#not sure what the correct crossover tag is for this

[wisteriavines]

Master of Death Harry Potter x Ghost King Danny Fenton

[unproduciblesmackdown]

omgg lol [guy who won't stop going "more like scapeGOATED" voice] now hold! on!! lmao [same guy just saw encanto voice] Hold on!!!

[5ummit]

AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data

You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.

It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!

Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.

I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.

Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.

Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:

Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:

Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?

Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?

Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!

If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.

At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.

The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.

Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).

Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works

Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works

This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.

How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.

With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):

The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.

Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.

To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.

[alvivaarts]

AO3 is Removing 'All Media Types' without Public Input or Announcement. What Can We Do?

What's Happening?

For those who don't yet know: AO3 and the Tag Wranglers have begun to slowly remove the 'All Media Types' tag for older fandoms. Aka, removing the 'umbrella' tag for many franchises, and forcing franchises to be split by media, or to be shoved under one umbrella that does not accurately reflect the types of fics or source medias they come from. This has been slowly occurring with no official announcement, under the pretense that things will be 'easier' to manage, or that some users claimed that the 'All Media Types' tag was confusing. This has begun in secrecy, without genuine input from the userbase, and without any public announcement. (As of 9/5/2024 9:30 AM PST) Many of us are pretty confident in AO3 staff's decisions, but the fact that this decision is not only incredibly impactful, but made without public input, has deeply violated the condition of the site as an archive... an archive of OUR own.

Current seen issues and active risks:

Removal of 'All Media Types' automatically makes fics from different sources in the same franchise a 'crossover', forcing users to consider non-crossover fics 'crossovers'. So, any fanfic that spans or implements elements from multiple pieces of media in a franchise are now considered a 'crossover', despite being from the same franchise and not a crossover.

Removal of 'All Media Types' forces users to manually search for the fics and ships they want one by one through each fandom tag in a related franchise. (Imagine looking through all the separate DC or MARVEL movies one by one).

The 'include crossovers' and 'exclude crossovers' filters are now useless, and removing genuine crossovers (crossovers between franchises) must be done manually through the filter system, which can take upwards of half an hour, if not longer, with the amount of one-off genuine crossovers that exist.

Slightly smaller franchises are being shoved under the umbrella of a single, super popular fandom. (See, Sherlock Holmes. All Sherlock Holmes media has been relegated to the tag 'Sherlock TV', which confuses users, as the tag now includes not only BBC Sherlock, which is the umbrella tag, but any works based off of Arthur Conan Doyle's original works, the 2009 Sherlock Holmes films, and the 16+ Sherlock Holmes adaptations and international TV shows... none of which are BBC Sherlock.)

Anime and manga fandoms (especially smaller ones) are being automatically split by media type, without regard to the fact that many anime and manga adaptations are very similar, and/or authors tend to often implement elements from both anime and manga.

As far as we are aware, no one is going to be correcting any improper sorting resulting from this.

Accounts that are no longer active/accessible, memorial accounts, and orphaned fics and no longer be corrected by their original authors and are at risk of being misplaced into incorrect fandom tags. Unfortunately, no one can fix this but the tag wranglers, who were supposedly removing 'All Media Types' in the first place to prevent MORE work. Counter intuitive, isn't it?

Already, fandoms are being improperly split, others being improperly merged, and still more being far more confusingly sorted. This deeply damages AO3's integrity as an ARCHIVE.

What Can I Do?

As soon as it's back up again, make sure to stop by the Contact Support page! There, you're able to let them know exactly how you feel about this, and what fandoms your fear will be impacted by these changes. Many already have been.

In the meantime, make sure to contact AO3 on Twitter (or X): ao3org (AO3's general twitter page), ao3_wranglers (AO3's tag wrangler page), and OTW_news (the parent host of AO3).

There is also tumblr: ao3org (AO3's tumblr page) and transformativeworks (OTW's tumblr page).

And finally, the Organization for Transformative Works contact page.

If you are aware of any additional medias, please add them below to ensure that AO3 thoroughly understands the negative impact of this decision, especially the violation of trust resulting from making such a massive choice without impact. Be sure to share this information elsewhere, repost, share the links, and make a stink. Furthermore, if you are able, letting AO3 know that you are no longer comfortable financially supporting them in the future.

Be sure to also repost and list any fandoms you have personally noticed have been impacted by this change!

Already Impacted Fandoms:

MARVEL, MCU, Marvel Comics, Avengers, and related tags

Any Sherlock Holmes based Media

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon)

World of Warcraft

Assassin's Creed

Monogatari

BanG Dream!

Jujutsu Kaisen

Disney (all media, now: Disney Theatrical Animated Universe)

DC and DC Comics

AND MANY, MANY MORE!

[marshmellohi]

Links Meet AUs List

A lot of AUs get lumped together with Linked Universe, so I wanted to make a list comprising any and all original Links Meet AUs I could find! Please let me know if I’m missing something, you want your AU to be removed, a link is broken, or if you know an AU’s status so it can be moved to the correct dedicated category.

DISCLAIMER: Please pay attention to the content warnings on some of these AUs! I haven’t personally read every AU so I don’t know what some contain, but if an AU has something you don’t vibe with, there are more than plenty of others that you will love on this list! Please be respectful and kind to everyone! This list is both for archival purposes and to appreciate the creativity of the community!

Additional Notes: Some AUs have dedicated Tumblrs, some can be found through original tags, some are only on ff.net or ao3, etc. I have a separate list for AUs limited to Discord/DMs that I have not included here unless I receive permission to do so! Also, if something is separated by ||, that means that theyre 2(+) separate AUs by the same creator in the same tumblr… if that makes sense LOL. This list is Always Updating so be sure to keep an eye out for any new AUs!

PUBLIC

• A Link to the Present

• Across the Galaxy

• Ageless Soul

• Bonus Links

• Branching Timelines

• Chain as Cryptids

• Chained Spirits

• Chains of Time

• Courage of Ages

• Culture Shock

• Deuy’s Links Meet

• Dimensional Links

• Dreamverse AU || Identity Fraud AU

• Echoes of Courage

• Exodus

• Fallen Heroes

• Garden of Heroes

• GodLinks

• Hearts Linked Together

• Heroes Spirit

• House of Heroes

• Kings Comic

• Limited Hero

• Link and the Links || Soldier Poet King

• Link Between Links

• Link Rejoin

• Linked Across Dimensions

• Linked Arena

• Linked By Illustrations

• Linked Dreamscape

• Linked End

• Linked History

• Linked Keys

• Linked Maze

• Linked Spirit

• Linked Through the Centuries

• Linked Universe

• Linked World

• Link’s Fun Road Trip

• Little Links

• Magic’s Wake

• Meowmix’s Linked-verse Journey

• Minas Linkverse

• Monstrous Fusion

• Names of Courage

• Realms of Hylia

• Recalled

• Rifts in Time

• Sister’s Linked Meets

• Suncaster

• Tangled Chains [Lou]

• Team Timeless

• That Broken Promise

• The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga

• The Links We Share

• The Phantom Timeline

• The Sacred Realm

• Too Many Links [Zee]

• Train Whistles and Wedding Bells

• Unchained AU

• Winter Links AU

PRIVATE

AUs where the info is limited to Discord, DMs, and/or friends. Not typically published/shared publicly. Permission is asked to acknowledge these AUs here before posting.

• A Linked Week

• Fractured Timelines

NON-LINK BUT THEY STILL MEET

Crossovers with Zeldas, Ravios, Ganons… pretty much the exact same thing but with other characters.

• Lots of Ravios

• LU Ravioverse

• Strangers Across Eras

• Voice of Wisdom

• Wielders of Wisdom

LINKMEET LITE

Links meet, but it’s not the focus of the story/in the background (example: a world where all the links exist at the same time but the focus is on one specific character/the others dont come up much)

• Father of Time

• Royal Reads

INACTIVE/DEAD

An AU qualifies for the inactive category when: 1.) its been 2+ years since an update and 2.) it’s unfinished; or, 3.) the creator explicitly stated that they were discontinuing it. LMK if one still has a pulse!

• Into the Zeldaverse

• Link and the Links

• Linked By Time

• Linking Together

• Misfortunate Monsters

• Tangled Chains

• Zelda in the Multiverse

UNSURE/MIA

AUs where I am unsure of the status and thus need to contact the creator, the creator’s deciding where to go with it, or I can’t locate the original page. This is mostly for me- consider this kind of like a ‘to do’ list. Any insight is welcome!

• Bagel’s AU (N/C)

• Birdo’s AU (U)

• Cotty’s Linkverse (N/C)

• Chain Reaction AU (Nuked)

• Factorial’s AU (N/C)

• Fortu’s AU (N/C)

• Hyrule Bound (N/C ; Iirc there was a fanfiction but I can’t find it anywhere)

• Link Madness’ AU (N/C)

• Minty’s Linkverse (U)

• Missing Links in Time (U)

[yazthebookish]

Maybe I'll spoil you guys and talk about Gwynriel and ACOTAR5 and anything related to it overall. I recently finished my HOFAS reread and have some fresh thoughts. I'll let my thoughts guide me and some of these points I've already addressed in my insta stories yesterday. I just rather share a lengthy post here since I'll only tag under #gwynriel.

I often see arguments about how Gwyn and Azriel can't move the plot forward because the series is centered on the Archeron sisters.

First, that's not true because Sarah is following what she called "a traditional romance route". She's following the same patterns of Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole, and Lisa Kleypas where they publish multiple books in the same series following different couples.

This is fitting for a series like ACOTAR because it's romance-centered. And Sarah have already said that each couple is getting one book and there will likely be more books beyond ACOTAR6.

Saying that doesn't dismiss the importance of the sisters to the story, Feyre already has a trilogy centered on her. The spin-off just follows different characters including the sisters.

I won't try hard to convince people on this because I've already posted almost everything Sarah said about the spin-off series and what's it's about. So if the next book is not centered on an Archeron sister, that's for Sarah to bamboozle the fandom with.

One thing that stuck out to me is when I compared the ending of ACOSF with the scene of Bryce giving Nesta Gwydion and seeming like she left Nesta with a new quest.

First, this is what the text says, and this is Chapter 80, the very last chapter in ACOSF:

Succeeding in the Blood Rite didn't mean the training stopped. No, after she and her friends told Cassian and Azriel most of the details of their ordeal, the two commanders had compiled a long list of mistakes that the three of them had made that needed to be corrected, and the others wanted to learn from them, too. So they would keep training, until they were all well and truly Valkyries. Gwyn, despite the Rite, had returned to living in the library.

1. The Valkyries are not yet a unit.

2. SJM only and specifically highlighted that Gwyn, despite the Rite, returned to living in the library. It was like "hey, remember all the talk Gwyn did about wanting to leave the library after two years? Yeah that's on hold a bit but keep that in mind". She didnt even add Emerie or the other priestesses to that sentence.

With Nesta being left with Gwydion to find out why the 8-pointed star was tattooed on her, I don't think the next book will start with "hey Elain take this sword and deal with it". Who are Nesta's main companions now? Gwyn and Emerie.

I'll be back to the Valkyries but let's just talk about Azriel for a bit.

It is so painfully obvious to me that Azriel is being handed the Illyrian plot on a golden platter. How big or small of a plot it is depends on SJM, but it's important based on the fact that she fleshed out the Illyrian's origins and tied them to the crossover AND making Truth-teller the knife of Enalius.

That is a big deal for an Illyrian like Azriel.

