#i can do Yuletide and ONE other event

[scribefindegil]

this December I wrote 5 fics for 3 different exchanges, two of which I was helping run, while cursed, and I think we can safely say that I should maybe uhh. not do this again.

[rmd-writes]

'tis the season

@stereopticons tagged me to share my winter/holiday fics because 'tis the damn season! I love a winter/holiday fic despite the fact that I live in the southern hemisphere and today is 1 December and the temperature hit 35C today 😰

Schitt's Creek

and then one day, everything changed | T | 9.1k | canon divergence

All David wants to do is sign Marcy Brewer on to sell her amazing fudge at Rose Apothecary. Unfortunately for him, her very snippy, business consultant son gets involved. In an effort to win both Marcy and Patrick over, David invites Patrick to spend some time in the store and on a vendor trip. There’s snow forecast for the day of the vendor trip, but it’s Schitt’s Creek and it never snows. Right?

it's just for snow | E | 18.1k | coffee shop / fake dating AU

When David gets a last minute wedding invitation and Stevie refuses to go with him, he needs to find another date - he needs to show his so-called 'friends' (and Sebastien Raine) that he's thriving now. Enter: David's new favourite barista... — aka the coffee shop / fake dating / road trip / snowed in / there was only one bed fic no one asked for

since we've got no place to go | E | 6k | canon compliant

Patrick books a winter weekend away so that he and David can connect.

Red, White & Royal Blue

you're all that i need | M | 3.9k | coffee shop/book store AU

“Alex.” Henry leans against the wall behind the counter with his arms folded, wearing a pale blue cable knit sweater with the sleeves pushed up and navy chinos. Alex wishes he wouldn’t because it only emphasises his forearms.

He crosses his own arms in response. “Henry.”

“Are you actually looking for a book?” Henry asks with a sigh. “Or are you just wasting my staff’s time?”

“That staff member is my sister.”

“I’m well aware,” Henry says drily. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’re probably wasting her time. Which book are you looking for?”

“Oh.” Alex grimaces slightly. “I’m not actually–” He exhales. “Hunter is in the coffee shop, so I got the fuck out.”

yours for the afternoon | T | 4.6k | coffee shop / fake dating AU

Henry is quietly minding his own business in his favourite coffee shop, when he’s rudely interrupted by an insufferable man attempting to flirt with him. He’s rescued by none other than Alex – a fellow cafe regular who he’s long admired from a distance – posing as his date.

Snowed In? Snow Problem | E | 7.3k | college AU

Henry and Alex get snowed in at their dorm for the holidays, whatever will they do?

911 Lone Star

Make the Yuletide Gay | M | 19.6k | college / fake dating AU

"I'll be your boyfriend for Christmas."

Carlos stares at him like his brain is struggling to comprehend what TK is offering. It's a shared feeling, given that sometimes TK's brain engages before his filter does, and this is definitely one of those times. There’s no room for regrets, though, and he’s not really sure he regrets making the suggestion.

“TK,” Carlos starts softly. "What you're suggesting is— Well, it's a little crazy but also very generous. I can’t ask you to do that for me. It’s really too much to ask of anyone."

TK gets up off his bed and crouches in front of Carlos, his hands on Carlos’s knees. “Firstly, you're not asking, I’m offering. Secondly, consider it a social experiment, like the ones you learn about in class. Except this one directly involves you and me...as your fake boyfriend. You know, for science." --

Fake boyfriends. For science.

Your Place or Mine? | E | 4.5k | college AU

(the sequel to Make the Yuletide Gay)

From best friends to fake boyfriends to real boyfriends, it’s been an eventful few days for TK and Carlos, but now they’re finally back home and alone.

Whatever will they do?

Tagging @welcometololaland @liminalmemories21 @strandnreyes @three-drink-amy @everwitch-magiks @indomitable-love @cha-melodius @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @inexplicablymine @lemonlyman-dotcom @carlos-in-glasses @alrightbuckaroo @iboatedhere @reyesstrand @lightningboltreader @indestructibleheart @lilythesilly @maxbegone @mostlyinthemorning and anyone else who wants to play to share their own winter/holiday fics!

[diana-fortyseven]

Why not enhance your fanfic reading experience with a fun challenge?

Generate your own Fanfic Reading Bingo Card and try to finish it over a timespan of your choice (e.g. during your next family gathering).

Details & instructions under the cut

Generate a new bingo card until you're (mostly) happy with the results. You can re-roll every single bingo field separately by clicking/tapping on it. When you have a card that fits your reading habits (or takes you out of your comfort zone, if you want to challenge yourself), take a screenshot of the card to keep it. Closing the page and reloading it will reset the card.

There are no fanfic-negative or bashing items in the lists. This bingo card is meant to be a positive experience and celebrate fanfiction and fanworks in general.

It's just a little practice piece I made for funsies mostly over the weekend, with some finishing touches earlier today. I will add more content over the next few days and weeks (and let's be realistic, probably months), but everything that's currently in there should already work as intended.

The bingo generator is responsive, which means it should work on desktop and mobile. The mobile layout isn't ideal yet, I'm trying my best to make it better (but I'd also still consider myself a newbie and I'm learning by doing).

The platform I'm using, Perchance, recently added AI options for their generators. This is a regrettable decision that I don't condone, and I'd like to emphasise that this generator is 100% handcrafted chaos.

Leaving the NSFW checkbox unchecked should remove all NSFW tags and tropes, but you could still come across content you find objectionable. Leaving the AO3 Tags checkbox unchecked removes all tags, but you could still come across tropes you find objectionable.

If you run into any issues or come across any bugs, please let me know. If you find something that should be in the NSFW category, but isn't, please also let me know. It's possible that I missed a few tags when I worked through the list. (But don't ask me to remove content you find objectionable.)

What do the checkboxes mean?

NSFW is basically what it says on the tin. If you tick this box, the NSFW tropes will be added to the mix. If you also ticked the AO3 Tags box, NSFW AO3 tags will be added.

AO3 Tags is also what it says on the tin. It's a list with roughly 1,000 AO3 tags. Around 250 of them are currently marked NSFW and can only be generated if you ticked both the NSFW box and the AO3 Tags box.

Stats & Meta currently only includes the lists "length" (contains wordcounts ranging from drabble to >500k) and "meta", which currently contains items like "a work with a song lyrics title" or "a work in a series". I will probably add other lists to that category at some point.

The already populated lists are:

challenge (various challenges and events like Yuletide, Whumptober)

creator (items like favourite author, anon creator)

discovery (various ways you could've found a fic)

fandom (ranging from tiny fandom to megafandom, also options like old fandom, inactive fandom, etc)

length (wordcounts from drabble to over 500k)

medium (items like podfic, fandom meta, fic with fanart)

meta (a fic's front-end and stats, also "citrus scale for rating" xD)

platform (where you read the fic)

reader (your relationship with the fic; is it your comfort fic, or your first fic in a fandom?)

style (chatfic, iambic pentameter, custom workskin, stuff like that)

trope (roughly 100 tropes)

tag (roughly 1,000 AO3 tags)

Lists that are currently planned, but empty:

canon (probably stuff like anime fandom, video game fandom, etc)

category (planned to add the AO3 categories and maybe Archive Warnings to this list)

content (might be scrapped, might be populated with some items moved over from other lists)

genre (what it says on the tin)

setting (where or when does the fic take place)

It's possible that I come up with more ideas for more lists at one point.

I had lots of fun making it, and I hope that you'll have fun with it. If you're using it, let me know when you got a bingo! :D

If you have fannish accounts on there (or don't mind inflicting fandom on your regular followers), you can also share the Fanfic Reading Bingo on Twitter, Mastodon, and Bluesky! :D

[olderthannetfic]

Hi, OTNF & Co (and YoungerThanNetFic)! So, I have a question.

When I started out doing gift exchanges and the like, I thought the idea was to not force your own vision on the prompter, and that in return you would be left a modicum of, you know, leeway in your own endeavour.

So yes, you'd follow the prompt(s) given, respect the DNWs and the wants if given, of course! But I've always felt that expecting someone to write exactly what you want was a doomed thing--the only person who could hit your buttons just so was yourself, and chance might make it happen sometimes when you find you read THE fic, but you can't expect a mystery person whose skills you don't know to just do it. That seems... unfair, compared to letting them play to their own strengths?

If I'm expected to follow a very detailed plot already outlined for me, then I know that I will have absolutely no desire and worse, no ability to do it. All I'm left with is "Why don't you write it yourself if you already know everything that's going to happen?" (If you couldn't tell, I'm definitely not someone who likes detailed scenario prompts, lol. Best way to get me to dry up instantly).

I thought the idea of gift exchanges would be to accept a little bit of surprise, at least--sure, I prompted, idk, "Space Pirates AU," but I wasn't expecting the vampire twist! I've also always considered fandom events to be for the entire fandom, not just the participants; I thought the goal was to make your giftee happy with a story they'd like, sure, but that you put in effort to make it good for them AND everyone else who might enjoy it.

But then, I've seen and heard different things; that one should follow a list of very detailed wants (the... letter? for Yuletide? I've never participated so I'm a bit ??? about Yuletide) and that somehow everyone was apparently expected to be able to write stuff they don't vibe with or even dislike, if the needle falls on you. I'm assuming a modly human touch is supposed to help with that, but now this is all making gift exchanges look quite scary instead of an exhilarating perspective.

--

It depends very much on the exchange and the people.

I personally love outline-level prompts as long as the person gets that I might write something else.

For Yuletide, I do generally consider it a present only for that one person because it's quite possible that nobody else cares about slashfic of Medieval Spanish books of proverbs or whatever.

Letters in Yuletide are optional to write and optional to read. The writer isn't obligated to follow any of your details other than DNWs that are listed in the actual signup, and they aren't even obligated to click the letter link.

Since they can already do whatever they want, I generally write fairly specific ideas and don't offer a lot of "You don't have to write my ship" waffle.

IMO, the key is that the more detailed your requests, the more variety you should give for each ship/fandom/whatever.

But really, most exchange participants are pretty low key. It's just the absolute die-hards who circulate massive lists of "rules" that appear nowhere official and make the whole thing more stressful.

[momosandlemonsoda]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Thanks so much for tagging me, @bbcphile, how fun! I ended up rereading some of my older fics for this. Onward!

In no particular order, let's start with Not Too Sentimental, which I wrote for Yuletide in 2014 (which is not, I regret to say, ten years ago! Je refuse!). I based this on the wonderful novel The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine, which is a Jazz age retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. It's gen and about the two oldest sisters, Jo and Lou, who have a love-hate relationship.

Next is the first DMBJ fic I wrote, Reach for their Scabbards, which is Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling/Liu Sang for my beloved @uschickens, who in the best tradition of fandom friends dragged me down into the pits with her. Wu Xie and Xiaoge take care of Liu Sang and then decide to keep him. There's a whole series.

