#gonna be posting the ones still unposted here soon

[tiny-evillious]

a currently more or less full tiny evillious experience

[asexualzoro]

it's december 9th, meaning today is my 23rd birthday (which is my favorite number!), which means it's time for...

Lew Writes Wrapped 2023!!!

im including anything that happened after my last bday, so we have some works from december as well. this one's a bit of a weird one for the total word count, you'll see why

it's all treebark from my sideblog / alt ao3. i cannot change. i will not change. for these im just gonna specify the relationship that's the main focus bc thats easier than fandom bc all but like one are third life

dandelion wishing

(Dec, 2.4k, treebark, oneshot) (link)

op movie 6 au for dogwarts in which Martyn is the baron and Ren doesn't know he's dead

id actually plotted out a whole third life au for this movie like months prior and really wanted to write it, so i took it for treebark week and focused it just on these two. it's my fave movie of all time and i obvs had to give it to my fave completely dead team <3

i will admit tho. it did make me back search martyns twitter to see if hes ever posted abt watching this movie. bc i know he likes One Piece and i realized this would bring me into the danger zone (he hasnt ever posted abt it if hes seen it)

A Romance Route for the Doomed Villain?!?

(Dec, 5k, treebark, oneshot) (link)

treebark dating sim isekai parody that spiraled out of my control made in a day-long possession

im still baffled by this one. why was the response to this one so insane?? there was smth in the water the day i posted this bro. a 1:2 kudos to hits ratio for the entire first day is literally fucking unbelievable. 70 comments?? what hold did this fic have on you people. i got fic written about this one?? my friends goncharov'd me in front of my face

really fucking fun to write and the insane response was smth im always gonna remember. i appreciate you guys so much

treesekai also turns a year old in a few days!

Until the Angels Realize You're Not One of Them

(Feb, 7.2k, emerald duo, oneshot) (link)

a traitor phil au which was mostly just me talking about all the reasons i love technoblade

this one... wasnt actually written this year for the most part? i didnt want to not acknowledge it, since it's on my ao3 in this year, but i wont be able to count it toward the total

still. traitor phil au my beloved. hearing him say on his stream he and techno wanted to do a betrayal arc made me feel insane bc i already had this written at the time

missing or obstructed

(2022-present, 12.9k, Grian & Ren, ongoing) (link)

post 3L fic about Ren and Grian seeking out closure with a lot of funny little sleep metaphors

same deal as the last fic, i, uh dont think i actually wrote anything new for missing or obstructed this year either? just uploaded chapters i wrote last year,,, i didnt wanna now acknowledge it, but i wont count this in my total later

i miss her. one day ill actually sit down and write more missing or obstructed. in my doc im JUST at introducing Martyn and i havent written it yet

to reach my mangled debut

(Sept, 4.2k, treebark week, ongoing) (link)

it wouldnt be me if i didnt have an execution somewhere in here. another op au!

THIS. I LOVE HER. when rev and i were plotting out the whole storyline for smop renchanting i was begging please give me this scene i need it and i had so much fun writing it. i rlly need to finish soon but i haven’t had time but please. please check out smop. she’s top of my priority list to update

Three-Dog Night

(Sept, 6.7k, treebark week, oneshot) (link)

BIG DOG. beauty and the beast au!

god im so fond of this au. there’s some rlly good scenes written for this and unposted bc i just need to link them together. honestly i think if i took a month and focused it on this fic alone i could fucking finish it but i don’t have the time ;-;

that said i’m so enamored w this au genuinely. o dunno what else to say i just think. puppy

Cover Me In Roses

(Sept, 3.3k, treebark week, oneshot) (link)

lamplight roleswap! put Martyn in a flower pot

i don’t feel as motivated to work on this one when i have lamplight unfinished so it’s lower on my priorities but know i have like an entire arc of this written and unposted. we just have a few paths for this one and i have to decide which one to use

it’s so wild to me lamplight has like. aus. like this isn’t even the only one? a roleswap. that’s insane? it’s wild that you all like lamplight enough i can even get away with this

First Sign of a House Fire

(Sept, 2k, treebark week, oneshot) (link)

i love superhero stories for two reasons: plots about secrets and adapting the characters to give them powers. this had smth fun for both of them

yellow rose isn’t super high on my list of priorities to update (i think the oneshot is interesting on its own) but one day,,,, it’s part of the many aus cherri and i have but it’s the longest for sure. the doc for just this au is like 100k words long on its own. at the time i draft this cherri and i are actively writing smth else for it in another tab. theres like 4 offshoots and im obsessed w all of them. we had to make ocs about this one. i’m excited to eventually add more to this series

actually that’s one of the scenes i’m most excited for and most dreading adding. we made a backstory oc and im SO attached to him and im excited to post a thing out there w him but. ough. whatever cringe is dead i’ll get there eventually and brute force my way into attaching you to our funky little robot guy

also love that this fic forced me to be decided on a docv characterization that i have to stick to. he may be a canon guy to martyn’s vtuber lore but he’s my oc now too

Blindsided

(Sept, 2k, treebark week, ongoing) (link)

pirate au and royal au based on a big secret and also stuffing a guy in a box and it's all stupid dramatic literally what else do you want or need in life

this is my wife. my favorite. my most beloved. blindsided gives me new illnesses and diseases. i have just one scene to write before i can update it and then i can continue unleashing her. god i love this fic the drama of it is SO fun.

the funny thing abt blindsided is i know all the plot chronologically but now how to Present it which is part of why i haven’t continued too much. eventually i will but until then know that one of the scenes im sitting on which has been fully written is one i think about constantly. hopefully when i post it cherri’ll let free the comic she did for it

i actually have the ending of this fic written i just need to get there lmfao. second on my priority list after smop i think

Cradle of the Leviathan

(Sept, 1.5k, treebark week, oneshot) (link)

i just love mer aus man. whats the point of it all if you cant have mer aus. just get a big ol fish

i have the ending of this au written as well and literally so little of the lead up. but this is pretty low on my priorities. i think this one stands just fine on its own. mer aus are nice like that

we actually have a few mer aus but for now i’ll be focusing on this one. i do have a few sweet post story things written for this one. maybe one day i’ll write enough to post em lmao

Lamplight AU

(2022-present, 47k, treebark, ongoing) (link)

renchanting dnd/fantasy au, martyn's a paladin and ren's a lamp

so i started this au last year. my wrapped last year said my total was 20k, so that means this year's total is.... 27k!

and… it was just lamplight’s birthday and i did all my appreciation for the fic and its readers then, but god. i love this fic so much and i love you all who have read it and been so kind about it. the amount of popularity it has makes it a bit nerve wracking to work on, but i still really want to see it finished. i hope to see the bulk of it done by this time next year!

Six Sentence Sunday

six sentence sunday is a challenge where i try to post six sentences i wrote that week every sunday, to keep me writing every week of the year! i do it over on my writing blog, @driflew

i did not keep up on my six sentences,,, i had a lot of sunday fencing tournaments. i did for ~33 weeks this year! thats a pretty good amount! i’ll have to be more on top of it next year tho

unpublished work

the last few years i havent included unpublished work, but with the extreme bulk of it, i wanted to note it down. cherri @/cherrifire and i have been writing a lot back and forth at each other in discord dms this year, and i wanted to include those in my count! bc holy fucking shit is there a lot of them

i didn’t include collab pieces, just pieces i wrote alone. i also only included the renchanting aus i share w cherri and scarian aus i share w flowey, nothing else—no unfinished lamplight or other independent pieces or oneshots, no original fiction for class, nothing. i also missed a few u haven’t moved to docs yet. so i’m lowballing by a few. thousands. of words

the total for those is...... 135k words! there is,,, something wrong with me

total and end notes

our total this year is...

