#the craziest thing though about the first question is in half of his dynamics and ships HE IS THE FUCKING PROBLEM

[vaultdamned]

17, 25, & 33!

017. WHEN DOES YOUR CHARACTER THINK THAT VIOLENCE IS JUSTIFIED OR DESERVED?

when he's been wronged, those he cares about have been harmed, & when it’s necessary. vincent is a hardcore enforcer of an eye for an eye, but this mindset brings more harm than good; he constantly finds himself in the middle of confrontation simply because he refuses to forgive & forget. the last time he followed the basics of the philosophy, his ex-wife got away with murder &, as he reflects on it now, he practically sold his life to vault-tec in an attempt to forget every asset from his old life. while he seeks justice when it is justified, he is also a smarter man by the day & he’s learned sometimes that not everything needs to be solved. sometimes things can just be martyrs. in relationships, he is known to seek revenge or blood if the person he cares about was wronged, even if they tell him to leave it alone, because if he doesn’t do something about it, despite being selfish in his own reasoning, the act of ignoring it would throw him off & completely derail his cohrent trains of thought. basically, blood on the mind. in his past, he has killed innocent people to save himself, which he justifies on behalf of adrenaline, considering he does not fare well with the realistic living of this new life, otherwise had he been in the opposite state of mind at the right time, he wouldn’t do anything & just let them kill him – at least, make them aim for his head.

025. WHAT DO THEY CONSIDER BEAUTIFUL IN OTHERS PERSONALITY-WISE?

personality wise, the traits that he can’t seem to manifest so naturally; bravery & openness. he has a soft spot for creative types & addicts, also people who aren’t afraid to nurture their negative thoughts, because in his eyes, that itself is an act of bravery considering you never know what your mind will tell you when you’re at your worst.

people who go after what they want, too. ambitious.

033. DO THEY KEEP THEIR PROMISES?

yes & no. 

vincent will not make a promise he can’t deliver, whether it’s a threat or from his cold heart. his promises only break when he can’t successfully fulfill whatever it is he promised, but whether or not it’s ever intentional is up for discussion.

[grey-gazania]

20 questions for fic writers

Yoinked from the lovely @sallysavestheday and @melestasflight!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 65, though one is a compilation of unrelated short pieces.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 199,601

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Tolkien, though I have a few older bits and bobs from other fandoms hanging around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? In terms of kudos, my various Kidnap Fam stories are overwhelmingly my most popular:

A Stitch in Time (Elrond's life as seen by a quilt)

And They Looked Up and Saw a Star (Early-days Kidnap Fam WIP)

Root and All (Kidnap Fam feat. Maedhros, Elrond, and botany)

Speak No Evil (Kidnap Fam feat. Orkish lessons)

Little Drop of Poison (Kidnap Fam feat. injured Maedhros and healer Elrond)

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to respond to them all, but sometimes my responses are very late, especially if the comment comes when I'm having a depressive episode or a chronic illness flare-up.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Leaving aside unfinished multichaps that will have angsty endings but haven't gotten there yet, it's probably either The Hearts of the Eldar (the Third Kinslaying and all that it entails) or Pain Unbearable (Maedhros' death).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Half Past Ten in the Rose Garden (Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife engagement rom-com). Still debating whether I should add another chapter or wrap it where it is.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only ever on fics featuring Fingon's wife. Some people get real heated about those.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I don't, nor do I read it. It's very much Not My Thing. I think the closest I've come is The Bed We Share (Fingon/Fingon's Wife, Fingon/Maedhros), which does have a sex scene, but it's not particularly detailed.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, though I do enjoy reading them on occasion. I'm going to take this opportunity to recommend Evidence by Camwyn on FF.N, which is the single most delightful crossover I've ever read. (Silmarillion/Discworld)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! A kind reader translated Root and All into Russian, where it seems to have been moderately well-received, at least from what I can tell using Google Translate.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope. I suppose I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I do have Very Strong characterization opinions that might make it difficult.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Maedhros/Fingon! Though Elrond/Celebrian and Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife are close seconds, and Glorfindel/Erestor and Legolas/Gimli are very old and longstanding favorites as well.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Things ain't lookin' good for The Longest Journey I Have Known (Fingon's wife and Celebrian travel to Valinor). I am Extremely Stuck.

16. What are your writing strengths? Worldbuilding, character dynamics, and description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? PLOT. God, I am so bad at come up with interesting plots. Also probably pacing, I need to improve in that respect.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do it rarely -- in fact I think Maps might be the only Silmarillion story where I've done it. I included a Quenya translation of part of a Yiddish folk song, and in that case I had help from the Lizard Council, and particularly from the esteemed and dearly missed Darth Fingon, who looked over my translation and corrected a few errors.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars, back in, uh, 1999, I think? I've been doing this for a good 25 years.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Girl, that's like asking a mother to choose her favorite child! But if I absolutely must pick, it's probably The Flight of Birds, which features Elrond, newly arrived on Balar, dealing with his conflicted feelings about his mother.

Tagging @thelordofgifs, @vidumavi, @cuarthol, @swanhild, @leucisticpuffin, @emyn-arnens, @polutrope, @welcomingdisaster, @zealouswerewolfcollector, @that-angry-noldo, @thescrapwitch, @spiritofwhitefire, @swanmaids, @hhimring, @elfscribe, and anyone else who wants to share -- @ me and say I tagged you!

[staceymcgillicuddy]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @astorytotellyourfriends! ❤️❤️❤️

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

On this account? 8. Total across every fandom (hi, yes, I get paranoid about bothering people from old fandoms with new content so I make new names like a dork), 74. Wow, that is So Many.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

In Hellcheer, 237,256. Across everything, 1,311,715.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently just Stranger Things, but past fandoms were LoTR, a brief dabble in the MCU, X-Files, RPF which shall not be named, and uh... Dawson's Creek. Yes, I am old.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Only looking at Hellcheer fic:

to get my soul known again

If She Lived in Space, Man, I’d Build a Plane 

Trudge on Home to Celebrate 

crimson & clover pulling overtime 

model citizen; zero discipline 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I love interacting with people, and I figure if they're kind enough to leave a comment, I ought to be kind enough to respond. That said, I'm way behind on Kinktober comments.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I have never written an angsty ending in fic, because fic is my happy place. I have written some bittersweet ones, though.

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

Happiest? Damn. I mean, I haven't actually ended a Hellcheer longfic yet but Soul is absolutely a HEA.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

People have been surprisingly kind throughout my fic history. There have been some trolls and dickheads, but for the most part everyone has been super generous.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes! Usually kinky stuff, which is where I have the most interest. I find vanilla stuff kind of boring, so there's usually some power dynamic or another in there to pique my interest and keep me inventing weird stuff for them to do.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I wrote an X-Files/LoTR crossover in high school but that's not that weird.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've been made aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!

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

I have, with my best friend. We wrote together in high school, and in some early fandoms. I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again, but it's a funny alchemy to find someone who fits your vibe and who you bounce off correctly and who wants to tell the same story you're telling.

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

Radu/Elmira. There's a deep cut.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

There's one in another fandom that is legitimately my only unfinished work in that fandom and it makes me sad. I do have a lot of half-started WIPs in draft that I haven't posted, so I guess those count. Maybe the western AU?

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I am decent at dialogue and description, and that I am better than some writers but worse than others. This is as close as I am legally allowed to come to complimenting my own work, thank you for understanding.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Literally everything else.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I would absolutely either have someone else help me, or I would write it in English and italicize it to indicate it's in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

X-Files.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I genuinely love Soul and am so proud of it, but I don't know that it's my favorite. I don't even know that I have a favorite, because I love them all for different reasons and get sad when the ones I am excited about don't hit as hard as the ones I'm 'meh' on.

Throwing this to @binickandros @justhere4thevibez @1lostsoul0fishbowl aaaaaaaand @pipergirl17

[stars-after-dark]

however many months later and i am finally TAGGING along (ba dum tss)

can't even remember if i've already responded to this but no harm in doing it again if i have!

Thanks @fourth-quartet for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? A nice even 10!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 48,623

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently TDJ (The Devil Judge), Beyond Evil with some dabbling in Half Bad: TBSATDH (The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself) and Good Omens. I have an ongoing (4 years in the works...) unpublished marvel wip that may never see the light of day, and I've fallen out of writing for a lot of other fandoms.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? - Angels on Earth - The Afterhours of Sunlight - Demons Were Always a Selfish Creature - In My Palms, a Trace of Heaven - Stars, Hide Your Fires 5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes because I enjoy interacting with people part of the fandoms I'm in and want to show my appreciation to my readers for actually engaging with my fic.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? What a question. Where do I even start?! I'll only discuss my published fics, but the true answer is likely one of my fics that I deleted a few years back, or a personal fic I was making with my best friend. Of my published fics, it's probably Slipping Through My Fingers although that does have a more ambiguous ending. Come to think of it, my published fics don't have angsty endings right now! That may change very quickly though 😏

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm inclined to say Everything and Nothing (When the World Is Quiet) purely because of the pain and the torment the main character (Jeong-je from Beyond Evil) went through to finally be given reprieve and a proper chance to continue with his life without such an overbearing, oppressive guilt and responsibility on his shoulders. It's cathartic, which yeah isn't what we automatically assume to be the happiest, but I think it's the happiest ending for him.

Stars, Hide Your Fires is very joyful too.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I do not, thankfully. 9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I don't write smut. Not comfortable writing it and don't think I could do it properly without it coming out all wrong? if that makes sense

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I don't, but am not averse to the idea of a crossover in the future. 11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I haven't!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Most of them didn't get very far due to life life-ing and other things, but they were a ton of fun during the process

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? My brain is telling me that I don't have an answer but I feel like I've just forgotten lmfao. I don't really have a favourite come to think of it, I read quite a few ships for different fandoms.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? That marvel fic I mentioned before. I love it as a fic I'd read for myself, but my god is it taking eons and the audience just isn't there for it anymore.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterisation, writing style, dynamics between characters.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Effective worldbuilding, setting description

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I used to do it but now I try to avoid it because I don't like the way it sticks out in some of my writing. Plus, sometimes translations are finnicky. In other works, it won't put me off the fic and can be a really nice addition.

19. First fandom you wrote for? bts

20. Favorite fic you've written? There is something about Everything and Nothing (When the World is Quiet) that hits the spot for me. I do love that fic.

i don't have anyone to tag who hasn't already been tagged (and my tumblr social circle consists of 3 people) so anyone feel free to jump i on this! Thanks again Took!

20 questions writer meme

Tagged by @killerandhealerqueen thanks dear <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Oh, god, currently? Across 7 accounts? Probably around 80, give or take?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Probably around 500k? I can't be bothered to log into all of my accounts.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

You can primarily find my fics for The Devil Judge and Strangers From Hell, but I do also write for Vincenzo, Dimension20, Critical Role, Hannibal, RPF stuff, and Harry Potter.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(again, only on the main account because I'm too lazy to log into other stuff)

envious of the musical sounds of my name from your tongue, whispered in the folds of being

imagining the integration of our images

a place to be

owed grief and promised IOUs

in the wounds we gave each other I find forgiveness

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, because I know people like replies. I struggle with replying to them though and tend to only reply after letting it pile up to 50+ comments.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All of them? LMFAO, there was one way back in the day where a character stopped taking his meds because he thought love was going to solve all of his problems, and the implications... weren't fun. I also just like killing characters.

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

Probably any TDJ fic currently published, because y'all are weird about not liking angsty fics.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't in a hot minute.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have written it before but I'm not super comfortable/confident in writing it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I do not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! wish I loved you (better) was translated into Spanish here

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

So so many. My ex and I used to co-write everything, probably a good 20+ fics.

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

... Tom Riddle/Harry Potter.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

LOL most of my TDJ fics? Specifically before, after, and the void in between. Also and soon we will fly (like birds in the night)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue for SURE.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Subplot, foreshadowing, world-building

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Depends on the language, whether or not I speak it, the relevance to the plot.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Things that will Disappear are so Beautiful

Tagging @stars-after-dark and @thedeviljudges as well as anyone else who wants to do this.

[wordsinwinters]

Then Again, Part 26 (Peter Parker x Reader)

Masterlist (with AO3 links)

Total word count: 50,293

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25,

Summary: After an intense argument and a forced-to-share-the-bed situation during their junior year decathlon trip, Peter and the Reader examine their faults and failings. As they attempt to fix their mistakes and improve their friendship, that friendship quickly begins to evolve into something else.

Slow burn fic in which all characters are included and their dynamics explored; multiple character POVs.

