#i really don't like the way this fic is structured LOL

[imwritesometimes]

when you have to stop reading fic so you don't run out before you can re-watch the blorbo source material 🙃

[stu-dyingstudent]

Sakura Haruno fic recs: ANBU

AHHHH!!!! I love ANBU fics, especially when they involve Sakura. It was such a cool concept, which was unfortunately never fully expanded upon. However, our lack of knowledge regarding the shadow corps allows for some really cool fic ideas since authors can take creative liberty on the structure and workings of the division.

In my opinion, Sakura had the most potential out of team 7 to join ANBU (at least more than Naruto). It's all about being discreet and efficient and although she wasn't strong during og, she possessed abilities that would be valuable for this. Her clever mind, chakra control, and genjutsu potential would've made her a good fit. Naruto was too flamboyant and Sasuke was too reckless and cocky, but this is just my take. However, with her new skill set from her training with Tsunade, I don't think she would be able to go down that path anymore.

Started: 2024.08.06

Last Updated: 2024.08.29

note: feel free to check out my master list which has a bunch of Sakura Haruno fic recs (all organized)!

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Masks by mads999 || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergent || complete

1. Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected 2. Crows prove to be cruel mentors 3. Sakura comes to learn exactly how much she hates Kakashi (as well as how alike they are, in the most terrible of ways)

Kakashi is a hateful turd and Sakura is spiteful! I hate this ship and I'm not a big fan of Kakashi here, but boy is this fic good. One of the best character developments I've read for Sakura and she certainly becomes of force to be reconned with. The ANBU lore in Masks is absolutely phenomenal and I love the whole system that is put into place as it adds for some drama (lol). Also, can we talk about how awesome crow summons are????

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Five Kingdoms for the Dead - Evil Is A Relative Term || ffn || M || canon divergence || complete

After the Forest of Death, Sakura comes to realize that being weak is no longer an option. However, she finds that change is sometimes painful and that truth doesn't always come easy. Luckily, she'll have some help along the way.

It's been a while since I've read Five Kingdoms for the Dead, but I just remember it being absolutely great! I'll be honest, I found a lot of the mind stuff pretty confusing at times, but it was still enjoyable. Also, some great characters are utilized in this fic such as Neji, Sai, and Itachi. Makes me really wish that we saw more of Sakura and Neji working together in Naruto since I think they compliment each other quite well.

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Trials of Change - Espoiretreves || ao3 || gen || time travel AU || complete

Haruno Sakura made a promise. Looking in the eyes of her Shisou and the reanimated Hokage, she took on the most important mission of her life. Go back in time and try to prevent the 4th Shinobi War. Now, Sakura is back to her 5-year-old body, with all the knowledge and haunting memories of the future. She vows to keep her precious people safe and stop certain events from happening, without altering the timeline too much. The trials her emotions and logic put her through have her questioning her very existence, but for the sake of peace, she has to push forward. No matter what.

Trials of Change is actually apart of a time travel series and I have to say that it is probably one of the best of the genre! Now, Sakura is not in ANBU here, but she works very closely with team Ro (Kakashi's ANBU team) and it's a huge part of the story, so I'm choosing to count it anyway. I really adore all of the worldbuilding and backstories going on here in addition to the fact that there are breaks. Yes, the story keeps moving, but there are other things going on, like playdates, and not just Sakura trying to save the world. Also, if you love Shisui then definitely check this out since he has a huge role and his and Sakura's friendship is just so precious.

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bite me and see, said the fly to the spider - MirrorImage003 || ao3 || itasaku || T || non-massacre AU || ongoing

In which Sakura is not initially a part of Team 7. In which she wears her failures like armor and brandishes her fears like her most trusted weapons. In which I do what hundreds of other authors have done before me, and rewrite Sakura's story. Non-massacre AU. Canon Divergent. Slow-burn.

After Sakura's first team, consisting of the graduating class's "expendables," dies, she joins team 7 and faces backlash along her shinobi journey. Sakura doesn't join ANBU until the later chapters so fair warning that there isn't too much content in that regards (unless it updates). Nonetheless, Sakura views ANBU as vital to her career as it offers her the highest clearance she can get. Gaining her opportunities for information her civilian-born status didn't allow her privy to.

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The Sixth Shadow - thinknicht || ao3 || kakasaku || M || canon divergent - eventual time travel AU || ongoing

No one seemed to find it odd when little Haruno Sakura threw herself smack dab in front of a Chidori and Rasengan. Not even Kakashi stopped to wonder.(He really should have.)

The story of how Sakura came to be the sixth hogake despite all of the challenges thrown her way. I especially love Sakura's drive in addition to the political aspects. However, be warned that Kakashi is an absolute HATER (in the beginning), but he gets better! The Sixth Shadow is extremely long and I only just recently got to Sakura's introduction to ANBU, so I can't say too much in that regard.

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Daughter of Fire - justjstuff || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergence || incomplete (maybe ongoing)

Sakura got up and didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress. She had a feeling she was about to get even dirtier.She looked at the memorial stone one last time, memorizing the characters without even realizing she was doing it. It would serve from that moment on as a reminder of her determination. She wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke join the names carved on that stone.That was her nindo.

Sakura's growth throughout Daughter of Fire is great and realistic all while pointing out aspects from the original series which were flawed and dare I say misogynistic. I struggled a bit in the beginning to justify her abilities, but overall the story is really well done and the ANBU aspects are quite intriguing.

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cut the head off the snake - itsthechocopuff || ao3 || T || time travel AU || complete

when eighteen-year-old, post-war Sakura is thrown back into her tiny, pre-Academy body, she makes a decision. she'd had a childhood once already, and this time, she's more interested in Not Dying when the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. so she will work harder, care less, kill more, and smile when she's done.and hey, if she ends up reviving an extinct nature transformation to attract the most corrupt, power-hungry man from her timeline, all the better for her, right?

Such a unique take on a time travel AU and Cut the Head Off the Snake executes it perfectly. Sakura decides that her first order of business is to infiltrate ROOT and that's exactly what she does. Sai, Shin, and Shisui are all great characters and team Ro is present as well. Very good!

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Flowers - Idunmy || ao3 || E || kakasaku || canon divergence || ongoing

Flowers only bloom just before they wilt When Sakura loses her fight against Ino in her Chuunin exams, she questions her ability to ever become a kunoichi, too weak to protect herself, let alone her village One wrongful promotion later and Sakura gets a second chance in the shape of a mysterious new teacher who against all odds is willing to put her faith in a young girl with potential and a willingness to fight. Or- a fix-it inspired fic where Sakura grows to be the powerhouse she was destined to become.

Flowers is a newer series (which has recent updates) and I love it! Critiques are made towards the medical ninja training, which I believe needed to be discussed and it's refreshing to see. In most ANBU fics I've read, Sakura is immediately put onto the strongest team, but here it's a bit different. She begins on a demolition squad, which not only suits her skill set quite well, but is a realistic approach to how she would be introduced to the corps. Anyway, it's one of my favorite reads at the moment and I really like where the story is going.

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names. - waterpllar || ao3 || T || gen || canon divergence || complete

There are no names or faces in ANBU. Everything is designed to be strictly formal, efficient and professional. A recently orphaned Sakura, however, learns that some regulations aren't meant to be followed, and finds a place in Team Ro after being shunned from her former teammates. (fic prompt from anon on tumblr: orphaned sakura in anbu with yamato, genma, and team ro.)

AHHHH poor Sakura. After her parents' death Sakura seeks Tsunade's help out of desperation to become useful. Under recommendation, Sakura's new goal is to make it into ANBU.

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Equinox - FM_White || ao3 || itasaku || M || anbu AU || complete

ItaSaku (Post Uchiha Massacre) AU: Climbing through the ranks of Konoha, Sakura finds herself with the invitation to join ANBU and a chance to learn from one of the most renowned and legendary ninja in the world. Despite her efforts to grow stronger however, she finds the world isn't as black and white as it looks and that some truths are easier to hide than others.

I don't remember Equinox very well, but I love most works by this author sooo. Anyway, Itachi stays in Konoha and instead it's Sasuke that goes rougue. Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru are newly joined ANBU members and all placed on a team with Itachi and things go from there.

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stars in our eyes as we dream of the heavens (the gods walk among us, sweet child, do not forget) - snickiebear || ao3 || kakasaku || T || age-swap AU || oneshot complete

“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto whispered, staring at his teacher, horror plain on his face. “You’re married?” Lazily, Kakashi looked down at his gloveless hand where his ring rested, “It would appear so.”

Sakura is born in the same generation as Kakashi and turns out as a badass ANBU married to him. This is super wholesome as it's a lot of the two of them bonding with Kakashi's genin team (Sai makes three) in an effort to help them out. It's a series so you can read more of the events taking place prior to the fic.

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Anachronistic Drift  - Elesrea  || ffn || gen || T || time travel AU || incomplete

Her plan was flawless. Save Shisui. Save the world. Time-travel, Sakura-centric AU

Sakura spends years training to be sent back in time and save the world from Sasuke. She isn't in ANBU, but rather poses as one in order to keep an anonymous status on her doings both in and out of the village.

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Sakura - lilac haze || ffn/ao3 || M || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

AU. Non-Canon. Time Travel. Please see inside for full warnings. Cross posted on Ao3. On his deathbed he was granted eternal peace and place to rest for all of time. Of course that was not appealing to him. Ever unpredictable to the end he had a counter offer. One that the Sage had to consider. In which Sakura's going to have a rough time. A really rough time.

