#i think i’ve mentioned it before but the link i use for my smash fanfic stuff isn’t a particular incarnation of him :>

[mayordea]

OK………. CRINGETOBER PROMPT 9+22: CROSSOVER AND MAID DRESS. FT PIT AND LINK

(so the prompt was crossover ship but i don’t actually ship these two just to be clear, they have more of a brolationship to me)

had a lot of fun drawing this!!!! i kinda get a real kick out of designing maid dresses if im being honest and pit and link are my boys so.. :)

(i’ll link the prompt list here when i get my hands on it lol)

[bearseokie]

dear readers and writers

— a little advice i wish i would have heard before i started this blog and writing in general. sorry i’m that writer that makes post like these, i just want you to understand that things like this change everything. if this looks like a lot, just find the ones that pertain to you.

writers

➤ 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝

there are so many good works that come from you focusing on the genres you are most comfortable with, and only writing those is not a bad thing. it’s not a “you’re not growing as a writer” situation, it’s a comfort zone situation. just because smuts do well doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to write them. just because angsts come in bulk because you can never ignore the emotional bits of writing doesn’t mean that has to be the main focus of every work. just because fluffs are the most reblogged content doesn’t mean it’s the only genre people will enjoy from you. focus on what you love, others will follow!

➤ 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥

if you don’t consistently open your inbox, do it at least once. close it when you feel overwhelmed or at any time you feel necessary. don’t believe that you have to write them all in a short period of time. be statistical about it: only open it for a short game or blurbs. use the requests to fill in blanks or practice writing in different ways. play with the word counts. change up the tone. delete a few, you’re not obligated to actually write them, this is your free time and your work. but sometimes doing requests can change how you write, maybe even give you a breakthrough you wouldn’t have had with writing things from your own mind. and have fun.

➤ 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

filling the warnings up with silly little comments or parts from the story is important, too. even if it’s a paragraph’s worth of potential warnings or triggers, never skip adding them. even if you think it’s something not worth mentioning, it will be to someone. add as many as necessary.

➤ 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞

word counts don’t determine how good of a writer you are. from brilliant blurbs with two paragraphs and one line of dialogue, drabbles with less than a thousand words, or full on double digits fics: what counts is that you enjoyed writing it. it made you excited. you paused just to mention to a friend how much you love writing it. you got chills piecing together that one line. that energy gets put through your work and into your reader, seriously.

➤ 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭?

everyone reads. anything. everything. you name it, one person’s read it. whether your confidence in your writing ability is low or not, the process will only benefit you. and you get to spend time writing about some of your favorite people/characters, it’s a win-win. it’s no competition, only a fun time that you get to create and share with the world. try it.

➤ 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

the more detail, the better the mental picture. if you read something and love visualizing every scene, hearing every line, then you should work for the same within your stories. close your eyes and put your scene into your surroundings, every little detail counts. and although i said word counts don’t mean anything, if your brain does focus on you having large word counts (it happens to every writer, big word counts make you feel cool for writing so much), then this is a sexy step to use because it heightens that number pretty quickly.

short sentences look weird, but are better than run-ons.

vocabulary is sexy and thesaurus dot com is your best friend. need a word but can only think of something similar, you’ll find it there. used the same word three times now and think you’re starting to look insane, you are, use your sources.

you don’t need a banner or aesthetics for everything you write. the writing does all of the work itself. don’t stress about the accessories.

burnt out on writing the same thing / can’t think of what else to put down? break time. take a tangent, write something else, cut it off there (maybe post it) and leave the rest for the future, the cliffhanger or abrupt ending will have everyone on the edge of their seats. you’re still doing well.

if you’re writing to gain a following or have extensive amounts of notes to brag about, you’re into writing fanfics for the wrong reasons. hoping for feedback is one thing, feasting for it as your only source of inspiration for writing is just hurting yourself and other writers in the long run. write for yourself and no one else.

writer’s block? hell if i know, i’ve had it since before i started writing.

readers

➤ 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤

a little feedback goes a mile. a simple emoji as a reaction, keyboard smashes, even tagging topical things can make a fanfic writer smile.

but long paragraphs also go a long way. imagine watching a movie you love to bits, so much so that you go online and read reviews of it. that commentary can shift the way you look at the movie forever, and stick with you during other films. it’s the same with receiving and reading feedback on fanfics. I’m not saying go crazy critical with your feedback, do not do that unless the writer says they want criticism, but maybe writing why you love one particular line so much could change the way the writer feels about the entire work or make a reader begin to love the same line so much that they quote it or recommend it. it makes a difference!

➤ 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬?

tell the writer. this isn’t an “i wrote this and it mentions all of these other things, so you should have expected this” game. if it bothered you, it will probably bother someone else, and that needs to be told to the writer. i don’t know what to tell you if a writer writes back being degrading or negative about your concern for that warning, but i promise you that most writers will not argue with whether it should be a warning or not and will just add it. do not be scared to mention something that triggered you if it was not mentioned in the warnings. also, please remember writers are humans and cannot think of everything all the time. we might miss one or two warnings within the work when writing the description, so please tell us.

➤ “𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠.”

pain. straight pain. your reblog shares that post with your followers. you like it, why wouldn’t they? that reblog stays on your page, it’ll be seen. the tags you put in could help others find more works on your blog, essentially helping more works be found. maybe they’re old and haven’t seen the light of the recent tags in months, but your reblog could help more people still see it, and that makes a difference. we all have those lazy moments where we don’t want to do all of the steps, but even doing them sometimes helps.

➤ 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐜 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞?

readers can scroll through the list for their preferences, find new writers that amaze them, maybe they gain the courage to put together their own fic recs list. all of those recommended fics are still floating around and being shared, they don’t get lost in the tags or the writer’s masterlists. you find/make a recs list: congratulations, you’re contributing to helping fanfics thrive (as they deserve). also, who doesn’t love an entire list right in front of them so they don’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to find new things to read? answer: no one.

➤ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐞?

tags to organize, fics to go through/find/read, oh my. let me let you in on a little secret:

have you ever had that moment where you suddenly remember one line or scene from a fic you read months ago, and you have the vaguest details to go off of in order to search and find it? your fics recs blog would have you covered, just scroll through the feed or the tags and boom, it’s at your fingertips.

now imagine someone else looking for more fics to read stumbling upon your blog. might look a little strange and coded to them, but eventually they navigate and find a new fic they’ll be talking about for months. they reblog it, add their own feedback, their followers see it and join in, and that writer feels immensely appreciated all because you started a recs blog and just-so-happened to reblog their fic. tah dah.

➤ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐩?

well, so did i. i asked my followers on this blog and my recs blog to send in their favorite fics with some extra details and feedback thinking i wouldn’t get anything, but i got an entire list! guess what’s even better? that list went straight into the tags (thanks to tumblr working properly for once) and now anyone that searches up ‘kpop fic recs’ can find it at any time. same goes for your own. there’s no specific way of organizing a recs list, just make sure the links work and the writers are credited! it helps.

read more! it’s a vast world in your hands, enjoy the words that go along with it.

sorry for this technical rant/advice post, this has just been in me for a while and i wanted to talk about it. I might add more to this as things come up, but for now i hope this helps! <3

[rose-of-pollux]

Fanfic quiz thing

Tagged by @belphegor1982--

How many works do you have on AO3? On AO3, 408.  On FFN, 198, and, believe it or not, there isn’t as much overlap as you’d expect.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 1,390,063 words.  ....I’m just as stunned.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Around 35, give or take.  We’ll be here all day if I listed them all, but the main ones that I’m currently writing for/would be in the mood to currently write for are: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV show), The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Back to the Future, Hogan’s Heroes, Pokémon (either pokeani or game ‘verse), Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, Hades, and Super Smash Bros.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Heroic Resolve” (Man from U.N.C.L.E., light slash)

“A Devil Put Aside for Me” (Super Smash Bros, gen)

“If Wishes Were Cats” (MFU, light slash)

“Just Desserts” (MFU, light slash)

“Desperate Times” (MFU, light slash)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Oh, always; I’m always grateful for people who take a moment to tell me what they thought of my fics!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Definitely “All Dead, All Dead” (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Super Smash Bros)--it’s about BOTW Link realizing that the events of World of Light in Smash Ultimate makes this the second time that he failed to prevent a disaster, that he’s lost more this time than last time during the Calamity, and is now carrying even more survivor’s guilt as a result.  I normally don’t write such angsty fics with no resolution, but as this is World of Light, and everyone’s restoration is a foregone conclusion if you’ve played the game, I felt it was fine as is.

Rest under a cut...

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Oh, yes!  The craziest one I’ve written is probably a Man from U.N.C.L.E./Pokémon crossover, “The Three Spheres of Stonehenge Affair,” (Gen) which makes use of the fact that Galar in the Pokémon world is a parallel of the UK, and results in a cult using a portal device to bring Galarian Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres over to England for Napoleon, Illya, Waverly, and Marton to deal with. Another one you wouldn’t expect to work was a rather angsty crossover between 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, “What’s Past is Prologue” (Gen), where Calamity Ganon strands the Scooby gang in the Hyrule Ridgelands about 5 years after the Champions are killed and Link has been sealed in the Shrine of Resurrection.  The fam have to contend with Yiga, Guardians, the Blood Moon, and Ganon’s vengeance (because Vincent defeated Ganondorf in a duel ages ago, which he never forgave) to make it back to their world before it’s too late.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Surprisingly, no; I was, admittedly, bracing myself for it when I started writing my 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo fics, as I feature the entire fam, including Scrappy and Flim-Flam, who are, shall we say... not exactly endeared to the fandom?  (I never had a problem with either of them, honestly--if anything, I appreciated Flim-Flam for being the first South Asian rep in the Scoobyverse) The closest thing I ever received to hate was someone who read a middle chapter of one of my multichapter Hogan’s Heroes fics, ADMITTED IN THE REVIEW they hadn’t read anything other than that one middle chapter, and then complained that it made no sense.  ...Congratulations, you just played yourself.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I have had one transcribed as a Podfic by someone else--“You Can’t Judge a Book” (Hogan’s Heroes, Gen).

