#going 'round town(Crossover)

[booksbabybooks]

Just rewatched the Lonestar / 911 crossover and honestly there is SO much to love about it, which I totally missed first time round as I hadn't seen the original series so missed most of the character stuff:

- Buck instantly getting into a dick measuring competition with the new hot guy for about 5 mins before his inner Labrador reasserts itself and he has to befriend him instead

- super competent army medic Eddie impressing everyone

- Mateo and his cousin - you might know him! They look alike!

- technophobe Eddie having no idea who Firefox is but following her on Instagram because Buck knows of her

- Eddie *totally* knows how that "I'm doing the whole single dad thing" plays with the ladies, right? You can tell he does. Except he can't go for 2 seconds without bringing Buck into it which rather undoes the work.

- Eddie: in town less than a day, still gets called pretty

- Eddie begging Marjan to follow Buck back on Instagram

- Buck's abandonment issues when Hen and Eddie leave him to do other tasks with other people

- OBVIOUSLY the whole "I already have a boyfriend" thing with TK which then has Eddie appear like he was conjured

- compassionate and wise Hen using her own guilt to help Owen deal with his (Aisha Hinds, the actor you are)

- Judd at his most Judd, I just love that man.

- Dumbass and Dumbasser

- Buck not wanting to steal the 118's engine because he doesn't want to make Bobby mad

[hanahaki-disease]

Been Left No Choice

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC crossover

Summary:

“But he also didn’t want Batman to overtake the demigod world. Bruce was a paranoid person, he had plans and contingencies and contingencies for his contingencies. He liked control. Because if he had control, then things would stick to the plan and no one would get hurt, no one would die, and he wouldn’t have to lose the people he cares about. And while the contingencies were helpful, the plans make missions and patrols and cases run as smooth as they can be, Bruce’s orders felt suffocating at times. Like a leash tethering them to the concrete block of morals that stood Batman firm in place

“I-I can’t tell you,” Percy decides. It was better to suffer this life in silence than to drag them down with him”

********************************************

Bruce was going to be out of town for the next few days, a League mission he couldn’t be absent from. What it was about, Percy didn’t care. He was just glad the man was gone. He had been back for the past week and Bruce hasn’t even spoken to him much. Too wrapped up in Wayne Enterprises and Batman stuff to remember his missing adopted son had returned from a nationwide manhunt and disappearance. It made Percy wonder if he had even known about the manhunt for Percy and his friend. Did he follow the news reports on the computer downstairs? Was he listening to the various police scanners in the cities he had been sighted in, trying to figure out if he was okay?

Probably not. Bruce just picked up the next kid with dark hair and colored eyes and gave them all of his care and attention.

A loud thwack echoed in the empty cave, followed by the sound of bare feet shuffling on the practice mat and two more hits. If Percy hadn’t known any better, and if the date had rewound two years ago, Percy could believe it was Jason in the cave. His brother wasn’t allowed to go out as Robin when Bruce wasn’t in town, not wanting him to get into trouble when there was no back up. Though at the time, Barbara was Batgirl and prowling on her own and had earned her own uniform display when he upgraded to her new suit.

He’s seen pictures of it and clips in the news. A darker purple than the previous version with ticker shin guards and sharper forearm spikes, not to mention the reinforced padding on her knuckles and knees, or the tonfas attached to her belt. Growing up as the daughter of the Gotham PD Commissioner, Barbara had a preference to hand-to-hand combat, surely the influence of her father. Her fighting style closer to Jason’s brawler type, but preferring more of a jiu-jitsu and capoeira blend. Vastly different to the flippy and distracted style that Dick has, one where his excess body movements leave his opponents confused and keeps them right where he wants them, and Bruce’s close range league training.

Judging by the sound of the feet, the whooshing in the air and the deeper voice that distinctly did not belong to Barbara, Percy was not surprised to see Tim training away while Bruce was gone. He was concentrated on the punching bag in front of him, chest heaving as he caught his breath, wooden practice staff held tight in his hand, positioned for another round of attacks.

Of all the weapons, he didn’t expect for Tim to have chosen the bo-staff, but as he watched him train, it was hard to imagine him with another weapon. He didn’t seem like the type of person to have a bladed weapon besides the birdarangs or wing-dings supplied by Bruce and Dick. Nor was he made for melee like Jason or Barbra. The mid-range weapon built for mainly defense and quick-thinking just felt right in the hands of his best friends.

He twirled the staff in his hands, stepping in a careful circle around his target as the weapon seamlessly wove around his body. The center of the staff placed just below his sternum, wrists doing more of the work to spin the stick, keeping his biceps and arms tense and ready to quickly counter any attacks. Tim was light on his feet when he lunged, staying on the balls of his feet as he parried and avoided imaginary attacks from the punching bag. He even went so far as to back flip away, one hand touching the ground as he retreated Nightwing style.

It was pretty impressive, Percy had to admit. Reminded him of the more experienced campers, the older kids who have been staying year round. For the convenience that sword fighting was, Percy was surprised to see many of the campers preferring spears. The wooden shaft ending at their nose with the a foot long blade at the end. Clarisse was the first that came to mind when it came to skilled spear fighters. Her attacks were similar to Tim’s distracting twirls around her body and light footwork despite her muscled size. But where Tim’s attacks were quick hits with the long sides of the weapon, smacks and heavy hits, Clarisse and the rest of camp were more of a lunge and slash style. They handled the weapon one handed mostly, using the other to hold a shield.

Tim would have fun going against Clarisse, their opposing, but still similar styles would be an entertaining fight.

He still has yet to figure out how, when, and where Tim learned to fight with the staff. Obviously it’d have to be while he was gone, leaving the possible time frame just shy of three months. Not including the play-pretend ‘spars’ they would have before Jason’s death. When they would run around the back gardens of the Drake estate or Wayne manor, defeating imaginary foes as their own versions of Batman and Robin.

Percy swiveled the chair to the Batcomputer, the brightness of the computer blinding him for a quick second before he got used to it. He wonders if his login still worked. If the silly code name of “Scyphozoa” and simple password he created at the age of eight was still an active account in the most secure computer on earth. It did. His notes and files that past-Percy was using were still up, the rogue profiles and maps, clues and evidence reports. All of it, untouched and where he had left them last. Had Bruce never went through his account? Did he not monitor, or at least gloss over, whatever Percy had open?

He checked the audit trail for the reports and files. Bruce had this implemented when someone had accidentally written their school book report on a case file, deleting about seventy-five percent of the notes in the process. There were no logs or signs to point out who had done it (It had been Jason, who else used fancy thesaurus words in a report about Harry Potter?) and Bruce was tried of going around in circles trying to find the culprit.

Percy sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the audit trail, the counter ticking up every second he lingered on the page. It hadn’t been closed since he left. None of the pages that he had opened had closed while he was gone. Bruce never once opened his login, and he doesn’t know if he done that out of respect for him or if he simple hadn’t cared. If he wanted to keep it the way it was, to preserve the last things Percy interacted with. It wasn’t too far of a stretch to think that, Jason’s room was the same way, but he never would think that Bruce would have done it with him as well.

He blinked away the rising tears in his eyes and closed the pages he had up, not even bothering to save the notes that he had been working on.

It wasn’t hard to find and pull up Tim’s file when the screen was clear. His name had been another subsection in the Robin tab and a whole sub-folder in the “known allies” folder. All the information about his debut as Robin was clinical. Succinct and methodical, the style much like the reports where the mission was difficult in some way, emotionally draining or an innocent life had been lost. The way Jason’s death had been reported.

“Percy?” He turned around. Tim held the wooden staff in one hand and a water bottle in the other, shock and disbelief clear on his sweaty, red face. “You—you’re back! You came back!”

Percy watched as he best friend dropped his things and ran towards him, a big smile on his face, and it hurt to step away from the hug Tim initiated. But Percy didn’t want to a) get Tim’s sweat and smell all over him, ew. And b) be near him for a while. There was too much to think about, to process when Percy let the fact that Tim was now Robin settle.

“When did you get back? How did you get back? What happened to you?!” Tim asked, brushing his sweaty hair out of his face.

“You’re Robin?” Percy countered and he watched as the excitement Tim had damped a little. The smile on his face disappeared and his shoulders dropped. “Why?”

Tim didn’t meet his as spoke at first, keeping his gaze focused on the cave around him his fist closed at his sides. “After…After you left, Bruce wasn’t the same. He hadn’t been the same since Jason’s death, either, but once you were gone and he found out you had disappeared…Batman didn’t seem like the good guy anymore.”

“What?”

“His attacks were unnecessarily stronger against the rogues, against regular muggers and thieves.” Tim typed at the computer, pulling up a spreadsheet. “I tracked all the times Bruce put someone in a full-body cast, or the ICU, or even left them paralyzed. He was angrier. Ruthless, he didn’t care if he was going too far.”

That��wasn’t the answer he had been expecting. After all, Bruce hadn’t acted like he cared when Percy left, so why was his disappearance a variable to the sudden change? It made no sense. “What about Dick? Did he not help?”

“He didn’t want to talk to Bruce once he found out happened with you and Jason,” he said. “He left the Titans and moved to Bludhäven at the end of June, joined the police force there too, but, he didn’t want anything to do with Bruce. The only reason they talked was to help train me or if he needed help with a case over there.” Tim stepped away from the computer and faced Percy this time. His own questions running through his head the same way all the possible shots for a photo filtered in his mind. “He was a part of the squad that investigated the bus explosion you were a part of.”

Percy held his breath at that. He doesn’t want to involve his Gotham life with the demigod side. And while he knows that all the people here can handle themselves, they’ll be at a disadvantage against monsters. They’d never see them coming—literally. His first week at camp had Percy thinking about life at the manor and if there had been any indication that any one them had been apart of the demigod life or descendants of it, no matter how small of a chance that had been. But there wasn’t any. No hint, no hushed whispers, no trace of ichor in any of their blood. Percy even checked when he came back. He took a small celestial bronze nail that the Hephaestus kids use when making shields and poked everyone he knew with it, watching as the metal simple phased through them as if they were nothing.

(He hadn’t had a chance to try it on Tim or Dick yet, but he wouldn’t be surprised if nothing happened.)

“What happened when you disappeared, Percy?” Tim asked. “Nothing the Justice League did were able to find you, Superman wasn’t able to find you.”

“I…I…” He began. Involving Batman into the demigod life could spill the secret that Bruce was Batman and the rest of the bat-clan was their respective heroes since everyone at camp knows everyone. He was relieved when Chiron used his mother’s maiden name of Jackson instead of Todd or Wayne to introduce him to the camp, one less connection between Percy, young prince of Gotham, and Perseus, son of the sea god.

But he also didn’t want Batman to overtake the demigod world. Bruce was a paranoid person, he had plans and contingencies and contingencies for his contingencies. He liked control. Because if he had control, then things would stick to the plan and no one would get hurt, no one would die, and he wouldn’t have to loose the people he cares about. And while the contingencies were helpful, the plans make missions and patrols and cases run as smooth as they can be, Bruce’s orders felt suffocating at times. Like a leash tethering them to the concrete block of morals that stood Batman firm in place

And maybe that’s why Jason had a hard time of following the older he got, the more experienced Robin had become. Maybe that was the Poseidon’s powers in him, the restless disobedience that wanted to do as he pleases because he doesn’t like getting told what to do.

“I-I can’t tell you,” Percy decides. It was better to suffer this life in silence than to drag them down with him.

“What? What do you mean ‘you can’t tell me’?” Tim said.

“It means that I can’t tell you,” Percy answered. “I don’t have to tell you anything about it if I don’t want to.”

“But I’m you best friend! Best friends’ tell each other everything!”

“Yeah? Well best friends don’t wear their dead brother’s uniform either!” Percy shut his eyes. He didn’t want to dig into this barrel of angst, but he need a way to get to leave him alone. A way to push him aside so he doesn’t get hurt by Percy’s monsters anymore than he does with the monsters roaming around Gotham. “They don’t go behind their best friends back and take what isn’t theirs!”

It was so easy to pull the guilt and anger from this well, too. Because it wasn’t like Percy was making any of this up. He didn’t like that Tim took the mantle of Robin from Jason. He didn’t like that he changed the uniform where it was totally different than Jason’s. He didn’t like that Tim saw an opportunity to join the capped crusaders and replace his brother, how he followed Batman through the streets of Gotham that same way Jason had. It was like he was pretending to be him.

“That suit doesn’t belong to you, it’s Jason’s suit, and you know it!” Percy yelled, and while it hurt to break Tim’s heart, to mess with his emotions like this, he was glad that he was getting the reactions he wanted.

“Someone had to stop Batman from himself!” Tim fought. “You were gone and Dick said no, there was no one else!”

