#does anyone know any fics like this? or am i just unique with this idea? 😿

[wishchip106]

sighh thinking about cherik going to the mutant containment centre again 💔💔😔

lmao the quality difference 😭 you can tell which one i took from pinterest and which one i took from youtube

thinking about my last reblog with this one too

imagine all the mutants that got captured are being experimented on and then something goes wrong and one of them got turned into a monster

so now we got cherik being some of the last survivors in this big facility trying not to die from their friend-turned-monster

i feel like one of the problems they would have to deal with is finding Charles a wheelchair cause i just know those humans would be disrespectful af and not give Charles a wheelchair 🤨

i feel like that would make things difficult what with a monster seeking out their blood

how about they’re both also wearing collars so no powers until they find a way to get them off 🤯

why not lets have Erik be injured as well. he’s gonna be very slowly bleeding out during most of this

i’m turning down the survivability rate for these guys damn

but yk happy-ish ending they escape its all good but also everyone else is dead so… 👀

[phantomato]

Tom Riddle As A Parent: Why So Compelling?

(to me. Not meant to generalize.)

Tom-as-parent runs counter to canon in possibly baffling ways. He despises his own father and has no respect for his mother. He doesn’t have a confirmed romantic or sexual attachment to anyone at any point in the story—I’m disregarding Cursed Child here, as my canon is the original seven-book series.

Tom is ill-suited to parenting: we see him in a challenging job or unemployed but busy with his pursuit of power. His personal qualities include a lack of bedside manner, and he’s shown to tolerate putting on a polite face only when it serves him with people who have more power. Yet I’ve written Tom as a parent multiple times, including my longest work. The idea continues to compel me. What gives?

Canon Tom has no business being a parent—let me make it his business

Partly, I want this because it is just so unlikely to fit the character as we know him. Whenever a fic idea or characterization choice seems incongruous and wrong, my impulse as a writer is to wonder how to make it right. What shifts must take place for this person to do this thing?

I’ve long held that I am interested in a Tom Riddle who can feel love. Not that he loves easily or admits it to himself, but that he is a person with the ability to feel that emotion. Given that Tom can love, a child is an interesting place to explore that. How did the child come into his life? How did he reconcile himself to loving it? What shape does that love take? No matter the universe, some parts of Tom will always struggle to be a conventional parent.

This is a great path for Tom as an unintentional parent—kidnapping Harry of course, but also (my favorite) partnering with a single parent and navigating the family he gains as a side effect of that romance. Particularly coming into a teenage stepchild, which was an interesting writing experience because with an older child who remembered a deceased birth parent, I was free to give that Voldemort less personal responsibility for the kid. He could create something other than full parenthood in his relationship with Theodore Nott, where they came to understand and care for one another through their shared love for Nott Sr. I let Voldemort recognize his own unsuitedness to parenting and thus make compromises with it, and the relationship was overall more emotionally moving to me as a result. 

Tom Riddle will have an impact on any parenting that I force him to do. Because he’s not traditionally fit for it, the unique form his parenting takes is a chance to say so much about his character and the choices that he’s made in that universe.

Forcing Tom to reconcile with himself

It’s no mystery that Tom Riddle has parent issues. His mom dies while birthing him. He was raised in an orphanage. He kills his father. There are a lot of obstacles in the way of Tom having a healthy relationship with parenting.

In making him a parent, then, I’m asking his character to get with it real quick. There is a baby or a small child only growing older and more independent by the day; they are pulling their ideas of the world from him like a sponge sucking up water. He will have an influence on them. And what has Tom Riddle ever wanted more than influence?

Part of what I like about parent!Tom is asking what would happen to him if he took the prospect seriously. He is responsible for this kid, so he takes care of them. There must be many feelings there. After all, Tom went to his father seeking something. Magical heritage, sure, but he knew before he walked up that hill that he wouldn’t find it, and still he went. We can’t know anything with certainty (except in fanfic), but when writing him as a parent, I like to think that he might be changed when he’s forced to play the opposite role.

Tom with a child is a Tom who can possibly come to understand his parents or regret not getting to know them. He might see his mother’s care, to deliver her baby where he would live. He might see his father’s fear, at confronting his own trauma through the form of his child. He never got to learn what his mother might have taught him, and my own dislike of her aside, the character of Tom might miss her, forgive her, or never learn about her abuse. If he does know that his mother assaulted his father, it might spark his regret over committing that murder. And he Mrs. Cole as a caretaker as well, whose faults do not erase the intimacy of their relationship. All of these emotions can be explored via reflection as Tom experiences raising his child. He is making his own choices about being a parent, dissimilar or not to those made by Merope and Tom Sr. and Mrs. Cole, and facing unpleasant facts about his sympathy for their positions.

And all of this is equally as interesting to me when Tom is the child, or when he considers his feelings about his parents and mentors later in life. Tom’s hope to be a teacher likewise takes on more dimensions if we consider mentorship and influence on young people as relating to how he might feel about his own childhood, or what must change to make him suited for that responsibility. Tom-as-parent is particularly special as it features in fics that have helped define my characterization of him, and it is because the role is so unnatural for him, not in spite of it, that it inspires this kind of consideration.

[clockwayswrites]

OKAY, so I have been rereading some of your stuff, as anyone with a wonderful taste does /j. And I got to the One Stop Soup Shop? I hope that titles right lmao; anyway. So rereading that, and I got to the part where Jason and Danny are talking right after Jason wakes up, right? And I managed to overlook it for the first few rereads but the conversation where Danny is explaining what he used to be and what Jason is now makes me think of a couple different theories on what Danny could be now? Because he's almost, or he is implying, he isn't a Halfa anymore.

So, Fascinating. And I have a couple theories on that? So; here they are,

My first thought was Danny is the ghost version of a liminal. Like the opposite of a liminal. Ghost with human traits, instead of a Human with ghostly traits.

My second one was that whoever had him/captured him basically forced him, either permanently or until something can be done ie with Frostbite the yeti doctor or some other means, into his Ghost form, unable to turn back into human/living form.

My third was that, on the basis that a halfas core is connected to their heart, they tore Danny's heart out from the core, Either by the Fentons misguided attempts at believing Phantom was hiding in their now dead-from-the-portal-opening boys body, so taking his heart out to both kill Phantom, seeing him as some kind of parasite now, and allow Danny to be laid to rest, or the GIW got him, saw it, was wishing to experiment on it, did so, and when Danny was escaping, he tried grabbing it, and the pieces wouldn't rejoin, having been apart for a little too long, leaving Danny as this Halfa Husk, almost but not quite. A Core with a human body but missing the most vital piece of being alive, a heart. So he's essentially stranded to be a ghost, unable to turn human without dying slowly, and painfully. Again.

.... As you can see, I am so normal about OSSS. Clearly. Lmao, anyway, yeah I have gone slightly insane but it is so good, it's worth it, honestly. I think i have said enough to last a thousand years about OSSS. But I will leave with the fact that I am so excited to go reread, and spin in my head with OSSS, LBFD and BWAO. Hope you've been taking care of yourself, all the writing and head thinking you've been doing, okay? Great writers must be kept happy or something like that

I had to sit down and reread the first fic of this just to make sure I was thinking right LOL which was enjoyable, so thank you for that. It's always nice to have a reason to reread my own work, even if it's at the cost of your sanity I suppose? ^_^;

Like most of my fics, I have the scaffolding but not necessarily the details. Bobi esp was written more on vibes than on a plan. That said, your third one is closest.

Spoilers, I guess lol

But Jazz talks Danny into revealing Phantom to their parents, who go the route of being convinced that Danny is dead and his corpse is just being puppeted by Phantom. And in their experimentation he tips from being balanced to being more dead. The details I don't know, though your idea of heart is chilling! Basically Danny has a 'living' form that breaths and bleeds and is solid, but it's only that way because he started as a halfa. Unlike before when he had to transform to use some of this powers, he's always basically more ghost than not and so can turn off any of that. And he's still alive in his unique way.

JLD would have a fit meeting him lol.

[raidergamerspice]

Here's yet another Spy x Family ramble post since those seem to do well here lmao

It's about Yor this time!

Originally I just wanted to talk about one headcanon I had for her, but then I figured, why not talk about a few while I'm here? Considering how much I talked about Twilight in the last two posts alone, Yor deserves some rambles from me.

Anyway, first headcanon: she's autistic. Like, I got some vibes when I first watched the anime, and saw how she took her coworkers' joke to blow snot (I watch it dubbed, don't judge me) in someone's coffee seriously, then being told she's "unique". Then she constantly worries about appearing normal in front of people, and not just because she's a single woman at 27 (which happened to be the age I was when I first got into Spy x Family). She even has "unconventional" hyperfixations (on knives or other sharp weapons), and clearly has major social anxiety. Basically, Yor screams autistic/neurodivergent vibes. Honestly, the whole Forger family does, but Yor is especially blatant for me as I'm also autistic. So, yeah. Yor is autistic because I said so 😂

Another headcanon I'm projecting onto her is that she's part Filipino (I know the series takes place in a semi fictional world where even though it's inspired by our world, it's not exact). This came from a fanfic I found where Yor takes care of a sick Loid and, thinking he's sleeping, opens up a bit about her mother being from the Philippines. Even the author was projecting this because they too are Filipino, and guess what? So am I! Well, only by a quarter, but that still matters! I also know I'm not the only fan that headcanons Yor (and Yuri) to be Spy x Family's equivalent of Asian, so my interpretation (as well as the author of that fic) is just one of many 🥰

Here's that fanfic if anyone's interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46420426

Next, here's a headcanon that I'm NOT projecting onto her: she has a rose tattoo on her abdomen. This idea came about after listening to Victoria Beckham's song "Not Such an Innocent Girl", specifically the lyric about having a secret rose tattoo. I was struck by the thought that Yor would totally rock a rose tattoo (especially if it had thorns, 'cause Thorn Princess), and that it would definitely be kept a secret for several reasons. It clearly can't be on any of her limbs, so it would have to be somewhere on her torso. I looked up several examples for ideas, and this one is my favorite:

(Can you just imagine, when Twiyor gets intimate for the first time, Loid kisses the tattoo? 'Cause I can 🥵)

Also, I realize that this particular headcanon is the least plausible of what I talked about here so far, but I don't care. I'm letting the Yor in my head rock this tattoo 'cause she would look great with it! 😤🌹

Now this one, I'm not sure if it's merely a headcanon or borderline canon without being explicitly stated, but I have seen this topic come up every now and again. Without getting too deep into it for now, I'll just say: Yor is a virgin, but she still knows what sex is 😳

ahem, moving on.

