#idk if people like stories with ocs as the somewhat main focus but oh well

[casualmaraudering]

so i started drafting a fic and thought i’d post a little wip cause i rather like it  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

James feels like he might vomit when he sees the house. 

It’s a complete ruin. There’s smoke coming from the inside, the fence and the front door are in ruins, and half of the roof has collapsed. 

His heart is hammering, and he feels panic rise in his chest. 

Peter betrayed them.

But maybe, just maybe, this isn’t what it looks like. Maybe the inside is empty. Maybe they’ve noticed in time and fled, Sirius and Remus and Navi. They’re okay, they must be okay. 

James runs inside, not bothering to wait for Lily. He has to know, he needs to know, he needs to be sure.

Please, please, not him, not them.

The lounge is in disarray. Most of the furniture is either broken into pieces beyond repair or in smoke. Picture frames lay smashed on the floor, toys and books are scattered throughout the room. The walls have nasty hex stains on them, so does the floor and ceiling.

James can barely notice, though. He doesn’t hear the glass crunching below his feet, he can’t smell the smoke. He feels no pain when he stumbles on a piece of what might have once been the coffee table. 

His eyes are fixed on a body, half sitting completely still against the back wall of the room.

“No,” he chokes out, tears already spilling down his cheeks. It’s not real, it can’t be real. “No no no no no no no.”

He’s down on his knees crouching towards it, refusing to believe in what he sees. 

Not him, no, not him, it can’t be him, it can’t be, not him.

His hands are shaking as he grabs Sirius by the shoulders - there’s no response. Absolutely nothing. Sirius is motionless and limp as James shakes him.

“Come on, come on!” James sobs. “Wake up! Please, please, please wake up.”

Sirius’s face is even paler than James remembers it being. His hair is a mess, falling down around his face, long like he always keeps it. There’s a small trail of blood from his lips down to his chin, already dried up.

Sirius has his eyes open. Hollow, and empty, and painfully grey. 

“Padfoot, Sirius, please,” James keeps on babbling through the tears. He can’t control his breath anymore, pulling Sirius into his arms. His fingers run through his hair, rub Sirius’s back, touch his arms, chest, face. Anything to make him do something, to stop with that stupid game, to just wake up. “Please, please, fuck, wake up, don’t do this to me! Not you!” 

He waits for a witty remark, a laugh and an explanation of it all being a prank that went a bit too far.

But there’s nothing. Sirius remains cold and still in James’s arms, his eyes open, not a single movement, or breath. No heartbeat. 

Sirius Black lies dead in James’s arms that Halloween night. 

“NO!” 

Mere hours ago he chatted with Sirius through their mirrors, talking about tonight’s visit, babbling mindlessly about Navi and Remus and how excited they were to see James and Lily again. And now James is here, in the ruins of Sirius’s home, cradling his lifeless body, clinging to it as if maybe, somehow, it will make a difference. 

“James?”

He sobs into Sirius’s shoulder, soaking his shirt; he’s wearing his favourite t-shirt, some Muggle punk band James never bothered to listen to. And now Sirius won’t ever make him listen to any Muggle records again.

Lily stumbles next to him, falling to her knees.

“James-”

“He’s gone,” he chokes out. “Lily, he’s-”

“Oh God,” her voice sounds strained, but James can’t bear to let go of Sirius to even look at her. He doesn’t want to let go, he can’t leave, he can’t just leave Sirius here. 

He’s unaware of Lily, shaking and soundlessly crying, taking one of Sirius’s hands in hers. Her other hand, trembling, gently closes Sirius’s eyes. 

“Please wake up,” James says again. Deep down he knows it won’t make a difference; nothing can bring Sirius back now. Yet he keeps his body in an embrace, talking as if Sirius can hear. “Padfoot, please. You promised we’d talk tonight, you promised.”

“James-”

“You can’t leave me, you can’t, not you, anyone but you. You’re my brother, Sirius, my baby brother, you can’t just do that!” 

There’s a hand on his shoulder, and then he’s being pulled into Lily’s arms, still holding onto Sirius’s body.

“What do I do?” he chokes out. “He’s gone, Lily.”

“We need to check the rest of the house, James. Maybe-”

“I can’t.” 

“Yes, you can. Sirius wouldn’t want-”

“Don’t. Don’t talk to him like he’s-” dead. James can’t make himself say it. It’d be too real. 

“We need to check. Remus, and Navi, Jesus, I hope-” she stumbles up, leaving James on the floor. He can hear her going up the stairs.

He wants to move. He needs to see if maybe, hopefully, Remus and Navi made it out. But he can’t make himself let go of Sirius. 

