#maybe i cheated a little bit by separating out all the star treks but i don’t have that many comfort shows lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mourntheantagonist · 4 years ago

Note

Steve and Billy going camping with Max n the Party and all Billy wants to do is get in a tent with Steve

Hey I’m here thirty years later!

I had a lot of fun with this one so I hope this is kind of in the realm of what you wanted!!!

read on ao3

How a gaggle of fourteen year olds managed to convince Steve to take them all on a weekend camping trip was beyond him. Okay maybe it wasn’t. All it took was El’s signature pout and Steve was as good as gone. The real shocker however, is how they managed to convince Billy Hargrove of all people to tag along as well.

He’d heard from Max that their relationship had been slowly improving ever since that night at the Byers, and he’d have to agree with Max that Billy had truly become less hostile as the months passed. But this was the first time he’s ever seen Billy acting so brotherly.

Steve had driven the male party members out into the woods, while Billy, Max, and El had driven separately. The three were late, of course. But Steve’s not quite sure he can exactly pin that on Billy. El is definitely poor when it comes to punctuality.

They couldn’t actually set up shop until the others arrived, seeing as they were supposed to select the chosen spot together. But as he watched the seconds tick by on his watch he grew more and more impatient he was close to saying fuck it and making it a boys only trip. That was until, seemingly on cue, the familiar roar of the Camaro echoed through the trees.

Watching Billy step out from the driver's seat was the first reminder that he hadn’t actually seen Billy in a while. Because so much had changed. His hair was less disheveled and chaotic as he remembered. But way curlier. It was slightly lighter too. The arrival of summer brought out the natural highlights in his hair. But it wasn’t just his appearance that had changed. Instead of exiting the car with the slam of his foot, the flick of a cigarette, and a predatory look… he was laughing. Laughing along with El and Max about something entirely unknown, and when asked, wasn’t revealed.

If Steve hadn’t let himself grow increasingly annoyed over the past fifteen minutes he stood there waiting, he might’ve cared to know. But the sun was beating down, he’d had to listen to Mike and Dustin argue about some Star Trek nonsense for the duration of the drive along with the time spent waiting, and he was starving.

“You’re late.” Steve said dryly.

“That’s my fault,” Billy replied with some residual laughter from whatever was so funny. “I forgot to counter in Hopper’s 20 minute ‘protect my kid’ speech when I went to pick up El.”

“Well I’m starving. So let’s find a spot, and let’s find it quickly.” Steve probably should’ve tried at least a little to tone down his irritation.

“Someone’s in a mood.” Max says under her breath, causing El to break out into another fit of giggles.

The gang decided not to test their luck against a hungry Steve Harrington. Especially not one wielding a baseball bat coated in rusty nails. So they piled all their camping supplies onto their backs and hauled ass through the woods.

After only ten minutes of searching, they stumbled across a nice clearing just 50 feet off the lake with a picnic table and fire pit already set up for them. Perfect.

The guys started by setting up their tents, while El and Max worked on gathering twigs for the fire. Dustin has meticulously established the sleeping arrangements. Five small tents. Eleven with Max, Dustin with Will, Lucas with Mike, and Billy and Steve alone in their own separate tents. It’s the perfect set up so long as Lucas doesn’t bring up any conversation regarding Empire Strikes Back being anything lower than number one out of the entire trilogy. Because then there would be chaos.

But when is Mike not the problem?

After getting set up, they finally got to break out some delicious ham and swiss sandwiches (courtesy of Claudia Henderson), and Steve was finally entering into a better mood.

He couldn’t entirely credit the sandwich however, because something about this new and improved Billy warmed something inside of him. He was less abrasive and more relaxed. He wasn’t trying to prove anything to anyone and instead was allowing himself to have a good time. Teasing his sister rather than tormenting her. Tossing knowing looks towards Lucas rather than threatening ones. Okay scratch that. They were definitely threatening. But more playful. The typical older brother spiel. The ‘you hurt her, I’ll rip your throat out through your ears’ kind of thing. And he was actually trying to make conversation with him. Only slightly poking fun at him every now and then. Not for the purposes of taunting, instead just his typical charm showing through.

“So what you been up to this summer? Haven’t seen you since graduation.”

“I’ve been working at Scoops Ahoy in the new mall. Not much else really.”

Billy took another bite of his sandwich and nodded. “I recently got hired on at the pool. Teaching lessons and life guarding. Saving up for when I go out to college in the fall.” He didn’t swallow the bite before speaking. New and improved Billy didn’t have table manners he guesses.

“Oh really? Where you headed to?”

“Full ride at USC.” Billy let out a hollow laugh. “Dad’s pissed I’m not enlisting.”

Steve picked up on the way Billy’s smile faltered at the mention of his Dad. He’d remembered Max mentioning once or twice about how her step-father was an asshole. For fucks sake Billy got a full ride to a prestigious university and his Dad is upset about that? He couldn’t even get into Tech.

“I think it’s awesome.” Steve finally said. “I didn’t get accepted anywhere so I’m probably going to end up going to work for my Dad at his company.”

Apparently Steve let his disappointment show in the last statement.

“Shit that sucks man. Dads are shit.”

Steve lets his mouth twitch upward into a smile. He looks back down at his almost finished sandwich and lets out a slight chuckle.

“Yeah. Dads are shit.”

- : -

After they all finished up their late lunches, the kids decided to move the party away from the table and into the lake. They walked along the lake shore for maybe a quarter of a mile before finding an abandoned rope swing attached to a tree directly next to deep waters. Steve and Billy both notice as Max gets this fire in her eye and neither adult bothers stopping her before pushing an unexpecting Lucas into the water. The whole group bursts into laughter as he makes the splash, well everyone except of course for Lucas.

But quickly the rest of them joined him in the water. All of them swinging in by the rope. Surprisingly the most timid out of all of them was Steve himself, who in a moment of desperation had to have Billy give him a push.

Billy followed him in with a much larger splash than he had previously achieved. But it wasn’t a competition or anything.

Billy emerged from the water like a fucking mermaid. Graceful. His hair was completely saturated in water yet his curls still managed to pack a punch. He glistened under the rays of the sun and with the reflection of the water beneath him. Steve felt chills up and down his entire body as he watched him float away on his back. Watching as his chiseled chest rose and fell with every breath and the light from the sun reflected off of the water droplets on his sun kissed skin. He would just excuse it for the cool temperature of lake water.

But it wasn’t that cold to be completely honest. It’s June. One of the hottest months of the year and the weather is peaking at nearly 100 degrees. The water feels perfect in actuality.

Steve swims around for a bit with the boys, plays a couple rounds of Marco Polo, and then excuses himself to lie out on the shore. He watches as they all have a blast. Lucas and Max are basically trying to drown Mike. Will and Dustin are competing to see who can hold their breath underwater the longest. Will has been cheating the entire time and Dustin has absolutely no clue. Billy and El are off in the corner. He’s picking her up and tossing her into the water. They both appear to be having a really good time. Billy is surprisingly really good with El. He’s actually pretty good with all of the kids all things considered. Something must’ve happened when he wasn’t looking because he seemed to be the only one to bat an eye at the mentioning that Billy Hargrove would be joining them on the trip.

Steve inspected the time and decided to give the kids their 15 minute warning. Sun set was inching closer and they still had other preparations. He watched as Max swam over to where El and Billy were and after watching them exchange a couple sentences, Billy swam away and towards where Steve sat on the shore.

Billy pushed himself out of the water and dried himself off with a towel. He wrung out his hair and secured the wet mess of curls up with a purple scrunchie. He threw his sweatshirt on, zipper remaining undone showing off his exposed chest, and he plopped down next to Steve.

Oh boy. Steve hopes Billy didn’t notice the fact that he was staring at him that entire time.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of tonight Stevie?”

Steve feigned annoyance at the nickname (though it secretly made him embarrassingly giddy). “Well we’re going to roast some hot dogs and make some s’mores and hang around the fire before bed.”

“Sounds like a plan Harrington.”

An uncomfortable silence grows from there. The two of them sitting side by side looking out at the lake in front of them. Nothing but the sounds of splashing water and giggling teenagers. Billy is picking at the grass. Thinking. Steve might say he even looks nervous.

“I’m sorry about last November.” Billy doesn’t look up from where it’s pointing towards the overgrown blades of dead grass.

It’s not the snarky and forced apology he was expecting. To be completely honest he never did expect one. Seven months had passed since it happened and not a single word from Billy. He just left him alone like his sister demanded.

“I’ve wanted to apologize before. But I wasn’t in a great place and didn’t want to screw it up. I probably already did by taking so long.” He took a deep breath and finally looked up. Eyes focused on the lake and avoiding Steve’s gaze. “I needed to make sure I was apologizing for the right reasons. Not just to get my sister off my back or to somehow make myself feel better about what I did to your face. I needed to apologize so that you knew that I was sorry. And I needed to be okay with you not forgiving me for it. So that’s why I’m saying it now.”

Billy finally looks over at Steve who has been staring at Billy with wide eyes. It’s weird, because when Steve thinks about it, he kind of forgave him a long time ago. Because yeah, what Billy did was shitty, but not completely unfounded. He’s been underneath someone like that, barreling into him without care, more than once. It would have been easy to say Billy and his interaction was nothing like what he had with Jonathan Byers. Billy was actually a bad guy.

But that’s the thing. He really wasn’t. Not after everything happened.

He wasn’t outwardly kind. But he didn’t start shit. He minded his own business and moved through high school the same way everyone else did. And after hearing Max and Dustin and El vouch for him to come on this trip, well that sort of just sealed the deal. He forgave him before he even apologized.

But here he was. Apologizing. And for some reason Steve was rethinking ever forgiving him. It made no sense. But somehow actually knowing and believing Billy was actually sorry made forgiveness harder. Like in his mind it was easier because Billy didn’t get to know that he was forgiven. He was scared by telling Billy that he would be justifying what he did.

So Steve doesn’t respond. And he can tell that Billy’s upset about it. It’s only been ten minutes but he decides to call the kids out of the water anyway.

- : -

The sun was setting and everyone had gathered around the campfire to roast marshmallows. Things had been ever so tense between Steve and Billy ever since their conversation at the lake. No one else seemed to notice though.

It was easy to distract himself from Billy’s saddened state by watching as Dustin set his marshmallow on fire. Every time without fail. Max wasn’t roasting hers, just eating the marshmallows straight out of the bag because she doesn’t like graham crackers. Billy was intently making the most golden brown marshmallow for El because she didn’t know how to properly roast her own. It was really sweet. Billy seemed happy to do it but at the same time he had that lingering gloomy look on his face that would come in and out of existence.

Steve felt a little bad because he did that. Yeah, it’s the guy who nearly killed him, but he didn’t want to make him sad.

He brightened up a little bit when the bickering began between Dustin and Mike. This was the reason they couldn’t share a tent. Max, El, and Billy moved into their own conversation out of earshot while Steve tried to calm down an overly enthusiastic Dustin.

When the argument ended Billy was looking to be in a much better mood than before. It was a little odd. They noticed the fire starting to dim so Max and El quickly excused themselves to go gather some more twigs from the forest.

Billy was poking at the fire with a stick, trying to keep it alive (masking a developing smirk on his face).

“Hey Steve!!” Max’s voice echoes. “There’s a gaping hole in your tent!”

El is stifling a laugh. Steve doesn’t seem to notice.

Steve rushes over to inspect the damage and yeah, it’s a gaping hole alright. His entire body could fit through it. How did he not notice it earlier?

“Goddamnit!” Steve curses the air.

“I’m sure Billy wouldn’t mind sharing!” El says, albeit, a little too excitedly.

Steve looks over to Billy who is still poking at the fire. “Yeah. I got room, I don’t mind.”

And now Steve can’t just say no. He’d have to give a reason and well… he’s kind of strapped for an alternative so, Billy’s tent it is.

- : -

They stay by the campfire until the sun has completely set and the fire has gone out on its own. They broke out a couple of Beers and after several minutes of constant begging Steve caved and let the party have a small amount of beer each, poured into a red solo cup.

“This tastes like shit.” Dustin made a ridiculous face.

“Still better than New Coke.” Mike chimed in.

Billy helped Steve carry his things over to Billy’s tent. It was extremely awkward. Billy hadn’t really said a word to Steve the entire time and now they were supposed to sleep side by side in a pretty compact space? This should be fun.

An over dramatic yawn released by Max was their signal to head to sleep. The stars were clear above them and they had a pretty eventful day. Steve made sure everything was good while the rest of them piled into their own tents. Once he’s sure the food is secured and everyone is where they’re supposed to be, he sucks in a sharp breath and makes his way over to Billy in his tent.

Billy is already in his sleeping bag. He’s got a book in one hand and a flashlight in his other. Steve quickly discards his shoes and jeans and covers himself in his own sleeping bag.

They’re both facing away from each other. It isn’t until Steve hears the click of the flashlight and the illumination in the tent disappears that he realizes neither of them have spoken.

Steve has been thinking about the apology all night. He planned to just leave it be. Maybe thank him for apologizing but leave it at that. But seeing how much he’s changed and seeing how sincere he was being told him maybe Billy deserved to be forgiven. He also looked like he needed to be forgiven, despite what he said before at the lake.

“I needed to apologize so that you knew that I was sorry. And I needed to be okay with you not forgiving me for it. So that’s why I’m saying it now.”

“I forgive you Billy.”

“Hmm?”

“I said I forgive you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it back at the lake.” Steve took in a deep breath and continued. “I wasn’t sure if it would be the right thing. But you’re clearly not the same person you were that night. I just didn’t really see it at first. I’m going to have to get used to this new and improved version of Billy Hargrove.”

Billy smiled to himself.

“Thanks.”

Steve smiled too.

The tent grew silent again after that. But it was slightly less tense than it was before.

“Can I say something stupid?” Billy asks.

Steve turns over to face Billy. He laughs. “Yeah. It’d be nice hearing it come from someone else for a change.”

Billy doesn’t turn to face Steve, but he can tell that he’s nervous because it’s quiet enough to hear his breathing quicken.

“I like you. Like… in that way. Sorry if that’s weird.”

Steve is quick to respond.

“Hey, it’s not weird. Don’t apologize for that.” He’s thinking a lot about Will. He and Dustin had talked about it before. How they’d be sure to make sure that Will knew it was okay whenever he chose to tell them. He doesn’t see why that should be any different for anyone else. Including Billy Hargrove.

But he guesses this is kind of different. It’s not just a confession of being into guys. It’s a confession of being into a specific guy. The specific guy in question being Steve.

It would also be pretty hypocritical of Steve to be weirded out. Not two hours ago he was fully objectifying Billy’s shirtless body. He might not like Billy. But dammit he was definitely attracted to him.

“If you’re uncomfortable I can hike back to the Camaro and sleep there. It’s not a problem.”

Billy had already begun unzipping the sleeping bag. Steve instinctively put a hand on Billy’s shoulder.

“Hey. Billy it’s seriously alright. Look at me.”

Billy hesitated before rolling over. Their eyes met and due to the compact nature of their current sleeping arrangement, their faces lie mere inches away from each other. Steve had planned something to say, but he instantly forgot when he looked into Billy’s eyes. They weren’t the eyes belonging to an egregious asshole. They were the eyes belonging to a scared kid that maybe, given the time, Steve could grow to like.

He could try blaming it on the beer. But Billy and himself both knew he didn’t even finish the one. But still, Steve inched closer and kissed him. It was soft and gentle. Steve moved a hand up to caress Billy’s cheek. Billy gently grabbed Steve’s wrist and deepened the kiss.

Steve could feel Billy’s smile on his lips.

He slithered his other hand underneath Billy and pulled him in closer. Their bodies were completely pressed against each other at every point, save for the thickness of not one but two sleeping bags separating skin from skin.

Still they could feel each other’s heartbeats increase as their pace did the same. The kiss turned from gentle to one filled with need.

Billy began working at the zipper of his sleeping bag with his other hand and was able to break free. He rolled Steve over onto his back and situated one leg on either side of Steve’s hips. Their lips didn’t come unattached. Steve moved both hands to the back of Billy’s head and he took fists full of hair and tugged gently, causing Billy to quietly moan into his mouth.

It was complete euphoria.

Billy was in just his boxers. Meanwhile Steve was still beneath the thick material of his sleeping bag. Billy unzipped it quickly for Steve and immediately tossed it off of him. Billy snaked a hand underneath Steve’s shirt. Moving up and down the full length of his chest. Appreciating his minimal chest hair. On the trip back down Billy’s hand palmed Steve’s crotch where he was quickly becoming hard from all of the friction. Steve let out a gasp as he made contact.

“We can’t. The kids’ll hear us.”

“Then you’ll just have to be quiet pretty-boy.”

Billy waited for Steve to give indication that it was okay to continue. Steve laughed and pulled him back down to meet his lips. Billy hiked up his shirt and they shortly separated to pull it over his head. Billy moved back in to Steve’s neck and sucked harshly on several spots before peppering kisses all along the length of his torso until he reached his navel. Billy stuck his thumbs underneath the waistband of Steve’s briefs and slowly rolled them down.

Billy moves so that he’s in between Steve’s legs and lowers his head into his groin. Steve feels as the tension builds in the pit of his stomach from the delicate touch of Billy’s tongue. Even under the chill from the night air he’s warm all over.

“Feels so good Billy, Fuck!” He quickly puts a hand over his mouth when he realizes he said that a little too loudly.

Steve is just lying there, experiencing the utter bliss that is Billy Hargroves mouth wrapped around his cock making him feel every sensation all at once.

“I’m close.” He whispers. God he really hopes the kids are asleep.

“Come for me pretty-boy.”

And boy does he. Just the way he said it was enough for Steve. He was a goner at the mere drop of the words ‘pretty boy’.

Billy wiped away at his mouth and crawled back up to lay down next to him. Steve immediately pulls him into another kiss. He’s not quite ready to come down from the high he was currently in. Billy’s mouth on his was a fucking drug.

It’s weird to thank people after sex right?

Steve settles for something else when they finally part.

“It’s my turn.”

- : -

The two of them wake up in a single sleeping bag. Steve has his arms wrapped around Billy’s wasted and his head tucked into the crook of his neck. Steve is sweating because Billy’s is a goddamn space heater.

