#my last paragraph keeps deleting :( oh well

[scribbleanddoodle]

lol I couldn’t this tweet out of my head

Dread, dread that wasn’t there three seconds prior, curled sharp in Phoebe’s stomach, and she sat a little straighter. Her teacher’s smile was bright and inviting, and for a split second, Phoebe thought maybe, hopefully, the woman was joking.

The rest of her classmates, however, went still, their pre-class chattering ceasing immediately, as they, in-sync, turned towards the front of the classroom with their heads bowed. A cool sweat broke out on the back of her neck as she glanced around, worrying her bottom lip.

What had happened? What did their teacher mean?

Tentatively, she began to raise her hand, when her desk jolted forward. She jumped, heart in her throat, and peeked over her shoulder at Carlos, who had kicked her desk. He didn’t look at her. His eyes stayed forward, watching their teacher root around for a working dry erase marker.

Right when she was beginning to think it was an accidental slip of his foot—Carlos was always jostling desks around—his eyes flickered to hers and he gave her a minute, solemn shake of his head. Something like panic rose up her throat, and threatened to spill out. The feeling was so sudden, and so unexpected, she snapped back forward with a gasp.

At the sound, their teacher’s marker came to a halt on the board, halfway through a cursive ‘F’, but she didn’t stop babbling about her vague, disjointed assignment. She just stood there, marker to the board, talking, like she was waiting, but Phoebe didn’t know for what. It was like the whole room was holding it’s breath, and she waited with it, swallowing a panic-driven scream as their teacher’s arm muscles twitched.

Finally, the marker began to move across the whiteboard, it’s squeaking out of beat with their teacher’s babbling. With it, the pressure building in the room relaxed, but not by much, and she could already feel it ramping up again.

To her left, there was a quiet hiss, and her eyes slide away from the whiteboard to Dottie.

“New girl,” Dottie spoke lowly through gritted teeth, her attention seemingly on the book laying flat on her desk. She spoke in long, drawn out breathes, “Don’t. Say. Anything.”

Phoebe opened her mouth to ask why, when their teacher’s marker came to another standstill. This time, so did her babbling.

“Do I hear a question?” Their teacher spoke to the whiteboard, her voice sugar sweet.

Phoebe snapped her mouth shut, muffling a wince as her teeth scraped together.

After a beat, their teacher said, “I guess not, but don’t be afraid to interrupt,” and presumed writing. Her penmanship began to warp as she reached the end of the board, starting first with big, perfect cursive then falling into a hurried scrawl. When she reached the end, and the wall began, she continued to write as if it had not, slowly making her way across the wall to the classroom door. Phoebe could no longer tell what she was writing, she couldn’t even read the clock. It’s arrows seemed stuck, like time itself was waiting for something to happen in this classroom.

“Don’t.” Dottie started again. She spoke so softly through her gritted teeth that Phoebe was surprised she could even hear her, but at the same time, for whatever odd reason, Dottie’s voice felt like the loudest thing in the room.

“Say.”

“Anything.”

She felt herself leaning towards the other girl’s voice, a scream again stuck in her throat, and she waited for Dottie to finish her painstakingly slow warning.

“Or.”

“The.”

“Narrative.”

“Will.”

“Find.”

“You.”

The marker squeaked to a stop, and Phoebe froze, halfway out of her chair. It felt as if she had to sit like that for an eternity, muscles cramping as she balanced on the edge of her seat, turned, now she realized, unsafely towards Dottie and not the board. Her thighs screamed with exhaustion, demanding her to reshift her weight, but something in her core was louder, telling her she absolutely could not.

When the marker started again, her teacher now halfway down the next wall, Phoebe’s breath was coming out in puffs. She couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t stand another moment trapped in this place. She didn’t care anymore! She wanted to go home, to be free of this! Nothing like this had ever happened at her—

Suddenly, the red haired boy who sat in front, Arnold, shot up from his seat, and with a sob, yelled towards the ceiling, “I knew I should have stayed home today!”

“Arnold!” The rest of her classmates cried, fear evident in their voices, as the tension in the room dissipated with an excited clap of their teacher’s hands, her marker falling to the tiled floor below.

“Arnold, I’m so happy you volunteered! Children,” The glee danced in Ms. Frizzle’s eyes as she turned away from the wall to face them, “time to get up. We’re going on a field trip!”

[scaranation]

Hey I ADORE UR WRITING...SENDING ALL LOVES TO U... btw can u write a headcanon about how alhaitham or zhongli or wanderer would react to a really short fiesty y/n?

THIS IS V LATE IM SO SORRY HAHA anyway im alive now so I finally finished the prompt ! i interpreted it romantically by accident but I hope you like it anyway ehehe

༊*·˚ 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑

ft. Alhaitham, Zhongli, Wanderer

Content: Fluff, headcannons, it's all enemies to lovers, Scara's part is a little short but so is he 🤭

a/n - ignore the spam e's at the end tumblr kept deleting my last paragraph whenever i tried to edit so i got mad and made sure the only thing i'd lose were the 3847394 e's i typed

ALHAITHAM

At first, he couldn’t ever see himself falling for someone like you. And if he were to date you, he’d definitely have to fall quite far - after all, you were so short, he practically had to trip over himself in squatting to talk to you. What you lacked in height, however, was made up by temper.

The first time Alhaitham had met you, he was very much taken aback by your personality. Instantly, he categorised you as the irritating, distracting type, filing away your existence in his brain as he droned out the sound of your voice.

“Grand Sage! I’m here to get approval for my research paper, and-”

“Acting Grand Sage.” Alhaitham corrected you without even looking up from his desk. Your words didn’t even register to him, as he left the interaction to his subconscious as to save his own energy.

“Acting Grand Scribe, whatever. Anyway, here’s my thesis, can you look over it now?”

“The approval process takes a few days, you can leave it here.”

“Oh, okay! Thank you, Grand Sage!” You chirped, scurrying off before Alhaitham could point out your error again. He spared a cursory glance towards the paper you’d left on his desk, raising an eyebrow.

“Height: an in-depth study into the role of genetics versus upbringing in contributing to an individual’s vertical stature.”

Alhaitham tutted. The title wasn’t concise, and the premise of your project lacked nuance. He idly flipped through the pages, already preparing to reject it.

"This project will feature an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban who struggles with height in order to establish a deeper understanding... Hm. Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We've seen countless projects like this before." Alhaitham mused, stamping the front cover with bright red rejection and putting the paper aside.

It wasn’t long before Alhaitham found you at his office once again. However, you’d shed any semblance of politeness you’d had before, only fuming as you marched right up to his desk and demanded an explanation for the rejection of your research project.

“Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a thesis like this. The Akademiya needs not waste its resources on previously covered topics, hence I suggest you find a scholarly pursuit more worthy of your time.” You clenched your hands into fists at the irritating way the Acting Grand Sage didn’t even glance at you, his eyes still darting over the paper he was currently reading.

“What’s so interesting about what you’re reading now, then?” You snapped, slamming both hands on the hard wood of the desk. Your arms faltered a little as pain shot up from the impact. You tried to bite back a wince, but Alhaitham noticed. He had to fight to keep an amused smirk down as he finally looked up at you.

“This? It’s a study into the applicability of natural selection in society. Of course, it fuels some questionable - and incorrect - ideals, but it has piqued my interest. Rest assured that it will also be rejected.” Alhaitham’s tone was condescending, and it only made you more frustrated.

“Why are you invalidating my experiment?”

“Don’t take this so personally, I have nothing against you as an individual.” The Acting Grand Sage chuckled. Your demeanour reminded him of a fiery chipmunk, and he tuned out the sound of your incessant rambling.

Even your cheeks looked like a chipmunk’s. How fun it would be, to squish them…

“Hey, what are you doing?” You were jerked out of your spiel by the touch of Alhaitham’s hand on your cheek. Some fingers were gloved, others bare - it made a curious contrast, the rough leather juxtaposing smooth skin.

“My apologies, you had something on your cheek. You may continue your futile self justification now.” Alhaitham retracted his hand to go back to studying the paper.

“This… this won’t be the end!” You exclaimed. You sounded rather like a villain one would find in a children’s novel, except Alhaitham doubted there was a villain as small and as harmless as you.

“I look forward to your future endeavours.” Alhaitham quirked a wry smile at seeing you scuttle off furiously.

You were right - this wasn’t the end. You’d unfortunately piqued the Acting Grand Sage’s interest, and once that happened, there was no way out.

You’d find yourself bumping into Alhaitham more often after that incident. Who knew the Acting Sage even left his office? Wherever you went, he’d be there, presumably to make your life harder.

It sounds cliche, but he would definitely help you out with reaching books just beyond the range of your flailing hands. Of course, he’d read the title and criticise your choice of literature before handing it to you, but Alhaitham would be of aid nonetheless.

He’d make blunt remarks to rile you up, enjoying the sight of you flushing in anger. You were so short, yet so energetic - he often wondered how it was possible for you to be so endearing and irritating at the same time.

Sometimes, your brutish comments would get through to Alhaitham, and you’d have the pleasure of seeing his jaw flex in discomfort before he snapped back with something equally personal. Neither of you were ever willing to let the other have the last word.

You often wondered how you’d gotten close to the cold Acting Sage. He was feared amongst all other scholars for his meticulousness, and yet he seemed fine with engaging in banter with you. It was a shocking but typical sight to see you with him in the halls of the Akademiya, the almost comical height difference drawing scoffs from witnesses. A quick glare from Alhaitham would be enough to silence those snickers, however. After all, he was the only one who could tease you, and you, him.

ZHONGLI

You’d first meet Zhongli through attempting to scam him. Most people would wonder why you were trying to swindle the god of contracts himself, but to be fair, you didn’t know who he was - and you were an absolute genius at robbing people with honeyed lies. How were you supposed to know you’d bitten off more than you could chew?

