#this is also the first time i’m linking my ffn lol

[padfootastic]

Hey this is anon from the drarry ask

I would love to read it if you decide to post honestly I really like your characterisations.

I feel like I’m opening a can of worms but I am sorry I’m just really curious, so if don’t mind could you tell me what started annoying you about Draco’s characterisation.

welcome back, anon! here’s the ffn link to it, along with another little drabble. i was gonna post it here but the writing is—way too 2017 for my tastes rn hehehe

(if u do read, don’t forget to come back and tell me what u think :p it’s very, very rough bc of how old it is but i don’t completely hate it 🙈)

and ahhh, i’m not exactly sure how to put it because it isn’t…any one thing but it’s like. draco is often written as this defanged, misunderstood victim and harry is treated so harshly for no reason. like, harry’s sectumsempra leaves him guilt-wracked and apologising profusely years after the fact and draco’s use of a crucial/letting DEs into a school etc etc are totally ok? and the way harry is written as this—bumbling, thick idiot. idk. harry kept getting shat on so much to prop draco up in a lot of the stuff i was reading and it began annoying me to the point i only looked for fics tagged ‘magically powerful harry potter’ 💀

of course, this isn’t a blanket statement on all drarry fics. there’s many i quite like, and some of the smut is absolutely top notch, not to even mention the beautiful art but—yeah. not a huge fan of how draco is treated with kid gloves in direct contrast to slapping harry around, yeah?

[bardofavon]

strawberry and knife for ask game

hello hello!!

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

so actually when I was a wee tiny little Meg (like….12 years old) my friend sent an email to a group of us like “look, I’m published now!” with a link to a fanfiction she wrote on fanfiction.net and I opened it and went “THIS IS A THING????” I wrote my first fanfiction (a very cliched Percy Jackson truth or dare fic) and made an account to upload it the day I turned 13 (according to site guidelines) and the rest was history.

it was terrible but for some reason people liked it and that was enough to get me addicted to the high of having my writing validated, but also people were MEAN to 13 year olds writing bad fic on the internet so I also got some brutal critique. The unstoppable power of writing 3,000 words a week at 13 years old + the regular criticism + the regular validation made me improve at a STUPID rate. I genuinely owe so much of my current skill to the fandom climate of ffn in the early 2010s lol. the maximum ride, marauder, and pjo fandoms were not prepared for me 😂

Once I moved fandoms my engagement dropped and I had a hard time writing fic without engagement so I focused more on my original projects (and wrote 5 novels, two screenplays, and a handful of short stories💀) before finding my way back to fic via A Good Myth and now here I am.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I spent HOURS researching domesticating wild wolves so that I could write a 2 sentence long metaphor with little plot significance. lately I’ve been balls deep in researching gym-bros for one scene that’s entirely unnecessary to be set in a gym but that I decided to have in one anyway. for reasons. I’ve never been to the gym idk. also researching medieval torture methods and how long it takes for blood to replenish but I feel like every writer has been there so it’s not THAT weird.

non-fic related….I also had a theory I wanted to do research on for my demonology class in college that demonic possession, ppl who claim to have interacted with fae, and alien abductions were all the same phenomenon being interpreted differently based on the worldview of the people experiencing them and I was deep in that rabbit hole for like a MONTH before I realized it was too hefty for an undergraduate paper and switched to the demons of the apocryphal texts instead.

writers truth or dare game

[casp1an-sea]

@ravenwing0110 told me to answer every question of my Star Wars asks. But I blocked two ask games. So here are all the answers to the one made by @sunshinechildskywalker

(The answers to the other one are here)

—————————————————————————

Who do you think is the most controversial character? Why, and what is your opinion of them?

I can’t think of someone currently probably will at sound point 

What is your most unpopular opinion about Star Wars?

Atack of the Clones is my favorite prequels movie 

What is your favorite fandom pocket on social media? (e.g. Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram, etc?)

Tumblr (the only other thing I have is Reddit) 

Where would you live were you in-universe?

CORSOCAUNT I LOVE THAT FUCKING PLANET (but I headcanon myself as being born on Corellia)

What kind of fics do you prefer to read?

i Uhm exclusively read Kylux fics I know it’s embarrassing 

What is your favorite Star Wars arc/story element?

Umbara, and the inhibitor chip stuff, plus a lot more I don’t feel like listing at the moment 

Do you have a Star Wars playlist? If so, feel free to link it!

I have several these are the ones I made myself

Han/Han Highschool AU

Some of my favorite Star Wars themes

these are ones I didn’t make myself it listen to frequently

Royish good looks songs

AMVs by Thomas Editz

Bully Maguire in Star Wars

What is your favorite Star Wars meme?

Again too many but I think my current favorite is cerveau Crystal LMAO

What is your all-time favorite piece of content? Could be movie, book, comic, etc.

Courtship of Princess Leia 

Where do you get your Star Wars merch? What do you have?

Online, Disney, Book stores, game stop. I have a lot of stuff probably should not list it all lol but I have pins, a Lula plushie, many Funko pops, several other bobble heads, lots and lots of books, plenty of T-shirts, jewelry, socks, credits, Legos, an Ewok cereal box, and I collect these really dumb looking blind bag keychains I think I have like 10 of them all on the same purse. Oh, and a lijgtsaber and a mini lijgtsaber keychain.

What character do you relate to the most? In what ways?

Luke. I kin him idk 

Who is your comfort character? Why?

Han and Tech mostly but there are a bunch more. Han is my father. And I just lached onto tech I don’t know he’s my brother now.

What is your hot take on the sequel trilogy?

Rey should have died Kylo should have lived, and Hux should have lived. Then Hux goes to the resistance thinking he finally escaped Kylo but Then Kylo is also there and he’s like “well fuck” and then they kiss.

I have a whole bunch of rats about the sequel trilogy, but I will spare you from them. You’re welcome to send me asks or DM’s about it though I will talk your ear off

What parts of the fandom do you enjoy? 

I mean pretty much all of it. I’m aware I can never get along with Rey fans or Han haters though. 

What parts don't you enjoy?

People that sexualize clone wars Asoka, and yk like ship clones with other clones. And a certain YouTube channel that uses ai to make Anakin joke about being racist. 

Who is one Star Wars blog you are hoping will follow you?

Kinda feel embarrassed to call them out but I think they are cool and I want to be friend but Uhm @stealingpotatoes and @lifblogs I hope you guys don’t mind me tagging you

What made you fall in love with Star Wars?

Han in ESB. That’s when my hyperfixation First started.

Have you ever been to opening night for a Star Wars film? Which one, and what was it like?

Idk if saw rise of skywalker opening night but I did see it when it was first in theaters 

Do you write fanfic for Star Wars? If so, what do you write about?Feel free to link your AO3/FFN!

I have but I currently don’t have a lot of it posted. The one I have posted in Star Wars but better. Which is a new Hope but Luke is replaced with an ankle biting gremlin. I plan to post my imperial academy AU fic soon and write a Barris fix it fix. But I’m having complications with getting the AU onto Tumblr.

Here’s the link to my writing master post where Star Wars but better is linked (you can find the link to my writing master post in my master list on my intro post)

What is your favorite spin-off series/movie? Why?

My favorite movie is Empire strikes back. My favorite prequel’s movie is attack of the clones. My favorite sequels movie is the force awakens because Han. My favorite stand alone Movie is rogue one because Solo never had a chance. My favorite animated TV series is both clone wars, and bad batch because let’s be honest they’re the same thing. Rebels is amazing though. And my favorite live action TV series is hands-down ANDOR. Oh and my favorite Lego movie is the Christmas special one. (not to be confused with the holiday special, which is kind of a banger. So bad that it’s good.)

Did Han shoot first?

everyone always ask this, but we all know the answer it was Han

—————————————————————————

thank you @sunshinechildskywalker and congrats again this was really fun

[ehrenyu]

AO3 stats game

I was tagged by @ilthit Sorry for the wait! Rarely on my desktop and this kind of thing is hard to do on my phone. For people not familiar with me I’m Terias on Ao3. I’ve been thinking of porting my old FFN fics over for posterity too. lol but I wrote a lot when I was young and inexperienced.

Rules: Give us the links to your wonderful words with the most hits, most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, and least words.

Most hits: Harry Potter and the Viper’s Chess , This fic was entirely a work of spite (before I even knew JKR was a raging anti trans ass) because I was tired of Slytherin Harry fics that turned into male power fantasies or had him as an edgy harem gatherer (LOL what?!). Probably has the highest hit count because it’s one of the most popular fandoms I was ever in and was my first work posted on Ao3. 

Most kudos: Portal Fall  Avengers x Big Hero 6 crossover. Wrote it because the BH6 ending felt weird to me. Hiro ended up NOT making it back to his universe.

Most comments: The Penny That Bought A Palace  an unfinished collaboration done with my spouse. My Hero Academia fic, ship is future Erasermight. Basically a ‘All Might is in really bad shape’ fic. REALLY BAD SHAPE. From his POV. He basically gets hospitalized and it throws the world into chaos but he doesn’t even know the full extent of things. So kind of a mystery to the reader too? I hope my spouse gets their mojo back for writing it because it feels weird to write for it without them.

Most bookmarks: Also Portal Fall. 2nd is TPTBAP. 3rd is When in Doubt a FF7, omegaverse fic where Cloud wakes up and mistakenly thinks he time-traveled, and then dimension-traveled after he learned about Designations. He’s wrong. 

Most words: Harry and the Three Knights at a wild 267k words, it surpasses the word count of any of my other fics by double. It’s the 4th installment of the Lionsnake Chronicles. I had planned for 7 installments but a few chapters into writing the 5th one I rage quit because JKR went full monty with her anti trans bullshit. (I am feeling my spite grow again so expect me to start writing the series again and making it as queer as fucking possible [which I had more or less already planned for] but I’m gonna do it even more)

Least words: Clocking in at 804 words is a G rated drabble in the My Hero Academia (Erasermight) fandom is Effortless with its own podfic courtesy of a03 user TinFoilHat

I'm tagging (it’s okay not to play!) @oh-no-boi @ms-demeanor @cryptid-crawly @moosephu @toastyglow (and even if you’re not tagged you can still play!! I just didn’t want to spam people)

[ecto-american]

Fenton Family Values Chapter 1

Ignore that I had posted the first chapter before as just a link, I was mobile bound (so no readmore) but I am Not right now and am posting the second chapter like. Right Now, so I figured I’d put it on here lol

Summary: During the yearly family reunion, Danny learns an interesting assumption his ghost-centric extended family has about a curse that's plagued the Fenton family for centuries.

NOTE: Danny is 23 here

Read the full story on FFN or AO3

"Oh look!" Elliot made everybody stop. He pointed out a giant poster in the mall, stepping forward to pick up a flyer. Sam curiously did the same. "Dumpty Humpty's having auditions!"

"Are you serious!?" Tucker snatched a flyer up too. Paulina grabbed one for her and Valerie to read.

"This weekend!" Elliot read the date. "This is awesome! We should all totally go!" Danny sighed.

"No, I got family stuff this weekend," he replied. "Big Fenton family reunion."

His friend group all seemed annoyed at his statement.

"Come on, Danny!" Elliot scowled. "This is not just the Amity Park Carnival, but where all our dreams come true when Dumpty Humpty will be auditioning fans for a chance to join the band! This could be our chance to be famous!" Danny wanted to roll his eyes. Phantom fame was more than enough for him. "Can't you blow it off? It's just a family reunion. I mean you guys already got the days off work!" Sam snorted in amusement.

"Because we both work for his grandparents," she pointed out. Elliot shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I can't," Danny shrugged. "It's unskippable, cause of the family curse. My dad would never let me blow it off."

Tucker sighed, but gave an understanding nod. Elliot blinked in confusion, Paulina mirroring him, and Valerie looked up from the flyer, squinting her eyes at him.

"The family what?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at them. Tucker and Sam also looked surprised.

"You didn't know?" Danny wondered.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Paulina blurted out. Danny shrugged again.