He can hear the rustling of the tents outside and quickly wakes up Billy so they can get out of their current suggestive position.

Billy in his sleepy state gives Steve a quick kiss on the lips. He’s quickly woken up by Dustin screaming at everyone to wake up from outside the tent.

“We’ll talk about this later?” Steve says with a laugh.

Billy nods and gives him another quick kiss before getting up and tossing on a new pair of clothes.

Once dressed they both exit the tent to see everyone making their way to the picnic table.

They pull out several boxes of cereal and some milk from the cooler and begin eating their breakfast. Billy is sitting across from Steve, gently kicking at his feet.

“Hey Steve what happened to your neck?” Dustin asks.

Steve’s eyes go wide and he quickly comes up with a cover.

“Oh uh, there were a lot of mosquitoes last night. Wouldn’t leave me alone.”

They all seem to accept the response and go back to their breakfasts.

Billy smirks at him from across the table and Steve stomps on his foot.

- : -

Max, Billy and El say their goodbyes and head off in the Camaro.

Once the Engine is running and they’ve started driving away they all burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe you actually took a knife to Steve’s tent.”

“I can’t believe you actually fucked Steve!”

#harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #mandi writes tresh #fanfic #i really loved this prompt by the way #lemons

59 notes · View notes

mia-cooper · 5 years ago

Text

2019 fanfiction in review

I usually put more effort into pimping my favourite fics of the year, boosting a few new writers in my fandoms, etc. This year, however, I have not, for reasons both within and beyond my control. Which is pretty much my excuse for not Doing Better with writing for the past month or so, but hey. At least there’s this.

.......................................................

1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

How can I even begin to list all the beautiful, shocking, feel-good, feel-terrible-but-in-a-good-way, envy-inducing, page-turning, soul-destroying, fluffy, hilarious, infuriating and horny fics I’ve read this year? I can’t. So I will instead list three that come immediately to mind.

@curator-on-ao3 – The Dismissed Protocol (rated T, VOY, TNG, Janeway & Crusher)

This fic made me angry. So angry that I left a ranty and incoherent comment, slammed down the lid on my laptop and stormed around the house for a bit. Why was I so pissed, you ask? Because this fic hit a good few of my personal triggers around bodily autonomy and the right to make informed choices, and because although the fic ends triumphantly, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Which, considering this is fiction, is the mark of some really good writing. When it comes to tackling difficult topics with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective, and without opting for the easy answers, Curator never disappoints. This story is just one of many examples of that in her work.

@love-in-the-time-of-kolinahr – it will take place without witnesses (rated E, DSC, Pike/Number One)

Okay so let me start by saying it was the author’s fucking EXCELLENT pun of a pseudonym that made me read this in the first place. Then it was the poem they quoted (Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska, which is like a portentous rocket in the guts). Then it was Una’s scales-off-the-eyes, we-are-true-equals, don’t-bullshit-me-lover candidness in the way she sees, talks to, knows Chris Pike. I adore Pike in his laconic-space-cowboy-with-a-heart Disco incarnation, I like him a lot as the CoolDad in AOS, but this fic? This fic gives me smart, forthright, deeply tender Number One, and Pike as the fractured and very human hero I hope like hell we’ll see more of because they are definitely making a Pike series RIGHT? It is written. Anyway… this fic is beautiful and harsh and deft and real and sexy and poetic and at its core it’s about love, and who doesn’t love love?

@captacorn – Stars in a Ruined Sky (rated M, VOY, Paris/Torres)

It took me a while to read this one because CaptAcorn was posting it at the same time I was writing my epic, and I had no brain space to maintain a hold on someone else’s dark and compelling plot. But when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down. It is AMAZING. A Timeless AU, set in a universe where Voyager crashed and most of the crew survived, this goes where no other 100k+ epic I’ve read before has dared to tread, and it does so without flinching. The details are what make this unforgettable – there’s no magic reset button, so when something bad happens to the crew, there are actual lasting consequences – but it’s the humanity of the characters (if I can use that word to describe a crew that includes aliens) that makes it unputdownable (fuck off, my nana said that’s a word). This is not an AU I want to think happened, but CaptAcorn makes it one that rings true. And I’ll definitely read this again when I have the emotional fortitude for it.

Wow, there’s no Janeway/Chakotay in my top three. What? So here’s a bonus:

Northernexposure’s trilogy – Soft Light, Aftershocks and Resolution (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay) – three for the price of one! I mean, when northernexposure posts a new fic I race to read it no matter what, but smut! Beautifully written, true to character, sexy sexy smut from one of my all time favourite authors! How could I turn that down?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

Mmmyeah to be honest I kinda feel as though my writing peaked in 2017, but here we go.

Desperate Measures (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay and other pairings) – because there’s angst and smut and the plot is twisty as fuck and I feel like there’s a pretty satisfying payoff. And it’s really long and relies on the reader engaging with my OCs which people seem to have done, which makes me think that if I ever do want to go write another original novel, maybe I won’t want to burn it as soon as I’m done.

This Is The Moment (rated M, DSC, Pike/Tyler) – because these two have exhausting chemistry and I couldn’t not write this but it was hard to make it come out of my brain the way I wanted it. But I’m really happy with it.

And I have a soft spot for First Officer’s Log (rated T, VOY, Chakotay & Tuvok, implied Janeway/Paris), because I just really love Threshold, okay? And while the episode is wack on so many levels there are really dark and heavy themes to explore there which I feel have gone very unexplored and I hope my fic struck that same balance between moral philosophy and holywhatthefuckery.

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

From Bad Maquis (rated M, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay):

The only thing more restrictive – and bosomy – than this outfit, Kathryn mused as she stared at her reflection, was her holodeck governess costume.  

Still, at least she didn’t have to leave her quarters wearing this getup, and thank goodness for small mercies. Because she was on the verge of backing down from this challenge as it was, and Kathryn Janeway did not chicken out. Ever.

I mean, it sets the scene, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t love Janeway in leather.

4. Favourite closing line(s):

This is maybe cheating a little bit because this fic isn’t finished, but this first chapter can stand alone and I won’t be continuing it for some time (first, I have to finish the two prequels, haha). Anyway, these are the closing lines from Inertia (rated T so far, VOY, Janeway/Paris and others):

When the daze clears and Tom looks up to discover that his hovercar is parked in front of an address he’s never visited but has nonetheless memorised, maybe he should feel a little bit surprised.  

He doesn’t. No matter how far he tries to go or how long he stays away from her, turning up at Kathryn Janeway’s door is inevitable.

Why do I like it? Well, I have an everlasting appreciation for Janeway/Paris, for one thing. For another, if you read the rest of the story and understand what Tom has just learned, you’ll want to know what happens next. I hope. I sure want to know.

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

That would be Desperate Measures again. It’s my longest fic by far and I was absolutely bowled over by the response to it, but one of my favourite comments on it is this one:

It actually looks like Janeway is saying gimme and it cracks me up.

Honestly though… the depth and kindness of comments on that fic in particular, the time and thought and effort that people have put into their reviews … it made up for every moment I wanted to chuck it in and never look at that fic again, or any other.

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

Honestly, I was surprised there was so little response to my @voyagermirrormarch fic trilogy, Heaven in the Shape of Hell. I really thought they’d be crowd pleasers, but it shows what I know, lol. I haven’t even finished the third one because the lack of interest made me wonder if they were just really shite, but I’m not so butthurt about it anymore and I will come back to it someday.

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

Does Star Trek in all its incarnations count as one fandom? If so, I wrote for two (Trek and Marvel). If all the different versions of Trek count separately, I wrote for seven (MCU, AOS (that’s Trek Alternate Original Series, not Agents of SHIELD), Disco, Mirror, Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager).

Anyway, I guess I’ll never stop being inspired by Voyager, so even if Disco season 3 and the Picard show do nothing for me, I’ll always have that.

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

I mean, Janeway x Chakotay, for sure. But I’m deeply, deeply invested in Janeway x Paris at the moment.

9. What you’re writing now/next:

I’m struggling through the second part of what was supposed to be my contribution to @25daysofvoyager. I’m actually going to post the first part once I’m done with this quiz in the hope it’ll kick my ass into gear. I’m also on semi-hiatus from Kinetic Friction, but I’ll be going back to it as soon as I’m done with my 25 Days fic. At some point after Kinetic there’ll be the sequel, and then the rest of Inertia. I’m also contemplating something for Threshold Day, possibly throwing something into @voytalentchallenge (don’t count on that one), and I have an idea for a pre-Enterprise D, pre-Voyager meeting between Picard and Janeway (with smut, obvs), plus all the other fics I’m definitely going to write …

And of course there’s my meat raffle. Time to pimp that one again. Donate to AO3 and if I draw your name out of the hat of randomness I’ll write you a fic to your specifications (roughly).

10. Writing goals for 2020 (word count? new fandoms/pairings? anything?):

Look, I’d just really like to actually write to some of the prompts I’ve had sitting in my ridiculously complex filing system without getting sidetracked by the newest shiny thing to catch my eye. In terms of fandoms, I hope I’ll write more for Discovery, I’m looking forward to Picard, and I would like to branch out from Trek a bit. More MCU, definitely, and maybe others if I get inspired. The main thing I want out of writing fanfiction at the moment is for it to continue making me happy, though, so I just hope I keep having fun with it.

#miamemes #miawrites #2019 fanfiction in review

29 notes · View notes

douxreviews · 6 years ago

Text

Cloak & Dagger - ‘Shadow Selves’ Review

"What if I just want to hurt people?"

Well, this one certain gives us a few things to unpack.

Cloak and Dagger catches up with some supporting characters, while bringing us up to speed on what Mayhem has been up to since last season's finale. Oh, and gives us a mediation on the essential nature of self, as you do.

The 'shadow self,' according to Jungian philosophy, are those parts of one's personality that you reject or choose to not know about. That's a horrific oversimplification, and I apologize to any psychology students who might be reading this. It's not really my field. I had to google just to confirm that much.

Most obviously this is a reference to Brigid and Mayhem, implying that Mayhem is that shadow self that Brigid has always had inside of her, neatly separated off into its own body. I believe there was a Star Trek episode where something similar happened to Kirk, but it was a little less... let's be polite and say 'nuanced,' than what we get here.

Actually, the Star Trek comparison is useful here, particularly when compared to the explanation that Mina gives us in this episode. Since I'm going to actually talk about it, I've felt obligated to look up what it was called, and it's 'The Enemy Within,' for anyone wondering who didn't already know. Additional apologies to Star Trek fans for the oversimplification I'm about to launch into. Fans of both Jung and original series Trek, please contact me directly and I'll send you an apology fruit basket or something.

In 'Enemy Within,' Kirk is split into 'good Kirk' and 'evil Kirk,' and the point is very much that even good people have bad stuff in them and it's a character study of who Kirk is as a complete character. That being the purpose of the experiment, one Kirk is very definitely 'good,' and the other definitely 'evil.' In 'Shadow Selves,' Mina describes the process that's been splitting her test mice into two, and therefore by proxy what's happened to Brigid, as resulting in one version of the self with no activity in the brain's rage center, and the other version having activity only in the rage center. Your basic Hulk scenario.

But neither of those descriptions fit what we actually see of Mayhem's character this week.

Mayhem isn't full of rage, particularly. She's task-oriented and happy to kill people she views as 'bad,' but that's not at all the same thing. If anything, Mayhem is a much better cop than Brigid. Sure, her first instinct is to track down and kill her other half, but she gets distracted almost immediately by wanting revenge on the guy she was already looking to get revenge on before the personality split, and then never shows an inclination to kill Brigid again, despite the half a dozen times this episode alone in which she could have done so.

Great job to the showrunners for the Mayhem backstory we get tonight, and the way it pulls a lot of the pieces of this season's plot together. Mayhem starts with wanting revenge on Connors, isn't able to find him, and then decides that since she wants to kill people anyway she should focus on finding bad people to kill, becoming Dexter with Day-glo fingernail polish. Plus, she's clearly capable of being thoughtful and kind, as shown in her comment about Ty being her friend. It was nice that Delgado gives her the advice that pushes her in the direction of punishing the guilty, by the way. Put a pin in Delgado, we'll circle back to him in a minute, but there's one last point about Mayhem that I want to touch on before we move on.

This show is one of the rare examples in which every single change they've made to the source material has made the show stronger. The exception, as I've said before, being not having Ty stutter, but that's more of a practical consideration, so we'll let that slide. In the comics, Mayhem is essentially what you'd get if Toxic Avenger and the Punisher made a beautiful love child, but having Mayhem and Brigid be two separate beings who share Brigid's memories and thought processes was a brilliant move and is really paying off for them. The way that Mayhem clearly wants Tandy to side with her and be her partner on the investigation is just one aspect of the overall impression that what Mayhem really wants is to prove that she's better than Brigid, and that's fascinating. I can't wait to see where this is going.

But Brigid isn't the only one whose darker side has come to the fore here, and now we get back to Formerly-Father Delgado. Wow, was I not prepared for how dark they went with Delgado. I questioned last season why they threw in such a randomly dark note as the reveal that Delgado had killed a kid while driving drunk, but now I think they were just preparing us for this next stage in his character development. I don't have a ton to say about drunk street preaching nihilist Delgado except that I'm impressed that they went there, and it was nicely handled how he factored into Mayhem's evolution from seeking vengeance to becoming an actually effective rescuer of human trafficking victims. That was not where I saw any of that going.

And last but not least, Ty and Tandy continue their promised power-up. Tandy's ball of light which lit up the whole warehouse was cool looking, but my inner fangirl nearly passed out with joy when Ty finally unveiled his full body of darkness effect and then we got to witness firsthand someone inside the dark realm of his cloak being tormented by visions. Now all I need to die happy is for Tandy to ride 'inside' him to crime scenes and leap out throwing light knives.

Bits and Pieces:

-- The debate between Ty and Tandy as to whether they should just step back and let Mayhem kill the human traffickers had valid points all around. Generally speaking, I'd put myself on team 'yes, please murder the human traffickers' but Ty's concerns about the victims being collateral damage was fair. That said, I did not feel bad when Mayhem ran that one over with a truck.

-- Mayhem climbed out of the lake 242 days earlier, so Evita's statement last week that it had been eight months was more or less on the nose.

-- The extremely mini story-arc of Dale, the skeezy desk clerk at the transient hotel, was a thing of beauty. From creeping on Mayhem, to backing away, to the obedient puddle he'd become by the time Brigid came to find the hotel was just perfection. This show really does understated very well.

-- Haven't we all wanted to beat up a refrigerator?

-- Oh Mina Hess, I'm so glad that you're OK. Mina has apparently now added microbiolical bio-chemistry and behavioral research fellow to her already impressive track list of Structural Engineer, Thermodynamics expert, plumber, renewable energy expert, and about twelve other unrelated specialties. At this point I think it's best to view Mina like Reed Richards, i.e. all purpose science-y person who knows all the science-y stuff when it's needed. Plus just maybe she'll encourage a few more girls to pursue STEM careers, and that's a good enough goal in its own right.

-- Today I learned that SRO stands for 'single room occupancy,' a type of hotel that in a less dignified age I would have referred to as a flophouse.

-- Tandy mentions in passing that she and Mina have kept in touch. I feel like we were cheated out of a few highly entertaining explanation scenes.

-- Special shout out to Emma Lahana for the physical work she's doing to differentiate Brigid and Mayhem. Mayhem moves in a very distinctive shoulder forward way, which is very different from how Brigid walks. It's a nice, subtle detail, and should be praised.

-- Apparently I was overcomplicating the kidnapped girl plot last week. They seem to just be human traffickers who panicked and let Mikayla go because Ty had suddenly appeared in their ambulance so they had to cover their tracks. I kind of appreciate the show letting me work that out for myself.

-- 'The Glitter Gutter' is a great name for a strip club.

Quotes:

Mina: "Don’t worry, these cosmetics were tested on humans."

Brigid: "She’s not me." Tandy: "She’s got your face and she’s got your badge."

Dale: "No one went in your room. I didn’t mean to make eye contact, I’m sorry."

Tandy: "What is this?" Brigid: "This is Mayhem."

Mayhem: "And in another lifetime, Ty was a friend. At least he was to me, I don’t know if he’d say the same."

Tandy: "Hey Ty, look. Ya got a deranged map twin."

Mayhem: "You don’t get to play the victim. (Slashes his throat) Well, now I suppose you can."

Fuchs: "Who’s up for Awkward reunion pancakes?"

Lots of good stuff here, with only a couple of awkward plot contrivances to really criticize. For example, it's a little hard to swallow that Brigid being pulled from the lake would make breaking citywide news under those circumstances. Still, if that's the show's biggest sin, my shadow self is happy.

Three and a half out of four shadow dimensions.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

#Cloak and Dagger #Tandy Bowen #Tyrone Johnson #Brigid O'Reilly #Mayhem #Marvel #MCU #Cloak and Dagger Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

24 notes · View notes

carrietrekkie · 6 years ago

Text

Pike/Female OC

I think I´ll try a little experiment and posting my Pike/Female OC Story.

It´s been a while since my last release of a story and it will be my very first in English. I finished only a OC Ask Meme about her in English, so, if someone liked it or want´s to know more about that story, let me know and i will translate the images and stories.

Please let me also know, if there are linguistic mistakes.

So, here it is!

What is your character´s full name?: Cathrin Elizabeth Zimmer (Ranks from Lieutenant to Commander)

When were they born?: 31.10.1986, Germany, Another Dimension.

What are their parent´s names?: Robert Zimmer, Annabell Zimmer

Do they have any brothers or sisters?: An older brother, Markus Zimmer

What kind of eyes do they have: Green eyes with golden sparkles. She has a warm gaze, not afraid of eye contact, even which strangers, this comes from her education and the time she spends with people in her past job.

What kind of hair do they have?: Dark nut brown hair. It falls in soft waves over her armpit but at duty she used to wear it up to a ponytail or a updos with braids.