“That doesn’t mean it had to be you!” Percy said. “You didn’t have to be Robin. You didn’t have to use Jason’s suit. It doesn’t belong to you!”

“You didn’t want it anyway!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Percy tightened his fists. “It belonged to my brothers, their legacy was never yours. You just wanted to play pretend and think you were one of them. But you’re not! You’ll never be!”

Oof. That one hurt. Percy knows it for sure. He can see it in the way Tim deflates in his spot, the tension in his stance, and expression on his face.

He couldn’t stay down there longer. He wouldn’t be able to handle seeing his best friend (if they still were best friends after this now) break down, to watch as his trust in Percy shatter before his eyes. It wasn’t fair that he had to do this. That this was what Percy had to do to keep him and the rest of the people he cares about safe. And Tim might hate him after that, he might not want to see or talk or even bee near Percy again. But if this was what it takes to keep them safe, he’ll do it a hundred times over.

********************************************

Scyphozoa: “true Jellyfish” it’s what we think of when we think of jellyfish

Also, I forgot to put this in the notes of the last installment—we have finished the first “arc” of the series. Fics #1-8 titles are all from the song “High Water” by Sleep Token, this one and the rest of this “arc” are all going to be from the song “Descending.”

And, trust me when I say that next week Dick and Percy are reuniting. I promise. They’ll be hugs and tears and all the good stuff.

Also, Percy and Tim not being besties is only for a little while, it makes sense in the end. Trust the process.

Thank you so much for reading!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

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[gracev0609]

Danny X Gilmore Girls

A crossover of my favorite things? Imagine an AU where Danny goes to a club in Hartford to check out Lane's Band, Hep Alien and meets Rory. Enamored with her they go on a date in her home town of Stars Hollow, Kirk freaked him out, Miss Patty hit on him calling him 'Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome', and Luke gave him a passive aggressive cup of coffee. Danny and Rory chat about music and literature and how Stars Hollow's wacky festivals and lively characters remind him of Frankenmuth.

Eventually, Rory invites Danny to Friday Night Dinner at the grandparents. Imagine Danny arriving in his nicest outfit, slicking his wild curls back into a neat bun to look presentable enough to impress Richard and Emily Gilmore. In true Gilmore fashion they grill him and chastise him about being in a band and forgoing a college education until Richard uncovers Danny's prestigious golf career. The evening is over, and he's sweating and clammy, standing in front of his car wondering how on earth he agreed to meet Richard at the club on Wednesday morning for a round of golf.

Now... Should I turn this into a fic?

[queenjunothegreat]

OHOHOHO!!!!!! Last fandom event involved a self-indulgent crossover AU that literally only I cared about, so you KNOW I had to go for round two with Lost Trio Week! ( ✿ Ò ω Ó)φ__ This time we're doing a CORALINE AU, which I think is VERY exciting! If you've never seen/read Coraline, fear not! This fic requires absolutely ZERO knowledge of that universe because Piper doesn't know anything about it either.

So, I am VERY proud to present the first chapter of my @lost-trio-week day two fic: Mechanical Lulluby

Piper walked through the front door and as soon as she did, her senses were flooded by the warm rich aroma of chili. Without even thinking to take off her boots Piper scrambled to the kitchen, and her face lit up when she saw her dad humming to himself as he stirred the cast iron pot on the stove. As if sensing her he chuckled softly. "Piper, you're getting mud everywhere." She didn't care. "Dad is it really you?" He paused then and chuckled again. "Not quite." He turned around, and Piper couldn't stifle a gasp. The man before her had her dad's swooping hair and his charming smile, but instead of eyes he had two big shiny black buttons. "I'm your Other Father." *** Piper is an 11-year-old girl, forced to move to the awful town of Lakesville, Oregon. Between the dreary weather, the unsettling neighbors, the ugly house, and her dad's busy schedule, she's forced to make the best of nothing. Then she meets two boys and together they go tumbling into a world just like their own but better in every way. But Piper gets an ominous warning: Never trust everything you see. Now she has to find the wit and courage needed to keep herself and her friends safe. Lost Trio Week 2024 - Day Two: Crossover

To say that Piper was unhappy with her dad’s decision to take her out of school right in the middle of spring break and move her a thousand miles away from everything she was finally starting to get used to was a gross understatement. Everything about the move was awful and seemingly perfectly designed as an attempt to ruin her young life. She hated everything about everything, up to and including the house her dad had moved her into. It was a rather unpleasant shade of pink, like someone had tried to liven the place up by painting it the same color as the medicine her dad made her drink when she had a stomach ache. Only, they had made that decision a billion and a half years ago, so all the paint was faded and gross and dirty. It was old and shabby and run down and ugly and everything Piper had thought it would be and she hated it.

“It’s not old, it’s historic,” her dad had corrected when she’d voiced her complaints.

Only, it wasn’t historic. Much like everything else in town, it wasn’t old enough to be historic, it was just old enough to be bad. Laketown, Oregon didn’t show up on any maps other than local ones. It wasn’t big enough to draw anyone in, and it wasn’t small enough to be cute and quaint. It was just perfectly middle of the road enough to not offer anything of value to anyone. In fact, the only remotely interesting thing about Laketown was that it was founded on an underground lake, so there were old wells spotted around everywhere. In another life, that might have been cool, but by now the lake and all the wells had dried up, so Laketown didn’t even have the dumb lake it was named after. 

Piper didn’t want to live there. She hadn’t exactly loved living in LA, either, but it was better than this place. She wanted to go home, back to Oklahoma and the crisp, clear air and the wide open sky that stretched out for miles and miles and miles. Oregon was nothing like home. Here, she was surrounded by trees, and Laketown had exactly the right amount of lights to blot out the stars when she stared up at the sky, longing for one little piece of the life she’d been forced to leave behind. Unfortunately, no one asks eleven-year-old girls where they want to live, especially not their dads, who were offered a long-term gig as the main character of a TV show, with only the stipulation that they had to film on site. Piper wanted to be glad that her dad’s acting career was going so well, but she couldn’t help but think that making her move to this awful, rotten place was a little unfair. 

“Why don’t you go play outside?” Piper’s dad suggested, not looking up from the script in front of him. He was sitting in his office, surrounded by untouched boxes of all his stuff, just like he had since the moment they’d arrived. He’d shooed Piper off before by telling her she needed to go unpack her room, but it seemed that those orders didn’t apply to him. “You could introduce yourself to the neighbors. Make a good first impression.”

Piper wrinkled her nose. That was the other rotten thing about this house: she and her dad didn’t own the whole thing. That would have been too expensive. Instead, they rented the bottom floor while the basement and upstairs was rented to other people. She had met them, but only in passing, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled to spend any more time with them, but she’d learned that her dad’s “suggestions” when he was studying scripts weren’t really all that suggestive at all.

The Gray Sisters lived downstairs in the basement, which meant that they didn’t have any windows other than a couple of sad little window wells dug out around the living room. It also meant that the whole place was oddly damp. The underground lake and wells may have dried up, but the ground was almost always a little squishy with the amount of rain the town got. Again, just enough rain to make everyone and everything gray and miserable, but not enough to win any sort of records. Just in that area of painful mundanity.

The Gray Sisters themselves were old. Old enough that Piper would agree to calling them historic. Prehistoric, even. Each one of the three old ladies looked one step away from being a poorly-preserved mummy, with their sunken cheeks and wrinkled skin. Each one of them had one working eye and one hollowed out socket (though only one of them actually kept her eye open at once) and one singular yellow snaggletooth each. All this together meant that when they spoke, their words were soft and gummy and Piper couldn’t be entirely sure when they were talking to her because most of the time they had their eyes closed and weren’t even facing in her direction. 

Piper probably wouldn’t have minded all this quite so much if any of the Gray Sisters were like the old ladies back in Oklahoma who liked to sit together on their rocking chairs and sew while they laughed uproariously at one another’s jokes and clapped in delight when Piper sang for them. No, the Gray Sisters were mean, if not to Piper, then definitely to one another. They were constantly shouting at one another and they had awful little nicknames they used instead of real names. 

“Anger!” the one in the kitchen shrieked in her shrill, awful voice. “You’ve gone and lost the sugar bowl again! How are we meant to serve the girl tea now?”

“You don’t have to serve me any tea,” Piper assured them. She didn’t even like tea. They didn’t listen to her.

“Not I, Wasp!” the shortest sister spat back. “T’was Tempest who used it last!”

“Oh, ‘tis lost, ‘tis lost!” the third one wailed, tears steadily pouring down one of her cheeks. “Lost forever to the abyss!”

“What abyss, ma’am?” Piper asked politely. In response, Tempest sobbed louder.

“The abyss, the abyss,” Wasp muttered. She clutched at her chest in terror, and Piper wondered what she was meant to do if any of these ladies had a heart attack while she was with them. “Surely, you do not mean there?” Again, Tempest sobbed louder.

“What abyss?” Piper asked again, just in case she wasn’t heard before.

“The abyss, girl! Pay attention!” Anger snapped. “The abyss in which things are sealed away, drowned, and returned to the world, changed and made anew!”

Piper frowned and cocked her head to the side. “You mean the dishwasher?” The three women howled in terror, sorrow, and fury.

Piper left without getting any tea. 

Her neighbor who lived on the second story was a man named Mr. V. He was a big, scary-looking man, with broad shoulders he kept hunched up around his ears, a scowl so deep Piper was pretty sure his face was stuck like that, and a thick black beard that reminded Piper of the scratchy wire brushes people used to clean up rust. He was so big that Piper wasn’t sure how he managed to fit through his own narrow front door, much less up the rickety fire escape that led to it, and she was convinced that one day he was going to step too hard and fall right through the floor onto her and her dad’s dining table. 

His floor was almost as dark and cramped as the Gray Sisters’, but unlike them, he only had himself to blame. He kept all the lights on his floor dimmed, and every square inch of floor space was taken up by big, oil-smudged machines. Some of them made loud, ominous clicking and thumping sounds, some whirred and spun in place while giant exposed gears ker-thunked into place, and still more belched out thick black smoke and bright tongues of orange flame, some of which made their homes as embers in the thick of Mr. V’s wiry beard. All of the machines seemed designed to do something different, but if Piper was being honest, she wasn’t entirely sure they did anything useful, other than take up space and require Piper to twist and bend and tiptoe her way through to the heart of the home.

“Don’t you touch that, Pippy!” Mr. V shouted at her, causing her to almost lose her balance and stumble over a pile of chains in her shock. 

“My name’s Piper, not Pippy,” she reminded him again.

That was the other unfortunate thing about Mr. V. He didn’t like Piper at all. She wasn’t sure if it was a matter of him not liking people, not liking children, or just specifically not liking her. She wouldn’t really be surprised if any one of the three answers (or maybe even all of them) turned out to be true, but she knew for a fact that one of them was. She tried not to take it to heart, but it was a little hard to not get your feelings hurt when someone scowled at you like you’d committed the ultimate crime by existing.

“What are you doing in here?” Mr. V demanded. “I told you I need to be left well enough alone when I’m working.”

“My dad wanted me to come say hi,” she told him. There was an empty barstool near his work desk, so she climbed up on it, happy to be both off her feet and out of danger of accidentally touching something. “Whatcha working on?”

Mr. V scowled at her, but again, Piper was pretty sure that’s just what his face looked like after a lifetime of grumpiness. She wondered how he’d look if he actually tried to smile. The thought was almost scarier than the man himself. He stared at her for a few seconds, like he was trying to find something to yell at her about, but came up short, seeing as Piper was sitting perfectly still up on her perch. Eventually he settled for a gruff, “I’m an engineer, not a babysitter.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Piper informed him. “My dad lets me stay by myself.”

That made Mr. V pause and he squinted at her. “Yeah?”

“Yup,” she said, puffing up in pride. “I’ve been allowed to babysit myself since my last birthday.”

“If that’s the case, then you can go outside and babysit yourself, Pippy. Away from me.”

Piper blew a loud raspberry at him, which her dad would have been very embarrassed about if he’d been with her, but she didn’t care. Mr. V was mean and he deserved it. “My name is Piper!” she told him one last time before retreating out the front door. 

Once she was back on the ground, she looked around and once again felt the enormity of her dissatisfaction weigh heavily on her shoulders. Just as it had for the past four days since they’d moved in, there was a thick misty fog that hung over the ground, reaching up to her waist. It wasn’t thick enough to keep her from actually seeing the ground or anything like that, but it did make the ground squelch unpleasantly when she stepped on an extra-squishy patch of grass. She kind of wished she’d gotten a chance to find her rain boots, but her dad had fussed at her for dawdling and making a ruckus, so she’d been sent out in the new sneakers she didn’t even like. 

With that thought, she stomped as hard as she could, watching the mud ooze up and stain the white fabric with a sense of gratification. 

