#i hope this was good ;-; i've never written iris before

[maddieplum]

Floral Legacy Challenge

So a while back my computer died and I lost all of my saves and screenshots and because of that I haven't wanted to play in a while. However, recently to get myself back into the game I wrote a legacy challenge for myself based upon flower meanings. I have started playing it and really been enjoying it, so wanted to share with anyone who might be interested as well!

This is more of a story based legacy than a challenge one, with goals written more as guidelines for what story to tell in a given generation than objectives or challenges to complete. Each generation I have chosen 1-3 aspects of a flower's meaning to focus this story around and I've compiled them in a way where I think it makes sense how one generation leads to the next.

If you are interested, more is under the cut!

Sims 4 Floral Legacy Challenge:

Some housekeeping: As far as general rules go, make this your own! Traditional legacy rules need not apply unless you want them to. This is for my personal gameplay and if you want to do it, choose what rules you want to hold yourself to that will make the gameplay fun for you. I tend to use cheats in ways that make sense from a storytelling perspective (e.g. for the iris gen I will likely cheat to give a coworker the genius trait). You can also opt not to follow any of my generation guidelines if you don't want - just take what interests you!

The only required packs are Horse Ranch, Spa Day, and City Living, but I added optional and recommended goals incorporating packs I either already have or hope to buy. If you don't have the required packs you can still definitely play this by either skipping those gens or modifying them to fit what you can do. I would recommend using the generation theme written under the flower name to help guide you in your choices as well (these are the aspects of the flower meanings that I have chosen to focus on for each given generation).

And without further ado:

Gen 1: Bluebell -humble beginnings and everlasting love- Choose one of more of these traits: generous, good, loyal Career: something that means humility to you - ideas: education, gardener, barista/babysitter/other part time careers, self employed by selling collectibles Aspiration: Soulmate Style: any, but live whole life in a small home (not necessarily by the game's standard but no more than 3 bedrooms), blue should be a main color, stay away from pricey furniture as well

You are a simple sort of sim. All you ever wanted is a place to call home and someone to love. Moving to a new place was scary, but you think you are starting to figure it out. However, things get a little more complicated when a choice you make on a lonely night results in a surprise pregnancy. Even though you aren't sure you're ready for single parenthood, you are going to give it your best shot, you already love the kid to bits after all. Luckily, your kind neighbor is there to help out. Wait, they're kind of cute…

-Start on an empty lot or in an unfurnished house with 0 simoleons -Recommended: live in willow creek -Make money to build/furnish your house through your career -Have a child from a one night stand with someone you meet at a public lot before your house is fully finished (this is the next gen heir). -Never date your child's other parent but optionally remain good friends. -Err on the side of leniency as a parent (e.g. if you have parenthood, hug it out to discipline your kid, use the permissive family dynamic from growing together). -Fall and love and get married to one of your neighbors, completing the soulmate aspiration. Stay together in a happy marriage until death. -Optional: have 1-2 more kids with your spouse -Until you switch to the next gen, go on at least one date every week with your spouse.

Gen 2: Crocus -playful childishness- Recommended Traits: lazy, goofball, outgoing, family oriented, childish, cheerful Career: any except entertainer - do not reach level 10 in your career, continually neglect work tasks and goof off/socialize at work to lower work performance if need be - optional (or if laid off): switch careers several times Aspiration: Big happy family - optional: if you have high school years you can complete the live fast aspiration as a teen Style: any as long as its casual, shouldn't look too put together, t-shirts would be good

As a kid you were loved and admittedly somewhat spoiled by your doting parent. At times you neglected your responsibilities and your homework preferring to goof off with your many friends. Growing up… well, you never really did that did you? You did eventually get a job (even though you aren't the best employee) and you gave dating the old college try as well. Unfortunately, just like working, being in a relationship doesn't seem to come easily to you… Luckily though there is something you're good at: parenting. Being part kid yourself, you find it easy to connect to your many kids and you're always ready to cheer them up with a laugh when they are feeling down. That, at least, is something worth devoting your time too.

-Neglect homework as a child (optional: age up with the irresponsible trait if you have parenthood) but have several friends at school -Perform poorly in a career of your choice (NOT entertainer) - do not reach level 10 in any career (if you get close, lower job performance or quit and start a new job) -Live in childhood home until parents die or until you have too many kids for everyone to fit -Get divorced from / break up with every partner you have (your choice how many people to date, but must die single) -Have 3-6 kids - at least one should be adopted and one should be biologically yours but the exact ratio is up to you -Be best friends level with all kids -max out comedy skill -Complete happy family aspiration (may require temporarily returning to this gen after some kids are adults) -Optional: whenever someone leaves the household, get a pet so the household is continually at 8 members (the idea of this gen is cheerful chaos after all)

Gen 3: Dahlia -creativity and true love- Required traits: non commital, Recommended: creative, maker, art lover, green fiend Career: Something creative - recommended: making money through painting or fabrication or photography Aspiration: Any in the creativity category (or the jewelry one, which is IMO creative but not in that category) Style: Colorful and eclectic, feature warm colors and travel Knick knacks, bohemian

You grew up in a chaotic but joyful home surrounded by your siblings and raised by a parent who loved and accepted you as you were. Your creativity was able to bloom and flourish in this environment and you learned the value and power of familial love. However, you never quite understood romance in the same way as you watched your parent struggle to maintain a loving relationship. In high school you found someone special, but your relationship was too important to put through the trials of romance. You maintained your friendship into adulthood as you followed your passions into a career and your heart into several (failed) relationships, all the while standing by each other. Then one day you realized, what if this elusive goal of romantic love had been right besides you all along?

-Complete the creatively gifted aspiration as a kid -Briefly (briefly) date your best friend in high school, then decide to be just friends (option in social menu). Maintain friendship (remaining just friends) into your young adulthood and adulthood, spending lots of time together. -Have a creative job and max out your career / chosen creative skill -Get married and divorced at least once and date and break up with at least 3 people total -Have at least one kid -After a midlife crisis start a relationship with your best friend and get married - this time stay together until death do us part (optional: at this point swap out the non committal trait with the loyal trait via cheats or self discovery moment) -Go on vacation at least twice with your family and your best friend/best friend's family

Gen 4: (white) Lily -beauty, mourning, and rebirth- Recommended traits: gloomy, romantic Career: something you associate with beauty - ideas: actor/actress, style influencer, social media Aspiration: any - ideas: soulmate, world famous celebrity, master actor/actress Style: classic, somewhat minimalistic, elegant (think Kennedys)

Growing up in an artistic household, you quickly developed a keen eye and a strong aesthetic and sense of style. Unlike your parent however, you were very interested in what was popular. You built your knowledge of trends and used it to cultivate your own look until it became your passion, and ultimately your career. You were becoming quite successful, loving your job more and more every day, when you met… them. The love of your life. You remembered watching your parent dance around their love all their life, and had seen how much time they wasted because of it. You weren't going to make the same mistake. You had a whirlwind romance, engagement, and marriage that grew into a stable, enduring love. You had everything, a great career, a wonderful relationship, and you and your spouse had just welcomed a child when tragedy struck. And now, without your love, you don't know what to do. How will you go on?

-Enter and max out a career that is associated with beauty -Optional: if you have get famous, become a celebrity with a good reputation -Meet your spouse through your career -Date, get engaged to, and marry your spouse quickly (within 1-2 sim weeks) -Have a relationship with your spouse at the soulmate level -Have exactly one kid with your spouse -Before your kid is a teen, your spouse dies -Mourn your spouse for the rest of your life (at least 3 times weekly visit grave/urn) and never get into another romantic relationship -Optional: after spouse's death, change outfits to be all black for mourning colors (or what ever mourning colors are in your culture) -Neglect child emotionally because of your sadness (less than good friends level friendship) -Repair relationship with child after they move out and your grandchildren are born (they return the spark to your life)

Gen 5: Dandelion -resilience and recovery- Required trait: horse lover Optional: active, loves the outdoors, adventurous Career: Rancher/self employed Required aspiration: championship rider Style: western, rustic farmhouse decor, country

You grew up in the midst of a tragedy. All you remember is the dark cloud that seemed to surround your parent everywhere they went and the loneliness that came from all but raising yourself. As soon as you could, you got away, following your heart to the countryside. In the picturesque small town of chestnut ridge you built your own life, learning to ride the horses you had grown up loving, and making a living by building a ranch. The solitude of nature was like a balm to your wounded soul. Eventually, you fell for one of the locals and got hitched. They moved in to help grow your ranch and before long you were building a family as well. As you discovered the joys of parenthood, it brought your mind back to your own parent, and you started to wonder if those bonds could be reformed…

-move out to Chestnut Ridge as soon as you become a young adult -Complete the championship rider aspiration and max out the riding skill -Fall in love with an marry a sim you meet in Chestnut ridge with the rancher trait -Have 2-4 kids with your spouse -Optional: name one of your kids after your deceased parent -After your first kid is a toddler, start to reconcile with your parent (inviting them over to meet grandkids) -build back your friendship with your parent before they pass (good friends level or higher) -run a thriving ranch

Gen 6: (red) Carnation -justice- Recommended traits: good, hot headed, self assured Career: Politics, charity organizer branch Aspiration: any - ideas: neighborhood confident, city native Style: any - alt fashion would work well, esp. punk, dark colors with red accents also good

Life as a child in the countryside was idyllic, but you always had bigger dreams. Bright eyed and with a zest for life you moved to the city as soon as you could. But once there, your idealistic nature quickly shattered. The world wasn't as nice outside of your small town bubble. Rather than fall into despair over it however, you decided to rise to the occasion. You would dedicate your life to fighting for change and making the world a better place. Even if it was just a drop in the bucket, you would do everything you could to make a difference. After all, what better way to spend your time than speaking truth to power?

-move to San Myshuno as a young adult -Join and max out the charity organizer career -meet your spouse at a protest -fall in love and move in together, but don't get married -have at least one kid -join or start a protest at least once a week -have at least one wealthy enemy (bonus points if they are in the politician career or a landlord) -Optionally: have a midlife crisis / burnout (via growing together mechanics or imaginative storytelling) during adulthood and change your life around (stay in same career, but protest less and pick up a hobby, spend more time with family)

Gen 7: Iris -intelligence and prestige- Required trait: genius Optional traits: perfectionist, ambitious, neat, overachiever, loner, hates children, bookworm Career: something you associate with intelligence - ideas: doctor, scientist, law, engineer, astronaut Recommended aspiration: any in the knowledge group or bestselling author Optional: complete the goal oriented aspiration as a teen and the academic aspiration as a young adult Style: academia (dark or light), traditional, have at least one library / study in the home

Your parents were smart people, you'll give them that, but they didn't care enough to do anything with it! They could have been something great, but instead they decided to waste their time fighting for 'justice' without making any real change. You wouldn't be making that mistake. From an early age you dedicated yourself to your studies, determined to learn everything you possibly could and become someone important. Learning fascinated you, and you loved using your intelligence to figure out solutions to hard problems. This was what was important, not love, or family, or doing good, or whatever other nonsense your parents and grandparents believed. This was how you really changed the world, intelligently. Now just to get that one coworker of yours to stop pestering you at work and challenging your ideas. Wait, why do they want to meet you for coffee?

-Complete the mental aspiration as a child -Enter and max out a career related to intelligence - optionally: then switch careers and max out a second -max out at least four skills of your choice, writing and publishing skill books related to them as you do so (this may require you to max out the writing skill, if so this counts towards your four skills) -Date and marry one of your coworkers who also has the genius trait (bonus points if this is a former workplace rival) -Have exactly one child with your spouse via the science baby option -Be a strict parent (maintain this family dynamic if you have growing together) and be emotionally distant from your kid (less than good friends friendship level ideally) -If you have discover university, attend university and complete the academic aspiration before beginning a career

Gen 8: Lotus -rebirth and self-love- Required trait: high maintenance Recommended: perfectionist Career: start in something you see as a high stress job - ideas: salary person, business, anything that uses the logic skill - then switch to making money via spa day activities Aspiration: any or all in the wellness category Style: minimalist, biophilic (plant parent), 'zen'

To say your parents had high expectations growing up would be putting it lightly. Nothing you ever did seemed good enough for them. Even so, you continued to try, pushing yourself towards excellent grades and into a career (and relationship) they would approve of. It was hard but you were managing it, and you kept pushing and pushing until… One day you just couldn't do it anymore! You quit your job, ended your relationship and changed trajectories. Now you are focused on healing and self-love, and on helping others on their self love journey as well. It might take some time, but you are learning to be happy with yourself. Next, to start building a new family, one you'll be happy to be a part of.

