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thegraysquirrel · 1 year ago

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Title in Progress

(Foreword: Hi! (^.^)/ I got semi-challenged into writing some sort of Fanfic Dissertation since I've been dropping large comments on AO3 that kind of count as an essay but in my opinion not quite, so I tried my hand at an actual essay on a topic of my own choice.

This is for the fandom Genshin Impact (Video Game) and in particular for a fanfic about the pairing Childe/Lumine that had gripped me and still has a hold on me. The following below is 3.5k words in which I try to take someone along for the journey of reading said fic.

If you don't know anything about the fandom in question but feel curious to read my insights anyway, there are links in the body of the text and me pointing out when to read it. I do dive into more general theory on why I picked this subject in particular for an essay that's not exclusive to this fandom. Otherwise, feel free to skip past it.)

What is the first thing you make note of when deciding if you’ll read a fic? What can make or break clicking on a fic for you if all the other parts were the same? There are a handful of things I focus on when deciding to read a fic:

The title

The summary

The tags

There are more factors, of course. Some people factor in it being recommended by others, amount of bookmarks or kudos or comments, but all of those are influenced by fandom while the title, summary, and the tags are solely the choice of the author. They are the representatives of the fic itself, and some are diplomatic and serious in their duty for it while others are a reflection of… being close to the people in how unhinged it can get (I say this with great affection!).

For today’s fanfic dissertation, I want to take you along to tackling one of my most favourite parts of a fic when thinking about what to comment: the fic title. I could ramble for a long while about various differences in fics with titles for their story, their chapters, or lack of a title. Perhaps you are thinking of a particular fic which title you hold close? Did it have meaning to you prior to reading or did it only get that after you read the fic?

Let’s dive in:

no amount of fear will keep you safe by dovelious

What’s your first thought when reading this title? What kind of themes might it tackle and what contents might the story keep its focus on? Since the title isn’t the only representative of the fic, I’ll hand you the summary and the tags as well since I had them when diving in:

There will not be a peaceful ending to their story. Their final confrontation will test every limit they have. This is the climax of his story, and it is just another chapter in hers. But in this world nothing is ever for certain, and they can only hope it will end with their hearts intact. (Lumine thinks about what circumstances will lead to childe’s final fight on teyvat.)

With this extra info, it’s time to type out a first thought on the meaning of the title and, by extent, what the author considers an important part of the story.

The story title is something that you could find in a fluffy fic of learning about bravery, especially if the perspective of the title is from Lumine (who holds the perspective in the summary). With the death tag, however, it’s prudent to look at it through an angst-y pair of glasses. I’ve done the legwork for us and added something that might have been kept silent for both our characters:

About Childe: No amount of fear will keep you safe (from dying) About Lumine: No amount of fear will keep you safe (from grieving)

I have a big reason to think of it as being from Lumine’s perspective beyond the argument of the summary being from hers, too. Childe doesn’t seem afraid of dying to the point of throwing himself into battles with anyone strong. The only fear he might seem to have is fear for his family’s wellbeing, which might likely extend to Lumine as they grow closer. That, however, feels like a reach but it would become:

No amount of fear (from me for your wellbeing) will keep you safe

It’s still a possibility, of course. What is a given here is that there is a major character death and it won’t be Lumine’s. Whether it’s Childe’s or that of another important character remains a question phrased with desperate hope, I’d wager that the title is important to the two main characters—they’re the two main characters, after all! So, the angst-y pair of glasses will do its work: Childe will die in the end. Let’s bring in the first chapter title to continue this discussion:

allies or enemies? this will be the death of me

It doesn’t matter if Lumine and Childe are on the same side or opposing sides, Ajax will meet his end. As enemies, I can see it clearly too; Lumine survived with two elements against Childe in the Golden House (who admittedly didn’t go all-in from the start, but the point remains that he failed to finish the fight). At the end of her journey, she will have seven elements and have fought and won against more gods and harbingers than Childe has. If they fight as enemies at the end, Childe will lose. If Lumine were an ally, though? The fate of the world is balancing on this and there will be bloodshed to ensure a better world—apparently, Childe will be unable to keep up with Lumine and lose his life in a double battle.

About Lumine: Are we allies or enemies? I’ll survive this, but I won’t come out the same on the other end. About Childe: Are we allies or enemies? It doesn’t matter which, this will be the death of me. Literally.

This is something Lumine would ponder; the Big Thoughts™ on Childe’s inevitable fate compared to the inevitability of her own long, long life. Whether this will be the death of her in the fluffy sense of Childe working on her nerves with his cheer or in the angsty sense of making her care about him and then dying, Lumine will live on with the memories.

I won’t copy paste the chapter, but if you’ve been discovering this fic as you’ve been following along with me, this is the moment to progress to reading that first chapter.

Lumine knows she’s important to Childe because she has eyes. Lumine thinks further ahead after Childe sought her out to spend time adventuring with. She’s going to be a big part of his story, while he remains contained to one chapter, and that difference in scope? It might creep up on Lumine just how far Childe is willing to go for something as short-sighted as “fighting to the death” with a comrade. She might not even be aware of Childe being the death of her, in a way.

Maybe you knew already, maybe you didn’t, but when you search for the fic title on the internet, you’ll find it’s a lyric from Keep You Safe by the Crane Wives. The same can be said for the chapter’s title: Allies or Enemies also by the Crane Wives.

Of course, the title has a bigger chance of remaining important to the overall story while the chapter titles are usually contained to one chapter, so let’s start big again with the story title and then wind our way down to the chapter title.

Listen to the song, open up the lyrics and see if there are things jumping out to you. I did the same and can offer you this:

When I watched my friends/ Rise to the tops of the trees/ With the risk of fall

When Lumine watches her friend Childe rise to the top of the world with the risk of death, she isn’t ready for it. No matter how strong Lumine is, she never wants to rise to the top of the world; she just wants to find her brother.

Time is not your friend

“Though we need not rush, sister. I have more than enough time to wait for you. We have always... had enough time.”

Time had always been a friend to Lumine or worst case scenario: a stranger. There are now people Lumine will care about who do not have enough time to wait for her and there will come a time when it’s impossible for her to wait for them (because they are long gone). If she takes having time for granted, it will stab her in the back in due time. It’s neither friend nor stranger but a secret third thing: an adversary.

The older I get/ The more fears I collect/ I gather them from/ All the people I meet/ Their stories reveal/ Regrets their smiles can’t conceal/ I carry them/ I carry them with me

There is a reason Childe is a chapter in Lumine’s life. She will carry him with her, as the moments with him were enough to be worth a chapter. Childe will be the death of her, and Childe will give her a fear she did not have before meeting him.

What if the steps I take turn out to be mistakes?

What if when she flips the coin in a decisive battle, it lands on the wrong side?

“Come what may.”

This is something Childe has long since mastered. If he dies, he dies. If he doesn’t, he’ll find a next battle. If they spend the night together at the beach, come what may, Childe will make the best of it.

Title: no amount of fear will keep you safe

No amount of fear will keep Lumine safe from continuing on in Teyvat, and then it might just be Childe who will, come what may, brave the risk of falling down, down, down.

We took a look at the song behind the fic’s title, so what about the song behind the first chapter’s title? Play it in the background, open up the lyrics, whatever floats your boat.

Instead of picking out lyrics as I did with the previous song, I’m asking a question. What do you consider among the most important things to have happened this chapter?

I have multiple things I notice. Childe makes Lumine promise they will fight one final battle together (as allies? Or as enemies?) before she leaves. Though Paimon was hesitant to take Childe up on travelling together temporarily, Lumine had little problem with it. Why? Because meeting Teucer gave her a new insight. Childe hearing about Lumine’s brother gives him a new insight. I propose that the song is not a reflection of Childe and Lumine’s current predicament. Instead, the song is a reflection of a character most impactful to the chapter and in this case, it’s Aether.

Aether and Lumine are at the end stage of the song, being together as kids and now not knowing if they are allies or enemies. It's the crux of this chapter—yes, it's great that Childe and Lumine are travelling together and that Lumine confides in Childe with her reason for getting stronger, but that's the centerpiece: Lumine can't fight with Aether and if she would have to go separate ways from him, period, it will be the death of her. Aether appears so shortly, but he's lurking in the narrative and is a focal point for Lumine and her connection to Aether of allies or enemies.

As for Childe and Lumine? They are at the start stage of the song. They're at the stage of being able to crack up and smile instead of holding on to the fight between them or staring at the other as they wonder if they should clap each other on the shoulder or drive a blade through it. Because they are at the start, they are going to head for the end of the song too, and Lumine and Aether's connection of allies and enemies will be reflected and paralleled in the relationship Lumine and Childe will build up.

(That’s my guess going of the title, tags, summary, and this first chapter and its title anyway. I’ve been right in my predictions and I’ve been wrong. I think there is a reason for the tag Lumine & Aether as well as Childe & Lumine, and it’s paralleled with this chapter title.)

I’ve got another thought about this chapter’s title, but since I’ve only come to realize the hypothesis after reading the second, let’s march onwards to chapter two.

safe ship, harbored

Since there was a theme with the previous two titles, it’s an easy choice to do an internet search and find that it is yet another song by The Crane Wives, creating a theme thus far for the two of seven chapters planned. To listen to the song on YouTube, click here, and find the lyrics here.

