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#once friends move on to other fandoms we tend to lose touch
sweaterkittensahoy · 4 months
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Fic Writer 20 Questions
Tagged by @meyerlansky
How many works do you have on AO3? 773
What's your total AO3 word count? 2,059,396
What fandoms do you write for? I'm deep in Masters of the Air now, obviously. I've also written for Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. I dabble a LOT, so my overall fandom list is very long. Way back in the day I wrote a lot of West Wing. I did a lot of Guy/Kyle in Green Lantern, and then Law & Order: SVU ate my brain for several years even though I can't actually say the show was ever good. Oh, and I was in Avengers fandom hanging out with my fellow Phlint crew at one point.
Top Five Fics by Kudos Revenge is Best Served @ (Check Please, Jack/Bitty)
But I Will Hold on Hope (And I Won't Let You Choke (Avengers, Phil/Clint)
By the Book (Avengers, Phil/Clint)
These Are Our Friends, and These Are Our Foes (You're the One I Love Most (Avengers, Phil/Clint)
5 Scenes to Build a Team (+2 Scenes of Sweet Sweet Victory) (Avengers, Phil/Clint)
Do you respond to comments? Yup! Usually in batches. I really like doing it.
What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? You Would Live a Hundred Years If I Could Show You How (Law & Order, Jack McCoy/Mike Cutter) -- I killed Jack.
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I tend to write happy endings most of the time, so you can really just pick one, but I think it's probably A New Mode of Living (Band of Brothers, Speirs/Lipton), and I'm including the epilogue with that.
Do you get hate on fics? Very occasionally. I just delete/block and move on.
Do you write smut? Oh my yes.
Craziest Crossover? I once had CJ Cregg go on a date with Big Bird. They had a lovely time.
Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yup! Someone stole a bunch of my Rita/Amanda fics from AO3 and slapped them on Wattpad with Amanda switched for Olivia but everything else verbatim. I reported the shit out of her, and when she moved over to AO3 and literally did the same thing, I reported her again. She accused me of bullying, naturally.
Have you ever had a fic translated? Several! And I have blanket permission for my fics if anyone wants to translate anything. I would love if you'd link back to the original story so I know it's out there.
Have you ever co-written a fic before? Eons ago there was a show called Without a Trace, and a friend and I took turns writing vignettes for the same couple. Same friend let me write a sequel to their Leo/Josh West Wing story, and we did a few more things like that. I don't think that any of those survive, however.
All time favorite ship? Speirs/Lipton, Band of Brothers. They are very important to me. They see each other in a very important way, and I treasure them.
What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? On the advice of counsel, I refuse to answer.
Seriously, though I don't really have that sort of WIP. Either I'm working on it (A Mighty, Vast, and Dangerous Place is still in active progress), or the idea didn't pan out (a bunch of stuff), or I actively chose to stop working on it (there's a Ted Lasso fic that I will never touch again).
What are your writing strengths? I do good character voices and can get the emotional response I want from readers. I have fun coming up with interesting descriptions.
What are your writing weaknesses? Losing steam. Getting distracted by a new fandom. From a writing-writing standpoint, I have a hard time remembering room layouts or where people are in them. I don't think visually, so I'm always having to scroll back up or make a note so I don't forget a piece of furniture or a whole guy.
Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I got no problems. It's about being able to understand the point of the conversation, not necessarily the words themselves. There's lots of ways to get it across while having the dialogue in a different language than the rest of the fic for whatever reason. But the use of the other language needs to fit the story and the characters, and if you're writing in another language, you better know it's quirks.
First fandom you wrote in? Ahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha
Oh, god, it was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers back when god was a child.
Oh, man. God, I just got the goofiest memories. I was SO into that show.
Favorite fic you've written? Oh advice of counsel, I plead the fifth.
Honestly, I don't know. It changes constantly.
Tags (very optional): um, @dytabytes, @infiniteeight8, @daysofxavierspast @sarahcakes613, @ralkana, @lunaris1013, and anyone who wants to. I swear I barely remember my own name when it comes to tagging time.
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thesimpsbasement · 2 years
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Misunderstanding you
Pairing: Dazai x fem!reader
Fandom: Bungo stray dogs
Genre: Enemies to lovers
Warnings: blood/violence
-MOD Saya
………………………………………………………………..
Thump with one hit you fell to the ground unable to keep balance. Breathing heavily everything blurry out of sight.
A laugh escaped his mouth, a sinister one filling anger and embarrassment in you.
"I knew you would lose, you never change," Dazai said, standing and looking down at your weak state, a glint of Amber sparkling from his eyes.
"I-i will k-ill" you coughed out blood before you could even finish the last sentence
" don't ever start a fight you know you won't win. I hope we never cross paths again (name)" Dazai turned his back to you, turning his head towards you once more then leaving.
“(name)!! Are you ok?” your friend Hina asked for your aid as she saw you in a vulnerable state but you got yourself into this so you deserved it.
You had no energy to move an inch but Hina was already tending your wounds and examining your body for any more injuries.
Opening your eyes you found yourself resting in a rather unfamiliar room attempting to sit up however you found it difficult, your body collapsing back into the bed too weak to even move.
A Few hours had passed by and I woke up to the sound of people chatting as you lay on a bed. Unfamiliar with the atmosphere you got up wincing slightly in pain probably still from the fight from before.
You notice the nurse looking at you then smiling as she approached you she touched your forehead gently wrote something down then left the room.
Sighing, you drank the cup of water left on the table sitting up straight and found a man with a blank expression sitting in front of you. He wore a white coat and his hair dark as his expression you felt a sinister aura from him although he had done nothing yet.
“Who are you?” you questioned looking at him curiously.
He stood up and walked towards you maintaining eye contact and stopped when he was close enough.
“I’m Fyodor Dostoevsky it's a pleasure to meet you” he gave a smile not reaching his eye, intimidating you.
Willingly you shook his hand feeling his warmth but when looking up at him you felt his cold gaze giving you a mix of fear and a welcome.
“Why are you here?” you asked, still unaware of the fact that he is in here alone with you.
“You must hate Dazai right he did this to you?” he replied with a smile
“Yes I do” you continued, raising an eyebrow.
“Well we have that in common. I was thinking maybe we should work together. I have a great deal to offer” Fyodor said, clapping his hands together.
“Let me know if you’d like to join me, meet me at this location in 3 days if you are willing to join me,” he said, handing you a piece of paper and immediately leaving. Staring at the paper in hand you wondered what sort of enemies Dazai had already made..
Three days had went by and you were in better condition and the hospital had let you out as soon as you signed the papers and today was the day your deal was to end or begin with Fyodor after a long thought you thought it was a great deal besides you couldn’t get rid of Dazai just on your own since you nearly died last time.
You decided to meet Fyodor at the location he suggested making your way there. It grew into dark hours quickly. Finally making it there you stood in front of the building and looked at the paper in your hand thinking you got the wrong place.
“I see you made it this means you accepted my invitation” You heard Fyodor from a corner as he started walking closer to you turning to him.
“Ah yes i thought about the deal and i think we have the same goal so i think we’ll understand each other oh and i forgot to introduce myself earlier i go by (name)” you said holding your hand out to him with a smile on your face.
Fyodor stood silently then accepted your gesture.
“Is there something wrong with  Fyodor” you asked as he seemed more silent than usual. It was as if someone was watching him before you could look around you were disturbed by some laughter and it was Fyodor.
“What are you doing here…. Dazai?” Fyodor said, looking behind you, making you turn immediately.
“The real question is what are two doing here together” Dazai said looking at you after finishing his sentence you quickly avoided his gaze deciding to avoid at all costs right now.
“That is none of your concern” Fyodor said, then holding you closer.
“Just play along for now” he whispered
“I need a moment with you (name)” For some reason you could see annoyance in Dazai’s tone.
“You can say it here” you replied
“Don’t get involved with Fyodor. I know him better than you and you are putting yourself in a trap. You can come with me or I'll let you destroy yourself. Before you could say anything you got hit on the head making you fall to the ground.
“Well now that i got her out of the way” Fyodor said, lifting his gun at gunpoint to Dazai.
“You really love doing this Fyodor but you always lose when it comes to these sorts of games” Dazai  said, quickly launching Fyodor unarmed. He quickly tried to make it closer to your unconscious body. He was worried about you most of all he didn’t know why but he did.
Dazai quickly cocked the gun off Fyodor and shot him in the hand and held you in his arms and ran for escape when he was away from the scene he looked at your resting face unaware of what just unfolded. He didn’t know where you lived so he decided to take you to his place.
As he entered he lay on his bed making you comfy leaving the living room to grab a drink he didn’t know but you found yourself awake immediately waking up.
“What” you whispered to yourself then getting up from the bed and leaving the unfamiliar room. That’s when you caught sight of Dazai and you panicked. You then grabbed the nearest weapon-like object which was a bat and held it up for defence.
“What am i doing here” Dazai looked at you with a smile of relief since you were doing ok he didn’t care as long as there was no dead body laying in his house.
“I told you to be careful about Fyodor he nearly killed you” Dazai sipped more of his drink
“I don’t understand you nearly killed me and now you are saving me make sense Dazai”
You said you were confused by his behaviour.
“You know that wasn’t me out there who nearly killed you, that was one of fyodor’s men he’s been watching you for a while” dazai said as you looked at him in disbelief and held the bat down.
“(name) i’d never hurt a woman i’m a gentleman unlike Fyodor” he said with a playful tone.
You sat down on the sofa and held your head down trying to process what happened the past three days.
“It is okay (name) i’d be confused too” Dazai patted your head and took a seat next to you on the sofa.
“Don’t get too comfortable i still hate you” you reminded him
“But fine” he scoffed
“I’ll start leaving, I can't stay here much longer,” you said getting up but Dazai held you back down onto the sofa.
“You can hate me but after what happened it's not safe for you to go back home” Dazai said, making you give up on escaping.
“I guess I'm stuck with you then,” you said, crossing your arms.
“Ah what about movie night to break the tension” Dazai got up and turned off the lights and got a blanket.
Few minutes passed and you were well into the movie Dazai had picked. It was horrible. The last thing you wanted was to seem scared around him but what was funny is you saw him shaking and hanging onto his dear life watching the movie making you laugh.
“Not so cocky now huh” you scoffed at Dazai as he hugged you in fear before he could say anything sinister music from the movie started playing and you both focused on the movie once again. You may not have noticed but both of you were hugging too scared of what might happen next then a dead body fell in front of the main character making you both scream at the sudden silence.
“Did the movie just end like that” you said, still holding onto Dazai as he smiled at you making you let go immediately.
Dazai didn’t let you go so easily and pulled you back into his arms making your heart flutter. You didn’t know why you suddenly felt hot and your heart was beating fast. Maybe because of the drinks you shook away the thoughts.
"(name), I truly like you." Dazai proposed placing your hand on his chest and feeling his fast heart rate. He then held your chin with his hand, forcing you to look at him. You could tell he was serious by the look of love in his eyes.
“Your blushing” he said, making you look away but then he leaned in to kiss and you gladly accepted as he pinned you down to the sofa and he was above you then he broke the kiss and looked at you endearingly kissing you again carefully his touch lethal yet soft.
“I never thought i’d fall in love with you of all people but i did” you smiled looking at him as he smiled back at you as you both cuddled.
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line-of-fire · 11 months
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SHIPPING INFO — ♥ answer the following for your muses so people know how shipping works on your blog !!
WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?
I honestly don't know if I can properly answer this considering I write ocs here? As far as my personal writing goes, because even counting rp that's the only thing that I can really go off of, I've started to love Pixie x Sommer, specifically in the 'standard' verse as well as their Omega variants in their Val verse. I'm huge on multi-shipping, even with my own characters, so truthfully an 'all time fav' is difficult to name.
HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?
It kind of just depends? Anything more than 8 years will have me looking at things a little more closely, but it's muse + situation dependent, and my 'tolerable age gap range' varies depending on the age of the younger muse. General rule of thumb? 4-5 years for muses between the ages of 18-25; then the 8 year rule for muses older. But I also acknowledge experience and maturity is a critical factor in these sorts of things so... case by case basis at the end of the day.
HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?
i think a combination of ' the bikini rule ' and intent should be considered . ' the bikini rule ' covers , metaphorically , touches anywhere a bikini covers , so once touches start to be focused in those areas with sexual intent , i ' d start considering that nsfw . touching someone ' s butt as flirtation is nsfw , while jokingly patting someone ' s butt is more friendly , but still suggestive ? goodness knows i ' ve reached over and bopped a friend in the tit as a joke , with no sexual intent behind the move .
ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?
I'd like to think not? When it comes down to it, I tend to let my muses take the wheel with shipping, and I'm typically open to it provided there's chemistry and past interactions to go off of. Heavy emphasis on established chemistry prior to bringing up shipping because in all honesty, I'm a little paranoid about accidentally forcing ships/writing my own characters ooc for the sake of one
WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?
As far as ocxoc ships go... Like I said earlier, Pixie/Sommer has got me in a chokehold lately... And as far as other, 'non-official' ships go with Pix and other ocs; gotta love going for Brook,
DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?
Hard yes, without a doubt, both for my own personal comfort and for the sake of future interactions and the like. Very few of the muses I write here are 'easy to ship' for varying reasons, the most common being severe trust issues + emotional self isolation due to trauma and other factors. Some, like Wolf, Sommer and Phoenix, are violent and abrasive as a primary response. To put it simply; most don't play nice.
ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?
I kind of just go with the flow? With writing and rp, I have the philosophy of thinking of threads and stories as a vehicle out on the freeway, and while technically we're the ones in the drivers seat at first, these characters we breath life into have free rein to take control of the wheel at any time on a whim, and sometimes you get kicked out of the car entirely and lose control. I love ships, don't get me wrong, but if it happens, sweet; and if it doesn't, I can live with that, sometimes ships aren't meant to happen .
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?
None I'll admit to I'm a secret fan of König/Stiletto in cod and spitfire in animated young justice.
FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?
Just have a thread or two with me then shoot me a dm if you think there's potential for something! I promise I'm chill, I'm just awful about reaching out first (yay for communication related nerves), but trust me, if you think there's Something There, more often than not I'll be all for it. I'm usually good about checking my tumblr ims, but I've got discord too I'll share if you want- I'm usually lurking there anyways and sometimes you can catch what I'm listening to there as well
tagged by stolen from : @toxichem tagging : just steal it lmfao
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clotpolesonly · 2 years
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I feel you re: fandom exhaustion. Have you tried unfollowing/blocking people with takes you don’t like? I’ve found that fandom a much more relaxing place once I started not letting the stressful stuff cross my dash in the first place. Sometimes it meant unfollowing someone who posted a bunch of other stuff I actually liked, but if it meant not going into a comment-reading spiral every time they shared stuff I disagreed with, I thought it was totally worth it.
