#something i had in my drafts for almost 4 years now lol

[soldierboys]

THE BOYS 2.06 The Bloody Doors Off

[sempsimps]

Gregory Violet x reader

okay so after episode 5 i made this draft and I've only just finished it now leave me be anyway i have no idea why i thought that making reader a bluwer sibling but the narrative fits to good? i don't know. I've written so much that i cease to see who asked anymore, but oh well

sweet fluffy kisses turned

admirers to lovers?

fast burn boi (its a one shot what do you want?)

slight mention of you being an unwanted sibling because you haven't done anything yet. lol imagine

Context

It's the cricket opening ceremony, you are the twin of Lawrence Bluewer, along with your 7 sisters who needed to go to the cricket matches to see Lawrence play it, was his last year after all. but you didn't really like parties that much, too many people, but someone caught your eye the first year you came here. unknowingly, Gregory had found his gaze drifting over to the sister Bluewer never mentioned. It's always the 3 older and 4 younger, never the twin, always a stain on the family. but Gregory always noticed the empty space on his sketch "something's missing," never pointing it out. although curiosity almost getting the better of him, and you seen that over the years he became a prefect and he was just so pretty from afar. Just the right type of quiet but skilled and fitting into the role of prefect, and he wasn't even there?

Standing next to the blue athlete door, resisting the urge to yawn. Listening to the lower headmaster of the school although it was unusual for him to do the speaking it was still the same boring lines and then the thudding came 'green house I suspect oh look at that I'm right' they received the most applause and respect becuse they always won 'mh with that knowledge it will be red next' the second i thought it the rose petals fell all around and some of my sisters audibly swooned at it 'ugh gross, their practically throwing themselves at Redmond' I rolled my eyes at this, but I seen the lights dim, and focused on the purple door the candles let off a purple flame it was beautiful but short lived the doors opened and... 'Nothing?' No one came out. A scream from further in the room rang out. 'ah somewhere in the crowd then at least that was new' a soft smile on my features as I scanned the crowd, to look for him, only catching a glimpse of a golden tassel, before my shoulders are grabbed and I'm forced to look at my brothers team, walking though the reception for blue was always so awkward barely a few people even clapped. 'wow what a crowed anyway' i looked around for the purple, noticing the cloaks were all the same so i kept scanning each one looking for the slight difference amongst them, i looked to my chaotic relatives the older two playing match maker with Adela (only cannon name i can find) the taller little girl with glasses and an equally awkward blue house boy rolling my eyes away i started to walk towards the purple house eating area attempting to walk away i was stopped by a hand on my shoulder i freeze completely slowly turning my head to see it was Redmond 'oh my god no no no please don't' forcing a smile

"hello?"

"Good evening, my lady. Would you care for a dance tonight? i know it's only the announcement, but -"

"No! i mean uhh no thank you"

i blurted out, giving a small cough and turning to let the hand fall from my shoulder. 'oh my fucking god no, no, no, not now, not ever' thankfully a younger sister called out to the prefect to ask for a dance. sighing and looking up, seeing another flash of gold and purple with white hair moving at the purple door as i try to move away again, but my older sister stood in my way.

"Why would you ever turn down Redmond? he has plenty of status for you to be of -"

"No, I'm good"

she looked shocked, and another broke in. i felt anxious now, feeling some eyes on me.

"You have to like someone here. There's plenty of handsome boys around"

I'm sweating bullets now, awkwardly shimming to the side, trying to escape. standing on my tip toes, getting a flash of his deep purple eyes, and looking at me between the crowd before turning away. my eyes widen and i try to walk over yet again, not even getting a foot forward before i felt another person invading my space, this time i glared daggers at the poor soul who was also know as Lawrence, his face was a thin line and half serious eyes.

"Could everyone just leave her alone"

"awww Lawrie"

they faded out as i was overwhelmed already, this place sucked and i only wanted to build up the courage to talk to-

"It's violet, right?"

"...huh?!"

i was more shocked in horror now looking at my brother, the calm tone setting in, and my face flushed he just sighed, fixing his glasses with one finger looking away before speaking.

"i hoped it wasn't but, alright come on"

"Huh? w-wait, how did you?"

my words fell flat he started to walk back through the door the athletes used, and i quickly glanced around before following him through. i was confused. No way, it had been obvious, right? All the girls would have picked up on something they're like sniffer dogs with this stuff. once i caught up with Lawrence, i looked at the spacious corridor that was perfect to make the entrances that they always did. I'm surprised curiosity never came through me to explore behind here. All the way the walls looked was beautiful, like most of this gothic school. once i was done admiring the architecture, i saw my brother moving along. we had passed the red door, then we reached the purple one. 'Wait. is he seriously taking me to Violet? oh god, he is, isn't he? i thought he didn't care about me, and why now is it because it's his last year?' My mind was spinning, and my face felt warm. Lawrence simply moved towards a door it looked like a store room, and he knocked before speaking.

"Hello Violet, I've brought company"

nothing was heard from the other side, but the blue haired boy opened the door. i tried looking in it was basically pitch black except for a small purple flame, which illuminated the space, not to mention the little light coming in from the hall me and my brother blocking the majority of it.

"Oh, it's you, thanks you Bluewer"

i was confused, but i didn't have much time to think, as i was lightly pushed forward, and my brother made a slight go-ahead gesture. i made a "really" face to him, to which he nodded, pursing my lips but proceeded into the void.

"I'll get you after the celebration dies down"

"wait Lawrence what's going on?"

he just smiled, giving a small good luck and left, closing the door so that the only purple flame from the prop lit up the room. my gaze was dawn to it, and maybe to avoid the intense stare i was getting, my eyes looked over the intricate design of the wand? it was amazingly crafted and the wolf skull was awesome every year purple house was the most interesting to see but its not like they won the game but i still found myself cheering for them i first seen violet in the stands and he talked to Lawrence they were the drudges at the time speaking of that boy i looked to the side of me he looked awkwardly sat his knees up to his chest arms crossed in the crook of it his eyes boring into mine and at this i immediately looked away the dark lighting did nothing to hide how pretty he looked those eyes which were illuminating and that lipstick made him seem so kissable 'oh god I'm in the same room as him alone. wait, alone, this is just like that game. Sis mentioned it. Ugh, what was it called again?' lost in thought i failed to notice that Gregory had moved, and his hand had come in contact with my cheek, his palm was soft, like he hadn't done much physical work, but the calloses on his fingertips proved his did a lot of art. 'Wait, he's...' My face exploded with heat, as my brain and his eyes came into contact with mine. The purple was intense and extremely captivating.

"uuhh h-hi so, is this where you disappear to after the entrances... It's quite nice not many people go here either, so it's a lot quieter. So, how come Lawrence knows where this is? Did you tell him, or do all the prefects do this? Sorry, i realise I'm talking too much. I'll just shut up now okay great"

i covered my mouth with both my hands backing up slightly, his hand falling from my face.

"How come Bluwer never mentions you?"

"Oh well, I'm uhhh kind of not that welcomed by everyone since i haven't shown much potential or ..... benifit"

i was embarrassed by this. i didn't really want to talk about it, obviously, but what he said next was unexpected.

"You're beautiful, peculiar. like salamander eyes"

i looked at him, blushing and confused. 'Is that going to be a compliment, too?' Either way, i had no other thoughts other than to kiss him

"Can i uhh...."

my words fell flat, and i just leaned forward. my lips kissing his i felt lightheaded, butterflies in my stomach. i felt some of his lipstick smear onto my lips. i pulled away the softness of them still lingered on mine. he faintly tasted like a mix of the fruit juice they had set out, defiantly apple and a hint of orange, maybe cranberry as well. Gregory had a light red blush dancing across his face.

"I'm sorry i didn't ask if i c-could uhh do that"

"It's alright, i didn't ask you to stop"

Gregory looked away it was now my turn to place my palm on his cheek, and i pulled him towards me, and his body wilfully followed.'Oh god, is this really happening?' we awkwardly kept our hands on each others faces, our teeth accidently clashed, and he pulled away. a bigger and deeper blush spreading from his cheeks down his neck, which was only barely visible in this outfit and the dimly lit room he broke my silent adoration, my mouth unknowingly was open.

"You're... uhh, you're really pretty"

"i uh t-thank you. i think you're pretty too"

we both blushed, and i looked away. but his gentle touch slowly turned my head back, letting us have another kiss. This one was slower more organized than the others. It let us fully enjoy the moment of peace and half confession. his tongue lightly passed through my lips, and i returned the gesture, he let out a small noise of surprise, this didn't feel real. I was so lost in the moment that we both failed to notice the door opened. and a clearing of a throat made both me and the lover boy break apart and look towards the sound. There stood my brother and Redmond, who giggled a little. I'm guessing Greenhill was somewhere off to the side

"Come on, sister, the others are leaving now"

Lawrence was obviously annoyed but held a smile. while Redmond thought to tease the poor emo boy some more.

