#it's not like Asher doesn't have five stars

[dawnofiight]

OH and Angel and Asher stick to rhythm games and Genshin fucking impact.

Angel is a Bandori fan

Asher likes prsk because Akiyama mfing Mizuki.

Angel mains Yae Miko and Eula because reasons.

Asher will find a way to make Barbara a main DPS. TRUST.

Angel: why tf is your Barbara doing damage

Asher; shut up and let me cook

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

The City is Ours ; WIP Intro

Genre/Setting

modern/low sci-fi, superheroes ; set in a big city that I'm cautiously giving the placeholder name Henderson, somewhere north on a US coast

Playlist

POV

third person limited, multiple characters

Status and Length

outlining and planning ; five book series (hopefully)

Tropes and Themes

found family but they’re all dumbasses, chaotic teenagers with superpowers, a little bit of romance on the side, villain arcs and redemption arcs, forgiveness, are you the hero or the villain, what’s the difference between good and evil, reluctant villains, queer representation, POC representation, disabled and neurodivergent representation, Jewish and Muslim representation

Warnings and rating

violence, potential torture, mild cussing, guns, blood, potential depictions of discrimination and bigotry (towards super-powered people mostly), trauma and mental health issues, and lots of angst ; Teen and Up

Main Characters

Nickelle AKA The Icicle (she/her) *main POV*

Team Leader

Ice Powers

AroAce

Japanese American

Lead Singer of a local Band

Asher AKA The Flashlight (he/him)

Team Dad

Light and Shadow Powers

Gay Christian

Latino American

LEGO and Star Wars nerd

Gabriella *no superhero name, not known to public* (she/her)

Team Cheerleader/Fashion Designer

No Powers

White American

CisHet

Blonde Bimbo

Kylee AKA Now-Ya-See-Her-Girl (she/they)

Youngest Teammate

Speed and Invisibility Powers

Redhead White American

PanAce

Nonspeaking Autistic

Bryson AKA The Healer (he/him)

Team Medic

Healing Powers *the only person he can't use his powers on is himself*

African American

CisHet (but he's on thin ice)

Will lecture you if you get injured doing something stupid or reckless

(not official yet I'm just considering it) Has Type 1 diabetes

Vira "V" AKA Morph (they/them)

Team Big Sibling

Shapeshifting Powers

Nonbinary Lesbian

Muslim

Soccer and Softball Player

Cocky and impulsive

Jason AKA The Hotshot (he/him)

Team Asshole

Fire Powers

White American

CisHet

Thinks he's special because his dad is rich

Chase AKA TechGuy (he/him)

Team Tech and Hacker

No Powers

American Romani

PanAro

Jewish

*possibly* Bipolar Disorder and or OCD

Anxiety and Depression

Antagonists

Black Hole- the first big bad. alien from space who's just trying to get some extra credit so they don't fail their AP Planet Domination Class

Miss Recluse- One of Black Hole's three sidekicks. Full tilt diva

The Magician- Black Hole's second sidekick. Besties with Miss Recluse.

Mr. Cyanide- Black Hole's third sidekick that becomes a bigger threat villain. Mad scientist with a deadly knack for chemistry.

The Snow Queen- Big bad in the last three books. Mainly uses her ice to control tech and people. Only an urban myth until the last two books.

Boss Lady- Mafia boss who's working for/with the Snow Queen. Big stronk woman with the muscles of a strongman

Blood Debt- Mainly a loner vigilante anti-hero that kills people who have done wrong. Does jobs for the Snow Queen. The Grim Reaper if he were in a biker gang.

Nightmare- small time villain that doesn't actually hurt anyone. Her powers can put people to sleep and she's a really smart engineer. More of an anti-hero side character if you squint

Plot

A bunch of rookie teenage superheroes and their journey to becoming family, protectors of the city, and eventually defenders of the world over the course of five years and five books- following their adventures in crime-fighting, chore rotations, grocery shopping, fighting and protecting each other like siblings, and saving the world.