Whatever Our Reckoning is also in DMBJ, a short little fic I wrote because we needed more Hei Xiazi/Xiao Hua/Huo Xiuxiu fic (we always need more but we needed it for a specific reason) and it's a twisty little thing. I like that there's nothing explained and everything explained in under 3k words. I have a sequel started, but I don't know that I will ever finish it.

I wrote With Water and a Star for an exchange and until recently it was the longest fic I wrote without coauthors. I got the assignment and I said to @uschickens, well, @merinnan really loves fake dating but how can you do fake dating with three people? And it turns out this is how. Another HeiHuaHuo fic, and what I loved is that I managed to pull it off, three points of view, a satisfying story, a happy ending. It even has a little post-story sex-tra.

(I feel like I'm pushing it with the extra links but also, this is a self-rec post and I do what I want).

The last one... ok, I'm going to take "5 favorite fics you've written" to mean finished fics. I love my wips, but in terms of finished fic, I'm going to go with No Rug to Sleep On or Fish to Eat. KinnPorsche fandom, Kim/Chay (why did I fall for the most adorable little pairing? because of all the delicious trauma? because they don't end up together at the end? how about both.gif). Kim gets turned into a kitten and events ensue. The tag "Kitten Thinks About Nothing But Murder All Day" is absolutely correct.

This was so fun to do! Tagging @merinnan @foxofninetales @alxina @mekare-art and @starstainedwings, if they want to do it or anyone else. No pressure at all!

[janeeyreofmanderley]

Here my personal theories, feel free to contradict!

From best to worst:

Frodo- empathic, organised and attentive he will pay attention to what his friends mention about their hobbies and wishes and pick gifts accordingly. Is generous too.

Sam- same as Frodo but tends to gift more lovely homemade things! Known to be a bit overenthusiastic gifting plants and overestimating the recipients ability to care for them ( Pippin has a closet of dead houseplants Merry calls „ Treebeard‘s future revenge „)

Pippin- Loves loves getting his friends gifts! Starts already in October! Always means well but sometimes ends up gifting sth that more fits his than the recipients taste. Still everyone can see he tried!

Gimli- a gifted craftsman and friend to even more gifted ones he will make and pick exquisite jewellery and knives which are always welcome. Very organised, will have everything by December 10th at the latest.

Boromir- Not the most imaginative gift giver but well organised and honestly trying! Will usually ask directly for what people want and get just that or often will get vouchers for shops and events he knows the other one loves. By now HE regularly get’s Christmas cards from Faramir’s favourite book shop for that reason.

Gandalf- Will forget to get sth till last minute but shows up with vouchers promising cool trips and free fireworks, always a huge hit. Especially when no magical jewellery is involved.

Legolas- Time is such a relative thing for an elf! Will forget to start looking til Gimli gives him a nudge a week before. Will panic and buy very expensive but often kind of odd gifts. But always includes the receipt and never minds people exchanging their gifts so it’s fine.

Merry- swears that this year he will finally start looking for gifts early- becomes foreseen. Again. It follows a well meant panic shopping spree in an overflowing city which leaves him frazzled. Gifts everyone the same Christmas ornament he could grab in the last shop he Entered just before closing time.

Aragorn- Arwen gently nudges him. Faramir openly reminds him. He will attend all Yuletide ceremonies and still not realise Christmas is coming. No one knows how he does it, he least of all but it happens every damn year! Only realised he was supposed to do Christmas preparations at 8pm on Christmas Eve. Feels terrible! Eowyn started buying a gift for Arwen that Faramir then places on the king’s desk to help him out. Everyone knows. No one minds.

[sailtomarina]

The Truth of Us

Hermione x Sirius | @hp-yuletide-bliss Day 16: I gave you my heart | WC 2103 | Rating: M

A sob strangled Hermione’s throat as she shut herself in her room and pressed her back up against the surface. Each breath was a struggle, the inhales loud and desperate for reassurance, the exhales strained. She shoved the heels of each hand into her eyes and willed the tears to stay back. They always made her feel weak and juvenile, affirmations of her stupidity for caring so much about a man who would never see her as nothing more than a girl not even worth consideration.

Nevermind that she was approaching her 30s and knew exactly what and who she wanted in her life.

“Kitten, please, just talk to me.”

Sirius’ voice was muffled from beyond the door. His door, because this was Grimmauld Place and she had overstayed her welcome between flats like she was. She needed to hurry up her search and get out.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Kitten”, “love”, “little girl”—they were all variations of the way he saw her. At one point, they’d seemed signs of his affection. She leaned into them and imagined they meant something…more.

How stupid she’d been.

“Hermione. Can you open the door? I’m pretty sure this is all a misunderstanding.”

Her stomach roiled and heat flowed into her chest. A misunderstanding, was it? Turning swiftly, she yanked open the door and glared up into the dark eyes of Sirius Black.

“I’m pretty sure there’s nothing unclear about what I just saw, Sirius.” 

She’d walked out of the Floo into the drawing room, her hand frozen in the motion of brushing off soot as she scrambled to make sense of the scene in front of her. Sirius leaning against her favorite armchair, where she often curled up at night reading, and a woman standing far too close to him with her hand resting on his chest and a coy smile on her face, the twinkling red and green lights of the Christmas tree playing in patterns across their forms.

The loud thunk of her bag hitting the floor alerted them to her presence, Sirius’ head snapping up and eyes focusing on her. The woman merely looked over with a frown, one perfect eyebrow raised in confusion. 

“Kitten, I–”

Whatever he’d been about to say was lost as she pushed past him and the shite Christmas tree, and up the stairs.

Now he looked at her, one hand buried in his hair at the nape of his neck, the other leaning against the doorframe as if to trap her in. His mouth opened, then closed without saying anything.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Look, it’s none of my business, anyway. You’re free to do whatever with whomever you wish.”

Nevermind the fact that he’d certainly lead her to believe otherwise in the recent weeks. Lingering looks, a touch here and there. She let him borrow her books!

Her attempt to close the door was met with the loud smack of his palm against the surface.

“It’s not what you think it is. Don’t jump to conclusions.” His eyes were wide, almost desperate. But no, that couldn’t be right, could it? She was just seeing what she wanted to see.

Hearing him say that to her, like Hermione had a habit of misunderstanding what she saw with her very own eyes, pissed her off beyond measure. Where did he get off telling her what to think?

His hand slid across the door and curled around the edge, knuckles whitened with how hard he gripped it. It was like he meant to force her into believing his version of events and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Her traitorous heart ratcheted up in beat as he leaned further into her space. It was then that she flicked her eyes up and noticed the mistletoe he’d affixed there with a wink just yesterday.

She took one step back.

He stepped forward.

She could give him the benefit of the doubt and ask him to explain. A part of her loudly demanded this.

The other part? It had her tightening her hold on her wand and shifting her weight to one side. He followed, like the observant wizard he was, and she pivoted immediately to the opposite foot and made a dash for the gaping hole he’d left. If she could just make it out the door and down to the Floo, she could disappear and take the time she needed to come up with a plan of action.

“Oh, no, you don’t!”

Faster than she could believe him capable, he flung an arm out and caught her around the waist. He tossed her back onto her bed in the next movement.

“Expelliarmus!”

Just like that, he had her wand.

“Sirius! You can’t just trap me in here!”

“Watch me,” he growled, stalking forward and waving both wands in his hand to slam her door shut with an ominous click. Rather than pin her to the bed like in one of her many fantasies, he pulled out her desk chair, spun it around, and straddled it with arms folded over the back as he glared at her. “Gina is an estate agent.”

Even though Hermione’s brain begged her to shut up and let the man speak, she couldn’t help herself. “She must be real successful if she touches all her clients like that.”

She sounded petty and jealous and exactly the type of witch she’d never wanted to be. There was a time, when she was younger and thought herself mad about Ron, that she’d indulged in those kinds of feelings. Even now, without her wand, she itched to sic her birds on him and watch as they attacked his salt-and-pepper hair. It would serve him right to show up at the Burrow Christmas Day with peck marks all over his face.

Still, that had been her past, and she’d thought herself beyond such acts. Looking at their predicament now, Hermione was forced to accept that maybe she hadn’t changed so much as she hadn’t felt this strongly about someone else in far too long a time.

Sirius sighed in exasperation, hand tugging again at his bun. “Yeah, she is touchy, but I’ve made it clear I’m not interested in her like that and that I never will be. If you had stayed downstairs just a bit longer, you would’ve seen me push her away.”

She inched up the mattress to press herself back into the cushions seeking some sort of consolation. She bit her lip as she looked at him, taking in the way he stared directly at her with those eyes that always seemed to strip her to the core.

In truth, he’d been really, really good to her these past few months. He always had been, even before she came asking for help. He opened his home to her without any deadline mentioned, just his firm reassurance that Hermione was welcome to stay as long as needed. He’d even gone so far as to suggest she move in permanently since he had plenty of space and could use the company. At the time, she’d waved off the suggestion as the obligatory offer it likely was. She’d assured him she’d be out of his hair as soon as she could find a suitable place.

As the weeks passed and they spent more and more time together, her search had slowed to a crawl. What was the rush, anyway? She didn’t want to hastily pick a place that didn’t fulfill every single one of her needs and Sirius was the perfect housemate. She’d intended to spend the holiday with him and think about relocating in the new year.

Estate agent?

Shame expanded, branching out through her limbs and crawling to the surface of her skin.

“If you wanted me to hurry up and get out, you could have just referred me directly to the witch.”

His scowl deepened and he thrust himself up from the chair to finally prowl forward onto the edge of the bed.

“When will you stop thinking the worst of me?”

The springs creaked underneath his weight as he crawled towards her. It might have been amusing in any other scenario–shouldn’t magic make such things, such Muggle-like inconveniences, nonexistent?

So wrapped up in the random thought was she, that, by the time Sirius bracketed her between his arms, it was too late to dart away. Scents of bergamot and tobacco engulfed her and she breathed in deep.

“Sirius…” The name came out as a quiet plea.

“Yes, I reached out to her on your behalf,” Hermione’s eyes widened, but he continued, “and for mine, as well.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I wanted to see what options were even available before talking with you, but I see now that I had it all backwards. I should have consulted you first, then gone with someone else, anyone else.”

What was he trying to say? Was he dressing up the entire act of getting her out of Grimmauld Place?

“I assure you, Sirius, I can stay with Luna, or with the twins. There’s no need for you to go through all the effort–”

She trailed off when he brought his face close, his forehead pressing against her own and each puff of air a kiss of air against her lips. 

“I don’t want you to leave.”

Nothing he said made any sense, but she could feel the heat of his body as it hovered above hers and wanted to pull him flush against her like doing so would erase her doubts. The only other sound in the room was the ticking of her desk clock.

“What was Gina here for, Sirius?” Maybe saying the witch’s name would help clear her head.

She flinched in surprise at the hand that cupped her jaw and slightly tilted her face closer to him.