"My , i wouldn't have guessed this from a Bluwer sibling. How romantic. How are you feeling Violet? rather flushed, it would seem"

"Be quite Redmond"

Gregory was blushing his mouth noticeable, had some sliver on them, and he wiped his chin.'When did that happen?' but we both equally looked a mess. i could feel the remnants of his lips on mine, not to mention the likely stained black lipstick. soon i stood up, and everyone moved out of the doorway. Violet followed after me, and i felt him link pinkies with me 'god that's adorable'.

"Lawrence, could i -"

"Yes, here"

it was a bit of paper that had our address specifically for letters. I passed it to Gregory, which he placed into an inside pocket. afterwards, we said our goodbyes and Lawrence led me to the other girls. When i left, i heard Redmond tease by saying violet should have had a parting kiss with such a beautiful maiden.

okay so this took me sooo long to write like i started it after episode 5 and here i am weeks later but i feel like did really good on this so whatever i will make a smut scene that i was going to add but i thought to keep it separate but on ao3 it will be one fic

[cadybear420]

Performance for fluffember🤍

The Voice of an Angel

Fandom: High School Story (Original Trilogy)

Pairings: Aiden Zhou x Evie Ayana (female HSS MC), maybe with a small side of Ajay Bhandari x Cher Lee (female HSS:CA MC)

Characters: Aiden Zhou, Evie Ayana (female HSS MC)

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Additional Tags: Fluff, Singing, Performance, Dancing

Word Count: 2,128

Summary: On Evie’s 18th birthday, Aiden and the jazz band whip up a little surprise for her. Takes place approximately between HSS:CA 2 and HSS:CA 3 (though my memory of the HSS:CA timeline is a little more fuzzy).

A/N: First of all: to the anon who sent the prompt, major apologies for sleeping on it for so long. Coming up with writing ideas is a bitch, but it is something I want to do more often. And there was also that one time when Tumblr turned off editing for answers to asks, which carried over to the draft post for this for a while. Second of all, I’m fucking obsessed with this song from Doctor Who (“My Angel Put the Devil in Me”, from the Series 3 soundtrack) and I think Evie and Aiden would be as well. Third of all, yes this is a belated birthday fic for Evie, but I’m glad to get it out before the end of Evie’s birthday month at least. Also haha both Evie’s birthday this year and in the setting of the fic were on a Friday. Fourth of all, arghrghrargh my first time writing a fic where one character sings to another AND does a choreographed dance to it too. It’s a lot more difficult than I imagined lol. 

(Also, the outfit I imagine for the other jazz band kids)

Prompt: Performance

Source for prompts here. Even though it's long past November, I'll still accept prompt suggestions from this list year-round.

Tags: @inlocusmads @aces-and-angels @aria-ashryver @lover-also-fighter-also @jerzwriter @choicesmc @3rdstreetfrank @dutifullynuttywitch @lovealexhunt @lilyoffandoms @peonierose (as this is the complete version of this WIP and this challenge bit), and @choicesficwriterscreations

Friday, March 8, 2019. The day of Evie’s 18th birthday. She’d been planning to host a birthday party at one of her favorite restaurants in the city, starting in the early evening after school. Almost everyone she knew from school was invited. 

It was late in the afternoon now. Evie took one last look at herself in her new outfit– a navy blue suit with a purple floral necktie– and grinned, before dashing to the living room. There, her dad was checking his phone. 

“Alright, I’m ready to go!” she said. 

He turned to her. “Actually… we can’t leave just yet…”

She pouted. “What??? But Daaaad, the party starts at 5 PM and it’s already 4:45!”

“The people doing the decorations are… taking a bit longer than expected.”

“Oh…”

“It’s a bit awkward to go to a party when they’re still putting decorations up, isn’t it?”

“That’s true,” her face softened. “Do the other guests know?”

“...yep! I’ve just told them, in fact.”

“Okay… but how long do we have to wait?”

“Shouldn’t be more than… ten to twenty minutes?”

Evie pouted again. 

“It’s not that long…”

“Okay, fiiiiine, I’ll be patient…”

“And I’ll be doctor!”

Evie winced. “Dad, NO…”

…

About twenty minutes passed, and then finally, her dad said it was okay to start driving to the restaurant. After a fifteen minute drive, they arrived, and Evie wasted no time going in. 

The room was alive with upbeat music, purple decorative lights and flowers, and many of Evie’s friends. It seemed like just about everyone she’d invited had shown up– her main friend group, her teammates, her friends from the other cliques and Hearst, Cher and her friends from theatre, the seniors from last year who hadn’t gone away for college… 

And all of them greeted her with a big “Happy birthday, Evie!!!”, in unison. 

Evie inhaled, beaming at her friends. Many of them ran over to hug her, a few others cheered for her. 

Then she saw Emma and Cher push their way through the crowd and grab her by her arms. 

“Evie! There’s a special surprise for you, right now!” said Cher. 

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!” said Emma. “Just come with us…” 

The crowd parted, making way for Emma and Cher to pull Evie to the opposite side of the room. As they did, the party music slowly faded out and the lights began to dim. 

“What the–” Evie started. 

“Shhhh. You’ll see soon enough!” Emma replied. 

When they made it to the opposite end of the room, a warm spotlight turned on over her, and there she saw it. The jazz band, all set up with their instruments and dressed in matching snazzy black-and-red suits and… devil horns? Yes, devil horns. 

And at the front of it all… was none other than her beautiful boyfriend Aiden, all dressed up and holding a microphone. 

Evie just about stopped in her tracks as she took in his outfit– a snug, ivory-colored flapper dress that had silver beads sewn into intricate patterns, and hung just barely above his knees. Along with that, he also wore a couple of matching long pearl necklaces, a fluffy white halo accessory over his head, and winged eyeliner.

“Wow…” Evie felt her breath catch. “Aiden, you look–”

Just then, Aiden signaled to the band… and they started to play. 

Evie grinned broadly, her eyes immediately lighting up at the familiar upbeat jazzy tune, and watched intently as her boyfriend danced towards her, in steps that were careful and rhythmic, yet lively. 

Then the tempo slowed, and he held the microphone to his mouth and began to sing. 

“I'm a country girl, I ain't seen a lot… But you came along, and my heart went pop! You took a little streetcar to my heart… And an apple of love fell off my apple cart~”

Evie’s cheeks flustered at his melodious voice. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard him sing– he’s sung to her plenty of times, and they’d practically been doing Evie-Aiden duets since the day they met. But this… this was different. Aiden had never done a solo singing performance for her before, let alone one that involved a bit of dance as well. 

“You looked at me, my heart began to pound… You weren't the sort of guy I thought would stick around… Hey, but it don't have to be eternally… My bad, bad Angel put the Devil in me~”

And his singing voice was all the more different this time around too. Even later into their relationship, as Aiden had become more confident about his singing, there was always still a hint of nervousness in his voice when they sang their duets. But this time, he sang loud and clear. Like he was owning the stage. 

Aiden performed a small twirl before stopping, his eyes meeting hers as he began slowly walking up to her, making her heart jump a little.

“You lured me in with your cold grey eyes… Your simple smile, your bewitching lies…”

As he sang that verse, he reached out and grabbed onto her bright purple tie, making Evie’s face heat up as he began tugging on it gently and pulling her closer to him. 

“One and one and one is three… My bad, bad Angel… the Devil in me~!”

The tempo picked up again. Aiden let go of her tie and took her hand in his as he broke out into energetic dance movements while still singing the lyrics to the song, the skirt of his dress swishing about as he swayed gracefully to the instrumental music. 

Evie squeezed his hand and matched his movements, her pulse racing now.  All the while, the crowd watched with excitement. When they came face-to-face again, she was giving him an almost drunken smile.

Soon enough, Aiden broke from her hold and turned around, sashaying slightly as he started stepping away from her… before looking over his shoulder, catching her gaze once again. 

“My bad, bad Angel~ you put the Devil in me~”

Aiden shook his butt side-to-side to the beat, giving Evie a knowing look that made her cheeks brighten. The music slowed, and he turned around to face her again. 

“So, now my dear, I ain't the girl you knew… 'Cause the Angel's got Heaven, but I get you…”

He sauntered back up to her.

“And the tree of life grows tall, you see… My bad, bad Angel… you put the Devil in me~!”

The beat slowed to a more gentle, relaxed tune as Aiden placed his arm over Evie’s shoulder. 

“Oh… You put the Devil in me~”

Aiden gestured towards Evie’s arm, and she placed her arms around him, taking hold of his waist as they began to rock together. 

“You put the Devil in me…”

Gently and smoothly, Aiden broke out of her hold and took her hand again. Lifting her hand, he twirled himself under her arm, then placed himself backwards against her body– all without missing a beat. 

As Aiden continued to sing, Evie wrapped both of her arms around his middle, embracing him from behind. Aiden pressed back against her and placed his free arm over hers, almost as if to hold her arms in place, as they began to sway side-to-side together again. Evie practically melted into him, his body warm against hers. 

“You put the Devil in me…”

Then, the song picked up again. 

“You put the Devil in… me~!”