'If anything happens, promise me, James. Promise you’ll keep them safe for me.’

He rests Sirius’s body against the wall, just like it had been when James entered the house.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobs. “I wish-... I love you, Pads. I love you so much.”

He slowly gets up, tearing his eyes away from the body that once was his best friend. 

He makes it to the hallway when he hears Lily’s shriek, piercing through his entire body. He stumbles up the stairs, even if deep down he knows what it means.

Lily is in the nursery, on the floor, clutching yet another body. James looks away, tears spilling again, a sob escaping his throat.

Remus didn’t make it either. 

James pieces it all together. They’ve lost the war. And yet, he can’t bring himself to care. 

He’s lost two of his closest friends and his niece. All in one night. 

James slumps down next to Lily.

Remus, in a way, looks just like after every full moon; pale skin, drops of blood dried on his face, hair a mess of curls. His wand lies next to him; he tried protecting himself and Navi, most likely.

James feels another wave of nausea at the thought of the little girl. He doesn’t want to see her, he can’t bare to see her like this, like Sirius and Remus.

James takes hold of Remus’s hand, not holding back the tears. Beside him, Lily sobs. 

They’ve lost their whole family tonight. 

They were so happy, once upon a time. When she was born, Sirius and Remus were glowing, never having thought they’d get to raise a child of their own. It all seemed too good to be true, even in the mids of a war. And James was so happy, too. He’s always wished nothing but happiness for Sirius.

And then the prophecy happened. And of course, it had to be Sirius’s family. Of all the kids in the world, Sirius’s daughter had to be the ‘lucky’ chosen one.

James isn’t sure how much time passes with him and Lily on the nursery floor, Lily crying into Remus’s shirt, James clinging to his hand. They really should leave. The place is bound to be crawling with people once the news gets around. 

Yet he can’t make himself go. He has no strength left. They war is lost. 

Then, there’s a noise. A noise James can recognize anywhere. 

“God,” Lily gets up and stumbles towards the crib, covered with rubble. She pushes away the roof tiles and the pieces of wood, and then there’s the noise again and-

“James, she’s okay.”

James rushes to her.

And in the crib, there is Navi, making small noises. She seems to be asleep, and untouched aside one a wound on her forehead. 

“Oh my God.”

“Jesus,” Lily carefully picks her up. Navi squirms in her arms. “It’s okay. Auntie Lily is here, it’s okay, we’ve got you darling.”

“How did-”

“I don’t know, but we need to go.”

“Lily-”

“I know, it’s… it’s awful, I don’t want to leave them here, but if she’s alive then something must have happened, and we can’t stay here any longer. We promised to keep her safe. We need to leave now.”

‘Make sure she’s safe. In case Rem and I don’t make it.’

James takes one last look at the body lying on the floor. He takes Lily’s hand, and apparates.

[crystalstar8]

Knights of the Night (ch. 5)

Chapter 5

Ch 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 1,942

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @mozy-j  @daechwitad-2​

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing...

               “Come downstairs and meet our new friends!” said Hoseok.

               Catalina’s eyes widened when she saw the person coming around the corner upstairs. He was bookmarking the book in his hands and closing it. As he walked down the stairs, Catalina took in his sharp, intelligent eyes, his full lips and otherwise soft features. His hair was styled delicately over his forehead, his shoulders were broad, his chest was big, even under his sweater and…

               Catalina knew those thighs.

               Jungkook choked beside Catalina and nudged her.

               “Thighs,” he whispered. Catalina nodded.

               “We saw you in the souvenir shop the other day,” said Catalina. “I’m sorry, uh, my name is Catalina.”

               “It’s nice to meet you,” Namjoon said with a smile, his dimples appearing. Catalina blushed. He was way too gorgeous. “Yeah, Hoseok and I stopped there on our way into town the other day. I think I remember seeing you two there.”

               “Oh! You guys work at the souvenir store!” said Hoseok. “I knew you looked kinda familiar.”

               “Yeah, we’re only there on the weekends,” said Jungkook. “We’re only gonna be working for the season.”

               “It seems like an interesting job,” said Hoseok. “You’ll get to see all the tourists.”

               “You guys are all students?” asked Namjoon. Catalina, Jungkook and Jimin all nodded. He asked them about their majors and what kinds of classes they were taking, which they happily answered until Catalina caught a glimpse of the time.

               “Guys, it’s three am,” she said. “We should probably head home.”

               “Oh jeez, we have that stupid French class at eight tomorrow,” said Jungkook.

               “We won’t keep you then,” said Taehyung. “Classes are important.”

               Taehyung walked them all out, through the front door this time, and the three friends began making their way back to the car.

