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due4amiracle · 3 years

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Day 191

Listo:

Wash 2 plates/bowls/pieces of silverware, 2 chapters, Dailies, Vamp shiz, 2 anime eps.

Wash 2 plates/bowls/pieces of silverware - Day off~!🚫

2 chapters - We have a death! Yay! Waow it's happening! Finally. ✔

Dailies - BP lvl 41 uwu FFXIV lvl 33 - and i'm a real sprout now (sung to the tune of the 'i'm a big kid now' pull-ups theme) uwu! snagged the game off of GMG and oh boi! i can be a real kid waow. ✔✔

Vamp shiz - Did a short-ish solo-scene, good enough. ✔

2 anime eps - Poor Tanjiro - big cities are Too Much xD and like, i get it, you smelled A Real Big Bad - BUT THE UDON?!?!?!? ಥ﹏ಥ At least we found Michael Jacks- er i mean Muzan Kibutsuji! (but still...the udon... ಥ﹏ಥ...) This doctor is Interesting~ i'm very intrigued~ (NEZUKO IS CUTE AF a fuckin' eyesore lmfao) goddamn. Ended up watching 4 eps, oops lol. So excited, loving it! ✔

Other things - Started a rewatch of UnDeadwood, because i kinda got the itch, and when watching the CR Uk'otoa playthrough video, the first video in the recommendations was the 1st episode of UnDeadwood soooo fuck it!~ Doin' that. Period is lightening, as is my norm. Got paid, spent too much money, regret everything (only because Things Were Bought For >me< which i hate oh gods) but we needed things and things were on sale and...impulse control what’s that? But we managed to save a decent chunk in case we need to... take a trip. Not that i want to take this trip but... it’s going to happen eventually. Hopefully sometime next year. That’d be lovely. Late next year, maybe September 2022? 23? You know, something like that. *sigh* Nobody is immortal. But i wish i could take people and put them in stasis forever or sommat. ಥ﹏ಥ Not looking forward to this. But i digress. Not any time soon. That’s that. Tomorrow’s gonna be another day off. Gonna read a lot more. Maybe watch a bunch more episodes. Level. That kinda thing. Relax. That’ll be nice. ಥ﹏ಥ

Food: A Liquid: A Pain: C my hands hurt so bad oh gods my joints hurt UGH Brain: C Stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, AND SO EXHAUSTED

Tomorrow: Wash 2 plates/bowls/pieces of silverware, 2 chapters, Dailies, Vamp shiz, 2 anime eps.

Ever Onwards and Upwards!

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annakie · 5 years

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An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Five

Will we make it off the Citadel in this update??

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Flux is my favorite bar in all of the first game, I know there’s not many to choose from, but I like the music best, everybody’s clothed, everyone’s having a good time, there’s slots upstairs for entertainment, there’s dancing, and plenty of space to chill out in. Also the color scheme is great. It looks particularly great now with the graphics mod improvements.

Doran gets a nice glamour shot here.

I’m a tattle tale who always turns this guy in. I agree with Kaidan...

Also I really love Rita’s quest with her sister. She loves her sister, Jenna wants to be helpful, even Doran’s like “Hey I’d love to give her her job back.” Everyone here is pretty wholesome. And Jenna gets one of the best surprise appearances in ME3 if you do things right. ME1Recalibrated fixes the bugs with her quest, too!

Speaking of bugged quests, Hello Conrad! ME1Recalibrated fixes Conrad’s bug, and even if it doesn’t, ME2Re does. The only bad thing about that is it makes his apology for accusing you of something you maybe didn’t do make no sense.

Everyone else was sure Conrad would turn out to be evil, too, right? Instead making him into just a big lying dummy with an advanced degree was a great move. I was kinda hoping he’d show up in the Citadel DLC.

Harkin is JUST the FUCKING WORST. I’m always tempted to let Garrus cap him in ME2 because what a waste of air he is and doesn’t learn his lesson.

This is also maybe the most overt place where FemShep experiences sexism. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s some pretty shitty sexism sprinkled throughout the games (as discussed a bit last post) but ugh this guy, if I could shoot him this game, I might. At least on renegade playthroughs.

