#if someone wrote a fic for me when I didn't have time to flesh it out I would be over the moon | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jarenka · 1 year ago

Text

Remember this plot bunny? I was thinking about it again and I was like: Nah, Anakin wouldn't be able win against Palpatine to get him arrested. But he can kill Palpatine! So I wrote a fic where Anakin time-travels in the middle of Clone Wars, immediately kills the Chancellor and now Jedi Order need to do something about it because they can't just say: "Sorry, but Anakin Skywalker just returned here from the dark future and killed Palpatine because he was an evil genocidal wizard who planned to take over the Republic. Thank you for your attention."

“How did you find out that Chancellor Palpatine was directly connected with the separatists?”

“He told me himself”.

“Why would he tell you this? Don't you think this is a bit strange behavior for a person who allegedly has been cooperating with the separatists in deep secrecy for many years?”

“We are…” Anakin sighed. It was a touchy question. "Chancellor Palpatine and I were close friends. He proposed... to join him. He miscalculated”.

It isn’t entirelly true. Palpatine hasn’t yet invited Anakin to join him. He bent over his "dear friend", who fainted in his apartment when they had lunch together.

“Anakin, what's going on?.. I need to call a doctor,” Palpatine’s voice came to him distorted. Anakin was dead. He didn't know where he was or why he was hearing a real voice. He didn't know why he felt someone else's hand on top of his own. His lightsaber landed in his palm, and Anakin directed it to the place where the voice was coming from without hesitation. There was a smell of burnt wool and burnt flesh. Something heavy fell on him. When Anakin finally regained full consciousness, Chancellor Palpatine was lying there, completely dead, with a hole from a lightsaber in his chest.

“Why did Chancellor Palpatine invite you to join him?”

Anakin shrugged.

“I don't know.”

“Can you make a guess?”

“Perhaps he was dissatisfied with Dooku.”

Catch Dooku and ask, Anakin wanted to say, but for the past month Obi-Wan and lawyer Laila Hetty have been training him to answer questions correctly.

“So, you don't know for sure?”

“That's exactly what I have said.”

A military expert, a witness for the defense, will confirm that Dooku has failed several important operations in recent months. Perhaps Palpatine had a hand in his failures, but no one will ever know about it.

“What exactly did Chancellor Palpatine offer you?”

They set foot on very dangerous ground. Anakin needed to lie convincingly.

Anakin heard Obi-Wan's tired voice in his head, “You've been a Sith for over twenty years. You should be good at lying!"

He uttered the phrase he had memorized with Obi-Wan: “He offered me a place as commander-in-chief of the Republican army if I help him to prolong the war as much as he needs.”

“How can you, as a Jedi, hold such a post?"

Anakin sighed.

“Chancellor Palpatine wanted to get rid of the Jedi.”

There were whispers in the hall. Anakin tried to ignore them.

“Why?”

“You'd better talk to the members of the Council about this.”

“Did Chancellor Palpatine just casually tell you that he wanted to destroy the Order?”

Anakin closed his eyes and opened them again. He had to remind himself that everyone around him could see his face.

“I myself confessed to him that the Council suspected him of having ties with the separatists and was going to... take action.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia will speak on behalf of the Council. They will both say that some members of the council have long suspected that a very high-ranking official works with separatists, and some of them have already begun to suspect Palpatine. Obi-Wan won't be able to remember exactly if he and Anakin talked about it, but it's quite likely — after all, they were very close and discussed a lot of different things among themselves. Another witness for the defense will be an inhibitor chip specialist who will demonstrate that among the orders of the clone army there is an order to destroy the Jedi. He will indicate that this order was sewn in initially, during clone army creation. It’s not that important to Anakin’s case, both officials and independent investigators are now looking into clones’ creation.

“So, Master Skywalker, let's talk about why Chancellor Palpatine decided that you would agree to his proposal.”

I have no idea, Anakin wanted to reply.

“Remember,” he heard Obi-Wan say, “you need to present a convincing story to the jury. You killed Palpatine, it's quite obvious, but you can be acquitted.”

Anakin looked at the jury once again. They were ordinary inhabitants of Coruscant of different ages and races. Who do they see in front of them? The former posterboy of the Republic, pale and disheveled, with dark circles under his eyes. In the morning before the hearing Ahsoka tried to help him clean up, but she had no idea what to do with human hair. Maybe it's even better this way. The jury will think he's suffering terribly after he murdered Palpatine.

“Chancellor Palpatine,” Anakin began, “had already talked about me leaving the Order. He... he knew about my disagreements with the Council and was ready to help me settle on my own on Coruscant.”

“Were your disagreements with the Council that serious?”

“Perhaps I... exaggerated a little in my conversations with the Chancellor, and he thought that my conflict with the Council was much more serious than it really was.”

Anakin in fact remembered that the Council couldn't stand him, and everyone there didn't like him, except Obi-Wan. He thought they would hate him even more when they found out about everything he had done. Anakin was no longer one of them, he had been a Sith longer than he had been a Jedi, right before his death he turned away from the Dark Side but committed numerous crimes before it. And yet the Order came to his defense. It would be much more convenient for them to leave Anakin at the mercy of Republican justice. He would have received a life sentence for the murder of the chancellor and spent the rest of his life in prison. Anakin was ready for such a fate. It was still better than becoming a Sith, and better than losing Padme. She will stay alive, and maybe even visit him in prison.

Instead, the Council insisted on keeping Anakin in the Temple instead of handing him over to the Coruscant detention center. Master Windu came to him and said: “Anakin, you will be judged by a jury, but I'm afraid they won’t like a time-travel story.”

“I know,” Anakin replied. “You didn't have to come here to tell me about it.”

It seemed to him then that Master Windu wanted to gloat. This was a stupid thing to think.

“During the investigation, they will most likely find some evidence that the chancellor passed information to the separatists. And if you prepare well for the trial, you may be acquitted. We will help you.”

“Why would you help me? I'm not a Jedi anymore.”

“That's not true. You're still a Jedi knight, you have a Padawan, and you killed a Sith who planned to seize power in the Republic and destroy the Order. It's the least we can do for you."

Anakin chuckled.

“The least”? And then what counts as “the most"?”

“We won’t talk about it, it’s illegal”.

Mace Windu smiled with the corner of his mouth.

“I know a very good lawyer,” he said. “She and Master Kenobi will help you prepare for the interrogations.”

After that Mace Windu came to him more than once, asked about the Sith, brought datachips with holodramas and recordings of theatrical plays. Obi-Wan brought him records of pod races and his favorite books. Anakin's cell was spacious enough to train, and he had long been used to doing it alone. It turned out that even the prison in the Temple was a much cozier place than his castle on Mustafar or his personal quarters abroad of the “Executor”.”

Adi Gallia came to ask him about Palpatine's ties with different shady groups. Anakin knew about them, although Palpatine didn’t reveal everything even to Darth Vader, his apprentice and right hand man.

“Are you going to conduct your own investigation?” he asked.

“I'm afraid the Order can't afford to investigate. But we can tell someone where exactly they need to dig.”

Anakin was sure that she was talking about official investigators with unnecessary secrecy, and had no good feelings about it. Most likely they, too, were corrupted by Palpatine and would not investigate his machinations too actively, if they didn’t want to accidentally investigate themselves.

A month and a half later, Obi-Wan brought him a datachip and with a large joint investigation of The Evening News and The Point that Chancellor Palpatine was transferring money to several criminal organizations through shady firms under the jurisdiction of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Journalists were able to trace some money to bounty hunters who carried out the chancellor's orders.

“Six months ago,” Obi-Wan said, “someone killed two The Point journalists who were investigating the creation of a clone army.”

“Has anyone reacted to this article?”

“Oh, it caused a full scale outrage. Our media was scaring us with separatists and bounty hunters for years and now it turns out that the Chancellor of the Republic is tied to both of them.”

“It won't hurt the Chancellor in any way. He's dead.”

“But it means that the Chancellor has committed treason, and you... hmm, maybe you didn't act very wisely, because the Chancellor should be convicted by the court, but at the end of the day your actions were justifiable.”

“He's a Sith, he couldn't have been arrested. He would have had time to give the order to destroy the Jedi. And besides, he could bribe investigators and judges.”

“We know that. But for an ordinary citizen of the Republic, you broke the law and killed the Chancellor instead of initiating an investigation. You need to show that you had no other choice, and you acted in the interests of the Republic.”

“So, the last question. Let's go back to why you killed Chancellor Palpatine instead of reporting him to the authorities?”

This last question was perhaps the most difficult. He couldn't answer it directly. Anakin had many reasons to kill Palpatine, but nobody would believe a time-travel story. Jedi agreed not to touch on this topic at the trial.

It's good that Obi-Wan came up with a plausible explanation for me, he thought. During the time they were preparing for the trial, Anakin even managed to convince himself that Obi-Wan has a point.

“At first I planned to do so. The Chancellor committed high treason, he should have been arrested,” he replied. “But I've known Chancellor Palpatine for a long time. He is… he was a very careful person, and he always had a backup plan. As you said, he wouldn’t just confess his crimes to me, a Jedi General," Anakin thought that here he might be suspected of insincerity. He was speaking in Obi-Wan's words, not his own. — “And then I realized that the Chancellor would not let me live if I refused to join him. Probably he planned to poison me, but I didn't think about it back then. I just realized that I would not have the opportunity to inform someone about his crimes. General Skywalker would accidentally die of natural causes, and Chancellor Palpatine would continue to act on his plans.”

To his surprise, one of the policemen later confirmed that they found a container full of lycaea extract in the Chancellor's apartment. It was a rare poison from Outer Rim that couldn’t be detected with standard tests, and the consequences of poisoning looked like a heart attack. “How did you guess he would have the poison?” Anakin asked Obi-Wan later. “If I were him, I would keep something like this in case of an emergency. Being a Sith he could kill a person with his lightsaber or strangle them with the Force, but such a death wouldn’t look natural. "Natural" deaths occur mainly from poison.”

#star wars #anakin skywalker #jedi order

575 notes · View notes

klikandtuna · 1 month ago

Text

2024 FIC ROUNDUP

Oooookay I barely know what I’m doing here but I’ll give it a shot. 😁

What fandoms do you write in?

It’s allllll Good Omens. After S2 broke my brain, I started sending tiny snippets of fic ideas to a couple of friends, which over the course of a few months really snowballed beyond any pretense of control. I’m gone, y’all. This is my life now.

How many words have you published in 2024?

WELL this number is about to jump with the posting of Find Every Sky next week, but at this moment I’m sitting at

✨758,377✨

Which is pretty cool! To be fair, a good chunk of that was written before I had joined AO3 (it took those couple of friends about six months to convince me to join up), so it wasn’t all written this year, though certainly most of it was.

What is your greatest achievement this year?

Aside from actually joining the fandom at all, this award definitely goes to the TWENTY-TWO CONSECUTIVE WEEKS, May-October, in which I posted TWO CHAPTERS PER WEEK without missing a single update. Find the Light and Sky Clear Blue were written back-to-back without any break inbetween, and while the schedule for SCB got a little dicey for a while, my beta-reader and I managed to keep that Tuesday/Friday ride going allllll the way to the end. Pretty proud of that.

What are your top three favorite fics you wrote this year?