And I quote my friend Lacie on this, it is very poetic for Azriel to be the owner of the knife that originally belonged to the person who freed his own people from the Daglan's clutches, perhaps because he saw his people are more than just slaves to the Daglan—how powerful would it be for Azriel, who loathes his own people, to parallel Enalius.

And for years some people were against Azriel dealing with this plot because he shouldn't make peace with his "abusers", its true his own family and some Illyrians failed him but he is condemning an entire population. Good people like Emerie and Balthazar. Even Rhys's mother, who had valid reasons to hate her people especially as a female, still made sure to make Rhysand connect with his Illyrian heritage and he even goes on to say that his mother didn't forget what they did to her but still loved her people.

If both Cassian and Rhysand (and by extension the author) continue to flag Azriel's hatred of the Illyrians as an issue—then it is a damn big issue for it to be addressed repeatedly.

Okay so to address my final point about Gwyn and Azriel and how they can move the plot forward.

Now I didn't detail out much about what the next book will deal with because that's another post (and I already have a post on that).

All of our theories and predictions are based on information that is available to us. Saying Azriel and Gwyn cannot move the plot forward does not make any sense because the central plot is tied to multiple characters, Archeron or not.

If SJM wants to make a character move the next book's plot forward, she can do it because she's in control of the story. She's in control of the narrative. She's in control of the characters.

The characters are puppets and this is an unfinished story. If some characters would add more value and make for a more interesting story before the others, she can decide on that. If she wants to make Eris the protagonist of the next book, she can easily do that whether the fandom wants it or not.

Let me give you an example of minor characters that pushed the plot forward and became main characters: Yrene Towers and the Hind. These kind of arguments could've been used for them in HOEAB or HOSAB and Pre-TOD. Before HOSAB/HOFAS and TOD, could we have predicted that they would have played a crucial role before those books? Not likely because they had minimal appearances and were not part of the main cast. This is what I'm talking about.

You can't know how a character will contribute to a story until you see how it all unfolds. We can make guesses on the information we have which is why I believe three characters are likely to join the main cast: Gwyn, Emerie, and Eris.

Why is it so easy to accept that Emerie might be sharing a book with an original character like Mor but it's hard to comprehend the fact that Gwyn could also share a book with Azriel? Because Emerie showed up in ACOFAS? To me that's not really a strong argument based on Sarah's writing and what we have in the books, she doesn't really pick based on who showed up the earliest. Here's a good example: Hypaxia, who showed up earlier, didn't even get her own chapters but the Hind did.

And there's one argument I recall about how I need to rely on Nesta to have a plot focused on Gwyn or the Valkyries in the next book. Nesta's arc is clearly not over based on HOFAS, but does that mean she's getting a POV? Not necessarily. I don't think she is. Gwyn is the perfect candidate for us to see what's going on with Nesta post-HOFAS and how they all deal with the Valkyries and whatever Sarah will set up with them.

There is this whole Valkyrie/Illyrian conflict that could be triggered as a result of the Blood Rite, with Ramiel definitely being an important location to explore in the next book, we also have the Pegasi and the Prison and the implications of the crossover. It makes sense to have an Illyrian and a Valkyrie POV to deal with some plots in the next book.

"Gwyn contributes to nothing" we can't know until the book is out. How sure are we that maybe SJM won't connect her to the crossover by making her mysterious father a Worldwalker? Or Prince of Hel? Or an Asteri? Maybe I'm right maybe I'm wrong.

"But Koschei! And the Human Queens!" Koschei will always be a background player pulling on the strings until the final book as it's obvious he is the big bad in the series, unless someone even worse is revealed. But no one is dismissing Koschei or the Human Queens messing around.

Literally what's the point of the story or the fun elements of surprises or plot twists if you need Sarah to list down everything that the next books will deal with. That's not how a story develops to me. I don't need to know everything in advance to just know how it will go. That's like knowing spoilers early on and checking off with each book what happened and what didn't happen. I feel like it's close to how a lot of readers were disappointed with not having enough ACOTAR in HOFAS, because Sarah implied half of the book would be set in Prythian. So by the time the book came out and it wasn't that, people were vocal about it.

In my opinion, SJM set a good foundation for Gwyn's arc to build up on in ACOSF and her arc is not over. We won't get mentions of her still carrying the guilt of her sister's death or not leaving the library after she said she's sick of being there for two years without us seeing resolution for that. She wouldn't be in Azriel's bonus chapter if she is not involved with him.

To conclude, my reread still affirms to me that the next book with an Azriel/Gwyn book. Azriel is clearly being set in the forefront.

[bakanokiwami]

TOP 10 CARTOONS ON FANFICTION.NET BASED ON NUMBER OF FANFICTION (1999-2022)

To make this bar chart race, all series titles in the Cartoons Section on November 29 (or the closest date to it) of every year were copy-pasted from Wayback Machine to Google Sheets, rearranged according to number of fanworks, and then inputted to Flourish to turn into a bar chart race.

In 2000-2006, FFN used Miscellaneous Cartoons as a catch-all tag for all cartoons that didn’t have their own category yet. It was then renamed to Misc. Cartoons in 2007 before it was moved to the Misc. section in 2008.

Code Lyoko and Avatar: The Last Airbender were actually miscategorized at first and were found in the Anime section from 2004-2007 (2005-2007 for ATLA). I used their data from that section for those years.

In 1999, fanfiction weren’t divided into sections like Anime/Manga, TV, Books, etc. yet. It was just a small list of mixed fandoms.

Originally, the fanfiction list was sorted alphabetically too, but was changed to number of fics at around early 2013.

By November 2013, FFN started abbreviating numbers above 1,000 to K, so exact numbers aren't available for series with more than 1,000 fanfiction.

This bar chart was made with the assumption that the numbers listed in the Cartoons section are correct. I can't seem to get the same numbers for some of these categories when I go to the specific categories' page and toggle ratings, other filters, and language to All though... I'm not sure where the discrepancy is coming from. (And it’s not the crossover fic numbers that need to be added to serie’s total fics from what I’ve observed.)

Please refer to this post for more bar chart races.

Thanks for understanding and hopefully I didn’t mess up anywhere! 🙏

[genshinluvr]

Beyond the Stars

Pairings: Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader x Various HSR Men [a Genshin Impact x Honkai Star Rail crossover]

Summary: You were having a relaxing day at Yaoguang Shoal all alone, decompressing from the grueling week that is finals week at the Akademiya. Just when you thought you'll be able to relax and unwind, eight outlanders decided to ruin that all because they were searching for you.

Note: No tags for the Honkai Star Rail men since I don't have any space to put the tags anyway 🥲 To be really honest, I didn't think I would make a crossover between Genshin and HSR, but here I am! I know the HSR men are a tad bit out of character, but it's mainly because I'm not as familiar with them as I am with the Genshin men. So, hopefully, the more I play HSR, the more I'll get a perfect grasp of their personalities. Of course, not all of the HSR male characters are in it; only about eight of them are in this crossover fic. I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: Bad portrayal of HSR men's personalities because I am not as familiar with the characters as I am with the Genshin men [hopefully it'll improve in the future]

Word Count: 8.5k

You’re sitting on a beach chair off the coast of Yaoguang Shoal, sitting under the shade while reading a book Al Haitham let you borrow. This is the first time you’re in Teyvat alone without your boyfriends accompanying you. You made sure to stay at least five feet from the Serenitea Pot in case anything happened. While reading the book Al Haitham has lent you, you hear someone approaching where you’re sitting. 

“Gumdrops? Is that you?” An unfamiliar voice breaks the silence.

You look up from your book and at the small group of unfamiliar men approaching you. They all wear clothes and armor you have never seen before. You have explored many regions in Teyvat with your boyfriends. Yet, you never come across anyone wearing something like that. You blink and look around, searching to see if this strange man is talking to someone else. But alas, it’s just you and those men on the beach of Yaoguang Shoal. You close your book (technically, the book belongs to Al Haitham) and place it in front of you on the beach chair.

“I’m sorry, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” you say, adjusting your sun hat and pushing your sunglasses up on the bridge of your nose.

The black-haired man looks at you with shock. “Do you not remember us?” He whispers.

You press your lips into a thin line and shake your head. “I’ve never met any of you before. How could I remember someone I never met?” You ask, taking your sunglasses and sun hat off. 

The silver-haired man runs his hands through his hair and lets out a sharp breath. “Yeah, it seems like they don’t remember us at all. This is a problem,” he mutters, propping his hands on his hips. 

The temperature suddenly drops, making you shiver. The blond man in armor looks away and sighs, shaking his head while chewing on the inside of his cheek. You have never seen these men before, and quite frankly, they look like outlanders themselves. Handsome outlanders, but that doesn’t matter right now! What matters is they, supposedly, know who you are, and yet you have no recollection of who these men are.

The man with glasses exhales sharply through his nostrils, pushing his glasses up. “This is worse than we thought. We traveled through many universes to search for them, only to find them, and they have no recollection of who we are.” 

Huh. So you’re correct. They’re not from Teyvat. They’re outlanders like Lumine, Aether, and yourself.

The blond man walks toward you, stopping in front of your beach bench. He stares at you with his icy-blue eyes. Even though it’s nice and warm at Yaoguang Shoal, the look he’s giving you sends chills down your spine, making goosebumps appear on your body and the hairs on your arm stand up.

“Are you messing with us? You’re joking, right?” The armored blond man demands, crossing his arms over his chest.

Dear Archons, this man looks like he’s getting ready to go into battle. He’s wearing an armored suit. It makes him almost as intimidating as the man with long dark hair and red eyes. With the way he’s looking at you, you’re surprised you’re still alive. If looks can kill…. The man with long blond hair looks at the man with red eyes and nudges him.

“You’re going to scare them off if you continue to look at them like that,” he whispers.

The man with long, dark hair and red eyes huffs and looks away. You look at the armored blond man before you and give him a wary smile while he continues to stare you down, waiting for you to reply to his question. 

You clear your throat and scratch the back of your neck. “I’m not joking. If I knew who all of you were, I wouldn’t be acting like how I am right now, would I?” 

“They have a point.” The man with long silver hair says, brushing his fringe away from his eyes. 

The man with long, dark hair lets out another huff of breath like a petulant child. You tilt your head to the side and give the other men a questioning look. They all shrug their shoulders in response while the man continues not to make eye contact with you. Which, you’re kind of glad because the way he was looking at you was giving you the heebie-jeebies. 

“Do you have something to say, sir?” You ask, raising your eyebrows at the moody dark-haired man.

His red eyes land on you, making you visibly flinch when the two of you make eye contact. He narrows his eyes at you and slowly makes his way in your direction. The way he is walking to you reminds you of a predator stalking toward its prey, ready to strike at any moment. You would run, but judging by his and the other’s appearance, they’re most likely faster than you are. You can’t outrun them even if the Serenitea pot is close by. 

“You running away is the most careless thing you could do, [Y/N]. We finally found you after searching for you, and here you are, relaxing on the beach in another universe, pretending you don’t know us?!” The long dark-haired man demands.

You do a double take and look at him with wide eyes, dumbstruck. “How do you know my name when I don’t know any of you!?” You demand, getting up from the bench and backing away from them.

The brown-haired man sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Great, you scared them, Blade.”

The man with short silver hair puts his hands in front of him as if he’s trying to console you. “Please don’t freak out! We’re not here to hurt you. We promise! We’ve been searching for you for so long, ever since you fled the Astral Express after your argument with Blade,” said the silver-haired man.

