#it's a multichap so it gets its own tag
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(author doesn't have a tumblr but its by alternatemind on ao3)
Series Summary:
An AU where Twilight loses his Twilight Shard and meets the Chain stuck as Wolfie with no way to transform back.
It will consist of a lot of oneshots/multichap fics of the Chain traveling around with Wolfie, having no clue that he’s really just a guy who’s stuck as a wolf. Will include an unhealthy amount of found family bonding and Time being the Chain’s collective dad (or dog dad, in Twilight’s unfortunate case).
Series Tags:
Flora/Wild
Midna/Twilight
Sky/Sun
Malon/Time
Tetra/Wind
Linked Universe Links As Family
Twilight-centric
Misunderstandings
Linked Universe Link(s) and Wild First Meet
its mostly a twilight meets the chain fic though wild does too
Wolves
Time is a Good Parent
Parental Time
midna is mentioned multiple times because I love her and want an excuse to write her
Good Sibling Wind
Protective Sky
I’ll add more tags when I think of them
Flora Needs a Hug
Wild uses Sign Language
sometimes
50/50 he’ll get more comfortable when time goes on
Legend Has a Bad Time
Wolf Twilight
Wild is a Little Shit
Curses
Alternate Universe
sky and sun are very in love and it’s SICKENING
Pranks and Practical Jokes
Twilight Angst
MILD - Freeform
he’s kind of going through something right now
Fluff
Family Bonding
Snowball Fight
Family Fluff
Groose Being an Idiot
groose will always get a cameo in every fic I write on skyloft even if it’s tiny
Wind is a Little Shit
Sky Has a Bad Time
as in I targeted legend last fic and now it’s sky’s turn (affectionate)
Light Angst
Twilight Has a Bad Time
that tag is alternate title for this series honestly
Wild Needs a Hug
Wild Gets a Hug
fi midna ravio and mask mentions
Party
Linkle & Warriors Are Twins
he actually has a good time he’s just in a constant state of suffering in this series so
Bonding
Brotherly Bonding
Parental Malon
Bathing/Washing
Warriors is a Little Shit
Twilight & Warriors Friendship
Twilight is a Little Shit
Time is a Little Shit
theyre all little shits it comes with being a hero
Sign Language
Domestic Fluff
No Plot/Plotless
Four Splits into the Colors
Cave-In
Four Has a Bad Time
THIS SOUNDS BAD but i promise it’s not they’re still vibing
just in a Situation this time
Sickfic
Sick Character
and then he has a fantastic time
briefly
Fever
Dreams
midna’s mentioned enough that i gave her a tag
Hyrule Gets a Hug
why is that not a tag
we need to make that a tag asap
Hurt/Comfort
Mentioned Marin
Mentioned Koholint Island
Blood and Injury
Fluff and Angst
Fights
Legend is a Little Shit
Choking
Fairy Hyrule
Plot
Pirates
Reunions
Major Character Injury
Sky is a Little Shit
Twilight is So Done
Drawing
the plot in this one is so small a minish could hold it in one hand but it’s there - Freeform
Word count: 136,325
Finished: No
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aziraphales-library · 6 months ago
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hi <3 do you have any recs for long multichap fics that are NOT slow burns? thank so much!
Hello! There are not enough fics tagged "fast burn" so I also did a search for "established relationship". Enjoy...
its duty is to harm me, my duty is to know by natalunasans (T)
the title is from a cohen song about death, & also applies to life... whether in london or in tadfield; together, alone, or in (usually good) company; the ineffable partners talk out their fears, try to figure out what they are and what to do with themselves, now that they're not working for heaven and hell anymore. domestic softness > action, but there is some plot and angst (off and on)
Don't Drag Me Down by rowenablade (M)
Armageddon didn't happen, Heaven and Hell have agreed to leave them alone, and Aziraphale and Crowley are free to build a life together. But the forces of Hell aren't happy with losing, and even if they can't directly harm their wayward demon, they can try to drive a wedge between him and the angel that he loves. After all, Crowley had been encouraging them for centuries to get creative.
The Starting Hinge by lucky_spike (T)
When a rare book collector is mysteriously killed, DI Barnaby and DS Winter are on the case. Meanwhile, the question of what will become of the victim's extensive library stirs a small group of rare books collectors into a furor. Who can be trusted? - This is predominantly a Good Omens fanfic with some Midsomer Murders thrown in just because I could do it and I wanted to. Contains death of an OC and (obvs) murder and attempts thereof. Nothing gory, though, so party on.
Great Omens (The Big One) by falsepremise (M)
A narrative of certain events leading up to The Big One, in strict accordance, as shall be shown, with the nice and accurate prophesies of Agnes Nutter, witch. A Good Omens sequel, set thirty years in the future...   Thirty years after a failed Armageddon we must face The Big One, as Heaven and Hell, working together, enact a plan to fix the world or destroy it forever. Meanwhile, Aziraphale and Crowley discover that truly being on their own side has more implications than they’d ever have guessed. Changes to the basic metaphysics of the universe. A second book of prophesies. Mysterious twins on a mission. Hijinks and shenanigans. Deep questions, laughs, ridiculous banter and sexy stuff. Welcome to my attempt at an epic Good Omens sequel.
Considerate Omens by OneofWebs (M)
Crowley is plagued by dreams of a life he lived long before time had even begun. It's two years after the Apocalypse-That-Didn't, and though he's got a healthy bit of fear of what may come next, choosing to ignore these dreams seems a much better use of his time. In those two years, Aziraphale had moved into his flat, and they may or may not be dating. They don't talk about it, but they do get along just fine with their play-pretend routine, which proves a bit rickety when neither of them age. To avoid suspicion, Aziraphale thinks it wise that he spend some time presenting as a woman. This, a catalyst to the end Crowley had feared before, because it's hard to resist the idea of children when the opportunity presents itself. - [The Continuation of Good Omens]
Bleating Hearts by HKBlack (E)
Meet Doctor Aziraphale Fell, university lecturer of English Literature, Shakespearian expert, and man with an unexpected goat in his office. When the handsome herder who comes to catch the unruly visitor asks some pointed questions, Aziraphale finds his life suddenly turned upside down and filled with both new challenges and opportunities. But is Crowley all that he says he is? And even if he isn’t–does it really matter when he’s clearly a piece of the puzzle missing in Aziraphale’s life? Trip on over to Devil Doe’s Dairy and Goat Scaping Farm, where the cheese is always smooth, the goats climb roofs, and true love might just be around the corner.
- Mod D
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fleurmionefridays · 2 months ago
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Fleurmione Fridays: Fall 2024 Spooky Season
A quarterly rec list curated by the 18+ fleurmione discord server. Inspired by @hpsaffics #wlw wednesday.
This season we’re here for the horror, the big beasties, the creepy crawlies, and even the cute shenanigans. All fics below the cut are complete and a few are even accompanied by blurbs from their reccers. 
Fics are sorted by Spooky Scale™! A small panel of spoop detectors (it's me and lipz) discussed the spoop level of each of these fics. The more ghosts in front of a fic, the scarier or darker we think it is. Your mileage may vary, of course. All these fics--regardless of spoopy level--are great and worth reading! Choose your spoop tolerance, cuddle up under the covers, and turn off the lights. Enjoy, mind the tags and remember...fleurmione is forever!
(because they might be ghosts haunting you)
👻👻👻👻👻 Of Blood & Carnations by @rice-and-beans | E, 17.7k multichap. Inspired by Pablo Neruda's Sonnet VII. The war is over. It is a time for healing. The Order has invested in a sort of intensive therapeutic house for our heroes to recuperate. Therapists, therapies, reprieve. Exactly what they need to begin a long road of recovery. So why does Hermione feel worse? Is she going mad? She's hearing voices, and she feels more and more that her body is not her own. She suspects others know more than they are sharing, and she doesn't know who to trust.
“A fantastically dark piece by rice_and_beans that I think everyone should read at some point. Do mind the tags.” - Shira
👻👻👻👻👻 In the Depths by Semjaza | E, 4.3k one shot. Hermione's lover goes home for the solstice celebrations and returns... different.
👻👻👻👻👻 Against the Tide by @akaseru | E, 2.4k one shot. Hermione knew what was happening and was terrified and panicking, not that Fleur could perceive it; there was nothing to see but the want in her eyes. The long-dormant creature within had finally woken up and seized control, and the curly-haired woman was powerless before it.
“A wonderful horror nugget which should be read by all.” - Lipz
👻👻👻👻 Penetration by @hoardlessdragon | M, 4.1k multichap. What happens when Hermione accidentally finds herself in a vampire coven?
“I think the summary says exactly why this belongs in the spooky edition. Mind the tags. No happy ending, but still chef’s kiss” - Lipz
👻👻👻👻 The Transitive Property by @perfectly--random | T, 3.4k one shot. Seventeen years after the war, Hermione and Fleur bump into each other in France and realize they are mates. Is everything as it should be?
👻👻👻👻 Metal and Bone by @ljthenerdsbian | M, <500 word flash fic. Two knights lost in the woods after fleeing from the bloodied battle field with the white spector known as Fleur stalking them. My prompt was 'She was now well and truly lost in the Labyrinth.'
“john6lisa has a few fics that fit this theme but Metal and Bone gets the nod from me for its heavy lean on horror and spookiness.” - Lipz
👻👻👻 When the Thrill is Gone by @sleepingontheway | NR, 6k one shot. Years post-war, Hermione is a shell of the girl she once was. This is not a happy tale.
“How about more vampires and dark fleurmione in When the Thrill is Gone?” - Lipz
👻👻👻 Monsters by @perfectly--random  | M, 2.5k one shot. Life can make monsters of us all. Happy Halloween. Mind the tags.
👻👻👻The night is shaped like a howling wolf by @waxwing-saint | T, 5.4k one shot. Between 1764 and 1767 a monster hunted in the province of Gévaudan. Eye witness accounts describe a terrible and impossible creature who is believed to be responsible for over two hundred attacks and nearly one hundred deaths until it was finally struck down by a hunter.
👻👻👻Touched by the Wind by @mushroom-grey-scale | T, 2.1k one shot. "Go to the one who collects curses. Who makes deals in the dead of night. Yes, go to the one who is unable to tell lies. But remember my warning, my child, as this may be the only thing that will allow you to return alive from that doomed place that sucks up lives."
