#down in the blackhole that is fanfiction

[altruistic-meme]

welcome :]

woohoo. time for an actual like. intro post. let's go 👍

[ wonderful previous blog summary by @cozy-fish-crow <3 ]

hello, i'm Abram. or Acee, if you wanna use that. he/they, but generally speaking i don't mind any pronouns. i'm queer in basically every direction and i could explain what i mean but i'll just leave it there for now. currently i'm 22. i'm usamerican and from the south.

i am a very big fandom nerd. some of my biggest fandoms include:

- Young Royals

- All For the Game

- Captive Prince

- Bungo Stray Dogs

- Haikyuu!!

- Good Omens

- Dan and Phil

- Yuri!!! On Ice (dormant)

+ many, many more

i'm a fanfic author and you can find me on ao3 @ AmericanCanada

i also crochet and occasionally i post about it. tag: #crochet

i draw occasionally -> @aceedoodles

i have a sideblog for helpful/reference posts -> @forthesadadult

all personal posts are tagged #shh ac

i love asks so much please never hesitate to send me an ask, especially about my fandoms and/or my fics. i will think of you fondly for the rest of my life if you do.

my three idiots cats <3 JJ, Anka, and Blue (here is a helpful guide!)

okay that is all from me for now! have a fantastic day!

[ links to fanfictions + their tags below the cut! ]

FANFICTION ROUND-UP:

All For the Game:

(why is there) joy in this poison (WIP)

tag: #(wit)jitp

for the hopes and the fears and the dreams

tag: #(wit)jitp

go low (WIP)

tag: #wip: go low

the scars are poems (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: the scars are poems

figurative ghosts (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: figurative ghosts

heartbeats carved in flesh

i said i wouldn't call, but i need you now

Young Royals:

I've Got You, Brother (WIP)

tag: #wip: fuck he said a pronoun

Dare(d) To Do It (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: dare(d), #wip: parallels

Not Supposed To Know (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: nstk, #wip: parallels

swaying as the room burned down

LVOE.

we all need a soft place to fall

Captive Prince:

laurent stabs damen [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: laurent stabs damen

Carpe Noctem (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: carpe noctem

Bungo Stray Dogs:

blackhole time fuckery [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: blackhole time fuckery

Will You Be Mine? (No Sir) (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: will you be mine? (no sir)

it's a safehouse, right? (WIP, unpublished)

The Port Mafia Boss's Most Loyal Dog (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: loyal dog

abo au [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: abo au

selfish (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: selfish

what you can learn from a bowl of soup

tag: #wip: torturing kunikida

- fics are linked where possible!

- not all WIPs have been blogged about and thus not all of them have tags, but I will try to keep this list updated as i work on/post about them.

- italicized fics are ones i consider to be "critical"; aka the fics that i am putting the most effort and care into writing, or my personal favorites

- this is not a comprehensive list of every fic i have written, just the ones i felt like pointing at specifically! there are more fics on my ao3 account (such as all of my yoi fics) and there are also WIPs that aren't mentioned here.

- i love questions i love questions sooo much please ask me about my fics i would love to talk about them PLEASE ASK-

[killerandhealerqueen]

hi i hope u dont mind me sliding in but im d e s p e r a t e and would really like someone to yell at about killer and healer because i finally sat my ass down to watch it and i cant help but cry bitter tears over the insane amount of feels i have (even at ep 8) and no one irl or my current circle have watched it or are planning on it so pls helpppppp

it's actually tempting me back into wanting to wade into the fanfic blackhole (i used to dabble a bit in ye olde days) but im just full of bottled feels and zero ideas but anyway, im sorry for being a mess but hi id like to be k&h buddies 🥺

Oh my dear, you have absolutely come to the right blog to scream about Killer and Healer.

I feel you on the tears part, fucking balled my eyes out. But yes, absolutely, we can totally be K&H buddies. Absolutely.

Also, if you'd like to read K&H fanfiction, I've written plenty (and still have more to write). You can read them all here: 恨君不似江楼月 | Killer and Healer

But anyways, welcome to the Killer and Healer fam, we're so happy to have you!

[basil-like-the-leaf]

fanfiction can be so educational

Every time I join a fandom I end up learning something so interesting. It can be a minor fact like 'rats getting tumors is common' (stony vet au) or something so helpful it ends up helping me in the future during a real-life situation or exam. People will often ask where I learned it and I can never tell them I read cute fanfics and did some research. Shoutout to fanfic writers who hyper fixate on random topics and have the characters explore said topics. It's so interesting and I appreciate your research and rambles cause you can tell it's something they enjoy and that just makes you want to find out more. Another shoutout to writers who happen to be med students/ lawyers or smth else. You guys make me seem so smart when in reality I just wanna know more about Stede or Adoras profession in the fanfic and a random little detail sent me down a blackhole which leads to reading about multiple studies or smth

[johnlockedinkonoha]

SASUNARUSASU FANFICTION BINGO 2023

 FINALLY

 Thirty years after the end of the war, everything was finally... okay.

Naruto struggled a little a few years after the war. He got married to Hinata, he had kids, he got a job as the Hokage. It was everything he needed. Or so he was told. He wasn’t sure.

I guess he wanted to get married and have kids. He really wanted to become Hokage – it was always his dream.

But… it wasn’t like he had imagined how things would be. He guessed.

Something was missing.

He didn’t let his mind go there. But sometimes he couldn’t help it. Sasuke. He missed him. And it was the strangest thing. They sure became friends at some point. Every time Sasuke was in danger he could feel it in his bones, and the desperate need to save him.

But he was gone. And Naruto had to move on. Right?

 At some point life went on. Ten years later he decided to ask for a divorce. He couldn’t do it anymore. He loved them. Hinata and the kids. But it wasn’t working. So he moved out. At first, only Himawari would visit his loft. But a few months into this new life, Boruto came around.

 Naruto sensed Hinata knew, maybe before himself, what was going on in his heart. So they stayed friends.

Life was okay. He went to work, stayed up until late. Went back to his lonely and almost empty loft, but he was okay. He find it peaceful and a throwback to his past. On the weekends he got to spend a time out with his children. Go to the park. Practice a few techniques. Eat ramen and so on.

 He felt himself burning out. So five years later, he quit his job. It was a long time coming for him, but he sensed he let people down. They sure were curious as to why he did it. He was so young still. And they all knew about his dream.

 He left town.

 He still hang out with the kids on weekends. But he needed some break from Konoha and all the ninja lifestyle and past he carried.

 So now, thirty years later, feeling better without all that burden, he felt sad and lonely – and thought maybe this was it.

 But then he saw him.

It was a sunny day, in the afternoon, just walking home after a walk into the park and a pause for tea.

Sasuke was just there. Still. In the middle of the street, in front of him, looking shocked.

 “Naruto?” – his voice was weak,  as if he could believe his eyes.

“Sasuke” – the blond confirmed. I am here, I missed you, thank Kami you’re still alive, how long has it been. Do you miss me?

“You wanna… go grab tea?” – Naruto asked. The raven boy… no, man. The raven man, now not raven at all, but silver – seemed to be in shock still.

“Yes.” – he murmured, sighed almost. As if in relief, as if he couldn’t believe still.

So they went back to Naruto’s loft. Never spilling a word.

Naruto opened his door wide, set the keys into the bowl next door.

Sasuke looked around, observing, looking for something.

Naruto observed him. He’d aged, but was still Sasuke. The same onyx eyes, black and a blackhole. The same hair length, a bit longer, silver now. Dark clothes.

“I live alone” – he didn’t mean to put so much into his words, as to emply multiple things at the same time.

“Where’s the…” – he didn’t finish.

“I’ve been divorced for years now. And I’ve changed jobs. Retired now.” – he put a shy hand on his neck, rubbing it. Embarrassed with the realization that he wanted to tell Sasuke everything. And also that he had to start there. I’m single.

“Me too” – Sasuke said, but felt he had to explain it better. “I’ve been single for a while now. Retired too. I live nearby here”.

“Cool.” – he fidgeted. “Lemme go get that drink, please, seat” – he pointed to the large couch and went into his kitchen.

He grabbed them both beer and handed Sasuke his.

“So… I haven’t heard from you… for twenty years, more or less.”

“Yeah, I… had to sort some things out.”

“I missed you” – there. He said it. He was too old for  this conversation.

“You did?”

“Didn’t you?”

“I guess.”

Naruto laughed, weakly.

“What things did you have to sort out?” – The blond asked curiously.

“It’s all good now. It wasn’t anything dangerous. I’m good.” – Sasuke. The mysterious man.

“I see. Well, I’m too old for this… being shy or whatever. So I’m gonna go ahead and say it. Since you might bail on me again and we’ll see each other in how many years from now? Will we be dead by them?” – he mocked.

“Naruto…”

“I love you.” – he took a deep breath. “I think I always have. The war was over and so was I. You ran away. You left. It broke me. It felt like it was all for nothing. “We” won. But you were gone. I won nothing.”

As Naruto tried not to cry, not over this again, Sasuke seemed taken aback. Eyeing the man in front of him with fondness.

“I tried living my life. But something was always missing. It was you. I always knew it. There was no point in waiting. But nevertheless I got divorced. I asked around about you, no one knew where you were. Some took you for dead.”

“I’m sorry”.

“It’s in the past now. I’m glad you’re here. Just wondering why. It feels like a dream, honestly”.

“I love you too”.

“What?”

“Yeah… that’s why I had to leave. So I thought. But then I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to try. When I came back to find you, you were married. So I left again.”

“Sasuke…”

“I also tried to live my life without you. It’s too empty and it hurts so much”.

They both got up and took each other’s hands.

“I’m glad I found you. Even if it’s too late”.

“It’s not… kiss me?”

Then without waiting anymore, Naruto put his hand in Sasuke’s chin, pulling him down a little and kissing his mouth. Soft at first, just feeling himself be pulled closer. Feeling Sasuke’s warm body, firm against him. Safe. And finally.

They deepened the kiss, licked each other’s lips, then tongues. Tasting each other. Finally, finally.

Naru could feel Sasuke’s soft hair. Finally. The man grunt. More. It said.

Sasu touched Naruto’s body everywhere. His face, his hair, his shoulders, his hips. His ass. He grabbed it, squeezed it. Yes. Yes.

“Sasuke”.

“Naruto”.

