#just reread this before posting and wow. take a shot every time i say 'i think'. blackout drunk in 0.5 seconds

[yellowloid]

heyyy what do think Miles' and Alex' relationship "status" currently is? Like I personally don't think they're together but can't deny their chemistry during their last tour and do kinda think things happened. Obviously we all know nothing, but I would love to hear your thoughts cause you always express them soooo well :D

this is So Old i tried to answer it like five times over the past few months and then i always got sidetracked i'm so sorry

(big disclaimer because of course we don't know anything about them and their private lives, as always this is just complete speculation!!)

anyways, i definitely think there was something in the past, but i don't think it ever evolved into an actual relationship as we traditionally intend it, not even at the height of the eycte tour. if there was indeed anything, it was probably a situationship/illicit affair where they started fucking (i really can't point out the exact moment because part of me says they crossed the line in 2016, but another part of me is convinced something happened even before that, maybe as far back as the recording of taotu). in both instances they came out of that period being Not Okay TM and like. being weird about each other and i think that's very telling

but regardless of when they actually started exploring each other's bodies i think in general there was always a latent attraction, both physical and emotional/romantic, going on between them from the very start. and what we saw in 2016 was the coronation of that, in a way. but again, i don't think it ever turned into an actual relationship, and i definitely don't think they're together now. does that mean they're over each other? absolutely not, in fact i think they never got over each other and doomed themselves to a life of longing for each other and occasionally falling back into the old habits (iykwim). i imagine it to be very difficult to get over someone when they also happen to be your best friend that you have history with + a bond that is, to put it simply, one of a kind.

will they ever fully commit to each other? i don't know, and i don't think that's the point either. i think the attraction between them - platonic, mental, emotional, romantic, sexual, you name it - is still very much there, and it goes so much beyond those categories, and that's what's so beautiful about their relationship <3

[charmwasjess]

Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions Okay, this is embarrassing, because I got tagged in this like two weeks ago when I was in time zone stupor, copied the prompts out, and then forgot, and I think it was @stellanslashgeode who tagged me - if not, I will cry with embarrassment so don't tell me if I'm wrong.

And :'D I don't remember either who was tagged when it was going around, so here's some no pressure tags (and hop in if you want to play and I didn't tag you!) - @bolithesenate @calcedon79 @purple-ant @reconstructwriter

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

10!! :D Which is totally amazing to me. Where did they come from?! Who made them?!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

Oh god, almost 300k… I don’t have any explanation. 

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

Just Star Wars! I can only handle one frenzied obsession at a time.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Sitting in the Dark, Five Days to Murder Sifo-Dyas, The Thunder Answered Back, Milk Run, and hey, aww, wow, Jedi Nights?! 

I’m a little surprised any of my Sifo-Dyas/Dooku stuff beat out anything else, it’s such a little tiny ship!

5. Do you respond to comments? 

I do, it's my favorite part. I get a tremendous amount of inspiration and energy from engaging with people who take the time to talk to me about my work. And friends, too! I have been in my fandom since I was like 11 or 12. I’ve made lifelong friends out of my comment sections.

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

I'm a sucker for a happy ending so a lot of them end on an upbeat note, but I can’t imagine The Thunder Answered Back ending on anything other than a mixed note. I'm not gonna be able to undo Order 66, you know? It’s a salvage job, not a fix it. If Jocasta gets through the fic without killing Dooku, we will call it a happy ending.

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

My corny Five Days to Kill Sifo-Dyas probably has the most classical happy ending for the saga but my favorite is the one in Sitting in the Dark - Qui-Gon waking up on the couch with Rael asleep next to him, and listening to Dooku and Jocasta and Sifo-Dyas wash up after the party. That little kid feeling of being safe and sleepy with your adult family happy and laughing softly nearby. 

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Ohhhh, if I had a dollar for every time one of my friends made some joke about me writing Count Dooku porn! But I don't care about that, if they actually read my shit, their pervert asses would become terribly addicted to it. They’d be begging at my door. “More old man yaoi! PLEASE!” (This is a joke, my local friends have been very nice about my return to fic writing and the teasing is loving.)

Weirdly, the nastiest hate comment on a fic I’ve ever gotten was in the Before era, when I was writing fic on my old teen account. It was on a young Knight-age Dooku/Jocasta one shot. It was a simple, very vanilla romantic moment with a T rating at best so I don't really get why the person was so worked up about it? I think they just couldn't get around Dooku and Jocasta (OLD PEOPLE?!?) written as young and attractive. For years, I was horribly embarrassed about the fic, like it must really actually truly suck to have someone spend so much time writing such an extensive hate comment. I must have really fucked up. 

I went back and reread it recently and realized: oh, no, it's a regular fic, they were just a fucking loser.

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

The…sex kind!!

But yes, I do! Mostly Sifo-Dyas/Dooku these days, but also Jocasta/Dooku and once or twice the holy Trinity of the three. 

I was REALLY shy about posting it at first and I still kind of can’t believe I did, but it was absurdly good for me as a person. Great for my religious purity culture baggage, my teenage years as a closeted queer person, just a really freeing experience. 

And it’s hot. And you get to think about Dooku saying or thinking the word “erection,” which is worth it just for that. 

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

Nah, I’m boring.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Nope, but I have been lucky enough to help with the English in bringing several of Purple Ant’s remarkable works over from Russian. 

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

Yep! In the Before time, I cowrote a lot, although I don’t think I posted much. One stands out: I remember this big rambling self-insert (we called them Mary Sues back then) I did with my bestie where we were transported to Star Wars world and we had to… I don’t exactly remember, but I think Obi-Wan falling in love with one or both of us was a big part? I went back and deleted it years later because it was so cringe. But that’s silly too - we were like twelve, of course it was silly and cringe! 

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? 

I tend to be pretty fucking stupid about Syku. 

It’s just. Two people who manage to collectively destroy their own universes together. They’re so connected in such strange, powerful, frightening ways, they know all of each other’s secrets, they were there on the worst days of each other’s lives, and will go on to be each other’s worst day of their life. And the way, even as they change, they can’t get away from each other, even though they both really try, it’s like they’re stuck in two orbits that have to cross. 

And then you read the dumb book, and see that they’re just stupid funny and cute together, idiots who finish each other’s sentences and call each other little nicknames… augh, the bizarre sweetness of it?! It kills me. It’s the narrative doom, but also the weird, enduring love that has Dooku giving Sifo-Dyas a Jedi funeral or trying so earnestly to tell Obi-Wan his crazy version of events with his death, or how Sifo-Dyas goes running back to him for the Clone thing after he already knows so much about how Dooku factors into the end game... 

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

I will definitely finish The Thunder Answered Back but I kind of doubt I’ll get to the two years worth of content and every individual character’s endgame storyline I envisioned out of it. I'll stick with Dooku, Jocasta, Scout, and Asajj.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

….this is embarrassing, but I tend to think I’m occasionally really funny. 

Even though my fics are really serious and I haven’t written any crack, I really try to put in moments of humor, depending on my POV character’s dialogue or internal monologue. I think my best humor comes about when I can get Dooku and Sifo-Dyas in A Situation, slinging shit back and forth. Those two just take off. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

I overwrite. My fics would be a lot more successful if I tightened up and left more on the cutting room floor. I get over attached to small moments of character at the expense of the plot (and let's be honest, word count.) 

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

Hmm, does sign language count? That has been really fun in Rabbit Heart. A huge chunk of the fic happens in sign language. 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

It’s got to be Milk Run, by a long shot. I’m really proud of that fic, but it was just such a blast to write. It was so fucking fun. And there’s all these little moments or tiny funny things I’ve left myself in it that are probably only funny to me, but they’re so funny to me. 

….Like, so, at one point in the fic, Sifo-Dyas is pissed at Dooku because he can tell he and Jocasta have been sleeping together, again, and this always happens, and he always has to clean this mess and play mediator when it inevitably implodes (and also maybe he is in love with Dooku a little bit?). So he’s furious about it, but pretending not to be, and so he bitchily tells Dooku the name of his ship is The Haru-Spicy, as in, a cooking pun, instead of the real name, The Haruspicy. And then Dooku spends the entire rest of the fic just wildly mispronouncing the name of the ship in his own POV chapters and to other characters? 

I love to imagine him saying it, all declarative, “The Haru-Spicy!” And everyone just stares like “do we correct him… or…?” Sifo-Dyas quietly soothing himself, chuckling over this small pettiness. Cracks me up.

[sassysugawara]

Hiiii i just wanted to say i read your kaebedo series on ao3 about 2 years ago and have been rereading it regularly ever since! I really loved your characterization of them and your writing is so good too!! Anyway you're probably not into genshin or fic writing anymore but i just wanted to let you know i often visit your ao3 profile just because and if you wish to come back and drop a lil one shot whether it be kaebedo or not, i will most definitely be there to read it 🩷 Hope you're doing well, have a good day! also haha i don't use tublr so sorry if i wasn't meant to post this here

Hi!!!

Wow thank you so much for taking the time to write!

I am still very much into fic writing and Genshin (though the Genshin obsession has cooled off since 2022). I’m actually working on a longer Daisuga fic right now!

Writing for Genshin is so hard because the lore updates every 6 weeks. My first Kaebedo fic is a rough read for me because that was before the 2.3 update confirmed Albedo’s lore. Tidal Locking is my baby, though, because it’s essentially my treatise on love and what it means to be human lol.

I needed this encouragement today :’) I’ll get back to my writing eventually. And a one-shot isn’t a bad way to start.

[bibbawrites]

Traditions - Charlie Gillespie & Owen Joyner x  Reader

Request: none, just my submission for @cherrymaybank​’s valentine’s day fic party :)

Word Count: 1054 words

Summary: your valentines day traditions get invaded by your two best friends but you’re not gonna complain about it

Warnings: underage drinking?

A/N: so this is my submission for the valentines day fic party, hopefully you guys like it, its just a little something i wrote last night while listening to today was a fairytale on repeat the relationship in this is technically platonic but can 100% be seen as more if you want it to be (and its implied that it is hehe ) ;) but yeah figured i’d just post this before i reread it too many times and decided i hate it  enjoy! 

Tag List: @happinessinthedarkesttimes @littlemissaddict @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic @headheartbellarke @lovesanimals @bartok-the-magnificent @juliefromaustralia @multi-universe21 @rangerelik @kaitieskidmore1

“Do you have plans tonight?” Charlie’s voice came from behind you, causing you to jump. 

You spun around to find him and Owen, staring at you expectantly. 

“No, why?” You questioned. 

“It’s Valentine’s Day.” Owen said, giving you a look like it was obvious as to why they were asking. 

“And?” You had never really been one to care for Valentine’s Day, hating the commercialism and how expensive candy got around that date. 

“And we were wondering if you had plans. You know, some handsome mystery man to take you to dinner and buy you roses and kiss you when he drops you home.” Charlie pretended to swoon and Owen smacked him. 

“Dude.” Owen groaned. You smiled slightly. 

“Yeah, no. No handsome mystery man, no roses and definitely no kisses. Just me, a bottle of red wine and the movie Valentine’s Day.” You said. As much as you hated the day, you had a tradition to uphold. 

Every year since it had been released you had watched Valentine’s Day, a tradition fueled purely by your love for Taylor Swift and your celebrity crush on Taylor Lautner. You knew the movie was cheesy but you couldn’t help but watch it every year. It was a tradition after all. 

“Want company?” Owen asked, snapping you out of your thoughts. 

“What, you two don’t have hot dates with pretty girls?” You teased. 

“That depends, are you gonna say yes to letting us join you?” Charlie flirted. You smacked his arm lightly and he grinned cheekily at you. 

“Fine. But one of you is ordering me takeout. And bring more wine, I don’t want to share mine. Be there at 7.” 

And with that you spun around and walked away, leaving the two boys to high five behind you. 

- 

Exactly 7pm on the dot there was a knock on the door of your apartment. 

You opened the door to find Owen and Charlie, flowers and wine in their hands and large grins on their faces. 

“Wow, did hell freeze over? You two are actually on time.” You teased. 

“Couldn’t keep our date waiting.” Owen grinned, handing you the bouquet of roses in his hands and you smiled softly at the sweet gesture, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. 

“Thank you.” You said. Owen blushed slightly, stepping past you so that you could greet Charlie, who was waiting, two bottles of red wine in his hands. When you looked at him he lifted the bottles. 

“I brought alcohol.” Charlie grinned. You laughed. 

“Perfect way to my heart.” You joked, placing a kiss on his cheek too. 

“Come on, let’s get settled and order some food, I’m starving.” 

You lead them into your living room, the movie already loaded up on the TV, three wine glasses waiting on the coffee table. 

“Figure out what we’re having for dinner, I’m gonna put these in a vase.” You told them, taking one of the wine bottles from Charlie to place in the fridge. They nodded, settling down on either end of your small couch. 

You left them to discuss, entering your kitchen and finding a vase, filling it with water for the roses. 

“Y/N, do you eat Chinese food?” Owen called. You nodded, before realising they couldn’t see you. 

“Yeah.” You replied. 

“Great, what do you want?” Owen’s voice came again. 

“Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Fried Rice.” You said, re-entering the room. Owen nodded, pressing a few things on his phone. 

“Okay it’s ordered. 25 minutes it says.” He informed you. 

“Awesome, should we start the movie?” You suggested. The boys nodded. You sat down between them, on the edge of the couch to pour the three glasses of wine, offering one to each of them. 

Once you all had a glass of wine you pressed play on the movie, before settling back into the couch, smiling to yourself when both boys leaned into you. You loved how affectionate the boys were, and you just knew this was going to be a great night. 

- 

Twenty five minutes later there was a knock at your door. You paused the movie, Charlie going to pay for and collect the food while you grabbed some paper plates from the kitchen to save washing up later on. 

“Fancy.” Owen laughed when you brought the plates back into the room. You grinned. 

“Only the best for our fancy date.” You teased. Charlie re-entered the room, your food in hand, and in no time at all you were all tucking into the food, the movie continuing to play as you ate. 

- 

“We should probably go, we have to be on set early tomorrow.” Owen said as the credits played, Today Was A Fairytale filling the room. You nodded, understanding. 

The three of you stood up and you walked them to the door, waiting as they pulled their shoes back on. 

“Thank you for this.” You spoke. “This was way better than watching it alone.” 

“And way less pathetic.” Charlie joked. 

“True.” You agreed. Charlie leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to your cheek before pulling away. 

“Um, pretty sure that wasn’t in your plan.” You said. Charlie frowned. 

“Remember earlier? A handsome mystery man taking me to dinner and buying me roses and kissing me when he drops me home?” You reminded him. “Owen brought me flowers, and you brought me dinner, so where’s my kiss?” 

Both boys hesitated, not quite knowing what you expected from them. You rolled your eyes playfully. 

