#i wrote so much but dang this would be several chapters if I put in the time | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

poliel · 4 years ago

Text

Surprise Egg 3/13: Surprise Labor

Heads up, for kinda graphic labor in this chapter. It's an egg though so it's not as bloody and stuff as a live birth would be. But it's still something that I feel I should give a warning about in case anyone needs/wants one.

I bet this chapter came a lot sooner than y'all were expecting. It happened this way because A. Buddy doesn't know and it's important to the story they don't know until after they birth the egg for reasons y'all will see later and B. the immediate aftermath of them laying the egg took a lot longer than I expected and the following consequences of how bad this pregnancy and birth was for their body while being malnourished also come up because it wouldn't have felt complete if I didn't cover that aspect of it in the fic. So basically what I'm saying is this was supposed to happen towards the end of the fic but then I discovery wrote my way into that not being the case.

Convincing Shelda to go back to town hadn’t been difficult on a technical level but her requests had been particularly aggravating. Normally Buddy were good at keeping their cool but they were tired, hungry, and felt awful, even more than had become usual, making them tempted to growl at her every time she spouted nonsense. They’d resisted though, remaining mostly polite throughout. And now she was finally gone and they could rest for a bit. …

Except they didn’t have time to. While they were here, they should catch that buffalocust for Cromdo and a picantis for Gramble. Also, they had their self-imposed task of catching every bugsnax and there were several others here that hadn’t caught yet. Not to mention the whole being expected them to bring back enough bugsnax to feed everyone in town. Ugh! If only they’d given in to Filbo’s insistence they stay and rest, take today off. But… they really couldn’t afford to no matter how awful they felt. So they allowed themself no more than ten minutes resting in the shade of Shelda’s lean-to before forcing themself back up to their feet and gathering up their equipment to start hunting.

It started as just a small twinge in their abdomen every now and then, little more than an annoying distraction as they stalked their prey. But then it started getting worse; more painful and more frequent. Until eventually one rolled through them so bad it had them doubling over and clutching at their middle. It lasted for several seconds, leaving them panting once it finally passed.

What even was that? And how concerned should they be? Probably a lot, right? No way anything that hurt that bad could be…

Something sharp stung their shoulder, making them jump. That dang scorpepper! They turned to growl at it but quickly gave that up because their fur had caught fire again. Sending them rushing over to submerge themself in the thankfully nearby water instead.

Dripping wet now, they stepped out to sit on the shore. They then twisted their head to inspect the spot as best they could, fighting back the urge to gag at the smell of burnt fur. The fire hadn’t spread far and they’d taken care of it fast enough that the flesh underneath hadn’t suffered much damage. It was just one more minor burn to add to the rather large collection they had on their body now, some of which were from that same exact Scorpepper earlier today.

Standing up, they turned to face it with a growl. From this distance it was completely invisible on its dumb rock face. They lifted a paw to flip it off anyway. They were going to catch it and they were going to enjoy feeding to someone because it was an asshole.

They took two steps towards it before another wave of pain washed through them, doubling them over around their midsection again. It brought them all the way to their knees this time. They growled to themself as it passed. Vengeance would have to wait, they needed to deal with whatever this was first.

Now, should they try to get back to for help town or wait this out and hope it got better? On one hand it was clearly something serious on the other though, the thought of dragging themself and their equipment all the way back to Snaxburg while doubling over in pain every few minutes was not appealing. Especially with all the many aggressive bugsnax between here and there. The last thing they needed while dealing with this was to also have to deal with being rammed by angry spuddys or set on fire by the various snax that hated them and could do such. So… waiting it out was their only real option, huh?

With a groan, they dragged themself back over to the lean-to. They’d just finished putting aside their backpack and sitting down before another wave rolled through them. They were definitely getting closer together. Was that a good or bad sign though?

After it passed, they put a paw on their belly, pressing down lightly and then a little harder because it felt weird. Kind of like there was something hard was inside them? … And they were certain it wasn’t Sprout’s buggy ball either so what the fuck?

It would’ve been nice to think on that mystery more and solve it but they were exhausted and their body was already tensing in preparation for the next wave of pain. They lay down on their side on the thin sleeping bag. Ready for it this time, they gritted their teeth when it rolled through them. As it passed, they were left panting again but they had high pain tolerance so they’d get through whatever this was and then go back to Snaxburg and sleep cuddled up with Filbo for however long they could. And maybe they’d even finally do as he’d been asking them to for a while now and take tomorrow off. And then everything would be fine again.

Sometime later

Nope! They weren’t going to make it through this. They were going to die for sure. Out here in middle of the wretchedly hot desert they were going to die alone and a failure, their big story untold and their only legacy being one of disappointment after disappointment.

They whimpered and rolled, trying unsuccessfully to find a more comfortable position, ultimately just ending up back on their side, curled around their middle. Clawing uselessly at the sand, they desperately tried again to purr to feel better, only managing a broken stutter.

More than anything they wanted Filbo with them. They’d be willing to do almost anything to be held by him right now. The fact that he wasn’t here and wouldn’t be coming brought tears to their eyes that they didn’t even bother trying to hold back as another pain rolled through the middle. The screamed as everything inside them tightened again.

How could their insides possibly hurt so much without whatever it was killing them on the spot? How much longer could it even go on for? The gaps between the pain and tightening that came with it now were only a few seconds apart now. Surely something had to give eventually!

With another wave of pain, pulling another scream out of them as their whole body tightened again, something suddenly did give way as they quite literally pushed something out of their body. The tension gone from their body, they started shaking as they panted lying limp on the ground.

It was… over? … Finally? Really? … They waited, prepared and dreading another wave of pain but… it didn’t come. … It was really over.

Their eyes welled with tears again, this time tears of relief. After they’d caught their breath a bit more, they carefully pushed themself up to examine the… egg between their legs? Huh? It was much too big to be an eggler and the faded burnt orange and light blue splotches on it made that even more clear because that meant it was a grumpus egg. What the fuck?

Sex-ed was forever and a day ago now but they were pretty sure the colours weren’t random; they came from the parents, right? So meant… they’d been carrying Filbo’s egg for… probably since after their heat, huh? That… certainly explained some things. They’d had no idea though. … Whoops.

What now? … Back to town. They’d take it back to town and show Filbo and then rest and then they’d figure out what to do about it. Because right now they could barely even think let alone make any kind of important decision about this.

Shaking even more now, they sat all the way up and reached into their pouch to pull out Sprout’s buggy ball. “Sorry little guy, you’re going back into the pack for a bit.” They pulled the pack over and put him inside, being sure to zip it up so he couldn’t escape. Then they turned to look at the egg again; their and Filbo’s egg… ugh. Carefully they picked it up and pushed into their pouch. Despite being a bit bigger and a different shape, it felt and looked an awful lot like how Sprout’s buggy ball had being in there had. Well, that’d make ensuring Filbo was the first one to know easy.

Taking a deep breath, they pulled the backpack on. Lucky for them, they’d left all their hunting equipment attached to it so they didn’t have to worry about that right now. Except for the fact that it made it heavy, normally not an issue but now… eh, it’d be fine. They were used to it and thanks to the whole surprise labor thing the only bugsnax they’d successfully caught today was the black razzby so it certainly could’ve been a lot heavier.

They stood up. Or tried to, anyway. Blackness ate at their vision before they were even all the way upright, sending them to their knees and then…

They woke to the sound of something heavy being dragged across the ground. Whatever it was, they were lying on it on their back, judging based off the way the sound seemed to come from all around and matching the sensation of movement they felt. With a groan they opened their eyes to see clear blue sky high above high above them, framed on either side by the familiar canyon walls of the Scorched Gorge.

Underneath them was their backpack and… turning their head a little… they were lying on a wooden platform that looked an awful lot like it used to be part of Shelda’s lean-to. But who was pulling…

A monster was pulling the platform by the pole that had once kept the lean-to upright. Or not a monster but a grumpus shape thing made of food. A bugsnax?

Their heart skipped a beat as their fur prickled with excitement and a drop of fear. They snatched up their camera for where it hung around their neck and took a photo. Probably not a good one though so they took another and another. And then, annoyed with the angle, they sat up to snap another.

It glanced back at them with big empty googly eyes, of which they took a pic of, of course. Yes, definitely a bugsnax! A giant one. Intelligent too based off the way it was clearly intentionally dragging them somewhere. How intelligent though? And where was it taking them?

With a well-practiced quick motion, they pulled their journal, pencil, and recorder out of their pack’s side pocket. They flipped open to a new page and pressed the record button.

“Hello. Can you understand me?”

No response.

Holding the journal and recorder with one paw, they snapped a few more photos with the other, just to be sure. “I’m a journalist and I’m here to study bugsnax. If you can understand me, I’d like a…”

It growled. Wet and menacing, it sent a chill down Buddy’s spine and brought an excited smile to their face. That was the same sound they’d heard that night a while ago now when everyone had gathered around the campfire to tell ghost stories! Probably this was also the thing Gramble and Beffica saw that other night. So this thing had been lurking around town for who even knows how long. Why though? Buddy intended to find out.

“Growling works. How about a long growl for ‘no’ and short a one for ‘yes’?

It growled again before stopping and melting into the ground.

“Wait, wait, come back!” Their paws being full made getting up to their feet hard but they were nothing if not determined and managed anyway. “I wasn’t done talking to you.”

But alas, it was gone. Nothing remained of where it had just been standing mere moments ago. Dammit! … Well at least they had some pics and some recorded audio. That was a hell of a lot better than nothing.

After letting the camera hang around their neck again, they stopped the recording and put it and the notebook and pencil back in the side pocket. Then they looked around to ascertain their location… just outside Snaxburg. The… Snaxsquatch – Yes! That’s what they were going to call it! – had brought them back from the desert. So it was friendly too. … They simply had to go tell Filbo about it and then probably everyone else too.

#my writing #bugsnax #filbuddy #filbo fiddlepie #the journalist #pregnancy #birth #labor

9 notes · View notes

bookwyrminspiration · 3 years ago

Note

okay it's getting late and i'm only just finished with chapter 6- but quil best writer award when???

seriously though i haven't been invested in kotlc in a short while because of other stuff and the lack of new official content, but dang- this is really good- it's like a full book! like full- with the storyline, and the wording, and the development! i checked the wordcount before i started reading- and quil... you WROTE A WHOLE BOOK?! you're still writing a book!

I just- wow!

anyways i'll be back to finish this in the next few days, but i'm super excited to catch up and i'm super excited for dragon wings marella lol

i think you should know that every time I answer one of these I have to pull up the chapter you're talking about in a different tab because i never remember what happens in each one. You probably know what happens in the first chapters better than I do tbh, which I think is hilarious. but back to what you're saying

"quil best writer award when." I'm. I am floored. I am speechless. I am so flattered. this is such high praise!! i am just a funky little guy writing some funky little words!! I feel I must confess this: I actually hardly edit the au at all. ever. when I say I'm "editing" I actually mean "I'm reading it once to see if there's obvious things wrong or things I want to explain more" but that's it. every chapter has just been a first draft, go with the flow kinda thing. and yet!! here we are!! I don't even know what i'd do with a best writer award--probably put it next to the new dragon on my bookshelf so they could vibe. I don't know if what i'm saying makes any sense, but ahh!! thank you!!

I will single-handedly rebuild the fandom during this content drought and reel you all back in with my novel-length fanfiction /j. okay but honestly the wings au is probably gonna turn out to be like...actually fantasy-novel length at this rate. like a published novel. but thank you so much--the storyline was one of the things I was hesitant about when i first published it, because I essentially just went "hey. remember those eight and a half novels and all their worldbuilding? forget almost everything. i've broken it into pieces and we're starting over." but you all have been overwhelmingly kind and supportive of all the changes and the way i've incorporated their old world into this new one I broke. and the wording! I try to stay true to some of Shannon's style, as sometimes when a fanfic author has a style too different from the original media it can feel weird and less like the characters (not always! there are several fics out there with very unique writing styles that don't feel strange at all, this is just something I've personally noticed). But, shannon is also writing for middle grade, and I wanted to add my own personal twist instead of just using her voice. so there's some things of my own that I do (most noticeable is the intentional misuse of grammar for drama, probably, but I am curious what else you all notice that's unique to me) and don't do (I don't think i've used "corrected" as a dialogue tag more than a handful of times) to separate it. and then the development! a lot of development in canon rn has to do with romantic relationships, as we're focusing on the aftermath of sophitz and a focus on sophie and keefe, but we can't separate them from their tension and denial at the moment. I think there's a lot more to them we don't get to see because of it, so I'm trying to develop some of that in the wings au (and there's some characters I just haven't gotten to yet, like Wylie and Maruca, so I'm not ignoring them, dw)

and yes! I am still basically writing a book! at this point I should design a cover for it too...I wonder what would be on it, the parts that stand out the most in the story that I should symbolize it all in one image. but before I get to that I should continue writing the story I suppose! I'm currently maybe 40% (rough estimate) of the way through writing chapter 13, but I must admit my classes do make it annoying at times, taking up more time than I would like (this is what I get for taking more classes than I strictly needed to. I do not know how to take a break when it comes to education /lh). but that's not important rn

you sent this a few days ago, so I don't know if you've finished your reread/catch-up since then, but if you did I hope you enjoyed it!! if you haven't then I hope you will enjoy if you ever do read the rest! there's about a week before the next chapter comes out, which is around 8.1k words at the moment (same length as the last one), so if you are caught up then there's even more to look forward to soon! and i'll probably post the first snippet from chapter 12 tomorrow, as I usually do that the sunday before posting day.

dragon wings Marella owns my entire heart and i'm very excited to do more with her (was actually writing about her earlier today!).

3 notes · View notes

ghostmartyr · 4 years ago

Text

So if you, like me, have nothing to do but wonder about the state of my inbox, you might rightfully be wondering how I plan to deal with the obscene backlog I have spent so many years failing to deal with.

If you have never wondered that, fear not, that doesn’t exclude you from finding out.

Today we’re just going to go through my entire slew of unanswered asks, and instead of answering them, I am going to provide excuses for why I didn’t do anything with them.

For added fun, several of the asks were in my Drafts.

I will not be cutting out the comments I started to make.

I will no doubt regret this.

Let’s have a time, shall we?

I don’t even know what year this is from. If I remember correctly, I didn’t get back to you because I thought about trying to reason out who would legitimately win, and there were too many points for both sides. I kept intending to come up with a proper answer, then time went by and this got buried.

Though the actual answer is probably “it depends on who gets the main character sticker at the time.”

...

Well.

I can tell you this is multiple years old.

We, as humans, aren’t equipped for time travel.

I didn’t answer this one because I didn’t feel like it was asking for one, and I’m only reproducing it here because it is really, really funny now.

Two years old. Plus change.

I think the entire reason I never replied to this one is that it cheered me up whenever I scrolled down enough to see it, so thank you.

You know, I entered the link at the time. Really, I did. But then came trying to come up with a comment and what can you really follow that with?

(Click the link.)

Okay then.

I still feel no need to respond to this, so that’s probably why I didn’t to start with.

Historia and literally anyone.

I don’t remember why I didn’t answer this, which usually means some combination of feeling tired and not being in the mood to scroll down to where it was.

Oops.

The thing is, this crosses dangerously close to being a fic idea. Fic ideas take time and effort. You can imagine the absolute dread I felt at having to engage with either concept.

It would have been a lot of fun to do, though. Hats off.

See, again. This is a very interesting concept that requires thought. I can tell you when I received it I was in no mood for anything that required anything of the sort.

I wrote a fic that is possibly never going to see the light of day now where they hang out in a kitchen with hot chocolate together and bond through unstated trauma and Frieda attempting to make things better.

That probably contributed to interfering with imagining how they would actually get along.

Anyway, I ship them slightly in that fic AU. Don’t @ me.

Oh dang. I remember this.

I actually really wanted to answer it, but the problem is that I wanted to come up with a good answer. Every character, tiered by their chances. A full Hunger Games edition of what went down and who killed who.

Then I didn’t.

Anyway, turns out the answer is that no one feels the need to chop of rocking chairs in a hurry, so she’d last a long time!

I didn’t answer this because I try to avoid responding with, “I don’t know.” My secondary answer would probably have been, “By being killed.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with those answers, but unless there’s been a tonal trend in asks, I assume that pithy answers that don’t actually have any meat behind them would not be appreciated.

I would stick to him probably being killed, though. But some signs do point to him being relatively immortal.

Hm.

Hmm.

I don’t know why I didn’t answer this, but I would guess it had something to do with me caring very little about Ymir’s thoughts on anything outside of her little clutch of people. And ongoing trauma of repeated dead/alive Ymir commentary killing off my desire to come up with a good answer.

Sorry?

I... have no idea why I didn’t answer this? Maybe I didn’t see it?

