#my quarantine one has actually had a lot of use and fic writing in it tho and im v happy

[eupheme]

JOEL MILLER - 2023 FIC RECS

this year has been filled with so many beautiful fics, I wanted to make a rec list to share & support everything I read. please check these out and support these creators, they are all incredible! 💖✨

— A Lover's Pinch by @hier--soir

a one-night stand with a charming texan turns into something much more thrilling when you discover he is your new college professor. joel miller is entirely off limits. but now that you’ve had a taste, will you be able to keep your hands to yourselves?

— A Matter of Timing by @lavenderursa

Before the world went to shit you and your neighbor, Joel, were involved. It was complicated then and now at the end of the world, it's much the same.

— A Minute From Home by @agentmarcuspike

— A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing by @jupiter-soups

joel miller is not quite as scary as the people of jackson believe him to be. at least, not around you.

— A Very Furby Christmas by @/proxima-writes

it’s christmas eve 1998 and joel miller thinks everything is perfect. / well, until his brother admits he didn’t get sarah the one present she wanted - the furby. now, joel has to go out on christmas eve to find the year’s hottest toy that’s been sold out for months / turns out, you’re on the same mission. and you’ve both found the last furby in town.

— Asking Nicely by @grippingbeskar

— Autumn Air by @swiftispunk

it’s been a month since you returned home from costa rica and you and joel have fallen into a blissful routine. when a rude awakening threatens to disrupt that peace, together you must make a decision…or two.

— Barbie Girl by @tightjeansjavi

Joel, Sarah and Tommy go to the Barbie movie opening weekend

— Be Good, Be Quiet by @/undercoverpena

bill tells you both you're sleeping in separate rooms when a thunderstorm doesn't allow you to leave. but joel isn't planning on getting any sleep.

— Blue Jeans N'Texas Dreams by @/tightjeansjavi

Joel Miller, single father; total soft dad has an astronomically enormous crush on you, his daughters horseback riding instructor.

— Boston Holiday. by @/amywritesthings

You’re decorating for the holidays in your Boston Quarantine Zone apartment. A begrudging Joel Miller gets involved.

— Bunny Tails by @sweetercalypso

When hunter!Joel finds reader picking flowers outside his cabin, he convinces her to come inside

— But He Does Have You by @undercoverpena

because he hasn’t got a lot of anything, but he does have you.

—Butterfly by @stargirlfics

Sometimes the path to healing starts with a reminder of what’s been lost

— Can’t Help Myself by @fettuccin-e

— Catching by @softlyspector

None of your partners had ever been able to make you come before. Joel changed that.

— Comfortably Close by @omgreally

You and Joel share a couch.

— Come Clean by @cupofjoel

joel comes home after a messy day on patrol, but you’re already in the shower

— Comfort Came Against My Will by @/undercoverpena

it’ll begin with a little beg, a whispered plea—fingers wrapping around his chin, mouth ghosting over his: Let me ride you, Miller.

— Creature Comforts by @galactic-basic

A gift. Joel didn’t call it that. Didn’t say as much. Didn’t say anything—actually. / But it’s yours. Your mattress. Your bed. There are so few things you can call yours these days.

— Crystal by @ezrasbirdie

Joel's live-in girlfriend is a little witchy. It takes some getting used to.

— Dinner & Diatribes by @tightjeansjavi

you’re the kind of love that Joel Miller has been dreaming of all his life

— Dinner Date by @juletheghoul

 neighbour!Joel au

— Distracted by @/psychedelic-ink

there are many advantages to enrolling in a woodshop class: drawing you away from not-so-happy thoughts, relearning something that you enjoyed doing when you were a kid, and, well, the sight of watching mr. miller do something he’s undeniably good at.

— Does Your Mother Know? by @/cupofjoel

— Flesh and Metal by @/swiftispunk

you meet joel at a bar. he really likes your nipple piercings. that’s about it.

— From Eden, Love Grows by @moonlight-prose

Days spent in flower fields and cooking in a sunbathed kitchen with him.

— Grays by @/softlyspector

Joel likes to be read to and held and have his hair stroked. He would never dare admit it, though.

— Go Slow by @/frannyzooey

In the quiet of your bedroom, Joel guides you through it. 

— Honeyed by @/softlyspector

You hate being touched, but you might be willing to put aside your discomfort for a tattoo from Joel.

— Honeymoon by @bits-and-babs

— Hurt by @/moonlight-prose

alone and trying to survive, you find your path crossing with a man who’s headed to boston of all places. he claims he’s looking for a new start, not realizing you might be it.

— I Crawl Home To Her by @/agentmarcuspike

after being stabbed, joel floats in and out of consciousness, between then and now, before and after, and his two daughters, both saving him in their own ways.

— I Know My Faults, But I Can't Hide Them… by @tarrenterror25

It’s all about surviving now. Joel knows it and so do you.

— I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by @/thetriumphantpanda

Your daughter catches you kissing santa… or does she?

— Juniper by @/softlyspector

You're sleepy. Joel knows a good way to put you to sleep.

— Ktober 2023 Day 24- Lingerie by @flightlessangelwings

— Keep It On The Low by @/cupofjoel

just because you and joel broke up doesn’t mean you can’t still (secretly) enjoy each other’s company

— Let Me Take Care Of You by @spaceydragons

Joel had a rough day, you take care of him

— Living in a State of Dreaming by @/cupofjoel

it’s been a year since you, joel, and ellie returned to jackson, and you’re finally starting to feel a sense of security. but when the sun goes down and joel closes his eyes, the horrors beyond the walls still hunt him, out to take back the family he’s worked so hard to protect.

— Made By Hand by @tinycozycomfort

He has nothing to offer, after all; no love letter, no borrowed jacket, no wedding ring. This is all he has to show his devotion, to seal his promise—a fist full of glossy blue and the willingness to unfurl his body and scoop out his insides just to allow you a place to lay. All he can give you is himself.

— Met The Devil Last Night by @pedgito

made a joke about wanting to screw dirt-covered Joel even if he was deep in the trenches of hell and…well, yeah.

— Middle of the Night by @/frannyzooey

He comes to you for comfort.

— Midnights by @/omgreally

Joel pulls back, and the blown-pupil intensity in his eyes makes you clench. “That a challenge?” he wonders, fingering the waistband of your jeans. / “You got any better ideas on how to ring in the new year, Joel Miller?”

— Mine by @the-scandalorian

He wants it—has wanted it.  / He wants the claim. The utter possession.

— Misbehavior by @/stargirlfics

 It’s the first and last time you ever talk back to his face

— Moments by @charnelhouse

Joel and you in a hotel phone booth.

— More and More by @/moonlight-prose

“he wanted to know every part of you, everything you kept hidden for fear of it being rejected. and you let him.”

— Moss & Mushrooms by @/softlyspector

You are alone, always. Then, one day, a beast emerges from the forest you've never dared to go into.

— My Girl Now by @/psychedelic-ink

joel is used to asshole clients, and when one of them calls him an old man and basically demands him to finish his girlfriend’s kitchen in time, he expects you to be the same. But you’re the opposite. when he learns how you’ve been treated, he comes up with a plan to get back at your boyfriend.

— Old Partners, New Plans by @grippingbeskar

— One Bed by @frannyzooey

“there is only one bed” + joel miller

— Only Need Ten by @pascalpvnk

“Joel,” your whine muffled by your pillow. “I have to leave in fifteen minutes, I can’t be late for patrol again. We have to be back in time for Sunday brunch.” / “Only need ten, baby,” he drawled in a hushed tone, hooking his thick fingers beneath the waistband of your panties. “Please?”

— Picture by @/softlyspector

You really want to take Joel's picture. He can't really figure out why.

— Pieces of You by @pedros-mustache

Maybe it’s wrong. Maybe it’s possessive and a tad bit jealous. Maybe after years working alongside Tess, you’ve simply learned to lay your claim on what is yours. 

— Press the Gas and Ride by @charnelhouse

comfort in a car

— Roadside Delight by @/inklore

joel should have known you’d be trouble when he found you on the side of the highway. he should have known you’d taste so fucking sweet too.

— See You by @hopeamarsu

— Seeing You, Seeing Me by @amywritesthings

After handling a life-or-death favor for Tess, you're in deep shit. Until she can make things right, she suggests you lay low at her place for the week. The issue? It's also Joel Miller's place, and you're pretty sure he hates you.

— Silence by @/frannyzooey

 Joel makes a silent promise.

— So, My Darlin' by @/psychedelic-ink

you convince joel to have a bubble bath with you.

— Sober by @/sweetercalypso

When Joel needs a break from reality, he finds the perfect distraction in a QZ dive bar

— Something Bad by @/fettuccin-e

— Something Wild and Unruly by @/ezrasbrdie

At Madame Aurelie's Secret Garden, men pay for beautiful courtesans trained in pleasure to give them whatever they want. And all Joel Miller, infamous outlaw and gunslinger, ever seems to want from you is a warm bath and quiet conversation.

— Standing in the Eye of the Storm by @/stargirlfics

You find each other at the end of the world

— Stay In Bed by @/psychedelic-ink

After your grandfather’s passing, you find yourself moving into his home in Texas. You meet the Millers; Tommy, his older brother Joel and his daughter Sarah. With time, you and Tommy become close friends and Sarah visits you often. But Joel…Joel keeps his distance. The reason for this is due to one crucial fact you don’t know but he does; Tommy has a crush on you. Which means you’re off limits no matter what. But as your own feelings for Joel grow, things start to get more and more complicated.

— Sweet Thing by @mandoisapunk

 the most unlikely pair in jackson just can’t get enough of each other.

— Sweet Words of Sin by @/moonlight-prose

“there was a certain high that came from this. having a man like joel miller relenting to your every word, all to hear those sweet words fall from your lips. as delicious as a glass of wine and just as sinful.”

— Sweetned Breath and Tongue So Mean by @/moonlight-prose

“joel couldn’t fathom what you saw in him. a man bloodied with the ravages of life. he’d taken life, killed to survive, and there were times he even fucking enjoyed it. but you were soft. you were the good that remained. the light he shouldn’t be allowed to tarnish.”

— Take Care of You by @theidiotwhowritesthings

You spent your entire adult life supporting yourself and barely getting by. It’s why a life of ease offered to you by a mysterious stranger sounded so foreign and unbelievable. Joel Miller, dressed in flannels that had seen better days, didn’t look like the kind who could promise you the world on a plate, but he seemed desperate to help out. All he asks is that you let him take care of you. That wouldn’t be so hard. Would it?

— Take Your Medicine by @/hier--soir

your medication makes it difficult to orgasm so joel (and your vibrator) help make it happen.

— Tarnished But So Grand by @morning-star-joy

tommy and maria lead a jovial existence in the countryside, but the appearance of tommy’s brother causes a stir in society with the dark rumors swirling around his reputation, some due to his standoffish demeanor and some due to the mysterious parentage of his rambunctious young ward miss williams

— The Checklist by @thetriumphantpanda

Your new boyfriend Joel finds your hidden stash of porn, full of pages with their corners folded over, marking the things you like the most. Expecting him to feel bad about finding things you’re into, things you haven’t asked for from him, you’re surprised when he offers to help you tick them off.