This is so unfair because they’re all my babies 😭😭 I pour so much of myself into everything I write that I really hate choosing favorites, buuuuut I’ll try.

When You Go (101k Reverse Omens, complete but there’s a sequel coming, rated E)

My human AUs receive by far the most attention (and I’m not complaining!), but I want to give some love to my Reverse-Omens fic because I’m pretty darn proud of it. Each chapter bounces back and forth between an ongoing present-day storyline and anecdotes from their past, and it was my first attempt at switching tenses for effect (which I really got the hang of in Sky Clear Blue, haha). I feel like I really nailed the characterizations here, and it was a joy to a) flesh out the Starmaker as the Seraph Baraqiel and let him be his full glorious self, and b) experiment with what the Fall might do to someone as sweet as Aziraphale; while I did give him the demon name Azazel, I did NOT make him a goat demon because frankly that’s all wrong for him. I went a different direction and it’s FRIGGIN COOL, Y’ALL ☺️

Sky Clear Blue (289k human AU, complete, rated E)

Obviously 💛 Time travel, coming out, the beautiful transformative power of love. My biggest piece to date, started as a tiny seed and germinated into something really beautiful. Also at some point I started illustrating every chapter which was a real game-changer, and makes me feel a weird obligation to KEEP DOING THAT for all of my fics.

Naked and Afraid: Jingle Hell (24k human AU, complete, rated T but only for, like, mildly suggestive themes)

Okay my new favorite thing EVER is to take an extremely silly premise and make you FEEL THINGS 🥰 "Aziraphale and Crowley are participants on Naked and Afraid" is not a thing I would have expected to be received with joy and tears, but here we are, and I'm very very happy with how this one turned out.

What was your biggest Pit of Despair moment?

...That's awfully dramatic, but I guess when the SCB posting schedule was really catching up to me and writing was more of a HAVE TO thing instead of a just-for-fun thing. But that didn't last long, and it never got to the point where I wasn't enjoying myself. Writing is a real passion of mine and I'm having the time of my life with these fics.

What have you learned?

Honestly...I've learned that I can do this. I really can. I can take an idea, just the tiniest glimmer of silver in the aether, and follow it and draw it out and spin it into something magnificent. I can write things that make people Feel (including myself!). When I reach, the story is there, and I can trust that I'll find it as I go along.

I've also learned that a good beta-reader is worth their weight in gold, rubies, mithril, any incredibly valuable thing, and that it's okay to open myself up to criticism, and that accepting suggestions from someone smart and articulate and caring makes my writing soooo much better.

What fic did you want to do, but never made it off the ground?

The Naked and Afraid piece would have been my answer here, except I found a way to make it happen 😁 I have a bunch of half-formed, nebulous ideas floating around, but really I've just been going for the stories that I want to tell. I guess we could count the When You Go sequel here, haha. As soon as I've had some time to absorb and process Season 3, the sequel is ON

Did you beta any fics? Any faves you want to give shout out?

I kiiiiinda did one soft beta-type-thing just last week, but that was my very first time! I'm usually soooo busy with my own projects that I barely have time to read anything anyone else writes, much less offer thoughtful feedback. Maybe one day...

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

See just above — I don't have the tiiiiiiime. I did read For Loving One by @thescholarlystrumpet and it was gorgeous (she even embedded a piece of fan art I did in one of the chapters, which was very exciting for me), and I read Love, Uh, Finds a Way by @heretic1103 which was a delight, annnnnd oh! oh! I stumbled upon Lay Thee Sinner, 'Neath the Cross and Pole by @thenerdalert and have been enjoying the updates!

What ideas are percolating for next year?

Okay NOW I'm excited, because as I mentioned above, I've got a brand-spankin'-new BIG multichapter human AU on the waaaaay and the first chapter is going to drop on December 31! The title is In His Hand a Burning Coal and it has officially consumed my entire heart. Can't WAIT to start sharing this one. It's tapped into some deeeeep, lifelong reservoirs of love and nerdy passion for me, and I think that comes through in the writing.

ALSO, in late February we're going to do something REALLY FUN. What do y'all think about a Choose Your Own Adventure FANFIC?? Like, I post a poll with options for the next chapter, you vote, and I write in the direction of the winning option? I'm super excited to give this a try. I do dearly love a good prompt, and if we can get a bunch of people in on the voting action I think it'll be an absolute blast. Soft and sweet? Hysterical crack? Enemies-to-lovers or a tooth-rotting meet-cute? ALL OF THE ABOVE??? YOU choose! 😃

Is there anyone you'd like to thank?

First and foremost, always, I thank @suzypfonne. A random comment on one of my fics has become a friendship I treasure dearly. She's smart, she's funny, she's deeply kind and caring and generous, and she's the best friggin' beta-reader I could imagine. She has made me a better writer, and I'm always excited to turn over a doc to her. 💛💛

Huge thanks as well to @sparklyshinymagpie, who messaged me out of the blue one day to say "hey I could help code the social-media stuff in your fic, if that's something you'd be interested in." HOLY SHIT YES. She has put a huge amount of time and work into making my stories so much prettier, and our next project will be compiling the PDFs for my big stories so I can finally make print copies available for purchase! She is VERY talented and patient and I APPRECIATE HER VERY MUCH

I'm also tremendously grateful to @e-rated-beardo for the unspeakably gorgeous gift that is this incredible recording of the titular song from Sky Clear Blue. One of the lovliest gifts I've EVER been given!

And a final thank-you to @lolalu16 for her tireless cheerleading. They sometimes get early access to chapters, just because I like them 😁

OKAY this was fun but also took forever, haha. I'd love to read others' posts on this subject, so feel free to go for it!

#good omens #good omens fandom #fanfic roundup

30 notes · View notes

flowersandskeletons526 · 14 days ago

Text

I'm trying to put out at least a little Warriors content because the fic I'm writing is taking so long to finish so here. Rembrandt/Ajax headcanons for all my remjax shippers that followed me for that pairing:

Both of them have a bit of a jealousy issue. Not bad, but it's there, and Rembrandt is actually the one who's worse about it

Going off that, Rembrandt has a serious mean streak when she wants to let it out. We all know Ajax is quick to bite, but if Rembrandt is pissed, she's going to verbally eviscerate you and your entire bloodline (I think it was @asthedeathoflight who wrote in their fic "Ajax could never love someone who wasn't mean" or something like that and I took that to heart, please correct me if I'm misquoting or miscrediting that)

Ajax is the "tis but a flesh wound" type when it comes to her being hurt but the second that Rembrandt gets so much as a sniffle she's in full panic mode

I know their actresses don't have that major of a height difference but in my brain the characters DO because I'm a sucker for height differences

Before the events of the album (and the subsequent headcanon bs I've written afterwards) they only had a big argument about once every six months. The first time the other Warriors heard it they thought for SURE it was the end because to Ajax and Rembrandt, their arguing sounds like any other couple's arguing but to literally everyone else, it sounds fucking VICIOUS

(I don't know why so many of these are becoming sad but they are)

Before they got their own apartment that they later shared with Fox, one of the other Warriors *walked in* on them at least once, which led to Ajax trying to kill whoever didn't knock

Ajax mildly hates the fact that Rembrandt smokes (even though literally everyone else does it too) and tries to get her to quit multiple times

Ajax would propose to Rembrandt in a way where she doesn't even realize what she's saying until Rembrandt points out what it sounds like and Ajax is like oh fuck that is what I'm doing isn't it? Rembrandt of course would say yes

Aaaaaand that's all I've got for now

#warriors concept album #warriors musical #writing #headcanons

19 notes · View notes

phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess · 1 month ago

Text

Extremely specific headcanon I have for Hazbin Hotel, that has yet to slip into any actually written (not just half done in a draft) fic:

Bear with me but, Lillith ruled Hell for an as yet unknown period of time, yes?

What if, to amass the power she needed rapidly enough to challenge Heaven, she simply... wrote into Law, in a place where Sinners were unlikely to look or contest even if they could, that she immediately gained ownership of the soul of anyone who hit Sovereign Overlord rank?

Binding that Sinner and their amassed chains to her instantly.

With a number of caveats under the Law, including one to bind them to silence about the matter, one to allow her to pull power form them and their networks as needed, one to bind them to her service including the battlefront if required, and one to advise that they could not lose overlord rank unless defeated. The latter preventing both the power from depleting, and her clever little thralls from simply voiding the 'deal' and being able to tell people of it.

Should one of her Overlords fall, they likely regenerate on the end of a leash for the new Sovereign who would succeed them. You would assume they could tell someone, but ah, that's the clever part... another little addendum to the Law she wrote in after one of her former thralls tried to spill the proverbial magic beans to Lucifer...

Thankfully, her husband had been utterly subsumed by a depressive episode and was clearly dissociating so hard he was mentally four Rings down as the sinner begged his help...

But after that, and after her favourites had feasted on the fool, Lillith learned. She carefully changed her wording to void that any Soverigns current or former, those who 'lived' and served on a chain to a Sovereign, could not share anything about their ties to the Queen or her plans or anything of that nature.

She'd pulled in a few of the scholarly but socially inept Goetia princelings for that one. They were so interested in the Words and the way they could curl the language so restrictively tight (theoretically) that none even considered wondering what the Queen needed the terms FOR. Envisioning a real world application was just... not how they operated, after all.

What care they for the plights of sinners?

Couldn't Lillith bind them with her songs? Perhaps. But Sinners were tricky, and all so differently empowered more than a few could rival her own tricks if pushed or boosted. Ah, and that's the carrot over the stick, of course... for every Sovereign she forced to kneel to her, she bounced power down the line as well. A neverending feedback loop where both parties received something... some even gained new tricks.

Why would they fight back if it benefitted them? When the Queen didn't really bother them all that much except the occasional task or request? When they loved bloodshed and slaughter, and each dreamed of what Heaven could look like when decimated and ripe for the pickings under their claws, paws, tentacles or other appendages.

Some of the older Overlords, the Sovereigns, she left to their own devices at this point. She never had to fight for Zestial's loyalty, he was a nightmare made 'flesh' but his respect for the royal house was widely known. Even moreso when the Princess was born.

They would take tea in the gardens sometime, easily waving away the ever-present leash between one throat to the other's hand. Sometimes, Lillith imagined she wouldn't really need to bind him, that she could count on his support if she let the deal break, but... a niggling fear always held her back.

Given how capricious Heaven was growing, how carefully worded the missives and their demands, she couldn't help but grow paranoid. Charlotte was a threat to them. The chubby cheeked little thing that occasionally blew one of the palace walls out with her midnight wails for a feed, was a terrifying Thing to the feathered fools above.

She felt their eyes on her, on Charlie, on Hell constantly.

In a perfect world, Lillith would pluck their wings one feather at a time, until they reconsidered tormenting her family. Her people.

Perhaps there were denizens who deserved eternal torment... but not all of humanity's children could be painted with such a broad stroke. There were those here who should have ascended... who were weighed down by a mistake made early on, or an act in panicked attempts to save their own life, or even retribution for a life of cruelty. How could Heaven see what trauma these sinners bore and decide that one act defined a whole life of living, breathing, loving and laughter?

Ah, but that was what she clashed with them over.

After all, these were the Good Peoples who requested Charlie be terminated before and almost immediately after delivery. Lillith had lost several overlords and hellborn soldiers keeping them from Lucifer and Charlie that day. And then the weeks after, when they tried over and over. Damn their portals.

