I’ve seen that look with Megatronus. That looks still lingers within Megatron’s eyes. And now…”

Eren looked down at the hand holding him, seeing blue lightening brim to life around it.

“I see it with you!”the man bellowed in a completely different voice, or voices. It sounded like multiple voices overlapping with one another. It was powerful, and it was haunting, and Eren was scared out of his mind. Eren began to tremble as Zeke forced himself up.

“Who are you?!” Zeke shouted, “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

“I told you, you wouldn’t know who I am,” the man declared.

“Y-you’re…,” Eren began, “You’re the creator of Cybertron, the sworn enemy to Unicron, and the creator of the original Primes. You…are Primus: Optimus’ god.”

Zeke looked at Primus in horror while Primus was surprised.

“Optimus taught you well,” Primus remarked, “But this does not change your current situation.”

Eren began gasping for air as Primus let go of his shirt. He kicked and struggled as an invisible force wrapped around his neck and began choking him.

“I have made my decision: I will kill the both of you, and I will put an end to the titans forever,” Primus declared.

Super rushed. No major impact. This was the first rough draft that I had when writing the ending moment of chapter 90. Primus is still interacting in human form and while I did have Eren be the one to put the pieces together on Optimus' identity, I figured it would be better if he had Primus' name to go off of in order to put those pieces together.

The second revision of the scene is this:

Eren ripped his hands out of his chains, tearing off his thumbs in the process. He ran towards Ymir, hoping to somehow stop her. As he reached out towards Ymir, almost being able to grab her, a blue chain wrapped tightly around his wrist and yanked him to the ground. Eren was in shock, and quickly tried to pull off the chain, but that only made it tighter. Eren cried out in pain, but still tried to reach for Ymir. Eren began choking as a blue chain wrapped around his neck, and pulled him back. Eren still tried to reach out and grab Ymir, but he couldn’t move. He...was going to fail. Zeke was going to win. It was over.

Eren was then shocked as someone stepped out of the glowing tree. It was Primus. He came back. But how? How did he go through the tree? He didn’t understand! What shook him to his core even more was that Ymir stopped in her tracks directly in front of him. She began trembling before she dropped to her knees in submission. Primus didn’t seem to notice that as he glared at Eren with such ferocity. That same gaze was directed at Zeke behind him. His gaze then shifted towards Ymir, and his expression softened. Primus could still see Ymir trembling before an expression of recognition came across his face.

“It...it’s you,” Primus spoke, “Your...the Founder Ymir.”

Primus laughed in disbelief, running a hand through his hair. “Kruger, you were right. She was just a normal girl.”

Primus covered his mouth while tears brimmed around his eyes. He kneeled down and extended his arms towards Ymir and touched her cheeks.

“I have been looking for you for so long,” Primus smiled as he rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs, “You’re beautiful.”

Primus gently placed his forehead against her own in an act of comfort. He gently moved his head from side to side before kissing Ymir on her forehead. He then pulled Ymir into a tight hug and rocked her back and forth. He gently kissed her head before petting her hair.

“After two thousand years, I finally found you,” Primus declared.

Eren could see that Ymir stopped shaking. But she was still frozen. She didn’t know how to react to his act of kindness. She then slowly fell deeper into Primus’ touch. It almost looked like she would hug him back, but-

“Ymir, what are you doing?!” Zeke shouted as he ran towards the two, “I order you! Take the Eldian’s ability to reproduce! Do it now!”

Primus covered Ymir’s ears with one arm before extending his hand towards Zeke. Primus twisted his wrist and a stream of energy flew past Eren, nearly missing his face. It pierced Zeke through his chest, locking the Titan shifter in place. Zeke choked on his spit as Primus’ eyes began to...glow. Eren noticed that same venom in his eyes, but his expression immediately turned soft as he turned his attention back to Ymir.

“You must be very tired, Little One,” Primus began, Eren noting that his voice began to… change? “Rest, and I will return for you.”

Primus laid Ymir down in the sand, making sure to be as gentle as possible. He removed his jacket and placed it over Ymir like a blanket. Primus gave a small reassuring smile to her as he brushed her hair out her eyes. Ymir fell deep into the warmth of jacket and the being’s gentle touch and fell asleep. 

Eren watched Primus close his eyes in confliction before opening them once more. The outline of his iris and pupils were gone, and they shined a bright blue. Primus stood up and extended his fingers before pulling them to himself. Zeke was dragged forward towards him before Primus held out his hand, causing Zeke to stop right next to Eren. Primus grew angry as he took slow, calculated steps to Zeke. Eren grew fearful as blue energy poured out of his chest like air. It flowed around his arms and blue grew throughout his veins. Every step he took left small shockwaves of energy beneath him. Outlines of armor appeared around his arms and legs, and thorns seemed to appear surrounding his shoulders and back in a circle. He was looking less and less human by the second.

“Zeke Jaeger,”  Primus began, multiple voices now overlapping within the being.

Zeke was completely shocked while Eren stared in disbelief. He really did know his name, but refused to say anything until now?

“Son of Grisha Jaeger and Dina Fritz,” Primus continued, “Son to Tom Xaiver. Current holder of the Beast Titan. I once felt pity for you and your situation. You were nothing more than a child who could not fight his heritage, his situation, his creators.”

Primus clenched his fists, causing Zeke to cry out in pain. A small piece of an insect was removed from his chest, floating towards Primus and landing in his open palm.

“But, that feeling of pity is no more.” Primus declared, “You have infringed your own twisted will onto your own people without asking what they want. You force others to do your bidding while ripping away their own humanity. And now, you wish to take away the right to create new life. You are undeserving, and you are a coward who hides behind a noble cause. You do not deserve this power.”

Primus crushed the sphere in his hand, causing Zeke to scream and collapse. The stream between them was cut and faded into dust. Zeke forced himself to sit up, still seeing Ymir laying in the sand. He tried to call out to her, but his voice...was mute. He couldn’t speak, no matter how hard he tried. No matter what, he couldn’t address Ymir.

Zeke turned and looked up to Primus in pure fear. “What did you do to me?”

“You may still have the powers of the Beast Titan, but you no longer have any connection to your royal blood,” Primus declared, “You will never speak to the child ever again.”

Eren grew stiff, staring at Primus with terror as the beings walked over to him and looked him dead in the eyes while he was in his chains.

“Eren Jaeger: son of Grisha Jaeger and Carla Jaeger,” Primus began, “Inheritor of the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan. I am a being that is responsible for creating life, unlike my brother, Unicron. I hold compassion for every being regardless if they are my own creation or not, and I would only raise my blade to those who would threaten that life. I would never take the life of those of the weak or the innocent.”

Primus bent down and stared at Eren with verocious hatred. “However, you are an exception.”