               “Well, that was interesting,” said Catalina. “We didn’t die, so that was cool.”

               “I thought they were all pretty cool!” said Jungkook. “I mean, still a bit weird, but cool.”

               “Taehyungie wants me to teach him how to play video games,” said Jimin.

               “He wants you to teach him?” Jungkook asked with a laugh. Jimin smacked his arm.

               “We’ll be learning together,” said Jimin.

               “That’s so cute,” said Catalina. “You already have a nickname for him. Anyway, I have a question: why the hell were they all so attractive?”

               “I was thinking the same thing!” said Jimin. “It didn’t make any sense! Like, normal people don’t look like that. They were way too beautiful.”

               “We’re normal people though,” said Jungkook. Catalina and Jimin looked at him in confusion. “I mean, we’re hot too. Sometimes people are just hot.”

               “We’re like, normal people hot though,” said Jimin. “Those guys were like…gods or something.”

               “Yeah, way too pretty. Perfect skin, perfect hair, all charming,” said Catalina.

               “Red eyes,” Jimin mumbled.

               “Okay fine, they were unusually pretty,” said Jungkook. “I’m just glad we got some awesome footage today. I can’t wait to dump this.”

               “Okay, well don’t do it tonight, because we do have class tomorrow morning,” said Catalina.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Catalina was running again. Always running. Her feet were bare and her lungs burned. The concrete beneath her feet gave way to metal grating. Her footsteps clanged and echoed here as she made her way through the tunnels. She glanced behind her. It was dark, but she could see a set of red eyes approaching her, almost glowing. These eyes weren’t the ones she was used to. These were mean. These eyes looked at her like she was prey. The man who the eyes belonged to walked, as if it didn’t take much effort to chase after her. He had a sickening smile on his face.

               Catalina needed to get out of these tunnels. If she could get back to her friends, they’d protect her.

               “Here, kitty, kitty,” the man said, his voice mirthful. “Don’t you know trespassers get eaten, little kitty?”

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

               “I don’t remember what he looked like, but I remember what he said,” Catalina said to Jungkook as they made their way to the library. “He said, ‘Don’t you know trespassers get eaten, little kitty?’ Just like in your story.”

               “That’s creepy,” said Jungkook. “He had red eyes though? Was he one of those guys from the house?”

               “No, definitely not,” said Catalina. “I remember thinking about them, and you and Jimin, and thinking that I needed to reach you guys because you’d keep me safe. This is the first time I could remember so much.”

               “I wonder what these dreams mean,” Jungkook said as he opened the library door for her.

               “Thanks. Yeah, I have no idea,” said Catalina.

               “Maybe they’re prophetic,” said Jungkook.

               “God, I hope not,” Catalina said as they approached the table. Jin and Jimmy K were both sitting there, textbooks open.

               “Well, well, well,” said Jin. “Look who decided to finally show up today.”

               “You don’t have to greet us like that every time,” said Jungkook as Catalina laughed.

               “How are you guys today?” asked Catalina.

               “Now that you’re here? Fantastic,” said Jimmy K with a wink.

               Catalina blushed and said, “Okay, that’s enough, captain.”

               Catalina and Jungkook sat down as Jin began their tutoring session and Jimmy K studied silently beside them.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “So, game night,” said Jimin. “Do either of you know what to expect tonight?”

               “Nope! I’m just excited to sit around and eat,” said Catalina. “Take a right up ahead.”

               “Where? There’s no driveway, oh wait,” Jungkook turned into a somewhat overgrown driveway, hidden by the woods. “Also, we have a premier to watch!”

               “They’re gonna love it,” said Catalina. “Jimin, did you have fun yesterday?”

               “I did! Hoseok is a really good dancer,” he said. It’s been a week since they broke into the house and met Taehyung, Hoseok, and Namjoon. Yesterday, Catalina and Jimin had invited Hoseok to a freestyle session in the campus studio. He was happy to join them and show off his moves. They all ended up teaching each other different styles, but it was mostly Catalina and Jimin asking Hoseok to teach them the pop and lock style he was so good at.

               Jungkook’s car pushed through the heavily overgrown driveway until they reached cobblestone, which led right up to the mansion. Catalina closed her phone map and said, “Well, it’s good to know there’s an easier way up here.”

               “Yeah, I thought we’d have to keep hiking up those rocks every time,” said Jungkook as he put the car into park. The three friends piled out of the car, arms full of snacks, wearing their comfiest pajamas. The porch lights of the mansion were on, illuminating Taehyung as he opened the front door.

               “Welcome!” he shouted. “Did you find it okay?”

               “Yeah, Hoseok texted us a route,” said Catalina.