— The Dog of War by @/bits-and-babs

When Ellie is taken by David, Joel breaks open the part of him locked away since his hunter days. As the guilt eats him alive, you try to help him subdue the black dogs of mental warfare.

— The Revenant Wife by @pettyprocrastination

Ellie knows very little of Joel and even less of the wife he had before the outbreak. When she finally meets you, its just as much as shock to her as it is to your husband. 

— The Way We Fight by @/cupofjoel

you and joel love taking your frustrations out on each other—in more ways than one

— Toyin’ With Them Older Guys by @proxima-writes

Joel Miller is the grumpy bartender and owner of your favorite bar near campus, where you attend trivia every Tuesday night. Thinking there’s no way Joel could return your feelings, your friend suggests trying out Tinder. / But when you bring them to the bar for a date, they keep leaving mid date with no explanation. / Maybe there’s something Joel isn’t telling you after all.

— Trust Fall by @/tinycozycomforts

This, that was a shy thing at first, set into motion by some passing remark you’d made all those months ago—that he would do anything for you if you just asked nice enough.

— Two by @/the-scandalorian

— Watch Party by @/sweetercalypso

renting a Halloween movie turns into a nightmare when poltergeist!Joel Miller crawls out of your TV

— Way Too Damn Needy by @/cupofjoel

— What I Want by @/proxima-writes

joel comes home from a rough day of patrol and you know just what he needs.

— When You're Reading Me by @/psychedelic-ink

If you had to make a list of things Joel Miller might buy you as a gift— nipple clamps, would not be a part of it. 

— Wicked Games by @inklore

relationships are built on trust. favors, kindness, and hands meant to help, not maim. there’s no room for dishonesty, games, or ploys. that’s not the storybook way of things or how life should be. but maybe those rules only mattered when you weren’t living in a world that’s gone to shit |  joel miller x smuggler!reader

— Wish You Were Here by @macfrog

you and joel skip jackson’s annual holiday party in favor of some alone time. (not that kind you filthy animals it’s the HOLIDAYS)

— Woods by @/frannyzooey

— You Know I Don’t Mean It by @joelscruff

you and joel get off together. that’s pretty much it. you also have some unresolved feelings for him and he’s being closed off.

— You Take My Self Control by @/cupofjoel

your first act of brutality leaves you reeling, but you’d do it all over again if it meant saving joel��s life. in the aftermath, you realize you’ve started to crave that violence and it terrifies you. joel steps in to satisfy your craving.

— Your Summer Dream by @/swiftispunk

fresh on the heels of the worst breakup of your life, you find an unexpected kindred spirit in joel miller, who's agreed to tag along for seven days to a tropical resort with you and your parents.

if you haven’t read these, you need to! and please support these amazing fics & writers by reading, reblogging & commenting! 💕

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

@intertexts OKAY. FINALLY GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER AND WRITING THIS ALL DOWN SO ITS NOT JUST ROTATING IN MY BRAIN ANYMORE

NEW HAVEN WARDS MARK WINTERS ESSAY (except its more like. stream of consciousness me being insane over him)

>> its been too long, simurgh is too close. she fucking ROCKS half the city with an earthquake before she shows up. ashe runs inside as the roof collapses. his mom is trapped- she had grabbed her phone and some other small essentials and was on her way out when she got pinned by the rubble. ive typed this part out already in another post but as shes yelling at ashe trying to get him to leave, she realizes he wont go by himself so she texts mark . its kind of a shot in the dark- part of her hopes he hasnt evacuated yet so he can come get ashe and get him to safety, but she immediately feels this sense of dread for thinking like that because then that also means he's in as much danger as they are. and she can hear the singing now- some tiny part of her brain logically knows its too late and theyll be trapped by the quarantine protocols anyway, but. they can still get out of that alive. they just need to get there. anyway the important thing here is that the last thing ever hears from his wife is a text that says "ashe athome cant lea e come get hjm"

adding jonesys stupid fucking image in here bc it's so funny to me and is fr how I felt typing this whole thing up for like 4 hours

>> okay going to try my hardest to keep this chronological but i KNOW i will get distracted from that halfway through. starting from the simurgh attack. assuming simurgh attacks look pretty similar to each other, ive been imagining this a lot like the one we actually got to see with the travelers. the notice to evacuate went out in the early afternoon. (im going to say on a wednesday because thats the day i used in my fic and this is OUR AU i get to make the emotionally devastating rules. not that that matters to anyone but me. its a little treat.) so. mark was at work, ashe was at school, i like 2 think ashes mom works in somehting to do with old things or books or whatever so she was probably at work too. her IMMEDIATE thought is to go get ashe from school, because of course it is! (worldbuilding side note i think there are probably evac protocols in place for schools where. first priority is to keep the kids Togehter and get them out first so theyre SUPPOSED to evacuate straight from there and then meet up with their parents when everything is safe. but in a real emergency what parent is going to trust that and just leave their kids safety up to someone else?) she gets to the school and it is absolute chaos with all of the other parents trying to do the same thing. she gets ashe, goes to call mark to tell him where they are and- oh, yeah. she forgot her phone at home this morning. i just. like. the mundanity in that. its a normal morning, she maybe woke up late and had to rush out the door, got to work realized she didnt have her phone, had the thought like "damn thats frustrating. oh well, not like ill need it, ill just get it when im home later" we've all had days like that!!!!!!!!! but it becomes fucking heartbreaking in this situation because it means she now has No Way of contacting her husband to let him know that she has ashe and to tell him not to go to the school (because hes probably thinking the same thing) and to get out and where to meet them when theyre out. she KNOWS its a bad idea, she knows it would be catastrophic if they took too long... but all the other cars are going in the opposite direction, the road back is completely empty, surely they can be fast enough? she knows exactly where she left it, itll take two seconds and hey maybe the roads will be empty enough at that point they can get out even faster. so they fucking RUSH back home. she tells ashe to stay in the car wiht the doors locked while she runs inside.. he is scared and confused and doesnt want to be alone so after. maybe 30 seconds of her being gone he gets out of the car and goes inside.

>> switching to mark pov finally. evac notice goes out, he fucking books it to his car. but because its important to me that hes a little bit of a coward. this is where he hesitates. he knows he should find his family. meet up with them, make sure theyre all okay and they all make it out together. he's also logical. he knows this is a bad idea and his wife's job is closer to the school, shes probably already got ashe and theyre on their way out too. he can just leave. but he hasnt heard anything from her. thats not like her, she would call or something if they were okay, wouldnt she? so he kind of. panics over what he should do. he starts driving, telling himself he'll make up his mind on the road. hes about halfway to the end of the quarantine zone when he gets the text. has a moment of "fuck why are they there?" before immediately deciding to go get them. finds the aftermath of ashe's trigger. ashe is in breaker state, unresponsive except for... why is he laughing. hes sitting on the floor, knees up to his chest hands over his head jsut kind of. staring into the middle distance eyes unfocused quietly loopy laughing like hes totally unaware of the. scene.

>> mark is like. frozen there for a minute obviously horrified and he thinks ashe is having some kind of mental break at the shock and horror (he doesnt. understand that ashe killed her yet) until he goes and tries to get him to stand up and . oh the floor is unstable and bouncy like a trampoline and as soon as he touches ashe's shoulder hes knocked back by a pain in his hand that suspiciously feels like a joybuzzer turned up to 11. okay! fuck! his kid is a fucking parahuman and his wife is dead and the singing in his head just keeps getting louder and he knows what that means and he knows they have to get the hell out of there but hows he gonna do that when he cant get within 5 feet of ashe-

>> i think he just has to like. sit there and talk to ashe. which is a uniquely horrible punishment because it kills so much time in a situation where they need to get out, now, and the whole time theyre in the same room with whats left of a bloody corpse (but he cant think about that right now) and he has to be calm and keep his voice low because every sudden movement makes ashe's powers flare up again in response to a perceived threat- its MESSY, its SLOW its TERRIBLE but he needs ashe to calm down enough that he can actually talk to him and get him out. he eventually does (it feels like hours later, it was probably only like.. 10 minutes) and the weird distortions stop and mark just. runs forward and picks him up and takes him out to the car before ashe can. see what else is in the room.

>> he doesnt even bother putting ashe in another seat in the car he just holds him in his lap as he drives (oh god there are wings in the sky) just. as fast as he fucking can to whatever checkpoint or hospital or safe zone there is for any survivors. theres. not many. enough that the two of them can get lost in the crowd if they try hard enough but . not enough to fill an auditorium. he's maybe got a bunch of really small scrapes or bruises from the process of trying to get ashe to calm down but he doesnt know whether ashe is actually hurt or not so he goes to find some sort of medical attention and the whole time hes thinking "maybe this is a bad idea. i shouldnt tell them ashe has powers what if they take him away" and he gets the same sort of rundown about quarantine and payment that krouse got and mark is just standing there fucking shaking, hes still carrying ashe, he hasnt put him down since they left the house (ashe is still out of it- not because of his powers but because of. everything) and i think thats the breaking point where mark makes up his mind like. fuck this. we cant stay here, we cant go through all of the bullshit protocols, we cant wait that long (he can still hear simurgh in his head- what if shes pushing him to make this choice? is that exactly what she wants? who cares im getting my son somewhere safe)

>> i think mark is really good at. compartmentalizing and pushing down any emotion thats not anger and turning to logic in panic situations rather than emotion. so he hasnt like. fully processed any of this yet. he was more focused on "solve the problem, get out, get safe" to actually think about the fact that. oh my wife is dead. ashe doesnt have a mom anymore. ashe has powers now. how is he gonna deal with a powered kid? he never really cared about capes what does he even do now? i dont think any of this hits him until theyre out of the quarantine zone hiding out somewhere safe (as safe as they can be after. all of that) and his head is quiet and ashe is asleep and he looks down at his phone and sees the text and it all comes crashing down like. oh my god that was real. shes gone. he doesnt even have anything of hers and he never will because their house is basically gone and they can never go back and- FUCK HIM UP!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK HIM UP i want him to have a fucking breakdown . villain origin story moment he realizes nothing is ever going to be okay or normal ever again because theyve been marked by simurgh and hes already broken a huge fucking law how much worse can it get? what else does he have to lose. everything in his life revolves around keeping them safe and keeping ashe out of danger. simurgh be damned if hes going to become an agent of chaos it might as well be on his own terms to protect whats left of his family.

>> i think they move around a lot after that, never staying in one place for too long, never doing anything that make people look at them too closely. mark does a bunch of odd jobs, but its hard to get a job when youre legally dead and have no experience with making a fake identity so. theres a lot of stealing. never anything that would garner cape attention, at least at first, and if people started to get too suspicious theyd just pack up and move again.