"Um. Well," he hesitated. "Uh, you know the family reunion I go to yearly?"

"Yeah, it's every June, right?" she replied. Danny nodded. "What about it?"

"So, ever since my dad's side of the family came to America in the 1600s, every June 13th, somebody goes missing," Danny explained. Valerie blinked in surprise.

"Missing?" she echoed. Danny nodded.

"Yeah. No matter what, people go missing. Regardless of most efforts to prevent it," he continued. "Blood blossoms, salt, protection circles and charms, saging the home. Nothing. Every June 13th without fail. Either gone forever or found dead with the last known sighting being June 13th."

"So wait, every year somebody in your family just goes missing?" Elliot sounded horrified, and Paulina was going pale.

"Or dies!?" she cried out. Danny quickly shook his head no.

"No no!" he quickly assured them both. "We found a workaround. Basically, if we're with somebody, nobody goes missing. So we all get together."

"Can't go missing if you're never alone," Sam added. "Every year that they all get together, nobody goes missing. And they just decide to make a family reunion out of it."

"This is too creepy for me," Paulina complained. She was getting paler and paler, almost as white as Elliot's hair. "I always knew your family was kinda freaky but cursed!?"

"I'm not cursed! It's just like, more of a family tradition these days!" Danny argued.

"Uh, if you say so." Elliot didn't sound convinced. He finally wrapped a comforting arm around Paulina. "Come on, Polly, I'll buy you a coffee," he offered. She perked up some.

"An iced one?" she asked hopefully. Elliot nodded. She exhaled deeply before walking off with him.

"Your family just gets weirder and weirder," Valerie spoke up. Danny made a face.

"Only two people within my lifetime have gone missing because they refused to come to the reunion," he replied.

"So wait, is Sam in danger then?" Valerie asked, glancing at her. "Or Danielle?"

"If you're a Fenton by blood, you're at risk if you're alone at any time for any length of time on June 13th," Danny clarified. "So Sam's fine, cause she's a Fenton by marriage. But that's why we host reunions. Sometimes we split up a bit cause of the amount of people. Our reunion is normally just my grandparents and their kids. So Dad's parents and his siblings. Ellie is technically a blood Fenton, so she's at risk but goes to a different reunion with my great uncles, she should be safe."

"I'm kinda surprised but this actually makes a lot of sense," Valerie mused, thoughtfully rubbing her chin. "The fact that your dad's a ghost hunter I mean. I'd become kinda superstitious too."

Sam wheezed, and Danny had a pained smile. Tucker snorted in amusement.

"The joy of the reunions," Dannt said slowly. "Is that Dad is far, far from being any kind of outlier." Valerie's eyes widened.

"Oh god," she whispered. "You mean-"

"The Fentons have been ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, psychics, fortune tellers, morticians or funeral directors since we came to America," Danny confirmed dryly. "If it's gotta do with the dead or supernatural, my family's somehow made a career out of it. A secondary family curse is that we somehow default back to being ghost hunters for a living. Do not say a fucking word."

Sam couldn't hold back. She was choking on her own laughs, half hiding behind her flyer in a bad attempt to conceal her amusement.

"You were just dying to get into the family business, weren't you?" Sam teased. Danny snatched her flyer out of her hand to crumble into a ball.

"That's it! You're not coming to the reunion this year!" he scowled. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Danny at this point, I'm your grandma's favorite grandkid," she replied. "I'm coming whether you like it or not."

"Wait so your whole family is ghost hunters, and you still show up?" Valerie interrupted. "Will you be okay?" Danny scoffed off the notion with a confident grin.

"Yeah, easy smeasy. Kinda nerve wracking the first year, but never had a problem. Plus this year, everybody's gonna be obsessed over the new baby, they'll hardly notice me," Danny explained. "Besides, none of them are particularly. Ya know. Good."

"Still," Valerie said slowly. "You sure you'll be okay? I mean the curse is just being alone at all that day, right? We could always just do a weekend hangout at one of our places."

"Yeah!" Tucker agreed. "I mean, Valerie and I have to repaint the apartment back to landlord white before we move. Would be super cool if a ghost could float and paint the ceilings so that we don't have to fuck around with a ladder." Danny chuckled.

"When we come back from the reunion, we'll help you paint," he promised.

"Nice, you're the best. Pizza and beer will be on us!"

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

"Oh Danny, this house is just perfect!" Sam chirped. Danny glanced at her from the corner of his eye briefly before returning to the road. "It's close to the funeral home for work, close to FentonWorks for the portal-"

"How close to your parents' for avoiding?" Danny interrupted. He just knew Sam was rolling her eyes.

"Not too far, not too close," Sam replied

"Not far enough," he only half joked. He felt her flick his ear.

"Anyway. Three bedroom, two bath, we can both have our own offices, and it already has a fenced in yard too for a dog, and lots of windows for a cat," she listed off the details.

"Send it to me, I'll look at it over dinner. Ah, here we are!" Danny sighed, and he pulled into the small parking lot that separated the funeral home from his grandparents' house. He could see Jazz's car already in the lot, as well as Uncle Andy and Aunt Fran's distinctive camper van and his cousin Bryan's car. However, Bryan was still getting bags from his car, and Danny saw that he had once again brought his best friend and Youtube channel co-host with him.

He quickly put the car in park and turned it off, excitedly hopping out, Sam following suit.

"Hey!" Danny called out. Bryan shot him a smile. "How was the trip? We haven't seen you since the wedding!"

"Ah, nothing crazy happened, even though we stopped at a ghost town on the way," Bryan replied, and he sounded a little disappointed but opened his arms to accept the hug Danny was offering. Sam snorted in amusement.

"Dude, Amity Park is the ghost town," she teased him. Shawn rolled his eyes as he shut the trunk of Bryan's car.

"Only allegedly," he spoke up, shifting his bag onto his shoulder.

"Man, around here ghosts are as common as pigeons," Danny told him, and he moved to pop the trunk of his own car, and he grabbed his and Sam's shared large suitcase. "You need to just live here a few months, and not only pop in for a day or two cause of the curse."

"I keep trying to tell him that!" Bryan chuckled. Sam grabbed her backpack, and Danny slipped his over his shoulder. Sam shut the trunk for him. "Have you smelled that yet? I can already smell Grammy cooking a ham for us." Danny sniffed the air, and he could definitely smell the late dinner being cooked. Sam made a face, but didn't comment on it.

"Well, let's not keep her waiting too long," Danny said. He glanced at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, bathing the graveyard in a hauntingly lovely view. His free hand slipped into Sam's.

They both locked their cars and idly chatted as they walked across the parking lot and to the home. As they got closer, the front door opened, and Grandma Fenton appeared. She was a slightly overweight elderly woman with long silver hair in a low bun and bright blue eyes, wearing her usual long black dress that reached her ankles and had sleeves to the elbows, black lacing on the top that made Danny think of an old Victorian dress. She beamed as she saw her grandchildren.

"Oh I thought I saw your cars!" she gushed happily, receiving a chorus of happy greetings in return. As each of them came up the steps, they got a warm hug and forehead kiss from her. "Come on in, I have a ham in the oven that'll be done in about an hour, and Sammy, honey, I have a vegan sweet potato casserole cooking for you." The goth brightened.

"Thank you, Grammy," she told her. Grandma Fenton patted her cheek affectionately.

"Of course, you're my favorite grandchild," she replied. Sam shot Danny a brief, smug look. He rolled his eyes.

"Do we have sleeping arrangements figured out yet?" Bryan questioned as they all huddled into the front room of the home.

"A rough idea, yes," Grandma replied. "So far, we have Jazzy and Spike taking Amy's room alone since they have the baby. Jacky, Maddie, Andy and Frannie are all gonna be in Jacky, Andy and Brenner's room. Brenner and Sully are going to sleep in our room with us. I had Grandpa clean out some of the attic, so if you four wanna take air mattresses up there or use the pull out in the living room, or split with one pair of you going up there and the other being downstairs, either is fine with me. Long as a Fenton is with somebody else the whole time."

"I have no doubts the newlyweds won't be apart for a second," Bryan teased. Danny and Sam both flushed. "You guys can take the attic, Shawn and I can crash in the living room, or worst case join Jazz and Spike."

"Yeah, I'm guessing Ben still isn't sleeping through the night yet," Shawn spoke up. "I'd be fine helping them get some much needed sleep."

"Speaking of Ben," Danny mused slowly. "I'm gonna go say hi!"

"Go on, I'll help Grammy finish dinner," Sam told him.

"Oh that's so sweet of you honey," Grandma beamed. "I'm mostly done, but we can set the table and get everything ready on the table. Jacky and Maddie will be here soon, and Grandpa too."

"Is he out on a call?" Bryan questioned. "And lemme put my bag down, and I can come help too."

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot that we'll need to put the leaf in the table! But yes, Grandpa went out a while ago. Do you remember Mrs. Silver? She lost her battle to cancer."

"He's out on a call?" Danny paused. "Why didn't he wait for us? I could have helped."

"It's okay dear, we knew you'd be busy packing for the reunion," his grandma assured him. "Don't fret too much. Tomorrow you and Sammy can help him prepare the body."

"Well, if he needs help when he gets home unloading, call for me," Danny called out, walking up the first few steps. "Or just tell me when he gets here, he shouldn't be doing it by himself anymore anyway."

"Oh we may be old, but we're not weak," she lightly scoffed.

Danny was already up the stairs, the suitcase in hand. However he dropped it and his bag by the staircase that led up to the attic, opting to instead go to where Jazz was staying.

He gave a brief knock before opening the door. Jazz had looked up curiously. She was sitting in one of the old desk chairs with his nephew in her arms. Already the baby reminded him a lot of their dad, with a ton of black fuzz for hair and the same eyes, complete with being a big baby for his age, almost comically big in Jazz's arms. He also looked a bit red, as if he had just calmed down from a crying fit.

"Ah look at you, squirt," Danny lightly teased, closing the door behind him. Ben burst into a grin upon seeing him, and he began to coo happily. Danny stepped forward and phased him out of Jazz's arms. "Thank you!"

"Danny!" Jazz scowled, immediately getting up. Danny used a hand to motion her to sit, shifting Ben in his arm.

"Don't worry about him, you should chill!" he told her. "You're probably running yourself ragged between him and your thesis." Jazz's expression softened some.

"Well, I did bring my laptop so I could work on it while he slept," she said slowly. Danny grinned.

"Exactly! You should think of this reunion as a day of being able to relax and not worry about him," he said. Ben gave a loud, excited squeal and kicked his legs. "See? Kids need their uncle time. Especially when their uncle can do this!"

Danny held Ben up high as he took a few steps away, bouncing him a tad while making ghost noises that rewarded him with cheerful baby noises. After a moment, he let go, and Ben stayed floating in the air.

"DANNY!" Jazz shrieked, barreling towards him. A duplicate Phantom became visible, holding him.

"Jazz, I've got this!" Danny assured her with a grin. Jazz was not having any of it. She grabbed Ben just in time for the door to open, which prompted the duplicate to disappear.

"You kids okay?" Jack questioned, and Danny could see that Spike was right behind him. He smiled when he saw Ben. "Ahh there's my favorite little guy!" Ben squealed and kicked his legs hard in Jazz's arms upon realizing his favorite person was in the room.

Jack came forward, hands out, and Jazz smiled as she let him take his first grandkid. Spike also came forward, and Danny realized that he had two cups of the coffee that his grandma had made. He handed a cup to Jazz, and she took it and immediately gulped some.

"Oh you're in your little ghostkateer outfit!" Jack squealed excitedly. Indeed, Danny finally noticed that Jazz had put Ben in the little jumpsuit Jack had made for him a while back, complete with a little FentonWorks logo that Jack lovingly embroidered himself.

"He loves it," Spike grinned. Jazz nodded in agreement. She ran a hand through her hair with a deep exhale. "He normally wants to sleep in it every night."

