#seriously though I hope all fanfic authors know that they should always put themselves first

[stickfigurefairytales]

Forget the “your one-night stand turns out to be your new boss” storylines - let’s see some “your boss turns out to be the your favorite fanfic author” scenarios.

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 7

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: Peter is determined to chip your shell away, but unfortunately, his attempts only seem to annoy you. He might need to step up his game, and by that he means recruiting Mantis, which backfires on him. This could be the start of a war, if Yondu knows what he's talking about.

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: I got a suggestion from @maribatshipper to add a scene where some actual raccoons get in the trash and Rocket finally sees a raccoon. I love the idea but I unfortunately didn't get a chance to add it to this chapter as it was finished before I saw the suggestion (I'll probably add it later, don't worry! lol) Anyways, it gave me an idea. What's some stuff you guys would like to see happen in this story? I do already know the direction of the story, but this could also be fun!

Word Count: 3,729

You were going to kill Peter. Probably Kraglin too.

It started maybe a couple hours after "the smelly incident," as you had mentally dubbed it, had resolved.

Peter got bored, found some old DVDs in the cabinet below the TV, and when he recognized a movie from when he was a kid, SpaceBalls, he managed to convince you to watch it with them.

He might have also quietly pulled the "unless you're too shy..." card for the thousandth time, and you might have told him it was getting old and he was working his way towards a black eye, but you did agree to watch the film with them. Peter had somehow convinced everyone else to watch the movie, too. Might have had something to do with the fact that no one exactly had anything better to do.

Kraglin sat at on one end of the sofa, Gamora on the other, and Peter & you were sandwiched in the middle, him next to Gamora and you next to Kraglin. Mantis, Rocket and Groot sat on the floor, while Drax and Yondu took the armchairs at either side of the sofa.

Only you and Peter got the Star Wars references, of course, but there were plenty of parts the others found funny even without it. Rocket mostly laughed about how Terrans didn't understand space at all if you thought that's how things worked, and compared Peter to the main character, Lone Star. He meant it in a derogatory way, of course.

At about the scene where Dark Helmet breaks the 4th wall with the line, "What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?" Peter had started to notice that you didn't laugh openly like everyone else. You always covered your mouth like you were trying to stifle it, despite no one else bothering to be quiet, least of all Drax, who laughed loudly at parts that weren't even that funny.

That simply wouldn't do. You should be laughing freely with the others, like you did when Kraglin and Rocket got tangled up in the hose, which was probably the only time he had seen a genuine full laugh from you, now that he thought of it. To him, this was evidence that he was right, you needed to break that shell of yours and learn how to loosen up.

Annnd... if that required a little mischief on his part... well then so be it.

He waited a bit, just to see if you'd eventually let yourself relax, but when you just kept biting your lip not to laugh and covering your mouth when you started to, he decided he'd 'help' you along.

The scene came on where Dark Helmet's men were combing the dessert with a literal giant comb, and seeing you trying to stifle another laugh, Peter decided to poke you in the side.

You tried to stifle your squeak and you glared at him, but he just shrugged innocently. Poke you? Never... Doesn't sound like him...

He spaced a couple more pokes within the next few minutes of the film, making you jump and hiss at him to stop. He grinned at you and whispered he thought you could use some help laughing, since it seemed you had forgotten how. The little shit.

You irritably whisper back, "That's not gonna work, I'm not-"

Peter rolled his eyes playfully and replied, "Yeah. Sure. Not ticklish. You've said. Too bad I don't believe you." He made to poke you again and you pinched him hard on the arm, which you admit was childish, but he deserved it for annoying you. He gave you a pouty look in response and then frowned when Gamora scolded him and told him to quit behaving like a child.

You sat back and thought he'd finally quit.

And he might have, seeing that it wasn't quite working as he hoped, but Kraglin, who of course noticed your flinching and the childish bickering between you and Peter, caught Peter's eye and they shared a look. He wanted in on the fun. Movie wasn't all that interesting to him anyways.

Five minutes later you received a poke from each of them simultaneously, making your arms clamp to your sides. You turn your head from side to side to glare at both of them. Quietly threatening to break their fingers if they didn't straighten up and just watch the movie.

Based on their expressions it was clear they didn't take you seriously, but they seemed to back off... for about another ten minutes. That's when they decided to poke you again and you jerked up off the sofa with a "That's it." and moved to sit down on the floor next to Mantis where you knew you were out of their reach.

Gamora smacked Peter in the arm for annoying you off the sofa, but no one paid much mind or reacted with more than a glance as they were paying attention to the movie. Well, except for Yondu, who had fallen asleep and was now snoring softly in his chair.

Peter was slightly disappointed that you hadn't been able to let your guard down, but he wasn't deterred. In fact, he was more determined to not just chip at your shell, but shatter it. There was someone who liked to have fun in there, and he was determined to find them and pull them out.

Thankfully, you were able to finish the rest of the movie unbothered. Rocket complained about the sappy ending where Lone Star and the Princess marry, but then Mantis said she thought it was sweet and he waved her off, grumbling about how she thought everything was sweet, or cute, or whatever...

After the movie you decided to go out to the shed and apply the varnish to the bed frame, and when you came back inside to wash some of the varnish off your hands you were startled when Kraglin snuck up behind you to poke you in the ribs. He dodged just in time to avoid being smacked and ran out of the kitchen, his giggles joined by Peter's in the hall.

You sighed, now thinking you should have taken more time in the shed with the varnish. Maybe cooking something would keep you busy enough, but what would you cook? Your first thought was that lasagna would likely feed everyone, but then you remembered the cheese and you were not about to have a repeat of that morning. You were sure the hairs inside your nose were singed-off forever.

You walk out the kitchen door to catch the men still giggling in the hall and they jump from the unexpected sight of you, probably thinking you had come out to properly smack them for deliberately annoying you. You look at them, unamused, and say, "Supper will be in about an hour if you want it. If there's anything else any of you can't eat you should probably tell me now."

Peter and Kraglin exchanged looks before Peter turned back to you and said, "If there is, we don't know it yet."

Kraglin nodded and added, "Not a lot of experience with Terran food, ma'am."

You cringe slightly at being called ma'am, but give a short nod. "Well, here's hoping I don't poison anyone again," you say, turning to head back to the kitchen. You are stopped when another poke to your waist makes you jump and you turn back with a hand raised to smack him.

Peter recoils with a laugh and says, "Just wondering if you'd like any help in the kitchen?"

You narrow your eyes. "Nope. Think you two better stay out here. Clearly can't trust you not to annoy me." You can hear their chuckles as you walk back into the kitchen.

Mercifully, they left you alone all through the cooking and eating of dinner, (you had decided to make a stew). Well, they left you alone physically, that is. Throughout dinner they kept attempting jokes, and it was obvious they were aiming them at you in an attempt to get you to laugh. Most of them fell flat, however, because most of the jokes Kragin told hinged on you knowing about creatures or other stuff not from Earth that you'd have not any way of knowing the context for to make the joke make sense. The others seemed to get the jokes and find them funny though, so at least they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Better than awkward silence any day.

Peter was able to tell a few jokes with Earth references that you could understand, but they were such old jokes that anyone who didn't live in a cave would have already heard them before they finished primary school, so you didn't really laugh at his either. You did, however, smile politely, assuming that they were only trying to be friendly.

After dinner you started to get ready to wash the dishes, and Gamora offered to help.

"No thank you, I've got them tonight." you say, taking the couple of bowls she had gathered and put them in the sink.

"You sure? You cooked for us, it doesn't seem right to let you clean up by yourself too."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to make a habit of it, just... some nights I like to have something to keep me busy, ya know?" You turn on the tap and start washing the dishes. You hated to admit it, but that boiler Fury replaced your immersion with had proven to be very helpful with eight extra people in the house. If you didn't know better you'd say it was magic. Somehow there was just always hot water. You willed yourself not to get too used to it, however. No one had said, but surely SHIELD was just temporarily loaning it until the Guardians finally were able to go back home. You couldn't imagine them just giving you an upgrade like that to keep forever.

"Ok," Gamora relented, not wanting to push it. She could tell you probably still needed a bit more time before you could fully relax. "Thanks for supper."

"Don't mention it," you say, not looking up as you sudsed a bowl.

Gamora nodded and walked out of the kitchen, passing Peter, Kraglin and Mantis on her way into the sitting room. They looked like they were conspiring something, but as a general rule, she didn't get involved in Peter's shenanigans. That meant that unless it was going to directly annoy her, or possibly injure someone else, she pretended not to notice.

She had been right, they were conspiring. Well, Peter and Kraglin had been, Mantis was just along for the ride. With nothing better to do, the two men decided they'd put their energy towards continuing to mess with you, however, it was clear that they needed to get smarter about their approach if they didn't want to risk a black eye.

So they deployed Mantis.

It didn't take much to convince Mantis to do it either. It literally just took Peter asking Mantis if she wanted to play a game and she agreed.

In truth Peter was testing a theory. He watched from the kitchen door with Kraglin as they sent Mantis in to do the poking while you washed the dishes.

She poked, you jumped and spun to face her, clearly thinking it was one of the guys, and then the irritation softened from your face as you realized it was her and all she got was a mild scolding. Mantis looked back and Kraglin encouraged her to do it again with an enthusiastic nod.

This time she fluttered her fingers at your waist from both sides like she had the other day, making you jump again, and, with what sounded suspiciously to the guys to be a poorly suppressed giggle in your voice, you scolded her again and shooed her away.

Theory confirmed. You couldn't bring yourself to try and smack her away like you had with them. Good. He could work with that. Use your soft spot for her against you.

This time they motioned Mantis to come back.

She meets them at the doorway and on her way out whispers, "Did I do a good job?"

Peter smiles, "Yes. You did great. Hey, I want to show you a trick..."

***

A bit later you walked into the sitting room and Mantis calls you over to the table, saying she wants to show you a trick.

She's sitting with Peter, Kraglin, and Gamora, and you walk over hesitantly, wondering if Gamora's presence meant you could assume you'd be safe from mischief or not, seeing as she normally swatted at or scolded Peter for being annoying.

Once you reached the table Mantis stood and encouraged you to take a seat. You pull out a chair at the end of the table and sit, only to be instructed by Mantis to turn and face her.

You eye her suspiciously and then turn to Gamora. "Am I going to regret this?" you ask, your eyes moving to Peter and Kraglin who sat across from her, shrugging and shaking their heads. You were sure you could only trust them about as far as you could throw them, but Gamora appeared to genuinely have no idea what Mantis wanted to show you, so you decided to just play along. How bad could it be?

Mantis instructed you to hold out your hand for her, and you did as asked. She then held your hand palm up and placed her thumb at the tip of your middle finger, and rested the tip of her own middle finger where the palm of your hand met your wrist, as if she were measuring the distance with her own hand.

She then released your hand and moved the hand she used to measure the length of your hand with to your knee, placing her thumb on your kneecap and lowering the tip of her middle finger to rest on your thigh above the knee.

"What are you doing?" you ask, suspicion and confusion in your voice.

Mantis looked up to meet your gaze. She smiled happily and said, "I'm distracting you for this!"

You raise an eyebrow but before you could wonder much about it she squeezed your leg where her middle finger had been resting, sending a tickly jolt through your body and making you jerk in your seat and your breath catch in your throat.

You grasp for her wrist to push her away, but then she just attacked your other leg with her other hand. "Mantis! No!" you squeak, squirming in your seat and flailing for her hands. Every time you'd grab for one hand, she'd free her other hand and send ticklish pokes and squeezes wherever she could reach.

She was was a little stronger and quicker than she looked, so it made the task of restraining her hands difficult for you. You did your best to hold back any laughter as you flinched and jerked from your torment. You could hear Peter laughing and telling her 'good job,' and Kraglin encouraging her to continue, which she did, happily giggling the whole time.

"Peter!" you half scold/half beckon.

"Yes?" he asked teasingly, folding his hands under his chin with a cheeky grin. Gamora rolled her eyes and tried to shake her head disapprovingly at him, but she couldn't help grinning. Mantis just looked so playful and it was honestly adorable.

"Will you-AEK" you squeak as she darted a hand and squeezed at your waist before you could stop her, "Will you make her stop!"

"Thought you weren't ticklish?" Kraglin said with a teasingly smug grin. "That shouldn't bother you at all then. I don't see a problem."

Gamora sighed with a smile at the two men. So that's what this was about. They must have put Mantis up to this.

"Dammit!" you jerk again as Mantis landed another squeeze above your knee. "I'm- I'm not- I'm-" you were having managing words, because each time you attempted, you were cut off by another poke or squeeze from Mantis, and you were afraid you would start laughing if you allowed yourself to talk through it. You were already having a hell of a time trying not to smile, and failing.

"I swear, if you actually say you're not ticklish right now, Pete and I will pin you down and prove that you are." Kraglin threatened with an evil grin.

"Kraglin!" Gamora scolded with furrowed brow, but her warning wasn't taken too seriously on account of the humor laced in her voice.

"What? She's the one being so stubborn she can't admit it!" Kraglin laughed. As far as he was concerned, you deserved it for fibbing. Plus, wouldn't kill you to loosen up a bit- you could be... well, scary... sometimes. Although it was kinda hard to think of you as scary at the moment while you were spasming in a chair as you kept trying to get a hold on Mantis's quick hands and a grin more than threatened to crack your face.

You could feel your cheeks getting warm, hating showing signs of weakness, but knowing you didn't have much choice at the moment. "Ok! Fine!" you cry out, still grappling at Mantis's hands and biting back any giggles that threatened to spill out. You knew when you were beat. It was pretty damn obvious that you couldn't deny being ticklish anymore, and you sure as hell weren't about to give them a reason to actually properly tickle the snot out of you. You wouldn't stand a chance.

"Fine... what?" Peter chuckled in a sing-song voice and leaned on the table.

You could kill him. "Fine! I'm ticklish, okay!? I admit it! Are you happy now!?" Just then Mantis managed to free both hands and briefly tweak your ribs before you got a grip on her wrists again, finally getting a short laugh to escape your throat as you spasmed in your chair. "Will you call her off now, please!?" Gods, this was embarrassing. You didn't know how, but they were so going to pay for this.

Peter and Kraglin high-five and Peter says, "Alright, Mantis, good job."

Mantis stood and clasped her hands, giggling and saying how that was so much fun, and you half-heartedly glare up at her before standing so you could get out of there, but not before turning to aim a glare at Peter and Kraglin. The jackasses.

When you turn back you notice Yondu leaning on the back of the sofa looking amused and you cringe, asking, "How long have you been standing there?"

Yondu folded his arms and pretended to think. "Hmm... Long enough to hear the boys threaten to tickle ya silly and then see ya fold like a cheap tent." Humor twinkled in his eyes and you wanted to melt into the floor.

You inhale and look to the ceiling, your cheeks burning. Your expression then turned mischievous. Vengeance. Now.

"Mantis?" you say, turning back to face her.

"Yes?" she answers, smiling wide and sweetly.

You put on your best, most innocent face. "Ya know, maybe you should do that to Peter. Or Kraglin. Why should they miss out on the fun?" Your eyes flick to the pair menacingly to see Peter looking at you like you just shot him.

Mantis giggles and goes to take your suggestion, bouncing to their side of the table. Peter bolted from his chair, saying, "Mantis- wait a minute!" and tried to run around the table, getting slowed down when Kraglin tripped him, mostly likely to save himself as he also stood to get out of Mantis's way, grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her in Peter's direction when it looked like she was going after him. Unfortunately for Peter, he didn't get much further after Kraglin tripped him as Gamora effortlessly caught him by the arm and then laughed as she held him in place and he complained.

You turned back to Yondu with a satisfied smile and started to walk past him to leave when he leaned over to speak in a low tone as you got near. "Hope ya know that was a mistake, girl," he chuckled.

"What?" you say, surprised. Peter could be heard laughing and pleading with Mantis and Gamora behind you.

He grinned wider. "If there's anythin' I know about that boy, ya just declared war. An' if that ain't bad enough, now yer stuck in a house with him, and my first mate who ain't got nothin better to do."

"Ah." Your voice cracks, your eyes widening, nervousness creeping into your belly. "Well surely they wouldn't hold a grudge- I mean, they started it-"

He straightened back up and chuckled, shaking his head knowingly. "Jus' figured I should give ya a heads up. Do with it what ya will. Boy's partial to pranks when it comes to revenge. Might wanna be on the lookout for buckets of water above your doorways tomorrow. Or grease in your boots. That used to be Quill's go-to." Mirth glistened in his eyes and made you unsure if this warning was out of the goodness of his heart or if he enjoyed seeing the 'oh shit' look on your face.

You swallowed. Fuck. Just what you needed. A war. You decided it might be a good idea to get out before Peter could escape, or before Kraglin could decide to avenge his friend. "Well I'm going to go to bed now." Your voice was a little higher than you'd like and you could hear Yondu chuckling as you scarpered.

He knew it was more likely you were going to hide than going to sleep. It was barely dark out.

Yondu shook his head and walked to take a seat on the couch, still chuckling at the flicker of fear in your eyes when he told you that you had started a war. He switched on the TV and idly wondered who'd give up first. He'd gotten the impression that you wouldn't be one to back down, despite the nervousness present on your face.

You may have the advantage of being on home turf, but Quill could be relentless. More than likely you were fucked, but it'd be interesting to see how it all played out.

You might surprise him.

[recurring-polynya]

9, 13, 19, 23 for RenRuki OTP meme!

9. Have they made each other cry?

Neither Rukia nor Renji are criers by nature, but absolutely yes.