Betas: @girl-tips-from-satan and @fanboyswhereare-you

A/N: This isn’t my favorite chapter, but it’s been sitting in my drafts for over a year and I figured if I don’t post it now, I’ll never move on to the next. Additionally, as always, I live for feedback. 😉

Without further ado,

Then Again Part 26:

(Words: 2,825)

The bus ride will probably get boring soon, or at least as long as the girls stay asleep, but even as quiet as it is, it’s almost a perfect morning. Being early (around 6:00, I think?), there’s barely any light except street lamps and car lights, but some of the clouds on the right have caught a pretty bluish purple tinge. It reminds me of that Rainbow Fish book Aunt May used to read to me as a kid. To make it better, the morning air is chilly enough that the driver turned the heaters on low so it’s wrapped-in-a-blanket-while-it-snows warm in here. Although that also might be why, apart from general dirt and old gum, the strongest smell on the bus is salty grease— since the nearest heater is under the seat Flash spilled french fries and chicken nuggets in yesterday. It could be worse, though. I mean, it’s not necessarily a bad smell and the traffic isn’t horrible. It’s not the best, but it could definitely be louder and a lot slower. The field of flowing red tail lights ahead of us is oddly comforting, like a snail-slow pasture of mechanical color. 

All in all, it’s a pretty cozy start for a dreaded five hour bus ride. It’s giving me quiet time to think. So that’s where I’m at. Or should be. I got some stuff organized in my head last night even if I keep getting distracted now. Well, it was more like a couple hours ago, since I wasn’t able to get to sleep for so long after we said goodnight. But anyway, I’m trying to focus. It’s just hard, even with both of them sleeping.

From my and Ned’s spot behind them, watching the girls’ heads gently shake and bump against each other as the bus shudders through potholes is kind of calming. They seem so peaceful from this angle, like two people who’ve never pranked me and Ned to the point we were nearly suspended, or kept us awake and annoyed by asking paradoxical hypothetical questions because they know how Ned and I will argue for days if we don’t agree on an answer, or anything else like that. It’s like finding two mischievous cats sleeping, curled up on a chair. It’s easier to appreciate them when they aren’t causing chaos. But it’s not that hard to appreciate them when they are anyway.

Though Ned and I won’t admit it when they’re fully awake, seeing their heads smack into the seat in front of them each time the bus lurched to a halt at stoplights (during the first ten minutes after they’d fallen asleep) was funnier than it should’ve been. Even knowing then that we wouldn’t mention it later didn’t stop us from exchanging silent laughs when they leaned back up, muttering unintelligible complaints before settling their heads back onto one another. For the last couple stoplights before the highway, at least, we decided to be better friends. We both stood up with one leg on the floor and one knee on our own seat so we could easily hold their foreheads back each time it happened. Again, I wouldn’t admit this out loud, even to Ned, but it’s a little bit funny that Ned was a split second slower than me, so while I kept catching MJ’s head before the stop, he half-smacked Y/N’s forehead, like a really-close-to-the-floor basketball dribble, and made a wincing face each time. A lot of times. But it did stop her from colliding with the seat, and she didn’t wake up or complain. 

As nice as it is with them and almost everyone else sleeping through the dark, quiet first hour of the bus trek back to New York, I am excited for her and MJ to wake up. Whenever that is. I’ve missed them. 

But anyway, I really need to focus. God. I’m not doing a great job of that this morning. Apparently. So I’m focusing now. It’s like Ned said. I need to be honest with myself. 

Okay. 

Alright. 

No distractions. 

I’m going to set myself straight now, before we get back, so I can make a game plan and be more decisive and make less mistakes. Fewer? Yeah, fewer mistakes. She’s told me that half a dozen times this since she read that grammar book last summer. But that’s not important.

If I’m being honest... I think I’ve avoided the real possibility that things could work out between us because it felt too risky. And I make some dumb, impulsive choices. So that’s saying a lot. If she said no, what’s the worst that could happen? May and Ned have been asking me that for months, and it’s been so frustrating. The answer should be obvious. The worst thing wouldn’t be the rejection, it’d be if it made her uncomfortable and she broke off our friendship. Or, even if she stuck around, if our friendship changed and I had to watch her get more and more distant, knowing it was my fault and nothing would ever go back to normal. 

Those were the worst — and, I thought, most probable — possibilities. For months I’ve been certain that if anything changed, everything would, and it’d all go to shit. So I kept dodging it. And dodging her before the trip. But, then, things did change this weekend. Things are changing. We fought, and it was super shitty and awful and a total nightmare fiasco, but we made up. And she seemed almost as relieved as me when we did. Now we even have this pact about spending more time together. I know it’s officially only in the name of friendship, but something’s… different. I feel it, and I think she does too. And it doesn’t seem bad. That’s the craziest part. I mean, she even kissed me last night. On the cheek, but still. “Keep it.” Maybe May’s not ridiculous: she really might feel the same way. 

I’ve been texting her this morning, actually. Aunt May. I had to admit that I’m happy she forced me to do the forehead kiss thing last night. As annoyed as I was that she and Ned ganged up on me like that, I can’t dispute the results. She kissed me! Kind of. (To be fair, she did hit my mouth a little bit even if it was an accident.) At first it made me wonder if she heard any of Ned’s shout-comments before I could turn the t.v. up to cover what he was saying. But I doubt it. Even if she felt the same way, I know her too well to think she wouldn’t freak out more and enough that it’d be noticable. Yeah, no, I’d definitely have been able to tell if she’d heard him saying things like, “Nobody’s saying you have to tell her that you googled the probability of high school sweethearts getting married that time she saved your ass on that Bronte essay, but yeah, Aunt May’s right! Just ask her to come over and either talk to her or do the hair/forehead thing!” Anyway, May’s on board with her coming over a lot this week and next week and giving us some space. So are Ned and MJ. Ned said they agreed on giving us two weeks (starting tomorrow) without them hanging out after school. And who knows, if the dance goes really well, maybe it’ll be normal for us to hang out, just us, without the whole group. Because… well, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. 

I’ll admit, they’re the best friends I could ever have. All three of them. 

And it’s nice to have them all here now, Ned to my left and the girls in front of us. It’s even nicer to be outside of class or the city or crazy study sessions and have had a short breather from all that (despite the shitshow before we smoothed things over and could enjoy it). To be somewhere chill together. Yesterday and today probably feel even better because the last few days, or even weeks… no— months, if I’m being honest— have had me in a kind of less than happy place. But that’s over now. We’re all here and things are finally good. I just wish the girls would wake up, especially since Ned’s back on his phone. Again. 

Yesterday, everybody hung out for most of the afternoon, but being in the whole decathlon group isn’t the same as just being the four of us. Or two. 

Speaking of two— Ned being away during this next week or two is going to make everything so… unfiltered. New. Without his interference and being able to talk to him as often as normal, it’ll mostly just be her and me. Nobody to distract attention or blame stuff on or help me out when I’m doing something dumb (which is often). Like, for example, last night when I maybe let my excitement get the better of me and I might’ve jumped on the bed and thrown a pillow that accidentally broke the lamp on the nightstand. While I don’t really think writing that “Bill Mr. Harrington” note with the school’s address was Ned’s best idea, it helped me not care too much, enough that I didn’t do something dumber like actually tell Mr. Harrington. It might come back to bite us, though. Still, he was genuinely helpful this morning when Flash showed up too. 

While we were hanging out in the girls’ room waiting for them to finish packing, there was a knock on the door. I figured it was Mr. Harrington about to yell at me and Ned for the broken lamp, so I motioned to Ned to shut up and move closer to the head of the bed we were already sitting on where, courtesy of the wall between the bedroom and bathroom, he wouldn’t be able to see us as long as he stayed by the doorway. MJ gave us an odd glance before she got up to answer it. Her annoyed, “What are you doing here?” didn’t immediately disqualify Mr. Harrington, but the sound of Flash’s voice saying, “I, uh, brought you guys some muffins,” made me tense at the first syllable.

“The free muffins they give us for breakfast?”

MJ’s dripping sarcasm nearly made me laugh even though I couldn’t see her, but Y/N turning from her suitcase and walking over to join them killed it still in my throat. 

“Nope,” he said. “They’re fancy muffins from a bakery a few miles away.”

I wanted to roll my eyes out of my skull.

She may not like him, but that doesn’t mean I was wrong about him being into her. What a dumb way to impress someone. “Fancy muffins.”

“Expensive?” MJ asked. Even without seeing her face, I could tell she was giving him the squint death stare. It’s scary to have to respond to that face if you don’t know what the right answer is.

“Yes, especially with the delivery fee,” he said, sounding prepared for the question, “but they’re from a small local place, not a chain, which I figured you guys would appreciate. Actually, I think you’d like the woman who owns it, she was super grouchy and hard to convince.”

“Convince?”

“They don’t normally deliver at 5 in the morning.”

“Oh, so you thought you could just—”

“What kind did you get?” 

That’s one of the things I like about Y/N. She knows how to manage tempers and when to jump in; she has Flash and MJ down to a science. In that moment, though, I wanted MJ to fire her most confrontational questions at him with no mercy.

“Well, they’re all apology muffins—” I heard MJ scoff. Exactly. She gets it. “But I got blueberry, chocolate, obviously, coffee, cranberry orange, maple, I think that one has chicken in it or something, and banana nut.”

Ned and I turned towards each other with silent smirks at the last one. It’s a dumb joke, but under normal circumstances we’d never resist—

“Cool. Since you’ve brought so many, you can come in.”

Sometimes MJ drives me up the wall. This was one of those times. 

I mentally took back my agreement with her scoff.

The three of them came into the room, and for a couple seconds, Flash didn’t see us. The girls were closer to the window than they were to the wall and the bed Ned and I were sitting on, and he didn’t look behind him. Until MJ pointed us out directly.

“You can give them some too,” she said, her expression bordering on smug. “Apology muffins, right?”

Flash froze for a second. I straightened my back. Neither Ned or I said anything.

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “Of course.”

Surprisingly, he shook his shoulders like a bug just buzzed by his head and walked over, opening a giant rectangle of a box up to us. 

“Take however many you guys want.”

I stared at him, not moving. Nobody flinched. Then I realized he was tapping the side of the box with his thumb. Not in an asshole come on, hurry up way, but in an anxious way. Just as I started to reach toward the box, Y/N asked:

“Why’d you get so many of the coffee ones?”

Flash looked away at just the right second. 

Did I technically cave first by reaching into the box? Yes. But did anyone see? No.

Although, I guess he technically caved by offering us the muffins in the first place. Ha. All the same, I took a blueberry one. 

“They’re my dad’s favorite. I wanted to surprise him, you know? But I can’t even get a hold of.... Um, are your guys’ parents going to pick you up when we get there, or are you actually staying for school?”

“Staying.”

“All of you?” 

He looked around to ask all of us, even me and Ned. We all nodded. When he looked at me, though, his eyes twitched. It’s a face I’ve gotten a lot before. He realized he said parents. 

“You said these are orange cranberry?” Ned asked, pointing. 

Flash nodded. 

“They’re solid, though the banana nut ones are probably the best.”

As I said, under normal circumstances, like if one of the girls had said it, I would’ve laughed right then, but I’m not used to laughing around Flash. Ned, who usually follows that same rule, shook his head and grinned, if a little bit... nervously?

“Hell no!” he said, pretending to be mildly outraged. “I’m not eating banana-bust-a-nut muffins.”

A second surprise: Flash tilted his head and paused, clearly as stunned to be told a joke by Ned as the rest of us were to witness it— and laughed. So did everyone else. It was only for a few seconds, like literally three quick seconds, but for the first time for as long as I can remember, all of us were laughing with Flash. It stopped almost as soon as it started. 

Tension crept back in soon so he left pretty quickly after that with an awkward, “See you guys in a few.” Thank god. 

The girls finished tidying their room and going over the homework that’s due today (which we did last week since we knew we’d never get it done on the trip), before forcing me and Ned into the hallway so Mr. Harrington wouldn’t need to check our room for us and potentially find the broken lamp. 

And then, pretty soon, we ended up on the warm bus, loaded in with everyone else. It seemed like everybody but Ned and I were too quiet and sleepy and squinty to be able to talk much before dozing off or staring blankly out the window or scrolling social media on their phones, the latter two options leading to the first in most cases. At this point, I think Ned, Flash, and I are the only ones still awake. 

I’m going to work at tolerating him. As long as he doesn’t cross any lines with anybody from now on, I won’t bait him either. (Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of that, especially recently.) I mean, his comment about his dad was hard to miss. And even when he said it, it wasn’t a shock. Everyone in our grade at some point has had to listen to Flash’s rambling excuses for his parents ignoring or forgetting to show up for school events. Maybe being a dick is just hereditary for him. Or a family tradition. 

I don’t remember how I got so off track. Where was I before? Oh yeah. Risk. Possibilities. The almost-worst case scenario that turned out not so bad. It’s been a messy weekend with plenty of re-evaluating, but the point is simple: I think I’ve got to give a few new things a try, and I’m excited to have a chance over the next couple weeks.