-maintain an "A" level grade throughout your education -Enter a high stress career as a young adult -Start a relationship with someone in a 'respectable' career as a young adult (you decide what counts as 'respectable') - if you have growing together you should have bad compatibility with this person -sometime during young adulthood (bonus if after in game burnout) while your sim is feeling badly (tense, angry, uncomfortable, or sad), quit your job and end your relationship -Optional: before this switch dress and decorate in your parents style, afterwards, change to your own style -Switch to a wellness career - continue this until retirement -max out wellness skill -complete at least one of the wellness aspirations -marry someone you meet at the spa -have 1-3 children with them

Gen 9: Lavender -family and home- Required trait - at least one of three: loner, paranoid, socially awkward Recommended traits: family oriented, foodie, loves the outdoors, animal enthusiast Career: make money through cooking and/or baking - this can involve running a bakery, the culinary career, or using the food stall from home chef hustle OR be a stay at home parent and partner makes money Choose one or more of the following aspirations: Appliance whiz, master chef, country caretaker, super parent Style: French country, cottage core, pastels

You grew up in a peaceful and tranquil home with caring and kind parents. Lucky for you because as it turns out - the rest of the world? Not so peaceful. Being outside your home and surrounded by strangers was always stressful for you, and as you grew up you learned to retreat towards the things you knew: your family, your pets, and the delicious things you loved to cook. Another support for you was always your best friend turned love; you've promised to stay by each other's side through thick and thin and you can’t wait to build a home together. Will these supports help you get through the stresses of adulthood? Will be able to find and build a home that's peaceful and safe for your new family? Only time will tell…

-From teenagehood to death have at least one pet at all times (including non household animals like cows) -Marry your childhood best friend / high school sweetheart and stay together until death do us part -max out the cooking skill (and baking if you have get to work) -have 3-5 kids with your spouse -maintain best friends level friendship with all kids, spouse, and any cats or dogs you have -don't maintain friendships with anyone outside the household (this can change when you switch to playing sunflower gen if need be) -make sacked lunches for all family members at least twice a week -Make money through food (chef career, bakery, or food stall) OR be a stay at home parent -Recommended: live in Henford-on-Bagley -Max out one or more of the following aspirations: Appliance whiz, master chef, country caretaker, super parent

Gen 10: Sunflower -friendship and loyalty- Required trait: loyal and choose at least one of: cheerful, outgoing, generous Career: any Aspiration: one or more in the social category Optional: Additionally complete successful lineage or big happy family and continue gameplay Style: any - home with lots of space for hosting gatherings, yellow as a focus color would be a good choice

You had a pretty perfect childhood - supportive parents, siblings to play with, space to roam, the whole nine yards. Only… it was still a little lonely. There's a whole world out there, and as much as you love your parents, they didn't really expose you to it, preferring to stay home. Well, you're grown up now, and you are going to bring the world to your family and your family out into the world. There's so many cool people out there and you are going to be friends with them all.

-Complete the social aspiration as a child -Maintain a group of friends (use club system if you have get together) your whole life, adding members as you age and make more friends -maintain good friends level friendship with all club members -Fall in love with and marry someone with the family oriented trait -have at least two kids -take at least one family vacation -maintain friendship levels with all family members (siblings, parents, spouse, kids) at at least the good friend level -host family and friend gatherings frequently - if you have growing together: have a family reunion at least every 4 sim weeks - if you have seasons: host gatherings for every relevant holiday (e.g. no gathering needed for lottery day or love day, but harvestfest yes) -Optional: have one parent die as an elder and move the other in to live with you and your family, take care of them until they die -Optional: have a pet dog all your adulthood -Recommended: complete an aspiration in the family category as well (successful lineage or big happy family) - this will require continuing to play a bit beyond the 10th generation

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Hey! I'm looking for some good canon compliant married!klaine fics, and was hoping you had some recs!

Here are some. I've read the first one, which is lovely. The next four have been reviewed previously by Lynne, and i have added them to my "to read" list.

Also, don't forget the Daddies!klaine tag for fun with their children!

Enjoy! ~Jen

Snapshots by @borogroves

August 27, 2044. They say a picture paints a thousand words… and Kurt and Blaine have a whole scrapbook.

~~~~~

I remember when we first met By @tnystrk3000

Inspired by #42 of 101 Ways to Say I Love You by emswritingprompts on Tumblr: "I remember when we first met."

Summary: During their wedding reception, Kurt and Blaine find a moment alone to reflect on where they started and are now. They sit outside, looking at the stars, as they talk about their journey.

Takes place during season 6 episode 8, the only difference is that it’s nighttime.

~~~~~

daydreaming my life away (would you come along with me?) by anderhummel (em_a)

Sometimes Kurt feels like he and Blaine are moving too fast, hurtling headfirst into the unknown where their relationship is bound to end in a fiery crash and broken hearts.

But then Blaine flashes a smile at him, or shoots him an exasperated look behind Rachel's back, or hooks his pinky into Kurt's belt loop as they're walking down the hallway, or—really, sometimes Blaine breathes and Kurt knows, deep in his bones, that he has never been more sure of anything in his life.

* * *

A collection of times throughout Kurt and Blaine's relationship that they discuss their futures.

~~~~~

5 Times: Darling, Just Kiss Me Slow by InsightfulInsomniac

Five types of kisses that Kurt and Blaine share in their domestic moments of early marriage. Wholesome, sweet early married Klaine with a few guest appearances along the way from Burt and Carole.

Aka my five favorite kiss ideas from a kiss prompt list I found a long time ago.

~~~~~

New York Ever After by @gleefulpoppet

Upon their return to New York, Kurt and Blaine create an extraordinary life curated from thousands of ordinary moments noticed, appreciated, and treasured. [AKA The Klaine Glee spinoff we all wanted: date nights, doing the dishes, showers before work, fits of giggles, lazy couch kisses, and more.]

Canon compliant through the entirety of season 6. Each chapter will be self-contained—no cliffhangers or abandoned story issues to worry about.

~~~~~

Honeymoon Holidays by @flowerfan2  

Kurt and Blaine’s first winter holidays together as a married couple fall so quickly after their wedding that sometimes they almost seem like a continuation of their honeymoon.  But not always.  A story in the “Season 7” series that looks at events in the early married life of Kurt and Blaine.

~~~

The Boys of Summerby neverhaveieverbooks

Kurt and Blaine’s first summer in New York after they get married. It’s easy. It’s hard. It’s perfectly imperfect. A summer tale in 12 chapters. Canon-compliant. This story technically takes place within the middle of episode 6 x 13, after Nationals, and before they return to McKinley for their visit in the fall.

Written for the Klaine Summer Challenge 2016 on tumblr.

~~~~~

The Bluebird as She Singsby @lovetheblazer

Eleven months in the journey Kurt and Blaine take to become parents, from Rachel offering to be their surrogate through the birth. Klaine reaction fic for “Dreams Come True” with background St. Berry.

~~~~~

My Wish for Youby Iris Kane

Picking up after the series finale; this story takes place sometime between 2015 and 2020 when Rachel agrees to be Kurt and Blaine surrogate, this is what I think might have happened. (Some rewrites and adjustments to this story; if you’re confused about the direction the story is going please reread)

~~~~~

It’s Bittersweet, Babyby InsightfulInsomniac

When packing up their things to move into their first place as an officially married couple, Blaine finds Kurt’s engagement ring in his former sock drawer, sparking many emotions and memories between the two of them.

But as loving, secure husbands do, they talk it out together.

~~~~~

A year in the Life by @darriness

Formally titled Fic A Day 2018.

I wrote 365 fics (one a day) based on a word that was randomly generated every day.

~~~~~

Wednesday By @spaceorphan18

Just an average day in the life of Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, and their baby Katie.

~~~~~

The Chaperone By pracitcalamenda

When a class mom pulls out at the last minute, Kurt fills in as a chaperone for Blaine's second grade class trip. Turns out that "Mr. Anderson" is quite popular with the moms and Kurt doesn't bother to mention that Blaine's his boyfriend.

[oatmealdaydreams]

Violets & Shy Gladioli

I was going to write this a long while ago, but I forgot. Whoops. So yeah, here's the nerdy!Roman & skater!Virgil oneshot thingy. It's more of a crackfic/drabble. Not something very serious but still fun to write!

EDIT: whoops, not a drabble. It got plot now. This turned into something else, my bad. Hurt/comfort alert. If y'all want a part two or something, just put in an ask.

{@goldnskyart hey, hey you. Yes, you. I did a thing. I hope you like the thing.}

Prompt: here (from @goldnskyart)

Pairings: romantic Prinxiety, platonic Dukeceit, Creativitwins

Trigger/Content Warning: borderline stalking? (kind of??), sexual commentary, very brief mention of vague past trauma, bullying, panic attack, slur (twice very briefly; censored at my own discretion), brief dissociation, murder threats (towards the bullies)

Description: Virgil is a skater at the local skatepark. He notices he has a lil nerd watching him.

Extra: Human AU, Highschool AU; set in goldnskyart's Skateboards & Jam AU; idk romance works, so it'll be kind of bad. I've never written a kiss scene before, so prepare for sappy cringe.

[Masterlist] | ao3 link

[Read under the cut]

Roman is so unbelievably gay, like holy sh*t. Holy sh*t. He is so helpless.

Why must boys be so attractive?

At least, that's the reason he settles on as he watches a specific boy from behind a tree. It's at the local skatepark, where all the shakers and troublemakers tend to hang out. There are benches and a small playground nearby. The whole place is surrounded by oak trees and flowers. It almost feels like you're in another world there, but the sound of cars from the nearby road kind of ruins that.

It's very beautiful, oh indeed it is, and Roman is certain that the boy on his mind just makes it even prettier. Cause this skater boy is very pretty, and funny and kind- and oh, does Roman have it bad.

So yeah, there he is, watching the boy of his dreams from behind a tree near the skatepark.

No, it's not stalking- okay, it's close, but he promises that's not what it is. He's just nervous, okay? He's even tried talking to him at school, but it always ends with unintentional bickering and insulting jabs at each other. He hates how his nerves mess with his ability to function around boys. That, and the gay panic every time he sees him.

Virgil Cleome, a perfect array of purple jackets and snide smirks.

A skilled skater, by highschool standards. A baseball hat put on backwards in a cool fashion, a purple-patched jacket always on his shoulders, the one person who can wear eyeshadow under his eyes and make Roman fluster just from that. His eyes- oh, his eyes- are a heterochromic beauty. One dark green, the other something close to hazel or purple. Roman doesn't know if you could have a purple iris, but Virgil's is damn well close enough.

God, when he concentrates on something? When he's focused? Yeah, Roman could just die at that cute face he makes. The classic tongue-slightly-stuck-out. He also does this thing where he scrunches his nose up. Like, when he doesn't like something or when he's confused in a mocking kind of way. It's just- ugh. How dare he be so f*cking attractive and funny. And have you heard his laugh? Roman heard it once in passing, and he couldn't function for almost five gay minutes because of it. Like, holy hell. Jesus.

Like I said, Roman is helpless.

He feels like Eliza when he's around Virgil, and he wants him to be his Alexander.

So yeah. He's got it bad. He is entirely hopeless.

And that's why he hides behind a tree, watching his seemingly unrequited love have fun at the skatepark.

It's not like he ever notices, right?

...right?

~~~

Virgil definitely notices every time he's being watched by the cute nerd, too shy to actually approach him.

The fact that it's Roman kind of confuses him, since almost all their interactions are borderline hostile on a good day. At least, that's how it feels. Perhaps it's a rivalry, of sorts. Just bickering, insults, and weird nicknames that could pass off as pet names if you were an innocent bystander. But they aren't pet names, okay? Of course they f*cking aren't. Why would they be?

So then, why does Roman watch him shyly from a tree? He just... stares. It's borderline creepy, but that's not the issue. The issue is the fact that Virgil doesn't mind it. That he might like being watched by Roman- not in that way, don't make it weird- and likes his attention on him.

Also, how can Roman ever be so... nervous? Is that the right word?

Normally, when in school, he's always this pompous princely nerd with confidence pouring out of him. He knows what he's talking about. He's not very studious, not exactly, but he knows practically everything about theatre and its history. He knows a lot about history in general. And he's pretty great at the Creative Writing class they're both in.

His glasses are pretty cute, too. His smart little face, the red streak in his hair. The faintest of freckles on his cheeks and nose. The small moles on his neck. He's just so adorable-

Ack. Just f*cking- ugh. Why must Roman be so adorable yet so frustrating all at once?

Virgil is too gay for this sh*t. F*ck this. F*cking hell. Just- okay. He needs to chill out.

Just focus on skating. Ignore the cute little prince who keeps watching you. Just- jesus. Yeah, cause that's f*cking easy.

Virgil tries, he really does, but his mind keeps drifting to red bowties and clever comebacks. His skating buddies already know about his crush- not a crush, he tells them, he just thinks he's neat- and are frankly very tired of the obvious pining.

Hey, it's not pining- okay. Just- ya know what? F*ck you. Shut up.

Roman f*cking Solana.

Jesus.

It doesn't help that one of his friends, a fellow skater, is Roman's twin brother. So, he already sees Roman enough at school, but he also sees him whenever he hangs out with Remus at their house. They don't stay at the house for long, usually, and just go to the skatepark and meet up with Janus.

Yeah, being friends with Remus is always a new adventure. That also means the ungodly amount of innuendos and teasing just gets worse. Of course it f*cking does, it's Remus. As soon as he first heard about Virgil liking Roman in any romantic capacity, he would not leave the poor spiderling alone. That is, unless it got too close to a boundary line. Remus may have poor impulse control, but he'd never cross a boundary with his friends or family. He's not a monster.

He's a self-proclaimed freak, but not a monster.

Which brings them all to right now, a teasing Remus at the ready as Virgil messes up the same trick for the fifth time in a row.

"Dude, what's with you lately? You usually don't mess up that badly," an unnamed skater comments as Virgil gives up and sits down at a nearby bench.

Virgil rolls his eyes at the unnamed skater. Not worth his time. It's not like they're a part of his inner circle, anyway.

"He can't help it, little Virgey's distracted," Remus teases, wiggling his eyebrow.

"Shut up, Remus," Virgil grumbles.

Remus snickers at him.

"Aww, but it's so fun f*cking with you."

Virgil rolls his eyes again, this time at Remus.

"Then again, I know who you'd really like to f*ck with. Well, more like who you'd like to f*ck."

Virgil chokes on air for a moment, his face now burning red. The unnamed skater turns bright pink in second-hand embarrassment and shuffles away, deciding now is a good time to go back to skating. Virgil glares at Remus in his own embarrassment as the green-coded dumbass cackles at him.

"Remus," he scorns, voice cracking at the implication.

"Listen, you're so easy. I just- ha! You're so red!"

Virgil hides his face in his hands, groaning loudly in annoyance.

Where is Janus when you need him? God, the one time he gets too sick to come and skate with us. God f*cking damnit. F*cking bastard.

Janus is usually the one who Remus would listen to. Those two had been through thick and thin, in a lot more ways than Virgil had been with them. There are just some things, some very bad things, that unite people together in such a close bond. Going through trauma together is... it's something they hope Virgil will never experience. It's something that brought those two so close together, but both of them still wish it hadn't happened. The world tends to be a truly cruel place to those who just want to be.

Anyway, after a while of Remus tormenting Virgil, they go back to skating. Remus tends to do more dangerous stunts as if they were at a beginner level. Virgil sticks with what he knows, what he can't mess up, being what his friends call 'stupidly safe' and 'boring'.

Virgil still thinks back to Roman, who is currently hiding behind his signature tree. What he'd never admit is how Roman's attention on him makes his heart beat out of his chest. How his voice makes his heart flutter like a bunch of dumb little moths. How he makes him laugh and let himself exist. How this damned nerd makes him... just smile. He doesn't just smile for anyone. The stupid f*cking cherry-red bowtie. The spotlights in his eyes.

He and Remus may be twins, but they don't exactly look like twins. And that makes it so much easier to feel so cheesy about him. He could never feel cheesy, in any romantic capacity, about Remus or Janus. They're more like family than anything. Oh, but Roman...

God. He wanted to be the Jack to Roman's Sally.

Like I said, he feels so f*cking cheesy about Roman.

After a while of f*cking with each other like they always do, Remus decides to abruptly leave. Virgil asks where the f*ck does he think he's running off to, only to get a one-word answer. That reasonably excuses him.

"Janny!" Remus shouted as he skated away on the sidewalk in the park, heading towards the neighborhood.

Virgil shakes his head fondly. Janus doesn't even need to text or call Remus for the octopus-loving weirdo to know he needs him. A friend instinct, Virgil supposes. Part of their uniquely close platonic bond. Some weird ass sh*t.

Not wanting to skate without one of his friends, cause that just feels weird, Virgil decides to retire early for the day. He goes back to the bench he sat on earlier, setting his board wheels-up by his feet. Finally resting there for a moment, sighing as his back relaxes. He glances over at where Roman probably still is, but-

But he's... not there?

Maybe he had to leave for some reason? Like, his mom called him or something. That happens. Right? Yeah. It's probably fine.

I wish he was still here, though.

Virgil stops himself before he can pout.

Stop, stop it. You're not even friends. This shouldn't f*cking bother you. He's fine.

Why does it bother him?

It just feels wrong. Odd. He's just normally still there, and...

And he's grown attached.

Ah, f*ck me.

