#i proved with zombie au that i can still write things i like

[kinetic-elaboration]

Writing this fic just feels like pulling teeth. It feels so clunky and try-hard to me and literally the only things I can say to myself are maybe it won't read that way to other people and also, eventually (soon) it'll be finished and then I don't have to think about it again.

[arrowheadedbitch]

Okay, okay, you know that pic someone made of you au where Tim is catatonic from underuse of his powers?

Can I gift you a drabble that I got inspired writing? Because I wrote this while I was at work and I need to share it with you!!! I had a random spike of inspiration 🤣🤣🤣

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You know, Tim is usually careful about these things - using his powers for a few minutes a day to avoid random visions from entering his mind.

Right now, though, he could feel the pull of multiverses asking for his attention.

Is this his fault? Yes. But is he going to accept that it's his fault that he focused on solving cases instead of taking care of his overall wellbeing? OF COURSE NOT!!! He'd blame the multiverse, because the multiverse won't leave him alone.

It's probably the cape. Chicks and the multiverse digs the cape TOO MUCH, apparently. Or his hair.

Anyways.

There is painful cold and heat behind his eyes, and finally, the multiverse greets him with potential outcomes of what's to come in the next few days.

It was at this wonderful moment that Jason Todd walked in, stretching his arms and loudly yawning. He does this just to be purposefully annoying to whoever is in the room. If it were Bruce, even better!!

When he sees the back of one Tim Drake, he snickers loudly and greets as loud as possible, "Hey, Timmy!!"

No reaction.

Huh.

Well, that won't discourage our resident zombie-man! So, he comes closer, clasps a hand over Tim's shoulder and gives a mock-offended look. "Yo, Pretender, you fall asleep aga-"

He cut himself off.

He cut himself off because Tim, the Pretender, his brother, is emotionlessly staring into space with lazarus green eyes.

It's been months since he's felt the pit's influence, but he could feel it roar within him when he puts piece after piece together of what could have happened to Tim.

Tim had died.

Tim had been brought back to life.

And the effects on Tim is different from Jason.

Where Jason was Catatonic first before being dunked, Tim seemed to have been brought back to life first before experiencing the catatonia.

But just in case.

"Hey, Tim, can you hear me?" Jason tapped lightly on Tim's cheeks. No reaction, not even a blink. Tim just stayed still.

He could hear and feel his own heart beating loudly in his chest as he shakes Tim's shoulder, asking him to snap out of it, but to no avail.

But it seems Jason shouldn't have shook Tim because his brother's body no longer wanted to stay upright. He guided Tim's torso towards himself, gently placing Tim's head to his shoulder. Then, he sat both of them down.

Once the two of them were seated, Jason brought out his phone and emergency called Dick.

He didn't even realize his own heavy breathing.

Dick answered.

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And that's about it!! I had the rest of my break imagining Dick arriving and seeing Jason and Tim. The two of them taking care of Tim the next few days. The first day just the two of them, but affter the second day, the rest of the batfam gets involved.

I imagined Bruce breaking down but doing his best to guide Tim around the manor, Jason trying and failing to call to Tim's consciousness (little did he know that it actually did work in helping Tim navigate in getting back), Dick doing everything he could in keeping the family together, Damian taking over WE and learning to fear Tam and the conflict between PR vs HR, Damian trying to help Jason as well in calling to Tim's consciousness so that Tim could think of a faster way to do paperwork (also because he misses his big bro but you can't prove anything!!!!!), Steph trying to help and comfort Damian and keep the kid company, and Cass not liking at all how she couldn't read anything about Tim at the moment.

It takes a whole week, but as Alfred changed Tim's IV, Tim slowly regains consciousness and feels the full force of a headache, which also causes a nosebleed, which also causes panic to happen around the cave, which causes Tim to pass out again.

This time, it takes him 2 whole days to recover, with little glimpses of the future (this time they're much nicer and full of family wholesome fluff), and wakes up to Jason reading out loud the biography of Peter B. Parker, The Greatest Bioengineer of the Century.

He says, rasping, "Oh. It's Spider-man."

No one knows who the fuck Spider-man is but they were all so happy Tim was back, they asked question after question when he died and came back to life. Dick was a bit more reserved about it, having an inkling of when it could be.

Tim frowned at them and said, "I didn't die."

And they all think, 'Oh no. He either doesn't know, or the trauma is so great he doesn't remember it.'

And that's what happened in my mind after encountering your AU! 🤣 I'm pretty sure you have your own twist and interpretations of this, and I am still going to explore more of your AU, because admittedly, I just encountered some of your incorrect quotes and that one pic. I think I'll read your fic when I get the time. BUT YOUR AU IS TAKING OVER MY BRAIN. IT'S LIVING RENT-FREE IN IT!!! I LOVE YOUR AU!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Oh thank you! This is so nice!!!

@the-tired-ish-rat absolutely needs to see this! (It's about their headcanon after all)

I love your interpretation and am so glad you enjoy my au!!!!!!

And here's @the-tired-ish-rat 's drawing that inspired you!

[astutior]

OPEN VERSES

— available to any & all interested mutuals.

Stone Mind; Glass Heart.

This is the main canon verse, taking place from the time Armin joins the survey corps onward. Age range 15-19. In the short span of four years, Armin makes his mark as a valuable asset to his squad with his strategical mind and logical thinking. He often assists in the formation of plans that lead the survey corps to victory and prevent the untimely death(s) of his friends many times over. As time moves on, Armin is given a second chance at life after a hard fought battle in his hometown of Shinganshina when he's chosen to inherit the power of the colossal titan. Although he does not believe this was the correct choice, Armin takes this new responsibility very seriously, and becomes a powerful weapon against their enemies in Marley, even when it pains him to do so. By the end of the war, Armin's efforts are rewarded with the title of 15th Commander, when 14th Commander Hange Zoe sacrifices herself and passes the title on to him.

Trainee Verse (tba)

A canon verse for Armin's time spent in the 104th trainees squad. Age range 12-15. After the death of his grandfather, Armin officially decides to join the military alongside his friends in the hopes of bringing change to a government directly responsible for the deaths of his parents, grandfather, and countless others, and the chance to finally explore the outside world. Although he is far from the strongest, his bright mind and unwavering determination catch the eye of his higher ups, and eventually prove enough to get him through to graduation.

Post Rumbling Verse (tba)

A post canon verse for events that take place after the rumbling. Age range 19-22 and beyond. War changes people, and Armin is no exception. With his dreams of exploring the outside world quite literally crushed beneath the feet of an army of titans, Armin has been left with more responsibilities than freedom at the end of it all. Commander of the last remnants of the survey corps. Ambassador of peace. The hero who killed Eren Jaeger. Enemy number one in the eyes of the newly formed Jaegerist faction of Paradis. Perhaps worst of all, he's been left to deal with all of these things while he mourns the death of his childhood best friend. Armin is still Armin. Will always be Armin. But the light in his eyes that once shone so brightly has dwindled to a dull glow at best most days, dimmed by trauma and melancholy. All he can do is keep moving forward.

Fever Dream.

Modern verse. This is the default for anything that might take place in the here and now. Focus will most likely be on a college age Armin or older. In this verse, he comes from a lower class family, and was raised by his grandfather. His parents may or may not be among the living, but will most likely be out of the picture due to their line of work or some other such excuse if I've decided they're alive at all. Our boy can be a bit of a hermit here, as he spends a lot of time playing video games (he's very good at them), reading, or studying. His friends may need to drag him away at times to get him involved in their antics.

Second Chances; Recollection.

Reincarnation au. Armin is blessed with a second life, free from the horrors of titans and war. Or so it would seem. Though he doesn't outwardly remember his previous lifetime in Paradis, the memories are occasionally triggered by people, images, or conversation. Is he losing his mind? Perhaps, one day, he'll remember.

As the World Falls Down.

Zombie apocalypse au that I came up with several years ago but never bothered to properly write. As a virus spreads across the country, Armin teams up with Eren and Mikasa on a journey to a mysterious medical facility in the hopes of finding Eren's father; a doctor who they believe has been working on a cure. What they don't realize, is that Grisha and his team were actually the cause of the virus to begin with. An accidental case of biological warfare that he's been desperately trying to correct. As the three friends make their way through the treacherous hellscape their world has become, a hoard of the undead separates Armin from his companions, and he's sure Eren, who was bitten in the midst of protecting him, is now dead because of him. Left on his own, and close to giving up, Armin decides not to let Eren's sacrifice go to waste, and instead presses on to the distant medical facility, hoping that Mikasa is still alive, and the two of them will somehow be reunited. Featuring such never ever been done before tropes as: Eren is immune because Grisha used him as a guinea pig.

PRIVATE VERSES

— do not interact or reference IC unless you've been invited.

Pretty, Handsome, Awkward.

idol/band au with @kerothi.

Your Ghost, Beneath My Skin.

post canon au with @praesidi & @kerothi.

[heytheredeann]

Whumptober 2023, Day 15 - "Suppressed suffering"

Tags: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Zombie Illya Kuryakin, Movie setting with supernatural elements basically, Undead, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Hurt Illya Kuryakin, Protective Napoleon Solo, Introspection, Non-Linear Narrative, Dehumanization, Referenced/Past Non-Consensual Body Modification

Notes: WELL, apparently the Zombie Illya AU is a thing now LOOOL. This is a combination of ideas I had written down when I first started writing this verse and things @ikeepwatchinghelicopters commented under the first fic, thank you for the inspiration! <3 Fair warning that Waverly doesn't come across too well in this fic, because as much as I like loving dad Waverly I love myself a messy agent/handler relationship, but I promise he does care and he does feel bad, it's just that, you know, when you have an immortal asset it would be stupid to NOT use him at all. Anyway. I like this verse, lots of suffering. might write more if I get inspired looool enjoy!

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“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Solo says, loud and clear, going off with the same subtlety as a bomb.

Waverly doesn’t betray any irritation at the interruption, but he swiftly closes his mouth and his attention switches to Solo, the calculating look on his face making Illya shudder. He fights the instinct to shift in his partner’s direction as Waverly calmly asks: “Excuse me?”

Solo doesn’t even blink. “He’s going to get caught,” he says, tightly, and if his anger is seeping through he can only imagine just how strongly he feels about it.

It’s—warming. Illya still isn’t completely used to it.

“Yes,” Waverly says, placidly. “As I was about to mention, I don’t think there is a way to pull this off without getting caught, not without pushing this back a few months, but I’m confident in Kuryakin’s ability to slip away.”

It isn’t misplaced confidence either: Illya has barely escaped with his life multiple times, back when he was still a living and breathing thing and he would be sent on missions that were nearly impossible to complete.

He was young and eager to prove himself, yet he still doubted, sometimes, that that was a complete coincidence. Oleg never seemed to like him much, always so stingy with praise and almost annoyed when he’d started pulling off mission after mission without much of a hitch, and if the timing of the near-impossible tasks could be attributed to an attempt at challenging him, since he was so good, Illya suspected he was trying to make him fail.

It didn’t really matter, it only drove him to try harder.

[More on Ao3]

[freelanceexorcist]

FFVIIR theory time

Just one or two or five this time, but this one has been on my mind a bit lately, especially with the new Crisis Core footage. This will probably still be long as hell, though, so consider yourselves warned.

As always:

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Seriously, kids, you know the drill

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OK, you've officially given up your right to bitch about any spoilers in this post.

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To start, some of these theories will be pretty canon-divergent. The key word here is theories. If your eye is twitching right now, think of this as an AU fic except it's just the opinion of someone who can't write fiction for shit. And like it or not, big parts of the canon story HAVE changed and these theories might even fit into canon in some way. And yes, I know the dev team has said that all of the major story beats will remain the same, but they said a lot of things back then, yet exercised their right to change their minds, which I think gives me a little wiggle room.

Anyway.

I've had the origin of Ore!Sephiroth on my mind lately, and I've tenuously concluded that he is the only real version of Sephiroth in the game. I even have my doubts about his real body chilling out in the Northern Crater and rebuilding in this iteration of the story.

So who's the person creating illusions in Cloud's mind and warging into the black-cloaked zombie men? I think it's Jenova herself trying to utterly break Cloud.

"But Jenova is just a mindless, instinct-driven animal that Sephiroth uses as a meat suit throughout the game," you say.

Yes, that's basically what she was in the OG. So much so that a man whose mind was utterly broken could wrest control away and impose his will on her. But subsequent materials give her more and more agency and suggest that her influence on Sephiroth is stronger than originally thought. It follows that the Remake series, with all of it's changes, would make her sentient and malicious.

Having said this, if you have the ability to assume other forms based on someone's memories and you want to inflict maximum psychological damage on your prey, you don't appear as yourself. The only memory they have of you is your severed head. No, you appear as the man responsible for the worst day of their life, and you taunt the shit out of them about that. You throw their mother's dying words at them. You follow them around telling them how weak and worthless they are because you know that somewhere deep down, they believe that about themselves. You constantly remind them that anyone who looks to them for protection will end up dead and you show them glimpses of the future to prove it.

I don't get the sense that it's Sephiroth's thing-either in the Compilation or spin-offs-to do that. This is why it was kind of jarring to me to see Sephiroth behaving that way in the Remake. It seemed out of character. Sephiroth's usual attitude toward Cloud is one of indifference and control at worst and, at best, seeing him as a somewhat worthy opponent. Even in Advent Children, when he was basically a rage-fueled golem made of Jenova cells and spite whose white hot hatred of Cloud fueled his very existence he wasn't that verbally abusive toward him. That was, to me, a big clue that something was off.

So my lowly opinion is that OG Sephiroth's motives will be transferred to Jenova in future installments while she continues to look like him and we won't find out this is what's going on until the big reveal. That will be the mystery of Sephiroth this time around.

Jenova as the new Big Bad is even scarier than Sephiroth when you think about it, because her genetic material is the source of his superhuman strength. As strong as he is, that would make her even stronger. Imagine being at the mercy of a villain that is mentally breaking you down piece by piece and can then instantly squash you like a grape once she's gotten what she wants from you.

So from here on out, I'm assuming that each appearance of Sephiroth other than Edge of Creation or similar instances is actually Jenova assuming his form.

Then there's Ore!Sephiroth. During the boss fight at the end, it's heavily implied that he is at least partially controlled by The Whispers. That also implies that the final battle wasn't entirely his choice. By being defeated in that battle, he's able to break free from our friendly neighborhood Dementor wannabes. I also theorize that he wanted to see how strong the party had become.

Fast forward to the Edge of Creation sequence, and you know that this person is very different from the person we've encountered throughout the game. Jenova induces hallucinations, but Sephiroth helps snap Cloud out of them. In the Japanese version, he uses a first-person pronoun ("ore," hence the nickname) that is personal, casual and used amongst peers, while all others use "watashi," which is impersonal and very formal. This was important enough for the folks who put together the Ultimania for the Remake to point out about him.

What I'm getting at is that all sensors indicate that this guy is actually Sephiroth, and that he has managed to shake off Jenova's influence and regained full control over his own mind (something that-again, in theory-The Whispers were trying to prevent in order to keep events chugging along as they were meant to).

Now I've seen some really good theories in my travels that say this is either pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth or a version from the future, either of whom could have traveled through time. While I love the idea of the former, I tend to favor the latter. The reason for that is for drama's sake.

Pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth gaining knowledge of future events and enlisting Cloud's help to stop them is a good storyline, but not as powerful as the other scenario. In that one, Future Sephiroth has shaken off Jenova and his personality has been able to re-emerge, but now he's wracked with guilt and shame over the things he's done and knows exactly what will happen if Jenova wins. Sure, as of the end of Advent Children she had been beaten back once again, but as long as she persists in the Lifestream, she can try again and again.

Who is to say that Future Sephiroth doesn't come from a time when she finally succeeded? The landscape at the Edge of Creation looks a lot like a barren planet after all. This is the culmination of everything he helped her do for so many years, and he sees the chance to put an end to it. But he can't do it alone.

Also, personality-wise, the latter would be more entertaining. Pre-Nibelheim was dutiful, determined and a bundle of personal and emotional issues. Future Sephiroth would be all of those things and also a bit of a giant asshole, too. Any good he does won't erase or excuse the awful things he did in the past, he will have to come to terms with that, and one doesn't just find out they were born as the result of horrific human experimentation and come out the other side of that with a winning personality. Kinda like Negan after his heel-face turn on The Walking Dead.

Finally, this being pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth doesn't make sense when you figure that if he's here, that means the destruction of Nibelheim likely didn't happen, or at least didn't happen in the way we know. This would completely change the story from the ground up, and big changes aside, the major story beats seem to be chugging along as usual. There's always the issue of alternate timelines that the story wants to play with, but it'll take a lot more theorizing power than I have to figure out how pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth would figure into that.

That's about all I've got right now, so I'll wrap this up. If you're still reading, thank you for indulging me.

Until next time!

[fandomlit]

neutral, chap. 4 (dream smp x reader)

series summary (in game!au) when an exiled tommy finally rebels against a manipulative dream, he finds safety in neutral territory, a place owned and guarded by you. staying in your safe haven opens up the younger one’s eyes to your way of life, while also revealing your deeper past before neutral; a past that involved a war for your love.

chapter summary after waking from a taunting nightmare, tommy expels some late night energy on some wandering mobs. you give him another lesson about taking care of himself, even when working hard, and tommy asks if you’ll teach him archery, which, of course, doesn’t go without entertainment.

warnings nightmares, mob killing

previous | series masterlist | next

gif cred belongs to @halcyoncraft

he was running again. he didn’t know where or from what, but his legs carried him far and strongly, weaving him through trees and grass and other obstacles along the way. he didn’t know how in danger he was, but he wasn’t going to stop and find out.

then he tripped.

when he flipped onto his back, it was that goddamn mask staring down at him, the lips just under it laughing, “you’re so weak, tommy! did you do anything while you were in neutral?” then his axe came down and tommy braced himself for the pain and release of death.

he woke up instead.

sweating under his covers, tommy sucked in a harsh breath as he sat up. he threw the soft cotton off of him, running a warm hand down his face. it was just a dream; he was safe in neutral.

looking out of the window next to him, he saw the moon still high in the sky, casting a cool light into his bedroom. dream’s words rang through his head like a bell, and he rubbed at his temples with a sigh. was he actually getting weak? was relaxing such a bad thing? at the very least, some part of him must have thought so to conjure a nightmare like that..

with another sigh, tommy lifted himself out of bed and flipped open the ender chest. he drew out his sword before heading to the main floor of the house.

when he reached the bottom of the stairs, a voice called out to him, “tommy?” his heart nearly stopped for a moment, before peeking into the kitchen and realizing it was just y/n. she sat in candlelight, writing in a small journal with a slice of half-eaten pumpkin pie next to her. “are you alright?”

“yeah,” he breathed, his voice still heavy with sleep. “just gonna go kill some mobs.”

she nodded. she looked tired, and a part of tommy felt bad knowing that she was most definitely going to wait for him to return. “okay. have at it, kid.”

he nodded, turning to leave the kitchen. before he did so, he pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder to y/n. “you should go to bed.”

she gave him a smile, scribbling something down in the small journal. “i will, tommy. just gotta finish this up..” his natural curiosity was drawn to the small book, and he almost asked y/n what she was writing. but then dream’s voice rang through his mind again, and tommy silently headed for the doors of the house.

the night air was refreshing on his warm skin, cool and still as the moon illuminated the frontal beauty of neutral territory. he took a deep, calming breath of that crisp air before focusing on the task at hand: proving to himself that dream was wrong. that dream is always wrong.

after about twenty zombies, ten spiders, countless creepers, and a few endermen, tommy finally felt the burn in his arms become nearly too much to bear. he panted as he struck down one last spider, turning and finally deciding to return back to the comfort of y/n’s home.

he sheathed his sword when he finally entered the house, going straight to the kitchen to see that y/n was still awake and writing in her small journal.

“ready to go to bed?” he asked gruffly.

she looked up slowly before nodding, placing her quill down and capping her ink. “any trouble out there?”

“no,” he spoke, shaking his head. “wrote everything you needed to?” y/n blew out her candle and went to join the boy in the doorway to the kitchen.

“as much as i could, anyway,” she shrugged, smiling lazily as they began to walk toward the stairs. “what was your nightmare about?”

tommy was slightly startled, but a little too tired to react drastically to y/n’s deduction. “how’d you know i had a nightmare?”

“i’ve had them before,” she said simply. “and it seemed natural that you’d expel some energy onto mobs after such a thing.”

“you’re smart,” tommy credited.

“thank you,” y/n yawned.

they continued to climb the stairs in silence as tommy considered his words. “i was being hunted by dream again, but this time you weren’t there to save me. he called me weak and killed me.”

“so you wanted to prove to yourself that despite allowing yourself peace, you didn’t have to sacrifice your strength to get there,” y/n summed.

the boy half-smiled. she was spot on, as always. “exactly,” tommy breathed. 

y/n was silent for a moment as she thought. they stopped at the hallway to tommy’s room and it then occurred to tommy’s tired mind that her room was downstairs; she was walking with him because she cared about him. 

“honestly, tommy, if this is a real concern for you, then there is no harm in taking time out of your day to work out and train,” y/n spoke. “but the most important thing is to recognize when enough is enough, and when enough becomes too much. you’ve allowed yourself peace and care for the last two weeks, and achieving such a state doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice fighting or training; it just means that you need to be more aware and in tune with yourself as you’re doing it.” tommy nodded.

“don’t overwork yourself, is the summary here,” she said, picking a cobweb off of his shirt. “let yourself do the things you want, but make sure it’s not wearing you down. that’s taking care of yourself.”

“alright,” tommy spoke quietly. “thank you, y/n.”

“of course, kid,” she smiled. “get some sleep, alright? if you have another nightmare you’re free to bother me.” tommy nodded again. “good night, tommy.”

“good night, y/n,” he yawned as she turned to head down to her room. he made sure he heard her door shut before finally heading to his own room.

...

“can you teach me archery?” tommy questioned the next morning at breakfast. it was a question that had bugged him since y/n had first revealed her skills just a few days prior, and since he was going to start training, he figured that might be a good place to start.

“sure,” she chuckled as she scooped some more fruit onto his nearly half-eaten plate of french toast.

“why the laugh?” he questioned through a mouthful of berries.

she shrugged to herself. “your curiosity is showing.”

“i’ve been wondering about it since you took out the mob,” tommy admitted. “if i want to get stronger.. i think this is a good way to.”

“perfecting a skill is the perfect way to get stronger,” y/n voiced. “of course i’ll teach you, kid.” she smiled and he turned back to his breakfast with his own grin. “finish up your food and meet me in the basement; we gotta get you a bow first.”

tommy hadn’t been in the basement of the house yet. he opened the heavy, dusty trapdoor and assumed y/n didn’t go down their often either. he slid down the ladder easily and was immediately hit with heat.

y/n had a welding station upstairs in her shop area, but the basement had a more broad and intense version of that area. several anvils, all cracked and rusted and adorned with different materials were scattered in a sort of pattern amongst the space, a fire burning high in a fireplace at the far side of the room. seeing no sign of y/n, tommy moved to the room to his left.

the next room held a large nether portal, as well as a small farm for netherwart. the dark room felt empty to him, and he had to remind himself that he was in fact in y/n’s house still. he remembered she had said that she didn’t like going to the nether.

“i’m in here, tommy!” she called out. he took another left into a small storage room, where y/n was rustling through a chest. “how tall are you, kid?”

“6’1”,” he answered.

y/n smiled. “you’re a lot taller than i’ll ever be.” she took out a pretty oak bow, slightly scratched and obviously old. “you’ll have to use this for now, until i can make you one that’s your size.” he took the bow from her hands, shrugging.

“it’s fine.”

“good,” she hummed, still shuffling through the chest as tommy took the time to look around the small room.

“what’re the dispensers for?” tommy asked, staring at the wall that held the three stone tools.

“im nothing if not prepared, tommy,” y/n spoke as she took out a quiver and began to fill it with arrows for him. “in case of emergency, those dispensers will set off flares to let others know that im in trouble or that neutral is in danger.”

tommy nodded, still looking at the obviously unused dispensers. “smart.”

“i hope so,” she sighed, handing him the quiver of arrows. he strapped it around himself as she continued, “let’s just hope i never have to use them, yeah?”

“yeah,” he chuckled. she gave him a smile, hoisting her bow higher in her grip.

“you ready to shoot some things?”

...

“relax your shoulders,” y/n reminded. tommy did so, his fingers still white with effort against the taut string of the bow. “don’t pull so hard, tommy. you’re shaking.” he sighed as he let the string and arrow go limp, lowering his bow as y/n approached him closer.

it was his second day of archery training, and he was still missing nearly every target. y/n was a calm and collected teacher, offering him advice that was pointed directly for him and reassured him that there was no rush in the learning process. but after missing fifteen or so shots in a row, tommy was getting frustrated.

and it didn’t help with sapnap and george staring at him through the kitchen windows.

“doin’ great, kid,” sapnap encouraged weakly, taking a drink of the lemonade y/n had lovingly prepared for the boys. just watching the older man sip made tommy’s mouth dry, but he was determined to make five shots in a row before taking a break.

tommy glared at the man before turning his gaze back to his mentor. “ignore him, tommy,” y/n spoke gently. “nick couldn’t hit a target if it was three paces away.”

“that’s a lie!”

“im kidding,” y/n laughed, placing a hand on tommy’s shoulder and turning him away from the distraction that was sapnap. “but seriously, there’s almost always going to be someone watching when you shoot. the more you can tune them out, the better. just focus on your aim--and make sure your grip is looser. you’re gonna snap that string in no time otherwise.”

“loose grip, focus on aim,” tommy breathed and she patted his shoulder as he turned back to the target ahead of him. he hoisted the bow up slowly and pulled the string back just enough that it wasn’t fully taut. he made sure his aim was a little higher than his target, and released the whizzing arrow. the arrow pierced just outside of the center ring.

“perfect,” y/n smiled. “now, do it again.” and he did, taking another deep breath and allowing himself to focus in on the feel of the rough wood on his fingertips, and the tight string he was pulling. the arrow hit just beside his last. she nodded encouragingly. “keep going.”

tommy could feel his heart start to thump in his chest from the excitement of his accurate aim. he took another calming breath and watched as the arrow lodged closer to the center.

“great aim,” she complimented and he grinned as he pulled another one back, trying to contain his shaking as he aimed. the arrow shot lower than his previous, but on the target nonetheless. “still a good shot. one more?”

“yeah,” tommy nodded, licking his dry lips as he retrieved another arrow from his quiver. heart still thumping with utter excitement and pride at y/n complimentary words, he quickly released the arrow and his smile dropped as the arrow lodged into the ground before the target.

“hey, that’s fine!” y/n assured as tommy groaned and dropped his head. “four in a row is an amazing improvement, tommy. you should take a break and reward yourself.”

tommy sighed, looking to the shameful arrow. “yeah. alright.” he dropped the bow to the ground along with his quiver. he looked to his slightly splintered fingers. “im gonna go.. wash up.”

“alright,” y/n smiled as tommy scampered away. she entered into the open kitchen, smiling at her guests. “you boys doing alright?”

they nodded. “when did you take up parenting, y/n?” george giggled. she rolled her eyes as she went to pour her and tommy their own glasses of lemonade. “no, seriously! you care for that kid a lot, it-it’s not a bad thing!”

she sighed, leaning against her counter as she sipped at her lemonade. “i know you two haven’t always agreed with him in the past, but i think tommy’s a good kid. i like his ethic, and i think he has a lot of potential. but that being said..” she shook her head. “he’s so young.” the boys nodded. “he’s been thrown into such a life of chaos and destruction, and im not saying he’s at all innocent, but.. i think it’s good for him to learn that there’s more to this world than just war and enemies. there’s...”

“neutral,” sapnap finished for her. she let out a laugh.

“yeah, neutral,” she agreed, tapping her fingers against her cold glass. “but, yeah, if teaching him peace and self care is motherly of me..” she shrugged. “then i guess im alright with being a parent.”

“that’s sweet,” sapnap nodded. “i hate it.” the three of them laughed, y/n laying a light slap on the man’s arm before tommy’s voice called out to her.

“y/n! can i have some help?”

“im coming!” she called back, setting down her glass of lemonade.

“go help your poor son,” george teased, resting his head in his hand as he gazed at y/n amusedly. she rolled her eyes.

“behave, you two,” she laughed before leaving the kitchen.

there was a moment of silence before george spoke, “i do think it’s quite sweet how y/n’s taken tommy in. i think it’s good for both of them.”

“you say that now,” sapnap sighed, leaning back in his chair. “but just wait until tommy’s back to feeling 100% and y/n’s going around saying “pog” all the time.”

tag list!! @vanhakirja @victory-is-here @inkyynki @airiour @sylum @kiritokunuwu @221bee-slytherin @bllatrixcarpnter @soullesstaco @stxrryb1tch @amibismexy @keiarma @akaichi-blog @runningoffofcaffeine @nonetookind @aquilla-favonia @feverish-dove @izuruamme @weeb-bb @bialin @justachillbisexual @kiritokunuwu @natalie-is-a-wall comment below or message me if you would like to be added <3

[yarstarthewolf]

Uneasy Alliance

Prologue

Hello! I've decided to try writing my new AU instead of making a comic just because the lack of time. I will do drawings and designs to it tho. Short comics, some scenes from my writing or maybe asks in the future if I get that far. ¯\_(-w-')_/¯

Enjoy and tell me if I missed any warnings if you feel uncomfortable with something!

Word count: 2077

Warning!: swearing (like once or twice), mentioned character death, character death, slight gore

It's been almost a year since Dream got locked up in the prison. Few people visited the masked man but none came back without any scar, either it was physical or mental.

But something after all this time still was bothering the young ram hybrid. Tubbo paced back and forth, trying to connect the dots he created from nearly start of the server. Why did the guy turn from a bit strict but still very friendly into someone who doesn't care about anything, anyone or about how others feel? It just didn't add up to him. He tried to make an exorcism on the hybrid with Fundy but as he reason now - they failed. But they couldn't! They SAW the dreamon leave! Was it attracted back by the hatred that grew around the server?

Tubbo got snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his husband call his name. "Hello, bee!"

A soft smile drew on ram's face. "Hey Ranboo."

Ranboo. Enderman hybrid with few abilities. Tubbo's platonic husband and best friend. They adopted a zombie piglin toddler and named him Micheal. They would sacrifice the world for him and each other. Ranboo due to his enderman side got a hold of few abilities of them. First is the silk touch hands, he can pick anything without breaking it's natural presence. He's also practicing teleportation but that could take a while with his memory loss, he needs to remember locations to teleport to them. It's easiest in Snowchester where he spends most of the time. The enderman hybrid have some downs as well though. Like mentioned, his memory is bad and he have something called Enderwalk state. It's like he's sleepwalking but also mutters some weird words. His skin also is "allergic" to water.