She gleefully wandered around the soggy yard, taking care to jump on any spots that made that squelching noise, but that could only last so long. Ruining her shoes was fun, but soon her shoes were caked in mud and she was left with cold, damp feet and no goal. 

That was when she spied a stick on the ground in a perfect capital ‘Y’ shape. The visitors’ center in town had a display about all the bunches of wells scattered around town and even how the people who founded the town used dowsing rods made of wood and bits of metal to locate the water hidden underground. She didn’t know how it worked, but she knew they used sticks that looked just like that, and she was very good at playing pretend. 

“Okay, stick!” she ordered, holding it out in front of her. “Take me to the nearest well!”

She shut her eyes for dramatic effect, then stumbled forward as if yanked along by her magical stick. She wandered all over, weaving in and out of the treeline, only peeking open one eye occasionally to make sure she wasn’t going to run into anything. She didn’t know where she was going, but she didn’t really think it mattered all that much, seeing as everyone in town knew about the house she was living in. If she got lost she could just go to the nearest grown-up and ask for the Pink Palace, and they’d wince in sympathy and take her right back. She’d be fine. 

She’d wandered into a clearing when something caught her attention. In between her announcing to herself what she was doing and communing with her stick, she heard a quiet rustling sound. She froze, waiting to see if it happened again, but there was nothing. Still, she could feel a gaze prickling at the back of her neck. Someone – or something – was watching her. 

She cleared her throat, and tried not to sound scared. “Okay, stick! I think we’re almost there! Lead on so that our town might find water!” She made a show of shutting her eyes and walking forward, but she kept one cracked open just enough to see around her.

Then, out of the corner of her vision, she saw movement. In a split second, her eyes flew open and she whirled around on her heel. “What are you doing?” she demanded at the top of her voice, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. 

It definitely worked, but considering her opponent was just a kid instead of a scary murderer, the feat wasn’t quite so impressive.

“Ahh!!” the boy screamed, cowering behind his outstretched hands.

“Ahh!!” Piper screamed right back, startled by the sound. 

“Ahh!!” the boy screamed one last time before he composed himself. He scowled at Piper. “What’s wrong with you? You shouldn’t scare people!”

“Well, you shouldn’t be a stalker!” Piper scowled right back.

“I wasn’t stalking you; I was following you!”

“Same difference!”

The boy puffed out his cheeks and kicked at the ground. “I just wanted to see what you were doing,” he huffed. “Theresa said a kid moved into the house and I wanted to say hi.”

“Well, then why were you following me instead of talking to me?” Piper said, her tone still a little accusatory. 

The boy shrugged, and gestured at the stick she’d abandoned. “I wanted to see what you were doing. You looked weird.”

Piper felt her cheeks go a little warm at the thought of being caught in her game, but she just stuck her nose in the air and went to retrieve her stick. “It’s called water witching,” she said in her best know-it-all voice. “I use this magic stick to lead me to wells and underground water.” 

The boy looked impressed. “Well, you must be really good at it.”

“What do you mean?” Piper asked, cocking her head to the side. 

“Well, you’re about six inches from falling into an abandoned well right now.” Piper yelped and leapt back towards the boy, who doubled over in laughter. “You should have seen your face!”

Piper rolled her eyes and shoved him. “Whatever. I bet you were lying about the well.”

“I was not!” the boy said, outraged. “Look!” He gingerly stepped over and kicked some of the dirt and leaves around until the lip of a well and its wooden cap became visible. “See? Told ya.”

“I wouldn’t have fallen in, though,” Piper pointed out. “It’s got a lid.”

“Wood’s all rotted out,” the boy informed her. “You can try to stand on it, but I wouldn’t suggest it. You’ll fall right through, just like Dylan did last year.”

Piper shivered and took another step back just to be safe. “Well, thanks for telling me, I guess.” She smiled then, and stuck out her hand. “My name’s Piper McLean.”

“I know,” the boy told her, shaking her hand. “My name’s Leo Valdez.”

“What do you mean you know?”

“Theresa, the lady I live with, owns the house you’re renting,” Leo explained. “Your dad’s an actor, right? I heard her complaining about it to her boyfriend, Michael.”

“Oh. How come you don’t live with your parents?” 

Immediately, Leo clammed up and he scowled at her. “None of your business.”

Piper narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before she shrugged. “Okay. You wanna go exploring with me? My dad’s busy with his script, so he wants peace and quiet at the house.”

“Yeah, okay,” Leo agreed easily. “Theresa doesn’t let me in until sundown anyway.”

Piper very much wanted to ask him again what he meant by that, but she figured it wasn’t any of her business, either. So, the two of them wandered through the trees together. Every once in a while, they’d interrupt their walk with a quick game of tag, until Leo tripped and fell, scraping up his chin.

“Ow!” Leo whined, sitting back on his heels and cupping his muddy hands to his chin. “That hurt!”

“Are you okay?” Piper asked, crouching down in front of him.

“Yeah,” Leo muttered sourly. “I dunno what I tripped on, though.”

Piper looked around for the culprit until her eyes fell on a nearby tree root. It was bumped up out of the ground at just the right height to send an eleven-year-old boy tumbling. She followed it up to the tree it was attached to, and her eyes grew wide and round in wonder. “Leo! Look!”

“Look at what?” Leo huffed but he looked over to where she was pointing and he grinned. “That’s so cool!”

The tree Piper was pointing at was perfectly hollow, from one side all the way to the other. It wasn’t a big opening, but it was plenty big enough for Piper to crawl through on her hands and knees. What was most remarkable about it, though, was that the tree was still covered in shiny new growth leaves. She knew that sometimes trees could live after being hollowed out, but the rest of the trees around her bore the soft green leaves of spring, while this tree was blanketed in a warm, bright ocher. 

“You’ve never seen this tree before?” Piper asked.

Leo shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I’d remember something like this. It’s kinda funny, with the time I spend outside, I figured I’d seen every tree by now.”

“Huh.” Piper studied it for a bit more before she grinned at Leo. “It looks like a portal. We should go through.”

Leo’s face puckered in confusion for a second before he shrugged and followed her lead as she crawled through the little arch left by the tree. When they were both through, she loudly gasped and proclaimed, “Leo, we’re in a magic world now.”

Leo furrowed his brow for a moment and looked around like he was trying to figure out what she was talking about before he looked back at her. “Uh, okay.”

“In order to fit into this world, we have to become magic, too,” she informed him. “I’m an elf wizard assassin who was sent here to kill the evil king.”

Leo just stared at her until she gave him a meaningful look and tapped her toes expectantly. “Oh, I’m, uh, a mechanic?”

“A mechanic?” Piper said, very unimpressed.

“Yeah! A magic mechanic!” Leo insisted. “I can fix anything and I can make magic tools and stuff.” 

Piper considered that for a moment before she nodded in agreement and Leo grinned at her. “Alright then. Come on, we’ve got to work together to overthrow the king.”

Piper soon lost track of time as they played their game. They never got around to defeating their evil king antagonist, but Piper had been introduced to Leo’s pet robot dragon (she tried to argue that robots did not belong in her fantasy world, but Leo insisted that it was an enchanted robot dragon, so she let it slide) and they’d found a way to infiltrate the castle. Piper was about to suggest they begin their final assault before she felt a big, fat raindrop hit her cheek. She stared up at the suddenly darkened sky and felt another one hit her between the eyes. 

“It’s gonna start raining,” she informed Leo.

He squinted up at the sky, too and frowned. “Yeah. We’d better head back before it starts really coming down. I can show you the way home.” Piper nodded and followed him out of the trees and he pointed across the little field towards an ugly pink house. “That’s where your house is.”

She nodded at him then cocked her head to the side. “Do you wanna hang out again tomorrow?”

Leo looked startled that she’d ask him such a thing before he grinned. “Yeah! You wanna meet in your yard?”

“Okay,” she agreed. Then she waved and started running for her house. “See you tomorrow, Leo!”

“Bye, Piper!”

She didn’t wind up beating the rain home, and when she trudged through the house soaking wet, her dad only sighed and told her to shower and get cleaned up before dinner. Dinner was leftovers from the takeout they’d had the night before, but Piper’s dad promised he’d make a real dinner for them the next night, so Piper tried not to make too many faces at her microwaved noodles. She tried to tell him about the afternoon she’d had, about meeting the neighbors and all the fun she’d had with Leo, but he was still reviewing his script, so she never got anything more than a distracted, “That’s great, Pipes,” in response, and the rest of dinner passed in silence. 

That night, as Piper curled up in bed under her big, fluffy blanket, she told herself that things were going to be better tomorrow. 

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Exchange Students

ectoberhaunt2023 day 23- magic fandom- Harry Potter crossover TW- none summary- Harry, Hermione, and Ron visit the strangest wizarding school in America

ao3 masterlist

Harry wasn’t sure why they had agreed to this. Sure, it had sounded fun and interesting, but now they were in America and were going to be going to what had to be one of the strangest magic schools in the world. 

Most people would probably consider it normal. And sure, from a  muggle standpoint it was. But that’s what made it so strange for a wizarding school.

It looked like a normal high school. There was even functioning electricity! Harry wondered how they had managed that since magic and tech didn’t work well together.

At the front door they were met by an older woman who Harry assumed was the headmaster.

“Hello, I’m Principle Ishiyama. Welcome to Casper High.”

“Thank you for having us.” Hermoine replied.

“Yeah, thanks.” Ron said.

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your home rooms.” They followed her into the building, and yup, htis definitely just looked like a regular high school. “I know this must be very different than Hogwarts, but since Amity is already a magic heavy town it didn’t really make sense to send the kids to a boarding school.”

“Is it true that squibs go to this school too?” asked Hermione. 

The principal tensed but replied with a smile. “Yes, we welcome all kinds of pupils here. Though I have to ask that you refrain from using that offensive term. All Amity Parkers know about magic and we consider it important to teach them the principles. However, since Casper High caters to a more diverse student group, we also teach all the regular classes. Classes rotate between muggle and magical with students placed into the ones that will help cultivate their talents yet at the same time give them a taste of everything. It’s important to have a well rounded education. Now, about your schedules. We’ve done our best to match you up with classes that you were already taking though I’m afraid you’ll also be required to take some muggle classes as well. However, there was one class for which you’ll have to choose a replacement.”

“Which one, miss?”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“You don’t teach Defense Against the Dark Arts!” Hermione said scandalized.

“We teach similar classes but nothing quite the same. So, I have a few different options you can choose from. First there's a class on blood magic.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Harry asked.

“Not in the states.”

“But–”

The principal sighed. “It’s only if you’re using someone else’s unwillingly given blood. But if that makes you uncomfortable you can take Spiritual Connections.”

“What’s that?” Ron asked.

“Its a study on temporarily imbuing an object with part of your spirit.”

Harry’s cringed, his mind jumping to horcruxes.

“And if neither of those sound appealing, you can also take beginners Necromancy.”

“Ummm…”

The principal sighed again. “I suppose you can take a History of Dark Arts Through the Ages. Though that one isn’t hands on.”

“We’ll do that.” Harry said.

------------

Thankfully today had been a muggle studies day so all their classes were pretty normal. Well, except for Ron who had never taken a math class beyond basic arithmetics.

They were sitting at lunch when three students approached them.

“Hello, I’m Danny and these are Sam and Tucker. We were curious about how things worked at, where is it you attend? Hogwash?”

“Hogwarts.”

The boy, Tucker, snorted. “Sorry, that's just such a silly name.”

“And Casper is any better?” asked Hermione.

“True.” Danny answered.

“Is it true you don’t have any technology?” Tucker asked.

“Tech doesn’t work with magic.” Hermione answered.

Tuckers furrows browed. “Yes it does. My phone works fine. You just have to imbue the object with some of your spirit.”

“But that sounds terrible. Isn’t that like giving up part of your soul?” Harry asked.

“No? It's just like sharing your magic. It's what I study, magic and tech.”

“What about you?” Hermione asked, turning toward Sam.

“Magical biology and runeology. I focus on plants and their properties as well as rune blood magic.”

“But–” Ron started but Harry elbowed him. 

“Look, it's very simple.” Sam took a piece of chalk out of her pocket and drew a circle with a rune inside it on the table. Then she reached into her pocket again, took out a needle and pricked her finger before placing it on the run. It glowed briefly before a flower sprouted up.

“See.”

“But you’re still using blood.”

Sam opened her mouth but Danny interrupted. “Sam, you can’t blame them. That’s just what they’ve been taught.”

She sighed. “I suppose. Their education is controlled by an old white man who wears a bathrobe.”

“But Dumbledore's incredible! He defeated Grindelwald.”

“Maybe, but he refuses to meet with our magical president because he says that Americans are backwards and that we must adhere to his rules before he’ll speak with us. I mean, isn’t your school still illuminated by candlelight? He won’t even let you use electricity.”