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, once, on LiveJournal; it was a Hogan’s Heroes fic with an otherworldly spin; I’m not entirely sure if it still exists.

What’s your all time favorite ship? Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin, no contest!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? All of them Most of all, the Monkeesfic I left hanging, because it was the literal final installment of the arc I was writing.

What are your writing strengths? Characterizations, or so I’ve been told--I can jump from fandom to fandom, and have everyone remain perfectly in-character. Also, dialogues.  My writing has always been dialogue-driven.

What are your writing weaknesses? Descriptions.  As improved as I am when compared to 2008 when I started posting stories online, I yearn for the ability to pull off the whole “Show, don’t Tell” as good as certain people I could mention.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? It can be tricky depending on the language, but rewarding if it all works out.  In Hogan’s Heroes, LeBeau switching between French and English happens nearly once per episode, so I endeavor to do that (with plenty of help from Bel, I will admit). For Illya speaking Russian or Ukrainian in MFU, I throw it into Google Translate and pray it comes out coherent.  His dialogues are the most challenging by far since I’m on my own. For Flim-Flam speaking Nepali in 13 Ghosts, I have a much easier time since Nepali is similar enough to Hindi (which I am decently fluent in).

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Pokémon, way back in 1999 (though those fics will never see the light of the internet, ever).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Ooh, I have to do this for my main three fandoms--

Man from U.N.C.L.E.-- “The Jack o’ the Lantern Affair” (Gen version on FFN, slash version on AO3).  The spirit of a legendary trickster is running amok in New York City, and Napoleon and Illya have to contend with an otherworldly threat that they are not prepared to handle.

13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo-- “The Pleasant Valley Poltergeist” (Gen).  Vincent and the fam are undercover in a no-nonsense gated community near Tuscon, trying to attempt a ghostbreaking--only things are complicated by an unexpected additional mystery, plus interference from the Homeowner’s Association.

Back to the Future-- “‘Cause I Might Not Make It Back” (Gen).  Marty is pursued by a renegade scientist to be used as leverage against Doc, resulting in him getting stranded in 1932, stricken with amnesia.  As 1986 Doc searches for Marty, the ripple effect fails to kick in as his 1932 counterpart finds him, and is tasked with trying to figure out how to get Marty’s memory back, as well as keep him out of the clutches of his renegade pursuer.

[alexlabhont]

I didn’t mean to fall in love with you

Chapter five

Book: Queen B - Choices (Universe)

Pairing:  Poppy Min-Sinclair x Trans!Male MC (Beck Hughes)

Genre: Canon re-write (Because I can)

Rating: Ehm... 13 years < , I mean, is not that hard, but just to be sure.

I´ll be posting this one over here because Tumblr, for some reason, thinks my secondary blog is a bot...

This is me trying to write by and for the Trans community, specially FTM community, meaning, trans guys, but I actually took the liberty to use They/them pronouns for everyone out there who´s interested (Also, the name Beck was the most neutral one I could find, trying to use the cannon Bea Hughes)

Now, about the PAIRING... I will be using choices style, kinda, because I want to give you choice at some point. If you have any comment, PLEASE BE RESPECTFULL and patient with me. This is also my first english fanfic and english is not my mother language, so... i’m sorry fo the grammar errors

CHAPTERS 

The beginning

Chapter one 

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

ONE-SHOTS 

Just a dance (Zoey x MC)

—————————————————————— 

“No.”

“What?”

“I'm not doing it.” Poppy laughed, trying to hide her anger towards them.

“Farmsville, come on…”

“I said no.”

The strawberry blonde closed her fist so hard she could almost feel the earpiece cracking.

“Honestly… This seems a little extreme. And I will never support any kind of hurtful pantomime.” Those icy eyes pierced right through her, a strength and courage radiating from them so powerful that Poppy would´ve been turned on if she wasn’t very pissed.

“Am I missing something? I thought you hated Chloe as much as we do.” Oh, right. There was Bradley. She almost forgot about him.

“As we do?” The irony in Beck’s voice was so palpable that she could see it slapping Bradley right in the face. “Has Chloe ever done anything to you that I´m not aware of, Hollywood?” Beck smiled tired, as to making fun of themselves. “Zoey was right; I shouldn't have come… “The simply mention of that girl´s name set on fire her blood to an unexpected level.

“That bitch…”

As Beck tried to walk away, Poppy intervened, full of rage.

“I didn’t think of you as one of those who´s afraid to actually do something!

And that´s where Beck stopped, as if something made click inside them. They turned around and for the first time in her life, someone’s look made her feel naked, completely exposed. The more Beck analyzed her, looking for something they only knew, the more vulnerable she felt. That moment lasted just a couple of seconds, no-one around them notice it but both of them.

“You’re right.” They finally said, reaching out for the earpiece which Poppy gave them doubting, giving out the other one to Bradley. For some strange reason she didn’t want them to participate anymore, but now they were necessary, it was too late. The operation had already begun, so she didn’t have other choice but linked her arm with theirs, walking into the dance floor.

“I´m counting on you tonight, Farmsville. Don’t disappoint me.” Once on the dancefloor, Poppy gave Beck a light shove and took a deep breath, trying desperately to erase any residue of the feeling they made her have. “You take the left side of the club. I´ll take the right. And remember, don’t let Chloe out of your sight.”  That was the last thing she told them before parting ways.

~~X~~

The thing is…

She hasn’t seen Chloe in all the fucking night.

What were the odds? Surely the stupid blonde should be in Beck's side, the very thought of it tasting bittersweet… deep down, she knew the real reason to involved Beck.

They were a good person.

The heaviness in her chest was there since the moment she found out Chloe was taking the hook. At first she was thrilled, smash enemies, that was her favorite thing, having plans, blackmailing, humiliating… that was kinda her thing, and she loved it at some point… but Chloe…

Gosh, she hated her. But the memories of them playing, laughing, crying, growing together… a big part of her really wanted to make her pay for her betrayal.

But the other one, the little, small other one… the other one begged to have her best friend back.

Maybe that’s why she didn’t stop Beck when she saw them warning Chloe, telling her she should not trust any word coming out Bradley’s mouth. Maybe that’s why that previous moment with Beck was so intimate yet personal… Yes, definitely they were more observant than she gave them credit for.

After making sure Chloe was far away and all the attention was on Bradley, Poppy walked towards Beck, her bitch mask on as always. She would rather be caught dead before admitting she needed their help to protect her from herself.

“It’s go time. Let’s make this bitch bleed.”

Her words claimed, but her actions were something else. Feeling stupid, like a child, Poppy wrapped Beck's arms around her, searching for comfort, but giving them her back. She could feel their chest behind her, their heat warming her body and their breath close to her hair. Without realizing, her fingers caressed their forearms tenderly, her eyes never looked away from the stage, where Chloe was dazzle by Bradley.

This was it. Her plan was marching flawlessly, even though the first words spoken by Bradley were… well, definitely he did not know how to improvise.

“You’re up, Farmsville. Feed him his first line.” Poppy felt Beck taking a deep breath and hugged her tightly but gentle. Their mouth hided behind her ear, and suddenly, she forgot about the purpose of all the things she was doing.

Because for one moment, Poppy felt as a regular girl, hearing sweet nothings from her significant other.

“She’s got an amazing sense of style… Seriously, she dresses like a runway model. Whatever she walks into a room, everyone turns their head.”

Her heart was beating fast, a strange warm in her chest was growing, and their lips moving closer made her snuggle even more against them, being reciprocate immediately by Beck, holding her still.

“Whenever I’m around this girl, I feel like the king of the world. Not only is she so hot, she’s also compassionate… She shines this amazing light on everyone and everything around her. People who are lucky enough to be her friend can always count on her support.”

Poppy felt the playfully smile on Beck’s mouth, that idiot, even in times like this still managed to crack some joke around.

“You’re a moron.” She whispered.

“Think you could do it better? Be my guest.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“This might sound like a stupid question, but… do you know who I'm talking about, Chloe?”

And, as simple and quick as that, it all went down to reality. Beck broke the hug apart, walking away to the bar so quickly it actually made Poppy shivering from the sudden cold, feeling unprotected, like something was missing… someone was missing.

“Of course I do” she heard Chloe said. A weird mix between excitement and fear taking over her, while looking perfectly neutral from outside. “It’s Poppy, isn’t it? You’re talking about Poppy Min-Sinclair.”

Poppy's honey eyes went straight to Beck, who was pretending to do a toast, alone, in her behalf. She didn’t even pay attention to what was on stage. Beck admitted to her having sabotage her revenge.

And she couldn’t be more relieved about it.

She also reached for the bar, standing up next to them, neither of them looking at each other.

“Poppy, you have to understa…”

“I can’t say I'm not disappointed, but at least we got Chloe to look a little stupid up there.” Poppy interrupted them. Beck looked surprised for a second, nailing their gaze into their drink after that. “… By the way, the lines you fed Bradley were pure, vicious gold.”

“I got inspired, that’s all.” They murmured, almost ashamed.

Poppy didn’t had time to respond, because The T notification buzzed in her phone: Beck was now top nine, and, of course, herself was back on top one.

“Oh, it worked all right. I’m right back on top, where I belong.”

She couldn’t help but smile to them, a real, happy smile. She got her crown back, and the damages weren’t so bad after all. And it was thanks to Beck, they were a completely live saver. No wonder why Zoey was so eager to protect them…

Speaking of her… if she was as serious as she claims to be towards Beck, and since The T spies were already here… maybe it was time to make a really good move to prove her who's better. And she knew exactly how.

“You did your part. Now, let’s dance.”

Decided, Poppy grabbed their hand, trying to lead them out on the dance floor, but she didn’t get much. Beck was rock still, looking uncomfortable… Like with all of those girls.