You shake your head, taking another step back. “I don’t know who you people are, nor do I know what the Astral Express is. Please, leave me alone,” you plead.

Before any man could say anything, an arrow flew past the armored blond man’s head. Everyone looks in the direction where the arrow had come from, only to see twenty-five men approaching where you’re standing. A massive wave of relief washes over you. Childe glares at the eight men before you, drawing another arrow.

“I would back away if I were you. Unless you want to be a target practice of mine,” Childe says nonchalantly.

Zhongli runs over to where you stand and wraps his arms around you, standing between you and the strange men. “Are you alright, dearest? You’re not hurt, are you?” Zhongli asks, cupping your face in his hands while examining you from head to toe for any injury.

You shake your head. “I’m okay, Zhongli. I’m just glad you’re all here,” you breathed, wrapping your arms around Zhongli’s waist. 

Zhongli wraps his arms around your shoulder and walks you over to where the other twenty-four men are standing. Every man has their weapons drawn out. Once you and Zhongli are with the others, Pantalone and Baizhu stand in front of you, glaring at the eight outlanders. 

“We’re not going to harm them. Relax. We’re only here to take them back to the Astral Express with us.” says the black-haired man.

“Take them back? They have never been to the Astral Express before.” Xiao glowers, tightening his grip on his polearm. 

Pierro chuckles darkly and shakes his head. “What makes you think we’ll let you take [Y/N] back to the Astral Express? Like the Yaksha said, they’ve never been to the Astral Express, and last time I checked, they’re not from your world.”

The tension between the men continues to rise, causing you to shrink in Zhongli’s arms. Sure, you may have the “power” to stop this… tension between the men, but you don’t think the eight outlanders would go down without a fight. The blond in armor looks fired up; his weapon is drawn out. Speaking of his weapon, that is the strangest weapon you’ve ever seen. 

You point at the man. “His weapon looks like a cello case,” you whisper to Zhongli, looking up at the former Geo Archon.

Zhongli cracks a smile and pulls you to his chest, kissing the top of your head. “Indeed, it does.”

Baizhu clears his throat and gives the eight strange men a smile. “How about we talk about this back at the abode? I have a feeling a fight isn’t going to settle this down until one of us gets to keep [Y/N],” Baizhu says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

You roll your eyes and tilt your head back against Zhongli’s chest. “Can we not treat me like I’m an object? If any of you view me as an object or anything that isn’t human, I will not hesitate to whack any of you,” you threaten. 

“Yeah! Why not have a conversation about this? Quite frankly, I’m tired of needless battles,” Venti sighs dramatically, draping his arms around your shoulders and smacking Zhongli away from you.

Zhongli rolls his eyes and unwraps his arms around you, standing beside you, while the Anemo Archon keeps his arms around your shoulders. The eight men look at each other before huddling in a circle, whispering to one another. You and your twenty-five boyfriends look at each other from the corner of your eyes, unsure of what to say.

The man with long, silver hair looks at your group and nods. “We accept your offer. And I agree with the short one standing beside [Y/N]. There’s no need for needless battles over [Y/N]... even though they belong to us, but let’s have a civil conversation about this,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

You sneer and look away, steam practically coming out from your ears. “Don’t act like I can’t hear any of you! Maybe this is one of the reasons why the other me ran away from all of you and the Astral Express.” You grumble, grabbing onto the nearest person and dragging them to the Serenitea pot. You and Thoma disappear into the Serenitea pot, making the eight men visibly do a double-take.

“Before entering the Serenitea pot, please make sure not to touch things you don’t know of unless you want to lose a finger,” Aether says nonchalantly, walking toward the floating teapot.

Diluc interjects, “And please do not lay a hand on [Y/N] or get close within five feet of them. It’s not like we don’t want you to— well, it is, but [Y/N]’s not comfortable with strangers getting near them.” Diluc crosses his arms over his chest.

The indigo-haired man makes a face and crosses his arms over his chest. “We’re not strangers to them! They know us!” He huffs, glaring at the redhead tycoon.

Dainsleif rolls his eyes and walks to the Serenitea pot. “Let’s go to the Serenitea pot and continue the conversation there. Time is being wasted,” Dainsleif states.

Everyone soon enters the Serenitea pot, keeping their distance from each other. The eight men are between the twenty-four men. Twelve men are standing in front of the eight outlanders, and the other twelve men are standing behind them. Standing at the entrance of the estate is you and Thoma, distracted by the conversation and not noticing the group walking up to where you and Thoma are standing.

“If they’re hungry, I can make something for them to eat! But, uh, to be honest, I think they’re more focused on bringing you back to this ‘Astral Express’ than their hunger,” Thoma shrugs his shoulders while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, whatever it is, I still don’t know who they are. There’s no sense of familiarity when I see them.” You sigh.

“Which is why we need to have a chat with them about their relationship with you. Well, that’s if there are any connections and relationships between you and the visitors,” Al Haitham says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

You and the rest of the men enter the estate. You can’t help but feel very tense now that there are eight strangers in the abode. They can roam aimlessly around the estate and perhaps destroy things in their paths. Seeing them analyze their surroundings makes you feel nervous. They’re strangers to you, and yet you worry about what their thoughts are on the abode and the interior design of the estate. 

“Now that we’re in the abode, let’s start introducing ourselves, shall we?” Kaveh says, turning to look at the visitors with an expectant look on his face.

You purse your lips. “This is going to take a while,” you mutter. 

You quickly excused yourself and walked to the kitchen to grab drinks for the guests. Even though you’re a little bit anxious to be around the guests, you don’t want to be seen as rude and not get them any drink while they’re visiting the abode. You begin filling the glass cup with cold water from the pitcher you pulled out from the refrigerator, placing the cups on the tray, and mentally preparing yourself to return to where the others are.

Dear Archons, you’re going to be in one room with thirty-three men! Thirty-three! That is more than what a classroom has! Heck, you think that’s more than the number of students in your lab class at the Akademiya. You put the pitcher back in the refrigerator, grab the tray of water and take a deep breath.

“I can do this.” You whisper, gnawing on your lower lip before walking back to the living area where the other men are. 

“Okay! So, now that we have introduced ourselves to each other, please state your business.” Heizou says, giving them a polite yet fake smile. 

Cyno holds his hand up, stopping the others before they can speak. “They may have introduced themselves to us, but they haven’t introduced themselves to [Y/N],” Cyno says, propping his hands on his hips.

You stop in your tracks and look at the men like a startled desert fox— eyes wide and frozen to the spot where you’re standing. The men turn toward your direction, their eyes locking in on your frozen form. You give them an awkward smile and clear your throat before continuing to make your way further into the living area. 

Albedo smiles and crosses his arms over his chest. “Oh? It looks like [Y/N] brought drinks for our guests. How nice of you,” Albedo says, nodding his head.

You give Albedo a fake smile and put the tray on the coffee table. “I can’t help but feel like I’m forgetting something.” You muttered, furrowing your eyebrows while trying to remember what it was. 

“Why don’t the eight of you introduce yourselves to [Y/N]? You may know who they are, but they don’t know any of your names.” Kazuha says.

Each man starts to introduce themselves to you. Some smiled at you, while others did not. The tension is so thick you want to hole yourself in your bedroom. Your sweet, sweet bedroom. Your bedroom is your sanctuary, and not being able to be in your room makes you feel almost naked. 

“Now that we got the introductions out of the way, let’s continue where we left off,” Tighnari says, gesturing for the eight guests to have a seat.

Dottore crosses his arms over his chest and stares at the eight visitors behind his mask. “Please explain to us how you all know [Y/N]. They have never traveled anywhere outside of Teyvat on their own, nor are they from your world.” 

Gepard, the blond man in armor, raises his eyebrows at Dottore. “We know they’re not from our world. They’re not from your world either, so I don’t understand why you’re acting like they belong to your world too.”

“If you know that [Y/N] isn’t from your world, why are you all so adamant about bringing them back to the Astral Express?” Scaramouche demands, taking a step forward. 

Blade, the man with long, dark hair, narrows his eyes at Scaramouche. “If you know they’re not from your world, then why are you all so adamant about keeping them in your world?” Blade hisses. 

You can almost hear Capitano roll his eyes under his helmet. “Just answer the question.”

Luocha, the man with long, blond hair, explains to everyone why they wanted to bring you back to the Astral Express. Apparently, a while back, you somehow mysteriously ended up on the Astral Express with no recollection of your memories. You spent months at the Astral Express with them, exploring the universe with them and other people they passively mention. 

Before your disappearance, you and Blade have gotten into an argument that led to you storming out of the Astral Express, telling them not to follow you. That was the last time they heard from you, and it has been months since your sudden disappearance. The eight men have tried searching the universe for you, only to come to a dead end. 

After Luocha’s explanation, you and the men sit there in silence. The supposed argument happened a few months ago, but you have never left Teyvat. It was impossible for you to physically leave Teyvat because there aren’t any spaceships or portals that allow you to teleport from planet to planet. 

“It’s not that we don’t believe you all, but it’s hard to believe because [Y/N] has never traveled outside of Teyvat. Even if they wanted to, there’s no way for them to do it because there aren’t any portals or waypoints that let them do that.” Ayato says.

You nod. “Plus, I’ve been in Teyvat for, I believe, a year now. I have not stepped foot outside of Teyvat, ever. Before I arrived at their,” you gestured to your twenty-five boyfriends, “universe, I was in my universe. It’s unlikely that I was in your universe. Plus, as I’ve said previously, I don’t know who you guys are. Even when all of you have introduced yourselves to me, none of your names clicked in my head.” You sigh, shrugging your shoulders. 

Itto wraps his arms around you and nuzzles his face into your neck. “My onikabuto booboo bear would never travel to another universe without telling us! Let alone a universe where there are monsters roaming around,” Itto huffs, planting a big kiss on the side of your head.

Gorou laughs nervously and clears his throat. “There are monsters roaming around Teyvat too, Itto,” Gorou whispers to the Oni.

Sampo snickers and leans in his seat with his legs crossed. “Onikabuto booboo bear? That’s the most ridiculous nickname I’ve ever heard. It’s nowhere as cute as gumdrop,” Sampo comments, flicking his fringe from his face.

Kaeya looks at the eight men with interest. “Gumdrop, you say? What are your relations with our precious [Y/N]? Giving them an endearing nickname is something friends don’t do, from what I’m assuming,” Kaeya says, sipping on his cup of wine.

When did he get that wine, and how did you not see him wander off to pour himself a glass of wine? Hearing Kaeya’s comment made Pantalone want to burst out laughing. How does one have relations with a person without ever meeting them? Pantalone crosses his arms over his chest and looks over at you, who’s busy being smothered by Itto’s affections. 

“Yes, what are your relations with [Y/N]? We’re curious,” Pantalone says, the corners of his lips twitching. 

Dan Heng stares at Pantalone, his eyes flickering over in your direction. Dan Heng clenches and unclenches his jaws. “They’re my significant other. Need me to say more?” Dan Heng asks, raising an eyebrow at the men.

Caelus looks at Dan Heng in disbelief. “Your significant other? The last time I checked, all of us collectively agreed to share them,” Caelus says, leaning in his seat.

“Significant other? All of you are dating our significant other?!” Aether exclaims, looking at the eight outlanders with wide eyes.

You stare at them blankly and slowly remove Itto’s arms from around you. You pursed your lips and debated whether you should make a run for it or not. Then again, even if you were to make a run for it, you don’t want it to be a “repeat” of what happened in the other eight men’s universe. That would be awkward and make things even worse than it already is.