Sakura is probably one of my all time favorite fics because the emotions are just spectacular. The story is pretty heavy on ANBU and ROOT aspects, which I always enjoy, but I wouldn't say it's a major focus. However, there is an emphasis on the unfair treatment towards kunoichi. Anyway, the characterizations and storytelling are beautifully done. Please share this author some love.

Check TWs before hand!!

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Hope y'all enjoy these recs, and please feel free to send me some if you have any!!!! I really appreciate when you do :)

[amourtoken]

Good morning!

it's finally time for me to elaborate on the beloved sleep paralysis demon iii post.

I don't typically write structured fic so I apologize if this rambles too much I'm not a big fan but wanted to get the thoughts out lol

*NSFW below the cut, MDNI*

cw: dubcon (I wouldn't say noncon entirely, however if non specific consent bothers you pls be careful this is definitely a rough pairing), forced breeding, ig you could consider this somno and/or bondage to a degree, condescending ass iii, threatening/toxic behavior, creepy iii (ofc he's literally inhuman), borderline stalking? He's a demon feeding off your energy so take that as you wish. Tentacles if you squint, oral (f receiving)

♡ god lmao this has been itching at the back of my mind for weeks bc I myself go thru sleep paralysis pretty often and I'd do anything for some fun hallucinations rather than the weird ones I tend to experience 💀

♡ anyway

♡ you'd been having trouble sleeping recently, always tossing and turning and never being able to fall very deeply under. It's starting to really effect your day to day and you can't seem to concentrate on anything cause you're so fucking tired all the time. You can't help but notice this all started shortly after some paranormal instances in your apartment. Since then, you swore someone was staring at you every time you laid down. Strange.

♡ once the weekend hit you swore you were gonna try and catch up on sleep to start the next week off better. You even went to bed early, how convenient for him.

♡ iii had taken a liking to you. Typically he'd look for any random host to leech off of for a while and leave when things went too far (ex: accidentally leaving past hosts in comatose states with no explanation), but with you he couldn't help but want to drag it out. You always went to bed in the cutest outfits and he got off on the fact you had no fucking clue he was watching.

♡ that feeling of someone watching you was because he absolutely was. If you weren't asleep, he was concealing himself so he could watch you. His eyes followed your hands as they tugged the waistband of your pants down, bending over just enough to give him a pretty view as you stripped down for bed. He was gonna have so much fun with you tonight.

♡ he impatiently waited for you to finish your night time routine, pacing your bedroom unbeknownst to you the entire time. It was a little chilly in there, maybe you forgot the a/c was on? (Or a literal inhuman being was feet away from you, but who's first guess is that?)

♡ once you finally fell asleep, he jumped to his plan. God he'd been waiting so long for this, he wished he could just reveal himself to you and have it be mutual but he knew it wouldn't be a positive experience for you, so this would have to do for now. Maybe you'd enjoy yourself, maybe you'd wanna do it again?

♡ iii quietly crossed over to you, eyes drinking you in. He'd seen you naked before but this time would definitely be different. You looked so peaceful he almost felt bad...not that it would stop him, he's just taking mental notes. His cold hands met the skin just under the hem of your shirt, sliding up to your sternum and splaying across your stomach. God you were so warm...you squirmed uncomfortably at the sensation but didn't wake up, his presence caused a prickling pins and needles sensation to spread across your skin.

♡ iii continues, sliding his hands from your stomach down to your hips, hooking his fingers under the waistband of your shorts and tugging them off. He ran his hands back up your thighs, sighing heavily squeezing at your plush hips. You were so soft to him, unattainable. Which is why he felt the need to make himself known this way, you'd never agree otherwise (or would you?)

♡ he settled himself at the end of your bed, arms hooking around your thighs as he tugged you forward to rest your legs on his shoulders. This motion unfortunately was a little too eager, waking you up much earlier than he planned. Unfortunately for you, your eyes being open was about all you could manage. Your body felt so fucking heavy and your brain felt foggy, pins and needles pricked across your skin as your heart rate kicked up. The sight of iii between your legs sent you into near hysterics, hyperventilating pathetically as you tried your best to move anything but couldn't.

♡ "I'm sorry. I hope you understand I had to keep you under a bit. It's for your own good." He breathed against your skin, his hands felt so cold against your contrasting warmth. Was any of this real? Surely it couldn't be.

♡ it definitely felt real when he buried his face in your pussy.

♡ iii had a whole speech planned but like the rest of the night, his plans went out the window. He needed to feel you, to taste you right now. It was definitely abrupt but fuck you were just so sweet he couldn't help it. His arms squeezed your thighs tightly and held you closely to his face. His tongue felt pretty normal at first aside from being ice cold but that quickly changed when you realized just how long it was.

♡ the stretch of having well over a foot's length of cryptid tongue buried in your pussy was definitely new, and he was enjoying himself as much as possible. A hand left your thigh to press on your stomach, feeling the writhing of his tongue through your skin as he filled you entirely. You made his head spin and all you were doing was laying there, the other hand that had been on your thigh shifted to rub tight circles on your clit as he fucked into you with his tongue.

♡ you tried your best to squirm and make noises of protest but at best all that came out was a strangled whine which made iii smile against your pussy. He could feel you squeezing against his tongue and he tried his best to fuck himself deeper into you. The pricking sensation in your body concentrated right in your stomach as he drug you through your first orgasm. All you could do was lay there and let the sensation wash over your body, eyes rolling back while his fingers slowed their motion against your clit.

♡ iii sat back, retracting his tongue and leaving you feeling impossibly empty. He admired the slick mess he made between your legs before tugging his pants down just enough to free his length. Everything about him was fucking massive no wonder his cock was the same. He leaned over you and buried his face against your neck, pressing messy kisses all over your throat and collar while his hands explored your upper body. His cold fingers brushed your nipples and pulled a pathetic whine from you. He made a point to pinch and tease at your nipples with one hand while the other traced circles on your clit with the head of his cock.

♡ normally you could at least close your legs or squirm away from the overstimulation but his presence had you locked in and still. Tears pricked the corners of your eyes as you felt yet another orgasm creeping through your body like an electric current. iii leaned back just to toss your legs over his shoulders and fold you into a mating press with a dramatic huff. Your eyes widened in surprise at the action before rolling back in your head as he slammed into you in a single motion.

♡ fuck he was big, every thrust made the messiest slick sound and drew deep groans from his chest. "Fuck, this pretty pussy grips my fuckin cock so good...why did I wait so fuckin long to have you-" he drew out almost entirely before hilting himself again, bullying your poor cervix and creating a visible bulge in your belly.

♡ he fucked into you like he literally wanted to split you in half. He was panting pathetically against your ear while gripping your hips tight to keep you steady. the drag of his cock against your walls was pulling you ever closer to a third orgasm and you swore you couldn't handle it but that wouldn't put a dent in his harsh rhythm. Feeling you pulse around his cock actually only aided in making it worse.

♡ his hips stuttered slightly, making him dig his nails into your soft skin to try and steady himself. "Fuck- gonna fill you up- gonna look so pretty full of my kids, yeah? G-gonna breed you so good-" he was really struggling to keep pace, he didn't wanna cum yet, he wanted to spend more time with you :((

♡ unfortunately, one sloppy thrust later it threw you both over the edge. You falling first only served to pull him down with you and he moaned harshly against your neck, the sound breaking into a whimper as he kept fucking his cum into you. If you could be, you'd be trembling and begging him to stop cause you couldn't take much more. So overly sensitive from his other actions.

♡ he only pulled out when he literally couldn't take it anymore, twitching profusely at the overstimulating feeling. iii sat back on his heels in front of you, admiring the mess he'd made you into. How were you going to explain the littered fingerprint shaped bruises across your hips or the insane dark hickeys across your neck and chest to anyone? No one else would believe you, but nonetheless you were branded just for him. He'd love a round 2, but knew he had to let you out of your stasis eventually.

♡ regrettably, he slid off your bed and disappeared. Not before pressing a cold kiss to your forehead. Once he was out of view, you gasped as feeling slowly returned to your now aching limbs. Did any of that really just happen?

[kasagia]

I want to start off by saying I never wrote this kind of message before and you don't have to reply as these are just my thoughts lol. Atm I really think ''right hand'' is the best Feyd fic out there! At the end of every chapter, I kind of already have an idea in my mind of the possible outcome but with every new chapter you just blow my mind and expectations! The fact that every chapter is filled with action makes the reader longing for more (me included) I really like the way you structured Y/n and her dynamic with Feyd and I love that her choices gravitate around what's best for her & she doesn't act like a teenage girl in love (homegirl actually has personality AND is a badass). Regardless of what others said I think that her being the one to stab him was the supreme act of love she could've ever shown our crazy boy (maybeee she stabbed him hoping he wouldn't pass because she knew if Paul was the one to do it he'd be dead fr) Thank you for feeding our fantasies and updating so often (keeping in mind each chapter is long enough to satisfy one bored girl) I hope you ace your exams <3.