Eren screamed as Primus caused the chains to burn his wrist and neck. Primus flicked his hand and another chain wrapped around Eren’s other wrist. All three chains pulled Eren back and left his chest wide open. Eren tried to focus as Primus raised his hand. The energy surrounding it grew brighter and brighter as he plunged it towards Eren’s chest. Zeke quickly jumped and grabbed Primus’s arm, stopping him mere inches from his chest. Primus turned his gaze to Zeke, and he nearly wanted to drop right there.

“Zeke Jaeger, your punishment was light,” Primus told him, now a woman’s voice coming out of him, “I would suggest that you refrain from this conflict before I take the amount of lives you took into consideration for your punishment.”

“Y-you can’t,” Zeke pleaded, terrified out of his mind, “I need Eren. I have to save Eldia-,”

“By initiating the plan to prevent Eldia from creating new life,” Primus cut off, a deep male voice emanating from him, “Who gave you the right to make that choice for your people?”

Eren was both terrified and confused out of his mind. Where did all this power come from? Why was he using it now? Wait!...he said his brother was…Unicron? The god of destruction from Optimus’ world? Why the hell would Primus call him...brother?

Eren felt his stomach drop and an abyss of despair came into his mind. This...couldn’t be real. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real! He was going to die! All this time, they were with a higher being! They were with a god!

“Who…?” Zeke let go of Primus and stumbled back into the sand, “Who the hell are you?”

Zeke desperately crawled backward. “I’m of royal blood, but not once have you heeded my orders. You...just came out of the Paths, and...you took my power? Who are you?! How do you know me?! How do you know my story?!”

“Even if I told you,” Primus began, the multiple voices overlapping once more, “You wouldn’t know. It wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“Y-you…,” Eren choked on his spit as he struggled to breathe, “You said that...Unicron was your brother. That name…Optimus s-aid is the god of chaos and destruction. His blood is currently in Megatron right now-!”

Eren bent over and choked on his spit. He took deep breaths before looking up at Primus. “So the only one who would be able to counteract destruction would be a god of creation.”

“God?” Zeke stared up at Primus in horror.

“You...created Cybertron. You...are Unicron’s sworn enemy. You...created the Primes, including Optimus. You...are Primus: the god of creation, and the god of Cybertron.”

Zeke’s whole body was shaking as he stared at Primus. That had to be wrong. Those titans can’t have gods, could they? And if so, what was one doing here? This had to be a joke; Eren had to be toying with him. He-

“Optimus taught you well,” Primus spoke, “I should have expected that from his own student.”

Zeke shook his head in disbelief. Oh no! All this time, all the times this man was playing coy with them, pretending to be weak and defenseless! He was lying?! He was a god this whole time?!

“Y-you can’t be a god-,” Zeke stuttered, truly scared, “You’re just-...what?”

“One tends to be more honest when they don’t recognize a god in the room,” Primus declared, “But what’s done is done. Now, I will take the Little One with me. I will kill you, Eren Jaeger, and I will end the power of the Titans forever.”

There's more weight, more force, Primus is showing off his power instead of still being in human form. However, with Eren, instead of Primus having controlled anger with Eren, I wanted him to feel rage and fury for Eren. That got me reworking a few other things, like making Primus lack knowledge about the AOT world and about Optimus actually being on that world until Eren blabs about it in a rage.

There were a few other scenes that got reworked, but not too much in order to make a significant difference to put here, like Eren and Primus' conversation atop of Grisha's house, which was initially atop of the wall before Primus revealed his name. Zeke actually getting physical with Primus after the deity says Grisha is a good man. The festival scene and Grisha and Carla's conversation didn't have a previous rough draft, but it was something that I have thought about.

Anyway, that's all I have. Enjoy! I'll talk about chapter 91 alternate scenes another day!

[the12thnightproject]

*jumps in*

Gonna fly in and drop a ⭐star⭐ because I know there's probably Director's Commentary you probably are dying to talk about in Ten Things I Hate About Mitsuhide. No pressure, though. Thank you!

Hi and thank you for the ask!

And you're right, I haven't had as much chance to talk about Ten Things, the way I have about Shingen and Mitsunari's longfics.

Loong, long answer below the cut...

Mitsuhide's longfic wasn't intended to be the third story. Originally, it was going to be Shingen, then Hideyoshi, then Mitsunari, but when I finished Shingen's story, I realized what I had planned for Hideyoshi had too many similarities to Shingen's story, so I bumped up Mitsunari. I was loosely considering Ieyasu as after Mitsunari, but Mitsuhide and 'Okatsu' had so much chemistry in Mitsunari's story, that it kind of felt like it needed to be next. He was in fact the love rival in Mitsunari's story, but because we never get his POV, it's not obvious (I think if you skim over his chapters in Mitsunari's story with that in mind, you can sort of see it, but it was never stated).

I still hesitated, because Mitsuhide is so popular that I was afraid if I didn't 'get him right,' it would go down very badly. And while I think I did ok with his character, I still feel like I rushed the story, and it could have used another edit on plot. In the first draft, Mitsuhide and Katsu were separated for most of the last third of the story. Once she left Sakai, they didn't reunite until almost the end (when he joins her in modern Kyoto). But I really hated keeping my two main characters apart for so long, and I was afraid people would lose patience with the story if they were separated for all of Act III. I spent a lot of time fiddling with Act III, and kept changing stuff, even up through nights before I posted the chapters.

So let's really talk about Act III, since the first three quarters of the story were fairly easy for me to write, but that final 25% took me almost as long to write as what came before. Honestly, Act III gave me fits (granted I was writing it last winter when I was working two jobs, and I had far less time to write than normal).

Oh, aside, I'm using film terms to describe the length of my acts... Act I is the first 25%, Act II is the next 50% (although usually is divided into two parts midpoint plot twist being an emotional mid-story climax), and Act III is the final 25%. I consider Act I to go through the point where Katsuko and Mitsuhide contract to work together. Act II through the midpoint goes through when they are taken prisoner by Motonari, and the rest of Act II goes through when Katsu leaves Sakai and Mitsuhide).

In my first attempt at Act III, once Katsuko leaves Mitsuhide's townhouse, she goes to Motonari and bargains with him to take her to Tsuruga - which was my original location for Act III. For reasons (that I no longer remember) Yoshimoto was also onboard. I got about 5 or 6 thousand words into that section, realized it wasn't working (at that point, Motonari was supposed to be the love rival), and backtracked to when she left Mitsuhide. In the revision, she goes to Yoshimoto, who agrees to take her to where Yoshiaki was hiding out. By this time, I realized that Yoshimoto made a better love rival (so when I did my second draft, I gave him a lot more to do in earlier chapters). This was all part of the original handwritten draft, so that Motonari section didn't even get typed up.

