#if you actually like this maybe i'll put it up on ao3 too 😅

[acacia-may]

Lucky

Story Blurb: Just as ten-year-old Henry Legolant has resigned himself to the fact that he is destined to be alone and isolated forever, a surprise guest and some troublesome stairs start to change his mind. Could he really have found a friend?

A/N: After my OC Lorelei Swallow (OC Profile linked here) appeared in "A Family Where There Once Was None," I really wanted to write something that was more centric on her, so this is a one shot from "If My Heart Was A House" my story (or possibly collection of stories) about Lorelei and Henry Legolant. "Lucky" is really the backstory of how she and Henry met and became friends as children from Henry's point of view.

Warnings: Mostly fluff and friendship, but some references to Henry's illness and isolation, allusions to his terrible parents and childhood trauma, and some mentions of (future) arranged marriages.

Story below the cut. Please let me know what you think if you're so inclined, and thank you so much for reading! 🥰

16 Years Ago…

Henry Legolant had always had a keen mana sense. Even his family who wanted very little to do with him thought it was impressive for a ten-year-old. He supposed it was a more positive side-effect of the mana-depleting illness he had had his whole life—possibly the only positive side-effect. After all, his illness had kept him lonely and isolated from other people, but sensing their mana, knowing where they were in the house helped him to still feel connected to them in a way. Though he rarely saw or talked to his parents he knew their footsteps and could feel their mana—how it rolled off his father in formidable, frosty waves and swirled around his mother in uneven spurts and splutters. He could sense their mana now—emanating from several floors below him, but there were two new mana signatures with them: a forceful, commanding tornado and a sparking, buzzing presence.

This puzzled Henry as his mother and father rarely entertained guests and never brought them to the country house which, they made no secret, existed merely to hide him. He wondered what they were doing here. Perhaps they were new doctors his parents were bringing to examine him? Henry sighed. He doubted they would be able to do much to help him, even if they were well-meaning. For his entire life, he had been told that there was nothing to be done about his mana-depleting illness besides to keep him away from other people, and so he had been isolated in the country house. Though he was glad that he wasn’t hurting anyone by staying by himself, it did get lonely with only the birds outside his window to talk to. He hoped someday he’d get to have an actual friend, but even wishing for it made him feel guilty. His illness being what it was, he was cursed to be alone forever.

Henry startled. There was a sudden shift of mana in the house—that kind of terrified spike that could only be caused by fear in the face of peril or danger. Sitting up in bed with a start, he paused—closing his eyes and staying perfectly still as he tried to isolate where the mana was. This mana was different than the others—much fainter even with the added intensity of panic. It was so weak that it must’ve been drowned out by the much strong mana signatures earlier. Still, Henry mentally kicked himself for not picking up on it before. His mana sense was the one thing in the world he had going for him, and he couldn’t even get that to work right.

Henry shook his head forcefully. Now was not the time to be thinking of that. He closed his eyes even more tightly, walking through the corridors and staircases of the house in his mind until he finally found the mana signature on the southeast stairwell.

Henry inhaled sharply. Someone must be falling down the stairs.

His head pounded, but he tried as urgently as he could to rearrange the southeast wing of the house so that even if someone was mid-fall they would land safely. He even carried several soft, feather pillows into the new staircase landing by bouncing them across rippling floorboards. Then, he pursed his lips together and waited. Waited and hoped.

He closed his eyes again, trying to pick up that faint mana signature again, and he sighed in relief when he felt the panicked spike of mana subside, replaced with gentle calm waves. Though the mana signature was still the faintest he had ever encountered, he could tell now that it was flickering and warm like the light of a dim candle.

Henry’s eyes widened. He had never felt warm mana before. It was so cozy and inviting like…He couldn’t quite think of the right word for it, but…  

“No,” he said aloud to only himself. He needed to turn his focus to stronger mana, back to his father or that new tornado presence near to him downstairs. Maybe then his illness wouldn’t drain the already faint mana out of this person. If their mana was a flickering candle, he would surely snuff it out in an instant, and something so warm and so beautiful deserved to be preserved. His heart raced, and he began to shiver as he closed his eyes and tried to find his father’s mana instead. Was he still downstairs in the sitting room? Or maybe the dining room? Or…?

“Hello?” called a distant voice pulling Henry from his thoughts. “Hello? Is someone there?”

It sounded like a woman’s voice, but…no. Not quite a woman’s voice—it was younger and higher pitched. Perhaps a girl? Henry had never actually heard what a girl sounded like before so he couldn’t know for sure.

“Is this house haunted? Is that why the stairs and the walls and floors moved around?” the voice continued. Henry’s stomach coiled. Was she talking to him?

“Are you a ghost? Or more of a guardian angel? Or just a magical house?” she prattled on. There was no fear in her mana despite her talking about ghosts and haunted houses. If anything it was even warmer than before—almost friendly. The word popped into Henry’s head from somewhere in a book he had read once. He shook his head as if he could somehow shake the thought away with it.

“I’m going to guess…” She hummed thoughtfully. “A magical house? Am I right? Are you a magical house?” She paused for a moment, but his lack of response didn’t seem to deter her. “Thank you for saving me, Magical House.”

Henry felt a blush rising in his cheeks though he wasn’t entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because he had never been thanked for anything before. The words slipped out before he could stop them, “You’re welcome.”

The voice gasped, and Henry covered his mouth with his hands as his face grew suddenly hot. He could sense the girl’s mana nearby. She was in the same corridor as he was, so she must’ve heard him. His heart started pounding again, and his hands trembled. He shouldn’t have done that. His parents would likely be incredibly angry with him. Should he rearrange the house again so she wouldn’t find him? Henry sighed. He wasn’t really supposed to have done that the first time. His parents didn’t want him to use his recombination magic when they were in the house. He hoped they would understand why he had to intervene the first time to protect that girl midfall, but would rearranging things again be justified? And what if he frightened the girl? But if he didn’t move her or himself to another part of the house, then—?

“You’re a magical, talking house?” the girl interrupted his thoughts. “That’s amazing! I’ve never talked to a house before. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Lorelei. Do you have a name, Mr. House?”

Henry sighed. He knew he probably shouldn’t talk to Lorelei anymore but decided that not replying would be rude so he said, “I’m Henry.

“Well thank you for saving me, Henry!”

Her voice was exuberant, cheerful, and grateful enough to make him blush a little. Henry fidgeted. “It’s really no trouble, and…” He stopped himself. He didn’t know if he should correct her and explain that he was actually a boy, not a house.

“It was a lot of trouble for me,” chuckled Lorelei, filling the silence. “Though I guess you wouldn’t really know since I bet you don’t have a lot of problems with falling down and being clumsy since you’re a house and all. My mother and father say I have two left feet, and I’m always tripping over myself. I was going to fall on my face if you hadn’t saved me, but you did. That was very nice of you.”

“Well, actually, I…” he stopped. Once again, he was going to try to explain that he wasn’t actually a house, but he supposed he didn’t have much experience with falling down stairs and being clumsy as a human boy either since he spent most of his time lying down in bed.

Lorelei it seemed, however, hadn’t even heard him since she was still thoughtfully prattling, “I bet a house has other kinds of problems—like bad weather or mice living in walls or cracked tiles. Have you been a house for a long time, Henry? I’ve only been a girl for nine years.”

“So you’re nine years old?” Henry’s mouth twitched in the corners, so she was a girl.

Lorelei laughed. “Yes, but I have a birthday coming up. Then I’ll be ten.”

“I’m ten.”

“Really? I would have thought you were older.” She paused. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. You’re a very beautiful house, Henry.”

Henry chuckled quietly but clearly not quietly enough since Lorelei asked, clearly perplexed, “What’s so funny? I meant what I said. Your bricks are very sturdy, and your floors are shiny. A lot of your walls are a pretty color too.”

“Thank you,” Henry replied a bit sheepishly. “But—”

“But nothing,” interrupted Lorelei. “You’re a very nice house and you’re magical and you can talk. I would want to live in you, but the Lord and Lady Legolant already live here, so I can’t.” She paused briefly before adding, “Well… maybe I can someday because I’m going to marry their son when I grow up.”