187512 words!

that might be my highest word count yet! because i caught treebark disease. wild.

something really fun about this year to me is i really loved everything i wrote.

if you want to get me a gift or support me on my birthday… maybe try reading my work and reblogging it or leaving a comment! you can find my writing at driflew or skelew on ao3, follow my writing blog at @driflew, or even consider tipping my kofi!

thank you for sticking with me and supporting me this year! i really appreciate it! hopefully i can break 100k next year too!

[sassysnowperson]

What I've Been Up To Lately

Writing Edition

I'm in sort of a weird place right now with writing - I have a lot of WIPs but I'm not posting a lot outside of things that are written for exchanges. And I realized I was feeling sort of...lonely? That might be a good word for it. Writing, by default, can be a lonely thing. SO, since I have a tumblr and at least some of you followed me for my writing, I figured I'd ramble about it here!

If you wind up reading through this, and you're interested in cheerleading or maybe even beta reading some of the WIPS, let me know! I feel like some of the reason these are WIPs and not finished fics is that they're mostly stuck in my own head, and it could be fun to chat about the stories with someone else.

I'm also thinking I might do a weekly update or something with what I've been working on - this is a bit bigger of a summary, but it might be fun to do wordcount/story progress updates or something. What do you all think?

Anyway, onto the fics!

Posted WIPS

Arrivals, Departures, Connections: I have two more chapters written since the last one I posted. About 6.5k new words. I really need to coax a beta into looking at it though - I think there's good stuff there, but I also suspect it could be better.

Unposted WIPS

Going to put these under a cut - it got long, and in the WIPs there are some spoilers for the Mandalorian S2 and Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I put the FatWS stuff at the end, so if that's the only thing you're trying to avoid spoilers for, stop when you see Sam n Bucky.

Tattoine Fun Times: I have GOT to find a better WIP title for this one, since it is not fun at all. Takes place right after the end of Mandalorian Season 2, and in FINE Sass tradition, focuses on a background character - in this case the dancing girl chained to Bib Fortuna's throne when Fennic Shand rolls in. I have 2k written, and I've stalled out. Though, looking at it to write this summary, I think it might be because I actually found the end. I thought this was going to be a larger story, but I might be able to wrap this up pretty quickly. So...maybe coming soon?

Artist OT3: The expansion of my Bodhi/Cassian/Poe ficlet - Modern AU, Bodhi and Cassian are artists, Poe is their semi-reluctant model, muse and friend. 4.5k here - stalled out when I tried to figure out what the non-Poe Sequel Trilogy folks are up to. As it's getting to be a bigger story I want to bring more of the world in, give us the chance to see Poe's friends - who absolutely include Rey and Finn and Rose. Just need to figure out, you know, what they're doing.

Nile and Andy: The Old Guard fic - 6.4k written. I really loved these two and their dynamic with each other. Wanted to spend some more time with them. Andy and Nile drive around Europe in a vintage Porche, talk about history, eat baklava, argue about music, muse about the future, and cry a little bit. I actually really enjoy this one...not sure why I haven't finished it yet.

Sam N Bucky: Ah, wait no, this might actually be why I haven't finished anything else. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier fic - 16k written. I did not realize I had written that much of it until I did the wordcount just now. It's not a complete surprise, I guess, I've loved Sam since CA:TWS. But I haven't loved Marvel much since then, so I thought I was free! I thought Star Wars was the only Disney-owned trashfire media property I was going to care about creatively!

I regret to inform you all that they got me. Anyway, this is 16k of slowburn pining and domesticity (and dealing with trauma and therapy feelings because it's still me).

And that's what I've been working on! I don't have any exchanges active right now, though I do have one work in an anon collection right now that will be revealed in my name...next week? I think. Well, if you've read this far, thank you for reading my rambles!

Have a snippit of SamBucky bickering as a treat:

The shield ricocheted off the edge of the dock and came rocketing back toward Bucky, who caught it on his metal arm.

"The first time I did that, the shield fell straight in the water, and I had to break out the snorkel and go diving to find it again," Sam shared, mostly because he knew it would irritate Bucky.

"You didn't," Bucky said, his eyes narrowing, and flung it at a nearby cluster of trees. Three bounces later, Sam caught it in a grab that rolled with the momentum of the shield, lessening the impact.

"Oh I did. I still think it smells like swap, what do you think?" Sam said with a grin, before hurling the shield back.

"I—" Bucky caught the shield "—think that Steve made a mistake. I'm taking her back. I'll treat her right. Dump her in the swamp, the nerve."

"When did the shield become a girl?" Sam asked. "That seems like a strange choice."

"Don't listen to him, baby," Bucky said, petting the edge of the shield.

"Weirder," Sam informed him. He was not going to be jealous of an inanimate object. "You know what, I bet it would skip well. It's a good shape for it."

Bucky glared at Sam.

"Come on," Sam said, warming up to the idea. "It could have practical uses. We might need to fight evil speedboats."

"We are not going to need to fight evil speedboats," Bucky protested.

"All the shit we've seen, can you really say that with confidence?" Sam raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I know what this is."

"You trying to lose the shield in the ocean is what this is," Bucky said.

"You know I'm gonna be able to skip it more times than you," Sam continued with a knowing nod. "I understand, consider it dropped."

Bucky growled. He looked over at the shoreline. "Stick to the shallows," he said after a second. "And if we lose it in the water, you're the one going in after it. I have a handicap." Bucky waved his vibranium arm in Sam's direction.

[riotwritesthings]

Ok I was actually tagged in a bunch of these year-end-writing-things, so I’m just gonna combine them all haha thank you @crownofstardustandbone​ and @thursday-knight​!!!

Total Completed Stories:

53(?!?!?)

Total words:

On AO3: 416,521

Total including WIPS and unposted things: 588,500

Fandoms written in:

.... Just MCU ahaha

Top 5 By Word Count:

Road Hazards

It Lingers Too

I Feel It Too

A Work in Progress: You and I

The Taste of You

Top 5 By Kudos:

Melt into Me (Your Words Are My Own)

Tony Learns Something New

Morning People

Baby Crazy

Emerald Ivy (Wrapped Around My Skin)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

Definitely more, and yet almost none of them were the fics I expected to work on haha

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Yes definitely, I was really nervous to post the MCD fic, obviously, (until I come back), but I feel like the biggest ‘risk’ was stretching out of my comfort zone for the Bound to You series with @crownofstardustandbone​, it’s definitely the most emotional and REAL fic, I feel, for whatever real means in this context haha.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?

Maybe actually write that Stripper Tony story? Or any of my other many many WIPs and ideas?! IDK don’t look at me!!

For real though look forward to some more skinny!steve coming up in the nearish future 👀

Most popular story of the year?

Oooohh That’s a tough one to judge, but I would have to say Melt Into Me, which makes me so so happy because I worked really hard on that one, put a lot of thought into basically every part of it, and I’m so happy with how it came out

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Road Hazards. It’s just still one of my favorites, if you like classic road trip tropes and banter and “awkward silence to bantering friends to mutual pining morons to lovers” vibes, all fluff all the time, then give it a try maybe! It’s also the longest stand alone fic I’ve written, and I’m still like damn how’d I do that

Most fun story to write?

Baby Crazy! I will shamelessly admit that I cracked MYSELF up writing that fic

With a very close runner up of Bound to You, because working out the details and planning and just talking about this verse is a constant joy and I’m so happy Stella dragged me into this! ❤️ (by suggesting it, that’s basically all it takes haha)

Most unintentionally telling story:

...... definitely Melt into Me ahaha my praise kink and acts-of-service-love-language popped out HARD in this fic, and that’s probably one of the reasons it’s in my top favorites. But I mean for real, my husband regularly pats my head and tells me I’m doing a good job and I go melty  everytime ahaha

Biggest disappointment?

Probably just all the ideas that I haven’t had time to get to yet, but hey I’ll get to it all eventually! Maybe!