He swiftly yet carefully broke from her hold again, and danced in a circle around her as he sang the last few verses of the song. She turned to follow him, their eyes locked onto each other yet again, as he gave her an almost sultry gaze. 

“My bad, bad Angel, you put the Devil in me!”

At the final note, the lights slowly faded back on. Aiden stood in front of the now cheering crowd and took a huge bow, grinning proudly. 

Once he straightened back up, Evie finally let out a high pitched “EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”, bouncing up and down before leaping onto Aiden, sweeping him up into her arms, and spinning him around. Aiden gasped, dropping his microphone with a loud *thunk*– but then quickly held her face in his hand and pulled her in for a passionate kiss, prompting the crowd to cheer louder. 

After a moment, Aiden broke the kiss. “Happy eighteenth birthday, Darling~”

Evie squeezed him tighter. “Aiden, that was…” She took a deep breath, a starstruck look in her eyes. “Your singing is amazing… I mean, I’ve heard you sing before, obviously, but…”

A slight but visible rosy tint grew on his cheeks. 

“But I’ve never done a singing performance for you, I know. I figured it was about time I did.”

“And you were fucking amazing. I’ve never heard you sing like that before… like, you were already good, but I didn’t know you were this good…”

“I mean… practice makes perfect, after all…”

“That’s true…”

He planted a small kiss onto her lips, making her whole body warm up. 

“And what made you choose that song from Doctor Who for your first performance? I mean, obviously I love the song–”

“That’s just it. I know how much you love the song, and the episodes it came from.” He chuckled softly. “And, I mean… I don’t blame you. It is a fantastic song.”

Evie’s smile grew wider. “God, Aiden… I fucking love you.”

“I love you too, Evie.” 

They pulled each other in for one more kiss, holding each other tightly, before she set him down. 

“And I love your outfit too… you look absolutely gorgeous, as always~”

Even as Aiden beamed at her so brightly, his cheeks turned as red as the other band members’ devil costumes, prompting Evie to giggle.

“Well… I have been having a lot of fun trying on new outfits…” he said, softly. 

At that moment, Ajay and Cher popped up beside them. 

“Hey… if Aiden likes singing, dancing, and dressing up in fancy outfits now… you think we could convince him to join the upcoming spring musical?” Ajay said. “His talent would just be unmatched…”

Evie and Aiden turned towards them. 

“The next play’s gonna be a musical?” Evie said. “I’ve been wanting to act in a play, but, uh… I don’t think I’m ready for one that involves singing…”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her. “But we’ve literally been doing duets ever since–”

“That’s different. I can sing alright when it’s more casual, but in a professional musical performance? I’m not that good.”

“You should still consider it!” Cher chirped. “If not an acting role, you can always still be an assistant director or a techie…”

“That sounds much more my speed.”

Cher turned to Aiden. “You should definitely consider trying out for a singing role, though!”

Aiden put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. “It could be fun… I know Evie doesn’t want to sing in a musical, but imagine if we got lead roles together…”

“Oh, perhaps I could be convinced now…” Evie said, before smirking playfully. “But, let’s be real. Put Aiden in the musical, and he’ll probably just upstage all the other singers with how good he is. He’ll make everyone else look like chumps.”

“Hey!” Cher exclaimed, her face scrunching up into a pout. “Are you saying I sing like a chump?”

“What– no, I–” Evie’s face fell. 

Cher dropped her pout and grinned again. “Kidding! You probably have a point… I do sing every now and then, but it could use a little more work. Especially since I’m planning to go for an acting role in the musical, of course.”

“Well, if we can’t get Aiden in a singing role for the musical, perhaps he can be a musical director and help coach the actors who are a little more inexperienced?” Ajay suggested. 

“Actually… that’s a great idea!” Aiden said, his face lighting up. “I’d love to do that!”

Ajay beamed. “Oh, perfect! We’ll talk to Mr. Olson on Monday.”

“I’ll need some time to think about it… but I’ll let you know if I do decide to accept.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ajay reached his hand out, and he and Aiden shook hands. “Anyways, great job on your performance, Aiden! And happy birthday, Evie!”

“Yeah! Happy birthday, Evie!!!” cheered Cher. 

“Aww, thank you both so much!” 

Evie gave each of them a warm hug before they walked off. Aiden placed his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek, and she turned back to him.

“Thank you so much, Aiden. For being the best boyfriend ever, and for giving me this awesome birthday.” 

“It’s my pleasure~” Aiden hugged her tighter. “But… there’s still more, of course. Ready to enjoy the rest of your birthday party?”

“Oh yes!”

[acerathia]

pink camellias || Chapter 4: sweet william

Chapter Summary:

sweet william: gallantry

Wordcount: 2.4k

Read on AO3 || Masterlist

Pairing:

Bakugou Katsuki / Reader

Tags/CW:

royalty au, inspired by Mulan, war and its consequences, violence, childhood friends to strangers to companions to lovers (i am sorry), Angst, Acts of Service, Character Death (Major, and Minor), swordfights, misogyny, f!reader, kidnapping, implied torture, let me know if I missed anything lol

Note:

this has been sitting in my drafts for way too long. so im gonna post the chapters i have o7

The next day, the actual training started. And you honestly didn’t expect the Captain to wake everyone at the crack of dawn, which was too early, even for you. But you prepared yourself for the training with no complaints, you were too tired to voice any of them anyway. So you washed your face and put some fresh clothes on, before heading to the training space.

The masses of people were filled with complaints and remarks. Denki had made his way to stand beside you, too groggy to say something just yet.

The Captain immediately raised his voice to get the attention of everyone, telling them to start the rounds, the same amount as the day before, and the last ones have to run a good amount more. Instantly everyone took their legs in their hands and hurried along the track. And you knew you could just start running and overtake them all, but you’d rather not end up too exhausted for the later exercises because there were surely other things you would have to absolve. So you stayed in the middle, with no risk of ending up last, but also not exerting yourself more than you usually would have.

After completing these rounds, and walking yourself down, you began to stretch before the rest of the group was done. Surprisingly the Captain even waited for the losers to finish their extra rounds, before he started the next portion: intense physical training.

Following the shouted instructions, you got into the positions, stretching, pulling, stemming. And for some reason the Captain always seemed to find something wrong with your form, often taking your arms between his and correcting the way you’re holding stuff. His hands were warm and you could even feel the callouses through the fabric you’re wearing. The worst thing about his help was the way he seems to trample on your dignity, a scoff ready on his face every time he walked past you, and just for that, you were barely affected with the way his breath felt on your neck, or how big the size difference between you both was.

At some point, it almost felt like his hand was fixed to your back, with the amount of correction he seems to be doing. And it was starting to grate on you, because he made you look incompetent with every push of his, with every remark. But you persevered, you put more effort into everything, fully aware that nothing would truly satisfy him, yet you challenged that boundary, pushed against it every day, with every task, with every straining muscle.

So once he announced that the first phase of training had been successfully carried out, you stood tall amongst the survivors, as many have given up during the borderline torture the Captain called training. Now the rest of you had the true honor of finally starting phase two, the phase where everyone would be sharpening their skill.

Days after days everyone honed their skill in hand-to-hand combat, preparing you for the last desperate attempt to save your life. And gradually the Captain allowed you to use weapons, one by one. Daggers with poison on their blade, swords, claymores, and even archery. Everyone found the right weapon for themselves, despite having the basic amount of training for each mastery.

You stayed loyal to the sword, always on the high ground in terms of skill due to your years of training. At first, being better in that skill gave you the feeling of superiority, but after a while it turned into dull boredom. So, you decided to finally try something new, to achieve a new skill with a new weapon. That was how you choose your new weapon, purely out of spite, as the others suggested you take up archery, and you couldn’t help but notice the condescension in their tone. Still, you thanked them for their suggestion, only to grab an ax, letting the weight sink into your palm before you simply walked past the group of trainees.

And at first it was difficult. The center of gravity differed from the one of a sword, impacting your accuracy, while the weight pulling down on one side made the lifting of the weapon much more difficult. But you prevailed. You continued to hone your skills with the ax, to strengthen your muscles, to get used to the balance of it, and you learned how to throw the ax, so that the blade always hit the target with proper might, how to swing it against a bigger opponent, how to use the knowledge of weak points to the advantage of this different blade. And of course, you trained to be able to switch between the two weapons without a break to adjust.

As much as you wanted to claim this achievement as your own, you had to admit that the Captain's advice did help you occasionally. He had helped you at the beginning with your stance, standing behind you, his palms barely touching the back of your hands as he showed you how to hold the ax to stabilize it as much as possible, and how to have the best grip. His breath fanned over your face as he slowly told you how to swing. Suddenly you were too aware of his presence, but you guided your focus back to your swing, taking a couple of them to get a handle of the motion, before the Captain stepped back and you finally threw the weapon towards the target. Whirling through the air in a smooth motion, it didn’t actually hit dead center, but close enough, so you couldn’t help the little celebratory jump at achieving this hit. But then you made eye contact with the blond, and you immediately stiffened up, trying to regain your appearance by simply thanking him and turning away to get your ax.

