#i wanted chapter 2 to be my 25th post

[crescynnt]

Hi. Yes, I'm still working on my fic. Here's a deleted scene from chapter 2 of Allow Me to Save You Again because it didn't really fit the narrative I was going for (it was too wholesome and gave Dark more information than I wanted him to have). Another flashback within a flashback, this time focusing on Dark.

That could’ve gone better. Dark took a mouthful of the cake, grimacing at the slightly bittersweet taste. He should have known. Dark blinked at the thought, surprise overtaking the bitter taste. ‘He should have known’? He looked down at the cake on his plate. But… wasn’t this the first time—

“Blegh!” Dark pushed his plate over to Chosen. “It’s bitter.”

Chosen audibly sighed, and passed him the receipt. “Matcha Cake, eight count.” He raised an eyebrow to make sure Dark was following. “Matcha. The flavor that’s known to be bitter? It’s in the godd/mn name.”

“But it’s a cake!” Dark protested, stabbing his fork into one of Chosen’s custard tarts. “How was I supposed to know it wasn’t any different?! Besides, this is a sweets shop. By your logic, everything here should be sweet!” He took a spiteful bite out of the tart.

Gooey happiness flooded into Dark’s mouth. Now, that’s what he was talking about! Sweets were meant to be sweet, nothing else! He swiped another tart from Chosen’s plate and popped it into his mouth whole.

It was the first time he’d eaten real food– well, real in Dark’s sense– with Chosen. His friend’s palette consisted only of his subpar cooking– made through cooking skills Chosen he insisted was ‘good enough’. Dark never understood it. For someone named ‘The Chosen One’, he certainly wouldn’t be the one he’d choose to make his dinner. It’d gotten to the point where he had to regularly sneak out by himself to steal himself some real food from the neighboring city.

After escaping from their creator, the duo had landed on a grassy cliffside. They stumbled upon an abandoned house to rest and recuperate.

But even when their physical wounds were healed, some things still lingered.

Despite being completely healed, Chosen wouldn’t go outside. He would stay in the darkest corners of the house, away from the light of the computers above them. His powers went rampant frequently, in the most inconvenient of times. Some nights, Dark would wake up coughing as smoke from Chosen’s fire filled the house. Other times, he’d be woken up by erratic flashes of lightning or the numbing chill of frostbite.

It got to the point where Dark wouldn’t even bother sleeping at night. The only rest he gave himself were the occasional nap throughout the day. By night, he would lay next to Chosen, wide awake as the elemental powerhouse beside him showed off his power.

He never spoke of anything that happened before Dark’s creation. But Dark could piece together the clues:

One, Chosen’s spontaneous bursts of power happened when his emotions were high.

Two, he kept muttering something about ads.

Three, it had something to do with their creator.

Well, no s/it. Of course it had something to do with their creator. They’d already established that he was a son of a b/tch when they teamed up to destroy his PC. They hated him! As for everything else, Dark didn’t have an easy solution for. His powers were his to use and refamiliarize with. Ads? He failed to see how that was related to anything. But not knowing the solution wasn’t an excuse to not try to help.

It was only after so much hemming and hawing that he finally got Chosen to agree to join him in a quick outing. He got him a jacket, fit with a large hood to cover his face in shadow to hide him from the PCs above them. It was an unreasonable worry- Dark had gone out many times and Alan hadn’t shown up at their door yet- but if that was what got him out of the house, Dark wouldn’t say anything.

It was the same hood that covered Chosen’s expression as Dark realized with a start Chosen hadn’t moved or spoken in a while He sat frozen in his seat, a half-eaten custard in his hand.

“Err… Chosen?” Dark set his fork down and waved his hand in front of his face for a reaction. Nothing. “Man, don’t be such a…”

The words died in his throat as he noticed a drop fall from his face. “Chosen…?” he asked again, softer this time.

Fwoosh.

Dark jumped back as Chosen’s body erupted into flames. The edges of the jacket caught on fire- a clear indication Chosen wasn’t in control. And that could only mean one thing.

Dark whipped around to glare at the customers around them in the tiny pastry shop. Many were looking over at them– granted, a stick on fire was definitely not something they saw everyday. Dark eyed each and every one of them, feeling a sense of ecstasy as a few shrank back from his gaze.

It was something, something in this shop, that had triggered his friend.

He formed a ball of energy in his hand. 

And he was going to destroy it.

[pikahlua]

Fourteen Days of My Hero Academia

Greetings, friends! The ending has been announced for beloved shounen manga My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi, and I thought it would be a nice opportunity for everyone to express their love of this amazing series! So I am posting a series of prompts for everyone if they would like to participate in this little fandom challenge.

The idea is that, on each day listed, you will create and post something with respect to the day's theme. By create, I mean whatever your heart desires. It could be a fanfic, a fanart, a fanvid, a moodboard, a diorama, a meta post, a screenshot, a poem, a drabble, a few sentences of reflection, anything really! Whatever your brain dreams up! The only requirements are that it qualifies as some sort of fan creation for MHA and that it pertains to the day's theme. The final day of the event will be the official release date of the final chapter of MHA: August 5th, 2024.

Any given day may have multiple prompts. You do not have to do all of them (unless you really, really want to), rather you may pick the one prompt that inspires you the most! And feel free to interpret each prompt however you like. For example, on day 8, you may wish to interpret "line" as a spoken piece of dialogue or as a drawn shape such as the way Horikoshi does creative paneling. On day 11, you could interpret "name" as a nickname, a code name, the kanji in a character's name, or any special meaning in a character's name. Let your imagination run wild!

You may skip out on days if you wish or need to. You may put as much or as little time and effort into this as you like. You could start working now to make some big works, or you could use this opportunity to do a little daily journal project. The sky is the limit! The goal here is to spend some time thinking about MHA before it ends and to make a collection of little fanworks for everyone to enjoy in the process!

Please tag your submissions as #14DaysofMHA (ideally as the post's first tag) so that everyone can enjoy them!

Without further ado, here are the prompts! Thank you @siflshonen for the assistance brainstorming them!

Fourteen Days of MHA Daily Prompts

Day 1 (July 23rd): Family, Home, House

Day 2 (July 24th): UA Academy, Education

Day 3 (July 25th): Weather, Light Fades to Rain

Day 4 (July 26th): The Ladies

Day 5 (July 27th): Quirk, Special Move

Day 6 (July 28th): Minor Character

Day 7 (July 29th): First Impressions, Just One Bad Day

Day 8 (July 30th): Title, Lyric, Music, Line

Day 9 (July 31st): Legacy, Story, Past, Childhood

Day 10 (August 1st): Emotion, Heart

Day 11 (August 2nd): Symbol (of), Name

Day 12 (August 3rd): Face, Smile, Humor

Day 13 (August 4th): Future, Growth, Change, Evolution

Day 14 (August 5th): Anything you want

Feel free to send asks if you need clarification on anything. I will try to edit in any new information to this original post for everyone's convenience!

[disabled-dean]

Announcing Lebanon Fic Week!

In light of recent political events, @butch--dean & I have been talking a lot about the importance of fandom and transformative fanworks in building community and mutual aid.

We've worked in close collaboration on this project and have put our heads together to develop a short event at the end of December for the release of Ten Minutes from Home: Lebanon Coda.

I had planned to release the fic over the course of two weeks, but have condensed it down so that all of the chapters will be coming out between Christmas Eve and New Years, with the hope of adding some extra seasonal cheer to a fairly bleak time.

Lebanon Release Dates:

December 24th: Chapter 1 & 2

December 25th: Chapter 3 & 4

December 26th: Chapter 5 & 6

December 27th: Chapter 7

December 28th: Chapter 8

December 29th: Chapter 9

December 30th: Chapter 10

December 31st: Chapter 11 & Epilogue

On the days that each chapters release, I will be reblogging related content to @lebanon-wip with an optional tag to block if you don't want any spoilers (#lebanon fic spoilers). Anyone who wants to share related content is welcome to send it to me via ask or in DMs and I will share it! If you want to create original content, you can tag it with #10MFH (and/or send it directly to me). @butch--dean has pointed out that tags on re-blogs don't show up in the Tumblr search function (thank u taylor) so reblogging existing posts with the #10MFH is not trackable. You've gotta send them in asks or be so so brave and DM.

We've also got a couple of commissioned artists who will be sharing work inspired by the fic. I will be adding links to interactive bonus content on this master list and on the chapter announcements as they are released, along with a couple of low-barrier participatory events planned (like sharing a photo of your favorite holiday or seasonal mug). The purpose of this event is to be in community with one another, be ourselves, and have fun! Any and all original content is encouraged. Please come as you are <3 Lastly, thank you so so much for all of the excitement and support around this fic! She has truly blossomed from your love and encouragement, which has warmed my heart and made all the difference <3

Thank you for being so so so niceys to me! Please enjoy my little gift to all of you.

