#this has got to be just about the cringiest thing ever written

[ghost-proofbaby]

fictional boyfriends (e.m.)

summary: eddie gets jealous of your newest fictional boyfriend from a game he got you into.

warnings: kinda sweet. kinda cringe. eddie is jealous of astarion. twilight reference jumpscare. not edited. biting and vague mentions of sex at the end.

wc: 2.5k+

a/n: this is the dumbest, cringiest thing i have ever written. but on this side of town, we embrace the cringe <3 happy valentine's day, enjoy me combining my current favorite fictional men (astarion and eddie) for my own personal delight. maybe one day i'll write a serious fic regarding the biting kink

It’s not that biting had ever been off the table with Eddie, per se.

Nips between kisses, using a little more teeth when he’d kiss across your neck, a joking sinking of your teeth into his shoulder when you were vying for his attention — they were all normal occurrences between the two of you. There was just never much discussion about it. No conversation explicitly had in which the two of you said, “Why, yes. This is something I’d like to bring into the bedroom.” 

Until that damn game.

When Eddie introduced you to Baldur’s Gate 3, the last thing he expected was to watch all your free time you used to spend pestering him suddenly handed over to some fictional vampire. He thought it’d be a game you tried, grew tired of, lost interest in, and that was that. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn’t expect a sudden competition for your goddamn affections. 

“Baby, please come to bed,” he all but whines as he drapes himself over your shoulders, trying to nudge off your headphones. He could feel just how warm your ears had grown beneath them. He swears he can feel your back crack from the slightest bit of his weight on your shoulders. And, sue him — he was tired and he wanted to cuddle. 

“One more minute,” you mumble the same phrase to him that he has used a million times on you; he instantly knows it’ll be far more than just sixty more seconds if he agrees, “Let me just finish this-“

“No,” he’s still whining, but it’s more stern now as he properly removes your headset, earning a glare from your bloodshot eyes, “You’ve been playing this game all afternoon, sweetheart. I think I might die if you don’t offer me some immediate attention. Truly.”

For emphasis, he lays more of his body weight on you, your chair creaking from holding up both of you now. 

“Eddie,” you moan out, wiggling beneath his dead-weight, “I swear to God, get off of me-“

“I’ll get off of you if you come to bed.”

You pause. Your hands hover near your keyboard and mouse, but you’re no longer walking your avatar across the world of Baldur’s Gate, and he knows he has you considering it.

More weight. More groans. At this rate, he’s questioning if your chair won’t break from his outrageous method to get your attention. 

“Fine.” 

The small yes he lets out only earns him a punch to the shoulder. But it gets you off the game, and that’s still a win for him.

He doesn’t even care about appearing over eager as you follow him back to the bedroom. He’s gone as far as preparing the bed, pillows fluffed and comforted pulled back while awaiting your arrival. He’s already washed his face and brushed his teeth (something he usually fights you on as you nag him before bed), and the moment he’s got you in the room with him, he’s dragging you right onto the mattress with him.

“You’re gonna hurt us!” you yelp as he wraps his arms around you and flops down, dragging you with him, but it’s through a laugh. He knows you really couldn’t care less — he’d never deliberately injure you, irritated about your newest fictional boyfriend or not. 

“Oh, no,” he mocks, rolling so you’re laying on top of him, “What ever will you do if I injure one of your precious wrists, and you can’t use it to flirt with your new boy toy tomorrow?” 

“Astarion would be devastated,” you giggle into his chest, not moving off of him despite all your protests. It’s nice — to feel the full weight of you, to just get to bury his nose in the crown of your head as he shamelessly inhales the sweet lingering scent of your coconut shampoo, “He’s even needier than you.” 

“Yeah, ‘cause you serve as his functional juice box.”

“I do not!” you wiggle against him, and it only makes him tighten his arms, “He’s needy because he loves me.”

“Well that makes one of us.” 

Your head lifts off his chest in an instant, faux offense shadowing your features, “You tryin’ to say you don’t love me, Munson?”

He smirks, pressing his lips together tightly, making you huff in frustration. 

Of course he loves you. There wouldn’t be a ring in his sock drawer that he’s terrified of you finding if he didn’t. 

You pout, subtly and adorably so, starting to lift off of him, “If you’re going to be mean, I’m just going to go back to someone who appreciates me-“

“Mean?” he scoffs, enjoying himself far too much. He’s missed your attention, your affection. The effect it has on him is similar to a high, making him dizzy on serotonin as he rolls over and pins you between him and the mattress, “Oh, baby, that’s not me being mean. I can show you mean, if you want.” 

He’s always thought you looked prettiest like this. Under him, eyes wide as you look up at him as if he’s the only thing in this room worth looking at. Worth more than your prized bookshelf, more interesting than all the various posters the two of you have hung on the walls. You look at him as though he’s the greatest thing to exist in these four walls, and he doesn’t take it lightly when your favorite albums and candles are right there.

“You don’t have a mean bone in your body, Munson,” you whisper softly, face going soft for him. The two of you are still surely joking around, the playfulness of it all thick in the air, but there’s something genuine in your words that makes him even more enamored with you. 

He should have predicted you’d fall for Astarion when he showed you the game. You had a thing for people who put up the tough front, but who really just needed a little extra softness and patience under the surface. He was living proof of it.

Unlike your fictional vampire boyfriend. 

“Yeah?” he taunts, leaning down until the tip of his nose brushes yours. His hair works like a curtain, messy as ever as he shields the two of you from the outside world. One of your hands have crept up so that you palm rests against his cheek, and he can hardly remember that flare of jealousy that had gnawed at him when you’d spent your entire afternoon absorbed in the game instead of him, “I bet I could be meaner than Astarion. Although, I’m not sure just how mean that man has ever been to you, given all the war crimes you commit for his approval-“

He’s cut off when the thumb of the hand cradling his face trails up, pressing on his bottom lip. It only makes him grow even closer to you, pressing in, drawn by your touch.

You squint your eyes at him jokingly before cooing, “Someone sounds jealous.”

“Damn right,” he doesn’t even try to deny it, caught in the web of your trap with ease, “Does your pixelated lover even know what a catch he’s got?” 

You snort adorably at that. He pulls away to see the full force of your laughter, lifting up into his elbows to admire how your face scrunches with your smile. He bets Astarion would make some sarcastic comment about it — about the crinkles by your eyes that he aches to pepper with kisses, about the indents in your cheeks when you smile this wide, about the sound of your genuine laughter when you unrestrained and entirely comfortable like this. But there’s not a single joke forming on Eddie’s tongue. He’s all but hypnotized. 

God, he fucking loves you. So much so he’s jealous of a video game character.

“I’m not sure I’d consider this,” you lift the hand not holding him carefully still to motion at your current state of being, “A catch, my love.” 

He has to disagree. Messy hair or not, wrinkled pajamas or not.  You’re the greatest catch of this entire existence; not just Eddie’s, but the Universe’s. Nothing you could say or point out would deter him from this belief. He loves you, mess and all.

“My love?” he chooses to tease instead, all the words of affection threatening to choke him if he so much as considers letting them pour out, “I like the sound of that. If that’s the Astarion effect, maybe he isn’t so bad after all.”  

His elbows are sinking deeper into the mattress. With every passing second, his face is dropping closer to yours, and he’s not sure if it’s by instinct or choice. But when his lips finally brush yours, he decides it’s all the same — it doesn’t really matter what sort of gravity is at work here, as long as it keeps bringing him down closer to you.

“Shut up about the game and kiss me, Eddie.” 

He doesn’t have to be told twice.

The kiss is as sweet as ever. A comfortable dance that still sends shivers down his spine. If either of you looked closer at his arms bracketing your shoulders, you’d see the goosebumps raising as you eagerly returned all his affection.

You taste like the chocolates you’d been snacking on during your gaming. You taste like the greatest gift ever given, and he doesn’t care if he’s exaggerating or not. You’re divine — his favorite good morning and his only goodnight. 

And he’d say all that, but you’d probably accuse him of trying too hard to be like Astarion. Probably bring up that ridiculous line the character once said about you being made by the Gods, just to ruin him.

You were, though. Made by the Gods, specifically to ruin Eddie. Fuck the game. 

“You know,” he whispers against your lips, breaking for air as he adjusts positions. Your thighs open up and welcome him home, letting him slot right between your legs comfortably. He’s not trying to seduce you, but he can’t even be mad about it. He feels like a starved man now that your attention has been divided as of late, “If you wanted a lover who bites, all you had to do was ask, darling.” 

If you weren’t so wrapped up in the kisses he was pressing down your jaw and along your neck, you would have ripped him to shreds for the awful impersonation. 

But you’re already far gone, lost in his touches and his adorations. You let the half-assed attempt at a British accent slide, and you even bare your neck to him at the minute threat. 

Biting had never been off the table, per se, and Eddie was really fucking glad for it.

When he presses one, two, three greedy kisses to that sweet spot just below your ear, he has one intention in mind. Not his usual sucking and nipping and soothing, not leaving behind one of his ordinary love bites. No, he lets himself get caught up in the moment, and when he catches that quiver of excitement the moment he drags his teeth over your neck carefully, he’s fully committed to his decision.

He bites.

Not hard enough to draw blood, or even be terribly painful. He knows it’s nothing like the game or any of your subsequent fantasies you might have had from it. His canines are fairly dull, even as they dig carefully into the skin of your neck, holding for a moment for effect. But your legs tighten around his hips, and he almost wishes he was a damn vampire, able to actually pierce your skin in the moment. Drink your blood. Whatever the allure was with the origin companion.

You let out a soft gasp which has him keeping your skin between his teeth a few extra seconds, and then he’s letting go. Lifting his head and looking into your eyes, a silent exchange of is this okay?

If the glazed over look is anything to go off of, it’s more than okay.

He returns with reckless abandon, switching between his usual desperate kisses and the newer, sharper ones. He has one goal in mind: to mark you up as his, to the point in which you’ll be scolding him in the morning. It’s like a drug, to feel you writhe beneath him as he paints the picture. 

Love notes of freshly born bruises, the imprints of his teeth – a letter across your delicate skin that reads, he was here, and he loved you, more than anyone else in this Universe may ever be capable of. 

“If I had known how much biting would rile you up, I would’ve started doing it ages ago,” he mumbles into the crook of your neck, finally pausing his assault. 

He settles for softer presses of his lip, peppering the affection where he had been a bit more violent. 

Your hands that had taken to tangling into the curls at the nape of his neck have gone more relaxed, no longer tugging but instead just lingering. Pulling him closer. Touching him with softer hands than he’s ever felt deserving of. 

“Guess you’ve got a certain vampire to thank for that,” you tease, but he can hear just how breathless he’s left you. He had sworn he could feel the pulse of your facing heart beneath his lips, even if just for a moment. Even if he just imagined it. 

“Please. Astarion is not getting the credit for that,” he scoffs, lifting up onto his elbows again to just look at you. His lover, his favorite person. It’s nice to see your face when it’s not washed over with the cast of a computer screen. “That was all me. And even if it wasn’t, I won’t forget that you had a Twilight phase.” 

Your hand quickly drops between the two of you, only to smack at his chest. The thump holds no weight as you whine, “I told you that in confidence.” 

He dips down, capturing one last kiss, “It’s okay, baby. It’s good to know that you have a type.”

“I do not-”

He cuts you off with a more playful bite to your neck. Less about marking you, and more just to make a point. 

“Just,” another nip, “admit,” another graze of his teeth, “it.” 

You’re fighting a smile when he looks down at you again, impossible to hide behind your mask of annoyance. “I am not admitting that I have a thing for broody, pathetic vampires.” 