Anyway, yes.

There’s a longer version behind that yes, and I’m sure that might have contributed to never getting around to answering this. ...Assuming a past where I did actually see this one.

I have a confession.

I don’t really like crossovers.

There’s a sliding scale of degree, but that’s basically why this didn’t get a response.

Ah, we’ve landed on a recurring theme.

Sometimes, answers involve me thinking about the entire cast.

The usual consequence of that is I don’t have the energy for that, so nothing ever happens with these.

Oh, this one’s easy.

I had no fucking clue.

No ideas, head empty.

That didn’t seem like a good answer, so here we are, probably around a year later. I still have no clue. If I were forced to write a singing duo AU, I would probably just put some adjectives and nouns into a blender and flip a coin.

Names are hard.

I think I didn’t answer this one because I felt like I’d answered similar asks before. And I’m not really sure when this is from, but it’s possible canon complicated coming up with an answer that wasn’t distressed screeching.

Something something give Connie and Mikasa hugs, not partial about where they get them from.

Apparently not. Oops.

I can’t remember why I didn’t respond to this one. It’s possible the oodles of bad parenting proved too distracting to formulate such a post.

Sometimes I get an ask, and my immediate, gut reaction is, how the fuck should I know?

If I can move past that, the ask is answered.

If I can’t, the ask continues its descent through scroll hell.

I am sorry. There are no answers here.

Yeah, this is just the same as the above, just with I have no idea.

It’d probably be a Madoka Magic deal.

Huh. I don’t remember passing this one over. If I were to guess a timeline, I was probably too bitter over potential post-timeskip looks that I never got to be interested in focusing on the characters lucky enough to get good ones.

Go Connie for being less short, I suppose.

This clearly belonged to something that I was doing, but time has eroded the context, so I am simply left with failure and disappointment on all sides. Sorry.

Aw, we’re getting into the boring part of the inbox now, I think. Not because of the questions; you guys are always great. But I can’t think of a reason why I wouldn’t have answered this, which leads me to think that the reason was I was too tired to put words together.

That’s a boring reason, so maybe I should go into Drafts for the next few...

Yeah, still unfairly prejudiced against crossovers. I am no fun, etc. etc.

I have no memory of it, but I feel like I didn’t answer this because there was no way I could match this kindly anon’s enthusiasm.

You go, random internet person.

You have good ideas.

Oh no.

Uh.

See.

I know exactly why I didn’t answer this one.

I am so sorry, Anon.

I really didn’t care.

I am filled with affection for you because you clearly do, but uh.

...I basically put this on Read.

This has a very simple, ie boring, explanation. Any time someone asks about the cast as a whole, I want to think about the cast as a whole, and that takes a lot more thought than most of the asks I get. Cue putting it off. Cue it getting lost in scroll hell. On and on we go until we end up here.

Anything that opens with kilometers is something that requires more brain power than I have had in the past year.

Also I think I got this during a spoiler week, so I saw it, but I was trying not to look at it, and then it got lost in the post-chapter asks.

That happens a lot.

We might see it more soon.

If I can’t come up with words more than “-shrug-” I try not to answer.

...Good news, though!

The manga did my job for me!

I feel like I answered some variation of this. That might be why I didn’t answer this specific one.

The wiki does a better job keeping track of the timeline than I ever have. I probably didn’t answer this because it would involve trying to remember which volume actually name-dropped a number of weeks or months. Searching for lines I know a character said is pretty easy, but searching out lines I have a vague feeling of someone providing? That tends to hit the frustration button with the force of a truck.

But yeah, if you ever want to know how long something took, the wiki is absolutely your friend. They do good work.

Consider: “What if” questions are hard, and I am lazy.

This is actually one I really did mean to get to, sorry. It’s an interesting thought, and I miss Sasha.

...I clearly did a magnificent job answering your asks, friend.

Prediction asks are hard for me; I feel like I’m throwing darts randomly into the air and the dartboard is still deciding if it’s going to show up. So uh. I guess I just kept putting this off until it didn’t get answered.

This post is going to have so many apologies. Implied and otherwise.

I continue to be the No Fun Police who accidentally-on-purpose avoids crossover commentary.

I feel like I didn’t answer this one entirely because seeing it in my inbox gave me far too much joy to have it lost in a sea of posts.

This is what my inbox was made for.

I have no idea when this was from, but I see your emotions and appreciate them, Anon.

...Did I not see this one?

Hey, Anon who probably doesn’t remember sending this: This is a good ask and deserved some good attention, and I’m sorry I missed my shot at it. Good thoughts.

I didn’t answer this one entirely because I knew I couldn’t match the energy of it, and responding with anything less felt heretical.

That is one hell of a mood, Anon.

This is definitely from the era of, “Can’t think, brain empty.” Sorry about not getting back to you, I just really couldn’t organize my thoughts well enough to come up with an answer.

I feel like I didn’t know what this was continuing from and was too exhausted to ask.

LOOK YOU CAN SEE I WANTED TO ANSWER THIS BECAUSE IT’S A DRAFT.

Too many things, Anon.

I liked so many things about all of that. Trying to turn that enthusiasm into words wasn’t agreeing with me, so I put it in Drafts and told myself one day I’d do the most awesome post detailing everything.

Intentions, huh?

Every time I tried to take a normal screenshot with formatting Tumblr just laughed at me, so that might have been a contributing factor.

Dang, I’m really sorry. This is another one of those cases where I wanted to take my time with a response, and I took too long.

I, uh.

Am guilty of not being too interested in pondering Ymir’s thoughts on Levi or Erwin.

That’s it, that’s the explanation.

Yeah, I just couldn’t come up with an answer here? Or someone else asked? Or several of my friends decided to be annoying about lists on Discord? I don’t even know.

Presumably there could be a list.

There is not.

Honestly, I just couldn’t figure out how to follow that starting sentence up. A thought exercise on Armin, Historia, gender, and themes sounded really interesting, and I put it in Drafts so as not to forget it being interesting.

Then, you know. This post sort of paints the picture.

Ah.

Man, I really was looking forward to putting some proper thought into this. That’s the problem with having so many things I love in one place, I guess. Symbolism? Historia and Ymir? Mikasa? So many good things! Where do I start!

With paralyzing indecision that results in not a lot. Sorry, Anon. This really did light up my day when I got it.

Here’s the thing about me and writing:

I often fail to.

(I love both these ideas, though.)

Yes.

Do I know why I didn’t get around to answering this?

Absolutely not.

But yes, I’d agree with that.

GOOD NEWS!

The manga actually gave us some of them together in the future.

I occasionally giggled over their shared distaste.

It was a good time.

And this is another one I just do not know why I didn’t answer, whoops.

This never got answered because I couldn’t come up with an answer.

Broad questions are scary because they can go just about anywhere and I didn’t know how to handle that level of commitment.

I think I didn’t answer this one, A), because words are hard, and B), because mostly I just wanted to listen to more of your wondering and less of mine.

I probably could have answered this by saying I don’t have any, but that seemed rude, so I didn’t respond to it at all.

Yep.

Frieda is worthy of my time and effort.

Landing this in Drafts instead of my inbox.

Where the lighting makes it more obvious that hope has gone there to die.

I think about it so much too.

I find the answers fundamentally upsetting.

That is probably why I did not provide an answer here.

That is a lot of kids to make up headcanons for.

So I didn’t.

She’s eaten by dogs before she develops a personality.

Since that seemed like the wrong thing to say, I said nothing, and into Drafts this went.

‘I have no earthly clue’ seemed similarly unhelpful.

At this point, we understand that there is no mystery to my backlog.

This one hurts.

-sees the 112 reference-

Wow does it hurt.

As I hope is obvious, I really, really loved this question, and kept meaning to carve out time to work on it specifically. What went sideways was trying to put words to how EMA functions. I knew the feel of what I wanted to express, but every time I tried to write it, it came out wonky.

I’m very sorry I couldn’t do anything for this, because I was thrilled to spend time with it.

I didn’t answer this because Fuck Marley.

It’s nothing against you. At the time, I simply wasn’t in any mood to consider any version of Marley. Even the canon version was too much for me, so giving it my time in a roleswap AU had me hissing.

Roleswaps in general are amazing, and I love them a lot. A dedicated person could make a fantastic one based around Marley and Paradis. I think it would probably be cool af.

But I was so tired of Marley when I got this, I just couldn’t make myself think about it. Sorry. It’s a fun idea.

I didn’t answer this one because I kept trying to extend my response past, “I think he just really likes baseball.”

I think he just really likes baseball.

My feelings on that as a quality answer are derogatory.

Mm. The ones where I actually tried to get something started hurts.

Ultimately, this ask was a larger demand than I could make my brain work through at the time. I made sure to write down the tl;dr version of Sasha’s, because I found that desperately important, and not something that people talk about much, but the additional weight of trying to think of themes for multiple characters made it hard to progress.

Me, looking at the prompts: Hi my brain left me.

Sorry, Anon. Too many gears were moving for me to get a proper feel for what I wanted to do with this one, so I ended up ditching it. ...I was planning to finish it, though. Eventually. See, I even put the quote in the Draft version as a reminder of what I was doing, so I could get back to it right away.

Yeeeeah, this is just one more to the “I will give this wonderful thing all the time it deserves!” pile.

The pile is stored in the Failure Corner.

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

You guys really like crossovers.

I love that for you.

-spends two years ignoring you-

I mean, I just didn’t know what to do with the rainbows.

They sure are there.

They sure are pretty.

I sure couldn’t come up with a comment to add.

...I don’t know why I didn’t answer this. Possibly because I think it’s fine? I’m not too attached to it, and spent the whole manga period wanting to watch an anime version instead, then we got an anime version.

I’d guess that my general “meh” feelings interfered with responding here.

No idea why I didn’t answer this.

Yes, and good for you.

I support all thoughts on giving the Reiss kiddos personalities.

I think I didn’t get back to you on this because I wasn’t sure how to encourage you to keep going so I just sat awkwardly on my hands and felt weird about not saying anything.

...Thanks for sharing!

I love how it’s the little things that date these.

Unfortunately, we’re now at the point where 90% of the reason I didn’t answer was because I was too sick to muster up anything approaching enthusiasm.

Or because I’d just finished answering a bunch of chapter-specific things and was burnt out.

This felt pretty self-explanatory to me, so I felt like that gave me permission to ignore it.

Also, it mentions Marley.

I might be slightly petty.

Really though, I think what stopped me from giving a proper answer is that the question of what an author is trying to say throws me off a little. I work better thinking of it in terms of what the story is saying, with the author just happening to be the hands that wrote it all down.

I don’t know. This was probably another case of feeling like I should give this more of my time than I was able.

I couldn’t decide.

That’s it.

That’s the reason.

Everyone needs to give Mikasa a hug.

My blog title for a hug.

-the crossover snake hisses and consumes another-

I am so sorry.

This is fun.

I probably should have just gone with posting and saying so, because I am genuinely charmed by this. I tend to feel like I have to add something to asks to justify the post. That policy maybe didn’t need to be a thing.

I love my anons.

I want that to be clear.

Really, I do.

I especially love their willingness to embrace my crackpot logic.

Still.

Sometimes, the only response one can have to Schrodinger’s Ymir is to ignore its existence, find a pillow, and scream into it for the rest of time.

This replaces typing.

-looks at Armin-

-looks at Eren-

Yeah, don’t know why I didn’t answer this one, either. I blame tiredness? Sorry about that.

I feel like I didn’t answer this one because it felt like work.

This is where I start considering that making this post was a mistake.

I could have just agreed with you and gone about my day.

Probably should have.

Did not.

Another one for that, “had nothing to add so I just left it in a corner, abandoned and unloved,” pile.

There is an apology section at the end, but we’re not there yet.

This one I don’t think I noticed.

Alternatively, I did notice, and wasn’t sure “Yes,” would pass as a good enough answer.

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

Okay, time to really just get into it: I think for the remainder of my inbox, I didn’t answer because physically, I was just too damn exhausted, and I kept waiting for a point in time where I’d feel better. Sorry to put a limit on the personalization, but in the end, that’s all there was to it, and rephrasing it a dozen times will make me crazy.

And here we are.

Well.

Good grief, do you guys even have any clue how much I like all of you?

Obviously there’s a lot of guilt in the above, because I can’t tell you how much I wanted, each time, to give a great answer that would make you thrilled you messaged me. I am so sorry to all of these I didn’t get to. There were days when the alerts in my inbox were the best thing to happen to me, and I never wanted to let any of them go without acknowledgment.

I try to say thank you as often as I can in my responses, because that’s as close as I can get to reminding you all, constantly, that I am grateful for your participation. The only times I don’t say it is when I worry that it’ll look like it’s being done out of habit, not genuine gratitude. Or when I think you might take it the wrong way if I say thanks for a basic conversation. Because you provide me content and make me interested in things I might not normally look twice at.

There are so many instances of people saying hi, and thank you, and wishing everyone well here.

I haven’t been active in the larger fandom in two years, but I have always been so happy that you guys kept dropping by my space anyway.

You are a pleasure and light in my life, no matter how much snark I might throw about.

Thank you all.

#attack on asks #tl;dr #long post

23 notes · View notes

callioope · 4 years ago

Text

Continuing my reactions to Avatar: The Last Airbender

This post is about Book 3. See my overall impressions and thoughts on Book 1 here. See my thoughts on Book 2 here.

ETA: crap i forgot the keep reading line initially SORRY if anyone saw this before i edited. anyways. please see the tags as a disclaimer before reading. gosh it’s late i need to go to bed.

General

Starting S3 now and dang Katara & Toph have gotten so powerful!!!!!

I literally recorded ZERO reactions from Chapter One through Chapter Twelve. And my first reaction is basically my excitement that Zuko is finally with the Aang crew! But let me try to skim through an episode list to recall my reactions.

You may have already seen my post expressing shock that MARK HAMILL voiced the Fire Lord. Still not over that revelation.

So, ultimately, I binged this show in less than a week. I think I started on Monday? And finished Saturday afternoon. That alone should speak to how much I enjoyed it!

Aang

Okay, a bit weird to have barely any thoughts under Aang when he’s literally the protagonist, but I think (since I wrote other sections before this) that I touch on some of my thoughts on him under other characters.

I will say, his journey really intensifies in this season. First, when he awakens after being unconscious for several days and has no idea what’s going on, and is still healing and more helpless than he’s probably ever felt in his life. I did really like his arc in this season, but what a stark contrast to the Aang of Book 1. He has to grow up so fast. I gotta say, a lot of Aang’s journey reminded me just a little of Ender in Ender’s Game.

I do say this later, but his final decision about how to handle Ozai was amazing. I loved every second of his journey to get there, and I was rooting for him to find a path that felt true to him — and not what everyone else kept telling him he had to do.

There was one small thing that bothered me, which was that his eventual regaining of the Avatar state did not really seem to come about through intentional action of his own. After he goes down at the end of Book 2, sorta feels like they never even talk about him going into the Avatar state again and he doesn’t until the final moment. That moment doesn’t seem a conscious choice on his part; the scar on his back collides with a rock jutting out and seems to jolt him into the Avatar state. I would have liked to see a little more agency on his part in regards to the Avatar state.

Sokka

My boy! My boy Sokka! Truly the mother of the group. IDK why they pretended in the beginning that Katara was the mom because it’s definitely Sokka. His maps! His scheduling! He is ridiculous and I love him for it.

I adored that he got his own training master episode! He got to learn some sword stuff and even got to make a fancy space sword! Everyone else got super powerful with their bending and I’m glad Sokka got his own arc of self-improvement. He has come a LONG way from episode 1. He couldn’t really hold his own at all that early, and now look at him! Planning battle strategies! Taking down the Fire Lord’s air fleet! He’s come so far and I’m so proud!

Oh, you know, I just realized that I didn’t really talk about ships with Sokka in Book 2 but he did continue to have the most active romance arc. It was nice to see Suki return in Book 2, and I am glad we found out what happened to her. I liked Sokka and Suki, I have nothing against it. I was very surprised that so little happened with Toph and Sokka. There did seem to be moments where it seemed like Toph might actually harbor a crush on Sokka, but nothing came of it and she certainly didn’t say anything about it. That felt a little odd to me. Why hint at something but then make nothing of it?

Katara

Sigh. This is early in the post, but probably one of the last parts of it that I’m actually writing. I’ve definitely been putting it off. Unfortunately most of what I have to say about Katara is about shipping, and I’m really not happy about that, but then it’s what comes to mind over anything else. Which is sort of ironic considering some of her lines in the theater episode...

So in the theatre episode, Aang confronts Katara about how nothing has happened in their relationship after they kissed. She responds by saying she is “confused.” I had some issues with the script here, to be honest. It seems to imply that she’s confused about her feelings for Aang. But she also says that she’s been more focused on the war, and that totally makes sense. I really would support this moment if that’s where they left it: “I don’t have time to think about romance, my mind is preoccupied with the war.”