“Sam, that's probably enough.” Danny said.

They were all silent for a moment before Harry turned to Danny, “So, what do you study?”

“Necromancy.”

“What!” Hermione squeaked.

“Yeah, I’m naturally inclined since its what my parents studied, and then I was in an accident and I became even closer to the spiritual world. I can temporarily call up ghosts and interact with the ones already present. You've got ghosts at Hogwarts, right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! I can also separate from my own spirit, like this.”

Danny closed his eyes and a moment later a ghost appeared next to him. He looked like Danny except with white hair and green eyes. Both Danny’s grinned at him.

“I’m not sure how I really feel about all this.” Hermione said.

Danny shrugged. “Welcome to Amity Park.”

[axel-the-goat-guy-and-gal]

Stardew Valley needs an Undertale mod or crossover or something

Like how cool would that be? x3

Imagine if, mid fall during year 2 or 3 or 4 or something, when you go to sleep "There was a loud shattering sound from the mountain" and you check the T.V. and theres a news report along the lines of "Apparently, a new fissure has opened up in the mountainside near the town of Stardew Valley, and thankfully no one was injured. According to the leader of a local adventurer guild of the area, several species of non-hostile monsters have begun leaving from the new hole into mountain.

You go over to near the adventurer guild, and see Marlon talking with Asgore and Papyrus and Undyne and Frisk is there too.

Flowey could come out to spy on your farm every now and then.

You could go into the mountain and meet all the Undertale Characters. They could become new npcs and stuff.

Each major npc could give a certain buff.

Undyne would probably stick around the adventurer's guild, since the royal guard would be either disbanded or reformed into something else. She could help with stuff when you're going into the mines.

Alphys could help Harvey with medical stuff or Gunther with research and expanding the library and museum.

Asgore would be talking with Mayor lewis for a while, and probably eventually leave to talk with other parts of the world/government.

Temmie would be at Pierres cause why not lmao. Just like on a shelf somewhere lol

Grilby would be outside of the saloon, he wouldn't go inside because of all the flammable beverages and also the hazard of being extinguished lol. He might set up a small stand or shop that the player could interact with.

Sans would be all over the place, hanging with Grilby, talking with his bro, visiting Pierres and stuff. And instead of walking everywhere like all the other villagers, he'd go behind a nearby piece of scenery and teleport to somewhere else on the map.

Muffet would probably set up a small shop in the town square.

Mettaton would have a stage near the town square too. And when the Joja Mart gets turned into a theater, he would do live performaces there.

Papyrus would be at the Stardrop Saloon, working for Gus part time as he learns how the hell to actually cook lmao.

Toriel would probably be a bit all over the place, checking in on everyone and seeing how they are doing.

The Nice Cream Guy would permanently be set up at the ice cream shop near the museum year round. It would be a bit worse than the regular ice-cream, with the benefit you can get it without having to wait until summer.

Heats Flamesman would be near the Elevator in the mines. You can chat with him and remember his name, but he doesnt really do much lol.

Napstablook would set up a small dj-booth on that small island in the lake near the mounatin.

Frisk would hang out around Toriel and also Jas and Vincent lol

And thats all the ideas i got at the moment lol

I would love that to be a real mod lol. Hell if I had the resources or skills, I'd make it myself x3

[popculturebuffet]

Into the Bobbins Verse: Your Guide to the Works of John Allison

So this is a little side project that's been bubbling in my brain. So Next Month, grod willing, I begin a retrospective i've wanted to do since I started this blog that i've put off for various reasons: Wanting to do the comic it's a spinoff of first, loosing most of my copies of said comic, my terrible scheduling skills, etc. I will be covering the comic book Giant Days. All 57 issues across two volumes, all the specials all of it.

But while gearing up for this i've not only fallen in love with giant days all over again but John Allisons other myraid of works he's slowly been putting back up online. And it's great stuff: i've mad it a concious goal to both get the rest of giant days AND bad machinery in print and whatever else I can grabble before inevitably the number of books avaliable becomes too small and the prices shoot up.

So I want to share that love with all you fine people paticuarlly my friends and patreons, as well as have a nice catalogue handy of John's MANY works for personal refrence and for anyone to use.

So for this guide i'll be going in a rough chronological order rather than release order, but 9/10 you can read most of these without having picked up another work. Before we can dive in though

WHO THE FLIP IS JOHN ALLISON

John Allison is a british author and very loveably weird man. He has a penchant for snappy dialouge, being unapologetically british in his settings and nicely bouncing back between slice of life, mystery and supernatual shenanigans, sometimes in the same comic. He's been at this since 1998 working primarily on the web with various web comics, cycling them out when he gets a new idea or when something has run it's course, breaking into print with his ongoing series Giant Days and since doing a few series there on and off. He's got a quirky sensebility and the bulk of his earlier work is set in the quirky english town of Tackleford before branching out to the small hamlet of Tregdin and the bustling real life town of Shefield. He is by all accounts a very nice guy, interacts with his fans regularly and is again a very deeply weird man in the best way possible, once saying he'd prefer any crossovers he does to be unexpected ones like Giant Days meeting Rom Space Knight.. and proving it by releasing his planned but shelved Batman Giant Days one shot to promote that books library editions on kickstarter.

So with that i'll be going in rough chronological order and telling you where you can read them.

DAS COMICS

Bobbins Classic:

Avaliable on Keenspot

I'm only mentoning this one for historical reasons as it was Allison's first.. and it shows. Bobbins dosen't look great for the bulk of i'ts life, only getting better when John switched to using Adobe Illustrator which while mildly dated, helped the art considerably.

Bobbins is an unfocused comic about a bunch of 20 somethigns working at a listings magazine in Tackleford. I'll talk more about it's cast in the next entry as their mostly just undefined blobs doing random shit: it's an early webcomic and thus has that throw shit at the wall and see what sticks sensiblity a lot had, with reality being loose, plot twists being thrown in and a lot of characters that go nowhere, with John having not quite figured out what he wanted. By the end he decided to abandon it leading to his breakout work. But more on that in a minute as for the strips anniversary.. he did a remake

Bobbins.Horse Avaliable At: scarygoround.com

Bobbins.Horse was intitally just a fun experiment: John went back to the original and wanted to fill in a major gap important to Bobbins sequel Scary Go Round: How goofy well meaning weird ray of sunshine Shelley Winters became best friends with the younger, wild and tatooed sass mouth Amy Chilton. In doing so he realized there was a lot of raw potetial in his old concept, and decided to do a bunch of comic strips. It's a soft reboot: parts of the original are still canon as John eventually found the format too limiting for how much his art had evolved, but it expands on loose concepts from a bitter young man into the detailed characte orinted stuff Allison would go on to make.

Bobbins.Horse is a good time and a solid entry point that follows Shelly and Amy. Amy at the time is a just turned 18 teen with a history of acting out caught in a divorce between her uncaring mom and doting but strict fater who dosen't know the real her. In the middle of writing a sex and the city style collumn, throwing a halloween party, dealing with Shelly's high school boyfriend she's outgrown and other shenanigans, are their friends and co workers: Tim, a sideburned decked soon to be inventor and gentlemen whose not intrested in Amy's obvious antics, Holly, SHelly's friend and local asshole, Rich, Tim's horny best friend and Ryan, Shelly and Tim's muttual close friend from high school, a wistful weirdo and layabout slowly getting out of the hole he's trapped in.

Bobbins.Horse is fantastic stuff, nicely segues into Allison's big work on which he formed the core of this unvierse and is one of my faviorites. Check it out. Also check out expecting to fly, a two issue comic allison did that's on his gumroad page (I'll link it in the next entry) that gives the origins of Shelley, Ryan and Tim.

Scary Go Round Found At: John's Gumroad Store

Scary Go Round was John Allison's big breakout work. The work that would help define his career. It defined his cast and who it didn't define it created. Scary Go Round is the swirling primordial core from which all of Allison's later works sprung.

It was originally intended as a full spinoff, with John not bringing his original cast back. This lasted all of one story before they quickly came back and his killing off Bobbins lead Shelley outraged fans enough to lead to a long and fantastic arc where Ryan, in his grief and with advice from a creepy old man, brings Shelley back from the dead. With this arc Scary Go Round had it's clear direction: A mix of slice of life and supernatual elements with Shelley, Ryan and soon Amy at it's core. Tim was at it's core at first but eventualy left.

Over the comic a massive amount of new characters came in to join the crew: Hugo, a track suited sandwich owner and wannabe mogul, The Boy, Tim's hormonal shy assitant, Erin, Shelley's resentful sister, and Esther, a perky goth who would get her own series soon enough. We also got Desmond fishman, a literal fishman who despite the verse leaning more towards the grounded these days, sticks around and has gone on quite the journey.

The comic did well.. but started to slip as Allison started to loose intrest, in part because he was stuck with a large cast, some of whom he cared about more than others. Introducing teens to the cast was a good idea, but he admitted regret to not giving them their own comic and instead trying to mash the two groups together. He eventually ended things and came up with a few spinoffs. The first would be his first mainstream hit, the second his biggest mainstream hit and the third.. well it sure did happen.

Avalible: Three Web Issues are at scarygoround.com, print issues are avaliable wherever books are sold probably and in digtial on amazon and are part of comixology unlimited if your intrested in binging this one.

Giant Days is John's most succesful work. That's not hyperbole, he says so on his own website. It's also the one that brought me to the dance, having gotten the first volume digitally for only a dollar and quickly devouring every inch of his work that was around at the time.

Giant Days follows Esther to college, quickly picking up two new friends; Daisy, a naive and optimistc but wise puffy haired girl from a small town and Susan, a cynical detective/med student who never lacks a sharp quip. Joining them as they grapple with college are Ed, a sunny naive programmer with a hopeless crush on Esther, McGraw, ed's best friend and susan's former friend who it's complicated with and workman extrodinare and Dean Thomas, an obnoxious entitled ass who sorta oozed his way into the boys lives. Our cast deal with the ups and downs of University life.

The comic started with three more experimental issues that got the format down: tight one in done stories that made up a larger narrative and were more grounded slice of life shenanigans without the supernatural stuff of Scary Go Round or Bad Machinery. There were still some growing pains: the first issue took on a more scott pilgrim bent than any of john's other work and the third included Erin before John decided to not use her after all due to developments in other comics. Still it was set and he wanted to do the project: while it was originally set up as a failsafe in case his next flagship bad machinery failed, it was something he wanted to do, he just didn't have the bandwith to draw it himself, having moved on from illustrator mid scary go round. Thankfully he found Boom, found great creative partners in Lissa Tremain (for the first 6 issues ) and Max Sarin (everything else), and the rest is history. Giant Days is a wonderful comic with loads of character, gorgeous art, and a nice combo of one in done single issues that merge into one long epic.

Destory History:

Avaliable: ScaryGoRound.com

Destory history like Giant Days takes place in the gap between Scary Go Round and it's more direct sequel Bad Machinery. Like Giant Days it was made in case the big shifts with Bad Machinery didn't quite pan out. Unlike Giant Days Though while Allison returned to it once or twice it didn't take off. Following Shelley in London as she journeys thorugh time it only got one story that has yet to be fully concluded as Allison just hasn't felt it.

Avaliable At: gocomics.com or in print

Bad Machinery was John's first mainstream success and helped him get to giant days which in turn boosted Bad Machinery's profile despite BM's publisher, Oni Press, turning it down, a decision they no doubt regretted.

Bad Machinery takes place 5 years after Scary Go Round. Ryan and Amy are now playing support as a teacher and local antiques dealer (And to my delight a married couple), as is Erin as a local reporter. The bulk of it's main cast are precicious kids who debuted towards the end of Bad Machinery: Charlotte Grote, a spacey ragamuffin with a mind for mystery, her tough but kind bestie Shauna, the shy ,nervous and Imaginative Jack and Jack's best mate nad pain in the ass Linton. Joining them in the series proper are Mildred, a wild child with a scientfic mind, and Sonny, a shy boy of few words, and eventually claire, a girl with a lisp, some pyromania and a kind soul.

The kids would solve mysteries as they slowly grew, often with a supernatual bent while dealing witht he perils of growing up: rivalries, bullying, family drama, relationships, growing apart.. all the pain of adolsecnse that got increasingly grounded. There was still magical mysteries, but as the kids grew their problems did and eventaully they outgrew the format, with John ending the series. He's since returend to the former mystery kids giving three of them their own spotlights we'll get to. It's a great run and well worth your time if you like kids getting into shenanigans and danger, which I know is most of my audience.

That and Murder She Writes:

Avaliable at: John's Gumroad

Two one off stories john did that follow Lottie and Shelley. Shelley was largely absent from Bad Machinery apart from mentions of her, to help let the new main characters settle in, but was given a few one offs to show she'd become both a succesful author and Charlotte's mentor.