Henry gasped. His face grew suddenly hot. What? She was going to…what? “But…I…uh…he’s really sick and…um…probably won’t live to grow up,” stumbled Henry unsure how exactly to even respond to that information.

“I know,” said Lorelei otherwise unphased. “But if he does…”

“No,” Henry interjected far more forcefully than he meant to. After a couple of deep breaths, he repeated much more calmly, “I mean…um…” He stopped. He wasn’t sure what he meant. What were his parents thinking? He couldn’t even be in the same room as another person without completely draining their mana—he certainly couldn’t be married, and Lorelei’s mana…it was so faint already and so warm. He could never snuff it out—could never put himself in a situation where he accidentally could. “Your mana…”

Lorelei cut him off with a good-natured laugh. “Oh, that’s why they thought I’d be a good fit. I don’t really have a lot of it so his sickness shouldn’t affect me too much.”

Henry sighed in relief almost in spite of himself. He certainly hoped she was right, but there was really no way of knowing, was there?

“And since I don’t have a lot of mana no one else wanted to marry me so my parents are happy too,” she continued. “They’re going to sign all the contracts today to make it official or at least talk about them or something, but we won’t get married until we’re a lot older.” Lorelei paused. “Have you gotten to meet him before, Henry? I hope he’s nice.”

Henry’s face flushed. “Um…well…I…I think he is or at least he tries to be.”

“That’s good. I’m trying to remember his name… Mother and Father said it during the carriage ride over here, but I can’t remember…Harry? No. That’s not right…”

Henry swallowed hard, and his heart began to pound. If he really was going to marry this girl one day, it probably wouldn’t be best for him to start things off by lying to her. “It’s…um…Henry.”

“Really?” gasped Lorelei. “His name is Henry, too? Is he named after you or are you named after him?”

Henry fidgeted and bit his lip. “Neither. Um…” He swallowed hard. “I’m Henry Legolant…and not a house,” he added for good measure.

There was a long, heavy pause, and Henry began to twist his hands. It was possibly the longest pause of his whole ten years, made even longer by the fact he could sense the change in her mana—suddenly uncomfortable though he couldn’t tell if that was from embarrassment or disappointment. “I’m sorry,” he continued in sincere apology, hoping that that would make her happy again, but it earned him only confusion.

“Why are you sorry? I’m the silly goose who thought you were a talking house.” She chuckled lightly. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m glad that you’re a person, but…” She hummed. “How did the house move?”

“Oh, that was my recombination magic,” explained Henry. “It can move anything in the house.”

He rattled the floorboards in the corridors as a demonstration for her, and she laughed and applauded. “That’s wonderful, but how did you know I was going to fall? Can you see the future?”

“No, but I have a sharp mana sense because of my illness, so I could um…feel that you were falling.” He knew that must sound very strange to Lorelei, but he wasn’t sure how else to explain it.

“You can sense my mana? But I don’t have a lot…”

“No, but it’s really warm and changes when you have strong feelings—like the fear of falling.”

Henry’s cheeks turned a bit rose when he realized what he had said, but Lorelei just laughed. “So you’re a mind reader? Can you tell me how I’m feeling right now?”

Henry pursed his lips together. It usually didn’t work the way Lorelei thought. He mainly picked up on subtle differences and changes in mana signatures. What she was asking him to do know would essentially be reading her mind, but… “I can try.”

Closing his eyes, Henry took a deep breath and searched for Lorelei’s mana. Once again he was struck by how warm it was in the softest, most gentle way. He could almost think of what it reminded him of, but he still couldn’t put a word to it. And he certainly couldn’t figure out her emotion from it.

“I don’t know…” he admitted at last with a defeated sigh. He decided to make an educated guess. “Disappointed?” He would have been disappointed if he was her given the circumstances and the fact she would be stuck with him in this dreary old house when they grew up.

“No,” she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I’m happy.”

“Why?” The question slipped out before he could stop it.

“Because you’re Henry Legolant, and you’re nice. I guess I really am lucky.”

Henry’s face flushed a deep red, and he stumbled over his words until he eventually managed to choke out, “Lucky?”

“Mhmm…like my magic. It’s lucky magic, and even if it’s weak, it still makes good things happen for me. Like when I almost fell down the stairs, but you saved me. And my parents picking out a stranger for me to marry when I get older, but he’s actually really nice and my friend.”

“Friend?” Henry repeated the word incredulously. He shook his head in disbelief. Had she really said they were…? Could they really be friends?

“Of course we’re friends, silly,” Lorelei chuckled, and Henry blushed red as he wondered if it was, in fact, Lorelei who could read minds.

He felt the heat rising in his cheeks as a warmth began to spread through his chest; however, he stared down at his twisting hands and bit his lip. “I’ve…I’ve never had a friend before...”

Lorelei hummed. “Well…you’ve got one now,” she replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Henry could feel her sincerity in the flickers of her kind, comforting mana. As it swirled around him almost like a warm blanket, a smile tugged at his mouth, and he realized what it was her mana reminded him of. It felt like a home—the kind that he had only read about. Somewhere warm, cozy, and safe filled with family and friends who cared for each other. It was only a distant dream for Henry, but…now he had a friend so, perhaps, he could have a home someday too.

Henry sniffled at the thought. It was more than he could bring himself to hope for right now, but still, a smile spread across his face and he couldn’t help but feel that even if it was Lorelei who had the “Lucky Magic,” for the first time in his life, he was the one who was truly lucky.

[trekkiehood]

Okay, A, I relate so hard with your dilemma, because I'm also having so many ideas right now, only, instead of not having enough time, I can't seem to find enough focus! 😫

B, okay, here's a question about your writing: what's an idea/WIP you're most excited about right now? Feel free to share as much or as little details as you want!!

Tagging @stars-remain2 because they responded to my post

Thank you!!! I was so excited when I saw this I have just not had time to answer

Okay so I really want to write a longfic for the MotA fandom that would take place during the Buckies time in the POW camp but I don't have a through line 😅

Like I have a couple scenes that I want to play with but it's so episodic. I'll probably end up posting them as one shots and then putting them in an AO3 series but my brain wants it to be a long fic so bad 😂

Some of the ideas I have for these scenes (mostly Gale angst lol)

The fic I'm currently working on that involves the guards threatening Gale is and things escalate very quickly

Possibly a secondary scene to that dealing with the aftermath and Gale not wanting to be alone around the yard and the same guard carching him alone

Gale hitting his emotional breaking point and losing it at Bucky after Bucky pushes him too far

Which would probably lead into a Gale being sick/having pneumonia

Gale collapsing. Idk why. Exhaustion? Hunger? Don't care I just want that man to collapse and everyone to be so caught off guard and worried

I really do want to play with Gale just slowly losing it bc I think that'd be FUN

Okay but Gale having to get between two of his men who are fighting and he separated them but one of the guys is still in the heat of the moment and so he decks Gale and the whole room goes silent and Gale in one Swift motion sweeps the guys feet and has him down on the ground and is just like "don't get up bc I will put you right back on the floor and next time I won't be so gentle" and everyone is SHOOK bc since when does Major Cleven fight back physically especially with subordinates???? (Also Bucky straight up hates this dude now, he has made an enemy for life lol)!

Would also like to explore Gale getting shot down. I probably would not go with the actual historical events and would make things more traumatic and something he slowly reveals to Bucky (or not. Maybe Bucky never knows idk)

And just Gale with food issues. In the show he lost weight so much quicker than everyone else like boy are you ok???

Gale dealing s/h is something else I have lurking. It would be less blatant than that but a general idea of Gale liking pain but only if he's in control of it (a mirror to Bucky he goes out looking for fights bc he wants other ppl to force him to feel pain)

Do you see my dilemma 😂

So many ideas and so little time 😭

And again they all happen in the same little universe in my head but I have no through line to justify it being one fic so idk what I'm going to do. Probably just make it a series.

