#documenting your cringe & archiving it by posting it

[r0semultiverse]

Hi! It's kinda shameful to go this route , but being diabetic person .Now over 6 months my unemployment still pending This has been the worst couple of years of my life. My house was destroyed in a storm. Then  I am desperately in need for help. I need my insulin to bring my blood sugar back down. It’s $300 That’s all I need. I’m not asking for a windfall, just a little help, please.

Be blessed 💓🙏🙏💓

            DONATE AND SHARE

Okay cyberturtlefart made one day ago. 😐 (obvious scam is obvious)

[contemplatingoutlander]

Our true feelings about race and identity are revealed in six words

This is a poignant article about a project that Michele Norris started that tapped into people's thoughts about race in a profound way--using only six words. This is a gift🎁link, so anyone can read the full interactive article, even if they don't subscribe to The Washington Post. Below are some excerpts from the article:

I have always cringed when the accusations fly about someone allegedly “playing the race card.” It’s usually a proxy for “You’re making me uncomfortable, so please stop talking.” Or a diversionary tactic used to avoid having to speak about race with any kind of precision or specificity. A shorthand for “Just shut up.” And so, in 2010, I flipped the script, turning that accusatory phrase into a prompt to spark conversation. I printed 200 black postcards at my local FedEx Kinko’s on upper Wisconsin Avenue asking people to condense their thoughts on race or cultural identity into one sentence of six words. The front of the cards simply read:

Race. Your thoughts. 6 words. Please send.

I left the cards everywhere I traveled: in bookstores, in restaurants, at the information kiosks in airports, on the writing desks at all my hotels. Sometimes I snuck them inside airline in-flight magazines or left them at the sugar station at Starbucks. I hoped a few of those postcards would come back, thinking it would be worth the trouble if even a dozen people responded. Much to my surprise, strangers who stumbled on the cards would follow the instructions and use postage stamps to mail their six-word stories back to me in D.C. Since my parents were both postal workers, this gave me an extra thrill. Here I was, doing my part to support the Postal Service. Who says snail mail is dead? Half a dozen cards arrived within a week, then 12, then 20. Over time, that trickle became a tide. I have received more than 500,000 of these stories — and more arrive every day, though the vast majority of submissions now arrive through a website portal online. They have come from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Though limited to six words, the stories are often shocking in their candor and intimacy. They reveal fear, disappointment, regret and resentment. Some are kissed by grace or triumph. A surprising number arrive in the form of a question, which suggests that many people hunger not just for answers but for permission to speak their truths. It was amazing what people could pack into such a small package:

Reason I ended a sweet relationship

Too Black for Black men’s love

Urban living has made me racist

Took 21 years to be Latina

Was considered White until after 9/11

Gay, but at least I’m White

I’m only Asian when it’s convenient

To keep the conversation going, I created a complementary website for the Race Card Project, where people could submit their six-word stories online. Over time we added two words to the submission form: “Anything else?” That changed everything. People sent in poems, essays, memos and historical documents to explain why they chose their six words. The archive came alive. It became an international forum where people could share their own stories but also learn much about life, as if it were lived by someone else.

I highly recommend reading the entire article, using the above gift link. As an olive-skinned Italian American, with curly hair, I have often felt like I am a walking Rorschach test for race. Even though I'm classified as "white" in the U.S., I've had people ask me if I'm a Latina, a Native American, Black, Egyptian, Jewish, and even a South Pacific Islander. Given my history, here are my six words on race.

A book is not it's cover.

I welcome people adding to this post their own 6 words on race.

[simnostalgia]

@hugelunatic Hi, it's me, the person who scraped GOS! Sorry I couldn't reblog the original post so, here is my response.

First of all, I wanted to say. Thank you for everything you do for our community. You've really been a major part of The TS2 community from the beginning!

Second, you'll stop me from archiving when you pry the archiving software out of my cold, dead hands.

Do you know about Plumb Bob Keep? That's a real question because as the TS2 modding community gets ever smaller and becomes more and more insular it gets harder to know who is on what moderation team and who co-runs what. However, if you do know Plumb Bob keep you'd know that recently the owner died. Which meant that suddenly the entire community had to scramble.

Fortunately, they were able to get in contact with the family (in their time of mourning) to ask "Hey, sorry about the dead girl, can I has password please? I need my fix of virtual doll clothes"

I don't blame them for this. They'd obviously put a lot of time into this and the reason I know that is because I got approached to see what I could do when the site was offline and they were still trying to figure out what to do. Unfortunately, when a site's only existing documentation exists in the WayBackMachine that makes it basically impossible to scrape.

And this isn't even the first time this happened, when Yahoo Groups shutdown, ArchiveTeam had trouble talking to MOST older simmers because they were so fucking touchy about their content. Literally our community has a reputation for being obnoxious about TOUs and 'rights' to the point where they'd basically given up trying to archive anything that had to do with The Sims.

So if you thought that this was because I was concerned that you were running into the ground. Rest assured, I'm doing this in case you get in a fatal car accident so we don't have to call your mourning loved ones to ask the very cringe question: "Do you know about the forum from 2008 that your spouse/son/father/sister/daughter/mother ran? Can we have access to it please. I have recolors that I'd DESPERATELY love to get back."

As far as bandwidth goes, I do my best to make sure that I scrape with as little intrusion as possible and your load is lighter since you don't host any of the actual CC or even 75% of your own images.

Now, we could talk about what this really is: a pissing contest. But don't worry. I have no real interest in encroaching on your territory of running an alternative style sims 2 forum from 2008. I love GOS, or I wouldn't have made sure that it didn't fucking disappear into the ether.

But believe me, no one is choosing to look through a list of 10,000 zip files without images or descriptions as a replacement for a fully functional forum with like... images of the items. My archive of GOS is pretty much only for creators and people who know EXACTLY what they're looking for.

And that goes similarly for everyone worried about their precious TOUs in the comments of the original post. No one, and I mean no one, prefers to dig through an entire fucking ass ton of files labeled shit like "[POOKLET] SKYSIMS MESH 007 - UNNATURAL COLORS"

In fact, I've had several creators thank me because the scrape unearthed some shit they'd thought they'd lost. And if you don't like it, or me, get in line. I assure you there is metric fuck ton of people from patreon who hate me far more.

However, I would like to say that whenever you / or any other creator who is mad about this / literally any simmer, is searching for a dependency because someone got in some obscure internet drama and deleted all their cc or Mediafire got shut down by the RIAA or whatever the fuck.

You, for as "annoyed" as you are, will remember the big ass zip file and CTRL + F your ass to what you're looking for. And I'm going to say it now, for when that moment comes:

You're welcome. No hard feelings.

[xandraspalace]

Sweet Night Undisturbed

----- Sweet Night Undisturbed || Noir Vesper [HOLOSTARS EN] x GN! Reader - Birthday Fiction

Summary : Nothing can make you so much more happier than being able to rest on your birthday. For him who had worked so hard for so many people, this was the perfect time for him to take a break and enjoy some undisturbed night only for you and himself.

WC : 2569 words.

Warning : Grammar errors, teeth-rotting fluff (possible cringes), hints of TEMPUS lore, mentioning reader being older than Altare, etc.

Featured Characters : Regis Altare, Magni Dezmond, Banzoin Hakka.

Disclaimer : Everything written here is FICTITIOUS. This story is written in second-person point of view and the reader is female. The personas written here are based on the avatar of the characters as vtubers, not the person behind it. Enjoy.

A/N : I need to rewrite this because I accidently delated the old version of this fic, hell on earth. And I finally post the fiction on time! Anw, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OJI! I WISH ALL THE GOOD THINGS FOR YOU THIS YEAR!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Other Platforms : [TWITTER] [MEDIUM]

     ADVENTURER’S Guild TEMPUS Hall never sleeps, day or night. Even when the cold winter slowly turned into a warm spring, not a single guild member was not working. You will find everyone doing their job while throwing each other jokes occasionally.

     Including yourself. You were sitting at one of the guild hall tables, facing the leader. As an archivist, you have to get lots of approvals from many people to touch some related archives you need, one of which is from Regis Altare, the Leader of the Guild TEMPUS.

     The light from the holographic screen illuminated his face. Skillfully, his hands carved signatures for several documents that required his attention. He seemed very focus. His eyes went around quickly reading the contents of the document before he actually signed it, making sure he didn't sign something that would lead him or his members to doom.

     If you need to be honest, all these many documents weren’t for you, but for your lover, Noir Vesper, the Academic Advisor of the Guild TEMPUS. He needed a lot of archives to carry out his studies and research. Before you can provide the archives your boyfriend needs, he had to get Altare’s permission first.

     And here you are, helping your lover with the complicated formal process. Naturally, getting official and valid archives in Elysium is very difficult. You'll have to deal with the elites of Elysium for just even a few copies. Plus, they'll watch your every move, making sure that you don’t use the archives to harm or go against Elysium.

     "Was that all?" Altare asked after he finished signing the last document.

     You smiled awkwardly. You just sent him like almost a ream of documents, but Altare still managed to smile lightly without complaining about being tired and whatnot. "Yes, that’s all. I'll let you know if there’s any document that require your attention again. Thank you, Leader."

     "Don't mention it." Altare made sure all documents were sent back to you. He turned the hologram device in front of him off and breathed a sigh of relief. The scent of warm tea calmed the atmosphere around you both. “How is Vesper?” Altare suddenly asked before carefully sipping his tea.

     "Hell on earth, Magni Dezmond, didn't I tell you to stop stealing my academic journals?!"

     Just as you were about to answer, the sound of Vesper’s yells from the other side of the guild hall was heard. You turned around, trying to find your lover’s figure. And sure enough, you saw him almost running down the stairs and dashing towards Dezmond's place. "Still busy?" you answered in doubt.

     Meanwhile, Altare could only chuckle. "I can see that."

     Looking at Altare who seemed to be amused by his members’ antics, you couldn't help but smile. Altare shouted a little warning so that the two older men would not cause any accident at work. “My, my, those two,” the leader chuckled. "How about you, [Y/N]?"

     “Me?!’ That took you off guard. You didn't expect his sudden question to you after witnessing the your lover and his friend’s antics. However, you were silent for a moment, thinking about what kind of answer would be appropriate to your leader's question.

     You feel like you haven't done much to help the guild. To you, you are just an archivist, nothing less and nothing more. Your main task is to store and maintain all the old and new documents that the guild has entrusted to you, be it related to Tempus, to Elysium, or to other matters. And for the most of it, you mostly help Vesper in doing his academic research.

     "I'm just an archivist and aide to your academic advisor. I think the credit mostly goes to Vesper,” you stated.

     The leader lightly chuckled once again, “Don't be like that. You've helped us a lot, especially when it comes to the elites of Elysium. You and Vesper are the ones doing most of the works here if I should mention it.”

     Silence suddenly enveloped. Both you and Altare actually didn't mind the silence. It was comfortable.

     On the other hand, Altare deliberately did not dismiss you and let you sit with him. As he previously said, you and Vesper might be the overworked ones in the guild. Therefore, making you stop working for a bit and let you take a little break is a very wise choice from a leader for his members.