Next update: God only knows.

Tag List: If you’d like to be tagged, send me a(n) ask/message or reply* to this post!

*Notice: If you reply, I may not respond back; if you need/want confirmation, send me an ask/message instead :) Also, there are a few blogs whose tags aren’t working and I haven’t been able to contact them. For the time being, I removed most of the dead tags. If you weren’t tagged and should have been, or if you’ve changed your url, send me a quick message and I’ll put you on my message list!

Tagged: (If I’m missing anyone, send me a message!) @spideymood @solarspidey @tiffanypooh @carrotsunshine @breebree1198 @idontlooklikereginageorge @stumb1ing @bit-bot0711  @justthatshortlittlenerd  @avzuzu   @melonmochi   @happysynonym @the-redthread  @i-love-superhero @ohgloryyy-blog @nicunty @pxrrished @shugr12110629 @realitykilledtheteen@thehanneloner @lionfart   @tryn25 @slythergirlimagines@twentyjuanpancakes @littlekay15  @hi-mishamigos @eversweet-imagines  @thisisthetragicstoryofme @augurydemon@daisy-john @siriuspadfoot14 @debiwolf-t @casual-vaporwave@swimmeranxiety @dangerousluv1   @ghosthiam @homecomjng @deep-thoughts-in-the-shower @bughead-isendgame @qu3en-of-letters @brightcolorsoffendme @cutehollands @enoumen-t @dottirose @justthatshortlittlenerd  @thatgirlthatlikesmarvel@moonofmy-life @royal1958  @ashleyhearto   @pinkleopardss @cutie1365  @spideyschmood @dragoste-lunes @peterparkley @gold-masks @stonesandskeletonbones @myhealingstar  @a-typical-antisocial-fangirl   @love-and-protect-bucky-barnes@fangirldreamsandstuff  @fandom-stuff @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @jellzu  @aussie-mantle@stevieboyharrington  @septicquill @thingfromlove  @dude-whatawave   @me-a-hopeless-romantic @condy-wants-a-cookie @susurrantsoul  @kawaii-girl-101  @lxstneverfound  @ukulele-tea-and-ocean @tepidtrash @emilymarie0422 @styles-bucks@shortstack-ofpancakes @lilbeatlebear @imyourdadssideblog @the-introverted-loner-art @marvelcuties @lesdragly @atomic-chickenwings  @reanne @schwankyblock @nedthegay @kateelyse96@outsider-underwater @omg-lexiloveyou @le-yona  @desteweirdo@thingfromlove @madasameg @bookish-and-shy @lowkeyfriggason @arya-and-sansa @hot-pocket01 @icantthinkofanyusername0 @ajkenwo

[dollyllama108]

OC Profile

No one asked for this but I saw @1esk19 do it, and my main takeaway from D.A.R.E. was that if your friends do something, you’re required to do it as well. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!

I’d again like to stress that no one asked for this. It counts toward my weekly screaming-about-Yuan time, is all.

General

Full Name: Xiyuan Shallot-Liu

Alias(es): Née Liu Xiyuan (刘希愿). Yuan (愿) is his nickname. Extrauniversal monikers include Ghost Rider, Ghost Boy, and Basically a Proton Pack. (There's also David, a shitty English name imposed on him by a shitty teacher.)

Gender: Male.

Age: 54.

Birthdate: Fall 14, 1966.

Place of birth: Sim version of Beijing.

Hometown: He'd probably consider San Myshuno to be his hometown despite not moving there until he was 32.

Spoken language(s): Beijing dialect, Standard Mandarin, English, Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk, Cantonese, Hokkien, French---but the Simlish dialectical versions.

Sexual orientation: Gay.

Occupation: Former professional violinist; current gallerist.

Appearance

Eye color: Dark brown

Hair color: Black

Height: 5′10″

Scars: None

Favorite

Color: Light pink.

Hair color: Dark colors.

Song: Changes frequently. Currently it's "Now / Later / Soon" from A Little Night Music. Along with theater, he prefers 20th-century French and 19th-century Russian composers.

Food: Even though he has a lean diet consisting of mostly legumes and vegetables, he also loves food that reminds him of his happy childhood in Beijing. Jianbing (煎饼) is probably his favorite.

Drink: Yuan has a high tolerance for substances and will drink anything put in front of him, as long as it's not too sweet. His usual coffee order is a 12 oz double-shot Americano with no room.

Have They

Passed university: Yes, with a Distinguished B.A. in Fine Arts.

Had sex: Yes.

Had sex in public: Yep.

Gotten pregnant: Dude, no.

Kissed a boy: Mm-hmm.

Kissed a girl: Unfortunately, yes.

Gotten tattoos: No.

Gotten piercings: No.

Been in love: Romantic love, three times; also loves his son and several friends.

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Hahahahahaha

Are They

A virgin: Look, not only is he 54, this question was asked and answered in the previous section. Instead I'll answer which Spice Girl he is: Posh Spice.

A cuddler: Not to the same extent his husband is. He's married to a total spouse barnacle.

A kisser: Decline to answer; he does not like people knowing about his sex life---beyond the obvious, like if you're running around San Myshuno making out with a ghost then some things are kind of obvious.

Scared easily: Spectrophiles don't scare easily.

Jealous easily: Absolutely not.

Dominant: In order to not reinforce trope-y dynamics, I'll pretend this asked for his Myers-Briggs type. He's an INFP.

Submissive: I'll pretend this asked for his purity score, which is 23%. To put this in perspective, his son, who is the Sim universe's version of a sex worker, has a purity score of 32%.

In love: Yes.

Single: No.

Random Questions (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

Have they harmed themselves: Does hurting his hand punching someone count?

Thought of suicide: No.

Attempted suicide: No. 'Random questions' and half of them are about suicide?????

Wanted to kill someone: Nope, but he can get pretty vicious.

Have / had a job: His occupation was in the first bit. But if you want to know the craziest thing he's done at a party, that would probably be the time he bullied Diego Lobo into changing his suit and impulse bought a multimillion-dollar yacht in the span of one hour. Long story for an upcoming chapter.

Have any fears: Being abandoned.

Family

Sibling(s): No

Parent(s): Liu Fujiang and Liu Liwei

Children: Xishu Liu, born Spring 1994.

Significant other: Bernard Shallot-Liu, née Lord Bernard Escargot Shallot IV. Together since Winter 1999, married in Summer 2005.

Pet(s): No. No pets ever.

[mymadmedleyw]

Fic Writer Review

I was tagged by @dp-marvel94 (I am just saying this is my very first occassion to by tagged in a thing like that, so filling this made my day really, thank you!)

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

22 – wow, that sounds many…

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?  

206.997, and more than the half belongs under one idea – that’s creepy…

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?  

Oh, it’s many… once, I am into something, I have to write in that – surprisingly I am addicted to DP for nearly a year, and nothing else.

(But little bit of history, from the newest to the oldest: Danny Phantom, The Irregulars (that was really a short one), Guardians of Childhood/Rise of the Guardians (my very first finished multi-chaptered one was in that), Dark, Charmed (the old one, not the new series), Gravity Falls, Venom, Doctor Who, a crossover within Tangled: The Series and Milo Murphy’s Law, Death Note/Death Note: Another Note; and I had some ideas about a Rick and Morty and Gravity Falls crossover, and it seems I never uploaded here my concept about a not crossover Tangled: The Series idea, and either an independent one in Rick and Morty, hm… shame. Most of those are not finished. Okay, like 99% of it…)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Core (Danny Phantom), stand-alone, ~3k

What The Past Holds (Danny Phantom), wip, ~91k

Pitch’s Secret (Guardians of Childhood/Rise of the Guardians), finished, ~14k

We are not alone (Venom), really short one, ~1k

Phantom (Danny Phantom), stand-alone, ~2k

5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for?  

Definitely it’s WTPH. It’s my current work. The idea about it came in December, and since that, I am working on that constantly. At first, I had ideas for eight chapters, and nothing else. Now, it grew into this monstrosity: a side-line (Bonds Over Time), and a collection that contains the deleted scenes or ideas that appeared in my mind and could fit into the story (Bits Of The Past), and also an entirely finished concept for Vlad’s past (Certain Moment Of Time), that could be connected to it too.

I also put many headcanons in that, and ticks of characters, and parallels, and layers that I just love: like Vlad having a sister and some details about his family background, Dan having Vlad’s memories too, how the explosion in the Nasty Burger happened and how Dan turned out like that… some precious things, really, but I won’t elaborate much, in case of anyone wants to give a read to it. Overall, I tried to make the TUE-mess into a somewhat more reasonable logical mess – if I managed to do that at all. I don’t know I’m just like a mother with a new-born with it: look, it’s my child! I made it! I developed it! here, hold it! and love it too, as much as I do! (Sorry, I don’t know how that metaphor came…)

6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Even if it’s a kudo, or a keysmash as a comment, I write back. I mean, if someone writes – literally anything – and spends time with it, I write them back too. (And my very bad habit, that sometimes, if the comment hits an interesting thought, I tend to explain the background behind that more, and accidentally spilling some things I shouldn’t yet... In many cases, it’s like a brainstorming, and then I use that idea. I mean as, for example many of @dp-marvel94’s comments on ff, made me to realise some things, and how then I fixed those forgotten parts made my story along with it much better – once, I will list them, and you’ll be surprised how long is that list, and how obvious things I forgot about entirely…)

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Okay, I don’t have many finished story – shame on me. So, I’ll count the shorts. I think it’s then Phantom. It rolls around the idea what if in Forever Phantom, Danny can’t change back to Phantom, and his parents blame Phantom for the disappearance of Danny, and they start chasing madly the ghosts, making them leave the human realm once and for all – which means, Danny has to go with them. It’s really a short fic, but I very like this idea, and it was my very first in this fandom. (I was watching DP that time, I mean, getting familiar with it, but this idea got stuck in my head as I watched that episode, so that was my introduction here. Also, I watched my very first DP episode that time, which means, less then a year ago, so, I am that newbie here…) I am not spilling the end of the story, but it doesn’t have a very happy end I could say.

8. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Uh, yes? I have a crossover within Tangled: The Series and Milo Murphy’s Law. It’s unfinished, but that time I thought Milo and Varian have the same vibe, including clumsiness. It was only a short idea that time, but it’s definitely worth once to continue or finish somehow. I have a crossover within Rick and Morty, and Gravity Falls. That is standing within my very big idea, but it’s halfway written on my original language and English and that’s like after how a certain trilogy end, but it has some mentioning of ideas I never finished, so yeah… it’s not even published anywhere. Maybe, once, I’ll decide what language I prefer for that, and translate the other part and then, hardly, but I’ll finish it some day... – or, never, it actually would be a very big bite if I try to imagine it.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t remember to that. I mean, my main story (WTPH) kind of not everyone’s preference, ’cause of Dan, so that’s already divides the readers and I haven’t got all in all many comments yet on my stories (kudos are appreciated too, I am shy too to leave comments on fics, so don’t worry, I get it), so I think I haven’t got any. But I'd be curious to experience if someone reads one of my stories and leaves behind a comment that then criticizing it. I mean, I’d be open to learn what part is not fitting, or just too much. (I am surprised that no one ever mentioned my ’weird’ sentences. I mean for me those make sense, but those make sense for a native English person too? I’m always worried about that…)

10. Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Uh, yeah, I did. Not very proud of it, though I don’t have a heart to orphan that work. I mean, it belongs to me too. Sometimes I wonder to delete some of my works, but then I realise, no, that’s me, I won’t pretend where I came from, and shove into the dustbin my mad thoughts... All in all, my stories now, for a while, are much more family-friendly – if, anything within DP could be really counted as ‘family-friendly’…

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, I was very proud of my story back then, called Metamorphosis (Death Note), and I had a crazy idea and tried to translate it. So now, the first chapter is out there both in English and both in my native language, but I got stuck at the second chapter. I couldn’t translate wisely and logically the title of it to give out the many meaning it has in English. And I once tried to translate California (Gravity Falls) to English, but that would be a hard work, so I left it behind – maybe once…

Over that I sometimes has a crazy idea to translate back and forth my stories, no, beyond that, I haven’t had a fic translated from anyone else. And I think I am the only masochist that it ever crosses my mind, I guess…

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

No, not really. I’d be curious to once do that – maybe, but I’m not sure...

(To tell the truth, I’d be worried about that. I’d be glad to do that once, but I am anxious if I could understand my co-writer, or not. I mean, do you have any idea that I have to give five reads to any longer comments to understand it? I understand those (and I really love getting those!), but I have to give many reads to make sure I understand those well, and then, making sure, I answer back right, and my sentences make sense. My fics have ’fancy’ words, and I love working in English, but sometimes it’s a curse it’s not my native one. So then, I’m constantly worried about interactions, if I receive well something, and if my sentences are understandable for others or not. So, in short, you can see my struggle here… same reason I don’t do Invisobang, but I am considering it...)