As I was working on my next attempt at Act III, I wasn't really sure exactly where Yoshimoto and Katsu were specifically going. I was going to create a new location where Yoshiaki was hiding out, and as I started to describe the area they were riding into, I realized, 'wait, I already created a dark remote castle for Mitsunari's story, I know what it looks like, and the area of that is more or less where this one needs to be too, so lets just use it again.' (I'm also using it in the next story, but just a little bit near the beginning of the fic. So far.) This also allowed me to drop a couple of vague Easter egg clues for the ongoing multiverse story.

Anyway, in that draft, it wasn't Mitsuhide who doubled around and ended up there as he too searched for Yoshiaki, it was Kyubei, who, sent by Mitsuhide, was following Katsu to ensure she was ok. Katsu was aware he was following her, and when she and Yoshimoto discover Yoshiaki's plans to team up with Motonari and Kennyo in order to attack Sakai, she sneaks out of the castle (Yoshimoto creates a diversion), finds Kyubei, and gives him a message to give to Mitsuhide. Then she sneaks back in rejoins Yoshimoto (and then the plot continued more or less the way it played out in the posted draft).

I always write the "his POV" chapters last, and since I changed my mind on Act III prior to writing the his POV chapter, this never did get written, but what my original plan for "what was Mitsuhide doing while Katsu was in Genba was that he had figured out where Toshiie was, and he'd found her brother, and was 'drying him out.' He doesn't learn what happened to Katsu, until Yoshimoto visits Azuchi and tells him. Anyway. That didn't get written, because by the time I was writing the stuff that was taking place in modern Kyoto, I realized that the Act III wasn't working as written. So I dumped the Kyubei chapter and replaced it with the chapter where Mitsuhide connects with Katsu in Genba, the scene in the garden, and then I rewrote the scene on top of the castle wall to include Mitsuhide. I'm happy with that particular decision, because I think it ended up stronger that way. (Sorry Kyubei for dumping your chapter).

I don't think there was that much else I deleted between the first and the second drafts, but there was a fair amount added. Originally the priest who tries to buy Katsu on the slave ship was a one and done character and we never see him again. I later brought him back to that scene on the grounds of the temple that was used for the city managers meeting because the original scene felt a bit flat and needed more danger (originally Katsu just overhears a few different conversations, but that got repetitive). The decision to have him show up on the old video from Katsu's childhood was a last minute right before posting the chapter decision (originally the person in that scene was just a random stranger, but that didn't really pay off).

A couple of other more active scenes got added between the second and third draft to help the pacing. Most of that was in the second half of Act II, the stuff at and around the area where Mai and Hideyoshi were being held prisoner.

Oh a weird BTS thing for the chapter where Mitsuhide teaches Katsu how to pick and code crack locks, is that I actually ordered a couple of cheap antique lock knock-offs from Amazon, watched a few lock picking videos, and taught myself how it worked, to help write that chapter. That was a really fun chapter to write - I enjoyed trying to figure out the sexual tension subtext.

There is also a scene that I didn't write (because the modern section had gotten too long, and it didn't add anything except my personal fan service) but that I consider canon to the story (in my head), is that when Mitsuhide and Shingen were in modern Japan with Katsu and Sasuke, there was one night where they went to a games center and played Beat Saber. Maybe someday I'll go back and write it as a short story.

Again, thank you for asking. It's always fun to revisit this stuff, especially when I'm in the middle of breaking a new story and feel frustrated during the moments where I'm stuck. Helps to remember that the first draft is always messy and will change.

[bad-surprise]

⭐️directors commentary of your choice please?

i held onto this for a minute because i knew i wanted to wait until the fic was complete (same for museum, that’s sitting in my inbox for now)

apologies in advance, this is a long one.

but i thought you might

haladriel modern au | E | 135.4k | 26/26

but i thought you might (bitym) began as a promptfill i posted on december 9th, 2022— the day i created my fandom twitter account.

at very basic level, bitym is a story about purity culture and the impact it has on those who grow up within it, even if they believe they never bought into the conditioning. it taught me that i love writing about sex— particularly deeply psychological sex scenes that reveal new info about the characters and their relationship, motivations, and overall dynamic.

it really only exists because my husband had covid that week, and because i was exposed but tested negative we were isolating separately. i had a lot of time to fill and spent a lot of it daydreaming, listening to music, and writing little bits of a story in my notes app. there was a very clear moment where hal’s voice just clicked for me and the first chapter came together from there. chapters 1, 2, the last half of 4, and 5 were all written first, back when i thought it would be an 8k one shot. i still have the draft of this, along with another one shot version of it.

it was inspired by memories of high school, particularly one off-campus lunch senior year where a friend confessed that she and her boyfriend had sex and she enjoyed it and didn’t know what to do with that. i believe my response was “i’m pretty sure you’re supposed to like it,” but she started crying. hal and gal’s high school is largely based on the private religious school i attended, and when i imagine their campus, that’s the image in my mind.

i really struggled to find a title, and sort of impulsively chose a line from home by daughter because i thought that song captured the right vibe.

personally, the story only becomes something i’m not embarrassed by around chapter 6. i knew what i was writing towards at that point but only in vague terms. going back into hal’s pov there for the first time since chapter 2 really clarified things for me. i’m not proud of it until chapter 10.

note: spoilers for the entirety of but i thought you might below.

many of my favorite elements were happy accidents, including the introduction of luthien, the two year time jump in chapter 11, the entire diner scene, and hal going to therapy. in conversations with my husband, i was adamant for so long that bitym!hal would never go to therapy. i underestimated what he would be willing to do for gal.

i didn’t really know the ending until around march, and a key aspect of it changed while drafting the penultimate chapter. the original ending i had in mind was incredibly dark, much closer to the shark in your water. it was initially going to be a story about hal thinking he was free from the religious conditioning but turning out to be just as toxic as fin, and galadriel coming to terms with being trapped. i was terrified when this changed and so so scared that hal would lose empathy from readers because of what he did, but ultimately that doesn’t seem to have happened.

the process of writing felt like constant excavation. i felt my way through the story intuitively, with a very flexible list of some plot points in my mind, but i was pretty much flying blind here. i’m so glad it worked out alright in the end.

easter eggs/random bits of info

references

“but they say you have the voice of an angel” is a reference to the music of the ainur

many celebrian moments were inspired by tiktoks and reddit posts.