     “You know that sometimes you have to pamper yourself too, right? I'm sure Vesper would agree with that too.” Again, Altare suddenly asked, taking you off guard. His questions never stop surprising you. As expected from Regis Altare.

     “Pampering myself?” Confusion was visible on your face.

     “Yup,” the leader sipped his tea before he continued. "Isn't there anything you really want?"

     Once again you were silent. Altare's question this time is worth thinking about. Is there something you want? What do you really want? Have you ever wanted anything? You didn’t know. However, there was one more question crossed your mind.

     When was the last time you and Vesper spent some quality time together?

     You and Vesper have quite important positions in the guild, a position that not just anyone can do. You are busy as an archivist, making sure the old and new archives are preserved nicely. Not to mention that dealing with the elites when it comes to the archive that related to Elysium is really a pain in a rear. On the other hand, Vesper has to do his research to perfect the academic needs of the guild and even Elysium itself.

     Exhausting? Indeed. You and Vesper don't even know why the two of you cound end up together and still have made it this far amidst your busy schedules and works. Maybe that’s how destiny works. There will always be miracles that keep you and Vesper together.

     In the end, you ended up thinking about Vesper again when it's clear that the question was directed at you and about you only.

     "If I ask for something, will you grant it, Leader?" you asked, working up the courage to say what you want.

     Altare nodded. "Of course. As long as it's within my power, I'll try my best to work on it.”

     After you were sure of what you wanted to ask for, you stared at Altare earnestly, hoping your voice wouldn't crack. “Tonight is Vesper’s birthday eve,” you started. "I want a day and a night off just for me and Vesper, so we spend some time together and rest."

     Altare's pair of emerald eyes were widened. Surprise was evident on his face. The leader thought he understood all of his members well. He thought you will ask for something materialistic.

     Seeing Altare's expression, you started to doubt your decision to speak up. "I mean, I know the boys have already made plans and prepared a surprise party for Vesper, so I'm worried."

     Hearing that, Altare burst out laughing. "Was that what you're worried about?" he asked, still laughing.

     "Did I make a strange request?" You were starting to worry.

     “No, no, no, you’re not. I just thought that you would ask for something materialistic or something that would be hard to get in Elysium.”

     “There's no way—”

     "Of course." Altare interrupted your protests, knowing you would try to defend yourself and say that you couldn't ask the impossible. "I know you well enough, [Y/N]. But, will that be enough, though?”

     You sat back down quietly. "Yeah, that's enough for me. I'm sure Vesper will appreciate it too.”

     “Alright, then. Your days off start from today’s sunset until the day after tomorrow’s sunrise,” Altare declared his decision.

     A worried expression suddenly appeared on your face. “Oh, no. Leader, that's too much.”

     But before you could protest any further, Altare interrupted you again. "No, it's not. Take your well-deserved rest with him,” the leader looked at you gently with respect. "Also, you don't have to worry about the boys. I'll be postponing Vesper's birthday party to the following night."

     Altare is a considered leader. He is younger than you, but he has all your respect. His wise knows no bounds. You can never ask for a better leader than him because he is the best. “Thank you, Leader,” you smiled, thanking him very sincerely.

     He answered, "Anything for my members."

     The sun had long since set and the moon was already hanging over its highest peak. The holographic clock that you put on the desk has already told you that night has turned to day.

     You pushed open Vesper's study door with your shoulder since a tray with birthday cake on it were filling your hands. Vesper who was sitting at his desk didn't even pay attention and was still focused on the pile of books and documents he was studying.

     Vesper knew it was you who entered his study. Not just anyone can enter his room and the only person who can just walk in his room like that is you—and Dezmond when he needs something urgent or just because he's basically being shameless.

     "Didn't the leader told you that we have days off until tomorrow night?" you asked, approaching his desk.

     The moment he shifted his focus from the book to you, Vesper's eyes widened in surprise. "What is this?" he asked when he saw you holding a tray of birthday cake, candle already lit in the middle.

     “See, you even forgot your birthday.” You could only chuckles.

     Knowing that he must fully give his attention to you, Vesper put down his pen and took off his glasses. He tried to relax his muscles which he didn't realize were already tense due to him working for too long without a break. "I'm not sure if I can rest now, seeing the state of Records Corruption lately."

     You could only sigh, understanding his feelings. He's worried, you knew that. He once wanted to give up, saying that whatever he did, it would be useless if it couldn't save humanity at all. However, the child inside kept pushing him forward.

     Ever since he and Altare made a deal, Vesper had risked his life for all of this. You couldn’t stop him, pure joy always shows in his smile whenever he achieves something that can help Elysium.

     "It can wait, love," you uttered, putting the cake in front of him. Vesper held out his hand to you and let you hold it, helping you to walk through the piles of books he was studying and sitting you beside him. "Rest with me ... pretty please?" you asked, your dazzling eyes lowkey begging him.

     How could he say no to that expression? Vesper sighed, feeling that he had no other choice. “Alright, then. Only for you.”

     “Make a wish!” you pushed the cake to him.

     "Won't you sing?"

     You were taken aback. “Me? Singing?”

     Vesper rested his chin on his palm, smirking at you. “Yeah, do me a favor, will you? Today is my birthday.”

     You were silent for a moment. Never once in your relationship with Vesper did you think that he would ask you to sing. Here you think you know your own lover very well, but end up getting an unexpected request from him instead.

     "But I'm not good at singing!" you protested. "What if Records Corruption finds the signal that I’m singing?"

     "No, they won't. Come on, I can't judge before you actually sing."

     Pinkish dust tinted your cheeks. “Fine,” you agreed. "But don't blame me if you get a hearing problem after this."

     Vesper could only hum.

     You took a deep breath before you sing. “Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday, dear Vesper~ Happy birthday to you~”

     You slightly missed some keys. However, you managed to get light chuckles and applause from him. "That's more like it. Now I can make a wish,” the scholar smiled.

     The Noir Vesper would probably protests and says that this kind of thing was childish. However, when he is with you, he can put all his guard down.

     Vesper closed his eyes and joined his hands in prayer. In his heart, he prayed his wishes and hopes. He didn’t forget to mentions your name among these prayers. Then, Vesper blew out the candle gently.

     "Thank you," he whispered as he kissed your forehead then your cheek softly. He dropped himself into your arms and rested his head on your chest, inhaling your relaxing scent. It was the best feeling for Vesper. He always feels easy and at home when he’s with you.

     You caressed and combed your fingers through his long hair carefully. "I should be the one thanking you. Thank you for being born into this world, my love,” you whispered gently.

     He hummed and hugged you tighter.

     The light from the World Tree pierced through the windows of the study. However, the tree couldn't even hear what Vesper whispered to you.

     “I love you, my world” he whispered only to you, without the world knowing or need to hear.

     “Ves, do you have—”

     “Shh!” you shushed to whoever suddenly opened the door of your lover’s study.

     The person who none other than the alchemist stopped at the door frame of the room after you shushed him and saw you put your index finger on your lips. “—the data of your last research. Sorry."

     After spending some time with you over tea and cake you brought, Vesper fell asleep on the sofa in his study. You've covered him body with blanket so the cold couldn’t touch him.

     When Dezmond opened the door to the room, you were tidying the room up for a bit. "Let me help you find the data you need," you whispered, loud enough for Dezmond to hear you.

     You really didn’t want anyone waking Vesper up and getting him back to work when he clearly needed that break. When was the last time Vesper was able to sleep so peacefully like this, anyway? Let your man rest for a bit, will they?

     You started looking for the data Dezmond asked for through the papers and his device. "Is it about the World Tree branches?" you asked when you found a data about the latest research that Vesper just finished a few days ago.

     "Yup, that's the one. Just send me the abstract,” the alchemist answered.

     “Leader, aren't [Y/N] and Vesper currently on vacation? Look at Dez.”

     You and Dezmond suddenly heard a voice that you fully recognize. That was the exorcist of Xenokuni, Banzoin Hakka. He must have just returned from his hunt.

     Dezmond turned towards the sound only to be met by Altare dashing towards him in rage. “Oh, shit.” Dezmond cussed.

     “Dez, you idiot! Leave the couple alone!” Altare raged, causing Dezmond to immediately run away from the leader while trying to find a good excuse. You could only chuckle at their antics.

     There is no such thing as a quiet night in the TEMPUS Guild Hall and you are completely fine with it. Precisely, that’s what makes the guild hall more lively and colorful in the midst of this beautiful, yet monochromatic Utopia.

     You looked at Vesper who was fast asleep. You crouched down beside the sofa where he had fallen asleep. Your fingers brushed the stray hair that was covering his face. You gently kissed his forehead.

     “Happy birthday, my treasure. I love you.”

Sweet Night Undisturbed Fiction by Author Xandra February, 2023

[fahrni]

The Musk Files - Down the Rabbit Hole

The latest bad press for Space Karen and his mismanagement of Twitter.

To think Reddit CEO Steve Huffman thinks Musk has done a great job running Twitter with less is shocking.

I’m not sure how anyone labels this guy a genius. He’s a huckster, racist, masochist, and anti-Semite among other things.

If you still believe in him dig deep and ask why you believe that. The answer should scare you or at least make you think about your values as a human being.

Enjoy the links.

Daring Fireball

There are some moments in this video interview that are just cringe-inducing. Even just the awkward pauses. (Faber, to my mind, did a hell of a job — Musk is obviously a very difficult person to interview.) I’m starting to get real Bobby Fischer vibes from Musk — a genius, yes, but descending into conspirational hateful madness. But Fischer became a recluse; Musk is one of the most prominent people in the world.

Vox

In the past five days, Musk has doubled down on a conspiracy theory about the Allen, Texas, shooter; tweeted that billionaire philanthropist George Soros (who has long been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories online) wants to “erode the very fabric of civilization” and “hates humanity;” and promoted a quickly debunked rumor that falsely claimed Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz was related to the founder of the Internet Archive.

The Atlantic

Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.

France 24

Researchers have documented an explosion of hate and misinformation on Twitter since the Tesla billionaire took over in October 2022 – and now experts say communicating about climate science on the social network on which many of them rely is getting harder.

Platformer

Their high-profile event on Twitter Spaces, where DeSantis had just announced his run for president, had been plagued by technical glitches. The first audio livestream cut out before DeSantis could get his news out.

Daily Kos

Billionaire conspiracy promoter Elon Musk spent $44 billion on Twitter to implement his special brand of “free speech,” essentially bringing back all the Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and all-around deplorables that were once moderated out of the platform, relegated to darker corners of the internet.

The Daily Beast

Twitter is failing to remove 99 percent of hate speech posted by Twitter Blue users, new research has found, and instead may be boosting paid accounts that spew racism and homophobia.

Ben & Jerry’s

We’ve watched with great concern the developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. Hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent. In addition to the changes on the platform that have led to an increase in hate speech, Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech. The platform has become a threatening and even dangerous space for people from so many backgrounds, including people who are Black, Brown, trans, gay, women, people with disabilities, Jewish, Muslim and the list goes on. This is unconscionable in addition to being plain bad business.

Erin Reed

As Pride Month began, Elon Musk stated his intention to lobby for the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors - a move that is unequivocally harmful and contradicts all major medical organizations in the United States and standards of care.