~~~

Roman is in theatre. He's almost always the star of the show, the central sun in a musical. When he's on stage, he truly becomes a prince. Whatever his role is, he is. It's a nice sight to see.

So yeah, he's in the Drama club, of course. What thespian wouldn't be? And they always meet on Tuesdays after school. So, as far as Virgil knows, Roman is still at school afterhours on Tuesdays. So is Remus, but that's only because their mom makes them walk home together.

Today is no different. 

Virgil somehow managed to get an after school detention. He'd been too 'disruptive' during class (he was having a panic attack, how the f*ck-), and now has to stay in the library until all the clubs got out. Great. Just f*cking great. Another reason why he hates his dumb math teacher. Because of course, of course being emotionally distressed is less important than f*cking algebra.

Anyway.

So, there's very few people he knows who have after school activities. I mean, he's not the only one ever who gets detention, but apparently today is an exception because he's the only student there that isn't a library tech. He simply listens to music with his headphones on, doing homework so he doesn't have to deal with it later. He has one headphone out, but only so the librarians can't yell at him for it. They usually don't care, but detention students are some sort of disease or something because they eye him like a pack of f*cking vultures. To be fair, Virgil isn't ever really in there unless he has detention. And, you know, your classic stereotypes and narrow-minded assumptions you see from people who need a large heap of therapy. So yeah, not a great time.

Being watched by the librarians isn't helping Virgil focus, and he's two seconds from f*cking decking one of them. The library tech doesn't seem to care. They're just shelving books and minding their own damn business. Virgil likes the tech better.

Aside from the dumbass Karen librarians, there's some sort of commotion coming from the hallway. It could be the theatre kids; the library is close by the Theater. It's all shouty and sh*t, loud and all that. The future scholars in dramatics, otherwise known as actors, tend to always be loud and mildly disruptive. It's not anything new.

Virgil tries to scribble the last of a science formula down, wanting nothing more than the school day to be over. It's not over until he gets to leave. And he can't f*cking leave yet. Stupid b*tch of a teacher. Just- ugh. Math sucks.

Virgil startles when he hears something that sounds like a slap. He sharply turns his head to the doors, which are left open until the clubs are over.

What the f*ck.

He knows his school has bullies. In fact, he's had his fair share of dunderheads picking on him for sh*t he can't control. But most of the students are gone, and only ones who aren't are the theatre or art club kids. And the art room is all the way at the other end of the school. So, the only kids who'd be here... would be the theatre kids... but he's never known any of them to- well, he's seen more gay-ass motherf*ckers in there than he can count, and they sure as hell aren't ones to be assholes unless someone actually deserves it. Or to be funny, in a sassy and dramatic way. Which is the reason why Virgil doesn't mind them. They don't really bother anyone.

Another suspiciously violent sound and a cry of pain, and Virgil flinches. He stops his work. He can't focus with all that noise, and the fact that someone could be getting hurt right now.

"Stop being so dramatic. God, you'd think he'd learn by now?" one voice complains.

"I know, right? He's so annoying! You wouldn't be in this situation if you kept your mouth shut," a second one adds.

A poorly-concealed whimper.

"Okay, that's it. We're being nice, you know we are. But I am two seconds from making your day a whole lot worse," a third one threatens.

Virgil feels stuck in his seat. God, he wants to get up and march over there, and just- what poor kid are they tormenting? It sounds like there's three of them- bullies always travel in groups- and their victim sounds so hurt.

He hears frantic mumbling, and he wishes he isn't so anxious because he'd like to help now, thank you. The worrying thing is he recognizes the first voice. It's familiar, but also not, and that's not a good sign. It's familiar in a bad way, in a 'oh god please not be them' kind of way.

"You were just saying how we shouldn't do what exactly? Hmm? Aww, why so quiet now?" the second one continues.

"I think he's scared, Jackson," says the third one.

"Oh Kayla, I think so, too."

The second one, Jackson, snickers at whoever the victim is. More mumbling. Something happens, and the first one seems to speak again, but it's muffled. The third one, Kayla, laughs at whatever the victim's reaction is.

Jesus, what's f*cking wrong with them? I need to get up and get someone. What do I do, what do I do? I don't know what to do.

Virgil still feels frozen to his seat. He hates how he doesn't know. How he can't f*cking move. Why must his own anxiety paralyze him like this? He's not even the one getting bullied. It just reminds him... of someone. It's getting kinda triggering at this point, even though he can't pinpoint who it reminds him of. He just feels so f*cking stuck.

Someone shushes Jackson and Kayla. Probably the first voice, who's probably the leader of their cruel trio.

"Hush now, stop being a baby. You asked for this when you got in my way, you stupid attention wh*re," the first one lows their voices in such a cold, cynical way.

Virgil loses it when he hears that.

Omg, omg, omg. What the f*ck. They called them a f*cking slur.

He feels so mortified for whoever their victim is.

Okay, that's it. F*ck this, f*ck my stupid anxiety. That's not okay. Those f*cking b*tches.

Virgil blindly bolts to his feet, leaving his headphones and everything behind on the table. He ignores the librarians' steely eyes and quiet shouts for him to sit down. He runs out the f*cking library, nothing but pure adrenaline fueling him. It's all of a blur of him running over there, but luckily- or unluckily, cause how are no adults handling this- the commotion isn't that far. In fact, it's near the Theater. In the hallway in-between that separates it from the library. Where anyone could see.

Out in the open and no one's helping, dear f*cking god.

And Virgil isn't exactly quiet as he runs over. So, the bullies hear the footsteps rapidly approaching them. One of them mutters something like hey, maybe we should not get our asses caught, and what sounds like three pairs of footsteps scatter around. When Virgil gets there, all he sees is a heap of white and red crouched on the ground. They look shaky and small, so damn small, and their bowtie looks a little f*cked up.

Wait, bowtie? Red bowtie. Wait- omg. Oh sh*t.

That's Princey, the cute little nerd, looking small and terrified on the hallway floor. His glasses are the only thing that don't look damaged. His clothes look scuffed up. Tears are pouring down his face, from eyes that look too dazed. A hand mark on his cheek-

Those little assholes. I'm going to f*cking kill them. I'm going to sink Remus on them, and he's going to kill them. I-

Wait... if Roman is here, then...

Where is Remus?

Virgil shoves his thoughts away as he carefully approaches the poor little thing, crouching down to his eye level. He looks distant, almost like he's somewhere else. Maybe he is. Maybe he's mentally somewhere away from all that just happened. Somewhere that feels safer.

When Virgil puts a soft touch to Roman's shoulder, however, he flinches hard. He startles, turning sharply to face Virgil. His eyes are now very aware of where he is, frantic and panicked.

Oh, Princey...

Virgil takes his hand away, going slowly so Roman can see his movements. The poor nerd is panting like a cornered animal. Scared, he looks so scared.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now, Princey. It's just me, Virgil. You know me, yeah?"

He keeps his voice low and soft, easing just a little bit of the panic out of the poor thing's eyes.

That's better.

He still looks a little scared, though. It takes him a moment, but then recognition lights up in his eyes. He whimpers.

"Oh sweetheart, it's okay. I'm right here. You're safe now."

Virgil carefully cups the nerd's non-hurt cheek, thumbing away unnoticed tears. Princey flinches as soon as he feels touch- it's less, but still- but calms down as he realizes it's just Virgil.

Virgil would never hurt him. Virgil is safe. Virgil is good.

They may tease each other, but it's never to go as far as intentionally hurting someone.

Roman remains tense, but slowly melts as Virgil moves his other hand to card through his hair. He lets out an undignified whine, leaning into the touch.

"There, I've got you."

Roman leans against Virgil, resting his unhurt half on his shoulder. His face squished against him, letting himself relax a little more. Virgil moves his hand from his face, wrapping his arm around the poor prince. He holds him now, keeping close and cuddled in his lap. Roman's head falls until it rests against Virgil's chest. He can hear his heart beating. It sounds a lot calmer than his own. A hand still cared through his hair.

"You need to breathe, sweetheart. C'mon, breathe with me, okay?"

Roman slightly nods. He listens to Virgil's heart, trying to match his breathing to it. His lungs stutter a few times, but the constant stream of comfort and reassurance helps. After a while of finally breathing, he just collapses into a limp lump of exhaustion into Virgil's arms. He doesn't tremble or shake anymore- hardly at all- and instead focuses on the feel of warmth that his rival-friend-person gives. He doesn't know how to categorize them quite yet, but it seems pretty friendly right now.

Which makes him wonder why they aren't usually friendly like this. Maybe Virgil's just being kind. Maybe it's pity. At this moment though, he doesn't find the energy to care. He basks in the safe, safe, safe person holding him.

"There you go. Good job, sweetheart. You're okay. I've got you, I promise."

They just breathe together for a moment. Just co-exist and the world feels frozen, halted. Like nothing could get them, no harm could come their way, no evil could touch them. Roman's eyes droop, very much ready to fall asleep like this. He's all relaxed and calm now. He's okay. He's safe in Virgil's arms. His glasses screw up a bit as he somehow melts further into the purple-themed skater. He hears a soft chuckle from somewhere.

"You relaxed, Princey? All nice and cozy?"

"Mhm."

"Good, that's good. As long as you feel safe, sweetheart."

Had Roman been more awake than he is, he would've blushed at the pet name. But he isn't, so it flies completely over his head. He feels warm and floaty, and just all light. He likes this feeling. He doesn't want it to go away. Secure in safe arms. Safe, safe, safe.

A text beeps off somewhere. Roman idly wonders if his phone. He gets answered, unfortunately, as he feels Virgil move slightly against him. Probably pulling something out of his pocket. By the sound of it, it's his phone. Another text beeps. Sounds of typing. Virgil sighs, something like relief, and types more. Sends whatever he types to whoever texted him. Another text comes in. Virgil makes an idle hm noise. He puts his phone away.

He holds onto Roman tighter, a protective huff slips out. He pauses for a moment, glancing down at Princey.

"You comfortable like this, Princey? Not hurt anywhere, are you? Besides the, uh, the face."

Roman hums.

"Jus' the face," he provides.

The mark on his face still slightly burns, but it's manageable. Tolerable. Not hurt that much anymore.

"'Kay, good."

He readjusts to hold him tight again. Roman finally closes his eyes, nearly passing out from the sh*t that just happened. It doesn't process in his gay mind that he's practically sleeping against his crush. Yeah, a little too exhausted for the thought to even cross his mind.

"Hey, sweetheart. Remus is on his way, okay?"

"Mm, Re?"

"Yeah, Re. Your bro's on his way to help."

"'m fine, though."

"Princey."

"Mm, really. Safe now."

Virgil smiles at that, warmth spreading in his chest. And not from the fact that he has a body against him.

"Good that you're safe. But you went through something scary. We gotta talk about it."

Roman groans sleepily.

"If it makes you too uncomfortable, we won't. But we need to know who did the sh*t, so they can get their asses whooped."

Roman huffs out a laugh at the mention of 'asses whooped'. Not something he thought he'd hear from Virgil, but funny nonetheless.

"Little sleepy head."

"Not little."

"Could've fooled me, all sleepy and small like this. You're just a little puddle."

Roman makes a half-hearted noise of protest, but just drifts off after that. His breathing evens out, and now he's asleep. Virgil's heart melts because he feels safe enough to sleep in my arms, omg.