This is the last headcanon I'll share for now, and it's something I briefly mentioned before: Yor is bisexual. Like, I'm a major Twiyor, obviously, but I'm not blind to how she and Melinda interact with each other (also, Melinda is straight up a lesbian, but I digress). I have a love-hate relationship with this phrase because reasons, but I still think it's valid to say that Yor has two hands. She deserves a husband and a girlfriend 😏 (let's just hope that Melinda doesn't turn out to be evil 💀)

Well, that's all for now! I know I said in my last Spy x Family post that my next one might be about Twiyor having twins, but I promise that will come soon! What do you think about these headcanons? Agree or disagree? Valid thoughts or delusional rambles?

[andypantsx3]

I’ve written to you before a very long time ago about things not going very well for me, and things are better now. Thank you for your compassion to a stranger then. It’s given me ideas as someone who also enjoys writing. I’m sure you’ve got variations of this question before so I’m sorry if I’ve missed those somehow but any advice on how to start writing and sharing your writing publicly? Like I created an account to send you this but I have no clue about anything really. Will I seem like a random interloper in the fandom who has arrived out of the blue 😭 I guess my concern is I’ll realize I’m actually not good at writing at all or worse nobody will read any of it. I feel awkward about actively promoting my work too. I don’t want to be famous or anything but it would suck if nobody wanted to read my stuff. You’re something of a stalwart at least for the fandom/genre/pairings you regularly write for and while I won’t aspire to that, how did you deal with self-doubt as an early writer? I know it’s not like I hope to earn money out of this or anything so opinions are just opinions but all my writing feels so personal to me that I’m worried about being convinced nobody cares about what I have to say. How does one really get their start at all. I’m sorry to bother you with all this but I’m super lost. It’s just that if someone’s terrible day or week could be made a little better because of my work, as your work regularly does for people, that would be nice. I hope you’re doing really well and randomly find something you’ve been looking for!

Hello my love!! I'm so happy I could help you out a little when you were in a tough spot!! I am very very happy that things are looking up for you now and I hope things only continue to get better and better!!! 💕

And oh my gosh, I don't think anyone will think of you as an interloper!!! Fandom is a community and the more the merrier imho! The x Reader community in particular is super welcoming and very nonjudgmental and the perfect place to get your start; almost everyone here is super nice and really chill. People will surprise you with how much nicer they are than you expect; I think you should just take a leap of faith and jump in!!

But just in case, let me give you the most realistic and straightforward advice I can. It's easy to dip your toes in and test the waters but I think you will need the below pieces of advice if you plan to battle self-doubt and continue writing & publishing fic without burning out or going nuts in the long term lol.

1. Find balance in the source of your self-worth

With publishing anything online, you always hope that people will like it and will want to engage with it. On tumblr the best measurement we have of that is notes, and on ao3 kudos + comments. Notes/comments/kudos are incredible and will make you feel more cherished than anything in the world. I will always appreciate them more than I can say, but one thing it is essential to know is that they are external sources of validation, and it is extremely dangerous to attach your sense of worth solely to the actions of other people.

If you want to publish fic, you will need to also find some internal sense of worth in your writing. You will need to finely balance that with how much you treasure the feedback of other people in order to stay afloat long term.

I recommend really sitting down and thinking about what you are writing/what you want to write, and why it is worth it to you. What makes your fic interesting to you? What are you doing differently than other people that makes you unique? What does your authorial voice sound like? Answering these questions will help you identify what you are bringing to the table as an author, so you know what it is that you do well, even if people aren't engaging the way you want, or even if you're receiving criticism.

For me, I really find value in the places I diverge from other fic authors. People really love writing powerful hero readers, but I usually write quirkless side characters who have somehow found themselves the main character. Chaptered/long fics are also less common in our fandom than oneshots, but I typically write chaptered fics! And I have a stylistically simple and light voice which is easily accessible.

All of these help me know that I'm bringing some fun distinct stuff to the table, even if what I'm bringing isn't perfect or necessarily as popular. And even if I enjoy other peoples' fics and authorial voices more than my own; I'm still bringing something unique and valuable!! So even when people aren't picking up every single thing I'm putting down, I still know the value of putting them down anyway.

2. Manage expectations

I think it can be easy to compare ourselves with one another, especially if you follow some well-established authors or people writing for super popular characters. Even I succumb to jealousy on occasion; it's just human nature. But it's important to know people will engage with different types of fics in different ways and that other people's success has nothing to do with your own.

I think you should set realistic expectations for how people will engage with your fics depending on what it is that you want to write. Some fandoms are much larger than others and therefore have a wider built-in audience. Some characters are also wildly more popular than others so it is likelier fics for those characters will go a bit further. In my experience, people really gravitate towards smutty scenarios or headcanons, sometimes oneshots, and less so chaptered fic. And some authors have been around for forever, or post constantly so that they are regularly drawing people in, and therefore have a larger reader pool than other authors.

So think about what you are writing, for which characters, and in which fandoms, and level your expectations accordingly. For me, even though Shouto is fairly popular, he also only has roughly 1/3 of Bakugou's level of popularity. So I never try to gauge the success of a Shouto fic in comparison to a Bakugou fic I've written, or even the Bakugou fics of other more established Bakugou writers.

This, combined with my own internal sense of worth as a writer, helps me feel like I'm doing pretty good for myself, even if I get like, 30 notes on a fic compared to someone else's 300 or something.

3. Understand that writing is a growing process!

One other essential tip is to understand that writing is a skill set than can be refined and honed. What you write one day is not indicative of where your skill level will sit the next day. And so critique you receive, or mistakes you have made, are really less indicative of failure and more tools to help you get to the next level.

This is one I've personally struggled with, but it can be worth it to be open to feedback that is not necessarily complimentary, with the caveat that you should know what is objective constructive criticism, and what is more subjective/personal preference. The latter you can disregard, because tailoring a fic to some random person's arbitrary tastes is not going to help you tell a good story lol.

But people telling you what they would like to see more of or things that didn't make sense to them can help you understand where you can make improvements to your writing. And it's not to say your writing is not good enough where it is; only to say there are avenues for you to develop even more experience.

For me, this has largely been in the area of smut lol. I liked my lil vanilla smut scenes, but I used to commonly get a fair amount of feedback wishing they were spicier. And, after initially getting defensive lmao, I could see how that was a common piece of feedback across multiple critiques, and I understood how drawing those scenes out might help contribute to the feeling of intimacy, satisfaction, and closure I want to develop at the end of a fic!!

I think being open to feedback while understanding that critique does not in any way take away from your talent overall, can only help you preserve the satisfaction you have with your writing, and help you refine in the future!! It keeps writing interesting, and keeps your sense of self-worth tied up in the process of writing, not necessarily the product of the writing, if that makes sense.

Anyway that's what I can think of for now. Even with all this advice listed out, I think you should just have hope and trust in people and dive right in. It sounds like you are an earnest person wanting to make heartfelt connections, and in my experience people will reflect that energy right back at you!!

I am sending you all my best vibes and looking forward to reading your stuff, if you end up going for it and posting!!! 💕✨

[galacticnova3]

In regards to the Master Crown, it seems everyone else has shared their piece in regards to your take on it. You know what I think, though? Your take is relentlessly blasé.

You took something with so much potential to be unique and interesting and turned it into your average one-note Uber-powerful force of nature bad guy. It’s gory and violent and edgy for the sake of shock value, and it shows. I genuinely do not understand the praise you’ve been given about it; other parts of your writing are strong but it isn’t one of them.

Oh thank god I thought you were a new anon about to regale me with your ideas for how to fuck or get fucked by a crown/tree demon.

Anyways, your criticism has been noted. Though, since you seem to be referring primarily to the fic… Keep in mind that all of its appearances there have been in the vivid and often fever-fueled nightmares of a lucid dreamer who was personally targeted by it. It’s over-the-top yet comparatively simplified because that’s what tends to happen in recollections of horrible events/things/people. Some parts will be accurate, others will be either given more focus or influence while others will be reduced. Like how people who are terrified of spiders often imagine them being far bigger or more aggressive than they actually are��� that’s one of the things fear does.

One of the biggest differences between the one that’s shown up and how I would actually write it as a character in, say, a roleplay, is the fact that in Magolor’s nightmares it almost always immediately made itself and its goals known. Magolor has an idea of its motivations and mannerisms when it’s gone “mask off”, so to speak, because that’s what he was exposed to after getting almost fully assimilated; at that point it didn’t have any perceived motivation to keep that hidden because it believed it had already won. Plus, having had the line between himself and the crown blurred for a time, he may or may not have also self projected onto it a bit. But elaborating on that would be a spoiler…..