"Of course he does! Just like Grandpa! Nothing's quite like a good ol' jumpsuit!" Jack grinned. The more Jack spoke, the more Ben kicked in excitement. "Come on, little ghostkateer! Let's go show Grandma, and your graunties and grunkles!"

He held Ben close to him, blathering a mile a minute about ghosts (already) as Ben baby babbled back, and he took him out of the room. The second he left, Jazz punched Danny in the shoulder. He flinched hard, rubbing the spot.

"If you ever do that again, I'm shaving your head in your sleep!" Jazz scowled.

"I had it covered!" he argued. Jazz huffed.

"Come on, let's go and meet with the circus."

The three came downstairs to a flurry of activity. He could hear his grandma and wife in the kitchen chatting happily, and the sounds of the table being set by he assumed Bryan and Shawn.

Danny turned into the living room, greeted by his Uncle Andy and Aunt Fran gushing over Ben, who was cooing loudly and happily. However, soon as the baby saw his mom, his mood instantly shifted until Jazz scooped him back up, cradling him and using her mom voice to soothe him, Spike right there with her doing the same. Danny locked eyes with his own mom.

"Hey Mom!" Danny greeted. Maddie smiled warmly. "How was the drive?"

"Hi sweetheart!" Maddie replied. He accepted her hug and kiss on the cheek. "It was good, not much traffic."

"Where's Aunt Brenner?" Danny wondered. "And Uncle Sully? I thought you were picking them up from the airport?"

"Oh Dad was coming back right as we pulled in," Jack explained. "They're outside talking to him."

"Grandpa's back?" Danny echoed. "I'm gonna go help him with the body!"

He was already out the door, hopping down the front porch steps and walking across the parking lot. He saw his parents' RV, as well as the funeral home's first call vehicle, the back doors open. Danny jogged up to his grandpa and his aunt and her husband as they all chatted casually.

"Hey Grandpa!" Danny called out, getting their attention.

Grandpa Fenton matched his wife in many ways. Danny's memories of him always placed him in his black pants with green suspenders and white short sleeved button down collared shirts, thick glasses over blue eyes. At the funeral home with guests, he had shiny black dress shoes and a formal jacket suit. However at home and currently, he wore his comfortable black cardigan and black slippers instead. The hair left on the top of his balding head was silver, but the sides were purely white, an almost distinctive pattern for the Fenton men by now that Danny saw reflected in his own father and began seeing in his own hair.

"Hey, Danny-boy!" he replied. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Of course!" Danny agreed. "Dinner should be ready in an hour."

"Perfect, we can get everything prepped and done for today in an hour," Grandpa replied. "We can do the rest after we meet with the family tomorrow and go over what they want."

Danny nodded, shifting to pull the wheeled stretcher from the vehicle, the wheels popping out as he pulled it out, his grandfather pushing it. The body bag was already strapped to the stretcher, but Danny still gave a quick pull on the strap to double check. His aunt looked a bit pale.

"I don't know how you can handle eating after this," she spoke, shaking her head. Grandpa chuckled.

"Just takes a strong stomach and years of experience, baby girl," he replied cheerfully. He gave Danny a small wink. "Best to leave it to the men."

Danny felt a warm pride feel his chest, and a glance at his aunt told him that she had the same. She was smiling some, giving a half shrug as they wheeled it into the funeral home.

After dinner, Danny had helped with putting away the leftovers and cleanup as his grandparents got dessert ready. Two homemade pies his grandpa had prepared earlier that day and ice cream, with a vegan brand of ice cream included for Sam. Once everybody got what they wanted, they all settled into the living room.

Grandma and Grandpa sat in their matching armchairs. Jazz had claimed a rocking chair that had been moved from the porch to the living room corner, gently rocking Ben as he had his late night breastfeeding. Spike sat on a footrest next to her with her bottle of water and their pie slices, occasionally feeding her a bite or giving her her water when requested. Jack, Maddie, Uncle Andy, Aunt Fran, Aunt Brenner and Uncle Sully all had managed to be comfortable on the oversized L shaped couch across from the chairs. Shawn and Bryan sat on the floor, leaning against the couch with extra pillows for comfort. Sam and Danny shared the loveseat tucked awkwardly near, almost behind, the armchairs.

"And I keep telling our guests to not touch the doll for this specific reason," Aunt Brenner was continuing her story of her haunted museum exhibits.

"I can't tell you how many fingerprints I wipe off the glass cases every day," her husband sighed, shaking his head.

"This family doesn't need more curses," Uncle Andy joked. Her jerked his thumb to Jack. "Jackaboy's still dealing with the curse of never hitting a target." Jack reached over to lightly smack his little brother. Uncle Andy mirrored him.

"Oh you two knock it off," their mother scolded. "Don't joke about curses like that. There's still hope that we can break the curse one day."

"Wait, what? Break the curse?" Bryan spoke up. He looked confused. "Can it be broken? Why haven't we broken it yet then?"

"We think we may be able to," Aunt Brenner said. "It depends. We need more information. I've been researching it lately."

"What are you talking about?" Danny pressed. His grandpa motioned to the bookshelf.

"Get me the book," he requested.

Danny didn't need a further explanation. He knew exactly what book he was referencing. He stood up, grabbing the side of the bookshelf for support as he reached up for the prized book that stayed on the top shelf, plain cover exposed and on display on a stand. He immediately passed it on to his grandfather, who opened it. Danny returned to his seat.

"This curse hasn't been here since the year we came to America," he explained.

"It didn't come with us on the ship?" Jazz questioned, sounding surprised but flinching as Ben pulled on her hair. That's what Danny had always been told too.

"No, no," Grandpa replied, shaking his head. "We lived here for a good thirteen years before the curse struck us."

"It did arrive on the ship with us but didn't begin right away," Uncle Andy clarified upon seeing the confusion. "The witch who placed the curse upon us came on the ship, but we didn't see her spirit companion until we had been there thirteen years. The witch was just a girl when she came, fifteen when she placed the curse."

"Yes, yes," Grandma confirmed. "Our ancestors tried to burn her, but she was saved by her evil spirit protector. And later that day, the village found her at home. It came to light that she had used her magic to be in two places at once. John Fenton-Nightingale led the charge and trial and proved that she was a witch. And on June 13th, she was sentenced to death by burning."

The name immediately made Danny go numb. He glanced at his wife, and Sam locked gazes with him. Her eyes were wide with horror as it both hit them.

"And as she burned, she placed a curse on John Fenton-Nightingale and his family," Jack continued. "And the next year on June 13th, the first relative went missing."

"It took another forty years for him to make the connection, but he had begun our first curse book. Over the years, we've remade and rebound and copied over the contents, but we somehow lost more information about the witch and her protective spirit. The memory faded. We focused more on who we lost," Grandpa continued. He had stopped on a page with a thumb gently brushing over the contents. "And over time, as the cases piled up, we would record them. So that they could never be forgotten."

Danny finally noticed that the page his grandpa was fixated on was of Aunt Amy. A familiar colored photo had been glued to the page of her smiling brightly, and the handwritten account of her vanishing somewhat blurred with tears from the author, newspaper articles that had been carefully folded bookmarking her page. For years, his dad had said that while Grandpa Fenton missed his brother and grandmother a lot, that it was Amy's vanishing that hit him the hardest. Losing their eldest daughter.

Danny remembered the year she went missing. She had to miss the reunion because of work, a well respected psychic who had been urgently requested by a desperate family. While she had promised them all that she wouldn't be alone that June 13th, something had happened. They still didn't know how or why, except that in the ten minute window of her being alone, she had gone missing. And nobody knew where she was over ten years later.

He glanced at Bryan, whose lower lip was quivering hard. Danny was only thirteen when she went missing, but Bryan was almost eighteen. Danny could never forget his cousin's emotional wreck when he was told that nobody had seen his mom since two pm on June 13th, and the pain only visibly deepened every year when he saw Bryan for the annual reunion. The only one who could possibly be more distraught was their grandparents.

Shawn seemed to notice, as he leaned into his friend. Maddie noticed too, leaning forward to peck the top of his head. Bryan lived with them briefly after his mom disappeared before he went to, and eventually dropped out of, college.

The clock chimed, and the Fentons all looked up at the grandfather clock as it struck midnight. Grandpa closed the book with a soft sigh.

June 13th had begun.

[dreamhot]

Signed up for wattpad in 2014 flash forward to last year and their data breach put my email on the dark web and someone tried to scam me lol

oh we love ourselves a good data breach ... i've found my old passwords on sites that track that sort of shit but luckily i've never gotten into any sort of trouble (save for my first neopets account getting shut down but that was my own dumbass fault for falling for a scammer loool)

gonna answer the other fanfic asks under a cut

Anonymous asked: I remember reading Hermione x Ron fanfics on deviant art when I was like 12 :/ also used to read Percy Jackson fics on Wattpad but we don’t talk about that 🤡

re: the last point - you and dream both, pal

Anonymous asked: its kinda funny for me to think about, i got into fanfic by reading mcyter fics (shout out team crafted). they were reader insert and not shipping but i really have come full circle

when i was into rtah, there was def some fic centred around let's play minecraft, but . i was reading the shipping stuff Oops

Anonymous asked: my first fanfiction experience was in 2014? In YOUTUBE. there were channels that made videos reading fanfictions they've got god knows where and if they were multichapter they would usually upload twice a week or something. Now that I think about it it was weird af cause istg the voices reading couldn't have had more than 15/16 years old and they read some filthy stuff sometimes. I can't even imagine reading shut outloud, let alone RECORD MYSELF DOING IT

yeah like i was def too young to be writing some of the fic i did at like, 16/7, but . that was also an era in which people weren't really disclosing their ages anyway lol BUT PUTTING YOUR VOICE TO IT ...? that's a level of bravery i can't even fathom

Anonymous asked: possibly my first fanfiction experience that i can remember was discovering that the avatar the last airbender wiki had a closely linked sister wiki for fanfic content and i dived into that. it must have been like… 2010/11? I knew about ffnet around the same time thanks to my brother but i’m not sure which actually was in my life first. anyway shoutout to avatar fanon wiki

fanon wikis are so fascinating like either they're enormously helpful and point out a lot of cool content Or they're just ill-kept messes of drama. always seems to be one or the other lmao

Anonymous asked: if we're sharing our fanfic experiences, i will say i used fanfic.net, ao3, wattpad, devientart, and quotev, and fanfiction.net has a special place in my heart. its where ot3s, brotps, lemons, using hate comments as fuel to bake cookies, disclaimers about not owning characters, a/n: breaks in the middle of the story, and songfics with the lyrics taking up half the word count really thrived. times were simpler back then

STOPPP NOT THE A/N BREAKS ... you'd be reading a fic and then it suddenly breaks into a fuckin roleplay dialogue between the author and the characters like WHAT'S GOING ON HERE !! i remember when ff.net purged all the songfic etc and how fucking mad ppl were cos they literally just . deleted shit without warning. they were truly merciless back then

Anonymous asked: my experience with fic platforms is kinda weird because i'm definitely in the "too young to have used ffn regularly" demographic but because english is not my first language and my first fandom was full of people who in general were 10+ years older than me (because after my brother taught me how to pirate stuff i ended up getting into 90s anime), the first fic i ever encountered was in ffn and wattpad became popular and easily accessible to me not long after, so for a while those were my two sites until i became fluent enough in english to engage fandom and moved from there to ao3 without struggling with the lack of content in a language i could read. it's funny because whenever older people talk about the youth (tm) not knowing how things were before ao3 it makes me feel old lmao

that's interesting tho :0 see, the thing is that wattpad and ff.net are still in USE, so it's completely possible that ppl were (or are?) using them while others used ao3 - though it blows my mind why anyone would CHOOSE to use ff.net in the year of our lord 2022

[durotoswrites]

For the writing meme thingy: 🍄how do you get yourself in the mood to write? 🍑 do you/would you write smut? 📒 any fics planned?

🍄 How do you get yourself in the mood to write?

Getting in the mood to write and actually wanting to sit down and start writing are two very different things, but they're connected, so I'll explain both.