What is their complexion like? Fair skin, she always used to be very pale, she tans really slowly but that takes time

What body type are they? 5.5, she is average, bit curvy and loves it. By the time she arrives in the 23 century and the events followed by her apparition, she starts to train and learn a lot of Martial Arts to protect her crewmembers and herself if there is need to, so she gets a little more athletic.

What is listening to their voice like? Cathrin has an unexpected deep voice that skip a bit, when she´s getting emotional. She trained that because she made the experience that a deep, warm voice calms patients and people much more than a highly tone. Some of her phrases are old fashioned to the people around her, that’s something Chris loves about her and he started to use them to, long before they get together.

She loves to sing, but thinks she´s not very talented, so she keep it private but sometimes, when she is concentrated, it happens in public. Dr. Culber found it enchanting after it happens in his presence but never mentioned it to her, until she leaves Discovery.

What do they hate most about themselves? Cathrin hate her uncertainty about the 23 century. Almost everything is new to her, despite her memories of the events in the “Star Trek Universe”, it’s a completely different thing to be thrown into this life without advance warning. She had to ask about everything, even the things that totally normal for everyone around her and after all this time she spent in her new life, there is always something new and unexpected that made her feel like a complete idiot. (Just imagine pull out of your time, space and dimension and been thrown over 200 years into the future.)

Do they have a favorite quote?

To see your world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower. To hold infinity in the palm of your hand, An eternity in an hour.

Her father used to read her and her brother poems when there where children, this one is the last he told them, on the day he passed away.

_Be bold, be brave, be courageous. _

The words she read to her nephew at his christening. Much later, she said this to Pike and he completed her sentence without hesitation, they started to say goodbye with that, before they go on separate or dangerous missions. He once said this words carried them to the hardest and darkest times of their life, as well as thru the best and brightest.

What sort of music do they enjoy? Cathrin is very into music. She holds the musical data she brought with her like a treasure. She enjoyed a peculiar mixture of music: Pop, Rock, Metal, Country, World Music and Soundtracks from the 1950 till 2019. She also enjoys some stuff from the 23th century, but there she is highly influenced by Chris Favorites.

Once she made a playlist for Chris ( as a thanks for keeping her from drowning, after the first time she was forced to kill, to save Ash Tylers Life), she called it cheesy and terribly old fashioned, he says it´s one of the best gifts he ever received. And with time goes by every song from this list, fits to something that’s happened in their lives.

Have/would they ever cheat(ed) on a partner?: No, she would never do that. When she loves, she does with her full heart, soul and mind. Cathrin is a very romantic person but is uncertain how to show it in the right way or at all.

Have they been cheated on by a partner?: Yes. Back in her old life, her fiancé cheated on her a few weeks before their weeding. And although a year after that, she could forgive him, there both were very young and maybe to naive about their relationship, but she never forget that feeling and swear she would never do such horrible thing to someone she love.

Have they ever lost someone close to them? Cathrin lost everyone she knew and loves when the signal brought her into the 23 century. It took her a while to get to live on with that, but she heeded Chris advice to let them go, since they lived there lives long ago and hers is just to start at a new point.

She is afraid to loss her new friends and crewmembers and, even though she´s used to dead by her job, she still mourn every patient that passed away on her duty.

Her father died, after a long illness, when she and her brother where teenagers.

Are they judgmental of others? No. She treated everyone the same way, unless she get´s a reason for being so rude. She was not a very popular companion when she was at school, sometimes she get bullied, so she decided, she would never be a person like that.

Have they ever been drunk? Yes. The worst drunkenness was at a party after her father´s funeral. Cathrin had a completely blackout on that evening. After that night she nearly tolerated nothing alcoholic and only drinks a glass on very special occasions. The champagne Pike serves her after her admission to Starfleet nearly knocks her out and he still makes his jokes about that. (There was a party after that but she can´t remember anything about that.)

What are they like when they stay up all night? A little bit like a humming-bird, reinforced by the amount of coffee she consumed to get through the night at all. She speaks to much and to fast and gets very jumpy. Usually Cathrin is not a night person, she needs her sleep and she needs to be rested before she takes a step into an OP to lay a life of someone in her hands. But if it´s necessary, and thanks to the training and conditions, she could pull herself together to get through tough times, but she don´t like it, she know it is unhealthy to let it happened to often.

What evokes strong memories for them? A lot of thinks throws her back to things she´s been through, but that are memories she can deal with, like the death of her father, her first heartbreak or the good times, she had with her childhood friends.

Much more harder to process are the flashbacks and buried memories that comes with her knowledge of thinks that probably could happen in the future. For them there are no fixed triggers, so it overcomes her from time to time with unexpected effects and results. Cathrin hates it but can do nothing against it, sometimes it´s like a whisper but otherwise it could knock her completely out and most of this times she ended in sick bay and with a lot of questions she never could answer entirely.

The only memory she could share and prevent form happening, was Pikes fate but she always fear, that with hold up these events, there would be another tragic end for him (she knew, there is some, but she has no access to it) and when she see it clearly, it would be to late.

Anyway she wrote down every fragment she remembers in a notebook and made a note in it, that after her and Chris dead it should go to the Captain and First Officer of the Enterprise.

What do they do on rainy days?: Cathrin used to read on rainy days, doing laundry, watching movies or series.

After rainy days could only happen on personal leave times, she takes these days to do nothing or just things she really likes. Take a long bath, stay in bed till midday, preferred by breakfast also in bed or just listen to music. On top of this list stands spending time with Chris, catch up the things they have to less time on board of Enterprise, even if it´s just sitting side by side by the fireplace, reading a book or dancing to their favorite songs.

**What religion are they? **Cathrin grew up in a little catholic embossed village in Germany. She never get to much into religion but always had faith and believe that there are more tings between earth and sky than science will show her.

She stayed with it, after her arrival in the future and pulled from it, when the days and nights are getting dark and sometimes hopeless. Her spiritual side goes along with her scientific way to live, she never saw a reason why they had to exclude each other.

What do they wear to bed?: Cathrin wears a pyjama shorts with a shirt, sometimes a nightgown, accounting on her daily condition. When she is away from Enterprise for Starfleet Academy, she usually wears some of Chris t-shirts and a long pyjama pants (She had some strange encounters at night in the dorm, so she decided to be as dressed as possible). On vacation she sometimes sleeps in underwear or less.

Do they have any tattoos or piercings?: No tattoos, but she get her ears pierced when she was a little girl.

Cathrin don´t like needles at all, every time she has to take a blood sample from a patient or give an injection in the past, she suffered with him. One reason she thinks Hyposprays are a gift of heaven.

What type of clothing are they most comfortable in?: Cathrin loves the clothes she had with her, when she was brought to Discovery (Jeans, a shirt, a black dress and coat, two pairs of high heels), even the Jeans get ripped, she never thrown it away.

She likes her blue Enterprise uniform more than the dark blue from Discovery. Of duty she likes to wear dresses and skirts, shoes with a heel( gives her the illusion to get nearly the high of Chris) and sometimes the “county girl style” Chris loves so much on her.

What is their favorite food?: Cathrin is addicted to desserts and sweet thinks. Baking was one of her hobbies, but you can´t bake cookies on a space ship.

On personal leave she sometimes cooks. Her all time favorite are Pancakes, done by the recipe of her mother, that’s something she really missed.

Do they have any enemies?: No personal enemies. But if you are in Starfleet, it comes with the duty and some decisions you forced to make. She´s sure there are a few people in the galaxy, who prefer her dead then still alive, but they first have to pass Chris and the crew of the Enterprise.

What does their writing look like?: Cathrin has a very elegant writing but when she´s in hurry, so most of the time, it goes undecipherable. This also caused back to her time as a medical assistant and later as a Paramedic.

What disgusts them? Liars, disloyalty, dishonorable intentions. She has a high loyal compass and goes not well with people who infringe it. Cathrin hates senseless violence and every action that caused damage to the ones she love and who stands under her protection.

#captain pike x reader #christopher pike x reader #pike x reader #star trek discovery #star trek discovery oc #captain pike imagines #captain chris pike

16 notes · View notes

oqpromptparty · 7 years ago

Photo

Hi everyone! If you’d like to take part in this year’s Prompt Party Week, just select any of the prompts from the list below and write a fic, make a video or create some art based on it. Please note that more than one person may choose the same prompt.

You may submit new stories or include the prompts in any of your existing verses (though all your entries must be posted for the first time during Prompt Party Week).

Artists & Video makers may use any of the prompts, but there are some Art/Video specific ones at the bottom of the post.

I have condensed some of the prompts that were a little too long… and feel free to take some liberties with some of the more specific prompts!

If you have any questions, please tweet @OQPromptParty

OQ Prompt Party week will run from 19th - 25th March. Please don’t post anything until then.

Prizes:

Everyone who posts a prompt for all seven days of the OQ Prompt Party week will be sent a limited edition, one of a kind Outlaw Queen button/badge. These will never be available again, so don’t miss out!

Each day there will also be the opportunity to win another prize. You will be entered into a prize draw and the more prompts you write, the more times your name will be entered into the draw. I will announce which prizes will be available on each day soon.

There will also be a separate prize for most prompts included in a single one-shot/chapter (crack!fic encouraged).

And now! Without further ado, here are your prompts:

Regina and Robin are friends who accidentally sleep with one another, except not so accidentally

Roland is grown up and thinks he’s finally discovered how to bring back Robin Hood - but he needs Regina’s help

Regina eventually moved on, but then Robin comes back into her life.

Dark!OQ first kiss.

During the French Revolution, Robin is a prosecutor who acts like a spy at court for Robespierre.

Robin owes the Queen a debt so she has made him her servant til it is repaid.

Robin makes three wishes.

Co-Stars falling in love.

Robin and Regina used to date/were married. They’re no longer together but still love one another.

First Curse AU: Robin is in Storybrooke during the first curse and dated Mayor Mills while still cursed. Then the curse breaks.

Robin catches Regina watching "Bridezilla" & "Say Yes to the Dress" and starts planning a secret wedding based on her commentary.

Regina meeting DarkOQ's baby (with them alive)

Robin or Regina get turned into an animal unbekownst to the other who ends up caring for them for a bit before the curse is broken and then it's all like awkward....you liked me as a fox.

OQ/Belle friendship.

Roland and Robyn meet for the first time.

No one dies and everything ends happy

Robin is there when Regina finds out she’s going to be a grandmother.

Robin or Regina have a bad habit the other tries to help them break.

Regina is pregnant and she and Robin watch a birthing video together.

Learning how to snapchat.

Robin’s soul didn’t get obliterated when Hades stabbed him and his soul got trapped in Regina’s mirror

Page 23 showing up out of nowhere.

Regina feels burdened by the guilt of all the people she has murdered. Robin supports her with this.

Cora tries to separate Robin and Regina.

Based on this story https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/02/20/king-pedro/

Regina and Robin meet at a hospital as they both have to sit in a waiting room waiting for hours on news about some members of their family.

Dark OQ meet Maleficent.

Regina self harming and Robin noticing

During the missing year, Regina sees herself in her mirror with Robin's tattoo tattooed on her.

Regina finds out that she’s actually Zeus or Hera’s daughter and demands that Robin be brought back.

Robin's backstory for any story or as a stand alone for the one we were promised.

Underworld. Regina telling Robin about her father’s death? Some of Robin’s demons.

In season 2, Regina went to the EF through Jefferson’s hat, and meets people who escaped the first curse; her mother, and her soulmate.

Bladerunner AU. As a bladerunner, Robin is sent on a mission to retire a rogue replicant, Regina.

Facilier's magic enables Regina to speak to Robin one last time. (Feel free to include him being semi or fully corporeal if you wish.)

Robin or Regina have to pick up a drunk Henry or Roland.

Henry comes out as ace/bi/etc to Regina and Robin.

Robin gets jealous when Regina and Mal work together a lot on something in secret. (DOQ or OQ)

Vampire AU.

Regina and Robin have a big fight. Robin goes to Mal for help in understanding Regina's reactions and ways to make it up to her. (DOQ or OQ)

Regina has mad PMS (just cause I think Robin figuring this out would be hilarious).

Robin and Regina discover their respective significant others are cheating with each other. They support each other through the fallout and their sons decide to make them realize they should be together.

OQ Body switch.

Robin is thrown through the time portal and meets young teenage Regina.

Robin and Regina in an orgy.

They are rival vigilantes both trying to fight the villain of the town.

Magic spell gone wrong, Robin accidentally turns himself into a fox while fiddling around with one of the vials in Regina's vault.

After Regina experiences sexual harassment, Robin reaches out to comfort her.

Robin refuses to go to the doctor.

Screenwriter/Director falling in love.

Person A keeps having strange dreams that turn out to be OQ in a past/alternate lives and they’re determined to find person B again (for extra angst; person B is already dead in this life).

American Horror Story Murder House AU

Season 3 AU where Robin/Roland/Both find themselves in Neverland and join an unlikely group brought together by their need to find a young boy.

Dark!OQ finding & taking in an abandoned baby.

An AU where there is a terror attack.

One is a killer/Criminal the other one is trying to catch him/her.

OQ friendship as one of the original married couples from Grace and Frankie.

Regina has another adoptive child when Henry brings Emma to Storybrooke.

Why did Robins tattoo match the lion emblems in Camelot? Former knight? Rightful king?

Missing Year and it's Roland's birthday.

The Good Place AU

“I went to the museum to get some inspiration for my art and then I saw you staring at one of the paintings in awe but now you just noticed me drawing you and this is awkward AU”

Regina hires Robin as her stylist. Because of a misunderstanding she thinks he’s gay.

Drunk Regina accidentally admits something really embarrassing.

Robin and Regina in a witness protection programme.

Frozen AU

Regina dies and Robin can see her ghost, together and try to find a solution to bring her back.

Prince Robin has to choose a bride via competition for his heart and Regina is one of the girls competing (or vice versa).

Robin finds Regina after searching for her.

Regina being with young Robyn.

Soldier/Nurse AU.

Their first time together after Robin has been brought back to life.

Robin or Regina are royalty and the other one works for them.

Regina goes to visit Robin’s grave for the first time.

Rival detectives trying to solve a case.

"We have to be quick"

“Would you like to share the blanket?”

Strip Poker

Alzheimer’s - one of them gets it and the other takes care of them.

Regina realises that Wish!Robin was her Robin after all and wants him back. The Evil Queen isn’t happy at all with that notion.

Robin comes back without any memories, Regina has to make him fall in love with her again.

Regina doesn’t get to go to heaven so Robin decides to stay wherever she is.

OQ meet over the death of their children.

Robin proposes to Regina on a bridge.

Regina teaching (or attempting to teach) Robin how to bake something.

Robin is secretly shrunk and kept in Roni’s jeans pocket. She doesn’t tell anyone to protect him.

Robin accidentally ingests viagra

They are both criminals trying to escape.

You’re getting chased by the police and you just jumped in my car and yelled drive, wtf man

OQ go on a double date with D!OQ

Robin comes to bring lunch to Regina but he finds her very sexually frustrated having been interrupted by the children the night before.

Regina thinks Robin is cheating on her but he is actually planning to propose.

OQ Doctor Who AU with Regina as the last of the time lords, The Queen, and Robin as the professor/archaeologist/criminal/time-traveling husband she never meets in the right order.

"This can never happen again"

Robin and Regina realise that Robin’s daughter has magic, they try to teach her how to use it.

After last call at a bar, Robin and Regina find they don’t want to say goodbye

I Dream of Jeannie AU.

You’re the bastard who keeps parking in front of my house and you just caught me drawing a dick on your window… ugh, oops.

Rivals doctors trying to win a famous prize

“Your dog likes me a thousand times better than they like your partner and sorry not sorry I love this dog”

OQ at a strip club

Bedsharing

OQ in a Star Trek or Stargate setting

“Maybe we were the mistake"

10th Kingdom AU with Regina as Virginia and Robin as Wolf (but Fox!). Bonus points for bringing Henry and Roland along for the adventure.

Regina covers Robin in tiramisu.

Fantastic 4 AU.

"I'm really angry at you but also really horny so can we press pause on this fight and fuck first?"

Before she leaves for New York, Regina knows that Roland is going to leave so she decides to take him to his father’s grave to say goodbye to both of them.

Robin or Regina almost freeze to death and the other one finds them.

Regina takes Robin Hood on an airplane for the first time.

Regina visits Marian's grave to thank her.

The first time they sleep together after Zelena.

Partners, working on a firm together and lovers/couple off-work.

Robin likes to kiss the exposed parts of skin the EQ reveals (cleavage, back etc)

Robin and Regina's daughter breaking their first curse. Regina doesn't believe her and it tears her down a bit.

“We are trapped in a bank during a robbery, please don’t get yourself killed I’m actually starting to like you” AU.

OQ steal a baby (intentionally, unintentionally, whatever.)

D!OQ/OQ's wedding day.

You’re a sex line operator and I called you because I was curious and wow you have an incredible voice AU.

Regina dealing with menopause (could be brought on early due to magic).

Regina & Robin chaperone Henry's senior prom.

They have the house to themselves but they bet they can keep quiet. They end up losing.

Robin helps Regina see light in the darkness

One of them is caught masturbating.

Regina is overwhelmed and is drowning in her demons. Robin helps her.

OQ at Henry and Cinderella’s wedding.

Canon Robin and Regina talking about Regina and Graham’s past and Robin being jealous.

OQ in Disneyland.

Robin and Henry bond.

I’m a single parent and you’re my son’s coach and holy shit I want to take you out on a date and exercise in an adult way.

Regina planning a full weekend of roughing it in the woods with Robin and the barest of essentials.

Date night.

You seem to have slept with everyone on my block except me, care to explain yourself? (When’s it my turn because I find you very attractive).

Regina gets sun poisoning and Robin has to take care of her.

Barefoot in the rain - all of their “firsts” are in the rain.

Henry worries about his mother and confides in Robin.

Hook thinks something is amiss but accidentally walks in on Regina and Robin having sex he breaks his leg fleeing the scene.

Hades’ dagger splits Robin into 2. His dark and light sides.

Regina and Robin meet speed-dating.

Regina trying to cope with pregnancy hormones.

Regina goes to NYC and sees Robin with Marian(not Zelena) and she's jealous.