“Hits that spooky craving with fae and fairies without breaking anyone’s heart while doing it 😂” - Lipz
👻👻A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night by @rachelc978 | T, 3.3k one shot. Don’t you just hate it when your meal gets interrupted? When it’s by a beautiful woman whose blood sings to you, it’s slightly more forgivable.
👻👻BFC by @indiefoxproductions | G, 6.8k multichap. Did you know an average coyote in Montana can get as big as 46lbs?
“It has a creature in it. Is it a wolf, is it a coyote, is Hermione going to wear that beanie forever? Come read and find out.” - Lipz
👻👻Reunion by @lipzlipzlipz | G, 500 word flash fic. Fleur has led a dark existence since losing her wife twenty years ago.
👻Which Witch by @perfectly--random | G, 1.5k one shot. Hermione takes Fleur to a non-magical Halloween party.
👻“A witch, really?” by SquirrelGay | G, 2.6k one shot. Hermione made up her mind then. This was a night to relax, and maybe catch up with Fleur. They hadn’t seen each other in a while, after all.
“Sometimes you just need that Halloween fluff tho, in which case you should read “A witch, really?”” - Lipz
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hithertoundreamtof23 · 8 days ago
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Y'all, this doesn't help 😭
~~
From this tag game.
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~~
Per the game rules, I have to post a sentence (or more) for each vote for the winning fic (or three in this case 😂)
The Time That Never Was-
Leave it to Stephen to try killing for the first time, only to end up killing the wrong person. Said person was likely the most innocent teenager on the planet, and rather than dying a warrior's death to save the universe, he was killed by one of his own.
How many innocent lives were taken in war from their comrades doing the simple deed of misfiring a bullet or turning too sharp with a blade?
Dr Dad Punctured Lung-
Startled, America approached the orange portal and stepped back as a familiar figure stumbled through it.
It was undeniably Stephen, though something was off about his posture and his breathing.
Stephen Farm Stories-
Nebraska was known for its agriculture, rolling landscape, and its invention of the Runza sandwich; so, obviously not the most exciting of places to grow up. Stephen tried to make the most of his monotonous life by writing in a journal he received from his aunt for Christmas, and he was surprised how quickly the little (though banal) moments accumulated into adventures.
~~
Now.... I don't know which one to start!
The Time that Never Was is a long multichap, so I may work on it, but it'll be a while (at least a year) until it gets posted.
Doctor Dad Punctured Lung is a single fic that'll fill my BTHB prompt.
Stephen Farm Stories will likely be a continuous work that I add onto every once and a while.
Any thoughts??
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1moreoffkeyanthem · 11 months ago
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I want to quit a03 and just delete all my current fanfictions, i haven’t updated any of them in months. I’m tired lol. The main reason why is I haven’t been getting a lot of interactions on my recent stuff and Ik that’s not the point of writing fanfics but idk it’s a nice from motivation. I’m an attention whore, sue me.
What i’m asking i guess is how do u stay motivated??? I have a lot of ideas for things but no drive to make them a reality.
(You probably can tell who i am from this lol but its kinda embarrassing so i wanted to keep it anon)
Oh dude I absolutely get it, for real. While we ultimately write for ourselves, a lack of engagement is REALLY discouraging! I’ve said before that I went through a REAL mental struggle writing The Webs In The Rafters specifically, and that still stands. I had a lot of super nice commenters, and that helped a lot, but it was so, so, sucky to see no engagement other than the same six people. As grateful as I was for them, I really wanted more interaction. I’d see the comment count go up, but no new kudos, and I’d feel like I was failing.
I almost dropped that fic. The only reason I didn’t was my dearest boxwinebaddie regularly doing cartwheels in the comments and messaging me about the story. Encouragement from an author you admire helps SO MUCH and I want to be that person to someone someday!!! The community of ao3 can be toxic, for sure, but it’s so kickass to see the same handful of people in someone’s comms every time you read something from a certain writer!
And man, I am absolutely an attention whore. I thrive on attention. I may be an agoraphobic asshole with no friends other than my partner irl and I may literally panic so bad that I faint when I get spoken to, but we are HUMAN!!! Validation is fucking NICE!!! Being a person sucks absolute ass and confirmation that we’re doing something right helps a lot!
The only advice I have on staying motivated: I’m just fuckin insane. And I’ve said before that the ONLY reason I started writing was bc I had an extremely specific set of tags I wanted to see. I wanted to see more style injury recovery and at the time, a lot of the style fics out there were literally just boring high school aus or Stan being suicidal and I was like helll no let’s switch it up! So I assumed my mission of renovating that ship tag. I wanted sot style h/c with an ungodly amount of comfort? I was gonna have to write it. And that expanded to all aus. I developed the OrangeJuiceVerse specifically with the message of healing as the central theme. And it means so much to me. What I’m getting at is that your work really does have to have something there that’s important to you. If it’s just all random drama with no reconciliation, it’ll be really draining on you and fall flat in your mentality surrounding it.
Another thing is: if you don’t feel like updating, DONT! It’s fanfiction. It’s something you’re putting on the Internet for free. If you aren’t 100% happy with a chapter, there is no obligation to post it! Also, if you aren’t feeling up to working on a wip, mentally or physically, you don’t have to! Come back to it when you are!
On obligation, something I struggle with is my own self imposed habit of daily updates on multichapters. I usually go really wild when I start a new au, and I’ll write for it every day. But for instance, right now, it’s been a couple since I’ve posted a new chap on In The Truly Gruesome. And I have felt some guilt about that, bc I’ve sort of garnered this reputation as someone who updates frequently on multichaps, but I haven’t been feeling so great, so writing isn’t my top priority. A couple lines here and there are what I can manage, and that’s okay! Again, it’s fanfiction. Ultimately, it matters to us as the author, the story can mean the world to us, but we shouldn’t feel obligated to update, because above all we are PEOPLE with LIVES!!!
It’s also important to remember not to treat ao3 as social media. Yes it’s kickass to form a community of like minded authors who all support each others stuff, but it isn’t something that should be expected. And I CANNOT stress enough how important it is not to feel obligated to work on something just bc someone wants you too. I’m a hypocrite, yeah, considering I had no intention of continuing my TFBW oneshot “We Did It We Are A Good Team” until I had someone commenting on my unrelated works asking for a second chapter. I don’t regret writing ch 2, btw, like im really happy with it, but I did cave under pressure to some degree. And that’s not something we should do when writing. Write for YOURSELF and (unless you’re doing an ask book or something) NO ONE ELSE!!!
That’s what I got my dude. If you feel strongly about what you’re writing, by all means write it. If you don’t, don’t feel obligated. I hope this helped!
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philtstone · 29 days ago
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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤ (only if you want to, of course)
hopeful
Summary: In which the world ends, Sam Wilson opens a bar with his best friend, accidentally adopts some children (also with his best friend), and figures out how to grieve his own life and move forward, not necessarily in that order.
Tags: fatws, sam and bucky friendship, canon divergence dystopia au
Notes: the first multichap i ever completed! also my emotional support fanfic after a really shitty few years lol. for obvious reasons
**
check yes, juliet
Summary: It doesn't matter that Juliet is a freshly-minted, top-of-her-class field agent (alright, so she hasn't actually been in the field yet) or one of the few women working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cutting edge check fraud department (just last week, their 20-year-old coffee maker broke and they ran out of number two pencils to mark up their overhead projector notes with): every time her mother calls, all she does is lament that her beautiful, intelligent daughter isn't meeting any eligible bachelors.
“Maybe that’s for the best,” Maryanne sighs eventually. “All O’Hara women fall for liars, Julie. It’s our curse.”
Juliet wonders whether she doesn't scoff at her mother's claim a little bit too soon.
Tags: psych, shawn/juliet, catch me if you can au
Notes: maybe recency bias but this remains possibly the most iconic au ive ever written and will ever write. the flirtation? the limited scope pov? the plot? the paralels to canon scenes? damn who was i. anyway its perfect
**
easy, easy, my man and me
Summary: Across their small backyard, Faith and Bree have successfully cornered their father between the budding lavender bush and damp vegetable patch, and subsequently started expounding in detail upon their rapidly-developing design ideas. Each new addition barrels the treehouse from its humble origins of “wooden shack, maybe” to what is shaping up to be a combination laird’s fairy-dwelling pirate-ship-themed mermaid inclusive library-cum-invisible areoplane castle.
Claire decides to take a page out of her husband’s book and bequeath the project’s fate, momentarily, to Divine Grace, instead focusing on William, who has taken his thumb out of his mouth to convey a most solemn and heartfelt suggestion:
"You c'n bring sick people here, Mama, so they'll have us t'play with, when you're makin' 'em not sick again."
Tags: outlander, claire/jamie, modern au kidfic fix it
Notes: i dont miss lockdown or my depression but i miss this era in my fic writing. my old creative writing teacher said this was good and i believe him.
**
then she'll be a true love of mine
Summary: “The chamomile is Mama’s favorite,” she says, her small hand warm and secure in Da’s as he helps her climb over a large log. “That’s how I knew it. An’ the mushr’ms ‘cause they don’t look like anythin’ else.”
“Just there?” says Da, and then stops their trek to pick a few. His fingers are big and almost crush the soft mushroom caps. Mama’s fingers never crush the caps -- they’re careful like Da’s, but delicate, and slender. They always seem to know where to go in the greenery. Bree misses them – the soft, cool touch of Mama’s hands. But now they have mushrooms. “These’re good tae eat, I think,” Da’s saying. He beckons Bree over, to stand by him where he’s crouched, chin to chin. They inspect the mushrooms together. “No’ ones t’make ye sick,” he decides.
“No,” says Bree. “Mama picks these.”
“Aye,” Da says. He looks up at her, one eye narrowed, considering. There’s a glimmer there even though he’s not quite smiling, the secretive sort that happens just between the two of them.
Tags: outlander, claire/jamie (background), canon divergence kidfic fix it au
Notes: the original instalment in scaborough fair au! i miss baby bree. but i remain very very proud of the limited scope little kid pov i was able to capture here
**
just to hear the nightbird singin'
Summary: Midway through July, Luke gets the cockamamie idea to get in a car and go find their missing-in-action, disappeared-many-moons-ago father.