               “You guys and your fancy telephones,” said Taehyung. He let them in and they all took off their shoes. “So, we were thinking some board games tonight. Or card games. Or a game Hoseok described to us called Pictionary. Or we can just chat. Or-“

               “Tae, that all sounds great,” said Catalina.

               “Right, sorry,” he chuckled. “Here, follow me.”

               They followed Taehyung through a few halls before entering a cozy lounge. Big plush couches lined three walls, a flat screen tv was mounted against one wall and a low coffee table sat in the center of the room. Hoseok and Namjoon stood up from the couch as they entered. The smile fell from Taehyung’s face.

               “Where’s Yoongi?” he asked.

               “He said he wasn’t in the mood for game night,” said Namjoon.

               “Who��s Yoongi?” asked Jimin.

               “He’s our other roommate,” said Namjoon. “He’s been tired these days.”

               “He promised!” Taehyung pouted. “He told me he’d come to game night.”

               “Let’s go find him then,” said Hoseok.

               “I’ll go with you!” said Catalina. “I really want to see the house.”

               “Me too!” said Jimin.

               “Me three,” said Jungkook.

               “Okay, Tae tae, Namjoon, you two stay here and set up a game. I’ll give these three a tour,” said Hoseok. They dumped the snacks onto the coffee table and followed Hoseok out of the room.

               He led them through the massive house, through rooms so grand, Catalina wondered how big this house actually was.

               “This is the library,” said Hoseok. The room they were in was enormous. The ceiling was cavernous and domed and the bookshelves towered high.

               “This is an impressive collection,” said Catalina.

               “I know, these guys do love their books,” said Hoseok. “They’ve been collecting for years I guess.”

               “I’m sure,” said Catalina.

               Hoseok then led them through several hallways then showed off his bedroom. His room was so unlike the rest of the house, it felt like stepping into another world. Everything was bright and colorful, there were brand posters all over the walls and an impressive shoe collection beside the closet, which was open and showing off an array of colorful clothes. Hoseok then took them on a walk through the conservatory. There wasn’t much growing right now. It was mostly cracked marble and empty pots.

               “Maybe we can fill this room with plants next summer,” said Hoseok.

               “I garden with my mom every year,” said Jimin. “I’d love to help.”

               “That would be very nice,” said Hoseok. “This house deserves to be put back together again. It’s just so pretty.”

               He then led them back through the house. As they walked the halls, chatting about their classes and classmates, Catalina could hear the faint sound of a pipe organ.

               “Ah, he must be in the auditorium,” said Hoseok. Catalina’s eyes widened.

               “The auditorium?” asked Jimin. “You guys have an auditorium in here?”

               “With a pipe organ?” asked Catalina. Hoseok chuckled and rolled his eyes.

               “I know, right?” he said. “These guys are so dramatic. I guess they’re used to a certain lifestyle and they’re all rich for some reason…I mean, back in collage, I was happy when I could afford a cup of ramen in my one room dorm.”

               They followed the sound of the pipe organ until they came to the auditorium. The three friends gasped as they entered. The auditorium wasn’t huge, but it was incredibly elaborate. When Catalina was about twelve, her mother had taken her to a show at the Detroit Masonic Temple. This auditorium reminded her of the Masonic Temple auditorium, all carved wood and velvet seats. Up on the stage was a huge, ornate organ. The pipes lined the walls near the ceiling, emitting long, haunting notes. A man sat at the organ, hunched over the keys.

               “Yoonie-boonie honey-baby!” Hoseok shouted in his loudest, cutsey-est voice. The man at the organ stopped playing. Hoseok skipped down the aisle and hopped up onto the stage. “We have visitors, come meet them!”

               The man turned around slowly to look at them. He was just as beautiful as the other residents of the house. His eyes were dark red, just like the others, catlike and tired. His round face was pale, his lips in a slight pout.

               “I thought we weren’t having humans at the house,” Yoongi said. Hoseok laughed loudly, slapping his knee.

               “We’re all human here, so I’m not sure what that means!” said Hoseok. Catalina and Jungkook laughed along with him as Jimin just looked at them with wide eyes. Yoongi seemed like an interesting character. “Come to game night with us. I miss my honey-boy Yoonie bear.”

               Yoongi stood up and looked down at Catalina, Jungkook and Jimin from the stage.

               “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. “Will there be food at game night?”

               “I brought salt and vinegar chips,” said Jimin.

               “I brought chocolate,” said Catalina. Yoongi pointed at her.

               “A woman after my own heart,” said Yoongi. “I’ll come.”