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family merch updates and manga hiatus

I wanted to post about some recent fandom news, starting with the good news: while I mentioned in my 2-year anniversary post that we've been in a dry spell lately as far as SxF content, we just recently got a bunch of new merch/designs! (mostly from various Jump Festa vendors) I'll start with my favorite of the new designs, from HMV's Jump Festa set - Forgers in winter outfits ❤️

Next is the "French casual" set from Chara-Ani~ Bond's little red beret looks so cute!

Another winter outfit set, from Animate. Gah, this one's so adorable, too 😭

Next is merch from Ichiban Kuji. Not sure if it's for Jump Festa as well, but either way, I want the acrylics and the plate!

And lastly, Ensky's merch for Jump Festa - Forgers baking cakes/cookies!

Again for those who don't know, Jump Festa is a yearly event held in Japan in late December that's dedicated to Shonen Jump IPs. SxF will have its own panel with the four Forger voice actors in attendance. We've always gotten exclusive announcements and content at past Jump Festas, so fingers crossed it will be the same for this year! I'm gonna try my best to get some of this merch when it goes on sale in late December. And of course, if I'm able to make high quality scans of these new designs, I will post those as well!

Now onto the bad news, which most of you probably heard about already: the hiatus for the SxF manga has been extended to December 23rd. I believe this is the longest hiatus the series has had so far, and what makes this one concerning is not only that the date kept changing, but also the noticeable silence from Endo and other official outlets.

In the Japanese version of the manga, the last page of each new chapter typically notes the date the next chapter will come out. In the case of the most recent chapter, 107, it said it would release on November 25th, meaning Endo would be taking a break from the bi-monthly schedule, which isn't uncommon. But then, just a few days before the 25th, official English manga outlets like MangaPlus updated the release date to December 9th. It was disappointing since we had all been waiting longer than usual for the new chapter, but again, a second postponement wasn't too alarming...what was alarming though, was the third one that came just yesterday, only a few days after the last. People started noticing that official manga outlets had, again, changed the date for the next chapter to December 23rd this time.

The fandom got stirred up quite a bit when this happened, mostly out of concern for Endo's well being. What made me particularly worried was the fact that, while these hiatuses had been going on for the past month, Endo hadn't posted anything on his Twitter account, which is very unusual considering every month prior he's posted at least a few unique illustrations. Not only that, but the last thing he posted was this oddly cryptic image on October 19th, with text that says "Don't look for me." And he then deleted it soon after, which makes it even stranger.

But thankfully, Shonen Jump must have noticed the pandemonium happening in the fandom, because just a couple hours later, they made this statement on the official Jump+ Twitter, apologizing for the delay and confirming that chapter 108 will indeed come out on December 23rd.

This to me was good news, since their official statement about it makes it unlikely they'll change the date yet again. But some sort of explanation would have been nice, even a vague one. I'm not someone to spread rumors, but my own personal speculation (which could be totally wrong) is that there was some dispute between Endo and Jump. This is the only explanation I can think of as to why his Twitter would suddenly be barren for a month after he posted consistently for so long - my guess is that he has to get approval from Jump for all the illustrations he posts there. I don't know much about the inner workings of the manga industry, but I would assume he has some contractual obligations where he can't freely post stuff on social media without some sort of publisher's approval. It is possible he's just been too busy with Jump Festa and other things, but he's still posted at least a couple times a month even when he's sick or busy, so I don't think that's the main reason. Again, this is just my speculation that could be completely wrong. There's also the fact that they so quickly changed the release date to the 23rd, the day right after Jump Festa ends, which could indicate that Endo's been busy cooking something big to be announced there. Regardless, I'm happy we finally have a new chapter release date that's pretty set in stone now, though I won't feel totally better until we get clear acknowledgment that Endo is okay, either from himself on his own Twitter or somewhere else official.

Anyway, despite this setback, I'm relieved that SxF is still going strong with all the hype for Jump Festa and season 3. Between that and the new chapter right after, we'll be eating good this Christmas!

[anne-is-ominous]

Some Anne-ouncements Following Reignited Book I

In just a few moments, I'll be releasing Home, the final chapter of Phoenix Reignited Book I: Ashes. The end of a book is usually a great time to make some Anne-ouncements, and so, without further ado...

Phoenix Reignited Book II: Embers

There will be no gap between book postings for Reignited; this coming Tuesday you will see chapter one of Phoenix (re)Ignited Book II: Embers. The new book will continue in the existing work on AO3 and all the other platforms, so folks who are subscribed / following / whatever it's called on your platform of choice will continue to get alerts.

Reignited on Royal Road

We're finally ready to announce the release schedule for Royal Road! I've wanted Reignited on Royal Road for some time, but held off due to the unforgiving nature of their Rising Stars algorithm that all but requires posting chapters with a certain cadence I could not meet until I had built up some backlog.

Reignited will launch on Royal Road December 1, 2024, with ten chapters dropping on that day. It will then receive a chapter drop every day for the next thirty days, and as such, on December 31, 2024, Royal Road will "catch up" with the other platforms that have been getting updates all along. Beginning on January 2, 2025, Royal Road's Reignited release schedule will fall back to Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday alongside the other platforms.

Folks wishing to support the story's success on Royal Road can help by reading the new drops on the platform daily as they are released, and leaving advanced reviews. These things dramatically increase the story's ranking in the algorithm, especially in the early going.

A Reignited Reorganization on Wattpad

I had announced that all the platforms would get Reignited as one huge work, rather than breaking it up by book as I did with the original series on AO3 or by series as I did on Wattpad, QuoteV, Royal Road and Scribble Hub.

Unfortunately, I've learned that Wattpad has a 200-chapter maximum for a work, which means a Reignited series through book XIII would actually need three volumes to get through it. Rather than doing a Vol. 1, Vol. 2 which end at arbitrary places in the story when the 200th and 400th chapter is reached, I've decided to go ahead and just do it by series on Wattpad like I did the original. So, there will be a Phoenix Ignited: Reignited Edition, followed by a Phoenix Ascendant: Reignited Edition and Phoenix Odyssey: Reignited Edition. Sorry about the confusion.

Sunsetting Reignited on MediaMiner

I was - and remain - excited whenever I discover a new platform to expose Phoenix to, and when I found MediaMiner (which apparently came and largely went during my hiatus from the world of fandom) I immediately sought to post Phoenix there.

However, as I've now gotten through 24 chapters there, I'm noticing lots of problems. The interface is old and largely broken, leading to a convoluted solution where the only way to properly format even basic things like italics is to make a specially-formatted RTF file. It takes almost four times as long to post a chapter to MediaMiner as to any of the other 11 platforms Reignited is currently on. Additionally, all of the algorithmic things like trending lists are entirely broken; the top trending story on MediaMiner has not been updated since 2009.

These things I could have dealt with, but the dealbreaker for me is interaction notifications. When people comment on a chapter, I get no notification. There's no inbox, no emails, nothing; I have to literally click on every chapter and scroll to the bottom to see if there's comments waiting for me. I find it entirely unacceptable that people could comment on my work and not get an acknowledgement from me, and short of spending a half an hour checking, I have no way whatsoever to know if it's happened.

For this reason, I've decided to suspend posting to MediaMiner after this chapter. I'll add a "25th chapter" essentially explaining this decision and linking to the various and sundry other platforms on which Reignited will continue, and leave Book I on the platform as essentially a glorified trailer for the larger work.

I don't know if anyone is reading on MediaMiner - I have no way whatsoever to tell - and if someone is and this causes you great distress, please tell me. I'd be willing to reconsider if it's actually helping anybody to post there, but right now it seems to be all pain, and no benefit to anyone.

Book XIII progress

As I mentioned Thursday, I'm taking a brief (1-2 week) pause on Book XIII to focus on Reignited Book II and getting some "life stuff" dealt with. I have a bunch of time off from work over the next two weeks and expect to really be able to throw myself into this and make some good progress.

Open Invitation: The Storytellers' Speakeasy

As I've mentioned before, the inestimable @princesscolumbia and I have merged our fan Discord servers to create the Storytellers' Speakeasy, a community for fans and fandoms to converge. I'm shocked and pleased to report that in under two months, we've reached about 90 friends in our little group, including more than fifteen fellow Storytellers who share and collaborate on their own fanworks and original stories with us.

(Haunted Mansion voice) But, there's room for a thousand...

Whether you're a Storyteller in your own right, or just want to hang with us, see previews, beta read, kick it in a supportive community, and maybe - just maybe - hear me humiliate myself and sing Ranko's songs live on stream from time to time, we invite you to join our community.

The Speakeasy is a safe and supportive environment for all people, including and especially LGBTQIA+ folks of all stripes, and a sex-positive space. All NSFW content is separately moderated and hidden behind an opt-in role. We have active fandom discussions for Ranma 1/2, My Little Pony, Star Trek, Pokemon, Sailor Moon and several others, plus channels for gaming, writer support, trans/gender stuff, and more. We'd love to see you around the Speakeasy!