I looked it up, and weirdly enough, Rukia does *not* cry in the manga version, but she does cry in the anime when Renji tells her to go to the Kuchiki. Regardless, I think they both had some wet face syndrome in the days following that.

Rukia was having a pretty tough time in the Academy, and Renji was in a constant state of unconsciously rubbing it in. I bet he made her cry at least once, although she is way too stubborn to actually do it in front of him, I think she did it in private, later.

I’m not sure crying over someone is the same as them making you cry, but I believe with 100% of my being that the “fear she was trying to avoid” in the As Nodt fight was Renji-related, and even though she held it together pretty well at the time, I hope homegirl went home and had a good cathartic sob after the fact.

In the same vein, it’s very believable that Renji had at least one tearful breakdown at some point in the Soul Society Arc. I imagine he came home and puked his guts out after he had to arrest her and throw her in a holding cell and there could have been some tears that went along with that, and possibly also after he found out that Byakuya had no intention of lifting a finger to stay her execution. (I just realized this is not the first time I have headcanoned Renji puking out of grief and it’s true, I think he does, it’s great, I love my brain, thanks)

I would bet money that Renji (possibly both of them) teared up a little when Ichika was born, and/or when they found out about the pregnancy.

Also, not to ruin the vibe, but it seems highly likely that at some point in their acquaintance, probably in their Inuzuri days, Rukia kicked Renji in the nards hard enough to make tears come out of his face.

13. Name something they would never do for the other person.

Like the dealbreaker question, this one is really hard because they are both really intense people who are absolutely ride-or-die for each other (as well as everyone else they know). I am still sticking to my guns that Rukia became a shinigami in the first place for Renji’s sake, and Renji’s entire first character arc involved him binning 40 years of hard work and career ladder climbing to be with her.

That being said, though, they do maintain a fair amount of personal autonomy that I think they would stick to. Renji would never get his brow tatts removed, for example, no matter how much Rukia hates them (or conversely, I think he didn’t tell her before he got them because he knew she’d tell him not to, and he was determined to get them and wouldn’t have listened to her anyway). Likewise, if she asks, he will refrain from wearing a particular pair of extra-terrible sunglasses to a Kuchiki family picnic, but he’s not going to get rid of the sunglasses collection for her. I honestly can’t imagine her seriously asking him to do either of these things-- she’d rather just drag him for them.

I think the part in WDKALY where Rukia decides to keep “Kuchiki” as her professional name was written in a kinda stilted and dumb way, but I do not disagree with it. I am reasonably sure that this was decided at an editorial level, because if they have a Bleach continuation, they would want the character to keep her more familiar name, but then they added the fact that she took his name more generally because people are weird about women who don’t take their husbands name (and then people argue that her keeping her name is “evidence” that she doesn’t love him... so, honestly, there’s no winning either way). Personally, I didn’t like that they waited until they were actually in line at the Soul Society DMV to have this discussion (with Byakuya standing around, no less), but but otherwise, I think it’s a nice compromise, and that Rukia would want to use the names of both the men she considers her family. Renji seemed vaguely disappointed that she wasn’t taking his name entirely, and I can see that, but also, it’s her choice and he doesn’t make a stink about it, which rings true to me.

In all of these examples, the principle is that, all else being equal, each of them will take input from the other, but they would stick to their guns when it comes to decisions about themselves. That doesn’t mean they are going to die on these hills out of sheer stubbornness. I wrote a fanfic once where Byakuya died and Renji married Rukia in order to help her consolidate power in the family, and he took her name and very vehemently made everyone call him by it. 

Also, I am sure there are some household chores that Renji would like done to some particular specifications, and Rukia just will not. Like, she refuses to rinse the dishes before she puts them in the dishwasher and she won’t squeegee the glass after she showers, or whatever the Soul Society equivalents of these things are.

19. If they could each write a single line in their marriage vows, what would they be?

I cannot emphasize enough that Byakuya paid for their entire fancy Kuchiki-ass wedding and even though they are constantly on their best behavior around him, he knows how they are and he would never, ever let them write their own vows.

So, here is a dispatch from some secondary drunken, backyard wedding that they had for close-friends only (Byakuya was also there, but Isshin slipped him a pot brownie and he was feeling very at one with the universe at the time)

Who the heck writes a single line of their wedding vows?? I gave them each a paragraph.

Rukia:

People have been joking a lot, every since we started dating, how lucky you are, but the fact is, I am the lucky one. I’ve been so fortunate, in my life, to have such good friends and family, but I feel luckiest of all to have you-- you’ve always been there to cheer me on, to pick me up, to make me pickles. You’re brave and you’re handsome and you have really, really great hair, and I feel like the luckiest person in Soul Society that I get to marry you. I love you so, so much, you big dummy.

Renji:

I used to think that I would be content if I could just love you from afar. That just being able to see you and hear your voice and know that you were happy was enough for me. But I was wrong, as it turns out, because being able to touch you and kiss you and tell you I love you a hundred times a day has made me happier than I ever thought I could be. I expect that being married to you is going to make me more powerful and obnoxious than anyone here could possibly imagine and I am absolutely not sorry. I love you so, so much, you little dummy.

See, Byakuya, that wasn’t so bad! (maybe it was)

Bonus! In the dead Byakuya fanfic I mentioned above, I had them get married under Gotei authority and I wrote some (partial) shinigami wedding vows that are basically perfect for them and also I was really proud of them:

How will you meet your enemies? As one, we shall meet them, as one, we shall fight.

And how do you swear this? We swear on sword and soul.

Let it be so. With this, you are forged together, a single blade. May your battle be long, and when you fall, may you fall together.

23. Write a ~300 scene between them with no dialogue, only body language.

Wow. Dang. This felt like a personal attack. Anyway, it was really hard, and I did it, but I didn’t like it.

Here’s the scene right where Renji hauls Ichigo off to go fight Ywhach, because I am always thinking about this scene and willing it to make sense (Rukia should have gone with Ichigo, I will die on this hill!!!!), and I think it only works if there’s a bunch of unsaid subtext. It’s depressing, but it’s only 511 words, which is very much like 300 words, almost exactly the same, honestly.

~

The others don’t see it, because they are busy watching Orihime restore Ichigo’s sword, his swords, for maybe the last time, but Rukia does, because she needs an explanation.

Renji’s shoulders slump, his chin tips down, his hands are open at his sides.

He is sorry.

He better be sorry! Rukia clenches her jaw, her eyes burn at him. She is the one who should have yanked Ichigo to his feet, she is the one who should go with him to his death.

Renji’s eyes slide upward and meet hers. His jaw is set.

He is right, and she knows it.

Orihime is hurt. Her lungs are making ominous bubbling noises as Zangetsu pieces itself back together under her care. Rukia is exhausted, but she can manage the kaidou that will save her friend’s life. Renji cannot.

It is more than that, though. Rukia’s bankai is perilous. Ichibei warned her that she should use it sparingly-- that it will take many hours of practice before her body can handle the wrenching temperature shocks. She has used it too many times already in the last 48 hours. She still can’t feel all her fingers and toes since she came back from killing As Nodt. Another go at it so soon may kill her before she even has a chance to be useful. It could kill her and everyone in her blast radius, which might be helpful, but probably...not. Her hand rubs nervously at the hilt of her sword. She tries to flex the dead pinkies, but they deny her.

Renji sees the motion, and he grips Zabimaru confidently. His bankai is new to him, too, but Hihiou Zabimaru was like a weighted practice blade-- So-oh Zabimaru is familiar enough and easy in comparison. Sode no Shirayuki and Zabimaru are both temperamental blades, but Zabimaru has always been at their most dependable when the odds are stacked against them.  

Rukia reaches out and gives Orihime’s hair a gentle pat. She will stay, but she will not like it. 

The side of Renji’s mouth ticks up in a rueful half-smile, and his eyes glitter with the last bit of humor he can muster. She can beat him up all she likes when he gets back.

Rukia flings an arm around Orihime, and stuffs her face into her friend’s shoulder. None of this is fair. 

Renji’s eyes soften briefly, and his eyes are filled with so much love for her. He knows he has the easy job. There aren’t any words to thank her enough for letting him go on a suicide mission with Ichigo while she stays back to give them something worth fighting for.

Then he stiffens, and squares his shoulders once again. He jabs Ichigo impatiently with one foot and screws up his face into the same scowl he always uses to armor his heart. 

It won’t work, Rukia thinks, as Orihime finishes her task and slumps backward. She will keep Renji’s heart here with her, and Orihime will keep Ichigo’s, and no matter what, none of them will die alone.

[ouranor]

I saw your latest hanyo no yashahime post because I followed the tag and I have to say as a victim of grooming myself, I would rather be aggressive towards the adult Sessrin shippers,I do think some of them have pedophillic tendency’s, I know you hate that word being thrown around but how else would you describe people enjoying seeing sexualized fanart/actual porn of child Rin and sesshomaru. And a ship is just a ship yes but when large amounts of people try to normalize grooming I draw the line

Dear Nonny

First of all: I’m so sorry that you had to go through such a horrible experience and thank you for sharing this so openly. I’ll do my best to explain my point of view about the current chaos and how to navigate it as best as I can. In order for me not to repeat myself too often, I‘ll assume that people reading this will also have read my previous post that prompted Nonny to message me.

About the ship itself:

As far as the ending of the manga goes, Rin and Sesshoumaru are blank slates, leaving lots of room for interpretation. What is true for both characters is that neither of them have any romance set up, because neither Rin nor Sesshoumaru are anywhere near ready for any kind of romantic relationship (no matter with who) at that point in time. Rin because she’s a child and Sesshoumaru because he’s an emotionally stunted and immature mess of a man (which is why I find the sequel‘s premise incredibly unbelievable. There‘s no way Sesshoumaru was ready to have half-demon children and this is a flat-out character assassination for Sesshoumaru but I DIGRESS). In the manga, not a single trace of romance can be found, and thus not a single trace of grooming. Giving a growing child a new kimono is not grooming, it‘s common sense.

Now, most people that oppose SessRin do immediately jump to pedophilia and grooming for multiple reasons and, while I don’t ship SessRin, reducing the ship to assumptions like these is not an okay thing to do. I firmly stand by this statement and I’ll do my best to explain why.

Now, because this will be important to understand the thoughts I‘m conveying, please remember these key points:

1) Explaining does NOT equal excusing. I will never make excuses for people that romanticize children in romantic relationships. All I‘m doing is do my best to cut through the very emotionally charged and hardened fronts in this ship-war.

2) We NEED to separate the ship from its shippers. SessRin is an extremely difficult ship to write that needs to be treated with much more care and awareness than most other hetero-ships, but because people abuse Rin as their Mary-Sue and don‘t give the characters actual care and love, you end up with terrible fanfiction that depicts SessRin as „a given / destined / Rin‘s the closest vagina in the near vicinity“. And yet: Sesshoumaru grooming Rin is not the ONLY possible continuation of this ship. I‘ll get back to this in a bit.

3) Grooming is a choice, pedophilia is a mental disorder. While the two overlap at times, they are NOT the same. I’ll broach this issue near the end of this post.

Now, to get the worst out of the way, I’ll agree to this: The interpretation coming from the loudest and most aggressive shippers (Celestia on Twitter is an excellent example) is highly problematic and, as mentioned, shows a lack of comprehension regarding subtility and a lack of emotional intelligence. They‘re very black and white and they romanticize the characters as they were left in the manga, saying (among other things) how Rin is Sesshoumaru’s soulmate and understands him like no other, in spite of being a child, and THAT raises all kinds of alarm bells. Because this is exactly the rhetoric used by predators towards impressionable children. People claiming that this isn’t the case are being willfully ignorant and I usually don’t tolerate such people and use the block button generously.

But this is the WORST manifestation of this ship. Notice how I say the worst, not the ONLY.

Unfortunately, this worst interpretation usually comes from the laziest and most aggressive shippers that simply lack the creativity to imagine anything else. I’ve read many a SessRin fanfiction that built this relationship up in a believable way, taking its time and addressing the potential pitfalls, unfortunately this type of dedication or writing talent is not easily found in a fandom as vast and trope-y as Inuyasha. But I‘ve also read a ton of fanfiction where SessRin is a „logical conclusion“ because the author is actually writing an InuKag fic and has no idea what else to do with Sesshoumaru and Rin, hence: Another pairing to make babies with, yaaaay. SessRin happens by proxy, which is a huge NO-NO. This echoes one of my mantras: In order for Sesshoumaru to even get into a romantic relationship (NO MATTER WITH WHO), there is an entire story and development that needs to be told first. The same goes for Rin because again, by the end of the manga, she‘s not much of a character at all. “Why do you even read SessRin if you don’t ship it??” I hear you ask (not you, Nonny, I mean this and the following in a general sense). Because I keep saying that every ship has its merit and I’m interested in the stories that can be told. I keep saying that all ships are legitimate and I don’t want to miss out on any potentially amazing stories, especially because those were seriously hard to come by back in the day (anyone remember the 2000’s? Anyone?). I’ve read fanfiction from literally every Inuyasha ship under the sun. So if I see the tell-tales of a bad SessRin fic, I leave the author and their world behind and move on to something else. I’ll use this short interlude to say this: It has become such a horrible trend in fandom to put the sole responsibility of one’s fanfiction-experience on the author instead of taking responsibility for the content one might consume. There’s an incredible lack of self-sufficiency, a lack of ability to just move away when people read something they don’t want to read without taking personal offense. Now, I’m not saying that you have to be like me, but at least take responsibility for your own experience. ANYWAY, back to the topic at hand.

So again: In order for Rin or Sesshoumaru to get together romantically at any point in the future, a LOT needs to happen first. A lot of development, a lot of questioning, a LOT of build-up, because this relationship needs a heck of a lot more explanation than most other hetero-ships out there, but most fanfic writers and shippers are too lazy to set this up properly, leading to problematic romanticization, sugarcoating and hand-waving away of serious subjects that need to be addressed. Most of these types of SessRin shippers I see are found on Twitter and Tumblr (many are Spanish, too, wth is up with that), as mentioned, and they are are extremely questionable, seeing no issue at all with this ship, and here’s my opinion on why that is: Given from what I’ve seen, these types of shippers equal Rin with themselves. If you read how they justify this ship, it has nothing to do with her being a child, and everything to do with the blank slate that she is (like Bella Swan in Twilight). Rin has endless potential and it’s much easier to project ones own fantasy on a character that has yet to BECOME an actual character you can write a love story WITH. Of course, shippers don‘t realize this, because projection is usually done on an unconscious level. But to someone who’s been observing in this fandom and lurking for years, this seems incredibly obvious. Neither Rin nor Sesshoumaru have any agency, because they’re fictional, and that’s why SessRin is such a ticking bomb, always has been. They can be turned into whatever you want.

Now, that’s of course what fandom is for: Fulfillment of fantasies and works depicting any dynamic from fluffy to dark. But here’s the second main problem: Because SessRin is usually depicted as your typical, trope-riddled “male is alpha, woman is beta at best” romance, it falls right into heteronormative standards. Heterosexual relationships are TEEMING with extremely lazy writing (and normalized abuse, but that’s a subject for another time) and for some reason, I’ve observed how hetero ships have this insane entitlement to “purity”. What I mean by that is that hetero-ships are much more likely to attract fans that need their ship to be canon, otherwise they can’t function. This is EXACTLY what happens with SessRin. If you just had SessRin shippers doing their thing, I don’t think we’d be in this situation. But because of the sequel and its excellent marketing strategy, SessRin shippers are full of hope and, worst of all, grasping at straws and lording their ship’s superiority over everyone else with renewed fervor. If Takahashi/Sunrise weren’t such absolute cunts (pardon the language), we’d not be in this situation. Because SessRin is now a “possibility” in the sequel, people suddenly see the fulfillment of their own personal fantasies within reach. Let me repeat: This is about the fulfillment of their OWN PERSONAL fantasy and has nothing to do with Rin. She just happens to be the female character that’s closest to Sesshoumaru. The fact that she’s a child does not factor in this particular scenario, even though it SHOULD.

So again: The ship is fine on its own, because it’s literally a blank slate that you can go in ANY direction with. It’s the people that desperately grasp for canon and have decided that SessRin is a foregone conclusion WITHOUT any build-up or explanation that are the true problem. They look to the sequel and their own interpretations to justify their lazy and problematic interpretation of the ship. They make the ship into the potential grooming/pedophilia shitstorm that many “antis” are caught up in, but that’s not the ships fault.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the grooming and possible pedophilia.

I’d ask people, after reading all of the above, to remember this: If there is any grooming at all, it has yet to happen, because NOTHING has happened between Sesshoumaru and Rin after the manga. Hell, they didn‘t even speak to each other in the charity chapter. They are still the same blank slates now that they were back then. Whether or not grooming happens is in the hands of any creator that decides to take their dynamic further.

As for pedophilic tendencies: I will not deny that there are traces of that in SessRin shipping (some prominent people also ship Zabuza/Haku from Naruto which is telling), but I swear to you that 99% of SessRin fanfictions I’ve read do NOT depict Sesshoumaru with a child Rin (except for 1-2 dark fics that portrayed the dangers of a relationship with such a power imbalance, which are extremely important works as well imo). Same goes for the art. This again because Rin is not treated as a proper character, but as a vessel for wish fulfillment.

I have said many negative things about the shippers that are triggering the entire fandom at the moment, but people that oppose this ship need to be honest with themselves and acknowledge that them jumping to the conclusion of “SessRin ALWAYS equals grooming and pedophilia” also lack creativity and the ability to differentiate between different paths and outcomes. Accusing others of pedophilia is inappropriate and uncalled for, not matter how upset you are. I too have had to learn and accept that pedophilia is a mental disorder and needs a proper diagnosis and treatment. What happens because of a mental disorder should never be excused, no matter if it’s depression, bi-polar disorder or pedophilia, but what we can hopefully all agree on is that mental disorders are not something you choose.

