#hsau of ever

[flydotnet]

Good Deeds and Alas

WHUMPTOBER 2023, DAY 12: “I haven't slept in days but who's counting?” Red | Insomnia | “I’m up, I’m up.”

I think a lot about the HSAU character's pasts, especially that of the teachers'. I'm biased towards CT characters, because of course I am this stupid-ass manga occupies 25% of my brain at any given moment, and this is how this entry was born! Yee-fucking-haw.

I've been meaning to showcase a bit of Hikaru and Co.'s backstories, in part because it's my responsibility in the group, and also because I put so much of my own past into those of these characters that, sometimes, it's my nostalgia speaking haha.

In terms of the timeline of the HSAU, this is set around 5 years before the main story, when Hikaru and Yoshiko were themselves high school students. To be precise, they're in June of their last year of high school and preparing for national finals, aka, the Baccalauréat (aka Bac for my French homies).

I also can't write children, so you'll have to put up with that here, woops.

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Good Deeds and Alas

Summary: So, maybe entrusting your studying-for-finals brother with your children wasn't a good idea for either of them. Or: Hikaru falls dead asleep in front of his own girlfriend and it's not going according to keikaku.

Fandom: Yes it's CT again, but it's the French high school AU!

Word Count: 2K words

AO3 version available here.

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A shrill at the door jolts Hikaru awake. He didn’t even know he had fallen asleep, or at least started dozing off, so the wake-up call isn’t welcome. When did he even doze off? Dammit, that coffee wasn’t as effective as it should’ve been… Oh well. Whatever it is, it’s probably Kenta or the twins messing with him, which means they’re starved for attention yet again.

And to say he still can’t drill the formula to derivate a root-square function without looking it up. It’s like he isn’t getting anywhere with his exam studying yet the fateful day is looming closer and closer.

“I’m up, I’m up,” he mechanically says as he gets up from his chair, hoping he’s speaking loud enough to be heard.

The world isn’t supposed to tilt when you get to your feet, and it’s also not supposed to creep in blacks in the corners of your vision – but his formula should also be in his brain by now, so whatever.

When he walks back into the living room where he’s left all three kids, he finds them still doing what he was trying to get them to do before attempting to study: Kenta is reading over his book while the twins are staring at the TV, as if nothing had happened.

“Did any of you three ring the door?” He asks anyway, wondering in the back of his mind if he isn’t going insane.

You know, just in case not sleeping much for days on end was bad for your health.

“No, we didn’t, Uncle,” Kenta replies without as much as a second of hesitation.

His brothers follow with a shake of the head.

“Nu-uh, we stayed here too!”

“Then… Who is it?” He wonders out loud.

“Maybe it’s Mom?” Kenta asks.

“I don’t think so, she’s got a spare key…” Not that she would be available to go ding-dong-ditch on his ass. “Oh, whatever. I’m gonna go check, so don’t move, okay?”

As the sole (almost) adult here, he walks to the door of the house and opens it – only to gawk at who’s actually there.

“Good afternoon, Hikaru,” his very own girlfriend tells him.

“H-hi, Yoshiko,” he barely gets out, stunned for some reason. “What’s bringin’ you here?”

“I wanted to check up on you,” she replies without a smile (why?). “I know you’ve been neck-deep into your studies and…”

She scrutinizes his face, maybe, and freezes.

“What’s wrong?”

Then she looks horribly worried.

“You look absolutely exhausted, Hikaru,” she comments.

That’s no surprise.

“Oh, y’know, finals season! It looks worse than it really is.”

She doesn’t look convinced at all.

“I know, but you look like you don’t even rest…” She cups his face, loving gaze digging into his for answers. “How many hours of sleep do you get at night?”

“Honestly?” He tries to chuckle, but it sounds like the auditory equivalent of a flaccid pancake. “I haven’t slept in days. But like, who’s counting?”

Her expression worsens even deeper and now, now it actually aches like a bitch. Goddammit Hikaru, you’ve scared her. Congratulations, you fucking idiot!

“Can I come in?”

“Oh, uh, sure. Make yourself a home, I guess.” Then he remembers. “Wait, have you seen my nephews before?”

She stares back in shock.

“Your nephews?”

She doesn’t wait for his answer to step inside, even if she thinks of closing the door behind her as she does so.

“Yeah, my nephews. I’ve never told you about them?”

“No, you have, it’s just… I didn’t know you were babysitting them. Is that why you’re not resting?”

“Uh… I’m just giving my parents a hand. Right now, they’re at the supermarket for the groceries,” his vision keeps dimming, “and you know it, it’s easier to do grocery shopping without… three kids in tow…”

Keeping his eyes open is starting to become really difficult. But he can’t fall asleep in front of Yoshiko, of all people, so he wishes them back open. Dammit, he will not ridicule himself in front of his nephews nor his girlfriend!

