#maybe one day i'll write some more scenes of this verse and post it to ao3

[galarix]

Day 12. Favorite scene/line

note to self: write about stanza 148 in that one stupid Russian translation... that man clearly hated Hagen

note to everyone else: I won't say anything about Hagen's shield request because it's clearly THE BEST scene in the NL (save maybe Hagen's final words to Kriemhild) and it goes without saying that we love it!

ok so my fav lines/scenes. this is somewhat difficult because I first read the NL in Russian, and that translation is kinda weird (see above...) but it was a verse translation so it had SOME really poetic bits. and from the poetic standpoint, I really liked stanza 150. sadly though, the Russian translation deviates in meaning from the original, it's... more colorful, I might say, so it's no wonder I liked it so much. I really don't know how to explain it all so here's a verse translation into English by George Henry Needler (@setrija-nibelungenfangirl thank you for posting bits from it earlier, I didn't know about that one!), at least you can look at the stanza in question:

"Our swords ward such things from us," / Gernot then said; "Since but the fated dieth, / so let all such lie dead. Wherefore I'll e'er remember / what honor asks of me: Whoe'er hath hate against us / shall ever here right welcome be."

And I think these words sum up the Burgundians' ethos we'll see in the second part!

Another line that I loved is stanza 2275 from Aventiure 38, but again, I loved it for poetic imagery. With this one, though, translators' opinions differ a bit. Here's again Needler:

Straight saw ye upon Hagen / rush Master Hildebrand, And sword ye heard give music / in each foeman's hand. Sore they were enragéd, / as ye soon were ware, For from their swinging broadswords / whirred the ruddy sparks in air.

So, Needler has "ruddy sparks." Cyril Edwards, too, has "fiery red sparks," but Heinzle has "Feuerwind" (= "fire wind"), and so does Whobrey ("a fiery wind"). (Too tired to look up what Siegfried Grosse has to say on the matter.) MHG has "viuwerroôter wint"/"fiuwer rôter wint." Well, the Russian translation that first introduced me to the NL has "red wind," and I really liked it. In Russian, these two words have four syllables, so it sounds better, and I like the implication that "red wind" stands for "blood". But oh well, this isn't the first time that Mr. Korneev has his own very different ideas... More on that when I get to write about stanza 148, it's really weird!

There's also a whole scene that I love but I'm too tired to talk about it AND I really want to post something today. So maybe I'll have a chance to write about it in the next few days; if not, it will definitely be in the Gunther megapost :)

[stormxpadme]

Fanfic Writer Asks:

5, 10, 17, 29

"I’m Bored and Anxious So I Slapped Together a List of Fan Fic Writer Asks"

5 - What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

I'm notoriously not a huge fan of Mr. Sinister because it's just one of these things Marvel Comics has done to death, and guy's hopelessly overpowered. So aside from like 2 short oneshots, I never utilized him in my X-Men stories and my X-Men main verse.

But lately I've been thinking about a very meta kind of oneshot which arose from an Alternative Universe story for my X-Men verse that I did a while ago. A oneshot that included - and those scenes were very much part of my canon and not AU - some flashbacks of when movieverse!Scott was Essex' lab rat as a kid. That story also elaborated on how Essex has kept on meddling subtly, telepathically with Scott's life in the course of the years. In that official X-Men verse of mine, Essex has been put on ice deep under the ocean by Charles and Emma shortly before Scott came to Charles as a teenager and is mostly rendered powerless. But I like to think, very subtly, even at what is basically a coma, Essex still has a bit of influence on the real world. And of course he's never given up on the plan of creating his mutant super race and that perfect fabricated mutant child for his own uses. Since he did know somehow though, that his plan would never work as intended with Scott and Jean - cue Destiny coming in, in some way ... Bear with me, this whole thing is not finished beign plotted -, Essex decided to give Logan and Jean as his favorite parents a shot since those would be just an equally powerful combination of genes. Long story short - literally -, this would be basically the reason of why my whole version of the old X-Men movieverse happened in the end, with Essex' subtle manipulations making sure, Scott and Jean gave up on their relationship after Liberty Island because of several issues and because of Jean's attraction to Logan, not least by making sure, Scott had someone else he was attracted to and was basically out of the way of Jean's and Logan's spawn in the making. This oneshot would basically be nothing but a legitimation for writing my verse that I don't need because everything Marvel is multiverse and everything's possible and legit. So I don't really think I'm ever gonna write this, not least because I'm just not interested in doing anything longer with Essex. And I don't want to undermine what Scott and his wifey and Jean and Logan have in that verse by retconning it into something manipulated by an outsider. But the simple idea of Essex literally throwing in the face of Scott's partner for decades at this point, that she's nothing but a badly fabricated plot device? Ouch, here comes the pain. Maybe I'll do something like a vague nightmare about that thing at some point as part of a bigger story but really writing it out? Nah. I'm only that masochistic by proxy for my characters.

10 - Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Honestly with how silent fandom has become in terms of feedback, it's mostly surprise these days that there's hardly any response at all (the person sending this ask being one of the few exceptions to regularly save my day). Because every now and then I do write popular themes and somewhat popular characters and think, well, this should get some response at least. Alas. I also was slightly taken aback by the reaction of a reader to one of the rare torture/non con scenes I wrote and published lately because it felt a bit like victim blaming. Which like. Just no.

17 - What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

After writing my fictional season of American Idol, I know more about the TV and casting show business (especially about how many celebs can't even get out of bed without their first line of coke in the morning) than I ever wanted to know.

29 - Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic.

I'll cheat a bit here and take that fic I mentioned above because I'm never gonna post it on AO3; as of now, it's only in our German archive. The reason for that is that I got exactly one single active reader there, and that reader fell in love with a romance in my X-Men verse that got hardly any to zero response on AO3. And since that oneshot is an Alternative Universe version to my X-Men verse, spawning from the AU idea of that romance getting a happy instead of a horrible ending, meaning, something that I wrote only for said reader for her to be happy, it wouldn't make sense, translating it and putting it on AO3. I still very much like the parts I mentioned though that are canon for my regular verse too, because sometimes I really need a bit of Scott childhood drama in my life.

Just as a preface for understanding: Avery is an OC of mine, an old childhood friend-turned-enemy of Scott's with whom he's lived together on the streets as a teenager for a while. In this scene, Emma is taking Scott and Avery together into some shared memories in their heads because they're looking for a mental signature to follow, to go where Essex has been buried who is about to wake from his coma.

“What …? How …?” “I guess that's what we're here to find out.” Emma squeezed Avery's shoulder once more and then pointed back to the lab area, where a heavy double door opened after the clicking of several locks and the beeping of a code access entered. Even though neither of them really cared to see these particular memories … They had to find out. Otherwise, all this shit would soon be a reality all over the world. With his fists clenched hard, Avery looked at the white-skinned guy, even taller than Scott and himself, who entered the room with a cheerful whistle - some French classic - on his lips, pushing a trolley with various instruments in front of him, the sight of which promptly had Avery's stomach turn again. Instinctively, his fingertips wandered back to the fresh burn on his neck, that characteristic scar which he saw reflected in blood-red on that asshole's forehead right now. Indeed, a more than clear branding as the new property of this psycho. As if. Only in the bastard's wet dreams. By now, Avery didn't even have the strength to tell himself that he didn't care that the defenseless body on that stretcher had begun to tremble noticeably since Essex's memory image had entered the room, or that he was already choking with nausea again himself when that psycho made short work of the only piece of clothing on his victim's body with an impatient telekinetic touch. “Hm.” A discontented-sounding grumble came from the stranger, from a voice about as pleasant as nails on a slate, as he looked at a few numbers on a monitor belonging to the stretcher, obviously spitting out the various results of freshly measured vital signs. “Low potassium and blood pressure again. What did I tell you, Scott? With how tall you're growing recently, I can't have you being a picky eater. If you keep starving yourself, we can solve this very quickly with a feeding tube. I don't want to have to repeat myself. Or do you want me to have to track down Alex and lock him up here instead of you just because you're being so difficult? I don't want that because your mutation is much more promising, but if you don't finally learn how to behave, you'll leave me no choice. Understood?” As there was no response from his young victim, Essex tapped the tip of a scalpel demonstratively against a spot directly on the right hip bone, which was already adorned with a huge Band-aid, with a theatrical sigh. “Yes, sir.” The tonelessness in this choked reply had Avery inevitably take a step back against the wall, away from this alienating scene. No prisoner, no matter which age, who had been subjected to such treatment for only a few days would be talking like that.

[ashtraythief]

Also, I was always curious. If Jensen Campbell was a real person (meaning if Jensen was telling the truth and was a thief the entire time), do you think he would have stayed with Jared after the bumpy start of their relationship or taken off and ran? I’m imagining the stealing art from Jared was real and not something he did as a fan-in-love-with-me ploy. Thank you!