>> and then mark does something that DOES draw cape attention. idk what it would be, but it captures the attention of. a guy who knows a guy who works for overlord. hey man you seem like you could use a job. off the books. so he joins up as like a... foot soldier mercenary whatever for overlord. this job is risky- hes essentially a full time criminal now (but what does that matter, he already broke the law), he has to spend extended periods of time away from home, he has to kill people sometimes now... but the money is worth it. he's okay with being a number, a blank face in the crowd, because it means he wont get the immediate fallout if something goes wrong. that gets put on whoever his boss is. ashe is maybe 13/14 by this point, he can take care of himself at home. mark gives himself a limit, hes never going to be away from home for more than 3 days (which he eventually extends into 5 days, which then turns into a week-). he is. really fucking good at his job. hes smart, he can be ruthless when he needs to be, he's efficient. no identity means no friends which means no slacking off on the job. this is all he has, he needs this, so hes good at it.

>> he starts to move up the ranks, take bigger (but never riskier) jobs, and it catches overlord's attention. overlord offers him a promotion. offer being in air quotes here. he lays everything out plain and simple- youre good, youre going to join my personal elite team, i know who you are and why youre running. i can offer you an out, get you and your son (oh god oh fuck overlord knows about his kid) a new life, a new identity, nobody will have any reason to suspect you. and also in order to join you have to take this (cauldron vial!!! + canon parallel to the like. forced experimentation on harttawa)

>> mark doesnt want pwoers. he doesnt want to be a cape. but overlord knows about ashe, knows about their history, and if he turns down this offer theyre both fucked. so logic takes over emotion again and he accepts it, leans into the position, stays as fucking ruthless as ever. but its Different now. hes a cape, he has a secret identity, a name, people are Looking at him now, even if all they see is a costume.

>> silly sidebar for ME here but this period of time is where he meets tide :] forever thinking about ur nhw tidalwave post. fight to maim, not kill.

>> a couple years pass like this and its Fine. ashe is 17 now, mark knows hes fucked up (theyre both fucked up) but hes too deep into this job now to give it up. its kept them safe and in place for this long, he can fool himself into believing they can stay like this . ashe does not have the same train of thought. hes lonely, hes miserable, hes bored, he just wants to have a life! they fight a lot about this. they fight a lot about this and sometimes mark leaves in the middle of it because he gets called on a job so nothing ever gets resolved. they have a particularly rough fight and mark gets pulled away in the middle of it to answer a phonecall, and when he comes back ashe is still pissed but hes just so tired and defeated that hes like "listen. we'll deal with this later, i have to go for a few days, there are groceries in the fridge, do whatever you want, just stay here, be safe, dont be stupid" and then he leaves! and ashe is still pissed and his dad is a hypocrite (why does he get to go out and use his powers and put himself in dangerous situations when ashe gets in trouble for floating the tv remote to the kitchen table while hes eating breakfast, and never gets to leave the house or go to school or have friends or-) . and this is where he makes the decision to sneak out the first time!!

>> he starts sneaking out more often, usually only when he knows mark is gonna be gone for extended periods of time, he gets good at disabling the tinker devices, he has friends!! everything is good!!!! mark finds out when he gets home from a job early and ashe is gone. and he fucking freaks out, hes ready to tear up city streets, hes ready to go on a fucking rampage... but then he hears the window open as he climbs back into his room . its a big like. "oh shit" moment on ashes part, he doesnt think hes ever seen his dad this angry before, he threatens to put bars on the goddamn windows, etc (mark has a reason to be as angry as he does- if anything ever happens to ashe everything hes ever done will have been for nothing. but its still. harsh.)

>> i think once everything cools down from this they do have an actual talk about it that isnt a fight; ashe tells him he has friends now and he just wants to be normal, be a kid, he cant spend anymore time in his room its killing him knowing hes wasting his life like this etc. i think mark maybe reluctantly agrees to letting him go out with his friends (he doesnt know who they are yet, ive GOTTA believe he knows tide hes had to have fought or at least seen the wards before, theres no way he would say yes to this if he knew thats who ashe was talking about) but gives him strict like. dont use your powers ever, curfews and check in texts and a code system and its a little Too Much but ashe is just. giddy at all of it because !! curfews are a thing Normal kids get!! he gets to go hang out with his friends without the looming threat of sneaking out to do it !!!

>> ashe starts using his powers anyway because his friends are capes and !!! he is also technically a cape!! he can help!!!! i think he starts out by beggingggg to go on patrol with them sometimes (i wont even do anything, i just want to see what its like, you guys know i have powers too i can handle myself, dont be like my dad etc etc) i think the wards are pretty reluctant to do that bc they know what its really like but. man. its ashe. he deserves Something. it becomes more frequent and serious and the prt handler tells them they should recruit him.

>> mark is sooooooo fucking against ashe joining the wards. because of course he is he has to be. ESPECIALLY considering. hey. hes a villain, working for one of the most notorious villains in the city, being put in a situation where he has to choose between fighting his son or losing overlords protection is a HUGE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO. (he would choose to say fuck overlord with no hesitation, no way he would even consider the other option, but he also knows what kind of consequences a choice like that would have)

>> hey. actually. that gives me an idea. what if thats exactly the scenario that leads up to the whole trickster thing. overlord wants to be proactive, launch an attack on the wards, they just got a dangerous new member lets go see what kind of powers theyve got. mark obviosuly refuses. overlord does not take being told no very kindly. hey what if this is how mark gets the lizard stuff. instead of getting it as a side effect mutation of his powers, he pisses off overlord, the guy who has a morbid fascination with animal human hybrids and genetic experimentation. ive solved everything!!!!!! (<< guy who is fucking insane. please imagine me with mad science hair and crazy eyes as i am saying this. dr. cross who?)

>> mark effectively goes missing while overlord has him captive, ashe is freaked out because his dad has never left without telling him first, but maybe it was an emergency or whatever... until his hard limit on jobs passes. its been over a week and no contact whatsoever. hes gone. ashe gets fucked up about this

>> mark is unconscious for the entire trickster thing. he was unmasked for the experimentation so when the heroes come to clean up the aftermath they dont recognize him as one of the villains (tide does. tide doesnt tell anyone) and take him to. a hospital rather than prison. he is fuuuucked up when he wakes up. gotta adjust to a WHOLE lot of freaky lizard things. hes kind of out of it, understandably, so nobody... tells him. its only a few days later, when mark is more lucid and can stand on his own two feet without losing balance, and when he can see properly again, tide visits him (tide has been visiting him the whole time, not that he'd remember it much, because who else will. who else will!) tide tells him ashe is missing. he breaks the news as gently as he possibly can because its gonna be a shitshow either way (he knows how mark is gonna react no matter what. waiting doesnt help either because then hes just pissed that he was lied to for days ("you coudlnt even stand, how was i supposed to tell you then?" "i dont know, i wouldve done something. he could be anywhere by now")

>> mark goes sooooo rogue. he goes so very rogue. hes literally got nothing to lose anymore. the wards try to work with him, try to help him, because theyre looking for ashe too, but he thinks theyre too slow, too good, too afraid to do things that actually need to be done. he goes too far and gets put in the birdcage.

>> i think he probably loses it a little bit in the birdcage. hardcore despair depression that turns into just this awful terrible rage. hes mad at himself for not being able to stop it, hes mad at ashe because this is what he WARNED him about for YEARS and if he only would have listened, hes mad at the world, hes mad at SIMURGH . all nhw mark winters knows is be so full of grief and rage at all times

>> breaks out of the birdcage (still insane abt this btw) and goes back on his. sort of rampage. the wards stop him (tide is. retired at this point. that happened while mark was in jail) and they try to talk some sense into him, maybe they get him to slow down just a little bit, enough to tell him what theyve learned (not much). mark and everyone else eventually learn about muse. mark winters worlds most miserable man is watching every single one of his nightmares play out in front of him and he realizes this is what simurgh marked them for. hes watching his son, unmasked, level a fucking town in some gaudy outfit he knows ashe would never wear and hes calling himself muse and thats not what his laugh sounds like and

>> okay im a little more fuzzy past this point. i said this mostly joking before but i DO think there should be a moment where. mark is up against muse and hes trying to talk to ashe like he did that first night to get him out of breaker state and ashe gets one lucid moment where he just starts crying and babbling about losing marks jacket and hes so sorry but that only lasts about 2 minutes before trickster gets control of him again. this is the catalyst for them realizing that yeah, ashe IS still in there and it might be possible to break him out .

>> god. all of that was plot and i didnt even talk about Little Things which are my favorite. heres a collection of Little Things:

>> i want him to keep his weird terrible lizard biology <3 maybe its not as smooth a transition as in canon, maybe hes just got the scales and the eye and not. the tail or infrared sense or whatever. but he Could. as a Treat for Me.

>> i actually... ironically think mark is a better dad in this au than he is in canon. like. dont get me wrong hes still awful and he sucks but. hes working with the knowledge here that no matter what he does he and ashe are still doomed and hes always waiting for the other shoe to drop and hes more scared and theres nothing he can do about it so. he makes more of an effort to Actually Care about his son. before overlord he never wouldve missed a birthday for anyhting. theyre all each other has.

>> that little bit of dialogue i typed up for mark earlier. stay here, be safe, dont be stupid. be safe, dont be stupid. he says that a lot, always in that order. enough that when ashe is with the wards sometimes he'll also say it. dakota "im going to pick up the pizza" ashe from the couch "be safe dont be stupid" (IMMEDIATE recoil as he thinks about it for more than a second because he has an oh god i sound like my dad moment. but everyone else finds it endearing)

>> THE COAT!!!!!!!! THECOAT. i think about the coat a lot. its just. a random one that ashe grabbed from the closet the first time he snuck out. but it was a good size, exactly as baggy as he likes, hey! he found old money in the pocket! so he just like. claims it as his own and neither of them ever say anything about it but its suuuuch. comfort clothing for ashe and he doesnt like thinking about why. it just is. he wears it EVERYWHERE all the time, its the one piece of clothing the rest of the wards never steal beacuse they know its important to him.

>> there is exactly one (1) surviving picture of ashes mom outside of their old house and its a crumpled polaroid mark had in his wallet from when ashe was a baby.

>> he will never admit this to himself or anyone else but. as much as mark is scared for ashe and scared for both of their safety and what it means for them to be simurgh victims... he is also scared OF ashe, even just subconsciously . he has nightmares about finding ashe that day, laughing. about what mightve happened if he wasnt able to break ashe out of that state. about what mightve happened if he had never gotten that text and continued on with the evac protocols. i need that blonde man to be fucking miserable

>> literally always thinking about your tidalwave post. never not thinking about your tidalwave post. i dont even have much to add here other than i really like nhw tidalwave a lot. the aftermath of the leviathan fight makes me crazy even if thats mostly one-sided on tides part.

>> his tinker specialty is power enhancement. he makes devices that make his and other peoples powers stronger or extend their range. the drawback is that the devices need to be Connected to the person using them in some way (thinking about the ports he has on his back in canon. his gauntlets clamp down on his forearms. overlord had him make each of the capes under his power something that enhances them too so theyve all got little. gadgets embedded in them somehow) (begs the question can he also make things that dampen powers? is this falling too far into Trump category?)