“Maybe you should ask them to let you rest,” she quietly says. “Let them handle it. Please, you look so…”

“I-it’s fine.” He moves aside to let her come in, closes the door behind him. “I should probably… introduce you to them, though.”

Everything is floaty, as if he was underwater.

“Hikaru, I think you should sit down. You’re swaying on your feet…”

Both of their voices sound distant. That’s not good… he supposes. Truth be told, sleeping sounds amazing right now.

“I am? Damn.”

He trips on thin air and, as she catches him, the darkness finishes consuming his vision.

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For all she expected coming here, Hikaru dropping dead in her arms wasn’t one of those. Alas, it doesn’t come off as much as a surprise, now that the initial shock has passed, there are numerous little things around that tip her off that this was, unfortunately, unavoidable: the strewn around papers on his desk, the messy kitchen with wrappers spitting from the bin, the cans of energy drink in the bedroom’s trashcan that don’t seem like Hikaru’s usual self. Where’s his concern for his physical condition?

Fortunately, it “only” seems to be exhaustion: his temperature registers as normal and, now that he’s lightly snoring, she realizes he just has a good night of catching up to do. It’s still… concerning, though. Hikaru has never had trouble falling asleep before, at least, not that you’d know of, none that Kazumasa has ever spoken about.

A knock on the door is followed by timid footsteps – it’s a boy, around eight years old. She watches him shyly walk to the bed, standing right by the chair she’s sitting on. Because of the situation being as chaotic as it was, she hasn’t had the time to lie a good eye on him, she can see a bit of her boyfriend in him: their eyes are the same.

Yoshiko has never seen much of Hikaru’s family. He doesn’t invite her over often, and when he does, his parents aren’t impeding on them much. She’s never seen his sister, not even on pictures, and has never asked any further than that. It’s none of her business.

“Who are you?” The boy asks her.

“I’m, uh…”

She didn’t even think for a single moment she’d be a complete stranger to these children. Has he wondered all this time who she was?

“I’m Hikaru’s girlfriend,” she decides to plainly reply.

Immediately, his eyes start sparkling.

“Oh, you’re Uncle ��karu’s wife! That’s so cool!”

Her face immediately burns.

“O-oh, we’re not married!” She calms herself with a good breath. “I was visiting him because I haven’t seen him in a while. Do you know what happened?”

His mood immediately dips down and it aches.

“No… He’s just sleeping?”

“Yes, he’s sleeping, he isn’t sick.”

Immediately, the boy turns to the occupant in the bed and starts slapping him.

“Uncle ‘’karu, wake up! Your girlfriend’s here!”

Without thinking, Yoshiko grabs him, alert.

“Don’t wake him up, he needs to rest!”

“B-but… Mom said he was watching us, but he never does!”

Still, when she puts him back to the ground, he doesn’t try again.

“What’s your name?” She asks him.

“I’m Kenta”

“And your brothers?”

If she remembers correctly, Hikaru told her he had three nephews, one older and twin boys.

“They’re Riku and Ten. They like to whine.”

As most young children does, as far as she knows.

“And you’re saying your mom told Hikaru to watch over the three of you?”

Kenta looks suddenly a lot more bashful, “well, uh… Actually, Mom said it was Grandpa and Grandma, but when they’re busy, it’s Uncle ’karu who takes care of us.” He sighs and glances at him, worried. “But Uncle ’karu is always so tired. He yawns all the time, but he doesn’t sleep. I dun get it.”

The way Kenta phrases it, despite his confusion, is deeply concerning to her. Would that mean Hikaru has insomnia? Or is he forcing himself to stay up to study for the exams next week? He’s always been of the sleep-late-rise-early kind, not unlike her own father, but this sounds foreign from him anyway. What’s happening? How bad is he actually doing?

“He doesn’t sleep?”

“I don’t think he does. Whenever I go pee in the night, his light is always on.”

So he’s been studying late into the night. That’d explain a lot.

“Mom doesn’t like it when I tell her Uncle ’karu’s too tired for us. She tells me I’m wrong, that it’s his duty or something. But I don’t believe it.”

Hikaru hasn’t complained a lot about his family but having his nephews “dumped” on him was one of those. She can’t imagine having to study as much as he does and having to keep an eye on three children whenever his parents are busy… and what she has in front of her face, it’s not a convincing argument of the opposite.

“Can your brothers and you watch over yourselves while he takes a nap?”

It’s perhaps a lot to ask for children their ages.

“Yeah. We’ll be calm.” He sighs again. “I like Uncle ’karu, but I don’t think he likes us.”

“I’m sure he loves you and your brothers, he’s just very tired.” It feels awful to tell this to a child. “Truth be told, at our age, it’s hard to take care of younger people than us, and right now, we’re both busy with school. It’s not that your uncle hates you, I assure you.”