To set into “creative mode” it helps me to do these things:

Listen to music that makes me think of a character/situation in my story/stories. I've got playlists separated by character and pairing. Sometimes I also just work on curating those playlists for fun and get my brain going.

Bounce overall ideas off of my friends and husband/editor (but he's my best friend, too 💗)

Reread old chapters or recent ones and future snippets based on what I want to do.

Once I actually want to put words down, I get a little more strict with myself. I get distracted verrrry easily sometimes and I have to fight the urge to open a million more tabs when researching a small detail.

I move to instrumental music (I have playlists for different moods like “emotional”, “soft”, “sad”, etc. I usually listen to “soft” as a general soothing background sound, as I can get pretty dang emotional when I write, especially with the stuff I've been churning out lately.

So, yeah, I need tissues within reach if I get upset. (Wow, I'm not making this sound fun at all, lmao)

After sound has been established, I like to eat a snack (something with protein) because I can be under for hours, lol. Eat it and finish it. Otherwise, I get distracted.

I also like to have drinks available. I always have a bottle of water, but I also like having a hot cup of tea. I think it's the time of year for me to switch to cold barley tea.

I write while seated on a recliner with my feet up. I have my laptop on a lap desk and it's a pretty cozy setup.

I basically try to remove any excuse I have to get up once I start writing, because I am the worst procrastinator I know.

🍑Do you/would you write smut?

Heheh... heck yeah, I do. Waaaaay more than most people realize. Stuff I've actually posted? It's pretty limited. I posted a couple pieces (Let Me Love You and You're Like the Sunshine) a few years ago, but I've been practicing ever since. One of my planned stories literally has what I refer to as a “smut dump” in the draft where I've been experimenting with writing different moods. I like the intimate scenes to play a role in the overall plot or have it be a bonding experience.

Despite that, I do have a shameless Gray x Mary story I should just get out there that has zero plot, just two cuties in love. In my mind it's so naughty and kinky and I get flustered thinking about it (Mary is hot, okay?), but it's probably hella vanilla, lmao. I really am grateful that people have been really supportive about my writing smut despite what I usually write, and they've been so encouraging, too! I honestly feel like the smut I've posted is really stilted because I was so self-conscious about it. I don't feel like they are terrible for first attempts, but I have definitely grown more comfortable writing it.

Will The Shy Newcomer become explicit? I kinda really want it to, but I might separate the chapters for those who don't care for that content. Overall, I'd like to write more and post more, and I want to write more than just male x female smut as well. I have some of those in my planned pieces (more about them later).

📒 Any Fics Planned?

Firstly, I'm super tickled more than one person was interested in this. I copied the answer I wrote earlier.

Short answer: Yes. I also plan to bring more of my stories over from ffn to Ao3.

Long answer under the cut, heheh. I rambled quite a bit.

Ask me about my writing processes and stories!

I have so many WIPs that haven’t been touched in years that I’d like to finish, so new planned fics aren’t posted yet. Some of them have more adult themes than most of the stuff I’ve been writing, so I get flustered sharing them. I’ve been at a crossroads, as I feel that you can’t have growth without changing things up. On the other hand, I feel like a lot of my readers associate my works with a specific “wholesome” feel-good mood. It’s kinda nice to be known for something, although that might just be my ego talking, thinking that people recognize my work as a “type”.

Regardless, in the end, I feel growth is necessary.

I don’t want to leave a lot of unfinished WIPs waiting because they stress me out and I have too many of them already, so I’d like to have a bulk of my new stories with a good chunk written before I decide to post them.

Among those include:

A longfic featuring Pete’s farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley (A blend of HMDS with the FoMT plugin and AWL). It takes place in the same universe as The Shy Newcomer (Claire in Mineral Town) and there are a few overlapping moments, although Pete’s story starts first. Pete’s personality is verrry different from Claire’s, and his story was kind of supposed to be the yang to TSN’s yin. Pete’s best friends in his story are Ruby (not sure if I’m adding Tim yet), Nami, and Rock. Readers will be treated to a poorly-socialized pre-Mineral Town Cliff (if you think he was bad at the beginning of TSN, well… heh… he’s a wreck here).

Another planned unpublished story is a crossover of Harvest Moon and the movie “In This Corner of the World”, based on a manga of the same name by Fumiyo Kouno. It was written as a gift for a friend. I have the entire outline figured out and have slowly been filling it in. My friend asked for an AU where Claire and Cliff have an arranged marriage and live with his family in Akiyama, the hometown I had created for Cliff in The Shy Newcomer. I took the opportunity to expand the characters in his family. I have it written during the same time period and society as “In This Corner of the World”, but had decided to write a spreading disease as an allegory for war, but then COVID happened and some parts of it just got really hard to write. There are also a lot of sexually explicit content as Claire slowly grows and learns from her spouse that it’s okay to express what she wants despite sex being a taboo issue. If there’s enough interest in the story, I’ll post it, but I worry it’s a little too niche for there to be many people into it.

Pastor Carter and Doctor Trent are one of my favorite rare pair ships. I’ve had a partial draft for a story about them for a few years now, especially focusing on Trent growing up and acknowledging that he has an unhealthy addiction for things that he knows he can’t have. There are some more adult/sexual themes in this piece, too, including the main character lusting after a married woman (who also happens to be his patient) and some lemons. (Does anyone call it that anymore or is it just referred to as “smut” nowadays? Haha) I always feel so bad for neglecting the folks at the clinic in-game and wanted to write a piece that focused more on them, Trent specifically. It’s a multi-chap fic, but I don’t think I’m going to let it get as long as some of my other pieces.

I also really want to write a short romantic oneshot for every marriage candidate in Mineral Town, around 1,000 words each. So far, I have one for Cliff and one for Gray. I want to write Claire with everyone, because I think it would be fun to explore all the different personalities.

I have more installments planned for A Single Day, including a day in the life of the following characters, all with drafts in varying degrees of progress:

Anna

Doug

Nora (yes, I’m writing from the point of view of the cat living at the inn)

More to come – I think Lillia and Thomas would be especially interesting to explore

I do still have that Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask piece I’ve been pondering where Link befriends the soul of the deku scrub child while possessed by the mask. I don’t have much written about it, but I really love the world of Majora’s Mask. Such a fun game.

I also think about the lead carpenter’s son in Ocarina of Time and that weird side quest involving the blue chicken and the son being lost to the forest. Then that unique-looking kokiri girl explaining that all who get taken in the lost woods become stalfos. Like, did the guy die? Was he sick? Did he want to die? There’s just so much going on there that would be fun to explore.

I also have played OMORI recently and have like… A LOT of feelings about it. I don’t know what I’d write, but I’m still damn impressed at how well the characters are developed in such a short game.

Other games I’ve had vague ideas about writing for include the following:

The Flame in the Flood: I’m thinking a survivalist/action story fleshing out Scout’s backstory a bit more and her thoughts as she’s traveling. I feel like she’s a very lonely person, but isn’t given the chance to really dwell on it.

Night In the Woods: I’d love to write more about Mae’s dreams and what they mean to her. She doesn’t really talk to anyone about them openly, so it’s really hard to tell her feelings about them in some regards. We know that she’s distressed about them, but I’d like to dive a little deeper. Do the nightmares end after the games does? What about Bea’s new nightmares?

Hades (Supergiant Games): I think it would be fun to write more about the events that take place before the game starts, like Zagreus’s duties in the house of Hades, and expand on the strained relationship with his father.

[backslashdelta]

@mostgeckcellent thank you so much for the tag! This is such a fun tag game! I'm making a new post because this is long and so the post you tagged me in was fairly long as well lol

how many works do you have on AO3?

I have 42 works on AO3 across 2 pseuds! That being said, one of my pseuds is for podfics only (all but one of which are podfics of my own works); the number of works on my main account where I keep all of the written versions of my fics is 33.

what’s your total AO3 word count?

250 307 words :) and I am very proud of all most of them lol

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Only one, and it's Glee. I may or may not branch out in the future, only time will tell ;)

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It Was Only a Kiss (582 kudos). I think this absolutely deserves to be my top fic, in my opinion. It's my longest work, and it's the piece I worked on the longest, and poured the most of my love into. I'm very very proud of this one. Though, fair warning, it is an anti-Blaine Kurtbastian fic, so to my Klaine followers: you probably don't want to read it. But that's okay. Because lots of other people already have lmao

I Want the World to See You'll Be With Me (116 kudos). A sweet Kurtbastian one-shot I wrote as a Christmas present to @unhappyending last year. I'm surprised to see it so high, because I'm not really a fluff writer and this is unmistakably fluff, but... I guess the Kurtbastian fans love them some fluff!

Notes of an Old Mistake (96 kudos). It's Kurtbastian, it's angst, it's porn with plot! I feel like this fic is one of the most me things I've ever posted, which is interested since it was a gift to @pouralittlewater and very much based on what she wanted written. Guess we have similar tastes!

A Rush of Blood to the Head (76 kudos). The first pwp I ever posted, a Kurtbastian vampire!Sebastian halloween one-shot. Iconic of that to be this far up the list honestly.

The Hazards of Love 1 (68 kudos). This fic is what really got me in to writing. It's ~50k words, my second-longest fic to date, and it means a lot to me. There are some things in it that I'm iffy about, but also some scenes that I really, really love, and are very dear to my heart. When I started posting it, I didn't think anyway would read it because of the premise. Apparently I was wrong.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes. I always respond to the first comment someone leaves on any of my fics, or any chapter of one of my fics, if it's a main comment. Sometimes people will reply to my reply, or reply to another commentor, and in those cases I don't always respond, but otherwise I do; if someone binged one of my multichaps and left a comment on every chapter, I will respond to every single one.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

This is an easy tie between He Forgets Me, He Forgets Me Not and Never Ask For Anyone But You (a birthday gift for @unhappyending), both of which end with the death of one of the main characters; in the first, the final scene is a funeral where it's revealed that the character has died, and in the second, the actual scene where the death occurs is described (though it could be left up to interpretation whether the character actually does pass away).

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I do not, but I have an idea for one that I might eventually write...

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I received a hateful review on FFN once, but it was clearly spam. Other than that, the closest I've gotten to hate has been someone asking me to go a different direction with a fic after I had already made my intentions clear; if that's the worst I have to deal with, I am very happy. Especially since there are a lot of things I write about that some people may have a problem with lol

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Girl yes. I've already linked 3 explicit fics in this post lmao who am I if not a smut writer?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

have you ever had a fic translated?

I haven't! I'd love to translate my own fics into French though. I think that would be cool. My French is not good enough unfortunately, but maybe someday if I ever make an effort to improve it.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! Last Christmas @unhappyending and I (KC you're getting tagged A LOT in this post lol sorry) co-wrote the Kurtbastian 2020 Advent Calendar. We posted one chapter per day starting on December first and leading all the way up to Christmas Day (inclusive). It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! I also recorded the podfic :)

what’s your all time favourite ship?

Kurtbastian. I'm a huge multi-shipper, as we all know, but Kurtbastian is where my heart truly lies.

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

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. This was originally a one-shot for @blangstydays, and then I decided to write another chapter, and now it's sitting there as a WIP on AO3 and I never think about it and will probably never finish it. Oops, sorry.

what are your writing strengths?