Summer camp either as counsellors or as attendees.

Teacher student preferably with Robin as the student

Roland falls ill.

Can't buy me love AU.

Chocolate

“I said i loved you one more time in case it would change your mind"

Two foreign strangers meet under the cherry blossoms in Japan (bonus points if Regina is dressed in a kimono)

Regina finding out she's pregnant and she gets scared of Robin's reaction. But he's very sweet about it and gets super happy.

Jealous Regina and/or Robin.

Roland and/or Henry getting into trouble for fighting and defending Peanut's honor when some kids start badmouthing her.

Regina as a russian spy, Robin the CIA agent who’s trying to capture her.

OQ in a dystopian AU (can be based on Black Mirror episodes).

Regina finds out through her jealousy that she actually likes Robin more than just a friend.

Roland and Regina go shopping.

Regina is a goddess of love. She is responsible to bring people together and help everyone find their true love. However, her fate is to be alone forever. Then she meets Robin and while he’s destined to be with Marian he goes against powers older than life on earth itself in order to be with her.

OQ as IT geeks who work in the same company and they’re so awkward when they flirt with each other.

Peanut's first period & Robin's the only one home.

Bandit!Regina injures Robin, then nurses him back to health

An English man’s heart is stolen by a Flamenco dancer on a visit to Spain.

One of them surprises the other in the shower, it's a really good surprise

Robin finds Regina's sex-toys, and he doesn't know what they are.

Regina attends Dark OQ’s wedding.

Secrets & Lies

Robin tries to put on a sexy costume but Regina laughs at him.

Movie night with the kids.

The queen orders Robin Hood to steal something from Rumple’s castle and gives him a reward.

Regina is the dark one and Robin has the dagger.

Emma ruins everything.

Fireworks

“And for the first time in a long time, I could imagine a future where I was happy"

Regina and Robin see a musical on Broadway together.

Drinking Game with 20 Questions

Robin and Regina have a big fight.

Regina turns home to a very drunk Roland. Turns out Robin thought the ‘Strawberry Woo-Woo’ cans in the refrigerator were a children’s drink. “What kind of alcoholic drink has a picture of _____ on it?!”

Zorro AU

Regina cares for a sick Robin during the missing year.

Regina/Roni has been in a relationship with Facilier when Robin comes back.

Childhood Robin and Regina meeting in the Enchanted Forest.

They almost get caught in any type of sexual situation by any character.

Regina is an artist, Robin is life model who poses nude for each of her life drawing classes.

The Love Punch AU

Season 5 AU: Robin doesn't die and now has two parts of Regina to deal with: Queenie and Regina.

“You can’t just take my child!” “I’m taking what’s rightfully mine.”

Robin gives Regina a ring.

Regina or Robin have physical therapy twice a week but instead of working on the injury they do much more fulfilling exercises.

Regina is an AI Robot owned by a lonely widower Robin.

OQ have sex in a library

Roland climbs up a tree, Regina helps him to get down.

OQ + rimming

Roni and Robin find one another in Hyperion Heights in their cursed identities. Then one day, the curse is broken and they wake up

Queeny and Locksley bring Robin back for Regina

A visit to the museum.

Roman Holiday AU.

Regina and Robin "just friends" play a drinking game

Robin and Regina skype while he is on an out of town business trip

USA around civil war time. Regina, wife of a confederate slave owner, is on her way further down into the South when the train gets stopped by Yankees (Robin).

Robin tells Regina that she deserves better than her current boyfriend

Robin and Regina get caught getting handsy in public

Regina tells Robin that she saw his girlfriend cheating on him

Regina and Robin attend a ball.

WWI or WWII AU: Regina falls for British solider Robin.

Non-Magical AU - Regina and Robin are on a date when they bump into Regina’s ex: Emma Swan

Regina being selfish in bed.

Roland follows an injured puppy and gets lost, Robin/Regina find them huddled together for warmth.

“You are my future.” “But I’m not sure you’re mine.”

Anastasia AU

“How did my parents meet? Well, my dad was in jail, and called the wrong number accidentally, who happened to be my mom, and he didn’t wanna waste his call so he told her not to hang up. Boom. They’re 24 years married.”

Regina is an assassin hired to kill Robin, but when she realizes he is a good man and has a son, she decides to protect him instead.

A Showmaster falls in love with his new trapeze artist who joined the show with her young son in order to provide a living.

Robin leaves Roland with Regina while out of town and she has to call John when something goes wrong.

Friends with benefits

Regina and Robin get set up on a blind date by their friends but neither of them showed up. Years later they get together and find out about their missed opportunity.

Robin accidentally clones himself whilst playing around with a few things in Regina’s vault. Regina has to try and put things back to normal, though not without having a little fun first.

The Notebook AU

Mulan AU: because her father is too old and weak, she joins the army as her father’s son, trying to save her country from the looming threat of (e.g. ogres)

Castle AU: She’s a detective and he’s a writer.

They meet at a gala, she’s an actress with a wonderful red dress and he’s a musician. They start talking and they fall in love looking at each other’s eyes.

Robin is the royal heir to a fortune but is disillusioned with the customs and pomp of regality so he gets into thievery ... and Cora is out on the look for a new husband for Regina after the first fell through ..... (perhaps bandit Regina and Robin)

Regina makes Robin her famous lasagne.

Roland goes to college.

Roland gets lost in a supermarket and Regina finds him and helps him find his Papa.

Marrying your best-friend eliminates the risk of divorce by 75%

Medical AU.

High School AU - Robin is a new student of one year. Marian schemes to get Robin for herself by dissuading both Regina and Robin who clearly have feelings for each other.

Robin and Regina are not dating. Then Robin accidentally walks in on Regina when she's with a woman.

Regina wearing Robin’s sweater bc she’s cold and that’s all she can find.

Regina being a headmistress and Robin being a billionaire whose son, Roland, goes to the school where Regina is the boss. Usually the nanny drops Roland off at school but one day when Regina is in charge of the arriving children so happens that Robin takes him to school.

Robin and Regina make a pact that if both of them aren’t married by 40 they marry each other. They fall out of contact for a few years but Regina gets a phone call on her 40th birthday from a familiar voice...

A reincarnation AU where one of them is forced to remember the past lives with the other person but the other person doesn’t remember their last life.

Teen OQ's first time in the backseat of a car.

Robin and Regina are both celebrities (doesn't matter in what form) and they've been secretly dating for a while when they are asked to perform in an episode of Lip Sync Battle and Robin proposes with Bruno Mars' Marry You.

“I only date for the Netflix passwords.”

Robin and Regina bond over their puppies Roland and Henry.

Regina sneaking birth control to her teenage daughter and Robin catching her.

Robin being Regina's personal trainer, because Regina wants to work out before her wedding but we all know that wedding won't happen now that they met.

Upper east side widow: While en route to her husband’s funeral (whom she murdered) Regina gets arrested by Detective Locksley.

In the EF Regina’s hair gets too heavy for liking and she wants to cut it with scissors but Robin has a different idea (cutting it with an axe)

Jealous Regina (when they aren't even together) and she gets all possessive, angry then takes matters into her own hands so they have a get together sex.

Regina takes up archery as a new hobby and Robin is her instructor.

Roland saves a litter of kittens. Regina wants to get rid of them bc she doesn’t want pets. They win her heart over in no time and while outside she acts all indifferent, Robin catches her being all sweet with the kitties when she thinks everyone is sleeping.

Art Prompts

Regina and Robin as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Famous ice dancers in love.

Anything silhouetted

Drawing/painting of all of their kisses

The Vault

Regina & Robin's twentieth wedding anniversary.

Regina's box of mementos from Robin (Can be before or after his death)

Dawn's first light on the sleeping lovers

A midnight swim beneath a waterfall

WW2 manip (Robin using the pics of Sean from Timeless)

Nightswimming

Arguing in public

OQ at the beach

masquerade ball

Royal Wedding

OQ in Game of Thrones

Art a favourite fic

Song Prompts

(for music videos but can also be used for fic & art)

Faded - Alan Walker

Rewrite the stars - The Greatest Showman

The night we met - Lord Huron

Sorry - Halsey

So cold - Ben Cocks

Every time we touch - Cascada

Sad song - We the Kings

Because of you - Kelly Clarkson

All I ask - Adele

Hello - Adele

Little do you know - Alex & Sierra

In my veins - Andrew Belle

Just a little bit of your heart - Ariana Grande (Alesia Cara cover)

You are the reason - Calum Scott

The scientist - Coldplay

I will survive - Aretha Franklin (Leopold or Daniel as “you”, Regina as “I”, and Robin as “someone who’s lovin’ me”)

Dangerously - Charlie Puth

I need you love - Calvin Harris (Madlyn Bailey cover)

Paradise - George Ezra

Say you won't let go - James Arthur

Naked - James Arthur

The one that got away - Katy Perry

My life would suck without you - Kelly Clarkson

Angel down - Lady Gaga

Secret love song - Little Mix

You always make me smile - Kyle Andrews

Like i'm gonna lose you - Meghan Trainor

Close your eyes - Michael Buble

Dynasty - MIIA

Classic - MKTO

Latch - Sam Smith (Natalie Taylor cover)

Rich love - One Republic

Just give me a reason - P!nk

What about us - P!nk

Better place - Rachel Platten

War of hearts - Ruelle

The heart wants what it wants - Selena Gomez

To be human - Sia

Dusk till dawn - Zayn

Just a dream - Nelly

Don’t Treat Me Bad - Firehouse

Demons - Imagine Dragons

Outlaws - Alessia Cara

Somebody else - The 1975

Hurts like hell - Ruelle

Too good at goodbyes - Sam Smith

Video games by Lana Del Rey

Goodbye kiss - Kasabian

Stay with me - Sam Smith

Tetris - Madlyn Bailey

Tell me you love me - Demi Lovato

Nobody - Selena Gomez

I want crazy - Hunter Hayes

In the name of love - Martin Garriz & Bebe Rexha

Gives you Hell - The All-American Rejects

Hopeless Romantic - Billy Vera & The Beaters

My Valentine - Paul McCartney

Are You Ready - Mike & The Mechanics

Dark Horse - Katy Perry

I Won’t Give Up - Glee version

Perfect - Ed Sheeran

Into You - Ariana Grande

Gorgeous - Taylor Swift

Theme prompts for Videos:

Fanfic Trailers.

Movie trailers.

AU videos.

S7 AU Trailer.

Missing Year

OQ Family

#outlaw queen #robin hood #regina mills #lana parrilla #sean maguire #oq #robin x regina #robin/regina #oqpromptparty #oqpromptparty2018 #oq ff #fan fiction #fan art #oq fan art #outlaw queen fan art #outlaw queen fan fiction

70 notes · View notes

benfriday-blog1 · 6 years ago

Text

That One Time... In Hell!

Part One: Ben’s Inferno

Growing up, my mother used to worry that the games I was playing would inspire me to worship the Devil. That one night me and my buddies would be sitting around the table in my basement and one of us would say “Hey guys, did you read that passage in the Dungeon Master’s Guide about how to serve the Devil through human sacrifice?” and that would be it; our souls condemned forever. We’d be in Hell before the Cheeto dust had time to settle on our adolescent fingers. As it turns out, she wasn’t far off.

No, Dungeons and Dragons did not lead me to worship the Devil. I don’t actually worship anything, which was just as bad in the eyes of my Roman Catholic mother. Still, if I’m being honest, it was probably the fantasy games and novels that I used to obsess over that sparked my interest in magic, and magic would eventually lead me to Hell. Just not in the way my mother expected.

It was 2008. I was 23 years old, mom was dead, and I was living on my own for the first time in her run-down house on North Mulberry Street in the dilapidated town of Muncie, Indiana. I wasn’t working, I was in a punk band, and magic was paying the bills.

If you’re reading this sometime in the future and don’t know what “punk” was, it was a type of music that went out of style shortly before I was born. Not that it had ever been in style; that would have defeated the point... Wait. Was there a point?

Anyway, I was still very much an amateur then; I had only started taking the Arts seriously a few years earlier mostly to impress a girl. At the time I was experimenting with teleportation. No one calls it that by the way; No traditional Occult Magicians, your Aleister Crowleys and August Santanas (you know, the ones who take themselves seriously) always come up with shit like "translocation" or "matter displacement" but it’s teleportation. You start in one place and end up somewhere else by traveling through space but not time. It’s fucking Star Trek baby.

In my case, I was trying to find a way to travel from point to point on this plane by moving through another. I got the idea from Dreams in the Witch House by Howard Philip Lovecraft. Yeah, I know I’m well-read as shit. In the book, our protagonist believes that through a combination of arcane knowledge and higher mathematics it might be possible to step out of our world and into another, then with another step, return to our world at a point of our choosing. For me, this point was Las Vegas where I was planning to use the gift of clairvoyance to cheat at cards.

I won’t bore you with the details of how I came to solve this metaphysical puzzle because, for the most part, the details were just that boring. Most magic is boring, at least when you’re first trying to figure it out. You decide what you want to do, or rather what you want magic to do for you via rewriting the laws that govern the universe; Then it’s a lot of equations, a lot of poring over musty old tomes, a lot of ordering components off of the Internet and then looking for a way off of the government watch list you inevitably wind up on. It’s a good thing I did eventually master teleportation because I'm never going to be allowed on another plane for as long as I live.

The day of my big experiment, I found myself back in the basement where my friends and I used to spend our Saturday nights before we learned how to talk to girls. I moved the old table to one side of the room, folded up the metal chairs we’d stolen from Sunday school, and started to open my mind to the universe. No wards to protect me from what might be out there, no groundings to hold me to this world, I let my sigils and equations do their work. They ran through my subconscious the way a program might run in the background on your computer. The spell began loosening my grip on the reality.

I closed my eyes and I saw it, a spark, a flicker of light in the darkness like a match being struck out in space. It was the light of another dimension, one parallel to my own. All I needed to do was walk towards it and I would leave this place behind.

The most disturbing thing about magic is when it actually works. Most of the time it doesn’t, but when it does-- when you successfully throw back the curtain-- it almost always leaves you feeling a little smaller. You think you’d feel bigger, more powerful, having just made reality your bitch, but you don’t. Instead, you’re simply reminded of how much you don’t know about the universe. How much you’ll never understand.

Take teleportation for example. I was twenty-three when I successfully moved from one world into another. That means that for the first twenty-three years of my life I didn’t know you could do that. For seventeen of those years, I didn't even believe that other dimensions existed; not really. On that cold, autumn day in the basement of the house where I grew up, my universe got a little bit bigger. Turns out old H.P. was right.

I moved towards the light. With one step, I left Muncie, Indiana behind and with another I was in Hell.

Seriously, it was the actual Hell.

Like I said, I’m not religious but I had been raised Catholic. I know what Hell is supposed to look like.

Presently, I was standing on a precipice overlooking a lake of fire. Not lava mind you, just fire. Rolling orange flames were dancing across the surface of a great pit as men and women writhed in agony amongst its waves.

Oh yeah, there were people, too. In the lake of fire.

At first, all I could do was stare. There was something wrong with this picture. I mean, aside from the fact that I was watching people burning in a lake of fire. No, not burning. That was the problem. They were in a state of perpetual agony, but otherwise, they looked fine. Their skin wasn’t blackening or boiling or peeling off. That’s what sold it for me that this was Hell-- the fire that burned but did not consume.

Ok, so I was in Hell. Not what I expected, but also not a problem. My spell had worked. One more step and I’d be back on Earth, on the Las Vegas Strip. Probably drinking heavily. I closed my eyes, let my mind drift back into “the zone”. I looked for the light of my own world, I took a step. Nothing. I was still in Hell.

Fuck.

I didn’t have to open my eyes to know my spell had failed. I could tell from the heat and the smell. God, the smell! The rotten egg smell I would have expected; that’s just brimstone. What got me was the smell of rot-- that pungent, wet decay that permeated the place, and something else too, like piss and wet animal hair.

Imagine you’re going to visit your uncle, whom you haven’t seen or heard from in months. Now, imagine you walked into his trailer to find that he had died. Next, imagine that his body had been eaten by his twelve or so cats, all of which lived with him in his small trailer with only one litter box. Finally, imagine that in the weeks that followed, the cats had also died. Oh, and the trailer is on fire. That’s what Hell smells like.

I opened my eyes. “Shit.” I closed them again. Took another step. Opened my eyes. “Shit!” Closed my eyes, stepped, opened them. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I was still in Hell! This was bad, like really bad. As far as I knew, this was the worst and last fuck up of my life. I was wrong on both accounts.

Still, it had half worked. I was probably the first living human to have ever set foot here. I took solace in that thought even though I was pretty sure I was going to be the first to die here as well. Where would I go? I mean, Hell exists and I dabbled in the dark arts so… I may have bet on the wrong horse.

I started to look around, trying to take in my surroundings. If I was going to get out of this mess, I would have to start by getting my bearings and coming up with a plan. Or, failing that, I’d have to pull something out of my ass.

I was still standing on the edge of Lake Friday. Yeah, I named a lake after myself. I’m a pio-fucking-neer. I could just make out the other side-- a barren, rocky coast led to a dark wall of obsidian that surrounded the perfectly round lake. Beyond the wall, I couldn’t see anything, just empty space on the horizon. That’s when I made the mistake of looking up.

Just beyond the horizon, there was another land mass. It was huge and just kind of floating there in space-- a massive ring of black Earth so big I couldn’t make out all of it. I had the feeling it was at least twice the size of where I was now. Beyond it, I could just make out the edge of another floating mass. It was like all of Hell was one big funnel in space made up of multiple rings… No, not rings-- circles. Like I said, I couldn’t make out all of it, but I had a feeling there were nine of them. Nine circles, and I was at the bottom. Bens fucking inferno.

So, Hell was real and made up of roughly the same geography described by the poet Dante. not exactly the same (I'm pretty sure the bottom was supposed to be frozen and where I was standing was hot as balls) but it was close enough to make me wonder if inferno had in fact been a work of fiction. what made the whole situation worse was that I could see the ceiling. Yeah, instead of black space or stars or whatever I saw a rocky ceiling, like the roof of a cave where stalagmites hung down like fangs in the mouth of the beast. Hell, maybe they were.