In reality, for the Master Crown, acting like that toward anyone it isn’t already assured is under its control is counterintuitive. It wouldn’t openly speak to or threaten someone, nor immediately jump straight to trying to devour their soul the instant it was on their head, nor boast of its power or how many hosts it’s already used and discarded. That leaves too much room for resistance, which is inconvenient and would be inefficient insofar as obtaining a body is concerned; shutting down that resistance usually also means sacrificing some of the host’s utility via injury, if not outright skipping the usage stage altogether and going straight to devouring to prevent its true nature from being revealed to others who might be able to do something about it. It’s whole modus operandi is lulling its targets into a false sense of security as they power trip, then gradually taking over from there until the host isn’t the one making decisions or acting anymore, or if that doesn’t work or would take too long, taking control away from them by force and snuffing out their sense of self more directly. That wouldn’t work if it was openly advertising “HEY I BUFF ALL YOUR STATS JUST IGNORE THAT I’M AN EVIL BODY SNATCHING SOUL EATING CROWN AND THERE WON’T BE ANYTHING LEFT OF YOU AFTERWARDS!” before it even had its metaphorical foot in the door.

Basically: I know what I’m doing with my writing even if it hasn’t been shown yet. Don’t worry I am trying to do the crown justice as an antagonist that’s far more complex than your average cursed object.

[takeariskao3]

Hey Hannah, could we get some headcanons of Hinny in TPFY and AG? I just want to see how they differentiate between the two stories.

it's so funny to me that this time last year i was asking myself this exact question. but i haven't done this little thought experiment for quite a while because pretty quickly the two ginnys solidified into very different versions her and they definitely take up very different headspaces throughout the stories. honestly even in my own planning and perceptions of them.. they are two very separate people. that sounds so weird because in theory they ARE the same character, but at the same time i did have to find some differences to make the fics unique, and for the prose and narration to sound fresh.

with that being said, this is going to be so disorganized and disjointed. i already know half of it isn't going to make sense to anyone but me, but life is nuts, it's where my head's at right now, and i can't change it.

here goes nothing

i guess i can start with how they are similar? in both stories, the seven books are canon. they are a great foundation and framework for me to work in, i know each book like the back of my hand and i really had no desire to try to tweak or change anything in the original text.

HOWEVER, the main difference between the two, is the path from you is not epilogue compliant. and that was born from several questions that haunted me for about a decade before i even had the idea or the inclination to write hp fanfiction. but the main two i wanted to explore and answer were 1) did ginny really know it was harry that walked past her on his way to the forest? i'm pretty sure she did. so how does she react to something like that? how does that fit into their relationship arc and how does him not stopping parallel other things in their relationship? and 2) what happened to her at hogwarts in her 6th year? how did that affect her in the weeks, months, years afterward?

so why do those questions need to be explored and answered in an canon (read: epilogue) divergent setting? mostly because i didn't really like the epilogue (🤷) but also because it seemed like a two birds one stone situation. i needed time and space between 'the end' (chap 1, which really exists as a prologue?) and 'the beginning' (chap 2, which is when we pick up after the time jump). for maximum angst, tension, and storytelling potential.

so in short, tpfy!ginny is defined by her reaction to harry's march to death/faked death, and her reaction to her own experiences (trauma) during the occupied year at hogwarts.

once i had that story/plot idea in mind. i really started to try and shape ginny into a coherent personality. i mean we have the framework, right? we know what she's like at school, we know what her family and what her classmates say about her, and we know how she acts and interacts when she is in scenes with harry. but how does that become a person. i settled on five (ish) defining character traits (which are basically just a textbook enneagram 8)

Ginny is self-reliant and self-confident. she want's to prove her strength and resist any weakness, she wants to be important in the world, she wants to be a decision maker in her own life/situation, and she wants to be in control of those situations.

the main conflict then became, the way tpfy!ginny feels about harry makes her feel out of control, or another way of putting it, is she can't control how she feels about him. it's instinctual, overwhelming, and it scares her a bit because she doesn't feel like she is in control of her decisions when it comes to him. loving him, caring about him, putting his needs before hers, are all things that she does that don't feel like conscious decisions. this is directly at war with her base personality.

which i've got to say, has been so fun to write. i just torture her, i know i do.

moving on

already gone was born from a place of curiosity and literally took on three or even four different forms before it was an amenesia fic. i had spent nearly a year working on the path from you and was trying to find ways to piece harry and ginny back together again in this altered timeline, and one night i was just like.. 'how the fuck did they do this right away??' i really honestly just wanted to figure it out, for my own peace of mind. how did they get back together within a canon (read: epilogue) compliant timeline.

so i started brainstorming, and i wrote a really angsty post-war oneshot for @hinnyfied's birthday and i thought... this might be something. i might have something here.

but then i was like HOW is she different from tpfy!ginny? because she has to be... but she also still has to be ginny!? but for all the wonderful characteristics she possesses, those same traits can be her own worst enemy (which in tpfy they are)

so in already gone, what is the catalyst that sends her down a different path? i decided it was mostly pretty simple... ag!ginny, didn't make the connection, or at least didn't know for sure that harry walked by her on his way into the forest. the rustle she heard was just that, a rustle. i also decided that the events during her 6th year maybe weren't as horrifying(?), trauma inducing (?), specific to just her(?), as they are in tpfy.

but these were all decisions i made when i was just attempting to write a summer '98 a story.

i really didn't settle on the amnesia plot until two or three months later, because as much as i wanted that summer to be an angsty will they/won't they... it just wasn't. harry and ginny took on a completely different relationship arc than what i had planned and it became, not a story of reconciliation, which i so desperately wanted, but a story of mutual dependency, and the idea that home for them isn't a place, but a person. their relationship (and i do mean both of them, this isn't exclusive to just harry) post-war wasn't born out of shared interests, and sense of humor, and similar values, but of a deep understanding that some wounds don't heal, and some grief can't be quantified. but with that understanding, they can still move forward and live with it. as long as they're together.

so then i was a real bitch and i took it away.

whoops.

BUT THEN THE REALLY FUN PART STARTED HAPPENING

because while i like to assume ginny is deeply affected by her experience with the diary, by order of the phoenix she has either buried it so deep in an effort not to process, OR processed it enough that she can hide any lingering thoughts or actions that might still plague her because of it. she is not defined by her trauma. she has outwardly overcome.

she is also in her peak "i am over harry potter" phase.

like c'mon. that's hilarious. because she wakes up married to him.. and she is also thrown back into an (outwardly) well-adjusted mindset. which could possibly (i will neither confirm or deny this at present because spoilers) throw a big wrench into her relationship that is rooted in shared trauma and the understanding of that trauma. cannot stress this enough, already gone harry and ginny were and are co-dependent. but i sort of love that for them?

ANYWAYS

i've rambled enough. i hope this makes at least some sort of sense. and thanks so much for reading both stories!

[mortifying-macaroni]

Okay I'll be honest with you... Being morbidly curious I opened the link to your fic not really expecting much.. having the idea that it was just going to be a vapid retelling of the Sabbat route in cqm with a Soulmate AU slapped onto it, but oh my damn stars did you prove me wrong, miss Macaroni/Vida! Your writing is so clever, descriptive and more engaging than I had first initially thought. You balance out grittiness with humor just as well as the game itself does (Mitsoda would be proud). Yesterday I finished reading all of the chapters so far in 1 sitting.

I'm in love with Gretchen's wit, her sarcasm and her occasional gaming references. Her personality is so entertaining despite her 'bratty' nature and now when I look at your art of her I have more of an appreciation towards her character than I did before going into Soul Inmates and I can say the same for the Andrei/Gretchen ship itself. Before going in I thought it was just a fun little crack ship until your writing dragged me deeper and now I've also grown attached to the idea of them as a couple (I hate and love you for it)

And may I add that I've never read any story that contains the kind of soul marks you've put in. Maybe there are some out there but I still haven't come across anything like this. Anyway, It's so interesting to see how they treat each other before and after finding out. Simply bravo for nailing the characterization of every included character and literally everything else I've read so far! Gretie and Andi earned a new fan and I'm looking forward to reading more content of them in the future <3 <3

Anon, I can't begin to express how gleeful and over frickin jubilant you've just made me!!!!! I'm SCREAMING WITH JOY and I'm also quite close to crying!!! 🥺🥺😭😭 I'm so happy and speechless that I don't even know what to say because just saying "thank you" doesn't even begin to cover it, but let me tell you just how grateful I am that you've taken the time to even give my silly monsterfucker fic a chance! It fills me with absolutely colossal joy that not only you started liking Gretchen more, but the Grandrei ship itself too! AND OMFG SHUSH! Brian Mitsoda would be rolling his eyes at my attempts to be both funny and dark. That's still very bold of you to claim that, legend (and I may end up printing out this ask and taping it to my bedroom wall beside my head for motivation). Tbh I'm also highly unsure if the kind of soul mark I implemented has been written anywhere, but I don't mind if it ends up being un-unique (also huge thank you for not spoiling the soul mark for anyone that happens to be interested in reading). Anyways, I could go on forever, but I should keep this short. Huge thank you for reading and liking my fic and my cringe crack ship. Gretchen and Andrei have been my favorite losers for 2 years now and I'm slowly entering my 3rd year of Grandrei madness. The next chap might take a while, but I hope you'll stick around regardless. LOVE YOU!!! 🖤🩷💘💝💖💗💓💞💕🖤

[mamamittens]

Well, did some adulting today. Got a handheld air tire... Pump thing and took care of the most deflated tire. The others need touching up but I started fumbling the second and decided to take my victory where I could. Slower than a station but also doesn't charge 2 bucks to embarrass myself in the cold ass 5 AM air.