Speaking of Garrus...

Finally, an alien who wants to hang out with us.

As primarily a Kaidan-romancing gal, who tends to keep up with the Kaidan Alenko tag, especially back in the heyday of tumblr, for a while, loving Garrus was... difficult.

In October, when I was finishing up my latest ME3 playthrough and also cleaning up my blog, and also rewatching Doctor Who and thinking a lot about Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, I posted a long thing in a post about Kaidan and Garrus and badly behaving fanbases, which I don’t feel like typing again. Here’s the whole thing, but I’m going to pull a part of it into here.

I love Garrus, so much. And I was thinking with this whole parallel DW rewatch / Mass Effect replay think I’m doing right now how both Rose Tyler and Garrus Vakaraian are characters that were ruined for me for awhile due to their respective… overly enthusiastic fanbases who a small percentage of were dicks to people who loved other characters. The Kaidan tag (and from what I understand Thane got some of this too, but not nearly as bad) was a pretty hostile place for awhile (and yeah I used to regularly check the Garrus tag too and there was a small amount of tag-invasion there but uh, like 5% of what the Kaidan tag got) which made loving the character of Garrus a lot harder for awhile. But when actually watching seasons 1 & 2 / the end of 4 of Doctor Who, or actually playing the ME games, those characters are awesome.

Fanbases can be amazing or terrible, and time and time again I think you start to realize that no matter how great a fandom is, there are going to be a few people who can only enjoy themselves by feeding on drama, or on lifting up what they love by stomping on other people/characters/plotlines.

It’s not fair to characterize everyone who loves a popular thing as someone who does this. It’s also hard to avoid completely because there will always be jerks, or young/new people who don’t realize what bad form they’re showing. I did learn by trying to fight it for a year or two, that responding might help that one person not do it again, but it’s not going to stop overall.

Anyway, don’t be a dick about the things you don’t like.

It’s sad that even thirteen years past the release of ME1 and eight years past ME3 some people still need to have this fight online. It’s basically impossible to enjoy like, any non-curated Mass Effect space online because of pissing contests or people spouting the same boring opinions. Which they’re entitled to. I’m just real tired of “Kaidan is boring!” “Ashley is a racist!” etc with no further depth of thought being given.

The ability to mute / block people and get away from the worst of it is one of the reasons I’m still on tumblr. Especially always mute/block “confessions” blogs. Yeesh.

---------

I’m glad Garrus is here, and I’m glad he’s on the team. What’s funny though, is that people tend to forget that Garrus like, wasn’t really all THAT popular of a character before ME2. I know I was only in the fandom for a year before ME2 but I dug in pretty deep in that time.

It wasn’t until he gets his face blown off and starts talking about Old Times that a lot of people started to REALLY like him. He’s still great in ME1, but not like, elevated to god-tier that so many people did post ME2 release. But in ME1 he IS neat because he’s really malleable. Probably the companion who can have the biggest personality shift depending on your choices.

Also, I remember a time when the people who wanted to romance Garrus were like... outliers? I remember thinking “GARRUS? As a romance? That’s... weird. Who would do that!?”

OH HOW I WAS WRONG. But that was before reach and flexibility.

Hey I even have a Shep that romanced Garrus in ME2 and ME3. And I loved it!

Were I to replay a different Shep, she’d be my first choice.

So yeah, I love Garrus, I keep Kaidan in the squad all the time in ME1 and the other spot I try to rotate everyone else somewhat evenly, but you’ll see plenty of him. Then ME2 he’s by my side most of the way. And an awful lot in ME3, too. But I’m happy for him to get crushed on by Dr. Michele and glad to see him and Tali find happiness in ME3. SO that’s the path we’ll be going down if we get that far here.

I love the Destiny Ascension flyby moment on the Citadel, and it’s so easy to miss. Also really hard to get good screenshots of. Thanks Flycam. Don’t pay attention to the untextured wall in the first pic, just look at the pretty lights!

Let’s go get another squadmate! This time, a not-as-initially-friendly alien!