“the last person i dated was awful” from chapter 17 (i think?) is the only morgoth reference in the whole fic. i debated including him but it ultimately felt like too much work to add it in and i don’t think the story needed it.

when hal’s telling galadriel how he lost his virginity, he says “she had a boyfriend anyway”. this is a reference to the song sex by the 1975.

in chapter 18, the event the girls go to is a reference to revolve tour (the girls who get it, get it)

the conversation hal and gal have about the differences in sex ed for girls and guys at their school is intended to slightly reference “then why is it not gone from here?” in the show, which is largely how it felt for me to leave evangelicalism before recovering from a lot of the related trauma. i didn’t believe it anymore, so why was it still strangling me all the fucking time?

depression as anger turned inward comes from my therapist, who knows i used it in this fic.

takes 20 attempts for halbrand to get the ring right because 3 rings for the eleven kings + 7 for the dwarf lords + 9 for mortal men = 19 before he forges the one.

hal is an aeronautical engineer working in the defense sector. this is a reference to some legendarium stuff around sauron in numenor.

writing process + personal shit:

in the first draft, hal was morgoth’s son and there was a plot point involving the theft of the silmarils.

the nursing student line in chapter 1 is based on some people i knew at university.

i am too embarrassed to read chapters 2 and 3. like i just want to curl up and hide whenever i think about either of those chapters, i think they’re terrible.

there are many “deleted scenes” from bitym that just didn’t fit into the narrative in the end, so they live in the unused scenes folder in my scrivener project. one of these scenes— a description of hal’s apartment— actually ended up being used for museum, and another scene i deleted was reworked for chapter 7 of shark.

i wrote the infamous chapter 5 car scene in the middle of the night, during what felt like a dissociative state, because i knew if i wasn’t exhausted my inner critic would start shame spiraling due to my own religious upbringing.

every single purity culture experience in the text, with the exception of chastity club and the purity pledge, is something that actually happened in my life. the only reason i didn’t do a purity pledge is because i missed youth group that week.

“they cannot convince her she’s sinned” is 100% from my own experience of being surprised by my complete lack of guilt lol.

i really want to have a longer convo about the consent stuff in it because i’m fascinated by some of the responses i got to the chapter 5 car scene. some people were really angry with me for it, which was interesting bc i really had the archive warning on there because of the birth control tampering.

i fucked up the time skip in chapter 11 and added an extra year. this changed the story dramatically (and is why the ending ultimately changed) but i prefer the way it turned out. i also fucked up the age gap between fin and gal, and don’t ask me what grade celebrian is in bc basically i cannot do math to save my life.

i find it really interesting how many readers seem to think galadriel’s POV chapters are more reliable than hal’s, because i definitely see it the opposite way.

i get super nervous about the references to their jobs because i’m terrified of getting something wrong but definitely don’t know the ins and outs. i do research, but i still feel super inadequate there, which is why you never see her at work and only see him at work twice.

chapter 13 (diner scene) was so difficult to plan, but once i decided to use those two songs, it became fairly straightforward. it’s one of my favorite chapters in the entire story.

you probably know this by now if you’ve read chapter 25, but their first kiss being in a closet was 100% deliberate.

i’m so so proud of the sequence with the pregnancy tests in chapter 15.

i decided celebrian would be in this while writing chapter 6.

the drive home from the bachelorette party was written about five days after i started working on bitym.

i knew as soon as chapter 6 that hal would wait until celebrian was born to tell galadriel that he loved her, but holy shit it was so difficult to wait that long.

the scene I’m most proud of is the opening to chapter 23.

misc. in universe info:

the night out with elrond and miriel in chapter 22 stresses me out so much bc gal doesn’t understand what she’s doing and it’s such a horrible position for hal to be in, seeing how she’s basically asking him to come out to her before he’s ready. this all happens only a few days before galadriel leaves for the first time.

hal doesn’t know that galadriel doesn’t think they’re a couple until B+L’s wedding. his response when she tries to bring it up earlier is because he’s worried officially defining it its going to either set him up for failure, or scare her off completely, but in his mind, they were basically together together as soon as he said “yeah, i think i’ll keep you” in chapter 5.

there are subtextual references to substance use issues in hal’s family. this is why he doesn’t drink much or do drugs— though by his 32nd birthday his attitude is a bit more relaxed, considering that their second child is conceived while both of them are drunk lol

in chapter 12, galadriel left her car in accessory for too long and the battery died. hal is fully aware of this and totally could’ve just jumped her battery but he missed her and wanted an excuse to spend time with her.

galadriel’s apprehension about motherhood doesn’t come from a lack of interest altogether, but because the only model she’s really had is one of 100% loss of identity, which is something she’s not willing to do. initially, i planned on this being her ultimate fate and good lord i’m so happy i didn’t go there.

i’m very careful in hal’s therapy sessions to have him refer to “people” he’s dated/slept with, rather than “women.”

galadriel’s friends 100% thought she was sleeping with hal AND celeborn in high school, hence their confusion at her response to finding out they were sexually active then.

hal’s parents aren’t actually homophobic or biphobic, they just didn’t know how to handle that situation and so they sort of pretended it didn’t happen. and if you want to know what happened, it’s just your usual homophobic bullying— the boy he liked turned on him to avoid being a target himself.

hal has had panic attacks his entire life but wasn’t diagnosed with panic disorder until shortly before galadriel moved out for real. he’s very resistant to using rescue meds and thinks he should just be able to tough it out.

they split bills proportionally based on income, with hal contributing 66% and gal 34% around the time of celebrian’s birth. galadriel doesn’t know much about hal’s finances until they buy the house.

i loved seeing how responses to amarie changed as she challenged expectations in the later timeline. i feel really bad for her— it’s implied in the final chapter that she married fin when she was 20 and he was 24, and she dropped out of college as a result. what they’re struggling with by the end is the fact that she wants to finish her degree and has made peace with the fact that they don’t have kids— more of that will be in peppermint for sure.

another aspect in the background that i knew about but decided against mentioning is that celebrian was born just before covid, which is a huge part of why they fell out with galadriel’s family. hal’s health anxiety meant nobody was getting anywhere near his baby and they were not feeling that at all. this might come up a little in peppermint, we’ll see. i doubt i would directly mention covid, just the fact that both of them were working from home for a large part of celebrian’s first few months.

celebrian’s first word was fuck. hal insists it doesn’t count. gal disagrees.

both hal and gal can be read as neurodivergent. it’s revealed in peppermint that celebrian does have adhd. hal also can be read as meeting the diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder— that was unintentional but i think it makes a lot of sense.

significant influences on bitym

films/tv

like crazy

normal people

about time

saved

couples therapy

the worst person in the world

before midnight

lady bird

500 days of summer

non-fiction

leaving the fold: a guide for former fundamentalists and others leaving their religion by marlene winell

complex ptsd: from surviving to thriving by pete walker

hold me tight by sue johnson

adult children of emotionally immature parents by lindsay c. gibson

three women by lisa taddeo

fiction

normal people by sally rooney

beautiful world where are you? by sally rooney

little rabbit by alyssa songsiridej

the unbearable lightness of being by milan kundera

atonement by ian mcewan

musical theater

the last five years

spring awakening

once

my favorite lines

Fighting is foreplay, so they never fight fair. Grievances are grenades, painstakingly primed for maximum impact. If the situation escalates to all-out warfare, consequences take a brutal turn. All hope of a ceasefire hangs on her eventual surrender to submission. — chapter 8