Zestial had been of particular assistance there. The only one she felt safe enough having close to the newborn and her healing husband, his powers surging back as they no longer needed to feed the growing child. Still, he was nowhere near at full strength, and Heaven saw vulnerability as a time to strike. The cowards.

She had pooled their forces and fought back, rebelling mildly at first. In ways that seemed appropriate and proper to the situation of course... she could get away with such actions to defend her family.

Little forays became ongoing assaults from above. Time passed in a whirling miasma that felt at once like molasses and yet... as dizzyingly swift as an out of control merry-go-round. Immortality was heavy and confusing, even for the First Woman.

Her people, the majority at least, rallied at her warcry. At the songs she gave them to strengthen their resolve, to empower them all to face the angels...

And then a few new toys fell into Hell, changing the playing field slightly, as Heaven's plans changed. First, came the technologically empowered Sinner whose very existence birthed telecommunications and radios in all seven rings... a way for her to reach out to all her subjects at once was quite the boon. And on the other hand, his odd skillset made the Sinner quite the swiss army knife, and it took little time to ensnare his soul as he ascended with alarming speed to sovereign overlord status.

Secondly, and most horrifyingly, came the exorcists. They were called Guards, at first, of course. Strange, hard to kill angels that seemed more... battle inclined. Less empathetic to the Sinners.

Of course angels before them had killed in their attempts to get to the Royals, but these... things... they just killed whoever stood in their way. It was disgusting, how blatantly they would take lives so permanently and smirk at Lillith, at Lucifer, at the others.

Lillith came to hear of betrayal amongst her own ranks as well. Dissent for being owned was nothing new, not for her Sovereigns... but to discover some were openly plotting with Heaven to allow access to Charlotte? To Lucifer and Lillith? Her fury was incandescent. Violent and merciless.

She tore the ringleader apart, but the others scattered.

She sent the ever graceful and ruthless Rosie, the Canibal Queen, after several of them and turned a blind eye to their ends. The others, why she unleashed Alastor, the Radio Demon, upon them. After all, hunting Sinners was his preferred pastime, and she also needed him to make an example of them on the funny little show he did.

Their screams helped to soothe Charlotte to sleep in the evenings, as they rocketed across the airwaves. Lillith never did truly compel the Radio Demon to explain how he managed to force them into the airwaves and prevent reformation... but ah, does it matter when everything is working well for once?

Feeling more in control, finally, the Queen allowed herself a rare moment of relaxation. Something she would curse herself for in future. So much wet wrong beneath her weary gaze, and she saw none of it until the dominos fell, revealing the hidden pattern far too late to do anything about it.

Since Charlie's birth and the constant barrage from above, Lucifer had truly withdrawn into himself. Lillith couldn't let such melancholy invade their daughter's formative years, working to keep them separated to allow him time to heal and settle. Let him come back to himself, to be the father he Could Be in time.

In hindsight, her actions were cruel and pulling from him the only joy he truly knew in those dark days of self-loathing. She should have watched him far closer... for a moment of weakness, a chink in the armour is all one needs to strike.

Somehow, Heaven slipped through the cracks, whispered in the ear of her little love... convinced him that Hell's population was too numerous, that if he agreed to a thinning of the herd, Heaven would sign an agreement against harming any Hellborn during their proposed Cleansings. With Charlotte's name top of the list of protected persons.

Of course he signed. Lillith had been furious about it in the moment, but once per decade was better than nothing... and she could see where his heart was in this, he wanted to protect Charlotte as a father, to keep them both safe.

She'd acted out of emotion then, taking Charlotte with her from the palace and leaving for her own, enraged. Mind whirling with plans on how best to thwart this new threat... some things slipped in the interim, especially when it came to her Sovereigns.

Lillith called several to her, naturally, seeking counsel and support from more than a few of her trusted. Additionally seeking some guidance on parenting from the few she trusted who had been decent enough caregivers, like Carmilla.

She failed to see the burgeoning problems between her Radio Demon and the newly rising Vox, until things fell apart. Just as Hell was growing enamoured with the miracle of television and visual media that swept through the Rings, and her collar closed on the man's throat... a miscommunication blew her plans to use their combined abilities to rally Hell, right out of the water.

Vox had pursued someone oblivious to his intentions, who thought they were friends. Alastor reacted calmly and firmly rebuffing the first few times... but grew weary of the insistence, something Lillith came to hear of in passing through Rosie's love for gossip. If the Queen could have stepped back through time to make a change, she would have halted that nonsense before it spiralled out of control... before Vox made his fateful connection to that Moth.

Valentino was a Sovereign, yes. But Lillith used his chain to keep the moth as far from herself, her daughters and the other overlords as possible. She disliked being in his prescence. Of course his smoke couldn't compel her... but she knew what he was, what he used his powers for... what he whispered in the ears of others to darken their hearts. So very... like Heaven, it made her skin crawl.

There was a strategic value in his powers, potentially, but they had no angels apart from Lucifer to test the efficacy of the smoke upon. And the archangel simply shrugged off the intoxicant like an unpleasant air freshner. Lillith found herself discarding the moth, mentally, and moving on to other plans.

Something she regretted, when looking back. You did not turn your back on someone like Valentino, it allowed them access to your lowered guard... and for someone like the moth, the loss of favour and interest in them could easily cause resentment to stir.

Battle plans accelerated, she had her peoples armed and pulsing with her song through the airwaves and television screens. All willing to fight, to rebel, to stand under her banner.

Charlotte was nearing her adult years, which was why Lillith even dared risk this inevitable confrontation. They couldn't hurt her daughter, not like this... she was powerful, like Lucifer. Idealistic and frustratingly filled with hope, but... exceptionally gifted, even with the agreed upon restrictions placed atop Charlotte when she was barely delivered. Bound, but not helpless.

The next extermination was crawling closer... this would be the eighth to occur, and Lillith grieved all those lost in the ones before. But planning a war, or at least a proper defence, took time and strategy. A chance to save All i the future, meant losing Some in the interim sadly.

Perhaps she abandoned Charlotte more than anticipated in this time. She simply wanted to keep Charlie distracted, sending her off with different Sins for holidays and visits... but it was never enough. Lillith craved to see her darling daily, and yet... for her safety, she had to appear distant, aloof, cold and closed off to her daughter.

If Heaven succeeded, the repercussions MUST fall on Lillith alone. Charlie would be spared. She had to be, or what was the point of it all?

Rarely did Lillith feel her Sovereigns call for her through the chains, it was not exactly a well-loved situation by the majority... but her favoured often tolerated it well enough. Yet, when it happened, she always responded rapidly.

This had not been... the anticipated scene, however, as she materialised inside the newly formed AV Tower to find Valentino pinning a stunned-looking Alastor to the floor with several arms and smoke filling the air. Vox grinning as his eye swirled, the words he spewed churning Lillith's very stomach as he tried to change the fundamental nature of his once-friend.

Once more, she regretted not having the moth dealt with earlier on. This level of manipulation... not just Alastor, but Vox, her little picture box who had always been so eager to help and protect... this was vile. Pink saliva dripped from the moth's tongue onto the deer's face, rolling off his clenched smile.

She had separated the three immediately, blasting Valentino and Vox so forcefully backwards that parts of the pair began to combust in hellfire. Irrational as she knew it was, all she could see was Adam trying to force himself onto her in the Garden, and it filled her with a rage that blinded the Queen to all else.

Even if Alastor had not been one of her favoured, and a dependable executioner of her enemies, she wiuld have defended him. Or any of her Overlords, against such an assault to their person.

Her furious song made Vox's screen crack, made Valentino tear at his own antennae until one tore off as it resonated deeply within his head. It compelled them to grovel, even as she helped the bespelled Alastor upright, curling her song around him so the notes did not cause him harm.

Lucifer would not understand why she returned home angry that night, he tried vacantly to appease her, but was so deep in his own despair from the latest demands of Heaven that Lillith wasn't surprised he didn't ask why she dragged a sinner to the palace. Nor was there even the slightest recognition in those normally sparkling eyes as he mechanically flushed the remaining biochemicals from the Overlord's form, with the barest flex of his powers.

Lillith couldn't help but worry at his increasing absences... but there was so much going on. He ate, because she ate... he spoke when she spoke to him, and he retreated to his rooms when it was all done. Everything by wrote, in the worst way possible.

He barely noted the addition on the nearest couch, nor the other Sovereign who remained knitting furiously on a chair nearby. Imp servants politely offering a variety of foods and drinks to all present...

Only the brief call from Charlie in the Wrath Ring breaking the heavy atmosphere in the palace that evening.

Lillith felt on edge for days after. There was so much happening, and that wasn't even counting the issues amongst her Sovereigns...

Heaven had to pay for their misdeeds, and she finally felt on the knife's edge of rebelling. The final straw came in the form of a new missive, delivered with obnoxious pomp and circumstance by some sort of Cherub... which she had internally debated allowing Alastor and Rosie to eat, as the pair had always mentioned wanting to see if it tasted like Heavenly veal.

However, she held them at bay... this time.

At least... until she read the message. A smug little memo that the exterminations would now be every five years, instead of every ten, made her see red. Lillith's blood boiled, and in a moment of anger, she did indeed eviscerate the messenger despite the proverbs against it.

Reluctantly, once the moment of fury ended, she'd allowed the cannibals their delicacy... and then had to use their collars to contain the pair in the palace for the next few hours until the heightened sensations of bloodlust and manic joy wore off. She wrote a new law into Hell that night, preventing anyone from eating Cherubs whenever possible. For practical purposes.

One couldn't have the whole of Cannibal Town blissed out and bloodthirsty, after all, they could more easily decimate Hell than the exorcists under such circumstances. The absolute ridiculousness of her day made the Queen laugh heartily, not quite dispelling the rage she felt around he missive but... lightening the burden.

Lucifer crumpled in on himself hearing the new proclamation. The despair was palpable, his claws tearing at his own hair at the realisation that this was how Heaven would play it from here on out. Always pushing for more, more, more now that the first signature was given... always pointing their angelic spears at Charlie whenever he pushed back. Lillith had to sing him out of a panic attack so violent the former angel nearly passed out.

Once he was settled again, Lillith put him to bed and snuggled close, taking the time to memorise every inch of his face... the sensations of their bodies melded together, tucking it deep in her mind for-... well, just in case.

Tomorrow, she decided.

Lillith sang a quiet lullaby into the ears of her twitching husband until he settled peacefully into an enchanted sleep. She hoped he might forgive her in future, when all had come to pass... but if not, then at least he was safe this night.

And so it came to be, that when the exorcists rained down upon Hell, they came across an empowered army waiting to fight back. Furious at always feeling under threat from Heaven, when life was already so miserable.

Lillith's song set hearts thrumming to the beat, filling them to the brim with power, sinners and Sovereigns alike. They fought with everything they had, tooth, claw and powers of all kinds... but the exorcists were far too tough to simply pin down and disembowl as one could a cherub.

They seemed faster, more resilient, devoid of anything but the cruel joy of slaughter like any sinner might be. How had they ended up Winners, with such attitudes?