“I hope.” He glances around. “I’m gonna tell my brothers. Thank you, uh… Yoshino?”

“Close enough,” she smiles, “it’s Yoshiko.”

“Thanks, Auntie Yoshiko!”

Her cheeks burn once more as she watches him out of the room.

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The first thought that comes across Hikaru’s mind as soon as his eyes can pry themselves open is what the fuck am I doing in bed?

Then he realizes this is a very stupid question and tries getting up. Whatever this is – he shouldn’t be here. His square-root formula isn’t going to learn itse—

“You should stay in bed,” Yoshiko tells him right as his head starts swimming.

His reflexes must be dulled to hell and back, for him to barely react at all to this.

“Yo… Yoshiko…? What’re you doin’ here…?”

How long has she been here for?

“Oh, you probably don’t remember… I wanted to pay you a visit because we’ve not seen each other since class has ended and I was… worried for you.” Her face is so sad. “I was right to, I think.”

“I fell asleep on you, then, huh.”

“You did, yes. That’s why I want you to rest.”

“You’ve seen them, though, no? I need to keep an eye on my nephews. And, y’know, my exams…”

She brushes his hair, watching his eyelids flutter again.

“I’ll talk to your parents for you. Maybe… Maybe some fresher eyes will help them see the issue. You shouldn’t be balancing all of this on your shoulders alone. Not when you’re supposed to study on the side as well. But for now, just think about resting, okay?”

“You’d actually confront my family about this…?” A smile perks up on his lips. “You’re amazing…”

“Don’t worry about it for now. It’s normal someone finally gives you a hand.”

The sound of something falling downstairs alerts him immediately; yet before he can fully get up, Yoshiko grounds him back down into his bed.

“Hikaru!!”

“I’ll go check it out, so please stay here!”

His eyelids are getting really heavy, so he nods along.

“Works for me…”

He doesn’t stay awake enough to watch her leave – and it’s good enough for him.

[fauvester]

omigod what if i cleaned up high school au and put on on ao3

[wickedlyqueer]

Could you suggest fluffy fics about Gelphie. I read that one fic where everything is so fucked up. I need recovery from it. A little or moderate angst is fine. Better if it's complete.

I love how you say "that one fic where everything is so fucked up", like that does not describe several gelphie fics. :')

but in all honesty anon, i'm kinda a terrible reader and most fics I read/remember/recommend are years old by now.

Of my own fics, I think the Dutch HSAU series, and the one-shots Snowing, Glowing and Teachers AU are amongst the fluffiest fics i've ever written.

(I also made a special projects page on my blog where you can see all my fics categorized and other Wicked related projects in what is (hopefully) a helpful overview!).

And we've had some incredibly talented writers over the years that, while not always necessarily fluffy, are worth checking out like RidiculousMavis, OrkButch (prev. Wagyubeefy), GretchenMaurice, show_me_the_universe and many, many more.

And while there's plenty of angst in this fic, but the weekly updating attrition by haline is quickly becoming one of my favorite gelphie fics.

I know this is very broad, but honestly anon? There's so many gelphie fics out there. Don't forget Wicked is an old fandom. If you do not find what you're looking for at AO3, try ff.net or even livejournal. ;)

[needlesandnilbogs]

writer asks! 13, 36, 81

ask game in question

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

uhh... I have too much of a Complicated relationship with mirrorverse to totally call it pleasant, but it's nice that I've managed to stick with it and I'm still happy to write it most of the time, that should count?

really, a better answer might be the recent fic I published about mb going to the equivalent of the state fair, which popped mostly formed into my head, complete with both format and several lines already written, so it didn't feel like I was ever stuck on it! I liked that a lot lol

36. do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

Sort of. I steal bits of outfits and personality from people I know for canon characters, but really the one-off OCs are more of real people. Two examples come to mind obviously: high school au mensah, who is very much my school's stage manager during my jr year, a senior who was like the epitome of coolness to me that year and remained enough of an inspiration to be a big part of HSAU Mensah, and Arden fairoak, a character I made up for a one-off mirrorverse thing who is now. not a one-off character. and also is very much based off my high school best friend.

the rest of the mirrorverse one-off OCs, excluding Arden's family who are all except for Bharadwaj named for local libraries, are named and loosely personality based off of historical figures or fictional characters, including: Caroline Bingley and Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen books, Nikita Gill, Vikram Seth, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert...