Ars Technica

Twitter’s US advertising revenue plunged 59 percent year-over-year during a recent five-week period, The New York Times reported today. The firm’s US ad “revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times.”

The Business Journals

Judge orders sheriff to evict Twitter from Boulder office

[tsarinatorment]

I want to say that i honestly adore your fanfics, they are so lovely, with a proper dose of angst, and sometimes comfort and fluff 💌!!!!

I want to write my first fanfic, i am a bundle of nerves, how was it for you? Also, do you have any tips? For now i am aiming for a oneshot, but i would actually love to write multichapters in future (T_T)

Aah, thank you, anon!

I've been writing and posting fics for thirteen years (my first posted fanfic was September 2009) so I have to admit my memory is a little hazy on the exact emotions surrounding it, but let me see what I can dredge up.

It was a multichap. It's still up on both FFN and AO3 because I don't believe in taking down my old stuff - it's a document to how much I've improved over the years - although I consider it highly cringe-worthy and never look at it myself any more. I wrote the whole thing out on paper because I was only allowed to be on the computer for an hour a day back then and painstakingly typed it all up whenever I got the chance before posting it onto FFN.

The biggest thing I learned, posting that, was to write what I wanted. I had a really enthusiastic reader who kept throwing suggestions my way and I ended up changing my pre-written fic to follow all of their suggestions because I got too excited that someone liked it. Not only did that person disappear off the face of the earth before I finished the fic, I was actually left pretty unsatisfied with where it had gone by the time I was done with it. That's one of the reasons I don't re-read that fic.

So, tips: write what you want to. It's something I see around the internet a lot and it's absolutely correct: the best fics get written because you want to write that fic. When you write to please other people, it feels kinda hollow and empty after a while; there's instant gratification if the person who you're trying to please says they like it (and if they don't respond at all, you deflate like a lead balloon really fast), but in my experience, everything I've written to please someone else are the ones I like the least. In some cases, I wish I hadn't written them at all.

My best works, the ones I look back on and love months, years, later, are the ones I wrote for me. I share them online because I want to, and yes, it's always disappointing when I don't get any response from readers, but that story's worth isn't tied into external validation.

If you're casting about for ideas on what to write, there are options. Prompt lists exist, if you work well from prompts (I personally use prompts as short exercises most of the time). If there's a common trope you see but there's something slightly different about it - write that! If there's something you really want to read but you've scoured the archives and there's nothing there that scratches that itch - write that! Or if there's a common trope that you love and want to have a go at - there's nothing wrong with that, either! It doesn't matter if it's been written to death; if someone likes that trope, they will scour the archive looking for every single fic and devour all of them. As an author, I like twisting tropes/prompts etc., but as a reader, honestly I love reading the same thing written by many different people.

Also, for the first-time posters: remember that it won't be perfect. No matter how much you slave over the editing and reading and re-reading, there will be mistakes that you will not spot until you've posted it up for the world to see. Don't beat yourself up over them. Obviously, do your spellcheck, your grammar check - if you can handle it, get a beta (I, personally, cannot deal with people picking my stuff apart so I suck it up and do all my own editing, but for some people betas are a lifeline; you'll learn over time what works best for you). If it's riddled with errors, people won't read it, but they will forgive odd small things.

And really, it is scary throwing things out into the internet for people to look at. Even now, I get nervous about how people are going to react to my latest stuff, although in my case, it's now because I know I have a few people who do read everything I write, and I'm always worried about disappointing them, but to start with (and whenever I dip into a new fandom), it's the fear that I've broken some fandom taboo I didn't know about, the fear that I messed up a characterisation, that no-one will like it.

Things you can do to try and get the best reception: Tag correctly. If you tag it with a bunch of irrelevant characters/genres/tropes, all you're gonna do is irritate people. I don't know which fandom you found me through, anon, but in the Riordanverse fandom, mistagging is rife and I know it's infuriating a lot of people, so. This mostly applies for AO3 but is also applicable to tumblr:

Fandom: tag it. If it's a crossover, tag all of them. If it's part of a huge universe that has several subsects, tag the overall one (e.g. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Works") and then only the relevant subsect(s) (e.g. Heroes of Olympus).

Rating: AO3 gives useful guidelines for this; don't tag something as general audiences if it's got a lot of swearing, blood and injury, serious angst, nsfw, don't tag as explicit if it's completely soft and there's nothing at all, etc. It's mostly common sense, if in doubt always err to the higher rating because we're always better safe than sorry.

Warnings: Warnings are important. Sometimes, you don't want to warn for something that's a major plot twist (I do this sometimes), and in my personal view that's okay as long as you use "chose not to warn" on AO3 if it's an archive warning, or "additional warnings apply" if it's not. Never say there are no warnings at all if there's something you're trying to hide. If you don't know if an archive warning applies (I never know where the line is for violence), again, use "chose not to warn".

Relationships: Tag the major ones. If it's a oneshot, you can probably tag any that have any relevance, for multichaps I prefer to go minimalistic and only tag the relationships that are a main part of the story, like the ones that involve the main character(s). Remember / is romantic and & is platonic/familial. Don't mix them up!

Characters: Again, tag the major ones. For oneshots you can probably get away with any character who does something in the story. For multichaps, again, keep it minimal. A lot of authors don't do that but as a fan of generally minor, obscure characters, I find it hellish going through their tag, see them tagged on a fic, then realise that they have all of one line out of 100k words, and I know other readers who feel the same way. I'm still waiting for AO3 to add in a distinction between major characters and background characters... Regardless, if a character doesn't do anything in the fic, do not tag them.

Otherwise, just tag genres, tropes if you've used any - lots of fandoms have their own little trope tags so look around and see what gets used frequently. But don't tag wall it; people will skip over a tag walled fic. Trust me.

Titles and summaries suck to come up with, I'm well aware, and I'm not the right person to give advice on how to do those because after thirteen years I'm still clueless and hate those the most, but things to not include are: bad grammar, "fic is better than the summary" or other negative remarks about yourself/the summary, and begging people to read and/or comment. Those are the first thing people see - and if they don't like what they see, also the last thing people see as they scroll past.

But, really? Just have fun. Fandom is supposed to be fun. It's not a chore, it's not something any of us do because we have to. If you're not enjoying it, take a break. Do something else. It's nerve-wracking putting a little piece of you up on the internet, something you put time, effort, and love into, but it's connecting with other people. It's fun, it's a way to make friends with similar interests to yours.

This got long, so I'll leave it here for now; I hope this helped, anon, and good luck with your writing!

[silentauroriamthereal]

My HP fics

Hey hey! 

From about 2003-2006, I was very involved in the Harry Potter fandom, with a trickling out of activity in the three years following that. I believe the last fic I wrote in that fandom was in 2010, and it definitely felt like an extra, very much last burst of will to make that one happen. The fandom was dwindling, JKR was JKR-ing, and people were already starting to move off the main fora: LJ for the social side, and a veritable flurry of archive choices. My main one had always been skyehawke.com. 

I got busy with my masters degree and life in a different city, and thought I’d moved on. Then, in the spring of 2013, I moved cities again, discovered the massive talents of Benedict Cumberbatch and thereby, Sherlock, and suddenly discovered that I wanted to start writing again. It was bewildering, because in that time, I’d lost contact with everyone I’d ever known in the fanworld in general, and a huge migration had happened - from LJ to tumblr, and from every archive to ao3. I didn’t know if anyone would even read something I wrote, especially as a newbie in a brand new fandom. I was startled to find that some people remembered me, and had also come over to the Sherlock fandom. As I started reconnecting with people, some of them started asking me if I was going to bring all of my HP material over to ao3. I always said no, immediately. I had lots of reasons: 

the fics were old, and the oldest of those were frankly not very good

I had no interest in either promoting them, or engaging with readers about them anymore

JKR is JKR, and she rather spoiled the fandom backwards for me. Between her unapologetic and highly public transphobia, her active queerbaiting in making characters gay after the fact without any overt inclusion of that in her canon, including in films she was involved in writing/making after said statements, and her active loathing for the fandom, especially the slash side of it, which was obviously what fuelled the epilogue that made writing Harry/literally anyone so much harder than it needed to be, I just decided I was out

it would have been a lot of work to reformat the stories, and there are a lot of them. I had written 1.7 words of fiction in that fandom, spread out over 105 individual stories, so yeah: a lot of work. Plus, I was painfully aware that many of them had many typos, and I wouldn’t have wanted to bring them to a new archive and thereby potentially a new audience in that state, so: even more work

However, not actively wanting to promote that work is a very different thing from not wanting to HAVE that work, or allow anyone else to have access to it ever again, so I had always said that I would let the entire collection stand, as is, on skyehawke.com. 

Skyehawke finally crashed for apparently the final time about two weeks ago. There was no warning from the archive owner, no chance for anyone to pull any of their unsaved stuff. Some of my stuff is so old that it was literally saved on floppy disks. The rest was saved on the hard drives of laptops now long gone. I was devastated. Rather than posting about it on here, I made my first post on LJ in literal years, asking without much hope if anyone happened to have saved a copy of any of my stuff, just wanting to see if I could regain any of it. 

What I received was yet another outpouring of the kind of fandom generosity that always just floors me. People linked me to reddit searches of my stuff, pointed me to the Wayback Machine (which I had never heard of, lol), sent me entire google drives, emailed me one or twelve or sixty files of my stories. Some emailed or commented on the post only to express their sympathies and best hopes for document recovery. It’s 48 hours later now, and I got every single word back. It took me hours and hours of downloading or copy/pasting from Wayback, but I have it all back now. 

So, I made a decision: I’m changing my mind. Some of these stories still make me cringe, and it will be HEAPS of work, but in gratitude for all of this, I AM going to upload my HP material to ao3, after all. It’s going to take me a lot of time, because if I’m going to do it, then I might as well make it typo-free, or as typo-free as I can. I need to reformat it anyway, so why not? That said, I’m going to hold off on starting this project until I’ve finished my current Sherlock story. This community, of fandom in general, is beyond amazing. It’s a stronger network of humanity and good will than I’ve ever found anywhere else and I’m so grateful to have this in my life. I once thought that I had “moved on” from fandom or outgrown it in some way, but that was an immature thought: fandom is for anyone, at any age, and even if I were to lose interest in whatever my current fandom is, I would stay for the community. Thank you for existing. Thank you for all your friendship, support, readership, and all of the fanwork you folks put out into this world, too. I love you all. <333333333333333333333333

[tiesandtea]

Simon Gilbert

Simon Says

We interviewed Simon Gilbert, Suede’s drummer, whose book So Young: Suede 1991-1993 is a journal and photographic document of the band’s early years that will be published October 8th. So Young has foreword by journalist Stuart Maconie and a vibrant, lively text by Simon himself, documenting his move from Stratford-on-Avon, his hometown, to London, the audition with Suede, life in the van, the early success years and the many amusing things that come with it. It is one of those rare books that make an outsider feel like they were there, in the van. Or in absurd mansions in L.A. belonging to industry types. Or was it record producer(s)?…

The conversation extended to Coming Up, Suede’s third album that turned 25 this year and drumming. Simon’s witty, often, one-liners contrast with my more elaborate questions, proving an interesting insight into our way of writing/replying.

by Raquel Pinheiro

So Young: Suede 1991-1993

What made you want to realease So Young?