The Enderman's wide smile turned into a worried frown. But before he could say anything, other male spoke again. "Yes I was thinking of it again... And I already told you why."

"Tubbo he-... he WAS doing all those things on his own! HE was and IS a reason..." Taller whined, his breath speeding up just slightly from the panicked thoughts that were snapped shut when Tubbo took his hand into his.

"I know what I saw Boo... the second Sam and Sapnap started to take him away. The evilness in his eyes- it disappeared Ranboo! Was completely replaced by fear and confusion! Why none of you believe me?..." The shorter hybrid trailed off as the second one stared at him in disappointment and worry.

"Tubbo... he hurt people... still do. He even killed Tommy just to prove a point! He was hiding that he not only was a size shifter, he also turned out to be a hybrid so it makes him also slightly a shape shifter! Tubbo... he's the reason everything is happening around here."

"You're repeating yourself."

"Because it's true!"

The ram hybrid fell silent. His head buzzing again with thoughts. He felt sorry, worried, responsible for the man's struggles in his own body. The fact he was hiding? Of course he was! He was a dragon and size shifter after all! And both are rare as hen's teeth! True. There are few tinies or shifters on the SMP, but none mix with other spiece. Tubbo felt the struggle he must've came through hiding and additionally dealing with being forced to do things, you know no one will forgive you for. But he did. He did forgive the man, because he knew it wasn't him, he didn't WANT it.

"Do whatever you think Tubbo... but Micheal- I need you. Tommy as well." With that the enderman hybrid left, leaving his soul mate alone yet again.

Tubbo stood here for quite a while until he decided on his next actions. He picked his communicator and started typing. The soft sound of little keyboard filling the room. He reread the message and sends it on his way out of Snowchester and towards the Greater SMP.

His pace was interrupted though by the most annoying yet traumatized person on the server. "Oh. Hi Tommy."

Tommy. Tubbo's best friend since the start. Tommy also is a shifter and a golden racoon hybrid. He can't control it that well though. When he feel strong emotions like anger or happiness he will grow up to good 3 meters (9'10 ft) but when he gets sad and even more likely scared he shrink to the tiny size of few centimeters. Maybe around 9 (4 inches). He was often shrunk down unwillingly by his body during the exile. Tubbo felt bad for him but also was a bit jealous. Him and Ranboo couldn't shift at all, they were just hybrids. In which, Tubbo didn't have powers like his other friend.

"Hello bee boy! What you up to? Visiting me 'cuz I'm sooo awesome?"

"Actually I was going to Sam for a visit."

The blonde teen fell silent, starring into his friend's blue eyes "Why?"

"I already told you Tommy! It might've been my fault and I'm just sitting there doing nothing! He... He was like a brother once to me.. and you can't tell he wasn't for you as well."

The two after those words fell silent for few minutes that felt like eternity to each of them. A chilly hand touched Tubbo's shoulder and grabbed it harder after a second. Right. He died and got revived... his touch is way colder.

"Did you get the things I asked you for?"

"Yeah... they're in my house in the room next to Shroud's if you want to take them and I won't be there."

"Just don't die there Toby... and I hope you're right about this." With that words the racoon looked at his friend leave until he was gone from the sight.

The rest of the way went awfully quick for Tubbo. In no time he was starring up at the gigantic blackstone and obsidian walls.

Pandora's vault. Biggest yet only prison on the server. From what most people know, it was designed by Dream and Sam, Dream having the main idea of building it. Now he himself is locked up within the thick obsidian walls. Inescapable, with corridors of security checks and the main cell at the very end of them.

Tubbo jumped as his communicator rang out from his pocket. Picking it up he didn't move an inch, something stopping him from taking another step forward.

"H-hello?"

"It's me Sam. You're fine to go through the portal."

He stood there. Portal lit up with purple light and swirled in mesmerizing circles. Finally the hybrid took a step forward. And another. And next three. Just to find himself in the way smaller room that was probably in the nether.

"Go through."

Right. He was still on call with Sam. He went through once again and was met with bright and big room. In the center was a counter made out of blackstone and a lectern with some book layed on it. Walls were made out of black stone and quartz adding a contrast to each other. On the left were two piston doors, one being open already. On the other hand right side was completely shut.

"Hello Tubbo."

"Hey, boss man..."

"Come closer and fill in those waivers for me please."

Sam. Creeper... centaur? He's a creeper hybrid that walks on four creeper legs and use two hands for what everyone else do. Fighting, eating, drinking, using things. No one really sees him outside of prison anymore. The security was tightened and due to only few guards he works on full 24/7.

Tubbo walked up to the counter and started reading the book, not liking all of the things contained in it. "Is it... really needed? I just wanted to talk-" The Warden's face told him what he needed to know. Signing up the waiver he wait for Sam to check it and let him go further.

"Alright... Go through that door and leave all of your things in the chest. Make sure to have one slot left in enderchest for the keycard." Said door opening behind Tubbo and waiting for him to go in.

He did as he was told and hesitate slightly on what he should take out of his enderchest. Everything was valuable at some point. Finally he took out a red compass. His friend was safe, in a place he knew. By the way it's not gonna stay here forever. "Done."

"Click the button and hide key-"

"Already did."

"... Good. Come back and go through the open door. Then stand in the middle of sea lanterns."

The ram hybrid did what the creeper told him just to see him on the other side of thick glass and a bed sticking out of the wall next to him.

"Set your spawnpoint so you don't respawn all the way out there."

Younger man immediately set his spawn before coming back to the lanterns. "Wait- why would I-" His body started to ache with every wave stronger and stronger. A painful and horrified scream escaped his breathless lungs. Soon he found himself on the ground, letting out heavy yet shallow huffs.

[Tubbo_ was killed by magic]

"Come on I don't have all day."

"That's fucking brutal..."

"It's just the security check. We need to do it so we know the prisoner doesn't escape."

That's when Tubbo's mind decided to remind him what he was doing here. He didn't realize he forgot. His mind was empty from when he entered the prison. Right. He was going to confirm his guesses... And meet with probably most dangerous person on the server right after the Technoblade. He might die... But he's done with sleepless nights of quilt and days of fear. If he lays his hands on that filthy demon properly this time, everything will go back to normal.  Right?

Finally after, what he thought, endless security checks they both were standing before the wall of lava. The stone bricks being cold to Tubbo's hooves compared to the beating waves of heat from the burning liquid. The redstone mechanism sounded, lava popped and crackled against the cold obsidian.

There he was. The Dream everyone feared. Starring down at him with narrowed, emerald, reptile eyes. His mouth and nose being completely covered by a muzzle with holes for air. Pose he was in probably wasn't pleasant at ALL. Kneeling on the rough obsidian, hands tied to his back with chains and looming forward because of the collar with two chains pulling on his neck. The massive tail being close to the rest of the body to avoid lava that was flowing from all sides. Wings... were in a rather painful grasp of chains. His hair once short and dark gold in sun, now fell on his face and shoulders with thick strokes with no shine. But Tubbo's attention got man's clothes. They were all jagged and dirty from blood. One giant slash being drawn on older male's shirt and a scar underneath.

Dream. Manipulator, killer, liar, tyrant, a MONSTER. Most powerful person on the server with access to the revival book. Possible connection to the God of the server DreamXD. The shape and size shifter. He is known to have 3 forms that people saw. A Blob is his tiny form that looks like a white blob with smiley face and could be held in one hand. His human form is probably most common to see him in but not his natural one. And finally the third but not last form is a between form. Half human and half dragon but also gain in size, being around 21 meters (70'10ft). Last form is unknown. But despite all of that Tubbo know something that not everyone knows. The man got possessed by a power hungry being called Dreamon and that's why he was doing all the bad things. At least in Tubbo's hopes.

Young hybrid starred up at the giant eyes that starred back at him with curiosity and no shine even from the lava.

"Move with the bridge. And don't worry...he can't move anything but his tail." Creeper's voice filled the room again. Tubbo felt weird but once again did as commanded. Now with no escape he was standing close enough to touch Dream's knee.

The redstone mechanism sounded again and lava begun to flow down. Tubbo waited patiently until they were cut off by the heat.

"So... Dream... tell me. Do you want to get free?"

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

Thank you for reading!

If... this goes well I might immediately start the next part. Also I hope it wasn't too... wierdly typed but it was my ever first time doing such thing. Sorry if I missed any warnings or tags.

Anyway it's all from me and I hope you have a good day/night!

Ciao~

[alexlwrites]

𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆

✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: OT7xReader

✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where, after living abroad for years, you move back to Korea and your old high school friend Namjoon offers you his place to stay while you get settled, casually forgetting to mention that: a) he still had a massive crush on you. b) he lived with six other guys.

✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔:  Romance, Humor, Fluff, College AU, angst if you squint.

°•. ✿ .•°

𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐩𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐎𝟑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐤𝐨-𝐟𝐢

°•. ✿ .•°

Part 6 - Trap

(<<< part 5)

The next day, you rose with the sun, your eyes opening as the first rays of light hit your face. It was the baker’s curse never to sleep in, your mom had said as she woke you every day at the crack of dawn, bugging you to help your dad at the bakery your family owned.

And curse you it did, as you had a very hard time staying in bed for too long, despite your undying love for it.

Knowing better than to just lie there stalling, you got up to get started on breakfast, knowing that the boys would surely be nursing horrible hangovers and would need all the help they could get. So that day, you made sure the coffee was twice as strong and that you had plenty of your mom’s hangover recipes.

Once again, Yoongi was the first to show up. His already pale face had was even paler, with a slightly green hue to it. He walked into the kitchen, dragging his feet like a zombie and mumbled “Turn off the fucking sun”.

“I would if I could” you offered sympathetically “But alas, all I can offer you is coffee.”

He didn’t answer, settling for making grabby hands in your direction. You put a huge, filled to the brim, cup of coffee in his hand and waited until you were sure he wouldn’t drop it before removing your hands, which resulted in full three seconds of awkward hand touching.

“I made it extra strong today” you said as he gently blew the surface of the burning hot drink “and although I do think you should eat, I won’t make you do it.”

Yoongi had only had one single sip of the drink before he had to put the whole cup down to sigh in what seemed to be deep pleasure.

“Marry me.” He said while hugging the cup as if he was holding the most precious thing in the world.

“What’s in the job description?” you asked, pouring yourself some coffee as well.

“You make me coffee like this every day and I will give you my undying love and affection.”

You tapped your finger against your cheek, looking up as if thinking about it “I don’t know, Suga, I am very needy. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I will give you endless hand-holding privileges” as if proving his point, he offered you his left hand, the right one still holding his most prized possession: the coffee mug.

“You play dirty, Suga.” Grumbling, you put your hands on his and couldn’t hide the blushing of your cheeks when he smirked.

“I play to win, Salty.” Intertwining your fingers, he turned back to his mug and you grabbed your phone, ignoring the stupidly fast beating of your heart.

This is how, minutes later, the other boys found you. Hand holding over the table, focused on your own activities (you thinking of ways to tell your mother that Namjoon was not the boy you ended up marrying; him, mentally writing love songs to his hot drink).

“What is going on here?” asked Jimin, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, too cheery and teasingly for someone who looked like he had been repeatedly run over by an ice cream truck.

“We got married.” Yoongi deadpanned, his finger twitching but never letting go of yours.

The boys’ reaction was instant: Jungkook, being the last one to enter the kitchen, had a coughing fit, choking on nothing as Taehyung worriedly patted his back in an attempt to help. Namjoon, ever the graceful, tripped over his own feet, going down hard and bringing Hoseok down with him. Jin, who annoyingly still looked pretty good for someone who had ended the night passed out under a table as his friends balanced several random objects on his forehead, screamed “WHAT?” making Yoongi wince and hold tighter to his cup.

“I go to sleep” Jin keeps going, despite Yoongi’s annoyed expression “for a couple of hours and when I wake up my roommate, my friend, my so-called bro has stolen my future wife?!”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Yoongi agreed, still with that same flat tone.

“The disrespect, nay, the betrayal! The bro-trayal!”.

Yoongi rolled his eyes, tightening his hold of your hand. “I’m gonna need a lot more coffee to deal with that, Wife” he said, and sure enough, his cup was already empty. Quickly getting to your feet, you grabbed the pot to pour him more with a “I got you, Husband.”

Meanwhile, Namjoon watched you two with a look of sheer disbelief while holding back the urge to repeatedly hit his head against the wall “When did… How did… Why… I am at loss for words”.

Yoongi sighed in his relief “Oh, thank god”.

His relief was short lived.

“When did this happen?!” Namjoon continued “Is this even legal?!”

“I thought you were at loss for words.”

“I have an IQ of 148: I can find new words.”

“And yet you couldn’t remember to propose first.” Yoongi shrugged “You snooze, you lose.”

Holding back the urge to laugh at Namjoon’s distraught face, you got up to fill your own cup as the boys continued their silly argument. Having lived with two brothers previously, you had learned very quickly how to turn off the sound of a man’s voice.

It did dawn on you then that neither of your brothers were anything like Kim Seokjin, who did not like being ignored at all.

“Hey” he said, leaning on the kitchen counter to get closer to you, still look unfairly good “don’t worry, Y/N, I can be your second husband.”

“What happened to Suga in this scenario?”

He smiled a crooked, dangerous little smile “Nothing you can prove.”

You laughed softly, turning your back to him as an excuse to hide your slightly blushed face (surely, a result of the remaining alcohol in your system, no other reasonable explanation for it, no sir). You could still feel his eyes on you, traveling up and down your back, making you fidget and play with the ends of your hair, throwing it over your shoulder and exposing your neck.

“You have a tattoo” you heard him say, in a loud, breathy way that had all the boy’s attention back to you.

“Correction: I have several tattoos” you walked back to your place on the table, fixing your hair so it covered once again the back of your neck.

When you looked up, they were still staring quietly in different states of surprise. Uncomfortable, you once again started fidgeting, reaching up to play with the ends of your hair.

Yoongi watched in silence as you seemed to shrink; pulling the sleeves of your sweatshirt to cover what he now could see was a tattoo on the side of your left thumb. He couldn’t see what it was, nor did he care, but the idea of you having to hide bothered him for some reason. Reaching for your hand, he covered it with his, long fingers engulfing yours and effectively covering the little bit of ink peaking out.

“Stop staring at my wife” he grumbled and the previous argument started again, loud and filled with thinly veiled threats from Jin and Namjoon and even a stinky eye from Jungkook, but Yoongi, too busy thinking about the thankful look you sent his way, didn’t pay much attention to any of them.

---

Taehyung drove insanely.

When he offered a ride to your class, you didn’t think much of it, just being thankful that you didn’t have to walk or get the bus. You, in you relieved innocence, didn’t notice the look of sheer panic that the others were sporting behind Taehyung’s back, shaking their heads violently and mouthing for you to run. So you got ready and got in the car.

And then immediately regretted it.

“Dude, what the hell?” you screeched as he pulled off the garage as if getting ready for a street race, speeding down the street “Why are… LOOK AHEAD!”

Taehyung, who had turned at the sound of your terrified voice, rolled his eyes and turned back to the road.

“Don’t worry, noona, I’m a great driver!”

“Alrighty, Fast and Furious, you don’t have to prove it. Slow down, I’m going to class, not running away from the police.”