After a few minutes, he hears a worried shout.

"Roman? Roro?"

Ah yeah, that's Remus. Worried Brother™ mode is activated, isn't it?

"Ro? Vi, where are- oh. Okay, good. Right there. Okay."

Remus spots them on the ground as soon as he turns the corner. He barrels down the hallway to them, muttering about how they're right there, they've got each other, Virgil ain't gonna let anyone hurt him. He nearly crashes into them as he runs and dives to sit by Virgil and his sleeping brother.

"Whoa, hey. Hey, he's okay. I've got him. He's also asleep, so be careful, Rem."

The light chide dies on Virgil's tongue as Remus growls protectively at sight of his hurt twin. Virgil sighs, knowing Remus isn't going to listen to him while Roman is like this. He doesn't blame him. Roman comes first, always.

Remus catches the mark on Roman's face, and his growl intensifies. Virgil stopped carding a hand through the poor nerd's hair a little bit ago, instead just holding him like something precious. That being said, he sees the pure and horribly overwhelming worry in Remus' eyes. And decides to hand over the sleeping prince.

"Rem, here. He's okay now. He's safe and okay. Right here."

Remus takes his brother carefully. The sleepy Roman whines in protest as he feels Virgil let go of him. The emo skater makes a comforting noise and mutters about what he's doing so the other will be calm. Once fully in his arms, Remus hugs the life out of his brother and holds him in his lap. Roman lets out a pleased hum as he drifts back into a comfortable slumber. He nuzzles into his brother, clinging onto his shirt like a little kid. Remus rests his chin on top of his brother's head.

"...who the f*ck messed with him?"

Remus' glare is deadly and cold, but he doesn't look at Virgil. It's not directed towards him, anyway.

Yep, there's the Protective Twin™ mode.

"I don't know. He hasn't said anything yet, looked a little scared to."

Virgil's voice nearly matches Remus' in cold venom. It's low and cruel, and he's going to do horrible things to the people who did this.

Virgil glances at Remus as he kisses his brother's hair softly.

"I told him we need the name of those f*ckers. I technically didn't ask him, but he still seemed... he's just so tired, Rem."

Virgil's voice almost cracks with emotion near the end. Remus grunts in response. His grip on his brother doesn't waver, not even for a millisecond.

"I heard names of two outta three, though."

Remus sharply turns to him, demanding the names with nothing but a look.

"I- I heard it from the library. One of them is, uh, Jackson. The other one is Kayla, I think."

Remus' eyes wide slightly for a second at the mention of Kayla, and it doesn't take basic observation skills to realize that he may know her. Probably not for a good reason. Virgil doesn't ask.

"There were three?"

"I didn't catch the third's name."

"And where were you, then? How could you hear names but not stop this sh*t from happening?"

Remus' voice cracks mid-sentence. Tears prick at his eyes, and he glares at Virgil like it could be his fault. Maybe it is. Maybe if he wasn't a little coward, he could've stopped it. If only he didn't fail at such an important time.

"I- I was in detention, and- uh, and I heard noise and voices, but I froze and I couldn't move-"

Remus' face softens, regret flooding in as his friend stumbles over panicked words.

"Hey, hey. Sorry. I know you wouldn't hurt him."

Virgil simply nods curtly, easing himself out of his own panic.

"I found him, dazed and on the floor. Rem- Remus, he looked so terrified."

I should've got to him. Goddamit, why am I so f*cking stupid? Just- what the f*ck is wrong with me?

Remus bumps Virgil's shoulder lightly, bringing him out of his thoughts. His own tears threaten to spill. He simply sniffles and wills them away. At least, he holds those stupid tears in for as long as he can.

"...I'm gonna beat and kill their asses."

"I'll bring the bat."

The duo lightly chuckles at each other for a moment. They focus back on Roman, who looks so peaceful in his sleep. Peaceful and safe. It's almost surreal, in a way. He was just hurt by some dumbf*cks, and now he looks like nothing's wrong in the world. They almost don't want to wake him up.

He beats them to it though, groaning and slowly opening his eyes. He first notices purple patches across from him. Then the fact he's being hugged into the Aether, hugged by someone strong and... is that green on their weird vest thing? Wait, green...

He sees Remus' signature skull necklace, and everything catches up to him.

Remus is here. Re is here and I am safe. Safe. Virgil's here, too.

He feels soreness creeping in as he wakes up more.

Ugh... goddammit.

He groans in slight pain.

Wait f*ck- Virgil is here. Holy sh*t. Omg, omg-

And then a little bit of gay panic sets in.

Roman feels his face heat up slightly, and he hides it in Remus' chest. Remus, being the ever-loving twin that he is, just snorts at him once he notices him blushing. Virgil raises an eyebrow at him, but Remus just ignores it and snickers.

"Mm, f*ck you, Re," Roman mutters.

"Yeah, he's okay," Remus says.

"Pft- you good, Princey? What's got you hiding?"

Virgil's own tears are long forgotten as he watches Roman groan pathetically, oblivious to the fact he's a little flustered because of him.

"Seriously though, are you okay?" Virgil's voice softens again.

Roman peeks out from his hiding place, nodding.

"Hm. Then why don't we talk about it, if you're okay and all? We still have asses to maim."

The princely nerd huffs, sitting up in his brother's lap. He avoids their gazes as he speaks.

"'s nothing to worry about."

Remus gives him a the f*ck it isn't look.

"Nothing to- Roro, they left a mark on you. They hit you. That's something to worry about."

"Re-"

"He's right, Princey. They shouldn't be messing with you like. No one gets to f*ck with you like that."

A few seconds of tense silence.

"it's not like it's anything new..." he mumbles.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm killing them-"

Roman tugs on Remus as soon as he feels him try to get up, telling him to stay. Remus rolls his eyes affectionately, staying put and keeping a hold on his hurt brother.

"Fine. Later, then."

"Princey, I- what? Have they been hurting you for a while?"

"...I should be able to take it."

"Oh, no- no, sweetheart, that's not what I meant."

Roman blushes lightly at the pet name, but Virgil ignores it.

"Yeah."

"Oh, Princey..."

"Ro, why didn't ya just tell me? Or us? I could've used Ma's hunting knife on them! Perfect practice!"

"She would kill you if you took her knife, dumbass."

"Not if she knew it was to protect you."

Roman rolls his eyes. Virgil is about ready to steal their mom's knife himself because who the f*ck do they think they are?

Then, he remembers something he heard back when he was in the Library.

Wait, didn't they call him a- oh, oh sh*t. I'm gutting them, omg.

"Sweetheart, how long have they... called you things?"

Roman shrinks, knowing exactly what he's asking. He sheepishly shrugs. Remus makes a concerned, confused face.

"What are they calling you? Bro-bro?"

"...'s fine. It's not that bad."

"Not that- Roman," Virgil's voice bleeds with horror and worry.

Roman huffs stubbornly.

"Ro? What are they calling you?"

He stays quiet, still avoiding their gazes. He feels embarrassed about this entire situation. He should be able to handle it fine, shouldn't he? He's smart and charismatic. He's a prince, if theatre is anything to go by. Aren't princes supposed to be strong?

Isn't he supposed to be strong?

"Roman- Princey, can I tell him? If you won't, then can I?"

That nickname is sounding a little too endearing, and Roman is on the verge of giving in just from that. He meets Virgil's eyes, not expecting the utter weight of naked concern on his face. He bites his lip before nodding and hiding his face in Remus' chest again.

"They called him a slur."

Virgil feels ready to cry again as he speaks, and he's not even the one who got hurt.

"They did what?" anger bleeds through Remus' voice.

He holds Roman tighter, if that's even possible at this point. Roman whimpers as the smallest echo of the slur replays in his head.

"I'm killing them, I'm f*cking killing them. I'm burying them ten feet underground, and I'm killing them."

Roman grips Remus' vest as he tries to push the faint memory of the bullies did out of his mind.

"They don't have any f*cking right to-"

"Not new."

Remus stills. He almost pales as he processes his twin's words. Virgil, in fact, does go pale.

"Roro?"

"Oh, God-"

"Ro, bro-bro, they- they f*cking what?"

"I got a role they wanted. I always get a role they want. They don't like it when I get what they want. It's... 's fine. Nothin' new."

"Oh sweetheart, that's not fine. They- they shouldn't be calling you a slur over a cast role."

"Those b*tches-"

"I should be able to handle it. I'm- I'm supposed to be a prince, aren't I? Princes handle things on their own."

Princes are supposed to be strong, he thinks but doesn't say.

"That's... sweetheart, no. No, princes can ask for help if they need it."

"...but I'm supposed to be strong. Mom calls me her prince, and I want to be strong."

"Asking for help is strong, sweetheart. Strong is being scared and hurt, but surviving anyway."

"Ma calls you her prince because you are strong."

"She also calls you a gremlin Dorito because you have a weird obsession with demonic triangles."

"Cipher is f*cking funny-"

"He literally rips teeth from a deer, what the f*ck-"

Virgil spares a snort as the brothers briefly bicker.

"Not the point, Ro. She also calls me her duke because she said I was meant to be different from you. That you and I are both her precious royals."

Roman hums in response.

Virgil shuffles closer, sitting against Remus' arm. There's more silence. Remus is plotting death for those b*tches who hurt his brother. Virgil is probably doing the same, though he keeps glancing at Roman to make sure he's alright. Today was just total sh*t, huh?

"...they called me an attention wh*re."

Roman's voice cracks as he whispers, curling up in Remus' arms and wanting nothing more than today to have never happened. Remus growls protectively, resting his chin on Roman's head again. Virgil takes one of the nerd's hands, squeezing it softly. He squeezes back.

"Logan's dad knows the principle," Virgil says, rubbing circles on the nerd's knuckles. "Patton told me. We could f*cking get them."

Remus nods sharply as Roman seems to drift off somewhere.