“Hold on, princess, let’s cross swords,” he calls out to you, and for once this didn’t seem like a command and more like a request.

And at first you ruminated the thought of straight-up refusing him, but you couldn’t let the opportunity to duel with another skilled swordfighter slip between your fingers. So, still not wanting to give him the satisfaction of outright agreeing with something he said, you just shrug and change your direction to grab your sword. With your sword in hand you returned to him, his own weapon ready in his hand, in a fighting stance before you even arrived close enough for any of you to attack.

For a moment you both just stared at each other, measuring the opponent, their stance. His footwork was solid, heavy yet light, ready to dodge, attack whenever needed. You doubted you could throw him off-balance with any of your swift tricks.

Your gaze shifted, grazing his slim waist to focus on his broad shoulders and his trained arms. He was used to applying force, yet seemed to know how to manage it. A flicker at the back of your mind wondered what else he could use that strength for, and you quenched it before it even had the possibility to ignite into something more fierce.

And then you looked at his face, his tense jaw, and his sparkling red eyes, resembling the depth of the fire, of explosions wracking the enemy line. Making eye contact a smirk formed on his face, plush lips stretching to flash his canines. Then he swung.

Only your reflexes saved you from being cut, shallow, yet a sign-off to your victory. His blade clashed with yours and he pushed. The sword scarred each other, enticing sparks, and you dug your heels into the ground.

His breath fanned over your face, barely avoiding the blades in front of you, and you scowled, staring right into his eyes full of fire and crunching autumn leaves. Honey seemed to outline them in daring lines, dripping down his forehead only to get brushed aside by the slight breeze.

And you were well aware of the grin resting on his face, despite the swords hiding the lower half of his face, despite your own scowl mirrored by the blade, fitting itself over his features. He was so sure of this victory, so sure of your loss, the glee is filling his eyes. The glee about finally putting you to your place, about showing you how you don’t belong to this place. And this glee pumped steam through your veins, melting your muscles, but reinforcing them the same.

And you returned his push with one of your own, noticing the furrow of his brows, the smirk sliding into a scowl. But now your own grin forms, showing you a warped picture of him smiling at you.

With a sudden movement he thrusted you away from him and you stumbled. Before you had regained your balance, he already hooked his sword with yours, like a knot, pulling it tight and away from you.

So you couldn’t do anything but raise your hands in surrender as the tip of his blade pointed towards your throat.

No matter how much you despised him, you acknowledged his mastery in swordsmanship. The way he swung his sword with precision and almost seemed able to predict the movement of his opponents just entranced you. Not that you would ever admit that outloud.

That was why you snarled at him, pushing the blade away, carefully only touching the flat side. And yet he suddenly jerked it away.

“Don’t be foolish, have you no knowledge about swords, or is your head filled with straw?” he barked, acting as if you just put your fingers around the sword without reason or rhyme.

But you were well aware of how swords work, and his words only aggravated you. With a grumble you waited until he put his sword away to jump at him, grabbing his hair between your fingers.

You wanted to kick your knee into his stomach, but he managed to block that hit with one of his palms, grabbing your leg and yanking, taking your balance away.

You simply tightened your grip on his head and swung your other leg to hit his right side, where it was supposed to hurt the most. This time he wasn’t fast enough to block that hit, and a groan escaped him, trying not to twist with pain, not to give you more leverage. But no matter how much he had tried, he lost his balance and toppled over.

In this fall, he saw the opportunity to grab your wrists, as your grasp on his hair had weakened with your surprise. Twisting your fall he managed to pin you under him, but with a twist of your body you easily threw him off.

This time you were the one pinning him to the ground, but due to the difference in strength he overpowers you once again. And you both continued to tumble through the dirt, your nimbleness winning over his strength, but his strength overpowering yours.

At some point you both just flopped onto the ground beside each other, tiredness winning this contest. Didn’t mean you stopped yourself from sending a light kick his way, as a way to still claim victory if anyone asks. And he didn’t kick you back, rather he drove his elbow into yours with purpose, hitting the funny bone.

A groan escaped you and you held your arm close to your chest, glaring at his satisfied smirk.

“Looks like I still won, princess,” he declared and sat up with a swing.

“You only won because you fought dirty.” You acted as if you weren’t the one who had initiated this whole brawl to begin with, as if you weren’t the one playing dirty in the first place.

“Tch, keep thinking that, you’re just mad you didn’t win,” he shot back. He stood up and had started doing stretches to cool down, and you couldn’t help but to watch the way his back bends, the way his muscles shift smoothly underneath his linen shirt, grime plastered all over it. “And, there is no dirty fight in a war, m’lady.”

You scoffed because despite the form of address, he was making fun of you for being naive, in his opinion. You were aware of that, yet there was nothing you could do to convince him otherwise, because for some people your skills didn’t matter, no matter how much you tried. Everything ran the same course, the same way. To them you were nothing but a pretty face, an asset to keep. Even if you had hoped it would be different once you proved yourself. But alas, the situation didn’t change, so you had to act like always.

Standing up, you began to go through your cool-down routine too, your back turned to him, because you didn’t know if you could school your facial expressions if he said anything again. Once you made sure your body had cooled down, you bowed down to pick up your sword, which was stuck in the mud a couple of meters away. Taking the weapon into your hand you quickly assessed the blade, considering cleaning it later before sheathing it. So with your sword in hand you walked the rest of the distance to the target to also pick up the ax you had thrown before the fight had broken out. This one you had to return.

Turning around to return it to its rightful place, you made eye contact with the Captain, whose face for once wasn’t etched in a scowl, but more calm, and you couldn’t help but frown at this rare sight. Your reaction seemed to break him out whatever stupor he had put himself into, and the used scowl returned, even if there was something different about it. But if you were going to be honest, you had no desire to discover what might have elicited that change in him, so you simply walked past him to the little hut where the weapons were stored, putting your ax back where you found it.

After you emerged from the storage, the Captain was gone already, you couldn’t help but look for him the moment you stepped out. You simply sighed at the disappearance, not understanding why it mattered that much, letting your gaze wander to the sky, to the evening blooming across the sky. And the red reminded you of a certain sparkle, of a certain intensity. Your heart shook inside your rib cage. You frowned, was your cool-down insufficient? With that you tried to distract yourself from the blazing fire, from the honey dripping.

[hummingbird-games]

Dev Diaries

November 2, 2024

Let this be the last time I write this update so I can friggin POST IT!! 🤣

Since we last chat, a few things have happened, so here's a recap:

You can preview Langston and Ryan's game 2 routes!!! (Happy Anniversary to my first game child)

HSD artist is wrapping up on the requested sprites for the next update. That goes live.... Sunday February 2, 2025!

I finished the first draft of Ryan's route. Yeah. Wild. The hardest part of writing (for him) is over. Also I like opening up the document and staring at it to make sure it's real and not just a figment of my imagination. Langston bby we're coming for you next!!

We're on Bluesky?! Yeah lol I meant to say something sooner. I have no idea how I'll treat that platform yet, but we're there!

Loved VN

Now setting aside the bullet points for a moment, we'll touched briefly on the #LovedVN project. There's been a sliiiiiight delay art wise on that front, and honestly, it's anyone's guess if it'll come out this year--I opened the project file a few days ago, and marveled at how much is still not done. That's on me and my bony shoulders. Like I haven't even commissioned the key art yet! 😔

Future Projects

There's an idea I'm holding close to my chest only because it's still more abstract than concrete, and I won't be working on it until Loved is finished and playable. There is also a different project that almost saw the light of day, and I wanna talk about it.

The Josei After Dark game jam came and went and I seriously entertained submitting something. The Afro Jam also came and went, and this was supposed to be a two-for one idea...I recruited my sibling for the character sprite. I sat down and made 4 music tracks because I knew there was a specific sound I wanted, and I did not have specific sound money. I had a placeholder UI with the intention of either recruiting someone after the jams or finally rolling up my sleeves and adding bare bones UI design to my developer toolbox.

Well. We didn't make either deadline LOL! I decided to shelve it. But tbh, I had too much fun writing this script to keep it out of sight.

placeholder bg + placeholder UI teehee

Not so secret thing about me, stories typically come to me when I can't find it in the media I consume. And because HBG projects are free to play for the foreseen future, I'm the prominent player I'm trying to impress, so I make games for me and then hope other people like them too.

This project is called Oh, Boy. It's another bite size game with seven endings!! I had to make a guide for because as I was playtesting I was getting confused and missing my own endings! Anyhoo, I have plans for this one, so more details to come in a future dev diaries or a regular post!

And that's all folks! Gemini out 🫶🏾

am I wild to drop this at the VERY end?? under the cut?? no, not at all

[ageless-aislynn]

As mentioned in my last post, welcome to Aislynn's 1 Word For Each WIP November Extravaganza! (It was too long to fit all of that in the banner, so hence the number 4 coming in clutch, lol!)

