#like yes i am fluent and good at 3 languages but

[hanarchy]

me, looking at beginner language lessons for french, a language i speak and have been fluent in and used (mostly) correctly for 2 decades:

huh, so thats how that works?

[bookwyrminspiration]

fervently hoping my Spanish is good enough I can learn another language being instructed in it ough I’m. real nervous for Tuesday wish me well </3

[spencerlicious]

could i request emily x polyglot!reader? someone finds out r can speak multiple languages, so naturally derek challenges her and em to see who can speak the most languages

so emily and r get into a language competition (?) and the 2 make a bet of whoever wins, gets a special prize from the loser *wink wonk* pls? it starts with innocent foreign banyer then ends up gettin dirtier if that makes sense? top!em pls 😊

thank u for reading, if ur not comfortable its all good! :D

hi anon!! thank you for the request <3 this is a super good idea, i was very excited to write it. it kind of morphed from your request a bit, but the main idea is still there. i do want to specify that i am by no means fluent or even proficient in any of the languages used in this fic (besides english 😭) because let’s be real— 4 years of spanish did *not* stick with me, so i used quite a bit of google translate. you might want to keep it handy too! i hope you enjoy :)

p.s. this is my first fic in a very very long time, please be kind <3

love language

emily prentiss x fem!reader

rating: 18+ MDNI

warnings: smut, cursing, oral (r receiving), fingering, dom!emily, i think that’s it?

w.c.: 1.3k

It was a long day for the members of the BAU. Back-to-back-to-back cases on short amounts of sleep were starting to wear on the team, and it didn’t help that the current case was stumping them.

“Oh, look at this, guys,” Morgan says, showing a picture from the newest crime scene. “Looks like there’s some writing in another language.”

You drop your head into your hands, taking a deep breath as you try to reset yourself and focus on the case.

“Looks like French, where’s Emily?” JJ asks.

You study the picture for a second before speaking up. “Dire la vérité— tell the truth.”

Morgan’s eyes cut to you. “Y/N, you speak French? And really, where is Prentiss?”

You’re about to respond as the door opens and Emily walks in from the bathroom. “Emily, did you know Y/N speaks French?”

Her face is surprised. “Huh. I didn’t. What else are you keeping from us?” She jokes.

Your eyebrows raise and you smile. “I speak a little bit more than French,” you say, not wanting to brag.

“What other languages do you speak?” Reid asks curiously.

“Well, French, and also Spanish, German, and Italian. Mostly Romance languages,” you say.

“Here’s a challenge,” Derek says. “Which one of you can speak in a different language for the longest?”

“¿Cómo no sabía que eras políglota?” Emily asks, effectively starting the competition.

“Nunca surgió en la conversación,” you respond plainly.

She laughs. “¡Podríamos haber estado teniendo conversaciones secretas todo este tiempo!”

“¿Qué tipo de conversaciones secretas te gustaría tener, Prentiss?” You say, raising an eyebrow.

She blushes slightly, flustered. She switches to French, trying to keep you on your toes. “Eh bien, je ne sais pas. Des trucs qu'on ne veut pas que Morgan écoute.” Her eyes flit to Morgan’s as she mentions him and he looks confused.

“What are the two of you talking about? And what are you saying about me?” He asks, looking between you and Emily.

You let out a small chuckle. “Tu ne veux juste pas que Derek m'entende te traiter de jolie et qu'il devienne jaloux, hmm?”

“This is all well and good, but shouldn’t we be getting back to the case?” Reid interjects.

“Yes, definitely,” you say, straightening your hair and pulling yourself back into focus mode.

After some more discussion on the use of a foreign language at the crime scene, the team decides to break for lunch. You take a quick trip to the bathroom and end up washing your hands at the same time as Emily.

“So, what was that?” She asks.

You’re caught off guard. “What was what?”

“You think I’m pretty,” she replies. “You told me I’m pretty in French. What was that about?”

You stammer a bit. “Well, I do think you’re pretty, Emily. I think you’re beautiful,” you admit.

“It’s interesting,” she says, stepping closer to you and placing a hand on your waist. “You speak three romance languages, and while it’s not the same meaning, you picked the most romantic language to compliment me in. Even if I couldn’t tell from the long glances and the way your heart is pounding right now, that alone would’ve told me what I’m pretty sure I know,” she finishes, looking you dead in the eyes.

Her hand is heavy on your waist and your mind is racing. “And what do you know?”

Emily’s other hand trails from your shoulder to your jaw and pulls your chin up so you’re forced to look in her eyes. “You have feelings for me,” she states.

You hold her gaze for a second. “I hate profilers.” There’s a noticeable tension between the two of you before Emily smirks at you. You feel yourself inching closer to her and then you’re pressing your lips to hers. She reciprocates the kiss without hesitation, and you feel her hands pull you in by your hips.

The kiss gets broken and Emily rests her forehead on yours as you catch your breath. Your eyes meet and you share a smile. “Embrasse-moi encore, s'il te plaît,” you say softly.

“Oui chérie,” she replies, already leaning into kiss you again. Her lips meet yours in a passionate kiss and she pushes you up against the door of the bathroom. She flips the lock of the door. Emily doesn’t want anyone interrupting.

Emily’s breath was warm against your neck as she kissed the tender skin. Pulling the collar of your shirt aside, she sucks a deep purple mark into your collar bone, drawing soft whines from you. “Shhh baby, don’t want the others to hear you, right?” She says, kissing the skin she marked soothingly.

She switches languages again and whispers in your ear. “¿Que quieres, hermosa?”

You meet her eyes and can feel the lust practically radiating off of Emily. “Want you to touch me,” you respond.

Within seconds, she’s on the floor in front of you, unzipping your slacks. Her fingers trace you through your panties. “You’re soaked, baby,” she says.

“For you,” you say, bracing your hands on the wall behind you as she teases you.

Emily pulls your panties down and rests your leg on her shoulder as her fingers find your clit. It’s almost electric, the way she rubs tight circles into the bundle of nerves. “Emily,” you moan out her name.

Her ministrations stop, causing you to whine out again at the loss of contact. “What did I tell you? Not a sound, or I’ll stop completely.”

You nod, covering your mouth with one hand as Emily runs her tongue through your wet cunt. She groans at the taste. “You’re fucking delicious,” she says, voice deep and dripping with arousal. It’s nearly impossible to stay quiet as her lips close around your clit, teeth gently scraping, making your legs tremble.

Your hands find a home tangled in Emily’s hair as you hold her face close. Her tongue slides back from your clit to your entrance. Your teeth clamp down against your lower lip as Emily’s tongue plunges inside of you. Her face is wet with your slick as she tongue fucks you, the sight alone bringing you close to the edge.