I know I probably won't have great leadership bc I don't write romance I just wrote very strong platonic soulmates (or t'hy'la if you will) but hopefully some people will enjoy them lol

If anyone has any questions or wants more info on any of these fics plz ask (maybe it will help me form thoughts more fully lol)

Thanks again for asking!!!! It was good to get all of this down!

[skywalking-through-life]

Much delayed, but for the truth-or-dare ask game: 🍓🥑🥤🧃 (🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷)

My friend! 💙💙💙💙💙

These are such good ones, omg. Sorry in advance for the word vomit, lolol

🍓 - How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Okay, so I've kind of been writing fic in my head (and sometimes in notebooks/random word documents) since I was about 8 years old, and I first realized that 'writing stories' was 1) a thing ANYONE could do, and also, sometimes, 2) a job that required refined skills, lol. When you're a kid you're told (if you're lucky) that you can do anything that you put your mind to, and little Sky loved stories more than most other things, so I couldn't imagine doing something with the rest of my life that didn't involve them! So I started practicing. The first fanfic I ever wrote was in a journal, and it was only a few pages long because I did not have great penmanship and was impatient with own slowness, lol. I'm fairly certain I was embarrassed by my efforts and threw them out. For a long time I wrote elaborate stories in my head instead, and didn't start actually doing the (MUCH harder) work of putting them on paper until high school. But I was also having a complex at that point in my life around acceptability/popularity and anxiety around being perceived as a nerd, so I was way too terrified to tell anyone I was writing it. And then I was so disillusioned by the meanness that I saw in online fandom spaces that it still took years before I got up the courage to post any of it publicly! I've had an ao3 account for the past decade, and was a lurker for a good five years before that, but I didn't start posting my own work until just under two years ago. That ought to say something, I think. 💀

🥑 - you accidentally killed someone, which mutal(s) do you text for help?

LOL, heaven forbid I ever find myself in this situation, but if so...honestly probably you, lmao, and some other folks on here that I don't think have ever been involved in crimes, but are otherwise competent, functioning adults who don't shy away from difficult/grey situations - at least in fiction, lol. @60sec400 @darkmagyk @phykios @deerlie-main , I hope you are not insulted by this. 💀

🥤- recommend an author or fanfic you love

I just did this the other week - and apparently y'all really needed recs, wow! - so I'm kind of wracking my brain here to rec something I haven't already recommended recently...there are a LOT of good options to choose from! I guess I'll go with 'percy jackson and the scrutiny of his coworkers', which is an absolutely BRILLIANT outsider pov fic by pqrker on ao3. It's popular for a reason, and the reason being that it is perfect. 🥹

🧃- share some personal lore you've never posted about before

Ooooo, hmm, what to pick, what to pick...hmm, okay, I'll go with this. A segue from my first answer, lol. I was nominated for Homecoming Queen in high school, and was the first runner up, so - hilariously - became the Homecoming Princess. It was my teen movie Cinderella-story moment, because I had always been the shy nerd in the back of the classroom, but then all of a sudden was in a fancy dress on the football field getting a crown and wondering what parallel universe and/or Taylor Swift song I'd just fallen into. And weirdly enough, knowing that I hadn't done anything special to be nominated - that people had just liked me - went a long way towards me being able to accept myself more holistically. Maybe if they liked me enough for that, I could like me enough to try and see what they saw, you know? It was years ago now, but it is a fond and bizarre memory, and was very helpful to a confused and anxious 17 year old! 😅

You may have gotten more than you planned with this ask, lol, but thank you for asking, my friend. 💙

[mothdapple]

For the writing meme, 3, 15, 19, 20! this nghtspckl btw :)

Thank you for the ask! :) For the AO3 Wrapped game

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Oh easy answer for this one, Cold Bloodlines! This fic has been my baby for so many years. I'm still so incredibly proud of the fact that I finally completed the series earlier this year, and concluded the story that I'd wanted to tell for so long!

I'm also very lucky that the fic has received way more attention than I expected for a basically entirely OC-focused story. But these characters have lived in my head for so long, I'd have kept writing their story even if I was the only one reading it lol.

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

I mentioned Shaken Roots: Dawn in this other answer, so I'll talk about my other (published) WIP for this, Silverhawk's Legacy! Shaken Roots is my main focus right now, but I haven't forgotten about Silverhawk and Emberdawn!

This fic is fun since one of my favorite things to do with Warriors fanfics is take cats who have like 2 lines in canon and make them actual characters lol. I really like the dynamic I've developed for my interpretation of Silverhawk and Emberdawn, and I have a clear idea about the future of their story— I just need the time to actually write it!

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Hmm I definitely am looking forward to writing more Silverhawk/Emberdawn and Mothwing/Leafpool, but if this question is about a pairing which I haven't yet explored, that narrows down the options quite a bit.

So I suppose this is when I reveal my maybe not-so-secret plan lol, which is that Shaken Roots will explore Squirrelflight/Crowfeather as a romantic pairing. I really love the dynamic I've developed for the two of them, and I feel like I always end up coming up with the best banter with them too. They play off each other very naturally, so writing them together is just easy for me (as opposed to say like Feather/Crow who I had to put a lot of thought into figuring out their dynamic and what about Crow appealed to Feathertail lol.)

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Haha this question is calling me out. I constantly reread my fics. 😅 It's honestly hard to say which one I've reread most this year, but I think it'd be either Cold Bloodlines or Shaken Roots (not in their entireties, but I frequently reread chapters.)

Besides just that I like reading my fics since they are the exact types of stories I enjoy, Cold Bloodlines I've been rereading for the purposes of editing now that the trilogy is complete. And Shaken Roots, I reread as I write to remind myself about what's going on lol, and also to edit as I put out new chapters.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

If you end up not continuing from the ashes do you think you’d maybe give us the plot line of what you think the story was gonna turn out (or is gonna turn out depending if you continue it or not)

I can do that :)

but buckle up cuz this is gonna be long (ridiculously long). i'll try my best to explain what i had planned for all of the povs in from the ashes as they do eventually become one pov (reader's).

Part 1 cuz tumblr said it was too long 😅

pt2 here

MAJOR SPOILERS

I'll start off with what would have been part 50 so if you haven't read up to that on my Ao3, i would go and catch up otherwise you might get confused 😅

Reader

Jaime

Cersei

Rhaegar

Tywin/Aerys

alright, i'll start with jaime's pov since his was going to be the next one i would have posted.

he would actually go on to investigate the murder of Nuahlin the former chief of the Fiery Hands. and unfortunately Tyrion would involve himself too only wanting to help out. Surprise to absolutely no one, the murderers are Dritan and Tejas. Two of the Fiery Hands who had a major problem with you allowing Inniros to live though he should have been executed for the murder of fellow Hands. Tyrion is the one to actually find out. Tejas tracks down Tyrion with the plan to kill him. Turns out there's actually more discontent soldiers who think reader is a false prophet. They don't believe Azor Ahai would ever allow a darkin to live after killing one of his sacred fighters (they don't know the truth that Nissa Nissa was actually the first darkin blessed by R'hllor)

Jaime kills Tejas and goes after Dritan. They fight but Dritan was fighting dirty with poisoned blades. Dritan ends up getting away. Dritan escapes on the first ship that was leaving: to Yi Ti 👀👀

oh and also Tyrion maybe becoming a red priest

Reader isn't having a good time being a basic captive of the Morghons. The city that they hail from resembled a jagged, black scar from above. they put you in an isolation cell to alert a fourth Morghon who is their leader known as Augur. Without Lightbringer or Latilth, reader is absolutely alone to question what the Augur had predicted.

there are other creatures that walk on two legs who live in the same black city that the morghons do. with them they fill a small council room with reader in the middle facing the Augur who is basically like their leader since he's the strongest (magically)of his brethren. she's shown far into the future. they do confirm that she will end the long night and defeat the Others as well one day become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. but further than that is where they're concerned. of the consequences of magic reentering the rest of the world stronger than ever thanks to reader and hatching the first dragon in centuries.

greedy people start making the journey to Asshai, infiltrating the city to find what other secrets lay in the dark country. many will challenge not just the morghons but those of the winged men and would bring upon dragon hunting. wars involving magic would inflame the known world. to save everyone from this ultimate fate, they figure it be better to let the Others take over rather than reader stopping them.