81. if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

Okay, there's two answers to this. both apply to my past self in 7th-9th grade

Generically: Stop being embarrassed of your stuff, idiot. (Expanding slightly more on that, you're not going to be seen as stupid for writing fanfic and (tagging @kellumnights and @clustxr because they'll know who and what I mean and laugh) if kellum could literally do That Story and JdS could do Hot Day in Hotwrong about it, you could totally put your stuff in the writers guild magazine and not just rolls and role-players original flavor.)

extremely specifically, re a thing I started then which became my favorite original universe:

Dear Past!Prime!Bardic,

actually write down exploring frontiers, please. I want that stuff now and I want more than I put on paper.

relatedly, you did not need to write the whole boring story to introduce everyone before you wrote the fun chapter. but thank you (genuinely) for the seven paragraphs of auri lore that I needed in eleventh grade when I restarted it

you did not need to feel so embarrassed about Plory and Ara having A Thing. it was what you needed to write at the time.

stop naming characters after your irl cousins bc eventually they find it and mock you

don't name the main character after yourself. they might be a self insert but you'll make it ten times harder to share it when you're my age because then you have to check every snip and make sure you renamed [name] to Ampara every freaking place.

seriously. names. Ampara, not [name]. Danessa is good, keep that. Savfira is gonna become stupidly hard to get spellcheck to understand but it's fine. Zynnia's great. dump Ariya and find a better R name that still lets you use Rya as a nickname. Ladira, not Lady. also by the way you add a seventh house later.

love,

present!prime!Bardic (PS we change our name.)

[aylirenk]

Do you have favourite kindergarten au(s)? And if you have, Who's your favorite design?

My first ask!🤧

Well I really like the Milgram Au • @kgmilgramau, also, I'm interested in the HSAU • @kindergarten2-hsau .

BUT, I'll always love the Teen Au of @ask-kinders-teenau because it was the very first content of Kindergarten I've ever seen (I know it's idle, it's amazing though).

My favourite design is Ron from the Teen Au, it's exactly how I see him. 🫶

Now, a little drawing💗 (The kid of the teen Au is totally opposite from the kid of my Au😭).

[cgtg]

do u have any any voice headcanons for karkat or dave bc personally i cant find anyone who fits them :']

(well actually theres broadway karkat but uhhhhhehehe)

my god thank u for asking me this i have such specifik hcs for this ive been kinda wanting 2 share 4 a rlly long time. but i was shy

lmao ive still never listened 2 anything from broadway kk after all this time and i gotta keep it that way....

i kinda have multiple 4 both, that mix together / vary in strenth depending on wat im looking at, but herez a main ones

for dave:

yoni wolf became my main dave hc like,a decade ago at this point. if dave ever legit got into rapping, i think this is what it'd be like persanally. here's one where yoni talks a bit too.

caleb pitts is anothr big one for me, more recent... hes so fuckig funny. this bald man is my heero. "do you like storecore? he's like the most insane storecore rapper right now. he be rappin about the store all the TIME and shit."

for karkat:

i *rly* like the voice they giv him in funk mclovins hsau. sumtimez i just imagine it like this str8 up, just more animated. to me he has a LOT ov range 2 his voice but i love this take sm. its like relaxing 2 listen to. esp with the fuckin amount kk talkz.

also, the voice kawai sprite does a lot on the ugly boy album. i luv it sm. kinda whiny nasally cracky shit. but grouchy. i think the best examplez of wat i mean are "ugly boy" & "girlfriend?". is a bit hard 2 imagine in a normal speeking context tho....

kinda put dan vs and michael roosterteeth in there too sometimes, old school influences... but if u do it too much itz just rlly obnoxious. l0l

again thank u sm.4reel...

[sapphicscience]

20 questions for writers - tagged by @weeheilandcoo thank you!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 88 + 14 (two accounts) so that makes 102? damn

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? combined: 290,931

3. What fandoms do you write for? recently: yellowjackets and t*ylor sw*ft. formerly: killing eve, person of interest, orphan black, and dr*g r*ce.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? ok let's see. my single jessica jones fic has almost 900 kudos, followed by my old cophine hsau, one of my two supergirl fics, followed by a killing eve one-shot, followed by the killing eve multichap that i co-authored with my friend quincy

5. Do you respond to comments? yes, mostly because i want to show appreciation for people who actually comment lol.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ummmm many of them but the one that comes to mind is if i could hold you for yj

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? probably van top surgery fic lol

8. Do you get hate on fics? i got one (1) piece of hate on the first florence/taylor fic i wrote, from a regular florence rpf reader who was upset about taylor being there

9. Do you write smut? yeah baybee...frequently!

10. Do you write crossovers? nah

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not as far as i know

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes! someone translated one of my fics into chinese but i don't remember which one.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? yes, once! don't blame me (ke) was co-written and it was a delightful experience but it took us SO LONG to finish that most of our readership gave up, i think, lol

14. What is your all-time favorite ship? ROOT/SHAW.......

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? i don't have a lot of wips tbh. i finish my shit.

16. What are your writing strengths? characterization and sad smut

17. What are your writing weaknesses? action, long-form stuff that isn't a road trip

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? uh idk? i don't do it really, except in old cophine fics i did pepper in bits of french for delphine?