“I asked her to look for a smaller place where you and I might both live together.” The hand on her cheek slid down to rest palm-side down against the center of her chest. “I’ve felt more for you than any man my age should for far longer than was appropriate, and you being here has only affirmed everything I already knew to be true.”

Hermione couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. She could barely take deep enough breaths to keep up with the galloping of her heart and mind.

“What truth is that?”

The smile that stretched across his face made her ache in want, the lines at the corners of his mouth filling in deeply. It wasn’t difficult for Hermione to imagine the many years of laughter that had formed those creases and informed the devastating man that he was.

“That I gave my heart to you and intend for you to keep it. I was going to tell you tonight.”

Christmas Eve. He remembered her family tradition of opening one gift a night early.

She pinched herself hard, then yelped as pain bloomed across her arm.

Sirius threw his head back and laughed loudly, before dropping his forehead back down to hers. “This isn’t a dream, kitten.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Now that you’ve heard my explanation, what’s yours?” His eyes searched hers for an answer.

A myriad of thoughts crowded to the front, but one in particular shoved its way into the light.

“You want me?” Her voice sounded small even to her own ears.

A twinkle appeared in his eyes, the start of another smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I want you so bad.”

“But you already have me.” The words had barely left her lips before he met them in a kiss, his eager warmth enveloping her in undiluted, overwhelming Sirius Black. He lowered himself to lie against her, pressing down with his delicious weight and giving her the undeniable proof of his want hard against her thigh.

By the time they broke for air, he’d worked her into a panting mess, hands clenched so tight into the fabric of his Henley she was surprised she hadn’t torn straight through it.

“I’ll find a different agent.”

“I didn’t give a fuck about the estate agent, Sirius.”

And she didn’t. Not anymore. Gina might as well be a footnote to the love story of Hermione Granger and Sirius Black. Dramatics and misunderstandings aside, Hermione now held zero doubts about the future that lay before them. They had their work cut out for them, talks to be had and truths to be brought to light.

Right this second, though?

She arched her hips and grinned at the muffled groan he made into the crook of her neck. 

Cross-posted on Tumblr and AO3.

I have WritexAboutxMe to thank for my mind being stuck on this duo ever since I read Yuletide Beginnings earlier this week. Now all I can think about are tattoos, a salt-and-pepper man bun, and a wizard who knows exactly what he wants for Christmas this year. If that strikes your fancy, too, then go and read her work this instant!

This story actually started with a far worse premise of Hermione stumbling across Sirius getting a blowjob. It didn’t take me long to realize that I couldn’t really write any sort of recovery from that within my self-imposed limits on length, so I ended up softening the act and turning it all into something else entirely.

[dramioneasks]

HP FESTS: Yuletide and Mulled Wine Fest

Yuletide and Mulled Wine Fest 2023:

Mutual, I'm Sure by LadyUrsa - E, WIP - If Draco Malfoy could have one wish in his life, it would be to not be a Veela. Wait, no. It would be to not have Hermione Granger be his mate. Fuck, at this point he would settle for Hermione Granger just being aware of the painfully obvious fact that she was his mate. But only as long as it resulted in monogamous bliss. And getting a cat. ** Two meddlesome best friends, two idiots who are bad at feelings, and a snow-filled Christmas reunion in Vermont. The only thing this White Christmas is missing are some musical numbers.

Seven Days in December by AutumnWeen - T, 4 chapters - A binding link, a friendship that blossomed from pain, and the magic of Christmas during seven days in December that will finally make them accept they can’t escape the other.

A Perfectly Normal Christmas by Kayka - T, one-shot - Hermione should have realized Christmas was doomed when the mistletoe spontaneously caught fire. This was all somehow Draco Malfoy's fault, and now she can't seem to stop running into him everywhere.

Four Christmases by vannminner - M, WIP - You can't spell families without lies - and the Granger / Malfoy duo had been spinning quite a few of those. As fate would have it, however, they're forced to unveil the truth to everyone in a series of four Christmases.

Stardust and Gentle Love by SybilEvergreen - T, 12 chapters - "Mr. Malfoy hasn't returned yet?" "No, not yet unfortunately. He sent me a message two days ago, stating that his mission had been extended. He's unsure if he'll make it back for Christmas." "You have to believe in a Christmas miracle, Miss."

The Christmas Party by arielle_reads - M, one-shot - Robards hosts a Christmas party for the Ministry but his gift-giving plan goes awry when everything gets swapped. Firewhiskey shots are introduced and Draco worries someone else will get the present he chose for Hermione.

Magical Merry Mistletoe by greyditto - T, one-shot - What happens when pureblood tradition, a Yule party, and a Secret Santa gift exchange all take place in the same event? Naturally, Draco's nearest and dearest conspire to get him what he always wanted...

Icy Truce, Warm Hearts by Serpent_Sortia - E, one-shot - The war has been raging for years but things are starting to go the Order's way thanks to the information provided by a spy high amongst Voldemort's ranks. Hermione is called out to meet the mysterious informant on a snowy Christmas Eve so he can deliver important news... until their meeting spot is compromised.

Krampussy by MidnightLumos - E, one-shot - Nothing brightens the spirits like a little holiday transfiguration. Just fun, giddy smut. “Krampus?” He nuzzled Hermione’s neck. “Are you going to eat me or take me to hell?” “The first one,” she stuttered. Malfoy made a choking sound of surprise, then pulled her forward on his lap until she was flush against his hardening bulk. “Goat demons, huh?” she said judgmentally, giving a meaningful thrust against him.

A Solstice Yarn by AStateOfInelegance - T, one-shot - Draco Malfoy is at the Granger family Ugly Jumper Party which is terrifying to Hermione for a number of reasons - not least of which is meeting her parents, hearing her childhood stories, and doing atrocious things to her heart. *** When she opened the door, she was smiling and when she saw the familiar mop of brown curls and bright grin, she couldn’t help but smile wider. Theo Nott had that effect on everyone. But when she saw the equally recognisable, though much less welcome, sleek platinum hair, her smile disappeared. He was not grinning. He looked like a man standing on a gallows, watching the hooded executioner sharpen his blade. She was suddenly very aware of her pulse and the way it raced, with a fight-or-flight response. “Theo,” Hermione said, voice low and dangerous. He cocked his head innocently. “You said I could bring a plus one.” Obviously her second mistake. The first was inviting him to begin with.

Messing with Christmas and How to Fix it by Astrangefan - not rated, one-shot - Hermione has been homesick for a home she no longer has. She finds some old decorations at Grimmauld and brings them back to Hogwarts. Draco likes what she's done, but says it in a way only Draco Malfoy can say and everything goes wrong. Now he has to come up with a grand gesture to apologise.

You Can't Just by AccioMjolnir - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger is assigned to review the finances for the Ministry Yule Party. The Yule Party that just happens to be organized by Draco Malfoy.

The Holiday by LunaLunaria - E, one-shot - A remix of The Holiday (2006) featuring cinnamon roll with hidden depths Neville Longbottom, chaotic manic pixie Pansy Parkinson, hyper-productive, seduce-me-with-your-brain Hermione Granger, and literary bachelor with a side of snark and sentiment Draco Malfoy.

This is War. by AlulaSprinkles - T, one-shot - "‘This is war.’ Honestly! Who says something like that about sodding snowballs, for Merlin’s sake?!" Or: in which Draco and Hermione's ongoing snowball fight quickly becomes too real.

A Gingerbread Getaway by MarinaJune - T, one-shot - Hermione loves a perfectly baked gingerbread biscuit, so how can she resist joining the Ministry's gingerbread house decoration contest? With a Romantic Getaway for Two as the grand prize and stiff competition in the form of one Draco Malfoy, she has her work cut out for her. It will take all manner of skills and subterfuge to secure first place, but the results might not be what she expects.

Onions, Lifts, & Fairy Dust by GertrudeCC - M, one-shot - A malfunctioning lift or a meddling friend? Two people seemingly lost on Christmas Eve thrown together in a most unusual way.

All I want, all I love by Goldenbucky - E, one-shot - A look inside the Malfoy Pack during the holiday season. More so, Alpha Pack Leader Draco Malfoy will do anything for his Omega.

Wreck My Plans by bookish_clf (clf1646), LunaP999 - E, one-shot - “You can call me Draco, you know. I have a first name.” “I don’t know. If I don’t call you Malfoy it might mean you aren’t my mortal enemy anymore, and won’t that just be so fucking weird?” I joked. “You have your legs wrapped around my waist, Hermione. I think we are anything but mortal enemies at the moment.” Jesus H Christ. **** Recently divorced Hermione Granger is requested to help MACUSA with a mass obliviation event in Manhattan a few days before Christmas. She runs into Head Auror Draco Malfoy, her childhood arch nemesis that she hasn't seen in twenty years. When he offers to be her tour guide for the night, she gladly accepts. Whisking her away to the best holiday markets and restaurants NYC has to offer, she realizes he's no longer the spolied child she used to know. The snow begins to fall and so do her inhibitions.

The Granger-Malfoy’s First Annual Secret Santa by westxnorthwest - T, one-shot - For their first holiday season as a married couple, Hermione and Draco decide to introduce their friends to the Muggle tradition of Secret Santa.

This fest is ongoing.

[sotwk]

Mae govannen! I am so intrigued by all your ideas and works surrounding Thranduil’s early life. I want to start reading them! I’ve looked over your Masterlist and I’m a bit overwhelmed. Is there a chronological order to them? Does it matter what order I read them in? Are you still writing the series? I’m asking because I enjoy reading fic on AO3 more than I do tumblr and would like to read the series in the best order over there.

I hope all those questions make sense. Thank you so much.

Mae govannen! What a wonderful message to receive! :)

I am so happy you're interested in reading my Thranduil works! Alas, I will admit that my Masterlist has become a bit of an unkempt garden (which is just a taste of the overgrown jungle that is my writer brain, but let's not go there), so I can't blame you or anyone for feeling overwhelmed! I'm SO appreciative that you have come to me asking for a method to the madness!

A few things to note about my writings:

I write fics and HCs exclusively for Tolkien. (So I'm kinda focused in that way, at least. lol.)

100% of my Headcanons and about (currently) 85% of my Fanfics are faithful to an established SotWK AU and Timeline. All concepts or events mentioned in the "faithful" works remain consistent and carry throughout other SotWK fics. I love connecting everything I write!

All Tolkien Canons and all Tolkien Original Characters I create have a fixed existence in the SotWK AU and Timeline. I try to avoid writing multiple versions of canon characters.

Reader Insert x Canon fics are the only stories that can deviate from the SotWK AU and Timeline.

You are not the first one to have asked for advice on navigating my headcanon/fic jungle, but thanks to your Ask, I finally "pruned" and reorganized my Headcanon Masterlist, breaking it down into subcategories that exist in separate pages!

In regards to my fanfic list, for every fic I write, I include the specific year (sometimes even date) that the story takes place, because (almost) every story and event exists in the same AU and timeline.