What an amazing entrance for Urdnot Wrex.

“Do you want me to arrest you?”

“I want you to try!”

Hell. Yeah.

Here’s where the somewhat in somewhat evenly comes in. I probably do favor Wrex and Ashely in the squad in ME1 a little because... well you know what’s coming for Ash and Wrex you get the least amount of time with by far of the other companions. Also, he’s just... great? A tank, with some biotics and a shotgun... okay well so am I as a vanguard, but Kaidan has just enough tech powers for us to muddle through where we need to when Wrex is in the squad and he’s so much fun to have around. His “Fuck you, I don’t care” attitude is great, and his growth story throughout the trilogy is one of the best arcs a character gets, imho. I just really love Urdnot Wrex.

This is a real nice flight control office you’ve got here, C-Sec. It would be a shame if someone planted a bug in it later, since literally anyone can just walk on up here uncontested.

This entire area really is so pretty though.

I always pump points into Paragon as much as possible from as early on as possible, and saving these poor guys’ lives is one of the big reasons. They don’t need to die.

Ash usually still stays in the party up to this point, though sometimes it’s Garrus. Fist is still a dick in ME2 but he doesn’t need to die here, sorry Wrex.

...raise your hand if you still occasionally forget to pick up Emily Wong’s evidence and have to reload. I remembered! ...once I was almost out of Chora’s Den and had to turn around this time.

Kaidan? Kaidan my love? My darling... perhaps YOU shouldn’t be the one standing in the middle of the corridor with no barrier or protection? (I suppose I could scooch over but then I’d look less badass for these screenshots. Naaah.)

It’d be a shame if someone properly lit the corridor so we could see what’s going on.

But hey... TALI! Tali Tali Tali! The first quarian we see, and only one for... awhile? Is there another quarian in this entire game? I’m trying to remember and seriously can’t think of one.

Anyway, I love Tali, but another character you really need to ignore their most rabid fanbase portions of. Yikes, Talimancers were really something back in the day. The biggest problem I have with Tali being in the squad is that normally she’s REALLY useful against Geth and... not so much against just about anything else. She gets sidelined on my team more than I wish she would. Especially since she doesn’t show up until very late in ME2 and late-midway through ME3.

Finally, the proof we need. And the game continues to introduce new concepts to us with the Conduit and we hear the word Reapers for the first time. We also get a loredump on the quarians and the geth.

Tali’s voice doesn’t have quite as heavy of an accent in ME1 as it does in 2 and 3. I guess we can assume she’s lost part of it while on her pilgrimage? Picking up the local dialects a bit? The next two times we see her she’s just spent a lot of time with her own people.

Tali’s suit and omnitool look SO GOOD with the updated textures.

I swap Ash out and Tali in at this point, and usually finish up a few more quests along the way.

Ah, Septimus. You lovesick fool.

Honestly, the very best thing with Septimus is to bring Garrus here if you’re gonna romance him, have Garrus laugh at him for coming undone for love and then... well, ME2 and especially ME3 happen. But still. Septimus... always needs a kick in the pants but will get around to doing the right thing.

Hey here’s a cool thing ME1Recalibated does -- Morlan carries a Squad Iconic Armors stock, so you can always find tier-appropriate default look armor for you and all the squad. Very cool of you, Morlan. You are currently my favorite store on the Citadel. Now stop sending me spam, I didn’t sign up for your mailing list.

Look, I have questions about what exactly Xeltan told the consort and how... all that... works... but... I don’t think I actually want to ask them. Just.. let’s all shut up about all of it, it’s over now.

BTW, according to one of the novels, Councilor Anderson finds Ambassador Cayln super annoying. I need to re-read that book.

OK fine... I’ll go talk to the Council.

Coming at ya with Actual Proof and a quarian tagging along to back up the claims, the Council is ready to listen. And while not surprising that it’s finally time to become a Spectre, the actual ceremony is really well done. With the swelling theme music blaring, and all three councilors stressing what a big deal this is and what will be expected of you, you really feel the weight of this moment. People take notice. Although apparently later, Kaidan or Ash get an entire televised event around becoming a Spectre, I guess there’s no time for that right now.