“Biological father,” Leia says, at the same time Luke says, “I don’t think people use the word cockamamie anymore, Leia,” in that way of his that’s just earnest enough that she doesn’t feel the impulse to hit, but also he’s taking the piss, a little bit.
Tags: star wars, luke and leia sibling dynamic, han/leia, modern road trip au
Notes: theres something about this one that has always felt so effortless. a lot unspoken yet perfectly communicated. to me. also i love the scene w han and leia in the car. also, i personally think this was the first time i actually got leia Right (after years of writing her lol).
**
honourable mention goes to the LOTR hippie camp counsellor au, of course, which emma would insist go on this list (emma is right)
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fazedlight · 1 year ago
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20 Questions More
A deeper and more detailed version of the 20 questions for AO3 fanfic writers. Thanks @eqt-95 and @inkedroplets for the tag!!
1) How do you keep getting ideas for your ship/fandom?
Daydreaming. Writing fanfic is secondary to that. It was only in the past couple of years that it occurred to me that I could write some of it down and see what happens.
2) Which authors inspire you in your fandom, and why are they so freakishly good?
@searidings is my absolute favorite, the way she unravels the characters' emotions and angst is absolutely superb.
3) Aside from the characters of your main ship, who are the characters you love to write?
Ohhh I really love this question:
Cat in Inauthentic, as well as this ficlet and this one. I love her sense of humor.
Lillian in Darkness in All Things. For the same reason as Cat, I just love her snark.
Zor-El in Even Though You're Kryptonian. He kind of surprised me when I started writing him, and to this day I don't know if some of his lines are driven by genuine confusion or if he's just trolling.
4) Are there pairings or tropes you know for sure you'd never write about? Which ones?
I'm a never-say-never kind of person. There's a lot that I don't think I would ever write, but I've been surprised on where stories have taken me before, and may be surprised again.
5) What is your writing process and why is it cursed?
"Process" might be an overstatement...
I have a "scribbles" doc where I keep my ideas. I cull ideas often (though ideas often make their way back anyway). As I write more into the doc, a certain idea may get too big for it, so I spin it out into its own doc.
From there, I kind of go back and forward between outlining and writing. I write completely out of order. Which is why, so often, my multichaps are almost fully drafted by the time I publish chapter 1. I've usually already made it to the resolution point of the plot (meaning, no one's in danger anymore, the bad guy is gone, etc), though the final chapter often doesn't get written until later.
6) What is your favorite part of your writing process?
I love when I've finished the first pass of a chapter/one-shot, and I'm in the editing stage. The story really feels like it's coming together at that point, and it's before all the self-doubt starts bubbling up (that hits hard just before posting).
7) What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for a fic?
A friend of mine is a professor in astroparticle physics, so I spent a couple of hours asking him about quantum mechanics stuff. But only a small portion of that ended up being relevant to the fic and the rest was just for fun.
8) Is there a particular writing rule you struggle with (grammar, spelling, tense, reality in general)?
When I'm first sketching out a scene, about half the time I write in present tense (it feels more like I'm writing a play at that point sometimes), but I publish in past tense. So I end up needing to do a bunch of revisions 😭
Also TYPOS.
9) What was your hardest scene to write so far and why?
Fight scenes are ROUGH, man.
This is probably one of those answers I'll change every time depending what's at the top of my mind. But writing out a fight scene - like in Even Though You're Kryptonian, Darkness in All Things, or It's a Metallo Life - gets surprisingly difficult if there are more than 2 people.
I know exactly how I'd shoot those scenes if I had a camera crew, special effects, etc. But it's hard making sure the audience is aware of where everyone is positioned, why they can/can't act in the moment, etc.
10) Have your characters ever done something you didn’t expect, changing your plot completely?
All the fucking time, man. From the very beginning, even. I was trying to have Lena still be angry by the DEO scene in So I Kept Pretending, but that didn't make sense anymore.
I actually recently had a fic idea dissolve because it wasn't vibing with the characters. Which is fine, it became a ficlet instead!
11) If you could converse with any of the characters, who would it be and why?
Absolutely Kara. I have so many questions about kryptonian culture and how it drives her character.
12) What are some of the tropes or themes that you find yourself returning to in your writing?
Trope-wise, I definitely return to the Rift again and again. I find themes around forgiveness and understanding to be really interesting. Can two good-hearted people with conflicting needs hurt each other while still loving each other? How? What does that mean for the aftermath?
I think that's part of what draws me to supercorp - the complexity of their relationship. How they can both be right, and both be wrong, and love each other enough to rebuild from the ashes.
13) What's your most important resource as a writer?
Coffeeshops and libraries. Getting into slightly busy, cozy environments, out of the house, really helps shake loose the stuff in my head.
14) Can you share some of your strategies for editing and revising your work?
Especially for longer works, I tend to put the work down (and circle to other works, or go outside, or whatever) before coming back to it. It helps to step away for a bit - it's easier to pick up on repetitiveness or unclear passages when coming back.
Though I always find mistakes in my stories much later, so I'm not sure I'm one to give advice on this anyway 🤣
15) Which is worse: making the summary, picking the tags, or the anxiety when you post your fic?
Posting anxiety is the absolute worst. If I leave myself in front of my computer I'll end up refreshing constantly waiting for the first kudos (if it's a one-shot or first chapter) or the first comment (if it's a later chapter) to figure out if I've accidentally pissed off everyone in the fandom somehow.
Luckily, my partner will usually pull me away to go on a walk or grab lunch or do something else to take my mind off it 💗
16) How do you define success for your fanfic - hits? Kudos? Comments? Bookmarks? Or just if you like it?
I only publish what I like. Sometimes I'm nervous that other people won't like it, but I will always like it. Stories that aren't going a way I like - even if I think the idea is cool! - will dissolve. Just recently I dissolved one that felt like it was a cool idea, but it didn't make enough sense for the characters.
Kudos and comments always make me feel appreciated as an author!! Sometimes I'll get a user subscriber out of it, too, and it feels like an honor that someone would want to hear from me more than once.
The thing that feels most precious, though, is when someone comments on how something made them feel (I love making people laugh at my dumb jokes, or cry when a story is supposed to hit emotionally), or when they pick up on something that I wasn't sure would get picked up on.
I tend to lean towards understatement in my stories. For me, the biggest success is knowing that someone recognized what I was going for, without me being overt.
17) Do you have a playlist for your favorite character/ship?
Alas, I don't. But given that Kara is canonically a Britney Spears fan and musicals nerd, I feel like my default playlist works 🤣
18) If fan art was going to be made from your work, which fic would you pick and which fan artist would you like to create it?
Oh gosh, I don't want to pick someone and create pressure, or not pick someone and make them feel bad. This fandom has so many great artists!
That said, some of my favorites do commissions, you can see everything I've commission here.
19) How many WIPs do you currently have?
1 supercorp & 1 rojarias (for @supergirlmayhem)
For me, 2-3 is my happy number, so I'm relieved to be down to this after being so high (I think up to 11?) for so long.
20) What's your advice to new fanfic writers?
If you're wondering why you can't find that story you want, it might mean that you're the one to write it 💗
- - - - -
Tagging (respectfully and without pressure) @rustingcat @luthordamnvers @sssammich @tinyvariations @thatonebirdwrites @theredcapeofk @sideguitars @luthordamnvers @mycatismyeditor @inkedroplets @nottawriter @snowydragonscave @jetgirl1832 if you want some rapid-fire q's thrown your way. But also anyone who'd like to do this!
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hgejfmw-hgejhsf · 1 year ago
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Weekend WIP Game
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Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).
Thanks to @kiwiana-writes @daisymae-12 and @whimsymanaged for the tag!
1. WIP List:
5 Times Alex & Henry had sex anywhere on the property they want + 1 Time they walk through Austin holding hands
The Super Six try a period simulator
Alex POV - Get Low NYE (movie-verse)
Come Back to Me
Henry POV - Post Email Leak
You're still just a dream
Big Brother AU (collab with @thinkof-england)
Saw AU
Henry/Gabby horseback riding
Henry Mozart Quote
2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest? You're still just a dream because it's the only one that's actually finished that I just haven't posted.
3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest? I'm gonna guess that Big Brother will probably end up the longest because my cowriter is going to help me finally embrace the multichap life.
4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why? I'm SO excited to write the 5+1. I love reclaiming the lake house, and this will be another way for Alex and Henry to do that!
5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why? Big Brother is intimidating to me because it's been SO long since I've watched the show, but I'm so excited about it, and I have my cowriter to fill in the blanks!
6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why? You're still just a dream. I've been sitting on this completed fic for...awhile. But there's this mental obstacle I can't jump over when posting it. It's my interpretation of Alex and Henry becoming parents.
7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why? I'll probably have another person read through You're still just a dream before I finally end up posting.
8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block? Come Back to Me because I had to stop it for the fest, but now I can't seem to get back into the headspace.
9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them? You're still just a dream is the only one that has an established OC so far, Alex and Henry's baby girl Gabby.
10. Which WIP is the sexiest? The 5+1 is going to be a fun one to write.
11. Which WIP is the angstiest? Henry's POV fic. It's going to probably be a short little guy, but it's already angsty AF.
12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)? This question is way too hard for me to answer because so many of them are just ideas haha.
13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)? I'm hoping the Saw AU will be the best scene setter *winks*
14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on? You're still just a dream has a lot of hours of work and hours of thought and worry.
15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why? I think the Big Brother AU is going to be pretty big...pun not intended but accepted happily.
16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs? Way too often. And I never remember the dreams in the morning.
17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't? The Saw AU is going to come with some complexities, I'm sure. It hasn't been started, just thought about haha. And of course, Big Brother comes with its own set of rules!
18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour? The Super Six taking on the period simulator is going to be ridiculous and amazing.
19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process? So far I don't know that I'm diving super deep into any characters outside the main ship, but Big Brother is going to absolutely flesh out a bunch of them in a special way!
20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs. Come Back to Me is going to be my first ever songfic!