So I answered this question years ago for another anon, but I can't be bothered to find that tumblr post. Thankfully I've kept all my longer tumblr answers in a doc titled AUs and Dark Timelines, so I'll very lazily copy paste what I wrote then (which is still true). So if this is familiar to anyone, yes, you've seen this before 😅

ramblings under the cut

As for your question, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve thought about it. I’ve had conversations about it with one of my friends who alpha reads the underneath verse for me. And maybe one day, I’ll write a few scenes from it. They'd obviously still fall in love and Jensen still comes back to him. What it comes down to, I think, is that it would actually be much fluffier and much less angstier :D But the plot wouldn’t really change. Campbell would detest dating a mob boss, for exactly the reasons Jensen pretended kept him away in the beginning. I think one of the more fundamental changes would be that Campbell would be less secretive. Like, he wouldn’t try so hard to keep his real name a secret for example. He’d be, at some point at least, more open about his past. Campbell would also be harder. If he had the backstory I gave him and be a real career criminal, always on his own with absolutely no safety net, then he’d be harder than Jensen. Maybe a little more okay with what Jared does morally speaking. He would still consider mob stuff to be pedestrian but a necessity. So there’d be less conflict about Jared’s work, but there would be more conflict about Jensen’s work. Because as a real thief, Campbell would have a stronger drive to keep on stealing, pull the more high profile heists, putting himself in more danger. Jared thinks it’s hot, yeah, and he would of course keep bailing Jensen out, but when Jensen goes to Europe for three weeks, Jared is not amused. But Jensen would care much more about both the fulfillment of his work and his reputation. I also think that he probably wouldn’t have proposed. Jensen’s proposal came out very much for the state he was in at that moment, with the whole needing Jared to know it's a real thing and I don’t think Campbell would go there. Which would lead to a whole different kind of continuous friction between them. Which eventually, after years of being together, would result in one big fight, in which there’d be a lot of screaming about trust and a foot out the door and control freak tendencies and Campbell would eventually exasperatedly ask Jared what the fuck he wanted from him and Jared would tell him that he needed Jensen to be his. “I already am,” Campbell would say. “In every way that counts. What else do you need?” And Jared would say, “I need you to say it. Publicly. In front of witnesses. I need you to marry me.” And Campbell would roll his eyes and tell Jared that he’s a fucking idiot who needs to learn that he can’t control everything in the world, but, “ugh, fine, but I’m not wearing a white suite, you asshole.” And that’d be that.

Jensen would also absolutely adopt a cat. Jared would hate it. Harley would be scared of it, Sadie would form a tentative truce with it. Jared would try to ban it from the bedroom, but Jensen would undermine him as soon as Jared leaves the room in the morning, so really, it’s a lost cause. Honestly, I would just write all the scenes about Jensen’s cat—which he’d call Paw Gogh of course—so maybe it’s a good thing that I didn’t write the fic of Campbell the art thief :D

Thanks for your question ❤️

[fezwearingjellybananas]

Talk Shop Tuesday: If you could immediately pluck one story/concept/idea from your brain and have it fully formed in front of you, exactly as you would want, what would that idea be? Can you describe it to us, along with any potential factors that are slowing you down/blocking you from creating it in the first place? Thanks! <3 -@fieldsofview

Definitely the Wally Fic.

The backstory of the Wally Fic is when I was writing the Milk and Sugar 'verse there's a little part in Paper Cups where Cisco's showing Iris different timelines including this one:

Cisco focused again, and now they were standing at the top of a hill overlooking Central at the feet of a bronze statue of the Flash. Wally was looking up into Barry's eyes, with one vibrating hands.

Iris reached out for him.

"You can't touch him," Cisco said. "We're not really here. This is the timeline where I wasn't close enough to the speed dampener, and Zoloman killed Barry."

And I thought "hey, I could write that".

Paper Cups was published in 2019. I do try and only have one big multichapter WIP at once to avoid overwhelming myself so from the start I said I wouldn't start writing until the Milk and Sugar 'verse was done, and that I completed the very end of 2020. The document for the Wally Fic was created in 2021, with a few existing notes, and I wrote 5 pages and it kind of stalled. So The Questing Flower was the main WIP I started on, then Gone in a Flash, and the Wally Fic has just been sitting their stewing for years as a fic I really want to write, but I think the thing blocking it might be a perfectionist issue maybe?

It's divergent from canon s2 rather than the Milk and Sugar 'verse version of s2, and then plotting it out I've also made an alternative s1 to stretch out the time Barry is the Flash before his very public murder and the story begins proper six months later, where Wally West gains some superpowers.

The plan in my head was always two chapters- one covering Wally gaining powers, flashbacks to him meeting Iris post her fiancé's body getting dumped outside her work and other important events, becoming Kid Flash, facing Zoom, all culminating in him ending up in the Speed Force like Barry did post Zoom stealing his powers and trying to get them back. And the chapter 2 will be in that scene with the Speed Force, getting out, defeating Zoom as the Flash (and the Tornado Twins showing up). But I think to actually write it I'm going to have to have a few more, otherwise chapter one is covering a huge amount of time and chapter two is like three days. There's also going to be so much going between things, whereas if I split it more I can have some chapter time jumps where Wally has been Kid Flash for a few weeks or something.

I think the other block has always been this is going to be a very angst filled fic because the whole concept is what if Zoom killed Barry instead of breaking his back, and heavy angst is not really a thing I write often? And the concept just does not lend itself to breaking it up with jokes and light-hearted moments, so I think I've been putting it off for that too, I need more jokes. Somehow. If I make some of the flashbacks happier that might help?

And I think I have built up this idealised version in my head and I know when I sit down to write it's not going to as good as that version. Which is a thing I know the only way to solve is to sit and write regardless, and I have started very slowly moving it along again, it's just getting past that block.

Hartley's got a bigger part now. And I have an idea for Kara to get a bigger part, she'll make things a little brighter, that should help.

One day I hope I'll manage to finish this, but it would be easier if it would just write itself.

Thank you!

[Talk Shop Tuesday]

[victoriousscarf]

There's so many questions on this thing I can't choose lol- (if that's too much stuff at once just pick the ones you feel like answering and ignore the rest 😅)

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

9. Do you comment on stories you read?

12. how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

28. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

29. What’s your revision or editing process like? (Plus 47. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?)

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see? (this is probably my favorite question) (I'm most curious about covet verse scenes ofc) (but yeah feel free to talk about whatever fic you feel like)

53. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

55. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

60. Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

65. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

7. It depends? Like sometimes a story will just be one POV--like Covet is pretty much Fili, and I'll often take Dick's POV over Jason's in a DC fic, but usually it's like whose eyes do I most want to be on in this fic/scene? I have definitely started leaning toward whole fics in one POV but I will still switch if it works for the story (for example, needing to know scenes about which one character cannot know about). I would have previously said I would switch POVs more in long fics but Mahanon sorta shot that right out of the water. I enjoy the challenge of a limited POV fic sometimes, because you really are stuck with this one dude for what's now 500k and thus as limited in knowledge as he is. But it's rarely something I think like, that much about.

9. I am once again trying to get better lol. It's all about seasons of our lives, right? I used to try and go through fics that didn't have a bunch of comments and comment on them in the smaller fandoms/ships I was in, but then I stopped reading fic for a very long time, and now that I'm more regularly reading again, it's like flexing a muscle to comment again.

But it is an effort, one I think more people need to start accepting again. Writing is really hard work, it deserves some acknowledgement.

12. Like. I will write some wild things, and I don't need a LOT of feedback persay, but if something is getting no acknowledgement at all and another fandom is doing their best to feed me... receiving/not receiving feedback WILL impact my desire to work on a fic. It can be one or two dedicated as fuck readers who get me through a whole story, or it might be a whole swarm of them, but if I get dead silence, I have less like ability to push through the bad times (which always come in any multi chapter fic) and keep going. It hurts the motivation to get silence for sure.

16. So many. So many. As always so many.

I've got usually a whole stack of fics waiting for me to care about them/have the time which I never do. In Dragon Age I've got a pirate AU (Just, Cassandra ranting every 30 seconds about the fact they declared her a pirate but when someone offers her a pardon if she turns Mahanon in she tosses them over the side of the ship like well anyway) a whole Regency Era AU with strong vibes of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, and a very strange fake dating college au that may involve Fae.

Tolkien wise I've got some fics I promised people that I never wrote, an elf time loop one (which apparently is becoming a really popular idea in the Silm fandom on tumblr haha but I've been nursing this damn one for ages), that Anastasia-ish Hobbit story, a Regency Era AU for them too (but specifically Emma) and a story I've turned around for literally years now where Thorin died before the quest so Fili becomes king in exile and pretty much laughs Gandalf out of the room when he tries to convince him to reclaim Erebor (he's got a LOT to deal with emotionally okay, he's not got time for that) so they have to go and like try and kill Smaug in the middle of the War of the Ring instead.

And those are just the ones off the top of my head.

17. I think the most important thing as a writer is give yourself some grace. I try and write every week, but like I went on a trip and then I've been too exhausted since I got back, so it's been 2 weeks now with no writing for me. And frankly, I'm still feeling really wiped out so it's more like, if you're not feeling it, it's okay to take a break. Drink some tea, read a book, let it all peculate in the back of your head for a while. Try to do some things that inspire you, like for me it's reading history, or taking walks outside or going to museums, basically just learning new things. See some friends. Spend time with people. And then come back and see if that all triggered something. We forget writers block is often a systematic issue, like we're too tired or burned out or whatever, and it's about reinvigorating your creativity. And understanding and giving yourself the time. And if you're just exhausted by life well, unfortunately, maybe it's about trying to make those bigger changes, or accepting this will be a period where you plant some clover on the field of your creativity and let it lay fallow for a season or two. It will be there when you're ready again.

20. I mean, over the years I've written some wildly different things but yes, hahaha, very much yes. My favorite conflict is duty vs desire, I'm a sucker for loyalty, I'm a sucker for little shits that just don't stop, I'm a fan of knock-down, drag out street fighters, and if you leave me alone long enough, I will manifest a revolution into basically any setting. I like characters who are competent and don't give up, but who are human and make mistakes and fuck things up and keep going anyway, despite the fuck ups and danger and road blocks in front of them. I like when people feel things very deeply, but maybe aren't very good at talking about it or dealing with it, but always know they loved first and foremost, but sometimes it wasn't enough, and sometimes they did terrible things for it. I like imbuing the every day with intense feelings, be that ships or robots or undead horses or flower crowns. And I will probably try and make you cry at some point.