19. First fandom you wrote for? i wrote a LOT of hp fic back in the day when i was like 13

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? probably if i could hold you (yj) - the concept wasn't mine but i think i executed it well and it's definitely gotten the strongest reaction lol. honorable mention to an old one, take me away (ob) - the "road trip while cosima is actively dying" fic has a special place in my heart.

tagging uhhh who writes lemme think @lesbianlotties @rootsmachine sorry i'm soooo blanking rn. do this if you want to!

[ender--slime]

i wanna share some thoughts i have about. some stuff i guess!!

i think the way people treat post canon, no matter which team was writing it or which version of it you’re looking at, is also similar to the way people treat. literally any other artist in this fandom. which is “your interpretation is Wrong and that means your art and morals are Bad”

which is sad to me because. we all took english classes right? we all learned about different literary lenses and different ways to interpret a piece of media. and that everyone can have different takeaways from the same thing. and they might not be equal or even the authors intent but like. that’s okay. it’s not that serious. sometimes a person is 14 or like. just cares more about Background Character than anyone else. and that’s okay!

i’ve been reading homestuck with a friend who’s never read it before- she works on the fanadventures with me and it’s simply required reading :p And she said something a lil bit ago, basically that she reads the kids as a lot older than 13. she doesn’t feel as though they are written as realistic 13 year olds- 15-16, for sure. but 13? to my friend, not so much.

and that got me thinking about the way people treat HSAU. “why’d you age them up? they were written to be 13 for a reason!” is definitely a valid critique i think, if you yourself had that interpretation of the original character writing. but if you’re my friend, who feels as though they act a bit old to be 13, aging them up probably makes a lot of sense. i think she’d really like HSAU. also because i showed her the ranma 1/2 june scene and she CRIED. on that note- “why did june come out so early?” probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to someone who enjoys post-game adult trans headcanons, but it’s simply the same thing post canon is doing. a What If. What if Egbert realizes she’s a woman at age 40? What if she realizes it at age 18? What are the different themes and interpretations that can be found in both of these headcanons? what personal experiences and interpretations of the post canon and HSBC writers can be found in PQ trans vriska? or middle aged june egbert? what personal experiences and interpretations of a certain content creator can be found in a teenaged june egbert reading ranma 1/2?

artists rip out their hearts and draw them, paint them, write them, compose them onto a canvas for Us to see. what more must they do simply to get Our approval? in this late late late stage capitalist society, must we demand that artists make art for Us? and not for themselves? are we not lucky to be surrounded by so many cakes?

i have all the drawings my partner has ever made me on display in my room. she doesn’t draw very well- but they are so special. they look about the same as an elementary schoolers art skills- like the Little Chuck E kid who visits me at work. but to me they are the most amazing pieces of art in the world!!

all the art we make has our own hearts and souls poured into it. and that’s pretty cool.

this is my tumblr exclusive opinion twitter doesn’t get to see this one shhhhhh also i am not accounting for every nuance of media literacy and analysis ofc im just yapping. so plz don’t kill me or whatever

[viraltang]

Remakes of the first two pieces of fan art I ever did for HSAU.

[nerice]

ask meme all of the hearts for reina!!!

(shakes the 2023 dust off this one but posts it as it was written)

im riding my wrist stamina as far as it will take me wahooo!! since i do poorly with character trait lists so im just gonna throw the first few answers into one>>>

❤️🤍💔 what are three of your oc's positive, neutral/questionable, and negative traits?

1) attachment issues (number one problem always) it's par for course after being the first being in existence and screwing it up so badly that your entire world fucking despises you and then ends in fiery apocalypse. as a result reina is a huge bleeding heart and deathly loyal/attached to all that comes after it for fear of losing it, while simultaneously keeping everyone and everything at arm's length to preempt another heartbreak but also,

2) god complex <3 fundamentally believes herself to be incompatible with mortals due to true ruler status. humans could never understand her (or what she went through in her world) nd for a long time is insufferable and coldly domineering abt it, violently resisting any attempt to break through that demeanor :3 + lastly

3) the biggest fucking softie in the world, actually. in suuuuch a huge part thanks to jumie continuously vibe checking her. at the other end of trauma you're just left with the ache of the smallest things breaking your heart </3

💘 what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?

her world (the pain that never leaves. that she would lay everything down to have back in a heartbeat, however impossible) but over a long arduous road slowly shifting to. jumie ofc <3

🧡 does your oc tend to prioritize family or friends?

found family over everything!!!!!! i think nobody involved in palace times (rabbit raising group project) ever recovers from the quasi family they became in that time. though nothing hurts reina more than growing apart from garvith, the literal other half of her soul, but by the time either of them realizes it they're too divided to reconcile </3