They three stay there, in the empty hallway, as clubs end and other students decide to avoid the murderous looks on Remus' and Virgil's faces.

~~~

It's not even two days later when Jackson, Kayla, and Jackass Number 3 get expelled from school.

Not only does Logan's dad know the principle, but he also seems to be old friends to the district's Superintendent as well. Apparently, his dad knows some friends in high places. Good thing Virgil is intent on remaining on Logan's good side.

Roman and Virgil walk to school together, mainly because Janus is feeling better and Remus wanted to go f*ck some fences up with him. Plus, Roman's mom is even more insistent on him having a walking buddy now that she knows he'd been bullied. As overprotective as she can be, his mom cares a whole lot more about her sons than anything else.

She sneaked a wink at Roman when Virgil came over to walk with him, since his brother couldn't take him anyways. Remus must've tattled on his gay ass because now his mom kept giving this look whenever Virgil visited.

So yes, now he walks with his crush to school. As Remus is being a little criminal and doing God knows what, Roman is fighting a gay panic. Virgil's hand has brushed his twice already, and he thinks he might die if it happens again.

He drifts off into thought for a moment, wondering about a couple of days ago.

"Hey, Virgil?" his voice stays surprisingly steady as his heart thrums in his chest.

"Yeah, Princey?" Virgil glances over at him, and oh god, gay panic, now's not the time.

"Uh, when you... I mean, back when you found me in that hallway and helped me out, uh- well..."

Virgil's gaze softens. He offers a hand, and Roman takes it hesitantly. He squeezes lightly, causing the nerd exhale his nervousness.

"Um, when that happened, you kept calling me 'sweetheart'," Roman couldn't stop the smile on his face. "What was that about?"

His chest burst into butterflies as they both stop walking, and Virgil gives a fond smirk. He avoids Roman's gaze now, a light blush on his face.

"I- uh, sh*t. F*ck, sh*t," he mutters.

Roman waits, though his eager heart beats loudly against his chest.

"I, um... I care about you. You're important to me."

Hi, yes, hello. Uh, Roman's not here right now. He's currently bursting into a million fireworks.

"You- uh, what way do you mean?" Roman can feel how red his face is.

This is when Virgil looks at him, anxious and biting his lip. Flustered, he's flustered the skater boy. His face is red too, though debatably not as red as the nerd. No, Roman's face almost matches his bowtie.

Virgil takes Roman's other hand, shaking slightly from nerves. He stops biting his lip. He risks a brief glance at Roman's lips, and- omg. Omg, I'm going to die.

Both of their faces are burning bright red.

"You... want me to be your sweetheart?" Roman is breathless, and honestly a little overwhelmed by the fact his crush stared at his lips, oh Jesus f*cking Christ.

"Yeah, if you'd have me..." Virgil is just as breathless as they glance into each other's eyes, baring their souls and hearts to one another.

"I'd, uh- yeah, I'd like that."

Virgil moves one of his hands to hold the back of Roman's neck, and Roman's now-free hand rests on Virgil's shoulder. They both glance at each other's lips, hearts pounding and butterflies swarming their insides.

"Can I kiss you, sweetheart?" Virgil looks at him gay in the eyes, and Roman nearly melts.

"Yes," is all the nerd can muster.

They lean in awkwardly, considering they're inexperienced highschoolers, brushing their lips together. They each pull back from some initial shock, slowly leaning back as they gain what little confidence they have. They quickly peck each other, nerves turning into bursts of explosive colour and excitement in their guts. Roman looks at Virgil, his heart fluttering as he recovers from that. Virgil smiles fondly at him. His sweetheart- omg, he's his sweetheart now- smiling back. They're both in a daze. Faces bright pink, heads feeling light like clouds, and hands stay surprisingly steady as they gaze at each other.

It takes them a few moments before they realize that they're going to be late for school.

"Oh sh*t- uh, school's about to start," Virgil cusses as he takes his hand from the back of Roman's neck and looks at the time on his phone.

"Uh, yep. Yep, we should probably go an'- and stuff," his nerd awkwardly stumbles over his words, moving his hand off of Virgil's shoulder.

Virgil pockets his phone as they continue walking to school, picking up the pace a little. They still hold hands as they go. Gay panic roaring in their minds, a swirling mix of emotions leftover from kissing and confessing.

They don't part until needing to go down separate hallways for class.

[timeskip]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @leviathiane !

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

109!!! I'm a writing machine

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

507,410 ^-^

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly HxH right now, but I'm always thinking of writing more Zero Escape. I also have fics for AITSF, A3!, and other stuff (obligated to mention that I have 57 A3! fics)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Care - Mizuki & Date (AITSF) Coexisting for Traumatized Detectives - Yosano & Dazai (BSD) An Undefined Truth - Killua/Gon (HxH) Shaking - Kokichi/Kaito (DRV3) Love, Justice, and the In Between - Boss & Date (AITSF) ...Most of these I still love, but one of them is indicative of my dark, dark past. I'll only link the top kudos'd.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes!!! I try to every time!!! Because I like getting responses as a reader mostly, it's nice to know that I've made someone's day better and I like the community that comes with comments!!! Also it's nice to add numbers to that comment counter.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

kill switch, save switch (Zero Escape) - Everyone dies in the Submarine Ending!!!!! Honorable mentions to: Turning Back (A3!) - Chikage abandons a child (not of his own choice, but fully aware of how damaging it is) and then thinks that they're probably dead Playing the Part (AITSF) - Iris is dead, but nobody knows it. Blood Trails Leading Home (AITSF) - It's an Annihilation End fic, everyone is dying and the antagonist is planning to kill even more people.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I try to give most things a hopeful ending at LEAST fdkfkkgfdff it's impossible to choose. I'll go with Follow the Light to its End, a Killugon fic that ends with a kiss ^-^

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? I did get a comment recently that said "once the confession is over, I don't feel the love anymore. Still nice fic," which......... thanks (sarcasm) Usually comments like that are people trying to be nice but ending up too blunt... so it's whatever.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah. Nothing against it, just not my zone.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Sometimes!!! Never in the form of X meets Y though, always putting one character into another's universe. I don't write them often, I'd write them more often if there were more people who would read them and my niche ideas. I think the only one I can remember posting is paradoxical, an A3/ZE crossover which. is crazy. What if Azuma's brother Hajime was actually Hisoka's brother August, but in the same way Akane from Zero Escape is June--the way that June is a mask, a cover. What if they were in a nonary game. What if Azuma accessed the morphogenetic field. CRAZY.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! But I'm totally open to it!!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of!!! I did the Masukyu magic AU series with my friend Mikey :> Cowriting is really hard but it's fun.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

ALL TIME is hard. I'll give you a top 3: Killua/Gon (HxH), Hisoka/Homare (A3!), Junpei/Akane (ZE) Also honorable mention to Chikage/Citron/Itaru (A3!) for being the subject of my longest fic.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm constantly writing like 5 things at once, so it's a gamble with everything I write... I really doubt I'm going to finish the Pariging time loop WIP I have though orz I really love what I have so far of it, it's just... I don't know where it's going orz

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character emotions!!! Showing how characters respond to each other!!! Introspection!!! I like to think I'm pretty good at a lot of things.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I've been working on making sure that my characters don't talk in a void lately T-T I'm not BAD at description, but it so often falls to the wayside... Also comedy is hard for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I mean... it can work, I suppose? I wouldn't do it myself, because I'm not confident in any language other than english (I'm sorry high school german teacher...! I fell off because of covid...! I'm unlikely to use more than a couple german words for Klavier's faux-german thing, if I ever write a fic about him, lol) When other people do it, it's fine, except if I notice them using it wrong I think it's silly.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I wrote a fic for ever: Warrior Cats First fandom I posted a completed fic online for: My Hero Academia

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Since I have so many it's kind of impossible to choose... But I'll say my long fics, especially the 40k multichapters. I put so much work into every long fic of mine, I can't choose a favorite child T-T Here's a link to my AO3, filtered for only fics over 10k words just in case anyone is interested in the 8 longer fics of mine Also mentioning you, at last, a little shorter than the above at 8.6k, but definitely one of my favorite A3 fics I wrote!!! It's a platonic soulmate AU, I'm constantly tempted to use the AU for another fandom because I think the rules of soulmates in it are really good. And while it's not a long fic, I reread smoke signals (HxH) recently and I love what I did with it. I think a lot about it still because I think that the offscreen apology Gon is implied to have given Killua is really interesting, and smoke signals is me writing my idea of it ^-^

Tagging... anyone who wants to, I suppose!!! If you're a writer and you're reading this I'm tagging you. Yes, you.

[fezwearingjellybananas]

Hi! Hope you are well! I am not really familiar with comics as a show fan and I know you are, could you "rec" some issues/runs of The Flash as a starting point? I really love Barry & Iris and would love to read their comics dynamic. Have a nice day!

Thank you, I hope you have a nice day too!

I have read a few comics but not all of them, so there are more people who know a lot more than me, but I will give it a whirl.

I think as a general starting point for Flash comics in general, I'd probably recommend The Flash: 80 Years of the Fastest Man Alive. It's one of several books DC released as an anniversary thing (I also have Green Arrow: 80 Years of the Emerald Archer), and it has in it a selection of comics, so it has Jay's first appearance, it has Showcase #4 which is Barry's first appearance, it has Wally's (as Kid Flash), it sort of has Bart except it's the back of his head (my one note is Bart is quite neglected in this book), as well as a handful of others picked from the Flash runs of the three of them (my icon is actually from this book), and commentary by various writers so it gives you an overview and lets you read a little bit then decide which you'd like to read.

Carmine Infantio wrote the original Flash run with Barry, DC also released a 4 book Silver Age omnibus (I like books), that gives you the starting point of Barry's story. This is being written in the 50s and 60s, there are going to be things that are dated as with reading anything from a while ago, I suspect in 50 years people will be saying the same thing about what we're writing now, but I do have such a soft spot for the Silver Age. If you're specifically looking for Barry and Iris they are introduced here as already together before Barry gets his powers, and I quite like that they never go the love triangle with the secret identity route here, Iris knows the Flash through work kind of, but she's not really interested, she's got Barry. Also she can fly a plane.

I haven't read enough of Cary Bates' Flash run to know yet, only a few bits here and there, but this is getting into Iris and Barry are married, this is probably worth looking up, I do keep meaning to

Crisis on Infinite Earths doesn't have Iris in it, but it is an important story for Barry, and I quite like it. I am still upset about how many pages there are between Barry dying and anyone outright saying they're going looking for him.

Geoff Johns' Flash: Rebirth is also probably not a bad place to start for Barry, this is a comic set after Barry's been brought back to life, his history has changed, there are all these people who he doesn't really know, it's him trying to find his feet into being alive again. And also Eobard Thawne is here to Cause Problems On Purpose. I don't like all of Geoff Johns' comics, but this one is good.

Flashpoint is again apparently a majorly important comic in Flash mythos. I might try reading it again, I last read it a few years ago, but honestly I'm not a huge fan of Flashpoint.

Skip New 52 if you're looking for Barry and Iris. There are a few parts of New 52 that I like, but Barry and Iris aren't dating in New 52 (Barry dates Patty Spivot) and it's New 52, you can skip it. Though if you've watched the show, maybe Out of Time (Robert Venditti ect, it's Volume 6 in the TPs, which is #30-35, Annual #3, and The Flash Futures End #1), that's the arc with the Future Flash.

I love Joshua Williamson's Flash run, I am sure I have said so many times, I would definitely recommend that one, and again, this is post a soft reboot DC did after New 52 kind of flopped, so it's probably not a bad place to start either.

Jeremy Adams' Flash run was Wally based so had some fun moments but probably not what you're looking for, and Si Spurrier I have the first TP next to me to read once I've finished reading Blackest Night, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

As one-off comics rather than getting into the whole thing, there's United They Fall (Gail Simone), it's an Elseworlds but because it's just one comic rather than continuing on from something started in 1956 it might be good to try if you haven't read comics before just to see if you like reading them? I also enjoyed New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke, that's not exclusively Barry and Iris but they do feature, and again it's set in its own timeline rather than main continuity so it can be read as a stand-alone comic (also it features a very cute kid Hal Jordan and has made me feel very strongly that Hal Jordan should have been allowed to join NASA)

I think in general comics have been going for a really long time and there are a lot of them so at first glance they can seem daunting to get into, but also, there's so many of them it would be frankly unreasonable for people to expect you to read every single one ever. I think the best way to start is probably to pick a writer, any of them, and start at the beginning of their run. They will build on things that have happened before (even Barry's original Flash run brings up things that happened in Jay's Golden Age comics), they will have characters show up who maybe you don't know but they'll treat them like this is a character everyone's already familiar with, and there's the bits that editorial wanted this to happen for that event or didn't want that to happen for reasons so they had to work with that, but overall I think each author is going to have a story that they want to tell and those individual stories are going to be much more contained within their own comic runs, so you can just go find a story you like, you don't need to read every single story ever.

I hope this is helpful and you find a comic you like!

[kitkatt0430]

6, 13, 28, 31, 46, 51, 63, 68, 73, 77 and 88 for the fanfic ask game!!

6.) do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best?

Absolutely hoping for the best. Trying to enforce a writing schedule always just frustrated me when I failed to meet it, which made writing into more of a chore that had to be completed. By letting myself write when the mood strikes me, I might wind up going days between writing, but I feel better about what gets written because it'll feel right in a way that something I forced myself to write for a self imposed deadline generally won't.

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

Since I've been porting over my co-written fic for FF8, I think I'll talk about that some.

Honestly I think I expected co-writing to be a lot harder than it was and I lucked out a lot with Emcey as a co-writer in that our writing just really flowed well together and adjusting our scenes to fit together after writing them was generally a fun process and not a frustrating one. While at the time I was interested in co-writing more with her and we talked a lot right up until the end about doing so as if the plans were in stone, I think I'm ultimately glad we didn't even.

In retrospect, I picked up on a lot of her habits and opinions on the characters because hers were the stronger opinions of the two of us at the time. So while the experience was overall a good one, I don't think I'd have found my own voice as a writer as strongly as I have if we'd continued co-writing.

28.) handwritten notes or typed notes?

Typed notes, though I'd like to get back into handwritten notes more.

31.) tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write

I haven't done a whole lot with Jerrie Rathaway, but every time I include her in a fic it's really great. She's a good balance for her brother and I wish there was more in the comics about her for me to dig into for when I create my own versions of her for fanfics.

46.) what time are you the most productive when it comes to writing?

Usually in the evenings, after work, but afternoons on non work days are pretty good writing times too. Or a thirty minute break on a work day can be surprisingly productive if I've got something in my head that won't quiet until it's been written down.

51.) share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