“I’ll do it myself then.” You said, stepping towards Charlie and placing a quick kiss on his lips, before repeating your actions with Owen, blaming the wine in your system for your boldness. 

“Doesn’t count, the handsome mystery man was supposed to kiss you.” Charlie spoke up after a moment, clearly regaining his confidence. Owen was still staring at you, wide eyed. Charlie took a step closer, leaning in to kiss you again but you pushed him away with a laugh. 

“Nice try Gillespie.” You said and he grinned. 

“Was worth a shot. Come on Owen.” He grabbed onto the blond boy’s shoulder, Owen startling slightly at the contact. You giggled slightly, watching as Charlie dragged Owen down the hallway. 

And as they rounded the corner you shut the door with a grin. 

Maybe Valentine’s Day wasn’t so bad after all. 

[lilyisfrozen]

My Writing Process - A Post Nobody Asked For

This post is purely an insight into how I approach my writing. Its not quite a guide, as I am an amateur, but there may be some things anyone can learn from.

SO. I have two main ways I approach writing and it all depends on the length of the work. For example, we have lengths such as Sweet Dreams and Haunted versus Dream Come True and Hotspot. You may have noticed these are chaptered fics versus one shots. I approach the two very differently.

Let’s begin with one shots.

For one shots, first I need a concept, or a prompt. Let’s take Hotspot for example. One night, my thoughts drifted to love hotels, then to Rengoku, and my mind went, “Aha! I can make something from this!” Next, characters. Which characters do I want to include? What is their PURPOSE? This sounds terrible, but characters are tools at the writer’s disposal, much like NPCs in D&D. Each has their own motivation and goal and how those intersect creates the plot.

Plot for plot’s sake is nice, but when it feels character driven, that this is all because of decisions and consequences this character realistically made, the reader’s experience becomes more organic.

I personally like organic, as I’m sure many others do. Anyways, characters are the next important thing because they are also what the plot revolves around. They’re all connected by a thread, and how its woven can make a big impact on the reader.

THIRD. We have prompt, characters, but now we’re onto the roadmap. We have Character A who likes Character B. Okay, so I want A to confess to B by the end of the one shot. Great, but how do I get there?

Personally, I’m the type of writer who greatly benefits from having an outline, relying on my own creativity to fill in holes and bridge gaps once I’m typing. But that’s because I’m confident in my ability to write and my own creative processes. I’m sure others don’t have the same experience. So how do I generate the road map?

Something fun I love to do when I’m stuck, which happens often in the middle of writing, I lay back, close my eyes, and put myself in a character’s shoes. I then act out dialogues, or little interactions, pick up where I left off and roleplay with myself (wow, sounds a little lonely LMAO), and eventually I find something I can work with.

Let’s say you know your roadmap. You want reader to meet up with Kyojuro, then to get into the hotel, kill a demon, then the sexy times. Great. Now…how do I get THERE?

Oh, great, more workshopping. Yay!

This is when you ask yourself, “Okay, does the reader know Kyojuro? Have they met? Is there an established relationship? Oh! He saved her!” That line of thinking, maybe even writing these questions down on a notepad as you go, can steadily fill in the gaps and create the details. All that’s left to do is write!

For those not quite like me and need every moment plotted out before writing, I highly encourage finding a friend to help you, or roleplaying every moment out if you’re that kind of knitty gritty writer. To which I applaud you! I’m too impatient! If you have other questions regarding anything above, please feel free to ask, as I’m sure I’ll reread this later and think, “Doh! Why didn’t I include that?!” So don’t be surprised if at some point I expand on any of this. And if anyone wants an expansion, I’d be willing to write!

Now maybe my approach to chaptered fics are what you’re here for. Alright, let’s get to it then! How do I approach writing something long?

Setups, payoffs, and character motivations.

I create a plot using the motivations of my characters. Or, if I already have plot, I insert characters where they’re best suited. Warning, there are spoilers for Haunted ahead, so please be mindful!

Haunted originally started as a one shot and then took on a life of its own, and instead of writing chapter 30, here I am pretending I’ve made enough progress on it to warrant this. After that, I just kept writing, because I wanted it to be smutty drabbles, but it quickly changed. Plot became important.

So what is the plot? Adopted brother and sister struggle with keeping their taboo relationship hidden and deal with the consequences of their actions.

Okay, I have plot. At some point, I needed to list all the characters and their motivations, then when certain problems came up, I could browse and select a character that would contribute most.

Setups are very important. I plan out an arc, such as the Mika/Sky arc. This is where it gets spoilery. In Chapter 9, Prom, I hinted at the existence of Kyojuro’s ex girlfriend. It was a setup I couldn’t ignore, so started plotting out the payoffs. It took a lot of think tanking, but was in the end successful. I needed to draw on the NATURAL issues between our main characters, MC and Kyo, and allow that to create tension that felt like it belonged there. I started this around Chapter 11, Moving In, when Kyo started to question if he’s taken MC’s innocence.

I continued these setups, sprinkling something here, another there, slowly building up. In Chapter 14, Beach Episode, we have the falling out with her best friend, leaving MC completely emotionally exposed all while Kyojuro is dealing with internal conflict. This is when I knew my secret weapon, Mika/Sky could come into play, introducing her and her nefarious intentions in Chapter 15, Collared Shirt (which was a payoff to a setup in a previous chapter of MC thirsting over the idea of Kyo in a collared shirt).

I let Chapter 16, Mistake, do its snowballing thing, feeding off the character’s motivations, letting their thoughts and feelings become the driving force barreling to the drama, all while Mika/Sky sat back and watched it happen, like a true villain would. Then all the payoff for the setups in those chapters feels like it didn’t come out of nowhere. In Chapter 13, Birthday Surprises, I setup MC’s thunder-induced panic attacks, using them Chapters 16-19. I setup getting a dog in Chapter 2, Victory Dinner, and FINALLY paid it off in Chapter 13.

Honestly, arc 2 of Haunted is some of my best planned material, and if you dissect it this way, you’ll find so much foreshadowing and setups, all this work I’ve put into making it the best fic it could be.

During this whole plotting process, I’d have a character, ask what they can best contribute to the character driven plot, and incorporate them as needed. What tools do the characters have? Favors such as Akaza? Money such as Tengen? Character depth such as Tanjiro and Senjuro’s relationship? OH. How do the RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS affect the plot? Its all a full circle, and knowing and seeing that full circle, and recognizing the tools at your disposal, is incredibly powerful.

“So, Lily, I’m new to writing fanfiction and want to get started, but I’m not sure how any of this works. I want to write a chaptered fic.”

Ah, well, in my experience, choosing a chapter fic as the first to write can become stressful VERY quickly. I would say practice with one shots. They don’t need to be long, they can be however long you want. With as much build up as you want, just to get you learning the way you write and gathering experience.

Let’s talk about another useful little thing that applies to both chapter and one shot fanfics: build up. Character relationships don’t just pop up out of the blue. Plot doesn’t just happen. Setups work well for that. For example, in Music to My Ears, I mentioned the cathedral mode sound proof practice rooms almost right away, hinting that this may be useful later.

Think of it this way: sometimes in movies, the camera pans in on an object, a character, etc. Its a visual clue that this whatever is going to be important later. I prefer to do the same thing in my works so when something is used or becomes important, it doesn’t jar the readers into thinking, “Where did that shovel come from? Did they have it the whole time?” I want to steer clear of my audience thinking that and focus their attention on what is plot relevant. For example, bringing attention to a character’s ring, only to use it later for something plot crucial.

Build up isn’t just that, either. Character INTERACTION is, for me, the greatest contributor. If you’re trying to write a romance, how can you convince the audience they know each other at all, or if they even have decent chemistry, if they don’t interact? This could be anything, from cooking dinner, talking about homework, going on a date, anything anyone can do. For example, how could I sell that MC and Kyojuro’s relationship in Haunted isn’t toxic unless they’re interacting in a non-toxic manor? If two characters are enemies but I want them lovers, I’m going to write as part of the build up many interactions that lead the characters to believing the other isn’t so bad. It can’t just be instant. At least, not for me.

Any other questions on build up, feel free to ask!

Another yikes topic could be world building. This is an infinitely broad topic and can range to creating a whole continent to shaping only the apartment’s four walls. Personally, I prefer to do most of my world building through dialogue because I think if the characters are making direct references to, let’s say the mall, then it shows they interact with the world around them and is therefore more organic. It also creates a great setup for the characters to maybe go to the mall at some point?

However, world building through dialogue can get messy very fast if not used properly. I don’t want to name drop locations and expect my readers to just know this is a bakery and that is a movie theater. I’d approach it as:

Character A: Hey, have you been to this bakery before?

Character B: Yeah, and I love the movie theater near by. What’s it called again?

Character A: Oh! Cina-Picture! The bakery there has the best danishes, you need to try it!

Etc, etc.

That’s how I would approach world building through dialogue. Context needs to be given or we have awkward name drops that mean nothing to an audience that doesn’t have it. An excellent example is Netflix’s The Witcher. I LOVE the show, but I’ve never played the games or read the book, so when they started name dropping locations and magical-skedoodles, I was utterly confused. I didn’t know what this place and that place was, and have no idea how they’re important to the characters!

But I digress. How else could world building be done? A quick, simple paragraph. I would avoid info-dumping readers with paragraphs upon paragraphs on the movie theater and bakery. The readers don’t need all the details, and if you’re a writer like me, can’t spare the time to plot them out anyways. So, Characters A and B are going into the bakery. All they need is a basic description, leaving some of the work to readers’ imaginations, maybe some of the treats on display, and the vendor behind the counter. That’s all the information the characters have access to and that’s all the readers need to know. Unless its LOTR or GOT, the audience won’t be that into the world building of that specific bakery and are more interested in what the purpose of being there is.

Which could be supplemented by character motivation. Character A was hungry and B knew the perfect place to stop, maybe even convince them to see a movie, buy popcorn, then confess their love during or after the movie. Character motivation alone can spur an entire plot. It is your most important tool.

Anymore questions on world building I’d be happy to answer. I did create a whole world for a home brew campaign so I might know a little something about it.

Finally, have fun with it. Seriously, that’s why we’re doing it, right? To escape the real world and take a few relaxing hours to craft a tale to either share with the world or keep to ourselves. I may make an entirely different post on starting out writing, as this has gotten plenty long already (not sorry).

I hope someone out there found this helpful, and if any clarification is necessary, y’all want to say hi, or you have other questions, please ask, I’m more than happy to answer.

Happy writing!

Enjoy~!

[mediocre-writerr]

day 1 [leah rilke]

bring us through: leah rilke book

chapter 3: day 1

hey guys! i posted this on my wattpad (username:THEmediocrewriter11) a while back along with another chapter that’s after this one. if you guys follow it then you’ll get early access to chapters right when they come out! but i hope you enjoy chapter 3!

*not my gif*

My first thought this entire time: why would he do this? If God was real like everyone I’ve known said he is, then why is this happening? Causing me to feel this way, losing two important people in my life in the span of three months, and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse it does.

The plane goes down. There’s a 1 in 11 million chance that the airplane will just drop right from the sky and crash. And luckily, for me, like I haven’t had a bad enough year, I am that 1 in 11 million. I’d rather be the 1 in 14 million to win the lottery, but I guess life just doesn’t work like that. Now does it?

I gasped for breath, the taste of unbearable amounts of salt overwhelming my tastebuds. My once dry clothes are now damp and soggy. I put my head on a swivel searching for anyone, but all I could see was the ocean.

“Shelby!!” I yelled, desperate to find my best friend. I squinted far enough to see someone lying on another piece of wreckage from this horrid plane crash. Everything seemed a bit fuzzy. Everything started to fade away from view as my vision started to become more and more fuzzy.

“Shelby…” I mumbled.

My dad threw my journal right at me. It landed on me with an unsatisfying thump, “What the hell is this?!”

“What’s what?” I asked, acting confused, but I knew what he saw. I know what he read. I guess a part of me just wanted to hope that he didn’t and he was angry that I accidentally cussed in one of my entries, but I know what’s in there.

“Don’t lie to me, Ray!” he shouted, picking up my journal and flipping it open to one of the entries, “Then she walked by my locker, my heart gives a flutter, but I didn’t dare utter a word. Because that would be absurd behavior for a little miss perfect.”

Journal Entry: January 7, 2019. How could I forget? How could I forget meeting her? The one girl who changed my life and ruined it all at once. Well I wouldn’t say she ruined it, but things got more complicated when she came in it.

I don’t regret any of it though. I could never regret her. He flipped through the pages again rereading yet another entry, “She stayed over one night. We laughed and shared enticing smirks. She takes a sip of her soda, her eyes never leaving mine. Next thing I know, I lose control. I finally kissed her.”

Journal Entry: March 3, 2019. Again how could I forget my first kiss with someone I actually cared about? I looked at him with tears in my eyes. And all he did was just throw the journal back at me.

“What is all the racket?” my mom came in, drying her hands off with a towel, leaning against the doorframe. She looks between me and my dad. The tears that stained my cheek and the death glare that my father was sending through my spine, “Honey, what’s going on?”

“Your daughter here is committing a sin that is unforgivable.” he spat, emphasizing the daughter part. He wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I wasn’t his daughter in his eyes.

“Wait, what?” she said, shaking her head.

“Rayleigh is gay.”

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?” I awoke to the bright-blue eyed girl staring at me, shaking me lightly. The cool ocean water is still lapping over me, soaking my clothes.

I lifted my head up abruptly, “Where’s-where’s Shelby??” I yelled.

“I don’t know, but we need to get to shore c’mon!” she exclaimed. I examined the terrain to see plane debris everywhere. Wow so this really happened.

“Wait look over there!” I yelled, pointing at another unconscious body. She looked familiar and as I swam closer it was the girl who suggested ‘Never Have I Ever’, “Can you swim?” I asked the blue-eyed girl and she just nodded.

The two of us pushed the girl’ unconscious body to the shore. All three of us laid on the floor completely worn out from fighting the tides.

“Rayleigh is that you??” Dot asked, and she came into view and I just nodded, continuing to cough up the disgusting salt water I accidentally had.

I pointed to the unconscious girl on the floor, “Help,” I began to say, before a fit of coughs hit me like a wave, “Help her.” I finally managed to say. Dot nodded, making her way to the unconscious girl we just saved. And from the corner of my eye I could see her begin CPR.

And then there was Shelby who was helping another limping girl. I let out a breath of relief that I didn’t even know I was holding. She was okay, good, good. She gently placed the girl down on the sand next to Dot before rushing over to me.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked, frantically. Scanning her eyes over every inch of my body, looking for any injury.