So the only thing I can say to you, Nonny, is this: If you see something that looks like pedophilia or grooming to you, absolutely do report it. As someone once told me: The block button is a form of self-care. Use it! I have done the same over the last couple of days and it’s cathartic. If something triggers you, avoid it and find someone/somewhere to vent to if necessary. Your feelings are extremely valid, your aggression towards others (if you have shown any, that is) is not. Your experiences were horrific without any shadow of the doubt, but the way this possibly influences how you react to and treat others is absolutely something that is YOUR responsibility.

What I would, again, ask all of the people aggressively opposing SessRin is that you reconsider your stance on pedophilia. Its potential consequences are inexcusable, but accusing other people of being pedophiles because you’re jumping to conclusions is in extremely bad taste and leaves you not only on the same intellectual level as the shipper you’re accusing, but possibly even lower than that because you’re cherry-picking which potential mental disorder you’re discriminating against. It’s a free world, of course, but I’m sure we’re all trying very hard not to be hypocrites.

I wanted to TL;DR this entire post, but there’s honestly no way to do that without skipping over important parts. So thank you if you’ve made it to the end of this massive ramble. I understand that this is a very delicate subject and I am open to any and all people that would like to discuss this further. Special thanks go to Nonny for giving me the opportunity to talk about this more. I hope I answered your question, even if it might not have been what you wished to hear. Have a wonderful day and please take good care of yourself!

[doflamingadonquixote]

Permission Granted

Titolo: Permission Granted Pairing: FemStormtrooper!OC/Armitage Hux Warnings: Needy general, bad jokes, smut and little fluff Summary: You are a Sergeant Stormtrooper who serves on the Steadfast after the collaps of the Finalizer. One day, Randy the new Intern, delivers a Spiran Caf with an excess of Lothalian Currant Wine to General Hux. Managing a drunk Hux was certainly not in your plans. Words: 5328

A/N : Hi, guys. I’m still sorry for the bad english. This time I did a long one-shot with my favorite character. I love him too much and cannot accept his departure. I don’t know how many fanfics I will write about him, but I can probably say that this will not be the last. I will be grateful for all the comments and reviews (even negative, if constructive) that you want to leave. After saying this, enjoy the reading.

———————————-

It was a day like any other. You had checked the progress of your sector, consulted by the leader of the group, updated the database and you should have eventually compiled your usual report of the day.

But fate had other plans for that day.

Protected by your armor and showing the black pauldrons, you were walking down the corridor with your head totally immersed in the holopad you held in your hands.

The team Leader SE-0987 has just been given a party after the assured victory over Mustafar’s soil on the sixth floor of the Steadfast, in the dining room and dinner of that sector.

You have just been notified that you were invited to this party but that you didn’t observe the captain’s mandate’s first email.

You looked at the time on the screen and frowned. It had already started a few hours ago, would it have been wise to stop for a few minutes? Aware that, you should have established an end to your report?

Despite a thousand doubts gripping your mind, you had nevertheless taken the path to that side of the ship, hoping with the same thing that nothing too inconvenient was done. It wasn’t the first time after all that a team was making trouble after a successful mission.

When you turned down the corridor of the room to reach, you stopped.

The music reached your ears distinctly even though the helmet still attenuated its power and a large group of stormtroopers were about to enter.

You reach the closed door and with a sigh, you also approached to open it.

The one that is presented to you was the most absurd scenario you had witnessed in 17 years of service.

First of all, the room was huge. You had never had lunch in that area, being on the upper floors and you asked yourself if the size of the room needed all the excessive number of stormtroopers concentrated in that wing. Furthermore, a soft red light filled the air and the walls, like a veil.

The second thing you noticed was the crowding. You were almost ninety percent certain in that room there weren’t crowded alone in participating groups but literally the first 7 floors of the unsolicited and non-operational agents at the time.

And third, that even the highest grades were joined in that party. Officers and generals chatted with various agents and it all seemed completely out of the power struggle he was facing.

You asked yourself if General Allegiant Pryde knew about the improvised one. It would probably have been better if you hadn’t been found in such a situation.

As soon as you had time to turn on yourself and someone collided with you, however you didn’t step back an inch while the other figure fell to the ground.

You opened your eyes wide.

“Are you going to keep -hic- staring at me, soldier, or do you want to help me?” Hux puts his hand on his head as he stretched out his other arm in your direction.

Fortunately they all seemed too distracted to have noticed that particular incident, and before you could get into more trouble than expected, you grap him by the gloves.

Believing that he could stand once helped, quickly move away from his hand but he literally collapsed on you, clinging to your shoulders covered in armor.

The man was decidedly taller than you and, from what you could see behind your helmet, his eyes were red and clouded even if the pupil was dilated beyond normal.

Hux looked down at your shoulder and not the classic black pauldrons of your title.

“Oh, a sergeant. I’m sorry.” He let his arm slide along yours, and even if it didn’t directly touch your skin, you shivered.

“General, am I allowed to speak?” You asked how it was from the correct label. No soldier of lower rank could turn to that of higher rank except by permission.

“Permission granted.” Laughted Hux, trying to put his feet better to stay straight.

“Are you okay, sir?” You were seriously worried about his health. Maybe he had hit his head when he fell.

“Not really, sergeant. It seems that an –hic- intern named Randy confused my –hic- Spiran Caf with something decidedly alcoholic,“ sobbed the red-haired general, waving a covered finger in front of your face for no apparent reason. "I was going to –hic- degrate him.”

You grabbed the fly. The man was definitely drunk. Thanks to the helmet you didn’t notice any smell, which was filtered, but from the way he literally leaned on you, his bruised eyes and persistent hiccups, there wasn’t much else to allude to.

“Sir, you are drunk.” You turned around and you clearly noticed that by now you had attracted the attention of some stormtroopers. It would have been a problem if some admiral, lieutenant or general had seen him in that state. General Hux had already been downgraded in authority, Pryde had literally outclassed him. “It is better if I take you to your quarter.”

You covered the general’s body as much as possible with yours and pushed him towards the door in the least obvious way possible. But the man seemed to want to make the task impossible for you.

“No, let’s stay a while!” His complaint was almost that of a child and suddenly he moved away from you, pulling you by the sleeve of his white jacket.

That lament definitely attracted attention and you blushed. “General, I-”

“All the other generals –hic- are here, I want to make friends. You should make friends too, ser –hic- geant.”

The right eye had a nervous tic. What the hell did you care about what his colleagues and subordinates would think of the conditions under which he was reduced? He was your superior, but you were definitely not his babysitter.

“General, if your choice is to stay in the wolf’s den, go ahead. I will not assist.”

You tore your arm from his grip and walked away, approaching the door and clashing with soldiers who had huddled to see what was going on.

Once the door closed behind you, you went back to the pearly white corridors and sighed. He had heard of men who reduced themselves badly with a little alcohol but the General … he was a completely different person.

You half turned to the closed door and frowned. You had seen how troops had quickly pulled out the holo to retake the general and in a way it didn’t seem fair to him that he would pay for the mistake of an idiotic intern.

You snorted while sliding the door again. You entered with a brisk step, pushing the soldiers away and before the door could close again you had grabbed Hux by the arm and dragged him behind you.

Fortunately, the man hadn’t resisted, so in addition to a few trips, you managed to drag him far enough from the room.

“Are you jealous, Sergeant?”

At that question you stopped your steps and looked at him with disbelief.

“General, with all due respect, but you were ridiculing yourself.” You rolled your eyes and when you turned to continue your journey and leave him to his destiny, he rose over your shoulders risking you to fall.

To avoid both of you ending up with your butt on the ground, you grabbed him by the thighs while he let his arms slide down your shoulders and neck and his chest leaning against the back of the armor.

It was incredibly light, which amazed you. You were used to training with much greater weights and for its height you thought it weighed more than 80 kg.

Maybe he wasn’t eating properly.

“I will take you to your quarters, sir. I think it’s the wisest choice.”

You sensed his head dangling to your right and because of the helmet you couldn’t distinguish it well.

On the way, many stormtroopers turned to look at you but nobody said a word. The drunken general’s voice had probably not yet reached all ears.

You hoped that your name wouldn’t come out in the gossip, you would have wanted anything except to face the wrath of Pryde or, worse, of Kylo Ren.

“Sergeant, have I been a good –hic- general for you?”

The question still surprised you. You had never spoken to the general except to convey the day’s information or reports.

The First Order had taken you from the planet of Andooweel in the Arkanis sector at the age of 8. Since then, with grueling 17-year training sessions you have fought alongside and for General Hux.

He must have been about ten years older than you, yet his figure was always younger despite the tiredness that sometimes outlined his face.

You had followed his orders and witnessed the extinction of the Republic with the final weapon Starkiller. It was glorious.

But then the Starkiller collapsed at the hands of the rebels, you had risked your life to protect it, and Hux’s position had a decisive collapse.

You responded to his orders and still respected the man, but his authority was less than that of Pryde and Kylo Ren. So when Ren gave you orders, those overtook those of your General.

“Of course, general. You are still a great leader.” Adulating him would have led to nothing but stability in the mind of man.

There were heavy moments between you but you continued your advance without problems.

“Ren is blowing everything up for that scrap hunt. I can’t believe I wasted twenty years of my life just to see everything burn at the hands of a spoiled brat.” The general’s voice came out torn and whimpering. His sobbing was finally over, but it was certainly more excruciating to hear him sigh and complain.

Certainly the Supreme Leader was pursuing more of his goals than those of the Order but did it matter in the end? In the end, it all came down to the victory of Kylo Ren, consequently that of the Order would come, right?

However, you didn’t know how to reply to his words. You honestly wanted to do it.

You kept walking and Hux finally seemed to have calmed down. When you came to his room, you coughed up to get his attention.

“General, we are here.”

But the man didn’t reply.

“General?”

Nothing. You decided to take risks.

“Hux?”

But no unpleasant scream came. You just turned to wade him and there, with his face pressed against your black shoulder, the red-haired man slept like a child.

You groaned. You didn’t want to believe it.

“Sir, please. There are four corridors that divide us from the elevator…”

Inevitably, you ended up having to drag him into your room two floors down. It’s okay that it wasn’t excessively heavy, but carrying it on a piggyback ride for more than an hour had certainly not benefited your back from the grueling day.

Tired and irritated, you threw him on your bed. Your room, being of a simple sergeant, was not very large.

It consisted of a bedroom and a bathroom, and the room was already full only with the presence of the closet where you placed the uniforms and the bed on the corner, near the bath door.

Hux moaned and slowly opened his eyes just as you lifted your helmet and put it back in the closet.

“This bed is as hard as the floor of the Finalizer…”

You weren’t curious about how he knew what it was like to lie on the deck of their former flagship.

“I know, General. They are my humble rooms after all.” Finally your voice rang out without the horrible background that the nice stormtrooper helmet gave.

He snapped his head in your direction and rolled his eyes, but not moving from the fetal position he had acquired.

“You are a woman, sergeant.”

You opened your mouth like a fish out of the water and you looked at him confused. What exactly had he been thinking all that time?

“Er, I think so, sir.” You looked at your breasts under the armor and you were sure that nothing dangled between your legs. Had he confused you for a male because of the armor?

He nodded, as if to confirm the fact, and dropped the head he had raised on your pillow again. You wondered if he would leave his scent on the sheets…

“Are you feeling better, sir?”

He didn’t seem exactly returned to himself, but trying to make him come to life ahead of time and give you a good night’s rest had prevailed on the probable sense of guilt that would have occurred later if the man had lost himself in the ship. “Maybe one night on your comfortable bed will help you.”

“I still have a headache.” His water-green eyes narrowed, as if he were judging you without hiding anything. “Are you kicking me out, Sergeant?”

You whitened when you felt clear hatred in his voice.

“I- No, general. But I don’t have many comforts to offer you…” you looked around, highlighting the obvious. Where were you supposed to sleep? On the bathroom floor?

Hux continued to look at you but his eyes had softened again, as if he had just focused on something else much more pleasant. You watched him motionless from your position as he ran his bare palm against the clean white sheets of your bed.

You moved your head in all directions, looking for where he had thrown away the gloves, which he had until a few seconds before, and hoped that they had not slipped between the bed and the keyboard. It would have been difficult to recover them, just in case.

“The First Order should no longer offer me anything, Sergeant…”

You didn’t know how to respond to that self-pity. He was clearly unstable and surely didn’t mean half the things he said. But maybe helping him to realize it wasn’t a bad idea.

“You don’t really think so, sir. You have done a lot in the service of the Order, everyone realizes it. I respect you a lot and even the teams I deal with follow your orders with dedication.”

You turned to pick up the helmet and place it on your head. You felt vulnerable without it while approaching your supervisor.

“Don’t do it.”

You got stuck in the middle, with the object in your hands raised right above your head.

“Take off your armor, Sergeant.” There wasn’t much authority in his voice, it sounded very much like a joke that made your skin crawl.

“Um… sir, you’re probably still slightly tipsy… I don’t think it’s by the rules-!”

“You may be right, Sergeant.” He pointed a sardonic and evil smile. “Or not and you are contesting a direct order from your general.” He stood up on his elbows to better observe your reactions.

You had often heard of officers taking advantage of subordinates, in the most disgusting and treacherous ways. But you never would have believed that Hux was that kind of superior.

However, you would have preferred reconditioning rather than lowering yourself to that level.

“You are my general but I will not execute an overpower order.”

You thought he would scream at you like he did with others or hiss threateningly to literally hang you alive but he grinned amused, stretching himself against what continued to be YOUR bed.

“But mine is an order purely for the good of the community, of course. Now, take off your armor, Sergeant.”

You closed your eyes. How much did you struggle to get there? Could the general really report you and punish you without evidence?

With a flash of genius, you raised the helmet slightly in your hands, letting a finger slide under the neck joint and pressing the button for the recorded radiovision.

The helmet was equipped with an excellent video recorder which was very useful after the missions on unknown planets, you could also have used it for your own safety for once.

“Allright, general. As you commands.”

Place the helmet in the upper door in the closet, with the visor facing you and with a lump in your throat, you began to remove piece by piece the white and hard components of your armor.

You felt the general’s gaze on you but you tried not to be intimidated.

Once you took off your boots, your bare feet touched the cold floor of the room. You decided not to continue further, he would surely have asked you later in case, and you remained in your tight black suit that covered from your neck to ankles. The elastic and resistant material prevented the corners of your protection from pushing and scratching the flesh and it was also a fabric that allowed you soldiers to face lower or higher temperatures.

Hux looked at you from below and with a bored movement of his hand he suggested that you approach him but when you didn’t, he gave voice to his movements.

“Come closer, Sergeant.”

And as ordered, you stepped up to touch the mattress with your knees.

You remained motionless. He completely at ease lying in front of you and you definitely uncomfortable while you found him staring insistently at your thighs.

Then, without warning, he reached out and touched the muscle of your right thigh for a few seconds. You blushed on contact and you looked up at any point in the room.

His hand moved lower, reaching the calves, that at the contact you had stretched until the spasm and remained there for what seemed like hours.

You clenched your teeth, ready for a new attack, but what happened made your mouth wide open like a foolish child.

“Now I understand how you managed to drag me smoothly up to here. The training of my soldiers is still excellent.”

You blinked, as if you didn’t believe the general’s observation.

A smile escaped you and then an evident amused puff. So he wasn’t trying to touch you in any of the ways you saw flashing in your mind. How stupid…

“Why are you laughing, Sergeant?”

The man withdrew his hand from you and placed it under the pillow, observing you curiously.

“It’s nothing, sir. I apologize for my accusation.” You ran a finger over your lips, trying to erase the raised and amused smile that remained on them.

“You have a beautiful smile, Sergeant.”

You looked him up, trying to record any trace of a lie but it wasn’t there. Words from a drunk man, though.

“Thanks, general. It’s kind of you.” You decided not to fight that compliment, albeit dictated by the glamor due to alcohol and you walked away again, to reach the dark slippers near the bathroom, and going inside.

Hux, for his part, remained to contemplate you until you were gone, leaving him alone. He still felt dizzy and when he lifted his head from the pillow the ship seemed to have taken a hard turn, causing the floor to bend under his feet.

After leaving the bathroom a few minutes later, a towel resting on your face and you approached the side of the bed. Your hair got wet a little with the heat with which you rinsed your face but you didn’t notice. Certainly yours were in better condition than the general’s red and tousled ones.

“You can stay if you wants. I will patrol the corridor. After all, this section is not as supervised as the one in your quarters.”

You were about to put on your stormtrooper suit again when Hux’s hand grabbed yours.

“Yes, sir?” You asked, looking at your joined hands.

“They have called me in many ways since I was born … the last one called me aged, skinny and pasty.”

You remembered that rumor. Many lieutenants and officers inside the room had made sure that the voice reached even the lowest ranks.

You wondered, although Hux might have been confused at the time, what reason was there in raising that speech?

But the answer was not long in coming.

“Do you think so? Do you think I’m weak?”

Weak would certainly not have been one of the adjectives you would have used on that man. You had gone through many of them, gaining your rank with effort and dedication. Imagine someone like him, who was even a bastard.

Thinking about it, you had collected a lot of rumors and information about the general over the years of service. Even on what was thought to be a probable relationship with Captain Phasma.

When he pulled his hand away from yours it was as if you realized that Hux really wanted an answer.