I haven't written a ton of actual fics yet; I have several ongoing series and a TON of "fic concepts". But for people interested in my concept of Thranduil's family life and kingly rule during the "Golden Age" of Eryn Galen, I recommend starting with the following (all links are Ao3, per your preference):

The Crown - About Thranduil's coronation. Gives some history and detail about his early marriage and relationship with his wife, Maereth. One-shot.

Greenleaf’s Day Out - A fluffy child-Legolas fic where each chapter highlights his relationship with his four older brothers and his parents. Multi-chapter, completed.

Yuletide in the Elvenking's Realm A collection of stand-alone fluffy ficlets describing Yuletide memories and traditions in the Woodland Realm through the eyes of Thranduil and his family. Multi-chapter, in progress.

The next big series I'm hoping to tackle for Thranduil is the "Sins of Our Fathers" series, which I started off rather messily, but I'm trying to pick back up. It's supposed to tell the very important story of Thranduil and Maereth's first meeting and the early stage of their relationship (going from rocky first impressions to friendship). I don't promote this work a lot since I feel like I haven't done it justice yet. I'm trying to fix that!

Thank you again for your ask and you interest! I hope this helps you get started with reading some of my work. :) I would love to hear what you think!

[antimony-medusa]

other anon mentioned you are the exchange expert -- what exchanges/events do you know of that are coming up besides yuletide? looking to try one for the first time :)

Okay so. So. Let's see.

I normally keep up with exchanges through an 18+ discord server for exchanges. (You can DM me for a link, but it's a choose-not-to-warn space, so like, whole exchanges themed around major archive warnings, so reader beware.) I just cruised through to see what's in nominations right now.

Sick-Or-Treat is a hurt/comfort exchange that runs October 1 through November 30th. To participate, you just post a complete hurt-comfort fic to the collection that's named after a pokemon attack, and you can win badges, up to a total of eight badges!

Holy Fuck Exchange is an exchange themed around sexual or romantic relationships that have at least one diety involved! They're in nominations until 23:59 UTC on the 30th, so you have a little time to get your nominations into the tag set.

SEDORETUE EX is an exchange themed around sedoretue relationships, a four-person relationship found in the works of Ursula Le Guin. They've already closed nominations, but sign-ups are open through the 30th, and you can check out the tag set and see if anything catches your eye!

Star Trek Holidays, a fandom-specific exchange that ALMOST counts as multi-fandom cause they have so many sub-fandoms, is in sign-ups until the 1st of october.

We JUST missed the sign-up period for Trick or Treat, a fun low-stress exchange where you can choose to give someone either fluff (treat) or angst (trick) with a minimum of 300 words, so uh, you can keep an eye out for pinch hits I guess? And oh man, I'm scrolling through right now, and when I'm looking at exchanges in the creation stage, there's If I Fits I Fics, which is CAT themed, and Launch The Ship, where you sign up with a ship with no fics on the archive, and Pine4Pine, which is an exchange about yearning— so many cool themes out there. If you want to know what's going on, checking Fandom Calendar is a fun way to keep up with all the various events that are happening, including single-fandom exchanges. (I post there for my multi-fandom exchanges).

Season of Drabbles, an exchange for 100-word fics, opens nominations on the 1st of October.

Consent Issues exchange, an exchange (does what it says on the tin), focusing on dubcon and noncon tropes, has nominations running through October 10th through 19th.

Looking back over last year on fandom calendar, it looks like None English exchange, an exchange focused on works in any language other than english, opened up nominations starting in November last year.

FandomTrees is a fun holiday gifting fest where people sign up with fandoms, prompts, and DNWs, and then all the creators get to shop amid all the prompts for people they want to create for, sign-ups are going to start in November.

Femslash Kink Meme is a kink meme that kicks off in November, for f/f relationships. People sign up with prompts— a relationship and a kink— and then it's considered good manners to try and fill someone else's prompt for every request you put out! It doesn't have to be something long, just a scene that can fit in a comment! (I haven't done a kink meme myself before, so that's just what I picked up by reading their dreamwidth.)

Yuletide is Yuletide, a lot of exchanges don't run in this space cause like the WHOLE space is participating in that one.

I know that last year Bulletproof Exchange did nominations starting in December, with signups on the 29th. The whole idea for that exchange is that there are tropes or kinks or prompts that you like SO MUCH that you don't even care who's in it, so you match exclusively on prompt tags, and then someone else will write you arranged marriage, or gun play, or coffee shop au, or borrowers au, or whatever else is your Bulletproof Prompt, using their blorbos. I'm eyeing that one myself, I'm not gonna lie.

okay that's— a lot. Hopefully that answers your question and there's something there that's good for you!

[starstruckunknown-princess]

Winter Market

Pairing: Modern!Robb Stark x F!Reader

Warnings: none, just fluff!

Word Count: 1067

Summary: While running your own stall at a Winter Market, you run into an old schoolmate of yours -- none other than Robb Stark.

A/N: A day late, but I had to edit this one and I was distracted yesterday. My bad. But expect either one more tonight or two tomorrow to wrap up my Fluffcember event! Hope you enjoy this one!

Fluffcember Masterlist

The Winterfell Yuletide Market was famous throughout the realm, boasting some of the most unique and talented craftspeople from all over the world. They also had a section reserved for local artisans only, which is where you found your stall. After your rocky divorce you’d taken up soap and candle making as a hobby to keep your mind and hands busy. You’d even looked into getting a hive of bees for beekeeping, but it had been too late in the season to have them shipped from Honeyholt. 

You were lucky to get the stall, which you had to keep reminding yourself as the temperatures dipped into the negatives. The sad little space heater under your table could barely keep your feet warm. Being a born and raised Northerner, though, you weren’t going to let the cold close you down like some other stalls had. 

“Hot cider, courtesy of Stark Tech?” a voice asked, pulling you from your trance. A steaming mug of cider appeared in front of you and you followed the gloved hand holding it up to the auburn curls and striking blue eyes of none other than Robb Stark.

It had been a long time since you’d seen him, having gone to school together many moons ago. Since then it had been easy to follow his meteoric rise in the Tech industry, taking over his father’s company when he passed too soon and managing to nearly double profits within the first year of his reign. Stark Tech was one of the biggest employers in the North, and the major sponsor of the Market. However, you had not at all expected to see the CEO of the company walking around, handing out free cider to the stall owners.

If he recognized you he didn’t let on, but you accepted the cider anyway. Anything to help keep your hands warm was welcome at this point. Only an hour left to stay open, but the temperature was dropping quickly. 

“Thank you, Mister Stark,” you said, not letting your voice wave from shivering.

He smiled his blinding smile, then tilted his head a bit. “Have we met before?” 

You smirked, sipping your cider that was impeccably spiced. “We went to school together.” You gave him your name and his blue eyes lit up with recognition.

“Yes! How’ve you been?” 

You gestured to the stall around you, “Alright, I guess. I got accepted to the biggest Winter Market in the North, so I’d say pretty good.” 

“Ahh, yes,” he said, picking up a teacup candle and inhaling deeply, “Oh, I’m sure Sansa would love this. Rose, right?”

“And sandalwood,” you added. “My gran collected fancy teacups all her life. When she passed last year she had left them all to me. I had no idea what to do with them until after…well, you don’t want to hear about all that.”

He smiled wide, picking up another candle to sniff. “On the contrary, I would love to catch up. You’re here for another hour, right?” 

You had to stop your jaw from dropping. You’d been out of the dating loop, but you could’ve sworn he had just asked you out. The few attempts you’d made at online dating had yielded absolutely nothing — in fact, the matches you’d gotten had made you want to throw your phone into the White River and erase all trace of yourself from the internet forever after scrubbing your eyeballs and brain with a toilet brush.

“Are you asking me out, Stark?” you asked for the sake of clarity. More than once you’d been accused of coming off as cold rather than cool. 

He smiled again, “I am indeed. Unless you’ve got plans after this, then we can pick another night.”

“Oh yeah, after this I’ve got big plans with my cat and my streaming queue,” you joked, heart fluttering as he let out a warm chuckle, “I’d love to go out with you.” 

He sniffed another candle and added it to the growing pile of teacups in the crook of his arm. “Excellent, I’ll meet you here after closing if that works. We can go to the Direwolf and Dragon?”

“I love that place! They have the best whiskey selection.” You nodded eagerly, perhaps a little too enthusiastically but you were beyond caring. This was Robb Fucking Stark, every girl’s crush in school and even though you were a fully grown adult woman with her own bank account and apartment and business, the giddy teenager within you was ecstatic.

“And she likes whiskey,” he muttered to himself with satisfaction, “Excellent. While I’d love to stay and keep chatting, I’ve got more cider to hand out. How much do I owe you?” 

He gestured to the four teacup candles in his arms and you told him the total, then wrapped each one in tissue paper and put them gently into a paper gift bag. Your stomach turned at the thought that these were for a girlfriend, but you hadn’t seen anything about his dating life recently. He’d been dating the heiress of some big agricultural company down south for a few years, but you knew they’d broken up a while back. Around the same time your divorce was happening, come to think of it.

As you wrapped, you asked, “Who are all these for? Teacups aren’t usually decor for bachelor flats.”

He chuckled again, “My mother and sisters. And my PA, Steffon, he loves anything pine scented. The fact that the cup has pine boughs on it I think bodes well, too.” 

You passed the bag over your display and your gloved hands brushed as he accepted it. Even through thick layers of material, you felt something electric pass between the two of you.

“Well, I’ll see you in an hour then?” You asked after clearing your throat and shoving down some rather naughty thoughts.

Robb’s curls fell in front of his face as he looked down and checked his smart watch. “Forty-three minutes, to be exact.”

“Then I’ll see you in forty-three minutes.” You smiled at him. He continued on his mission of handing out hot cider. Try as you might, you couldn’t help but count down the minutes as you sipped your cider.

Fluffcember Masterlist

[the-trinket-witch]

A TWSTed Christmas Carol

(I don't know whether to put this as an entry to @bunnwich's Holiday Fan Event , only cause it's generally Holiday themed, not specifically Green One themed U_U CAN ALSO BE READ ON AO3 )

Azul Ashengrotto has always been a hard working mer. But will his drive for success cause him to lose his holiday spirit? Potentially more?

The Holidays were fast approaching, and such times sounded like easy money to be had at Azul's Monstro Lounge. Octavinelle typically hosted New Years, as most dorm denizens had to stay on campus over break due to 'inclement weather'. Of course for Nightraven College's Merchant of the Deep, any chance afforded to rake in more business was always welcome. Fliers had been plastered across campus of the Lounge's special holiday hours, which in itself drummed up a bit more business than usual. 

One such day, the final day before break officially let loose for Yule, found him holed up once again in his office. The piano that had been enchanted to play continued its tunes as backdrop noise for his accounting. A familiar voice rang out over the trill of the music; one of Azul's partners had momentarily pulled his focus from the pages. 