(even if they were only sharing something so they could rebut or disagree with it; like yeah I like that they’re on my side but if they’re going to keep dragging untagged takes I dislike or discourse onto my dash, I would still give them the block/unfollow because intentionally or not they were still causing me stress)
oh i've unfollowed LOTS of people. i've unfollowed enough people that i'm starting to run out of the content i want on my dash, cuz it's hard to find the good stuff without the bad and even blogs that i thought were innocuous occasionally end up slipping shit onto my dash. i've only actually blocked a handful of people (the ones that are Like That™ enough not to leave well enough alone), and i've also blacklisted those names so posts that have additions from them or even reference to them are no longer shown on my dash (though i do see "hidden for X", which often lets me know the person who reblogged it follows them, which is a red flag all on its own a lot of the time🙃)
and discord is its own mess. i get 95% of my social interaction from my discord fandom servers, and i love them to death, honestly i do, i've lived in those for YEARS and been happy to do so. but, again.......it all felt a lot less stressful in years past. it's the hazard of large servers that you're guaranteed to have conflicting opinions in there, and in most regards that's one of the things that i absolutely love about it. discussing things from various angles, getting different viewpoints, having actual conversations about the show(s) that i love are what make fandom worth it. but conflicting over the same things over and over again, seeing the same cold takes that i would usually just unfollow someone for on tumblr and not really being able to do anything about it or escape it (can't blacklist words/terms on discord like on tumblr, you just have to wholesale block individuals, which i can't really do because i moderate several servers and mods can't just ignore things 😅 in their servers), is turning out to be very grating nowadays in ways that it didn't used to be, even if it's only a fraction of the actual activity. even just the passive aggressive mention of some of these topics is enough to make me feel like shit for the rest of the day.
same with fic. i've hardly read any fanfiction at all in MONTHS, not because i don't love the characters anymore, but because there's no way to tell what take the author is gonna have or what fanon characterization they're gonna lean into, and getting halfway through a fic before being hit with That Stuff™ kinda makes me wanna cry by now. the subtle stuff never gets tagged for, but it sure as fuck can still ruin my week. it's safer to just not bother. and that SUCKS.
my anxiety has been SKY HIGH lately, and i can't tell if it's because i'm already super anxious for outside reasons and that's making the fandom stuff worse, or if the fandom reasons are making me super anxious on their own and making the outside stuff worse. it all feeds into each other and everything is just bad.
and there's not a whole lot that can be done about it besides, like. leaving. which i'm not gonna do. because i do love the show and i do love interacting with other fans of it and sharing ideas and jokes and spitballing story ideas. without all of that, what would i even do with myself??? as previously mentioned, this stuff is 95% of my social circle 😅 and i have nothing else to replace it with. unfortunately, TW still takes up the majority of my brain, and trying to cut that out would just make me isolated and even more miserable.
it just really really sucks that the fandom that used to feel like home.....doesn't anymore.
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purrincess-chat · 2 years
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Cat’s Writing Advice for Beginners: Do’s and Don’t’s
I mentioned a while back possibly posting some writing advice and sharing some of the things I’ve learned over the years as a writer. I’ve been writing since I was 11 years old (though not entirely consistently since then), and I have been writing pretty consistently for the past 6-7 years. I’m by no means a “professional” writer. I’ve never had anything published, but I have learned a lot writing for fandom, so if you’re looking to start writing or maybe level up your writing in fandom spaces, here are some beginner level tips that might help you!
DO create a new paragraph for new subjects. 
If you’re writing dialogue especially, follow the rule: new speaker, new paragraph. No one wants to read a big block of text and try to piece together who is speaking.
Correct: “Hey, you should read some of Cat’s writing on AO3,” Adrien said. 
“I’ve heard she has some great Ladrien content coming this summer.” Marinette nodded in agreement. 
Incorrect: “Do you think we’ll ever defeat Hawkmoth?” Ladybug asked. “Of course, m’lady! We’re an unstoppable team,” Chat Noir said. Ladybug smiled at her partner and took a deep breath. “You’re right. We won’t lose.”
DON’T swap character POVs within the same scene.
I am guilty of doing this in the past, and I think a lot of fandom writers are as well. I’ll give you an example from my own writing of what NOT to do:
His gaze flicked back down to her lips, and he leaned in once more, gently touching his lips to hers. A hand cupped her face, tenderly caressing her cheek while the other slid around her waist, and as much as she knew she shouldn’t, she let herself pretend that this was real. That Adrien loved her, and that they were really together.
For one small fraction of time, she didn’t worry about how much it would hurt later. How her heart would shatter and break when all was said and done. How painful it would be when she and Adrien went their separate ways, and she’d watch as he moved on with someone else.
She didn’t care. All that mattered to her were the soft lips entwined with her own, the gentle yet eager way he pulled her closer, tilting his head until his tongue slipped between her lips and made contact with hers. The soft moan that rumbled in his throat as she dared to reach up to curl her fingers through his golden locks that urged him to kiss her deeper until her back was against the couch as he pressed against her. The hungry way his tongue danced with her own and the breath shared between them that became heavier as they held tighter, hands knotting fistfuls of clothing and hair as what was meant to be a gentle melody evolved into a symphony.
Neither one cared to slow down. Adrien found himself just as lost in her as she was him, and he didn’t want to stop.
Marinette was a friend, a fact he knew this quite well, but something in this felt right. Kissing her was exhilarating and fun, and he had to admit, it felt pretty good. However, as was customary for his life, all good things came swiftly to an end, and when Nathalie cleared her throat forcefully, he felt the haze parting.
Pulling away, his eyes locked with Marinette’s who seemed just as dazed and confused as he did, and he realized how unconsciously entwined they’d become and quickly pushed away with flushed cheeks. Nathalie barely batted an eye as he looked up at her, wiping saliva from his mouth and fussing with his hair.
“But you just said new subject, new paragraph!” --Yes, but! When you’re writing a particular scene, it’s best to stick in one character’s POV at a time. If you must include a separate POV, use a scene break to indicate to your reader that you are changing POVs. Scene breaks can be anything from a series of dashes ------ or I personally tend to use ******* whatever floats your boat. 
As shown above, the start of their kiss is in Marinette’s POV, and the end of the kiss is in Adrien’s POV. Don’t do that. Pick one and stick to it. Jumping from character to character like that is known as “head-hopping,” and it can be jarring for the reader. it’s why idk how anyone can stand to read my fake dating au anymore it’s so bad omg 
Most importantly when you are writing a story with multiple POVs, you must establish whose head we are in immediately in a new scene. If you’re jumping from Marinette to Adrien, the beginning of your new scene should immediately let the reader know they are now following Adrien. **Note: This advice is for writing in a POV known as third-person limited. If you are writing third-person omniscient, this is a bit different, but that is a post for another day. 
DO learn the difference between action tags and dialogue tags
This is something I only learned within the past couple years. When writing dialogue, there are different ways that you can “tag” them. Dialogue tags tend to display how a character is speaking, so things like “said, shouted, whispered, groaned, asked.” Dialogue tags are usually preceded by a comma. I demonstrated this earlier in my first example, so we’ll use it.
“Hey, you should read some of Cat’s writing on AO3,” Adrien said.
This is an example of a dialogue tag. You’re simply just stating who said the dialogue. If you’re using a pronoun instead of the character’s name, be sure it’s lowercased. Ex:
“Hey, you should read some of Cat’s writing on AO3,” he said. 
Action tags are a bit different. Action tags are exactly what they sound like. They demonstrate actions that a character is taking either before, during, or after speaking. The dialogue preceding action tags is punctuated with a period. (unless it’s a question or if you’re using a “!”) Ex:
“I’ve heard she has some great Ladrien content coming this summer.” Marinette nodded in agreement. 
This is an action tag. You understand Marinette is speaking, but over-using dialogue tags can get boring to the reader, especially if your characters are having a long conversation. Action tags are often used to break up the monotony of a scene and also add movement, so it doesn’t look like your characters are just floating heads talking in a white room. (White room syndrome).
You can also opt not to tag a piece of dialogue at all, and there are instances where this is preferable. However, if you’re not going to tag who is speaking, it must be apparent who is speaking. Example:
“Hey, do you want to catch a movie with me this afternoon?” Marinette asked.
Adrien sighed, shoulders slumping. “I can’t. My father scheduled a photoshoot.”
“That’s okay. Maybe another time.”
In this example, you can infer that Marinette said the untagged dialogue. It helps break up some of that monotony as well during a long conversation. (I also moved Adrien’s action tag to the front to avoid overloading on “” at the beginning of every paragraph).
DON’T put your punctuation outside of the quotation marks. As you can see in all of the above examples, punctuation goes inside the quotes. 
Correct: “I love helping Cat demonstrate how to write proper dialogue,” Adrien said.
Incorrect: “Punctuation is tricky, but you can do it”! Marinette cheered. 
If you guys found this helpful and would like to see more writing advice from me, let me know! I’m not professional by any means, but I’d say I’m probably an intermediate writer at this point. At the end of the day, fandom isn’t going to call you out if you head-hop or make a few minor mistakes (I mean, some people will, but most people don’t care). But clean writing can make your stories more attractive to readers and help you grow as a writer if it’s something you want to continue. 
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yandere-sins · 3 years
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Can I see bondage and blood (4 and 6) for the bratty goat man that is Lucio. I just got into the arcana and I’m loosing my mind over this brat. I love it.
Hahahaha, welcome to the fandom! Thanks for requesting the goat man lol Enjoy ^^
Bondage - “Darling your such a tease. I’ll give you a taste of what it’s like playing with fire.” 
»»———————— ♡ ————————««     
There were so many red flags when you received the invitation to the Palace. All these rumors about a sickness spreading through the streets of Vesuvia, yet, the count still requested the likes of you to attend to him and keep him company while people began drawing back and isolate. Sure, tending to anyone who demanded your service was your daily bread, but you’d rather stayed at your home as well.
But he was a paying customer and not a first-timer either. Also, as the count, he was paying very, very well. Once these ‘sickness’ wore down, it would be good money in your hand to have, especially if you wanted nothing more than to leave this place.
That wasn’t all, of course. Every visit you spend at his side was filled with lavish meals and grand festivities. You felt less than an escort and more than an actual member of the high society when you were with him. But all the presents and clothes he gave to you were starting to drown you in guilt and fear that one day, this was something to hold over your head if you weren’t careful.
So, why did you go back?
Biting your cheek, you wondered about your reasons as you put on yet another wonderful, soft and endearing garment that he had prepared for you. Lucio hadn’t even arrived yet, but you knew by his choices that he grew bolder every time. You had told him right at the start, from be very beginning, that you weren’t interested in more than staying by his side and looking nice. That other services weren’t your occupation, and even less were you interested in something personal.
Yet, your hands began to sweat nervously as Lucio got announced, servants rushing to open the door for him, and your bad feeling intensified.
“[Name]!” he called out joyfully, arms open wide to pull you into a hug, entering the room without even a moment of hesitation. Lucio wasn’t a typical noble. Everyone talked about him behind his back of how unfit he was in his position. To greet you first and so casually - in front of servants no less - kind of confirmed that. No one would tell him off, strangely enough, giving him the respect to do as he pleased. Perhaps that was the influence of his wife, but you weren’t unhappy that he wasn’t spitting in your face or belittling you like the others would once they were done with you.
“Count,” you greeted him briefly, bowing your head to him with a small smile you could muster. No second later, you were virtually overrun by him, finding yourself dipped down and in his arms in the blink of an eye. “Finally some good company,” he smirked, reaching for your hand to kiss it. Charm, he had, even if this was one of the few good points you could name about him.
It was a rather typical meeting, minus the grand balls he liked to throw for his ‘friends’. Just you too, a table between you that was smaller than the one he usually filled with food. The menu was just as delicious, even though you two had it in silence, Lucio never losing the smile on his face. He usually was much more talkative, so you let him talk, but today, even if you spoke up, he wouldn’t react with his great stories and even greater enthusiasm. Maybe, it was just a calm day for him. Maybe he was just exhausted.
The time couldn’t run out faster, your eyes occasionally flitting to the small clock on top of the fireplace. Yet, every time you’d be disappointed with how much time was still left. You had been served tea, the servants leaving you alone as soon as the biscuits were placed down on the coffee table in front of you. Only when the door fell into its lock did Lucio finally sigh deeply, as if he was bothered by a heavy weight on his shoulders.
“I thought about it,” he finally spoke up, his words more serious than you had heard from him ever. This voice, paired with his words, rose another flinch of nervosity in you, and you sipped at your cup filled with warmth to hide your anxiety. Lucio walked back over to you, sitting down next to you on the couch and taking an inelegant sip of his own cup. “I want you to stay here.”
Immediately, the tea you just drank left a bitter aftertaste on your tongue, and you backed away noticeable. “My Count, I told you in the very beginning I don’t stay the night--”
“No, no!” he quickly waved off, shaking his head before taking a deep breath and reaching for your hands. You wanted to pull away, but at the same time, you feared upsetting such an important figure in this society by behaving rudely. “I meant forever.”
“Forever...?” you muttered, feeling your expression crunch up in confusion. “My Lord, I don’t think that would be appropriated--”
You really couldn’t see yourself, an escort, stay by his side.
“Not yet, but...” his voice trailed off as you thought to see hints of red grace his cheeks. “I will make you Count Consort. I mean it! You’ll have all the rights that even the Countess has, and you’ll be allowed to stay here.”
His offer sounded sincere at least, his expression giving off the impression that - even if it was foolish - he meant it. It took you a lot of strength not to gasp in his face about what he said, the mere idea of you becoming such a high-ranking member of nobility scaring and appalling you. Maybe this was a dream coming true for many people, but not for you. Not for someone like you who wanted to leave this city for a new start, and especially the Count who was starting to do what you always feared he would: Monopolize you.
“I cannot,” you said firmly, feigning regret in your voice before pulling your hands from his. “Why?” he asked, inching closer, your legs touching while he kept snapping for your hands. “I... I just can’t.”
“That’s not a reason. You can. Just say yes and stay with me.”
Finally, he managed to get a hold of your wrists, squeezing them tightly in his fingers. The golden prothesis always had scared you a little when he touched you with it. It was cold, and not rarely he put on claws on top of his fingertips that seemed more than just dull accessories. You were glad it wasn’t the case this time, yet the sheer strength he managed to bring up with it was only made more painful by the metal.
“No!” you gasped, finally letting your feeling of fear and disgust showing on your face. It was in the gist of the moment, Lucio witnessing your rejection, that he loosened the strength on his grip so you could tear your arm away. You didn’t mean to cross his cheek with your palm. You really didn’t! But when you realized the slapping sound echoing through the room, it was already too late, and you had jumped up, staring at what you did in horror.
The next moment, you ran to the door, slamming into the wood as it wouldn’t budge when you wanted to open it.
You always believed that he was different, but perhaps, you should have heeded the warnings. He treated you nicely, but in the end, when the other escorts told you that he had little patience, yet mighty demands of his partners, you should have heeded their advice to not go agree again and again to visit him. They told you about what he took pleasure in; the colosseum, the wars, bloodshed, and people worshipping him. It should have been enough for you to not return. To see that he was no good man, even if he treated you right.
“Darling you’re such a tease,” you heard behind you, and no second passed that another body pressed up to you, locking you between the door and Lucio. “You want me to fight for you? Beg you? Run after you? If that’s what you want, sure, I don’t mind.”
Exasperated, you turned around, not wanting to leave your back so exposed to him, only to find yourself staring right at a golden key he held in front of you. Hesitant, you glanced at him, his eyes now clearly duller compared to before, where he looked at you as the object of his affection, but the smile playing on his lips was anything but sincere. The mismatch of expression scared you, but you quickly snatched the key from him, fiddling with the door a little until you heard the lock open. Pressed up so close to it, it was no surprise you lost your footing, tumbling to the ground as it finally gave away. In the hallway usually filled with hustling and bustling of servants and guards, dead silence and darkness were all that awaited you.
You faintly remembered the layout as you stumbled to your feet, giving a short glance over your shoulder as you saw Lucio step out of the room as well, his hand leisurely coming up to usher you forwards. “Run, my Beloved. It’s only fair if you have a chance to escape. You always told me how you wanted to escape your life, so here I thought we were under the same impression, but in the end, you’re going to hate me as well, don’t you?”
His words were so sad, yet, their meaning scarier than anything to you. You never realized... that he thought this way. That up till now, he had been looking out for you after all. “But it doesn’t matter if you hate me,” he added, shoulders slumping as he looked at you pitifully. “Everyone does, but that means they let me do what I want. And I want to be with you. Deep down, you know I can make your wish come true. Otherwise, why would you have always come back to me?”
Now, you weren’t waiting anymore. As quickly as you could, with the fabric of the garment rushing by you as you ran, you made your way to what you thought was the exit. There was something mad about the way he uttered these last sentences, and you didn’t want to find out. Not when you heard his steps follow after you.
“That’s a dead-end,” he called behind you as you dipped into a sidearm of the hallway. “Don’t make it easy for me to catch you, Sweetheart.”
But it was already too late; you had to move forward. You’d slip into a room there and jump out of the window if it turned out that there wasn’t any way left to go. But the further in you got, the fewer doors you saw until they only sparsely appeared around you. Every time you thought, “One more, the next I will enter and escape,” but then they stopped appearing completely, and you ran right into a portrait of your suitor at the end of the hallway.