this pisses reader off so much. like they just expect her to let everyone she loves die? the augur calls her selfish and that azor ahai sacrificed his own wife for the production of Lightbringer. and you know what? something snaps in reader. she'd never asked for much of the world. hardly ever was she selfish. this though- she'd allow herself to embrace the anger she felt and be fucking selfish

and in that well of fiery hot fury, she also felt something familiar. darkins. the further she let herself burn, the closer she felt the presence. r'hllor's white flames swirl around her, burning those close and setting them immediately ablaze.

slowly, the darkin emerge; obeying the call of their champion. what rumbles the citadel was the emergence of latilth from the shadows. they had brought her along

this is where Master Ameer (the darkin that came from the city of winged men), Djal and Ovsanna are introduced.

after defeating the morghons (well, more like killing most of them), they leave to go back to the manor of shades but the morghon's giant dragon confronts reader and latilth. he's no longer aggressive toward them and follows them back. (and yes, this dragon kushul and latilth will eventually have babies together lol)

tywin in volantis! and he brought the lannister naval force for reader only to find jaime severly wounded and tyrion sparring with the fiery hands. you bet tywin gets fucking humbled in volantis and grudgingly acknowledges that joanna wasn't crazy

and now we must turn to cersei in astapor 😬 keeping true to her word, phiobe helps cersei become even crueler. phiobe uses slaves for cersei to practice on. definite fruity elements between cersei and phiobe; moreso on cersei's end cuz phiobe is not interested lol. they return to the sea and do make it to yi ti where cersei is brought to prince Heiu

and she meets the rest of his women

he's young and takes a big interest in cersei which upsets his other courtesans especially who had been perceived as the head of his harem: Lady Li-Xue

the second night there, lady li xue sent an assassin to cersei's room but the assassin was killed before cersei could even react. it's dritan who has taken a position of guard in Prince Heiu's palace

"I hear you sent the darkin after your sister. i want her dead as well"

a weird ass relationship between these two develop. he helps her get rid of her competition. he's in awe when he see's cersei kill someone for the first time.

prince rhaegar! now where the hell has he been? on the way to asshai. alizah is with him as are her two fiery hands and his own men (griff, arthur). this is what everyone has been waiting for!! 😂 the reunion of reader and rhaegar! he and his troops march through asshai to the mountain range and immediately met by Loviisa

brought to the manor of shades, rhaegar meets the other darkin as well as melisandre, weles and ray. inniros, reader and rhiannon are out flying with latilth

see you in part 2 :p

[leggerefiore]

sorry to bother you but did some fics you had written vanish? i thought i had read a hurt/comfort fic where some characters (cyrus, larry, kabu, nanu) argue with the reader and later apologize and some bring gifts too. i might be wrong so ignore this if i am 😅

Here you are, anon! (I'll reblog it, too.)

See, Tumblr's search function sucks, and I struggled to find this... Literally, Kabu x reader brought up nothing. Sometimes, you just have to click tags to search. Granted, I do have an easier view.

I've also been trying (and maybe failing a bit) to archive my posts on AO3 when I can. This particular post can also be found here in this compilation.

I'm behind on my Ingo and Emmet posts, but that compilation is so big already that I feel nervous messing with it, haha... Though, I do have my villain requests and normal character requests separated. Granted... Cyrus and Volo are in the general characters, but that was started in 2022 before I started formally doing just specific villain requests.

If you guys want anything in particular put in the ao3 comp, send an ask that has the link or like describe the post a bit (and check to make sure it already isn't in one or the other.)

I try to only update them in large quantities because I feel bad about spamming tags, so it might be a minute between when you send a request to add it and when it actually is...

[television-overload]

[FIC PREVIEW]

2023 NCIS/Tiva Christmas!

Here's the first scene of my upcoming Christmas fic! I'm hoping to have it finished by Christmas, of course. Let me know if you want to be tagged! It will also be posted to AO3 (ContentsPriceless).

I'm actually gonna edit this to take out anything mentioning Ducky's funeral, now that we know they'll cover that this season, so you get an ultra-rare pre-editing peek 😅

I'm sure I'll write a tribute fic at some point, maybe a fix it if we don't get cameos or at least a hefty mention of Tony and Ziva .

“Daddy, Daddy! I can see the glaciers!” Tali announced excitedly, her face pressed up against the small airplane window.

Tony DiNozzo smiled and peeked over her head of wavy brown hair to catch a glimpse of the snow-covered Alaskan wilderness below. “You remember what you learned about glaciers in school?” he prompted.

“Uh-huh! They’re like frozen rivers that move down the mountains!”

“Something like that,” Tony chuckled. “You’d better sit down and buckle up, Tals, we’ll be landing soon.”

The nine-year-old obeyed, sitting back in her seat where her legs didn’t quite touch the ground—though the way she’d been growing lately, it wouldn’t be long.

“Can I have your phone to take pictures?” Tali asked once she was properly buckled, the seatbelt tightened by her father until he deemed it sufficient.

With an exaggerated sigh, Tony fished the device out of his back pocket and handed it over. “Don’t take too many, we need to save some space for pictures of all the other cool stuff we see.”

With his daughter occupied, Tony turned his attention to the woman sitting in the aisle seat beside him.

“Hey, you doing alright?” he asked in a low voice, placing a hand on her knee.

She had been shifting uncomfortably for the last hour or so of their flight, unable to get positioned in a way that took the pressure off her back. They had broken up their journey from Paris with a day’s respite in New York City, where they were able to catch up with some of Tony’s extended family. Tali, in particular, loved seeing the sights and stuffing her face with giant slices of pizza. But still, it put a lot of strain on Ziva’s body.

“I am starting to rethink what a good idea it was to travel so extensively while pregnant,” she spoke with a grimace, rubbing her rounded belly in comforting circles.

Tony hummed in sympathy, his fingers finding her lower back and massaging there as best as he could in such a confined space. She sighed in relief, her head falling against his shoulder and her eyes drooping shut.

“In our defense, when we planned this trip, we didn’t know you’d be five months pregnant,” he said softly with a teasing lilt to his voice.

It was true. They had almost given up on the prospect of having another child, promising that if it didn’t happen before Tali turned ten, they would stop trying. But finally, after years of negative tests, they got their positive, and Tony and Ziva were overjoyed. Tali, too, was looking forward to having a baby brother or sister. The high pitched squeal she had emitted when they first broke the news proved to them that she would be the best big sister a kid could ask for, and she had slept with a copy of the ultrasound in a frame beside her bed ever since.

But when they first started planning this trip almost a year ago, they had not planned on an additional passenger in utero, which definitely complicated things a little. After Gibbs visited them in Paris for the holidays the year prior, they knew they wanted to be with family. That had been the first time they’d seen him since Ziva had finally been reunited with Tony and Tali, and there was a lot of joy to go around. Tali had taken to calling him Grampa Gibbs, and in almost no time at all, they were like two peas in a pod.

“I can’t wait to see everyone,” Ziva murmured, a small smile pulling at her lips. “I hear Jimmy is bringing Agent Knight.”

“I’m glad,” Tony said, “it will be good for him to have her there, I think.”

Although the shape of their makeshift family had changed a lot over the years, love was still at the heart of it, that was the only thing that mattered. They’d met Jessica Knight only once, at Ducky’s funeral a few months back, but the consensus was that she was a great match for Jimmy, and she seemed to get along with Victoria too.

It had been a reunion of sorts with everyone coming to pay their respects to the beloved M.E., even Abby who sadly wouldn’t be able to make it to Alaska this Christmas. This year would be strange, without Ducky there to verbosely share stories of Christmases of old. His warm smile and even warmer hugs would be greatly missed by all who knew him.

After a few more minutes, a voice came over the speaker instructing passengers to take their seats for landing, and Tony pressed a kiss to Ziva’s temple.

“You hear that?” he said, his lips brushing against her hair, “Only a little bit longer, hon.”