It's in the singing of a street corner choir

It's going home and getting warm by the fire

It's true, wherever you find love

It feels like Yuletide

A cup of kindness that we share with another

A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother

In all the places you find love

It feels like Yuletide 

It was nice to have someone more actively musical in his life than he was currently; it left more room on his shoulders for things to advance him financially. Said responsibilities didn't leave room, though, for him to seemingly enjoy the season as the rest of those poor unfortunate souls. He hadn't noticed the song having ended until the rap of knuckles on his door alerted him of company.

It is the season of the heart

A special time of caring

The ways of love made clear

It is the season of the spirit

The message, if we hear it

Is make it last all year

"Azul? Do you have a moment?" Albert asked. Always polite, he waited for confirmation before entering. "Still have your nose to the grindstone, Love?"

"Indeed. Last year was a resounding success in pulling in business over the holidays. This year's looking similar. Tomorrow's going to be our busiest day next to New Years, and I don't plan on letting a single mark slip by."

He passed a few sheets over: projections, estimates and the hours needed to make it happen. Albert sat silent as he perused, but as his brow knit the further he read, the more nervous the Octopus became.

"Dear, I may have missed it but there's no days off from now through New Years. Is that right?" 

"It is-but remember, again: it's a busy part of the year. There's no time to have downtime."

Hearing that dropped Al's expression from confusion to frustration. "You should at least have a day off. Most businesses are closed tomorrow for Yule, anyway. You won't be out much at all if you had even just a day to relax."

"Are you saying my business is non-essential?" A twitch of a smirk crossed Azul's lips, trying to steer the subject away. 

"You know that's not what I mean," Al replied, a bit more indignant than Azul would have liked. "I'm saying you are more essential than all the madol in the world. You look utterly exhausted. I had wanted to have you three over for dinner tomorrow but if you're not taking it off, then neither can I." He offered back the stack of sheets, now heavier with disappointment. 

"Well that's not fair." He was pouting now, another tactic with his partner to try getting his way. "I'll be just fine; and once I'm done with my shift tomorrow, the Twins and I can stop by-" 

Albert drew in a breath, trying to reel in his shaking from a scarcely-seen anger. Azul never liked being the source of his human's frustration, and like any other time, it made him feel about as minute as krill. Worse yet was he could pinpoint exactly what he'd said that put him in hot water, once it had passed his lips. If Albert's unique magic hadn't been time manipulation, it might have been being able to sniff out a lie. 'I'll be just fine' was one such lie that he'd grown keen on sussing out. It didn't take the bags under his eyes nor the smell of coffee replacing tea in his cup to see that. 

"No; if I'm coming in tomorrow with you, there won't be time even with an extra hour from me to make dinner. I have to go, though. I need to see what I can make for Yuu and Grim tonight so it's ready by tomorrow."

He disappeared in a blink before resuming time around himself to close the door behind him. Azul deflated back into his chair, his final tasks seeming more daunting without his previous gusto at his sails. 

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

Kitchen prepped, drinkware polished, decor placed; the Monstro Lounge was ready to go for Yule. Somehow it felt…hollow as Azul turned in for the night. He periodically checked his phone, but why? Was he expecting Albert to text him? Debating on whether he should send a text? What would he even say? Why was he even worrying about this? It’s not like this dinner plan had to be tomorrow. But then…something roiled in his gut; he hoped it was just the coffee giving him indigestion and not something like guilt. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, so he found it best to curl into bed to at least try sleeping. The sound of waves far above were a familiar, comforting sound, soon carrying him off to sleep.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Part of him hoped that whoever had the gall to demand his attention this late at night had heard his groans. He stumbled towards the door, grumbling a, “Just a moment,” as they knocked again. A thinly veiled look of contempt flashed on Azul’s face before one of confusion took over; Yuu leant into the doorframe, arms crossed and a sharp frown being the only visible part of their face not hidden by ringlets. 

“Ah, Yuu. What can I possibly do for you this very late evening?” He didn’t really care why, but it was always best to at least pretend cordiality to prospective clients.

“I think you know why I’m here.”

“Might it be a contract for your little Grim to at least pass with a C this semester?” At this point, being coy was more of a way to kick back against being awoken. 

“If a contract’ll get you to close shop tomorrow so you three can come over, then I guess-”

“Not possible. As much as I’d like to debate what you even might have as comparable collateral, Tomorrow is too big of an opportunity to miss out on. I know he’s concerned about me, and I’m sure Jade and Floyd’s added nagging is because of him, but he’ll see once everything’s been counted out that the added profits will let us do more extravagant things later. I just need him to be patient.”

“You do know he likes smaller kinda affairs, right? Like, his birthday, remember?”

While yes, he did remember, he also had wanted to keep in mind the preferences of the Twins, who leaned more towards larger types of parties. Yuu shook their head, tossing back their bangs waiting for an answer. They cocked a now visible eyebrow when an answer wouldn’t come, as well as let out a resigned huff. 

“Whatever, Scrooge. Not my relationship, not my dinner plans; just means Grim gets maybe another half a day of leftovers. Don’t be surprised if some Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present or Future show up or something. ‘Night.”

Yuu didn’t give Azul much time to further protest, or ask what a Scrooge or Christmas was before they disappeared into the dark Octavinelle halls. Well, at least they weren’t bugging him anymore and he could go back to bed. The clock ticked, tocked, ticked as his eyelids lost the fight to keep open, finally bringing him to sleep. 

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

Azul had always been a light sleeper, so it only took a faint giggle in his room to jostle him back awake. Accompanying this giggle had been light flaps and squeaks of something airborne and battish. 

“Who’s-!”

He instinctively clamped his sheets to his chin at the sight of a familiar 3rd year floating at the foot of his bed: Lilia. Not in his typical Diasomniac wear, instead, the bat fae donned a similarly colored black and green Feileadh Mor, draping like wings over a festive red leine tunic.

“Ah, good. Lil Ashengrotto’s up~ Get any good sleep yet? Ya look a bit worn out.”

“Mr. Vanrouge, what’re you doing in my room?!”

“Hmm? Nah, I’m the Ghost of Yuletide Past. A little birdie told me you’re in need of a little bit of perspective~ Got a lil time to go on a fieldtrip? ‘Course ya do. C’mon.”

The spirit that only looked like Lilia floated a bit closer, a hand outstretched in invitation. 

“I have to be dreaming. No one’s ever snuck up on me before. This has to be a dream; there’s no other explanation.” His pale blue eyes darted back and forth from the fae’s, erm, spirit’s hand to his face. “I think I’m going to go back to sleep, thank you very much. And I’d appreciate if you locked the door behind you when you go.”

“Well, before you do, since ‘this is a dream’, You wouldn’t have trouble going along with this-?” The Spirit purred, before snatching the Octopus’ wrist, lurching him from his cotton sanctuary. In an instant the entirety of Azul’s room melted away to reveal the dark trenches of the Coral Sea. Not just that, but his human form had reverted to his more cephalopodic one. Oh to not have himself exposed to his upperclassman in such a way. This was turning into an outright nightmare. Seeing his tentacles again drew out a howl of fright, seemingly to the Spirit’s enjoyment. 

“Oh calm down, my fishy lil friend. C’mon, I got something-well someone-to show you~”

Like a marlin, the Lilia-shaped Spirit shot, still clamped to the cecaelia’s arm. Through the sea they swam, darting over cities and shanties alike under the sea. A familiar set of city lights eventually broke through the dark, ones that indicated he was coming home. And home was where they stopped. 

"Wh-what're we doing here? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE I LIVE?" He demanded. 

The Spirit answered with a nudge through the door to a cozy mer home. No decorations had been laid out; most mer either didn’t celebrate Yule, or made not as much an extravagant display as their neighbors on land. Each room sat quiet, of course being the middle of the night, save for one small room, his room. The two floated up towards where soft, almost inaudible sniffling. They poked through the small doorway, finding it equally dark. Along the ceiling hung shells littered with scratches and scrawls, all hanging off of loose strands of net like some conspiracy mobile. Below the shells,  curled in a little black ball of weeping was a much younger Azul. It was a common memory for him, to lay in bed letting out his frustration in tears of ink. Ink that also laid out spells scrawled on the shells above him; testaments to his dedication to becoming better. 

"I don't know why you're showing me this. I know what my past was like, I see these moments everytime I got to sleep."

"Well, I'm not so much showing you just this, but to show what you'd been missing all around you."

The fae-spirit floated back down to where a larger, mauve cecaelia sat at a table, staring down in thought with a much more refined, troubled look. 

"I wish I knew how to help him. Cooking just seems to push him away, now. I can't just demand those children stop. Asking him to ignore them just seems to make them try even harder…."

She held her head, now even heavier with worry. It made Azul's hearts contort into knots. He wasn't surprised his mother wanted to help, but he'd been better for being allowed to figure his problems out on his own. 

"This…doesn't surprise me. If we're done I'd like to 'go back' so I can finally sleep." 

"Fufu, if you insist~"

The spirit once again took Azul by the hand to float back to the surface. His gaze turned back one last time, to see two long figures-eels-staring into his window. For a brief moment, he wondered if the look they seemed to wear was also concern, pity, or something else. They’d been watching him? Why? By the time he tore his gaze back, they had been fast approaching his room. His skin prickled at their speed;  fast, way too fast, he shut his eyes waiting for impact with the floor, only to bounce back onto his bed. 

Dark, quiet, Azul was once again back in his room-albeit with much more disheveled sheets and a singular heart beating at a hundred miles an hour. Breathe. He just had to breathe to settle down, give himself a second to collect his thoughts. This had to have just been a dream, or some fae magic he wasn't privy to, yet. The thought that his coffee may have been laced with…whatever Jade had brought back on his last hiking trip, while still concerning seemed a placating possibility. He just had to sleep off the supposed mushrooms and mentally note to have Floyd make the first pot tomorrow, instead. Once his heart rate was back to a more manageable level, did he try attempting to sleep once more. The sooner he could sleep, the sooner he didn’t have to think about the salty moisture dripping from his hair to the pillow, or the notion that his visit was more than a dream.

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The mer tossed and turned; his bed was becoming way too uncomfortable to lay in. His gaze bore into the ceiling, now awake and irritated. First the bed lost its comfort, and now some growing chatter, clanging and ringing ebbed in from behind his door. Whatever forces were out to deprive him of even a wink of rest, he hoped they’d give up if he somehow could hide under his sheets. It was darker and cozier, anyway.

"Azul, what're you still doing here?! Come on! We got places to be, new horizons to pursue!" 

The shout made the mass under the sheets flail and kick and holler until it finally revealed the other housewarden, once again huffing for air. A quick smooth over his hair and retrieval of his glasses did little to polish up his image, or bury the floundering he’d done just moments ago. 

"Kalim," Azul took a sharp, 'calming' breath. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night, can this wait til morning?"