💛 how many languages does your oc speak? what language(s) are they learning, if any?

true ruler perk of Acquiring Any Skill You Like which is extremely unfair. not really all that relevant for locally confined canon/conlang laziness but definitely aggravating to anyone around her in hsau's where she is a natural talent in whatever she tries including languages. god-advantage sorry <3

💚 does your oc prefer being inside or outside?

outside!!!! but in secret. leader of the war can't get caught running around in the woods barefoot but back on nerice she was a feral child for all intents and purposes & that affinity never left her. she just pretends to be more dignified than that most of the time u_u

💙 does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world?

ya!!!! true ruler strats. back on nerice before The Great Moon Breakage, she was 100% immortal unable to perceive pain, skin unbreakable, nd for a long time after has flawless healing. the other two ingredients are wishes (aforementioned instant acquiring of whatever powers/attributes she wants) and melody (the conduit for wishes. a lot of recklessly strolling thru woods humming, changing foliage and vegetation at her whims. wading out into a lake, climbing up onto the water's surface as it changes to foam to oil to molten rock and snow and marsh) the world at her fingertips truly <3333

💜 what is your oc's ancestry/genetic background?

eternal city dna <333 any true ruler (until her breaking of the engine) is born from the touch of the eternal cities/the two halves of the eternal moon, which are filled with an infinite melody. whichever tune plays at the time of the touch is the melody the ruler inherits and is their version of a soul.

if we are talking world equation tho, reina is pinoy ethnicity-wise :3

🖤 has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

BEST FOR LAST. rubbing my hands at mach speed.

on the killing maiming permanent dmg front, nighthearts showdown vs gray my beloved (second thing in first pic) many hour flaying session she did him so good <3

otoh,..... there was a breaking point w/ jumie early on where reina tried to erase her memories so they could both forget abt fumbling in an alleyway/their kiss & move on as if nothing happened (intimacy scary!) but she course corrects last second which is good bc jumie would have never forgiven her otherwise. ofc she does end up breaking jumie's heart in the end when she fucking dies but yknow :') #girlproblems

[seeminglyseph]

I know this is like. Silly to look back on so often, but I also like… have not accomplished a fic this huge like. Ever. Since then, and I’m pretty sure I was manic at the time and that’s part of it.

But I do wonder sometimes if there’s like. “Normal” RvB fans who like. Go through the RvB AO3 section and go for the HSAU fic about the two villains from seasons 11-13 with these kinds of tags expecting crack smut fic they can riff on? And like. I know I’m not like… the greatest writer now and this is before I even went to University for English/Creative Writing (and dropped out but I’m hoping to eventually go back…) and seat of my pants manic writing is not the best way to create a narrative… it’s kinda like why you wanna make sure Steven King doesn’t do too much cocaine, things get a little crazy.

But I do feel like it’s like…. Surprisingly higher quality than the premise would imply? RvB HSAU about late season villains written technically before we got their backstory episodes, not featuring any of the main characters and with *those* tags? I also got Iritis in like… chapter 6.

I feel like there’s just a part of me that’s curious if there’s a secret reputation that I have no way of knowing about having kinda fallen out of the fandom since then… it’s a silly thing to wonder but sometimes I can’t help it. I guess like it’s that whole mix of wanting to leave an impact but also troll logic of knowing the concept of this story is innately ridiculous and I know people have judged it by tags alone because I was once put on an “RvB has a child predator problem” list based on the tags alone because antis have reading comprehension problems sometimes and can’t tell the difference between “this story has youths who engage in sexual activity please be warned” and “this is csem and I’m a monster” which was. Definitely an experience that freaked me out. I don’t even include explicit scenes because it squicked me out…. But they literally just scroll through the tags, a system used to warn people of content they don’t want to interact with, and then accuse people of the worst shit imaginable. Fucking absurd.

I’m not sure what I’m doing really right now… it’s been so long since I’ve written anything. I need some good motivation, and I think I’m just curious really if I do have a reputation or if people remember things I’ve written or created for some reason. Idk. That’s a weird thing probably to wonder about…

[flydotnet]

Mid-Spring's Vague Idea for a Fugue

WHUMPTOBER 2023, DAY 7:“I paced around for hours on empty; I jumped at the slightest of sounds.” Alleyway | Radio Silence | “Can you hear me?”

I really never write Misaki, let alone HSAU Taro. I should, I know, but I just… never get ideas for him, the poor thing. So, like last year, I used a challenge as an opportunity to give him some screentime! Unlike last year, however, it's not a 6K-word masthodonth that took me weeks to write…

I went with the quote prompt again because I'm very unoriginal, very uninspired, and a bit of an overall basic bitch. It's just how I roll.