-.-.-

... to be continued

Tag list: @benedettabeby @earanemith @happygirl-0408 @hopeless-nostalgic @indestinatus @loudlooks @nicolem194 @putthekettleon @slippery-soapbox @tivafanfic @tonysziva

[evendale]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged in this by the lovely @once-in-a-blue-moon-rising. Thank you! 😊 It's nice to revisit my fics, it's been a while.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

23

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,014,041 words. Yikes 😂

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Most of my works are in the La Casa de Papél fandom. Before that, I was in the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries fandom. I also have a handful of ficlets in the fandom for the Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

My top 5 fics by kudos are all in the LCDP fandom, and they're all +100k words.

Number one is 'The White Queen', a Regency romance AU. It's got almost double the amount of kudos than the second-highest fic.

'Personal Relationships', a canon-compliant AU.

'Back to Galicia', a movie star second chance AU.

'Safe House', a witness protection program AU.

'Tell Me What You Like', a collection of canon 'fill the gap' smutty scenes.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to 😅 I used to love spending a lot of time writing elaborate and personal responses to comments, and I in fact met several of my best fandom friends through comment conversations! However, over time I just simply didn't have the energy for it anymore. There are still a bunch of super lovely comments on the last chapter of my last fic that I really should have responded to, but I simply don't have the mental space. I do feel bad about that 🙈

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't write angsty endings. I love angst in the main fic, but I'm committed to HEAs :)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably 'The White Queen', where I spent about 50k words describing just how happy they were 😂

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've had a few nasty comments, but they're absolutely nothing compared to the vast sea of incredibly kind, lovely, and supportive comments I've gotten. I've been very lucky.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

My earlier work is almost entirely smut 😂 It's funny to see my later fics evolving into containing more and more plot, and less and less smut. I wonder how my readers felt about that 😂 The smut is explicit, but I've always tried to keep it tasteful.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I haven't written any crossovers yet. I'm usually obsessed with only one piece of media at a time :)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes -- I discovered a few years ago that one of my LCDP fics had been stolen and put on Amazon for money! It took ages to explain things to Amazon (because I didn't own the characters) and to get it taken down. It was a very icky feeling.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I've had several requests from people who wanted to translate my fics into Russian :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I don't think I could. I love to brainstorm about plot with a friend or beta reader, but I couldn't actually share the writing process. I'm too much of a control freak 😅

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

If we're only looking at the first 2 seasons of LCDP, then Serquel. However, the subsequent seasons partially ruined them for me, so maybe I'd better choose Phryne and Jack from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My only unfinished fic on AO3 is 'Tell Me What You Love' in the LCDP fandom, but that's more a series of vignettes that I kept open in case I wanted to add more. It wasn't really meant to have an ending. That said, I don't think I'll ever add to it anymore.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think. I also think in general I'm a clear writer who gets to the point without too many flourishes or detours.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

For a long time, I felt like I couldn't come up with any kind of original plot, but I think I got better at that over time. I'm still pretty bad at descriptions, though. I just want to get to the action and dialogue, and I forget that my readers are not in my head and can't see the characters or surroundings like I do :D

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I wouldn't include more than a few words of phrases sprinkled through the dialogue.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I was all of 26 when I first discovered fanfiction!

20. Favourite fic you've written?

That's such a tough choice 😅😅 If I absolutely have to choose, then I think 'The White Queen'. I was really just writing the exact fic that I wanted to read myself with that one. I had so much fun with it, I was so inspired that the chapters literally flowed out without any effort, and I got the most amazing response to it from the fandom. It will always be extra special to me 😊

I'm not tagging anyone in particular, but if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged! :)

[barelyconventional]

Welcome to my Kinkblr!

Kinks You'll Find Here:

Stuffing

Stomachaches

Belly rubs

Tummy noises

Burping

Liquid bloats

Soft feedism

Mild weight gain/fat admiration

Kinks You Won't Find Here:

Scat/Eprocto

Pregnancy/Breeding

Nonconsensual force feeding

My Writing

I cycle sporadically between various WIPs, mostly about original characters. On the happy occasion I actually finish a story, I usually post it to my Pillowfort and AO3 and share links here.

Speaking of Pillowfort…

I can't recommend Pillowfort.social enough if you're in the market for an independent, user-funded, NSFW-welcoming social media site. They just came out with a rolling wait list a la AO3, but if you don't wanna wait, you can send me an ask off anon or message me for an account key. 🗝️

My Sideblogs

t-kiss is my sideblog project for tummy kink self-ship; check it out if that's your jam and maybe submit something for you and your F/Os!

unconventionalselfships is my personal t-kiss blog for gushing about my obscure F/Os.

unconventionalafterdark is where I put steamier content and real-life kink. (Basically it's a catch-all for anything that feels like "too much" for my main blog. 😅)

Current Projects (indexes coming soon!)

Whiskey And Ice Cream/WAIC: An ongoing series of self-indulgent stories centered around charming sugar daddy feeder Dustin, his adorable sugar baby-turned-boyfriend feedee Adam, and their glamorous feeder FWB Angel.

A Meeting of Minds/AMOM (WIP): A plotty kink series exploring my original urban fantasy universe and the queerplatonic found family that inhabits it. If you like the fantastic stories by @ginger-and-mint and @tiny-loves-rubs then this will be right up your alley.

The Tummy Date, aka Dirk & Vanessa (WIP): An experimental story of intentional kink that started out as a love letter to my favorite fic of the same name on StomachacheCafe (may it rest in peace). I love the OCs that came from it enough that I'll probably end up writing more for them. Set in the same universe as WAIC.

Wild Mountain Honey (WIP): More self-indulgent goodness centered around a bear shifter named Orson, the small mountain town he calls home, and his love interest Jia, a burnt out big city lawyer who's inexplicably attracted to Orson's big appetite. This is still in its early development stages, but the eventual goal is more or less kinky supernatural romance meets Hallmark movie. Set in the same universe as AMOM.

Kinky Blorbo Micro Manifestos

Ask me about any of these if you want exuberant infodumps and hyperspecific headcanons. Pretty much all of these have at least one back-burner plot bunny attached to them.

John Pope and Sara from Falling Skies: Pope is my blorbo to end all blorbos, the bright star on my horizon, my #1 t-kiss F/O. Sara is his kick-ass girlfriend, one of my favorite female characters ever, and someone I'm working up the courage to also make my t-kiss F/O. He's a trigger-happy berserker who's also a chef and eats more times on-camera than anyone else on the show, she's a plucky former graphic designer who asked him for Pringles at gunpoint—need I say more?

Nick Burkhardt and Sean Renard from Grimm (TV): The stars of the first kinky fanfic I ever felt brave enough to actually post online (which I will continue Someday™). I low-key ship them and Adalind in a kinky OT3. Sean x Cheesecake 4ever (based on an outtake that would've been memed in a larger fandom).

Pete Latimer and Myka Bering from Warehouse 13: This show is best known for its amazing and tragically non-canon femslash ship, Bering and Wells, but y'all, we are sleeping on Pete. He had as much kinky canon material (proportionally at least) as a certain gruff-voiced monster-hunter, right down to a signature favorite dessert, and he may have his flaws but his masculinity is a hell of a lot healthier overall. Meanwhile, Myka is a canonical stress eater with a canonical sweet tooth and a canonical best friend/partner (Pete) who's always trying to get her to relax. Pyka was queerplatonic and I will die on that hill.

Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle from Batman: The Animated Series: I've had a long-time crush on TAS Batman, and tummying him is the inevitable result of that. It's practically canon that BatCat is some flavor of kinky, so Selina talking Bruce into self-care via feedism doesn't seem like much of a stretch to me. I'm also 100% down for kinky WonderBat and/or WonderBatCat.

The Leverage OT3 (Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, and Parker): I'm still working my way past season one, but I have already made it my life's sidequest to believably tummy these three in various ways. Eliot's a hobbyist chef in desperate need of R&R, Hardison's hacker snacking provides endless windows of opportunity, and Parker has a major sweet tooth and zero inhibitions.

Flip from Slumberland (2022): Y'all. Y'all. I am feral over this man. A goofy outlaw and reluctant father played by Jason Momoa with fangs and a clingy T-shirt who carries snacks in his pockets and spends half the movie touching his belly is illegally tailored to my interests. Also the movie was hilarious and adorable and gave me feels and you should watch it. 