The day had begun normally, with you merely making your normal (fraudulent) sales. You’d make glorious promises of a newly discovered vein of ores in the Chasm, painting pictures of abundant wealth. Then, you’d convince those poor customers to buy stakes in the mine for a ridiculous price, although they were really only buying a shoddy patch of dirt you owned in the Sumeru-Liyue border. You’d managed to slip under the radar as you technically hadn’t done anything illegal, only omitted some key details.

After all, you only said that there was a “strong possibility” that there would be valuable ores there. And you were right - there were iron chunks. And they were valuable… in some perspectives. Either way, you didn’t know much about what was legal and what wasn’t (your only knowledge came from your time attending school with Yanfei) but it was good, not-so-honest work. The devil’s in the details, as they say, and nobody reads the poorly written fine print on the contracts you made anyway.

Until Zhongli came along.

“May I ask the whereabouts of this place?” The man exuded wealth, from his deep voice to his elegantly refined attire. Your eyes sparkled. If you could pull this off, the rewards would be great.

“It’s in the Chasm.”

“Ah, you already mentioned that, but where exactly in the Chasm?”

“Around the Western side, near the Sumeru border.”

“Hm, how fascinating. I don’t recall any developments being made in that area.” Zhongli murmured.

“It’s being kept a secret, because of how valuable it is… Of course you understand how important confidentiality is to such a project, right?”

“What confidentiality is there to uphold if you’re blandly advertising it in the middle of Liyue Harbour?”

You were stunned into silence, mouth hanging open. It was there that you noticed the knowing gleam in his eyes, the quirk of his lips in a shrewd smirk.

“… Please don’t report me. I will atone for my sins, and worship the lord of geo with great reverence.” You immediately switched attitudes, letting out a nervous laugh. For a seasoned businessperson like yourself, you had to know when to stop attacking and when to start defending. This was one of those times where it was best to defend - or, better yet, to just run away.

“Well then, you may begin now.” Zhongli crossed his arms.

“You’re not the lord of geo.” You retorted. The man had introduced himself as Zhongli, after all.

“Oh?” Zhongli smiled, and you felt your stomach churn. If this man truly was Rex Lapis, then you’d just made a very big mistake.

Zhongli turned and walked away, and you breathed out a sigh of relief - before he glanced back at you, expecting you to follow.

“Where… where are we going…?” You asked.

“Aren’t you going to atone? We’ll start by returning every cent of the mora you took.” Zhongli took your hand in his. A stupid, out of place warmth bloomed at the contact, but you quickly squashed it as you continued to fume at the man who’d dismantled your thriving business.

“What? The Tianquan was onto you already, would you rather face more extreme persecution from her?” Zhongli smiled.

“… No.” You snapped.

This ‘atonement’ was going to take a while.

Surprisingly, your victims - wait, *customers* - were scattered far and wide around Teyvat, so you found yourself going on many trips with the former lord of geo.

At first, you’d constantly snap at him, viewing him as a suspiciously pleasant millelith member, or an overly patronising supervisor. However, as the two of you got closer, he wasn’t as insufferable as you thought.

It was comforting to hear Zhongli share his past experiences, narrating first-hand stories like the ones in the history classes you never paid attention to. He was also the perfect height for you to grab his ponytail, yanking it particularly hard whenever you were bored.

To be honest, Zhongli often did appear as your guardian. He’d stop you from picking fights with strangers, easily holding you back (or slinging you over his shoulder if you were being particularly disagreeable), doing his best to maintain peace in an environment you were in.

On colder days, you’d borrow Zhongli’s coat, although it was so long it dragged along the floor. The sleeves hung over your hands, the cuffs flopping around whenever you excitedly pointed out something. Zhongli would chuckle at your mannerisms, resting a comforting hand on your head to keep you still.

Zhongli was calm, and you definitely were not. He was tall, but you most certainly weren’t. But you know what they say - opposites attract. And you made quite a pair with the former Geo Archon.

WANDERER

Two vertically challenged, feisty individuals with an attitude problem. Both you and the Wanderer were Sumeru city’s worst nightmare, although you undeniably despised each other.

You’d match his energy with unfaltering confidence as he hurled every insult in your direction upon seeing you. Honestly, neither of you were sure when this rivalry started - perhaps it’d just began when you two wanted to see who could be the best short angry person in the region.

“Looking as useless as ever, Wanderer.” You sneered upon seeing the familiar jellyfish cut from the back, snickering as the figure turned to glare at you.

“Has anyone ever told you about your severe temper issues?” The Wanderer snapped back.

“Speak for yourself - I heard you massacred some poor Fatui skirmishers while roaming in the jungle.”

“They were in the way, and you would’ve done the same if you were in my position.”

Those that were passing by watched your bickering with an amused trepidation. You really were perfect for each other, if you’d somehow set your hatred aside.

You and the Wanderer would be seen prowling the city streets or wrecking havoc in the wilderness in the name of some vague competition, both your tempers equally matched. In candid moments you two would almost understand each other perfectly, almost opening your mouths to say something vulnerable.

Of course, your egos wouldn’t allow for that. And so, you and the Wanderer would dance along the edge of whatever strange relationship you had.

Despite you both being short, the Wanderer possessed an Anemo vision. Hence, as you struggled to climb a tree to obtain some bird eggs, the Wanderer would float above you, cackling as he snatched them out of your reach.

“What on earth do you plan to do with these, anyway? I never knew you cooked.”

“Give them to me!”

“How sad life must be, having your head so close to the ground.” The Wanderer wove to the side to dodge your flailing arms, failing to notice the dangerous creaking of the branch you were clinging to.

“You’d better come back here right now-” The branch snapped and you went hurtling down, squeezing your eyes shut. You heard a crack, and felt yourself land against something.

“Gosh, you’re so heavy.” The Wanderer scoffed. He’d caught you mid-air, lowering you to the ground in mocking gentleness.

“Did I break a bone…?” You gasped, feeling something sticky on your back. Perhaps it was all your organs spilling out.

“No, you’re fine. Stop being so dramatic.”

“Then what was that cracking sound?”

“Uh, those eggs you were trying to get.”

You kept out of the Wanderer’s arms hurriedly, the almost tender moment broken - much like the eggs broken over your back and your companion’s hands.

“Archons, you’re so infuriating. Couldn’t you have put them down before saving me?” You scowled.

“Be grateful I did it in the first place.” The Wanderer rolled his eyes.

He wasn’t sure if it was you or the sticky egg debris, but he felt a lingering warmth in his hands.

You and the Wanderer understood each other better than anyone, and let’s be honest - the whole of Sumeru was just waiting for the two of you to get together.

(pls ignore this)

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“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

blah

STOP DELETING MY SHIT

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

Th

I HATE TUMBLR UGHHHH

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

I HATE TUMBLR

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

“Hm, an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban to inquire into the difficulties of growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve had countless projects covering similar areas.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front page and putting it aside.

Alhaitham tutted. The title wasn’t concise nor succinct, and there was a clear lack of nuance within the premise of your project. He idly flipped through the rest of the pages, already preparing to reject it.

“For research… there will be an interview held with a member of the Shuumatsuban who experiences difficulties growing tall… Interesting, but not groundbreaking. We’ve already had similar projects.” Alhaitham muttered, stamping the front cover and putting it aside.

The former Scribe tutted. Even the title wasn’t concise, nor did it provide much nuance. He was just flipping through the rest, already preparing to reject it.

“This project will… involve an interview with a member of the Shuumatsuban, who experiences stunted growth… Interesting, but not groundbreaking.” Alhaitham stamped the front cover in red and put it aside.

[annawayne]

Hi Anna!! I hope you're well!♡

For the ask game, how about 1, 2, 18, and 30?👀

Hello, Cris! ╰⁠(⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠´⁠꒳⁠`⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠)⁠╯

Thank you a lot for asking and for your interest!

1. the last sentence you wrote

Oh, well, let's say this one sentence the one I rewrote and edited, so I guess, it also counts. It's from WIP of chapter 10 of MYLYSW:

"The tent’s fabric trembled under the downpour, and each beat resonated in her bones; in every echo of falling rain, Annie could feel herself fading too - becoming something smaller and something less, so easily dissolved just like the drops got lost in the ground, slowly eroding, being washed away until nothing of her was left but the faintest trace in the mud. "

2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring

Annie's in MYLYSW! It's quite an interesting experience, I must say, since Annie is a character who tends to avoid the direct way of speaking or thinking, ignoring some of the things - and it gives a lot of space to play with narration and the story plot in general. Plus, I honestly think that Annie is a very complex character that hides a lot in herself, much more we can even imagine, so deep dive into her personality is really a fascinating adventure. So I do my best what I can in MYLYSW, just hoping that it's somehow fair to our precious girl :D

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

It's actually a very interesting thing to keep, but, unfortunately, I don't have any of this sort T_T

But I can share another sentence that I rewrote a few times until it strike the way I wanted to -___- (it was a lot of rewriting, A LOT):

"What a touching generosity of the impious beast always hungry for blood."

It's a small sentences, I know, but it sounded not the way I wanted, but finally I managed to find the words.

30. share a fic you’re especially proud of

Oh well... I guess, it's not me to decide, but I think it's MYLYSW, no matter how I look at it. The idea of the whole fic appeared quite spontaneous, and even if I knew the way this story will go, silly me thought that it would be enough to cover everything I want in 8 chapters (I still think it's hilarious). It was obvious from the start that it wouldn't be enough at all, but after the 3 chapter, I realized that. nope, I put a lot of topics into this story from the start, it's impossible to cover it all in 8 chapters :D And as I refused from this amount, I gave myself even more freedom to add things I wanted from the start, but kept them away because of the chapter count. Now, as the story goes, I think it develops not quite bad, and I just hope that at the end it would really feel like an experience for those who have read it.