Emily then licks back through your cunt, sucking on your clit as she pushes a finger inside of you. Clouded in pleasure, you can’t focus on anything except the need to cum as she adds another finger and your walls are clenching around her. “Squeezing me so good baby, you want to cum?” she asks.

Your head nods frantically. “Yes— please, wanna cum,” you say breathily.

Emily curls her fingers up to press against that spongy spot inside of you. “Cum for me,” she commands, returning to suck at your clit as she hits your G-spot over and over again.

Your body shakes as she sends you over the edge of your orgasm. Her name is falling from your lips in a quiet whisper as you soak her fingers and face.

“You did so good for me,” she says, standing up and kissing your temple.

Catching your breath feels difficult, but you begin to fix your clothes and look presentable.

“Это было так хорошо, озорная девчонка,” Emily says, fixing her lipstick in the bathroom mirror.

“You may have just rocked my world, Prentiss, but I did not gain the ability to speak Russian,” you laugh.

The two of you make eye contact in the mirror, which starts you both up laughing, when a knock sounds from the door. You freeze, flushing in embarrassment.

Emily unlocks the bathroom door, opens it, and finds an impatient JJ awaiting you. “What are the two of you doing? We have an unsub to catch,” she says, turning around and heading back to the rest of the team.

Emily throws you a wink and follows after JJ.

You’re pretty positive this isn’t going to be a one-time thing.

[chrisevansonly]

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬 𝐄́𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐚 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜

ʚ charles leclerc x female reader

ʚ there is nothing your daughter loves more than the stars, charles makes sure she gets to see them every night

ʚ no warnings, just very sweet dad!charles and fluffy:)

ʚ i feel like this might be sloppy but here is a little dad!charles blurb, im in a writing mood so you might see a few things come out soon<3

“Papa, regarde combien d'étoiles!!”

Charles smiled at the excitement behind his daughter Alia’s voice, she absolutely loved the stars. Every night he would set up your balcony with blankets and pillows, making it perfect for you and your daughter to stargaze.

“Oui mon petit ange, c’est très beau”

You looked over at the two of them, Alia was resting her head on Charles’s chest, her eyes watching the sky as she pointed to different constellations

“Maman are you looking too?” Alia smiled, sending you a glance

“Of course I am baby, there are lots of starts tonight aren’t there?”

“Yes!! Do you see the big dipper?”

Charles laughed, he never understood how she got so good with the constellations in the sky

“No, show me love”

Alia was quick to move over to where you were within the mountain of blankets, giving Charles the opportunity to scoot closer to you so the three of you could cuddle up together

“Okay maman regarde ça”

She pointed a little finger into the sky, pointing out a series of stars before settling on the big dipper

“Tu vois, ça ressemble à une cuillère, c'est comme ça que tu sais”

“Oui, je vois bébé”

Your french wasn’t totally fluent yet, but Alia and Charles spoke mostly in french which helped you as well to get better with the language. Though your husband did remind your little girl sometimes to speak in english to you, just to give your brain a little break.

Even though you never complained.

“Quel est ton préfère?”

“Um….”

Alia thought about it for a second, her head resting in her hands

“Cass-uh cassei-papa je besoin d’aide…”

Charles smiled kissing her cheek softly

“Cassiopeia, c’est celui la n’est ce-pas bébé?”

“Oui!! C’est ça papa!!”

A smile spread on your face watching the excitement fill her eyes as her father had helped her figure out the name of the constellation. It truly was moments like these that were your favourite, watching Alia begin to talk more about the stars, her eyes never leaving the sky, even as you leaned over and pressed a kiss to Charles’s cheek.

“You are the world’s best dad..thank you for making her so happy”

You watched as a blush spread on his cheeks before he placed his lips on yours, kissing you softly

“You two are my whole world, I love you more than you know”

“We love you too, so much my love”

There really wasn’t anywhere else in the world you’d rather be than right here, cuddled up amongst the blankets listening to your baby girl spew all her knowledge on the stars. She was yours and Charles’s whole universe, no amount of starts or constellations could ever equate to the love you both had for her.

Alia truly was the greatest gift to happen to your family and no night sky, would ever beat that.

[aphroditesswan]

Guess who's backkkk! Me ofc <3

New request! :)

This request is idk probably weird! But ur my favorite! Can I ask for a reader who speaks another language but Is fluent in English. (I speak Spanish) and for example reader is speaking English but mixes it up with there other native language? Like I speak Spanglish (mix between Spanish and English) I hope you understand what I'm saying 🙁

But with danganronpa characters! (I'm a multifandom person) with kokichi and other characters u love! Can be either female or male characters! Have a nice dayyyy <3

déjate llevar 

danganronpa v3 characters x gn! reader 

warnings: translator spanish, kokichi. 

summary: your native language slips a bit while with your classmates 

genre: fluff, crack 

notes: i’m a no sabo kid so please excuse the terrible translator spanish 🙏  also these r the v3 characters that i actually like so like,, there’s not a lot. 

requested: yes! by my fav requester no less

kaede 

oh she is on you about it, but not in a bad way. she listens intently to anything you’re saying, thinking maybe she can get kiibo to translate it later. she ultimately fails, simply forgetting how exactly you said it and gets the weirdest translation ever and ends up almost malfunctioning kiibo. 

“whhhat are you doing?” you had asked, walking in on a very confused kiibo and a disappointed kaede. “oh uhm,, i was asking kiibo about something that uhm, i heard earlier!” “translation,, my chicken smacked it’s nightlight in the face.” upon hearing kiibo, you realize two things. 1. kaede was trying to translate something you had said 2. she was absolutely terrible at spanish pronunciation. 

shuichi 

he’s curious, that’s for sure, but he doesn’t exactly know how to ask you what you had said. he thinks that either you’d think he was dumb or you’d blatantly ignore him. oh the over thinker you are, saihara. like maki, he’s writing down everything you say that he wants to know, except he has no plans of talking to you about it. if he doesn’t have a pen and paper, it’s a mental note in his mind and thank the gods he’s infinitely better at spelling and pronunciation than kaede. 

“whatcha writing, shuichi? i’m curious.” you’d said, and yet again another thing he’d have to write down. “it’s nothing, don’t worry. just a couple of notes.” he had written down your latest phrase, taking the sticky note off and folding it, putting it in his pocket for later. “really? i could help you know-“ “no! i mean,, i appreciate it, i really do, but i don’t need any help, really.” “you sure?” “of course, no worries.” you then smile at him, shrugging and going back to your original task which required you to leave the room for just a bit. he sighed, slumping his shoulders in defeat. stupid shuichi, that could’ve been his chance to ask about phrases. his pockets are filled with folded up sticky notes of the things you say, and now he’ll have to search through an outdated dictionary for answers. good luck with that, saihara. 

maki 

immediately thinks that whatever you said, it was some sort of code. she’d glare at you from wherever she was, leaving poor you to question what the hell you did wrong. you wouldn’t know she was following you and listening to every small thing you said in your native language until you were alone and turned around from looking at something in your lab, seeing maki less than a foot in front of you. 

