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coffeebanana · 1 year ago

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Enemies au ft. Ladrien for the ask game 👀 (hehehehe)

@heartfulselkie @ladyofthenoodle @rosie-b

i see this is was a popular one (which is good because i'm actually dying to talk about it 😂). i haven't written much of this yet, but i DO have a complete 26-chapter outline (that i made during my writing "break"), and even though i'm trying not to get too deep into it yet because i have so many other projects, i also not-so-secretly want to be enabled. do with that what you will this fic would take place in an au that diverges from canon at some point early season 5 (post-elation at the latest but i haven't quite decided), and it's my rendition of sentiadrien being forced to help monarch. i want to play with how sentiorders might work and what loopholes might exist. but also the fact that adrien doesn't know he's a senti yet. he doesn't even understand WHY he keeps agreeing to help his father, and he hates himself for that and ladybug...is understandably not in a great place either. obviously she has more support than adrien, but she still feels the weight of the burden. she misses her kitty 😢. and even alya has some stuff going on in her life, so she can't be as available to marinette as she has been in the past

then ladybug and adrien run into each other after an akuma attack one day. and it's sort of an echo of strikeback, where she's at her lowest point, and even if adrien knows he should run away and leave her, he can't. not when she's hurting. and he starts to realize maybe he can still help her. maybe he's not useless.

and ladybug also starts to see adrien in a new light (because he's still allowed to go to lycee, he just...doesn't really talk to any of his friends anymore). she's been so distracted with her own stuff that she's pushed her feelings about him aside, but even if she can't overthrow monarch, even if chat noir is lost to her, maybe she can at least help someone she loves

so basically it's ladynoir enemies with ladrien helping each other pick up the pieces. where they both start at rock bottom but maybe they (with some help from their friends!) can start to help each other heal

i'll share the intro scene under the cut (since this is getting long) with the caveat that this is an early version i might still want to flesh out/rework/possibly rewrite completely

thanks for the ask(s)!! 💜

...

It was barely October. It shouldn't be cold enough for the air to burn on the way down, for each breath to feel like ice crystallizing in Ladybug's lungs. But it did.

It felt like she'd forgotten how to breathe.

Gigantitan toddled down the street, clapping his hands and using the occasional stopped car as stepping stones. Car roofs caved in as he advanced, bringing muffled screams from those who hadn't been lucky enough to flee in time. And Ladybug could only stand there, backing away unsteadily as she failed to come up with a plan.

Part of her wondered if she should just give up. It would be fitting, at this point, to be taken down by a toddler. If she barely had the strength to get out of bed every morning, she certainly didn't have the energy for impromptu babysitting—even if the fate of Paris hung in the balance.

Maybe it was someone else's turn to care.

The voice in the back of her head—the one insisting she didn't really want that—wasn't loud enough to spur her heavy limbs into action. Instead she found herself wondering what the end would be like. When Monarch won, when he made the wish, would she feel the force of being torn apart, cell by cell?

Or maybe her end would come sooner. Gigantan was getting close now, and the silhouette of Monarch's mask flash across his face. But maybe he wouldn't be swayed by Monarch's words. Perhaps he'd keep smashing through the streets, and she'd be crushed like the cars he'd already left in his wake. Or maybe—

Someone slammed into her side, protective arms wrapping around her as they flew through the air, landing roughly and rolling until they slammed into the side of a building. Even with the suit, her hip was still throbbing from the impact when they stopped, her assailant hovering over her. She kept her eyes shut tight for a moment, breathing in his familiar scent and taking comfort from the arms bracketing her body—keeping her safe, the way they always used to.

The way they shouldn't. Not anymore.

Chat Noir's breath warmed her face as he pushed himself up, and Ladybug forced her eyes open to meet a pair of wide, worried eyes. Ones that sucked away any remaining breath she had left.

How dare he look at her like that? After everything?

"Ladybug, I..." He squeezed his eyes shut, his whole body stiffening momentarily. "I'm sorry."

A shiver travelled down her spine, zapping some life back into her. By the time she noticed his hand twitching in her periphery, she was already moving. Her fist connected with his cheek as claws grazed her earlobe.

Grunting, Chat rolled off of her. She sprang to her feet, hand moving to her yo-yo as she glanced back and forth between her two foes. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, she was starting to cobble together some semblance of a plan. But she needed more time, so she tossed her yo-yo around a nearby chimney and took off through the streets.

When she was certain she'd gotten enough distance from the fight, she stopped on a rooftop, resting against a chimney as she caught her breath, remembering the shock of green eyes boring into hers.

It shouldn't be cold enough yet for her body to feel so numb.

...

#ask response #heartfulselkie #ladyofthenoodle #rosie-b #miraculous ladybug #ladrien #long post #eafl #i actually hate that acronym so if anyone can suggest a different working name for this fic i'd be so greatful 😂#cause enemies au. ft. ladrien is sadly a mouthful #(handful? since i'm typing? ignore me askjfdbskjd)

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i-can-even-burn-salad · 1 month ago

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Periphery Synthethic

[ID: The logo of the game, showing the text Periphery Synthethic over a glowing red circle in front of a black space with tiny white dots as stars. End ID]

A chill, sound based planetary exploration game with, at the time of writing, three worlds to discover. The graphics are simple — basically a blanket of colorful pixels on a grid outlining the world and its landmarks — and can be turned off completely. The game and all its menus have screen reader support.

To be honest, I didn't think I'd like it that much. I bought it because I think accessible games are wonderful and should be supported, and I ended up playing it for two weeks straight, getting almost all the achievements.

[ID: Screenshot of the game, showing the sand dunes of the first planet, outlined by yellow pixels on a dark red backdrop. The sky is full of stars. End ID]

You wake up on a desert world, without memories of how you got there. So you start exploring. At the start, you walk slowly, and you use your scanner to perceive your surroundings, noting down some of your observations in your log.

The scanner will emit a sound depending on the landscape in front of you, will attach to the nearest material or trinket and lead you to it with a clacking noise, and can also lead you to the next landmark with a soft chime.

Honestly, I am not good at sounds in video games and play most of them without sound at all, so it was absolutely a learning curve figuring out what the different sounds meant, and I am not sure I personally could play it without graphics — especially not the underwater caves. I do believe it's possible, though.

[ID: Screenshot of the game, showing soft hills outlined by colorful pixels in rainbow colors, with purple and pink dominating. End ID]

As you gather more materials and discover more hints about your past, you unlock upgrades for your mech. Upgrading it lets you move faster, jump higher, fly for longer. I found the three worlds to have very distinct physics, that made wheels my preferred method of traveling on one, and the jump boost on another.

You also gather hints about your past, which I personally found hard to read. Many big words and stylistic choices like alliterations do not mix well with a very sleepy English-as-second-language-haver at 2am. But games are art, too, and it's an art style I can respect.

[ID: Screenshot of the game, showing a black void with hundreds of tiny, colorful, glowing dots resembling stars. End ID]

The game does have performance issues, since all the music and sounds are generated on the fly. Sooner than later, it will start crackling, have fps drops, and eventually keep cutting out, depending on how powerful your PC and how busy the scene is. A quick restart fixes it.

Controls cannot be rebound. If you're using a controller on Steam, you can do whatever you want forever with steam input, which is nice. The list of controls is also pretty far down the How to Play document, which is currently a bit wonky to navigate with controller, but will be improved in an upcoming patch.

I have not tried to play it with a keyboard for more than a couple of seconds, to me it's just a controller game. Most controls are pretty easy to figure out — walk, jump, scan, menu — with left and right stick press for turbo and wheels (if upgraded) being the less intuitive.

At the moment, there are two more worlds in development, which are said to be added for free for everyone who owns the game, while it will increase in price with each one added.

If you think you might enjoy this game, there's a demo available, so why don't you give it a try?

#salad-games #periphery synthethic #no one (*love the 3 people who do) follows my gaming side #so I will haunt my main with this instead

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randum-famdoms · 24 days ago

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Small progress update on my mom sold me to the detective prince :)

So, chapter 14 is still far from ready. BUT! I have finally caved and switched to using a different writing program than docs, and in the process I went through the effort of actually organising my warzone of a notes system (which was basically four different notes systems, comprised of comments on the google doc, the bottom ten pages of the google doc, a file in my phone’s notes app, and screenshots from my texts with my beta, and of course none of it was actually organized and half of was no longer accurate to my current plan for the fic).

I also finished a COMPLETE preliminary outline. By which I mean that I have a tentative plan going all the way up to the end of the fic, but it can change at any time if I have a better idea or whatever. Said summary is like, 5k words long. And still doesn’t cover everything (it covers the main beats but not all the fallout of events, like if someone dies then it’s in the summary but the character reactions to said death is not). I gotta say, I’m pretty excited about what I came up with. Now it’s just a matter of getting there…

I haven’t organized all of it into individual chapters, but if I had to guess then I’d estimate the total complete fic will be something around 80 chapters long (mind you, that’s completely subjective to change. In the past one chapter has become three, so. Yeah. Give this estimate a 20 chapter buffer on both ends) and 500k ish words (again a total guess and with a large buffer).

I’m hoping that the writing program switch will make things easier, especially organisation-wise.

If anyone is wondering, I switched to Elipsus, and I am loving it so far. I’ll be making a separate post basically just singing its praises. Highly recommend for any writers out there, 10/10 program.

Anyway, chapter 14 is going to be MASSIVE. Should I probably split it up into multiple chapters? Yeah. Will I? No, because I like how dramatic it is. Think if it like a season finale, 2 hours long compared to the normal 45 minute episodes. It’s going to be the “final” chapter of the Kamoshida arc - sort of. There’s still the fallout to get through, and that’s going to be just as dramatic, at least in my opinion. Don’t worry though, we’ll be at the second palace soon. Provided my outline doesn’t change, chapter 18 will be the start of Yusuke.

In other news, my schedule has gotten busier. By a lot. School things have come up, and I’m trying to make some money by getting a part time job I’ll still write when I can, but I might need to change the post schedule again. That remains to be seen. Regardless of what happens there, I WILL continue making these progress reports, as well as always posting on the same day, even if the gaps between chapters is inconsistent.

I might make the discord server public on here, before the chapter is posted. That’s only if it isn’t done by the end of the week, though.

As always, feel free to scream at me in asks, comments, and dm’s about whatever you want. If you ask a question then there like a 90% chance I’ll answer (the 10% being if it’s private info about me or my beta). Suggestions are always welcome too!

That’s it for now, see ya’ll eventually

#randum thots #some fic i wrote

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chayscribbles · 2 years ago

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chayscribbles’ monthly writing update ☆ february 2023

☆ STATISTICS.

words written: 11 606

projects worked on: Andromeda Rogue; The Gemini Heist; and a Third, Secret WIP

proudest accomplishment: i'm about halfway through with AR1 draft 2! and i finished like, a bunch of drawings

books read: Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne; All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells;

☆ GENERAL COMMENTS.

why do i feel like i wrote a lot less than i actually did. like i looked at my total and thought "now that can't be right... there's no way i wrote that much."

things are going better for some wips (AR) than they are for others (GH) so maybe my head is cancelling it out lol.

reading comments: Architects of Memory was basically "a corporate war over alien weapons featuring messy sapphics in space" and i liked it but it wasn't quite a coup de coeur, 4/5 stars. All Systems Red was an absolute delight, 5/5 stars, will be reading the rest of the series once my holds on Libby come through.