[the-lazy-pig-author]

A glimpse into my novel

The house perches atop a hill overlooking the village, casting a foreboding shadow below. Its once-grand appearance, painted in faded black with hints of purple, now bears the scars of neglect and the passage of time. After the long and boring trek up the hill, Kelsey approaches finding the once majestic estate in disarray. The garden gate creaks open, swinging wildly in the wind, occasionally crashing against its rusted hinges. Within, wilted bushes and tangled thorns dominate the landscape, with sparse, brown flowers drooping sadly. The air is thick with the scent of earth and decay. 

The stone pathway leading up to the steps of the front door is sunken into the earth with various cracks. The stone walls in the garden has eroded and broken in several areas creating a look of tombstones long forgotten, their history lost forever. 

The porch is devoid of furniture except for a solitary swing set nestled in the far corner. Vines have ensnared the bench, with moss creeping across its arms. The rusted chain creaks as it sways in the wind. The shutters on the windows hang askew, boards nailed in place to keep them permanently off-balance.

In daylight, the garden could bloom with vibrant colors and fragrances, but at night, Kelsey observes a large shadow enveloping the property, casting a somber pall that stifles growth and vitality. This darkness, though not aggressive, exudes a passive torment.

With the home lacking comforts to create a welcoming atmosphere, the darkness finds no refuge to hide monsters or deceive the eye. It simply lingers, an extension of the homeowner's despair, weighing down everything around it into melancholy.

Kelsey raises a hand to knock but upon first striking the door, it glides open effortlessly. The creak is loud and echoes down the hallway. The entrance is lavish. The foyer boasts a grand staircase adorned with a wrought iron railing leading to upper levels veiled in shadows. An ornate chandelier hangs from the high ceiling, casting flickering light on the walls adorned with dark wood paneling. The light is dimmed heavily creating the sense of more of a blackhole then solstice from the dark outside. 

Two entrances flanking the door lead to distinct living spaces, their interiors crowded with furniture draped in heavy fabric. The rooms lie in darkness, devoid of illumination save for a faint echo of light cast by the chandelier, offering mere glimpses into their depths. As Kelsey ventures deeper into the hallway, the wind whispers through, rustling dead, dried leaves.

You like? There's more where that came from! It also has art!

I write original novels and fanfiction, aiming to pair each chapter or story with accompanying artwork. While I occasionally post on Tumblr and AO3, exclusive access to art, chapters, behind-the-scenes content, and early merch releases is available on my Patreon.

Not all artwork or stories will be shared on Tumblr or AO3.

[emalynnstone]

Naruto Fic Recs: The Sequel

Since this post seems to be my most popular, and I’ve read  more since making the first one, I figured a follow-up was necessary :) I was a little more picky adding stories in this list, so it’s shorter but guaranteed-to-be-good fics. 

Link to Part One here. 

Gen/Self-Inserts

To Shape and Change: Minato replaces Naruto. It’s adorable, maybe because I adore Minato lol. But I really enjoyed it! :) Sadly, I do think it’s abandoned, but what’s written is fabulous. 

Weight of the World: A fem!Naruto and a self-insert, but I REALLY love how the writer does the character. Also, it has pretty fabulous character development and I guess she could come off as Mary Sue... but she IS Naruto lol. Also, Kakashi has a pretty amazing role in here and I adore it for that. Seems to still be updating (keeping hope out for it anyways lol). 

Accidental Companions: Hurt/Comfort. Someone sees Naruto’s life, though he finds it hard to believe before trying to help the poor boy. Starring: Kakashi’s ninken! 

Come to the Sand Side (We Have Ramen): This is my favorite story currently. It sucked me in and I read it all in one sitting! Gaara and his siblings are adorable and I love how they handled Naruto slowly falling out of love with Konoha and the Sasuke situation. It was cute and hilarious, with ample angst! <3 Definitely rec, and, bonus, IT’S COMPLETED. And this writer is pretty fabulous too! :D 

Phoenix Rising: Features de-aged Sasuke and amazing dad!Naruto! This is utter fluff and over 300k, though I think it’s abandoned. It also has side fics and they’re also rather cute and amazing! Definitely rec giving this a read! 

Dancing with Demons: Naruto raised by demons, need I say more? Really amazing world-building and interesting characterization of Naruto. The whole nature vs. nurture thing ;) :D 

Time Travel

Chibi Ninja: The whole of Konoha 12 + Sai goes back in time and it’s utterly ridiculous but so cute. Also, I love the reactions to them haha. I read it for the fluff and the cuteness, definitely not a serious fic. Abandoned, sadly. 

Making Up For Lost Thyme: Ongoing and features BAMF Naruto and Sasuke and lots of hilarity! It’s SasuNaru, but currently gen beyond them being a cute old and married couple while still twelve lolol. I love this a LOT :D <3 

What’s the Worst That Can Happen?: I really love how this writer does Kakashi, just wanted to say that. Anyways, Naruto and Kakashi travel back to Minato’s time and it’s well-written and on-going, so I do adore this fic. 

What Once Was Will Never Be: Naruto travels back, claims his Uzumaki heritage, is adorably powerful and oblivious, and basically all my favorite time travel tropes on top of being KakaNaru. Ongoing. 

reverse: KakaNaru (of a sort), COMPLETE and LONG, and features Kurama gratuitously stealing chibi!jinchuuriki and causing wars. Really, this is utter fluff and totally amazing, I might just love this more than backslide by this writer, and that’s saying a LOT. 

The Yellow Dyad: OHMYGOODNESS. THIS. READ THIS. IF NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS. SOOOO GOOD. MinaNaru and the pairing is just the CUTEST and so PURE and Minato is just the most ADORABLE and Naruto is an utter BAMF and OHMYGOODNESS. READ THIS. Ongoing and very long <3 

Forever and a Bit: Ongoing! Naruto and Gaara time travel and they have the most pure friendship ever <3 Features a Sasuke that is peeved that Naruto doesn’t pay him enough attention ;) SasuNaru. 

Because Now I know, All My Roads Lead To You: SasuNaru; Sasuke and Naruto time travel. Features pining!Naruto and sexuallyfrustrated!Naruto lol. Oh, they also leave Konoha in a very bad-ass way, imho, and Itachi gets sense knocked into him. Definitely different from other time travels and on-going! 

Kako no Kage (Shadows of the Past): Sasuke and Naruto time travel (SasuNaru)! Their relationship is the cutest and it’s on-going! 

Mutt: Time Travel, KakaNaru, and it’s just a one-shot but well-written and adorable <3 

A Calculated Error: Features unmotivated but overpowered Sasuke and Naruto accidentally finding themselves in the time before the founding of the villages :D Sasuke and Naruto friendship <3 

Completely Undone: KakaNaru and this link is to PART ONE of the trilogy. The stories in the series are pretty long and really well-written. I have to admit, there’s some confusing story lines, but it’s pretty good and the third part is still on-going. Totally rec :) 

Cross-Overs

Harry Potter

Find Me a White Knight Cloaked in Black: This writer is fabulous. Sadly, I think this is abandoned but there’s still over 50k and it’s so well-written. Harry is a BAMF and doesn’t give a damn about anyone... or so he likes to pretend ;) 

Not Troublesome at All: Shikamaru/Harry; Shikamaru saves a Harry that crashes through the Mirror of Erised into Konoha. Sadly, abandoned, but still pretty close to finished to deserve a read! 

Sneaking Around Konoha: Kakashi/Harry. Over 99k and really well-done! Harry and Teddy move to Konoha for a peaceful existence... but we all know that just isn’t possible for Harry ;) 

Ink Deep: Complete and so cute! Neji/Harry. Really just love this. Features tattooartist!Harry

Slash

Rare Pairings

All Started With a Smell: ShikaFemNaru. I know this is under the slash section, but, you gotta read it and see, and I read it for the pairing cause I really love ShikaNaru and there’s not enough long fics for this pairing! I guess for those who might be picky, this is more het than slash, but I put it here cause of the  pairing. 

Soulmate Story Collection: All the rare pairings and just amazing deliverance on each prompt. Really amazingly well-written and I rec the other works by this writer too! :) 

To Calmer Waters: Shino/Naruto; cute and it’s very much an AU, but their relationship is the cutest thing. Really love it, it’s a friends-to-lovers type and pretty fluffy and Naruto develops really well. 

monogatari: Gaara takes a leave of absence from being Kazekage and is surprised when Naruto follows him to his hide-out. One-shot. (Btw, why is GaaNaru a rare pairing? WHY AREN’T THERE ENOUGH OF THIS PAIRING? Or have I not been looking in the right places??)

As is the Sea Marvelous: MadaTobi; I really love this pairing and there’s not enough fics for my fix. It’s blackkat who wrote this, so you know it’s going to be good and it IS. 

KakaNaru

With Nothing on My Tongue: There is hardly enough for this pairing, but this is on-going and features smart!Naruto! Slow burn as well! 

Prince of Konoha: Can I just say that I adore this one-shot? It has a different power dynamic and I think it’s slightly co-dependent, but definitely interesting and I’m hoping there’s more to this AU! Features a Naruto who was raised to become Hokage by the Sandaime 

SasuNaruSasu

Ramen With a Smile: Utterly cute one-shot. Just give it a read, you won’t regret it :D  

Flesh and Bone: I love arranged marriages and the fact that it’s SasuNaru? Love this writer btw. Long one-shot.

Cohabitation: I don’t know what it is about this one-shot, but I keep rereading it and cracking up every time. You should totally read it, if only for the laughs haha. 

Deception: This writer writes SasuNaru so well <3 I love this Modern!AU and definitely adore the way their relationship comes about! Completed! 

Corporate Secrets: A/B/O SasuNaru, modern!AU... I already know you want to read it just by that, bonus: completed. 

Predators: So.... this is a dark!Naruto and kind of a dystopian!AU. It’s tagged and has lots of warnings, but definitely worth the read. Not much fluff, but well-written and I enjoyed it! Completed. 

When Love Fades: I really love the getting back together trope, and this is angsty, for sure, but it’s well-written and Sasuke and Naruto both develop and grow. Should totally read. Bonus: completed. 

Give Us Our Daily Ramen: This is my favorite and it’s hilarious <3 You should totally read this. Features: Naruto’s friendships and his business are the highlight of this fic. Completed! 

So, I have a lot of SasuNaru bookmarks on my ao3, so I’m just going to link my Naruto bookmarks and you can search the relationships for SasuNaru... or anything else haha. You can find them all here lol. 

You can find my Harry Potter fic rec list here, if you’re in that fandom :) 

[aneenasevla]

Heavy Bakery MasterPost

Summary:  Kanami is a bakery owner who does everything to protect her "family" (aka her staff) and even take down gangsters and evildoers with her fists who dares to importunate them. One fateful day, a group try to take revenge on her, and she will need any help she can find, even if the help is from a fighter with seaweed head and a blackhole as a stomach...