“General, you will probably consider my opinion only as that of a subordinate who doesn’t want to be downgraded … but I think you are one of the best generals of the First Order. You brought innovation and the whole galaxy fears or respects us. You thought about tracking down rebels in hyperspace. I think you’re definitely strong.” And you scratched your cheek, looking absently at the bathroom. “And you don’t look as old and pasty as they described you. Maybe thin but you’re a handsome man, general.”

You weren’t sure why you added the last comment. Not that it was required.

But seeing those eyes constantly filled with hardness soften and a calm smile appear on his lips was certainly worth it.

“First you take me to your rooms and then try to seduce me with compliments, Sergeant?” He jokes, trying to stagger to go straight again. He had had his moment to let go and blame alcohol but he had to preserve the little respect you had for him.

“Do I look like the type of soldier who sells herself for a promotion?” You laughed, finally at ease with that man who sat up with his legs out of bed. Hux took a fleeting glance at the closet behind you and then looked back at you.

“Of course not, but I didn’t even suggest it.” He put his hands on his lap, making his finger touch each other. “I don’t think I’ll get more similar comments in the future.”

You took a step back. It didn’t seem right to you to look at him from such a high height.

“I’m sorry, sergeant. I must have made you uncomfortable. I was just kidding.” He said after a short pause where you hadn’t mentioned adding a half word.

You saw him get to his feet but he put his hand almost immediately on the wall to support himself as best he could. His legs were trembling under him and if you hadn’t intervened to support him, he would most likely have fallen to the ground.

“Sorry again.” He stammered, clinging to your forearms, now free of armor and marveled at when you was soft. The leg muscles were much tighter before.

“Am I allowed to lift you up again and take you to your apartment, general?” It might have seemed like a joke but it really sounded like a service you were offering him.

“Would you do that?” He asked immediately, amazed.

“I would do this and more for you, General.”

Initially you didn’t realize how badly others could interpret it but you had no reason to worry about it. It was just the two of you and the general wouldn’t have understood it in a way other than total duty.

So you thought. Until his lips rested grossly on yours and his hands tightened on your shoulders.

You had certainly had your experiences. Physical contact was necessary to keep the nerves in the missions. The First Order didn’t need hormonal kids to fight their battles.

Yet that kiss was sloppy and you asked yourself if it was due to the general’s condition or to your suddenly being immobilized like a rock.

Hux, not hearing you correspond, immediately pulled back and you saw a man destroyed before your eyes. With that hair that had taken directions at random, ending up on his forehead and that look full of fear and affliction, you no longer recognized what you had learned to fear.

What had they really done to this man who was so desperate for contact?

“General-”

“I need this, sergeant. I need to be touched by someone who has no intention of killing me.” He was serious as he spoke and could really look professional if it weren’t for the fact that he was holding on to you so as not to end up on the ground. “But I have no intention of forcing you into anything.”

For some damn reason you didn’t feel like refusing it, right there on your feet. But you weren’t even bold enough to say you were doing it out of pity.

The general was a beautiful man, you hadn’t lied, and you were certainly wondering what it would have been like to have him under you. But it still seemed all too wrong.

“My name is Y / N. Sergeant Y / N.”

“Y / N. It’s a beautiful name.” He agreed, charming.

And it was enough as he said it to convince you completely.

You got up just enough to touch his lips with yours again and gently pushed him back making him collide the back of the knees against the mattress.

He dropped onto it, dragging you behind him until you were forced to straddle his figure, continuing to explore his mouth.

Well, now you were sure he had ingested a lot of alcohol and you could taste Lotharian wine on his tongue. How had he not felt it in the coffee he always drank you couldn’t understand…

The General’s hands in the meantime had reached the closure of the suit at the base of the back of the neck and dragged it down with a slowness that, you were aware, was intentional.

On the way, the tip of his cold fingers touched your skin kept warm by the fabric and moaned against his lips, making him grin with satisfaction.

“General, do I have permission to undress you?” You pulled back, trying to free him from the uniform jacket but that placed a thumb on your lips.

“It’s Armitage here.” He muttered silently. “Permission granted, Y / N. You are allowed to do anything.”

You moved your head to the side, so that your thumb moved away from your lips and you ventured a smile. Surely your name with his voice was one of the most beautiful things you would have ever heard.

You ran your hand along his chest, spacing the material of the coat in the process and when you came to the metal belt it was enough to touch it to make it fall with the rest.

His skin was clear and smooth and perfect in your opinion. He didn’t have muscles as evident as your former partners, but it was certainly a relief to find something new.

After all, Armitage had to be unique in some way.

You leaned over to kiss his shoulder and looked at him seriously.

“Are you having trouble leaving control to someone else, Armitage?”

He was still slightly stunned by his name dancing on your lips but he shook his head.

“Is that what you want to do? Take control?” A mischievous expression took possession of his features, making you relax while gently squeezing his shoulders.

Instead of deigning it with a vocal response, let yourself be clarified with your intentions. You slowly accompanied him down, again with his back against the mattress and your thighs still covered touched the general’s hips, making him hold a sigh.

The hand he had placed behind your back fell to your side and twisted into the mattress covers. While yours wandered from the belly to the chest, making small curious circles with the nails.

His eyes were still wide and watched everything, alert and all too quivering.

You advanced towards his face, stopping to touch a throbbing vein on the neck but soon replaced your fingers with your lips.

You touched the neck like a petal that rests on the surface of the water and when he didn’t react, you became more enterprising.

You massaged his chest with a full palm and you clearly felt him shiver when in addition to your lips, your tongue was added to pamper him.

You gave wet kisses along the length of his neck until you reached the back of his ears.

“Can I continue, Armitage?”

Hux watched you rise again, your face hanging over his, as if waiting for yet another authorization to proceed.

“Don’t you dare quit, Y / N.”

You raised your right hand and brought it close to his face, skirting his lips with a thumb.

There was nothing else to say, you just had to show him that you had no intention of hurting him. Because it was what he was looking for, kindness. And that’s what you would have given him all night.

When you woke up the next morning, the general’s red hair spread out on the pillow and his neck full of love bites was the first thing your eyes recorded.

You stood up with all possible delicacy. It was clear that the general’s full awareness had returned already at the time of your sexual intercourse, but you wanted to avoid the embarrassing post-sex moment of solidarity.

You went to look for a new clean suit on the lower floors of the wardrobe and your gaze was captured by the intermittent light on your helmet.

You whitened. You had kept the camera on all night without realizing it. Had it taken something in the end?

“Good morning, Sergeant.”

A frightened squeak sounded on your lips, forcing you to quickly stop the production of the video and you turned rigid and composed as if you had been called to report. Completely naked.

Hux chuckled, his head still resting on the pillow but his open and evil eyes staring at you.

“Relax, Y / N. I’m still naked in your bed.”

Not realizing that you had taken the position, you loosened your shoulders and sighed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I have to proceed with the training and supervision of the recruits.” You bowed your head slightly out of respect and then went back to find your suit. You listened to the unmistakable noise of the mattress going down and up, notifying you that the general must have just got up.

Quickly put your legs up, lifting the tight material up over your waist and then you searched for the sleeves. The zipper was never difficult to achieve given the elastic material but before you could do it yourself, another pair of hands first reached the tongue.

Hux pulled the zipper up until the dress was completely closed and let his hand slide along the passage he had just completed.

“Are you embarrassed, Sergeant?”

You turned to look at him, a little afraid of the reaction he would have. Could he accuse you of taking advantage of his status? Did you become the attacker?

“I don’t know, General. Should I?” You asked, trying not to look down at his naked figure closely next to you. His green eyes were still soft, different from those of the general who walked the Steadfast and this raised you a little.

“I thought, after shouting my name so much last night, it had entered your head by now, Y / N.”

You blushed deeply at that allusion but before you could stammer some excuse, he lowered his face and kissed you slowly, gently, taking you by surprise.

“No, obviously not.” He said once he went straight back, answering your real question and with the usual satisfied smile on his lips. “Am I allowed to use your towels, Sergeant?”

You laughed. “Permission granted, Armitage.”

[arctimon]

I would just like to add my two-cents to this discussion if I may. As a person who belongs to two cultures, I'd like to point out the cultural nuances when it comes to age-appropriacy. I'm aware this is an American-made show, but authors themselves, despite writing in English, may not subscribe to the same group of beliefs. Ages of consent differ wildly across different countries. Some cultures are a bit more loose with their distinctions between "kid" and "teenager," though I never- (TBC)

...see this addressed. I'm not condoning anything under-age personally, I just wanted to put this idea out there. What may seem inappropriate to one group, may actually be the norm of another. I personally quite enjoy your stories and how they take on a more-realistic aspect of coming-of-age sans the constraints of the show's canon and "for kids" parameters. And I'm a stringent believer of internet autonomy- if you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to read it. No one should pressure... an author to change their artistic vision. A lot of art is problematic, my goodness. It's also important for folks to keep in mind--in the case of fanfic-- that it is simply that- fiction. Fiction comes with a freedom of expression. A freedom informed by the cultural norms of the author. I appreciate and admire how mindful you've been with your responses on this subject, and I hope your work and your art will not be hindered by this upset.

1.) The age of consent in the state of California is 18. There are also no “Romeo-and-Juliet” laws in California.  This means that two minors between the ages of 14 and 17 cannot have sexual relations with each other without it being considered illegal. You know how I know this?  Because I did the research.  You bet your patootie that if I was going to get anywhere near that level, I was going to make sure to do the research first long before I got to that point. Yes, it is a fictitious California, but I’m not going to change the laws because “fiction”.  And you are correct that consent varies wildly from place to place.  The Philippines is 12 (yikes).  Cameroon in Africa is 21.  It just all depends on where you go.  And cultures also vary differently as to what is acceptable and what is not. But we’re in California, so I am going to abide by them. 2.) I have a love-hate relationship with the “Don’t Like? Don’t Read.” mantra.  I agree with the fact that anyone that’s just looking for stuff to get upset about and then find it is just asking for it. For example, I can go to Fanfiction.net right now, look up every single M-rated fanfic concerning Big Hero 6, and read every single one.  I’m not going to because that’s not something I’m even remotely interested in at all.  But there are people who do that and get upset that they’re reading M-rated stuff.  Like...there was a warning and everything.  Why are you upset? (In all seriousness, don’t do that.  I took the hit so you don’t have to.  There’s...some weird stuff on there.) This situation, where they’re reading something they enjoy (hopefully) and find a part that can be uncomfortable, is a bit different.  It’s not maliciousness on anyone’s part.  It’s just something that happens and no one is really at fault.  And again, that’s where the ratings system is suppose to work.  Sometimes, it doesn’t.  And sometimes, ratings can be skewed a little bit.  For example, I’m pretty sure any mention of blood is suppose to be an automatic M on most sites.  I don’t rate it M because I don’t consider that an M-rated thing.  I consider that a T.  But that’s just me. 3.) I do think (and I’m being careful here when saying this) that sometimes, people treat fiction as fact.  I’m not saying that in this case it was, but it does happen. My stories are fiction.  They are not real.  I can dress it up as much as I want and try to stay as canon-aligned as possible, but at the end of the day, my stories are not the show.  You are not going to see a situation where Hiro and Karmi are sleeping in the same bed as each other in the show (like in Overnight).

I still get people who say that I should write for the show, and while it’s flattering, I cannot begin to tell you just how much of a bad idea that would be.  Mark and Bob and Nick are not ringing my phone any time soon. And fiction does come with a freedom of expression...to a point.  I cannot post whatever I want on FF.net, DevArt, AO3, or even here.  The rules do tend to bend, but even the hardest metal eventually breaks.  I wouldn’t be able to post Hiro/Karmi smut (not that I would want to, anyway) because that would immediately get taken down on two of those three platforms.  AO3 is an archive where things are a little bit more lax; I know this because I have reported stories on AO3 without success.  And they pretty much used the “freedom of expression” thing as the reason why it wasn’t taken down. So I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s a shared responsibility of both the author and reader to make sure that things stay calm. 4.) Which leads to this. I haven’t been upset by anything that has happened today.  People often associated wordy diatribes with anger or unhappiness, but I can assure you that’s not true. There was a situation.  It was taken care of.  Some unnamed person wanted to continue causing a ruckus.  That was also taken care of. People, understandably, saw what I had been posting and was curious about my mindset on things.  I’m not going to fault people for that.  As someone who is “well-known” in the fandom, I’ve come to expect that.  And as long as people are willing to keep an open mind and ask things in a mature and polite way, I’m always happy to answer people’s questions.

I have never felt pressure by anyone to stop writing something, up to and including the Asks I’ve gotten today.  I am going to continue to write and work on my stories as I see fit.  There will be emotional things, like Hiro’s parents.  There will be progress in relationships (not just in Hiro/Karmi).  I’m not going to shy away from difficult topics.  But perhaps I can take a leaf from the show’s book and try to balance a little bit more humor into it. Thank you for your question.

[argylemnwrites]

Change of Plans - Part 1

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (An It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment universe AU, set nearly 3 years after that epilogue)

Word Count: ~3000

Rating: PG-13 (just some adult language)

Summary: Living in NYC in March 2020 is redefining normal for Drake and Riley. Life doesn’t always go according to plan during a pandemic, after all.

Author’s Note: Ummmm, I tried to avoid writing this. I really did. But as I was sitting down to do some detailed outlines for the It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment sequel, all my brain kept wanting to explore was COVID-19 content in that universe. At first, I just bullet pointed some head canons, hoping that would be enough to scratch the itch. But it wasn’t. The fact of the matter is if you’ve read anything I’ve written, you know I’m all about grounding the Choices characters and stories in the real world to a certain degree. So to write an AU where Drake and Riley live in New York City and not address the horrible crisis that city is facing just didn’t feel true to me as a writer.

That being said, I understand fanfic is often an escape from the real world. I understand that addressing the current pandemic at all might not be your thing, even though I don’t take it to any truly sad or tragic places. So, no worries, this is an AU inside my AU. This will not be an “official” part of the sequel. It’s its own little two-part piece that inches a bit more firmly into the real world than the actual sequel, Why Are We Still Waiting?.

So, tagging all my usual It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment taglists, but no hard feelings if this is just a little too real. I will mention that this does hint at or reference some events from the prologue and the first couple of chapters of Why Are We Still Waiting?, but it does not spoil the core content of the story. Plus, to be fair, it’s not like I write things with big plot twists really. Much like It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment was essentially a Drake character study, Why Are We Still Waiting? is a Riley Liu character study, and I’m not really sure you even can spoil those.

Alright, I’ve rambled in this AN for far too long already. In case you skimmed and missed it, Trigger warning for coronavirus discussions.

Drake glanced up from his laptop as he heard the locks click on the apartment door, Riley and Anderson walking through a few seconds later. Riley unclasped Anderson’s leash and hung it on the hooks Drake had installed, followed by her coat and her keys, before sliding off her shoes and going straight into the kitchen to wash her hands. The space next to their door had become their “dirty zone.” For now, they weren’t changing all their clothing when they got back inside, but Drake was thinking that doing so should probably be their next step.

Taking Anderson out was now basically the only time either one of them left the apartment. With Riley being furloughed from her PR firm on Friday and Drake working from home for all of last week, there really wasn’t any other reason to do so. At the moment, they were doing okay for food and whatnot, but Drake was not looking forward to having to deal with that in the upcoming weeks. He wasn’t sure whether they should switch to just getting delivery that they could safely reheat, but exposing themselves to a new driver every couple of days, or if they should risk making a trip to Foodtown and stocking up for a few weeks just once. Deep down, he knew the latter was the better option, but neither of them had been to a bodega or grocery store in the past week, and he was kind of dreading it now that more people were starting to take this seriously since the schools were closed. Maybe he could pull out the box of five masks he’d bought when he was sanding down and repainting the dresser and see if he had one left for each of them.

For the past four days, with both of them with nowhere to be, they’d alternated who was leaving the relative safety of their apartment to get a little fresh air with the dog. Even before that, Riley was just going to work and coming straight home, and she’d been riding an old bicycle she bought from a coworker to avoid the subway. But now, she had nowhere to be and neither did he. On her first day at home, Drake had been reluctant to have Riley go out at all now that she didn’t need to do so. He’d seen the news stories about the hate crimes popping up against Asian Americans, and it seemed like an unnecessary risk. But he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to convince her to essentially become a shut in while he left the apartment a couple of times every day to walk Anderson. Plus, as she had pointed out, she was still in her 20s and wasn’t a former smoker, so by all accounts, she was medically a lower risk than him. Still, he got nervous every time she left and always felt a little better when she came back.

Overall, Drake knew things could be a lot worse for the two of them. Because of his conversations with Liam, he’d been slowly stocking up on nonperishables for the past month or so. He had not only a permanent job, but one with a law firm that allowed him to work from home. They had a one bedroom, not a studio, so Riley didn’t have to stay silent during his Zoom meetings with his boss or team. But losing Riley’s salary was certainly not great for them. They’d be okay for at least the next month, but going forward, things might get a little tight. Not only that, but Riley was clearly going stir crazy already, with no one to see and nothing to do. Well, nothing to do except send emails and make calls to Texas to postpone their wedding.

In the grand scheme of things, Drake knew that postponing a wedding was a minor loss. In fact, if that was the worst loss that they suffered at the end of all this, they would be very fortunate. And now that the president had banned travel from Europe, there was little chance of the majority of their already small guest list being able to make it. But it still sucked, particularly since they’d already had to postpone last year. 

