#i feel almost silly posting this fic on tumblr it's so messy

[arosnowflake]

Fandom: Breath of the Wild

Summary: Pursued by bokoblins, Riju runs into the largest horse she's ever seen. It tries to eat her hair and kills some monsters. Perhaps these beasts are not so bad. Or: how Riju became a horse girl.

Wordcount: 3932

Notes: Written as stress relief, no editing at all.

[prolix-yuy]

Hello friends! It's been way way way way WAY too long since we chatted, and to be honest I've been taking an embarrassingly long time to write this update post because godDAMN life just gets you sometimes and you go on an impromptu hiatus that gets super messy. So let's get into what's been going on and what to look forward to!

Pedro Tax for this long-ass post.

(We're gonna get into some personal stuff, but if you're just here for what's coming up skip down to WHAT'S NEXT for the tl;dr version)

So beyond work getting hectic from January to March, which was the catalyst for everything getting wacky, I experienced a weird emotional turn that I wasn't expecting. It made me get a little introspective, which I blame some of my productivity slump on.

As I was finishing up the Bangathon entries, I noticed a sharp decline in interaction. I'm a fairly young fic writer on Tumblr, but I was a little baffled as to why stories I'd posted only a week before got a nice bit of interaction yet the newer ones were only getting half to a quarter of what I expected. For a minute I thought I had been shadowbanned (I was not) or I hadn't tagged the posts (I had) or my taglists weren't working (they were). People were already talking about interaction being lower, so I sat back and tried to go with the flow and not let it bother me. I posted Decoherence, which has a more niche audience, but I was definitely missing and wishing for some of the comments and reblogs I thought I might get.

All this led up to one of the least favorite voices in my head saying something that stuck around:

"Well, you were right not to become a writer if your motivation is this closely tied to feedback."

If you're new here or I haven't talked about it much recently, I initially was planning to be a writer. Went to school for it and everything. While I was there I felt like I hadn't found the stories I wanted to tell yet. My colleagues were developing in their niches and writing "the great American novel" and I didn't feel like I fit in. My stories had a lukewarm reception, and I never felt like anyone was excited about anything I was trying to say. So I wrote myself into burnout by the time I graduated with not much to show for it. I ended up doing a career switch, which I love to this day, but I stopped writing for almost 10 years.

Coming to Tumblr, I felt that spark of excitement writing again, and some of that was definitely due to people commenting and being excited or interested in the stories I was sharing. That truly revived something in me I thought was long gone, and reflecting back on the last two years that I've been sharing stories with this community makes me wildly emotional. I didn't know how much I missed of the life I left behind, and how much joy it brought me to share stories again.

Which is why it was SUPREMELY FRUSTRATING to have that shitty little voice pulverize my productivity and excitement over something as silly as interaction. But I'm sure most of you know how hard it is to get that voice out of your head. I worked to write things I found fun and less stressful than the series I already felt bad for not updating. And while I still love those stories, it felt like I was pulling them from an inauthentic place and finishing them wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Thus the hiatus! I stopped writing and turned my attentions to consuming and creating in other ways. I watched some shows I'd been meaning to catch up on, started planning to buy a house, worked my butt off at the day job. And I was starting to feel like inspiration was coming back. I didn't want to spook it so I took my time and promised myself I was going to start small and not stress about getting stories out for a bit.

Top that off with some medical surprises, an upcoming surgery, and a little re-evaluation of life moving forward and things have been wild. But I've been missing the daily joy I get from being part of this fandom, and I'm getting back into being here more because I miss you guys! AND! I have stories I want to share and fun to be had. So let's shake off all the heavy shit and get to the fun stuff!

WHAT'S NEXT!

The big thing I'm getting ready to post (after teasing it for so long) is the 2024 Bangathon! This one is different from last year's because instead of requesting stories from me, the Bangathon is open to anyone who wants to participate! There will be a randomizer to play with, and some fun bonuses for those who participate. The announcement will be coming out soon, stay tuned!

As for fics, here are some updates on what's in my WIPs:

Series:

I Think of You: I spent some time rewatching Mando for the newest installment, and I've finally gotten the thread of where to go next thought out. It's been a long time coming so this one's gonna be BEEFY to make up for it.

SW!Frankie: I am crushed to realize it's been over a year since I posted any SW!Frankie! I've got a new story about him and Ms J moving in together I need to finish, then some more asks that are getting into new story arcs I'm excited to share!

Best Laid Plans: Dieter and Murch's first date is bouncing around in my head and I NEED to get it on paper. There's much fun to be had, and I've been binge listening to my playlist for them to get into the headspace.

Midnight Alley: I got all up in my own head about continuing the story with these two and lost a little steam, so I'm going to ease off my "big plans" and start smaller with some oneshots instead. I think it'll help me find out where I want this story to go.

One Shots in Progress:

Decoherence Follow-Up

Incubus!Dieter Ask

You know, laying it out like that makes it feel much more manageable than my brain was telling me! I'm also planning to prioritize more fic reading while I'm getting these updates in ship-shape. Reading your stories always helps get my creative juices flowing, and there are so many good ones lingering in my TBR list that I need to devour.

This has been a rollercoaster of emotions, so thank you for coming on the ride with me. I'm excited to bring more of myself back to Tumblr and have fun with all of you again! To many more stories!

[eurydicees]

in need of fanfic/book recs from ya <3

ooooooh okay idk what genre of book or fandom/ship fic you want so here are my general recent favorites! i'm not gonna give a summary, just a small note/review with my thoughts, so ur gonna have to google the books and click the ao3 links--my apologies but this post was getting way too long lmfao

real life books!

gideon the ninth / the locked tomb series by tamsyn muir: i'm really working my way through this series and i loooooove it. the characters make me crazy and every turn in the plot has me screaming a little. there's been a lot of deranged texts to irls about this one.

under the whispering door by t.j. klune: this book DID make me cry. it's a really well woven story about love for your family and your friends and death and finding satisfaction and fulfillment in life (and death) and moving forward. HIGHLY recommend his other book (the house on the cerulean sea) as well!! i read that one first and it's a really gorgeous, satsifying read.

the shell collector by anthony doerr: this is a short story collection technically but i loooooove it. each story individually is really beautifully done and i absolutely LOVE his writing style. i think i take a lot of inspiration from him for my own writing!

on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong: top books that, like, make yourself feel seen. another author/poet that i feel i can attribute a lot of inspiration for my style and love of words to in general.

sharks in the rivers by ada limón: poetry collection! but one of my all time favorite poetry collections and i can't let this go unnamed. i absolutely ADORE ada limón (you may know her from "the great blue heron of dunbar road" or "instructions on not giving up", which floats around tumblr pretty regularly). i think i first read this collection for class but it genuinely changed something in me. i actually have a tattoo based on these poems <3

post-colonial love poem by natalie diaz: another poetry collection but this one, like, fucked me up. it's woven together as a collection in an absolutely breathtaking way, but each poem also stands alone really beautifully.

fics - haikyuu!!

a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam by swampdragons (iwaoi, 6911 words): i read this a bit ago and really loved it, though it was also really emotionally difficult for me to personally get through--one of those fics that really drives the emotions home so deeply that it hurts to keep going. part of that might just be my own personal connection to the topic. idk. but either way it's ABSOLUTELY worth it.

The Benefits of Patience by Moami (iwaoi, 3363 words): this one's silly and funny and so much more lighthearted than the prev rec lmfao. it's like. healthy but messy but established but not established but a real relationship but an almost relationship to be iwaoi <3333

The Way He Looks At You by roobtheboob (iwaoi, 3805 words): i think i read too much iwaoi. but this one's really cute i PROMISE. i like the kyoutani POV idea a lot and i think the way kyoutani is written overall is really well done, particularly in the team dynamic and his respect for iwaizumi.

The years shall run like rabbits by ladyoflalaland (ushiten, 7292 words): obsessed w this fic. ushijima's mother is written out to be a REALLY interesting character and her strained relationship with ushijima is fascinating. the passage of time of it all......man.

fics - other fandoms

"Normal" by OnigiriCat4Ever (fruits basket, kyohru, 7140 words): this one's a really cute post-canon character study of sorts and i really love it. i love how the 7yo hajime is written and his relationship with kyo is really sweet.

The act of loving in return by kindokja (bllk, ryusae, 2809 words): this one's both funny and heartwrenching and sweet and painful all at once. beautiful, necessary mix in a fic. i like it a lot.

turn your face (towards the sun) by youareoldfatherwilliam (atla, gen, 5813 words): im normal about fics abt the chit sang and the 41st, in case u were curious!

that's all i got for now? i literally just went through my most recent bookmarks and cherry picked some special highlights lol. feel free to let me know if you want anything more specific!!!!! u already know i loooooove giving recommendations<3

[kats-kradle]

Wij day one: introduce yourself

Hi! I’m Kat, and in my few years of being here I don’t think I’ve ever actually made an intro post. I joined tumblr around 2017ish and had a neutral blog for an incredibly short period of time before I realized that other people enjoyed reading hurt/comfort and I found the whump community! It is truly one of the best communities in tumblr and I will die on that hill. Everyone here is welcoming, kind, and supportive of each other, even though we’re torturing fictional characters for fun. 

Some trivia about me: I’m Christian, my favorite color is blue, I’ve dislocated my shoulder twice doing stupid things, and I enjoy playing piano and violin in my spare time (when I’m not writing) along with dancing—speaking of, I’m soon to be a dance teacher! I also traveled for 10 1/2 hrs today so I almost forgot to post this😅

And now a semi-serious blurb about whump: 

Whump has been an important part of my life. I don’t remember my first whump fic, but I do remember that whump was got me started writing. I’d written a few silly stories as a little kid, but it was only around 13-14 that I started writing fanfiction, which gave me the practice and foundation I needed to be able to write. Just within the past three months I was able to churn out 30k words for one of my original stories, and I feel as though the plot is solid and the writing is immersive and engaging. Also, because of whump, I started writing at a time in my life when my parents were going through a very messy divorce. It a time of my life where I had little to no control over anything that happened to me. Writing (and specifically writing whump) was the outlet I needed to vent and express myself, give myself some semblance of control, and provide an escape. And like I said, all the practice writing helped me to develop important skills by the time I started taking my original stories seriously. All in all, discovering whump fics and the whump community was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me! I’ve loved every single person I’ve come across here, and it’s great to be part of a community like this!

[drawlfoy]

I can't tell you just how heartbroken Wonders of Ohio left me. I've only ever felt that way with one other fic, and even then WoO topped it. Unlike WoO, the other fic had a very clean cut ending to it (they both died at the end rip) so I wasn't left to my own thoughts about what could've happened after. Which might be why WoO has been absolutely haunting me for the past two days, it hasn't left my mind at all. I think about certain moments, the ending, oh god ESPECIALLY THE ENDING, AT LEAST once an hour. I get that familiar feeling of my throat drying up and my eyes begin to water when I think about it. Another reason being the way you write. I was able to immerse myself into the story and imagine what I was reading in my head, one specific case of this I remember was when Draco made Reader and himself late to school. When he was fidgeting in the passengers seat, his hair unkempt, I could almost see him. I imagined draco with his messy platinum hair, wearing a muggle polo shirt because its just so posh rich kid of him, nervous as he leaned over the middle compartment into the backseat as he performed that glamour spell. I've never been very creative and imaginative but with your writing it was easy for me. It reminded me of how I was able to do the same when reading the Harry Potter books, being able to almost live in that universe in my head was so refreshing. Anyways this is really long, SORRY, but when I saw that you also had a Tumblr (as I originally read your stories on AO3) I just had to look. I scrolled through your page for a while and I gasped when I eventually saw that you posted what you started on writing for a continued ending? (I don't know how to phrase it I'm sorry 😭) I read it and while WoO is still breaking my heart over and over again, I think I'll be able to think about it for longer than 5 minutes at a time without bursting into tears now. So thank you. 🩷

AHHH i’m so upset bc i typed out a whole response and the fucking tumblr app (count ur days staff) deleted it urghhh

anyway some points i’d like to hit (apologies for the length but i just wanted to give this the response it deserved):

1) first of all THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHABKYOU this was genuinely the highlight of my whole year. people like you are the reason i write and i’m being so genuine when i say that this message is like the kind of stuff i dream about getting as a writer. so in conc i’m kissing you on the mouth you didn’t need to but you wrote all of this out and for that i’m forever grateful

2) some thoughts on the ending: first of all IM SORRY lmaoo. i’ll let u in on a little secret: i actually originally planned on a completely different ending where y/n ended up using the box right off the bat and went back to england and spent the last half of the fic learning magic and interacting with the golden trio crew/the malfoys. i told this to a few writer friends and they made me realize that it wouldn’t be as useful in actually answering the silly question that i based the whole fic on (what would draco do if he was plopped in the middle of muggle america?). i decided then that i really was more interested in learning how draco’s character would develop as he came to love someone who was fundamentally differently from him (and didn’t first go through a change that departed from her basic character traits). from then on i realized that a happy ending wouldn’t involve either of them giving up their world at the end of the summer, since they needed to grow up a little bit (and at that point i was old enough to find the idea of giving up your entire life for a relationship at 18 completely terrifying). hence the sad ending…but i think in the long run it means that they end up having a much healthier dynamic later on!

3) if you want to know about what happened after the deleted scene you found: i left the ending so open because i always thought i’d come back to write another series where i explored what happened after, but i don’t think i’ll end up doing that so i’ll tell you what i was planning. i always imagined y/n eventually going to england after graduating and getting established in her career and learning magic (because like literally who wouldn’t if presented with that option). draco is just kind of like a stay at home husband who’s just psyched to be there.