Standing as open and jovial as ever, was the Prince of The Scalding Sands: Kalim al-Asim. Or, at least, someone that looked like him. Whomever it was, had been dressed in a warm-looking red kafka and band of holly where a turban otherwise would have been.

“Can’t wait-all we got’s the present! More like ‘Ghost of Yuletide Present’, am I right? C’mon! There’s so many cool things going on, still; gotta catch it before it’s gone!” 

This particular ‘dream’ was already beginning to grate on the cecaelia’s nerves. He let loose that sharp breath of his, and defiantly tucked himself back under his sheets. If this was a dream, he’d just wake up from it in a moment and-

“Hey now, you’re gonna miss out on all the food-right guys?” Kalim asked.

Cheers rang out around him, and the waft of exotic spices and cooked meat flooded in with him under his covering. Azul’s gut betrayed any attempt he might have had at protest; it all smelled too good. He flipped off the sheet to be immediately accosted by a harsh breeze. Once his eyes adjusted to the gust he could finally catch sight of the enormous spread laid out along a tablecloth, resting on…the magic carpet? But as his eyes trailed further and further back, and the longer he saw the ornate rug stretch behind them with what seemed like all of Scarabia seated, the closer he came to realize just how high they were up in the air. A chill not caused by the wind ran down his back at the sight. On complete instinct he tangled his lankiness around the young prince for some kind of stability. 

“Get me down, get me down, GETMEDOWN!”

His panicking only seemed to incite another hearty laugh out of the Kalim-shaped apparition. “Hang on, then! Have a bite while we land?” 

This Spectre of Yuletide Present kept his jovial smile on as he rolled an apple down his arm in offering. While Azul did catch it, it was only a moment before resuming his clamp on the spirit for purchase. With a steady anchor, he caught glimpses of the world passing by below him. Any observers below could have seen the persian rug procession and mistaken it for a festive dragon floating through the Yuletide sky. But per request, their magic carpet ride had begun to descend. It wove through headstones and trees, gliding to a hovering halt at the front door of the no-longer Ramshackle Dorm. Oh how he wished it wasn’t here. He hadn’t prepared anything to say, to rebuttal, to offer in apology…

“Awe, that’s kinda disappointing. I thought he’d have done some more decorating. Wonder if he’s done anything inside…”

The Spirit mindlessly took a hold of Azul’s sleeve, leading through the door as if it hadn’t been there, or rather, as if they weren't even there. Inside immediately silenced the laughter and merry-making from the caravan of spectral partiers, but not for replacement with its own festive sounds. 

For a place still rather holey, the fire raging in the main den did a wonderful job in keeping the cold at bay. Its warm light danced across the furniture and garlands of festive colors. Something had clattered away in another room, the kitchen. Whatever was being made smelled wonderful, and again his gut protested being teased with only the scent. He had to know what was being concocted. Azul instead took the lead towards the source of the smell and noise, giving the door a nudge open. 

Inside, Albert had finished washing up before laying protection over a dressed turkey and resting it somehow in the fridge. The smell, though, had been attributed to a tray of cooling ramekins of creme brulee. 

"There. At least it's done and ready to bake. I better put instructions out for Yuu. Maybe they'll invite Malleus' crew over instead of them going out. Are they even here? -sigh- If anything, once it's done tomorrow I can bring some prepped plates over after,” he murmured to no one, as he covered the ramekins and laid them also to rest over the turkey. 

Albert sat, finally done prepping, to begin scribbling down instructions to cook. His brow scrunched once in a while as he thought about something, and as Azul approached, he saw the detail of his instructions. Even Grim had a possibility of being able to follow them. He didn't care at this point whether his partner could see him or not, he just desperately wanted to tell him sorry. He rested a hand to his human's shoulder, but something seemed to come over Al in that instant. The human under him blinked, and immediately fell asleep, but only for a moment before jerking back awake. Azul had seen it happen before: micro-sleep. It meant that this wasn't the first night he'd spent sleeplessly. 

Al just rattled, frustrated again and rubbing at already red, raw eyes before thrusting out of the chair to find something-anything-to wake himself up. Squats, stretching his crackling back, checking his phone, he settled eventually to pace across the lounge. Azul merely followed with the Spirit behind, now, watching him make lap after lap. Certain spots were not tread on, which made Azul assume they must have been creaky boards. Eventually even that wore out its effect on his wakefulness, landing him on the sofa. From there his attempts to keep himself awake began to falter. A weak rub against his legs, running hands through his hair; eventually he just seemed too tired to even do that. He gave one last glance back to the doorway, the one Azul and the Yuletide Ghost took up, and for a moment the mer wondered if he had actually been seen. And with it, Albert eventually succumbed to slumber.

Azul curled his arms into himself, knowing that peaceful look on his partner’s face was only temporary. 

“Take me back.” Azul demanded. He wasn’t going to just sit there and let this dream make him watch his partner wrestle awake from his own nightmare, especially if there was nothing he could do about it.

“Yeah, I gotcha,” The spirit said, but sounded much older, more mature, than the one Kalim he knew. 

Azul turned to see why, only to find a much older, wizened Kalim curled in on himself with age. It gave him a start, but reminded himself it was all just a dream. The old spirit led back out to the carpet and banquet. Upon coming back to view, the patrons, food and merriment all but dissolved into sand, only to blow away with the winter wind. He didn’t know why he looked back to the now even older Kalim for some explanation, but his query must have been easy to read on his face. 

“Sorry to cut things so short, but that’s the present for ya. Sooner or later the future just becomes ‘now’, and then even that’s gone. Ya might wanna hurry back if you don’t wanna catch your-” The spirit’s words faded away as his form did, too, disappearing into blowing sand. 

Now alone, there was no option in this supposed dream other than to get back to Octavinelle and hope he’d wake up this time. It seemed as if the wind had it out for him, what with it blowing directly against him. He could hardly see anything, let alone the open grave so haphazardly laid just off the path. One moment his foot hit solid snowy ground, the next: open air. 

Down, down, down he fell; roots flew by too fast to grab, and nothing else offered itself as some form of ledge. His eyes closed, he didn't want to see the bottom come up to greet him, or how long it would take for it to do so. This seemed to be the end, if not to this dream, then more regrettably, his whole life.

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

But a worn sofa ended up being his landing pad, not frozen grave dirt. Azul painfully bounced on the cushions before finally coming to rest. He clamped onto the seat to give his heart a chance to come down out of his throat. Once he finally had a chance to process the danger having passed, could he get stock of his new environment. Not a grave, but a living room, equipped with Ignihyde-blue accenting from the TV, coffee table, and sofa itself. 

"Greetings, Foolish Mortal, hehe" a voice hissed behind him. 

Azul whipped around to find a pale face behind a simple dark hood, famed by shoulders trembling with giggles. He seemed more 'Dungeon Master' than 'Spectre of the dreaded future'.

"I-Idia?" Great, the dream wasn't over yet, it seemed. 

The hooded figure eeped, "N-no! -ahem- I'm:

'死の恐怖: ユールタイドの未来の亡霊~!'"

A blue blush flooded the hooded spirit's face; he seemed to have practiced rather hard on the execution of both the pronunciation and pose he flexed stiffly into. All of it in vain against a very unamused octopus' scrutiny. 

"-sigh- Th-The Ghost of Yuletide Future," he clarified. "OK ok, look: let's just get this over with. Here ya go," the spirit moaned with a lazy plop of a controller into Azul's hands. "Also, in case ya get any ideas~"

Azul let out a groan of protest, making the controller groan in turn with his octopod grip. The Idia-shaped ghost flipped the television on before the octomer got any ideas about up and leaving. On the screen flashed an ornate purple script, 'Azul: The Game'. Underneath were the only options to check the control scheme and Continue. With no other choice, he pressed to continue. A quick chime and he was off.

The graphics were very well rendered, it was almost eerie. His first-person perspective let him maneuver through a house he didn't recognize. He thought the decor was quite tasteful, something he could imagine a future home of his own being decorated like. A photo on the nightstand of himself between Albert and Jade caught his eye-they all looked still rather young. A series of frames lined a wall with his now-larger collection of coins; Jade let his terrariums fill space on shelves all over. His perusing led him down the hall, finding it also modestly decked with distinctly individual tastes that somehow came together nicely. The den had, of course, a piano he'd recognized as Albert’s family's own. A small dining table took up the space across from the den, on which neatly piled papers were beginning to skew and a starched, rendered Jade. The model had been filling out papers when the option to allow Azul to interact appeared. 

"What a time to go, Dear. Hardly a wonder Albert disdains this part of the year. It's getting late; he's probably off shift by now."

Jade wrenched himself from his seat, leaving the unreadable paper alongside a newspaper clipping. Hovering over it allowed him to interact with that, too. The script of the image flashing on the screen only offered a picture and the beginning of an obituary. 

"Azul Ashengrotto

Azul Ashengrotto, 30, of Altus, Shaftlands, died suddenly December 18th due to heart complications. The young restaurateur had established……"

"What?! No, that's not fair! I'm right here!" Azul about chucked the controller in defiance of what the screen had read. "So then, am I controlling my ghost? Someone else?"

"That's the neat thing about this game: it doesn't tell you," the spirit of Yuletide Future smirked. "What do you think you're seeing right now? Good ending? Bad ending? True ending? Only the devs know."

>Stay Here

This was such an 'Idia' answer. Azul went back to steering the camera towards the door, to follow Jade. The options when touching the door only offered:

>Follow Jade

So much for options. Taking the only logical path, he was greeted with a momentary loading screen. Out of the dark screen came a serene, but no less chilling sight. A cemetery blanketed in white, noiseless in its crystalline batting. Headstones stood straight and proud, cockeyed and crumbling, or simply hid much like the bodies they marked below them. Simulated snow crunched under his perspective’s non-existent feet as he trekked along the path. Where was Jade, though? Tire tracks weren’t of much help, plenty of vehicles seemed to have come by recently. A hushed voice could be heard, but it was difficult to follow. 

“Sorry, I know you would have wanted to have the Lounge open today, but…I just can’t. It all just makes me think of you. I keep thinking I hear you, and I know it’s not. I should have led a better example-maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

Once again, he could hear Albert’s voice. Closer and closer he came, the white ground making way for kicked up dirt and packed snow. Azul had finally come face to face with it: a plot of freshly dug dirt now packed back into place, and a modest headstone with room for two more names. Albert had been kneeling next to it talking to, assumedly, the contents of the grave. His face had been flushed red, raw with grief and the biting cold. This was only a game, but by the Seven, he just wanted to reach out and hold him, tell him he was right there. All Azul could do was position the camera down, to try prompting an interaction. Pressing the button to react, sent things into a cutscene. His hands reached out to hold his partner’s face, who seemed to react to his voice.

"Albert, I'm here. Please-I'm here, I'm not going anywhere."