“ah- maki, what did you need? i didn’t even hear you come in…” you put down the item you had on a nearby desk, trying to back up a bit. “this. what do they mean?” she presented a notebook to you, listing all the spanish phrases you’d said out of instinct in the last couple hours. “ohhh… well for instance that first one means ‘i am surrounded by imbeciles.’ if that helps you.” you smile a bit, already catching onto the fact she thought it was something dangerous and thinking it was just a bit entertaining. 

kokichi 

somehow fucking knows spanish. and he’s listening for it too, already discerning from the slightest slip of an accent, that nobody else had noticed, that english most certainly wasn’t your first language much less japanese. 

“no puedes hablar en serio. te juro que me pones de los nervios más que nadie aquí.” you’d said as kokichi bothered you with the most useless thing, and trust me he knew what he was doing, for the nth time today. “heyy, that’s not nice to say, now is it?” he’d responded back in perfect spanish, smirking to himself as he followed behind you. you hadn’t noticed until you continued cursing at him in spanish (the same way you’d later realize was much like your mother) and then you stopped dead in your tracts, slowly turning your head to the smug kokichi. “what.” he flashed you that cheshire cat smile, and you swear that if it was possible he’d have the same powers as him. “what, not in the mood to talk anymore now, are you? be careful what you say, amigoooo!” he taunted as he walked backwards and left you with your eye twitching. “kokichi! get back here!” you looked around with furrowed brows, now speed walking towards kokichi with a glare. earlier, you had said some not nice things in a moment of anger, but hopefully he didn’t remember all of them. he couldn’t have, right? either way, he can’t run from you forever, and when you catch him he is absolutely, positively done for. 

kiibo 

offers to be a translator for you. you could say the most diabolical thing on earth in spanish and he’s looking like 😦 but would still offer to translate what you said like you MEANT for somebody to actually understand you. 

“su multa como el infierno, yo personalmente sería bussing abajo sin dudarlo.” “EXCUSE ME. would you like me to translate your current sentence?” “ABSOLUTELY NOT KIIBO???” you have half a mind to shut him off just because he offered to translate it. hopefully, JUST HOPEFULLY, kokichi wasn’t around to hear that because then you’d really be in trouble, but if kiibo keeps offering to translate your deep dark secrets you say in spanish he better watch out. ricky when i catch you ricky. 

not a lot of the v3 characters interest me enough to write abt them lowk 😭

[fools-task-force]

random cod hcs #3 - roach

everyone’s favorite little bug boy, the best guy (I have been watching playthroughs and shit and I am officially hyperfixated). here are some hcs for the guy who's probably now my favorite character. also making it clear now that he’s audhd, if you disagree you’re wrong /j. but that will be influencing some of these headcanons

he definitely likes collecting rocks, especially special ones like if they’re super smooth or have some different colors. any special rock goes into his collection. his prized possession is a rock that sparkles in the light

he doesn’t have one set love language, he has two; penguin pebbling and parallel play. you know he really likes someone when he gives them a rock, the prettier/more rare the rock the more he likes the person. parallel play is usually reserved for people he’s closer to

despite what people may first think, he’s really good at masking. he did it his whole life; it’s only now that he’s in the 141 that he feels okay to unmask, after more than a few conversations about how no one would judge him for being himself. now he’s nonverbal or semiverbal almost all the time, but that doesn’t save the task force from a little chaos. he’s comfortable enough to unmask all the time now, knowing one of the others can explain if anyone new questions him

he’s fluent in many different sign languages, and can read, write, and listen/understand many languages as well. he knows how to speak most of these languages too, but not as fluently and he never really needs to. it helps whenever a translator is needed, the team always goes to Roach first

he loves that his callsign is Roach, since in his teen years he had a hyperfixation/borderline special interest on bugs/insects. however his favorite were ants, with moths being a close second because of how pretty they are

yes he loves pokemon, he has a gameboy advanced and a copy of emerald that he plays whenever he struggles with falling asleep. he also has a card collection, but hasn’t added to it in a while

he sleeps like he’s dead. there is no movement when he falls asleep; people have to actually go over and check that he’s breathing, that he has a pulse, anything to make sure he’s just asleep and hasn’t died

he can and will fall asleep anywhere on base. it’s like playing hide and seek only the hiding one fell asleep

despite what some people think, he's extremely organized. but that's because he color codes everything. if he needs to highlight, he's color coding his highlighters - each color is for a certain thing. same with sticky notes. colors are universal - red is for enemies, targets, etc, while blue is for dates, stuff like that

[nostalgebraist]

LLMs for search: the good version

I sometimes see people make the following argument:

Google search sucks now. It gives you pages and pages of SEO garbage, and it opaquely/obtusely "interprets" your query text rather than just giving you what you asked for. Other search engines aren't dramatically better.

Therefore, web search is ripe for disruption. If something came along that didn't suck, Google's dominance could easily be broken.

Therefore, "New Bing" and the like -- LLM chatbots that summarize search results to you -- are the wave of the future.

(Am I straw manning, here? I remember reading something very close to this in a blog post that got passed around early this year, but I can't find it now.

In any case, many people -- including Google management -- now believe that New Bing is a threat to Google's dominance. I don't know why people really believe this, but "people aren't satisfied with Google" is clearly one of the factors.)

----

Step 3 is an obvious non sequitur.

LLM interfaces to existing search indices don't address any of the things people hate about Google.

They don't solve the problem of SEO garbage. When I ask questions to New Bing, I usually get a digested summary of a few articles from the top Bing results for a query, which are ... SEO garbage.

Only now, they've been garbled even further by the LLM. In their current form, these systems do not adequately explain the evidential relationships between their verbal summaries and the search results, and sometimes introduce errors along the way:

We find that responses from existing generative search engines are fluent and appear informative, but frequently contain unsupported statements and inaccurate citations: on average, a mere 51.5% of generated sentences are fully supported by citations and only 74.5% of citations support their associated sentence. We believe that these results are concerningly low for systems that may serve as a primary tool for information- seeking users, especially given their facade of trustworthiness. [The average is over 4 different products. For Bing specifically, the numbers are 59% and 90% respectively. -nost] (source)

Do they address the problem of "interpreting the query"? Yes and no.

They add a new layer of interpretation: (natural-language question) is interpreted to compose (search query) is interpreted to produce (search results).

Ideally, you'd drop the interpretation in the latter step, making the pure search part more like old Google. And then, hopefully, the first step is "smarter" and less obtuse than what exists in Google now, because it uses a powerful LLM.

That's the ideal case -- I don't know if Bing actually does this, and if not, they're doing something worse.