But no, they say she is “confused.”

This is pretty baffling to me, and honestly seems to come out of nowhere. Book 1 it was very obvious that both Katara and Aang have feelings for each other, and Book 2 might have backed off a little from that but then we get moments where Katara is so keyed in to Aang’s struggles with the Avatar state and also the only one who can bring him out of it. Now, all of a sudden, she is saying she is confused? Where is this coming from?

I could definitely see people argue that it’s because she has feelings for Zuko. If I shipped them (I don’t, but I also Get It), I could point to numerous moments in the series as ‘clues/support’ for this ship. Zuko and Katara have a moment at the end of Book 2 where they talk about the loss of their mothers. (“We’re both sad about what happened to our mothers!” not really a foundation for a relationship, but Katara is the most betrayed and distrustful of Zuko when it comes to the idea of letting him join their crew and it is because of this moment. She obviously begins to feel some kind of connection — I’d argue platonic but ship and let ship.)

And yeah, Zuko and Katara have their bonding adventure, but again I don’t think this has to be read as romantic. Clearly the idea here is that Zuko “understands” a part of Katara that Aang doesn’t — except that in the end, Aang is the one who is right about her. She cannot give in to revenge. It’s not her, and Aang knows that. I mean, they’re both right — Katara had go to on the journey to learn that about herself, and it was important that Zuko was the one who helped her. But still.

Finally Zuko and Katara go together to face Azula. Again seems like plot is pushing them together for Tension. They definitely work together here and Katara heals him and all that but she’d have healed anyone. (Like yeah if you ship it of course you’re gonna be excited over those moments.)

But.

Like. The thing is. When the dust settles? Zuko and Mai return to each other like moths to a flame. I could believe that Katara might have had feelings for Zuko, but I don’t think he ever returned them. I think it was always Mai for him.

I don’t really want to fan the flames of ship wars — I’m trying to walk a fine line of “I totally understand why people ship this, but I don’t,” and hopefully I’m succeeding, but I’m sorry if I’m not.

My main gripe is how the show handled this dynamic. It seemed like they half-heartedly thought about creating a love triangle, but then they didn’t follow through. I don’t particularly like love triangles, so I’m not actually mad that there wasn’t one. But what bothers me is that the Aang and Katara moments are so heavy handed in the beginning, that a sudden subtle take on how Katara feels in Book 3 feels strange. It feels like if she was having feelings for Zuko, it should have been more blatant. The depictions are inconsistent — if the writers were even ever intending for Katara to have feelings for Zuko in the first place.

Like, I really can’t tell if those moments implying Zuko and Katara were intentionally trying to start a love triangle OR if it was just sort of a mistake OR if it was maybe creators trying to address and then negate Zuko and Katara as a ship? I mean it’s weird because the play episode really emphasizes Zuko and Katara but then that play is really supposed to be all levels of inaccurate and get under the characters’ skins.

So, I don’t know. Obviously we all bring different interpretations to a piece of media and I am by no means saying anything here is a “correct opinion” (because I hate that attitude when it comes to story interpretations). Sorry if you don’t agree, hope I didn’t make anyone mad. Ship what you like! You do you, man.

On that note, please see further disclaimers about shipping and canon at the end of the “Zuko and Mai” section below.

Toph

Loved how Toph was the first to warm up to Zuko. It made a lot of sense. I mean obviously they were looking for a fire bender to teach Aang and it was like “Hello, powerful fire bender on a silver platter!” but also, Toph is someone who joined the crew later on. The group had to adjust to her, and she probably knows what it feels like to be an outsider. Now, granted, she was never alienated from the group in the same way that Zuko (rightfully) was. But she can also understand Zuko’s position as someone who comes from a wealthy family, the sort of pressure that comes from that. None of this was really addressed explicitly, and it might not have really fit then and there, but it was what I was thinking as she was standing up for Zuko.

Um, and also, on that note? Huge bummer Toph did not get her special bonding adventure with Zuko. Toph, I’m with you on that one! Why did Sokka get two episodes for his?

Zuko

No “& Iroh” on this post because — Iroh spent much of this season in jail, and then the next half just ??? who knows where.

So, I believe I stated in the last post how shocked I was at Zuko’s betrayal. Knowing he eventually joins Aang’s crew, it seemed like his time in the prison with Katara would ultimately lead to that, and then NOPE! He has this nice heart to heart about his mother, and then… it really shocked me.

But.

As I watched this season, it became clear that this has to be Zuko’s journey. He has to go back to the Fire Nation. He has to win the approval of his father. He has to get everything he wants in order to realize that it really isn’t what he wants. This is integral to his ultimate revelation and redemption and he couldn’t have stayed truly good without verifying and knowing how empty the win of his father’s approval is.

Realizing this, I loved it and appreciated the moments we get. Zuko’s visits to Iroh. Even when Zuko is being cruel, you can see how hurt and lost he is. And Iroh gives him the cold shoulder he deserves, even though of course this is breaking Iroh’s heart, too.

Now, I absolutely must discuss the Fire Kids Beach Party episode! Because as ridiculous as parts of it are, it provides such an important and necessary insight to all four characters (Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee). You see the privilege that they’re all used to, it’s good that no one knows who they all are. (although maybe a little surprising because Zuko’s scar certainly reveals who he is but anyways.)

and it’s funny how you almost end up rooting for them before you’re like “no no no. they are bad people doing some bad things.” I mean, almost rooting for them. And sure, the campfire scene is a bit Breakfast Club-y but I do think it’s important. And I just loved the moment Zuko admits he’s angry at himself, how his burst of fire as he says it almost covers it up, it’s so hard for him to say. Fabulous character development going on here, fabulous.

[Uh, side note, so apparently Zuko is descended from Avatar Roku! This is ridiculous but can we get Zuko calling Aang great-grandfather, mainly to get on his nerves?! O:-) this would amuse me greatly]

And GOSH the catharsis when Zuko finally realizes his father’s approval is not what he wants and not worth it! It’s so well earned. It’s so satisfying. I was so excited and just like, so anticipating Zuko going to meet up with the crew. Zuko practicing his speech in the woods to the frog? Amazing. Endearing. I love him so much.

And despite that and because of it, I also loved how difficult it was for him to earn their trust. It had to be difficult. It would not be believable if it wasn’t. Every character regarded him exactly as you would expect them to, exactly as he deserved. And Zuko tried so hard to be sincere and contrite, and it was hard for him, but he was doing pretty well all things considered! And still, they distrusted him. Yes. This was good and right. And I loved it.

AND ANOTHER THING I LOVED was that once that initial barrier was surpassed, Aang actually warmed up to Zuko pretty quickly. This is not surprising; he’d reached out to Zuko in the past. First when Zuko (masked) rescues him, and Aang says they could have been friends. Later, at the end of Book 1 when Zuko again kidnaps him, there’s just a moment… I think when Aang spares him. It’s like, my impression is that Aang can sense that their destinies are connected, and he’s not really sure how but he knows that Zuko is important. Also, I mean, Aang just doesn’t kill people and revenge is not his way.

Each character getting their own side story with Zuko was also integral to his arc — perhaps moreso, theirs, though. Because it was necessary for them to overcome their distrust and forge the bonds necessary for the Avatar’s crew to function. Bummed he didn’t get one with Toph. Toph was robbed.

And side note, but I really would have like an Aang and Sokka bonding episode? Like, Book 1 is all Aang and Katara and Sokka, but some 1:1 time would have been nice. There was almost a chance when Aang flew Sokka to his father and the water tribe (and at the time I was like, “Oh? Aang and Sokka bonding?!”) But then it was really only a few minutes. But yeah, that said, it does make sense to focus on carving out 1:1 time for Zuko and each member of the crew to ease him into the group.

Sokka: You happy now?

Zuko: I’m never happy.

This made me sad. And also made me go “classic Zuko.”

Every time Zuko was like, “What would uncle say?” And then say the most ridiculous thing? Fantastic. Amazing. Fuel for the fire that was my love for this show.

Zuko and Mai

Mainly the Beach Party episode was important in helping me warm up to Mai. Once Zuko is back in the Fire Nation and they’re together, I was of the mindset that Mai would have to do something pretty big in order for me to enjoy seeing their relationship become canon. This episode is not that episode, but it is an important insight into Mai’s character that explains some of her actions. The fact that she’s basically internalized apathy because she’s been forced to repress her emotions. It wasn’t enough for me but we get more later, this is an important stepping stone.

It’s also important in establishing just what Zuko and Mai’s dynamic is. It’s a bit shaky in this and they end up breaking up but then they just get back together like immediately (moths to a flame…) In hindsight, I just think they’re behaving like normal teens who care about each other but are still navigating what it means to be in a relationship. At this moment in time, their relationship is not good, but by the end of the show I can believe as they mature that it could be a good relationship.

So the actual moment that I was like, “Okay, officially supporting Mai and Zuko now” was when she helps them escape Boiling Rock. I don’t think we’re ever told the full contents of Zuko’s letter to her, but considering what she says to Zuko earlier in this episode, it doesn’t seem likely he explains himself very well. At least not for Mai to understand. And he still isn’t able to explain himself well to her as they talk face to face. Then he locks in a cell and flees! He leaves her again.

You wouldn’t blame Mai for hating Zuko. You wouldn’t blame her for actively working against him. But is this what happens? No. Not at all. She helps them get away. She betrays Azula for Zuko. Azula!!! Azula who is very powerful and very scary! This is a clear and distinct line in the sand, and … it almost comes out of nowhere, but what it demonstrates is how she really feels about him. She’s decided to trust him and put her faith in him when she really would have been justified in not doing so.

I’m also going to say that despite some rather odd implications of Zuko and Katara in parts of the series (namely with other characters who really don’t know them), I never feel like Zuko is interested in Katara. I would buy interpretations that Katara might have considered Zuko, the way some parts of her story are portrayed, but I don’t get anything on Zuko’s side and that is all the more reinforced by how he acts around Mai, especially in the end of the series when they’re reunited.

(Now, that said — because I don’t abide ship wars, ship and let ship, and power to multi-shippers — I can totally 100% see the appeal of shipping Zuko and Katara, and I would contend there is even some canonical implication of it. And I can’t blame people for not totally loving Zuko and Mai. Now, I do think the canonical implications are sort of muddied and confusing, but though I have actually not written it yet, you’ll have read my thoughts there in the Katara section already. OH, and OF COURSE, MORE IMPORTANTLY — ships being canon should not matter! Ship what you love! Who cares if it’s canon! Finding canon justification for ships should not be necessary for shipping! It can be a fun exercise but should never ever be a reason for approving or disapproving of a ship, it’s just a cherry on top!)

Azula

We get some pretty interesting insights into her character this season. I’ve already mentioned the Beach Party episode, and there was some good stuff in there for her. I particularly appreciated the moment that she admitted she knew her mother thought she was a monster, that she even admitted to being a monster, and then admitted that it still hurt anyways. Honestly that’s probably her best moment.

I also thought her breakdown at the end was well done. Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal just broke her. She probably knows her attitude puts people off, but those two were the only ones she ever really got on with. And it turns out, she really didn’t get on with them, they’d only ever been intimidated and manipulated into being her friends. She has no one, she pushes everyone away. Literally — and it is ultimately her downfall.

It’s an interesting contrast to her brother. We literally get an episode “Zuko Alone,” and then it turns out the theme of “Azula Alone” is such an integral part of her arc, as well. The last person she has is her father, and he leaves her, too. Sure, he tells her it’s because she’s to stay behind as the new Fire Lord, but honestly Ozai was never truly close to anyone, either. But yeah. Iroh spends a lot of time and effort trying to help Zuko redeem himself. He never tries with Azula? I think, maybe it would have been nice to see him try with her, and be just utterly rebuffed. Now, Zuko also rebuffed him a lot, too. So Azula’s rejection of Iroh would really have to be something. This is the kind of stuff I’d look for in fic. Speaking of fic: I mean, I’d really love Zuko to find his mom, mom to come back, and then maybe some kind of attempt at reparations between mom and Azula. It doesn’t have to work, I just want to see the effort, you know?

Final Thoughts: Ending & Denouement

I loved Aang finding a different way to defeat the Fire Lord. I loved how every past Avatar he talked to was like “no dude just kill him.” And I loved that that was not enough for Aang. He’s pushing himself and ultimately the spirit of the Avatar to think harder, to try harder, to seek a different way. And that mercy was so integral to Aang’s character, and important to his arc that he struggled so much with it. And he’s just a kid! Oh, Aang. And I loved that he was able to find the answer he needed, the fact that it was taking away Ozai’s fire bending. Yes. Perfection.

I was a little disappointed by how little we got post-Ozai’s defeat. I was hoping the epilogue might have shown a little more in the years and decades following. It would have been nice to see glimpses of everyone prospering as they got older.

Also, as I was watching Zuko’s coronation, I was sorta like, “uhh wait that’s a little too easy.” Now we don’t know when that happens so it’s possible some bit of time has lapsed and I’ll take that. But I thought there would have still been some trouble with some of the Fire Nation troops. Some of them would have remained loyal to Ozai. Many of those general had probably committed war crimes and would have needed to be rounded up and put on trial and put in prison. There’d be so much work to do!

That said, I do understand that we want to see our heroes with a happy ending, ultimately. I guess just a simple like “X years later” before the ending scenes would have sufficed for me to be satisfied that enough time had passed for those things to have been dealt with. IDK, I can probably suspend disbelief enough to headcanon that myself. I’m just saying. Some acknowledgement of resolution and reconstruction as a *process over time*, albeit unnecessary, would have been nice to have!

On that note, we don’t actually find out what happens to Azula. Presumably she is also in prison with her father.

More importantly, we were Robbed of a Zuko and Ursa reunion scene!

#avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #atla #i'm gonna tag my ships now #so you know what to expect before opening the CUT TAG #if you don't like reading posts about ships that you do not support then you should probably not read this #i'm warning you now #if you make the choice to click the read more tag even tho u don't like the ships i'm tagging #well that's on you #katara x aang #zuko x mai #sokka x suki #(the last one is honestly pretty brief and the lesser but warning just in case)#now in this house we support multi shippers and i have nothing against anyone ships other ships #because that would be ridiculous #ship and let ship i say #the tags are here so that people can protect and curate their own fandom experience

8 notes · View notes

gisellelx · 4 years ago

Note

Helloo Could you perhaps expand on the idea of Edward/Carlisle? Honestly, i never actually believed they had a father-son relationship. I think neither Carlisle is comfortable being called 'father' nor Edward wants to call him that. The general vibe i get (mind you i only ever read! twilight) is that they share a close relationship that is more on the friends-who-understand-each-other, choosing to be companions instead of two separate lonely people, and maybe even guide-follower tho not too much

Okay. So.

They orbit each other. You can see that so obviously in MS. Edward’s brain operates on two channels—what is Bella thinking and what would Carlisle think. Every time he is stressed, worried, trying to summon something beyond himself—Carlisle, Carlisle, Carlisle.

Now, I don’t have SM’s take on Carlisle to spring from since she never wrote from his POV (and I actually think she misunderstands/oversimplifies him but that’s not really at issue here). But having spent a decade(!) now plundering his thoughts, I’ve found it doesn’t feel true to have his thoughts be anything but reciprocal. Edward was the first one he turned, and so everything about him is attuned to Edward’s needs. They are both one of the first thoughts that the other has.

That being said, I absolutely believe that one way this close, “I am always thinking of you first” relationship manifests is as father/son. In fact, given the era in which Edward was turned, and Carlisle’s Puritan upbringing, I think it was the *only* way for them to move forward. It is the easiest way, in 1918, for them to make sense of such an intense amount of love. If Edward is Carlisle’s son, for them to share this incredibly close bond, in which they shadow each other, and in which Carlisle absolutely dotes on him, is perfectly fine. But it is so easy to make a tiny tweak to the storyline here or there and re-read all those meaningful glances and silent conversations they have throughout the saga as homoerotic. It works really well either way.

I suspect this is actually going to get cut from the fic I’m working on by the time I reach the chapter for which I originally drafted it, so I’ll put it here. It sums up how I think their relationship works:

"I loved Edward in all the ways I could love Edward. Philos, storgé, agape and yes, eros too. My love for him was—is—all-consuming. Like the fire in the bush on Sinai. Burning, always burning, and yet, somehow, not reducing me to ash.”