Do recommend if you don't mind airing up your own tires but hate trying to find an air pump that won't lead you to getting mugged. I imagine it's even handier as an emergency pump if the tire is punctured and you need to limp to an auto shop without paying a tow truck.

Anyway! New ramble when I should be sleeping ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

This time I was zoning out thinking about an intriguing character backstory that I've only seen a few fics do. And that's have the MC have parents (usually just one) be serial killers. Or some kind of hobby murderer where that's really not the norm.

Kinda made me wonder if there are any serious serial killers in OP, not pirates just... Dead ass killer by night types. They've got so many problems, it feels mean if they also gotta worry about their own version of Ted Bundy, you know?

Anyway! I was having fun designing this character, at first having them be a kid for their plot but the "this kid is really fucked up and unsettling in a uniquely preteen girl way" growing up into a "only somewhat better at hiding it but distinctly unsettling to be around teen" is a fun dynamic to have.

WBP cause they're the best equipped to do the "found family" thing but I'm flexible enough to consider others, ngl

Anyway, design wise I wanted her to be small and lanky. Maybe naturally pale for spooky vibes, we'll see. Perpetually smiling and close eyed expression that almost never feels sincere but people are too uncomfortable to point it out. Thought it'd be fun for her to have curly white hair with red tips that swirl so her hair pulled up looks like an artistic cascading bouquet of white roses stained red. For the dramatics.

And her eyes are unsettling (hence her closing them and basically using very limited observation haki to see without looking), red with white pupils. Very piercing by nature and not helped by her vampire ass canines. Hence her carefully smile and if she talks a lot she covers her mouth.

She's not strictly self conscious about the way she is, though she's not naive about her effect on people, but rather finds it polite to try and hide as many odd quirks in public. A leftover of her secret killer parent(s?) Raising her to hide in plain sight.

Unusually brutal, does NOT fuck about. She doesn't right people so much as slaughter them. Very cautious about engaging with anyone because she doesn't understand the concept of "friendly fighting" and "sparring". ONLY goes for the kill, why raise her blade/hands/teeth otherwise? You don't fight someone unless you want them dead.

Had the fun idea of her being taken in after an incident with a slave ship as a apprentice gardener or librarian with a little flower garden herself. Seen being polite and friendly though still unsettling. And then there's a serious fight and when all is said and done, one of the "defeated" enemies starts to draw a gun and she just

Slams a shovel into their neck, severing it. Same placid smile.

"if you're going to make a mess, finish what you started"

They're naturally horrified this child just committed cold blooded murder and knows she can't stay. It's a miracle nothing's gone wrong until this point with someone so obviously off to the average civilian.

But she's just really pragmatic about murder. Doesn't see the point in making others suffer but also doesn't practice much mercy. Not cruel, very calculating in whether or not she's interested in seeing someone die before acting. Her version of "I like you!" Is basically "if you drew a knife on me, I'd disarm you not gut you".

Takes a horrifying incident for there to be a rule only Marco is allowed to spar or fight her. She dead ass almost slit a dude's throat because she cut his chest pretty good and thought it was kinder to end his suffering. Didn't even occur to her to get a medic. She's... Not usually concerned with her victims surviving, after all. Dead ass offers to end Whitebeard so that none of his sons have to do it themselves or see him suffer prolonged illness. Ready to take on that burden because she doesn't have an issue with the act itself.

Genuinely thinks that's a sweet offer and everyone is horrified.

Idk, it's just a fun image of a Yonko crew trying to teach a budding sociopath tenderness that doesn't involve a killing blow. She can be really nice! But it's definitely tempered with an unnervingly easy willingness to rip someone's throat out with her teeth if needed.

It's... Definitely different from their usual problems. Typically the sweet, familial kindness is buried underneath angst and pride. Not left at home entirely.

Her real kindness is akin to a feral cat. Bringing dead things to their doorsteps and rendering meat stock with unnerving efficiency and comfort for anyone else's comfort.

[cirqosmos]

I am thinking of posting a fan fiction but I don't really know how can I continue to finish it.. I once posted one but the account got deleted for some reasons.. I really wanna post that fan fiction because I personally think the idea is quite unique but I don't think anyone would actually be interested as it would be my first work on this account.. I have noticed you are a slow updater (no offense) how do you keep yourself motivated to finish your work for such long time period... BTW LOVE YOUR WORK AND HOLY MOLY LOVE SCAM PART 1 WAS SO UNPREDICTABLE when I was reading that I was like OMG OMG for whole time.. Can't wait for the next part :')

Hi anonnie ^^ THANK YOU SO MUCH IM SO SO GLAD TO HEAR U LOVE IT :(( and to answer your question, It would be quite a lengthy paragraph but I hope you'll bear with it!

It's totally normal to have doubts and overthink whether or not people will like your story or just in any other form of art. But if you don't take the first step, then nothing will happen. If you don't believe in yourself first then no one will. If you want it then you should go for it, I'm a firm believer in chasing after a chance than just letting it pass by like the fleeting clouds or butterfly just bcs you were afraid it might not work the way you want it to be.

And truly, it might not really work out for the first try and that people might not like your story but isn't that how everything and life in general works out? You gotta try again, again and again till you succeed. You won't always get everything in the first try and that's totally fine. But you don't always have to dwell on that on the negative side, just go ahead and try! Don't let it hold you back.

But in terms of being a writer, just reminding bcs just in case if it hits you someday—here's one thing you have to remember: it's quite complicated really but it's actually simple. Write it because you want it, not because people want you to write it (unless you accept requests obv) and not because they want it (for example, smut.) Yes of course, we write for people—in fact the final drafts is for the readers themselves—however, you write for you and because you love what you write, you'll keep writing even when no one does. That's the pros and cons of being a writer. Just do it.

And yes lmao, I'm a very slow updater since I would always plan everything and then delete it, the cycle keeps going on so yea 😭✋🏻 and to answer your question for how I can keep myself motivated to write for a long period is a whole lot of reasons..:

1) I wholeheartedly love to write. I love writing that's why I keep doing it. Even when it's so freakin painful bcs of how dry my English becomes sometimes, it's still fun.

2) feedbacks + compliments from readers (compliments aren't always that necessary tho, feedbacks r.) , they're that little doses of motivation fuel that keeps you going. They're necessary, sometimes you won't get them though. If I have to be honest to you, ngl I broke down when LOVE SCAM didn't got the feedback I expected bcs I put a whole lot effort in it and I had so much hope in it. Apparently I was this rlly rlly close to delete that fic but I changed my mind bcs why? Even though I was crying bcs of sadness at that time, I didn't do it bcs why?— I love to write. Even if no one likes that particular story, I still love it. I had this three thoughts in my mind that time:

"maybe it's just that awful, I can improve a whole lot more better next time."

"maybe it's just not their taste, I still love it though."

That's just how it is. Your mind is your greatest friend and enemy after all. But later guess what! There's still feedbacks though, so gratitude and mental resilience in general also plays a big role.

3) read alot! Articles, books, books bout writing, nonfiction, fiction, biography and almost anything. Find every little thing to keep you inspired. For me, I write for enha! So I watch their vids and their mvs, i actually had a writer's block on Nov and that I kinda lose the motivation to write—thats why you'll see there's two months gap from EP 9 and ep 10 ><

4) last but not least, this is my principle that I have been practicing for awhile now—consistency over everything. In writing, quantity is alot more important than quality. You gotta write everyday no matter how small. You can't improve on the quality if you don't first work on your quantity of writing everyday—you gotta make time for it! Write that chapter, writing sprint or just a tiny short draft of 50 word count. It matters alot, atleast you're still moving.

So to conclude everything, being a writer is very fun but also very painful 😤❤️ I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST IN YOUR FIRST WORK AND YOUR FUTURE WORKS, SKSJRKSLAS IM ROOTING FOR U!!! GO FOR IT AND TELL ME TOO BCS I WANNA SUPPORT YOU DUH 😩😩🔥🔥 I APOLOGISE FOR THIS LENGTHY ASS PARAGRAPH BUT IM ROOTING FOR U ANONNIE <3333

[searchingforserendipity25]

hihi - 🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with? 💥find your least kudos’d fic - say something wonderful about it. 💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Hi! Thank you @cuarthol for the asks <3 

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with? 

Ohh, good question! A fic that took some real effort was The Farewell Feast, for both those reasons.

It’s largely Galadriel and Gandalf chatting while Arwen’s wedding is going on in the background, and getting the emotional and thematic weight of their old friendship, Galadriel’s PoV, and the end of an Age just before they Sail was exasperating. Edited it too many times, I can’t tell if it hits any of the desired beats anymore. Much respect for anyone writing Galadriel, she’s so hard to pin down! 

 💥find your least kudos’d fic - say something wonderful about it. 

My least kudosed fic was very easy to find, it’s my last one!

Gifts of the Dawn got doen in a rush a few nights ago for polyshipweek, and it's got one kudos, and one lovely comment so, but that’s not at all unexpected. I wrote it for Tolkien’s little known the Smith of Wootton Major, and for a rarepair at that. I love this tiny book so much - it’s one of Tolkien’s very last works, and he brings in such a weight of understanding and mastery over the same kind of fairy tale logic than is most present in the Leithian, with a wholly unique twist. 

For something wonderful: I think the fic captured some of that intent and logic present in the text, and I had so much fun going slightly wild with the details of the uncanny world-building. There’s a lot more I’d like to develop about the idea of gifts between the Faery and humans, which the fic in hindsight could have done more with, but that only means there’s more to work with in the future, and I thinks this approach does say something new. Not hard, there are very few (but very good) fics as is!