[desolateice]

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

This is difficult because I feel like people go in waves and currently everything feels like it's in a lull. I ended up writing a lot more than planned so to save dashes I'm putting it all under a read more.

Like arguably root beer floats and green tea tends to every once in a while get hits, and I'll get comments as people read and then people tend to hit a wall or life gets busy and I never know if they actually finish it or if when I start responding to their comments when I have time if I scare them off 😅. Like did I say something that they didn't like and they noped out of there because tone doesn't transfer well to text? Or if life just gets busy or the fic is just so so very long. (Valid) I'm not sure how many people have actually finished reading it. The final chapter has one comment and the final chapters in general tend to have much less than the earlier ones. People generally, comment based, don't seem to make it to the end. Let alone past the Okinawan arc if they even make it there. The authors note is where most people actually left their comments which are more for the overall experience and the end of the journey which I greatly love and appreciate. But because I spent so long with time and energy (and research) on that fic I just want to know what did people like in the chapters. I wonder sometimes if that 100k chapter just is super overwhelming. Which is why I'm kind of debating cracking it into smaller chapters. Heck it freezes ao3 when I try to go back and edit issues I find in it. So I can only imagine. But at the same time, it's ridiculously long so I don't really feel comfortable asking for anything related to it because it's such a time commitment and no one owes me comments or anything. And the comments I have gotten and the messages are just always a delight and I'm very grateful. Because it does in fact have a lot of comments, the most I've ever gotten on anything. I'm not sure if that accurately answers that question. 😅

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with? 😂 I'm amused you messaged me this since you get all my complaints. I worked really fucking hard on Root Beer Floats and Green Tea, but because there's so many notes and it's so long I think every one knows that. I worked really hard on Wisteria Sherbert but that was because I was trying to drop a long fic in a month. Really all of them. Except the Feast for Fools, that one I just had a ton of fun with and it went smoothly, though I did struggle a bit with the end and I do have some cut parts for that one. For example they were going to get married and Margaret had left designs for the arch and Johnny made it by hand. Put a ton of effort into that and then was like nah, 😂 this can end with them going on vacation. But as I've complained to you multiple times I fight a lot with Earl Grey. Here's a part I cut as a treat:

“Where are your friends?” Dutch looked blankly ahead. “You know it’s important to make the right friends. You’ve got a lot to uphold. Legacy.” Dutch’s fingers dug into his legs. Who’d been the ones to scare off his last batch of friends? “You can’t keep biting people.” They deserved it. He hated that they waited until moments like this to talk to him, talking out of the side of their mouths, barely moving their lips, too concerned with the painter getting something wrong. He knew he couldn’t have an outburst. Not in front of the painter. So he just dug his fingers deeper against his thighs. Nails digging in. “You need a partner. What about a nice girl?” Said the couple who suggested every girl he ever met was a gold digger, and not a single one was allowed on the property without being thoroughly vetted. What even was the point of it all? He smiled as angrily as a person could at the painter. Teeth gritted, trying his damn hardest not to let anything change in his position, in his face. Make friends. But no not those friends. Go out more But no not there. Not those places. Invite people over. But not those people. Dutch wanted to scream. Why did it even matter. They weren’t ever home anyway. So what if one of his friends pocketed the silver? So did that guy from Les Misérables. He stole silver from a church and bread and he was still a beloved character. He was the hero. So what did it matter? It wasn’t like the silverware was actually something they couldn’t replace. It wasn’t like the statues were being enjoyed. They were just collecting dust. Like all the gold and rubies and precious jewels. Dust. So much fucking dust. Like him. Just left with everything, alone in the house to collect dust.

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it. 😂 That would be at the moment: Hardboiled Gunpowder Tea Dear little Tommy/Johnny fic you're new and only have 1 chapter, so it's okay that you don't have a lot of anything because there's not much to you anyway. I've got two-ish more chapters started and I know this is going to be research heavy because I want each chapter to talk about a different type of detective work/skill. So the first two are fingerprinting, i.e the first is how to dust, the second is how to tell what kind of finger print it is and then we're moving onto photography and old school darkroom work. I just maybe have gotten a bit too tied up into the mechanics and haven't figured out what is happening, who did it or how to get these two together yet. 😅 It's all sort of vague at the moment. But I love mysteries so I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with it. Plus it's the Tommy route of Root Beer Floats so....I at least have the world and relationships already down. 💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

I have two open WIP that are being posted and I've already talked about them so I guess I'll talk about the ones I'm debating about and one in my drafts. I have two Lawrusso and one Bobby/Johnny I've got that I'm planning. Since this is an I'll stick with the one that is actually started and not just stewing in my brain which has the place holder title: 🐔 which is sort of this deal Cookie and I made. I write this and Cookie will draw a horse, I mean that's not the whole deal but listen if I can write something that's been on my the back of my pile and it'll make Cookie move something from the back of the planned art pile then I feel like it's a win win right? 😂 So 🐔. Here's a clip, I might've already given you one that I inevitable cut in a different ask but I feel like this one, which also might get cut, is more of the thesis of the fic:

Johnny carefully took out the incubator and plugged it in, reading the instructions carefully and transferred the eggs into the machine, flipping on the switch to keep them warm. They were alive. Over a dozen eggs. Maybe 20 or so. Too many. Too many fucking eggs. Sensei, our assignment is to raise eggs and watch them hatch and take notes. But Mr. LaRusso planned our training session for the entire break out in the mountains so we can’t. They shouldn’t hatch while we’re gone, but please keep an eye on them and keep them warm. You shouldn’t have to do anything else. Thank you so much Sensei! You’re a life saver.

Johnny carefully took out the incubator and plugged it in, reading the instructions carefully and transfered the eggs into the machine, flipping on the switch to keep them warm. They were alive. Over a dozen eggs. Maybe 20 or so. Too many. Too many fucking eggs. "Sensei, our assignment is to raise eggs and watch them hatch and take notes. But Mr. LaRusso planned our training session for the entire break out in the mountains so we can’t. They shouldn’t hatch while we’re gone, but please keep an eye on them and keep them warm. You shouldn’t have to do anything else. Thank you so much Sensei! You’re a life saver."

But uh something that has me excited? When I originally envisioned it I wanted it to be a fix-it fic, but then I thought maybe I'll just have it focus on the chickens. But now I'm like well maybe I can fit some of that fix it into it. Which essentially is I had this idea about the baby. And I kind of like that plan (spoiler, no baby) and I wanted to explore this thing that I kind of explore frequently in the fics which is this promise they gave in the first couple of seasons that like Johnny does in fact learn but he stopped and they sort of made him a joke in the later season/let him backslide pretty far. I kind of took a shot at it with Wisteria Sherbert. But it's something I want to explore and I don't know if explaining it flat out is a spoiler. Like if people want that or not. Err I guess I'll write both the plans (the no baby and Johnny learning/backslide) and just stop now if you don't want to know.