>> he got ashe his headphones as a birthday present when he was like... 15 . their fights had been getting more frequent as he had to be away from home more and ashe was fully in his angsty teen "i hate my dad" phase, but mark had been working w overlord for like a year at that point and money wasnt as much of an issue anymore so he got ashe like. the most high quality noise cancelling headphones he could possibly find.

okay i think thats all. its nearly 1am lmao!!!!!

[allwaswell16]

A fic rec of my favorite One Direction roommates fics as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find all my other fic recs here. Happy reading!

-Larry-

Red Brick Heart by hazmesentir / @alveronian

(E, 98k, uni au) Harry had turned up at the halls of residence expecting fun, new friends, and maybe a life experience or two. What he doesn't expect is a surprise roommate who's loud and dramatic and obsessed with tea and is maybe, actually, all he's ever wanted.

There's No Other Place by nikogda / @satvrdays

(E, 51k, hybrid au) the one where Harry offers his home for omega hybrid Louis in a world where his very existence is illegal. It was meant to be temporary, but as time goes on, neither of them want it to be. Too bad things are rarely that simple.

Looking Through You by @allwaswell16

(E, 41k, songfic) As Harry tries to make sense of his feelings for Louis, he begins writing his next album to express them as it may be the only way to break through the walls that Louis has built between them.

All Your Mates Are Here by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(T, 36k, werewolves au) A new pack, a new house, and two new roommates with personal space issues... Plus exams, of course.

I Just Want You to Stay by @sadaveniren

(E, 34k, omegaverse) Louis and Harry have been roommates for four years, comfortable in their routine and their relationship. But all of that is about to change.

Instant Pleasure by @100percentsassy

(E, 25k, uni au) This fic has everything! College Roommates! Mario Kart! Julie Andrews! Demonstrative Pronouns! Flamboyant Dom Louis! Premature Ejaculation! Niall!

it's not a walk in the park to love each other by @maroonmoonlouis

(E, 24k, quarantine au) the one where Harry and Louis are roommates forced to quarantine together, but they hate each other very much a lot.

You're Writing Verses About Me by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings

(T, 23k, fake relationship) Everybody knows that Louis has never been one for serious boyfriends. 

Take Your Time by @laynefaire

(E, 20k, series) When Harry finds himself in the middle of a messy break-up with no place to live, Louis offers a spare room in his flat. 

Tell Me Your Secrets by dimpled_halo / @comebackassholes

(E, 17k, phone sex operator au) A For a Good Time Call au where Harry and Louis get off on the wrong foot when they first meet.

Saw It In Your Eyes by @taggiecb

(E, 15k, sexuality crisis au) the one where Harry is an oblivious walnut.

Kings by dolce_piccante / @haydolce

(T, 13k, Marcel au) Marcel receives an invitation to his ten year high school reunion, which brings up some painful memories of his youth. 

Stuck In The Middle With You by green_feelings / @greenfeelings

(T, 11k, fake relationship) When Harry starts university, he finally gets to spend every day with Louis again. They have been friends since forever, and would do anything for each other.

tell me what you want by stylinsoncity / @aliensingucci

(M, 10k, pining) Louis, desperately looking for a room, pretends to be straight, thinking it would be easy, until he discovers that Harry likes to be naked at home. 

All I Do the Whole Day Through by @lululawrence

(NR, 6k, omegaverse) But why was Harry using Louis’ clothes and items that probably smelled like him in his nest?

to love you in word and deed by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(G, 4k, proposal au) Louis loves everything about living with Harry. Except for Harry's effusive proposals. Because the problem is, it's getting harder and harder for Louis to keep reacting like they're jokes.

Home Remedies by @kingsofeverything

(E, 4k, hiccups fic) Louis’ hiccups just won’t stop. Harry, his roommate and best friend, is willing to do anything to help.

It's a match! by @maggieisalarrie

(G, 1k, friends to lovers) If he swipes right, they simply won’t match and that’s the only way he could ever see this playing out. So against his better judgement, he swipes right.

-Rare Pairs-

Your Lips On Mine by taecheeks

(E, 56k, Zayn/Liam) the one where Zayn is a camboy, who likes to think about the fit mechanic with a liking for leather jackets and scruffy beards from uni during his shows. And Liam, the mechanic, who realizes his new roommate is Bradford, the man with the smooth skin covered in tattoos that Liam watches late at night with a hand wrapped around himself.

(I Was Broke) You Healed Me by @fallinglikethis

(T, 12k, Niall/Harry) Niall Horan is an unmated pregnant omega living on his own after his alpha boyfriend leaves him.

Repeat the Same Routine by twoshipsdrifting / @polkadotlou

(G, 5k, Niall/Zayn) Niall and Zayn are about the least compatible roommates you're going to find - at least that's how Niall feels on his second week of uni getting little to no sleep thanks to his roommate.

[uhohbestie]

hi it's me again the girl who went insane over your guys' writing!!! anyways

i have a special interest in the hypotheticals of zombie apocalypses and have spent actual months researching and thinking about what the most realistic way of a zombie apocalypse would be; and from that research i've kinda concluded that the most realistic way for zombies to happen in our normal world would be the cordyceps fungi!

if you're unfamiliar with it, it's a fungi that essentially "takes over" insects for growth and development by manipulating the insects system in a way that makes it act like a "zombie" ! its what was used in the last of us and it's surprisingly the most realistic thing that could happen to us. if i recall correctly cordyceps has actually spread to other things larger than insects in the more recent past, which adds the possibility for it happening to humans as well. freaky, right?

enough about that ,, i've been thinking nonstop about how the decomposition process works in tamn? since the apocalypse started in summer, if i recall correctly, would some of the early infected decayed easier? do the zombies even decay? is whatever it is that's making them a zombie actively stopping the decay? since we're in winter now, would the decay stop a bit? if the zombie fully decayed, would they just turn into a normal skeleton?

you might not have an answer for this but i've also been thinking about how the infection came to be? is it like a fantasy thing, just "oops, we've got zombies now!" or is it another thing? cordyceps adjacent? where did the infection first start? how long did it take before it reached scar and grian in california? were other parts of the world infected and they were just unaware? are some parts of the world not infected yet? has the infection wiped out certain parts of the world?

and another thing; is there any chance at all of the world going back to normal here? was there also any sense of civilisation after everything hit? in the last of us, they had those "quarantine zones" which were controlled by the military and were essentially safe zones. was there anything like this that scarian was unaware of?

and finally (on a joking note) why the hell did grian have to get bit in my state man... i was like ! oh theyre in oregon oh my god !!

Oh He's Dead Okay...

that's enough kono rambling in your guys' ask box for one day.... love you guys and this fic 🫶 happy fourth arc you two!!! can't wait to see the end of this absolutely amazing piece of writing🥹

Hilariously, as much as we've thought about the trials and tribulations of what Scar and Grian are going through and feeling, we haven't actually spent a lot of time focusing on the cause of the zombie outbreak or its spread at all!

We did write a short fic about Patient Zero (set in the same world/timeline, but entirely separate from Grian and Scar), and how the virus originally broke out and began to spread. (Basically it was a sleep study for a medication trial gone awry.) We've been writing from the perspective that the United States was the first point of the outbreak, and that the infection spread from west to east across the continent (so as Scar and Grian travel, they're actually heading AGAINST the spread, and working through areas that have already experienced the first wave of the outbreak).

We imagine the infection spread haphazardly, and so there are probably untouched pockets where people are fine and haven't had to experience the outbreak yet. (One of the things we kept in mind while writing was that every state had a different approach to handling the outbreak. Some told people to shelter in place, others encouraged them to leave their homes. That's why some of the towns Grian and Scar passed through were entirely empty, rather than full of infected.) Hilariously, one of the consequences of crossing paths with Scarian in this fic is that everyone leaves them going "screw finding other survivors, I'm better off on my own."

As for whether or not the world will be able to recover from the outbreak: that remains to be seen! It depends upon a lot of factors, but most of all we just don't want to spoil any of the potential endings for the fic >:3 (Luckily we're in the fourth arc now, so it's not too far away!)

----------

Key here adding in!

Zombies were a huuuge hyperfixation of mine from before I even knew what hyperfixations were LOL So actually I went down the same research hole as you aaages ago--long before I ever got into Hermitcraft! :D The cordyceps fungi were such an interesting topic to me, and I remember being really into the reports about ants and other insects being controlled by them :") Which is why, when The Last of Us came out, like... YEARS ago lmao, I was all over it! :D Love the way the game played it all out and, actually, I cajoled Lock into watching the Live action remake of it with me when it came out last year :3

Lock already linked you to our version of How The Infection Started in the origin fic we did, but fwiw, TAMN takes place in the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse, unlike TLOU which takes places years after it (beyond the initial setup in any case). So while there aren't any huge safe zones/militarized areas/quarantine locations that Scarian know of yet, it simply might just be because communications are down and it's hard to get information from one state to another at the end of the world. For all they know, there could be thriving communities out there--they just haven't been to one. (In the same vein, Scar and Grian have no idea what the rest of the world is doing. It might be just fine! Maybe the virus has been contained in North America and the rest of the world is just watching the fallout. They simply don't have the means to find out at this point, and Lock and I probably won't say one way or another until the fic ends ;3)

As for decaying, the apocalypse started a few days after Halloween, so it was already cold in many parts of the US. As such, I don't think the rotting would've progressed and festered as badly as the summer heat would've done. That said, at the point we're at right now, it's been what? Almost two months? So while the cold certainly slows it down somewhat, there are plenty of corpses that have reached a fetid, rank state 😬

Always a pleasure to hear from you Kono! Hope these replies give you something to chew on :D 💜

[msmargaretmurry]

writing meme

i was tagged by @postoperation AND @bropunzeling AND @vivathewilddog wow ily friends but calm down (❤❤)

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.

first fic: the oldest timestamped fic on my ao3 is Golden Boys, a quick little pk subban/john tavares fic from 2012. i want to say it's short and sweet but i honestly haven't read it in ten years, so who knows 😂 there are some bandom fics and a tsn rpf fic on there that are older than that one but i imported them from livejournal in like 2015 and didn't backdate them properly, and i don't feel like figuring out which one is actually the oldest, and also don't want to draw attention to them because woof, that is some old old writing of mine.

last fic: this is for keeps, the one-year anniversary timestamp for head above water ❤ i had actually wanted this to be longer/a richer story but i've been struggling a lot with writing this year and so i just ran out of time and decided short and sweet was better than nothing. i am happy with it, though; i think it hit the most important beats i wanted to hit!

any fic written for a fandom/ship only once: homeland, the mighty ducks adam/charlie fic i wrote for yuletide a couple years ago. i feel like i answered an ask about this one recently so sorry to reiterate but if this hadn't been on a deadline it would have been five times as long and five times as angsty, lol. but also if it hadn't been for yuletide i probably wouldn't have written it at all, so it's all a wash i suppose. despite the deadline of it all though i enjoyed writing this one and think there are some really lovely bits of writing in it.