I was searching through my archives when researching for the insatiable ones movies and found lots of old negatives and my diaries. They had to be seen.

When and why did you start your Suede archives?

As you can see from the book, it stared from the very first audition day.

From the concept idea to publishing how long did it took you to put So Young together?

30 years … I’ve always wanted to make a book since I was first in a band.

What was your selection process for which items – diary entries, photos, etc.- would be part of the book?

I wanted to form a story visually with a few bits of info thrown in here and there, also most of the photos tie in with pages from the diaries.

Which methods, storage, preservation, maintenance, if at all, do you employ to keep the various materials in your archives in good shape?

Boxes in an attic … one thing about getting the book out is that I don’t have to worry about the photos getting lost forever. It’s out there in a book!

Other than medium what differences existed between selecting material for The Insatiable Ones documentary and for So Young?

Video and photos … photos don’t translate well on a TV screen.

Do you prefer still or motion pictures and why?

I prefer photos … they capture a particular moment in time … as video does, but there’s a unique atmosphere with a photo.

So Young’s cover photo has a very Caravaggio and ballet feeling to it. Its chiaroscuro also contrasts with the images inside.  Why did you choose it for the cover?

It was a striking shot and I wanted the book to be black and dark …it fitted perfectly.

How many of the photos on So Young were taken by you?

Probably about 3/4 my 3 school friends who were there with me at the beginning Iain, Kathy and Phillip took a load of us onstage, backstage, after  the gig, etc., photos I couldn’t take myself.

So Young can be placed alongside books like Henry Rollins’ Get in The Van and Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, that not only chronicle and show the less glamorous, more mundane side of being in a band, but also totally immerse the reader so deep in it that we are there, feeling and going through the same things. Was your selection of materials meant to convey that “band being your(our) life” sensation?

Yes, exactly that. I was fascinated by photos of bands, not on the front cover of a magazine or on TV. The other bits of being in a band are far more interesting.

In the foreword, Stuart Maconie mentions the brevity of your diary entries which, as someone who keeps diaries, I immediately noticed. Do you prefer to tell and record a story and events with images?

I haven’t kept a diary since the end of 1993 … looking back on them they can be a bit cringeful … So, yes, I prefer images.

Contrasting with the diary entries brevity your text  that accompanies So Young is lively, witty, detailed and a good description of the struggles of a coming of age, heading towards success, band. Do you think the text and images reveal too much into what it really is like being in a band, destroying the myth a bit?

I think the myth of being in a band is long gone … Reality is the new myth…

In So Young you write that when you first heard Never Mind The Bollocks by The Sex Pistols music was to be your “future dream”. How has the dream been so far?

Still dreaming … lose your dreams and you will lose your mind … like Jagger said.

Is there a reason why So Young only runs from 1991 to 1993?

Yes, I bought a video camera in 1993. It was so much easier filming everything rather than take a photo, wait 3 weeks to get it developed and find out it was blurred.

So Young has a limited deluxe numbered and signed edition already sold out. The non deluxe edition also seems to be heading the same way. How important is it for you to keep a close relationship with the fans?

So important. I love interacting with the fans and is so easy these days … I had to write replies by hand and post them out in 1993…

Playing Live Again & Coming Up

Before Suede’s concert at Qstock Festival in Oulu, Finland on 31.07.2021 you wrote on your social media “cant fucking wait dosnt come close!!!!!” and Mat [Osman, Suede’s bassist] on his “An honest-to-goodness rehearsal for an honest-to-goodness show. Finally”. How did it feel like going back to play live?

It was great. Heathrow was empty which was amazing. A bit strange to play for the first time after 2 years …., but great to get out again.

Coming Up was released 25 years ago. How does the record sound and seems to you now compared with by then?

I haven’t listened to it for a long time actually … love playing that album live … some great drumming.

Before the release of Coming Up fans and the press were wondering if Suede would be able to pull it off. What was your reaction when you first heard the new songs and realize the album was going in quite a different direction than Dog Man Star?

Far too long ago to remember.

Coming Up become a classic album. It even has its own Classical Albums documentary. Could you see the album becoming a classic by then?

I think so yes .. there was always something to me very special about that album.

Is it different to play Coming Up songs after Suede’s return? Is there a special approach to concerts in which a single album is played?

No … didn’t even need to listen to the songs before we first rehearsed … They’re lodged in my brain.

Which is your Coming Up era favourite song as a listener and which one do you prefer as a drummer?

The Chemistry Between Us.

Will the Coming Up shows consist only of the album or will B-sides be played as well?

Definitely some B-sides and some other stuff too.

Simon & Drumming

If you weren’t a drummer how would your version of “being the bloke singing at the front” be like?

Damned awful … I auditioned as a singer once, before I started drumming … It was awful!

In his book Stephen Morris says that all it takes to be a drummer is a flat surface and know how to count. Do you agree?

No.

Then, what makes a good drummer?

Being in the right band.

Topper Headon of the Clash is one of your role models. Who are the others?

He is, yes … fantastic drummer.

Charlie Watts is the other great …and Rat Scabies … superb.

She opens with drums so does Introducing the band. Your drumming gives the band a distinctive sound. How integral to Suede’s sound are the drums?

Well, what can I say … VERY!

Do you prefer songs that are driven by the drums or songs in which the drums are more in the background?

Bit of both actually … I love in your face stuff like She, Filmstar …, but ikewise, playing softer stuff is very satisfying too.

You’re not a songwriter. How much freedom and input do you have regarding drum parts?

If the songs needs it, I’ll change it.

Do you prefer blankets, towels or a pillow inside the bass drum?

Pillows.

Do you use gaffer tape when recording? If so, just on the snare drum or also on the toms? What about live?

Lots of the stuff … gaffer tape has been my friend both live and in the studio for 30 years.

What is the depth of your standard snare drum and why?

Just got a lovely 7-inch Bog wood snare from Repercussion Drums … sounds amazing. It is a 5000 year old Bog wood snare.

Standard, mallets, rods or brushes?

Standard. I hate mallets and rods are always breaking after one song. Brushes are the worst …no control.

How many drum kits have you owned? Of those, which is your favourite?

5 … my fave is my DW purple.

How long to you manage without playing? Do you play air drums?

7 years 2003 – 2010 … and never.

Can you still assemble and tune your drum kit?

Assemble, yes …tune no …have never been any good at that.

You dislike digital/electronic drum kits, but used one during the pandemic. Did you become more found of them?

Still hate them … unfortunately,  they are a necessary evil.

When you first joined Suede you replaced a drum machine. Would it be fair to say you didn’t mind taking its job?

Fuck him!

Brett [Anderson, Suede’s singer] as described the new album as “nasty, brutish and short”. How does that translates drums wise?

Very nasty brutish and short.

When researching for the interview I come across the statement below on a forum: “If you’re in a band and you’re thinking about how to go about this, get every player to come up with their own track list & have a listening party. I’ve done this, not only is it great fun, it’s also massively insightful when it comes to finding out what actually is going on inside the drummer’s head!”. What actually is going on inside the drummer’s head?

Where’s my fucking lighter!

And what is going on inside the drummer as a documentarist head? How does Simon, the drummer, differs from Simon, the keen observer of his own band, bandmates, fans, himself, etc.?

There is no difference … I’m Simon here there and everywhere…

What would the 16 years old Simon who come to London think of current Simon? What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t smoke so much you fool!

[cowfiore]

cowfiore's introduction, requests, links and dni

hej + welcome to my blog!

This blog is dedicated to the Pokedexic (see below), a Project cataloguing Pokeic and Pokegenders and putting them in a spreadsheet. The carrd is below the cut.

my name is pheodora, i'm 18-25 and i'm a cowfiore hyperfem mogaihypic keacian moomer who uses she/they/moo pronouns!

(I do not allow my terms on anything but Kleine~katze's Mogaiwiki)

(To do requests you don't have to follow my DNI)

anglican (check dni) mentally + physically ill (no i will not specify further) tw's for violence and demonic imagery would be amazing my flag in my pfp is the cowfiore flag

below the cut is a list of list of linkz, socials, tags + projects!please look at my dni! please do, especially before following!! <3 general likes and about the blog also below the cut

About the blog

This blog will initially be focused around my Pokedexic Project, which is my project for documenting and creating a gender relating to all 899 Pokemon! Later on I will probably start remaking flags for identities or doing similar things.

General Likes

-🌻 archiving/making pages for mogai identities -🌻 modern history + politics -🌻 pokemon -🌻 cows -🌻 industrial german/swedish metal

Projects, Links and Tags

Links

Requests

Projects

The Pokedexic

Socials

My Mogaiwiki Page (no, the other one!)

Tags

#cowfiore.pokecoin; pokegender/pokeic coining!

#cowfiore.pokeflag; pokegender/pokeic flag!

#cowfiore.pokedexic; pokedexic updates!

#cowfiore.txt; cowfiore's general chatter

#cowfiore.req; requests!

DNI

i dont expect everyone to read this, if you do i love you (/p) and i hope your pillow is comfy and cold tonight <3

i am extremely sensitive to anti-theist remarks, demonic/angelic imagery, referencing 'biblically accruate angels' and terms alike that are biblical in nature, iconography or depicting jesus, God, Allah, the prophet Muhammad or any icon from Abrahemic religions in images or using divine, angelic, demonic, holy aesthetics without being a christian or belonging to a religion. if your blog uses these aesthetics or frequently posts anti-theist remarks i will block you. i hold the right to block you at any moments notice if you dont meet the criteria. your religious trauma doesnt give you the right to be awful and mean to people who practise the religion.

also all basic dni criteria, include zoo, p3d00s, fake claimers, cringe blogs or anti neo/xenos.

[dee-the-red-witch]

OK, I’m gonna take a minute here while getting my brain re-set to sit back down and start in on the manuscript again. And I want to preface this all with a BIGASS disclaimer: I DO NOT THINK OR CONSIDER THAT THE POSTER WHO PUT THESE TAGS ON A REBLOG FROM ME WISHED ME ANY KIND OF ILL WHATSOEVER. IN FACT, I’M PRETTY SURE THEY WERE TRYING TO PAY ME A COMPLIMENT.

That said, I’ve been seeing this more and more. On here, on twitter, on Fb, everywhere. And it’s happening more and more as I post about more than just part of what I do as a dayjob, and as I’m trying to leverage back into doing more than just leather. ...y’all do get that my leatherwork and maskmaking is not the sum and total of me as a person, right? I mean, this is not meant as a humblebrag, or any kind of brag, just a resume list, because I’m all over the fucking map: In high school, it was debate and drama. Even ended up at State and Nationals for those to some degree.