“No I’m okay. Are you?” I asked and she just nodded. I looked over at Dot continuing to do CPR, a small crowd forming around her. The girls started bickering about how fast she was going when they didn’t even notice the bookworm girl who was passed on not too far away, “But I don’t think she is.”

I immediately got up from where I was lying down and as fast as the lightning flashed I was right by her side. I pressed my ear against her chest, trying to find a heartbeat despite all of the arguing. There was nothing there, so I put two fingers to her pulse, waiting slowly and patiently.

“I gotta do CPR.” I told Shelby and she just looked at me in shock.

“You were stranded in the middle of the ocean with them. How do you know that you’re not gonna drop dead while doing it too?” she asked, worried about my health and safety.

“I won’t, okay? I’m fine.” I promised my best friend in hopes that she will believe just a little ounce of it.

I didn’t wait for her answer though. I just started doing the CPR on the girl I was so infuriatingly rude to about reading a book. I guess it just reminded me of another time or well, another person.

“No she’s not Rhett. There’s no way.” my mom said, shaking her head. Trying not to believe the harsh reality that was already unfolding in front of her. But the thing is she knew. She always knew and I knew she knew. She just didn’t want to admit or say anything because she knew what my father would do.

“Oh yes she is. Many, many, disrespectful journal entries about something that is not natural!” he yelled. I looked at my mom and gave her a look, she was trying to hide the fact that she already knew, but she was a terrible liar. Luckily for her, my dad was so angry at me that all he could see was red.

“I can’t help the way I feel Dad! I love her!” I tried to plead with him, bargain, or do something. But it was no use, I don’t even know why I bothered trying.

He shook his head, folding his arms across his chest, “This is because you’re hanging out with Shelby all the damn time. I bet you were in on it with her and Becca Gilroy right?”

“This has nothing to do with Shelby!” I yelled back, “I have felt this way for as long as I could remember Dad! I can’t control it.”

“I don’t have an ounce of hate in my body.” he said, his voice getting softer. That was BS though. He has always had hate in his heart for anyone who tried to go against what he wanted, “But this is not what I want for you, honey.”

And with one last look he storms out of the room. I looked at my mom and shook my head at her in disapproval.

“You knew all along.” I whispered to her, just in case my father was anywhere near, “I needed you Mom. And you weren’t there. So thanks for being mother of the year.” I pushed past her and got into my car despite my father’s yelling and I drove to the one person I needed most.

The whole world started to grow fuzzy as I continued doing CPR. All of the exhaustion I was putting into keeping this girl alive was slowly diminishing my life. But out of the corner of my eye I could see the other girl Dot was helping, slowly waking up.

And with one last push of compressions, the blue-eyed girl shot up. But then I was on the floor as everything went black.

[suckishima]

what are the top 3 chapters!!

alakjdajd tbh they fluctuate bc i’m REALLY bad at picking favorites, but the ones that come to mind and that I actually like Know the chapter numbers and what happens in each etc, are 298 (guide), 364 (if i wasn’t alone...), 365 (endings and beginnings part 2), 369 (food becomes muscle), 371 (on the other side of the world), and 387 (the greatest opponent)

I know that’s a lot more than three lmao. 298 and 369 are probably actually my top two, but it’s hard to choose lol.

(i started writing WHY i like each one and it got super long lmao, so if you wanna know my general thoughts on each of these it’s under the cut)

298 i love bc the character development is seemingly so simple but it makes me CRAZY. Tsukki is a character I relate to a ton and reading this one for the first time was really cathartic for me. The way there’s only a few lines of dialogue to help emphasize the impact of the flashback panels from Tsukki’s perspective and to actually get to see the respect he has for Yamaguchi, but also how he’s learned from him in how to go for the things he wants. Like, we’ve spent the WHOLE series knowing for a fact that Yamaguchi looks up to and admires Tsukki, but haven’t seen much about how Tsukki sees Yamaguchi other than the confrontation at the Tokyo Training camp, and it’s so rare to see Tsukki feel like he can open up - even to us as the audience we rarely see it. So to see him say “he’s always been one step ahead of me” and then the panels that actually SHOW Yamaguchi taking those steps past him??? fuck, like that’s just such good storytelling. We get to see Yamaguchi’s journey through Tsukki’s eyes and feel the respect there that previously we had only assumed probably existed, and then it doubles to let us see how Yamaguchi’s journey impacted Tsukki too. It’s about how they’ve grown separately and together and then the final “sometimes it’s actually kind of fun” like, aaah!!!

364, oooo tbh this MIGHT be the best written chapter in the series imo. structurally, it’s SO good - i made a post about it when i reread it a few months ago too, so I won’t ramble forever here. but as a standalone single narrative of just this chapter, it’s stunningly done. heartbreaking of course, but the writing tbh is practically awe inspiring. it takes hinata’s original, ultimate goal of just staying on the court, builds it up to it’s highest point, and then it punches us in the gut with it. absolutely fantastic stuff. and i will NEVER get over the little tagline at the end of the chapter that says “the sun rises and - “ while hinata (our sun) is hunched over on the floor. like DAMN. i know this is one of the few things furudate said they had planned from basically the beginning and ugh wow did they deliver.

and then 365 is of course, the fall out. these two go hand in hand and work off each other beautifully. we see all the evidence that had been in our face before, silly fun hinata things right? NOPE turns out it’s a major, life changing lesson!! and god takeda’s entire speech is SO good. i’ve talked about this one a lot bc his “this is still volleyball” speech is basically every single one of my favorite hq!! themes wrapped up into one. how hinata’s hunger is what caused him to fall bc he was too hungry and did’t stop to take care of himself along the way, and that every moment is connected and is all still volleyball,,, yeah. and then just ooof the very last page where there’s all this noise from the court and hinata looks at the doors as the close and then it’s this silent shot of them being closed. the IMPACT of that is so goooooood. catch me crying when this gets animated and i can actually hear those sounds out loud and instead of in my head loll

369 is kind of another sister chapter to those last two, it’s the final high school chapter where we finally get some of the last bits of character development for some of them. the third years bow and say goodbye, NO one on the team apologies for doing something wrong, tsukki wants to watch kamomedai’s blocking (!!) and kageyama wanted to take this team further (!!!), daichi thanks takeda. takeda says “nothing is over! nothing! not one thing for any of you has ended today!” and the ukai says “let’s go eat” !!! and then theres the shot of them all eating, ukai bring hinata his food while he cries into his bowl and ukai’s “food becomes muscle” lines aaah, so good. so so good, and a GREAT continuation of takeda’s speech from 365. they’ve all come so far and learned so much, but there’s still more food to eat, more experiences to share and more ways to grow stronger

371 mostly, i just love the brazil arc and there’s just this feeling of sadness and loneliness that carries throughout the chapter that’s almost kind of haunting, but it also has this feeling of purpose too. this one is harder for me to explain lol, but it’s like a test for hinata to see if he can learn to be okay, to prove to himself that he has what it takes to make the right choices to make sure he’s okay as much as possible. it’s something i really relate to on a personal level - “being okay” in a lot of ways is a choice, and i love how this chapter is the beginnings of us seeing that for him. and then!! oikawa showing up at the end as like hinata’s reminder of home is just so good lol. things are weird and different and he’s in a different country, but volleyball is still fun - and hinata isn’t alone, he isn’t the only guy who traveled the world for his dream

and then 387, ah what can i say about chapter 387 that hasn’t been said before lmao. i love how it both recontexutalizes AND emphasized every single kageyama moment from the entire series. it’s such a great use of flashbacks, it doesn’t give kageyama more depth, it shows how that depth has been there the entire time. and it just really solidifies the importance of his relationship with hinata and how integral their bond was for BOTH of them to get better. the second to last page where it’s showing kageyama’s middle school years and we’ve just read the “somebody even better will come” dialogue a few pages back, and then we see kageyama alone, and alone again, and alone to become the great king, and rejected from shiratorizawa, and then the bottom left cell is just the karasuno gym, a volleyball in the air and a big “I’M HERE” that we know from context is hinata, and he’s unknowingly fulfilling kageyama’s grandpa’s words. like aaaa!! THE PANELLING, THE WRITING, THE IMPACT!! i’ll be saying this until i die lmao, but haikyuu is a masterpiece and furudate is a genius at panelling.

[my-major-is-k-howard]

Just Say Yes

Inspired by this post by @politics-notmything. Wow. I did not mean to disappear for so long. I recently started university and have not had a chance to post in a while. However! I do have a few one shots ready to go that I’ll be posting in the coming weeks. And all of them are Soulmate AUs (because I’m a sucker for them)! Thank you for sticking around and I hope you enjoy the first part of this one shot. 💙💚

Word Count: 2314

———————————————————————

Cathy awoke to the sound of her alarm blaring from her nightstand and groaned. It seemed like she had only been asleep for a few minutes and the aching tiredness in her bones made that seem even more plausible. Reluctantly, Cathy rolled over in her bed and reached out a hand to turn off her alarm.

The night before, Cathy had stayed up later than usual so that she could finish one of the dreaded papers for her literature class that was due that day. She had barely completed the essay but felt confident enough that she wouldn’t fail when she had decided to go to bed. After around four hours of sleep, Cathy was hoping that her three cups of coffee she drank last night had actually been put to good use. 

Cathy heaved a sigh as she slid out of bed, immediately missing the warmth while she searched for clothes to wear for her early morning class. After throwing on some jeans and t-shirt, Cathy began looking for her favorite hoodie. She found it near the foot of her bed and quickly put it on. 

 Cathy could always be found wearing her classic navy blue hoodie around her college campus, or any long-sleeve article of clothing for that matter. Most people assumed she was just always cold but the reality was Cathy was trying to cover up her soulmate mark from prying eyes. The length always attracted unwanted attention which more often than not made Cathy extremely uncomfortable.

Though, Cathy wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of her soulmate phrase. On the contrary, she found the ramblings quite endearing and couldn’t wait to hear her soulmate let the jumble of words spill out of their mouth. Cathy momentarily rolled up the right sleeve of her hoodie to reveal the words that trailed down her arm, rereading the little monologue with a soft smile on her face.

It briefly mentioned her literature class which also happened to be the class she was about to walk to. Every time Cathy thought about snoozing her alarm and sleeping through the day’s lecture, she would remind herself that her soulmate could be waiting for her, finally ready to build up the courage to talk to her.

With that thought in mind, Cathy grabbed her backpack from beside her desk and slung it over her shoulders. She then slipped her phone and keys into her pocket and left her dorm room. On the way to her class, Cathy picked up a coffee from the campus cafe for a much-needed caffeine boost as she was still running on only a few hours of sleep.

When she made it to the lecture hall, Cathy quickly took a seat in one of the first few rows and chugged the rest of her coffee before the start of class. She pulled out her laptop just as the professor stood up in preparation to begin her lecture about the impact of the Civil War on American literature.

Just as the professor was about to address the class and begin her lecture, the sound of someone bursting through the doors echoed throughout the auditorium. Along with some other students, Cathy turned around to see Anne Boleyn standing in the entrance of the room, looking absolutely stunning despite appearing as though she had just jogged halfway across their campus.

From her seat, Cathy could see Anne’s flushed cheeks and chest heaving for air as she looked around the auditorium for a place to sit. Cathy felt her heartbeat quicken as she appraised the girl standing by the doorway, taking in how perfectly sculpted her features were from eyebrows to her jawline to her hips. Cathy gawked at Anne for a few moments before quickly composing herself again.

Right before Cathy was about to turn back around in her seat, she swore she saw Anne’s gaze land on her and linger for a couple beats with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. But before Cathy could even return her smile, their professor spoke up and addressed Anne from the front of the lecture hall.

“Anne Boleyn! Please take a seat,” the professor called out loud enough for the girl to hear. Anne ducked her head apologetically and scurried to one of the free seats a few rows behind Cathy, much to the latter girl’s disappointment.

It was no secret that Anne Boleyn was attractive. Everybody on campus admired her when she walked by, or at least knew of her infamous beauty. It seemed as if everyone was vying to be her soulmate and have her sole affection. And, as much as she tried to deny it, Cathy couldn’t help but dream of what it would be like to hear her own soulmate phrase flow from those red-painted lips. 

Cathy quickly shook her head at the absurdity of that thought. There was no way Anne could be her soulmate. Anne was always centerstage in the spotlight while Cathy clung to the sidelines. Anne was well-liked and popular while Cathy mostly kept to herself and her few friends. Anne was funny and outgoing with everyone around campus while Cathy buried herself with books in the privacy of her dorm. Anne was perfect in every way, and Cathy would be lucky if a girl like Anne even noticed her at all.

Cathy sighed softly to herself. She could never keep Anne out of her thoughts for long. Though they had never formally spoken, Cathy had grown quite fond of the Boleyn girl, admiring her wit and intelligence every time she spoke up about the topics being discussed in their shared literature class. While most people thought Anne’s looks were the most beautiful part about her, Cathy couldn’t help but think her mind, with all of its humorous quips and insightful analyses, was truly the most attractive part of Anne.   

Cathy was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by her professor moving onto a new topic. In a panic, Cathy looked up to the presentation and calmed down when she realized that she hadn’t missed much of the lecture. From that point on until the end of class, Cathy stayed focused on her professor’s words and took notes diligently, pushing her thoughts of Anne aside until later. 

After class was dismissed, Cathy packed up her things and exited the auditorium, throwing away her empty coffee cup on the way out. A few paces down the hall, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, checking to see if she had any unread messages from her friends. Much to her relief, there were none. That meant Cathy had a few hours to herself until her next class, hours that would more likely than not be spent napping.

Cathy slid her phone back into her pocket and felt around for her keys. Much to her dismay, she didn’t find them. Cathy felt around her other pockets, only growing more anxious when she turned up empty-handed. Cathy turned around with the intent of going back into the lecture hall to see if she had dropped her keys in there, only to stop dead in her tracks when she came face-to-face with Anne Boleyn.

There was a moment of silence that passed between them as they stared at each other, both too nervous to say anything. After Cathy’s initial shock wore off, she looked down at her feet shyly and bit her lip in a vain attempt to stop herself from smiling. Anne Boleyn was really standing in front of her. Anne Boleyn actually wanted to talk to her.

 Cathy felt her heartbeat pulse rapidly in her chest as she nervously twirled one of her curls around her finger. “Hi, Anne,” Cathy finally said to break the silence, looking back up to meet Anne’s shining green eyes.

Anne visibly lit up at the small greeting before shuffling in place nervously as she addressed Cathy. “Hey! Catherine! I- um- you dropped these.” Anne handed Cathy her lost keys before continuing her rambled speech. 

“I’ve seen you around campus a lot with your friends and you always look super pretty and everything. Um- and the things you say in literature class are so smart. Like all of your comments about the authors’ biographies and how they play into their writing make me question everything I was reading. And, I’ve never had the chance to say anything until now but I think you’re amazing!”