22. Hm. Yes and no? I have written things that I would never have expected, and I have written a LOT of stuff over the years on what are essentially dares. And there's things I wrote before that I'm like, way less inclined to write now? Like looking back my early 20s were way more willing to play around with student/teacher relationships that now I'm like... why was I even touching that with a ten foot pole? I also really really really hate pregnancy and will probably never write that into any story with any degree of detail. I'm not saying people won't have kids, but I'm not gonna be dealing with it.

So I'll write anything, as long as I can make it work for me. But it might not be in a way that like, other people expect or like.

28. On days I write I aim for 4ish pages, single spaced, 11/12 font. On really good days I can do 8 pages. On really good days I can do 20. I do not usually aim for that though. 4 is quite manageable for me on one go. (And as you'll see in the answer below on my editing, that's usually the length my chapters are. I know some people like to complain about my chapters being ~too short~ but honestly I don't want to hear it. On a good weekend you're getting 8 pages of writing if I write both days, and while some would probably prefer me waiting until my chapters are at 8 pages instead of 4, the reality is if I wait for it to be that long I will start spiraling mentally on myself and if it's good enough, so it's actually much faster for me to post the smaller chunks than deal with that. I'm a post or die person, and isn't that better than not getting anything at all?)

29/47. ... Hm.

Yeah I don't really edit. My editing process is usually to do one read through before posting (Unless I'm feeling like a scene is not working at all, in which case I may go back and rework it while halfway through and change things to make it work. But if I have to do that more than 2 or 3 times I will delete the whole thing and start again). I will try and grab typos and make sure things are working, then I will post. Once posted I try to do another read through on a typo hunt, but sometimes I don't get to that for another day or two, depending on when I post it.

40. I mean, there are always so many images while writing that make me go this would be really fun as an art haha.

I would love the scene in chapter 7 of covet not the feel of gold or taste of blood of Kili just sorta losing it. Or Fili, poor lad, covered in gold.

I'd love Dick in his magic shop from trust not in the darkness, trust in my outstretched hand, or the cabin covered in candles and the snow. I tried to work on my settings a bit more in that one.

I love any time someone draws Dick and Jason and the bike from find the sun in the corners of shadows.

I would love to see Mahanon and Sonja in art together. That would probably make me cry.

But honestly I would not really care. Like any fanart is a gift that makes me so emotional any time it happens. I understand why commissions etc exist, but I feel like the idea of sharing gifts in fandom used to be stronger than it is now. And that does make me a little sad. But it still happens and every time is worth treasuring.

53. I'm more of a writer, but lately I've been reading a lot of fics again. (Stranger Things got to me). But I also read a bunch of non fanfiction things, so I go through seasons of reading fic or not. But I almost always am writing, so I'd say majority writer, but when I read I do lose it.

55. I mean, the classics at this point are Fili and Dick and Mahanon probably. I am a sucker for someone who has every reason to hate the world and chooses instead love, belief, compassion, or in Fili's case, simple fucking survival haha. And no, I don't really care about people's reactions to certain characters. If I did I would have less plans for Gaspard in the forest is dark and deep. (Every time he shows people yell at me about how much they hate him and I'm like oh well, you're going to have to keep dealing with him anyway <3)

Honestly I only seem to chose popular characters by chance, and sometimes don't really care about the fandom reading on them (Fanon Dick Grayson my beloathed). I don't mean this in a "I'm not like other girls" way, I just know I'm contrary at best, and don't really care for the whims of popular fandom. I do what I want, and I have gotten yelled at for it by readers, and not in a good squee-yelling sort of way.

Unless you mean, swayed by readers/follower's opinions in a "I will never write this again as long as I live" way in which case yes, I did actually drop a whole ship because the readers were so mean about it and it killed all joy I ever felt in those characters together. And it was Tony Stark/Loki back in the 2012 era. That was the worst experience in fandom I ever had, you will always be legendary to me for all the wrong reasons.

60. Yes! Actually I commented on their work and they went wait, aren't you the one who wrote xxx? And I was like oh, yes, that is me, and we went from there. And then we became fandom friends lol. It is always a very kind, warm feeling to realize people have read your stuff, especially when you know they've got good tastes in their own work lol.

65. Listen, listen, I'm so excited for where ancient sea is going, the fact my brain is refusing to write it is driving me crazy. I want Hawke to meet Bianca! For the temple of Dirth to be a total shit show!!! the Forbidden Oasis being EVEN WORSE! I want my boi Abelas to show, I want things in Orlais to get batshit insane while Mahanon goes "whoops" I am dying for the assassins from Josie's personal mission to show up while Mahanon is on a hair trigger on that issue (especially! Josie! After! Wycome! holy shit). I want Gaspard to show up and be really annoying for like many different things while Mahanon keeps wishing he killed him while he had the chance (real "I should have left you on that streetcorner where I found you" "But you didn't!" vibes). I want for them to try and start breaking Mahanon and his symbols down and for him and his to rebuilt something new from the ashes.

On the other hand I also want to keep trucking in Covet because I'm really excited about some of the stuff there too, and getting to the point where I can start posting some of the side story stuff I've been writing to keep myself sane in the main story lol. (I've got like a whole 13 pages of Nori POV that came out of a fucking joke to someone that I can't post yet and now I'm mad about it lol).

[mostlymaudlin]

Instagram husband? 👀🤭

@thewholelemon asked for this too!

so, some may be familiar with my great british bake off au, Nothing Equals The Splendor. this takes place in the same universe! it's another one where im not sure why i didn't finish it, because it's over halfway done.. but whatever lol. im actually going to put the rest under a read more because there's a HUGE spoiler for the original fic!!

soooo if you remember, simon won the championship. and now he has to be really active on social media to reap the benefits. and baz makes it his mission to ensure that they have good content to post LOL, so he's constantly taking pics of simon (like an instagram husband). the fic is actually told in a collection of outsider POV vignettes -- niall, shep, dev, and penny -- before coming back to simon/baz povs.

now that im looking at this, i think the reason i stopped writing it is that there's Tension that arises between simon and baz bc of all this social media stuff and i kind of didnt want to deal with it once i got into their heads -- bc the outside povs were so fun!! esp bc i loved my versions of niall and dev in this verse.

i'll give you the full dev pov scene, because why not lol:

I didn’t expect Malcolm to take Baz’s whole new thing well. Baz’s dad has always put a lot of pressure on him. I don’t think he expected Natasha Pitch’s son to grow up to be a queer socialist. (Baz’s politics are kind of bullshit since he’s still paying rent and tuition with Daddy’s old family money. But so am I, so I can’t really judge.)

Anyway, I certainly didn’t expect this: Malcolm and Baz’s boyfriend chummin’ it up at my grandmother’s garden party. Simon had expressed mild interest in Malcolm’s newest magickal livestock endeavor (Literal fire-breathing guinea pigs. Inspired.). It devolved from there. 

I’ve always maintained that my uncle Malcolm is a softie underneath it all — mostly because I know that’s how Baz is. The Grimms are sensitive folks. And as soon as you give their weird niche topics a spoonful of attention, they fall apart like putty in your hands. You should hear Baz wax on about baking, it’s insufferable. But also very sweet. 

Or maybe Simon Snow has some kind of secret key to a Grimm’s heart. 

“Wait, my American friend taught me this one,�� Simon says, reaching his hands out for Malcolm’s youngest kid, Swithin. “I've been working on the railroad / All the live-long day. / I've been working on the railroad / Just to pass the time away!”

They’re several drinks deep, passing Swithin back and forth on the steps of the back porch and singing him nursery rhymes. Malcolm just finished a rousing rendition of Ladybird, Ladybird! that made Swithin coo with laughter. 

“Dinah, won't you blow, / Dinah, won't you blow, / Dinah, won't you blow your horn?” Simon’s voice is carrying now, Swithin bouncing joyously on his knee. 

Daphne and I are standing nearby, watching the whole affair with wide eyes. 

“What is happening right now?” Baz hisses. I jump — I hate when he sneaks up on me. Stealthy motherfucker. 

“Shhhh,” I say, putting a hand on his shoulder. “They’re bonding. Nature is healing.”

Daphne laughs at that, loud enough that both Malcolm and Simon look over at us, cheeks equally pink as they realize they’re putting on a show. Daphne takes out her phone and takes a photo of them. She’s lucky the porch lights are on — the sky is a dusky purple at this stage in the evening.  

“Could you please send that to me, Mum?” Baz asks, his voice small. I’m worried he genuinely might cry. 

“It can go on my Instagram!” Simon calls over. Baz grins, walking over to sit next to him on the steps. Swithin reaches for Baz, and he swoops him up, kissing his forehead. Then he leans over and kisses Simon’s forehead as well. 

Malcolm doesn’t even flinch.

[yume-x-hanabi]

5 for Gaius and 6 for Wingul and 15 for Xillia and 50 and 62 just because!