favorite fic in the fandom with the most works: this is one direction, which i wrote exactly one fic for, so i guess it's my favorite by default: the very best of, which i wrote in the complete haze of peak pandemic quarantine and now feels like a total fever dream. but it was fun! i love the bits of fake journalism and fake songwriting i did for it.

a fic you wish more people had read: come and make the hymns of you, which i can't really complain about fewer people reading because it is a fic for a relatively small fandom written twenty years after the thing came out and about a decade after that fandom's fic-writing peak. i'm really proud of it, though! i think it's one of the best things i've written! it was really fun getting to write in a style that i don't usually get to use for present-day rpf stories, and i love the character voice i developed for webster.

the fic you agonized over the most: i agonized a LOT over HAW, but i think that the land between our bodies still wins here. writing that fic was truly like pulling teeth. like i am very glad i finished it for the exchange and also i'm very glad people enjoyed it — tbh people enjoying it is the only reason i have any fondness for it 😅 — but from a personal standpoint i don't know if i'll ever get over how shitty i felt while writing it to properly enjoy it for myself. but maybe i will! i certainly hope so!

fic that sprang fully formed from my mind: The Next Next One, for sure. what a fun and fulfilling writing process that was. i mean, it's a long fic, so there were definitely parts that were a little tougher to get through than others, but overall it was such a smooth creative process. all of the plot pieces just fell into place. huge shoutout to @postoperation and @moregraceful for being my very encouraging captive audience as i word-vomited it into emails until i got the whole story out ❤

a work you are proud of: okay okay yes fine it's head above water ❤❤ i was actually super unsure about it when i posted it, but after taking some time to let it breathe (and to talk with so many of you all about it) i did end up really proud of it, and i've had such a good time continuing to play in that universe 💞

i am tagging (and attempting to tag folks i haven't seen tagged 😂): @irrelevanttous @grittyreadsfic @loveisworry @the-ships-to-rule-them-all @lilcrickee if you want to! no pressure!

[crystal-overdrive]

Writer Interview Tag ✍️

Thank you for the tag @darkurgetrash!

When did you start writing?

I'm a pandemic writer! I'd always liked the idea of writing, but lockdown gave me the time to actually commit to finishing pieces. I wrote my first visual novel when I was 26, moved into narrative design at work at 27, then started my master's degree in creative writing at 29. Towards Tyranny is the first fanfiction I've written, though I have been a reader since 2008-ish. From both perspectives I suppose I'm relatively late to writing. Sometimes I feel like I'm ancient and sometimes I feel very young, but I think having a decade of life experience under my belt before I started writing has helped me to craft more meaningful narratives. The best writers I know are in their 50s and I'm twenty years off that! With admitting that I'm actually educated in and have professional experience with writing, I feel like I must explain that Towards Tyranny is 100% unedited - pure brain garbage. I'm more invested in keeping up with my schedule and delivering a story than crafting fantastic (or even middling) prose.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Outside of fic I mostly write science-fiction and drama. I listen to a lot of horror audio drama and fiction podcasts, and while there is a horror element lurking in the background of some of my work, I'm yet to fully venture into that territory.

Most of the sci-fi I read is lefty political spec-fic. Eventually I'd like my own sf work to contain those sorts of themes but I don't think I'm politically astute enough right now to do that justice.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

One of the best-worst comments I ever got from a professor was "Neal Stephenson can get away with this. You are not Neal Stephenson," in reference to my use of dense neologisms and tech-industry specific language. He later said the piece was better than Blade Runner so, idk, maybe I can get away with that! 😂 I got another Philip K Dick comparison with my current supervisor when we were talking about theme and he told me his prose is shit but he does theme so well that it doesn't matter. 😬 With prose, the dream is to be some combination of Ursula K Le Guin and William Gibson, write some ecofeminist cyberpunk stuff. With drama I'm obsessed with Caryl Chruchill. She breaks the rules in such delightful ways, and my latest play cribs her werido no-punctuation style.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I have my own office because when I was working both my partner and I were under NDAs, so we had to give up the spare bedroom so we could stop sharing the office. I couldn't go back now. Having space in the house just for me is so wonderful. My desk is frequently an absolute state, but it's organised chaos, I know where everything is. I have my craft books in here and a big whiteboard for all my tasks for the week. Behind my monitor I have a motivation wall of printed out comments on my work, and I also have all the fandom artwork I've bought framed in here. The other art in the house is a little more tasteful so this is the sexy Gortash quarantine zone.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I think it depends on your definition of muse. If it means "the will to write", there is no muse. Its all routine and deadlines, baby. I know I sound like one of those grouchy old writers, but you sit and you write, that's it. Some days it's crap. Most days it isn't. In terms of idea generation, my primary technique is just daydreaming, honestly. I joke with my partner that I'm "going to bed to watch TV" which actually means just imagining what's going to happen next in my story for like 2 hours before I fall asleep. I go on a walk most days and think then. In dire moments just lying on the floor until an idea comes also works. When I'm actually gearing stuff up for pitching I look back through my old notebooks, make mind maps and take inspiration from news and magazines. I have a box with clippings from Wired, New Scientist and those trashy "true story" magazines like Take a Break. Juxtaposing headlines and images from those often gives me something interesting to work with. I went to an archives workshop recently so I might try archive diving when I start my next project.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Alternative realities and expectations of women seem to saturate my writing. This year I've written a screenplay about jumping dimensions which questioned the value of motherhood, part of a novel about teenage girls being suicide baited in VR to achieve eternal beauty, an interactive fiction piece about a game able to alter reality and a radio play about simulation theory.

Towards Tyranny is absolutely loaded with the expectations of women thing, with marriage, children, parental expectations and societal expectations being really core to Tav's life choices and dilemmas. It's a pretty negative take considering where we're going right now.

What is your reason for writing?

That's an interesting question! There's absolutely no doubt that Towards Tyranny is kind of therapy for me. I wrote my way through a crisis of faith, through feeling like I was perceived as unequal to my partner, through losing friends to mortgages and pets and babies. I honestly don't think I would be engaged right now if I hadn't written this. I'm really terrible at identifying my own emotions and for some reason making up a hot character with all my worst traits and sending her down the fascist pipeline has helped me with that. 😂

I think at this point with TT I'm now writing for the audience. I know you're "not supposed" to do that but I don't create things to hide them away, I create things to connect with others, in the hope that someone else sees themselves in my viewpoint. I doubt I'm so unique that no one else has these problems!

In my more general writing life I suppose that is it, I write to connect with people, to share ideas, maybe? I just enjoy it, really.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Every single time I get a comment it makes me so excited. I fucking live for comments. My favourites are definitely ones that speculate on what's coming next. The fun part of working in a serial format is going on that guessing journey with the readers and seeing where they think things are going. I'm pretty convinced that my readers have a very different idea of how TT will end compared to me, which is going to be interesting. 👀

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

For my wider work I almost don't want to be thought of, I'm big believer in death of the author and am really interested in audience interpretations and what they do with the work. With the fic, it's all about community. I must admit I have a very cringe fantasy of like, expertly ordering wine in my gorgeous heels at some BG3 convention and someone being like "you wrote Towards Tyranny, didn't you?". That's fucking embarrassing lol. But that's the point of (what used to be) a self-insert, right? You but cool and hot? I suppose I want the audience to think I'm smart, elegant, astute, while honestly what I'm telling them is that I'm a dumbass who doesn't know her own emotions and has a crisis over how people view her every other week.

There's definitely a lot of power in knowing that people are waiting for you to post next week and to know that you're eliciting emotion from them. My posting schedule is important to me. I would die if I thought my audience saw me as flaky or unable to commit and finish what I started.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

My dialogue is pretty good. Most of my education has been in writing for stage and screen, and I think that comes across in my prose too. I don't have a car, so I spend a lot of time being nosy on public transport and listening to how people talk, and I hope that's filtered into how I write different voices.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Some days I think I'm the Goddess' gift to the Earth and other days I think I'm the fucking worst and should just give up. The objective truth is that I'm...fine? I think I'm in a pretty good place as an early career writer. I've got loads of stuff to develop, but my plays are being picked up by scratch nights and small theatres, and I've had positive feedback on my prose by published authors. As I said before Towards Tyranny is not an accurate reflection of my skill level but I do really like it, it's fun, it has stuff to say, it's hot. I've had a lot of doubts about it given it's my first longform piece and my first fanwork, particularly with the sex scenes and the idea that it probably won't end how the readership wants it to, but it does have a readership who have been incredibly kind about it, which has really bolstered me in moments of doubt.

[lumiereandcogsworth]

tagged by @thavron thank you my dear :)

1. are you named after anyone? yes! my great-grandma lydia. we share a birthday AND she died on her birthday exactly one year before i was born. a very fun and slightly spooky anecdote

2. when was the last time you cried? last night, i got a very angsty fic idea and as usual i somehow manage to put myself into the character’s shoes so easily and i was crying a character’s tears. last time i cried my own tears was the night before i think, or something like that. idk, i cry a lot lmao.

3. do you have kids? no but my build-a-bear stitch IS my son

4. what sports do you play / have you played? i played basketball from ages 6-17 and it was basically my entire personality. haven’t done any sports since then and probably won’t, though i’m trying to find some kind of exercise that could actually be fun :/ i loved rock climbing in college but there’s no wall near where i live. but anyway i’ll figure it out

5. do you use sarcasm? noOooOoo i would Neverrrrrrrr

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people? i genuinely have no idea, i don’t really look at people. maybe their voice/the way they speak? or their shoes cuz that’s where i be looking lmao

7. what’s your eye color? i don’t knoowww. blue green grey. depends on what i’m wearing, sometimes the blue really pops. but sometimes it doesn’t look like my eyes are blue at all so. i think they’re mostly grey.

8. scary movies or happy endings? once again this question makes no sense because a lot of scary movies (most?? nearly all????) HAVE happy endings. but anyway to quote the fairy fauna from sleeping beauty, i just LOVE happy endings :”)

9. any talents? well i like to think i’m an alright writer! i actually Know i’m a good writer at least when it comes to school essays because that was always where i got the most praise. but i think my fics are pretty good too!! writing’s just always come naturally to me. other than that idk, i’m pretty good at memorizing stuff when i want to.