(also i started reading Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo this past weekend, and i blame it + it's precursor Ninth House for putting me in the mood to work on Third Secret WIP lately, as Ninth House is partially responsible for the genre shift in Third Secret WIP.)

more specific wip-related comments + featured excerpt below.

☆ COMMENTS: ANDROMEDA ROGUE (draft 2)

i'm about halfway through this draft! i've passed 40k this month!

things are going super well. when i have the magical combo of time and energy and motivation to write i can get through scenes pretty easily, now that i don't have to worry about overall plot as much. plus i get to add little things here and there to beef it up.

i've mostly worked on the second act this month, which is where the team really starts going through things together.

there's one particular Azami chapter right before the midpoint that's a monster of lore-dropping. i had to rework it several times as i had an entire page of editing notes to make sure everything is coherent... and i'm still not entirely sure i've gotten it right 😭

☆ COMMENTS: THE GEMINI HEIST (outlining / draft 0.5)

not much to say about this one. didn't work on it as much. the plot for this wip continues to frustrate me. i'll find myself coming up with little ideas for the characters and the world... but when i try to sit down and come up with actual scenes and plot, my brain turns to soup.

☆ COMMENTS: THIRD, SECRET WIP

this wip is consuming me. devouring me with its teeth. i'm surprised to find i may actually have a plot. turns out letting it hibernate for 3 years and tweaking with the genre has done some good.

i might cave and post an intro in the next month. stay tuned...

☆ FEATURED EXCERPT.

this is from the like, one scene i wrote for gemini heist this month. i just think it's funny. for context, Leo and Gabi are trying to get access to some archives in a university library, and are posing as students.

As [Leo and the archivist] talked, Gabi slipped her hand into the pocket of her ridiculous jacket. Her fingers closed around a small round device. She glanced around. While Leo was doing a great job at keeping the archivist distracted, the commotion had caught the attention of nearly everyone in the room.

Just be normal, she told herself. She inched her hand out of her pocket.

“Which archives exactly do you need access to?” [the archivist] asked.

“Art of the early Viheldan Empiric era,” Leo said. “My paper is on the Gemini statuettes.”

“Ah, that might be why. You need a special authorization form from a professor or another faculty member to access those.”

Leo pouted. “But my professor said he got access for me!”

“Perhaps you can message him—”

“Ugh— can’t you just call him right now and ask? I don’t have time for this.”

“Alright. I’ll give him a call.”

Shit. Gabi wasn’t ready. She fumbled to take out the device, concealing it as best as she could in the palm of her hand. All she needed was to place it on the archivist’s computer terminal without him seeing a thing before he made that call.

The archivist’s fingers hovered over the screen for a second before pressing an icon at the bottom. With a starburst motion of his hand, he expanded a search window and began typing in the name of the professor. Panicking, Gabi slammed the device in her hand onto the side of the terminal.

The already quiet room went completely silent. All eyes turned towards her. The archivist’s were wide and stunned. Leo’s were sharp and furious.

“I, uh,” Gabi sputtered, awkwardly keeping her hand glued to the terminal. The device whirred to life, vibrating softly under her palm. “I-I thought I saw a bug.”

☆ TAGLISTS. let me know if you want to be added/removed to any of them.

general taglist:

@nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @quilloftheclouds @ashen-crest @writeblrfantasy @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @extra-magichours @avi-why @lefttigerobservation @chazzawrites @bardolatrycore @innocentlymacabre

andromeda trilogy taglist:

@bebewrites @nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @akindofmagictoo @quilloftheclouds @nora-theteawriter @ashen-crest @corpsepng @writeblrfantasy @toboldlywrite @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @cheerfulmelancholies @extra-magichours @writeouswriter @cilly-the-writer @lefttigerobservation @rose-bookblood @drowsy-quill @chazzawrites @cynic-and-chief @enchanted-lightning-aes @aesa

gemini heist taglist:

@florraisons @akindofmagictoo @cream-and-tea @nicola-writes @memento-morri-writes @antique-symbolism @rose-bookblood @afoolandathief @pepperdee @avi-why @zonnemaagd @chazzawrites @analogued @enchanted-lightning-aes @innocentlymacabre @kahvilahuhut @celestepens @cilly-the-writer @extra-magichours @retrogayyde

#chayscribbles writing update #wip andromeda trilogy #wip andromeda rogue #wip gemini heist #and a third secret wip

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sparkylurkdragon · 1 year ago

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Most of my longfics are adaptation fix-its, so the basic skeleton is already there for me, which helps a lot.

The ones that aren't, well. I approach them the same way I approach my short fics. I have some kind of idea I want to get across, some kind of ending. It's just that the longfics need more space to get from The Start to The End, or have more ideas that I want to get across between the two points. Sometimes this can be accomplished with a series of shorts, but sometimes you just need a longer work.

I also find that writing the entire story out before posting works better for me than posting chapters as they're written. This is kind of against the grain of wider fandom culture, but it works for me because, again, the nitty-gritty of writing out a long fic is exactly the same as shorter fics for me, just on a larger scale. I start with a skeleton that plays to my main strengths as a writer (dialogue), then layer on more description in subsequent drafts, often rewriting the whole thing using the initial draft as a detailed outline.

It's labour-intensive and takes longer, but I find it makes my work better suit my own quality standards. It also makes it harder to write myself into a corner: if that happens I can just hit reverse and fix whatever led up to it, including if it's a subplot or character quirk that needed setting up in the first chapter. Can't do that if I was posting as I wrote it. It makes intentional foreshadowing possible for me, too. (Unintentional foreshadowing creeps in no matter what I do, and I can drop hints to things I think might be coming. But I never quite know until I get there.)

So, if you find you tend to peter out by posting chapters as they're finished, try writing the whole thing out before posting. This, I think, is the kind of creative difference between writing a three-hour movie and writing a TV series: both completely valid ways of expressing a longform plot, but they work better for different people and different stories.

This may not work as well if you need outside motivation to keep going. In this case, sharing in-progress excerpts on a blog or finding someone who will privately cheer you on can help. Me, I tend to just... go into my cave and come out three years later with a longfic, haha, but in the meantime the longfic isn't the only thing I'm working on. I'll make and release shorter pieces when I'm just not feeling the longfic that day/week/month, and this helps with both keeping motivation for creation up and the whole mental crop rotation thing.

Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?

I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it.

Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about.

Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"

A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about.

The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.

As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding.

When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point.

Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon.

#writing #fandom

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pappydaddy · 4 years ago

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For Her (s.h. + b.h.)

A/N: This is for the lovely anon who asked for a platonic! Steve Harrington x Reader x platonic! Billy Hargrove where they go to prom. I added a little spice about people not believing that they are all just friends bc let’s be honest, people always assume they know more about what’s going on than they actually do. I loved prom even though people really did try to ruin it for me, but that is a story for another day if y’all wanna hear it. Writing this really made me go back to my high school years (my prom was three years ago, yikes) so thank you anon, it was really nice to revisit those days (even though I realized that I am actually old now😅). But anyway, it wasn’t specified what pronouns to use so I am using my default (she/her) like I outline in my Request Rules! Now enough of me trying to recapture my youth when I didn’t have chronic back pain 24/7 and on to the imagine! Hope you like it lovely anon💛!

pairing: platonic!steve harrington x fem!reader x platonic!billy hargrove

show/movie: stranger things

requested

au where billy never beat steve nearly to death

warnings: nothing? good times. some good steve vs. billy bickering.

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation

- not my gif -

“Come on, please!” Y/N pleaded, grabbing Billy and Steve’s sleeves to prevent them from walking away from the group. Billy and Steve both stopped, glaring at each other.

“No.” They answered together, not turning to try and walk away again since Y/N still gripped their sleeves. They both resorted to turning their backs to each other like children. Heaving a sigh, Y/N used most of her strength to yank the two closer to her, her arms growing tired of reaching.

“Can’t you two just get along for one night,” She asked, her eyes wide and pleading, her bottom lip sticking out. The sound of her voice made the two turn their heads enough to see her. “For me?” She pressed, turning her pouting eyes to Steve, knowing that out of either of them, he would break first. Steve also knew this, making him turn his head away from her, trying not to cave under her puppy-dog expression.

“Sorry, Y/N/N, I would go with you in a heartbeat, but I can’t go with you if he is going with you.” Steve spoke a little louder, making up for the fact that his back was turned to her. Billy scoffed at this, shifting his weight, his tongue flicking over his bottom lip with an unimpressed glare on his face. Y/N slumped her shoulders, playing on Billy’s weaknesses now.

“Billy,” She sounded as sad as she could, trying to get her two best friends to come with her to prom. He silently shook his head. “I can’t believe you two.” She sighed, her spirits breaking. Shaking her head in defeat, she let her hold on them drop, but neither boy moved despite regaining their freedom from their mutual friend.

“Y/N/N-” Steve breathed out, feeling guilty. He wanted to make her happy, but he just couldn’t handle Billy. The pair just could not get along. Steve constantly questioned how Y/N could be friends with someone like Billy Hargrove. Bad blood ran between them like rushing waters.

“No, it’s fine. You guys can’t get along, I know that,” She shook her head. “I should have never suggested this. I’ll just go with some of my girl friends, it’s fine.” She lied, trying to hide her disappointment (even though she was failing miserably). The two boys looked at each other, Y/N’s head bowed as she shuffled her feet against the broken pavement of the school parking lot.

“We’ll do it.” Steve declared, rolling his shoulders back to stand straight, tilting his chin up towards the sky in confidence. He wasn’t sure if he would regret this decision, but at that moment, he knew that it would make Y/N happy. Just the way her eyes lit up with excitement and the wide smile that stretched onto her face as she snapped her head up to look at him.

“For real?” She practically vibrated with excitement. Billy glared over Y/N’s head at Steve. Steve gave him a subtle look, telling him he better go along with it. With a heaving sigh, Billy’s body depressed for a second before he stood back up.

“Yeah,” He gruffed, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. “We’ll go to prom with you.”

“Oh my god! I can’t believe this,” She squealed, clapping her hands as she jumped up and down, looking between the minimally excited boys. “I am so excited! I have to go and start planning!” With that, she took off towards her car, leaving the two boys in their spots, glares set on each other.

“She is the only reason I’m doing this.” Billy stated.

“You think I’m doing this to get a date with you, Hargrove?” Steve bit back. They sneered at each other, hard glared burning into their skin. With a simultaneous grunt, they turned away from each other and walked to their cars; their shoulders tense as they tried to figure out how they could spend Prom night together without ruining it for Y/N.

____

“Y/N?” Billy’s gruff voice called through her empty house. She looked towards her open bedroom door, hearing the click of her front door shutting.

“In my room!” She hollered to him, eyes dropping back down to the pieces of cut out magazine pages scattered around the bedspread in front of her legs. It only took a minute for Billy to shed himself of his shoes and pad along the carpet in his sock feet into Y/N’s room. He knew the layout of her house like the back of his hand.

“Hey pipsqueak,” Billy smirked, spotting her sitting cross-cross on top of her soft pink comforter. She glanced up from her cut-outs to glare at him. “What’s that? Playing dolls or something?” He teased, spotting the cut-outs of people. Y/N mocked him as he flopped onto her bed, messing everything up.

“Hey! You messed it up you big dodo!” She whined, trying desperately to get everything organized. Billy watched her before rolling onto his back, picking up a piece on his way. He held it in front of him, fiddling with it. It was a corsage filled with white flowers and a sprig of baby’s breath.

“So why’d you call me over if you’re just going to ignore me?” He asked, flipping the flimsy paper over to see what was on the back. He read the words that were left from an article that had been sacrificed for a prom dream board.