So that's it!

Thank you all so much for your time, attention and support. Reignited has been doing so much better than I could have hoped or dreamed, and it's thanks to each and every one of you.

From the bottom of my heart,

[turtletaubwrites]

Numbers Game Extras ~ Suitor Dossiers

Hello, stars! Thank you so much for your patience for Chapter 32. It's almost done, but it's a big one! I was planning to put these into the chapter as well, and I still might, but I figured I'd share some details about the suitors since you have all been so patient and kind! I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to know who your favorite is! This post includes a poll to share who you'd like to see more of during this little game. 9 guys is a lot, lol. I want to make sure that I give special attention to yours faves! (Not changing their motivations though, so I hope you like what I have planned for them 😈🤭)

!!! SPOILER WARNING !!! ~ If you haven't read Part 31 yet, I highly recommend finishing that first before looking at the dossiers.

Image descriptions are located at the end, as the dossiers are on images.

| numbers game masterlist | turtletaub fanfic masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

What's this?

It was rare to find trash on the ground at the Oak Roots Estate. Curiosity got the better of you, and you picked up what looked like a brochure.

Oh...

Are you fucking kidding me...

Image Descriptions: Alternating images and text in the form of a brochure shows each of the nine suitor's faces with some personal details, and a quote. The format is laid out with snooty cedar leaves, the sun shining through trees, soft greens, exaggerated font, and images of arrows (as in bow and arrows).

Dossier Text: Each picture includes the phrase "Which hunter will claim her?" The final picture also includes the phrase, "Make your bets now!"

Giberson

Age: Couldn’t Recall

Height: Misplaced Measurements

Birthday: August 14th

Title: “Warehouseman”

Favorite Food: Rye Whiskey

How he plans to win: “I’m sure the lovely lady and I will have a delightful time. You don’t get to be my age without learning a few tricks.”

~

Ichiji

Age: 21

Height: 186 cm (6'1")

Birthday: March 2

Title: Prince of the Germa Kingdom

Favorite Food: Strawberries and Whiskey

How he plans to win: "I’m a Vinsmoke."

~

Niji

Age: 21

Height: 185 cm (6'1")

Birthday: March 2nd

Title: Prince of the Germa Kingdom

Favorite Food: Blueberries and Scotch

How he plans to win: “She’s coming with us. If I don’t win, there’s two more Vinsmoke’s.”

~

Yonji

Age: 21

Height: 194 cm (6'4")

Birthday: March 2

Title: Prince of the Germa Kingdom

Favorite Food: Green Peas

How he plans to win: “I wouldn’t mind ending up with a woman like her, so I’m gonna turn her into a princess.”

~

Iceburg

Age: 40

Height: 199 cm (6'6")

Birthday: January 3

Title: President of the Galley-La Company, and Mayor of Water 7

Favorite Food: Curry Made by an Old Friend. A Drunk, Old Friend.

How he plans to win: “Mm, well... I suppose I’ll win because I know her best.”

~

Fukaboshi

Age: 24

Height: 604 cm (19’10”)

Birthday: February 4th

Title: Prince of the Ryugu Kingdom

Favorite Food: Abalone Steak

How he plans to win: “I hope that she carries peace in her heart. If she does, I will stop at nothing to earn her love.”

~

Cracker

Age: 45

Height: 307 cm (10'1")

Birthday: February 28th

Title: Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates, and the Minister of Biscuit

Favorite Food: Biscuits. Dislikes Kimchi and Carbonated Drinks.

How he plans to win: “Easy. I’ll outdo them all.”

~

Katakuri

Age: 48

Height: 509 cm (16'8½")

Birthday: November 25th

Title: Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates, and the Minister of Flour

Favorite Food: Doughnuts. Dislikes hot ramen.

How he plans to win: “I will win because I must.”

~

Red Haired Shanks

Age: 39

Height: 199 cm (6'6")

Birthday: March 9

Title: Emperor of the Sea

Favorite Food: Kimchi Fried Rice and Lobster. Dislikes Blueberries.

How he plans to win: “Just gonna show the cutie a good time.”

~

End of Image Description.

WIP Update I hope you liked this little tease! Chapter 32 is 8300+ words already, and I still have a few more outlined scenes to finish, including the smut. If y'all didn't crave the smut every chapter it would have been out by now, lol. There's a lot going on at the Oak Roots Estate! 🌲 Life is lifeing, but I have received word that the major factor keeping me from my usual writing schedule is fading, and I'm so happy because this story dominates my brain, and I miss all of you so much! Thank you for your patience, I can't wait for you to read the next update! See you soon! Lynna 💜✨