And even in the ideal case, this just seems kind of . . . silly? The LLM is being used as a "compiler" to convert natural-language questions into search queries for "old, more-literalistic Google" or an equivalent.

But people happily used "old Google" without any assistance, for many years -- and by "people" I don't just mean tech people, I mean everyone! "Google it" became a household term long before Google search started doing the level of aggressive interpretation it does today. It was fine! In fact, people want it back!

The "ideal case" above presumes you can construct something like "old Google" for the LLM to issue queries to. But if you can do that, you've already solved the problem! The chatbot can be discarded, it's not adding anything.

Likewise for SEO spam. How could you stop Bing from just summarizing SEO spam? Well, you could either

Let it talk to a search index that's not dominated by spam

Give it some LLM-based SEO-filtering capability so it can skip the spam results

But again, if you've achieved either of these things, you've already solved the problem. At this point, adding the chatbot doesn't make it any more solved.

----

On the other hand, you could totally use LLMs to address the SEO problem, couldn't you?

Like, SEO garbage is easy to distinguish from other kinds of web pages. I'm sure modern LLMs could do a near-perfect job at sifting the two apart.

(Indeed, you don't even need a modern LLM. Much weaker ML models could probably do the job. But everyone wants to do stuff with LLMs now, so fine, let's go with that.)

So, why not just ... use this as a filter on top of search? That is,

Issue the search.

Behind the scenes, fetch the top N pages for some N, and send them (or a substring of each one) to a model, asking it to judge whether it's spam or not. The exact definition of "spam" for this purpose could be refined to taste.

Show the user a results page containing only the results the model said were OK.

(Or, better, include the bad ones behind some "...X results have been hidden..." UI element you have to click, like on twitter with replies. Or whatever. Many possibilities.)

You don't have to wait for Google or MS to do this themselves. Couldn't you do this as a browser extension or something? Is there a reason this wouldn't work?

(It would cost some money to run, but if it really worked, it seems plausible that people would value it at some price above operating costs. Or, not obviously implausible.

It would be slow, which could easily be a dealbreaker.)

Now, obviously, if this got really popular, then SEO would start adapting to it.

But that isn't a reason to dismiss the idea.

First, this would only happen if the tool got really popular, and it wouldn't be instantaneous or perfect. SEO companies are companies, with procedures and ingrained habits, and they're already trying hard to adapt to changes in the indexes themselves. Adapting simultaneously to this new threat would not necessarily be easy.

Second, this tool has an SEO-fighting advantage that the search companies don't. The search companies have to index and rank everything, and serve results to everyone at once, with all the work/costs imposed on the server and not the client. That might mean accepting lower-quality heuristics for the sake of volume.

But this tool just has to process a shorter list of results, once per query. (Even better, perhaps the results could be centrally cached and re-used across users/queries when available.) As long as Google is good enough that there's some useful items in the top N hits, for some not-too-large N, you can piggy-back on top of the work Google has already done, and solve a much smaller problem. And you can do the work at runtime, on the client / on OpenAI.

And with LLMs providing the "heuristics," SEO adaptation is not so easy. Like I said, we all know SEO garbage when we see it -- and LLMs are very good at mimicking human snap judgments like this, in a way that is stable across changes in surface-level features.

Re-jiggering the style and format of the SEO content won't trick the LLMs, for the same reason it wouldn't satisfy us. In the ideal case, the only way to trick the LLMs would be to actually increase the quality of the content, in which case, problem solved!

I don't have the skills to make this, but I'm sure someone does.

[socially-awkward-skeleton]

And a WIP Music Monday

Tagged by @thesingularityseries @direwombat @heroofshield @marivenah @aceghosts @inafieldofdaisies @g0dspeeed @cloudofbutterflies92 @voidika @simplegenius042 @carlosoliveiraa for either writing tags or music monday. Thank you all so much!! <3

Tagging: @strangefable @kyber-infinitygems @la-grosse-patate @josephseedismyfather @statichvm @clicheantagonist @amalkavian @justasmolbard @finding-comfort-in-rain @cassietrn

opt in/out for cod stuff

song first:

I am still stuck in my creative drought but at least I have a little bit of writing. Working slowly but surely on my cod prequel fic, so here's a bit from chapter 13. In this installment of WIP Wednesday, enjoy two assholes trapped in a helicopter suffering with awkward sexual tension aka just another work day for Price and Rory:

“You know Arabic, yeah? Fluent, I hope.”

“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest and adjusted her position in her seat, a grin curling the corner of her lips. “Perhaps this time I can have you saying derogatory things without your prior knowledge.”

Giving a low chuckle, he brought the cigar to his lips and took a long drag. “Now that would make things interestin’, wouldn’t it?” The smoke streamed past his lips, the orange glow burning in his eyes through the shade of his cap. “I’d prefer if we didn’t start any international incidents ‘cause you had to be a smart ass though.”

Huffing out a laugh, she pressed her head back against the rest behind her. “Fair enough. It’ll be easier just letting you blunder the pronunciation anyway.”

His brow lifted, giving her a sideways glance without turning his head, keeping her in his periphery. “You gonna keep causing me headaches?”

“No, I just think we need to agree that while Russia was where your strength lies, we’re heading into mine.”

Sucking on his cigar hanging in a clenched jaw, his brow furrowed. “You do remember I’ve fought over there myself, yeah?”

“But you didn’t spend your entire career there like me. Unless you’ve eaten goat by a fire while swapping stories with village elders in their native language, I suggest you take at least some of my judgment on things seriously. Or is it because I’m a subordinate that it’s not good enough for you?”

“S’pose it’s ‘cause you’ve slept with me,” he muttered under his breath, his face remaining serious until it cracked, giving her a teasing smirk.

Unable to help but giggle at the implication, Rory bit her lip to stifle it from growing into a full on laugh. “Okay,” she said, nodding slowly. “I see how we’re playing now.”

Price barked out a chuckle at her reaction, smugly shifting back into his seat.

“Fucking hell, you’ve become quite the comedian with me.” Her voice dropped so only he could hear it. “You get one little kiss and now all of a sudden the stoic soldier routine fades away, eh?”

“It was more than a little kiss –” He whispered as he leaned down towards her, looking up through his brow. 

They were inches from each other, eyes locked on one another. Invading her personal space, trying to remain the dominant force, Price waited there as if he were expecting her to make a move despite being strapped into a moving military vehicle. The smoke coiled around her, his breath fanning against her face. Did he really think she would just break regulation like that? She cocked her brow and sighed, pulling out her pack of cigarettes from her tactical pants and tapped the corner of it against her thigh. “I said I just wanted to work, not be a distraction.”

“You’re not.” His words came out bluntly, his features cold once more, gaze unfeeling, unreadable. Shifting back into his seat, he crossed his arms and mirrored her position beside him. Mouth drawn tight, he bit down on the cigar he'd placed between his lips, smoke billowing from his nostrils.