What did it mean? Was Hell in a cave? Was I actually under the Earth? If I dug straight up would I be in Jerusalem like in Inferno? No, that couldn’t be right. My spell had half worked; I had separated myself from the material plane. This was another dimension, and aside from the books I had read and the stuff I was told in Sunday school, I really had no frame of reference from which to try and understand the place. No way to wrap my head around another world where none of the rules of my own applied.

I needed to get out of the open. I turned and surveyed my immediate surroundings. Behind me was about a hundred feet of rocky coastline that ended at an obsidian wall that wrapped around the circle. Set into the wall was an archway, beyond which I could see only blackness.

I approached the archway. I had no idea what was on the other side, but I also had nowhere else to go. Even after I was right in front of it, I couldn’t see inside; It was just too damn dark. I reached out a hand to make sure it wasn’t just part of the wall. Sure enough, my hand moved into open space.

As much as I needed to get out of the open, I wasn’t willing to stumble blindly into the mouth of the beast. I dug in my pocket for my keys. On my keychain was a red plastic lightsaber I had pulled out of a cereal box. I took the saber off of the keychain and snapped off the blade, underneath was a tiny light bulb. I pressed the button on the side and a pencil-thin beam of light shot from the end of the toy. Not much of a torch, but it would have to do.

I aimed the beam through the archway. The light struck the darkness and vanished. It didn’t even begin to illuminate that space; in fact, I’m pretty sure it got darker. It was like the light was just being swallowed up by shadow.

“Fuck that,” I said a little louder then I should have. There was no force on Earth or heaven that would get me into that… Hell cave.

I turned back towards the lake, not really sure where to go next. That was when I saw my first demon. It was big-- like really big, fucking humongous. It had a broad, muscular body covered in red scales, goat-like legs, and a bull’s head with 3 foot long horns and shaggy black hair. It was flying over the lake on a set of massive, membranous wings like those of a giant bat.

I stood there dumbfounded; I was too scared to run, too fascinated to look away. I watched as the demon swooped over Lake Friday, scanning the writhing masses. There was something familiar about it. A moment later it was joined by two more bull-faced bat-fuckers which swooped down from the circle above.

The first dropped into the fire and came up holding a human woman in his claws. She was shrieking as he tossed her into the air over the lake where she was caught by one of the new arrivals. It held her by one arm, allowing her to dangle over the pit. She screamed and squirmed as he held her there for the others in the fire to see.

I suddenly realized that these creatures weren’t just tormenting this one human; they were using her to instill fear in the others. It wasn’t enough that they were burning forever, they also had to know that things could still get worse. They had to have that constant anxiety hanging over their heads. Fear-- it was like the icing on the Devil’s birthday cake. Finally, the other newcomer swooped in and grabbed the woman by the other arm.

I knew what was coming and I didn’t want to see it. I squeezed my eyes shut, but I could still hear it. There was a scream, then a pop, followed by a wet, sloshing sound like a water balloon to the ear. When I opened my eyes, the woman was gone and two of the demons were flying back towards the other circle. The third was staring down at me.

I turned and ran for the archway. I said there was no force on Earth or heaven that could get me into that cave; turns out there are a few forces in Hell that could. I barreled headlong into the blackness and…

“What the fuck? “

I found myself standing in what I could only describe as… a break room. Like, a really shitty break room. The floors were made from rusted metal grates, the walls were stained and moldy but otherwise, it was a definitely a break room. There were plastic-topped tables surrounded by metal folding chairs, a couple of vending machines and a counter with a sink and a coffee maker.

I looked down. I was standing on a glowing, white tile marked with a pentagram. I had seen this before. Not in dreams or visions, not in the pages of some unholy grimoire, or during a dark rite, but in Doom. The video game. I swear to God, it was one of the teleporters from Doom! I must have played that game a million times. Speaking of games, I suddenly realized why I recognized that demon. It was Pit Fiend- Lord of Devils and Servant of Asmodeus from Dungeons and Dragons. Holy shit, it looked like it had been pulled right from the pages of the Monster Manual. What the literal Hell was going on here?

No sooner had I stepped off of the teleporter than the door to my left (the door marked with a little picture of a horned demon with the word ‘men’s room’ written under it) opened and another demon stepped out. It was massive, with green scaly legs and a muscular body covered in thick brown hair. Its arms ended in two sets of writhing tentacles and most disturbing of all were its two baboon-like heads.

“Demogorgon!?” I asked aloud before I could stop myself. The bi-cranial ape turned to face me.

“What? Wait…Who the fuck are you?”

I turned to run back to the teleport only to be stopped dead in my tracks. Pit Fiend had followed me, and was now standing on the pad staring down at me and wearing a dumbfounded expression on its face.

“Yo, Phil,” called Demogorgon. “You seeing this shit?”

“I… I think so,” replied the unholy terror apparently called Phil. “Is that… a human? Like, a live one?”

I think it is… Oh God, how did it even get in here?”

“I don’t know. I saw It near the Stygian Pit. At first, I thought one of the damned had managed to claw their way out but It's wearing clothes and It has a heartbeat. Oh God! What are we going to do!?”

Phil took a couple of nervous steps back. Away from me. Like he was scared.

“Calm down, Phil! It’s ok… It’s going to be ok. I’m going to try and talk to It.”

Demogorgon then turned his attention back to me. He swallowed hard, cleared his throat.

“Uh, Hello… human. I am Trevor the Tormenter. I’m uh… Assistant Manager of General Torment here on the eighth circle. Oh, and this is Phil. He’s on the Disembowelment Board. Say Hello, Phil.”

“He-he-Hello… human.”

They were afraid, and once more, it seemed I was the thing they were afraid of. The demons… were afraid of me. What was it they called me? Not just human, but living human. Was it possible that these horrors only had power over the dead? I decided that maybe it was time I took control of the situation.

“Hey, guys. I’m Ben Friday. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh… yeah,” said Trevor, seeming to relax a little. “Nice to meet you, too. Always nice to meet a… living human.”

“You seem a little nervous there, Trevor. you ok?”

“What? Nervous? No… No, I’m not… I’m cool, man. I’m good.”

“I’m not!” Exclaimed Phil, who was actually shaking. “I’m fucking terrified! How… how did you get here? What do you want? What are you going to do to us?”

“Shut up, Phil!” Trevor shouted with some urgency.

“Do to you? Phil, come on. You’re a big, scary demon. What could a little human like me possibly do to you?”

“Don’t… Don’t give me that.” Phil stammered. “I work with the damned souls of humans every day. I’ve read your files; I know the shit you people get up to when you’re alive.”

Suddenly it all made sense. These guys spend their entire lives managing the worst of the worst that humanity has to offer. Guys like Hitler, Dahmer, and Manson. If they thought we were all just like those guys, then, of course, the last thing they would want is to see one of us running loose in their backyard.

“Just today,” Phil continued, “I was tormenting the soul of Queen Mary.”

“You mean Bloody Mary?” Trevor cut in. “Man, that chick burned more people at the stake than I have.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Ok, but you guys do torture people.”

The demons were silent for several moments. Finally, Trevor spoke up.

“Well… yeah. I suppose we do.”

"You suppose you torture people?”

“Ok, yes, we do. But at least when we torment the souls of the damned, we do it because it’s our job!”

“Your Job?!”

“Well yeah,” started Phil, getting back into the conversation. “I mean, it’s not like we enjoy this sort of thing. Not the way you humans do. It’s just our job, it’s why we were created. Why I even find the whole business rather dull and tedious most of the time. Real nine-to-five slog, you know? Especially after you’ve been at it for a few thousand years.”

“You humans though!" continued Trevor. "the things you do to each other, usually just because you can… It makes my skin crawl."

“You have got to be kidding me. I just watched you pluck a woman out of a fire and dismember her.”

“Yeah, I did do that; it’s part of my routine. But you guys, what you do to each other can be way worse than anything we could think up.”

“Ok. Ok.” I said, putting up my hands. The two demons took a hesitant step back as though they expected me to start biting. “What we have here is a classic example of what we Earthlings call a sampling error.”

“A what, now?”

“A sampling error. Look, it’s like how on my world, in my country, a lot of people are afraid of immigrants right now. They turn on their TVs, and they see Fox News talking about all these different cases of immigrants committing violent crimes. Suddenly, they start thinking that all immigrants are violent criminals.”

“Makes sense.”

“Yeah, except it’s all bullshit meant to push an agenda. People think immigrants are criminals because they aren’t seeing all the immigrants that aren’t criminals. In fact, immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than the people who are born in the country, but you’d never know that by watching the news. Because “immigrants are coming to steal our jobs and rape our women” makes for a better headline than “some people just suck”.”

“So, you’re saying that humans aren’t so bad. That we only think they are because we only see the really bad ones.”

“Exactly. See, Phil gets it.”

“Yeah, ok, hu… I mean Ben,” said Trevor. “Maybe not all humans are as bad as the ones we have here. Honestly, I wouldn’t know. All I know about the souls I manage is what I read off of their rap sheets. Could be the rest of you are all saints, but that’s not what I’m worried about right now. I’m worried about you. Who you are, why you’re here, and what you plan to do.”

“Well, guys, that’s kind of a long story. Basically, I’m here by accident. I’m kind of a magician, you see. I cast a spell that was supposed to take me to Las Vegas and I wound up here instead. Now I’m just trying to get back home.”

“Oh,” said Trevor, letting out a sigh of relief. “That’s not so bad. I thought maybe this was some sort of invasion or coup.” The big demon chuckled. “But you say you didn’t even mean to be here?”

“No, and I’d kind of like to get back so… There a way out of here?”

“None that I know of. We’re more about keeping things in than letting things out. No, we’ll have to take you to see Lu. He’ll know how to handle this.”

“Lu?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of the boss.”

“Ok, so is he like the General Manager of Torment? “

“Oh no. That’s Larry; this is way above his pay grade. No, we’re taking you to the big boss, Lucifer Morningstar. He kind of runs the show down here.”

Just like that, just when I felt like I had a handle on things, my blood ran cold. “The Devil. You’re taking me to meet the Devil.”

“The one and only.” Phil winked.

Trevor made a show of ushering me toward the door. “Right this way…Human.”

#paranormal #occult #hell #supernatural #magic #urban fantasy #dark comedy #comedy #ben friday #creative writing #short story

1 note · View note

thiswillonlyhurtalittle · 7 years ago

Text

Another Meme

I was quasi-tagged by the beloved @alphaflyer. I’m tagging @missparker, @sarking, and @smallnico

Name your 10 favorite women/nonbinary/not men characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people”

1. Captain Freaking Janeway. (Star Trek: Voyager)

She’s still the fearless leader of my heart, the person I wanted to grow up to be, and ye gods was she right about black coffee. It’s FUCKING MAGIC.

2. Brenda Leigh Johnson. (The Closer)

A human disaster, as my friend @missparker likes to say. So amazingly talented at her job… and so ASTOUNDINGLY bad at everything else. Hmm. Maybe I relate a little bit with that, as well her desire to get to the truth (at the cost of everything else).

3. Sharon Raydor (Major Crimes)

Cheating here, since Sharon Raydor is also from The Closer and, in my humble opinion, the Sharon Raydor is Major Crimes is a completely different character. Like? Totally? Different? Even though it’s written by Duff? Still? WTF

But I digress. I love Raydor for her magical unicorn hair and her obsession with rules, and her ardent belief that ethics are all that separates the good guys from the bad guys. I lived for Raydor and Johnson throwing down in The Closer, and my favorite scenes from that show remain ones in which they both shared the screen, bickering and then being begrudging allies.

P.S. She’s a BAMF with a beanbag gun…

5. Margaret Houlihan (M*A*S*H*)

A woman of questionable priorities, and often questionable company, but I’ve always loved the good Major. She’s unfailingly steady under pressure, tough as nails, and didn’t take shit off those mouthy boys. I still ship Pierce/Houlihan, even though their entire relationship would probably be years of bickering…

6. CJ Cregg (The West Wing)

The smartest person in almost any room, including rooms of the White House. Brilliant with words in all professional realms, and an awkward disaster in all non-work relationships. Plus there’s that time she had dental work and almost did a press briefing anyway…

7. Rachel Goldberg (Unreal)

Not worthy of aspiration of any kind. Gods, not even close. But painfully good at her job, even when her job as a reality tv producer involves manipulating people to the point of shattering them into a million pieces on screen. Smart, neurotic, and with an ethical compass that conveniently shifts in and out of reality, depending on her level of mental stability at the time. Love to watch her back and forth with mentor/friend/enemy Quinn, and her complete conflicts of principle.

8. Brianna Hanson (Grace and Frankie)

It was so hard to pick one character from this show. PATHETIC WHINING. But I, painfully, identify with some of the walls Brianna throws up. And her general dislike of people. Plus the choice of a dog over a relationship is one I will always endorse.

9. Kai Winn (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

I liked DS9 alright, but it has the honor of boasting my favorite villain in all of Star Trek. Season after season, Kai Winn maneuvered herself into a position of greater power, the subplots concerning her being nuanced explorations of religion, politics, and power. The consistency and subtlety of the show’s writing bestowed upon Winn a Shakespearean quality, and Louise Fletcher always knocked it out of the park.

10. Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada)

So mean. So viciously, unendingly mean, and will lash you to pieces while never raisinh her voice even a decibel. But brilliant at everything, and has iconic hair, so…

#women rock #another list #favorite characters

1 note · View note

mara-the-cactupus · 7 years ago

Text

Everything Ask Game

Thank you @the-moon-loves-the-sea for tagging me! This is quite the list:

LAST...

Drink: A lukewarm London Fog. I was messing around with the tea at work.

Phone call: A customer.

Text message: My aunt, who wants to go on a beach walk with me.

Song you listened to: Hmm... last thing I actually sat down and clicked on would be this Star Trek medley; I don’t know the names of half the songs that play in the background of life these days.

Time you cried: Watching Logan.

HAVE YOU...

Dated someone twice: um... nope

Kissed someone and regretted it: once again, I have zero data in this field.

Been cheated on: nope

Lost someone special: I lost a couple of very sweet dogs in my childhood.

Been depressed: no

Gotten drunk and thrown up: No, I generally stay away from alcohol. I have, however, had way too much caffeine and sugar in one day and almost thrown up multiple times now. It was not fun.

Made new friends: yes, every time I went to a new school or get a new job. And on here, of course : )

Fallen out of love: hmm, I’ve never really been in love in love, but I have gotten disillusioned with people I previously admired, almost like platonically falling in and out of love.

Found out someone was talking about you: not that I can remember, but I suppose my parents have to have talked about me some time.

Met someone who changed you: yes. Just about everybody who I get to know.

Found out who your friends are: I suppose they’re the people who I keep coming back to, and who keep coming back to me. The ones who don’t fall by the wayside even if we have no practical reason to keep in touch.

Kissed someone from your facebook list: ~no facebook~ (*wow*)

Kissed a stranger: no

Drank hard liquor: once again, I don’t really drink. But I have had some rum and Kahlua while making tiramisu at a friend’s house.

Turned someone down: yes.

Sex on the first date: um... definitely not.

Broken someone’s heart: oh, I hope not...

Had your heart broken: by movies, all the time.

Been arrested: no : )

Fallen for a friend: yeah, a few of them... but it sort of falls into that platonic-crush zone I mentioned earlier.

Kissed on the first date: nope

GENERAL

List three favorite colors: warm sunny yellow, liquidy yellowy orange, clear tropical ocean blue

How many facebook friends do you know in real life: zero out of zero.

Do you have any pets: no

Do you want to change your name: no, I like my names. They’re part of what make me who I am : )

What time did you wake up: somewhere between 9 and 10 because all I had scheduled for this morning was art. It was wonderful.

What were you watching at midnight last night: my dreams, presumably. Or the insides of my eyelids.

Name something you can’t wait for: several years in the future when I have some filmmaking experience under my belt and have landed a directorial job on an exciting film with a decent budget !!

When was the last time you saw your mom: today.

What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I wish I wasn’t so weird and awkward as a kid, so I didn’t have a reputation/self-expectation of being shy. Then again, I’ve gotten more confident since then. But still overly wary.

What are you listening to right now: a bus just went by. I can hear the sound of breathing, and of those machines and contraptions that you forget are on but are always on, and my splayed-finger typing.

Have you ever talked to a person called Tom: yes. Multiple people.

Something that is getting on your nerves right now: humanity in general

Most visited site: tumblr.

Mole: a few, here and there. I’ve never really noticed them.

Mark/s: nothing I can think of except the constellations on my face and back.

Childhood dream: to be a writer.

Do you have a crush on someone: no. I seem to have outgrown them.

What do you like about yourself: my mind, my imagination, my internal monologue and source of amusement. My artistic skills. My body. My face. I think I’m generally pretty satisfied with myself as a person.

Piercings: none.

Nickname: Well, I guess there’s Azuki, which is my middle name, but other than that I’m just Mara. It’s a pretty straight-forward name.

Relationship status: single.

Pronouns: I’ve always felt pretty comfortable with she/her.

Favorite TV shows: ooh... Sense8 is probably my top show right now. I used to love BBC Sherlock. I also like Daredevil and Luke Cage, and I’ve been wanting to watch Brooklyn 99 for ages.

Tattoo: none.

Right or left handed: right.

Surgery: wisdom teeth, but so far nothing else. I would go for vision-correction but I get terribly squeamish.

Hair dyed a different color: no, my hair has always been pretty plain. I just wash it and let it air dry, nothing else.

Sport: I've done a little bit of martial arts and dancing and swimming here and there, but no real big organized sports aside from soccer when I was in elementary school.

Vacation: camping in a forest by the ocean, or traveling via air. There’s just something magical about being in a big airport with lots of vast emptiness and architecture, especially at night. The sort of feel of it reminds me of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or of an airport factory, or of a wastewater treatment plant. It’s just... like you’re separated from the real world, like the real world with all its problems doesn’t really exist and you aren’t an identity but just a soul without self-consciousness. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Current and all-time best friend name: probably my sister, or else my friend since middle school who I still go on walks with.

Eye color: Brown, like my hair.