“No, I… I don’t dance, Pops.” Are they really rejecting her? To her? No, she was not another stupid whatever girl, she was, again, the Queen. Nobody says no to her.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course you do!” she said. “I’ve seen you dancing around with Wade. Don’t you try to deny it.”

“That’s different.” They defended themselves, making Poppy raise an eyebrow, challenged, before changing it to a flirty grin.

“Well… maybe I want to be different to you, too.” There it was, that precious lamb’s look she wanted so badly to see. “Just this one, tushi-face…”

Beck started walking almost right away. There it was, their soft spot for her Beck didn’t wanted to acknowledge, but it was already within them.

Not letting go their hand for a second, Poppy and Beck reached the dance floor right away to start to move to the beat in time, Beck trying… really trying to do the same.

Seriously, this dude was bad at this.

Was Zoey the answer?

No, they’re nervous, she could feel the tension in all their body. But why?

“What are you so nervous about?” She asked, feeling a little insulted.

“Paranoia.” They said.

“To what?” Beck only managed to shrug, something in their eyes was off, remembering something from… the past? Beck was afraid? Hell, what did Farmsville do to them? Poppy threw up her arms around their neck, leaning closer, trying to make him forget. “Don’t repeat this to anyone, Tushi-face, but… I needed you tonight.”

“Sounds to me like… You want me, too.” They joked, Poppy could feel the tension disappearing, nothing really to do with the conversation, but with the small petting she was doing to the hair close to Beck’s nape. “Be honest. Was this whole plan an elaborate ruse to get me on the dance floor?” Poppy smirked.

“Don’t be ridiculous, this was all about sabotaging Chloe.” She said, laughing. “Of having wanted it from the start I’d already have you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I want you now, and I’m having you.” Beck expression was a poem, the surprise written all over them for a moment, processing the information.

“What are you saying, Poppy?”

“I’m a woman used to get only the best, Hughes. And once I put my eyes onto something… or someone I want, I’ll do anything to make them mine…” The sexual tension was in the air so thick it made everyone around just disappear, the sparks between they both, the way they looked at each other… full of hunger, of need… She wanted Beck, and they wanted Poppy just the same. She could feel it so clear in the way they were touching her back, delicate, yet strong, longing, like begging to the devil to stop, but not wanting to. Please, just end my misery… those eyes claimed, but their body, moving along with hers was screaming to continue, and Poppy got drunk on it, needing more… a lot more.

“Baby, you got lucky cause you're rocking with the best… And I'm greedy… so greedy” She sang whispering, stroking her nose against theirs, playfully, softly, their lips oh so close to hers she could somehow feel them tremble, the sensations intoxicating them both so badly. “I ain't talking money, I'm just physically obsessed… And I'm greedy…”

“Poppy…” They moaned and the strawberry girl couldn’t take it anymore, desperately claiming Beck’s lips with her own.

Her heart exploded.

Beck’s mouth was warm, soft, addictive. As the kiss continued, the need became more and more insufferable, she wanted all and everything. She wanted to feel these heady fireworks on each part of her skin, that tongue taking care of the flames in her body, their hot lips heating her as fire, their breath became poison and the cure at the same time, she stuck her body even closer, trying to feel theirs desperately… Never, anyone, had made her feel so much with just a kiss…

A kiss that suddenly went to a rude ending.

Beck broke apart the touch so promptly that it actually hurt inside her.

“No, I… I just can’t. I gotta go.” Beck was trembling, that was the last thing she managed to understand before being completely alone.

-----

Next

[codenamesazanka]

I know this is a really vague thing to ask, but do you have any tips for writing Shigaraki? I know Echodrops made a whole meta about fanon Shigaraki vs canon Shigaraki but do you personally have anything in particular you'd want to mention yourself about the portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics?

(Here’s the link to @echodrops‘s post! It’s really, really good, and helped me figure out Shigaraki a lot in the first place. thank you!)

oooh! Not at all a vague thing, this is a great question. I started all this meta because I wanted to figure out how to write Shigaraki as well. A word of caution tho, because this would be my personal interpretation of Shigaraki, though I’ll try to use as much manga examples as I can. As always, super long post. 

Note: images are edited to fit exact quotes to relevant and reasonable sized images, instead of a whole manga page

Here’s some hand man characteristics/traits that I think are overlooked:

Shigaraki Tomura, in his beliefs/values, has a tendency for all-or-nothing thinking, to be extreme in his actions. In all three of his incarnations - the oneshot Tenko, the draft Sazanka, and this current one - a core of the character is 1) finding something flawed/bad/had hurt him somehow 2) completely loathing it 3) vowing to destroy it. 

Tenko despised samurai and their warring, and wishes to rid the world of swords. Sazanka is on a quest to kill quirk-users with quirks he deems too dangerous for society. And Shigaraki has decided that the Heroes and justice system is a farce, and is out to destroy it. 

Kinda fitting for a guy with his quirk - he either doesn’t destroy something, or destroys it completely. The moment he makes his decision, it’s fast and permanent. 

For Shigaraki, murder is murder, destruction is destruction, violence is violence, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why he couldn’t see the difference between him and Stain. That’s why he can’t see that Bakugou, as aggressive and vicious as he is, still wants to be a good guy. 

Now this is my take, but I think his mindset is: Because All Might can’t save everyone, he’s a fake, he’s trash; because everyone will say they condemn murder yet go about their lives carefree even though they know logically someone is out there getting killed, morality and justice is an illusion; because justice is so fragile and flimsy, I will expose it and destroy it. 

Not in any goodwill or for a better society, mind you. He just hates it. 

He also has no illusions about himself or his actions, he knows he’s evil.

Shigaraki is a lot more sarcastic and sardonic than usually portrayed in fanon. He’s very rude and can be foul mouthed, but the real insult comes from his tone and behavior. He condescendingly calls Eraserhead cool. He calls Stain the ‘Great Senpai of scoundrels’. He points out to Overhaul how a wakagashira/underboss like him should be more polite. Just about half of everything he says is dripping with mockery, and he’s very breezy and irreverent. So a bit less ‘I hate you, fuck off’, and more cheek.

Adding to that, if I’m reading my Japanese right, Shigaraki can change how he addresses people depending on the person and situation. His default speech is rude, but he’ll talk somewhat (barely) politely-ish if needed; it’s just it’s very obvious he’s not taking it seriously. 

Related, I feel like Shigaraki says a lot of things he doesn’t really believe. He tries out concepts, half-heartedly, on a whim. There’s that infamous speech at USJ about Heroes and Villains both using violence - which does seem to have some semblance to the actual ‘two sides of the same coin’ that even Best Jeanist talks about. 

And here’s him considering Stain’s effects on heroes, with gusto, before ditching it.

I know it’s Smash!, but here’s him reciting some sort of pseudo education philosophy he picked up somewhere??? to Kurogiri to get out of exercise. 

He’s a total smartass 

Of course, this brings up the question, is he genuine in his speech to Bakugou, or to Toga and Twice? 

 Like Echodrop notes, he can be in a good mood. He can be (seem?) happy, he can smile, he will acknowledge when someone does a good job of something. 

Sure, it’s got a manic edge to it, it’s probably not coming from a place of good, fluffy, innocent feelings, but he can laugh, enjoy the moment, be psyched about something. 

I really like this scene because he actually giggles a bit. He squeezes Midoriya, and he really does seem excited for a chat. 

He’s quick to go back to being default cranky tho. Quick to enjoy, quick to get irked.  

Shigaraki is a weirdo and I love him.

 My boy is smart. Really, Shigaraki is smarter than he looks. In the Ultra Archive, his profile lists his intelligence as ‘A’, ranking him above most characters, including Midoriya. I get that Deku’s whole thing is being the strategizing main character, but Shigaraki’s just as analytical. Even the Smash! Comic points this out. 

His room is filled with books, so either he reads a lot or he hoards them to look smart. I think it’s the former. Well, it’s not mutually exclusive, I should know.

He thinks and reflects and questions. He was super pissed about Stain, but he realized Stain was right and tried to figure out why. He went on a walk to calm down and just ruminate. He sought out Midoriya just to get second opinion. Afterwards, he quickly sees the bigger picture and realizes the issue is systemic and he’s gotta attack the structure. Of course, kinda shaky on the specific details and it’s not endgame long term, but still impressive. 

There’s a lot of Villain!Deku fanfics - and I like them a lot! - that turns Deku into the criminal mastermind or makes him the brains behind Shigaraki’s operations. Which is fair, Deku could totally be one! And also a lot of fics where Shigaraki is dismissed, with everything he does being AFO’s machinations. Again, fair. But Canon Shigaraki is AFO’s successor and leads the League for a reason.

This also means, I think, that Shigaraki isn’t as clueless to the fact that All For One is manipulating him. This point is entirely debatable, though. All I have to back this is how Shigaraki wondered if he was lied to in the USJ.

Even tho he’s facepalm crusty boi neet, Shigaraki is still a very dangerous S-ranked villain. I feel like sometimes people forget this. 

 He’s not that childish. He can be immature, he’s still learning the ropes of being a supervillain, he’s got an irritable and sullen disposition, but he’s not a five-year-old. He’s also not completely unhinged. 

When things don’t go his way, his first response usually isn’t to shriek or whine or immediately snap. He’s got a clear head and a good sense of what he can and can’t do. Kurogiri is down, All Might escaped their grasp, but Nomu’s still active? Cool, we got this. It’s only when Nomu gets team-rocket-ed that he panics. Stain stabs him? Doesn’t start a fight right there and then, asks Master for some Nomu, is patient enough to wait until he decides he really can’t stand Stain, then finally gives the go ahead for a rampage. 

Shigaraki knew from the start he can’t handle All Might. That’s Nomu’s job. As much as he hates All Might, he doesn’t jump at the chance to kill the hero personally. He’s not ruled by impulse or easy distractions, not really. And he will back down if Kurogiri reasons with him - see accepting Stain as a party member, see letting Toga and Dabi live. And after he got his motivation, he’s been very restraint since. 