This is the first story of “The Heavy Bakery” Series, 100% finished. Enjoy!

If you prefer, THE AO3 LINK Is here! 

 PTBR version: Wattpad

Original Tumblr Posts below the cut!

Sidenote: This fanfiction is 18+ because strong language and some graphic depictions of violence and sex. NSFW tags included in every chapter with mature content. Sensitive people are warned. 

“Heavy Bakery” Chapters Links:

Kanami’s Profile and details about the Oc’s

Ch 1 - The Heavy Bakery

Ch 2 - No One Messes with my Family!

Ch 3 - The Back Alley

Ch 4 - Hospital

Ch 5 - A FUCKIN’ Cake!

Ch 6 - Auntie MY ASS!

Ch 7 - Those Bastards are Persistent!

Ch 8 - Bodyguards?!

Ch 9 - The Cook Always Eats Last

Ch 10 - Gym Rats

Ch 11 - Strolling at the Shops

Ch 12 - One Night in Tokyo

Ch 13 - Apologies

Ch 14 - Homecoming

Ch 15 - The Macho Assemble

Ch 16 - This Stupid Heart...

Ch 17 - Six Months Later...

Ch 18 - I envy you so much, man...

Ch 19 - Fight Me!

Ch 20 - Friendly Match

Ch 21 - Like Brothers to Me

Ch 22 - A Reason

Ch 23 - Two loaves

Ch 24 - I Respect You

Ch 25 - The Ashura

Ch 25.5 - The Ashura (NSFW part) <-- you can skip this part

Ch 26 - Lazy Morning

Ch 27 - Our Tight Situation

Ch 28 - Empty Site

Ch 29 - A lot of First Times

Chapter 29.5 - A lot of First Times (NSFW part) <-- you can skip this part

Ch 30 - Intensity

Ch 31 - You Goddamned Cat!

Ch 32 - Agent of Chaos

Ch 33 - The Assassin and The Baker

Ch 34 - She-Hulk

Ch 35 - Epilogue

[tundrainafrica]

Note: Instead of posting a meta or a fic today, allow me to take a quick break from that because I think I really need to appreciate some people here and the fandom overall.  

February 7, 2021. 

Today, I turned 24 and my boyfriend surprised me with a gift I think I’ll be taking to heart for a very long time. 

The story behind the gift was as precious (or even more precious) as the gift itself and I thought I’d share it since it turned out some content creators were involved in this gift and I very much want to express how much this gift has defined this day for me and will place my 24th birthday as one of those birthdays I don’t think I’ll ever forget. 

Apparently, I had casually dropped both my tumblr and my ao3 account during one of our conversations and somewhere around November he had started looking through my bookmarks, my posts on tumblr and some of my interactions with people in the fandom.

I should have seen it coming. It had started with my boyfriend suddenly asking about my hyperfixation with Levihan.

Sav? Shipping? Sav? Binge reading ships and meta posts? Sav? Gushing about a fictional ship?

And I remember gushing about this with my seemingly uninterested boyfriend a long night after explaining what was oddly the most out of character thing for someone like me. 

I was sharing with him my metas and hcs and maybe, I was dropping a few of my favorite quotes along the way and it turned out he was interested. Suddenly he was asking me about my favorite fics, my favorite scenes. Suddenly, he was rereading my favorite fics with me and a few times, he was quoting those same scenes. I did find out he was looking through my blog when I got a random message from a really sketchy tumblr telling me to open my facebook. 

I suspected a few times that he could be planning something. December passed with nothing and eventually he stopped asking so I clocked that as a fevered dream or unnecessary assuming on my end and didn’t think too much of it after. 

It turned out my boyfriend had messaged my favorite authors about their fics and he commissioned one of my favorite artists (if not my favorite) to draw a few photos and bound them into a Levihan Anthology 

And it feels fucking amazing to receive something like this. To get Levihan which helped me through the worst of 2020, bound forever as a book I can just open up and read anytime. And I guess tearing up at receiving such a gift had me thinking of a lot of things at once (which were always at the back of mind) but I thought of sharing now. 

The past year wasn’t easy. Actually. don’t think it’s an understatement to say this past year was dog shit. With the covid pandemic and all plans after that cancelled, I’m sure we can all agree we had our ups and downs. 

I had a lot of my own plans completely thrown out the window for numerous reasons. I had plans of going to law school part time while building a career. And, I got a job right after college to make these plans come true. In September the law school I got accepted to (after working so damn hard the past year to get accepted) denied my appeal for night classes. I decided to drop my enrollment to focus on my career. A week later, my job laid me off. 

And for once in my life, I wasn’t going anywhere. And I lived in a house where everyone was always doing something and as soon as I lost my job I was pressured to find another one. But as we all know, searching for a job during this pandemic isn’t easy. I was still reeling after having dropped my enrollment just to focus on my job only to lose that job the week after with no prior notice. Everyone around me was busy doing their own thing. I had no one to talk to and for a while, I was falling into this pit of depression. 

My days consisted of me hiding under the covers of my bed in between the few interviews I would take day to day. Around that time, I decided to binge watch Attack on Titan as well 

I was never one to get hyper fixated in ships. In fact, this was the first ship since Royai and Victuuri which I have been so passionate. And this is a whole new level of passion. I think this is the first time I’ve ever written so much in this small amount of time. It was slow going. Just like Levi and Hange’s relationship, my fixation with this ship was a slowburn. 

Those days alone, I was reading fanfiction by the bundle, I was scrolling through the Levihan tag like a simp, leaving kudos in ao3 on a throwaway account and just scrolling through random people’s tumblr accounts. 

What happened during the one month? And when I was alone, sad, lonely and stagnant with no one to talk to, when everyone around me was living their own lives, all I had alone in the bedroom was Levi and Hange’s stories to keep me company between interviews. 

And the meta analyses and headcanons I had about their relationship were teaching me things. They were teaching me that life was never about how quickly you progress or how far you go. Maybe the real winners in life are the ones who can build good relationships, build relationships so mutually satisfying they keep each other growing and in those few moments reading, headcanoning ships, I did realize, maybe even as stagnant as I was at that moment, my life wasn’t dogshit. 

No one’s life is dogshit for a few small bumps along the way. Sometimes it just is part of the process of growing, learning to get past the worse, learning to manage relationships. And maybe it’s these relationships which make life worth living. Maybe it’s these struggles depicted in these stories and the bounce back. Maybe it’s the love, the life, the emotions so carefully described and depicted in every single story which makes life, life. 

With every single fic I read and every single fan art I scrolled through. Levihan was teaching my things about love, loss and life. 

Sometimes, these fandoms are the things which can catch people before they fall too low into something. These works and stories authors and artists shared so generously were what pulled me out of this state and are what inspired me to explore this relationship for all the potential its worth and maybe share my own stories and headcanons which people may learn a thing or two from or maybe just find some comfort and hope in.  

And these inspirations eventually evolved to writing. Writing 10,000 words in a day in between three interviews? I never was a writer but somehow, I found myself spending hours exploring the themes of love, loss and life with our favorite pairing 

I didn’t start writing out of nowhere. I didn’t start making metas out of nowhere. I needed the right inspiration, the right content to get me into this point where I could continue writing, reading, meta-ing, appreciating, headcanoning and everything in between.

And I just wanted to express my gratefulness to every single person in the fandom who had made it possible for me to pull out of that blackhole. Fandoms are underrated and I believe there are so many lessons which can be learned from the right content and from the right people. 

To the people who so willingly went along with my boyfriend’s little project: 

@faerielleart​ I saved A LOT of your art and they’re sitting in my google photos under a folder called Levihan and maybe I did share a few of your photos (the cheeks one and the beast titan one and the les miserables) ones to my boyfriend unsolicited just to show him how beautiful Levihan can be. Thank you so much for these beautiful drawings.

@lizaloveslevihan​ You were one of the first people I talked with in this fandom and dreams really was one of those stories that fucked me up a little bit, had me make a few misses on the commute on the way home one day but maybe it did have me explore the angst genre a little more, maybe it did have me explore Levi’s character a little more. 

@ariadneamare​ YELLOW. OH GOD. You know those letters? The ones which Hange left Levi at the end of the story? I ended up copying and pasting them and sending them to my boyfriend right after reading and I remember talking to him about this. We might be facing that same type of story in the future and I guess that ended up becoming a lot of foundation of our discussion and I guess, it’s just proof that there is so much to learn from fanfiction. There’s just so much to explore and fanfiction as a genre just does not get the credit it deserves.

@fanmoose12​​ I was exploring your works even before I started this tumblr up again. Maybe it was even your works which got me building my own headcanons from Levihan and writing from there. And I think I did leave a few anonymous messages telling you how I started exploring other genres because of your fics. Your works got my out of my dark place, it got me exploring a lot of other genres and for that I’m eternally grateful.

And somehow, my boyfriend picked that all up from late night discussions and one-on-one metas. Surprisingly, he wasn’t just playing along to humor his girlfriend. He was exploring the themes of love, life, loss and Levihan right along with me. (And got spoiled about Hange’s death along the way… Oops.) 

And I am eternally grateful for that and I made sure to shower him with a lot of kisses after he kept me in the loop with what has been going on these past few months with his sudden interest in Levihan.

And this huge thank you goes out to all content creators (authors, artists, gif creators, shitposters alike). Sometimes you never know who’s thinking about your work, who’s shoehorning your works and quoting them to their best friends. Sometimes, you never will find out but your work had pulled someone out of a blackhole which they’ve been stuck in and sometimes you never know that your work has been that seemingly small thing that had taught them a lesson in love, life or relationships. Sometimes, that one work turned out to be an inspiration which got them writing and sharing their own stories or making their own drawings

And I guess, the point is, keep writing. Keep drawing. Keep sharing pouring your love, passion and emotions into works of art because you never really know whose heart you touched or whose life you changed.

I have a job now. I decided to push law school a few years back and maybe take the time to work on myself now and maybe spend the next months or maybe years writing metas and fanfictions. I was pulled out of my hole. I was inspired. I have my own stories to tell and I don’t think I would have been here if I hadn’t spent the last few months reading fic after fic, meta after meta, appreciating art after art, 

So anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of my favortie fics, immortalized in one anthology, all organized by my boyfriend. And I think he made some great decisions with these.