New Bobbins: Avaliable: Via Gumroad or John's Patreon

New Bobbins was an experiment that didn't quite work out, updating us on the old guard at the same time as Bad Machinery. Due to both pushing the timeline forward more than he wanted to for BM and getting all dramatic, John Quitely canceled this revival, but did bring it back to wrap up loose ends. In fact he intended to end his comics as a whole, only keeping giant days, but realized he coudln't part. This era also includes Mordawaa which is also on gumroad and I won't go into due to spoilers.

Epheimera

Avaliable: John's Patreon and for Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers, Archive.Org

Various bibs and bobs I thoguht lost but... nope . YOuc an find most on john's patreon if you fancy and the graphic novel heavy metal hearts and flowers, which It hought lost, is on the internet archive.

Avaliable: In print or digital

Not super necessary to the lore but a fun side story about two friends documenting strange stuff. Need to read this one in full sometime.

Avaliable: First arc: in Print via Darkhorse or digital via amazon. Other Arcs: in print and online via scarygoround.com.

Steeple was like By Night a break from the usual group of Allison Regulars, with an all new cast following prelate Billie and her new friend Maggie.. who happened to be working for the chruch of satan. It started as a mini series at dark horse that john continued on his web site that dark horse printed, ending earlier this year when Dark HOrse decided they were done, though with hints john would pick up the characters again.

It follows the small town of tregdyn, where monsters rise from the sea, a preist hunts them, the local santatic minister thinks he's a super villian and his helper brian is a kind of werewolf. It's a return to the more supernatual stuff tha'ts fun, engaging and good stuff. It eventually firmly became bobbins canon, with Lottie doing a guest spot to find a missing shelley and shelley eventaully dating the local preist what hutns monsters.

Avaliable: Print and Digital

Wicked Things is the comics equilvent of a failed Pilot. It's still canon, but due to the independent publishing scene drying up slightly, it failed to get the sales to go to full series. As such it follows Lottie a few years after bad machinery, on the cusp of university.. only to loose it when she's framed for murder, this 6 part mini covering her working with the london police as the quirky kind of consultant you see again these days with Elsbeth or High Potetial. Had the series come just a few years later it probably would've been a big hit. Probably. Lottie gets aquitted but who framed her is left dangling.. and that becomes the catlyst for Lottie's next adventure

Avaliable at: badmachinery.com. Yes I know it's confusing bad machinery isn't on there.

After a pilot and the crossover, John went full hog into Charlotte's next phase of her life: at a crossroads and working as a barista, a meeting with new zeland immigrant Glenn, a careers advisor working the grind of the job to have a place to sleep, finally lights a fire under a restless Lottie. Quickly solving her bestie Clarie's school issues, teh duo head to sheffield, and Lottie quickly decides rather than be a detective to become a problem solver, fixing people's issues while trying to avoid finding a longterm solution for her life and dragging Glenn in as he's good at presnting stuff. IT's one of my faviorite thigns John's done, nicely evolving Lottie and CLarie, adding in glenn for flavor and even bringing back Dena. No one asked him too but it works out. The series is currently running through a direct sequel to wicked things, Wobbly Head and Solver as a whole stands on it's own well enough to jump righ tinto. Please do

Avaliable At: badmachinery.com

John Allison's latest pilot and what seems to be a bold new ongoing that's both a prequel and a sequel as Jack from bad machinery, who god already wasn't all that fond of, gets the short end of the stick again: he's sent back to the 90's, can't say anything about the future and is left stuck not remembering WHY he was sent there and with only a college age Shelley as an ally. It's a eerie yet still deeply funny work and I can't wait to see more of it at some point next year after Wobbly Head concludes.

Avaliable: in print and digital

Taking place around the same time as solver, GBBO reunites Allison and Sarin for a quick and breezy four part murder mystery at UK Bakery Tent. Shauna is invited to participate but soon witnesses an attempted murder with her new friends and fellow bakers Sunil and Jil. Now Shauna has to both try and solve a mystery before anyone else is poisoned, and not get eliminated while almost everyone around her is a suspect.

So there you go. A bunch of good poitns to start with, a bunch of great comics all outlined. Get out ther eand start reading and thanks for reading this

[blood-darkened-moon]

What about the Ashfords and Victorianos meeting?

That’s probably not what you had in mind, but it’s the scenario I liked the most. And sorry for the length. I didn’t want to write so much, but since it’s a crossover, I thought I should add more context to it. Otherwise, it would have been too random. I’ll try to keep the other request closer to what I had intended.

AO3 Link

Anatomy Lessons

The car drove slowly along a path lined with trees on both sides. “We are almost there,” said the man who had previously introduced himself as Ernesto Victoriano.

“Is it really okay if we spend the night at your place? I can just call a cab, and we can spend the night in a hotel in the city.” Her father was obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. It was the same for her. The man was, after all, a complete stranger, even if he was helpful and, it seemed, one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens around Krimson City, a town in the eastern part of Kansas.

“No, that’s all right. As the saying goes, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ I wouldn’t be a good Christian if I didn’t help a family in need.” Alexander smiled a little uneasily in response while Alfred shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Then the man added: “After all, your car broke down right on my land. If that’s not a sign from God.” No one answered, so Ernesto changed the subject.

“Where were you going anyway? You are tourists, right?”

“Not exactly. I am ... was traveling on business. Small town in the Arklay Mountains, I’m sure you don’t know it. Before we fly back home, I wanted to do a little round trip with the kids. I haven’t had enough time for them lately anyway.”

“Lately,” Alfred repeated, dripping with sarcasm but quietly enough that only Alexia could hear him.

“I see. And where is Mrs. Ashford, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She has died.” A lie. Her father had divorced their mother when Alexia and Alfred were less than two years old. But Alexander probably didn’t want to say that in front of Mr. Good Christian. In fact, this woman hadn’t even been the twins’ real mother, just a surrogate. Alexia didn’t know who their biological mother was.

“Oh. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to get personal. I’m very sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

The car stopped in front of an iron gate. Ernesto Victoriano got out to open it. He then got back in and drove them straight to the villa’s entrance. A black-haired woman opened the front door. She seemed surprised to see all the people.

Ernesto went up to her and kissed her on the forehead. “May I introduce my wife, Beatriz. Beatriz, these are our guests. Alexander, Alfred, and Alexia Ashford. Their car has broken down. I’ve invited them to stay with us tonight.” Beatriz did not seem to be happy about it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said hesitantly and unconvincingly. Then she pulled her husband closer to her to discuss something with him, but it was not loud enough for Alexia to understand.

Ernesto ended the conversation shortly after with a serious expression on his face. “Have the guest rooms prepared and show the children around the house while I call the towing service and the workshop with Alexander.” Beatriz seemed upset but didn’t say anything back. Ernesto then disappeared into the house with Alexander.

Their hostess simply stood rooted to the spot in front of the entrance for a few seconds and stared at the twins before she said: “Come in.” The entrance area of the villa reminded Alexia of the Spencer Villa they had visited in Raccoon City, except that everything was a little smaller. There wasn’t much time to look around, however, as Beatriz took them to the second floor into a library. “You two wait here for a minute, will you?” She opened the door to a long corridor and called out: “Laura. Ruben. Come here and say hello to our guests.”

After looking around the house, Beatriz handed the twins to her 14-year-old daughter, Laura. She was supposed to keep them occupied until dinner. Laura was very friendly and took good care of Alfred and Alexia. Alexia still didn’t like being treated like a child. Even though she was three years younger than Laura, she already had a doctorate and had been working as a head of research for a year, while Laura hadn’t even finished school yet.

But Alexander had told her to behave like a normal child towards the Victorianos. He didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to them; after all, they didn’t even know these people. The only question was how a normal child should behave. Should she act more like Alfred? But according to conversations of the domestic workers, whom Alexia had secretly overheard, Alfred wasn’t exactly normal either. In fact, the staff only ever complained about how strange and creepy the twins were.

Alexia decided to stay quiet and observe for the time being. In her opinion, this was the best way to approach unknown situations. She would simply go along with everything Laura said.

They spent the afternoon outside. Laura took her little brother Ruben and the twins to a sunflower field, where they all played tag and hide-and-seek together before returning to the villa in the late afternoon. They spent the rest of the time playing a ball game, which Alfred and Alexia narrowly won. However, Alexia had the impression that Laura had deliberately let them win. Such infantile activities were usually not on Alexia’s agenda, but she had to admit that she had enjoyed it.

In case Laura also found the twins strange and creepy, she played it cool. To Alexia’s surprise, even Alfred was quite taken with the older girl. Her brother was usually rather dismissive of strangers, but he was open and friendly towards Laura. Perhaps a little too friendly.

Ruben, on the other hand, was a strange child. He wasn’t necessarily shy but had hardly spoken a single word to the twins. He also gave Alfred a hateful look every time he was near Laura.

The afternoon faded into evening. Everyone gathered for dinner in their best clothes. As a guest, Alexander was supposed to say grace, but because he was stammering quite a bit, Alexia asked to take over, much to her father’s relief. At 9 pm, the twins were told that it was time for bed and that they should go to their room. However, sleep was still a long way off for them.

---

“Alexia, do you really think this is a good idea? What if someone sees us?”

“You said you couldn’t sleep. Besides, we’re not doing anything wrong. We don’t want to steal or break anything. We’re just looking around. It’s almost midnight. They are all asleep now anyway.”

Alfred and Alexia continued their way through the rooms and corridors of the villa. Beatriz had not shown them the entire building, and they had only been briefly in most of the rooms. Now, the twins wanted to take a closer look at the interior of the Vicoriano Estate.

“I know, but what if they wake up and catch us? These people are kind of weird.”

“All except Laura, eh?” Alexia couldn’t see it in the semi-darkness, but she could have sworn Alfred’s face was turning red.

Then she added: “Don’t worry so much. If they catch us sneaking around, we’ll say we had to go to the toilet and got lost.”

“Okay.” They were walking through an area of the villa that Beatriz had left out during the tour when they saw a faint glow of light emanating from the crack under a door.

“Hey, Alexia, look, there’s light. Someone’s still awake. Shall we go and have a look? We weren’t in that room before.”

“Alfie, for real? You were afraid of getting caught only a minute ago...” Alexia signaled Alfred to be quiet. Then they crept over to the door as quietly as they could. It wasn’t completely closed. Alexia cautiously pushed it open with one finger and looked inside.

Ruben was sitting at a table on the opposite wall, doing something Alexia couldn’t see. She gave Alfred a signal. He nodded. Then Alexia pushed the door all the way open, and they entered the room. Ruben turned around in a panic and jumped up from his chair when he saw the twins.

“What are you doing here? Get out! You have no business here,” he whisper-screamed. His hands were covered in blood. He was trying to hide something lying on the table behind him with his body. Curious, the twins came closer.

“What are we doing here? What are you doing here? It’s already late. Little kids like you should be in bed by now,” Alexia replied.

“You’re still children, too. I’m allowed to be here. I’m allowed to do this.”

Alexia had walked around him to take a look at the thing on the table.

“And what exactly are you doing here? Are you going to dissect the pig’s head, or are you playing butcher?”

“None of your business, you stupid cow!”

Alfred grabbed the nearest object within reach, a saw, and started threatening Ruben. “How dare you insult Alexia! I’ll butcher you like that pig!”

Meanwhile, Ruben grabbed a scalpel and held it out to Alfred in his outstretched hand but couldn’t get a word out. Alexia didn’t miss his slight trembling either. After all, Alfred was quite a bit taller and stronger than the 7-year-old boy.

“Alfred, he’s only seven. Stop that right now. Ruben, you too. You’ll wake everyone up if you’re not quiet.” Why did Alfred always have to be so violent? But somehow, Alexia liked it when her brother defended her.

The two of them slowly lowered their weapons. After the situation had calmed down a little, Alexia looked at Ruben’s work. An open book on the table showed the cuts he was supposed to make. The boy had tried to follow it, but the result looked more like crude butchering than precise cuts.

“If you want to dissect the head properly, you have a lot to learn. You know what? I’ll show you how you do it. Do you have gloves?”

The boy shook his head.

“Okay, wait a minute, I’ll get some. And Alfred?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything.”

She went back to her and Alfred’s guest room as quickly and quietly as possible and got some latex gloves and a few other things that might be useful from her luggage. Alexia always took a few lab supplies with her when she traveled. Just in case, she discovered something interesting and wanted to take a sample with her.

Alfred and Ruben had apparently not moved during her absence and were still staring at each other. The atmosphere was still tense, but at least both seemed to be less hostile towards each other now.

“You don’t have any disinfectant either. You’re lucky I have got some with me. You always have to disinfect everything to reduce the risk of exposing yourself to pathogens when working with biological material. For this reason, you should also always wear your personal protective equipment, such as gloves.”