Thank you a lot for asking, Cris! It was really interesting to answer :3

writer's ask game in question

[sunnychuuya]

GEISS WHAT TOME IT IS

Time to PROBABALY FUCKING PISS MYSELF OVER SALLY FACE CUZ I SUCK AT DEALING WITH HORROR

I have light tho so maybe I won't be as fucked over

I'm hi key so glad I'm making these posts cuz I don't remember what the fuck happened last night

-IM NOT A GIRL

-wrf is wrong with miss rosenberg girly pop get help that's dark

-mr Addison family is dead! Dude I don't fucking care he's suspicious as hell

Watch this turn into nothing hes prolly just a fucking dude idc tho hea sus

-Oh FUCK DID SHE JUST FUCKING DIE WHAY THE HELL

WHAT THE FYCK WAS THAT

What the FUCK FUCK

HUH ?!

-bro my bracelet is like a little tight and I had it pressed under my leg and it fucking imprinted sals name on my arm lmaoo

-MEGAN LORE?

-okay wait this might be a stretch- Megan has a cross necklace and ik Travis is like super christian(ive seen him with a cross necklacein fanart i dont think its on his canon sprite tho?); and ik Kenneth is the one who sh0t sal but what reason would he have to be involved here idk I just wanna get down all my thoughts even tho most aren't righg

-nvm rhe necklace is in the building apparently im dumb

-Wait actually sal hasn't started school yet has he? So he wouldn't know travis anyway

-idfk

-having the light on makes this game so much easier go play

-IM NOT DOING DRUGSS

-"I just want you to know ghat I understand what it's like to be afraid. To hide away from the world" rahehhehe sal ur 15 u shouldn't have to be offering advice to an adult I wanna be sals friend so bad it's unreasonable

-I d o n t. L I k e m r a d d I s o n

-PLEASE LARRY LOOKS SO GOOFY I LOVE HIM

-"Holy fuck knuckles" jnfjdjdjd

-oh pleasant so I'm assuming Megan's mom was a cheater

-is Megan's Dad the one who killed them ??

-yea okay I'm a fucking dumbass I just want to try to connect everything even if it doesn't work I'm low-key tempted to just delete that paragraph about the necklace but shh it's fine

-GUYS WTF IS THIS

YEAH SAL SHES DOIN GREAT

-oh a noose!

-VIDEO GAMES

-feel like this game is foreshadowing 4 sure

-like there's no way this is just here for some reason

-dam devourerers of God is sick name bro almost makes me hope this is foreshadowing

-j i m

-the way chapter 2 faded out like that is sus this is foreshadowing for sure

-GREG

-oh okay so this is just real fucking life then?

-well that makes me scared about the devorous of God thing especially cuz the circle things I keep seeing

-this is ominous bro

-this game is underestimating how much of a dumbass I am wtf is happening I'm walking in circles

-made it back to the circle rock

What.

Why did it restart

Gyys I'm too dumb for this

Circle rock again

Help I'm in the dark now had to turn off my lights what do I dooo I'm so bad at this

it restarted avajn fml

I sent out a post as a cry for help but I might just have to look up a tutorial

FUCK IT. I'm going to sleep.

Goodnighttt I made like nooo fucking progress despite playing for two hours

@mypinterestgotbannedsoimherenow

[fruchtfleisch-art]

18, 22, and 29!

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

Have a scrapped dream sequence from Indoor Kitty!

I cut this mostly because I was sick of writing scenes where people were hanging out in a bedroom, and I wanted Kira to be like... doing stuff, haha. So he got to drive a car for the last chapter instead of having weird murder dreams.

Oh, but part of this actually got recycled for use in Easy, Tiger! The great thing about writing lots of drafts is that you can steal from yourself as you need, haha.

22. do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

Oh nah, not really! I've been lucky to have a very kind and receptive audience, and I think I do an alright job warning people about potentially upsetting topics in my fics. It might be different if I focused on different characters/fandoms, but I feel like JJBA is a great place for people who like reading weird and semi-dark stories.

29. how easy is it for you to come up with titles?

Pretty easy! Usually by the time I'm ready to give a story a title, I know the themes/ideas well enough to pick something out that feels right. BSBiB actually had its title ready before I was even done working on Easy, Tiger!, but I've had a general idea of the stuff I want to explore with Hayato for years...

[archivalofsins]

Oh, yeah- I've been offline for the most part and I probably won't be around much even when Mikoto's interrogation starts. Due to health issues. So, this is explaining that-

I spent most of December sick with covid and am still sick. I just found out it was covid maybe two days ago and was given something called paxlovid for it. My sleeping schedule is fucked monthly cycle is screwed and may just last more than it should. It's rather difficult to keep up with time. On top of that I have the beginnings of an ear infection and strep throat. My physical health is trash right now. When I haven't been passed out I've been messaging people on discord and playing video games through coughing fits.

It's been wild as hell- Today I woke up to multiple paragraph text getting yelled at by my sister for getting covid. So, to be completely candid I'm zero patience from day one. Last year sucked and I'm not trying to repeat it. I was debating deleting my entire online presence and not doing a damn thing yesterday. However, ahn fuck it what else could go wrong. Also I really enjoy writing and discussing Milgram despite the trouble it can get me into.

So, this is really just a heads up like. I am not at one hundred percent I'm sick as hell. I got sick taking care of my father. So for reference he's eighty and he's fine it was like the flu for him he's good. I'm twenty-eight and unlucky as fuck this started with a headache that would not let up for weeks escalated into a over one hundred degree fever to the the shit at the start of this. When I do manage to hae the enrgy I'm cleaning and sorting out things with pets.

There's still stuff I want to do mostly finish the second part of the Amane post and also just talk about Milgram casually and better get to know others within the fandom. Since I'm pretty sure I may give off a rather standoffish impression. Other than that second half of that Amane post which has been in drafts far too long there are legit other asks that I wanted to get to and touch on that guitar thing again with Kazui. Since I needed something clipped with that before touching on it further.

Ah and since he was innocent there was this fic that I said I would post but again was meant to do that in december- and then got hit with life stuff then illness back to back. Today I'm going to try to get some thoughts out but they may be a bit disjointed considering well all this.

Other than that-

Happy new year! I hope we all put our best foot forward to make the sort of Milgram experience we can look back on with content instead of regret.

[plothooksinc]

Tagged by @loadthebases

Turns out if I search by mentions I can find it immediately! I'm so clever. (And yet. I only just went "oh hey".)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

22! I am not as prolific as some-- a lot of these are one shots. |D And most of them are ancient.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

475,671!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The fandoms I write for that are published are Rurouni Kenshin, Final Fantasy VII, and TMNT '03, '07, and ROTTMNT. Unpublished I also have One Piece, Tiger & Bunny, SPN, FFXIV, annnd The Untamed, most of these just being snippets etc etc. (And then RP is another bag entirely, writing in a different format-- you can include Blade of the Immortal that way.)

4. Top five fics by kudos?

It was only recently I managed to clock the 1000 mark, and I did it on two fics at once, lmao. Uhhh--

Underdark - 1089!

No Rest For The Weary - ....1089. (You guys really are neck and neck still.)

The Zaibatsu Project - 291

Some Rest For The Weary. As A Treat. - 221

Snowblind - 174

Not altogether that bad, considering Ruroken is such a dead fandom these days. /o/

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yup. Unless someone is leaving a whole stream of one word OMG/!!!!/EEEK in which I'll probably just answer the last one they left. I did go through a very long period where I did not because I was too tired, but I started again around the 2020 mark when I actually started reading fanfiction again. And started engaging, etc etc.

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

I write angsty endings? :|a 404 File Not Found. I think the closest I got was the tiny ficlet I wrote for Ruroken which was just Kenshin being depressed in the rain after Tomoe's death, and I'm not sure that really counts. That was like three paragraphs of "well my life sucks" lmao. It never made it to AO3. (It's on ff dot net still, though.)

...OH. But I can tell you which one's going to have the angstiest ending and that's The Legacy. Which given the last chapter I had finished with Raph holding onto his dead not!girlfriend, I would assume most readers are not gonna be surprised by this fact. (File Soon* To Be Found.)

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

Idk man I tend to angle for happy endings in general, so that is very hard to answer as it comes under YMMV - people have different views of happy endings, after all. Probably Underdark as the most distinct "Yes, everything is okay now" ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah, not really. I did have one serial reviewer that reviewed every chapter of Tanabata Jasmine back in the day with a lot of backhanded compliments and condescending comments? And one person who started off reviewing Misconduct with "well my friend told me to read this" and two chapters later said "okay I'm bored now bye", but none of this is hate. The only actual "hate" I got given was not actually ...for me? I don't think? It was someone who literally said: Why did you delete your slave fics? BITCH!! And I'm like... I have not now nor will i ever write... one of those...? So yeah. Think they mistook me for another author or something. Maybe Kikide. EH. Not my division.

9. Do you write smut?

Nah.

10. Craziest crossover?

Zaibatsu Project is a Rurouni Kenshin/Cyberpunk 2020 crossover, so that's taking all your 19th century samurai types and ditching them wholesale into 2029 Tokyo. It's fun. Maybe one day I will even write more of it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Outright? I don't think so. Buuut I've certainly had people ping me in the past to tell me someone's lifted a chunk of it wholesale or "they've written Snowblind, only with smut!" or there was one person who wrote a BNHA fic which followed the same plot of Underdark complete with dialogue borrowed directly from the fic. That last one I contacted the author and they apologised and offered to take the fic down and I told them they could keep it up provided they credit me for the inspiration somewhere. I'm sure by now some AI has scraped my stuff, but largely I write in fandoms that don't get lifted and sold like others do. And honestly, the above examples are more kinda flattering than anything else.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I believe most of my longer works have been translated into Russian, at the very least. I found Tanabata Jasmine back in the day being re-released onto a Russian forum site and I had a lot of fun translating the site to read responses (and laugh a bit at the machine translations because they kept telling me the readers were legless). Underdark has for sure. I've also found Snowblind.