It definitely feels like the game so far has been building towards this moment, not only with POUNDING it into your brain about who Spectres are and why they’re so important and letting you know you’re being evaluated... but it feels like there’s been a shift in the game after this moment. It’s A Big Deal.

I didn’t finish all the sidequests on the Citadel yet, they can wait, I’ve been here long enough. Let’s go check out the new cool stuff we can buy.

ME1Recalibrated adds in this Spectre Armor. Eeehhhhh... no thanks. We’ll stick with Onyx.

I did cheat myself in a bunch of credits and picked up Spectre weapons though. This ain’t no tryhard playthrough.

Well OK, we can finish ONE more quest. Thanks, startlingly loud and triumphant music queue that’s never used again!

Man, this would be SUCH a good pic of the Normandy if... the airlock didn’t go straight through the ship.

We’ve got a ship of our own! And most of our squadmates to put on it!

Sucks for Anderson to be sidelined, though. We already love you, Anderson!

It’s cool to get a bit more of the Saren & Anderson backstory here for real. Still, I enjoyed the book more. Maybe I’ll do a re-read of all the ME books here soon.

Udina... just keep being you, I guess.

WE HAVE A SHIP!!!

Okay, whew... we made it off the Citadel. Now I gotta actually play some more to have more updates to post. Might be a few days. Have to actually go back to work tomorrow. :p

Let’s probably do like one sidequest then go get us an Asari!!

#mass effect #bioware #kaidan alenko #garrus vakarian #urdnot wrex #tali'zorah #annakie's mass effect stuff

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 5 years

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Yeah! If you had any tips I’d really appreciate it! : D

Okie-dokie!

I guess we can call this CJ’s jumbled writing tips for fanfics haha

Just remember that these are things that help me and they may not help everyone.

Write what you know/do your research!

This may be obvious, but it really does help.

There’s a reason why I only write for s4 rather than for s1, s2, or ANF- I know s4 way better than I do the previous seasons.

Like, if you asked me to write a fanfic where, I dunno… Kate died instead of Mariana, for example, I don’t really know if I could do it.

Or, at least, do it well.

Even though I enjoy ANF and love Javier Garcia with my entire being, I’m not nearly as invested in the characters and stories, which makes it difficult to actually write them.

On the flip side, I could probably write 50k fic about Louis and a good day that he had.

Again, I love Louis with my entire being just like with Javi, but I’m way more invested in his character as well as the characters around him, his relationship with Clementine and the others, and the story he’s a part of.

So, with that, I’ve played s4 a lot. Like… a whole lot, and I like to think that I’m pretty familiar with Louis’ character and have a certain interpretation of him that I can express through writing.

Replay/rewatch the season and taking notes.

Now, that might seem like a bit much for some, but really? It helps so damn much.

The more you play or watch these games, the more new things you notice or pick up on and the more invested you get! Crazy, right! I like to go back and replay the season whenever I have the notorious “writer’s block” with little to no motivation to write.

I know that this always works for me because I just recently finished up s4 again and that resulted in [sit with me a while], a fic that wouldn’t have existed if not for that playthrough.

Now, I know that not everyone can actually play these games or they can but don’t have time to sit through the whole season again, but there’s a simple fix for that: Youtube.

Not necessarily let’s plays [because for me personally, I always get frustrated watching some of the bigger LP’s because their commentary can get on my nerves, and most of them are invested but not really, y’know?] but there are several videos like “All Aasim choices/moments in The Final Season” or “Full Clementine and Louis/Violet love story” that you can sit down and watch and take notes that way.

And if you’re going to be writing a character like Mitch, it’s helpful to search for a video containing all of Mitch’s dialogues and choices, including the bad ones so that you get a feel for how he reactions. Mitch isn’t going to react to a piece of dialogue the same way Ruby or Aasim will, so it’s always good to keep that in mind.

When it comes to studying these characters, regardless of who it is, you do end up coming up with your own headcanons for them without really thinking about it, y’know?