“You went easy on me?” you heard behind you. “You’re such an adorable rabbit. You could have just told me that you wanted me to court you some more! But don’t you worry.”
Eventually, Lucio caught up to you while you pressed up to the wall in your back, eyeing for a chance to escape him. Until it was too late, his face so close to you, you felt his breath against your lips and a cold, uncomfortable grip around your chin. “Hate me all you want, but I finally realize this is what you want too. You got me really riled up now, [Name]. We can play all night long if you want.”
You wanted to say something, do something, slap him again! But you couldn’t. You couldn’t even move a finger, or take a breath, captivated by the glowing silver of his eyes, shining even in the dark. “I’ll give you a taste of what it’s like playing with fire,” he whispered before you felt his lips close in on yours.
“Because that’s what you did to me too and now it’s your turn to get burned.”
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therealtsk · 3 years
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tsk i’m DYING to hear your play-by-play on which worm characters have dumb fanon interpretations
UH OH YOU JUST OPENED THE FLOODGATES so the short answer is pretty much every major character but I am a high-effort bitch so let's do this: Taylor Hebert: jfc, I could probably hit a word count limit talking about Taylor alone. First you have the dumb as shit TINO (Taylor In Name Only) phenomenon where people just straight up SI as Taylor but pretend it's her and she's basically a different person wearing Taylor's skin like an ill-fitting suit. Then there's the Memetic Escalator Taylor interpretation where Taylor's Warlord era characterization is flanderized so hard that she turns into her world's version of Doomguy where her response to literally everything is ultra violence, mutilation and torture and she can totally beat up anyone you guys hahah coin sock goes brrrrr you go brutalize those totally deserving victims queen. And then there's shy, stuttering, soft spoken "useless lesbian" Taylor which is not as common but still, fuckin straight men and the way they infantize gay women. Taylor is perhaps the most consistently inconsistent characterization I've seen in fandom, it's fucking wild Lisa Wilbourn: Has two fanon settings. Taylor's best friend who exists solely to give exposition and get the "Stop Coil" subplot rolling (occasional gay subtext will be added in a way that feels fetishy) Or, the evil bitchy blonde who is first target of the SI. I constantly wonder if the people who write the frankly masturbatory SI's are aware that we can tell they're still bitter about girls not dating them in highschool. Brian: basically does not exist in fic aside from the occasional joke cause racism and also because of how popular wlw ships are in Worm fandom. you deserve better dude Alec: has a few token appearances in wormfic fandom that usually have him as the comic relief alongside Aisha, which might actually be for the best considering he's a rapist and the Worm fandom's uhhhh tendencies. Moving on- Aisha: prankster girl that alt!Taylor will adopt as a younger sibling. hopefully is not part of the totally-not-a-harem considering she's even younger then the rest of these teens Bitch: Another girl to fall into alt!Taylor's definitely-not-a-harem, but with more butch tendencies. Basically has no personality in fanon outside of her dogs Parian: SHE DOESN'T HAVE A SHOP FFS also another member of Taylor's totally-not-a-harem Flechette: yeah it's a harem Sophia: holy shit you think Brian's bad? The racism in pretty much every fanon depiction of Sophia is off the charts. Hyper-violent, super edgy, "predator/prey" speech inbound, will get humilated/killed in some new, supposedly satisfying but actually just deeply uncomfortable way, probably throw in some E88 shit too just because Emma: again, do the writers know we can tell they're still malding over the fact that the pretty girls in highschool didn't date them? fanon emma is pretty much a cardboard cut out of whoever was mean to the author. something something bitches three Madison: in fanon has a C53 fetish, occasionally is also Browbeat. don't ask why Victoria: gets hit with the blonde stereotypes even harder then Lisa, "Collateral Damage Barbie" is one of the phrases that activates my flight or fight responses. she basically is an entirely different character in fanon. bubbly dumb blonde girl with a massive temper and well other sexist bullshiit Amy: I hate even touching this character with a ten foot pole but basically is hit with the "soft useless lesbian" trope hard enough to make her into a completely separate person from her canon self. whether or not this is a good thing is still up for debate Carol: in fanon, an evil bitch who exists solely to bully Amy Mark: who? The rest of New Wave: cannon fodder for Leviathan Danny Hebert: literally stale milk instead of a personality, will probably die before the fic is over but we won't care because the author did not care either Armsmaster: hahaha robotman go brrrr or is an arrogant self-aggrandizing shit, can't interact with people without Dragon helping him 24/7 Miss Militia: fanon bat'd into team mom,
idk where this came from considering her first instinct upon seeing children is to pull out a gun holy shit wait is she actually Taylor's true mom- Velocity: canon fodder for levi Battery & Assault: sitcom wife, sitcom husband! please ignore how fucked up this relationship is if you look at it for more than two seconds Dauntless: haha armsy is JEALOUS also cannon fodder for levi Triumph: who? The BB wards in general tend to be incredibly bland, the only ones who have fanon personalities of note are Clockblocker and Vista. The former being such a huge prankster that every other line is a joke- or him complaining about how BULLSHIT Alt!Taylor's powers are. Vista is an angry kiddo who says that Shadow Stalker doesn't count as being a girl on the team The E88: no personality for any of them except that Kaiser is noble and really isn't that bad and also Purity did nothing wrong totally she's just a hot mom trying to do her best, please ignore how she exclusively targets characters of color and literally calls white criminals more civilized than miniorities- the worm fandom has something of a nazi problem i hate it here The ABB: racism and honorable samurai lung even though that has no canon basis so again, racist stereotypes The Slaughterhouse 9: This one makes me just as sad as the Lisa shit because dear god this is such a good cast of villains that fanon completely flattens to bowling pins for the Alt!Taylor of the week to mow down, why does this fandom suck so much. Anyway Jack is just the Joker, Crawler is masochistic, etc i'm moving on now The PRT/Protectorate as a whole: They are an evil paramilitary organization that pressgangs kids into signing up to become child soldiers, and somehow at the same time, they are a bunch of idiots who listen to the PR department and have stupid things like RULES that prevent capes from COMMITTING VIOLENCE. Being called "the biggest gang of all" is common and some shit like "at least the criminals are honest" is a likely statement. Cauldron: whoo boy this one really boils my blood but fanon Cauldron are just a bunch of evil idiots who can't even tie their shoelaces. basically a bunch of dudebros are upset that women run the world and that two of them essentially have "I win" powers so they have to make them lose to their SI- er, Taylor in fics so they can assuage their masculinity, which totally isn't pathetic Scion: Is at once the end all be all of worm you can't write a wormfic without scion or else it's TOTALLY MEANINGLESS because what is the point of a story if all the characters are going to DIE in a few years anyway, and at the same time is incredibly easy to defeat- this ties into how Cauldron is stupid. Scion Truthers pls shut up and go read something else okay I think that's everyone I would apologize but the only thing I'm sorry for is how messy this is
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Okay, back in May @isolatedphenomenon asked me if I had an les mis fic recs and I went "oh boy do I !" and then promptly fucked off and disappeared from tumblr for like 6 months...
Anyway on the off chance people are interested, here is my vastly too long list of  my favourite les mis fanfic (that I'm almost 100% sure I'll have accidentally missed some of my favourites off of...)
The vast majority of these are main pairing Enjolras/Grantaire, so I've put those first, divided into multi-chaptered and then one-shots. Below that will be other pairings!
Multi-chaptered
• Witch Boy Series : magic AU, starting with Grantaire solving Enjolras' curse - this is just Incredible world building which gets better as it goes on - my favourite is the Babet interlude
• World Ain't Ready : you know how fandoms tend to have a fic that is just associated with it ? in my experience, for les mis this is it - and well deserved ! High school, fake dating AU with some of the most engaging writing
• BE : Enjolras is dragged back into theatre production, helping Eponine put on a production of Hamlet - really love the characterisation in this, and this is really one of those modern AUs that actually feels like real life - really good writing
• After the End : the definitive apocalypse AU in my eyes - les amis are an underground resistance to the dystopian government - really wonderful characterisation of Grantaire and the amis
• You never have to wonder; you never have to ask. : I tend to find fic by scrolling through bookmarks of a pairing, which means I often see repeats; this is a fic that if I see I just re-read cause I know I'll enjoy it - the amis sparked a failed rebellion, and now 18 months later Grantaire ends up staying at Enjolras' after returning to Paris for Marius and Cosette's wedding
• Your Heart on Your Skin : Soulmate AU with flower tattoos marking important emotions and events - wonderful concept and world building 
• Impatient to Be Free : Daughters of Bilitis AU - if that doesn't make you excited I don't know what else to say to convince you (aside from saying the author is a simply wonderful writer)
• You Dance Dreams : Okay. Not to be over dramatic, but this fic did genuinely qualitatively change my life, in that it was the first thing that got me looking up contemporary ballet and now that's like one of my favourite things and big hobby So. Also its really great writing; music/creative arts school les amis with Grantaire choreohraphing the ballet for Combeferre's opera, with a heavy emphasis on Grantaire realising he really never actually got over Enjolras
• philia : this one is an absolute classic to me, but not given nearly enough recognition - one of the more realistic college AUs ever written, and the writing of Grantaire is so good because it hits the perfect balance of sympathy and annoyance about his behaviour (that's a genuine compliment) 
• Coffee Hooligans : fucking tragedy this never got properly finished, Enjolras leads the amis as social justice vigilantes and tries to hide the criminal bits of his life from R
• Fighting the Hurricane : Pacific Rim AU that's less an AU and more just placing the les mis characters in the Pacific Rim universe. Really good and riveting read, also super interesting depiction of Grantaire
• Weaving Olden Dances : Fairy AU - Grantaire "claims" Enjolras to prevent his execution - really good writing, love Grantaires characterisation 
• Paris Burning : canon era (sort of) where cities have a physical being - Grantaire is Paris and becomes entangled in Enjolras' revolution - oh the world building is truly *chefs kiss*
• Euphoria is You For Me : Enjolras and Grantaire keep meet cuting in a wonderfully written Brooklyn - feels like a love letter to Brooklyn at times, and I really like the characterisation of Grantaire 
• so please just fall in love with me this christmas : Enjolras works for the environmental company Grantaire volunteers at, and keeps getting secret gifts at Christmas - I sound a little like a broken record but the Grantaire characterisation is very good
• You Are the Moon : Wild West esque Space AU - Grantaire has to call on the amis to help rescue Valjean and Cosette, despite Grantaire leaving the amis 6 months before. On re-reading the Enjolras characterisation feels a little rushed, but overall fantastic story telling and the Grantaire arc is a Delight 
• Pandemos : Enjolras is aphrodite, and seeks peace from all his suitors in R/Hephestus' cave
• Pining for You : Hallmark christmas romance - Grantaire returns home to work on his father's tree farm, and Enjolras is the lawyer helping prevent the farm being sold - cute as shit imo
• Once We're Kings : Fantasy AU - a country hosts a ball to marry Prince Enjolras and the rival country sends Grantaire as a fuck you - one of the best ways of doing Enjolras as a prince in a fantasy and just really nicely written
• Never Bitter and All Delicious : Fairy Godmother AU - yes really, yes its genuinely a very good read
• On One Condition : Fantasy AU - Enjolras is a bored knight who finally goes to check out the local dragon, which turns out to be Grantaire - I really like how they capture Enjolras' stubborn nature and it's such a well written soft growth of love between them
• That's How Easy Love Can Be : Les Amis work at a primary school; and its secret santa time! very fun portrayal of Enjolras
• The Lark and Her Lieutenants : re write of canon where Cosette is the leader of the revolution - just *chefs kiss*
• If You Tickle Us, Do We Not Laugh : Grantaire is Enjolras' secret android - really good at writing a relationship that's incredibly loving but just keeps being antagonistic and coming off wrong 
One Shots
• True Colours : AU where you leave colours on the people important to you - Enjolras and Grantaire falling for each other is so soft and gently written its lovely, this is genuinely one of my favourites
• Keep It Kind, Keep It Good, Keep It Right : this one is so good to me, because it builds off my pet hatred of everyone assuming Enjolras doesn't care about (or at least actively show he cares about) his friends
• blooming : very soft post-dystopian utopia that has just a really wonderful sense of hope and light to me
• and the wall leaned away (or: The Pros and Cons of Tilling) : perfectly realised characterizations of the amis, Grantaire needs a date to her final year art exhibition - deals with anxiety over protest in a way that actually hits for me
• not just one of the crowd : R helps run a leftist bakery and bike repair shop - very cute characterisation, and I think more les mis fanfic should link to anarchist essays
• Lovesickness : Enjolras is an idiot and thinks he's sick rather than having a crush - the writing of Joly and Combeferre in this is some of my favourite depictions of these two
• If there's a rocket, tie me to it : absolutely heartbreaking sci-fi AU about the amis as doomed mecha pilots
• Where I Fall is Where I Land : Enjolras is a Roman commander as Rome's power is leaving England, and then meets the pict Grantaire (+ fun soulmark stuff !)
• You Started Foreign to Me : Enjolras moves to america and R is the overnight grocery clerk who helps her learn Spanish - cute fluffy lesbians with a wonderfully written driven Enjolras
• Love Is Touching Souls : very cute soulmate AU - and one I really love for really truly considering the implications of soul marks and creating historical lore around it
• Ten Years : R is a musician, and it non-linearly charts his relationship to Enj from high school to 10 years later
• put up with me then I'll make you see : Grantaire lives above Enjolras, and its christmas - I find it to have a very fun interpretation of pining Enjolras
• A Cat Called Trash Can : this was one of the first les mis fics I ever read (yes I know it says it was published in 2020, but I think it has to be a re-upload or something?) and it does still have a special place in my heart - Grantaire rescues a cat, but Enjolras is the only one with an apartment free to look after it 
• Still I'm Begging to Be Free : inception AU where les amis have to rescue a sleeping R from his own brain
•I'm in it for You : cw: illness, cancer - R has cancer and is being a martyr about telling his friends so Enjolras drives him back from chemo
• walls come tumbling down : sky high au - a very good high school AU with the perfect level of campy superhero powers
• This brave new world's not like yesterday : Enjolras needs a job, so ends up working in a bowling alley with Grantaire and bonding
Enjolras/Grantaire/Combeferre
• In Defiance of All Geometry : les amis are a student co-op house, Enjolras and Combeferre are pining friends and Grantaire is the newbie
• Still the Same : this is very good writing and very compelling - if you can get over the (imo) plot hole of Enjolras working for the FBI. R was an art thief Enj put away and is briefly helping the FBI out, and Combeferre is Enjolras' husband
• To Kingdom Come : cw: war and PTSD from that, Enjolras and Combeferre are part of a group of refugees that have crossed into a more fantasy land, and Grantaire is a lone traveller from that land that attempts to help - that was a shit summary of this very emotional, wonderfully written fic about war and love in all forms
• Gonna need (a spark to ignite) : I always love a twist on a classic trope, and this is a very fun take on the soulmate AU - Enjolras loses feeling in his soul mark as a child, falls in love with Grantaire and then his soulmate, Combeferre, turns up
Eponine/Cosette
• Pretty Girls Don't Know the Things That I Know : simply stunning writing - perfect example of soft writing about a harsh world
• she knows her way around : Eponine and Cosette bond, ostensibly so Eponine can find out about her for Marius, and their interactions are so playful and realistic, its wonderful
• always find me floating on oceans : Cosette stows away on Eponine's pirate ship - I do always have a soft spot for eposette fics (not just cause I ship it) because they truly characterise Cosette in a really considered and interesting way
• There's No Making Love : I'm putting this under eposette even though there is some significant enjolras/grantaire content, because the Cosette characterisation is so fun and cute
• round and round again : this fic really beautifully translates Cosette's bad childhood and then isolated teenage years, and the impact that would have on her as an adult into a modern AU
• Underwater Thunderheards : this is based off the book The Scorpio Races, and is just a really nice short fic  about longing
• How To Change The World Without Taking Power : Marius has a crush on Cosette and she's tried being polite and subtle in turning him down, so just ends up fake dating Eponine instead
• blood red fruit and poison's kiss : Snow White AU - Cosette as Snow White
• The Winters Cannot Fade Her : Snow White Au 2.0 - Eponine as Snow White - this was written as a pair to the one above which is just so cute to me
• marriage à la mode : Cosette and Eponine run a bridal shop together and it's very cute !