Here's a few tags (not as many as I have WIPs I'm sorry)! @heybuddy-drabbles @happiness-of-the-pursuit @affectionatelyrs @oneofthewednesdays @noahreids @littlemisskittentoes
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kay-elle-cee · 2 years ago
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Fic Author Self Rec
Fic authors self-rec! ✨ When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers ❤️
Thank you for the tag @charmsandtealeaves!
I think last time I was tagged in something like this I ONLY had five fics...so this is a bit harder 😅
Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) — Angst, Rated M, 14k
The summer after fifth year is no one’s favorite summer. Sirius Black is ostracized from his friends, suffocating under the thumb of his parents and lashing out however he can. Lily Evans is grappling with the fallout of her friendship with Severus Snape, not to mention dealing with Petunia’s insistence of cutting Lily out of her life. James Potter is feeling the sting of betrayal and wrestling with what it means to forgive, while learning to take accountability himself. A chance encounter might be the key to turning the tides for everyone.
My heart, my soul, my baby. This was the idea that got me writing again. It took me a while to sort it out and actually write the damn thing, but man.....this one has such a special place in my heart for me.
2. A Thrill Divine, Down My Spine — Fluff, Rated T, 2.5K
“Oh shove it, Potter. I’m just saying. You’re like…a really nice glass of Ogden’s Old,” she says, eyeing a bottle of the spirit and signaling to the barkeep. A little lost for words, James stares at her. “How strong was that drink?” “You know what I'm getting at — like a really good thing personified. Take a compliment Potter, God.” She turns on her stool to face him, sliding one of the firewhiskeys his way. Or: Two totally platonic friends get drinks after a rough day.
This one came out of nowhere but I'm so pleased with how it turned out!
3. restless waves rise and fall — Pirate AU, Rated T, 37k (WIP)
In efficiency and general seafaring know-how, First Mate Evans makes up for what Captain Potter lacks. So she has to make up for a lot. Or: In which James Potter is a gentleman pirate and Lily Evans is his loyal but vastly more competent First Mate.
Originally thought up as a one-shot for Jily Week, this Pirate AU really took on a life of its own. This is my first multichap fic and I'm posting the last chapter next week and when I tell you Captain Potter and First Mate Evans have me by the THROAT I'm not joking. I love these two so gd much I'm going to miss them 😭
4. no, i could never give you peace — Angst, Rated M, 4.5K
James blinks. “Are you breaking up with me, Evans?” he jokes softly, resting his hand on hers. It’s a joke, but her body tenses and it immediately puts him on edge. The silence that follows is excruciating.
“I’m not doing anything.” Her nails begin to tap on the mug again—a nervous habit that James spots immediately. “I just think we should have a conversation.”
This was my first fic to publish when I got back to writing last year, and I'm still so, so pleased with it.
5. Echoes of a Love Lived — Microfic Collection, Rated T, 14.5 K
A collection of unconnected ficlets for Jilytober 2022 based on the 31 @jilytoberfest prompts.
I had so much fun challenging myself for this collection, and I loved being able to switch between angst and fluff at the drop of a hat.
Tagging @emeralddoeadeer, @possessingtheproperspirit, @sunshinemarauder, @alittlebitofeverything23, @wearingaberetinparis
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shrinkthisviolet · 7 months ago
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1x15/1x16 fic?
This is the next fic of the Morgan AU’s s1 arc! Takes place after “i still love you (i promise)” and all side fics associated with 1x8 to 1x14 (Barry POV fic included).
As the file name implies, this is a fic covering 1x15 and 1x16! I'm still a little mixed on whether it'll be just 1x15 or both episodes, but...for now the plan is both, and we'll see how the fic shakes out (if 1x16 needs to be its own fic, or part of the next multichap, then we'll see)
It'll be a dual POV too: from Morgan and Barry's POVs! Mostly because I intend to get rid of the waterfront cheating/kiss, and I wanna show that change (it’ll probably just be a hug, not a confession + kiss). Also, another fun change I wanna show: Barry finds out about what Eowells does in this episode (not everything but specifically what he does in 1x15), unlike in canon where he doesn’t. And, ofc, Iris is already looped in here, whereas she isn't in canon. So while Morgan is absolutely getting her time to shine, I thought it would be fun to give Barry some POV time too 💞
Here's a snippet (still in the lead-up to the episode proper):
“Hmm. Well, I’ll be keeping an eye on the mailbox, and you do the same.” He smiled. “But in the meantime…you ought to go.”
“Even with Barry there?” She asked slowly.
He looked briefly confused but then nodded. “Even then. Miss West seems quite insistent on your presence…and perhaps it’ll rub some salt in Barry’s wound, hmm?”
She winced. There was no wound to rub salt in, not anymore, but the mere suggestion was…
He frowned. “Unless…that’s no longer something you—?”
“No! No, you’re right.” She smiled shakily. “I’ll show him what he’s missing.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
(If you’re wondering why he’s confused whereas the others probably aren’t…that’ll be something I can more properly answer later 😅)
wip title tag game!
Taglist (send an ask or DM to be added or removed):
@arrthurpendragon @ocappreciationtag @raith-way @vexic929 @ironverseocs
@thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @negative-speedforce @starstruckpurpledragon @angst-is-love-angst-is-life
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pomegranate-belle · 1 year ago
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Tagged by @inkforhumanhands it is no longer the weekend but. Since I took today off technically it is the weekend for me.
Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).
WIP List:
- SV2 - Fins and Fangs - Fruit of the Vine - Nocturne No. 2: Dance of the Binary Stars - She’s Doing This On Her Own - Hair-Based Seduction Techniques - A Rose Among Thorns - Vampire Matt AU - MattFoggy Pride & Prejudice AU - Garbageman Foggy AU - Podcaster Foggy AU - Pushing Daisies/DD Crossover
2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?
SV2, which has 69,758 words currently published, and 96,706 words currently written.
3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?
SV2 again – it’s just got the most going on. Seven universes, fifty-ish named characters, way too many subplots, etc.
4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?
It switches sometimes, but the Pushing Daisies crossover is the most fun at the moment. I like trying to imitate the PD narrator’s voice.
5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?
SV2 because there’s just… So… Much of it. I know where we need to get to, but the map is covered in sea monsters, lol
6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?
I think I worry about quality dips in literally any multichap I write, but Fins and Fangs hits the hardest because it’s gotten so much love. I don’t want to let anyone down, you know?
7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?
I don’t often look for sensitivity readers with the kind of stuff I write, but I’ll get a beta any time I’m nervous about a chapter. I’ve had one for SV2 a few times, and for the Vampire Matt AU.
8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?
Literally all of them, almost constantly, including right now. Yaaaaay.
9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?
I don’t think any of these really feature real OCs, but since he technically doesn’t exist in canon I guess I can say Doc Nelson from Peni Parker’s universe in SV2
10. Which WIP is the sexiest?
Vampire Matt AU. But that’s just how it goes with vampires.
11. Which WIP is the angstiest?
Probably would be She’s Doing This On Her Own. Hard to go angstier than a story that focuses on how a teenager’s dad pointed a gun at her.
12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?
Considering how many fucking Matts there are, it better be SV2 or all the readers are gonna be so so confused when the Daredevils finally meet each other.
13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?
I’m incredibly fond of Fruit of the Vine for this, I feel like I’ve been able to get exactly the atmosphere I wanted out of it.
14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?
SV2 has its own private discord, so…
15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?
SV2 again, for the reasons above, lol
16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?
I actually don’t think I have. I have however had dreams that turn into plot bunnies. Like the Moon Knight bakery AU…
17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?
I think they’re all complex in their own ways? I keep having to go poke at Wookieepedia for Nocturne, SV2 is so huge that plotting has been a nightmare, Fruit of the Vine is supposed to be set over the course of a year and I’m still trying to decide how fast to move through that time, A Rose Among Thorns requires a deeper dive into Elektra than anything I’ve done before it, and since She’s Doing This On Her Own was written spur of the moment I have no idea where I’m headed (which is unusual for me, since I usually have an endpoint even if I don’t know how to get there).
18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?
That would probably be Hair-Based Seduction Techniques. Since it’s basically just about college Matt realizing he’s gay through braiding Foggy’s hair, it’s more lighthearted.
19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?
There’s a lot more Claire in Fins and Fangs than I originally expected, but it’s been fun delving into her as a character and hinting at her past.
20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.
The Brett in the Podcaster Foggy AU is not a cop. I haven’t actually decided what he does except it’s a 9-to-5 and he desperately hates it (which is a big reason why Foggy wants their podcast to take off). Maybe I can foist my software support woes onto him…
Tagging: @missmoochy, @spookychu, @emeraldstorms, @kimmycup, and anyone else who wants to do it, I'm too tired to tag 12 people lol
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yandere-monoma · 1 year ago
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WHOOO KYM 2 COMMENTARY while i stall on working on kym 7
lots to discuss about a chapter literally called 'the exposition' hjgkfsg. if you didnt know, the way ao3 multichap updates works is that you dont necessarily have to title a oneshot chapter but the second you update it, you really get shown the option to title your chapters. so it didnt actually occur to me that i needed names for each one until chapter 2. i believe originally i was going to use a similar system as kyd where every chapter title was a command a la homestuck. however, i wasn't really utilizing the commands in the same way, i didn't really end the previous chapter with one and the plan for the next chapter... technically involves a command but not one i wanted to spoil via the chapter title.
the current naming system came into existence probably 3/4s of the way or more into writing this chapter, once i made the realization that the fic was, in fact, going to be at least five chapters. at this point in time, the plan was the following: the introduction, the exposition, the climax, the ending, the epilogue. this changed even more as time went on and more chapter ideas rudely crammed themselves into my brain, though it helped the structure a lot, because giving me time to fill out the space between exposition and climax made my brain happy HJSKFG
so, moving on, the fun part about chap 2 is that it really establishes the 'narration' as its own living function, something that is vaguely independent of the story rather than just a tool to present the story with, that both voices the author's and the character's thoughts depending on who is grabbing for control. this isn't an aspect i planned when outlining the fic but it's definitely influenced by 1) how much fun i had reading the epilogues and subsequent epilogue flavored fics 2) my desire to find some way to one-up the first chapter despite the topic matter not being nearly as extreme 3) the impulse to add in another experimental element to the story, especially now that the more abstract and poetic style of the first chapter was being removed
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it's also incredibly fun to play with, because every time i struggled with describing something or wondered how i could transition from one point to the other, i realized - oh! i can just make the narrator state that very thing. don't know how i'm gonna build up from the end of chap 1 to the narrative goal of chap 2 (rose's mkultra moment)??? let's just get that all out in the open, then! problem SOLVED
it ended up being a hugely fun choice that allowed me to inject some humor into what's otherwise just a big ole pile o' unrelenting angst. it also helped me take myself less seriously, which lent me even more creative freedom than usual, like. GOD. it really helped turn this piece into something so rewarding, it overwhelms me. goddamnit homestuck why do you have to be so good
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i just rewatched butterfly effect recently, god. back to the future i've never seen though. time references haha get it cuz his aspect is still time-
speaking of time, this chapter was the first attempt to really try and describe a zeta kid's classpect without coming out and stating it. there's a few interpretations of different phenomena's in homestuck that point out the implication of classpect powers being active before reaching god tier, or even before entering the game (though, usually in a way that is incredibly weak, premature and subtle enough to be missed by the user). one of the strongest examples that i based this chapter on was something the epilogues described: the idea that rose's obsessive writing as a child was based on her light powers feeding her vague visions of her future character arcs and plotlines. i really loved that and wanted a similar sort of plight for dave. i'll go off about what his specific title is at the end of this chapter but it's really fun poking at it now and then
the multiple narrators? seriously??? bit was me realizing i had to add a Multiple Narrators tag on ao3 after this. at this point of writing, i had no idea if i would be visiting anyone else's pov besides dave's, though.