Biggest surprise?

Probably how big of a hit the Bound to You series has been, I really expected it to be a kind of niche interest thing, and I’ve been just overwhelmed by the amount of people who liked it, and by the amazing people I’ve met because of that verse 🥰

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Oh Jeez ok I’m going to do my best here but WOW I wrote a lot this year ahaha

Melt Into Me (Your Words Are My Own) - WinterIron, E, aka the praise kink fic

Bucky has a new strategy for getting Tony to take proper human care of himself. Tony has never been so well fed, hydrated, thoroughly rested, and confused in all his life.

That doesn’t mean he wants it to stop, and it’s amazing how many boring adult things Bucky can get him to do just by patting his head and calling him ‘good boy’. Right up until Tony possibly ruins everything.

This fic just holds a very special place in my heart, I swear I put more thought into this than any other fic, the gradual build up and framing it just the way I wanted and making sure every scene was absolutely SOAKED in pining. As I like to say, it is Softe, but in a Very Intense way.

Bound to You - WinterIron BDSMverse, E, aka my current obsession

Look. I just love this series. I love everything about it, I love that it lets me dive a little deeper into emotions and such than I maybe normally do, in my usual cracky-porn style. This is definitely the slowest burn I’ve ever written, and I am loving every second of it and really REALLY looking forward to what we have coming up next! And of course, a big part of that love is just from how much fun I have working on it with @crownofstardustandbone, bounding ideas back and forth and brainstorming and making joking what-ifs that we end up falling in love with.

Baby Crazy - WinterIron, E, aka is it egotistical to laugh at my own jokes?

For some reason, the children of New York love Bucky Barnes. It’s heartwarming to witness, and it’s making it really hard for Tony to ignore his gigantic crush on the man.

Especially because Tony can’t stop suggesting they maybe have a baby together. The rest of the Avengers just want a vacation.

My favorite part of this fic is just how many people told me it made them actually laugh out loud, that’s basically my favorite thing to hear. All the friendships and team dynamics were so much fun in this one, and I will admit that I regularly reread it for a giggle

A Series of Learning Experiences - SteveTony, E, aka smol Steve with the big ol’ monster cock

Look. This series isn’t my fault. Stella put the idea of Skinny Toppy Steve in my head and now the little bastard lives there making filthy demands. This series is a totally different type of challenge too, in that I try to make it as Absolutely Filthy as possible. I regularly poke my friends like “hey is this filthy enough? SHOULD I UP THE FILTH FACTOR?!” It is my ode to smut with feelings, and I have so much fun with it haha

until I come back (from the dead for you) - WinterIron, E, aka the choose your own ending fic

Bucky meets Tony at a dive bar. He can’t deny that there’s something between them, but Bucky is also leaving soon, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. He only knows that he’ll think about Tony the entire time he’s gone, that as soon as he’s stateside again he’s going to take Tony on an actual date.

(Except he doesn’t come back.)

(But coming back takes a little longer than he expected, and he comes back a little more broken.)

Mostly I’m super proud of myself for actually managing to write the super sad MCD ending that I set out to, even if I did have to write the happy ending at the same time to get through it hahaha. I do love that people can choose the sad or happy ending without missing anything, but I do have to admit there are some parallels I’m really proud of that only show up if you read both versions

[kybee1497]

H, I, and K!

You’re back!! I hope the break was restful and gave you a chance to recover!

H: How would you describe your style?

Somehow a wild mix of crack, angst and fluff. @afoldintime betad my troped round 2 fic when I was first writing it (all the messiness of the second half is on me, tram had to go to sleep with me leaving it to the last minute, hence the first section being more polished, also thank you tram for your help, <3) and said that my style was more emotional narrative based I think is what it was, idk I’m tired. Which is why it’s longer without a ton of events happening. I felt like i wasn’t very in tune with internal thoughts when I first started writing so I corrected and now it’s a lot of internal stuff but I like it so I’m keeping it. I also don’t know how to stop talking which is also why this is so long.

Also I project onto Carrie and Alex a lot.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I really love a lot of the cliche tropes, I love enemies to lovers and fake dating. Also just the softest shit you can think of. Also like I mentioned in another ask I like things in cycles so I pretty much will vibe with anything In fic at some point or another.

K: what’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

With something I’ve written and posted already it’s definitely I wish I could hold you through it, which is the third thing I wrote and was about rose dying. I basically just wrote about when my grandma died and all the good and bad days that came with the process. I cried writing it, according to the comments everyone cried reading it. It’s kind of emotional hell but it has a special place in my heart

Unposted but still probs less sad than hold you is my bobby angst fic that I’m slowly writing. It’s based around the song Drowning by Chris Young and walks bobby through the years after the boys died as he became Trevor wilson, lost himself for a bit and then came back and did what he could to make things right. It ends with Trevor holding a final concert which he plays all of sunset curves hits with a little story about what inspired it or the boys and he ends with Drowning, just him and his guitar on stage. And after that night he disappears from the spotlight and focuses on being the best dad he can be. This song makes me cry every time I hear it and I cry writing this fic too, it’s a process. Here’s the lyrics.

Still got your number in my phone

And even though you don't know I listen

I still call and wait 'til the tone

Just to hear you saying, "Leave a message"

Since you've been gone I've had to find

Different ways to grieve

There's days that I don't even want it on my mind

But tonight I'm weak

So, I'm gonna pull out pictures, ones with you in 'em

Laugh and cry a little while reminiscing

By myself

I can't help

That all I think about is

How you were taken way too soon

It ain't the same here without you

I gotta say, missing you comes in waves

And tonight I'm drowning

Yeah, I know you're in a better place

And one day I'll see you again

But it's killing me we can't be face to face

I miss my best friend

So, tonight I'm gonna pull out pictures, ones with you in 'em

Laugh and cry a little while reminiscing

By myself

I can't help

That all I think about is

How you were taken way too soon

It ain't the same here without you

I gotta say, missing you comes in waves

And tonight I'm drowning

Yeah, tonight I'm drowning

I know it's a part of life

But I wasn't ready to say goodbye

So, tonight I'm gonna pull out pictures, ones with you in 'em

Laugh and cry a little while reminiscing

By myself

I can't help

That all I think about is

How you were taken way too soon

It ain't the same here without you

I gotta say, missing you comes in waves

And tonight I'm drowning

Yeah, tonight I'm drowning

[talistheintrovert]

A lil update!

Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! 

I just thought I’d give y’all a little update on where I’m at in life and with my fics and such, because things are gonna change up a bit in the next few weeks. 

So! Firstly, I’m heading back to uni soon, which starts in just over a week, which means that invariably my fic updating will be slower than it has been over summer. I’m sorry in advance, but I promise I’m still here, I’m just plodding along between lectures and assignments and some barely-there semblance of a social life. 

I will be finishing the 666 Follower Celebration Prompts soon, I SWEAR. Largely because when I hit 1k, I have a big surprise thing planned (it may or may not be a fic and some other lil bits) so I want to have them all finished by the time I get there. So if I haven’t filled out your ask yet, I promise I’ll get to it soon! 

I would also like to send out a HUGE thank you to anyone and everyone who nominated me for the BFWAs. I am so touched and emotional, and honestly never expect anyone to be that invested in anything I write, and I cannot express how truly grateful I am for all of you, and for anyone who even takes the time to just read my fics. 

And now for a fic progress/update list:

Bury A Friend, Try To Wake Up: One chapter left to post, and I’m about halfway through it. I put it down for a long time, but I recently picked it back up again, so it should be posted sometime in the next few weeks. 

Right Hand Slugger: Updates will be slow but they WILL BE COMING! I’ve got the entire fic planned out from start to finish, I just haven’t written it all yet, and I’d like to get a few chapters ahead before I start posting again, so that I don’t leave another six month gap between updates. 