“You don’t like speed, noona?” he asked and when he tried to once again turn to look at you, you turned his face back with a hand on his jaw.

“I’m a girl. Speed is not supposed to impress me.”

That made him laugh, which would usually make you happy (social acceptance, yes!) but when he laughed he threw his whole head back like a child and once again you had to scream at him for threatening both your lives.

When you finally parked, you felt as if you had just escaped a near death experience. Climbing out of the car, you glared at him while trying to slow down the ridiculous beating of your heart.

“I’m never accepting a ride from you again.”

Taehyung had the audacity to smile, leaning against his door.

“You are the first girl to say that.”

You rolled your eyes at him and promptly began to walk away, too annoyed to feed his ego. You didn’t get very far though, as his cursed long legs helped him quickly catch up.

“Do you know where your classes are?” he asked, walking by your side. In your peripheral vision, you could see some people turning to watch him, whispering to each other while scanning you both.

“In a classroom, I assume, much like yours.”

“Funny,” he stated, making a face at you as you continued to look anywhere but at him or at the people that were now openly staring “do you know where said classroom is?”

Your silence said it all and he only smiled when you glared at him. “C’mon, noona, I’ll show you around” he threw one arm around your shoulder, looking ahead casually, but you shooed him away.

“May I remind you that I am a married woman?” you joked, stepping out of his embrace.

“It’s okay, noona” still with that boxy grin on his face, he winked “I don’t mind being your paramour”

You swore you heard someone gasp behind you, but it could be only your paranoid self hearing things.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

In the end, despite your attempts to lose him, Taehyung did walk you all the way to your classroom. He was clearly a very touchy-feely person, as everything he did resulted in him reaching for your hand, throwing his arms over your shoulder or touching you in some way or another. Usually, that wouldn’t bother you at all, as you were also a big fan of casual touches, but you couldn’t help but feel as if you were being watched and judged every time his skin touched yours. Despite actually enjoying his company, you couldn’t be happier once you finally reached your classroom.

“Alright, noona, try not miss me too much.” He said, but didn’t move from your side.

“In order for me to miss you, you have to leave. So…” you awkwardly waved “Bye.”

“You are funny, noona” he said, and meant it. Your awkwardness and quick wit were endlessly amusing to him. “I’ll see you later, ok?”

Finally, he left and you were free to find a seat in the back of the classroom where you could successfully hide for the entire period. Before you could reach what seemed to be the perfect place to be your introverted self, someone tapped on your shoulder. Turning around, you found yourself face to face with an unknown girl, who did not seem to be happy.

“Hello…” you offered awkwardly when she didn’t say anything “Can I help?”

“Actually, you can.” she crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking too angry for someone so tiny “You can stay away from my man.”

“Your man?” you repeated, frowning in confusion.

“Kim Taehyung? Tall and handsome?” your eyes lit up in recognition, but that seemed to bother her even more “Yeah, he’s mine. So stay away.”

You had seen enough teen movies and read enough fanfiction to recognize this kind of behavior and you knew that the best thing to do was just to step back and avoid unnecessary drama. You didn’t know Taehyung well enough to deal with his so-called girlfriend, so you decided to just let the whole thing go and pull a Harry Potter in the Dursley’s house “I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist”.

“I’m not interested in him” you answered, in what you hoped was a soothing, diplomatic voice (you had serious resting-bitch face and voice issues, so you really had to put an extra effort into not sounding like you were mocking her) “I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend.”

“He doesn’t.” said someone behind the angry girl. Another girl and a boy stood there, backpacks in hand. The girl was tall, with bleached hair and so many rings on her fingers her hands looked heavy. The boy, on the other hand, was just a bit taller than you, with a mop of curly dark hair.

“No wonder there’s so many dead souls around campus” the boy said with a fake cheerful voice “Cerberus left its post.”

“And here I thought it was just a Monday morning.” The girl smiled mockingly at Taehyung’s fake girlfriend “Bothering people so early in the morning, Yujin? Have you ran out of puppies to kick?”

Yujin glared at the new comers, giving you one last stinky eye before flipping her hair and leaving while the boy screamed behind her “I’ll give a 5 on that dramatic exit, Yujin, you used to do better!”

Flopping on your seat, you hoped those two would go away if you played dead, but no such luck. Dropping their bags on the seats next to you, they quickly scanned you over.

“So, new girl, that was quite the entrance you made there with Kim Taehyung draped around you like a very expensive scarf” said the girl, smirking slightly.

“Does everyone here know him?” you complained, sinking on your seat “Is he famous or something?”

“Or something.” The boy answered, shrugging “He’s just one of the local playboys, you know? That gives him some sort of status.”

You groaned. Your plan in Korea was to study and if you got lucky convince Namjoon that even though you had no filter and no money, you could still be a good girlfriend – being associated with a player was not what you wanted.

“Don’t worry, new meat.” The blond patted your back, taking your groan as a sign of distress “People will soon forget about you - Taehyung goes through girl like he goes through glasses. By the end of the day, you will be old news. Trust me.”

You shouldn’t have trusted him. By the end of the day people were still talking about it, because when the class ended there was Taehyung by the door, this time with a smirking Jimin by his side.

“We thought we could walk you to your next class.” He said, completely ignoring the looks they were getting.

“Don’t want our noona getting lost, do we?” added Jimin.

The boy you met earlier, who had introduced himself as Min-soo and his blond friend as Jiwoo, whistled.

“Damn, girl. Satan works hard, but you are faster.”

Groaning, you walked to the Flirty Duo, feeling too much like you were walking towards a trap.

°•. ✿ .•°

(part 7 >>>)

°•. ✿ .•°

[As requested, I’m starting  a tagging list for updates so let me know if you all would like to tagged when I update any of my fics! So, first names on the tagging list are @luvtaeha and @powiepow, hope you enjoy it! ]

[totally-correct-genshin]

I got it ;) 👍 under the read more bc the tag is Full with good fics and this is turning really long

Amber/Lumine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33495622/chapters/83217547

"About Us: Gliding

When I'm teaching you to glide, I feel like I can go even faster than usual... Huh? What are you laughing at? I'll prove it! We can race - right now!"

-no tags i see relevant to say

Me: if you know rwby you're gonna love this one, but its not needed to watch it to understand the fic.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33365356

"After arriving in Inazuma, Lumine writes to her girlfriend about her experience and how much she misses her."

-love letters, tooth rotting fluff.

Me: just lumine being a sappy sapphic, a lil bit of Inazuma spoilers

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33327094

In a quiet moment stolen away, with only the whisper of the sea breeze in the wind, Lumine pulls Amber along the shoreline; fingers and hearts intertwined.

-fluff, tooth rotting fluff.

Me: this is one of my favorites in the tags

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33085228

"Domestic Lumiamber after Amber falls off her skateboard [again]."

-blood mention, estabilished relationship, modern au

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32848369

"Witch Lumine gets an anonymous potion request but gets a surprise in return."

-fantasy au

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33185512

"The wind blew ever so lightly, ruffling Lumine’s hair and dress, the sunlight was donning on her like a ray of gold. With her pack on her back, Lumine brushed a lock of hair away from her face. The wind fluttered around her like an infant child, teasing her by messing her hair. She was… breathtaking…"

-hanahaki disease, fluff, angst, angst with a happy ending, blood mentioned and described.

Me: IM A SUCKER FOR HANAHAKI AND THIS ONE IS PERFECT

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31725022

"Cold. That’s the first feeling that Lumine knows. Space has always been cold. Space has always been cold and empty and lonely. Space is dark and vast and Lumine wants something more than that. What exactly does she want? She has no idea."

-Among us au

Me: L O O K, it loojs crackish, its probably crackish but its also very good

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30975731

"It didn't take long for the nightmares to grow worse for Lumine after her run-in with the Abyss. Fortunately, Amber is there for her even if she doesn't know everything."

-hurt/comfort, fluff, nightmares

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30490731

"Lumine and just how much she has a thing for Amber's hair"

-fluff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30338580

"Lumine’s back. There’s no better time to talk about flowers, absent family, and dead traditions."

-fluff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29985339

"She's happy. She's smiling, ear to ear, and giggling like a fool as she pulls up the ears of her bunny hoodie."

-short, tooth-rotting fluff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29823564

"As the sole Outrider, Amber prides herself on her ability to agilely traverse Mondstadt's wilderness with ease. And yet somehow, she still finds herself stumbling over her feet, heel cracking over a branch, and she gasps when suddenly, she's meeting the keen gaze of two golden eyes."

-canon divergence, kinda angsty??

Me: its so beautifully written and interesting that it found its way onto here even tho i find Amber a bit ooc in the ending

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29729769

"It's junior Prom night, an event awaited by all students in Mondstadt School. Amber is also looking forward to having fun with her friends - but when an unexpected someone asks for a dance, how will her evening change?"

-school dances

Me: dhajcjsjcjjsjdj also i love the friendship group in this, we need more fics where they're friends.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29340228

“This is… probably not going to go the way we want it to.”

-zombie au, hurt no comfort

Me: uhhh lots of trigger warning ig, blood, d*ath and uhh someone almost s*iciding, it made me cry i love it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251521

“I joined the Knights because of my grandpa, I stayed because of Jean. ...And now, you're the one that showed me the world outside Mondstadt. I couldn't be happier.”

-angst, hurt no comfort, major character death

Me: i said it was every fic, it does count angst filled fics that make me cry cnejfj

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092419

"She loved her like she loved the grass, the sky, the stars, and everything else in between. Like a breath of fresh air during Spring, and a splash of cool water during Summer. Finding the words was harder than she expected it to be."

-fluff, yearning, mutual pining

Me: READ TBE LAST AUTHORS NOTE IM BEGGING YOU ITS SO FUNNY

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899048

"Lumine just wants to finish her stupid College work in her favorite cafe so she can go home and sleep. She didn't ask to deal with pretty women giving her free coffee and remind her just how much of a lesbian she is."

-fluff, gay panics

Me: if you wanna kill me and the authors for the angsty fics, just read this one to laugh i love it sm.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28826478

"How unfair that she had so effortlessly stolen Amber's heart as easy as the winds of Barbatos flows through the city."

-fluff, gays pining

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851726

"Lumine has to leave eventually. Amber has always known this to be true. But as that date looms closer, she finds it harder and harder to say what needs to be said."

-fluff, bittersweet

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27671372

"The wind brings her peace. The wind makes her brave. The wind gives her hope . The wind reminds her that there is a whole world out there that she does not know yet and really, the sky is the limit. "

-soft, fluff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27574013

"Amber nodded, still not entirely sure she was awake. "This is a third-story window, how—" she paused, taking in the device strapped to her back. "Did you glide to my bedroom window in the dead of night?""

-fluff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27264493

"Paimon doesn't understand why Lumine isn't straightforward with her feelings for Amber. After all, being blunt always works for Paimon."

-Paimon's pov

[scabopolis]

Ummm because my brain could never come up with something as genius as yours, I will ask—nay, BEG—for more LoVe Vampire AU from Day 1 AU week.

Title: do not engage (part two of this little ficlet) Rating: PG-13 (some swears…because girl is still stressed) Pairing: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars, Additional Tags: Secret identity, vaguely vampire hunter related things, filed under: relationship obstacles, sharing of bagels, vampire Logan is probably far too schmoopy, tried to write angst but whooops I think it's fluff? Word Count: 1,800

For you, dear, @ayy-ohh? Anything. This one really got me stuck because...like...world building? What is that? And would vampires eat bagels? And why DOES Logan have a cell in his basement? So many questions. Anyway! Here it is! *** That she can’t remember ever seeing Logan Echolls in the daylight should have been Veronica’s first clue.

It’s just, given the nocturnal demands of her profession and thus her morning grumpiness, it was easy to miss. Easy to be grateful for. Easy to be relieved that Logan wasn’t like her college boyfriend—the kind of guy who insisted they wake up at 6:00 AM to go running and felt a day spent inside with the shades drawn was a day wasted.

There were, of course, other clues she missed.

Weirdly cryptic statements and obfuscations. (Given she was also prone to said crypticism, she didn’t press for fear he’d do the same.) His reticence towards beach days. (It seemed logical! Who doesn’t hate dodging tourists?) The weird way he’d linger at doorways of unfamiliar houses. (Again, given her own antipathy to socializing, his hesitation was something she understood.)

In retrospect, given that not pressing Logan on his vague answers landed her here—in a weird cell gnawing at the ropes her ex-boyfriend tied tightly around her wrists—she supposes she should have tried harder. She hears Logan’s footsteps on the stairs into the basement but doesn’t stop her attempt to undo the knots.

“I hope you have a good dental plan,” Logan says. She rolls her eyes and continues to work at the strands with her teeth. “Is there even a vampire hunter’s union? Might be something worth looking into. Though, given the general mistrust the position requires, electing a president might prove tricky.”

“God, staking you would have at least gotten you to shut up.”

“But then there’s the crushing guilt.”

“I would have managed.”

Do not engage. In the 36-ish hours she’s been in this cell, that’s been her motto. The secret to coping with the fact that your boyfriend is a vampire and that you and your dad are vampire hunters is to remain detached and cold.

Except it hasn’t been easy. Because her wrists hurt, she smells bad, and oh yeah, apparently she’s not as out of love with the bloodthirsty monster wearing the hell out of a henley and holding a bag of takeout as she thought.

“I got bagels,” he says.

As soon as he says it, the scent of cinnamon raisin wafts from the bag. He doesn’t wait for her to stand; simply slips the paper bag containing her bagel through the bars and slides it to her. Much like he’s done for their previous shared meals, he sits on the ground a safe distance from her and settles into eating his own.

She tears the paper bag and sees that not only has Logan brought her a bagel, he’s also brought her some sort of sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie. God. What an asshole.

What is his endgame here? If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it by now. It’s only a matter of time until her dad begins to question whatever story Logan texted him from her phone. Her dad will show up and he will have questions. What will Logan say then?

“What will I say to who?” Logan asks.

Shit. Detachment is also easier when inside thoughts remain inside thoughts. “No one.”

“If you’re talking about your dad, he’s out of town for the rest of the week.”

She concentrates on the pattern of the cinnamon swirl laced throughout her breakfast. “What do you mean?”

“According to the text he sent you last night, he had to go to Vegas. Vampire gambling ring of some sort?”

“You’re lying.”

“Takes a liar to know a liar.”

Veronica rolls her eyes and takes a large bite of her bagel, surveying the interior of her holding cell. And yes, fine, she technically has a policy of not engaging with the pointy fanged one, but she has questions.

“What is the point of having a cell in your basement? Is it for weird sex stuff? Or weird vampire stuff?”

“Who says those two things are mutually exclusive?”

She rolls her eyes. “Spare me, please. I’m eating.”

“I’ll tell you but you won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“My friend, Mac?” He extends his legs out in front of him. “Once a month, this is her guest suite.”

Veronica frowns. “For weird sex stuff?”

He raises an eyebrow in amusement which, fair, she should probably stop using the phrase weird sex stuff.

Wait. Is he saying—?

“Logan,” she says carefully, “is Mac a werewolf?” He nods, and Veronica’s bagel drops to the floor. “Could you be more of a vampiric cliche? Honestly! Does a zombie do your taxes? Does a ghoul trim your hedges?”

“I trim my own hedges, thank you very much.”

Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, or it might be the remaining vestiges of adrenaline leaving her body, but Veronica laughs. Just a little bit. At best it’s a chuckle. Still, it’s enough to make Logan smile in that way he sometimes does—like he can’t believe his luck that he even gets to be in the same room as Veronica. It makes something feel heavy and uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach. Do not engage.

“You really didn’t know?” she asks.

Logan’s answer with a slow nod. “I didn’t know.”

“Then how—?”

“It wasn’t an ambush, Veronica.” He pinches off a small piece of his bagel. (Sourdough, she guesses. Probably with jalapeno cream cheese because the man added jalapenos to everything.) She watches as Logan rolls the bread between his fingers. “The date was real but one of Dick’s friends recognized you somehow.”

“You were the one who threw me into a tree.”

“Yeah, and as far as they know, you’re dead. As far as they know, I was so enraged a vampire hunter tricked me that I took you home to finish you off.”

“Which means if you let me go—”

“They’ll know I lied.” He shrugs. “Either they kill me or your dad does. This way you’re safe.”

“Logan—”

“Sorry,” he says. “You called dibs on the killing?”

“Poor little vamp with a death wish.” She doesn’t mean for it to sound so fond. What is wrong with her?

The corner of his mouth twitches with a fleeting smile. There’s a ticking clock on their time together and now they both know it.

“I’ve never seen a vampire eat as much food as you,” she says.

He sets his bagel aside. “Dine with a lot of vampires?”

“Enough to know you eating that bagel is like me eating a bag of sour gummies.”

“Meaning?”

“You might like the taste of a lightly toasted sesame bagel, but an hour later you need to puncture the carotid artery of a single mother to really satisfy yourself.”

“You know sesame seeds get caught in my teeth. And single mothers come with too much guilt.”

“Hedge fund managers?”

“Now you’re talking.”

Veronica has questions, of course she does. More questions than she can properly express—wonders how old he is, who turned him, who gets him blood and how, why he’s friends with Dick Casablancas, if Logan is safe with Dick as a friend—but she doesn’t ask any of those. Because he asks the most important question first.

“What are we going to do, Veronica?”

She stands up, brushes cinnamon raisin crumbs off of her pants. (She catches a whiff of her unshowered self and cringes. So much for their farewell existing as a perfectly preserved memory in the mind of her undead ex-boyfriend.) “There’s no we, Logan. There can’t be.”

He can’t let her go, he can’t keep her locked up, and she can’t stay.

Logan pushes himself up off the ground and comes to meet her at the bars to the cell. “Yeah.”

“First, you’re going to let me out of here.” She wraps her hands around the bars. Logan does just like she’d hoped and does the same, his pinkies barely grazing her knuckles. “And then I never want to see you ever again.”

“That’s what you want?”

God. What a fucking idiot. Of course that isn’t what she wants. What she wants is to go back two days. To return to that night when Logan made pancakes for dinner, and they got drunk on rum and cokes, and then he kissed down her spine as they lay in bed.

She nods anyway. Presses her head against the bars.

“Fine.” Veronica squeezes her eyes shut. “If you ever need anything?” She nods again and she feels the gentle touch of Logan’s lips to her forehead. How is he always so warm? It never made sense.

“I won’t.”

And then, much to her surprise, he walks away. Without letting her out.

She opens her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” he says, a portrait of portrait insouciance once more. “You didn’t expect me to let you go now did you? What if this show of emotion is a long con? I could wake up to find you standing over my body poised to pull back my black out shades.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“Nighty night, Veronica.”

Logan doesn’t return to the basement and eventually she falls into a fitful sleep, waking up sometime before the sun rises. She definitely needs to pee and she’s so sick of the ‘toilet’ in her cell. Logan should still be awake. Maybe if she yells really—

Finishing that thought proves to be unnecessary because as soon as Veronica’s eyes adjust to the dim light, she notices the door to her cell is ajar. She’s barely thinking as she jumps from the bed and races up the stairs.

“Logan!” she calls out.

Her first stop is the kitchen, where she maneuvers a knife in between the strands of the ropes around her wrists and works to free herself. Her cell phone is waiting for her on the wireless charger Logan keeps in the kitchen. No messages from her dad, but she sends one to check in. She rubs at the tender skin on her wrists as she searches each room of Logan’s house.

As far as she can tell, there isn’t much missing. Some of his toiletries are gone (her toothbrush is still beside the sink) and she thinks maybe some of his clothes too. His motorcycle is still in the garage but the BMW is gone.

So. That’s it? He’s just gone? What about his house? There’s a housing crisis in southern California and this asshole thinks it’s acceptable to simply abandon a perfectly good home? He didn’t even leave a note.

It’s really the irresponsibility that—

Her call rings through to his voicemail. Rolls her eyes at the Dylan Thomas quote that greets her. That’s new.

“If you think I’m watering your plants for you while you’re gone, you are completely delusional.”

He responds while she’s in the shower. (What? She’s really supposed to put up with shitty water pressure at her place when he has a rain shower and heated bathroom tiles?)

Miss me already?

She responds with a garlic emoji.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

On the Citadel and writing (Star Wars) essays.

I’ve just stumbled upon captures of clones deaths in the Citadel and Obi-Wan’s reactions (easily summed up by “we must keep moving”), and the op was using this as evidence of Obi-Wan dehumanizing them, and I can’t stop thinking about it and it’s making me so (irrationally) angry. 

...

So yeah instead of ranting, I’ll attempt to direct my seething frustration into trying to organize a few thoughts on character analysis. Rule of thumb: text without context is pretext. Or in this case, picture without scene is probably bs. When using a particular frame as a piece of evidence supporting a take, you have to make sure you’re not excluding any surrounding material that could potential contradict that take, or else the analysis doesn’t hold. Quick example: using pictures of Yoda goofing around to test Luke’s patience as evidence that he is insane doesn’t work, because it’s revealed right after that he was playing an act. 

This principle is to be broadened when analysing entire scenes or episodes. You can’t take them out of the wider narrative. 

The post I was talking about continued on to say that this wasn’t the first or the last time that Obi-Wan was careless with the lives of his clones. Unless they were referring to RotS (which isn’t fair or intellectually honest because it was made long before anyone considered giving the clones identities and individual thinking), I don’t see that as being the case at all in canon material. Obi-Wan fights on the front lines. He takes the exact same amount of risk as his troops - he takes more risks even, as established as early as Christophsis (when he tells Rex to retreat with his men while he holds off the B2 super battle droids). 

What the op was probably talking about was the many plans of his that result in clones dying (ex: on Geonosis with the zombie worms, many troopers die as they escape). Here’s what I meant about the wider narrative: TCW is about war. It’s about people dying, and it has to be so the audience can understand the horror of a full scale war. And since it’s still (supposed to be) a kid’s show, it has to be mostly faceless people dying. 

I’m borrowing a quote from @trickytricky1​‘s absolutely amazing vid ‘Your Body and Your Blade’, which compiles scenes of Jedi placing themselves between their clones and enemy fire: “We are shown a war, and in that show, to tell that story, they will kill the soldiers. They will kill the soldiers regardless of whether we think they should have been able to be saved. They will kill the soldiers to prove a point, to tug the heartstrings, to move the plot, to set the scene. But that is far from the only thing we are shown.”

So there, wider narrative. The clones dying in missions led by Obi-Wan don’t say much about Obi-Wan himself. And speaking of Obi-Wan, more on character analysis. Obi-Wan, according to Matthew Stover’s Lucas-approved RotS novelization, is “the ultimate Jedi,” Jedi being supposedly defined by their compassion.

Obi-Wan is the guy who cradles one of his worst enemy in his arms as he dies, the guy who knows like a billion languages and is always shown to be super respectful and/or knowledgeable of other beings’ cultures (the Twi’Leks whose homes he doesn’t want to destroy, the Zygerrian whose culture he uses to buy Anakin time to disable the bombs, the Geonosian Queen, telling the Gungans they live in symbiosis with the Naboo...) and the one who knows the names of the 501st troopers despite not being their general (see The Deserter). Obi-Wan is not presented as dismissive of people or things because he does not understand them, and he certainly is shown to value all sentient life above his own. That does not jibe with Obi-Wan dehumanizing the clones. 

What we’re uncomfortable with might be the show itself not delving deeply enough into issues we as an audience can perceive because we have the benefit of omniscience and hindsight. Just as Yoda and Obi-Wan killing the clones in RotS does not inform their characters but the real life context of the movie’s creation, the same can be said of most problems with clone rights that we are indigned by. (Except in Krell’s case, or Tarkin’s - that’s what dehumanization looks like. And that’s what the show draws attention to, practically screaming “hey, look, these guys are evil for doing that!!!”)

To go back to the Citadel arc itself... Again, context. They’re in the middle of a highly time-sensitive mission, their failure could (as far as they know) mean complete defeat and the end of the Republic if the Separatist invade the Core worlds, and it’s more than probable that the clones who came along volunteered. (The ones we know are all high-ranking officers.) 

With this in mind, Obi-Wan not taking the time to show grief (again with the context that Obi-Wan isn’t one to wear is emotions on his sleeve) says one thing about his character, and only one: he’s a damn leader. As Piell puts it, this is war. You act first, survive first, mourn second. It’s hard to swallow as the audience, because we love the clones and care for them and want other characters to show that they care too, but fan-service can make for poor writing and characterization. 

(And by the way - Obi-Wan carries a clone on his back when they make their way down a cliff. He also personally assists most of the men up and down ledges, he gives out the warning about the blast doors closing... He’s trying to have everyone’s back. Pressing people to move isn’t being cold, it’s being cool-headed.)

To finish off, I’d like say that the “death of the author” principle is great when you’re writing school essays and want to show off (I should know, pretending that I’m smart and know stuff about literature is basically what I’m majoring in). But it can very easily lead to interpretations that - while valid to the degree that you’re entitled to make them and that they’ll probably always be defendable in some way - are not what you were meant to take away from the story. (Ex: the Empire was actually good, the Jedi deserved genocide, the Dark Side is freeing - go crazy, make defending these into fun rhetoric exercises, actually believe them if you want - but it’s still not what Lucas was trying to say.) 

Here’s what JAT (Obi-Wan’s voice actor) had to say about the Citadel. (Borrowed from the amazing @gffa​.)

“He has sympathy and heart for the clones, but at the same time he knows the mission.” 

tldr: the Citadel isn’t an arc meant to highlight Obi-Wan’s flaws (if anything, it’s an Ahsoka arc, and an Anakin arc setting up his future interactions with Tarkin). The deaths we see him walk away from are mostly for shock value, to make us understand what how dire the situation is and to make Even Piell’s death believable when it comes (which in turn is to further Ahsoka’s arc).

So yeah, keep the author alive, try to make serious analysis in good faith and not based on your emotional reactions to character you cherish, but go crazy on the wildy AU headcanons and don’t let people spoil your fun. 

[nightshade-minho]

-Inferno-

Warnings: public sex, insinuated break-up, cheating (kind of), fingering, oral (f. receiving), exhibitionism, unprotected sex, creampie, Master!kink, degradation, humiliation, size kink, light dacryphilia. 

Wc: 3k+

Note: (@chanonymous told me this Minho gives off Black Widow vibes- and I just had to write another superhero!au. Minho’s alias in this is Black Widow, but he isn’t really affiliated to or similar to the Marvel Black Widow in any way. Y/n’s alias is DragonClaw, and she’s a dragon-shapeshifter with pyrokinesis. I know this is the second Y/n I’ve written with pyrokinesis- I’m sorry, I just love fire hhh-)

Why?

Why did the universe hate you so fucking much? 

It was torture enough being one of only two female superheroes at this year’s Annual Gala. It didn’t help that said female superhero was The Peacock, aka insufferable, bitchy diva- who was currently on the stage, that melodious, lilting voice of hers flooding through the speakers.  You watched as the men around you fawned over her, listening eagerly as she regaled everyone with yet another one of her self-centred tales. 94% made up, you were sure of that. 

“There’s no way she’d be able to beat up 50 gangsters with her powers.”

And there it was. His voice. Him. The real reason for your anger and frustration tonight. 

You carefully ignored him, hating the way he was seated right next to you at the table. How did this happen? There were currently 50 tables in the venue, more than enough to accommodate every superhero in the state. But of course, your rotten luck had landed you right next to him.

“I just don’t understand. Isn’t her power looking pretty, or something like that?”

You gritted your teeth, still not looking at him. However, the awkwardness of his unanswered question lingering in the air became too much to bear.

“It’s Allure. Her power is Allure.”

“Meaning?”

You rolled your eyes, answering reluctantly.

“Supernatural beauty that can be used to manipulate, distract and hypnotize.”

‘So...basically, looking pretty. Huh. That’s a cool superpower, being so beautiful that people can’t help but do what you say.”

You stayed silent, your eyes observing the seated audience, all of them absolutely enamoured by the beauty on stage. You’d entertained him enough.

“I think you’re prettier, though.”

That was it. You whipped your head around to face him, breath slightly hitching in your throat as your eyes met his. “Shut up.” You hissed. “Stop trying to talk to me.”

“Why?” He asked, smirking. 

“You know why. I don’t like you. That’s why.”

“Come on, Y/n. No one here knows about our...history.”

You glanced around, putting a finger up to your lips. “Why don’t you scream my real name a little louder? I don’t think the Grand Master heard you.”

“Look, just because you used to be a supervillain once doesn’t mean you still are so-”

You were sure he was doing this on purpose. You quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, shooting a look of apology to the dude opposite you, who turned to look. As soon as the man turned away, you glared at him.

“Look, Minho.” You seethed, your voice dripping with venom. “I’m not the only one with dirty secrets here. If you don’t shut up, I’ll stand up right now, and tell everyone who really caused that wildfire in California.”

“It wasn’t my fault-” 

“Yeah, right.”

Minho sighed, rolling his eyes as he grabbed your hand, wrenching it away from his mouth. 

“I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been saying sorry ever since that day. Although I’m not the only one who should be apologizing, and you know it just as well as I do.”

You turned away from him, choosing to ignore him once again. The pain was still fresh, the emotions still raw. You remember how devastated you’d been that night, how you’d wanted to murder everyone in sight. Instead...you turned a new leaf, and chose to reinvent yourself as a superhero. Usually, tragic incidents and heartbreak lead to the birth of a supervillain- in your case, it was the opposite. You’d felt so miserable and dejected that you became good. 

And the man sitting next to you was the cause of it all. The fact that he had the audacity to sit there and flirt- especially knowing everything that happened between the two of you? It made you want to bury him six feet deep.

You fiddled with the spoon on the table. “How...how is she?”

“Who?”

“You know, her. Your girlfriend.”

“...girlfriend?”

“Spitfire.”

“Oh. Her. Um, she’s fine.”

Minho was lying. He hadn’t seen Jiwon- Spitfire, since that fateful night. Somehow, though, the lie had come out before he could stop it.

He watched you nod slightly, your face still turned away from him. 

Fuck, why did I do that? What was I expecting? That she’d be jealous? That she’d beg me to leave Jiwon? That she’d fall at my feet and ask me to take her back? Stupid.

Minho shook his head, closing his eyes as he leaned back in his chair and tried to focus on the woman speaking. But..he just couldn’t. His eyes kept drifting to you. He wished he could take the mask covering half your face off..wished he could see your beautiful eyes staring into his again. 

Wished he could kiss you just one more time...

***

The next few minutes passed by in silence. You were about ready to walk up on stage and strangle the woman, droning on and on. She seemed to go off on tangents constantly, the story growing longer and longer until you just couldn’t take it anymore. 