Anne’s gaze suddenly dropped to the floor and rubbed her neck to hide her embarrassment. She took a quick breath before she continued speaking. “I’m rambling. Sorry! What I want to say is I really like you and I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me sometime.” Anne looked up with hopeful eyes as she waited for Cathy’s answer.

Anne’s words swirled in Cathy’s mind, leaving her in utter shock and unable to respond. Her eyes immediately darted to her right arm as she rolled down her sleeve to reveal a perfect transcript of what Anne had just said. Cathy didn’t know how to respond, her mouth left slightly ajar as she tried to process that Anne was her soulmate. Anne freaking Boleyn was her soulmate! 

Noticing that the girl in front of her was not responding, Anne fidgeted even more in her place. She noticed that Cathy was staring at her soulmate mark and had a sudden realization. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you had already found your soulmate. I’ll go.”

Anne quickly turned on her heel and prepared to flee the awkward situation she had just made. In that moment, Cathy finally came to her senses and grabbed Anne’s arm before she could leave. Anne turned back to her with a confused expression before Cathy spoke up shyly. 

“I actually just met my soulmate,” Cathy said quietly, hoping Anne would catch on that they were soulmates. Instead, Cathy watched as Anne forced a smile at her response.

“That’s great, Catherine! I hope you two are happy together,” Anne all but whispered, trying but failing to keep the pain out of her voice.

Cathy tried a different approach. “Anne, what does your soulmate mark say?”

A small smile painted itself across Anne’s lips as she looked down to her right arm. “Mine says ‘Hi, Anne.’ Pretty vague, huh? I hear it a lot so I never actually know who my soulmate is.”

“Well, now you do,” Cathy whispered as she showed Anne her own arm, for once excited to see someone’s reaction to her mark.   

A look of realization dawned on Anne’s face as she read the words of Cathy’s soulmate mark, the same words that had been spilling out of her mouth just moments before. Her realization quickly melted away into a soft smile as she shifted her gaze to look back at Cathy.

“I really should have scripted that. I’m sorry you have my stupid rambling permanently on your skin,” Anne said bashfully.

“No, it’s okay!” Cathy responded quickly before giving Anne a little smile. “It’s actually really cute.” Cathy watched as Anne’s cheeks turned bright red and had to stifle a giggle at the sight. 

“So, about that date,” Cathy continued after a brief pause. “I would really like to get to know my soulmate sometime.” Cathy smiled shyly as she waited for Anne’s response.

Anne lit up at Cathy’s mention of a date. “Let’s go right now! Are you busy?” Anne’s hopeful eyes stared back at Cathy, making her heart flutter at the sight. Cathy’s nap could wait.

“No, I’m free until noon,” Cathy responded with a bright smile. Anne returned Cathy’s smile before grabbing her hand and leading her away.

“Where are we going, Anne?” Cathy giggled as she followed Anne toward the parking lot.

“It’s a surprise, love,” Anne answered and squeezed Cathy’s hand lightly. Cathy blushed at Anne’s nickname which Anne noticed with a smirk.

“You like coffee. Right, love?” Anne asked, smirking wider as Cathy’s blush turned a deeper shade of red.

“Yes, Annie. I’m practically addicted to it,” Cathy replied, turning to see Anne’s cheeks flush at her own nickname for her. “How else would I have been able to write that insanely long essay about the use of metaphor in Uncle Tom’s Cabin?”  

“Fair point,” Anne replied with a laugh before she stopped and turned to face Cathy. “Well, this is my car. Her name is Sally.” She gestured to the green sports car parked in front of them with a nod.

Cathy gawked at the seemingly expensive vehicle in front of them before processing what Anne had just said. “Wait, you named your car?”

“Yeah,” Anne stated as if it was obvious. “Doesn’t everybody name their car?”

“You’re the first person I know who’s named their car, Annie,” Cathy said with a smile as she gently bumped her shoulder against Anne’s. 

“It might just be my family then,” Anne said with a laugh as she unlocked the doors and opened the passenger side for Cathy to get in. Cathy smiled gratefully at Anne as she slid into the leather seat. 

“Wow,” Cathy breathed out as she admired the interior of the sports car. She had to admit that Anne’s car was pretty impressive all around. It suited her perfectly.

“If you think this is cool, you should see the ones my dad has,” Anne commented as she closed her car door. “He co-owns this car brand so he gets a lot of really awesome sports cars custom-made. He gave this one to me when I went off to college.” Anne smiled fondly at the memory. 

“I never knew that,” Cathy replied, smiling warmly at Anne as the engine roared to life.

“Yeah, my dad was really busy with work most of the time but he always put family first,” Anne said before looking over to Cathy. “You ready, Cathy?”

“Yes.”

[ashilrak]

Tips for Commenting on Fics

Hello! Have you ever read a fic and really wanted to leave a comment but had no idea what to say? Maybe you’re anxious about what the writer is going to think, maybe you’re trying to comment on more of the fics you’re reading and have no idea where to start. Well, it is I, your friendly neighborhood fic writer here to help!

Disclaimer: This is entirely based on my own experiences and opinions and I speak only for myself.

Brief Introduction: I’ve been kicking it in the fanfic community for over ten years now, starting back in the days of ff.net. For most of the time I’ve been a lurker, maybe posting a few one-shots here or there. For some of the time, I was incredibly involved in fandom, posting regularly and hosting fic exchanges and the like. I’ve been in many and have written everything from explicit one-shots to full-length aus to chat-fics. 

If you take anything away from this, I want you to know that comments are the most meaningful form of feedback on a fic. Writers have lives outside of fanfic and write fanfic for free. They’re doing it in their free time and put a lot of time and effort into their work, and who doesn’t want to see their work appreciated? Anything you have to say will be appreciated. So, let’s get started.

Ashilrak’s Tips for Commenting on Fanfiction

Commenting 101: Introduction to Commenting

Maybe you’re new to the whole commenting thing, maybe you just know you really liked a fic but don’t really have anything specific coming to mind and it feels like a kudos just isn’t cutting it. A comment doesn’t need to be a novel! 

Maybe start with something like:

I really loved this!

This was great, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

In general, I would recommend avoiding leaving comments such as:

Please update soon!!

When are you going to update?

I really wish you’d update more often.

You’re a terrible writer.

These characters are really ooc.

Is that it?

That doesn’t make any sense.

Writers put a lot of time and effort into their fics. Sometimes, for me personally, there’s nothing more disheartening than posting a chapter and immediately getting asked about updates. I personally recommend a “I can’t wait to see what happens next” to a “please update soon” as it gets a similar message across. 

And obviously, no one wants to be insulted. Some authors do ask for criticism! And that’s okay! But if they’re not asking for it, I wouldn’t go out of your way to insult the work. 

Commenting 201: Reacting to the Fic

You just read a fic, you’ve left your kudos and you’re ready to comment. But this time, this fic made you feel a certain type of way. Maybe you have questions, maybe a specific scene stuck out to you! 

Comment examples:

Oh my god, I loved that. I can’t imagine that A is going to let B get away with that so easily. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Oh wow this was amazing. I hadn’t realized it was something I needed, but wow did you do a great job handling that scene. You really captured the thought process I imagine A was going through and it was handled really well.

Your characterization is perfect, I can literally hear the character’s voices  in my head while reading their lines. And the conversation really highlighted the differences between them.

“What did that Master bit mean? Otherwise this was an interesting and entertaining fic. I had wondered how B was going to show up and it was neat to see how he did. I am a bit surprised A forgot about C knowing B. I wondered how she explained herself out of that mess. Also, I can't believe how quick they were to murder him. Good ending. Thank you for the story.”

“Woooooow. This story is amazing! I loved seeing the original  characters, but I also enjoyed seeing others, especially A. His personality traits and actions kept me laughing as I was reading. While I was a little sad to see how B and C's relationship turned out, I am really happy with and adore how the story ended. It doesn't get any cuter than this. I'll be reading the sequel for sure!!“

“I think your A is very in character! Even if you don't feel like you're good at writing him or it doesn't feel as natural, you're doing a great job off making him work. There's a lot of work for this ship that involves them getting together, but not a lot that follows the past that too deal with the day to day off being a famous couple, and I really like your take on that. I'm looking forward to reading more from you!“

As you can see, these comments are a bit more personalized to the fic you’re reading. An “I loved this!” let’s the author know you liked the fic, but an “I loved this because you really captured the tension in a way that didn’t feel fake” lets them know why you loved the fic. 

These comments don’t have to be more than  a sentence, but they’re super fun to write and a lot of authors will respond to questions and it’s a fun way to engage and potentially even influence the direction of the fic or spawn a one-shot.

Examples of things you might want to point out while reading:

A particular line that stuck out to you, maybe it feels quotable.

A scene you’re really looking forward to seeing in the future.

Characterization

A scene you’ve been waiting for that finally happened, maybe the first kiss in a slow burn

Maybe the author is making a particular trope of ship that you’ve never liked before work in the context of the fic.

You’re re-reading a fic because you love it so much.

This is honestly what most of the comments I make on other fics resemble. 

Commenting 401: Engaging with the Fic

Time for some advanced commenting. Now these are the comments I love best, and I feel that most writers would agree. This is where you dig into the weeds of the fic and potentially start a really good conversation with the author. This is where you go into the what-ifs and how you view a character. These are the comments that have writers squealing. 

But, they’re not the easiest comments to make. I’ve left them and I’ve received them and they’re a rare treasure. These are Reviews. 

Maybe you’re starting to get a taste for the metaplot of a fic. Maybe you’ve reread this fic over and over and over again and it’s inspired scenarios that play over and over again in your head before you fall asleep. Maybe you have so many questions about a character’s motivations. Maybe you wrote a fanfic for the fic, did fanart, or want to write a translation.

Examples:

“Oh my god. That was just wow. It was so good. I haven't read anything as satisfying as this in a long time.

I especially appreciate not only the writing style, but how literally every mentioned character, every small scene had a deeper meaning to it and or referenced to something. Everything is thought through so carefully. I can't imagine how much research it must have taken you to make this so authentic. I also liked the humor a lot - it was much needed and placed just at the right places. Thank you for this piece of art! And, while I was able to predict many things that happened, I pictured the end in many different ways, but not like this. Simply amazing.“

“Oh shit. I was wondering if B caught feelings for A too, considering that one time A said an off hand comment about their relationship meaning nothing and B frowned. But the addition of this scene, with B locking away a bunch of emotions. Oh boi. Plus, the moment where he was coming to a decision. I'll bet B had been the one to knock in C's door and they were discussing something and they both went over to ask D something. Probably about the aforementioned book. Which would be what thud could have been. C dropping it upon hearing B ask if C knew A fucks D as well. Which also makes me question if B had talked to C about this whole ordeal, even, perhaps, going as far as to admit his own relationship with A. That seems like a bit of a stretch though. Either way. This fic is absolutely amazing and I love it with a passion. I check every day for an update. You're amazing. Thank you for putting so much dedication into this work.“

These are so personal and so meaningful and these are the ones I keep in my inbox and read over and over and over. 

Anyway, I know this is a lot, but I hope you found it helpful!

[hozier-mp3]

destiel au fic recs?

Oh yes.

Once upon a time I made a post of every single one of my Fic Recs, and I’m especially fond of AUs, so I give you a list of just, solely, AU fics.

Let me start with my shameless self promotions. (They’re actually full of shame I’m sorry but those are my three AU fics I’ve written.

Alright, time for the real ones. *cracks knuckles*     A Million Ways To Go by ChasingRabbits on AO3 - Castiel Novak is a preacher's son living in a world of black and white. Pragmatic and dutiful, he doesn't understand why anybody would want to make waves.Then the Winchesters move in down the street. Soon many of the skeletons in the Novak family's closet are exposed, and as the family faces them, Castiel begins to understand that there are many ways to see the world and so many more ways to live than what he's been told. - This is one of the few fics I’ve reread. The summary pretty much covers it, though, so I’ll let that one speak for itself.

Word Count: 91,079

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086183/chapters/2185029

Smiling Out Of Fear by thepinupchemist on AO3- Castiel Novak is a product of the system, having gone through too many foster homes since the age of seven. At fourteen, he lands himself in Sugar Lane Mobile Home Community under the care of Missouri Moseley. There, he meets one Dean Winchester. A story about teenage hooligans, growing up, and finding a home. - Okay, I’m not going to say anything other than the fact that thinking about this fic literally makes me almost start crying happy tears. I adore it. (I pretty much recommend everything thepinupchemist has written, but I haven’t gotten through it all yet.)

Word Count: 117,494

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007755/chapters/1998660 25¢ Pocket Guardian Angels by hopelessheathen on AO3- Dean walks into his local bank one day and notices that someone has filled the old gumball machine with these tiny, wiggling, sentient angels in individual plastic packaging. Deeply concerned about their air supply and the fact that they're trapped there in the sun, he starts pumping in quarters to rescue them. This is worse than leaving a dog in an overheating car. Now he's got forty of the little guys running all over his house, and god knows how many others might be trapped and dying all over the city. - I love this. I could read it three times a day and still get a smile on my face. It’s just a little one shot, but it’s worth the time it takes. Word Count: 13,325

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6359713 

Burden by riseofthefallenone on AO3 - Mutants are considered second class citizens, or worse. Discriminated against at every turn, mutants are marked and monitored by The Registry and any deemed too dangerous are taken away to The Facility. It’s no surprise that many try to hide or choose a more permanent way out if a mutation develops. Castiel’s parents hid his mutation and hid him away from the world. He’s grown up with the knowledge that the world will hate him, no matter what he does. If he leaves the house, he can only do it with a long, heavy coat that covers the most beautiful part of him. It takes a pair of brothers to help him really spread his wings and live. - Yet another I adore. If you’ll keep a secret for me, I’m actually not caught up, but I oh so desperately want to be. I’m kind of a sucker for wings in general, though, so that helps.

Word Count: 317,582

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20613731/chapters/48945302

Out Of The Deep by riseofthefallenone on AO3 - Stay away from the light-beds. Stay in the deep. It is the first thing hatchlings are taught the moment their fans unfurl and they can swim without their parents to buoy them along. It is the first rule, the first law. It is the beginning of every boogey-monster bedtime story told when they settle against the cliffs to sleep. Castiel should have listened better. - Okay, but holy shit. This was one of the first Destiel fics I read, and it heightened my standards to unbelievable places. I adore it. I could write essays.