It’s about having a really intense connection to someone and being in a time when that connection has to find a particular outlet. But change the time, and change the willingness to explore other kinds of outlets for that connection, and you get a different result without re-reading the characters very much, which is...really cool. Whether they’re in bed together or just being men with their women, Edward and Carlisle have a fascinating, kind of co-dependent, kind of mutually redemptive relationship that is really fun to write and read about. So a few recs that I re-read over and over because they really get at the complexity of this bond:

Bittersweet Hurt by MinervaOne. Places a sexual relationship in 1918, dovetails to canon. Intervention, by AllTheOtherNamesAreUsed. Content warning: this fic heaps on massive amounts of kink (it also happens to satisfy one of my other headcanons about Carlisle’s sexual life, let’s just say). At the end, however, it dares take the idea that it is possible for E & C to both be with their mates and with each other, in the most beautiful way. Trouble, by LyricalKris. I am not an All-human Twificcer AT ALL. I fell in love with sparkle vamps and I want them in my fic. And it took until book 2 of this 3-book series for me to buy this incarnation as being in-character. But Trouble Follows Carlisle just lets himself get destroyed for Edward’s sake and if there isn’t anything more canon than that, I can’t tell you what is. Trouble Ahead has been set aside by the author for now, but is still worth diving into. (This one also involves no small amount of kink, but it takes a decided backseat to the story.) Oh and how could I forget the CarlWard contest. In 2011, several dozen authors pulled out all the stops and went to town. Some are All-Human, some are vamp, some are dang near canon. Almost all are great.

My explorations:

Patroclus Rising. 1918-1921, eventually dovetails back to canon. Kairos. 2007 and present-day. Takes Breaking Dawn to an AU at the point of the confrontation with the Volturi and spins our guys off in a different direction.

#carlisle cullen #edward cullen #carlisle cullen/edward cullen #yeah okay they are my OTP even if I'm writing a fic where they're not together

18 notes · View notes

wizardessheart-sideb · 4 years ago

Photo

[ Image ID: A chapter image done in the style of Wizardess Heart. A large, off-white imagine with a guy on it. He’s wearing a dark gray uniform. There’s a lavender bar over him that reads “Tsukasa Kuze.” The rest of the text reads “Main Story” and “Chapter 5: Party Time!” /End ID]

Chapter Summary: Tsukasa and I planned a casual study session, but Aika and Isabelle invite us to a night out on the town.

Saturday. It was my first weekend at the Academy and my first real break. I sat in my dorm room, organizing my clothes when a Magic Note fluttered in. I plucked it out of the air and gave it a quick look.

Tsukasa: I’m sorry about yesterday. Do you want to study today?

Again with the apologizing. I quickly grabbed my own Magic Notes and wrote a reply.

You don’t have to apologize for that. But yeah, I’m down to study! Do we want to study in your room again?

Tsukasa: We can if you want! Or we can go to the Night Cafe.

The Night Cafe… Well, I hadn’t had dinner yet and I wasn’t feeling leftovers. I wrote back that I’d meet him there, although in my mind I wondered how much studying we’d actually get done. I packed up my things and hurried over the cafe.

It wasn’t nearly as packed as I thought it’d be, but I managed to score us a table as I waited for Tsukasa. It didn’t take long for him to show up and take the seat across from me. He looked a little pale to me and the dark circles under his eyes were obvious.

“I hope you weren’t waiting too long,” he said, sliding into the seat across from me. I shook my head.

“Oh, no, not at all! I just got here.”

“That’s good,” he sighed in relief. He knocked on the table and plate of sandwiches and a milkshake appeared. I quickly got my own food.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, grabbing my bowl of soup.

“A lot better, thanks,” he told me. “So, what do you want to focus on tonight?”

“Why don’t you pick what we start with? I feel like we’re always doing what I want.”

“Well, you have to worry about getting accepted here and catching up with everyone.”

“Didn’t someone say this was a two-way street?” I asked with a teasing smile. Tsukasa groaned, leaning back in his seat, making me giggle. His face was flushed ever so slightly.

“Why would you use my own words against me?” he demanded. Even with traces of exasperation on his face, the tone in his voice was teasing.

“Because why not?” I said wit ha shrug. Tsukasa laughed.

“All right, uh, how about we go over some magic theory?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“What sounds good?” a familiar voice asked. At the end of our table stood Isabelle and Aika, both dressed up and makeup impeccably done.

“You guys are dressed up,” I commented.

“Indeed we are! What’re you guys up to? What’s with all the books?” Isabelle asked, picking up my spells textbook.

“We’re studying,” Tsukasa told her. Aika frowned, a sour look on her face.

“Studying? But it’s Saturday,” she said.

“I have to worry about my Judgment, remember?” I reminded her.

“Yeah, but you two have been having hours-long study sessions after school every day. Don’t you think you deserve a real break?” she asked. Well, she wasn’t completely wrong. Sure, I wanted a break. But with Judgment, my grades, and trying to be better for Tsukasa, when could I take a break?

“We were going to invite you two to come with us, but it’s okay if you feel like you need to keep studying hard,” Isabelle said, putting my textbook back down on the table.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked.

“To a club. We were going to go last night, but it didn’t work out,” Isabelle said.

“Why don’t you guys take a break tonight and you can pick up studying tomorrow night?” Aika suggested.

“I’ve never been to a club before, but I don’t think I’m old enough to go to them. It’s twenty and older, right?” Tsukasa asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Aika replied cheerfully. “The place we know doesn’t card! You’ll be fine!” Tsukasa and I glanced at each other. As fun as it sounded, could I really afford to go? And was Tsukasa really up for it?

“… I mean, it sounds like fun…” Tsukasa relented. Well, if he’s feeling up for it… And I make up for lost time tomorrow…

“Okay, we’ll come with,” I said. Isabelle clapped her hands together, bouncing just a little bit.

“Great!” she squealed. “How about we leave in half an hour? Is that enough time for you guys to finish eating and get changed?”

“Change?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not going to a club in that. If you need to borrow clothes, you’re more than welcome to,” Isabelle said. Now it was Aika’s turn to excitedly bounce.

“Oooh, a make-over! This is going to be fun!” she said. Somehow, this didn’t excite me. … What did I just sign myself up for?

---

The night was pitch black, but the neon sign of the small hole-in-the-wall club provided some strong light against the few gas lamps. Isabelle, Aika, Fandamilia, and Hiro didn’t hesitate to go inside. Tsukasa and I trailed after them, but my steps slowed. It… To be as nice as possible, it didn’t look like it was entirely up to any safety code.

“Are you all right?” Tsukasa asked, leaning in towards me, voice hushed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… A little weird. I don’t know.”

“Do you want to head back?” I thought about it. Even though we should be back studying, I’d already wasted time letting Aika and Isabelle treat me like their doll and we’d walked all this way. Time was already gone and deep down, I didn’t want to upset anyone by going home before we’d even done anything.

“No…” Tsukasa nodded and gave my shoulders a squeeze.

“Whenever you want to go back, let me know and we’ll leave,” he told me. My heart melted just a little.

“Thank you.”

We hurried after the others. The place was just as dingy on the inside as it was on the outside. Everything looked like it was on the verge of collapse; even in the low lighting, I could see everything looked rickety. Isabelle and Aika were already sitting at a booth, waving us over.

“I thought you guys got lost for a moment,” Isabelle said with a chuckle.

“Sorry, I had to stop and tie my shoes,” Tsukasa lied smoothly. He slid into the booth next to Aika. I slid in next Tsukasa. Isabelle gave us both a teasing smile.

“It’s cute the couple’s sitting together,” she teased us. My face was on fire, heat burning at my skin.

“Couple?!” I squeaked. Dang it! First Dorian, now Isabelle?!

“We, um, we’re not together,” Tsukasa said weakly, a nervous laugh following his words. Isabelle just leaned forward, hands cupping her face.

“But you could be,” she pointed out.

“I brought shots!” Fandamilia’s announcement made Isabelle straighten out, but she still had that teasing smile on her face. Fandamilia’s peppy attitude quickly shooed away the tension in the air. Hiro trailed behind her, another tray in his hands and looking absolutely exhausted. She hummed to herself as she passed out the shot glasses. She plopped down beside me as I cautiously picked up the glass.

“Hiro, hand me the tray!” Fandamilia commanded him. He did it, no questions or protests. “I wasn’t sure what to get everyone, so I made some educated guesses.” Whereas the green-tinted liquid in my shot glass looked disgusting, the chocolate milkshake-looking drink she placed in front of me looked amazing.

“Well, let’s get the party started! Cheers!” Aika said, holding her glass up.

“Cheers!”

One sip of the green liquid and I wanted to vomit it back up. It was a hard taste to describe and in the moment, the closest I could think of was acid, but if it had been dead and rotting for several months. I gagged and forced some of it down before grabbing my chocolate drink. The sweetness of that saved my taste buds. Fandamilia giggled.

“Do you hate tequila?” she grinned.

“Is that what’s in the shot glass?” I asked.

“Yeah. You’re not supposed to taste the shot though. You just throw it back,” she told me.

“It’s in my mouth, I can’t just not taste it,” I retorted. Isabelle reached over and grabbed my half-full shot glass and quickly downed it. Fandamilia just shrugged, grabbing her drink that looked like muddy water.

“You’ll get the hang of it eventually!” she said in what I assume was supposed to be an encouraging way. As if I’d ever drink this garbage again. “I got good at it pretty young, so it’s second nature to me.” I didn’t know if I had the mental capacity right then to unpack all of that.

“Do you like your… milkshake?” Tsukasa asked me, looking uncertain at what to call the actually decent drink Fandamilia got me.

“It’s called a mudslide but yeah, it’s basically an alcoholic milkshake,” she explained.

“You can’t really tell,” I commented as I took a sip.

“That’s good, because there’s a lot in it,” Fandamilia said. I choked at her words mudslide trickling down my chin. Surely she had to be joking? There was a slight alcohol taste to it, but I really couldn’t taste anything else but chocolate and cream in it. Tsukasa grabbed a napkin and wiped up my face for me.

“Are you all right?” he asked, a grin on his face.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” The butterflies in my stomach decided this would be a great time to start acting up. I quickly looked away from him, taking another sip of my drink.

We all chatted as we drank. I was nursing my drink as slowly as possible, but everyone else seemed to be chugging theirs down. I was only halfway through my drink when everyone got their third drink. Hiro and Fandamilia were debating as I felt Tsukasa lean against my shoulder.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy,” he responded. I placed my head on his, enjoying the warmth from his body. This place was cranking the AC and here Tsukasa was, toasty warm. It’s like he knew exactly what I needed

“I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal. We have so many powerful wizards that it’s got to be people messing stuff up and being too scared to come forward,” Fandamilia was saying.

“Okay, I can see some things being that. But the stairs exploding? I don’t see how that could’ve been magic gone wrong. That had to be intentional,” Hiro argued.

“What are you two talking about?” I jumped into the conversation.

“The accidents on campus. It has to be someone purposefully doing it,” Hiro said.

“Aw, you two look awful cute all snuggled up like that!” Fandamilia changed the subject, smiling widely at Tsukasa and I. Hiro pouted.

“Hey, don’t change the subject. We were in the middle of something,” he said. Aika laughed.

“Give it up, Hiro. No one’s been hurt so why worry about it?” she pointed out.

“Yeah, if someone’s doing it, it’s probably just pranks,” Isabelle shrugged.

“I haven’t really heard much about them…” I mumbled. Man, I must be studying too much if I’m not aware of what’s happening on campus.

“Yeah, you look a little distracted,” Aika smirked as she took a sip of her drink. My cheeks were burning and I took a drink as the others giggled.

“Don’t be like that,” Tsukasa defended us. He sounded absolutely exhausted.

“You all right? You don’t look so good,” Isabelle asked with a frown.

“Ah, sorry. I’m not feeling great,” he admitted.

“Do you want to go back? I’ll go with you,” I offered.

“You don’t have to.”

“I don’t have to, but I want to.”

Tsukasa froze for a moment, but then slowly got out of the booth. We told everyone goodbye and then we started the long trek back to campus. The night air was crisp and I was thankful Tsukasa and I were walking shoulder to shoulder with each other; I could steal some warmth from him. He put his arm around my shoulder and I put mine around his waist. He leaned against me.

“We’ll get back to campus before you know it, but if you need us to sit down and take a break, let me know,” I told him, trying to reassure and comfort him. I knew we shouldn’t have come out partying tonight. We should’ve just gone back to our dorms after eating at the Night Cafe.

“Thanks,” he said weakly.

The night was silent as we walked through the deserted town. It was too late for big crowds and too early for morning people to be out and out. It was nice, though. In this moment, this world belonged only to Tsukasa and I.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke up suddenly, breaking the silence.

“What? You don’t have anything to apologize for,” I told him.

“I cut tonight short -”

“No, you didn’t,” I interrupted him. Again, silence reigned. But only for a few short moments.

“I don’t want to drag you down.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“You… What? You’re not dragging me down at all. I left the club because I wanted to.”

“But if I wasn’t feeling bad, you could’ve stayed longer.”

“I was tired of partying and besides, I’d rather spend time with you.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized how that sounded. “I, uh, I-I mean -”

“That means a lot to me. I… I worry you’ll get fed up with me,” he said quietly.

“What? Why would you think that?” I knew he must’ve been hurting, but his words still stung.

“I know I’m not the best with magic and you’re already so stressed about your Judgment. And with my health… I know I’m not the best Buddy for you.”

“Don’t say that! You’re the perfect Buddy for me. How many times have you boosted me up? How many times have you stopped to help me with things I don’t get? You’re not dragging me down at all.”

“Do you really feel like that?” He glanced over to me, hope shining in his eyes.

“Of course I do! I’d never lie to you.” If we were being honest with each other, maybe it was time for me to let everything out… “If I’m being honest, I’m the one causing problems in this relationship.”

“You what?”

“I’m so bad at magic and I see every day how I’m dragging your grades down, and then we study for so long and I know that tires you out, and -”

“Sure, it can be tiring, but I do it because I want to. You’re my Buddy, but you’re also my friend and I like studying with you. And we’re both bad at magic. You aren’t affecting my grades that much. We’re in the same boat,” Tsukasa told me. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so badly.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am,” he said with a sweet smile. As relieved as I felt that he didn’t see me as a burden, I still wasn’t sure how to feel about myself. I still felt like one, but the fact Tsukasa didn’t see me as one. “I’ll tell you what, how about we start being more open with each other?”

“More open?”

“Maybe if we lay everything bare, we can nip future problems like this in the bud. I don’t want you to feel like you’re a burden to me,” he told me.

“And I don’t want you to feel like you’re a burden to me,” I replied.

“Maybe if we talk things out, we can avoid stuff like this in the future. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m willing to open myself up to you,” he said.

“I…” Why was my heart pounding in my chest? I nodded. “Let’s do it, then.” Somehow, I couldn’t get the right words out. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to open myself up to him, but the words wouldn’t come out. Maybe I had more work cut out for me than I anticipated…

The rest of the walk was peaceful, but tiring. I was ready to drop by the time we entered the dorm building. We were about to get into the elevator when a deep voice I didn’t recognize called out.

“Hey, hold on a minute, Tsukasa.”

We turned around to see a tall man with brown hair and bright blue eyes. His face looked so similar to Tsukasa’s that although we’d never met, it was easy to tell who he was.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for an hour,” Tsukasa’s brother Azusa demanded, frowning.

“I’m sorry. I went out drinking with some friends,” Tsukasa informed him. His whole demeanor changed. He straightened his back and his arm over my shoulder felt more relaxed. Like he was trying to act like everything was fine.

“I see.” Azusa’s gaze turned to me and he gave me a stilted smile. “I’m Azusa, Tsukasa’s older brother.”

I quietly introduced myself.

“Tsukasa, I wasn’t aware you were out with someone,” he said, glancing back at Tsukasa. I was all too aware of how close Tsukasa was to me with his brother’s eyes burning into us.

“We were out with a group of friends. We just came home early,” Tsukasa replied nonchalantly. Azusa still had that creepy smile on his face, like he didn’t believe us. As much as I was unnerved, I did wonder if Azusa was just good at detecting lies or is Tsukasa lied to Azusa so much that he didn’t trust him.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back now. You really shouldn’t be going out and partying like that,” Azusa chided him.

“I know, I know.” I stood there, unsure of what to do. We took the elevator up to my floor and the air was so tense you could cut it with a knife. The elevator chimed and I opened the grate.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Tsukasa told me.

“Thank you,” I replied, trying not to sound relieved to get away from this awkward situation. Maybe it was a little presumptuous, but it made me happy that Tsukasa offered. It was like he was putting me before his brother.

“I’ll only be a minute, Azusa,” Tsukasa said.

“Okay,” he replied curtly. Again, the smile on Azusa’s face seemed forced.

I hurried out of the elevator, Tsukasa right behind me. The hallways were still fairly loud, with people playing music and chatting, but we didn’t encounter anyone. In a way, it felt like we were arriving at another party rather than coming home. We got to my door.