After that, in between and during college, it was working haunted houses, studying english, history, and theatre, and then putting together a theatresports team that ran for two years (we were groaningly terrible, exactly the kind of humor geeky/nerdy theatre kids put together and it was awesome and these days I cringe at some of the jokes we used to do. I think our biggest audience was maybe thirty people.) Then it was moving here, going to Cornish for theatre, summarily dropping out of Cornish after a semester of realizing there was no way I could afford to stay in school and survive without being homeless on part time minimum wage, not to mention lots of disagreement with the whole program. Cue being a twentysomething in seattle in the early aughts- doing lots of small theatre, joining a Rocky Horror troupe, weird citylife adventures and a lot of shite underpaid jobs. Also figuring out I was queer in there. Leather didn’t happen until after I’d met my fiancee and we’d moved in together, when I got hit with a seven-month stint of unemployment, and with loads of boredom on my hands, decided I’d try and figure out how to make a leather mask or two from some spare hide she had lying around from making her own armor for the SCA. Which took a lot of attempts. Fast forward a couple of years, I was still working shit-paying jobs, we had a kid on the way, and couldn’t afford early daycare so we could both work. so I stayed home with the kids since I made less out of the two of us. Still don’t regret that. Also meant I launched a website and started slowly getting more and more professional and doing cons and stuff. Of course, doing a site means you have to do images, which meant learning photoshop, and, well, I also went ahead and learned how to draw, collage, etc in there. After a few years of photoshop, leather, and websites at home, and after going back to work at a bank doing image archival work on documents, I ended up working in a gallery as a dayjob, scanning and archiving paintings and photos for reproduction. which meant learning repro, art, art history, and putting it all together meant I was suddenly making digital art in my off time as well. And then kid number two and the ‘08 real estate crash happened almost simultaneously in reverse order. I was home with new kid again, because my job, and my entire department type, information services, pretty much ceased to exist from the corporate world. And since then it’s been working on self promoting and doing my own business since because fuck working for other people, its never worked well.

So yeah, I do leather, it’s a big part of my life,because anything is when you’ve done it for 15+ years. But that said, I’ve been fighting burnout with it for two years now, and been trying to leverage myself out of it the whole time. Which means fighting with the “but you’re the leather guy!” thing in my own head a LOT. I am not just a leatherworks guy. I write. A bunch. Next book’s almost done, and I skipped the history bit where I was freelancing for a few rpg designers- no, probably not anything you’ve seen. I DO VISUAL ART which you’ve all seen like mad if you’ve been following for any amount of time. I’d act if there were enough spoons, time and energy in the day. There isn’t, and I’m a cheesey fuckin’ actor anyways. I tattoo- that’s a new one picked up since quarantine, but I’v ebeen trying to make both of my hands less dumb, so picking up actual physical drawing and tattooing has been a thing. I still also craft all sorts of props and other bits when I want/get hired to. Because WHY NOT. But I’m a lot more than a leather guy, and I fight with myself every time I see stuff about me being just the leather guy. Jeebus, that was a wall of text. OK, I’m maybe also needing to vent a lot more, find time to get into therapy, and deal with issues on a healthy basis. Maybe find time and people irl who see me as a whole-ass person now that my vaccine’s almost finished marinating. Yeesh. Sorry for the screed, folks, but the ‘don’t fucking delete shit’ rule applies. It’s here, so I may as well share. But yes, your friend who does more than leather is trying to get seen as your friend who does more than just leather. Make sense?

[1dcraftawards]

November Author of the Month...

Drumroll please.... our November Author of the Month is none other than the incredibly talented...

@all-things-fic ! 

Congratulations to a wonderful author, Liz! You can check out our interview with her below!

1.Did you start writing fanfiction for One Direction, or was there another fandom that you wrote fanfiction for before this?

I have one fic that I wrote for One Direction Fanfic Archive, that will never see the light of day. It was really awful, but everyone starts somewhere. I’ve shared it with two people on Tumblr and we just laughed about it.

I’ve also written a Niall Horan fic which has been flagged for how explicit it is, which is quite laughable as it’s tame in comparison to the Harry stuff (eek!)

2. How old were you when you started writing fanfiction?

I was a teenager when I first started writing fics. I don’t know if I would consider it “proper” fanfic though as it was riddled with cliches.

3. What’s been your favorite fic that you’ve written to work on so far?

For the longest time I was proud of the second part of Divorce Harry and specifically the second part. It just felt real to write. I can’t even explain what it is about that piece.

I think at the time it stemmed from an ask I received where I was asked if I was a parent - I’m not - but this someone said I portrayed aspects of a marriage and how children can tip the balance really well.

The sheer bitterness of two people in love and the juxtaposed feeling it brings was an interesting dynamic. Being bitter and in love? How? It happens. You love someone, but bloody hell don’t you hate at the same time.

And I think on the hand Quarantine Harry is the opposite side of the same coin. I love it because it’s so happy. When you’re smitten and basking. Your baby waking you up at 3am and meeting your husband on the landing with the freshly made bottle is a time to enjoy because you’re doing it together.

But soon enough the third child is sprawled out in your kingsize bed and their foot is pressed against your ribs and you're tired. This isn’t me saying the two stories are linked (I do get those theories quite a lot haha)

4. Do you prefer AU or OU?

Definitely more of an OU gal. I’m massively into writing things “realistically” because I think it’s so relatable and helps draw readers in more so. Especially if the writing uses and references visuals that readers are aware of.

5. What’s your favorite trope to write?

Would we call a long-term relationship / established relationship a trope? If so then this is my favourite. Writing characters who know how to push each other’s buttons, knowing what they can and can’t say to get the other going. Being able to write two people who can share as little as a glance and know what the other is feeling.

Sprinkle a bit of angst on the top for good measure.

That’s my kryptonite.

6. What’s your ideal space to write in?

I tend to write when I’m in bed quite a bit, usually really late at night and on my phone rather than my laptop. Often lying in the dark. Sometimes first thing in a morning.

7. How do you get motivation to write?

This one made me laugh considering I’m unable to finish a single piece of writing at the minute.

Pictures are quite inspiring. New images of Harry can usually start something in me. The images of him in the whacky joggers for example from set have inspired a scene in Quarantine Harry (who knows for which part just yet!).

8. Do you typically like to listen to music when you write? If so, what do you listen to?

Very rarely listen to anything when I write, I tend to like silence really. Sometimes this is so I can dictate into my phone.

9. Your dialogue is some of the best I’ve ever read on tumblr, how do you plan conversations in your fics?

Thank you for the compliment, it’s really nice to read that you think so highly of my dialogue. I don’t really plan them - conversations or my fics. I’m quite visual in how I write, so anything that you’ve read I’ve most likely had it play out in my mind and typed it as it’s moved. For dialogue I tend to speak out loud as I’m typing to try and get the pacing right for the conversation.

No, I don’t try to do a Manc accent… Just in case anyone is wondering haha!

10. What is your writing process like?

I write what I see and then hope it fits. Honestly it’s pretty chaotic. The only time I tend to plan is when I’ve got a lot of different scenes written and I need to know if they’re suitable for an update or what order to place them.

Then I read through them and think about the characters and how they would be a certain time and move the documents into another document. Then I close all the tabs and cry cause my motivation is nonexistent.

11. What’s been your favorite scene to write from Quarantine Harry?

One that hasn’t been shared haha! I’m joking (maybe).

From part one my favourite bit has to be the part where she makes up with him by taking him a cuppa and he gets a dig in about how she hasn’t brought any biscuits with her. Also the bit where he says “come an’ love me” meaning he wants to cuddle. I’m quite conscious I don’t really ever write soppy fics, so when I’m writing “fluffy” aspects they’re more so everyday affections. Like, you know someone is properly in love with you when they’re doing the washing up cause you’re busy, or they’re taking out the bins on bin day. That kinda thing.

From part two absolutely the entirety of the morning where she takes the pregnancy test. That was the part I had as clear as day and I worked backwards to the opening scene. I really loved the idea of Harry knowing his partner is pregnant before said partner knows. Him knowing his lovers body like the back of his hand so much so that he’s able to pick up on the smallest of things.  I knew I had to write it.

And how he casually suggested she took the test, by pressing a kiss into her back. His face finding that test and then being an insufferable sod and pleased with himself cause he’s in the know about the outcome before the MC.

12. Is there a schedule you follow in terms of when you write? Or are you more impulsive and just write where and when you can?

So impulsive it’s actually embarrassing. I cringe at myself. I know I’ve mentioned this loads but I really write what I see. So if I’m not seeing anything, I’m not writing. It’s quite frustrating.

13. What is one thing you wish you would’ve known before you started writing?

To not talk about your writing before you’ve finished it. I feel like I massively let people down when I post sneak peeks and then I can’t deliver because life gets on top of me!

14. What do you prefer writing, multi-chaptered fics or one shots?

One shots and then if they develop into something more that can be exciting!

15. What's your secret to portraying such a complex and interesting relationship between your main characters??

Personal trauma…… *tumbleweed at another one of my poorly thought out jokes*

I’m a bit stumped on how to answer this one. I think being well read(ish) helps you create complex characters and relationships, not saying that I am but I’ve read a fair few books. Life in general helps too, sometimes personal relationships. Just growing up. My fic when I was younger was nowhere near the type of things I’m writing now but I’ve got a couple (okay, more than a couple!) of years on myself since then.

I think just apply your own lived experiences and call upon emotions you may have felt through certain times that you’re writing should you have experience it.

Partly I also think so many of us are a little bit nosy. Sometimes we all kinda want to be the fly on the wall in the home of couples to see if everything is a rosy as it seems or as intimate. Or whether it is just raw passion with a couple of arguments thrown in for good measure.

16. What Harry era/mood/look/vibe/song/etc. do you get most inspired by?

What’s weird is my favourite era of Harry is 2014, but I wouldn’t want to write him like that. The current Harry is quite marvellous. I’ve never known anyone like him, he really is fine wine (the real album title…. ‘we’ll be a fine wine’)

If you’re asking what mood I like to see him in, it’s either when he's pensive and looks a touch pissed off with a crease to his brow or when you watch his joke his eyes before he’s even said it and he’s amused/pleased with himself.

His current look, mainly late 2019/2020 is quite something (hence the quarantine fics)

I tend not to get inspired by his songs but my two faves if I had to pick would be Woman and TBSL. I think they’re massive Scorpio energy and would make great premises for a one shot sometime!

I’m not sure if I even answered this how you wanted it answer but hopefully it was something haha!

17. Who or what inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always loved writing, I think it’s because I do a lot of it with my line of work. The person that gave me the push on this site was actually an account called @meetyourmouths. The lovely Iz is no longer on tumblr but she wrote a Harry piece that just made me think ‘fuck it’ and I posted Practicing. If you go to that piece the authors note makes mention to Iz.

I would also say @stylishmuser was one of the first people to reach out to me and be encouraging which has always stuck with me. Massive love for, P and still talk to her all these years on.

I’m now sat here thinking about listing all the lovely lovely people who have been so nice to me both in regards to writing and outside of it and I’m conscious I’m not mentioning them. The troubles of being a bit of a people pleaser. Hopefully those people know I love ‘em… You know?

18. Some readers are wary of leaving feedback because they're unsure how the writer will take it, how do you personally like to receive feedback? Do you want to be critiqued, or would you like to just know if they did or didn't enjoy what they've read?