Favorite movie: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or Finding Nemo/The Incredibles/Monsters Inc. I also like Inception, but that’s not a very good mindset to hang out in for more than a day or so.

WHICH IS BETTER?

Hugs or kisses: hugs! I love hugs : >

Lips or eyes: lips are fun to draw, with the swoopy-swoop arch of them, but eyes are just so fascinating. And eyes give a lot of helpful emotional cues.

Shorter or taller: taller can be more interesting. Tall buildings have interesting views, for example. And trees are wonderful, and also tall.

Nice arms or stomach: hmm... I would like to have a stronger core, and also eat healthier, so I’ll go with stomach. Although strong arms can be helpful.

Sensitive or loud: I think sensitive is generally better, because it means receptive, or observational – you’re absorbing more information as a whole, while if you’re loud you might be blocking a lot of those cues from yourself.

Hook up or relationship: relationship.

Troublemaker or hesitant: troublemakers can be charming, but also annoying if they don’t know when to stop. But I’m hesitant, and I get annoyed with that trait, so maybe troublemaker is better after all. More confident, I guess.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN...

Yourself: yes.

Miracles: yes.

Love at first sight: not really. You have to get to know the person, then realize you’re compatible, not see them and then try to force compatibility. That will only lead to disappointment.

Santa Claus: I can’t remember if I ever really did.

Tagging: aaaaaannyone who sees this post, scrolls by it, comes across it months later... just go for it. And tag me so I can see your answers : )

#I'll do the other one later... maybe tomorrow #about mara

7 notes · View notes

writing-crocodiles · 8 years ago

Photo

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Pairing: Rumbelle

Rating: T

Summary: After stabbing Zoso, Rumplestiltskin encounters a young girl that claims to be the entity of the Darkness. She says she hasn’t truly accepted him as the Dark One yet and that he will need to prove himself. During his journey to do so, he meets a young woman named Belle French. Can he convince her he’s an upstanding gentleman, all the while darkening his heart so he may save his son?

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4- To Be a Thief

It was almost too easy and Keriam knew it. However, even though she was thoroughly annoyed with him, she couldn’t very well kill him and wander as a free entity, so Rumple got to carry out his newbie level plan. Pathetic, but she explained how it could be done anyway.

Objects in the simulation were separate from the human. If someone had something on them and they put it down, the instant they left contact said object would become tangible. For instance, a purse.

During this enlightening conversation, Rumple had found a spot he thought appropriate to mention Belle. Keriam brushed it off, saying it was rude to interrupt, and continued with what she found important for him to know. It wasn’t surprising that they never came back to the subject.

Rumple stood at the corner of Cherry and 18th. There was a bench there and the Dark One Host knew that someone would come along and put down their bag eventually. He was patient, it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to be, and he did as Keriam had instructed. Leaning against the pole that stretched up and branched into the streetlight, he angled himself so that the bench was in view, but not in the direct line of sight. Keriam had said that even though this was a simulation, the people were still capable of feeling creeped out. They call the cops? The entire thing is over.

He didn’t see how this fit into him being accepted by the Darkness and, if anything, it just added unnecessary stress to the deed. He just needed to do something dark, right? Who cared if the police were called or not?

The morning passed quickly and when noon came Rumple found that he was surprisingly void of hunger. No one had come to the bench, yet, so he knew he couldn’t abandon his post even if he was dying from starvation. Since they had come to the city, though, his appetite had lessened greatly. It was nice not having to worry about eating, but it did make him think.

He hadn’t been sleeping much, either, and in the past week it had become a common occurrence for him to stay up well into the hours of the morning. The night before he had hardly slept at all. Maybe just ten minutes around 5:00 AM. Even with this, he wasn’t feeling the effects of sleep deprivation like he normally would have. Instead he felt as awake as ever. You could almost say energized.

A crying baby drew his attention away from his thoughts. A woman, purse dangling precariously from one arm and red-faced child in the other, shuffled past a couple people waiting to cross the street, furiously apologizing under her breath. He was sorry for her and if they had been in another setting perhaps he would have told her that he understood. Whenever he had to go to the market to sell wool, before Baelfire was old enough to be left at home and Milah spent most of her time at the tavern, Rumple took his son along. When Bae got fussy, however, Rumple had no place to go to calm him. He had to watch his merchandise and couldn’t go find a place to sit down to soothe him.

Rumple straightened. Sit down? He watched her nestle on the bench and unloop her arm from the purse handles, diverting both appendages to her child. The baby had quieted down now, but this also left her purse abandoned.

Stealing- dark.

Stealing a purse from the mother of a small child- darker.

Maybe that would appease her.

He crept steadily forward, keeping his head on a swivel to make sure there were no police officers watching and luckily there appeared to be none in the vicinity. Excellent.

Just sneak by, grab it, and run.

Just sneak by, grab it….

Rumple tried to make his walk casual, but had the feeling he just looked more like a stalker than a trustworthy gentleman. Well, who cared. It didn’t matter. As he passed the bench, he reached over its back and wrapped his fingers around the cool, leather handles.

Yank.

Run.

He sprinted away as if his life depended on it. This was amazing, and even though his heart was pounding, he continued to run. He didn’t bother to dodge the people on the street, letting the ghost like people move over him. After a bit he started to purposefully target them, awarding himself points for each. Business man, hippie, stereotypical white girl, wife beater, hobo, Belle.

Of course, he didn’t melt through the last one and instead knocked both of them to the ground. The contents of the purse spewed all over the pavement, but he ignored that and hopped to his feet.

“Belle, I’m so sorry, Belle, I didn’t mean to….” he reached out a hand, offering to help her up, but the man that had been walking behind her was already picking her up like she was a toy. The man set her on her feet, but never stopped touching her; his hand lay around her waist.

He was quite a big man and Rumple had to look up slightly to see his face. He had strong features that he guessed could be called handsome, if you like horses that way. Okay, he didn’t look like a horse, but Rumple sure wished he did. He didn’t like the way the man was holding onto Belle. He was treating her like a mannequin that needed to steadied and, though Rumple didn’t know very much about her, he knew she could stand well on her own.

Realizing he was staring, Rumple dipped down and started to gather the contents of the bag. A second more and Belle was down next to him helping out.

Who was this brute, though? Father- too young; brother- they didn’t look related; half brother? Step brother? Maybe a long lost uncle from the other side of the family?

Boyfriend.

They finished cleaning the sidewalk with little difficulty for the people, who were sparse anyway, seemed to have disappeared completely. They stood and the man grabbed her again, pulling her back to his side.

Rumple already didn’t like this man, but then he opened his mouth.

“Is this guy bothering you, Belle, baby?” He said it into her hair, like he was trying to make it private and romantic. How ridiculous. The question was stupid, too. He just watched her help him pick things up from the sidewalk. She wasn’t, but if anybody was bothering anybody it would be the other way around.

Belle’s eyes were steadily watching Rumple, two gorgeous blue judges of his following behavior. He was suddenly aware that he was slouching and squared his shoulders, still looking to Belle and her eyes. They were simply breathtaking, like stars shining in the daylight. How had he missed them?

Probably because they hadn’t been scrutinizing him before. Now they flicked quickly between him and the purse. She was obviously not impressed and very confused at the same time. Rumple gave a tight smile that she didn’t return.

The man saw this nonverbal exchange and spoke up, “Lime green isn’t really your color, buddy.”

“It isn’t?” Rumple asked, pulling a face. He held the bag up to eye level, “I could have sworn-”

“Well, you’re lucky I’m not on duty,” the man laughed, “or else I would have to investigate you running into my girlfriend and your horrible taste in handbags.”

Girlfriend. Right.

Not only had he cut off Rumple’s snarky remark, he had specifically addressed his suspicions. The Dark One Host’s hate for this stranger intensified tenfold.

He looked back to Belle, who was purposefully avoiding his gaze.

“You’re a police officer?” Rumple asked, giving up that Belle was going to acknowledge him.

The man held out his hand that wasn’t around Belle, “Yep. Gaston Moreau.”

As much as Rumple wanted to spit in his open hand, he shook it, “Rumplestiltskin.”

Rumple could see him holding back laughter, “Rumplestiltskin? Like the fairy tale?”

“Fairy tale?”

“Yeah, that little man that steals children.”

There was no reason to keep his forced smile any longer, so he dropped it, “No, Mr. Moreau, nothing like the fairy tale.”

“Please, call me Gaston,” Gaston said, letting out a whoop of laughter.

It was out of his mouth before he could think whether it would actually be socially acceptable, but Rumple said, “Ah, I would rather not.” Gaston either did not seem to catch the seriousness in his tone or he fully ignored it. He only laughed again, like Rumple was the best stand-up comedy act he had seen in a long time. Belle noticed it. She was looking at him again. He nodded to her and then skirted around the couple, leaving the two of them behind.

What was her deal? During the few times they had talked he thought her to be a very fiery, very independent young woman. If he tricked himself into admitting it, he would even say he was attracted to her. Not just her beauty, but her intelligence. Why was she letting that lout control her like he appeared to be?

Also, boyfriend. She had a boyfriend. Why hadn’t she told him? He felt betrayed and a little embarrassed. If held up to it in court, he would have said he was guilty of flirting with her and, if he wasn’t mistaken, she had very well flirted back.

Of course, on the other hand, it was totally reasonable she had a boyfriend. She was quite the find and it fell to reason that she wouldn’t stay single for long.

He mentally slapped himself. What was he acting jealous for? It wasn’t like she was cheating on him with Mr. Like-the-little-man-who-steals-children?. It wasn’t like she was cheating on anyone. They both had flirted (he thought), but nothing more than that. They weren’t “together”, they weren’t “an item”, they were just neighbors.

It was another moment before he added the fact she wasn’t real to the argument.

She. Wasn’t. Real.

That was it. End of that. Don’t feel hurt over a simulation.

He watched the ground. It still stung.

He had trekked all the way back to the apartment without realizing it. The smell of bacon is what brought him back to the world. He tossed the purse onto the worn couch and closed the door behind him.

“Welcome back,” Keriam shouted from around the corner in the kitchen, “I thought you might be hungry.”

Rumple was about to tell her he wasn’t when his stomach rumbled in protest. Apparently his appetite had returned with a vengeance. Sighing, he went to the kitchen.

Keriam stood at the stove over a big pot, putting it some sort of chopped vegetable. Steam rose from the top and a smaller pan was sizzling on the burner next to it. He walked up and looked into the pot.

“Potato soup?” He asked.

“With bacon,” she replied, grabbing a towel and taking the pan of bacon from the stove. She carried it over to the opposite counter where a plate of paper towels lay waiting. She dumped the bacon on it and then moved back to the pot. “Will you get the grease out of those and then tear them up into little pieces?”

He went and did as she asked, saying as he did so, “I got a purse.”

His back was turned to her, so he couldn’t see her reaction. It was several seconds with no answer before he felt a hand on his shoulder. It pulled on him hard, whipping him around. Keriam, showing far more strength than a normal girl her size, pushed him down to the floor and against the cabinets. Before he could stop her, she wound up and jabbed her hand at his chest. Except instead of her fingers ramming into his sternum, they plunged deep into him.

Rumple’s eyes started watering from pain and his mouth opened in a soundless scream. Apart from the fact it hurt, it was arguably the strangest feeling he had ever encountered.

When Keriam pulled her hand back out a lump with a pulsating red light was in it.

“Is tha- is that my-?”

“Your heart,” Keriam said.

Rumple did not think hearts glowed bright red, it didn’t seem logical. However, he wasn’t going to tell Keriam that. She had moved from her knees to criss-cross, her knees almost touching his as she got comfortable between his legs. There was no point in contradicting her right now, especially when she could easily smash certain parts that he would rather stay intact.

She amended, “your magic heart.”

Oh, that was it. Another even more vague answer that somehow put his thoughts at ease.

Keriam was inspecting it, turning it over and over in her hand, her other one still pressing into his shoulder. She apparently found what she was looking for and her face brightened. She turned it to him and point at what she was excited about.

A small black speck lay among the red, looking very out of place.

“See that?” She said proudly, “that’s progress.”

#rumbelle fic #rumplestiltskin #rumple #mr. gold #belle #belle french #belle gold #gaston #gaston moreau #keriam #early rumplings #dark one #dark one origins #please read #thank you

3 notes · View notes

theinsanecrayonbox · 8 years ago

Text

first lines

(saw this meme and went “yeah gotta do this!”)

List the first lines of your last 20 stories (or however many you have altogether). See if there’s any patterns.

CoK: Prologue 1 (July 2016) *i’m not doing each Prologue separately since they’re all written to go together*

The sounds of fists beating into all sorts of metal accompanied by the occasional laser blast and a guttural yell echoed quite well down the hallway. Scarlet was coming out of the barracks, scrolling on a tablet as he walked, when he heard it. As he looked up from the device, he couldn’t help but raise a brow at the display in the hallway; several Academy recruits and a few S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel were grouped outside of the door to the training room, apparently watching in awe. This intrigued the red spider enough to warrant investigating, so he went up to join the group.

CoK: Holiday Special (Dec 2016)

The holiday season was on in full swing at the Parker house. May had always been fond of the season; all that good will was like catnip to her. And having the house full of teenagers again (not that it wasn't these days it seemed) just made it all the better.

CoK: The New Normal (Apr 2017)

Nothing felt right. No, that wasn’t entirely true. Nothing felt like anything. No right, no wrong, there was just no feeling whatsoever.

Power Pals: Children of Tomorrow -prologue- (Sept 2015)

The city of New Chincinnati, named such after the city was destroyed nearly a decade before in a great super battle, and rebuilt from the ground up. Since then, the city itself had become well known for attracting what one would call “super villains”, leading to S.T.A.G.E. Labs setting up their base complex of operations just outside the city’s limits; debates often ensued over whether their presence was protecting the city from attacks, or actually encouraging them more. NC-ers were well known for their ever lasting memories; never forget, never forgive, especially when it came to the “Supers”.

The Bully and the Geek (Apr 2010) Ao3 link

It'd been a few years since he'd been back in this city, let alone the state of country. And yet, the moment he set foot on the asphalt he knew this was home. When he was younger this was the only place his family had stayed for more than three months; it was where all of his best childhood memories were made.

FOP: Why Sonic Left the STT (Jan 2011)

The florescent light thrummed loudly over head, mocking him with their rhythmatic crackling. Four walls, no windows, one door. It was a box, a cage if you would. He hated being locked up, like he couldn't breathe. But that feeling just pushed him harder, made him hit harder, strike harder, move faster.

MH: The Confession (Feb 2014)

He really couldn’t believe he was even considering this. He sat on his bed, in his dorm room, just staring at the small corked bottle in his hands. The plan his “fairy godmother” had suggested was that he, go to Cupid’s secret dance, and basically drug her, using the Love in Idleness just like his father had…in his story.

MH: Different Things (July 2014)

The night sky was clear tonight, so clear it was almost too hard to tell apart the stars from the fire flies (hint: stars aren’t yellow or blinking). The air was thick with humidity; that was something he would not miss in the least bit.

Sabertooth Mpreg Fic (Aug 2009) Ao3 link

This couldn't be happening. It was impossible. There was no way this could've happened again. Not unless...He growled as the memories stung sharp and fresh in his mind, as if it was merely days, and not decades ago that the "incident"...even calling it that made it sound dirty, which it was! Just thinking about what they made him do, with that "thing"...it just set his blood boiling.

Creed Family Drabble (July 2014)

She stood at the top of the stairs, on her very tippiest of toes so she could peek down over the railing. He was down stairs, stretched out on the worn leather couch, the TV on with some infomercial on as background; he was probably asleep.

XM: DoFP: Don’t Stop Running (Jun 2014) Ao3 link

My first memories aren’t all that special. I grew up in what may have been the last piece of modern suburbia for all I know. The war outside my doorstep didn’t seem like a big deal; my parents never brought it up around me, there wasn’t any need.

RvB: Secret Agent Man (Apr 2014)

Uhg, you know, I’m getting really tired of waking up on Doc’s table. Like seriously, the least the guy could do is, you know, put down a sheet and a pillow, or something. I’m not talking about Ritz turn down service or anything special like that-although those little mints would be nice, or ooo, chocolates. Yeah, chocolates would be nice.

RvB: Store Run (May 2014)

“Wash wake up.”

He tried to cling to the darkness of sleep. He tried to ignore the pestering voice, the touch on his shoulder that was shaking him.

“Waaaaaash!!!”

Hadn’t he fallen asleep alone? So there shouldn’t have been anyone in bed with him, no one to pester him, no one to disturb him. It had to be a dream, all in his head. Maybe if he just ignored it, it would go away and he could just go back to sleeping peacefully…

DnD Stuffs: The Tale of Lokianna (Mar 2014)

There was screaming; terrible, terrible sounds and just fire all around. They ran as fast as their little feet would let them, trying to navigate through the throngs of people and…other things. They had been separated from their parents when an explosion had rocked the courtyard where they had been standing; the rift the explosion had caused tore the visiting royal family apart as chaos reigned down upon them all. Now it was all they could do to avoid being trampled by the fleeing people, and the advancing demonic hoards.

My Padclock Fic (Feb 2014)

June 19th had always been the worst day of the year for her. Her dog had been hit by a car when she was 6 on June 19th. Her parents had told her they were getting divorced when she 12 on June 19th. She got her rejection letter from art school when she was 18 on June 19th. And she’s caught her fiancé cheating with her best friend when she was 24 on June 19th. She’d been dumped, fired, or had some sort of wardrobe accident more times than she could count, and it always seemed to happen on June 19th.

TFP: Wrecking Ball (Jan 2014) Ao3 link

There was fire. Fire as far as an optic could see. Whatever the structure had been at one point couldn’t be distinguished from the raging blaze that consumed it now. The roar of the flames droned out any orders the C.O. was dishing out, but it didn’t matter, they could most likely figure it out on their own.

TFCC: Seeker Sweater Card (Dec 2013) Ao3 link

The holiday season had fully fallen upon the offices of Kaon Enterprises. In years past festivities had been few and far between because of most of the management’s opposition to it. But this year was different.

TFCC: Heartattack (Oct 2013) Ao3 link

“I’ve seen the way you look at her.” “What the hell are you talking about?”