He and Riley had talked about it last week, after the travel ban came down. Even though the wedding was seven weeks away, it had just seemed like the smart call to start cancelling things now instead of waiting until the last minute. The original plan had been for him to make the needed calls and whatnot since he was working from home, but since Riley now had infinite free time, she’d contacted everyone except his mother and aunt, who he had called over the weekend. His mother had been confused at first, saying she didn’t understand why they needed to postpone already and that she was sure it will have all “blown over” by May. Aunt Leona, on the other hand, had seemed pleased by the decision, telling him she was glad he wasn’t bringing that “Chinese virus” down to them from New York. Drake wasn’t sure whose response was more infuriating.

As Riley flopped down on the couch next to him, she let out a loud sigh. When he’d been working out of their apartment and she’d still been going into the office, they’d tried to maintain some distance at home. It had been pretty difficult, though. Although this place was way bigger than her old studio, they still just had the one bathroom, and obviously they were still sleeping in the same bed. Drake had known it had probably been smart of them to spread out as best they could, but he was kind of relieved when Riley had just curled up next to him on the couch this weekend, saying that it was stupid to try and pretend that they were even coming close to effectively socially distancing from one another. Plus, now that she wasn’t going into work, they basically carried the same risk of exposure. 

Although she was sitting next to him now, she didn’t make any move to actually touch him. Sensing she wanted to talk about something, he moved his laptop from his knees to the coffee table in front of them. Sure enough, her head landed in his lap not even a full minute later. This had become her habit over the years, to lay down on the couch and put her head across his lap whenever there was something she wanted to talk to him about, usually something serious that she didn’t want to deal with but knew they needed to deal with together.

“So, everything’s pushed back to November 7th,” she said after a couple of moments of silence, “We had to put down another deposit with the florist who was a real asshole about it, but the band, the photographer, and the caterers were really accommodating.” Her fingers traced random patterns across his forearm as she spoke, but her eyes remained closed, almost as if she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye and see their shared disappointment reflected there.

“Thanks, Liu. I’ll call Mom tomorrow and let her know.” 

“I did try for October, but the caterers and the florist didn’t have any availability.”

“November’s fine. If the weather’s shitty, we can just have the ceremony inside the barn and the reception in the house. Our guest list is tiny, anyway.”

His statement hung there in the air. There was kind of this unspoken agreement between the two of them to just be matter of fact about postponing. It was a global pandemic. It had to happen. Being upset about it wasn’t going to make things any better. But sometimes, it just hurt, thinking about all their planning and excitement that was just on hold again. The scattered pieces of wedding favors and leftover invitations and the planning binder that Hana had started for them that were visible in every corner of the apartment didn’t help either. They were now mixed in with stacks of dog food, rice, and paper towels, a grim blend of the future they wanted with their new reality.

They didn’t even have any place to tuck the wedding crap out of sight at this point, as their closets and cupboards were filled to the brim with extra supplies. But without a car, Drake had just wanted to make sure they could minimize trips out if… no, when shit really hit the fan. And it’s not like they had that much storage space in their apartment anyway. But now they would have to live with constant reminders that they couldn’t get married and their lives were essentially on hold. 

He at least still had work to distract himself with. Now that Riley had cancelled everything, she really didn’t have anything she could focus on to distract herself. He just felt bad for her. “I’m sorry, Liu.”

“For what? None of this is your fault,” Riley said, her eyes popping open and gazing up at him, her hand continuing to trace patterns across the skin of his arm.

Drake sighed, dropping his head to the back of the couch and staring up at the ceiling. “I guess I feel guilty that I didn’t get us to Cordonia when I could.” He had been contemplating calling Savannah or Maxwell and seeing if they could come stay with them for a while. Leave the crazy population density that was New York City. Staying at the palace would mean bad optics for Liam, but he figured at least two of the three adults at Ramsford would probably be okay with hosting him and Riley and Anderson. But while he’d been weighing their options with Riley, Liam had closed all flights into Cordonia except for citizens returning home. Since Riley had never become a Cordonian citizen, they were out of luck. Drake knew that if he asked Liam, he would grant Riley some sort of royal exception, but he wasn’t going to put Liam in that position. The last thing Liam needed on his plate was making an accommodation for Riley.

Drake felt Riley’s head leave his lap, and soon her hands were on his shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. “Drake, we both were unsure if it was the right call.” 

He just shook his head. She could have had Maxwell to spend time with while he worked. Anderson could have gone on walks safely across the grounds and vineyards. But he hadn’t been decisive enough and now it was too late. “I should have seen the writing on the wall.”

“Look at me.” Her voice was firm and carried enough of an edge that Drake complied, tipping his head back to find Riley kneeling next to him on their couch, staring at him with eyes that were somehow intense and sympathetic simultaneously. “We both were concerned about flying right now. We both were unsure about being in a house with both a baby and a toddler and possibly bringing the infection to them. We both wanted to wait to see what would happen. I don’t know why you insist on taking the blame here when we both weren’t sure if heading to Cordonia was the right call.”

“I just wish there was a way to protect you from this.”

She shook her head, “You think I don’t want that, too?”

“I know, Liu. I just feel like…” he trailed off, unable to finish his thoughts. He could have never imagined a situation where he couldn’t take care of her. Keep her safe. But there was nothing he could do about any of this. It just made him feel so powerless.

“Me too, Drake,” she said, tilting her head and sliding her hand down his arm and twining their fingers together. “But nothing else to do but ride this out. Well, that and hope we don’t drive each other too crazy over the upcoming weeks,” she added with a little chuckle. “What time do you think you’ll finish up today?”

“I dunno,” Drake said with a shrug. Since he was a naturally early riser, he’d been getting up and started on his files for the day hours before Riley was waking up, trying to get his work done by mid afternoon most days so that she didn’t feel banished to the bedroom too much. He knew she felt like a distraction to him when he was working, and though he didn’t want to admit it, she kind of was. “By 3:30, I’d guess.”

“Okay,” she replied, letting go of his hand and bouncing off the couch. “I guess it’s time for me to read up on my insurance options. I’ve been putting this off, but it’s probably better to sign up sooner rather than later.”

Drake frowned as she rounded the corner and went down the little hallway to their bedroom. He’d not thought about the fact that her being furloughed might impact her health insurance. He probably should have. Getting way better health insurance when he’d gotten hired as a permanent employee had been a big deal, after all. This employment-connected health insurance thing still just felt strange to him, though.

A thought occurred to him. He minimized the folder of digital files he was reviewing and cataloguing, pulling up instead a search engine. He landed on the city clerk’s website a couple of minutes later, scanning over the requirements, then checking the time. This could work.

“Hey, Liu!” he called out, striding over to the bedroom. Her laptop was in front of her as she lounged on her stomach, Anderson curled up right next to her. She glanced up as he reached the doorway.

“What’s up?”

“Let’s get married.”

She blinked a couple of times and pulled her head back slightly as she cocked it to the side, “Uhh, sounds good, but that was kind of already the plan.” She waved her left hand in the air, his grandmother’s ring catching the light intermittently. “I mean, I’m glad you still want to and everything, but seeing as I did just spend the whole morning rescheduling our entire wedding, I would have been pretty pissed at you if you changed your mind.”

Drake shook his head and rolled his eyes. “No, let’s get married tomorrow.”

Riley’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. We can go down to the city clerk’s office now and get our marriage license so we can get married tomorrow.”

“Where is this coming from?”

Drake walked over and sat down on the bed next to her, pointing toward her laptop. “You were going to go on my health insurance after the wedding anyway, right? So let’s do that now instead of having to pay for shitty coverage for you.”

She gave him a gentle little smile, closing her laptop and sliding up onto her knees next to him. She placed one hand between his shoulder blades, rubbing gentle circles before she spoke.

“You are a very sweet marshmallow of a man, you really are. But I know you. And I don’t want you to feel like we have to rush to do this now. We’ll be fine if we wait for the lovely wedding we planned down on the ranch with all of our friends there.”

He shook his head, “I want to do this. The question is, do you?”

“You don’t actually want to do this.”

“Of course I want to do this! You think I give a shit about who’s there or what we wear or if we have the right flowers or what we have for dinner?”

“Yeah, I do. Drake, you may not be much for pomp and glitz, but this wedding that we’ve been planning for years now? I think it matters to you. I think you want Liam and Maxwell and Hana and your mother and sister and niece and nephew there. I think you want to hear our friends toast us and to see Maxwell make a fool of himself on the dance floor and to have Bartie be the ring bearer and that’s okay. It’s okay to want to celebrate with everyone. We can wait until we can do that. This doesn’t have to just be a... logistical arrangement.”

Drake paused for a moment. She wasn’t wrong, exactly. Those were things he wanted. But right now, they seemed like little, insignificant details. 

“Look, Liu. You’re right. The thing that prompted me to think about marrying you right now was the practical reasons. But as everything becomes a total shit show, I just feel like the only protection I can offer you is this one. And in an ideal world - sure, I would want the nice little wedding we planned in Texas. But the world has changed a whole fucking lot in the past couple weeks, and nothing is exactly ideal anymore. And if my choices are waiting almost eight months to have the wedding we planned or to marry you tomorrow, I pick marrying you tomorrow. Because, yeah a wedding down on the ranch with our friends sounds great, but the whole point of that wedding is that I get to be your husband. And that’s all I really want.”

She gave him a warm smile and kissed him deeply, sliding her hand up his back and threading her fingers through his hair as his hands fell to her hips. After a few moments, she pulled back.

“So, you aren’t going to look back with regret and feel like we rushed things?”

“I’ve been ready to marry you for years. This doesn’t feel like we’re rushing. It feels like it’s about damn time. At least for me.”

Riley nodded, glancing down. Drake followed her gaze to her left hand, resting gently on her knees.

“It’s not a rush for me either.”

“So, what are you thinking? Should we get married tomorrow?” Drake asked, grabbing her hand in his, staring at her downturned face for a few seconds before she looked up and met his gaze.

“Yeah,” she said, a wide grin sliding onto her face, “Let’s fucking do this.”

Permatag: @ravenpuff02 @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @speedyoperarascalparty @mfackenthal @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

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[lotornomiko]

Light Grasping Darkness (1 of 6, mostly work safe for 1)

Old, old fic of mine...touched up with tweaks to words, grammar, sentence structure that sort of thing. Nothing too major a change, just the perfectionist in me trying to make it a smoother and more enjoyable read....I got the urge to reread this, and of course, couldn’t make it through without trying to “fix” it. And someday I really need to write the sequel, Light Seducing Darkness.

I believe this was my first foray into Hook Emma/Captain Swan fanfic. It starts out i guess R rated, but by chapter two vastly becomes super smutty. This is set in season two, is an AU, has Rumplestiltskin character death. According to fanfic net I originally wrote this in July 2013..., long before season five made Hook as a Dark One a thing. XD

As such, it was written with some thoughts in my head, (I looked at my old author’s notes) where I had thought Hook wasn’t aware of what would happen if he used the dagger on the dark one. I firmly believed he wanted to get his revenge and die, and would have been pissed to find himself stuck as the new Dark One. Although in this fic, from what I remember, I don’t think I gave him much time to be pissed, between the evil queenS orders, and the lust that quickly spilled over in an effort to combat it.

Will be posting all six parts of the completed first in a series fic onto my tumblr, as well as updating it at archive and fanfic.net. Will be posting on tumblr as I finished going over each chapter. 

There are moments, all too brief respites, where everything stands frozen and still. It is a lie, the quiet that it brings giving them the illusion of the luxuries they no longer have. Chief among them is time, every moment stolen, every second bringing them closer to what just may be their deaths. However, there is no time to grieve, no time to wage protest against an unfair fate. There exists only now, the running and the plotting, readying themselves for a war they are ill equipped to fight under the best of circumstances, and that was before Gold had been killed.

There's no time to mourn him, no time to do anything more than acknowledge the fallen. Gold stands to be the first in what will become a string of massacres, the worst nightmare of many coming true as Storybrooke falls under the power of not one, but TWO evil queens.

Maybe, just maybe they would stand a chance if it had only been Cora and Regina to contend with. Maybe then they could have won, somehow backed only by the power of the savior, a power that she herself didn't understand and had barely begun to explore. But there had never been time, and Emma had never seen need to truly explore the potential within her, the magic that left her so frightened and disturbed.

She regrets that now, a million if only running through her head. Wondering if only she had made the time, if only she had put aside her duties as sheriff, if only she had taken seriously Gold's attempts to tutor her. Nothing and no one can change the past now, not Emma as the savior, and not even Gold with all the power of the Dark One at his fingertips.

All that power had done little good once Gold had lost control of the dagger. Enslaved by the one who controlled the blade, Gold had been rendered helpless, unable to do anything to ward off the death that had finally come calling.

It wasn't just that they had lost a valuable ally in the war against evil. It was the power the evil queens had gained, the magic that was now theirs to command. A power they were all to quick to use, despite the fact that their tool was a staggered weapon at best.

Emma tried not to shudder as she remembered the scream that had followed Gold's death. The scream that had been unlike anything she had ever before heard, the pain and shock of what was happening registered within it, leaving the Dark One confused, fighting against fate, against orders. That resistance to do as commanded, was the only reason why Emma and her family were still alive. Was the only reason why they were able to run long enough to scheme. Not that the Charmings had much in the way of ideas, not when the dagger was so essential to defeating that which was coming.

It was hard not to give in to those hopeless feelings. To not wonder what chance they stood, with the power of the Dark One turned against them. Even as Emma fought against despairing, she acknowledged that she didn't know enough, not to fight and not to use the power locked inside her. For all that lack of, there was hope, Emma realizing that although she didn't know much about being the savior, the young woman also didn't know enough to truly believe the Dark One was completely unstoppable, dagger aside. And she disliked immensely the pitying looks her father and mother both gave her when she had said so.

Perhaps it was because they were of the other world, and always had lived with the knowledge that there was no true way to destroy the Dark One. Even before the existence of the dagger had become known, the people who had lived in the Enchanted Kingdoms, had grown up believing in the Dark One's invincibility. They had learned first hand, the failures of those who had made attempts on the Dark One's life, had been terrorized and manipulated for years far longer than Gold had been alive.

The Dark One already so terrifying, had become something else entirely under Rumplestiltskin's control. The man had twisted the legends, distorted truths until the name Rumplestiltskin was feared, the man rather than the monster fear, and with that faded memory had gone many’s truths behind the dagger. Through his masterful manipulations, most had gone on to forget that the Dark One had once been a slave, that whoever possessed the dagger had controlled the beast. Forgotten about, it was now a painful reminder that had been slammed into them, stark and potent in its devastating truths.

It was that reminder that was snuffing the hope out of David and Mary Margaret's eyes. That and the memories of those failed attempts to kill, to corner, to even contain Rumplestiltskin and his power. They remembered well the hardships, and the sheer desperation that had led the Blue Fairy into finally discovering a way, albeit a temporary one. A  way meant to hold him, to imprison him long enough so that a single generation of people would have peace of mind.

There would be no repeating that way, even if the Blue Fairy had been capable of repeating that spell. In the realm of Storybrooke, even with magic brought back into it, there simply wasn't enough of the Enchanted Kingdoms in this land. There wasn't enough of the ingredients needed to power the spell, no time to prepare, no location secured to act as a prison. There wasn't enough of anything, David and Mary Margaret knowing this, and thus choosing not to build their daughter's hopes up.

They held back, but didn't stop their daughter from scheming. Desperate plan after desperate plan came flowing, none of them seeming plausible, none of them offering true hope of survival.  Emma wouldn't, couldn’t, give up, not even when faced with the Dark One, watching as her gun's bullets slammed into his black leather clad chest.

Was it the bullets or the pain of them that seemed to confuse him? He'd actually look down, stare at the small holes in his clothing, smoke curling upwards out of them. His hand would raise, finger fitting into one of the holes. No blood, the skin already healing, mending together as though the bullet had never torn it open.

No further proof was needed that their weapons were useless. And yet Emma kept on firing. Watching the body jerk back with each shell's piercing, seeing the expression on the Dark One's face, a lost look of a despair all his own. She didn't truly understand the expression, or the reasons behind it. Why would he allow such pain to color his eyes? Pain that had nothing to do with the bullets, or Mary Margaret's arrows. Hadn't this been what he had wanted? Hadn't he pursued Gold over time and space, in an effort to bring about his end and claim his power? Hadn't he become exactly what he had always wanted?

Emma didn't know  that she was jumping to conclusions. Didn't know, and truth be known, wouldn't have cared. She was blinded by what she saw as his betrayal, cursing herself a fool for ever even giving him a moment's benefit of doubt. She should have known better, DID know better. Once burned, you never, ever give a person a second chance to hurt you. And yet for him, she had. For him she had pushed back the betrayals, choosing to ignore how he had left her and her friends, even her mother, to die in a rotting dungeon, or of the time shortly after, where he had been set on killing her.

Nothing personal he had claimed. And she had believed him! Was it her own guilt at work there? Was it the fact that Emma had not only abandoned him, but left him trapped at the top of a beanstalk, that led her to grudgingly bear him no ill will? Was it that same guilt that made her feel responsible, made Emma think that if she had done one thing differently, none of this would have come to past? Or did she simply regret not killing him when she had had the chance?

No way to know, no time to mull over the what ifs. She was out of bullets, and he was coming, his black leather riddled with smoking holes, but his body otherwise fine. More than fine, if one ignored the anguish of his expression. Always a handsome man, that beauty had become more pronounced, devastatingly dark and seductive, all the better to lure foolish maidens to their ruin.