*Me reading this*

My two dear anonymous, thank you soooooooooo much! 😊😊🖤🩵🖤🩵🖤🖤🖤🖤🩵🩵🩵

Of course I will replay after such words xD How could I not when I'm so fucking grateful? I really like surprising you and I'm very happy that I can do it. 🩵🩵🖤🩵🖤🖤 This is the type of reader I like to write about the most. And maybe she makes decisions that are good for her, but she is not entirely indifferent to Feyd's fate and it is of great importance to her. Unfortunately, I won't confirm or deny your suspicions, but... YES GIRL. Her actions were on the verge of betrayal and an expression of great love, and now we have to wait and see which side she will choose and decide to go. Thank you so damn much! I will ace them and go back to writing for you all! 🖤🖤🖤🖤

I'M CRYING BECAUSE OF YOU ALLL!!! (I guess it's karma for what happened in part V… I don't regret anything anyway xDDDDD) Unfortunately, I promised myself that I wouldn't tell you anything and that I wouldn't give you any hints about what will happen in the next chapter... except for the ones I wrote in Part V. So I won't confirm or deny your wonderful speculations of you all (that I LOVED to read. You can feed me with more.) 🤭😇 Thank you very much, I don't know how to express my gratitude for your involvement… just thank you!!!!!!!! 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

[juststoriesintheend]

What would an au where Sol lives look like?

ohohohohoh boy howdy have i been thinking about this

i have a couple ideas, one for my horny brain that is in love with him and one that's more logical. since i've already kind of summarized my horny thoughts into a vague fic idea, i'll focus on a more logical string of thoughts

when vernestra finds him, he's barely clinging on to life (it's giving palpatine + vader parallels quite frankly)

they get him back on the ship, get him an oxygen mask, and eventually return to coruscant, but all the medical assistance in the world can't un-do the power of the force wrapped around your throat

his voice is permanently changed, much more hoarse and painful for him to talk. he has memory problems bc being deprived of oxygen for that long gave him brain damage

he stands trial for what he did on brendok 16 years ago. i feel like he might be able to be talked into taking the fall for every single death on khofar too, but if not then i could vernestra waving it away as "osha attacked him to save her own life & now he's delirious w/ grief and has lost his grip on reality"

maybe he's exiled? maybe he's sent to prison on coruscant? i think either way, he is no longer a jedi and he's going somewhere to rot for his crimes, and he goes willingly bc he feels like he deserves it

if he's aware that mae is with the jedi, he'd probably be torn between letting her be and being obsessed with reconnecting with her - to ease his conscience? to beg for death? he probably doesn't even know what he wants

all sol knows is that he made a mistake and he (and everyone he's ever loved) paid for it at osha's hand. he's plagued by flashbacks and nightmares. when he talks to other jedi or prisoners about a sith villain who threatens the republic, he's written off as a crazy old man

and maybe he is. osha choking him snapped his mind, it utterly broke him. if he had died there, it might have been enough to heal him, cleanse him of his sins. but surviving has only allowed his guilt to thrive. bc death would have been his penance

basically, he's still scapegoated and he probably loses his sanity over the years. i do not see anything happy or good for him in this scenario

which is why i don't like to think about it lol

alternatively, in some happier universe:

i like the idea of sol being able to escape. maybe vernestra thinks he's really dead bc he's quite literally on the cusp between life and death. and when she starts to drag him off for a sad, lonely jedi funeral, she realizes he's alive and mostly an amnesiac, so she decides to help him

she does what she can to help him heal in whatever short time she has and then she sends him off in an escape pod, gives him this second chance to go somewhere and live out the rest of his life in peace

the jedi he once was died on brendok, at his daughter's hand. now he can just be sol. no guilt or trauma to weigh him down. he can be a farmer. or a tradesman. a teacher. he can live

i think sol always wanted to be a father but couldn't bc of the way the order is structured/the jedi tenets, so maybe in this alternate life he can adopt some other orphan (amnesiacs sol and mae becoming found family for each other, anyone??)

maybe he meets someone his own age that he can love and become attached to in a better, slightly healthier way. someone he can wake up beside and dote upon. someone who makes him want to be the best person he can be

pls for the love of god, let this man have something happy for once in his life

[nientedal]

Hello, I binged a bunch of your Megamind fics last night (best mistake of my life 🥲). But since I'm not an old Megamind fan, or even an old fan of yours, I don't really know how did you come up with the bird-like singsong language headcanon and not sure where to look for answers either. Megamind with gills headcanon is pretty intuitive, but this? Tell me more, please ~

Thank you for your work. Megamind is a masterpiece, but even DreamWorks couldn't begin to explore all the implications of the story.

Omg I love this question, thank you for asking! And I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed my writing 💙👽💙 I hope you can nap today!

The short explanation is simply that the way I see it, if Megamind's species can live underwater, the language spoken in his culture of origin cannot work the same way our languages do. The primary mechanics of human languages, air flowing out through our mouths, will not work for an aquatic species unless their language is bubbles. So I needed something else, and...I like birds a lot. When I wrote Swansong (I think Swansong was my first fic in which Megamind speaks any Punktsyk), I honestly wasn't thinking about it very much, except "birds whistle and chirp, and so do dolphins and whales, so Megamind sounds like birds and dolphins and whales."

The long explanation of how I got to the fully-developed headcanon for his language as I currently write it is below:

The long explanation is that Megamind's specific combination of birdsong+whalesong was developed over a long period of time. I like birds a LOT, lol. I've also always loved the idea of a Megamind who looks more or less human-shaped, but is otherwise very very alien. So (years & years before I started writing him with gills) I wrote him as making some bird-like sounds very early on in my writing. 2012, 2013 or so, I think. I also wrote him mentioning a syrinx, which is a vocal structure some birds have. Just for fun, because at that time I was avoiding writing very much about his homeworld. And I wrote Swansong, which...as far as I know is the first appearance of Megamind with gills, so I didn't have much inspiration other than "I like birds" lmao. But I needed him to speak to Minion underwater, and I have no idea how Minion manages aquatic English, so I gave Megamind a different voice and leaned into those bird noises I had mentioned in passing before, in other stories.

Aaaand then I got depression and didn't publish anything for a couple years... and THEN I got on new meds and came roaring back to life with new inspiration, thinking, Fuck it! We've had no new information in years! I'm gonna do what I want! Gills! A new language! Let's go let's go let's go!

First, I needed a reason for Megamind to actually be fully fluent in his parents' language, so I gave Minion inherited memories. With the way I was writing Minion's biology, it made sense that his species might be able to do something like that. I thought, okay, Minion lives in an orb underwater, how long would it have taken him to learn any human languages? So Megamind is fully fluent in his parents' language because Minion could really ONLY speak that for a long time.

And THEN I sat down and started trying to actually figure out the language itself. I had already had the thought (several times, over the years) that if those bird noises I gave him are natural for him, there was no reason any of the languages on Megamind's homeworld would sound even remotely human. I was really sad about this, because I had hoped to write something Roxanne could eventually learn to speak, but...it just wouldn't work in my head. I was writing Dive and fully committing to Megamind as a fish-man, so his language needed to make equal sense in water and air, and for that, it needed to be something truly alien.

Like I said, I had written him singing already. This was just his language from Swansong, but more developed. I wanted a deeper song for him, too, like a whale, so I wrote long chambers along his spine, to run air back and forth and sing the emotion underlying the birdsong "words." I also gave him a kind of rolling "vocal loop" to keep air flowing through his syrinx without letting go of it through his nose or mouth, so he can sing underwater as well as in air. I think he probably also has structures he can work behind his nose, for clicking. He can make a LOT of noises, lol.

If I'm remembering correctly, I was still thinking maybe he had a different language out of the water while I was writing Dive. It wasn't until a couple months later when I wrote Wake Your Sleepy Soul that I decided it was a single language. I imagine it sounds a bit different underwater than in air, but the language itself is the same.

There is more I can tell you about Megamind's voice, but I think that's everything for why I wrote his language the way I do! and I must sleep. Thank you again!! If you (or anyone else reading this) have any other questions, please ask away, I LOVE talking about this stuff.

(Oh and go watch Megamind Rules if you haven't seen it yet! I think it is actually very cute and earnest. Wonderful show for kids, I really enjoyed it and hope they release the second half soon.)

[sessakag]

Hi! I'm really curious about your writing process because you're writing so many stories simultaneously which i think is really impressive. 💖 Do you already know what's gonna happen in the story such as the ending? Do you outline the plot before starting a story or is the plot decided as the story goes? Do you also forget what happened in the previous chapters so as that you have to reread them before writing the next chapter?

My writing process can be summed up in one word: chaos.

Absolute chaos, no joke. I am always all over the place, bouncing from one fic to another, files everywhere, folders everywhere, docs everywhere, like omg, its so disorganized on my side of the fic but its like a disorganization I can navigate quite easily most of the time😅and yes, I write a lot of stories simultaneously, but its on a bigger scale than folks see, lol. I've been working on 8 unpublished stories at once alongside Prey and Butterfly for the last month or so🤔my brain is just always going, and it switches from one thing to other, sometimes within minutes, sometimes days, sometimes hours, and then I get super fixated on whatever has my attention at the moment and the words just come pouring out of my brain😅I do take breaks when my hands and wrist start to ache, though that only makes me think of more stuff to write about.