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attempt at homestuckian humor GO
™️ jokes are so funny to me for no reason
wink wink hint hint this is one of dave's powers at work, actually!! so, dave egbert actually has a perfect memory. like, there is not a single thing he's ever forgotten in his life, if he's experienced it, he can recollect that knowledge. this power also extends to the imaginary, the subconscious, and the supernatural, ie: in the event that dave experiences any visions of the future, he will retain that information. likewise, he has memories of every dream and nightmare he's ever had. which is fun because considering he's a dersite and also a time player and also dave, he has a lot of them HAHA. more on that later
The two of you had hit it off instantly despite this, like you had known each other your entire lives, like any and every other relationship that had come before it had merely been a warm-up for the monumental connection that would spark instantly between you both. ... You’re pretty convinced she’s your soulmate. If not that, you’re at least assured by the fact that you’re absolutely head over heels in love with her.
sentences i had so much fun writing knowing how badly it's going to mess dave up to learn that they're actually related HA HA
Especially at the start, Rose was mysterious and she was hilarious and she was overwhelming, the brightest thing you’ve ever had the fortune of witnessing. 
get it because she's a hero of light get it she's the light of his life because shes a hero of light get it get it she's mysterious because her class mimics its opposite at the beginning of the story so everything about her pre-canon arc clings to void but she!! is bright! like light haha get i- 💥
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see, reading sentences like this means i HAVE to at least write enough of their session to let dave both die and kill for his rose, like
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also i need to write her killing and dying for him. well. killing for him. well.
killing.
perhaps just killing him. HAHAHA.
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it is very fun to think about this because rose honestly just. does not talk about her relationship with dave much outside of mentioning that they're together. her narrative is so focused on the things that she wants the audience to focus on, so this was such a fun chapter to reveal the things she decided isn't important enough to ever let us in on.
like, she is so adamant that bro is the only important person in her life and the only person she loves, but she deeply cares about dave. she feels the same way, that they're connected in this way she can't pinpoint or name. and claiming him is exactly the right way to put it, because i don't think she knows how to acknowledge those emotions in herself, but she knows that she needs him with her always and wants him entrapped in a way where he can't get away from her.
i think rose is just incredibly attracted to what dave represents: safety, normalcy, the mundane, a reprieve from pain, but there are things about him that she just inherently gets. he's an outsider despite how much he attempts to fit in and i think there's something about that she relates to but also wants so badly to destroy and keep for herself.
also, this is a thing that belongs more in hcs than in kym specifically, especially because i imagine this taking place way earlier in their relationship, but bro absolutely knows about her relationship with dave. it isn't a secret. it's a thing that amuses him greatly. i actually imagine she shares a lot of details about him to bro, like allowing him this voyeuristic entertainment because dave isn't a threat to him, not really, and she shares every single one of her belongings with him.
in a perfectly pornographic world the two of them would spitroast the fuck out of him but this is a partially pornographic world that involves a meaningful plotline or whatever 🙄 smh
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siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
this part was incredibly hard to write. not because it was difficult or emotionally taxing but because i reached this unfortunate impasse i find myself at every now and then while writing a lot of darkfic where i struggle with... it's not exactly the impulse to project, necessarily, more just.... feeling forced through into inevitability of it? or maybe it's the reluctance to use personal experiences vs the knowledge that doing it can benefit your writing (but also can hamper it).
like, very hard to write about a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies without being reminded of the time when you were a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies.
that reluctance is born from a rant i'm definitely not gonna get into unprompted but i'll just say that it definitely complicated things HAHAHA. i've definitely gone through a 'i'm going through a psychotic break and i'm going to ramble out 7835963463 crazy things into this dm window because the person on the other side said i could' phase. i've definitely just. been insane and vomited so many words out and ngl for a second there in the final draft when i was feeling too lazy to get into Stream Of Consciousness mode i was very tempted to dig up an old vent post and copypaste those thoughts in for rose but ultimately i thought that was disingenuous and a betrayal of her character SO
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a fun but unexpected surprise was rose sounding far more like herself during her drugged moments of honesty. it's especially fun because even in the future when she doesn't have access to any sort of drugs or contact with bro anymore, i don't think she'll sound this much like rose lalonde either. it's like in her desperate search to find more of her brother, she's really just found a core part of herself that she doesn't have access to in this universe
'Is there a mechanical soul within me?' there is and his name is hal hi hal
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it is actually incredibly fun playing with typing quirk punctuation. it's actually a style i utilized a lot in chatroom roleplay groups yeaaaaaaaaaars after homestuck ended, very much inspired by tumblr ventblogging typing styles, crytyping and all that. the idea that someone's mental state can and should be reflected in their typing style, which is something you really only see in canon in a character like gamzee (i cant remember if other trolls drop the quirk in times of duress in canon??? i think karkat drops his as a joke about volume sometimes but that's it). i don't even know if it even really comes across as blatantly as it feels when i write it, but it's so fun to see the consistencies in a way a character types slowly but surely fall apart as they grow unstable
so the way this is designed, it's as if rose had a moment of finally being in touch with the core of herself, with what ultimately makes her rose (complete with proper punctuation), before slowly but surely lapsing back into ro-stri as she loses her punctuation piece by piece, and then ultimately devolving even more as she abandons her capitalization to type in a way that's reminiscent of dave but, more importantly, bro's typing quirk
'I think there are lives inside me/the life inside me is his' is so funny to look at in hindsight. this chapter was halfway finished before the pregnancy plot had even come into being, and this was only ever supposed to be a reference to the identity blurring she's experiencing, and this half-truth, half-delusion about being able to sense everything lil cal has injected into her and her brother. it is so STRANGE to reread it now knowing that it's become foreshadowing to her pregnancy, especially with that next sentiment following it:
'Sometimes I wish it was yours'. again, that idea of being soulmates, being connected with someone permanently. and, again, that idea of codependency, and rose being unable to express or understand love without that need to merge herself with the object of her affection. and again this was befORE the pregnancy plot was a thing so now every time i read this line i sit here hoping people dont interpret it as rose wanting dave's baby HGJFKGSGSG i swear im not into breeding i sWEAR
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🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭
DAVE IS SO CUTE I ALWAYS DIE REREADING THAT PART HE'S SO CUUUTE
also i struggle so SO much writing comfort scenes especially dialogue meant to comfort someone but this came out so easily. perhaps because it's a futile attempt and i didn't have to worry about the recipient of that comfort actually feeling soothed...? hmmm!
i have nothing to add to the romantic cannibalism confession besides :3c
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i don't actually reread this chapter all that often anymore so finding this paragraph was lovely damn shoutout to this sentence that made me choke on my water as i was reading it cuz i was so distracted by how much i didnt remember writing this that i forgot to swallow and my drink just slid down into my lugnshjskdfg
then it is a series of letters in a language you wonder if she’s made up, that is somehow so cohesive in its chaos that you start to doubt even that. 
more horrorterror references as if the literal last paragraph wasn't enough HAHA
a very fun part of designing and outlining the killswitch au is deciding who gets what plotline. for example, does rose strider get to go grimdark because she's rose? or does jade lalonde get to go grimdark because she's the lalonde with library access to the grimoire? unlike the characterization formula, there isn't an easy answer to this one. i'm mostly just going with what's more fun narratively and what makes a better and more cohesive storyline for the verse.
either way, though, ro-stri still has a connection with the horrorterrors, simply because she's a dersite and because i love a character that is so utterly doomed that every evil force on the face of the planet wants to take a turn on them. what's better than this... getting psychologically gangbanged by every demon in existence...
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DID YOU KNOW I AM SO VERY FOND OF DAVE EGBERT AND HIS LOVELY PAPA WHO LOVES HIM SO MUCH
i am also so very fond of a dave egbert who cries alone in front of his computer cuz his girlfriend makes him so very sad every night like poor baby does Not Sleep and its so cute gjkgs
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'its just prose' annoys the shit out of me to see because i wrote a similar line in a published piece of writing a couple of years ago so i can't reread this without being reminded of That hgjfkg
i will never write a strider rap i have the highest respect for any author who can but it'll never be me
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their dynamic kills me HJKGFGKGS peak toxic romance right here god i wish i could write even more of it... i need to write more daverose so fucking bad....
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a fun line because 1) i rly enjoy dave's half-forced half-genuine emotional voyeurism it's just a rly interesting aspect of his personality to write and 2) it's fun to have a moment with dave e's specific brand of humor since it's not as long-winded as a strider's would be
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i rly forgot so much of this chapter HGFKGSGS oh dave... i love you... i love writing you so much...