“I’m not ignoring you, you just got here earlier than I expected,” She pointed out, searching the bed for one last piece. Glancing at Billy, she sighed before leaning over to snatch the picture from his hands. He cried out in protest, rolling back over onto his stomach. “Don’t touch yet.” She scolded, fitting it back into place.

“Hey Y/N/N! I brought snacks-“ Steve burst into the room, his eyes in the bag of snacks he brought. His entrance startled Y/N and Billy since they hadn’t heard him open the door. “Wait, why is he here?” Steve questioned immediately, looking up to see Billy in the room.

“Yeah, you didn’t tell me Harrington was coming!” Billy looked back at Y/N.

Y/N looked between the boys, shocked that they were so hostile towards each other. She knew they didn’t get along, but they couldn’t be in the same room as each other. Steve she understood sine Billy did try to beat him up and all. “We need to discuss prom details and I didn’t tell you guys because I knew that you wouldn’t come if the other was here.”

“Not true-” Steve tried to argue, but Y/N simply gave him a look saying that she wasn’t going to buy his lies. “I would have sucked it up, might not have been happy about it, but I would have sucked it up non-the-less.” Steve insisted curtly. Y/N hummed in disbelief, resuming her task of matching bow-ties to the dresses.

“Okay, moving on,” She exclaimed, moving the paired clippings into the center of the bed. Clapping her hands, she bounced slightly on the bed. “These dresses are all the same colour as mine so these are the possible bow-tie colours you guys can buy,” She explained, pointing to each tie. “Then these,” She paused, sliding the clippings of corsages. “These are the corsages that will go with each tie and dress combo.”

“You want both of us to get you a corsage?” Billy inquired, flicking his eyes up from the scattered clippings to send her a questioning look.

“No, one corsage is enough, but you two both need boutonnieres,” She pointed out, grabbing another pile of clippings, letting the rain down onto a free bit of comforter. “This one is my favourite, but it would only really go with this corsage with only goes with this bow-tie-” She gasped, reaching for another corsage. “But this one is so pretty.” As she was busy trying to piece together the clippings, the boys both lifted their eyes to share a look.

“You just had to say we’d go together.” Billy grumbled under his breath, making sure only Steve heard.

“Suck it up, Hargrove. It’s for Y/N/N.”

____

Tonight was the night and Y/N could barely contain her excitement. Since it was senior prom, the seniors had a shorter day, getting off early in order to prepare for their last prom. “Two dates,” Her hairdresser repeated in a shocked voice, his jaw dropped as he looked at her through the mirror. Y/N nodded, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Well, aren’t you just snatching them right up? Good for you.” He patted her shoulder, going back to put her hair in rollers.

“It’s not like that, they are my friends.” She corrected him, inspecting her freshly done nails. Her hairdresser hummed, pinning the last curler in place, stepping away to look over his work.

“Whatever you say,” He shrugged, sitting in the empty chair beside her as her makeup artist come into the salon. “Sarah, Y/N has two dates to the prom and she claims that they are just friends.” He filled the girl in as she set her supplies up. Sarah scoffed, assuming he was pulling her leg, but when neither of them laughed, she looked over her shoulder with a worried glance.

“Oh, you’re serious,” She realized, clearing her throat. “Just friends?” She asked Y/N to make sure as she started to get to work on her face.

“Deadly,” Y/N confirmed. “They basically hate each other so it was really had to get them both to agree to come as a group, but I managed.” She explained.

“I will believe this whole ‘just friends’ thing when I see that neither one of them has a thing for you.” Her hairdresser spoke up once again, watching Sarah as she applied the makeup to Y/N. Sarah hummed in response, focusing on blending the foundation.

“I second that Randy.”

“Well, they’re picking me up from the salon so, you’ll both see it,” Y/N informed them, drumming her fingers against the arms of the chair, tapping her foot against the metal bar. “Then you’ll see that it’s true, we are just friends.” She gloated, ignoring the skeptical looks Randy and Sarah shared.

____

“Okay, Y/N, where are these two dreamboats?” Randy asked impatiently as Sarah helped Y/N into her dress. His eyes were glued to the door as he sat behind the receptionist desk, his elbows pressing into the desk. Shaking her head, Sarah muttered under her breath about his constant nagging as she zipped the back of Y/N’s dress up.

“They’re probably arguing about the address I told them, they’re both extremely stubborn and head-strong, especially when they’re around each other.” She told him, slipping into her shoes, walking out into the main part of the salon. Randy huffed, swirling around on the stool to face her, his eyes widening at the sight of her in her gown.

“Lord, if those two don’t nearly fall over when they see you, I’m not letting you go with them,” He commented, hopping off the stool to stride over to her, taking her hands in his, holding them away from her. “You look show-stopping. The belle of the ball.” He continued to compliment.

“Randy, I think they’re here.” Sarah nodded to the door just as the rev of an engine sounded as the blue Camaro pulled into the parking lot. Randy dropped Y/N’s hands, facing the door as he moved to stand behind her. Sarah and Randy clutched hands, waiting with bated breath as Y/N smiled lightly at the door, watching as Billy and Steve climbed out of the car in their tuxes, obviously arguing about something.

“Oh my gosh, you are a lucky girl,” Randy gasped, watching the two stride towards the door, two boutonnieres sitting in a case in Billy’s hands and a beautiful corsage in Steve’s. The dig of the bell above the door ceased their bickering, their eyes settling on Y/N standing in the center of the salon. Their breaths seemed to leave them as they froze, eyes wide. “Not the reaction I wanted, but still good.” Randy whispered to Sarah, his eyes still locked on the two boys.

“Wow, Y/N/N,” Steve breathed out, straightening up and walking into the salon.

“You look stunning.” Billy finished for him, also walking in, the door closing behind him.

“There is no way they are just friends, we can’t be wrong, can we?” Sarah asked, doubting that there was anything romantic between any of them. Randy remained silent, not wanting to answer her.

Steve extended the corsage sitting in the clear case to Y/N bashfully. “Here, this is for you, it’s the one you really liked and said went with your dress the best.” He spoke, fumbling to open the case. Y/N smiled, extending her wrist towards him gently.

“Why thank you, Steve,” She teased, watching as he slipped it onto her wrist. “It’s beautiful.” She breathed out in awe, twisting and turning her wrist as she gazed down at it. Steve watched her, also in awe of her beauty, she was simply glowing.

“If any of them liked her, my money is on that one,” Randy whispered, jutting his chin in Steve’s direction. “He’s got amazing hair.” He noted. Just as he spoke those words, Billy walked forward, extending the other clear case towards her. Y/N took it in her hands, gazing down at the matching boutonnieres.

“My money is on the other one, the bad boy who is only soft for one girl? Definitely him.” Sarah countered, watching him bend down slightly so that Y/N could pin one of the boutonnieres on him. Randy shook his head, his eyes watching Steve and Y/N as they did the same thing. Looking over at Sarah, he gave her a disapproving look.

“Look at them-”

“Thank you guys, I’ll show you the pictures tomorrow!” Y/N broke their argument, the two boys leading her out of the Salon.

“You’re welcome, have a great time!” Randy and Sarah chorused.

____

The prom was in full swing when the three stepped into the gym. Y/N gazed around at the decorations, truly believing that the prom committee outdid themselves this year. Instead of a disco ball like every other year, there were moons hanging, a soft glow coming from each of them to dimly light the space, tons of shiny silver stars hung down all the way from the ceiling, ending only a few feet over everyone’s heads. Every piece of fabric whether it was draped over a table or covering up the walls and bleachers was a deep purple, sticking with the starry night theme. The centrepieces were deep purple flowers in vases that were a stunning sliver with purple hearts painted beautifully by hand.

Students laughed and talked loudly, but the music still boomed over their voices. A big crowd was grouped in the middle of the gym, dancing along to The Police, large smiles on their faces. The entire atmosphere made Y/N’s heart float in happiness and wonder. “This is just like in the movies!” She proclaimed, rushing off to take a closer look at the tables, Steve and Billy following behind her awkwardly.

“So how does this work?” Steve wondered, not thinking about how to share a prom date. Do they all slow dance together in a circle? If Steve wants to get Y/N punch, does he have to get punch for Billy as well?

“What do you mean how does this work,” Billy asked rudely, looking at the slightly shorter boy, making Steve sneer towards him in response. “Never been on a date before, Harrington?” Billy poked at him, Steve’s sneer turning into a scowl.

“Of course I’ve been on dates before, Hargrove,” Steve bit back. “I’m asking how we manage to do this without me having to touch you, ever.”

“Like I would want you to touch me, Harring-”

“Would you two cut it out, it’s quite simple how we go about this,” Y/N broke up their fight, turning around to face them. “We sit together, talk, dance together on fast songs, and I switch off between the two of you for slow songs. I thought it all out beforehand.” She waved them off, walking over to the punch table which also held a wide assortment of snacks, food and candy, all cut out in the shapes of stars and moons.

“I would like to point out that I don’t dance.” Billy grumbled as they followed her once again.

“I think you could dance for one night without it killing you.” Steve groaned, taking a cookie from the platter in front of him. Y/N swiped one for herself, taking a bite out of it as she ignored the bickering between the pair.

“Just a few songs,” Y/N settled, peering up at him with wide, pleading eyes. He huffed, looking away from her in an attempt not to fall under her puppy dog-eyed spell. “For me?” She said in a sweet tone, the tone that told Billy she was still sporting the wide eyes and pouty mouth.

Looking back down at her, he heaved another sigh. “Only a few songs.” He agreed, making her squeal and toss the rest of her cookie in the trash, grabbing both their hands to pull them onto the dance floor, knowing that when he said only a few, that he was agreeing to as many as she wanted. After all, these boys would do whatever she wanted for her.

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tiarnanabhfainni · 4 years ago

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Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: Major Character Death Characters: Sam Winchester, Mary Winchester, John Winchester Additional Tags: Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dead Mary Winchester, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Banshees, Celtic Mythology & Folklore,Fire,Pre-Stanford Era (Supernatural), look fair warning there's a description of mary winchester dying in this fic so keep that in mind!, ghost mary who haunts her family, is something i hold very dear to my heart, also this started as a tumblr post but i have not got the strength to go looking for it on my blog,just know that it was basically just an outline of this, also finally i write something where sam actually gets to feature, bean sí is just the irish for banshee btw its pronounced the same

As the moon at midnight moves through the starry sky Out there in the bog land the Banshee's shrill cry The one seldom heard and that human eyes cannot see Some say the ghost of one who died in agony.

- The Cry Of The Banshee By: Francis Duggan.

For the Prompt: AU on Day 2 of @spnwomenweek

Fire. She is burning and it is pain like she has never felt. Her body is not her own, it is stiff, unable to even react to the agony. Strapped to the ceiling. The smell of her own burning flesh overpowers her. The pain from the wound in her stomach pales in comparison to the feeling of eyeballs boiling in her skull and the skin sloughing off her bones.

She should have known. Hunting is a black hole - an inexorable votex. How could she have ever thought she could escape? Even as her nerve endings fry and her limbs screech in agony, she finds it within herself to hope that at least her family might survive her.

The pain fades away, exceeding the limits of human comprehension. A single-minded purpose takes its place in her consciousness. Her sacrifice will be worth it if it protects her family, if her two beautiful boys never live the life that she has. The deal is done, the demon should have no more business with her family. In her death she can make sure they are safe.

The last thing Mary sees is the horror on John’s face.