I usually have a very clear vision for my fics, they're like movies or tv shows that I live through and experience inside my head, but the majority of the decisions on how to get to point A to B are made on the fly and I do not constrain myself if the story takes me somewhere other than the "clear vision" lol. I'm allergic to following guidelines. I just can't write like that, I have to like, feel the story as I write and if I can't experience the feeling of it then I go a different route, planned or not. it's hard to explain it without sounding like a crazy lady😅but yeah, I'm all feels and instinct with my stories, not much deliberate structure, though I have tried that before, and I was bored to tears and started dreading writing. Prey is a prime example of this. I planned on writing it one way, Prey!Naruto told me no🤭

I know how just about every single one of my fics are going to end already. I may not know how I'll get there, or what will happen in between, but I do know for a fact how they will conclude(unless the story demands a different end, but it's not likely to happen I don't think). I've already written the end for Butterfly, Monster, A Cure For Love, Prey, Dirty Little Secret, most of my unpublished fics and partially finished Secrets but I'm iffy on that one since I'm torn in two directions on how to conclude it. Once I get to the sequel I should have a better feel for it. But yeah, the end of these stories are already ready, they're just waiting for me to get there😂probably one of the reasons why I linger so much on fics so much🤔I already know they end and wanna have fun until the party's over🤭

I do forget things sometimes and need to re-read my stories, though for the most part, my fics are like movies I've seen a million times and I remember them just fine. I mostly re-read to pick up the momentum I had before I left, or to "get back in character" with the characters in the fic. Like if I've been writing Prey for an extended period of time, and then want to go to a fic where Naruto is more in line with his canon self, I'll have to re-read the story to put that hat back on, or listen to music that's less idgaf trap rap and more Naruto OST🤭but forgetting what happened in the previous chapters nah, not really. Not unless I'm having an episode or something, lol. Then Idk wtf is going on🤭

Anywho, hope this answered all your questions, but feel free to ask more!

[prettyboybuckley]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @saybiwithme @bi-buckrights @zainclaw

How many works do you have on ao3?

160

What's your total ao3 word count?

1,070,239

What fandoms do you write for?

I've mostly written for 9-1-1, though I started off with Shameless (6 fics) and I have written some for Teen Wolf (5 fics). There's one 9-1-1 crossover with Schitt's Creek.

Top five fics by kudos:

parents always yelling (telling us to get our acts together)

i just want something to hold on to (and a little of that human touch)

I will come to you (even in my sleep)

open up again (i believe in second chances)

exes and the oh's

Do you respond to comments?

Always, even if it takes me months. I actually just caught up again (there's still a bunch to go, but right now the oldest is 17 days ago instead of 250 days...). It's just a rule I have for myself, and even with the backlog I've kept it up so far, so I'm not going to stop doing it now.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm not a big fan of angsty endings, I generally try to at least make it a hopeful ending or, in the case of the college au, use an epilogue to fix things.

But I guess sunny skies & summer highs qualifies as an angsty ending simply because of the cliffhanger (and yes, there is still going to be a continuation, I'm working on it 🙈).

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

Choosing one out of 160 is really hard, but I think tell me, will you stay or will you run away is definitely one that deserves a mention here, because it already has a happy ending and then the epilogue just makes it even better 🥰

Do you get hate on fics?

Not commented on the fic itself, no. I've had some people talk shit about my fics on twitter, though, and not even vaguely but calling me by (user)name.

Do you write smut?

Is grass green? Yeah, I write smut 🤭 Thanks to two times kinktober, I have 95 explicit fics, by far the most used rating for my fics.

Craziest crossover:

let's have some fun tonight is my 9-1-1/Schitt's Creek crossover fic for 9-1-1 Rarepair Week, and my only crossover fic

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

My head over feet Buddie valentine's two-parter got posted as one chapter in Wattpad work with over 30 fics once. Filed a DMCA and Wattpad took it down within two hours.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Two of my fics have been translated into Russian afaik, one on ao3 and one on Ficbook

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope. It may be a nice challenge for the future? Not sure who I'd do it with.

All time favourite ship?

Gotta go for Buddie on that one, lol. Especially if you look at my writing history. But I often tend to hyperfixate on one ship at a time (current reading obsession is McDanno)

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Buck's POV of if love is art then you might be my masterpiece. I really want to, but at this point it's been two years since the original so I don't know if it'd be worth it either. (I know not everyone was happy about how I ended it, but I doubt any of them are still waiting for more). Writing a different POV of the same fic takes an amount of planning that my brain just really struggles with. And I could pick up where the last chapter (before the epilogue) picks up, but I think that way there would be some crucial information about Buck missing.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told quite a lot of times that I am good at keeping characters, well, in character, even when putting them in partial or complete AU's. Of course, what is in character or not is subjective, but I do always challenge myself to work as much of the canon backstory and personality into who they are in the AU as possible.

And I like to think I'm pretty good at writing smut.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm terrible at pacing, which multiple of my long fics prove. It'll be drawn out first and then suddenly rushing. And being ESL I do struggle with things like sentence structure and grammar pretty regularly still.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

As long as there is some kind of translation provided somewhere I like it, but I'm not so quick to use it myself. Not beyond a few Spanish words here and there (generally pet names between Eddie and his family we've seen on the show or the occasional curse word when I feel it fits better than an English one, but I usually need to employ help from Spanish-speaking friends for those).

First fandom you wrote in?

Shameless! I binged that right before I started 9-1-1 and combined with the creative writing minor I was doing, it was actually what got me back into writing in general and what made me write my first ever fic.

Favorite fic you've written?

My in your arms i feel safe-series (which I always lovingly refer to as the ace kink fic) is definitely one of my favorites simply because of how personal it is to me and for the reason behind me writing it in the first place.

Other strong contenders are i would've loved you forever (it's never enough but i wanted it to be) and i'm begging you, come home to me (Teen Wolf, Thiam)

tagging @monsterrae1 @rogerzsteven @loserdiaz @watchyourbuck

[cryptidghostgirl]

Heyy :)))

any writing tips for beginners?

First off, can I just say, it is genuinely such an honor to get asked this question? It makes me so happy.

The biggest thing I would recommend for beginners is just to write. The more you write, the more used to it you get. I know that doesn't sound like very productive advice, but it is the truth. I have been writing fics since I was twelve and I am twenty one now. My first fics were shit. One of my earliest ones (its a BSD Akutagawa x Reader fic called Project X I started when the show first came out back in 2016 and finished in 2022 that is still up on my wattpad, which is linked in my pinned post, if you want proof I am not lying) is genuine shit, but I put a lot of passion and a lot of time into it (to the point that if you read the book, you watch me learn how to write). It was the practice and time spent that did the trick. So write and write and write. You don't have to post it anywhere or show it to anyone until you feel like you are ready (or at all). The more you do it, the more everything will fall into place.

The second thing I would recommend is to write the stories that you want to read, whether fanfiction or not. You have to be invested in whatever you're making in order for it to work. If you don't care, you wont put the effort in. You wont take the time for it. The only reason I started writing in the first place was because I would read fic after fic and I never saw anyone else putting the ideas I had on to paper (this actually lead to me starting a mini trend in the BSD fic community on wattpad lol). This will also help, if you are putting your work out into the world in some way, with the idea of reward. Whether through notes or readers or whatever, as long as you like what you are writing and you want to read what you are making, it is worth it and it is enough.

Third is to read. One of the ways I developed my own writing style was by taking note of the things I liked about other peoples writing styles (doesn't matter whom. I take a lot of the way I write from poets and authors like Annie Dillard and Terry Pratchett as well as other fic writers). So much of writing is about aesthetics and personal preference. Once I knew what I defined as 'good writing,' I could figure out how to morph my own work into something I deemed 'good.' This also counts for reading the things you yourself have written. I go back and re-read and edit my own work all the fucking time, both out of an enjoyment for the stories I create and in an effort to make them better. The best thing you can do is to read your work out loud. Listen to what you change when you read it out loud, what sounds odd or uncomfortable, where there are gaps. It really helped me when I first started writing fics almost ten years ago, and it still helps me now.

This is a weird one, but when you're writing about emotions, try to feel the emotion yourself. Think about what something like fear does to a person. Picture the situation you are writing and take the time to think about the ways in which you personally, or your character, would react to it. Writing reactions, body movements, things like that, has always been the most difficult for me, especially when its in-between dialogue and not just big blocks of text. Taking a moment and closing my eyes, feeling the shiver down my spine or the burst of sudden joy, really helps pin down the ideas and figure out how to describe them.

Also, if you know other languages, think about the things you like about the way those function and how you can incorporate that into your work. A lot of the way I structure sentences comes from ancient Greek, for example, with my usage of participles and timing. It doesn't have to be an ancient language though! And it doesn't even really have to be another language. All that matters is that you are actively thinking about the way the words interact with one another and what is pleasing to you. English is such a flexible and fun thing, there is so much meaning in every word and if you want to, it can be really fun to play around with. (I am a philologist. I am sorry for the little rant.)

That being said, it is important that you understand the grammar of the language you are writing in. This might just be a personal thing, but incorrect grammar tends to really bug me. Once you know the rules, they are easier to follow and it makes a huge difference. Also, incorporating techniques like varied sentence length/structure and literary devices like metaphor, allusion, ekphrasis, and simile can really make a piece more enjoyable for a perspective reader (whether the reader is yourself or someone else.)

Write what you know, write what you love, write what you want, write what you need, write. Don't worry about it being 'good enough,' if it is on the paper it is good enough. The hardest part is starting. Once you've got that under your belt, anything is possible.

Now that this post is almost excessively long, I am gonna make myself stop. I really hope at least some of this made sense and that you find it helpful.