Lillith fought by her Sovereigns, close to her favoured ones as they took on Heaven for her. Some of the Sovereigns had resisted mightily, but she had been able to change their minds with persuasion... others, she ordered with songs. If Valentino and Vox were front and centre of the battlefront, so be it.

Sinners were being slaughtered in every direction, drowning her hopes for victory as their angelic steel seemed to rain down upon them without any reprieve or mercy in sight. She felt the call to retreat rise in her throat, and die out as a familiar figure blocked out the red sun before her...

Adam, grinning behind an exorcist mask, swiftly engaged her in combat. Lazily using his granted divine abilities to force her backwards, clearly enjoying having her on the backfoot. Lillith wasn't certain who gave the arrogant bastard Grace, but they deserved to experience a molten lava enema.

Without any particular strain, as her spear broke against his buldging form, Adam knocked her to the ground. Pinning her, his grin wide and delighted; lecherous in a way that sent her into a momentary flashback to Eden, and her pulse thundered, vision greying at the edges.

A shield flickered to life between them before his disgusting tongue could get anywhere near her face, leaving the Queen sighing in relief. Adam snarled, demanding to see who had thrown up the odd translucent black dome between the pair. It flickered, wobbly and not as tangible as it could be, before snapping out of existence as several exorcists took their chance to subdue the caster.

Ah, yes of course... Lillith had been feeding more of her power down the chain to Alastor, Rosie, Zestial and Carmilla these days. Her 'four horsemen' she liked to joke in private. New abilities were bound to develop... but this shield was intriguing.

The Queen headbutted Adam as he laughed at her Sovereign being downed. He yelled, nothing particularly pleasant in his response, and tried to strike her in response only to find a shield making his palm sting instead.

An exorcist slammed Alastor's head into the ground with the blunt end of her weapon, finishing whatever small trace of consciousness remained. Lillith could see that the battle was nearly over, her sinners, her subjects and her Sovereigns all decimated.

Rosie was bleeding sluggishly to her far right, with Carmilla and Zestial fighting over her, forcing angels back to allow an imp medic time to patch up the Cannibette. Exorcists across the field were laughing as they stabbed still twitching forms.

With a sharp dismissive wave, Lillith sent her remaining Sovereigns from the battlefield. Once they landed, they could theoretically summon their remaining soldiers through their deals... leaving the dead and dying to the battlefield.

Adam slapped her, right across the face, commanding that she stop her games. Delighted to have the upper hand again now that her rebellion had failed... and to see her brought low against him.

"We can't have this sort of thing spreading, Lilly, you know that. So I think you and the fucker with the shield thing are going to come with us, up top, and one of the uptights is going to pay Lucifer a little visit. See what we can negotiate after you fucking idiots decided to push back." He crooned, just about radiating malicious glee and self-importance. "See, my rockin' bitches, my girls here, they love to kill you vile sinners, and well... once every five years just ain't cutting it for my soldiers. I've already got the green light from Sera to have Yearly exterminations.... all thanks to you."

Lillith's heart stutters in horror. No.

"Oh yeah, you bet. See, I'd make it once a month, but Sera's a bit tight about that... she said she would consider it if we can't come to an agreement. So I think we're gonna make one of those little Deals that gets your Demon dicks hard, right? You're gonna promise to come with me and play nice, keep your red pet over there under control in Heaven, and I'll stop pushing for monthly access to Hell... we'll sign the yearly accord like planned. Sound good?"

She glared at him. "What would you have me do?"

He blinks. "Uh, well, just knowing you and the homewrecker are trapped apart is going to be fun for me. But I don't want your used ass, I got my girls, and I can have any of 'em I want anytime. THEY love me, like you were supposed to."

"We will be... safe? And the hellborn will remain covered by the contract?"

"The imps and shit? Yeah, course. They're just doing their thing, they didn't choose to be here, they're just living their lives." Adam shrugged, bored with the topic. "And you can bring the sharp-toothed deer with you, as company or whatever, but he bites anybody and I'm going to liquify him. Don't like that shield shit he was on about, we might need to try and work out a way to break it while you're having time with us..."

That sparked interest. They were afraid of the shield? Why? It had deflected some attacks, but it wasn't a strong ability, Alastor had only manifested it mid-battle... but then again, it had the potential to cause trouble for everyone above if he honed it. Or she boosted it with her voice.

"...as long as the terms of the deal are as stated and not subject to change, I will agree to it." She accepts, knowing it's all she can do. Her hand clasps Adam's, and the energy explodes in all directions. She feels her gorge rise as a chain clamps about her throat, the chain resting in Adam's hand... as Heaven had originally wanted her bound to the First Man.

With a grin that twisted her insides, Adam hefts the shackled Queen into his arms and spreads his wings. "C'mon Lil, let's get back to a place where they understand the concept of bathing... alley-oop!"

She cursed his name as they took off, heading for Heaven, her heart drowning in misery.

-------

Hours turned to days, days to weeks, weeks to months and then years... it blurred after a while.

Adam held his bargain, he dared not touch her, but he did bother her regularly to wave his metaphorical dick about. Prove his superiority.

Lucifer had never needed to. He was small and sweet, but his power, his confidence could radiate when he was feeling like himself. He never needed to show off like this to enforce his position. You could sense the King and his Authority when needed.

She agonised over his state, as he had woken to a world destroyed and a wife gone. The hierarchy of sinners in shambles and a new demand in his hands for more death and destruction. It must have destroyed her little love... but at least Charlotte was safe.

As time wore on, Lillith was left to her own devices. Often only with Alastor to speak with, when the angels weren't demanding to play target practice with him, trying to find new ways around his abilities.

He was often dropped back to her less than whole, but able to regenerate with a little musical encouragement. Adam wouldn't let his girls use pure angelic steel with their new toy, because he liked to drag out his games.

Lillith couldn't recall how many times she had attempted to apologise for the situation, for Alastor being trapped with her here. He always waved it off, some cheery nonsense about how fighting was better than dead... and she had done the same for him.

At least she wasn't here alone. That may have driven her to madness.

Eventually, she was left on an odd plane, a little pocket dimension that encompassed an ocean and a few luxuries. You never hungered here, or felt the need to use the facilities, but you could bathe in hot water for hours without pruning so there was that.

It had been hilarious the time Adam barged in to find both Queen and Sovereign Overlord soaking in ridiculously decadent claw footed tubs filled to the brim with scented bubbles, having quite the conversation about some exorcist gossip he'd overhead between training rounds. Soft music wafted through the tropical air from Alastor's internal radio, a bit mued but functional even in Heaven.

Lillith is certain it was the cucumber slices on their eyes that short-circuited Adam's tiny brain.

He accused the pair of sleeping together, which set them into hysterical laughter, confusing Adam further. He'd originally come to demand to use the radio fucker for a new training session with his girls... but this whole scenario set the First Man off.

Lillith couldn't help but feel a thrum of satisfaction at seeing him foolishly try to puff out his chest and assert dominance in a room of people who didn't care one iota. Still, Adam's fragile ego decided that the risk of ANOTHER man stealing Lillith away was too great, despite the near decade the pair had lived together in semi-harmony (the Queen maintained that there were other good genres of music, and she would kill him herself if she had to hear certain songs again any time this century) with nothing happening.

The fluffed up fool actually ORDERS Lillith to send Alastor back to Hell. It was a wonder that the 1812 Overture with Cannon didn't start playing in triumph behind the pair as they shared covert under-cucumber glances at one another.

"Of course, Adam. As you wish." She capitulates, and settles back in the tub. "Was that all?"

"Yeah, you better do as I say! I-... what? Er, yeah. Just get him gone by tomorrow, I got some shit to get through."

Lillith waits until he is gone to shoot out of the tub and pull on a robe, tossing another at the overlord before he even has a chance to step hoof out of the tub. He just about falls back in, leading to his shadow playing a laugh track, and getting yanked into the tub with him.

Of all the Overlords to be trapped with, at least Alastor was entertaining. Still, they had been handed golden eggs, and there was little time before Adam would recall his folly and try to slay the goose.

They had to act fast.

In rather a rush, the Queen outlines what she needs Alastor to do, without pushing around the current boundaries of Adam's own restrictions on her. The ones filtering down to her Sovereigns through the collar on her own throat, infuriatingly.

He must find Charlie, and help her, protect her without backing down. He must find Lucifer and force the King to take respobsibility for his child, his people, if he's still stuck in that haze of lost time and despair. He must not let Adam succeed, but he also cannot take up arms against Heaven.

Too much movement and Heaven would notice she had tasked him against them. If her leash went taut, so did Alastor's.

It was only later, that she would think over her wording and regret the specificity of her orders.

---------

Her overlords are in disarray after her departure, infighting and a sense of arrogance at her Silence. The chain links remain lax, and so... more than a few overstep their bounds.

The first she knows of any changes, is when Adam comes to complain that 'her brat' has built a hotel for Sinners to be redeemed. Ah, Charlotte was such a dreamer... as her father had been, once.

Bitching himself raw about having to meet with her about her plan for this nonsense. He flashes images on the orb, showing off pictures of her dear little girl all grown up and a ragtag assortment of-... hold on, was that an exorcist?

Why was Charlie kissing her? Oh... dear. Well, their line was quite attracted to the angelic kind, it was only a matter of time.

A distorted figure in the background of one of the shots tells her that at least Alastor has joined in on whatever her daughter is up to. And that Lucifer has requested the meeting makes the Queen assume he must be at least partly involved. The King's hang ups about Upstairs wouldn't allow him to passively call for a meeting, he must be jumping out of his skin right about now in fear for Charlie.

Of course she is the first to hear Adam's gloating as he returns, touting delight that the exterminations were now every 6 months and he was going for 'that little cunt's hotel' first.

Lillith hoped to one day watch him choke on his last breath for that statement. He could do whatever he wanted to her, but not Charlie. Not her daughter.

Stomach roiling, her face impassive, she listened... and for the next six months, she fretted and plotted. Trying to find a way to help... trying to work out where to from here.

------

Lillith's nails dug into her thighs every second after the horns blared to signify the exorcists were leaving. It reverberated in her pocket dimension, unheard by the rest of Heaven but a cruel and specific taunt from Adam right at his First Wife.

Dread gnawed at her insides.

Let her live through this. Let Adam break the oaths first... let Lucifer intervene.

She couldn't help but move to the orb oh so carelessly left for her in the sand. Watching would hurt her, but not knowing the fates of her loved ones burned like angelic steel.

Lillith fell to temptation once more and forced the orb to show her the battle. Heart thundering as she watched the scene play out, with Adam breaking a far too familiar shield and Rosie's cannibals and cannibettes devouring angels.

She cursed at the sudden realisation. It was so obvious to use angelic steel against the angels! How had they not tried such a contingency before?

Charlie looked so beautiful, so deadly amongst the army fighting back... and that angel of hers played the sword perfectly to Charlie's shield. Oh... that one would definitely receive the royal blessing for Charlie's hand when she asked.

The chain linking to Alastor jerked, and she couldn't help but feel it fracture momentarily before stabilising. Her attention flickered to the roof to see the battle that commenced when the shield shattered... and the ending. Her eyes noted the distinct lack of angelic steel, and Lillith swore. She did not typically do so, but this... this was a special occasion.

Do not take up arms against Heaven, why had she phrased it that way? How could even the most powerful sinner defeat the First Man without angelic steel? But her order to protect Charlie at all costs countermanded any attempt to dodge fighting like this.