He doesn’t immediately destroy his things in anger - we only see him destroy only few items pre-mall talk. He decays binoculars, a photo of Deku, maybe a newspaper, all quiet and deliberate. Kurogiri’s bar is intact and clean, despite being the long-time hang out spot of the destructive Shigaraki Tomura. Would he decay a controller after losing a game? Maybe, but also just as likely maybe not. 

Shigaraki will complain and bitch and sulk and hold a grudge, tho, yeah. He will lose it after a series of stressors/things gone wrong. He can be moody, cruel and sadistic, bloodthirsty and mayhem-loving. But he’s got himself under control more often than not. 

Finally, video games: My biggest pet peeve about portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics: He’s super obsessed with video games, to the point that he plays them all day long, and he can’t stop using video game slang for everything - or so a lot of the fandom believes. 

I’ve pointed out before that we’re more likely to see him reading the newspaper and we’ve never actually seen him use a console ever in manga or anime. True, he likens scenarios to games frequently, but not all the time - the USJ fight was when he did that the most, then in his other appearances only once or twice during the whole scene (Doesn’t want Stain as a ‘party member’, none at all when meeting Dabi or Toga and then at the mall, camp arc has him seeing himself playing a Sim instead of an RPG, calls All Might ‘last boss’ during the raid, then nothing for his next appearances). At least not out loud. As fun as it is to imagine him as a geeky gamer, and he is, but he does more than just that. 

I think Shigaraki uses video games and media to create mental scripts for himself to understand/interact with the world, but it serves as a skeleton. He fleshes it out, always adding to that mental model to create a more complex one. He calls his change of strategy as playing a Sim game, but it’s a good analogy that works for him, and we see how layered his plan is - dealing a blow to UA that works whether the Vanguard succeed or not, kidnapping Bakugou and Ragdoll, in order to bring about the media and public criticism of UA/heroes, and had it not been for the raid, something would’ve happen to Bakugou that would’ve demoralized everyone. 

He def is grounded in reality enough to know what he’s doing is more than just a game. 

And that’s all I got for now! There might be a part two. idk, but I hope this was helpful! 

[avengerscompound]

The Tower - Chapter 22

The Tower: An Avengers Fanfic

Chapter 22

Series Masterlist

Chapters:  one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve / thirteen / fourteen / fifteen / sixteen / seventeen / eighteen / nineteen / twenty / twenty-one / twenty-two / twenty-three / twenty-four / twenty-five / twenty-six / twenty-seven / twenty-eight

Word Count: 3195

Warnings:  action, mild violence, mentions of torture

Synopsis: Bucky and Wanda return from their mission early after it turns into a firefight. That’s when things start to fall apart.

Author’s Note:  Co-written with @fanficwriter013

Chapter 22 - Cracks in the Tower

I woke up in the common room just completely tangled up in Clint and Sam.  I shifted a little trying to work out if I could get out from between them without waking them up.  My movement was enough to wake Sam and he flexed his fingers against my stomach.  I squeaked and reflexively threw my elbow back into his chest.

He chuckled softly.  “Is that how it’s gonna be?”  He teased, speaking low against my ear.

It sent a shiver through me and I rolled to face him.  “That’s the kind of thing that gets you jumped.  Don’t be a tease.  That’s my job.”

“Alright then, princess.  Coming in here, taking all our jobs.  I see how it is.”  Sam joked.

I wrapped my arms around him and nuzzled up under his neck, teasing my lips over his skin.  It was scratchy from the overnight stubble that had grown in.  “That was my plan all along.  I’m going to be the Black Hulk Iron Hawk.”

Sam laughed quietly and shook his head.  “That’s quite a mouthful.  We’ll have to work on that name.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.  Also, Hulking out in the Iron Man suit would probably get expensive.  Sounds too hard.  You guys can keep your jobs.”  I teased as I snuggled into his chest.

“You’re such a dork.”  He said and pressed his lips to the top of my head.

Clint started to shift behind me so I rolled back over and places a slow kiss on his collarbone.

“Mmm… that’s the way to wake up.”  Clint rumbled running his hand up my back.

“Well, there’s plenty more where that came from,”  I said and kissed just under his jaw.

He hummed happily and squeezed his arms around me.  “Do we have to get up?”

As if those words summoned them, the elevator doors chimed and Bucky, Wanda, Steve, and Natasha poured out, none looking particularly happy.

Sam sat up and glanced around for his clothes.  “What are you two doing back?  I thought you were on mission for the week.”

Wanda waved her hands around and our clothes came flying at us.  “We were just monitoring, but they knew we were there.  It turned into a firefight.  They had psy shields.  They nearly caught Bucky.  They must have had advance warning.”

Sam, Clint and I started pulling on our clothes.  “Psy shields?   But we’re the only ones that have that kind of tech.”  Sam said.

“Apparently not.  I’m also concerned about how they knew we were going to be there.  There is no document trail for us going.  We were doing everything verbally.”  Bucky growled.

Sam got up pulling his t-shirt back on.  “You think there’s a rat in the nest?”  He said.

Clint and I followed after him and I came over and hooked my arm around Wanda’s waist.  She leaned against me and kissed my cheek.

“That’s what we’re going to try and find out,”  Steve said.  “Bucky got something from one of them, Wanda and he are going to follow it up.  The rest of us…”  He trailed off and looked at me.  “Sorry, El.  This is above your level of clearance.”

I saluted.  “Right you are.”  I joked.  “I’ll just go to my apartment.  See you guys later.”

“Thanks for understanding, sweetheart,”  Steve said and pecked my lips.

“Of course,”  I said.  “Good luck.”

I headed to my apartment, showered and had some breakfast before going up to the lab.  I worked until lunch without anyone else coming in.  I went to the common room and no one showed up there either.  That was weird, but I figured big stuff shows up sometimes and they needed to focus on it.

After lunch, I was supposed to have a therapy session, but when I went down to Alexa’s office she was nowhere to be found.  I got in the elevator and asked FRIDAY to take me back to the lab.

“I’m sorry Doctor Cooper, Mister Stark has asked you to join him in his lab.”  She said.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”  I agreed.

The elevator took me up to the engineering floor and I made my way to Tony’s lab.  There was chaos in there.  Everyone was in the room with the exception of Bucky and Wanda and Rhodey who was once again with the Air Force.  No one was still.  Maria Hill and Sam stood at a bench pouring over paper files.  Bruce and Tony were standing at various terminals and just moving between screens.  Vision was floating off the ground near a window glowing pink.  Natasha and Steve were moving between them barking things to everyone else.

I stopped dead in the doorway and watched for a minute feeling a slow build of panic in me.  “What’s going on?”

Everyone looked over at me before most went back to what they were doing.  Steve nodded to Natasha and she came over to me.  She put her hand around my waist and led me to a corner a little away from everyone else.  “Bucky and Wanda went out at around 11 chasing a lead.  We have lost complete contact with them.  Vision who normally has a constant low-level link with Wanda can’t even feel her.  There is definitely a leak.  We’re trying to find it.  We wanted to make sure we were all together.”

Panic surged up through me and I felt my knees go weak.  Natasha caught me as I sagged on my feet.  “It’s going to be okay, Mishka.”

I leaned against her as the room spun.  “What if they…”

“No.  They’re not.  It’s going to be fine.”  Natasha said firmly.  She helped me to a chair and I basically collapsed down into it.  I had never felt so terrified in my life.  “Are you going to be okay?”

I nodded my head.  “Can I do anything to help?”

“Have you noticed anything strange?  Anyone approach you who hasn’t before?  Anyone been asking questions?”  She asked.

I shook my head.  “I don’t really talk to anyone in the tower except the people here.  And the people outside I definitely don’t talk about Avengers stuff with.”  I said.  “Today I didn’t even have therapy.   Alexa didn’t show up.”

Natasha’s brow furrowed.  “She didn’t?”   She questioned, strumming her finger on the back of my chair.  “FRIDAY, did Alexa call in sick today?”

FRIDAY didn’t answer and both Natasha and Tony turned and looked up.  “FRIDAY?” Tony said.

There were another few beats of nothing before FRIDAY responded.  “Doctor Malleo called in with a case of the flu.”

Bruce turned around and looked at Tony.  “What was that?”

Tony turned back to his computer and started typing.  “I don’t know.  Vision?”

Vision floated over and he and Tony started scrolling through screens and screens of code.  Vision stopped one of the screens and pointed.  “Alright, shutting it down,”  Tony said turning back to the computer.  He tapped away for thirty seconds and suddenly the whole room went dark and everything whirred to a halt.

“What just happened?”  I asked looking around the darkened room.

“FRIDAY’s been hacked,”  Tony said.  “Explains how they knew about the mission.  How they had the psy shields.”  He kicked a rack full of tools and it went flying, tools scattered across the floor.  Several of us jumped at the noise.

“Tony, it’s going to be okay,”  Steve said calmly.

“Tell that to Bucky and Wanda,”  Tony said, storming from the room.

Vision stopped suddenly and his head tilted to the side.  The gem in his head glowing brightly.  “I just felt Miss Maximoff.”  He said.

Everyone turned to look at him.  “Do you think you can narrow in on her?”  Steve asked.

“It’s very faint.  But I think I can, yes.”  Vision said and floated out through the window and just hovered there.

“I think we should call in some other people,”  Natasha said looking out at Vision.  “They hacked FRIDAY, they’ve taken the most powerful one of us.  This isn’t a joke.”

Steve looked over at her.  “Who can we trust?”

The room suddenly buzzed back to life, and the Stark logo appeared on all the monitors with HELEN written over them.

“We could call in Tic Tac.  He’s on the other side of the country so I’m not sure how quick he can get here though.”  Sam suggested.

“Put in the call.  Who else?”  Steve said.

