#maybe 2-3 more chapters at least

[deal-with-destiny]

SO, I saw @theminecraftbee’s Joe Hills+Convex au stuff and my brain went a little wild, so here’s the results of that! You can also find this fic on my AO3! (I am sorry that there is no dialogue, it is my one weakness, and I cannot write it for the life of me </3) (Edit March 30th, 2023: I said on ao3 that I would get chapter 2 out before last weekend but I got so busy but I’m still working on it!)

Now Joe hadn’t intentionally planned to befriend two fey, it just sort of happened. It was a whirlwind of events after getting off of work one night. He had planned to simply go home, but it seemed the universe had other plans. 

There was someone following him, it wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last. His job was decent, sure, but it wasn’t enough to pay off the debt to the collector that was actively following him. He knew the city well enough, likely much better than the other, trusting that he would be able to find his way home from wherever he was going to end up.

What Joe didn’t account for was stepping into a fair circle. In his defense he did have more important things on his mind. The outskirts of the city did have some plant life, but last time he had gotten out this far, it didn’t seem nearly this vibrant, or overgrown for that matter. 

He decided that this was far enough out, he didn’t see any sign of the debt collector anymore, so he should be good to head home. Something felt off though. Despite shaking off the man, Joe had the intense feeling of being watched, and that’s where it really began.

Joe had very unluckily caught the eye of two fey, and thus the hunt began. He didn’t know this area nearly as well as he would have hoped, but hey! It’s not everyday you get chased through the feywilds, so he had that going for him at least. 

While at first it seemed like he was just in a constant loop, passing by the same place over and over, there were small things he noticed. Things that broke the illusion that it was a perfect loop. It took a while, or was it only a few minutes? The time flow here was strange, and Joe didn’t want to think too deeply into the implications of what it might be like once he got back, he couldn’t have been gone for that long. 

Thankfully he made it out, stepping through the ring again once he found it. He looked down at his watch, while he didn’t know when he entered the circle, he knew when he got off work, and that, according to his watch, was an hour ago. He gave a sigh and began his walk home.

[dreamyichigo]

I’m keeping you forever and for always 🌌

day 1 of ryukotoweek2024 Outlaw

Chapter 1 of Old Western Au Ryuji/Makoto Fic “Wanted: Dead of Night”

[thatneoncrisis]

oh captain my captain i didn't know what league of legends game was when i watched arcane. so i thought the plot was alright since i didn't (still don't) know the game lore. if it wasn't basically a prequel story, trying to aim the characters at the way they are in canon, do u think the plot and character arcs would have held up alright? or does that actually make the arcane canon story worse since it wouldn't at least have the existing canon as something it needed to land at eventually as an excuse for any "out of character" decisions? thank u

i wouldnt even call it a prequel story? its like a very elaborate au in a sense, one that feels comfortable changing things to a certain extent- clothes, personality adjustments, motivations, but they still have to hit certain beats. vi has to be an enforcer, jinx has to be a wild card harley quinn type, ekkos time powers ect ect. idk WHAT it is maybe the show needed more time or tighter focus or less characters but i just felt that like, some of the story decisions directly relating to LoL lore werent outright bad but didnt have a lot of time to breathe. the standout example being ekkos time thing, where when i watched that scene i assumed it was both a stylistic representation of a fight and establishing his and jinx's prior relationship (which is kind of too little too late considering they did not fucking speak once as kids pre time skip), and then i had to get a friend to explain to me for SEVERAL MINUTES that he literally died during that fight and it was supposed to be showing his rewind thing. it just wasnt clear at all and his character would not change in the slightest if he didnt have it. but you cant NOT include it so. *

really i have no clue the full extent of the story the writers wanted to tell and how much LoL is binding their hands on story beats. and i REALLY dont want to be inflexible considering i still have a full season coming up that might make me more receptive to certain decisions. but considering how much of the cast i REALLY like just straight up are not in the game, i think they are fully capable of making a solid story completely divorced from league

*someone in the comments told me apparently that Wasnt his time thing and my original read of the scene was correct so im not gonna hold it against the show.