4) thank you so so much for your note about how immersive WoO was!! i’m ngl i’ve always struggled with incorporating imagery into my work. i spent my formative years avoiding anything i considered to be purple prose and that really reflected in my writing. i’m not a super visual person so if i could mention the 3 details i think are important in each scene and could just get on with the meat of the plot, i would, so i’m so thrilled to hear that it was able to give you that experience as a reader despite the fact that i’ve always been worried that i can’t 🥹 thank you again for telling me all of this bc it genuinely warmed my heart i know that this is a little disjointed but oml this like made my day

ill stop talking now because i’m gonna get even more incoherent okok but thank you!!!!! <3

[ninjago-bingo]

final month recap

wow, everyone.  we’re here.  we’ve made it.  we’re reached the end of our bingo time, and i’m absolutely floored by the sheer creative output that i’ve seen over these last four months.  everyone, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back!!!  no matter if you made 1 piece or 10, there’s now a work of art out there in the world that wasn’t there before.  and truly, that’s super heccing rad no matter how you look at it.

so let’s celebrate!  for this recap, we have a total of 20 new pieces, bringing the total amount of ninbingo pieces up to 50.  in the span of four months, this little event has created 50 individual works (five of them in the last day!)  holy cow ya’ll.

i’m putting out this recap now, but don’t worry, it’s not the end yet!  any submissions made to the end of the 30th still count and this post will be updated accordingly :D

fic:

all the things i’ve never done by @sa-you-na-ra. tumblr || prompts: competition and teasing

It’s always a funny thing when the ninja realize new things about each other. Even though living with each other meant they had to see each other all day, there were still small habits or actions that amused the others.

(mod comments: all these little interactions made me smile so much :D looking forward to the rest!)

error 404: answer not found by @m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: memories

Akita and Zane talk after the battle in ‘Awakenings’. The conversation… doesn’t go as either of them expect.

(mod comments: the nuances in this fic are fantastic!  also Akita is always a win :D)

Five times kai was a good brother by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: nightmare and brother

I'm writing kai centric stuff again.

(mod comments: kai IS the big bro of the team!!! i support him all the way!!)

How Garmadon became a chauffeur by @master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: driving

"um...Kai? Don't you think we should go Slower?" Garmadon asked nervously trying not to panick as they raced down the road at what had to be over the speed limit.

(mod comments: who let Kai drive?  no but honestly this is canon alskdfj)

little things by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: hugs and crying.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." -Kurt Vonnegut

Lloyd’s tired of being left behind. How is he meant to be the green ninja when he always has to work harder, train better, and wait longer to go on missions with his team? He wants nothing more than to be their equal.

At least, that’s what he thought he wanted.

(mod comments: a post-ep-18 resolution scene?  SIGN ME UP!)

Neither Snow Nor Rain by @fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: post-fight

After their return from the Never Realm and all its troubles, Zane is quiet and Nya is incredibly worried. A call to action to a peculiar sort of battle might be enough to change both of those things.

(mod comments: the concept of these two on their own mission together is just so good! excited to see how their dynamic plays out!!)

Never Put Off Until Tomorrow by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: video games and chores

…what can be done today, yada, yada, yada, we all know the saying. So do the ninja- when Master Wu is drilling it into their heads every minute of every day, it’s kind of hard to forget.

Naturally, it only takes them a week (and the biggest new video game in Ninjago) to do so.

(mod comments: this is so in character that it’s frustrating lol.  also Pixal ftw!!)

oh take me back to the start by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: comfort and 3 am

The past should be left in the past. Or, at least, that’s what Jay keeps telling himself. Nadakhan is gone. It’s not logical to still be afraid. But he is, and now everything that he left behind suddenly feels like it’s never going to be the same again.

Cole isn’t so convinced.

(mod comments: Cole is truly the man we all deserve in our lives.)

On Our Own by @redefine-your-identity. tumblr || prompt: home

It’s been a few weeks since Kai and Nya’s parents disappeared without a trace. Needless to say, they’re struggling.

(mod comments: OU C H no poor babies 😭 the relationship dynamic here is great!)

orange and gold by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: cooking

...I just need more Cole and Vania content, they seem like they'd be great friends.

Basically it's just 'Cole goes to visit her there, they almost burn down the kitchen, and make way too many puns', lol.

(mod comments: I also always need more Vania content!! the puns in this were breadful!)

permafrost by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: loss of control and promise

It’s not like this is the first time this has happened. It’s not like none of his teammates have ever suffered this kind of guilt and pain. It’s not like Zane himself hasn’t walked through hell before and come out the other side (mostly) in once piece.

Except, this time, it is. It shouldn’t be different, but it is.

(mod comments: super sweet moment between two ninja who deserve more interaction like seriously!!)

Precautionary Tale by @/fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Fighting is different now, and Zane doesn't know why. Yes, he is titanium now, but why should that change anything? It seems to be changing everything, although is all really as it seems?

(mod comments: a great start to a zane-centric fic!  interested to see where it goes next :D)

Star-Ninja! by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: siblings and competition 

What happens when the loveable gremlin the ninja adopted off of the streets introduces them to Starfarer comics?

Chaos ensues, of course.

stuck with you (through bright and blue) by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Kai only wants two things: to protect Lloyd, and to give him the best birthday ever. Unfortunately, Lloyd seems hell-bent on making that as difficult as possible. Kai’s always prided himself on achieving the impossible, but dealing with human emotions is much more complicated than beating up Garmadon’s generals or shooting enemies with fire, as he quickly learns. Movie!verse

(mod comments: happy birthday lloyd!! look at him getting the love he deserves uwu)

Take a walk in the rain. by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: rain

Cole had always loved the rain, the way it smelled, the way it felt on his skin, and especially the mud! Whenever it rained his Mother would put on his rain coat and boots And they'd both go out and splash around in the puddles and make mud cakes and do all sorts of things.

(mod comments: this fic made me smile a lot :D loved the way it was arranged!) 

the hues of an empty sky by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: crying

Missing memories, or having two of them for one moment - not quite the same, but if there’s one thing Jay’s leant over the last few weeks, it’s that literally nothing makes sense anymore.

Or, some Skybound aftermath, Zane actually expressing emotions about his memory switch being turned off for all those years, and what was supposed to be a ‘they tell everyone about the erased timeline’ fic, but it turned into a 'two characters who barely interact on screen talk at like one am in the morning, and don’t actually tell the other what exactly they’re alluding to the whole time’ fic that I wrote at like one am-

(mod comments: Skybound resolution? SIGN ME THE HECK UP YES)

The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition by @21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: bets and competition

Jay and Kai share a horrified look.  “He really doesn’t get it,” Jay says.

Kai shakes his head.  “We need to show him somehow.”

“Show me what?” Cole asks, exasperated again.  

“How much we love you!” Kai exclaims.  “Somehow, it’s not getting through your thick skull that we want to sit next to you because you’re you, so I’m gonna have to just prove it to you.”

(mod comments: a silly little movie fic!)

twitter was a mistake by @/21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: teasing and birthday

Kai 🔥 @flaminhotninja ☑

so who was gonna tell me that Jay used to be a game show host huh

🌺✨ the Gift of Jay ✨🌺 @zaptrap ☑

Replying to @flaminhotninja

NO WHO SHOWED YOU

(mod comments: twitter was a mistake)

two halves of a broken whole by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: scars and post-fight

The Sons of Garmadon have been defeated. Garmadon is in prison. The city has been saved.

In the aftermath of the battle, Nya is more than ready to take a much-needed break. But the life of a ninja is messy. Recovery is never that simple. Although the wounds may have healed, the scars still remain.

Zane’s scars seem to match up, though. And maybe together, they can begin to heal.

(mod comments: aggressive care is my jam, and this is it!)

wait by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: home and memories

Lloyd’s not so great at being patient. It’s not his fault though- maybe he would be better at it if waiting didn’t always end up being so disappointing- if people actually kept their promises. But this time’s going to be different, he knows it. His father will come back for him. And Lloyd’s going to wait.

As long as it takes.

(mod comments: baby.  baby boy.  baby.�� protecc him plz.)

[gigglinggoblin]

Bathtime for Kitten

Image used with permission from the amazing Ecscc. Go check out their content!

[pov: implied cisboy, nsfw, 3rd person, hypnosis, bratty sub, pet play, catboy, groping, teasing, femdom/malesub, loving degradation, bimbo boy]

“But—but I don’t want to!” he complained, squirming as he watched the steam rising from the soapy water. “I hate baths!”

"Oh?”

He shivered as the delicate, sugar-laced voice caressed his sensitive feline ears. There was such calm in that voice. Such soothing, comforting confidence.  He breathed in the complex scents of the perfumed bath salts and tried to ignore how sweet they smelled, how heavily their fog filled his open mind.

But he bit his lip and nodded firmly. “Uh-huh! I’m, um...” He folded his arms. “I’m not dirty, Mistress!”

He turned back to her, determined that she should see his determined pout. But his determination wavered almost instantly as he met her gaze.

Mistress’s eyes shimmered with violet lights, like dancing lanterns in the gloaming. Ruby-red lips curved upward in a sly smile as curvy, generous hips swayed towards him, Mistress’s hand snaking forward to rest on his shoulder. “Well, if you’re sure, Kitten,” she cooed, and he trembled at the silken way those lips drew out the name, “of course you don’t have to take a bath today!”

“I-I—” He wiggled and bit his lip to hold in a gasp as Mistress’s delicate fingers stroked down the small of his back. “W-Well... well, see, um...”

It took a moment for her words to sink in past her touches. He blinked down at her. “R-Really?”

Mistress beamed up at him. “Of course not, Kitten!” She giggled. Her hand stroked down his side, fingers not-quite-tickling him, so dainty and playful in their touches. “If Kitten isn’t dirty, why should he need to bathe?”

Her eyes sparkled. Glimmered. The lights seemed to swirl around and around. Elegant fish in a deep, deep pool under moonlight.

“Y-Yes,” he managed, nodding eagerly. “Yes, I’m... I’m not dirty, Mistress. Kitten has been good.” His cheeks burned at the meek submissive tone in his voice, but he knew he needed to be on his best behavior right now.

And it felt so good to be a good boy for Mistress. So easy to be her good kitty as the heavy sweet scents of the bath and her perfume fogged his mind and her eyes swirled his thoughts into whirlpools of syrup. He stared into her eyes and tried not to whimper.

The hand slipped lower. Kitten whimpered. “Of course you have. Good Kitten! You have kept your adorable body very clean for me.”

Through the haze, Kitten nodded, feeling a little warm glow of triumph—and of happiness at being praised.

“But...” Mistress giggled, leaning in so close his breath caught in his chest. “... is your mind clean, Kitten?”

“W-What?” he squeaked. “I-I don’t, um—”

Her hand roamed down and gave his butt a playful squeeze.

Kitten let out an involuntary mewl.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Thanks for reading! There’s more after the break, but if you enjoyed this story and want to read more like it, there’s tons more content on my Patreon. For just a few dollars a month, you gain access to alternate Bad Ends, bonus stories, polls on future content, early updates, erotic text-based roleplay/D&D games, and much, much more! If you can afford to, consider pledging, so I can keep posting Tumblr fics like this one on the regular! Thank you! <3]

Kitten sprites almost universally orient towards femininity, making catboys quite rare among the fey. Among transmuted mortals, however, catboys are quite common, often found in service as witches’ familiars.

In both cases, it is a curious trait that catboys tend to be much more reliably submissive than catgirls and catfolk. Of course, their hatred for baths is still almost indomitable.

Almost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Yes, Mistress,” Kitten mewled, bucking and crying out as one hand scritched behind his ears and the other groped his ass greedily, possessively, “yes, please, I—oh, please—”

“Aww, but I thought you were already clean?” Mistress giggled, nuzzling his neck and planting tender, teasing little kisses where she knew he was most sensitive.

“N-No, I’m—” Kitten’s face was on fire as he shook his head desperately, embarrassment blurring with pure lust and melting through his dizzy brain like molten candy. “I’m a dirty kitty! I-I have dirty thoughts!”

“You do?” Mistress’s lips parted in mock-surprise—before she planted a delectable kiss on his cheek. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” he whined, “yes-yes-yes—oh, please, Mistress, I’m—Kitten’s so, so horny...”

Her hand gave his tail a mischievous little squeeze—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to remind him of his place. His knees positively turned to jelly at this. “You’re a horny little bimbo, aren’t you?” she cooed, stroking his hair indulgently. “My dirty, horny, needy bimbo kitten~”

“Oh, yessss,” he purred, moaning and leaning into her hand, rubbing needily against it, “yes, i’m... i’m... good bimbo kitten... wanna be... used... toyed with...”

He heard her giggling and squirmed in happy humiliation. “Good Kitten!” A wave of pleasure rolled through him at this, and he mewed happily. She stroked his tail affectionately. “My, my, what a mess my Kitten has become~”

“yesss...” His head bobbed brainlessly, eager now only to please his Mistress, to earn more scritches, more of her groping touches. “i’m a messy silly bimbo Kitten...”

"Yes you are!” she cooed. “You certainly are!” The scritches and tail stroking sped up a little. Kitten started to moan, started to whine, started to squirm and wiggle and buck in horny need. “And do you know what messy silly bimbo Kittens need most of all, pet?”

“ummm...” He blinked big eyes up at her. He realized dumbly that he’d almost swooned right into her arms at this point.