(Bookbinding credits to @mayerwien)

[writtenonreceipts]

Square One

Of all the tropes I love the most in fanfiction, single parent au’s are at the top but they are few and far between. I took matters into my own hands here.  IDK how many chapters this will be to be perfectly honest.  IDK how consistent I’ll be on updates, so prompts are always welcome for this fic or just in general too.  Enjoy. Based on characters from the Throne of Glass Series

An Elorcan fic

Warnings: None

A warm breeze billowed around Lorcan Salvaterre as he got out of his weary old truck.  The door creaked loudly as he slammed it shut and moved through the parking lot of Riftfold Elementary School.

As he popped the collar of his jacket, Lorcan muttered a curse.  The last thing he wanted to deal with was picking up his son early from school.  It wasn’t that Lorcan didn’t love his son and was eager to see him.  But the circumstances were less than ideal.

Running a hand through his hair, Lorcan entered the front office of the school to find his son slumped down low in a chair.  His son was distinctly looking away from everyone.  Especially the girl beside him.  At six years old, his son had too much attitude for his own good and Lorcan wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it.  Tavish, unfortunately, was more like him than Lorcan wanted to admit.  He had the same black hair, same broody temperament, same penchant to get into trouble.

Really, Lorcan shouldn’t have been surprised his son had ended up in the principal’s office in just the second week of school.  It was a miracle that Tavish had made it this long.

It was of course Lorcan's fault too.  He didn’t know how to be a father and it showed.

Principle Havilliard, who had to be at least three years younger than Lorcan stepped from his office.  He was dressed in a blue button up and slacks looking far more pleased about the day than anyone should.

“Lorcan, thanks for making it so quick,” Dorian said.  He extended a hand, which Lorcan shook hesitantly.  The two were barely acquaintances and if Lorcan was being honest was fine with that.  “We’re still waiting for Marion’s mom.”

Lorcan glanced at the girl and froze.  Another curse rose on his lips.  He knew exactly who the girl was and who her mother was.  Marion had her mother's large brown eyes and thick dark hair and pale skin.  Despite the serious expression in her eyes she seemed like a sweet girl.  As far as Lorcan could remember, Tavish hadn’t had any issues with her before.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” a woman burst into the office.  She was small, her dark hair swept into a messy bun.  She still wore a black apron slung on her hips, a myriad of pens and straws sticking out from the pockets.

“Hey Elide,” Dorian greeted.  

She shook his hand and offered another apology before her eyes landed on Lorcan.

Elide Lochan was an enigma.  She was smart and capable with a silver tongue of fire.  And yet, Lorcan never knew for sure what she was thinking.  He didn’t really know how she ended up barreling into his life but he did know neither of them were comfortable with the other.

At least she managed a slight smile in his direction before she glanced anxiously to her daughter.  Marion quickly became invested in her shoes.  Lorcan felt his gut drop when he got a good look at the woman and he realized that he knew who she was.

“What happened?” Elide asked.  She only spared a brief look to Lorcan before turning away.  It was easy to see the discomfort in her eyes.  Not unexpected.  Lorcan was nearly six-foot-seven, built to play football and had plenty of scars from a rough childhood.  He wasn’t the kindest looking man.

Dorian sighed and stuffed his hands in his back pockets. “Marion?  Would you like to start?”

“She’ll tell it wrong!” Tavish exclaimed.  He finally unwound himself from his seat and sat up.  His hair fell in his eyes but he hastily brushed it away. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Marion shrank back into her seat, finally looking at her mother.

“Tavish,” Lorcan warned, “Principal Havilliard asked Marion to speak.”

His son sighed far too loudly and flung himself backward into the chair.

“It’s okay, baby,” Elide said softly as she knelt next to her daughter's chair and patted her knee gently. "Tell me what happened."

Lorcan watched the girl sit forward in her chair, instinctively leaning towards her mother.

"They took my stuffed animal," Marion said.

It was then that noticed the small plush dog clutched beneath Marion's arm. Elide let out a long breath.

"And?" 

"They threw it in the mud." Tears began running down Marion's cheeks. "I asked them not to, I used my words like you said."

"I know baby," Elise whispered. Lorcan could see the sorrow and pain flash across the young mother's face. He'd never officially met Elide Lochan before. Only once  and Lorcan had made himself look like a bigger ass than usual.

"Tavish told them not to," Marion added. "But they didn't listen."

Tavish sat up a little straighter at Marion's admission, slight pride on his face.

"They were being really mean," the boy said. "And we're not supposed to be mean. Even though you brought a stuffed animal to school."

"It was for show and tell!"

"You're supposed to bring something cool like a rock or a worm."

Marion made a face and shook her head rapidly. “Ew.”

While Tavish threw his hands up in an exasperated sort of way, Lorcan noticed the small smile flash on Elide’s face as she stood.  She was young, younger than Lorcan had initially realized, but that didn’t seem to change the hard resolve she held on to.

“So, what’s the plan Dorian?” Elide asked. “It doesn’t seem like they actually have a problem with each other.”

Lorcan tried not to react to the casual way Elide spoke the principal's name.  Of course she knew him.  If Elide Lochan was friends with the same people Lorcan knew--she would know Dorian.

“Right,” Dorian said, clearing his throat.  “Let's go into my office for this.  Candice can watch the kids for a minute.”

The receptionist gave a little wave from behind her desk and brandished a few coloring books and crayons.  This wasn’t good.

Lorcan glanced at Tavish who did not seem pleased with the arrangement.  But the only other option was to take his kid and run.  Which admittedly would not reflect well on him.

It seemed Elide held the same reservations as she wound her fingers together.  She ultimately agreed with a nod and untied the apron from her waist and folded it the best she could while following Dorian into his office.

Once the door was shut and they were all settled in their seats, Dorian spoke.

“I don’t really know how to say this,” the young man said leaning forward slightly, “but from what Mrs. Talon has said both Marion and Tavish struggle with making friends.”

Lorcan was glad he wasn’t the only one who winced.  Beside him, Elide pursed her lips as she stared at the principal.

“They would both benefit from having someone to talk to in and outside of class,” Dorian continued, “and I think they could potentially get along pretty well.”

“Really?” Elide asked.  She crinkled her nose and jutted her thumb at Lorcan. “Because I hate him.”

“You know the fourth of July thing wasn’t my fault,” Lorcan said with a glare.

“Oh do I?”

“Please Lochan.”

“You’re just mad because the girls soccer team kicked ass this summer.”

“If I remember correctly, you did a lot of heavy flirting with the refs all summer long.”

Her dark brown eyes bore into him with enough intensity that Lorcan was sure he would combust.

“Seriously?” Dorian asked.  He had a slightly bemused expression on his face as he glanced between the two of them. “Maybe I should assign the two of you as buddies for the school year.”

“No.” Lorcan and Elide said at the same time.

Dorian grinned. “Fine.  But I do think you two should make an effort in seeing if Tavish and Marion can be friends.  It might make them do better in class and stay out of trouble.”

Lorcan loosed a breath.  He wanted what was best for his son.  He also knew that his son, like him, struggled with basic human interaction sometimes.  And if this would help Tavish bridge gaps in how he interacted with other kids--well it was something Lorcan would see to.

“We can try,” Elide said finally.  She ran a hand through her ponytail, trying to keep the loose tendrils under control.  

“Sure,” Lorcan said.  

Dorian nodded.  “Good.  Let me know how it goes.  If it’s an utter disaster, I know Mrs. Talon will let me know and we can try something else for them.”

Lorcan decided then and there the arrangement would only last a week.

#

Of all the humans Elide had to deal with she would have rather it be someone other than Lorcan Salvaterre.

As she left Dorian’s office, her stomach cramped with unease panic.  Marion was struggling more than she’d realized.  Why had she brought her favorite stuffed animal to school?  Usually Marion was more cautious than that.  The girl was absolutely obsessed with the thing and would never want anything to happen to it.

“Momma?” Marion chirped.

Pulled from her thoughts, Elide looked to her daughter.  The girl was already standing with her backpack ready to go. 

“Is it time to go?”

Elide wiped the worry from her face and nodded. “Of course, baby.”

Still stretched out on the floor, Tavish scribbled all over his piece of paper with a black crayon.  He did so with such fury that it was a miracle he didn’t rip a hole in the paper.

“Black’s his favorite color,” Marion said.  She tilted her head to the side and puckered her mouth. “I dunno why.”

“It’s a blackhole!” Tavish yelled.  He very carefully ripped his black picture from the coloring book and held it up. “It eats everything!  Like a vacuum.”

Elide was surprised when Marion let out a giggle and shook her head softly.  Oh dear.  The two of them were going to become friends and then Elide was going to have to deal with Lorcan Salvaterre for the rest of her life.  Oh hell.

It wasn’t until they were out in the parking lot that Elide turned to Lorcan.

It had been a few weeks since she’d seen him.  Not since the last game of the little league soccer tournament.  And of course her girl’s had kicked ass.  But being so near Lorcan again was unsettling.  Mostly because she never knew what he was thinking.  He was impossible to read, to know.

“I’m taking Marion to the park on Saturday,” Elide said reluctantly, “to kick a ball around, have some fun.”

Lorcan raised a brow. “Not working?”

Sighing, Elide shook her head. She tried not to let the comment bother her.  It was common knowledge to anyone who knew her, even briefly, that she worked multiple jobs.  She didn’t have a choice, really.  But it was not something she liked talking about.

“No,” she said lightly. “Not this weekend.  You and Tavish are welcome to join us.”

She watched as Lorcan ran a hand over his stubbled chin. 

“You really want to go along with this?” he asked.

“If it means helping my daughter, yes.”

“You hate me,” Lorcan reminded her.

Elide cracked a smile while Tavish and Marion examined rocks piled at the edge of the parking lot.  She had the sense that he was teasing her because for all of Lorcan Salvaterre’s bravado--it was obvious he cared for his son and would walk through fire for the boy.

“And you hate me,” Elide said.  She called out for Marion while turning to her beat up car that could possibly break down at any moment. “At least we have something in common.”

Marion ran over and tossed her bag into the car before settling in her seat.  Elide offered a brief, pained, smile to Lorcan before getting in the car herself.

She was able to hold herself together until she pulled out of the lot and onto the main street.  It was then that she let a tear leak from her eye.  Breathing heavily, she brushed her cheek.  There was no reason for her to be upset.  Marion wasn’t really in trouble at school.  Work was fine with letting her leave her shift early.  Salvaterre hadn’t been a complete ass.

There was no reason for her to be upset.

“Momma?”

Elide looked at her daughter through the rearview mirror. “Yeah baby?”

“I’m sorry I got in trouble.”

“No baby, you did nothing wrong,” Elide assured her.  