What does it mean, a safe ship harboured? Like all of us shippers know, a ship wants to set sail to truly be alive, whether through fandom or crumbs of interactions from canon. It can be dangerous to go out there, but the alternative means the ship is stagnant.

When I read the song, I am reminded of one person in particular.

The Tsaritsa.

She is a ship Childe should not waste his bottle on for blessings. Where does his faith fall in her? She lost all of her good years on that throne while the Fatui planned and planned for centuries for this, and she hasn’t fared across the world all that time. She is the Goddess of Love, yet she hasn’t seen the people in Teyvat to love as the plans unfold and cause death and desolation. She is not born a safe ship; she is made one because Celestia cost her everything.

I then proceeded to read up to the second paragraph—I suggest you do the same.

My verdict after reading it is that the Tsaritsa absolutely is the safe ship in the harbour (an archon safe on her throne in the palace). Lumine proves she herself isn’t a ship safe in the harbour by being on the move: last chapter, she was in Liyue and right now, she is in Snezhnaya and braving the worst blizzard to get to the throne room.

The question I was left with is if it will be Lumine who withholds the bottle of blessings on the ship or if that’s our favourite Harbinger. I’m holding out for Childe because to Lumine, the Tsaritsa is just another archon. To Childe, it’s been the archon at the ice palace that will finish what she started centuries ago. When glancing at the tags, you’ll note that there is a Childe & Tsaritsa tag, signalling that their relationship is important to a section of this story, and that’s why I’m rooting for something this chapter for Childe.

Take this as your signal to read the second chapter in full. I’ll be talking about its contents, whenever it comes up now.

Childe had the choice between dying for his Tsaritsa or yielding. As if he understood the message his Tsaritsa is silently screaming to her followers, Childe opted not to waste his life to bless the Tsaritsa on a journey she might not even make. Childe yielded, and Lumine even hints that the Tsaritsa wanted to teach Childe a lesson here. Don’t break the bottle, don’t waste your blessings on me.

Now that we’ve got most of the second chapter out of the way, we can make a short side-step and make ties to the previous chapter and overall story.

The thought of bloodthirsty blue eyes crossed her mind, and she gripped her blade tighter. [...] This will not be an easy fight, and she knows that delaying the inevitable will not get her anywhere.

There are soft call backs to the story title's song in this chapter: time is not your friend, and delaying the inevitable will not make you braver. So Lumine does not delay and moves forward.

This chapter's title: safe ship, harbored, ties so nicely with the story title. no amount of fear will keep you safe. The ship might be in the harbour, it might be seen as safe, but its fear of setting out in the harsh world won't keep it safe because danger will find its way to it eventually.

(The danger here, of course, being Lumine.)

Similarly, no amount of fear would keep Lumine safe in her battle with Childe, but for the time being, it was keeping Childe safe. Lumine defeated three Harbingers already and mentioned that the numbers of Fatui had thinned—I doubt she has given the other Harbingers the same grace she gave Childe, because even when he is an enemy he’s an ally. A friend. Something she reminded herself of by getting that mask off so she saw her friend Childe instead of the imposing enemy Harbinger. I know how I will interpret it, but it’s up to you what you read between the lines.

At the end of the chapter, Lumine and Childe make plans to travel together. What does that mean in the context of this chapter’s title?

Instead of staying safe in the Snezhnaya, they set out on their dangerous journey. Instead of staying docked in the harbour, they set sail with the risk of getting hurt, and seem to avoid what happened to the Tsaritsa. Remember, however, that the Tsaritsa was not born a safe ship. Something or someone wore her down, and it could be “Celestia” being the culprit but most importantly: losing someone very dear to her broke her. Just like the previous chapter seemed to have Lumine and Childe at the start of the narrative of the song, it could be the case here. They go around the world, but one of them will sink and the other will remain docked in the harbour because of the scars that experience left. With it being the end of Childe’s story and only the end of a chapter in Lumine’s, you can fill in the blanks who of the two becomes a safe ship, harbored.

This brings me to the final metatextual point: this whole fic’s premise. #thinking about all the ways childes character will end.... All these chapter titles and other relationships so far have been warning signs of Lumine’s (and Childe’s) future, similar to how certain aspects in the game’s narratives have been warning signs of Childe’s future, particularly how he’s toeing the line with death. The chapter titles all have a bearing on someone else’s present and are the writing on the wall for Lumine and Childe’s possible future.

Since you read Genshin fic, you’re likely playing Genshin Impact. In the various quests and hidden in the lore that describes the history of Teyvat through books, weapons, artifacts and other writings, you’ll find that the same stories are happening over and over again. I’d argue that every time a story gets repeated, though, it goes just a fraction better. (Alhaitham’s story quest has Alhaitham, whose design and characterization is inspired by King Deshret, outright rejecting the collective consciousness King Deshret worked towards with the Golden Slumber. I have high hopes for Mondstadt to end up differently than Khaenri’ah, what with all the parallels between Aether’s connection to Khaenri’ah, ours to Mondstadt, and just general connections between Khaenri’ah and Mondstadt.) The people in the current stories make a better choice and avoid greater tragedy than those in the past. That’s why I can’t lose hope that all these warning signs of death to Childe and warning signs of isolation for Lumine remain that: they take the better path because those in the past took the tragic road.

And if it does end up with Ajax dying far too young, then the warning signs were all there. While I can’t say, “I knew it,” I did know it remained a possibility. Even though I’ve thrown all these words of analysis on the titles in the fic, and I will do so on future chapter titles too, I’m no closer to finding the answer of how this fic will end. Future chapter titles will prove if the current theme I’ve settled on will hold:

The song is by the Crane Wives

The title is primarily about someone else or a relationship Childe or Lumine has with someone else

The title is secondarily about Childe and Lumine, acting as a warning sign of their future

I have many, many more thoughts about the fic, but they don’t revolve around the subject I carved out as my focus: titles. I will, however, point you to read the first chapter again and then read the last scene between Lumine and Childe in chapter two. The parallels. Read it again, and then look down:

Talking while watching the stars (Lumine's home, in a sense) - talking while watching the snow (Snezhnaya, Ajax's home). Lumine sharing a part she doesn't tell just anyone (her most important person: Aether. He hasn't showed up yet, but he's so important, lurking in the narrative, being Lumine's main quest) and then Ajax doing the same here, with the sun rising (his name! something he still has of before he became Fatui. Before he got lost in bloodshed. Before he fell in the abyss. When he was a bright-eyed kid listening to legends told by his father when ice fishing). Childe reached out to Lumine to travel together for a bit in chapter one and in chapter two, Lumine reaches out to Childe to travel together for a bit. So many delicious parallels that, just like Childe said in chapter one that Lumine is important to him, it’s clear in chapter two that he is important to Lumine.

I’ll wrap it up now, as this has reached beyond what could fit in two comments on AO3.

The title is the first thing we see as a reader, yet it might very well have been the last thing the writer decided on for their story. The title is the beginning and the end, as we uncover more and more through the story about what the author considered—one way or another—the most important representation of it. The title is just a random combination of words at the start you hold no connection to, yet as you progress though the story, your understanding of the fic grows with every word, every paragraph, every chapter and everything else you can get your hands on as being meaningful to the title.

Somewhere down the line, the random combination of words will hold meaning of its own. Somewhere down the line, the title in progress just became the title and heart of the story.

#Chilumi #Genshin Impact #Lumine #Childe #Tartaglia #gray and the adventure of commenting #I'm also quite chuffed about the meta of my own title #I also just want someone to screech with about the fic #It's a bit introspective about both Lumine and Childe so far #AND other characters too which reflects back on them #I've been losing my mind over it and am due a reread

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courfee · 8 months ago

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20 Qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰɪᴄ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ

Thank you for the tag @snarky-magpie <333

1. How many works do you have on A03? 14 published, 1 hidden.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 315,642

3. What fandoms do you write for? harry potter (mostly marauders and back in the day on ff.de also next gen, tho there is a golden era one happening atm), les miserables, and i used to write a handful of doctor who drabbles

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? 1. Operation Walburga's Arbitrary No Kissing Ever Rule 2. blindspot 3. All My Theory Complete 4. Borrow My Name 5. If you ask nicely

5. Do you respond to comments? Usually yes, though I am very very bad with responding (in general, not just ao3 this is a all messages kinda problem) and sometimes im off of ao3 for a solid 3 months before i check my inbox again. i am so sorry for all that, i do read all the comments when i get email notifs for them, i just often dont have the spoons to reply then and there.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably On Lies And Spies since it's a canon compliant peter fic, tho i think my prongsfoot fic might also be up there for competiton... (if we go off of ao3 i am currently writing a basically everyone dies fic and have written an angsty fred&george os on my first fic account)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'd say operation wanker, probably

8. Do you get hate on fics? mm yeah.. amtc specifically... idk what it is with that fic but ive had all kinds of things said there... people who hated the ending, people who thought no one should ever forgive james, people who said no one should ever forgive sirius, people being just in general mean (and not even in english??).. especially the comments in the bookmarks suck, ive had several people rate that fic out of 10, have had people write an entire list of what i should have done different etc etc... it sucks cause i still like that fic a lot, the first long fic ive ever finished, but its reached a point where im scared when people tell me theyre going to start reading it :(

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeahh ive written one jegulus smut fic. it was supposed to be a one shot for practicing purpose of seeing if i can do it and got slightly out of hand....