Iris has had an unrequited crush on her best friend, Barry, for years. But he's never seen her the same way. These days they're a solid investigative team with her as a detective for the CCPD and him as the in house CSI for the department. But Barry's interest in a barista working at CC Jitters threatens their status quo and just as Iris is planing to finally confess her feelings, Barry gets kidnapped and Iris' only lead is that surprisingly cute barista, Eddie Thawne, who thinks that the kidnappers mistook Barry for Eddie and that the whole thing has something to do with his missing Uncle Eobard.

... I've got, like, two or three pages of this written and I no longer remember where it's going, but I'm going to get a full plot re-imagined for it at some point because the initial premise is still a good one. (but if someone else wants to write a fic based off the summary, feel free...)

63.) what’s the best insult you’ve read in a fic?

... I know I've read some real zingers, but honestly none are coming to mind at the moment. *sigh* Sorry.

68.) how long will you spend on a story or scene before you give up?

I'll usually try for a few hours before putting it aside and then I'll keep coming back to it on and off to try and figure out what's going wrong. Sometimes the scene is right, but I'm not in the right brainspace. Sometimes the scene is wrong, but I needed time and distance to admit it. Sometimes I never do figure out what the problem is and so it sits in the WiP folder until the apocalypse happens.

73.) how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

I'm much more of a 'words just flow' type then a 'visualizes movie' type. Sometimes it is the movie in my head, though. It's just not usually that way.

77.) how do you write kissing scenes?

Like smushing two barbies together and hoping their mouths actually meet. lol ;)

Jokes aside, I go into it with the approach that a kiss is gonna happen, so how do they get there? Sometimes that means stepping backwards from the kiss and sometimes it means finding point a before the kiss and stepping them forward from there. It's as much about the intimate gestures that draw the characters in towards each other - towards the kiss - as it is about the kiss itself.

88.) if you could have another author write your wip for you (bc we all dream of this occasionally), who would it be?

@fezwearingjellybananas definitely for a Flash WiP

[rivalsforlife]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I saw this going around a little while ago and wanted to do it myself mostly because it doesn't involve me having to answer about anything I did this year.

1. How many works do you have on A03?

20

2. What's your total A03 word count?

262,994, apparently

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Ace Attorney! I have to admit I've been writing persona 5 fanfic for most of this year but am still undecided on if I actually want to publish that. if I ever finish it.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Rose By Any Name (by a margin of like 1000 kudos), Deep Dark Secrets, Childswap, The Catch-Up Game, Love Languages.

I am eternally going to feel a bit bitter that the first one is that high.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to respond to them all the time because I love the interactions, but then I started getting burnt out by school and now have such a massive backlog..... so I pretty much never do these days. I'm very sorry and I still read and really appreciate all the comments I get!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't write a lot of angst... and I definitely don't have a tendency to leave things on an angsty note. Maybe Need Not to Need which was in early disbarment era, or Left Behind, Looking Ahead because it's a missing scene in the middle of aai2, and Franziska ends it on the conclusion that she should prepare to not have Edgeworth in her life anymore.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Since I don't write a lot of angsty endings most of them are happy lol. Maybe The Opposing Council's Proposal because it ends on a proposal, which is a pretty happy event.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! Everyone's been really nice.

9. Do you write smut?

Definitely not. It takes me like five minutes to work myself up to writing a kiss. I'm too squeamish about that kind of thing.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, and I feel like that's not something I'd be very good at doing. There's so much work involved and I haven't had any situations where I feel like characters from different franchises have to meet in order to express some aspect of characterization that they couldn't do otherwise, which would be my main motivation for writing one.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I'm aware.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!! Plenty of my fics have been translated into Chinese. I had one person write an entire rec list for my works in Chinese before and was so happy about it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope, I feel like I wouldn't be good at this either, I've always been the kind of person who isn't good at playing with others and would want to take control of the whole thing lol.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Narumitsu without question. It takes a lot to get me to actively care about romance, much less write it.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a PLvsAA canon divergence fic where everyone stays brainwashed for a much longer time (and Edgeworth also gets brainwashed) that I wish I could finish, but I feel like it's a lost cause at this point. I have an earlier version of that fic which went in a completely different direction and is less than one chapter away from being complete. There's also One Good Narumitsu Story left in me that I've had in my head since 2018, never been able to bring myself to write it, and am not sure if I ever will. I hope I do someday, though.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think one of my favorite comments I've ever gotten talked about putting effort into developing relationships and characters outside of the main focuses of the fic - Catch-Up Game being an example, even though narumitsu is the focus, I spent some time paying attention to Phoenix's relationships with Trucy, Maya, Iris, and generally tried to make it seem like the characters had their own lives outside of what Phoenix and Edgeworth had going on. That's something I still feel pretty proud of and try to keep up when I can.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

DESCRIPTIONS. I can't describe people very well at all, probably at least partially because my facial recognition skills are atrocious. I can't describe locations or settings, either. I sometimes feel like it becomes far too obvious that I rarely leave the house.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it's fine on a one-off but not extensively. Like with Klavier as an example, the occasional Achtung or pet name or whatever is fine, but when it starts to be longer sentences or full conversations I draw the line.

Overall I think the best way to handle it (in a hypothetical conversation between Franziska and Edgeworth, depending on if the POV character is Edgeworth or Phoenix):

a) If the POV character speaks the language (like Edgeworth), doing something like "Franziska switched to German, so Phoenix couldn't overhear. "I am speaking in German, but you are reading it in English.""

b) If the POV character does not speak the language (like Phoenix), saying "Franziska switched to German and started yelling at Edgeworth" makes more sense - when I hear a foreign language, at least, I wouldn't be able to repeat it afterwards, because my brain does not process the words like it would English words, so I don't think it should stay in writing either.

There are practical purposes too: I wouldn't trust google translate to capture any nuance, and don't speak any other languages, so I'd want to find someone who knows the language to translate for me, which can be annoying and inconvenient for them. Also, readability. I don't think a reader should have to open up a new tab to understand your fic, is the point.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Warrior cats!! Way back in 2012 or so.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

The Catch-Up Game is still my favorite, at least partially because I got so much engagement while posting it that it was a lot of fun to go through comments on it. The narumitsu server talked about it a lot, and I'll forever be bitter that a rogue mod wiped those channels, because it's a really good feeling when something you write can inspire discussion like that. Also, I'm still satisfied with most aspects of that fic on its own - I reread a couple of chapters just the other day and was enjoying myself, which is always a win.

[iris-sistibly]

It was the hour of the owl, everyone except the guards on night’s watch had retired to their beds. After a long day, the castle was finally at peace…

Rhaenyra Targaryen stood by the window of the bedroom she shares with her husband. Her eyes on the starry night sky, a hand on her belly, her mind lost in her thoughts yet again. The next moon, she was set to bring another child into the world. Her sixth, and her third with Daemon. Ironic at how she hated the idea of childbirth when she was younger, yet here she was with another life inside her womb. She always dreaded the excruciating pain of labor and birthing, but the loud wails of every child she pushed out into this world was like music to her ears. Each time a squirming babe is placed in her arms, she is overwhelmed with joy. Raising them, and witnessing them grow into such handsome and good men was the best reward she could ever ask for. Being a mother to her children was something she loved the most, and Rhaenyra vowed that this child inside her will be just as loved, guided and cared for as her siblings.

Rhaenyra hoped that one day, her daughter would grow into a beautiful, fearless dragonrider, but also a wise, loving, and kind woman. And may she be delighted by the realm more than Rhaenyra has ever been.

Moments later, the princess felt a pair of arms wrap around her swollen belly. Even without looking, Rhaenyra knew who it was, the familiar scent, the warmth of his body against hers, his lips pressing against her shoulder, his ability to effortlessly sweep her off her feet. Daemon Targaryen whispered in her ear, "Can't sleep my love?"

Rhaenyra shook her head, "I've been thinking…"

"Of what?"

"A name for the babe…" the princess answered, "She needs a name Daemon."

"She? You sound so certain that we'll be having a girl," Daemon sounded rather amused. Rhaenyra on the other hand shrugged, "I just know," she answered.

The former chuckled, "Alright then, what do you have in mind?"

Rhaenyra smiled and turned around to face him, "Visenya," she said dreamily. She has always harbored admiration for the conqueror’s queen–beautiful, strong, powerful woman. Had her late brother Baelon been a girl, she would have named him as such. But ever since she found out that she has conceived once more, she always had this feeling that she would be having a daughter…her very own Visenya.

Daemon smiled back and claimed her lips, then rested his forehead against hers, "A fitting name for a fine dragon indeed."

-Visenya (by: Iris)

A/N: Hellooooooo! Before the year ends, I’m posting some stuff from my drafts folder that I either:

Never had the chance to finish but finally had the motivation to do so.

Didn’t post it because I wasn’t confident or satisfied with my work.

Didn’t edit them sooner because I was either busy or feeling lazy af.

Anyway,

The HoTD fever hasn’t completely worn off my entire system yet, and the truth of the matter is…I miss the show. The first time I wrote a Daemyra fanfic was waaaay back after episode 4 (*clears throat* the brothel scene) was aired. Still haven’t gotten over the fact that there were so many great scenes that they left out, and felt worse when Matt actually campaigned for some of it (three I think?) to be included but was unsuccessful.

Anyhoo…this scene has been in my head for quite awhile, I started writing the first half of it way back in mid-November but…I decided to delete the first part. Not that I hated it, but perhaps I just wanted to highlight this particular Daemyra moment because I hated how they were written (Daemon particularly) in the season finale. AGAIN, Daemon loves his daughters, his wife and stepsons, I don’t care how the screenwriters wrote him in the show.

P.S. This scene that I had in mind was set a couple of days (or weeks, I really don't care) before Daemon and Rhaenyra returned to King’s Landing to defend Luke’s claim to Driftmark. When they were living peacefully with their kiddos in Dragonstone. Also, I like the idea of them sharing the same bed because they’re not the typical royal husband and wife of their time.

[mallowleaves]

The same, familiar pink-haired figure comes into view again.

" Hello again, Miss Malva! I hope you remember me. It's Axel, in case you forgot! Not Axis. Or Azel. Or Axen. " He states bluntly, listing down several misnames that Iris had made in the past until he finally got his name right.

Axel waves excitedly, beaming at her. He then clears his throat, picking up a piece of paper and reading it carefully. He seems to have a whole list prepared... Wait, does he actually have all 20 questions written down?

" Okay, miss. Wow, this is like an interview. Twenty questions! Firstly, coffee or tea? "

" What are your opinions on Iris-senpai and Lilia-senpai? "

" What do you think about the unrelenting march of death that looms over us all? "

" And, will you stop by the Mostro Lounge today? They have a special offer, I heard! "

Axel pipes in the last part, still smiling brightly, even though he just made a sales pitch, whether unintentionally or not, during their little game.

... Axis? How in the world does someone mistake Axel for Axis? How many names has Axel's name been mistaken for?

Malva pauses, about to say something before Axel pulls out his list. Her confusion only grows as he starts to list off his questions. She had expected maybe 2 questions at a time, but she supposes she never specified any rules, and thus there were no rules to break.

"Alright then," she still needs to answer them, even if some of the questions were... odd. Ah, well. "In order of the questions asked:"

"Tea. I love coffee, but tea is easier and quicker to make, and in my opinion coffee is only for trying to stay awake for the days that you have a lot of things to do."

"Iris is a good friend. A bit grumpy and snarky at times, but dependable and trustworthy. I've known Lilia for far longer than I've known Iris, and in the years I've known him I have seen him change drastically. If I have to state an opinion on the current him, I'd have to say that he has become far more caring than he was back when we were young.. er. I wish he could have changed sooner, but... I care about them both deeply regardless."

And here's the question that made her question if this game was even a good idea. Seriously, what kind of sixteen year old asks things like that.

"Death is a part of life; of nature. As you've said, it is inevitable, and, well," how does she simplify this... "all we can do is live in life for however long we have, and treasure the people we have in our lives before we lose them."

Yeah. Yeah that's a good simplification. Now, if only Malleus would understand that, what with...

Right, the last question. She feels like she should've seen this one coming, considering he's an Octavinelle student. "Unfortunately, I plan to spend my afternoon tending to my plants. I will keep that in mind, though."

[bluesky88diary]

Some thoughts about next journey... after I watch Violet Everganden.

...first episode is very impressive. for a moment I felt deep sympathy toward Violet. cold-blooded warrior longing to know what is love about. her zeal, hm... also script is very well written, it moves heart each next moment.

second episode. I laughed aloud at the moment Violet precisely wrote the letter. then felt sadness and sympathy toward her. however it's close for the way I used to consider things. for me the most difficult was to understand that words can have different meanings regardless what people say... still yet difficult, but I'm trying to learn more and understand better. have a feeling I might like this anime very much. already do!

third episode, when Violet gave letter to her friend's brother I couldn't hold tears. then was fanny when hot couple begun to argue again and again very touching at last moment.. letters supposed to help share feelings that people want to express. me similar to Violet at my teens thought I cannot be a good boyfriend nor even husband because I cannot understand what women feels and don't know how to behave.. how can I love then? like to shoot an arrow but miss, pointless. there was one girl, I liked her for years but was so much shy and afraid to tell her my feelings, and she was five years older than me. eventually I wrote my first letter, went to her home and read it before her. this touched her, but... this is life ^ ^, tell me one day about your first love.

forth episode. oh, Violet... these people are so uncertain..... after feelings of Iris I thought about your letters, dear 승연. don't know how to express, but I want to love you much more multiplied for every year you were waiting with hope or even without. in last all that muse episode I noticed beside marigolds violet flowers, they looks like iris or lavender, because of blurred picture I cannot say for sure. I thought it can be lavender I've seen in my dream, but they also look like iris. hm...

5th. when I look at the moon I think about warmth of sunshine my beloved can feel at the moment. I would never compare moon with falling petal. flowers lose petals when cold hurts their tender hearts. I always think about moon surrounded by love and warmth. have a warm night and beautiful dreams, my angel.

[ffxvhoe]

hello! may i request head cannons for iris and s/o (fem! s/o would be great but it doesn't matter, whatever you prefer to write) taking a journey around town, kind of like her quest with noctis around lestallum, except s/o confesses to iris by the end? thank you! ^-^

takes place during the 10 years of darkness so iris is ~20 years old. and again i’m so so sO SORRY that this took so long bb!! I hope you enjoy