I think my biggest strengths are a) dialogue, and b) describing a character's internal thoughts/logic/whatever. These are kind of tied together; essentially, I just think I'm good at getting into the character's head and really being able to put into words what they would think and say in a way that feels authentic to them.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Right now my biggest weakness is having the motivation to write. But when I do have the motivation, my biggest weakness is probably transitioning between scenes, or scenes that don't feature much dialogue. I'm just... not the best at describing things, imo. I also don't think I'm great at scenes with a lot of people; I don't know what to do with all of them, and even if I do, I can have a hard time getting into the heads of that many different people for the same scene.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think I've written maybe a few words in French, but only because I know a little bit of the language. I wouldn't write anything substantial in another language unless I had someone who knew that language and was willing to proof-read it for me. In general, I don't think I have an issue with it. I'd have to translate it if I was reading it in a fic. I don't know, it's not something I've given much thought to.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Glee. The first and only <3

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

The answer to this is easily It Was Only a Kiss. I have some other one-shots that have a special place in my heart, by IWOAK will forever and always be my baby, and I am so glad she gets the love she deserves in the form of hits/kudos/comments <3

Time to tag some of my writer friends! @unhappyending (figured I should tag you in this post one more time lol), @esperantoauthor, @20xbetterthanu, @awkwardcaterpillar, @useless-fanfictions, @blangstydays, and anyone else who wants to do this please feel free to do so and tag me, I'd love to read your answers!

[cometcrystal]

anyway i finished Family by ffn user The Middle Warner Sibling today. i’d link it, but tumblr hides posts with links; you’ll find the fic easily if you sort on fanfiction dot net by highest amount of favorites for animaniacs LOL

here are my thoughts which i am making a Post about because this fic is literally 760,000 words long and if it’s not a touchstone of the fandom, it should be. ALSO if you care about spoilers for this story, this post will have spoilers in it.

things i liked:

the warners themselves are written very well. i’m not a huge fan of the “they’re actors and animaniacs is the show they film” idea myself, but it’s done in the best way possible here that feels very believable

i watch riverdale and thus i enjoyed all the melodrama. this fic is very dramatic but that’s not always a bad thing

the adult fear was very powerful. as a 24 year old and also an oldest sibling, reading about how during their TIS days, dot was adopted off to a few different homes and yakko and wakko didn’t even know it??? and she was only returned because she wouldn’t stop crying out for yakko??? was INCREDIBLY unsettling to me. the fact that it’d even happen. also my favorite arc was probably the TIS arc alongside the car crash/coma arc

the sibs being descendants of bosko was an interesting detail that i liked. there are SO many animation history references throughout this ENTIRE fic and i’m positive i missed some but i recognized a lot. op obviously knows what they’re talking about

the implementation of toon theory and “schlesinger syndrome” is BRILLIANT. i’ve seen lots of fics explore toon theory stuff, but none as in-depth as this. i LOVED IT and i want to read just an entire manual on toon theory. i wanna take an entire course

the sibs’ mentors and chaperones are all wonderful. i’m very firmly a “scratchy is the warners’ parental figure” truther, but bugs bunny being that in this fic worked very well. yakko calling him “da-doo” in his perspective is VERY fitting and i liked that detail a lot. it’s extremely cute. also foghorn’s relationship w wakko and porky’s relationship with dot are both extremely cute as well. also: chaos vodka aunt slappy nation rise

hello nurse is given a real name and some agency thank god

the character of penelope goose should be a real thing. i love her SO much.

i have never watched a single episode of talespin in my life but i love mrs cunningham, kit, and molly now

i cried three times at this fic, which is an accomplishment because i have NEVER cried at a fanfic before: once when ophelia died, once when goose comforted yakko after they got caught by TIS, and once at goose’s funeral

normally i don’t care for overly-dad-like yakko. he’s protective of his siblings ofc and would die for them but he’s still their big brother, not their dad. BUT in this universe, dad-like yakko makes perfect sense, and i really enjoyed it, so points for that

every good thing that happens to the warners feels completely earned. we see them from the very beginning, when dot can’t even walk yet, all the way up to yakko’s 16th birthday. it all just feels very rewarding to see them succeed, and their backstory/buildup to working for warner bros is just. really good. the familial love and sibling relationships are IMMACULATE

things i didn’t like:

i know that teenage boys are just Like That but also i did not like how the author put yakko in so many situations where he was allowed to act on it, especially considering he’s like, 12 or 13 when his first makeout session happens, and then maybe a year older when the next thing happens. really did not like that.

also really did not like the author’s homophobia and transphobia showing in SEVERAL instances. it was just weird because the fic’s weirdly progressive in a lot of places but then its just like. yakko explaining that gay people exist to wakko is suddenly a “weird conversation”. like. ok

Plucky Duck Epic Racist Moments. THIS WAS SO JARRING FJDSKLFJSDLK DONT DO PLUCKY LIKE THIS AND DON’T DO MARY MELODY LIKE THIS EITHER. EVIL

pinky and the brain and straight and brain is straight with GADGET HACKWRENCH

this fic is so mean to scratchy. be nice to him :(

it’s also mean to skippy hes just a boy!!!!!!!!!

things i am neutral on but still found noteworthy:

the author has a very very strong vendetta against darkwing duck for some reason and its just so baffling. he is SO yucky nasty to the warners and FOR WHAT??? and gosalyn is a lil bitch in this fic too its SO weird to see. ive never watched darkwing duck so maybe theyre just like that but i doubt it

anyway i enjoyed reading this story despite the problems i have with it. it managed to cut off at the best moment it could: yakko getting reassurance from bugs and giving him a hug after wakko and dot have decided to try new interests out. it’s unfinished, and was last updated in 2014, but that’s a much better cutoff point than a lot of unfinished fics get, and i don’t feel a need for closure on anything.

just be warned, this fic has a LOT of heavy subjects in it. feel free to ask me if you need any specific warnings, but otherwise, i say go for it

[jobrookekarev]

Little Turkey (Updated)

Summary: Jo and Alex celebrate Thanksgiving with everybody in Meredith’s backyard and Jo tries to induce labor. 

Chapter: 1/1

Fandom: Grey's Anatomy.

Relationship: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson Karev.

Characters: Alex Karev, Jo Wilson Karev, Meredith Grey, Maggie Pierce, Jackson Avery, Amelia Shepherd, Atticus Lincoln, Zola Grey Shepherd, Ellis Shepherd, Derek Bailey Shepherd, and Carina DeLuca.

Rating: General Audiences.

Additional Tags: thanksgiving, pregnancy, birth, babies, and tiny adorable turkey onesies. 

AN: New edits because I forgot to add the reason why Jo didn't realize she was in labor and her water breaking because I was in a rush to get this posted!! You think that someone who studied to be a doula would get it right but nope. LOL. So hopefully this makes more sense and seems more realistic.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

……………………………………………………………………

Jo pushed open the gate to Meredith’s backyard and was greeted with the sight of the socially distant Thanksgiving dinner in full swing. It might be the holidays, but there was a rise of COVID in the past few weeks and the governor had shut down the state. Despite how the group was constantly tested at work, none of them were willing to take any risks for an inside formal dinner. Which meant that tables were 6 feet apart, plates of food were already set out, and masks were required. Jo didn’t mind the outdoor activities, even with the November air as her pregnancy meant that she often ran hot. 

Amelia and Link were at one table with her godson, the three kids and Meredith were painting at one table. Maggie and Winston were off to the side, and Jackson, April, and Harriett were at the third table. The last table was for her and Alex, Meredith had already set out plates for them that were already filled with turkey, stuffing, casseroles, and Amelia’s pie.

“Hey, Aunt Jo,” Zola said, being the first one to greet her and waved at her with her paintbrush still in her hand. She wore a white and purple butterfly mask that matched her butterfly coat.

Everyone else followed Zola’s hello with waves as Jo walked up to the only empty table. Link bounded over like a puppy and hugged her as tightly as he could with her full belly between them. The two of them had been together for most of the pandemic with her and Alex helping them with Scout and Link and Amelia returning the favor to help with Jo’s pregnancy.

“Where’s Uncle Alex?” Zola asked holding up her turkey painting to show Jo. 

“That looks very cool Zola and he is on his way. He had a meeting so he's just running a little late,” Jo said as she put a hand on her belly and eased herself into the lawn chair and put her feet up on Alex's empty chair. “I see you all left me the good chair.” 

“Yeah well the rest of us didn’t want to hear you complain about it for the entire night,” Amelia said, sending Jo a wink.

“I did not complain last time!” Jo insisted, looking over at Link who just looked at her wide eyed.

Jo knew that Link’s mouth was open under his mask as he was trying to find something to say to her before retreating back over to Amelia. 

Ellis grabbed a plate of paint and dragged her cat chair to Jo. “Aunt Jo, can I paint your belly?” 

“What?”

“She wants to paint your baby belly,” Meredith clarified for her, handing Bailey a plate of food. “She saw a picture of someone doing it online and now all she talks about is painting your belly.”

Jo looked back down at Ellis who looked up at her with the biggest puppy eyes and Jo knew that she was pouting under her mask. Jo smiled and nodded, how could she refuse Ellis’ request. Jo put her feet down and grabbed a pillow, putting it behind her back before she pulled up her shirt and tucking it under her breasts. Ellis giggled and grabbed her brush to paint a streak across Jo's belly. Jo shivered at the cold paint, but the feeling of Ellis’s brush was oddly soft and Jo found herself relaxing back as Ellis painted. 

The party continued and the conversation flowed. It had been a while since everyone had gotten together outside the hospital, especially with the kids and it was nice to relax and enjoy the night. 

“Oh that’s so cute,” Jo said as Link handed her a small canvas of one of her godson’s baby bumpkins. “I can’t wait to do that with this baby.” 

Jo smiled as she stared over at Amelia and her godson. Back when she and Link were serving coffee, just trying to make it through college. They talked about how their kids would grow up together and be friends. They would be each other’s family. After Jo left, she didn’t think she’d ever see him again, but she was so glad he came to Grey-Sloan and gave her a second chance.

“Yeah, it does make a good keepsake for Christmas too,” Link said, smiling back over at Amelia and the baby as well.

“Nuh-uh,” Jo mumbled, shaking her head as she took a bit of the nacho that she had dumped hot sauce on. “I’m having this baby tonight.”

Immediately all eyes were on her. 

“You're in labor!” Meredith shouted standing up and pulling out her phone, no doubt to call Alex.

“You're in labor!” Maggie freaked out as she dropped Zola’s painting.

“The baby’s coming today!” Zola cheered her eyes sparkling as she raced over to them.

“The baby’s coming!” Ellis shrieked, putting both of her hands on Jo’s belly that was still wet with paint.

“Oh my god, Jo why didn’t you say anything?” Link said, dropping down to his knees and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“No, I’m not in Labor,” Jo shouted above the noise.

“Josephine Brooke Karev are you still trying to induce labor a week before your due date?”

“Uncle Alex!” All the kids screamed, so excited to see him, they all talked over each other as they showed him their paintings. 

“For heaven's sake Jo,” Link said, his eyes wide as he sat down on the grass leaning on the arm of her chair. “Between you and Amelia, the stress is gonna kill me.”

“Why would you want to have your baby today?” Meredith asked, moving her chair over to sit next across from Jo.

“Well, our anniversary is Halloween. I just thought I’d keep with the theme, that way we'd always remember and it’d be extra special,” Jo said, with a shrug as she felt the baby kick inside her as if they were agreeing. 

“Regardless of the date it will be special, trust me. You're never going to forget your baby's birthday because it's also your labor day,” Meredith said her eyes sparkling and Jo knew that she was smirking over at her.

“I know, but I just thought I'd be fun,” Jo said, putting a hand on her baby belly where Ellis hadn’t painted, feeling them kick again as she turned to see Alex talking to the kids. 

He was nodding along to everything they were telling him and acting like Bailey's messy painted turkey was the greatest piece of artwork he's ever seen. She loved seeing Alex with all the kids so much that she didn’t mind being second best to her husband. He was so good to them, always listening to them talk and going along with whatever they wanted. She couldn't wait to see him with their kid and she knew that they already had them wrapped around their finger. 

“I painted Aunt Jo’s belly!” Ellis said putting her paint covered hands on Alex’s shirt. 

“And now we match,” Alex said looking down at his nice button up shirt to see two small handprints.

Jo laughed as Alex looked down at the sight of his ruined shirt. Meredith got up and took Ellis inside to wash her hands and Alex sat down next to her. He pulled down his mask to greet her with a kiss and settled in. Jo grabbed another bite of her pineapple spicy nachos and Alex took a piece from her plate.