Pierro sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose while Pantalone gives the visitors a fake smile.

“This is taking an interesting turn,” Pierro mutters. 

Pantalone hums in agreement. “Indeed it is, Pierro.”

Childe runs up to you, looking at you with an over-exaggerated pout. “Snookums! Please tell me it’s not true that you have other lovers from another universe!” Childe pleads, cupping your face in his hands.

Before you can respond, Childe pulls you to his chest, pressing your face up against his chest while swaying you side to side. You grumble and continue to let Childe suffocate you against his chest while mumbling and pleading for you to disprove the eight Outlanders’ claims. You push Childe off you and lightly whack him in the chest with a huff of breath. Childe pouts and sniffles dramatically before grabbing your hand. 

Dainsleif looks at the eight men before him and narrows his eyes. “How can they be your significant other when they never met any of you?” Dainsleif demands.

A realization suddenly hits you like a sumpter beast. You gasp and smack your forehead, startling everyone in the room. Oh, fuck. You look at Al Haitham and make a face while he stares at you quizzically. 

“What’s wrong?” Al Haitham asks, approaching where you stand.

You make a face again and press your forehead against Al Haitham’s chest when he stands in front of you. “I left your book back at Yaoguang Shoal,” you reply, looking up at Al Haitham with despair. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to Yaoguang Shoal and look for Al Haitham’s book that I borrowed.���

You walk over to the door and begin putting your shoes on to return to Yaoguang Shoal before anyone can stop you. When you return to the area where you were sitting at the shoreline, you didn’t find the beach chair or Al Haitham’s book. It was nowhere in sight. Damn, do you have to search along the shorelines to find it? You’re sure you’re in the right spot because you see the mark left by the beach chair, but the chair isn’t there, nor is Al Haitham’s book. 

“Huh. That’s strange. I thought it was here,” you said, propping your hands on your hip. “Al Haitham is going to kill me.” You run your fingers through your hair with a shaky breath.

“That’s because someone brought it back to the abode already,” Diluc comments, startling you.

You turn to see Diluc, Kaveh, Xiao, and Albedo walk toward you. You press your hand against your chest and let out a deep sigh. Archons, did they follow you out to Yaoguang Shoal the entire time? Wait, why are you asking the obvious? You smack your forehead again and close your eyes.

Xiao grabs your hand and looks at you worriedly, rubbing your stinging forehead with his gloved thumb. “Don’t hurt yourself. This is the second time you’ve done it today,” Xiao mutters, giving you a disapproving look.

Kaveh huffs loudly, scanning the surroundings of Yaoguang Shoal with his arms crossed over his chest. Today would’ve been a nice day if those eight outlanders didn’t show up to ruin everything. You were supposed to have a nice day for yourself at the beach to decompress from finals week, but that had to be ruined by the eight outlanders who claimed to be your boyfriends in their universe. The audacity for them to step on Teyvat and want to take you to the Astral Express or whatever the heck it is. 

“What’s on your mind, Kaveh?” You murmur.

Kaveh looks at you and clears his throat, waddling over to you with a pout. Kaveh wraps his arms around your shoulders and closes his eyes, resting his chin on your shoulders. “I don’t like how they claim you’re their significant other. You’re ours. You’ve always been ours, and you were never theirs.” Kaveh grouses, burying his face into the crook of your neck.

“Do you want to continue to hang out at the beach a little longer, or do you want to return to the adobe?” Albedo asks, digging his feet into the warm sand.

“Let’s return to the abode. As much as I would love to stay on the beach, it’s best we return before everyone starts searching for us,” you say. 

The day comes to an end way quicker than you think it would. When you, Xiao, Diluc, Kaveh, and Albedo returned to the abode, everyone was sitting at the dining table with food sitting in the center for everyone to help themself with. 

“Oh, I didn’t know we were having guests for dinner,” you say, taking your shoes off at the entrance. 

“Oh? Did you not want us to stay?” Blade asks, raising an eyebrow at you.

Your eyes widen, and you shake your head. “No, no, it’s just that I didn’t know you guys were going to stay for this long. I assumed you all would leave after I went to Yaoguang Shoal.”

“Speaking of Yaoguang Shoal, did you find the book?” Heizou asks, turning around in his seat to look in your direction.

You press your lips into a thin line and shake your head. “No, it’s not there. Diluc told me someone brought the book and beach chair back to the abode,” you sigh, collapsing on the nearest chair. You look at Al Haitham and wave to get his attention. “Whoever brought the book back, did they at least return it to you?”

Tighnari points at the shelf behind you before waving you over. “The book is over on the shelf. Now, sit down and get something to eat. It’s been a long day today, and I bet you’re hungry,” says Tighnari.

You stretch in your seat before getting up, raising your index finger. “I will, but let me take a shower really quickly because, you know, I was at Yaoguang Shoal today, and I smell like the ocean,” you said.

You run upstairs and to your bedroom to take a quick shower. As much as you would love to take a long shower like usual, since there are guests who claim to be your boyfriends, you don’t think it’s a good idea to be gone for long with your twenty-five boyfriends and eight guests in one room. 

While you’re in the shower, the dining area is consumed by silence. The sounds of cutlery clinking against the plates fill the silence. No one was talking to each other. They only eat and look at every person sitting at the dining table, waiting for you to return from your shower. 

“Do you think [Y/N] is going to go with them?” Venti mutters to Baizhu, reaching for his cup of wine and sipping from it without taking his eyes off the other men’s faces.

Baizhu chuckles and shakes his head. “They won’t leave with them. [Y/N] doesn’t know the eight of the Outlanders. It’s very unlikely they’ll board the Astral Express,” Baizhu replies. 

Thoma scoots his seat closer to Venti and Baizhu before leaning toward Baizhu and Venti, his eyes focusing on the plate in front of him. “Even if [Y/N] doesn’t go with them, do you think they will leave Teyvat without [Y/N]? That’s their only ‘mission’ on Teyvat, and that is to return to the Astral Express with [Y/N].”

“What are you three whispering over there?” Jing Yuan asks, breaking the silence in the dining room. 

Thoma, Venti, and Baizhu freeze in their seats before looking at the long, silver-haired man sitting across from them. The four exchange looks with one another for a moment before Jing Yuan breaks eye contact. 

“I have a question,” Cyno speaks up, propping his arms on the table, “after today, will the eight of you return to the Astral Express without [Y/N]?” 

The corner of Luocha’s lips quirks up, forming an amused smirk. “What makes you think we’ll return without them? If we have to stay on Teyvat a little longer, we will do that. We won’t return to the Astral Express until [Y/N] agrees to go with us,” Luocha replies, leaning back in his seat with his arms over his chest. 

Kaeya chuckles, tapping his index finger against his cheek. “How bold of you to assume we would allow you to step out of the estate with [Y/N],” Kaeya mutters, the smile slipping off his face. 

Scaramouche rolls his eyes and leans forward on the table, making sure to lock eyes with the eight Outlanders. “If you need a reminder, there are twenty-five of us and eight of you. You’re outnumbered. The chances of you being successful are low. Therefore, I wouldn’t do anything stupid if I were you.” 

Gepard glares at Scaramouche and clenches his jaws. Gepard opens his mouth to retort, but your footsteps coming down the stairs silences him. You enter the dining room wearing your pajamas, a rabbit headband, your face dewy and glowing from your moisturizer, and undereye patches. 

You hold up a bottle of foaming cleanser. “Who does this belong to? Someone left this in my bathroom,” you said, looking at the men at the dining table.

Itto raises his hand. “Oh! That’s mine, but you can keep it in there because I want to do skin care with you,” Itto says, getting up from his seat and walking toward you.

You look at Itto with surprise. “Oh! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m about to be finished with my skincare routine,” you sigh in defeat, letting your hand fall at your side.

“I forgot,” Itto laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “but hey! We can start the night routine tomorrow!” 

You nod and begin to walk back up the stairs, but Itto grabs you by your biceps and turns you around. You look at Itto with a questioning gaze before he presses his lips against your forehead and steps back with a big smile. You smile and peck his cheek before walking back to your room. Itto and the other men in the room watch you leave. Itto turns to the others with a smug smirk on his face before returning to his seat with a pep in his walk. 

“Oh, would you look at that! Isn’t it sweet how Itto and [Y/N] are going to start doing night routines with each other?” Ayato asks, sipping on his tea nonchalantly while smirking behind his cup. 

Kazuha chuckles. “It seems like a subtle way to let you all know that they’re not leaving any time soon.” Kazuha comments. 

Gorou turns to look at the men, specifically Blade, with curiosity. “Let’s say that it’s true [Y/N] did spend time at the Astral Express with the eight of you and the people you have mentioned,” Gorou begins, clasping his hands together.

“Why are you saying it like it's a theory when it’s true?” Welt interrupts, glaring at Gorou with a deep frown on his face.

Capitano shrugs his shoulders. “It may be true for the rest of you, but for us, it’s a theory that has yet to be proven true,” Capitano retorts. 

Gorou rolls his eyes, “Anyway! As I was saying, what did the two of you get into an argument about? It wouldn’t be a small argument if it caused [Y/N] to storm off the Astral Express and disappear without a trace.” 

Blade stares at Gorou before continuing to eat his food without responding to Gorou’s question. Gorou frowns and lets out a huff, grabbing his cup and gulping down the water. The men continue to eat in silence, the sound of the cutlery clinking against the plates and bowls filling the tense silence between the thirty-three of them.

A few minutes later, you enter the dining room and sit between Xiao and Blade. You cursed to yourself about the seating arrangements. Why did you have to sit between Xiao and Blade? You don’t mind sitting beside Xiao! However, what you do mind is sitting beside Blade since you supposedly had this argument with the dark, long-haired man on the Astral Express before disappearing without a trace. 

You tried your best to act natural— as if nothing strange had happened or been revealed. You subconsciously scoot closer to Xiao to the point where your biceps are brushing against Xiao’s biceps. Xiao didn’t make a comment about your strange behavior and continued to eat his food in silence.

Dottore clears his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “We didn’t get to ask you, but how was the beach today? Were you able to relax like you wanted?” Dottore asks. 

You make a so-so gesture with your hand. “Kind of! The weather was nice, and the waters were surprisingly warm. It’s nice to have a break after a grueling week of finals,” You reply, tucking your hair behind your ears. 

Welt perks up at your response. “You’re going to school right now?” Welt asks, looking at you curiously.

You shrug your shoulders. “I’ve always been going to school. Before I arrived at Teyvat, I was a university student in my world. Technically, I still am, but since I’m not physically there right now, I might as well continue my education at the Akademiya.” 

Kaveh smiles and rests his elbow on the table. “[Y/N] is an excellent student; we’re incredibly proud of them. They’re at the top of their classes, and their GPA is over 4.0. They’re involved in many research papers with the Akademiya, and they’ve been granted many scholarships,” Kaveh boasts, his eyes forming into crescents when he smiles in your direction. 

“Hehe, it’s, uh, no big deal, really,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck, “plus, the Akademiya is a prestigious institute. I must put my all into my schoolwork for the Akademiya, or else it’ll be a waste.”

Sampo visibly deflates and rests his chin on the palm of his hand. “I’m assuming you’re not going to return to the Astral Express with us, Gumdrop?” Sampo asks, smiling at you sadly.

You shake your head in response. The eight men sigh, and trade looks with each other without saying a word. It’s like they’re communicating with each other telepathically. As much as you want to know what’s going on in their heads, you know it has something to do with you. 