<3 <3

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

[luvwich]

wip whenevers

i was tagged by @ghostoffuturespast to share some work in progress! there's a lot of work and not much progress to speak of but here's a run-down of everything in active development

shanghai 57

some cp77 characters for the this story i've been piecing together. that's regina jones and an OC of mine, mariano torralba / tiyo nano, in their wild youth! (their middle age is wild but their youth was, too)

the fic is mostly-outlined and i'm in that stage of trying to catch a vibe on character voice, setting, all that good and extremely difficult stuff

hypercritical season 3

elsewhere in that universe i've been plotting this nameless post-canon fic that continues mike and vania's story from where crescent&redwood left off.

i will put my cards on the table, a lot of this one is motivated by me wanting to continue their "dynamic" with johnny, lol. (throuple airhorn) (i reveal my cards with a flourish and nobody is surprised, because i have posted excerpts of this before and because it's me)

but i'm also really grooving on the quasi-solarpunk setting where we last found them, and wallowing in the angst V feels after her decision to do the surgery and fuck people over.

Amidst a five-by-two grid of other structures, V's was the last greenhouse on the left. It was a ramshackle assembly: panes of reclaimed plexi-glass bound together with scrap metal and thick cords of hope. A dinky little thing that seemed always on the verge of failing. Though one or two bad storms had jeopardized its integrity, it was still here. She smiled over a shoulder at it as she plodded over the darkening ground toward dinner.

sometimes i do weird shit like use graphviz to plot out what i think the emergent themes of a thing are. i don't know if this helps me in any way but it's fun. the nonsense i'll go through just because i want a blorbo threesome i stg. pointing and laughing at myself.

royal blue

i'm writing a follow-up chapter to that fucking bummer one-shot i wrote about valerie and river a little while back. i can't leave them miserable like that!

breached (smutty collab)

i worked with @streetkid-named-desire on a one-shot with their OCs VG and batsheva and it turned out really cute :3 lookin for beta readers rn!

V's interface dribbled into the emptiness, everything but the maze and mouse thinning out into wavering lines. He could feel what she was doing through his avatar. The sensation wasn't quite the same as when he was in realspace, but it sizzled through his nerves like the aftershock of a dream. Somewhere in the netrunning chair's hardware, bits and bytes were scrambling to make sense of the feeling of Bea's wet, beautiful mouth dancing over his cock. The result was an exhilarating, electric connection that felt like neither life nor the Net.

bg3 bros helping bros

last but not least this is most likely the next thing i'll actually publish, and it's A Bit Different for me! i was possessed by the idea of Rugan and Gale having a hush-hush no-homo encounter a while ago and reeled off some lil bits for the fabulous Zhentil Keep discord. for whatever reason (probably because i have 80 other things to work on!!) i picked this up again over the weekend.

Now, Gale wasn't the slightest bit wrong. It was a nice cock, and anyone who espied it had the right, nay, the duty to say as much. But how'd he manage a glimpse from so many paces away, at the edge of moondark at that? Perhaps he'd deployed some perverted hocus-pocus in order to steal a look at the Zhentarim serpent. 

i have some kind folks beta-ing this, and i really need a title. it's the first thing i've written for bg3! i was trying to ship rugan with my tav but this scene has gripped me and i kind of love him with gale more now?? it happens

[squishylemonbubbles]

kiryu autism thoughts

because i say sooooo.

grew up with a lot of trouble figuring out and naming his feelings, and that came with people floundering and not being sure how to help. he learned aggression was a quick fix, unfortunately! compound that with toxic ideals like "boys never cry", which speaking of:

sure he was a boy, but it was hard feeling like one of the boys, you know? because of his problems understanding and following social rules, there were plenty of times he was cast out from bonding and games, and the girls usually wouldn't let him in on theirs either.

probably somewhat of a delinquent in school, not on purpose but see the above, no sense of emotional control that doesn't eventually involve beatdowns. relied on nishiki a fair bit to pull him away.

also probably either didn't finish, or finished with the bare minimum. never got along well with schoolwork, not that he's entirely clueless about how things work, but the structure failed him.

very strong sense of justice, which is what leads him to being self-sacrificial. again compounded by toxic ideals, that men are the ultimate protectors, it becomes a rule in his mind that he must help and he must let people use him (or otherwise put himself in trouble) if the cause is noble.

bad at reading people and their intentions, he tends to think "well, i wouldn't lie about something like that" and it doesn't always register that other people don't all share his thoughts. though, see above as well: even if he feels like someone's intentions are bad, sometimes he feels obligated to help just in case they aren't.

entirely too much eye contact, coupled with his resting face, intimidates people. he doesn't understand why. no seriously:

he does try to be expressive, but it's often either too subtle or too obviously forced. (tbh even in my fics, i do write him with expression but i picture most of them subtly which i find hard to convey sometimes lol)

he really zeroes in when he's focussed, to the point of forgetting about basic care, or the people and situation around him.

not overstimulated especially easily, but it hits really hard when he is - usually from lack of sleep or other self neglect. completely loses his speech, single mindedly just tries to get the fuck out. (one of the reasons i picture kiryu knows, and still occasionally uses, some JSL.)

prison giving him a lot of time to think and "improve himself" meant he sort of found ways to keep his feelings under control, and more importantly to figure them out and be open at least within himself, but externalising is still a massive struggle that takes time to get through, with ups and downs.

uhh i'm sure i could think of more to say but my brain's shot now so i'm leaving it here

[educatedinyellow]

self-rec meme

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers.

Thank you for thinking of me, @oldshrewsburyian! I think it's hard for any author to make a choice of favorites, but here are five of mine that are special to me in one way or another:

Forever Taking Leave (Battlestar Galactica, Kara/Lee, fusion with The Sixth Sense) The premise of this story is that Kara can see dead people, and when Lee miraculously returns from his reported death at the very beginning of the series, Kara decides it's desperately important not to allow herself to find out for sure if he really survived or not. She can't bear to know. This becomes the root of her emotionally avoidant behavior throughout the series. It's an AU rewrite of the whole show that tries to cast a lot of canon in a different light due to one supernatural element, and I hope it embraces the bittersweet longing and confusion that belongs at the heart of the Kara/Lee dynamic.

Two Shoes for a Hat (Ritchie Holmes, first meeting) I've written three stories now in the Ritchie!verse and I'm very fond of them all, but this first one holds a special place in my heart. I don't know, there's just something about its tone that seems right. Bonkers and heartfelt, as it should be.

The Better Part of Valour (ACD Holmes, Greek Interpreter fix-it) I love rewriting canon stories, I love outsider point-of-view, and I love giving secondary characters their moment in the light. Mr. Melas is one of my favorite minor characters in Doyle's stories, and it was lovely -- if also a little harrowing -- to get inside his head. It was written as a gift, and my recipient had asked for a story that showed Holmes's kindness and Watson's cleverness; I hope this does.

Rewriting History (ACD Holmes, WWI, epistolary) Epistolary fic, my beloved! There's something about the back-and-forth of letters that opens such a wide field for character study. I will never tire of Holmes and Watson in conversation.

Spider stories (221B Baker Towers) I worked so hard on this one, LOL, I feel like I should include it on this list for effort alone :) It was exhausting and challenging to write (and to vid, as well), but I cared a lot about it and I think that shows. The central premise of 221B Baker Towers -- that the Moriarty of this world is not a single man, but a great organization indeed: structural prejudice, inequality, and war -- is such a rich idea. It deserves more stories.

Tagging @sanguinarysanguinity, @sanspatronymic, @thetimemoves, @odamakilock, and @hawkland, if any of you would like to jump in!

[mostlikelytofangirl]

Fic Writer Q&A

Got tagged by @jgydidnothingwrong :D

How many wips do you have currently?

Oooooh boy, way too many ^^;. Gonna list them in order from most to least likely to see the light of day orz

Ruoyao fake dating sugar daddy AU - currently ongoing

Omegaverse modern sangcheng - currently ongoing

Nieyao reconnecting by taking care of drunk LXC - for nieyao week

Xiyao endgame Mamma mia AU - planned for when the sc one ends

MY helping xusang by distracting WRH after accidentally getting betrothed to WX - I just think it's hilarious

Modern chengyao giving JL a puppy - a whole chapter long already

WRH trapped in a loop until he convices MY not to kill him - two whole chapters long already

A weird ass modern chengyao shared custody that can either be sangcheng&3zun or actual chengyao endgame - structure done and a few chapters

JZX is Madam Jin's bastard - one long chapter almost done

JGY as surrogate for xuanli - half chapter done

Post-nieyao revenge dating sangyao - got two chapters done

I have ideas for other fics too, but those don't have a sole word written yet, and this list is long enough lol

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish?

Everyone has their own reasons why they are still WIPs :'). But rn the omegaverse shangcheng one bc it's almost done but my brain is fixated on the ruoyao one bc it's HUGE, so it won't focus on the other one and let me finish it already.

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you?

It looks like me either forcing myself to work on something and finding my mojo along the way so I actually get a good chunk done... or opening yet another new file to pour down all my sudden ideas and feels for a new WIP :P

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different?

Not really. I used to, but unless the mood of a song matches the story perfectly, I normally don't bother anymore or just put background jazz to cancel outside noises. If I'm very into a song at that moment, then I just play it and somehow my brain will manage to make it match what I'm writing XD

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organized?