Mistress smirked.

And booped his nose.

“A brainwashing!” she sang, and dropped him right into the tub.

And Kitten only had a moment to be furious at himself, to hiss as the warm water touched his skin... before the sweet, rolling waves of sugary bliss washed all his cares away for a time.

[My Patreon] [My Commission Info]

[Ecscc’s Twitter]

[after-valiant-hero-ask]

Soooo, somehow the "keep reading" Thing on tumblr kinda beoken for me, so I can't really post this with the keep reading, but also, I made a post about going to make a fandic of After Valiant Hero that takes place BEFORE the main event onthe comic, sooo, here it is!! I hope you all enjoy it! (And also, it's 2.000+ words long, so, it's kinda long^^)

============================

"TONIGHT"

by LovelyPink2005

——————————

Summary:

This takes 2 months after the valiant Hero ending, right when the toppats decided to celebrate their fully recovered airship and the clan, but something is up with sven that made him missed the whole party.

Note:

I'm not that good on english, so, I'm so sorry if this fic came out bad^^"

And also, this is a fanfic I wrote about the story of the messy doodle/sketch comic I did of sven and Charles on whiteboard, so, uhhh, yeah^^"

——————————

It was the day after they did their first heist after recovering their airship and their clan, which is 2 months after the Valiant Hero ending. It also charles's first time too, he feels strange for doing that, like there's something wrong with it but can't quite put a finger on it. He decided to forget about it. "It's probably just the side effect."

 

The toppat clan wanted to celebrate it for their success, they talk to talk, share to share about having a party for it, until it delivered to charles and sven who is on their room. "A party huh?" Sven said as he put his hand on his chin, thinking about it. "Suits yourself, If you wanted to celebrate it, then go for it" He continue with a smile on his face. He turned his head to charles to see his face full of excitement for that party, like he never had them before.

"Sven" Charles called as he put his hand on sven's shoulder. "Let's have it tonight!"

"Yeah, sure..." Sven paused, looking down for a second, and lifted his face back to charles. "Sure!".

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, if you all want it, then go for it."

"Alright, I'll go inform the others about this." He gives sven a pat on the back before leaving the room.

Sven waves and wanted to say "c'ya" to charles very badly, but charles already left them room. Sighed, and sits back to his bed, and looked up on the ceiling, smiling. "Hey, are you ok there..?" His face could easily shows you a bit of sadness, and pain. Sven was talking to himself, but really, he just missed his old friend.

Someone who used to be around him, a friend who ALWAYS around him ever since he joined the toppat clan. Burt Curtis. That's his name. Sven and Burt joined the toppat clan on the same day years ago, they even meet right before entering the airship. They keeps on running into each other as their relationship grows, until they become the best of friends. Even after Sven become the leader, their relationship or friendship still is the same.

But… sadly… He died at the orbital station when it exploded. got left behind because he was trapped on a room and couldn't get out. Sven wish he could found him, but the other toppats dragged him with force to the pod.

He couldn't save him. He failed to save him. The last thing he even heard from him was a when he called sven after the luxury pod has escaped.

"We're having a party tonight... Wish you could join us burt." A tear runs down on his face.

He wiped it as he rubs his eyes. "Ugh, c'mon sven, pull it together!" He palmed both of his hands on his face and falls on his bed.

"He's gone! Just.. Try to—– uuggghh!" He sighed to himself. He quickly sits up and try to pull his act together. A forced smile on his face, but it's not that obvious.

Take a deep breath, and let it out as he then go outside to also inform the others about the party. Yeah, let's just focus on that, focus on the clan. Maybe the other could distract him from his mind.

 ---

Charles straight up go to the cafeteria since most toppats usually just hang out there. He saw one of the toppat he usually talk to if sven wasn't around. He called him.

"Harold!" Said charles as he waved his hand at him and the other toppats that's with him.

Ah yes, Handsome Harold. Charles usually hang around him since he's the second person who ever talk to him after he woke up and got amnesia.

"Oh, Charles" Harold rise his hand up as high as his face.

"Sve— uhh, Chief said that we're having a party to celebrate the fully recovered of our clan!"

Harold and the other toppats look at each others as their eyes widened open.

What?? "Really?"

Charles nodded. The other toppats slowly having their face with smiles.

"Alright lads! Let's prepare things up for the party!" One of the toppat called Wallace Dagwood, yelled as the others on the cafeteria then cheered.

A couple of hours has passed, and the party is almost ready. The whole cafeteria was full with a lot of stuff, Charles just can't wait for sven to see this. There's a bunch of food and snacks on the food table, such as pizza, chicken wings, tacos, cupcakes, cake, and other food that usually on a party. There's also a berry punch, and some alcohols on the drink table.

Beside the foods and drinks, there's also a lot of decorations and other stuff that changed on the cafeteria. Like a small stage for anyone who wanted to perform anything. Blue carpet on the whole floor of the room, and disco light-ball. Charles can't really describe everything, but all he could say is that everything is going to be awesome!

Huh?

In a flip, he realized something. He haven't see Sven around to help since he know that Sven likes to help around.

Is he not feeling well?

He did startled for sometimes today whenever he talks… is there anything wrong with him?

Charles can only feel worried about him. But he hopes that non of his thoughts are true.

"Oi Charles!"

Sometimes tapped his shoulder. He jumped a bit and making the "eep" Sound as he surprised.

"Hmm? Oh, it's you" He signed, It was of course Harold.

"What were you thinking? I saw you were excited a view second ago, but then you immediately worried" Said Harold.

"What's wrong?"

"I- huh? No no, you guessed it wrong, why would I be worried when there's a party right in front me?"

How the heck did he know? Can he read face expression that good???

Harold sighed. "Charles, it's all over your face."

Shoot, Right. Knew it.

"O-oh, well, you're right" He smiles. "But I only worried because this will be the first party I'll ever have, since, you know.." He scratched his head.

He lost his memories. He can't even remember everything, how can he remember the last time he even go to one, right?

"Yeah, I know, sorry for that" He wrapped his hand around Charles.

"But they'll all come back! Even if they won't, you can always create new memory!" Harold just trying to cheer 'em up. "Just don't forget to have your medicals, 'kay?"

Charles smile and nodded.

Both of them then go to help t he others finishing some stuff for the party.

---

Sven was outside of the security room, the place where he get to see outside and have the winds in his hair (the place where henry got in the airship when we choose the grapple gun (PBT)).

Just standing there, watching the sun setting down. He looked at the sky.

Thinking to himself. Wishing that all of this was just a really long dream, and when he wakes up, everything was still… Normal. Burt still there, the orbital station was save and sound. And Reginald never got arrested.

He's been there for a hour now, until Charles contacted him. His phone buzzing.

"Hmm?" He picked his phone. It's Charles…

He takes a deep breath, and then answer the call. "Hello"?

"Sven! Where are you? I can't find you in your room, or the cafeteria!" Said Charles in a little worried tone.

"The party is starting in a hour!"

"Oh, really?" He responded as his eyes widened a bit. He didn't thought it'll be starting that fast. "That was fast"

"Yeah, and— wait, Sven! Are you at that place again??" Charles could hear the sound of the winds through sven's phone.

"... Well, yeah?"

"What's wrong?? You only goes there is you're down, you know that you have your greatest friend hereto help you!" Charles raised his voice, but not in an angry way, but more like in a worried and abit of disappointed tone.

Huh? Oh right, he knew.

"No, it's fine Charles! I only looking for some fresh air!"

Hmmm, that sounds convincing alright.

"Okay, but you HAVE to be here when the party started! It'll be the greatest time, truste!"

Sven chuckled on how silly Charles is. "Yeah yeah, I'll be there".

He closed the call as he sighed. He closed his eyes and smile as he shakes his head.

"Charles Charles, guess there's different between you two after all" He chuckled.

Sven then make his way In. He walk through the security room, the hall of portraits, and finally, the kitchen. He stopped there for a bit, looking at the drawer. He then turns around and open up the drawer where he knew a bottle of alcohol would be there. He takes it and looks at it for a while. His face seems like he had no emotions, it's pale, but you could see through his face that he's… tired.

Sven continue walking and bringing the alcohol. He's going to his room.

---

An hour and a half has passed, and there is no sign of Sven yet. Charles keeps on looking around. The party already going since around 30 minutes ago. Charles bit his lips for a bit, worried if there's really something wrong with sven.

He takes a sip of the berry punch as he holding one cup of it.

"Sven, where are you?" He whispered to himself.

A toppat named Carol Cross approach Charles from behind. "Where's sven?" She asked.

"Oh! Miss Carol!" He waved his hand to her, and then immediately scratched his head. "I uh, not sure, I haven't see him anyway around this place".

"Hmm, you should go and find him, don't wanna make him missed tonight."

"Yeah, maybe I should" He put his cup on the table. "Cya around Miss carol, and enjoy the party!". Charles immediately left the cafeteria and try to look for Sven everywhere. It'll took him a while since the airship is really big, he could be anywhere.

After a while, he still couldn't find him, until he walked over to their room.

"Sven? Are you here?" Charles opened the door to their room and look inside.

As he though, he was on their room, sitting on the chair right in front of his small desk beside his bed. But is he drinking by himself??

"Uhh… Sven, are you drunk?" He asked as he approach him. He saw a bottle of alcohol beside him that's almost empty. Sven usually can't handle to much alcohol, a couple of small cup can already made him drunk alright.

He sits next to him. "Are.. you ok? You shouldn't drink by yourself sven".

" O-oh… burt, you're here—"

Burt?? Who is he talking about? He's clearly brunk very badly.

"Uhh, sven, it's me, Charles. You're ready drunk, aren't you?"

He then takes the bottle from sven to prevent him from drinking more. "You should stop now, you don't even recognize me that well" He put the bottle away.

Sven looks at sven, his face really looking like a zombie who just came back to life. He smiled as he saw Charles.

"S-stop joking around—– I know that's you Burt-" He hiccups every now and then.

"Heh, you're so silly Burt… I know it's you.." Sven turned his head back to the cup he's holding.

"You'll always found me whenever I'm like.. This—- I know I've only saw you a couple hours ago…But for some reason… i missed you.. So— much.."

Charles has no clue what he's talking about. But then he somehow remember something. Sven once mentioned he used had a friend from high school maybe? He said they're really close friend. One thing he know that sven missed them too, so, Charles assume he think he's the old friend of sven???

A sob could be heard from sven.

"I…Always wanted to tell you something… b-but— I'm always to coward.."

Charles kinda feels bad for him. He then patted sven's back. "Sven, snap out of it, it's me, Charles, you should get some rest and—–" Before he finish his sentence,he could feel that Sven is about to pass out in any moment. "Woah, sven-"

"I know I know… but B-burt.. Before I Pass out, at least let me tell you h-how I—–"

Without any warning, sven grabbed Charles hand and dragged him really closed to him.

"S-sven!?"

Again, without any warning, sven pulled Charles closer as he kissed him on the lips for like 5 second.

What. The. Heck!?!?!???? Did he just..!?

Sven then immediately fall as he fainted. Charles quickly grab him before he fell to the floor.

Charles's face became RED. He didn't know what the hell just happened. Did his friend just kissed him!? That was unpredictable. He couldn't believe that.

"Wh— what was that…!?"

He never and didn't have that kind of feeling towards Sven, so that's not the reason he blushed. Sven literally just took Charles's first kiss. And that's at least how Charles feel about it. He rubs his mouth as in, he wish that never happened. He didn't want his first kiss to be from his great friend.

But at the same time, he still feel bad for Sven. He once mentioned that he used to have this friend on high school and rhat they've separated from each others for so long, with sven still have this feeling for them. At least that's what Charles assume.

Charles sighed. The blush on his face started to fade away as he calmed down.

"W-well, guess sven will missed tonight's party."

Charles then picks up Sven and lay him down on his bed. He put the blanket on him.

After that Charles tried his best NOT to mention that even happened or even slipped through his mouth as he foes back to the party.

---

The sun is rising, another day has come.

The party was a blast last night, but to bad sven missed all of it.

Sven slowly opens his eyes ashe waking up. Yawning and rubs his eyes before sitting down. He feels a bit dizzy, but can't quite remember what happened last night.

Oh wait, think he did, he remember that he drank by himself on the room until he passed out. At least that's how he remembers it.

As Sven was still sitting on his bed,Charles came in the room while having himself a cup of coffee. He then saw Sven.

"O-oh, morning there sven!" He waved his hand at him, highly hoping he didn't remember what happened last night. He sat down on his own bed.

"Morning Charles, didn't expect you to wake up sooner than me" Said sven as he stretched his arms.

"Oh, yeah, uh, well, you were really tired yesterday, so, that's explain why you over slept?" He takes a sip from his hot coffee.

"Heh, pretty much, I was kinda uh, drunk last night and passed out"

Phew, He didn't remember THAT. Charles relief.

"Yeah-" Charles then change the topic in a second to prevent him from trying to remember that night.

"H-hey sven! You totally missed the party! As I said, it was the greatest!" He said as he smiles brightly.

"Oh really?" He smiled back to him. "Tell me about it then.

Charles then when on telling Sven everything that happened on the party, really detailed. From where Charles went off to inform the others about doing a party, until the party ended and everyone have to clean them up after it.

Days has passed, and Sven haven't remember what has happened that night. So Charles decided to keep it a secret to himself, until now.