5. How many wips do you have? What fandoms/pairings are they for?

(I'm taking this as in how many wips do I have that are Gaius-centric; pls correct me if I'm wrong 😅)

Posted: Concubinage and Fractured Lives (though that one is alternating PoV)

WIPs in my documents:

some pre-game conquest of Auj Oule one-shot that I might have to revamp anyway (I had a whooooole thing planned out, with details about all the clans and stuff, but idk anymore)

another Concubinage-verse smutty one-shot (AU-ish). not sure I'll finish this one either XD

a previous Spicy Cocktail prompt fill I haven't finished but want to. Mostly Wingul pov but it's gonna alternate with Gaius a bit. Kinda darker/more fucked-up than my usual stuff honestly, but I like what I'd written so far

another Spicy Cocktail prompt fill I will probably give up on bc I'm not sure about the set-up anymore 😅

...and that's it actually. Turns out most of my fics are written from Wingul's pov 😂

6. What’s the last line you wrote?

(again, taking this as "Wingul-centric line")

I'm actually not sure, because I'm pretty sure the last Wingul-related wip I made progress in was Moonlight Tempest (my WinDist collab fic with @bibliophileemily), and since it's a collab fic I don't remember who wrote what line lol

I don't know which other Wingul-centric wip was the latest before that (it's been a while), but I found another incomplete sentence in my drafts so let's go with that 😂

Wingul was not one to give up easily. His own stubborn pride prevented him from

From chapter two of the reincarnation AU. I have... no idea where this was supposed to go orz

15. What’s your favorite time to write?

Evening is when I'm the most productive writing-wise, even though I wish I could apply that to more convenient parts of the day.

50. How would you describe your writing style?

🤷‍♀️

(English is hard XD)

62. In [insert fic], is there a deleted scene/idea you wish you could have included?  Why did it get cut?

Gonna answer for Concubinage.

I had a scene in the original version of chapter 26's smut scene (rewrote that one entirely from my original draft) where Lin called Arst "(my) dear" in Long Dau. Arst asked what he said and Lin got embarrassed and tried to deflect, while Arst tried to pester an answer out of him (without success). It was a cute scene, but it sadly didn't go with the flow of the revised version. Maybe I can try to repurpose it in another scene one day...

[scary-senpai]

🌝 + 🧠 (Doesn't have to be exclusively for OPM necessarily, although I prob won't know what you're talking about for other fandoms, lol)

Gahh! Thank you so much for asking <3 you are the best.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

this was difficult to answer because for better or worse, a lot of my writing ideas appear as intrusive thoughts when I should be doing other things. there really isn’t a character that interests me that I haven’t written for in some way/shape/form, even if I haven’t published it yet, especially within the OPM-verse.

I think I'd like to do a bit more with Mumen Rider. I think Mumen tends to appear in fic as an Author’s Darling, almost—and for the record, I do this also--if I need a sweet, upstanding cinnamon role to always say the right thing at exactly the right time, I'll use Mumen Rider (like when he's giving Garou parenting advice in Holiday Hijinks).

Anyway, I imagine him like this although in canon, his decisions are ostensibly selfless but still somewhat questionable (and I joke a little bit about this in The Hero Association's First and Final Festivus, when Mumen attempts to do a self-deprecating standup routine in front of his colleagues.) The first rule of emergency response, for example, is "stay in your lane, and don't create more work for the rescue team." Also, he attacked Garou first, from behind. (oh man, when I went back and read the manga after watching the anime, I wrote 'Mumen rider struck first????' on a big ole post-it note because I thought I was reading it wrong).

I think a lot of the sweetest, kindest people have spent a lot of time fighting their inner shadows, because (like we see in Mob Psycho), kindness is a muscle that has to be actively exercised and mindfully developed, and it’s also a muscle that fatigues. So I'd like to see Mumen Rider grappling with how to be a good person. I've thought about this, but I haven't figured out a way to execute it quite yet—whenever I try, he just comes out too similar to the way I write Garou. Probably I will figure it out after spending a bit more time in Mumen's head.

Anyway, if I were ever to write a Mumarou fic, it would be either the sweetest thing ever or the absolute darkest thing ever. I would also like to write a crossover where Mumen is actually Gojo Satoru, this massively over-powered and insufferable character widely considered by his community to a kind of "Chosen One," who, having spent an entire lifetime living under intense and overwhelming pressure, just wants to bike around and touch grass and rescue cats from trees and maybe lose a fight once in awhile, knowing that Saitama's got his back. Gojo's Cursed Technique (magical power) requires him to cover his eyes most of the time, and he has very distinctive features so this could easily work in an AU where we never see Mumen Rider without his biker gear.

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

Okay, funny you should ask that question, Bestie, because I might ask for your help with this one day. It's an OPM / welcome-to-nightvale crossover:

I use Discord to keep tabs on my WIP notes, and these are literally the only notes I have. Here's a transcription/translation because these notes are somewhat incomplete

Garou taking Tareo to the library for books. Garou saying it will be fun, libraries (“you mean books?” “Books too but mostly libraries”) are fun but also incredibly [[Note: apparently I did not finish this sentence, which is a problem I have often]]

Opening is sweet but then maybe vague mention of “librarian repellent” (Tareo wonders why Garou doesn’t bring any). Garou says “like a librarian would get me down” [[Note: basically, the first scene would be a bait-and-switch, playing around with irony and what most people would picture when tasked with imagining two kids visiting the library]]

When Garou and Tareo arrive, Genos is just very calmly in the library fighting off librarians. Saitama came because he’s bored. or he’s on a quest to not come home with his memory wiped, holding 33 copies of Helen Hunt’s biography. “You too, huh?” Garou says [[Note: this is a frequent occurrence in Nightvale]]

Anyway, for those of you unfamiliar with Welcome to Nightvale, here's what the Nightvale Library is all about:

The Night Vale Public Library is a notable landmark in Night Vale, although there is widespread dissatisfaction with the library among the town's citizens. Its available public computers are outdated and slow, they provide a lending period of only fourteen days, and the Biography section contains nothing but 33 copies of the official biography of Helen Hunt. There have been reports of a faceless spectre who roams through the Biography section, bringing visitors to an untimely end. Cecil expresses his desire for the City Council to make some serious changes to the library, "or I may find myself hoping that the faceless spectre puts the library to the same mysterious, violent end as its many victims."

Unidentifiable black metallic trees suddenly appeared by the library back in June, causing all airborne objects above 30 feet to catch fire. They were cleared away to make room for a new strip mall and parking lot.

It's creepy. It's weird. It's got books—Garou would love this, and he would have certainly survived the summer reading program.

The Summer Reading Program was is was an annual event held at the Night Vale Public Library in a group of kids and teenagers are trapped in the library and possibly forced to learn.

It was abolished around 1983 following an incident known only as "The Time of Knives." During the 2013 program, fourteen students between the ages of 5 and 17 were kidnapped by librarians and trapped in the library. The number later grew to nearly 100 children and teens before the program officially began that day. It was during this event that Tamika Flynn, 12-years-old at the time, battled librarians for the first time. Her triumph established her combat and leadership skills, and the severed head of the librarian served as a reminder of her battle in the summer reading program of 2013.

To promote the 2013 event, posters were placed around town, unbeknownst to the stores they were put on. Some of them read:

- Get into a good book this summer We are going to force you into a good book this summer - You are going to get inside this book, and we are going to close it on you and there is nothing you can do about it

All with the tagline "Catch the flesh-eating reading bacterium!"

Truly, the Summer Reading Program Garou needs and deserves. I've got a decent amount of headcanon but no real plot.

Thank you so much for asking! these are always fun to do.

(original post is here--the ask is still open, I always love talking about my fics, haha)

[dangerously-human]

Welp, definitely should have been sleeping hours ago, but it ended up being a surprise writing night. Made some really good progress on the next chapter of A Shifting Cadence, more in terms of structure and setting the scene than actual content, but that really helped me figure out what I'm trying to write. It's interesting how different this chapter is turning out from what I expected it to be the last time I was actively working on this fic (a year ago, oof). I had all these smaller scenes I was planning to combine in one chapter, things I had written before I even really started this fic, but I seem to have lost all my notes on them, and ordering them together was going to be complicated anyway. Instead, I had a little throwaway "wouldn't it be nice if I could figure out how to incorporate this" idea a while back, something that lets me bring in a whole bunch of character cameos, and I decided oh heck, might as well go ahead and make that the entire chapter. It feels rather ambitious for me to juggle, and since I have a particular deadline I want to post by, I've been trying to see how much I can trim it and still tell a satisfying story, but I am having a lot of fun with all these characters, and I think it would be good for me to practice interactions with more than 2-3 speakers at once.

The other is a Fringe fic based on the last episode I watched, something I think will turn into a small 5 things fic, red!verse Lincoln/Olivia (unresolved pining, really). I really am surprised how much these characters (versions) I expected to hate have captured my heart, and apparently imagination. I haven't written for Fringe since my bitty baby beginner fanfiction days, and from what I remember of my first Fringe fic, it was fairly... juvenile, so I haven't been able to bring myself to reread it in a while. This one is very tonally different - but maybe I should reread the old one, and give younger me some grace, let myself be proud that I wrote things! I was really hoping to post my 60th work before 2022 is out, and it looks like I'll be able to sneak this in there, so that's nice.

[seethesunny]

Tell me the unraveled/undone lore! What got you writing it? How did the idea come up? That shit still haunts me and is why I adore you as a writer.

I always looooove when people bring up the fic™️ (listen, Koku never stops bonking me in the head for it bc I broke her heart, and I still haven't put all the pieces back together) because it was a two month spiral until I anxiously posted it one day lol

I'm gonna rant a bit so fairly warning beforehand haha

I'm gonna be really honest and as transparent as I can be:

I knew that absolutely no soul (except Koku) cares about pregnancy denial as a fic concept, which I understand why that happens for several reasons that are all true and valid and the fic landscape wouldn’t be as varied without it, right.

But this was a personal plot bunny that had been roaming around in my head for some time, and writing it for Tess and Joel felt right.