I have, as always when I write either Yusuke or Taro, been very generous on my dosage of artistic metaphors and imagery. It's not a Yusuke POV if I don't use every single reference I have available to be displayed (ha).

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Mid-Spring's Vague Idea for a Fugue

Summary: Yusuke is used to his protégé taking care of him when things go south and covering for him when needs be. Today, he gets to pay him back.

Fandom: Persona 5/Captain Tsubasa (Crossover/Teachers AU)

Word Count: 1.2K words

AO3 version available here.

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Silence can be an overwhelming thing, Yusuke thinks.

Most people would see this as paradoxical. Of course they would: the lack of noise is meant to be soothing on the brain, especially that of the tired and overworked. Silence is seen as a good thing, a necessary reprieve from the world; and who is Yusuke to tell the people they’re wrong? Everyone has a stance on silence and it can change throughout the day, for some.

He isn’t on the side who appreciates complete silence. To focus on his art, he does need a respectable amount of calm; but noise is what makes it truly compelling. The sound of breathing, the wind through the window, the rain hitting the glass in droplets… It all feels like a compelling atmosphere for true art to come out of the brain, when music doesn’t also influence it.

Silence is a constant, in the atelier they call a secondary classroom. Both Taro and he partake in their art in silence, when they don’t have class to make, and it’s what allows them to make the works they expose on the walls of their respective rooms. Yet, it’s different than drawing all on his own: in the background of his mind, there is the scritch of pencils on paper, the low humming Taro sometimes makes when he’s focused and in need of finding the right mood for a piece. It’s both comforting and inspiring all on its own.

Drawing together brings the both of them. It has ever since Yusuke was entrusted with guiding a fellow arts teacher through the trials and tribulations of such a career: they’ve always found a sort of inner and outer peace this way, keeping their conversations to a minimum when both are creating. It’s only after this step is done that conversations may happen once again.

However, as it turns out, silence has become overwhelming, which means the time to discuss and debate, further ideas together has come. As such, he turns over and looks in his protégé’s direction, palette and paintbrush still in hand.

“Tell me, Taro, my dear friend, what do you think of this?” He asks.

Taro doesn’t reply, his head still hunched over a sketchpad. Perhaps he really is just deep in thought. Yusuke better not disturb this trance, as it may lead to splendid creations. More art is always a good thing, beautiful even.

Except… he’s getting to get seriously worried. Taro has been completely silent for too long. He hasn’t move except for the rise and fall of his chest, not even the scratch of a pen or a swing of his slightly asymmetrical bangs.

“Can you hear me?”

Yusuke steps forward, leaning closer to his protégé. His eyes are closed – this is wrong.

“Taro?”

Enough silence is enough, and anxiety is pulsating through his veins, he decides the best way to combat it is to make as much noise as one can. In his case, he resorts to hitting two empty glass jars together in a cacophonic pattern – and it works: Taro wakes up in a jump, a storm of startlement and shock on his face.

“S-sorry!” He yells out, his voice hoarse with sleep.

“My apologies, my esteemed friend, but I needed your opinion on something.” He leaves a blank, just enough for Taro to shake his head and find his footing again. “Also, you looked quite dead. I figured I ought to check if you weren’t. It’d have been very unfortunate if I hadn’t realized you had passed away.”

It’d have been a terrifying, mind-shattering experience. Fortunately, Taro is very much still alive – even if, for lack of a better image, he looks like someone took a vivid red from a watercolour palette and painted ugly blotches of it onto their pristine canvas.

“Are you okay?” Yusuke asks as soon as the metaphor fades.

Taro smiles, even tilts his head forward to nod. It all looks watered down, however.

“I’m fine,” he replies, the rasp in his voice not having gone anywhere since.

“Are you certain? You’ve been spacing out immensely.”

“Oh, it’s just…” Taro stares at the sketchbook that has went flying – the front page of it is blank. “Oh…”

“You weren’t drawing?” Yusuke asks again, tension creeping into his shoulders.

“I guess not…?” His protégé picks the sketchbook back, flaps through the pages, and the few sketches both of them see are from days ago. “Oh no…”

“Maybe we should stop in our tracks.”

“N-no, it’s fine! Don’t worry about me!”

A cough escapes Taro’s lips and, all of a sudden, he looks like a deer caught in a car’s highlights. It only then finally clicks inside Yusuke’s mind.

“Would you happen to be…”

A sentence can only do so much, so he puts his hand on Taro’s forehead and, sure enough, as soon as he does, his skin feels like a bath whose hot water has been running for too long.

“Oh, you’re ill,” he thinks out loud.

He watches Taro tense under his hand, yet never fully exiting its grasp. The moist warmth in his palm hasn’t receded either. Now able to glean in more details, the full extent of the picture is somewhat vertigo-inducing: paper-pale skin, sweat in drops of rain, hair that reflects the light as if coated in polish…

“It’s… it’s fine, I promise.”