Your footsteps were echoed by the boots of the woman beside you.  Her sword was resting against her shoulder and you recognized the pose from pictures you’d seen of her brother, Gladiolus.  The two of them were so similar in looks what with their thick lashes and brown eyes that glowed amber in the sunlight.  Idly, you wondered if she realized that she mimicked him like this or if it was simply a subconscious thing.  You wouldn’t have been surprised if it was something that ran in the family; from the sounds of it the Amicitias were a tightly knit unit.  Or at least they were.  Now it was just Iris and Gladio and even then the two of them didn’t see each other as much as you knew Iris would have liked.

It was hard for you to understand why Gladio tried to keep his distance from his last immediate family member.  Iris had told you on the countless occasions that you brought it up that Gladio was trying to “find himself”.  Whenever Iris talked like that she suddenly seemed...much older than she was.  Hell, the two of you were the same age but in those moments it was almost as if she had lived for just as long as the Astrals themselves.  It was the grief, sadness, and sympathy that flickered through her bark brown eyes that sent chills down your spine though.  As open as Iris was with you and those around her there was still so much that she never said.  You only wished that you could somehow help her to shoulder whatever it was she was dealing with.

“This was the city center,” you said coming to a stop.  Before you stood buildings that had once been beautiful several years ago.  The inviting peach and yellows were now replaced with missing walls and windows.  The cobblestone sidewalks were cracked if not completely torn up from the ground.  “I use to come here every day to play with friends when I was in kindergarten.  Then when I was in high school I came here to study and hang out at the cafe over there.”  

“Awe, I bet you were so cute as a little kid,” she said, eyes closing as she smiled at you.  

“Yeah, now look at me,” you joked, scrunching up your nose.

With a gasp Iris gaped at you.  “Don’t say that!  You’re still one hundred percent absolutely adorable.”  The firm nod she gave you reminded you so much of when you’d first met her, before the world had gone to the mad house, that you couldn’t help but wonder how she kept her cheerful disposition.  

“I was joking, Iris,” you said with a shake of your head and a smile.

“I know.”  Iris took a few steps so she was standing beside you.  Bending at the waist so she could look up at you she said, “But you still shouldn’t say that.  Say stuff like that and you’ll start to believe it!  I can’t have my favorite person thinking she’s anything less than wonderful.”

“Favorite person?” you asked with a quirked eyebrow.  “So does this mean I finally outrank Gladio on your favorite people list?”

“Okay,” she said, drawing out the word.  “So maybe not favorite person, but you’re definitely second!”  There wasn’t a single part of you that could take offense to that considering you knew that with Iris family would always come first.  It was endearing, how much she loved her brother, how could you be mad about that?  But still...

“There’s one more place I want to show you,” you said.  “It’s the only place here that isn’t completely destroyed and I think you’ll love it.”

With a light giggle Iris replied, “Lead the way!”

The trek to the flower shop wasn’t too terribly long.  The real trouble came in with the daemons that lined the way.  They weren’t very difficult to defeat, just tedious to take care of.  Other than the unwanted daemon company the walk was quiet save for the sound of rubble shifting in the wind.  You found yourself hoping you got back to camp before it got dark only to let out a snort of laughter upon realizing that it was always dark.  You noticed Iris shooting you a puzzled look and waved your hand in response, letting her know to not worry about it.

“Oh we’re here! Close your eyes.”  You watched as Iris obediently shut her eyes before grabbing her hand and slowly leading her inside.  “Okay,” you said.  “Now open.”

You watched with pride as Iris’s expression changed from one of confusion, to realization, to complete and utter awe.  All around you two were flowers of different shapes, sizes, and shades.  They sprouted from old and forgotten pots that had broken on the floor, taking root in the soil that was visible from the destroyed tile of the shop.  Those that were vines creeped up the walls of the store, flowers of dark pinks and bright purples spotting the vines every few inches.  

As beautiful as it was though your eyes stayed fixed on Iris as she took one step and then another, making a slow turn about the room.  You stayed just a little bit behind her, your hand still gripped in her own.  Her eyes were wide with a mix of childish glee and a mature kind of wonderment as she grew curious as to how this was possible with no sunlight.  You didn’t have much an idea of how the flowers continued to thrive yourself.

“You like it?” You asked.

Iris turned to you, eyes still wide and mouth still gaping slightly.  “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”

“I don’t know,” you said.  “I’d been thinking of taking you here for a while but always ended up putting it off out of some sort of fear that you wouldn’t like it.  Even though I know how much you love flowers,” you smiled.

“Why?” She asked.  She cocked her head to the side again as she had a habit of doing and you couldn’t stop yourself from wanting to run you hand down her cheek.

“Well there was a reason I had waned to bring you here in the first place.”  You looked away from her, those infinite eyes boring in you.  “It was where my dad first asked my mom on a date....”

“Oh?” Your eyes darted back to Iris at the change in her tone.  There was something in it that was urging you on as well as a certain sense of knowing.

Caught and trapped by those eyes again you stumbled slightly on your words.  “I-I...I mean I was just wondering....”

“Go on.”  Iris’s tone was definitely bordering on teasing now.

“I mean obviously you can say no if you want, like I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.  Hell I don’t even know if you even actually like girls -- I mean sure you’ve said you’ve found them pretty and stuff but that could just mean you found a girl pretty and I don’t want to pressure you and really don’t want to make this awkward between us-”

Iris’s giggle cut you off.  “Yes I’ll go on a date with you,” she said.  “Honestly it took you enough time to finally ask.”

“You could’ve made the move yourself,” you defended indignantly.  “Wait. You knew?”

“I know some people think I’m oblivious but I do know more than you guys assume.”  A smug smile danced across her lips as she continued.  “And as for your first question, why would I make a move?  What if you rejected me?”  

“I hate you,” you said, a pout and glare making an appearance.  

“Not according to your little confession,” Iris sang.  “Now come on silly, let’s get back to camp.  I’m ready for a nice long nap.”

With a huff of a sigh accompanied by a small, dopey smile, you said, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” and followed after her.

[violetren]

psst hi I am a huge fan of sstl, like it's probably the greatest fiction experience I've ever experienced, but I've never listened to any other works like it! would you recommend other works Ishani's been part of, or do you have any recommendations in general for, I guess, narrative fiction audio?

Oh for sure. Idk what exactly made you pick up ssttl or what about it struck a chord so for now I'm only gonna throw like 3 or 4 things out here based on vibe or plot similarities to ssttl and my personal preferences. If you wanna tell me more about what you're into I can try give you a wider range of recs.

First up, The Strange Case of Starship Iris.

If you picked up ssttl because it's sci-fi with lead characters of colour and queer rep, or because of how its futuristic in a way that feels believably fucked over by capitalism and yet still has a gentleness and hopefulness to it, or because you like character driven narrative then for sure give this a try.

It's also the reason I knew Ishani Kanetkar's name and knowing her name is why I immediately moved ssttl to the top of my "to listen to" list. The shows concept was cool enough to grab my attention but reading Ishani Kanetkar was in the leading role made me give it immediately. I haven't listened to all of the good doctor's work but I have noticed two things: 1, she is a fantastic VA. And 2, projects she's had a significant role in usually have a really cool concept behind them. She either has fantastic tastes, incredible luck, or both. Obviously read descriptions and see if something is to your taste before listening but like, no reason not to look up her other work and use it as a launch pad.

Back the tscosi rec. The story begins by following the harrowing day of biologist Violet Liu as her research vessel falls apart around her after an explosion. Against all odds someone is there to rescue her, captain Kay Grisham picks up her distress call, and the rescue comences. The rest of the season follows the fall out of that tragic explosion and heroic rescue.

The show is ongoing, currently has 2 complete seasons out with a 3rd (and I believe final) season to come.

Rec 2: Girl In Space

A funny and resourceful scientist lady, living alone in space, talking to her recorder logs and her ships glitchy AI (who may or may not have or be developing sentience), and one day being very surprised when suddenly she has a human person to talk to instead. Sound familiar?

The plot is actually very different though. Our girl X lives on a space station that can never return home and her whole existence is as much of a mystery as what exactly her mission is supposed to be. The soundscaping on this show combined with Sarah Rhea Werner's (and the rest of the casts) acting is absolutely amazing.

There is currently 1 season fully released and the second season is apparently due out this year. In reccing this I may have accidentally begun a relisten.

Rec 3: Wolf 359

This one is actually complete if that means anything to you. Figured I'd drop one in since the other two have been ongoing. Its a big one, over 60 episodes plus a ton of bonus episodes.

Wolf 359 follows the crew of the u.s.s haphaestus an isolated little research vessel orbiting a star designated Wolf 359. It starts out goofy and like there isn't gonna be much plot, this is a cunning ruse to lull you into a false sense of security before hurtling you into an emotional roller coaster that will make you fear for, cry for, laugh with, and grow to love the rag tag crew. The characters are very compelling in that they are allowed to be flawed, some to the point that they are unlikeable, but in that good way that means you're connected with the story and wanna see them get their comeuppance, not that they're badly written and make you wanna stop listening kinda way.

Also like half the cast is voiced by the writer Zach Valenti, and even telling you that, if you check the show out there are gonna be episodes where if you hear the credits list and go "wait, he was that many people!?" Amazing VA abilities.

Rec the fourth, The Penumbra Podcast.

TTP has two story lines and you can listen to one without ever touching the other but Imma rec both here because there is a reason this podcast as a whole makes so many rec lists for anyone looking to get into audiodrama series. Both storylines have very different vibes and approaches, but both deal overall subtly deal with what it is like growing as a person, how rewarding it can be, but also acknowledging how fucking hard that can be.

Story line one, the Juno Steel universe, aka the Junoverse. This is a sci-fi story with a film-noir aesthetic. It follows the titular, character private detective Juno Steel a dame with a chip on his shoulder nearly as deep as a skyscraper is tall, and the cases they take in Hyperion City, a mega colony on a futuristic Mars. There is an overarching plot even as we go from case to case until eventually we move beyond that format.

The second story line is Tales from the Second Citadel. Set in a post apocalyptic high fantasy setting, the Second Citadel. This story follows the intersecting tales of several of the kingdoms knights (and a few not knights too). One of the knights will sound very familiar, Sir Damien voiced by Matthew Zahnzinger who also voices Mikail Reza in ssttl. In a truly hilarious turn of events Sir Damien also has a life changing (romantic) encounter with a scale covered non human entity.

Both story lines are highly character driven and contain a lot of heart. They also both feature a cast that is diverse in terms of race, sexuality, and gender.

As I said if you tell me more about what you liked about ssttl or why you chose to listen to it I'd be happy to give some more refined recs. All of these save for the second citadel portion of tpp involve space stuff but if you're open to more supernatural or just more terrestrial sci fi I definitely have more options you could consider.

If you ever wanna shout about ssttl or any of these shows if you end up listening to any well then you know where to find me.

Oh left field bonus rec because I just got a note about a post I made about it, Where the Stars Fell.

Unkillable lady scientist specialising in cryptid studies moves to the strange little town of Jerusalem Oregon. Becomes roommates with a reclusive author. They get along much like oil and water, it is all very gay.

I am typically a little turned off by shows with so many religious references but this one manages to be religious in the way that Good Omens is religious. That is, it's not preaching religion, its just using characters and concepts people may be familiar with from Christianity and using them to tell a funky little supernatural story with naturally high stakes grounded by very human characters. (human in the sense that they are emotional and flawed and brilliant).

It just finished its first season a couple of month ago so everyone is waiting for season 2, myself included.

[postwarlevi]

Masterlist + about me

Hi there! I'm Eliza! This is my first about me and I'll probably update at some point! I'm in my 30s, use pronouns she/her, was born 8/15 making me a Leo (pretty sure that's wrong though haha) and am ISFP-T. English speaking and I'm learning ASL. I joined tumblr to connect with other AOT fans and to share some of my work which I've never done before. I'm generally a bit shy but like interactions. This is a SFW page and though I may read some NFSW stories I don't interact with them much. No offense, just personal reasons. I write mainly for Levi, with some Jean and sometimes others thrown in. There's lots of fluff around here with the occasional angsty piece. A lot is modern AU. While I take suggestions I don't really do requests, mainly because I don't want to disappoint and make sure I feel motivated to give something worthy of the ask. Sometimes I get burned out so I can't promise that. I like other things like classic movies/Disney movies, music from the 50s to today, baking and healthy eating, going to outdoor markets, game shows like Jeopardy, tv shows like The 100, Glee and The Nanny, animal planet, reading, family, napping and staying cool in the heat. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 16 and though it affects me sometimes I think I'm doing pretty good. If anyone wants to talk about any of those things, I don't have another personal blog at this time so right here if hopefully okay with everyone :)

----------

WIP LIST

Help me decide what to write next

==========

Masterlist updated 06/23/22

in order of date written, everything SFW (some slightly suggestive), mainly fluff (will mention if other) mainly Levi, sometimes Jean or friendship centered (will mention if other characters prominent).

Headcanon like format & short scenes

short fic under 1200 words

medium fic 1200 to 3000 words

long fic 3000 to 5000 words

longer fic 5000+ words

series/mini series

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

Series/Mini Series

Morning Aura post it note series

The Captains Kids scenarios

...always ongoing...

Just Call Me Dad story collection - Complete!

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

Precursor to Silence (deaf OC) (fluff, angst, hurt comfort)

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Prologue draft

Ballroom draft

...entire series to come...

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

Iris (fluff, angst, hurt comfort)

in order of timeline

Untouchable

Iris

...3 more planned parts to come...

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

Aura (short)

Afternoon tea

Later, Levi

Wingman (f. Jean)

Farmers Market

Chaise

Star Seeker

Apple a Day

Milkshakes (texting f Jean and friends)

Summer Squash and Slipper Socks

Scary Movie

Happy Halloween (f JCS group and dad Levi)

Fall Festival (f cadets/vets)

Fall Festival II (f cadets/vets)

With You (angsty?)

Misunderdancing (f Jean)

Happy Thanksgiving

Pretty Beautiful (f Jean)

Snowfall

Saturday Skates (f cadets/vets)

Tabby

Secret Santa

Mistletoe (f Jean, Eren, other cadets)

Santa Levi (f cadets/vets, Gabi and Falco)

Happy Christmas/Merry Birthday (f JCS group and dad Levi)

One Night Only intro (f Jean)

One Night Only/Happy New Year pt 1 (f Jean, Mikasa, others)

The Morning After/Happy New Year pt 2 (f Jean)

PCOS (slight hurt/comfort)

Beach Sunrise

Weary (slight angst/hurt/comfort)

Rest (short)

Happy Valentines Day (f surprise character)

Wild Kingdom

Haircut (short)

Grocery Shopping

Happy Easter (f dad Levi)

Mother's Day (f Kuchel)

I Hope You Dance

Arise

Safe Travels

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

24 Hours (Eren x reader f other 104th cadets)

Starting Now (Jean x reader f Connie and Sasha)

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

Levi Short Scenes shorts that don't quite go on masterlist

Inspired By asks or answers added to with other writers (most Levi x reader)

Unassigned Character Shorts unnamed character shorts

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

Multiple Character Headcanons

Vacation Spots

Reality Shows

Olive Garden order

Kids Electric Cars

Kids Disney movies

Hockey Players/Awards

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

Self-ship tag game (ongoing- come join!)

January 31st

February 6th casual date

February 14th Valentines

March 27th spring date

April 4th domestic acts

May 1st mornings

[cheryls-blossomed]

I've been chewing on this myself and wanted to ask you, because I always enjoy your thoughts re: Flash - when do you think it went so off course it couldn't be corrected? Because it's clear now (and has been for a while) that it's probably never getting back to being consistently decent again. If you had to pick a point of no return, what would it be?