• Temporary Hold : I personally find this a really fun and very unique take on Cosette - with exams coming up she decides she needs to get laid on the reg and so hits up Eponine to act as if they're already long term girlfriends
Combeferre/Courfeyrac
• better than you had it : fake dating but kick it up an emotional notch - Courf and Ferre pretend to still be together after breaking up for a family event
• take flight, come near : nice and cute low fantasy, where Combeferre runs a dragon sanctuary and Courf finds an injured dragon
Rare Pairs
• The Future's Owned by You and Me : cute Enjolras/Feuilly with actual radical politics and real life organising difficulties and wins
• First Dates and Other Dangers : Combeferre and Grantaire agree to go on a blind date and it's awkward until it isn't - just cute !
• after midnight : Combeferre has insomnia and meets Grantaire in various all night fast food chains
• as you are : Bahorel and Jehan getting ready together
• Almost Romantic : Jehan works at a museum, and takes Combeferre on a little tour
• Understudy : Jehan/Combeferre, with Combeferre's insecurities regarding being seen as second best to Enjolras
• Here There Be Dragons : Courf/Enj/Ferre - Courf and Enj are superheroes and Ferre is the doctor that patches them up
• To Let it Occur (Laisser Faire la Nature) : Feuilly has a stupidly long stopover in Paris and meets Enjolras
• rule of three : Courf/Enj/Ferre as spies and loving boyfriends
• Good Rhetoric : snapshots of cute cuddly courf/enj/ferre
• subluxate, dislocate, replace : found family and chronic illness with Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta
• Strike stone, strike home (like lightning) : so this fic took one minor piece of lore about Tolkien's dwarves and made a beautiful j/b/m fic from it
• Almost Inevitable : Bahorel/Feuilly friends-with-benefits
• god only knows (what I'd be without you) : Bahorel/Feuilly with a closeted Feuilly and a beautiful Feuilly and Eponine friendship
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hellothirteenhere · 4 years
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Jujutsu Kaisen x Harry Potter
I feel as though every fandom has that obligatory multichapter Harry Potter!AU. Of course, that’s not to say that our amazing writers hadn’t been writing fic within this universe. (For example, check out seadawnn’s ‘Conquest of Hearts’ - Wholesome™ Itafushi that makes me smile every time I read it.) But I’m interested in seeing how a full-blown Jujutsu Kaisen universe would be like in an alternate Harry Potter-setting. So! I’ve been thinking long and hard about how it would play out and here are my headcanons for our very own Golden Trio! Couldn’t quite place them definitively in their Hogwarts Houses, so I would love to hear your opinions on where each of them should go, as well as your own personal headcanons.
Yuuji Itadori | Gryffindor/Hufflepuff (5th Year)
Ok, so here's the thing: typical shonen protagonist conventions tells me to put Yuuji Itadori in Gryffindor. And it makes complete sense! We see that he's brave - fucking demon possesses you and all you say is "What are you doing with my body?"?. But he's also willing to admit when he gets scared, like when he first faced a Special Grade. GryffindorJock!Itadori who is the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team is a mental image I'm not willing to let go of anytime soon. However, Yuuji is also an incredibly kind individual who just wants to save other people. Hufflepuff!Yuuji is that guy who is popular with everyone at Hogwarts, he cooks meatballs in the kitchens at midnight as he talks to the house elves as though they were close friends, and he would definitely take a curse or two in order to save his friends if the situation calls for it.
Background
Yuuji grew up as a mostly normal kid. Sure, there had been strange (almost magical, somehow) instances here or there but he was an energetic enough child that it never really occurred to him to dwell on them for too long. 
As long as he could remember, it was just him and his grandfather. Supposedly, Yuuji had an older brother. But for some reasons that his grandfather refuse to tell him; he had to go away when Yuuji had been very young. He doesn’t even remember what his older brother looked like. But then again, Yuuji can’t even remember what their parents had been like - so he doesn’t really feel as though there was anything lacking in his upbringing. After all, how can you miss something you never had? 
On his eleventh birthday, his grandfather solemnly sits Yuuji down and tells him that he was a wizard.  He was a “Pureblood” - and potentially very powerful - wizard. His grandfather had been born a squib but he had known enough to explain to Yuuji the basics of the world that his parents had once belonged to. 
Imagine: “Yer a wizard, Yuuji.” “….Sweet.”   
His grandfather then hands him two things: 
First, a letter from some Hog-Wash-Hagwarts?? Warthog? School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that he was to attend. His parents had gone there as well to learn magic. 
Second, a long, sturdy piece of polished wood. When grandfather had taken it out of its box, Yuuji had looked at the wand skeptically - almost a hundred percent sure that the entire thing was one huge joke. But his grandfather was no prankster, after all, because as soon as his fingertips touched its surface, he felt a warm glow rush into his fingertips. 
According to his grandfather, the wand had been his mother’s, passed on to his grandfather for safekeeping after she had died all those years ago. 
When asked about the whereabouts of his father’s wand, his grandfather’s face turned dark. It was with Yuuji’s older brother, he said. His older brother who had also been attending the same school that he would be. 
Headcanons
Itadori is one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts students of their year. He also gets great grades for Charms and, much to everyone’s surprise, Potions. A Chaotic Good™ through-and-through, Itadori tends to forget to follow the very strict instructions that Potions Master Kento Nanami wrote at the blackboard, and yet despite eyeballing the ingredients, his Potion turns out great every time. HOW? No one knows.
His dorm room is filled with Muggle posters - it just feels too weird to have a magical poster of a tall woman with a big ass greeting him every time he woke up or entered his dorm room. He learned the hard way that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing when Todo gifted him a moving poster of Jennifer Lawrence.
He tries his best to collect Chocolate Frog cards, bless his heart - but he always tend to lose them in the journey between Hogwarts and his home every summer. Little does he know that Kugisaki and Toge pilfer the ultra-rare ones that he somehow manages to pull in a semi-regular basis. 
Megumi Fushiguro | Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw (5th Year)
Primarily, I want Ravenclaw!Megumi Fushiguro as an aesthetic. We already know that he likes to read non-fiction books in his spare time (babes, i love you but that is nerd behavior), and he's shown that he's very sharp and intuitive when it comes to battles. He is also very knowledgeable about the Jujutsu World. Also, pretty boy looks damn good in blue. I can just imagine Megumi as the quiet, brooding Ravenclaw who is somehow friends with every insane person in Hogwarts. However, Hufflepuff!Megumi embodies who he is as a character. He's loyal to his friends and family, selfless when it comes to protecting the others, and he's willing to work hard behind the scenes even if he doesn't get recognition for it. We also saw how Megumi was willing to be the sacrifice bunt if it meant that Kugisaki had the chance to move forward during the baseball scene.
Background
Megumi came from an aristocratic Pureblood family, the Ancient and Most Noble House of Zenin. An extremely powerful wizarding family rumored to be distant relatives of Salazar Slytherin himself. Only - his father Toji had been born a Squib who married his mother just to spite his conservative family. Much to his surprise, however, Megumi was born not only an incredibly talented wizard but also the first parseltongue of the Zenin family in years.
Professor Gojo - back when he was still an Auror and not the DADA instructor at Hogwarts - came to the Fushiguro family household after he had apprehended Fushiguro Toji or, as the wizarding world commonly knows him as: the Sorcerer Killer. Much to his surprise, he doesn't find Toji's wife nor his stepdaughter - instead, he finds tiny Megumi talking to his pet garden snake, Orochi. He ended up taking Megumi under his wing, letting him live at the Gojo family’s home and later taking him to Diagon Alley a week before he started in Hogwarts. 
Gojo buying Megumi his pet owl, Nue. 
No, YOU’RE crying. 
Of course, the Zenin family kick up a fuss about custody. It's only Gojo's status as the strongest wizard alive - as well as his well-placed threat to make the knowledge that the notorious Sorcerer Killer had once been a Zenin known to the wizarding world - that keeps them quiet.
Headcanons
Megumi's best subject is Care of Magical Creatures - though he’s also great at Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Students are, by school regulations, only really allowed one (1) pet (an owl/cat/toad). And legally, Megumi has his horned owl, Nue. It is, however, an open secret within the Hogwarts community that Megumi Fushiguro walks around the castle with his pet snake Orochi wrapped around his wrist under his cloak. No one questions that Megumi arrives at Hogsmeade, conveniently trailed by the same black and white dogs every weekend. His roommates learn to turn their heads the other way when the bunnies under Megumi’s bed escape their cage.
He used the expansion charm in order to house his ever-growing collection of pets. Imagine Newt Scamander’s suitcase but, instead of a large sprawling space, it’s a cozy room filled with books and pets and pet paraphernalia.   
He’s not competitive enough to play Quidditch, but he attends every game to support his friends. He also attends their practices sometimes but just sits at the pitch to read his book, do homework, or take a nap. 
Half-Veela!Megumi make brain go brrrrr
Kugisaki Nobara| Slytherin/Gryffindor (5th Year)
Out of everyone, I had the hardest time placing the Kugisaki. I feel as though Slytherin!Kugisaki is the girl who dropped everything in order to go live in the city - the girl who was willing to do anything, even join a career with a high possibility of dying, just to follow her dreams. She is unapologetic about being herself, highly resourceful, and is one luxurious queen. But Kugisaki is also incredibly brave - unafraid to stand up for the girl who was being ostracized by everyone in their part of the countryside. I implore you to imagine Gryffindor!Kugisaki pulling the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat in order to save other people. 
Background
Kugisaki is a Muggleborn who used to live in the quiet countryside. She’s an incredibly talented witch who started showing signs of magic at an early age - something that had frightened her, especially because it was clear that it also frightened her parents. She tried to suppress her abilities, trying to fit into society for a while - that is, until a girl named Saori moved in from the city.
Saori had been a Pureblood witch who had grown up in the Wizarding World. She had been the first person told Kugisaki that her magic was a blessing instead of a freak of nature or something that she had to hide. Saori talked to Kugisaki about the wonders of their world that she would one day get to take part in. She told Kugisaki about Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and all these wonderful places that she would get to go to. 
However, because they were a Pureblood family, Saori and her family did not know how to integrate within the Muggle community. Not too long after their arrival, horrible rumors about their family started spreading - that they were cultists, satan worshippers, etc. Eventually, they decided to move away from the country. Before leaving, Saori made Kugisaki promise to find each other one day and to never turn back on who she truly is.
When Kugisaki first received her letter from Professor Shoko Ieiri who mysteriously appeared in their doorstop the night of her eleventh birthday, the professor explained to her parents about magic and the wizarding - only, Kugisaki was only half listening. 
Unlike her parents, she wasn’t surprised one bit - it was only a matter of time, after all, and she was finally going to get to go to Hogwarts. Surely, Saori had already graduated by the time she entered but it was definitely one step closer to finding her childhood friend. 
Headcanons
Kugisaki has pretty good grades all around - but she is definitely known as the best in their year at Charms. She also has great grades at Defense Against the Dark Arts. She and Yuuji definitely almost failed History of Magic, though. They have too much energy to just sit quietly and take notes in class - especially one taught by a ghost. 
Every store owner in Hogsmeade knows Kugisaki by name - and by extention, they know Yuuji and Megumi too. She has long since mastered the art of dragging her friends all around the shops and still not paying a single Knut by the end of their Hogsmeade visit. At the end of every visit, Yuuji and Megumi swears that it would be the last time and yet, every visit, she still manages to wrangle both of them into coming with her 
In Potions, Kugisaki is a force to be reckoned with. Her cauldron always appeared to be on the verge of exploding and yet, somehow, a supernatural force (or by the sheer strength of her own willpower) seem to keep her from completely fucking up every time. 
BeaterNobaraBeaterNobaraBeaterNobaraBeaterNobara  
COMING UP
Slytherin!Sukuna Ryoumen
Ex-Auror-turned-DADA-Professor!Gojo 
Potions-Master-not-Professor!Nanami
Slytherin!Maki Zenin
Ravenclaw!Inumaki Toge
Hufflepuff!Panda 
56 notes · View notes
bluenet13 · 4 years
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It's All In Your Head (Chapter 1/2)
Written for @badthingshappenbingo
Fandom: Chicago Fire
Characters: Matthew Casey, Sylvie Brett, Kelly Severide, Stella Kidd, Wallace Boden, Firehouse 51.
Prompt: Hair Matted with Blood
Summary: Post-ep to S09E09 "Double Red." Casey's life continues to spiral as his friends worry around him; or what happens when no one notices Casey is struggling and our captain is too stubborn to ask for help. AKA, I enjoyed the ep but needed more angst, h/c, and Brettsey, so I'm fixing it.
Links: ff.net / AO3
Playing basketball with Severide probably wasn't his greatest idea, because by the end of just one round with Stella's new arcade machine, Casey's head is throbbing and the whole room is spinning.
Barely suppressing a grunt, he stumbles backwards until his back hits the column in the middle of their loft. Taking advantage of Stella and Severide being focused on their new furniture, he takes a second to rest his head on the pillar. Eyes sliding closed as he massages his temples, another barely suppressed grunt escaping his lips when he touches the swollen and tender spot on the side of his head. Moving his finger around the area, Casey makes a mental note to take a shower before work the next day as he can still feel the cut from when his head hit the ground and dried blood sticking to his hair around it.
As soon as the machine plays the sound that signals game over, Casey quickly opens his eyes and rights himself. His mask continuing to slip away as his pain continues to increase.
Turning towards the kitchen, Casey does his best to avoid his roommates' stares as their eyes search the place where he had just been standing. He moves quickly to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, before he gingerly makes his way to his room.
"Going already?" Severide shouts from the living room.
"Yeah, man. Just tired. So I'll grab a quick nap before beating you again. God knows you need some alone practice," Casey says, trying to get the attention off him, while doing his best to sound convincing and not slur his words.
"Are you okay, captain?" Stella asks carefully, knowing how the boys get when you fuss over them. She is standing a few feet away from her boyfriend and is looking at Casey with clear worry in her eyes. They're all usually tired after a shift but their last one wasn't particularly bad and Casey always likes to take advantage of his days off to do some construction or work around the apartment. And it wasn't even 6pm. Definitely early for Casey to turn in.
"Yeah, yeah. All good. As I said, just tired. I'll see you both later. You guys enjoy yourselves," Casey says, throwing what he hopes is a reassuring wink their way, and making a point to hide the side of his head where blood might be visible.
Stella nods, but she can't shake the feeling that something is off. The previous day's events play on her head and she wonders if the accident did more damage to Casey than everyone thought.
Turning to her boyfriend as soon as Casey's door clicks shut, Stella grabs his shirt and draws Severide to her. "Did Casey seem off to you?" She wonders, not able to stop herself.
"Hmm, honestly? Since that night last fall, he always seems a little off," Severide answers sincerely. Both automatically knowing which night he's referring to.
Thinking back to the last few months, Stella can't help but agree. Remembering how the captain tends to spend his free time on shift closed down in his quarters, and how often he loses his cool and snaps at people now. Not to mention, how little they see of him at home, with Casey spending most of his days off working his construction job or locked inside his room. His occasional trips to Molly's usually ending soon after Brett makes an appearance with Grainger.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Stella concedes eventually. She then grabs the basketball and proceeds to put the ball in the net from where she's standing. "Come here and let me school you. And maybe next time you can actually beat Casey," she teases, picking up the basketball and scoring another point.
Severide mumbles something under his breath but he's smiling to himself as he stares at his girlfriend proudly. He waits until she's done, beating both his and Casey's scores in the process, before he takes her hand and pulls her alongside him towards their bedroom.
-x-x-x-
As soon as the lock clicks shut behind him, Casey slides down the door. The short walk to his room left him winded, and made his headache evolve to include nausea and a ringing in his ears that makes him feel as if his PASS device is active. But unlike in that scenario, there is nothing to turn off now because this sound comes from within, as his skull seemingly threatens to break in two.