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I’m not very much a ship-type. But I count Danny and Sam, as a fix point. (Danny and Val was nice and I’d have been very glad to see them in more episodes, but let’s face it, that wouldn’t work, because both of them are too stubborn to choose their other life and if once, they would face with each other, knowing everything about the other, they’d remain allies or at most very good friends.) If, the question is, what are the ships in my head (but not necessarily just ‘romantic’) that I prefer to read, well, it’s Dan and Valerie. I love their dynamics, especially in Deliverance. I don’t know why I just love reading it. 

For other reasons I ship Dani and Valerie. Though I can’t write romance and stuff like that, but in one of my planned ideas they are dating - sort-of...

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Okay, there are many. Surely, it’s my Gravity Falls story, called California, but that’s a huge one, and the first one in a trilogy (plus some additional side-lines), and mainly in my head for years, so yeah… I think I won’t ever reasonably finish that as it should be finished. A Tale of Fords (Gravity Falls) could be count as one too. Oh, and Envision and ties (Doctor Who). Sad to say, but yeah, I am always saying, “maybe once”, but I am not sure when…

15. What are your writing strengths?

Okay, this is a funny thing, but I’ve realised I can’t deal with many characters at the same time. So, I think my strength are dialogues and interactions within two people. And I get into their thoughts, so I guess if I have to word it somehow: it’s character-studies then.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Can’t handle more than two people. No, seriously, somehow it always turns out, the third is unconscious, sleeping, leaves the room, and so on. I’ve just recognised it recently, and it was a hilarious recognition…

I am also bad at actions, like very very bad, I don’t even try that, because my brain just simple can’t come up with fight-scenes at all. I think I only can write character-studies, and nothing else.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oh, man… does it count I am not a native English-user? So, technically I ‘always’ write dialogues in another language? But jokes aside, sometimes, I have ideas that the people use another language, and I am like “are you aware, you can’t even write English slang?”, so then, I gave up. Right now, though, I am planning to add ASL in one of my future ideas. I am wrecking my mind, how to do that nicely – but that’s only a forming plan, and dated for next year, currently, I am only collecting ideas for that.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?  

Does it count my very first fic was a fanfiction of one of my friend’s fanfiction in high school? She wrote a really good story – not shared anywhere, we were just giving each other the hand-written exercise book (oh, the old days…). If I remember well, it was a crossover within Supernatural and Queen of the Damned (the movie, not the book). I had no idea about Supernatural, but the story was good, but I was not satisfied with the end, and in secret I wrote another end for it, to myself. I’m not sure where is that anymore, but I clearly remember that was my very first written stuff, and that’s how my origin story began and how is I am here now.

(Oh, and once, I wrote a H2O fanfiction short story to my sister as a name-day present, in which she was a mermaid, discovering her powers during a holiday at a beach (we were at that time in Croatia in a family holiday, so the timing was fitting), and that was one of my very first fandoms to write in it too… God, I have no idea why I wrote it down, it just crossed my mind, and I remember I thought it was cute, I think she was eleven or twelve that time, so I am not sure she appreciated as much as I found it fun to write that…)

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?  

This is mean… anyway, currently it’s WTPH, for obvious reasons. But I am very proud how the Angst Week turned out (my work for that is called Certain Moment of Time). First of all, I doubted I would be able to write for every day, since I planned to do the whole DannyMay, but things turned out differently and I am still sad, I haven’t done many. But I did not just managed to write for all days, but all could be counted under one idea, and also each of the chapters could be read independently at the same time. It includes a little bit of background story about Vlad, about a rewritten time, his struggles at the hospital, things around Danny’s birth, how Danny managed to survive the Portal incident, how Vlad was informed about the Ghost Boy, and that actually Danny’s separation was just a ‘plan B’ that Vlad tried to avoid… it’s complicated to describe the many things in that, but when I feel WTPH an unescapable mess, and I am frustrated by the lack of proper words to finish the coming chapters, CMOT is my absolute favourite. And I love the whole idea about it. No, I’ll be honest, that’s my beloved so far (just because it’s finished). But I like so much too my idea about Dan and Dani in Bonds Over Time, how they try to live together a normal life… okay, let’s admit it, this question is mean, I seriously can’t tell, and I am thinking right now only my current ones…

20. What fic are you most proud of?  

Okay, this is mean too. I am proud of my old works as much that I always go back to them when I am in a nostalgic mode. (I haven’t read any of my old ones in ages, because I try to avoid distractions, and knowing myself, I’d start thinking about the continuation and never finishing my current works at all...)

I am proud of Pitch’s Secret, because that was my very first multi-chaptered one idea that I actually managed to finish. That in fact, gave me the courage to start working on a multi-chaptered DP one. (My original plan was to be brave and aim doing eight chapters, to top the five, and I would have been very proud of myself, but instead now it’s way longer than that original idea, and I seriously don’t know when it will end – twenty chapters maybe?)

I think, if I don’t include the previous question. (It’s the same, isn’t it?) I am very proud of the first chapter in my Doctor Who fic. That doesn’t tell anything about the plot or about anything, that just gives a very good atmospheric background. Every time I read that, it gives me shivers.

---

okay, I don’t know who to tag, anyone who feels like it, serve yourself, I am curious... :)

[grayintogreen]

I was not technically tagged, but at least two people on my dash were like DO WHAT YOU WANT NO ONE IS YOUR GOD, and you know what? They’re right and valid. 

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

96! And 90% of them are from just this year. Can’t wait to find out what the big 100 is gonna be. Any one of my WIPS could be Disney’s next 100th fic.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

455,024 (also mostly from this year...)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In my entire life??? Since I was twelve??? I don’t even know, man. I wrote a lot of ooc crackfic and fic for cartoons when I was on FF.net, and then I was on LJ and wrote for a TON of different fandoms, but on AO3, I have written for Critical Role (so much CR), Yashahime/Inuyasha, Guardians of the Galaxy, His Dark Materials (TV), Steven Universe, Bleach, Alias, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies (the last four were all transferred here from LJ, though)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

- turning wine back into water (Critical Role, de-aging fic with plot, 30457 words)

I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE HOW POPULAR THIS FIC IS. It beat out two of my super popular GotG fics that have been up since 2017 BY A LOT. Apparently, there was a market for the Mighty Nein being adorable cocktail brats and saving the world. Thanks, Liam’s Quest!

It is probably one of the most wholesome fics I will ever write too. I love it.

- Sunshine Came Softly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Mantis friendship, 3188 words)

THIS FIC STILL GETS HITS EVEN TODAY. It was written right after I saw the movie so it hit hard and fast on the hype train. 

- Mine Is Just a Slower Sacrifice (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket-centric, 2248 words)

BOY YOU CAN TELL THESE FICS ARE ANCIENT BECAUSE I HADN’T DEVELOPED MY TITLE NICHE YET. where are the lower caps and Seanan McGuire lyrics!!

Anyway, this was written probably IMMEDIATELY after I saw the movie and had to process Rocket’s emotions during the last moments, because of who I am as a person. For what’s mostly a character study, it got some mileage on it.

- they drink dreamers up like brandy (Critical Role, 1625 words)

Back to Critical Role! I wrote this one when I was in a fucking blind post-finale haze and producing massive amounts of Kingsley content and I wanted to write a silly fic about Caleb being tiefling catnip. 

- if adversity breeds character (we’ve character enough for two) (Critical Role, Beau and Molly-centric, 1824 words)

I feel like most of my most kudos-ed CR fics are Beau-related, which is funny because I never really wrote her EVER. I guess I need to write her more often. ANYWAY, this one got jossed immediately after 141, but I needed to write Beau and Molly bantering and I couldn’t get her flipping him off after revealing her card is Rumor out of my head.

(Incidentally my sixth most kudos-ed fic is my Fjorester next gen fic, WHICH I WAS NOT EXPECTING AT ALL. IT’S A FIC BASED ON MY OC FANCHILDREN!! I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT!!)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Usually!! There are times when I forget and then it’s been so long that I never go back, but I like responding to comments. They make me so happy and I want to make sure the people who take the time to comment know that I see them and appreciate them. Especially if they give me long comments. You long commenters know who you are and I value you and also flail incoherently in your direction.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

God, probably this church takes no conversions simply because, like, the whole ending scenes are MISERABLE AND FULL OF ANGST and then it has the hopeful ending that is actually a bullshit lie.

But second place probably goes to what couldn’t i offer, what couldn’t i give, which is just misery porn in disguise as a character study. Sorry, Cree.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Okay, so back in the day when I was a tineh fanbrat I wrote a lot of self-indulgent crossovers featuring my friends and I in true Mary Sue format being ~saviors of the world~ alongside our favorite fictional characters and after I grew out of that, I very rarely did it again, because as someone who can only write AUs if they’re high concept and can only write crossovers if the canon welding is pristine, it’s difficult.

I have ideas for some! I just haven’t written them yet. Or they’re sitting in Google Docs partially written.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, which is insane, because I’ve written some things in my youth that deserved it, but also I was a kid, so maybe I definitely did not deserve it. Don’t send hate to kids!!

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

The first smut I ever posted on AO3 involved some fucking American Gods flesh horror shit, so that answers your second question.

Basically, yes, but I write smut to facilitate character development in a way that regular story beats can’t, mainly with characters who are in some way deeply fucked up and have unbalanced dynamics. 

So basically chances of me writing smut that isn’t Creecien or Lucigast? Very low. (I haven’t written Lucigast smut yet but I will. Inevitably.)

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that anyone’s told me, but one time when I was a teenager someone ripped off an entire group messageboard RP I was in and tried to pass it off as a fic they wrote.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that anyone’s told me!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried and it did not work out, because of (non-wanky) reasons, but it’s just not something I’d be very good at. I was the kid who wanted to work alone on group projects. I’m bad at group work.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

That I’ve WRITTEN??? Because that at least narrows it down significantly. Sesshoumaru/Rin hands down. It’s a good dynamic and they’re fun and sad at the same time. 

My self-indulgent ass does also enjoy writing Creecien though. I’m putting it out there because I want it.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

GOD POOR SUPERNOVAS OF ALL SOUND AND LIGHT. THAT FIC COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER, but I unfortunately posted it RIGHT BEFORE the White Diamond episodes aired and it became so jossed by canon so fast that I gave up on life with chapter two half finished. I need to delete it but I can’t bring myself to bury my shame.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and meta-narrative and character-specific stuff. I go into every story with CHARACTER FIRST mentality, which is how I end up writing so many damn character studies or why my word counts explode. I’m just out here naval gazing because I love character stuff SO MUCH.

I’ve been told I’m good at fight/action scenes too, which... Shocks me, but I think watching and playing a lot of D&D stuff has really improved how I write fighting and action sequences.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

[whispers] too much naval gaze. dial it back, bitch. 

I get really caught up in character stuff and forget to do important things like ADVANCE THE SCENE OR DESCRIBE THE SCENE OR LITERALLY ANYTHING. I also don’t think my prose is all that great, but I’m pretty sure every writer feels that imposter syndrome bullshit, so /waves hands. All I’m saying is I have seen some writers on AO3 who are writing some fucking vivid imagery and stringing flawless sentences together and weaving introspection and description together like beautiful baskets and they are stronger than any US Marine and I salute them and wish to be them.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Iiii try not to. There’s times where I want to throw in, like, a little Zemnian for Caleb flair, but I try to stick to things that are either untranslatable (like German compound words), common phrases (like please or come here), or insults/curses/ pet names. Things that I don’t think Google will fucking lie to me about.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think it was a Sailor Moon crackfic about Haruka being forced to enter a beauty pageant which was just a blatant rip-off of Ms Congeniality and oh my god was it awful. I don’t even wanna talk about it.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this church takes no conversions, probably BECAUSE it’s my little red-headed stepchild of a fic involving so many things that are just never going to make it popular (backstory fic, fic that is almost 85% headcanon, doesn’t involve popular characters, etc.), but godDAMMIT I love that fic so much. It was fun and I use every bit of that headcanon in almost everything like it’s my job.

shattered stage is a close second, because it was such a crazy concept for a fic that I PULLED OFF SOMEHOW and is this wonderful mix of crazy plot and character and lore and my three favorite tieflings having to work together. And also Jayne Merriweather as the main villain. 

A lot of love went into both of those fics and they are my babies. this time next year we’ll see if I add Creedemption and shoot at fate to this list- probably. All of my epic long fics resolve to be my babies because I spent so much time on them, and I have to love them and cherish them because I raised them into gigantic wordy attempts to write a doorstopper.