===========================

Welp, that's all of the fantic! I hope you enjoyed this, and tha k you so much for putting your time to read this all t he way down here! I really appreciate it!✨✨✨

[mathgeek101]

tag gameeeeeee

tagged by @strohller27 !!!!!!!! Thanks George~

this is a somewhat long tag game, and I have no self control about how much I talk about myself so I'm gonna put it under the cut :)

1. why did you choose your url?

I’m a mathgeek! that's it! Starting in elementary school I went to the junior high school for math classes in the morning, and then at the end of junior high I went to the high school for my math classes again, and was always in math with the grade older than me. I took AP Calc as a junior and got a 5 on the AP test, so it kinda fits I guess. I actually made the moniker for my first email account when I was 13 so I could make a facebook account.

2. any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

LMAO I LITERALLY HAVE 4. Anyway first I have two writing blogs: @i-am-rmt for poetry, and @iamrmt for prose. They act as catalogues of my writing! The prose one is basically inactive, but seeing as it’s simply a catalogue I’m not gonna delete it. Then there is @yiling-who my side blog for The Untamed - yeah that Chinese drama that took tumblr by storm. Big thanks to @hoebutnotreally for convincing me to watch it! Lastly is my side blog for DKB @dkbtho . DKB is a rookie kpop group that I’m currently obsessed with! They’re so cute and they self produce and also do all their own choreography and are such skilled individuals and also are so funny 

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

This year on November 23rd will be the 10 year birthday of mathgeek101!

4. do you have a queue tag?

“qute” it’s on sooo many of my posts because I almost exclusively post from my queue..

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

both my sisters had tumblrs, and I guess I just thought “neat, I’ll make one too.” I remember sitting on the couch during thanksgiving break while my family was watching Harry Potter (the seventh movie maybe?) and designing my blog

6. why did you choose your icon?

oh it’s me! My icon has always been me, because this blog is just a messy collection of my interests. My friend (@hoebutnotreally) did my makeup and hair and we took pictures (I posted some here too!)

7. why did you choose your header?

oh it’s me again! I took that picture on a whim with a silly snapchat filter and I thought it turned out neat, so I hid my icon on mobile and I think my blog looks pretty neat that way.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

9. how many mutuals do you have?

I think it’s my Mushu Zuko post still... I know there’s a way to check, but I’ll just go with that post for now.

OKAY so I’m back after checking and actually it’s my post about reading Call Me, Beep Me - THE klance voltron fic

idk man is there a way to check that, too? I don’t really interact with my mutuals, and I don’t really get the huge hype around them? like, yeah, I appreciate my mutuals, and I love seeing your posts (oh my friend made a post!). I wouldn’t mind interacting with them more, I’m just awkward and suck at talking to people - even people I know in real life and have to make plans with. But all in all, if a mutual unfollows me, I’m not gonna have a meltdown or anything

10. how many followers do you have?

429! I love you guys! When I post about my followers I always tag it with “i love you guys”

11. how many people do you follow?

I’m following 147 blogs.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

does the Mushu and Zuko post count? Does “hockey is one letter away from hickey” count? I also made a post about Poe Dameron vs Edgar Allan Poe and Po from Kung Fu Panda... you decide. I tag all my original posts with “mine”

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

too much! jk I’m on it very frequently, but lately I’ve been watching youtube videos over scrolling on tumblr

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

nah. Once I did have someone reply to a post I made somewhat rudely, and I replied to them and they didn’t say anything, so if that counts, then I WON.

15. how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

eh, they’re pretty dumb, and I’m pretty neutral about them, but I also understand that it’s problematic.

16. do you like tag games?

yes! I really enjoy talking about myself I guess! Wow! Most people honestly do love talking about themselves, and it’s even easier when it’s online and I don’t have to deal with people’s real time reactions :)

17. do you like ask games?

LOVE them. sometimes I wish I was a famous blogger so people would ask me stuff from ask games, but I also don’t reblog them that often.

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

ohhhh uhhhhhhh,,,,,,,, idk man

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

nah, I don’t interact with them enough for that

20. tagging

uhhh if you’ve made it this far and you want to do it consider yourself tagged :)

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: Donda

Creator name (AO3): Donda

Creator name (Tumblr): thatonezombiecosplayer

Link to creator works: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donda

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: I kind of just tend to find one thing I like, and latch onto it with a deathgrip, though there's not really one specific reason I latched onto Mad Max. The only post-apocalyptic thing I had any interest in prior to Fury Road was a comic called Romantically Apocalyptic, but I wouldn't have called myself a die-hard fan of the genre. I think it was just that Fury Road was such a fantastic movie in so many ways that it really caught my attention, and then when I got involved in the fandom, I found it to be all around a really really great group of people, and they were talking about such interesting things, and I just fell in love and decided this was my fandom home! Since then, I've made some really good friends through this fandom and gotten involved in Wasteland Weekend because of it, so this fandom will always remain near and dear to me.

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: I really like to take this dark, gritty world, and make it kind of light and fun, honestly. Or at least as much as one can without completely detracting from the reality of the state of the world. I've written a couple of darker or more serious fics, but my favorite things to write involve putting a touch of magic or an interesting little twist into the world, and handling the sillier side of things.

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: I think I had equal amounts of fun writing my Pocket Sized and Corvus Cormax, because they were just light and silly and kind of intriguing situations for me. I also really really enjoyed writing No Going Back, even though it was on the more serious side of things for me. The prompt just grabbed my imagination, and I was really inspired to write from start to finish. For most difficult, I'll have to go with Consonance, because I am presently stuck on it and have been for months and if you were reading and enjoying that one, I am so so sorry. D: Convalescence got the most hits and kudos overall, but I think that was mostly just because it was posted very early in the Fury Road fandom. Just based on response, I'd say Corvus Cormax was my most popular/successful, and was also my favorite overall.

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?

A: Hopeful with a bit of humor and sometimes a little wasteland magic. I'm into escapism first and foremost, so the least like our own world I can make things, the more enjoyable.

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: The idea itself usually sparks scenes in my head, and I build around those. Sometimes I'll be writing along and think of something I'd like to happen down the line, or a scene will just start playing through my head, so I'll go write that, and connect the pieces later. Which can sort of cause problems, because when I go writing all the good bits first, filling in the bits in between that are less interesting can get tedious. When I hit a patch that just leaves me completely stuck, most often running the fic by someone else and bouncing ideas around with them helps me tremendously. I tend to like to write from the comfort of my room where there aren't a lot of distractions, but sometimes I'll write on my phone if I'm away from my computer and bored or inspired.

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: Honestly I basically always listen to my entire music library on random. It's super eclectic, but I'm so familiar with all my songs that it's basically just background noise. Very occasionally I will skip a song that's not suiting the mood of what I'm writing, but mostly anything goes.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: Getting stuck sucks so much and is my most common problem, because sometimes I feel like I have just exhausted all ideas and there's nowhere to go. Bouncing ideas off of other people always helps, but often I avoid that either because I don't want to bother people, or because I'm super protective of my works until I consider them done. I don't know, I just like people to read the work in it's finalized form, as I intend it to be read, and not in some incomplete messy state.

Q: How have you grown as a creator through your participation in the Mad Max Fandom? How has your work changed? Have you learned anything about yourself?

A: I'm sure my writing has improved, but it's been such a fluid process that I'm not really sure! I guess I've grown and my work has changed in that I've gotten braver in my ideas, more willing to just go for something and not worry about people thinking it's silly or I'm weird. 

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?

A: I'm aro/ace myself, so fandom ships have never been a big draw of mine. I tag a lot of my works with "platonic soulmates" because I've just fallen in love with the idea of Max and Furiosa being very close to each other, but not romantically or sexually. They have a really interesting dynamic, and I like to explore them really getting to know each other completely platonically. 

Q: How does your work for the fandom change how you look at the source material?

A: I've explored some headcanons in my writing, and built on ideas in ways that let me sort of see more into the movie, imagine things under the surface beyond the canon, and feel like I know the motivations behind certain characters' actions, even if it's never explained.

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: My works stand alone for the most part. I've got two series that each consist of a couple fics that follow the same timeline, but otherwise each of my fics is a completely different world.

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: *Chanting* break canon, break canon, break canon. I like playing with new ideas! Sometimes it's fun to explore some headcanons with fic and build on the movie that way, but I've found that taking the canon and changing a detail and letting it play out from there is the most fun.

Q: Share some headcanons.

A: Immortal!Max is my biggest and most-loved headcanon. I like the idea that he's only sort of peripherally aware of it, too. He knows it's been a pretty long time since the fall of the world, and he's catching on that people who appear his age were born after the fall, but if it even has sunk in that he's not aging and not dying, he actively tries not to think about it too much because that seems like Too Much and he's not ready to face that. He's accepted it as a possibility, but he doesn't put much weight on it. It's just part of him now, and all he can do is live with it.

Q: If you work with OCs walk us through your process for creating them. Who are some of your favourites?

A: Eheh... My OCs are basically fleshed out juuuust enough to be believable and I put zero effort into them beyond that, to be honest. They're often only there to help along the story for the canon characters, and then I toss them away and never think about them again.

Q: What advice can you give someone who is struggling to make their own works more interesting, compelling, cohesive, etc.? 

A: I don't know if my methods will work for anybody else, but three things: 1) imagine the scene like it's a movie playing out in front of you, before writing, while writing, and while re-reading. It helps me keep track of who is where, what's going on, and it makes any continuity mistakes really jump out at me. 2) really get into your characters' heads, think like they do, and share their motivations for what they're doing and their thoughts at what is going on around them in your writing. I think that helps people relate to them more and get into the story more, and it makes you think about how characters would react in realistic, if not always outwardly reasonable, ways. 3) Proof read like a crazy person. This may be weird, but similar to how I get into my characters' heads when I write, I also sort of get into... well, not my own head, when I re-read my works. I try to put myself in a different perspective, and proof-reading my fics with a different mindset really helps me see things that didn't end up making sense the first time around, or sound off, or might be confusing if you don't already know where I was going with it. If I'm thinking like I was when I wrote it, of course everything's going to make sense and work the way I imagined it. If I throw out those preconceptions and intentions, it can almost seem completely new to me, like it would be to a reader reading it for the first time.

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: I would love to visit Australia, though honestly when I do, priority number one is going to be bats, weird marsupials, and other wildlife. Australia stands out to me mostly as being this weird giant island where evolution just went fucking crazy. But Wasteland Weekend! Hoo boy am I involved in Wasteland Weekend, let me tell you, and I absolutely love it. I love the themed areas and how they completely immerse you in the world, I love the community (seriously, some of the best people I have ever met) and even though it was originally built on Mad Max, which is generally a pretty violent, hard world, I love the atmosphere people create there: the idea that even if the world ended and society as we know it collapsed, people would coexist, look out for each other, and celebrate life. 10/10, highly recommend, hit me up if you plan on attending in the future.

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: I've unfortunately fallen out of writing quite a bit for the time being, so no planned projects outside of what I'm currently working on, but boy let me tell you how much I love the one I'm co-writing with Catlady! We've put a ton of thought and worldbuilding into it, and a lot of character development in the works for Max, as well as his developing relationship with Furiosa. It's an AU that really gets my imagination going, and I'm super excited for some of the things we have planned. If you like Fae and wasteland magic and discovering/learning to accept oneself, go check out our fic Forgotten Ways!

Thank you @thatonezombiecosplayer

[a-writing-bear]

[AmeriPan - Permission To Date]

This is a Request fic written for @lonelymarblesoda !

Note: I am so very flattered by your sweet compliments! I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I did writing it. It was a great stress reliever for me and your prompt was very cute that I got carried away with fluff honestly <3 Sorry there’s more dialogue than intended!

Ao3 Link: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009922

This Has been cross-posted onto FF & Ao3 under Aliases: BearBooper

You can read this Fic on Tumblr under ‘Keep Reading’

Fandom: Hetalia Axis Powers

Pairing: America and Japan

Word Count: 2,742

Age Rating/Mature:  All Audiences :)

Prompt:  “Howdy, I'm the anon from earlier! Sorry for being shy (^^;) Since you're still taking requests, I was wondering if you were willing to do a fluffy ameripan fanfic where their relationship is revealed at a world meeting (or something along those lines)? Ψ(´▽｀)Ψ”

With an exhausted sigh and soft smile, Alfred pulled into the driveway of his Virginia home; the ignition silencing as he crossed his arms and rested his head on the now-still driving wheel, gazing upon his tall red brick house. Amused at the pristine garden and the open porch - This was another estate that his Government had preened and made proper, All the way to a point where it almost looked too perfect off a pamphlet. Unlike his apartment in New York, this house had been filled with some sort of personalisation yet Alfred still felt no completeness towards it. Alexandria was an old but beautiful charming town and it felt fitting to have his work home so close to DC. It was embarrassing to admit its old Victorian real estate made him feel much calmer compared to other parts of the city, A piece of his past residing within the restored cobbled paths.

His little thoughts drifted away as he slowly got out the car, humming to himself. It was a short drive back from work and after a long day of going over tomorrow's preparations made him gutsy and giddy. Tomorrow he'd have to fly into New York for a UN Personification meeting - undoubtedly with the expectation to make some more pesky deals and fix it what was going on with discussions of some new global catastrophes. Ah. One more look at his front door he delved into the wish he was a normal person. He wouldn't have to deal with such messes if that were the case.

However, he thought as he jammed his key into the mahogany door, there was one good thing about having a meeting tomorrow...

"Hey, I'm home!" His voice rang out loudly and through the living room doorway he heard a ruffling and a quieter voice muffled through what he assumed was a pillow.