Normally I just roll with it. I have a general idea of where is it going and how I want it to go and let Jesus take the wheel :'D. Only when I have WAY too many ideas for a fic that is going to be LONG I get organized with a proper structure and timeline, like the ruoyao one and the possibly two endings one.

I tag @wishthefish, @thebiscuiteternal and @hereticcryptid

[erisenyo]

Questions for fic writers 1, 3, 5

Anon thank you so much for indicating the ask game, I did not realize I reblogged them both so close together lol

What inspired you to start writing fanfiction?

Epistles by Lady_of_the_Flowers lol. It is an absolutely stellar fic and I couldn't get it out of my head when I finished it. I kept imagining how the story might have gone on, what their BSS reunion could have looked like, how they might have found their happy ending...

And eventually I couldn't get it out of my head to the point that I wrote the BSS reunion (the teashop alley scene for any Burning Bright readers). And then I went hm, this could be better with a bit of context... (880K words later.)

3. Are there any specific themes you enjoy exploring in your fics?

I LOVE playing around with perception! How can two people experience the same event but interpret it differently because of their different frames of references. How can a character's behavior suddenly be recast in an entirely different light because of revelations about their background. How does an external POV contextualize or challenge or reframe an event. How does the reader's own perception come into play, whether through canon events or tropes or genre conventions, where expectation builds perception which then is challenged and recast by the unfolding events, not just within the text but within the reader as well.

5. What techniques do you use to create believable dialogue?

I really like writing dialogue, and I tend to think of building up an exchange in a few layers:

Verbal Habits: is your character a rambler (Sokka)? Blunt and terse (Zuko)? Always trying to poke fun (Toph)? Those verbal habits help build out the conversational voice of each character, and are often rooted in their characterization

Recognize Rhythm: Actual conversations tend to be a mixture of long and short sentences, exchanging listening and speaking, nonverbal as well as verbal cues. A hear-to-heart will have a different flow to it than shooting the shit after work.

Dialogue Isn't Perfect: People stutter and stumble, thoughts start and stop, there's cross-talk and interruptions, spoken word tends to be less formal than written word--building in those pauses and half-thoughts can help it feel more natural, and also show where a character is stumbling or struggling with a thought

Build Around the Words: layering in even simple action is a great way to make a piece of dialogue more engaging while also accomplishing some needed point A-to-point B or worldbuilding or exposition. Characters are also reacting to and thinking about what they're hearing, what they might say next, how it makes them feel.

Don't Forget Nonverbal Cues: Someone saying something with averted eyes and fidgeting hands suggests something very different than the exact same thing said with a direct gaze and squared shoulders. Body language makes the dialogue more rich.

Mix Up Your Sentence Structure: This is related to rhythm, but switch between using dialogue tags or not, put your internal aside at the front of a line of dialogue or the middle or the end, switch between long and short sentences. And do it all with a purpose--fewer dialogue tags and shorter lines of dialogue generally feel like a faster conversation, dialogue breaking in the middle tends to shift the emphasis of the sentence. Get a feel for the ways you can leverage your sentence structure itself to signal tone or pace or pauses!

For this Questions for Fic Writers asks game!

[i-never-forgot]

"In the Morning Light" Canon Timeline

In light of posting my fic(s), I wanted to clarify my AU for the sake of comprehension since there are some timeloop shenanigans that occur that may make it confusing, especially since I have somehow ended up writing it all backwards lol.

This is going to be a mess of bare minimum (but we know it's going to be long-winded—c'mon, guys, it's my writing we're talking about) plot points to explain the premise of my perpetual WIP fanfic, my OC(s), and the potential AUs that may be involved. Buckle in for a whole lot of nonsense, my dudes—this is really just me trying to get everything in my head on paper, so to speak, so I don't really know who will be interested in reading all this lol, but I appreciate all of those that do. This has been stewing in the back of my mind since 2015 so…yeah.

This outline is broken down into acts, so it follows the basic canon storyline of the game until the post-game's ending, from which it deviates. (As always, questions about any of this are more than welcome in my askbox! I relish any excuse to yap about my babies!)

[Divider credit]

"Past" Arc:

[The events of "A Stagnant Life" occur.]

Eliana wakes up in the paralyzed future and thinks she's dreaming. She rescues a terrified, treed Treecko from getting trampled by a rampaging Nidoqueen by distracting her, tumbling into a ravine and hurting herself in the process, then falling unconscious. When she wakes up, the Treecko is there and...talking to her, asking if she's all right, and trying to give her a berry. That's a lot to process with a concussion, but, at this point, after taking in the decaying scenery and strangeness of it all, that seems the least fantastical element involved in her current predicament.

He convinces her to go back to his cramped cave at the top of the other side of the ravine, afraid of being out in the open for too long, and asks her what kind of Pokemon she is. She explains that she's a human, he's confused. She tries to explain that she's obviously not from the area, but isn't entirely sure how she got there—the memories are...fuzzy, for reasons that she can't seem to fathom.

Treecko says, after some questions of her own about sleeping off their injuries for the night and figuring things out in the morning, that he doesn't even know what "the sun" is. It's always dark, always silent, and the vast majority of other Pokemon are feral and violent. The poor thing has no concept of time and is extremely timid and soft-spoken, and he's obviously intimidated by Eliana in general (but especially by her size and comparatively incredible strength), yet he seems to trust her despite himself for that one act of kindness she gave him...of course, that may also have to do with the fact that he looks like he's never gotten a full hour of sleep and seems cripplingly lonely and starved for touch and company, too.

Despite the grief and trauma surrounding the loss of her original childhood partner Pokemon, Eliana's initial insistence on only keeping an eye on the little creature that had inadvertently saved her life with oddly potent naturally medicinal fruit long enough to figure out what in the hell she was going to do quickly fragments when she starts teaching him how to battle to defend himself, rescues him from a couple more dangerous situations, and answers his endless questions to the best of her ability. (She's only known this Treecko for what should've been a couple of days and if anything happened to him, she would kill everyone in that fucked up frozen world and then herself.) She decides very early on that she would lay her life on the line for him, even if she doesn't openly admit to having an attachment to him to herself until much later on.

She learns about mystery dungeons when he runs out of supplies and she figures out that the only way to get fresh food and water is to enter these odd, labyrinthian structures and to emerge successfully on the other side because, oddly enough, things seem to have been “sealed” in a way that regenerates the feral Pokémon and the items. Treecko is terrified of having to go into them because of the other Pokémon since they attack anything that moves, but Eliana starts coaxing him to try. She figures out how to use throwing items, seeds, and orbs as means of defense since she obviously has no moves, and very slowly Treecko starts to get stronger and more confident.

One “day” Eliana finds a Dig TM before they emerge on the other side, and they pass a local pond on the way home. Eliana stops by the water while Treecko stays near the treeline with their finds, but she’s attacked by a Mightyena and gets pinned under the water to drown her. Treecko accidentally activates the Dig TM, learns it, and defeats the Mightyena by using it—it’s the first time he’s knocked out a Pokémon on his own. He’s frantic about whether Eliana’s okay and clings to her well after they fall asleep.

Eliana receives her first Dimensional Scream soon after this, although she doesn’t understand what it is and thinks she might be hallucinating. (*I haven’t decided what it will be yet, but for this “future” portion of the fic, I would utilize the “past” dialogues—just like the hero captures glimpses of Grovyle’s dialogue in the past, e.g. Foggy Forest.) They're staying near Treeshroud Forest, so this is what triggers it, but they don't realize there's a Time Gear there until later.

She grows too curious about the state of this world to stay put any longer, and she tells Treecko that she wants to explore it to see what happened—she’s explained to him how it should be, but he’s never witnessed anything different. He’s understandably wary about the idea of traveling long distances, and Eliana tells him that he doesn’t have to go with her—since he has a home here and feels safe, she could leave him with what they had gathered the last several trips to the local mystery dungeons and gather her own stuff as she goes along.

(However, she doesn’t realize that the reason Treecko feels safe now is because he’s met her—she’s boosted his confidence, has taught him how to battle, and has been his sole companion in almost all of his life. He owes her everything, he feels, so he decides to go with her in order not to lose her.)

[The events of the top half of "Cuddles" occur.]

They travel along an old path that leads, unbeknownst to them, southwest. Eventually they reach the coast and discover the ruins of a town. Eliana is fascinated and tries to uncover what's left, but anything valuable has already been looted. They find an underground base mostly hidden under brush pulled over its entrance. They creep inside and are attacked! But the scuffle doesn't last very long because their assailant is a) old and b) the only other sane Pokemon they've encountered.

It’s a blind, older, chronically wounded Lucario that refers to himself as the Old Master. Eliana and Treecko are uncertain what that means, exactly, and he doesn’t deign to explain it. After some convincing that they aren’t raiders, he offers for them to stay in the little underground haven he’s built. It used to be an exploration guild, he explains, and he was its master. Since the world fell apart most Pokemon either fled across the continent or were driven mad. He doesn’t admit it but Eliana can tell he’s been lonely and he’s relieved to have some company, even if he has to readjust to it some.

He starts explaining what he knows—which is quite a lot, actually, since he’s studied all of the old tomes in the Guild’s library for lack of better things to do while hiding out between ventures into local dungeons for food. He’s able to answer some of Eliana’s questions—including that the planet is paralyzed through time stopping. Eliana exhausts his knowledge and he diverts her to the library and proceeds to teach her how to read the written language(s) of their world.