🐔 So Carmen and Silver met, and Silver explains she's got a choice, she can either keep Johnny occupied while he deals with his issues with Daniel or the next time they interact he can't promise Johnny'll make out alive. And Carmen decides to fake it. She's a nurse, so she fakes the whole thing to keep Johnny busy but she doesn't necessarily want to marry him or have a real kid. That's part of it anyway. So I think that's going to be my start. And the Johnny backsliding from where he'd learned... So I realized or like wrote somewhere that something that bums me out is that like if you look at Johnny from the very first time we ever meet him in the Karate Kid is he's telling the guys, no thanks for the beer, I'm going to improve, I'm going to get better, I'm no longer going to have my life as a mess. And then he fails. And he just keeps failing. You add to it that pretty much everyone thinks he's an idiot, and I think if that happens enough times your self worth just tanks. He has pretty much no self preservation, he doesn't think about taking care of himself, not for himself anyway. So you take Kreese who tries to murder him for not getting first place, you add Sid who did who knows what and he has this fear of failure so great that he just can't try. Trying becomes so freaking hard, which leads to failing from the get go with Robby. But every once in a while he tries. Right? And he learns, when given the chance, but then he fails again, and people call him an idiot again. And so I think at some point it becomes just this defense mechanism. If he doesn't try, if he doesn't learn then he won't let anyone down. He'll just be an idiot to everyone around him and then that disappointment wont crush him and...arguably the won't leave or try and kill him for not being perfect. So my thought is that he's not an idiot, he's just using it as a shield. And he's pulled so deeply within himself so as not to get hurt. He's trying in ways, but no one's gotten to the kernel of it because when he does try and fail he fails in big ways. Like he screwed up, got a lady pregnant, and he screwed up with Robby so he's going to try but he's trying by like ways that would benefit others and not himself. I.e. cleaning and wearing a mask but taking it off to drink a beer so really not protecting himself beyond the barest minimum, or like being an awful rideshare driver because if he sucks at it well then he's not going to care if he fails. It feels like the dude's just limping through life. Occasionally he manages to walk, occasionally he takes a rest and gathers himself, but most of the time he's wounded. And I think part of that is the only person he thought who believed in him unconditionally died. (Laura) and every other person who believes in him, well it's conditional. I mean even Miguel took away his trust and belief in him. (For valid reasons) but with his shattered self esteem I think it just makes things so much harder on him.

Anyway so I'm going to give him chickens. And he's going to fucking nail it and he's going to heal and open up and he's going to realize he can fuck up without it being the end of the world and he's going to show everyone he's not the dumb blonde they think he is and that he can take care of himself and not have to be perfect. Or at least that's the plan. That's the goal.

Thank you for the writers ask. These are from this list.

[theleotorrio]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @sarcasticsciencefictionwriter, thank you ❤️

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

6, I work quite slowly

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

24 692 words in total, again not that much

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I've published fanfiction for Sanctuary, Stargate Atlantis and The Penumbra Podcast

4. Top five by kudos

Your better half (Juno/Nureyev, TPP) 30

Words I'll never say (Elizabeth/John, Stargate Atlantis) 12

A Sanctuary Christmas Carol (Helen/Nikola, Sanctuary) 10

Catching Lightning (Helen/Nikola, Sanctuary) 9

A typical tuesday (Sanctuary) 8

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to. I am definitely not perfect at it and sometimes I don't know what to say, so my anxiety doesn't let me, but I try to

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well, I got some where people die at the end. From those probably 'Your better half' as the other characters are pretty destroyed at the end.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

For me 'A Sanctuary Christmas Carol' because I think a lot of growth happened in that fanfiction and that's always pretty good in my book, so yeah quite happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Haven't yet and I hope it stays that way or I'll probably quit writing 😅

9. Do you write smut?

No, I don't. I don't like it

10. Craziest crossover?

Haven't written one yet and I can't really think of one that I am seriously considering

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Unless we're counting the fanfic I wrote that I am myself translating at the moment, also no.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No I haven't and I would feel bad for the poor sould who'd have to put up with my irregular writing habits

14. All time favourite ship?

All time? Gosh, that's difficult. Probably Helen/Nikola though, I just love that dynamic

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I currently can't think of any I won't finish (which is totally me trying to manifest actually finishing them)

16. What are your writing strengths?

If I only knew! I think I'm good at writing pain and I like including detailwork, so maybe that

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well the obvious one is I am horrible at writing kissing scenes, no idea. I also sometimes tend to lose sight of where I want to go with the story

18. Thoughts on dialog in another language?

It shouldn't be important dialogue, unless you translate it behind it, so the reader will definitely understand. It can be a nice detail to work in to show certain aspects for characters but I'd only use it if I am confident that I can write it correctly. I've read too many badly translated german sentences and it's just not fun

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Written for but never published Stargate, first fandom I've actually published something in is The Mentalist

20. Favourite fic you've written so far?

I think 'A Sanctuary Christmas Carol'. I had a lot of fun working with the different scenarios and I simply love a good flashback so this was an indulgence for me.

Thanks for the ask, it was a lot of fun!!

I am taking the easy way out and tag anyone who'd like a go because I lost track of who has been tagged and who hasn't

[musette22]

Hey Minnie, when and how did you get into fandom? I'm 18, right, so interacting online was something I fell into, but I know that some of the people here are older and are married/have kids, particularly in this fandom. And I always wondered like, was this type of interaction something they did at my age? Were you talking to friends about interests the way we do on here before the apps came around? Was fanfiction or shipping something you engaged in before, or was it introduced alongside the internet?

I don't mean any offense btw! I think it's great that everybody of all ages is into fandom. I'm just curious about whether or not this was something you could "grow up with" or if it was mainly an option later on

Hi honey! Absolutely no offense taken, these are valid things to wonder about and I appreciate that you're curious and want to understand what fandom is like for people who are a bit older than you are. 

First of all, let me say that while I'm 33 with an apartment and a job and a dog and all that, I do still feel very young most of the time. Growing older is a weird one, most people I know would agree that yeah, we do age and mature, but also we hardly change at all in some respects! Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that, because asks like this one make me realize that younger people often consider people who are older than them as very different from them, whereas a lot of people my age don't actually feel so different from people a lot younger than them, if that makes sense?

I'll put the rest of my reply under the cut because it's long and probably boring to most people. There’s a tl;dr at the end, just in case :p If anyone else wants to chime in with their own experiences, please feel free! <3

So, I only really got into fandom about four years ago, when I was 29. And by that I mean that at that point, I started actively participating in fandom, i.e. writing fic and using my Tumblr blog. Before that time, I did ship and I did read fic and lurk here on Tumblr a bit, but I didn't participate (personally I grew up with internet access and early social media for much of my later teens, but people who are a bit older than me will have had a different experience).

However, I have always had a tendency to 'obsess' over stuff (that's probably not the right term, but I'm sure you know what I mean). When I was a teen, my room was covered in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and boyband posters 😅 My friends went along with my intense interest in things to an extent because they enjoyed a lot of the things I enjoyed too, only maybe not as much as I did lol. So I mostly talked to them about it in real life and via e-mail and text, but I didn't really know anyone outside my circle of friends who had the same interests I did in the same way I did. Which is probably just as well because if I'd been part of fandom when I was in my teens and early twenties, I don't know if I'd have ever graduated 😂

When I got a bit older, early/mid-twenties, I got really into certain bands and went to lots of gigs. One of those bands was Arctic Monkeys, and one guy in that band has another band with another guy, and they're just really cute together, so somehow, I ended up reading some fic about them - which is how I discovered AO3, slash fic and a basic understanding of 'shipping'.

Then when I was living with my best friend, a couple of years after we finished uni (I think I was 26?) we started watching Merlin because it was on TV and we just kind of got sucked into it, and then obviously I started shipping Merthur. That's when I started reading a ton of Merthur fic on AO3, and also made a Tumblr blog (but didn't use it to post) just to passively scroll through some Merthur content sometimes. I kind of did that for a year or two, and then inevitably, I started seeing Stucky posts sometimes (this was in late 2016, so they were everywhere), even though I didn't really get what any of it was about because I'd only ever seen the first Iron Man and Spider-Man lol.

And then the night after I handed in my thesis for my second MA (I'd worked for a while in between), I was like 'Right, I need some mindless entertainment and hot guys, I'm gonna watch a Captain America movie.' So I watched TFA and fell in love with Steve and Bucky (and Chris and Seb) so hard, and I haven't looked back since. It still took me a over a year to decide to try my hand at writing fic myself, and then once I'd posted my first (65k, lol) fic to AO3, someone left me a comment there saying "Are you on Tumblr?? We should be friends!" so I decided to actively start using my Tumblr blog, and it kinda grew from there over the past three years.

So it all happened really organically, but like you, I also kind of 'fell into it', just at a later age. And while I was late to the party, I'm not at all surprised that I ended up here eventually. It definitely fits my MO from when I was younger and obsessing over other things - discovering 'fandom' and participating here on Tumblr just took it up a notch (and made it even more enjoyable!).