Word Count: 488,608

https://archiveofourown.org/works/548878/chapters/977676 True As It Can Be by whelvenwings - Growing up in a small town in Kansas, Dean learned from a young age that there was only one rule that couldn’t be broken, one place he couldn’t go - through the forest, to the long-abandoned Angel’s Hollow. But when Sam disappears, Dean’s left with no choice but to follow his brother's tracks through the dangers of the wood; little does he know that the most dangerous creature of all lurks not among the trees, but in the Hollow itself. Dean sets Sam free, at the cost of his own liberty - and, bound by magic, resigns himself to living out the rest of his days in the Hollow, at the mercy of the being within. The angel of Angel’s Hollow, however, has a story - is a prisoner, too, as much as Dean is. Only one thing can free them both - but it is impossible. For, after all: who could ever learn to love a beast? - This was the first, and last, Beauty and the Beast AU I ever read, but for good reason. I’m scared if I read another, that this one will absolutely shit on it and I won’t be able to enjoy it. I loved this fic very much.

Word Count: 71,952 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11048568/chapters/24631101

Okay, before I even mention the next one, please read the tags. There are quite a few possible triggers and the tags, luckily, have accurate trigger warnings. And, of course, archive warnings. (And, of course, be sure to read tags on the others.) If you have issues with that, just scroll past this one, because the others are fine. (I think/hope so. At least. If you have any issues, please, let me know. I’ll put warnings above those too)

Defiant by thestorygirl on AO3 - Dean Winchester has devoted his career as a police officer to helping angel slaves in any way that he can. He even formed and heads the "Angel Welfare Task Force," which involved him being called to consult on any case involving slaves. This passion stemmed from an incident that happened twenty years previously, when a thirteen year old Dean failed to help his friend Castiel escape being sold to a sadistic owner. Dean had never really harbored any hope of finding his friend. He saw his work as something he did in memory of Castiel, to prevent others from suffering the same fate. But, when called out on a routine case one day, Dean was startled to find that he recognized the victim. - So, usually I avoid the Non-Con archive warning at all. But with this one, honestly, I’m lucky I didn’t. I could seriously write essays on this fic. I’m gonna shut up about it, just because I don’t want to talk too much about it. It’s seriously perfect.

Word Count: 133,352

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2180202/chapters/4771569

Alright back to the ones that don’t quite need trigger warnings.

Have Love, Will Travel by squeemonster - Castiel Novak is a reclusive writer with a childhood so tragic it's left him terrified to leave his home—until his overbearing brother, Gabriel, drags him out for a night on the town full of booze and strip clubs, and he encounters Dean Winchester, a mesmerizing and mysterious stripper with secrets of his own. Both men find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other, and soon Dean's private dances for Castiel become much more, as both men confess their troubles and find solace in each other's company. But neither can seem to find the courage to take their relationship further than the intimacy of the club's VIP Room—and just when Dean's own brother gives him the excuse he needs to finally admit his feelings, Dean discovers something that brings it all crumbling down. Will they find a way past their demons and their trust issues, and back to each other?- I love Cas in this fic, his agoraphobia fits his usual outsider-ness and it’s just all beautifully characterized. I very much enjoy “the only exception” tropes as well, so....

Word Count: 94,054

https://archiveofourown.org/works/565455/chapters/1011747?view_adult=true Four Letter Word For Intercourse by Bendingsignpost on AO3 - As a grease monkey turned college freshman, Dean's constantly three seconds away from being stressed out of his mind. It hardly helps that he's finally figuring out his sexuality in his thirties. What might help with that stress is a little phone number (and a big credit card bill). If he can't figure out how to be bisexual in person, he can at least give it a go over the phone, right? (It's probably a bad idea, but he really can't help himself.) - Holy shit. That’s... that’s really all I can say. Holy shit. Easily made my top five.

Word Count: 194,739

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16086839/chapters/37568591 Now, onto the one I haven’t finished, but like... so far.

Beck and Call by Soupernabturel on AO3 - 1922: Dean Winchester, eldest heir to the Winchester Estate, has a less than orthodox relationship with his servant, Castiel Novak. - Like I said, I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m vastly enjoying it at the moment.

Wow, it was really hard not to include canon ones lol. Anyways, I hope this helps Anon, and I hope you enjoy! I love all these authors, and you should give them all the love!

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

what about wtlb? and the prompt game stories??

I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of focusing my writing time mostly on RYLH, Willow (one of the prompt game stories), and Rebirth. Map of the Problematique got a little too heavy for me and I'm taking a small break from it because I can't keep crying every day, I don't want to die of dehydration.

The reason why I haven't posted a new one-shot of the tumblr prompts series is... well... I got waaaay too excited about Willow, it has over 15k words and it's not done. I think it'll end up reaching 20k words and I'll have to split it into two chapters, but I'm extremely proud of it and I can't wait until it's done so you guys can read it!

And about WTLB... I have to admit that I'm having a lot of trouble writing it. When I first published WTLB, I was still learning how to write in English, and for some reason, I thought that writing the whole story in first person would be easier for me, a beginner at the time.

Well, I kind of regret that decision, because I am struggling a lot with writing in 1st person now. I just feel like it's harder to keep the characters in-character, whenever I reread a few of the earlier chapters I actually cringe, because it feels so off and it bothers me.

I am not, nor will I ever abandon WTLB, I hate abandoned stories and I know there's a lot of people out there who follow my story and enjoy it, and being honest, I love the storyline and I enjoy the story too, at least most of the time.

I got attached to this universe, and I want everyone to have the happy endings they deserve, especially after all the crap I've put them through (sorry Jackie, love you). I am not going to stop writing WTLB, but the chapters might take a little longer to come out because of the problem I've mentioned before.

Wow, I feel a little lighter after saying this.

Anyways, that's pretty much it, I hope you understand <3

[marvels-writings]

Glamour Girl (2)

Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel Masterlist)

Series Masterlist

| Part 1 |

A/N: So I didn’t know what else to write today and I reread this (totally didn’t forget what I wrote, what? Why would you think that?) and like I had a few cute tropes, so here you go, and Glamour Girl is a song by Rodney Hunter which I would def recommend.

Carol woke up earlier than you for once, glancing at the clock to see it was well past 9, you were still asleep, lying practically on top of Carol, your face snuggled into her shoulder, arms wrapped loosely around her waist, your legs tangled with hers. She laughed slightly at how cuddley you were with her, then had an idea, slowly taking herself out of your arms and replacing the empty space with the huge stuffed animal you’d insisted on buying the first time you two went shopping.

After loosely tying an apron around her waist, she headed to find the ingredients to make pancakes, trying her best to be careful and quiet. She failed miserably, accidentally slamming a few doors while trying to find the pancake mix, you woke up after the third cupboard slam, Carol noticed instantly when she heard your feet hit the floor as you almost tripped while trying to find your favorite zip up hoodie.

You appeared in the doorway, groggily rubbing your eyes with a jacket cuddled into you, Carol smiled softly at your bedridden state.

“What are you doing?” You whined sleepily, heading over to Carol and looking up at her. 

“I’m trying to find the pancake mix.” Carol confused, throwing her hands up for emphasis, you chuckled and buried your head in her shoulder, tired.

“We ran out last week.” You whined, Carol groaned at herself, she was trying to make you breakfast in bed. 

“I have a hangover.” You continued whining, Carol laughed. 

“If you change we can go to Black Bear for pancakes glamour girl.” Carol joked, you pulled away, eyes lighting up as you sprinted back into your shared room, grabbing some light blue jeans and Carol’s navy blue sweatshirt and heading into the bathroom to change, sticking your tongue out at Carol when she laughed at you.

Carol changed into some white jeans and a white Nine Inch Nails t-shirt, browsing on her phone, eyes widening at Tony’s instagram post with both of you dancing, the caption saying ‘future marriage’. You quickly fixed up your bedhead and headed out, finding Carol looking at her phone.

“What are you looking at?” You asked, coming out of the bathroom and putting your clothes away, Carol showed you the picture as you practically groaned. 

“You’re serious?” You groaned, sitting down and looking at the pictures, they were cute honestly, but the caption you hated. 

“He is,” Carol laughed, getting up and offering you her hand, which you took almost immediately. “And so are we about going to Black Bear.”

You laughed and let her lead you towards her car through your joined hands, joking and talking about everything and nothing the entire ride there. Once you were there, you both ordered your usual breakfast, greeting the waiter knowingly. 

“You do remember what happened yesterday?” Carol asked hesitantly, your face scrunched up in confusion. “Right?”

“Kind of,” You smirked and Carol instantly knew you were joking. “You asked me out.” “Kind of?” Carol joked, you punched her on the arm lightly and sipped fav/hot drink.

Breakfast went as it was normally between both of you, joking and talking about everything. You remembered your test and started panicking only for Carol to calm you down, telling you that you had enough time to study. Carol drove you back to the dorm in her mustang, her hand resting on your knee as usual, but she looked deeper in thought than you’d ever seen her.

“Everything okay Danvers?” You asked, Carol looked at you and gave you a tight smile, nodding and getting out of the car. You frowned and followed suit.

“What’s on your mind?” You probed further, suspicions arising when you saw her sigh and take in a deep breath.

“I just don’t want things to change between us,” Carol confessed, unlocking the door to your dorm and heading in without making eye contact with you.

“Like you’re my best friend, I want to stumble through the rest of my life with you while laughing my ass off the entire time,” You and Carol giggled. “But I don’t want it to be like we’re pressured to be romantic, I don’t want to have the pressure to be like every other couple where they have fights and make up, have sex every other day, do all the cliches, I want to date my best friend.”

You laughed a little at her confession, confusing Carol. You moved forwards and took her hands in yours. 

“Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean things have to change,” You answered, smiling up at her. “I mean a relationship is literally dating your best friend, which is what we’re going to do right?” “Yeah, I just got a little scared.” Carol looked down, you smiled again, her eyes snapping up to yours after glancing at your lips.

“That’s okay,” You smirked, “You still haven’t kissed me yet.”

“Don’t be so sure, glamour girl.” Carol smirked, hands leaving yours to wrap around your waist, gently pulling you into her, she looked at your eyes briefly to make sure you really wanted this, breath fanning over your face as she waited for you to make the first move.

Which you did, you grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and pulled her in, lips meeting hers. The kiss was everything both of you had ever dreamed of and more, your hands gently slid into her hair, running your fingers through the short strands before you had to pull away for air, practically panting after.

“That was…” You trailed off.

“Wow.” Carol muttered, just loud enough for you to hear.

“Yeah, wow.” You whispered before looking up at her again, about to lean in before the door to your room burst open, Tony and the rest of your friend group standing there in shock before all of them grinned, realizing what was going on as you instantly shot away from Carol

“I KNEW IT!” Tony exclaimed, grinning at both of you before rushing in to hug both of you, you glanced at Carol uncomfortably, she just gave you an apologetic smile as the rest of the team rushed over to hug both of you.

“So what did you come over for?” You asked once all the congratulations were over.

“Angry we interupted your make out session y/n?” Natasha smirked, your face turning a bit pink before turning to Tony, who laughed before explaining.

“Saturday is movie night, today it was your place.” He explained.

“Tony it’s 11 in the morning.” Carol stated, he shrugged.

“We could hang out a bit unless you wanted to continue making out with y/n here.” He reached over and pulled you into a one arm hug, you slapped his front lightly and glared at him through your blush, increasing his laughter.

“I can’t take much more of this.” Wanda groaned, walking out the door as the rest of the team followed her wherever they wanted to hang out. 

“Let’s go then.” You said, Carol smiled and reached forward, taking your hand once you’d broken free of Tony’s grasp. 

“Let’s go glamour girl.” Carol grinned, leading you out, you knew the nickname would stick, honestly, it was starting to grow on you a little. 

| Part 3 | 

Tag List: @capcarolsdanver​, @versdan​, @lesbian-girls-wayhaught​, @lovebotlarson​, @dhengkt​, @5aftermidnight​, @hstoria​, @natasha-danvers​, @veryfunnyal​, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx​ , @ophelias-heart​  , @never-didbefore​ , @justarandomhumanhere​, @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all , @thatssocamryn​ , @lesbian-x-blackwidow​ , @marvelbbyx​ , @wlw-imaginesss​ let me know if you’d like to be in any of my tag lists!

A/N: Thoughts?

[vierafication]

Last night around 4 am, I reblogged a certain post about "villainous rp" and added my own two cents to what had been discussed within it- mostly just venting about behavior I'd seen in the past. I didn't think much of it until I saw the next day it had been reblogged, and reblogged again, and again, by some folks who seemed pretty unhappy about what I'd said. I was told I needed to get a life, that I clearly can't separate IC and OOC, that maybe I shouldn't be writing at all. That hurt. I was irritated, then, feeling like I'd had words shoved in my mouth, like I was being purposefully misinterpreted. I typed up a clarification post explaining my previous points and pressed send, but it was seemingly ignored.

I talked with @damankjol about it later. He's the best, if you didn't know. And he rp's villains! I don't think he's a sociopath! He's very empathic and honest and understanding and cool, and he helped me realize that people weren't just angry at me, they were genuinely hurt by what I'd written. I went back and reread what I posted, as well as the responses, with a more critical eye. And... yeah. What I typed up wasn't clean, organized, or coordinated. I was venting and the tone that came off was irritated and rude. While not my intention, what I wrote sounded pretty fucking disrespectful and downright mean. And, frankly, my intentions don't matter, anyway, since I wasn't able to convey them properly. I just put some angry bullshit up on tumblr way too late at night, and I didn't expect anybody to even look at it, let alone reblog it- but I should have. Tumblr is a public platform and I should have approached my post the same way I'd approach any other one during the normal hours of the day. Thinking critically is always key, but audience is too- a vent post is a vent post, but I should have thought before I vented about a topic other people were sensitive to, and properly indicate specifics instead of vague generalizations. So, yes, I really wanted to apologize to anyone who that post hurt. I’m genuinely sorry. I should not have generalized like that. It wasn't even my intention in the first place. I was disrespectful and now that I think about it, incredibly hypocritical to boot. So yeah. I really am sorry. I respect @damankjol and @miqojak a lot as writers, and it would never be my intention to tear them down. Or anybody else, for that matter- rp only works when you rp with others, after all.

Once again, I'm sorry, and I hope you won't hate me for eternity or anything. Storytime and critical analysis under the cut.

One of my first, and worst, experiences in the ffxiv rp community was a good couple years ago. I was describing my character to a “friend,” and that character happened to be Lionnet Blodoint, my Ishgardian chirurgeon. Lionnet was not a good person by a long shot, to begin with, and from his time serving during the Dragonsong War, he’d developed quite a bit of PTSD relating to any and all things draconic. He hated dragons. He didn’t even like Au Ra. “Wow,” said the so-called friend at the time. “Your character is a nazi.”