"Welcome home.." Whenever they had a New York UN meetup, Kiku had an excuse to come over early and spend some more couple time. They weren't exactly the conventional couple who could enjoy each other's company constantly but he supposed this was enough. He wouldn't want to take Japan away from his livelihood anyway.

The blond padded his way to the living room after shedding his coat and shuffling off his boots. His smile growing wider as he finds Kiku lazing around on the comfy couch in his bright red sweats with Pochi on his chest. Plopping down onto the couch, nearly on the Japanese man's legs, He pulled Pochi off carefully. The hairy creature wriggling in his arms huffed as he released it onto the floor; Obviously, Pochi was not as excited to see him as the creature scampered off somewhere further into the house. Kiku had insisted on bringing his dog over as it would whimper without him. America Leaned down, almost tipping over to lay on his boyfriend.

"Have you been laying here all day Keeks?" locks of hairs splayed onto the shorter man's shirt as Alfred squirmed his way to lie down beside him- it was quite cramped and a miracle he didn't push Japan straight off his tiny couch.

Kiku opened his eyes, the charcoal eyes seemed to dull as he stared unamused at the man who had wormed his arms onto him. Kiku never really was that good with cuddling but he made compromises for his affectionate American lover.

"No. I did work for tomorrow and called the embassy to forward some papers back to Japan," he whispered as he craned his head over to Alfred's face. The two basked in each other’s embrace for a while as the American sneaked in a few kisses while talking about their days, Japan lamenting the lack of interesting tv shows to watch and Alfred venting about the new intern who spilt coffee in his office. Comfort hung in the air happily.

The two spent the evening packing up work papers and tapping away at tiny shiny laptops, documents astray across the bed in preparation for tomorrow. Alfred had just finished and settled under his comforter while watching Keeks still typing away, legs crossed on the blanket and brow furrowed in concentration when it hit him.

He hadn’t told any of his closest allies about his newfound relationship (well- newly established, he and Keeks had been dancing around each other for centuries). Should he be freaking out over this detail? In terms of relationship milestones, Immortals such as them had very few; living long left very little opportunities for firsts and to be honest getting a stable relationship wasn't a thing people like them did. He'd admit, he was the one who would make a deal out of these sorta events whereas Japan was more reserved of their close relationship. Alfred gulped, thinking hard whether or not it was necessary to say the words that were already spilling from his lips

"Can I tell Matthew about us?" clicking and clacking came to a halt and Kiku had looked up but still ahead, gazing at the painting opposite him hanging loosely on the wall - some Italian painting obviously gifted by Feli. America felt disappointed all of a sudden, letting out a breath he didn't realise he had captured. Maybe he should have left the topic for another day. A few seconds later Kiku had resumed typing on what looked like some new policy proposal and with absently minded disinterest had replied with so much but a passing glance.

"He already knows Al.” voice slightly airy with cocky amusement as Alfred spluttered and shifted in the shared bed. Kiku suddenly felt uncomfortable as he felt cerulean blue depths bury themselves into his back; shutting his laptop and discarding it on the bedside table he fell backwards onto the feather pillow next to his boyfriend - the word felt foreign on his tongue (A bit immature? Boyfriend sounded kiddy.). For a while, they exchanged nothing but awkward glances before Alfred caved and intertwined his palm with Kiku’s.

“You know I’m traditional. I had to ask him if he would all-”

“You asked my brother if you had permission to date me?!” Kiku’s blank face did nothing but Make Alfred laugh even harder. “Kiku. We aren’t like- we aren’t teenagers. I’m literally hundreds of years old, fuck your Millions-” the black haired man shrunk further into the bed in annoyance of his age and quickly pushed a pillow between himself and his cackling lover.

“It’s how I do things. It’s polite and you're brother was kind about it. Did he not tell you?” Alfred threw the pillow barrier towards the bottom of the bed before scooting over closer to the Japanese man, who was getting more embarrassed and flustered by the minute.

“Nah. Mattie knows when there are times I don’t need to know things. I’m surprised that’s all.” he felt breathlessly in love and voiceless with contentedness at the other nation’s admission. It felt oddly nice to be…’courted’ in such an old way. “Besides, If anything, I expected you to bring it up with old man Artie or even Francis…”

Kiku turned, puzzled expression painted prettily on his face- which was only inches away from Alfred’s. “...I’m not marrying you. Why would I ask Mr Eng-”

A pillow cut him off unexpectedly as Alfred nearly fell off the bed in complete hilarity. Kiku was about to pout and say something more. With a few attempts at explaining why there was no point to marriage due to their immortality, Kiku floundered. As he peeked over the edge of where America had fallen off, he himself broke into a small smile. Alfred’s glasses had gone askew and were currently red in the face from the overexerting giggles. As the pair quieted down for the night they felt secure; Tomorrow would be fine, for now, America just wanted a cuddle.

Alfred’s feet tapped violently as he basically bounced off each step of his creaky staircase. Bounding off into the kitchen to pack some last minutes notes he had left on a table. He shouted out impatiently:

“KEEKS COME ON! WE’VE GOT TO GET TO NEW YORK!” he was in a complete flurry as he zoomed around, enthusiastic and frantic to get to their private plane on time- his bosses would skewer him if he delayed any longer, and no doubt Japan’s embassy would be in a fit if he were late too.

Speaking of the Asian nation, the man himself with all the grace and peace in the world came down. Dressed in a western style suit, Kiku readjusted his red tie and tutted himself for his messy morning hair, stoic glance nitpicking every corner of his newly tailored clothes. At the sight of Kiku’s very neat and smart look, Alfred swooned a little, puppy eyes widening as he quickly stole a kiss - which was received with a red face and another ‘tsch’ of shyness - before pushing his cute partner out the door and practically throwing both their briefcases into the car. The plane ride was uneventful and even when the planes kissed the clouds the only view that captivated the Alfred was the silly way Kiku had tried to keep himself occupied; sudoku books were the way to go apparently.

As the other nations began to file in, one by one, Alfred appeased his boss’s anxiety by greeting them all, including old-time allies such as the NATO nations and even the newer ambassadors. Japan had been lost in the mix, both had agreed to carry on as if they had entered separately - not because they didn’t want to show off, but instead to avoid making it difficult to sort out guest arrangements. Alfred fiddled with his watch as he made his own way to the front of the table. Familiar faces filled the large room. England had already buried his desk area with paper as France somehow charmed an admin into getting him a coffee. One look at the other end and he witness Germany scribbling incessantly and the myriad of eastern Europeans personifications huddled up avoiding the Russian. Witnessing Denmark and Sweden already debating on new guidelines, Alfred gulped. It was going to be a tiring day.

Talk after talk, speech and updates floated by and although his hands were writing his notes and his voice kept him engaged in conversation, his heart had decided to tether his brain to the thought of Kiku. The beauty who was sitting on his left. Already Kiku had resigned himself to a conversation between China and South Korea and was looking adequately bored over the talk of generic ocean trade talks. Coughing as inconspicuously as possible Alfred signalled to his partner and took his hand under the table, smoothing his thumb to reassure him of the time not being wasted. Both had shuffled in the movement and although Alfred was rambling on in response to something Arthur had spoken, the ever diligent Matthew noticed such a carelessly romantic gesture. Canada had been seated on Alfred’s right, and with only a second to glance at what had occurred he snorted and rolled his eyes before nudging his brother in utter glee. He was happy his overly ambitious brother found something as calming as a relationship for his very hectic lifestyle.

Matthew whispered to his brother and bordering Ally, “Congrats Alfie, however, If you think you’re being smooth you’re- as usual- idiotic.”

“You’re just jealous Gilbert is stuck in Germany holding the fort. Anyway, when were you gonna tell me Japan asked you for permission huh?t” with a shrug and a  kick to his knee under the table the two merely laughed it off, Francis and Arthur were confused at the NA brothers sudden cheeriness. Noticing this, Kiku turned to his secret partner, squeezing his hand tight enough that Alfred nearly yipped when he went to turn to him:

“I’m not sure if your conversation with Matthew-san is appropriate right now.” Matthew gave a sheepish glance as if to say sorry but suddenly just as the 3 of them tried to get back to task Francis had enough of missing out on a joke before quizzically pushing in to ask rather loudly.

“May I know what was not appropriate? It’s rude to leave friends out of a conversation is it not?” next to him even the Englishman nodded, interested in what was going on and before Alfred could deflect he hear a subtle Japanese swear roll of Kiku’s breath and something he thought he’d never hear even within his long-ass lifetime:

“I was telling Matthew how my relationship with Alfred was not of matter as of this moment.”

The room fell into silence. America’s suit felt too tight and he was unsure if it was the nerves of so many countries falling to a standstill or if it was his heart pumping way too hard after hearing Kiku practically announce out their very private relations. In a bit of shock, Alfred had stood up hastily, but his laced hands with Kiku dragged the Japanese delegation up with him- making the situation look even more entertainingly obvious. With a loud slap on the table, Arthur pushed his chair out and stood up as well, the man had a very irked expression.

“How did you tell Matthew about this before me?!” At this point Francis had broken out into a wide mouth smile, still seated and leaned his head onto England’s hip while trying to soothe the seething British man with a couple pats on the back. The long-haired Frenchman calmed Arthur down, chattering away about the etiquette of young love and it’s failure to respect their elders. For once in his lifetime, it almost seemed like Arthur and Francis were a couple of genuine parents lamenting over a son who had eloped without any contact. They all sat down slowly and Kiku had already turned to sort out the gaping look from his Asian counterparts. The conversation ceased to exist as the situation dissolved back into the murmurs of the nations. Soon, the conference ended and as each country left with a joyful congratulatory smile over fruitful debate and strong handshakes with closed deals. Even his least friendly connections gave him a note of thanks and wishes for the best. He saw Arthur and Francis alongside Matthew gathering in one corner of the now empty room, whereas Kiku was purposely packing away at a snail’s pace, stalling till Alfred came over.

“Keeks. You didn’t….why did you do that?”

“It’s not a secret. You said you wanted me to tell your former mentors Alfred. They have a right to know.” The American squished the smaller man into a close hug and a chaste kiss on the forehead before hearing a distinct “ahem”. Shaking Kiku’s hand firmly, Arthur looked Japan up and down before smiling uncharacteristically and pulling him into a hug- catching an unaware Japan quite well. Granted he had known England for while but he never knew he would be greeted with such glee and care. France had given Kiku some good pats and a big hug before chanting some famous French proverb and singing a dilly-dallying rendition of “la vie en rose” much to England and Canada’s despair. The other NA brother merely nodded proudly at Kiku and the short man appreciated that; he had enough hugs for today honestly.

Meekly he commented, already pulled close by a bashful Alfred, “I hope this won't interfere any deals in the future, Mr England and Mr France.” but his serious tone was met with only more exhilarated kindness.

“Enough with formalities for now. Of Course not Kiku. Here we are no longer Countries but ourselves. It is not America and Japan who are together in the way Alfred and Kiku are. Don’t let work change that.” Not really understanding but still thankful for the sentiment, the couple bid the 3 other men off and hopped back onto a plane. This time it was bound for Japan, and Alfred had already packed a bag and Pochi was already running down the walkway of the plane. The 2 sat patiently together on the flight, bathing in each other’s solitude before being interrupted by Japan’s phone dinging erratically- Yao had been calling.

So much for being quiet about things, Alfred Mused as his now public boyfriend fumbled to pick up the call. He only hoped China didn’t mind that he never ask for permission to date Kiku.

Oh well.

[believeinthecheese]

FanFic - Broken Butterfly

I posted a link to this before, but never the actual fic, so here it is for people who prefer to read straight off of Tumblr. It’s an angsty little Bunny fic, read the tags for warnings.

Butters Stotch had never considered himself particularly lucky as a child, which is why he sometimes found it hard to believe his current situation. His parents may be abusive, his classmates may bully him, but none of that mattered because for the past three months he’d been hiding something wonderful from all of them. It had felt good having this secret to help him get through the bullshit at school and the abuse at home, keeping him from giving up because now he had something to look forward to. That was all about to change though because he’d decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag.