Extra Stuff

Been working on this one for a while, but I didn't want to introduce it until i figured out an official name. The title might change later but I wouldn't mind if it stuck. I have a feeling Nickelle and Kylee are going to become my favorites

~~~

Tagging a couple of people and my mutuals that I hope will be interested or at least help get it to others:

@rose-bookblood @memento-morri-writes @bloodlessheirbyjacques @kjscottwrites @fiercely-raging-writer @emelkae @wip-nook @friendlyneighborhoodcapricorn

[stab-the-son-of-a]

In honor of Whittaker Wednesday.....hey Whittaker. Pour salt in Burkes wounds.

TW: Dehumanization, carving, blood (a lot of it), brief nausea mentions

"Fives, at attention."

Asher didn't want to. He wanted to stay in the corner of his cell and glare petulantly at the monster who claimed to know what justice was. He wished Yasin, Zo and Finn were still in the cell. He wished he'd joined one of them in the yard, or at the mess, or stuck by them rather than isolate to wallow in his exhaustion. He chose to be alone. This was the cost.

"5553485." Whittaker took a step closer as he rattled off each digit of his prisoner code. "I gave you an order. So be a good lad and get to it."

He remained still and curled in place. The scars on his chest and neck were raised and angry red. Unthinking, he ran his fingers over the edges of the fresh marks.

Letting out a put upon sigh, Whittaker tutted and muttered, "What a shame."

He still didn't move. At first. His fear got the better of him- the fear of worsening whatever misery Whittaker decided to subject him to. Asher crept closer, feeling more like a caged, wounded animal than a man, until he knelt before him.

"There we go. It's not so hard to behave, lad, is it?"

There was undignified, and then there was throwing away his last scraps of self respect. Asher waited, silently staring up at Whittaker with all the rage and composure he could muster.

It wasn't enough. It was never enough. With practiced motions, Whittaker locked the shackles together, the fetters together, and both sets to the collar around his neck.

"Just a precaution, lad. Keep your head down, or I'll knock your block off."

Asher bit back an affirmative, an honorific. He would never, ever, willingly say such a thing to Whittaker. If nothing else, he will have that until the end of this torture. Even as he followed Whittaker's demand he turn around and bare his back to him, he had that much to protect and keep him sane.

Whittaker stood behind Asher, reaching around him to attach the lead on the collar to the ring on the floor. Asher shuddered at the touch.

"Aw lad," he laughed, patting him on the back as he walked out of the room. As the distance grew, his voice became fainter. "I just washed my hands of you. Don't worry about the blood."

It was more than the blood. It was the contact, the familiarity, the sensation that had only been reserved for close friends and, long ago, family. To have Whittaker assume that sort of bond set his teeth on edge.

"You had best listen up," Whittaker warned, fisting his hand in Asher's hair again.

Every day, he decidedly differently from the last whether he preferred it longer. He could hide in his hair, block his awareness of the outside world. At the same time, Whittaker used it like a built in leash, and now as no different.

Except for how Whittaker planted himself directly behind Asher, knees on either side of his hips, one hand pushing him forward and the other--

The other bringing a knife to press against his bare back. "Now remember to breathe through it, lad, I don't want you messing anything up now."

As the knife pierced his skin and dragged through, carving a thick, deep line just beside his scapula. Blood welled up from the open wound even more as Whittaker began carving a perpendicular line next, connected to the first.

"You should count your lucky stars that your ID doesn't have more threes or twos, lad."

The awareness of exactly what was on his back, or about to be, hit Asher like a blow to the head. He felt sick, unable to keep his voice steady or keep his hands from shaking. "No," he rasped. "No, you can't."

He'd made his peace with leaving this place with scars. He'd even somewhat made his peace with being lost here until Whittaker grew tired of his sadistic game. But to have that number, that fucking number that reduced him to a string of characters, to a criminal record in some dusty filing system, was too much.

"Don't do this!" Asher did not beg, but it was a close thing, and Whittaker kept at his task, ignoring his protests except to smack the back of his head a couple times as he worked.

Distantly, finally, Asher fell silent and counted the lines of burning, raw wounds as they opened. 5. 6. 7. 8.

His blood poured down his back. The room smelled of iron and meat, thick and heavy in the air, choking him. 12. 13. 14. 15.

A small puddle gathered under his feet, warm and yet still much too cold. He couldn't be sure whether that was blood-loss setting in. Same for the nausea and dizziness. Funny, how emotional shock and hypovolemic shock presented so similarly. 24. 25. 26. 27.

"You're doing so well, lad. I'm proud of you."

Ignoring Whittaker's condescension, Asher screwed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, trying to force himself to focus on the sensation of metal cutting into his wrists, rather than of metal cutting into his back. 31. 32. 33.

At first he didn't realize it had stopped. When Whittaker removed his hands from him, backed away from him, Asher relaxed as much as he could, mindful of the open wounds. It hurt. God, it hurt, on all levels.

"One last thing, then I'll let you rest, lad," Whittaker said. Asher barely cared what else the bastard planned to do-