Oh, How I Want To Break Free: I will update this at some point! I’ve gotta rewatch the movie first, get some inspiration back 😂

all this, and love too, will ruin us: The third part of this is well and truly underway, so I should have it finished just before I start uni again, and once it’s edited I will post it, so it should be up really soon! 

Unposted WIPs update:

Things I (hopefully) intend to post within the next six months/year.

Blarke 50/50 AU

Practical Magic AU

My crack fake pregnancy modern AU

Princess Diaries 2 AU

Justice League AU (mostly designed as little scenes and snippets, not a full story because that would get GIGANTIC)

Reincarnation AU

My 1k Celebration Fic (to be posted at 1k)

Other fandom fics update:

I’ve got a Good Omens Fic in the works! An actual one, not just a blarke AU. So if you’re a fan of ineffable husbands, watch out for that!

I’m reposting my North and South fanfic from ff.net to ao3 sometime in the next couple of months. 

I’m a quarter of the way through a little Broadchurch fic as well.

And my Pride and Prejudice fic (which I’m also moving from ff.net) will be getting sporadically updated whenever I have time to edit the chapters as I move them.

So that’s it! 

All this among trying to work on my own novels, as well as uni, because apparently I’m clinically insane. Anyway, thank you all for showing any interest in me and my fics, let alone caring about them enough to comment and keep reading them. It means the absolute world to me. I adore you all. 💖💖💖

[shadowsong26x]

Author Ask Game

I was tagged by @spell-cleaver​, so here we go!

Author name: shadowsong26, or shadowsong26x. Or just shadowsong, but on my sites/whatever I have some part of the number.

Fandoms you write for: At the moment, primarily Star Wars (as well as some original stuff), but I’m trying to get back into some of my BSG fic. Apart from those two, my prior main fandoms that I did a lot of writing for were Supernatural, ATLA, and HP, but I’ve done bits and pieces for MCU, miscellaneous crossovers with other things, way back when I did some Dragonlance and LOTR and Wheel of Time...

Where you post: At the moment, mostly AO3 for fanfic stuff. And my writing tumblr.

Most popular one shot: Judging purely by hit count on the stuff that’s been crossposted to AO3 (since that’s easiest to track) - for Star Wars, either The Magic of Midwinter or To his family, send him. Which, incidentally, was the first thing I wrote when I came back to this fandom, lol. Uh. Sanctuary also did pretty well, I think. Most of my SPN fic never got that popular, but some of my ATLA one-shots got a fair number of hits, as well.

Most popular multi-chapter: Precipice, by a wide, wide, wide margin, lol. Uh. Leaving that one outlier aside, Distaff is the next most popular, followed by These Three Remain and then Asajj Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience. For my non-SW stuff, The Promises of Angels did fairly well for a very long genfic about a tertiary character who (at the time I wrote it) had been dead for five seasons...

Favourite story you wrote: GDI. I hate this kind of question, lol. Uh. I’m still fairly proud of Promises, which I mentioned earlier--at the time, it was the longest contiguous story I’d ever written. Precipice has its ups and downs, but I still love it and have no intention of leaving that AU/timeline anytime soon. The Devoted turned out really well, I thought. Looking back at most of the stuff I have out there, there’s bits I would change, to make things more cohesive/coherent/whatever, but I like what I did with a lot of my stuff. ...also, my AU outlines are a blast, I really should update one of them/write another...

Story you were nervous to post: Lord. Uh. Mostly the more niche/self-indulgent things (or...things that I’m concerned will come across as self-indulgent*?) and/or unusual formats--so, crossposting Ventress to AO3; some of the Jedi of Valdemar bits; the portions of Precipice that deal with Lavinia. It’s Like Deja Vu (All Over Again), too. I was waffling about some of the way chapter 2 plays out. Oh, and Sanctuary, mostly because I don’t hang out in the ST corner of the fandom very much so writing Rey was a little weird for me, but I think it turned out okay?

*Because, while I’ve long since decided to stop feeling guilty/ashamed of such things, I like getting good responses when I share my work??? And I don’t like getting bad ones. So putting that kind of stuff up in a place where it’s intended to reach a wider audience can still be a little nervous-making, if that makes sense.

How do you choose your titles: Oh, all kinds of places. Words that sound cool/feel appropriate, various quotations...I think I did a list on some of my title sources at one point...aha, here it is!

Do you outline: Not..really, no, lol. Like, for Precipice, I sort of have a vague idea of the Major Plot Points that happen in most of the arcs, but I don’t really have it written down anywhere. I had a kind of outline for Heaven on Their Minds, I think; and when I’m working on a Big Bang project or something else with a Deadline, sometimes I’ll have placeholder chapter/scene titles in there? (Like, in The Devoted, there was The Heist(tm), and Obi-Wan and Padme Cannot Ethically Seduce Anakin, and Bail is In Trouble, and Dramatic Confession Scene(tm), etc., but nothing like a Formal Outline. ...come to think of it, I do that with Precipice, too. But not usually very far in advance, just when I’m actually sitting down to organize the next two-three chapters/scenes/plot point/whatever. Oh, I do have kind of an outline for Jedi of Valdemar, mostly because it’s an enormous timeline and I wanted to get the order/relative dating/ages straight. But that’s not super detailed.

Complete: Uhm. Well, in SW, mostly my oneshots. These Three Remain is complete. Deja Vu is technically complete, but I might do a sequel at some point? The Devoted, I have more stories to tell in that universe, though the individual fic itself is complete. The Phoenix I actually do plan to write sequels to, and have them vaguely planned out (The Hercinia will be sort of two parallel storylines, one on the planet and one with Luke and Vader; or possibly three, since the two of them will be mostly split up. The Caladrius will bring everything back together, probably, though I haven’t worked all the details out.)

In progress: Precipice, Distaff, Asajj Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Traveling Conscience; in addition to the probably-continued AU worlds mentioned above, Auxiliaries and Jedi of Valdemar universes (Auxiliaries, at the moment, has only been posted to tumblr, not AO3). Some unposted things, such as our faces like a mirror; a few things in other fandoms (Serenissima, for one; I’m considering rewriting For Sorrow Sung and/or actually getting my notes for The Other Battlestar into some kind of postable fic format, but we’ll see.)

Coming soon: Uh. Well, like I said, our faces like a mirror; I’ll do something for next year’s SWBB; more in various established AUs; probably another AU outline at some point...

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: All. Of. Them. <--I’m just gonna leave @spell-cleaver’s answer here because Mood.

Do you accept prompts: Yes! Preferably at my writing tumblr (shadowsong26fic). I do prompt calls every so often (usually for holidays or for Bonus Fics celebrating specific milestones), and I’ll sometimes reblog prompt lists/memes and the like, but I am always open for prompts. It’s just if I haven’t made a specific call or whatever, there’s no promises on when I’ll fill it. I reserve the right to refuse prompts, if it’s something I don’t feel comfortable writing or something I don’t think I can do justice, but you can always feel free to send me an ask if there’s something you’d like to see from me!

Tagging anyone who wants to do it!

[bigskydreaming]

Just wanted to thank people again for their reblogs and donations, I will never be able to describe how I feel about the support - both tangible and emotional - that people on here have given me over the past three months in particular. Especially now that I have a definitive diagnosis and course of treatment to aim for, and an optimistic timeline of maybe even having the surgery within the next few months, at least before the summer....it really just depends there on whether my insurance approves that expense or how much of it, etc.