If you have read it, you know that it's inspired by flutterings written by Raff and AMB. Back when 5 people enjoyed this pairing I got really into their stuff, but flutterings was the one au that really stuck with me and haunted me for years and that's something that they've done magnificently in all their fics I'm 100% giving a fic rec here they’re the reason why I started writing J/T myself. I'm getting off track, so this fic was hitting all the right spots because this is a very specific type of unresolved angst to explore between them, and that's what got me to write it.

It was a very "No one will write this so I guess I'll have to do it myself FINE" moment lmaooo I posted some snippets on my twt account and got a positive response, it won the poll for it to be the next fic I focused on during April (we're not gonna talk about the other 2 that haven't been posted yet) and that's how I ended up actually posting it after years of it floating around my brain.

As for the idea, like I said, it was inspired by the concept of flutterings and how, instead of dealing with their fragile situation, both Joel and Tess walk on eggshells and simply do not bring up ever which puts them at odds.

The first ever scene I had for it was the one when Joel caught Tess, and then everything else molded around the dynamic of that specific moment (Joel being so spiteful while Tess retreats to herself to escape her body, then being flipped by the end), and it wasn't always easy to maintain that tone so I would get frustrated then come back.

I divided it into acts so I wouldn't lose the plot, and the first one is the calm before the storm (the denial), the ice breaking (the reveal), the aftermath (the resolve), the lovers quarrel (the climax of the story, and then closure (the anticlimactic ending/bittersweet aftertaste).

There were some scenes that didn’t make the cut (see: the alternate extended ending) like Joel hunting that's only mentioned in passing, Tess’s nightmares getting darker and worse the more time passed, Joel getting arrested by FEDRA while a very pregnant Tess pulls some favors to get him out, Joel coping with Tess’s absence aka abusing substances, Tess’s giving birth + what she did in the time spent after that, the actual scene when Joel previously told Tess to get rid of it, also another what-if dream sequence that's not the one with Sarah!! I almost scraped that one, but I managed to make it work.

That one was nonsensical, and it would've thrown the Canon compliant out of the window, BUT it was sort of an alternate universe where you can understand that they got together and had Sarah AND Ellie, that was a thing that was really going to happen bc I only ever told this to Koku but a hidden Easter bunny was gonna be Ellie being the baby lol if you ignore the dates it could've been a thing, yet now I don't think it makes any sense.

Maybe one day I'll explore those as oneshots, but my idea only extended to what was posted as in their conflict and "closure." I'll revisit this verse when the right time comes, aka when y'all least expect it 🤝

If you do reach the end, I'm sorry and thanks for letting me know my writing is haunting that's 100% my #1 priority when writing. Seriously thanks for all the love <3

[longlivejasongrace]

the luck i've had can make a good man turn bad

i meant to make a more fleshed out companion piece to my erasermight fic halley’s comet with alternative universe scenes or more reunions but i never came around to finish it so i’m just gonna post what i had here because i want it to see the light of day, i actually quite liked what i had so far.

if you dont feel like reading the original story, it’s an au where yagi and aizawa met in the first workplace experience aizawa had while they both were in high school.

before.

“Ah, Aizawa!”

Shōta flinched and turned around. The 1-B class had moved to the training grounds to hold a practical exercise with the two top students of Yūei and now one of them was jogging towards him. Shōta looked at him, his eyes inevitably following the movement of blond bangs swinging from side to side.

“Yagi.”

It was…. cute.

“I didn’t know you were in this class!” The way his smile broadened when he caught up to him felt like a bludgeon to the face. “How’ve you been? I didn’t hear from you since---”

“Oooh, does Aizawa have a private tutor for today’s assignment?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yamada---”

“Oh, hi Yamada!” Yagi slightly bowed his head at the loud underclassman. “Thank you again for inviting me to your radio show!”

Any trace of sarcasm in Yamada Hizashi’s face was wiped away by the honest enthusiasm in that voice. Shōta saw how his best friend started to stand on his tiptoes, his center of gravity shifting towards Yagi.

“Ah! I’m so thankful you can appear on my humble attempt at journalism!”

Shōta  frowned. “You call hero gossip ‘journalism’?”

“Aizawa! So mean! It’s not gossip!”

“You always talk about your so called ‘sources’ but I have yet to--”

A soft chuckle made them both look at Yagi. His blue eyes crinckled at the edges and Shōta could see for the very first time how his eyelashes were the same color of his hair. Shōta closed his mouth so fast it made him wince.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to laugh at you! It’s just that--," he tilted his head. “You really make a great pair.”

They blinked almost in synch but while Yamada laughed in his outdoors level yet again, Shōta lowered his head, trying to hide his flaming cheeks behind his hair.

“Oh, right! You met at field training, right? Did Aizawa behave?”

He frowned. “You are the problem child out of the two of us, Yamada.”

“Aizawa, buddy, you flatter me but you do have a nasty mouth of your own.”

“It’s not nasty if I just state the truth.”

Yagi’s head jumped from one face to the other, like he was following a very close tennis match.

“I’m sorry to say no one wants your truth, dude.”

“Aizawa was a great help, really!” Yagi moved his hands in front of him, like he was trying to physically disperse their worries. “Even if his wording was a bit… eh.”

Shōta glared at him on instinct and Yagi scratched his cheek.

“Even Yagi noticed! Were you mean to him, Aizawa? That’s so not cool.”

“I wasn’t,”  Shōta crossed his arms and tried very hard not to look like a sulking child. “Plus, I learned a lot from my guide," Yagi perked up, his eyebrows lifting in anticipation. Shōta felt his face heating up again.

He knew that--- Yamada knew. His annoying best friend had gotten better at reading him and he was sure he was pale enough for him to notice his blush. If Shōta didn’t say what he knew they were expecting, they would just tease him until he gave in. He would probably feel even more embarrassed and end up in an awkward position. It would be better if he made it quick, painless.

Like ripping off a band-aid.

Shōta blinked. “And Yagi, too.”

That earned him a pleased smile and a soft flush colouring still-round cheeks. In the heartbeat before Yamada started cooing at him, Shōta thought it was worth it.

“Does Aizawa have---”

“Hey, Yagi!” They turned their heads towards the voice and were met by a menacing scowl. “Get your ass over here, we have to start the demonstration.”

“Ah, sorry, Todoroki!" He turned back, a slight frown creasing his forehead. “Aizawa, could you stay after class? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Uh--”

“Hurry the fuck up!”

“Coming!”

They saw him jog to the front of the training field where Todoroki waited for him with his hands on his pockets. Shōta blinked. Did he---?

“Did you just get asked out?”

He inhaled. “If you say anything more I swear to god, Yamada, I’ll fill your locker to the brim with cockroaches.”

“Ew! Aizawa, you’re awful!”

The sun was high on the sky, and the nearby trees in the courtyard casted leaves-shaped shadows on Yagi’s face. The bell for lunch break had already rang and the soft buzz of chatter seemed to blanket them in an almost ridiculous amount of normalcy. Here, in his gray school jacket and not in those ridiculous primary colors of his hero outfit, Yagi Toshinori looked exactly 18 years old. A semester away from graduating, but very much a high school boy.

It made Shōta’s pulse quicken.

“So, what did you want to talk about that required this amount of dramatics?”

Yagi’s shoulders fell. “Dramatics?”

“You know, asking me to stay after class, meeting up by the side of the school building,” Shōta shrugged, willing his voice to stay in its usual monotone. “It’s kinda-- too much.”

A pretty red dyed Yagi’s cheeks. “That wasn’t my intention! I just didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, I know how you hate attention.”

“Unnecessary attention,” he corrected. Shōta huffed, moving a few strands of hair from his eyes. “And, Yagi, this probably had the opposite effect.”

He blinked.

“It did?”

“I’m positive, yeah.”

Yagi put a hand -big, with long fingers and thin white scars along the side of it- over his forehead and eyes and groaned.

“I just-- I wanted to ask you about your internship and if you were going to apply to the same place as in the workplace experience.”

Shōta lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know?”

“I really liked pairing up in patrol with you,” Yagi let his hand fall until it was resting against the back of his neck. “I think we make a good team, and I like your perspective on battles.”

Shōta felt something warm expand from the center of his chest. His bones felt light, like they were made out of cotton candy.

“Oh.”

“Ah, but that doesn’t mean I want to force you to apply wherever I’m working! You can make any decision you want, of course!”

Shōta looked at him, at his rosy cheeks and sky blue eyes. At the way a few rays of sunlight had managed to reach his hair between the thick leaves, making a golden halo for the rising star.

He swallowed.

“I won’t be applying to the same hero office.” His voice was a whisper and he gritted his teeth at the way Yagi’s expression fell, how he seemed to wilt under his rejection. “Like I said, I learnt a lot from my guide and--,” he cleared his throat. “From you, Yagi. But that agency was too high profile for me, and I want to be able to work in more--- underground environments.”

He lowered his gaze.

“Ah, I see.”

There was something off about his tone. It was too subdued. It didn’t go with the boldness of his smile or the determination of his eyes. Shōta resisted the urge to look up.

It felt like something bigger had happened, bigger than just talking about a course. A divergence in the road, a clean cut. A crash of principles.

Shōta bit his lip until it became numb, shielded by his hair.

“Well, sorry about taking up your time, Aizawa.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’ll see you around, okay?”

But before he could respond, Yagi had left.

after.

Toshinori had been looking. Not as closely as he would have liked, not as openly either, but he had. That was how he could recognize him so quickly, even though his hair was longer and his scarf obscured most of his face. He grinded his teeth together to stop himself from saying his name out loud.

Aizawa Shōta restrained the unconscious villain with his capture weapon, tying him up to a lighting post.