Emma wasn't foolish, but even she couldn't look at that dark beauty and not be affected. She rebelled against the want that fisted inside her, total defiance spurring her to fling her gun at him. His arm raised, the gun bouncing off harmlessly. She barely registered the sound of steel being drawn, the borrowed sword in her grip as she took up a new stance, readying herself to die fighting.

David was somewhere to the right of her, a sword that had slayed dragons, in his hand. Arrows came from the left of her, Mary Margaret rapidly depleting her stock of projectiles. They were catching on fire, bursting into smoke instead of striking him, though the Dark One hadn't seemed intent on defending himself.

With a challenging scream, Emma and her father both rushed the Dark One at the same time. David's sword twirled in his grip, slashing downwards one moment, then attempting to belly thrust the next. Emma's blade met the metal of his hook, the Dark One effortlessly holding her back. She didn't fight his shove back, instead rebounding, spinning round to come at his head from a new angle. But the blow didn't connect, his hook there, stopping her blade, even as David mercilessly hacked away at his sides. He came away with nothing for his troubles, save to chip away bits of the leather of the Dark One's coat.

Emma bit out a frustrated sound, lashing out with her legs. At best the target she chose would distract him, at worse leave him infuriated. Her knee connected, and for a second it seemed the breath blew out of the Dark One. Her father quick to seize the advantage, went for the Dark One's heart, intending to split it in half with his blade.

And then David was airborne, a self presevation of the Dark One sending Emma's father flying. He didn't go far, the forest too crowded with trees, one of which he slammed into headfirst. Emma heard her mother scream out, Mary Margaret running towards where David had landed. He wasn't moving, the sword slamming tip first into the ground, inches away from his body.

Emma didn't dare think that David might be dead. Didn't dare allow herself to fear she had lost a father she had barely begun to know. She just tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, grim determination in her to somehow bring down this monster.

The sword was caught mid blow, wrenched free of her hand by an unnatural force. She wouldn't let that deter her, striking him close fisted in the face and coming away with a hand that had gone numb from the contact. An arrow flew, just missing the Dark One's face, Emma hearing Mary Margaret screaming at her to run.

Even if she wasn’t stubbornly rebelling against such a command, there was no chance to flee. The Dark One had grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up off the ground. Leaving Emma choking one instant, growling the next. More arrows flew past, Mary Margaret refusing to take her own advice, refusing to abandon her husband and daughter to this unstoppable monster.

Emma felt her mother's frustration, as she kicked out with her legs, clawing at the arm of the hand that so effortlessly held her up off the ground. She didn't want to believe she was going to die like this, one hand digging her nails into his, the other held towards him in a warding gesture.

"Hook..." She barely got out his name, her voice sounded like gravel in response to the grip crushing down on her throat. "Please..." Emma hated that she was begging, but her options had run out. There was nothing left to do, but plead with a monster, hope there was enough of the man left inside him, to listen and show mercy.

"Emma..." The Dark One had hesitated, his grip relaxing slightly. Sorrow colored his sea dark eyes, an expression so unsettling on he who had once been nothing but wickedly flirtatious. Emma saw then that he really didn't want to do this, that he was truly enslaved by the dagger. That he was fighting even now, the compulsions of his mistress' command. And yet it would do none of them any good, could only delay the inevitable.

"Fight it." urged Emma, still speaking in the raspy tones forced on her by that bruising grip of his.

"I want to." He admitted, and then his grip tightened again. "But I can't..."

She tried to scream in frustration, but it came out a mere whimper. How did one fight, how did one hope to win against the Dark One's power? How did anyone do anything but lay down and die, when faced with such unfair odds.

"Help me." The Dark One gritted out through clenched teeth. Emma's eyes had widened, the woman shocked completely at the Dark One's plea. "Save me..."

All seemed frozen, waiting for Emma's answer. But how could she save him, when Emma couldn't even save herself? The familiar frustrations bloomed within her, Emma wishing she understood the power she was supposed to have. Would it have been enough? Was there anyway for the product of true love to combat such an ancient, and all powerful evil?

Her vision was blurring, the grip on her throat slowly but surely suffocating her. Wetness pricked at her eyes, but Emma refused to give in to tears. Sound echoed from a distance, Mary Margaret's scream barely more than a whisper. She saw faces of her past float before her, Neal, her son Henry, that of her parents and friends. Even Gold appeared, a ghostly vision of the past that helped remind her that the power was within her, Emma merely had to focus to find it, to know what she needed to do.

Difficult to focus when one was losing their tenacious grip on reality. Emma reached out, her hand making contact with the Dark One's chest. He felt warm, so full of life and vitality, in comparison to the cold that was streaking icy tendrils through her. Emma wanted that warmth, wanted to use it to stave off the cold. Her hand moved, doing an unconscious caress as she dipped inside his shirt to touch directly on his skin.

So focused was she on the warming feel of his flesh that Emma almost missed the look that flashed in the Dark One's eyes. Almost didn't see Hook looking back at her, the pain and surprise being eaten away by something primal. It was sin of a most wicked kind that gazed out at her, the ever flirtatious pirate longing for something she had never been prepared to give him. Emma would give it to him now, if it meant they stood a chance of surviving, if it meant it would buy Mary Margaret enough time to flee.

With the breath being choked out of her, Emma directed her touch lower, her accidental caress gaining purpose. The breath hissed out of the Dark One, Hook looking as though he was the one struggling to breathe now. His eyes were swallowed up in desire, when her hand slipped into his pants, Emma not bothering with being coy, or teasing, directly grasping hold of his cock, and giving it a purposeful squeeze.

Hook reacted immediately, the grip on her throat loosening as his erection sprung to potent life. Emma had a second to be amazed, and even made breathless and dazed, she didn't miss the cocksure smirk that he gave her, Hook proud of himself and the formidable size of his erection. He had been right to boast, and a part of her was actually anticipating feeling that length of his thrusting inside her.

Continuing to touch him, to stroke and grip the focal point of his arousal, Emma looked Hook right in the eyes, a smirk of her own inviting him to play. "What say we take this some place more private?"

It was all she had to say, Hook's arm going around her waist, pulling her against him so that her breasts squished against his chest. Emma didn't allow a second of hesitation to affect her, knowing there was no room for doubts at this point in time. This was the right course, the only course, and though it might just be delaying the inevitable, it might just buy the needed time. Time for her to figure out her powers, or time for Mary Margaret to find Ruby and Henry, and flee to where the Dark One's powers could not follow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Be Continued....

[fanficcritiques]

‘My Inner Life’ - Fanfic Commentary Part 1

Sometime in the late 90′s, early 00′s, the internet was graced with a Legend of Zelda fanfic that would become the stuff of infamous legend. A fanfic largely serving the purpose of the author’s wish fulfillment indulgence, its reputation of having contained things like “tiger sex” and a possible watersports kink continue to precede it even to this day, some 20-odd years later. 

As with a lot of online fan media and history, this story has long captured my attention and imagination. It’s difficult to say why exactly, as I don’t believe there is anything in this story that makes it especially unique in today’s landscape of fics, nor is there anything I find especially outrageous (at least by modern day standards). I suspect it’s due to the fact that said fic actually has a lot of potential and, therefore, becomes a draw for inspiration in its own way. 

Recently I chose to revisit this fic, somewhat in the spirit of ‘MSTing’ (a sort of commentary style that endeavors to be mocking in the spirit of humor). However, I wanted to approach this commentary with a more balanced view, no derisiveness, and overall, as if I was leaving editor’s notes for how the story might be improved. I believe we’ve moved past the era of making fun of fan works and insulting their creators, and for good reason, but I don’t think that means we can’t continue to study and comment on them. 

Before I continue on with the commentary I wanted to make it clear that this story has a special place in my heart, that I have endeavored to show both respect and consideration for the work itself and the author behind it in the notes I’ve made along the way. I realize there are elements of the ridiculous about this fic, but my goal is to show respect in my constructive criticism and I would appreciate that anyone who comments along does the same.  

I want to also add that I haven’t focused too much on spelling, grammar, or general construction errors this time around. This commentary focuses more on the plot, characterization, dialogue, things of that nature. 

So, without further ado...My Inner Life Part 1, prologue and author’s notes. My commentary is in italics and parentheses.  

Author’s notes: Hello. Thanks for choosing to read my story. As you might know I have become a major Zelda fan in the last year. Ever since I played OoT I have grown a fond interest in Link. I started to notice that after I got really into it, I found that I have a strange gift. A gift to Lucid Dream. I started having dreams about Hyrule, and about Link. In a Lucid Dream you can control your dreams. The dreams became very real, kinda like a second life, and almost every night I would have another. Starting from where the last left off. Even to this day I still have them. I find that they help me get through life. I know this may sound queer, but for me the dreams sure help me out. I have shared this story with many other people and so far all has liked it. Now as you read this it is told from my perspective or first person view.

(Some people choose to criticize LinksQueen for not understanding what lucid dreaming is, but given my own research, I think she’s actually right; lucid dreaming is, simply, an awareness while dreaming that one is, in fact, dreaming, and may be able to gain some control over the events that take place. It’s entirely possible she could return to her subconscious every night and make up this story as she went along. However, my theory has always been that some measure of self awareness dictated she needed to have a scapegoat of sorts to explain away the weirdness of what happens in this story. With the blame of a ‘dream’ -albeit one she can control- being to blame for what goes on here, responsibility falls from her shoulders. No, it doesn’t particularly make sense, but I feel that’s probably where she was coming from)

You will find that it is very detailed since I remember it all very clearly to this day. The story takes place after OoT. Nothing after that ever happens. No Majora's Mask. No LttP, or even Oracle of Ages and Seasons. And there is no love relation between Link and Zelda, Link and Ruto, Link and Malon or Link and Saria. Because of my feelings about Link, the person that he gets involved with in this story is myself or actually is my persona. A persona is for those of you who need to know, a representation of ones personality, or in dictionary terms is, (Persona) n. In biology, same as person. So for all you future readers, this story is based on Jenna, a char that is a representation of my personality.

(Again, she’s gotten a lot of flack over the years for this note of choosing to ignore Link’s possible chemistry with the flanking female characters, but I don’t think this is worth criticizing her for. It’s her fanfic, she has the right to disregard, rewrite what she pleases. Why else does fanfic exist if not for that purpose? I also don’t think it’s worth coming after her for writing herself a self-insert, wish fulfillment fantasy character to live vicariously through. Fanfic exists for a reason. It’s more...how this placeholder is written that deserves some amount of further inspection, but we’ll get to that in a moment) 

But if you think this might be too queer then you shouldn't read this. THIS IS NOT THE TYPE OF STORY FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DISLIKE, OR CANNOT HANDLE SUCH MATERAL AS THE CONTEXT OF THIS STORY. But if you seriously believe you can handle the content of this story, then read on. If your squeamish about sex, then you should not read this, since this story is a REAL LEMON and there is a lot of that, heavily detailed. (Between Link and I that is) Especially during the bonding ceremony. There is also some blood content and strong adult language. So if that’s too much then you should turn back now.

(Responsible and thoughtful of her to put warnings, though I do believe she should’ve also warned for the slight watersports kink that happens in said Bonding Ceremony. It might have saved her some trouble along the road, anyway, as it wouldn’t have come as an interesting surprise to the reader in later chapters. Maybe she didn’t want to spoil it? But anyway, I’m putting one now; urine drinking happens- and no, I’m not being intentionally judgmental about it, I know there are real, consenting adults out there who enjoy that sort of play and as long as one is being safe I don’t think it deserves any ridiculing, but it IS the sort of thing that I would consider ‘not everyone’s cup of tea’ and worth warning about in advance)  

Now I have not finished it as of yet. I have to catch up, since the last dream I had was just after Link and I had the blessing ceremony for our twins.(Our 3rd and 4th kids) Right now there is about 100-150 pgs worth. I'm expecting it to reach at least 300-350 probably even more. I will try to up date as often as possible. I hope that some of you like this. I do not mind sharing it. But please understand that this is very PRECIOUS to me, as well as Link. So like I said, if the content of this story sounds, too queer to you, TURN BACK NOW! But to all who wish to continue, happy reading. Thanks,

~*~ Link’s Queen ~*~

Rated R for strong adult language, sex, violence and blood content.

AGAIN AS A FINAL WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS HEAVY SEX, ABULT LANGUAGE AND TALKS ABOUT MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH LINK. THIS STORY IS BASED ON DREAMS, DREAMS ABOUT MY LIFE WITH HIM. IF YOU FIND THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY TO BE OFFENSEVE, QUEER, OR PLAIN OUT OFF THE WALL, THEN DO NOT READ ON!!!!!!! I HAVE GOTTEN WAY TO MANY FLAMES ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY WHEN I HAVE PLACED SEVERAL WARNINGS!!!! I WILL NOT ACCECPT ANY MORE FLAMES, RAMBLINGS, CUSSING OR EXCESSIVE LASHING OUT ABOUT THE CHAR JENNA, OR REVIEWS ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY, EXCESSIVE LASHING OUT, VICIOUS ATTACKS AGAINST MY PERSONALITY, OR NON-MATURE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISIM!!! ANY REVIEWS SUBMITTED THAT DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOUVE GUIDLINES, WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY! THESE WARNINGS ARE NOT THERE TO LOOK PRETTY, THE AUTHORS PLACE WARNINGS FOR A REASON!!! IT IS TO TELL YOU WHAT THE CONTENT OF THE STORY IS SO THAT IF THE READER FINDS THE CONTENT OF THE STORY OFFENSIVE, THEY WILL NOT READ ON!!! MANY AUTHORS HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT UNWANTED, EXCESSIVE, VIOLENT AND JUST PLAIN NASTY REVIEWS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED BY READERS ABOUT THEIR STORIES, CAUSING FANFICTION TO GRANT AUTHORS THE ABILITY TO DELETE UNWANTED REVIEWS AND BLOCK CERTAIN READERS!! I WILL SAY THIS FOR MYSELF AND FOR ALL AUTHORS ON FANFICTION. NO AUTHOR TWISTS YOUR ARM OR HOLDS YOU AT GUN POINT OR FORCES YOU IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM TO READ THEIR STORIES!! ALL READERS HAVE THE RIGHT NOT TO READ A CERTAIN STORY!!! IT IS YOUR RESOPONSIBILITY TO READ THE WARNINGS AND DECIDE FOR YOUSELF IF THE CONTENT OF THE STORY IS OFFENSIVE TO YOU, AND TO MAKE THE CHOICE TO READ ON OR NOT!!! AND IT ALSO IS THE READERS RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY ON HOW THEY HANDLE THENSELVES WHEN LEAVING A REVIEW FOR AN AUTHOR!! LEAVING A REVIEW THAT IS VIOLENT IN NATURE ONLY MAKES YOU THE READER LOOK BAD, AND IS VERY IMMATURE. IF  ALL US HERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ADULTS, WELL THEN, LETS CONDUCTIVE OURSELVES LIKE ADULTS AND NOT LIKE LITTLE KIDS! I ONLY EXPECT THE VIOLENT LASHING OUT AND VICIOUS ATTACKS TO COME FROM TEENANGERS, NOT ADULTS! IF YOU PEOPLE REALLY ARE ADULTS THAT ARE CONDUCTING YOURSELVES IN THE MANORS I DECRIBED ABOVE, YOU PEOPLE REALLY ARE SCARING ME!

IT’S A DAMN SHAME TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE ADULTS OUT THERE WHO CANNOT CONDUCTIVE THEMSELVES IN THE SIMPLEST MANORS THEIR PARENTS HAVE TAUGHT THEM! ALSO LEAVING MALICIOUS REVIEWS IS ALSO A SIGN OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM. IF ALL YOU PEOPLE KNOW HOW DO IS ATTACK SOMEONE VICIOUSLY, IT’S A SIGN OF SELFISHNESS AND NO RESPECT FOR ONES-SELF! I SUGGEST TO ALL READERS WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT LEAVING A MALICIOUS REVIEW FOR ME, PLEASE GET A HOBBY AND LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR ANGER, BECAUSE YOUR ONLY HURTING YOURSELF, NOT ME! ALSO LEAVING A NASTY REVIEW ONLY MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID, NOT ME!

I FIND IT VERY RIDICULOUS THAT I HAD TO LEAVE A WARNING THIS LONG, BUT IT IS BECAUSE OF THE VERY IMMATURE READERS THAT HAVE SUBMITTED NASTY CHILDISH REVIEWS!

AGAIN, PLEASE READ THE ABOVE CONTEXT BEFORE READING ON!!!!

(It’s at this point that Link’s Queen obviously reached the end of her patience with scathing reviews and felt her only line of defense was putting yet another note about the content of the story, albeit a rather didactic one...entirely in caps lock. But I get it, I do, and I think she does have a good point in that the plot and themes of the story are made clear from the outset -apart from the watersports, mind, but I already addressed that- and that there is nothing about this particular fanfic that warrants cruelty in the comments. Of course, this was published during a less conscientious time for the internet, a time when I also was in the infancy of my writing and received reviews of similar ilk lmao. It still doesn’t make it okay, nor does it make any of the threats or insults that came after okay either, but that’s kind of why I’m writing this commentary now)  

Furthermore, I have realized that this story needs some heavy grammar corrections, and that the plot needs some work. Also under the advisement of my friend who had just recently completed two literature classes, has stated the reasons why people had classified Jenna as a “Mary Sue” char and labeled her as “flat”. She has come to the conclusion that most people do not know or understand Jenna’s history, so she has advised me to create an origin story to explain about her history before she met Link. That way she will become more rounded and give people a reason to care about her. It was never in my intentions to create Jenna as a “Mary Sue” char or to make her conceited, because I’m not really like that. Jenna is a persona char, one that resembles my personality while this story is being told from her perspective. This story is not something that I pulled out of my head like my drawings, it came from my dreams. So I understand that revising this story is going to be hard work and will take time. Since this story is being told in the exact, or close to exact order it happened in the dreams, changing how fast Link and Jenna marry isn’t going to be easy. Even changing how fast they have sex and revising the Lemon parts also won’t be so easy to do. But I’m currently in the process of revising this story, also I have received a college grammar book from my friend and I will be investing in a Beta-Reader. I’m also considering taking to literature classes at JC to help boost my writing skills. But now I say this, if you people, the reviewers really have the intentions to help me, them please do it positively and like a mature adult. I’m telling you that it is a proven fact that negative motivation NEVER motivates someone to change. It never has and it never will. I’m pretty sure your parents have taught you that people only respond to positive motivation and not negative.