The Queen tugged at her hair and gasped as one of her Favoured was downed. She tried to pulse power down the chains, but it was muted given the pair were in different realms.

Adam turned his attention to Charlotte, and the Queen's heart seized in her chest. The violence and glee Adam showed when aiming for Charlotte was horrifying, and the fool couldn't help but showboat about it.

The gratification of seeing Lucifer step in to pummel the bastard into the dirt was... something else. Something that made her heart thrum and her skin tingle. Ah, he was so handsome in his full demonic form.

And then the little gremlin maid stabbed Adam, leaving the Queen overcome with delighted joy as tears pricked in her eyes. The collar disintegrating about her shoulders as he gasped his last.

She was free. She could go home.

A sound at the entrance had her tossing the orb to the sand and reclining on her sun lounge, artistically unbothered as she pretended to tan. That annoying pick-me exorcist, Banjo or whatever her name was, arrived to bleed all over her pocket dimension.

"Adam's dead, and so's your deal with him. Now I need you to go deal with your little bitch of a daughter, as soon as possible." She snarls, and Lillith makes a show of rolling her eyes.

"If you insist."

-------

The Queen portals home faster than she can blink, taking her first acrid breath of hellfire and brimstone in eight long years with joy and minimal coughing.

Her chains pull taut as she calls on her Sovereigns to attend her. Some fight, but are subdued easily enough...

And Lillith leads them to the newly refurbished Hazbin Hotel, where her overwrought and overjoyed daughter stands amongst friends singing about tomorrow. Ah, she definitely was Lucifer's child after all.

The final note breaks as the Princess chokes out a sobbed 'Mum?' before racing to her. Lucifer dropping to the ground so fast he could have broken his wings if they hadn't retracted in time as the King cautiously approached.

"Darling, I'm so pleased to see you again... safe and sound. I've brought some help to get this place sorted out once more, and then we can chat about the future of your project, hmmm?" Lillith falls back into the role of Queen so easily, like changing attire.

Charlie is trying to pulverise her ribcage... and then Lucifer tentatively puts his arms around the pair to crush them even further. She pets their hair, humming to soothe.

Others present are in awe, never having met the Queen. however, she is looking for another in the mess of bodies. Easily, she begins to disperse Overlords about the place to manage the rebuilding efforts.

Rosie is next to arrive, flinging her arms about the Queen in joy to see her again. Zestial bows low and kisses her hand as Carmilla curtsies, before Lillith tries to crush the pair in her deceptively strong arms.

"I missed you all, thank you for standing with my daughter." She greets them, smiling. Charlie is by her own angel, beaming through her sobs, vibrating with her emotional overload.

Lucifer hovers close, and squints between the overlords and Lillith. He gasps. "You didn't..."

"Oh, but I did. A long, long time ago... and I don't regret it." She murmurs back, as the Overlords wave up at him. "The ones before you are almost all of my Favoured Sovereigns, but I am missing one... would you happen to know where I might find Alastor, dear?"

Lucifer's expression scrunched up tight. "Ugh, the deer? Really? He's such an asshole..."

"Perhaps, but he's a friend and I am concerned about what I saw of his fight with Adam. The requests I made of him before he returned to Hell were... not well articulated. I'm afraid that they pushed him to act literally, and he was harmed as a result."

"Returned from where, exactly? Where were you?" Lucifer asked, ignoring the rest, but languidly looking around for a haze of red.

"Heaven, unfortunately. Adam quashed my initial rebellion, but in order to stop him pushing for monthly exterminations I was forced to make a deal. I was trapped in Heaven, with him... and with Alastor. Long story, I'll tell you it all later, I promise." She assures, watching his expression crumple and smooth back out as her words hit home. His hellfire crown flares at the realisation that Adam had effectively kidnapped her.

"If he wasn't already dead, I'd pull him apart for that."

"I know, darling, and I love you for it. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I see who I'm missing..." Lillith mutters, heading off towards a red blur who is holding another smaller reddish white blur in the air by the back of their attire. Under any other circumstance, she would remain with Charlie and Lucifer, never letting go... but she had to fix her mistake.

Lucifer followed after her, seemingly annoyed at her focus on the Overlord, but wanting to remain close.

"Alastor, darling, lovely to see you again..." she opens, all light and charm, opening her arms. He near drops Niffty in surprise to hear Lillith in Hell and whirls around, attempting to stifle a wince but not quite swiftly enough to avoid her sharp eyes. "Now you can let me have a look at that the easy way, or I start singing..."

"No idea what you're talking about!" He chirps back, seemingly still deciding if she's really here or it's some sort of trick. "Tell me, your Majesty, what were we doing when Adam arrived and became so irate he allowed me entry back to Hell?"

She covered her mouth, but a rather unregal sounding snort escaped, as her eyes flickered to Lucifer's face. "Sharing a bubble bath and gossip, as you played that same blasted tune on loop until I assumed drowning you would be the best way to shut it off."

The laughter burst forth as Alastor couldn't help himself, the very same music began to play in the air about them in a stilted way. Like it was a radio with a broken speaker.

"You did WHAT with my wife?!"

"Oh relax, sire, we had our own tubs... perhaps you should try a bubble bath, it might help you ease some of the tension from today's fight."

"Yes, and speaking of..." Lillith started, and then had to grab the other before he dissolved into shadows. "No. Stay." The command evaporated his escape route.

"Now is not the time..." Alastor counters.

"Oh, it is. I worded my requests wrong, and you were injured, so I believe we are going to take care of it right now. You wouldn't want me to feel distressed, would you deer?" The queen grins, playing both the cards of friendship and his distinct inherent desire to not cause undue distress to women. She's relaively sure that was his mother's doing, based on their conversations over the years.

"I really think you are overestimating the issue, Lillith... my staff is broken, yes, but I can mend it in time. And I don't think your voice can do anything for the bruise on my ego." He deflects, playing a distorted laugh track. "Why don't you go see young Charlotte, I can see she's nearly bursting out of her skin that you are finally back."

She prods him dead in the centre of his chest, and her finger comes away wet with blood. "Of course, just the staff you say."

"...perhaps later?" he negotiates, ignoring the way Zestial casts a very knowing grin over at him. One did not simply negotiate with the Queen, not when she was worried about something. You capitulated.

"Last chance, deerling... show me the problem or I deal with it my way." Lillith smiles, putting a hand on his shoulder, it looks friendly... but that's why her threats were so lethal. She feels him try to shadow away again, and the Queen rolls her eyes. "Ah, why did you have to be so stubborn, Alastor... we just want to help."

Lucifer grumbles a soft "I don't, his fake ass father people eating bullshit can die for all I care..."

And she laughs. The sounds snaps off suddenly as she again feels the push of a desperate shadow shift hitting her command's boundaries. Her hand slips up to the nape of his neck and she leans in close to sing a soft suggestion into his ears. His eyes fall blank as his body slumps against hers in slumber, and she feels the wet slide of bloody fabric against her own attire as she rearranges him.

She places him on the ground as Charlie runs over, worried Vaggie inches behind with her spear hovering in different directions. Worried that pointing it at her future mother in law may cause tension between them.

Rosie kneels to put Al's head on her skirted knees. "I see you didn't manage to do anything about his stubborn streak when you went on your... vacation." She teases the Queen.

"You know as well as I, Rosie, that some things are beyond even my powers..." Lillith laughed, popping open the man's attire to get a look at the wound. "Hmmm, there's some Grace in there, but I think I can draw it out with song... unless my darling husband could help?"

"Fine. But only for you, not him... you sure I can't get you a new one? There's got to be a more fun Overlord for your collection..." Lucifer chatters away as he tugs at the golden threads of something ephemeral that coil out of the injury. Lillith sings softly, sealing the damaged flesh back to a semi-healed state. Sinner regeneration would take over once the angelic threat was dispersed.

"Ah, but I'm attached to this one. And, I do rather need him for one little errand he's been asking for for soem time... I had to hold off before because we weren't sure if we'd need the pair for battle."

Rosie gasped, utterly delighted. "You mean...?"

"Yes, when he's awake I give you permission to turn them into whatever dish you want." Lillith grinned as Rosie lit up with joy. "And if you save me a morsel from each, I would be grateful... even if it's only symbolic I feel it necessary to reclaim them somehow."

Once he was healed, and she was satisfied Alastor would live, Lillith rose to return to her beuatiful daughter and hovering husband.

She held them for the longest time, now the immediate danger was past them. "I missed you both so much... I never stopped thinking of you, and how to keep you safe even when I was trapped up there. If we can retire to the palace for a little while, I'd love to tell you everything... you must have so many questions."

Charlie may never let go of her mother again.

Lucifer snapped a portal open and then swopped both his girls into his arms, spinning them through the air before diving through to the palace. Lillith laughed, joy building and echoing through her chest at the heady feeling of freedom after so long.

Heaven may lodge repercussions tomorrow, that was the risk they took fighting today... but for now, she felt nothing but contentment at being home with her family.

There would be time to burn down Heaven later.

------

Several hours later, an extremely confused Angel Dust let out a curse so profound that the new wallpaper just about peeled off in horror.

Husk whirled around from hammering in floorboards to find the stunned spider staring at his chain as it pulsed frenetically. The radio began to click through stations, finally settling on static before a very familiar pair of voices erupted into screams around them. All of Hell alight with their agony.

Short-lived, though it was.

In mere moments, one of the voices gurgled out into a pitiful whimper that trailed into nothingness. The links of Angel's collar shuddered and reformed in a very familiar green, with a tinge of magenta that could only belong to Overlord Rosie.

"No fuckin' way..." Angel gasped.

"Well, shit. Welcome to the team, I guess." Husk huffed, clapping the spider on the shoulder, and making a soft noise of surprise as the gruff bartender finds himself dipped and kissed by three pairs of arms. "Hey, warn a guy before you go all romantasy on him..."

"Heh, sorry, got all excited. You think Smiles'd let me see his di-..."

"No. But he'll eat you if you ask, so, maybe rethink it."

"Well, okay, but I dunno what I can bring to the table outside of hooking. Not the best match up overlord wise."

"You shoot straighter than you act, 'course he's gonna love having that sort of firepower around to run fucked up errands. Now come on, I think we've earned a drink."

"Damn right we have."

---------

Lillith felt the chains snap as Vox and Valentino died, an odd sensation that left her feeling elated rather than a sense of loss.

Like exhaling after a long swim. Something else done and dusted off the to-do list for making Hell a better place.

Lucifer curled tighter against her on one side, his wings stretching across the couch to cover all bodies present. Charlie tucked in tight on the other side with Vaggie pulled close against herself.

It was so very warm, so comfortable and safe.

After everything... they were together again, and the world was still here. Tomorrow could bring anything.

Lillith sighed in contentment, heart full as she surveryed her little family and strummed mental fingers over the secure bonds of her chains. Flooding them with power that bounced back, feeling that all was well with all her Sovereigns from frustrating to Favoured.

Hell was changing, and she would be there to see it happen.

But perhaps... after a quick nap, ensconced in the safety of her family's arms.

Her last thought, as she fell asleep, was wondering if she could provide the little cleaning gremlin who killed Adam a medal of honour...