Ruben stared at her, somewhat confused and surprised. “Don’t you think it’s gross what I’m doing?” he asked in a low voice.

“No. Why? When I was your age, I dissected animals too. Mostly, it was rats and other rodents, though.”

A pig’s head was, admittedly, something new, and the last time she had dissected an animal during her studies had been some time ago. Alexia recalled all the steps as she made the preparations.

“Now, watch how I hold the scalpel. It’s best to start here. See? If you cut like this, you can easily remove the scalp.” Ruben watched fascinated.

“And now the cranial bone.” Ruben’s saw didn’t look like a bone saw, and cutting the bone of such a large animal was much more challenging than cutting that of a small rat. “Alfie, will you help me with the sawing? But put your gloves on first.”

Alfred got straight to work under Alexia’s instructions. He seemed to enjoy it. When he had finished, Alexia removed the brain to continue her explanation. Ruben observed everything carefully.

“Alexia is a genius. Pay attention when she explains things to you, kiddo.”

“The brain is surrounded by a thick protective membrane. Here. Just a moment, I have to remove it first.” While Alexia worked, she continued her lecture: “The meninges surround the brain in three layers. The dura mater lies furthest out. The arachnoid mater lies in the middle, and the innermost layer, the pia mater, directly covers the brain’s surface. To increase the surface area, the brain has convolutions. The mountains are called gyri, and the valleys between them are called sulci or fissures if they are particularly deep.”

Alexia traced the areas with her fingers.

“The brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body; the right hemisphere controls the left side. In the middle is the cerebral fissure. The two halves are connected via the corpus callosum, a thick band of neurons.”

Alexia pulled the two halves slightly apart so that Ruben could see it.

“This part is the cerebrum, here is the cerebellum, this is the brain stem, and here we have a part of the spinal cord.” Alexia mainly limited herself to the structure and only briefly went into the functions of the individual areas. She didn’t want to overwhelm the boy, even though he seemed to be following along well so far.

“If you want to separate the two halves, it’s best to cut them cleanly with one slice.”

She took a large knife and showed Ruben the best way to cut through the brain, then continued.

“Now you can see the inner structure of the cerebellum and the subcortical area. This is the thalamus, and underneath we have the hypothalamus.”

As she explained, she separated the parts from one half of the brain as best she could with the tools at her disposal. She then handed them to Ruben, who was also wearing gloves now, so that he could examine them better.

“How do you know all this, and why are you so good at this?”

“Well. Last year I...” Alexia paused. She was supposed to behave like a normal child, and the “normal” part had already fallen into oblivion. “Well... I’m just a genius.” Ruben stared at her for a moment and seemed to understand that she didn’t want to say anything else. Then he nodded briefly and asked: “Can I try it?” Ruben pointed to the other half of the brain.

“Yes, of course.” Alexia stood up so that Ruben could take her seat. Still a little clumsy, Ruben managed to take apart his half of the pig brain under Alexia’s guidance. Despite his age and probably lack of experience, he did better than some of the idiots Umbrella sent her as subordinates.

“Not bad at all, for a start, but you still have a lot of practicing to do. Maybe you will become a scientist one day. You’re definitely clever.”

After this compliment, the boy grinned happily from ear to the other.

“Oh, and Ruben, this will remain our secret, right? Not a word to your parents or your sister.”

“I won’t tell anyone, Alexia.” the boy promised in a serious voice. Alfred bent down so that he was at eye level with Ruben. He still had the saw in his hand and a deranged grin on his face.

“And if you do, I’ll butcher you like that pig!”

“Alfred!”

“I was just joking.” Alexia rolled her eyes. Alfred wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t hurt Ruben even if she didn’t intervene, at least not severely; after all, the child was their hosts’ son. Still, she knew her brother well enough to know that, at the moment, all that stood between him and real murder were the consequences that would follow.

“Come on, it’s getting late. Let’s clean up. I’m getting tired,” Alexia changed the subject. By the time they finished the cleaning and went to bed, it was already after 2 am.

---

The twins slept until late in the morning. Shortly before noon, they received a call that the car had been repaired and that they could pick it up at any time. However, Ernesto insisted that the Ashfords stay for lunch.

In the early afternoon, the Ashfords said goodbye to their hosts. Laura hugged the twins warmly. Alfred held on to the hug a little too long for Alexia’s liking. Ruben seemed a little shy towards her today. She was already worried that the boy was a little overwhelmed. But before Alexia got into the car, Ruben slowly walked up to her and handed her a colorful bouquet of flowers that he had hidden behind his back.

“I picked these for you,” he said quietly.

“Thank you. That’s sweet of you.” Alexia smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, whereupon Ruben turned bright red. “And don’t forget your exercises,” she added quietly. Alfred stood not even a meter away from Alexia. He looked at Ruben as if he would have liked to skin the boy alive on the spot.

“Jealous?” Alexia whispered barely audibly and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

“Come on, are you finally done? We have to go,” Alexander, who was already sitting in the car, interrupted them. They waved goodbye to Beatriz, Laura, and Ruben once more. Then, the twins got into the car before Ernesto drove them to the workshop in Krimson City so that they could continue their journey.

[bitmeddler]

Newmann Writing Wrap 2024

Below is my Newt Geiszler / Hermann Gottlieb writing round-up for 2024. Here's a quick look back over my Newmann fics published in 2024 as well as a preview of 2025!

2024 total published word count: 49,870

Moving Pictures: 4,479 words, rated T 

What an honour it was to do a secret santa gift for the 2023-2024 season last year for the incomparable Maria (hermannsthumb)! This story is a 1920s Hollywood silent film era one-shot AU starring Hermann as a silent film star and Newt as a celebrity film piano accompanist. Bonus: extra visual element in the form of silent film intertitles!

We Don’t Talk About the Bachelor Party: 10,654 words, rated M

The sequel to Something Borrowed, a Tendo and Alison wedding fic in which Mako, Raleigh and our favourite K-scientists are in the wedding party. This fic is the sordid tale of the much referenced but never explained debaucherous stag-hen party in which Hermann gets way too drunk and Newt gets way too naked in public.

Lycanthropic Myopic:  2,027~ words, rated T

Newt is away for three days every month for a “work trip” and Hermann gets a VERY wrong idea about what he’s up to during his absences! A light-hearted Werewolf!Newt story for the Newmann Hallozine (organized by hermannsthumb and K-Sci Janitor and still available and full of so much great stuff) and collab with art provided by the incredible and massively talented foxglovecove! Am I also writing a sexy very, very E-rated sequel to this one? Maaaaaaaybe? I may have already written 3,000 words… whoops! :D 

Hermann Gottlieb: Consulting Detective: 32,710 words (so far), rated M

Victorian-era AU, Sherlock Holmes pastiche:

I was so happy to finally start releasing this one, as I’d been working towards getting it to the point of publishing a chapter every three weeks for AGES. Three more chapters to go until the end of Book One! Anticipated finish date: February 23, 2025.

Hermann in the role of the world’s greatest consulting detective and Newt as resident doctor and expert toxicologist. For folks who like Victorian mystery stories with lots of intrigue and action and the slowest slow burn of all time— I promise they will get together and it will have a happy ending, it’s just going to take a while! You don’t need to be familiar with the Sherlock Holmes canon to enjoy this one, it’s not a crossover, but rather a proper AU with Pacrim characters, (but of course there are lots of references if you’re a Sherlockian too).

Select chapters feature the absolutely gorgeous artwork of foxglovecove, who brings the Victorian version of the boys alive!!! 

+++

A look ahead to 2025: Total WIP word count so far: 51,300~ words 

All of the below are works in progress and the word count will increase, this is what I’ve written but not yet published. My new year’s resolution for 2025 is to finish HG:CD Book One (current word count for unpublished chapters: 11,300~, all written, just editing) and begin publishing Book Two.

Hermann Gottlieb: Consulting Detective: Book Two

The second arc of the story which will pick up where Book One left off with more action, mystery and romance! I decided to break the project into separate books to make it more manageable both to write and to read. Also, the original Sherlock stories were collected into smaller books, making the canon way easier to read, so I decided to follow suit. Anyway, lots more Newmann Victorian AU slow burn goodness to come! Current word count for Book Two: 29,000~

Lycanthropic Erotic (sequel to Lycanthropic Myopic): Currently 3,000~ words, rated E. Oh, so very E.

Nameless: Currently 8,000~ words, rated M

Historical + mythical creature / selkie AU:

I haven’t made much progress on this one lately in favour of HG:CD, but I’ve got big plans for it! The low-down is: After a personal tragedy and irreparable fall-out with his family, Hermann Gottlieb leaves the comforts of his life in London to exile himself to a tiny town on the coast of Scotland. When he encounters a mysterious, green-eyed stranger without a name, he is soon drawn into a world of magic and legend where an underwater war for the fate of humanity is being waged between the selkie folk and terrible beasts known only as the 'Deep Ones.'

+++

That’s a wrap! I really, really want to thank anyone out there who has read, left a comment or kudos, given a like or a reblog… I just want you to know how much it’s meant. It’s such a source of motivation and encouragement, so thank you! Have a wonderful 2025 Pacrim canon year, my lovelies, because by Jove, we’re going to own this year for sure…!

[beesbeesdragons]

I have been BRAINROTTING over an FMA/Pokemon crossover and I need to share it so!!!

this is gonna be a 'characters exist in the context of another universe' crossover, btw so prepare for that!!!! mostly gonna use Kanto-Alola, bc im not familiar really with Galar and Paldea (except for SNOM and Wooloo)

anyway!

regional starters don't reeeeeally matter in this version, if there's a lack of starters in one region, they'll get a starter from another region

any characters who are State Alchemists are now Gym Leaders! Roy is a fire-type, Armstrong is fighting-type, etc. Olivier is a member of the Elite Four because she's just That Good.

Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric grow up in Pallet Town, alongside Winry Rockbell, whose parents are doctors who sometimes help out Professor Oak with stuff.

Trisha Elric and Delia Ketchum are besties, so Ed and Al also grow up with Ash, who is ~2 years older (eg. when Ash goes to Hoenn, Ed is just starting his journey and drags Al along

when Ed and Al are about 4/5, Trisha gets sick when there's an outbreak of disease in the area. She died from this, but Ed and Al move in with the Rockbells (as Delia can't financially support three young children on a single salary).

Hohenheim, btw, is off doing something vaguely justice-y, maybe he's in deep cover in Team Rocket? Idk, but he's not in the picture. Ed and Al know that he's 'busy with work', but can't know what that is. He does his best to keep in contact, but Van Honhenheim is legally dead so there's that issue.

Father is Hohenheim's twin, and is all around a terrible guy. He leads a crime syndicate in one of the regions (don't ask where, maybe Kalos?) that is NOT the main evil team, and the Homunculi are his enforcers.

The homunculi all specialise in a different type (eg. Envy is a bug specialist, Pride is a ghost specialist, Sloth is a fighting specialist, etc). They're annoying as fuck to deal with, and fight by their own rules. If you're in a battle with them, you are aiming to kill, because they won't hesitate to kill you if you lose.

anyway, Winry's parents are killed during an attack by Team Rocket while they were travelling, but are fairly well-known by the Gym Leaders and Elite Four of various regions for,,,,reasons (I.e. they helped out one of the Champions in a tight spot and earned the respect of most).

Just before they get killed, however, Ash leaves on his journey. Ed does NOT particularly like Pikachu, and it's...a situation. But Ed can't WAIT to go on his journey!!!

then, of course, they're vibing and just living life when something comes round to kick their asses.

Its team rocket.

listen, these two kids are at least vaguely related to Professor Elric (aka Hohenheim, he helped out Professor Oak until he found Stuff and went into deep cover to keep the family safe) so surely they know something about his research, right? right???

they, uh, they don't. But the attack happens one night when they're in their dad's study reading about something. a lone member of team rocket is sent to 'retrieve them', and ends up fucking up so much that goddamn ARCEUS gets involved

basically, Ed and Al were just vibing when this fucker, instead of doing the sensible thing and knocking them out and then just nabbing them, decides to bring out a fuckin scyther who...can't grab stuff. shit happens, Ed loses a leg in the initial scuffle but when he's trying to get to Al, loses his arm, and Al...comes off better, but not much. He's lose a few fingers (ring and pinky on his right hand) and a chunk of his shoulder, and also got his larynx badly damaged, but he's...not in immediate danger.

A few weeks pass, and a Gym Leader named Roy comes around to investigate as a favour to one of the Officers Jenny. He's there with his best friend/sort-of girlfriend (Ed doesn't really know, it's definitely something), and he's awkward and angry.