Author’s Note: All of the character details above are from Oda, except for the quotes and the missing details for Giberson. I found them on the One Piece Fandom Wiki if you’d like to go check out more about the character’s history. I live on that site, and have to give those fans the credit for compiling all those details! I already spend hours searching for specific parts in the anime for things like lines for speech patterns and such, I’d be lost without the wiki!

~~~🌲🌲🌲~~~

| numbers game masterlist | turtletaub fanfic masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

[joneleslament]

I spent a full day of my life counting how many days pass through Danganronoa V3's killing game, Decided to finally post it for the world to see

I don't know who this would convenience; Probably fanfic writers who want to be correct. But still, Here you go, everyone

Killing Game starts January 12th

Chapter 1 starts on January 12th

5 days in the Chapter

Victim dies on January 16th

The Trial starts on January 16th and ends after midnight which makes it end at January 17th

Chapter 2 starts on January 17th

4 days in the Chapter

Victim dies on January 20th

The Trial is on January 21rst

Chapter 3 starts on January 22nd

4 days in the Chapter

2nd day is Gonta's birthday, January 24th

The first Victim dies on January 25th

The second Victim dies on January 26th

The Trial is on January 26th

Chapter 4 starts on January 27th

4 days in the Chapter

The Victim dies on January 31rst

The Trial is on January 31rst

Chapter 5 starts on February 1rst

4 days in the Chapter

2nd day is Maki's birthday, February 2nd

The Victim dies on February 4rth

The Trial is on February 4rth

Chapter 6 starts on February 5th

2 days in the Chapter

The Trial is on February 6th

Killing game ends on February 6th

25 days pass throughout the killing game

[zackprincebooks]

🧶WIP Wednesday 🚂

Iiiiiit's WIP Wednesday! Nobody has tagged me yet, so let's kick everything off with Chapter 2 of The Mistress of Rosehorn Hall!

I FORGOT TODAY WAS THURSDAY. UHHHH ENJOY A SNIPPET FROM CHAPTER 2 OF THE MISTRESS OF ROSEHORN HALL

The first-class carriage is gorgeously appointed. The brass implements are polished to a high sheen, the carpeting is plush, and the upholstered seats are so soft and comfortable, Sarah feels she could fall asleep the moment she sinks right into them. Bert and Josephine ease her luggage up onto the rack and strap it in with leather straps. Her outdated traveling trunk looks out of place surrounded by such finery. Indeed, as people pass by on the way to their own seats, they glimpse Sarah in her simple traveling attire and their lips turn down. Sarah averts her gaze and instead busies herself with her knitting. Josephine returns with pastries for them wrapped in paper and tied with twine. “There we are; I didn't want to purchase something too filling as Cook will have a feast prepared for us tonight in honor of your arrival.” She hands Sarah a butter biscuit with chives and a pastry made with fresh summer cherries before sitting down next to Bert. “Your knitting is lovely! Do you do other fiber work?” “Ah, just a little embroidery. I like keeping my hands busy.” Sarah holds up her knitting needles so Josephine can see the lacy shawl she’s making. Josephine oohs and aahs over it, and Bert nods politely. “Maybe I can finish it before we get to Briar Garden.” She can’t stop the laugh from escaping and immediately claps a hand over her mouth to silence it.

Chapter 1 is coming soon to my Ream page! All chapters of The Mistress of Rosehorn Hall will be available to the public. Don't forget that Ream Raids is on the 18th, and Godhunt will be available to read for free until the 25th.

Tag list below! If you want to be added to or removed from the list, please interact with this post:

@katenewmanwrites @the-golden-comet @wyked-ao3 @burntblanc

@lorifragolina @nczaversnick @glasshouses-and-stones @thatuselesshuman

@mushroommanchanterelle @phoenixofthegreenwood @ilovevewritingfanfic @jev-urisk

@lizurich @villian-lover7899 @rivenantiqnerd @pastelpinkhobbies

@ashfordlabs @satohqbanana @owlsandwich @lychhiker-writes

[aeithalian]

……you MUST know I want your director’s cut thoughts on a shard or two lol xoxo MJ/kiwiana-writes (my kingdom for asks from sideblogs)

OOOOH hehe hello MJ i keep seeing you pop up reccing a shard or two and just know that every time i see it, i send up a little prayer that your pillows are cold on both sides.

ANYWAYS (most of my followers on this blog aren't RWRB fans but who cares) a shard or two is definitely a weird fever dream of a fic. I read the entire book in like 24 hours (this was just before the movie came out, so less than a year ago) and I, having a strange interest in politics, was like 'hmm, you know what? not enough politics'. So now we have a shard or two. I've always had a interest in politics and I always felt weird about being that person who has a strange in-depth knowledge about the US government, but I think writing the fic helped me think about politics in less of a pessimistic way, like 'here's what I would want to see in modern-day politics'. It also kind of raises the philosophical question of how good people function in a corrupt system without being corrupted themselves, and Alex is such an interesting character to play with on that front because I view him as so idealistic that he refuses to be corrupted purely out of spite and stubbornness.

So, that's how it got started, I think. I told myself I wasn't going to start another WIP while I have one going for a different fandom, but here we are. I originally intended for it to be way shorter than it was (here I was thinking last October that 20k was an insane length for chapter 1, and then chapter 3 ended up being 100k all put together), but it's been such a fun passion project and a real stress-reliever for some reason, and a great way to develop my writing. Somebody in the comments asked me if I write professionally (I do not, and I likely never will, but I appreciate the sentiment).

As for director's commentary, I'm just spitballing here but I have so much fun stuff to share so here ya go.

I know there's this whole debate in the fandom about whether or not Alex goes into politics post-canon, like either go into local politics or start his own firm or whatever, and I generally don't see a lot of people saying that he would go into upper-level politics like he does in the fic. Very rarely do I see any post-canon fics that delve into what Alex's future career might look like if he ran for any office, so I kind of just did it myself, as one does. I do remember seeing CMQ say on their Instagram that Alex wouldn't run for president, but he might run for governor of Texas, but I kind of pulled a Harry Potter fandom and ignored the author (sorry not sorry), but I did make a reference to it early on in chapter 3 for anybody who's looking for any easter eggs). Regardless, it's very fun writing a Gen Z politician who gives no fucks (Alex is Gen Z, I'm taking no critiques on this). I'm so excited for people my age to start running for office. We're going to kill it, I feel it in my bones (you won't catch me up there, but maybe in some health policy behind-the-scenes work, who knows).

The names for the characters were a ton of fun to come up with, and I tweaked them all the time, but here are some tidbits behind some of them:

Edward McKinney's (opposed the amendment in chapter 2 and was Alex's opponent for the Democratic nomination in chapter 3) last name is a play on William McKinley (the 25th US president) to kind of bring this mindset to the table that McKinney is exactly who your stereotypical politician is who would run for president.

Pinkley's name is also a reference to Charles Pinckney, who ran for president in 1804 and 1808 as a Federalist. For no particular reason. I was just having fun with it.

Treacher's name actually comes from the word 'treacherous' because I originally intended for him to be way more of a villain than he ended up being, because I thought it would be interesting to have a political opponent who isn't necessarily an enemy.

Aksel Wolter's (the guy who overthrew my man Onderburg for the Baltonian presidency) name was originally going to be Signe Wolter, but then I saw a cool TikTok that compared some enemies throughout history and saw how similar their names were (George Washington & King George, Jesus & Judas, Obama & Osama, etc.) so I thought it would be cool to have an Alex and an Axel, but the spelling was too similar so that's how we ended up with Aksel because that's also a way it's spelled in northern Europe.

Erik Onderburg's (you know who he is, RIP 😈) original name was Henrik, and that got all the way into the published version of chapter 2 (he's mentioned towards the end), and then when I was writing the first scene of chapter 3 and realized that Henrik and Henry were way too similar, I had to change it.

Ellie (full name Elena) is named after Ellen, with a bit of a Hispanic twist. I think Alex and Henry's deal was if they had a girl, they'd name her after Ellen, and if they had a boy, they'd name him after Arthur. I like to think the middle name would have been Orion either way.

Hunter Weaver (the in-universe replacement of Anderson Cooper) has nothing to do with WASPY Hunter. That was a total coincidence and completely unintentional. But, hey, if you want to believe they're the same person, go for it.

All the research in there is legit! Wikipedia has been a fucking godsend for election results and facts about government structures outside of the US, but it kind of sucks trying to relay stuff into two decades in the future. You never know what kinds of issues are going to be important in 20 years, so I actually kind of avoided that problem by just relating it to some of our current issues today: queer rights, specifically in trans communities, election fraud, 3rd party candidates, human rights issues (ikyk) and so on. And the makeup of NATO, the UN, G20, etc. haven't changed because I can't see into the future.

I also had to do a surprising amount of math? Trying to figure out dates and stuff was way more difficult than I anticipated, especially for election results and percentages, but I realized I really don't need to pull out my TI-84 calculator for a fucking fanfic, but I'm also terrified of the prospect that somebody will correct me on any of my math or research so the calculator stays. It makes for some funny moments, though, like when I realized that if Alex actually ran in the 2040, he would really have Teddy Roosevelt beat for the post of 'youngest president' by, no joke, 3 weeks. So that's kind of fun (and how I firmly decided to have that be the timeline of things).

I write most of the speeches the characters give myself, but I use chat gpt to get me started sometimes (the product is always pretty bland, so it's really just a reference for structure), but I use real-life speeches for reference too. For example (and a bit of a sneak peek), in chapter 4, Alex is giving a speech to the UN General Assembly, and I lifted a couple phrases directly from one of Obama's speeches.