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Concept: Elenwë = Amarië. Elenwë/Turgon/Finrod with background Finrod/Bëor.  Post-reembodiment domestic warfare and getting-to-know-each-other-again between Elenwë and Finrod in Tol Eressëa.

I am aware this sounds like crack, and it does tend a bit to humour (hopefully!) but I am giving it my all very earnestly to flesh it out, and having a good time setting up Elenwë’s PoV as a grumpy, insufferable, murderously ambitious common-born architect.

Very first draft so far, so fingers crossed that the enthusiasm holds up till it's done! Elwing might show up eventually, idk yet. Turgon is definitely not showing up, however; he can be the fridged wife for a while, that’s what he gets for going with round arches for Gondolin instead of sensible Valmarian steeped roofs to deal with the mountain snow.

[crackinglamb]

Questions for fic writers: #7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? (*bonk*)

From this list.

Just one? All right, lemme think...

Magic as music in the DA setting. (Did I just write out what the acronym Thedas means? Yes.)

Oh man, this got long. I know, I see your totally unshocked face from here. 😁 Also, spoilers for What a Wicked Game to Play.

Now, at least part of this is not worldbuilding I created, since it's broadly and heavily hinted at in-game. Several characters equate magic and music, calling it a symphony, talking about how it sings or hums or gets into the back of your mind like an earworm (ie the Calling and red lyrium, both Blight magic things). I mean, it's called the Chant of Light, and one doesn't recite it, they sing it for goodness sake! Alas, so long as the music plays, we dance. Thanks Flemythal. That's not at all ominous to consider regarding what might happen if the 'music' stops.

Anyway, moving on.

All I've done with it is take it to a natural (to me, as both a scientist and musician) conclusion. Music and math are intrinsically linked, after all. Eight notes in a scale, in several octaves, means innumerable combinations. Some are melodic because they have patterns, some are just noise. Imagine playing a segment of pi on a piano. It would have no rhythm, because none of the numbers are a repeating sequence.

But the idea led to this:

There is a scene in WG where Imogen, dreaming in the Fade while her body lies unconscious, maps the mathematical signature of the Veil. And she does it by converting the pattern of magic into soundwaves. Yes, I put trigonometry into a fanfic. Yes, I am unashamed and remorseless about this. To this day I'm proud of the fact that I got to use 'asymptotic' in a sentence.

She discovers some interesting and horrifying things in the course of this. As she is the one carrying the Anchor, she can feel its presence within her, especially while dreaming, because all things are possible in our imaginations. And the Fade is a real place to her, as an MGIT, so her perception of it makes it tangible and malleable even though she isn't a mage. (And there's a bonus worldbuilding thing I'm super proud of.) She discovers that at one time it was a seamless resonance, which makes epic magic performed by people like Inquisitor Ameridan even more impressive. Each Blight has weakened it, distorting the music until the math starts to turn irrational. She discovers that the tempo of the Anchor and the Veil no longer sync up because of all the 'holes' in the music (rifts, thinning, etc). As of right now, she hasn't fully figured out what this means for Solas's plans. But she will; that's why I made her this way.

And finally, she learns that regardless of what anyone, Solas included, does, the Veil will fall because the music of it will simply disintegrate at some point. The Veil is less of a physical barrier than it is a counterpoint of music that 'blocks' the Fade from being part of the waking world. This is a real concept, by the way. Using sound to create images: sonar and radar. Using different sounds to block those images: jamming. Resonance is fun.

For most beings on Thedas, magic comes from the Fade, and some of the 'signal' must still pass through the Veil or there would be no more magic left in the world at all. But if the Veil falls due to disintegration, the consequences are incredibly damning. Magic will be unleashed in unpredictable and cataclysmic ways. She likens this to waves on a beach. Each wave is unique, each leaves a different effect in the sand. Her hypothesis is that if Thedas is the 'sand' here, and the waves are the Fade, without the Veil the world will become uninhabitable due to the disruption of things like gravity and the atmosphere and the fabric of reality. The Veil needs to come down in a controlled manner to prevent this. The steady surge of a tide rather than storm breakers. And she does feel that it needs to come down; Thedas was not meant to be separated from its inherent magical nature forever. The Veil was a stop-gap solution for a specific problem, but now it's choking the world. (And oh yeah, it also failed to contain the problem ultimately, but that wasn't Solas's fault. *points to the Sidereal Magisters*)

Okay, that was a lot of words to say something rather simple: the entirety of WG was really just to set this up for Imogen. The next major arc for her is how it all fits together and what she's going to do about it. I'll be writing that as soon as I figure out what that is.

Thanks for the ask, you knew what you were getting into. *bonk* 😘

[librathefangirl]

Hi Libra! Hope you're doing well!

I forgot to tell anyone but!

Some elements of Meliodas's "more demonic" character in my new au are heavily inspired by you in particular. A demon having a unique system of thermal regulation is straight from that one fic of yours, I thought it was a crime I haven't seen such a concept played out in anything else I've read. I feel grateful to have read so many interesting ideas for how demons and goddesses are, biologically and culturally, and I hope you and the mutuals can feel the respect I have for your work and creativity when I reference your headcanons in my own.

Hope you have lots of fun with the new writing challenge! I am right there with you (spiritually).

Does this mean I'll be updating my fics, especially that first one I haven't touched since April? Hopefully 🥲

we really chose the "good luck with all that" fandom to write fiction for. serious kudos to everyone doing this (the canon character writing and nakaba's weirdness are haunting me.)

Have a lovely day :D

Hiii!! I'm doing pretty good all things considered. Been making some real progress on chapter 2 of A Debt to Pay these past few days, so I'm really excited for when I'll finally be able to share that with you all.

Ahh, I feel so honored 💜 You know I love more demonic Mel, so any time I can inspire more of that is a win in my book!

I think that's one of my favorite things about writing for this fandom and one of the most frustrating things about canon, because we've got this whole fantasy world with all these different races, not to mention a main group that are all different - there's just so much potential there, but so little is done with it in canon. Like, yes there are differences between the races, especially when it comes to what they can do; fairies can fly and transform, giants have their connection to the earth, demons have their dark power and goddesses have their light and healing. But I also feel like there's much more that could have been done, especially when it comes to physically attributes. Like Meliodas' demon form (because yes that still annoys me). We have demons that definitely don't look like humans, and with Meliodas being the son of the literal Demon King, you'd think he would look a little more, idk, demon? I mean, Chandler and Cusack get human-looking forms and definitely-not-human-looking forms, so why lot Meliodas and Zeldris too? And the Demon King as well. For someone with demon in his name, I expected something... more?

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. What was I talking about? Oh right! One of my favorite things about writing for this fandom is that you can take a look at canon and then go "you know what, this is actually what demons and goddesses are like". It really gives you the opportunity to explore creatively. And, while I can only speak for myself obviously, I feel honored if someone goes "this is a great idea, I wanna add it to my story as well, so that I too can explore it!"

YES! I'm excited to get started on this challenge once the poll is done. And I'm really excited to see how everyone's been voting! Because, as I haven't voted in the poll myself, I can't see how it's going. So, yeah, living in the dark until the week is over. But last time I checked I've gotten 30 votes so far - exciting!

Until then I'm working on my other wips. Like I mention, I've made some real progress on A Debt to Pay (finally). This chapter's gonna be a lot longer than chapter 1 too (6 scenes instead of 1!) Not sure how much longer yet though, I've only written about half of the chapter so far and have actually been going at it old school for the most part (so I have no clue about the word count). Yesterday I spent most of the day sitting on my sister's balcony writing in a notebook. Hoping to get it done and up soon! :D

"Does this mean I'll be updating my fics" <- This! I feel this 😂😅 Hopefully we both get some writing done this summer. Excited to read the continuation to that fic whenever you get back to it! Or any other fic you may write/update before then! 💜

Yeah, there's definitely some... some things to think about while writing for this fandom 😅 Agreed, kudos to us all!

Hope you're doing well too!!

[lovemyavatar]

QUEEN BEHAVIOR!!!! THE ENDING OF STAR GIRL HAD ME SO ABCIWBFOWNOCNEOF

I went through the entire spectrum of emotions, it was a WONDERFUL ENDING!!! 🥺❤️ ALSO A NEW UPCOMING NETEYAM SERIES??? UGH IT LOOKS SO EXCITING!!!!

I have so many thoughts I need to separate them.

First: I admire your work ethic. You’re popping these fics out RAPID FIRE!!! It’s awesome & I wish I was as motivated and hardworking as you are!!! You’re such a talented writer, I’m so thankful you share your work with us ❤️❤️❤️

Second: I’m going to miss Lo’ak and Stargirl and I’m so sorry to say I’ll be haunting you with a million thoughts about them starting with, what would they be like as parents with a family of their own? How would the rest of fhe Sully family react? Ugh I just love them and I want to know so much more about Lo’ak and Star Girl’s dynamic, especially as a mated pair ❤️❤️❤️

I also noticed that the events of Star Girl end right before the inciting incident of the film….does that mean an ATWOW Star Girl sequel may be coming in the future?? No pressure but I’d adore seeing a sequel from your eyes following the Sully family + Star Girl as they adjust to the new dynamic AND the new way of life on the reef.

Third: ugh I am SO EXCITED FOR THE NETEYAM FIC!!! You’re truly blessing us with content ❤️❤️❤️ Lots of love, don’t overwork yourself, and can’t wait to see more of your beautiful, beautiful work!!!

-🦕

🦕 YOU ARE TOO KIND TO ME

honestly this blog is as much of an escape for me as it is for you guys so I’m more than happy to continue to avoid my real life at the moment lmao

I would LOVE to explore Lo’ak and Star Girl as parents, if there’s anything you or anyone else wants to see don’t be afraid to send me some ideas!

right now I don’t plan on going into any of the events of the movie just bc idk how I’d still make it a unique and interesting story but I’m open to the idea later on!