[iskierka]

writing that Halstarion Beauty and the Beast fic I talked about and it is uhh. it is gonna be LONG. we haven’t even finished the prologue section way before Astarion finds Halsin at the manor and it’s like 3k words

[tomboyyyaoi]

i cant describe it but people just putting meryl and milly in the background of vashwood instead of just putting them front and centre in their own piece genuinely feels like im being cucked like why did u even bother

like damn maybe id like the ship more if people didnt just go "theyr so cute and soft and married aahhh so so gentle and femme and girly theyr so cyute" then the only time they draw them is like. idfk them walking in on vash and wolfwood fucking eachothers brains out like god. all talk.

[emdotcom]

Tbh, can't believe I'm cutting ties with Fnaf before Batim.

[orcelito]

i miss akechi goro so much. maybe even enough to finally finish that ladue chapter 3

[todayisafridaynight]

born to do a Saeko Only y7 run forced to be technically illiterate

[aberooski]

That moment when you have a breakthrough about the chapter you've been stuck on for days

[speedydestinydream]

I think "countdown to his final show" and its direct continuation, "and i'll be in denial for atleast a little while" by drewsterling on ao3 are the only fics to send me on the verge of tears. Not like. Full on crying but I teared up a lot. I don't cry over books, let alone fanfiction, but these fics have DESTROYED me mentally I cannot stop thinking about them

This is a recommendation if you love heavy angst and pain and suffering and misery because that's the only thing you'll find. no happiness. no joy. only sadness and grief and it's written beautifully

I could talk about these fics all day they have hurt me SO MUCH and I LOVE THEM

[critterbutt]

fuck i was supposed to take a break from writing but i sure didn't

[greyias]

Tagged by: @captainderyn -- thank you for the tag! Tagging: @meanbihexual, @keldae, @queen-scribbles (no pressure!) From the little au that could...

—

Valkorion had looked down at his progeny with ill-disguised contempt, lightning dancing at the tips of his fingers as he attempted to silence what he saw as the only threat in the room. He didn’t even look up until the cold barrel of a blaster buried itself at the base of his skull.

Which brought Theron back to where he wasn’t supposed to be.

Here.

Standing in someone else’s moment, stepping into a destiny that wasn’t his, and about to set into motion a cascade of events he had no hope of understanding. He was a disgraced spy. A Jedi washout. The Force-blind son of someone else’s greatness. A man always destined to live in the shadow of others.

“Do you really think that pathetic toy will hurt me?”

[illdothehotvoice]

Bro trying to fit in everything I gotta do this week before Brothership is gonna be the end of me I think

[artandsomethingcreated]

Todays Patch Notes!

Glitch making a very important key item not show up has been fixed

Charicter now no longer goes on a random rant about the aesthetics of Narshe's mining practices

Moogles' behavior patterns have been improved

Continued game text display fixes

And as always various spelling, gramer, and other such corrections

[so-many-ocs]

practical writing advice

part 2

avoid writing in bed if you can. writing in bed is the mind-killer. writing in bed is the little death that brings obliteration. you may think "but i can write AND be cozy" you will get sleepy so fast. 98% of the time when i try to get a nighttime writing session done in bed i go to sleep. maybe 70% of the time if it's an afternoon writing session. also it fucking kills your wrists.

STRETCH before writing. stretch as many parts of your body as possible ESPECIALLY YOUR WRISTS! i have chronic tendonitis in both of my arms from not doing this and it is manageable but it is Not Fun!

plug your phone in on the other side of the room. better yet, plug it in and leave it in another room. better yet, power it off and leave it in another room. "i'll just check one quick thing" do not underestimate the power of the doomscroll.

do a warmup. look up writing prompts (i like one-word prompts or prompts that focus on a general theme as it's easier to integrate into my writing style), set a timer for fifteen minutes, or ten, or five, and go ham. make it shitty or incomprehensible, as long as you make it. create a dump document for all your warmups. i currently have two novels in the works that started as one of these fifteen minute little warmups.

pick your background noise ahead of time if you use it, and look for something long. i listen to 3-hour-long silent hill ambient mixes on youtube dot com.

take breaks. around every 45 minutes, as i'm noticing myself begin to lose focus, i get up, grab a drink, get my blood flowing, and give myself some space to breathe.

sometimes i sit down to write and i think "every atom in my body is averse to doing this right now. i would rather dance barefoot on a bed of nails than open my laptop and start typing." and you know what i do? i go do something else instead. don't force it! it will become a chore.

that being said! write as often as possible. try to write every day. try to write at the same time. don't beat yourself up if you can’t, BUT the more often you write, the more often you'll want to write.