“Oh, I’m not?”

“No.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not. You and I have both been through the same training. A little flirting – any feelings we might have – they aren’t getting in the way of the mission.”

“Sure about that?”

“You do know you’re not the only woman I’ve ever worked with, yeah?”

She hummed, unconvinced. “Did you sleep with the others too?”

He growled softly, mumbling around his cigar, “Touche.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said confidently, slipping a cigarette out from the pack in her hand and placing it to her lips.

“I’m a professional, Sergeant. So are you,” he grumbled, “Stop trying your damn luck with me.”

The cigarette sat between her lips as she gave him a little salute with two fingers against her forehead, the lighter still held in her hand. 

“You’re trouble, goddammit.” He shook his head and settled back in his seat, gripping the shoulders of his vest once more with a heavy sigh.

Her voice was muffled as she spoke around her cigarette bouncing on its perch upon her lip. “Bet you’re really regretting Laswell’s choice now, eh?”

“Not unless you give me a reason to, darlin’,” he said, nose scrunching with annoyance. “Don’t test my bloody patience.”

Taking a drag of her cigarette, she couldn’t help but want to keep picking at him. He had tried to make her feel small a moment ago, reminding her of her weakness, of how she apparently needed him according to his evaluation. “Did you think I was suddenly going to fawn over you because you actually admitted to having feelings for me, Price?”

The little tic of his tightening tendons in his jaw was plain as day, she was playing with fire and she knew it. If there was any way to describe the Captain it was a persistent pursuit predator – of course the way he worked would bleed into his life. The man wouldn’t know romance if it bit him in the arse, wooing certainly wasn’t his style. She already expected him to keep trying to wear her down until she would eventually give in, say yes, and he would get what he wanted. Perhaps what they both wanted…but she wasn’t able to quite so readily admit that yet. 

“Would’ve been nice if you made it easy for me.”

“You’re a special forces captain, you like the challenge.”

Price brought a hand to her upper thigh, his long fingers clenching around the meat of her,  squeezing tight. “Goddamn right I do,” he said with a low chuckle.

[there-must-be-a-lock]

Writer asks -

@bittercape tagged me in this weeks ago and I’m finally doing the thing!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

215 works...

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

976,222

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Marvel and DC lately, but I’ve also written a significant amount of Supernatural and Criminal Minds.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Brains Over Beauty (SPN/CM) 

Spitting Venom (SPN/CM) 

The One With The Pottery Barn Couch (DC/Marvel) 

Quitting (SPN/CM) 

Origin Stories (SPN/CM)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Almost always.

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

I usually just do angsty endings that are on par with the angst level of the rest of the fic, I guess — I try to end with some amount of resolution or at least hope, and so I rarely think of my endings as angsty. But probably Come Haunt Me.

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

Sweet Home Was Home. The whole story was about sorta… figuring out what happened after the camera stopped rolling. And figuring out what “happily ever after” would look like for them. So it was the fic that I felt was most important for it to have a happy ending and to have a full resolution to all the emotional threads. I really love the ending — I love the way it mirrors the beginning scene, and I love how well it sums up the ways in which the characters have grown, and I think it gives them exactly the full, meaningful lives that they deserve. It’s not just a love story and the ending reflects that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not particularly.

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

Yes. So many kinds. But usually the “rough sex as catharsis” and “kink as therapy” kind.

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

Ha. Yes. They’re my favorite thing to write!

Weirdest ones were probably This Tall To Ride (Sam Winchester/Frank Iero, because that height difference is fucking hilarious), Daisies (Sam Winchester/Harry Styles on acid at Bonnaroo), and Four Super-Soldiers and Tony Stark Walk Into A Bar… (in which Slade Wilson and Soldier Boy are in the cryo tanks in Siberia).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of, but I’ve never looked.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I’m aware of.

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

Yes! Marshmallows, with @noxnthea

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

Winterhawk. There is something so fundamentally good and healthy about the way these two fit together, no matter which aspect of their dynamic you bring out, and there are so many - they work as grumpy/sunshine, as murder husbands, as snarky disasters... more importantly, they’re two characters who would be able to both accept each other unconditionally and help each other grow, and that is my favorite thing to read.

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

I don’t have any right now! My only current WIP is Map of My Heart. The others have been shelved but I either don’t have interest in finishing them or I absolutely think I will finish them, no doubts involved.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Putting the reader in the character’s emotional state, showing character growth/development, and writing relationships that are ultimately healthy.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes and building suspense. Which is why I'm doing this instead of working on my fic! Oops.

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

I feel meh about it? I am not a fluent speaker in any other language, so I’d have to use some sort of translator, which tends to miss nuance and feel stiff, which is never what I want in dialogue. Instead I tend to use italics to convey that they’re speaking another language but write the lines themselves in English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lords of Dogtown. On fucking Quizilla. I am a Fandom Old.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

A Muscle the Size of Your Fist. If anybody wanted to get to know me really well, get to know what I believe and what I value and how I see the world, I’d point them to that. But it’s also just well written; I’m proud of the unique character voices and the way their narrative arcs all fit together. They all make each other better over the course of the story.

Tagging (with apologies if you've already done this) @kangofu-cb @stunudo @i-know-how-my-story-ends @carcrash429 @betrayedbycinnamon

[caitlynmeow]

I know this isn't an ask blog, it's 1 am I wanted to write this, so I did.

To Countess Alcina Dimitrescu:

I've been informed by a villager that is somehow alive that your eldest daughter Bela is a fan of classic literature. I write this at 2 AM by candlelight. I write it because due to madness or boredom or any such disease I decided to write an exhaustive list of recommendations. I have some expertise, I keep the village book store in business and have read about 190 "classic" novels and books by classic authors.

Authors: I imagine Bela would love Franz Kafka. Kurt Vonnegut could work, of course his masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five is definitely the first to read, the best quote from it I think is, "here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of the moment, there is no why." It seems that Russian Lit could also fit. Obvious or not any sane individual can and will really enjoy Dostoevsky (Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela have a bit of Ivan, Dimitri, and Alexei Karamazov in them respectively. Although it would be an insult to compare yourself, my Lady, to Fyodor Karamazov. Bela as Ivan of course. If there should be one he's by far my favorite.)

Here are some ideas for specific books. The Homeric epics of course but I'm sure those have already came and went, Ovid's Metamorphoses, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Catcher in The Rye, and the Call Of The Wild. Of course for the oldest, gayest shit, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and Carmilla would be ideal. Oh, fuck! Magical realism! How didn't I think of that before?! One Hundred Years of Solitude, that would definitely be one of the best ones I've mentioned.

(don’t worry about it nonnie! i don’t mind these things at all <3)

Alcina looked at the letter, her eyes scanning it’s content, her head nosing slightly as she read along the list of recommendations.