It only made him withdraw further in to try containing more sobs. A car squeaked to a halt on the path further off, revealing Jade. The rendered figure strode over to rest his own arms around their simulated human. Game or not, he didn't want any of this to happen; he didn't want to die so young, he didn't want to be cried over…His frustration made the controller creak with the pressure he'd put on it. He felt so helpless as his character just sat there as the credits began to roll and his partners began to walk away. 

"That's. NOT. Fair!" His fists beat on the coffee table, punctuating his words. "I did everything right! There has to be something…" He began pacing, wracking a quickly frazzling mind for some solution.

"You ought to slow down, you'll work yourself to death. Heh, 'work yourself to death', PFFF," the spirit mumbled, seeming to be enjoying Azul's squirming. 

"What?! I'll show you!" 

Azul whipped back at the ghost with a fist reeled back. But as he turned to sock him, what greeted him wasn't some Ghost of Future Yuletide. A skull, jagged in tooth and wreathed in blue flame, stared back. It made no indication of pain as the momentum carried Azul's fist into its jaw. The sight of it sent a frigid chill down his back. It began to advance closer, a hand now stretching out to grab him. Each step the blue-clad pile of bones made, Azul would take one back. It came a hair away from touching his cheek, if it weren't for the coffee table knocking into his legs and tripping him backwards into it. 

His teetering sent him slamming onto the table, breaking it open, and once again sending him back down down down into darkness. His descent had been much quicker; cold hard wood bashed up against his back before more planks began to surround his front. Trapped. Dark, cold and alone, this would have been a comforting place similar to his octopot, if it weren't for the coffin shape surrounding him along with the smell of 6 feet of dirt on top. All that came out were screams, pleas and knocks from within the box. He beat against his confines for however long, his tears all but dried up. Before his exhaustion won out, he weakly pressed his face against the lid, some kind of last plea for release. But the lid hadn't felt like the rotted wood he'd been pummeling, but cool white tile. 

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

Cool white tile that only Octavinelle's dorms had. Azul’s eyes fluttered open once more to find himself facing the floor. His back arched uncomfortably, legs hung over the side of the bed, and every sheet had been utterly rumpled. While it was uncomfortable, he didn't consider moving until his eyes had fully registered where he was, on some off chance shifting might send him back to where he was. But, when all seemed calm, did he finally chance to peel himself off the floor. 

Stretch, lean, shake off the nightmarish remnants of sleep. He flopped back onto the bed, he wanted to re-register the sensation of his sheets, the tile, his nightwear. As he recognized each texture, and giving his heart a chance to slow, a knock came at the door. The knock was only a courtesy as, quickly after, the door burst open with Floyd dashing in. The eel must have been quick about waking and entering, what with his disheveled hair and pj's. 

"What's up? Where're they? Who needs a squeeze? Eh? Azul, you okay?" Floyd demanded.

"We heard quite the commotion coming from your room and wanted to see what all the fuss-omph!"

Before Jade could finish, their boss hand wrangled the both of them into a tight hug. 

"That must have been quite the nightmare," Jade finished with a quiet hum of amusement. He smoothed over his partner's hair, relishing his affection being leaned into. 

"Yes-yes it was. What time is it?" He soon withdrew to better compose himself. 

"It's like…a lil after 6.00, why? What're ya missing?" Floyd asked. His face drooped a little as his partner retreated.

"Then he might not be here yet. I still have time. We need to hurry and get to Pentergeist, quick. There's a few things I still need to bring, I need dressed…"

His scattered organizing was interrupted by Floyd’s sigh, "On top of opening the Lounge?  Ehhhhh~ isn't he comin' over anyways?"

"Exactly why we have to hurry. We have to catch him before he gets over. Well? Go on, get ready."

Floyd groaned, reluctantly turning back to go change. But, his face immediately began to light up at the note Azul wagged in the air as he plodded towards the Lounge. 

Anyone attempting to enter the Monstro Lounge would, instead of being greeted by eels, be greeted with a notice in a handwritten notice tacked to the door:

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

"The Monstro Lounge will be closed on Yuletide, due to unforeseen circumstances. Business will resume regular hours 12/26. We apologize for the inconvenience. 

-A. Ashengrotto"

Albert had a rather long night, prepping what was supposed to be a Yuletide meal for his partners and more to send off with Yuu as salvage for whatever they were met with when attending Malleus and company’s dinner invitation. The same nightmare that had plagued him for close to two years now had made its presence once again. But instead of being startled back awake from its familiar events, a knock jostled him from sleep. He almost forgot about his journey to the couch, now a bit thankful that he was closer to the door. But he wasn't expecting company. More over, looking at the clock showed he needed to hurry so he could make it to help opening the restaurant. 

"Just a moment!" He called. 

Al creaked for the door, both from the floorboards as well as his own chilled joints. Whoever was at the door, he hoped it was quick so he could-

"Happy Yule, Dear," Azul declared. His presence only received a confused look in response. 

"Oh, sorry. I must have overslept, if you're coming to get me. Give me a moment, I'll-"

Albert wasn't able to finish, immediately being swept into another of Floyd's squeezes. Both twins erupted into peals of laughter, most in part from their human's even more confused expression.

"You're not goin' anywhere, Kajiki~"

"And neither am I," Azul added. 

"I-I don't understand. Don't we have the Lounge to open?" Al asked. 

"It seems Azul has had a change of heart since last night. I'm a bit curious as well what's come over him. Not to say I'm complaining," Jade noted. 

Once Floyd came to release his human, Azul took to swooping in, grasping at him desperately close as if he'd disappear. Nothing mattered in that moment but the real, waking tangibleness in his arms. With just the twins to watch, he felt no shame holding Albert to take in everything from the bristle of his hair, to the faint wood smoke smell on him, to the subtle beat of his heart in time with his own. Al was more than happy to reciprocate, just content to bask in the moment. 

"So then…?"

"Yes. We're having today off. I'm so sorry for just dismissing you like that. I've…come to realize how much you just want to look out for my health. Just know I plan on doing the same for you. All of you," Azul sighed.

"Eh? Is Azul gettin' all sappy now?" Floyd teased, poking at his cheek. 

"No! I'm just stating my new year's resolutions early!"

"In any case," Jade interrupted, "while we are cold-blooded, it is dreadfully chill out. Won't our Gracious Host offer us inside?" 

"Of course," Al smiled. 

Everyone gathered in the modest little kitchen to begin their dinner prep. Drinks were passed, snacks chewed through like the logs on the fire, and a very specific set of cooking instructions Azul would ignore, having seen them once before. He had to feign surprise at the small custard desserts, but found himself anticipating them all the same. Everything slowly came together in the freshly renovated dining hall, when a knock rang out. 

"Happy Yule~ Little Yuu here invited Malleus over. They also seemed to extend the offer to the rest of us; might we come in? If I'd have known sooner, I could have made a better cake, but I think this'll work in a pinch," Lilia announced. Yuu took up the rear of the procession of human and fae. A quick glance towards Azul, they gave both a surprised but welcoming smirk. 

Before long, the table had finally been set, drinks passed and everyone sat down. Good thing, it seemed, as Grim had been getting antsy and taking chances to sneak a bite before the rest. Yuu took Grim into their lap as everyone else but Azul seated. 

"I'd like to thank everyone for being here today. I understand it's a busy part of the year for everyone, but we come together like this…to give ourselves a chance to slow down." It was a bit difficult for Azul to keep himself composed. "While yes we have to work the rest of the year, time is a more precious commodity than anything. So we have to spend and invest it wisely. Thank you."

To that, everyone raised their glass in agreement. 

"A Merry Yuletide, everybody!" Grim hollered. 

[chthonic-cassandra]

Congratulations on finishing your series!! That must be such a dizzying milestone after being with it for so long! A couple celebratory questions: what are you most proud of about the stories? Were you always planning to make it thirteen parts specifically? How long have you known what you wanted the ending to be? Also do you have any plans for what to work on next?

Thank you so much! It is indeed dizzying; I'm still going through waves of feeling about it.

I appreciate the questions! I'll try to keep this free from spoilers since I don't think you've read the whole series yet.

What are you most proud of about the stories?

Probably the continuity of the series, and its broader arc. I haven't finished many longer-form writing projects, and even though this one isn't that long (58k words, I think), the slow and halting pace at which I wrote it means that maintaining the continuity - of narrative, theme, character - across that time feels like a big accomplishment.

I loved getting to plant thematic seeds that only came to fruition much later. Especially over the process of writing the second half of the series since my crazily long hiatus 2016-21 I was constantly going back over the whole work to make sure I was holding all the threads of the story and bringing images and symbols and phrases back to echo, and I'd never really done that as a writer before across a long time frame.

Were you always planning to make it thirteen parts specifically? How long have you known what you wanted the ending to be?

Answering these two together!

I initially wrote the first part as a one shot. It was during a time in my life (2008-09) when I was writing a lot of these Dracula AU one shots that were all different variations on related themes about coercion and captivity and situations with no good choices, just sort of putting these pieces together in different configurations and playing with them. But something about Compromise always felt more vivid to me than the others and it lingered with me.

Several years later, in 2013, there was another story about vampire transformation that I wanted to tell, and when I thought about it I realized that it was the sequel to Compromise. From there I started spinning the narrative out and gradually the larger shape of what it had to be became clear. I had a rough sense of what the full story was by the time I wrote Adjust (part 5), but for various reasons stepped away from it (and all my vampire writing) entirely for several years.

When I came back to it and wrote Acculturation I was subsequently much more intentional about planning out the rest of the series, and I knew at that point that I was roughly midway through the story that I needed to tell, though I didn't know exactly how long it would take to get there. I thought that I was going to finish it in 12 parts until this past spring, when I realized that the events of Intransigence and Concession needed to each be their own story, and that there was structural and point of view stuff there that had to be split.

Also do you have any plans for what to work on next?

Next up is my Yuletide assignment.

After that I am not totally sure, because I have a lot of potential projects. I am working on this collection of thematically linked one shots about concubine themes in Xena (find a more me sentence than that one; I'll wait), so that might end up taking my focus. On a very different tonal note, I have all these half-finished projects about the women from various Sade novels, which are incredibly unpleasant to work on but which I also have a lot of I want to say with.

I also have several different Penny Dreadful story ideas that I have been circling around in my head, because I think there are stories I can tell with them that I really want to work on telling, but it's taking some time to feel out where I am as a writer in that canon.

Other possibilities: unfinished Dracula one shots from years and years ago that maybe ought to get cleaned up and put into the world; experimenting with another vampire canon; any of the million wildcard fic ideas in my head. The disparity between the things I want to write and the time and energy I have to do it remains very large, but whatever I do write next it's definitely going to be on these same thematic preoccupations of mine.

(The crazy Dracula fic series I just finished is here, I'm still taking questions about it if you want to give me more opportunities to ramble.)

[lauramkaye]

In case you're wondering where I've been...

I was writing a Yuletide! For the first time in I don't know HOW long. It was good to get back and I am pretty happy with what I was able to do!