“Hey,” Jo said, pulling the plate away from him.

“Sorry,” Alex laughed before feeding her the chip. 

Jo thought that he would have long since learned not to get between a pregnant woman and her food, but apparently not. 

Alex’s eyes turned serious as he looked over at her. “How are you feeling?” 

“My heartburn is better than it was this morning, my braxton hicks haven't been as intense as they were yesterday, and I did a hepatectomy on a guy who almost burnt down his house trying to cook a turkey with Jackson,” Jo said in between bites of her nachos.

“Yeah I’m surprised I got here before you,” Jackson said as he held Harriett and offered her a bite of green beans. “You finished the resection before I was done debriding his wounds.”

“I scrubbed in on a surgical extraction with Dr. Bailey right after,” Jo said with a laugh, remembering the case. “Some guy shoved a corn husk up you know where.”

“A corn husk?” Meredith asked in disbelief. “I can’t believe I missed that!”

“You can scrub in with me next year after COVID is cured and you can come back to work.”

“I’ll hold you to it, Karev.”

“It sounds like you had a good day,” Alex said, leaving in to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“I did.” 

Jo could see Alex smile under his mask as his eyes wrinkled and sparkled. Jo leaned in and pressed a masked kiss to his cheek. Alex chuckled, squeezed her shoulder as she leaned in and put her head on his shoulder. 

They watched the kids paint and ate too much of April's pumpkin pie and stayed long after the kids fell asleep as the alcohol came out for the adults. It was the first time they had all congregated outside of the hospital and no one was eager to leave. Her sober buddy, Amelia, came to sit next closer to her, and Jo cooed at her godson, gushing over his cute little baby cheeks even after he fell asleep. 

The cold night air set in and soon they were all bundling up in blankets, but no one wanted to head home first. Jo put the baby down inside and curled up against Alex as her braxton hicks started up again. She didn't mean to fall asleep but the next thing she knew Alex was shifting against her and pulling her onto her feet and putting one arm around her as he half carried her to the car, Jo mumbled goodbye to everyone. 

Jo fell asleep in the car and she didn't remember getting into bed, but the next thing she knew it’s 4 a.m. and she's waking up with a braxton hick. She rolled over in bed realizing that Alex changed her into pajamas. Jo’s not sure if it's because she was exhausted or what but, as soon as it passed she rolled over and fell asleep again. 

Somewhere around sunrise, just as the sun was shining into the windows, Jo got up with another braxton hick. She knew that moving helped and she had to pee anyway, but Jo only made it to the table behind the couch before she felt a trickle of water run down her leg. At first, she thought she had an accident, but the trickle of water just kept coming as Jo tried to clean herself up. Then she realized it was amniotic fluid. Her water broke. 

Jo turned around to wake up Alex, but before she could she doubled over in pain as her next contraction started. She knew that her contractions would increase in pain after her water broke that this was on a whole different level. 

Jo leaned against the table she tried to call out to Alex but she can’t speak. She was frozen in place until it passed. She knew that these weren't braxton hick, these were contractions, she was in labor. When she felt like she could move again Jo looked back at Alex, but she couldn't manage to call out to him. Instead, Jo got out her phone and pulled up her contacts, she blindly pressed Alex’s name and waited to hear his phone ring. Instead, she heard someone else answer her call.

“Hey Jo, what’s up” 

Meredith’s voice was music to her ears. Jo opened her eyes and shook her head as she looked down at the phone. Jo was so relieved to see her friend. Although she had originally planned to just call Alex, it seemed she had set up a video call with Meredith. Because of the restriction, Jo couldn't have anyone other than Alex with her when she gave birth. Despite her initial plan to have Meredith with her, they had agreed to have Meredith be there over video call to support her through it. In the midst of a contraction she could barely speak, but Meredith seemed to know exactly what was going on.

“Are you in labor?” 

Jo nodded, closing her eyes and swaying her hips, she wasn't sure why but somehow it seemed to help.

“How long have you been having contractions?” 

“I don't know,” Jo said, blowing out a breath as the contraction passed. “A few hours maybe.”

“What do you mean maybe?” Meredith asked, glaring at her. “When did the pain start?” 

“Before I went to bed last night I think.” 

“So you've been in labor for six hours, Jo how did you ignore this?” Meredith said as she rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose

“I have a high pain tolerance, and I'm used to sleeping through the pain and I was really tired,” Jo said, the memories of when she used to fall asleep after Paul beat her were not once she liked to remember, but as a result, Jo often ignored her pain out of habit.

“Well, where's Alex? He should have been keeping an eye on you.”

“Alex he's …” Jo shook her head, and trailed off as she had another contraction.

“Do you need me to get Alex?”

Jo nodded, the contraction had passed but she was so exhausted and let Meredith help her.

“Okay, hang on Jo I'm going to call him from a second phone,” Meredith reassured her as Jo heard her stuff laying around on the other end of the phone. “Amelia gimme your phone Jo’s in labor.”

Jo chuckled as Meredith continued to harass Amelia for her phone. Ever since Meredith had recovered from COVID she had been working from home and harassing them all via phone call. Especially her as Jo continue their work on the mini-livers from their lab at the hospital. 

“Okay, I'm calling him now.” 

Jo looked back at Alex who was still sleeping peacefully in their bed. The blanket was pulled back on her side and his arm was laying over her pillow leaving the impression of an empty space where she had been. Alex had that evening morning scruff that she loved and his lips were parted as he snored. He was completely oblivious to how his world was going to change in a few hours. 

Alex’s phone rang, the sound bouncing around the apartment. He rolled over and reached for his nightstand, cursing as he looked for his phone. Another contraction distracted her from calling out to him, but she heard him silence his phone and roll over again.

“Jo, Meredith is calling you.”

“No, I'm calling you,” Meredith yelled at him through Jo's phone. “Your wife is in labor Karev, get the hell up.”

Jo looked over to see Alex sit up and stared at her. He blinked once and then twice before he scrambled to get up, getting tangled in the blankets and tripping several times before he made it over to her.

“You're in labor?”

“Yes,” Jo and Meredith yelled at the same time.

“We’re having a baby!” 

“Yes, we're having a baby!”

“Okay well let’s go,” Alex said and Jo could see it on his face as he went from paranoid dad to helpful husband. “Let’s have a baby.”

“Let’s have a baby.” Jo smiled as Alex kissed her before another contraction hit and she closed her eyes in pain. They were for sure having a baby today. Happy Thanksgiving to her.

“How far apart are the contractions?”

“Every four minutes,” Meredith answered for her.

“Has your water broken?” 

“Not that I can tell.” 

“Jo?” Alex asked looked down to check, but Jo shook her head.

“Okay, let's check how dilated you are, but regardless we're going to head to the hospital. I'll call Carina and tell her to have a room waiting for us.” Alex said as he put his arms around her waist and Jo heavily leaned in on him.

Alex helped her over to the bed and Jo laid down, sinking into the mattress. Another contraction hit and Jo closed her eyes taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. 

“That’s it Jo, deep breaths, you're doing so good,” Alex praised her as he held her hand, and mirrored her breaths.

Jo felt the tears collect in her eyes and Alex spoke, she was so thankful that he was there cheering her on. He had been so supportive through her pregnancy. He braided her hair and rubbed her back when she puked. He tied her shoes and helped her reach for things. He rubbed her back and her feet when they ached, and he talked to their baby when they kicked her ribs. When the contraction passed and Jo opened her eyes to see Alex smiling down at her. She sighed and relaxed as he leaned forward and kissed her.

“He is right, you're doing everything like you're supposed to, you're doing great Jo,” Meredith said, from where Jo had left her phone propped up on the table.

Jo returned their smiles and squeezed Alex’s hand. “I’m having a baby.”

“You are, and you're handling it like a champ,” Alex said, moving back and putting a hand on her knees, Jo saw his face shift from proud and supportive husband to concerned doctor. “Your contractions are pretty close together. Can I check and see how dilated you are now.”

Jo nodded and lifted up her hips as he pulled off her pajama pants. Jo put her feet up by her hips and let her knees fall apart. Alex waited for her to nod before he checked her cervix, despite how many times they had sex, he always waited for her consent. Alex quickly checked her and then smiled looking down at her.

“Jo, have you felt the need to push?”

“No, why?” she asked, confused as she pushed herself up on her elbows. He had pulled back his hand, but didn't give her back her pants.

“You’re about 9 cm dilated, but we should get to the hospital before you have this baby in the car,” Alex said as he patted her knee and got up. “I’m gonna grab your bag and stuff and put it in the car then come back for you.”

“Oh my god!” Jo shouted as she sat up and watched Alex run around their apartment.

“Hey it’s okay Jo, just take a deep breath,” Meredith said, Leaning into the phone so Jo could see her whole face.

Jo nodded and took a deep breath, knowing that panicking wouldn't get her anywhere, and put a hand on her belly. She couldn't feel her baby kick, only the contractions that seemed endlessly painful. After a few deep breaths, she held herself calm back down and had to open her eyes and look back at Meredith who greeted her with a nod.

“Wait Alex, give me Meredith,” Jo shouted as she heard him open the door.

Alex stopped everything and grabbed the phone before handing it to her and running off again. Jo just smiled as she watched him go, running around like a mad dad, panicked as she labor. After everything they had been through, he was still so excited and nervous for their baby.

Another contraction hit and Jo closed her eyes, tuning out everything as Meredith talked her through it and Alex ran around with the bags. Finally, he came back and helped her down the stairs, and into the car. 

Jo barely remembered the car ride to the hospital. In between her contraction, Meredith and Alex talked to her and tried to distract her. She was so exhausted and could barely think as Alex and Meredith prompted her to move and breathe when they got to the hospital. It sort of worked, but it was all just a blur as they got her up to a room.

“Hello Jo,” Carina said that she came into the room rubbing fresh hand sanitizer over her hands before she reached for a pair of gloves. “I wasn't expecting to see you so soon.”

“I need to push,” Jo shouted, already bearing down, this baby was coming now, regardless of whether anyone was ready for them or not.

“Now!” Alex shouted in disbelief. “Shit we should have been here hours ago.”

“She said now!” Meredith insisted, yelling through the phone.

“You don’t have to do that you know,” Alex said, as he crawled in behind her, rather than push on her back they had her upright and Jo sat on the end of the bed while Alex held her up and squeezed both of her hands. 

“Jo wants me to advocate for her, this is me advocating.”

“Okay Jo push on the next contraction,” Carina said, shutting them both up as she got ready to catch the baby in between Jo’s legs.

Jo closed her eyes and tried to breathe as another contraction hit and she pushed with every bit of energy she had left. It felt like an endless circle of pain and pushing, then a break, and then more pain and pushing. She was so exhausted and she couldn't imagine doing this for an endless amount of hours. 

“You're doing great Jo, just a little bit longer and they're gonna be here,” Alex whispered in her ear.

“He’s right Jo. Everything is perfect and your little bambino is going to be here very soon,” Carina said giving her a short nod. 

Jo pushed for what seemed like hours and then Carina was announcing she could see the head. Jo knew that she had to keep going and pushed again and suddenly her baby was out and Carina held them up for them to see. 

The second their baby cried, Jo's heart stopped as Carina held up this tiny little red baby screened in their ears. Jo pulled down her gown so they could do some skin to skin and Carina quickly placed them on Jo’s chest. Jo's arm instantly moved to cradle them and she leaned back against Alex as the tears filled her eyes. She and her baby's cries filled the room. 

“She's so beautiful,” Alex sobbed on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around them both. 

“It's a girl,” Jo said in astonishment, she looked down to where the baby laid in her arms and their daughter looked up at them with big eyes as her cries quieted. 

“Alex do you want to cut the cord?”

Alex nodded and moved to cut the cord, taking the surgical scissors from the nurse. Meredith took a few pictures and Jo was glad she had asked her to beforehand because all she could focus on was the beautiful little girl in her arms.