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

There has always been a ghost in Sam’s life. A woman who exists in the corner of his eyes and flickers when he shakes his head. Her haunting screams are as familiar to him as led zeppelin tapes crackling through the car radio. Together they form the soundtrack of his childhood.

She is pale. Completely washed of colour. Limp grey hair frames her wan face and there’s a suspicious darkness that stains the front of her long white nightgown.

When he was younger he couldn’t understand her erratic and ever changing moods. She seems to flip between disinterested floating to terrified wails between breaths and he can find no rhyme or reason.

Sam would ask his brother if he knew the reason but Dean cannot see her. No one can. He tried to tell Dean - once - after the woman kept him from sleeping for eight hours straight with screams. The response kept him from ever bringing her up again. Shut up Sammy. There’s no one there. You’re imagining things. Don’t tell dad. I mean it Sammy. Keep your mouth shut.

Eventually Sam finds a pattern for himself. His teachers always tell him that he’s clever. She only ever appears when his father is gone on one of his trips.

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

When Dean finally caves and tells him about the monsters, Sam finally understands the insistence on keeping the woman a secret from their dad. As a ghost she is a part of the supernatural that his father fights.

And since Sam is the only one that can see her then that means - What does it mean?

As soon as the library opens again after the holidays he’s straight in the door and into the folklore section. He needs to understand what (who) this spectre is. After hours of research, there is only one real conclusion to be made. She must be a banshee. A death omen.

Armed with the truth of his dad’s trips, he makes the inevitable connection. She is a banshee and she screams when Sam’s dad is gone. And yet his dad is not yet dead. She has to be screaming for the monsters at the other end of the knife.

An uncomfortable thought drifts into view. If she screams for monsters and he's the only one who can hear her then does that mean that-? No. He slams the book closed and shoves his pile haphazardly back onto the shelf. Dean is expecting home in an hour.

But even as these fevered thoughts rattle through Sam’s brain on the walk home, he still never connects this woman to the other ghost that haunts their family. Mother Mary. Patron Saint of the Winchesters. The spectre that pushes all of them forward on this reckless self-destructive odyssey of vengeance.

She is so changed after death as to be unrecognisable even to one raised on her legend.

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

Sam is relentless now. He sneaks off to study whenever he gets a minute to himself between hunting, training and research. No time to sleep - he just reads. Textbook after textbook until all he sees are diagrams and his dreams are drafted in legalese. Over dinner he scrawls as many practice essays as he can for his final exams and attempts to ignore the sniping from his dad

It’s a struggle to keep his grades up as he moves from school to school across state lines and curriculums and sometimes it’s all Sam can do not to cry. He knows his dad is annoyed that he hasn’t dropped out yet. Like Dean. That he wants a high-school diploma and not just a GED.

Sam doesn’t care. The banshee appears more often to him now. She stands in his line of sight and blocks his view of his family when they hunt. She screams and screams and drowns out all of his doubts. God only knows how his eardrums remain intact.

He knows more now than he did on that first day in the library. Has been on a million hunts. With enough time and research he could probably find her bones and shut her up for good. Salt and Burn. He never does. She is a reminder of all he wants to escape. An omen his dad cannot tell him to ignore.

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

Sam sits on the edge of his bed with his law school acceptance letter in his hands. He’d picked it up from the post office earlier that day. Compulsively, he smoothes the creases over and over again, listening with half an ear to his family clattering around downstairs.

This is a good day. Dad is cheerful. The case had been a simple one - a poltergeist - easy to get rid off. Another suburban home rid of the monster. Dean is happy too. He’s been talking all day about the steaks he’d picked up in the bargain section of the supermarket. Now they can have a small celebration before moving out to a new town.

Sam looks down at the letter and knows that he won’t be going with them.

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

The fight is world-ending. Of cataclysmic proportions. Sam’s never seen his dad so angry in his life.

He sits on the lonely greyhound bus to California, his only possessions in the bag he’s clutching to his chest. His lungs are still burning, hours after the argument and he can’t tell whether it’s anger or choked back tears or if it even matters.

But even here, alone on the bus, his clearest memory is that of blessed silence as he walked out the door. The woman standing stock still in his path.

She made no sound.

Instead. For the first and only time that he can remember. She smiled.

#spnwomenweek #spn #fic #mary winchester #wrote this in a fugue state this afternoon #so there may be typos sorry

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ourstarscollided · 4 years ago

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jatp fanworks appreciation - day 3 (wips)

wip wednesday - I didn’t think I wanted to join in on this day for my own stuff considering I’ve never posted anything original for this fandom, but I think this might just be the little boost I need from myself to actually finish the wips that I have sitting around. I am peer pressuring myself and holding myself accountable by posting this - or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. Most of the past 6 mths has just been me screaming to no one in a Google Doc, so here are some things I’ve been ruminating about over the last 6 months (and if my secret agenda is to get other people to write about it so I don’t have to? Then that’s between you and me).

Everything’s under a read more because I like giving context and that usually spirals out of control!?!?

If you would like to see more from any of the below, feel free to shoot me an ask/message and I can definitely share some more! (Or you can just come yell at me about JATP in general.)

Strangers Fake Dating AU // Julie x Luke

I’m a simple person. I see a prompt, I latch onto it, and then I completely miss the entire point of the prompt as my imagination goes wild for no real reason. This really was supposed to be a super short drabble, but it manifested into a 3k+ thing that isn’t even finished.

Julie’s not really sure what she’s supposed to do now. Nothing has ever prepared her for a situation in which she’s supposed to pretend to be a stranger’s girlfriend, especially if that situation involves parents. Does she continue this ruse? Can she come up with a quick enough excuse to tell this Luke character that she actually can’t stay? What if this is just all an elaborate plan to kidnap her? Has she been listening to too many true crime podcasts? Why does Luke smell so good? Does he know how to cook? Why does his shirt not have sleeves? What-

“I can hear you thinking from here.” Her head whips up at the sound of Luke’s voice, which is now at a whisper and kind of frantic. “I just- I just really needed to get my mom off my back, so I kinda need you to pretend to be my girlfriend. Just for the night. I swear I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

Julie studies Luke’s face and it’s nearly impossible to not cave under his gaze, which can only be simply described as ‘puppy dog eyes’. She finds herself smiling back, letting out a huff, “I hope you like lasagna.” And the grin that spreads across the boy’s face is enough for her to know that he’s incredibly relieved that she agreed.

“I’m Luke by the way. Luke Patterson.”

(Okay, he’s kinda cute. And no one this cute is a serial killer. Right?)

She gives a small smile back, “I’m Julie.”

5+1 alive!Juke AU // Julie x Luke

Inspired by paper - LANY

This is one of the first things I ever felt the urge to write down back in September because I love exploring the idea of how two people can appear to be the perfect relationship on the outside, but are actually fighting their own demons. Especially when it comes to celebrities and people who are in the spotlight. It’s basically a 5+1 fic about the moments from other people’s perspectives who happen to orbit around Julie/Luke that all revolve around paper. My outline for this is so long because I can’t manage to narrow it down, and there’s zero cohesiveness but I do have little things jotted down.

“Hey little man,” Luke’s knelt down to match his 5 year-old height, and a hand extends out to him for a high five, “What are you doing here?”

His eyes flicker to the left, towards his own apartment door, where his mom is giving him an encouraging nod. “ I- I just wanted to-” he stutters and finds himself looking at his feet as he shuffles back and forth on the spot. “I- I drew you guys something!”

He shoves the paper out towards the older boy in front of him, but doesn’t look up.

Reincarnation AU // Julie x Luke

I had a random thought in December about how magical it is that Julie and Luke are so tied to one another that their love transcends time and space, which will always lead them back to one another. I remember reading a book a long time ago about how the main character is fated to die at a certain age, and that kind of sparked this little idea. I can’t bring myself to actually plot out every single timeline right now, but I did manage to write a little bit.

It will never be as complex as Rosie’s idea and all the wonderful additions in the link here, and I don’t really plan on it being anything more than a small idea. But I really do still think someone should write some sort of reincarnation AU cause I’d hop on that so fast!!

“Okay- that’s not- Luke. You seriously just ran away?”

“What was I supposed to do Alex? We all know how this ends.”

His friend looks at him, face painted in understanding and he sighs, “Yeah. Yeah, we do.”

Because it’s true, Alex does know, so does Reggie and Bobby. Most importantly, so does Luke. It’s the exact same tragic love story every time.

Call it a curse or fate or destiny. Maybe it’s because Mercury is in retrograde. Whatever. It always ends the same way - with a heartbreaking goodbye, a whisper of the promise that they’ll find each other again, and the possibility of a happy ending. He’s said the same goodbye at least 734 times, but it’s not like he’s counting or anything. Fuck the universe and its mystical ways.

Competitive Alex // Alex x Willie

No real thoughts or reasons for this other than I just think I self-projected my need to play board games with people in real life into a fic. And maybe a little bit of my competitiveness onto Alex and then threw in Willie because I think he would be able to handle it while also finding it endearing. I also have written nothing about the actual competitiveness, it’s just 2k words of Alex crushing on Willie.

“Wait,” his eyes dart between the three boys, “You both know Willie? How come I’ve never met him?”

His roommates look at each other, and there’s a smirk on Luke’s face when he says, “Actually Alex, I think you have. Remember that time you got really drunk after one of our shows?”

Oh no. He really hopes that it’s not the time he’s thinking of, so he tries to sound nonchalant. “You’re going to have to be more specific, Luke.”

“The night we played at that tiny bar at the edge of the campus! We got paid in those tiny colourful shots?” He doesn’t really know where Luke is going with this, so he’s slowly nodding along. “And you were super upset that the hot dog vendor at the end of the street was closed?”

Dear Julie, Love Mom series

I made myself sad with this thought when I first watched the show and was talking to my friend about how I think that Rose would’ve left messages for the Molina family, especially when we found out that Wake Up was actually from her mom. I wrote a bigger explanation for it here.

Anyways, I started with the one for Julie’s wedding and it kind of became an 8k monster with three different POVs?!? As much as I love how I wrote this, I feel too unsure about my writing to share it in full, so you will get carefully selected looks alkfe. (I’m also kind of stuck on some of the more emotional scenes and I may or may not have procrastinated by photoshopping a moodboard for it.)

Excerpt 1 (Julie POV): A look into where I’m going with this whole letters from Rose thing.

The key clicks into place, and with a turn, the latch falls open. She’s not sure what she wants to find in the box, and she’s too scared to think about it really. All she knows is that this was the sign from her mom that she was waiting for all week, and in true Rose fashion, her mom had managed to give it to her, even if at the last second. Her dad turns the box to face Julie, and gestures to her to open up the lid.

Tucked inside is a VHS tape, the words ‘For Julie, on your wedding day’ written in her mom’s cursive on the cover. Some loose glitter and confetti fall back into the box as she reaches in to pick up the tape and turn it over in her hands. There’s a little purple butterfly etched on the back, the same one that’s been drawn on all the other messages that her mom had left her. Her finger automatically finds its way, tracing the shape of the small doodle.

“Do you want me to leave you alone, mija?”

Excerpt 2 (Julie POV): This part has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot of the story, but it self-inserted itself into this fic after @tangledstarlight and I talked about You’re Still the One by Shania Twain being their first dance. This whole scene came to me at 4am one night and might be the most self-indulgent thing I’ve ever written.

They knew that when they had asked Reggie to be in charge of the first dance performance, that they (and Alex) weren’t allowed to veto any of his ideas. Luke had warned Julie that that would be a mistake, but the giddiness that radiated off of Reggie when she had told him he could have free reign was worth it. She just hadn’t thought that he would actually take it to heart and run with it.