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've started writing one chronicles of syntax hogwarts au before and i did a comic forever ago where the 10th doctor and rose end up in hogwarts meeting the next gen crew

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? someone started translating amtc

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I've had plans, but we haven't yet gotten beyond the planning stage. would love to try it some time tho!!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? whatever the fuck james and sirius have going on, their relationship has been my favourite for all eternity

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My jegulus Krabat AU. I so badly want to have it written because i want to read it, but unfortunately the world is just not something i like writing in all that much

16. What are your writing strengths? Writing (un)healthily codependent friendships (aka james and sirius, (or the triumvirate)) and probably also consistency with little details

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting. I suck at it. i am very much a paper thinker, so if i dont write i cant think

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? depends on the context? it has to work with the story line and characters and id rather use it sparingly

19. First fandom you wrote for? harry potter (my first published fic was next gen, my second marauders all the way back in 2011)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? probably either operation wanker or on lies and spies

no pressure tagging @messymoony @static-radio-ao3 @otrtbs @iceprinceofbelair @alarainai @delicris

#hp #tagged #mine

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scary-grace · 9 months ago

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20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @nocompromise-noregrets and @the-red-butterfly, and since I have some time this evening I figured I would get into them!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 67!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 2,230,943. I don't know if that's actually a lot but it feels like a lot.

3. What fandoms do you write for? I write for the Tolkienverse (almost exclusively The Hobbit) and for My Hero Academia.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

i ain't changed, but i know i ain't the same (828)

Kairos (759)

seeking a friend for the end of the world (702)

Show Me My Silver Lining (532)

more than words can wield the matter (429)

The weirdest part about the answer to this question for me is that 'more than words can wield the matter' is a one-shot. Love Like Ghosts is only three kudos behind it and has been up for a significantly shorter time, but it was still strange to see.

5. Do you respond to comments? I don't usually respond! I always thank people who commented in the author's note of the next chapter, though. The times I'm most likely to respond are if somebody points out a mistake that needs correction (like the fact that I double-pasted the last chapter of Enough to Go By) or if they've asked for a fun fact I can't resist sharing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? There are a few candidates, although the fics that qualify for this the most are still at the WIP stage. The best candidates at the moment are probably i'll follow you into the dark (in which Bard and Thranduil face the beginning of an alien invasion together) and Gravity (in which the theory of relativity puts a real damper on their relationship). Apparently space = tragedy to me.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Like @nocompromise-noregrets who tagged me, I write a lot of fics with happy endings. The no-holds-barred happiest endings are probably in Show Me My Silver Lining and Yamada Hizashi's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Hanukah. Something about when the found family hits just right...

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've gotten some semi-antagonistic comments and some rude bookmarks, but otherwise, all the fic hate I've gotten was back on fanfic.net, when I was writing canon character x oc fics and giving everybody superpowers.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I indeed write smut. I used to have to be intoxicated to do it, but that's changed, and now I can write a full scene while chilling out on my break at work. As for the kind of smut, it used to be pretty solidly non-explicit, but I've recently branched out into more explicit stuff.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I write tons of AUs, but I don't think I've ever written a direct crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so. If anyone is considering it, I hope you don't. For your sake. :)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have not!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! My co-writers include @dogblessyoutascha and @corndog-patrol, both of whom are awe-inspiringly talented writers and artists.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Barduil, no contest. Almost 1.5 million of my 2 million plus words on Ao3 are devoted to them, and although bagginshield started it all and erasermic got me into BNHA, Barduil's my number one.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I've vowed to finish all my WIPs at some point, so I feel like answering this one will jinx me one way or the other. But the one that's probably furthest down in my list is Insight, aka the genderbent bagginshield/barduil The Village AU.

16. What are your writing strengths? Plot, I think -- I really get a lot out of setting up foreshadowing and twists! I also think I can write a mean action sequence when I really sit down and focus on it. And on several stories the commenters have informed me that I went pretty hard on the horror.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? PACING. I can't write a short fic to save my life.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If I spoke another language, maybe, but I don't. Usually I convey that other languages are being used with italics in quotes.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Ooh, I'm going to out myself here -- it was for Thor (2011), a canon character x oc. The fic is still out there, since I don't believe in taking stuff down, but being reminded of its existence pains me.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? I don't know that I can choose. My favorites tend to be the ones I'm working on at the moment. My greatest hits are in my pinned post, but I don't think I can narrow them down more than that.

I'm going to tag my collection of writer mutuals: @dogblessyoutascha, @corndog-patrol, @phantombstone, @palmviolet, @piyo-13, and @candycandy00! No pressure or obligation, just if you think it might be fun!

#tag game #clown hours

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kaesaaurelia · 1 year ago

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Just want to argue with one thing (and sorry OP I'm sure you've already gotten 500 iterations of this, but this is the version of the post I saw and am reblogging, so I'm saying it probably again): AO3 is NOT just a fanfiction archive and it IS totally okay to post essays on insights and theories. It is not okay to post things like liveblogs or requests for promts, but you can post any kind of fanwork that isn't considered "fannish ephemera." The line between what is/isn't "fannish ephemera" is kind of hard to clarify but if you've written an essay with like a thesis and everything, I think that's pretty solidly fannish meta and permitted. Fanvids, art, podfic, and even recipes inspired by characters are also fine. It is probably going to lean more towards fic because unfortunately you can't HOST non-textual media on AO3, as hosting images, videos, and audio files gets expensive fast. But you can link/embed those files if you'd like to put them up there, and I like it when people do this.

I also think most people have their own particular standards for what merits kudos, commenting, etc. and since the feature was introduced there have been people who won't kudos WIPs, or only kudos porn logged out, or whatever. As an author I have given up on the practice of kudomancy and do not really care as long as you aren't mean to me in the comments or somewhere else where my attention will be drawn to it. (I do look at my fics' bookmarks but you can be mean to me in the bookmarks if you want, they're your bookmarks, I don't get emailed bookmarks or anything, I'll probably just mute you.)

A couple more notes on tags:

My rule of thumb for tagging things is that if someone is LOOKING FOR STUFF featuring that tag and they'd be disappointed when they found what you posted, you shouldn't tag it that. If it heavily features dog sledding, tag Dog Sledding; if chapter 3 of 87 has an in-depth discussion of the movie Balto and dog sledding ceases to be relevant afterwards, don't tag it. If the fic is heavily about Blorbo, tag them; if Blorbo has one line or is just mentioned, please do not. If you're writing something based solely or mostly on a TV or film adaptation of a book, please don't tag the book "for exposure." If you're writing the characters from one fandom and using a single worldbuilding concept from another fandom, it's also good manners not to tag the other fandom; instead put "Other Fandom Fusion" in the freeforms.

Tags that mean the same thing all get "synned" (made synonyms of each other) by people called tag wranglers. These are real actual people who are volunteers. There is no algorithm involved.

Because of this, you do NOT HAVE TO INCLUDE MORE THAN ONE TAG THAT MEANS THE SAME THING. You can tag Aziraphale/Crowley OR Ineffable Spouses OR Azicrow OR Crowley/Aziraphale OR . You don't have to tag all of them. They're all functionally only one tag.

Tags come in several varieties -- Fandom, Character, Relationships, and Freeform. These tags are all different tags that function a little bit differently, so, for example, it actually IS okay to tag a pairing that isn't an important main pairing in the freeforms. If you tag "Bert/Ernie (mentioned)" in the Relationships tag in your fic about Elmo's epic journey, it will be synned to the main Bert/Ernie tag, show up when people look for Bert/Ernie, and all the Bert/Ernie shippers will think you're annoying. If you put it in the Freeforms category, it will NOT get synned to the main relationships tag but will get synned to the freeform Bert/Ernie tag, and people who hate Bert/Ernie with a fiery passion will be able to filter it out, or at least be forewarned in the tags that at one point in your epic Elmo fic, Elmo calls Bert and Ernie and the conversation indicates they're definitely married.

There are tags that pop up in the dropdown menu when you're tagging before posting. These are called "canonical" tags. You do not have to use them, although there is a chance that if you don't, it'll take a bit for the tag you use to be synned, if there is in fact a canonical tag at all. I see this a lot with like, female characters who get married within a continuity and take their husband's last names, where people will tag, like, "Jane Jones (I can't believe I can't tag her Jane Jones it just says Jane Jones Smith smh like she's only relevant if she's a wife)." It's understandable that you wouldn't want to tag "Jane Jones Smith" if you're writing an AU where she gets together with her bff Jill and they live happily ever after in a cottage by the sea and she never marries Sam Smith, but, to be clear... if you just type "Jane Jones" into the box.... that is probably already synned to Jane Jones Smith. However, if you tag a long rambling vent at the tag wranglers... the tag wranglers will see it, and also they will have to syn it to "Jane Jones Smith." If you want the rant attached to your fic, that's fine, but if you just want to tag it Jane Jones, you can still do that, it's just not in the dropdown menu. Same goes for if you're tagging for Jane's superhero name, secret identity as Casimira Castillo, etc. You can even -- if you have an AU, say, where she's named Joan Janes -- tag it "Joan Janes (AU evil!Jane)" and it will eventually be synned to Jane Jones Smith. (This may also present a problem for you or the wranglers eventually, depending on what you and your fandom like to do with AUs, but in that case it's also probably good that you know this.)