#hazbin hotel #lillith #alastor #lucifer #charlie #adam #it turned into a ficlet

11 notes · View notes

saruin · 2 months ago

Note

I can agree that Veilguard has its issues, there are some things I’m not a big fan of and some choices that as someone who’s played through the entirety of the series multiple times and read the books/comics don’t make a lick of sense to me, but overall it’s a good game imo. I’ve been taking my time and exploring in it but to me it read like if DA2 was given time to be fleshed out properly while still being new. I think because of the lore and previous writing they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner, but that’s was inevitable at some point. If this is supposed to be a soft reboot then maybe that means the next game goes back to having that more open choice RPG feel people are saying it’s missing

Personally, I went in with no expectations because I love this franchise and I know most of my headcanons and thoughts aren’t EA’s world state, which is fine. But I’ve been really enjoying the game. The combat is a bit of a learning game curve compared to what we’ve had before but the heart of the games has always been the story and the interaction you have with your companions but that’s just me. People can be mad and upset and complain about being a “DA purist” or complain that they don’t like the art style but at its core everyone has a different experience and connection to the game and no single DA game looks like another. The styles are all different! And if something doesn’t match with your story for your player character you can literally write fix-it fics and headcanons if you’re really mad about it *cough cough all of us who wanted the Hawke/Varric romance that they scrapped*

At the end of the day, I’d say take everything everyone’s been saying about the game with a (large) grain of salt. Take your time, explore, and enjoy it. It’s a got beautiful scenery, you can pet the cats and Mabari, and the cc for both Rook and the Inquisitor made me tear up because I literally haven’t seen my girl in 3 years and here she is with pretty flowing hair and still (in my mind because I haven’t seen her in game yet) is a rebel with a cause

Sorry for the long rant and rambling also, it’s just neat seeing creators and blogs I follow on here get excited about what is pretty much my favorite game series when in my offline experience is that it’s a very niche series to like. Also love your content for sims btw! I always get excited seeing when you’ve got something new cooking

Thank you for this. I think it's easy for people to forget that everyone doesn't experience games the same way. I don't listen to critics and I ignore people's opinions on stuff I'm genuinely excited about because I want to judge it with my own two eyes. I appreciate other people's perspective but I don't have to agree with them, what fun is that.

I remember when I was about to start playing Mass Effect and was asking friends for input (cause I didn't understand at the time that people could be extremely biased) I was told over and over again that ME3 was the worst game ever and to not even play it, to just get the story online somewhere. Well I ended up playing it despite their opinions and ME3 is my favorite game in the series.

Thank you again for giving me your opinions and I'm so happy you're enjoying the game. Also thanks so much for liking my content 🩷

#saruin chats

10 notes · View notes

ddarker-dreams · 1 year ago

Note

Hi! I have a question, you can ignore this if you want to but I’ve found myself really loving the way you write and the range of writing you can articulate as well. Speaking from someone who is nowhere close to that level of skill you possess, would you mind being able to explain your journey of writing, if you practiced any particular methods or anything else to get to this stage you are at right now? Unless you have been gifted the talent of writing from birth and didn’t need to try for much long or long enough to call it a journey. Could you also spare some tips and advice for someone who wants to start writing stories and what to look into/practice?

I love your work a lot and I am constantly waiting for the notification of your new posts, despite not being a writer myself I do love breaking down and analysing writing and your stories are always such good options for me to look into. Thank you so much for writing and sparing your time to produce such well done pieces of work — I felt extremely corny writing this, excuse me for this language, I promise I’m not a pimp!

THIS ISN'T CORNY AT ALL!!!! ❌🌽❌!!!!

i'm deeply grateful for all your kind words, thank you so so much 😭

i don't mean this in a self-deprecating way, but i've never considered myself a gifted or super incredible writer, i just get hype about story ideas and try to make them as good as i can. due to that, i start sweating when people ask for advice because i don't consider myself qualified... i do have a writing advice tag, but take everything i say with a grain of salt!! if it's fanfic literally all that matters is that you enjoy whatever you're writing.

i'm more than happy to share my writing journey though!! it's kinda fun to reminiscence.

i've loved reading and writing ever since i was a little lock. while thinking about this ask, it occurred to me that what i've always been the most invested in are the characters. i'd think about 275894275 different storylines with them. i didn't start writing fanfic until i was around 11 though, everything was handwritten. or in flipnote hatena.

i did a lot of fanfic writing from 11-14 buuuut then my interest in it kinda fizzled out. it wasn't until i watched hxh for the first time that i took it up again bc chrollo is that powerful. that's when i started conceptualizing HWR. i looked at my early writing folder, the first HWR fanfic i wrote was in 2016 when i was 15 ?? here's a cursed excerpt:

anyway, once i started making googly eyes at chrollo, it was gg. i've been writing often ever since.

what's helped me the most is to focus on the elements i find interesting. for example, i like fleshing out my MCs, focusing on dialogue, and developing a universe around the main pairing. because i enjoy this so much it's (mostly) always easy to devote time and effort toward it.

so i think it comes down to finding out what niches you like and working with those. some writers prefer to write with heavy prose, others are more succinct, some writers like dialogue, others prefer to be more action based... etc etc. this does require a little time if you're completely new to writing, but you know yourself best. you'll eventually pick up on what part of the story you're most excited to write.

this isn't particularly mind-blowing or anything but i hope it helps some 😭 what completely Altered my mindset was when i realized i can be as self-indulgent as humanly possible. cringe is not in my vocabulary. write a MC where every single character is in love with them if you want. write a 100k word fic about your OC being isekaid into x world. post about your f/os, draw art of you with your fav, go ham.

#ii have almost completely lost a sense of shame when it comes to stuff i like #i remember that the earth is basically on fire and ppl unironically listen to ben sharpieo #i will have fun with my silly little fics and no one can stop me #sweet asks #answered #Anonymous

53 notes · View notes

ghostinthegallery · 5 months ago

Note

Hey there!! I really enjoyed your insight the other day about how writing a serial differs from a plotted-out-and-written-in-advance novel! As someone who's just dipping my toes into posting as I write, any chance you could give some advice or tips you've learned about that style of writing specifically? 💚

(from @inquisitor-gayfax)

Why yes! I'd love to (thank you for giving me the excuse XD)

The main thing I have realized is that experience with traditional, "complete on arrival" novels is actually super helpful for serial writing. The principles of character writing, world building, and all that still apply, but even more importantly the beats you want your story to hit are all pretty much the same. You want that into, the inciting incident, the midpoint turn, etc. Those are all vital to keeping your story on track. Especially as serials are prone to meandering. It is so easy to get lost and lose sight of the forest for the trees. For me, always checking with myself that I am hitting or actively working towards those major beats helps to keep me on track.

Also note that one big thing will be different is the length. Serials tend to get much longer and thus the beats are stretched out. The length is because each chapter essentially functions as a short story in and of itself. It has to be a satisfying reading experience on its own as well as in the context of the larger work. This oftentimes means fleshing things out more than you otherwise would and bam, longer work. (not necessarily as long as I often go! but the tendency is there). FWIW, I find editing these chapters as I got to be much easier than editing a whole novel. I do miss being able to move big chunks and scenes around (cut and paste, my beloved), but it is worth the tradeoff to me.

The nature of the chapters functioning as short stories (minus a definitive ending of course) is probably going to be the biggest difference if you are someone who writes the entire thing ahead of time and then posts chapter by chapter, as opposed to posting as you write or posting with a backlog but not a finished novel.

Now, the other biggest difference if you are posting as you go is that you will not have the chance to revise the entire story the way you do with a traditional novel. You cannot go back and change things, add foreshadowing or a character beat or anything. Once you publish that chapter, the events are set in stone.

I actually enjoy this! It is a fun challenge to work with what I have established. But...I also cheat. I have a tendency to drop little things here and there that could be hints at larger plot points or things that are setting up things later on, but they are vague enough that I am not fully locked into anything.

The secret is that your readers are unlikely to remember a small detail in chapter 3 that didn't really go anywhere. But they will remember that detail in chapter 4 that got paid off in chapter 35 and you will look like a super genius (I am 99% sure Eiichiro Oda, possibly the greatest serial fantasy writer/artist of all time has done this writing One Piece, alongside his legit 5-D chess long game reveals)

To call myself out, here is an interaction from chapter 5 of The Silence & the Storm (poster child of fics that got too long)

Before he turned to go, he placed a hand on Anrakyr’s shoulder. Anrakyr tried to shake him off, but his grip was as strong as his bulky build would imply. Through an interstitial message he said, “If you ever wish to hear of Pyrrhia, you need only ask. Perhaps you still have friends there? Perhaps not. But would you not like to know?” “What are you—” Zultanekh broke the connection. He started back down the corridor, and Anrakyr had to choose whether to chase him, or remain with this stranger.

I had no idea what had actually happened on Pyrrhia when I wrote that. I just knew I wanted to address Anrakyr's backstory and why he left his home planet, so I left myself that set up figuring I would pay it off later. And then in chapter 48 we got this:

“Do you remember back when the mot was called,” Anrakyr said. “You told me that if I wished to know about Pyrrhia I need only ask. That I might still have friends there. Was that true?” “Would I lie about such a thing? Never,” Zultanekh replied, surprisingly softly. “Did my own wanderings take me to Pyrrhia? Yes, they did. An unlucky clash with some orks left this ship in need of repairs—although make no mistake the orks were far worse off! Space debris after we were done with them.” Anrakyr flashed a glyph of impatience. “In any case,” Zultanekh continued. “We landed, declaring our intentions to repair and leave. Had we heard rumors of lost Pyrrhia? We had, however the planet itself was quite…orderly. Calm.”

The conversation goes on as Zultanekh describes more of what he saw because 33 chapters later I, the author, now know what happened and can start giving that pay off. Sometimes I will get really lucky and find something I didn't intend as foreshadowing but that happens to work! Those are good days.

Now this is a risky strategy. You can limit your options when you do this, and you have to make the pay off make sense given whatever you set up. I've definitely wished for the power to go back and edit some of my vague hints in the past. But that is the challenge! True you could actually be good at planning and meticulously plant all your little seeds and reveals. Or you can be me, a creature of vibes and chaos.

Speaking of vibes, I think it is important to talk about the audience. And how they will influence you. When you present a finished story, that is it. It is done. The audience can talk about the story all they want, but it cannot retroactively influence how you wrote the book. With serial writing 99% of the time readers will be able to comment. And I think we writers have to be very careful about how we let that affect our writing.

The Game of Thrones writing team apparently at some point decided that "fooling the audience" and being unpredictable was more important than telling a good story, so they changed plot points when too many audience members predicted certain outcomes. This is bad. However, sometimes audience feedback is good! I personally unlocked a whole subplot because a commenter asked about a character I had included totally at random. It was a filler name! I did not realize this character was in a game, but realizing that gave me incredible stuff to work with. I'm glad I listened to them! Not to mention the incredible kindness and support that has kept me going through some rough patches in my life. By that same token, negative comments can feel awful. I have not found that to be an issue in my corner of the 40k fandom, but it is absolutely a consideration in other spaces (especially outside of fanfic) so just be aware.

I hope that answered your question! Probably too much, but as we have firmly established, I am verbose ☺️

#answering asks #writing #serial writing #ghost rambles

12 notes · View notes

cellsshapedlikestars · 4 months ago

Note

do you plan out your stories in advanced or do you just start writing and hope for the best? I'm trying to get back into writing but I always end up completely deviating from any plan I made beforehand

My writing process is chaos, anon.