Roy keeps it quiet, it's all under wraps, but when he was younger, before he became a Gym Leader, he was a member of Team Rocket. He...thought they were good, but he was wrong. He left soon after that and dragged his childhood friend, Riza, out with him. Since then, he's become the Elite Four and International Police's investigator and attack dog, while training to inherit the Cinnabar Island Gym.

[sunny6677]

Spookytale: The Rewrite.

A crossover between Spooky Month and Undertale. Or a rewritten version of the last one I did.

(Tagging: @dexter-apologist-5000 @crossover-enthusiast @mayisgoingnuts @facelessthefreak )

Summary:

After hearing the call of a strange, hypnotizing flute—Skid awakes to find himself laying on a bed of golden flowers—with several others surrounding him, and a strange bright light he hadn't seen before beaming it's rays down.

Meanwhile, John—who has no idea how any of them ended up in this strange place, attempts to guide the group to a way out. But he finds himself going on a journey he never thought he'd ever find himself on.

PROLOGUE, PART 1: The Fall.

————

"..m.."

Skid grunted. Rubbing the outer shell of his white mask with his gloved hand. An ache streaked further and further into his forehead, feeling as if something sharp were stabbing into his skull over and over. A sore, aching pain had formed all across his body. And he felt his head practically wobbling from side to side.

He hadn't.. really known how long he had been falling for. Or how far he had fallen. All he knew was that as he stared at the brilliant blue sky that was suddenly shining down from above—it hadn't been the sky he had previously seen.

The sky he had seen had been pitch black, speckled with flickering stars and a high moon. And in the air was a soft, gentle tune of a flute. He had heard it while he had been playing on his computer. He didn't know where it was coming from. Somewhere outside perhaps.

And then—he saw his mother walking by in the view from the creak of his door at a slow.. zombie-like pace. Nothing about the idea of her walking past his door seemed out of the ordinary. Yet, her pace.. it didn't feel right. The strange glazed look he had caught in her eye as she went past.

And.. for once, he decided to obey his fear. Instead of continuing to play games as he normally he did, he hopped off of his chair and followed.

"Mom? Where—where are you going?" He had asked.

She didn't respond. She just kept walking.

..he stumbled behind her as she turned a corner. "Mom?"

Still, she didn't answer—her mouth slightly parted as she kept walking.

And.. even with that, he wasn't sure how long it had been. How long it had been for when he went from simply saying his mom's name to crying for her and begging for her to talk to him. He didn't know how long it had been that he had ran outside behind her with the cold, blinding chill enveloping him. How long simple tears turned into hysterical sobbing as everyone else he knew in town appeared to be walking slowly in the same direction.

He had ran along the sidewalks after her, along the roads, along the fields of grass which led into the forest, and into the forest itself. He heard the piercing sound of a siren from behind him. It.. it was a bit blurry from there though. He wasn't sure why.

He may have gone with those two officers he had occasionally seen around town, who had seemingly shown up out of nowhere asking him questions about his mom. He might have kept following his mom as the police officers pleaded for him to come back. It might have even been both, or his mind was simply making things up.

..no. No, he defintely went with the officers at some point. But he couldn't remember when. He couldn't remember if he ran away from them or if he went after them when they were gone from the car longer than they should have been.

Either way—what he did remember was stumbling foward once he had reached the gigantic, round hole that led into the darkness below—and feeling himself slowly descend into it. The air around him shifting into humidity. He could barely see as he practically felt himself being spun around. Seeing glimpses of other people in town either falling from below or above him.

It felt like forever. It might have been forever. Maybe a few minutes, or maybe an hour. Things ended up going dark for what felt like only a second—and..

..then merely a second ago, the darkness faded. And he was here. Laying on something soft, a damp atmosphere filling the area around him as warmth coated his face through the holes of his mask. A sweet, fragrant scent filled his nostrils. The more he just.. sat there, he processed the sensation of several soft but small items beneath his arms.

He forced his head to turn, squinting a little as he did so—and attempting to grasp at the ground with his little hands. Instead of firm ground though, he felt his fingers slightly grab at something. Something that felt long, thin, and delicate.

His eyes gazed down—adjusting to the faint darkness around him. Only then as he processed the vibrant shades of golden yellow from within his hands did he realize that it was a small flower. In fact, there were several flowers. Golden flowers sitting from below him in several rows on a patch of beautiful green grass.

Skid blinked. He attempted to shake his head again—but he only felt a searing ache enter his mind once more. He let out a grunt. As if to mirror his noises though, he began to hear several sounds from all around him. Several voices. Grunting at different turns, or grumbling, muttering different things he couldn't understand.

He gave a quick glance up. In the faint corner of his eye from within the darkness, he saw a gray-haired man in a green vest slowly sit up—lifting his upper body and shaking his head at a rather rapid rate. The man let out a low grunt again—sounding as if he were snarling.

Not just that—a gigantic man in the corner with a blue shirt around his muscular build had already been sitting up, grumbling in a low voice. A small girl with her light brown hair tied up in a ponytail, lifting her head up. A curvy woman with brown hair cascading down her back and running her fingers through her hair, sitting on another woman with darkish yellow hair made into a low ponytail. A slim-faced man with black hair and a pink bow around his neck—lifting his head up from the ground.

..they were faces he knew. Familiar faces.

"..son?"

A low, familiar voice with a feminine tone finally breathed out from beside him. Almost immediately, he snapped his head in the voices direction.

His eyes were greeted by the sight of a familiar, tall woman with straight long purple hair that went to her back—her bangs covering her squinted eyes. Her lips formed into a frown. Her hair appeared to be a slight mess from the fall.

And as she looked down at him, her eyes melting with hues of worry and not with a faint glaze—a wet sensation formed in his mind. A lump quickly formed in his throat. Almost instantly, he whimpered—"Mom!"

The ache in his body—the ache in his head. All of it felt like it didn't matter just within a few seconds. He practically hopped up onto his feet—a sob escaping his mouth.

"Mom!"

He cried, throwing his hands around desperately for the few moments he ran. And once he finally approached closely enough, he found himself desperately wrapping his arms around her slender waist. He burrowed his masked face into her chest—sniffling. Her body tensed for a moment, but quickly weakened in his arms.

"So—Son, what.. what happened?" His mom asked in a soft tone.

He couldn't answer—weeping into her chest as he just.. held onto her. He didn't even know how to describe it. All that he knew was that his mom was seemingly okay and normal again. And that filled him with an unbelievable amount of relief.

He exhaled heavily. Inhaled heavily. He felt her slender arms slowly slip around him, pulling him closer as she looked down at him. And then looked up. He looked up only for a moment. But he could see the slow widening of anxiety in her eyes. She went silent, and her mouth hung open.

"..wuuu.."

A higher, familiar voice began to mumble from behind him. And he slowly tilted head from the source of the sound. He blinked—the tears in his eyes seeming to barely stop from shock, streaking down his cheeks as he stared at the orange-masked figure in the shadows.

It was a small boy with a gigantic pumpkin mask over his head, the bright green stem emerging from the top, and a black suit worn around his chubby body. The more his eyes trailed over this boy who began to lift his head with a puzzled grunt, the more the feeling of familiarity started to fill his mind.

He blinked again. Two pairs of round eyes now stared back at him. The boy in the pumpkin mask spoke. "..Skid..?"

"Pump? Wha—what are you doing here? What's—"

His eyes trailed across the room. All around within the shadows, faces he saw slowly starting to open their eyes and gaze around the room.

The gigantic, muscular man with a blue shirt worn over him who he knew as the local man who sold ice cream from within the town. Frank.

The curvy woman with brown hair who he had only seen once, now bending down next to a man with slightly cracked blue glasses before him—and whom struggled to sit up. He couldn't place where he had seen either of them. But something about them seemed familiar.

The woman with the darkish yellow hair, her mouth formed into an almost triangular frown as she momentarily glared at the brown haired woman—and then how her gaze softened once she turned to look at a small black-haired boy with his face firmly planted on the ground. A muscular, tall man with long brown hair slowly sitting up.

Jaune. His mom's friend. Ross. Aaron.

The small girl with her hair tied up into a ponytail—the usual irritated expression she wore now gone as she looked around in confusion from beside Pump. Susie. Pumps older sister.

The slim faced man with black hair flickering his gaze around the room—a gigantic cap now sat with his knees pressed to the ground, his hands placed on them. His white button up slightly messed up from the fall. Kevin. The cashier whom he was friends with at the local candy store.

The two police officers from before—the brown haired sheriff appearing to be helped up into a standing position by his black-haired partner. A worried expression on the black-haired ones face.

A blonde haired woman who he had seen at the hospital from before—rubbing her head.

A blonde headed boy shaking his head with a dimple on the right side of his face. A man with a similar appearance and movie glasses worn over his eyes grunting rather pathetically from the ground. A large man with dark brown hair calmly looking down at him, already sitting up.

The angry neighbor with dark gray hair who had already been sitting up. An elderly bald man with a black cloak and a cross-necklace worn over his shoulders. A small brown haired boy from beside the woman with brown hair. And.. many others. All of whom which he either knew or faintly recognized.

The sheriff with brown hair and a mustache over his lips gazed around slowly in the corner of his eye. The wrinkles in his cheeks fading slightly as he gave a frown. And he blinked slowly. His eyes widened. Scanning over everyone else. The light from above which shone down onto them.

His head was tilted up still. He made himself slowly walk foward—his deputy following alongside him. And his dark eyes just.. stared at the light. The sky. The dark brown rock which he could barely see just from above it. The damp atmosphere of the room seemingly overwhelmed him.

Audibly, beneath his breath in a gruff voice—he uttered—

"Where.. where the fuck are we?"

[enchantedchocolatebars]

Crossover fic request: Mew ( Pokemon ) meets Courage ( Courage the cowardly dog ) and then having a good time together please?

Courage Meets Mew

A blissful sigh left Courage's lips as the pink household pet laid on his tummy on the living room carpet, slowly kicking his little legs in the air while drawing and coloring a picture of a dog bone.

Today, so far, has been a normal and relaxing one for him, which he loved as he rarely gets to experience those due to the creepy and unusual things that always happen in the middle of Nowhere.

To add icing to the already delicious cake that was his day, Eustice was in town and out of the farmhouse, while Muriel was in the kitchen baking a delicious gooseberry pie.

All was well with the world.

When Courage finished adding the last detail to his drawing, he grabbed his picture and gazed at it with pride.

His art style was childlike and adorable.

To Courage, the drawing was the most spectacular thing he's ever drawn and colored, and he was certain that Muriel would think the same when he showed it to her.

He would be delighted if she displayed his drawing on the refrigerator for all to see.

As he arose to go to the kitchen, Courage heard a knock at the front door.

He sighs, setting his work down before slowly walking towards the doorway.

Looks like Eustice has returned.

When Courage twists the doorknob, expecting a scare from his ornery, elderly owner, the dog jolted some to see the complete opposite: a pale pink cat with round eyes floating in front of him.

Such a sight startled Courage greatly, but the cat in response giggles before waving a small hand at Courage.

Courage, upon noticing the cat's friendliness, timidly reciprocates the wave with his own.

After a few mews, Courage learns that the cat's name is Mew and that it was a creature called a Pokemon.

That fact amazes Courage as he's never heard of such a creature before.

The pink dog then introduces himself to Mew by babbling in high-pitched gibberish.

Now that the two are on friendly terms, Courage allows Mew inside and happily shows him his bone drawing.

To which Mew nods its head, showing its liking for the art.

Mew informs Courage that it can sense the goodness in Courage's heart, and because of that, it is willing to grant the dog three wishes.

Courage is overjoyed to hear that and gestures for Mew to come closer, which they do as the dog whispers his three wishes into the magical cat's ear.

After a pleased expression and a nod, Mew uses its poke powers to make Courage's wishes come true.

...

For the first wish, Courage and Mew are at the kitchen table being served by Muriel, who now has a beautiful new hairstyle, a fresh slice of her homemade gooseberry pie.

Displayed in the background on the front of the fridge is Courage's bone drawing.

For the second wish, Courage and Mew are back in the living room as Courage shows Mew some tricks on his brand new red yo-yo.

Mew, fascinated by Courage's yo-yoing, conjured up a yo-yo of their own in the shape of a pokeball and showed off their skills to Courage, who was greatly impressed by them as the two yo-yoed together.

Finally, for the third and final wish, a giant inflatable castle is standing outside the farmhouse.

Inside, Courage is buoyantly bouncing up and down while Mew merrily watches him while floating.

Its head looks up when Courage comes up and down when Courage falls down.

[hanahaki-disease]

Beyond the Farthest Reaches

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC Crossover

“Robin? Yes, but also No”

Summary:

Being Robin was big shoes to fill, it’s a good thing he has his own pair and that its temporary.

Set after “And You Wonder What I Believe”

**********************************

Tim is sick. Point blank. No sugar coating it. Tim was sick with the flu and pneumonia and looked like Thanatos himself farted on him.