Taking a tentative sip of water, Casey stops as his stomach tries to revolt. Closing his eyes, he takes slow, deep breaths willing the nausea to pass so he can drink enough water to down the two pills he managed to grab without Severide or Stella noticing. Now wishing he also had the presence of mind to grab some nausea medication from the kitchen.
After minutes tick by and his symptoms don't ease at all, Casey decides to forgo the water and just down the two pills dry. They scratch his throat but, at this moment, he couldn't care less.
With a groan, he then drags himself through the floor and awkwardly climbs into his bed. Not even bothering to take his clothes off and just collapsing into the mattress. Hopefully a good night's sleep in his own bed is all he needs and he will wake up feeling refreshed and like the last two days had just been a bad dream.
-x-x-x-
He doesn't.
Sleep is elusive all night long. And he spends the whole night tossing and turning because of the pain in his head, and then having to take deep breaths to calm his worsening nausea because of all the tossing and turning.
His awake moments also mix with dreams of cars and sad smiles. Leaving him feeling even more miserable and exhausted than the night before. So much that the last two days do in fact feel like a bad dream, while this night feels like a full-blown nightmare.
-x-x-x-
The following morning, knocking on the door wakes up Casey, and he groans as soon as his eyes land on the clock sitting on his nightstand. He's late for work.
"Case? You alright? We need to leave soon or we're going to be late." Severide's voice comes from outside his room and Casey briefly wonders if it's too late to call in sick. He feels like hell but all things considered he should probably feel thankful he's still alive and that his head is still in one piece. Even if it feels like someone is trying to crack it open from the inside.
"Sorry, man. Just getting ready. Give me a minute," Casey shouts, wincing as his own voice hurts his head. With no time to shower, he just spends a couple minutes getting ready in the bathroom, mostly trying to fix his hair that's sticking up in every direction.
"Let's go," Casey says, stumbling out of his room, and going directly to the front door so his roommates have no time to take in his appearance.
Or so he hoped. "Are you really okay? You look like hell, and you're wearing the same clothes you had yesterday." Severide asks. "And is that blood on the side of your head?"
Looking down at himself, Casey frowns, taking in his wrinkled look, before moving his hand to the spot where he knows the cut is and sighing as he can feel new crusted blood around his hair. He must have reopened the wound with all his tossing and turning the night before. "Didn't have time to do laundry. Will get on that after shift. And why would I have blood? It's probably red paint from my construction job yesterday." Casey settles on the first excuse that comes to mind, hoping they're already so late that Severide won't have time to question him further. "I was working on a barn," he adds as an afterthought, shaking his head and promptly regretting the movement as it intensifies the pounding on his skull.
Severide and Stella look at each other. Both knowing Casey is not the type to neglect his housekeeping duties, and also remembering the captain had actually done laundry last weekend. But, they're both more worried about what looks nothing like red paint and definitely like blood on the side of Casey's head.
Does he really think he can fool a squad lieutenant and firefighter/paramedic/future lieutenant? Stella seems to ask as she shares a look with Severide.
Severide nods, then shrugs and walks to the kitchen, grabbing a styrofoam mug and a plate with toast and eggs. "Here, we left some breakfast for you. You can eat in the car."
Casey's stomach does a backflip at the sight of the food and he has to use a lot of his remaining energy just to push his nausea down. "Thanks, man. But not really hungry. I will just take the coffee," he says casually, trying to sound normal.
Severide and Stella share another knowing look, but both decide to let it go for now, instead Severide sets the plate on the fridge and passes the cup to Casey. Then everyone grabs their keys and bags and they're out the door.
For a moment, Severide worries that maybe he's imagining things and Casey is totally fine. But looking at Stella out of the corner of his eye, noticing his own worry reflected in her brown eyes, he decides to trust his intuition and ask her about it later. He has been Casey's best friend for a long time and he knows they need to tread carefully when it comes to the man sharing his feelings and opening up about what's ailing him. Because something clearly is.
For his part, Casey is barely able to follow Severide and Stella down the stairs and towards the parking lot, and in his struggle, has the sudden, very obvious realization that he shouldn't work like this. All his energy is going into just taking one step after the other and he's in no condition to be anyone's captain today. But he made it this far so he can at least make it home. Once he's there, he can just tell Chief Boden he's not feeling well and spend the day out of the field and doing paperwork. It would be good for Stella too. She can be truck lieutenant and get some more preparation for her upcoming exams.
With that decision made, Casey then spends the next half hour sitting quietly in the backseat of Severide's car. The cup of coffee getting cold in his hand after his first tentative sip was received with his body threatening to throw up. What exactly, he wouldn't know, given he had skipped both lunch and dinner the day before.
When Severide parks his car in the street in front of Firehouse 51, Casey takes a second to close his eyes and compose himself, then slowly gets out of the car and makes his way inside. Not sparing his roommates a single glance.
Ignoring everyone who is already in the common room, Casey walks directly to the bathroom and closes himself inside a stall. After taking a minute to make sure there's no one inside, he finally lets go and proceeds to try to throw up the emptiness in his stomach. With nothing to come out, Casey just coughs and dry heaves. By the time he's done, he is sweating and shaking. And not for the first time realizes he's in no condition to go out into the job. Matt Casey has never been particularly good at self-preservation but he is the best at protecting the lives of the firefighters and paramedics under his command, and he would never willingly put their lives in danger.
Moving to the sink, Casey washes his face and mouth, before reaching inside the stall for his discarded bag and taking off his now sweat soaked t-shirt and changing into his white captain's shirt. He spends the next five minutes carefully scrubbing the blood that's matting his hair, before he arranges it in such a way that it covers the cut on his left side. Then taking deep, calming breaths, he schools his features and exits the bathroom.
As soon as he turns the corner towards Chief Boden's office, Casey collides with Severide and he can't help the grunt that escapes his lips. "Here you are. I've been looking for you. Case, are you sure you're okay?" Severide asks, concern evident in every single one of his words.
"Yes, man. Stop worrying. You're acting worse than Stella last time you got hurt," Casey says, as the previous day, trying to take the attention off him and direct it back to his roommate.
Severide says nothing, but looks at his best friend intently. Easily noticing how tired he looks and how the dark circles under his eyes are even more pronounced than anytime in the last few months. His skin also looks flushed, cheeks reddish, and he keeps squinting at him. Casey hasn't particularly looked good since his failed night with Brett, but he looks like shit now. But before Severide can steel his resolve and call him out, Casey seems to dismiss him with a shake of his hand and continues on his way.
"Going to speak with Chief Boden, I will see you later," Casey offers, then he is gone.
-x-x-x-
"Casey, good morning. What can I do for you?" Chief Boden asks from his desk, signaling for Casey to close the door and sit down.
"Hi Chief, I wanted to request the day off," Casey begins, but stops at the shocked look on his chief's face and the sudden way his eyebrows go up. Casey knew it was uncommon for him to voluntarily request time off but he wasn't expecting his chief to look so surprised. "Must have eaten something bad yesterday because my stomach is not agreeing with me today," he lies, inwardly wincing.
Matt Casey never lies, but sometimes he likes to color the truth. After all, his stomach is really not agreeing with him. And, as if trying to add more truth to his statement, Casey's stomach does another flip.
"Alright, Casey. I will tell Stella to take command of truck for the day and you go home and rest. Let me know if I can do anything to help," Boden agrees easily. A small seed of worry settling deep inside him because his captain rarely takes himself off the lineup voluntarily. But if he says it's just a bad case of spoiled food, there's nothing he can do and they just need to let time do its magic.
"Thank you, sir. But, if you're okay with it, I'd prefer to stay here. I can just lie down in my quarters for a bit, then take advantage of the time to get ahead on some paperwork," Casey proposes, knowing his situation is a lot more complicated than food poisoning. He doesn't want to go to the hospital as he fears this might be the time the doctor mentioned where another head injury could really put a damper on his career as a firefighter. And even if he hopes that this will all resolve on its own with time, he would still like to be close to an ambulance and paramedics in case it all turns worse before it gets better.
As it turns out, he does have some sense of self-preservation after all.
"Whatever you think is best, Casey. But if you're feeling worse, don't hesitate to go home. Or ask Brett or Mackey to check you out. They can give you something to make you feel better," Boden instructs. Like always being the type of leader that likes to point out what he believes to be the right path, but ultimately, wanting to give the men and women under his command the chance to decide for themselves.
Casey nods, even knowing that Brett is the last person he would ask for help right now. He almost did yesterday, then spent the whole night dreaming with her sad eyes when he had broken her heart. Being honest with himself, he knows he wants nothing more than to talk to her and let her comfort him. But he has done enough damage already; now she wants space, and the least he can do is give that to her.
"Thank you, chief." Casey bids his boss farewell before he walks straight to his quarters. Closing the door and lowering the blinds, then promptly falling face first onto his bed.
Five minutes later the alarms go off, calling all five units to a vehicular accident. The alarms and sirens only intensify the throbbing in Casey's head and a sob escapes his lips as he tries to shield himself from the noise by covering his head with his pillow. When the room is back to silence, he sighs in content, glad he doesn't have to get up and worry about being Captain Casey right now. At this moment, he has more than enough just worrying about how he feels like he is dying.
Barely shaking his head, Casey wills those thoughts away from his mind and closes his eyes. With the whole firehouse out on a call, he can finally get some rest and hopefully this time actually wake up feeling better than before.
-x-x-x-
After Casey more than dismisses him and walks to the Chief's office, closing the door behind them, Severide has the familiar need to follow him and find out what's going on. But he doesn't want to get on his friend's bad side, so instead, he follows the path where Casey came from, and decides to find some clues on his own.
Seeing the locker room empty and intact, Severide walks into the bathroom and quickly notices the discarded cup of coffee on the trash. The entirety of the black liquid spilled on the bag. Sighing, Severide decides to go wait for Casey outside of Boden's office so he can talk to him about it. Something is clearly wrong with him, and Severide needs to do something about it before Casey's stupidity lands him in trouble. Severide knows he's not great at taking care of himself, but some days he thinks Casey is even worse.
Getting to Boden's office, Severide finds the door open and the chief alone working on some paperwork. Briefly considering talking to Boden about it, Severide eventually decides he doesn't want to go over Casey's head, so he turns around and walks to the officer's quarters.
From a distance, Severide can already see that Casey's door is closed and the blinds are down, so he's probably inside, but before he has time to knock on the door the alarms go off as they're all called to an accident downtown. Staying in place for a few seconds, Severide waits to see if Casey will come out so he can make sure he's really okay before they go into a scene. But there's no movement inside, and Casey never comes out.
Hearing the engines of the trucks, Severide shakes his head and runs towards the apparatus bay, coming face to face with Boden as soon as he exits the door.
Seeing all of truck, but Casey, sitting at their usual spots, and the seat next to Stella empty, Severide turns to his chief. "Sir, is Casey alright?" Casey can get pissed off if he wants, Severide thinks. After all, he wouldn't need to be asking their boss if the idiot had just opened up to his best friend and roommate, instead of avoiding all his questions.
"He said he has food poisoning, and requested the day off. Stella, you're in charge of truck today," Boden all but shouts, both answering Severide's question and informing the rest of the house that they will be going to work without their captain today.
Food poisoning? Severide wonders, scrunching his face when he remembers he hadn't seen Casey eat anything since the day before yesterday. Something is clearly up and he will find out as soon as they're back from this call.
Nodding, Severide jumps into the squad truck and turns on the sirens as Cruz hits the gas. For a brief moment, as he passes the apparatus floor, he catches Stella's eyes, and again, sees his own worry reflected in them. They briefly spoke when they got to the firehouse, and even though Stella also felt something was off, they both agreed this might all be in their heads and was just another side-effect of Casey's current distance from Brett. Still, they can't help but worry. And if that wasn't enough, Severide then turns to Brett, who's sitting on the driver's side of ambo 61, and sees an unasked question on her gaze, her face also showing concern.
-x-x-x-
Sylvie Brett prides herself on always being ready to do her job and help whoever is in need. Or rather, almost always. Because a certain fire captain has the uncanny ability to draw her thoughts away from the job and towards his beautiful blue eyes and deep gaze. Even when the man is not even in the same space, her mind is an expert in conjuring his face whether she wants to or not.
So now, even as she exits the ambulance and goes to the back to find her med bag, Brett tries to catch Severide or Stella's eyes. At any other time, they would be the ones seeking answers from her, but nowadays, she knows Casey is much more likely to share personal details with his roommates than with her. It's not the first time she has that thought, and as every time before, a sad smile escapes her lips with the realization.
Brett can't deny that she is in love with Casey and wants to be more than friends with him, but mostly, she just misses her best friend. And wishes things would go back to normal, when they would communicate like no other, and share with each other what neither dared share with the rest of the world. That's how she knew that whatever was happening now, wouldn't be happening at all if she hadn't sought Casey that night. Then she wouldn't have asked that question, and he wouldn't have broken her heart with the power of his honesty alone.
Shaking her head, Brett gives up trying to attract Severide or Stella's attention and instead focuses on the current call. Grabbing every instrument and item she might need, she follows Mackey to the accident, and together they stand to the side, while squad works on getting the victims out of the three cars involved in the crash, and truck, minus Casey (as her mind helpfully points out), works on extinguishing the few flames that had already sparked and making sure no others join.
When that's done, Brett and Mackey do quick work of taking care of the victims and getting them stable while they wait for additional ambulances to come and help them transport the victims to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. Only for that brief moment she forgets about Casey, taking some time to stare at the young paramedic, her partner for two more shifts, as she ponders why another partner is leaving her. Maybe she's a good paramedic, and just not a good leader? Because there has to be some reason why no partner is able to stick with her for more than 2 years, while the previous Ambo's 61 PIC was able to spend years with just Shay and then Brett. Apparently Casey is not the only one who prefers Dawson.
Sirens getting closer draw Brett away from her own pity party and she joins Mackey in letting the new paramedics know the state of the victims they just treated and helping them get everyone inside an ambulance. As she proudly stares at Mackey, hearing her confidently recite all the patients' stats and known injuries, Brett makes it a point to remember to congratulate the young woman again and wish her good luck in her new house.
That thought also makes Brett realize that even in a very small way, she's still a part of Mackey's success and the fact she so quickly got the recognition she deserved by being considered for a future PIC job, an achievement which took Brett more than a few years. She should feel proud of that, for both of them. Plus, she's always been good, some would even say great, at her job. So there's no reason for Brett to be feeling down on herself.
But then she remembers Casey, and her conviction crumbles. Whatever is happening to him now wouldn't be happening if she hadn't let their personal lives mix with their jobs. And even if it is just food poisoning, which she doubts, it would still be her fault, because any firefighter should feel like they can reach out and ask her for help, however minor the injury or illness might be. And Casey clearly hadn't thought he could. But then again, he had tried to ask her a question during the last shift. It hadn't been her fault that, as usual, they got interrupted, but it was her fault not to ask him about it later.
Same as it was her fault that she didn't check Casey after the incident last call. And deep down in her gut, she is certain that is the real problem of whatever is happening to him now.
Sighing, Brett forces her mind to return to the present and closes the door of Ambo 61 after Mackey climbs inside next to the stretcher. For now, she will focus on doing her job to the best of her ability, but she knows something is up, and she will find out what, as soon as they're back at 51.
-x-x-x-
Again, Casey doesn't wake up feeling better than before. In fact, the pain in his head now reaches a new level of misery and the room is spinning so much that just getting out of bed is a struggle.
Closing his eyes, Casey pictures what he remembers of his small quarters and tentatively makes his way to the door. Resting his head on the wood as he wills the world to stop moving.
Opening his eyes again, he unlocks the door and slowly makes his way to the common room in search of Brett, Mackey or anyone that can help him. But the room is empty and with a sinking feeling he realizes the call lasted longer than expected or maybe he just didn't sleep all that much.
But then Casey hears the telltale sound of the firehouse's units and his friends' voices and with the last of his energy follows the noise to the apparatus bay. Every step is a new challenge and by the time Casey crosses the threshold and stands on the garage, the ache in his head has worsened. He moves a hand to message his temple, hoping to alleviate the ache in his head and frowns when his fingers come back sticky with blood.