“Rhodey is a clear one.  He wasn’t running FRIDAY though, was he?”  Natasha asked.

Tony shook his head and barely looked up.  “He has his own AI.  I can call in that kid I’ve been mentoring.”

“Last resort.  You know how I feel about working with kids.”  Steve said.

“Coulson and his team?”  Maria suggested.

The others looked at each other and a few of them winced.  “Yeah, alright put in the call,”  Steve said.

“Thor?”  I said.

Clint started laughing.  “So hopeful again.”  He teased.

“I wasn’t…”  I protested.

“We don’t really have any way of contacting Thor.  He’s either here or he isn’t.”  Steve said, cutting me off.

“Don’t you just call out to Heimdall? Like; ‘Heimdall, we could really use Thor’s help.’”  I said looking up at the ceiling.

Clint completely lost it laughing and fell off his chair.

Steve shook his head with a chuckle.  “Well, hopefully, that helps.  I’ll contact Agent 13, but I think she’s still in Berlin.  I guess that’s it.  Put in the calls.”

Those of them that had suggested names left the room while the others went back to doing what they were doing.

“HELEN bring up the file on Doctor Alexa Malleo.”  Tony barked.

“Right away, Mister Stark.”  A woman with a Scottish accent said.

Tony winced.  “And no more talking.”

The others slowly returned and Vision came floating through the window.  “I’ve narrowed her down to an abandoned HAMMER Industries facility in Queens.”

Natasha cursed in Russian and kicked her chair, it went flying across the room and smashed into the wall.

“Care to share?”  Steve deadpanned.

“Malleo is Latin for Hammer.”  She seethed.

“Oh come on, Red.  Like it was your fault you didn’t pick up her clue.”  Tony said, rolling his eyes.  “What does that even mean?  Hammer didn’t have any relatives did he?”  He turned back to his console and started typing.

“How about we go ask her.  She’s got two of our own.  We’re going to get them back.  Suit up.”  Steve barked.

Everyone moved, and Natasha grabbed me by the elbow.  “That means you too.”  She said.

“But I don’t…” I protested as she led me to the armory.

“It’s not safe to leave you alone.  The tower has been compromised.  You need to stick with us.”  She said interrupting me.   We got to the armory and Natasha gave me a black catsuit to put on.

Is it bad that I kinda felt sexy in it?

“Take this with you,”  Natasha said, pressing a handgun into my hand.  I looked down at it blinking.

“But…”

“No.  You’ve practiced. It’s just a backup.”  She said firmly.  I put it in a holster built into the suit and then followed after her. We all boarded the Quinjet and I sat down next to Bruce as Natasha moved into the cockpit.

“Bruce, if Elise stays with you, do you think the big guy will hurt her?”  Steve asked as everyone sat in the jump seats.

Bruce shook his head.  “I don’t think so.  I think he knows her.  She could probably do the lullaby if needed too.  I think he’d respond.”

“Lullaby?”  I asked, blinking between the two men.

“It’s a trigger that the others put in.  Brings me back.”  Bruce explained.

“Alright, you show her what to do.  You’re looking after each other.”  Steve said.

My heart was hammering in my chest as Bruce ran me through how to perform the lullaby.

The jet touched down just down from the facility and Tony was waiting for us in his Iron Suit as we climbed out.  I was handed a communicator and I put it in my ear.

“Sam, Tony, Clint, Vis, get up high, you’re our eyes.  Keep communication up.  We need numbers.”  Steve barked and the four men took off.  “Hill, you stay with Bruce and Elly.  Nat, you’re with me.”

We took off.  Running along to the street and into the facility.  It was eerily empty.  “Tony, numbers?”

“Outside is empty.  I’m getting a lot of activity inside.”   Tony answered.

“Vis, you still in contact with Wanda?”  Steve asked.

“Yes, she’s in the facility.  She is reassuring me that both she and Sergeant Barnes are fine.”  Vision replied.

“Hill circle around back, we’ll go through the front.”  Steve barked.  Maria motioned to Bruce and me to follow on.  Bruce and I tailed after her and we were led down into a dark hall that seemed to branch out in several different places.  There was not a sound from anyone.

“You did say lots of activity inside didn’t you Stark?”  Hill said.

“Heat signatures say the place is crawling with rats,”  Tony replied.

“I’m not seeing anything,”  Hill said.  Bruce started breathing heavily beside me.  I reached out to him and took his hand.

“Hey losers.  What’s up!”  Rhodey said, coming in over comms.

“Platypus, let’s take out the east wing.  Flush out some vermin.”  Tony shot back.

We kept moving and the whole place shook as a series of explosions rocked the side of the building.  Bruce hunched over and a groan escaped from him.

“Vision, you still have contact with Wanda?”  Steve asked.

“Yes, she is directly North of where Agent Hill is now.  Though there are several rooms blocking the path.”  Vision replied.

“There are about a hundred heat signatures in that direction,”  Rhodey said.

Bruce dropped my hand and doubled over.  Hill and I stepped back, and I don’t know why but I stepped in front of Hill like I was trying to shield her.  Bruce let out a deep roar as his body curled in on itself.  He’s muscles twisted and expanded, making his shirt tear from his back.  His skin turned green and when he straightened up he was no longer Bruce, but the Hulk.

“We have a code green in here.”  Hill barked.

“Where small witch?”  The Hulk growled looking directly at me.

I pointed North and he roared and smashed through the walls in the direction of Wanda.  Hill and I followed after him.   There was no sign of anyone else in the wreckage Hulk left behind.

“Stark something is messing with your equipment.  There is nothing in here.”  She said.   We found Hulk standing hunched in the corner and a large chair in the middle.  Wanda was strapped to it.

“Wanda?”  I said, coming into the room and circling wide around the chair.  “Why don’t you use your telekinesis to break free?”

“They’re blocking it.”  She said.

‘But not your telepathy?’  I thought at her.  She didn’t react and when Maria moved to untie her I held out my hand.  “That’s not Wanda,”  I said.

“Elly?  How can you say that?  What about all the times we cooked together.”  Wanda said pleading.

“Nice try, Alexa.  I told that to you in therapy.  Cut the act.”  I snapped.

Alexa pulled her hands-free from the bonds and pressed a button.  The image of Wanda shimmered and the face of my therapist remained.  Hulk slammed his fists on the floor and roared.  “Small Witch!”

“She’s safe don’t worry, brute.”  Alexa sneered.

Hulk smashed his fist into a wall, making the whole section of it break away.  I walked over to him and put out my hands.  “Calm down, big guy.  She’s just trying to make you angry.”

He held his hand out and I put my palm on his.

“What is it you want exactly?  Why lure us here like this?”  Hill asked.

Alexa laughed.  “That would ruin my surprise.”

“Cap, we got Malleo.  This place is a ghost town though.”  Hill said as she cuffed Alexa.

We started heading back out the way we came and were met up with Steve and Nat.  Hulk had kept his hand on my arm.  It was so large it wrapped around my back as well.  We got outside and there was another Quinjet there with a group of people I didn’t recognize.

I stood out of the way with Hulk as everyone spoke with each other and Alexa was led onto a jet.  Tony tossed me a blanket.  “Time for the magic.”  He said to me.  

I turned to Hulk and held my palm up.

“Elly, wait,”  Hulk said, in his deep rumble.  “Hulk got to tell you something.”

“What is it, big guy?”  I asked a little surprised.

“Hulk love Elly.”  He said.  “Elly safe with Hulk always.”

I smiled at him and ran my palm gently along his jaw.  “Thank you.”

“Banner dumb.  Banner not say.  But Banner love Elly too.  I know.”  He said touching my chest with his finger.  “Don’t let puny Banner use Hulk to push Elly away.”

I shook my head.  “Of course not.  Do you think I can have him back?  I’ll tell him what you said.”

“Elly can have Banner back.”  He said with a grunt and before my eyes, he started to shrink and return to Bruce.

I wrapped the blanket around him.  He looked up at me with that paled terrified expression he had when I saw him on the jet when they came to rescue me.  “What happened?  Did he hurt you?”  He said putting his hands on my arms.  He started patting over me like he was checking I was real.

“Got a bit stressful in there, I guess.  It’s fine.  He didn’t hurt anyone.”  I chuckled and shook my head.

“What’s funny?”  Bruce asked looking around him like a trapped animal.

I wrapped my arms around Bruce’s waist.  “Shh… calm down, B.  The Hulk and I had a conversation.”

Bruce looked down at me confused.  “He spoke to you?”

“Yeah.  He told me he loved me.”  I said.

“He what?”  Bruce startled.  “Stop messing with me, El.”

“I’m not.  He really did.  He also said you loved me too and I wasn’t allowed to let you use him to push me away.”  I said.

Bruce shook his head.  “He is a little more emotional than I am.”  He said as we started walking to the jet.  “I do though.  You should know.  I do love you.”

I nudged him with my elbow.  “I know that, nerd.   I love you too.”

We were just about to get onto the jet when the sky opened up, pelting us with rain.  A circle beam of rainbow light burst from the sky with a crash and when everything cleared Thor was on one knee in the middle of a circle of what looked like Celtic knotwork burned into the ground.

“Thor?”  Steve said, sounding surprised as he approached the god.

“Heimdall said you called for my help, old friend,”  Thor said, in his booming voice clapping Steve on the shoulder.

“Oh my god!  It worked.  Clint!  In your face.”  I said, looking around for Clint.  “Wait, where is Clint?”

[luminisvii]

Am I losing my shit about fanfiction again? You BET! It’s time for Tell to lose her goddamn mind about some truly awful fanfic! It’s my blog, I get to do what I want! And that’s to talk about how people are more blessed than they believe since they didn’t read this!

Today I’m going to talk about Super Smash Sisters: Damsel to Hero. Given the title uses a word like Damsel in it and it’s rated M, this is going to be GREAT

content warning for well what do you think a horny man on the internet would write ie: cheating, incest, terrible depictions of women being horny, violence (I don’t explain any of this in detail so you’re welcome. but it is mentioned) I’m not linking this thing because you guys don’t deserve this.