Diner Wager (Sept 2014)

The 24 Hour Diner neon sign outside blinked, beckoning those weary travelers off the dusty trek outside in for a moment’s respite. The place smelled of grease and stale coffee, even more so at this late of an hour.

Black Butler in America (Feb 2011)

The old wooden floor creaked as two sets of bare little feet tried to sneak across them without their parents hearing them from down within the parlor. White cotton gowns swirled around their ankles as they stopped; was that an abnormal creak? Had they heard them? The older girl pushed her younger sister forward a bit; the younger nearly loosing grip on the candle she was holding. They continued forward, still as careful with their steps, right up until they reached the bathroom. The two scooted into it and closed the door slowly, carefully.

#my writing #i tried to pick things that were mostly finished #i like writing in the fall it seems lol #snow means i stay put i guess

1 note · View note

rainbowrites · 8 years ago

Text

Season 6 Primer

my stupid fcking computer kept crashing while i was writing this,it was like it was protesting the idea that there are only TWO MORE SEASONS LEFT AAHHHHHHHHH

@wellntruly I can’t believe that I only have one more season primer to write and damn @memory-for-trifles I felt your pain in trying to figure out what to bold for MUST SEE on this list, I just wanted to do all of them!!! so instead I switched it up a little and just bolded the ones that were NECESSARY for plot development (...and then I cheated by italicizing the ones I just really liked)

6x01- 6x06 This is a SIX PARTER, because DS9 goes fucking HARD CORE sometimes. It's not even the longest multi-parter, just wait till next season. anyways, our darling crew are separated, some desperately trying to organize an internal resistance (again, for poor Kira under her second occupation) and some battling out amongst the stars. Things are very dark, but there is always hope, by which I mean hilarity - especially in the form of your favorite Le Carre character

6x01 everyone tries to figure out the new normal in life at war with the Dominion

6x02 lots of soldier vs officer feels (WARNING: there is a suicide)

6x03 all about the relationship between parents and children, starring Worf/Alexander and Dukat/Ziyal

6x04 female changeling appears to try to seduce Odo to the dark side (quark misses Deep Space Drink as much as we do)

6x05 both sides begin to try to take back DS9, from the inside and out, in the first part of a mini-two parter WITHIN the six-parter (jeez Deep Space Serialization)

6x06 THE FINAL BATTLE!!!

6x07 WEDDING EPISODE, WEDDING EPISODE, WEDDING EPISODE!!! featuring all your tropey favorites (terrible mother-in-law, bridezilla, bachelor party shenanigans etc) but with with SPACE TWISTS. I honestly love this episode SO MUCH, what a wonderful return to Deep Space Domesticity after so long at war

6x08 MIRROR VERSE! although it's a bit of a switcheroo because this is mostly Mirror verse characters coming into OUR world rather than the other way around. It's very relationship heavy, about Bareil and Kira, and is pretty skippable but also Mirror verse Kira is in it and I ADORE her

6x09 an episode based entirely around Bashir's enhancements, and the idea of 'what happened to the other kids who got enhancements, but weren't able to hide it like he did?' There's some interesting stuff here about disability, mental illness, and the way society treats the neurodiverse

6x10 a fun adventure episode in which the Ferengi go on a mission to be big damn heroes, and maybe make a little latinum in the process (fun story: Iggy Pop is in this episode!)

6x11 Sisko and Dukat get ship wrecked, Lost style (so the answer to your question 'is this lost' will FINALLY be yes) Dukat goes crazy just as fast as you'd expect in this AMAZING episode that manages to keep up tons of tension while basically just being two people talking for an hour

6x12 just like Morn manages to be a recurring character without ever actually saying a word this episode manages to be ALL ABOUT HIM while not having him in it pretty much at all. it's a fun little romp that explores how even background characters have their own lives going on while we're focusing on the main cast

6x13 I think this might be the most critically acclaimed star trek episode like... ever? it was definitely up for 3 emmys and is most of the casts's favorite episode. IT'S JUST REALLY THAT GOOD. It's sci-fi and Star Trek at it's best. It makes me cry every time, and is still painfully important today with it's struggle between desperation and hope regarding civil rights. Super notable for this episode basically saying that sometimes you just need to say FUCK METAPHORS and scream about how horrible racism is without pretending it’s about aliens. Also the only time in ST history an actor has directed an episode where he was the central character, since they wanted to have a black director and Avery wanted this episode

6x14 Honey I Shrunk The Runabout! it’s a fun little episode with plenty of Bashir/O’Brien banter

6x15 O'Brien goes UNDERCOVER and things GO SOUTH in this grungy gangster AU. there is one really funny scene back on DS9 that is literally just that the station is falling apart without O'Brien's magic touch in another case of B-plot being way better than A-plot - it's only one scene, so just watch that and get out

6x16 Dax and Worf are Adorable, shade is thrown at TNG, and hilarious zingers are thrown about as they tramp through a jungle before things abruptly get Very Very Serious. it's pretty much pure Relationship episode so I loved it

6x17 Kira gets to meet her mother when she time-travels back to the Occupation in another episode of the ongoing saga Kira Searches For Truth No Matter How Painful And Enraging in this incredible and incredibly intense episode

6x18 a switch up, in that BASHIR Must Suffer, as he's accused of being a Dominion spy, not just a James Bond spy. Really intense and spirals quickly into some very dark places

6x19 the road to hell is paved with good intentions in another one of DS9's most famous and intense episodes, revolving around Sisko and Garak as Sisko asks himself what he's willing to do to protect the Alpha Quadrant.

6x20 A space rom-com featuring cupid as a 1960's lounge singer who's perfectly aware he's a holoprogram pally. Who better than an AI to teach Odo how to stop being such a square and get down with the cool cats? you finally get an episode that’s just ALL ABOUT THIS STATION’S LARPING

6x21 holy shit, quite literally, as Bajor's gods decide it's time for THE END OF DAYS. The Reckoning is at hand on DS9!

6x22 a Nog-centric episode where he and Jake end up stranded in a war zone with a bunch of wild-eyed cadets

6x23 considered the worst episode of DS9, it features Quark getting a temporary sex change. there's some nuggets of good stuff, especially the feminist movement, and Shimmerman does his best with a terrible script, but on the whole this was definitely one long cringe of an episode

6x24 Molly gets accidentally transported to the age of dinosaurs, only a few hours pass for us but 10 years go by for her. the rest of the episode is the O'Briens trying to come to terms with their new feral daughter and reintegrate her into society in a really weird, dark Tarzan-ish episode. The B-plot is a lovely bit of Jadzia-Worf relationship as they babysit Kirayoshi, if you skip this episode then at least watch that part

6x25 this is basically DS9 therapy hour, and it’s GREAT (what do you mean I’m biased as a therapist-in-training and that this isn’t actually plot necessary? SH-SHUT UP, YOU’RE BIASED! IT’S MY PRIMER I DO WHAT I WANT!! IT’S NECESSARY TO MY HEART)

6x26 this seriously feels like the darkest, saddest DS9 season finale EVER, so like... BRING TISSUES. NO, MORE TISSUES THAN THAT. NO, MORE.

M O R E

#wellntruly #star trek #DS9

11 notes · View notes

jixiani · 5 years ago

Text

In defense of fanfiction

I’ve been thinking about fanfiction lately, (really I’ve been thinking that I should really be taking some of this time to write more, but that’s another post) AO3 just had their yearly fundraiser so of course the old discourse over the site and its history was dragged up again and then Sarah had brought it up this morning and well, I have a lot of strong feelings on the subject. Let’s start with a little personal background: I have been reading and writing fanfic since the late 90’s. It started out as something silly my best friend introduced me to and we would sit in her mother’s computer room and giggle over ‘speculative fan fictions’ and participate on months-long roleplay scenarios on chat boards and take turns passing notebooks full of handwritten stories back and forth which were every bit as terrible as you’d think two 14-year-old girls could come up with. Unfortunately, we were in the Vampire Chronicles fandom so we had a front-row seat for the Anne Rice and her lawyer's debacle that will from here on out be referred to as “The Dark Times”. We watched our friends’ work get pulled, our RP sites close down, we feared that we’d get a cease and desist letter, we hid our notebooks and dreamed up our stories exclusively verbally. I was deeply ashamed of my secret love of fanfic for years. I kept writing, but I kept it secret, I kept reading it but would never admit to it. Fanfiction was something shameful, taboo, some terrible sin akin to watching porn, and not the good socially acceptable kind of porn. But time moved on and fandom moved on and fanfiction started to be more acceptable. I joined Fanfiction.net, I wrote some stuff on Livejournal (although I still kept it set to private). I read A LOT of fanfiction, jumping fandoms, and leaving reviews. People I admired came out as liking and writing fanfiction. Of course, then the purges hit. Strikethrough and the like. I’m not going to get into that here, because that’s a rant all its own. Anyway, those were also some dark days as fandom searched for somewhere to land. I stumbled over Archive of our own a few years ago and I aggressively support them whenever I can because they fight for the fandom. Now I speak out in defense of fanfiction whenever possible. I’ve attended panels at conventions about fanfiction, I support and share posts about it from my favorite authors, I let everyone know that I’m proud of my fanfic (although I still don’t post it, that’s because I tend not to finish things and I don't’ want to get someone excited for something I know I’m going to abandon in a month, not because I’m ashamed.). So let’s talk over some points because Sarah brought up a good point today. Why is fanfiction such a shameful thing in the fandom community, and in the writing community? One of the people on my friends list who I admire and is a professional, published author once rolled their eyes and scoffed when I said that I wanted to go to the fanfiction panel at a convention. Yet, no other facet of fandom is treated this way. I brought this up on Sarah’s post and I’m going to reiterate it here. Fan artists are not scoffed at, people flock to their tables in artist’s alley. Fan-made comics and doujinshi have led to careers writing and drawing comics and scripts for the same series their fanwork was based on. No professional costumer or prop maker sneers at cosplayers, in fact, there are now professional cosplayers. Fans wait in line for hours to watch masquerade skits at conventions. Fan-dubs like Dragonball Z Abridged and Nescaflowne are hugely popular and have led to professional voice acting gigs and production studios. But if an author dares to mention that they got their start in fanfiction? The horror, the outrage, the hate mail. Yet so much of our media could arguably be called fanfiction. Dante’s Inferno? John Milton’s Paradise Lost? The Aeneid? Classics? Yes. Fanfiction? Also yes. Joyce’s Ulysses is just an AU of the Odyssey. Anything written about or based on myths? Anything involving King Arthur? Sherlock Holmes? Shakespear...Oh you can cry adaptation all you want. Let’s face it if it’s written by some old white guy it’s literature and a classic and an innovative reimagining but really it’s just fanfic and it’s everywhere. West Side Story is a fanfic of a fanfic since Shakespeare based Romeo and Juliet off a poem by a similar name. My Fair Lady? Pygmalion AU. Hamilton? Real Person Song Fic! 50 Shades series, Mortal Instruments, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, hell there are literally hundreds of published Jane Austen fanfictions. John Gardner’s Grendel is a retelling of Beowolf. The Wiz, Wicked and the rest of Gregory Maguire’s books? The Wizard of Oz doesn’t enter public domain until 2035. The Magnificent Seven? Kurosawa called and he wants his seven samurai back, he’d also like to reclaim Yojimbo from A Fist Full of Dollars. Speaking of tv, how about Black Sails? It’s a fanfiction prequel to Treasure Island. Any comic book not written by the original creator. Any book series based on Star Wars, Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, etc. I could go on all day. So why is it, when so much of our popular culture consists of what basically boils down to fanfiction, that fanfiction is seen as a shameful indulgence, as “cheating”, as trash?Part of it boils down to sex. Read any article that brings up fanfiction and there will invariably be a line where the author distances themself by saying something along the lines of they don’t personally read it, or how slash fic isn’t their thing but to each their own. (Both quotes from some of the sites I pulled the above list from) A lot of people seem to think that fanfiction is just porn, and while yes there is some fanfiction that is porn and some of it is very good, the same can be said for regular fiction as well. People don’t blush and giggle over Lord of the Rings, yet when I say that I’ve read fanfic that’s longer than Tolkien’s trilogy I may as well be talking about how I read Aragorn/Boromir slash fic regardless of what the actual subject matter was. Yes, there’s sex in fanfiction. A lot of it is gay sex. You can read Lolita in school but Harry Potter fanfic? Gasp, think of the children! Even if that fanfic happens to be about what if Petunia loved Harry like a son instead of pushing him away and neglecting him. There is some really fantastic fan fiction out there. Some of it has sex, some of it doesn't. Some of it deals with queer characters and experiences, some of it doesn’t. There’s nothing inherently wrong with erotica and it’s an entirely separate issue. Not every fanfiction is a 50 Shades-eque erotic rewrite of Twilight, and even if they were, so what? A lot of fanfiction has to do with wish fulfillment. You want to know what happens next, or what would happen if this had happened instead, or if there was this character. You want to see someone like you in your favorite fandom. I had wanted to adventure with Bilbo when I was a kid. I wanted to go on adventures and fight and ride dinosaurs. These desires don’t go away just because we grow up. I got into roleplay and larp and gaming because I still enjoy make-believe. I write for a lot of the same reasons. Everyone wants to be the main character. Fanfiction gives you that chance. You can write yourself into a story, you can write someone that’s like you, you can write someone that’s nothing like you but what you want to be. So, let’s discuss our old friend Mary Sue. She gets trotted out as an example every time someone brings up fanfiction (or any uppity female character ever). Mary Sue was born in the 60’s. She is an actual character from a Star Trek Original Series fanfiction. Yes, fanfiction existed in the 60’s. Mary Sue was the brightest and prettiest girl to come out of Starfleet, she managed to be in all the right places at the right times to save the ship and capture the heart of Spock. Self insert fics and Mary Sues are at the heart of why we should be terribly ashamed of our fanfiction habit. Except, what was Luke Skywalker if not George Lucas’ self insert Marty Stu? There are countless male characters that are as bad or worse than your typical Mary sue and they are never called out for it. Seanan brought this up in a post once about her character October Daye, her editor had said that the character was too competent, too cool, and that it was unrealistic and she should tone it down. She had him replace the character’s name with “Harry Dresden” and reread the story and suddenly it was fine. There are a great many articles and essays about our friend Mary Sue and I implore you to read some of them. She is not the enemy we make her out to be. Fanfiction, on the rare occasion that it is accepted, is seen as some sort of training wheels, or baby’s first writing. It’s amateurish, it’s juvenile, it’s just not very good. If we are not ashamed of it, then it’s expected that we are only using it as a starting point to hone our writing and move on to professional published works. It’s either that or something terribly self-indulgent that should be kept to ourselves. Some fanfic writers do go on to become “real” writers. Seanan McGuire has always been very open about how her agent first approached her after reading some of her Buffy/Faith fanfiction. Some “real” writers also write fanfiction. Neil Gaiman won a Hugo for his Chronicles of Narnia Fanfic. Ursula Vernon and Mercedes Lackey write fanfiction in their spare time. Some fanfiction writers never become published authors, not everyone wants to. Some are happy to have a dozen 150k fics about their favorite fandom, or maybe just one 500k epic, some, myself included, may only have one short fic posted somewhere. There is nothing that says that you have to use your hobby to turn a profit. (By the way, for reference, War and Peace is 561,304 words, Dune is 187,240 words, you cannot make the argument that fanfic writers don’t put time into their craft when they have more words than Tolstoy under their belt.)Some of the ‘training wheels’ analogy is true. Fanfic is a terrific gateway to writing. It teaches pacing, plot, character development, how to take criticism. If I ever do write something professionally I will not be nearly as afraid of the red pen as I am of bad reviews. Anonymous readers are the most ruthless critics. May the literary gods preserve you from ever having your fanfic read aloud as an example of how terrible and ‘cringy’ fanfiction can be. There is a lot of fanfiction out there that is written by teenage girls, and it reads like it was written by a teenage girl, but the only way to get better at something is to practice. Fanfiction allows budding writers to do that. There are no rules, no one standing at the gates to bar entry, and entire communities of people willing to give advice and commentary. Sometimes it’s less helpful than harmful, but there is something about posting a new fic and waiting for that first ‘like’ or ‘kudos’ or a review. There’s something to be said for instant gratification. I have read a lot of really terrible fanfic. I have slogged through stuff that would make Mary Sue herself cringe. I have read about the ½ vampire, ½ werewolf, ½ fairy long lost princess. I have read grammar that would make your eyes bleed. Not all of it has been confined to fan works. I have read fanwork that has had me convulsing with silent laughter to the point that I wondered if I would die. Dialog that was ten times better than anything I had read in a professional novel. Fanfiction should not be judged by its worst offenders. We don’t hold Dune to the same standard as Twilight. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is not terrible and cringy because 50 Shades of Grey overuses the phrase “Oh my.” There is some absolutely terrible fanfic out there and there is some pretty terrible published fic as well, but we don’t hold that against most novelists, so why do we hold it against fanfiction writers?I guess that brings us to the elephant in the fandom. Sexism. Fanfiction has historically been something written by and for young women and there is nothing more shameful than something liked by a young woman. Boybands? The color pink? Horse Girl books and Sparkly Vampires? Society hates them. We mock them. It is not acceptable to enjoy them. Sound familiar? How many times is something considered cool until a woman decides that she likes it? We as a society hate women and hate the things they enjoy and we hate teenage girls the most. Think of how much people hated selfies and duckface and instagram. How much hate was directed at Britney Spears, One Direction, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber? Whether it has a basis in something or not, we hate them, we make jokes, we share the memes. We write them off as having no substance, as being stupid, not worth our time. Belittling of teenage girls for their interests and fandoms isn't a new phenomenon. Remember Mary Sue? Not only that, but a lot of fanfiction is gay. Women and gays are still the punchline to a lot of jokes and we can’t ignore that that plays a big part in people’s hatred of fanfiction, even if it’s not on purpose. Fanfiction has always been a bastion for people that couldn’t find stories about them in popular fiction. A lot of mainstream main characters are straight guys. A lot of fanfiction main characters are young women or gay men. Now, I admit that I’m oversimplifying this, and especially in recent years as it is becoming safer for people to come out as other genders and queer and as having mental illness or not being neurotypical, you are seeing more of that reflected in the fanfiction community. I don’t want anyone to think that I am purposefully leaving anyone out of this. The fanfiction community has not always been so great at being inclusive of people of color or transgender, it’s getting better, but I’m not going to stand here and pretend we’ve always been perfect. In the last several years I’ve seen a lot more inclusion. As I said, fanfiction has always been a home to the “Other”, as that expands to include more individuals so too does the community. Fanfics provide us with a place to work through issues and present perspectives that we don’t get to see anywhere else, without having to create an entire world from scratch. It’s accessible to everyone. I’ve spent the better part of an afternoon researching and writing this. I hope that I was at least partially coherent and I got you to at least take a look at why you feel the way you feel about fanfiction. I’m not sure if I exactly got across the points I was trying for, there’s a lot more eloquent, well thought out arguments out there from more knowledgeable people. Check out Seanan McGuire, she’s got a lot to say on the subject.