[timeshenanigansahoy]

god i FINALLY have a direction to go with this fic my god

rambling under the cut cause i’m typing way too much in the tags and i just wanna ramble about my fics

i’ve had vague ideas and a somewhat tentative and semi cohesive plot done for this fic. It’s a one piece one, because i have had a sudden love for one piece again that never really left but like, I never really followed through with my old fics?

i finally got to a place where i’m content to take things at my own pace though, and i’ve come to terms with a lot of my mannerisms and the struggles i face so instead of feeling like i’m writing for other people, i’m writing things i want to write and even if i want other people to enjoy them i’m more relaxed about knowing i’ll get fans either way and it isn’t a big deal

I’ve never actually finished an entire fic but i finally found a process i like which is to come up with what i want and write for it but also make sure to detail what i want

I have the one piece fic down up until alabasta - the oc joins the crew in loguetown, but i have events prior to that as well i have to write. I’m in the process of fleshing out the idea in my head and writing for it as well as some outlining which helps so i can multitask. The thing that was tripping me up was that like, i had a theme i wanted for the fic (being unsure of yourself and finding comfort in the circumstances you’re given, sort of a “coming of age” fic), and i knew what i wanted for my oc although i’m still fleshing her out into a real person, but i tend to do that as i go along mostly, but i had no idea where i wanted to put her. I finally figured it out with the help of a friend and realized she didn’t really fit just one thing, which i felt fit the narrative better than one single purpose. she has a lot of purposes and a lot of different things driving her and it’s okay to be like that.

meanwhile i have a naruto fic where it takes place in the time where kakashi was a kid, and goes all the way through canon events during the era where naruto was growing up, but that one is a big undertaking so i’m still writing for it and figuring out what i want to do with it, although i technically have half of the fic done for plot, which is over 3k words. I’m up to the chunin exams for plot (although i’m not doing it in excrutiating detail) and i’m thinking of seriously curbing canon, which i’m definitely doing in different aspects, but there are lots staying the same, since the theme is a feeling of helplessness and then coming to terms with it and learning to cope. It’s going to be a shipping fic to some degree, as a lot of it does revolve around a main pairing, but that’s a nice change of pace since i don’t typically do that.

i’ve also got tracing footsteps, which i haven’t touched in over a year, and i need to revamp it and come to a conclusion with what i want to do with it. It’s also a longer one, but i doubt it’ll be as long as the other two above this one, since i’m making it focus on side characters, and having a focus be on “you can’t always influence canon and be a part of everything” 

i’ve also got the sakura twin oc fic that i shouldn’t have published yet but oh well. i’ve got to get some plot down first because writing blindly is dumb and i want the fic to be cohesive. i do have an end game for this, but this one is more silly and social bound, focusing on what it’s like for twins and the social aspects of stuff in ninja society. there’s a ship in it too that i’ve liked so i gotta keep that part of it. I know the direction of it i just gotta figure out most of the plot and where i wanna take it.

meanwhile there’s the other 84 ideas i have and haven’t decided what to keep, scrap, or merge with another fic.

i’ve got one that focuses on my homegirl nami from one piece, and an oc that’s reincarnated as a dog, i might make that one short where the oc dies in the end because of dog natural ages, actually. idk yet

i’ve also got “of stageplays and sand” which has a reincarnation sand siblings oc, which i want to have as a medic ninja (as opposed to midoriko, the one from above that is the super long fic, she’s a pediatrician and very much not too much of an active ninja as years go by, athough she takes in a genin team after the land of waves). this oc is a lot about healing, being very bitter and frustrated with the world, they’re either going to be a child after or before kankuro, but definitely older than my main red head boi. I had a tentative kankuro twin, but i’m unsure if i wanna keep that in the end.

there’s also another one i have “through the mountains” where a iwa nin and a grass nin elope and have a daughter, and they eventually flee to leaf so their kid can be safe. it has a lot of social elements i want to do with being an immigrant, and the pressure it puts on kids to be near-peerless so things they do don’t reflect negatively on their parents, as well as the fact that the oc has two moms, one of which who is trans, and she doesn’t want that to negatively affect her family. A lot of her story is anxiety based and focuses a lot on her need to be better, and others on her team realizing that’s why she does what she does, and her slowly letting go of it. she still becomes fucking amazing, but i wanted it to focus on the pressure minorities face. she also might save obito but i’m not sure, she isn’t a medical ninja although she has a very base understanding of emergency stuff, since one of her moms is a medic.

i haven’t finished a fic yet and have so many projects so i’m fixing some up and i’m going to start writing them. mark my words i’ll have at least one fic finished by the end of the year probably

anyway that’s all for this week’s “alex talks for an hour” rant thnx for listening