When the trucks and SUV are close enough for Casey to see them, or rather, their blurry outlines, he raises his hand, hoping to get Brett or Severide's attention, and in his disorientation, frowns again when he sees blood staining his hand. Wanting to get closer to his family and the only people that can help him now, Casey takes one final step but it's too late and his whole world collapses on him. His dizziness and nausea take over, the room around him disappearing as the blurriness gives way to full-blown darkness and the familiar sounds of the firehouse are reduced to interminable silence.
And before Casey can process anything of what's happening, the world seems to tilt off its axis and he feels himself falling...
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invisibleinorange · 4 years
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Bridgerton’s Adrift |  17/?
Chapters: 17/? Fandom: Bridgerton Rating: T Warnings: Presumed Character Death Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington,  Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington(besties),  Bridgerton Family Dynamics, Simon Hastings/Daphne Bridgerton Characters: Colin Bridgerton,  Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton, Anthony Featherington,  Benedict Bridgerton,  Portia Featherington, Violet Bridgerton, Genevieve Delacroix Additional Tags:  Bridgerton, Polin Summary:  Unexpected bad news arrives for the Bridgerton Family (and friends) regarding Colin's travels. This will be a series that is set after "The Duke and I" or season one of the show. It is a companion piece to "Goodbyes".
If you were distressed at the prospect of Benedict Bridgerton being removed from eligibility, this writer is here to inform you that you have not missed your opportunity.
The wedding to one Miss Featherington came to a shocking halt when the third eldest Bridgerton showed up.  While one expects family for these special moments, one hardly expects them to return from the grave.
It has been reported that the returned Bridgerton only had eyes for his brother’s to-be bride.
While this writer cannot dare claim to know all, it would seem that the wedding has been called off as the day following the scheduled nuptials the groom departed for the countryside alone.
If that was not enough of a scandal, we’re hearing reports of a shockingly large floral order delivered to the Bridgerton home…
LADY WHISTLEDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS, 20 OCTOBER 1813
--
Ever since the wrath of Violet Bridgerton had come down on Colin (and her), Penelope had tried to stay on the straight and narrow. As much as she might have wanted to steal a little more time with Colin, she didn’t want to risk being kicked out.
As much as she didn’t want to return home, she didn’t know if she’d be welcome. If she returned back to her mother’s home, she would have had to have explained everything and it was complicated at best.
The easiest way to verbalize what was going on was through Lady Whistledown.  She’d gotten half of it complete before she knew she needed to show her face to the family.
She was surprised as she entered the drawing room and found herself in a sea of flowers.  There were so many flowers it was almost an embarrassment of riches.
“You’re going to have to keep your courtship short unless you want to break the bank of Bridgerton,” Anthony teased from the corner at the sight of her.
“I didn’t expect him to buy out the shop,” Penelope said admiring the flowers that were meant for her.
It was as if Colin knew precisely where she was going to be and when she was going to be there because he wasn’t far behind, smirking from the door frame.
“I have time to make up for,” he informed her simply. “And if I can’t do that in other ways, the flowers will have to be adequate.”
“He will be sticking to the flowers for now,” Violet said from where she was working on her needlework.  “He has younger siblings to set an example for.”
Penelope nodded knowing that to be true.  She knew that Violet was a loving and progressive mother but even she had to have her limitations on things.  A lot of men in the world would take what they wanted with little thought to what comes next.
There was little question of where they were going with this though.  She didn’t want to put a timeframe on it or force Colin into any corners.  She couldn’t see a future where they weren’t married and enjoying their honeymoon by spring.
She maneuvered to an empty sofa taking a seat where she knew there was enough space for Colin to join her, smiling when he did.  If they had to behave, they could at least hold hands.  Her smaller hand found his, lacing their fingers.
“You’re more than adequate,” she told him with a small smile.
Eloise made a face from where she was sitting nearby.  She clearly wasn’t enjoying the display all that much.
“I love you both but please kill me if I ever start to like you,” she murmured, acting as if the whole falling in love was beneath her.
“I’d be happy to kill you,” Colin said though Penelope swatted at him in such a way that made it clear that wasn’t the correct way to respond.
“What he meant to say is we won’t do such a thing,” Penelope told her friend with a smile. “I personally appreciate you not being weird about this.”
“That would require she was ever not weird to begin with,” Anthony couldn’t help but remark from where he was sitting.
Eloise glared at Anthony for a fraction of a second before nodding.
“I’m happy if you’re happy,” she said opting to not bite back at Anthony.  “It doesn’t matter which of my idiot brothers you end up marry, I’ll still get another sister out of the deal.  I was kind of looking forward to you marrying Benedict though since I’d have an excuse to tag along on the honeymoon so you weren’t bored senseless.”
“Eloise,”  Violet said as if to say that maybe it wasn’t polite to discuss the almost marriage.
It was still a little bit too fresh and the fact that Benedict wasn’t there made it a little weirder.  Colin couldn’t help but feel a little spike of jealousy at the thought of it and Penelope still felt a touch guilty.
“Well I’m sorry to disappoint you when I say that when I do propose to Penelope and we eventually partake of a honeymoon, your services won’t be needed,” Colin said after a long moment.  It wasn’t an if but a when.
“Clearly since you couldn’t even properly wait for one,” Eloise retorted.
The only reason he wasn’t demanding a special license to marry her now was because he wanted to respect Penelope’s wishes.  He’d wait as long as she required but he was admittedly impatient for all that commitment would entail. He rolled his eyes at his sister.
“Eloise,” Violet said more persistently, demanding an end to the squabble at once.
It was Penelope who gave Colin a reassuring squeeze to his hand in an effort to keep him from firing back.   She let go of it, climbing to her feet gaze moving toward her best friend.  Clearly there were a few things that she needed to set straight before the squabble became something bigger.
“Eloise, why don’t we go for a promenade?” she suggested. Eloise was normally the one who pulled her away or dragged her where she wanted her to go but this time it was Penelope who grabbed her arm and practically dragged her from the drawing room.
Colin’s eyes followed them for a second before he gazed to his mother who had focused back on her needlework and then to Anthony.
“Should I be concerned?” he asked after a long moment.
“No,” Anthony told him with a laugh. “I think your Lady is about to put our little sister in her place and it’s about time.  I doubt there will blood. They tend to handle things in a far more civilized manner than us men.”
“God, I hope so,” Colin said with a chuckle.
--
Eloise was used to being the bossy one. She’d always had a strong personality and there were times when she didn’t quite realize that what she was saying or doing might not be in line with what those closest to her wanted.
There were certainly moments through the years where she’d overlooked things, just like she’d overlooked Penelope’s crush on Colin until they’d thought Colin was dead.
She liked to think that she knew her best friend well enough to make speak freely.  She wouldn’t dream of judging Penelope for anything. If there was something to blame someone on, it was always going to be the other party.  In this case, it was Colin.
Penelope had heard enough though and while she didn’t particularly care to get into in front of Violet or anyone else in the household she could no longer hold back her tongue.
“I need you to stop,” Penelope said after a long minute as if she’d been trying to figure out the right words to express how she felt.
“Stop walking?” Eloise asked, clearly not even aware that she’d managed to say anything that could offend or upset her best friend.
“No, I mean blaming Colin,” Penelope told her.
“You’re a Lady and he took advantage of you,” Eloise said simply. “You were overwhelmed by his return and he –“
Penelope cut her off there. She wasn’t going to stand for it.
“I was in complete control of the situation,” Penelope told her.  “He never once did anything that I didn’t actively encourage.”
“But he’s –“
“No, just listen to me,” Penelope persisted. “You won’t understand but I want you to -  your mother and Daphne fully explained the things that go on behind closed doors once one is married – well, more Daph than your mother but bless her - she tried.  I didn’t quite understand until Colin kissed me but I wanted him to keep kissing me.”
“You really don’t have to –“  Eloise managed not sure she needed to know the gory details of the affair.
“Colin was a gentleman,” she insisted. “I mean, if he’d wanted to ravage me, he easily could have but when I said stop, he did.  He doesn’t deserve all the blame in this. You’re very special to me but I don’t need you to protect me from him or this.”
“I just don’t want to see you hurt,” Eloise said after a long moment.  “I don’t think he would ever intentionally hurt you but what if you don’t stop him next time or can’t? – Or what if he decides to travel again and leave you behind? – I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
“First off, your mother would kill us and it would be a mute point,” Penelope said honestly.  She reached for her Eloise’s hands, giving them a squeeze. “Secondly, you’re always going to be my best friend.”
Eloise nodded at that, accepting that answer.
There was a long pause and a turn to continue their stroll.
“Then you won’t be upset with me if I leave you to navigate this alone for a few weeks?”  Eloise asked after a long moment.
“Why?” Penelope asked curiously.
“You clearly don’t need me right now but Benedict does,” Eloise said honestly.
Concern flooded Penelope’s features at mention of Benedict needing help.  She hadn’t honestly let herself think of what he might be out there doing, mostly because she didn’t want to be in a constant state of guilt.  The rational part of her knew it was ludicrous since Benedict had only proposed, promised to take care of her because of Colin but when she put herself into his shoes, she didn’t know if she’d have liked being dropped.
“Is something wrong with him?”  she asked.
“No,” Eloise said after a moment, trying to stop whatever guilt Penelope might be feeling.  She didn’t see a need for it.  “He’s going to be fine.  He’s just in a mood.”
“I wish he would have talked to me before he ran off,” Penelope said after a long moment.  She would have liked to have thanked him for looking after her.  Maybe they weren’t going to be married but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be his friend. “Tell him to not stay away for too long.”
“The male ego is fragile,” Eloise said with a shrug. “I’ll do the best that I can – Just don’t be pregnant when I come back.”
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eidetictelekinetic · 3 years
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Fic Interview Meme
Thanks for the tag, @rubickk7 !
How many works do you have on AO3? 
I have 115 fics.
What’s your total AO3 wordcount?
1,553,954
How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?
On AO3:
The Magicians (TV) (28)
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin (21)
Inception (2010) (20)
Suits (US TV) (17)
Game of Thrones (TV) (12)
Black Sails (7)
Supernatural (6)
The Avengers (Marvel Movies) (5)
A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms (5)
The Tudors (TV) (3)
The Hobbit - All Media Types (2)
X-Men (Movieverse) (2)
Marvel Cinematic Universe (2)
The Hobbit (Jackson Movies) (2)
Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) (2)
X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies) (2)
American Gods - Neil Gaiman (1)
Conviction (TV 2006) (1)
16th Century CE RPF (1)
Star Wars Legends - All Media Types (1)
Star Wars - All Media Types (1)
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (1)
Whitechapel (TV) (1)
Chronicles of Narnia (Movies) (1)
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (1)
Here’s the list from my fanfiction.net days (some overlap here):
Song of the Lioness
Star Wars
Stargate: SG-1
Harry Potter
In The Forests of the Night
X-Men: The Movie
Circle of Magic
Doctor Who
House, M.D.
Wicked
Law and Order: SVU
Torchwood
Charmed
Primeval
NCIS
Tudors
Inception
Supernatural
What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
The Lady of Rivers and Storms [ASOIAF]: When Lysa miscarries Petyr's child before anyone learns of her pregnancy, her father negotiates a different marriage for her instead. Married to the second Baratheon son, will the future be any easier for either of them?
In the Middle (Before I Knew I Had Begun) [Suits]: It's an accident, when Mike touches Lyla. But everything follows from there. (Or maybe everything follows from the moment Rhi saw the golden tiger and all she could think was how beautiful she was.)
Skyfall Is Where We Start [ASOIAF]: 'At least Stannis won't laugh at Renly if the boy tries to follow him around when he's a bit older and takes a tumble on the flagstones. It's not much, not much at all, but perhaps it's enough to be going on with.'
Robert never loved his brothers, but this is not a story about Robert. This is about Stannis, and Renly, and glimpses of how they might have been different, had they let themselves love each other as brothers usually do.
Breakin’ Out the Institution [Suits]: “OK, so, before we start, a few things you should know about me. My name’s Mike Ross, not Rick Sorkin. I am a lawyer, I just didn’t go to Harvard. But you should hear me out anyway.”
Where Mike is actually a lawyer, a Brooklyn ADA looking for a change of pace, and gatecrashes Harvey's interviews entirely on purpose.
Lay Me Down (Pockets Full of Stones) [The Magicians]: The world spins, and Quentin doesn’t even feel his knees buckle, or how his head hits the wall on the way down. All he knows is the fall into the quiet dark.
In which Quentin survives the events of 4.13 by taking such bad care of himself he never actually makes it to the Mirror Realm. Also in which everyone loses him for a day, and Eliot is Not Happy about this.
Do you respond to comments, why or why not?
Yeah; I like getting responses to my comments so I do my best to reply to comments I get.
What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
I had to go back to fanfiction.net for this because I never crossposted these to AO3, but Kiss My Eyes for The Tudors. It was Anne of Cleves/Cromwell, which was tragic mostly because it was historically compliant so a deathfic. Honorable mention, same fandom, was And In That Hour, Charles Brandon/Margaret Tudor and Charles Brandon/Henry VIII, unrequited love for the latter. 
Fun fact about the latter, it was the first m/m fic I ever wrote; the deal was I’d write a slash fic if one of my forum friends did a femslash one.
Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?
Ha. Hahahahahaha. So, back when I was 17-18 I was working on a verse titled A Moment To Be Real, and it was a crossover verse that, taking all the relevant fics into account, included Charmed, Primeval, the Whoniverse, and NCIS in major capacities. In more minor capacities, the plans for the verse also included Fringe, Supernatural, Stargate SG1/Atlantis, and Warehouse 13. Oh, and there were two main timelines and two minor ones the stories spent time in. Heh. Yeah, that was a thing, yes it was way too big a project and I didn’t finish it, but I truly think that working to juggle all that was very helpful to my later work. 
I don’t write a lot of major crossovers anymore, but I tend to just... live in the idea that certain canons can feasibly coexist so when I can do little crossover cameos I like to do them. One recent exception is return to the sunlit lands, which is a Magicians/Narnia crossover.
Have you ever received hate on a fic?
Not recently; a long time ago back on ff.net, I left a comment that was misunderstood as hate (I said something was bad, meaning the characters’ situation, but the author thought I meant her writing) and the author of that fic responded in kind. Once I clarified, they were nicer in a subsequent review. I’ve been very lucky in that regard; I’ve had friends who have had to deal with a lot of drama in that sense.
Do you write smut? If so what kind?
I didn’t for a long time, but recently I’ve begun to! So far, it’s been m/m and f/f, though there was an intentionally-vague m/m/f scene and I’m... currently avoiding writing a more detailed one because I’m nervous as hell about it, lol.
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not to my knowledge. 
Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes, actually! Two of my older ASOIAF fics, All the Traveled Roads and I Will Not Fall, I Will Not Break have translations, which is just really neat to me.
Have you ever co-written a fic before?
About ten years ago I was working on a joint project about modern day Tudors; never did get posted, alas. I’m not sure I’d be very well suited to co-writing a single story; co-writing a verse where different authors do different stories might work, though.
What’s your all time favorite ship?
God, I have no idea, but I still and always have strong feelings about Sam/Jack from Stargate SG1, so let’s go with that for longevity?
What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
A Moment To Be Real, actually; it’s not so much that I want to finish it as that I know I won’t and I regret it. I have another verse that I probably won’t finish but one of these days I’ll at least post an outline of where I saw it going so that there will be some degree of closure. Pretty much every other fic has at least a faint chance I might go back to it, or I genuinely don’t want to.
What are your writing strengths?
Worldbuilding and handling the moving pieces of a canon divergent AU. I’ve also been told I’m pretty good with ensembles.
What are your writing weaknesses?
Action scenes, which is unfortunate when I find myself definitely needing to write a battle, and I suspect is part of my smut hang-ups too.
What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
I have done it occasionally, but honestly I feel it’s usually easier to italicize English dialogue and put the other language in the narration - I think it’s probably easier to read, too.
What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?
Stargate SG1
What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?
I couldn’t possibly pick one, really.