Wow, you know, it's difficult to pinpoint one exact point of no return, because I think The Flash has had so many ups and downs in its trajectory. Having said that, upon further consideration, I think there were two episodes, actually, rather than one single point: one in season 5, when I knew the show would never be consistently decent again, and one in season 6, when I knew we'd reached the point of no return.

The first is 5x06, which is when I knew the show would never be consistently decent. Perhaps rather fitting that it was a Caitlin/Frost-centric episode, but that's not really, in and of itself, why I knew the show would never be consistently decent again from this episode onwards. Season 5 actually started off quite strong, with the episodic run of 5x01 to 5x05 ranging, imo, from very good to excellent. Then 5x06 aired, and it was some incoherent, garbled attempt at rebooting the Killer. Frost origin story, and it was just an incredibly poorly written, poorly plotted episode, but it's with the benefit of hindsight that I can say this was when the show would never be consistently decent again. The show had had terrible episodes before 5x06, but a lot of times they were isolated episodes or even stretches of episodes, before things got back on track. 5x06 was unique in that it was a terrible episode after a very strong stretch of episodes, and the whole season tonally shifted, relying on boring, monotonous story-telling and just failing in every way to capture the initial potential this show did once have. It's also when I feel like the show really doubled down on the whole Team Flash as a family notion and shoving that everywhere, because it felt like from that point on Barry and Iris couldn't have a moment to themselves, without Team Flash always up in their business. Even the better episodes post-5x06 were largely never able to be on par with episodes prior to 5x06, with the very notable exception of 6x17, which IMO remains one of the show's finest episodes. And I say this as someone who loved episodes such as 6x10, 7x17, and 7x18, for example, but you can clearly see how the show shifted focus to the construct of Team Flash heavily from 5x06 onwards, which really harmed the show and eventually led into this current heavy focus on uninteresting supporting characters, while the leading lady is sidelined.

But the point of no return, when I had essentially given up hope that this show was going to be able to turn it around, was 6x19. This was such an infuriating episode: Iris, mostly offscreen, is pushing herself to the absolute brink to save David Singh, while enduring an immense amount of pain mentally and physically to do so, and as a result of pushing herself, she disappears as the cliffhanger. She has maybe two minutes of screentime in this episode where she is enduring such pain and stress, with only Kamilla to support her, before she disappears before Kamilla's eyes. Meanwhile, what's going on outside the Mirrorverse? Team Flash has to protect Carver, because Eva is looking for him, while Mirror Singh proposes a deal to save Iris to Barry: Barry hands over Carver to Eva, and Eva will release Iris. Right before this can be put into motion, Nash Wells, who has the single distinction of not being the absolute Worst Wells, due to the existence of Sherloque, intercepts this plan. He then goes on to berate Barry for considering handing over Carver, as this means certain death for Carver. Carver, who by the way, trafficked human beings, threatened Iris, hired a literal hit on Iris, abused Eva and locked her up (like Eva was written badly for so many reasons, but at least let her kill the man after what he did to her)... somehow deserves active protection, even at the expense of Iris. This faux-moralizing bullshit, shaming Barry for even considering handing this horrific man over in order to save his wife, and the narrative acting like it's in any way right to elevate Carver's life over Iris's. Juxtaposed with Iris enduring the worst pain, because she will risk her very life to save those who need saving... it was one of the most infuriating hours of television. On top of all of this, while Iris's life is being devalued narratively, Sue gets the investigative story-line and agency in confronting Carver, and seeing two white women be valued (the other being Caitlin who was being coddled and taken care of by everyone, because of her random sickness), while Iris was being actively devalued, while barely having any screentime (and her screentime was to showcase the pain she was enduring, trying to save Singh, culminating in her disappearing completely) was so ugly on the part of TPTB and highlighted how entrenched the misogynoir is in the narrative. These are repeated harmful narrative choices TPTB make and which have resulted in the show completely unraveling. I also think this episode solidified how I viewed Eric’s show-running, and how many problems I had with whatever it was he was trying to do. And that’s the episode when I knew that I had to start divesting myself emotionally. 

I think I knew when 6x19 aired that this was the point of no return. The show was on such a downward spiral, and the harm perpetuated against Iris was going to continue.

There's so much I wish for, when it comes to this show, but most I wished this show was helmed by creators and writers that loved and cared for Iris as much as we do and that sought to protect her and shower her with love and healing and all the story-lines in the world that she deserved.

[pojkflata]

Finding my queer legacy

I've researched my family tree for roughly a year now. I've found a collection of interesting lives. A man who came to Stockholm from Vilnius to work as a bell caster. Two men on opposite ends of the tree who died in different battles in the same war within three years of one another. A priest who was more or less cancelled for serving the communion wine before the bread (at the time a sign of Calvinist sympathies). A woman who was executed for murdering her son in law.

But it wasn't until this last week I achieved one of my main goals of my research. My maternal grandfather sent me six pages of anecdotes written by his late mother. It was a treasure trove of descriptions that really helped bring these people to life. A woman who married a man disfigured from polio despite the protests of people concerned that he wouldn't be able to provide for her. A teacher who threatened a father with two revolvers when he broke into the school building to intimidate her after she had reported his son's absence from school. And then, this:

Aunt Agnes was quite tall and slim. She was good looking like the rest of her siblings. She was quite sassy but kind and fair. She never married, but lived together with a good friend, Iris Sjölin, for her entire life. They were inseparable. I'm sure they had a good life together. Agnes had her soap store and Iris was a switchboard operator. Agnes painted in her spare time. Quite a few small paintings, really lovely artistic pieces. I wish I owned one of them.

Something queer, exactly what I hoped I would find but was afraid I wouldn't. An archetypical Boston marriage, though I'm unsure if that term would have been used in that area and time, since in Sweden Boston marriage was mainly used to refer to examples within the academic world. I don't have exact birth or death dates for either of these women, but I know that Agnes was the fifth out of six siblings and that her sister Hilda, who was the firstborn, was born in 1879, so a reasonable guess would be 1880s or early 1890s. Furthermore, there exists a photo of them where my grandfather (born 1943) is present as a preteen, meaning the photo was likely taken in the early 50s. Agnes and Iris lived most of their lives in a world where their love was illegal - before 1944, homosexuality was illegal in Sweden and punishable by up to two years of hard labor.

I'm reminded of the story about the WWII soldier who sent his lover a letter saying "imagine if in a more enlightened time, people could read our letters and see how in love we are", and how he ended up being right as the letters were donated to a museum. I wonder if a similar thought ever struck Agnes - that one day, decades after her death, one of her sisters' descendants would find out about her secret and react with love and kinship.

The aforementioned photo from the early 50s. Among those who are standing up, Agnes and Iris are the fourth and fifth respectively from the left

Another photo from an unspecified amount of years earlier. Among those standing, Agnes is the second one from the left, and Iris is the one in the striped blouse

[finnicks]

for tagging me @hiraeth-doux!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Apparently 172.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

716,360. A good portion of that is probably someone getting dicked lmfao.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. you came back as the underdog mcu/wandavision/tfatws | wanda/bucky

2. i don’t have time to die tvd | elena/elijah

3. you're my end and my beginning the flash | iris/barry

4. i'm willing prey mcu/tfatws | sarah/bucky

5. say you'll remember the 100 | clarke/bellamy

And 4/5 of them contain or are about sex LMFAO. #onbrand

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I appreciate it so much when people leave a comment and I want them to know that I appreciated it. I think that it's more than kind to take the time to acknowledge someone taking that next step to engage with your work. I do take my time in responding to comments because I do get overwhelmed by the fact someone likes my work (I'm dumb), but I make it a point to respond.

Some of my fics don't have responses to comments because I was in a depression funk. It sucks to see them unanswered, but I'm not too sure if people are happy to receive a "Thank you" 6 years later.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Maybe our house is crumbling under me (the 100, raven/bellamy) or with monsters much bigger than i can control (mcu/wandavision, wanda).

Both ended with a character going off to be tortured. (Bellamy to live season 2b and Wanda being left with the consequence of her choices.) Still really satisfying with the journeys they took—Bellamy gained his voice and Wanda gained her home.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think the majority of my fics have that, but as for a longer piece of work... you came back as the underdog (mcu, wanda/bucky) will have one 😉 and I'd say somewhere between hello and goodbye (wandavision, wanda/vision) has one considering how I broke Wanda down to all of her toxic mistakes and choices and really dug into her psyche. It was a heavy story to write.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

If it grabs me—I don't usually write them. But the craziest one I wrote—and the one that I really enjoy—is they call it creeping (mcu/wandavision and the originals). It was about Agatha going to New Orleans pre-WandaVision and manipulating Klaus and Elijah. I love writing Agatha as a cunning manipulator and I enjoy it when Klaus gets put in his place. I hope I can do a follow-up.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don't think so—and if I have, I don't remember it. I think the closest I got to hate was someone questioning the rationale behind my choices and questioning a lot of readers' responses to my fic. It made me a little uncomfortable, but I also understand that's what happens when you put work out into the public space.

All I can say is if you're not enjoying a fic, don't comment on it.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

LOL. Explicit. I think I write smut that digs into the psyche of the characters and puts something about them on display, whether it's a vulnerability or a mask or some slip of their neurosis. I like to show character through those actions because that's when someone chooses to be at their most vulnerable.

I enjoy writing smut, but it can get a little repetitive, so I try and figure out an angle that I want to take with it. What am I trying to show? A connection? Someone's vulnerability? Insecurity?

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I'd hope not!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I've had a few translated. It's so cool that people want to do this!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A LONG, LONG, LONG TIME AGO WHEN PROBOARDS WERE A THING. Never fucking again!

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Katherine/Stefan. I think there's a lot of potential in them and the way stories can unfold. I hope to write some fic with them—I have a few ideas, but I'm letting them marinate a little.

The one ship that has surprised me and has become my all-time favourite is Wanda/Bucky. I find them so satisfying to write and I really enjoy my versions of them.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a couple...

what set you free? (i need you here by me) the 100 | raven/bellamy + ensemble

The show turned terrible and completely assassinated Bellamy. Fandom also made me feel very cool towards them. I'm hoping to return to it one day. I'm so proud of the concept behind this fic and how ambitious it was, but I need to really fall back in love with the show again. I have an outline; I know where it's going... I wish I had the confidence that I would need to finish it.

we all end in the ocean wonder woman | diana/steve

I ended up either getting depressed or super busy at work so I never finished this. Stupidly, my outline legit just consists of a few sentences that are so fucking vague. (All the hate to past me.) I don't remember where I was going with this fic, but I think that I would pick it up again if I figured out a direction to take it in and if it was only a few chapters. (I don't want to write a long thing.) I like my Diana/Steve stuff as it's a bit fantastical.

And I have a lot from The 100 that I probably will never finish because I dislike the show so much now. I have a The Goonies reimagining set in the fandom that I wish I had finished.

I have a few other WIPs that I genuinely hope I do finish from The Flash and The Vampire Diaries.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do really well digging into characters. I really enjoy the way I write them and dig into psyches and pull forth something about a character. I think I keep them in character, even in wild and canon divergent situations. I think I'm a very character-focused writer and write about character more than plot.

I also think I'm really great at banter and character dynamics. I also pride myself on not giving the reader everything at the beginning and bringing them along a journey with my longer works. I think I'm very good at being subtle and weaving descriptions into scenes. With the subtlety, I think I'm good at showing through character action and inaction what they're thinking and feeling, and I remember quite often that characters can be unreliable narrators and lean into that sometimes. I don't think I'm very heavy-handed.

I also think I'm great at imagery. I'd say I suck at it at the moment, but I do tend to pick a few images to focus on and try and ride that throughout the whole story.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing things lol. I'm very bad at being overwhelmed by Too Many Ideas. I suffer a lot from having an idea and then kind of blowing it out of proportion because I want to include Everything Ever, but I think I'm starting to tame that wild beast and learning to focus on one particular direction/ objective instead of ten. (I also feel I suck at plot.)

I used to say I sucked at description, but I think I'm getting better at it and am being more mindful of what I'm including, how I'm using description, and when I'm using too much.

I would also call this a weakness even though it's just a process preference—I'm really bad at sharing my work and my ideas. I worry about being judged (and I do worry about theft). I would like to have more confidence in myself and my ideas, and trust that if someone wishes to be a sounding board that they're not going to judge me and think that the ideas are bad and that they're also not going to steal them.

I suck at endings. I don't like to wrap them up too neatly where everything is hunky-dory, but I do want to make it satisfying for the angle/ theme that I was exploring. I don't really foresee my endings like some writers do and can block out the route to achieving said ending, which is why I consider it a weakness.

I also suck at accepting praise. Imposter syndrome is real. (I'm working on it.)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I do like including the language in writing just because I kind of like doing that, but I also have stressed myself out to the point of not enjoying it. I am learning how to get used to simply saying "Blah, blah, blah," she said in French.

I have also read that it's seen as offensive to italicise another language, so I want to be particularly mindful of how I include another language moving forward.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

LOL probably Charmed from 1998. I was a huge Piper fan and would rewrite episodes. I wish I could find those old fics, but I think they are lost on a hard drive that is dead in a tip. RIP.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to? Natasha/Bucky. While I did write a drabble for them, I want to write something longer. (I do have an idea... I need to let it bake a little more.)

I'd also say Ruby/Otis.

I tend to write for the ships I want to write for. (Sometimes it just takes me a while.)

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Why do these memes always ask the hardest question?

you came back as the underdog - I'm getting to explore grief in a different way to what I have before. I remember this idea was sparked by TFATWS 1x01 and I just ran with it. I really love this story for a multitude of reasons: it's been so easy to write, I've simply had a lot of fun with it, I've had an idea of the ending (which is hard for me to block out), and I've been very proud of the way I've written it and the way I've dug into the characters. I've never felt so satisfied by a work before.

And I've just never enjoyed it so immensely before—from conceptualising it to breaking it down to writing it and posting it. I'm very humbled by the response it's garnered. I'm just very, very pleased with it because I think it's me at my best.

tagging

@vorpalmuchness @laufire @michael-keaton — and anyone else who wants to do this meme! (Please tag me if you do it so I know I can annoy you senseless with writing memes!)