Here's what I'm GOING TO write at least one word for in the month of November:

Halo the series

"15 Minutes" - (John/Female Reader) Chapter 12 is in progress and will get progressiver (word of the day) by at least 1 more word! *nodnods*

"Recreation" - (Kai/Male Reader) The final chapter will be slotting in between its sibling fic's *points up at "15M"* second to last and final chapter. I have notes on chapter 5 but no draft started... yet.

"Untitled Fluffy Vannak fic" - (Vannak/Female Reader) Just a one-shot that I wanted to do for the big guy, something sweet and fun because he got VERY LITTLE of either in season 2. 😭The draft is already in progress.

I also would like to write a Reader fic for Riz since the entire rest of Silver Team is getting something 👀but have nothing on tap just yet.🤞😣🤞 One day, I hope, but I'm not counting this as part of my WIPs to be finished in November... unless I should get a heck of a lot of work done on everything else. 😉

Halo: Reach

"Choices: A Choose Your Own Spartan Adventure" - (Noble Team/Female Reader) One of the most personally ambitious things I've attempted in a while, the first chapter that sets up the adventure is almost done. Next to go are each of the chapters where you choose which Noble Team member you'll continue the adventure with. I have the plot for all of them but only Emile's has something written. We'll also be getting a separate chapters for female and male Noble Six, since we're all about, you know, choosing who you want to adventure with and Six can be either in the game. 😎👍

The Flash

"The Price" (NSFW) - (Caitlin Frost/Hunter Zolomon) I've known what's going to happen in chapter 2 for a quite a while now. Just got to write it... one word at a time, right?

"Guardian Angel" - (Time Wraith!Caitlin Snow/Eobard Thawne) About 1/3 of chapter 3 has been done for, umm, years now. Just need to push it on through a little bit more! I'm not sure how many chapters in all it will be, at least this one and a 4th but that may be enough to finish it. We'll see!

"Split" - (Caitlin Snow/Eobard Thawne) The third and final fic in the Ghost of Eobard Thawne series turned out, to my surprise, to have 3 very ragged first drafts and part of a 4th chapter just hanging out in my Word docs after all of these years. I still have my *surprised Pikachu face* on for this one, what can I say? 🤷‍♀️😂

"Try" (NSFW) - (TomCav!Eobard Thawne/Caitlin Snow/Mattobard!Eobard Thawne) Oh yeah, I went there. After all of the versions of them that I've written, the only really surprising thing is that I didn't do this a lot sooner, lol! This one has 3 chapters of almost 8k words done that nobody has ever read. It's weirdly one of the few times I did world-building, too. It's projected to be pretty big, 20-25 chapters, so maybe 50k words? 😱 It's a really big undertaking for something that's honestly just for me but... I'd really like to be able to read the entire thing one day, lol! And there's only one way to do that: I've got to write it, one word at a time. 🤷‍♀️😉

I may have totally forgotten something but this was all that showed up in my WIPs folder. Of course, that folder was imperfectly copied from my previous computer and I had to go looking for several of these, so who knows. If I missed something, feel free to let me know.

So wish me luck, frens! This is a challenge I KNOW I can do and I'm so excited about it! 🥳🎉🎊💖

All of my masterlists are here.

[megatraven]

tagged by @retiredficwriter thank you!!! :3

1 . How did you get into writing fanfiction?

i've always thought up little scenarios in my head for whstever blorbos i was obsessed with, but actually writing it down didn't happen until i was in college! i joined a new fandom at the time (miraculous ladybug) and was so inspired by all the art and fic other people were making that i started writing fanfic (and drawing fanart!) in earnest :>

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

according to ao3, 12. but i have a lot of unfinished or unposted works from other fandoms, so the number is even higher than that though i'm not sure by how much

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

since the tail-end of 2015! so almost 9 years!

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

i write more than i read these days, but i'd love to get into reading more fanfic again sometime

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

[finger guns] i dont know! B)

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

i don't usually research things for my fanfics i just wing it

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

comments where the reader says that they come back to reread the fic every now and again 🥺🥺 i've only received a couple of comments that are like that in my time writing, but they're the ones i love the most. just so sweet ooogh

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about

well i havent done it in years. i don't know if it still exists somewhere here on the internet, but there was a donkey x shrek fic, once upon a time......... other than that, my fucles fic from like 2016/2017 whenever that was. so i guess you could say i love taking a Weird Ship(tm) and writing deeply unserious fic about it

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

smut for me too! i have so many wips that include smut scenes that are all stuck right at the smut parts because i can't write it for the life of me. it feels so stiff and choppy and unnatural and too-detailed. but im working on it! :3

10. What is the easiest type?

i love expanding on canon. for example in astoria there's a throw-away comment about mc having what's implied to be a sex dream! so a fic i'm working on is The Dream(tm). i love filling in the missing peices! that, or i love love LOVE writing what-if fics. what if sydney was strigoi and adrian chased after her. what if alya was ladybug and in love with marinette. what if mc replaced a goddess against her will. i like exploring every potentiality and possibility!

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

in my bed if i'm at home, otherwise wherever i am on my phone. i write in tumblr drafts. terrible habit, i know, but alas. whenever i have the time and motivation lol.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

smut :( it makes me so nervous to write, that's why it's also the hardest one for me 😭 even if i do write a scene out i get too embarrassed to share it or even ask for a friend to read it over.

13. What made you choose your username?

had a few nicknames on deviantart back in the day, among them "megatron" and "raven". at the time i was searching for a new url and one of my friends mashed the two nicknames together to create "megatraven" and that's been my Brand(tm) ever since!

tagging: anyone that wants to do it! :3c

[wholemleko]

updates ig???

(reposted from my deviantart)

so i guess this is like. my plans for the future or at least where i feel like im at when it comes to comics and such.

tl;dr - bird of death is my main project now and everything else is in uncertain limbo

details under the cut:

first thing is just, the state of my projects. bird of death, which im posting now, has completely taken over my brain and its something i enjoy working on much more because its part of a bigger project that im working on with a group of 6 other people and ultimately i think art is a social thing for me. at this point ive also got a 115+ page buffer which ive never even come close to before, so i feel very much at ease about being able to put it out into the world without the months long hiatuses ive gone on with my other comics. plus, it has elements in it that are largely influenced by ideas from my previous projects which i guess leads me to my next point...

which is that im growing burnt out of my older comics. i had for a long time. i occasionally experience moments where i really love my old stories again and give myself the impression that im ready to get back into them, but then it always ends up being temporary and fizzling out again just a week or so later. like venturing. i spent years working on it and theres so much left of the story for me to tell, things that i am still excited to show. but at the same time, its a story i started when i was 16 and i guess this happens to a lot of creators, but my writing style is so different now and when i look back at it i cringe. theres also the factor that felix is almost like an undercooked version of my protagonist in bird of death (for reasons that have only vaguely been revealed). so when i think about writing his story it just feels like. he's the same guy but more poorly put together by a younger me.

this same thing goes for another comic project that ive never shared publicly but which ive been working on for just as long as ive been working on venturing. its actually the story im using for my final project for my degree lmao. the characters in it that im most invested in feel like early drafts for characters from bird of death... the catharsis of writing them has moved to this new story. my old projects just feel like early drafts of this new one but wearing different clothes. they are all born of the same train of thought.

then theres the matter of my fancomics. children of decay is so early on and undercooked that i barely have anything to say about it except that i still love the idea of having a warriors comic, but man i am just not invested in it the way i am with bird of death. (also the fact their titles are so similar... feels silly lol).

my moomin fancomics are a whole other matter... im not the writer for them, and theres still a ton of content that i wanted to cover. im still only in the first chapter of blackthorn tree, and i wanted to adapt 4 more fics afterwards. they are stories that i love, and which continue to be very dear to me, but the inspiration that gave me is, again, now being channeled into my newest project. i guess that makes sense, given that my protagonist was originally made to be a moomin oc. ive also felt increasingly disconnected from the moomin fandom, not because i like the series itself any less, but the fandom landscape is just very different from what it was. another factor is that i did actually have the rest of chapter 1 almost finished, but i lost all those files when my old ipad got fried and this really bummed me out, just a further discouragement.

putting all these things on the backburner feels bad. i dont like saying that i dont know when or even if i will come back to certain projects. i know lots of people enjoyed what i was making, especially venturing and the moomin comics. but i just cant find it in myself to commit to them again now that this new project has pretty much overtaken me, and i dont know if that commitment will ever come back. this isnt to say that i am putting an end to any of them or that im quitting them. just that they are not the thing i am committed to, and i am putting them into uncertain limbo. it feels smarter to concentrate my energy on a project i am much more devoted to now, which is very developed, and which i am making alongside other people who are also very devoted to the greater project.

if u got this far thanks for reading, and thanks to all those who've supported me over the years in my creative endeavors

[kingdomkeykitsune]

KHOC WEEK 2023 DAY 4: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Alright, so, Day 4 of @khoc-week ! Old af art, I didn't have time to redraw it, but the outfit designs hold up!