Kenny McCormick was his boyfriend, and tonight Butters was going to tell his parents. They were nearly done with school, only a week left, and after graduation they would be heading to Denver together. Butters was going to college there, to study horticulture, and Kenny was going to jump straight into working, so he could keep supporting his sister. He had a job and an apartment lined up already, and Butters had received his acceptance letter last night. That was what prompted the decision to tell his parents; they had everything ready to go, all that was left was to rip off this one particularly difficult bandaid. He smiled to himself, round cheeks turning pink, as he thought about his boyfriend. Kenny was, as far as Butters was concerned, one of the most beautiful people he’d ever met. There was his physical beauty - messy blonde hair that had darkened to a rich gold as he got older, a dazzling smile with the cutest gap between his front teeth, and bright indigo eyes that looked almost violet in the right light and were always sparkling with laughter. Beyond that though, he had the shiniest heart and soul Butters had ever seen. Whenever he looked at his boyfriend he swore he could see the innate goodness that was Kenny McCormick radiating from inside, making him a beacon of light that Butters couldn’t help but be drawn to. The bell rang, startling Butters from his thoughts. He jumped up and quickly crammed his books and papers into his bag before hurrying out of the room, not wanting to leave Kenny waiting for too long before they walked home together. “Ken!” He cried out, seeing his boyfriend leaning casually against his locker, “You waited for me!" Kenny laughed and ruffled his hair, “Butterfly, class only let out a few minutes ago and you ran all the way here, look at you all out of breath and red-faced. What’s got you so excited?” “Well, uh, I’m gonna tell my parents about you tonight,” He explained quietly, “And that I’ll be moving out straight after graduation.” Kenny’s lips thinned as he pressed them together tightly to keep from loudly protesting. It’s not that he didn’t want to be out in the open with his little Butterfly. Heck, he’d have shouted it from the rooftops the second Butters had said yes if he could’ve, but it had been his idea to keep things quiet in the first place. The other blonde, bless his heart, had such a positive outlook on life, despite all his hardships, that it never occurred to him just how badly coming out to his parents could go. His parents who had a history of trying to murder him, abusing him, and chaining him in the basement - all of which Kenny had heard Butters try to explain away on numerous occasions. Very few things actually scared Kenny, but the thought of what might happen when Stephen Stotch found out his son was gay and dating someone like him was terrifying. “Don’t look so worried Ken, it’ll be alright!” Butters grinned at him and hugged his arm tight, “Walk me home ok?” “Walk you home? I want to go inside with you, make sure nothing happens.” “Don’t be silly,” he giggled, “They might yell a bit and ground me, but if they do I’ll just sneak out the window and go to your place.” They didn’t talk for a while after that, Butters happily lacing their fingers together and skipping along humming to himself, while Kenny was deep in thought. As they approached the little blonde’s house, he cleared his throat and moved to hold both Butters hands in his. “Butters… you know your parents… ugh, never mind. Just, call or text me immediately afterwards alright. I don’t care how late it is, I won’t go to sleep until I hear from you.” “Of course Ken Doll.” Butters couldn’t kiss him, it was too risky this close to his house, so instead he brought his own fingers to his lips and kissed them. It was a little signal they had worked out early on in the secret relationship. A way to show affection without touching each other. And with that, he giggled and ran off home, leaving Kenny standing on the sidewalk with a dark feeling of dread twisting in his gut. Much as he wanted to stay, just in case Butterfly needed his help, he was due at work soon and he couldn’t afford to miss any shifts when their plan was so close to fruition. He sighed and promised himself that if Butters didn’t text him he’d come back later that night. *** Butters didn’t text him. There was a strict no phones policy at work, so he’d had to leave it in his locker during his shift. The whole time he’d been hoping to come back to a message from his love, but when he checked his phone there was nothing. He didn’t panic though. It was still early, only just past 8pm. Perhaps Butters decided not to tell them until after dinner and was just now sitting down to talk with them. Still it was odd that there were no messages from the little blonde at all, and when he tried to call it went straight to voicemail. He decided he needed to stop off at the Stotch house on the way home from work, for his own peace of mind. On the trip over he tried and failed to stop his mind from concocting all sorts of horrific scenarios. Butters could be hurt, or dead, and he’d known something was wrong but still let him go into that house alone. If anything had happened to his boyfriend it was on him. As images of Butters broken and bloody body flooded his mind he broke out into a desperate sprint, arriving in record time. The lights were all off and the house was dead silent. Undeterred, Kenny scaled the wall towards Butters window, an act he was well-practiced in after months of sneaking around. To his dismay the window was locked and the curtains drawn so tight he couldn’t glimpse inside the room no matter how hard he tried. He tapped gently on the glass, hoping to get Butters attention but not wanting to make too much noise in case it woke his parents. No response. Kenny continued to sit outside Butters window, perched precariously on the barely big enough windowsill, unsure of what to do next. Eventually he realised that, unless he wanted to wake up Butters parents, he was out of options and would have to wait until the next day to find out what was going on. Leaping from the window to the ground in a dramatic, Mysterion-esque display, Kenny kicked angrily at a snowdrift and threw one last glare at the silent Stotch house before heading home. True to his promise he didn’t sleep a wink that night. He made sure his little sister, Karen, had something to eat for dinner and got all her homework done before sending her off to bed. Then he sat by his window with his phone in hand, and just stared into the night as he waited for Butters to message him. He didn’t even realise how long he’d been sitting there, unmoving, until the twinkling stars gave way to the soft gray of pre-dawn. When the sun finally starts to peek over the horizon he broke, sobbing into his hands as all the tears and fears he’d been holding back come pouring out in one heartbroken flood. *** Kenny didn’t allow himself to breakdown for long. After crying his eyes out at the window, he wiped his face on his sleeve and got ready for school, formulating the beginnings of a plan in his mind. He didn’t know what misfortune had befallen Butters, but he was going to find out and he was taking back up with him. The air was chilly, laden with the lingering frost of early morning, as he stalked purposefully to the bus stop. He was a man on a mission, and the few people milling about on the street were quick to dart out of his way as he came thundering through. “Guys!” He broke out into a run as he spotted the four familiar figures standing in a row at the bus stop, “I need your help with something!” They stared at him as he came skidding to a stop in front of them, eyes fiery and determined. He barely paused before launching into the story, leaving out no details, no longer worried about keeping his relationship a secret if only it meant getting his Butters back. He told them of the months spent sneaking around, the plans they’d set in motion for the future, his fears about Butters coming out to his parents, all culminating in Butters disappearance. A silence fell over the group as he finished his tale and after a few tense minutes he turned to leave, feeling he would not be getting any help from his friends after all. A hand reached out and landed heavily on his arm, grabbing his sleeve and yanking him back towards the others. “I guess we’d better help you rescue your pussy boyfriend from his piece of shit parents then Poor Boy.” *** The Night Before Butters flinched as a dinner plate narrowly missed his head and smashed against the wall behind him. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to come out during dinner, when there were so many potential projectiles within his father’s reach. “You want to repeat what you just said to me, you little shit!” His dad roared, while his mum stood by placidly. “W..w…well sss…sir,” the trembling teen stammered, “I w-was just sayin’, that is, I… I…” “Spit it out!” Butters took a deep breath and straightened his back. He could do this, all he had to do was think of Kenny and their plans. His father couldn’t control him any more, he was going to be free and happy, there was nothing that could stop him. “I’m gay!” He shouted hurriedly, “I’m gay and I’m dating Kenny McCormick and after graduation we’re moving away. I’m going to study plants and build a life with my boyfriend!” He grinned as a weight lifted off his shoulders at the conclusion of his rushed and somewhat inelegant speech. “Ah… I don’t need you to accept me, but it sure would be nice if ya did dad… mum… I just…” Stephen Stotch took a step towards his son, and Butters trailed off as he realised things were about to go south fast. His father’s expression was thunderous, and a quick glance at his mother revealed he’d be getting no help from her. He reached forward to grab his phone off the dining table so he could make a hasty retreat, but he wasn’t quick enough. Stephen’s hand closed around Butter’s narrow wrist tight enough to bruise, yanking him forward and making him lose his balance. While he struggled to find his feet, his father picked up his phone with a menacing smirk and started dragging him towards the nearby basement door. “MOM!” He shrieked, “HELP ME!” His pleas landed on deaf ears, as his mother calmly turned and walked upstairs, choosing deliberate ignorance to what was occurring. No one was there to help Butters as his father wrenched the basement door open and attempted to pull his son down the stairs. Butters was fighting for his life and managed to hook his free hand on the doorframe, but it only delayed the inevitable. Stephen brought his fist, the one clenched around Butters phone, down on his son’s hand again and again.  Butters shrieked again, this time in pain, as he was forced to let go of the doorframe and his father, now enraged beyond belief, threw him down into the basement. His head bounced off the stairs with a sickening crack, and as he stretched his right arm out to stop his fall it twisted under him, the bone snapping loudly. He let out a single, piercing scream, his voice breaking with the intensity, then lay on the basement floor in shock. He was unable to move his broken body, but his eyes followed his father, still standing at the top of the stairs glaring down at his son. Stephen was suddenly calm, as if the sight of Butters drained all the anger from his body. He laughed and threw the now broken phone to the floor, then moved to close the door. “D-dad?!” Butters called out hoarsely, “Don’t leave me here!” There was no response as the door clicked shut, leaving Butters in complete darkness. “…Dad?” *** For all the misfortune Kenny faced in life, he got pretty lucky in the friend department. Sure, they were assholes, but they always had his back. Even after dropping a bomb on them like he did that morning, they still rallied behind him as they stormed towards the Stotch house. Once they got past the fact that Kenny “boobs are awesome” McCormick was actually bi and dating the most naive person in town, they were all too ready to ditch school and go threaten Butters parents with him. “Ok,” Kyle planned quickly as they walked, “I’ve got my phone ready to call my dad, in case we need a lawyer, and Stan’s phone is set to call 911. Cartman’s is already recording, so we’ll have everything on record. Kenny, let us do the talking, you just focus on getting into the house and finding Butters. Cartman will hold Mr Stotch back if need be.” Kenny nodded, his expression solemn. He didn’t need to be told to focus on finding Butters, that was his number one priority. They approached the Stotch house and took a moment to mentally steel themselves for the task ahead. “Try not to lose your cool. Don’t get yourself arrested ok,” Stan lay a reassuring hand on Kenny’s arm, “We’re here for you.” “I’m not taking any heat for this, if you do something stupid then I’m bailing and going home, screw you guys! So don’t fuck it up cause I don’t wanna have to ditch you.” Cartman added, acting tough. Kenny gave a small smile as his friends offered their words of support, albeit hidden under a very thick layer of bullshit in Cartman’s case. He clenched his fists and approached the front door, hearing the three other boys following close behind. He suddenly felt like a small child again, but that was ok because he’d been fearless back then and he would be fearless again now. For Butters. He knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately. “Shouldn’t you boys be in school?” Linda Stotch answered, looking like she’d been up all night. Her hair was a tangled mess, her make up running, and her eyes wild. “We’re looking for Butters ma’am?” Cartman stepped forward, his voice honeyed in a well-practiced act of manipulation. “Oh, Butters, yes,” her reply was airy and she seemed somewhat absent, “He’s gone.” “Gone where!” Kenny stepped forward, half shoving himself through the door. It was then that Stephen Stotch decided to make his appearance, guiding his wife away from the entrance as he attempted to force the irate teenager back onto the stoop. “The ungrateful little turd ran away and he won’t be coming back! We don’t know where he is and we don’t care. Now get off my property!” Kenny stared into Stephen’s eyes and knew the truth, “He’s lying, Butters is here guys.” “Are you sure dude?” Kyle asked. “I’m positive.” The red-head nodded at Cartman to initiate their plan, and the large boy was only too happy to oblige, surging forward and forcing the door open as he used brute strength to pin Mr Stotch to the nearest wall. The older man struggled, but was no match for the sheer size and power that was Eric Cartman. Without hesitating Kenny rushed into the house, eyes darting around at the mess of shattered plates in the dining room. He spotted Linda standing off to the side and ran towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring at her with pleading eyes. “Please,” he begged, “Please, I know he’s here. Where is he? Please tell me.” She said nothing, but her unfocused gaze drifted towards the basement door and Kenny was off like a shot. He threw open the door and flew down the stairs, collapsing to his knees next to the shivering, bloodied, unresponsive body of his lost boyfriend. “Butters,” he sobbed, “Oh god… STAN CALL 911, WE NEED AN AMBULANCE!” “K.. Ken?” “Shhhhhh,” Kenny leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Butters', “It’s ok Butterfly, I’m here, you’re safe.” “I knew you’d find me.” The two teens lay there, foreheads pressed together and tears mingling, as the distant sounds of sirens filled the air, signalling that the nightmare was over.

[lokilickedme]

Hello My Lady! Just because you asked, here are my faves of yours: #1 King (no surprise here), #2 Jack (too crazy not to love, and the stream crossing of pretty much all your stories is genius) #3 Chem/BD/TTW/TKH/TWK/can't remember them all. They're all special in their own way! Can't believe it'll be 3yrs soon since I started squatting your page!!! God time goes by fast! I'd like to add a special mention for the Muse Meetings, sooo funny, and a Golden Snowflake to Aleks. Cute little bumkin.

Thank you @fudgemuffinanon!  Dear god, has it been that long?  Seems like I joined up last year…*sits here blinking at my posts from 2015, wondering how that happened*

**LONG TEXT POST COMING UP**

You drew the lucky straw today my darling, I’m feeling wordy and in the mood to share.  A lot of people have asked me over the last couple of years how some of my stuff came about, and you mentioned one that gets a lot of asks.

Lemme tell you something about the Muse Meetings.  Way back in 1998 when I got my first computer, one of the very first things I ran across by way of internet fanfiction was a little something called The Very Secret Diaries penned by a writer named Cassandra Claire (who is now professionally published under the name Cassandra Clare).  The Very Secret Diaries (which are hilarious, btw) woke something up in me - mainly because, as a lifelong writer who had never allowed anyone to read 95% of my work, I finally realized that yeah, there were other people out there whose brains deviated from the standard in the same way mine did.  Her writing style back then (in the Diaries specifically, I’ve never actually read anything else she’s written) was very similar to the way I wrote, and those Diaries were exactly the sort of silly, ridiculous, irreverent thing I’d scribbled in my notebooks for most of my life.  And people liked it, she had a huge following based on just those out-of-context glimpses of her characters’ personal thoughts.  She was writing behind the scenes thoughts of characters, things that would never make it into books, and it was brilliant.  That was the kind of stuff I loved to write but had never given myself permission to show anyone.  She was showing hers to people, and they were loving it.

Which gave me the inspiration to not only put my work out there in the public eye for the first time ever, but to stick with my personal writing style (which I’d always assumed wasn’t what other people wanted to read, based on the books I’d been exposed to most of my life).  Not change anything.  Just do me.  And doing me meant writing silly nonsense if I wanted to.