After all, they’re only in Teyvat because of you. It’s strange how you supposedly have a life outside your main universe and your twenty-five boyfriends’ universe. There are so many questions that are left unanswered, and you don’t think anyone can answer them because everyone is probably just as clueless as you are about this stuff. Heck, not even someone as refined as Welt, Albedo, Dottore, and Dainsleif would know the answers.

Caelus leans to Jing Yuan, whispering, “Nanook isn’t going to be happy when he hears about this.”

“As long as he doesn’t find out, we’ll be okay,” Jing Yuan replies.

Zhongli raises his eyebrows at Caelus and Jing Yuan. “Who is this Nanook you speak of? And why would he be unhappy when he hears about this?” Zhongli asks, sipping his tea.

Dan Heng sighs and looks away. “Just someone who holds [Y/N] near and dear close to his heart. Then again, we all hold [Y/N] near and dear to our hearts as well,” Dan Heng murmurs, looking over at you from the corner of his eyes.

You and Dan Heng’s eyes meet from across the table. Heat rushes to your face and down your neck, causing you to clear your throat and reach for the cup of water in front of you. You break eye contact and gulp down the water, hoping it’ll extinguish the heat rushing to your face and the tip of your ears. The way Dan Heng looks at you reminds you of how your boyfriends would look at you— you can’t help but feel shy, almost awkward in a way.

“We’ll be staying here for a while. We won’t be leaving until [Y/N] agrees to return to the Astral Express with us,” Blade states, his red eyes flickering in your direction.

You nearly choke on your water and look away, ducking your head while trying to hold back your cough. Xiao glares at Blade and pats your back, moving closer to you. You clear your throat and lean into Xiao’s touch, ignoring the looks the other men are giving you and Xiao. 

Scaramouche rolls his eyes. “Might as well make yourselves a home here because we’re not letting them leave with any of you any time soon.”

Scaramouche was being sarcastic at first, but that is what the eight outlanders ended up doing. They made a home at the abode and decided to learn and adapt to a new environment. At first, they wanted to live under the same roof as you and the other men, but of course, the others opposed it and offered to make a small temporary house for the eight visitors. 

Everyone is doing their own thing in the estate. Some are sparring with each other, others are having tea, reading books, playing TCG, and many more. From a distance, you’re giving an extensive detailed tour of the estate so the eight visitors can be familiar with their new environment rather than the main island the estates are sitting on.

“And the abode keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Ayato chuckles, sipping his tea on the pavilion, looking out at the view of the abode.

Zhongli chuckles and nods. “Soon enough, every land in the abode will be occupied by many estates.” Zhongli comments, blowing on the hot cup of tea in his hands.

Al Haitham sighs and keeps his eyes on his book. “You would think they would give up and leave already, but instead, they’ve been treating this place like their second home,” Al Haitham mutters, looking at the eight men from a distance.

“Scaramouche did tell them they can make themselves a home at the abode because we refuse to hand [Y/N] over to them,” Cyno mutters, placing the TCG card down on the table.

Itto groans and slams his head on the table. “Dammit, Cyno! This is the third time you beat me!” Itto grumbles, lifting his head to glare at the Mahamatra. 

Cyno smirks at Itto before looking at the cards in his hands. Meanwhile, you stand in front of the eight men with your hands propping on your hips while tapping your feet on the ground. The eight men before you looked like anxious puppies. It was adorable, but what they did was not something you’re going to be tolerating. Especially since it keeps happening.

“It’s not nice to poke Tubby and Chubby! I get they’re cute, and all of you have never seen something like Tubby and Chubby before, but please refrain from poking them,” you sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. “You guys don’t see me stepping foot on the Astral Express and snatching Pom-Pom up and throwing them around, now, do you?” You raise your eyebrows. 

The eight men shake their heads in response, their heads hanging down while Welt has his eyes closed, his glasses in one hand while rubbing his temples with the other. Childe and Diluc stroll up to the nine of you, covered in dirt and sweat from their spar.

“Did those hooligans disobey you, snookums?” Childe asks, placing his hand on your waist and pulling you toward his chest.

Your face pinches up with disgust, and you take a step back. “Childe, as much as I love being in your arms, now is not a good time because you’re sweaty and covered in dirt.”

Gepard looks at Diluc and Childe, his arms over his chest, his eyebrows furrowing with concentration and curiosity. “How often do all of you spar? Is it a routine?” Gepard asks, his icy-blue eyes remaining on Childe and Diluc’s faces.

Diluc sighs and takes the hair tie out before retying his long red hair into a high ponytail. “It’s not routine for us to spar, but when we do, we do it on our own time. Either alone or with someone that volunteers to help,” Diluc replies. 

“You wouldn’t mind us joining on, would you?” Sampo asks, adjusting his gloves while smirking at Diluc and Childe.

You look at the men, chewing on the inside of your cheek. You don’t think it’s a good idea for your men to spar with the eight outlanders. Knowing Childe and Gepard, there will be a competition of some sort. Technically, Childe will make it a competition with all of the outlanders, and you don’t want to see how it turns out.

Before Childe and Diluc can respond, you shake your head. “No, no! No sparring! I don’t think it’s a good idea because you guys will turn it into a competition and hurt each other. No.” You deadpan.

“Then how are we supposed to entertain ourselves and bond? I think knowing each other’s skills in combat is a great way of bonding!” Aether says, propping his arm on your shoulders from behind. 

You brush off Aether’s question. “There’s plenty of ways to entertain yourselves and bond without having to draw weapons!” You reply.

“And what are you suggesting other than sparring?” Heizou asks, raising an eyebrow at you.

You smile at the men innocently. Before any of them know it, you’re all at Yaoguang Shoal wearing sun hats and sunglasses. You turn to look at your boyfriends and your guests from beyond the stars with a big smile while bouncing on the balls of your feet with excitement.

“The beach? Weren’t you at Yaoguang Shoal not too long ago?” Thoma asks, slathering sunscreen on his arms.

You nod. “Yes, but my moment of relaxation was ruined when our guests from beyond the stars popped up in front of me!” You say, propping your hands on your hips. “Now! You all can go and chase each other around the beach, and I am going to continue where I left off with my reading!”

Al Haitham hands you the book you borrowed from him not long ago before placing a beach chair down. Everyone scatters around the beach, staying within the vicinity. While you’re reading Al Haitham’s book under the shade, someone sits beside you on the sand. You look away from your book to see Blade sitting beside you, refusing to make eye contact with you. Ever since your first encounter with the long, dark-haired man, you have been keeping your distance from him mainly because he looks intimidating. You have a small feeling that he was still upset with “you” after the argument you two didn’t have.

“So! Are you going to finally tell me what the argument was about?” You ask, putting the book face down and pulling your knees to your chest.

Blade doesn’t answer. Instead, he didn’t even look in your direction. You mumble to yourself and turn to the side, getting up from the beach chair and dusting the sand off your legs.

“Alright, you don’t have to answer me. I’m sure the other [Y/N] would’ve done something else to get you to respond to them, but I’m not them.” You say before walking away from where Blade is sitting.

You quickly stopped in your tracks and turned around to grab Al Haitham’s book you were reading before continuing your walk to where Kaeya and Venti were hanging out. Venti and Kaeya wave at you the closer you get before patting the space between them for you to sit. You plop down between Kaeya and Venti, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“What’s with the exasperated sigh? You were so excited to go to the beach!” Venti says, sipping his drink.

Kaeya turns his head to look over where you were sitting previously, locking eyes with Blade. Blade quickly looks away with a deep frown. Kaeya chuckles under his breath and looks at you while you dig your feet into the sand, feeling the warm sand between your toes.

Kaeya points at Blade with his thumb. “I’m assuming it has something to do with him,” Kaeya comments, leaning back on one hand.

Your expression sours. “When is it not Blade? He’s refusing to tell me what the argument was! It’s like he expects me to know what it is when I was never there to experience it!” You groused. “I hope the other me is doing okay. Given the fact that they’re supposedly dating Blade and the other seven, or was it nine, men.” You stroke your chin.

Footsteps approach where you, Kaeya, and Venti are sitting. “Oh, I’m doing okay! Other than having to traverse many universes to find my way back to the Astral Express, only to find this universe and run into the other me surrounded by a lot of men.”

Your, Kaeya, and Venti’s head snaps toward where the voice comes from, only to see another version of yourself standing there. Everyone around you stops what they’re doing and looks at you and the other you with eyes the size of saucers. You scramble to your feet and point at your other self, trying to find the words to say while they stare at you with a sheepish smile on their face. 

“These men weren’t causing you any trouble, were they?” They ask, looking at the eight outlanders that are approaching you and the other you.

You glare at the other you, propping your hands on your hips. “Where were you!? You made your eight boyfriends worried to the point where they have to travel beyond the stars to search for you!” 

The other you laugh sheepishly, rubbing the back of their neck. “To be fair, I got lost after I stormed out of the Astral Express, and I couldn’t find my way back.” The other you sigh in defeat, letting their head hang low.

Tighnari raises his eyebrows at the other you. “Have you tried asking for directions?” Tighnari asks.

“Gumdrop is a great fighter but terrible with directions.” Sampo snorts before skipping happily to the other you, wrapping his arms around their waist and snuggling against them.

You watch Blade approach the other you, his arms crossed over his chest. The other you give Blade a fake smile before looking away from the long, dark-haired man. You clear your throat and look away. Man, this somehow got awkward. 

“You two have some talking to do! I’m not sure if you,” you look at your other self, “remember the argument the two of you had before your disappearance. Still, please talk it out because I somehow got caught in between!”

Your other self drags out a sigh, resting their head on Sampo’s shoulders. “Ah, right! How could I forget about that? I was so busy trying to find my way back that I completely forgot about the argument Blade and I had before storming out,” your other self says. 

“I didn’t think there would be another [Y/N], but here we are,” Dainsleif murmurs, trying to find the difference between you and the other you.

Appearance-wise, the other you are wearing clothes from Jing Yuan’s world. The other you have streaks of red and purple in your hair, and you look a little rougher around the edges. Sampo presses a sloppy kiss on your clone’s cheek— yes, that is what you will be calling them from now on. Your clone snuggles up against Sampo’s chest and holds your (their?) hands out to the other eight outlanders. 

“Now that the other [Y/N] have found the eight of you, will you all return to the Astral Express now?” Gorou asks, gazing at the nine people curiously.

Your clone nods their head in response. “Yes, we will be heading back to the Astral Express now. That means Blade, and I will need to speak about what happened before my disappearance,” your clone sighs, looking at Blade.

Blade gives your clone a weak smile and grabs your clone’s hand, gently squeezing them. Your clone smiles at Blade and pulls him close to them. Blade and Sampo give each other a small glare while clinging to your clone’s side while the other six men stand around the three of them. 

You squint your eyes at your clone, tilting your head to the side. “How do you handle dating nine men?” You ask.

Your clone snorts and rolls their eyes. “I can ask you the same thing, [Y/N]. Really, [Y/N]? Twenty-five men? That’s more than what I have,” They raise their eyebrows at you, the corners of their lips twitching.

“You know what, fair enough,” you mutter, looking away from your clone with a sour look. 

As much as you would love to talk to your clone about the other universe, you didn’t want to deal with them matching the sassiness with you. That and because they do have to return to the Astral Express soon to patch things up. You and your twenty-five boyfriends watch your clone and their boyfriends walk far before disappearing into small orbs of light, ascending to the stars.

“I did not think that there was another [Y/N] out there,” Kazuha comments.