That said, if you go really minimalist and just tag her as "Jane," it will be hard to find your fic. She will be mixed in with all the other Janes -- Jane Eyre, Jane Crocker, Jane Fonda, Dick and Jane Jane, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and a handful of Jane Does will all be swirling around in that tag. (There is already a Jane Jones tag for a character from a movie I haven't seen, so in this particular situation for this hypothetical other Jane Jones if you're dedicated to your Jane Jones tagging you might want to tag her "Jane Jones (Hypothetical Fandom)" to keep her from being mixed up with "Jane Jones (Movie I Haven't Seen)" or any other Janes Jones that may pop up.)

If you're curious about a tag's synonyms, you can look at the tag and its relationships by clicking on it. For example, I recently opted to tag something "Not Season 2 Compliant" even though the canonical tag is "Not Season/Series 02 Compliant," because the fandom I was writing for has Seasons, not Serieses, and I thought it looked better. I found the canonical tag, clicked on it, saw all the tags that are synonyms of that canonical tag, and went with the one I preferred. I could have made a new tag, say, "lol this is not remotely compliant w/season 2," that would have been fine, it just would've taken a while for people to be able to filter for non-S2 compliant fic (either to filter it out, because they, like I, NEEDED fixit fic asap, or because they did not want to think about S2 and wanted to live in happier times for a while).

(For an amazing example of how ridiculously varied synonyms of tags can get when a fandom is large and old enough to go through several iterations of ship naming conventions I suggest checking out the tag for Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, which contains no-longer-standard shipname forms like "Pumpkin Pie" and "Harmony," as well as about a thousand renamed AU versions of the characters and a lot of misspellings.)

AO3 Etiquette

It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:

Kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished - you kudos.

If you liked it, you should comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.

No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it. Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity. Don't ruin that for them.

Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.

There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.

For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.

Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLANTONIC, like friendship or family.

Nothing is banned. This is an implicit rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.

People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.

Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.

Avoid deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - orphan it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to you anymore.

This is a creative fanfiction archive. No essays on your insights or theories please. There are other places for that.

I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.

I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.

#fandom #ao3 #meta #kaesa additions

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queenofthemilkcowboogieblues · 10 months ago

Text

Convergence by Shelb253947

Fandoms:Jurassic Park - All Media Types

Not Rated

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

F/M

Complete Work

08 Mar 2024

Tags

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Ian Malcolm/Original Female Character(s)

Alan Grant/Ellie Sattler

Amanda Kirby/Paul Kirby

Original Female Character(s)

Ian Malcolm

Alan Grant (Jurassic Park)

Ellie Sattler

Original Male Character(s)

Kelly Malcolm (mentioned)

Paul Kirby

Amanda Kirby

Eric Kirby

Udesky (Jurassic Park)

Nash (Jurassic Park)

Cooper (Jurassic Park III)

Blood and Injury

Panic Attacks

Flashbacks

Chaos

Summary

It has been eight years since the original events that took place at Jurassic Park, and four years since the unfortunate incident that took place on Isla Sorna and in San Diego. Needless to say, Amaryllis Grant-Malcolm has gotten to the point where she thought those events were long behind her, and it happily enjoying life with her husband, her daughters, her brother, sister-in-law, and her nephew and niece. However, money to continue a dig in Montana is rapidly drying up, and when the opportunity comes to get the money needed to keep it running, her brother jumps at the chance. What else is Amaryllis to do, but go with him on an what was supposed to be a simple trip flying over Isla Sorna? What could possibly go wrong?

Series

Part 3 of Chaos Theory

Language: English

Words: 47,790

Chapters: 13/13

Comments: 8

Kudos: 7

Bookmarks: 1

#original female character #ian malcolm #jurassic park #fanfic #jurassic park iii

0 notes

troutfur · 2 years ago

Note

🌊River - Theories for the new series (or SE!)

(Ask game here! Continue sending them in, I'll be here all week.)

OK! Here's my Official predictions for A Starless Clan. Bookmark this so we can check back in in like 2 years and see just how wrong or right I was.

Nightheart and Sunbeam will explode and it will be glorious

More of a hope than a prediction because I can see them staying together, unfortunately, but with the way their relationship is developing I fail to see how that's a more interesting path than them falling out. Their relationship is built on an unsteady ground of wallowing in their self pity and finding comfort in each other in hopes it solves all their issues rather than going out and confronting them.

I've said before I ship them but it's in the same way I could be considered to "ship" all those ships I suggested on the secret half-sibling reveal prompt I submitted to the Warrior Cats Rarepair Collection. I do care on some level about the romantic chemistry of the characters involved and I don't want to read about an entirely bad romance. But the main event is not the relationship, it's the moment it all breaks down and we see the emotional fallout.

Tigerstar done fucked up big time

Leaving aside the morality of interventionist politics like this, I don't see an universe in which this was a good move politically. Like, I get the guy's intentions even if I think he should really learn to take no for an answer. But with dissent among his clan brewing and governing over a population not only sure to resent foreign rule but carrying generational trauma regarding the last Tigerstar...

Like, even if Berryheart doesn't use this as an opportunity to pull some shenanigans and RiverClan remains well behaved, this whole operation's explicit goal is to strengthen a faction on the border. You can NOT tell me this doesn't end with a rebuilt RiverClan being a constant thorn on ShadowClan's side. It simply wasn't politically very wise.

The trauma conga line just doesn't stop for poor Frostpaw

We all see it coming don't we? Girlie needs a rest already but she's been cursed to live in interesting times. For her sake I'm half hoping she bails on the medicine cat position. My only concern in that situation would be Mothwing either ascending to leadership or also falling dead. In which case I can see a very reluctant Frostpaw doing her best to try and refuse continuing.

I know people hate the trend of medicine cats never wanting the job but look. It's kinda fucked up that kids as young as equivalent age 12 get to decide to swear themselves to celibacy is it not? And it's specially fucked up StarClan constantly pressures them into it.

I for one have enormous amounts of sympathy for them and even very personal empathy as someone. I used to be so devoutly Catholic my family was only half-joking about me growing up to become a priest. I know if I could've decided about it at that age I would've made the worst decision of my life.

Graypaw and Mistpaw are not becoming fully developed characters

I'm holding out hope and celebrating every crumb we get because I'm the sibling dynamics guy and I need to have things to hold on to. But being realistic for a second I'm not seeing this one. It was a damn miracle they showed as much as they did in Sky, and I think my luck may be running thin. I think fanworks will have to do it for me. Very recently I noticed the Frostpaw & Graypaw & Mistpaw tag got canonized on Ao3 and I'll read those meager two fanfics there are about them and maybe I'll write some of my own. My realistic hope at this point is that the Erins give me something to work with.

The murder mystery is going to be solved very stupidly

Sorry for being a downer about this, fellas, but so far I can't piece out a sensible way for this one to resolve and I'm getting a feeling the writing team is winging it. I could still be proven wrong, perhaps the next books are going to reveal information that will make it click. But if by the fourth one the solution still eludes me as much, I think I'll have to give up any hopes it will resolve satisfactorily.

#warrior cats #wc #asc spoilers #river spoilers #sky spoilers #sunbeam #nightheart #frostpaw #tigerheart #tigerstar #graypaw #mistpaw #I want their warrior names now #particularly for graypaw I don't want him to end up lumped together with posts about young graystripe

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garrettwrites · 1 year ago

Text

Also: if you have a """vibe to keep""" or, like me, are running an art blog on the side and don't want to clutter it... literally just create a spam sideblog. A sideblog where you reblog fandom stuff, random posts, make your own fandom theories or give irl opinions... it's not hard. In fact, you can use the reblog feature to get people to interact with your sideblog too!

As an artist, seeing some of my art have 150 likes and only 15 reblogs makes me wonder what the point is. If those 150 likes were 150 reblogs - hell, even half of that - my work would probably have tripled the amount of people it reached (or more).

But this is NOT JUST ABOUT ART/OG WORKS EITHER. Likes do jack shit for this website. They don't show up on the dash. NOBODY goes to your blog to check your likes (unless they for some reason wanna find something about you). Hell, most people have their likes and following tabs hidden - and those ONLY APPEAR on your MAIN BLOG. Your likes are good as acknowledgement tools and bookmarks, but that's it. They do jack shit.

Reblog stuff. Create a sideblog for your fanart spam or whatever and link it in a pinned post. Say fuck it, tag your stuff properly, and just share content on your main blog.