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

I wrote a few pages of one with @shadowbends at one point! But we didn't get far in and we both got distracted with other projects. And I also wrote half a fic to set up the other half for an author, but she didn't end up going ahead. Alas. So.... kind of?

14. All time favourite ship?

I'm honestly not much of a shipper. I mean-- actually, I ship a lot of different pairings, but only kind of superficially for the most part? Like I really enjoy reading ships but I still vastly prefer gen. I will very rarely read an outright romance fic, there's gotta be a plot. (Or at the very least some interesting smut, god.) It's easier for me to point out ships that make me go UGH GOD NO rather than a preference. (In RP I'll ship a little more if the dynamics between our characters work out really well, but I still won't be crushed if nothing comes from it. This is a hard question for me to answer. I definitely don't have an all time favourite in this lukewarm pile of ships, that's for sure.)

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

Any of the WIPs that I have that I never bothered publishing have been abandoned. Anything I want to finish will get finished. It will just take some time. This is assuming I have a long life; I mean, if I'm scheduled to die, say, three years from now, the only thing that might get finished is Infinite Ricochet, lmao.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Action scenes! /o/ Pacing and tension. The most common review I get is from people vibrating from delighted stress, lmao.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Connective tissue. I can get really bogged down in getting from A to B. You can really see it in the early days of a fic where I'm still writing set up and wondering how to scale up realistically to the things I really want to write. Once everything starts going wrong, it gets much easier, rofl.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Depends on context. Like many I started writing fanfic at the time people tried to pepper as much Japanese into their dialogue as possible for realism or brownie points or whathaveyou - you can see that in my first fic on ff dot net lmaooo. Don't do this. Not unless you have a foreign phrase that just loses its flavour when translated through to English. Or, alternatively, when you actually have a non-English character who keeps dropping into their own language, or some try hard teenager who keeps trying to show off how much Spanish they know, as an example. There are always reasons to do so and reasons it will work. But if you're just going "LOOK AT THE WORDS I KNOW"... I recommend not doing so, you will look back years later and go "oh god".

19. First fandom you wrote in?

....look, technically the first fandom I wrote in was Inspector Gadget self insert fic. But I was nine so I feel I should not be judged. /cough

First time I sat down to write an actual story that was based off a show was for the old Defenders of the Earth cartoon while I was ...15? And then when I moved out my one sofa chair was surrounded by notepads as I wrote out my first 1987 TMNT fanfic. I didn't know it was called fanfic back then. In fact I didn't know anyone else did it at all and I was just weird. Please understand that when I got onto the web proper in the late 90s and found fanfic sites I was over the moon.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

It's gotta be Underdark. That thing is its own island by now. It's closely followed by the more recent There Is No Gravy, which much like Underdark wrote itself and also ended up far longer than I intended. It was just fun. It was a soft warm hug for the Rise fandom, okay, I love it.

Thank you! This was fun to reminisce about tbh. :D

I tag: @calliopechild, @radishhqueen, and @bobtheacorn ♥ No pressure, have at it if you like

* please note that the author's definition of soon may vary to yours. She has 13 year breaks between chapters sometimes, after all.

[monsterfloofs]

For the ask thing, anything you are excited for lately? Can be anything at all!

(Recently I got excited for the new Zelda game and wondered if anything has got your brain buzzing with excitement as well.)

Thank you for reading and I hope you have the loveliest of lovely days! 💕🌷✨

Oh hi! That is so lovely to hear that you got a new game, I hope you enjoy playing it! ( ◜▿◝ ) That sounds like a fun time I wonder what the new mechanism is for this game! = O I know there is one game where people were building some insane looking stuff! XDDD

Oh gosh, for me aaaah hm! I can't really think of anything right now that I am excited for! o.o ) I do have a... number projects cooking on the mental griddle at the moment! (So many pancakes...) I have a secret project I have been apart of >:3c as well as, working on too many half baked story wips x-x ;; ) I start them and then I ramble off elsewhere aaaaaaa sjdjdjdsj there is one I want to finish because it was from my design a monster / story with emoji and I am really liking how it's turning out. I am trying to experiment and put more creativity into the prose itself, I also have a friend acting as a beta reader. (Which I have NEVER had before, but has been a fun experience!)

Putting a read more because I ramble!

Let's see... is there anything else I can think of...

I have books out from the library, but I have been reading other books instead. orz I relistened to an audio book that makes me laugh because of the how silly the characters are. I been laughing... AGAIN about this particular look in gothic fashion that I have deemed "Just rolled out of the coffin," where it's, as the name says, looks like a very groggy looking vampire who just woke up. So I am wrestling with myself to not throw more on my plate because gosh I really want to draw Lawrence in that. XD (I also wanna draw Lawrence in a t-shirt with the picture of Noseferatu flicking the lights from that one time in Spongebob but PPPPPFFF)

The same beta reader friend is trying to convince me to work on that story again and AAAAAA that story is... such a... double edged sword to me, personally. On one hand at the time of finishing it, it felt like it was the best story that I have ever written. On the other, HOW DO I CONTINUE THAT?!?! D: How do I keep making it that way? And then anxiety hit and I froze over and couldn't bring myself to continue it because the fear of... messing up. And not sure where to go forward and being afraid I would spoil the story if I did skdjdkdkekd

There's a lot of things I would like to work on. o-o ;; ) I really gotta find a way to organize myself better between art and writing and just, creating in general. That and trying to restablish my art on different art websites has been stressing me out lately. ;-; ) I deleted almost all of my art off of instagram... which was almost 550 pieces of art, drawings and doodles.And realizing that place held 5+ years of my art journey and I had just deleted it was... hard to take. Still kinda mourning that and trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces.

Ahah! Sorry! People chat to me and I chatter back... A lot =u= ;; ) Sorry for the paragraphs! I don't usually go on and on like this, I mean I do on tumbly, I don't really feel like I pop off like this much in person. It's kind of funny and amusing to me that once I am here I become such a chatterbox!

I guess all my buzzing thoughts need to go somewhere sjskdjdjs

Ah yes, exciting things, I have things that I could be excited for once they get a better level of polish... I told you about the life things. Uhh, wracking my brain, the last thing I was kinda excited for was that I splurged and bought a pajama set from a small creator that I really love. They have a lot of cute spooky patterns and things. And this piece was from their Valloween collection which had ghosts, hearts and bats on it. 👉👈 (I also bought the cardigan with the same pattern when it first came out because it was love at first bite-- I mean sight! x//D This is the place I splurge on when I want to treat myself to cute spooky clothes. Gosh I wish the plague doctor button up came back in bigger sizes again. ;3; )

[freeuselandonorris]

hello freeuselandonorris! i’ve asked you for writing advice/ideas a couple of times (POV decisions and something in Nov, can’t remember exactly what it was), and i find your advice so helpful (/srs) so i hope it’s not annoying i’m asking again lol.

i find i can only write when i have extreme motivation, like an idea literally possesses my brain and the words almost write themselves - gonna out myself here, the last thing i wrote was the water inflation fic i appropriated from you; it just took over my mind and i wrote/edited it in like two days (though the speed is for sure because the entire plot was essentially your idea lol).

basically, i have lots of ideas but it’s hard for me to actually think of scenes in specific, and then i just end up not writing at all. do you have a method for coming up with a progression of a specific scene?

i am doing a horrible job of explaining my q lol so for example, my current wip involves interview panels/youtube collabs etc, but i’m finding it hard to write those because it’s so different from anything i’ve tried writing before. what do you do in those kinds of cases?

sorry for the ramble and if this makes no sense, love u 😭

hiiii lovely anon (or semi-anon lmao) you are not annoying in the SLIGHTEST, i love talking about stuff like this and it makes me really fucking happy to know that my self-indulgent rambling about writing is occasionally helpful to read ❤️

SO. i have two pieces of advice on this one, speaking from my own experience because for a very long time i was also like this and would write in fits and starts and felt very like i had to ~wait for the muses to bless me~. it’s actually something i was taught at a writing course i took years ago now and it sounds so blah and obvious when you first read it but if you stick with it, it works. BRIEF DAILY SESSIONS.

aka, you write a tiny little bit every day. if you can’t commit to every day, say five days a week (but every day is better). i do NOT mean write 1000 words a day or spend three hours doing it or freak yourself out or beat yourself up or abandon your social life or your responsibilities! the idea is you just pick a time that feels feasible (i started off with 15 minutes a day and i think this works well) and you commit to doing that every day. it doesn’t have to be anything good. it can be 15 minutes of you describing lando’s eyelashes in minute detail. it can be 15 minutes of notes for a plotline. it can be 15 minutes of dialogue you KNOW is shit and wooden and will be getting deleted the minute you get to the edit stage. doesn’t matter. just do your 15 minutes.

what this does is it breaks the hold your brain has on this idea of “oh no i have to be INSPIRED before i can possibly think of writing”. at my course they compared it to musicians practising scales, or athletes doing training. we could think of it like drivers doing their sim runs. they don’t just turn up on a race weekend and expect to be great, they have to keep their eye in.

side note: it’ll feel horrible at first, you’ll hate it and resent it and everything you write will feel awful. stick with it. if you miss a day, it doesn’t matter, you haven’t failed, just start again tomorrow. if you miss a week, you haven’t failed, start again tomorrow.

this is more of a long-term thing, so for your specific piece and the issue you mention about progressing a scene, the way i get around this is to start by writing the bit(s) i CAN imagine. so for instance here, you’d write one interview scene, or one youtube collab scene. even if it’s just a little bit of dialogue, or a couple of paragraphs of like, oh i can see oscar rolling his eyes and lando sees it and gets annoyed but he can’t say anything because there are cameras on them… or whatever. just write that bit. then leave a blank space in the gdoc and write the next bit. don’t worry about the order or anything.

once you’ve written all the little bits you can think of, read them through and you might be able to see links between them, like — oh that bit could follow on from this bit up here, or these two bits could kind of go together. reorganise stuff a bit, chop it up, get rid of anything that doesn’t work (copy it into another document called ‘cutting room floor’ if you don’t want to fully get rid).