It took me forever to finish the entire fic, and I actually wrote most of this before finishing. You may say “Wait a second Tell, you need to fully read the work in order to discuss it!” No I do NOT. Trust me, this doesn’t need to be finished to understand. I needed moral support for this, I couldn’t have possibly read this by myself. I feel really sorry for my poor friends that have to deal with this horse shit with me because it’s kind of got a bit of je ne sai completely godawful. I’m semi tough and can stomach some senseless nonsense pretty nicely, but the real heroes here are my friends for toughing out the rampant sex and terrible female character writing all mixed with Call of Duty plot and characters. You thought this was about Smash Bros? WRONG! 

I know exactly jack about the author, Yamagata, other than they are probably some poor horny straight guy in high school or maybe a genius troll. We just don’t know. Either way they were pretty dedicated. The fic itself is 91,621 words and 45 chapters, and apparently on hiatus but we all know hiatus is just another word for dead. It’s better off that way. All good awful fics end on a cliffhanger.

The premise, as the title implies, is that all the men of Smash are kidnapped by nazis or some shit after a failed drug raid and it’s up to all the women to save them of which there are Zelda, Peach, and Samus because this was written in the Brawl era. You might think “Wait, isn’t that not a lot of female characters?” right you are! The author decides to bring in tons of female characters from all sorts of video games and anime. A personal favorite is a major character in this fic is Bright Noah from Gundam, notably not a woman. I love him! I’m disappointed he hasn’t slapped anyone yet! What’s the point of importing Bright Noah into a fanfic if he isn’t going to deliver a Bright Slap? Sorry folks, there’s gonna be me getting distracted about Gundam once in a while.

I can’t remember exactly what happens because the chapters really blur together quickly. They’re almost always first half violence in COD land and second half really bad lesbian sex scenes. See, the title is a misnomer. The women don’t actually do a lot of hero work. It’s still handled by men. Ones who aren’t even from Smash Bros. Bright Noah and another guy called Hargrove who I’m not familiar with are constantly telling the women what to do and while the women sometimes go on missions to fight Nazis or whatever, half the time we’re following some random male characters. A good friend had no idea one of them was Tuxedo Mask because they used his dub name and we spent like ten chapters with this idiot before realizing it was him. They just spend their time fighting different various enemies from real life as opposed to smash. So the guys fight and then the women all fuck because when your boyfriend is missing you have to immediately bang the nearest female out of grief. It’s not cheating if it’s gay! Even worse is there’s a lot of incest because apparently that’s how women act, too. Also for some reason when the women DO fight it plays exactly like the men’s side but with Bright Noah just telling them what to do. Also for some reason Peach just fucking kills people and I’m not really sure how to deal with that. Like, yeah, I guess.

Let’s try to do a plot recap but that’s going to be difficult because I’m not sure what the plot is. Okay, in theory, I do. But we’re just circling around and doing the same thing so many times that I’m plain lost. 

In theory, the plot is as mentioned before. The men of Smash get kidnapped and turned to trophies by Nazis. I’m noting that besides Nazis the men are all brutally murdered in order to turn them into trophies. Then it turns out that Samus, Peach, and Zelda are safe because they were at the Smash Mansion cleaning and having sex as princesses and bounty hunters are known to do. Then they find out from Bright that the men have been kidnapped so they have to form a task force against them. So there’s a long ass paragraph of characters, many of which do not have speaking lines until much later anyway, but they’re all female characters from other games or anime. I’m really into Fire Emblem and there’s a bunch of those so time to cry. Bright has to tell these women to stop being so damn emotional and be ready to start murdering. 

Also in the first chapter, we have the reveal of the villain, some Tabuu knock-off named Emerald. She too recruits a ton of villainous characters who all introduce themselves AFTER THEY’VE BEEN RATTLED OFF IN PARAGRAPH FORM. You didn’t get it the first time? They’re all going to painstakingly state their name and identity. Admittedly it’s kind of funny to have Cell in a room with Liquid Snake and Ashnard. Also who invited Valtome? They didn’t even invite Zelgius. Maybe our favorite Begnion General figured out that a certain thirsty ass senator was gonna be there and stayed in bed today. Okay, fewer tangents, I promise. 

With the establishing of all the villains and heroes, everything instantly turns to shit. Half the time we’re not even following a group who’s connected to the main characters and when we are with the main characters they are either having terrible sex or shooting nazis. This sounds like it’d be funnier than it is but it’s really Grade A Depressing. I can’t tell what’s going on or why and since I have exactly no knowledge of Call of Duty I’m afraid I don’t know anything about our actual protagonists either. Every chapter starts with some pretentious usually WWII related quote and involves some guys dying and then some ladies bonking. It’s the same format every time and after a while I feel like this is some advanced torture method. 

Among the bad sex is for some reason moms are banging their elementary school age daughters because their husbands are out. Women are so horny they’d rather fuck their children than wait long enough for their husbands. It’s so messed up. My eyes naturally glaze over on the sex scenes because they’re kind of clinically written and something about cute pussies or whatever. I feel bad for Bright Noah, he has to break up these badly written orgies to talk more about the nonexistent plot. Bright Noah needs a raise. All in all the sex is something that maybe a 13 year old boy might find hot if he hasn’t managed to read all the other way better smut fics out there. If 13 year old boys even do things like that. 

Since there’s no way for me to coherently walk through the plot since each scene hardly seems to amount to anything besides either violence or a roll in the hay, I’ll just have to start briefly talking about the few notable things that happen, probably out of order. Who the fuck even knows what chapters these happened in? I sure don’t! 

First off, a lot of the women conscripted into the task force have supernatural powers but they’re just given guns. I also think the author has something for Krystal or whatever since we focus on her a lot for no good reason. The women are also often infiltrating secret bases to nazis or other bad guys that I’m not as well versed in because admittedly I’m not that interested in the history of warfare, modern or old. I just assume this is a COD thing. But in order to infiltrate the bases, they just wave papers at literally every guy they come across and that does it somehow. I started going ballistic and every time they mentioned papers I would start screeching again. They get stopped by some dude and he’s always like “Where are your papers?” and they ALWAYS have the papers and then they go past but the author FEELS THE NEED TO KEEP BRINGING IT UP. It’s like The Black Fucking Mountains again. Something I’ve learned about myself is that I do poorly with overly repetitive writing, so I wonder why I’m reading world’s most repetitive piece ever penned for fun. I can’t recall anything that happens in any chapters.

Somewhere in the mix they actually save Ike, Marth, and Roy. Somehow the most in character thing in the entire fic happens with them when it’s offhandedly mentioned that they sometimes dogpile into the same bed as a joke. What was more shocking to me is that suddenly Ike is a total nuclear bomb genius out of nowhere. Sure, he’s from a medieval fantasy setting, he knows what nukes are. We finally get some more plot. Apparently Emerald is trying to develop some insanely powerful nuke in order to destroy the trophies of the remaining captured heroes. See, she’s holding them ransom so she can get… money? Power? Fame?

Trying to do this from memory is so hard. I did My Inner Life practically all from memory, only going in there for the copy and pasted quotes! What the heck? This fic just slides off my brain. I don’t know if finishing it is even worth it since it’s not like I’m reading any of the sex scenes in detail (I mean why would I, a woman with decent taste, want to read about usagi feeling up chibi usa) and I sure as hell can’t understand the Call of Duty parts so in conclusion this fic really wasn’t targeted at me. 

But whatever. So now the main crew has to slaughter their way to bomb storage or development or something. Some of the COD guys died and I didn’t notice, some of the villains died (tragically Valtome was K.I.A.) and all in all too much sex was happening. Seriously, Mist has sex on her brother’s bed, that’s kind of nasty. I don’t know why I’m so hung up on all of that. It’s like the piss drinking thing, it’s a minor offense in a long line of “HOLY FUCKING SHIT” but here’s where I get derailed. 

How many times can I say that this fic is terrible? Because it is. I don’t understand who a lot of these characters are and why they’re here or what they’re doing. I managed to read to the end and all that I learned was Shadow the Hedgehog apparently cheated on Rouge with some guy called Makarov who is another major villain. What, so when Rouge cheats on him with another woman it’s fine, but when he cheats on her with a man he gets killed for it? I smell double standard! Don’t worry, I’m a feminist, I support equal rights of everyone getting punished for their perpetual horniness. Still, there’s this shocking turn of events where the men are somehow the ones who aren’t constantly obsessed with sex and the women are going around topless and banging each other constantly while homosexuality in men is seen as evil and wrong. For some reason I think the person who wrote this might be a man. He feels the need to remind us, 40 chapters in, that there will be No Yaoi scenes but plenty of Yuri. No shit dude, like, fuck! I didn’t know! 

Towards the end, Washington DC gets overrun by Colombians and the team has to kill them. There’s some drawn out attack sequence where everything is described in monotonous detail with military terms I don’t understand. I have a general revulsion to military weeaboos as they are sometimes called, so this stuff turns my stomach. It also features Kenichi, the main character of the animated Metropolis adaptation, which I DID see a long time ago! This little boy is killing people! It’s fine! Also it mentions Frau Bow from Gundam and discusses that she’s training to fight in a mobile suit to help support, but Peach and Samus are the ones who actually use the mobile suits. Peach kills people in the RX-78-2. I’m not sure how to feel about that. Another aside is King Boo is in the mix and he dies. How do ghosts die? Asking for a friend. 

There’s also some weird aside of the COD guys doing an arrest in Disneyland. Gaz, Soap, and Price all go there guns akimbo and chase down some dudes and some people die. I don’t think Disney would like that. This also comes out of nowhere, Gaz was playing fucking Go with this dude called Katsuie and it was practically a smash cut transition of “well I arrested a guy in Disneyland once wanna HEAR about it?” and it was. Something. I don’t understand why we did this.