Sure no one can tell you what to do. It's your social media. But the point of social media is to, well, be social - likes on Tumblr honestly should be disabled forever because they contribute almost nothing to such a simple function. And making likes work like they do on Twitter wouldn't work either because Tumblr fundamentally goes against such a system: you have sideblogs for different stuff. If I follow your baroque history sideblog, but your main one is about Videogame A and Hello Kitty and multiple conspiracy theories on the properties of Napoleon's asscrack I just don't wanna see that on my dash. Why would I? I followed your history sideblog. It would never work if it got implanted.

if you’re a new tumblr user from tiktok or IG or something and only like posts and dont reblog them yeah people will think you’re a bot and block you but you will also make this website actively worse. they want “algorithmic” users like you, served recommended posts through likes, not people who just follow each other and respond to the direct chronological feed. there is a reason this website is still better than the rest, even with all its problems, do not ruin this

#i barely like stuff #likes for me are bookmarks #or acknowledgements of personal posts where I feel it would be inappropriate to rb #(which is why on my own more irl personal posts I usually tag them as ok to rb in case someone wants to)

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ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff · 4 years ago

Text

Mystery Writer (Spencer Reid x Reader)

Summary: Spencer finds books at a second hand bookstore that are annotated and he falls the person writing the notes.

AN: This was part of a fic swap on @imagining-in-the-margins server! This is for the marvellous @definitelynotkatesblog <3 I really hope you like it! I had to delete the original post because it didn't show up in the tags. This will be staying up regardless of that now.

Masterlist

Your name: submit What is this?

“If you need anything, just let me know!”

Spencer pressed his lips together at the person behind the till before heading deeper into the rows of second-hand books. Familiar titles, old and new, printed on spines in various states of pristine/decay, they tempted him to select and bring them home with him. The clear sections between biographies and fiction guided him deeper into the forest, deeper into finding his way out. He was hoping to adopt one such book for a day off, when he could revisit it with a fresh eye. It would be like seeing an old friend again, remembering why they were friends in the first place with a hint of that initial read through from years ago, and perhaps he would learn something new in the process.

A dull ache in his chest at the sight of The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. But he had long since recovered from that heartbreak and he would be able to read this story without feeling that again.

Still. It had been several years since he read this book.

His nervous fingers plucked it off the shelf and the pages fell open for him. A flattened gum wrapper parted the pages like the Red Sea. Spencer lifted it out tentatively. Its creases were ironed in from its role as a temporary bookmark, an impression of scribbled black ink flattened after it was made.

Spencer’s eyes scanned over the page in search of what this gum wrapper might have been guarding.

“Women are never to be entirely trusted – not the best of them.”

In the margins was scribbled:

Product of the time, but still a prick, rude smartarse role a bit dull

Spencer found himself exhaling in light laughter. That a lack of empathy was considered “dull” by this person, when it was something he dealt with in his job almost every day. The confidence in this commentary too, this brazen critique of a much beloved fictional character was left for someone else to find.

His gaze found Watson’s opinion of Holmes’ casual sexism: “atrocious sentiment”. It was circled twice in the same black biro.

Spencer dug his thumb against the text block and flicked through the book. A waft of that book smell lifted from the paper, accompanied by the bold notes of the previous owner dotted across the text until he finally landed on the reverse of the front cover. Two letters – initials - were scratched onto it.

It was with bridled exhilaration that Spencer approached the till and held up the book with a half-smile. His hands were quick to place it down on the counter so that the shop assistant could type the price into the till. His mood was apparently palpable because they seemed just as happy as Spencer to hand him back the novel in a brown paper bag – the receipt tucked inside.

--->--->--->--->--->

“Love is an emotional thing, and whatever emotional is opposed to what is true, cold reason, which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgement.”

What a lonely existence and also a lie. See: entire relationship w/ Dr. Watson!

Spencer smiled at this comment. Now all the other instances of a double underlining made sense. Each one produced itself in his mind as evidence that Mr Sherlock Holmes did in fact love. Maybe not marry, but it would have been terribly unconventional for him to wed Doctor John Watson. The unknown author seemed to understand this. They never emphasised if this love was platonic or romantic. But the way in which they proved love existed within this character oft portrayed as emotionless, Spencer simply adored. They were a romantic reader, who still enjoyed reading about the cynic

He grew quite aware of his posture in that moment and he straightened his back. A few clicks of complaint emitted as he stretched, his head twisting from side to side. Screwing his eyes open and shut behind his glasses, he revisited your deduction.

On the dot of the “i” in “lie”, there was a sprinkle of graphite around the indent from where a pencil’s lead had snapped from the effort put into topping off this point. A sprinkle of graphite smudged where the pages pressed together.

Spencer moved on to where a sentence in black biro tried to blend in with the printed words. A memory appeared at the front of his mind: when Rossi was bewildered to learn Spencer and Dr. Alex Blake wrote the newspaper crossword in pen.

The pencil markings were like mini brainstorms, something to revisit and make a solid theory with the black biro. But the planning was never rubbed out.

Little quotes were circled. This mystery critic spent half the book roasting the characters and the other half leaving little exclamation marks and circles around phrases and words when they couldn’t think of something to say. Spencer found it sweet, picturing the thrilling unfolding of events for the reader to revisit.

His heart ached in bittersweet memory as he recalled the contents of Dr Alex Blake’s book The Route of Linguistics. It was necessary pain to create a profile of who this mystery critic was. Yes, he was profiling out of work hours. His evenings were now spent trying to picture the voice behind the notes. The sarcasm, the witty blows to the character’s and author’s ego. He almost wished that he couldn’t read so fast because he finished the book, even with its additional notations, all too quickly. But there was one bonus.

Spencer traced the pad of his fingertip over the exclamation marks describing Mary Morstan. What else might a detractor of the great Sherlock Holmes read?

--->--->--->--->--->

He had returned to the bookshop in favour of adopting another. Yet he could not find one that satisfied his unknown criteria. It was not until he found himself checking the front pages of the fifth book he had selected, that he realised he was looking for a pair of initials.

Sighing, he placed My Dear Bessie, with its empty front page, back on the shelf. The chances of finding another book containing this mystery critic were so minute. He could probably calculate them if he wanted to dedicate himself to such a disheartening statistic. He’d rather not spend his lunch break doing that, as much as he loved statistics. This once, they did not assure his safety and he remained unsupported by the fact that he could not find any other Arthur Conan Doyle books.

His desperation became most apparent when he thought that perhaps fate should just decide for him. If anything, he would come away with a random book to read through in about ten minutes on a flight back home.

He peeked around the corner of the shelves. The shop assistant at the till was busy writing something down, not paying any mind to the shop’s only customer.

“A random shot had no better odds than just picking books off one by one” is what he told himself as he closed his eyes and placed his fingers on the end of the shelf, just over the first book’s spine. In an “S” pattern, his arm moved up and down, over the books and shelves and gaps between units. His feet stepped forwards into the space he knew was clear.

Spencer stopped and opened his eyes, his finger shifting just an inch out of the way of his new book’s title.

Circe. Madeline Miller.

He tapped the top and the book fell forwards, where he caught it. Its shining dust jacket was serving its purpose, a few tears along the edges from where it had protected the hardcover. He checked the front page. A map of Aiaia in orange and brown filled it to the corners. On the next page, his heart stuttered at the sight of two initials in the same handwriting and the same biro. There was also a scribble - invisible to start with then a ball of black.

The first page with the story’s text held a scribble just above its opening line:

the power of the name

“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.”

He could see that the first was in a blunt pencil, but the addition was a sharpened point carving into the paper. A secondary thought that was provided after completing the novel, they had added it. Spencer lifted it to his face, his eyes crossing to keep the stipple in focus. The scent of the paper and the graphite reached him easily; the note must have been made just before Circe was gifted to him. How lucky he was to find such a treasure.

The shop assistant was cutting out a new sign for “BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE!”. By the time Spencer made it to them, the sign was placed upon the pile besides him. The shop assistant smoothed out a crease on the dust jacket, ineffectively but Spencer admitted the gesture. He was glad that someone who loved books as much as him got to work in a place like this.

--->--->--->--->--->

Spencer’s mind, definitely for worse, echoed the words off the tabloids around his head the split second he made eye contact with the headlines. He paced the shelves to somewhere a little quieter. When he found the chocolate aisle, he pretended to peruse. Ever half a minute or so, his gaze drifted up to the till area where the shop owner was on a phone call and clearly not paying attention to him.

It was not long before Spencer grew bored of looking at KitKats, and he pulled out One Thousand And One Nights. The book’s pages fell again to page 57. This shop’s receipt stood above them, still holding its place from the previous owner. It felt wrong to part the two.

No new people had entered this corner shop for 8 minutes. He’d even given the time at the receipt’s end a fifteen-minute margin either side. Given that this mystery critic took a break from work at the same time on the same day of the week – and that they worked during the day – he should have seen them. Maybe he had, and they were that man in the baggy hoodie who stunk of weed. Probably not. Hopefully not. Not that Spencer was judging him for his… recreational activities. He just wanted the mystery critic to be someone he could realistically spend time with.

Just then, Spencer’s phone trilled annoyingly loud. He received a glare from the shop manager and Spencer sent an awkward apologetic expression his way before answering JJ quickly.