10. where were you born? pacific northwest babey!!!! (northwestern united states)

11. what are your hobbies? writing and day dreaming are like, my two staples. i’m striving to make 2024 the year i start being more crafty though. i have a couple projects brewing and i have a batb 2017 coloring book that i just bought some markers for to start coloring more. in the future i’d like to try crochet and embroidery but i don’t wanna overwhelm myself. one step at a time

12. do you have any pets? no :( i’m just an auntie to a lot of pets. the one i see most often is my brother’s shiba inu, mishka. he’s my little baby nephew and i wanna eat his face off. but anyway i’d like a cat or two some day! probably whenever i move out of my parents’ house. (which i’m not in a big rush to do, i like it here :3)

13. how tall are you? somewhere between 5’5 and 5’6. but with shoes definitely 5’6

14. favorite subject in school? elementary to high school it was probably english/creative writing, since i’ve always had a knack for it. in college it was my two majors, comparative ethnic studies and history. my favorite CES classes were “race and racism in pop culture” and “blackness in film.” my favorite history classes were “history of the late middle ages” (shout out to my girl joan of arc!) and “history of ancient greece” which was my absolute favorite course in all four years of university. it was actually one i happened to take in the quarantine year (my junior year of college) but it still slapped even despite being over zoom. that professor was awesome and i was so obsessed with the material, i kept most of the books and even asked him for more recommendations. (haven’t read them all yet, but i like seeing them on my bookshelf lol)

15. dream job? whatever ends up supporting my desires in life, and brings me at least some semblance of joy. the job i have right now is actually really awesome. it has a couple downsides but overall i’m extremely happy with my job and it feels great :)

tagging: @gayassbenaffleck @freakwiththeknifecollection @gavotteangel @roberrtphilip @ariiiloves @autumnrose11 @ginnyweatherby @enchanted-keys @romeoandjulietyouwish @japhan2024 @splendiferous-bitch + anyone else can say i tagged them :))

[buttercupsandboys]

Bubbles: A Lockdown Story

Alfie Solomons x Livy (OFC) x Esme Lee

I wrote this for @cillmequick’s 100 follower “lockdown” themed celebration. 🎉

It was inspired by a tongue and cheek conversation between us about Livy (the female OC from my chapter fic, Sunshine & Rainbows), her BFF Esme Lee, and of course, Alfie.

I hope you enjoy it, lovely! 😘

Summary: The Spanish Flu has come to Camden Town and Alfie is in lockdown with Livy. Turns out she’s not alone …

TW: implied threesome (m/f/f), but this is actually pretty wholesome for me! �� If there’s much interest, maybe I’ll write a smutty part two.

Word count: 929

Note … In this AU, Esme is NOT married to John.

“Livy? You won’t fucking believe this.”

“Alfie? Is that you, darling? I can’t hear you. I’m upstairs.”

Alfie grunts as he hangs up his coat and removes his scarf, still grumbling under his breath about the latest news.

The Spanish Flu has come to Camden Town, and apparently, the health authorities want everyone to stay home. A fucking lockdown, they’re calling it.

He scoffs, shaking his head.

Alfie knows he doesn’t have to follow the quarantine rules if he doesn’t want to; it’s one of the benefits of being the King of Camden Town (of which there are surprisingly fewer than one might think). But he remembers the flu from the war, and he doesn’t want to be a cunt—especially not here, with so many members of the Jewish community either older or vulnerable.

So fuck it, he thinks, trudging up the stairs. He’ll just stay home for a few days and wait for this all to blow over.

It’s a thought that’s infinitely more appealing when he reaches the top landing and spots Livy’s dressing gown draped across the floor.

And then he spots a silk stocking.

And then another.

And then … wait a second.

That’s a lot of fucking clothing.

“Livy?” he shouts. “Where the fuck are you, pet?”

“In the bath, darling!”

Alfie shuffles across the hall, already lost in thoughts of Livy, wet and waiting for him.

But then he hears something.

Something strange.

…

Is that two sets of giggles?

Alfie opens the door, and his jaw drops.

Livy looks gorgeous, as always, with her thick red curls piled on top of her head and her full creamy breasts just barely covered with bubbles. She smiles invitingly, and under normal circumstances, the sight would have his full fucking attention.

But these are definitely not “normal circumstances” by any stretch of the imagination.

“Sweetheart … who the fuck is this?”

“Oh, hello!” Livy looks up, eyes wide like she’s surprised to see him in his own fucking house.

He shakes his head, scanning the room for clues, and spots two bottles of wine on the floor, one of which looks suspiciously empty.

Well, that explains the slightly dazed look on Livy’s beautiful face. But it does not explain the brunette.

Yes, the brunette.

Sitting across from Livy, stark fucking naked, is a beautiful dark-haired woman. Gypsy, if he had to guess, judging from the curls escaping her topknot and the eyes that look like they could pierce a man’s soul.

Alfie swallows thickly, doing his best to avoid looking at her breasts, which are also barely covered with bubbles.

“Livy,” he prompts, still waiting for some sort of explanation.

She sputters—somehow Livy manages to be surprised yet again by his presence—and pink wine drips down her full lips and onto her cleavage. Alfie’s gaze hungrily follows the damp trail, and now he’s the one not paying attention.

“Did you hear, darling?” Livy giggles as she passes the half-empty bottle to the still unnamed mystery woman. “The news about…”—she taps her finger against her lip—“What are they calling it? Oh yes, lockdown!”

Livy smiles, looking quite pleased with herself, and he nods, trying hard to be patient but failing miserably.

“Yeah, I heard the news, pet. Now get on with it. Who is your … friend?”

Alfie would just introduce himself, except it feels wildly inappropriate—although, in fairness, any sense of propriety seems to have gone out the window a long fucking time ago.

“This is Esme,” Livy blurts out happily. “You must remember, darling? From Birmingham.”

Birmingham. Oh no …

“Oh, yes!” Livy replies, and he vaguely wonders if she can read his mind. “Her cousin is married to one of the Shelbys. Thomas! No, no. Not Thomas. One of his brothers.”

“John,” says Esme, finally breaking her silence as she passes the wine back to Livy. He wonders if she’s feeling shy, which would be fucking reasonable given the circumstances, but then he realises that she’s looking him over like he’s one of the whores from down at the docks.

“He’s nice, Livy.”

“I told you, didn’t I? And he’s hung like a fucking—“

“Oi!” Alfie interrupts, snatching the half-empty bottle out of Livy’s hands. “Love, I’m going to ask you one more fucking time. What is Esme doing in our bathtub?”

“Well, there’s a lockdown, Alfie,” explains Livy as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. She shoots him a strange look before lowering her voice to a deafening whisper. “Hung like a horse, Esme, but not very bright sometimes.”

“Ok, that’s enough,” explodes Alfie, standing up to grab towels while the two women burst into laughter.

He holds one out for Livy, who is surprisingly graceful despite the copious amounts of wine, expertly wrapping it around her full breasts. He then places another on a stool alongside the tub before turning to give the other woman some privacy.

“Now, Livy, please, for the love of god—“

“Esme was visiting when someone knocked on the door and told us that everyone has to stay home for a few days. So we thought we might … have some fun.”

Right.

Alfie is grateful to finally get some straight answers, but suddenly he’s very aware that he’s sandwiched between two very damp, barely dressed women.

“Fun,” he repeats, pulling at his collar.

Livy smiles, her golden eyes sparkling with mischief as she drops her towel with a heavy thud.

Then he hears the exact same sound echo from behind him.

Hmm … Maybe lockdown won’t be so bad after all.

[epitomereally]

get to know you <3

Thank you for the tags: @nv-md & @mallstars — ali, i am also very behind my tags so combining both of these (and also appreciate your mega get-to-know-you post lmao!)

three ships: obviously harry/draco. i'm also getting deep into maxiel in f1 rpf — i've got a scrivener doc open for them, which i honestly never thought i would do — and then i somehow imprinted on steve/tony from marvel (like not mcu), probably because @sineala is such a talented writer who just knows how to get me in the gut, every time.

first ship: honestly, probably harry/draco, when the original hp books were coming out! i still remember reading 'irresistible poison' in a binder i had printed out at the library.

last song: omg, so i've been going through a screamo moment recently (honestly because of the 'this is daniel ricciardo' playlist) and have been listening to underoath's album 'they're only chasing safety' on REPEAT. 'the impact of reason' is maxiel-coded and no one can convince me otherwise.

last movie: double indemnity! loved it.

currently reading: gravity's rainbow & how to build a car by adrian newey. loving them both sm. AND all the incredible Erised wips. been stuffing my face with them and cannot wait for the complete versions + for the fest to post.

last thing i wrote: from aforementioned maxiel scrivener doc, rawdog notes style: "Daniel fires Michael. Or Michael quits. Daniel isn't quite sure and finds he doesn't quite care. Michael left, faux-sympathetic --> "we could've been something". He's with Yuki now. Yuki who still has the baby fat in his cheeks, who looks like he's never been hungry in his life. --> bitter Yuki didn't get the same treatment from M as him"

currently writing: maxiel tumblr fics 😈

Are you named after anyone: my great-grandmother 💕

Favorite subject in school: ohhhhh i mean i loved school, generally. probably lit?

Do you have kids: nah, but we've got the sweetest, stupidest cat of all time instead.

When was the last time you cried: actually wild, because i'm a big cryer & feel like i cry all the time, but i CANNOT remember.

Do you use sarcasm a lot: never ✨

What sports do you play/have played: i would def consider myself a jock — currently fixation: rock climbing

What's the first thing you notice about people: how nice they are :)

Any special talents: i feel i am quite good at geography/finding my way around a city, just naturally? i spent formative years way too cheap to pay for a smartphone and having to find my way about.

Where were you born: *******, **

What are your hobbies: besides everything obvious in this post, bookbinding, gardening, flowers, &c

How tall are you: 5'7" (and obsessed with ali our petite queen!!!!!)

Dream job: i am living it & feel very lucky. eventually shooting for professor!

also tagging @thehoneybeet, @mallstars for this enlarged get-to-know-you, @sweet-s0rr0w, @tackytigerfic, @oknowkiss, and breaking fandom quarantine barriers to tag @powerful-owl and @sineala 💕

[x-atlas-x]

Writer Q&A: 1,3, 11 Also, just finished reading 'The Exchanger'. I don't have any way to properly comment on that fic that isn't in the language of keyboard smashing or screams. I'm still waiting for the ball to come out of the sky, and omgwtfasdgfs how can you leave it hanging like that?!?! Please, PLEASE tell me you have a follow-up in mind!!

Hello, my friend!! Thank you so much for the asks <3 This'll probably be a long one, so it's going to be under the cut~

1.) What led you to start writing fan fiction?

I'm not entirely sure. I've been basically writing for my whole life (ever since I was a wee lad) and my roots started in... Sonic fanfiction... Not my proudest moment, but we all have to start somewhere. I was my own worst nightmare when I was merely seven >:)

(I still have the god awful notebook with one of the first fics in it... No, I can't decipher it-)

3.) What experiences/influences have shaped your writing the most?

The last fandom I was in truly brought out my absolute need to be writing constantly and my love for AUs. Upon joining the Yugioh fandom, though, I started to learn how to shape my fanfics and build them up with more emotions (also, I learned how to write smut! which is such a huge accomplishment because I used to never get that far). It's always baffling to look back on my first posted Yugioh fic and my most recent one.

I suppose one experience that I can recall that has truly influenced me and my writing is when I was forced to join a literature contest once and I won first place. It wasn't anything spectacular, but that was the first time that I had officially won something. I forget about it a lot, but I know that gave me an ego/confidence boost of sorts at the time to pursue writing more seriously.

11.) What attracted you to the fandom(s)/media you write in?