[ambitionsource]

Any Asher Lucas head canons I really love their friendship?

hello anon i am back as promised with the second half of answers to the lucasher asks i got a handful of weeks ago!! seeing as its the tail end of asher’s appreciation day, i am here to deliver on discussing their friendship

so to start, i would say that marking dylan as an outlier and not to be counted (especially on asher’s end), both of them would without a doubt call the other their best friend. asher flexes a bit on this, as jade is also arguably his bestie, but for lucas there’s absolutely no contest. asher is his best friend -- he even said so in 209, which took a lot of emotional vulnerability for him to manage to verbalize -- and that title really means something to him.

to that point, though, i think it took the events of s2 for that to really cement. as we know, lucas has issues with connecting with + trusting others, and so he kind of keeps people at arm’s length. i think asher has always been a bit of an exception to this rule (which i’ll explain in a bit), but lucas was mentally able to still keep him removed emotionally in his mind bc he was like... you know, his inferior in rank / his lieutenant rather than an equal. i don’t mean that he like thought of asher as inferior, because he doesn’t -- lucas hates himself so he thinks everyone is better than him anyway lmao, but he’s also had a lot of respect for asher -- but there was able to be this... mental barrier in his head, if that makes sense. but when asher finally stood up to him, multiple times (in 207 with their argument and then in 208 when he Truly put his foot down and basically walked out of his life), that put them on equal footing on all levels and broke that barrier in his brain. and, thusly, is part of the reason lucas was suddenly able to articulate it in the following ep

but, on that note, one thing that i think makes them such good friends is that they’re both very like... not mushy. at least, not with each other. they both don’t mind side-stepping more complicated emotions and just assuming things are unspoken but understood, but are getting better at knowing the moments where something should be said

but they’re like equally weird about the same stuff, like they both don’t like birthdays + being paid attention to on their bday bc they don’t know how to process it (sans the exception of dylan, who of course asher will allow to be extra on his birthday), so they will straight up just like not tell each other happy birthday on their bdays and people are like doesn’t that upset you?? did he forget?? and they’re like no actually lucas / asher is my favorite person bc he ignores my birthday fDSJLFKGSJKGLJSGL like... they’re so fucking weird

asher is constantly trying to improve lucas’s fashion sense + design sensibility and it does not work. like nothing sticks. asher will spend an hour casually (but actually very intently) telling lucas about the nuances in color between shades and then later when he asks him a question about which shade of red they should use in the set design lucas goes “idk they look the same to me just pick one” and asher is like. bitch ur jokin... it’s lowkey funny that he keeps trying tho like lmao

so in terms of asher being slightly different than others even early on, the way this most manifests is that i think for whatever reason, asher feels safe to lucas. its an inexplicable thing, and something i dont think lucas even really realizes consciously. but he starts their friendship being like oh i’m gonna protect asher the strong must protect the sweet this lame nerd needs me, but then what it actually ends up being is more that lucas needed asher. like yes he gets asher to loosen up and let out more of his authentic self, but asher gave lucas a friendship to anchor to, someone who seemed to genuinely like him not because he was reckless or cool but just because of who he is. and even when he fucked up, asher still seemed to believe he could be better / saw him as more than that, and lucas had never had anyone in his life before like that, let alone someone where it felt that way (i.e. dylan also sees lucas that way especially now, but something about asher just made it so pointedly clear)

and how this ends up changing things is that lucas finds that like... he wants to talk to asher. he wants to be real with him, not put up the defensive, aloof façade. so you have lucas going to convince him to sneak out freshman and sophomore year so they could hang out just the two of them (a thing featured briefly in the “younger” sequence in 208), and those were the moments where he got in those conversations. and asher liked those nights too because they made him feel special, like all the people lucas could choose to hang out with and he chose him to bother and coax out into the night... for a kid like asher, younger than everyone else and an anxious mess and nerdy and he knows it, that’s like. the craziest thing ever. so those one-on-one hangouts meant a lot to both of them, though for different reasons

what’s nice too is that their friendship definitely matured and grew with them the longer it lasted, because there was an element of hero worship on asher’s end and almost belittling underestimation on lucas’s end when their dynamic started, but then it grew organically past that. and when they actually got to know one another, for all their complexities, it made them better friends. and now those misconceptions are long gone, but they still hold a lot of respect for one another.

also to this point, i do not remember if i’ve said this yet on the blog or not but so major point here -- asher was actually lucas’s first (and only, pre-riley) crush. being demisexual, he has to form a deep emotional connection with someone before he really falls for them (riley being semi the exception to this because even though he didn’t really fall for her until they became friends from the get-go he was like okay so she pretty....... whatever tho idc like uh huh sure lucas). and like late in freshman year, maybe even early that summer, lucas and asher had become pretty good friends and were spending a lot of nights hanging out together and talking, and one of those nights they were talking about something semi-serious, and lucas was just looking at him and just realized like wow hm i could kiss asher... and then he was like WAIT HUH?!?!?!?!?!?! cause he’d NEVER had thoughts like that before and suddenly he was having them about his best friend, and that best friend was dating his other good friend and it just FREAKED him out he was like HELLO BAD WEIRD WRONG??? so he stifled that deep down and lowkey ignored asher for like two weeks until it passed -- which of course made asher worried he did something wrong or pissed him off, but thankfully that passed without much commentary or further discussion. lucas has mostly forgotten about it now.

that being said, if you ever told asher he was lucas’s first crush, he would never ever believe you.

they really enjoy discussing / debating each other, especially since lucas is truly equally as clever as asher, but it’s a really careful line because one wrong comment from either of them can send them tipping into actual argument bc they’re also very good at pushing each other’s buttons. this is why dylan’s presence is extremely helpful at keeping them balanced.

and this is kind of a key trait to their best friendship, which is that they make awesome best friends, but my god they would make TERRIBLE romantic partners. they cannot communicate when it really matters (especially about stuff that makes them embarrassed like romance, which they can barely do with their actual partners); they push each other’s buttons; they love each other’s flaws as friends but would drive each other crazy as lovers. like the people they’re with for love are exactly the people they need, understanding, soft, patient, and good at communicating. if lucas and asher dated, they would kill each other within the first week.

one of the first times dylan, asher, and lucas really hung out as a trio involved “wilding” asher, which meant dressing him like lucas and getting him to be more reckless and freewheeling for an afternoon. they didn’t do anything crazy, but lucas let asher borrow one of his t-shirts and snapbacks for the occasion. asher still has both buried in his closet, mainly because he keeps forgetting about it but also because there’s a sentimentality to them. not that he would ever ever wear them again -- yuck. asher would rather vomit

it should not be understated that the first people lucas verbally said i love you to were asher and dylan. it’s important. don’t ever forget it.

-- Maggie

[redhairdontcare732]

That Laugh: Fangs Fogarty x Jones! OC

Author's note: Short little blurb I couldn't get out of my head this weekend! Thanks to everyone who noted or liked the Riot Night from Hell two shots! It meant so much to me, and I was blown away by the response!

Fangs’ POV:

It was official, I was out of my goddamn mind.

Currently, I was watching the gorgeous dark haired beauty that I was fortunate enough to have been able to call my girlfriend for the last few months stand against the lockers at Riverdale High and laugh. My hands clenched unintentionally into fists as I saw her head fall back as she giggled her sweetest giggle, wavy jet-black locks cascading over her slender shoulders as she did so. Ordinarily, the sight of Jean Jones laughing would bring me nothing but joy, and normally I would feel a sense of pride like none other as I watched my mamita’s strong features break into that face-splitting grin that made me fall for her in the first place. But this time was different.

Namely, because I wasn’t the one making her laugh.

No, I was standing a few feet away with Sweet Pea and watching some Northside asshole lean in way too close to my girl, both with large smiles etched on their faces as Jean laughed. I felt my face heat up with a jealous flush as I listened carefully. Dating, and knowing, Jean for as I had, I knew every single one of her laughs. There was the little unintentional giggle that she had when a comment caught her off guard, her usual low chuckle that was usually directed at either Archie or Jughead, the adorable little snort thing she did when she was skeptical or sarcastic, the sweet giggle that indicated her slight embarrassment (usually when I flirted too openly in front of the gang); all were perfectly suited to her strong yet laid-back personality, and I treasured them all. However, there was one laugh that was by and large my favorite. It was the laugh that caused her grin to widen so far that her face looked as if it could break in half from the force and her entire body to shake slightly with it’s intensity. It was a loud, boisterous laugh of pure joy, and it was the only one where Jean actually let loose. Normally, she would either cover her grin with her hand or give a closed mouth smile when laughing; Jean’s front teeth were slightly crooked, and she was incredibly self conscious about them. No matter how many times I expressed how little those mattered, or how they didn’t actually look like she thought, she still covered them out of either habit or embarrassment. But when she laughed that special, forceful laugh she often forgot about her insecurity. It was one of the reasons why it was my absolute favorite. It was the laugh that, until now, I thought I was the only one who could coax from the Jones girl’s tough facade. Evidently not, because I was standing five feet away, fuming and watching as some mangy bulldog said something to make my girlfriend laugh that beautiful laugh.

Sweet Pea eyed the pair, eyebrow cocked in curiosity as he placed some books inside his locker. He then looked me up and down before rolling his eyes and sighing.

“Man just go up and talk to her, she’s your fucking girlfriend”, he said with a hint of exasperation. I shook my head, eyes never leaving the pair in question.  

“Nah, wouldn’t want to interrupt whatever’s so god-damn funny”, I spat bitterly. Sweet Pea scoffed.

“This coming from the guy who ended up dating Jean only after a jealous fist fight with Chuck Clayton”, he replied sarcastically while slamming his locker shut. I tore my eyes away from Jean long enough to glare at my tall best friend.

“Hey, you and I both know Clayton deserved everything he got”, I retorted. “Besides, that’s not why Jean and I got together”. Pea chuckled. 

“Yeah because all that time you spent pining after her from afar was clearly working”, he snorted. I punched his arm, eyeing my best friend with anger. He threw his hands up in surrender before heading down the hall and out of sight. 

Sweets just didn’t understand. Everyone knew that Sweet Pea and I were a package deal; we were rarely apart, and I knew that we were seen as a dynamic duo as far as young serpents go. And as a duo there were certain roles that we naturally fell into: Sweet Pea was the tall, brooding asshole and I was the funny, outgoing foil to his personality. True, we both had our fair share of anger issues and sketchy moments (we were in a fucking gang for God’s sake), but everyone pretty much knew that Sweet Pea was the angrier of the two of us. That left me to be the funny one. The goofy one that lightened the mood and kept Pea in line when he needed it. I took my role in stride, and I prided myself on being able to make pretty much anyone laugh. It was like my identity at this point. None of that had really mattered as much to me before Jean though; it was the moment I first made that sexy, adorable girl laugh her most honest laugh that I truly fell for her. I took extreme pride in the fact that I was the only one that I thought could break down her walls enough to get her to laugh like that, and to hear her so casually use it around some Northside fuck was heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. If I didn’t have that, what did I have to offer her? She could be with some rich kid with far less baggage and issues than me.

As I thought more about Jean my anger started to fade and turn into a huge pile of self-loathing. Of course she would leave me for some other guy; I mean like Sweet’s said, I only really got her because she felt sorry for me after I beat up Clayton for her. She probably laughed like that around everyone, I was being delusional when I thought it was only for me. I bit the inside of my cheek thoughtfully, and turned away from her and that guy. I started to walk away, intending to skip the rest of the day in favor of riding my bike until things made more sense, but I was stopped by a familiar set of fingers lacing through mine. I stopped dead in my tracks, looking down slightly to see my girlfriend’s concerned face.

“Fangs? I thought you were going to meet me by my locker after 3rd like always”, she asked gently, confusion evident. I sighed, looking down at my feet as I desperately tried to come up with an excuse. Jean’s soft hand left mine, gentle pads of her fingers reaching upwards to my cheek instead, tenderly pulling my jaw upwards for my eyes to meet hers. Her crystal blue eyes were open wide, appraising my every move with worry evident in the pale, nearly grey irises. I internally groaned.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”, she asked after a while, clearly reading more into my silence than I had intended. I scoffed, taking a page from Sweet Pea’s playbook and deciding to mask the pain I was feeling with an attitude.

“Nothing, I just didn’t want to disturb you over there since you and whats-his-face over their seemed to be hitting it off so well”, I ground out, stepping back and slipping out of her hold, body tense with unspoken frustration. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”, she asked, confusion and concern still dominating her beautiful features. I huffed.

“You know what? Forget it. You were clearly having a freaking riot over there with him, so why don’t you just go ahead and get back to it”, I growled out. My feelings of insecurity and sadness had returned to anger, and I was actually getting pretty pissed. Jean took a step back, looking like she had no idea what I was talking about. I half expected her to slap me, scream at me, lecture me, or some combination of all 3, but to my extreme shock she did something I’d never seen coming.