THEN write yourself some notes. go through your bits and bobs and in between them, just write stuff like [SOMEHOW THEY GET FROM THE FILMING TO THE HOTEL ROOM???]. don’t just write [SOMETHING HAPPENS HERE], you need to give yourself little breadcrumbs to follow. so like there you go, okay, so they need to be in a car or a lift or some sort of transitional space (you see these crop up a lot in my fics — lifts, hallways in hotels, the backs of taxis). or if they’ve started off talking about one thing and you want them talking about this other thing by the end of the scene, write [THEY CONTINUE TALKING ABOUT LUNCH UNTIL IT GETS AWKWARD AND THEN THEY SOMEHOW END UP TALKING ABOUT OSCAR’S CHILDHOOD]. okay, so it got awkward. how did it get awkward? write that bit. what happens after it’s awkward? does lando double down or try to gloss over it? write that bit. how does oscar react to that? write that bit. etc.

in essence, don’t try to see the entire thing at once because you’ll paralyse yourself. give yourself a direction to aim in, and a place to start, and then just focus on the next bit until you get from A to B.

and if all else fails, find a nice pithy line to end the scene on, use an asterisk scene break and start again somewhere else 🤷

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG i really hope i didn’t bore the hell out of everyone afkjeskfjkldsj but yes THANK YOU AGAIN and i hope this is useful in some way!! you can do it i know ittttt

[whumpbug]

1, 14, 15, 18, 23 for the ask game hiiiiii I am so glad you reblogged it!! as always /nf so do what's inspiring!! :D

YAYYY THANK YOU SETH THESE ARE GREAT!!!!!!!! ｡(^▽^)ゞ

1. the last sentence you wrote

this is from a WIP with gene and cassidy and oh god seth this is such a funny line for you to have landed on HELP

"Christ, he hated Montana." (from gene's POV)

me too gene.

14. where do you get your inspriation?

oooouh i get my inspiration from so so many places... a lot of character ideas come from existing media who's fandom i'm apart of and it usually stems from me wanting to make ocs in that universe or to steal some of the character dynamics/themes

when it comes to actual writing though, a lottt of my inspiration comes from fanfiction and oc works of friends (shoutout to u seth). and if i'm being completely honest, my ideas for specific stories comes from me just. pacing my room and talking to myself in the shower and thinking of interesting dialogue to form a story around

15. favorite weather for writing

okay so the obvious (and probably most popular) answer is rainy/gloomy weather. its just the thought of being able to be cozy on the couch or in bed without the obligation to be Out and Doing Stuff that gets the brain juices flowing, BONUS if its past midnight too

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

okay so i don't have any specific lines for a fic BUT i will share an abandoned concept i had for archie and simon.

so originally, archie was going to have more powers than just the enhanced strength and senses he does now. he was going to have some kind of ice manipulation/cryokinesis as well because i thought it seemed cool and would allow for some Great Whump, but it sort of got too complicated and i scrapped the idea completely

23. pick three keywords that describe your writing

i am going to challenge myself to Not be self-depreciative because that is my default. BUT NOT TODAY.

my 3 words would have to be: descriptive, tense, fluffy (in the sense that i can't stop writing fluff. it's my weakness.)

AND SETH U GET SOME RAPID FIRE BONUS ONES bc this ask game is too fun

13. a fandom you’re thinking about writing for

dc. specifically for my silly gorgeous man dick grayson. but i am TERRIFIED. solely because compared to most dc fans, i am SO not well-versed in the lore and would probably say something completely incorrect and embarass myself.

11. a WIP you’d like to finish someday

theres 2 that are sitting in my doc that i havent touched in a bit BUT they are:

a fic of cassidy as a child getting absolutely chewed out and punished by montana and then it cutting to present day and showing how that Trauma manifests itself. and also a mildly concerned gene.

and one for the alternative prompt in WWE (hangover) where gene is stationed in the town jail as always but its after a LONGG night at the saloon. and cassidy is the only guy locked up and hes just totally messing with him while gene wants to be Anywhere but There.

AND LASTLY 4. a story idea you haven't written yet

cassidy and gene getting drunk together. also archie and simon getting drunk together but mostly gene and cassidy. i just need the filters to come DOWN for those guys

THANKS SO MUCH SETH AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO RAMBLE ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE HOBBIES!!!!!!!! ILY TOO /P U ARE SO COOL AND AWESOME

[f-oighear]

Hello, how about 5, 13, 18 and 27 for the writer asks, please?

Hi! Of course 😁

5/ first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished wip

Since Clover was getting ready to attack the Spade Kingdom, Nozel had put in place intensive training for his knights.

That gives away nothing and I'm grateful.

13/ a fandom you're thinking about writing for

I'm neck deep into BC (and uh a bit in Arkham Horror as well) at the moment soooo for now I have nothing.

18/ if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

I'm going to spoil you with this one but, as you know, the SAU's last part was supposed to be much longer and to have many more scenes but then I decided against it. Well, some of those scenes were already written and I cut them. Here's part of Vanessa preparing for the hearing with Fleur and Nozel because I just reread that part and it cracked me up. It's very much unedited.

“Now, about heirs,” Fleur said slowly. “Leonard and Augustus will most definitely want heir quotas. What do you say to them asking for, I don’t know, an extreme number?” “That I don’t mind the extreme baby making as long as I can stay on my potions.” Nozel choked on literally nothing. “Oh dear. I love that answer. Leonard would have a heart attack; which is probably also why I love that answer. Nozel, get a grip, we can’t hear ourselves talk here.” “I’ll get water,” he said in between coughs, his voice hoarse.

27/ your favorite part of the writing process

The first draft. I do love when I can finally sit down and write out the ideas, put them on the page. I love that first drafts can be terrible but it doesn't matter! because they're first drafts! no one will see them! I love first drafts.

[magic-lee-me]

Writer's Block

~While I've written t-word fics for myself, this is my first t-word fic on Tumblr. It's just a fun exercise for writing... although it was hard for me to get through lol I usually get so flustered that I end up not finishing them.

I'm not too worried about making this perfect. I just wanted to get something out to share that I made :) Hope you enjoy!!~

A and B walk into the kitchen as I bang my head on the countertop. "You're still stuck on that chapter?" B asks before grabbing a box of raspberries from the fridge.

“I. Can't. Think. Of. Anything." I fight the urge to smash my face on the keyboard.

"You'll get through it easy peasy, lemon squeezy," A says before grabbing a plate of pork belly. The two of them make their way to the fluffy couch in the living room.

I wish I could watch the movie with them instead... How hard is it to add foreshadowing to the stupid chapter?

"Okay," I mutter to myself. I reread the last couple of paragraphs to refresh my mind. So the main character has to say something stupid so the supporting characters can kick off the plot. Alright. I can do this.

Tap.

I delete the letter. I tap a couple more keys, but I frown and smash the backspace button. After a few minutes of blank staring, I manage to complete a few sentences.

Which all suck.

Growling, I slam the laptop shut and bury my face in my arms on top. "I'm the worst writer in the world."

B sighs. "Take a break already. You've been at that same piece for over a week."

"Sure, why don't I just give up on this already? I'm already a failure."

"No, you're not!" A says.

"Don't make me laugh."

I wallow in the silence until B finally speaks up, "Maybe the two of us could help you with your funk."

"What, are you both miracle workers for writer's - hey!" Someone wraps their arms around my torso from behind and pulls me off the bar stool. I nearly knock it over flailing my legs around until B snatches them.

"Got 'em!" B cheers.

"To the living room!" A says.

As much as I try to glare at them, my mouth stretches into a smile at the silliness. They maneuver their way into the living room, setting me down on the carpet. "Whew, thanks - wait." My pulse quickens when A pulls my arms over my head and pins them to the floor with their knees. My eyes widen when B yanks off my shoes and sits on my shins.

I tug at my arms, but my hoodie inches up my belly. I wiggle my feet, but my socks start bunching around my heels.

They have me trapped. Too well. "W...What's going on?"

"You've been in that writer's funk for too long," B says, leaning closer and smirking.

"So, we decided to help you," A adds, booping my nose.

I gulp. "What...what exactly are you gonna do?"

"That's the best part." B's smirk turns devilish. "You're going to narrate a story of what we do to you."

"And we have the perfect prompt for you." A flutters their fingers against my ears.

"Hey!" I squeak, scrunching my shoulders.

"Consider that a prologue."

Oh.

Oh. Crap.

"And you keep going," B continues, "until the very. End. Of the story."

Already, I'm laughing from nerves. "Uh, hehe, we really don't have to do this, right?"

"And have you thinking you're a failure?" B taps their fingers on the carpet, dangerously close to my exposed sides. I shudder and giggle. "Not a chance, buddy."

"Aw, you're already laughing," A coos. "And we haven't even done anything yet."

I curl my toes. "Come on! That's not fair! It's not my fault I thought B was gonna dig into my sides and - EEEHEEHEEhahaha!" I wiggle under the rapidly poking fingers. Ugh, I can't block the attacks!

"You mean like this?" B asks in a cruelly innocent voice.

"Yes! YEHEHES! Hahaha stop!" The tingles remain even after B's hands pull away, leaving me gasping.

B grins mischievously. "You're already out of breath after that? However are you going to get through this story?"

All I can do is whine.

"So..." A bends down and boops my nose. "What's my turn like?"

I already giggle at the thought. "Do I have to tell?"

"Well, you're supposed to show." A smirks wickedly. "But we can do that for you."