Tagging @theemightypen @cosmonauthill @jayneladybright @ofthedirewolves @portraitofemmy @nellie-elizabeth @mihrsuri
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starvonnie · 4 years
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Love Languages
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Fandoms: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types Relationship: Megatron/Rodimus | Rodimus Prime Characters: Megatron (Transformers),Rodimus | Rodimus Prime Additional Tags: Kissing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, In a way, Suggestive Themes
Prompt: Patience
Also on AO3 “Be patient with him.”
That had been Drift’s advice when Rodimus broke the news to him that Megatron and him were now “a thing.”  He’d little more to say on the matter at all.  Just that he was happy for him.  Oh, and that he’d kill Megatron if he hurt Rodimus.  Which was fair.
Rodimus regretted that he hadn’t really asked for clarification on what he’d meant.  Be patient with what?  Did he just need a lot of foreplay or something?  
Whatever.  He didn’t dwell too much.
They kept to themselves for a little while.  Just long enough to spread the news to close friends and to smooth things over with Ultra Magnus before it got to the rumour mill. It took a week or so before they decided to just announce it (which was weird and awkward… but necessary), so now the whole ship knew.  Now they could just be a normal couple, right?
Rodimus strolled onto the bridge happily, for once. He walked right up to Megatron, touched his arm, and went to get up onto the fore of his pedes when Megatron took a half-step away.
“Good morning, Rodimus.”
Rodimus tried not to look hurt.  “Morning.”
Megatron awkwardly patted his hand, then got back to what he’d been doing.
Rodimus sheepishly made his way to the office, feeling optics on him.  The day passed slowly in a haze of rejection and paperwork.
The next day, he tried to walk normally and keep up a smile.  Again, he made a beeline for Megatron.  This time, he wasn’t engrossed in any work, and noticed Rodimus before he got to him. He went to do the same thing, and again, he stepped out of his reach.
“What gives?” Rodimus hissed.
“We’re at work.”
“Hmph.  Fine.” Rodimus stewed for a bit, but managed to lose himself in his work.  Plus, it was easy to look forward to the end of the day.  Megatron had agreed to go with him to Swerve’s for trivia night. If I must, he’d said.  
Still.  They wouldn’t be at work.  He couldn’t refuse a kiss then, right?
“I’ve got an idea to make this a little more interesting,” Rodimus said later, sitting across the table from Megatron.  
“Oh?”  Megatron looked wary.
“Well, I know most of the people here are on teams, but what if we competed?”
“I thought the point of this night was to be a couple’s thing?” Megatron asked, looking confused.
Rodimus shrugged.  “It’s not like a rule or anything.  That’s just what tends to happen.  But we’re both pretty smart, so I think it’d be fun to see who’s the smartest.”
Megatron shrugged.  “If that’s what you want.”
“Hold on, I’m not finished.  I haven’t gotten to the stakes.”
“I’m beginning to regret agreeing to this.”
Rodimus rolled his optics, annoyance creeping into his field.  “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.  I just figured that if one of us gets an answer wrong that the other gets right, the one who got it wrong owes the other a kiss.  Kind of a win-win situation, y’know?”
“Or you could just ask for a kiss.”
“Come on, Megs,” Rodimus whined.  “Can’t we just have a little fun?  Please?”
Megatron sighed.  “Alright, Rodimus.”
Fortunately, or unfortunately for Rodimus, they were both either really good at trivia or Swerve was really bad at coming up with trivia questions.  Either way, they hadn’t gotten any answers wrong.  It was time to take matters into his own hands.
“Whoops, looks like I got that one wrong,” Rodimus said, sarcastically feigning disappointment.  “Darn! Looks like I owe you a kiss.”  He crooked a finger at Megatron, pursing his lips slightly.
“Here?”
“… Yeah?”
Megatron shook his helm.  “Just keep a tally or something.  I’ll give them to you once we’re back at our habsuite.”
The rejection stung again, but at least he was able to soothe it with that fact that Megatron had called it our habsuite.
“Fine,” Rodimus muttered.
He had no trouble getting the rest of the questions right.
At least when they were walking back, Rodimus managed to capture Megatron’s hand and he didn’t take it back.  He seemed surprised at first, but then squeezed back with a smile on his face.  What weird rules did Megatron follow?
Whatever.  They were holding hands and heading back to their room together.  And maybe once they were inside…
Finally, Rodimus got his kiss.  He’d been so starved for kisses that the first one sent a rush of electricity through his frame.  His knees literally felt weak.  Really, every trope he’d ever heard was taking over his frame.  He did his best to steer them towards the berth, but he had no strength in his limbs.  Megatron had to be the one to do it.
“Satisfied?” Megatron asked with a little smirk.
“With you?”  Rodimus pulled him down again.  “Never.”
Rodimus wished the hands sitting courteously on his waist would slide lower.  After all, it had been long enough.  Too long, in Rodimus’ opinion.  If Megatron were one of his exes, they’d be getting into the kinky stuff right now. But here he was, stuck on first base.
Maybe he was just being cautious.  There were a couple conspiracy theories circulating around the ship.  One was that he’d manipulated Rodimus or was blackmailing him.  The other suggested literal brainwashing.  So… Rodimus would just have to make his intentions crystal clear.
Rodimus fixed Megatron with a lustful gaze.  He softly bit Megatron’s bottom lip during their next kiss and tugged on it as he pulled back.  With a sultry smile thrown over his shoulder, he guided Megatron to the berth and lay down.  He put his hands above his helm and spread his legs a bit, giving himself wholly to Megatron.  Wherever he wanted to touch, he could.
“Could you move over a bit?” Megatron asked, a little irritation in his voice.
Rodimus gave him an annoyed look, but obliged.
“For someone your size, you manage to take up most of the berth,” Megatron commented as he climbed in.
“We’re supposed to share,” Rodimus said.
“And that’s a two-way street.”
Rodimus stifled a frustrated growl and rolled onto his side.  He pressed himself flush to Megatron’s frame and kissed him again.  At least he seemed to be okay with this.  
Trying to be subtle, he slid his hand down Megatron’s frame. Just before it got to his array, however, Megatron grabbed his wrist.  He froze, his field crackling with confusion as he met his lover’s gaze.
“Sorry,” he said, when he realized how forceful he’d been. He lifted his hand to kiss where he’d hurt.  “Not tonight. I’m a little too tired for that.”
Not tonight?  More like, not ever.  Why didn’t Megatron want to frag him?  Did he not think he was hot?
“Okay…”  Rodimus tried not to let it show, but disappointment flooded his field.  His spoiler fell, too.
Megatron lifted Rodimus’ fallen chin.  He kissed him and pulled him close, instead.  It was nice, but… all of these rejections were piling on top of each other and weighing him down.
Did Megatron not want him anymore?  Maybe there was something to those conspiracy theories…
It didn’t help when he woke up in berth, alone. Tears pricked at his optics.  He was going to look so stupid in front of everyone when they found out he’d already managed to screw things up.  This was Megatron.  He should be happy anyone looked his way!  And why go to all the trouble of telling people and announcing things and even filling out paperwork because of their “working relationship?”
Well, frag him.  He can go to hell and he wasn’t even that hot and—
Rodimus cursed when he knocked over a glass on the nightstand and spilled energon everywhere.  He was already berating himself for forgetting about leaving it there when he saw the note.
Had to leave for an emergency.  It’s nothing major, and I can handle it.  
Ah.  He hadn’t forgotten.  But that meant he’d spilled what Megatron had left for him.
Sighing, but feeling a little better about things, Rodimus cleaned up the mess and mixed his own ration before heading to the bridge. He was thankful Megatron was in the office when he got there.  After checking in with Ultra Magnus, he went to the office, ensuring that he left the door wide open, since he could feel Magnus’ optics on his back.
“Thanks for dealing with whatever.  And for getting me my ration.”  He left out that he spilled it.
“You’re welcome, Rodimus.  I know you forget some mornings and the last thing we need is a cranky mech capable of creating fire.”  He smiled at him.
Rodimus chuckled.  He considered trying for another kiss, but decided against it.
He nodded towards the stack of data pads.  “A lot of paperwork today, huh?”
“I’ve got it today.  You go keep an optic on things out there.”  Megatron gave him a small smile.
“Okay.  And, um… we’re still on for tonight, yeah?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
 Rodimus had gone through every possible reason for why Megatron might be late until he landed on the only one that really made sense.
He wasn’t late; he wasn’t coming.
He dangled his pedes into the oil reservoir, pointedly choosing to not look at the stars.  Maybe then he could just pretend he wanted to be here alone.  It wasn’t meant to be romantic.  Maybe he was just checking the integrity of the oil, or making sure they had enough or…
Or maybe he was alone because he was so undesirable that even Megatron didn’t want him.  He was ready to slink back to his habsuite—his, not theirs—and cry himself to sleep when he heard the door open.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, Rodimus.”
“Oh, did we have something planned?” Rodimus said sarcastically.  “Well, there goes my plans to drown myself.”
Megatron sighed as he took a seat next to Rodimus. He refused to look at him.  He’d see anger in his optics, yes, but also the tears threatening to escape.
“I was on my way here when I saw Brainstorm… being Brainstorm.  I had to get him to stop what he was doing and then find some experiment to give him permission for that wouldn’t blow up the ship or tear a hole in the time-space continuum.  You know how he is.”
“Yeah, and I know how you are,” Rodimus said bitterly.
“I truly am sorry, Rodimus.  I wanted to be here.”
“Uh huh.  Just like you wanted to kiss me all those times, or, or frag the night before or like a week ago or when you wouldn’t hold my hand, or…”  Rodimus clenched his denta to keep himself from crying. He must already look so pathetic. He certainly sounded pathetic. It all sounded so petty when he gave voice to his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, Rodimus, this is… difficult for me.”  He sighed again.  “I apologize.  I didn’t realize this was weighing on you so heavily.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Yeah!  Well!  If you don’t want me why did you even agree to date me?”  He turned flaring optics his way.  His anger fizzled out a bit when he saw the apology in Megatron’s gaze.
“Because I do want you.”
Rodimus scoffed.  “You’ve got a great way of showing that.”  He swiped at the one errant tear that leaked from his optic.
Megatron took one of Rodimus’ hands in both of his. He sighed, deflating.  “Let me explain.  I should have told you this from the start, but…”  He looked away.  “I suppose I was hoping I would just be able to get over it, but it’s clear that won’t happen just because I get to court a beautiful mech.”
Rodimus said nothing, but a blush tinged his cheeks pink.
“I’m sure you know that war can change someone.” He met Rodimus’ gaze, but wasn’t able to hold it.  “For me, one of those changes was touch.  Affection, really.  It’s…” He sighed again.  “Believe me when I say I want to hug you and kiss you and everything you want me to do.  And I will, eventually.  It will just take me a little longer.”
“Oh.”
Megatron brought Rodimus’ hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“But… I mean, you let me kiss you when we’re alone,” Rodimus said.  “So it’s clearly not the kiss that’s the problem.”
“It’s not inherently the problem, but, yes, it’s easier to do when we’re alone.  I was caught off-guard at Swerve’s.  But if we’re on the bridge we won’t be kissing.  We’re at work.  We have to be professional.”
“Fine.”
“For everything else, though, it’s… complicated. The want is there, but doing it…”
Rodimus put his free hand over Megatron’s.
Megatron looked up and smiled at him.  “I think I’m just having trouble letting my guard down. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Okay… so… what can I do?”
“If you want to do something, just ask me.  At least for now.  Whenever you…”  His face scrunched up in thought.  “You know when you hear a loud noise you weren’t expecting?  How your weapons seem to power up on their own?  Or your plating clamps down to prepare for a fight?”
“Yuuuup.  Fun stuff.”
“It’s like that.  In a way.  If I’m not expecting someone to touch me, well, that could be someone coming to stab me in the back.  Or you’re trying to get me to let my guard down to launch an attack when I’m not prepared.  And before you say anything, yes, I know how crazy it sounds.  I’m working on it with Rung.  Because I know you don’t want to hurt me.  I’m fighting my instincts here.  Instincts that kept me alive for millions of years.  I’ll get there, eventually.”
Drift’s words made a lot more sense now.
“Okay.  I’ll be patient with you.  But you gotta be patient with me, too.  Or understanding, I guess.  I’m pretty touchy-feely.  If I’m honest, I thought you’d just already gotten tired of me.”
Megatron chuckled and then gave him a sympathetic look. “I don’t think anyone could tire of you.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Well, I can’t see it happening with me.  That being said, can I kiss you?”
Rodimus beamed.  “Of course.”
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luthienebonyx · 4 years
Text
Fic Writer Interview
I was tagged by @thisbluespirit who has most excellent timing in providing me with this fabulous procrastination tool for talking about writing when I should actually be writing.
Name: Luthien. I’ve been Luthien in online fandom since 1998-ish, but it was also a joke nickname in a group of RL friends before that, which is a long story. But yeah, I’ve been Luthien approximately forever. (Ebonyx is the nickname for my now departed much-loved tuxedo cat, Ebony, if you were wondering. I’m Luthien most places in fandom, but the cat comes with me if Luthien isn’t available as a username.) 
Fandoms: I started in Xena: Warrior Princess fandom, and there have been lots of others since. Fandoms that I stayed in for longer than five minutes (and a couple of times for up to five years)/wrote more than one story for include (the ones that I can remember off the top of my head) Harry Potter, the original Battlestar Galactica (1978), Pet Shop of Horrors, Stargate Atlantis, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Lewis, Once Upon a Time, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and, of course (and entirely by accident) Game of Thrones. 
Where you post: These days, only on AO3, apart from some small tumblr prompt fills that then end up on AO3. Originally, I posted to mailing lists, and my fic ended up in lots of small, stand-alone archives devoted to a single fandom/pairing/character. Then LJ was where I posted for a long time. Tried ff.net at one point in the early 2000s. We weren’t a good fit. Oh, and I had my own website, too - had to learn html to do that originally. 
Most popular one-shot: In terms of kudos, A Night to Remember, which is a Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries PWP. In terms of hits, Plain Jane, a Once Upon a Time canon divergence, which is one of my favourite stories out of everything I’ve ever written. (Also, some of my HP fic back in the day probably would take the prize overall, but it was all posted long before AO3 was a gleam in astolat’s eye. In Whisky Veritas, one of my Snape/Hermione fics, still has a stupid number of hits for something so old. I never know which of my fics are going to be zombie fics, and never quite die, but that one is definitely the biggest zombie of the lot.) So far as my JB fic goes, it’s Beloved and A Doom Unescaped. 
Most popular multi-chapter: I actually haven’t written all that many multi-chaptered fics over the years, partly because I often wasn’t well enough to write them, and partly because they were frowned on a lot in the fannish circles I used to move in. That said, The Personal Touch is the most popular multi-chapter fic I’ve ever posted in any fandom, on every metric.
Fic you were nervous to post: Well, every fic. I always feel sick right before I hit the “post” button. But more than usually nervous? I think the first time I posted het I was pretty nervous, because I was a slasher, and there was a much bigger divide then than there is now. I’m usually not that nervous when I first post in a new fandom, though, because I don’t know anyone, I’ve got nothing to lose, and it’s like I can just sneak in, drop the fic, and then run away without being seen. (That was what was supposed to happen with JB. Oops.)
How do you choose your titles? Sometimes they’re song lyrics or quotes from poems or whatever; often they just come to me. I have a very big thick book of quotations for those stories that just don’t WANT to be named. (Sometimes this works really well. I really liked the fit of the title when I finally found the right quote for As Sunlight Drinketh Dew, for example.) I like a title with more than one meaning to it, if I can manage it, or something which points to things being not quite as straightforward as they appear on the surface. My recent Queen’s Thief story was about an eleven-day journey through the mountains, but the fic was called Twelve Days, because the story was actually about the emotional journey the characters were on rather than the physical one, and that didn’t end until they were out of the mountains.
Do you outline? Hahaha. Um, I am definitely what GRRM calls a gardener rather than an architect. I have TRIED to outline, and all that happens is that I end up with scene drafts instead of an outline. My usual method is to just keep a list of bullet points and jot things down as I work them out. Sometimes I’m wrong, and then I argue with myself from bullet point to bullet point. They’re usually in any sort of order, and include details ranging from the main beats of the story to some silly joke or line or reference that I need to remember to include when I get to a later part of the story. I DID write a chronology for both Twelve Days (for obvious reasons) and also for my Yuletide fic, but those were definitely not outlines. No, nuh-uh. (Don’t want to scare my brain by making it think it has to deal with an actual outline.)