Writing this fic on google docs was a terrible decision. When i was writing chapter 3, the entire word count was well over 160k and the software was getting so laggy every time I needed to control f something for reference. So chapter 4 and beyond is currently being written in a new google doc. Speaking of which, having to switch all my formatting over onto ao3 with chapters this long is a pain in the ass. 0/10 do not recommend having to go through each chapter and fix the formatting every time just because I wanted to have fun little article inserts.

I was going to make it smutty and then i chickened out. i deeply apologize for my cowardice (i've never done smut before).

I guess if you want a couple sneak peeks for chapter 4, I can do that too 😜

If this next chapter had a motto, it would be "every president has their tragedy". Yes, that should probably scare you. (honestly, I'm a little nervous to write it too, just because I know it's pretty dark but hey, if Disney can show Mulan killing 2,000 Huns in an animated children's movie, then I can tag this as mature and not be worried about traumatizing people, okay?)

If it had a theme song, it might be 'Fourth of July' by Sufjan Stevens or 'Abstract (Psychopomp)' by Hozier. (Don't be scared, you'll be fine, because if the chapter after that had a theme song, it would be 'Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine)

So, all the chapters are titled with 5 stages of career development (completely arbitrary, I worked off Indeed's for a while and then I said 'fuck it'). Stage 1 was Establishment, stage 2 was Maintenance, stage 3 (spanning ch. 3 and 4 on ao3) was Advancement. So stage 4 (ch. 5 on ao3) will be Obstruction, so take that how you will. But stage 5 (ch. 6 on ao3) will be Resolution, so that should make you feel better. They're sister chapters, so although the conflict itself is resolved in chapter 4, the lasting changes and long-term effects of that conflict will be mostly featured in chapter 5 (which, honestly, is the one I'm most excited to write because I feel like it's that moment when Alex really grows into himself).

And a little fun knowledge just for you: there's actually going to be a stage 6 (ch. 7, on ao3). I was going to surprise readers by adding on a chapter after I publish stage 5 with a 'psych! you thought this was over, suckers'. Stage 6 is titled 'Reflection', so I'm planning for it to be about how Alex leaves office dealing with the idea of his own legacy and accomplishments (but as I teased in Stage 3, he won't actually be 'done').

I think that's all I've got in me. Chapter 4 is in the works, but it's taking way longer than I'd like (I've only just started part 1 😬) since I started a new job that's kind of sucking the life out of me. I'm very excited to share it, though! I'll be sad when it's over (maybe I'll do a missing moments oneshot series after, who knows).

director's cut ask game

[takaraphoenix]

37 and 38 for the ask game!

Thanks for playing, dear! ^-^

37. What’s your oldest WIP?

Oh, you're about to make me admit something nobody knows.

In 2014, I got inexplicably obsessed with The Hunger Games for a bit. And I started writing a fic for it; Like Cats and Dogs. The ship is Cato/Peeta and the idea was that the Hunger Games were humans' way of oppressing supernatural creatures, with each District essentially containing one supernatural species to control them.

District 1 and District 2 were both different types of werewolf shifters and formed an alliance and thus temporary pack off the bat.

Peeta is the only human in this game though, because sometimes, even among the supernaturals in the District, a human is born. But one had never been sent as a tribute before.

The moment Cato lays eyes on Peeta, he immediately knows that Peeta is his True Mate, so the pack wants him in the alliance.

Heavily negative of Katniss though, man, I hated her. So it was basically supposed to be the wolves being protective of Peeta and him joining their pack.

This is never gonna be finished but I also can't bring myself to delete the file, since i did get 3.6k into the story. I only delete abandoned work files if they're empty, if I never got around to writing anything for them beyond notes of what I would like it to be (and even then, attachment may make me keep the file).

But yeah, with a starting date of January 8th 2014, this is the oldest WIP in my WIP folder.

38. What’s your current WIP?

Stories that I'm currently actively working on and have written at least bits and pieces of - beyond the multiple chapter fics that I have posted right now, obviously:

Steter: The Alpha's Claim (post-date: November 25th)

The Hale Pack is in the process of establishing itself in their new home in London. Part of that is Stiles, as the Emissary, hosting a party with all the local packs. And it's going really well... if one ignored the fact that Peter kept growling at all the other Alphas. Fed up with his Alpha's behavior, Stiles drags Peter to his room to give him a preaching. Only to realize that Peter was being possessive - over him.

(This is a shameless excuse for wanting to write Peter giving Stiles a facial after a blowjob, ngl. Just, possessive Alpha Peter wanting Stiles covered in his scent so every other wolf can smell that Stiles is his.)

Stetopher: Surprise Wedding Guest (post-date: November 27th)

Neckz 'n Throats AU, I already talked about this one and posted a sneak peek! Allison and Malia invite their dads' celebrity crush, famous Neckz 'n Throats model Stiles, to their dads' wedding. Stiles attends the wedding, befriends Erica and when Stiles' stalker tries to kill him, Erica hooks him up with Chris' security company for protection and safety.

Stargent: Special Hunter Training (post-date: December 9th)

MY FIRST STARGENT FIC!! WOHOO!!

And the premise I just HAD to go with, for a first Stargent fic, is Scott as an accidental matchmaker by using his puppy-dog eyes on Stiles like "Please I want to spend time with Allison can you get her scary father out of the house :(" and out of the pure goodness and kindness of his heart, Stiles sacrifices himself and asks Chris to give him one on one self-defense and shooting lessons. Truly, such a selfless act. Had nothing to do with how hot Chris was or anything. Nope. Totally only doing this so Scotty can hook up with the other Argent in the house.

Stalion: The Overbooked Council Convention (post-date: December 11th)

Also already talked about this one and posted a snippet! Where the Alpha Pack is good and working for the Magic Council of North America. After helping in Beacon Hills though, they left. Now, years later, they meet Stiles during a council convention. Because Stiles started working for the council. However, the council sucked at booking so they don't have enough rooms. Deucalion is generous and selfless enough to share his room with Stiles. There's only one bed in it though.

Steter: The Disappearing V-Necks (post-date: December 16th)

I was just talking about this story this morning and posted a snippet! ABOverse where Stiles is nesting and stealing all of Peter's shirts, without the alpha noticing. Until Peter catches Stiles in the act of stealing more shirts.

Steter: Defying the Death Date (post-date: December 21st)

My next upcoming multiple chapter fic!! And I also posted a snipped of it before too. A soulmate AU where your soulmate's birth date appears on your skin when they are born... and their death date when they die. Stiles realizes that Peter is his soulmate when him and Derek kill the Alpha. Now they're left picking up the pieces together; Derek having killed his only living family and Stiles having killed his soulmate. Their grief bonds them and they build the new Hale Pack together, all while Stiles is plagued by hallucinations of a younger Peter. Stiles thinks he's losing his mind, but it's his soulmate trying to use their bond to resurrect himself.

Get To Know Your Writerly Friends!

[bug-decal-kissing]

Hey friends!

LONG POST MOMENT !! Tumblr needs me to cut this post up, so I will reblog with the rest of the works :]

A new work, The Devasted writer by my_own_new_paradise, was published on February 25, with 2/2 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and Graphic Depictions of Violence, with addtional tags "trigger warning, Prismo is depressed, Panic Attack, Neurodiversity, Prismo is Sleep Deprived, Prismo has insomnia, Scarab takes care about him, Scarab worries, Soft Scarab, top scarab, bottom prismo, actually they're both versatile, I mean switch, soft prismo, Scarab wants to be a father, but he knows Prismo is not ready, Anxiety, anxiety attack, Scarab knows how to calm down Prismo, Scarab tries to help, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Comfort, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Slice of Life, alternative universe, Alternate Universe - Human, non-canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Prismo has low self-esteem, At least not mentally, But he thinks Prismo would be an excellent father, Scarab is Prismo's beta-reader, Scarab is proud of Prismo, Scarab encourages Prismo to publish his stories, if I write a second chapter I might add more tags, ah yes my classic tag, take italics away from me, I meanI love italics and the emphasis, but is a pity taking so long editing my story just to write the italic format, Adoption, fanchild, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, domestic life, They're parents now"

You can read it here:

This work has a suggestive part towards the end, but it's nothing explicit :]

A new work, Downpour by bricrowave, was published on February 20th, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Human AU, coffee shop AU, Scarab is a barista, Prismo is just some guy, Sharing an umbrella, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Character Study, kind of, No beta we die like Jake, Abandoned Fic, Old Fic, like i wrote this four months ago, i did not reread this before posting, can you tell i dont know how to tag 💕"

You can read it here:

A new work, Exhausting Day by my_own_new_paradise, was published on March 1st, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of General Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Comfort, Comfort Reading, Love, True Love, Prismo is tired, Prismo needs to rest, scarab is strong, Prismo is unable to walk, Scarab carries him, Scarab cares about Prismo, Scarab is a workaholic, Scarab likes tea, Pet Names, Scarab calls Prismo pet names, Lovely, One-short, No Plot/Plotless, No Sex, Romance, Scarab is worried, Alternate Universe - Human, human prismo, Short One Shot, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence, No Smut, No Angst"

You can read it here:

A new work, lit a flame and try not to get burned (it's inevitable) by nocturnal_abyss, was published on February 25th, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of General Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Unrequited Love, One-Sided Attraction, Character Study, Past prisjake, that's also unrequited, lol, Angst, Unhappy Ending, Sad Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Hurt No Comfort, Not a lot of dialogue"

You can read it here:

Monster, by my_own_new_paradise, was updated on February 20th, with 13/13 Chapters released! It has a rating of General Audiences and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, with additional tags "FantasyAU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, alternative universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Scarab has traumas, Scarab needs a hug, prismo needs a hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, magical flowers, lake, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Slow Build, Insecurity,Insecure Scarab, knight scarab, human prismo, Scarab is insecure, Prismo is a God, technically Prismo is more than a thousand years but he looks like a 30 years old man, Humanoid Scarab, he's still a beetle, he's a knight, i already said that, Magical Forest, Magic, Orcs, Elves, seriously this story is a kind medieval fantasy love story, Does that make sense?, i hope it does, it's obvious one of the characters is writting the story but I won't say who, I mean the story is ridicuosly crazy, Sort Of, I Don't Even Know, anyway I hope you all like it, take italics away from me"

You can read it here:

A new work, Relief by Mitch_D_Punk, was published on March 1st, with 1/1 Chapters relased! It has a rating of General Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Trans Male Character, slightly OOC, Alternate Universe - Human"

You can read it here:

A new work, Secret room in time room by CatDragonStella, was published on March 10th, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, with additional tags "One Shot, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Depression, Worldbuilding, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Original Character(s), mention of a suicide"

You can read it here:

NSFW works are below the cut :].

Cicada's Last Song, by othersin, was updated on March 9th, with 3/3 Chapters released! It has a rating of Explicit and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, with additional tags "reverse, Role Swap, scarab is a version of the wishmaster, prismo is a version of the god auditor, Rough Sex, Accidental Voyeurism, Voyeurism, is is weird to watch your alt selves doing the nasty, probably, ProhibitedWish, Relationship(s), Romance"

You can read it here:

The Ghostwriter, by Irina_94, was updated on February 24th, with 11/? Chapters released! It has a rating of Mature and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Alternate Universe - Human, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, References to Depression, Anxiety, Grief/Mourning, Trigger warnings when necessary"

You can read it here:

A new work, The prisoner and his guard by my_own_new_paradise, was published on March 2nd, with 3/3 Chapters released! It has a rating of Mature and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, and Major Character Death, with additional tags "Fantasy, Medieval Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, prisoner, Magic, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Human, Human, human prismo, Manipulation, Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Torture, Psychological Torture, Past Torture, Past Relationship(s), Scarab is not guilty, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Scarab is naive, he don't know Prismo have suffered so much, he's just his guard, Prismo is dangerious, that's why is a prisoner, but they use him on their own benefit, Scarab cares about him, is the only one indeed, Scarab trust Prismo, Trust, Prismo knows everything, but he's not allowed to explain what happened to Scarab, Scarab is also a prisoner, He doesn't know, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, reference to Human from The killers"

You can read it here:

[unolvrs]

my dec. 30 bday gift for u all are updates :> should've been on the 25th but then, i'd want to post on dec. 30 too because bday, so yes! this time, there'll be a barrage of updates and it's for real! this time, cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles, curse me to death if i don't!

comm to be posted publicly list:

the mountains of kirishima ▬ reincarnation, modern, sakura-centric

atlas, how heavy is your burden? ▬ r27, time travel

akene series ▬ naruto, oc-centric, multichapter

it's the sun, it really must be the sun ▬ dimitri/claude

how do lions hunt? ▬ dimitri/claude, jousting

other comms were rq'd to remain priv!

normal updates

frog in a well ch. 52 ▬ i kind of find it crazy that it's on ch. 52

rain on my parade ch. 1 & 2 ▬ rewritten

among dawn flowers (the face of god) ▬ the last chapter; gojō's entire pov, wrapping everything up, various aus including naoya au, tōji au, and outside povs including megumi pov.

sunday without god ch. 6 ▬ i want to finish this already and start a new one >:(

new works, many tentative

shintō pjo ▬ because this has been haunting me since i was a CHILD, rotting and just waiting to be put out

wataru wataru ▬ naruto, oc-centric, kirigakure, manifestation of my political science studies

bind up the testimony ▬ how i manifest my religious trauma through dc, basically a series of roman catholicism-based reader or oc-inserts with the batkids ▬ do this in remembrance of me / cannibal!mc ft. dick grayson ▬ our father's venison / twins oc ft. batfamily (gets kinda insane) ▬ spareth his rod / reader ft. jason todd (i have no excuses for the toxicity that this one will have_ ▬ depends on what's going on with my plans but i am just neck-deep in biblical and cannibalistic stuff right now

barnard's loop ▬ harry potter, black!oc that's another manifestation of my political science studies and my tension with karl marx (we have a love n hate relationship)

& other stuff that's rotting in my drafts (aka: a lot)

hear me out: i just really wanna write something that strokes my good ol' cannibal/biblical bc i've been wanting to since i was a CHILD

[beyondthegame]

Update 2. — 25th September 2023.

My writing update for this story is that writing is happening! Admittedly not as quickly as I’d like it to, but it’s happening.

Even though Twine makes me want to bang my head against a wall sometimes, I understand why writers are such a fan of it.

In Beyond The Game because the media/social media is such a big element with the mc becoming more and more famous, depending on the choices you make, your mc will see what written about them in the press. I used Twine’s customisation to make what’s written about them look like a real article (sort of), and it’s my favourite feature of the story so far.

Two of the ros have been introduced in game so far, and of course it’s the two that the mc already knows—Milan and N. I’ve also written their first flirt options ♡ too. They’re such different characters: one loves the mc and the other hates them, so it’s funny writing them and their dynamics.

I’ve also introduced side characters! I plan to make a post about who the side characters are, personalities, their relation to the mc etc. closer to demo release, but in the intro post I mentioned that there can be hook-up options separate from the main ro you choose to romance and there are a few side characters that I look at and think “hm, maybe you and the mc could work…for like one night only.”

I originally wanted a late September release, but I started university again today (a masters degree…pls save me!!) and considering I want to put out a good amount of demo content, a September release won’t be possible.

Crossing our fingers for getting this out in early/mid October!

PLANS

Finish chapter one.

WORD COUNT

18.7k

[hyperactive-cowboy]

So that's the second chapter of the landoscar christmas series, I have literally no idea of how to make a link between this chapter and the first one, so if you want to read it then you'll have to search it yourself, but it is my last post so no big problem. You have probably realized it, but I got inspired to write this story by "All I want for Christmas", so the titles of the chapters are part of the lyrics. As always if you have suggestions or there are issues with the story don't be shy kidsss. Oh and if someone can tell me how to make the link I'd be grateful for my life. ENJOYYYY

Make my wish come true

Warnings: like one curse word at the start and one at the end (I don't even know if those are considered curse words), the littlest angst and fluff. Some words are translated with google because english is not my first lenguage. It's not beta read because I don't have the energy to do it right now as I had planned on finishing the series in 2023 but here I am.

Ship: F1 involved!Lando Norris × not F1 involved!Oscar Piastri (established relationship)

Wc: 3.3k

Chapter 1, 2, 3

Summary: Max and Logan help Lando in his little gremlin plan to propose to Oscar during their christmas party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max's phone rang in the exact moment his dream was at its climax, waking him up without letting him know the finale of it.

Max looked at who was calling at such an hour in the morning.

It was Lando. Then probably it wasn't important.

Max deactivated the sound and left the vibration on, trying to fall asleep again just to see the end of his dream, but the buzzing wouldn't stop.

With a mix of frustration and malcontent for his not-well-started Wednesday morning, Max took the phone and answered his best friend.

"What do you want" he asked abruptly

"'Morning sunshine, I also miss my best friend so much" Lando answered sarcastically and Max could perfectly picture in his head the wide tooth-gaped smile his best friend almost certainly had on his face. 

"It's not a good morning when it starts like this" Max returned. 

Lando, on the other hand, laughed at his friend's distress. Max knew that, sooner or later, he would've killed his best friend.

"Anyways, I'm sorry for your pain, but I've just got an idea" it surely wasn't a good start. Every time Lando said stuff like that, it didn't end well.

"Oh god"

"I want to propose to Oscar"

"OH GOD" 

Suddenly Max was sitting on the bed, totally awake and vigile.

He didn't know what to say. Well actually there were too many things he wanted to say but couldn't choose which one to say first. Between the "when?" The"where?" and the "Why?"s. 

Instead, his mouth (apparently not connected with his brain) deliberately and on its own expressed all his emotions at once.

"What the fuck"

"Yep it was pretty explanatory" 

Neither of them knew how to behave. Obviously some people they both knew have got married before, but neither Lando nor Max have ever experienced a crazy idea like that. 

"So… when?" The moment Max started to metabolize the news, he also began to like it in some weird way. 

He knew the two have been together for some time and (at least for Lando) have also been pining over each other for even longer, so it was logical that one of them would've done the big step in a short time.

"Okay, well, that's my plan…" 

Lando started to explain The Big Plan to his best friend, who was more excited every new sentence he heard. 

Max had known him for so many years and has always thought of him as more immature and childish than other people their age, but he was sure Lando would've made the perfect husband to Oscar.

This train of thoughts continued and extended in every direction that included memories of Lando, the emotions took over him and made his eyes water a bit. But thinking about it, those words were good, he should've taken notes for his best man's speech.

"Let's recap it from the start once again" Max read on his phone. It was at least the 25th time Lando had asked him to repeat The Plan. He was sure he could've acted even other people's parts in the show. 

"Dear god I only have to say yes when he asks me about the party" Max texted back.

"It's not difficult" then he added just to emphasize the pointlessness of Lando's worries.