I gulp. "Well...you can start with...my ribs." I flinch when A's fingertips lightly spider up and down my rib cage.

"I start here, do I?" A's voice lilts in my ear. "So that means I can go...here?"

Laughter bursts out as the spidering gets faster and goes across my bare belly! "Nohoho NOOHOOHOHOOHAHAHA!"

"But that's what you told us," B said, "so A is showing you how it goes."

"Hahaha switch, swihihihitch!"

A stops, but B traces my kneecaps. I can't kick B off, despite how much I'm wriggling. "That's not - eek! - what I meheheheant."

"You said to switch, yes?"

Ugh, if I could just swipe that smirk off B's face... "I didn't mehean trahahacihihing!"

"Why didn't you say so?" B's fingertips trail over my knee and squeeze the top. After a few pinches, they trace down my knees and squeeze under!

I yelp, then melt into giggles.

"Aww, look how blushy you are," B says.

A grins. "The two methods are working!"

"I just - hahaha - wanted one kihihind! Not two! Hahaha!" I can't shake B off my legs.

"Hey, I'm just showing you. You're the one telling." Extra pinches. "Not my fault if you leave out certain details."

"Sh...Shaddup!"

The two of them gasp. B pulls their hands away, letting me gather my senses. "Did you just tell me to shut up?" they say in a melodramatic tone.

"How rude!" A pouts, placing a hand on their chest. "We're only trying to help our little friend with their funk."

"Just for that..."

I don't like their smug faces. I don't...

"PLOT TWIST!"

I shriek when A digs into my sides and B flutters at my heels. "The characters take over the story and attack the author!"

"H-Hey, wahahait!" I'm utterly stuck. I can't even wriggle side-to-side to escape the rib counting! "Nohohoho! Hehehelp!"

"Sorry, buddy," A says, plunging into my pits. "But we need to make sure you have plenty of inspiration for writing." The hoodie fabric does nothing to keep my sensitive spots safe.

"I do! I dohohoho! Hahahaha!"

I gasp as cold air hits my soles. B tugs off the rest of my socks before lightly scratching at my toes. "EEEP! Hahahaha nohoho!"

"This is what you get for telling me to shut up." B grins down at me.

My cheeks hurt from smiling. "Okay okahahahahay! I'm sohohorry heeheehee!"

"Are you though?"

I can't talk anymore. I'm laughing too much.

Finally, they stop. I cough as I catch my breath. "You two...are...the worst."

"But you had fun, right?" B's hands are still on my toes as a silent threat. "And you got some inspiration to finish that stupid chapter."

I nod.

"There we go!" A says with one more poke to my belly. "Now you won't feel like a failure."

"Can...can I get...water?"

A and B help me sit up and guide me to the couch to rest. B pours me a cup of water as A lets me lay against their shoulder. "Once you get a hold of yourself," they said, "you can get back to writing."

"Just remember," B adds. "If you ever get into another funk, we're gonna have to do this all over again."

I instinctively flinch and bury my face in my hands. But...maybe this method of dealing with writer's block isn't so bad.

[writingsofhubris-a]

4, 7, 17, 18? I spend too much time deciding on a font

Thank you so very much for the ask!!

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

Oh my god so first idea I've been meaning to do was very shortly after I got the Murder on Eridanos DLC. There is a line that Max says, or a line that's said next to max about the Captain being the inspector instead of Captain for a bit, right? Well, I found this reddit thread a while ago and I cannot for the life of me find it again, that connected a lot of Max's actions to alcoholism (The OSI vial in his room, when he's in the penthouse one of his idle animations is drinking from a flask, him in the last hope with Parvati, etc).

Well, I have a fic that's started, and it brings together Max being drunk, an offhand line from his about sweets being forbidden, as well as some like... title play with the Captain.

7. your preferred writing fonts

If I'm working on one shots, I usually stick with Arial at 11 pt(The standard google drive settings), but if I'm working on something with some real length and depth (such as Cabinet Man or Portrait of A Lady) I'll usually write my first drafts in Courier new at like 5 pt. I find it's easier to write a stream of consciousness if I can't seen the words super clearly.

17. talk about your writing and editing process

Talking very generally, most of my fics start with a one page document where I kind of shot gun blast my brain storm. A small scene is created first, only to build from there.

If It's a multichapter, I do make a bulletpoint list, and a plot chart dependign on how I want the action to flow. During this process, if a chapter decides that it wants to be written, I'll usually just take a moment from the plotting to draft out the thoughts. if it doesn't make it into the final cut, usually I'll keep some dialogue or it was needed to flesh out a problem that was going to arise in the plotting section.

I'll jump around the plot points I detailed, writing 500-1000 word chapters as I see fit. Then, i'll flesh out those chapter discriptions into real chapters, reading the bridges between chapters to see if anything's missing. At that point, I like to set the fic aside for a couple weeks and work on other writings to let it stew and settle.

Once I get to editing, that's when i bump the font size up to 11 and go to town with reordering sentences, working on tense of sentences, swapping scenes and chapters around, and whatever else I need to do to make the story flow with as minimal plot points missing as I can.

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

I have exactly one line, and it was from a fic with Maxim Horvath from a couple years ago.

"The smell of fear coming from you…. Addictive." The voice curled around the room, tightened around columns and betwixt cobwebs.

[weaveandwood]

Still up to the 'more writers ask'? I got some numbers when not already done 😉 29, 26, 24, 22, 18, 16

Always! Thank yooooou! I haven't done any of these ones yet 💜

16. Favorite Place to Write

My favorite place to write is on my couch in our basement (which is our hangout zone, the couch is comfy as heck and all of our entertainment stuff is down here). I always have a heated blanket on (even now in July because it's chilly down here) and my laptop. I also write occasionally at my gaming PC if I'm doing a writing sprint with friends as a break during gaming, but my laptop on my couch is where 90% of my writing happens!

18. If you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

I don't keep deleted stuff anywhere - once it's gone, it's gone.

22. Do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? How do you get past that?

Of course! When I first started writing fanfic back in March, I was nervous like "Is this silly? Is it too late to start writing at this stage in my life?". I've gotten over that by being in this awesome community that seems to like what stories I tell.

The one I have the hardest time with is "Will this flop?" and generally wanting positive feedback from the community. In my head, I KNOW it shouldn't matter, write for yourself, blah blah blah. But the last chapter of Weave and Woods didn't get a single comment on AO3 and did poorly on here and I can't help but wonder if I've lost my ability to write something engaging and if the chapter, which I quite liked, was actually really bad. Unfortunately, I don't know how to get around that. I am a work in progress as well.

24. How do you recharge when you're not feeling creative?

Take a break! It sounds so obvious, but the best way to recharge or reignite your creativity is to stop being creative for a while, especially if you feel like you're beginning to force it. I went on a 5-day vacation a couple weeks ago where I didn't have time to do any writing or art, and in the week after I got back, I published 2 chapters in my long fics, a smutty one-shot, and drew two rendered pieces of art. I feel great about the ideas in my head right now.

26. Are you able to write with other people around?

I can write with my husband around. He knows I write fanfic (and supports all my creative endeavors, get yourself a partner that does and don't settle for anything less!) 29. How easy is it for you to come up with titles?

Oh my gosh, titles are the absolute worst! My chapters all are titled "Placeholder Title" until I can pull something out after I've finished writing each update. My fic titles came a little easier, Weave and Woods, The Bard and the Blade, and Midwinter in Waterdeep just popped out as the titles instantly. Chapter titles are the most annoying, and sometimes I wish I had just stuck to numbers lol

[amadwinter]

for the fic writer ask: 4, 8, 12, 14, 18, 30

for this ask game

thanks lils ❤ this is a long one so it's all going under a cut but I'm grateful for all the questions! Now bear with my while I blather a little

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

The best part about having so many unwritten ideas is I can just easily choose a different one when asked this question multiple times!

Omega Anakin’s mom is sick, and the treatment is too expensive. The only chance he has is selling himself to a rich alpha. But not for a night: for the rest of his life as a wife. Unfortunately, the alpha dies before they can marry, but his son Obi-Wan is willing to take over the contract.

This was a twitter thread originally, but I really like this idea. Basically, Anakin agrees to marry rich alpha doctor Qui-Gon who up and dies the day before they're supposed to go down to the courthouse and get married. But luckily his son Obi-Wan, also a rich alpha doctor, is willing to help him.

Except Obi-Wan has no interest in marriage of any kind, so Anakin has to strong-arm him into it. And then he strong-arms Obi-Wan into consummating that marriage (and by strong-arming, I mean, he pouts a little and Obi-Wan throws his hands up in defeat).

I seriously considered sitting down at writing this one at the end of last year, but it didn't happen. And now I have too many WIPs going that I would feel too guilty about starting another.

But when those are finished..... >:D

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

Well, I have very solid ideas for sequels to you'll never know, dear, better run, boy, the night is so long, and love(?) in an elevator... and once i finish the thrill of the fall ohoho

12. a trope you’re really into right now

Creature fics. Please. I need more Anakin as a dragon. Obi-Wan as a fairy. Just more werewolves. Please, I beg of the fandom. And merpeople! Always the mers. I have some works drafted, but as anyone can plainly see, I have more ideas than I do time or common sense

14. where do you get your inspiration?

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

I cut out a lot from too old for childish comforts. It was supposed to be a case fic, and then I cut out all the plot. Go figure.

Here's a little bit from my cut outline (unedited, so a bit of a mess, I apologize):

The study group meets while there’s a parent-teacher night at the school.