“What? No!” I exclaimed. I tried to explain that he was NOT a nazi, he was just a traditionalist Ishgardian who hated dragons because they had been, at one point in time, absolutely hell-bent on destroying his home and everything he knew. I thought it was a pretty reasonable character trait to hate, or at least fear, dragons after serving in the Dragonsong War. The core of how I’d planned to develop him would be overcoming or at least coming to terms with his trauma, and no longer seeing it in every dragon or Au Ra he met. “No,” they said. “Your character is terribly written. They’re awful and nobody would ever want to rp with them. They’re boring because they’re so full of negative traits. They’re racist and thus, a nazi. And you are just as bad, because you’re defending them! You’re a nazi too!”

So yeah, they are NOT my friend anymore. But that whole convo really stuck with me, and I was afraid to bring out Lio afterwards- it took me another year before I actually began to use him in rp. And he turned out wonderful! His story became one of my favorite rp character stories of all time, and he had great relationship development and a happy ending. He’s still around, canonically, but I have a different main toon now.

So it shocks me that what that person told me about Lio is more or less the same as what I wrote in that post. I’m honestly dumbfounded at how I could just casually type that up and post it, when it draws so many parallels to the way I was bullied back then. So yeah. Huge hypocrisy right there. I swore to never act like that. And to an extent, I suppose I have. But that post I made was pretty fucking close- just directed at a vaguely generalized audience instead of a singular person and character. Maybe that’s actually worse. And I am sorry. I guess because it wasn’t directed at anyone but the void (even the op’s url doesn’t exist anymore), I just didn’t think about it. Which sounds like a lame-ass excuse, but... it’s true. I just wasn’t thinking. I was just venting. It’s really fucking with me that I could’ve hurt somebody so much completely unintentionally, to be honest.

So, what did I say- or, to be more clear, what was I attempting to say? What was my intention, and what wasn’t? I’m going to go over that now, more for my benefit than anyone else’s. Please note that I am not trying to make excuses or shove any blame elsewhere. I am just trying to clarify what I meant and address the issues that made my post so negative, for my own sake.

To begin, I’m gonna link this post by @lilac-memorials. It goes into detail about the trouble with “villain” discourse, and addresses a number of issues from a much more unbiased standpoint, far more eloquently than I could. Also, it seems to reference (the worse) parts of my posts at some points, or maybe I’m just paranoid. Regardless, it’s a much better post than the trainwreck that was the original one, and I agree with every bit of it. It also addresses the difference between a “villain” and an “antagonist,” which is something I attempted to go into but failed miserably.

Anyhoo. My post began with this paragraph:

Seriously. I do not trust anyone who refers to themselves as a “villain” rper. A character can take an antagonistic role in another character’s story arc, that’s fine, that works. It goes back to the “everyone is the hero of their own story” sorta thing. But playing a villain, only as a villain… what’s the point in that? It’s just someone roleplaying as an evil asshole that expects to be treated as stronger than other characters, expects to be feared. It reads like some twisted power fantasy. It doesn’t sound fun and it sure isn’t fun for the people rping with you. Like dude, calm down.

To begin with, yes, I am indeed a little distrustful of people who label their characters first and foremost as villains, before anything else. I am more suspicious of engaging in rp with them than I am with other types of characters, because I have seen some pretty crappy villains out and about and I just don’t wanna deal with that. Next, I go on to try to draw the line between a villain and an antagonist, and how I am much less suspicious of “antagonistic” characters than straight-up “villain” characters. “But playing a villain, only as a villain... what’s the point in that?” I ask. Very rudely. Insinuating that their is no point whatsoever in playing a villain. Which I didn’t intend to. But honestly, I don’t know how else that would’ve translated- I don’t know what I was thinking. I go on to describe this “villain” as somebody who is an evil asshole with a power fantasy, and how it ruins fun for anybody. Which can be read very easily as saying “all villains are like this.” No, they are not! I was describing the bad type of villain rper. The rper who “plays a villain, only as a villain,” and not as a character. Do you get what I mean now? The controlling, toxic, power-hungry rper that plays a villain as an outlet to be further controlling, toxic, and power-hungry, moreso than they ever could in reality. We all know that type of person exists. We’ve met them, somewhere. Sometimes they aren’t playing the villain at all, anyway. They’re playing the hero, or somebody else entirely. But here, I am just venting about that type of person. They are what my post is about. The key line should’ve been “playing a villain, only as a villain,” but it was shoved into a passive-aggressive question addressing self-worth instead of a proper sentence describing the difference between a well-written villain and a badly-written villain. And thus the post begins as if it had been rudely addressed to all villain rpers everywhere, labeling them as the evil asshole with a power fantasy, instead.

Next is: Anyway hot take but maybe the reason people kept trying to “redeem” and “change” OP’s character is because their character is boring af!

Yeahhhh, that one’s just mean. And, given the first paragraph, easily able to seen as an attack saying that if you are a villain rper, your character is boring af. They’re not! The op’s post is a little much, to be honest, and I guess I thought I was feeling spicy at 4 am. Now I think I must’ve just been being mean. Aurelia explains what’s wrong with the initial post here, though, instead of trying and failing to poke fun at it in that special pseudo-mean tumblr way like I did.

Lastly, Like, honestly! Play a character as a foil to another, play to fucked up ideas about morality, play an antagonist arc to a protagonist character, play a character who makes bad decisions. But don’t play a “villain.” Don’t play a character whose core personality traits are simply being cruel/evil. Don’t play a character whose sole focus is to kill npcs, be scary, and lord over other players’ characters. Don’t play a character who never develops or changes, and doesn’t facilitate change in other characters. Just don’t be an asshole edgelord. Don’t be flat and one dimensional. Don’t use rp to live out your fucked up power fantasy. Get therapy instead.

Honestly, I think this is the most clear part of my entire post, and also the worst, at the end there. I just am listing off behaviors that this figurative “bad villain rper” exhibits, and what offsets them. Play a villain that’s complex, had depth, nuance! I’m saying don’t play the “villain,” and then listing off what this specific hypothetical villain is. The opposite of deep and nuanced. The “bad villain rper” type the whole post is a vent about.

Then comes the dreaded “ Don’t use rp to live out your fucked up power fantasy. Get therapy instead. “ The villainous power fantasy. No, I do not think everyone who rp’s villains is like this. Yes, I believe there are people like this, who are INCREDIBLY few and far between, and if they solely use rp as an outlet to harass others both ICly and OOCly, that is bad! And maybe they should get help! And even, then, that was only half-serious! But therapy is a serious subject and I should have known better, and done better. Did all of that come off as intended? Hell no! Instead, it was the final nail in the coffin.

So! That’s what I was trying to say. Badly-written villains are a pain. If I had written up a post like I am now, with this long-ass thing, actually trying to be eloquent and clear. Not 4 am word vomit. This 4 am word vomit instead has gotten me to be read and interpreted as:

-being completely unable to separate character and player to the point where i think every villain’s player is a Real Life Bad Person and/or needs mental help

-saying all villains are boring because they’re not heroes, and thus are incapable of being complex and nuanced

-saying people who play dark/antagonistic characters are, in general, living out their fucked up power fantasy through them

-thinking that villainous characters are incredibly boring and just plain terrible

No! None of that is what I think! Absolutely none! I’m not going to go in and refute each of those claims, because, like I said, I’m not trying to make excuses here. But I WILL end this thing with what I do think of villainous characters and their players:

They’re fucking great, okay? A good story is made a gazillion times better by having a good villain in it, be the story a book, a movie, or an rp scenario. Well-written villain rpers are a TREASURE, and need to be appreciated! It is often harder to find rp with antagonistic toons, to begin with, and their players may find themselves getting shit on more often than others, which should absolutely not be the case. Characters that are complex and deep and nuanced are great no matter what their alignment is.

There ARE some pretty shitty villain rpers out there, too. And, in my own personal experience, they tend to be much more obnoxious than shitty hero rpers. A badly written hero will ruin a villain’s rp. A badly written villain may well try to ruin everybody around them’s rp.

Badly written villains suck. They’re the worst. And they make things worse for those that dedicate a lot of time and effort to crafting complex and cleverly written, compelling villains! Badly written villains are something I can and will complain about, just as well-written villains are something that I can and will praise. But I’ll try not to complain or vent on this platform anymore, to start.

And I do NOT blend IC and OOC. That’s the rper’s taboo! I will critique others who do it, though, which ironically is what I was sort of trying to do- complain about those specific villain players who do that. But anyway. If you’ve read this far, good for you! This has been way too long.

And. Please. If I do say or do something that hurts you in the future, regardless of what type of post it is, talk to me! Tell me what’s up! Thank you!

[botaniia]

128

Good chapter, all in all! My thoughts will be much shorter on this one than on 127 because I really hadn’t a clue what to expect from this chapter as opposed to 127. I also read some discussion before writing this so that may influence this, I dunno

Jumping right into things with the airships and answering a question the fandom had since 127: why didn’t the Yaegerists destroy the airships? To push it even further, not only was the question answered, but this fact became a plot-relevant detail as well.

Random thought, but it’s interesting to see Hanji talk about the future prospects of recapturing the uninhabited rumbled lands once this is all over

It’s absolutely divine to see Hanji and Magath strategising and working together

Love love LOVE the panel of everyone getting equipped for battle. I’m dead at Reiner’s “Ah shit here we go again” expression. Very cool to see Annie holding a blade handle again after so long! Jean and Mikasa looking like models as usual, and I love Pieck floating in the background there

So at first I thought the steam was the colossals entering the water on Paradis’ shores. Apparently it’s all the way over at Marley and the rumbling already reached the north. That’s fast! And the fact that the steam can be seen all the way over on Paradis, does that mean that Marley really isn’t all too far away from Paradis?

Falco and Gabi on the lookout are the cutest ever. Glad we get to see my son this chapter! 

Annie: “Hey y’all ‘s okay if I’m armed right?” Everyone: “....”

Every chapter needs a random panel of Levi sleeping because Yams didn’t know what else to put there

Very interesting to see Annie talk using revenge as a frame of reference. It does show how long she’s been under. Pieck explaining the situation to her made me realise we need more interactions between these two

These panels make it obvious how much weight Reiner has lost. Jesus, look at his torso, his neck. He could rival Berthoto in his post-depression  height to weight ratio

I hadn’t even considered that the Yaegerists consisted of their comrades, not the way it’s presented by Jean anyway. It makes a lot of sense that they don’t want to fight and kill their old friends

Annie is to Jean this chapter what Jean was to Hanji the last chapter. Asking the really hard questions in response to a pacifist mindset.

Armin has gotten thick, wow

If I still shipped aruani I’d consider this a strong moment but now it just feels less impactful bhjvk

The dam finally broke for Connie! All these past chapters, he’s been off looking stoic and determined, but it looks like his emotions are finally showing outwardly as well. Poor fucking kid, he’s really seen too much

And he does raise a very important moral question there. With the realisation we see him make later in the chapter, it’s also a very fitting thing for him to wonder about. He’s just not ready to start killing, even if it’s the best option for their cause, and I can respect that he has issues with such a plan.

Annie’s expression... hurts me soul, man

I don’t think I follow yet how she came to the conclusion that JCAM wouldn’t have destroyed the walls if it were them. I don’t agree nor disagree, because I don’t think that it’s possible to estimate that. The JCAM of today definitely wouldn’t have done it, but the JCAM of today are adults who didn’t grow up as child soldiers under heavy propaganda and who were used as disposable weapons. It’s impossible to compare the two with each other. Is Annie saying this because she as the adult she is today would do it all again, as she stated a few chapters back? I’m sure discussion in the next few days will clear this line up.

It’s gonna take me a few days of thinking to understand what exactly that callback to Eren saying he’s just like Reiner means, and how it connects to Annie’s words. Does he think back of it because he likens himself to Eren, or because he likens Eren to himself? It feels like Eren’s saying that he would’ve broken the wall, which is exactly what he’s doing right now with the rumbling, but what do I know? I’m usually dead wrong about things like this. 

I can admire Reiner giving JCAM a choice to not fight the ones they hold dear. After all this time and despite everything, he still holds his old comrades dear enough to spare them from this battle

Hanji’s ready to kill, and I understand it. People are already dying in Marley and there’s no more time left to be humane about things. It’s just like the decision to torture Sannes, like the decision to kill RB given the chance. In an ideal world they’d be able to talk and take their time, but right now they unfortunately don’t have that luxury.

Poor fucking Pieck, Annie, and Reiner. Learning they may already be too late and the worst can have already happened. And Connie’s face. This is the most emotion we’ve seen out of him in a long time that wasn’t just flat out bitterness. He looks destroyed.

Magath shoving Onyankopon had me gigglin’, ngl

It was something else seeing Yelena so emotional and pained. Have we seen her like this before? In a situation where she’s not her usual confident, in control self but she’s genuinely in pain or scared? And then her crying... She’s growing on me more and more the more I see her, now I’m sorta hoping she survives this story

Magath’s confession... I’m gonna be honest, when I first read this it felt like it came out of nowhere and felt forced. Rereading it, I can see where it came from. It’s been on his mind for quite some time since it happened and the fact that they suddenly, just like that, ran out of time probably got him to decide that if there’s ever a time to say this, it’s now

It also proves the idea that right before someone is about to crack, they double down in their ideals. It’s a type of stubbornness all humans have and it often leads to conflict. Doubling down didn’t work, so he finally allowed himself to accept something he didn’t want to be true but somewhere knew was true anyway. That’s growth. I did think Magath would end up coming through in the end

Good on him, a Marleyan, to tell Eldians that the one truth Eldians had always been taught, that they are responsible for their ancestors’ sins, isn’t true at all and that they do not deserve the blame. It just doesn’t hold the same relieving value if an Eldian says it. That was sorely needed, and for Magath specifically to say that is a good thing!

And to tell it to Pieck, Annie, and Reiner as well? That’s a very important detail as well. Done are the days of only absolving the 104th when the warriors deserve it just as much

‘Forgive but don’t forget, teach our children what happened without pointing the finger’ is such an important key idea and I’m glad it’s been put into words. Maybe the school kids from the s4 preview are the outcome of that?

I’m gonna wait for the official translation to look at Armin’s refusal because I don’t believe I fully grasp what he means there

Floch implying that the death of Kiyomi’s nation is a good thing, that she no longer has to worry, shows just how wrong his entire school of thought is. He’s literally “can’t worry about your homeland if your homeland doesn’t exist anymore”. 

Kiyomi’s words as parallel to Erwin’s? Love it

“But what’s most important is for you to know your place” WOW, guy really is on a power trip where he wants to establish a rigid hierarchy, huh?

He does look absolutely terrifying in those panels. Congrats, Yams, you made me intimidated by Floch for reasons other than “he might shoot anyone at any time”

Armin’s strategy bkhjvgjh use the chaos and confusion to get the edge on him, I like it

Absolutely love the dynamic between Connie and Armin. Armin, you lying shit, you’re fake crying again

He knew from the start it hadn’t worked though

Samuel! DAZ!!!! Finally! They’re back! The memes are no longer just dreams!