You sigh in relief and lean on Venti. “Me neither! But I’m glad they showed up because I don’t think I can handle Blade’s attitude any longer! The man acts like I remember this so-called argument!” You sigh, running your hands through your hair.

“On the bright side, you won’t have to deal with any more men entering the relationship,” Baizhu says, clapping his hands once. 

Albedo chuckles, shaking his head. “You’d never know. There may be twenty-five of us today, but there can be forty tomorrow,” Albedo comments.

Xiao rolls his eyes, sighing. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, shall we?” Xiao mutters.

Pantalone snorts. “What makes you think we’ll share [Y/N] with more people? I believe twenty-five people is enough,” Pantalone says nonchalantly.

Kaeya drapes his arms around your shoulders, leans down, and kisses your cheek. You wrap your arms around Kaeya’s slim waist and kiss his cheek in return. Albedo isn’t wrong, though. There might be more people in the next few days or maybe even weeks. All you know is that you’re glad you’re not in your clone’s spot because what is up with Blade and his attitude? He intimidates you, and you don’t know what your clone sees in that man other than his looks.

Note: Midterms week starts on Monday, and I am not looking forward to it. If next week's fic is short, it's because I have been occupied with my studies and haven't been able to type out as much as I would hope ;v; This week has been a long week for me, but it will definitely not be as long as midterm week and finals week (which is coming in hot). To my new and/or returning readers, please keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

Taglist for my Isekai'd!Reader one-shot series and my overall taglist: @xyji, @chirikoheina, @yoru-trash, @kaoyamamegami, @kwelibeeery, @deartoru, @luminarymoonlight, @toobytub, @ins4nebish, @bokuto-kinnie, @exhaustedcommunist, @jadedist, @mompt2, @chalksdreams, @thelost-in-time, @ventisweetheart, @hispasian-otaku, @juuuuuj101010, @samarill, @testsubject0012, @irisxiel, @kazuhaprnt, @lunarapple, @emilymikado, @vinnie-w, @n8mareee, @bajifairyy, @heyimkay, @eliciana, @blesstosuisen, @goldeneclipsedragon, @jjvr4yxc, @sovermike-21-blog, @vox34, @skyyyyackerman, @undecidingfate, @nightlysunn, @faeryminnyx, @simpcreator, @lucifarts-boxers, @thelovebuggs, @urlocalheizousimp, @sunlightstarr (Accounts that I was unable to tag have been removed. Those who don't want to be tagged in certain stories are not tagged in this particular post. Remember to check your settings if you're allowing people to mention you/tag you in posts or not)

Read more of my works on my Masterlist | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! I might post all of my stories on there too, but who knows. You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like as a way to show support! ^^

[pilesofnonsense]

RQBB 2024 Writer Sign-Ups Open!

Writer Sign-Ups are now open for the Rusty Quill Big Bang 2024!

Please read through the information carefully to understand what will be expected of you as a participant.

The sign-up link is at the end of the post under the spoiler cut!

You do not need to have decided what you will be writing at this stage, but please consider whether the fic requirements are compatible with what you have in mind, and be sure that you can commit to contacting us on the below deadlines to share your progress (or withdraw your participation if necessary).

Schedule for 2024 (all deadlines at 23:00 BST / 5pm CDT):

Writer Sign-ups: May 20th - 26th

Full First Draft & Summary Due: August 18th

Artist Sign-ups: August 26th - September 1st

Art Draft Deadline: September 29th

Final Fic & Art Due: October 13th

Posting: October 16th- 27th

Confirmation e-mails for sign-ups will be sent out after sign-ups close; if you have not received a confirmation by May 30, please contact us at pilesofnonsense@gmail.com. We ask that you check your email (including the spam folder!) and reply so we can confirm that your registered email address is correct and you still intend to participate.

Participation Requirements:

You must choose whether to join the Big Bang as an artist or writer. You may not do both.

Writers will require an AO3 account; if you do not have an AO3 account, please request one via AO3’s login page.

If you wish to write M or E rated fics you must be aged over 18.

All participants must read and adhere to the Expected Conduct guidelines (see below).

Minimum Final Word Count: 20,000

Maximum Number of Fics per Writer/s: 1

Maximum Number of Writers per Fic (collaboration): 2

Fic Draft Requirements: At the draft deadline (August 18th), we will require a complete draft of at least 18,000 words. “Complete” means that the fic is written from start to finish with no indispensable scenes missing or left as outlines—think, “If I posted this right now, would I be happy with the story it tells?”

Ideally, you will refine and polish your draft in the remaining time, but it can also be your final draft if you prefer.

Drafts will be handed in via a form that will be sent out to you before the deadline. Drafts should be available in Google docs, or if need be in PDF format.

Summary Requirements: A form for the summary will be sent out to you before the deadline. Summaries should briefly outline the general premise, and include rating, ships, triggers and other warnings, and any other relevant details.

Eligible Fics:

Fics of any rating and with any warnings are permitted, as long as they meet the minimum word count (20,000), are centered around at least one Rusty Quill original podcast (The Magnus Archives, The Magnus Protocol, Rusty Quill Gaming, Stellar Firma, Inexplicables, Chapter & Multiverse, Trice Forgotten, Cry Havoc!, Neon Inkwell), and are tagged appropriately.

We encourage authors to take this opportunity to challenge themselves to take on a project that they might not otherwise—though please consider what is realistic in terms of the deadlines as well!

Fics must be stand-alone (requires no knowledge of previous fics to enjoy), complete (resolves all main plotlines within the story, as opposed to being part I of a trilogy, etc.), and previously unposted.

Crossovers are allowed, but the focus should be on the RQ podcast involved. For example: a fusion crossover with the Leverage Team replacing the LOLOMG in the RQG!verse would not be permitted, though the RQG characters in the Leverage!verse would be.

Please be aware that fics with obscure crossovers, common squicks, higher ratings, etc., may be more difficult to match, and thus take a little longer to get snapped up. We will do our best to find you a suitable match, though!

If you have any questions about the suitability of your fic, please contact the mods.

Matching Process:

The artist sign-up will include a list of the anonymised fic summaries. Each artist will select 3 fics which they would be interested in creating for, with additional preferences (favourite show/shows they do not follow, OTPs and NoTPs, Do Not Wants, etc.) indicated in the comment field. Mods will then match writers to artists, taking preferences into account as much as possible.

If fics are oversubscribed or if it is otherwise necessary for matching, they may be removed from the list of eligible fics before the end of artist sign-ups.

If you have an issue with your match, please let the mods know as soon as possible.

Do Not Wants:

In this event, you will have an opportunity to Do Not Want (DNW) the types of content that you do not wish to work on. Similarly, if you’ve had conflicts with certain people in the past and do not want to risk matching to them, you can include this in your sign-up or draft submission, and we will avoid matching you with them (details of these will not be shared beyond the mod team).

The mods will always account for DNWs within reason; however, attempts to manipulate matches via DNWs or otherwise acting in bad faith will result in the rejection of your sign-up or draft. We are also not private detectives, and will thus not be fielding any requests such as “do not match me with anyone who has ever drawn/written XYZ.” Please keep that in mind when considering whether this event is right for you.

Expected Conduct:

By signing up for this event, you agree to do your best to meet the deadlines. If you might need a little more time, please email the mods to explain your situation before the deadline passes. Those who miss deadlines without contacting the mods beforehand may be dropped from the event without further contact.

In order to participate in this event, you must be willing to contact the mods directly in the event that you have a question, concern, or issue with your participation (as in the deadline example above). We are happy to help participants with anything that arises, but cannot accept “telephone”-style communiques on behalf of others.

Be in regular contact with your match—if you’re going to be offline for a significant length of time, let them know. Radio silence from your match in events of this kind can be very concerning. (If you are having trouble getting in touch with your match, please contact us!)

Please take care to credit your artist/writer in your own final post.

Our Discord server has its own list of rules, which are listed within the server. If you decide to join the server, we require you to read and abide by those rules.

Be kind and courteous towards your match and fellow participants. This naturally means that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are prohibited, but even where those are not at play, you are expected to treat others with respect.

We, like Rusty Quill, have an “all headcanons are valid” policy. Harassment or mockery of those with different interpretations will not be tolerated. This does not mean you cannot discuss how you see the characters with others or that your artist/writer should not take it into account at their discretion, but insistence that any one interpretation must be adhered to is not allowed.

If you have concerns that a work or participant may be in violation of the rules, please bring it to the mods directly. Harassment of other participants (including but not limited to callout posts, name-calling, baiting, etc.), either publicly or in the Piles of Nonsense discord server, over their identities, fanworks, or headcanons will result in an instant default.

A full overview of the Guidelines can be found on our Challenge Guidelines page. We also have an FAQ.

The writer sign-up form can be found here.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to working with you!  

[laura1633]

Fic writer interview thank you for the tag @481boxboxbaby and @souvenir116

Tagging @saviour-of-lord and @ilyarozanove (not sure if you have been tagged already and no pressure if you don't like tag games!) and anyone else who wants to do this feel free to use this as your invite.

How many works do you have on AO3? 155 - Wow okay I don’t know how I ended up writing so many.

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,076,320

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Preloved  2. Good Boy 3. A million times over 4. Weak 5. My Pretty Princess

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to respond to comments and I have gotten a lot better at it. If I have ever not responded it's because I have left it too late and then panic over whether it's still appropriate to respond!! I read all comments though, it’s the biggest motivator so thank you to everyone who leaves comments on fics, I appreciate you all <3

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Either ‘One last night’ or ‘Hitching a ride’ Both are open ended though. 

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?There are a lot that have happy endings but off the top of my head I will go with ‘A million times over’. It’s just an overall short cute one-shot.

Do you write crossovers? No

Have you ever received hate on a fic? If I have then I have forgotten about it because I can’t recall any hate coming in. I am sure there are plenty of people who hate my stories though, I’ve just been lucky they haven’t told me about it! 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes I do and lots of it. Almost any kind. Dom/sub, pain play, tentacles, omegaverse, lots of kinks, nice soft sex, loss of virginity. I would definitely say varied!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but hmmm I have seen something very close to what I have written. 

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, not that I have seen anyway. I have had people ask before but I am not sure if they ever actually translated them.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No but I have spoken about it with @481boxboxbaby unfortunately I am disastrously disorganised so I don’t know if I should really inflict that on other people 😂 I do think it would be fun to have a fic with a set up and then multiple authors taking a chapter each to write the scenario from various drivers points of view. That would take a lot of organising though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Lestappen

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?There are so many of them, I have a folder full of random wips that will likely never be finished. At the moment I am fighting my way to try and finish a cowboy Max au one shot, I have started it and deleted it soooo many times, I will finish it though, it’s just not clicking right now! 

What are your writing strengths? I guess maybe just having a certain level of creativity when it comes to coming up with ideas. That can also be my downfall because there are too many ideas pinging around for me to concentrate on one! 

What are your writing weaknesses? I always say that my writing style is more about a general vibe rather than it being grammatically correct 😬

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’ve personally never done it. I’d have to use google translate and I wouldn’t trust that it would read properly.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? F1

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?Charles/Oscar or Max/Rico Verhoeven. I will get around to writing them eventually

What's your favorite fic you've written? It’s probably recency bias but the fic I am writing and posting right now “Preloved” is probably my favourite. I think it's also super encouraging when people are commenting and enjoying the story so it has made the whole thing more enjoyable. I will definitely be writing some more multi chaptered fics going forward. Of the one shots maybe The Sweetest Deal because it plays into my love of babygirl Max.