Oh, yes, the story about how I accidentally fell into the world of Yugioh. Around the beginning of quarantine, I was still writing for my old fandom. There was an artist on Instagram that did fanart for that fandom, but also did art/talked a lot about Yugioh 5D's. One night, I got bored and I put it on my TV while I was falling asleep. I woke up the next morning, started paying attention, and... Well, here we are.

I replaced 5D's with DM and I actually didn't start properly watching that one until the middle of season 3. I know, I'm insane, but it's difficult for me to get into something from the very beginning. I spent most of quarantine writing fanfiction while binging all of the Yugioh shows (I stopped at VRAINS, but I've watched enough of that to have a vague idea of what happens). And yeah! That's how I got here :)

As for The Exchanger...

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! That ending was definitely something, wasn't it? >:) I do have a follow up floating around in my head, but I'm currently drowning in projects, so... Hopefully I'll be able to get there at some point amongst all of them (and maybe when I get an actual idea of where I'm going with things).

If anyone else would like to send an ask: Questions

[lapetitepersonne]

Fandom Creator's Self-Rec Game!

Choose five favourites from your own creations (and tell me why, if you like!), then pass on to at least five other people. I'd love to hear what you're proudest of.

Thank you @aemelia for the tag haha 🫶🫶 Okay let's go:

Upcoming (harringrove, 11k, french, finished)

5 fois que Billy a essayé de faire en sorte que Steve couche avec lui avant qu’il n’ait 18 ans + 1 fois où Billy n'a rien eu à faire pour le convaincre.

I wrote this in a few days and it was so much fun, I loved it. It's also the fic that actually cured my two-year writer's block so, yep, kudos for that. It's also one of my rare finished projects and I learned a lot writing it: start smaller, don't take yourself too seriously and have fun.

(Don't) Fall Like Icarus (jjpope, 19k, french, ongoing)

"Il ouvrit les yeux. Tout d’abord, il ne vit rien ; mais il faisait toujours face au miroir. Il avait les yeux rougis et brillants, à cause d’un affreux mélange d’alcool, de beuh et de fièvre, le teint cadavérique et l’air fou. Apeuré. Il commença à se tourner. Il ne comprit pas tout de suite ce qu’il voyait. Il y avait deux moignons qui lui sortaient du dos. Deux bouts de chair repliés qui ressemblaient à… À des ailes. JJ écarquilla les yeux. Non. Non. Pas lui. Pitié."

I keep coming back to this fic from time to time haha the (season 1!) summer gays who helped me survive through quarantine are just very dear to me + who doesn't love a good X-Men AU with a winged main character?

Intoxication (Morgana x Gwaine, 1,5k words, english, finished)

"It’s been a week. A week of red lingerie, teasing hands and snogging for hours. Gwaine thinks his tongue could fall from all the cunnilinguses he has given this week. It gets him even harder though, hearing Morgana let out satisfied sigh after satisfied sigh while his balls get bluer by the second – he hates it. He loves it."

I think that's one of the hottest things I wrote for Kinkalot lmao (but also I might be biased bc I love pegging and Morgana x Gwaine are just the hottest straight ship ever - but also idc these two together need more love).

Waiting For You To Wear Me Down (merthur, 10k, english, ongoing)

"Every Friday morning, Merlin sat his arse down next to Arthur, greeting him with a shit-eating grin or a big yawn that made Arthur groan and roll his eyes, and they spent the next best three hours of their week. Not that either of them would ever admit it." o-o-o I just wanted to write about Merlin in messy eyeliner and big combat boots and Arthur in posh pastel jumpers, and, as usual, like in any universe, they fight, bicker and fall in love.

!! This is my first actual fic in English haha (I had another but it doesn't really count because it was a translation)! It was so much fun writing this first part - I learned so much British slang writing it :') I need to continue it, I have a whole part from Arthur's POV planned.

Okay last one is hard bc I either want to share a old but loved unfinished (BIG) project of mine or the 1,5k words fic about Draconic!Merlin fucking Arthur lmao

Let's go with the merthur fic because I actually don't know if I will ever finish the big project:

Draconian Diet (merthur, 1,5k words, english, finished)

"One thing he could not quite get used to though was the sheer possessiveness Merlin could exhibit sometimes (not that he had any room to talk but, still). It started small; just harsh stares at people who dared touch him in front of Merlin, then hands sparkling with magic on his shoulders, at the small of his back, pushing, tugging. Grabbing. Barely perceptible growls and blue eyes heavy on him."

OKAY DONE.

Tag : @lai-ah my beloved. @shizuumi151 I have read your kny fics (and loved them) so please feel free to do this thing haha, and well, anyone who sees this and wants to do it! 👍👍 I just don't know enough people here to tag anyone lmao

[cabeswaterdrowned]

tagged by @sergeantpixie tysm 💕 name: S is what I generally go by here although I’ll slip and say my first name on occasion and it’s not a big deal but I’m still most comfortable primarily going by this here teehee. My pinterest is under my first name, my goodreads which is irl friendly in theory is under my full name + my real face, if we’re moots who talk at all I’m comfortable giving out profile info in private message and also you probably know my first name anyway

pronouns: she/her

where do you call home: depends on the time of year during school it’s NY otherwise it’s either my Aunt’s home in Pakistan or my Dad’s home in Chicago

favorite animal: in concept I have the softest spot for cats I really want one of my own at some point, but my cousin has labradors and I adore them

cereal of choice: my actual favorite is frosted mini wheats but I tend to get plain Cheerios, which I also like.

visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner: a mixture of visual and tactile or kinesthetic I’d say. Actually I best learn things by physically writing them down a bunch, when I’m taking notes in class it is to some degree for reference but it’s more important for internalizing what we’re talking about.

first pet: a goldfish I won in a state fair in 1st grade (I got lucky in ring toss) I named him firecracker. I kept him alive for 2 years actually which isn’t bad.

favorite scent: my usual perfume is poison girl by dior which was a gift from my Aunt for my 19th birthday so I’ve had it for a while and it is getting closer to being finished… but in general my favorite scents tend to be fruity or citrusy (my current body wash is pomegranate and my current shampoo bar is lemongrass-y and I love both) also partial to lavender and rose scents.

do you believe in astrology: I think it’s fun and there could be some truth to it and I like it but I wouldn’t go to bat for it as factual by any means, that being said I am a taurus sun sag moon cap rising and I do think that fits pretty well, whether it’s adaptive or not xd. I mostly just enjoy personality tests I’m more into Mbti than zodiac though

how many playlists do you have on your music service of choice: I have a lot of fandom related playlists public on my Spotify account for different chars and dynamics mostly, I have a few more randomized personal playlists that are private

sharpies or highlighters: colored gell pens xd I use them for literally everything when I’m writing and not typing. between the two I prefer highlighters

song that makes you cry: I feel like with a lot of songs that depends on the mood I’m in but Smother by Daughter never fails to devastate me completely

song that makes you happy: again it depends but one that comes to mind is Paper Doll by Frankie.

and finally, do you write/draw/create: yes writing is one of my concentrations in school xd so yeah I write mostly short stories, some poetry, have come up with ideas/outlines for bigger projects but never followed them through as of yet. I’ve also written some fic I wrote a bunch over quarantine for a few fandoms but then orphaned them, and then I briefly returned to it Summer before last to write this Pll fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40940655

I have other fic writing ideas for Pll and other fandoms but again don’t know that I will follow through with them ever or I could who knows truly

tagging: @lovemeafteryou @pinkhysteria @drusilllas @retiredficwriter @louisminyard @myhouseofivyandstone anyone else who wants to do it and also if you don’t want to do it totally cool <3

[prosperdemeter2]

📝 last thing you wrote

🔥 craziest thing that’s ever happened to you

🍋 favorite genre to read / watch / write

🖇️ what are your favorite asks to answer

💌 why did you start this blog?

📌 what is the fic you’re know for

Last thing I wrote:

Shannon was putting in an earring when she appeared, her familiar gaze observing in a way that made Eddie feel, frankly, uncomfortable. She waited and Eddie waited and finally, she huffed, stepped to the side, and invited him. The door latched behind him and Harvey, from where he was seated at the kitchen table, looked behind Eddie with a frown. “No Chris?” He asked lightly.

“No,” Eddie shook his head and smoothed his hands down his thighs. “No, he’s at home.”

Craziest thing that's ever happened to me

Uh... gosh... idk my life is pretty boring 😅. When we were first visiting Ireland, it was during the Dublin marathon and our hotel was the start and end point and literally every street connecting us to it (and to free parking) was shut down. So we parked in a parking garage only we failed to realize that a bank holiday was the next day and, unlike in the US where federal holidays exist but not much actually closes, like EVERYTHING shuts down in Ireland. So the next day we couldn't get the car out of the garage and we had to go from Dublin to Galway (I think?) to check into our next hotel. The hostel guys gave us the advice of being so annoying that they would have to call the cops on us or would let us take our car to just... get us to go away and it worked 😅. We were on the road to Galway just two hours after we were supposed to leave.

Favorite genre to read/write/watch

I LOVE reading fantasy books. Not always big, epic fantasies - but the softer kind that mesh world building in with complex characters. I wish I could write fantasy as easy as I can read it, but, unfortunately, I've always struggled. I usually write more character introspective stories - my therapist calls them "case studies". 😅

What are your favorite asks to answer?

Literally any of them. The fact that people want to interact at all is crazy to me.

Why did you start this blog?

I don't really have a reason 😂 I had one back when I was in high school that I lost the login to (literally it's prosperdemeter on here. I'm prosperdemeter2 because that blog will forever be immortalized as a Dead Blog) and I came back around mid-pandemic. I think I figured out that there's nothing wrong with being an adult in fandom. Finding joy in the world around you is hard, and if running a little fandom-mesh of a blog helps me find it... that's enough for me.

What is the fic you're known for?

Omg I honestly think it depends on the fandom? My fic with the most stats is still Text Me Quarantine. The links are all broken in it, Pintrest has removed so many of the pins I used to make the jokes, but it got me back into fic writing when the world was such a scary place and helped me connect with so many amazing people across the MCU fandom.

Otherwise, in the 911 fandom, the Rewrite series is where, I think, a lot of people know me from.

[kitkatt0430]

So I have this unfinished Tales of Vesperia and KotOR fusion fic that's sitting barely written in my WiP folder and every so often I find myself returning to it because there are some really fun ideas in there. I never really seem to make it anywhere, but I do enjoy twirling the ideas in my mind even still.

First, there's no Revan equivalent. Or, rather, there is but he dies before the story starts during the attack on the Endar Spire. Whoops. There he goes.

Flynn's in Carth's position - Commander of the Spire who escapes barely in time. Unlike Carth, Flynn's very young to hold his rank and has no tragic dead wife backstory. Estelle takes Bastila's place and she's got prodigious healing talents instead of Battle Meditation. Estelle worked hard to save Revan's life and while she isn't sure she agrees with the brainwashing (actually she's appalled but doesn't want to admit it to the Council), she's devastated by his death. Her connection to him is severed which means she can't get visions of Revan's past anymore - no way to know how he and Alexei (who gets to be the Darth Malek equivalent) started on their path to the Dark Side and where their Sith Empire has been getting all their quickly built ships from.