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stream-of-consciousness style writing is really fun like you get taken to so many unexpected places in the process. generally when i go SoC style i tend to have a few goals i want to land and this image, dave watching over rose in derse, was one of the big ones
ALSO THE IRONY OF DAVE CALLING HIMSELF HER PRINCE WHEN SHE IS ACTUALLY THE PRINCE OF THE SESSION HEHEHEHEHE
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the lil cal staring contest is also another big one. it's just such a fun image to allude to like goddamnit i wish i could draw. it feels like an image that i can't even really describe properly what i want it to mean because it explains itself and there's not much minutia to pry free, it's just. them. rose inexplicably and perpetually being drowned in this cancerous evil at a rate that not even dave strider got to experience.
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lmfao shout out to me explaining his memory power earlier forgetting that i explain it in the chapter HJSKFG
oh well NOW I GET TO ACTUALLY DISCUSS HIS CLASSPECT
so dave egbert issssss....
🥁 [drumroll] 🥁
the MAGE OF TIME!!!!
and changing classpects actually did something incredibly interesting to the story. killswitch never would have worked as a simple homestuck rewrite, because i dont think swapping the guardians is something that can ever be simple. so it didnt make sense to keep their classpects exactly the same, because they wouldn't have the same personalities or the same backgrounds to craft those personalities, or the same issues that were born of their uniquely shitty backgrounds. it also didnt feel as easy as making rose a knight of light and dave an heir of time, etc etc. like, while rose is not insecure in the classic way that knights should be (it can be argued that the 'i am my brother' facade can count towards knighthood... but her role in the story and what it will turn into once she joins the game definitely brands her a prince through and through)
through researching for killswitch i ended up coming to this conclusion about sburb and how i approach classpect and hs narratives in general:
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and because of that, it was super easy to reassign everyone based on what they've been turned into through the switch in their roles.
it also made for another easy characterization formula: their aspect represents their 'nature' while their class represents their 'nurture'. so all the zeta kids still belong to the same aspect while their class changes rapidly, though how close or how far it is from their original class really depends on their character
anyway, mage of time is an incredibly fun role that actually breaks the rewrite narrative almost more than rose's classpect does. as the mage of time, dave actually steals the cryptic psychic role from jade and john harley (though, i do have thoughts on that matter, because there is still going to be a benefit for them from having access to prospit, and that plotline will still be involved in some capacity... probably).
and it's a very fun, partially accidental discovery within the au that the zeta kids are all... just a tad more prepared to enter sburb than their predecessors. rose is completely aware of the fact that she's training for something specific and dave... dave knows that the game is coming. he doesn't know the specifics, he doesn't know that it's sburb specifically that will bring them all together, but he knows there's an it, he knows the day he'll meet all his friends in person will be a day for the history books, and he knows that rose is in danger and that he'll be able to help her in a way no one else can.
some mage of time thoughts, many of which inspired and/or describe dave egbert's storyline:
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the above was probably one of the first interpretations i read and really what solidified him as a mage, my initial thoughts to his classpect and how it interacts with rose's was the following:
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and it's just so fun GOD rly hope i get to write in his perspective more in the future
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haha yeah if we ever get to it yEAH if i ever get off my ass and actually finish writing this wholeass au which i nEVER WILL CUZ I DONT WANNA WRITE 500K WORDS GODDDD IM NEVER WRITING A HOMESTUCK AU AGAAAAIINNNN
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firstprince-ao3feed · 6 months ago
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like a faint ghost ( you disappeared )
by sealgummy “Where were you headed off to, your Highness?” “Henry, please.” “I do not think I should do that.” Alex responded with a reply just as stubborn, not wanting to put his neck out for a blade. “You are the prince, and I am a mere knight, it would not be proper.” Henry's hum filled the air, one thought, his head tilting slowly to the side as he surveyed Alex's expression. “That we are,” he agreed with a nod. “However, there is no one else here.” He brought one hand up, motioning towards the open field. “For now, we are simply Henry and Alexander.” The hand that was outstretched towards the land now moved towards Alex, being offered to him. “Is that alright with you?” The previous mask of calm cracked at the sound of his own name. He hadn’t even been aware of the fact that Henry *knew* what it was; His eyes danced to Henry's open fingers, the ones waiting for an answer. Alex blinked, inhaling before hesitantly bringing his own hand forward, settling it over the other’s. Henry's skin felt smooth underneath his own coarse and calloused blisters, but the prince interlaced their fingers. “Of course,” he breathed out. — the story of a knight and a prince. Words: 14047, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston, Red White & Royal Blue (2023) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Major Character Death Categories: M/M Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Queen Mary (Red White & Royal Blue) Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, Immortality, Sort Of, ish, Sad Ending, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, the ending is sad dont read if you dont like sad endings thumbs up, Character Death, sorry in advance, Getting Together, Forbidden Love, or something..., Prince Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Knight Alex Claremont-Diaz, Soulmates, was supposed to be a multichap, that did not happen, so now its a oneshot, Not Beta Read via https://ift.tt/7svi9Kx
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ourlordapollo · 7 months ago
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Stumbled across this Fanfic Tag Game and nobody tagged me in it but I thought it looked fun, so here we are
As such, I will also not be tagging anyone. Be free! You can do whatever you want forever!
1: How many fics do you have on AO3?
31
2: What’s your total AO3 word count?
347,001 :0
3: What fandoms do you write for?
Pokémon (games), Ace Attorney, Sanders Sides, Black Butler, Welcome to Hell
4: What are your top five fics by kudos?
I Love You (Just in Case You Didn't Know) (Pkmn)
Seek, and Ye Shall Find (W2H)
Soft-Shoe Shuffle (TSS)
Intertwined (TSS)
A Place Where I Can Breathe (TSS)
5: Do you respond to comments?
I try to! If someone leaves a whole bunch on a multichap then I usually just reply to the last one.
The only comments I absolutely don't respond to are ones speculating on what will happen next. No hate, and I'm truly flattered people are invested enough to guess, but they make me uncomfortable because them I start to wonder "does my version not make sense? Will they be disappointed if the story doesn't go that way?? Am I gonna get a bad grade in fanfic??????"
I am very normal :)
6: What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Probably Down Comes the Night. It's a W2H fic that ends with a break up so bad one of the parties literally invents Hell. (Yes it's Proveles lmao)
7: What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
ILY(JICYDK). I write a LOT of happy endings, but there's this concept in music theory where something loud sounds loud, but something equally loud preceeded by something quiet sounds REALLY LOUD. By that metric, many of my endings are roughly the same, but this one is preceded by something tragic.
8: Do you get hate on fics?
No lmao. I don't really write anything controversial.
9: Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Nah. Maybe in the future, but it's not really the kind of thing I'm interested in on its own? I can see p0rn having a place in some future stories, but it's not something I'd prioritize.
10: Do you write crossovers?
Nah. Apparently what I write are called "fusions."
11: Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not to my knowledge
12: Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, but I have toyed with the idea of translating my own fics into German
13: Have you ever co-written a fic?
Good LORD, no. I'm too much of a control freak to ever consider that
14: What’s your all time favorite ship?
Apparently it's SnazzyShipping. Don't ask.
15: What’s a fic you’d like to finish but don’t think you ever will?
You never know with me. I could finish anything at any time.
16: What are your writing strengths?
Dialogue, weird displays of love and intimacy that ride the line between platonic and romantic, dialogue, pastiche, and dialogue
17: What are your writing weaknesses?
Sometimes I get a little caught up in adjectives so I'll use two (or more) redundant ones in a way that really doesn't serve the story, but frees me of having to choose lmao. Occasionally you'll get a sentence like "her voice was soft, gentle, crawling along his skin like a drop of water" or some bullshit. It purples up my prose needlessly.
18: Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?
BUCKLE UP
I think it works best as little interjections; I think it can really humanize characters who learned English as a second language. For example, in all my years studying German, no one in my class EVER answered a question with "ja." It was ALWAYS "yeah" or "yes," even when we were doing total immersion. There are just always things that are gonna come out of your mouth in your native tongue unless you're being REALLY careful. So I think interjections, expressions of pain, yes and no answers, and swears/oaths do REALLY well when written out in the target language.
That being said, I don't think it works for most other scenarios. Maybe in a story with an omniscient narrator. Because in deep POV, if your character doesn't speak the target language, "he mumbled something in German" works better than "'küssen verboten,' he said, whatever that meant" because there's no reason the POV character would be able to identify those words without also understanding them.
There is one niche usage of the above that I've found works, and it's used in The Secret History, the OG dark academia novel by Donna Tartt. A character speaks Latin at the POV character. He understands enough Latin to pick out and identify the words that are being said to him, but he doesn't know what they mean.
*deep inhale*
HOWEVER you do have the problem of the POV character speaking the target language with someone else, and they both understand each other. There's no elegant solution to this. "'Kissing forbidden," he said in German. / "Strongly forbidden," I agreed in kind' can only do so much, especially if it's a long conversation. It's not strictly grammatically correct, but back in my Hetalia days, people used to use «guillemets» to indicate sentences spoken in the target language and I have borrowed that from time to time because I find it the most elegant solution, even if it necessitates explanation in the author's note
19: First fandom you wrote for?
Pokémon! But the anime; I used to almost exclusively read and write RocketShipping fanfic
20: Favorite fic you’ve written?
When I weed my garden, I don't pick out a favorite weed as I'm throwing them all in the compost lmao. For me, writing is like weeding my brain. I think my fics are good, and I re-read them, but I wouldn't use the words "like," "dislike," favorite," "least favorite," etc to describe my relationship with them
Wait no just kidding it's Hitsuzen.
Hitsuzen is my favorite work.
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bnhayyy · 4 years ago
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The Call (1)
Chapter Title: Slayer
Wordcount: 4.1k
Ao3 Link: Click
Notes: Written for day one of @aot-au-week , since a Buffy AU very technically counts as a College AU, and because it's the least I owe @cookietonwrites for convincing them to take on another fic. As you can see, the idea quickly spiraled into a multi-chap, for which I am not even remotely apologetic.
Summary: There is only ever one slayer at a time; the chosen one, a girl strong enough to fight against the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness.
 Mikasa has accepted that for her, being the slayer means living a reclusive life, haunted by the image of the first person she failed to save and unable to ever truly let anyone in. However, everything is called into question with the arrival of Annie, a girl who claims to also be a slayer. Mikasa's life becomes much less solitary seemingly overnight, but friendship is followed by a deadly conspiracy, and with it, the threat of loss and heartache.