“Well, I’ve got broody and pathetic down-”

“Eddie,” your thighs still bracket him, one hand still clinging to the back of his neck. When you say his name, the game is over. “We can spend all night bickering over the fictional men I love, or you can give me a reason to forget their names. It’s up to you.” 

His eyebrows jump up his forehead, and he’s just about to give up the bit, but not before one last snide remark.

“Kind of hard to do that when I share a name with one of them, but as you wish, sweetheart.” 

Another bout of beautiful laughter from him. Another smack on the chest from you. It’s good – it’s everything Eddie has ever wanted, and it is good.

He does, of course, make you forget their names. And if you find it difficult to get out of bed the next moment, dramatically unable to make the walk to your gaming computer, well – he won’t try to hide his smug smile in between the soft rays of morning light.

eddie's taglist: @capricornrisingsstuff @thisisktrying @hideoutside @vol2eddie @corrcdedcoffin @ches-86 @alovesongtheywrote @its-not-rain @feralchaospixie @cheesypuffkins87 @thebook-hobbit @babez-a-licious @eddies-acousticguitar @aysheashea @kellsck @cosmorant @billyhvrgrove-main @micheledawn1975 @eddiesxangel @siriuslysmoking @witchwolflea @tlclick73 @magicalchocolatecheesecake @mizzfizz @nanaminswhore @mikiepeach @ali-r3n @hawkebuckley @alwaysbeenfamous @darkyuffie-blog @vintagehellfire @lilmisssiren @elvendria @loveryanax @stylexrepp @princessstolas @fangirling-4-ever @eddiesguitarskills @babez-a-licious @josephquinnsfreckles

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[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/735990124795543552/some-of-the-cringiest-writing-in-a-novel-i-read#notes Re: first commenter. No, actually, but it's weird that it happened twice. (Not gonna mention I've read books with a similar issues, but these books were the first ones where all of the values felt so condensed and clashing when it happened.)

Latter commenter though buckle up this is long, so that you actually get the full picture: The main character, who in this story is part of the majority, is herself is shown to have very progressive values almost from the start, and is aware of the racism experienced by others and also the sexism and queerphobia and ableism that exists in the setting. She herself has been a victim of sexism, is questioning her queer identity and deals with having to hide her ND condition. It's not just shown that she has awareness of this, she knows that what these things are and that being racist, sexist, queerphobic and ableist is bigoted and wrong. She's even shown multiple times standing up against racism/sexism/queerphobia/ableism. It's clear she understands these concepts and why they're wrong. Even at a point confronting her own family about their racism towards a different character for being of a mixed background. But then suddenly there's this one part where she does a complete 180 and does the exact thing she condemned throughout the book(s) without fanfare towards exactly one singular character and his ethnic background. It clashes extremely with how she acted the entire way throughout with other characters of minority ethnicities, or other marginalized people. And no, she never reflects on her weird view on this one guy, nor does it ever change. Nothing about this guy even justifies it either, he's just a guy. The books just keep up her view of him as a "civilized barbarian" for the entire run. I also got the impression that the ethnicity seemed to be based on a real ethnicity while reading. If the book was at least self-aware, or she reflected on why she thinks the people of that ethnicity being "beastly" and "barbaric" and why she views him as the one specific exception with actual good reason beyond "he doesn't behave like a wild animal". The only person of that ethnic group whom she considers to be civilized, it could have maybe fit with her growing and realizing that even she still has things to learn. But it never happens. It's a big flaw in the books that her values never grow, her values are almost completely the same from the start until the end. Vague description, but there's a scene where she fights to save a slave girl who's part of a minority from being publicly abused. She saves the girl and tells her nobodies worth is determined by their birth. Then a few chapters later, she's turning right around gaping open mouthed at the "civilized barbarian" guy for being able to read. Read. Not doing biochemistry or knowing rocket science, something that could be impressive if someone does it casually, no, the guy's just able to read in his spare time. That part had a heavy undertone of viewing that ethnicity as inherently inferior and less intellectually capable. That is the issue. Not that the author is a marginalized person writing a #problematic character. That's actually honestly interesting, and engaging. Reccs in the comments, thanks. The "problem" is the author wrote a character who's incredibly staunchly progressive and also frequently shows the character acting in a way that is very in-line with these values, but then decided that the fetishism of this one ethnicity as "barbaric and exotic", and telling us how this one guy is basically a noble and civilized savage who can read! was more important than keeping her character consistent in her values -which were clearly written and shown throughout the story- while not reflecting on this specific flaw in her worldview. I read the books specifically because the author mentioned that she'd "show you how it's done" stating her main character would tackle racism/sexism/queerphobia/ableism in the books and fight against them. To give it to the author, the main characters isn't completely on the nose, but in some parts it does feel like a lecture.

--

Well, we can't judge for ourselves without reading whatever this is, but I do find that authors who are very vocal about ~showing you how it's done~ are often not the ones who are actually best at that.

Also, for this or any other topic, an author should beware of being too self-aggrandizing: if you promise nothing, people will be pleasantly surprised and praise you. If you say you're better than others, they'll go in looking for an excuse to shoot you down. Doesn't matter whether it's anti-racism or writing skill: we tend to find it annoying when people blow their own horn too hard.

[muffinpink02]

hey! sorry if this is a weird question and don’t feel like you have to answer im just asking you because you’re my favourite fic writer ever🤭🤭

so i write fics sometimes i wish i had time to write more to be honest and out of all the ones i’ve written only one of them has included smut. i know smut is what the people like to read but i just find it so awkward writing it? like i just find myself cringing as i’m doing it and i don’t know how to get over that

you write smut so incredibly well and i’ve never found what you’ve or any other writers have written cringey before but when it’s me writing it i just can’t lol because i get so icked out!!!!!

so i was just wondering if you had any tips or if you’d ever struggled with this because i really want to get back into writing again (specifically for lucy and ona) but i’m struggling!!!! thank you❤️❤️

Hello my chicken!

Firstly, stopppp you got me blushing, thank you so very much you beautiful person ❤️

Hmm, that’s interesting why do you think you cringe at it?

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading smut for a long time that I don’t find it cringe when I write it myself. If anything it turns me on when I do because I’m really imagining what the other person is doing as a write, I imagine the noises, the positions, the taste, her skin, the overall feelings when it comes to sex and I find that helps me get into a flow of writing. And if I’m able to get turned on then I hope that the readers are to. Maybe being open about sex in general helps?

I think you need to believe a bit in what you’re writing, or you might not crack that problem. Be confident in yourself! Don’t over think it! Writing sex is sexy! There’s no need to cringe! Writing about two women having sex is the least cringiest thing you can do 🫠

Remember the readers are not sitting there reading your smut thinking. “I bet she was cringing when she wrote that.” they will read it and more then likely be turned on. Bunch of horny bitches on here

Just believe in what you’re writing and it will become easier! Keep going at it! ❤️

[thousand-winters]

(rolls in) how about 🦋, 🦈, 💌, 👻, 💥 and ❤️ !!!!!!!

Have I told you how dear you are to me, my friend? 🥺 Because I adore you. I'm sorry in advance for the huge amounts of TOH you will suffer through these questions, I have become a TOH fic writer. Stepping a bit carefully here because I don't know if you're up to date tho

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

I really enjoy Hunter! He's great for projection cof. I mean, what. Okay, but I think he's very fun to write because he's an interesting mix, you get to have him being all logical and practical because he was a soldier, but he also has a lot of issues going on that can take you in a very angsty direction AND at the same time he can be just so silly. Silly boy just smiling widely while wearing a bird onesie he picked himself. He has a lot of angles to work with and that's fun.

I have written him like twice, but outside of TOH, Alastair Carstairs is very fun to write because he's very snarky.

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Darius Deamonne, I love you with all my heart, but why must you be so hard to write? I have gotten a little bit used to him because I write so much stuff with him, but I feel like sometimes I tend to forget that he might be kind, but he's not nice, he's very bitchy, and I have to go back and add that. Of course, he also absolutely freaks out over his loved ones, so he needs a balance of loving and bitchy and it can be hard to do.

Eda is also SO hard to write for me, but luckily she's around a lot less in my fanfics asjfhdsg

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Mmmm, does hurt/comfort count? That's not a trope, is it? Adsfjkhgjkfh

Okay, I think it's been established in the Dadrius corner of the fandom that at this point, Darius covering Hunter with his cape counts as a fandom trope, so I'm gonna say that one. I have used it a few times and it will happen again because it's just sweet, fight me.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I come up with headcanons very slowly, so I only have like a handful, but if I have to pick something for this, I'm gonna go with my "Eberwolf is a tech genius" headcanon because I just think it's funny. It's just slightly based on anything other than the Coven Heads being a bit opposite to what you would expect given their magic specialties, but other than that, it's just... I mean, I don't know how funny it is objectively, but I have fun with it askjfhjsdg

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Head in my hands. It's more like the absence of, but it will forever haunt me that we did not get to see Darius and Hunter seeing each other for the first time after Hollow Mind. What happened there? How did Darius get Hunter to not freak out and trust him? HOW DID THAT CONVERSATION GO? So many little moments implied with them, but not shown. I'll take the implied, but I wish we could have seen them.

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

*Stares at fics for 15 minutes* Oh, boy.

I pick the cat line, I pick Hunter saying "Meow-meow" in one of my fics because it's the cringiest, funniest thing I've ever written and I have no regrets, I was laughing so much at the reactions that got.

Oh, but I quite liked this one too, actually: "It takes two decades and a world full of devastation for Darius Deamonne’s own mask to crack and for tears to start sliding down his face until each drop marks its shiny path over the Golden Guard’s dusty signature, forming watery tracks all over its surface. "

[no2ticonderoga]

😅,😈,🎶,🛠,⛔,❌ ,🧐

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

The West Wing fanfic I wrote in high school that managed to migrate to me on AO3 when the archive I originally posted it on closed (thanks AO3 for preserving fandom history, tho, that's pretty awesome). It's poorly written and super cringy, and reflects a high school sensibility that was informed by reading a lot of Tom Clancy and other technothrillers.

(Also, I realized further down that there does exist on my hard drive a smutty scene from a Wheel of Time fanfic. That is probably the cringiest thing I wrote)

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Well, actually, when I was writing in the HP fandom, lo these many years ago, I would have a tendency to leave my readers off on nasty cliffhangers.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I do sometimes. When I'm writing the Senior Year series, I'm usually rocking songs from when I was in high school. For the Regency/Napoleonic AU, I usually listen to music from the period, like the Master and Commander sound track. Lately, though, I've been rocking my playlist of all James Bond theme songs. Don't ask me why, it has nothing to do with my writing.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I might as well be a walking, talking, ad for Google Workspace. I experimented with Scrivner a while ago, and I liked some of the features, but I didn't like not being able to access it from anywhere. I wish I could recreate some of the features in Google Docs.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

A Star Wars fic I wrote with friends in high school, that was basically all of us being extremely self indulgent. Several others from the old HP days. There exists a Wheel of Time fic on my hard drive somewhere. More recently, I have abandoned, at least for the moment, a Miraculous Ladybug fic that would have been a sequel to one of my others.

We won't talk about the number of original works that were abandoned.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

There are probably many. Cheating of any kind makes my stomach turn. I probably won't ever write a breakup fic because I believe in true love in my ships. I'm sure there are others that I would stay away from if I was thinking more.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

I...well...yes. Entirely too much time. But I have learned so much. There are so many things I would add or tweak about ItSotK after all the reading/research I've done over the past year. I think one of my problems is I often get too caught up in the research. I got so bogged down in research that I ended up abandoning an original project because I got lost in the details.