Sure, they had chosen You’re Still the One by Shania Twain as their first dance song, and sure it was more or less a country song, but she didn’t really imagine that she’d be staring at her adoptive brother, Carlos and her Dad wearing cowboy hats and boots at her wedding. They had somehow managed to ditch their Flynn-approved suit jackets and were sporting a taupe-coloured suede-textured vest over their dress shirts. If she looked closely, she could see that they had somehow also found some gaudy looking bolo ties with a matching set of ornamental clasps to wear. When she envisioned her wedding, she really didn’t expect that her first (public) dance as a married couple would be a full-on Western themed occasion. The only exception was Alex, who had settled on his cajon in the back, still in his pink suit, eyes rolling when she met his gaze. But even she knew how there was no real annoyance in the blonde’s reaction or else he wouldn’t also be wearing one of the tacky ties around his neck as well.

“I’m gonna seriously kill him.” She hears Luke grumble under his breath, only low enough for her to hear. But she’s still too busy giggling to actually be mad, and she knows that Luke isn’t really going to kill Reggie. At least she doesn’t think so.

Excerpt 3 (Luke POV): Idk man. My mind went “What about Luke?” and I said “You’re right!! What about him?!?”

He doesn’t realize that he’s just been silently staring at the woman in front of him, until a gentle voice breaks him out of his thoughts. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Julie’s peering at him from under her eyelashes, a curious look on her face.

“You just-” he gives a little shake of his head, trying to come up with the right words. He wants to tell her she’s beautiful. Stunning. A wicked beauty. But she’s more than that - she’s almost angelic. “I can’t believe you’re my wife.”

“Luke, we’ve been legally married for like, a whole year.” Her lips are quirked up in a grin, amusement in her voice. “You’ve only just realized that now?”

“That’s different.”

“Yeah? Different how?”

This feels a little strange to post and a little like my inner self seeking validation but let’s not talk about that.

Kskssj anyways present me @ future me: finish one of these because writing has been really cathartic for you and you didn’t think it would bring you so much joy!!!

#gotta tag this so that it doesnt ever show up in any tags on tumblr.#i like that what got me to post about my writing was a fanworks appreciation week. but i will say that a couple weeks ago when i was feeling #extra good about my writing. i made a promise to myself to post smthg for the 6 mth mark of jatp and that kinda got backtracked because of #my requirements to be an adult and my general insecurities about putting out content that is mine for the works to judge sjsjsj #so this is me making it up to myself by sharing some things.#thank you rosie for indulging me in my ramblings. you’ve really given me confidence in my work even tho you’ve never read anything of mine.#just know I APPRECIATE YOU A LOT!!!!#i hope you dont mind that i tagged you!!!#anyways this is gonna get thrown into my queue for wednesday and whenever it posts is whenever it will post.#i also typed this on my phone (i DO NOT RECOMMEND IT) so sorry if the formatting is janky. i didnt wanna give myself time to second guess #myself and end up not posting it. sjjs #jatp fanworks appreciation week #sometimes i write #personal #<- need to come up with tags for myself welp #sunset queue

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crystalninjaphoenix · 4 years ago

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Hello Everyone!

So, as you may have noticed, the Stitched AU is finished! Wow. About time XD And of course, my immediate next instinct is to start writing something new. I’m gonna hold off for a bit, partly to give myself a break, partly to let it sink in to me that the Stitched AU is over, but I think maybe I’ll start on the new project sometime in June.

The problem is, I have three ideas, and I’m not sure which one I want to work on first. So I’m asking you guys for feedback. Here is a link to a strawpoll:

http://www.strawpoll.me/45233665

Here, you can vote on which story I should work on. Don’t worry, they’ll all be done eventually! This’ll just give me advice on which ones to prioritize. You know, help me figure out the order that I’ll be working on them. So just choose the one you want to see first ^-^ And to help you further, here is:

CRYSTAL’S LIST OF FUTURE PROJECTS

JSE Superhero AU Okay I know there are like a million superhero AUs out there for basically all fandoms, but I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and see what I can do with the idea ^-^ Follow Jackie as he tries his best to protect his city, fight with villains, and figure out what it means to be a hero. Pros:

-I feel I have a pretty good grasp of the characters and worldbuilding

-Superheroes are cool and I think people'll like my interpretations :D

Cons:

There's not really a solid plot yet, except for this vague outline I have

JSE Fantasy Masks AU You know high fantasy? Well, good! Because that's what this is, taking place not in our world, but in another fantasy world all together, with magic and stuff. The boys live in a far-off kingdom where the King is growing too powerful, so they all form/join a group dedicated to helping people and taking down tyranny. Pros:

Got a pretty good idea for the worldbuilding and the plot and how it'll play out

I write a lot of fantasy so this'll be going back to my roots

Cons:

Don't have as good a grasp on the characters as I'd like to

Some people might find this a departure from my usual stuff

NEW! DreamSMP AU It was only a matter of time before I caved and started writing fics for roleplaying Minecraft streamers XD I just had to get a good idea for it. Taking place shortly before Tommy's final prison visit (because that was the last time I was fully caught up on everyone's lore) and involving the Egg going crazy like we all know it can. Pros:

New characters! New setting! Oh my god! :D (Meaning it'll probably be a nice change of pace to read and write)

Cons:

New characters. New setting. Oh my god O_O (Meaning I'm not yet as familiar with characterization and worldbuilding, so it could be off at times)

Will probably update less frequently than my usual schedule

Thanks guys! ^-^

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thewolfmanslayer · 3 years ago

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Honestly the amount of people who say artists and writers should do stuff for free, or try to rip them off on comissions still royally piss me off.

I think the worst part of it is the entitlement, I dont want to make this too much about generations but a lot of commissioners are millenial/Gen z's who grew up on the "steal and pirate everything" mentality, take everything that you can because no one else is going to hand it to you. which I can get behind, when you are screwing over MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES. NOT THE STRUGGLING ARTISTS AND WRITERS who are trying to keep food on the table as desperately as you probably are!

It's simple, you wouldn't walk into a restaurant, order food and tell the server "sorry I don't have any money, but I've got like a few thousand followers on social media, I can get your name out there, get the restaurant some exposure" NO! They don't need "exposure" they need you to pay the damn bill!

On top of that, most of these artists and writers ALREADY HAVE FOLLOWINGS. They already have thousands of people following them, waiting for the chance to get a commission, who are willing to pay for said commission, they don't need "exposure" when they're already out there! He'll even the artists and writers with a few hundred don't need it, they'll get more followers as time goes by, their skill alone will see to it.

And what is with people trying to get free art and writing? It's not going to work! You can't harass someone until they cave, trust me, you'll be long since blocked before you even have the opportunity. I don't do comissions, online anyways, but my own friends and family, people who actually know me STILL PAY ME whenever they ask for me to do art for them because they KNOW it takes TIME AND EFFORT.

How many times do we need to have this discussion???? Like when is it going to finally click that people who need to pay their bills just as much as you do AREN'T going to do this shit for free!?

Here's the thing about art and writing, that you've heard a billion times but still aren't getting; IT. TAKES. TIME. AND. EFFORT. TO. GET. DONE. the art isn't going to magically appear and the writing isn't going to suddenly write itself, if either were so convenient YOU WOULDNT BE ASKING AN ARTIST OR WRITER IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Look at that, you see that? The first picture I did back in 2012-13, the picture beside it? I did that TWO YEARS AGO. I didn't suddenly know exactly what to do, or had anything close to a god given talent for drawing (I'm not that talented). The first picture WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST I COULD DO AT THE TIME THAT I MADE IT. In the time between these two drawings I admittedly took a break from art, but then I got back into it four years ago. EVEN STILL that was four YEARS of starting over from the basics, relearning everything, learning new things, wanting to actually improve my art.

Which, guess what, DID NOT HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. It was HOURS UPON HOURS of my limited free time as an adult drawing over and over and over and over again, every single goddamn day to get to the point that I was able to make that redraw look as good as it does in comparison. He'll, my art now puts them both to shame! Because I spent the time improving my quality!!

Now look at these artists doing comissions, they've probably put EVEN MORE of their time to get that good! They've put in LITERAL YEARS of sweat, blood, tears, frustrations and dedicated hardwork. Some did the same as me, self teaching and lots of practice, others probably had to go to school, which definitely wasn't cheap. But all of us put in that time and effort TO REACH THESE POINTS. Of being better artists, developing our styles, getting faster at drawing.

And maybe you think that this is super easy, right? That I or every other artist can just fire some art off and boom its good and done in like an hour?

FUCK. NO.

Even now it takes me several hours a day OVER MANY DAYS to make something exceptionally good! It doesn't matter how good an artist is, it still. Takes. Time.

Maybe the issue is that you don't understand how much actually goes into art, let me break it down for you, the steps that most people follow to finish ONE drawing.

-Rough draft: general character outline, get a feel for what I want to draw.

-Rough sketch: I start doing a bit of pencil to start filling in details like mouth, nose, eyes, hair, clothes. Ect.

-Penciling: I go over the rough sketch and clean everything up, maybe do some editing, this is when you can start making out all the details.

-Ink: I trace over the finished pencil with a pen tool and actually have the line art, everything looks clean, presentable, it actually looks like a character now. I'll spend time editing this and possibly redoing the inking many times over to get to a point where I like it.

-Flat color: I decide on which colors to use for skin tone, clothes accessories. Ect.

-Shading/highlights: I figure out where my light source is and how strong it is, I then apply the correct amount of lighting and shadows to the color to give it depth, I also have determine the texture of skin, clothes and accessories to make everything look real and natural.

-Blending: I smooth out the shading and highlights so that it looks more natural and isn't too hard (noticeable difference between color) so that it looks as natural as possible.

-Finish: I go over last minute details, finish any editing or corrections that need to be done. Once it's good I call it a day.

Each process is longer in length then the previous, with the exception of the final editing (as long as everything looks good) and even the rough draft can take some time. Over all this is SEVERAL HOURS of work for a SINGLE DRAWING.

So is it sinking in yet? How much is put into doing even a single character drawing? God forbid if its done with background. This isn't a "scratch a pen around and be done with it in ten minutes" kinda deal, no, this is SEVERAL HOURS OF SOMEONES LIFE BEING PUT INTO THIS

And if you still have the AUDACITY to try and wrangle free art from an artist then there's no helping you, you're just a selfish piece of shit, no question and I want nothing to do with you.

Someone might say "But I got free art/writing from.-" look I don't give a shit if someone did something for you THAT ONE TIME, these other artists and writers? Totally seperate and different people. You're one freebie experience does not, and should not apply to other artists and writers.

"But what if I really want this commission but don't have the money right now?" Well, that's tough shit. Save up and properly commission them when you can, it's not their problem.

"But what if I'm in a really bad financial situation and really want it?" That sucks, and I'm sorry, but again, not their problem. Chances are this is their only source of income and they need to make money so that they don't end up in a similar situation.

"They have a gift! They should share it!" What kind of cheap ass- LOOK, just because someone is talented or really good at something does not automatically obligate them to do anything for total strangers in anyway shape or form. These are living, breathing people, the same as you. They need to eat, they need to pay rent/mortgages, they need to pay vet bills, send their kids to college, do their taxes and everything else that YOU YOURSELF need to do. Asking anyone to spend their time doing something for free, when that something is how THEY ARE SURVIVING is beyond asinine. Not only that, this obviously isn't a hobby to them, it is very clearly THEIR JOB. Would you want to do a job where you didn't get paid at all? Doing a shit ton of work for absolutely nothing? No? Didn't think so.