First thing I’d say is please don’t ever think as readers you can’t be negative. Sure there is a way to present the feedback to the author cause writing can be quite personal, but everyone has room for growth.

Just come chat to me. Can be about anything and everything. A simple ‘loved the update’ to ‘this bit was rubbish’. I’m open to all feedback.

One thing to remember is there are a lot of writers out there so there is something for everybody. If a fic isn’t for you there are tons out there waiting for you to go and grab ‘em!

19. Is writing a hobby or do you have aspirations of writing professionally outside of fanfiction?

I used to think it was mainly more so a hobby, and I do still lean towards this. However, now I’m not so sure. My problem is I tend to have long spells of not being able to find balance in my ‘real life’ job and the extra-curricular stuff.

I’m dragging myself here but I don’t think my fics have much plot to them. I’m more so about writing the everyday life and I don’t think there is a market for that really (unless you have something explosive happen somewhere).

20. And finally, What's your purpose for writing? What do you hope to accomplish?

For a while I wanted to write Harry being insufferably British. I found it quite hard to find writings that I thought wrote him using Britsh-isms (is this even a thing?) and types of phrases that are common over this side of the pond. I wanted to put that out there for someone who may have once felt like me.

Mostly,  I just want to put pieces out that take people elsewhere, even if only for a couple of minutes. A lot of the world is a bleak place, if you find my little corner on tumblr and it makes you smile, that’s achieved something, hasn't it?

[undertaleauoc]

I personally like to view that have a really low bar when it comes to reposting art; in that I don’t care if it’s done so long as a clear, easy to find link can be found on the repost that links back to the original posting (OP) location. The artists among you—who have had your art stolen numerous times—probably just cringed at that statement, and I don’t blame you. Don’t get me wrong, though, I believe it better to never repost anything; it’s just that if you’re gonna do it, link back to where it’s originally posted. Every single piece of art I’ve ever reposted (which is so few, I could count them all on a single hand) hosts a link that leads straight back to the original posting location; and art that I download for personal archival is documented in a text file that is conjoined with a URL that leads back to the OP. Please, it’s not that hard to credit where you stole all your stuff from.

The text in the lower half of the second meme, BTW, is a “credit” that I actually found on an Undertale-related Youtube video which hosted something like 30 pieces of stolen art. I don’t care how hard you may think it is to fill out a description with the links back to the pieces of art you stole; I guarantee that it’s not harder than stitching them all together and putting it all to music. Credit the shit you stole; don’t be an asshole.

[vadgina-bush]

I wanted to reblog the post. couldn't, because you miss "transparent" blocked me. the reason I didn't want more people to see it is because she fit almost all of our sexting archives in there. you were there, you know it. not because her document disproves anything especially since she admits to doing most of the things she did in it. including sexually coercing me, and abusing me. stay mad, stay sharting, you're in the wrong. get a job, and make sure not to fall asleep. good luck. - Ari/715

I don't have you blocked. Cringe discord sexting and blueballs do not constitute abuse.

You're in no position to complain about your sexting "degeneracy" being put on display when not only do your ludicrous claims require them to be seen in order to be disproven, but you find it perfectly acceptable to drag up Morais's camming past, justifying it as her being an "abuser AND pedophile" which would make her deserving of any and all public humiliation. God forbid that she try to clear her name, when you use the presumption of guilt and malice in your claims as justification for the means you use to prove them, means you condemn when she's using them to prove what a lying, manipulative scumbag you are.

She only "admitted" to hurting you because I convinced her she did when I told her what you told me you felt, not knowing that you were lying to me the entire time and manipulating me into doing what you knew damn well I never wanted to be made to do. I unwittingly gaslit someone because I cared about you and believed you.

You sicced an abusive cracker on me and had her post lies and out of context screenshots from your server to paint me as hysterical and "degenerate", the context of those screenshots being either a joke started by someone else or distress that she and you had caused me. That you're here in my inbox after having done that to me, trying to convince me that you haven't lied about anything else, when you told me about the lies you were willing to weave after you entangled me in something you knew I felt was wrong, is gaslighting.

You let people try to induce delusions in Luka and took advantage of whatever you think could be my insecurities while telling me I'm wrong for standing up to this. You are blatantly lying when you claim to not have incited a harassment campaign. No, making your friends dirty their hands for you doesn't somehow absolve you of any responsibility.

I've seen enough to know you're full of shit.

I could go on, but I'm supposed to control my anger.

[toothpastecanyon]

We Walk Like Humans Do, Chapter 2

The Transcendence has been, on the whole, a good thing for magical creatures... for the ones that walked on two legs and fit in doorways, at least. Lacie has other problems to overcome before she can live in the big city.

Thanks to @feferipeixes for help editing this chapter! Go check out their awesome stuff!

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

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               Oh, my stars. Alcor hasn’t laughed this hard in lifetimes.

Chapter 2 of Wizard Animago’s Not-So-Secret Spellbook - Everything You Already Knew About Transfiguration and Literally Nothing Else

Hi, I’m 18Lacie5 and I wrote another chapter for you humans. Everyone was really confused on my last post and seemed to think it was a joke, so I’ll start out by answering the five most common questions you had.

1 - Yes, I am a basilisk.

2 - No, I am not the basilisk from Harry Potter.

3 - No, I do not live in the Chamber of Secrets from Harry Potter.

4 - No, I am not the horcrux snake from Harry Potter.

5 - No, I am not in any way related to Harry Potter.

Are we all on the same page now? Good, because holy shit some of you really missed the point here. I got a visit from one of you with a replica of Gryffindor’s sword, and that was so annoying I didn’t even feel bad killing him - like dude, all that tells me is I KNOW you read my post about not coming down here, and then decided to come down here anyway ‘cause fuck me, right?

(The sword wasn’t even that good. It was made of cheap plastic, snapped like a spine.)

Anyway, despite all this the last post was fun to write, so I’m doing it again. Also it seems like the number of visits from treasure hunters has gone down since I posted, though it’s hard to tell. There’s not really a consistent number from year to year, and the day I start keeping a deathcount is the day I give up on life and buy a mirror to see if I can kill myself with my own reflection.

For science, you know?

               Alcor’s read the entire blog by now and it’s just perfect. The snark, the sarcasm, the casual disregard towards human lives that could only have been written by an ancient and powerful being - it’s hilarious!   And the spell entries… man, he could listen to Lacie tear apart someone’s Latin any day of the decade. If only she could come to some of his summons; she’d have so much material to work with there.

               With a chuckle, Alcor looks up and glances around the darkness of the Mindscape. He needs to show this to someone. But who? Mizar? She’s only a year into the current reincarnation… hmm, she might be a little too young to understand it. Lucy Ann’s somewhere around; he probes for her, and finds her - dammit - during naptime at some kindergarten in Portland.

               Anyone else?

               …

               No one else.

               There’s absolutely no one else in his life right now. That’s… that’s a fun reminder.

               He sighs, and sits back on the fabric of reality. Maybe some cultists’ll summon him; he could read them a blog post, see if they laugh. That’d be fun, right?

               Al narrows his eyes at the great nothingness before him. It’d be something, at least.

               ...You know, he can feel a little tug now.

               A weak one, just one summoner, and no circle. That confuses him at first - even the real amateurs usually manage to scribble out some sort of rounded shape - and when he looks closer, he sees it’s holding one of his summoning cards, holding it in its… hand?

               No, not quite a hand, and Alcor jolts right up as he realises shit that’s Lacie trying to call him, shit he didn’t think she’d call him back so soon! How long did he keep her waiting? It’s been a couple hours - shit!

               Alcor tessers over to her in an instant, his mouth already open and spilling apologies: “Oh my stars Lacie, I am so sorry for the delay! I got distracted and I didn’t think you’d call back so soon so I wasn’t watching as closely as I-”

               A deep, rumbling growl cuts him off. It’s a deafening sound, coming from a creature lounging on a pile of bones and gold with teeth the size of Alcor’s entire body; he can’t help but cringe at that. He takes a deep breath, remind himself that he’s an all-powerful demon who definitely doesn’t need to be scared of some mere mortal… even if she is pretty scary for a mortal.

               You know, relatively speaking. He isn’t scared, he just thinks she’s scarier than, like, a human.  Like a human from that pile of human skeletons she’s smashed into the wall. Yeah, that’s not scary at all. That wouldn’t kill him… looks like it would hurt, though.

               He double checked he isn’t standing near that spellbook she’s bound to, right?

               Just as he’s thinking this, Lacie lets out another even louder growl, and he jumps back with an undignified yelp.

               “Hey, whoa, Lacie!” Alcor watches her head shift to the side. “Lacie? Hello?”

               She doesn’t reply, and he looks to her face for an answer. He sees one of her eyes now: it’s closed?

               Closed.

               The realisation washes over him as she lets out another slow, rumbling snore.

               “Oh. You’re… you’re just sleeping, aren’t you. Duh.” He straightens, and casts a glance around the room as he fixes his tie and straightens his hat. “Glad no one noticed that… Lacie?”

               She doesn’t stir, and Alcor makes a face. He’s never turned up to a summons  and had the summoner fall asleep; would she want him to wake her up? Her dreams feel pretty peaceful to him, and even though that thing - is that a giant laptop? - she’s using as a pillow doesn’t look particularly comfy, it doesn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.

               Yeah, it looks like he should just let her call him back… but there is something. Embedded in her sluggish thoughts, he can feel a sort of drive, a sort of desperation, and that makes him hesitate. He looks for her tail, and spots it still wrapped around his summoning card, still squeezing it in a death grip.

               Alcor frowns. He watches her snore one more time, then makes up his mind. With a deep breath, he reaches out and prods at her thoughts; they immediately begin to stir. He prods again, and Lacie lets out a grunt. Her eyelid cracks open, and she drags a sleepy glare across the room.

               Her gaze meets his, and he feels pain, pain in his soul, his soul feels like it’s being pushed out through his ears ow ow OW- and he recoils, unable to bear it for a second longer.

               Wow, he thinks, that really is potent. What on earth makes it so powerful?

               Before he can wonder about that, there’s a noise. Gold coins clink against each other as Lacie jerks up, blinking hard, panic flashing in her aura. Alcor holds up his hands.

               “Hey, hey, it’s just me!” He looks down as she fixes her eyes on him. “Sorry if you, uh, didn’t want to be woken up, I just thought… you know, you called me, and… what are you doing?”

               She’s cast the summoning card aside and is now wiggling the touchpad on her laptop. He cocks his head.

               “Whoa, I’ve never seen a laptop that big. Where on Earth did you buy that?”

               Lacie doesn’t acknowledge his question. She starts typing something, and he floats closer to see her login screen.

               “18Lacie5. Heh, I like your username.” He watches her click on the password box and slowly, painstakingly jab each key with her tail. “E… Y… E… What? Why are you looking at me like- oh. Oh, I’m so sorry!”

               There’s a faint snort from Lacie as he turns away. His cheeks redden.