“Spencer, we’ve got a case. We need you here ASAP.”

His response was immediate. “Ok, be there in ten.” Hanging up, Spencer dithered on the spot then grabbed a packet of Cheetos. He’d been there for nearly twenty minutes; he had to get something.

“Three dollars,” the manager said before returning to his call. But not before he rolled his eyes at Spencer. Spencer dropped the bills onto the counter and dashed out before he could be offered a receipt.

--->--->--->--->--->

An outlier in the usual length of case work had passed by in five long days. Spencer hardly ever regretted the time he put into this job. Every unsub caught was lives saved. But the absence of his mystery commentator had been niggling at the back of his busy mind and he was glad to finally reunite with them on this long flight back.

From his satchel, he recovered the copy of One Thousand And One Nights and began rereading the notes to ground himself in the story. His focus lingered on the page as if he were reading it at the average 250 words per minute. It allowed him to block out the humming of the engine.

Spencer did not take his eyes off the page as he pulled open his desk drawer and popped a piece of overpriced gum into his mouth. Half-hearted reminders bounced in his head, from when he tried smoking and chewing gum to ease his cravings. The fruit flavour was very clearly artificial and it faded within six minutes. Why his mystery critic would pick such a pathetic packet of gum to chew, he didn’t know. But hopefully the fact of its flavour disappearing fast would mean they get through the packet quicker and buy another soon. Even if today, and the days before, spent in that shop did not lean in favour of that hypothesis.

--->--->--->--->--->

The Five People You Meet In Heaven was in the Recently Donated pile. It was near the top, slid towards the edge of the container after being placed wonkily on a copy of some sports autobiography.

Within the pages was more than Spencer could have ever hoped for. Entire paragraphs were circled, quotes underlined. A squashed mini post-it note tabbed the page and a whole paragraph was scrawled on it, about Tala. An arrow pointing to the underside, Spencer lifted the flap and saw more to read, like an interactive pop-up book that he’d gotten Henry for his second birthday. Spencer closed his eyes quick and snapped the book shut. He wanted to save it for when he was sitting comfortably, not while he was rushing back to work in time for JJ to get to her lunch break on time.

The shop assistant had just clipped the lid back onto a green highlighter when Spencer drew up to their counter. With careful fingers, he placed the book upon it. There was a twitch of the assistant’s mouth; their eyes brightened. They looked like they wanted to say something, but something else held them back from making the first move. Spencer recognised it from his school days.

“It’s a good read.” He spoke after they had typed the price into the till.

“I know,” The assistant replied instantly, a relieved smile on their lips, “What part are you on?”

“I’ve already read it, but I wanted to revisit the passage at the diner.”

“Ahh, that’s a good bit. One of my favourites.”

Spencer’s eyebrows furrowed a fraction of an inch. His gaze dropped to the nametag on the left side of their chest. Y/N, their name’s first initial. It couldn’t be.

“What did you think about the final person, Tala?”

“Oh,” The shop assistant clutched at their heart, “I was an emotional wreck before and it hit me hard just as the rest did. So bittersweet to hear her forgiveness. It took me a few times to finish reading the end, but it was all worth it.”

He couldn’t be this lucky, to get this many books from the same person and to have them standing in front of him. Spencer didn’t believe in luck.

As he reached across for his new book, he turned over the cover, “Was this yours?”

Twisting their head around to read the publication details, the assistant – Y/N - smiled sheepishly at the initials. “Yes, and I’m glad to see it go to a new home.”

Apparently luck believed in him.

“But,” Spencer felt his brows knit automatically as he looked between the book and their previous owner, “You love it. I-I’ve seen your notes.”

A hand clapped over Y/N’s mouth, “Oh God, you must have. I mean, it wasn’t the intention initially, but I thought they might be a little entertaining for anyone who picks it up to leave them in there.”

“Oh, they were! I’d love to read more of your thoughts. Hear, hear them, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Y/N checked the door to the shop, still shut, and back to Spencer. They dropped their elbows onto the countertop with their chin in their palms. “What did you wanna know?”

From his bag, Spencer procured his – their – copy of The Sign of Four and flicked through the pages. So many places to choose, but he wanted to open with what had introduced him to Y/N’s analysis.

The pair put their heads together, leaning on the counter. Spencer could smell the chewing gum on their breath. Y/N never cut him off, and he never wanted to cut them off. There were little pauses at the end of each of their turns to speak before the other picked up where they had left off. Their voices leapt from secretive whispers to passionate orations of their favourite passages, rebounding evidence and analysis off each other like a bouncy ball. Spencer finally had a voice to put to the sarcasm, the one his mind had conjured long forgotten in the wake of Y/N’s enthusiasm.

The shop’s door swung open. Spencer leapt to attention as an older woman swept in, past the two of them towards the non-fiction section. Y/N adjusted their name tag, their back straight too. The clock behind the till announced that it was now twenty minutes after the end of Spencer’s lunch break.

Running on the rush of his hobby meeting a potential friend, Spencer asked, “Can I get your number? So we can talk more, maybe swap some more books, when you’re not working?”

His luck was still by his side as Y/N wrote out their number on his receipt, written in their infamous black biro.

--->--->--->--->--->

Spencer leapt over to the door of his apartment, took a deep breath, and unlocked it. Stood behind where it had been was Y/N and they too were still wearing the uniform from work. Their nametag was still on their polo shirt, the same spot that Spencer wore his FBI tag.

“Can I get you a drink?” He asked the second they made a step inside his abode.

“Tea would be great. Milk and one sugar please.”

And while he was in the kitchen, Y/N rushed over to the bookshelves, their eyes wide to take in Spencer’s collection. “Oh wow! You weren’t joking!” Their finger indicated to a hard cover copy of Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy, “That’s one of mine. Well, yours now.”

Plucking it from the shelf, they opened it up. Spencer had written his initials beside theirs.

Spencer stuck his head out in the partition, “Ours. If we’re going to be sharing.” Y/N stood on tiptoes, teeming with delight, their hands cradling the book with all the care Spencer could hope for in a fellow reader. Joint custody of their books and their passion? What a dream.

“I just have to write a little more about the epilogue, and I’ll be with you,” Y/N took their place on his couch. A pencil began scribbling away their thoughts onto the last few pages. Their knees were their desk.

Spencer finished brewing and placed the mug in front of Y/N, who mumbled a quick thank you to him. He joined them in writing his final notes. It slowed him down a considerable amount, but he was glad to take things at a casual pace, especially considering the way that Y/N almost broke their pencil as they scrawled out their thoughts for Spencer to hear later.

“Have you thought about the next one you’d like to try?” Spencer asked tentatively. He wasn’t so sure if Y/N would want to be interrupted.

Luckily for him, Y/N paused their stream of consciousness to look back at his books, “Hmm. So much to choose from.”

Stood up, their book left in Spencer’s care. They took a deep breath, closed their eyes and used their forefinger to draw a zigzag over the spines. Spencer felt that he was almost sick with joy.

Y/N stilled their wandering hand and opened their eyes, already drawing out the selected novel, “This one.”

“And what have you chosen for me next time?”

Y/N handed over The Butterfly Lion from their bag, “Ok, I can’t wait any longer, what do you think?”

They sat back on the couch. Their legs now hung over the arm of the couch, elbows either side and face cupped in their palms. The book rested in their lap. Shifting so that he faced them completely, Spencer returned to the first page and his analysis began.

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds x reader #my writing

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not-poignant · 2 years ago

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I know that people do binding of fanfic and other works they love— has anyone ever bound anything of yours? I know most of your work is *quite* long so I’d be very curious to see how it would get tackled!

Yes! People ask me this a lot actually (to the point where maybe I should just put blanket permission in my AO3 profile, lol). I only have one in the tag so far, but you can check an example of what it can look like here.

Most of the time when folks bind my books they split it off into sections, so Game Theory might become Game Theory 1 / 2 / 3 (or just two parts), for example. It's very doable when approached this way! And splitting books into multiple parts works well for the fantasy genre anyway! I wrote The Court of Five Thrones and Game Theory both with 3 acts in mind, and so they can split along those acts, too. It just works better to keep it all together on AO3 because as I found out with The Ice Plague, if you split it into 3, less people engage with each work (like they might just subscribe and bookmark and kudos the first part, for example).

There are also folks who have privately bound through places like Lulu for professional level printing, and just don't sell it. My general position is people can bind whatever they like provided it's just for them, and they don't sell it (even selling at cost - just the materials - isn't allowed).