I still definitely could use continued help, though I’m trying my best to not rely on it as much as possible. Its just...yeah. We’ve kinda hit the point where its really just not possible period for me to make it where I need to get to without support. The slight downside to all the positive stuff I mentioned above is I’m a very goal oriented person. And this has been a very long and constant ordeal for me, where its been nothing but seven days of constant stress and pain a week, not able to rest or relax or take a day off working or searching for work for literally months and months. The only way I’ve managed to keep going is by fixating on some nebulous future point I had to reach and kinda use that to drag myself forward day by day. Its not nebulous anymore. I have answers, I have concrete needs and timelines and all that. But that also means now I have a very clear awareness that I can not make it the rest of the way with just the resources I already have myself.

It’s like...desperation energy, that’s fueled me to get this far and last this long, but there’s a difference between desperation and futility, and motivating myself with the thought ‘just hang in there long enough to get answers and solutions and FIX things’, like, it did what it needed to do, getting me in sight of all that, but it took pretty much everything I’ve got to use all that to tread water, to just stay afloat to get to this point. There’s just not enough there to stretch that out to continuing to stay afloat WHILE doing three times as much work on TOP of that. I know my capabilities and have a lot of self-respect for them, but I also know my limits and I can’t afford to waste everything it took to get to this point just so I can pretend I’m capable of more than I am. Because that’s the other downside of being in sight of the finish line, but still having it far enough away its not anywhere you’re gonna reach in just a few more steps.....like, lmao, I’m fucking tired. I want to rest. And I’ve gotten just enough good news after nothing but years of new rock bottoms that my brain and my body are trying to take that as a sign that its okay for me to just collapse now and take a breather. But I can’t really. Because I’m still not actually there yet.

So on that note, putting the link to my paypal up here nearer to the top for a change, for people who don’t actually need my long-windedness, lol.

https://paypal.me/bigskydreaming?locale.x=en_US

And then on a related note, I just wanted to say again that I’m totally okay with and even eager for people to leave notes with their donation for any writing commission I can do in return. Again, this is totally MY issue, and not something I think should apply to all donation posts: expectations of a quid pro quo. People help out because they want to help out. As long as whatever information a donation post includes is sincere, however much or little that information is, I think that’s the only parameter that matters. People have different personal criteria for what motivates them to actually donate to a relative stranger on the internet. If someone donating to a person whose post is just a simple paragraph of need with no context for why or what their situation is, if that doesn’t make sense to you? It doesn’t have to. That’s not actually any kind of scam. Someone just wants to say, hey I need help and no, I don’t want to explain why? Sure, a lot of people might not feel inclined to donate but anyone who does, they’re not being scammed. Someone asked for x amount of help, someone else decided, hey I can provide this much help and I’m okay with doing that with no further context needed. The end.

Just wanted to clearly express my opinion there, before proceeding on: for ME, personally, I like a degree of quid pro quo for the help people give me, because that’s something that works for my situation. I don’t LIKE not being able to work as much as I want to, because thing is, I have been fortunate enough to make careers out of work that I actually enjoy. My income over the last ten years has almost completely stemmed from acting, writing and graphic design, all things I enjoy. LOL I rant endlessly about how much I hate capitalism, and its true....but I don’t hate doing things I love. Obviously for the past year I haven’t been able to do any acting jobs cuz of my health conditions, and my writing and graphic design work has been unreliable for the last several months for a variety of reasons. 

The major way my health stuff (and related mental health stuff) has impacted me is not even with actual work, but finding new work. My headaches and chronic pain have lessened how many hours I’m able to be focused on work, but not so much that I can’t do what I need to get done when I have a clear objective and goal to focus on. It’s when that’s done and I have nothing else to work on and haven’t made the money I need yet. When I try to power through several hours a day of headaches/pain in search of new jobs as my lack of results amps up my stress and aggravates my health stuff even further....that’s what really makes days suck. And because of my mobility issues with vertigo and not being able to drive and all that, going out and getting a non-internet based job just flat out isn’t possible for me at the moment.

So I’m really starting to feel hopeful again that there actually IS an end point to all this and it might be soon even...and then I can get back to business as usual and build new client bases same as I did before, even get back to acting (omggggggg I miss it). But until that happens, as long as I still need to ask people for help and financial support, like, PLEASE do not feel like you’re imposing on me by suggesting something I can write in return, especially if you’re someone who’s been donating to me regularly. Or if you follow me in part because you enjoy my writing and my headcanons and fics and such. It’s not a chore, its something to do that I CAN do, that I LIKE doing, that I WANT to do. It actually helps make all of this more bearable, because like I said....writing and graphic design as my sources of income...they don’t feel like work. I ENJOY doing them. They actually get my mind off my issues, they give me a reason to get up in the morning, they make me feel productive, like I’m actually doing something with my life instead of just existing, and going through the motions day by day just to survive. 

So if you make a donation and you can think of something you’d enjoy seeing from me, please don’t hesitate. All I ask is that you understand that I’m not in a place to make guarantees at the moment, but when and where I can devote my time and energy to a direction you’ve pointed me in with your donation, I’m happy to, and hopefully that might result in something sooner rather than later. And eventually, if all goes well, I will get to a point (quite honestly a better place than I’ve been physically AND mentally in years) where I CAN be better about staying true to my intentions.

For now, just a rundown of things I have been writing for people who did make requests (though most of them are friends whose names I recognized and I hunted down and badgered into telling me what they’d like so I could do this, lmao. There were definite GDI WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR ME TO MAKE YOU TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU convos being had, lolol I’m such a well adjusted person, honestly how do I stand it, science may never know).

Anyway, for anyone interested, the current slate of ‘commissions’ I’ve been working on, just so there’s no need to make a duplicate request:

Lightning Crashes Update - LOL a long awaited update to that beast. Its a 3 POV chapter, Kira, Liam and then Allison, and came out to around 10K. It’s done and just needs a final read through and polish, which I’ll do literally as soon as I manage to finish paying my insurance for the month and get caught up with what I owe my motel. Which means in the next couple of days for sure, if for no other reason then I like....have to make sure to pay those things by then one way or another lmao. But point being, for anyone still invested in that fic or interested in reading more, since its been so long and you’ll probably have to reread the existing chapters to refresh your memory, I think its pretty safe to go ahead and do that whenever, and the new chapter will happen somewhere in the next few days. 

As to the rest of the fic after that - this is one of three fanfics that I’ve always sworn I really want to finish someday no matter what, and that remains true. The clusterfuck TW fandom became for me really hurt my ability to write that story the way I originally wanted to, mostly because I didn’t want my resentment of Stiles to affect how I wrote his necessary part of the plot, and by the time there was enough emotional distance between me and the show/fandom to write it again, like....all this happened, lol. So I do think once my health issues are resolved and I’m settled in an actual permanent place, I’ll FINALLY be able to resume it. There’s like, a couple hundred thousand words worth of unposted story already written there, lmao, its just I outline and then write nonlinearly, so most of all that just doesn’t work without me finally writing the bridge chapters that pull it all together.

Born Under a Bad Sign Update - Same thing pretty much, as this is one of the other Big Three fics I’ve always wanted to finish. Largely because its got a sequel that’s already written in full, lmao. The sequel is my YJ version of Under the Red Hood, but builds on the plotline I always had in mind for BUABS. The sequel was just easier for me to write first because it wasn’t as personal. BUABS doesn’t have as much pre-written as LC, but its not nearly as long either, and it has always been totally outlined and with a lot of dialogue for later chapters pre-written. Anyway, this is what I’d like to post after the LC update. It’s not finished, but its also not as long as the LC one. It’s a Roy chapter, and doesn’t have a time break but while writing it I’ve split it into two parts just for my own purposes. The first is Roy and Ollie confronting Catalina, the second is Roy and Ollie talking about their own shit in light of that. For this one, the first part is written, the second has the dialogue written but the rest needs fleshing out. It wont take that long to finish, its really just a day or at most two days of writing. When that’s done just depends on when I can next devote time to it.