[theonceandfuturequeenoftarts]

20 Questions (for fanfic writers)

Thank you for the tags, @cindle-writes and @izharmilgram! I'm procrastinating on other responsibilities, so let's have some fun~

Tagging @i-dream-of-libraries, @chaos-bear, @floatingdandelionseeds, @pitzer, @riverxsong-ao3, @tommarvoloriddlesdiary, @thefangirlibrarian, @hikarimeroperiddle and @blackseatwenty (no pressure, only if you want to! ♡♡♡) and anyone else who wants to talk about their fics -- consider this your tag! ♡

how many works do you have on ao3? 47

what's your total ao3 word count? 226,795

what fandoms do you write for? Harry Potter, Yuri!!! On Ice

top five fics by kudos: A long, hard road; Gone bananas; thrown into the nest; refuge from the miseries of life; unfailingly ingenious at having a good time (surprised the cat!Harry fics are so high tbh) Edit: I can't read... (:‚‹」∠) Top five fics by kudos are as follows: Gone bananas; A long, hard road; thrown into the nest; refuge from the miseries of life; and Coriander (not a big change, but it does explain why the cat!Harry sequel was so high...)

do you respond to comments? uhh... occasionally. Social anxiety kicks my ass and so I put my energy into writing fic instead. I love every single comment I get and reread them any time I need a pick-me-up, but I am a bad author who doesn't reply...

what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending? hmm... probably pyrrhic victory, but Capsized is also a contender

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? considering I write mostly fluff and crack, this is a surprisingly difficult question to answer... I'm gonna go with either if you like it, then... or thrown into the nest. Or maybe don't blame the stork? (Some lovely reader out there is shouting at their screen, "Flaky, you goof, it's obviously ____!!" and they're correct.)

do you get hate on fics? Nope, not really! Some readers express that they wish I'd done certain things differently, and a couple have said I ended a fic badly, but I don't think I've received anything I'd consider hateful.

do you write smut? uhhhh... sometimes. When it's the best way to tell the story I have in my head, then I'll write smut. But it's still a bit uncomfortable to do. I'd like to think I'm getting better at it?

craziest crossover? I'm not sure I've actually written anything that could really be considered a crossover, but A real voyage of discovery is kind of a mash-up of Harry Potter characters in a Star Trek-y world? And it has alien!mort, and I think he's nifty.

have you ever had a fic stolen? A couple of my fics have appeared on Wattpad without my permission, but other than that, no.

have you ever had a fic translated? Yep, a few! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

have you ever co-written a fic before? Not yet -- I don't really know how it'd work, and I'm afraid to try (¬_¬") Intensely private about my writing before it's ready to post unless you're Jenny. But! I'm counting the Telephone and the Corpse (coming soon) because they're collaborative (in a way) and have been such a major part of my fandom experience!

all-time favorite ship? tomarrymort~ (honourable mentions to sefikura, madohomu, and viktuuri)

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Fingers crossed I'm not breaking anyone's heart with this, but probably Let's Talk About Sex, Baby. I have some more written for it, but it's been a while since I've returned to it and other projects interest me more. I have every intention of finishing my WIPs, but... there are only so many hours in a day and my energy is, sadly, finite (´•︵•`)

what are your writing strengths? whimsical finger guns! Poignant fluff? Emotions. silliness, and dialogue, probably.

what are your writing weaknesses? Worldbuilding, continuous narratives (as opposed to short scenes without much context), plot-heavy narratives, description, writing the main characters in true opposition to each other, fleshing ideas out rather than keeping it (overly) brief... I'm sure I'll think of a bunch of other things as soon as I post this.

thoughts on dialogue in another language? I'd like to! I speak French reasonably well, and I'm lucky enough to have some fandom friends who speak other languages, so I'm sure I could beg their assistance.

favorite fic you've written? Hhhhhhh, why must I choose? I'll go with naïve melody, because it still gives me the warm fuzzies. I'm just so proud of the tone, and I really like how that Voldemort comes across.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hello hello! I was wondering if you had any winged aus tucked away? the latest post I could find (though goodness knows tumblr’s search feature is iffy) was from 2019 and I was curious about an updated list if it isn’t too much trouble!

Hey Lovely!

You are correct, it's been a LONG time since I've put a new list together... I don't have any new personal recs (been a LONG time since I've read them), so what I'm going to do is do a tag search on my MFL list and put together a nice fresh list of fics suggested to me by you guys! Please note that I have NOT read any of the fics on this list so I'm probably wrong somewhere, LOL. They're not ALL winglock, for sure, but if anyone has anything relevant that they can add to this list, please do! Enjoy!

WINGLOCK / ANGELS / DEMONS Pt. 2 (MFLs)

See also:

Winglock / Angels / Demons (Updated Apr 2022)

Sherlock x  Good Omens Crossovers (Updated Apr 2022)

The Detective and the Demon by oreganotea (G, 2,389 w., 1 Ch. || Supernatural Elements || Pre-Slash, Urban Fantasy, Demons, Humour, Friendship) – “Every demon on record is described as either monstrously terrifying or breathtakingly beautiful,” Sherlock says. “I have never heard of a demon with a forgettable face and a propensity for ugly jumpers.” The demon looks down at his jumper. Okay, so it might not be the most flattering article of clothing in the world, but it sure looks a hell of a lot more comfortable than Sherlock’s two-sizes-too-small shirt.

The Babadook by CatieBrie (T, 6,886 w., 1 Ch. || Babadook Fusion || Post-TRF, Horror, Demonic Possession, Violence, Halloween, Grief, Angst with Happy Ending) – “A children’s book,” John mutters as he flips it open. The pages are scrawled with beautiful charcoal lines and thick black ink. The cover, bright red, edges the open pages and something tugs at the back of John’s brain. It’s a familiar feeling, black and tarrish and thick in his thoughts. He shakes it off and picks the book up off his bed, turning so that he can sit on the edge and spread the book out across his knees. If it’s in a word or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook. He turns the page, ignoring the pressure building beneath his chest. There’s a closet on one page; paper doors meant to be opened by the reader flutter as John reads the text on the other page.

In The Arms Of The Angel by Watermelonsmellinfellon (M, 8,585 w., 3 Ch. || Fallen Angel AU || Friendship, Angels/Wings, BAMF John, Trust, Fluff, Romance, Eventual Happy Ending) – The human population possesses the ability to grow feathers from their spines, but less than even five million at a time ever actually grow any. A feather for a life. Every life saved, earned a feather. The feathers would overlap each other, until there was finally enough to create a wing and if some were lucky, two wings.

The Soldier And The Demon by LipstickDaddy (G, 8,998 w., 6 Ch. || Victorian / Demon AU || Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Soldier John, Demon Sherlock, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Protective John, Protective Sherlock, Happy Ending) – Johnlock/Kuroshitsuji AU - 1879. Captain John H Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers is dying from a near-fatal gunshot wound in the Kandahar desert; until a demon saves his life. There’s a catch, though; one day, his saviour will eat his soul.

You Don't Need Wings to Fly by Laiquilasse (T, 11,326 w., 11 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Bullying, Angels, Suicidal Ideation, Christmas) – John, an angel, is sent from Heaven to help a desperate Sherlock Holmes by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Tattered by SrebrnaFH (M, 15,857 w., 6 Ch. || Winglock || Family, Childhood, Society, Abuse, Electricity, Hurt John / Sherlock, Protective John, No Smut, Bullying, Sudden Relationship Change) – John visits Baker Street without any warning and gets an eyeful.

On Feathers and Bacon Sandwiches by Kryptaria(T, 21,092 w., 8 Ch. || Winglock AU || Demon John, Asexual Sherlock) – No one has ever stayed with Sherlock longer than a month. At least, no human. Fortunately, John Watson isn't about to let the little things - like biohazardous experiments and the constant threat of danger - get in the way of his friendship with a very special, very brilliant man like Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Feathers 'verse

The 13th Book by meet_me_in_samarra (T, 24,491 w., 13 Ch. || Magical Realism Winglock AU || Enemies to Friends, Friendship, Witty Banter, Interspecies Bromance, Demon Sherlock) – Summoning a demon was actually quite simple if you could avoid getting killed in the process. Therefore, only the powerful, the desperate or the stupid would attempt it. John Watson was likely the first, definitely the second but hopefully not one of the third kind.

This Is Family by SaraStarchild (T, 39,840 w., 16 Ch. || Hereditary AU || Psychological Horror, Body Horror, Demonic Possession, POV Third Person Limited, Protective Mycroft, Cults, Mycroft Whump, Sherlock Whump, Major Character Death, Graphic Violence, Retelling) – When the Holmes family's secretive mother and matriarch, Ellen Holmes, passes away, the family she leaves behind – father Martin, sons Mycroft and Sherlock, and daughter Eurus – begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. This is, pretty much, a word-for-word retelling of the 2018 Ari Aster film, Hereditary. Part 1 of Sherlock Halloween Stories

Though the brightest fell by BeMyGoldfish (M, 41,243 w., 7 Ch. || Celestial AU || Post THoB, Soulmates, Guardian Angels, Demons, Mystrade, Background Johnlock) –  In his office, Mycroft (the Archangel) tries to recruit Greg (the ‘ex-angel’ mortal) on a celestial mission to save Sherlock from what he wants most. "This is some elaborate joke cooked up by your brother as revenge for me not asking him to help on the Islington Exsanguinations, isn't it? How did he get you in on it, Mycroft? Did he hide your trouser press? Or threaten to expose your secret ciggie habit to your mum? This isn't funny. It's weird and obscure, but it is not funny.”

Trapped by Gem_Gem & harrylee94 (M, 41,311 w., 3 Ch. || Demon John AU || Demon John, Mild Gore, POV Sherlock, Mild Homophobic Language, Kiss, Bonding) – During his most recent case, Sherlock finds himself in the hands of the very people he had been trying to pursue. This mistake lands him in a cell, already occupied by a strange man who calls himself John. But who is John? And why does he look so... hungry? Part 3 of the Bonded by Words Stories series

Murderous Imprint by MojoFlower (E, 52,634 w., 24 Ch. || Winglock || Organ Theft, Imprinting, First Kiss / Time, Whump, Torture, Blow Jobs, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Case Fic, Magical Realism) – Sherlock should be focusing on the series of brutal vivisections Lestrade has brought to him. Instead he's distracted by a most amazing and unexpected experimental opportunity from the basement apartment of 221C. Will he figure out the one in time to stop the other? And does he need help in order to do it? Part 1 of the Hatch series

Not English But Angels by orphan_account (E, 203,251 w., 15 Ch. || Twisted Canon, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Minor Character Death) – A sort-of canon, sort-of AU fic in which I twist and supplement canon to weave it into a new story in which Sherlock and John come from different worlds and nothing is quite what it seems.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

The Posthumous Game by S_IRIS (E, 58,695+ w., 12/19 Ch. || WiP || Supernatural Elements AU || S4 Fix It, Crack, Humour, Fluff, Demonic Possession, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss/Time, Sherlock Whump, Hurt Comfort, Hallucinations) – A Season 4 fix-it fic where Jim Moriarty really is dead but comes back as a demon to haunt Sherlock. The only problem is Jim is a total newbie at demonic possession so he tries to make-do and ends up making Johnlock happen. Only, it doesn’t happen the way you’d think.