[a-hurricane-came]

Timeline (Lafayette x Reader)

Pairing: Lafayette x Reader

Summary: Mr. Paulson’s finally opened his new exhibit. (Y/N)’s a little shocked to see what’s in it.

Soulmate AU

Originally began to write this as a random story for a CEWT piece in ELA before I realized that *gasp* I actually liked it, and it might work out well as a fic.

Words: 3105

Warnings: None

But it’s pretty freaking awful

So good luck

Masterlist

If one had told her one thousand and twenty years ago that this was going to happen, she wouldn’t have believed them.

This was, of course, before the paintings.

Yes, it was before the paintings and the color.

Both of which happened every time - apparently.

“Excuse me?” She perked up, her conversation with the curator of the next exhibit over trailing off as someone called for their attention - which one of them, she couldn’t yet tell.

“Would you happen to be Mr. Paulson?” The man asked, not even bothering to look at her.

Rude.

Mr. Paulson and her shared a look, and she gave him a small smile, shaking her head as if to tell him it was okay and to keep talking, before she drifted off somewhere else, examining the paintings placed in the lobby to advertise the different exhibits.

She still didn’t know what to think about Mr. Paulson.

He was an odd old man, who, for all the times she’d talked with him and for how invested and passionate he was about art, she knew next to nothing abot.

His work, the exhibit he was in charge of, in particular, seemed to be a subject he often avoided, and she had never had the chance to drop by there before.

He had some strange fascination with her, as well, like she was some great historical figure he admired rather than an ordinary person.

He kept at it until right before it could be considered creepy - Where was she born? What were her friends like? Did she have any siblings? What were her hobbies? Why had she chosen to go into this field? Who and what were her greatest inspirations?

And the colors, yes, of course - what ones could she see? Who had she met, and which colors had they each revealed? Had she met her soulmate yet?

(No, she had not had the chance to meet her soulmate, thank you for reminding her.)

She sometimes wondered about that man.

“You’re going.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

(Y/N) sighed in exasperation as her friend Septimus stubbornly insisted on her presence for when Mr. Paulson’s new exhibit opened the next week.

Couldn’t he see that she had work to be doing?

She had her own art to work on for the next exhibit, after all.

“You know what? Fine. If you can find one piece that’ll grab my attention that’ll be there on your first try, I’ll go.”

Septimus rose his eyebrows, and, despite the fact that he’d never once found an impressive enough piece of art that she’d never seen before and also lived up to her standards before, accepted the challenge with complete confidence and no hesitation.

“Oh, believe me,” Septimus grinned, as if he knew something she didn’t. “You’re gonna be floored.”

When (Y/N) was woken up by the most obnoxious ring tone she’d ever heard at 1:07 in the morning, she began mentally running over all the possible places she knew of that she might be able to hide a body.

Slowly, with tense fingers, she clawed for the device on her bedside table, threw aside her mental debate of throwing it out the window, and reluctantly clicked the ‘answer’ button, glaring at the name she knew matched the ridiculous song as she did so.

“This had better be good or I swear on all things good that I’ll rip out your spleen the next time we see each other.”

“Nice to talk to you too, Miss President of the Sunshine Club. Where can I sign up for a membership?”

“Septimus fucking Heap, you have ten God damn seconds before-”

“Okay, okay, geez, I got it. Anyways, I found it.”

“Found what, fuckfa-”

“My goodness, girl, do you have a temper! Did you get enough sleep last night?”

“No one will find your body, no one will suspect me… No one will even know you’re missing…”

At this point she seemed to be muttering more to herself than to the man on the other end, though it was obvious who she was talking about.

“Hurrying up, I get the message.”

“Obviously not.”

Septimus ignored her whispered words.

“I found a piece that you’re going to be interested in,” he told her gleefully.

She glare burned into the darkness.

He called me this early to talk about fucking art?!

Forget the fact that art was her life - so was sleep.

Her eye twitched.

Septimus is your friend. Dead Septimus is not good.

Despite the mantra running through her mind, the steak knives her father had gifted her with last Christmas were beginning to feel more and more appealing.

“Couldn’t this have waited until later?” She grumbled. “At a reasonable hour?”

“No. When you’re tired you’re more easily persuaded.”

That little-

“I emailed the link to you. Check it out. Now. It can’t wait. Call me when you’re ready to agree to go, your ticket will be waiting for you.”

The sing song voice disappeared with a little blip as he hung up, and she scowled.

Taking the phone away from her ear and turning it back on, she hissed at the sudden brightness and furiously dimmed the screen.

Letting out a long suffering sigh, she opened the email with great trepidation.

Her eyes narrowed at the name of the article he seemed to have linked her to.

“What the hell are you playing at, Septimus?” She murmured, before clicking on it anyways.

Scanning through it, her breath caught in her throat at the picture that had been added, her eyes widening and her heart dropping.

What on Earth-

She swallowed hard before scrambling with the buttons on her phone, pulling up the texting app to tell Septimus that she was going, closing it and going back to the article before she could see his smug reply.

Forget sleep, she had to figure out what on Earth this was.

“Ah, Ms. (L/N)!” (Y/N) turned when she heard someone calling her, and smiled at Mr. Paulson, who walked towards her with a half smile as he wrung his hands.

“Hello, Mr. Paulson,” she greeted politely.

“I didn’t think you’d be here today!”

Now, (Y/N) had known Mr. Paulson for a good seven months while they each worked on their exhibits, albeit different ones, with each of them playing different roles in their making, but that was plenty enough time for her to know what he was like on an opening day.

He had, after all, opened two other exhibits within her time preparing hers, though he had been working on them for a long time before she had started her work there. 

Whether it was opening day of a new exhibit or making a deal with artists who’s work he was trying to showcase, he was always the epitome of cool.

Right now, he seemed to be a mixture of nervous and excited, and the longer he stood next to her, the more his frayed emotions seemed to amplify.

“Neither did I,” (Y/N) murmured, looking him up and down suspiciously, a frown tugging at her lips.

This was his exhibit.

The painting Septimus had shown her would be here, according the article.

Was that why he was so nervous around her?

Was that why he’d always seemed so interested in her life?

She shook her head.

She’d have time to think about that later.

“Shall we?” She asked, a terse undercurrent running through her words as she gestured towards the hallway that led to the newly opened wing of the art museum.

Instantly, she could see as the emotions in his eyes shifted, panic fleeting past them, and he waved his hand dismissively.

“No, no,” he tried to turn her down. “You go on without me. I…have some other important guests coming that I should greet.”

Once again, (Y/N)’s eyes narrowed, and she gave a soft ‘okay.’

As he left, she watched him, trying to figure out what was going on.

Shaking her head, she hesitantly turned her back on him and made her way to the exhibit, trying to think of what she was expecting, but unable to have any clue that she could never prepare herself for such a thing.

If she had watched him just a little bit longer, she might’ve seen Mr. Paulson grabbing a glass of champagne off of a passing waiter’s platter and downing it, his eyes flickering to her worriedly as she slipped through the open doors.

Upon reaching the entrance to the exhibit, (Y/N) looked up, knowing that they usually displayed the name of the exhibit and sometimes a small message from the artist(s) and/or curator(s) underneath them.

Sure enough, there it was, in large, elegant black letters - Soulmates, the name of the collection.

(Y/N) rose a brow at that before shifting her gaze to the much smaller words printed in dark grey underneath it.

My life’s work has been dedicated to collecting these pieces of art, and I have finally succeeded.

(Y/N)’s eyebrows flew up at that.

Most definitely Mr. Paulson - but his life’s work?

She found it hard to believe that in all their conversations over the past long months, he’d never mentioned to her the collection he had, supposedly, spent his long life trying to complete.

She studied the words for a moment, trying to figure out what they could possibly mean.

She held a small mental debate before entering - forget about waiting for Septimus - he could catch up with her - but if she didn’t satisfy her curiosity then and there, she’d probably go insane.

When (Y/N) finally entered the large room, trepidation in her every step, her eyes scanned the room.

A sharp intake of breath exactly twenty seconds later signified when her understanding of the situation had been completely processed.

“Oh.”

Her vision was assaulted with what must have been hundreds of masterpieces in the cavernous room, from slabs of rock with rough, dark drawings, to notebook paper with quick sketches, to ten by twelve foot ornate golden framed painted masterpieces.

All of them, laid along the walls and the displays in a way that showed the evolution of art and man’s tools.

A golden framed painting, not the largest, but the second, was proudly displayed in the middle of the room, calling out that it was the most important piece of the whole collection, and drawing her attention first.

The color was probably what caught her eye first, actually, rather than the placement or the size, which both hit her not a second later

Slowly, she approached it, her breath hitching.

This was the piece Septimus had sent her the article about.

The name of the writing piece resurfaced in her mind.

The (Y/N) Comes to Manhattan

Indeed, it was her, a mirror image to the picture attached to the article.

After she had read the blasted thing, she had been so shocked that she had practically felt obligated to do more research.

Apparently, it was actually quite famous in the art world, and it was something of a miracle that she hadn’t already run across it multiple times in all her days researching exceptional artists, their works, and certain techniques.

The majority of the canvas was dominated by the only color she could actually - purple - light purple, really a mixture between blue, purple and white - something she had picked up after meeting Septimus.

The purple was the dress, her reflection practically looking back up at her from the slightly upwards view the painting gave the illusion of to the viewers.

Her hair was splayed across her back and over her left shoulder as she looked backwards and up at the world outside her canvas, her lips a shade darker than in real life, evidently covered with some sort of gloss or lipstick, the rest of the painting filled by her swirling sleeveless dress, pooling around her from her sitting position in endless beautiful waves of silky fabric.

Her fingers reached out, mesmerized, and stopped inches from the canvas, so wanting to touch that fabric, but knowing if she did, she’d only feel acrylic paints and about a hundred alarms going off before she was swarmed by security.

She let her hand drop, and, distantly, she mentally acknowledged the fact that someone else had approached the painting as well, coming to stand next to her, but seeming much more interested in the artwork.

Her wide eyes blinked, and then turned to survey the rest of the room.

This was…

Insane, her mind supplied.

The pieces were helpfully set up like a timeline, starting with the oldest and most archaic and rough pieces ones

The paintings, carvings, sculptures and drawings were all vastly different from one another in their own ways, but they all had at least one of two things in common.

One of those two things was her.

The other was a man, with dark curly hair, pulled into a ponytail more often than not, with stubble along his jawline, and large, dark brown eyes paired with an astounding height completing the look.

All around the room, their faces surrounded her, standing together, but most of the time, by themselves, just one or the other.

Both of them sitting, one sitting, one standing, both of them standing, one of them riding a horse, or piloting an old fighter jet, taking a walk in the park, reading, or dancing.

It honestly gave her chills, how realistic they all were and how accurately they caught her and the man in action, snapshots of their many lives throughout the centuries.

If you looked a little bit closer at those portraying both of them, you could see a slight style change from one of them to the next, where she could tell they switched so they could each add the other into the artwork, and comparing those two styles and going off of what was laid in front of her, it was easy to tell that all of the pieces were done by the same two people, just all across the world in different times.

She supposed it helped that she could easily pick out where the style changed in each one, because one of the two styles was her own.

Breathtakingly eerie, that’s what it was.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” The person next to her mused, quietly, as if to themselves.

“Yeah, fascinating,” she mumbled back distractedly.

Well at least you’ll know him when you see him, she thought to herself.

And then she realized just how stupid of a thought that was because when she saw him, she’d be able to see every color imaginable in a heartbeat.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she looked over her shoulder, trying to see what had caused the sensation.

When her eyes locked with Mr. Paulson’s, his own widened, and he walked away, though for some reason, he had a small smile on his face that he couldn’t seem to shake.