It is a good list of staple classical works, some titles are familiar, ones that her daughters have read when they were younger. Generally, she is against electronic devices in excess, which is something she had better control on when her daughters were younger.

She only allowed one hour of television per day.

Her daughters were busy playing with their toys, reading, and developing their hobbies. As a result, her daughters are fluent in multiple languages, they have different talents, and they are well read.

Russian literature might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but her daughters loved it. Daniela not so much, but she did read a few of the book they have in their library. Cassandra was never intimidated by size and density, the dark nihilistic themes were to her liking, and the darker the theme was, the more she got into it. Bela, on the other hand, showed genuine intrigue.

Bela has read some of these titles, she read Slaughter House Five when she was in with grade.

Oh, The Brothers Karamazov- it was something the whole family would sit and discuss over dinner! Many fights broke because of that novel because each one of the daughters had her strong opinion about it. Good times, good times indeed.

Why yes, those titles are indeed sitting in the library upstairs. Magical realism is something that Bela dabbles in, but not really invest a life of time reading. This should be something to look into and perhaps persuade her to try. Cassandra has read One Hundred Years of Solitude and I’m sure she can lend her sister a copy.

In Cold Blood is a title that she hasn’t read either, so I’ll make sure to add it on his list of the next batch of books that are coming to the castle.

[shitpostingkats]

Hi yes I need you to know that your analysis on Jaden and Yusei (June 16, 2022, idk if you’ve done multiple on them but that’s the one I’m talking about) is the realest thing I have EVER read and you’re so right and you should say it MUCH louder that is the greatest take op it’s amazing and I’m screaming /pos

Jaden is my favorite character like,,,, ever, and you have nailed him I’m going bonkers

Another thing, I love your Groupchat AU but you have made me become aware that there is???? Another???? YGO show????? I was like who on God’s Green Earth is Yudias and then Google attacked me with information. I still remember. When Vrains was new. To me Vrains is still new. It came out 6 years ago. I feel old. I am not okay. I have yet to acknowledge the existence of Sevens and will continue to do so with Go Rush. Oh I got off-topic, whoops-

Anyways, love your Groupchat AU but I saw the one part with the Eldritch language that Jaden and Yuya are both fluent in and I humbly request more of their dynamic???

I had an epiphany last night, they’re so similar I’m actually losing my mind. All I can think about is that one audio of Batman and that girl on the swings and it’s like “They got their weapon, I got cheated out of my childhood” “I know what that’s like.” “You do don’t you?” Tell me that’s not them I am dying /pos

Much love <3

Oh my gosh, thank you! <3

Jaden and Yusei, my beloved blorbit. The painfully monstrous and the painfully human. The narrative foils of all time. Jaden Yuki, the creatchur autism boi of all time. <3 I need to write about them more.

I know what you mean about the new shows. I'm still a ways off from watching them, but I still want to remember they exist but keep forgetting. What do you means vrains is six years old??? (<- was not even a yugioh fan when vrains was airing) You're telling me there's probably going to be new one after that??? That the days start coming and they don't stop coming?????

Shoutouts to the sevens and go rush fans. They are the mightiest of soldiers. I know nothing about their shows but I'm hesitantly penciling them into the groupchat au anyways because I have seen maybe three clips but I know this funny little alien guy is near and dear to my heart.

Obviously there's a bit of a shift between Vrains and the Sevens era, being made for new audiences, a little tone shifting (which we LOVE, because any franchise that stays the same forever is no bueno.) and that makes it easy to group the first six shows into one group. But I also think there's a fascinating dialogue between shows 1-3 and shows 4-6. I didn't realize it until I was a good way into Arc-V, but each of the second trilogy protagonists sorta reflects the first three.

With Yuma and Yugi, it's very purposeful, a stated "return to form" with the chipper kid and his ghost companion who lives in his special necklace. And when I was gushing over Yusei in 5Ds, I got a lot of people saying "Man, you're going to love Yusaku." They're both the rbf hacker protags who fight the government. Lots to love.

But Jaden and Yuya????? Did not imagine I would come out of Arc-V going "omg they're foils. They're the same story through a different lens. They need to TALK to eachother and bond over their shared experiences."

Even leaving out my pet theory of "Zarc Was An Incarnation Of Jaden In The Original Timeline", they're just so. *clenches fist* The childhood trauma of being a weird kids and masking with an overly bubbly personality only to learn the great anger they've been trying to hide is powerful enough to rip apart reality and they're secretly harbingers of destruction.

By the end of GX, I think Jaden has wonderfully come to term with that. By the end of Arc-V, I think Yuya hasn't.

Their dynamic in the gc AU is very much to me Yuya is still struggling with Z-arc stuff, but not saying anything about it because that'd be weird, so he just kinda frets about it until he hits a breaking point and Jaden gets to offer his advice on dealing with all this.

I am so interested in exploring this that it actually got me started writing fic again,,, which I haven't done in like a year, so wish me luck. I'll keep y'all updated :)

Angst aside, they're also just. One braincell between them. Theatre kid and guy who has never once acted natural in his entire life. Kid making a scene at a Waffle House while his friend slowly eats the entire menu and offers suggestions. Jaden is a pokemon fan and Yuya is a kingdom hearts girlie, I've decided this, and they takes turns infodumping to each other. Jaden summons duel spirits so Yuya can ride around on Hiphippo even when he's not dueling. They trade funny things they've heard their dragons say. They're eldritch and inhuman and best friends, your honor.

[neighborlywelcome]

Hello hello !!! May I get a tadc matchup? <3

I'm nonbinary & transmasc , preferred pronouns are he/it

I'm aroace, bisexual with a preference for men, and cupioromantic <3 I'd be comfortable matching with anyone, but I lean more towards men :3

I'm very sorry if this causes any trouble for you, but I would not like to be matched with Caine </3

Personality: I'm generally a very quiet person, not really speaking unless spoken to and stuff, but I'm not necessarily a shy person. I can hold a conversation pretty well once someone starts speaking to me. I don't change much with people I'm close with, besides initiating conversations more often (but it's unlikely. I have to be very close in order to do that) I'm very much a people pleaser, always trying to make changes to whatever I can so someone else can get what they want. I can be kind of mean and blunt sometimes, but I'm not trying to! It's just hard for me to tell my tone :( Another thing, I'm uncomfortable with physical touch. If someone touches me I will automatically push them away. That doesn't mean I don't like it! If you warn me beforehand or ask me before touching me, I'll be more likely to say yes. (not a guarantee though, it depends on how close we are)

Hobbies//interests: Psychology, philosophy, classic literature, dolls, bats, human anatomy, mori kei, cult party kei, sweets, small animals, wintertime/cold weather, literature analyzing, psychological horror, and trinket collecting ^_^

In a partner, I usually try to look for people who can put up with my bluntness, and people who can initiate conversations first. If they don't, we probably won't ever speak 😭 I like people who are outgoing, it gets me out of my comfort zone a bit :3

My love language is most definitely acts of service. I'm not great at expressing my feelings through words or physical touch, so I always opt for doing things for the people I love.