"Don't you dare make fun of me I'm just anxious, it's normal I guess" Lando's answer arrived in no time

Max smiled to himself shaking his head. Some things never change, he thought while unfolding all the memories with his best friend and rewatching every time Lando acted anxious. There were a few.

"If your calculus are right, he's calling me in ten minutes, so maybe I should get ready to answer him?" Max asked, trying to find an excuse to not leave his friend on seen in this particular situation.

Lando texted just a "yeah you're right" and then left the chat.

Max sighed and closed his phone, just to get his hands on his face and rub his eyes.

"Hey Osc, long time no see" is the sentence Max and Lando have accorded for him to say, and he did it spectacularly. As if he hasn't repeated it for the past twenty minutes without a single stop.

"Yeah it has been a tough period. We were planning a christmas party at our place on wednesday, are you in?" Oscar asked him.

"But isn't Lando away?" He was trying really, really hard not to abruptly laugh and scream at Oscar's ear.

"Yeah, in fact we wanted to do this thing together, but then he was called away and we can't postpone it anymore" Max thought he sounded a little exasperated.

He felt his lungs expand and contract without an order, his cheeks had become red and swollen, in his eyes there were tears for holding it back, but then he couldn't take it anymore. 

Max let out a soft giggle, but that giggle meant to him like the most powerful and exorbitant laughter he had ever had, mostly because he felt (he could literally touch it) the importance of his position in there.

"Yeah I think I'll be there" 

"K, thanks mate" Oscar sounded pretty hesitant with his answer. "And you can come with who you want" he then added.

"Great, thanks. Bye" Max hung up just right before exploding in what he thought was one of the biggest laughs of his life.

He didn't know the cause of this, but that situation was so funny to him. Maybe it was just the stress. Most probably it was just the stress. But why should he be stressed? It wasn't even his proposal. What would have happened when it was HIS time to take the big step? Max didn't even want to think about it for a minute.

He jumped back to reality and immediately opened his and Lando's chat to update him.

Max rang the doorbell of his best friend's house and waited for his best friend's boyfriend (and next-to-be fiance) to open the door.

"Never saw you awake this early" 

Oh right! Oscar's humor was something he could never forget about.

"I'm happy to see you too" Max stated with the biggest smile stamped on his face. He patted the boy's shoulders with both his hands and looked him down, trying to imagine the guy with a different surname (something like Norris) and a different look (a smoking might be ideal, and maybe a golden ring on that finger could be even better).

"Yeah" Oscar mouthed with a raised eyebrow and a confused expression.

 Max entered the house without needing a welcome. He treated it like it was his, he didn't care if the actual owner was okay with it. At least he could say the same happened every time Lando and Oscar were at his place.

"What are you doing here?" 

If there was another person in the room, they could've heard three voices ask the same question at the same time.

"No no no. I asked you first" Logan yelled at Max getting up pretty fast from the couch he was previously lying on.

"Well yes man, but really why are YOU here" he repeated.

"I'm here to help Oscar. And you?"

"I'm too" 

Max and Logan looked at each other with a slightly confused stare, narrowing their gazes and tilting their head to one side or the other.

Oscar cleared his voice behind them and just then he realized he couldn't tell Logan what he was about to. ("Well, actually I'm here to help Lando" would've been his response).

"Max, can I ask you to get away from my home? I already have enough help" The youngest boy looked exhausted. It must be tiring to project an event like this almost alone and with his boyfriend hundred of miles away from him. 

He could not understand, but he surely could pity him.

"I'm very sorry Oscar, but I'm not leaving this house until tonight" 

"Okay then" he looked more exasperated every sentence. 

"Don't worry. This will be the best party you've ever been to" 

"Do I have to remind you this is MY house? Maybe I should be the one preparing it" Oscar pointed out almost ironically.

"We will be better than you, trust me" Logan, who has been silent the entirety of the time, had stepped in the conversation to support him, and Max couldn't be more grateful.

With all due care, Oscar left his house in his friend's hands and headed to work. 

Max and Logan had only six hours and a half to transform that house into a HOUSE.

"So why are you here really?" Logan broke the silence, leaning on the shopping cart as he pushed it.

The two were at the mall searching for cute items and classic christmas stuff to hang here and there in the house to make it look more comfortable.

They have given themselves a specific and perfectly timed list to follow religiously: the times were calculated per second and the both of them had certain works to complete.

"Lando wants to propose Oscar tonight" Max let out.

"LANDO WANTS TO WHAT?'' Logan cried out in the middle of the cheese island, standing up like he was electrocuted and launching three slices of gruyere into the cart.

"SHHH why are you screaming?" Max whisper-yelled at him.

"Oh ya know? It's just my best friend getting married to yours, why aren't YOU screaming?" Logan replied in the same voice tone.

"I've already had my screaming session a week ago" he explained.

Max looked at his clock and calculated there were two minutes of delay in their schedule.

Logan looked around himself in disbelief, pinching his own cheeks to make sure he was not living a dream. 

He looked at Max right in his eyes for the first time in their entire lives. 

"Then we have to make sure we do the best of it" Logan stated resolutely, speeding even more than before, driving his shopping cart like a formula 1 car.

"You go bake the cookies, I'll get the house aesthetically ready" 

Max nodded at his newfound friend and sprinted into the kitchen to prepare all the ingredients he needed.

Right after putting on his freshly-bought apron, his phone started vibrating.

Max boringly looked at the screen and would've even hung up, but noticing Lando's nickname on it, he thought it was preferible answering, after all that work.

He accepted the call and put on the speaker while calling Logan to make him participate at the "meeting".

"Everything's okay?" Lando's altered voice sounded more worried than Max had ever heard him.

He took a moment to appreciate the fact that his best friend was giving this plan all his soul. You could know how much he cared about Oscar (or generally about his loved ones, even if he didn't show it that much) just by hearing his preoccupied voice.

"Yep, we're almost ready" Logan answered, just as joyful as Max.

"Wait, who was that?"

"It's Logan. I know everything and I couldn't agree more with you on this decision" his face was stamped with a smile from ear to ear and his eyes shone brighter than the stars.

"Oh hey Log sorry, didn't know you were there too. Does he suspect anything?"

"There is absolutely no way he could. We were silent as a grave" Max answered, almost kicking his feet like a schoolgirl.

"Well then-" Lando's sentence start was interrupted by a not a little hasty Max, who was sure he was about to scream.

"Now that you have secured yours and our wellbeing, can we finish our work? We have a pretty full agenda to follow" 

"Oh okay then, I'm halfway there anyways" 

"Yeah yeah, you know where I keep my second set of keys" and without another word, he hung up the phone just as fast as they both came back to their respective jobs in the house.

"Hey that chocolate dough looks fantastic" Logan laughed entering the kitchen, looking at a totally covered in chocolate dough Max.

"Where? I thought I cleaned everything" Max responded. 

Logan sighed and continued his laugh, then threw a clean kitchen towel at him, telling him where he was still dirty while taking a seat to taste what they had prepared during the evening.

"It's not that bad" he exclaimed, chewing the biggest bite of cheese and ham toast Max had ever seen.

Logan raised the volume of his phone when he heard the first bits of  "Last Christmas" were playing.

By then, the trust between the two was near to the one in a years-long friendship, after all those hours spent together and a common goal in mind. For this sole reason, Logan felt confident enough to start singing his favorite Christmas song.

Max turned around with a shocked look. Not because Logan's singing skills were terrible, well not only because of this, but because he didn't think Logan was one to start singing around what was a stranger until a few hours before. 

And again his emotions changed, his heart melting a little. Logan singing like this in front of him meant that he trusted him enough to show him his silly side.

Max decided to match his energy and start wiggling his hips and dancing a little around the room.

The two were so lost in the moment they couldn't hear the owner of the house entering firstly the place, and then the kitchen.

"What in the world you two?" Oscar looked totally agape.

 Max and Logan fastly looked at each other and the american jumped between his best friend and his new one to try protecting him from any crazy action the Aussie could have done.

Max and Logan both knew Oscar wasn't one for physical contact, (everybody around him knew it) and because of it they were used to him never touching them. This was why, when they saw him coming this close so fastly, they were scared Oscar was about to stab one or both of them with a random pointy ornament found in the home.

It must've been a particularly shocking period for Max.

First Lando's announcement, then Logan's new friendship, and now a hug from Oscar.

"Thank you for everything" Max and Logan heard Oscar's muffled voice buried in their clothes and both moved a little because of the little gesture.

"That's no problem mate, really" Max assured him.

"C'mon now, there's people arriving here to party" Logan tried to lighten up the mood, receiving the tiniest and cutest laugh from Oscar.

"I don't think it's the worst idea you've had until now" Max whisper-screamed at his phone in his best friend's kitchen while everybody else, including Oscar, in the living room was living their best life.

It was at least the fourth phrase he had heard from Lando about what he thought could be the best starter of his proposal-speech.

"Well, at least not the weirdest" he continued.

"Ehy!" Lando laughed at him, but still his stress wasn't relieved, not even a bit.

Max, for the fiftieth time, didn't know how to act.

Like, what did he have to say? Something funny to let the pressure decrease? Or something meaningful to be That One friend for once?

He decided that saying nothing was the best option. For both, him and his friend. He was, actually, not a hundred percent sure about it, but on the spot he failed to think about anything better.

"I think it's better if I go now" Max admitted after a few moments of silence.

He received a "yeah" as an answer and immediately hung up.

Max was totally sure there were more mature things to do than he, seconds after, did. But, unfortunately, less mature things are usually the more spontaneous ones.