She laughed.

And not just any laugh, my laugh. The laugh that still made my face flush lightly whenever I heard it and caused my legs to go a little wobbly. Her full on, ear splitting, belly laugh. Now it was my turn to look confused. Jean laughed harder than I’d ever seen before, stepping closer to me and throwing her arms around my shoulders. Her soft lips placed a light kiss to my cheek, and my hands naturally fell to the small of her back as she did so. I leaned back in order to see her face more clearly, puzzled expression clear. She gave one final giggle before smiling fondly at me.

“Are you seriously jealous of that random freshman?”, she chuckled lightly and I felt my face flush in embarrassment. “Babe, he was just asking me how to get to the library because it’s his first day. I was just trying to be nice!".

“Okay but what was so god-damned funny?”, I asked, trying to mask my own self-consciousness. “You were laughing like....”

“Like what?”, she asked, eyebrow cocked. I sighed and looked away for a moment before looking down at our feet once more.

“You're going to think it's stupid…”, I muttered, face flushing redder than a tomato. Jean's eyes turned sympathetic and she rubbed the small hairs on the back of my neck soothingly, causing chills to run down my spine. Man, even when I was this distracted she still had the craziest effect on me with just the simplest touch.

“Fangs, come on tell me. I won't think it's stupid”, she said gently.

“Well, it was just...I thought I was the only guy that could make you laugh like that…”, I muttered. Jean's eyes seemed to lighten a shade, and she placed one of her soft hands against my face. Her unimaginably delicate fingers stroked my tense jaw, and I found myself unintentionally leaned into her caring touch out of habit. Her smooth caress nearly made my mind go blank with contentment, and I had to shake myself back to reality before mentally bracing myself for her reaction.

“Baby you are the only guy who really makes me laugh like that”, she replied softly, fingers still dancing lightly across my jawline tenderly. I rolled my eyes.

“I'm serious Fangs. Do you know why I was laughing at that freshman?”, she asked sincerely. I shrugged, the confusion and hurt still prominent on my face.

“I was laughing because his attempts at flirting with me were so bad”, she continued, a coy smile breaking out from her beautiful features. “He was so awkward, and his jokes were so lame. I was laughing at the thought of getting to tell you about it after; I thought you'd think it was just as funny”.

“Really?”, I clarified suspiciously. Jean giggled lightly.

“Really. I honestly couldn't wait to tell you all about it once we met up, but then I saw you heading the other direction and I got concerned”, she reasoned. My eyes searched her face for any signs of deception. Her eyes were like two crystal clear blue pools, staring intently into my own full brown eyes with a look of such complete sincerity that I finally let out a breath that I didn't realize I was even holding. I groaned lowly before bringing her into a closer embrace; her head fell into my chest naturally, and my face found it's favorite spot in the crook of her neck. I felt all the tension and anxiety that I'd felt all morning dissipate, and my body finally relaxed as I held her close. I sighed in total relief.

“I'm sorry mamita”, I quietly murmured into her skin. I relished in the way I felt chills run through her body at my gentle admission, loving that I seemingly had a similar effect on her as she had on me. Although, I was still wholly convinced that there was no way that I affected her nearly as badly as she affected me. I mean, just her gentlest touch was still enough to turn me from a normal, relatively self-assured guy into a babbling idiot even after all the time we’d spent together. I honestly didn’t believe that the feeling of her soft body against mine would ever truly lose that spark that I’d felt ever since we first touched.  

Jean sighed in contentment, hands gripping my body tightly as if she were still trying to convey her sincerity to me through her touch. I suddenly felt guilty that I’d even accused her of something so stupid and was thankful that my cherry-red face was hidden by her mass of inky-black locks. Recently she’d began wearing her gorgeous hair down more often, and I was internally grateful that today was one of those days.

“No Fangs, I’m sorry”, she practically whispered into my chest, the words dulled slightly. “I should have realized how that must have seemed to you looking from the outside”.

I shook my head against her soft skin, preparing to comment on how I’d completely overreacted and the fact that she did nothing wrong, but Jean caught me off guard when she suddenly removed her head from my chest. Her grey-blue eyes that I loved so much were turned upwards at me, a sparkle of determination and a look that I couldn’t quite place evident in their hypnotic orbs.

“I just wasn’t even thinking that you would assume that I could ever be interested in anyone other than you. I guess I thought you knew how I felt about you”, she admitted shyly. Her voice was low, but there was no hint of a waver, no uncertainty to be found in her words. My throat suddenly felt dry and my palms began to sweat.

“And how’s that?”, I rasped, unable to raise my voice to more than a whisper. Jean leaned into my face slowly, perfect pink lips reaching mine tantalizingly. Her mouth came so close to mine, brushing my own lips teasingly as she spoke but never giving me the connection I so craved.

“You make me feel things that I’ve never felt before”, she murmured against my mouth. “Ever since we’ve met I haven’t given any thought to any other guy, even when we weren’t together. It’s been you from day one Fangs, and I can’t even really put the effect you have on me into words. But if I had to give it a shot, I guess I would just tell you that...”.

My heart beat rang in my ears as every nerve ending in my entire body stood at attention, waiting for her to finish her thought.

“....I love you Fangs Fogarty. I have for a while, and I'm not sure if you feel the sa--”, Jean started, before I cut her off by bringing my hands to the back of her neck, pulling her mouth against mine roughly. My mind was practically imploding with the new information, and I couldn't help but stop her before she could say anything else or take anything back. Sweeter words had never graced my ears before than the sound of Jean Marie Jones telling me she loved me for the first time. The soft admission echoed in my head like the song of a victory lap, and I knew that I would be replaying this conversation to myself over and over again for a long time. I had known for a while that I was in love with Jean, but I never dreamed that she felt the same let alone that she would be the one to say it first.

Jean immediately reciprocated my advance, hands flying to rest on my broad chest and back, slender fingers and palms dancing gracefully across the leather covered flesh and causing goosebumps to run rampant under her gentle caress. My rough hands found their home in her tangled locks, running my fingers through her hair lovingly as I tried to convey all I was feeling through my touch. My tongue poked out to trace her plump lips, begging for the entrance that she readily granted. I poured all the emotions that had run through my mind all day-- hell since the day I fell for her-- into this one kiss, needing her to feel the love and relief I felt.

We remained like this for an immeasurable amount of time before Jean pulled away, head coming to rest across my chest once more her breathing ragged. I smiled in pride, placing tender kisses to her hairline as I attempted to regulate my own breath. I stood against the perfect creature that I was lucky enough to call my girlfriend, my heartbeat slowly returning to normal as I snuggled into her embrace.

“I love you too mamita. I love you so damn much”, I murmured fondly against her thicket of hair, smelling the comforting scent of her shampoo as I did so. I couldn't see her face from this position, but based on the sudden heat of my chest her face had flushed much like mine had been doing all morning. Deciding to look for myself, I pulled back marginally in order to get a better view of my favorite sight in the world. Her hypnotic eyes were as clear as I'd ever seen, and her smooth cheeks were broken out in with the most adorable pink tint. Her mouth was curled into a smile of pure contentment, and I took extreme pride in the fact that I was the reason for Jean's obvious happiness. I decided that this was my new favorite expression, and I internally vowed to make her look like this everyday for as long as she'd let me.

My trance was only broken by the beautiful girl's blush disappearing, and I watched as a sort of amusement that I’d learned by now meant she was up to no good overtook her features. Probably seeing the way my brows raised in silent question, Jean chuckled lightly before answering my unspoken confusion.

“So, you were really jealous of that freshman?”, she asked, eyebrows raising slightly and smile planted firmly across her face. Face flushing for what felt like the thousandth time today, I rolled my eyes in an attempt at nonchalance.

“How the hell was I supposed to know he was a freshman? Kid was almost as tall as Pea!”, I exclaimed. Now it was her turn to roll her eyes and she rolled her eyes before placing a quick peck on my lips.

“Again, how you could ever think there was someone I was into other than you is beyond me. I feel like I’m the clingiest girlfriend in the world sometimes”, she replied, seeming exasperated. I chuckled lowly.

“Mamita I have never, ever thought of you as clingy. Hell, if anything I want to be around you even more than I already am. So, by all means, be as clingy as your beautiful heart desires”, I joked, only partially kidding, as I planted a sweet kiss to her jawline. It was true, I’d always thought I must be the clingy one in our relationship considering I basically always wanted Jean near me, and if for some reason she wasn’t she was definitely in the back of my mind. It was nice to know that she felt similarly. Now it was Jean’s turn to blush once more, and my grin only widened as she did so. Seeing the way I caused a reaction in her never failed to bring me joy, and right now was no exception. Her blush faded as that mischievous twinkle returned to her eyes.

“Whatcha thinking Mamita?”, I questioned curiously. Jean bit her lower lip in anticipation as she briefly turned her head down the hall before facing me once more.

“Well, since I never really got to officially turn that guy down because I was too busy chasing after you, I was thinking it may be fun to go to the library and have you, ahem, stake your claim as it were”, she breathed more shyly than I'd ever heard. She bit her lip once more as she looked up at me through her dark fan of lashes, looking more devious and gorgeous than any one woman should have the right to. I blinked, not totally understanding what she was getting at. She’d sent my mind into a haze, and I had to physically shake my head in an attempt to clear the thoughts.

“I'm sorry babe, I don’t follow”, I answered, confused and completely turned on. Jean’s smile widened as her teeth finally released her now slightly swollen lower lip as they moved to my ear.

“I mean, I’m totally on board if you feel like you need to go show that freshman just how taken I am. Put your hand in my back pocket, kiss my neck, stick your tongue down my throat, ya know whatever you need to feel like he understands that I'm not interested in his pickup attempts”, she purred, breaths tickling the shell of my ear and driving me insane. “I'm nothing if not accommodating babe”.

I grinned down at her, feeling like my entire body was on fire as I stared deeply into her blue eyes, still twinkling with desire. I growled lightly, burying my face into the softest spot in the world: the crook of Jean's neck, just between her collarbone and the curve under her earlobe. Eagerly, I began laying soft kisses to the area before becoming more aggressive when I felt her shiver and lean into my touch. I'd found out during one of our more intimate sessions that it was one of the spots that drove my girl absolutely nuts. Naturally, I used this information to my advantage pretty much every day, and today was no exception. I swear I would never get over the way she seemed to turn completely limbless and lean into me for support once I'd started, nor the way her supple lips parted and let loose the sexiest moans I'd ever heard.

“Mmm, I agree completely mamita”, I rumbled lowly into her ear, teeth nipping at the soft skin there. Jean responded by moaning lightly, breathing out the sweetest sigh I'd ever heard. “Or, we could skip the rest of today and you could show me just how taken you are”.

Jean's eye darkened with lust. She smiled her truest wide smile, teeth and all, before tugging me down the hall and out of the school. I grinned as I let her lead me by our intertwined fingers and a sense of complete elation overcame me. To hell with being the only one to make her laugh, I wanted to be the only one that made her feel like this: wildly happy and mischievously sexy. She'd convinced me that I was somehow the only guy to evoke this side of her, and I was going to take my new role with pride. Guess it was time to start practicing.

[faunusrights]

‘AFTER THE FALL’ - LIVEREAD III

The more I hear about the latter half of this book, the more depresso espresso I’m drinking. Let’s see how it goes, huh?

(Since there’s more chapters in the latter half than the first half, short chapters will probably get combined together for the sake of. I’m lazy.)

CHAPTERS EIGHT AND NINE

I love that Velvet’s the one who enlisted Weiss and Yang, expecting shit to go sideways. She saw these two gays on main and went ‘they look like they can party’. Was she wrong? No. Did she invite Cinder for the express purpose of drama? Yes. Can you make me stop shipping Sinnamon Bun? Also no.

Okay, this book has read my mine though!!! Ruby pitches a Beacon Battle Club where they play music as they fight, and no word of a fucking lie, that happens in Great Weiss Shark AU! I am not kidding! I had this whole story planned out! This is theft of the HIGHEST order.

“Doilies are absurd and elitist,” Yang said.

This is simultaneously the least Yang-like line and also the most Yang-like line I’ve ever heard. The duality of idiot, I suppose.

I like Fox! I really do, actually! He’s my son now. Although, the bad news is I dunno if I can replicate him in The Frapp Logs, so he’ll just have to keep dragging Coco to the ends of the earth. Same thing, right? R-right?

“Leaders can’t be the comic relief.” Fox raised his eyebrows. “Jaune.”

Is this the second time Jaune’s been dragged? I’m living for it. Also, sleepy Blake! And CFVY knowing she’s (they’re) a Faunus! And the second book behind a book! I love you, Blake.