So - The Very Secret Diaries are more or less the inspiration for the Muse Meetings, or at least the official written version of them.  I’d always imagined dialogues with my characters outside the confines of whatever story I was working on, but never thought anyone else would be interested in seeing me write it out.

The Diaries made me realize different.  Not only were her characters yammering and complaining and snarking at each other (both out of character and in), they were doing it in exactly the way I’d imagined my own characters interacting in the real world.  I loved it.  Seeing someone else do what I’d always done in my head - and do it in an official, out-there-in-the-public-eye capacity, was a revelation.  Finally I was able to give myself permission to write the way I wanted to, without restricting myself to the styles and methods in the books in the family library.  It had always been in my head, but now it didn’t have to stay there.  I could write proper stories, but I could also write what was going on in the other room, where the reader seldom gets to peek.  And other people besides myself might like it because hey, there’s precedent.

That was freeing, and I am grateful to Ms Claire for that.

So, a little history that leads up to how and why I finally started writing out the Muse Meetings:

My first fandoms that I wrote for online were Harry Potter and Star Wars (Kenobi specifically).  And yes, way back then (late 90′s - early 2000′s) there were already muse meetings among my characters.  I’ve been doing these for a long time, and I wish the out-of-character stuff I’d written back then still existed (my HP stuff bit the dust when The Restricted Section shut down, and my SW stuff was on FF.net for a little while but honestly I don’t remember my user ID there or the titles of the fics, though I have searched…so they’re most likely lost as well).  It’s sort of a shame because there were some old Anakin/Obi-Wan muse meetings that you guys would have loved…and the stuff between Remus and Sirius while we were hashing out what was going to be in their next chapter?  It still pains me that it’s all lost, but maybe it’s for the best.  That was nearly two decades ago, we move on to bigger and (hopefully) better things.

After my urge to write HP fic fizzled out I stopped writing for a while, but there were always muse meetings going on in my head for stories I scribbled mentally.  To me they’ve always been more fun than the actual stories, which explains my love for gag reels and behind-the-scenes featurettes for movies (I watch those first, always).

And then I found AO3 - funnily enough, I discovered it while searching the internet for one of my lost HP fics - and I decided to start writing in earnest again.  With all those thousands and thousands of fics and endless fandoms, it seemed like the perfect place to indulge my need to share what went on in my head.  And as I settled into the MCU and my stories started to grow to include multitudes of characters, those impromptu staff meetings with my muses kept being called to order.  Stuff that my characters would never say in the context of their stories got said.  Scenarios that were too ridiculous to waste time writing were played out.  Arguments and fights and bantering between characters who, in the restrictive confines of their own tales, would never in a million years interact…now they were throwing poptarts at each other (and occasionally knives) while the side characters wandered out of the room to watch TV or raid the fridge or sat in horror as someone’s until-now unassuming wife brandished a melon baller as a weapon.

It was messy and fun and was by far my favorite part of the writing process.

That’s what eventually became the Muse Meetings.  You want to know how they escaped my head and became an official thing?

Well I’m gonna tell ya lol

One of my very first friends in here, the fantastic @elvenfair1, was one of my first readers at AO3 and she told me I should post links to my fics at this site called tumblr to bring in a bigger audience.  So I opened an account here, followed her, posted some links as suggested, and she and I began messaging back and forth pretty much every night as we wrote our respective fics, bouncing ideas off each other and discussing plot points and brainstorming for character names.  And as my characters sassed me and refused to cooperate with what I wanted them to do, I would tell elvenfair what was going on in my head with my dumbass OCs and OFCs and we’d laugh and gripe about trying unsuccessfully to reel in our unruly muses.

And then one night back in 2015 she said “You should post this muse stuff, it’s hilarious.”

You know what the first thing I thought was?  Cassandra Claire did it 14 years ago and people loved it.  So yeah, I can sure as hell do it if I want.  If nobody is interested in it, at least it’ll amuse me and elvenfair and that’s cool enough.

And so I did.  I started posting them in here first, then as people started requesting them more I eventually moved them to AO3 in a more structured format.  And now you guys have multiple Lokis hurling curses at a bartender and viciously baiting a hapless movie star while teenage versions of two other attendees flirt with unsuspecting OFCs, with an occasional appearance by Thor dropping hints about future chapters and looking for fruit roll-ups.  It’s messy, but it’s fun and I’ve always enjoyed writing it as a way to let my brain decompress, especially when one of my “real” stories has hit a roadbump.

Since then I’ve seen countless other professional writers doing the exact same thing - J.R. Ward even posts her own version of muse meetings on her official website AND has a published book (her Insiders Guide) that is almost entirely nothing BUT muse meetings.   It’s surprising how many writers actually do this and I sometimes wonder if authors like Poe, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Tolkien, Gaiman, McMurtry didn’t do it themselves (I’d bet money on McMurtry).  Just goes to show there’s not an original idea anywhere in the universe…no matter how much you might believe you came up with it first, someone out there has been doing it for a long damn time before you - and a million more will do it after you :)

Anyway, I haven’t written any muse meetings in a while but they still go on constantly in my head.  I get asked about once a week to go back to doing them, and one day I will, when I have time for it.  My actual fics are struggling for writing time as it is and I made a conscious decision to weed out the unnecessary stuff in favor of “real work” (yeah right lol)…but yeah, the Meetings are still one of my favorite things and I won’t stop doing them permanently - they’ll be back.

So thank you Cassandra Claire for inspiring me to let them fly…if it weren’t for those whacked-out Diaries, the Muse Meetings would all still be in my head with only one person (me) laughing at them.

[segadores-y-soldados]

Fic Updates

Hola, hola!

This here is JUST the fic update information for my fics “Old Habits” and “New Wars” (aka the “And Overwatch For All” series).  The short version goes like this:

Moira has been integrated into the overarching plot of “And Overwatch For All”

All the OCs have survived.  Or well.  They survived only to die.  You get what I mean.

Major changes have occurred to Gabriel/Reaper’s backstory.  This is the big one that is causing me to take the time to rework things.

Because of this, I am currently rewriting major portions of Old Habits.  Yesterday, I finished a major rewrite of chapter 10 (the “evil council is introduce” chapter).  I have the majority of chapter 11′s rewrite done and hope to finish that today as well.  With luck, I will start working on a rewrite of Chapter 13.

Shockingly, I’m keeping a lot of the “present day” plot elements the same (aka, all the stuff leading up to Recall), with minor changes to the Eichenwalde battle to fit in “Honor and Glory.”

More under the cut!

For those of your who have been waiting patiently for information on “And Overwatch for All” I do have some good news that I’m finally ready to share:

Moira has been integrated into the plot.

I got a number of comments here and on twitter that were really supportive of my current version of “AOFA” and I just want to say, thank you all so much.  It means a lot to me that you guys have liked the version of Overwatch I’ve built up and that you found all the characters, including my silly OCs, to be engaging and well-written.  It was soul-crushing to think I would have to lose some of them, but after some time and doing more research on Moira, I feel ready to talk more about her and how she’s going to factor into the updated plot.

To start off with:

None of the OCs will be cut, but some of their roles will change.

Lmao, this surprised me as well, but I’ve figured out a few different ways to make all of the OCs, especially the very obviously contrived “Death Agents,” stick around in the updated plot.

Only one OC (and you can probably guess who, if you’ve started “New Wars”) will change names: the character called “Reaper” in “New Wars Chapter 1″ (the “young Hanzo chapter”) will be called “Reaver.”  This is due to his updated role in the plot.  His background has changed only slightly.

If it wasn’t apparent, this “Reaper” was meant to act as a plot device to cause confusion over Gabriel/Reaper’s actions after the fall of Overwatch, but that has changed because:

I’m switching to Crisis-era and “undercover mercenary” Reaper.

THIS ISN’T A SPOILER FOR MY OWN STUFF, I PROMISE.

This is revealed as early as Old Habits “revised chapter 2.”

If you’ve read some of my more recent posts on Moira, you’ll know that I’ve switched over to supporting the idea that “something went wrong with Gabriel Reyes during SEP/the Crisis.”  This is due to the fact that you can find a folder labeled “Soldier ID: 24″ in Moira’s Oasis lab, that Michael Chu said that Reyes was interested in getting her help on “matters of genetics,” and that this appears to mesh the “Reaper has existed for decades” concept in Reaper’s hero profile.

Truth be told, I’ve actually been a supporter of this idea of “Gabriel has been Reaper behind the scenes for decades” plot point for a long, long time, almost as long as I’ve been posting Old Habits.  “Reaper”/“Reaver” was semi-messy OC that attempted to bridge Reaper’s original hero profile with the “Old Soldiers” explanation that Gabriel/Reaper gave that “Jack and Overwatch ‘left [him] to suffer.’”  However, I also knew when writing Old Habits that the “Mercy is evil” theory was ALSO not true, so I was kinda stuck:

“If Gabriel = Reaper for decades, why did he appear to blame Jack and Overwatch for his current condition?”

My original solution was to make “Reaper” a different character and have him operating the situation in the background (like a mystery story), but over time this solution got trickier and trickier to work with.  With Moira, I have a chance to rework much of Old Habits/AOFA to better suit some of the details that have come out since drafting it.

This does mean, unfortunately, that all the “76+127″ content is going to become its own, standalone series.

To switch over to integrating “Soldier: 24,” the “76+127″ stories will have to become their own standalone series.  Don’t worry - I’m not deleting anything.  Old content from “Old Habits” will be moved to their own fics, so you can read the whole thing in chronological order.

A new version of my updated ideas on SEP has already started being drafted.  Writing it out is just a matter of time at this point, haha.

The conspiracy/Talon council “mysteries” will become more transparent almost immediately.

With Moira, I finally get the chance to explore some of my ideas in “full format” instead of the kinda awkward “Sombra hacking a chat log” parts yall originally got.  This DOES mean that written portions will suddenly be much, MUCH longer.  For example:

Old Habits original chapter 10 (Sombra hacks an SSO chat log): 17 pages

Old Habits revised chapter 10 (Moira discusses the Route 66 battle with council members + Sombra hacks a chat log): closer to 34 pages

The explosion fight has been changed.

Because of the changes to Gabriel’s plot, the nature of the explosion fight between him and Jack has changed significantly.  It does incorporate new information that Moira revealed.

If it wasn’t obvious, I’ve had a draft version of my ideas for the fight sitting in GDocs for about a year now, and I use that for all my flashback/memories, and also for when Reaper and Soldier: 76 are arguing in the present.  There was a major plot point in the explosion fight that I was extremely uncomfortable with, but found it to be “solid angst material.”  In retrospect, I dislike this plot point and have removed it for another plot point that sits better with me, and fits the overall story more comfortably (I think).

So yes, I DO have a new draft of the explosion fight - written completely from scratch, 100% different in tone and emotionality.  Parts of this should begin to show in updates to Chapter 13, when Soldier: 76/Jack reflects on some of the fight.

The Goal:

The goal for AOFA right now is to update Old Habits in “two big batches” - update the first half (Chapters 1 - 15) within 1 - 2 weeks, and then update the second half (Chapters 16 - 31) shortly after.  Optimistically, before January, but realistically, closer to late-January/early-February.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to notify people of changes to an AO3 chapter that’s already posted...through AO3, so for now, please keep and eye on my tumblr and twitter accounts, where I will start linking to updated/changed chapters there.  I will likely also put up a “placeholder chapter” on “New Wars” with all this information, where you can find links to updated chapters in both “Old Habits” and “New Wars,” but if anyone has better suggestions, I’m all ears.

Thank you all so much for your patience!  I hope I can start putting up some of these changed chapters soon!

[aceofstars16]

Making Amends

My secret santa present for a fellow fan on tumblr! The prompt was “Bhatair/Velvare giving a speech from a balcony on Christmas Day, with Avidan.”  

I kind of expanded on it a lot but...it was fun to write and I finished it kind of in time, yay!

dA post

Fic below the cut:

Once upon a time, Avidan had enjoyed Velvare’s Christmas speeches. They lifted his spirits and gave him hope about the coming season. That maybe this year Velvare would pay more attention to him. Just maybe it might feel a little more like a home in the mansion. But as the years went by, his hope dwindled. All the hours waiting for Velvare to come have hot coco only to end up tossing the cold drink into the sink. The mornings of waking up early only to find a present outside of the room with Velvare nowhere to be found – most likely at the orphanage. All the nights walking through the streets, seeing families run around in excitement for Christmas, an excitement Avidan rarely felt. The only times Christmas was enjoyable was when he visited with Noah. But even then, he left the house feeling slightly empty. So the joy of the holidays bounced off of Avidan. If he ever felt a glimmer of enthusiasm he would force it away. Why get excited when he would only be disappointed again?

This year was different. Now Avidan didn’t just feel forgotten and disheartened. He felt guilty. Noah’s impulsive plan almost got Velvare killed, and Avidan had been a part of it. Not only that but now his adoptive father was pushing him away more than ever before. Avidan wanted to make up for it, but what could he do? And did he really want to, after all the years Velvare had simply used him for power?

Yes. He still did. Because despite all of the pain, all of the logic screaming inside his brain, Avidan still cared about Velvare. He was the only father he knew after all.

“So this year, let us all remember what…what is important.”

As Velvare spoke, his voice cracked – a very uncharacteristic thing for him. Avidan knew why. Of course Velvare would be missing Enel. Not missing…mourning. It was hard to mourn for the boy that had only become a pain in Avidan’s side, but if he thought about it enough, it did hurt.