I had a plethora of choices for AUs with Kimbri, I've come up with a fair few over the years, but I decided to pull out an old favorite, my untitled Modern Fantasy Slice of Life AU! You might remember this setting from... I think it was Year 3? I posted a drabble about Vanitas vs The Gremlin at Exhaustion Departure, the coffee shop. Well Kimbri just so happens to work at Merlin's Books right next door in this AU! It's a magical place that holds WAY more books than it should be able to, while also playing host to it's own resident magical creatures, in this case mostly colorful pixies who live in birdhouses around the store! They're definitely a bit better off in this regard than their neighbors, lol. Other members of the staff include Merlin himself, Ienzo, another OC of mine, Lena, handyman Cid, who also owns his own garage down the street, and part-timers Pence and Olette.

Below the cut find a drabble I wrote set in this AU. Enjoy some warm, fuzzy goodness in:

Sweater Weather

Ienzo frowned as another strong gust of wind rattled the windows of the overstocked book store, causing the resident pixies to scatter back to their little houses. Judging by the drafts it caused, it was high time Merlin got the windows resealed, though he remembered thinking something similar around this time last year. Sighing, he tried to return his attention to the inventory sheets in front of him, trying not to shiver as a draft blew down his neck.

A few moments later the bell over the door rang, signaling someone's arrival, but he paid it no mind, knowing that if whoever it was needed help they'd come to the counter to get him. A moment later he regretted his decision not to look up when the only warning he got before his vision was completely eclipsed by something fuzzy and purple was the smell of salted caramel and espresso, the hallmarks of Kimbri's favorite drink from Exhaustion Departure. As he sputtered, startled, and fought his way out of his warm, lavender and vanilla scented prison he could hear his coworker and foster sibling giggling mischievously. Eventually he managed to pull the soft turtleneck over his head and turned to glare at the girl next to him in irritated confusion.

"Kimbri, what on earth possessed you to do that?"

"You looked cold." She shrugged with a grin. "Besides, I bought that for you, you always forget to bring a sweater when it first starts getting actually cold. I saw that the last time I went to the thrift store and it was just your size. Don't worry, I washed it twice before I brought it to you." 

Ienzo looked down at the purple sweater with an almost perplexed expression before finally pulling it the rest of the way on.

"Thank you Kimbri, I really appreciate it." He said once it was properly adjusted.

"No problem, what's family for?" Kimbri smiled again and took a sip of her drink. "Now let's have a look at these inventory sheets..."

[stikblog]

What do you think of Off the Grid Nightmare? And what do you think stikbot needs to have a full return?

"What do you think of Off the Grid Nightmare?"

ehhhhh i have mixed feelings about it. i've talked about it in the discord a bit, and i still stand by what i said for the most part about the foreshadowing (or lack thereof cough cough) and pacing being kind of not good.

(long rant ahead!)

this point has been done to death by basically everyone in the stikbot fandom, but i'll say it again: the original off the grid was so popular because it was aimed at a much older audience. it took itself seriously for the most part, even if it was kind of corny sometimes, and the story was thought out and interesting! being created by moonshine animations also helped, i'm sure. nightmare doesn't have the same vibe because i do believe it was heavily sanitized to appeal to that sweet sweet "7 and under" demographic.

im not gonna lie the story is weaksauce. i love that the nightmare realm is being explored, but it almost feels like the new series isn't doing it justice, y'know? its as if they're trying to cram so much into just 22 minutes of animation that the entire thing loses so so much quality. and its honestly not really interesting, either. sanitation strikes again, making the dialogue and characters feel like happy meal toys compared to the og. the stakes are nonexistent because EVERYONE knows that nothing bad is ever going to happen to striker, and the new monsters don't feel like a threat. they feel like a joke! i get the vibe that the story was still on the first draft in the meeting room and the team just said "fuck it, that's what we're going with."

im personally biased against the new VA's because im an og fan 4 life, but i do think they're alright ngl. the animation is noticeably choppier, but im not going to really drag that point out. i never expected it to be as good as the og, so i don't really care, but it'd feel wrong to not at least mention. im mostly just pissed that they massacred my boys like this through the lackluster plot and writing. nightmare had the chance to be soso good and they fucked it up!!! rahh!!!!

"And what do you think stikbot needs to have a full return?"

hard to say. if i could go back in time and somehow rewrite otg:n, i would have turned it into an epilogue story set years into the future, with a new cast and plot, with a changed world that is obviously still the stikbot universe and story we all know and love. (or. y'know. ACTUALLY CREATE THE GREAT STIKBOT WAR PREQUEL YOU PROMISED US AND THEN NEVER DELIVERED ON. @/STIKBOTCENTRAL. ahem. that is a rant for another day.)

as much as i want to, obviously i can't go back and right the wrongs of the past, so what now? i think stikbot needs another series aimed at an older audience. they're obviously trying to milk OTG for all it's worth, and that grittier vibe was what made it a success. but i do think it's time we officially retire OTG. it was fun, but we need something fresh and new! with literally everything else on the stikbot central channel being baby proof tho, i don't really see that happening unless they really change up the writers room over at stikbot central headquarters. moonshine carried the entire series fr and we need someone else like him who actually knows how to write a good kids show @ zing like. right now. its dire.

sorry for such a long rant lol, as you can tell im very passionate about this. feel free to slide into my inbox again; im always excited to answer questions!

[hideyseek]

5, 9, 12!

crab!! hi hi hi hi hi hiiiii~! ty for quastions :3

from fanfic asks for the new year

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

aha, well. technically the first is mini heist!au but none of it is written that is in the shape of the final thing that i haven't already posted on here so i'm gonna cheat and say uh. wow huh okay then i kind of have no idea. ah! maybe my arthurcobb fic then! cos it sure won't be narrative!fic, lol!

here is a snippet from the current draft which is uhh three and a half years old (by which i mostly mean to say, there are a couple things in here i would write differently now.):

Arthur brings his coffee up to the counter where Dom has already deposited his onion rings and says, “Excuse me, can I purchase a — a temporary phone?” If he doesn't call it a burner maybe he will come off as more the kind of person he actually is. The cashier puts up a finger in question and Arthur nods but behind him Dom says firmly, “Two.”  Arthur turns, surprised. “Why — we don’t need two?” They’re traveling together, after all. Arthur’s not about to leave Dom alone, so it’s not like Dom will need his own phone. It’s not like Dom’s super functional, anyway. The three days he’d spent on Arthur’s couch before they read the news and had to leave town extremely suspiciously, he’d really just spent on the couch. “We don’t need two phones, Dom,” Arthur repeats.  “What if we get separated,” Dom points out. “How would we get in contact with each other again? You should have your own phone, too.” Arthur would rather not think about circumstances that would separate them. Dom says, “Arthur,” and it feels pointed. Something like panic hollows Arthur’s chest. Things are already out of control, apparently. Two days into being on the run and apparently Dom can call these shots but he can’t be on the run by himself.

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January?

ahaha actually, getting this ask made me decide that i'm going to try my absolute best to finish the project i've been calling "mini heist!au" (which ... at this point ... is just an au of heist!au without any heists in it, lmao) this month! i used answering this ask as my bribe for reading through all the existing material and drawing up a revision plan / new fic story structure actually. i'm not sure i'll be able to, i suspect there are 2-4 drafts and i simply do not write that fast (at least one from scratch based on a new outline, possibly a second from scratch, and then a second/third that's just like. content/theme/cadence/character arcs etc revisions. though that might get complex enough to be two drafts). but we'll see! there are still 24 days so at this current moment i am optimistic :3

12. Will you change anything about the way you edit or rewrite this year?

YES I SURE FUCKING WILL. I HAVE BEGUN IT ACTUALLY, mostly i'm continuing to test a thing i tried in december 2023 to see if it still works for projects that aren't the specific situation of the beginning of devotion (so far, yes!) anyway the way that process goes is like this (recipe below):

first, write a terrible draft. some scenes can just be a note of what needs to happen. ideally: expend as little fucking effort on this as possible bc like. almost none of this will stay. just write enough to get the vibes of what you're going for.

second, read through that draft taking notes of what you like or don't like (or, the way i phrase it for myself to make the goal clearer "what feels like it is aligned with my vision for the fic vs what isn't") but most importantly. WHY.

for me doing this second step has 2/2 turned into "here is a rough outline of the story, completely restructured" but also, with no ending (which is fine, i just have to trust that the ending will appear when more of the draft is written).

third, compile those notes on a new draft into a narrative-order outline (linear for me).

fourth, write the new draft.

fifth, try to do step 2 again. but what i found for the beginning of devotion and therefore what i'm to a certain extent expecting, is that i will just have a bunch of Ns/dislikes and then go. ah. because the things i dislike are too granular to require big-picture story structure changes now.

sixth, copy the most recent draft into a new doc. and read through and revise directly on the page. maybe title at some point so that revision stuff is aligned with the mood/tone/content/vibes/whatever of the title. and maybe come up with initial tags and a summary here also to make sure the vibes are all aligned. hopefully the content of the ending will become clear at this point and you'll draft that for the first or second time.

seventh, idk i like to do an out-loud readthrough bc reading cadence is important to me personally. and also i am scared to lose the skill of reading aloud considering i do it about zero times a year other than this.

that's it basically.