Untitled X-Men One Shot - Someone asked if I’d write something about Scott and Bobby’s friendship and some kind of reunion between them after Scott’s return from the dead. I will of course be ignoring AoX completely, lmao. This one’s mostly done, its like 10K lmao (look those two had a LOT to talk about okay), but the last couple thousand words of that is all just dialogue I needed to get down before I had to focus on other stuff. So everything I need is all there, I just need to return to it to finish fleshing out the last quarter or so of it.

Untitled Dick and Jason One Shot - Someone else asked me to write something with just Dick and Jason interacting, set in the comic book universe. I’m going with a blend of pre-nu52 and a little bit of nu52 for the setting, pretty much ignoring Rebirth etc, because a) I think the Rebirth reboot mostly sucked and b) I really don’t know much about post Rebirth continuity cuz I’ve read so little of it cuz what I have read I think mostly sucks. This one is basically Dick and Jason finally airing out their shit and all the things I’ve long wanted them to say to each other and know about each other, so they can try and build an actual functioning relationship as brothers. Its got all the dialogue written, but not much else. The dialogue’s really the only framework I need to build a one-shot, so it won’t be hard to write around it, its again just more about when and where I get the time to do that. It will be Jason POV, as in canon its usually Dick reaching out (to whatever degree) and Jason not trusting his sincerity. So the angle I’m going with is this one shot’s about Jason realizing he doesn’t know his brother as well as he thought, and that if he’s always trying to get the family to accept he’s not the same person he was before, like....the same can be true for Dick. Neither of them are the people they were back then, so the reasons they weren’t close aren’t actually reasons they can’t be close now. And what Jason thinks are Dick’s issue with him might not actually be what Dick actually has a problem with. 

Original Superhero Novella - This is likely the last of these things to be finished as its the longest and thus more on the backburner, like just writing 1 or 2K at a time on it. This one’s the request of a friend who knows enough about my original superhero universe (I call it the Ellis Eighteen universe) to know who she wanted to read about specifically. Which - not surprisingly, given that Batfamily is one of our shared fandoms - is my version of a Batfamily. Only not really, because lol I don’t like being derivative or writing analogs of existing characters aka I must be the specialest snowflake ever. So its more like I was like ugh I love the Batfamily but hate how rarely DC lets them like, GET ALONG, oh hey, I’m gonna shove all my resentment from that into making up my own dysfunctional blended family of superheroes who actually love each other even if they’re bad at saying so. Plus superpowers.

So their concept is there’s a C-List supervillain named Murphy, as in Murphy’s Law. He has low grade probability powers. Basically he makes it so anything that can go wrong will go wrong in a designated area. He doesn’t have any control over how that manifests, but he’s great for diversions, so he gets hired for a heist by some big name supervillains to just create mayhem while they do the actual work elsewhere. Except Murphy discovers the corporation they’re stealing from donates a lot to children’s charities and is heavily involved with ‘supporting’ the foster care system...as a means to seek out superpowered children who end up in the system, and exploit them for their powers. And while looking for the best place/way to make a diversion, Murphy stumbles across evidence of this, as well as four boys on site in advance of them being sent to a home specially intended to raise the boys to feel indebted to their benefactors and eager to do whatever they want them to.

Which doesn’t work for Murphy at all, because he’s not so much a bad guy as someone who ended up a criminal due to circumstances and desperation and from there just never found a reason to stop. This though, he’s not okay looking the other way, so he says screw this company and screw the guys who hired me, and he breaks out the boys and they go on the run, keeping anyone from getting their hands on them and moving from place to place while he tries to provide as much stability as he can, let them grow up and decide for themselves what they want to be.

Eventually though, the two oldest, Misfire and Crossfire (I call them the Fire brothers because even though they’re all biologically unrelated, they each have powers that lend themselves to picking the codenames Misfire, Crossfire, Ceasefire and Backfire). So anyway, after a couple years of this, Misfire and Crossfire end up sneaking out to be vigilantes. And Murphy catches them of course and is like wtf are you thinking, do you know how dangerous that is? What if you get hurt? What if they (asshole corporation) find you?

Only it turns out, they just wanted to be like their dad. Which Murphy doesn’t really know what to do with, cuz he never talks about his past with the boys. Because he’s ashamed of it, doesn’t want them to think of him as a villain. Which they don’t of course. He’s the one who rescued them, who gave up whatever his life was before to make it all about protecting them and always doing what was best for them. To the boys, Murphy’s always been their personal hero, so they kind of took it for granted....that’s what he was. Murphy was never a big name player, and they’ve always assumed that he was just some masked hero or vigilante who retired when he took them in so his old enemies wouldn’t come after them too.

So basically its a found/adopted family where the boys grow up to be heroes, thanks to the values and role model their father provided without ever having a clue how they really saw him, due to his own insecurities. And then it backdoors into Murphy eventually becoming a hero as well as its the only way he knows to keep making sure he’s there to look out for them, as well as like....he’s inspired by his kids, who in turn were inspired by him. He wants to be the man they see him as, live up to that image of him, not realizing that like, he always already was that man. That image of him is based on his actions, the way he raised them. So in reality, its not even that he’s inspired to heroism by the example his kids set, its more a gradual embrace of the role he’d always played for as long as they knew him, no matter how he personally had seen it (and himself).

And because I’m me, they end up making it the family business, with the older two boys and their dad working together to expose and topple companies engaged in exploitative practices, while the younger two ignore all orders to stay home and always stow away to make sure they’re part of the action. Like.....its the Batfamily with superpowers meets Leverage, if the Robins came first and Bruce only became Batman to be their partner and have their backs. And also he used to be a crook which is still way better than a billionaire. So, that’s that on that.

So that’s the slowest of the current slate, its at about 18K of a projected 30K, with this particular story being set after Murphy and the two oldest are already established as vigilantes. Murphy’s in his forties, Misfire’s 21, Crossfire’s 18, Ceasefire’s 16 and Backfire’s 14.

I’m open to writing pretty much anything I’ve ever talked about fandom wise, and that you know is something I’m familiar with. If for whatever reason a request is something I’m not open to writing or I’m not familiar enough with to write, I’ll just make a post about it and you can hop on anon and either clarify or ask for something else. And its okay to ask on anon ahead of time if I’d be open to something.

Anyway, on that note, I’m all done here, thanks again for everything!!!

[kyulilitanako]

How I fixed “The Emoji Movie”

(inside my head, without actually having seen it, or "Wreck-It Ralph," or "Inside Out," or "The Lego Movie," I seriously need to get out more, although I did see "The Lego Batman Movie" and that was pretty cool.  ♪ Friends are Family ♪ )

So, if I was the Queen of Hollywood, this is what I’d do.  Let us begin.

1. A little product placement is not a sin, but full-blown product immersion is both a sin and a crime, and in a world run by evil geniuses, the guilty would be stripped naked, wrapped several times around in succulent vines and acacia leaves, and dangled upside-down from a crane just inside the giraffe paddock at the zoo during feeding time.  More on this later.

2. Gene's new problem is that he desperately wants to help Alex take a shot at true love with Addie, because he's a romantic at heart, but fears he will never have the opportunity to do so, since kids...probably don't send a "Meh" to their crush to demonstrate their affection.  At least I don’t think they do.  But anyway.  Gene feels the pang of unfulfilled dreams because he thinks (based on what other emojis say) that humans ONLY interact through their phones.  We’ll fix this.

3. Jailbreak doesn't reject being a princess, she just wants being a princess to mean something more than a pretty dress and sparkly crown. She wants to do something heroic because she understands girls can lift themselves up without pushing approximately half the population down, and that you can be pro-woman without being anti-man. (Source: am girl.)

4. Hi-5 has been reduced from sidekick to running gag, showing up only occasionally to deliver a zinger and then disappear again for awhile.