For a tl;dr: I just start writing and hope for the best

For a longer explanation of my process, see below the cut. Also, I feel dumb saying this, but spoilers for my own fics, especially the mysteries (which are better examples for plot planning than my romcoms)

1a) I get an idea, something super basic. Like, "time travel murder mystery" or "Sansa and Jon reluctant roommates". The idea then usually forms into a series of scenes or one particular scene in my head - for example: Sansa is dead, Jon goes to her funeral, later is questioned by police as a suspect, then time travel. Or, Sansa is already having a bad day and arrives at her brother's house only to find he's also letting his friend stay there and they were both unaware & kinda pissed about it, which starts them on the wrong foot as she threatens him with a knife.

1b) OR I watch a piece of media, go "wow they fumbled this great premise hard and I want to fix all the things I didn't like" and then I take the inciting incident and build my own story from there. (See: Doona. Business proposal is different, I actually liked the show, but Jon and Sansa did not fit the main leads' personalities so I had to change everything after the inciting incident. Plus I just find it more fun to come up with my own story than following the source material to a T)

2) this idea does not leave my brain, even if I want it to. I don't think you can force this step, tbh

3) I write a first chapter to get the idea/scene out of my head so I can get back to writing the story I'm already in the middle of. I post the chapter to exorcise it from my mind

4) this does not work

5) People in the comments are excited, which makes me excited! I obsessively think about it until I have a vague idea of how I want the story to go. Usually I have an end goal and some important story beats. Nothing is set in stone, and 99% of the time I don't even bother writing an outline, because I know I won't stick to it. The only "outlines" I make are just a string of ideas in the general order I want them to go in

6) I think of scenes I want, then work backwards to how to connect them

7) when I write a chapter, I know what I want the chapter end to be/the cliffhanger, and I write until I get there. Only once or twice have I had to cut chapters in two, but I try not to do this, even if the chapter ends up being pretty long.

8) sometimes you have to throw away ideas/scenes you thought were set in stone. Sometimes you start writing and those scenes Do Not Work anymore, and that's ok

For example, in mongrel heart, there was supposed to be this big, super dramatic showdown with Ramsay, like this big action movie scene. But when I got there, it felt totally wrong for the vibe of the story, so I went with a more intimate/personal final fight. The scene I had envisioned was totally gone. I had to add Oberyn kind of at the last minute, because I had come up with this elaborate world in the background, and needed to wrap that up.

For you on the run, I wrote the first chapter because "Sansa is kidnapped in a library" would not leave my head. I then posted it and had to scramble to come up with a plot. I knew the why, I knew I wanted it to be for Sansa's own safety, but WHO is out for her? I honestly don't think I decided for certain until she's back in winterfell.

In help me out of the shape I'm in, the bad guy was going to be ol' Bobby B, until I started writing chapter 4 when it switched to Joffrey because I had started fleshing out that case more and liked the horror of it being someone Sansa had "dated" more

Anyway, the gist is, I write as I go, and I go where the story takes me as I write. I'll be completely honest and say that a lot of the time, the excitement in the comments makes me excited to write and fuels my creativity. (this can backfire though. The few bitchy/negative comments on trojan horse kinda ruined the momentum for me on that one, which is why I'm not as actively writing it, despite REALLY liking it and thinking those comments were kinda dumb/narrow minded. And I'm not even talking about the rando anon who seems to have made it their mission to be negative on multiple jonsa fics, those people I don't even take into account. It was the ones from people who CANNOT escape a POV trap and make me so frustrated that I don't want to write anymore lol. I feel like how grrm must feel in these moments). But yes, the basic gist is: chaos and my obsessive brain that needs a creative outlet

I know this method isn't for everyone. I know there are authors out there who write an outline before they ever write a sentence, and they post their first chapter with the chapter count already out, bold and confident in their outline. This is not me. I could never aspire to this level of control

Anon, I hope you keep trying! Write those stories! Be creative! Remember the number one rule of fic: it's FUN, so have fun and write what YOU would want to read!

#cellsshapedlikeasks #as usual got really long winded #but i also feel like i don't talk about my behind the scenes & reasoning all that often #or even my personal thoughts on certain fics & how I feel about them and the decisions I made #so i got wordy #may delete it all later but who knows #i'm trying to get better at not doing that

10 notes · View notes

thenotebookwizard · 7 months ago

Text

She-Ra | Defiance (Thoughts and Rambles I: Convergence)

(Am I going to use roman numerals for every ramble about this fic? Probably not, but at least for the first few.)

A lot of the ideas and concepts for the fic are born from fanon - but a lot of fanon and my fic also come from this episode.

Somehow, it wasn't until after I started posting the fic that I realized who the writer was.

J. Michael Straczynski (JMS). He's done a lot. Comics. TV. Movies. Streaming. Books. He's the executor (inheritor?) of Harlan Ellison's estate.

He's the creator of Babylon 5.

If you want to talk about stories and media with significant effects on me as a human, you cannot avoid talking about Babylon 5. Star Trek and Star Wars came first, sure, but without Babylon 5, I don't think I would appreciate either of those as much or as a deeply as I do.

Babylon 5 came out when I was in middle school. I didn't get to see as much of it during its initial run as I wanted to. Only later, when a friend videotaped it and loaned me those tapes, did I get to really dig into it. I loved it. It was everything I wanted in a story and then some.

Learning to appreciate Babylon 5 made me dig deeper into other media. Into other stories - and shaped how I look at narrative. How I examine characters and the potential of characters. JMS created something with Babylon 5 that defied the genre of sci fi, causing me to figure out what space opera and science fantasy are.

I own Babylon 5 in several formats, and I rewatch it at least once a year.

Finding out JMS wrote the episode of the original She-Ra that helped create and define so much of the old canon that created the fanon that gives us magicats and all of the lore we have built up around Catra - because the new show didn't have the time or space to give us much.

- it was a revelation. It was the convergence of the old fandoms that shaped me and the new fandom that inspired me.

I have no idea how much JMS really created in terms of that lore or those one-off characters, but I can assume a few things based on what (little) I know about show-writing back then. He would have either been given the basics of the script and then told to flesh it out, or he just handed someone a script, and they said 'cool. Here's some lunch money. We'll get someone to draw this.'

Either way, he wrote the dialogue. He wrote the characters. He wrote the way the lore was presented. He had a hand in it.

That has meaning, in that JMS was writing and creating things that have affected me far, far longer than I knew and he has been showing me how to tell stories just as long.

#fandom #She-Ra #SPOP #She-Ra and the Princesses of Power #fanfic #my fic #my writing #writing #Babylon 5 #j. michael straczynski #JMS #magicats #halfmoon #og she-ra #motu

12 notes · View notes

scaly-freaks · 6 months ago

Note

I love love love dark stories. I don’t know why but they just itch my brain perfectly. Your stories I swear are thoughts I’ve had (let’s not get into that) and written out in a way I couldn’t fully conceive.

I’ve been practicing some writing just as a hobby and I think for me to write dark stories it feels like I need to fully cross a wall of some sort to out those thoughts on paper. Not sure how to overcome it but I’m trying.

But yeah idk why but the sadder and more brutal a story is the better and I think it’s because on an emotional level I can just connect with it if that makes sense?

Anyways this is just a long winded way of me saying that I love your work and appreciate the effort you put into fleshing out characters and having us connect with them in that way. (I also love sappy moments too but idk with dark stories they feel earned in a way like we worked for it and achieved a short lived reprieve)

Also just a quick little question, how would an interaction between Daemon and Amara go? This is gonna sound terrible but when you mentioned the stepdad au my mind went to him before our Egg boy.

No because...same. I write dark stories and revel in them the way people revel in comfort media. I understand them, and the necessity of finding light amidst the darkness is something I've lived with all my life so familiarity breeds comfort in me. Sometimes I get a little startled because someone will read what I wrote and be like wtf how does this happen? How is it ever allowed to happen? And I'm like yeah...why did that happen to me? Why was it allowed to happen? But then I turn off the switch and dive back into fiction to cope (as I think many people who create art out of trauma will profess to - it's a way of distancing yourself but acknowledging it).

That wall (I know what you mean) will be crossed eventually I think. Just stay aware that it's not a wall you want to cross often or live beyond all the time. It's somewhere to retreat to, but always remember to climb over it and return to the other side otherwise it can get too much.

Thank you so much for this ask though, it makes me feel so seen and appreciated. I often worry that I'm upsetting people with how abjectly miserable my work can get, and force myself to lighten it up so it'll be more palatable. But the AU idea I posted yesterday named 'fuck puppet' is mostly what I write well and consistently (Amara does kill him in the end, so there's no romanticisation there, it's just pure victim vs abuser, beast vs human, and she wins).

And HMMM okay, so if you asked me about Daemon and Amara two years ago, I'd be like ew no. He really irritated me as a character when everyone was defending him, but the defence of him as stopped being as cloying and the writers have dug into the pathetic aspects of his nature more so I'm open to exploring him.

Plus, ironically whenever he interacted with Amara in my fics even when I hated him, there were readers who pointed out that there was sexual tension there (which I didn't even intend!) So clearly, there'd be something there, what with her daddy issues and his ability to appear put together and intelligent in front of a much younger woman.

I think where it takes Aegon longer to identify Amara's childishness and immaturity (because his own outshines hers a lot of the time), Daemon would snap at it in an instant. Eventually, Aegon gets there and is like okay, my turn to take care of you but Daemon reaches the destination immediately and does softer things to figure out whether she sees him in a remotely romantic/sexual way. So maybe a gentle hand on her waist to move her aside, resting it on the small of her back to comfort her (but only for a second) or giving her that odd little smile when she's yapping that has a twinkle of endearment in it. I think she'd fall for it pretty fast, and get a kick out of all her friends being disgusted by the idea of her having sex with an 'old man' (because obviously to them he is). She doesn't see it as exploitation, and she doesn't have to. When she's in his bed for entire weekends and he's using every trick in his extensive book of sexual tricks on her, she barely has time to think never mind wonder if this is right. I think he probably would need Viagra though bc canon Daemon strikes me as the type to wear out pretty fast, but Amara would be the insatiable party and well...there we go.

Anyway, over time, she is a little flighty, and her friends' constant judgement does weigh on her, along with the fact that Daemon's immaturity isn't like her immaturity. He's still ahead of her in experience. He can gaslight her into believing his pettiness is actually adult wisdom. So if he doesn't like her hanging out with boys her own age, he'll cut at her intelligence and make her feel diminished and stupid for thinking those boys could possibly want her for anything more than sex. And she'd fully believe him. She'd probably be reduced to tears after screaming at him for being a dickhead, and then accept his palm caressing her face telling her it's fine, and that he didn't mean it, and has she seen herself? She's so beautiful, anyone would want her. He just loves her and is worried someone will take advantage. And then that of course leads to sex and her feeling relieved Daemon cares so much and giving him everything she's got to make sure he feels the pleasure in return. Thus, the whole cycle starts again.

I can't believe I'm saying this but...Aegon might just have to be the rescuer in this situation LMAO. Daemon would not let her go easily.