“Then why did you come?” Marion asked.  She was taking care to pick off dried mud from the stuffed animal, her little fingers making very little progress.

“Principal Havilliard just wanted me there, to make sure you were okay.” Elide wiped another tear from her cheek.

There was no reason for her to be upset.

“Mommy, why are you crying?”

Elide bit down on her lower lip and did her best to laugh. “I just missed you today, that’s all.”

Marion made a small noise before speaking again. “Can we go to Auntie Manon’s?  I wanna see the puppy.”

“I’m sure you do,” Elide chuckled.  Her best friend had adopted a new dog and puppy was not an accurate description for the creature.  Putting on her best smile and cheery voice she glanced back at her daughter. “Let’s go see that puppy then.”

#

Again, I’m not sure where this is going, but felt the need to write elorcan and a single parent au, haha...thanks for reading! My ask box is always open for this fic or any other too.

tags:  @tottenhamboys20 @morganofthewildfire  @aelinchocolatelover @more-espresso-less-depresso-xx

[phantomflower42]

Deciding The Technological Level of Your Setting

When writing a story, it is important to determine what level of technology your characters have access to.  That determines what tools or solutions a character may have to solve a problem.  It will also influence their hobbies.  Before going too far, consider what technology actually is.  It’s not all about electric gadgets.

What is Technology?

Technology is knowledge used to solve problems or create useful tools.  Phones and computers come immediately to mind, but there are others.  Roman aqueducts are an example of ancient technology helping to solve a problem.  Knives are another basic example.  Medical care is a very important technology.

Basic Factors When Deciding Technological Level

If your story is a fanfiction for another work, research what items wouldn’t look out of place in the setting.  Take a look to see what the characters use in the work when completing tasks or performing hobbies.  If the work takes place in a certain real year or time period, look up that period’s available items such as radios or printing presses, and head off from there.

Sometimes, the development level isn’t the same for all areas in a work or for all types of technology.  This is okay.  There are many reasons why this may happen.  Some areas are more studied than others.  Rural areas take longer than cities to adopt now inventions.

The Legend of Korra is set in an analogue of the 1920′s.  Characters drive cars, ride trains, listen to the sport of pro-bending on the radio, and have sepia/black and white photos.  But when Korra and her companions visit the Earth Kingdom in season three, it is heavily undeveloped compared to the other settings.  It is hinted the Earth Queen’s corruption stimmed its growth.

In Naruto and its sequel series Boruto, they do not have cars, tanks, modern firearms, or many modern style shoes.  But, the setting has TVs, refrigerators, wireless radios, batteries, satellites, color photographs, and eventually phones and laptops.  They explore the advancement of the setting in several of the Naruto light novels, especially the first one (Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky).  In Kakashi Hiden, it is mentioned that the invention of an airship will cause many people to lose their jobs.   

If your work is an original fiction, first decide whether it has its own timeline or is based in the real world.  If it takes place in a real world place and time period, please look up what people in that area used.  If a particular field of science or theory is more advanced in your work than in that actual time period, determine how it would influence the technology in the story, study in related fields, and the social classes interacting with each other.

Should the tale be based in its own world, you have free reign.  How advanced of a setting do you want?  Is it set in the beginning of time, in a medieval era, in your setting’s equivalent of the Victorian or Edwardian era, in modern day, in the far off future, or even at the end of the world?  

Are certain types of technology more advanced than others?  Which kinds are banned or discouraged?  Are certain parts of the world more developed than others?  Are supplies of certain items limited and/or nonreplaceable? How does this affect the average person’s lifestyle? You decide.

Making Original Technology For Your Story

Sometimes, the technology shown in an existing work isn’t helpful for dealing with a certain task.  Maybe your original story needs a special tool for issues specific to the setting or an equivalent item for a modern gadget that doesn’t exist in your world. Sit down, and ask yourself a few questions.

Why is this item needed?  Does your character need a way to store cold food?  Are their culture’s medical techniques different from the norm?  Do your characters need a way to stay in contact while split up on a quest?  Need is the mother of innovation.

What does it look like?  What materials is it made of?  Is it bulky or sleek?  How large is it?  What color is it?  How is it shaped?  Is it expandable?  It is the item’s first version, or an improved model?  How well does it perform?

What situations are this item used in?  Who invented it?  Has it been made in bulk?  If so, how does it affect trade, medical care, communication, hobbies, or travel?  How common is it?  How expensive is it?  

Besides the benefits, consider the item’s weaknesses.  Does it run out of its power source in a certain period of time?  Does it need a long time to recharge?  Is the item fragile?  Is it prone to malfunctions?  Is it too bulky to be hauled everywhere?  Is your setting’s equivalent of cell service patchy?  Does relying on the item for too long cause health problems for people using it?

Technology and Magic

If the story is one where magic also exists, consider how the two interact.  It may depend on the individual setting.  Remember that magic can be considered a scientific field.  If in a world where magical and non-magicals live separately, magic users may use their power to invent versions of modern tech.

Oftentimes, magic is presented as incompatible with modern technology, or at least electronic devices.  In the book series The Dresden Files, the main character Harry Dresden is shown to short out any inventions past the 1950s.  He actually has to leave modern hospitals as soon as he’s mobile after injuries, in fear of his magic shorting out another patient’s life support.  This issue also forces him to drive an old-school car, use an ice box to store cold food, and go without a lot of modern conveniences like heated water or air conditioning.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it’s stated that technology fails around large amounts of magic or largely magical areas.  However, the limits are not clearly established.  Harry Potter uses a watch until it’s destroyed in the Triwizard Tournament’s second task in the Black Lake.  He continues wearing it out of habit afterwards.  Those usually require batteries.  

Certain technology can run off magic instead of electricity, such as the Weasleys’ car or Colin Creevey’s camera.  Diagon Alley is in the middle of London, yet there’s no fuss about random blackouts in the area or the local security cameras shorting out.   

In other situations, magic may coexist alongside regular technology.  They can even enhance one another.  In Sailor Moon, the Sailor Guardians protected the Moon Kingdom before its destruction, and gain magical abilities while transformed.  Yet, the Moon Kingdom and later Crystal Tokyo are depicted as  high-technology societies; the Moon Kingdom had an artificial climate dome around it, and an advanced computer.

Consider what approach you want, and the consequences there of.  Settings where magic is supposed to be hidden have the risk of ‘outing’ magicals to non-magicals if electronics like phones or crosswalks fizzle out whenever they’re in public.  Modifying items with magic may be a special scientific field.  Imagine a person with a pacemaker or insulin pump wandering into a highly magical area, only for their medical device to fail on them.  Even a few bigoted magical folks would hate that they’re unintentionally causing harm.

Technology and Magic Subsection: Harry Potter

As Harry Potter fanfictions are very common, it’s important to address the series and its approach to magic and technology interacting.  As mentioned above, technology blacks out around high amounts of magic or highly magical communities, but limits on what is affected and what isn’t weren’t clearly established.  Battery-run items like Harry’s watch seem to work fine, but phones and bugging devices do not.  

In post-Deathly Hallows works, think of how jarring it may be for muggleborns or muggle-raised wizards to go from being able to text friends in a moment to having to mail letters to family members by owl.  New Hogwarts students despairing over not having Facebook anymore makes for a good joke, but consider practical problems.  

Say a girl with cerebral palsy has magic.  She uses an electric wheelchair because her limbs don’t work well.  She receives a letter from a wizarding school.  Let’s hope the girl’s parents and the school’s representative talk it over and find a solution to her dilemma before she sets foot in Diagon Alley.  She will otherwise be unable to move under her own power in a magical environment. 

Wizards are portrayed as ignorant to modern trends.  Arthur Weasley goes crazy over various gadgets.  He even wonders what people use rubber ducks for.  It’s implied that Harry Potter misidentified his cousin Dudley Dursley’s broken video game console as a Playstation One in 1994 when writing to Sirius Black.  The Playstation One was not released in Europe until September 1995.  Multiple wizards are shown fascinated with the Dursleys’ microwave when they visit at different times.  It is stated that pureblooded wizards resist adopting muggle tech unless there is no choice.   

That is not to say wizards are a technological blackhole.  Many items like radios, cars, and others can be enchanted to work off magic.  A lot of wizards enchant or create their own magical items.  Sirius Black and James Potter used a set of two-way mirrors during their school days, with the device acting similar to a cell phone.  They and their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew eventually created the Maruaders’ Map, which showed nearly everyone on Hogwarts’ grounds and most of the castle.  The Weasley twins come up with Skiving Snackboxes so students buying them can skip class without too much trouble.     

Maybe Professor McGonagall goes soul-searching after the final battle, and tries finding ways to make the school more non-magical friendly.  She would have ample reason to do so; she would not want the Carrows’ days of cruelty to return in any form.  She may modify the wizarding wireless radios to cast local muggle stations or keep an enchanted phone in her office so non-magical families of her students can contact her in emergencies.          

Keep in mind that a wizard OC can’t sneak their modern video games into Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, but watches, certain cameras, radios, and handheld games with non-rechargable batteries could make it in.  Non-electric devices like notebooks, pencils, pens, paints, or board games have no restrictions.   

How Technology Affects Living Conditions

How advanced society is affects how housing and chores are handled.  Many modern perks like clean water, heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and fast travel are taken for granted.  If the characters in your setting lack certain conveniences, think of how they will tackle different problems that usually require them.

For instance, a lot of people use electric washers and dryers to take care of their clothes.  Getting them cleaned, dried, and sorted is easy.  But, what if your world doesn’t have these items?  Do the local people scrub them by hand in a river or on a board?  How are stains dealt with?  Are herbs mixed with the clothes to freshen their scent?  Are they dried on a clothesline?  If it’s raining or snowing, what is done instead?

Think along similar lines for various issues.  Water might be boiled for safety, or mixed with alcohol.  Shades will be pulled if too hot.  A lot of food may be canned, cured, or otherwise stored in a root cellar when fresh cannot be bought.  Preparations for any trips may take a long while.  People will sleep under mountains of blankets to retain heat.  

Conversely, works set in the future may find all of this child’s play.  Think of how a lot of appliances can be activated now with a smartphone application.  Do robots grocery shop on the characters’ behalf?  Are clothes dried and sorted in one machine in a few minutes?  Can a room’s windows be programmed to show a certain background, like in the Hunger Games film?  Are fingerprint scanners used so characters may access restricted areas?

Think long and hard how the technology of your world will influence daily life.