[elevenwav]

Shin Megami Tensei IV has my favorite videogame soundtrack of all time

Heavy Spoilers for Shin Megami Tensei IV ahead, proceed only if you have beat the game.

"hi! this essay was in my draft for almost an year left unfinished so......I decided to post it without finishing it completely because I think it's pretty good and I want people to see it already lol. I may write a continuation for this analysis in the future bc I still want to conclude my thoughts but for now I hope u like it!" -elise realizing she left this in her drafts

It was long overdue that I wanted to talk about the music in this game.

Shin Megami Tensei IV’s soundtrack was a huge surprise to me – such as the game itself. It is initially presented as a more medieval-like world, set in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, which it didn’t bother me initially, just didn’t surprised me at first glance – but when its true colors started to show up – I realized it was something special. It borrows from my particular impressions, I didn’t pay attention to the music initially, such as the ‘Main Theme’, and ‘Premonition’, only noticing about the more fitting tracks for the medieval world, such as ‘Aquila Statue Plaza’ and ‘K’s Tavern’. Although ‘Self’ was able to make me immersed on the intro sequence, but not exactly foreshadowing the iconic and unique mixture of futuristic technology with the occult aesthetic that the series is known for – and what I would find out about just later. My experience with the MegaTen series until that point was Persona 3, Persona 4, and a little bit of Devil Survivor – and as much as these games has some of its dark moments – Shin Megami Tensei IV surprised me, because I honestly didn’t knew anything about that game and mainline SMT in general, I wasn’t that much aware about the setting and aesthetic – I only knew about the Order and Chaos philosophical conflict. I was initially playing the game as just one more regular medieval RPG – that unawareness really helped me to being immersed on what would come after.

The musical tension of facing a Boss

The end of the first chapter with Issachar and the Minotaur shown me the first impression of one of its unique aspects; the Boss Themes. Both Battle B1, the Mid-Boss Theme, and Battle B2, the Major-Boss Theme, just caught me completely off-guard, feeling dangerous, futuristic sounding-like, and at first glance; uncomfortable. Most things until that point presented the game with a specific aesthetic, and then had a tonal shift for me. As much as the game foreshadowed its more futuristic tech-based stuff, such as the AI Burroughs, I didn’t actually realized it, the game still didn’t caught my attention that much yet. When I listened to Battle B1 – I was, no joke – SUPER scared, as much as this sounds funny. The tone of the story at this point was already making me realize its true colors, I was completely set on the mood, so when the revelation of Issachar happened, I was feeling so, SO uncomfortable, and I loved it. At the time, I was playing the game on my Nintendo 3DS at a bus trip, at 3AM with everyone sleeping, everything but my 3DS’ screen was pitch black, and my headphones on a fairly good volume.

As much as I liked the regular battle themes, Battle B1 had a lot of elements that were able to perfectly fit the atmosphere of facing a demonic entity, and, in that specifically on that moment, someone that was once your best friend. The song is composed on a minor key, associated with melancholy, sorrow, but in that case, danger and urgency. The instrument that composes the melody on the intro is a Chime, in a fairly low octave, which is something not expected when using this instrument, making it sound eerie and uncanny. Right after followed by a saw-wave synthesizer on the main melody, the synth itself isn’t uncanny, but yet fierce, the melody itself ends up takes the role on making it sound imposing and eerie. Then a 303 sounding-like Synth steals the show on the main melody, people often call it ‘boing-boing’, which is quite fitting for how it sounds, that sound makes the song feel otherworldly, and again, really uncanny. The very last section takes everything back to the saw-wave synth, but now on a very slow, but imposing chord. Then the loop ends.

It has lots of things that I love about music, such as heavily Synth-based instruments, evoking both a retro style and a really amazing ambience to the streets of that post-apocalyptic Tokyo. With that said, what I loved the most about that soundtrack is that it had such a consistent identity of its own, with at the same time being so diverse, it manages to be both catchy, and musically complex in a way that I really admire, with simple compositions, but really creative and unique arrangements, made with a very wide range of different Synths and electronic instruments in general.

CONTINUES IN PART 2.......SOMEDAY........I GUESS...........SORRY

[bluestar22x]

BlueStar's Year In Review

Thought I might make a blog review post of sorts this year cause it seemed fun.

It's been a very fun year for me on here. I joined tumblr for the gifs, and for fan talk, back in 2015. I mainly focused on the Dominion, 12 Monkeys, and Supernatural shows. All of which have been off air for a while now but I've continued to find fandoms to latch onto, the latest being the Pedro Pascal character fandom.

I've only had good experiences with this fandom since I joined in, starting around July 2022 after finally watching The Mandalorian. I'd seen Pedro in other shows before, but that was the first role I really noticed him in (shame on my younger self for not paying more attention to Marcus Pike before).

Finding out Pedro was going to play Joel Miller in an HBO show that same month, after having discovered/watched the TLOU games in May/June 2022 and being a newfound fan of game Joel, it kinda felt like fate. And then going through most of Pedro's major movies and shows before and during the time The Last of Us show aired solidified my want to be part of the fandom.

This year has seen a shift in my blog in major ways in large part to the Pedro Pascal characters and fandom. It's still very much for reblogging gifs of my favorite characters/shows/movies, but I've now shifted to also being a very fanfic heavy blog, where before I was only posting and reading fics on fanfiction net.

I started writing fanfic for the first time in years because of Din in 2022, but it wasn't until Pedro's version of Joel in January that I started reading fanfic again (since SPN ended) and eventually started writing for other Pedro Pascal characters.

Through reading fanfic about these characters and writing for them I've truly immersed myself in a fandom again and it's been a wonderful distraction, especially with how stressful real life has been in recent years trying to find a job I can live with, and dealing with not liking where I am in life (I thought I'd have more by this age - my own house, family, etc.).

I'm really grateful for those who have had discussions with me and who have read my fics; those who reblogged and left comments and reaction gifs that made me smile (reaction gifs are so fun). While I do write for myself first, every note has given me a serotonin boost, and it has lead to me having my first ever post with 100 notes! (And it's for one of my favorite fics I've written Sweet Summer). Notes aren't everything, but they're worth celebrating! They make me feel like I'm a part of something and not just in the background. I like contributing.

Here's the link to my Tumblr Stats

Notable Stats:

I've posted so much more this year than the rest before; it's insane

Obviously the notes have gone up since I now write

I haven't even hit 400 original posts yet since 2015! lol

Top 5 Posts:

1. July - Ch2 of my Sweet Summer Series

2. Sweet Summer Masterlist

3. Colors - My Joel Miller x blind!reader oneshot (a surprise honestly, but it goes to show how much reblogs make a difference)

4. June - Ch1 of my Sweet Summer Series

5. The Rockford Files Masterlist

It makes me sooo happy Rockford's in the top 5 cause that fic was very demanding and challenging for me. Not only did it have more plot than my typical fics (which took ages to straighten out), but it also had very LONG chapters because of the case by case nature of the fic. I find it hard to commit to long chapters like that - I have a somewhat short attention span and I'm impatient. It's only 3 chapters yet has almost enough words to be a novel! (over 40,000 words)

My Favorite Fanfics I've Written:

The Rockford Files (the finished product was worth it)

Sweet Summer Series (including New Year's Promise!)

The Journey Series

Fanfics I Wish Got More Love:

Second Chances Series (Love underrated Marcus M)

The Writing Contest Series (it's still early though)

My Masterlist

My Fanfic Plans:

I've got a lot of WIPs written out in my drafts. Right now I'm going to be focusing on Baby Fever and The Writing Contest (the latter which will have the most chapters of any fic I've written in a long time) but I have several one shots I'm itching to write between their chapters, including another Sweet Summer oneshot sequel called The Weekend which will feature Steve, Connie, and Chucho - not sure how I've avoided writing them for so long when I loved them in show. It will also be based around one of my favorite things to write besides smut. Take a guess.

After Baby Fever is completed I'll be looking to start writing another series, this time for Dieter called Unknown which will share a bit of plot and humor with that Disney movie The Game Plan (hopefully - I don't write humor much) but Dieter-fied. It'll feature less sports and more romance and angst. My two greatest loves.

Tumblr Wishes For 2024:

That I catch up on my WIP list (unlikely)

That I don't run out of ideas for fics (I just don't want as much ha)

That I make close friends in the fandom - I've talked to some lovely people fairly often, but I don't have anyone yet that I talk to regularly as I did in previous fandoms

That I have more discussions about the characters/fics/ask games I'm interested in - my ask box is open!

Anyway, that's all for now. Happy New Year everyone! :)

[blueberry-lemon]

What I Did In 2023

Ever since finishing school in 2017, I've always had a hard time feeling like I've "accomplished anything" in a given year. The months all blur together, and it's crazy how quickly I will forget something that happened or something I did.

To help myself with this, I wrote up a post last year of What I Did In 2022, which honestly felt good. So I figured I'd try again.

Sorry if you find these kinds of posts obnoxious. Hidden under the Read More just in case you do!