“Subtle,” the man next to her commented again, and this time, she couldn’t tell if he was talking about Mr. Paulson or the way she had so abruptly turned to look at him and let him know he’d been caught. The amused undertone in his voice stirred a mixture of embarrassment and anger inside of her, and she settled for turning her head to face him and giving him a flat look.

Which, of course, completely crumbled when her brain began to feel like it was tearing itself inside out and her vision went fuzzy.

She stumbled, and barely managed to keep her balance, and from the low groan she heard from her left, she wasn’t the only one in intense pain.

Whispers flew like wild fire, only serving to make (Y/N)’s head pound harder, her ears dully ringing.

After what seemed like ages of agony, but she was sure was only her internal clock going crazy, her eyesight began to clear, although she had to blink out white spots running across her line of sight.

Furiously rubbing her eyes, (Y/N) was only just then able to see the person who she’d been standing next to.

She honestly didn’t know whether she should have been surprised or not - it was the man in all of the pieces, and she supposed that she should have been expecting that, but at the same time, it seemed completely unreal that he’d actually exist.

He himself was still recovering, seeming to be in the process of getting his sight back.

(Y/N)’s head began to ache horribly at the bright colors assaulting her vision.

“Look!”

“They’re soulmates? That’s so adorable!”

“They look exactly like the people in the paintings!”

“Ah, young love.”

“Wait - is that them? And they’re only just meeting?”|

“Pretty ironic that it would be here, huh?”

(Y/N) grit her teeth.

She’d never liked holding the spotlight, and for this many people to be snapping pictures and pointing and murmuring about her was frustrating and uncomfortable.

She could instantly feel her ears heat up, and resisted the urge to groan when she realized the blush would quickly spread to the rest of her face, the sensation causing her to feel suddenly quite overheated.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, her mind finally catching up with her and connecting the hair with the man who had butt into her and Mr. Paulson’s conversation not two weeks ago, and she resisted the urge to scowl at the thought that this was who she would be stuck with for eternity.

“Hi,” she was snapped out of her thoughts by a hand entering her line of vision, and as she followed it up to the person it belonged to, she saw a distinctly awkward look on his face, looking at the ceiling as he rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand, obviously not really knowing what to do as he waited for her response to the unspoken offer.

She blinked, and a light blush she wasn’t expecting spread over her face, igniting the unbearable (though now slightly less so) heat.

She hoped no one could notice - though the fact that his blush was much darker did help.

“Uh…hi. I’m (Y/N),” she told him, going in to shake his hand in a way that she hoped was much more confident than she thought.

At this, he risked another glance at her, and as his eyes darted to the painting at their side, she became mortified, having realized her mistake.

“Yeah, I know,” he told her quietly, but not unkindly. “You can call me Lafayette.”

(Y/N) nodded, and, to distract herself from the attention that was still very much on them, (though the onlookers were beginning to disperse and go back to their own business.) began to let her eyes wander as his had moments before.

Her eyes narrowed in on an empty space next to the most recent piece, a quick sketch on old paper, of him standing in the rain at night, next to a lit lamp post, his back facing them.

“It seems Mr. Paulson is anticipating another piece to add to his collection,” Lafayette spoke up in a thick French accent she hadn’t really paid any mind to before, having followed her line of sight.

For a second afterwards, they locked eyes, and in that moment, an uncharacteristic feeling of nostalgia welled up inside of her, sprouting from something she couldn’t put her finger on.

“I suppose we wouldn’t want to disappoint him, then, would we?”

[plan-d-to-i]

I have a pretty neutral opinion about JC and I don't usually mind if he is written in a fic as a less horrible person than in canon but what I can't stand is the "poor JC is a victim of the nasty *add good character here*" narrative. Like maybe the cringiest fic that has ever crossed my way was something like, JC actually being the strongest cultivator of the generation but evil JFM sealed a part of his powers to make WWX to look better and I rolled my eyes so hard I got a whiplash.

The problem is it's hard to make jc better, so his stans just try to make everyone around him "worse". They try to reframe every heroic act as something wrong: "WWX did the wrong thing for the right reasons >:0" lol "WWX was selfish for trying to save the war refugees >:-/" or "WWX was selfish for giving jc his golden core"..."jc wasn't bad he only acted like that even as a grown man bc his daddy never told him it's ok to let ppl die"... and then they straight up lie. Like "jc was still rebuilding Lotus Pier and WWX abandoned him" even though it's been pointed out 943 times Lotus Pier did not burn down, that was Cloud Recesses, and jc was in a position of enviable strength with WWX at his side at the end of the war. Basically they'll try anything to turn jc into a victim by reframing other characters as the villains WHICH still doesn't cancel out jc's own actions. So it's hard to endure (as in the story you described with JFM) when you've got even one iota of logic lol

[reneeluvsheeseung]

Something About You.

Genre : fluff / angst

Warnings : i'm not even sure atp. so much fucking fluff bro it's sickening.

A/N : this literally has to be the cringiest things i've ever written.. FCK 😭 and this is not proof read please just !!!!!

" Will you hold my hand and run away? "

Head pointed towards the window, the winter air slipping into the bus from the cracks of the window. The accelerating noises from the bus leading up to your school. The school, perfectly lit up, created a color contrast from the blue morning sky. The bus found its way to the destined parking lot, stop abruptly and opening the doors, causing a gush of cold air onto your face. You stepped off quickly, ensuring you warmth once you stepped into the school.

"Y/N, are you okay?" A boy asked, you were looking down at his feet. You always insisted on getting first impressions from the feet up. Giving yourself time to self think of how they'll look. You stared up to the boy, of which, you had only seen him on the days you bothered going to your English class. You nodded, suddenly feeling a bit better after what had happened the night before.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," You looked away from the boy, staring at the wall. One leg over to the other being sure for him not to see through you.

"Are you sure?" The boy asked. One thing you liked about him more than anything was how he always saw you and immediately checked up on you. You met him last year, only being acquaintances. You nodded again, trying not to think about the situation as you knew it would bring tears to your eyes.

That was 2 years ago. You and Heeseung were close friends now. Helping each other with issues at home. Learning how to help each other brought you both closer to each other. He tried his best to relate to you and vice verse. You had denied the fact that he was your friend to your parents many times. When rumours spread quickly amongst adults from their children.

Scenes like this made you feel like you were out of a movie. Your head outside of the window as Heeseung drove the car through the farmland. Where he could go as fast as he wanted and hear your loud laughter. This was all he wanted, he just wanted to make you happy. You were ecstatic. Thinking only of the moment you're experiencing and less of what will happen after. It was just you and heeseung in a big empty world. Heeseung blasted music from the speakers of his car, tapping his hand on the steering wheel. Check frequently to make sure you weren't falling out of the window. As you sat back down, laughter died down, air rushing through the window, music blasting and the sun setting before you.

"I wish we could stay like this forever," you spoke up. Heeseung nodded in agreement. The soft light hitting your eyes as you shielded it away with your hand. Heeseung took quick looks at you, only to make sure you were alright.

---------

That night ended quickly. Even now, two weeks later, you still looked back on it. You had forgotten how much comfort you felt around Heeseung over break. Fall break. Easily one of your least favorite things about October. You were home with you parents over the week. Which only consisted of constant arguing and silent dinners.

It was 10pm. Your parents had just gone to bed, and you were planning on sneaking out to go to a party. You begged Heeseung to join as well, but he was so scared you would get caught. Reluctantly, he agreed. Your outfit was nothing too special. As it was just a party and not a business meeting. As you picked up your purse a polaroid fell out, "Soon you will be mine / 10-15-20", A year ago. You and heeseung looked so young, so happy. You smiled placing it back into your purse. You looked down the stairs, carefully listening to make sure nobody was there. Bolting down the stairs and out the door, making as minimal noise as possible. Heeseungs car was parked in front of your house with the lights off. He got out the car and opened your door for you.

"Sneaking out? God, I'll never have a good reputation with you parents," He joked. You laughed. He drove the car, eyes straight forward and both hands on the steering wheel.

"Can we ditch the party?" You spoke up. You were only 10 minutes away but you started getting more and more anxious as you watched the miles countdown. Heeseung pulled over into a community park parking lot.

"Are you alright?" He asked, placing his hand on your head. You swatted his hand away and laughed.

"I'm fine, I just don't wanna go anymore." Heeseung looked relieved. He never really liked parties anyways and was glad you didn't want to go. You opened the door and ran to the swings. Leaving Heeseung confused in the car.

----

"Come on, Heeseung, it's now or never," Sunghoon told him putting bowls of chips in front of the boys. Heeseung picked up the controller, and shook his head.

"I'm scared, I can't," He said, feeling ultimately defeated. He was going to wait until he knew for sure. He just wanted to make sure it was perfect.

"You've liked her since what, freshman year? Don't hold yourself back," Jake said, picking up a chip out the bowl and placing his feet upon the table.

"Take your time, Hee.. We just don't want you stressing over this," Jay said from far away. Heeseung looked down at the controller.

"Take her out, steal her away.. You got the charm, use it," Sunghoon said starting Mario Kart. "I know you like her, don't let someone else get the chance before you" He said.

Heeseung knew his friends were right. He couldn't sit around and wait anymore. There was only so much time in the world.

-------

You must've been banging on the window for a while by the look on your face. Causing Heeseung to break away from his thoughts. He opened the door and you quickly grabbed his hand.

"Come on, Heeseung!" You spinner around, trying to get him the mood. You stepped over to your phone, playing Lover by taylor swift.

"This is our place, we make the rules!" You sang off key. Heeseung put his hands over his hands causing you to burst out laughing. "Fuck off!" You laughed.

"Yikes.." Heeseung said jokingly.

"Are you gonna sing too?" You challenged.

He looked at you with a threatening look, "Can we always be this close," He spinned you around, "Forever and ever" He sang laughing.

The moment was ultimately surreal. Feelings you never felt so upfront with starting to reappear. Him singing in the moonlight, his features perfectly light up with the soft lighting, his eyes shimmering when he looked at you. Three summers, you've loved him. You couldn't remember when you started blanking out, but you and Heeseung were not face to face.

"Uh-" Heeseung moved away. The situation getting awkward fast. You quickly turned off the song.

"New song?" He laughed. You nodded, changing the song. You changed it to Something about you. The awkward feeling immediately leaving.

"She looks just like just like a dream!" You and Heeseung both sung in unison. Grabbing his hands and jumping around dancing in the parking lot. The music drowned out by your constant laughter and giggles. This meant so much to you. This was all you wanted. You were sure it wouldn't stay like this forever, but this night was so memorable. Hell, every night with Hee was memorable.

"Hee." You said pausing the music. The atmosphere getting tight again. His ears turned a bright shade of red. "Let's run away," you suggested impulsively.

"Huh?" he said. Confused wouldve been an understatement with the current state he was in.

"Let's go somewhere, just us. You and I," you said grabbing your phone, and putting it in your pocket. Unexpectedly, Heeseung didn't mind the idea. As you both stepped into the car, you couldn't help but laugh.

-----

You had been driving now, almost an hour away from home. Heeseung laid asleep in the passenger seat, the music low and the overall feeling in the car made you flustered. You constantly looked over at him to check on him, as he would do to you. He was so pretty when he was sleeping. You noticed that now. His soft breathing, his eyelashes over his face. The sun has been threatening to rise, it was almost 5 am that fast. Though when you were with Heeseung time felt like it stopped. You often found yourself lost in thoughts about Heeseung, and though he was right next to you, you couldn't help but imagine if you two were closer. You wanted to hold him to sleep, kissing his forehead. The feeling you felt on the park was something you never wanted to go away.