Toshinori spared a heartbeat to look at his back, his figure framed by the soft glow of the street lamp. Then he wrestled the mutant user who had a shock absorption quirk to the ground, effectively burying him in the concrete so only his legs stuck out, flailing.

“Thank you, fellow hero!”

Eraserhead turned around and Toshinori had to restrain the shiver that wanted to follow the line of his spine. His eyes weren’t red but they bored into him like he was trying to dissect him by gaze alone.

Oh.

“If I knew you were at the scene I wouldn’t have come.”

Oh.

“Well, I am very glad you came to help! That villain’s quirk was proving to be quite annoying!”

Aizawa looked at the rest of the villain gang who were passed out in different parts of the street, some hanging from street lamps and others doubled over garbage cans.

“You say that but at most it probably delayed you by just a few seconds,” he hid his hands in his pockets. “Didn’t it, Mister Number 1 Hero?”

Toshinori wanted to pull at his bangs in frustration. He laughed instead.

“But my friend! A second can be vital in a fight where you are outnumbered!” He stretched his smile and saw him narrow his eyes. “Particularly something as dangerous as heat vision, if you hadn’t intervened the damages to the nearby buildings would have been greater.”

He didn’t reply to that, but knowing his underclassman that was probably the best response he could get. Toshinori started looking for something he could use as a rope to hold the members of the gang together while they waited for the police force to come get them.

But a faint rustling made him look up. Eraserhead was already on top of a lighting post, making his exit.

“You’re leaving?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Do you need me to hold your hand until the cops arrive?”

“Shouldn’t you stay to give your account of the attack so they can make their report?”

“I don’t need that, I’m not big on getting my name on police files.”

“But I didn’t subdue them alone.”

Eraserhead shrugged. “You can take the credit for all I care.”

“I don’t take credit for other people’s work.”

They both blinked. Toshinori unclenched his fists, wondering with a pang of apprehension if he had let his uneasiness leak into his posture. Aizawa’s eyes surveyed every line in his expression, but they weren’t glowing red.

They never were, when he was looking at him.

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to imply you did,” he licked his lips and he lifted his chin, like he was trying to get a better look at Toshinori. “It’s just that I don’t mind since I literally just spent two seconds actually doing something here.”

He felt his face getting warm and thanked the protection of the shadows of the night. He hadn’t let his temper get the best of him since his debut.

“I’m very sorry, I was rude.”

“You really weren’t.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that you were implying--”

Eraserhead snorted. “It really doesn't need to be as complicated as you are making it.”

“Oh, okay.”

They regarded each other for a few seconds. Toshinori searched for the last remains of that short lived laugh on his face but Aizawa’s capture weapon didn’t let him. He bit his lip, the distance between them weighing him down like lead. He searched for things to say, to break the silence, to reach him like when they patrolled downtown Tokyo during their high school years.

He found nothing.

“Thank you for everything again.”

Eraserhead made a noncommittal noise.

“I hope I see you again, hero...?”

“Eraserhead. And I’m sure you won’t need to.”

And with that, Aizawa  Shōta left. Toshinori kept his gaze on the lighting post, watching him leave him. Again.  

[jesslockwood]

Photo Opportunities

Word Count: 2.7k

Pairing(s): Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Warnings: FLUFF with a slightly (barely) suggestive sentence towards the end 

A/n: damn I can't write anything except actress reader? smh but this is for @londonspidey ‘s sit-com Writing challenge (ik I'm early lol) but I was so excited I wrote the whole thing in one go lmao the prompt is bolded!

Calling yourself a fan was an understatement. You were obsessed with anything and everything marvel. And oddly enough, you could after today say you were in the club. It wasn’t a public fact yet, until later that day actually, at the Marvel panel at comic con that you were being announced as the actress for the character, Felica Hardy and no one else knew except for the people who cast you and your best friend who signed an NDA. You were technically still a known actress for your roles on television mainly as Thalia on the PJO Disney + series and a couple of still decently sized films. 

You were currently wrapping up signing autographs for fans of yours for today. Your team had planned it out so it wasn’t suspicious that you were at the con with a few of your castmates scattered doing other junkets and press so people wouldn’t guess who they were acting as the cast for new marvel projects. 

You had been planning to go meet your best friend, who wasn’t in the industry before getting a text that she bought you both a photo-op with someone and she wouldn’t tell you who. You couldn’t only assume it was a marvel actor that you would indeed, freak out. 

Y/b/n: btw I brought you a mask. I get the wig lol.

You: please tell me it doesn’t cover my full face. Also, how are we posing?

Y/b/n: I bought as many photo ops as I could so a lot of different ones, And if I tell you the poses it’ll spoil it.

You: is this with the money I pay you to be my assistant with? Lol fine I’m omw with security

Y/b/n: maybe… 

Y/b/n: and they’ll need more backup security for who we’re getting a photo op with than you do for your hellfire.

You roll your eyes before taking your stuff and exiting the booth, before heading out the backways with staff security and your detailed security for the day. You only had security because you wanted to explore the con when you weren’t needed.

Your best friend had also been your assistant for the con weekend, but you didn’t want her to be confined to you the whole three days so when she could, you would let her explore it, at least she could experience it as a fan, right?

When you made it to that part of the building, you wanted to wait in line with her, which your security didn’t agree to so she texted you when there were about five people ahead of her. She was one of the last in line, with you asking her to be kind, so others would get their chance to be first with whomever it was. 

When she texted you and your detailed exit, getting a few stares and others taking their phones out to either take photos or tweet, you wave at them before joining your best friend in line.

“Here,” she says before handing you none other than a black cat mask before she puts on a red wig. 

You glare at her slightly trying to not make a scene, before putting it on. 

“I’m assuming you're Mary Jane?” you laugh figuring out that it had to be someone from Spider-Man.

“How’d you- never mind.” She laughs with you.

She then explains how she’s going to pose for your five photo ops, joking in between how she should “get a raise for this”.

You catch sight of him before sucking in your breath. This was either going to go down amazingly or terribly, there was no in-between with you. 

“Excuse Me, are you Y/n Y/l/n?”

You turn around and are met by some fans who were standing in line behind you.

“I am! How’s your con going?” you ask politely to the two of them.

“It's going amazing! We love you as Thalia! Could we maybe get a picture? Only if it’s okay?”

“Of course! Thank you for supporting me!” your best friend grabs their phone to take the photo, before you take off the mask, and stand between the two fans, and your best friend snaps a few photos. 

“Thank you so much! And Are you fans of Tom?”

You start slowly walking back to catch up to the line. 

“Yeah, I love him as Spiderman, but I also enjoy his other roles. He's very talented, I'd love to work with him one day!” 

“Have you seen him in Uncharted?  We love Him as Nathan drake!”

“I have, he was amazing per usual! How are you two posing with him?”

They show you their innovative pose. You laugh and tell them it's great before you have to wish them goodbye before heading up for your turn for the photo op. 

“How do we want to pose- hang on, I recognize you!”

You freeze slightly before your friend mouths for you to flirt. You look down at the mask in your hand before getting into character and saying “Of course you do Spidey, I'm always causing you trouble.” you put on the mask and wink. 

He seems slightly stunned, laughing, feeling like he’s seen you somewhere, not only because he found you extremely gorgeous, while in his peripheral vision he sees his brother/ assistant, Harry waving like a madman on the side. 

Your friend directs you both through the poses, first, one both him putting “webs” onto you as she looks over his shoulder, the second one, both of you kissing his cheeks, the third, all jumping in the air in your best superhero poses, the fourth one she gets a photo op alone and the last one she gives to you,

“Seriously, who are you?”

“Your Wildest dreams, baby,” you say, taking off the mask. 

Your best friend yells “freestyle” from the sidelines before Tom dips you, gently, with you shocked, holding the mask out with your free arm and the photo captures that moment. 

 He gently helps you stand back up fully, not before you drop the mask.

“Nice moves Spider-Man.”

“Not so bad yourself, Black Cat.”

You laugh before, taking off with your best friend, well more her dragging you to the printing station leaving the mask behind. Tom picks it up before shoving it in his back pocket to hopefully give back if he could find you. 

-

`You were sitting in the green room, trending on Twitter before you were actually supposed to be trending on Twitter, and god knows where else.  

Someone had snuck a video of you and Tom, up till him dipping you, and a video of you interacting with the fans in the line.

Your Y/b/n was currently reading off some tweets out loud

“‘A kind queen we stan.’  I agree, I also agree with ‘Date her if you can't date me tom!!!’.

‘THALIA AND PETER PARKER??? My two fandoms have collided.’ same, same. Oo this one says, ‘if she ain’t playing black cat I will sue marvel.’ I'm dying at the reply ‘She needs to post the photos or I'll sue her!’. This one’s funny, ‘she could squash him like a bug in heels but he liked his queen like that.’.”

She pauses watching you texting.

“Y/n? Y/n?”

“What? Sorry I was only half listening. I was texting my publicist. She said to stay on the DL until tonight. 

“Well we should get food, you haven't eaten since this morning.”

“By the way, your show has shot to number one on Disney +. Also, you have like three times the followers you had before, probably cause you're trending on every platform, even Tumblr!”

“Wow you should just become my social media manager now.” you joke trying to ease the joy yet weirded out feeling in your stomach.

“Does that come with a raise? Because after today I've spent way too much of what I'm paid.” she jokes back.

-

After finishing his photo ops Tom asked Harry who she was and to find out. By the time he finished autographs for the day, Tom and Harry walked to the panel room in the back for announcements, one that included him for the new Avengers movie, while Harry gave him the rundown.