#my oc: amara #daemon x amara #never thought i'd create this tag #asks

10 notes · View notes

afterdarkprincess · 8 months ago

Note

Hi lovely 💕

For the sleepover questions:

- Tell us your Solo/Sami headcanons.

- Tell us your CM Punk/Drew headcanons.

- And for good measure please add your Sami/Jey & your Ambreigns headcanons as well while you’re at it.

FMK: Roman, Seth, Mox

FMK: Solo, Sami, Jey

FMK: Punk, Drew, Cody

FMK: Jade, Naomi, Bianca

FMK: Rhea, Liv, Becky

Questions, questions, questions:

- What’s an accomplishment/ thing in your life you’re very proud of?

- Name three things you love about yourself?

- What makes you furious in fandom spaces (your fandom pet peeves so to say)?

- Who was your first celebrity crush? Who’s your latest?

- Who do you adore on this website (aka tumblr crushes)?

- What do you find attractive in a person (physically and personality wise)?

- Favorite story you ever wrote?

- Favorite story someone else wrote?

- Your current favorite song?

- One ingredient/ dish you love and one you despise?

This or that:

- Cats and/or dogs?

- Coffee and/or tea?

- Hiking, cycling or swimming?

- Pizza or pasta?

- Mexican, Chinese or Indian takeout? Or something else?

- Cooking, baking or ordering in?

- Quiet night in or a night out socializing with friends?

- Cold weather or hot weather?

- Pants, skirts or dresses?

This got a little out of hand oops 😂

Feel free to answer whatever you wanna answer and skip whatever you don’t. Or answer everything. Up to you. Happy sleepover!

Hugs and kisses 💖

AHHH Thank you!!!!! I've been so excited all day to get home and hae time to answer these!!

Gonna answer under the cut because I'm sure this will be long lol 💖💖💖

💕Solo/Sami headcanons

I feel like a LOT of my headcanons on Solo and Sami come from one specific fic on AO3- The Solo Man

I love Solo as being selectively mute and/or very shy. I haven't really gotten to explore this with Solo in my fics very much, but I'm really looking forward to doing so.

I do feel like Solo has such a soft spot for Sami (I mean I have eyes) Sami was a real source of kindness for him when he really didn't have that from anyone.

💕CM Punk/Drew McIntyre headcanons

oh noooo my brainrot lol

They're TOXIC as fuck, they bring out the worst in each other. I can't find anything sweet or soft in them, it's obsession, it's raw, it's violent. Possessive and Obsessive.

And they fuck nasty obviously. I tend to prefer Bottom Drew, something so fun about subverting their size difference but I'll eat up anything.

💕Samijey headcanons

Ahhhh I just love them- I feel like a lot of my headcanons POP out in my fics. I feel like Jey Uso is an acts of service guy. I think he does anything and everything to make sure that Sami feels taken care of. This shows up really early on in Devil in the Details and uhhh fun fact I wrote the first part of that fic before I knew that Sami was vegan, hence why there are SO many references to Jey cooking chicken for Sami. It was too integral to how I was having Jey show his affection to take it out, so for that one fic Sami is just no pork not vegan lol

Sami talks ALL the time, and Jey pretends to be annoyed but the constant stream of consciousness is actually so comforting to him. He very rarely has to worry about what Sami is thinking or feeling because he will just tell him.

Jey cut those crop tops so Sami would look at him.

From You're My Keeper (Pull Me Deeper):

“You really like my waist, huh?” he murmured.

As if to prove his point, Sami sank his teeth into the soft flesh under his bellybutton. “Can’t stop looking at it,” Sami whispered into his skin. “So fucking perfect. Those stupid crop tops are fucking killing me, dude.”

“Really? Hm, I thought so.”

Sami’s head shot up. “You knew?”

Jey blushed. “I guess, I kinda knew you were like… Looking. I guess I thought… Nevermind, this is fucking embarrassing.” He clapped his hands over his face.

“You thought what?” He felt Sami tugging at his fingers, and Jey reluctantly let his hands get pulled away. Sami had the worst look on his face, smug and bemused. Didn’t he know this was absolute torture?

“I don’t know, I thought maybe if I cut the shirts shorter, then like… You know… You’d look at me more,” Jey pushed out through clenched teeth. Scratch that, this was the worst look. Sami positively beamed, fondness radiating out from him in shameless sunshine rays. If he was a dog, he’d surely be wagging his tail like a maniac. Jey tried not to linger on that thought too long.

“Jesus you are so fucking cute,” Sami wheezed, burying his face into Jey’s chest.

Literally one of my favorite fics ever- I reread it all the damn time. (If the author of this fic is on here?? let me know pls & I'll tag you💖)

And I do think that Sami/Jey switch up who tops and bottoms, but I'm always here for bottom!Jey, sweet pillow princess.

💕Ambreigns headcanons

OO this is a good one- I typically go for Ambrolleigns (bc they all have two hands) or Ambrollins because of my donut sister @elementaldoughnut12 I feel like where Dean and Seth have that very turbulent high passion love, Dean and Roman have a level of like rock solid devotion?? Someone that they can always rely on, coming even closer together after everything fell apart with Seth.

Even more than Seth's betrayal, Dean leaving spurred on the creation of the Tribal Chief. Roman, alone and brokenhearted, left by the man who he thought would never leave him, turns himself into something cold and cruel. Makes himself monstrous, surrounds himself by a cheap copy of what they had.

He wants Dean back, wants it more than anything, but some part of him is terrified that Dean will reject him, will detest what he has become.

💕Fuck, Marry, Kill

FMK: Roman, Seth, Mox

Fuck: Roman (I'm gonna need that tongue baby good lord)

Marry: Mox 100%, I'm gonna need to hit that multiple times, and also I feel like our personalities are really complimentary

Kill: RIP I'm so sorry Seth, please keep serving even in Death

FMK: Solo, Sami, Jey

Fuck: Solo- and he needs to bring the gloves okay? 🥵

Marry: Jey 🩵

Kill: Sami :( I hate to kill my hubby's hubby though

FMK: Punk, Drew, Cody

Fuck: Cody (he's hot, IDK that I'd wanna deal with him all the time)

Marry: CM Punk.... listenn

Kill: Drew- would need to take him out to marry Punk anyway

FMK: Jade, Naomi, Bianca

Fuck: JADE- HELLO?? PLEASE???

Marry: Naomi- Jimmy can come too

Kill: Bianca

FMK: Rhea, Liv, Becky

Fuck: Liv

Marry: Please, please Mami, I'm-PLEASE?

Kill: Becky, RIP girlie

💕Questions, questions, questions:

- What’s an accomplishment/ thing in your life you’re very proud of?

90k words posted on AO3 as of today has me feeling really good. I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to get to 100k by the end of 2024, but even where I'm at now... a year ago I would have laughed at you if you told me that. I've been writing in spits and spurts my whole life, but I really lacked confidence to do anything with my fanworks. I usually didn't even finish them. Before this last year, the most I had written was 2 NaNoWriMo attempts, both sat at around 25-30k and were never completed. And now with the all the support I've gotten here and on AO3, I've had the most creative period in my life. It makes me tear up thinking about it honestly.

- Name three things you love about yourself?

My passion, my sense of humor, and my tits lol

- What makes you furious in fandom spaces (your fandom pet peeves so to say)?

The only pet peeve I really have is like being rude and giving people shit for what they like and don't like?? Like I've been around since the days of Don't Like, Don't Read. If you don't like something, it's not for you, it costs zero dollars to shut the fuck up.

- Who was your first celebrity crush? Who’s your latest?

Oh gosh, so many. I mean the first would definitely be Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon 💖💖 Daniel Radcliffe when I got a little older and realized I wasn't going to be able to marry a cartoon. Right now? I mean all of those hot Samoans first of all. Rhea Ripley, obv. Moxley.

- Who do you adore on this website (aka tumblr crushes)?

EVERYONE lol this list is gonna be so long @feelschicken who has been my IRL bestie for like 20+ years at this point, who allowed me to drag her into Wrestling via several hour long conversations in the car where I would literally yell about the Bloodline

@elementaldoughnut12 my donut sister who has inspired so many of my fics and cheered me on through so much of this last year. Love you so much punkin 🥰

@harmshake my beloved tumblr gf, a constant source of positivity in my life 💖 Not to mention she writes the HOTTEST fics omg

@southerngirl41 who's been on the tag squad since the BEGINNING and I appreciate her comments so much

@jeysbvck Shan 💙 because we're both unhinged and feral for Jey- she just gets me

@imabillyami of course you too obviously- you are so sweet and not to mention your fics are amazing

@rollinsland who keeps my dash FULL of content of all my faves, and is so so sweet

@shanie-the-komania-toyaddict my Zowens connection, and another amazing sweet person

@motherknuckers I think we share a braincell for real

@samijey because like... A Way With Words is THE Sami/Jey fic, not to mention her amazing gif skills 😍

@thlayli-ra who definitely gave me the Punkintyre brainrot

@who-do-you-want-to-be MY SWEET KOALA FRIEND

@jeyuwuso WHOSE FIC I LINKED EARLIER, literally love all their work!!!

@taydaq her ART, especially Samijey 🥹

I know I'm missing people, I could be at this all night: @crxssjae @hypno-bear-tini @rosiel77 @mzv11 @theninthwonder @dontletme--cavein @codyswhitebelt @jobikinn if I missed others I'm so sorry 😭 and if tumblr messes up these tags I'll scream

- What do you find attractive in a person (physically and personality wise)?

Humor, they gotta be funny. They gotta make me laugh or we're not gonna work. We gotta be silly goosing.

- Favorite story you ever wrote?

Ours is still my favorite

- Favorite story someone else wrote?

oooo yay it's rec time!!! Already called out a few but here's some more:

Green - my favorite Candy fic

Losers and Loss - a Zowens fic that melted my brain into absolute goo I said The Solo Man already but also Pretty which spurred on my love of bottom!jey and Jey in pretty lingerie

Sticks & Stones and also Green-Eyed Monster - both by the Zesty Bean, all of their works are great but those are my favorites

Silver Knight and Little Clover - my donut sister knows how to make a rarepair that I'll go nuts for

And I could not forget I've got you to lose ... of COURSE 💕 maybe gimme a heads up before you post that last chapter so I can get all my favorite snacks and be prepared.

- Your current favorite song?

Guilty as Sin? - Taylor Swift

- One ingredient/ dish you love and one you despise?

Oo good question- I'm a big fries and ranch girlie (the midwest in me popping out) and for despise??? mmm it's gonna be pickles, they're gross to me.

💕This or that:

- Cats and/or dogs?

Cats 🐈

- Coffee and/or tea?

Coffee ☕️

- Hiking, cycling or swimming?

Swimming 🌊

- Pizza or pasta?

Pizza🍕

- Mexican, Chinese or Indian takeout? Or something else?

For takeout specifically it's gonna be Chinese

- Cooking, baking or ordering in?

Cooking!

- Quiet night in or a night out socializing with friends?

I love a good night out once in a while, but I prefer a night in

- Cold weather or hot weather?

Hot weather ☀️

- Pants, skirts or dresses?

DRESSES 👗

---

whew.... that took a while but it was so fun honestly 😅

#sleepover asks #asks #billy tag 💙#moots #all the moots in here #fic recs #headcanons #I'm not tagging all the ships

12 notes · View notes