“Merry Christmas to all. May this year be brighter and…more joyful than all the years before. “

Velvare turned and caught Avidan’s eye. Avidan tried to smile, but Velvare barely seemed to acknowledge him, he just nodded and walked down the steps. Still as distant as ever.

Avidan sighed. If he didn’t do something, this Christmas would be the worst Christmas yet. But what could he really do?

Families left the square, heading to their respective homes. Kids ran in front of parents, screaming and laughing in delight. As Avidan watched, he saw two kids playing. One was running away while the other threw snow at his friend. A small smile started creeping up on Avidan’s face. He tried to force it away, but as he did, he was reminded of when he was little and he had done the same to Enel. The smallest spark of an idea formed in his mind. Maybe…just maybe…

The next few days, Avidan busied himself with finding everything he needed. A fancy new book filled with blank pages. High quality ink and sketching pencils. A few scraps of fabric and other various things here and there. When he wasn’t trying to keep an eye out for all of Gallitan’s political affairs, he was in his room, working on his project. As he worked, he found himself continually questioning the idea, but he ignored the cynicism. This was the only idea he had. It would have to do.

Christmas day arrived much like it always did. There was not much activity around the town. Most people were with their families. It was a peaceful kind of quiet that Avidan quite enjoyed. He stood in front of the window for a few moments, enjoying the serenity, then his eyes drifted towards the book. Picking it up, he flipped through the pages, a grimace growing on his face as he looked at the hastily drawn sketches and the messy handwriting. Memories of funny, annoying, and downright eyeroll worthy Enel moments. What had he been thinking?

Quickly closing it, he shook his head. He couldn’t give this to Velvare, maybe he’d give it to Aunt Savannah but it was too unprofessional for Velvare. He would just have to pick up something on the way to the orphanage. If any stores were even open…

Tucking the book under his arm, he rushed out of his room and headed to the front door, only to stop abruptly when he saw Velvare sitting in the living room. He looked up when Avidan entered and smiled – though it was a very forced smile.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Uh…Merry Christmas, Velvare,” Avidan stuttered back, trying to tuck the book away.

“A gift for someone?”

“Um…yeah it’s for uh…” Avidan trailed off. All he had to do was say it was for his aunt and rush off, but something was stopping him. A pull in his chest. Velvare was rarely home during Christmas, and he never looked this down. Plus, he was actually talking to Avidan again…

“It’s for you. I uh…just threw it together.”

Pulling the book from behind his back, Avidan walked forward and handed it to Velvare, who accepted it gently. Glancing at one of the reading couches, Avidan sat down hesitantly and watched as his adopted father flipped through the book.

At first, there was no reaction as Velvare scanned the pages. But as he stopped and started reading, a sadness washed over his face, deeper than the vague mask of emotion he had before.

Great…now I made Christmas even worse…Avidan thought dejectedly to himself.

But then he noticed the smallest smile growing on Velvare’s mouth. A genuine smile. Not something forced. One of his hands quickly swiped up and wiped at his eyes, but then he looked at Avidan.

“Thank you, Avidan,” he said quietly, his smile now directed at Avidan himself, not just at the book.

Avidan’s heart lifted. Could this Christmas be okay after all?

A laugh escaped Velvare as he flipped through the book. “The mud fight incident. I had to buy both of you new clothes after that.”

A small laugh escaped Avidan too. Sure, it hadn’t been the best time, but looking back on it…it hadn’t been quite so terrible as he might’ve played it out to be. “I didn’t want to go out in the rain ever again.”

Velvare nodded and flipped through the book some more. As it turned out, the day was filled with reminiscing about Enel. His silly adventures and downright Enel-ish mistakes. It wasn’t perfect. There were some tears, and they ended up not having any traditional Christmas food – aside from some orphanage cookies – but all in all, it wasn’t a bad Christmas.

[jii-chanwrites]

Prompt 112: "Why are you bleeding?"

I was asked on my main blog to do some prompts by @sofia-altin​ (thanks, yo! Hope you like it!), and I had actually made this writing blog weeks ago. I just haven’t had anything finished enough that I’d want to post – until now. And damn, does Tumblr ruin my formatting. Ngl, I don’t even wanna mess with it, it’s 3:00AM lol I’ll be posting other short fics in the future! Stay tuned, y’all.

Summary: Otabek’s trying to finish up his new mix for his next DJ venue when Yuri comes to his hotel after a scuffle that’s left him a little roughed up and mostly just wanting to be alone with his favorite person.

Clicking a few things on his laptop, Otabek put his headphones on and leaned back against a stack of pillows. His new mix had to be finished by tomorrow. He had a gig set up for him late at night he was going to DJ at. It’d been a while since he’d done any shows, and he was a little nervous. But at least he was comfy.

Hotel beds always somehow felt better than Otabek’s bed at home. Something about how plush everything was – the way his head sunk into the airy pillows, the way the sheets felt light and cozy, the way he could feel himself fully relax into the mattress. Yeah, that was much better than his bed at home. Not to mention, the hotel was quieter. But sometimes he did miss the bustle of his family. Traveling around for the season had its ups and downs, and missing his sister was always what got him the most.

Otabek shut his eyes, turning the volume up with the little button on the side of his headphones. He had to make sure this was perfect. People were gonna be dancing to this at the club.

Buzz.

Flinching, he opened his eyes. A text? Now? It could wait.

Buzz.

Buzz.

Buzz.

He sat up, pausing the track and then digging into his pocket for his phone. He wouldn’t be able to focus with it vibrating against his thigh. Scattered among some Snapchat and Instagram notifications were texts from Yuri. It was the night before a competition. There was no way he was nervous. Yuri Plisetsky doesn’t get nervous. The guy’s even said so himself. But maybe, for once, he was nervous.

Hey, can I come to your room?

I’ll even bring food.

Beka???

Answer the door, lazy ass.

Blinking, Otabek looked to the hotel door. He took off his headphones and then scooted off his spot at the center of the bed and waited, almost expecting another knock – that is, if Yuri had even knocked before. Wouldn’t be unlike Yuri to just text that he was there. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Otabek went to the door and opened it. Yuri stormed right in.

“Dude, look at your damn phone.” He walked right to the hotel room’s desk, setting down a large paper bag with an intricate red logo on it. He plopped into the chair before Otabek even had the door locked.

“Sorry, I was busy,” Otabek said. “I need to finish my mix by tomorrow night, so time isn’t exactly on my side.”

“Oh. Right,” Yuri looked away, shoulders sagging. “Shit. Uh, I should probably leave.”

Just as he was getting up, Otabek had made his way over to Yuri, setting gentle hands on his arms.

“Wait a sec, are you bleeding?” Otabek asked, trying to get a better look at Yuri’s face. For once, Yuri’s newfound height wasn’t exactly on his side. Not like he was trying to hide it, though. Part of him just didn’t want Otabek to ask.

“It’s not a big deal.” Yuri waved his hand dismissively and then went to grab the bag.

“What happened?” Otabek pressed.

“Nothing, okay? It’s fine, I’ll go. You’re busy anyway.”

“Yuri, it’s not fine. Sit back down.” Otabek pressed at Yuri’s chest, almost having to shove his friend back into the chair.

Yuri let himself collapse into the swivel chair, sighing. His gaze finally fell directly on Otabek.

“Let’s just say I had a little altercation.” Yuri’s shoulders shook with a small laugh. His eyes trailed away from Otabek when he realized his friend wasn’t finding it funny.

“Jeez,” Otabek breathed. “And the night before the competition, too.”

He leaned in, looking over Yuri’s face. Otabek couldn’t tell if Yuri’s nose was still bleeding, but he had a cut on his cheek, too. It seemed Yuri had tried to use his shirt to do something about the blood from the nosebleed, because his shirt collar was red and there was some blood on his chin and smudged against his collar bone and neck. He was only relieved his friend didn’t have a black eye. That would be tougher to hide.

“What happened?” Otabek asked.

Yuri looked down, shoving his hands into the pockets of his joggers.

“Some fuckers were harassing this girl and I confronted them,” Yuri said. “I guess I at least gave her enough time to get away from them.”

Otabek looked down at Yuri, sighing. He sat down at the foot of the bed, across from the swivel chair.

“I actually thought you might’ve caused some trouble. That seems more likely, honestly,” Otabek joked, smiling.

Yuri shot him a scowl.

“I’m not always being a jerk,” he said through his teeth.

Otabek leaned forward, getting a better look at Yuri’s face again.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Not really. I guess if I put too much pressure on it, it would.”

“Must look worse than it is,” Otabek said, getting up from the bed. “What’d you get us?” He asked as he flicked the bathroom light on. Pulling tissues out of the dispenser by the sink, he crumpled a few in his hand and turned on the faucet.

“Chinese takeout. Hope you like spicy Szechuan chicken. You don’t have a consistent order for Chinese, so sorry if you hate it. Guess that means more for me. At least I won’t get fat like Katsudon.” Otabek could hear Yuri’s throaty laugh from the bathroom. When he came back, Yuri was slouched in the chair, already peeling the bag open.

“Don’t eat yet, I’m gonna wipe your face,” Otabek said, standing over him.

“I can do that myself,” Yuri said, reaching out for the damp clump of tissues.

Otabek grabbed Yuri’s wrist, looking at his knuckles.

“Looks like you actually got some hits in. Do your hands feel okay?”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. Really.”

Nodding, Otabek let go of Yuri’s hand and cupped his chin instead, stubble digging into the pads of his fingers. He rubbed at Yuri’s nose and upper lip, feeling warmth rush to his own face. Something about looking roughed up made Yuri look more like himself. Otabek didn’t always like Yuri’s aggression, but it was definitely part of the guy. And even though this was a strange opportunity, Otabek was letting himself enjoy it. Usually, if he was this close to Yuri’s face, it didn’t last too long. If not for the blood, he might have leaned in and stolen a kiss or two. But it seemed more like he was smudging the blood on Yuri’s face than actually cleaning it off. He’d probably need to get more tissues to actually help. For a quick second, Yuri shut his eyes, scrunching up his face and letting out a grunt.

“Sorry, did that hurt?” Otabek asked, dabbing at Yuri’s face a few more times.

“Just quit it, I’m fine.” Yuri pushed Otabek’s hand away, turning to the desk.

“Okay. You should shave before the competition tomorrow, though,” Otabek said. He tossed the bloodied tissues into the waste basket and returned to the bathroom to wash his hands.

“You’re not my mom, shut up,” Yuri spat. Otabek felt a smile tug at his lips. This was as close to verbal affection as Yuri ever got.

The bed creaked under Otabek’s weight as he sat back across from Yuri, this time facing Yuri’s back. He prodded the back of the chair with his foot.

“Hey, feed me, Tiger,” Otabek teased. His face sported a silly grin.

Yuri turned in the swivel chair, his face and neck red like when he’d get drunk.

“Don’t call me that,” he mumbled as he passed Otabek one of the white boxes packed to the brim with food.

They both sat quietly, hardly looking at each other. The only sounds were the white noise of the hotel’s AC unit and the munching of saucy chicken. Otabek was a little wary about eating something with such dark sauce over plain white sheets.

“The girl I helped earlier,” Yuri started, “she kinda reminded me of your little sister. Same wavy hair, y’know? I think I got a little carried away cuz of that.”

Yuri glanced up at Otabek, almost put off by his look of concern.

“What do you mean ‘carried away’? Am I gonna have to keep you hidden away from the police or something?” Otabek asked.

“You think guys preying on some teenage girl are gonna go to the cops for getting beat?”

“What’d you do to them?” Otabek shot the question out before Yuri really had time to think of something snide. He instead stabbed at his chicken with his fork.

“I broke a guy’s fingers, okay? Whatever.”

He shoved a hunk of chicken into his mouth before Otabek could ask anything else. But Otabek looked even more concerned.

“Seriously? Holy shit, Yura—”

“It wasn’t completely on purpose! The fight got messy and I grabbed his hand funny,” Yuri pushed the chair around with his heel to face the curtained windows, setting the takeout box down on the desk. “Is it bad that getting into a fistfight felt satisfying? Yakov and Lilia have been putting so much damn pressure on me lately, and I had no way to blow off steam this past month, it almost felt like the timing couldn’t have been better.”

Otabek thought for a second, then shrugged.

“No, I wouldn’t say it’s bad. And actually, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you could fight.”

“Shut up,” Yuri said. “Just work on your mix or whatever.” Yuri leaned back in the chair and toed his shoes off.

“You spending the night in my room?” Otabek asked.

“I’m at least gonna make myself comfortable for now. Shit, man, I got blood on this shirt and everything.” Yuri pushed himself out of the chair, walking to the bathroom. “Those ladies at the Chinese restaurant probably thought I was some thug. I’m surprised they didn’t kick me out.”

Otabek watched as Yuri leaned towards the mirror, inspecting his face. It would probably bruise by tomorrow. Lilia would give him an earful for that.

“I bet they get weirder people.” Otabek moved to set his box of chicken on the desk. He stole another gaze at Yuri, smiling.

“C’mere. Worry about that later,” he said, sitting back on the bed. He put his headphones back on and restarted his mix, getting comfy against the pillows like before.

Otabek felt the weight of the bed shift as Yuri got in next to him, sprawling out so his long legs hung off the end of the bed, cheek pressed to Otabek’s stomach.

“Hey, don’t get blood on my shirt now,” he said, running a hand through Yuri’s hair.

He couldn’t hear Yuri’s reply over his music, but the way he felt Yuri’s mouth move, it was probably another “shut up.”