“Thanks for coming back with me. I really appreciate it,” Tsukasa said.

“No problem. I had fun tonight.”

“I did too.” We smiled at each other and my heart fluttered. “I’m glad you’re my Buddy,” I added softly.

“I was thinking the same thing.” He was really something else, wasn’t he? I really was so lucky to have someone as kind as him in my life.

“Get some rest tonight, er, this morning, okay?” I corrected myself quickly. Tsukasa chuckled.

“Yeah, I will. You get some sleep too,” he told me.

“I will. Good night, Tsukasa,”

“Good night.”

Part of me wanted to invite him to stay a little longer and have some tea, or something, but Azusa was waiting for him. I went into my room and the exhaustion from the day hit me like a train. The sky was lightening, but it was still going to be a while until the sun rose. I closed my curtains and got into my pajamas.

After everything that happened today, I just needed a little rest.

#tsukasa kuze #wizardess heart fan route #shall we date wizardess #long post #tsukasa kuze: kind spirit

5 notes · View notes

veilder · 5 years ago

Note

Those questions are not good enough, but who are your favorite characters/combinations to write? Pairings you hate? Do you have any themes you keep coming back to? Ideas you haven't written yet, but want to? AUs you really like the idea of? Anything you've tried to write, but can't get right?

Oh wow, thank you so much, friend!! These are some amazing questions! ^_^

1. Favorite characters/combinations to write?

Oh, so many, man. I’ve published nothing but DBH thus far, and my faves are basically Hank, Connor, Sixty, Nines and Gavin. I adore them all. And my favorite group dynamics all come from them. (Throw Kamski and Amanda in there as honorable mentions, lol!) RK Bros is my dang life, I swear. Dad!Hank and his Anderfam owns my soul. Gavin with any combination of them is a delightful disaster. (And geez, I super adore Kamski-Reed Bros, too. I eat that shit up.) I’m pretty die-hard for Convin as a ship, that’s really one of the only ones I don’t like to compromise on? And I absolutely adore Gavin and Nines being bitchy best friends. I wish more folks would write them platonically, lol.

2. Pairings you hate?

Oof, loaded question. This might get me into some trouble, but I have very solid headcanons about family, adopted or otherwise, and I don’t stray from that. So any pairings that are any combo of Hank and the RKs is out for me. Same with any of them with each other. (And Gavin and Elijah. Just... nope.) Lol, I’ve turned my platonic filters up to 11 and that’s where I’m staying with it. I like it here, what can I say? But yeah, those are really my only notps. I’m an absolute sucker for rarepairs, man.

3. Do you have any themes you keep coming back to?

Oh, absolutely! Seriously, a lot of what I write is centered around family? So I really like delving into the intricacies of that, especially when we’re dealing with people not related by blood. Found family is one of my all-time favorite tropes and it’s played a significant role in most of my works, honestly. Even the romances have an emphasis put on family, too, even if it’s a background sort of thing.

I also dearly love the idea of redemption and forgiveness? Like, fanon!Gavin is one of my favorites, so that’s probably apparent, lol! I’m a huge, huge proponent for both allowing my characters to make mistakes, even huge ones, but then letting them grow and learn from them and become better people. And that theme honestly works well with all of my faves, but Gavin is really the one I focus in on for that. Sixty, too, sometimes, and Connor.

Also! Really, really into the machine aspect of writing android characters!! Like, I love trying to figure out how to format them when writing from their POV? I love all the ways you can use their superhuman senses in a narrative? I love the potential of a HUD, of interfaces, of glitches and errors, etc. It’s so fun for me even though I’m mostly making everything up as I go, lol!

Also: always always always a happy ending. I can’t stand fics that leave me sad and I will never write one.

4. Ideas you haven’t written yet, but want to?

Oh my God, just… so, so many. I have over 15k just of prompts that I myself wrote. They’re stashed away in several documents all over my Gdocs, lol! I am constantly thinking of new things I’d like to write. Now, if I could only work up the motivation to do so… u^_^

5. AUs you really like the idea of?

At the very top of my list goes my pirate!AU that I have been desperately wanting to write for ages now!!! I have so much worked out for it already! I have a definite idea of where I’d like to take it!! I have my characters, my setting, my first forays into research about the time period, the different cultures I’ll be invoking, appropriate names, etc. I even have a first chapter partially written!! This has been on my to-do list for ages and it will 100% be my next big project if I ever find the motivation to actually… sit down and just go for it, lol!!

I’d also just really love to do a reverse!AU someday? I’m just… not sure what sort of plot I would use there. I just really like the idea of it.

6. Anything you’ve tried to write, but can’t get right?

Lol, pretty much any of my 30+ WIPs? So many little things just trip me up like no one’s business. Or I’ll go into something half-cocked and not have a clear idea of what I want from the story or how I want it to end. I’ve had this idea for a heist!AU fic sitting in my WIPs for over a year now. I’m not sure I’ll ever get back to that, honestly. And I have a few half-written things for my ongoing series I just… ended up not liking enough to post. I get hung up on so many things, lol. I’m honestly surprised I ever get anything done. u^_^

But yeah, thank you so, so much for these questions, friend!! This was very fun to answer!

#writing #fanfic #ask games #dbh #about me #thanks so much for the questions!!

9 notes · View notes

staytheb · 5 years ago

Text

Errands

Pairing: SF9′s Youngbin x OC [Seul] Genre: slice of life, slight fluff Word Count: 4,925 Summary: Seul runs errands believing she’ll get a job, but finds out that she’s doing them for her friend that was supposed to do them. Still though, a job may still be in the talks after she finishes the errands earlier than expected. part two: Acting Secretary (somewhat)

Warning: none, swear words lol

so... this is new, but not really. i had wrote this with another idol in mind like a year or so back. i changed it with Youngbin instead and gave my sister what she wanted. lol anyways, this was supposed to be like an idea for a chapter fic, but i don’t have any interest in doing that and why this story is the way that it is. i may or may not actually make a chapter story, but shall see in the future. i just didn’t want this written thing to be left hidden and forgotten. other than that, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

After dropping Yeon at her new work place, Seul dropped off her three year old daughter, Jangmi, with her usual babysitter, Yuna. Yuna was also a good friend of the sisters as well as a fellow mother. Seul could always depend on her for help, especially on such short notice.

"Thanks for watching Jangmi, Yuna." Seul thanked the older woman.

"No problem, Seul. Besides, the boys just love Jangmi like their own sister." Yuna commented as she watched her oldest son leading Jangmi in a random game.

"Yeah, Wonjin’s a great older brother and Jangmi just loves baby Jiho, too."

"Oh, I know. She loves cooing at him. Anyways, how's the job hunting going?"

"Um, okay? Just a bit rough."

"It's because of Seokwon, huh?"

Seokwon was Seul's ex-boyfriend and the father of her daughter. The separation was a bit messy and quite complicated, but Seul eventually pulled through. It was Seokwon who was having a fit about it and obstructing her life. He would contact other companies to prevent Seul from working with them when he found out she was working under whatever company she would have applied to. It was so that she would be force to return to work for him again and Seul wasn't having any of that. She would never let that man control her life and happiness ever again. Even if it meant having to constantly look for employment every few weeks or months.

"If I was still working I would have gotten you through and or pull some strings. I mean I could still ask Kyungtae if you wanna work for his company?"

"Nah, it's all good. Besides, I don't think I could ever work for Kyungtae with how he manages."

"I know. I don't blame you."

"Yeah, but luckily, Yeon is doing well and she hasn't messaged me yet."

"Yeah, I never pictured her as an office lady."

"Me either and neither did she."

Seul let out a sigh remembering what she had told herself to do today.

"Alright, Yuna, I gotta go, but do let me know about Jangmi if she gets too much."

Yuna cast her an understanding smile while patting her back.

"No worries, Seul. Get yourself a job first and just leave Jangmi to me in the mean time."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, hon."

~~~~~~~~~

Seul had gotten back on the road when her phone rang. It wasn't her sister or friend, but another friend who was a male. She answered through the bluetooth.

"Aren't you supposed to be working, Dawon?" Seul asked the caller as the male chuckled. "I am, Seul."

"Uh huh. Right."

"Yeah, yeah, but back to the subject of working, that's why I'm calling you."

"What do you want? I'm out driving looking for job openings that isn't related to my ex."

"I've heard and know that it's been impossible since he has such huge connections."

"Unfortunately."

"Anyways, that's why I have a proposition for you which for now involves you driving, but not looking further for a job."

"You couldn't just say that you know of an opening for me to apply for?"

"That's no fun. Anyways, the first thing I need you to do is go to Banana Boutique and the rest I'll send you in a text in a minute."

"Okay. That's it? Does this job pay well because I really do need the money as soon as possible."

"It does, but you'll get a fat bonus if you can complete everything on the list I've sent you."

"How much of a bonus are we talking about here?"

"Three times than I would make in a two weeks."

"Dang. That's more than what I would make if I worked with Seokwon again."

"Yeah, but it's better because you won't have to work with Seokwon again."

"Shoot. I'm in, but why so much?"

"Boss' orders and he won't tell me."

"Okay then. I'm down"

"There is a catch."

"Which is?"

"You'll need to be back before twelve-forty-five though for anything to count to get the job."

Seul glanced at the time on her dashboard and rolled her eyes.

"Which is like less than four hours. That's a lot of time."

"It may seem like so, but it's not."

"Then is it even worth it?"

"I know you can do it! Seul, I swear. It's worth it."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. See you soon, Dawon."

"See you soon and good luck!"

"Thanks and bye."

Seul ended the call with a chuckle as she signaled left to head on over to Banana Boutique. While waiting at the light she received Dawon's detailed message and was confused by the name, Youngbin Kim, and the credit card information that appeared in the beginning of the text. She learned that it would be the person she would be running errands for and his account information to make all of the purchases through before scrolling down to see a weird to-do list.

"Go to Banana Boutique. Buy a business casual outfit along with heels and accessories." Seul read aloud with a raised eyebrow. "Afterwards go to Tangerine Beauty Salon. Get hair and makeup done."

Seul scoffed at the list and wondered if this was even work related, but she trusted Dawon on this despite his playful personality. So she was gonna go with it for now as she really did need the money and that Yeon couldn't be the only one working. Seul scanned the rest of the long list and realized that it was all over the place. If she went based on how it was written then it would have her be driving all across town and even backtracking which would make her waste more time and gas. Quickly, Seul scanned her surrounding to pull off to the side and park for a while.

~~~~~~~~~

After finding a parking spot to rest for a bit, Seul copied the list that Dawon had sent her and put it into her notes. While re-reading everything she rearranged the list so that it would have a better flow for her to complete everything on it without wasting time or backtracking and to even get that triple bonus easily. It also meant that she wouldn't go to Banana Boutique or Tangerine Beauty Salon until nearly the end of the to-do list. To which she didn't mind at all as it would make her look fresh and put together. She finished the new to-do list within ten minutes while getting back on the road again.

The first place that Seul had gone to after the new arrangement was to a dry cleaners where she only had to wait for two minutes. Then she went next door to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription that was already ready for pick-up. After that Seul drove down a few streets to the home improvement store to pick up some paint and home decor that this Mr. Kim wanted. Seul also realized after finishing three errands off the list of twenty-something she had no trouble in stating his card information without the actual plastic card being present in front of these businesses. She wondered how often this guy came that it went this easy.

Seul dismissed the idea and continued to the next item on the list. She drove for awhile before she found the place she was looking for. It was a toy store and besides purchasing the several items that this Young person wanted, she had also purchased three stuffed animals for her daughter and sister. As for Youngbin's belongings several of them she could pick up and take with her like some of the sports balls and smaller items while the rest of the things were to be shipped out as they were either too big to fit in her vehicle or weren't in stock at the store itself.

~~~~~~~~~

Seul let out a tired sigh upon placing the two small bags from a jeweler's shop she had just visited inside her car. She was happy that she had a vehicle to accommodate all the things she was stashing into her car for this supposed job. If not, she would have declined Dawon's proposition for it. She just wondered what kind of person this Youngbin Kim was as she couldn't help but imagined the guy upon doing his errands. He either seemed too lazy to pick up his stuff or the fact that he was super busy and had no time for minor inconveniences.

Then again, someone that purchased toys couldn't be all that bad either. Maybe he had a child and a wife, but work was constantly demanding that it didn't leave him time to do such small errands. Or he could just be showering his loved ones with material things to make up for his lack of presence. Who knows what it could be as it could seriously be anything. It really gave her some insight, but then again she knew that she couldn't just based everything off of some list. Seul usually knew the person a bit better once she actually met them, but for now she would just let it be.

Anyways, Seul started her car and drove to the nearest grocery store so she can buy this Youngbin person some groceries before having to go to another location and buy some house cleaning supplies as well for his home. After this errand she would have two more stops to complete and she would be good on time and closer to a job. The second to last stop would be taking a majority of all the items to this apartment complex before heading to Dawon's work place with the other things on the list to be given to his boss. Of course before heading to the work place she would have to stop by some restaurant to pick up the boss' lunch.

Still, Seul was seriously confused as this seem more like a personal errand run that the person himself could do it, but she was doing it instead for a job opening. Nevertheless, Seul reminded herself that it was for the bonus and that she badly needed the job as soon as possible. Then again, she was wondering if others were doing this just as she was and it would be pointless since it meant that this Youngbin Kim person was getting things done more than once and spending a lot more than needed. Seul shook the thoughts away as it didn't matter to her since it wasn't her money or items that she'll be dealing with.

Anyways, once she got done grocery shopping she headed towards Water Apartments which to be honest was a high-end luxury apartment complex building that she for sure wouldn't be able to afford in her entire life. Even less of knowing someone personally who actually lived here. Anyhow, just like using this guy's name and his information to do the errands, Seul was instantly assisted in having the items transported easily to the guy's apartment by a few of the staff members after she informed them where she had to take them.

Seul herself took care of putting away the groceries and cleaning supplies. Upon seeing the apartment, Seul knew for sure that this Youngbin Kim guy was indeed a bachelor and had no significant other whatsoever. She wondered if Dawon's boss even lived here as there was practically no food in the fridge or the cabinets. Neither were there any picture frames or personal touches to the overall place when she had put away the bagged clothing and the prescription when she entered the main bedroom to lay them on the bed. It seemed like it was in a presentation mode to be shown to potential buyers for the place. Then again, Seul assumed the guy must be a minimalist or could have just recently moved in hence the to-do list and a family must be on the way to add those touches.

Shaking the thoughts away and getting back to focus, Seul resumed putting the things away. Once everything was settled, Seul took photos of the places where the items were now settled as it was required of her to do so since it proved that she actually completed the errands and sent the images to Dawon. Seul returned to her car and went to the post office to drop off some of the packages she had done earlier before heading back towards Dawon's workplace to finish out the rest of the list. She felt proud as she had shaved off basically an hour. Everything felt like it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

~~~~~~~~~

After quickly purchasing a basic yet cute outfit from Banana Boutique with minimal accessories to complement and visiting Tangerine Beauty Salon to style the way she preferred to look, Seul arrived at Hot Potato to pick up Youngbin's meal along with her own with less than an hour to spare. Luckily she had called in earlier to make an order so that when she arrived she just had to do a pick up. So when she entered the restaurant she was checked out by her cousin upon walking up to the counter for pick-ups.

"Oh ho ho. You're looking good." Kwangjin complimented. "A hot date? A new candidate father figure for Jangmi?"

Seul rolled her eyes.

"No, Kwangjin. It's for a job. Anyways, I have a group pick-up order."

"Oh, so it was for you."

"Mmhmm."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

Kwangjin momentarily left to fetch Seul's order before returning shortly with four bags in hand along with three drinks.

"So who's the other order for if not you or Yeon?" Kwangjin asked while setting the items on the counter.

"My future boss. I'm picking up something for his lunch today, too."

Seul held her phone out for Kwangjin to read.

"Anyways, the buldak with both the rice cake and steamed egg is for my future boss. The rest is mine which I'll pay separately."

Kwangjin was inputting Young's card info before recognizing it soon afterwards.

"Your future boss is Youngbin Kim?"

"Possibly. Why?"

"Oh, well, he's a friend of mine. I could put in a good word for you like I did for Yeon."

"Yeah you should've done that in the first place like you did with Yeon."

Kwangin chuckled as he recalled that situation.

"I'm pretty sure she still wishes to be working here though."

"True, but she can't stand working with you though."

"Not my fault I'm here everyday."

"True, but you keep messing with her schedules and that's why she didn't want to work here again."

"Haha, yeah, that's right. Anyways, Youngbin didn't have any job offerings so that's why I didn't say anything. Also you don't want to work here either."

"Oh okay, and yeah true about working here. Although it isn't bad or anything."