KEEP BEING AMAZING 🦕 I LOVE YOUUUU

[aplaceofstone]

AO3: faceofstone

(with treats enabled!)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

All prompts and ideas are just suggestions, if you are the kind of Yuletide writer who likes to follow them. If not, cool, they are certainly not the end-all of what I love about these fandoms and characters.

If you like visual prompts, this entire blog is 20% recipes and 80% aesthetics that mostly fit my requested fandoms…

I like found families, oddball friendships, sympathy toward outcasts, characters who fully embrace being outcasts, melancholy, a sense of place, bittersweet accomplishments, and a stubborn flicker of hope in an overall bleak world. Dreamlike atmospheres that aren’t necessarily scary, some sort of reassurance that can be found in the weird and the profoundly unnatural.

My only ship in these three fandoms is Atrus/Catherine. DNW CW/Farley and Margot/Turner.

Myst: any (Atrus, Catherine, Yeesha, Worldbuilding)

30th anniversary! 🥳🍉 how about "30 years later" as a prompt? Counting from whenever you want. 30 years after Myst 1? After Yeesha left Tomahna? After Atrus (or either other nominated character) first made contact with the people of an Age he wrote? After the ice cream expedition first brought cones to the Cavern? Or "celebration" or anything with a celebratory twist. Atrus and Yeesha reuniting after End of Ages? Catherine having a nice day? Yeesha in Chiso Preniv?

I love the whole cast, so feel free to set the fic in any era of canon, following pretty much anyone along with the worldbuilding or nominated characters. If you want to play with, idk, Ri'neref or the Watcher or Gehn or Esher or Zandi or Nelah or some schmuck on Releeshahn or whatever, go for it! I am not particularly well-versed in pre-Fall D'ni shenanigans - I’d be interested in reading something set anywhere in those millennia, just please write it assuming that your reader may not be already up to speed on what was going on historically at the time.

Obduction: any (Farley, CW, Josef, Worldbuilding)

What’s your favorite spot on Hunrath, dear author? What’s your favorite odd item (is it RIUM+’s Myst book or the Unwritten manual)? Tell me a story about it. Or tell me about how it’s like to live in that new world, humans, villein, arai and so very few mofang, and Farley’s plan was what got them there for better and for worse. Or a night at that cute little pub they added with the patch. Tell me about the differences between Farley’s worldview, since Hunrath is all she knows, and CW who misses his life on Earth so much. What’s Josef’s story in this regard? Or focus on any aspect of Earth culture that got lost on Hunrath, or one that got preserved, or how the 19th century habits of some obductees clash with their neighbors who come from a few centuries later, and how it all eventually becomes Hunrath’s unique culture. Or what are your favorite character’s feelings on the Sorian sky hanging on their head? Is there someone in Hunrath who insists on calling the seeds #spacepinecones, to everyone else's dismay? What's the smallest recorded obduction, a tiny seed that barely got the person from hair to toes, and what's the largest?

I don’t ship any combination of main characters but I am interested in all platonic interactions between the main trio (as well as actually seeing them forced to act like a trio. What would it take?). I am also interested in seeing any of the characters who are only mentioned in the various journals getting fleshed out a little: if your story needs an additional character or two, you could see if anyone there suits your needs! (and if nobody there does, actual OCs are welcome)

Firmament: Margot | The Mentor, Worldbuilding

Journals? Got any journals, dear author? Notes? Codes? Anything to make the Realms feel more lived-in, from the perspective of Margot or any Keeper? Or what do they find after the end, how do they settle?

I'm not necessarily looking for a fix-it for Margot, but if you've thought of something, I'm listening. Or at least, is it possible for the survivors to know what she's done for them, and to understand who she was as a person, what she went through? (which I suppose brings us back to "journals?" ;^; ) In general, has anyone ever tried to hack the memory loss situation through the written word? Were songs composed and shared from Keeper to Keeper until at last they made it back to the ears of their author?

While I didn't request Turner, and I'm not interested in fic about his character pre-amnesia, I'd be good with any worldbuilding idea that features him freshly post-canon coming to terms with being a blank slate with such a weighted past.

If you're into any of the irl Founders, I'd also love a deep dive in-universe on what their angle was in sponsoring the expedition. Like, Marx, I have Some Questions, and I'm sure there's plenty to say about the others as well! What they hoped for, which of their ideals were pivotal to the eventual success of the expedition VS which ones could've been thought through a bit better maybe…

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 38

Sorry for the delay. Real life gets out of hand. But here it is! The antepenultimate chapter.

Shout out to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as Ramblingwren

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

(The latest chapter will be up on there once this reaches over 500 notes on tumblr)

Hope you all enjoy

_____________________________________________________________

“I shouldn’t have let her go out there.”

Fu watched the school nurse, Angela, fret as she paced back and forth.

“I understand your concern, but I believe that it will all be alright. Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t failed in handling an akuma yet,” he explained. “The girl will be okay.”

The nurse stopped pacing.

“I appreciate your optimism but… I am really not used to this,” She said as she gestured to the air.

Fu blinked at the statement.

“Oh?”

“This! This whole thing! Super villains that appear whenever someone gets sad, teenagers with superpowers! This is all new to me! I just moved to Paris a month ago from the countryside. All I wanted was to further my education and get work in the medical field. It… It boggles my mind that everyone in this city is so okay with all of this! Even my new boyfriend Curtis is able to shrug off an akuma attack like a sudden drizzle. This isn’t normal!”

The guardian could tell the young woman was distressed, and he couldn’t blame her. In a way, he envied her. This was all foreign for her, but to him, this was his entire life.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blow up like that. I've had a lot to deal with, and this whole situation is just so…”

Fu moved to her and helped her sit down.

“It’s alright, this is by no means a good situation. Your concerns are very understandable. I can tell that deep down that your frustration and fear come from compassion and empathy. You will make a wonderful doctor one day.”

She took a deep breath.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I really needed to hear that today.”

“How about I teach you a medication technique that will help you calm down?”

“Meditation? I'm not really one for that kind of stuff.”

“If one wants to be a doctor, being able to calm down and handle an emergency situation is a must.”

The school nurse agreed that he had a good point, and that this may help get her mind off of things.

“Okay, I guess I'll give it a shot.”

Fu smiled.

“Good. Let us start simple. Close your eyes and put your hands together.”

Angela felt the action was a bit odd but complied.

“Now, take a deep breath. Count to 5 in your head and then breathe out.”

She took her breath and followed the order.

“Whenever you feel a thought come to your head, simply picture yourself putting it out of your mind and into a bucket.”

She tried her best to comply.

As she did this, Fu moved behind her and quickly pinched a nerve on her neck, causing the young woman to seize up for a moment before losing consciousness.

“That will help her relax.”

He carefully moved her to the cot and laid a sheet over her like a blanket.

Once it was clear that she was asleep, a turtle kwami flew out of hiding.

“So, what do we do now, Master?”

Fu took a moment to consider.

His plan was already in motion. Ladybug and Chat Noir had plenty of allies to help fight the akuma. All that needed to be done was to sit down and wait.

But as he thought about it more, he couldn’t help but think that he should go in personally. It was what he'd initially planned to do with akuma, after all. Listening to this young woman’s fears made him really see how his inaction has led to such fear and uncertainty.

For once, it was time for him to go on the offensive.

“Now we head out and find this akuma.”

“Master, you already sent out three miraculous. Let the other heroes handle this,” Wayzz insisted.

“The people of Paris should not have to become used to this. I have been far too lax with this situation. Right now, Ladybug and Chat Noir are facing their most dangerous akuma yet. For decades I have always remained passive in order to avoid making another mistake, but I have already made so many with my inaction. It's time I stop letting my actions be dictated by fear.”

“But Master, you can’t transform! Your body is too old to handle it!”

“Fear not, Wayzz. I have been exercising and restoring my vitality with the techniques of the guardians. By my estimation, I should be able to maintain the transformation without too much issue for 10 minutes,” Fu assured.

“That is not a lot of time, Master!” Wayzz pointed out.

“True, but it is better than nothing. We will head out and wait for the moment we need it. Be ready, Wayzz.”

The old guardian started heading to the door.

“But Master, what if you get captured? What if the akuma does succeed and you are unable to step in?”

Fu paused at the door.

“I know you are concerned for me. I appreciate your care. But I need to go out there. I have lived a long life, Wayzz, far longer than most humans. One day I may not be here to be the guardian.”

Wayzz felt a pang of sorrow hearing his Master talk about how he would no longer be around.

“But that’s okay. I know that when that time comes… I have two young heroes that will be ready to stand up and fight. The best thing an old man like me can do is pave the road for them.” The guardian said with certainty. He went to open the door.

“Fu…”

The old man stopped. Turning around, he saw the turtle kwami he had known for most of his life smile at him.

“I know you think of yourself as a failure of a guardian… but Su Han and the others were wrong. You are a great one. You are the most caring guardian that has ever held the title. And I will be by your side to the end.”

The old man felt his eyes well up at the sweet comment.

“Then let’s go, Partner.”

___________________________________________________________________________

The dragon heroine grabbed the confused snake hero and moved him to the closest room before closing the door.

“Okay we should be safe here,” she said as she looked over to her comrade. It was clear that Viperion was still very confused. It did not help that both his and her miraculous were beeping. They didn't have much time.

“Thanks… ummm,” Viperion started as he tried to rack his brain for a name. Part of him felt like he should know her. But his mind is blank.