Kiyomi charging Floch and proceeding to wipe the floor with him will be the subject of my dreams for years to come

When Armin and Connie first realised that the plan failed, I was sure they were surrounded by Yaegerists on all sides and they’d stand no chance. That’s also the moment I accepted that one of them was gonna get KO’d. I honestly expected Connie to bite the dust

When Mikasa first crashed through the window, I thought that she was Levi. Look at that face! It’s such an Ackerman face! It took me a few pages to determine whether that was Mikasa or Levi, even if I knew Levi definitely wouldn’t have been a possibility.

God, how good it feels to see Floch so desperate and distressed! That panel where he’s on his stomach and shoots his anchor out of the window is hilarious

Floch thinks Jean is dead, so he didn’t call for the Yaegerists to attack him. I wonder if that’ll play out somehow. But it does show that he believed that Armin spoke the truth when he said that Jean and Onyankopon were killed. So does he still think the warriors are not on their side (until he’s obv proven wrong, ofc)?

Magath in a SC jacket is 😩👌

Armin being shot had me bamboozled. If he still were my fav character I would’ve definitely had a heart attack, but even now that fucking HURT and caught me completely off-guard. Especially since it’s not just one shot, but three, all of which hit a major artery in one way or another. I was sure Armin was out for a good moment here

Oh wow. I didn’t realise it the first time reading, but the second time? God damn, the parallels between SC and warriors in that particular scene. Just like how Jean and Connie talked to Bertholdt and Reiner about how they’d grow old together and share a good drink once this was all over but their betrayal destroyed that possibility and nullified their camaraderie, Samuel is talking to Connie and Armin about how they’d retake the lands and raise as much cattle as they wanted once this was all over but their betrayal made that impossible. Connie got it. Connie understood in that moment and that’s currently emotionally fucking me over

Reiner and Annie shooting up behind Floch... 😩👌

THEIR TRANSFORMATION POSES, HOT DAMN They’re ready to wipe the floor with some Yaegerists

At first I thought we’d gotten nakey Reiner (ain’t his ass plates missing?) but his face gave me renewed hope. The unhardening thing was a one-time thing only, so it looks like his titan does get armour!

I wonder how convincing it would’ve sounded if in 2016 we heard that in 2020 we’d be overjoyed to see the armoured titan and the female titan wrecking some Survey Corps shit but look where we are now

Zombie Armin looked TERRIFYING, holy fuck

And then there’s those last two pages. Wow. I didn’t even know what I was reading when I first read them, I hadn’t a clue that I was reading the exact narrative I’d been begging to see for many many years. And when I realised it, fuck, that felt good

Connie is betraying comrades, dearly beloved people whom he shared good times with, whom he made promises to, but who unfortunately ended up being on the opposite side of the conflict as he is, because it’s what his goal requires of him. 

The way Samuel words it, it’s even a direct parallel to the way the 104th worded their grievances to Bertholdt and Reiner when they were running away with Eren and Ymir. And when Connie finally answers “You are our comrades, but...” it just clicks. They’re his comrades, they are valued, and yet they still have to die. Just like they did in Clash. Just like they did in RtS. He’s in the exact same situation as RB were years ago, and he’s 100% aware of how this is what’s happening

And it’s the fact that Connie doesn’t use this memory to back down to prove to himself that he’s ‘better’, letting Armin and possibly himself get killed in the process, but instead reevaluates his stance and recontextualises what he knew back then, that’s exactly what I’ve been wishing for for so long

I intend to make a separate post on this because I have so many thoughts on this subject. This tiny detail changes so much for me, clears up so many of the doubts I had, and gives me so much hope that I’m sure will be shattered over the next few weeks but let me DREAM

In fact, I made the post right here

[statusquoergo]

Fanfic question meme    

I was tagged by @heytheredeann​ (literally a month ago, wow), thank you!

Author Name:

statusquoergo on tumblr, statusquo_ergo on AO3 (much variation)

Fandoms You Write For:

Very Suits-heavy at the moment, although my history is quite eclectic.

Where You Post:

AO3 generally, but tiny little ficlets get posted to tumblr alone.

Most Popular Oneshot:

Well, this should surprise precisely no one: a wide wide world under the violet sky.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story:

Some Pieces They Adjoin, oddly enough. Or maybe not so oddly; Sherlock is a much bigger fandom than Suits, and the story’s been up since 2015. (Most popular multi-chapter in the Suits fandom, for the record, is Signals Crossed.)

Favorite Story You Wrote:

Does anyone ever have a consistent answer to this question? Because I sure don’t. In terms of stories I’ve written that I reread the most often, at the moment that might be reshaping our uneasy redemption, but if we’re talking about stories that mean the most to me personally, it would have to be tell me something i’ll believe.

Story You Were Nervous to Post:

guiding our ship around this hellish shoal, for one; I remember I asked on tumblr if people would be okay with me posting a Suits fic because I didn’t know the community dynamics and I didn’t want to intrude. But nervous because of the fic content? Definitely the artifice of bluebirds in the snow. That’s another one I actually reread a lot, but god I was so nervous to post it at first.

How Do You Pick Your Titles:

I used to be very heavy on the “song lyrics” method, but having finally broken the habit, I tend to look for phrases I like and then adapt them, or think (usually for a very long time) of some sort of image that fits the story well and then form the title around that.

Do You Outline:

At least somewhat, yes. For extremely long stories, like the entire tell me something i’ll believe series, I write out a pretty thorough outline before I start, but it usually ends up getting changed at least a little bit as I go along; so, it’s thorough, but it’s adaptable. For shorter stories, my outlines range from “I know vaguely what’s going to happen, now let’s get started and see how this works out” to “this is exactly how this is going to go down and here are fifteen pages of extensive research on the auditing process at Harvard Law School and also every movie reference Mike and Harvey have ever made.”

So there’s a spectrum.

How Many of Your Stories are complete:

Almost all of them? I have a one-shot in progress, but I’m not sure that counts because I haven’t posted it yet. And I have a bunch of prompts, but I don’t think those count, either. Do they? I don’t think they do…

In-Progress:

The aforementioned prompts, sort of, but the only fic I have posted that’s still in progress at the moment is tell me how far it is to the end of the world.

Coming Soon:

Prompt fics! That one-shot I mentioned is coming along (it’s fluffy and silly and kind of nostalgic), and I’ve been mapping out another of the prompts (much less fluffy); then I’ve got two other recent prompts I haven’t really started thinking seriously about yet, plus a backlog of old prompts when those run out.

Do You Accept Prompts:

I do! But I always have to say that while I’ll accept them whenever people want to deliver them, and I don’t forget about prompts I’ve been given, I cannot guarantee that they’ll be written in a timely manner; real life does take precedence, unfortunately, and some prompts are just harder for me than others and take longer.

Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For:

Uh. I’m excited for tell me something i’ll believe to be finished, does that count? I guess not; but I’m really not sure! Maybe the non-fluffy fic I mentioned before? But actually I’ve got a really old prompt in my inbox that keeps nagging at me, so that one might get moved up the line a bit…

Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer These Questions

@thesightlesssniper​ @snjeguljica33 @yerwizardharry @loyalty2waystreet @winterhasbeencoming

[magicmanias]

American Sweethearts

Pairing: Steve Rogers × Reader 

Summary: The Avengers take road trip. Meanwhile, Steve tries his hardest to convince himself that he’s only friends with you.

Warnings: Fluff, Slight Angst, Smut!

Word Count: 4.5k (Wow)

A/N: This is my first time doing smut, so let’s hope it’s not shitty...

Post Age of Ultron (Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Sam, Vision, Wanda, Rhodey, Bucky, Peter, Thor, Bruce, Y/N)

“Ok ok... Do we have everything?” You placed your backpack on the bed and carefully sifted through it. Hunting knife, rope, water, matches, food, first aid kit, towels, batteries, charger...

Everything is in there. You looked in your duffel bag; shoes, clothes, brush, earbuds, contacts, toothbrush, jackets, soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

You grabbed your things and went downstairs.

The Avengers had planned a camping trip in the woods in upstate Montana. Everyone was going: Tony, Steve, Natasha, Thor, Bruce, Sam, Vision, Bucky, Wanda, and Peter was tagging along.

“Roll call!” Tony yelled, putting an emphasis on ‘call.’ As he called each person, they went and placed their things in the large van Tony had bought specially for this occasion. When Tony called your name, you went ahead and put your things in and closed the trunk.

“Hey, squirt!” Clint messed with your hair and gave you a big bear hug. “I’ve missed you.”

“Aw, I miss you too, chicken-hawk,” you hugged him back. Clint had been away with his family for a while and you didn’t get much of a chance to formally greet him when Ultron attacked.

“Where’s Steve?” you asked. You looked around but saw him nowhere.

“Relax, sweetheart. He’s just finishing taking a shower. He went on a run. You don’t need to miss him that much,” Nat winked at you. You rolled your eyes, though your cheeks slightly flushed pink.

Tony slipped into the driver’s seat and despite everyone’s protest, he let Peter sit shotgun.

“This is BS, Stark!” Sam yelled as he took his seat in the third row of the van. “The kid gets the front with all the room and we gotta sit back here all cooped up?”

Tony shot up and placed his hands on Peter’s ears. “Relax, Big Bird. I just don’t want to lose the kid. His aunt’ll kill me,” he muttered. Peter gave his trademark look of confusion.

After the driver’s seat, there were four rows. Clint, Sam, and Nat sat in the back. Rhodey, Bruce, Thor sat in the third row. Wanda and Vision sat in the middle. And you, Steve, and Bucky sat in the front. Bucky went in the car first, followed by Steve, who insisted on taking the middle seat, and finally you.

“All aboard? Let’s go!” Tony put his foot on the gas and began to drive away from the compound.

—

Steve couldn’t stay still. As a soldier, he was used to staying completely motionless in cramped places for long periods of time. But that wasn’t the case now. His right leg bounced up and down, a nervous tick which Steve always had, ever since he was a scrawny little kid in Brooklyn. Bucky seemed to notice Steve bouncing his leg, but didn’t question it. He already knew it was because of the woman sitting across from him. Steve wasn’t nervous, however. He wasn’t scared either. No, scared was moments before the big fight to save the world. But this? This was terror. True, utter, horrifying terror. Though you couldn’t see it on his face, his heart rate soared and the butterflies in his stomach might as well have exploded. All because he was in the closest proximity he had ever been with Y/N. With the woman he could never stop thinking about. The woman he lived for. The woman he’d give up everything for.

The woman he loved so much that it hurt him in the cruellest ways possible.

Bucky watched as Steve gushed over at you. Your gaze was directed at the scene laid out behind the car’s windows. You plugged your earbuds in and played your Oldies playlist. Bucky rolled his eyes and elbowed Steve.

Steve gripped his arm and frowned at Bucky, mainly because he had been caught.

“Just talk to her,” Bucky whispered, not wanting the attention of the whole car.

“She’s listening to music,” Steve defended. He needed to find every excuse not to talk to you. Or more specifically, not to humiliate himself in front of you.

“She’d rather talk to you,” Bucky raised an eyebrow at Steve. He changed his seating to turn to Steve. “Look, punk. You’re not good with women. We know. But she likes you. A lot. So it doesn’t matter if you screw up. She’ll like you anyway. Just ask her out.”

“What? In the car? With Tony here? I don’t think so.” Steve chuckled lightly.

“I heard my name,” Tony called out behind him. “It better be about how great I look in these hiking boots.”

Bucky ignored Tony. ”I'll give you until the end of this trip. If you don't ask her out by then, I'm going to tell her myself and I'm going to pound you like the little punk you are.”

“Hey, I'm just as strong as you now.”

“Maybe, but I'm older.”

“Buck, we're both over a hundred years old by now. Age doesn't really matter at this point.”

“That's coming from the younger one.” Bucky winked at Steve.

Steve just rolled his eyes, ending his conversation with Bucky. He looked out of the window to his left—the window on your side. He tried to look at the forests of upstate New York, but found that his focus always returned to the girl leaning the car door, probably listening to Sinatra or Bennet.

You placed your chin in your hand and started to softly sing the next song.

“Daisy is darling, Iris is sweet, Lily is lovely, Blossom’s a treat…” you mumbled along to the song.

“Of all the sweethearts, a guy could meet… Well I finally chose an American Beauty Rose…” You popped your head up to look at Steve. You had instantly recognized Steve’s voice. It was almost as if your very being could detect his present actions. He hadn’t even realized that he continued to sing along with you.

You took your earbuds out and grinned at him. “You know that song?”

“I’m from the forties, doll,” Steve shrugged. “I know every Sinatra song. And American Beauty Rose just happens to be one of them.”

“Well, that is coming from ‘America’s Sweetheart Hero,’” you made quotations with your hands, finished with a cheesy salute. “I mean, the whole country is practically in love with you.”

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not perfect, Y/N.”

“No one is,” you agreed. “You’re less flawed than others, but you do still have flaws.”

“Oh? And what might those be?” He lifted an eyebrow at you as if he were challenging you. And you wouldn’t say no to a challenge against Captain America.

“Well to start, you’re incredibly handsome,” you teased. Steve looked down and blushed. “I mean, come on, now Clint has low self-esteem.”

“Hey!” Clint yelled from the back of the car. “I am perfectly fine with how I look.”

“Yeah, whatever Barton. Remember when you had that mohawk?” you shot back, turning your back to face the back of the car.

“That happened like seven years ago, man! And you’re still bringing it up?”

“Hey, you’re the one who had the awful haircut,” you shrugged, smirking. Steve felt a small pang of jealousy over the friendship you had with Clint. You always joked around with him and you were the closest with him. He watched at your eyes crinkled at Clint. You never looked at him the way you did with Clint.

She’s never going to look at me the way she does with him. I’m just her friend… Steve, you’re just her friend, he thought.

You turned back to him. “Don’t think I’m done with you, Steven Grant Rogers.”

“How do you know my middle name?”

“That’s beside the point. I have more flaws to point out. Like for one, you run too fast.” You looked at your hands in fake frustration. “I mean, what are you, the Flash?”

“That’s not really a flaw, doll,” Steve said. “And the handsome thing isn’t either.”

“Ok… fine. Um… You haven’t watched Star Wars yet,” you pointed out. “Everyone’s watched Star Wars.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll give that to you. I haven’t yet.”

“What’s Star Wars?” Bucky asked. Sam’s eyes widened.

“You don’t know what Star Wars is?”

—

Five hours and one Bucky vs. Sam fight later (Natasha intervened and won), it was getting pretty late, and you had finished rereading your book. So, you decided to try and get some sleep. Most of the Avengers were already knocked out; even Tony, who was now letting FRIDAY take the wheel.