"Because you just don't want me as your boss and me messing up your schedule."

"That too, but are you done inputting the info yet?"

"I am, but why not make him pay for it all?"

"Because I'm not like that."

"Yeah, I know, but here."

Kwangjin handed his cousin the receipt for Youngbin's meal and rejected Seul's card.

"Yours is on the house."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

Kwangjin cast her a smug look while handing the bags over to her along with the three drinks he knew were her and Yeon's favorite.

"I didn't order any drinks." Seul declared with a confused expression.

"I know. It's on me, too. Enjoy and good luck in getting the job."

"Thanks and you better not be calling him to get me in without my own merit."

"I would never do that."

"Mmhmm. Bye."

"Later."

Seul took her things and waved him off while taking a sip of her Green Tea Latte of the three drinks that her cousin gave her.

~~~~~~~~~

When Seul arrived to Dawon's workplace, her eyebrows furrowed upon recognizing the streets and the buildings before heading towards the underground parking lot she had dropped off her sister earlier today.

"Does Dawon work here, too?" She mumbled as she found a parking space not that far from the elevators. "Maybe I could give Yeon her meal while I'm at it."

She had messaged Dawon earlier that she was almost done, but didn't let him know she was here while making sure her appearance was presentable. She did send her sister a message about having her lunch and to let her know where to meet up. As for Dawon he had already messaged her about what to do at the front desk and where to go from there so she figured she could surprise him. Seul got out of her car and opened the truck of the vehicle. She pulled out her blue collapsible wagon and unfolded it for usage while setting it on the concrete floor. This was a nifty item when going to places with Jangmi.

Seul placed the food and the items that Youngbin had wanted inside the wagon. Like the documents he had left at his apartment along with two succulents of nine he wanted to be at the office for some reason. As well as some other things like books, caps, and a Janggi set. She even placed her drinks in the pockets on the outside of the compartment before shutting and locking up her car. Seul placed her other bag over her shoulders while heading to the elevator.

Seul arrived on the seventh floor of the B building after checking in with a Park Haeyoon at the receptionist desk and obtaining her visitor's pass. She arrived on the floor and pulled her little wagon behind her in search of Dawon as he didn't appear like he said he would. She was given curious looks by the workers on the floor and knew it was because of the wagon, but no one questioned her about it. Seul was gonna ask one of the staff if they knew where Dawon was, but came upon a familiar face instead.

"Inseong?"

Inseong met Seul's gaze as it lit up with recognition.

"Seul! Wow, what are you doing here?"

He enveloped her into a friendly hugged before noticing her wagon. He gave her a knowing look once he pulled away.

"Did Dawon tell you there was a possible job opening and that you had to do all of these errands for our boss because he'll pay like triple the amount?"

"Um, yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because Dawon was supposed to be the one to do that. Not you."

"Excuse me?"

Inseong held back a laugh upon knowing how his friend was going to react while also taking a few steps back just in case Seul got violent.

"You're joking, right?" Seul asked with a not amused expression. "Because I didn't just waste my time to do his job for him for nothing, Inseong."

She then motioned at her whole attire.

"I also didn't spend money to get new clothes, my hair, and makeup done either."

"I know, Seul, I know, but..."

"Just lead me to his ass and don't worry, I won't cause a scene. I'm not like that."

Inseong chuckled at his friend's words before leading them both to Dawon's work desk.

~~~~~~~~~

"Don't worry, sir. Everything will be done before the allotted time." Dawon spoke into the phone when Seul and Inseong arrived in front of his desk.

Dawon's back was turned away from them and wasn't aware he had visitors. It wasn't until he turned around like he wasn't at work, but at home in mid-conversation that he took notice of his friends.

"Oh, hey." Dawon said in a slow manner as his eyes glance from Inseong to Seul and back and forth totally forgetting that he was supposed to be on the phone with his boss and discussing important matters.

"I'll leave it between the two of you." Inseong said with a playful tone while patting Seul's back in a fair warning to be calm as possible.

"So... uh, Seul," Dawon began nervously while unconsciously placing the phone on his desk and not back into its proper place, "How's your day going?"

"Pretty well until I learned the truth about you using me to do your boss' errands for you."

Her dark eyes bore into his as Dawon's averted his gaze to something behind her and looked down. He noticed the blue wagon and let out a nervous chuckle as he returned his gaze back on to his friend.

"Oh yeah?" Seul mused with a wry smile. "So this job opening you mentioned was just a lie for me to get it done for you so that you wouldn't get in trouble for not doing them?"

"What? No. It's totally real. Look at you. All dressed up thanks to Mr. Kim's credit card information. Now you can have an official interview with him."

"That's not what you told me on the phone when I agreed to this supposed errand run, Dawon."

"True, but I did tell you that it would be worth it."

"How? Your boss doesn't even know what you did or that I'm even here."

"True and I'm sure I could put in a good word for you."

"That's not how I roll, Dawon, and you know that."

"Okay true, and yes, Seul, I know but for now, most importantly, do you have his lunch?"

Dawon stood up from his seat and maneuvered around his desk to stand before his friend eagerly.

"I do," Seul answered with a weird smile that Dawon couldn't interpret, "But I'm not giving it to you."

"What? Why not?"

"Because your dumb ass used me when you could've done it yourself."

"Seul, you don't know how busy I was today to do any of the things he wanted me to do."

"Inseong told me that you had a whole two weeks to complete all of that minus the meal. You made me do all of that in less than four hours."

"I know, I know, but just let me off the hook this one time. I'll pay you back in a big way. Just wait and see."

"You do realize you've done this multiple times on multiple occasions, right? Not just with me, but with Yeon, too."

"Yes, bu-"

Seul didn't let him finish as she continued her rant.

"Besides, Kwangjin knows him, too. They're good friends. Now I feel like a fool because Kwangjin believes this was legit as I mentioned this errand thing in passing. Thanks to you I wasted my whole morning when I could've gotten something more important done with my time."

"I'm sorry, Seul. I really am."

"Your sorry isn't gonna do anything for me, Dawon. Besides, you're not the one that had to pick up and drop off all of his stuff at his apartment. I even had to figure out which of his succulents he wanted here in the office when he had so many. I'm not even his personal assistant, but I still did all of this without knowing him or even having this job now."

Before Dawn could counter her words he was interrupted by his boss who overheard the whole conversation on the phone and exited his office. Youngbin was curious about Dawon's female friend who happened to know Kwangjin as well. Even though Dawon was Youngbin's subordinate, he was also a good friend of his outside of working hours. Maybe a more dependable person to take care of things he nor his other subordinates couldn't have time for be given to this woman instead.

"If you're looking or a job, then how would you like to be my personal assistant?" Youngbin asked from behind Dawon as the duo's attention turned towards Youngbin whose attention was set on Seul more than Dawon.