Now I have 3.5 days to finish a quilt that is a Christmas present (eep) and do other holiday-adjacent things and THEN I should be able to resume regular operations.

What's coming next:

My Yuletide story!

The rest of "The Ritual of Commitment" (two chapters to go! Depending on how everything else this week shakes out, one of those chapters might actually come out before Yuletide reveals.)

The last chapter of Keeps Getting Harder To Find (I'm SO EXCITED about this chapter, y'all. So. Excited. Stuff Happens in that chapter that leads directly into like four other planned stories in the series and I've been biting my tongue and not talking about it for MONTHS because I didn't want to spoil it.)

PROBABLY after that I will begin posting Operation Starbird. I didn't finish it during NaNo, because of COVID (bleh), but I have a very robust outline and a good chunk of the draft.

I am noodling around with another chapter (or possibly two) of "The Daimyo and the Huttslayer" so if I get something in postable shape in between the longer stuff, you may see it pop up!

Honestly I cannot WAIT to finish chapter 12 of KGHTF. Without giving too much away, I can reveal that it is the first and only chapter in the story - well, let's be honest, it's a BOOK now - that alternates between Boba and Kix POV, and this is because EVERYONE* COMES TO TATOOINE FOR THE RIDUUROK and HIJINKS ENSUE.

Featuring:

The Mudhorn Invitational

Kix's POV is nicknamed "Team Chaos" in the outline and Boba's is nicknamed "Team Drama"

The long-awaited reunion of the Daimyo and the Huttslayer

The answer to one mystery that people have asked me about and two bonus mysteries that nobody has yet

Hilariously terrible bootleg Royal Wedding merchandise

Kix taking his role as Surgeon General of Tatooine extremely seriously

Fennec Shand encouraging chaos for her own amusement

A cameo by the Star Wars version of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler

Boba Fett accidentally saves the galaxy** by being a little petty and wanting to annoy Han Solo

A daring escape involving the space version of a panel van with a wizard mural airbrushed onto it

Giant foam fingers that look like Din and/or Boba's gauntlets

20+ years was not enough time for it to stop being true that having more than one member of the 501st present in one place at one time is a recipe for CHAOS

*not actually everyone but a LOT of people **well not RIGHT THEN but he sets the events that WILL save the galaxy in motion

[narastories]

Hi Nara, I hope you had a good day!

For Fanfic Writer Friday, do you want to tell me what you're working on (if you are on something currently)?

And if you've got time, I'd love to hear your opinion about the use of the past or present tense in fanfic, because it always gives me so much trouble. I don't really have a logic for using one or the other, so I'd like to know yours.

Thank you <3

Hi! Yes, thank you, I had a great day <3

Ooh, these are two very interesting questions.

1.

I'm sort of working on something... By working, I mean writing notes in my notebook and trying to figure out how to tackle this idea ^^" I really want to write a Dresden Files/FPA crossover! (Let's see if by announcing it publicly I can successfully shame me into going through with it... I doubt it, but we'll try it...)

I've never actually written a crossover, so that's already a bit daunting. Having to juggle twice as many characters/ships as I would normally is also a challenge... Currently, I'm trying to decide what POV/s to use, and how not to make this too long. But I think it would be fun to draw some parallels between the characters, and it would also be fun to bring two of the fandoms I like together like this.

Another, perhaps silly consideration is that I now have 99 fics on AO3... To make the 100th one a little bit special would be cool. (Okay, that might not happen because I have already uploaded my Yuletide fic, and I'm not actually sure where AO3 will put it in the order of fics once the authors are revealed on Jan 1st...)

Anyway, wish me luck, I can tell you that Philes would very much be on the menu ;) 2.

You're asking me this because of the tags on my last fic, right? xD

Oh dear, where do I even start? I actually wouldn't say I have a well-developed opinion on this. And I think maybe it's better if we split it into two categories: what I think of past/present tense, and how I would decide what to use.

Just from vibes alone, I would say past tense is very comfy. It sort of "disappears" because we're so used to it. No one will be turned off by you using the past tense. You can do anything with it.

Present tense, on the other hand, feels a bit more intimate to me. It can work well for a more poetic tone. It has an urgency to it like you don't know what's going to happen. But it will also very much turn some people off ^^"

I will also add that if I'm talking about multiple layers of past events, the English past tenses can give me a bit of a hard time, so using the present tense can gloriously simplify that lol

I do like reading either btw, but how do I decide what to use when writing?

I use past tense 99% of the time. (I mean, literally. I think I have 98 fics written in the past tense, wrote one in present, and I'm pretty sure the next one will be in the past tense as well lol) So I’m no expert here, although I do have some WIPs where I also used present tense and I would totally consider experimenting with it more.

To be honest, there is only one scenario where I would opt for the present tense always, and it’s the 2nd person "you" fics... Dare I say: *whispers* reader-insert. Which is a whole different can of worms altogether that we are now opening.

Personally, in my opinion, if you think old forum role playing was cool but you think self-insert fic is cringe, that’s a *skill issue*. Luckily, I have mastered my destiny and overcame feelings of cringe lmao (I'm joking, you only read what you want, of course.)

What I mean is, I find it very charming how self-insert or reader-insert fic specifically about RPG games kind of circles back around to the roots of the “role-playing” in RPG. I might not read certain types of reader-insert fics, but I think they have their rightful place in fandom.

Now, getting back to the topic of present tense lol To me, sometimes certain things will just fit better for a fic. For example, when I started writing my first Dresden Files fic, I started writing it in 3rd person, because 1st person felt intimidating. But the canon is in 1st person, and something in me knew that it just had to be done that way for the right tone, you know? (It doesn’t mean you have to stick to the way canon is written, of course. It’s more about what fits better with the mood you are going for and what effect you want to achieve.)

Same thing with my last fic: the fandom I wrote it for uses present tense and uses 2nd person for the main character. Yeah, sure you can write an OC and write 3rd person, but the right vibe I was going for was begging me to use the present tense. So yeah, in a sense it was me wanting to stick more with the canon vibe, even if that challenged me. Which is interesting because usually it’s the other way around, no?

That is a really long way of saying I tend to stick to what is closes to canon. But I think you should always listen to your gut and just write how you like it better.

Thank you for the thought-provoking questions and sorry for the long ramble.

[cloudywilmon]

cloudymiIk fanfic masterpost

Guide

Status

☑ complete ❒ in progress ☒ hiatus

Rating

Ⓔ Explicit Ⓣ Teen Ⓝ Not Rated

Young Royals

stand alone oneshots and multichaptered

get it off your chest, get it off my desk Ⓔ ☑

wc: 6,877

Vincent hasn’t called him to stand since the time with Felice, although there have been multiple nights where Simon has slept over. He supposes that while one can assume, it’s not actually evident that he and Simon had sex during those times (even though they definitely have). There was no mistaking the way they’d left early the night before, however. No mistaking the darkened bruise on Wille’s neck. They’ve already received some smirks from the boys around them, cheekily asking them if they’d had a goodnight.

i find myself running home to your sweet nothings Ⓣ ☑

wc: 2,196

He’d always known Simon was beautiful, to him, it was a universal constant. But now, getting to see him in person, looking up at Wille so openly - eagerly - he was radiant. - Following Wille's speech, he and Simon finally get some time alone together. Post S2 E6.

bloom where you are planted Ⓣ ☑

wc: 12,915

Wille is a plant boy, Simon has a black thumb. They both run semi-popular Instas.

make the yuletide gay Ⓣ☑

chapters 5/5

wc: 34,947

Wille doesn’t have anywhere to go for the holidays, Sara wants her family to stop asking if she has a boyfriend. Fake dating over Christmas seems like the perfect solution - at least until Wille meets Sara’s brother.

series

darling, you're the one I want

1/2 - i hate accidents except when we went from friends to this Ⓔ ☑

chapters 8/8

wc: 59,633

Simon is Wilhelm's best friend, so when he confesses that he's insecure about his lack of experience Wille offers to help him. After all, it's what any good friend would do, isn't it?

2/2 - i want you (bless my soul) Ⓔ ☑

wc: 15,539

Wille and Simon decide to take another step in their relationship - but first, Wille needs to do some research (off the school wifi this time).

 

In your heart I see the start of every night and every day

1/2 - You're Simply the Best Ⓔ ☑

chapters 27/27

wc: 123,730

“So if you’re not staying there, and you’re not coming here…” Erik began, pausing for Willie to answer and giving another laugh when Wille didn’t fill in the blanks. “Pray tell Wilhelm, where exactly is my little brother spending the weekend? I thought your crush went to Hillerska?” or Erik Lives

2/2 - i'm stuck on your heart Ⓝ ☑

wc: 8,788

moments from 'you're simply the best' from other perspectives

✨ Prince Simon Cinematic Universe ✨

Tell me what you need (You look so free) Ⓔ ❒

chapters 2/10

wc: 39,102

He let himself imagine for a moment that they could be friends - maybe in another life, another universe. The whole point of his attendance at the conference, however, was to portray the image that his mother wanted him to. He brushed the fantasies aside, it was a big enough event, he should be able to get away with avoiding Prince Simon. He had to. - Fresh off his breakup with Nils and the release of the tape, Wille is determined to be the model prince, to play the role that's expected of him. Simon might throw a wrench in that plan.

unholy trinity Ⓣ - with @prince-simon

chapters 4/4

wc: 6,443

Prince Simon consults his best friends for advice on his feelings for the little prince of Sweden.

tryna play it cool (i could be your crush) Ⓔ ☑

wc: 8,545

Wilma is very into Rosh and kind of wants to kiss her. She has a mild crisis about it.

london calling Ⓣ ☑ - with @angelbabysimon

wc: 3,130

When Simon and Wilhelm head to London for their first anniversary, things don't go quite the way they expect...

it takes a fool (but we both are so its okay)

I Lied Ⓣ ☑

wc: 2,685

Between Christmas and New Years, Simon's friends tell him to check instagram.

New Years Resolutions Ⓣ ☑

chapters 3/3

wc: 6, 521

Sara drags Simon out to a New Years party with Felice to stop him from sitting around and pining over Wilhelm who is still stuck at the palace dealing from the fallout.

It gets worse before it gets better  Ⓣ☒

chapters 9/?

wc: 24,739

Simon and Wilhelm are back at Hillerska before the term starts, but they still have to deal with the fallout of the tape.

Red, White, & Royal Blue

YourMusicSucksAndYouLookLikeADickhead Ⓔ ☑

wc: 6,762

In which Alex gets a new neighbour who immediately pisses him off, and they begin blaring their music to communicate with eachother. - aka Alex and Henry get off on the wrong foot, Alex has his bisexual awakening, and Nora deals with Alex's bullshit.

Healthy Choices: Relationships, Sexuality and Family Planning Ⓣ❒

chapters 1/3

wc: 10,420

Alex's high school decides to take a slightly more hands on approach to sex ed, and he finds himself stuck partnered with Henry. And their fake baby.