“So she’s an actress, she plays Thalia on Disney plus’ Percy Jackson series, and that's her most known project. The other girl with her is her assistant best friend, and now she's trending everywhere. People dug up some old photos of her being a marvel/Spider-Man fan, so there's that. And she's here at the con for the rest of the weekend. She's doing photo ops tomorrow at one, and yes she's single from what I gather since you were looking at her like this.” he makes a weird face before tom smacks him.

“And plus you have time in your schedule to get a photo op with her, that is if you eat lunch quickly.”

That gave Tom an idea. 

“Harry I’m going to need you to book me one, oh and help me find a Spider-Man costume!” He says, before leaving harry to do ‘assistant’ work. entering the green room for the announcements, watching them announce a new movie.

“We are so excited to announce to the Marvel Universe, and spider-verse-” that perked tom’s ears, “-directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and today we are announcing our amazing Miss Felicia Hardy, please give a warm welcome to the stage, Your Black Cat!”

You suddenly emerged in an aisle way, dressed in all black with a leather jacket, black ankle boots, and of course black sunglasses indoors.

The music is marvel music until it suddenly changes after a recorded laugh from you into “I can’t be tamed by Miley Cyrus”.

You start owning the music while saying hi and touching fans’ hands. You decide to take off your sunglasses and throwing them to a fan, for them to keep, before getting on stage.

“What a Performance from the one the only Y/n Y/l/n!”

You laugh, being met with the loudest applause you had heard all con before being handed a Mic. 

“Thank you but I'm a terrible dancer.” You Joke.

Tom was staring at the screen stunned. You had been the black cat all along. You were in the marvel universe and spidey one,  so he'd definitely be seeing more of you. The hard part is that you seemed so genuine when you talked, interacted with fans and was no doubt, stunning. 

“Better close your mouth or the flies will get in.” Tom turns around to find the voice of none other than his friend slash bully, Sebastian Stan, along with Anthony Mackie.

“Looks like the kid has a crush!” Anthony laughs, pointing to the screen you were on.

“I-I don’t! I don’t even know her!” Tom tries to come to his own defense, hopelessly.

“She’s got you whipped already don’t even deny it.” Harry comes in, joining the teasing of one, Tom Holland.

“Maybe we can invite her out for drinks tonight, then fanboy over here can meet her, and then probably scare her off!” Anthony mentions.

“You haven’t looked on the internet? They’ve already met.” Seb says, before showing Anthony twitter. 

Anthony stands there slightly shocked before bursting into laughter.

“Well, she’s damn well a keeper for Tom since she obviously likes him.”

A staff member peaks their head in the green room to tell Tom he’s up next.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave you two!”

On the other hand, you were on an adrenaline high from being on stage, and seeing all the fans. You knew tomorrow was going to be crazy, as you expected people to book your photo op left and right since the announcement. 

You had decided to decline an offer from your fellow marvel universe castmates, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, which they so graciously told you that whenever you’re free, the offer still stood. 

You had gotten to your hotel room seeing your phone blowing up on the social media apps for the second time that day. 

You responded to the important stuff, before heading to bed, knowing it was going to be hectic.

-

You had been right, it was absolutely insane, the number of people who showed up. You had fully booked all your time slots for photo ops. You had seen so many people dressed up in marvel cosplay, ranging from Loki to Ironman, even some people dressed up as your character, which was wildly insane to see.

You had been nearing the end of the line and had enjoyed every moment with the fans, and you couldn’t wait for your autographing session later that day, to truly get a chance to talk to the fans and connect with them and how they felt about you being their beloved Black Cat. 

After a few more photos, posing how they wanted, you see a fully dressed, head to toe, mask and all, Spider-Man. You had seen some spider-mans but most took off their masks to snap a picture. The person was the last in line. 

“Hey Black Cat.” The southern American accented voice tells you, seeming very familiar. 

“Hey, Spider, what poses do you have up your sleeve?” you ask kindly.

“I bought a few, Cat.” they laugh.

“Okay, You can do whatever a spider can right?” you pull out a line out of the comics jokingly.

“I can do flips if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Is that some kind of nerd pick-up line? Because it’s only kind of working.” you laugh. 

“I really can, but this is one.”

He gets down on one knee, holding a black cat mask instead of a ring. The photographer captures the shocked expression on your face.

“I- Don’t- What- Spider I-” 

“Ow My feelings…” Suddenly their voice changes into a British accent before they pull off the mask to reveal-

“Tom?”

“I guess you don’t have a spidey sense darling?” The photographer captures the moment without warning eating the moment up. 

You laugh at that. 

“I guess you found out my true identity Spider. And it’s nice to officially meet you, Tom.”

He laughs, just as nervous as you, he notices he has gotten closer to you and a strand of hair loosely is blowing in your face, so naturally, he pushes it behind your ear. Another snap of the camera can be heard. 

“NOW KISS!” a voice belonging to your best friend yells from the side, mid-eating a churro.

You both laugh really hard at that.

The both of you calm down, slowly leaning lost in the moment. The camera snaps again. You both look at the photographer weirded out, and they just shrug.

“Wait can you actually do a flip?” you ask, pulling away, not wanting prying eyes aka the photographer, to pry in your business. 

“I can, though I’d show you later, maybe in the greenroom?”

“That sounds naughty, but, sure.” you joke around. 

He laughs before, you both take off from the area going to grab the photos.

-

After spending most of the day together when you could, you get Tom’s number, before heading back to your hotel room. He texts you as soon as you get back. 

Spider: I had fun today, minus finding our assistants making out.

You: we should ‘snog’ too, it’ll gross them out ;)

You: I had fun too btw. Are you leaving tomorrow?

Spider: lol we should. And yeah an early flight, 6 am to be exact. Hbu?

You: Yeah me too... another day another dollar lol

Spider: ill miss you, Cat.

You: stop talking like we’ll never see each other again lol. As a matter of fact, come to my room, we’re watching a movie!

Spider: alright, I’ll order snacks. 

  You sigh smiling at your phone. You haven’t felt this giddy in a long time.

Your phone pings with a few Instagram notifications.

Tomholland2013 has started following you.

Tomholland2013 has tagged you in a photo.

You open Instagram to find the photo of him “proposing” to you posted.

“Ow, my leg, my- feelings...Welcome to the Universe, Cat.” the photo is captioned. You decide to post, the photo of him dipping you.

“So what do you say, Spider? Wanna help me pull off the Heist of the Heist of the Century?” you caption it, Before getting comfortable to watch a movie. 

What an opportunity ;)

Tags:

@lolooo22 @webmeupspiderdaddy @harryhollandsgirlfriend @spideyspeaches @greenorangevioletgrass @queenofthepouges @sheranatic111 @keithseabrook27

[ashilrak]

hello, you've given advice about writing but was wondering if you have any specifically towards writing multi-chapter/long fics? I find them infinitely more hard to write than just oneshots, partially because of endurance/motivation but also of pacing and what's relevant to include, plot structure, how to not ramble, etc! thank you in advance if you can answer!!

Hello!

So with longer fics, endurance and motivation are going to be a HUGE part of it. But like you said, that's not all of it.

Honestly, the planning isn't that much different for a one-shot and a longer fic, it's a matter of scale. I don't know if I can consider myself the best resource for some of this, but I'll try my best and hopefully give a good starting point!

To start off, I'm someone who outlines, so I'm going to be coming from that perspective. My outlines aren't super detailed, and a scene can be a single bullet point of "Percy and Annabeth talk", but they're there and I rely on them a lot. This is my process for approaching longer fics and what works for me. If it's just me, I do it with outlines and by talking out loud, if I have friends who are willing to lend an ear, I'm going to them.

The first thing you want to do is think of the story you want to tell. Is it plot or character focused? Is it about the relationship? Is it about a character's sense of identity? Is it a what-if? You don't need genre definitions or to be able to sum it up perfectly in a single sentence, but you have to know what you want to achieve.

And then, you're going to be to outline. Get your thoughts on the page, it can be a single scene for now, but let that grow. Have the ending clear in your mind, have the beginning, and then connect them. The middle can be this great, amorphous thing, but I will always advise having a beginning and an end point.

So now, you have a general idea of what you want this story to be and you know what you're working toward plot-wise. You have a goal now. You've figured out what you want you do, much as you would for a one-shot, but now you have a lot more to fill in.

Now, take a break. A couple days to let it settle.

This next bit isn't always possible, but it's something I see in advice a lot and something I find extremely helpful for figuring out pacing, plot structure, and what's relevant: talk your story through with someone. After you figure out what you want to achieve, summarize it to a friend, talk out loud, or write a few paragraph summary on a blank doc with our outline out of reach. The bits and pieces that come to mind as you talk through your story are the important ones, that's what's crucial.

Do you find yourself having to backtrack to tie something in that's relevant later on? Congrats, you have a side-plot. What character elements are you focusing on? That's the main character line. What other characters keep coming up and up again? Those are more side-plot/secondary characters.

After you do that, you can look at your outline with a fresh set of eyes. See things that you need to add to make it make more sense. Would foreshadowing help there if you know that this character is going to be a little bastard later on? Well, is this scene really important since that character never comes up again?

Pacing also changes depending on the story you're telling and you're writing style. Are you trying to focus on the slice of life details, highlight the domesticity for a character who's gone through a lot? Or are you trying to keep the tension high? Those answers will affect your pacing choices.

I also find that it's really helpful for me to start with a one-shot. Maybe it's a one-shot in the verse if it's an AU, just to get a feel for it, or maybe it's a matter of answering the question of "does this need a long fic?". You don't have to post it, but write that scene, write that one-shot, and see if it scratches that itch. Not every idea is a long story, and the times I've tried to force it have ended up terribly.