#asks and answers #fae tales bookbinding #fae tales #fae tales verse #it's so awesome that people do this #and it always gets me so excited to publish some of these myself one day #in paperback or hardback form #dsakljfsdfkdsa #ONE DAY #maybe #x.x

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nonbinarychaoticstupid · 4 years ago

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fic rec list version 1

will be consistently updating! these are just a handful of fics i’ve found that i think are neat :> feel free to send more/rb with your own! i’ve included links to both the fic and the author and i’m absolutely not done yet, there are way more i need to link

a picture’s worth a thousand words by akarihope - catradora in a post-season 3 au, very cool idea behind it, lots of portal theory and catra punching shadow weaver in the face! also VERY GAY. in the woods somewhere is also... pure brilliance. gay witch catra and very soft adora <3

i have faced it, a life wasted by catrasredemption - catradora, modern au where catra and adora are separated after a big accident that changes everything for them. very good, very deep, made me cry, READ THE TAGS! i’d also recommend when all she is, and ever was, in compromised, because it hurt me deeply, and cast some light (it’ll be alright), which features soft artist catra <3

i couldn’t get very far without recommending anachronism by chellethewriter - seriously, both anachronism and immemorial have made me cry almost every update. catradora but they have to live the worst 3 years of their lives all over again and live with the consequences. the angst factor is INCREDIBLY HIGH. also, forever, if you want, because vampire catra owns my heart, and the vanishing point, a catra study that made me cry. a lot.

find a new place to be from by sevensevan - ongoing glimbow and catradora ghostbusters fic, feat. trans bow and nonbinary adora! very powerful and the concept leaves me in tears. recent updates have made me cry repetitively <3

you did something to me and the blood in your mouth by artemiswords - both of these fics are INSANELY POWERFUL and i was really surprised by how accurate the season 5 predictions in the blood in your mouth were! both fics are catradora-centric - a fake dating au and a season 5 speculative fic that HITS

this whole series by buckysbears - catra-centric, focuses on her relationships with the bfs and her trauma, really worth the pain that comes with it! i’d also recommend time take us, a chronic pain adora au with a little bit of implied glitradora thrown in, and made for you, which ;w;

mark my words by lologoblins - catradora flower shop/tattoo artist + soulmates au, very soft and pure fluff with catra and adora being absolute gay messes and mara being hilarious

keep your money (you can take my time) by ehj - catradora coffee shop au from adora’s pov, you can feel the Gay Mess seeping from this one and i love it unconditionally

daylight and bouquet by fuhadeza - post-season 5 catradora being incredibly soft and fluffy and post-season 4 catradora learning to love respectively, both of which are incredibly soft and made me cry for entirely different reasons

the aftershock (of your touch) by bow_woahh - soulmates catradora au in which catra struggles with her feelings for a whole lot of words and adora is just a complete mess (affectionate). very fluffy, contains its own brand of emotions

up in our bedroom after the war and the infinite of sky by herothehardway - the first is a post-season 5 speculative fic written post-season 5 that focuses on catradora recovering from the impact of the war, specifically on adora’s trauma, and the second is a post-season 5 fic focused on catra being a soft wife and helping adora through a bad night <3 both also made me cry, which i’m discovering is a very dramatic thing to do

i never cared for stories, until you entered mine by thethirdphiladelphiavireo - modern soulmates catradora au, very soft and containing pining catra. i have read this so many times and it makes me so emotional.

not if it’s you by luuma - single mother adora is just trying to raise her child and her neighbour (catra) insists on helping out. featuring adora’s gay awakening, huntara being an Old Gay, glimmer and bow being glimmer and bow (affectionate)

let adora wear pants by advancingambition - adora discovering her gender identity, featuring supportive trans butch catra. very fluffy, actually made me cry very hard <3

24 things about you by deepblueskies - modern au catradora living together, in which catra is oblivious and adora pines for a lot of words and struggles to communicate her feelings. also featuring fake dating, lonnie being excellent, and sheer fluff. <3

build our own higher ground by iwouldgetaniguana - a pre-season 5 speculative fic on catra’s redemption arc, which gets pretty damn deep and looks into catra and adora repairing their relationship in a DOPE way

here’s all my bookmarks and here’s a link to the catradora big bang 2020, which contains some of the best fics i’ve ever read

be warned, i will be back with more

#sep texxt #she ra #spop #adora #catra #glimmer #bow #catradora #glimbow #fics #fic recs #she ra fanfiction #IMMEDIATELY TAGS EVERYTHING #literally this is three pages of my 60-page history #i have so much more to come you have no idea #including that REALLY PAINFUL ONE SHOT BIEN WROTE

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amaltheafan · 1 year ago

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yupprev tags are greatalso if i may add -plenty of kiddos who seemingly had no idea who they were spouting talking points fromand that’s not just missing the obviousit’s also that a lot of reactionaries will have more neutral seeming objections that also make sense for teenagers with little exposure toart and culture and it’s complexitieslike a discomfort with subjectivity and characters who are 'the good guys' being wrong in ways that aren't always easily fixed by the endof the episode. instead it lingers over time and forces you to question them (but you think theyre just supposed to be 'good' and thereforethese lingering subjectivities / flawed viewpoints must be bad writing right?? 'how did the writers miss THIS?' 'this character is RUINED')or a need to be told what the exact message is. or the discomfort with humanizing the other. or with sincere displays of emotionand vulnerability from men and masc-coded characters - which is SO easy to write off as cringe because there’s an underlying culturaldiscomfort you don’t want to address there. and you certainly dont want to confront that your own objections can be problematicbecause clearly there's nothing problematic with holding a difficult and subjective piece of queer art to the purity standards that wedont hold anything else to and write off its difficult moments as 'bad' because theyre challenging right?or a need for a strict and easy good vs bad conceptions of art & unproblematic (‘pure’) art vs problematic degenerate (‘flawed’) art.which ironically only makes you question art you're 'told' to. like i saw so many people unironically consume things like road to el doradoor the legend of zelda in this vague aesthetic way but if you liked SU you need to 'acknowledge its problems'lmao. how about you confront the concept of treating all media like its a product of wider society and culture instead of just a fewyou've been told to criticize. everything else you like is equally or more problematic. youre just not aware enough to question it.steven universebut yeah prev tags are great for the more lefty infighting critique because holy shit there was a lot of Wild takes thereand the overlap with the dumbest reactionaries is not that surprising for the reasons stated abovethis is not me doing a horseshoe theory btw a lot of leftists love SU and have a much deeper understanding theres even academic texts aboutheroizing restorative justice that i have saved in my bookmarks if anyones interestedbut thats a world away from youtube thumbnails and reactionary stupidness and lack of analysis overall you also see from teens herewhich is in many ways *understandable*. i dont want to demonize you if that was you. i just want you to think a little harder okaySU is like a college course on subjectivity masking itself as an elementary school course. its understandable that there would be shock &outrage when people realize the text is a lot deeper and more challenging than the safe little owl house stuff youre used toLONG TAGS / sorry sorry i didnt feel comfortable making it an an actual comment cuz its too rambling so this is what it is

one thing that I think gets missed on here when retrospectively talking about ye olde steven universe discourse is that it wasn't just teenage leftist infighting, a considerable chunk of the "su crit" community was made of right wingers who were very upfront about how they hated su because it was a queer show with a cast and creative team primarily made of women and people of color. some of the most popular anti su youtube videos were blatantly misogynistic, racist, and queerphobic, and the righty and lefty su crits were clearly all watching each others' content because they kept passing talking points back and forth. there is a lot about su discourse that is pinnacle of online leftist infighting, but a significant portion of it was 100% reactionary backlash.

#steven universe #fiction thoughts

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sunfoxfic · 3 years ago

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Did you notice how people make marinette and alya so different in terms of being mad or just upset? The two of them can actually be harsh to people accidentally in the same way (they feel sorry and fix the situationlater on bit you get whatI mean).

Both of them would roll their eyes when they hear a excuse or lie, the two of them will get closer to the person pointing at them with a angry face etc. But alya is the only one how still acts that way in fanfic or comics, they totally transform mari into a sweet version that will just get sad if someone bully her.

This upset me, actually this happens with all the characters in the fandom, looks like people want to put the characters in boxes to tell the difference between them.

Can people just accept that a certain emotion is not just for one type of person?

Do you have a fic yours or from other people that don't fall into this stereotype? Is hard to find these.

Marinette is incredibly prone to acting on her emotions. She's not a good actor and she isn't great at lying, but more so, she wears her heart on her sleeve -- when she's happy, you know it. Likewise, when she's angry, you can tell.

I was actually just thinking about this last night -- Marinette goes for justice without thinking about results. To her, if people get justice, then everything else will work itself out. This viewpoint is idealistic and nice in theory, but unrealistic in practice. Ladybug proves that almost invariably.

Adrien, on the other hand, goes for results without necessarily thinking of justice. Is it fair for him to be at the whims of his father? No, not at all. But acting out in the name of justice won't get results, so he plays into that unfairness in the way that will get him what he wants.

I suppose for Alya this means that in her eyes, justice is results. If you get justice, things will be fair, and if things are fair, things are good. Slightly idealistic, but unlike Marinette, she's acting on philosophy, not on emotion.

I also characterize her as being slightly impatient (totally not projecting, no, not at all /s), as we see in Sapotis -- she doesn't necessarily have the patience to sit through annoying and exhausting things, and maybe she doesn't have the highest tolerance for children. In this way, I do think Marinette is slightly less prone to anger than Alya -- she has more patience for people around her to be "annoying."

But yes, I do think fics mischaracterize Marinette's anger heavily -- she's Princess Justice, after all. She cares about things being fair and is willing to fight for that. We've seen this in more than a few episodes -- any time she goes up against Lila, going up against Gabriel in the NY Special, the way she treats Chloé in Queen Wasp, and more. Her strong sense of justice is really what drives her to go against Hawk Moth, though that's a claim which maybe would need more backing up and I don't feel like doing that right now.