5. Alex gets more screen time, often while he uses his phone to record a vlog about Addie, the Girl of His Dreams, but he never plucks up the courage to post it to...wherever, and always saves it to "Draft." But Gene watches these videos religiously, becoming more and more determined to bring the two of them together, somehow. Vive l’amour!

6. Smiler doesn't persecute Gene for being a multi-faceted misfit, she gleefully attempts to exact justice because Gene now exploits Jailbreak's mad hacker skillz to send cryptic, Cyrano de Bergerac-esque messages to Addie's phone, pretending to be Alex. See, the world can never know that phones have tiny sentient entities inside them, running around having coherent thoughts (ohai, Skynet!), therefore Smiler believes whatever fate she calls down upon Gene is justified, and...y'know...once in awhile, the villain has a point.  Crazy, I know.

7. Some of the rounder emojis have bodies now! I mean...Jailbreak already had a small one, because she's wearing a skirt (that's a skirt, right?), so why not put a little meat on ALL of their bones so they don't look like ping pong balls on sticks? Then Jailbreak can slap a sparkly pink crown sticker on her cargo pants and say, "This is my princess dress."

8. Jokes.  There should be some!  Low-hanging fruit should be kept to a minimum, with no more than three (3) instances of scatological humor throughout the picture.  Sorry, Mr. Poop.

9. And about that Poop emoji.  In my version, he is now a mentor who shows up about an hour in, to reveal to Gene the myriad ways in which humans communicate, and to encourage Jailbreak to forge her own path to princesshood through valiant deeds, all while delivering a powerful message about transcending one’s limits, as he must have done himself to become such a wise oracle despite starting his digital life as a neatly-coiled pile of excrement.  I would gladly have Sir Patrick Stewart voice my headcanon Poop emoji, even knowing that he probably thoroughly enjoyed doing the job he’s already done.  To each his own.  Moving on.

10. Gene’s parents have a little less screen time now, and instead of debating what kind of “Meh” their darling boy will make, they can just do a bit about the red-hot passion of their marriage, but in the same monotone voices.  It’ll work.

11. Instead of old school emoticons being “the elderly,” maybe they’re just a bit older than other residents of Textopolis, and not totally decrepit, shouting “Ow, my colon!” when someone bumps into them. Seriously, old people don’t say that.  You generally cannot feel your colon.  Maybe they walk into the McCafé app and get a free senior’s coffee instead.  That’s plenty.

12. Back to the product placement.  If you’re gonna have your main characters running through apps, the goal is to do something clever with it, which is the opposite of what I gather has already happened.  So, you’re running from some bad robots, and you run into the Facebook app.  Can you rip elements off the phone’s screen and use them as weapons?  Rip off a “Like” button and hold it up as a shield?  Would the “Like” button then disappear as Alex was about to tap it?  Was this possibility even explored?  You remember those animations of the stickman who runs amok all over the UI and does battle with the user by attacking the cursor?  That shit was awesome.  Let’s do some of that.

13.  Instead of trying to get to Dropbox so they can alter their own source code..........? (LOL THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO COMPUTER)  Instead of that, Gene and Jailbreak go to the Cloud so they can infiltrate Addie’s phone and deliver proof of Alex’s ardor “in person.”  If we absolutely must visit Candy Crush, maybe they flip over a bunch of red jellybeans in the shape of a heart, or...something.  Maybe they could meet their Meh and Princess counterparts over there, and maybe they’re hilariously different.  Or something.

14. Once that happens, though, Smiler is going to go into absolute panic mode, and probably send a whole army of robo-meanies to all sorts of different phones trying to track them down.  As the virus of her own making spreads, chasing the virus of her worst fears, she resolves that she will use her bots to wipe every phone within her reach rather than let the secret of living emojis be discovered.  We’re already suspending ten kinds of disbelief to get this far, so expanding Smiler’s powers might not be terribad.

15.  Meanwhile, Gene and Jailbreak, while trolling around inside Addie’s phone, learn that she’s leaving with her family for the whole summer (maybe going to the cottage?  around here folks love going to the cottage, it’s the summer thing to do), and if Alex doesn’t make his move soon, he could lose her.  Oh noes!

16.  Home stretch now.  Gene realizes, after all his efforts, the best way Alex can tell Addie how he feels is with his own words, and fortunately, Gene knows where to find some of them!  With Jailbreak’s help, he transfers a copy of Alex’s unposted vlog to Addie’s phone, where she stumbles across it and plays it.  Now...if this happened in real life, it’d be some pretty serious stalker stuff, but again, we’re suspending fair amounts of disbelief already.  Did the actual movie establish Addie crushing on Alex at all before the end?  Well, whatever.  Maybe if his vlog is sensitive and heartfelt enough, she might not feel too creeped-on.

17. Which brings us to the big action finish.  Working in tandem with someone still back on Alex’s phone (idgaf, pick someone at random.  It can be Hi-5 if you really want.  I guess.), Gene co-ordinates a series of brief messages between the phones to get both Alex and Addie out of their houses and walking around outside.  Jailbreak hacks into the traffic light system (yeah, this is starting to pop up even in small towns now, they can change the length of a green light with two mouse clicks at a price tag of $15,000 per intersection or something) and actually manipulates the traffic in the real world to herd the lovebirds towards each other, all while robo-meanies chase them through Addie’s phone, up through the Cloud, and back to Alex’s phone in a big production that has all the emojis on Addie’s phone banding together to aid the success of their mission, as well as their subsequent escape.

18. Alex and Addie find themselves standing on the same street corner with nothing to do but have a conversation, which they somehow manage.  Addie suggests maybe Alex and his folks can come up to the cottage for a visit.  (I’m sure her parents will love that.  Invite some more strangers while you’re at it, honey!  We’ll have a luau!  But anyway.)  It’s not everlasting love, but it’s a start, and that’s all we’re really looking for here.

19. Back home again, Gene is proud that even a “Meh” like him can help fan the flames of a budding new romance (wait, buds don’t flame....) and learned that human speech is far more powerful at conveying emotion than he was led to believe by his peers.  Jailbreak is proud to be her own definition of a “princess,” having demonstrated courage, valor, and encyclopedic knowledge of several programming languages.  Smiler keeps on smiling, even though she’s seething with twelve kinds of rage, which she won’t be able to act on because...heck, I dunno, maybe the robots didn’t make it out of the Cloud.  RIP robots.

20. No dance party at the end.  Just.......just no.

And that’s how I would fix “The Emoji Movie.”

[imagineteamfreewill]

Prince Charming

Title: Prince Charming

Pairing: Reader x Sam

Word Count: 1,484

Warnings: None

Squares Filled: Workplace Romance (AU Bingo) and Early Mornings (Fluff Bingo)

Summary: Sam and the reader are college students working as characters at an amusement park, which leads to an extra-sweet cotton-candy romance.

A/N: This is a submission for @spnaubingo and @spnfluffbingo2019. Please leave feedback, and enjoy!

X

Become a Patron!

Your name: submit What is this?

______________

You yawned as you waved your ID badge at the security guard. He smiled sympathetically and pressed the button that unlocked the door, allowing you to step inside the giant concrete building. It was hidden well as part of a large, decorative mountain for one of the park’s many roller coasters. The building usually went unnoticed by the park’s oblivious patrons, and even though the mountain seemed to be made of solid, lifeless stone, the building was anything but.

As soon as you entered the main hallway, you were greeted by a dozen other workers, each of them in different stages of alertness. Some of them were holding onto her coffee like it was their only lifeline, while Charlie looped her arm with hers and immediately began to tell you about the latest gossip as the two of you walked to the women’s dressing rooms. She was made for early mornings, you decided.

Smiling to yourself, you shifted your own cup of coffee to your free hand and took a sip, letting Charlie chatter as one of the summer workers tugged open the door and led the two of you into the bustling dressing area.