Something familiar tugs at his heartstrings with a slightly acidic touch.

“You don’t have to pretend to be in a good shape. If you feel sick, then you feel sick.”

Taro looks up with glassy, wide-open eyes. The contrast is quite the sight to behold. (Oh, that is also quite the pun).

“But…”

Yusuke slowly kneels to his level, soon cupping his face as to make sure he’s heard.

“It’s only fair I care for you, my friend. You’ve helped me so many times and in so many ways before, I can only pay you back in a similar manner. Does anything hurt?”

Unlike what he expected, Taro’s eyes wet with tears.

“I, uh… My head hurts. Not that unexpected, I suppose…”

“Anything else?”

“My throat.”

“Hmm, it sounds like a cold to me. Do you wish to see the doctor just yet?”

“Ah, no, I can’t bother Jun with that, it’s not—”

“You’re not bothering Jun, my friend, you’re merely asking him something that’s part of his missions. In just the same way an artist paints, a doctor takes care of people. You’re of no burden if Jun has decided his life’s mission was to care for the sick.”

His friend’s eyes stare at the ground.

“I… suppose you’re right…”

“It seems like your old mentor still has lessons to teach you, then.”

“Yusuke, you’re only a year older than I am…”

“Experience transcends age, my dear Taro!” The wince that haunts his face for a second makes his heart sink. “My apologies, you did say your head hurt… Can I fetch you medicine for it, at least?”

Taro remains silent for a long moment.

“Actually… I should have some in my bag, along with a water bottle.” He brings his knees against his chest. “I’d rather have you remain here, Yusuke.” He then buries his face between his knees and the rest of his body. “I don’t like being alone when I’m sick.”

Yusuke may’ve barely been able to hear the sentiment, he still relates to it on such a fundamental level that it resonates with his very DNA.

“I understand, dear friend. I’ll just stay here with you until you don’t need me, then.”

He lets Taro nestle himself into his arms.

Silence isn’t always a bad thing, Yusuke decides.

[z-tomaz]

hi so i know it's been ages since you guys wrote you make me smile but i reread it a couple days ago and i just wanted you guys to know how absolutely talented you are & that it's quite literally better than anything else i've ever read:)

oh wow thank you anon!! it means a lot 🥰

[bashinginminds]

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[needlesandnilbogs]

i missed the ask game you reblogged so i don't know exactly how it works, but—i'd love to hear your director's commentary on one of the HSAU fics (especially one of the ones featuring Theater Kid Vibes) :)

(you're good, it's basically what you said! pick a fic and I ramble about it like directors commentary)

the problem this presents is that there's not that much commentary on the high school au stuff? 99% of the ones that deal with either theater or high school emotions were written in a fleeting moment of inspiration or trying to put an emotion I was actively feeling into words, so there's not much to *say* about them and some of what there is is doxxing lol

I could talk a little bit about the context of the initial idea, which I proposed on discord and then threw the first chapter of the first fic (in snips) into the chat over the next week or two, though:

It was the summer after my junior year, less than a month after I'd found my way to the murderbot diaries 2.0 server. I'd gotten shut out from the spring play tech crew in February, only the second opportunity for high school theater I'd had because of COVID, and was still mad about it, because the meeting had started a full five minutes early and I'd been 2 minutes late and there were too many seniors and everything (this led to a separate original universe that sometimes I think about still, but that's another story.)

My little brother was in a performance of Pirates of Penzance, the first performance a local kids theater company had been able to muster following COVID shut-downs. We'd just been to see it the night before, and I was deeply missing tech crew, especially since I'd been mistaken for a techie the night before (I WAS ALMOST EIGHTEEN. THE TECH CREW WAS 12. I DID NOT LOOK 12.)

I was going into senior year and busy thinking about college applications and worrying about that, too, and somehow that percolated overnight into the idea of mb as a senior year tech crew member, probably on lights, which was what I *wanted* to do (partially because I was jealous of @clustxr doing actual proper lighting design for their school and part bc I did costumes for junior year fall play and didn't ever want to do that again) and also what made some thematic sense

ART as sci-oly kid like one of my best friends at the time also made thematic sense and was relevant to me, same with acadeca/student council kid Mensah (who I then made the stage manager bc the stage manager my junior year had very Mensah vibes). I still can't explain why I made Three be a band kid, but I stand by that decision lol

I threw the idea out there, spitballed with other people for a while, then ended up writing about it, and the rest is history!

[voguewoozi]

the jock/nerd and punk/nerd high school au fics are great but do you know what’s better? punk/jock au where both characters are equally popular in their own right and flirtatiously challenge each other. both have power dynamic issues and think they’re the best thing since sliced bread. too stupid/proud to realize they’re attracted to one another and just insult each other but Everyone Knows