“Stop fucking running from what you want,” he murmurs, slipping his free hand beneath her shoulders, golden hair tangled around his wrist and laced between his fingers as they sink into her skin. “You’re not scared of me, you’re scared of yourself.” The words sear into her with the precision of a cautery pen, burning through any vestiges of self-denial still humming in her mind, loosening each thought at the root. — chapter 10

Galadriel murmured the words over and over again, whispering them against his lips, pressing them into his mouth, until the taste of each syllable was as familiar to him as the salt of her tears. — chapter 11

“Deciding to leave is very different from deciding to not love you anymore.” — chapter 13

If Galadriel is sunlight, Celebrian is made from the stars. — chapter 21

“I’d be first in line at the gates of hell,” Hal says slowly, with all the steadfast solemnity of a vow or a prayer, “if it meant I could keep this beautiful fucking life of ours for just a little longer.” — chapter 25

“You can stop beating yourself up for this shit, honey.” Hal’s thumb brushes her temple. “It’s not on you to fix something you didn’t fucking break.” — chapter 26

Maybe Hal was right. Maybe these moments only matter because of their fleeting, ephemeral nature. Maybe that overwhelming ache she once believed would shatter her served as a method to hollow out space for feeling to inhabit— this precious alloy of quiet contentment and contagious joy, irresistible wonder and the recalcitrance of love, all bound together by a strand of defiant hope. — chapter 26

“I might never be able to heal the parts of you— of us, of our family, our life— that I’ve broken. But you have my word, Galadriel,” his voice drops, each syllable low and firm, carrying the weight of an oath, “I will keep trying— until my last fucking breath, until the end of the goddamn world.” — chapter 26

that was probably a lot more than anyone wanted to know haha, so i’ll stop myself there. this fic means so fucking much to me and i’m so so proud of it. i never thought i’d be capable of writing anything like it and it’s so overwhelming in the best way to know that it means a lot to other people too.

hopefully this answered a lot of questions, but my ask box is open for anything at all— i could talk about concepts in and the process of writing bitym for days (i’m usually holding back bc i don’t want to be annoying) so please feel free to reach out with whatever.

and again, thank you all for everything. you’re amazing.

[pygmi-says-hi]

book review:

Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan

2/5 stars

disclaimer:

the author is not a great chica. she is antisemitic and generally rude. I am reviewing the content of the book as abjectly as possible and won't bias my review with that. But, I do think you should know that.

anyway!

What is this book about?

Nadya (Nadezhda) is a cleric for a pantheon of gods. her country (Kalyazin) is at war with another country (Tranavia) over religion vs blood magic. She is hiding because of her powers but gets ambushed in a raid by Tranavian soldiers. The rest of the story consists of her escaping with Tranavian defects and her fellow Kalyazi clerics, because the Crown Prince wants to usurp her power.

What did I like about this book?

I think it had a really cool vibe. dark fantasy, blood, gore, twisted slavic mythology...the atmosphere was broody and intriguing. It was kind of entertaining, held my interest for a while.

What did I not like about this book?

Well.

Couple things.

The magic was poorly outlined. I read the first book when I was like 13 and then cycled back to reread before I finished the series. I was really only rereading to get a sense of the magic system...but that explanation never came. Nadya can 'communicate' with the gods, but the pantheon is incomplete and poorly researched. (I made a post about writing religions, go check it out!)

When you write a pantheon, it needs to have a complete set of gods for life to exist. There were some gods like the god of silence...but no goddess of the harvest? huh. Also, the 'blood magic' sounded cool but there was never an explanation or consistency of how/why it worked.

2. Characters were boring af. Nadya started as a badass but quickly diluted from there. Obviously, there was supposed to be an enemies to lovers with her and Malachaisz, but he was so edward cullen coded I honestly didn't care. She lost a lot of her personality and the rapport she had with her 'best friend' was like a saltine cracker. None of them had any relatable goals or attitudes I was drawn to.

3. The plot was...somewhere? The plot arc was more of a heart monitor during cardiac arrest. Not a 'main goal' other than escape, which was fine for like 2 chapters, until it started to get old.

TBH, it read like a mid-level fanfiction. Clearly this author had an enemies to lovers plot that she wanted some fantasy with, but only wrote in the other stuff to decorate the love story (which was still meh). The fantasy was poorly researched, the characters underdeveloped, the plot and pacing was confusing and slow. The banter was juvenile and not engaging; the romance read like Twilight but satanic.

4. Politics made no fucking sense. for a book about a political religious war, the religion and politics were complete chaos. No explained structure of how the 'vultures' (aka extremist political group) functioned, how the Crown Prince had anything to do with anything.

This is clearly slavic vs jewish, and is not breached appropriately. This is why you need to be careful when creating a religious war. the jewish people have been stereotyped to use human blood in 'sacrifices' by antisemitic ppl. if you don't carefully research, you could potentially represent an ethnic group crudely.

Summary:

It read like a first draft. Basic plot, still fleshing in the details, roughly outlined structure and basic character traits. It had a lot of potential but did not meet up.

I've read the second and third and it doesn't improve. The same problems prevail.

link to book:

Wicked Saints

follow for more xox

[ask-the-dps]

Spencer: Did you plan your story entirely from start to finish or did you plan some parts and go from there?

Thank you for asking this! I really love when asks are directed towards me :- )

Originally, back in May of 2023, I just knew I wanted to start off with a scene from For Whom The Ball Rolls and maybe branch off from there. I didn't fully have a book plot, just a few ideas.

Eventually, I made a short chapter-base for the story:

^(these are very old, I made them in June if I remember correctly.)

As you see, much is different from it. Mascot was only supposed to be in chapter nine, and chapters 11 and twelve were supposed to be just one chapter. I never had a full story, and even now I am thinking of things i could have added or altered or completely gotten rid of. I don't believe that'll fully go away, but it's good to see I notice mistakes, making it known that I am improving.

When I finished a chapter, I would almost immediately make a Google Doc for the basis/storyboard for the next one. I considered these technical drafts/storyboarding, just to get my full ideas out and plan it all before writing.

But, for Book 2, I was almost completely lost. I had a basic idea, but there was no ending. I just knew I wanted Petey to come back and Li'l Sydney to be aged up.

Originally, a side plot would be about Mascot and Peter falling in love, or at least trying to confess to each other. But, I decided it would have been impractical and not fitting with the story.

Instead of chapter concepts and storyboards, I had started writing my ideas down in a Samsung note, until that became the ENTIRE story outline.

As I said before, I hadn't even thought of an ending to Book 2 when I had started writing it. I had to put the story on short hiatus back in Janurary, and I was really discouraged. But I actually had a dream about the ending, and from that dream I finally had an idea.