We end with Krystal and Fox discussing that she’s breaking up with him because while he was held hostage, she got engaged to a woman and is unceremoniously dumping him. The scene was honestly kind of funny for the fact that she was having a lesbian three way in his fucking bathroom and then was like “Yeah we’re not dating anymore. I’m engaged. Later idiot!” while naked. Shortly after it’s decided that they need to bomb some German base, I think. So Bright Noah tells the crew to suit up and get ready, and so Krystal and her Lesbians fly off to go fight. Krystal ends up in a one on one with a dude called Scales who I’m unfamiliar with since I don’t know Star Fox lore but I’m sure it’s super important to Krystal. The duel ends so badly that Fox needs to jump in and he and Scales end up plummeting to their death out a window and also getting blown up by grenades. Fox just fucking died for the girlfriend that cheated on him the second he wasn’t home. Honey, you deserve more than this, and Krystal deserves to be treated better by the narrative as well. He gives his blessing as he’s dying, though, so it’s fine. 

The whole thing ends shortly after that. It was never completed, not that I think it could be, since I read all 91k words and I still don’t understand who is who, what’s going on, or why things are happening. Even if I did know all the characters featured I don’t think it’d help. I know about 50% of them and it’s not helpful at all. I completely forgot that Emerald is a thing. She’s the main villain! She’s hardly in it! The guy should have cut the shit and just written 

Tell’s recommendation? Don’t read this unless you’re really, truly a masochist. It’s not funny enough most of the time to justify the insanity. It’s sexist and racist. Chapters monotonously drone on with the same things happening almost every time. The bad sex isn’t even funny. Save yourself the trouble and if you really must know, check out the first few chapters only and then call it. The author has other works that I haven’t read but I’m not sure that I will based on the quality of this work, and they also published something as recently as 2017 meaning they could probably rise from the hiatus grave and kick my ass for trash talking them. 

One Sentence Review: Bright Noah doesn’t slap anyone. 

[virgilantejustice]

Another hero

This is my first (kinda crappy, but what the hey) attempt at a fanfic! I would be super grateful for any advice or constructive criticism, because I am definatley going to keep writing, and I want to put out the best work that I can. :-D.

Trigger warnings: major violence

masterpost link

——————————–

‘I’m not the bad guy, I’m not, I’m just protection, I’m not the bad guy!’ His turned these words around and around in his head, desperately trying to make himself believe them. He knew they were true, they were, they had to be. He couldn’t be the bad guy, he wasn’t, he was just there to protect Thomas, always. He’d never been anything more. He was never the bad guy, but that didn’t stop them seeing him like that. It was the snake face, it was the fact that all he did was lie. He couldn’t help it, he couldn’t control it. That was what he was for, that’s what he needed to be, he needed to be isolated. He protected Thomas. He was the good guy, he was, wasn’t he.

——————————–

Roman trudged back through imagination. His feet numb from from the snow that filled his boots, which was actually a relief on his blisters. He was limping slightly and cradling his arm. Granted, he had lost in the fight with the Dragonwitch (damn that slippery ice), but he had protected the kingdom of imagination, which was ultimately why he created it in the first place, to have something to protect. That’s why he created the Dragonwitch in the first place, to give himself something to protect the Kingdom from. But he never thought that she would grow this powerful.

It seemed like it took days to get back to the door that lead back to the mindscape, when in actuality it only lasted about two hours. He purposefully put the kingdom so far in, so that the Dragonwitch couldn’t find him. He didn’t know what she do if she got into the mindscape.

——————————-

Patton felt all his breath leave his body when he saw Roman after his quest to imagination. He had a bleeding gash on his cheek, he was holding one of his arms and he had all his weight on one foot. Patton ran towards him, placing his hands on his shoulders, trying to give him a little more stability on his clearly injured leg.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Patton.” Roman sighed, wincing as Patton lowered him into a chair. “I just had another scrape with the Dragonwitch, that’s all.”

“Another scrape!? You’re falling to pieces! Kiddo, please, I’m worried about you. You keep doing this. We can’t lose you, Thomas needs you!!”

“Okay, I’ll be more careful next time. But don’t worry about me, Patton, that foul creature could never defeat me!” He replied grandly, throwing his arms up with dramatic flair, but sucking in a breath as he moved his injured wrist.

“Sure, Princy,” drawled a voice from the stairs. Virgil was sitting there, with his sleeves pulled over his hands.

“How long have you been there,” Roman asked, exasperated, he didn’t want to be seen like this.

Virgil shrugged, “I came when I heard you get back, I wanted to see the state you were in.”

“I will defeat her!” Roman cried. “You’ll see! It was just the snow!”

“What is this racket, I was trying to work- good lord, Roman, what happened?” Logan had just come down the stairs, stepping carefully around Virgil.

“Dragonwitch,” replied Patton. Logan nodded.

“Its bloody freezing in here,” Virgil moaned, pulling his hoodie tighter around him. “Did someone turn the heating down?”

Logan froze, a look of pure terror etched onto his face. “You mentioned snow in imagination, right, Roman.” Roman shrugged, looking bemused. “You did close the door, didn’t you? And wipe away your tracks.”

“Oh,” Roman gasped. “I’ll go and lock it now!”

“There’s no point now!” Virgil shouted, suddenly animated. “You led her right to us, you complete idio-” but he froze when he heard it. They all did. Footsteps. Loud, booming footsteps.

They ran to the open door to imagination and stared into the snow. With each thud, the white powder was falling from the tree’s spindaly branches. Roman’s footsteps where still clear it the thick layer of white that coated the ground.

“I love you guys, I love you all so much,” Patton whimpered into his sleeves. Virgil put a protective arm around his shoulders, although he was about to faint himself.

“Should someone sink out and tell Thomas what’s happening?” Roman ventured to Logan.

“No.” Virgil said, surprisingly firmly. “Him panicking is no use now.”

So they stood there. Waiting. Frozen. Listening to the thuds that shook the mindscape. Virgil’s entire body was trembling, as was Patton’s. Logan put a hand on each of their shoulders. Roman stood in front of them, sword out, battle ready.

“You idiot, Roman,” Virgil whispered, sounding about ready to cry. “You complete idiot.”

The footsteps were getting louder. The sounds of trees being snapped added to the thuds, and the shrill shriek of birds rose above.

——————————–

An enormous, clawed foot, covered in maroon scales, appeared behind the door. Virgil emmited a little squeak, and Roman’s fingers tensed around his sword. A second paw appeared, the talons glinting in the cold sunlight. Then, a snout.

If there was any colour on their faces by then, when the snout appeared in the doorway, it was consumed by the creature standing before them.

The face of the dragonwitch took up the whole of the frame. Her teeth were so large that they hung down over her chin, dripping saliva onto the floor. She could only poke the end of her snout through the door, but you could still see her yellow eyes, gleaming at the sight of them.

“So,” she purred silkily, chillingly calm. “This is your precious mindscape? You’ve done well to hide it from me all these years.”

“Be gone, foul beast,” Roman retorted, trying to sound grand as normal, but there was a tremour sneaking into his voice. “You have no business here.”

“Oh, I think I do. This is where your friends reside. You have wronged me far too many times to be left alive. And it might be fun to watch Thomas try to struggle through with none of his precious sides left. If I don’t get to him first.”

“You will not lay a finger on Thomas!” Logan shouted, pushing past Roman to stand at the front, filled with bravery that he knew bordered on stupidity.

The dragonwitch strained forwards, her fangs only feet away from Logan, the doorframe cracking under the pressure. “And how, exactly, do you plan to stop me.”

Without another word, the Dragonwitch pounced, smashing through the wall, sending rubble everywhere and filling the air with dust. They all darted backwards, but she landed with one paw on top of Patton and one on top of Virgil. She was so enormous that her claws covered their entire chests. Patton let out a high pitched squeak as he was pinned to the floor, and Virgil’s shivers grew to the point of convulsions.

Logan stood completely still, as if paralyzed, with his fingers on his temples, his face twitching with the effort of thinking up desperate plans for escape. Finally his eyes sprang open, tears glistening within them. He looked defeated, yet he refused to be. He strode forward and started throwing punch after punch at the dragonwitch’s side. The beast winced at every strike of his fists, but the decent of her jaws towards Patton’s face did not stop, its continued, slow and teasing.

Roman stood stock still, his mind racing. This was all his fault! He shouldn’t have created her in the first place. He should have been able to beat her. He should have remembered to wipe away his stupid tracks. He should have gotten rid of the snow. He controlled the damn imagination, how could this be happening!?

Patton looked over at Virgil, who was now unconscious, either from the force of being knocked down or from sheer terror, he didn’t know. He felt faint himself as he stared into the gaping jaw of the dragonwitch. He wanted to cry out to his family, one last goodbye, but the words got trapped in his throat as he felt the beasts hot breath on his face.

“Roman!! Help!!” Logan screamed, as the dragon witches tail swung out from behind her and knocked him against the wall. As he slid down to the floor, a trail of crimson was left behind. Roman snapped out of his daze. He raised his sword and ran at the dragonwitch.

Roman’s blade was fast, but the dragonwitch was faster. She blocked every one of his blows and landed many of her own, but at least her attention was finally diverted from Patton, who was screaming every time she landed a blow.

“You really think that you can take me on?!” The beast boomed, her silkiness dissolved into folds of malace. “You couldn’t before, and you can’t now! I’ve waited so long, searched high and low for your precious mindscape, and now I have found it. It! Is! Mine!” She let out a screeching laugh which turned into a scream as the used her teeth to pull out the knife that was embedded in her flank.

While she was distracted, Logan had run to the kitchen and grabbed a blade, then he plunged it deep into her hind leg. He tried to pull it out to swing again, but she had swung her tail round yet again and pushed him to the floor next to where Patton was still being held under her claws. Patton screamed and struggled harder as he saw the trickle of blood pooling on the floor from Logan’s unstirring head.