For example, a little line from Louis of “my grandma’s phone number” resulted in me eventually forming the headcanon that Louis and his grandma were close and he because an absolute chess master because of her.

Stuff like that really does help when writing these characters. It gives you the opportunity to put a personal spin on them and make them interesting for yourself and those reading.

Read, read, then read some more

And I’m not just talking about fanfics.

Though they do count.

I’m mostly talking about books, though.

Y’know, the kind that you hold or listen to.

I stand firmly with the belief that the more you read, the better you’ll write. If there’s one thing I have going for me, it’s that I never go to bed without reading a little bit of my book.

Hell, fun fact about me: I’m a goddamn book hoarder in recovery. Kind of. To be fair, I’ve given away a lot of my books so I don’t have nearly as many as I used to but like…

I have bookcases of these things, I have to restrain from spending full paychecks on books, and I have too many books that have been on my TBR for years…

Reading is a great way to see different writing styles and pick up on different techniques/words/phrases to try in your own writing.

Also! Audiobooks!

More recently, I’ve been listening to audiobooks while getting ready in the morning, on my lunch break, while driving, ect and they help just as much.

Again, this is something that helps me, but usually reading and writing go hand in hand so I thought I’d throw it in here.

Actually, y’know… WRITE

This is the part where I should take my own advice yeesh

So, aside from going back to the games or watching clips on youtube, it also helps to give yourself a daily goal to write. Again, I’m aware that there are those who don’t have time to sit down and write every day, which fair enough I barely have time these days ugh.

But, for those who do have spare time but maybe aren’t sure what to write or how to go about it, do a warm-up.

Seriously, pick a character and a topic and write a drabble [100 words] about that.

Example: Violet and flowers.

Does Violet like flowers? Do they agitate her nose or give her allergies? What’s her favorite flower? Did she not really care about flowers until something made her character?

100 words. Write it.

Not only will it help with getting into the character’s mind and give you a feel for writing them, but it’ll get you started and it could potentially lead to something amazing, like a full-blown fic.

I’ve actually thought about making one of those chart things? You know the ones where you do the whole “The first letter of your name is a character and the last letter of your last name is a topic! Write a drabble!” or doing something like that and making it a thing to help get words flowing for our fellow writers.

I dunno, let me know about that one, guys.

Dialogue is fun, guys

If you’re having trouble with a scene between two or more characters, write the dialogue first and mark/color code it, the write the actions and thoughts around it.

This is a little trick I picked up in a creative writing class back in high school and it’s saved me more than once.

Writing is hard and sometimes you can’t think about what the characters are doing right now, but you know how you want the conversation to flow and this is a great way to do that. You can fill in the blanks later.

Angst is fun, too

I know you specifically asked about angst and how to make readers truly feel it.

This is what works for me: I write what would make me cry.

Simple, right?

A great example of this is dead Louis.

Dead Louis makes me want to curl up in a ball and sob. Y’know what else makes me want to do that? Clementine dreaming about dead Louis. Clementine talking to dead Louis knowing full well that this is a dream and nothing more. Clementine and Louis can’t be together because he’s dead and she has to live without him while constantly being reminded of him through the music room, Tenn, and her missing leg. Clementine taking her notebook and writing letters to Louis even though he’s dead.

That is what breaks my soul. After finding out that this is one of the canon endings [Save Louis/Don’t trust AJ] and receiving a certain prompt, I thought about all those things and that’s how [write to me] came together. And yeah, I teared up when editing that thing, just like I did with [sit with me a while].

Think about what breaks you, take those emotions and put them into words. Try and make yourself upset, or cry, or whatever.

And really, this doesn’t just apply to angst. You can apply it to writing romance, too. What kind of romance do you want to see? What makes you giggle and feel mushy gushy when reading a romance?

This pretty much boils down to that good ol’ saying: Write what you want to read.

That’s all I have for right now.

But, really, the best advice I can give you is to keep writing. You’ll find your style and continue to grow, trust me.

Another fun fact about me: I’ve been writing stories since I was eight-years-old. We used to write stories all the time in my third-grade class and ever since, it’s all I’ve ever loved doing.