Another note is that there was originally going to be a 3rd book: Past.

That's why the first one is "Present" and the second one is "Future." There were going to be 3: Past, Present, and Future.

But, chapter 5 had already taken that role, and I didn't want to fully delve into Sydney and Peter's past. It will never be fully discovered or fully remembered.

Basically, to answer your question- I hadn't fully thought of the story when writing, it just sorta came to me while listening to songs or dreaming in my sleep. Yay!

Sorry if this seems like too much information, I just really like raking asks directed towards me, and I love responding with loads of information. #autism ^_^

[quadrupedalpotato]

Odds (all of them) for the fic writing meme

XD I had to remember how to log into tumblr on desktop to do this.

1.          the last sentence you wrote

(Already did it and I don’t have another sentence yet to contribute.)

3.          how you feel about your current WIP

Completely in a pre-draft (if that’s a thing?) phase, but if it gets written up and published, it’s going to be so good.

5.          first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

“But here she was, still alive, playing more of a role in everything than she’d ever been prepared to.” and, as a bonus from a different WIP

"The ad he’d found had advertised almost everything but sex."

7.          your preferred writing fonts

I don’t care a lot. I do really like Courier, though, so if pressed to pick, probably that.

(On that note, I just got used to Calibri, which is no longer the default for Microsoft Word and it’s driving me up the wall.)

9.          start to finish, how long did it take you to write the last fic you posted?

I was writing it for a themed week, and I wrote it kind of last minute, so…five days, maybe?

11.        a WIP you’d like to finish someday

I got maybe around ¾ of the way through a really long chaptered post-canon Death Note fic and then didn’t finish it. I know about how it’s supposed to end, so I could theoretically get back to it. I’d just need to reread everything to get back up to speed.

13.        a fandom you’re thinking about writing for

I don’t think I have anything I’m actively planning to write for right now. Banana Fish has been on my list for a while and I don’t think I’ve ever actually published anything for it, so maybe that?

15.        favorite weather for writing

Raaaaaaaain

17.        talk about your writing and editing process

I either edit meticulously as I go, or I word dump basically the whole thing before going back through and editing. There is no in between.

I think I tend to do better if I can avoid editing until after the fact. In that case, I usually get the whole thing out, then give it a day or two before going back in and rereading it over. First pass is usually to fix little things (word choice, spelling errors, etc), second pass is actual content.

19.        the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

That is a great question, and I’m going to cheat. Not for a fic, but for a heavy, long-form, basically chaptered RP thread that should be turned into a fic someday, I did a super intensive deep dive into Manhattan’s Chinatown (plus several others in the US), which included ordering a copy of this guy’s dissertation-later-published from the 1980s on juvenile delinquency and identity in Chinatown.

21.        when did you publish your most recent fic?

December 10, 2023, the last of three fics that week for a themed week.

23.        pick three keywords that describe your writing

(Done earlier.)

25.        besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

Knitting and, more recently, crocheting. Guitar. Video games.

27.        your favorite part of the writing process

Those moments when stuff starts to flow and it’s super easy to write a bunch of good stuff to come back and edit later. Like a runner’s high, but writing.

29.        how easy is it for you to come up with titles?

Ehhhhh…depends? I think I usually end up just poking through the finished fic to pick something that looks vaguely title-ish, and that usually works.

[pennyblossom-meta]

I just devoured all your analyses and feedback around the character of L while waiting for the rest of your fanfic and my god! it was very enriching, I loved every minute of my reading! I saw this TikTok this morning: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdJba3Jq/ and for some reason, I found it to be very Anna and L coded 🤣

Hello and thank you for the kind message! Made me very happy after a long day 🤩 The video was also really amusing, I do love crows and owls, they're such beautiful, intelligent birds. There's actually a JP Ministry crow delivering one of those 4AM letters during chapter 4 (it even steals one of Anna's silver spoons) both due to my undying love for birds that bring ill omens and the JP mythos surrounding crows as a symbol of rebirth and rejuvenation.

Come to think of it, there's a lot of subtle lore in the story about new beginnings. The very title, the Ides of April refers to the ides of the month of April (i.e., the full moon) which is a symbol for a myriad of concepts, from harmony to new beginnings — and, in a way, Anna's meeting with L during the night of April 5-6 and her encounter with the first yokãi is a new beginning. We can even call it a new chapter in their story, as a crossover of fandoms.

Plus, according to Google, it was a full moon in Japan at the time (April 5, 2004). So we're very much in line with the mysticism surrounding ides, crows and witches. Fitting for L, as someone born on Halloween, I'd say! Samhein has its own share of symbolism that we'll eventually touch upon.

I'm a little behind in the metas due to work, but as a personal thank you I'll share some drafts from chp 5. Some details might change between now and the finished version.

Anna will start engaging with L frequently from the next chapter onwards, which is such a joy to write. I hope these past chapters have made it abundantly clear she's not allowed or willing to hex Muggles, because she's absurdly annoyed at L right now.

Thank you once again for your message, I hope you enjoy these!

Spoilers

Draft 01

Anna watched Ryuga fiddle with Sarah's camera, perplexed. "These recordings mostly feature your own footsteps across different areas of campus. Though this one's in Aoyama if I recognize the tiles correctly..." "What's it to you?" her voice dripped acid. She slid further and further away into her side of the seat, as close to the door as humanly possible. "Careful, you're going to break the lens!" "Don't worry, your friend will get reimbursed for any damages." "That's not the point." Heart thumping, she turned her head towards the driver, Mr Smith, — no, Watari; another lie she had been caught up in — and saw him glance into the rear-view mirror, the very picture of serenity in his impeccably crisp suit and tie.

Draft 02

She suddenly felt very small, besieged as she was by the two tall men. From the corner of her eye, she saw Watari cast her a polite look. "Perhaps you would rather hold onto my arm for balance, Miss Green?" No, not really, Anna thought, biting the inside of her lip. Without a word, she nodded and drew out her hand, slowly, towards Watari's helpful arm. It was warm, the fabric smooth. It felt like betrayal. She breathed in sharply. The lights in the lift flickered.

Draft 03

Anna’s nostrils flared. “Fine. I guess my hands are tied, or so the saying goes.” “Indeed. It’s a fairly common saying, after all,” said L,—formerly known as Ryuga— methodically dropping half a dozen sugar cubes into his tea, one at a time, from the same height, without causing a spill. Each cube plummeted into the cup with a soft plop, and, as they piled higher and higher, until there was more sugar than liquid brimming at the top, so did Anna's brow furrow deeper and deeper. She thought it a wonder that her forehead didn’t stick thus from sheer discombobulation, riddled with wrinkles to boot. “Suppose it is,” she uttered, weakly. “Means I’ll have to go along with what you very nice folks say, won’t I.” “I suppose you will,” replied L as a matter-of-fact, just before slurping the hot liquid without a care in the world — for propriety or good graces, in any way or shape, loudly crunching the few cubes he’d captured. He set down the cup. Anna leaned forward a tad, perplexed; she counted 3 stragglers, partially dissolved in the cloying, miserable third that remained of the tea.�� Careful not to add so much tea to your sugar, cried her unsaid thoughts. She cringed.