Velvet correcting Yatsu’s ‘catnap’ joke! I wrote a ficlet about this exact thing once, so I TOLD you my Velvet’s NEARLY CANON. SHE JUST NEEDS TO EAT MORE PROTEIN IS ALL.

Onto chapter nine. God, these chapters get thinner by the second, huh?

BACK TO THE DESERT WE GO, and there’s... fog? Which is now gone! Wow! Is this a plot device? Foreshadowing? I sure hope so, because why on earth it would warrant a mention we’re just not too sure!

A sandstorm is incoming and hidden tracks are gonna get blasted away. I’m trying to figure out if this is all pathetic fallacy or if I’m reading too much into handy-dandy plot devices. Why not both?

Heart-to-heart with Coco and Yatsu... and we’re back to Yatsu giving Velvet all the hugs. Now that I’m sensing the Velv/Yats vibes, I’m extra suspicious. You stop that. Let Velvet have a fashionable GF at least if you won’t let her kiss Weiss!!!

‘[...] even the women were down to halter tops. Focus, Coco, she thought.’

Ah, lesbian as always. I’m soothed. Carmine enters the tent and Coco gets even gayer. I’m very soothed.

‘What was Jaune doing after losing a member of his team, a friend... someone he clearly cared about.’

I don’t care about what Jaune feels. Why the heck would Coco even care? There’s literally so many more people that impacts than just Jaune, lawd.

CHAPTER TEN AND ELEVEN

Back to Fox, who is honestly the shining star of this book by now. I love you, my blind and sassy son.

I love Ada and the battle mechanic she has! I’m really enjoying how Fox interacts with the world around him and using his Scroll and AI as an accessibility device. It’s neat! I didn’t expect them to go as ham on him as they did, but they did.

“Update,” Ada said. “Weapon has projectile capabilities.” “You mean it’s also a gun.”

Obligatory gun meme.

Combat stuff happens, Fox wins a fight against a confused Edward, and it turns out Gus is the one summoning Grimm and Fox just got jumped, so we slide into another flashback for chapter eleven. Lemme tell ya, this book ain’t afraid of moving fast.

“I guess you slightly oversold your ability to track the survivors,” Coco said.

Again, this is one of those lines that reads as very... callous? Kinda mean? I’ve always had Coco in my head as someone who very broadly puts her team (and their feelings) first, even if it’s rough, so lines like this make me go 🤔

Velvet falls, Yatsu panics, Coco gets up in everyone’s grill. There’s a lot to this dynamic I am not enjoying right now, and even then this seems inconsistent with the CFVY we’ve seen in the book itself. I know the author’s trying to communicate that Coco is tired and frustrated, that I get, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t how... it would really happen given her character? I dunno. ‘S weird.

Was that a fat joke I spotted there? From Coco? I need a nap. Also COCO LET VELVET DO THINGS JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK ME SIDEWAYS!!!!!!!!!!

Coco has claustrophobia! I wrote her as having agoraphobia, so this is a hilarious turn of events. Also Coco has two brothers, not one: Mate and Toma.

Coco is fighting Grimm in a cave with CFVY, but still finds time to criticise Velvet in combat. Hey, maybe if you let her do things, she’d prove you wrong, dingus. And then she does! See!

Aaaaaaaand the six survivors are all dead. This was a pretty traumatic event, all told, which makes it weird that they look... less affected in the show? Still, this chapter was VERY weird for the characterisations because Coco seems especially inconsistent, alas. Anyway, onto:

CHAPTERS TWELVE AND THIRTEEN

The sandstorm is approaching and catching the wagons, which I have just realised are actually vehicles that use fuel. Mostly because that’s the First I Heard Of It.

‘Velvet noticed a pistol tucked in the back before she closed the door.’

Hi, can Chekhov please pick up his gun from aisle twelve? Thanks.

GIANT SAND TURTLE. AVATAR AANG C’MERE Y’ALL GOTTA LEARN HOW TO DEFEAT THE FIRELORD.

“You said it’s big enough to ride on?” Velvet asked.

Maybe this is why Coco dismisses Velvet so often. She only pitches the craziest ideas, which is why I love her. That said, Coco finally lets Velvet do something! It’s a miracle of man! Climb that turtle, bihh!

Yatsu calls Velvet V. I’m so used to Velv that V sounds entirely too cool for this idiot.

Everyone’s pissed again, but-- IS THAT THE SAND WORM THING FROM ARRAKIS?! What A Tweest!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody coulda seen THAT coming!!!!!

So let’s go to chapter thirteen, where Fox has had the shit beaten out of him behind a Denny’s. Sound about right.

So what’s-his-name-- Bertilak, whomst from now on shall be called Bert because what sorta water tribe name even is that (wow the ATLA references are on fire today). Anyway, Bert is being paid by someone else to deliver people with Stronk Semblances like summoning Grimm! Gee I Wonder Who That Might Be (I don’t actually know but I’m honestly not going to be surprised either way).

“Yeah, [Bert]’s a real bastard.” “Even I can see that,” Fox sent.

I love it. Fox really has been the highlight of this book for me.

Fox is on the ground and the referee is counting him to ten, so it’s mid-chapter-flashback time! We learn how Fox’s parents died (sinkhole) and how that became his motivation for... going to Beacon? Okay, tenuous link at best, but I’m going with it.

Carmine is full of trouble and Fox is determined to take Bert with ‘em. Let him DIE.

I’m gonna keep going since we’re not four chapters from the end, so:

CHAPTERS FOURTEEN AND FIFTEEN

Flashback time! Again! Only it’s CFVY’s POV of their return to Beacon. I wouldn’t mind this if like. We hadn’t already seen this from RWBY’s perspective in the show? People know this from my tastes in fanfic, but I’m not a huge fan of retellings of canon events, it’s soooooo boooooring. So I’m just gonna grind through this asap.

(I do like that RWBY and CFVY have all these parallels being called to. As they should.)

Okay we’re past the recap and OH LAWD I HEARD OF THIS BIT. Goodwitch is here (I love u Glynda no matter what) but yeah, I’ve heard this part is Big Oof so uh, let’s see this happen go down. Velvet is being requested to see Ozpin so /buckles down.

Velvet’s being questioned alone for the Whole Thing, and team CFVY have burst into the office demanding to know why, and Velvet’s a crying wreck! I’m still very >:I for everyone being overprotective of Velvet, c’mon, but also: Oz, can you please have tact? Just once in your life? Tact? Do you has it?

Anyway, CFVY have reconciled and we turn to chapter fifteen, in which: Yatsu.

Carmine has Gus, everyone’s on the Turtmobile, and shit’s hitting the fan. Yatsu’s going after Gus and Carmine alone, and I’m still waiting on Chekov’s Gun to Chekov its way right into someone’s butt. Unless it’s Chekov’s Red Herring.

Here comes a fight scene! I never have much to say during fight scenes, so, uh, yeah. There’s some real last-minute exposition in places, though, where it really shouldn’t be.

Eey, Carmine is telekinetic! Very powerful and also OP, gotta nerf that shit right down, Edward.

Yatsu’s very nearly defeated, Bert is back, baby, and shit’s getting real. Time for chaaaaaaaaaper sixteeeeeeeeeen.

CHAPTERS SIXTEEN AND SEVENTEEN

Today’s livereading soundtrack is Simple Things by Zero 7. The whole album, I mean. This is a fun little fact to make sure you’re still awake and aware, ‘cause I sure ain’t!

Roy Stallion of BRNZ is presumed dead, along with the whole team, so big RIP to May, who was cute and deserved better. Swear to God if ABRN are dead too I will kill a man. Two men, to be specific.

Velvet admits she never wanted to come to Vacuo, Coco promises they’ll return to reclaim Beacon in future. This reads like a protagonist’s last speech on hope and strength in friendship... and it should, as Coco gets swallowed by a worm! Straight up just down the hatch! This should be a tragic beat, but this is honestly so funny. Coco, pick better ways to die.

Anyway, we’re onto chapter seventeen. I was very kindly given this message:

And I-- OH HELL YES! HELL YES IT’S A SCHOOL DAY TIMETABLE!!!!!!!!!! THE LORE! THE CLASSES! THE NAMES! THE FACTS! THIS IS THE BEST THING IN THE ENTIRE BOOK SO FAR WHICH REALLY GOES TO SHOW I HAVE NO HOBBIES!

Is this a... flashback? Flash... forward? I’m not sure, actually. Either way, CFVY are in Beacon clearing the place of Grimm. Actually, this must be a flashback to before they went to Vacuo, I suppose, which would make sense to follow Velvet’s little admittance last chapter before Coco got swallowed like a paracetamol tablet.

Velvet waited for someone to ask her what she thought, what she wanted, by no one did.

Now I’m SAD why won’t people be NICE to VELVET just ONCE!!! God, this book really just gives her the short end of the stick every time.

Off go CFVY to Vacuo. Bye.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN AND EPILOGUE

Heremst we go.

Coco’s alive! I mean, no surprise. And full of the Joques as ever:

Coco figured sacrificing your life for a teammate was one way to be remembered as a good leader, but maybe that was just cheating.

RIP Coco and her claustrophobia! Hey, now that was good foreshadowing! That gets a whole Murphy Cookie of Approval. 🍪

Coco loses her Scroll and her hat, but Velvet swoops in to save the day! Meanwhile, Bert has been convinced that Carmine double-crossed him, so they’re battling it out! Basically, Gus cast frenzy. Finally, it works in everyone’s favour.

“I can’t believe I thought you were cute,” Coco spat.

Some lines in this book haven’t been very good. This one, on the other hand, very much is.

So Carmine goes underground and starts creating sinkholes everywhere like a weird desert gremlin, and Edward manages to block her Semblance and like. Carmine flat-out nearly suffocates herself to death. Another death I would have found both gruesome and hilarious for its irony. But Velvet uses Flynt’s trumpet to quite literally doot the sand away, and-- I’m so sorry, this line has me literally laughing to myself. She fuckin’-- doots the sand. Oh my god.

Anyway they win, catch up with Slate and the Nomad Fam, and meet team SSSN! The boys are back in town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Things are looking good.

Epilogue time. I’m still laughing about the sand-dooting.

So, we don’t know who paid Bert and Carmine, I guess? I do believe there’s maybe a sequel or something in the works, apparently, so maybe this is part of an overarching plot type thingie. Still.

Ah, yep, Coco confirms that they’re not through with this line of investigation yet, But, Velvet wraps it up with a heart-felt, if not a little bit cheesy, segment about home being wherever CFVY is, and so the book comes to a close.

WRAP-UP

So, I’m definitely gonna have a second read-through of this without having to constantly stop and do a liveblog, but the book was... okay, I guess? I feel like this plotline wasn’t the greatest one for CFVY, and that the author doesn’t have a crazy good handle on the characters -- he’s likely more suited to original content, which is valid. It’s a good romp and we do get new lore, but as expected, I feel like CFVY would be best used in the show that conceived them in the first place. A book is nice, but I’d love to see their return in RWBY itself, especially since this book wasn’t really... long enough, I don’t think? Seriously, y’all’ve met me. I do write hundreds of thousands of words in this world and I still haven’t written everything I wanna yet! I’d also like to see more Velvet as seen in RWBY Chibi, in which was she Cool and Good, and maybe less Yatsu alongside her directly. But! It’s a book! It’s decent! It’s CFVY! For most people, it’s Good Enough. And they’re valid too.

[onestowatch]

Q&A: Talking Hoop Dreams to Playing Main Stages with Hotel Garuda at CRSSD’s Fall Festival

Photos: Steven Truong 

We recently had the chance to catch a number of prolific and up and coming acts in the electronic scene at CRSSD’s 2017 Fall Festival. The festival has quickly made a name for themselves in the few years since its inception as a festival showcasing some of the best talent internationally, but if there was one act that undeniably blew us away it was the rapidly rising duo behind Hotel Garuda. Hotel Garuda may be fresh out of college, but the two aspiring producers and DJs are no strangers to the electronic music scene. Comprised of Manila Killa and Candleweather, the duo quickly made a name for themselves overnight with a series of remixes and edits that were clearly impossible to ignore. Their music quickly circulated amongst Soundcloud’s elite and beyond, racking up over 25-million streams on Soundcloud alone and consecutively topping the Hype Machine charts. 

The Hotel Garuda craze seemed universal as the duo began booking sold out shows and festivals across the country before the two of them were even officially finished college. Now with no textbooks holding them down and a rabid fanbase eagerly watching their every move, Hotel Garuda seems poised to takeover the electronic music scene. So, with no end in sight for the duo, we caught up with Aseem and Chris from Hotel Garuda at CRSSD’s Fall Festival to get the inside scoop on what exactly makes Hotel Garuda, Hotel Garuda.  