I'm a Scorpio ^^

I looove Jirai, menhera, and all things like that :3

Fun fact: I'm deathly cold 24/7 and I speak fluent Russian <3 (Honestly I'm not that great with English irl, I can barely speak if I try </3)

I hope this is okay!! Have an amaaazing day <333333

Hi, yeah absolutely! I hope you have a good day too and thanks for the request! <3

YOUR MATCHUP IS…

JAX!!!

Okay, I know Jax can be a lot to deal with but I am confident that you can do it. He probably softens up a little when he actually likes someone too, which may take awhile but he’ll slowly but surely grow into his infatuation with you. So I think you and Jax would be a good match!

As long as you can put up with his Jax-ness, he doesn’t mind how blunt or mean you are. Odds are, when he’s getting closer to you he even finds it charming. Everyone around the circus is too nice or goody for him, so you’re a nice break away from that. And he’s not afraid of talking either, so initiating conversations with you is easy-peasy for him!

Jax is not big on physical affection, so no worries about that. He’s likewise not great with expressing himself through words (his jerky persona makes it so he’d be too flustered to admit to being nice…) so the two of you are better with showing love through your actions! He’ll do the sweetest thing for you like save you an extra dessert but get all defensive if you try to ask him about it any further.

He acts like he doesn’t care about others but with you, he’s actually very interested in your thoughts and interests. Being into psychology/philosophy, you would talk to him while he listens, only interrupting with a witty remark every now and then. Maybe you could even teach him about why he’s like… that lol (imagine: the scene in Lilo and Stitch where she’s showing Stitch the chart with his “badness” levels).

I think Jax is easily flustered when he’s in love over the little things his partner does. With you, he loves hearing you speak Russian, it’s like his guilty pleasure. He’d definitely try and “trick” you into speaking Russian by initiating conversations in what little Russian he knows but he’s not sly. You indulge him anyway and he sits and listens, interjecting with what you’ve taught him so far, even if he doesn’t fully understand it.

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tags @iboatedhere @bonheur-cafe @alrightbuckaroo & @welcometololaland 💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Nine!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

48,025

3. What fandoms do you write for

911 Lonestar

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Make Me Laugh 'till I Die, I Stand Beside You With Pride - TK and Carlos discuss TK’s special relationship with Owen, and how previous boyfriends have been intimidated by it

getting past the wounds of love - Paul-centric fic for @guardian-angle22! Carlos attends his first 126 hang, Paul, TK & Marj go crate digging

Sunshine On My Body, Rainbows Bloomin' In My Skies - Tarlos goes hiking!!

TK Strand’s Sweet 16 (times 2) (minus 2) - TK’s 30th birthday party!! The Reyes family throws him a double sweet 16 party, the first family party since the loss of Gabriel.

Why Do You Think I Ran - TK & Carlos have a vulnerable conversation about the beginning of their relationship the night after Owen calls with his Huntingtons results.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! Always!! First, because I am so appreciative that anybody takes the time to read my stuff. But I know it’s only like one in every few hundred reader that bothers to leave a comment so why wouldn’t I return that energy with a response?

Second, I am first and foremost a reader. I put a lot of energy into writing thoughtful comments. So I know how nice it is to get a reply!

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

I don’t know if it’s angsty, per say, but maybe All Your Colors Make Me Feel Alive because they’re discussing the ways they’re grieving and remembering their lost parents.

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

They’re all happy endings, generally. But maybe Call Me If You Get Lost because they’re in a hot tub and they’re bouts to get it on *sings Marvin Gaye*

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No!

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

Very PG-R-rated so far

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

I don’t but I have a couple ideas for using the plot lines of another show.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not plagiarized but I had someone take the plot idea of one of my fics. Doesn’t feel good, folks!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

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

I haven’t, but I beta read which is definitely a collaboration

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Tarlos

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

I want to finish TK Strand’s day off (@carlos-in-glasses 👀)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, description and characterization. Also background for side characters.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Coming up with plots to go around the 1-2 scenes I’ve written 😂

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

I love incorporating Spanish as much as I can. If I’m not 100% sure I’ll have a friend who is fluent read it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

911 Lonestar!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This is a tie!

Call Me If You Get Lost This one got a pretty low engagement, which was really disappointing for me because I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. It’s a whole, complete story with a beginning, a climax and and end. Its funny and heartfelt, and I think the characterizations are really well done. Basically Nancy tells TK she’s going on a romantic weekend by herself, it was a trip she’d booked at an estate in Hill Country with her ex for their anniversary before they broke up. TK is worried she’s having a crisis and forces Carlos to go to the estate so they can “be there for her,” but instead they catch Nancy in an awkward position with Mateo.

TK Strand’s Sweet 16 (times 2) (minus 2) this one was so much fun to write! It’s funny and sweet, there’s a lot of side plots going on with different characters. It not only shows us TK through Carlos’s eyes, and how much Carlos loves him and is completely in awe of him, but how TK gently cares for Carlos and has cemented his place in the Reyes family and helped hold them together through this loss. Also it’s the introduction of my Tía Lucy. The response to this one was really really lovely 💕

I’m knee-deep in a move right now so I’m not sure who’s already gone but tagging @chicgeekgirl89 @ladytessa74 @tarlosmalec @ithilien-writes @carlos-in-glasses @rosedavid @herefortarlos @freneticfloetry @thebumblecee @wandering-night19 @sanjuwrites @your-catfish-friend @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @liminalmemories21 @never-blooms @ambiguouspenny & @theghostofashton and OPEN TAG 🏷️

[suchaladyy]

🌸 Fic Tag Game 🌸

I was tagged by @badmoodbatflowers, @transitat, and @burntblueberrywaffles - thanks!

20 questions below the cut:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

52

2. What’s your AO3 word count?

171,301

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, just Wednesday!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

4/5 of these are from the same series 😂

Touch Me

Snow Day

The Jacket

Whenever, however

Sword Swallowing

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I like to save responding to fic’s comments for a day when I’m feeling down, and then I go through and respond to them all at once for a major pick me up. (I do still read them all as they come in though)

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

I don’t usually write angsty endings, but it would definitely be Hypnotized - it’s a dark fic with a dark ending.

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

Most all of my fics have sappy, tooth-rotting endings, but Bride Bandit probably has the happiest one of all.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really! I am very lucky for this.

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

Hahahahahahaha. Yes. I write mostly smut. What kind? I am not sure exactly what this is asking. It’s graphic but usually romantic? I hope?