Draft 04

“I know all about charging — and the importance of ‘safety-first’ guidelines when attaching a plug to an adequate recipient,” she cried, crossing her arms while glaring at L — no, this Ryuzaki — perched over the armchair like a living gargoyle. Staring at her, as if she was a peculiar beast trapped in a cage. “I may not be as savvy as you, but I’m certainly not witless!” “Savvy,” he repeated after a pause. “That’s certainly an interesting way to define the basic understanding of household appliances.”

[goshdangronpa]

For the fic thing, uhhhhh, 11 for... whatever. Or all of them, if you want!

"11. Was there a scene that you hadn't originally planned to include? Why did you decide to fit it in?"

Any fic I want, you say? Well, if you're asking ...

The outline for "Kaede's Rhapsody" was initially 13 chapters. It's grown to 19, and though I'm satisfied with the current plan, it may change again! The biggest shift by far was that Chapters 5 through 7 were originally all a single part. It would've started with Kaede rereading her text convo with Miu while standing outside her lab. I liked the idea of showing the text convo play out in real time, which grew so long that I split it off. Chapter 6 would've been the lab scene from Miu’s POV ... but the planned intro at the gym ALSO grew so long that I split it off. Between giving the story a scene of Kaede using Miu's invention and elevating a little joke (Himiko witnessing the bathroom confrontation) into a surprisingly substantial subplot about spreading rumors, I'm happy with the result.

"I DISAGREE: An Ibuki Mioda SDR2 Protag Swap AU" pretty much consists entirely of unplanned scenes. It was just supposed to be an outline of random ideas. I just had to go and make a story of it ... Even among those scenes, the first trial stands out. Tightly woven murder mysteries are not my forte, so I just would've written about the victim, the killer, and the real cause of the murder. But writing about all that inevitably led me to think of potential clues and red herrings and courtroom drama, enough to fill out a whole chapter. It's still not the tightest mystery, but it has a lot of notes compared to other I DISAGREE posts, so at least those folks like how it turned out. So did I - it was really fun to write, and especially to plant those clues in the preceding scenes! When I get around to Chapter 2, another trial scene is in the plans.

"To Change a Lightbulb," "PERCUSSIVE OVERDRIVE," and "57 Minutes in Frozen Hell" were all written in fairly quick bursts, so their scene layouts were pretty much unchanged from first to final draft. I am capable of not overthinking my stories.

Thank you so much for asking!!!

[biscuitbakerbecca]

Zoe Murphy for the character ask

Favorite Thing About Them

I appreciate that she is a very resentful character. Zoe not wanting to view Connor as a good person because she was wronged feels so cool to me. She isn’t wrong, Connor likely abused her and she shouldn’t have to miss him because of societal expectations. Love her. Best girl.

Least Favorite Thing About Them

I think Zoe (especially in fannon) is played a bit too dumb. Given her reactions to Evan in early act one I don’t think she would ever actually fall for Evan. I really don’t like the you made my brother a good person now kiss me thing she has going on. I feel like she wouldn’t do that if she was a real person. I know she’s like 16 but…she clearly didn’t like Evan up until the end of YWBF. She rejected him after IICTH, she didn’t sing in Disappear, and I know she’s supposed to have her moment of acceptance that Connor “was a good person” in YWBF but it feels kind of forced. She’s smarter than to believe the lies imo and the fandom really ran with the idea of her being easily manipulated for quite a while

Favorite Line

Why did you want to meet here?

I wanted to be sure you saw this.

FUCKING RIP MY HEART OUT WHY DONT YOU?!?!

OR OR OR EVEN MORE SAD

But you told me that he…that you would talk about me and that he would… How could you do this? *runs away to cry*

BROTP

Zoe and Jared being friends is top tier, I love writing their dynamic!

A snippet of my own writing for explanation, excuse the horrid grammar it was 2020/2021:

Zoe apparently decided to copy her brother, as she's in a black dress and heels.

"Woah, who died?" Jared asked, trying to repress a smile as Evan locks their elbows.

Zoe sighed, "Our great uncle. We are leaving after second hour to go to his wake."

"Oh, so that's why Connor didn't dress like a complete dumpster fire," Jared hummed, watching said teen walk over. His tie doesn't match what he's wearing but whatever.

—I don’t know what I want, but I need you. Chapter 5

They call each other insults and they stay out late to gossip. Bad bitches supporting bad bitches. They fight like scorned lovers but they defend each other to the highest degree. Chaos gremlins.

OTP

Alana/Zoe— I know I know I’m basic but it’s the only sapphic pairing I can make in canon

If we extend the boarder to other musicals I’m a slut for Zoe Murphy/Brooke Lohst. They’re both betrayed by their love interest, they’re meant to be. In 2020 I started writing a comic where they would meet post BMC and DEH (Up to Words Fail) and become best friends and then fall in love. I wrote four pages and lost energy

NOTP

Obviously nothing gross, but logical pairings that give me the ick are Zoe/Jared. They are Friend Zoned so hard. (mostly because Jared is gay in all my writings of him) Also BandTrees can sometimes rub me the wrong way but as the show is I’m cool with them for the most part

Random Headcannon

Zoe has red hair is a common one but goddamn do I like the idea of her trying to separate from her rich parents by looking different.

Also bisexual with a preference for girls

Also drummer Murphy Kids

Also Murphy Twin Truther (Connor got bumped up a grade because he’s good at school when he is there)

Unpopular Opinion

They shouldn’t have written out Zoe’s best friend character that was in the original draft of the show. Yes this is because the best friend was named Becca. But also Zoe needed a teen to bounce off of that wasn’t Evan because she never interacts with Alana or Jared. She’s isolated for the most part and would have been a stronger character if she had a friend in her corner. Her only “friend” we see in the show is her mom

(Friendly reminder that Zoe has a friend named Bea in the book (I think that’s the name it’s been a hot minute since I read the book—either way she has an actual friend with a name) and I hc them as enby)

Song I Associate With Them

I haven’t actively thought about Zoe in a hot minute hang on…

Okay I know she can already drive in all forms of canon media but drivers license feels like something she would listen to on loop after breaking up with Evan

I would say traitor instead of drivers license but Zoe knows that Evan didn’t originally have ill intent nor did he ever cheat on her so just a sad song to cry along to because she used to drive him around feels right.