(We’ll start with the beginning of this paragraph. I don’t think the issue with Jenna, as a character, was ever that she was conceited. In fact, she might have been more well-rounded and interesting if she had been conceited; moreover, I think the weakness in her as an OC is that she doesn’t really have much of a personality to speak of at all. Jenna is defined by her relationship with Link, some attributes that are thrown out as afterthoughts within the dialogue and have no real bearing on the plot (at some point she is characterized as “spiritual” though we are never given any evidence, before or after, that correlates to her being a particularly spiritual person at all). She is a traveling merchant when the story begins, though that fails to carry over anything worth noting. She’s an orphan and has been without her parents for a good bit of her childhood- again, this fails to provide any character attributes, issues or consequences at all, much less anything that affects the story in any real way apart from giving her some sympathy from the King and leading him to more or less adopt her, at least when she’s in Hyrule. A backstory means very little if it has no effect on the development of the plot or character.

She also mentions the dreams here again, cementing my aforementioned theory in the line “this story is not something that I pulled out of my head like my drawings, it came from my dreams” as dreams, here, are being used as an excuse for why the story is the way it is and why it cannot, apparently, be easily changed. But again, I would assert that the main issue is not really in how fast Link and Jenna have sex and get married, but rather in the lack of character Jenna has, the lack of insight given to the reader about why Link and Jenna like each other, why that lead to them falling in love. I understand that this story is wish fulfillment first and foremost and in such a fantasy story it’s a given that the placeholder character will win the heart of their affections, but not providing any real relationship growth or insight can leave readers feeling out in the cold, so to speak. We don’t know Jenna as a character, we don’t know why she and Link should fall in love so completely. We need to see it. 

But anyway, good on her at the time for wanting to better herself with further education, I hope she was able to achieve that.) 

I’m not close-minded, I NEVER have been. I have always been open to other people’s thoughts and opinions, its when its done in an inappropriate manner that I turn my nose at it and look away. People have to understand that when you’re an adult, you need to conduct yourself like one and learn how to address other people like one. You cannot just act childish when you come across something that you DO NOT approve of, you’re only making yourself look bad and that can affect you later on in life. Acting childish and ranting and raving is something I’d expect a little kid would do when he doesn’t get his way. When an adult acts childish over stupid things, that’s looked down upon, and considered to be unhealthy. I have seen far too many reviews left for me where the reviewers are just ranting and raving like little kids over this story because they do not like it. It is only making them look stupid and is very unhealthy. I fear that these people have some serious emotional problems if they get that upset over a story. People in control of their emotions and have also obtained some sort of common sense, NEVER let little things get them all riled up. It is very sad when one that is supposed to be an adult, cannot handle them like one. I was NEVER angry with the reviewers not liking the story, it’s how they handled themselves when leaving me the reviews. Getting riled up, ranting and raving, screaming and spitting nails over this story is what has caused me to get upset, not the fact that they didn’t like it.

Also as a side note, I NEVER physically hurt ANYONE with this story. I got one reviewer that said. “Oh God please stop writing, your hurting everyone.” Now I want to know where I physically touched that person. I want to know how I’m twisting anyone’s arms to read this. I have never done anything of the sort in any way, shape or form and I DO NOT appreciate being accused of that! If you’re emotionally hurt over this, its your fault not mine. I’m sorry if it did, but I have placed several warnings describing the content of this story and if you know what it contains and you do not like this type of material, then why are you reading it? I do not appreciate getting accused for other people’s actions. It is your choice as the reader to read the content of this story and it is not my fault if it upsets you when you knew from the gecko what it contained. So please DO NOT flame me about it.

I also feel like a schoolteacher teaching a bunch of little kids. And I find that this really wasn’t necessary and shouldn’t have had to come to this, but it is very hard when your reviewers have forgotten how to conduct themselves like adults.

If you honestly think that being malicious is a good thing and that you’re not wrong in doing so, well then your blinded by your own selfish pride. People with common sense learn how to take responsibility for themselves and are able to admit when their wrong. I have found that many of the reviewers that have left me malicious reviews honestly believe that its appropriate behavior for an adult. When it really is that they are too self-absorbed in themselves to admit their wrong. Again that results from selfish pride. One to scared to admit in front of others that they just might be wrong. Also, how can any of you hold any right to call Jenna conceited when in reality, your contradicting yourself by being conceited as well? Being conceited is again selfish pride and being self-absorbed. And yes, it is and always will be a fact that most of the reviewers have been conceited and very contradictive. Please DO NOT leave me a review that only contradicts what you are trying to preach. You should in reality, take your own advice.

Again I find it very ridiculous that this had to be as long as it is, but it is due to the fact that people not conducting themselves appropriately. Also if I do receive any more malicious reviews, with screaming, spitting nails or ranting and raving over this story because you do not like it then are to self-absorbed to admit that acting like that is wrong, well then you have proven my point! All of this is very self-explanatory!

 Now PLEASE DO NOT READ ON if you DO NOT plan on leaving me a review appropriately!

(She more or less repeats points she already made here, but again, I agree. The summary and numerous warnings should have clued people in to the fact that this was going to be a fantasy, wish fulfillment, placeholder type story and to expect the kind of thing that goes on therein. It also shouldn’t have given anyone free reign to be cruel or leave threatening reviews, etc)

Prologue

    Dreams come in many forms. Some good, some bad, some very realistic, even ones that feels very real. A dream may come to us from happy events, or even stem from bad events in our lives. Some come to us as a pleasure dream and some come as nightmares. Some become vague memories after time, while some stay very rich in our minds. This is a story about a dream that I had. A dream that became more dreams. A dream that would end one night then resumes the next. It became like a second life. Ever since I became a Zelda fan, I grew an interest in Link. I thought of him as the perfect man. One that you could not find of this world. I thought of him as a man that should have been. The more that he attracted my attention the more I became more attracted to him.  I felt like there was a connection between him and me. Then he became a part of me, and after that I fell deeply in love with him.

     I know that may sound queer to you but love is a mysterious thing and should not be taken lightly. Love is a very strong emotion, an emotion that should be treasured. Love comes from the heart, but when it takes hold, it’s got you. I quite don't understand it myself, but I do know that when I first laid my eyes upon Link I fell in love with him. My heart just told me it was right. Told me he was the one, the one I had been searching for. Ever since then I have felt that it was destiny that has brought me to him. Even in my mind it feels the same. I don't consider myself any different from anyone else. Though I have love for someone that is not really there, he will always remain very real to me inside my heart and in my mind. Even to this day I still love him. He has kept me very happy. He has made me happy when I was sad. He has made me feel stronger about myself. He has even taken care of me in ways that no one else can. Even though I have feelings for him, I'm not any different from the rest of you. I will always hold him close to me in my heart. He is still on my mind and I still have dreams. The connection stills remains strong, and the dreams very real.

     I lived an entire life with Link in Hyrule. All stemming from a series of dreams. Dreams that I want to have. Dreams that I make happen. From the first day I met him, to the birth of our first child, to even the days when Link and I prepared our family in the event that Gannon should return. This book is based on my inner life. A second life lived in a far away land in another time line in another dimension. A tale of love, passion, despair and hope. I enjoyed my inner life. I looked forward to going to sleep to it every night. And I look forward to ones that will come, because LOVE WILL NEVER DIE.

(Again, this is one of the points of the story that the writer gets a lot of flack for, but I think it’s pretty harmless to project on a fictional character and use their likeness to fill a sense of loneliness. Nothing wrong with it, and I’m not here to judge. I think we all probably did something similar at a point in our lives- I used to privately pretend Legolas was my boyfriend when I was like 10 or 11, so yknow, glass houses!!!) 

[ginnyzero]

Being a Fanfic Writer is Okay

AKA I love Fanfiction

Fan Fiction, a bit controversial and a bit time worn topic in writing and fandom circles. But let’s face it, fan fiction is older than dirt (Shakespeare anyone?) and isn’t about to go away any time soon. So, we might as well face the pink elephant in the room and address the issue. Besides, fan fiction is really personal to me. Of course, before I get all maudlin about my experiences with fan fiction, maybe we better discuss what fan fiction is, a bit of history and where to find it.

Fan fiction is at its core, a story written by someone who isn’t the original owner of a story. They are simply a fan writing in someone else’s world using someone else’s characters. After that, the possibilities are pretty much limitless and maybe we can discuss some of the more interesting aspects of fan fiction later. Some of our favorite classic stories might be considered fan fiction, Homer’s take on the Trojan War for example. Shakespeare wrote wild interpretations of the lives of British Kings. And modern day published fan fiction would be the books based on favorite television shows or popular games, video, role playing or even board games. A type of visual fan fiction would be the movie Clue! Based on the popular Clue board game. (Sadly not really an action movie, drat.) Star Wars Expanded Universe is a type of authorized published fan fiction. And who can forget the hundreds and hundreds of Star Trek novels based upon the episodes and later expounding upon the universe.

Speaking of Star Trek, the modern take on fan fiction really took off with the introduction of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Before the internet (what a phrase,) ambitious Trekkies created magazines that writers could submit their own stories about the Starship Enterprise and her crew and receive subscriptions of them in the mail. Many of these stories revolved around Kirk and Spock in a romantic relationship, which is still a huge pairing today. Other fandom groups copied this magazine model and later as the internet took off, they created online email groups, forums, journaling sites, chat rooms and individual sites, until someone got ambitious enough to create the first fan fiction archive. And suddenly, there was a place where any writer of any talent could post their work to one place and read everyone else’s work no matter the quality or fandom. And with the introduction of Japanese anime to America, the concept of fan fiction exploded.

And Sturgeon’s Law reared its ugly head. 90% of it is crap.

But that’s okay.

A lot of archives came and went. There are only a few that stayed the course; fanfiction.net, mediaminer.org, adult-fanfiction.org and the baby of the family, archiveofourown.org (AO3). Each of these rather interesting archives have a tumultuous history and interesting backstories, which I really don’t want to get into right now. Just saying, if you have a bunch of free time, want to read some free stories and have some fandoms you really love, then these are the places to go. It might take some time to wade through the truly awful stories to find the gems, but the side effect of fan fiction archives, are fan fiction recommendation lists! These handy lists have the best fan fiction from certain fandoms in the compliers subjective viewpoint! Always a good starting place.

As I said, fan fiction is really personal to me. As it says in my bio, I have no formal education about writing outside some interesting English classes in college. I got a C in research papers and grammar; a B in creating a pitch and an A in narrative storytelling. This probably should have told me something. What I do have, is a very long history and experience in fan fiction. I’m not comfortable with putting my pen name out there, let’s just say I’ve been writing fan fiction for over fifteen years in a variety of fandoms under a couple of different names. And in the beginning, I was one of those probably writing crap. And I didn’t care. I was writing and I was having fun. Writing fan fiction helped me through my bad high school experience (a lot of people have them) and it helped others too. And that was important to me. Is still important to me. I grew. I improved. I got to focus on things in fan fiction that I would never have focused on if I had been trying to write original works. And it helped me churn out idea after idea and see how I could string these ideas together to create good concepts and make better stories.

The greatest thing about fan fiction in my opinion, is that it gets people of every age (I have met as many forty year olds as I have twelve year olds) writing. And when people write, they also tend to read. Okay, so maybe they are reading in this vacuum bubble of fan fiction where 90% of it is crap and they may or may not improve, yet, they are reading and you know, that is okay. Because, let’s face it, 90% of the published world of books is crap too. And let us not get started on this idea of self-publishing. Seriously, anything that introduces a little bit of literacy to the world I’m all for. I’m not going to discourage anyone from taking up a pen or sitting down at a computer or type writer and taking these ideas they have in their head and getting them out there. Because, there is a certain magic to it. Let’s not stifle any form of creativity of the arts here.

Now writing and posting fan fiction are two completely different things. And if someone wants to write a story based on 10 Things I Hate About You (which in itself was an authorized fan fiction of the Taming of the Shrew, which is based on classic literature tropes) and keep on their computer for only themselves to read. That is fine! However, if they want to take that fantastical leap of courage and post it the internet in one fashion or another for the public to see, then that, is inspirational. Posting, which in this case is essentially publishing, something you have created from your heart for others to see and consume is perhaps one of the scariest things you can do. And I applaud them for their courage because the public is not a safe place and you never know what will happen. Now, I will say that a lot of fandom communities can be nice and welcoming. And then there are the communities that are insular and full of drama. And sometimes, publishing in the fan fiction world is like shouting into a canyon and hearing the echo and you might have to shout several times (meaning publish more than one story or more than one chapter of a story) to get any sort of response. Hey, being popular in one fandom, doesn’t automatically guarantee being popular in another fandom!

And that is where the sense of community steps in. Sure, you will probably get a lot of ‘squee, I love it, write more!’ responses, which are good for the ego and the soul. But there will be rare times, where you will meet people who love the same things you do and want to squee and discuss writing. About characterization, and plot bunnies hopping out of control and multiplying and isn’t so and so just hot as this character. And suddenly, one isn’t so alone anymore. You don’t feel exactly strange or like a hermit who sits alone in their bedroom typing for hours at a time. Out there, in the world, there are people just like you, doing the same things. And it is okay. People, as a community who like a certain thing, are being creative and sharing ideas. And that is wonderful. So, the execution of said ideas might not be wonderful, but now, the idea is out there in the universal consciousness waiting to be picked up by someone else, tinkered with and fine-tuned and maybe a better version of it, or maybe one just as bad, will be published to be seen and shared by more people so more interesting and diverse stories can be born. (Or, as it is so easy to see in fan fiction if you pay attention, a new fad of fiction tropes and mish mash of nonsensical ideas put together to create something absolutely crazy but mind numbingly fun that you have to go ‘what the fuck, who came up with this bullshit and how did it become so popular and why wasn’t it me? [Superwholock, Omegaverse, Soulbonding])

Now we could discuss the legality of fan fiction, or some of the crazy views that published authors have about fan fiction (Anne McCaffery, George RR Martin), or some of the awesome things that have happened to people because of their fan fiction and the original creators being okay with it (Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Joss Whedon). Or the crazy things that some fan fiction writers do to take their fan fiction and make it into original fiction (Cassandra Claire, 50 Shades of Grey.) But those could take a couple thousand more words and some of it sincerely bewilders me.

Fan fiction is great. I enjoy writing it. And I also enjoy reading it when I have time. There is nothing wrong with people, in their spare time, writing fluffy and sometimes not so fluffy stories about their favorite characters in their favorite universes. There are a lot more horrible things they could be doing than writing stories about fictional people and posting it on the internet.

Now, when I get published (and I say when, not if because I must believe in the when), as a matter of course and a, for your information, I won’t be reading any fan fiction of my own works. (Though, I’d love to keep track of statistics for it, that would be amusing.) It comes down to the universal consciousness once again. If one of those stories someone writes about my work has an amazing idea and I read it, later forget about it, and then think I come up with it on my own and use that idea, then, well, I could be sued. (It has happened.) It is unlikely that the fan fiction writer will win (there is precedent about this), but I would still feel awful. So it is just better all around if I don’t read fan fiction of my own work. Which for me is kind of sadness, but hey, it is a fact of life.

That being said. I hope that I do inspire people to write their own crazy times using my characters or creating their own characters and putting them in my world, or crossing my world into their other favorite worlds. Because, if I wasn’t so busy writing the original world, I’d probably be doing the same thing. There is nothing wrong with people having a good time and enjoying themselves. In fact, if it helps get them through a bad place in their life, then good for them.

Not that the die hard fan fiction writers need permission from me. But those who aren’t so certain, and maybe worry a bit too much or have been told that writing original is superior to writing fan fiction and believed it. Writing fan fiction is okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it and go out there and have fun. Go on, get your fanfic on!

[aki-chan2014]

The Kirigiri Lab Guide to SYOC etiquette.

Chatting with various friends on Discord about the ups and downs of being in the SYOC (submit your own character) fan fiction community, I decided to create this list of basic rules of how to act when it comes to SYOCs. It has rules and explanations that apply to both those who write such fan-fictions and those who submit characters to it, and while it was made in response to the experience of Danganronpa SYOCs (hence post title and some other minor things in the rules), this etiquette can be applied to any SYOC in any fandom

It would be cool if this could circulate as an actual, semi-official guide to SYOC etiquette, so to that end this post will have ‘signatures’ at the bottom of people who support this and agree to follow the rules listed in it. If you want your name included, either reblog the post to ‘sign’ or ask me to add your name to the list that will be at the bottom. And if there are rules you think I could add, let me know and it will be considered.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the Kirigiri Lab Guide to SYOC etiquette:

  Rule 1: Treat others with decency (or, in the words of Sparky, ‘don’t be a c***’) This one essentially underpins all the other rules here, and is probably very self-explanatory, but I think when it comes to SYOC fanfiction, there are a few specific things you should or should not do to be a decent human being to others involved in it (because yes, all of us creators and writers are human beings):

-If the SYOC doesn’t interest you, or you don’t like the premise, then just don’t say anything. There will always be other SYOCs, so there will be something for you, somewhere. No need to get pissy just because this one SYOC does not catch your eye. And no need to make a point of saying you’re not going to submit either. It’s demoralising, and you gain nothing from it.