Mikasa's world consisted of a haze of blurred vision and the gentle buzzing in her ears. She blinked, and the figures on the paper before her solidified into numbers for a heartbeat before fading out once again. Trying it a few more times didn't yield any better results. It only made her aware of how much her eyes burned and how heavy her eyelids were. How heavy her entire head was. How easy it would be to just slip forward and… 
The buzzing reached a crescendo. A hand reached out to grab her shoulder. She jerked back upright to find Armin sitting across the table from her, one hand still extended and a worried expression on his face. 
Mikasa faltered. Words played at her lips, semi-contradictory things like 'it's fine' and 'what's wrong', but none of them felt right enough to actually be voiced. Instead, Armin was the one to break the silence. 
"When's the last time you slept?" he asked. 
Mikasa sighed. He must be really worried if he was cutting straight to the point like that. 
"Don't worry about it," she said, even though she knew it wouldn't work. 
Armin's frown deepened as a hint of disapproval trickled onto his features. He pitched his voice into a whisper to say, "you don't need to go out every night. You can't- you shouldn't be doing this alone."
"I do," Mikasa countered. "I'm the only one who can. You know that, Armin."
There was one girl in the whole world charged with keeping the forces of darkness at bay. She couldn't cast that duty aside just because she was tired.
It was with that thought that she realized that her gaze had begun to drift back toward the table. She snapped it back up as Armin asked, "does Erwin know how thin you're wearing yourself?" 
Mikasa pursed her lips. "Erwin's only been here for a few weeks. He'll get used to it."
"You shouldn't be used to it," Armin insisted, the softness of his voice warring with the rapidly mounting undercurrent of anxiety. He was still talking, too, about how Erwin wouldn't approve and she would be more productive if she wasn't dead on her feet. She didn't absorb any of the actual words, his voice fading back out into that gentle, incoherent buzzing.
Then there was a flicker of movement as something faded into sight in the corner of her vision, and everything Armin said became utterly doomed to sail right over her head.
Mikasa very determinedly did not look at the figure. She didn't turn her head and didn't allow her eyes to move in his direction beyond that first involuntary twitch. It didn't matter. He leaned forward, and she caught a glimpse of the green eyes peering out from what she knew would be a placid-yet-piercing expression.
"He's right, Mikasa," he said. "You need to take better care of yourself."
She allowed her eyes to flicker shut even though it did nothing to block out the man's voice. The voice of her own imagination.
"You've always been like this," he sighed. His voice had a whisper of warmth in it today, a touch of fondness tucked within what sounded like age-old resignation. "But you shouldn't. You're at your best when you have our friends with you."
Something flickered within her at the comment, although she was pleased to note that she managed to keep it within. There was no need to remind the hallucination that she didn't have any friends. Not even Armin, truly. Because for all that they were fond of each other, no amount of fondness could ever make up for-
"-kasa?"
It was the hint of iron intertwining itself with the worry in Armin's voice that got her to open her eyes. Mikasa forced herself to look at Armin and only Armin, who was leaning halfway across the table at this point.
"You really need to get some rest," he said. She moved to open her mouth, but he cut her off by asking, "you don't have trigonometry for five more hours, right?"
Mikasa nodded.
Armin gave one short, decisive nod, which appeared to be more for himself than anything. "You should take a nap, then."
The shift in her expression was subtle, just a faint downward turn to her lips, but apparently still enough for him to catch, because he quickly added, "you're going on patrolling again tonight, aren't you? Even a couple of hours would be better than nothing. I promised to meet up with Annie in a little while, but. I could walk you home?"
Mikasa didn't bother asking who Annie was, but she didn't protest either. She could see the logic in his argument, even if it felt painfully like a waste of time. "No, it's alright," she said. "I can walk myself."
Armin frowned. "Okay, but you will-"
"Go home and take a nap. Yes." She was already standing up as she finished agreeing. If she was going to keep her word, then it would be better to get it done sooner than later. The earlier she left, the sooner she could return. "I'll see you tomorrow," she promised.
With that, she turned around and left without taking another look at the boy who maybe, in another world, could have been her friend.
Or the distorted memory of Eren Jaeger.
*
Mikasa laid in her bed and closed her eyes.
*
Thud.
"Clear!"
Thud.
"Clear!"
Thud.
"Cl-"
Coughing. Choking, sputtering, straining, a strain in her chest that turned into an ache resonating throughout her entire body. A pain worse than anything she had ever felt in her fourteen years.
Shouting. Rushing. Urgent voices talking rapidly. Not to her, with her aching body and spinning vision, but to each other. White coats and flashing lights. They were talking, talking, and there was something she had to say, something more important than the flashing lights or the unreal pain or the whisper of strength that shouldn't be there. There was something, someone, she had to ask about-
Her voice cut off in a hoarse croak when she tried to speak. Her throat stung, like it had been worn ragged by- by-
Salt.
Memories flashed by her in a dreadful kaleidoscope. The parents. The men. The boy. The other man, the one they'd thought would help. The sea - he'd thrown them in the sea, her and-
A jolt of energy. Mikasa forced herself upright and grabbed the wrist of the first person she saw. Surprise was on his face. Surprise and discomfort; her grip was stronger than it should have been. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was-
"Eren," she croaked.
"Eren." The white-coated man's voice was softer than she needed it to be. Focused on her. He needed to be focused on not her. "Is that your name? Eren?"
Through parched lips and a throat like sandpaper, she croaked out, "where's Eren?"
The man gave her a long, sad look. No. No. He shouldn't be looking at her like that.
"He saved me," Mikasa pressed. "Then he- the-" monster “- we went in the water together."
One faltering moment that lasted for an eternity.
The man redirected with talk about her. What's her name, can she describe what she's feeling, she's okay, it'll all be okay - it didn't matter. It didn't matter and it wouldn't be okay. It didn't matter, because in that moment, he didn't need to answer.
His expression spoke only of death.
*
She woke up feeling more awake, but just as tired as she had been before.
*
Mikasa didn't even try to pay attention during trigonometry. The nap may have refreshed her to some degree, but not enough for that. Besides, she still had a solid C. Spending class zoned out was... admittedly detrimental, considering that she had been in a similar state for her last two classes, but not so devastating that she wouldn't be able to recover from it. She would just have to cram as hard as she could once she had the opportunity to spend a few nights on her classwork. It wasn't a pleasant routine, but it had gotten her through her first two semesters of college. She could make it work for this one as well.
Besides, she had more important things to spend her brainpower on.
A girl had been marked absent during roll call. Mina Carolina. A single absence was not unusual in and of itself, but although Mikasa couldn't claim to know Mina well, she had not seen the girl take a day off before. That didn't mean that she couldn't - she could be well and truly sick, or an emergency could have popped up. People took days off all the time, even those who normally didn't.
The trouble was that there had been a marked increase in people turning up absent lately. Most of them never returned. There were no bodies found or hints as to their whereabouts. They were simply never seen again.
Mikasa didn't want to feel a sense of distant mourning. She wanted to hope that Mina would show up at their next class with some excuse for the teacher about how she can sick or had to deal with an unignorable situation. However, that same part of her had also wanted to hold out hope for Franz and Hannah when they disappeared from her American Literature class, and now they were nothing but faces on missing posters.
The semester had only been in swing for a month and a half. Mina would be the third victim person she had shared a class with. Not third overall - just that she had shared a class with specifically. When she scaled the radius up to encompass the entire campus, she would be the fifth disappearance.
According to Erwin, Paradis' level of supernatural activity was on the low side of average. She suspected that that was the reason he had been hinting that they should relocate. He felt that she was wasted here, and as her Watcher, he wasn't comfortable doing nothing about it, no matter how new to his position or unwelcome he was. And truthfully, five people disappearing off of a college campus during the first semester and a half wasn't unusual. College was stressful. She didn't know the details regarding two of the disappearances, and even with the couple who had seemingly disappeared off the face of the like, a human culprit was just as likely as a demonic one, if not moreso.
So why was she so certain that Mina Carolina had met her death at some point since she had last seen her?
Why did she feel like she had failed to stop it?
Once the feelings of dread and guilt grew strong enough for her to be actively aware of them, Mikasa decided to redirect her attention to the students who were there. 
Armin probably would have been one of her classmates if she hadn't insisted that he not take any classes that run past sunset and directed him to the morning trigonometry course instead. However, it wouldn't have been a large class even with him and Mina. 
Four of the students scattered across the room were unknown to Mikasa. However, her seat near the back of the room allowed her to keep an eye on them with relative ease. That, in turn, allowed her to be fairly comfortable in her assessment that they were normal human students. 
She could say the same of her four other classmates as well. They, however, were a little higher on her radar. 
Closest to her, his desk seated directly in the last few rays of evening sunlight, was a muscular blond man. Mikasa thought that his name began with an 'R', but didn't know much else about him. He'd caught her attention with a loud, outgoing personality and general demeanor that made him seem like an odd fit for the class. At the moment, it looked like he wasn't paying much more attention than Mikasa herself, fiddling with the ring on his left hand and only occasionally glancing up at the teacher. 
The blonde next to him was as much of a stranger, but she at least looked like she was focusing. She had gained Mikasa's attention by joining a week after classes had started. Since then, however, she had proven quiet and distant, only interacting with her classmates when she glared at the man next to her for trying to talk to her while she was working.    
Jean Kirstein, meanwhile, clearly didn't want to be a stranger. Over the past year, he had made a few attempts to reach out that she could admit were enduring. If she didn't have her duty, he might be someone she could consider a friend. As it was, she couldn't bring herself to do anything but brush him off, for his own sake. He didn't pay her much attention in class though. That wasn’t to say that he was completely focused, even though he had claimed a seat at the front of the class. She often glimpsed him speaking to the student next to him. There’d also been enough instances when she’d heard a frustrated comment from him regarding the course for her to get the sense that trigonometry wasn't particularly easy for him. However, she also suspected that he was hardworking and dedicated enough to make up for it.
The student next to him was Marco Bott. Cheerful and painfully earnest, he was honestly mostly notable to Mikasa because he was Jean's friend. He seemed like a good person though. That meant he was a reminder of why Mikasa couldn't let Jean become her friend no matter how hard he tried or let herself rest no matter how much Armin tried to insist. If she faltered, if she slowed, there would be consequences.