“Ryuuko. You can call me Ryuuko. And you are Viperion.”

“Okay… weird name for me, but I guess it works.”

Ryuuko realized that the bubble Viperion had been put in wasn’t just to keep him frozen in place. One of the side effects must have been leaving him without any memory of who he was. Had her partner been aware of that risk when he took the bubble for her? She couldn’t know for sure. But right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand. Shehad to take charge since her partner was out of sorts.

“Okay, 'll try to explain this as quickly as possible.”

“Your real name is Luka. But when you are in your hero form, you go by Viperion.”

“Hero form...”

He looked down.

“Well, that does explain the costumes. I thought it was some sort of weird costume party.”

Ryuuko decided to ignore that.

“Okay, so I'm a hero. And you're one too?”

“Yes. We are both heroes picked by Ladybug to help her fight villains. Right now, we're fighting a bunch of them, and you got your memory wiped by one of their attacks. That’s why you are confused. Any questions?”

The boy took a moment to look himself over and then look at her. This was a lot of information to take in. Ryuuko was half expecting him to call her crazy. Which, given how bizarre the circumstances were, she wouldn’t blame him.

“Okay, I think if it was anyone else telling me this, I would have called it a load of bull. But… I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you. You sound sincere,” Viperion responded.

“Okay great, now let's…”

“I still have a few questions.”

Ryuuko sighs.

“Look, we really don’t have much time. We need to hurry and get out there to help…”

And just before she finished the statement, both of their transformations wore off. Revealing their civilian forms.

“Oh no.” Kagami muttered in horror.

“What happened? Where am I… What am I?” The snake kwami questioned as he looked at himself.

“It appears that Sass was also impacted by the amnesia.” The dragon kwami that popped out of her necklace commented.

Luka stared wide eyed at the creature.

“Are you a snake?”

“A snake? I suppose?”

“A snake with limbs? That is very rock and roll.”

The two fistbumped. Thankfully they seemed to get along.

Longg looked at them.

“This is quite a predicament.”

“We need to hurry back in. Longg! Bring the….”

“Hold on a moment. Both Sass and I will not be able to do that yet.”

Kagami stopped.

“How come?”

“We need to refuel. The energy of transforming AND using our unique powers drains a lot out of us. We need some food to continue.”

“Food… Okay.”

The snake Kwami grabbed his stomach.

“I find myself rather famished,” he commented.

Luka looked at him.

“Let me see if I can help you out.”

The teen took off the backpack he was wearing to go through it. Thankfully there was a bag lunch in there. For some reason he felt that was important. But decided that if it could help the little guy out, he was sure it wouldn’t be a big deal.

He opened the bag lunch and pulled out a bag of apple slices. Opening it to grab a piece.

“I know snakes usually are carnivores, but how about some fruit?”

“Ooo! It smells divine!”

Luka handed the floating kwami a piece of the apple.

He takes a bite.

“Oh! It's delicious! Juicy and sweet!”

The snake quickly devours the apple piece.

As that happens, Kagami looked through her bag.

“I don’t have fruit but I do have some onigiri. It was my afternoon snack… but since this is a dire situation.”

“Rice? Yes please!” Longg exclaimed as he dive bombed right into the delicious rice ball.

“It’s Umeboshi, it’s not to everyone’s taste but It is one of my favorites.”

“It’s the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The sour plum really brings a new dimension of flavor.”

Kagami smiled a bit at her kwami companion, happy that she could help.

The two Kwami finished their food and were ready for action.

“Okay, Sass. You need to help Luka transform.”

“Sass? Is that my name?” the snake inquired.

“So, he helps me transform into Viperman?”

“Viperion, and yes,” Kagami responded.

“All you need to do is say. Sass, Scales Slither. And to activate your special power just pull your bracelet back and say second chance. Then pull it back when you want to use it. But be sure not to use it right away,” Longg instructed.

“Okay seems easy enough. Are you okay with this?” Luka asked as he turned his attention to his snake pal.

“The floating horn snake seems fine with it so I say let’s give it a try”

Longg decided for the sake of his friendship with Sass to ignore the comment.

“Alright! Let's do this!” Kagami exclaimed as she prepared to transform.

“One last question.”

Kagami was starting to get antsy. She wanted to be back out there fighting. But she held back her annoyance, considering how he sacrificed his memories for her.

“Make it quick, we need to hurry.”

Luka scratches the back of his head.

“Are we a couple?”

If Kagami was drinking water she would have done a massive spit take. Her cheeks turned red.

“What?!”

“You know… together? You seem to know a lot about me, and I just feel this connection... like I can trust you even though I don’t remember anything. I don’t know how or why, but I feel like you matter to me.”

Kagami’s eyes went wide at the comment. It felt surprisingly bold of the musician to say. She had to admit that the statement made her heart skip a beat.

“No, we had just recently become friends.” Kagami responded.

“Oh…” Luka was saddened by the response.

“But, I have thought about the possibility it could be more than that one day," Kagami continued. "But that is something to discuss when you have your memory back. Maybe.”

The fencer felt her mind scream at her.

‘WHY DID YOU SAY THAT! Well, at least he won't remember.’

Luka smiled at that.

“Well, that must mean I must be a good guy, if I could have such a great friend like you.”

The teen prepared himself.

“Alright then! Sass! Scales Slither.”

The musician shifted into his hero form.

“Let’s go save the day.”

Kagami looked at her hero partner and smiled.

“Longg, Bring the storm.

______________________________________________________________________

“Well, that might be a problem.”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked to see a stone giant guarding the front door of the classroom. The two had hidden just out of the goliath’s view.

“Any ideas on how to take down Mount Akuma?” Chat Noir questioned.

Ladybug looked at the giant from their hiding spot and began formulating a plan.

“Stoneheart grows bigger when he gets mad. These akuma aren’t really able to express their emotions. That means we don’t need to worry about him getting bigger. We just need to find a way to incapacitate him.”

“We could ask Mayura,” Chat Noir pointed out.

“We could ask… wait WHA…”

Chat Noir covered his partner’s mouth and ducked down.

“Shhhh! She’s right there,” Chat Noir hushed.

Ladybug removed the cat’s hand from her mouth and looked from the spot to see that her partner was right. Mayura was in the building!

“She actually showed up?” Oh, this is a lot more serious than we thought. Hawkmoth is really playing it serious with this one.”

“To the butterfly man’s credit, he really has been throwing out some tough ones.”

“I will not give our worst villain credit for anything except this headache,” Ladybug retorted with annoyance.

“So, what do we do? Mayura is in the building and she is talking with the giant.”

Ladybug felt like the situation couldn’t get worse.

“Not so fast, Feather Freak!”

Ladybug recognized that voice.

“Chloé?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug glanced to see a familiar blonde strutting down the hallway. But their expressions of shock shifted to bewilderment when they noticed what she was wearing.

“So are you and that purple fashion blunder here? Or is it just you? I am guessing it's just you. Your boss doesn’t really like to show his face unless he thinks he is sure to win. No wonder Ladybug always kicks his…” The bee themed heroine confidently quipped.

“Queen Bee. Now that is a surprise. I thought Ladybug was done giving you a miraculous.” The peacock villainess commented. She had no interest in dealing with the bee heroine at this time.

“Well, you would be surprised by a lot of things. So how about we settle this. My fist really misses your face.”

Mayura rolled her eyes.

“Fortunately for you, I don’t have the time to deal with you. Stoneheart, I am sure Masquerade would love for you to take care of this pesky bee.”

“Oh don’t think you can walk away! You and that purple cockroach are the same. Both cowards that can’t even face children.” She jeered as she walked forward.

The stone giant moved forward, allowing Mayura to walk to the door and enter.

“Too scared to face me! Typical. I'll beat your pet rock as a warm up and then your butt will meet my foot!” Queen Bee exclaimed with confidence. “Because I am a real heroine!”

Queen Bee got into a stance and prepared to trade blows with the colossus of rock.

Chat Noir looked to Ladybug.

“Did you give her a miraculous?” He whispered in surprise.

“I don’t have any additional miraculous. I thought she had been captured with the rest of the class.”

“Wait… if it wasn’t you… you don’t think…”

“Either Master Fu is in the building and saw how dire the situation was or Chloé snuck away and had a Queen Bee costume stowed away in her locker.”

The two look at each other and immediately come to the same conclusion.

“We need to save her before she gets crushed!”

______________________________________________________________________

Mayura walked into the classroom.

She managed to keep a straight face, but internally she had a lot going through her mind.

What was once a standard classroom now looked like an elaborate throne room. The amazing curtains, the high ceilings. The steps leading up to an elaborate throne. The portraits of Masquerade really brought together the utter decadence and vanity of the akuma persona. It reminds Mayura of Gabriel’s obsession with Emilie in the worst way possible.

Despite finding the décor off-putting, she had to admit it was impressive how Masquerade had been able to change the room into something completely unrecognizable. A testament to her vanity.

She took a moment to see what akuma servants she still had in the room. The Gamer, Reflekta with around 12 copies, Princess Fragrance, Robostus, Zombizou and Horificator. While the white masks obscured their expressions, it was clear that all of them were watching her. It greatly unnerved her.

She kept these thoughts to herself as the masked akuma that was running the school took notice of her.

“Mayura. I've been expecting you.”

Mayura looked up to see Masquerade sitting on the throne.

“Please, come in.”

She approached confidently. Though in the back of her mind something seemed off.

Masquerade stood up from the throne and walked down the steps, a smile of certainty on her face.

“Masquerade. Your Sentimonster gave me the basics of your plan. Securing the school as your base of operations was a good first step. Your plan of creating a video to lower the spirits of those in Paris was also a nice touch,” Mayura praised.