The rest of the audience clearly didn’t share your views, their gazes filled with adoration and wonder. Well...everyone except...

You turned to Minho. He seemed to be lost in thought, his stare fixed on the blank wall. 

“Hey? Earth to Minho?”

He snapped out of his reverie, turning to look at you. His eyes widened as he realized you were talking to him.

“Shh. Black Widow.”

You rolled your eyes. “It’s a silly alias.”

“Like Dragonclaw is much better.”

“Hey! Dragonclaw is a very cool alias.”

Minho rolled his eyes as you shoved his arm playfully, your heart growing a little lighter. 

Okay. Just...forget about the past. Talk to him, even if it’s only to keep yourself from dying of boredom...

And so you did. The two of you started talking. He moved his chair closer to yours, telling you what he’d been up to for the past three years, discreetly whispering. 

“Okay, okay. Enough about the missions, tell me more about Spitfire! What’s she like?”

“S-she’s...cool. Very...fiery.”

You scoffed, shaking your head and smiling. “Do you have a thing for superheroes with pyrokinesis or something?”

“Uh...yeah, I guess you could say that.” He winked, noting how your face turned a light shade of pink. Hmm...

“Though...she’s nothing, compared to you. You were really...hot, especially in bed.”

You sneered at him. “That was a bad pun. Seriously, you could do better than that.”

“Oh, what a burn.”

You cringed, pressing your lips together. “Never mind, this was a bad idea. Even listening to Peacock’s speech is more bearable than this...”

“No, wait- I’m worth your time, I promise.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

Maybe it was the way you puffed your lips out, or maybe it was your challenging tone...either way, Minho couldn’t help it. Before he even realized what he was doing, his hand was on your thigh. 

Your eyes widened a little. “W-what are you doing?” You stuttered.

Courage, Minho. “I know of a way we can get rid of the boredom...”

“You do? And w-what might that be?” You swallowed, feeling a slight streak of arousal shoot through you, despite his minimal touch. 

Minho’s confidence grew as he observed your flustered demeanor. His hand slowly crept up your thigh, a delightful smirk spreading across his face as you bit your lip, your sudden shyness turning him on. He leaned in close, lips brushing the shell of your ear.

“Do you want this, kitten? Tell me to stop before it’s too late...”

You shuddered as he called you that pet name. He hadn’t called you that in years...

Minho took your silence as a yes, his fingers creeping up higher until it reached your zipper. He slowly pulled it down all the way, his eyes searching yours for any sign of hesitation. 

His hand slipped into your pants. Your breath hitched as his fingers reached your clothed clit, the pad of his finger running over it.

“How does that feel, kitten?”

You struggled to speak as he started rubbing you in circular motions. “It f-feels...good...” You choked out.

“Hmm, that’s what I thought.” 

You heard a clatter as a fork fell to the floor. You twisted your head, Minho shrugging. “Oops. I dropped my fork...”

Your eyes widened as Minho slipped off his chair, crawling under the table. Looking around frantically, you realized that no one had heard the loud noise, Peacock’s glamour still captivating them- they were essentially zombies. 

Honestly. Did she not know how to turn the sexiness off, at least to be professional-

Your line of thought was interrupted as you felt Minho pulling down your pants, down to your ankles. Oh, right. 

So much for professionalism. 

You felt him spread your thighs apart, fitting himself between them. A few seconds passed before his breath ghosted over your clit, his fingers coming up to rub you through your panties.

You clutched the edge of the table, sweat forming on your forehead as his fingers slid aside your underwear. He ran two digits through your soaked folds, humming to himself. “Still as wet and pretty as ever...”

You shifted slightly in your seat, eyes darting here and there. This was so risky. Your eyes went up to Peacock, your brain unable to comprehend her incessant chatter as Minho pressed a kiss to your clit, his fingers circling your entrance.

You let out a soft whimper, leaning back against the seat as he pulled you forward a little. Placing your palm over your mouth, you muffled your moans as he wrapped his plump lips around your clit, sucking it into his mouth. 

He let out an appreciative moan at your taste, pushing a finger into your drenched pussy and trying to ignore the growing bulge in his pants. Minho could barely believe that this was actually happening- he wanted to pinch himself, but both his hands were currently occupied. One was busy gripping your thigh, the other drawing little moans from you as his fingers went deeper.

“Fuck...you taste so good...” He mumbled against your pussy, tongue coming out to lap at your folds. You could do nothing but groan helplessly, his mouth alternating between sucking on your clit and licking at your pussy, fingers fucking you through it all.

Your legs shook as you realized you were about to cum. You pressed your hand over your mouth, trying your best to not let out any sounds. You felt your high build up- flames of pleasure sparking at you...until it was all gone.

You frowned as Minho pulled away from you, confusion filling you as he tugged on your leg. Quickly looking around you, you bent down to lift the tablecloth and make eye contact with him.

“Come down here.”

“W-what? P-people will definitely noti-”

“That wasn’t a question, it was an order. Do as I say, or you’ll regret it, kitten.”

You whimpered softly, your heart beating faster as you lowered yourself to the floor. Minho quickly pulled you under the table, adjusting the tablecloth behind you before turning to you. 

Smirking at you, he palmed himself, eyes watching you hungrily as he crawled over you.

“Minho...this is a bad idea. I’m already on thin enough ice as it is-”

“Shh...” He traced his finger over your chin, down to your zipper, slowly pulling it down. He licked his lips as your chest was exposed slowly, leaning down to nibble at your ear. 

You stared up at him with glassy eyes, throwing your head back as Minho’s lips made his way to your neck, sucking on your skin hard enough to leave a hickey.

“M-Min...”

“Hmm?” He breathed against your neck, his fingers pulling the zipper all the way to your navel, staring at your bare skin. 

“Please...”

“Please, what?”

“I w-want...you...”

He chuckled. “I thought you were scared. Superheroes should be brave, you know?”

You frowned up at him, his infuriating smirk making you want to slap it off his face. “Shut up and fuck me already.”

He frowns. “That’s no way to talk to your Master.”

“M-master?”

He nodded, mouthing at your chest and wrapping his lips around your soft nipple, sucking gently. 

“Looks like you need to be taught a lesson, my little slut...you need to be reminded who you belong to.”

You opened your eyes as you felt the head of his cock against your pussy, moaning softly. Minho stared down at you, jaw clenched. He couldn’t wait a second more.

His hand made his way to the back of your head, gripping your mask, breathing hard. “Can I?”

You sighed, nodding. “Yeah, please...just...need you in me.”

He slowly took your mask off, tossing it to the side as his eyes took in your face fully, breath hitching in his throat. You were just as beautiful as he remembered.

It was too much to handle. Eyes still fixed on yours, Minho steadily pushed his cock into your pussy. He groaned as he felt your walls hugging his length tightly, going deeper until his tip hit your cervix. 

“You’re so fucking tight...how are you even taking this big cock?”

He growled, clutching your waist as he moved you up and down on his cock. You moaned, his solid girth filling you up perfectly. You felt weak, shivering as Minho started thrusting slowly, loving the little whimpers falling off your tongue.

“You’re so...so big...”

“I know. And you’re too small, so easily ruined.”

“Please. F-faster-”

“If I go any faster, I might destroy this tiny pussy.”

You whine, slinging your arms around his neck, an innocent expression on your face as you pouted at him. “Please, Master? Want to be...s-stretched out by you, want my pussy ruined...”

He stared down at you with dilated pupils, a low groan in the back of his throat as this new side of you came out. 

“You’re driving me insane...” Minho sped up his pace, the sound of skin slapping skin growing louder as his hips met yours with each thrust. “What a little whore, so needy for cock that she’d let herself get fucked under the table in a room full of hundreds of people...”

You felt the humiliation rise in you as his hands stayed on your waist, firmly pounding into you. “You like being a little sex toy for Master? Like being used as his personal cock sleeve?”

You nodded desperately, swallowing as Minho chuckled, one of his hands coming up to grope at your breast, thumb stroking your nipple slowly. 

“Well, I love fucking this little pussy open-” He cut himself off with a groan as you clenched around him, spurring him on and making him go harder.

He shifted a little bit, causing his dick to hit your sweet spot dead-on, drawing a long whine out of you. 

“Shh, kitten, you don’t want anyone else knowing what’s going on under here, right?”

You shook your head, biting your bottom lip. Minho grunted, leaning down, face hovering over yours. You held his gaze for a few minutes, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Minho was the first to break. He leaned in and softly pressed his lips to yours, a sharp contrast to the harshness of his cock plunging deeply into you. He deepened the kiss, tongue meeting yours as he held your cheek. The kiss quickly became messy, as his hips went faster.

“M-master, ‘m gonna cum...” You mumbled against his lips. Minho pulled away, his eyes turning darker as he observed the tiny teardrops gathering in your eyes. 

“Aww, is my cock making the little baby cry?”

You whimpered, the tears spilling past as you squirmed, hating the way he’d stopped thrusting. 

“P-please, wanna cum...please! Want Master’s cum filling me up...”

“Fuck, I’ll give what you want, fucking slut.”

His eyes moved over your tear-streaked face, groaning as he lifted your leg up over his shoulder, enabling him to go deeper into you. He began fucking into you, his pace ruthless as he worked towards making you cum, his other hand coming down to rub your clit.

You arched your back as you felt your orgasm approaching, your hands tugging at his hair and making you moan. 

He pecked your lips. “Cum, baby...cum for me.”

You whined, unable to hold it anymore as he pinched your clit. The white-hot pleasure made you cry out, Minho groaning as you clenched around him, your orgasm ripping through you. The overstimulation slowly set in as he fucked you harder.

“Fuck-”

His hips stuttered as he chased his own high, cock twitching inside you. A few thrusts later, he came with a groan, spilling his seed inside you.

You watched Minho, moaning softly at the feeling of his cum pooling deep in your core. His chest heaved as he panted, collapsing on top of you. You hummed, your grip in his hair loosening as he lifted himself off you slightly, eyes searching yours.

“How did that feel?”

“F-felt so good...” You paused suddenly as a thought hit you, now that the pleasure had worn off. 

“Wait...Minho...you just ch-cheated on-”

Minho sighed, rolling his eyes.”I didn’t, Y/n. I was lying. I haven’t seen her since that night. Trust me...cheating’s something I’ll never do again.” He whispered, thumb stroking over your wet cheeks.

You looked up at him, filled with emotions that were familiar, yet also new. 

“Give me another chance, Y/n. Please.”

You thought about it, sighing as you nodded. “Okay...but we’re going to take things slow.”

He let out a small laugh, eyes drifting to the spot where you two were connected. “Bit late for that.”

He pulled out slowly, watching as his cum seeped out of your entrance. He used his fingers to part your pussy lips, groaning softly under his breath at the sight of your stuffed pussy.

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed through the speakers, startling you. You hadn’t even realized that Peacock had stopped talking.

“And for the next speech, Dragonclaw! Come up onstage, and share with us your report from the last few months.”

Your eyes widened in shock as you sat up, half-naked and filled with cum.

Minho smirked at you. “Go on, then.”

[winterhawk-olympic-bang]

Writer’s Workshop: How To End Your Story

How To End Your Story

Guest Poster: Flawedamythyst

We’re in the final furlong before the deadline for the first draft now, so it feels like a good time to talk about endings, and how to bring your story together to create a satisfactory one.

Have a read and then head over to the Discord Server where we have a channel for you to take part in a discussion based on the post, with chances to share your own ideas too.

How To End Your Story

There are traditionally six types of endings for a story:

Resolved ending - one with no lingering questions or loose ends. (Most murder mysteries and romances fall into this category.)

Unresolved ending - the kind of ending that leaves the reader with more questions than answers. (Usually for books that are part of a series. A lot of the HP books have endings like this.)

Expanded ending - expands the world of the story beyond the events of the narrative itself, with a time jump forward or a change in PoV.

Unexpected ending - a twist ending that the reader doesn’t see coming, but that should seem inevitable in hindsight.

Ambiguous ending - one that’s open to interpretation. Unlike an unresolved one, it leaves things to be interpreted by the reader so they have to decide themselves how it goes.

Tied ending - that brings the story full circle, and ends exactly where it began. Often the case for ‘Hero’s Journey’ type stories, where the hero ends up back home at the end.

You can read more about them here: https://boords.com/storytelling/how-to-end-a-story or here: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ways-to-end-your-story but also in multiple other articles online just by Googling ‘Six Ways To End A Story’. 

But, of course, they don’t really tell you how to work out which one your story needs, or how to write one of them without falling into any of the traps that ends with an unsatisfying ending.

Motivation

Of course, often the hardest bit with an ending is actually getting there. Losing motivation is so easy, especially when you’re writing something super-long. I know lots of people get motivation by posting as they go and using comments/kudos as a spur, or even just by talking about it on Tumblr or other places and letting other people’s excitement buoy them up, but a Bang event like WHOB doesn’t allow for that. 

I’m going to talk a bit about ways to motivate yourself when you’re having to keep things secret from all but a handful of people, but bear in mind that this is something that really is very individual. Everyone writes for different reasons, and so everyone’s path to staying motivated is different.

For me, I think it comes down to focusing on why am I writing this story to start with? Any time I feel myself flagging, I think back to that reason and re-capture the original feeling I had about it. Often there’s a couple of different reasons. 

For example, when I was writing Look What The Cat Dragged In, my motivations when I wrote the first line were:

I want all of fandom to share with me the image of the Winter Soldier waking Clint up to threaten him while gently cradling a kitten in his hands, and 

I was writing it as a present for @kangofu-cb​. 

So, if I flagged at all, I was able to either reread that moment with Bucky holding the kitten and think ‘wow, I really do thing people will enjoy this mental image’, or I was able to think ‘I want my friend to have a nice thing’, and that helped me drive on and push through.

A lot of my personal motivations come down to ‘I want to share this scene/witty one-liner/visual of Clint pole dancing while dressed as Captain America with people’, so often just rereading what I’ve already done is really motivating for me, plus it also gives me the chance to see just how much I’ve already done, and what I would be dooming to be unfinished if I just walked away without pushing through.

You might well have different motivations though, which are equally valid. Maybe you started a fic for this event because you wanted to get a shiny badge, or to do something that your friends were doing, or you wanted to prove to yourself that you could write something longer than usual or outside of your usual wheelhouse. It may feel harder now than it did when you had that first idea, but that doesn’t change why you wanted to do it, and it’s actually easier now than it was when you started, because you’ve already done some of it.

And, if none of those motivations work for you, there’s always spite. ‘Oh, my brain gremlins think I can’t finish this? Fuck those guys, I’m going to prove those assholes so very, very wrong’ is completely how I powered through to finish my first ever novel-length fic, a million years and several fandoms ago. 

Resolution vs Ending

So, let’s move on to the ending itself. 

There are two parts to writing an ending: there’s the plot resolution and how that all gets tied up, and there’s the actual ending of the fic - the last scene, and the last place the reader sees the characters.

Sometimes the resolution happens only at the very end of a story and so those are the same thing, but I tend to think that makes things feel a bit abrupt. Especially for fics, which tend to be more character-driven than mainstream media and so need a wind down on how the characters react to the end of the plot for the reader. (This isn’t always true, of course, some plots do tie up neatly in the final scene. Every story is different and you’re the person best placed to judge what’s needed in your fic.)

So when you’re thinking about the ending, think about both parts. ‘How does this plot resolve itself?’ and ‘where do I want to leave these characters in the readers’ mind’s eye?’