10. Do you write cross-overs?

I am not super interested in crossovers, but I’m not against writing them. As of now, I have one (to my knowledge) called The Old Red Mill, which is a Scooby Doo inspired work.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!!! It’s the coolest thing! My entire Touch Me series was translated to Russian by the user Little_Brother on AO3.

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

Yes, and so far they have all been amazing experiences! I have co-written with @wincestation, @averyaddamsromance, @nonamemanga @ourdramaqueen and @realmermaid333, who are all brilliant and kind.

13. What WIP would you like to finish but doubt you ever will?

I firmly believe I’ll get to it. But probably Snow Day.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t know if I have one. One that I tend to come back to when I’m between ships is Sterek (Derek/Stiles from Teen Wolf)

15. What are your writing strengths?

I’m good about writing almost every day, and I think I’m good at establishing a setting quickly because I write such short pieces.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I sometimes have issues with being too brief or overly simplistic, meaning I often have to go back and add detail after I write my first draft, and even then I yearn to be able to write with the poetry of some of the authors in this fandom. I also lack variety in my diction and sentence structure.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I only speak English fluently, so I would feel uncomfortable doing so unless it was unavoidable or if I had someone fluent in another language to help me. I just don’t want to make a mistake.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Anne with an E!

19. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

This is a terrible question, and I won’t answer it. (Probably Car Jacked and the rest of that series)

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?

Snow Day!!! 😭 It causes me pain to reread it, but I wish I didn’t feel that way.

Tagging: @therulerofallpotatos @realmermaid333 @ourdramaqueen @wileyonce @writerrose1998 @cupoteahatter @wincestation @katwitchwriting let me suck the marrow from your bones I’d like to know your answers to these!

[kittenintheden]

tagged by @aevallare and @cursedhaglette my beloveds <3

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

15

2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 307,670

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Soul Eater formally and Baldur's Gate 3 currently

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Not Your Sweetheart - BG3, F!OC/Astarion

Closer to God - BG3, F!Tav/Astarion

You Can Read Me Anything - BG3, F!Tav/Astarion

Teenage Dirtbags - Soul Eater, Soul/Maka

Ethics Review - BG3, F!Tav/Astarion

5) Do you respond to comments?

I try to reply to all of them, yes! If I miss one it is an oversight and not a slight.

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

I don't write angsty endings who the fuck do you think I am I write this shit to feel good lmao (I do write angst, I just don't. Leave it there. Usually.) I guess Where were you, when I was new? if you squint.

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

Take On Me, I suppose? Most of my fics tend to end pretty en media res, so they're not really ENDED ykwim. This is a cop-out answer.

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? I've certainly gotten a few folks who Missed The Point Entirely but it didn't really feel like hate tbh.

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

lol yes. The vampire got me acting up. I have written sweet to nasty where he's involved.

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

Only once and it was Soul Eater and Empire Records lmao. It was good I don't care.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge but I also haven't really looked.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Into Italian once.

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

I've done bangs where I worked alongside artists as their writer, so in that sense, yes.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

IDK it's probably honestly SoMa in my heart but I truly enjoy so many.

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

Budding Trees. I had such plans for that fic. Then life happened. Alas.

16) What are your writing strengths?

I kick dialogue's ass and I'm pretty good at hitting plot beats.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Repetitiveness, getting bogged down in detail.

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

I will do it for fake languages (see: elvish) and I'll occasionally portray bilingual characters who incorporate their native language, but full-on dialogue? Not really. There is so much nuance in a native language that I don't feel I could do justice unless I'm fluent.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Dawson's Creek. Shut your mouth.

20) Favorite fic you’ve written?

Not Your Sweetheart has achieved a special status in my heart, I will admit. But honestly if I didn't love it I probably wouldn't post it, so I have feelings about most of my work.

I will tag @brain-rot-central, @cinnamontails-ff, @olivedrop, and uh whoever else wants to grab it honestly.

[asyastudieskorean]

9/20/2023 — Hello, studying world. Today I start my journey of learning Korean with my first university Korean class (online). We didn't have any work on the first day, so all I did was read the syllabus (the most basic, non-informative syllabus I've ever read, ha), set up my new desk space, and updated my student bio on Canvas. I haven't been a college student for about 3 years, so it felt like I accomplished a lot. When the readings and assignments start coming in, I'm sure reality will hit.

I've always wanted to learn Korean, and my goal is to reach a near-fluent level, but I know it'll be hard, especially with my full-time work priorities. Eventually, being able to teach and work in translation is my goal. FYI, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese are on my list, too, but I'll be realistic and focus on one language for the foreseeable future.

Last week, as it so happens, I had to move from my family and childhood home, and I am lacking in the positivity department rn, so I think having a place to chronicle my studies and the progress I make will be good for me. I tend to start a new blog on here when I'm having a hard time, and it helps.

So, the plan is to take two full academic years of Korean (that's 3 quarters per year at my university). That's just how much Korean the school offers. I graduated in 2020 from this same university with a BA in English with a focus on professional and creative writing, and I really enjoyed the overall experience studying here.

I spent a whole lot of time obsessing over grammar, reading new and old literature, trying to understand poetry, and just enjoying the inner peace I felt when writing fiction. It was maybe my most happy time because I had no other real responsibilities or worries besides school. All I did was read and write.

Anyhow, fast forward to now, after pondering different language learning options (which are limited in my area), I decided to take my Korean classes at the university level because the classes will show up on my official university transcripts, and I imagine that will be best when I apply for future Korean-related jobs. I am also hoping that by taking university-level language classes, they will have some sort of superior level of... intensity? accuracy? efficiency? Something like that. Granted, this route isn't the best for my finances, as there is no aid for non-matriculated post-grads, and the cost of a single class is quite ridiculous. But alas, here I am, with an empty wallet and hope in my eyes.

Upon reading the syllabus today, which could basically be summarized as "TBD," I realized the textbook I bought, the textbook I waited over a week for, the one listed on the online course materials list, is, in fact, not the correct textbook.

And, icing on the bitter cake, the correct textbook appears to be a rare Pokémon that isn't available anywhere except the dark corners of eBay, where shipping will take at least 2 weeks. Like how did other students get this? Did they order it two months in advance? Meanwhile, I have my first assignments and readings due Monday.

I quite literally just sent an email to my professor and asked what I should do, so we'll see what she says, but I really wasn't hoping to be that one student, emailing the professor about an issue on day 1.

Since this is my first post here, here also is a tiny bit about me:

My name is Asya ("Asia"), and I'm a 24-year-old English grad based in Washington; no, not the one followed by DC, but the state with a lot of rain and trees. Twilight? Starbucks? Amazon? Yes, that one.

Since graduating in 2020, I've been a freelance editor and writer. I'm taking Korean both for passion and for work purposes, and I really should have started sooner. But I guess we're all on our own timelines.

I've been on Tumblr for a long, long time, but I've never been part of the studyblr sector. I'm glad to be here. :)