               “Sorry, I forget hu- uh, mortals? Mortals tend to like their privacy on stuff… it’s kind of useless since Al-V can hack into pretty much any computer on earth - um, the Alcor Virus, that’s Alvie.” He hears the typing stop, and suddenly wishes he’d chosen literally any other topic in the world. “Um, not that I would make him hack into your computer! I’m just saying he could, and he probably has already… um, I just made him to get rid of Twin Souls though, you’re fine! O-or you should be fine - you don’t, by any chance, happen to like Twin Souls, do you? It’s, um, this book - well it’s a movie now but it was a book - and Mizar - who is my sister by the way - well, that’s why I hate it, because it has my sister and I, umm…ugh, sorry, it’s gross, my sister and I, we’re- huh?”

               A low hiss makes him look back, and he sees Lacie - ow - staring right at him. She gestures to the screen, which has a word document open on it with big, bold letters.

               “Oh, you want me to read that?” He floats closer, and frowns as he reads the first line:

               Im pretending 2 type rite now 2 see how long u wil ramble 4 wtf youre still going and now twin souls no nono why r u explaning i actually cant take the awkwardnes i got 2 stop u

               Alcor blinks, then shoots her a dirty look. The noise coming out of her now sounds an awful lot like snickering.

               “Wha- I was just-! I just wanted to clarify the hacking thing I said, I-!” The snickering gets louder, and he rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I guess I’m a little rusty at small talk, very funny. I’d like to see how awkward you’d be if the only practice you could get is on a bunch of cultists in basements. They’re not exactly social butterflies either, you know!”

               Lacie just keeps laughing, and Alcor… well, he puts on a show of crossing his arms and heaving a long-suffering sigh, but he’s fighting a smile.

               It’s strangely nice, being here. Lacie’s strangely nice to be around; she already feels - and he has to remind himself he’s only met her twice - almost like a friend? Maybe he just has a low bar these days, but he hears her laughter, and… it’s just very, very nice. Nice in a way that’s hard to describe.

               Nice in a way he hasn’t felt for a while.

               The feeling lingers even after Lacie’s chuckling dies off, and he’s still smiling as he watches her reach for the laptop again. She jabs the down arrow a couple times, and some more, better punctuated text comes into view.

               I have revised the terms of our deal, it starts, and Alcor clears his throat, squares his shoulders, tries to get himself back into business mode. He reads on: and I would like to exchange the human bones that are currently in my room for a human disguise I am capable of putting on and taking off at will.

               He raises an eyebrow as he reaches the end. This is not the deal he was expecting to make. A human disguise… he can tell she’s no demonologist, that’s for sure; there’s so many interpretations of that, so many wonderful ways to tw͏is͡t her̡ ̵w̢or̵d̸s ͏a͟g̢ai͘n̸st͠ ̢h͝er-

               No. He shakes his head to clear it of his worst instincts, but they won’t leave, not in the presence of such an enticing deal. Suddenly, he’s glad he doesn’t have to look her in the eyes right now; he trains them on the ground instead, and starts to speak.

               “So, um… when you’re saying a ‘human disguise’, what do you mean by that?” He can’t see her face, but he can see a bolt of frustration flash across her aura. “Huh? What’s- oh right, can’t talk, uh… well, do you want me to make an actual, convincing disguise? You know, instead of, like, a wig and some sunglasses?”

               Lacie nods vigourously. He watches her tap the caps key and add ‘CONVINCING’ before the human disguise bit. A part of him screams at all the opportunities he’s giving up - willingly! - but he forces a smile and nods.

               “Cool, I can do that. I’ve made a few humans before- human bodies, that is, not… um.” Alcor coughs. “Anyway, I can give you a convincing human form for those bones of yours. How does that sound?”

               She taps the screen.

               “What…? Oh, yes, I’ll make it so you can switch back and forth at will. Good catch. Now, do we have a d̕e͇̪͍̜̻̪͘a̙̻̬̦͔ͅl̲̝͓͔?”

               He doesn’t extend a hand to shake, but blue sparks spurt from his fingertips as he watches Lacie mull it over. Her aura fizzles with nervous energy, but it only takes a couple seconds for her to tamp it down and give him a firm nod. The rush of a newly made deal makes his grin go wide; he tries not to let it go too wide as he claps his hands together.

               “Alrighty, then,” he says, rubbing them until those sparks turn into a full-blown fire. “One meatsuit coming right up!”

               He extends a hand to the pile of bones in the corner of the room, and with a flick of the wrist he rips the energy from them all  and absorbs it. The sacrifice warms him like a good meal, and he turns back to Lacie, ready to put that newly-gained power to use.

               He steps back and sizes her up with his hands, a gesture that makes her aura simmer with uncertainty. She makes a low, nervous sound, and he waves her away.

               “It’s alright, I just… need to remember how big a human is, how much I need to squish you down... Got it!!” Alcor readies his fingers to snap. “Okay, I’ve only done this on myself before, so there might be some kinks I haven’t thought of! Don’t worry, though, I’ll probably be able to fix them!”

               Before Lacie could respond, he snaps his fingers, and his magic rushes around her like a cloud. Skin forms over scales, hair grows over horns, and the figure that remains when it disperses is unmistakably human.

               It’s also falling to the ground from the height of Lacie’s head, and oh shit catch her catch her catch her - he freezes her momentum a couple inches from the ground then lets her plop, safely but definitely not gracefully, into a puddle.

               “Oh, my stars! Are you okay?” Heart pounding in his chest, he dashes over. “I am so sorry about that fall, how are you- ow, okay , I’m gonna need to get you some sunglasses or something - how are you feeling? Here, let me help you up!”

               He extends a hand, and Lacie… just stares at it.

               Just stares at him, not moving, and he can feel panic flaring up in her aura as she can’t move, oh stars she’s so tiny right now and she can’t move oh fuck-

               Alcor blinks. “Oh, right. Um, don’t panic-”

               Don’t panic??? DON’T PANIC??? FUCK THIS SHE’S LIKE FIVE INCHES TALL RIGHT NOW AND SHE CAN’T FUCKING MOVE OH MY STARS WHY DID SHE DO THIS TO HERSELF THIS IS THE STUPIDEST FUCKING IDEA SHE’S EVER HAD IN HER LIFE-

               “Lacie? Take a deep breath… Lacie? Lacie!” He cringes when Lacie’s eyes fix on him again. “Okay, um, I can see this is… a little stressful for you?”

               She nods vigourously.

               “Alright, um… don’t worry, I made it easy for you to change back! You just, y’know, gotta think of yourself being a basilisk again - or is it pronounced ‘battle-isk’? ‘Bas-til-isk’? Heh, that’s a weird word, I’ve only ever seen it written down-”

               Lacie ditches her human disguise as fast as she could, shooting back out to her original form and cutting Alcor off mid-tangent. He jumps back, watching relief flood through her aura as she could move again, thank the stars she could actually move and everything’s normal sized again… fuck, everything’s normal sized again. She wasted her deal!

               The relief’s spiking up into another panic, and Alcor clears his throat. “Alright, so that deal didn’t go to plan. No worries! I can’t exactly do refunds, but you’ve still got plenty of good stuff to sacrifice in here! Doesn’t bother me if this takes a few tries, heh.”

               But that doesn’t calm Lacie in the slightest, because now she has to think of another deal, her mind’s blank, she’s got nothing! But she’ll fall asleep if she makes Alcor leave again… maybe she will have to go for that deal.

               It’s hard to read her thoughts when they go quiet, but Alcor definitely picks up something about that deal as they’re retreating into a murky bubble of disappointment. He sees how she hangs her head at the idea, then lugs her laptop over to her, begins to peck away at the keys.

               He sees that, and frowns. “Hey, uh,” he starts, and right away her eyes dart over to him. “If you don’t want to make a new deal, I’m sure we could make this one work?”

               Lacie cocks her head.

               “I mean, I’ve been… I know a thing or two about being in a human body. It’s been a while, but maybe I could… y’know, show you the ropes?”

               She doesn’t say a word. The silence stretches, and Alcor laughs nervously.

               “I-if you want. I mean, it’s been a while, but maybe I could show you enough to get around? I did technically promise your disguise would be ‘convincing’, so a couple human lessons should be easy enough to fit in, without… without another deal... um, I don’t know if you like this idea or you want me to stop talking? If you do that’s fine, I can do another deal, just give me a-”

               There’s a sort of fwoomp sound, and the coils and coils of Lacie’s body seem to twist out of existence. At the same time, a human takes shape where her head was, and falls right into Alcor’s arms before he has time to blink.

               “-a sign?” He finishes, and stares down at her. She stares right back, and he’d admire the steely resolve, the carefully-controlled fear in her gaze a whole lot longer if it didn’t make his soul want to push itself out through his ears.

               “Oh, Okay. Wow, you’re, um… diving right in, huh?”

               Lacie gives her closest approximation to a human smile, and Alcor’s caught off guard by how quickly he finds himself grinning back. An actual, genuine grin stretches across his face for the first time in too long, and he chuckles.

               “Alright, Lacie, I like your gumption!” He summons a pair of sunglasses, and sticks them over her eyes. “Let’s get humaning!”

________________________________________________________________

               Humaning. Lacie had taught herself many human things over the years; she’d taught herself to read, to type, to write - heck, she’d even managed to summon a demon (and in proper human tradition, had made a poorly thought-out deal with it.) She was no novice in learning how to human.

               Maybe that’s why she thought the whole human form was a good idea. She was great at humaning! She’d taught herself so many of their skills, educated herself on so many of their customs, she was able to pass as one of them online… sometimes, it really didn’t feel like she was all that different from them.

               After all, if she could read like a human and write like a human and think like a human, how hard could it be to walk around like one, too?

               …

               As it turns out, hard.

               Very, very hard.

               Duh.

               Everything, everything is different in a human body. Sure, she thought having arms and legs would take some getting used to, but how about all this hair? How about her cramped little mouth and her stubby tongue? How about her skin? Her skin is stupidly sensitive without scales; when she was lying on the stone, she could feel every little bump in it, could feel water soaking her, making her shiver - and shivering, ugh! What an awful sensation! Even though Alcor’s got her propped her up in a chair now, her skin won’t stop whining to her that, gasp, the fabric’s a little itchy!

               Whoop de fucking do, skin. Hopefully she grows a thicker one soon enough, because this is driving her crazy.  She’s laughing at the Lacie of a couple hours ago who thought she’d just be able to stand up and walk out of the sewers, and oh, speaking of walking ?

               Hah! Try moving them at all!

               Lacie’s been without these strange appendages all her life, and moving them would be like a human trying to nod with a second head they’ve just sprouted - sometimes she’ll get lucky and hit upon whatever bundle of nerves is controlling each of these limbs, and after two hours of Alcor’s patient coaching she can make them twitch on a somewhat consistent basis, but she’s not getting anywhere fast with them any time soon.

               She can only lie here, with her blunt teeth, with her papery skin, with her useless limbs…

               Helpless.

               Absolutely helpless.

               Alcor looms over her whenever he stands up… and that scares her more than she thought it would. Everything looms over her in this form; the - she called it little - pile of treasure she sleeps on now seems like a great mountain, the ceiling she often bangs her head on is higher still, impossibly high. She sees her spellbook resting on its lecturn, and it’s about the same size as her now; she remembers how tiny it once seemed, and- OH FUCK WHAT’S GOING- oh, she’s shivering again.