The car halted, causing Heeseung to wake up.

"I'm sorry, I got a little tired." You said, Heeseung nodded. He took his jacket off and covered you with it.

"Goodnight Y/N," He said, turning back over to where he had been sleeping.

"I love you." You said, Heeseung nodded. You stared at him for a while more. Grabbing his hand and holding it. Heeseung pretended to be asleep not noticing it, but he realized. A smile creeping on his face and his ears turning that same shade of bright red. "Heeseung, wake up," you pushed him a little to wake him up.

"Yeah?" He said, moving his hair out of his face.

"I want to stay like this forever with you." you said. Heeseung stared at you, he had so many things to say in response but nothing would come out. "But it's early and it might just be jitters, I don't know what I'm saying.." you turned around not facing Heeseung.

"I've felt like that for so long, Y/N. I guess my word won't be just from jitters but, I love you. More than I think I've been saying," He said, closing his eyes. Only opening them to feel your lips against his. Putting his hands on your face, feeling finally complete.

fuck this story - the end 😭

[biromanticbooknook]

Solangelo High School

Will’s POV

He’d arrived. Will was intending to surprise Nico by picking him up from school for their date. The quiet murmur around him was actually quite soothing. He walked down the hall, smiling at everyone that passed

When he made it to Death Boy’s classroom, he wasn’t there. He saw some people already looking at him, probably curious about the newcomer to their classroom. Maybe they knew where Death Breath was hiding out.

“Pardon me, do you know everyone in this class?” He asked the first person he saw, a brunette sitting near the window. She blushed, probably unused to strangers.

“Yes, anyone in particular?”

“Actually, I’m looking for Nico di Angelo. I’m supposed to be picking him up for a surprise, but it seems he isn’t in class right now.” He smiled softly at the thought of his boyfriend, excited to show him the date he set up.

“I think he’s in the bathroom. He probably isn’t coming back this period, usually hiding out there until next period starts.” She responded. She seemed confused, but he brushed it off as his imagination.

“Cool. Thanks!” He set off towards the bathrooms to pick up the grumpy boy.

As he walks, he notices people staring at him. It starts to put him on edge, until he hears Led Zeppelin coming faintly from the boys bathroom. He grins, glad he had finally found his Dark Lord.

“Hey Neeks.” The boy just glared back up at him.

“I’m not Neeks.” He grumbles.

Will just laughs at him. “Whatever you say, Death Breath”, he smirks.

“Why are you here? In my school. In its bathroom.” Nico’s getting agitated. It’s adorable.

“We have a date this afternoon.”

“Since when?”

“Since 2 hours ago.” Will said cheekily.

“Fine. You’d think you would text me so I would be ready.”

“That would spoil the surprise of the date though.”

Nico narrowed his eyes. “You’re lucky I like you.”

“Of course I am”, Will laughed. “I’d be dead by now if you didn’t.”

Nico continues to glare at him. “Well, are we going?”

“We sure are, my significant bother.” Will smirked. He then proceeded to pick Nico up bridal style.

“William Solace,” Nico says through his blush, “What are you doing?”

“Why, picking you up from school, of course.”

“That’s not what that means!”

“And how would you know that, Mr. 1940s?” Nico just scowled in response.

Will walked out into the sea of students that were crowded outside the bathroom door, slightly bewildered by how large the group was. “You know you could’ve gone in if you needed while we were there, right?”

When Will got no response, Nico glowered at the crowd and they quickly dispersed. Will beamed at his boyfriend, and carried him easily through the halls and out the door.

---

Students’ POV

When he walked through the door, people started whispering. They whispered about his soft hair, his expressive eyes, his blinding smile, whatever they were taken by. They all wondered why he was here.

Was he a new student? But it's almost the end of the day, no one comes in this late. Then that means he has to be here to pick someone up. But who in their school could know someone who could be mistaken for a god? As far as they knew, everyone here was fairly normal, boring, not at all like the angel that had appeared in front of them. He walked down the hallway and turned into Ms. Bagel’s Literature class. Students outside envied whoever was in there.

Julie had just finished her analysis of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, when she caught sight of a new kid coming through their doorway. She unwillingly started staring at him.

“Pardon me, do you know everyone in this class?” A warm, husky voice asked her. She immediately blushed and started twirling her hair subconsciously.

“Yes, anyone in particular?” she replied.

“Actually, I’m looking for Nico di Angelo. I’m supposed to be picking him up for a surprise, but it seems he isn’t in class right now.” What surprise would di Angelo allow someone to give him without killing them where they stand?

“I think he’s in the bathroom. He probably isn’t coming back this period, usually hiding out there until next period starts.”  She responds, confused as to why is this literal angel looking for the demon of the school?

“Cool. Thanks!” The kid immediately walks away, probably to see Nico, but why?

Everyone in the hallways starts to follow him, curious still as to what the mysterious boy is going to do next. He smiled and walked into the boys bathroom.

“Hey Neeks.” Nico di Angelo, the most feared kid in high school, glared back up at him.

“I’m not Neeks.” He grumbles.

Will just laughs at him. “Whatever you say, Death Breath.” Does the new kid have a death wish?

“Why are you here? In my school. In its bathroom.” Nico’s getting agitated. That’s never a good sign for whoever’s talking to him.

“We have a date this afternoon.” The angel and the demon are dating?!

“Since when?”

“Since 2 hours ago.” He said cheekily. Even if they are dating, the boy is just signing his own death warrant if he keeps talking like this. There’s no way di Angelo wil-

“Fine. You’d think you would text me so I would be ready.” He just readily agrees to a date?! This angel must certainly be one if he can get the most asocial student to go on a date with him.

“That would spoil the surprise of the date though.”

Di Angelo narrowed his eyes. “You’re lucky I like you.” Di Angelo must really like him if he admitted to it.

“Of course I am”, the boy, his boyfriend, laughed. “I’d be dead by now if you didn’t.”

How does the boyfriend of Nico di Angelo, danger personified, have no self-preservation?

Nico continues to glare at him. “Well, are we going?”

“We sure are, my significant bother.” the boy smirked. He then proceeded to pick Nico up bridal style. Now the kid has lost his mind, the student body thought.

“William Solace,” Nico says through his blush, “What are you doing?”

“Why, picking you up from school, of course.”

“That’s not what that means!”

“And how would you know that, Mr. 1940s?” Nico just scowled in response. Why is Nico correlated with the 1940s?

Will walked out into the sea of students that were crowded outside the bathroom door, seemingly surprised by how large the group was. “You know you could’ve gone in if you needed while we were there, right?”

When none of them responded to Will, Nico glowered at them and they quickly dispersed. Will beamed at his boyfriend, and carried him easily through the halls and out the door.

Everyone is confused by the fact that Nico has a boyfriend, as well as the fact that he didn’t immediately kill him for some of the stuff he did. They all wondered, but it's not like they would ever get more information from him.

See that title? That’s what I’ve had it named ever since I wrote it. It feels like the cringiest thing I’ve ever written, but that is because I’ve grown as a writer. Hope you enjoyed!

[emachinescat]

Way Back Wednesday #1

Welcome to Way Back Wednesday! Every Wednesday, I am delving into my past as a fanfic writer and reflecting on and sharing one of my stories… starting from the very beginning, 16 years ago, when I was a 14-year-old kid discovering her love for fandom. ❤️

Today’s story is…

An Unlikely Team

American Dragon: Jake Long & Kim Possible

Summary: Monkey Fist and Huntsman have teamed up in order to defeat their respective foes. With Monkey Ninjas, goblins, dragons, nacos, spy gear, magic potion, secrets, regrets, and tears, no one is going to escape from this situation without changing somehow.

Rating: G

Chapters: 18 | Words: 12,353

Year Published: 2005 | My age: 14

Relationships: Jake Long/Rose | Huntsgirl | Characters: Jake Long, Ron Stoppable, Kim Possible, Monkey Fist, Huntsman, Rose | Huntsgirl, Lao Shi, Fu Dog

AO3 Tags: Crossover, Suspense, Humor

My reflections on and "review" of the story are after the break! :)

Oh, wow. It was an adventure coming back to this story! It marked a lot of firsts for me - my first crossover, my first story above 10k words, my first chapter fic. I don't remember a whole lot about my writing process back then, or about the circumstances of writing this story. I was 14, and a lot has happened since then. I do remember that I was still coming off the review-high from my first story, and that I had no idea what I was doing, not really. And it kind of shows.

I guess I should go ahead and say that this story, like the last one, isn't bad. I mean, the plot, if a bit simple and contrived, makes sense and moves along fairly well, and the characters (except for Rose, but we'll get to her in a minute) are pretty well portrayed, and grammatically, there were no glaring errors that I could see. It was interesting enough; it has been probably a decade or more since I last opened this story, but it still managed to hold my attention well enough, I suppose. It has some very positive reviews (and some critical ones), so I must have done something right.

But I've got to go over the issues with this story. Most of them I think are just hilarious. I'd been writing since I was five, but I was new to this kind of storytelling and still trying to find my voice as a writer. Once again, it shows.

Okay, so first, there's the plot itself - super simple, very contrived, and kind of weird. Huntsman and Monkey Fist team up so that M can help H capture and unmask the American Dragon, and in return, H will give M a talisman that will "undoubtedly" make him the Ultimate Monkey Master? Sure, seems legit, I guess.

Then there's the fact that I had to end every chapter - or nearly every chapter - with a cliffhanger, even if it didn't warrant one. I was dying laughing because most chapters would end with a character saying something hopeful to another character, but then muttering under their breath something grim and suspenseful. For example: "'Let us go. Jake's life is depending on us. He is alive for now...' and then he added almost inaudibly, 'but not for long...'" It's hilarious, and I wish I could remember if I was trying to be edgy or just ensure readers would come back, or if I thought being ominous was a hallmark of good writing. Also, the chapters were overall very short. I think I just wrote however much I felt like writing and then posted. Of course, I was having to post between school and the Boys & Girls Club where my mom worked (and being grounded, like a lot), so I guess I just wrote what and when I could.

Some of the dialogue's a bit clunky, and I had a weird thing with time limits. They capture Jake, and then they have to send Huntsgirl out to get a potion that will make him human because they forgot (???) this very important part of the plan for some reason. She says something along the lines of, "My Huntstick will transport me to the magical black market almost instantly. I'll be back within an hour." That doesn't add up, unless she's going to spend an hour haggling with the seller. Then she gets back, amps up the whole evil villain plot, and then adds, "Oh, yeah, it'll take 30 minutes for this potion to take effect." So she and the baddies just stand there for half an hour watching Jake slowly turn from dragon to human. Then when he's been poisoned (another weird plot contrivance), Lao Shi says, "If we don't give him the antidote in 30 seconds, he'll die!" I suppose I did set the scene, whether intentionally or not, by having a clock ticking in the background, but the way that all of the characters seem to have such an acute knowledge and understanding of time is just weird to me.

The only aspect of this story to actually bother me is the disservice I did to Rose's character. In the show, she's portrayed as a pretty strong protagonist-by-day/antagonist-by-night, but in my story, she's pitiful. I don't know if I just consumed a lot of media with weak female characters or what, but it's super cringey how emotional and weak she's portrayed as once she finds out the truth about Jake. She cries, which is fine, but then girlfriend just up and faints! She cries some more, begs Jake to forgive her, acting like she'll never be able to live with herself or forgive herself if he doesn't, then gets mad at him when he needs a little time to process that the girl he has a crush on is also the girl who's been trying to kill him. Then as soon as he apologizes for... being traumatized, I guess? she turns around and starts spouting off stuff about never being able to forgive herself if he'd died or something. I apologize most deeply to her character.