if you're stuck on a scene or a page or a chapter, go back to the last place where you felt like you knew what you were doing and start writing from there. keep a copy of your other writing in case you want to reuse it or refer back!

i don't know if this is something that will be helpful for other people but i start mentally preparing myself for my writing session a few hours ahead of time. i will say to myself, "today, at this time, i'm gonna sit down and write that scene where mina walks out on her book club, and it's going to be awesome and i'm looking forward to it." then, by the time i actually begin, i basically have the whole thing written out in my head and can just put it down to paper. it's a good way to at least kickstart the session !

ok thanks bye

[radarsteddybear]

Whumptober Day 24 - Jumpy

Fandom: Original Fiction (H.O.U.N.D.S.) Prompt(s): shadows, "Who's there?" Rating: Teen Additional Tags: whump, hurt/comfort, friendship, found family, spy-fi, hospital setting

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Once back at H.O.U.N.D.S. Headquarters in Denver, Cassandra and Minnow marched straight to Medical.  The doctor assured them that it had been fine to ditch the emergency room; in fact, it was probably better that way.   There wasn’t much to be done besides wait for Cassandra’s hearing to return on its own, and it was better she do so in peace and quiet. 

Of course, that also meant that she was stuck in Denver for the next few days when all she wanted to do was sleep in her own bed.  Lucky for her, Minnow had agreed to stay until she was cleared to return to Arlington (though Cassandra didn’t think that anyone could pull Minnow away, not even the President himself).

Minnow had been assigned a temporary office so she could catch up on reports and paperwork while Cassandra was relegated to a bed in the medical ward, which meant that Cassandra spent good chunks of the day alone.  Minnow had been kind enough to run out and get her a couple of cheap pulp novels and a book of crossword puzzles, which went a little way in relieving the boredom, but not by much.  She’d also invested in a fresh pad of paper, which now sat on Cassandra’s night table, waiting for Minnow to come back so Cassandra had a reason to use it.

Lucky for her, her hearing had already started to come back.  Loud enough noises sounded like muffled hums.  Good for getting her attention, though not much else, especially without a radio or television in the room with her. 

In the meantime, Cassandra watched the shadows on the walls.  She was surprised at how much they changed throughout the day. 

Cassandra grabbed one of the novels and turned to the first page.  The summary hadn’t particularly grabbed her—something about a mystery-solving space cowboy—but it was better than nothing.

Without the usual distractions of beeping monitors and voices in the hallway, it didn’t take long for Cassandra to become absorbed in the book.  She found herself on page 138 before setting it down to take a break.

The shadows on the wall had moved.  Cassandra reached over to her side table to get a drink of water and check the time.  She hoped Minnow would come back soon.

Cassandra caught some movement out of the corner of her eye.  She froze and watched for it to happen again, but it didn’t.  She slowly set down her glass and picked up her book.

About two pages later, it happened again.  She slowly lowered the book and looked around, but she couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.  She went back to the book. 

This time, she couldn’t focus on the words.  She stared at the page, unseeing, silently daring the movement to happen again.

And it did!

“Hello?” Cassandra called out.  “Is anybody there?”

There was no answer, at least none that Cassandra could hear.  She told herself that she was just imagining things and tried to go back to her book.

There it was again, and this time, Cassandra swore she heard…something along with it. 

Paradoxically, she clapped her hands over her ears and shrank into the bed.  She felt helpless, vulnerable.  She couldn’t help but imagine that a big monster with sharp claws and sharper teeth was hiding just out of sight, waiting for the right moment to pounce.  Or a F.E.L.I.S. assassin, armed with a rifle, was waiting for a shift change before pulling the trigger to ensure the nurses would be too distracted to come to her aid right away.  Or maybe it was a low-level scientist, bitter that Cassandra had put them in prison, waiting to smother her with her pillow in revenge.

No.  That was ridiculous.  This was a H.O.U.N.D.S. stronghold; F.E.L.I.S. would never think of invading here, and if they did, they had more than enough security to hold them back. 

She cautiously took her hands away from her ears and went back to her book.  She was being silly.  She was just bored.  Her mind was playing tricks on her.  It was best to focus on her book, keep it occupied for a while.

Cassandra got five more pages in before she heard a sound.  Some sort of a thump, clear as day.  But that couldn’t be right; her hearing hadn’t improved that quickly.  She ran her hand over the sheet of her bed, and sure enough, she couldn’t hear it at all.  She clapped her hands together and could hardly hear that, either. 