               Lacie frowns at that, and she lets out a noise that’s weirdly squeaky in this throat, and Alcor taps her shoulder.

               (And she feels that, holy shit skin it’s literally just a hand)

               “...need to take a break?” He’s asking. Frowning. “Lacie?”

               She nods, quickly, and he takes the sunglasses off her face before scooting back. Closing her eyes, she thinks of being a basilisk again, and all these alien sensations fall away with a flood of relief. Lacie is herself again; she takes a long moment to savour it, to lounge across her sleeping pile, to listen to her scales scratch against the stone floor, to open an eye and see Alcor as a tiny figure in her field of vision.

               “That looks comfy.” He says. He’s grinning, but she can barely make that out. “Darn, I should’ve moved the chair, too.”

               The chair? She lifts her body, and finds the chair she’d been sitting on, crushed beneath the weight of her coils. With a little chuckle, she sweeps it out from under her, marvelling at how tiny it is - how tiny she was.

               Alcor laughs, too. “Sheesh, you flattened it. I think it’ll be easier to make a new chair.”

               Laying her head on the ground, she lets out a lazy snort.

               “…um, when you’re ready, I mean.” He adds. “Or we can stop, if you’re tired? I can-”

               She heaves herself up. Ugh, she is tired - it creeps up on her. She can’t sleep though, not when she’s so close, so fucking close to getting out of here.

               “Oh, okay… are you sure? We’ve been at this a while, I really don’t mind taking a break…”

               Lacie tugs at that mental link in the back of her mind, and feels herself switch back into human form again. Unlike switching the other way, this form greets her not with a flood of relief, but with a host of silly little complaints: her back hurts, the stone’s not comfy on her face, it’s cold, she’s wet, on and on and on and she just wants it all to shut up… but, she will admit, there is one thing she likes.

               Alcor hoists her up on one of those tiny little chairs she’d been laughing at just a second ago, and she stares at him, and she feels awake.

               Completely awake.

               She can’t remember the last time her head’s felt this clear, and it’s a pity she has to spend half her human time fidgeting in a seat because otherwise it’d be amazing. Is this really how bad the energy situation had gotten down here? Wow, she really needed to get out of here, and fast.

               “Hey, Lacie?” Alcor’s saying something, and she looks over at him. “So I know you said - or, uh, indicated, anyway - that you didn’t want a break…”

               He pauses expectantly, and then, seeming to realise she isn’t going to follow it up with a ‘Yes?’ clears his throat.

               “Right. Well, I kind of would. Like a break. If that’s okay with you.”

               Lacie blinks.

               “You know, we’ve been doing this for a while, and I’m thinking maybe we could do something else? You know, it could be something fun! It could be something like, um, like… oh, do you play Scrabble?”

               She shakes her head.

               “No? Oh, I guess that was a longshot… how bout chess? I know there’s like, online chess… no?” He frowns at her continued head-shaking. “Alright, well… What do you do for fun down here?”

               Lacie thinks on that for a moment, then turns her head towards the laptop.

               “Oh, your laptop? Nice, nice.” He grins at her. “I love your blog.”

               Wait, her blog? He’s read that? He likes that? The surprise must be showing on her face, because Alcor starts laughing.

               “Yeah, it’s hilarious! I was actually so caught up reading it, I didn’t realise you were summoning me! I love just how sarcastic it is! It’s amazing!”

               Lacie blinks. Is he… gushing? Is Alcor the Dreambender gushing about her blog?

               Is this her life?

               “Man,” he rambles on. “that joke about a killcount, that was great. I just don’t get why it’s not more popular!  Humans, they just don’t have any taste… they’re, heh, they’re too busy reading Harry Potter, amirite?”

               He nudges her like he’s made some kind of clever reference, and she snorts at him. Okay, wow, demon or not, this guy really is an absolute plonker. She loves it.

               “Haha, yeah! They’ve been, uh, playing Quidditch too much to read your stuff! Yeah! Or they’ve been, um… making swords? Making- I should stop now, shouldn’t I.”

               With a big dumb grin on her face, she nods.

               “Yep, that was getting out of hand.” Alcor rubs his neck. “I just wanted to say I really liked it a lot. It was funny.”

               Lacie’s grin got even bigger.

               “So, uh, you really have been down here all your life, huh? Dealing with treasure hunters-” He chuckles when she rolls her eyes. “Hah, I can imagine that’s not fun! Yeah... so, uh, have you ever been outside?”

               She shakes her head. Maybe before she was old enough to remember, but that was a long, long time ago. Alcor makes a face at that.

               “Yeah, yeesh. No wonder you want to get out of here, no wonder…”

               He trails off, and Lacie watches his eyes go distant for a second before a thought seems to strike him; he blinks, frowns, then, slowly, he starts to grin. He turns to her again, and she raises an eyebrow at the shine in his eyes.

               “Hey, Lacie,” He says. “Want me to take you on a little tour?”

[distractionpie]

Fic writer tag

@aces-low​ tagged me in this great writers thing which is exactly the distraction I needed while home sick today and basically incapable of doing anything other than lay about feeling gross

What is your total word count on AO3?

712579 words

😲

Which seems like a lot but that’s padded by the fact I also cross post various tumblr fandom ask replies and only partially completed outlines when they aren’t really fic I just want to archive them somewhere reliable and organised.

How often do you write?

At the moment, not often. Maybe one or two ten-minute snatches of writing in the week and half hour at the weekend. A few months ago I would have said at least an hour every day but since I started a new job I haven’t had the time or energy for that. Hopefully once I get more comfortable in my routine I’ll be able to find better middle ground. (also once I a) get a new phone so it’s easier to write on the bus, or b) finally pass my driving test so I’m not losing so many hours per day to buses)

Do you have a routine for writing?

I tend to be more productive in a morning, which at the minute doesn’t work for me but there are many life improvements in the way that will help me get some of that time back so I may yet gain some of that time back. Unfortunately, my whole music, drinks, snacks, dig in for several hours of keyboard time does not exactly fit with the fact I’m current staying in the box room at my parents so I’m having to be flexible.

What are your favourite kinks/tropes/pairing?

Inverted power dynamics/characters who show an unexpected side of themselves when they’re intimate & FAKE DATING/MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE a.k.a anything that puts them in a situation of having to act like they’re in a relationship while also pining like hell because it’s not real

Do you have a favourite fic of yours?

My default is to think of the most recent stuff (The Take, I’m thinking of the Take), or at least unconsciously limit my thinking to stuff from the ships and the fandoms I’m actively interested in at the moment, but I think I would have to say that it is actually adoration de sauveteur  -  it was the first time I wrote a piece of fic that was both long and of a quality level that satisfied me (there’d been a few previous attempts but they tended to be meandering and heavy on the padding). I loved the whole process of writing it and to jump into a new fandom via a kink meme prompt shipping a guy who is half of the most popular slash pairings in the fandom with an OC and to receive the level of enthusiasm I did was a wild but brilliant experience and while there’s a lot of my older writing I look back on and cringe this one I’m still proud of and find the sections I’ve look at in the time since I’ve written in continue to be enjoyable. Also, working through my fear of a ‘mary sue’ type character and actually developing a leading OC and a supporting cast of OCs to match helped develop my characterisation skills a lot.

Your fic with the most kudos?

That would be And Bull Makes Three..., because writing the Dragon Age fandom totally blew away all my prior expectations about the level of support my writing can get. I still look back on the stats for this like WTF. Alas, it’s unfinished and I haven’t updated it since 2016 but it is not technically abandoned because I do still have a working document and the intention of writing an end…eventually.

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

Pacing and I’m often not very good at getting to the point. I often get bogged down in backstory that isn’t that relevant or ending up dragging out the ‘will they or won’t they’ phases for longer than is necessary just because it’s difficult to write the transition between the build-up and things actually happening. Transitional stuff in general really – if I want to move characters on from one thing to another I pretty much always just cut between scenes because the art of making one scene flow into another in a non-awkward way totally evades me.

Now something you do like?

I like (and I like to think I’m good at) writing non-PoV characters in a way that means the reader can still get a solid idea of what’s going on in their head even if they aren’t very expressive or the PoV character isn’t very perceptive *cough*asc-verse Web*cough* and I’m working a lot on being able to create a strong sense of mental voice for different PoV characters.

hmmmm... writerly people to tag: @icouldwritebooks, @auroargraves, @insightfulinsomniac, @you-oughta-know, @kokomobunny, and @anybody else who wants to do this

[austennerdita2533]

Tagged by the lovely Luce @lclrgsl.

What is your total word count on AO3?

36,318. 

It’s nothing compared to the 221,731 words I have archived on FFnet, but I’m okay with that considering I’ve written for more fandoms on A03. And someday “perhaps in a year...or even a century” :-p I’ll move the rest of my stuff over to A03. (Seems like a LOT of work since I know I’d edit them all to death before I did so haha.) 

How often do you write?

A little every day. Most of the time it’s not fic but original writing, stuff for work, or journaling, but I always write something.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I always hunt for story starters/writing prompts before I begin a new story even though I already have documents full of them. I need to stumble across that one phrase or sentence that sparks something inside of me, spurring me on to flush out some idea on the blank page.

I tend to write during the same stretches of time/blocks of day as well. I’ve found I’m most creative and productive between 10 AM- 12 PM, 3 - 6 PM, and 10 PM - 2 AM. 

Music, poetry/quotes, people and nature are constant sources of inspiration, too.

What’s your favorite kinks/tropes/pairing?

I like to challenge myself and experiment with different tropes, genres, fandoms etc. so nothing is truly off limits. There are so many more I want to try! I’ve written a decent chunk of angst, fluff, crack, canon AU/divergence, and supernatural/period AUs, though. 

Pairing-wise, I’ve written the most for Klaroline. But I had a lot of fun writing fic for Jaime and Brienne, Literati, JavaJunkies and Vicbourne in the past and would love to write more in the future. Plus, don’t get me started on my “will write someday” list because it’s insane!

Do you have a favorite fic of yours?

I literally cringe whenever I reread anything I post and am unsatisfied no matter what, so this question is hard haha. 

If I had to choose, however, I would say that When All Sense Breaks Loose for Literati (Rory/Jess) and When the White Wind Whistles for Braime (Jaime/Brienne) are two fics I think turned out the best - as in the way I imagined them in my head - overall.

Your fic with the most kudos?

On A03, it’s “When the White Wind Whistles.”

On FFnet, it’s a tie between “Warrior of Angels” and “Daisies Waltz with Black Roses” which are hiatus’d multichapters for Klaroline.

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

Besides everything, you mean? I’d say my proclivity toward lyricism irritates me the most, because it takes over despite me NOT wanting it to take over at times.

Now something you do like?

I suppose I like that I’m able to jump between serious and silly? It gives me leave to manipulate language in different ways because on the one hand, I can write witty banter or comical dialogue; on the other, I can write descriptive passages that describe some particular emotion or character.   

Tagging: @ksfd89, @misssophiachase, @brittaden, @supremeuppityone, @klarolinekolvina and anyone else!