Oh, I just realized I haven't really discussed the Kim Possible side of things, mostly because it's pretty cut and dry. Those characters all seemed to be, well, in character. I especially feel I had Ron down to a T. It was also really funny the way I had Huntsman and Monkey Fist constantly arguing even through their alliance. The fight scenes, with Kim and with Jake, are very minimal. They're usually one step above just saying, "They fought." On that note, there's not a whole lot of detail or description, but a lot of dialogue. I definitely could have expanded more on the world to make the crossover feel more complete.

All that (mostly light-hearted) criticism aside, it was fun to get to go back and read this, and if you think you'd be interested, be my guest. It's a cute little read, and important to me because it marked the second step in my fan-fiction journey.

Next week, we'll be taking a look at one of the cringiest things I've ever written - yikes!

[lothloriien]

CONGRATS SAKEENAH!!!! happy 4 u🥰🥰 can I get a 🖋 for any light side sw character but as a SITH;) + 📀 please? Again, ily and congrats on 750!

omg thank you maven!!! oof this was so fun!

📀 - here’s your playlist! i hope you like it haha

🖋 - and here’s your shitty wattpad noel. beware: this is the cringiest, most hilarious piece i have ever written and it was so fun

I woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror, pouting. I have pale skin, long dark hair, and blue-green eyes. I put my hair up into two buns on the side of my head - I know, I’m not normal - and got ready for another day of leading the Rebellion.

On my way to the main room, I bumped into Han Solo.

“Hi Leia,” he smiled.

I glared at him and kept walking. I could hear him following me.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you mad at me?” I rolled my aquamarine eyes and pretended not to hear him. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

“Leia?” I turned around on my combat boots (because I don’t wear heels like other girls. I’m a general, duh) and snapped at him.

“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I yelled. He looked confused. What an idiot.

“I was just saying hi,” he said. 

I put my hands on my hips and glared. “You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think that you have a crush on me. That’s why you kept following me,”

Han looked at me and smirked. “Of course I don’t have a crush on you,”

He was lying. I can always tell when guys are lying. They’re so much easier to deal with than girls. You never know what girls are thinking. I locked eyes with him and stared into his chrysocolla-coloured eyes.

“In fact,” Han continued. “You probably have a crush on me. That’s why you keep following me everywhere and asking about my favourite things to do,”

“That’s not true!” I yelled. “I just like hanging out with you and Luke more because girls are too much drama. I’m like, one of the boys,”

“Whatever,” he said. I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I sat down in front of Mon Mothma and sighed.

“I’m so annoyed,” I said. “Why do all these guys have crushes on me? I’m not even pretty, like, I’m so ugly!”

“Who has a crush on you?” she asked. I gaped at her. I can’t believe she just asked me that! 

“Like, everyone!” I lowered my voice. “Like, last week, Han brought my lunch to me,”

She stared at me. “He gave everyone their lunches. It was his turn to bring the lunches up,”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! “You’re just jealous,” I said, batting my long, naturally perfect lashes. She was wearing mascara. I prefer to be all natural. 

Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke. Darth Vader appeared out of nowhere!

Everyone started screaming. Mon Mothma ran away with all the other girls. I stood there with the guys and held out a laser gun.

Just then, Darth Vader turned to look at me! He stepped towards me until I could see his serpentine eyes. I gulped, but didn’t shoot.

“I like your boots,” he said shyly. I started to blush.

“Thanks,” I said. “I like your outfit,”

“You have really great fashion taste,” he said. “And you’re strong with the Force. You should join me and the Dark Side,”

“What’s the Force?” I asked, blinking my moldavite-coloured seeing orbs. 

“Nevermind,” Vader said. “But you should join us,” he said. 

“Can I just chill out like one of the guys?” I asked.

“All the time,”

I locked eyes with Vader. He’s the only one who understood me.

“Okay,” I said, taking his hand.

“LEIA, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Han screamed. 

“I’m sorry Han, but Vader is better. You have to get over me,” I said. There was a cloud of smoke around me. I locked eyes with Han and put my middle finger up at him. I was a Sith now.

[hypmic-info]

HYPMIC QUEST PART 1: CHAPTER 4 - A Necessary Party Formation

Let’s Dive right in! It’s ‘HypMic Quest - Part 1: Logged In’, heading into the virtual world. This part of the event lasts until the 30th of April 13:59 JST.  This final chapter introduces Gentaro and Dice... with a terrifying party member... 

JIRO This game’s pretty legit… It feels exactly like reality

SABURO Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t expect it to be this realistic.

JIRO Anyways, aren’t you embarrassed with that weird getup?

SABURO It’s not weird! It’s actually cool as hell!

JIRO Yeah, course a third year in junior high would think that stuff’s cool. Well, I can’t talk when I’m in something like this either…

[ Footsteps ]

DICE Hah… hah… hah… O-Oi… Wait don’t ya think you’ve got way too much luggage?

GENTARO You yapping already? Then, we could log out if you’d like? Even with your character’s debt….

DICE Gentaro! You got any more baggage? I’ll hold it all for ya!

GENTARO That so? Then if you would so kindly take this too please.

[ GENTARO hands more luggage to DICE, watching him fall to his knees ]

DICE Oughhh…

GENTARO So that’s too much for you? Shouldn’t we head back now?

[ DICE suddenly bursts up ]

DICE Ahahahaha! I ain’t no man if I can’t handle this much. I’m totally fine!

GENTARO How fortunate for you. Hm?

JIRO Huh? You guys are Fling Posse’s…

GENTARO Oh? Fancy seeing you here.

DICE Hey! You lot are from Buster Bros!!! right?

SABURO What are you doing here?

GENTARO My my, is it really odd to find someone enjoying a game?

SABURO Well, not really… But this sort of thing doesn’t seem to suit you.

GENTARO Well, I wouldn’t be interested in a thing like this if not for my work.

SABURO Your work?

GENTARO Yes. You see, my next work will focus on Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online games.

SABURO Ah I see. It’s like that.

JIRO Anyway, why you using that guy to hold all your stuff?

GENTARO Oh, something like an amazing part time job for him. Right, Dice?

DICE U-Uhh. It’s not exactly amazing and all, but I guess a job’s a job.

JIRO You can earn money playing a game – that’s pretty sweet.

GENTARO Anyways, we’re off to the plains to do some levelling up. Would you like to join us?

SABURO That so? It would be more efficient to have more people, so is that alright?

GENTARO Well then, let’s go.

JIRO TAKE THIIIIIS!

[ JIRO unleashes his attack ]

SABURO Great Hellfire, heed my command. Infernal flame that returns all to the ashes from whence they came. Purify all sin and transgression as it meets its end. C A S C A D I N G  I N F E R N O ! [1]

[ SABURO wipes out the rest of the enemies ]

DICE WOAH, SICK!

[ The system level up sounds ]

SYSTEM Players JIRO, Chuuzenji Saburo, LiarLiar and ARISUGAWA stats increased. New skills obtained. [2]

JIRO ‘Chuuzenji?’ The hell’d you pick that for?

SABURO Chuuzenji is cool!

JIRO I-I see…

GENTARO Well, that’s the veterans for you; you sure know your way around combat and taking down beast with such ease!

JIRO You guys didn’t even do jack!

GENTARO Our classes aren’t suited for battle, which means that we’re resigned to support.  We can head on over to a field with more powerful creatures.

DICE Oh, nice call! Let’s head into a real battle already!

SABURO Yeah, easy for you to say for some carouser that can’t even fight… [3]

JIRO [ Thinking ] These guys really just want us to do the hard work for them…

[ The winds shift ]

SABURO W-What was….

[ CRASH! ]

RAMUDA Graaaaaaaa! I’m a DRAGON!!!

JIRO …

SABURO …

DICE …

GENTARO …

RAMUDA Graaaaa! I’m gonna eat you aaall up!!!

GENTARO Ramuda… The hell are you doing…?

RAMUDA Who’s this R a m u d a?? I’m a dragon!

[ DICE whacks RAMUDA ]

DICE The hell you mean dragon?! God!

RAMUDA Ouchie! Dice hit meee!

[ RAMUDA latches onto GENTARO ]

RAMUDA Uwaaaaah! Gentarooo, tell Dice off~!

GENTARO Hah…. Well besides that. Why are you here?

RAMUDA Eh, Gentaro and Dice seemed to be having so much fun leaving me out of this, but I wanted to come and join!

GENTARO And somehow, without us telling you about it, you knew we’d be in this game?

RAMUDA Gee, I wonder how…

[ DICE jumps back ]

DICE Uwa! Ramuda that’s scary! You some kinda stalker?!

RAMUDA How mean! How are you going to call a special someone from your special posse a stalker?

JIRO & SABURO ….

JIRO Let’s go, Saburo…

SABURO Yeah… Let’s…

[ JIRO & SABURO run away from the scene ]

LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT TIME!

- - - - - - - - - - 

[1] There are many words. This is the most chuuni thing I have ever seen since Jyushi. Saburo spat in my middle school face. Also, cascading inferno?? That’s the best I could translate any of this. Saburo came for my throat.

[2] Jiro and Arisugawa are written in katakana, so I just left them as caps. Gentaro’s name can be LiarLiar, LyreLiar, LiarLyre or LyreLyre. I don’t know what it could be, but he’s annoying. Saburo has the cringiest chuuni name – something like ‘from within the temple’. Jiro I feel like I know why you turned out like this now.

[3] Carouser… Playboy… Bum. There’s a lotta ways to read this. But the alternative reading is just ‘gambler’. In other words, Dice’s class is just ‘trash, garbage, and lowlife’... You get the gist.

< Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 >

[bondsmagii]

could you elaborate on king of scars? what did you dislike about it?

OK this will be an abridged version because I’m going to write up a full scathing review on Goodreads (and link it, of course) but here are the highlights:

(SPOILERS ABOUND, so if you’re planning on reading don’t watch out)

compared to the other books in the Grishaverse the writing is choppy, simplistic, contradictory, and overall poor

everything that’s been established about Grisha power? ignored or explained away in this book.

the book is supposed to be about Nikolai but he barely features as a character. sure, he’s in there, but it’s definitely not a book about him.

the book is actually about Zoya.

“surely that’s not so bad?” you think. oh, it is. Zoya -- a character I liked in the other books, if I’m honest -- has got a chronic case of Author’s Favourite Disease and it kills her character. she’s the best, most powerful (literally... she literally becomes the most powerful Grisha in the world after slaying a fucking amplifier dragon or some shit), most beautiful... she’s snarky, can do no wrong, acts like a petulant child and is rewarded for it... it’s nauseating.

literally Zoya is such a focus that in other chapters set in Fjerda, the characters have a prolonged conversation about how fantastic and wonderful she is

WHILE GOING TO BURY MATTHIAS.

there’s this one scene where like three powerful Saints that have turned out to be alive and trapped in the Shadow Fold all have a huge fight over whether or not to bring the Darkling back and on god it’s the cringiest scene I’ve ever read in published fiction

it belongs on a DeviantArt RP between three overpowered Mary Sue OCs written by 12 years olds but I actually think 12 year olds could have written it better

Nobody Is Allowed To Be Traumatised Except Zoya 

“the Darkling is bad because he killed people!” screams everyone, Leigh Bardugo included... as Zoya and Nina kill people left right and fucking centre and get celebrated for it

if you like the Darkling be prepared to have Leigh Bardugo tell you via the narrative in the entire book that you’re a freaque who’s stupid and should be ashamed

lots of cool concepts that are never done justice (the demon inside Nikolai... you know, what the book is supposed to be about, the Cult of the Starless Saint, Yuri’s entire character...)

everyone is OOC

Genya and David are like cardboard cutouts of themselves in this and I’m pretty sure in the final scene Leigh Bardugo just fucking straight-up forgot David

political intrigue plot that’s poorly managed and easily forgettable (deadass I forgot about the Fjerdan pretender to the Ravkan throne until I read @vestriis’s review lmao)

Nina’s grief for Matthias was honestly some of the most poignant, sad writing I’ve ever seen... and then it was ruined by her getting a new love interest literally as she knelt by Matthias’s grave having put the last bit of dirt down over it. this isn’t subtle, either. she literally sees Hanne and is like 👀 WHILE STILL SITTING BY MATTHIAS’S GRAVE.

side characters all suck tbh like there’s no meat to them at all

it’s very, very clear that Leigh Bardugo had no interest in this book and was just rushing it out to fulfil a contractual obligation so she could move on to better things. it’s a stain on a brilliant universe and she should have never written it.

there’s probably a whole load more that I’ve forgotten but like... I’m sure you get the picture lmao. I’ll link my proper review once I write it, but it’s gonna be a long one 😩

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #238

“crimson calligraphy written on the trees, creature from the grave, headless and hellbent for me.”