Hellfire by HarleysCompass (E, 66,660+ w., 19/? Ch. || WiP || Fallen Angel AU || Biblical References, BAMF John, Sexual Content, Fallen Angel John) – In 1880 Dr. John H. Watson dies on foreign soil. The next thing he knows he's wandering the planes of Heaven. After betraying God, John is cast out, employed by the devil, and protecting a sociopath of a human with a penchant for trouble and pissing off Angels. 

[tmnt-fandom-family-reunion]

COMPREHENSIVE POINTS GUIDE:

Firstly, please use the #Cabin [number] OR #Cabin [name] for any AU’s included in posts for the convenience of us staff who need to count points!! If you do not tag all included AU’s cabins, we will not count it for points (it would just be to hard for us to go and find)

If your posted art/writing/ect is about the event (which is currently campfire stories) in any way, it will earn you one point. You do not need to crossover with anyone to earn a point.

If you do crossover with someone from your cabin and they are NOT the representative, it will still only count for one point. However, if you crossover with someone from another cabin then their cabin will also get one point (be sure to tag their cabin as well or NO points will be given to either cabin!).

Representatives? How do they work?

There will be a different theme every two weeks and each theme will get a different representative allowing every person a time to shine. During that time, posting any art/writing/ect that includes that representative AU will be worth one extra point. If you crossover with a representative from another AU’s Cabin BOTH cabins will gain two points.

What is a representative's job?

As a representative, the main thing you need to do is make sure people know your AU so that way they can post about it. You do not need to do much more then that if you do not want to, however a small introduction to the event will help so people can build their crossovers around it!

How do reblogs work with points?

If you add content with your reblog and remember to # the correct cabins, it will also count as a separate post and will receive points. However, if people start splitting hairs and posting one/two sentence “additions” or making a comic and splitting it up into reblogs to gain more points, we will have to edit the way we count these. As a general rule of thumb for writing, if the post is at least two-three paragraphs it should be okay.

Do role plays count for points?

Make sure you get permission to post your RP from all people involved, then make a post on tumblr. RPing is a form of writing, so I do not see why this wouldn’t count for points! Just make sure you are following all other rules.

What if an AU is in my art/writing but only BRIEFLY mentioned/in the background:

Please tag their cabin as well, even small mentions can mean a lot to people (especially smaller creators). This will count as a point.

What if I have a BIG crossover with a LOT of cabins?

Tag every cabin involved, and every cabin in the crossover will get points!

What if I have already made a campfire event post and they did not follow these rules?

The mod team would greatly appreciate it if you went back and added the proper tags, but if you do not, that is okay too. All campfire posts before this post not following the # guidlines will still be counted.

Thank you so much for your patience and the exciting amount of work you guys have already put in to make this a fun time for us all!!

- Ally

[pipermca]

Feedback Fest 2024

In honour of International Fanworks Day (today! February 15) I am posting some fic recommendations that I've made in the past. (I am super swamped at work and can't write up any new recs, but I previously rec'd these over on my main blog over the past few years. I'm collecting them together again here on my writing blog!)

These ten rec's are in no particular order, and all are in the Transformers fandom (with some crossovers). Ratings and pairings (if relevant) are noted.

(I also had to split this list into two parts because I waxed too poetic about these fics. See my reblog for the next part. 🙂)

Frivolities by @neveralarch (G, Megatron & Starscream). Summary: “My correct form of address is in my ID tag,” snapped Starscream. “Use it or lose your tongue.” My comments: I love this story. I love it so much I’ve recommended it to people who would ordinarily never read Transformers fanfic, simply because I think they’d appreciate what the author is doing. They took canon and fanon, and from it alchemized a story of dysphoria and wanting to be seen and acknowledged in a way the character wants, and wrapped it up in a tidy package that hits like a truck, and have I mentioned I love this story! (makes fists) Read it!

Working Through It by @trinarysuns (M, Skywarp/Thundercracker/Marissa Faireborn). Summary: “TC,” Skywarp says, “I’m, like, ninety percent sure that humans don’t have interface cables.” Thundercracker squawks and almost knocks him over trying to get the script out of his hands. My comments: I can’t say enough about this story. I love it and it pushed so many buttons for me. Not even smutty buttons, just interaction buttons: humans interacting with giant alien robots, old loves reuniting, logitical issues of interspecies getting it on… Tumblr deleted my review of this story, (SIGH) so I reposted my review on DW here. It says a lot more about this fic!

The Soft Rush of Black Static by Monstrosibee (NR, Bluestreak/Prowl). Summary: Prowl doesn’t know a lot of bots on this newly salvaged Cybertron, and he definitely doesn’t know the bot intruding on his construction site. My comments: While this fic is essentially a fix-it fic for a story from the Aligned continuity, it just destroyed me. You can read the basics of what happened between Bluestreak and Prowl on TFWiki (at the end of Chapter 7 of The Covenant of Primus) but it was devastating to actually read how upset Prowl was by what happened. This short little fix-it brought all those emotions back and then healed them. I loved this.

Someone You Might Have Been by @astolat (T, Megatron/Optimus Prime.) Summary: I didn’t love him because he wasn’t you. My comments: I'm rec'ing this because it's just pure "this is exactly what I want to read!" for me. This is a delightful mashup of the Shattered Glass universe and G1, in which the Optimus Primes from each universe get (temporarily) swapped. It’s an amazingly heartwrenching MegOP story.

Crash Site by Slyboots (G, Breakdown/Knock Out). Summary: June Darby does not believe in aliens, or in haunted highways, or in government conspiracies, or in any other small-town folklore. The new mechanics in town are uncanny, all the same. My comments: I am a sucker for Transformers: Prime fics, and one of the (it's canon! suck it Hasbro) ships from the show that I love is Knock Out/Breakdown. But besides that, I just love the vibe of this story. You can feel Knock Out and Breakdown in it, even if June doesn’t really see them, except out of the corner of her eye. And I am SO HERE for the idea that the two of them got some lovely downtime together before the events in TFP.

[girl-named-matty]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you for the tag @rypnami <33

How many works do you have on AO3? Seven currently! Idk how many more there will be but for now it's seven!

What's your total AO3 word count? 627,138!

What fandoms do you write for? Hogwarts Legacy but I'm more currently writing for a different fandom.

Top five fics by kudos? Passion || Sebastian Sallow is my most popular fic!

Do you respond to comments? Yes. I sometimes forget I have ao3 ngl but 99% of the time I respond to comments on wattpad if I can remember.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Usually I try to give happy endings to stories because I'm that kind of person. So towards the end I'll have something angsty but the very end will usually end on a better note. But In The Shadow of Her has a decently angsty towards the end because it follows along with the game and In The Shadow of Magic has is angstier towards the end for several reasons lol.

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Honestly--outside of my full fics, my one shot "Moving in" probably has the happiest ending.

Do you get hate on fics? Perhaps??? I'm not really sure. I've gotten a few off-handed comments that make me go "???" and any hate comments have been very rare.

Do you write smut? Lol nope and I never will. I'm okay with writing stories without it.

Craziest crossover? Ummm I can't really remember ever writing a crossover but me and my bsf would joke about Sebastian and Ominis going to a Jackson Wang party so?? Does that count? 😂

Have you ever had a fic stolen? YES ACTUALLY LOL. It was ages ago and I was literally like 12 y'all HAHA. The fic wasn't even GOOD but it was on Wattpad and got reposted on NovelHD. It was crazy for me to find out ngl. I didn't really care, especially cuz the fic was garbage (in my opinion now) but yeah LOL.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I can recall.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes. Many times. Me and my old fandom buddies from a long time ago would do it.

All time favorite ship? AAAAAAA. I hate this question because I can never decide lol. I don't really have a favorite ship but I do have some I like. I'm not going to say any outside of the HL fandom but I will name a few from my friends. @rypnami's Jamie and Jack have had my heart for so long <3 @morelikeravenbore's Aurelie and Sebastian. Ugh I just love them sm <3 @catohphm's Danny x Adelaide is SUPER cute and I love it sm <3 @keri-mcberry Keri x Sebastian OHHH MY GOSH. Keri is literally my favorite artist and everything from her is just so cute and adorable and omg I love it. <3 @boxdstars Amara x Natty. Super adorable, super funny. Props out to Natty for dealing with Amara. Love them sm <33

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My old fanfics from old fandoms that have just been sitting on my computer for four years LOL.

What are your writing strengths? Fluff, usually. I'm good at Angst too. Romance eehhh kinda?? I've never been in a relationship so I don't really know how it works but I've written several relationships that I think were good.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I used to do this a lot actually. But I doubt 100% of it was correct. Now that I'm older, I definitely hesitate more with it. But I think it's super cool and I planned on doing it for my fics but my MC's first language is Irish (Gaeilge, Irish Gaelic whatever you wanna call it lol) and in the 1800's it was even harder than it is today SOOOO in order to avoid mess ups, I just used one-word expressions most of the time.

First fandom you wrote in? Oh gosh, I can't even remember. Maybe it was Merlin??? Spirit Animals?? I don't even remember cuz it was so long ago.

Favorite fic you've written? My favorite fic is probably not even and HL one LOL. But to keep it HL, all of my books have a special place in my heart and I really can't choose. Some of them have strengths over others and that much is clear but idk if I'd ever be able to choose.

No twentieth question - I LOVE YOU GUYS AND THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO ME YAP LOL <3

tagging: @plxnetn1ne, @endeavour12345, @superconductivebean and anyone else who wants to join in and talk abt their writing! <3

[your-talos-is-problematic]

WIP Wednesday!

I feel like we’re all burnt out rn so no pressure to participate as usual, but tagging @thequeenofthewinter @skyrim-forever @trickstarbrave and @throughtrialbyfire.

Here’s a random snippet of the BG3/Skyrim crossover that I may or may not eventually get around to writing. Featuring Neloth being funny :D I would really like to write more of this at some point because I really like writing interactions between Afonya and Tilia.

————————————————————————

“So, Afonya. Do these… vagrants carry any extra parasites with them?”

Oh no. This could not end well. “I… do not believe so, master,” I lied.

“You do not believe so or you know for sure?” he asked.

“I do not believe so.”

“Well then, find out. You should know not to waste my time,” he said. It was so difficult to take him seriously, but I walked over to Tilia.

In a whisper, I explained, “Neloth wants me to ask you if you have any extra parasites.” She started to open her mouth, but I widened my eyes and shook my head. “And I know you do, but you are going to pretend you don’t, and you are going to do it loudly. Unless you want to watch Neloth turn himself into a mind flayer.”

She was clearly fighting to keep her facial expression blank. “No, I’m sorry, there’s no… extras,” she said loudly. I turned to Neloth and shook my head with a mask of disappointment. He waved me back over.

As soon as I was near him, he sighed dramatically. “It’s quite thoughtless of them to demand help from me with their problem and not bring a parasite as payment.”

I nodded, but added, “Apologies if this oversteps any bounds, master, but I don’t believe becoming a mind flayer is the correct life path for you.” I tried to cover the laugh in my voice by piling on the deference. I don’t think it was working.

He rolled his eyes. “Obviously not for me, s’wit.” He tilted his head to the other side of the room, in the direction of his apprentice, who was currently pretending to do work while staring at Tilia.

Oh no. “Well, I don’t think it’s the correct life path for Talvas, either.”

“Don’t tell me what to do with my apprentice.” He glared at me.

“Apologies, master. I didn’t mean-“ I cut myself off. It was clearly a lost cause, so I switched paths. “I will contact you if they find any more,” I said.

“Fine. Now stop bothering me.” He’d started the conversation, but I neglected to tell him that.