OTW: I’m here with Aseem & Chris from Hotel Garuda at CRSSD right now.

Aseem & Chris: What’s up!

OTW: So, let’s get started with the origin story. You're both DJs and producers in your own right, Candleweather and Manila Killa, so how did you two first meet and when did the two of you decide to join forces as Hotel Garuda?

A: We met in middle school because we both went to the same school in Indonesia when our families lived there, but we didn’t really connect on music then. We played on the same community basketball team. Fun fact: We lost every game. But then we both were in University in the U.S., so we just started talking again after I noticed his Facebook page for his Manilla Killa mashups. Throwback.

C: Wow that was a while ago.

A: Yeah that was a long time ago. So, we started talking I guess our sophomore, junior year in college, and just decided to collaborate really randomly because we both sort of had similar tastes. We were like fuck it why don’t we just do something together.

C: Yeah, so initially it was going to be a collaboration between Manilla Killa and whatever name he came up with. But then half way through the collab, I was like why don’t we make just an entirely new project, so we came up with a name–Hotel Garuda–and Brett our manager now…

A: Who formerly was both of ours’ employer.

C: Yeah, like earlier we had worked for a blog together and we both worked for Brett, but as things moved forward, I was like yo Brett we have this new project that we want you to push. And that happened, we put out our first song and here we are now in San Diego.

A: Here we are!

OTW: When it comes to being a duo how does that dynamic play out during your DJ sets?

A: Oh we just play one song each.

C: Also, we understand each other’s taste.

A: We taste each other, yeah.

A & C: (laughter)

C: Yeah, we taste each other. We like to make sure that our sets are very cohesive, but it’s pretty natural though. Ever since the beginning of Hotel Garuda, we did a pretty good job of going back to back.

A: After a while of meeting each other for our shows, cause we still weren’t living in the same place when we started working on our shows.

C: Still aren’t.

A: Yeah, still aren’t, but after a few times of playing together, we just kind of found a rhythm for both of us that we fit into.

OTW: What's one thing the world doesn't know about the other?

C: Whaaaaat. That’s way too hard. I’ve never thought about it that way.

A: I know some things people don’t know about you.

C: I’m annoying as fuck man.

A: (laughter) Chris is one of the most annoying people I know in my life, but it’s okay. I love him.

C: Honestly, I don’t have an answer for that. You’d have to give me like thirty minutes. Because, Aseem pretty much puts himself out in the world, so whatever I know, everyone else does.

A: Yeah, I feel like I’m pretty much an open book. And both of us are such lowkey dudes in general that it’s not super common for us to be out except for around our close friends.

C: Yeah, whatever the world knows, that’s kind of it. I don’t hide myself from people, but I don’t expose myself either. Honestly, I can’t even answer that.

A: That’s a long answer for a short question (laughter).

OTW: So you two are pretty recent college graduates?

A: I graduated 2015.

C: I graduated December 2016. It’s been pretty tough the past few years, cause he graduated in 2015, so it was smooth coasting for him, but at the time I was still working on getting my degree. It was really tough for us to play, because we’re a duo so everyone expects us to play together, but, for the past year and a half, I was still finishing school. It was kind of a promise to my parents and myself–no shows until I finish school, but now we’re good.

A: Now you finished school and you’re a real boy!

OTW: Wait so what’d you two study then, if not music?

A: Economics and math.

C: Business management.

A & C: Then became DJs!

OTW: And what inspired that major switch?

A: I honestly was not very confident in that path for myself. I knew I would end up doing it if I continued down that path, and I knew I would end up being fine. But I knew also that I hated it, and I would perish if I were to sit at a desk all the time. It’s just not how my brain works.

C: True. I knew that I was going to make a good amount of money if I had gone with my original job. I had an offer and everything for an auditing firm in New York, but said no to that.

A: Trying to make these remixes!

C: Trying to play festivals man! I mean my parents were like what are you doing, but at the same time it was like no, let me show you what I’m doing and that’s how it happened.

A: I feel like for both of our parents came around to it after we brought them to our shows.

C: They had to see it to understand it.

A: It’s not enough for us to just tell them. Clearly people don’t understand Asian parents that well if they think it’s that easy.

OTW: Not so easy to tell your mom and dad everything will be fine and you’ll just DJ around the world?

C: My mom’s like are you kidding me!? That’s so not where they wanted me to be, (laughter) but here we are.

OTW: What’s been the most surreal aspect of your career so far?

C: Honestly, I would say bringing my mom to my show for the very first time was surreal, because the music thing I never told her about this. She had no idea any of this was going on. This was originally just a hobby for me, but when it came to the realization that I really wanted to do this, I brought her to her first show. I called her out on the mic like, “Yo my mom’s here right now!” After, people came up to her and told her about what I was doing and stuff, and she didn’t tell me straight up that she understood but she hinted at it. I think that was the craziest thing about this entirety journey–my parents finally understanding what I do.

A: Similar sort of stuff. Everyone from my family comes from a professional world.

C: His brother is studying to be a lawyer.

A: Yeah, my brother just graduated from law school in England and he’s about to be a lawyer, so I’m the one person out of my entire extended family who doesn’t do anything relating to the professional fields, like law, engineering, or finance. So, even initially it was weird but they’ve always been kind of cool with it and they became fully cool with it after they saw us first play. They came to our show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York and it was great. They could not stop talking about it with their friends. I remember I used to think, damn how do my parents feel having to bring this up with their friends at parties? How do they talk about it?

C: Right!? But honestly they’re proud.

A: They’re so stoked!

C: My parents are stoked too. I thought you guys hated this, but then all of a sudden they’re literally telling everyone that they know that we’re doing this, and it’s incredible.

OTW: Is this your first time at CRSSD? How’s the experience been thus far?

A & C: Yes, first time and it’s amazing!

A: We’ve only been here for two hours, but it’s been great.

C: I was telling my friends and my girlfriend earlier that I’ve always wanted to go to CRSSD, and I’ve always wanted to experience it, because it looks amazing. The aesthetic of it is incredible. But now here we are playing it, so I’m super stoked.

OTW: You have some killer remixes out there. I've personally had the Kaskade & Felix Cartal one on repeat since it came out. How do you go about deciding what you want to remix and tackling said remix?

A & C: Thank you!

C: So, there’s two spectrums on whether or not we want to remix something. Either we really love it or there’s something about it we think we can bring to the next level, like we can make this our own brainchild.

A: Yeah, if we hear something in a song that we think would work with our style or workflow. Sometimes when we get asked to do remixes of songs, I’m like this vocal is really tight, but I want to produce something entirely else underneath it.

OTW: If you could get one artist to feature on one of your tracks in the future, who would it be?

A: Holy shit. Bon Iver.

C: My first choice was Porter Robinson.

A: Really!? I could not have guessed (laughter).

C: Second choice is Bon Iver.

A: Okay cool.

C: I think we could make a dope house track with him.

A & C: Justin Vernon!

C: Yeah, that’d be amazing.

OTW: You're about to kick off your fall tour with an incredibly stacked lineup. What part of your tour are you most excited for?

C: LA.

A: LA, New York, San Francisco. The LA show is on my birthday so that’ll be cool.

C: Then New York. New York has always been amazing to us. San Francisco is going to be crazy too. The Observatory in Santa Ana is going to be awesome. New Orleans!

A: Yes!

C: I heard New Orleans is awesome. I’ve never played there.

A: I played a show for Hotel Gaurda there, and I had a blast in that city. People are lovely and always a blast to be around.

OTW: A large part of the electronic music scene has seen the rise of these collectives, such as Moving Castle and Brownies & Lemonade. How has your involvement with these collectives affected your career and time in the music scene?

C: Couldn’t have done it without any of those guys. Especially Brownies, man. Brownies put us on super early.

A: Super, super early.

C: They’ve known about us before anyone else, and they’re amazing.

A: And it’s made me really thankful for the sense of community that LA has. I don’t know if it’s true or false that other places don’t have it, but I don’t know if any other place has it exactly like LA.

C: But honestly I feel like with that kind of scene, the excitement translates to other cities. For example, Brownies just did an after party in Chicago. Their reach is getting elsewhere, so we’re super thankful for them. If they’re winning, we’re winning.

A: Everyone’s winning.

C: Yeah, if our family’s winning, we’re winning.

OTW: If you had to describe your sound without using any genre terms, how would you?

A: Fun. Is that too simple?

C: Can we put this question to our guests right here? (directing towards the Hotel Garuda fam in the artist booth) How would you describe our sound in terms of genre and stuff?

Guest #1: Fun, groovy.

Brett: it’s eclectic.

Guest # 2: There’s also a certain sound I associate with Garuda. There’s a certain deeper element. It’s sort of like a bass thing, but it’s not really. There’s fun stuff on top, but there’s this one kind of bassier sound that’s always Garuda that makes it more meaningful. Well, maybe not meaningful, but…

C: No, you’re right. You’re right. So, basically we like the groovy bass house stuff, but we also like the pop fun stuff too. It’s in between the mainstream and the underground.

A: It’s hard for us to describe too.

C: Yeah, we make house music but we also don’t make house music. We make just whatever sounds fun, whatever sounds cool.

OTW: So you two come from pretty different producing backgrounds, with Manilla Killa having more of a future bass and house sound. How do the two of your merge your varying backgrounds?

A: I didn’t produce beforehand. I had no idea how to make music before this project started, so I started with making house music. Now, it’s kind of like I just do whatever comes out of my head.

C: So, when we first started Hotel Garuda, it was all about house. We both love house music. This is kind of where we got our influences from. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s all that we know. Both of us have hugely different tastes in music.

A: Honestly, the most fun is finding the middleground, or finding the underground in the weird shit that we do like. Like both of us like weird things but we also like catchy mainstream stuff at the same time.

C: And we’ll bring that into whatever we’re doing.

A: Compare and contrast; write an essay about it.

C: Yeah, we’re kind of doing whatever we want at this point. Our next song coming out is definitely not house.

A: It’s kind of disco.

OTW: SoundCloud has given such a monumental platform to bedroom producers and beyond. What advice do you have for up and coming producers?

A: Don’t worry about stats. Make whatever feels natural, whatever comes out of your head. Because if it comes out of your head subconsciously and it’s not trying to consciously fit some mold, it’s probably what you want to make. You just don’t know it yet.

C: Yeah, bouncing off of Aseem, there are a lot of dope producers out there that are really big and making it, and a lot of producers feel like if they make that sound then they’re going to make it as well. And I think that’s the biggest mistake ever. There’s a reason why for example, Flume is there. The reason why Flume is Flume is because he’s making his own shit. If you’re trying to make shit like Flume, people are going to be like oh this sounds like Flume, and you’re never going to make it out as yourself. So, I think the biggest piece of advice is, likewise, don’t worry about stats. Don’t worry about the sound that you’re making. Make whatever you want. So, this is a saying I heard from Tiga, Tiga once said if you’re dancing to the song that you made in your bedroom, someone else out there is probably going to dance to it too. I think that’s the biggest piece of advice I’ve ever taken away. No matter how weird the song I’m making right now is, if I like it, someone else out there’s probably going to like it. Don’t try and conform.

A: Please yourself before your please anyone else.

C: Yeah, it’s so easy to get into like oh my god I have to make this kind of music to make it, but it’s really not like that. There’s someone else doing it way better than, so go do your own thing.

OTW: Anyone else you’re excited to catch while at CRSSD?

A: Don’t say RÜFÜS, although he’s about to say RÜFÜS.

C: I wasn’t going to say RÜFÜS, but I was going to say I saw SAINT WKND earlier. He’s going to tour with us also. He crushed it. I just saw Bearson as well who was really cool.

A: I want to see Breakbot either live at the fest or at the after party where he’s doing a DJ set. Honestly, the whole festival is pretty fire. The entire lineup is crazy.

C: Lane 8. RÜFÜS. The Malkovich Brothers. That’s going to be a really fun set.

A: Our stage is wild today.

C: Oh Destructo! Gary is like right after us. He’s super dope.

OTW: Who are your Ones to Watch?

C: SAINT WKND, Bearson, Whethan, Louis the Child. Who else?

A: There’s a band called High Water. They’re on Nicolas Jaar’s label called Other People. They make really cool things. I just found out about them two weeks ago and I really like their stuff.

C: Kid Froopy is really dope.

A: Kid Froopy’s awesome!

C: Ásgeir. If you gave me ten minutes, I could give you a list of a hundred people, but off the top of our heads that’s it.

A: Elohim!

C: Yeah, Elohim’s going to play tomorrow!

OTW: Finally, anything else we should be on the lookout for from Hotel Garuda in the future?

C: Come see us on tour this Fall! Also, we have a new single in the works.

A: It’s featuring this awesome band from Norway called Lemaitre.

C: It’s coming out right as we start our tour!