Eliana is a quick study. She even uncovers and is able to read the ancient tomes composed in Unown runes since it’s similar to the alphabet with which she’s familiar. Lucario is amazed by this and by her and Treecko’s partnership. He mentions eventually that she reminds him of someone he used to know, but he can’t place it.

Eliana uncovers texts about Time Gears and their function. She proposes a crazy—but plausible— idea. It is no negligible task, but…Lucario agrees to help, tired of the world he’s been trapped in and that Treecko has been born into. They will need help if they have any hope of finding them. But even if they did manage it, since no locations were recorded in the records, how could they possibly reverse what had already happened?

They travel to what once was Capim Town on the opposite side of the coast—a long, arduous journey filled with peril. Treecko gets stronger and quicker all the while. They arrive and Eliana is met with suspicion and outright aggression—those who remembered humans before the cleansing did not approve of her presence, so she was forbidden from remaining in town. Treecko goes with Lucario when he speaks with the leaders of the town, but he’s rejected because they suspect that any tampering with the timeline would cause their erasure. Lucario declares that the world in which they live is nothing for them, nor their children, to suffer—what would it mean for them to lose their lives if countless others could be saved in the process? (Treecko adopts a lot of Lucario’s opinions on things after this, admiring him a lot for his steadfast rationale and ability to handle tense situations.)

When they leave the council chamber and return to Eliana, Lucario is discouraged. However, a moderate-sized group of townspeople follow them before they can depart and say that they're willing to help them in any way that they can to rectify the past. They end up forming the Planetary Investigation Team and start researching the cause of the planet's paralysis by uncovering other texts and such.

Lucario, Eliana, and Treecko return to the Guild and begin their plans. They determine that while their new team attempts to narrow down the possible locations of the Time Gears in the past, Lucario says that they need to find out a way to travel through time to start with. He has to work on that, but he has enough information by then to send Eliana and Treecko out into the continent to start the process of elimination on where the Time Gears might have been.

Unfortunately, all this hubbub and action has caught the attention of the spies scattered throughout the land for Primal Dialga. They report back what's going on, and Primal Dialga sends out his best henchman to determine the intentions of these insurgents and to stop them by whatever means necessary if he determines that they pose a veritable threat to the timeline. (They do, he finds.)

Eliana and Treecko start traveling around the continent counter-clockwise, first discovering the Time Gear below the Northern Desert and in Quicksand Cave thanks to another vision she receives from almost falling into the frozen quicksand. She trusts her gut, they go down, and find the first Time Gear suspended, frozen, and inert. [Since Temporal Tower had collapsed, the "feedback loop" powers they possessed went dormant. That's when they truly figure out that they have no choice but to travel back in time in order to utilize them effectively.]

They find the other Time Gears based on the possible locations Lucario marked on their map: Crystal Cave/Crossing's, Treeshroud Forest's, then Foggy Forest/Steam Cave/Fogbound Lake's. Eliana keeps having these visions, and she realizes that they're linked to the Time Gears, although she can't figure out who is in them (spoilers: it's Lu).

They have their first run-in with the Sableye when they discover the Time Gear in Limestone Cave, and Eliana and Treecko have gotten so accustomed to combat that they don't pose that much of a threat. Treecko has become confident, sure in his abilities, and he is proud that he's able to protect Eliana just like she has him.

They book it back to the Guild to report their findings to Lucario hoping he's found a solution. He has: Celebi, the Time Travel Pokemon. He hopes that they can find her if they find a Passage of Time, and one is located near the Mystifying Forest because it's a place of primordial, mystical power. There's no guarantee that Celebi will be there, but Lucario hopes to at least leave a note there in hopes that she might assist them.

However, just as they're getting ready to travel there, the Guild comes under attack. Several of Primal Dialga's servants have discovered the place and are trying to stop them...and Dusknoir is leading them. He demands their immediate surrender with a cease and desist order, stating that if they stop their plans to tamper with time that their punishment won't be as severe.

Obviously they don't agree to his terms. A tense and rapidly losing battle happens so they can fight their way back out, but Lucario sends Eliana and Treecko away while he takes on the rest of them and holds them off to buy them more time. Tearfully, they flee. Dusknoir pursues them, but they're faster since they're more familiar with the area.

They fly through the mystery dungeon and come across an old spring. Dusknoir and his Sableye ambush them there. It's a tough fight, and Dusknoir is merciless since he's decided to use force. Eliana gets hurt, Treecko gets pissed. Something about the energy that resides there reacts and Treecko evolves! Grovyle's able to beat them off and to knock Dusknoir down long enough for them to slip deeper into the forest.

He's struggling to adjust to his new form and they're both frantic at this point, on the verge of an inevitable and certain demise but he's just so proud of his new strength and Eliana's overjoyed that their bond is strong enough to afford him that, and they almost miss it when they're called into a barely-visible cave entrance. Celebi is waiting there, having known they would come because she's been watching them, wondering why Pokemon were suddenly looking for the locations of the Time Gears. She fully supports their cause and apologizes that she couldn't have been introduced to them sooner, but she was trying to avoid detection by Primal Dialga for defecting.

She leads them to the Passage of Time, explaining that she relies on its power for longer leaps like they require in order to reach the past. They're down to the wire: Dusknoir and the Sableye catch up to them just as they're getting ready to pass through. Dusknoir almost snatches Grovyle but Eliana dives in and tackles him through the Passage. Celebi flees once it's shut behind them, and Dusknoir is left cursing in their wake. (He's in deep shit with Dialga now.)

Due to the instability of the portal, Eliana and Grovyle struggle to cling to each other. It's violent, almost, throwing them about like they're in a storm. They're attacked in the midst of it, Eliana thinks it's Dusknor following them, and shields Grovyle. It sends her careening out of the Passage, freefalling over the ocean below.

"Present" Arc:

Eliana wakes up on a beach with only the memory of her name, the certainty that she should not have fur and paws, and little else save vague sensational impressions and gut feelings about certain things (and Pokemon).

A young, blind Riolu finds her and offers to patch up her wounds (after she was battered around by the storm, hit her head on a rock which resulted in a concussion and her amnesia, and nearly drowned as a result) despite his initial wariness of her rather unbelievable story, but his personal treasure is stolen by a couple of bullies and she is Not Having That Shit since he's so sweet and shy. It takes her a little bit to get used to her new body, but using items helps. Riolu is extremely grateful for her help, doesn't know how to repay her other than offering to help her in return, and offers for her to join him in going to Wigglytuff's Guild. Eliana doesn't know what else to do, so she accepts so she can at least have time to get her bearings.

She quickly trusts Riolu because of his sincerity and opts to give him a nickname. They make fast friends with the other Guild members, but Eliana is soft-spoken and reclusive, never really coming out of her shell since she's so shaken by her lack of identity and the mysterious visions she keeps having. She grows accustomed to Lu's innate and, at times, unnerving ability to tell her mood sine he sees using his aura reading ability.

[Regular plot happens, y'all know the drill. I'm trying not to make this too terribly long so I'll add anything else here if I think of anything.]

Eliana discovers that she has a passion for the historical aspects of exploration and, in order to understand the world around her, she starts reading as many books as she can get her paws on. (She's surprised that she can read all of their written languages, as well as Unown script, although she struggles with Footprint Runes). Lu tries to keep up, but a lot of times he falls asleep while she's pulling her secret all-nighters even after the Guild's curfew has passed.

They initially focus on small jobs that don't offer big rewards since those often get neglected, but as they get stronger they start focusing on ones that are more dangerous so they can help those that need it most. They ascend through the ranks rather rapidly this way compared to their peers.

Everything proceeds as normal until they return from the expedition to Fogbound Lake and Dusknoir arrives at Treasure Town. Everyone is immediately enamored with him upon their first meeting, including Lu, but Eliana senses nothing but Bad Vibes. Her hackles rise and her fur stands on end and she can't get out of the room fast enough. Lu wanted afterwards to meet him but he goes with her to conduct their business outside the Guild. They do their missions for the day and go to Spinda's to unwind.

[The events of "Inexplicable Dread" occur.] | [Here is some meta. And here is some more.]

Dusknoir shows up and Eliana panics and gives him a false name. Lu is trying to be accommodating while keeping up decorum for their visitor, so she tries to push down her anxiety for her partner's sake. Dusknoir notices her apprehension and tries to smooths things over, which makes her second-guess herself and her initial reading of him: he is kind, considerate, and interested in what she has to say. He succeeds in being the second Pokemon to get her to open up by asking her about her studies. By the end of the night she feels comfortable in his presence, but that ill feeling lingers in the back of her mind. They accidentally touch, and triggers another vision: of Dusknoir reaching out to them, stating "You two are coming with me." She runs out in fear, leaving Dusknoir concerned about her being hurt in the past (but little does he realize he's the one that did it).

Lu finds her already in bed, curled up tight with her fur on end. He manages to get her to calm down, but she refuses to share what she saw bc he just got through telling her about how nice and kind and concerned Dusknoir was about her and that he's never met anyone so sincere with such a clear, bright aura. She decides to give him a chance since Lu was able to tell Team Skull were bad eggs right away.

They start interacting with Dusknoir more, having conversations here and there, and Eliana and the ghost-type are able to have intense debates or discussions about hypotheses that surpass anyone else's realm knowledge. Dusknoir loves listening to her talk since she's so articulated and wise beyond her years (until she reveals she's older than she looks, being a first-form Pokemon) and he'll actually go full-throttle explaining things since he doesn't have to stop, slow down, and give extensive context for his subject matter bc she already knows what he's talking about. Eliana develops a fondness for the bass rumble of his voice, like thunder, and she falls asleep a couple of times listening to his veritable lectures. She adores his patience, gentleness, and willingness to share his vast knowledge.