As for fics -- I should write a fic about Marinette getting nice and angry, as a treat. The closest I have, I think, is i want no trouble, a How to Train Your Dragon AU, where Marinette/Ladybug spends a considerable portion of time trying to make sure that Adrien/Chat Noir is no threat to her or her dragons. Learning Curve, the first ML fanfic I wrote almost a year ago now (I should celebrate) also shows Marinette with a strong sense of justice, though not necessarily anger.

where the firelight fades by @alexseanchai contains a very angry Marinette throughout -- she has a very strong sense of justice and constantly acts on it during that fic. (I mean, to be fair, for a big chunk of it that's because she's akumatized -- not a spoiler -- but even when she isn't, this girl can ANGY.)

Most of the fic I have bookmarked is fluffy one-shots so I'm sorry to say I can't provide too much more help, but if anyone who sees them has recs, send 'em in. There is a canonical Angry Marinette Dupain-Cheng tag on AO3, but personally I'd be worried going into that tag about character salt. (Not to say all the fics will be salty, just to say I probably wouldn't click on anything that's also tagged with s03: Chameleon.)

#asks answered #crizztelcb #marinette dupain-cheng #alya cesaire #ml fandom salt #fic

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demigoddreamer · 4 years ago

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Batfam Fanfic Recs Part 2

I can't believe Sun moon stars jedi said reblogged my post*check out their tumblr and ao3*. I loved the story because it had one of my favorite theories about Jay having to do some prostitution to survive while on the streets and it's realistic considering Jason probably had to do whatever it takes to survive. oh you poor baby boi i'm so sorry but it makes for some heart wrenching fanfiction.

I also apologize to who didn't like it I did warn it could be rather serious, and the tags probably said so too. I just really like when stories talk about deep issues and stuff like insecurity and body image and whatnot. But sorry I understand if you're not into that. I'm the type of person not phased by dark topics blood and guts could be flying on a screen and i wouldn't flinch

I was just too lazy to do tags which i'm sorry but I really I don't have as much time to do this as you think so i'll write some warning but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't trust me after that

Anyway this is another bunch of fanfiction that follows the rules of the part one listed here(no x reader or incest etc): https://demigoddreamer.tumblr.com/post/647924403914571776/batfam-fanfic-recs-part-1

These are from my bookmarks and since canon bruce is well abusive I struggle to read fanfiction that has bruce as a good parent cause fluffy bruce just doesn't make sense besides i do love some good pain and trauma in fics and batbro bonding against bruce

Different Dad, Same Story by haras_onom

Teen and Up Audiences

*implied/referenced child abuse

Relationships:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

Summary:

Jason Todd is still dealing with the aftermath of Bruce beating him and kicking him out of Gotham. Luckily, Dick Grayson (big brother extraordinaire) is there to help.

fuzzy gray by envysparkler

Teen and Up Audiences

*implied/referenced drug use

Relationships:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne

Tim Drake & Damian Wayne

Tim Drake & Jason Todd

Summary:

Dick has a bad day. Good thing he has a little brother.

(Bonus chapter: Tim has a bad day. Good thing he has his brothers.)

Wayward Birds by LanternWisp for Lysical

Teen and Up Audiences

Relationships:

Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

Jason Todd & Eddie Bloomberg

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Summary:

Jason learns that maybe not all of Bruce's rules are fair, but a fair few are there for a reason.

Lost In My Mind by alexandredumas_eatyourheartout

Teen and Up Audiences

Summary:

(*SOME TRIGGERS*)

How do you run from your mind? You can't, considering your head is attached to your body. The fact was Jason could never run from his mind, no matter how fast he went.

Now his brothers have to save him before it's too late. Will they save his mind, or lose him forever?

(Rated Teen because I'm paranoid but there isn't super graphic stuff. I'm still rating it as graphic because it might get to that point.)

inhibition by envysparkler

Teen and Up Audiences

*implied/referenced underage prostitution

Relationships:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

Summary:

Batman gets hit by a Poison Ivy special. Jason is unfortunately caught in the crossfire.

Proximity to Power by Sohotthateveryonedied

Teen and Up Audiences

*implied/referenced underage prostitution

*implied/referenced sexual assault

Relationships:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Summary:

Dick could almost enjoy himself if he didn’t have to endure the constant grabby hands from drunk aristocrats who are too used to getting what they want. Dick can’t get a second alone without someone grabbing his ass or pinning him with a conversation, telling him how much he’s grown up, which everyone knows is code for “you’re finally legal now.”

He feels bad for Jason, who has only been Bruce’s son for a few months now. This is his first upper-class party. Dick can already imagine how he’s being treated like a shiny new toy, fawned over and getting his cheeks pinched by elderly ladies who’ve doused themselves in musty perfume and the finest jewelry they own.

Series

a heart just can't contain all of this empty space by TheMermaidLord

(THIS REC IS A YOUNG JUSTICE FIC shoutout to young justice fans i'm one too :))

General Audiences

Relationships:

Artemis Crock/Wally West

Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz

Dick Grayson/Wally West

Roy Harper/Jason Todd

Summary:

The Batfamily shares information on a strictly 'need-to-know' basis. The Team is of the opinion that this basis is a little too 'need-to-know'.

It starts when Dick disappears for months with no explanation, and, apparently, there's no end in sight.

Learning to Breathe by A_Bright_Idea

Teen and Up Audiences

*implied/referenced child abuse

Relationships:

Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne

Summary:

Whilst taking down a sex-trafficking ring, Jason get's caught in an explosion and almost drowns. Saved by Nightwing, Jason is horrified when his brother refuses to leave his side until he's fully recovered. There's just no arguing with a guilt-ridden Dick, but maybe this is exactly what Jason needs? Maybe it's what Dick needs too. ------------------- Sequel to 'I'll be Home for Christmas' and 'A Little Unsteady'. Can be read alone.

#fanfic #fanfiction #fic recommendation #fanfic rec #batfam #batfamily #bruce wayne #batman #dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #red robin #damian wayne #robin #batfam fic recs

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husbandograveyard · 4 years ago

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Wootwoot! We made it you guys! May 4th is my one-year anniversary on Tumblr. With some ups and downs and over 300 requests written, I'm gonna go ahead and say it was a successful year!

Monday until next Sunday I will do another Mini HC event, like we did for valentine! Open for all my fandoms, with mystery prompts to choose from.

Until then, I wanted to do a sleepover event. Unlimited asks and interactions for the weekend cause I feel like I haven't talked to a lot of you in a long while!

You can send me any classic sleepover question

Kiss, marry, kill

Would you rather

Top 3/5/10...

Questions about me

Questions about my anime, writings...

Theories (keep em spoiler free though!)

For this event, I will engage in a little bit of selfship talk if anyone were to be interested. Ask me about my F/o's and tell me about yours! Dynamics, habits... anything!

Questions about OCs

If you need some inspiration, I have included a couple of lists below the cut with questions id be 100% okay with.

Also, if you just want to chat, tell me about your week, a funny thing that happened to you, or a fun fact (i love fun facts especially if it's creepy or an animal fact)... A N Y T H I N G is welcome! There is no limit to your asks, spam me if you want! ♡

Look forward to talking to you guys!

Ps, I'll tag these #1yearSleepover if you want to block something against spam

Questions for OCs - Specify which one! Taken from here

1. How many different places have they lived?

2. What is their dream vacation?

3. What is their favorite color?

4. What is their favorite book?

5. Have they ever cheated on anyone before?

6. Have they ever been cheated on?

7. How many partners have they had?

8. What is their favorite food?

9. Are they a liar? Are they good at lying?

10. Introvert or Extrovert?

11. Have they ever been arrested and why?

12. Who would they sacrifice their life for?

13. What are their spending habits?

14. Do they like hot or cold temperatures better?

15. Are they religious?

16. If they could describe themself in one sentence, what would they say?

17. Do they have any overused catchphrases?

18. What makes them laugh?

19. Have they ever lost anyone close to them? How did it affect them?

20. Do they have a fast reaction time, or slow?

21. How do they react to praise?

22. How do they react to criticism?

23. Are they indoorsy or outdoorsy?

24. What are their biggest pet peeves?

25. Do they have any type of handicaps? How do they manage them?

Other ask game - taken from here

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

6: do you keep plants?

7: do you name your plants?

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

12: what’s your favorite planet?

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

20: what’s your favorite eye color?

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

22: are you a morning person?

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

28: sunrise or sunset?

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

33: what’s your fave pastry?

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

39: what color do you wear the most?

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

59: what’s your favorite myth?

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with?

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

68: what’s winter like where you live?

69: what are your favorite board games?

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

73: what are some of your worst habits?

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

75: tell us about your pets!

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

77: pink or yellow lemonade?

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

82: are/were you good in school?

83: what’s some of your favorite album art?

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

85: do you read comics? what are your faves?

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

89: are you close to your parents?

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

91: where do you plan on traveling this year?

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most?

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

95: what are your plans for this weekend?

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

#sleepover #aksgames #1YearSleepover #scheduled post

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