In Conclusion

Technology is a powerful force.  Sometimes characters may solve problems too easily with it, but all time periods have some level of it.  It’s important to know what the limits of inventions in your setting are.  Otherwise, someone may complain ‘how did they end up with this issue when so-and-so gadget could have solved the problem?’, or ‘why is the ninja watching television?’.

Have a nice day.

[alphawave-writes]

The sum of all things

Now I can’t go into details about why Sigma is my newest favourite character, so I’ll just let my story say it. As of now, this is unofficially the world’s first Sigma fanfiction. You can read the story below or find it on AO3.

---

Math was, in many ways, like composing music. There were rules to abide by. You could put together a string of numbers and operations together to create a formula, just as one would string together notes and instruments to create a song. He did not know if it was because of his love of math that he saw formulas in music or if the reverse was true, his love of music that unveiled to him alone the melody that flowed through mathematics. It did not matter. Math was a song to be crafted. He was the composer, conductor, and performer.

 Numbers and melodies made up his whole life. For decades he had been chasing after one particular tune; a song that will unveil to him the answer to one of science’s greatest mysteries. This song will be named the ‘black hole’ and it will sing to him the secrets of gravity. It would be wonderful and beautiful. A melody that all beings, living and dead, heard.

 He hummed out his formulas, singing quietly to the dust particles in the air the story of his life, but the song never sounded complete. It would have to be perfect, he told himself again and again. There was no room for discordant notes. He hummed again, changing a note or two, tampering with the tempo, key signature, time signature. 

 He stared at the whiteboard, marker pen sitting in his right hand. After years of research, he had found the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and now he must assemble them together. The formula for gravity was hidden within the numbers and operations. Day after day he observed his notes, trying to piece it together. His every waking breath was filled with numbers. His dreams was made of numbers. He thought he might never piece it together until one fateful day he found the song. Everything finally started to click together.

 He rearranged the numbers, writing faster than his mouth could ever speak. When he was satisfied he turned the whiteboard to the other side and wrote down his final masterpiece. Standing in stark black against the white background was an Upper Case Sigma. The scientists of long ago had been partially correct, black holes were comprised of magnetic fields, but it was so much more than that. Gravity was the sum of so many more things. Gravity was the sum of all things. 

 His song was finally complete, boiled down to its purest essence. His greatest composition ever, never to be topped by anyone. Thousands will sing his song for eternity. Millions will know his tune. Tears filled his eyes as he dropped the pen in his hand. The formulas that sung into his ears were so beautiful, transcending the numbers and equations up to a higher plane of existence, a better one, reserved for the ears of the gods alone.

 He blinked away the happy tears, his body shaking in relief and joy. This was his greatest achievement yet. This was happiness, he told himself over and over again. This was peace.

 This is chaos. Destruction. Darkness. The last visages of life, smoldering like embers fading into the cold. Gravity is his to control, to twist, to manipulate. Dead bodies surround him, breadcrumbs of corpses that led to his feet. War is math, and ergo like music; there is a formula. You divide and conquer on the battlefield, regardless of how much blood you have to spill. There is no time for sympathy or guilt. The dead, in the end, were only numbers to be crunched by the statisticians to feed the gullet of greedy war generals.

There’s a child in front of him, tears gushing down their face like miniature waterfalls. Surrounding them were the ruins of their home, the bodies of their family floating lifelessly in the air, limbs dangling down. The hand of their father was just low enough to brush against the top of their hair. He’s caused this, he realizes, but the thought doesn’t stick for long. He’s only a vessel, sent out to do what he must. He stuck his hand out and the child levitated off the ground, clawing at their throat.

They scream desperately, but it’s useless. No one can ever defy gravity. They hold onto their toy, hoping it will save them from their suffering, but it never does. The head of the cat doll pops. A bloodcurdling shriek is suddenly cut short.

The theorem behind Schrödinger’s cat was perfectly simple and yet fascinating regardless. A thought experiment in which a creature could exist in multiple states of being: dead and alive, trapped in its steel prison against its will, an analogy of quantum superposition. It was such an advanced question of its time, unanswered for years.

 That was, it was unanswered until now.

 There were many interpretations to Schrödinger’s paradox. The one that he found most fascinating was the many-worlds interpretation, which suggested that there were multiple realities of different possibilities. There were realities where the cat was alive and there are realities where the cat was dead. To the observer peering in from outside the realms of reality, the two forms would superimpose on each other such that it would appear as if the cat was both alive and dead. The cat was quantumly entangled with its other copies in the alternate realities, making it impossible to tell the dead cat from the alive cat. Quantum coherence will fall apart at the seams so these two distinct realities could exist, independent and dependent. The cat was alive and dead, but it did not matter. It was still trapped in its cage, waiting for the box to be opened and its fate to be known.

 Still, it was only a theory, no matter how intriguing it was. The only surefire way to tell if the many worlds interpretation was true was if it was somehow possible to see from the view of the cat. With his formulas, that was now possible. He will become the cat and trap himself in the iron cage and see the branching realities beyond. All he needed was to generate a miniature black hole. It was a frighteningly easy experiment. After all, Gravity was on his side now. The formulas were precision perfect. He was in control.

 He is not in control. He never is. His baser instincts propel him forward as he smashed people’s heads together, gravity pulling them up by their necks until their faces are the colour of Asian orchids. His breathing is ragged and his teeth crunch together in a vicious snarl as the bloodlust consumes him. He only knows violence. He only knows death.

There are two people next to him. Allies, his brain supplies, although he does not know how he knows this to be true. One is wearing a skull mask and is cloaked in black while the other is the shade of blueberries, multiple red lens covering the upper part of their face, making them look like a spider. He cannot keep count of how many people he has placed in the cat’s box, trapped eternally in a state of death and life.

Soldiers in tactical gear stand vigilant in front of scared doctors. He sees one of their badges, notices the name and badge, but words no longer make sense. All he feels is the vampiric craving for blood, forever insatiable, forever hungry.

“Stand down!” One of the soldiers screams, but it’s muted and soft compared to the other voice in his head. That voice is low and menacing and powerful. That voice is the one that hungers for bloodshed.

“Kill them,” it whispered into his ear.

He obliges. The sound of gunfire and the squelch of bodies fade away as he hears a familiar melody. It sings to him alone, and he dances to the beat. No one can escape the Danse Macabre. No one can escape the haunting melody.

What was that haunting melody? Everything was going wrong around him. The magnetic field was acting up, the black hole was accumulating far too much mass in too short a time frame, and yet all he could concentrate on was that infernal melody, a siren calling him to the murky depths. At first, he thought it might have been the machinery malfunctioning, or that he was somehow imagining it. Then he gazed into the blackhole growing massively in his hands and realized that it was the source of the tune.

 The melody repeated itself again and again as he was drawn into the black hole. Every particle of his being was being ripped apart and distorted but he did not move. He recognized this tune. It’s the song that his formulas sung, similar yet different. This song was discordant and ugly, improvised nu-jazz that spat in the face of his elegantly classical formula.

 He didn’t realise he was humming the tune he made until he was, the hidden formula he spent all his life creating escaping his throat. Then another voice joined in. It was his voice too, but it sounded distant, disjointed from his body. This second voice sung a different melody. Then a third one chipped in with another melody, and then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, until millions and millions of voices joined together, all singing their own songs, harmonizing with the discordant tune that emitted from the black hole.

 It was so hard to tell his voice apart from the others that swirled around the metal cage. The symphony of voices rose as the black hole’s tune got louder. It was only then that he realized his mistake. The formulas he sung were far from perfect, a mere glint compared to the true genius he was witnessing here. All these voices were singing together, their discordant tunes combined together to make one beautiful, perfect whole. And here he stood at the conductor’s podium, waving his fingers to pull them together. He did not stop. Even if he knew what he would unleash, he didn’t think he could stop himself.

 He waved his hand and the orchestra was his to command. A flick of the wrist and a copy of himself appeared, mimicking his movements. Another flick, and there’s a third. The singing was so loud his ears would be bleeding but he did not stop. They crescendo up, voices rising to the highest peak.

 His reward for his efforts was the limitless realities that gravity provided him with. These realities were superimposed on one another, such that it was impossible to tell the layers apart. But if the image he saw was any indicator of the future, then he had brought hell to this peaceful earth. He sung the demonic song, and he summoned in Cthulhu. He stared into the eye of madness, and it blinked back at him.

 His body uncoiled beneath him. The singing had stopped, all except for one song. One formula. The voice singing it was not his own. It was a darker voice. The voice of the cat trapped in a metal cage.

Release me, it sang.  Release me.

 The two mysterious strangers release him from his bonds but he cannot move until they slide the heavy metallic suit on him. He stares at his hands, but they don’t feel like his own. He’s a stranger in his own body. He is barely in control.

The weight of a thousand worlds weighs on his shoulders. For one brief second, he is aware of the limitless realities he has glimpsed and the countless memories he recalled. Together, together, the dark voice sang to him.

“What are you going to do to him?” The black cloaked person asked.

A third figure appears from the shadows. Their skin is dark with white tribal paint on their face, and their frame is large and muscular. They look familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Danger. They are chaos incarnate. “He will work for us. We do what we have to do.”

The dark voice is rattling in his brain, thrashing within the confines of its prison. Release me, release me, release me! His brain throbs horrendously. His grip on the leash is slipping.

“What is he?” The cloaked person gestures at him, unaware that he can hear and see everything. No one acknowledges his presence.

The dark skinned figure smiles with his lips and growls with his eyes. “A person of use to us. A man that will kill without remorse or regret. The perfect killing machine.”

He hears that simple melody again. It’s the song from the black hole. His eyes widen as it plays its haunting melody and suddenly he remembers everything now. The experiment. The formula. Everything going wrong. Atoms splitting into two. The other versions of himself. Reality bending with the light. Death and destruction by his own, bloodstained hands.

He lets go of the leash and he’s lost in his mind. He can feel a million people take hold of his body, speaking the words he will never speak from his lips. Memories slip away as he succumbs to the sweet melody again, harmonizing with the others, becoming whole.

We are the sum of our parts, the dark voice says. It is now the leader. It is now in control. We are the sum of so many things. We are the sum of all things.

He cannot protest. His objection is lost in a sea of voices. 

[writewithurheart]

Me: I am absolutely not going down this fandom blackhole  Also Me: *starts to write MCU fanfiction*  My Best Friend like

[fanfictionlive]

Lost my flash drive...