Have you ever played golf? Like, mini-golf. Is there a lake near your house? No, but there's two small ponds down the road. Have you ever made your own pizza or pasta dough? No. Have you ever watched an entire season of a tv show in one day? Uhhhhh how long are the first few seasons of Supernatural? Because Jason and I fucking binged it, and I honestly think that's partially the reason I don't even enjoy TV anymore. Like I liked the show, but jfc it became torture at some point. Not his fault at all, I just never pointed it out. BUT ANYWAY, it's definitely possible we did. What did you have for dinner tonight (or last night)? A ham and cheese hot pocket. Do your parents do things that ‘embarrass’ you? This is so mean, but my mom makes the cringiest jokes and such imo that gives me mad secondhand embarrassment. Do you like any Bon Jovi songs? Yeah, a decent handful. Who was the last person you were in a car with? Mom. Do you give people second chances? Ha, more than "second." How’re things between you and your most recent ex? We're totally great. Really as if we didn't even break up, considering I mean... nothing emotionally has changed. We just know that being together right now isn't the wise decision. It's frustrating as hell, though. We've already established we're not going to "wait" for each other, but neither of us are actively looking for a new partner, either. I want her, and from what I can tell, she wants me, too. We kinda just... don't talk about how unfair it all is anymore because we both get too upset. I was even supposed to go up there with her and her fam for her birthday and Christmas, but that's changed because she and I agree it's too soon after splitting, making it only more difficult to be around each other. We'd want to cuddle and kiss and such by instinct, so we're trying to wait until the wound isn't as fresh. Though honestly, I don't know how visiting period would go consider as said, there has been zero change in romantic attraction. Ugh yeah I just hope she figures out what she wants and all and we can get back together. Have you been to a wedding this year? No. I'm going to my half-sister's next year, though. Are you an aunt or uncle? Yes, and another niece is on her way. :') Do you expect to be married in the next two years? Probably not. What season is your birthday in? Winter. Have you ever been hunting? Fuck that shit. How often do you walk around barefoot? Always in my own house + in other houses if I'm allowed to take my shoes off. When you eat take-out, do you just eat it out of the containers provided? Usually, but it does depend on what food it is. Ex., those little boxes that have rice in them from Chinese places? I'm using a bowl. From the container is just messy. Would you need to sleep with someone before considering marrying them? Nah. Do you carry condoms? No. Would you date someone who has a hearing aid? ... Yes...? "No" is just... so rude?? Like that is something the person absolutely cannot help, nor is it a HUGE thing. It's just a hearing aid, dude. How organized are the files on your computer? Pretty decent. Folders and such. Could be better still, probably. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nah, not my scene. Have you ever brought home a stray animal? Pleeeeenty of cats. Are you physically strong? No, especially not my legs. I've got a newborn fawn's legs, jc. Still working on building the muscle back up. Would you date someone with braces? Oh my god, fuck off. Yes I would. I was the person with braces dating someone without them, so 1.) I obviously can't say shit, 2.) they're taking care of their goddamn teeth, and 3.) I dunno, wearing braces has no goddamn impact on personality???????????? Does scuba diving interest you? Not to an incredible degree, but it'd be cool. Would you ever ask your parents for relationship advice? Maybe for certain topics. Do you think people look up to you? Y'know that "oh no hunty WHAT is u doin" meme??? That's me if someone does. How often do you have trouble sleeping at night? *blinking* There are people who don't??????? Do you blush easily? Ohhhhhh yes. Do you get angry at yourself or at others more often? Hm. Not sure. Can you name five current world leaders? AHAHA nope. How many times have you had the flu? Zero. Do you think imagination is valuable? Oh hell yes. We would be NOWHERE CLOSE to where we are as animals without it. Who or what are you most impatient with? I don't know. When was the last time you mowed a lawn? Never. Have you seen all of the Star Wars films? No; seen only the first three with a friend and saw zero appeal. He didn't either. How about all of the Harry Potter ones, so far? I haven't even seen one. Jason and I started the first one together but. Paid way more attention to each other than the movie lmfao. What part of the newspaper do you typically enjoy reading? None. I collect my school's papers now though 'cuz I'm the photographer for it. :') Have you ever made a website, even a simple one? Four that I remember. The ancient and now-defunct ones were back when I think this site called Wetpaint was a host for simple sites, and a lot of us RPers posted our mob info and stuff there. I had one for Talons, one for Connrads. Ha, out of curiosity, I think I looked for them not all too long ago since I never actually deleted them, but I think the site itself was re-purposed. NOW, I have a Wix site for my photography, and then Kalahari Manor is a ProBoards-hosted site. Which was better: your childhood or your teen years? Jfc, childhood. Teen years were a chaotic and rancid cesspit in terms of mental health. What was your reaction to your first time falling in love? I truly imagine that realizing I was *in love* with Jason surpassed what a high probably feels like lmao. What does it take for someone to win your heart? I'm actually putting thought into this one and I think what appeals to me in a person most is just being friendly with a good sense of humor and obvious, shameless concern for others. AND JFC, HAVE EMOTION. Don't be a brick wall with me. Lacking an emotional side, positive or negative, is such a turn-off to me. I'm not attracted to robots. Being a gentle person is important, and for me personally, you need to actually act like you're into me. Not just between us. Do not make me a secret. AND BE CREATIVE AND WEIRD AND FRESH!!!!!!!!!!! There's nothing wrong with more "vanilla" people, but just for me myself, I need someone who stands out for some good reason. lol okay this answer's actually getting kinda long, I'll stop. There's a number of ways. What is one thing you would rather be doing? Ha ha yo real talk, Sara and I are getting all emotional and deep into our relationship, platonic or romantic, and I want me and her in her bed right now tearing each other up alsdkjfla;kwejre I love her a lot ok. When was the last time you changed your mind about something? OKAY SO I started a new birth control, right? It. Sent. Me. BACK. With my PTSD. How? Idfk, but I was suddenly obsessing over Him again, badly. I stopped that shit, and wha'd'ya know, two days later, I'm like "lol wtf I don't want him why did that just happen hunty was u ok????????". SO YEAH, that was a trip. Do you know anyone with a lisp? I'm not sure. Possibly. How much weight can you lift at once? No clue. Not a lot. Do you ask guys out, or wait for them to ask you out? I've never asked a guy out, but I wouldn't say I wouldn't. Do you like the last person who showed interest in you? I love her. Describe the last person you stared at? I have no idea. Do you like dating one person at a time, or multiple people? I'm personally monogamous. Have your experiences made you more or less sympathetic to others? MORE. Do you find smoking unattractive? I do. Have your parents ever searched your personal belongings? Mom has. Where did you get your last bruise from? ... Well. This is uh. Awkward. Tying into when I was on that medicine that made my libido fucking uncontrollable (thank the fucking lord I'm back to normal), my breasts are lookin rough, sister. Are you looking forward to anything? Nothing in the VERY near future, I think. A bit further off, Christmas. I can't wait to see the kids so excited again, and for once, we come together as a true family. Plus my #1 wish is to have my Mark tattoo improved at an amazing parlor, and I'm pretty sure that'll be happening, just obvs. not on Christmas Day itself. I'll just be fuckin STOKED when I *know* it's happening. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? Yes. How much money did you spend today? $1.25 for something from the vending machine. I didn't have breakfast, so I was really hungry. When you’re bored in class, what do you usually do? Try to not doze off. If we're not doing anything, then I'll play around with my phone. Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for more than a day? Oh, definitely. Ever walked into the guy’s bathroom? HA as a stupid elementary school with her friends, we sure did during a work day (my mom used to work with special ed kids at school). We thought we were soooo rebellious. How many wives or husbands do you want? One. What happens if you fall in love with your best friend? Ha, did. I still am, and we hope to be back together someday. Has a teacher ever flirted with you? Not that I know of. Thankfully. Is it okay for friends to kiss each other, as friends? It's not my thing, but sure, if it's consenting and both are aware it's platonic. Do your wishes ever get granted in the worst way possible? Probably in some way at some point I don't recall. How do you feel about your naked body? NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO Have you ever been called obnoxious? I don't think so, anyway. Do you wish you had a bigger family? No. Which friend would you kiss full on the mouth, no questions asked? Sara. Can you do a split or stick your foot up next to your ear? Nope. When was the last time you complained about something? I was venting some mild frustration to Sara earlier tonight. What is your favorite color combination? Favorite is probably pastel orange and light blue. Love it. Then there's pastel pink and purple. Okay pretty much any combination is about the pastels When was the last time you spoke in front of a group? A month or so back when I had to do my Lifeline presentation in FYS. Do you like group projects, or do you prefer to work alone? I strongly prefer working alone. There's no disagreements, compromises, incompetent partners, etc. Have you ever been told you were going to Hell? Yup! (: Indirectly, but. How did you respond? I don't recall, but I wish I did. Who is the most argumentative person you know? She's not in my life anymore partially BECAUSE of that shit. Do you know anyone who is crazy about proper grammar? Yes, but she has OCD as a valid reason. I'm pretty particular about it too to a degree. Who was the last person to make you feel special? Oh my gosh, my therapist told me she was so proud of me and the progress I was making that I just entirely lit up and became a total beaming ball of giggles and "thank you"s. Would you feel funny if you kissed somebody of the same sex? No, I'm bi. If your best friend grabs your hand, what do you automatically do? Squeeze it. What’s something you can cook or bake like a pro? Cheesy and spicy scrambled eggs, man. Also known as the only thing I can properly cook lmao. Do you tend to flirt a lot, even when the person isn’t single? Fuck no, if they're not single. I'll flirt with my s/o when I see it appropriate or relevant, and in a case where we're both single, I'd be very subtle about it because shy. What’s something that you think is really cute? Off the very top of my head, the Ewoks from Star Wars, oh my fucking god. They were the only thing I enjoyed in the movies. What’s a pretty bird? I mean... pretty much all of them. BUT, can we take a moment to appreciate the bearded vulture? like???? they're fucking BADASS???????????? Besides sleeping, what do you do in bed? Almost... everything. It's the reason I endured/am still recovering from muscle atrophy in my legs. Have you ever hacked into somebody’s account? Playfully, back when that was a thing for friends to do and post lovey-dovey stuff about them everywhere. Megan and I, and I believe Mini and I as well, did it to each other. Possibly more. Is having to pee really badly worse than being really thirsty? Oh hell yes it is. The former can get to a point of hurting. Have you ever touched a Qu'ran? No. Do you love animals more than most? Oh definitely. Why do you eat fast food? It's easy to grab when on the run, and Mom has almost zero time to cook. Then we both have school. Most often I just warm things up in the microwave or grab something substantial enough in the fridge. Is there always going to be that one person you and a friend makes fun of? I guess you could say indirectly, yes. Just something she said in a certain way became an inside joke. Her as a person, no, I wouldn't do that. What is a bad habit of yours that you’re actually trying to fix? Having terrible eye contact. I have a very hard time maintaining it, but I've been trying to keep that weakness in mind when talking to people. Do you write out your feelings? That's one reason why I take these surveys, yes. Do you have bills to pay yet? It's embarrassing that I don't. Not saying like, I want to pay bills, what madman would, but I do want to feel more like a proper, independent adult. Will you be changing your hair any time soon? Not the style, but one thing I'm asking for Christmas is a professional to dye my hair silver. I say pro because my hair does NOT hold color, and because of the bleach needed, Mom's concerned I'll damage my hair if I put my trust into anyone less qualified. Does your mom have a celebrity look-alike? I don't think so, but she looks UNCANNILY like her firstborn daughter. It is SCARY. Is there something you wish you could learn to do? There's loads of stuff. Probably above all, cook. Or stop procrastinating. If you could be amazing at ONE thing, what would it be? Drawing precisely what I see in my head. Because of how important they are to me, I would pay BIG FUCKING BUCKS to get how my 'kats look onto paper. What do you wish people would pay you to do? Complain about my weight. :^) I'd be able to just pay for surgery to fix that within a day. Do you take good pictures? I personally think I do. I mean I wanna be a professional photographer. How would one go about impressing you? It depends on the subject and difficulty of whatever. What probably impresses me most would be someone maintaining a mature, peaceful attitude when there is reason to act otherwise. Self-control, that's it. Do you automatically apologize if you walk into somebody? Duh? Tell me a memory of this summer: It was fucking scorching and I hated every minute of it. What’s something that you don’t need, but really want? Hmmmm. OH, HELL YES. IF I had the proper body to even remotely pull them off, I. Would wear. NOTHING. But corsets. Jesus FUCKING Christ they are so hot. What do you draw more than anything else? Just about all I draw is meerkats. What’s the most favorite class you’ve ever had? The Digital Photography course I took in high school. Or Art Honors my junior year. I really enjoyed the stuff I made. For each person you’ve kissed, describe your feelings in one word: Jason: melancholy; Tyler: dramatic; Girt(?): loyal; Sara: ideal. How do you react when you trip or stumble? Gasp and carry on. If it was a more serious trip, I look around at who saw. Are you good at “biting your tongue”? NO. Why do you love the one you do? She's been there for me without fail, has undying faith in me, supports me through everything, is honest, she's funny and very unique, her adoration for animals shows a great level of compassion, she trusts me so much despite her history, she stands extremely firmly for what she sees as right and wrong... okay I can honestly write an essay on why I love her. Would you rather get [another] tattoo or piercing? GIMME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 THE TATTOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111 Do you have long or short legs? I'd say they're normal, idk. When do you listen to Nickelback? *shrugs* When I wanna? Would you rather make the first move, or your crush? Them. I'm shy.