Roman took the opportunity while she was destracted to slash his sword across her unprotected underside. She reared up, roaring in anger and grabbed him with the claw that was covering Virgil. Roman struggled and twisted, but the dragonwitch held him fast.

“Roman!!” Patton cried up from the floor, also struggling.

“Release me, foul creature!” Roman cried, his mask of bravery rapidly disintegrating. “Release me now and I may let you escape the full force of my wrath!”

“What wrath? You are powerless.” Her putrid breath blew his hair back from his face as she let out a booming laugh. “Youre lying to yourself, 'Princy’!”

——————————–

Deciets head snapped up. He had been doodling while listening to show tunes on his headphones, big enough to rival Virgil’s.

Each of the sides had certain words that they would always hear if they were said in Thomas’s head or in his real life. Deciet’s word was of course 'lie’. And he hated it. But he had to do his job.

He sighed and slid off his headphones and leapt immediately to his feet at what he heard. He cursed at himself, why hadn’t he been listening?! He ran over to the umbrella holder that stood next to his door and grabbed two swords from it. He liked the idea when he first conjured them, a facard, just like him. But he had never used them, they were just for show.

Nevertheless, he steadied himself, gripping the handles tightly. He felt power surge through him, he knew that any new skill would come to him in Thomas’s time of need.

A scream came from outside his room. Louder than Patton’s, which was still ringing, and higher pitched. The two mingled together and wrenched Deciet’s heart from his body. Thomas needed them, and he protected Thomas.

He wrenched the door open and almost screamed himself. Virgil was lying limp on the floor, pale as a ghost. Logan was also unconscious, and bleeding, next to a screaming, struggling, trapped Patton. And Roman was being held in the dragonwitch’,s claw, yelling as he was being lowered into her gaping fangs.

He felt the power surging through him. As a defense mechanism, Deciet suddenly gained whatever skills he needed to protect Thomas’s mindscape at the exact moment that he needed them. Deciet ran forward at the dragon witch.

——————————–

His hands and feet were a blur. Whirling around, coming in to strike then dancing away from her blows. As feirce as a gryffin, as hypnotizing as a python. Roman and Patton huddled together, entranced. Deceit’s swords clashed against the dragonwitches scales with enough force to crack them. He span away from her claws and twirled away from her teeth. If he was tiring, he wasn’t showing it, unlike her. Her blows became slow and sluggish, so he took the opportunity to charge right through her front legs and plunge both of his blades right into her chest. And, with a final bellow of agony and defeat, the dragon which burned into dust.

——————————–

Deciet stood, his two swords dangling in his limp arms, their bloody tips trailing on the floor as he walked over to where the others were.

“Wha?? What was that??” Roman gasped. “How can you fight like that, even I couldn’t defeat her?”

“I’m totally not just a defense mechanism. I never have been. Defense, Roman. My only job totally isn’t protection. You think I’m the bad guy, but this really is all I am.”

Patton was over by Logan and Virgil, crouching between them. Silent tears were creeping down his cheeks as he smoothed down the hair of the other two sides. Virgil’s eyes slowly flicked open. Patton let out a sob and hugged him tight to his chest.

“Relax, Pat! I’m fine.” Came a slightly raspy voice from between Patton’s arms. The two huddled over Logan, trying to wake him, Patton whimpering when his eyes fixed on the stain on the wall.

“If you’re so 'good’ now, why did you kidnap Patton before.” Roman asked accusingly.

“Wait, what? Kidnap, when?” Patton had run over from Logan, who was just sitting up, looking bleary.

“When he was trying to convince us to lie to Joan,” Roman replied, jabbing a finger at Deceit’s chest.

“He never kidnapped me,” Patton said, incredulous. “He just said he needed some help putting together furniture in his room. So I went to help, and he said he was going to get cookies. Now I come to think of it, he did take a while.”

Roman looked aghast. “Patton, we literally told you what happened.”

“But I didn’t know that the two events were at the same time, did I?”

“Listen,” Deceit inturupted. “I really wanted to lose Joan as a friend, they really matter to meway less than they matter to you. I only saw one way, now I realize there may not have been more.” Deceit looked down at his gloves, pushing whatever feelings these were deep down inside.

——————————–

Roman continued to stare at Deciet. “Anyway, I’ll go back to my room now, if you don’t mind,” he said, turning his back so that they didn’t see the tears that will pooling in his eyes. No, he told himself. I am not going to cry, I’m tough, I’m Deciet, I’m the villain.

“Kiddo,” called a voice from behind him. “You- You saved us. If you want to chat, any time, that’s fine. Don’t feel like you can’t hang out with us or anything.”

Deceit’s eyes softened, as he turned around to face them. Logan had gotten up and they were standing together, like friends. Like family. “Really?”

“Of course!”

“I would hate that, so much.”

[askaceattorney]

Dear Skibot99,

Co-Mod: I’d tell you, but I’m afraid she might hear me.

…?

Mod Maya: Pre-twisted Simon would be adorable! He’s handsome, has a prosecutor’s salary, and is a complete gentleman. (For DGS though, I’d choose Barok because dang he’s fine--)

Dear Inferno,

Co-Mod: I’ll definitely do so and let you know what I think about it as soon as I find an empty spot in my already packed schedule.  It’s like I’m losing at Tetris 99 here.  (Or just plain Tetris, for that matter.)

*Fast forward a couple of weeks*

I started watching the first chapter, and I’ve gotta say, it’s already pretty intriguing.  I found it a little hard to take Franziska’s voice acting seriously, though.  I wasn’t expecting something spectacular, but she’s just not herself without a German accent, if you ask me.

Mod Kristoph: I watched that a while ago. Really good stuff. (Also, I called who the killer was from part 1.)

(Previous Letter)

Dear sc9ven,

Co-Mod: I actually didn’t find any of your letters in the inbox, which means we either deleted them or already posted them.  Either way, sorry 'bout that!

I haven’t read any fanfiction all the way through as far as I can remember, but I do remember reading part of one where Kay snuck into Phoenix’s office after he adopted Trucy and almost freaked out, thinking he was her biological father.  I don’t remember its title, though, so if anyone knows which one I’m talking about, please fill me in.

Mod Kristoph: I don’t remember what my first fanfic was but probably my favorite is Pick Your Poison. It’s not so much a case as it is a series of “punishments” given to other characters. It’s hilarious.

Mod Maya: I cannot reveal this

(Link in Letter)

Dear Certainly Bobby Fulbright,

Co-Mod: That’s a good que--

AaaaAAACHOO!!!  ...Sorry.  *sniff*

That’s a good question.  My first thought is Phoenix, since he’s earned himself a little R & R after the crazy adventures he’s been on lately.  It’d be a definite challenge for him to get back into the dating scene after his encounter (and re-encounter) with the darker side of relationships, but at least he’d be better prepared for it, so who knows?  It might work.

Please notice I didn’t mention who he’d be starting a family with.  That’s up to your imagination.

Mod Maya: Mildly afraid because I feel everyone in this series that has any relatives is just cursed--I think both Athena and Apollo are the types that would want to? Apollo’s a really caring boy, and Athena definitely loves that kind of thing too. I think they’d like to give their kids the type of life they couldn’t have.

Dear ZaK,

Co-Mod: I love it!  Especially the double-meaning of the word “represent.”  Heaven knows if we’ll ever get to see Phoenix join the already huge Smash Bros. roster, but I’d love to see a trailer like this regardless.  Just make it into a video, and I’ll give it the Co-Mod Seal of Approval!

Dear skibot99 again,

Co-Mod: Well, you’re right about us being busy with letters.  I still need to get on with the essay-writing part of this blog.  There are currently five or so requests for them, and I’d love to get them all done right now, but things have kept getting in the way.  I’ll be sure and get ‘em done ASAP, though.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any blogs that are specifically about discussing Ace Attorney (and I’ll probably eat a cardboard badge before I go searching through Tumblr for them), but there are plenty of discussions going on at the Court-Records Forms, so I recommend checking it out.

The writing process for essays goes something like this: think about it, write it down, revise it, repeat.  I also take a look at gameplay videos to make sure I don’t miss any important details, but other than that, I just write whatever comes to mind when I think about the character in question, then try to reorganize it.  It think that’s called the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid.)  I hope it’s working for you all so far!

Dear jnv11,

Co-Mod: Thanks for finding those!  The first one was the Mod’s misspelling, but the Engarde letters were mine.  I must have let my mental guard down, so to speak.

Dear Anonymous,

Co-Mod: We’re actually using Tumblr’s Schedule option, which lets you choose a specific times for letters to be posted.  It’s a little less convenient than the Queue option, but I’ve found it to be more reliable.

And trust me, if we had the kind of time one would need to post something manually ever two hours, we’d be answering letters way faster.

Dear Mothmouth,

Co-Mod: Sure thing.  Here it is, and here’s the Ghost Trick one.  That one was a feat of animation, let me tell you.

And thanks for the kind words!  You’re just as cool.

Dear Fulbright,

Co-Mod: Thanks!  It was mainly thought up by Mod Kristoph and Mod Paups, and we kind of started doing it at the last minute, so I’m super thankful for their help with it all.

And yes, the letters the villains answered will be given a proper answer as soon as they reach the bottom of the inbox.  We don’t take kindly to letter thieves ‘round these parts.

Dear Inferno again,

Co-Mod: A little late (and not even necessary, as you already know), but thanks anyway, pal.

Dear skibot99 again (again),

Co-Mod: Thanks!  I somehow forgot to do that, but those tags have been added now.  Sheesh, what would we do without you guys?

I’ll keep your April Fools’ Day idea in mind for next year (I blocked it out so we can retain the element of surprise), but there’s a chance we might choose to do something different.  Oh yeah, and the Mod’s back!

That was more or less my reaction when I first heard the news.  Glad to have you back, Modot!  (That’s definitely my favorite Mod nickname, by the way.)

-The Mods