I’ve written mostly original works, but when I was younger [around 12-14] I dabbled a bit in fanfiction for another fandom. I still have access to the stories and they’re horrendous.

Anyway, I’ve been writing for a very long time and I still have so many things that I need to improve upon in both my fics and original works. I’m far from a perfect writer but I love doing it, regardless.

I hope that my mess of “tips” has helped some, and if you have any further questions, never be afraid to ask. That applies to anyone else out there, too.

You’re gonna create an amazing story, anon, with or without tips or help ❤️

#asks #twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg mitch #twdg violet #twdg willy #twdg clouis #twdg writing #twdg aasim #twdg ruby #twdg tenn #twdg javier #it's late so i did my best haha #i do hope this helps you anon #it's mostly generic advice

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redselfships · 5 years

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little red’s pastries

SUMMARY: Little Red decides to make amends with a certain wolf.

PAIRING: Bigby Wolf x Red (Self-insert, OC)

WORD COUNT: 2.2k

NOTE: I was rewatching Cry’s playthrough and fell in l*ve with Bigby all over again so uh............bear with me :-).

Red arrives at The Woodlands fairly late into the day. She meant to close up her cafe earlier than usual until a sudden rush of customers kept her in. Even if the others pressed for her to leave but she couldn’t find it in her to leave them be.

Nevertheless, Red took a deep breath in and out. She was finally here at least. Even if the walk was longer than she’d thought it would be. The night sky was already growing darker, stars slowly dotting the sky and the high moon peeking out from the clouds. She drew her red coat tighter around herself, as a chill breeze blew threw her body.

It was now or never.

She entered the apartment lobby, it was small. Nothing too special. She’d been here before—countless of times, actually. It was where Snow’s office resided, same goes for Bigby Wolf. Though, until today, she never had the need to go to his office. Petty crimes were basically nonexistent for her. A small cafe would never draw any attention, anyway.

Red diverted her attention to the sleeping guard.

“Um—excuse me?” She lightly tapped at his desk, hoping to wake the man. Instead, he stayed fast asleep. The only response he offered were heavy snores, muffled under his cap. “I...ugh…”

Red taps the desk once more, hoping to wake him but to no avail.

“Alright, I’m going up to Mr. Wolf’s apartment.” She says, to nobody in particular but just getting it out there was enough to ease the guilt forming in her heart. The guard merely snores back in response.

As she waits for the elevator to come down, Red hums a soft tune. Rocking back and forth on her heels while holding the beautifully decorated box between her hands.

A stab of nostalgia strikes her heart, while drastically different, she is reminded of old times; way back when, anyway. With Little Red Riding Hood on her way to her grandmother’s only to find the Big Bad Wolf awaiting her. Only this time, she truly was on her way to meet the Big Bad Wolf.

She’d dropped the red cloak a long time ago and in its place took a red winter coat with a stylish A line that she couldn’t part with. And rather than her famous wooden basket, she carried a tote bag around. Stylish and modern.

The elevator finally stops at the ground floor and she takes a step inside. If she remembered properly, his floor was somewhere at the top. It’s the smallest but she supposed the view would be worth it. Before the doors can shut close, a familiar, hairy hand stops the doors.

Lo and behold, as the doors slide open once more, Red finds herself facing the man himself. It’s his scent that hits her first. The unbearing scent of his favored Huff and Puff cigarettes. She wasn’t the biggest fan of smoking since the general stench of nicotine filling her lungs was enough to keep her from cigarettes.

They both share a look of surprise before Bigby hesitantly steps inside just as she pulls her attention away. Her heart pounds at her chest; some mix of fight or flee raising red flags at her head. It was just some primal instinct, given their history. She tries to shrug it off, repeating in her mind that Bigby Wolf is different from the Big Bad Wolf they all knew and feared from before.

He is their sheriff now. He’s better. Different.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

No, she shakes her head.

“These—”

“Why—”

The two had turned to look at each other, eyes shooting up in surprise once more. Red can’t help but jump back a little. He looks apologetic, pulling his gaze away from her and staying silent. Probably to let her talk without interrupting her.