Mina used to sit behind Jean and Marco.
The sound of chairs being pushed back and writing implements being put away drew Mikasa out of her stupor. Rather than look at the clock, she glanced out the window.
The sun had already begun to set.
She quickly stuffed her textbook, pencil case, and notebook in her bag, feeling only a brief pang of guilt for the blank sheet of paper that stared back at her. The items landed haphazardly, and she knew that if she looked, they would likely only partly obscure the stake, crossbow, and knife that laid carefully arranged at the bottom. She zipped it shut before anyone could get curious and try to sneak a peek; a reflex even though she knew that no one would be bold enough to try that with her.
Despite being the last one to start getting packed, she was the first one out of class. Just like she always was. From there, it didn’t take long to get off the campus.
The first two blocks of Mikasa's walk went like she was heading home. It was as she reached the third - the one that would have lead back to her apartment - that she took a sharp right. From there it was four blocks straight on, then one block to the left. A simple route, but one that had come to haunt her nightmares.
Dusk had descended on the cemetery by the time she reached it.
Logically, she knew that she wasn't likely to run into anything for several more hours.
Instinctively, she knew that Mina Carolina wasn't likely to return to class.
This wasn't a night to take risks.
Mikasa wandered deeper into the graveyard, where she was less likely to be spotted by any passerby, and pulled out her stake. There, she began to wander.
It wasn't a small cemetery by any means. That was what made it the ideal hive for demonic activity. Not only were cemeteries where the majority of newly turned vampires rose, but large ones were also rife with additional dead bodies and crypts. This one was even separated into several different sections, which made it easy to get lost.
Getting lost made it easy to watch the time slip by.
A couple of hours into her patrol, a familiar figure flickered into existence at the edges of her vision. She didn't say anything to him, and he followed her silently, gaze occasionally flickering to one side or another as he took in the graveyard. As if he might notice anything before she did. Technically speaking, she supposed that he might. He had "caught" things a few times in the past, when she was subconsciously aware of something but hadn't been fast enough to process it with her conscious mind. It was the only thing that made sense, for all that she desperately wished that it wasn't.
A slayer whose hallucination needed to point things out for her couldn't mean anything good for the world.
She forced herself to look away from the figment and focus on her surroundings.
Not five minutes later, the sound of shifting earth caught her attention. Mikasa turned and strode toward it, her grip on her stake tightening and her gaze fixed straight ahead. Within seconds, she had spotted it; a grave with the earth beneath it stirring. As she watched, a hand punched up and out of it, grasping desperately at the ground. The head came next - an unfamiliar man, his face distorted by lumps across his forehead and nose, slitted yellow eyes, and fangs. The visage of a vampire prepared for predation. It glared at her as it struggled and snarled, eventually freeing its other arm. Once that was done, it had a much easier time dragging itself to the surface.
It never got the chance to free itself fully. The second its chest was completely exposed, Mikasa sprang into action. She grabbed the thing by the lapels of its dirt-stained tuxedo and dragged it upward. Fear flicked across its face, causing the predatory features to fall away and leaving a normal face behind. A face that could have been human if she didn't know better. She didn't allow herself to look closely.
In a blink, she had rammed her stake through the vampire's chest and into its heart. It dissolved into dust a few seconds later. Mikasa stood and watched the flecks flutter back down to earth.
She was drawn out of her reverie by a firm, "you shouldn't be patrolling tonight."
Mikasa grit her jaw. "I already rested," she pointed out.
"It isn't enough. You've been exhausting yourself, one little nap isn't going to make up for that."
"You just saw me kill a vampire."
"Yeah, and it took way more out of you than it normally would."
Mikasa whirled around to face the figment. Something in her chest threatened to hitch as she allowed herself to look directly at him, just as it so often did, even years after he first manifested.
The thing before her almost could have been a ghost. It wasn't though; god knew she had done enough research on the subject. Ghosts, when they visibly manifested at all, took the appearance they wore at their time of death or at another point in their life.
Eren Jaeger had been fourteen when he died. Even if he responded to the same name, this grown man with distant, unreadable eyes couldn't be him.
He wasn't anything. She'd run all of the tests as she learned more about the Supernatural. She wasn't haunted, there weren't hints of a demonic presence lingering around her - there was nowhere he could have come from other than her own mind.
He was nothing but a manifestation of her guilty conscience. She had come to terms with that years ago, yet she was still wasting time arguing with him.
At that instant, it was suddenly very tempting to look away. However, she forced her gaze to remain steady as she coldly said, "leave."
The figment blinked. "Mikasa-"
"No," she interrupted.
Something flickered in the illusion's eyes. It was difficult to identify, caught behind that distorting wall that so often covered his emotions, and she didn't even bother to try. He opened his mouth again, but she didn't let him get another word in.
"I'm not willing to put up with you tonight," she said. "Get out."
His expression finally came together into something real and visible. Alarm. "Mikasa, move!"
Mikasa lunged to the side just in time to avoid being grabbed by the shoulder.
She spun around to find a burly vampire standing over the ashes of the one she'd just killed. He was musclebound and bulky enough that he might be somewhat difficult to face in hand-to-hand combat - but not so much as to stand a real chance against her. "Slayer," he snarled. "I am going to grind you into dust."
Mikasa didn't bother responding. He lunged forward and she spun to the side, ducking beneath his flailing fist to get behind him. As she moved, she noticed that Eren had disappeared. Good. She sprang forward, stake in hand, only for the vampire to swing back around at the last moment and grab her wrist. He squeezed, a horrible grin on his face, and she had to fight to keep from automatically releasing her grip on her stake.
As the vampire leaned forward, she twisted to punch him in the sternum with her free hand. It only made him falter for a moment, but it was enough for her to wrench her wrist out of his grasp. It was also enough for her to come to a terrible realization.
Her blows weren't as hard as they usually were and she was moving slowly.
Eren was right.
There wasn't any time to ruminate on that. The vampire lunged forward, and Mikasa dove to the side again. She leaned into the momentum and swung her leg out to land a kick to the vampire’s side. He stumbled, a curse on his lips.
It didn't bring her any sense of victory, for as she brought her foot down, it landed on uneven ground. Not observant enough.
Pain shot up her ankle and the world began to tilt.
Eren still wasn't anywhere to be seen. Funny. If her mind was going to conjure up even a distorted version of Eren Jaeger, she would have expected it to happen when she died. She had thought that he would watch.
Mikasa hit the ground, the side of her head slamming hard against a flat gravestone. The world continued to spin around the sound of the vampire chuckling. She clenched the hand holding her stake, only to find that it must have fallen out of her grasp during the fall.
She forced herself to sit up, hands pushing hard against the ground to make up for the way the world was spinning around her. When she looked up, the vampire was glaring down at her. She tried to stand up, to scurry back, but her ankle gave out when she tried to bear weight on it. A sprain - just a sprain - nothing that wouldn't heal in a couple of days with her abilities, but even a sprain couldn't bear weight immediately. The vampire was saying something now, but she couldn't make out the words, couldn't hear anything past the buzzing in her head, couldn't feel anything but the sensation of warm blood oozing from the cut in her head.
The vampire was reaching for her.
She hadn't wanted to take a risk, and because of that, she was going to die tonight. And Eren wasn't even there to see it.
Maybe that was fitting. She hadn't witnessed his final moments either. Maybe he wanted her to die alone as well.
The vampire's hand closed around her neck. She forced herself to look up, to at least look her death in the eyes-
- and the vampire exploded into dust. In his wake stood the blonde girl from her trigonometry class, stake in hand and gaze locked on Mikasa.
The girl said something. Mikasa blinked, hearing her words, but unable to process them. The girl frowned, and Mikasa grit her teeth, just to give herself another sensation to focus on.
"Repeat that," Mikasa ordered.
The girl extended a hand. "I asked how badly injured you are," she said.
Mikasa ignored the hand and moved to force herself to her feet. Her injured ankle protested once again, but she bore the majority of her weight on her other leg and managed to get upright. "I can handle it," she said. "Who are you?"
The girl didn't seem at all off-put by Mikasa's blunt question. If anything, she seemed like she expected it. "Annie Leonhart," she said.
She paused for a moment. It did nothing to prepare Mikasa for her next, impossible words.
"I'm the slayer."
*
Weeks later, armed with only an axe, her memories, and the desperate research of a lonely girl scared she was losing her mind, Mikasa went hunting.
She found the one who had snatched them from the bodies of the original monsters and tossed them into the ocean.
She took his head, and he turned to ash at her feet.
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buoyantsaturn · 3 years ago
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the last time i saw my grandma she handed me a jar of pickles and said “you can’t eat those until after christmas” so anyway here’s some writing advice based on that
let’s say there’s three kind of pickles: a slow pickle, a quick pickle, and a store-bought pickle.
a store bought pickle is going to be your fic that maybe takes you as long to write as it would for you to get dressed, go to the store, and buy yourself a jar of pickles to snack on. this isn’t going to take a lot of planning, a lot of forethought, you just need the idea to go buy a jar of pickles, and the execution of going out and buying your pickles. 
a quick pickle takes some planning. you need to set aside enough time to put everything together, let it marinate for a bit, but you’ll have your pickles within a few days at the most. 
a slow pickle takes months, and if you’re going through the process of slow pickling one jar of cucumbers, then you might as well pickle the whole bushel, right? so you take the time to gather your ingredients, divide everything up exactly the way you want it (maybe you followed a recipe, or maybe you’re listening to your heart) and once you’ve filled your jars, you leave them somewhere to sit. for months. if you open a jar too soon, sure, you’ll still get a pickle, but the flavors won’t be as developed as they would have been if you would’ve just let the jar sit a little while longer.
the great news about a slow pickle is that you have SO much time to run to the store for a jar of pickles while you’re waiting, or you can brush up on your pickle making skills by making some quick pickles. and it doesn’t hurt to check back on your slow pickles every so often - maybe remind yourself of what you put in this jar, and how maybe next time you’ll try switching the ingredients up a little bit. the best part is, if you still have leftover cucumbers, you can keep making slow pickles all you want
just don’t open the jars before they’re ready
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