(Book moment where she cried while sitting on/near her car. Movie moment where she nearly kills herself while driving)

Favorite Picture Of Them

We have options for this one (yes one is a gif but it gets the point across)

[bingebuddie]

My 2023 AO3 Wrapped

How many words have you written this year?

418,813 words were published on AO3 this year. I don't even know how many from WIP or unposted stories.

How many works did you publish this year?

12 works. 2 on going works, spanning 66 chapters and 1 collection of one shots.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Sideways. It's been a ride. https://archiveofourown.org/series/3373597

What work of yours has the most hits?

In A Flash, part one of Sideways, with 27,982 hits. https://archiveofourown.org/works/45261967/chapters/113868901

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

How Buck Gets His Groove Back. I wasn't expecting people to jump into me doing my own thing and tying my original characters into Buck's past as a SEAL.

Favorite title you used.

Only You... Should have been the title of the arc and not just one chapter.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

Illenium. Not only is the work named after the song, Sideways, is it featured in the work in a key moment between Buck and Eddie. Another Illenium track is used in a later chapter.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

#Buddie Buck and Eddie

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

This is tough. Buck and Eddie, for sure. But as I worked through the year, I found the scenes with Eddie and Maddie a lot of fun. But also, Eddie and my OCs, Wes and Cole.

What work was the quickest to write?

In A Flash.

What work took you the longest to write?

For You

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

Sideways has 3 full arcs outlined. Nevermore has at least 15 chapters left that are drafted in some form. Cole and Wes ... the amount of work I have around them... fills a book series.

What’s your longest work of the year?

Solo arc is For You at 121k words... But, Sideways as a whole is over 300k words with all 5 arcs.

What’s your shortest work of the year?

Happy Ever After

What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

Nevermore

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Established Buck and Eddie, Demi Eddie, Bi Buck

Your favorite character to write this year?

Wes and Eddie.

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Nial from Nevermore... Having to keep things about him under wraps is annoying.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Wes and Cole.

Which work of yours have you reread the most?

In A Flash and In Another Life... they go hand and hand

How many kudos in total did you get this year?

6019

Which work has the most comments?

How Buck Gets His Groove Back.

Did you do any collaborative works this year?

Nope

Did you write any gifts this year?

Nope

Did you receive any gifts this year?

Nope

What’s your most common category?

M/M

What do you listen to while writing?

I am a DJ... this is a loaded question... But my fic playlists are published on Spotify.

Favorite work you wrote this year?

Chapter 6 of In A Flash when they face off with the Buckley parents.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Phillip steps closer to Eddie, "I am just supposed to believe that you will dedicate yourself to my son." He laughs sarcastically.

Eddie laughs louder. "I already did." Eddie raises his left hand so they can see the wedding band on his hand and taps his ring. "In sickness and health, Phillip."

Biggest surprise while writing this year?

How easily Wes and Cole fit with the 118...

[novorehere]

Hey all! Just wanted to give everyone a bit of a content update.

I apologize for the lack of content for the past… year. I’ve been working through some stuff, and it’s been hard for me to find the motivation or inspiration to write. It comes in short bursts, meaning I’ve been (very) slowly chipping away at multiple projects at once. I just thought I’d update everyone on how things are going and make a list (partly for myself) of what I have in the works, what still needs to be done, and what you can expect from me in the future. Admittedly these are mostly obey me fics but I DO have other things tumbling about in my brain, I promise.

Opposite Day: 2/5 chapters finished, the rest 100% planned and around 30-40% written.

I’ve been sitting on an unfinished chapter 3 for almost a year now, and have written good portions of the other chapters in the meantime. This is the project I’m most excited to finish, and I feel bad for abandoning it for so long. Rest assured, I *am* still working on it, and am extremely happy it’s been so well received.

Untitled Simeon Comfort Fic: 75% finished.

Originally I wanted this written for his birthday (which was in February lmao) but as you can see that did not happen. I’ve got the beginning and end all written out, I sort of went off the script at the end with fun purgatory hall family fluff so the only thing I don’t have written is… actually the eating part. This will probably be the first fic I actually post, seeing as it’s the closest to completion.

“A series of Obey Me Vore Headcanons” Re-Write (Title Very WIP) 2.5/7 chapters re-written

This one I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here yet. I’ve grown increasingly unsatisfied with my original obey me headcanons list that I posted last year when I first got into the fandom. A. Because I hadn’t gotten very far into the story when I wrote it and didn’t get the full scope of the characters yet and B. (Most importantly) I feel like I really didn’t do the characters justice.

Since I originally posted it, there’s been a healthy amount of discussion on depth and nuance in vore media and reducing characters to tropes, etc. I’d like to re-write this series to focus less on physical aspects and “how they eat you” but rather more of an emotional and story driven story of why they eat you and their emotions and struggles that come with it. The obey me brothers are incredibly interesting characters, and I’d like to explore them in more depth and show you how interesting they can really be and why I love them so much.

This one might take a while to complete, but it’s gonna happen at some point. I‘ll keep up the original half-finished version in the meantime since I don’t want to delete it and ao3 doesn’t allow privating fics without orphaning them. I know it’s ugly in it’s current state, just know I’m working on it and the rest of those chapters will be overhauled eventually.

“Miss Em”: 80% written (kind of)

I’ve had this one sitting in my drafts for a while now. Originally I had plans to start another multi-chapter series but then Opposite Day sort of went to shit so I scrapped it knowing it was way too ambitious. But now I still have a mostly written Mammon fic in my notes app just sitting there and it would be a shame to just…leave it. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do with this one, Maybe I’ll write the Beel companion piece to it that I had planned and just leave it as a 2-parter. Who knows. It’s really cute, and I want to share it at some point.

Untitled Obey Me mini-drabbles: 60% written

Honestly this wasn’t supposed to be a whole thing. I started randomly writing one day on a burst of inspiration and it turned into little mini “scenario slices” for all the characters and I really like how it turned out. I still need to write for two of the characters and polish up some others, but it’s a fun low-stress thing to work on in between projects. Also excited to share it possibly soon since they’re fairly short and shouldn’t take long to finish (but you know me…)

An unspecified ITWOM fanfic: 0% written, 50% planned

For those who aren’t familiar, “In the World of Monsters” is an amazing novel authored by @vore-toast that just recently received a fantastic ending and epilogue (Please read it! It’s fantastic!) And I really would like to write a little something for it to show my appreciation. I have an idea planned out, but details would involve spoilers so I can’t say much. I’d need to ask for guidance on what exactly to include since the things I would like to write about haven’t exactly *happened yet* but I’ve said too much already… hee hee. I don’t know when this fic is gonna happen, but I swear to you it will. And if my original idea doesn’t work out, it’ll be something. I WILL be writing for this series, mark my words.

Heroes Off-Duty. 0% written, ??% planned

Huh? That’s weird... That one’s not supposed to be there. Ah well, It’s not relevant anyway. Carry on.