Title says it all. I write and keep my shit on a flashdrive. I was about to plug it into my computer when the dishwasher stopped. Given its age I had to go check and see if it was done or dead. Luckily, it was done. I come back after dealing a few other things, coffee and chocolate chip bagel in hand. The flash drive is gone... I set it down somewhere and can not find it. Not happy, not amused. I have one chapter, not even the one I was wanting to work on, that's not the flashdrive.

I will have it again by the end of the day, but still mad at myself for setting it down somewhere. Stuck in my writer blackhole, and I finally get inspiration and lose my work! I have had a cat shred a chunk of my face, almost gotten into two car accidents, and weedwhacked hidden dog poop (which exploded).

I just want to f*cking write a little, universe! Is that too much to ask?!

submitted by /u/WilfullJester [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2BqcMV3

[gawaine]

Hey, has it ever occured to you that some of us don't give much of a shit about Moffat, but loved Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, so tough if you have to reflexively hate everything Moffat did, because Capaldi was awesome. Chibnall may have done Broadchurch, but he was also in charge of some pretty shitty Torchwood, so I expect nothing good from him, and I'm glad in that sense that Capaldi decided not to work with him.

No.

Also, you’re very defensive for someone who claims not to give a shit about Moffat? My post was literally about Moffat? Capaldi’s era isn’t entirely synonymous with Capaldi the way Tennant’s was with Davies, because before Capaldi’s first episode even aired, there were rumours that Capaldi (our almost saviour) was arguing over the scripts (something so promising, given Moffat’s writing). Yes, Capaldi may be more on side with Moffat now, but what difference does that make?

I’ll take your point about Torchwood, because I didn’t watch much of it and therefore am not really in a position to comment (ref: Chibnall’s sci-fi/horror), but that’s also why the tags in my post read; I loved Broadchuch but I said that about Moffat (ref: writing) fingers crossed.

And honestly, as much as I love Capaldi’s attempts to revamp the Doctor (I’ll admit, I didn’t get through much of him because... Moffat’s writing), what difference does it make whether or not Capaldi decided to work with Chibnall? What bearing does that have?

My issues with Moffat stem from his run as showrunner, not anything else. His writing isn’t tight, his arcs are messy, his plots are convoluted and his characters (esp. minority characters) intensely lack depth and he’s so supremely arrogant that he’s taken it upon himself to turn a brilliant show into his version of poorly written fanfiction... And tried to shove down canonical throats.

Tennant decided not to work with Moffat, despite the fact they supposedly had an excellent relationship. He left with Davies, because the same way he’ll always be certain people’s Doctor (e.g mine - I was there from the beginning of nu!who and despite my major reservations about Tennant, he remains ‘my Doctor’ until my dying day), Davies was always his showrunner. 

Capaldi leaving isn’t a reflection on Chibnall’s writing or direction. It’s also worth mentioning that, given Chibnall’s use of Tennant in Broadchurch, he’s more likely to try and steer the current mess back towards something more resembling Davies’ work. Again - not a reflection on Capaldi’s view of Chibnall himself.

But it does lend to the fact that it’s entirely likely that the BBC is pushing a new doctor for Chibnall anyway, in the same way the BBC had slight concerns when Davies handed over to Moffat. David Tennant is still considered one of the most popular doctors and despite his audience pull, there were concerns that the audience felt him stagnating.

That’s not to say Tennant didn’t have a say; he had major pull regarding the show at that point, and he left of his own volition, and planned to earlier, but was persuaded by the thought of continuing to work under Davies.

Capaldi does not have that pull. He does not have that audience. Again, he may be your Doctor - and I really do think he had some really great potential - but Moffat’s previous writing with Smith meant the original nu!who audience had left by then (as shown in dropped ratings and a lesser budget, as well as the moved TV slot) and then the age gap being too much for the newer demographic Moffat pulled in (the younger generation). That’s not to say all nu!who watchers stopped, but we stopped being the show’s main audience.

So, going back to your point: Capaldi’s exit is not synonymous with Moffat’s. They may be linked, but they’re not the same and that’s why my comment about Moffat is totally separate from my views on Capaldi.

I found this ask a bit abrasive, but it’s clear you have deep feels about Capaldi so, as someone who has lived through her Doctor leaving (and the following showrunner that sending her favourite show into a blackhole and then blowing it up for good measure)... My condolences on you losing your Doctor.

Capaldi deserved more than a showrunner like Moffat.

[someone-online]

A Million Worlds Apart|Kleinsen fanfiction

A/N: Quick backstory to this. This was somewhat inspired by the movie Interstellar. In here, Jared works at NASA, and they decided to send a team of people to explore some new planets (but unlike in the movie, not because Earth was dying, just for the sake of science and discovery), and Jared is part of that team. I like to think he’s good at math and some sciences. Also, theory of relativity says that you bend time and space when traveling near the speed of light or near the singularity of a blackhole, so he only experiences 5 years while his family experiences 21. Sorry for using physics.

Also, Olive belongs to my friend @munchiezxx , I used her with permission.

Jared opened up the messages to find that they had almost doubled in amount. He knew that a few hours ago, he had about eleven years worth of messages from Evan, though only five years had passed for him during his hypersleep. He scrolled through them, checking the dates to find that the few hours he spent out of the space station and on the planet near the black hole was equivalent to almost ten years on Earth. With a sudden longing to be back with his family, he clicked the first video message and watched it play.

 Evan is sitting on the couch, the light dim, and their young adoptive daughter sleeping on his lap.

 “Hey, Jared, I’m sorry for not sending any videos the past few days, but I know you’re in hypersleep right now, a-and you probably won’t see this for a while, but I- but I just wanted to let you know, Olive and I just celebrated her Gotcha Day. I’m not sure if you knew- though you probably forgot since you… since you forget everything- but you left exactly a week before her Gotcha Day, you know? We went out, took her to see that new movie she wanted to see for a while, had some ice cream, went for a walk in the park…

 “She was pretty upset that you couldn’t be here today on her first Gotcha Day. She really wanted both of her dads to celebrate it with her, but with you on that mission to other galaxies and stuff, guess it couldn’t happen, y-ya know? She wanted to say hi, but we were out late, and she can never stay up past ten, and-

 “God, I’m sorry for talking so much. I just… I just really miss you already. Since you’re not going to see these for a while, I won’t make these all the time, since I-I don’t want to spam you and stuff… but please come home soon.”

 Jared chuckled a bit, trying to suppress and hide the overwhelming aching he felt. “What a dork,” he muttered, clicking the next video message.

“Is it on??? Is it on???”

 “Yeah, it is. Say hi to Daddy!”

 The young girl bounces excitedly, grinning ear to ear as she clings tightly to the magenta backpack straps on her shoulders.

 “Hi, Daddy!!! Guess what??? Guess what??? I’m old enough to go to school now!!! Papa is gonna take me to go there!!!”

 Evan chuckles behind the camera, then turns it to face him.

 “It’s another big day for Olive!! We both miss you so much, and we wish you could be here with us right now. She’ll tell you about her day when I pick her up later.”

 “-ld on, I didn’t start the video!!”

 “How about now???”

 “Okay, go!”

 “Daddy!! Daddy!! I just went to school!! And it was fun!! The teacher- I forgot her name- is super nice! She gave us cookies and there was naptime and ree-cest or something, and I made a new friend her name is Serena!! Serena is super pretty, she has super long hair!!

 “I also telled everyone in the class all about you!! The teacher wanted everyone to talk about our families and I said Papa loves trees and you’re an astronaut and that you eat bathbombs and a bunch of cool things!!”

 Evan turns the camera again, Olive trying to say more about her day.

 “She’s really excited, as you can tell. She told her class about you, she’s so very proud of her Daddy. I was worried at first, because she seemed shy around the other students when I dropped her off, but Ms. Kercheville said that she was a class clown by the end of the day, kind of like how you were.

 “Guess I’ll end the video here, I have several forms from her school to fill out. Come back soon.”

 “Jared, this is all your fault.”

 Behind Evan, Olive is running around, dressed up as someone from Star Wars, shouting “Candy!!!” over and over again.

 “Because of you, Olive wanted to dress up as Han Solo this Halloween and have a real lightsaber (though thank God she doesn’t realize it’s plastic). And in the few minutes I went to the bathroom after trick-or-treating, she already ate over half her candy and almost destroyed the furniture. Just like you did when you ate most of the candy last year.

 “Anyway, I better try to calm her from her sugar rush, hope space is treating you well. And before you wonder, no, I did not dress up as a tree this ye- Olive? Olive, get down from there!!”

 “Guess what? Olive’s report card for the trimester came, and she’s got pretty good grades. She could improve in writing, but she’s the best in her class at math. She’s got your brains, you know. She's… she’s a lot like you… and that makes me miss you even more… I-I…” He sniffed, wiping the year that was rolling down his cheek. “I don’t know how long you’ll be away but… Jared, come back soon, please…”

 “Olive. Olive, sweetie.”

 “Mm?”

 “Come on, don’t fall asleep yet, say hi to Daddy.”

 “Hi, Da…” The young girl lets out a yawn, rubbing her eye. “… addy…” She smiles sleepily, struggling to stay awake.

 Evan chuckles softly, gently kissing her cheek. “All right, sprout, you can sleep now,” he whispers, though she is already asleep before he even finishes the sentence.

 Turning back the camera, he continues speaking. “We just finished having our Thanksgiving dinner. Mom, Zoe, Alana, and their families came over. Zoe and Jason told us they’re expecting another child, and Alana and Lillian are thinking of adopting, like us. They all say hi, and they hope you’re okay. Maybe another time, I can get a video with all of us for you. Stay safe.”

 “HAPPY HANUKKAH, DADDY!!”

 Olive is dressed in a cute blue and white dress. In her hands, she holds a small potted tree. “Look what Papa got me for the first day!!” She proudly shows it to the camera, her smile wide. “It’s called a bon-zye tree, and Papa said that it’s my re-spons-a-bi-li-ty to take care of! Her name is Lush, just like your favorite store!”

 Evan turns the camera, a sad smile on his face.

 “Hey, Jared, Hanukkah is here, and we miss you a lot! We miss playing Dreidel with you, and…” He sighs. “Jared, all I want is you to be back with us. I-I guess that’s a lot to ask for, but it’s all I want. We’ve been incomplete these past five months without you. Please come back.”

 “You ready to stay awake tonight, sprout?”

 She nods sleepily in response, yawning.

 “Hey, Jared, it’s less than a minute to New Year’s, Olive is gonna try and stay up this time and-”

 He is soon interrupted by soft snores. He smiles, hugging Olive closer.

 “Well, there’s always next year I guess. But hey, this is the latest she’s stayed up.”