"It shouldn't be about the money!" Well unfortunately, as with almost every other job, it is. We live in a world where we desperately need to make money in order to survive. That's the painful fact of the matter. If money never had to be an issue ever again then this would be a very different story. But it's not, plain and simple as can be.

Look, these people are just like you, artists and writers who are just trying to get by in a shitty ass world, using the one thing they have that let's them have an income. Leave them be, don't try and trick them, guilt them, or cuss them out when you don't get your way. Either properly comission or leave them the hell alone, plain and simple.

#artists #writers #art #writing #rant #comissions #people

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perlukafarinn · 5 years ago

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This is an outline I wrote a few months ago for a fic that I won’t ever get around to actually writing. Thought I’d share it here since it is imho pretty decent, just not an actual fic lmao.

Castiel is an alpha from a well-to-do family. He’s been raised with the idea that some day he will marry someone of his parents’ choosing, and since he wants to be a good son he’s never questioned that.

Then one day, it is announced that there will be held a tournament to determine a match for the omega prince of [kingdom]. Castiel’s parents want him to sign up for it, so he does, along with thousands of others. After some physicals the selection is narrowed down to a few hundred, who are invited to a camp to train for a month before the tournament.

At the camp, Castiel butts heads with some alphas he’s known for a while, who see him as a easy target since he is quiet and sensitive. Before he can fight them off by himself another alpha comes to his aide – Dean. Castiel is angry with Dean for helping him out but Dean stumps him when he points out that Cas is buying into the same alpha stereotypes as his enemies by letting his pride get wounded over receiving help.

The next few days, Castiel keeps spotting Dean around during training. He’s intrigued by Dean, although repelled by his scent, which smells artificial (Cas suspects he uses scent enhancers, which some alphas do). Eventually, Dean joins Cas for lunch and jokingly berates him for staring. Cas apologizes, both for the staring and for getting pissed at Dean for helping him. From that day on, they spend a lot of time together.

A lot more alphas get knocked out of the running throughout the month of training, but Castiel and Dean are both among the fittest in the group. Nevertheless, Cas finds himself getting distracted from his training by Dean, as he’s not used to making friends easily and there’s something about Dean he finds very charming despite himself.

One evening, a bunch of the alphas are discussing what they think the prince will be like (who has been kept out of the spotlight and who hasn’t been photographed since he was a very small child). Some of them say they don’t care, since they’re just competing for the money and power. Castiel finds them distasteful but doesn’t say anything, and Dean stays quiet as well. As they walk alone back to their cabins, Dean asks Cas why he’s doing this, and Cas admits that it’s what his family wants from him and he doesn’t want to disappoint them. When he turns the question on Dean, Dean answers that it’s the same for him.

The training ends a few days later and although Cas feels physically prepared his emotions are all over the place. He find himself wondering if he’ll see Dean again after this process, especially if one of them should win. The idea of either of them winning feels distressful for Cas, although he doesn’t yet understand why.

The first trial is basically like the Ironman Trialthon, with swimming, biking, and running. Cas gets an early lead with the swimming and biking, and is shocked to see when he starts running that Dean is alongside him among the frontrunners. They run together for a while, playfully competing, and the few times Dean pulls ahead Cas finds himself distractedly watching his backside. They come in both in the top ten and move on to the next trial, along with twenty-eight others.

For the second trial, they are dropped off into the woods on Lawrence’s borders and have to make their way out with no supplies, aside from a device they can use to forfeit if they need to. As they walk into the woods, Dean suggests that they stick together and help each other make it to the other side ahead of their competitors since only the first two out move on to the final round. Cas agrees, even though he knows it goes against the spirit of the competition and that other alphas might consider him weak to rely on help like this, because more than anything he wants Dean to make it out safely. It’s around this time that he realizes he’s more interested in Dean than the competition.

To his surprise, Dean is very good at the survivalist thing, and Dean explains that he grew up in the countryside and has spent a lot of time in these woods. Even without a compass, he has a relatively easy time picking the right direction, and Cas concedes the lead to him. On their first night, they get a fire going and sleep beside it, but on the second they can’t manage to find any dry firewood. Cas suggests that they huddle for warmth, so they sleep all wrapped up around each other (not technically the ‘sharing a bed’ trope but this is it in spirit).

As he wakes up with Dean in his arms, Cas realizes that he doesn’t want to win this competition, and he doesn’t want Dean to win either. When Dean wakes, he kisses him, and at first Dean kisses him back. When they break apart, Cas suggests that they forfeit or at least hang back and let someone else move on to the final round. He’s heartbroken when Dean pulls away and tells him that he can’t.

Despite the sting of rejection, Cas continues to work with Dean, and when they are attacked by a couple of other suitors near the finish line, he helps Dean fight them off and run to the edge of the forest. They are the first two out and move on to the final trial.

The final trial is hand-to-hand combat. They are given a couple of days’ rest and kept in separate cabins. While he’s there, Cas is given a handkerchief that belongs to the prince and smells like him to encourage Cas to fight for him. Cas is still heartbroken but much to his disgust he still finds the scent on the handkerchief irresistible, and he jerks off while holding it to his face and imagining that it’s Dean’s scent and that Dean is with him.

On the day of the fight, Cas has decided to throw the competition. He’ll give Dean a good fight and try to lose as conspicuously as he can to make him look good; despite his inner alpha still stinging from rejection and wanting some retribution, Cas just wants Dean to be happy and if this is what he wants, he’ll give it to him.

They are brought into a large arena, surrounded by a huge audience. Just before the match starts, Dean quietly apologizes to Cas. Cas tells him it’s okay, but Dean says he’s not apologizing for what Cas thinks he is. Before Cas can ask him about that, a gong is struck, signaling the beginning of the match.

They circle each other for a few moments, both reluctant to make the first move, until Dean finally does. They fight for a little while, very evenly matched, and Cas is considering the best way to let Dean win in a non-obvious way. But then, he goes to tackle Dean and is shocked to find him going down easily. He pins Dean, and at first they just stare at each other, Cas shocked and Dean with a wry smile. Then he tilts his head, showing his neck to Cas in obvious submission, and the gong rings again, signaling the end of the match. Cas has won.

But then the announcer, instead of saying that Cas has won, says that the prince has selected his worthy mate. Dean and Cas are herded off the field and Dean apologizes to Cas again. Cas doesn’t respond, the pieces are starting to fall into place for him. Dean still has that artificial smell on him, but a pack of wipes are brought to him and he wipes his neck clean until a sweeter, much more natural scent starts to come through.

The same scent that was on the handkerchief.

(Like, obviously. This isn’t gonna be a shock to anyone. But it’s a nice moment nonetheless)

Dean explains the whole ruse to Cas; that his parents were pressuring him to marry and he eventually caved, if he could find his mate through this tournament (an old tradition in the kingdom, though one seldom used). Then he signed himself up for it, and since it’s not technically against the rules for the omega himself to participate, his parents couldn’t forbid him. Dean intended to win the tournament (and even selected the trials before his family knew he signed up in order to tailor them to his own abilities) to make sure he wouldn’t have to get married, only then he met Cas and fell for him.

Then Cas confirmed that he felt the same way when he kissed Dean in the forest. It killed Dean to push him away but he did, knowing that the only way they could legitimately be together was for Cas to win the tournament.

Then idk hugs and kisses? And happily ever after for Dean and Cas, yay.

#destiel #deancas #spn fanfic #perlukafarinn writes #alpha!cas #omega!dean #a/b/o #and yes i am using the same cas mistakes dean's fake alpha scent for a real one plot device that i used in the last fic i posted #it worked well what do you want me to say

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writing-with-olive · 4 years ago

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So, I’ve pretty much have a partial story idea, but I’m having trouble figuring out what the actual story is going to be (Yes, I know it’s mildly stupid of me to not think of it first). I have most of the world, the messages that I’m trying to get through, characters, and character arcs, but aside from a little story based on those arcs, I don’t really know how to develop this into a full book/series. Any thoughts?

Hey @six-of-brides!

First of all, I want to let you know that not having a plot idea first is NOT stupid. So many writers have a similar process to what you’ve just described.

As I only have experience working on single books, rather than a series, that’s what I’m going to focus on. Anyway, here’s an assorted list of ideas (you can mix and match the ones you think will work with what you already know about your writing process, or just experiment) :

1) I’d recommend finding a story structure or beat-sheet that you like and see where that gets you. I’ve listed out the plotpoints of one of my favorites (adapted from a short screenwriting course) at the end.

2) Set out some time and just brain dump anything that you might want to include in your story - this could range from scenes, bits of dialogue, or entire chapters. I use physical notecards with one idea per card (so I can move things around) but you can do what you want. After writing down as much as I possibly can, I organize them so that they’re chronologically ordered, with cards that contain things from the same scene/chapter sitting next to each other. Then I create an outline by stitching together the framework with scenes that will help naturally carry my characters from one plotpoint to the next

(More tips below the break)

3) go wild with the goal-decision cycle. Basically, the idea is that scenes should flow from one to the next rather than just be a random succession of scenes. An effective way of doing this, I have found, is writing a goal scene, that is, a scene where a character has a scene-specific goal they’re trying to achive, they have to try to overcome an obstical of some kind, and by the end of the scene, they are confronted with negative consequences of their actions, either forseen ones (such as the consequences of failing), or unforseen (related consequences that they didn’t realize would crop up - especially useful if they achieve their scene-specific goal). At which point, you’d start a reaction scene, in which the character responds to the consequences first emotionally (this does NOT have to be sitting on the floor crying - it can be anything), then they face their options, which, at a minimum are doing something or doing nothing, and by the end of the scene, they come to a decision, which becomes the goal for the next scene. For planning, I just write it out as:

Scene x:

Goal: (one sentence summary)

Conflict (what stands in their way)

Disaster (what consequences appear)

Scene z:

Reaction: (what emotions come up?)

Choices: [(what is their first choice?)] or [(what is their second choice)]

Decision: (what do they decide to do? and if you want, why?)

4) see which scenes are necessary for your character arcs, and write them all out, then look at how they line up with each other chronologically. Like in option two, use other scenes to to stitch together the missing material, and link the necessary scenes together.

Plot structure I like:

Unraveling The Map

What's the opening scene?

The Launch Point

Where are we?

Who are we with?

(This can be in the same scene as Unraveling)

The First Leg

What does a normal day look like in this world?

Change Course

What sets our characters off on their journey from normalcy?

The Foot of the Mountain

Okay, we're going on this journey together. What does this look like?

Climbing the Side

It starts out hard, but you get used to the problems as you go

Through the Cave

Do you have a B story? set that story off on its own now too

Reassesses the Problem

You're at the middle.

Is there another way to get it done?

Try and Fail

Things begin to fall apart - can they handle it?

The Fall

The worst thing happens - something so bad you don't think you can get up

The Hidden Clue

What do the characters discover about themselves that they never saw before?

What do the characters discover about the problem that they never saw before?

Race To the Finish

They're up and running, no matter what

The Treasure Chest

Did they get what they came for?

What do they get?

Where We Go From Here

Show the world in a new light, hint what's next

Hopefully this is enough to get you started. Happy writing!

#writing #writing refs #writing advice #writing tips #writers on tumblr #asks #writing asks #asks answered #olive's writing vibes

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keyvan-firedrake · 4 years ago

Text

Hey uh, anyone want a NaLu fic that’s not written as a fic and instead is basically an outline of an entire story?

I wrote it out a long time ago and I know I won’t get to write it so I figure, why not share?