This is why, when his phone turned on again, seeing the new message from Lando and texted him back, the only natural thing to do that came to his mind was to start jumping and giggling, just like a schoolgirl.

He got only one thing not calculated in his mind: the fact that Oscar might be keen on entering his own kitchen for whatever reason. 

So when he turned around to face the exit, he found there on the door an astonished Oscar staring at him.

Max couldn't tell what was open wider: Oscar's eyes or his mouth.

Anyway, he had to think about a not-too-much- suspicious reaction on the spot. And surely he had never been good at thinking on the spot.

That's the reason why the first thing Max did was rebuking him, closing the door on his face.

Just a single moment after he thought that maybe his actions were more suspicious than anything else he could have done. 

With a worried expression folding his eyebrows, Max took his phone from the marble table's surface again and fastly texted to his friend he might have done something wrong.

"I'm here"

This was the message he had been waiting for the entire time, but now that Lando had sent it to him, Max was starting to get agitated again, knowing exactly what it meant.

"Is everything ready?" Was the following text he received, to which he answered with a "gimme 5 mins" 

The only three things he had to do were: inform Logan, inform every other guest and prepare Oscar.

The guests heard the news with surprise and loving eyes, while Logan started to sweat a bit.

Last point on his list was to take Oscar in front of the entrance and then his work would be done perfectly. 

But where the hell was Oscar? He had asked Liam, Max (the other one) and even Niran, but they knew less than him. So he searched in every room of the house, even the bathroom, but when he had knocked on the bathroom door, Logan's voice had answered him.

Max asked his and Lando's long time friend to text the next-to-be fiance and tell him to wait.

He tried to think about what could have happened: Lando would have rang the doorbell and Max would've opened the door instead of Oscar and Lando would've found his best friend instead of the love of his life in front of him (already on one knee and with the ring box open and about to repeat the speech he had been talking about for weeks) and then Lando would've asked him "what the hell?" and then he should have answered him with something like "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we have lost your future husband, we apologize for the unease" and what could've been Lando's reaction to it all?

Max's morbius thoughts were taking such a part of his brain, he didn't realize Logan had taken Oscar all the way in the living room, just right before entering the entrance.

When Max turned around and saw him, immediately looked at his friend Niran, winking at him as a way to give him the signal for Lando to ring.

All the guests were ready with their phones in their hands, faking sending and receiving messages or searching for something on google. Actually they were all about to flash the lights of their phones to make the atmosphere, using the devices just like in the 70s they used lighters.

Except for Charles: he was the one in charge of recording the video, in fact he had the best position of sight.

Max got out of the kitchen as the doorbell rang and Oscar (in a new outfit) rushed to open the door.

"My guest must've arrived" he announced looking at the young Aussie.

From his point of view, Max couldn't properly see all the scene, so he moved through the tangle of guests to crouch down one step away from Charles.

From there, Max could see everything perfectly: Oscar's (flabbergasted, he might add) expression, the fabulous ring, and most importantly his kneeling best friend and the biggest smile he had ever seen on his face.

[physalian]

The Woes of Formatting

I am… 22 hours into formatting ENNS for print (now ebook) and am making this post for posterity’s sake to say: Formatting is so. Tedious. I had to start over thanks to Amazon going “ha you didn’t set your margins properly,” and also some last-minute changes to the text. Yesterday (7/24/24) after a full day of work, I worked on Book from 2:30pm to 11:30pm. Today is probably going to be about the same.

My neck hurts from staring at my monitor, my pinkie hurts from the strain of holding a computer mouse in one position since 6am. I have forgotten to cook lunch and dinner, but I did have breakfast.

It doesn’t even feel real yet. I am exhausted. But you know what feels great? Eliminating widows and orphans on the pages to erase the page count only by one. If you don’t know, those are the little hanging words on the bottom line of a paragraph or the top of a page that can be resized to fit on the line above it.

Getting to the last page of the chapter and realizing there’s only 3 or 4 lines of text left eating up an entire piece of paper, and then scrolling back through the chapter like a madwoman to nudge other paragraphs around to eliminate that extra page… I was literally cheering in my room in satisfaction.

For the record it shouldn’t take you this long, but I wanted it to be pretty, and Amazon is incredibly precise with their formatting requirements down to 0.001inches. So I had to reformat the cover art, which took a while. Then I had to fix the margins at least 3 times until no more errors showed up. Then I had to reread the entire book for last-minute changes. Then I had to format the chapter header pages.

Before that, though, I had to make the art for the chapter header pages. And re-learn how to do all of the formatting on InDesign.

So here I am, 22 hours in, finally onto the ebook that will be done tonight goddamn. And I just want to say, if it’s within your power to do as much of the work yourself as you can, fucking do it.

I’d be losing my mind with stress if I was waiting for a cover artist to make adjustments whenever they deigned to find my order a priority. Or the person I’d be paying to format this book. Losing. My. Mind. Maybe after the ridiculous goose chase I have been on with editors for this book has completely murdered my faith in paid beta readers to do shit in a timely manner (ENNS' first draft was written in 31 days, it took from 2/25/24 to 6/10 for my tiny army of betas and the AWOL failed betas to deliver, then 6 weeks for the professional copy edit). Anyway.

Yeah it’s taken me a long ass time, on top of two full corporate-nonsense workdays, but the satisfaction I have felt hammering this project out isn’t comparable to paying someone to do it for me. I got the manuscript back from my copy editor and I wasn’t excited, I was like “I needed this 10 days ago thanks” (in my head) and then got right back to work. Copy editor is necessary, don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely necessary, but the catharsis that I have now was definitely absent then.

So. Yeah. This is rambly and I’m not sorry. Even after the ebook is up for preorder there’s still work to be done and money to be spent. But I’m forcing myself to take a break, pause, breathe, appreciate the work I have already done.

I am hours away from launching my first published novel. Hours.

It doesn’t feel real. August 25th, 2024, Eternal Night of the Northern Sky's official release date. Gahhhhhhh.

—

For anyone curious:

Cover was done in Photoshop (I have the Lightroom student package for $9.99/mo)

Formatting was done in InDesign (%#&%# $35.99/mo after 7 day trial choke on rocks, Adobe)

Formatting did not need to be done in ID, but other one-time fees were either more expensive when I can cancel my subscription after the month is up, or the free versions were too limited and constricting in their capabilities.

I’m far too nitpicky to not have complete creative freedom and control over my work, with all the hours I have put in. So Adobe it is.

Back to work!

[puppy--jam]

SVTFOE Timeline headcanon

Based on this

I can state that according to the Mewni calendar, the events of the series take place in 1753 (although S1 and S2 may have taken place in 1752, but that's not important). Just as on Earth, so on Mewni there is a marker of eras, namely the Mewnipendance Day, which is the first year.

Assuming Mewnipendance Day is year 1, over 1750 years have passed with 38 queens reigning… My headcanon, so I can interpret it as I want. To make the dates fit nicely, I chose 12th Mewni Queen for a long-lived mewman (I'll describe her later, as she's important in my AU) and extended Celena's life (since Celena is/was half-demon).

Interesting fact: Time on Mewni/Serparsis (generally the planet where these continents are located) flows about twice as fast as on Earth. That is, when the Butterflies began their rule, it was the Middle Ages on Earth.

Au History timeline (will include oc queens):

around -150 (Yes, Mewmans use '-' instead of BC [Before Christ]) -> the beginning of human migration to Mewni (carried out by Glossaryck).

1 -> Mewnipendance Day (Great Monster Massacre)

2-14 -> Moe (the Zero) the Protoplast's reign

14-70 -> first queen's reign (it's that baby with the circles on her cheek)

70-72 -> Soupina the Strange's reign (she reigned for a short time because she went mad due to the mewberty form. [I will add that the first queen did not achieve this form]. Then it was decided, in order to better prepare for the use of magic, the wand would be passed on on the 14th birthday to the next descendant to the throne)

72-114 -> third queen's reign ; 114-137 -> 4th queen's reign ; 137-172 -> 5th queen's reign ; 172-194 -> 6th queen's reign ; 194-215 -> 7th queen's reign ; 215-231 -> 8th queen's reign ; 231-253 -> 9th queen's reign ; 253-273 -> 10th queen's reign ; 273-294 -> 11th queen's reign

294-1119 -> 12th queen's reign, Asynthia the Darkest One (I wil write post about her somewhen)

1119-1141 -> 13th queen's reign. Her title was the Reviver (I will mention that during her reign, inheritance to the throne was introduced at the age of 25)

1141-1168 -> 14th queen's reign ; 1168-1181-> Tituba the Seeker (15th)(character is based on Tituba, the alleged witch who was involved in the Salem trials)

1181-1219 -> 16th queen's reign ; 1219-1240-> 17th queen's reign ; 1240-1258-> 18th queen's reign ; 1258-1281-> 19th queen's reign ; 1281-1299-> 20th queen's reign ; 1299-1323-> 21st queen's reign

1323-1356-> Solena the Snitten (22nd) (during her time there was a conflict with the Lucitors, which Solaria mentioned in her chapter)

1356-1380-> 23rd queen's reign ; 1380-1406-> 24th queen's reign ; 1406-1431-> 25th queen's reign ; 1431-1443-> Lyric (26th) the Untrust's reign ; 1443-1481-> (27th) Skywynne's reign ; 1481-1499-> (28th) Solaria's reign ; 1499-1510-> (29th) Eclipsa's first reign ; 1510-1514-> interregnum, MHC ruled over kingdom ; 1514-1558-> (30th) Festivia's reign ; 1558-1589-> (31st) Cresenta's reign ; 1589-1615-> (32nd) Rhina's reign ; 1615-1691-> (33rd) Celena's reign ; 1691-1721-> (34th) Esterlla's reign ; 1721-1727-> (35th) Comet's reign ; 1727-1753-> (36th) Moon's reign ; 1753-> (37th) Star's four day reign ; 1753-> (38th) Eclipsa's second reign

And on the end I will mention Stump Day. This is something of a legend. When the first people arrived on Mewni (around -150), the Butterfly family celebrates it as their holiday (probably one of the queens instituted it).