A few things I accomplished in 2023:

I wrote some stuff

I wrote Chapters 3 and 4 of Soul Symphony: Abandoned Encore. This is a sequel to a webcomic called Soul Symphony that I made and completed from 2010-2015. Olivia Myers, former music maestro and magical-girl adventurer, lives life as a depressed freelancer after quitting her teaching job. I think literally only like 2 or 3 people are even reading this, but good enough!

I wrote about JOMO, the Joy of Missing Out, when players have to work with different characters and resources in games.

I wrote a review of Bittersweet, an album by Jamie Paige.

My big piece of the year, which I chipped away at for months, reflected on nostalgia in culture and our personal lives.

I wrote about Cozy Games, which bizarrely was recognized in a Critical Distance weekly roundup.

I wrote about my fear for the direction of art and social media, a review of the writing in Sea of Stars, and other Cohost/Tumblr posts, which you can find in the #blogofkylelab tag.

As usual, I've continued my work as a Writer working on Rhythm Doctor, detailed below.

Art and Game Dev

Another sad year of barely 👏 drawing 👏 anything 👏 which is a huge bummer but I'm coming to terms with it.

Don't have anything finished to show for it, but doing a lot of messing-around in Twine and RPGMaker, which has been good for practice at least.

I funded the guest art and music for an upcoming card game, Isle of Swaps. I commissioned around a dozen artists, who I think drew around 50 total cards. Getting paid work as an artist is getting rough out there, so I wanted to help freelance artists the best I could.

Still working on Rhythm Doctor and A Dance of Fire and Ice at 7th Beat Games

We released Act 5 of Rhythm Doctor, which was our huge undertaking of the year! I co-wrote this with fizzd, and for the first time we were working with a completely blank slate with no levels made beforehand. I was recently looking through my Google Docs and was reminded how many different drafts and outlines I had come up with for this Act, some of which were long before the "athlete" story was even decided upon at all. I eventually helped come up with the character of Lucky (designed by our pixel artist Winston), and we got it all built out from there. I had a part in almost every sentence you see in the Act, I believe. I think I did an okay job, and players seem to really like the story and characters of Act 5, so that's a big relief.

Other Stuff

I've been running IndieGamesOfCohost for more than a full year now! I hope people have been enjoying this. It's been really tough to make the spare time for it, especially getting multiple developer interviews up per month, but I'm gonna keep pushing forward. Maybe "one interview a month" is a better goal to aim for. It's hard to tell how much people enjoy the efforts, but people do keep Liking and Sharing and Following so hopefully that means I'm doing something good with my spare time lol.

My partner and I moved! Aside from Act 5 of Rhythm Doctor this was probably the biggest thing. It was my first time apartment-hunting, as well as finding and paying for a moving truck and buying big furniture, getting renters insurance and all sorts of annoying stuff. In past apartments, I was lucky enough to be invited in as a roommate after the place was already set up. I also helped my parents pack up to move from the house they lived in for 28 years. Lots of moving. Hopefully no moving in 2024.

I hope your 2023 was bearable! Take pride in the little things you were able to get done. Let's all push through 2024 together.

[amethystunarmed]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you @marypsue for tagging me! (I'm sorry it is so late) This got VERY long, so I will put it under a cut.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

54, my god.

2. What’s your total word count?

188,134. Which seems both enormous and not enough lol.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, I'm in a major Hatchetfield kick. Those musicals have me by the throat. But I am also working on a Stranger Things series too! However, I'm probably most known for my My Hero Academia stuff, I know a couple of those absolutely did numbers when I wasn't looking.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Oh I'm pretty sure I know. *checks Statistics* Yep I was right. My top five (and six and seven) are all from my Truth series, which is a MHA Dabihawks AU where Hawks joins the League of Villains.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try! Sometimes I get overwhelmed and fall behind but I swear I always read them and love them and am so touched.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ummmm... Deadass, I think it was the first fic I ever posted, back in high school. It was a Doctor Who fanfic, about a Weeping Angel who feel in love with a human, and tried to stop killing for him, but was so hungry she ended up killing him instead. It's almost ten years old, but you can find it here.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I am once go back deep in my archives for this one. Back in 2015, I posted a Supernatural fic that was pure fluff, Karaoke. It was my idea of a series finale where everything was beautiful for once. Riiiiip.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I definitely have before, but only like once or twice and I immediately blocked them. It is always heartbreaking though. :(

9. Do you write smut?

Once that I posted! Though I may have an unfinished draft or two, lol

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, absolutely! My crossover tend to be characters experiencing scenarios from other universes, rather than character meeting.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Mostly by the AO3 scraping stuff, though I have found some suspicious posts with stuff from the Truth series on other sites, but nothing really definite.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes and I dropped my phone when the request came in. I was so excited.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah I have!!! My go-to partner in crime is @little-engineer-who-cant, we've been writing together since middle school.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, this is hard. Ummm... I suppose the first ship I ever really super got into was Ten/Rose in Doctor Who, so it holds a special place in my heart.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Honestly, one I really loved was an Adventure Zone Wicked au. There were a lot of great concepts in that one, but I never really got anywhere with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue! I love dialogue. It tends to be what I write first and then I go back and fill in the blanks.

I feel like I'm also pretty good at exploring concepts, like, taking things to their furthest extreme and exploring what it means in the universe.

Also angst. I love angst.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions. I just want you all to know what I am seeing in my head, not have to describe it. I really have to work at imagery, and making scenes feel alive.

Also fuck fight scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I would do it if I felt confident that I or another person could edit it to be accurate. If I am google translating or something, I'd rather just do English italics or say what characters the language are speaking. I don't want to butcher another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

As mentioned previously, the first fic I published was for Doctor Who but god as a kid I wrote myself into stories all the time! Should have known I'd end up a writer. Probably Yu-Gi-Oh or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Ohhhhhh these are so hard. Ummmm... To be honest, I am so incredibly proud of I Need a Shovel to Love Him. It is one of my recent Hatchetfield fics and is an exploration of grief, and it probably the closest a piece of writing has ever been to exactly what I pictured in my head when I wrote it.

But! Trying to ignore the bias for recent works, So Few Men Can Carry It is probably up there. It is an OC focused story in the Truth universe, and I loved discussing healthcare in a world with professional superheroes and plan to do more original stuff with that concept, because I love it so much.

I'm going to tag @little-engineer-who-cant again, as well as @snarky-wallflower and @starpirateee. (Does anyone else like to be included in these? I need to make a list!)

[nocaptainonthisship]

Melian: Safety Zone setlist; 5/27/2023

Read chapter 4 here.

Hi friends!

If you clicked through, you know why you're here.

Every song Melian sings in chapter 4 has a real-world counterpart. Some of those songs are a perfect fit. Some of them have the right lyrics and not the wrong vibe. Some of them have lyrics that almost work and the perfect vibe. One of them has both.

This song isn't actually named in the text, just referenced as "the first song." But it's a banger, and it helps set a specific tone for the night. Before, that is, Melian sees Halbrand and things go sideways.

"The Wilds"

In an earlier draft of the chapter, I wrote, "If Girlfriend didn't already have you on your feet, The Wilds will." There is also a "Hey, hey" in the chorus that I like to think Melian delivered looking directly at Hal when she saw him I'm the audience.

"Gwenniel"

Gwenniel is one of Tolkien's early names for Melian. And rhythmically, it fits perfectly here.

This is one where the lyrics don't quite fit, but the feeling is exactly what I needed. Elwe might not like this song, but it's a personal favorite for me.

"Awakening"

Can you do Haladriel without Florence and the Machine? This one doesn't need much explanation, I think.

"Dream When You Wake"

Ugh John Mayer. This was originally a very different song that slowed the momentum of the show too much so I had to drop it. I started searching for breakup songs from 2006-08 and this just. Works.

"The Battle of A Thousand Caves"

There is no world in which I made it through this fic without promoting Fleetwood Mac somewhere. It just wasn't going to happen. Listening to the live version of rhiannon is a life changing experience. If you skip every other song here, listen to this one.

In the fic, Elwe is credited with calling the song an exorcism. That is actually something Mick Fleetwood said about Stevie Nick's performance of it.

"Anglachel"

This might be my favorite moment. You think there's going to be a moment of rest, and then she opens her mouth and just wails. Incredible. I listen to this one and have visions of Melian looking down at Galadriel to ask, "Why did love put a knife in my heart?"

"The Walls of Night"

"A cavernous expanse of a song waiting to be filled with our baggage." The lyrics aren't quite right, but God is the vibe perfection.

"Almaren"

I think this might be the first song I added to this playlist with any really intent. I searched for this one.

Actually, I searched for a cover with a female vocalist, and this version is just haunting.

"The Light At the End"

Let's talk about Passenger. I have seen him live.... a couple times lol. For years now, this is the last song he plays before the encore. The crowd sings along to the vocalization, and they keep singing until he comes back out. Haunting. Powerful. Perfect setup for what comes next.

From a haladriel perspective, I loved ending the initial set by playing with darkness and light.

(Tumblr is cutting me off, so the encore gets a reblog, I guess.)