-Don’t abuse the SYOC writer for not accepting your character, or for giving your character a different fate to whatever one you had envisioned for them. More on the latter in the third rule, but yeah. It’s okay to be upset if your character isn’t accepted, but be polite. If you don’t want to follow a fic that doesn’t have your OC in it, just discreetly unfollow or whatever, don’t make a production of it.

-Do not pester people for reviews. Yes, reviews can make all the difference to morale, and it’s fine to just put a generic ‘hope you enjoyed, please leave feedback’ in an author’s note at the end somewhere. But don’t, for example, make the acceptance of characters contingent on their creators leaving reviews, or constantly pester people by PMs to leave you reviews.

-For the most part, if you have nothing nice to say in a review, say nothing at all. But if you do have some negative criticism, it is okay only if it is constructive, and aimed at the writing and not the writer themselves. If you do have concerns about the writer themselves, PM it instead.  And actually use an account, or if that isn’t possible, find a way to allow the author to respond to you.

Rule 2: Follow the SYOC writer’s rules. Every SYOC will come with its own set of rules for what sort of characters to submit, and how to submit them, and other such things. Lots are similar (no Mary Sues/Gary Stus, no recycled characters-more on that in rule 4-, no repeat talents etc. etc.) Read those rules carefully, and then for crying out loud follow them.

Rule 3: Remember that the SYOC is a two-way process. As a character creator, you have the responsibility to follow the rules the writer has set out and put actual effort into your character. Obviously, do not act like this is a novel you need to properly research and don’t let the process stop being fun to you, but you must put some effort in to make the character a good one.  And as a writer, you have a responsibility to portray the character in the best way that you can, and to do right by them.  Though in the end what that looks like is up to you and how you want the story to go, if you’re not sure about something or you need to change something like their name, clothing etc. etc.-ask the character’s creator!

But of course, creators, if you’re concerned that your character is being portrayed OOC, PM them and voice your concerns politely, but please bear in mind people interpret things differently.  If you’re just annoyed your character was a killer when you thought of them more as a survivor or whatever, keep that to yourself and don’t berate the writer for it. That side of things is the side that’s the responsibility of the writer, not you. Trust that they have put thought into it and decided that this was the best course of action-after all, if they hadn’t liked your character, they’d never have accepted them.

Rule 4: Don’t recycle characters. Okay, so just how strict this rule is definitely a preference that differs from writer to writer, but generally speaking, if you’ve got a character that’s already appearing in one fanfic, DO NOT, for the love of all that is good, send them to another fic! It’s incredibly disrespectful to the writer both of the first fic and the new one, and it also breaks Rule 3.

Naturally, there are exceptions-if you have sent a character before but they weren’t accepted, it’s fine to try them again elsewhere. The same goes if the character was accepted and there is confirmation one way or another that the story is discontinued. But if the character isn’t a rejected one or from a story that is definitely discontinued (no, a hiatus does not count), then DON’T. Seriously, don’t.

Rule 5: Don’t plagiarise. I do not need to explain this one (I hope).

Rule 6: Have fun!!! Seriously, writing SYOCs, creating OCs for other people’s, it’s all great, great fun. So enjoy yourself!

Signed by: TheRoseShadow21 (that’s me), @not-mayurie , Gramps, Sparky, Ducks (YellowTheWriter on ff.net)

[queen-of-the-crows]

11 Questions Tag

Okay so I was tagged by like 5 different people and I'm just gonna answer all in one post cause that's the easiest way to do it. Huge thank you to all my loves who tagged me in this @annorarutherford @heraldofwho @sassylavellen @enchantment1385 (twice :P) @elevanetheirin :)

Buckle up cause this is gonna be a long ride!

@annorarutherford questions

1. Biggest fear? Feeling like I've done nothing with my life and that I've been a failure

2. Favorite flower/plant? I'm not a nature person, that's just not my thing but a black rose

3. Are you close to your family? Sorta, some of them anyway, depends on alot honestly

4. Your deepest wish? Not to be rich but to be able to pay all my bills and still have a good amount of money left over to save and buy fun stuff

5. What's something that always calms you? No one thing always works, it depends on why I'm not calm. Video games work often, some times reading, sometimes writing, sometimes drinking

6. Some movies you love? Love this question! Jaws, Jurassic Park series, Alien series, Beauty and the Beast, Dracula, The Crow, and many others

7. Guilty pleasure song? I'm not really ashamed of anything I listen to but alot of people judge me for loving Fall Out Boy so I'll say anything by them, I have an entire playlist

8. Favorite weird smell? Professional hair color, I fucking love it. Also the green soap they use in tattoo shops

9. Game that has changed your life and how? Dragon Age. It introduced me to my love of gaming and are me fall in love with Thedas and the characters

10. Someone(s) on Tumblr you really admire/like? All my usual lovelies of course @annorarutherford @a-shakespearean-in-paris @sassylavellen @enchantment1385 @aban-asaara @heraldofwho also love seeing posts from @jawsandbones @andrastini @fyeahfenrisxfhawke @laraslandlockedblues @nevertrustamage and others

11. Worst personality traits someone can have? Always down on themselves, put down everyone around them, bad hygiene! (Not a personality trait but seriously bathe), being insanely cocky and thinking they can get whoever they want

@heraldofwho questions

1. When you get butterflies in your stomach what color are they? Blues and purples

2. If spiders could talk what would their voices sound like? I think they'd sound alot like Flemeth

3. How do you like your coffee or tea? In the trash lol I hate them both

4. If you could learn any language instantly, which one would you choose? Oh man, there's so many cool ones. Probably Russian, I love the sound of it

5. If they made a DA/ME film or series about YOUR protagonist- which OC would you choose and who should play them? Oh shit, I love them all so much!!! Probably Clea cause I think her and Zevran's story would be the most interesting. I would cast Megan Fox as Clea, she's my face claim for her and she plays a pretty good badass.

6. What change the nature of a person? Anything really depending on the person, death seems to be a big one, break ups, being broken

7. What musical instrument do you play? What instrument would you like to learn? I play piano and I sing. I'd like to have a piano so I can practice more but I wanna learn guitar also

8. Pick any aspect of your life or personality and choose a theme song for it. You Call Me A Bitch Like Its A Bad Thing by Halestorm because I'm very much fuck you and your opinions of me, i don't find being called a bitch insulting

9. Can you cook or bake? What's your speciality? I love baking and I can cook too. Cakes are my favorite thing to make

10. Got any dead crushes? Heath Ledger, Brandon Lee, Paul Walker, and Gary Oldman (I mean him in Dracula is to die for)

11. What is your quirkiest hobby or interest? I don't have many so probably writing fanfic

@sassylavellen questions

1. Do you have a favorite soundtrack from a movie or video game? Oh yes, Queen of the Damned. Best soundtrack ever created

2. What was the first video game you remember playing? Either Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart way back on Game Cube

3. If you could have any kind of food right now what would it be? Chocolate cake or Panda Express, maybe both

4. Are you a good cook? Oh yes

5. Do you have or want any exotic pets? I would love to have an iguana. Snakes are cool too

6. What fictional character would you love to be friends with? Oh so many, strictly friends with no somatic interest: Dorian, Varric, Cassandra, Shale, Charlie from Supernatural, The Doctor, Lisbeth Salandar, and Scout Harding

7. If you could have any superpower what would it be? Telekinesis and mind control

8. What movie could you watch and enjoy every single time? So many. Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Big Hero 6 are probably my tops though

9. Favorite color combinations? Black crimson and white, black grey and blue, black and deep purple, basically dark combinations

10. When you play games do you use armor sets that have good stats but looks bad or armor that looks good with bad stats? Definitely looks good with bad stats but I keep the ugly with good stats to change into for particularly challenging encounters. I love the story aspect of games and put so much time into my characters I like them to look good

11. Favorite genre of music? Rock and metal. KoRn and Rob Zombie are my absolute favorites if that helps explain it

@enchantment1385 first set of questions

1. Favorite fandom and why? Dragon Age. Best game series ever, the characters, the play through, the environment, the choices, the romance. And the people I interact with here are amazing

2. What's your Pokemon team? I played Black 2 so my favorite team was Zoroark, Arcanine, Banette, Lapras, Hydreigon, and Virizion

3. Favorite team in Dragon Age or Mass Effect? Depends on my class honestly but my favorite is dual weapon rogue so I'll answer for that. Origins- Alistair, Morrigan, either Shale or Zevran. DA2- Fenris, Aveline, either Varric or Anders or Merrill. Inquisition- Cassandra, Dorian, either Cole or Iron Bull

4. Favorite nonBioware game? Dishonored

5. OTP? Alistair and Cousland, Zevran and Mahariel, Fenris and Hawke, Cullen and Lavellan. None DA OTPs Mulder and Scully, Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, Emma Swan and Captain Hook, Rose Tyler and the 10th Doctor

6. What is your guilty pleasure? I really don't have one that I know. Reading smutty fan fic maybe?

7. A food you can't get enough of? Cheese pizza, mac and cheese, spaghetti

8. What can you see right now? I'm in class so classroom stuff

9. Something I don't know about you? Alot. I'm coloring my hair white, I have a huge Fenris and femhawke in progress back piece, I'm in cosmetology school, I have a tattoo appointment with Sarah Miller

10. Most loved OC and why? As hard as it to choose between all my loves, I choose Clea. She's the most like me or rather I see the most of myself in her and that was an accident. I love her attitude, her sarcasm, her badassness, her relationship with Zevran, her goals, how she carries herself and how she just is.

11. What song is stuck in your head right now? Hold Me Tight Or Don't by Fall Out Boy

@enchantment1385 second set of questions

1. What does your name mean? Do you think the meaning is anything like you? Like our usernames? Queen of the Crows is a reference to Clea who takes over the Antivan Crows with Zevran and they do some reforming of the guild. She's one of the leaders so she's the queen of the Antivan Crows, hence queen of the Crows. Is that anything like me? Well I mean she's my OC and I'm alot like her so I would hope to be that badass if I was in Thedas.

2. First celebrity crush? Max Thieriot, he's still good looking too

3. If you could live in one fictional world, which one would you choose and why? Come on love, guess :P lol definitely Thedas. Learn archery and dual wield, find one of my favorite romances and fall in love. Oh yes! Second choice would be Westoros provided I could be with Jon Snow of course

4. Why did the chicken cross the road? His life bored him and he needed change

5. You can have one superpower, what do you choose? Answered this already but since this says only 1 I choose telekinesis

6. Biggest pet peeve? When people can't do simple things

7. 1 fictional character you would meet for a day if you could? Hmmmm I wanna meet alot. If I only have a day I think I'd choose Iron Bull, I'd be in for an adventure all day

8. First game you ever completed? Dishonored

9. Which class in game do you enjoy playing the most? Definitely rogue. Idk what it is but I love rogues especially dual weapon although I've recently gotten into playing archery as well

10. Favorite fictional villain and why? I love Maleficient. She turns into a fucking Dragon and is bitter for not being invited to a party. And the movie really goes into depth about how she became how she was and it shows that good people can be broken so badly they become bitter heartless and evil

11. Creepiest experience? I'm not really sure, I try to avoid that sort of thing. I've been hit on by creepy weirdos though

@elevanetheirin questions

1. Coffee or tea? I hate them both. I'm a soda junkie though and love energy drinks

2. What is your favorite book or book series? I have a few. Dracula (this is my all time favorite), A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin (aka GoT series), Millennium series by Stieg Larsson (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and The Meg series by Steve Alten

3. Do you have a hidden talent? Most people don't know I can play piano

4. Who is your favorite author? George R R Martin, Steve Alten, Michael Crichton, Ellen Hopkins, Stieg Larsson

5. Favorite type of cookie? Chocolate chip, I know I'm boring

6. Brotp? Varric and Hawke, Sara Lance and Mick Rory, Meredith Grey and Alex Kerev, Sherlock and Watson, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner

7. Did you have a nickname in school? I've never really had a nickname ever. My love in high school called me his muse cause he's an artist. Lots of classmates called me that weird goth girl cause I was always quiet, very smart, read for fun, and was goth.

8. Do you have resting bitch face? Oh fuck yes I do haha I love it though

9. What makes you smile? Alot. My stupid cats, my boyfriend, my favorite shows and movies, funny gaming videos, video games, reading, SLEEP, FOOD

10. What one thing do you like most about yourself? The fact that I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks about me. Looks wise probably my eyes

11. The best part of your day yesterday? Getting paid so I had money for chicken nuggets

Finished them all!!!! My 11 questions

1. If you could switch places with one fictional character who would it be and why? (Besides your OCs)

2. If you could choose one fictional character to be your love interest forever who would it be and why?

3. Least favorite video game you've ever played?

4. How did you get introduced into the Dragon Age fandom?

5. Which of your OCs is the most like you and how?

6. If you could only watch one genre of movie for the rest of your life which one would you choose?

7. One tattoo you plan on getting someday?

8. Xbox, PlayStation, or PC?

9. Do you have any exes you would take back if they ever asked?

10. Favorite quest in the Dragon Age series?

11. Favorite ship or OTP?

I'm not tagging anyone cause most you already tagged me but if you wanna answer my questions then go for it!

[ladyymontilyet]

hmmm how bout 1 8 15 18 21 22 32 and 40 for the writing meme? i am curious

honestly adri im curious too i should have asked more but!!! im bad with numbers

under a read more bc i talk too much!!!!

1.  When did you first start writing?

ok imma direct you to elfie’s ask which should be right before this one

8.  What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

I’ve gotten a few I really love but like. in terms of what has always stuck with me most, it was one of the first ones I ever got: imagine me at age eleven, my first actual fanfic being written and put out on quotev for everyone to see. My Little Pony, mind, and I was terrified because I loved writing andn I loved the show at the time, and I hoped someone would like it too.

someone did. I dont now who they are, but I remember their comment: i love your writing! this is my favourite fanfic because i think it really fits in with the show’s timeline, and the way the characters are written. i can’t wait to read more!

seriously despite the comments i’ve received from people after that one still sticks with me because if someone could believe in my writing then, when I was so young and new to it all, then damn it someone will like my writing now, even if it’s just me. 

(the more serios piece that I got was from my grade seven/eight english teacher at my grade 8 graduation: she alwas supported my writing and shit, which was nice because nobody else had until her, and she always was confident I’d go far with it, and I remember she gave me the English award for my year, and her lil joke when she passed it to me was “I hope you never forget your dear elementary school english teacher when you become a famous author” and it’s silly but it’s also super nice to know she believed in me enough to easily joke with it)

15. What would you say has inspired you the most?

person wise? J. R. R Tolkien. when i say he was my idol as a kid, I’m not kidding. I was a boring and lonely kid who never said anything, and I took a lot of refuge in the pages of his stories, and in the adventures I found there. More recently, though, I’ve found my drive for writing in wanting to reach people. I know a lot of fanfics that hit me, and I want, in some degree, someone to be able to go “i never thught of it with that mindset” afer reading something. i want someone to be able to look at something i made and see themselves there. to find a safe place, even for a few minutes, or start thinking about anything because of something i wrote. i want to reach people, even if it’s just “oh man let me show you this fic about this character i love!” and i hope that if i do reach people with my writing, whether i leave a mark on them or not, i want it to be something. that sounds so sappy but im lowkey crying lmao 

18. How do you feel about love triangles?

they make a story interesting, you shout. no, i say, eyes hooded and shoulders slumped. they make tension appear for the reader, you say, a little quieter now. no, i respond, the life slowly draining from my body. my watch spins faster. time is an illusion, but it still gives the effect one would guess it does. they’re not that bad, you say once more, barely a whisper now. you touch your cheek. its wet. when did you start crying?

no.

my body is no longer there. my watch has stopped. was there even a watch at all? 

no.

triangles do not exist. get them out of my fuCKING BOOKS JESUS CHRIST ALL I WANNA READ IS SOME NICE MODERN FANTASY AT NO POINT DO I WANT BOX TYPE STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER TO BE DEVIATED FROM END OF THE WORLD PLOT BECAUSE TWO EDGY BOYS ARE NICE TO HER AND HAVE NICE EYES AND NAMES THAT SOUND LIKE FALL OUT BOY TITLES.

(i hate love triangles. i hate them so much adri you dnt even know)

21. Do you outline?

fuck no outlining is for weenies and also class projects that demand a rough draft (i hate rough drafts)

22. Do you start with characters or plot?

 both?? it depends. if i have a plot idea, i get that down and then think of characters, but if i have characters a plot will form sometimes. sometimes i think of it and i go “wait oh my gosh x oc would go well with that idea h shit” and then never do anything with it

32. How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?

again im gonna direct you to elfies answer bc im lazy sorry

40. Which is your favourite original character, and why?

OH NO. OH GOSH. Ok this is hard i ahve so many ocs. let me chek pinterest and tell you how many hold on

ok so unrelated to games or anything i have. 16 or so, and hen if u add in all mybioware ones it goes up tooooooo abt 40 plus a few others so i have. a lot of ocs uh. 

i dont really have a favourite??? but seriously @anyone if you want to talk about ocs with me HIT ME UP IM ALWAYS READY I AM A L W A Y S thinking of at least one oc ok i wanna hear about yours i wanna tell you about mine lets talk ocs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!