[The events of "Trust" occur.] | [Here is its meta.]

When Dusknoir rescues them from Amp Plains, offering to carry them back to town because of their wounds and fondly murmuring, "You two are coming with me," Eliana decides that she trusts him completely. He has brought no harm upon them, he has helped the both to be more confident in their abilities, and he so obviously cares bc he threatened to rip Team Skull a new one for the dirty trick they played that might have cost Team Relic their lives! She diverts him to the beach and confesses her true name, her ability, and her amnesia being the reasons she was hesitant to trust him at first. She is relieved to no longer hide these things from him, but he is...decidedly not. He conceals his reaction well enough, but Lu notices an inexplicable shift in his aura that darkens him. He starts acting...different. He draws closer to them, claiming to try to help Eliana with her ability to they can find Grovyle, and yet he's more reserved. It's an odd mixture.

When they begin their manhunt for Grovyle, she teams up with Dusknoir to research where the rest of the Time Gears may be located. They spend many late nights like this, usually with Lu asleep nearby, and grow very close as a result. They end up on a "first name basis", so to speak, and no one else talks to him with such casualness and informality, as though he's an equal rather than a superior. He is surprised to find that he...almost appreciates the normalcy of it, despite the circumstances. Eliana respects him entirely by the time the events at Quicksand Cave occur, and she fully commits herself to helping Dusknoir capture Grovyle.

[The events of the former half of "The Hero and the Wraith" occur.] | [Here is some meta. And some more.]

They stop Grovyle at Crystal Crossing, almost at the cost of their own lives. Eliana thinks him cold, cruel, and is almost smug about his desperation once Azelf locks down the lake. Serves him right, she thinks, after everything he's done. She doesn't realize he's on the verge of breaking down, panic and terror and grief that he's been doggedly avoiding since getting separated from her all rolling into one and verging on the edge of a mental meltdown. He's had to relearn himself while separated from his most trusted partner and best friend, not knowing what became of her, whether she was dead (or worse). He's seen no sign of her thus far, getting the Time Gears, and he fears the worst. This is the last straw, and he's barely holding it together. That's why he lashes out with violence instead of deflection or defensiveness; he's hemmed up into a corner with nowhere left to go and he's just so very frustrated and afraid.

Dusknoir didn't have to step in. He could have let Grovyle do his dirty work for him. But...he couldn't stand the sight of Eliana and Lu getting wounded so mortally. He steps in before Grovyle can land the killing blow (on Eliana, because she managed to get up to shield Lu despite being on the verge of unconsciousness). He chases after Grovyle when he escapes, but it doesn't take him long to decide the thief is gone and he rushes back to scoop up the team and Azelf to bring them back to Treasure Town.

He's frantic, the Guild members would say, worrying himself to death about their condition. He looms outside their room while Chimecho and the other healers on-hand patch them back up, and he stays with them through the night in order to monitor their condition. He has to leave the next day to keep up appearances, to hunt Grovyle down, but his inner turmoil distracts him more than anything. He shouldn't care. He would be forced to bring Eliana to her death anyway. Why would he be worried for her health now? (Why had it scared and wounded him so badly? Why did he allow himself to get involved with them in the first place?)

Eliana wants to go with him to trap Grovyle once he, Magnezone, and the Lake Trio decide on the plan. He refuses. He doesn't want to risk her recollecting anything about Grovyle, certainly, but he doesn't want to stay around her any more than what is strictly necessary anymore. He has to distance himself. He can't allow his personal feelings interfere with his mission anymore.

Eliana is anxious waiting for the update. She doesn't fully realize that Dusknoir will have to leave once he captures Grovyle. It hits her like a truck when they're in the town square and Dusknoir's imparting his goodbyes.

She doesn't expect him to reach out and snatch her (and Lu). Waking up in the frozen future is disorienting, to say the least. She and Lu are still a bit beat up from the fight in Crystal Crossing, and the last thing they want is to rely on Grovyle for anything, but...why is Dusknoir trying to have them executed? Eliana's in survival mode, realizing that her Dimensional Scream had tried to warn her and she hadn't listened. Dusknoir had betrayed them, he had lied to them, why couldn't Lu just accept that?

They argue before they decide to find Grovyle. Lu is already upset, and to see Eliana so angry scares him. When he cries, she softens back up enough for them to remind each other that they're on the same team and that they have each other, if nothing else. They don't trust Grovyle, but what he says makes sense, and Eliana admits that the "enemy of my enemy" mentality will work for the time being. (So why does she feel so safe in his presence?)

They fall into an instant rhythm. Something about him seems so oddly familiar, comfortable, and she almost knew what he was going to say before he said it or what he was going to do before he did it. They fight back-to-back effortlessly. Lu notices that his aura is pure, and murmurs such to Eliana at one point; he's sincere, and he has no malice for anyone. Something about that seems...right.

Celebi recognizes Eliana, but says nothing. She thinks Grovyle knows, and since she can see through the timeline a bit she doesn't quibble with it. She's just trying to focus on getting them back without bringing up the odd transformation.

Dusknoir reveals the truth and Eliana would've had a harder time believing it if it hadn't...felt right. It's difficult to reconcile in her mind, and she doesn't truly have time to process it, but...she realizes the voice in her past Dimensional Screams must have been Grovyle's. There was no possible other option. It's a much harsher truth to Grovyle, though, given he's been suppressing his emotions about the entire ordeal for so long. That's really what guts him in that moment, steals the wind from his sails: for a moment he truly thinks they're at the end of their rope, that there's no hope...and then Lu steps in and saves them all with his steady resolve and quick-thinking.

[The events of "A Dawning, Horrific Realization" happen.]

It's an emotional night, crowded around their low fire in Sharpedo Bluff and eating in near silence until they brave broaching the subject. Grovyle can scarcely contain himself, his relief overwhelming him to the point that he is reaching out to Eliana out of habit; but he'd hurt her and Lu, and while she felt some sort of vague bond with him, she was still readjusting and absorbing everything that she'd learned about herself and him. Despite him trying to hide it, she sees the hurt written plainly in his eyes when she rejects him politely yet apologetically.

He wakes her with a nightmare that night. She tries to wake him, but he reaches out to her again with a desperate mumble of her name. Heart hurting for him, and for the version of herself that he had lost, she caves and cuddles with him. They both sleep better than either of them had in a long, long time, finally reunited.

She builds a fast rapport with him despite their rocky start. They butt heads a little, since Grovyle had to learn the hard way how to make decisions for himself while Eliana is used to taking point with Lu, but they get everything done. When he departs to speak with the Lake Guardians, it's a tense, but temporary, goodbye.

They keep the note he leaves behind for them in Sharpedo Bluff.

The battle with Dusknoir is violent, brutal, and enraged. Eliana doesn't hold back against him, although she's limited in what she can do. She bites him on the arm hard enough that it scars. Lu and Grovyle have to volley so he won't target her specifically. He grabs her throat at one point in the fight using an Ice Punch, freezing and scarring the flesh to the point that hair no longer will grow there.

It nearly shatters Eliana to lose Grovyle at the temple in the Hidden Land, but she has to stay strong for him and for Lu. She can't let herself crack under the pressure now, not when they're so close.

She doesn't let it slip when she starts to disappear, trying to stay strong for Lu's sake so it's not as hard on him. He wishes she would have told him sooner, but it's the one time they agree to disagree.

Lu develops gray hairs on his muzzle in his grief, but Eliana's temporary absence matures him a lot. He doesn't let her out of his sight for months after they're reunited, and hardly out of reach.

The entire Darkrai ordeal breaks Eliana. Finally learning what happened brings all her grief of being betrayed but who she thought was her friend, then losing her best friend, all back again to the forefront. This is the weak spot that Darkrai tries to exploit, and it works. It's only Lu that's able to pull Eliana back out of it. She feels a sort of grim satisfaction that Palkia inflicted upon Darkrai what the Nightmare Pokemon had done to her so long ago.

Her and Lu work through their traumas as best as they're able, working through the ranks and becoming one of the most succesful exploration teams in the continent. They find a tentative state of peace in their routine, and they feel like they get a fresh start when they finally evolve. Eliana chooses to become a Leafeon in honor of Grovyle. It's an emotional moment for her, the closest she's felt to her long lost partner in months. She misses him terribly, and while Lu is able to settle, she finds herself restless still.

"Future" Arc: [WIP] {No spoilers!}

[The events of "That Poison, Reconciliation" occur.] | [Here is some meta.]

[The events of the latter half of "The Hero and the Wraith" occur.]

[The events of "Rest" occur.]

"AU" Arc(s):

Returning to IRL AU:

[WIP] Through some space-time shenanigans (whether divinely ordained or not, that's yet to be determined), Eliana is returned to the human world about years* after she disappeared from Eterna Forest. A missing-persons investigation had been conducted and ruled as a closed case when no signs of her were found. Her roommate put her belongings in storage, thankfully, never really believing that Eliana was truly gone. She struggles to get her feet back under herself, having to find another job and place to live and basically start from scratch...

Extra Information:

Team Relic:

Reference.

Meta.

Team Sunrise:

Reference.