{Something something Obi-Wan has been given literature about “encouraging your child’s interests” and spoke with other parents at the school about their autistic children and realized “oh that’s what’s up”.}

Goes to the study group and gets work done, meets with people. Two invite him after to do something not quite legal shenanigans (like trespassing), and Anakin thinks he needs to get back to Obi-Wan, but no he’s not a child. He’s a jedi, and he needs to complete the mission. They do, Anakin has fun (maybe running away from cops), they tell him that he’s alright, and Anakin goes back with a wide grin on his face, but Obi-Wan is sitting at the dining room table looking sick with worry. Anakin tries to brush him off by saying that he told him he was going to the study group, and Obi-Wan says that he also said he would be back before dinner. Anakin shrugs and asks if it’s really a big deal. They were just going to have leftovers anyway. Obi-Wan says that when they’re investigating missing teenagers, then yes, his teenage padawan going missing and not contacting him is a justified cause for concern. Anakin shrugs and says that he can handle himself. “That’s not the issue.” “Then what is?” “A lack of communication.” Obi-Wan says, and Anakin gears himself up for a fight, but Obi-Wan raises a hand to stop him. “Which is a pattern for the both of us. I have treated you just like my master did me, just like any master would their padawan. And you in turn have taken every opportunity to prove that you are very much unlike I was. You are not an ordinary padawan, Anakin. I have done my utmost not to show favoritism, but I think we are beyond that now.” “What are you saying?” “That I regret keeping things from you needlessly, and I will try to be more open about things I deem unimportant, because you are a very curious person. I don’t wish to punish that curiosity, so long as it is within reason.” Anakin can’t believe what he’s hearing. He starts imagining what this will mean, just how Obi-Wan will open up to him. What glimpses he’ll allow Anakin to see of himself, of his mind and his body. “However, in turn, I ask that you try to keep me abreast of your plans.” Anakin eyes flick down briefly to Obi-Wan’s chest, and he nods. It’s easy enough to agree to, if it means he gets to see more of Obi-Wan.

30. share a fic you’re especially proud of

All of them? No? Okay, I guess I'm going to cheat and choose 3:

the thrill of the fall ~ my first posted Obikin fic. It was originally intended to be the first in a... chain so to speak that I dubbed "The Yeetverse", and though I haven't even finished this fic, I absolutely hope I will get around to all of the others I have planned.

An Unorthodox Courtship ~ my first finished Obikin fic, and actually the first omegaverse fic I've ever written

love's a hand-me-down brew - my first completed multi-chapter fic that I didn't entirely pre-write, and currently the longest fic I have ever written. It was written in an entirely different way from how I usually write things (minimal editing), and it changed a lot from the original idea in terms of tone, but I'm extremely proud of how I managed to tie things in from the start (sometimes unintentionally), and some of the subtleties.

[rxgueone]

TANG

Word count: 3,618

Pairing: Elvis!Austin x oc

Summary: A story based in the late 60s, Austin who works for a famous man, sees a girl in need of help, to which he comes to her aid.

Warnings: fluff, angst (?), age gap, smut is mentioned, cigarettes, smoking, hippies, and cursing.

Tags: none.

Note: This story is shit, but I had to get sumn out this week. If Tumblr deletes paragraphs. I’m gonna lose it.

MASTERLIST

—

Opening the door to the house, the tall figure had his hand in his pocket. With his black hair greased back into a pomade, clean shaven face, he seemed ready for another day. As he entered the house, he was greeted with his boss. “There you are, Austin!” Hearing a boastful voice. He meekly looked to where the voice was coming from. “You know them hippies was here last night, smokin’ pot down the damn street or sum’n like that.”

His boss, Colt. He was a nice guy. Tall, with tanned skin but blonde hair that was slicked back. Colt Turner was a famous guy. Real famous, and well, Austin worked for him. Always.

Colt had found Austin one day down the street, and thought that he was suited for some work. Austin at the time who was homeless, had figured it was a good idea. So he took the deal. What was the deal? If Austin could drive Colt around, take him to where he needed to be, make coffees for him and etc. then Austin would be payed.

Austin was allowed to drive Colt’s car anytime he wanted to. Colt didn’t mind, in fact, he actually encouraged his friend to do it. Austin was the only person allowed to touch Colt’s beautiful and well maintained car. Anyone else who touched it without Colt’s or Austin’s permission, Austin was pretty much obligated to punch them.

Colt met Austin when he was in his late teenage years, and now Austin was reaching his late twenties, while Colt was reaching his forties. In spite of having to work for Colt for such a long time. Austin trusted Colt with his life, and it was the same for Colt. They both would probably risk their lives for each other.

“Should’a been here, I would’a gotten you to take care of em.” Colt said, when he took out a cigarette case from his pocket. Popped it into his mouth like usual and struck it lit with a lighter. Austin smirked, shaking his head, as he walked towards his friend. He approached the kitchen to where Colt was standing, seeing him holding a glass root beer bottle. He grabbed a bottle opener, snapping the cap off with ease then handing it to Austin.

“What’d you do?” Austin dipped his head in thanks when he took the bottle. “How’d you scare em off?”

“I didn’t. I’m too scared.” Colt smirked, shaking his head. Taking a drag from his cigarette, “You’re tougher than me Aus.”

“I’m a stick.”

“You ain’t a stick. You work out, I see you work out, you fix my roof n’ everything. You ain’t weak.” Colt was baffled by how Austin was underestimating himself. To which Austin shrugged, taking a swig at the root beer before walking back to the door of the house, Colt following right behind him.

Austin grabbed the keys to Colt’s car, which was a 1969 Dodge Charger. He walked over to the drivers side of the car, unlocking the door then pressed the button that allowed the passenger side to open. Colt swung the door open and they both sat down in their places. With the car roaring to life, he took the shifter in his hand and put it into reverse, Austin looked over his shoulder. Stomping on the gas, the car shot backwards, break, spun forward, shift into drive.

Colt’s back slammed against the car seat, he gagged from his cigarette almost going down his throat. “Holy shit Austin-“ he coughed out, looking at his buddy, “-you could at least fuckin warn me dude!”

“My bad.” Austin chuckled slyly, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. With his other hand on his side, eyes narrowed to focus on the road in front of him. Colt chuckled, leaning back as he shook his head. Both windows rolled down so when Colt could smoke, it wouldn’t fill the car up.

“Oh yeah Aus,” Colt looked over at his friend, and in response Austin glanced at him, “I bought a supercharger kit for the lady, I was wonderin’ if you could drop by home n’ make sure it’s arrived safely. Also a new camshaft.”

“Sure.” He shrugged, not minding a thing.

Austin pulled up to the building to where Colt worked. Popping the door open, Colt took one smooth motion to walk out. Leaning down to look at Austin through the open window, he held onto the door. “Oi take good care of her.”

“I treat lady better than I do my own.” Austin assured, and Colt smiled, patting the top of the door before pulling away to walk into the building. Austin raised a brow as he watched Colt. “Aye Colt!”

“Yeh?” Swiftly turning around to face him.

“Do you need more for the rest of the day?”

“No, do whatever you want. Good luck to ya.” Colt smiled, winking at Austin before he turned his back on him. Walking towards the door of the building and opened it to disappear inside.

Austin sniffled, rubbing his nose for a moment to process what he was going to do. “Well shoot alright.” He giggled like a school boy, starting the car back up. Slowly prowling back into traffic. He leaned over to the dash, deciding to blast the radio.

—

Austin had stopped by at a stop light, he looked through the windshield and could see a girl who was standing on the sidewalk with her thumb up. She was alone, and looked in need for a ride. He stared at her quietly, intrigued.

She was pretty, he couldn’t lie. But, she looked young, real young. He was curious, why was a young girl like her out on her own. Shouldn’t she have been in school? Where it looked like she belonged. Unless Austin was just assuming wrong, it didn’t answer the question why she was out in the street.

Well, this was the 60s, the late 60s, and many young people were homeless cause they chose to be. Hippies… hippies and sex. In spite of her being a hippie, and the stigma behind them. Austin couldn’t help but worry over her. He saw her at that spot every damn day, and he wondered if any men would take advantage her.

Austin could see the girl look over at him, instantly, a beaming smile flashed on her face. She waved at him, and he tilted his head towards her, waving. She pointed to herself, then down the street, the opposite direction where Austin was headed.

‘Wanna give me a ride?’

Austin shook his head, then pointed forward. ‘I can’t, heading that way.’ After that, he shrugged in sorry.

She pouted at him, expressing her sadness. Then mouthed the words, ‘how about next time?’

Austin glanced at the light, seeing how it was still red. Looking back at her, he gave a nod. Mouthing back to her, ‘when I got time for you.’ It was a firm nod, he knew he had to keep his word to her. She smiled, jumping up in joy. She had successfully read his lips, and just as the light shot green. The Charger prowled forward. He waved bye to her as he drove past, and she returned the wave.

Austin had rolled up to Colt’s driveway. Right as he rolled up, he spotted two boxes stacked that was just sitting in the middle of the driveway beside his own stink bug of a car. Austin raised a brow up, as he parked the Charger beside his own car. Popping the door open, shutting it, then locking it. He walked towards the box quietly with his hands in his back pockets. He could feel a few strands of his own hair loosen up in front of his face.

“Well shoot.” He looked down at the two boxes stacked on top of each other, seeing the name COLT TURNER. Leaning down, his arms wrapped around the box. It was a supercharger, and it was going to be the heaviest pile of dung heap in the world. So with as much strength as he could form, he swiftly picked it up. Stumbling a bit as he walked towards the door of Colt’s house. “Holy fuck.” He breathed, trembling from how heavy it was. He was practically holding a whole engine.

—

When Austin went to go pick up Colt from work. He could see the girl in the same spot, this time with what looked to be her friend. Who also looked way too young for her own good. Austin watched them both as they held out their thumbs, sitting on the bus bench.

The girl had turned around, seeing the similar black 1969 Dodge Charger, and when she peered inside. She could see the same man who looked like Elvis’ doppelgänger. As she looked at him, he looked back at her with a blank expression, a smirk slowly peering on his lips. “That’s the guy I was talking about Lila!” She exclaimed, nudging at her friend who looked off her rocker. The girl pointed to the doppelgänger, waving at him.