Jo looked down at her beautiful, perfect daughter and moved to stroke her cheek. She hardly noticed the nurses cleaning her and taking their daughter’s Apgar scores. All she could think about was a perfect little baby in her arms. For her, falling in love was a gradual process, but Jo loved their baby from the moment she found out she was pregnant and she was so overwhelmed with love for her baby as she stared down at them.

Jo looked over at Alex as he moved out from behind her to stand next to her. As all the nurses attended to her and the baby. He looked so nervous as he stared down at her shifting his weight on his feet and stuffing his hands into his pockets. It was so unusual to see him so concerned and nervous. 

Jo looked down at their daughter, she’d had her for nine months and although it felt like she had only been holding her for a few minutes, Jo was sure that she was ready to watch Alex hold their baby for the first time. 

“Do you want to hold her?” Jo whispered, already moving the blanket that had been placed over both of them to loosely swaddle her and transferred their daughter into her chest.

Alex just nodded and took off his shirt so they could do skin to skin, then held out his arms for their daughter. Once she placed her in his arms, Alex slowly sank down in the chair next to her bed. He held her close to his chest before he seemed to remember how to hold a baby and cradled her in his arms as he relaxed back into the chair. She watched as Alex just gazed down at her with an expression of pure love. 

Jo could tell by the way that his eyes sparkled that he was smiling down at their daughter under his mask. Tears collected his eyes and a few escaped the corner of his eyes as he whispered to her. The baby opened her eyes and squirmed, crying out for a moment before Alex soothes her as he began to rock in the chair. The baby flailed her arms out and Alex reached out to hold one of her hands as her tiny hand wrapped around his big finger.

Jo finished pushing out the placenta and laid back onto the bed before Alex put their daughter back on her chest and put the blanket over both of them. Jo just stared down at her in amazement. She was so perfect, from her tiny little forehead to the thick tufts of dark hair. She stretched out her legs, kicking Jo before she curled back up into a tiny little ball and closed her eyes.

“She’s perfect,” Jo said to Alex, not taking her eyes off her daughter. “Even if her big head caused me a second degree tear.”

“Sorry about,” Alex said, sliding in to sit next to her.

“Well you and her big Karev heads are perfect and I can’t feel anything down there anyway,” Jo’s legs felt like mush and she couldn't tell how many stitches Carina was doing.

Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders leaning in to kiss her cheek. Jo turned and tilted her head to give him a proper kiss. 

“You did so good Jo, I'm so proud of you and she is absolutely beautiful,” Meredith said with a smile as they all look down at the baby. “I’m gonna let you two enjoy your baby and I’ll send you the pictures I took in a few minutes.” 

“Thank you,” Jo said as she looked over at Meredith who smiled.

“It was my pleasure,” Meredith said, tilting her head as she looked down at the baby. “Besides if it wasn’t for me you would still be laboring in the loft and Alex would be fast asleep.”

“Har har,” Alex said as Jo laughed. 

“But you Jo Karev,” Meredith said turning a pointed finger at her. “You have to keep remembering to watch your braxton hicks and not sleep through your labor until your nine centimeters dilated!”

“Meredith is right Jo, your labor progressed very quickly without you realizing it,” Carina said, as she set Jo with a look. “Next time, I want to see you in here as soon as your braxton hicks are consistent for more than an hour. I'd rather send you away with false labor then put you or your baby at risk.

“Yeah, we can’t have the next one on the couch in our living room,” Alex added, kissing her forehead.

“I know I said I wanted two kids, but let's not talk about a second one until my vagina starts hurting from having the first one,” Jo said as she glared at him as Alex turned to look down at their baby girl.

“She needs a name,” Alex said, changing the subject as he trailed a finger across her little hand as she wiggled her fingers.

“Meredith does make a really good name,” Meredith sang, raising her eyebrows and giving them a look.

“We'll take it into consideration,” Jo said looking back at Alex. They had a list of names they were still arguing over, some of the names were new, but others were after friends and family.

Meredith ended the call and most of the nurses left, it was just them and Carina, who was finishing the last of Jo’s stitches. The baby fussed, turning her head and opening her mouth, signaling that she was hungry. Jo moved her down and Carina helped her and the baby get a good latch on her breast. Soon their baby was making happy little eating noises as her parents smiled down at her.

“She does need a name,” Alex whispered to her, setting his head on her shoulder and he looked down at their daughter as she nursed. 

“You know which one I like.”

“I know,” Alex sighed, looking away from her.

“You should call her,” Jo said, turning to look at him as he gazed off into space. “Call her and then decide, and if you still don't want the name. we can choose a different one.”

“Okay.” Alex nodded and kissed her shoulder as they turned their attention back to their baby girl.

After their daughter finished eating and Carina finished her stitches, Alex ran to grab her some food from the cafeteria. Jo chatted with Meredith again for a few minutes about the pictures before Alex came back and they ate. He put on a movie some kind of Christmas movie that Jo wasn't really interested in so she closed her eyes. She must have fallen asleep and slept for a few hours only to be woken up by Carina and the nurses checking on her. 

It’s still later in the early afternoon but the closed blinds and curtains made it seem like night and it was easy for her to close her eyes. She stared at the baby in Alex's arms before she fell asleep again and when Jo woke up and the baby was in the bassinet next to her bed. She reached out an arm to lay a hand on her chest feeling the baby breathing under her hand and fell back asleep. 

When Jo woke up again she heard Alex talking faintly on the phone again. The baby was not under her hand and for a moment Jo panicked, she looked around the room and she saw Alex holding the baby in a football hold, as he rocked back and forth with his back to her. Jo relaxed and closed her eyes as she listened to the baby gurgle and coo as Alex talked on the phone. 

“Yeah, thanks Mom, we can’t wait for you to see her,” Alex said as he walked back over and sat down next to her. Jo blinked and caught his eyes and he smiled at her. “Hang on Jo’s awake, let me give her the baby.”

Alex set the phone down and unswaddle the baby before setting her on Jo’s chest. The baby settled on Jo as she put a hand on her back tracing her spine and noting her clean skin. While she was asleep, Alex and the nurses must have bathed her and they put her in a plain hospital hat and onesie and Jo safely tucked those away for safekeeping. Jo reached over to the bag on the chair next to her and pulled out the little turkey onesie along with a dark orange hat to match. 

Jo sat the bed up and put the baby on her lap as she changed her clothes, the baby slept through the whole thing and Jo pulled her close to whisper to her daughter. She tried out the names they had on their list, including Meredith, and just as she expected, the name Jo wanted for her fit. 

Jo looked up at Alex as he finished the call with his mom and smiled at him as he put down his phone and came to sit down next to her. “She needs a name. We can't just call her baby forever.”

“I know,” Alex said, looking down at the baby as Jo shook her head. 

“Let's try them all out and see which one fits,” Jo said, she knew that Alex was still hesitant, but that he would know that the moment he heard it and connected the name to the sight of their daughter. 

“Okay, hello Stephanie,” Alex said looking down at their daughter before he shook his head. Jo chuckled, she knew Stephanie would be disappointed, like Meredith they had considered the name as they wanted her to be named after someone they loved, but it just didn't fit. “Okay, you do the next one.”

“Alright, hello Meredith or Edith for short,” Jo said to her, it was the name Alex wanted and Jo liked it too. Meredith meant so much to them and they had agreed to have it as her middle name regardless, but it wasn’t her first name.

“You're right, it doesn't fit,” Alex said as he sighed and leaned back into the chair.

“No,” Jo said looking down at the baby in her arms. She took Alex's hand and pulled it over to hold their daughter's hands that had wiggled out from the swaddle. “Her name is Helena, after your mom and Mrs. Schmidt.”

Alex smiled as he looked down at their daughter and rubbed the back of her hand. “Yeah, she's Helena.”

“Helena,” Jo said as their daughters fluttered open and she stared up at them.

Alex's phone lit up with a video call from Meredith. He looked over at Jo, they had agreed to the video call beforehand, and although Jo hadn't had any time to shower or even wash her face she knew none of them would care and nodded as he answered the call. They were greeted with the sight of their family. Meredith, Amelia, Lincoln, Maggie, Winston, Jackson, April, Ben, Bailey, Richard, all the kids, and even Levi and Helm joined the call. Everybody cooed and gushed over the baby and the kids talked about how excited they were.

“Have you two decided on a name yet?” Meredith asked as everybody went silent waiting for them to respond.

“Guys say hello to Helena Meredith Karev.”

[theunrealinsomniac]

Fic Writer Review

Thanks for the tag @dbzebra !! This is gonna be fun! I technically have two pseuds on Ao3 but we'll stick to the main one for simplicity

1.How many do you have on Ao3? 8

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 270,227 words. Jesus.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?  4. Naruto, Harry Potter and The Dresden Files. And one prompt based in Avatar: The Last Airbender lol.

4. What are your top 5 five by kudos?

An Absolutely, Totally, Non-Romantic Wedding Date - 333

Complicated - 186

Some Strings Attached - 172

Cop the Wizard - 104

A Tumble In Konoha - 95

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?  I try to. I'm not always as immediate as I should be. I like to let readers know I'm seeing their comments and I like chatting with the one's who wanted to say more but needed a nudge lol.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I tend to work in happy endings but I think there's one of the stories in A Tumble In Konoha that is next level angsty. More than one.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written? Not really? I had one story way back when that was a soft Naruto/Bleach crossover but it was more that Naruto had a zanpakuto.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Oh buddy lol. Not on Ao3 that I remember but I have received all sorts of hate on FFN. Like, I've been writing for 16 years, I could tell you horror stories.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? HA! Yes. And all sorts lol. Those mostly happy, funny and/or kinky smut.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yep. Someone stole the first sixteen chapters of my big HP fanfic, I was in the low 20s chapterwise at that point, and someone pointed it out to me. I followed the link but by the time I'd reported them to the domain and was about to directly message them ... everything had gone, their whole account scrubbed.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? I've been asked, but due to having my fics robbed before ... I've never felt comfortable sadly. I'm sure it'd be great and lovely, but I'm too suspicious.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! And it's fun, but the co-author has kinda fallen off of writing and I've moved away from the fandom after a lot of hate.

13. What is your all time favourite ship? NaruSaku. Next lol.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I've actually got pretty good at finishing things I've started now and all the WIPs I have are on going projects that I devote time to semi-regularly. It's more likely that I'll have original work projects that I will never finish. And I have a long list in that case lol.

15. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm good at humour, romance and smut. And dialogue has always come easy to me.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? I can really struggle to get started. Once I get going it's like I'm cooking with gas but getting started can sometimes be a big problem. I'm also prone to turn nearly any scene with NaruSaku into smut and that's not always helpful to the narrative.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Eh, if it flows naturally it can work. I do have little things in my canon au's of Naruto where they say Kami instead of god and I'm okay with that. I don't really have strong opinions on it tbh.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Naruto lol.

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve ever written?  The Reluctant Champion for deeply soppy and personal reasons and An Absolutely, Totally Non-Romantic Wedding Date because it typifies my entire take on NaruSaku as characters and a couple. It is always my first rec to anyone who asks which of my works they should start with. It's very fun and I'm immensely proud of it.

i tag @daddywarbats @yanagi-uxinta, @chattegeorgiana + anyone who wants to do it :)

[dragonshost]

Day 60: ErTear

I really like this pairing, it sits pretty squarely in my strike zone for numerous reasons lol.  Villain x Hero? CHECK.  Redemption Arc? CHECK.  Pretty Brunette x Pretty Redhead? CHECK.  Badass x Badass? CHECK. ANGST POTENTIAL???  CHECKMATE I’M DEAD.

I know I’m ace but this pairing is HOT DAMN.

Also, this one gets a little suggestive but contains nothing explicit.

Bumped up in the batting order for @renkyrie. I hope you enjoy it! :)

On FFN - link

On AO3 - link

.

Armada Day 60: Hands Stained Red Erza x Ultear

.