Plotting a Story Resolution

You may well have already got a resolution worked out as part of your planning, but what if that ending doesn’t seem to fit any more, or you realise just as you get to it that you forgot to think about an ending at all and have no idea where to go?

First of all, don’t panic! If the rest of the story is there, you’ll be able to pull together the strands to create the best ending. Trust the bones of your story.

When I’m facing a blank page and no real idea of how I’m getting from the Depths of Despair moment to the happy ending, the first thing I do is reread the whole story in case that sparks a fantastic, fully-formed idea to appear on how to tie it all up. Mostly that doesn’t work, which is always disappointing, but it’s still a good place to start, because you have the whole run of the fic fresh in your head to plan from.

The next thing I do is make a list of all the things that I know definitely need to happen for the plot to be done. These don’t need to be in any particular order at this point and they don’t need to link up, you just need a list of what needs to go into the framework, however minor. ‘Clint wears Bucky’s hoodie and Bucky is smitten’ is a totally valid plot point to include, or even ‘include mention of recurring joke about muffins’. If you know something needs to be resolved but you don’t know how yet, just putting ‘resolve plot point with badgers’ is fine. Hopefully once you’ve started thinking through all the different bits, you’ll work out what’s going to happen to the badgers, and it’ll make sure you know it needs to be included somewhere.

If you have a beta/cheer reader who can help, it’s also super helpful to ask them what they would expect from the ending based on what they’ve read so far, or what elements from earlier in the story they think will be coming back/will turn out to be foreshadowing. Sometimes you’ll find you’ve written the clues to your ending into the earlier bits without really noticing, and you can throw them down on the list to be included as well.

Once you have everything you know needs to be included, you can shift them around into a rough order you think they need to go in, and start filling in the gaps. For example, if ‘Clint gets injured’ is there, you can add in ‘Bucky tends to his wounds’ as the obvious next step and maybe that would be a good time to throw in a muffin joke, and then Clint might need to borrow a hoodie if his shirt has blood on it, so you can tick those bits off as well.

It gets easier to see where the gaps are once you have it written out, even if it’s only things that you already knew would need to happen. Having it down in black and white helps your brain to move pieces around like a jigsaw puzzle, and start extrapolating on what comes in the gaps between.

Make The Ending Fit The Story

Think about what kind of story it’s been so far, and make sure that the ending you come up with fits in with it. 

You’ll know the general feeling that you wanted for the fic when you started writing, so that will give you a solid idea on how the ending needs to go. (Often for me this feeling is ‘schmoopy and loved up’, because I’m a softie. A lot of what I’m doing when I’m writing a fic is just clearing out of the way any obstacles that are going to get in the way of my characters being schmoopy and loved up. When there’s nothing left in the way, that’s when I know it’s the end of the story.)

You also need to keep the tone and pacing of your fic the same, and make sure that your ending matches up so it all feels like it fits together. This includes keeping the pace the same as it had been, no matter how tempting it is to rush through so you can get the thing finished already, or slow right down so you can add in a few thousand more words. 

Along with sticking to the tone you’ve set for the fic, try not to genre-shift - if you’ve written an action-packed zombie apocalypse fic, resolving the plot with domestic schmoop isn’t a great idea. The reader is invested in the style of story that you’ve written so far, so pulling the rug out on them will only give them whiplash, a vague sense of dissatisfaction or a persistent nagging feeling that zombies are about to attack. 

Unless you’ve written a domestic schmoop zombie AU of course, in which case I would read the hell out of it. ‘Curtain!fic but sometimes the undead interrupt’ sounds like a lot of fun.

And finally, make sure you maintain your characterisation. If the ending you want involves your character doing something wildly out-of-character, then that’s not the right ending. (I like to call this an Endgame!Steve ending. No, I’m not over that.) Even if your audience is invested in your story enough to overlook the incongruence, they will be having to overlook it rather than feeling fully invested in the journey you’ve created.

Chekov’s Gun

The most satisfying endings are the ones that tie up most, if not all, of the loose ends, and provide an emotional pay-off equivalent to the build-up. If you’ve been talking about something big that might or might not happen, and then it doesn’t, it’s narratively frustrating. In the same way, if you drop something big in that doesn’t really fit with what went before, it’s going to make the story feel unbalanced. 

Obviously that doesn’t mean you can’t have a surprise or twist ending but even if the reader is surprised by something happening, they still want to feel like they’re reading the same story. They need to look back with hindsight of knowing the twist and see how it fits in, and not how it stands out.

A good rule to follow is the Chekov’s Gun rule: If there’s a gun on the table in the first act, someone needs to shoot it in the second act. If you’ve been teasing something, make sure the pay-off is there.

And, of course, if someone’s going to be firing a gun at the end, go back and make sure it gets mentioned earlier in the story. It doesn’t need to be a heavy-handed anvil, but if you can drop in casual hints about guns earlier in the story, the whole thing feels more cohesive and thought out. No one needs to know that you only put those hints in after you’d finished the whole thing.

Loose Ends

Something I always like to do when I’m plotting exactly how the ending is going to go, is to go back through the whole fic and make a list of anything that feels like it could be a loose end if it didn’t get resolved. (If I’m having a problem working out my ending, often this happens at the same time as writing down all my ending plot points, as I described above.)

Some of those are obvious, like ‘Bucky and Clint need to kiss’, but some are less so. Did Clint think about how much he just wants to be done with all the drama so he can snuggle with his dog? Maybe throw in some Lucky cuddles somewhere in the finale so he gets the emotional pay-off. Has Bucky mentioned really want to punch a bad guy in particular in the face? Give him a chance to smack that asshole around a bit. Has there been a minor relationship drama along the way, like someone leaving their socks lying around? Have them either make a point of putting them away, or the other person just rolling their eyes and accepting it as a part of being with them.

It’s also important to think about where your secondary characters are going to end up, and if it feels like they’ve had an arc that needs resolving. Has there been another pairing with a bit of screen time or some background drama? Give them a chance to make out/make up. Has the bad guy done something that affected one of the other Avengers? Let them have a slice of revenge along the way.

For example, in my plan for Be All You Can Be, one of the original characters I introduced as other soldiers doing Basic Training, Havelka, didn’t turn up again after he’d been kicked back a level to another training unit. When I reread that, it became clear that he needed to prove himself somehow or his arc would be a depressing downward slope partially instigated by Clint and Bucky, so I brought him back at the end to do some First Aid and gave him a line or two to point to how his future was going to go, so the reader knew he was going to be okay.

You don’t have to completely resolve everything of course, and sometimes it is nice to leave a couple of things up to the reader’s imagination, but it’s nice for the reader if there’s a sense of things being tied up in a little bow. 

Ending

So, you’ve resolved your plot, how are you going to handle the actual final ending? 

Depending on how your story has gone, you might not need much after the resolution, or you may need several epilogue-y type scenes just to make sure everything is wrapped up.

Take a moment to think about what feeling you want the reader to take away from the fic. If it’s a romance, do you want to end with a warm fuzz of ‘aw cute’? If it’s been an angsty dig down into Clint or Bucky’s mental health issues, do you want a sense of optimism or catharsis? If there’s been a lot of action and drama, do you want a bit of peace and quiet for your characters to signal it’s all over with?

The best way to end any story is with a sense of hope, even if you’ve not gone for a completely happy ending, or have left yourself open for a sequel with some unresolved plot points. You want the reader to feel at least in some way uplifted. After all, regardless of whatever else has gone before, that’s the emotion they’ll have when they get faced with the Kudos button and the Comment box, so you need them in a good mood, right?

When you know what kind of feeling you want your ending to have, that will give you a major clue as to what the characters should be doing in the final scene.

One thing that can work well is bringing back something from the first scene or two and twisting it to be part of the ending. For example, at the beginning of Be All You Can Be Clint uses the song Make A Man Out Of You from Mulan as a way to torture Bucky, and then at the end, they watch the movie together while snuggling.

You do have to be careful not to be too heavy handed with that, and it doesn’t work in every fic, but I do like the feeling of ‘things coming full circle’ that you can get from doing it.

Afterglow vs. Too Much Ending

I always think that good stories come with a certain amount of ‘afterglow’: Just a scene or two to round things out and give a pointer towards the future. 

For example, in general, I don’t like stories that end with a first kiss, which is one of several reasons I usually find Hollywood romcoms unsatisfying. It feels like too much of a beginning, and leaves too many questions open about how things are actually going to go for the couple in question. As part of a complete ending, it feels more satisfying to have an ‘epilogue’-y type scene afterwards that will give you a sense of how things went from there, even if it’s just a couple of paragraphs about them planning their first date.

I’m sure we can all think of other times we’ve read or watched something and had a moment of ‘oh, was that it?’ after the last sentence/when the credits rolled. Abrupt endings without a bit of afterglow can leave the reader blinking a little and wondering where their damn cuddles are.

That said, you also don’t want to go too far in the opposite direction. If the plot is over, there’s no need to keep going with multiple scenes of fluff or porn that doesn’t really add anything. We don’t need to see their whole lives mapped out, and it can get fairly dull once the tension of the plot is over. Ask yourself if the three chapters of them having sex on every flat surface in their apartment is actually necessary, or if some of them can be cut and used as one-shot sequel/missing scene fics. 

In general if it’s not adding to either the narrative or emotional arcs, try to cap it at a scene or two. Just enough to feel like you’ve had a bit of post-climactic afterglow, but not so much that it’s starting to drag.

In Conclusion…

Ending a fic is, in so many ways, the most satisfying part of writing. You got right the way through your plot to the end! You did all the writing! Your characters made it through to their happy/sad/ambiguous endings! You deserve all the gold stars!

You just want your reader to feel the same way, by making sure the ending fits with what came before, ties up all the ends that need tying up, and leaves them with a deep glow of whatever feeling you want the overall story to convey.

And then you just need to do the editing, but that’s a workshop for another day...

[aurabird]

Desperate Wings

Another thing for @hermitcraftheadcanons Scattered!AU and based off another ask where the idea of Parrot!Grian came up. I seem to like writing out the odd alt realities.

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

Grian let out a grumble of annoyance as he hacked down leaves and branches in his path, small cuts on his skin from the overgrowth of the jungle. The hot, sticky air didn’t help much either, and had forced him to remove and tie his sweater around his waist; opting for just the simple t-shirt underneath it.

It was odd, to say the least. He’d spawned here alone, thousands of blocks away from 0,0; with not a single other Hermit in sight. They were all on the server, the tab list and the death notifications in chat told him as such, but he couldn’t send messages to them with his communicator for some reason.

Something MUST have gone wrong in the world creation...but surely X was on it right?

-

The verdant expanse of trees seemed to go on forever, not surprising, given the plan had been to have large biomes this time around.

Just one problem, though: he hadn’t seen a single passive animal aside from some parrots, pandas, and ocelots. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but those mobs didn’t drop any kind of food for him and he had begun to take note of his growling stomach.

He had managed to get some zombie flesh early on from a temple that hadn’t generated entirely for some reason, but that only aided in making him hungrier...

...not one of his smarter ideas, that much was certain.

Of course, he’d also acquired some seeds in his travels and the thought of making bread crossed his mind. Only problem with that plan was that it required waiting, and that was time he did not have.

A squawk came from beside him, a curious parrot that he’d encountered early on was still following him, scarlet feathers highly contrasting the green foliage.

It looked at the seeds in his hand and tilted its head, did it want them?

“Sorry, pesky bird, but I need these for later. Once I get a farm going I can give you an endless supply of them.”

The parrot repeated the action it did prior before flying up higher into the trees, alerting Grian to the fact the sun was setting. A thought came to him: if he could farm skeletons for bones he could grow the wheat himself, and, worst case scenario, he’d even take rotten flesh over starvation. Only problem with this plan was that the jungle was probably one of the most dangerous biomes to be in at night.

Still, it was worth a try.

-

Grian was shot by Skeleton

He found himself back on the cold stone of the jungle temple he’d originally spawned in and sat up with a groan of annoyance, there was no way he was getting the small amount of gear he’d had on him back, he’d not checked his coordinates in a long time.

With a sigh he hauled himself to his feet and began to punch the nearest tree in frustration. At least there was wood here, and stone from the temple as well; the gear wasn’t the best, but at least he had access to it.

Stone tools now crafted, Grian looked around, trying to remember the direction he’d originally gone, he efforts proved futile and he eventually he gave up and just picked a random one.

-

Grian was shot by Skeleton

Grian fell from a high place whilst fighting Zombie

Grian was slain by Spider

Grian blew up

Grian was slain by Phantom

Grain starved to death

“AUUUUUGGGHHH!” he exclaimed in frustration as he punched the stone wall to his left. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t making any ground. And, he was getting really sick of dying.

That’s when he opened his eyes and froze as he saw his arm...

...it was covered in feathers.

The sight sent him falling backward in shock and an impact with the ground sent a searing pain up his spine.

Once the pain subsided he rolled onto his chest and tried to get to his feet, realizing all of a sudden that there was something on his back.

After seeing his arms he didn’t want to look, but his curiosity was too great and so, that was how he learned of the little winglets that had grown from him, bulging out from under his shirt.

“This...this is all just some crazy dream...there’s no way this could possibly happen!”

He reached back to touch the new growths, they were colorful just like those of the parrots in the jungle. He’d heard the tales of the season 5 jungle, its corrupted code causing the sudden disappearance of three Hermits. Perhaps this was the same thing? It would make sense, given how he’d spawned alone with no way to communicate with the others, something was DEFINITELY wrong with the world.

Perhaps it would be better to just wait for the problem to be resolved? Go caving, get geared up, maybe build a treehouse or something to prevent himself from getting bored.

-

He’d long discarded his shirt by this point, his newfound wings had grown greatly in size and were would be uncomfortable under the fabric. Unfortunately, this removal of his clothing alerted him to the red feathers that had spread to his chest.

His stomach growled and Grian mindlessly popped some seeds into his mouth; he could see why parrots liked them so much!

At that thought it dawned on him. He knew that some of his fellow hermits were mob hybrids; Doc, Ren, Cleo, Jevin...could he possibly be...turning into one as well?

It would make sense, given his feathers and wings...and the fact he noticed his hands now resembled those of bird talons.

Was this because he’d died so many times in the jungle? That his body was changing to better adapt to the biome?

A squawk resounded from above him and he turned to look up, a blue and yellow parrot perched on a tree branch met his gaze, tilted its head, and then flew off.

"Hmm...I wonder...”

Grian closed his eyes and focused on the new growths protruding from his back until he felt his feet leave the floor and opened them again.

He was...he was FLYING! Flying without an Elytra!

Growing more confident he flew higher and higher, until he was above the treetops, able to see for miles unhindered.

Perhaps now he could actually get out of this jungle, find the other Hermits, and figure out what was going on.