But I do wonder about the younger generations sometimes too, and how it must be for you guys to grow up with apps like Twitter and Instagram and TikTok, and being able to find people and talk to people with similar interests so easily. On the one hand, it's obviously kind of amazing, and on the other hand, it must be a lot to deal with sometimes. I remember being much more sensitive and influenceable when I was younger (not saying you are of course, everyone is different! but that's how it was for me), so I don't think engaging in fandom as heavily as I do now would've been good for me at your age. I don't think I would have travelled as much and partied as much and read as many books and worked as hard if I had, so I'm personally glad I only discovered fandom when I'd already lived a bit, and feel more at ease with who I am and able to balance real life and my interests. But again, I have absolutely no doubt a lot of current teens/young adults are way more adaptable and able to balance real life with online hobbies than I was! I notice that here on tumblr all the time, actually, and I admire that ability a lot 💗

Sorry, that's much more information that you asked for! 😅 But I hope it still answers your question.

Tl;dr: I only got into 'fandom' in my late twenties, but before that time I did ship a little and enjoyed things intensely, and later on read some fic, just more on my own than in a community. So fandom wasn't something I grew up with, but rather something I found a bit later in life, and apps/social media definitely facilitated that!

[corpsesbaby-main]

i've actually been trying to find your blog for weeks to not only binge atp for the millionth time but to reblog it with comments as i finally made time to do it 😅 i'm sorry for being part of the problem!

i'm a writer (yikes i know) who's dealt with a similar issue on wattpad where the only interactions i got were people adding my stories to reading lists, so likes are super rare and i literally don't know the last time i got a comment or a reply to a comment (and i doubt ny notifications go back far enough to see 🙃). it's one reason why i've kind of stopped putting stuff on there (again: yikes i know).

yet i'm terrible at commenting?? especially on here because i always want to write an essay everytime because i know how much work goes into writing something as short as a blurb so i feel bad about writing a 'i love this!' even though i personally enjoy those comments? no one will be more pissed or confused about me being affected by yet contributing to this problem more than me. again, i'm sorry. i know much a heart emoji means and how much silence hurts.

i'm so sorry that i contributed to your frustration.

i adore atp and your writing but never knew how to put it into words (ironic). i'm angry at myself for not supporting my fellow writers especially seeing how many fic writers are talking about the lack of comments are discouraging and angry for contributing to this problem. and to anyone reading this or other fic writers' vents, non-fic writers like me and published writers are having issues getting feedback. (hence why i said no one is more pissed about my lack of comments than me)

i hoped tumblr was glitching when i was having issues finding atp until i saw the asks and your answers. you have every right to be angry and upset and disappointed in readers like me. anyone who says otherwise is a dick because it's true.

i'm sorry i waited too long to try and reblog and comment. i truly am and i hope you enjoy finishing atp and any other works for yourself 💙 if you ever decide to share your writing again, i will be sure to reblog and comment with everything.

thank you for apologising lovey and i completely understand! it's not you in particular that made me leave, just a collective problem if that makes sense? i don't bear any ill feelings towards anyone in particular just more how this like-culture has formed bc of tik tok and instagram and users of tumblr not using tumblr the way they did 5 years ago when my stuff was actually reblogged

the only thing that genuinely grinds my gears (besides the like problem) is that ive received asks of anons telling me im being 'hurtful to fans' when i say that everyone who just liked and never reblogged or even send an ask yk were part of the reason i left and refuse to roll out chapter after chapter, request after request with the same people demanding more to get nothing in return. the fanfics everyone reads are already free, so are reblog, yk?

as if i want fans? i just want a community and people who support me in my writing and who i can support back in whatever they create, who chat with me not just about my fics but fandoms in general, life, etc! and thats not achievable through likes

thank you for also giving some perspective! it's good that more writers step up and talk about this and offer a different viewpoint to those who don't write bc it's impossible to know how discouraging this feels until you're in the middle of it. im sorry you feel that way too and that people interact so little with your works as well! im not sure if you're a corpse writer and i havent read corpse stuff in so long but if you are, send me some of your stuff and i'll be happy to read and comment! ❤️ (this goes for everyone btw for most fandoms)

and i completely get being horrible at commenting! i always write essays too (especially on ao3 lmao) and i understand how you wanna carve out some time to do so!

i dont know if tips will help you and i certainly dont wanna tell you what to do but maybe i can give some tips in general to fic readers reading this:

i have a fanfiction sideblog (which i will not share bc there's shit on there that's between me, the author who wrote it, and god) bc i didn't want to reblog on the account i post my own writings on, mainly bc i feel like it will annoy people if i reblog every fic i read bc... there are a lot lmao. so first tip is maybe run a sideblog where you just reblog fics you've read and loved?

second tip is to have a queue running if you're scared it will annoy people?

i have a system where i reblog when there's a fic i see that i wanna read but i dont have the time for yet and tag it with 'to read' then i'll reblog it again with insight/comments. that way the post is in circulation and even if i dont get to it ever, i've still helped out he author?

i hope you don't feel too guilty. it's something we all have to work more on to make sure writers feel more appreciated! i genuinely dont have any vendetta or ill feelings towards you or anyone, i just choose to write for myself now <3

feel free to dm me any time if you wanna chat! im genuinely open to sharing my works with the friends ive made on here and other writers!

[katedoesfics]

Kate, as you know i love you stories! i read in your Bio that you have been published, i would really love to read them also, how do i find them? feel free to contact me by email

I honestly stared at this message for a good 5 minutes just speechless. To whoever you are - I have no idea when this was actually sent and I so apologize if there was a delay in answering this!! Clearly I have not been active on Tumblr and don't get a lot of messages 😅 But I was excited to see this one so thank you! It means so much to me that you enjoy my silly writing and actually took the time to send me a message ♥ And if you ever see this - tell me who you are! An AO3 follower I'm guessing? 👀

Anyway, to answer your actual question! Yes, I am published! Over the years, I've had poems published in various magazines. My novel Calliope was available on Amazon until Amazon took it down for some reason - I never knew the details. The publishing company that it was published under ended up closing, it was a small press, so I'm thinking maybe that had something to do with it. I ended up putting it on Lulu and selling copies in my area, and recently I listed it myself on Amazon again. That being said, I've been working on trying to rewrite it since the novel is honestly like, 10 years old and my writing has changed drastically since then. I cringe reading it and I know it's worth rewriting and eventually getting the whole series out there. So, I set up a Patreon for people to follow my rewrite progress where I'm going to try my hardest to post a chapter a week. Though, I might need to change that up and post monthly instead as I am currently working on a publishing deal with Mythrill for a serialized version of my other work in progress novel, The Zodiac Chronicles. I don't have a link to share to that yet, but once I do, I will definitely post it!

I have a few other projects in the works and I'm still trying to figure out a way to best communicate with people. AO3 obviously doesn't really let you do that unless you write notes in your chapters and though I can put things on my profile, they do NOT like when you post things like Patreon links. Hence why I thought I could use Tumblr as a way to blog / keep followers up to date. But that never really took off hence why I haven't logged in in forever xD

I did recently set up a mailchimp account thinking maybe I could try the newsletter route, so if anyone is actually interested in getting maybe a monthly update from me, you can sign up for that here: http://eepurl.com/idp7mL

Otherwise, I do actively keep my website up to date with all my projects, so you can always take a look at that to find all my links! kaylynx.carrd.co

And if you'd rather just check out Calliope on Amazon, here ya go!

What the heck, I'll share all the things. I'm also on Fictionate. They recently released their own version of Patreon (it feels more limited then Patreon at the moment, so I might stick with Patreon, but you're always welcome to check me out there.) The Fictionate tiers are slightly lower than what I offer on Patreon since it's more limited. But you can find my rewrite of Calliope on there, too, as well as some other things.

And if you'd rather go the Patreon route, that's here :)

I am slowly rebranding myself to Kaylynx, so that's mostly how you'll see me from now on!

Anyway! This was a very long answer to a question that probably no one will you read. Can you tell I'm desperate to talk to people? LMAO! I don't see an email, so I apologize that I do not reply via email, but please feel free to message me any time! I clearly LOVE to get messages and talk to people lol <3