So here you are....might be little things that don’t make sense or are grammatically incorrect since it was just me jotting down the whole story as fast as I could so I didn’t forget.

Basically set as if Lucy is a princess and being married off to someone. Medieval times and such.

START:

Dragon Princess

Lucy on way to “meet” future husband. Traveled many days- in outskirts of Fiore instead of her home country. Cart attacked by bandits (no relation to anyone).

She fights/escapes into the woods. She still holds her ground and even rips her dress so she can maneuver better.

Before she passes out from a hurt leg and a busted head she’s saved. (By Natsu)

She wakes in a cave surrounded by furs. No idea where she is she attempts to get to the entrance but she’s dizzy and stumbles. She realizes the cave entrance is literally at the top of a fucking mountain and panics. A rumble alerts her to someone and she finally comes face to face with a dragon. Fire dragon. As it slinks out of a cove at the back, the sounds of things falling in that area vaguely like coins. Her suspicions correct when a few gold objects cling to the dragon and fall off as it moves closer to her.

She screams and attempts to throw a rock which bounces off his nose. He snorts about it and rumbles.

Makes her realize he’s not going to hurt her. Then grabs her in a claw and takes her back to her “bed”. Tells her she’s hurt and needs rest. (Provides some clothes to her from stash of treasures that she doesn’t know about yet) blue cat is his companion (Happy)

Spends a few days resting in and out of consciousness as her wounds heal and finally irritates the dragon enough to fly her down to a river so she can bathe. He does so and gathers some food while she’s doing that.

He sees her naked but she doesn’t care since he’s a dragon. (She will later ;)) she washes the clothes she has and puts on the clean he let her borrow. He flys them back up and he asks her questions about herself as she’s finally more aware and healing.

She tells him she’s a princess and that she had been on her way to meet her arrangement marriage partner. But the bandits had attacked the cart.Typical Natsu and happy behavior happens. On the 5th? Day or so he leaves while she’s sleeping to get foods and supplies. She wakes and is looking for them and stumbles around the cave. She find his hoard room. Full of treasures beyond imagine: now she knows where he got the clothes too.

She’s reaching to touch one big pile when she hears a growl/snarl. She whirls around only to face a man with deep red horns, pink hair, red wings, and scales down body (tanned human skin on the undersides of his body ref pic).

Eyes angry and smoke coming out of his mouth. She screams and backs into the hoard. Big growl and he comes in close. Yanks her away (not roughly to hurt her) and tells her not to touch his things. Smoke spilling out of his mouth.

She realizes it’s Natus, a little less raspy. Apologizes and Happy gets her out of the room whole Natsu calms down. Explains Natsu doesn’t like his treasures touched and she can’t go in there. That it’s okay but to give him time.

She’s sulking a bit when Natsu comes out again and looks at her likes she’s grown 3 heads, calls her weird and teases her. She gets annoyed and banters with him.

Then she asks about his appearance and he explains he can transform into this body and back at will. She gets blushy as he’s seen her naked which she slams her fist down on his and Happys head when they both poke fun at her and yells at them for not telling her.

Happy falls asleep and she tells Natsu she couldn’t give two shits about his treasure room and won’t go in there or touch anything. He rumbles and smiles/pats her head. She asks how he found all that and he tells her about the big abandoned castles from the past in the outskirts of the country.

Said he found one recently before he found Lucy and would take her with when she heals enough. One day, after Lucy teases him for losing a hunt (deer escaped) but barely, he challenges her to a game.

If she could hide from him he would let her browse his books (in his treasure room) if he wins she has to do his bidding. She accepts and puts on a ton of clothes. He flys them to the forest below and gives her an hours head start.

She evades him for a long while, but tripping over herself he catches her and throws them both off a small cliff with a pond/lake at the bottom. They play with Happy in the water for a while before she feels her leg becoming sore from all the activity it hasn’t seen in a long time.

As she sits on the bank Natsu comes up and heats his hands up and massages the leg. He notes to himself she doesn’t flinch from his claws. Typical behavior happens

She helps gather up the clothes she left about and changes so she’s not cold anymore. Shen Natus carries her up its princess style and she blushes about that. Noticing how warm he his.

He lets her have a book anyway, ignoring his bargain. And asks her about the stars as she seems enamored with them as usual. He has been invading her personal space as usual. He provides her items from his treasures (things he’s gathered even though he has no use for them. Even went out and got her soaps).

He takes her to the castle he recently found a ways away. Happy and he have find treasure hunting and he turns into a dragon to be able to carry it all. Lucy herself finds a few things she’d like to keep-good hair brush nucknacks but doesn’t grab anything flashy.

She even find something just to give it to Natsu which he won’t say but it makes him rumble in happiness.

They have fun traipsing through the castle and even camp out. Then go home.

Natsu shoves his hand in his pockets one day when he notices her sighing. She obviously is bored and wants to do something. But he’s apprehensive. If he takes her to town what if she wants to stay? Not wanting to come back with him?

He figures he’ll have to just spill the beans and take her. She’s obviously needing to get out. He finally goes up to her and mentions the town. She is excited about it. Asks him why he didn’t mention it sooner. He says it’s due to her injuries but she had been healed for a long time so she’s suspicious.

Natsu takes her and happy to the forest floor and they walk some ways to get to a dirt road. Natsu hides his dragon features completely. To which she is surprised. He says no one knows he’s the dragon. It makes it easy when he comes to town to get supplies.

They go into the main town center building, (Fairy Tail guild basically). People are happy to see Natsu and happy and meet Lucy. She meets everyone and starts making friends. Makarov does have a conversation with her about Natsu, knowing he’s the dragon.

She makes friends with Levy and Levy even gives her a spare journal and pens for her to write with. Natsu buys some fruits and vegetables (Lucy’s idea) and he is surprised when she suggests it, planning on a meal or two “at home”.

Natsu to her surprise has Makarov turn the power on to his home. She’s confused about that, but it’s explained that a long time ago he had power lines run through the forest and trees (they are well hidden) and covered from weather and wind damage to his cave. He hasn’t had a need for it to be on in a long time.

But he has a fridge and some lights. Lucy is annoyed, finding out he has a kitchen all this time and he hadn’t told her. (There is a small water fall area for bathroom purposes). But when they get back she’s happy to have some lights not lit by fire and to know they will have a space to keep foods good. (He just used to get blocks of ice from the mountains).

He clears (just moves stuff over) space for her in his treasure room if she wants to write at a table he has in there. He sleeps on his treasure when she’s writing sometimes.

They have an interesting time with her being flushed around him as he gets naked or semi naked during time at the lake. Her noticing that she’s enjoying his company a lot. They play around and goof off. Natsu loving teasing her.

When she’s eating a peach one days he’s curious about it as he’s never eaten one. She lets him have a bite and delights at his childish excitement at its taste. Happy didn’t want any as he prefers his fish. She ends up take a bit ore two more before giving it back to Natsu for him to finish.

She tells him that she’s happy. That she finally feels like herself and she’s not trapped by her dad. She says, that when she feels safe she won’t force her presence on Natsu and happy anymore. But Natsu immediately shoots that down. He says this is her home. Not telling her it makes him want to roar thinking about her leaving his/their den.

One day he takes her down for her to bathe and he goes off hunting again after teasing her and making her flush-common occurrence lately. After her bath she takes a stroll, knowing Natsu will find her when he’s done. Happy and her talk and banter. She begins to write while in a small clearing and happy naps.

They get attacked, she and happy try to protect each other but she ends up sending Happy to find Natsu. The bandits are human traffickers. She does get a bit her and does fight back.

Natsu comes in with a roar. He’s angry as hell and his dragon features are out, body tense. He’s snarling and he uses his fists, claws, and fire to beat the traffickers. He’s ready to kill one when Lucy stops him. She’d stepped in front and hugged him. Holding him back.

The bad guy is spitting blood and angry, talking shit even though he’s lost. She feels Natsu tense up again as he had relaxed a little in her hold. She turns to glare at the bad guy and Lucy kicks him. Knocking him out. She stumbles and Natsu catches her by her waist.

Happy is crying at her blood and she hugs him to her chest while wobbling. Natsu won’t let go and his chest is still rumbling with growls. He lifts her up and she stops him, her bag has her stuff and he huff. He takes off for home, it speaking. He sets both her and happy down on one of his treasure mounds and snarls at them to stay put and not move.

They both nod and he leaves. Lucy sits up and hobbles to her area in the cave. Happy is nervous as he tries to tell her not to leave but she ignores him in favor of looking for a bandage, she gets her wound wrapped and hears Natsus wings flapping.

He skids in, crown still on his face eyes wild and drops her bag onto the floor by the entrance of the cave when he sees her. His body is tense and his nostrils flare. Smoke comes out of his mouth as he eyes her and he growls.

He stalks over to her and she tries to back away but he tosses her over his shoulder and carries her to his room again. She pounds his back but he ignores her.

He grabs a thick beautifully designed royal looking blanket/tapestry and throws it down over a post on his mound. He tosses her onto it and face plants into his pile next to her. Arm draped over her middle in a vice like grip.

His grumbling hasn’t stopped as he says “I thought I told you not to move”. She huffs and tries to pry him off but his grin tightens and she snarls. She stiffens. Not afraid of him, not really. But she hadn’t heard him like that since that first time she came in to this room unannounced.

Happy floats over. He explains that when Natsu feels his things are threatened, after he takes care of the threat he curls over his hoard and rumbles on it for a few hours before he feels better.

She sputters and says that makes no sense as why she has to be in here. And happy just snickers. Natsu rumbles deeply and steam comes off of him. Eventually she is able to free herself but Natsu doesn’t move. Instead he almost slithers into the mound.

Hours later, sore but hungry she starts making some food. Happy chatting happily near her. She limos around the small kitchen Natsu finally showed her. When the food is almost done she calls out knowing Natsu can hear her. Telling him if he wants to eat he needs to come out.

She smiles as she hears coins moving and objects shuffling. The dragon wiggling his way out of his mound of treasures. She laughed when his stomach growls. She turns to him and smiles as he scratches the back of his head in a sheepish way. Mood back to normal it seems.

Natsu teaches her how to do some climbing, trees, rocks, and some survival skills.

They visit the town some more, bathe regularly. Natsu gets a bit more clingy and happy meets Carla. It’s nice a quiet for a bit.

One day in the town Lucy is cornered by knights. They had gotten a tip she was here and her father exits a cart. Her arranged marriage partner was also in the cart. They demand she come home with them and they have an argument about it. Natsu, Happy, and Fairy Tail help her as back up and the knights retreat for now.

Natsu reveals his dragon nature and everyone backs him up.

Her dad mentions this will cause turmoil between lands and she feels responsible as she sits inside the guild hall after all is said and done.

Natsu and gang start a small party/fight and it’s getting crazy. While that’s happening, someone sneaks in and passes some letters to Lucy.

The letters display the AMP power and the gun net ships he has. Along with dragon hunting weapons like harpoons/nets/poisons. It even shows pictures of the Cave Natsu lives in off in the distance. The writing tells Lucy that the AMP currently has a prized gunner ship in the harbor it’s gun trained on the mountain cave and several smaller cannons trained on the city. Within a few days the other ships would be dispatched and would arrive. They also had land based artillery in select places that will wreak havoc if she doesn’t comply.

She takes a longing look at Natsu and Happy. Smiling and laughing, fighting with their friends and causing a ruckus. Tears in her eyes she makes a decision. She crinkles to papers into her pockets when she opens the guild doors to exit they fall out. She doesn’t notice and heads for the harbor.