Percy grimaced when another round of coughs racked through Tim’s weak body, trying to keep his lunch from running back up. Honestly he wanted to help Tim get better. He wanted to play nurse like he was used to and make sure he got the fluids he needed, but he kind of forgot that with the flu came nausea and vomiting. Percy can handle a lot of gross things, he kinda has to if he wanted to be Alfred’s medical assistant. But removing bullets from bodies and resetting limbs and snapping broken feet back into place was a whole different ball park.

“Perce,” Tim croaked. His voice rough and scratchy from the abuse his bile did against his vocal chords. If he could heal illnesses with his power, Percy would have done it yesterday, but it seems even his powers have limits. “You haf’ta be—” he paused, gaged, and steadied his breathing. “be Robin for patrol.”

“B can go without Robin for a few nights, ducky,” Percy adjusted the tightness of his mask around his face. He was not getting sick. No thank you. Demigods and sickness do not mesh well together. “He’s a big boy, he can play pretend by himself.”

He didn’t know if it was because of Tim’s stubbornness or the delirium, but the kid shook his head. “Plan needs Bobin…haf’ta go.” His hazy eyes fluttered shut. “Use…use my suit.” Aaand he was out. Mouth open, drool already beginning to build up and his nose wheezing with each congested breath.

Yeeahh, no. Percy not going to use the sick-kids suit when he already has a suit himself. But as Percy closed the door behind him, discarding the mask and gloves in the disposal bin by the door, he wondered if Bruce actually needed a Robin for patrol tonight. Did he need the extra set of hands by his side and fighting along side him? Did he need another set of eyes to analyze and decipher whatever mystery that he and Tim had been working on?

A part of him was excited to be Robin, if only for a night. Yes, he’s told himself that he didn’t want to be Robin. That it was only for Jason and Dick and Tim, he found his excitement in the life of a demigod and was content to play the role of backup and medic. So then why had he designed his own suit? Better yet, why did Bruce agree to make it for him?

“B!” Percy jumped off the side of the stairs, skipping five steps, and scanning the cave for his dad. They were getting better, he liked to think. Some days were easier than others and some were like how it had been before Jason’s death. Percy felt like today was a good day (except for the fact that Tim was upstairs inches from deaths’ door.)

“Yes, pearl?” Bruce answered and he had to hold back a sigh. Diana had called him that when he was little, claiming Percy was too precious and that he should be protected like a pearl. It didn’t take long for Bruce to agree and soon both of them had called him by the nickname, though Diana had stopped shortly after he turned twelve and he didn’t quite know why.

“Ducky said you needed a Robin for patrol tonight,” he said, walking over to the garage where his dad was.

“I do,” Bruce wiped away his sweat. “I needed him to crawl through an air vent to try and get the plans Dent has against Sionis.”

“Dent? As in, your ex-boyfriend Dent? The one from high sch—” Bruce tossed his dirty rag and hit Percy in the face, cutting him off. “Ew! That’s gross, dad! Yuck!”

“But, yes, that Dent,” Bruce chuckled. “Tim was supposed to get it while I created a diversion. I’d do it another time, but Harvey leaves town tomorrow with those plans.”

Percy kicked his feet from where he sat on the tool table beside Bruce. “What if…” he scratched at his neck, “What if I was Robin for tonight? Since Tim is sick and everything.”

Bruce turned to look at him, concern laced his features because he, too, knew that Percy never had an interest being Robin before. His dad seemed to think about it for a bit before answering. Percy knew that if he put on the suit, any variation of it, he’d look a little too much like Jason. The mask would sit over his eyes the same way and the cape would hang over his shoulders just like Jason’s suit had done for him.

And maybe Bruce thought he was ready to see Percy in the suit, if only for a night. He had gotten over the drinking (which Percy didn’t even know he had done) and allowed Tim to be Robin, to bear the same name as Jason. But was he ready for Percy? For his youngest?

“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to, son,” Bruce said setting down his tools. Percy only nodded his head. No turning back now. “Alright. Suit up. We leave in thirty.”

Percy didn’t need to be told twice. He leapt off the table, making a few tools crash to the floor, a made a beeline for his locker. Did he need a locker? Not really, he didn’t have a suit nor did he go out on patrol—at least that’s what Bruce knew.

There were a few times since his return that first summer that his restlessness had gotten worse. He couldn’t sit still in the cave anymore, and no amount of going through Dick’s high bars or going against the hologram training was going to settle his bones. He needed to run. To sprint and dodge and maybe stop a mugging or two while Bruce and Tim were out doing Bruce and Tim things. So with Alfred’s help, Percy had his own “uniform” to wear while he went out. Armored, camouflaged, and with at least three trackers sewn into it to make sure he was safe, Percy was ready to go out and kick ass.

He didn’t have to wear that suit tonight, thankfully, it was getting a little tight. But the Robin version of that suit fit perfectly, and Percy couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his lips when he saw it. Compared to the three previous Robins, his suit was different. He stole the idea of green pants from Tim, as well as the two sided cape so he’ll have to thank him for that when he’s not actively dying.

He slipped on the green gauntlets as he ran to catch up with Bruce, mask being the first thing he had put on. Percy smiled as he skirted to a stop, “Ready.”

After living with Bruce for most of his life, he’s gotten pretty good at noticing the small twitches and silent body language the man shows off. A tightened jaw mean he was angry or frustrated, a slight movement of his jaw was him trying not to smile or laugh. A twitch of the eyebrow was him trying to not let his frown, be that of grief or of disappointment, show. Percy had money that it was the former, but he knew why he had that reaction because Percy had the same one in the mirror.

Bruce didn’t let the frown show, he simply slipped on the cowl, letting the Batman take over, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

**********************************

I am a firm believer that Bruce and Harvey dated their junior year, broke up, but were a little too close for comfort with each other after wards that it was hard to tell if they were or weren’t together

Also—I may or may not have my own Robin!Percy design floating around some note books and sticky notes on my desk. Let me know if you’re interested at all in those, but I’ll warn you now that I am Not The Best™

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

[the-east-art]

Easts Country Song Rec List

This is gonna lean a little mainstream, just cuz that's what I grew up with. Gonna try to pick some songs that I think are both good country songs and good exposure for the genre. Gonna try not to pick classics that have broken out of the genre (Jolene, Country Roads, etc)

God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash Mama Tried - Merle Haggard Sleeping on the Blacktop - Colter Wall Calling Baton Rouge - Garth Brooks Mama's Broken Heart - Miranda Lambert (More under the cut)

Merry Go 'Round - Kacey Musgraves There's Your Trouble - The Chicks T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Travis Tritt Life's a Dance - John Michael Montgomery Diggin' Up Bones - Randy Travis Like the Rain - Clint Black Forever and Ever, Amen - Randy Travis What Kinda Gone - Chris Cagle American Kids - Kenny Chesney The Thunder Rolls - Garth Brooks The Fireman - George Strait Hell's Coming With Me - Fancy - Reba McEntire Southern Nights - Glen Campbell Lesson in Leavin' - Jo Dee Messina Wildflower - the JaneDear girls Fastest Girl in Town - Miranda Lambert Two Black Cadillacs - Carrie Underwood Ghost Riders in the Sky - Johnny Cash Big Iron - Marty Robbins Make It Sweet - Old Dominion

Uhhhh i genuinely have no clue if anyone cares. But here's some songs. I actually like a lot of the beat and vibe of country music - especially the stuff that leans more acoustic and less stadium. Back in college I took a swing dancing class that was also line dancing and I thought it was a lot of fun. Back then I also learned about to cowboy chacha and I don't remember it now but I remember it was fun. Idk, there are some sucky country songs, but I also think there are some bops, or some really sweet songs. I tried really hard to keep this just to regular country, and to songs that I think are like more interesting to the general public I guess. A lot of Indie Folk Rock I think has crossover with country vibes (thinking about The Crane Wives) but I didn't include them for the previously stated reason.

Uhhhhh if you like any of these songs lmk I guess. If you want I'll make a playlist.

[purplesigebert]

WIP Wednesday Week #14 - DW Crossover

If, and who’s she kidding, she totally does, but if she let herself think about it, she would go crazy about how she didn’t know her true age anymore. At first, it was easy to round up or say that she was still the same age as her friends back in Mystic Falls. A missed year here, the Year That Never Was there, and she was around sixteen when the Salvatores came to town. Give or take a few months.

And then the Pandorica happened, and all her careful tracking went out the window.

70 years lost to the Hunter’s curse.

20 years making sure that everything in 1492 followed the events that she did her best to recall from Elena’s rushed retelling. And even after checking Reddit for records of those events, she still wasn’t sure that she didn’t mix up the timeline.

Was Rebekah at Klaus’ birthday party in 1492 in the original timeline, or wasn’t she? Caroline would never know.

(She wasn’t but Rebekah got curious as to why Elijah was receiving the second choice on his Bonfire Season paper, consistently. For 20 years.)

So, yes, when Senior Prank Night rolled around, Caroline Forbes was closer to a century than eighteen years old.

[disgruntledkittenface]

✨️ Twenty Questions for Fic Writers ✨️

Thank you @allwaswell16 and @haztobegood for tagging me! I love reading everyone's answers to these <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

60, including one cowrite

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

831,513

3. What fandoms do you write for?

One Direction. I use the BBC Radio 1 RPF tag for pairings with Nick Grimshaw, and I used the Shawn Mendes (Musician) one a few times, too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

you came into my life, caught up in your love affair, baby, you're the end of june, an honest mistake and tell me what you need

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I love replying to comments, even when I feel awkward about it. I really like getting replies from authors, I find it discouraging not to, so that's partly why. But a nice comment really makes me day, and I want to let people know I appreciate that. But I might miss one occasionally, and sometimes I don't reply if I think the commenter is being rude.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It's probably my first fic, This Town. The whole fic is Niall processing Zayn leaving the band – but more importantly leaving him, and they don't get back together in the end. It's not my fault, Niall wrote a sad song! But also I was in the thick of grieving, so. That's what happened.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I almost, almost always write happy endings, so I could really pick this one at random lol, but I'll go with enough to make a girl blush. I really love how far Louis has come at the end of that fic and how happy she and Niall are together and how good they are together. Plus, I wrote a happy little timestamp for Harry and Zayn (count me in).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten comments that don't sit well with me, but not really. I did post a fic set at the beginning of COVID before I knew how bad it would get, and someone messaged me to say they were sorry about the hate it was getting... but I didn't see any?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes! I write smut that I find hot, girl direction and boy direction. When I started writing, I felt like I wrote absolutely terrible smut and I worked really hard to figure it out. Practice makes progress, baby.

10. Do you write crossovers? What the craziest one you've written?

I've written a couple of reality show AUs with the actual people from the shows in the fic – you came into my life and you wanna be on top? Nothing too crazy!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think someone stole a shiall one-shot and posted it on Wattpad. Weirdly, I feel like I haven't made it because that doesn't happen to me more often.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! Most recently, someone asked if they could translate pink like the paradise found into Russian and they were so lovely.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I took part in a round robin for Nic's (@louandhazaf) birthday a few years ago! (Louis referring to merlot as the basic bitch of wines was me!) Co-writing has come up as an idea a couple of times, but the timing or idea etc has never been right.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I kind of have to fall deep for a pairing to write them, so I love a lot of pairings! Aside from larry, I think gryles might be my favorite. Something about the pining best friends who can't be together because of... REASONS just gets me where I live.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I had an idea for a lilo exes to lovers AU based on bennifer and I wrote a snippet that I really liked for it, but I felt like I was white washing Jennifer Lopez, if that's the right word? Like you can't separate her from the fact that she's Puerto Rican, so casting Louis in that role didn't feel right. I could try to figure out another way to approach it, but I don't really think I'll feel inspired enough.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm really good at continuity, and writing scenes with lots of people and involving all of them.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I always feel like I start sentences with "Niall did this" and "Harry did that" (sorry, writing narry at the moment). So, narration that's not action? Does that make sense?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it can be done effectively. I liked how the French worked in Darling, so it goes. It made sense to include because Harry moved to a country where he didn't speak the language. I tried to make the meaning of the French clear when Harry understood it, but I didn't include translations in the notes because Harry didn't understand a lot, and I wanted the reader in his shoes. I worked really hard on the French because I don't speak it, but I asked @somethingwittyorother to look it over and their feedback was incredibly helpful.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

One Direction!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

It's usually the last fic that I posted, so right now it's Suddenly Last Summer. I had the best time writing it and it was such a fulfilling creative outlet, and I just love it.

I'll tag: @crinkle-eyed-boo @uhoh-but-yeah-alright @neondiamond @kingsofeverything @louandhazaf @absoloutenonsense @homosociallyyours @nouies @onlythebravest