[victoriareyloficlists]

12 April 2021 Additions to Reylo Fluff

These fics have been added to the Fluff lists located in the following lists:

Fluff Part 1 Titles A-G

Fluff Part 2 Titles H-M

Fluff Part 3 Titles N-S

Fluff Part 4 Titlez T-Z

Zombie Run by OptimisticBeth (AO3 2018  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: During a charity run, Rey is relentlessly pursued by a zombie.) The Road Taken by gogoburritos (AO3 2020  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey pulls a prank on her housemate Ben. She doesn't expect it to turn out so well.) Loose Change by spicytofuuuu (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: "I ate your pizza. It was a desperate move. I'm sorry. Not proud of myself. Here is $4." An Oh-My-God-They-Were-Roommates, They-Have-One-Single-Shared-Brain-Cell fic.) just say you love me by darthswift13 (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: In which Rey gets drunk on Saturday nights and confesses her true feelings for her roommate Ben, only to forget on Sunday mornings. Will Rey ever be able to confess her feelings when sober?) r/Relationships by elle_reads (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben's new roommate moves in just before a shelter-in-place order is issued. It's just the two of them—and Reddit, of course.) The Sublet by javajunkie (AO3 2020  Rated M Complete, 5 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and Rose sublet their spare room to Ben Solo.) Knock Me Down by commandercrouton (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben gets a concussion thanks to Rey.) Love in the Language of Sweaters by SaintHeretical (AO3 2019  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Corporate executive Ben Solo mocks holiday sweaters until he sees the delivery girl wear them.) You Need a Tutor by castles_and_crowns (AO3 2018  Rated T Complete, 28 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey is an engineering student who finds herself struggling with calculus. Desperate, she goes to the math tutoring center on campus for help. Meanwhile, Ben Solo is a grad student who's required to work a certain amount of hours in the math tutoring center. When Ben reluctantly offers to help Rey with her work, a relationship forms between them that neither are expecting.) Five Times That Ben Saved Rey's Valentine's Day & How She Forever Saved His by AnneAnna (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben makes a confession in his wedding speech: He knew he was going to marry Rey when he and Rey were 4 years old and she gave him a Valentine she made and colored herself. And 21 years later, he still has that Valentine.) Newspaper Hearts by Celia_and (AO3 2021  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “She made her Valentine’s cards. She tore hearts out of newspaper and glued them onto used envelopes and painstakingly wrote each child’s name. She probably spent days making them. And you know what she wrote on mine?” He doesn’t need to read it to know what it says, so he looks down at her instead, and the hand on her heart and the tears in her eyes. “Ben: You are OK. Rey.”) When the party ends by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey gets wasted at a frat party. Ben finds her, puts her in his room, where she's safe. Rey wakes in the morning after Ben comes out of the shower and nakedness ensues.) Fleeced by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: AU where Rey is a mechanic and Ben is her grumpy client. Ben is car shopping and asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend so the dealer won't screw him over.) My Sandwich by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Someone took Ben's turkey sandwich at work, he is infuriated and eager for revenge, until he finds out it was Rey then those feelings no longer exist.) Sleepyhead by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben, a mere himbo, tucks a stray hair behind Rey's ear in class. He knows he deserves the hot coffee in her hand to be thrown in his face and yet he gets a date. ) When You Know It by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben finds out his roommate Rey has never had someone to celebrate valentine's with, so he sends her 25 roses, one for every year she's been alone, in attempt to make her feel better.) Port in the storm by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey pretends to be afraid of thunderstorms so she has an excuse to sleep next to Ben. Ben figures it out when he races home early after seeing thunder, fearing Rey will be crying alone curled up in a ball, only to find her totally chill and eating ice cream.) Neighborly by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and her son move into a new apartment and meets her new neighbor Ben and his cute dog.) Tinder and Cinder by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey joins tinder after a long long dry spell due to her flatmate Kylo's derision, they argue about why and in a fit of jealousy Kylo screams out 'use me instead.') Traditions gotta start somewhere by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2020  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Christmas Tree vignettes of Rey and Ben over the course of their relationship.) All of my wishes came true with you by Blueyedgurl (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Fantasy AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey works on a wishfarm for Plutt. One day after she's out of wishes, she catches the star of a man who wishes for an end to his loneliness. She pockets it and after a particularly rough day she grants it with herself.) Knot It by MotherofScavengers (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Omega Rey’s heat starts early, the Alpha friend who agreed to assist her is nowhere to be found. When she unexpectedly meets Ben, the delicious smelling Alpha offers his help...and his knot.) It's You by SpaceWaffleHouse (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben and Rey have been costars for years when the time comes for them to film their first kissing scene. Neither of them ever expected their soul marks to appear in the process.) Through the Years by castles_and_crowns (AO3 2018  Rated T Complete, 10 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo and Rey Jakkson meet on the playground as children under unusual circumstances and quickly become best friends. This fic follows them through the years, showing glimpses of their friendship as it slowly progresses into something more.) I Hate You by orphan_account (AO3 2018  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben has been in love with Rey for two years and so when she storms into his office he finally decides he can't keep it in any longer.) In Small Packages by DyadamDriver (AO3 2018  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: It was then that Ben realised three things. 1. He had never had a cat in his life. 2. He had no idea what these little things ate. 3. He had a crippling crush on his neighbour.) ignorance of etiquette by blessedreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Regency AU, Quick Synopsis: Lady Rey Kenobi lives a life of pristine comfort and luxury on her family's estate in Chesire with her parents Lord Obi-Wan Kenobi and Lady Satine Kenobi. When they receive word that an old family friend, Lord Benjamin Solo, is coming to visit, Lady Rey is reminded of how he tormented her as a child. She decides that she will prove herself not the same girl she once was in more ways than one.) heaven in hiding by blessedreylo (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: They say it's impossible for a guy and girl to be "just friends", but Rey and Ben had managed to discredit that throughout their decade long friendship. What they both have is special, that people would often arrive at the conclusion the two were made for each other. He's her safe haven, her rock. She gives him a sense of clarity and direction. Ben and Rey know each other more than anyone ever possibly could. Therefore on Valentine's Day, their friends decided to secretly set them up together on a blind dinner date.) a quiet storm by blessedreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey gets off to Kylo Ren, a popular audio erotica account online. She hasn’t been on a date in so long until her friend Rose sets her up on a blind date with her boyfriend's coworker, Ben. They seem to be hitting it off and finding that they have a lot in common, but she can’t help but think that he sounds so...familiar.) key to the kingdom by blessedreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 12 Chapters, Princess Diaries AU, Quick Synopsis: Most girls get a drunk weekend in Vegas for their 21st birthday, but Princess Rey Kenobi gets the chance to rule the country of Alderaan. But the only way she can become Queen is if she marries a man in 30 days, or the throne goes to the selfish (and annoyingly attractive) usurper Lord Benjamin Solo. Will Rey be able to ascend to the throne or will it all just become a royal pain in the ass?) fueled by fire by blessedreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 2 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben annoys the hell out of Rey when he tries to write passive aggressive notes about where she leaves her stuff. Rey pisses Ben off by being loud and picking a fight whenever she wants. Being neighbors for the last five months has been interesting to say the least. Their little rivalry comes to a crescendo when their hate for each other turns into another kind of passion.) 1 April Fool by Maloreiy (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: "Honk! Act like you know me! My name is Ben!" Rey sees the sign on the car when she pulls up to the grocery store, and decides to play along. The giant, surly man, apparently named Ben, is not amused.) when I look to you by blessedreylo (AO3 2020  Rated M Complete, 7 Chapters, Harry Potter AU, Quick Synopsis: Best friends since Year Three, Gryffindor's Ben Solo and Rey Niima navigate their final year at Hogwarts. When exposed feelings and unrequited romance get in the way of their friendship, they wonder whether they'll survive the school year.) Dreaming of Hope by adamsackleriskyloren83 (AO3 2019  Rated M Complete, 2 Chapters, Canon AU, Quick Synopsis: Kylo Ren goes to bed one night only to awaken as Rebel Pilot Ben Solo. Discovering that not only is Rey his wife, but he is also the father of a toddler(s) son/daughter.) Talk Nerdy To Me by andabatae (AO3 2019  Rated E Complete, 7 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Grad student Rey is addicted to watching nature documentaries narrated by the mysterious Kylo Ren. In fact, listening to him recite animal facts is her favorite masturbation inspiration. One day, the poetry class she TAs for has a guest lecturer: Ben Solo, a large, cranky man with gorgeous hair, adorable glasses... and a very compelling voice.) Everything You Are by kereia (AO3 2019  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Canon AU, Quick Synopsis: But the thing she loved most of all, the thing that she was downright addicted to, was the way Ben reacted whenever she touched him.) Eggplant Emoji by trasharama (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 5 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: A desperate Rey seeks refuge in Poe and Ben's spare bedroom. Ben didn't know she was a girl when he agreed to the roommate trial period--and now she won't stop sexting him? Climb aboard the Smutty McSmuttSmutt train!)

[bluntforcefem]

bug fables roleswap au!

hi thank you @cyanopicacyanus​ most beloved i would LOVE to! fair warning to anyone reading the text under the cut that this au explanation will have spoilers for the entirety of bug fables! so if you’re someone who wants to go in entirely blind and hasn’t watched/played bug fables yet- don’t click!

similarly, this covers similar things to the original bug fables stories, including the themes and plots of the requests. so watch out if any of those bug you! (Bug You haha)

the central focus of the au is the swap between the three main characters: leif takes vi’s place, vi takes kabbu’s place, and kabbu takes leif’s place. however, it gets a little more funky from there, in the nature of telling a fun and fresh story AND preserving major & important parts of their original personalities and backstories!

this explanation will go over the characters, and then specific moments & such that i think would change as well! ft. vi & leif getting to do crime, as they deserve

VI AS KABBU

vi, her sister jaune, and a currently unnamed friend of theirs are from a hive outside of bugaria, beyond the wild swamplands. they all decide to go to bugaria to explore - vi for money and exploration, jaune to see the art there. on the way there, in the same fashion as kabbu’s master and bit, vi and jaune’s friend dies to the beast to protect them while they run away.

vi and jaune, fueled by grief and anger at the loss, have a VERY LARGE blowout fight that ends in jaune leaving the swamplands for their home hive, and vi continuing on to go to bugaria! wooooo

what you get here is. vi largely keeps her desire to prove herself and get rewards from exploring, but there’s an added layer of: “if i can just prove myself as an explorer, i can kill the beast, and show jaune that she was wrong and trying to go to bugaria was worth it all along.” (even if vi doesn’t fully believe herself that the loss was worth it! character nuance my beloved)

KABBU AS LEIF

HERE’S WHERE THINGS START TO GET FUNKY! stick with me here folks, because ghosts are going to be real and in your home (and in bugaria.)

it all starts with a change with what the roaches in snakemouth labs are researching - instead of trying to achieve immortality with cordyceps (which is relegated to another lab, which is a special tool that’ll help us later), the roaches in snakemouth were attempting to achieve immortality by finding a way to bind spirits to exist after death, subsequently to re-enter their bodies. snakemouth was chosen for this for the high concentration of magic that allowed this to be possible - magic that permeated beyond just where the labs were. however, no corpse fit the conditions for spirits to re-enter them, leaving tens of spirits lonely and wandering. eventually, they all ganged up on the roaches who left them this way and killed them!

enter: kabbu, his master, and bit, who entered snakemouth den during the reign of elizant the first to find the artifact! the same beat as leif and his exploration team in canon. they get ambushed by a spider while investigating, and kabbu wakes up decades later when leif & vi rescue him!

what happened in snakemouth den was this: all three of the exploration team that entered perished, including kabbu. due to the experiments going on in snakemouth, and the roaches’ adjustment to the area and its energy, all three of their spirits sustained after death, and All Three Of Them Went Into Kabbu’s Body! kabbu is fully unaware of this until his request is done, in which the final battle of snakemouth labs is not a zommoth, but an amalgamation of lost ghosts that kabbu (and master and bit) refuse to acknowledge any similarity too.

instead of using the royal we and slipping into “i” during his request, kabbu uses “i” most of the time, and slips into using “we” when he sees the amalgamation and realizes the truth about what happened to him and his old family. i have given the kabbu ghosts both metaphorical AND literal this time!

tl;dr: the theme of snakemouth labs is ghosts instead of zombies, and kabbu is very, very haunted.

LEIF AS VI

remember when i said that the cordyceps being in another lab would be my special tool that would help us later? yeah! so. the most important part of this is that both leif & muse are still alive! it hasn’t been decades, for him - he’s been around during elizant ii’s reign.

leif and muse were an explorer (muse) and scientist (leif) duo exploration team that was sent by elizant ii to study the lost sands and find clues on the roaches and the everlasting sapling. they were pretty good at it! and one day, near the sand castle gate, leif finds a cordyceps colony that acts a little weird, has some sort of magical ability. so he takes it back to his lab for isolated study!

while he’s studying it, bandits from the lost sands attack while muse is gone, hoping to find research, etc. to hand over to the wasps. the cordyceps’ tube keeping it temperate and lively is shattered, leif is heavily injured, and it isn’t looking good for him or the cordyceps. so they reach out to each other, and fuse into each other, and the cordyceps “patches up” leif. both of them are still kicking around in there! it’s a very confusing case of identity for a while, but in a similar case to canon, the cordyceps Wants to care about muse and the people leif cares about. this time they’re just aware of what they are!

HOWEVER. muse comes back! and leif fills muse in on the situation, but neither him nor the cordyceps are particularly interested in studying himself or the effects it could have on his body, or any form of self-preservation related to it - they’re mostly just content to take their blessings as it is. This Does Not Sit Well With Muse! they argue about it for a while, it causes a rough patch, and they both agree that it would be better if they took a while to think about it by themselves. for context, this happens about six or seven months before the bug fables canon Starts.

leif is also SUPER banned from the explorer’s association & science groups for unethical science practices, particularly when the queen herself condemns his actions (mostly after he refuses to share the information he gained about what this could mean for the everlasting sapling. the cordyceps’ dislike of the roaches and what they did to it sustains post-fusion!)

leif’s request, then, centers around him coming to terms with the idea that he can be both kind to himself as he is (him and the cordyceps, him-and-the-cordyceps) AND make sure that this fusion is healthy for him AND continue his work in some form. it’s all about accepting that although his response was reasonable for when he had it and his experiences, muse was also very right about the fact that he needed to take care of himself after that! and it’s also about reconciling with muse herself. they do NOT get divorced i promise they’re happily married and have a kid

OTHER FUN THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

this is longer than i thought it would be! but hey, here’s my favorite part - getting into some of the major/minor plot changes that result from the changes in the roleswap!

all of the characters keep their attack types! for the reasons explained (gestures above) in their plot. however, kabbu gets a ghost-related TP skill after his request is completed!

leif & vi don’t have a legal explorer’s permit until AFTER snakemouth den. vi isn’t allowed to get one by herself, and when leif offers to be her partner, he’s reminded that he is SUPER BANNED from doing that! so they both sneak into snakemouth den illegally to find the artifact and prove that they can be an exploration team, and along the way find kabbu. inside your local fucked up cave you will find a free moral compass and friend

also: both kabbu and leif have a SUPER weird reaction to areas with heavy magic/the artifacts/roach technology! in this thread, they also have a super fun reaction to seeing each other for the first time, while vi is Literally Just Sitting There. sorry vi you’re on a team with not one but TWO fucked up guys (affectionate) on it

vi’s request is similar to kabbu’s with setting up the gravesite in the swamplands, but team snakemouth also helps her write a letter to jaune! i think in a post-canon world jaune eventually comes to bugaria to see vi and they (after a very long talk and bribery via vi getting jaune into this hive’s art gallery) reconcile too.

muse is HERE and i like her SO MUCH. this isn’t much of a plot thing but she’s alive in this au and everybody gets to see how like. Much she definitely made the first move, etc. i think her and elizant ii are friends they have tea on saturdays

if you made it this far - thanks for reading!! this is an au i love dearly and have put a LOT of thought into and i hope to write some fic for it sometime!!