She clears her throat.

“I actually came to visit you, um, Bigby.” She says his name slowly, as if to test it on her own tongue. There’s a flash of shock in his face before it’s wiped clean, a look of indifference taking it’s spot. She watches from the side of her peripheral as he reaches up to scratch his stubble.

“Is that so?” His voice is a deep grumble. It soothes her more than anything and she feels herself relax beside him. She drops her shoulders, not having realized they were so tense. “Did, er, did something happen?”

“Oh, no, not at all. Plus I think it’s a little past your office hours, isn’t it?” Red tilts her head quizzically at the man. It’s a rhetorical question and so all she gets is a snort in return. She lifts the box in her hands up, directing his attention to it with a curious gaze. Red wouldn’t put it past her to know that Bigby could sniff out the contents himself. “I brought you some pastries from my cafe. And, um, I wanted to talk.”

He seems to think it over. Most likely more from disbelief that she’d come to him first. Red takes the time to turn on her heel to face Bigby. He looks worse for wear and she feels a stab of regret coming by so late. Maybe she should’ve called earlier instead of dropping by at random. The heavy bags under his eyes only made his appearance look worse. It was too late now, anyway. She was here and he was here.

“Talk?” Bigby repeats, cocking an eyebrow in her direction. His hand twitches slightly beside him before he reaches in his pocket to pull out a box of cigarettes. Huff and Puff. She blanches at the sight, her nose scrunching. “...Not a big fan of cigarettes?”

“Nope.”

“Alright then.” He shoves the box back into his pockets and instead crosses his arms.

Just as Red was about to start talking, the elevator rumbles. The overhead lights flickering on and off before staying off, plunging the two Fables into darkness. A muffled squeak slips past Red’s lips and she immediately tenses. Just her luck. She was hoping to be in and out of The Woodlands.

“Calm down.” Bigby mutters as he reaches over her to press the alarm button. This wasn’t a common problem, being The Woodlands and all, but he’s had his fair share of shitty elevators. The girl beside him though seemed to be quite the opposite. Her body more rigid than when she first saw him. Eyes blown wide as her grip on the box tightened just the slightest bit. Enough the crease the box.

Even with the overwhelming scent of pastries that clung to her person, he could sniff out a faint scent of panic.

“Listen, during these times, you shouldn’t panic.”

“Easy for you to say, sheriff.” Red chuckles dryly, somehow finding the energy to voice her sarcasm.

He presses the alarm button once, twice, before the emergency lights finally flicker on. It may have been a simple blackout.

“Well, we’ll probably be here a while.” Bigby lets out a grunt as he settles down on the floor. One legged bent at the knee and the other spread out on the cramped elevator. Red stares him down for a few minutes before sighing and settling down on the other side of the elevator too. She keeps her legs criss crossed before neatly placing her tote bag onto her lap. “At least now, we can talk. ‘S what you wanted, right?”

She nods. “I just wanted to say thanks.”

It was Bigby’s turn to scrunch his nose. “For what?”

“It might sound morbid but just hear me out.” She shifts her attention down to her hands, where she was fiddling with her fingers. “The Woodsman came by my cafe, um, a few nights ago. He told me why he ran into my Grandmother’s home. Which kind of makes the both of you absolute assholes, by the way.”

Her statement makes the latter snort but he stays quiet nonetheless.

“Anyways, he apologized, even though he didn’t really get around to the robbing part.” She waves her hand dismissively. The Woodsman didn’t stick around for long after apologizing to her. Still, she sent him off with a nice cup of coffee and his favorite pastry. On the house, she’d said, despite the sour taste building up in her throat. Maybe The Woodsman noticed it, the way her smile was strained because he left rather quickly after that.

“I came to make amends with you too. Hence the pastries.” She holds the box out for Bigby to take, which he does, after a few seconds of suspiciously eyeing it. If she was in the least bit offended, Red concealed it well. “In a way, you kinda saved me from being robbed. A-and I know that you’re not that same person. Or, er...wolf? Uh—not the same werewolf? Sorry, um, anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’d like to be your friend now.”