He smiled, waved back at her. She pointed to herself, with raised brows. He shook his head, pointing down the street. She flailed her arms, annoyed he had no time for her. He was a handsome man, and she wanted to see if she could get her way with him. He looked kindhearted too, looked like he was a good listener. Which was why she wanted to befriend him so badly. Maybe yap away if she could.

But to her dismay, he had shaken his head no. Then mouthed the words. ‘When I got time for you.’ Like always, every day. But she couldn’t lie, for a man as handsome as him, she’d wait willingly. He dipped his head, waving goodbye to her as he drove off, she jumped up and down, waving bye at him.

When Austin had went to go pick up Colt. He could see him holding a can of beer, and Austin knew he’d probably have to deal with an emotional Colt, cause when Colt drank, he was emotional. Meaning something at work as well went wrong. “Hey there Aus,” he greeted as he opened the door, sitting down in the passenger side.

“Hey Colt.” He smiled, seeing Colt take a drink from his beer can. “Bad day at work?” Looking over his shoulder to drive back in the street, when he didn’t hear an answer, his head turn to glance at Colt. “What? Samantha reject you again or somethin’?”

“Samantha is as crude as a woman gets Aus!” Colt complained. “Damn well threw her coffee at me and I needed a new suit and everythin’ man!”

“Why she throw her coffee at you?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know Aus sum’n ‘bout the damn editors, and that ain’t even in my department either! Sure I produce but fuck me, I don’t focus on the editors! She does! God dammit Aus, she’s a strange woman. I don’t even know why they hired her.” He wiped the sweat off his brow. Austin glanced at Colt, he wore a brown leather jacket, black shirt with some white slacks. “Fuckin’ hate producing movies with her!”

“Yeah I bet Colt… I bet… wanna watch The Good, The Bad, The Ugly back at home? Bet that’ll cheer you up.” He suggested, a cunning smile on his face.

“Good idea… I should’a thought of that.” Colt inhaled, nodding his head repeatedly. “I knew I could trust you!” Punching at Austin’s shoulder, he was laughing, happy that his best friend could always cheer him up.

—

The next day it was the same routine. Austin had dropped Colt off. And he told him. “Do whatever you want for the rest of the day. I don’t need ya. I’ll take Lady down by the shop to get that supercharger installed. So just explore ‘round, pick me up at nine.”

“Sure thing.” And Austin watched Colt walk off into the building. He said nothing but start the car back up, knowing damn well that if he ran into that hippie again, he’d have to give her a ride. Considering he would repeatedly promise to give her a ride.

And he did. He ran into her again, and she was sitting on that same bench. She waved at him once she spotted him, he waved at her. She pointed to herself, raised brows. He gave a nod, confirming he could give her some of his time. He could hear her squeal dancing around, wiggling her hips like there was no tomorrow. Kickin the sand around as she danced, the light green, he pulled over in front her.

She saw him stop the car in front of her. “Hey there.” She heard the casual greeting, as she had leaned down to look at him. She couldn’t help but smile at him, now up close he seemed more handsome.

“Hi,” she bit her lower lip nervously, twitching endlessly, “I see you finally made time for me!”

“Yeah, my boss says I can screw ‘round today before takin’ Lady down to the shop tomorrow.” He informed.

“Well… can I come in?”

He gave a nod. She swung the door open, plopping down in the passenger seat. She leaned up close to him instantly, he sat in the drivers seat, relaxed as her face was inches away from his. “Where you headed off to?” He asked her.

“Creek side.” She gave the simple answer.

“Oh.”

“It’s just down—“

“I know where it is.” He cut her off. She looked at him, surprised. But that smile remained on her face, and he smirked at her. “I’ll take you there no problem.” Merging back into traffic, sighing. “So,” he started as he glanced at her, “whad’ya do? Just hitch round all up in here all day? And you ask someone to take you to Creek side when you’re done?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“Well yeah, aw c’mon, tourists love me!” She laughed innocently at him. “They talk about me y’know? Tell people about that one pretty girl who made their ride the best experience they ever got! And an even better experience at Creek side.” She proclaimed confidently. Austin said nothing after that statement, simply shrugged and nodded along. Whatever you say. He thought to himself.

After a few miles of pure comfortable silence Austin had merged into the freeway. The girl had been staring the doppelgänger down intently, hadn’t yet learned his name yet. She could see how he had a clean shaven face, greased back black hair, one hand on the steering wheel of the car. He was bobbing his head to the radio, enjoying the sweet tunes that were playing. He wore a simple white shirt, jeans, with a belt and some cowboy boots.

Wanting to make conversation with him. “You remind me of Elvis.” She suddenly said.

Austin glanced at her. “The pomade?” He chuckled, quirking up a brow.

She gave a nod before leaning closer to him. “Only problem is,” she began, “is that your pomade unlike Elvis is messy.” Grabbing the loose hairs that was in his face, she slicked it back, then grabbed his face to force him to look at her.

His face was turned towards hers, but his eyes remained on the road. A small smile on her face as she let go so he could be fully focused on the road. She kept watching him drive. “Want me to suck your cock?”

He looked at her, raised brows at the sudden question. Licking his lips for a moment due to his amusement and not knowing how to react, he brought his hand to his mouth. His fingers rubbing his jawline, trying to hide his smile. She was bold, very bold. When he gave her another glance, her eager face distorted into a worried face, as if she was afraid that he’d reject her. “How old are you?”

“What?” She seemed offended by the question. “There’s no way you just asked me that.”

“How old are you?” Followed with a low chuckle. She could tell that he was serious. He shook his head, which caused her to believe he had already known.

“Wow man,” she thought about it for a moment. He was the first one to have ever asked her that in a long time. After maybe a hundred tourists it felt like, she was finally asked that. Shaking her head, “been a long time since someone asked me that.” She still didn’t answer his question.

He didn’t say anything but shake his head, amused by how she was avoiding his question. Glancing at her, he could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. As she watched him in those three seconds of silence, she had already went to the assumption that he was a good man. “Well,” deciding to press on, “I’m eighteen. There. Now can we get the show started?”

He revealed amused smile. Looking back at her with a face that showed he didn’t believe her for shit. “You got a drivers license? I need’a see sum’n that says you’re eighteen. Sure I’m givin’ you a ride but not that type of ride.”

She rolled her eyes, sitting back in the chair. “You’re obviously the fun one at parties huh?” She mocked, and he nodded his head. She kept looking at him, and now knowing that he wouldn’t lay a finger on her. She comfortably shifted in her spot, laying her head down on his lap.

He moved his hand out the way to let her, glancing down at her as she stared up at him in awe. “Why don’t you just do me? I mean, I’m sure Elvis would.”

“Because ma’am,” rolling his eyes, “if I’m ever gonna go to jail it ain’t because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants for some chic who keeps lying to me ‘bout her age so she gets in bed with me.” He said with a scoff. “And I ain’t Elvis.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I ain’t him, but I also ain’t like those stupid sons of bitches who take advantage of folk like you.”

“Folk like me? What? Hippies?” She wanted to clarify how he saw her, how he viewed people like her.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “you guys just got different beliefs. I ain’t gonna take that to my advantage. Most of you are young’uns.”

“You talk like you’re old.”

“I’m twenty-nine.”

“No you’re not.” She called his bluff. “You look like you’re some nineteen year old.” He scoffed but took it as a compliment. Reaching into his pocket to get out his wallet. He handed it to her, so she could take out his ID to look at it. She said nothing but take it, grabbing out his ID. She looked at the photo. He had a sultry look. With his lips slightly parted, dazed siren eyes. She kept looking at it, reading the information. “Name… Austin Butler, height is six-one, age is twenty-eight, sex is male… eye color gray…” she looked at his face to confirm that he had gray eyes. Which he did. Not only was he Elvis’ doppelgänger, but he even had the rarest eye color. Then looked back at the card, “…and Elvis’ doppelgänger.” She added. “Y’know, Austin Butler is a pretty badass name.”

“Badass?”

“Rolls right off the tongue.” She giggled childishly, kicking up her legs out of the car. “Austin Butler.” She repeated, still staring at his ID photo.

—

Pulling into the dirt lot of Creek side. He sat in the car for a moment, looking at the ranch site. He could see a few little sheds of the ranch that seemed occupied. Creek side was huge, it was like a little town actually in the eyes of Austin.

He looked at his surroundings, there were horses, cowboys, dogs walking around with old abandoned rusty cars, and of course, hippies as well. As he looked around with his eyes, he could see at least four of them were pregnant. Well, sex does make babies.

“Austin!”

His head shot towards the girl. “Hm?”

“C’mon.” She walked out the car. “I wanna introduce you to my friends!” She said eagerly. He sighed, hopping out the car and locking it like usual. He made his way towards the girl, and she reached out her hand. He took it, their fingers intertwining. She quickly walked forward, but he leaned back, slowing down her pace. Which had caused her to practically drag him behind her.

She was looking at her surroundings. So was he. And she saw at least only maybe 10-16 people there, when usually there was way more. “I wonder where everybody is.” She looked around, standing beside Austin, her hand still clutching his. “I mean, everyone is asking about this doppelgänger I keep talking about y’know.” As she kept walking around, she made her way towards another part of the ranch, a small little shop. Where a girl was walking towards her. And this girl looked to be a high schooler as well. “Hello!!” She called to them.

“Hey Connie!” The girl had ran towards them.

Connie let go of his hand, seeing that the girl wanted to embrace him, “Hey Angel.” They both exchanged a hug with a quick kiss. Austin slipped his hands into his pockets, watching them both quietly. “This is my friend Austin,” she looked up at Austin then at Angel. “The doppelgänger I keep tellin you guys about.”

“He does look like Elvis.” Angel looked at him up and down. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yes.” Austin chuckled, his eyes looking at Connie then away from her.