I know this certainly doesn't answer everything, and you might read this and be like 'what is wrong you, that is NOT how my brain works' and that's okay. But, I hope this is a good starting point and makes sense! Writing is a very individual process, and what works for one person might not work for someone else.

My first couple attempts at longer fics were not good; I wasn't lucky enough to nail it on the first few tries. It takes time to figure out your approach and what works for you.

💛💛💛💛💛

[thatrandomartistjavi]

Hello Cili-

As I keep being flattered by your love in tags and in posts I realize I’m not being a proper mutual if I don’t ask you random stuff and didn’t shut up in your ask box. I’m copying half of these from a previous post you RBed about asks but whatever

Who are your ocs? You said you had them and I have not heard about any of them

Favorite genre of music?

Greatest fear?

Favorite fanfic tropes/themes?

Thoughts on religion, spirituality, faith, the supernatural...?

Personality tests are all bunk but what’s your enneagram because that’s the only one that’s even remotely helpful

Personal life goals and dreams?

Can you describe your creative process?

Idk I’m just throwing stuff around and am bored, this is a lot so no pressure to answer all of them or any at all, just have fun w it

Hehe thank you for sending these. Even tho I take a really long time, I really like answering questions.

1. Who are your ocs? You said you had them and I have not heard about any of them.

I have tons of OCs like a lot of them. I have some Aladdin OCs like Ja'maal, Anahita who is Jasmine's mom, Samiah who is Ajed's wife and Genie's mom, Amira who is Genie's sister, Abbi who is Omar's sister, Alida and Coquí, etc...

But my like I guess OCs that I have that aren't a fan work are my humanized Disney theme parks. I mostly don't talk about them as much cause I'm not that hyperfixated on them so I haven't really thought of their stories. Not only that but I don't have most of the designs so yeah. I do have a tag you could go with them called hdtp. If I ever get off my ass to write the story down and draw their designs(cause it's not just parks, it's also their areas and attractions who are alive, as well as other non Disney parks), I want to make a comic with them. The story they're in is called Behind the Magic and it's basically about the internal drama of the parks and it also tells the actual history of the parks. I don't wanna make fifty pages of all of my OCs so I made these little drawings to describe some of the most important OCs to me personally(and the ones I've designed)

If you have any more specific questions than you can always ask me.

2. Favorite genre of music?

I don't have one really. If it sounds good to me, I'll listen to it.

3. Greatest fear?

Death. Seriously tho, I definitely have thanatophobia

4. Favorite fanfic tropes/themes?

COMFORT ANGST

COMFORT ANGST

Other than that I love friends to lovers, mutual pining, expanding on canon, backstory, gen fics, missing scene fics, and yeah pretty sure I have more but surprisingly I'm not well versed in fic tropes.

5. Thoughts on religion, spirituality, faith, the supernatural...?

I'm agnostic so I stay disconnected from religion mostly cause of my bad experiences with Christianity specifically. I don't really mind if your religious, that's your life and if it makes your life better then go ahead and live your best life. The supernatural on paper I would say would be cool irl but I honest to God would not like them being an actual real thing. I'm very paranoid already.

6. Personality tests are all bunk but what’s your enneagram because that’s the only one that’s even remotely helpful

I did take one at some point but I don't remember what my result was so 🤷🏽‍♀️

7. Personal life goals and dreams?

Make the Aladdin fandom bigger. I need more content I'm starving. But also it would be great to make my webcomic I said earlier. Another one that's more unachievable is to remake Aladdin the series with the Broadway characters with the actual Disney company. I wanna meet the OBC for Aladdin especially James Monroe Iglehart. One that is more mundane is to get married one day. Maybe get top surgery. Not sure about that last one.

8. Can you describe your creative process?

That's kinda tough. For drawing, I just kinda have an image in my head and then go right into sketching, then do lineart, and then color. For writing, I barely write so I just simmer in my thoughts and if I'm lucky I'll write it down. For designing characters, I usually do have a very vague image in my head on how they look like. Then comes the researching for references or just freestyling it. Then drawing it down and deciding on what the perfect color palette is. My mind is very boggled, there is no order.

[red19zine]

Welcome to my Tumblr. Because Tumblr is back.

Ya know, I used to write One Direction fan fiction here.

Really.

Maybe I'll perform a reading of it for a charity event one day (hint, hint: it's a Harry fanfic...the worst/best kind).

Anyways, this is the late-night guilty pleasure you've been waiting for. My web guy quit so here's how I'll post some extra-extra-extras. I'm talking observations, musings, ideas, for the Lafayette scene that even my bloated and spammy Instagram does not cover.

Gossipy? Maybe. Fallacious? Possibly. Maligned in motives? No.

If you're like me, you're a writer. A writer needs to write. Constantly. Otherwise, my mind is a fucking mosaic and my speech is consistent of puzzle pieces that were mismatched into the wrong two or three boxes.

Ultimately, I'm here to voice and rejoice about our community and would love to take any readers along for the ride.

"Everyone in this town thinks they're doing so much, but they're not doing shit," is a sentence I heard recently while out and about by a local unnamed musician. It inspired me.

Am I thinking I'm doing so much and not doing shit? Am I alike the overworked part-time musicians and lyricists or more like an undiscovered influencer, over-populating the Instagram-verse with my posts?

I don't have the answer to that. I do have the answer to what to do when you can't stop drinking or whether or not to get divorced. I even have the answer to whether or not Sylvia Plath ACTUALLY put her head inside the oven (she didn't).

However, I will be putting many reviews of albums on here- unlike my Instagram- and many opinions on various other topics that may hit close to home.

Now, since I do care a grain or two about causing harm or what others think of moi, I won't be saying much negative or "exposing"- as the kids say: so do not fear. Just some opinions that I'd rather not have on a page other than Tumblr.

So, here goes, hoes.

And, as usual, thanks for reading.

[sagemoderocklee]

2, 17, 25 and 33

Also, how are you feeling?

thank you for asking these questions and for checking on me! i'm recovering... it's been rough, ngl. I'm very grateful that I'm vaxxed, because it was definitely not an easy experience getting covid. I'm still sick--coughing, sore throat, weak, fatigued, general congestion and such. But tragically, I am back at work--I went back yesterday, and it's proving to be a challenge. I get winded easily--even talking--and I'm just generally so weak that being on my feet all day is much harder than before (and it wasn't exactly easy before with chronic pain). i am on the mend, and im hoping to get better as the days progress!

onto the questions:

2. Why do you write fanfiction?

oh man. that's a hard question. i have always loved writing. i did my first piece of independent creative writing when i was seven, and i just... always remember being into it. When I discovered fanfiction as a teen, it just kinda seemed like a fun, self-indulgent hobby, and then i got more invested in it and just kept doing it. I think it's like with any creative thing. it brings me joy. and i stick with fanfiction because even with all the work i put into my stories, it's still less work than original stories so it's easier to do when I'm coming home from work. plus it's fun to work within media i already love and have an attachment to, and i love the challenge of coming up with different scenarios for the same two ppl to fall in love in lol

17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.

A/B/O is def a top contender. Also soulmates. Hate soulmate AUs. utterly boring. cannot get over how bad the concept of like soulmate marks and all that shit is. i don't want my characters together by fate i want them together by choice. that's romance. only soulmate type thing i'd ever write is a deconstruction of the trope.

i actually have a deconstruction, but it is tragically a Harry Potter fic that will probably never see the light of day given JKR is a terf, a racist, antisemitic, etc.

if i can ever figure out a good idea for a GaaLee soulmate deconstruction, i will, but so far HP was just so primed for it--i mean given that love potions exist, it provides such a good base for discussing the concept of love and free-will, and applying that to the fandomized concept of soulmates... anyways im rambling.

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!

Yes, actually! I have a lot of stuff for Absolution that I might even post someday. I have two side-stories that were just writing exercises to help me out of a slump/work through a problem in a scene. Both are just scenes that took place when Gaara wasn't around. One is between Lee and Temari, one is between Lee and Kankuro.

but I'm very attached to the Absolution timeline, so I also have some stuff in my head for after the events of the fic itself, so it's very possible I'll write some extra stuff to share if folks are interested in seeing it.

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

Uh. I don't know why I'm so stumped by this, but I really cannot think of anything. I think I made it pretty clear that most of my work is research heavy, so I honestly cannot think of... anything else I'd wanna say? My brain is also mush, so maybe there's something but it's really not jumping out at me.

EDIT: i figured out what i wanna say for this!

All of my canon-verse fics (TAoL, Absolution, The Ballad, PomSun, 13S etc) are essentially just AUs of each other. It’s all the same versions of the world, the OCs all exist across each fic whether you see them or not, and the only difference really is just the story that’s unfolding.

Like in TAoL Rurriwa is never under attack by pirates because of what’s happening elsewhere in the shinobi world, but Rurriwa exists, and if there’s any characters from Rurriwa that get mentioned or show up (hint this is a spoiler) they also exist, they just aren’t relevant to TAoL.

So I tend to put lil easter eggs in fics, like name droping OCs or places. Ruri (not Temari and Shikamaru’s baby), who first appears in TAoL--she’s the fried abalone maker Lee befriends at the fishmarket--has a cameo in Absolution. She doesn’t get named in Absolution, mostly to avoid confusion since she and Ruri (the baby) share a name, but she’s the woman at the festival that Temari buys mackerel from. ‘Ruri’ means lapis lazuli, which is a reference to Karura, and per my worldbuilding, Karura is from Gyokukakushin, and so Ruri is a common name in that region of Wind because lapis lazuli is a very important stone in Wind overall--ya know as an example of all this interconnectedness