There she enters the boat AMP is waiting on with her dad and they quickly set sail.

The guild party goes on and on, had been someone’s bday and it’s not until someone finds the letters they notice something is wrong. They alert everyone Natsu included who is furious he didn’t notice. He had been so preoccupied with his fighting and drinking that he hadn’t noticed she left. In fact, since her coat was left on her chair he scent remained so he thought she was still around.

Thinking she maybe went upstairs as she sometimes does to find peace in the guild Library. He furiously leaves the guild to get to the harbor but it’s too late. The fast ship is long gone. He begins to transform but is brought to reality by Makarov. Natsu, as strong as he is won’t be able to fly that distance.

Lucy, once they are out to see is put into chains. Her father is also put into chains and they are taken “captive”. The AMP plans to go through with the wedding. Lucy and her dad would have an unfortunate accident and the would take over both countries. (Lucy’s original home country is closer than Fiore)

When they arrive at the harbor of AMP, she is taken to the harbor castle. To the very top tower room. She thinks it’s cliche. She is chained to the wall by her hands and as she looks down out the window she can see the harbor. See the gunner boats he has and his artillery. She’s disheartened.

Knowing no one will know where she went. AMP comes in and scares her, tells her he plans on firing on Fiore anyway. That he’s going to take it as a power move just to spite her as she embarrassed him in public.

When he leaves she chooses to fight. She finds a thick nail is loose in the wall from one of the shelves. She gets it out and tries to use it to break the chains holding her as a wedge.

(Dead of night)

It takes some time, but while she does this she notices the boats. If she can get to them, turn that giant canon of one towards the others, she could fire it and send the boats crashing into themselves. It would take out the fleet.

Natsu and gang are traveling by boat to where Lucy is. He’s sea sick but desperate to get there. Another boat carries several more of them as they are heading to flank the harbor, as the ground support.

Lucy gets free of her chains, and has to scale the rocky castle wall. She uses the small tips Natsu had taught her. She slips a bit but makes it most of the way down. She slips and luckily lands in a haystack with a groan.

A girl in chains who is cleaning the pen area is startled and starts to raise alarm but Lucy covers her mouth. She hands the girl the nail she had used and told her to free herself. And asked her not to tell. The girl agrees.

Lucy, deer bleeding and hands bleeding gets herself to docks. She sneaks avoiding guards. She gets to the main boat. Aboard she goes to the room that has the controls. She had seen them moving the switches when she was chained up on the ship.

She starts to get the big gun moving and aiming to the other boats when the alarm gets raised. Rushing she hears boots coming for her along the boat. She hits the fire button and the boat rumbles, she falls back as it kicks with the explosive power of the gun.

She stumbles as yells begin and runs. She avoids the men and gets to the top of the boat. She sees flames and explosions are going off, the boats are rolling one by one into each other like dominoes and debris is flying everywhere. Alarms are raised. Fires spreading.

The boat she’s on had also caught fire. Seeing reinforcements coming she bolts to the front of the ship to hide. Still undetected. She hears a roar and a big creature is flying overhead. It’s Natsu.

Men scream and shout about him, but they aren’t fast enough. Natsu flys past and breathes fire on their harpoons and giant crossbows. Some do try to fire at him but it’s pointless. He sucks up some of the fire produced by the boats to fuel his rage as he roars. He even transforms into his smaller form as he barrels into the castle big tower.

Lucy feels happy but sees the ground crew from the forest coming in with their nets and weapons. She sees them aimed at Natsu and the tower. Screaming his name she alerts him. She thinks she’s too far but he whirls around and knows right where she is. But the get one arrow through his shoulder and she cries out for him. He grunts at the pain of it going through him but ignores it the best he can.

The guilds boat fires on the harbor, and the boat Lucy is on. They didn’t know she’s there. The boat begins to split and explode. Lucy screams and runs straight off the bow.

Natsu catches her as he roars her name. The guild ground team takes out the rest of the AMP reinforcements. The battle won.

Growling at the smell of her blood Natsu clings to Lucy. And gets her to some friends. He eats the remaining fire (heals his wounds) and Happy cries but hugs Lucy.

When it’s over, AMP is in chains and Lucy’s dad has respect for Natsu. Makarov notes that Natsu is their king (wasn’t ever talked about but he is technically).

Lucy’s dad says he will allow her if she’s happy to stay and won’t try to force her to go home. They get onto the Fiore boats and head back. Natsu being sick as all get out, Lucy comforting him/letting him sleep on her lap. Wendy healing/helping her while on board.

When they get home Natsu waits until she says by to her dad and whisks her away. Happy not far behind. Lucy tries to squirm away when they land at the cave but Natsu ignores her. He sets her down on his hoard and tells her to stop.

He’s growling and holding himself back. Tells her that he NEEDS this and begs her to just STAY. She relaxes and lets him hold her and his hoard. Happy brings a blanket and puts it over then before curling up with them. Hours later Lucy wakes up alone. She slides down and finds Natsu at the cave entrance talking to Happy.

Happy ends up leaving to go visit Carla, his excuse. Natsu asks Lucy if she’s like to go bathe. She agrees but isn’t sure what’s going on with his mood.

He takes her down and turns away when she starts undressing. She frowns as she usually has to almost beat him to get him to turn away. She slinks into the water enjoying the temperature and getting clean.

She startles when Natsu gets in also. Naked. He semi ignores her though as he dunks himself and brushes his hair back out of his face before leaning against some rocks. Face pensive.

She asks if he’s okay and he said he’s fine. It’s quiet for a bit. Lucy not knowing what to do. And nervous to be so close to him while naked.

Natsu finally speaks, asking her why she left. She stumbles over her words to explain and he gets mad but doesn’t yell. Tells her that he didn’t care about the cave, if she had told him they would have planned and she gets mad. Telling him he doesn’t understand she wanted to protect her home. Him.

They both clam down and apologize to each other. Just happy to be together. Natsu makes a lewd joke or comment and Lucy gets flushed. She splashed water at him and he laughs before splashing her back. They play.

He even does a canon ball and drags her under the water to tease her. Eventually comers her. He makes her shiver with his proximity and his lips brushing her ear as he talks.

Tells her he needs to hoard her, like his pile of treasures. Kisses her ear and neck. Tells her she drives his instincts crazy. Nips her.

Cue smut?

Ending: them cuddling, his head on her chest as she runs her fingers through his hair. Happy coming in saying “they love each other”.

#keyvan talks #personal #nalu #fairy tail nalu #REALLY LONG POST #fic ill never write #depression sucks

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terramythos · 5 years ago

Text

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 8 of 26

Title: Wildwood (Wildwood Chronicles #1) (2011)

Author: Colin Meloy (illustrated by Carson Ellis)

Genre/Tags: Kid Lit, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Contemporary, Illustrated, Third-Person, Female Protagonist

Rating: 6/10

Date Began: 3/15/2020

Date Finished: 3/22/2020

12-year-old Prue is babysitting her infant brother Mac when they are attacked by a murder of crows. The birds kidnap Mac and carry him into a mysterious forest on the edge of Portland known as the Impassable Wilderness -- a place no one seems to ever acknowledge or talk about. Prue resolves to enter the Wilderness and rescue Mac, but is trailed by one of her classmates named Curtis. The two are accosted by a party of sapient coyote soldiers and become separated. Before long, both become entangled in the strange politics between various factions of the forest.

She scanned her surroundings and then looked back at the squirrel, which had cocked its head to the side, studying her. “So what do I do now?” asked Prue. “My brother was kidnapped by birds. My friend was captured by coyotes.” She snapped her fingers. “And I nearly forgot: My bike is broken. Sounds like a country song. If country songs were really, really weird.”

I'll admit, the only reason this book was on my radar is it's a middle-grade kid’s book written by, uh, the lead singer of The Decemberists, Colin Meloy. That is too hilarious to pass up considering the very adult subject matter of most Decemberists songs. Wildwood is Meloy's debut novel. It certainly isn't terrible, but it suffers from several core issues in its execution. The result is, unfortunately, a pretty mediocre story.

You can probably tell by my summary, but this book follows the whole "child protagonist transported to an alternate/parallel world" formula. Whether it's Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Coraline, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, or even Spirited Away, I guarantee you've experienced similar stories. The problem with Wildwood isn’t that it uses this formula, but that it just doesn’t bring anything new to the table. If you've read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, you have basically read this book. The setting and some of the characters are different, but it has so many of the same beats and tropes that, at best, it feels like a modern retelling of that story.

There are parts where Wildwood feels more original, mostly when it skirts into darker subject matter, but it seems like Meloy (or his editor) was afraid of putting too much of that in a kid’s book and flaked out. Other original and interesting concepts do appear over the course of the story, but despite the length of the novel there is very little focus on any one idea, character, or setting at any given point. Most of these fizzle out or are simply forgotten.

It isn't a terrible book just for having a generic setup, though. In fact there are some aspects of the story I really like on a conceptual level. I adore stories with sapient, talking animals. In particular I love the idea of a literal kingdom of birds, and I thought the Avian Principality was a pretty neat execution of that. There's a part in the story where a character is captured, and I love the design of the prison they end up in. It's a vast underground cave under a giant root system, with rickety cages hanging like pendulums from the ceiling. That's just really cool! There is a fairly interesting twist/side story about Prue's parents that connects to the main story which I also liked. And I would be remiss to ignore the excellent illustrations by Carson Ellis. She has a very distinct style that lends itself perfectly to a kid’s book.

I did generally like the writing-- but the execution was not particularly interesting. I'm a big fan of The Decemberists largely because of the interesting worldplay and vocabulary in their songs. In some ways that does come across here. There were many words I had to look up (”what the heck does Lilliputian mean? ...oh”). Meloy has a good sense of humor; many jokes and allegories were genuinely funny as an adult reader. And the wilderness/forest imagery was on-point, though sometimes repetitive. But beyond that, the narration just doesn't commit to an interesting style. It's adequate for the story but not very noteworthy otherwise.

As for the plot itself, it felt contrived, like Meloy was working off of an outline and connecting events in the most convenient ways possible. Much of the action is not character driven; just events happening to the protagonists outside of their control, or side characters driving the action instead. While this improves over time, the problem plagues the whole story regardless, all the way up to the climax. Wildwood also suffers from idiot plot syndrome, where characters do extraordinarily stupid things to advance the plot. There are multiple times the villain could solve her problems by just killing someone and... doesn't, for some reason, even though we are led to believe she has NO qualms about committing genocide on a whim. Stuff like that just left me scratching my head.

Unfortunately this book suffers from one other big flaw... it is just too damn long. This book is a middle-grade book written primarily for 10-to-13 year olds... and it is 541 pages long. Length isn't necessarily an issue if the story is really good, but this one just drags after a while. If the characters or story were particularly compelling, maybe 500+ pages would be fine... but in my experience that wasn’t the case. Add that to the attention span of even the most voracious middle-grade reader, and this book really needed to be shorter.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and it sounds like some of my issues are addressed in future volumes based on skimmed reviews. But the thought of tackling another huge tome on the off chance that it's a drastic improvement on Wildwood is a bit too much for me at the moment. I might give it another shot later, but I'm going to read something else next.

Again, it's not an awful book by any means... just pretty mediocre. I was mildly entertained, but I did get bored by the book several times and had to press myself to keep going. If you are looking for this type of story, countless books and films have done it better. Maybe it does get better in Under Wildwood and Wildwood Imperium, but this wasn’t a very promising start.

#taylor reads #6/10 #2020 reading challenge

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