So Estelle and Flynn crash land in Taris - Estelle is captured by the Lower City swoop gang like Bastilla was, but Flynn is found by Yuri Lowell, a smuggler who is now stuck on planet by the Sith's sudden quarantine. Yuri is a Force user, neither Jedi nor Sith, and he's pissed off at both sides - not least of all for making it dangerous to be someone like him. The average person assumes that if you're trained to use the Force then you have to be one or the other, when there are actually a lot of other paths to take - spiritual or otherwise - to learning to utilize the Force.

It's particularly dangerous for Yuri since he was taught to use both sides of the Force, so while he primarily uses the Light side of the Force, he knows how to use the Dark side without losing control. Though he doesn't like using the Dark side because he knows that losing control is always going to be a possibility. Some of what goes into the particular philosophy he was taught comes from the Dawn of the Jedi books, so it won't be totally without basis from some version of Star Wars canon. But because he can - and does - occasionally use the Dark side, he runs the risk of being mistaken for a Sith. Particularly since he's about to learn that the guy who proclaimed himself Yuri's rival, back in the day when they were both students under Yeager, has just become Alexei's new apprentice. (Zagi. Bringing him in as a Sith with baggage with Yuri was too fun an idea.)

Yuri's always had a talent for sensing shatter points (or something like them), but not manipulating them. But after he rescues Estelle she accidentally links herself to him because of the way her bond with Revan was destroyed. Yuri's more annoyed than upset, but it grants them a shared ability to see into shatter points and manipulate events. They first use it by accident to help the people of the Undercity reach a nearby bunker where they might be able to survive the planetary bombardment and later on purpose to signal a planetary evacuation right before Zagi starts the bombardment.

While on the planet they pick up Karol and Judy - Judy getting to be a Mandalorian, though she has the Wookie friend (Ba'ul) despite Karol sliding into Mission's spot.

When they get to Dantooine, the Council is not happy about Yuri's place in everything and they especially don't like him calling them out on their bullshit. But this is Yuri, so of course he does.

I've got my ideas for the Taris arc pretty well thought out; it's writing them down that I seem to quickly burn out on. :/

Dantooine is a bit fuzzier, but they pick up Rita there. Raven is chilling out on Kashyyyk - he's a Jedi who followed Alexei into the Sith, but quickly noped out when he realized where it was going. He crashed on Kashyyyk was, much like Jolee, basically went 'ah, okay, I live here now'.

[readingwriter92]

bc i hate doing research and switching between tabs to write stuff down, i usually take scrap paper and hand write notes and type them up afterwards. This is fine until im in classes or something and just use the closest paper, which is usually my notebooks.

This is often why half my note books, on completely random pages will have different research and notes.

Examples include info on ascii and binary for computer science demo thing and between angst writings, information on gnome and quick sorts, something that continues to confused me. I just see Gnome and get confused bc none of the dnd pods i listen to have any gnomes...

[annikasevenshots]

For the writing ask. 1 - 40 😜

ಠ_ಠ; (affectionate) (full questions here!)

Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

My longest published fic to date, In The Name of Love. I started it when I was younger and my writing style has changed so much that it’s so hard to tack on a new chapter and continue writing it. Also, there’s been so much development in Disco characters since I first started it that there are some things I would change completely.

Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

If I could write smut, I’d be a self-sustaining system. Unfortunately, I’m too shy to be able to do it without looking away every 2 seconds. (yay repression and compulsory modesty!)

I’d also love to do some angst or hurt/comfort on Raffi and Seven’s journey with loss, especially after Elnor, but it hits very close to home to me right now so I am physically incapable of writing it. Which is frustrating, but eh.

How would you describe your writing style?

I had a huge Tolkien phase over quarantine, so a lot of my writing uses very flowery, romantic, scenic description. I try to match the tone of the media of whatever story I’m telling, so for my Tolkien fics, it has a children’s storybook vibe and maybe some archaic language as well, whereas for my Trek fics, I keep it more modern and almost snappy, per se.

Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

Nope! I work with what already exists.

What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

To be honest, if it applies, I’m slapping it on there. If it helps people find my work, I’m not complaining.

What's your ratio for rating your works?

I feel bad for saying that I do have a ratio because it’s completely arbitrary, but... 1:10, kudos to views.

Your favourite ao3 tag.

Hurt/Comfort. ‘nuff said.

How slow is a slow burn?

I’ve had IRL friends who slow burn so slow that the oven isn’t even on, so. If they make it through 2 full-volume 300k fics and haven’t openly hinted their affection to one another, yeah, that’s kinda slow.

Thoughts on cliffhangers.

As a rule I generally don’t do cliffhangers as a writer unless I have the next chapter planned and/or ready to go, just so I wouldn’t end anything on one. I don’t like them that much, but I do use them now and then for the drama.

On the topic of cliffhangers... the rest of the questions are under the break!

Top three favourite fic tropes.

Oh, oh oh! Taking care of one another when they’re injured/unwell. (Bonus points if they catch it from one another.) Putting jackets on one another when they’re asleep/cold. Black tie/gala scenarios. (Evidently.)

Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

Enemies to Lovers, tbh. coffee shop/tattoo artist AUs. Soulmates. (sorry)

If you write in more than one language, what's the difference?

Chinese says a lot more in fewer words, so I would say between my lack of fluency in Chinese and the style itself, my writing style is more curt. (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since my English sentences could span on and on.)

Rate your worldbuilding skills from 1 to 10.

I’d say about 7 or 8. I definitely try to have an outline of what happens outside of the fic, where they’ve come from, where they’re going to, what the setting looks like, what emotions they’re bringing into the scene. (Believe me, there’s lots of chaotic sketches in my book because I can’t draw it properly.) I’d say part of it comes from my training in theatre where you absolutely need to build a solid world for behind what happens onstage.

Write and share the first sentence of a new fic. Just that.

“Not everyone had the punctuality of a high-ranking Starfleet officer.“

What's your favourite plotless fic you have written?

A Late Night Snack, which was my first Seven x Raffi fic, actually! It’s just the two of them sharing lollipops. Something about my writing style in that fic hits really right with me still to this day, so *gives past me a pat on the back*.

Are one-shots really underrated?

I almost exclusively write one-shots, so no, they’re not! They’re great for workshopping a certain scene or moment that exists outside of a continuous canon. For me, it’s almost like painting a picture with words - one moment that exists within a canvas of a one-shot.

Past or present tense? Why?

In my past, I was a past tense girl, but I’m presently inclined towards present tense (sorry). Present tense makes a scene so much more intimate because it feels like it’s unfolding right before your eyes and it makes the characters’ choices their own, not something you’re recounting for them.

First, second, or third person?

Third person all the way. (Sorry.)

Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

““You and Seven can take the eggs or whatever,” Raffi said, turning back to Agnes. “I’ll just use my hands. They exist for a reason, you know.””

Do you work on a single project or many at the same time? How does that work for you?

I think I write one fic at a time, maybe two at most, but I definitely have more ideas swirling around in my head like alphabet soup until it’s time for me to spoon it out and work with it. Fun fac

Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

For my one-shots, it’s been ~2500-3500 words for a good while now, so that’s my prediction, per se. I roughly aim for a chapter length, but mostly I try to write what needs saying and call it a day.

What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

It’s like looking at old photographs of people who were very, very in love and retracing all the steps they’ve been through to get to where they are today.

Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

For someone who writes a lot of description, I actually prefer dialogue. Dialogue basically writes itself when you know the characters, whereas description takes a lot of Thought and Brain Cells, which I don’t have. Once again, I may have to attribute this to me reading more scripts than books in my life.

Thoughts on flashbacks/flashforwards.

I don’t mind fics having scattered timelines and back-and-forth between the past and present as long as they’re in separate, contained scenes/chapters, but I don’t like explicitly flashing a character back in the middle of a scene when they’re in the present (or vice versa).

Is writing the whole thing beforehand better or worse than writing it as you go?

I usually have a good overarching outline/plan before I jump into a full-length fic, then I deviate if I want to. I would definitely not like writing something as I go, because I tend to go off on a lot of random tangents or cling onto plot points I’ve randomly discovered that makes the ending so far removed from what I actually started out with.

What would you describe as OOC?

anything that doesn’t fit in with my hyperspecific interpretation of one character

No, kidding. Probably when actions or dialogue happens that I feel like would not come from the character according to how I understand them. How I understand a character is usually a mix of canon, my personal headcanons, and what I like from other peoples’ headcanons.

Do you agree that one shouldn't start a story with a piece of dialogue?

For me, writing is less about following the rules and more about finding something that sits right with your story, your flow, and your style. If it’s effective for you and for your audience, there’s no problem with starting your story with dialogue, or starting your sentences with “and”, or whatever.

Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I write my first drafts in a notebook. And when I say drafts, I mean drafts – barely-formed sentence structures, tons of *insert x here*. The need to type up my fic from pen and paper forces me to edit it at least once.

What's the hardest thing about writing?

Finding the vision/inspiration. I go through so many periods of drought when the media I follow doesn’t have new content/if I’m off tumblr because I don’t have anything to interact with. I’m almost like a parasite in terms of creativity – if you put me in a void, I probably can’t come up with something alone.

Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't.

I had a Bagginshield mistaken identity fic – basically, Character A pours out their feelings about Character B to someone they thought was Character C, only for them to reveal themselves as Character B. I have it written, I just never published it.

What was the most difficult fic for you to write (but in the end you made it)?

Recently, probably I Hate Your Heroic Love, because there were so many different ways to capture the idea I had in my head (and I had many, many iterations that spun into completely different directions).

Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

If I’m writing Saffi, you know there’s going to be strawberries.

Give your writing a compliment.

no.

Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

I try to write the fics that I want to read, that’s it. For me, writing is less of a motor skill that you can improve by doing it over and over again, so I don’t write for the sake of improving, per se.

Thoughts on writing challenges/contests.

Wish I could do one, but every time I come across one of those blogs or posts the deadline as long gone.

How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

Honestly? Pure vibes. I look at the fic and it usually gives itself a name for me. I don’t have any I’m super proud of, but the two that really tells the story for me are Black, Silver, Grey (Bagginshield) and Sunsets and Strawberries (Saffi).

Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you?

While I write, and I do minimal research, to be honest – I usually Google an answer for a question I have. It’s not totally boring but it’s not super fun, I get what I need and then I move on.

"This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

“This never happened” if it’s a death, because I’m not a big fan of resurrection/necromancy. For the rest, “this happened but”, because I like exploring how people work through problems instead of avoiding them. (sorry, i’ll save the rest for therapy.)

Wildest AU scenario you have written?

I wrote that the elf colony in Ithilien was primarily a gay community. That was a time. 

Write a 9-word fic.

“Why do we always have meatloaf after a funeral?”

Whew, that was a lot of introspection and a long trip down memory lane. Thank you so much @thelastuncharteddawn for sending in this ask! <3