Your normal spot was free, thankfully, and you settled down in silence. As soon as Charlie finished her story, you gave her a tired smile and watched her walk off, then plugged your earbuds into your ears. You pressed play on your phone, letting your morning playlist pick up where you’d paused it in the car, and started getting yourself ready for the day. Perfect makeup and hair was a requirement for your uniform. It was a routine now, and you normally finished with time to spare, but you always tried to start as early as possible. After being late one morning last year, you’d learned your lesson. Tardiness wouldn’t fly.

Sighing, you glanced at the clock on your phone and cursed the higher-ups who’d decided that moving the park opening up an hour during the summer was a good idea. Four in the morning was too early to be getting ready for any job, let alone a job that required you to look pretty, be happy, and interact with children. Then again, acting was what you loved. If this is what you had to do to become a “serious actor,” then so be it.

“You ready?”

Charlie stood behind you, her own red hair pulled back into a slick ponytail and her left eye decked out with dark shadow. She played a pirate in the more adventure-themed section of the park, so she only had to do makeup on one eye; the eye patch covered the other one, and you spend every day wishing that you’d been hired as a pirate instead of a princess. You might as well take up stock in the makeup removal industry, but Charlie was always out of the dressing room five minutes after her shift ended.

“Almost,” you replied, turning back to the mirror and finishing up your lipstick. After pressing your lips together, you grabbed your bag and coffee, then stood and followed Charlie out of the dressing room. The two of you still had time before you needed to get dressed, which meant that you had time to get a refill your coffee and hang out in the staff courtyard. There were usually at least a few people there would would sympathize with your sleepiness. Plus, it had a great view of the the sunrise, and even though you weren’t a morning person, you’d never get tired of watching the day begin.

Your stomach flip-flopped when you saw Sam standing on the far side of the courtyard, a styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand. He’d been your Prince Charming for the past few months, and you’d be lying if you didn’t admit that you hadn’t fallen for him hard—and fast. He was tall, handsome, and great with people. During your breaks, Sam kept you entertained with his quick wit and and extensive knowledge of every subject under the sun. You’d yet to find a topic he didn’t know at least something about.

Charlie nudged you with her elbow and grinned. “Go!” she whispered, and you quickly shook your head in response.

“I can’t!” you hissed.

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed your arm and dragged you across the space. Sam turned when the two of you got closer, then smiled shyly when you met his eyes.

“Y/N, didn’t you want to ask Sam about his shifts this week?” Charlie asked, her voice loud and the words clunky and rehearsed.

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed and wrinkles appeared on his forehead. “My shifts are exactly the same as yours, Y/N,” he said as he looked between you and Charlie, clearly confused.

“Oh, well then I guess I’ll see you later!”

Charlie was gone before you could protest, and you slowly looked back at Sam when you realized that even attempting to get her to come back was a fruitless endeavour.

“Hey,” you finally said. “Sorry about that. She… thinks we’d be cute together.” Inwardly, you cursed yourself for not going to bed earlier the night before. Maybe if you’d gotten more sleep, you wouldn’t mess up and say stupid things to your crush.

He seemed amused at your slip of the tongue, judging by the way he ducked his head and let out a quiet laugh, but Sam nodded a moment later. “That’s what my brother said.”

“Your brother?” you asked, looking around and trying to ignore the way your cheeks suddenly felt warm. “I didn’t know you had a brother that worked here.”

“He, uh, doesn’t work here, actually.”

“Oh.”

Sam took a sip of his coffee and you shifted your empty cup around in your hand before nervously asking, “Do you… Can I ask why your brother said that? I mean, have we met before?”

“Kind of,” Sam answered. “Remember the tall guy that got ushered out by security because he was harassing us?”

Gaping at him, you shook your head. “That wasn’t your brother,” you said, not quite believing him.

The grin on Sam’s face told you everything you need to know, and you rubbed your forehead with one hand, laughing as you remembered the crazy things that the man had been yelling at Sam as he’d been ushered out. At the time it had seemed completely absurd, but now that you knew that the man was Sam’s brother…

“Wow,” you chuckled, shaking your head in amazement. “He is…”

“We’re not quite sure what he is,” Sam interjected before you could even think of how to finish your sentence. You laughed and he grinned wide, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “He’s a typical older brother, and he told me later that night that he thinks I should ask you out.”

“Oh.” It was like every witty remark you had about his brother suddenly flew straight out of your head and was replaced with cotton.

Sam’s smile faltered a little bit when you didn't say anything more. “So?”

You swallowed thickly. “So what?”

“Will you go out with me? I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since I started here.”

“I— Really? Yes!  Yes, when?” you asked, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach. “I mean, when do you want to go out?”

“Does Saturday night work? You don’t work on Sunday, right?”

Shaking your head, you smiled and answered, “We work the same shifts, remember? Saturday works. I’m free at seven.”

Sam relaxed and smiled a little wider, rubbing the back of his neck for a brief moment. “Seven o’clock. You’ve got my number, right?”

Your mouth felt dry again as you nodded back. “I can— Charlie’s got it. She can send it to me.” You didn’t mention that she’d actually given it to you a month after Sam had started working at the park, or that you’d been trying to get up the nerve to text him ever since.

The alarm on your phone went off, letting you know that you had a half hour before you had to be at your post, and you jumped. “I— I have to go!”

Sam chuckled, nodding. “I should be getting dressed myself. I guess I’ll see you at seven on Saturday?”

“You’ll see me before then, Prince Charming,” you grinned, relaxing as you fell into your normal morning routine with him. The sun was just starting to rise and you glanced over at it. “It’s gonna be a beautiful day, I think.”

“I think so too,” Sam replied, sounding surprised. “I’ll see you out there, then.”

Turning around, you tossed your empty cup into the trash can and linked arms with Charlie, glancing over your shoulder at Sam on your way out. He smiled when you met his eyes, and you suddenly had the feeling that maybe your early mornings at work wouldn’t be that bad after all.

_______________

Want to be tagged? Send me an ask! Tag lists include:

Forever, Sam, Dean, Cas, Deaf!Reader, Words Series (Multiple Pairings/Characters), Home Series (Reader x Marine!Sam) - Unposted, From The Dead Series (Reader x Soldier!Dean), The Switch Series (Reader x Sam), Sam x Meg 2.0, Blog/Series Updates, and Drabble Days/Writing Events

Want to commission a story of your own? Check out the details here.

@lipstickandwhiskey @riversong-sam @shaelyn102 @gabrielslittleangel @supermoonpanda @feelmyroarrrr @crispychrissy @shamelesslydean @supernatur-gal @gloriousartisanfancreator @smallriderbigdreams @sandlee44 @megasimpleplan4ever @ellie-andthemachine @dustycelt @rainflowermoon @katymacsupernatural @ultimatecin73 @musiclovinchic93 @mannls @thegrungequeer @fiftyshadesoffandoms6783 @choosemyname @mishascupcake @emmaa_maariee @mlovesstories @curlyhairedblueeyedangel @gypsytraveler86 @lucifersbird @sev3nruby @flirtswithdanger @whimsicalrobots @kazkingdom @a-screaming-ghost @5seconds-of-fandoms @supernatural-harrypotter7 @teaand-cookies @supernatural-crazed-girl @alexwinchester23 @supernatural3002 @blackcherrywhiskey @mrswhozeewhatsis @lizzielu252 @babypink224221 @just-another-busyfangirl@courtney-elizabeth-winchester @fuckmemgc @deansgirl215 @assassinofmasyaf @vallucky-gal @reginaphalange2403 @musicalsarelove @thorins-queen-of-erebor @animiliabby @somestupidgeek @basilbumble @swirlyoreo @jae-sch @alliegc28 @meangirlsx @fluffybeebutts @team-free-will-you-idjits-67 @oneshoeshort @ten-lane @supernaturalharry @witch-of-letters @itssierramcquade