“But of course! My plan is flawless,” Masquerade boasted. “Not even Ladybug and Chat Noir will be able to stop me.”

“Getting ahead of yourself aren’t you?” Mayura cut her ego trip.

Masquerade’s mood soured as her smile faltered.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You have yet to face the two heroes. Not to mention there's a pesky bee flying around.”

“A bee?” Masquerade was very confused by the comment.

“Yes, Chloé Bourgeois, or Queen Bee, to be precise. Seems that Ladybug and Chat Noir went and got back up."

“It doesn’t matter if they have one additional hero or three. This plan won't fail.”

‘Something isn’t right here. I need to leave now!’ Mayura’s mind screamed.

She wasn’t sure why, but something felt incredibly off.

“Speaking of heroes, your plan never really specified how you will deal with them. Care to elaborate?”

Masquerade’s smile grew more sinister.

“I am glad you asked. After Simularé relayed to me that you were here. I finally figured out the perfect way of dealing with those arrogant heroes,” the masked woman stated with certainty, moving forward.

She now stood only a few feet from the peacock villainess.

“Wait a moment, something is wrong here,” Mayura commented as she tried to focus. She couldn’t ignore the warnings in her head.

“What do you mean?” The mask akuma looked with confusion at the blue villainess.

Mayura looked around. Frantically trying to find something but it was fruitless. This distress caused Masquerade to smile.

“I can't sense it,” Mayura spoke with slight worry.

“Sense what?” Masquerade inquired further.

“Where is your amok? It should be on your person but I can't sense it.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes. If you don’t have the amok in your possession then that sentimonster will go out of control!” Mayura explained.

“Can’t you just rip the amok out?”

“If it's nearby and I sense it, yes. But I can’t do that if it’s out of my range.”

“So you’re saying you have no power over me right now.” A devilish grin appeared on Masquerade’s face.

“No, I am saying I don’t have any power over the senti…”

Mayura felt a chill as she realized that the masquerade in front of her was not an akumatized Lila.

“Horrificator, block the door,” the Faux Masquerade commanded.

The pink and purple monster quickly moved to block the door with her large form.

The controlled akuma started circling around her as Simularé undid the illusion and morphed into its true specter form, Simularé.

“You ungrateful little monster. You think your master will be okay with you attacking one of the ones that gave her power?”

“My master doesn’t care about you or Hawkmoth. You are a means to an end. And she gave me special permission to take your miraculous from you.”

“Well if your master isn’t here, then no one is jamming the signal. I can contact Hawkmoth and put this little coup to an end.”

Simularé shifted into Lady Wifi.

“I have access to every power my master does. You are trapped with no options.” The sentimonster mocked.

Mayura looked around as she was circled by the controlled akuma. She needed to get out of there.

She felt a pain rush to her head.

‘F*** not now’ She mentally cursed.

The odds were indeed not in her favor.

______________________________________________________________________________

Stoneheart began charging at the bee themed heroine, and just as Queen Bee was about to move, a yo-yo wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the monster.

The stone giant had expected his charge to make contact but forced himself to stop when he noticed the bee was gone.

“Sorry tiny, but I’m your playmate now,” called a cat-themed hero.

The mindless akuma didn’t visibly react to the change in foe and simply charged at the cat hero.

Queen Bee found herself near Ladybug.

“Chloé! What are you doing?!”

“Uh… Saving the day? I got the jewelry box that you sent out because you needed my help.”

“Jewelry box… wait a minute that means. You are wearing a miraculous.”

“Yep! Don’t worry LB, I will show you that I am worthy of being Queen Bee. And not to boast, but I totally saved someone. But right now, we gotta go beat that ugly pile of rubble.”

Ladybug looked at Chloé for a moment. With the situation as hectic as it was, Queen Bee has shown some competence when there is real danger. Ladybug knew that right now, all hands that could help would be appreciated, and Queen Bee’s appearance could mean that Fu may be closer than she expected. So maybe there were more reinforcements. So if this was the case. She would trust Fu’s judgement.

“Alright, just be ready to return the bee after all of this is over.”

“Right, right, but just know I will probably change your mind about that after this is over!” the bee exclaimed confidently as she jumped back into the fray.

Ladybug shook her head. Whether she was Queen Bee or Chloé, she was still a handful.

“Are you finished gossiping? Because I could REALLY use a hand!” Chat Noir shouted as he held his staff up to hold back the rock monster’s boulder of a fist.

Queen Bee and Ladybug jumped into view and noticed the situation.

“Don’t worry you stray cat, The Queen Bee will put that rock in his place. Ve…”

Ladybug covered Queen Bee’s mouth before she could.

“Hold it. We might need your power for later.”

“I think it would be useful now!” Chat Noir shouted as he struggled to hold the weight of the giant’s rocky hand.

“Okay if my powers are a no no right now, what is the plan?”

Ladybug looked around. She found her attention drawn to a fire extinguisher, Queen Bee, a rubber band, and a discarded backpack.

“Okay, I have a plan.”

______________________________________________________________________

Gabriel had made a decision.

He hurried out of the lair in his civilian form. He was going to head to the school. Now he would just need to get his chauffeur and go…

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he saw his son’s bodyguard and chauffeur fall to the floor at the steps of the main entrance, a white mask adorning his face that he was desperately trying to get off.

“What is the meaning of this?” Gabriel asked aloud in shock and anger.

He looked to see the mask akuma he created standing at the door.

“Well, if it isn’t Gabriel Agreste. Fashion mogul, and master manipulator.”

Gabriel’s visible anger faded as he stared at the akuma.

“Lila, is that you?”

“Oh quite astute! An amazing deduction. Was it that observational skill that made you the fashion success you are now?” the akumatized Lila inquired. “Though I go by Masquerade now.”

Gabriel knew very well the girl’s powers. He was the one that gave it to her. She was trying to antagonize him, get him angry. But that would not work.

“Well Masquerade, what brings you to my home at this time?” Gabriel asked calmly. Doing his best to keep his tone and mannerisms calm.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood, finding more people to join my little army and I notice my charm glowing as I was getting near.”

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he realized something. The charm bracelet was configured to locate anyone that has ever been akumatized. That included him. His ploy to ward suspicion off of himself was now biting him in the butt. And of course, Lila was likely holding a grudge with how he pushed her with his words about his son and his classmate.

“My bodyguard was akumatized. What of it?”

The silent action figure enthusiast stopped resisting and his body began growing. Gabriel noticed the man was transforming into the gorilla akuma. Gorizilla! And he rushed up the steps as the akuma moved and pounded his chest.

“Gorizilla, go gather up anyone who has been akumatized that you know of. I will handle Mr. Agreste myself.”

The giant akuma nodded at its master and headed off, leaving the agreste mansion with a giant hole that was once the front of the mansion.

“Handle me? And what do you plan to do?”

Masquerade’s necklace began to glow.

“Oh! Well that is very interesting,” Masquerade mused aloud as she learned from the glowing charm.

“What do you mean, interesting?” Gabriel asked. He knew that the charm had the bonus effect of pointing out the emotional weak points of those that had been akumatized. But he had PRETENDED to be angry and wasn’t actually emotional when the akuma took over. Did the charm still impact him the same way it did everyone else?

Masquerade started walking up the steps.

“You blame yourself for your wife’s passing.”

The statement was a blade pointed right at his throat. But Gabriel refused to react. He would not let himself be taken advantage of by his own akuma. He has been on the receiving end one too many times and he would be damned if he let that psychopath have control of him.

Masquerade saw that Gabriel was not reacting to the statement.

“I have never seen a man more miserable and pathetic,” Masquerade said. Her words sounded genuine and cutting.

Gabriel tried to turn around and walk away. But Masquerade jumped high with her superhuman agility and landed right in front of him, continuing her tearing down of his emotional state.

“All of this wealth and yet you are obsessed with what you don’t have. You are so blinded by the grief of losing your wife that everything else in your life may as well not exist. You locked yourself away, desperately trying to find something, anything that would bring her back. But now you are finding that color is starting to return in your life. You feel guilt over hiding the truth from your son, you loathe the attraction that you have been developing for another woman. You hate that you can’t dedicate every second to your lost wife and any speck of joy you feel without her here feels like treason since she is not here with you. You are a man so blind with his obsession that you fail to see the world doesn’t revolve around you. It's disgusting.”

“You know nothing of my life,” Gabriel dismissed.

But Masquerade knew he would say that. She only smiled. The truth was right in front of her. And she was ready to bring it home.

“You are actually terrified of facing her again.”

That shook Gabriel.

“What?”

“You are afraid of seeing her again. Whether it’s a year or 10 years, you feel that even if you could bring her back, she would be here and realize how much of a shell you had become without her. You are afraid that your obsession with her will be the very thing that drives her away once you see her again.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Then why haven’t you brought her back yet? Don’t you love her?”

Gabriel felt like his heart was being repeatedly punched.

“How dare you question my love for my wife!”

“Then why isn’t she here? If you loved her she wouldn’t have been taken from you and Adrien. But you were far too pathetic to do it. You failed her, and you are still failing her. You will never be with her again, and deep down. You know it to be true,” Masquerade answered coldly.

Those words were enough to get him down. That is what finally did him in.

Gabriel fell to his knees.

“No…”

Gabriel had broken. Masquerade knew she had him.

He was emotionally devastated, to the point where couldn’t even react to the mask coming his way.

____________________________________________________________

Well now things are now hitting their highest points of drama!

Will Ladybug and other heroes be able to stand up to Masquerade?

Will Mayura fall to Simularé's double cross?

Will I EVER update in time?

Tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Your support keeps it alive