"What do you say, Miss...?"

~~~~~~~~~

"Well then, Miss Lee, you're hire." Youngbin informs her after interviewing Seul.

Before the interview they all had their lunch and Seul sat with Dawon at his desk eating it since she found it awkward if she ate alone or at the worker's cafeteria. She did meet up with Yeon, but her sister had to return to work immediately as she had this business and sales report to write for her own boss already on the first day of work. Luckily, Dawon was able to inform her about his company, the department, and his colleagues, but still Seul wondered if it was all a joke or not. It turned out that it wasn't and the interview lasted less than an hour. Seul felt a little odd about it when Youngbin told her that she just got the job soon afterwards.

"Just like that? You didn't ask to see my resume or asked me about my past work history, Mr. Kim."

"Mmhmm. While I ate my lunch I reviewed Dawon's information he had given to me of you. Although it was quite limited, but it was enough to make the judgment. The skills and management you've demonstrated with what I've seen so far with what you've done with the to-do list that he gave you earlier this morning impresses me. I see that it will correlate well with the position of being my personal assistant."

Youngbin then sifted through the images on his iPad and pointed out the things that he was most curious about that he got from Dawon to send to him while they all had lunch so he could have a heads up on Seul's competence.

"I noticed that I have a receipt from Hot Potato for my lunch, but the price is way too low for what I saw you brought in when we ate lunch. I also noticed there isn't a receipt for Banana Boutique nor one for Tangerine Beauty Salon although these locations was more for your attire than for me. Is there a reason for those, too?"

Seul nodded with an expression indicating that it was obvious.

"Yeah. I used my own money at the boutique and salon since it was something I was picking out and that you shouldn't even be paying for these in the first place. As for Hot Potato, a close friend covered the cost."

"I see."

Youngbin closed down his tablet, set it aside, and looked at Seul with a calm demeanor.

"Since you'll be working for me, Miss Lee, any inconveniences befallen on you should be my responsibility as your boss from now on."

Youngbin partially turned to open a drawer to the right of him before finding what he was looking for. He scribbled some things onto the small pad before ripping a piece of it from its place and held it out for Seul to take.

"This is a reimbursement for the boutique and salon that you spent with your own money."

Seul declined with a polite smile.

"It's fine, Mr. Kim. You don't need to reimburse me for it."

Youngbin slightly frowned while retracting his hand and placed the pad and slip aside. He then went through one of his other drawer once again before finding what he was looking for. He faced the woman again and gently set a black card before her and slid it closer for her to take.

"Then this card will be for your own personal use among other things to do your job efficiently without any hindrance. There's no limit and I wouldn't have to write you a check for reimbursement each time you pay out of your own pocket."

Seul stared at the black card intrigued, but made no move to take it. She glanced back up at Youngbin who was already watching her as he motioned with his hand for her to take the card.

"Please, take it. It's yours while you're working for me."

Seul still regarded him a bit.

"And when I stop working for you in the future?"

"I can just cut that line out with ease."

"I see."

Youngbin leaned forward and pushed the card even closer for Seul to take. Seul continued to gaze at the small plastic item, but didn't take it once again. One side of Youngbin's lips quirked up amused before relaxing back in his chair while gazing at her calmly.

"The card can be used freely without a pin or inputting my information if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not worried about your card, Mr. Kim. I just don't see why you would entrust me with your money so casually just like hiring me so easily."

Seul's cool demeanor raised the corners of Youngbin's lips higher before he responded back.

"Because you've proven yourself to be trustworthy and responsible, Miss Lee. That's why I've hired you as I have no problem with giving you that card to further build the trust and reliability I see in you thus far."

Seul kept quiet as she contemplated the whole thing in her head more before slowly nodding in agreement.

"Okay. Thank you."

"Good. So when's the earliest you can start, Miss Lee?"

Seul didn't hesitate to take the card this time around while matching his gaze.

"As soon as possible, Mr. Kim."

"Perfect. You'll officially start after the weekend on Monday as your first day on the job. Today we'll count it as an orientation and I'll have Dawon show you around the buildings so you can familiarize yourself of the surroundings. He'll also fill you in about everything else that I'll be unable to do."

Youngbin stood up with Seul following soon after as he led them out of his office.

"Welcome to Marketing of NEOZ Group, Miss Lee."

#staytheb #sf9 scenarios #kim youngbin

6 notes · View notes

ahiddenpath · 5 years ago

Text

My Favorite Writing Stuff

One of the best things about writing is that all you need is a pen and paper! But we all have our favorite tools and luxuries, and I thought it might be fun to talk about mine below the cut. Lotsa pics, long post.

Word Processors

Scrivener

The single writing item I use most is my word processor, Scrivener, by Literature and Latte. At some point waaaaaay back in 2012, I found myself writing Growing Up with You in Microsoft Word... And having to wait ten seconds for the screen to adjust and load new text as I scrolled. It was just too danged long for the program to handle. Just reading my manuscript was a nightmare, let alone copying and pasting to move text, shuffle paragraphs, etc. Making a new doc for each chapter quickly became a clunky chore.

THEN I FOUND SCRIVENER, AND IT’S THE BEST.

Scrivener is... not very user friendly; there’s definitely a learning curve. But it was immediately so much better for writing long fiction than Word that I bought a book on the program and read it from cover to cover, which... I don’t think I’ve ever done before. That’s how much of a game changer this was.

The feature I rely on most is the binder.

This is the binder for Four Years, which currently has... Forty-eight chapters. I corralled the chapters into two folders, one for the first year of college (1), and one for the second (2).

If I click folder 1, all of the chapters appear, each snug in their own folder. Once the Scrivener file loads, there is no further loading time. Each folder can be moved by clicking and dragging, as can each text file inside each folder. FREEDOM!

This feature alone was worth the price of the program. They offer a free trial, so please check it out if you’re interested!

Portable Word Processors

I’ve mentioned these before, but I have two portable gadgets that allow me to write on the go, distraction free.

Alpha Smart Neo 2

This might look like the baby of a toddler’s toy computer and a keyboard, but it’s actually my baby.

Just kidding! Sort of! The Alpha Smart Neo 2 is a portable word processor that boots up in a second, is powered by three AA batteries for eons, and weighs about 2 pounds. They are no longer in production (which is a crime), but there are oodles available on Ebay for about $20-30.

(I used to own and talk about my Alpha Smart 3000. The Alpha Smart Neo 2 is the latest model before the company shut down, and the keyboard is nicer; it’s quieter and easier on the fingers).

I honestly can’t say enough about this device. I rarely draft on a computer anymore; it’s just too easy to find yourself surfing the web, falling down a research vortex, or even reading your manuscript instead of writing. Alpha Smarts can remember what you wrote until you delete it. That’s it. That’s all they do. It’s beautiful.

I write about 800 words/hr on a computer. I write about 1,500 words/hr on an Alpha Smart. Distractions are so, so real.

When you’re ready to port your writing from your Alpha Smart to your word processor, all you have to do is connect a printer cable to your Alpha Smart, then plug the usb end into your computer. Open your word processor, turn on your Alpha Smart, select the file you want to transfer, and hit send. If you forget any of this, it’s written on the back of the Alpha Smart.

I know that no one should blame their success or failure on their tools, but... I wouldn’t be able to write nearly as much without my Alpha Smart. And if you ever do writing meet ups, you’ll be the only person who isn’t fighting for a power outlet! It also fits easily into a tote bag or backpack.

Oh, Alpha Smart Neo 2. My partner and friend!

Freewrite

The Freewrite by Astrohaus is... um. Well, it’s a lot like the Alpha Smart Neo 2, except that it’s waaaay more expensive, much harder to use, and has terrible firmware.

There are cool things about it, for sure! For one, it has this weird... Pseudo typewriter feel. It’s much larger and heavier than an Alpha Smart, and I’m not sure that I actually consider it portable... But the thick, angled base practically functions as a lap desk. It’s comfortable to use and has a nice mechanical keyboard.

It has wifi capability, so you can send drafts directly to your dropbox/cloud/email, no cords or transfers needed. The screen is an e-ink scree, like a Kindle Paperwhite, easy on the eyes and readable in the sun. It’s also backlit, which is the one major win over the Alpha Smart.

I bought mine used off ebay for a fraction of the list price (this thing is NOT worth $600 on any planet, goodness gracious mercy dang! I paid about $180), and, um... I still don’t know if it was worth it, not when I can buy an Alpha Smart Neo 2 for $30 tops. I mean, I like the e-ink and the backlit screen, but... There’s a lag between typing and the words populating on the screen. There are no arrows to fix a typo. I had to send 10 emails back and forth to tech support to get it updated and working. It was not broken, and I understood all the directions... It’s just god awful firmware. I also lost a draft because it wipes your device if you open their Sprinter program while using your Freewrite.

I still use it, though! The tactile sensation is really nice, the keys make a satisfying clickety clackety, the E-ink screen is lovely, I adore the option to write in a not-that-well-lit room, and the wifi transfer is faster than my Alpha Smart’s wired method. But I still can’t recommend it as long as Alpha Smart Neo 2s are available, not unless you’re some combination of the following: a writing nut who writes so gosh dang much that these toys are worth it, someone who is big on tactile sensation, someone who likes hipster stuff, or someone who would love an Alpha Smart but can’t read the electronic screen well. If this is you, make sure you also have a strong grasp on how to talk to and understand tech support, because you will need them.

Just never ever EVER open Sprinter...

Notebooks

Leuchtturm1917, hard cover, A5, dotted

MAY I INTRODUCE YOU TO MY LOVE, THE LEUCHTTURM NOTEBOOK.

WHERE DO I EVEN START.

The Leuchtturm is... Just the best. The hard cover takes abuse well, stickers hold onto it nicely, it has two ribbon bookmarks and an elastic closure, there’s a folder attached to the back inside cover... The dot version is unobtrusive and encourages smaller writing, which helps the notebook last. And it is available in a rainbow of colors!

The paper is lovely, the pages are numbered, and IT HAS AN INDEX.

I’m a scientist, and working in a Leuchtturm is just like working in a fancy, expensive lab notebook. The set up is done already, man. You just gotta jot down what pages contain what. IT’S SO ORGANIZED, with almost zero effort! Mi amor.

Sure, I could make an index page and number all of my pages manually... But I’ve met myself. I won’t do it. When you combine all of these lovely features, you have one unbeatable notebook.

Plus, they’re easy to obtain in the states! I order them off Amazon or buy them at my local Barnes & Nobles.

Midori MD Notebook, A5, grid

The Midori has even nicer quality paper than the Leuchtturm, but the cover can’t take abuse, and it lacks the nice features. I truly appreciate the paper quality, but the other features bring me back to my Leuchtturms every time.

It’s a Japanese item and is more difficult to import to the states. You can get them off Amazon, though!

Pens

I use Uni-ball Signo 207 gel pens. They write comfortably, and using them feels satisfying. They should be available in most Walmart/Target type stores, at least in the states!

It should be noted that I’m just not a pen buff. I tried fountain pens, and it was more trouble than it was worth for me.

Folios/Traveler’s Notebooks

Okay, so you found the perfect notebook! Wanna make it SUPER DUPER FANCY PANTS?! Well, you could try a traveler’s notebook.

I only learned what a traveler’s notebook is about a year ago, so if you’re also in the dark... It’s a leather cover that holds notebooks inside with elastic. I own these chic sparrows, one for my Midori notebook (or whatever notebook I’m using at the time), and one for my journal.

My full name is etched into them, so please pardon my censorship XD

The chic sparrow traveler’s notebooks are so elegant and decadent and... I won’t lie, I literally move one or both around the house with me, just so I can look at them.

The one on the left is a Mr. Darcy deluxe, size A5, in the Wickham color. The one on the right is an Enchanted Woods deluxe, size A5, in the Elderwood color.

They have lots of pockets on the inside, a pen loop, and elastics to hold multiple notebooks. This one is strung with a Midori notebook. I also have a smaller B6 one that I use as a wallet! It holds a small notebook, so I can write down those ideas that always happen when I’m out and don’t have paper. The pockets hold IDs, credit cards, and cash.

It’s just this... magical, opulent item. While it’s likely the least practical thing on this list, it’s very special to me.

Lap Desks

I HAVE A HARRY POTTER RAVENCLAW STORAGE DESK FROM POTTERY BARN AND I FEEL LIKE A WITCH WHEN I USE IT.

Oh dear, I took a terrible picture, it looks so lovely in person.

The top can slide in both directions, revealing enough storage for several A5 notebooks, pens, and more. It’s a great way to cart your stuff into your favorite cozy nook for a writing session. Plus, you’ll feel like a Hogwarts student! It’s available in all four house designs, plus a Hogwarts crest version.

Pottery Barn puts these on sale occasionally. I’d aim for 25% off before buying.

My Writing Bag

I decked out a tote bag in writing pins to carry my Alpha Smart, thesaurus, a notebook, and pens. You can use any bag, as long as it accommodates what you need! Here are my fave sources for writing-related pins:

Literary Emporium, who makes my favorite pin, “Still I Rise,” a Maya Angelou quote. They have the most gorgeous pins.

When life gives you lemons, read them, advice for the ages

And fandom:

Digivice pin

My beloved Sailor Moon pin, the loveliest pin I’ve ever seen (not shown because it lives on my Sailor Moon jacket!). All of the inner senshi are available!

THAT’S ALL, THAT WAS SO MUCH. Please let me know if you try any of these out!

#writing #writing supplies #my favorite writing stuff #my writing stuff #faves

3 notes · View notes

porchwood · 6 years ago

Note

Hi just so I understand cause i keep waiting for it and it doesnt seem likely to happen have you kind of fallen out of love with wtm? and everlark in general tbh? cause ive been following you for a while now and you always had lil quotes and pictures and things that reminded you inspired you whatever it was about katniss and wtm and now alllll it is is gadge i followed you because personally i love what you did with everlark and im just wondering if thats gone and not foreseeable any time soon?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to answer this… It’s afair question - to a point. If you’re more of a drop-in person (like me) thanlive-on-the-dash, coming back to find my blog awash in Gadge might have beenquite upsetting. There are several reasons for the current state of things:

1. Life has been driving me into the ground since December26, 2013. (Yes, going on six straight years.) If you were a WtM reader from thebeginning, you may recall that I was pretty energetic and prolific in 2012-2013.Oh, there were tough times, but nothing like what started on the aforementioneddate (a car accident where I was in the “bystander” vehicle and it still got totaled)and has continued relentlessly ever since. Sometimes adversity leads to greatcreativity and sometimes it turns you into a depressed, exhausted, reclusivelump, and the past 5+ years have seen periods of both from me. These past 18months have been exceptionally awful (and expensive), resulting in very littlewriting at all, about any pairing.

2. Writing WtM takes a lot out of me. I don’t know whether thisis common knowledge or not, but it’s the gospel truth. I love that world, Ilove that version of Everlark, but every chapter requires so much hard work, itmakes me tired just to think of it. Not to mention, over the past couple of chaptersEverlark have been pushing for more intimacy than the plot/timeline allows, andso I’ve been struggling with how I want to handle that. Do I fight them andstick to the plan? (I can’t advance the timeline for several reasons.) Do I tryto figure out a cheat for them? They’ve got minds of their own and have changedmy plans multiple times, but this is something they genuinely can’t have, and Ihave to fight them on it. ☹ Which is sad, frustrating, and exhausting.

3. I’m a multi-pairing shipper, and have been from about 3chapters into WtM. Which means that my Everlark fics almost always feature asecondary pairing (or more than one), and sometimes I’ll get a plot bunny for afic about a pairing other than Everlark. Most writers in the THG fandom exclusivelywrite their OTP, whatever the plot bunny, but I find that some plot bunnies don’tfit Everlark as well as they do another pairing. (This is why I’ll never write aBeauty and the Beast Everlark fic unless Katniss is the “Beast,” if you will.)

4. The Everlark fandom is…tricky. I’ve never fit in there. Idon’t write Everlark the way the majority of fans see them (except for Peetabeing “sweet,” I guess), I hated the movies (I refuse to see MJ 1 or 2), and I’vemanaged to really rub some people the wrong way over the years –unintentionally, and for a variety of reasons – all of which leaves me feeling kinda down about Everlark in general. Don’t misunderstand me: I love Everlarkand WtM, but it’s really isolating to be this sad little island of unpopularopinions and unwelcome side-ships. That’s the part I really wish I could makeyou understand. For six years I’ve had Christopher Plummer in my head saying, “You’llnever be one of them,” and he’s so, cruelly, right. I want to cry every time Ithink of Embracing the Season (my E-rated Everlark modern AU oneshot for Lovein Panem - lots of daring for me!) because I poured heart and soul into that andit still wasn’t the Everlark that people wanted.

5. About a year and a half ago (when Strawberry Time reallytook off of its own accord) I participated in Gadge Day 2017, working my buttoff to find and schedule (and tag) over 100 carefully chosen Gale/Madge/Gadge aestheticposts, and for lack of a better way to say it: it turned on my Gadge-dar. After that, thosekinds of posts just leapt out at me whenever I had a chance to scroll, and forseveral months I wasn’t sure what to do with that. With a little encouragementfrom @ghtlovesthg, I came up with #march madgeness – wherein I turned my Tumblrinto Madge/Gadge-land for one month, and it was a blast. (Side-stepping Gadgefor a moment: Madge is a highly underappreciated and underused character,especially in fic/on Tumblr and I love splashing the dash with Madge-love.) Thenext month I launched a run of pent-up Everlark posts (i.e., regularprogramming), but I missed my Madge, so I instituted #madge monday – one day aweek when I could splash the dash with Madge/Gadge. At every juncture I gavepeople tags to block if they didn’t want to see this content (though I stillget unfollows every time I post, alas). I participated in last summer’s THG Reread– on the fringe of it, but my posts (reblogs and meta) were strongly Everlark-focusedagain during that time. So there’s definitely still been Everlark on my blog,but if you’re just dropping in (or for that matter, glancing at my archive), you’regoing to see a majority of Madge/Gadge.

6. Frankly, Gadge is fun. It’s a completely different dynamicthan Everlark, with less pressure to create something transcendent, and whenthe chips are down, I’m more likely to work on something that isn’t my six-years-runningopus. This spring, in the midst of lots of awfulness, I finally wrote a piecethat I’ve had in my head for years – The Best Part of Waking Up – with a differentpairing featured in each drabble “chapter,” including Gadge, Luka/Johanna (whoI’ve been wanting to put out there for AGES) and Jack/Raisa. I haven’t beenable to write quickly in years, and I think I finished those three “chapters”in about two days, maybe three. I completed the Raisa drabble in a couple ofhours and I consider it one of the best things I’ve ever written. (Honestly, ifa pairing was going to topple Everlark in my heart, it would be Jack/Raisa, i.e.,Mr. Everdeen/Mrs. Mellark. I love them to distraction.) Once upon a time I could drabble/sprint Everlark too – notoften, but I could manage it. Maybe it’ll happen again someday, but for thetime being, when I write in quick eager bursts, it’s usually about aside-pairing.

7. Because I just need to say it: about a year ago, I set up a secondary Tumblr for almost all my side-interests and ships outside of THG. When I first joined Tumblr, porchwood was just a fun page where I posted whatever struck my fancy (pretty things, funny things, whatever I liked), and over the next few years, I honed it into a pretty “writer’s notebook” for WtM and my other THG fics (related quotes, aesthetic posts, writing check-ins, etc.). When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, I shared a handful of posts pertaining to a new ship (not a new direction for my blog or writing, just sharing my excitement) and it was made very clear to me that people didn’t want to see that content on my page. So when I started watching Voltron: Legendary Defender, I had a sneaking suspicion people wouldn’t want to hear about those ships either. So I started an entirely new Tumblr for that content, and every so often I accidentally post something to the wrong page, which I immediately correct in horror, but people still unfollow. Point being: this blog is THG (and a few personal life updates) ONLY, with a pretty consistent aesthetic. I hide literally everything else that I’m interested in so you don’t have to be bothered by it. Is it really so unacceptable for me to have side-ships (complementary to the main pairing, not threatening to them) in the same universe??

8. Believe it or not, I’ve been working on WtM all along,just not making any massive strides. I tried to chip away at the current chapterduring Camp Nanowrimo last July, and it was a disaster. I thought joining awriting group would be helpful, but I didn’t realize that Camp Nano is basicallya lot of writing sprints in which you try to churn out as many words aspossible, which you then report to your “cabin” – and that’s the onlyinteraction with your fellow writers. I can’t write like that anymore (seeabove) and especially not when it comes to WtM, so I got discouraged veryquickly and sort of drifted away. I reattempted Nano on my own in April and wrotealmost 15K words, but in that instance I was really just using the Nano platform toset and reach a goal (which I didn’t ☹ ); I wasn’t in a cabin and didn’t interact with anyother writers, except my friend @ghtlovesthg, who read the finished portion.

9. I want to finish this dang chapter so much, and frankly, theonly way that’s going to happen is if life gets a little better and I holemyself up with my laptop for hours on end for weeks at a time – and somemagical being comes to support/cheer/comfort me while I do so. It’s currentlysitting at about 25K and I anticipate it will need to be at least double that,which is beyond ridiculous, but that’s the nature of WtM. The chapters are asmany words as it takes.

TL, DR: I still love Everlark and I’m still working on WtM, but my life has been extremely difficult for a very long time and I don’t have a great Everlark lifeline. Gadge and all my other ships are fun, and most of the Gadge you see on my Tumblr is aesthetic stuff for themed days/months/occasions. Anything non-THG goes on my sideblog.

#queued #i'm sorry to be snappy #i understand the confusion #and i'm not happy that i'm not finishing wtm either #ask #gade #side-ships #anon