A bucket upended over him and drenched him. Every inch of his back felt raw, but it was worse where the actual cuts where. The salt water streamed down his back, sinking into open wounds and sloughing off any forming scabs. His entire back throbbed, sticky and wet and aflame with pain. The inhuman roar that tore up Asher's throat arched his back in its force and he screamed, louder than he thought possible, until his voice curled in on itself and died, shattering in his throat.

Tears raced down his face, mingling with the salt water in his mouth and eyes. Wordlessly sobbing, Asher let out another howl of misery as Whittaker dumped a second bucket of salt water over his head.

[whatintheeverlovingfucketh]

January 2022 Book Review

My Official Book Rating Scale:

1 - Garbage, honestly painful, no thank you.

2 - Bad, won’t read again if I can help it. Boring and cringe.

3 - Not very good, maybe a few enjoyable moments, but still bland.

4 - Okay, not bad or totally unenjoyable but can definitely be improved. Maybe re-read.

5 - Completely average. Nothing life changing.

6 - Good! enjoyable, but nothing overly spectacular.

7 - Great, will definitely read again.

8 - Wonderful, very few rough spots, a good time.

9 - Fantastic, I loved it!

10 - A MASTERPIECE! Captivating, brilliant, a work of art *chef’s kiss*

*any half points are decided by vibes / not fitting fully into one category*

All of my reviews include:

- book title and author

- the date the book was read (if it is marked * that indicates that I have read this book in the past)

- my numerical rating from the scale above

- a summary of the plot from google and the genre of the book

- a small reflection that was written immediately after finishing reading the book 

Conventionally Yours - Annabeth Albert (05/01/2022) 6.5/10

Two young men fall in love on a road trip to Las Vegas for a gaming convention. Conrad Stewart and Alden Roth's rivalry has made them the stars of a gaming vlog about a card game called Odyssey. (LGBT fiction)

Cute, but a little hard to take seriously, young adults playing and fighting over a fantasy card game, and every kind of representation I can list in 30 seconds takes you out of it a little bit, otherwise, good :)

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kacen Callender (06/01/2022) 6/10

A fresh, charming rom-com about Nathan Bird, who has sworn off happy endings but is sorely tested when his former best friend, Ollie, moves back to town. Nathan Bird doesn't believe in happy endings. (YA Fiction)

The title is misleading. A sweet story, and good representation, however a little frustrating. Constant written descriptions of a visual language feel excessive and unhelpful, especially without other cues as to the context, or translations. This is a critique of the writing, not the story. Other than that, good!

Say What You Will - Cammie McGovern (12/01/2022) 9/10

Say What You Will is a heartfelt story about two teens who each have different challenges to overcome as they navigate the difficulties of senior year. Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions.(Fiction)

Wow. wow, wow. What an incredible story, unique, interesting and full of unexpected twists. Beautiful and really entertaining. I thought I was going to cry by the end, but I didn’t at all, it was a different kind of emotional. I loved it.

Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen (14/01/2022) 10/10

From author Kelly Quindlen comes a poignant and deeply relatable story about friendship, self-acceptance, and what it means to be a Real Teenager. Late to the Party is an ode to late bloomers and wallflowers everywhere. Seventeen is nothing like Codi Teller imagined.(YA Fiction)

Beyond incredible. I loved the dynamics of each relationship, and the passing of time. It was so fluid, and relatable, funny and exciting. I want to have friends like that someday. I cried like two tears at the last page. Truly a beautiful story.

Invisible Ghosts - Robyn Schneider (16/01/2022) 8/10

In Invisible Ghosts, Rose Asher is grappling with grief and guilt five years after her brother Logan's death. She's also dealing with his ghost every day when she gets home from school. It's a secret she can't share with anyone, because she's not sure whether the ghost is real or in her head. (Fiction, Ghost story, Romance)

Really unique plot! Really funny and relatable, (the high school / social interaction part, not the dead ghost brother part lol) Also very realistic “deliberately blurry snapchat”. A lot of “aww’s” :)

*Calling Maggie May - Anonymous (19/01/2022) 9/10

A dark and edgy first-person cautionary tale about how one girl's seemingly minor choices quickly spiraled into a life as a sex worker in the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky. She had a normal life, until one small decision changed everything. Suddenly, there were new possibilities and new experiences. (YA fiction, diary fiction)

Incredibly intriguing, a bit disturbing. It feels weird to say that I enjoyed reading a book about a 16 year old girl going into prostitution, but it's a fascinating story. It took me about 2 hours to read. I'm curious if it's because this is a short book, or because each sentence draws you in more than the last.

*The Book Of David - Anonymous (20/01/2022) 8.5/10

Texas high school senior and quarterback David has a secret no one can discover. Forced by his English teacher to keep a journal in which he writes for 10 minutes, three times a week, David chronicles his innermost secret: his attraction to men.( YA fiction)

Exciting. Although it was a very typical "closeted jock with religious parents" story, the perspective of a private journal made it a very interesting read. I really enjoyed it!

The Beauty That Remains - Ashley Woodfolk (25/01/2022) 10/10