She shook her head.  She must have been imagining things.

She turned back to her book.  The space cowboy was about to interrogate the main suspect, the Martian settlement’s barber surgeon.  Just as she settled in, she heard another sound.

Cassandra froze.  No, that wasn’t right.  She turned back to her book.

Another sound.  This was getting ridiculous.  Cassandra turned back to her book.  Again.

Another sound, different this time, muffled, like all the others she’d actually been able to hear.  It made Cassandra jump.  She watched as if in slow motion as the handle on the door to her room began to turn.  She raised her book, prepared to throw it.  The door began to open…

To reveal Minnow.

Cassandra sighed in relief and lowered the book.

Minnow walked in with a smile on her face, but it quickly turned into a frown.  She began to say something but stopped and grabbed the pad on Cassandra’s side table.

Are you ok?

Cassandra hesitated before she wrote back.  Yeah, just a little jumpy.

Minnow sat down on the side of the bed.  Makes sense.  How’s your head?

Pain —> gone.  Memory —> also gone.

The truth was, Cassandra hadn’t tried to remember anything since they’d left the diner.  She was afraid to.  It was like her brain had put a metal wall around the memories of the last few days, and trying to breach that wall caused some of the worst pain that Cassandra had ever felt, which was really saying something. 

I figured some things out, Minnow wrote. 

Cassandra nodded.

Your mission was to investigate some odd happenings near the Rio Grande National Forest.  Top secret.  Sounded like it could be weapons.  I couldn’t get too many details, but Mr. Thaddeus said he’d brief you once we get back home. 

Cassandra nodded again.  Her head felt a bit fuzzy, like she was trying to keep herself from thinking to hard about what Minnow was writing.

Ring any bells?

Cassandra shook her head ‘no.’

Minnow frowned.  We might want to run some more tests when we get back.

Cassandra couldn’t help but look nervous.

It’s ok.  I’ll be with you the whole time.

Cassandra managed a smile.

***

They continued to pass notes about Minnow’s report, their flight back to Arlington tomorrow morning, the goings on at the Denver base, and the crossword puzzles in the book Minnow had bought.  Finally, Minnow stood and wrote on the pad. 

I’d better be heading off to bed.

Cassandra grabbed the pad from her and scribbled furiously.  Where will you be?

They’ve got a cot room down near the offices.  Up the hall and to the left, then it’s room 426. 

Cassandra reluctantly nodded.  She didn’t want Minnow to go.  She didn’t want to be alone.

Minnow took back the pad.  I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning.

Cassandra nodded again.  Minnow gave her arm a squeeze and then left the room.  It didn’t take Cassandra too long to get ready for bed—the nurses had insisted that she wear a hospital gown, so she didn’t even have to change into pajamas—but she lay in bed a long while before she fell asleep.

***

“Good morning!”

Cassandra started at the sound.  She’d heard it!  She’d heard words!  They were still quiet and muffled, but it was a huge step up from yesterday.

Minnow picked up the pad of paper from Cassandra’s side table.  How are you?

Good.  Hearing is better.  Not great, but better.

Minnow beamed.  We’ll have to test it when we get back.  Now, we’ve got to get ready for our flight.

That didn’t take long at all.  Minnow only had her small emergency suitcase, and Cassandra just had the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d woken up in that cell.  She didn’t even know if she’d brought anything else on this mission.

The head of the Denver headquarters ordered a car to drive them to the airport, and their H.O.U.N.D.S. status gave them priority boarding.  It wasn’t long before they were on the plane.

Cassandra settled back into her seat.  It was a lot like the end of almost every other mission.    The relief of returning home to her own bed in her own apartment, of not having to think on her feet or dodge bullets nearly as much for a couple of days.  It was a good feeling.

Think the air pressure will mess up my ears? she wrote on the pad.

Minnow produced a pack of gum and some sucking candies. 

I think you’ll be fine, she wrote.  This time next week, you’ll be back to your old self.

Cassandra wasn’t sure about that.  Her hearing, maybe, but this thing with her memory?  Doubtful.  Then again, Cassandra wasn’t sure if she wanted to remember what had happened.

But she didn’t have to worry about that now.  Now, all she had to do was sit back, relax, and make sure she kept her ears from popping too badly on the way back home.

And that was something that she didn’t need her ears or her memory for.

(Though it would have been nice to be able to hear the in-flight movie.)