57 notes · View notes

insomniac-dot-ink · 7 years ago

Text

Whales Aren’t Real, Ch1

Genre: sci-fi, wlw, series

Words: 3k

Summary: A chosen Earth Restitution Team goes diving into the ocean to look for what remains of ocean life

The young RT member finds one of the few humans who adapted to the destruction of the planet, she asks her if whales are real or not.

Lesbian soft-apocalyptica.

Support the work:

Ko-Fi ⭐Patreon ⭐ WordPress

Chapters: One, Two

Chapter 1: Breech

Life wants to live. That’s a basic tenant of nature, that it strives and reaches and wants.

That is what hunger is, and sex, and frogs with poison in their skin and bugs that look like twigs, birds with hollow bones and primates with fingertips. It is fish growing wings and the first inklings of life that swam to light.

The want that carves out canyons into forests and trenches into coral reefs. That want that turns empty plains into rumbling gardens and the whole dang earth into something… different.

It’s something Remy has to put her faith in, blindly, religiously, fanatically. Life wanted to live and that meant something.

-------

The Wb-77 glides effortlessly across the dark blue waters, it’s pointed triangle wings cutting through the gentle ocean breeze and buoying them a couple feet above the ocean’s surface. The sky is almost as blue as the waters down below it and the whole world is one large expanse.

It’s so large it feels like she could open her arms and fall into it forever.

Remy takes a deep breathe, it tastes sticky with salt and sunshine, and she grins.

“Woooo!” She stretches her arms up to the sky and whoops, tossing her head back and laughing into the salty air. “Can you feel that Kel?” She calls out above the dim hum of the Sunflower Motor. “That’s the energy of good luck.”

The pilot glances over his shoulder at her, “keep focused Rem.” He says in a flat tone, sunken eyes focusing on the stretch of distance ahead of them. “Mission in ten.”

She nods with gusto and reaches inside her own small cockpit and extracts a large tub of dark jelly, she grabs a globby handful and starts applying the adhesive to her bare skin and swim bottoms.

“I’m just saying, I’ve got a good feeling about this Kel,” she says brightly, “today is the day.”

“Please,” his tone sags around the edges, burdened by its own weariness. “Just keep your camera on the rocks Remy. It’s the RT, not a travel holiday.” Remy could have stuck her tongue out at him, but she decides to tug on the end of her small tight ponytail instead, “Don’t tell me you’re not feeling it.”

She slathers another handful of goop onto her leg and pats it down generously.

Kel sighs, “whatever it is, I’m not sure I want to feel it Rem. You ever hear of ocean madness?” Her eyes glimmer, “have you ever heard of wet-blanket syndrome?” “Haha,” he turns the plane gently toward a pile of rocks in the distance. A promising location for new crustacean life. “I’m serious!” She crows over the wind, “They’re singing for us right now, I know it.” “Maybe in your head, SCO-y.” SCO-y was the name for all new recruits to the Restitution Team, Single-celled Organisms, newbies, guppies, easily dismissed. Remy ignores the name.

“Says the man with one burst eardrum,” she puts her hands on her hips as she finishes applying the protection jelly all along her shoulders. “I hear it! No one else is listening.” “It just isn’t exactly top of the list yet Rem,” he says, this time a little more warmly, they were almost reaching the final destination. “Besides,” he says as they slow to a crawl and a couple dozen seagulls caw overhead, “Whales aren’t real.” Remy rolls her eyes, “you’ll see.” She turns toward the edge of the Wb-77’s wing, secures her helmet, mouthpiece, and flippers, and waits dutifully for the jelly to finish drying on her skin.

She gives Kel the thumbs and dives feet first into the dark waters below.

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

Remy’s camera flashes in the dark, lighting up blank, faceless dark rocks and more edged crevices. She spies the signs of small tiny minnows off to her right, but nothing substantial.

Was it too much to ask for one mollusk? A tiny hermit crab, a nice oyster.

She swims around in circles and takes another flashing image of nearby plant growth, she couldn’t name it but it resembled kelp with long single green tendrils reaching up. That had to be good sign, she takes a quick series of photos from all angles.

The Council would dismiss anything that wasn’t thorough and well documented.

Finally, she takes a deep breath and gently parts the plant, examining the underside of the leaves and where it’s roots met the sand.

She curses in her had as she sees no new macro life anywhere near the vicinity. Again.

Remy is sighing and can feel Kel’s smug aura wafting toward her from above, of course there wasn’t anything new. She could also feel that he was definitely napping by now.

She’s inspecting what felt like her fiftieth blank dark rock with a bit of algae growing on it, everything had algae, soft mossy stuff that layered the rocks. Too bad nothing of note was eating it right now.

Remy frowns deeply, her mind working like a ticking clock. Soooo, Kel was definitely napping by now. And signs of algae usually meant ancient runoff was still affecting the area from nearby.

Remy has a bright feeling in her gut, it was still going to be a special day. It had to be.

She turns her body away from her assigned rock enclave and toward the sun, she starts swimming. The protective gel was meant to coat her body and keep it at room-temperature, as well as absorb any toxins in the water so it didn’t leach into her skin.

It also meant that with two hours left of air in her tank that she could at least dive a little deeper.

Remy starts swimming.

Her flashlight reflects off of nothing for a long, long time. She only stops once to go top-side and make sure she can still the Wb-77 in the distance. There are several streaks of white birds over head.

Her eyes follow them and she sets her mouth, “you must be going somewhere as well.” She focuses on the seagulls diligently and starts crawling in their direction. Her muscles complain at her and her chest aches slightly after 40 minutes of swimming.

Maybe this was only kinda a good idea after all.

Then she sees something sticking out of the water, flat and grey and striking. Several seagulls land on it and peck the top.

“Yes!” She pounds the air and secures her air tank one last time, diving further into the water. This is what she was waiting for.

Her camera flashes off something immediately, something large and looming.

“In-it,” she mumbles through her mouth piece excitedly and starts paddling.

It is large and had sharp crumbling edges, dark sides that are covered in more patchy algae, it appeared to be perfectly square and with sturdy almost-intact walls. Somehow, it managed to stay upright after all this time, reaching and carving its way to the ocean surface.

A deadciv building.

Remy can’t help it, she makes a sharp noise that might be described as a ‘squeal,’ she starts flashing pictures of the battered windows and tiny fish swimming around it’s ceilings.

A window to a skyscraper of ghosts.

Remy starts to swim back and forth, pressing her gel-covered fingers over the rough surface and looking for signs of life among the wreckage. It wasn’t entirely what she was looking for, but it was new.

She knew people studied the deadcivs, wrote papers on how they failed and why they made this whole mess to begin with. But she can’t help but feel a wave of affection for them as she finds these towering immense artifacts.

They really did exist down here, made things, lived on the surface.

She finds the tallest building she can and starts following it down, down, down, there must be something down there, sidewalks or mailboxes or whatever else they used to make this whole thing work.

She runs her hands down the buildings spine and sinks as far as she can, the light drains from the water around her- all except her brilliant flashlight glowing up ahead. She listens, straining her ears for any slow movements or the appearance big ugly eyes in the dark.

She would take anything at this point, any sign.

That’s when her oxygen tank starts beeping at her.

“Gdang’it.” She hadn’t been paying attention, Remy quickly turns back toward the top.

Luckily, she can still make out the light up above and she starts following the building up up up, the thing is as tall as a mountain.

Beep beep beep.

‘I know, I know’ she thinks to herself.

Beep, beep, beep.

She can feel her lungs start to burn as the tank goes into ‘oxygen saving mode’ and starts providing at half capacity. She paddles harder with her flippers.

Beep beep

She curses in her head and her vision starts to go dizzy, the light above flashes and she pushes and forces herself toward it. She couldn’t afford to pass out now.

Her lungs are a forest fire, she claws at the water with all her might and kicks until her ankles go numb. Her senses blitz in different directions as she pushes toward the surface with all her might.

She comes crashing up through the surf, coughing and scrambling for breath.

Her muscles are screaming at her and she feebly manages pull herself onto the of crumbling building roof, rolling over and lying there in the pale flashing sunlight.

“Ah, fuck,” she curses at her oxygen tank and starts taking deep, salt-tinged breathes. It was going to be a hell of thing getting back now. She closes her eyes and lets her body cool, one deep gulping breath at a time.

She’s still gasping when she hears it, a splash of water just off to her left. Remy barely has a moment to respond when her eyes fly open, they land on a figure.

A figure standing on the top of the building next to hers, staring at her.

Oh.

Remy’s eyes go wide and her mouth falls open a little bit.

She wasn’t alone here.

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

Remy had heard people talk about those who stayed on the surface, the ones who refused the evacuation sirens and hid from the Exodus crews. Proper Enclaves called them ‘adapted by necessity’ and the improper Enclaves called them ‘less than human.’ In more senses than one.

Remy doesn’t think of those Enclaves as she’s lying there, soaked and covered in protection jelly as she takes in a green-tinged stranger.

“Oh.” It comes out as a simple pale gasp.

It was a girl.

She was wearing something like a bright orange nylon swimsuit, old and ragged looking with one yellow stripe across the chest.

She has a winding beaded necklace around her throat and matching beads around her wrists. Her thick brown hair is pulled back into a low ponytail that trails all the way down her spine. Her skin is tinted slightly green and covered in flecks of dark freckles, if freckle is the right word for them- small dots that seem to catch the light itself.

Remy could also make out her fan-shaped ears and unnaturally large eyes, eyes taking up more of her face than Remy thought possible. She had dark pupils that could eat up a night sky and full frowning lips.

Her webbed sharp hands hold something long and sharp.

Remy swallows dryly and spits out the first thing that comes to mind, “are you a mermaid?” The girl holds up the spear a little higher and narrows her large dark eyes, “Are you an idiot bird landed here?” Remy scrambles to sit back up and inch away from the pointed spear tip, she puts her hands up, “Woah, woah. No need for sharp objects. I come in peace.” She quotes some of her favorite old media, the girl seems unimpressed.

She shakes her thick hair and her lips curl back, “I’m sure.” “Wait, wait,” Remy tries to stall the girl before this turns from an expedition into her untimely funeral. The girl contemplates her for a long second, “What?” She finally asks in a hoarse, flat manner.

Remy tilts her head to the side, “I thought planet-siders couldn’t speak Common.” The girl makes an impressive eye roll, “well we usually try not to talk to Deserters to begin with.” Remy frowns at those words, she frowns at all of her, “that’s… too bad?”

The girl sniffs loudly and doesn’t answer that. “What are you doing her?”

Remy looks her up and down, “I’m looking for something. Are you... also looking for something here?” She grasps for conversation.

She raises her eyebrows, “I’m hunting,” she raises her spear, “and I would move along if I were you, this is claimed fishing grounds.” “Oh!” Remy says sharply, “no, I’m not trying to take your fish. I’m an RTM!”

The girl seems uninspired and Remy wilts a little bit, “A Restitution Team Member?” She clarifies weakly, “we’re here to check on the planet? And like, help it.” She gives a weak smile, trying to make clear she was one of the good guys.

The girl’s mouth is still snarling, “Go probe your gadgets elsewhere, you’re going to scare off all the fish with your noisy flopping around anyway.”

Remy puts her hands on her hips, “I’m gathering data, you know, trying to find important recovery strategies.” She blows a piece of stray hair out of her face.

“Catch me swooning,” she waves a hand airly in front of her, “now, don’t actually make me use this.” She shakes her spear in the air, “you seem like such a nice girl.” “Really?” She perks up, “because I’ve been meaning to talk with one of you for awhile, you know, since I learned you can speak common and-”

“Alright. I change my mind,” she gestures with her thumb downward, “nicely annoying.” Remy cups her hands around her mouth, “Booo.” “Get out of here.” She tries to shoo her and Remy wants to make a face back. They have a very long stare-off for a second.

Remy is the one that decides this isn’t going to be worth it, “fine, fine,” she deflates, “But!” She sticks a finger in the air, “I do have one questions and I won’t leave until you answer it.” The girl shifts from foot to foot, thinking, “what?”

Remy leans forward and her eyes go wide, “Do you know where the whales?” The girl lifts her eyebrows and shifts from foot to foot, “the what?” “You know,” Remy practically vibrates, bouncing up and down in place, “giant sea mammals! They are enormous, and have brush-teeth, and tiny eyes, and they breathe air! And some sing. You’d know them if you saw them.” She gives Remy a funny look, “do they also breathe fire and fly around capturing princesses?” “Whales,” she says slowly, “and why would they do that? They’re nice.” “I didn’t mean, that’s not the, ugh,” the girl struggles with something. “I don’t know any whales. Please, go take your sea madness elsewhere.” “Oh! Kel was just mentioning that too,” she grins and eyes the girl one last time, “what’s your name?” She backs up, she glances at something and then back toward Remy, “if I tell you my name will you go? I will really do have shit to do here.” “Yes!” Remy doesn’t mention the fact she had run out of oxygen. It might be awhile before she can actually leave. But the stranger didn’t need to know that.

The girl gives a slow smile, “Empress Feck steck. Leader of the free world.” Remy pauses for a second, thinks, and then gives a small bow, “well, Empress Fish sticks-” “Wait.” The girl seems to be rethinking her choices. “I’m Laramie Jones, but you can call me Remy. At your service.” She winks, “your Stickyness.” The girl groans, “Callisto. Like the constellation.” “The what?”

She just shakes her head and opens her mouth, “She’s the bear one.” Remy stands up straight, “the bear stars. I can see that.” She rolls her eyes, “And Remy. Like the very very odd Deserter looking for Welshmen or whatever.” “Whales.” Their eyes meet and they contemplate each other for a long moment.

“Okay. Where are whales supposed to be?” “Oh!” Remy opens her mouth to give coordinates, but instead the deep thrum of an engine fills the air, choppy and cutting through the space. Remy looks up and she sees the outline of the Wb-77 on the horizon.

“Ah, that’s mine,” She says quickly, “you should meet Kels, he can tell you-” A loud splash interrupts her and when Remy looks back to the Planetsider, the girl, Callisto, is gone. Remy gives a deep sigh and feels a weight of disappointment in her gut.

“Listen for singing!” She calls after her, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” She’s certain the girl doesn’t hear her as she must dive deeper and deeper into the water.

Remy has a sudden urge to dive in after he, ask her if Planetsider’s really did have gills, ask her how far down they could swim, and what exactly she has seen in these dark murky waters. If it was monsters or skeletons or just empty space.

One of those things had to be large creatures the size of houses, with small eyes and brush-like teeth, and voices that sometimes sing. Remy was sure of it, she had to be.

Chapter two =======>

#wlw #sci fi #science fiction #sapphic #writers on tumblr #original story #original writing #Whales Aren't Real #third times the charm #f/f #my work #chapter 1 #writeblr

383 notes · View notes

twin-books · 6 years ago

Text

Another AU

Hey, working on a story for this AU I’m obsessed with now. Here’s the first part. If you guys like it, I’ll post more, if you don’t, oh well. I can manage. I’m a short writer so they are more like “parts” less like “chapters”. I have like 3 more parts stored away and done. Stuck at this one area of how to continue but working on it. Anyway, have fun. Warning; It will be a bit angsty, my sincerest apologies. I hurt just as much as you and I wrote the dang thing.

It had been yet another day of fighting for the citizens of Paris. Another akuma defeated. Another victory for Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was time for another fist bump and another swift escape. But when Chat held his fist out for their victory fist bump, Ladybug only stood there and stared at him. It was only a few seconds of silence. Only a few, before Ladybug raced up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, ensnaring his other arm in her embrace. He was tense for another few seconds before he relaxed and hugged her back. He wasn't going to complain about the free hug but it did have him worried a bit. "Ladybug..." "Shhh..." Came her gentle voice and he closed his mouth and just enjoyed it. "You know your my best friend, right, kitty?" Chat stiffened, just a second, before he frowned and reluctantly pulled her away from him. She immediately wiped her face and he knew she had been crying. "Are you okay, M'lady?" He put his hands on her shoulders. Ladybug swiped his hands off her shoulders. "Just answer the question, you stupid cat!" She said, breaking into a smile and laughing. He smiled. "Yeah... I know." She continued to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "And you know I love you, right?" He fell silent, thinking. He knew what she meant but he almost wished he didn't. "I do, buggaboo. Are you sure you're mewkay, M'lady?" He smirked when she laughed, wiping the rest of her tears away. "I'm okay, Chaton. I swear. I just got a little emotional." Chat tilted his head slightly. He knew better to dig any deeper. "But only a kitty bit, right?" He inquired, smirking wider. Ladybug lightly punched him in the arm. Then there came the beeping signifying it was time to head out. "We better get going." He turned to leave but his ears perked when she said, "Aren't you forgetting something, kitty?" He turned his head and saw her holding out her fist. He smiled and let his knuckles meet hers. "Pound it!" "Au revoir, M'lady." "Au revoir, Chaton." Ladybug smiled at him, hinted sadness in her eye that he barely noticed. "Oh, could you meet me at the tour Eiffel later tonight? I have something very important to tell you." He smiled and nodded. "I'll be there, bugaboo. You know I will." She nodded, her smile faltering a bit. Then she turned, pulled out her yo-yo, and swung away. Chat really hoped she was okay but he figured whatever was on her mind she would tell him, tonight. .......................................... Delighted at the chance to see his lady again, Chat didn't waste any time making his way to the tower. Upon perching himself on the railing at their usual spot he called out for her. When he got no answer he assumed she hadn't made it there yet so he waited. After several minutes of swishing his tail back and forth in anticipation he grew confused. Maybe she wanted to change it up a bit? A new spot, perhaps? He climbed the famous landmark, looking every which-way. It was odd, nonetheless. But then an idea occurred to him and he headed to the first landing of the tower. Surely she would be there. In no time at all he found himself on the first landing and he looked around. He didn't see any sign of Ladybug. No pretty silhouette. Nothing. But he did spot a candle and next to it was a box. A very familiar box. Picking up the box he found a letter attached to it. His heart began rapidly speed up. She couldn't... She wouldn't... He unfolded the paper and scanned the words. Dear Chaton, Hello, kitty. Sorry, I couldn't do this in person. I just couldn't face you. I'm tired, Chat. It's been so hard. I have a life I want to live but Ladybug always gets in the way. I want you to know it isn't your fault. Please don't think that. You were the best partner I could ask for. I just can't do it anymore. It's too much weight. Saving Paris... Saving you. I can't love you like you want me to, Chat, and it hurts. I want to. I really do. But I love someone else. I'm in your way. You've nearly gotten killed many a time thanks to me. I know you always believed in me. I know you always say I can do it, but I can't. It's too much. I want to save everyone but I can't and I hate that. What if the next person I couldn't save was you? Or him? I don't want to be Ladybug when that happens. I hope you can forgive me, Chat. I didn't want to hurt you. Take care of Tikki, for me, okay? I'm gonna miss you, kitty. I'm so sorry... No longer yours, Buggaboo It hurt so much he didn't even realize he was crumpling the paper as his fists tightened. He tried to hold in his emotions. It was too much. He couldn't handle it. This wasn't happening. No. No. It wasn't true. His Ladybug would never abandon him. His ladybug would never abandon Paris like this. His ladybug would never leave. He didn't open the box. He set it to the side. He was afraid opening it would make it all too real. He left the slightly crumpled letter under it so it wouldn't blow away. She would be back. She was probably just scared. She wouldn't just abandon all of Paris like that. His Ladybug would never do that. Never. So he went home and he climbed in bed. He ignored Plagg. He refused to listen. She would be back. She had to be. .......................................... When Adrien woke up the next morning he almost forgot but it all came back and he was nearly overcome with anxiety. But he had felt that before so he ignored it, like he did Plagg, and he got dressed. He somehow managed to convince Nathalie to let him walk to school on his own. Maybe she sensed he needed the space or maybe she just didn't want to deal with a moody teen boy. Regardless, he was grateful for the extra room to breathe. That space was eventually swallowed up by his kwami, as Plagg got way too close to his face. "Are you okay, kid?" Adrien just pushed him out of the way and kept walking. "Someone could see you, Plagg!" He grumbled but Plagg just got right back in his face. "If that will finally get you to answer me, then I don't care." Plagg glared. Adrien glared back, staring the tiny kwami down for a few seconds before sighing. "I don't want to talk about it, Plagg..." "Then don't." Plagg said. Adrien stopped in his place and looked back at the kwami, whom had fallen behind. "Just listen to me." Adrien reluctantly nodded. "What if she isn't coming back, kid? You just left Tikki up there! Hawkmoth could get her-" "She'll be back." "But what if-" "She'll be back." "But, kid-" "I said she'll be back!" Adrien screamed, his fists balled. Plagg's ears fell flat against his head as he glared. "What if she isn't, Adrien?" Plagg cried. "I know you really want her back! I do too! But could you please consider the fact she may never be back! She didn't just abandon you!" In all their time together, Adrien had never seen the little cat so angry. "What about Tikki?" Plagg finally mumbled, his angry face falling. Adrien looked down, feeling a bit ashamed. "You're right, Plagg. I'm sorry. She didn't just abandon us, she abandoned her kwami and I abandoned her, too." He looked up and pulled Plagg back over to his pocket. "I gotta go to school now but... I promise you, as soon as I'm free, we'll go back for Tikki, okay?" Plagg didn't look him in the eye. "I'm not going to abandon her too." "Fine." Plagg grumbled and Adrien attempted to make a comforting smile. "Now get back in the pocket! Someone will see you!" Plagg continued to linger and Adrien rolled his eyes. "I put fresh Camembert in there." He smirked as he watched the kwami practically dive into the pocket. Then he ran the rest of the way to class.

#MLB AU #MLB #ladybug #chat noir #plagg #adrien agreste #miraculous ladybug #i am a horrible person #IloveChatIswear

9 notes · View notes