Music brought Autumn, Shay, and Logan together. Death wants to tear them apart. But when tragedy strikes each of them, somehow music is no longer enough. Now Logan can’t stop watching vlogs of his dead ex-boyfriend. Shay is a music blogger struggling to keep it together. And Autumn sends messages that she knows can never be answered. (YA fiction, LGBT, Mental health)

Wow. when I read the tagline I was expecting a cheesy story about a song making people come together in a cliché way. This was so not that. It was an incredibly beautiful and complex story about grief, loss, friendship, and mental health. It was truly wonderful.

[kleenexwoman]

tagged fandom survey

I got tagged by multiple people, so

How many works do you have on AO3? Sixty-nice. NICE.

What is your total AO3 word count? Oh I'm definitely not calculating that.

How many fandoms? On AO3 I have the MCU (I do count that as one), X-Men movies (which are a different studio even if they're the same aggregate universe), Good Omens, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Man from UNCLE (I count the movie and TV series as one because I only saw the movie because I liked the show), the Pendergast series, and a couple of odd one-shots like Les Miz, a Sherlock/H2G2 crossover, Mission: Impossible, and two fairytale stories based off songs. So that's 8 main fandoms, 4 smaller fandoms, and 2 that are basically originals. And of course I'm not counting stuff I wrote that's on Fanfiction.Net that I haven't transferred over to AO3 although I probably should if I can log in--I wrote stuff for Pokemon, Smallville, Star Trek, Animorphs, and Harry Potter as a baby fan, along with some I likely don't remember.

Top 5 fics by kudos: "Semi-Charmed Life," a Man from UNCLE movie fic that takes a highly unserious look at sex addiction: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4619289. I inspired a cross-stitch with this fic. Title inspiration: 3rd Eye Blind. "Like Water Flowing Underground," a Back to the Future fic that takes all the "Marty not fitting into his well-adjusted rich family" angst I wanted to and puts it into a story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296938 Title Inspiration: The Talking Heads, "the whisper of the wind and the words of the woods," an MCU fic where Thor is actually a god and takes Steve to watch him end a drought: https://archiveofourown.org/works/406564 Title inspiration: Korpiklaani "Kisses Like Awkward Flowers," an MFU (TV) fic I wrote for a Down the Chimney holiday fic exchange: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5416481 This is about as cute as I get. "Stay Silent," a BttF fic I wrote in the Livejournal days that was inspired by a comic DrWorm drew: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452638 This might be as cute as I get, actually. The fic unfortunately doesn't have the picture. I had no idea you could do that when I uploaded it.

Do you respond to comments? I didn't used to, but now I'm generally trying to. Etiquette has changed.

Angstiest ending? "five uncontrolled experiements in runaway fission" straight up ends with Holtzmann dying of radiation poisoning: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7738957

Do you write crossovers? Occasionally. I'm more likely to sneak in a subtle cameo or make a reference than I am to write a traditional crossover.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? I wrote a fic for "The Giver" (on FFN) that was extremely mild Asher/Jonas that freaked a lot of people the fuck out. I wrote a Smallville fanfic that someone called a "spayed-feminist rant." I got a lot of hate behind my back for my George/Marty stuff but very little to my face. Someone fucking HATED the way I used Hebrew on an X-Men fic that they argued with me for multiple paragraphs about it. And recently I got a comment on that Bucky/Tony "Good Place" fusion prompt fill that read "go fuck yourself retard" from "stuckygirl" which really just made me laugh because who does that anymore?

Do you write smut? What kind? Oh yeah I write a lot of smut. It's about half M/M with the rest split evenly between F/M and F/F.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have never had my work stolen before!

Co-written a fic? Several, and it was always a fun experience! I used to write smutifc with DrWorm over IM and post it to a secret alternate Livejournal we shared. I've co-written Pendergast smut as well, lol, but it's not on AO3. On AO3, I've co-written one fic with Anakin McFly about tea and one with @iwilltrytobereasonable about friendship :)

All-time fsvorite ship? Looks like I've written more Illya/Napoleon fics than anything! They are honestly a very reliable ship--there is never anyone in the show as important to them as each other. Their relationship changes and grows over the course of the show, so you can write them as senior agent/younger agent, two people getting to know each other, boyfriends who adore each other, boyfriends who are getting really frustrated with each other and are at the point of having an actual rivalry, two highly competent and devoted partners who are everything to each other, MARRIED, exes reconciling, or you can have an AU where they hhhhate each other because Napoleon is a con man and Illya has Issues and make it into a movie if you like.

First fandom you wrote for? My FIRST EVER EVER fanfic that i posted online is now the basic concept for "Star Trek: Prodigy." I in turn ripped it off from "Space Cases." Who the fuck DOESN'T want to steal a spaceship with their besties?

Favorite fic you've ever written? how can you ask me to choose among my many, many children? this is so hard. uh, I think if I ever chose one fanfic to put in a published anthology of fanfic for a fandom it would be "Feather": https://archiveofourown.org/works/33363 It's a Pendergast fic I wrote for Yuletide and I'm really freaking proud of it. It came out even better than I wanted it to and expressed all of the themes and motifs I was struggling to articulate.