[forestwater87]

A1 A5 A10 D10

READER MEME READER MEME READER MEME

A1: When did you start reading (and writing, because I got kinda off-track answering this question) fanfiction?

I was around 10 years old? I joined fanfiction.net in 2006 with the most awful thing ever written at around 13-14 yes the 87 in my username is a lie because I wanted to get on deviantart and had to lie about when I was born, but I’d been reading Legend of Zelda fanfic for a while before then, and writing it all down on an old Windows 95 laptop that didn’t have an internet connection, and a slightly-less-old Windows 98 laptop that didn’t have an internet connection. 

I had to save my fics to one of these guys in order to upload it to a computer with actual working internet:

(Those fics still exist; I haven’t had the heart to delete anything I’ve written since 10 years old, though I have gone back and edited some things . . . which, since so much time has passed, I’d probably want to go and reedit by now. They are tragic, but they make me smile for all their flaws. I wish I’d kept the unedited versions though, because yikes. Please, save all your cringiest stuff, because it’s so much fun to look back at.)

A5: Who was the first author you subscribed to?

That was probably Rose Zemlya, who wrote this . . . well, gosh, at the time it was this mind-blowingly excellent fanfic for LoZ: Ocarina of Time. (I’ve never successfully beaten those games nor am I all that interested in them anymore, but baby Forest’s romantic awakening came from a man in a green dress and tights, and so I devoured fanfic about them. Link/Zelda was the original OTP of my dreams. Since I didn’t play the games, I alternated between scouring wikis for canon accuracy and not caring because I was a tween and just wanted to share my dumb OCs.)

I don’t actually know if I’d still think the fics were particularly good or not, because I haven’t bothered to go back and reread them -- and I fell off the wagon when she got interrupted by college or grad school and stopped updating regularly -- but she was the first author who really made me feel something. 

I did just find out she’s still active on tumblr, though I don’t know if she’s still writing either for that fandom, or for fandom in general, or even at all. But I’m glad to see she’s still out there, because she was hugely formative to getting me to actually start writing. (Which means, Rose, it’s all your fault I’m like this. Apologize to the fanfic community for what you’ve done.)

A10: Who did you have your first fanfic-related conversation with? What was it about?

Oof, now we get mildly depressing. When I was a kid (as in, ages 4-16 years old), I had this . . . extremely codependent and borderline abusive relationship with the little girl who lived next door. She and I no longer speak, and there’s a lot of extremely negative feelings built up around what were in retrospect a pretty awful time in my life, but she was also the one who introduced me to fanfiction -- she actually played the Zelda games, and wrote fic for it herself and wanted a writing buddy; I kinda gave zero shits about the games beyond it being a nice convenient generic fantasy world with pretty characters. And while we were highly competitive in the not-fun way that still leaves me really fucked up over not being the Most Popular Author in Any Given Fandom because it triggers some horrible flashbacky feelings, I owe her a lot for being someone who showed me this entire culture existed, that it wasn’t weird or lame, and helped me get really excited about writing.

D10: What is one story idea you really want to read but no one has written yet?

God, I don’t know. I’m not really an “ideas” person -- eagle-eyed readers may notice that none of my fics really have plots to speak of -- but for Camp Camp at least, I do think some sort of immortal/groundhog day/time loop AU would be fun. The writers have said that the series is meant to be an endless summer that exists largely outside of time, right? So what if the entire camp, or the lake, or Sleepy Peak did as well?

I’m not sure exactly how this would work -- are the adults just random wandering immortals (vampires, what have you) who found a job somewhere where no one questions why they’re not getting older, and the campers are normal people who never stick around long enough to notice? Are we talking a Brigadoon-style situation where time stops for whoever’s in the camp but keeps going outside of it? Is there a dimensional rift? 

Fuck, I dunno. I’m not an ideas person. I’d just enjoy the fuck out of an “It’s All Been Done” situation, but fanfic. (And resemblances to two particular angels who keep meeting and falling in love over the course of forever and palling around in various fun historical moments are entirely coincidental.)

[ren-c-leyn]

Where does one acquire writing confidence?

Okay, the subject of this topic was brought up to me by @sxthernmisfit (along with a few other’s I’ll be working on writing) and it sounded like a particularly good one to cover since I had had that problem too. Actually, I still do.

 There is no one answer to how to overcome confidence issues with writing. It could partly be the fear of being judged, (guilty) it could be the fear of accidentally taking another’s words, (guilty again), it could be that your writing isn’t even close to being on the level you want it to be (third time guilty), it could also be that you were told you couldn’t do it, that writing has be done in certain ways and forms, that you have to kiss a muse and howl at the stupid moon to be a true writer. Well, you can be a writer, and a damn fine one at that, with or without following a bunch of stupid rules or being someone you don’t have to be, and I’ll assure it it is easier than slaying a dragon, even though it doesn’t feel like it.

 I’m going to tell you a story, a very real one. I had 0 confidence in my writing. It looked like garbage, it didn’t follow any writing rules, it barely followed basic grammar rules. I didn’t just think no one would want to read anything written by me, I knew it. I barely even showed my friends and family my writing, outside of my writing partner, and even then I didn’t show her much either, not compared to what I had written. Then, on a total impulse, I made this blog, and time and time again, people proved me wrong. 

 How did I get my confidence? I stubbornly clung to what I thought was garbage. I made a rule that I wasn’t allowed to delete anyone I wrote, not even the worst dribble or the cringiest poems. Then, I kept writing, and whenever I felt bad about my work, I would go back and look at my past work. It didn’t take long to see the improvements I had been making without even noticing. I wrote three full novels, one over 100k words, before I finally got the confidence to recently send one in to be published, and the one I got sent in was rewritten. What solidified my confidence enough to send it in, though, was I impulse made this blog and people were telling me that I did good. People who had no obligation to spend even one second of their time to read the small shorts I posted took the time to say they liked it, to reblog and like. I think the coolest and most motivating ones though was @thependragonwritersguild going out of their way to message me and tell me they loved the stories I made with their prompts.  How do you get your own confidence? It starts with identifying why you’re scared to write to start with. The next, do things that will help it.  If you’re scared of accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work, there are plagiarism checkers out there that will check it for you. I don’t know much about them, since I’ve never used them myself. I recommend poking around and doing some research into them before feeding them your work. Always read terms and conditions and stuff. I’ve never heard of any of them being shady, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.  If it’s that your writing isn’t on par with you’re expectations, I want you to grab your favorite book, and read the first page. Now, I want you to think about the writer having the same doubts and struggles you did with the first page of your WIP, because I can almost guarantee they did. I can also guarantee that you are not reading the first draft of their work. They rewrote it at least once. More likely, they rewrote it several times and then had an editor shake their head at least once. You’re writing will never be publisher polished the first go around, but that’s okay. It’s perfect, actually. It gives you room to rework it, to make characters more lively than before, to add new subplots if you feel like it. Don’t hold yourself to perfection, it Doesn’t Exist. It Never Existed Nor Will It Ever Exist. Instead, hold yourself to fun, to love, to enjoying the adventure your characters are taking you on. Don’t worry about anything but writing what you love the first draft.  If you’re worried about judgement, like what was my main crippling fear, then, as terrible as this sounded to me, you’re going to have to walk through that lion’s den. When I made my blog, I thought I was going to face all of these horrible trolls, but that wasn’t the case. Sure, there’s rude people in the world, and we can’t change that. But I want you to know that there are amazing people out there, and some of those amazing people want to read your work. Somewhere out there, there’s someone waiting for you to write their new favorite story. Somewhere out in this world of billions, there’s a person who needs that story you’re hesitating to write. And if you can’t believe there is, then try making your own belief to cling to. A little mantra you tell yourself whenever you get nervous. If you have friends or family you trust, maybe try showing them some shorts or poems you did. Their feedback can help boost your confidence or help you improve your writing to later improve your confidence.  If someone’s told you you can’t, blow them off and write anyways. Show yourself that you can. Don’t worry about impressing them, just impress yourself.  No matter what your confidence deficiency is caused by, keep writing and eventually you’ll start to see the improvements, start to feel the thrills of new turns of phrase, and love of new characters. Keep your best writing and worse writing on hand so you can see how much you improved, and that you are capable of writing something you love.   Above all else, don’t give up. Keep working at it. Keep reading, learning new techniques, writing, scribbling down half-done plot ideas. Moving forward through fear is the only way I know to conquer it, and in the words of Mark Twaine “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” It’s okay to feel scared and nervous about writing and sharing your writing, as long as you don’t let it control you.