When she’s met with silence from the other man, Red feels her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Maybe this was a bad idea. But it wasn’t like she can run away from this situation, since they’re stuck in the elevator for God knows how long.

“Alright.” Bigby finally says with a stiff nod. He isn’t looking at her either, instead keeping his attention on a random spot on the floor. He’s holding the box of pastries out too, awkward and stiff. It almost makes Red feel a bit better. She straightens herself, fixing her posture and making sure her short hair is fixed.

“My name is Red, some people like to call me Little Red.” She sticks her hand out for Bigby to shake. “And you are?”

It takes a few seconds for Bigby to realize what she meant to do. He places the box on the ground beside him and reaches out to shake her hand. His hand was larger than her own—probably large enough to cover her whole hand. It’s warm around her own. Insanely warm. Red obviously doesn’t know much about wolves—werewolves or whatever the sort—but if she remembered correctly, they were much warmer than humans.

“It’s nice to meet you, Little Red. They call me Bigby Wolf.”

Her infamous nickname on his lips brings a shiver down her spine and she can only hope that he didn’t hear the hitch in her breath.

(Who was she kidding? Of course he heard it.)

“It’s nice to meet you Bigby Wolf.” She musters up the best smile that she can, despite her burning cheeks. The two of them draw back their hands, if not a bit hesitant. “..,Mmm, can I tell you about what I brought you?”

Bigby picks up the discarded box before unceremoniously dropping it to his lap. Without thinking, Red moves to situate herself next to the man, leaning over his shoulder to look inside the box.

“I didn’t know which you’d like so I kind of just made some of my favorites that I thought you’d like.” Red explains. “I also brought one with peanut butter...um, my friend’s dog really likes it! Wait—not that you’re a dog, but uh—” Red cuts herself off from rambling any more and digging herself into a bigger hole. Her cheeks are sufficiently flushed. In a last ditch effort to hide her face, she basically shoves her face into the palm of her hands. Barely resisting the urge to scream.

“I’m sorry.” She finally says, her voice muffled. “I—”

The elevator dings and she guesses that the power is back on because it finally continues the travel up the building.

“Oh, thank God.” She breathes out a sigh.

A deep chuckle besides her catches her attention though and she manages to gather the courage to peek from her fingers. Bigby is laughing. Honest to god laughing. The sight takes her by surprise—the way his nose scrunched as he laughed. His eyes shut tight as he raises his hand to cover his mouth. It’s muffled and a bit silent but she soaks it in nonetheless.

The sight takes her by surprise, to say the least.

The Big Bad Wolf was...laughing.

“I like peanut butter.” He mumbled, a crooked smile on his lips once he’s collected himself. The elevator dings and the twin doors slowly open to his floor. The two stand up from where they sat; Red picking up her tote bag and with Bigby picking up his box. He takes a step out of the elevator while Red stays put.

“T-that’s good! I’ll just be on my way home now. Since I got everything off my chest.”

Bigby uses his free hand to scratch the nape of his neck, looking hesitant. It sends her heart in a flurry, endeared by the man. This was someone entirely new. Not the Big Bad Wolf she knew and feared.

“Will you be fine? To get home.”

She waves a dismissive hand. “I promise I won’t take any back roads or talk to any bad wolves.” She jokes, hoping that it comes across as that. A joke. Luckily it does as an exasperated smile curls his lips.

“Alright, be careful on your way bad, Red.”

“I will. And come by my cafe sometimes! Maybe I’ll throw in a free cup of coffee for our Sheriff.”

He nods.

“Sure, Red.” Maybe it was quick of her. Being naive was one of her defining traits; too trusting, was another. But hearing her name from his lips was...oddly soothing. Maybe it was the rumble of his voice. Or maybe she was just imagining things.

Red waves her hand, managing to throw one last ‘Good night!’, before the elevator door shuts close. Once she was heading back down to the lobby, she heaves a sigh.

At least she managed to do what she intended.

#part two perhaps #writing #mine #f/o: bigby #self shipping #self shipping community #self ship

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