You leaned against the side of the car, but it was uncomfortable. You shifted to try and find a better position but didn't work. You glanced over at the others to see what position they were in for inspiration but found that they were all sprawled over each other. Of course, you couldn't copy them—Steve was next to you.

Steve. He looked so peaceful when he slept. You knew he was a light sleeper and you didn't want to wake him up, you went back to trying to sleep on the door.

Steve stirred. He heard shifting. He cracked his eyes open slightly and peeked over at you. You were trying to sleep in the car. It was probably the cutest thing Steve had ever seen. The pout on your face was prominent at you tried to move the seat belt away from your cheek.

“Hey.” You jumped at the sound of his quiet, raspy voice.

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you up? I didn't mean to. I know you're a light sleeper and—”

“It's ok, doll,” Steve interrupted, a smile on his face.” Can't sleep?”

“Uh, yeah. This damn car is uncomfortable. You'd think Tony would have invented a car you can sleep in by now.”

“You can sleep on my shoulder,” he said quickly. He bit his bottom lip in embarrassment. You brought your hand up to your face to cover your hot cheeks.

“Or—you don't have to. I was just offering if you wanted—”

“Can I?” It was your turn to interrupt. You gave him a meek smile to encourage him.

“Yeah,” he breathed out. The smile you gave him nearly knocked him out. He swallowed. If he could barely handle a smile, how could he survive a whole weekend with you?

Slowly, you turned to place your head on Steve's shoulder. You could feel Steve tense at your touch. You muttered a small ‘thank you’ before closing your eyes.

Steve had always believed in a heaven, but now he knew what it felt like. It was you by his side. He couldn't sleep anymore. All he could do was watch your even breaths and soft mewls you made in your sleep.

Steve snapped out of his thoughts. What was he doing? You’re just her friend, Steve. Just a friend.

—

You woke up to yelling the next morning.

“Tony! Just park the damn car!” Sam yelled.

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Come on, Stark,” Thor continued. “We want to stop at the strawberry farm!”

“The strawberry farm?” You rubbed the sleep from your eyes. Hesitantly, you lifted your head from Steve’s shoulder.

“Hey sleepy,” Steve said softly. “We were just uh… debating on whether or not to stop by a strawberry farm.”

“Why are we debating about it? It’s a strawberry farm.” You immediately forgot about your interrupted sleep. “Let’s go!”

“We would, but Stark here refuses,” Natasha said.

“Look, Pepper is allergic to strawberries and if I bring home strawberries to her one more time, she’ll probably leave me,” Tony defended.

“Tony! Park. The damn. Car,” you practically growled.

Tony parked the car and everyone got out. You ran out to the farm and quickly got a basket to pick some strawberries.

Steve laughed at you as you ran through the field. Everyone was excited, but no one was as excited as you. He imagined himself running with you and feeding you strawberries. Friends can do that, right?

“Fuck it, I’m getting some strawberries. I’ll just eat ‘em by myself,” Tony said as he handed the farmer twenty dollars. “We can eat them on the ride.”

Everyone picked a basket of strawberries and already began to sit down and eat them. Peter and Wanda played with the farmer’s puppies.

“Hey, we should probably get back on the road. Can someone get Y/N?” Wanda asked.

“I got it,” Steve volunteered, a little too quickly. The rest of the Avengers went back to the car and waited. Steve began to go back into the field to chase you down.

“Y/N! Y/N, we’re leaving now.”

“Oh, ok. I’m coming,” you called over. You pick a couple more strawberries before starting to run over to Steve.

“Ah!” You tripped over a rock and fell. Before you hit the ground, you felt an arm swing around your waist.

Steve stayed quiet as he lifted you up and placed you back on your feet. He handed you back your basket. You bit your lip in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. I’m such a clutz,” you gave him a weak laugh.

“It’s ok. I um… We should get back.”

What was he about to say?

—

One more day and a lot of pee breaks later, you were finally at the campsite in Montana. You all trudged into the forest and finally, you found a good spot to set up.

“Ok, now we can fit two people in each tent. Everyone partner up!” Tony yelled.

Wanda partnered with Vision, Nat went with Bruce, Thor went with Clint, Rhodey went with Tony (they let Peter join them because Tony brought a really big tent for himself). Steve was about to go up to Bucky and ask if wanted to bunk together, but before he could, Sam snatched him up.

“Buck? I thought you hated Sam,” Steve asked, confused.

“Nah, it’s fine. We just bicker. Plus, guess who you’re stuck with now.” Bucky winked at him before picking up his tent and leaving with Sam.

Steve’s eyes widened in realization. He quickly turned around to see you, smiling awkwardly and nervously at him. You felt anxious. You didn’t want to ask him to share a tent with you! Would he even want to?

Steve approached you. “Hey, doll. Guess we’re stuck together, huh?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I guess all the couples kind of stuck together and I’m surprised Bucky and Sam are together. You don’t have to share with me if you don’t want to bu—”

“Woah, doll. Slow down,” he chuckled. “I’m happy to share with you.” You blushed heavily at him and just hoped he didn’t notice.

Steve tried to ignore the blush on your cheeks but it made his heart clench. He could get through this. He could get through this.

A few camp songs and a ton of s’mores later, it was getting late once again. The Avengers retired to their tents to get some sleep.

Steve walked into his tent to find you there.

“Um, where should I change?” you squeaked.

“Oh, uh. You can change here. I’ll just walk out.” Steve’s voice almost cracked at your question. He avoided thinking about it and walked out of the tent.

When you were done, he walked back in and he tried to quell his reaction. You were wearing tiny pajama shorts with an almost see-through white tank top. He could see your nipples poke through your shirt, even though you tried to cover it with your hair. It didn’t work. He swallowed and averted his gaze.

“Er, are you going to change too?” you asked. You shifted your feet awkwardly.

“Oh, yeah. But you can stay. I don’t want you to have to put your shoes on to go outside,” Steve answered.

“Ok,” you managed to answer. It came out merely above a whisper. You turned around to face the wall of the tent so Steve could change. You were in the same area of confined space with the person you had a massive crush on while he changed. Great.

Eventually, you turned back around to see Steve in loose sweatpants and no shirt. You had to bite your lip again just to keep yourself from letting out a moan. He looked so good. You imagined what it would be like if he took you right in the forest.

“Sorry, I usually sleep without a shirt. But I can put one on,” Steve blurted out, snapping you out of your dirty thoughts.

“Huh? Oh no, it’s ok!” you said quickly. “If that’s how you normally sleep, then feel free. It’s perfectly fine.”

Suddenly, you shivered as you realized just how cold it was without your sweatshirt.

“I should have brought warmer pajamas,” you muttered.

“If you’re cold, you can um...you can share my sleeping bag with me. It can fit both of us. You don’t have to. Only if you’re comfortable.” Steve realized how dumb that sounded and began to suggest another option. “Or maybe Tony has some more blankets.”

“Could I sleep with you?” you asked him quietly. You played with the hem of your shirt. A nervous habit which Steve had noticed a while ago. He loved your little nervous habits.

“Yeah,” he breathed out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He sat back down into his sleeping bag and you climbed in with him. He scooted as far away from you as possible to avoid making you uncomfortable. But much to his disbelief, you snuggled up into his chest, making contact with him as much as possible.

You were so cold, you tried to take all of Steve’s heat. You just hoped he was ok with it.

Steve almost sighed at the feeling of having you so close to him. Sure, he’d hugged you before, but having you close like this, was something completely different. He felt himself harden at the feeling of you rubbing up against him to gain friction to heat yourself up. In the process, you had accidentally rubbed your leg against him and he had to suppress a moan.

Soon, you fell asleep in Steve's arms and he fell asleep with his face covered in your hair.

—

“Up and at ‘em crew!”

You jumped at Sam's voice. Everyone got up from their tents. Nat, Clint, Bucky, Vision, Thor and Rhodey were out in a couple of seconds. The others took a little longer, including you and Steve.

You were hesitant to leave his arms, but you would have to get up at some point.

You didn't really know what to say to him, so you remained silent while you both changed, your backs turned.

You walked out of the tent with Steve to see the group standing around.

“You took a long time to get ready,” Wanda whispered to you. “Any reason?”

“Um no?” you mumbled, playing with the buttons on your flannel.

Wanda didn't say anything in response but you saw the suspicion is her eyes. She gave you a light pat on your shoulder and turned her attention to Vision.

“Everybody got everything?” Bucky asked.

“Alright let's go!” Clint yelled.

They decided to go on a hike through the forest, walk up part of the mountain nearby, and finally end up at a waterfall that dumped into a lake.

After a couple of hours, you made it to the cliffside pathway of the mountain.

You took your camera out to take pictures of the group. Your favourite one was of Steve and Bucky looking at the view.

“I see the lake waterfall!” Bruce said. Peter, Thor, and Clint ran ahead of the group to see the large lake.

Finally, the Avengers arrived to the large lake. They set up the things they brought and sat to enjoy the view.

Bruce and Clint taught Thor and Peter how to fish, Rhodey tried to pry Tony’s tech away from him, Bucky, Steve, and Vision began to make a fire, and you, Wanda, and Nat started to take a walk around the lake.

“So, Steve huh?” Nat asked you, raising an eyebrow.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” you asked, trying to keep your composure.

“We know you like him,” Wanda explained.

“Well I— I don't… I mean I…” you sighed. “Was it that obvious?”

“Only to us,” Nat reassured. “Steve, on the other hand, is totally blowing his cover?”

“What do you mean?”

“He likes you too. He's so bad at covering it up,” Wanda laughed.

“You should tell him you like him,” Nat urged, giving you a slight nudge.

“What? No! I can't tell him. He-He doesn't like me like that. We're friends.”

“Are you kidding? Rogers is practically in love with you, Y/N,” Nat scoffed.

“The way he looks at you… isn't the way someone looks at a friend,” Wanda stopped walking to look at you. She looked serious. “Believe me, Y/N. He loves you.”

—

The sun started to set and the Avengers began to settle down by the fire. But you couldn't sit down. You were filled with anxiety.

Did Steve really love you? Did he really look at you the way Wanda said he did?

You needed to clear your head. You decided to go for a swim. It was dark, so you stripped out of your clothes, leaving just your bra and panties on, behind a rock near the waterfall and jumped into the cold water.

You swam underneath the waterfall to have some time to yourself and think things over. There was a large opening made of stone in the cliff behind the waterfall.

You sat down facing the waterfall and placed your head in your hands.

“Y/N.” You heard someone moan your name.

You yelped and stood up. It was Steve. Bare naked. And masturbating. To you. You gasped and turned around. You blushed profusely.

“Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here,” you apologized. You suddenly realized how little you were wearing as well and your blush grew.

“Oh God, I'm so sorry Y/N. I didn't mean for you to see… Um. You can turn around now. I put some pants on,” Steve said nervously. You slowly turned around with your hands trying to cover yourself. He gave you a weak smile.

“Sorry,” he said again.

“I-It's ok. I mean I just heard my name so I looked behind me and… ” you stuttered.

“I'm so sorry. This is really embarrassing. I didn't um…”

“Steve?”

“Yeah?” He placed his hand on the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Do you like me?” You walked closer to him. You felt yourself grow wet.

“I-I uh…” He sighed in defeat. “Y/N, I'm in love with you.”

“You-You are?” You felt your breath hitch.

He nodded slightly in reply, still avoiding your gaze.

You closed the space in between the two of you and he looked down at you.

“I love you too, Steve,” you breathed.

He met your eyes with his in surprise. “You do?”

You nodded and smiled.

Steve couldn’t believe it. You loved him? You were in love with him… Before thinking, Steve grabbed your face and kissed you. It was hungry—like he had been starved of you. His hands grabbed both sides of your face. It grew more and more heated. His hands lowered to your hips and he began moving you to the wall of the stone cliff. Your back hit the wall and you broke off the kiss.

“I want you,” you cooed. You rubbed your hips against him to gain some friction. He moaned, nut held your hips firm and closed his eyes shut.

He opened his eyes and looked deep into yours. “Are you sure you want this?”

“Yes, God yes. Steve, I want you.” You started to unbuckle his pants and pulled them down, releasing his hard cock. You moaned at the sight. You started to lower yourself to have a taste, but Steve stopped you.

“You first, princess.” He unclasped your bra and moved your panties to the side. He stuck a finger into your dripping pussy.

“You’re so wet.” You whimpered at his touch, but you craved more. “Steve please,” you begged. “I need you so much.”

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” Steve whispered. “Now that I have you, I’m taking my time.” He took his finger out of you and you sighed at the loss. You gasped when you left his tongue lick a stripe along your clit.

“Oh God, Steve,” you moaned. He continued to lick your clit. He stuck two fingers in your cunt and began to move them in and out. You were a moaning mess. “Oh… Yes. Oh my god, Steve. Steve!”

You felt yourself reaching your high when Steve removed his fingers once again and stood up. You were about to protest when Steve crashed his lips onto yours. You moaned his mouth. He tugged at your panties and ripped them off of you before tossing them to the side. You felt the tip of his cock poke into your opening.

“Are you ready for me, doll?”

“Yes, Steve. I need you so bad,” you moaned against his mouth.

Slowly, he sheathed himself inside of you. He grunted and suppressed a moan. “God, you’re so tight.”

Eventually, you moved your hips to tell him you were ready for him to start moving. He began to slowly thrust into you, pushing you further into the wall. “Y/N, God, I love you so much,” he grunted. You shifted your hips slightly, which caused him to let out a moan.

He started to thrust into you faster. You continued to moan and buried your nose into his shoulder. You felt your high coming again. “Steve,” you whimpered. “I-I gonna cum!”

“Me too, doll,” he grunted. He brought his hand to your clit and began to rub it quickly. You let out a loud moan. “Come on, doll. Cum for me.”

“Oh, oh Steve! Oh God! Steve,” you moaned as your pussy throbbed and you came over his cock. Steve was close behind as he let go inside your pussy, his cum filling you up.

“That was so much better than I ever imagined it,” you breathed as you came down from your high.

“You imagined it?” Steve asked, smiling at you.

“Maybe…” you mumbled, hiding your face in his chest.

“Y/N?” Steve said softly, brushing a hand through your hair.

You hummed in response.

“I meant what I said,” he continued. “I love you.”

“I did too,” you said, looking up at his bright blue eyes. “I love you.”

Steve kissed you again, softer and more affectionate this time.

“Maybe we should get back to the group. We’re probably leaving now,” Steve said. You began to pick up your clothes.

“Maybe we can have a round two in the tent,” you suggested, putting your bra on.

“If you can stay quiet while I fill you up again,” Steve said. You bit your lip to hide your moan.

“Come on. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can get to it. We do share a tent after all.”

Tag List: @crist1216 @mylittlefandomfanfictions @winenighthoe  @denzmallows