 He turns the camera to the TV as the countdown from ten begins. Evan doesn’t count down along with the people though, as the ball slowly drops, though the camera shakes a bit as they reach zero. As the people on the screen celebrate with New Year’s kisses, Evan turns the camera back around.

 “Heh, remember when you suddenly kissed me that New Year’s party? It was our first kiss together, in case you forgot. I-I hope you remember it…”

 He looks lovingly at the little girl at his side. “I hope I can be a good father for her… by myself… God, if only you were still here…”

 “Hey, Jared, sorry I have to make this quick, I have to pick up Olive soon, but happy Valentine’s Day! Miss you lots, and I hope you come back soon.”

 “Jared, when you get back, you’re dead.”

 Evan has a look on his face that reads both “dead inside" and “kill me now” at the same time. Off screen, Olive lets out an excited giggle.

 “It’s the first day of spring, Olive’s birthday, if you forgot again. She didn’t want a party, she didn’t want a present, all she wants is for me to… is for me to… to eat a bathbomb like you do…”

 Olive runs to her father, a green bathbomb in her small hands. “Come on, Papa, it’s for me and Daddy!”

 Evan gives a long sigh. “Jared, why did you feed our daughter bathbombs?”

 He takes the sphere in his hand and slowly brings it to his lips. With great hesitation, he opens his mouth and bites into the bathbomb. His face scrunches up with regret and disgust as the camera falls to the floor.

 “Hey, Jared, guess who say hi?”

 Next to Evan, Alana and her wife, Lillian, wave and smile at the camera, greeting Jared.

 “They came over to visit, and they brought their newly adopted son with them.”

 In Lillian’s arms, she holds a young boy about half of Olive’s age. “His name is Marion,” she tells him, smiling.

 “Hope you come back, Jared!” Alana says. “We’d love for you to meet him!”

“Please come back soon, Jared,” Evan says, ending the video.

 “-ou happy it’s summer?”

“No…”

“Why not?” 

“Because then I won’t see Serena or Mark or Luna or-”

“You’ll still see them! Mark’s parents and I scheduled a playdate for you next week, and Serena’s birthday is in a few days.”

“Really???” 

“Of course! And you’ll see them again when school starts again.”

“You mean there’s more???”

“Yeah, until you’re eighteen, maybe more if you want to go to college.”

“That’s a long time!!”

“Don’t worry, sprout, the time will quickly fly by.”

“Will Daddy be home before then?”

Evan hesitates, looking to the camera.

“Jared, please tell me: will you?”

He looks into the camera a bit longer, his eyes shining with tears, before he sighs and ends the video.

Loud voices are mingled together, Olive on the camera, splashing in a pool with other children her age. She smiles over at the camera, waving excitedly. Evan chuckles, cut off as the video ends.

“Wait, no, I’m not ready!! I need to get something!!”

“Okay, sprout, get what you need, we’ll wait.”

Olive runs off screen, Evan smiling as he watches her. He looks to the camera, same smile on his face. “Jared, do you know what today is? It’s your birthday! Wherever you are, I hope you’re having a good day!”

Olive returns, a drawing in her hands. She proudly shows the camera. It’s three stick figures drawn in crayon, one much smaller than the other two. One wore glasses, and it looked like they were celebrating something. “Look, Daddy!! This is when you come back, and we’ll all be happy and stuff, and we can be a family again!!”

Evan smiles, ruffling her hair. He turns to the camera again. “Come back soon, Jared.”

“Hey, Jared, uh…

“Olive… Olive’s pretty upset right now, it’s, er… it’s Father’s Day, and she really believed that you’d be home today. She prepared so much for you, and she waited all day at the front porch, but you never came.

“But, you are coming back, right? You’re just far out in space, so it’s hard for you to come back, right?” He sighs. “I hope I’m not fooling myself.”

Jared had only watched videos of one year, yet he was already crying. He rubbed his eyes to try and stop the tears from flowing. With each video, however, it became harder to do so. Missed birthdays, holidays, celebrations, he couldn’t believe how long he had been gone. He watched as his daughter gradually grew up and his husband became older without him.

“Hey, Dad, it’s me.”

Olive is by herself, and it is clearly late at night.

“Guess what? I’m 27 now. You’re still not here.” She sighs. “I never made one of these by myself. And this is the last time I will. Because I know.

“You left us. You’re not coming back.” Her voice cracks as she speaks. “You’ve never been here for us. You’ve never been here for me, or Pa. You weren’t here when I had my first break up with Jessica. You weren’t here when Mason cheated on me and Akim. You weren’t here when I was bullied in middle school. You weren’t here when grandma was diagnosed with cancer. You weren’t here to comfort Pa during her funeral. You know what??? You weren’t here for anything in my life!!!”

She sniffs, her cheeks shining with tears. “I’m not telling Pa this, because even if he’s holding onto false hope, I don’t want to break his heart. But I’m done believing in something that’s not true. I’m getting married next week, and you’re not gonna be here.

She looks straight at the camera, and spits, “Dad, wherever you are, I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

Two girls walk down the aisle, hand in hand. They look at each other lovingly, then look to where the groom and Rabbi wait at the end. As they reach the end, the Rabbi says a few words, then asks one of the girls, “Monica, do you take Olive and Akim to be your lawfully wedded wife and husband?”

“I do,” she says.

The Rabbi turns to the other. “Olive, do you take Monica and Akim to be your lawfully wedded wife and husband?”

Olive nods. “I do.”

He then turns to the groom. “Akim, do you take Olive and Monica to be your lawfully wedded wives?”

“I do,” he says.

“Then, I now pronounce you husband and wives.” The three of them all exchange kisses, embraced in each other’s arms as the audience applauds.

The camera turns, Evan now in view. “Our little girl grew up, Jared. I wish you could’ve been there to watch it all. Look at her.” He turns the camera back to the newly weds. “She’s got a family of her own now.”

Evan sighs, looking down. “Hey, Jared, with Olive living with Monica and Akim now, and you out there in space, it’s been… pretty lonely at home.”

He looks sadly at the camera. “Jared, why haven’t you come back? Olive thinks you left us, but I know that’s not true. I know you’d never do that, you…”

He sighs. “You’re not dead, right? I know you’re not dead, you can’t be. Just, wherever you are, please…

“Come back to me…”

Jared paused the video, looking at his husband, who was now about sixteen years older than him. He stroked the screen with his finger, as if trying to reach out and comfort him. No, he was going to keep him waiting no longer. He was going to return home.

“I promise,” he whispered, tears in his eyes, repeating the exact words he last said to his family, “I’ll be back.”

Probably not writing a part 2 to this, but I imagine his trip home is difficult that he makes it back just as Evan is about to die.

[spooky-grunt]

Light a Candle (part 1)

This is my first attempt in a looooooooong time to start writing again. So, here ya are. Part one in a fanfiction alongside @guzma-stories “he’s just a thug”. This is also a part of Spooky’s backstory.

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I told him. Finally, after weeks of holding it in, I told him. We were standing in his driveway. My night was fucked but at least my conscience was clear. It should’ve been easy: tell him, grab my things and get the fuck out. He wouldn’t put up any worth of a fight, the old bastard.

“How long have you known him?” Mason asked me, silent tension cutting through his tone.

“That doesn’t matter anymore,” I muttered, walking inside to grab my things.

I was leaving Mason for the Team Skull life, and away from his abuse. My chat with Team Skull’s Boss, Guzma earlier this week opened my eyes to things. I broke down in front of him and told him my story, and the advice he gave me was priceless.

“The only thing you can do is leave, ya know? If he loved you he wouldn’t be treatin’ ya like a pile of shit,”

So that’s what I intended to do.  Leave.

“How dare you! How dare you think you can leave me!” Mason shouted, following me. I didn’t feel comfortable being with him alone, but I had no other choice that night.

He grabbed my wrist and turned me to face him. “You are nothing without me!”

I tried my best to not show the pain. “Let go of me,” I said calmly.

“All this time-”

“Let go of me!” I said, just a little bit louder.

“I helped you-”

I snapped. With my free hand, and grabbed the front of his shirt so we were nose-to-nose.

“I. Said. Let. Go.” I hissed out. I took sick satisfaction in the widening of his eyes. He’s never seen me like this before in our three years of being together.

He let go of my wrist and I promptly went to our room to grab my essentials.

“You’ll regret this you little bitch!” He shouted from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and filled my duffel bag with clothes and my pokeballs.

Mason took the fight outside as I waited for my friend, Artemis. Finally, I got fed up and grabbed my Chandelure pokeball.

“Shut up and fight me!” I yelled. The sun was going down and the streetlamps were turning on one, by, one.

He just stood there, flustered. I continued.

“Either shut up and fight me and settle this once and for all, or go inside and shut up! I’m not dealing with you anymore! I’m sorry but I didn’t want it to end like this!” I yelled, tears freely flowing down my cheeks. My stomach was churning more than Poseidon’s wrath upon the seas.

He smirked, and revealed a pokeball of his own. He didn’t have any pockets, and his hands weren’t occupied.

“Go ahead. Throw your pokemon.” He said.

I scowled. “Fuck you!” I tossed my Chandelure pokeball onto the ground… nothing.

No flash, no Chandelure, just… nothing. It was empty! Where was it?!

I dipped in my duffel bag and chucked pokeball after pokeball and found that every single one of them were EMPTY.

“Wha…. This… this can’t be!”

“Looking for your pokemon? Good luck with that,” He said, juggling his pokeball in one hand.

“What did you do with them?” I yelled, tears stinging my eyes. The horror to think they were sold, captured or worse.

He seemed to be a completely different person at this point. Everything was happening so fast I felt like I was stretching headfirst into a blackhole.

Suddenly he knocked me over and pinned me down. I struggled but he was too strong. I felt his breath against my ear as he whispered, “I know how much you like your soaps… those pretty pink soaps that make your skin feel so nice,” He lightly kissed my neck, making me wanna puke. I kept struggling but once again he overpowered me. “Pokemon serve different uses. They make great fighters in the arena, they make make great food… but killing a pokemon has to be more… creative. So, I turned yours into your favorite soap.”

I froze.

I stared.

I wept.

Successfully I fought Mason off and ran. Fuck the rest of my stuff, I just wanted to get away from there. I didn’t get too far, though. I ran to the end of the block when nausea overcame me, and I hurled. I couldn’t have been more horrified than at that moment.

That’s when I heard, “Get her haunter!”

There’s nothing worse than having a haunter paralyze you. You’re defenseless.

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Yes, I know you can’t turn ghost type pokemon into soap. lol