0 notes

plogan721 · 7 years ago

Text

Sitting at a Sushi Restaurant…. Where to work

Photo by P, Lynne Designs

It is Blogmas, Day 3, and I am currently sitting in a sushi restaurant working, enjoying a bowl of Miso soup, and the waiter brought in my “any 3 rolls” combo. Looks delicious. I ordered the spicy scallop crunch roll, a squid tempura roll, and an eel avocado roll. For sushi haters, it is quite adventurous, and very delicious. Ok, I have said delicious too many times already. Let me move on.

While I was waiting, I decided that I wanted to write a blog piece (this one), and before I could finish one sentence, the waiter came out with the meal. I could have finished this post, but the food was so delicious (there’s that word again) until I wanted to finish every bit of that sushi and soup.

The point to this post is not to boast about my meal (as good as it was), but to mention about an important step in the life of a writer, you do not have to work at home. This is what separates my handmade business from my writing business, and better still separates my writing business from my direct selling business. Let me explain

In my handmade business, P. Lynne Designs-Handmade, I need my tools with me. These tools are big, bulky, and require many trips from the car and back. It is perfect for craft shows when I go. I can sit there, do my work, and attend to customers at the same time. I cannot take the tools to a coffee shop or a library. Too noisy and I would get kicked out. Same thing with my direct selling company, Longaberger, where I am an independent home consultant, except the noise level is a little quieter, but again, it does not make a good idea situation.

With P. Lynne Designs-writing, all I need is a pen, a notebook, and/or my tablet (I have not owned a laptop in years), go upstairs, away from the cat, who likes my desktop keyboard, cuddle up in my bed, and compose. I can go to a restaurant like Fugu Sushi, get a table in the corner during lunch, and pen my thoughts. I have even gone to the bathroom to write. Try putting a 12-pound electronic die cutter next to you in the bathtub, I would not be sitting here typing. But then again, I have not attempted that feat with the Ipad either.

I have a Microsoft subscription that accommodates all 3 of my devices (Phone, Ipad, and desktop), so When I am saving my posts, I am saving it to my OneDrive cloud, and then I can retrieve the post from my desktop. Once that is done and edited, then I can upload it to my blog.

So, how do you write?

I am not talking about your writing style. I want to know where do you like to write? Is it on the shores of Lake George on a moon-lit night (stole that line from an episode from Star Trek Voyager, when Captain Katherine Janeway tells her commanding officer, Chakotay where she would like to take her leisure vacation after she cheated death)? How about in the tub? In bed? Sitting down while sipping coffee on a rainy day (where I am right now in front of the desktop screen with a kitten behind me-I left the restaurant) or a sushi restaurant? No one will call the writing police on you and no one will know unless you tell them. The important thing is:

A. You are comfortable. My most comfortable spot is in my bed, feet stretched out day or night. I know sometimes that is not feasible nor does it make the most ideal situation, but it is my space, and I have my pillow and blanket around me (no food or drink, I am not starting that habit). When I am downstairs on the main floor (hence, the reason for the no food or drink rule for me), I am at my desktop, coffee in hand, lunch or dinner, and these days, a kitten to keep me warm (not my cat, Gizmo is my nephew’s girlfriend’s cat, but she has claimed me). I like to sit forward, and she plops herself between my back and the back of the chair. I also sit on a pillow for comfort, and she thinks the same way. Why can’t Gizmo sleep on the floor like my nephew’s dog, Strype, A mini Huskey mix?

Again, it does not matter where you are as long as you are comfortable

B. Have plenty to work with. Sometimes, if you are like me, you have this great topic that you think will blow to roof off the Interwebs, and you think that there is plenty of material to support it. You start researching it, and nothing comes up. It is the same old stuff that a friend of yours wrote about months ago, and nothing new has been written about your “mind-blowing” topic. Although I have covered research in a prior post, as well as, adding little sprinkles about it here and there, it is important that you do have plenty of support to cover it, or you are maybe writing something that no one has not written about in the last 6 months.

C. Connection. I am not only talking about connecting with your readers. I am talking about what is your Wifi connection in the establishment or environment you are in. Not all eating places, hotels, cruise ships, or even places of worship have the wifi capabilities of a mega wifi, and some even charge for that connection. For instance. Next month is my cruise. I already know that I will not be able to call family when not docked at a port of call, but that also means that my data rates will become very high too. My phone and my tablet need to be in “Airplane” mode at all times, except when we embark and disembark at the U.S. port. While at sea, I could get International charges, which is a US citizen and living in the states, is something that my family plan may not cover. So, that means, no writing or vlogging, then uploading. I can, but it must be saved to the tablet or phone. Once I get back, I have one night at a hotel before flying home, then I can remotely upload to my computer at home, safely under US authority. So, your connection may not be that extreme, and mine usually isn’t, but you may not want to pay $5 an hour to read an ebook on your tablet or phone, or even write a post, at a hotel, but what you can do is download it at home, and read it offline when you get there. You can also check to see if there is a free connection where you are at. Most places have that in place as well, but, you may be limited to what you use it for.

D. Finally, make sure you are not in violation of the free stuff. Yes, it is wonderful that technology is this vast thing, where you can hook up with a phone, tablet, or laptop, and cruise the internet (the legal name to what I call, the “interwebs”). While in places like The United States and other countries in the western world have that capability, not everyone has it, and even here in the states, there are limitations to free access. There is no free access to cruise ships to certain websites and social media unless you pay for a package. Even when free, there are certain restrictions, like no porn sites and no YouTube videos. If you are caught, you may be banned for life. Read all rules to your temporary package of internet access (even if you plan to pay for it). Once you sign on the dotted line (or click “accept”, you are bonded until you leave the area.

I will have a trip report on what I could do with my family plan and Carnival Cruise line, as well as Delta Airlines. Anything I do would be under my normal conditions and nothing out of the ordinary. In the meantime, your takeaway is to be flexible with your writing conditions, even when away. The best thing about having portable devices is they are portable. Be careful with everything, including where you lay your device. That is the last tip. People are watching, and all they need is for you to misstep and you have a missing device, especially in a foreign country. Be mindful of your surroundings. I look up every 10 to 20 minutes, sometimes sooner than that, and sometimes I do not engage in my device at all. Whatever you do, be safe, and know that you write anywhere.

from Blogger http://bit.ly/2imEFE3 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

characteresque · 7 years ago

Photo

It were as if I were the good and then there were the 'everyone else'.

If William Hall had any advice for his students, young or old, it would be short and to-the-point: life doesn’t turn out the way you think it will. Even self-made millionaires and their snobby children with golden-laid paths in front of them will experience deviations from The Plan, and in one way or another, every winding road leads to a new destination.

Will was a happy child born in the in the early 80’s to a very stable home. His room was filled with plastic Star Wars figurines and Star Trek “The Final Frontier” posters above his bed, even a jar labeled “Will’s Nintendo Fund” filled with quarters adorned his messy dresser. He was a nerd, self-proclaimed and teased, and being the son of the high school principal didn’t earn him any brownie points. His older brother and sister, both sports-minded and sociable, only seemed to mind Will’s presence in the company of…well…anyone. So, Will was alone to delve into his fascination with all things dork: and delve he did.

During middle school, Will put the final nail in his popularity coffin as he skipped lunch and traversed the library shelves for some new friends. Out of curiosity, he lugged home a large (and disappointingly unused) book about mass migration from eastern Europe to the Americas – and William Hall’s deep love for history blossomed. He made fast friends with the librarian that summer, and due the unpopularity of the non-fiction historical section, Will had the freedom to take home as many books from the shelves as he pleased. As high school approached and the looming reality that his father would be his principal (and everyone would know it), Will had finally found his niche.

It’s a shame that things could only get more complicated from there.

Will founded the Historical Insights Club, with the pull of his father, and after school on Wednesdays – for just one shining afternoon – Will felt listened to and appreciated. He got a rush from teaching the other students, and as he graduated, Will knew: he wanted to be a teacher. But there’s a complicated dilemma to this story: being a gay teacher in the early turn of the millennium isn’t as fun, nor as easy as it is today.

Will graduated with honors and quickly sped through college, his eyes on the prize. Boyfriends rotated through the seasons of his life, but during the last two years of his bachelor’s degree Will fell hard for a man in California by the name of Terrell Evans. William Hall packed up his life in Iowa and moved in with his long-term boyfriend in 2004, shortly after he scored his Bachelor of History. His parents were shocked at his coming out, but his brother and sister were not: Will worked hard to re-establish his relationship with his family as his dedication to Terrell loomed closer. The couple struggled until Will finally landed a 9th grade history teaching job at a lower-income school on the other side of town – money was never rolling in, but they made ends meet. Marriage wasn’t an option for Will, something he detested. There didn’t seem to be any hints toward marriage equality, even in the liberal state he had moved to…even though, the two had a small ceremony to celebrate their lives together. Will called it a wedding, and was overjoyed to see that his family would attend.

Things were going great for Will. He taught happily for a handful of years, eventually moving to a high school with an advanced-placement history course as he continued his education. Four years later, Will became Dr. William Hall and his ambition drove him higher up the education ladder to seek college teaching positions – or, at least he would have. Five years into their partnership, countless thousands of dollars of student debt and struggle, Will found it harder and harder to make it to class each day. That winter, a major flu took over the household and both Terrell and Will passed the infection to one another. Headaches, pains, fevers, coughs and sore throats – the typical wintertime faire – but it seemed as if they were the only two in the world who could get a gross flu outbreak in the tepid California winters. Terrell seemed to clear up after a few days, but for Will, it took six weeks of chicken soup before he finally broke down to visit a doctor.

Will walked into that clinic expecting a prescription of antibiotics, maybe a shot at the most extreme: but what he got instead was a very odd visit from his primary care doctor after Terrell left the room. His doctor urged Will for an HIV test, and the battle began. Was this because he was homosexual? The annoyance grew with every passing minute. This was precisely why he left Iowa, and the initial suggestion of an STD panel met extreme resistance from the young teacher. Will insisted that he got tested just before their courtship, he’d only had one sexual partner since that day. There’s no way he wanted the test, and so Will walked into the waiting room with his prescription of antibiotics just as he expected. He waited for Terrell, his arms crossed rebelliously. When Terrell walked out of that lab room with a bright blue bandage around his elbow, Will came unglued. How dare that doctor test him for a disease he didn’t have! But Terrell just laughed in his dismissive, good-natured way and the two went home to heal from their superbug.

When Terrell sat Will down for dinner two weeks later, life seemed to be getting back to normal. Terrell certainly felt better, and Will was hoping he’d be shortly behind. But this dinner would mark the beginning of a long line of suffering for Will: because Terrell had a terrible secret.

He’d been cheating.

And what’s more, he was HIV positive. He had been for at least three years now.

So, in other words: he knew. Terrell knew and he did nothing for his boyfriend.

Will fell apart. His entire life seemed to be a path, albeit a bit bumpy, straight to everything he’d ever wanted. He wanted to be a cool professor with hundreds of students who loved history, a speaker for middle school-aged kids who were interested in scholarly things just as he had been. Will wanted to be that teacher for young dorks that he had pined for: a friend. He’d teach the passionate young people during the day, and mentor the young ones after school: he’d be the shining beacon of knowledge and he’d be adored for the qualities that made his own younger years such hell. He wanted these things so badly it hurt, and yet, here he was, 25 years old with a death sentence and a deceitful sham of a non-marriage.

He went directly to his doctor the next morning, Terrell staying with his younger sister for the time being. Will had the apartment all to himself, surrounded by the memories of a person he never even knew. The results of his HIV test didn’t surprise him, but it certainly made concrete to Will that his life was over.

Will wanted that moment of confrontation with Terrell. He planned and schemed and knew exactly what he wanted to say to him after all he’d put him through. He wanted to tear the man down and make him feel just as insignificant as Will felt: nothing. But when Will and Terrell finally met again to talk it out, to finally bring up that ugly and fearful B-word – Will knew he couldn’t do it.

Terrell looked awful and his descent was fairly fast. He hadn’t treated his HIV infection for the years he’d been cheating on Will, and the stress of the failing relationship did nothing to help him. Will saw Terrell falling down a slippery slope, and while the two rifled through bank statements and bills to separate the names…Will got sucked back in. It was never the same, and Will’s distrust of Terrell made it clear that the two would be tragically platonic in a way. Will struggled to find a college teaching position from 2009 to 2013 as he cared for Terrell, their combined mounting medical bills deepening the rift between them. But Terrell never truly recovered, the fight inside of him seemed to die after their non-breakup. He forgot his medications and took mediocre care of himself, and Will’s patience for the man who ruined his life was unconditional but beginning to waver. Terrell could sense this – which lead to more arguments and more drama. Looking back, Will feels guilty for staying there for Terrell: maybe if he had left at the beginning, Terrell wouldn’t have died.

Will was there for Terrell every step of the way. The good moments were peaceful and the bad moments were terrible, but he never left. It earned him only the scorn of Terrell’s family who hated Will for making their son’s last years so turbulent despite his mistakes, and the disgust of his own family for staying with a man who clearly cared so little for him. And, suddenly without Terrell, Will found himself utterly alone.

This darkest chapter of Will’s life lead to some irresponsible decisions. He’d lost his zeal for life, something that was a cornerstone of his inner character. He needed a change, and he sure got one: during the summer of 2013 while the dirt over Terrell’s grave was still loose, William Hall once again packed up his life and hit the road. This time, he had no objective. He tried to pretend he was a teenager again, a young Luke Skywalker in search of his Obi-Wan. As the miles rolled behind him, each new state brought him more and more freedom. It got colder and more sparse the further east he went, and Will found himself drawn northward. Finally, three weeks before the start of a new school year, Will rolled into a sleepy little Maine town with a trunk full of medications and a renewed sense of hope.

This’ll do.

Will had sold most of his possessions in California to fund his three month soul journey, and the last thing to his name was the small slate gray car he’d picked out with Terrell from the used car lot downtown. It was bittersweet to sell the little car, but the money it brought afforded the hopeful man a studio apartment next to a small community college downtown. Technically, he lived in a popular student area…but there’s no way he was blending in. It occurred to Will that, for the first time in his life, he truly felt so old.

Will’s luck can’t be described as all bad this year, though. The college greedily took Will on as two weeks before, one of their professors took an extended leave of absence following a rocky divorce. He was underpaid and given the courses to fill that no other history teacher would touch with a ten-foot pole: but to Will, this was a new start. He poured his renewed energy into his job, and bought himself a bike.

The best part of teaching, for Will at least, is the constant flow of new information. Not just scholarly information, either. The second chapter of Will’s life begins with the realization that his life was in fact not over, and the prognosis for HIV positive people wasn’t what he’d expected after the AIDs scare he’d been introduced to as a kid. He was a young, handsome, gay teacher with a stable job, and it’s time to heal.

Will began paying off his student loans and medical bills one at a time, his meager income affording him some small luxuries such as the occasional date. For a few years he floundered around the dating scene, but his completely upfront nature cost him greatly. After what Terrell did, keeping silent about his HIV was not an option: but it certainly complicated his dating activities. Will must have gone on about sixty dates with many different men before realizing maybe…this was just his life now. He’d all but exhausted his pool of dating partners, as most of the people who lived in his immediate area were either decidedly not gay or, even worse, they were college students.

Well, maybe that wasn’t all bad to Will. After all, Terrell had been nine years older and their relationship would have been perfect. Will casually dated a student for the first time sometime in 2014 – and it was all downhill from there. Will found himself attracted to the danger, now 29 years old and feeling a huge degree higher in maturity to his students who usually ranged about 23. There was something intoxicating about the ability to teach and protect even in a romantic sense; and Will’s once narrow dating pool expanded greatly. They made him feel young. There were some weak moments that Will even invited his own students to his office just for a chance at a movie date: some students took the bait, others ran for the hills. It was all very casual, very fun: maybe if he felt more serious about a date, he’d offer up the dark smudge on his history and hope they’d feel comfortable to make out afterwards.

Most didn’t.

Will’s HIV treatments were working wonders on his body. He lived a very healthy life with a predictable routine. He’d caught the infection early and the medication only seemed to improve as the years went on. It had gotten to the point that Will’s frustration stemmed only from not finding a long-term partner three years after the death of his boyfriend, and after gay marriage had finally been legalized! It dangled in front of his eyes like a spinning fish on a hook, the one thing he thought he could never have finally available to him but no one to share it with.

Will wasn’t looking for marriage the night he logged on to craigslist for a young man to spend his evening with, though. It was cold and the thought of spending the afternoon with someone to cuddle with, paid or not, was too much for him. But the chain of events that Will would unintentionally set into motion that very night would be unlike any of the others in his life, the winding path with side-roads and potholes that he’d experienced so far seeming like a highway express lane.

No, life rarely turns out the way you’d want it to. Just ask any person their story, and you’ll hear it over and over again in various ways: it just didn’t work out. But, sometimes, and for a lucky few – it can turn out better. Thank god for Will that he finds his sweet religion after all.

#Will #Sweet Religion #contemporary romance #Writing #OC #Zane's Character #TW: AIDS #TW: HIV #My god it's been too long #I've been working on NANOWRIMO

0 notes