(Slightly more) seriously, though, I know the way my writing brain works. It needs to know the skeleton of the story: the general shape of the story, the main beats, where it starts and where it ends. But everything else, the flesh in between the bones, comes out in the writing. If I know too much before I write, the story tends not to work.
Complete: 128, not counting my Yuletide fic, and also not counting various old stories that never made it to AO3.
Do you take prompts?  Sometimes. If I’m foolish enough.
In progress: 10 on AO3, but that includes a couple of open-ended collections, plus a couple of WIPs in old fandoms that, realistically, I’m very unlikely to ever return to. There are four JB fics that need finishing, and no, I haven’t forgotten about any of them. I just only have so much energy available for writing. I also still have to finish my JB chill exchange fic - which is what I should be working on right now but hey, there was this meme...
Coming soon: My Yuletide fic, which I obviously can’t talk about yet. I’ll just say that it’s a story I’ve thought about writing for quite a while, and I was thrilled to finally get the chance to do it. And also my JB Chill Exchange fic, which is... well, you’ll see. ;)
Tagging: Fellow procrastinators @robotsdance and @firesign23. Also: @samirant @slipsthrufingers @nire-the-mithridatist @kiraziwrites @sdwolfpup @scoundrels-in-love @schweetheart @woodelf68 @blatheringbluejay and anyone else who wants to do it.
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j9guardians · 5 years
Video
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We spend a lot of time speaking on the contributions of Nine towards Joong in this fandom. That’s likely due to how visual his actions of care are. He physically is there for Joong in many ways be it helping him with studies, being his driver, letting him stay over, cooking, comforting him with touch. This time I wanted to extend on some of the things I mentioned previously. I want to peel back the surface layer and really explore why J9 works the way it does.
I think what many people overlook is the high probability that J9 are so close because Joong pursued the friendship either consciously or subconsciously.
When we hear Nine talk about their first meeting or his first impression, it’s clear that there were snags in his interest of a budding relationship between the two. This isn’t because Nine is negative or shady for the sake of being so. It’s because some people, like Nine, really measure you up in the first meeting. I’d go as far as saying he’s protective of his soft parts and don’t let most people in past a surface level. So there’s an immediate instinct to build walls.
Joong on the other hand has been said to be very trusting, naive, and gullible even - but with this he also seems to be very intuitive and also instinctive. By that I mean, that he goes with his feelings. If he feels someone is ‘good’ he’s going to go with that. If he feels like saying or doing in the moment he probably will try to go with the flow of it. When he recalls meeting Nine he expresses seeing him in his skill set and being kinda intimidated, in wanting to speak to Nine but being afraid to. This isn’t jealousy, nor envy, what he’s expressing in his description is admiration and trepidation. And because Joong is the type that wants to trust, because he admired Nine at the first - there was an openness and probably even a desire to create a friendship - despite the vibe of nine wanting otherwise.
This is the secret - people who build emotional walls usual have the desire fior those who excel at tearing down such walls, because there’s a hope here. The thought process becomes if this person works this hard, shows this much interest and effort to know me, to create a bond - then can’t I trust them to know how to protect me in the place of the wall. The real thing that they’re seeking is stability and security. So Joong being who he naturally is - trusting, sweet/nice, and honest are the parts of the things that helped him to build his relationship with Nine but it also had to come with levels of pursuit - being consciously interested in Nine’s daily goings, in his emotionalism and really being attentive to those parts. Because truly Nine is a creature of emotion, and I don’t mean that in the way that humans are emotive beings, no I mean some people’s basis are emotions - it’s the thing that’s moves them, the thing they protect, the thing that leaks through every portion of their being.
When we talk about love - Nine is one of those types who wants to give it, who exudes it, give it in totality even. People tend to use the word - mothering but i’d say the correct terminology is nurturing, as it means to care for or encourage development and really Nine in every essence. He is very much all about emotional expression. With this comes a moodiness and cetain type of stress so Nine needs to be adored, uplifted. On the other side Joong is the type that wants to see love wants to believe it in and experience it. There’s is a need to be doted on here as well but Joongs type of love is as close as you’re gonna get to unconditional. because he’s the go with the flow type, because he is so intuitive, theres this type of acceptance that many aren’t capable of and with it a willingness to be for what someone else needs. So there’s a give and take here, a compatibility. Emotional stimuli is why their relationship is ideal for them.
While differently, Joong is an emotional being as well and this is why he understands Nines emotionalism, his hangups, his tough shell. Nine has expressed thanks for this understanding of the parts of his persona that others might find difficult adapting to and managing as Joong has. We’ve heard them speak about not sleeping due to late night conversations. They’ve expressed their rules and a small bit of how they’ve created a working system inside their friendship. In the last post I mentioned how Nine said around Joong he can be his real authentic self. What he’s expressing there is that Joong pulls him out of his shell a bit, that he does so without judgement, or manipulation. He’s saying that with Joong, his inner workings are safe, Joong is seeing him and he still feels secure in those moments. I think Nine is/was genuinely surprised by this acceptance from Joong, because like I said previously, people don’t tend to truly like those who lean far to the serious side, who need exceeding encouragement and uplifting. Yet here we have Joong who seems to accept his rough sides - the part that excommunicates, or goes cold, is critical - and encourages him even during those times.
On the flip side, Nine’s concept of building ‘us’ friendships likely is ideal for Joong in many ways definitely during a time where his own family isn’t there. With Nine he’s allowed to not only build a partnership, a friendship a brotherhood, but also he’s become a part of Nines family. Once Nine accepted him into his circle, he welcomed him into both of his homes, and into his family who on their part accepted Joong as one of their own as well. This steeples their bond as Joong equally accepts the family as his own - referring to Nines mom as his mom and the siblings as his siblings.
Nine is perceptive which helps him smooth many emotional pitfalls that surrounds Joongs own sensitivities. In any good moment when there’s a misstep he’ll mend what he said, note that he’s joking, salve with small touches. If the mistep or slight is from someone else its the same, he’ll correct the person as a way to mend what they’ve said, lighten the mood, and often salve with some form of touch or look. Having let Joong in, Nine considers him ‘one of his people’ and with that comes many levels of protectiveness, possessiveness and clinginess.
Because of their set up and how the company likes to play up certain elements of their interactions, fandom seems to worry that outside sources will stem future problems. In fact the fear currently seems to come from the thought process that changes for Joong (starting university) means less time for J9 and more time for him to build outside relationships, which will create a distance. Its not that I’m saying outside forces can’t become a problem, no, I’m saying that the real issue between Joong and Nine (if ever one) will truly stem from the same thing that makes them so great together - their emotionalism. People don’t realize this but often, the thing that makes you love someone is usually the thing you eventually find most trying. Nine loves Joongs free spiritedness because it pulls him out of his shell - but that free spirited nature puts him out of his territory, with it comes unpredictability, instability and for someone who seeks stability and security that can be a landline. Same with Joong, he loves Nines drive and ability to be multi-talented and focused on his craft but with serious mindsets can come great pressure, feeling ignored, or second place to things like career - and that could be an issue.
J9 is that type of pairing that when it’s good between them it’s off the charts great because the ways they are similar caters to the one another’s needs. They’re both intuitive enough to communicate beyond words, they understand eachother on a deep level. So when they have fun they really have fun. But when it’s bad, it’s oh so very very bad. Because they are both highly emotional people when they go at it they but heads and the fights are high in tension as they don’t hold back. This is something they’ve admitted themselves. But when they makeup they’re also the type that comes with tears and apologies and real forgiveness because again they understand each other’s pitfalls. There is a real sense of guilt, because there is so much love beneath the surface and they don’t want to lose what they’ve managed to find/create.
The reason I’m not feeling insecure about Joong and university is because I understand that J9 truly make one another a priority. Joong has other friends, he’s had other jobs that gave him access to other people, he has other brotherhoods within the 6 Moons, but its inarguable that he makes himself readily accessible to and for Nine. Nine still makes sure he shines some attention on Joong even during his study sessions - sometimes even breaking his own rules and allowing Joong entry before his study span is over. There has been times he’s taken less sleep or done the extra driving to make sure he and Joong got their time in. We make time for what’s important and J9 seems to have always done that exceedingly well.
I don’t think separation will be their danger zone but instead a bit of codependency. It’s been only a years and they seem in the stage where being apart is not their definition of ideal. They use one another for emotional reliance, so much so I wonder if they’re really using any others to carry that burden. That’s the thing about emotional beings, it’s easy to fall and get lost in the hole of - someone understands me, sees me, accepts me. It can be addicting, electrifying, exhilarating. But it can also set the entire relationship ablaze and burnout those within it. Relationship - no matter what capacity - family, friends,’lovers, partners - are hard to maintain. They take patience, compassion, empathy, compromise, communication. Love isn’t what keeps people bound/bonded together it’s the tools we use to present love that does.
Personally I think Joong & Nine has what it takes to be in each other’s lives forever. Funnily I don’t believe anyone has done a fmv to it yet but I think Sam Smith’s Fire on Fire are made for pairings like J9.
“When we fight, we fight like lions
But then we love and feel the truth
We lose our minds in a city of roses
We won't abide by any rules
I don't say a word
But still, you take my breath and steal the things I know
There you go, saving me from out of the cold”
- Sam Smith Fire On Fire
That...that to me is the definition of J9 and why they work so well.
Note: First Video belongs to Macy, I got permission to use as i would have to reupload. You can find her on twitter @j9uwu
youtube
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magireco · 4 years
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ive never played/watched magireco but do you think the large cast is a part of iroha just being seen as “madoka 2” ?? ive never touched the thing because from what i know its much darker than the original anime, but i do know there’s like 20 thousand megucas in the game and each of them has their own story, so there’s plenty of characters that could be seen as more interesting. theres also the fact that a lot of people dont like gacha games (and magireco, other than being one, is sexualized quite a bit so that probably makes people steer away from it as well, but that’s another topic) and magireco NA no longer exists anyways so it’s harder to actually understand the new content, plus as far as i’m aware season 2 of the magireco anime has not been confirmed to be planned? correct me if i’m wrong on that though
hi!! i have a lot to cover with this ask, so i’m going to answer your questions as neatly as i can in a fun little numbered list. read under the cut!
1. what do you mean by large cast? if you’re talking about how there’s more characters in the game/anime than in the original series, then i don’t think that really has anything to do with iroha. it might just be to garner fans’ collective interest since the original anime hit it off so hard. also, it’s just really hard to please huge collectives of people, especially really critical anime fans... *shiver.*
2. i think iroha bearing a similar resemblance to madoka was used to draw old fans back in, as well as living up to the tradition of all “main character” magical girls having pink hair. iroha and yachiyo were probably meant to resemble madoka and homura at least design-wise, and also seeing iroha, madoka, and homura together in one image is visually appealing; the colors and the familiar faces next to a new face are nice to look at.
3. magia record is not nearly as dark as the original series! in the anime, there are no main-cast deaths. this does not inherently prove that a show isn’t dark, but literally, the only onscreen death is of yachiyo’s friend from her original team, and that was in a flashback... rather than slowly losing characters as the story goes on, it starts off with iroha alone, then she meets other magical girls and they form a team, etc. i go on about this on my blog bc, once again, in my opinion, magia record has much more hopeful undertones and actually gives the girls a chance to, well... live. it’s an alternate timeline(that madokami can’t interfere with, there’s lore to that) wherein glasses homura is the homura featured(she actually gets a lot of character growth in the game), the main quintet is all together, the mikazuki villa crew really are just the found family trope combined in a little package. 
4. there are a few reasons for there being a lot of characters in the game, one of them being that they literally adapted every spinoff into the game. oriko magica, tart magica, suzune magica, kazumi magica... all those characters are there. then they added a bunch of side characters, which, i dunno? there are some side characters i really like and others i just kind of don’t really care about. but they really grow on you! .... most of them. 
5. yeah, blegh. the game certainly has its flaws(the whole series does, but that’s another ask for another day). the anime is much, much less fanservicey though! i have my gripes about the designs and i certainly have my gripes about the way the characters are drawn sometimes (looking at you, swimsuit mami artist), but with me being an experienced gacha player (unfortunately) that was just something i decided to put up with in exchange for a fun story. i can see why people might get the misconception that the anime is just as sexualized, though. i don’t like the main characters’ designs that much, honestly... they all show too much skin, so i agree. weird.
6. season 2 was confirmed! 
7. NA was discontinued right after the first arc of the series. disappointing (oh, i could go on), but we got to see a lot of iroha’s character development in the story.
8. what i was really trying to get across with that post was really just to gripe about in-fandom stuff. there are plenty of other characters that could be seen as more interesting than iroha, especially considering the mikazuki villa girls are all so varied, but that’s kind of how it is with every series, honestly. there’s always going to be one character that seems less interesting compared to other ones. i just kind of realized that iroha gets the short end of the stick compared to the other girls. not only because of her resemblance to madoka, but because of her perceived blandness and the lack of people who care to analyze why she might act that way. her pink motif and gentle, kind demeanor translates as “madoka copy” in people’s heads, and, y’know, it translated like that in mine the first time i saw her, too. but, when you actually think about her arc aside from her resemblance to madoka in several different ways, you get a really interesting and special character; just as special as the others! there was a similar issue with madoka, honestly, with people brushing her off because she wasn’t as “emotionally deep” as the rest of the quintet, even though that’s not true at all. i think it’s unfair that people will brush off a character just because they’re nice; that they’ll reduce characters like iroha and madoka to their cuteness and kindness only and not analyze the rest of the details that they have intentionally(or sometimes unintentionally, y’know how anime writing can be) been written with! 
...but then again, i’m biased in my own way, admittedly. i relate to iroha (i really just made that post because i was thinking about how i’ve never seen someone touch on how her memory gaps affect her), and i just wasn’t seeing any coverage on it, so i thought, someone has to do this! i also just... don’t see people who coin themselves as “iroha fans” very often? she’s one of the characters who is there, but usually not deemed interesting enough for someone to be a superfan of. i’m probably hypocritical, considering homura akemi is my favorite character and she’s pretty popular in the fandom, but what i said is more of an observation than an accusation anyway. i had similar feelings with madoka, but i haven’t gone on a proper ramble about that yet. 
...these characters also aren’t real people, so i’d say i probably shouldn’t go on such long rambles about them, but i really do feel like they reflect a lot of real life experiences sometimes. like, me connecting to iroha’s struggles is something that connects her character to an actual experience. however, like i said in my original post, i am very much an overanalyzer, and i tend to take concepts and just run with them, especially when something stands out to me. this is also just a magical girl show, so i’m really not taking anything that personally. 
also, to clear anything up, the original post wasn’t meant to come across as me being angry, per se, at people who think iroha is boring, it just kind of ticks me off that she’s brushed off so quickly in the larger fandom because of her demeanor. this doesn’t really apply to people who aren’t into the series at all yet, because i’d literally also think “okay so we have madoka, and madoka with a hood” if i were in your shoes! also, people are allowed to dislike characters for no reason. i’m just silly and go on long defensive rants over the sad magical girls, and would probably be sad if people didn’t like iroha because of the reasons i mentioned. 
all in all, i do reccomend magia record very much if you can get past the sexualization of the gacha cards and the, um... poorly designed outfits. because the NA server has been shut down, there are channels on youtube that graciously upload videos of the in-game stories as well as side stories! in the game, there are sometimes entire side stories for characters’ outfits. because it’s a gacha game, there are events and such, and the event stories i’ve seen and/or read (most of the ones i’ve read have to do with homura though) are a lot of fun. i reccommend checking out muffinrecord’s channel if you’d like to read any of the stories (hopefully you’re the type of person who can sit and watch live2d models move around with boxes of text on the bottom for 25 minutes like me). they have everything sorted into playlists in that section of their youtube. of course, i also reccomend watching the anime, if you’re interested! the animation is polished and nice, even if the story is a little hard to follow at times. but if not, that’s okay too. 
thank you for the ask, and i hope i could clear some things up for you!
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