It was strange how her hands could be rendered so beautiful in Erza’s eyes, when they were not so in Ultear’s own.  They were stained with blood and reeked of iron to her senses, but Erza called them lovely, and held them as gently as she would delicate glass.  There were no calluses upon Ultear’s hands – a side effect of the magic they wielded, perhaps – and always so cold from the ice that ran in her veins (a gift from her mother that had surely protected her just as much as it had damned her).  They were in stark contrast to Erza’s own hands which were rough and so warm that Ultear felt like melting whenever they touched her.

And touch her they did, and often.  The first time had stemmed from an apology, given in a spare moment in a hidden place soon after Erza’s return from Tenrou.  It had been innocent, that first touch.  Erza had clasped Ultear’s bloodstained hands in her own and had enveloped them in warmth Ultear hadn’t known how to feel until then.  That was all it had been, though.  Just that little amount of contact – neither of them were comfortable with having the walls they’d erected around themselves breached by a practical stranger – but… it was enough.  That first had led to another meeting, Ultear seeking out the redhead without even realizing it.  At the beginning she’d made the excuse of updating Erza on how their mutual friend was doing.  But soon enough Erza was asking after her instead, and Ultear forgot to use the crutch Jellal provided more and more often, until he became an afterthought rather than her purpose.

It was strange, too, that her hands could now bring forth something other than death.  Now her hands made red stains across Erza’s skin instead of pools of blood.  It made her wonder if, someday, the former would outnumber the latter.  That the only red staining her hands would be scarlet hair strands from her lover, or kiss-swollen lips held against her palms.

Only time would tell.

But Ultear intended to give it the chance to.

[companion-of-the-dragonmark]

A Birthday to Remember | Chapter 3

FFN | AO3

Title: Chapter 3: “A Familiar Face and a Jinx Fulfilled (Thank You, Fishlegs)”

Summary:

Hiccup trudges through the Gift-Giving Ceremony and meets a familiar face; he also sees the jinx Fishlegs had unintentionally caused earlier come into fruition as he comes face-to-face with the last person he wanted to see. (Thank you for nothing, Fishlegs!)

Author’s Note:

Well met, my fellow Companions! You can't tell how excited I am that I have finally finished Chapter 3 of "A Birthday to Remember"! AH! Such a wonderful feeling!

I would also like to ask for your forgiveness for the long hiatus. I had meant to get this chapter finished months ago, but I had to deal with several enemies: the Crisis, procrastination, and many, many distractions. As a result, my hopes were a productive summer was mercilessly SLAUGHTERED!

I've also been busy thinking up of new works to work on for the rest of 2020-2021, and I've come up with several that I think you'll like.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and I hope it was worth the wait. I DO plan on getting the last chapter finished by... no later than November. I'm going to be kinda busy with Whumptober, a Gift Exchange, and possibly even NaNoWriMo (Spring and Autumn are among my busiest times of the year), so no promises as to when I'll get it done. But, crossing my fingers, I'll get the final chapter finished as soon as I can. Who knows? I might even end up surprising myself. lol XD

Thank you again so much guys for your support and cheerleading from the sidelines. You have no idea how much that has helped motivate me to write these fanfics and even finish this chapter and post it. You guys are awesome! ^_^

Long Live the Wilderwest!

— Companion of the Dragonmark

Warnings: None

Rating: G/K+

<><><><><><><>

The Gift-Giving Ceremony was possibly one of the most dreaded moments of his birthday for Hiccup. Don't get him wrong, he liked receiving gifts as much as the next person, but when those gifts were what one usually gave to the typical, average, everyday, muscle-strapped, barrel-shaped, ax-wielding, violence-loving, wild-bearded Viking, rather than a Runt who was anything but the typical Viking, it can get tedious and unexciting quickly. And thus Hiccup was the victim of these unoriginal gifts from unoriginal people — just as he was on his other birthdays.

Imagine if you were in his dragon skin boots: it was your birthday and instead of it being a small birthday with only your intimate friends like you wanted, your parents throw a large birthday party and invite the entire town. (Oh, and your father is MAYOR of said town). And imagine that these people, who were mere acquaintances or even complete strangers many of them, come over with gifts, because it's obligatory. And since many of them don't know you personally, or weren't given a birthday list of any description, they just get you gifts that befit a child of your age — regardless of whether you want them or not. And imagine that most of these guests don't even like you, particularly your peers. So at the end of it all, you're stuck with all of these gifts (many of which you'll never use) given to you by people who don't really care about you or your birthday, and you have to be obligated to thank them and to let them eat most of your birthday cake.

This was what Hiccup was feeling at this moment — and had felt every time his birthday came along (which wasn't often). It's difficult to feel excited about your birthday when you're forced to throw a party for a Tribe who's almost universally torn between wishing that you either had already grown up into a muscle-bound Viking like them, or just never existed in the first place.

And since birthday cake hadn't been invented yet (it was called the "Dark Ages" for a reason), there was nothing for Hiccup to look forward to to take his mind off of this depression fact.

It truly was the Dark Ages.

(Read more on FFN or AO3 via the links above.)

[justjstuff]

You know what day it is? Wednesday! BUT. For the past.... three months, I think? I’ve managed to update every Friday (I missed two, but I swear to god I had a good reason :(  anyways,) and me and the crazy, lovely people who comment decided to give a name to those update fridays lol I’m dorky, I know, but you guys followed me!! 

So, I present to you: FIRE FRIDAYS

When I first started DoF I used to sometimes post here whenever there was an update but I kinda fell behind on that? I don’t even know why, I’m always going about the community and how we should be more active and shit and then I went ahead and didn’t lol. So, now that I reached 300 followers- yep. three. fucking. hundred. I don’t even know HOW that happened. Anyways, now that I’m realising I have some followers here, I figured it was time for me to start being more active and promoting my own content more. Every Friday there will be a post about our Fire Friday so if you guys follow me and don’t wanna see that, just block the tag fire friday :)

Also, and okay this post is all over the place I’m sorry, I’ll start being more active on twitter dot com as well. I’m @jadeyedcorvus​ there too and you betcha I’ll start posting more about my writing over there.

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS IS: I need a new name. Lol this is so hard and it seems like I have commitment issues even with fucking usernames :`) I think it’s time I ask for a bit of help from outside sources lol HELP ME CREATE A NEW USERNAME I BEG YOU. I’m gonna be using that new one for all my social media (tumblr, twitter, FFN, AO3, Youtube, Twitch, IG) so it has to be something catchier than jadeyedcorvus (which SUCKS, it just sounds like im saying JEDIcorvus) Right. I officially overshared in a post that was supposed to be super short about my new update. lol. Here, have the link of chapter 31 and don’t forget chapter 32 comes out this Friday ;)

AO3/FFN

[echoeternally]

4, 13 (the second half of course,) and 19!

Bah, I’m late for this. But ok! Here we go.

4.) Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

...Why pick the hard one first? Why do this? (I’m always afraid of feeling pride for my work, lol.)

Ok, ok, let’s see...god, I can’t even decide...

Well, one that I like is the opening of Bowser’s letter for Eternally Never Yours, because that is one of the most impactful moments for the story to establish its tone and entice readers in. I’m sure you know the part:

“Mario,

Let's get this cleared up:

You're a moron.

I don't get how you've been missing it for so long. I'm not going to make it easy and spell it out for you. It's not your style and that's not how I want it. But I'm losing my patience, which has never been that high to begin with.

...

How could you not see that I'm doing this…all of it…for you?”

Like, that’s such a winning opener, and I have had so many readers go, “Omg, this perfect, and it drew me in.” I can’t deny it’s one that I was delighted to write immediately for what became my longest fanfic.

I have more scenes that I like, but I figured this one was optimal to share, lol.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

13.) Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

Heck to only the second part! Shameless self-promo, gooooo!

My AO3 is here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEcho/pseuds/EternallyEcho/works

Annnd my FFN is over here: https://www.fanfiction.net/~echoeternal

I write lots of fluffy romances that belie the darker themes and periling adventures that I send my favorite characters through. But sometimes, just soft mushy stuff too. Enjoy!

Second half...goes below the cut! Along with the rest of the answers. 

...

Ok, so, yes and no about the projects that I’ve kept to myself. Like, I do have things, fanfics and original works, that I’ve written or made plans on. But, some of it emphasizes the “made plans” and basically is skeleton work that I’ve never followed up on.

For the fanfic portion, there are things that I’ve started that I might eventually post, like an Among Us one-shot, and scenes for the Pokémon fanfics.

There’s other stuff that I’ve abandoned, including a small heaping of Star Fox fanfic content from Nexus of Lylat.

And then I’ve got ideas that I just...I dunno, never got around to bringing forward. There’s some X-Men stuff I wanted to bring forward, but that came out as a jumbled mess, so I think I’m going to just not do that, lol.

And I wanted to write a Zelda story set in a time where Link isn’t around as the hero, like either during the Downfall timeline or during his BotW 100 year slumber. But, I haven’t the time to develop it nicely, so, away it’ll stay.

...

Original fanfic stuff, I make ideas very frequently, but I’ve written out almost none of it. I don’t think it’s very appealing overall, because it basically amounts to my personal Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

No, I don’t play DnD, so no, it’s not really meant to be inspired by that. In fact, I’d credit Fire Emblem faster because of the war themes.

Plus, I’ve noticed that interest for writing isn’t exactly high when it’s not about fanfics, at least not with me, so, I have little to no motivation.

(Furthermore, I lack a lot of personal support regarding some themes and topics that I want to put into it, because LGBTQ+ stuff and the people that know me irl totally not being into such, but nobody needs to hear about that, lol.)

Kind of a shame, because I had like a 4 story idea that would’ve eventually led to a crossover between them, but that wouldn’t be feasible for me at any rate. Maybe when I’m old and (hopefully) retired.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

19.) Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

Do you really need me to call myself out? I don’t want to do this.

Ok, well...I was told once about how I write “clasping hands” too much. Like,  there were a number of scenes in my stories where the characters do that so often, and someone mentioned that and I was like, “NO, MY CRUTCH!”

I pulled back on it lately, but it’s definitely something you can probably see from my earlier works, and I probably haven’t eliminated that entirely.

Also, I focus on eyes a lot for romance stuff, and I want to stop myself, but colors are pretty and I love partners gazing longingly into one another’s eyes because I find that romantic, ok?! Uuuuugh.

...

Oh, and I probably make people “chuckle” way too much. Possibly “giggle” too. But I’m not going to swap those with “guffaw” because that sounds dumb or snobbish as hell, and I absolutely refuse.

“Mario smirked as he tenderly tickled Bowser’s stomach, eliciting a hearty guffaw from his lover.”

Like, get the hell out, no one wants to read that. 

... ... ... ... ... ... ... 

Anyway, thank you for sending in the ask! It was fun to look over my writing stuff and consider things.

Actually, now I’m curious: which lines of writing resonate with my audience?

I’ll be left to wonder, I suppose...

Ah well! Thanks again!

[drsteggy]

I want to know... Were there chapters of your long fic that you were nervous to post? Or where you were worried about how your readers would react?

So when I was posting that fic last year, I was pretty much flying blindly. I really had no writer friends yet, though I was trying to make them. I wasn’t really into this whole section of the fandom yet, and I was getting frustrated with it. I would throw out chapters and have absolutely no idea if what I was doing was good, or if people liked it.

I finally did pick up a couple regular that I don’t think actually made it to the end as I had a couple long spots between updates. Sooooo.... very confused and I liked what I was writing but without feed back everything I was posting involved a lot of steeling myself.

I was also posting to FFN at the same time and trying to make friends on Facebook writing groups (hello I’m old) I had this super weird interaction with a guy who seemed friendly and praised my work and then suddenly got super weird and blocked me on FB and caused drama there. At about the same time that was going on I picked up an anonymous troll on FFN (at least, I think all the posts were the same person) who pushed the idea that I was forcing the relationship between Link and Zelda.

Link and Zelda were not originally supposed to get together, but they both developed other ideas about this. No one else outside of anonymous posts on FFN has told me the relationship felt artificial or forced but I’m still a little wiffy about the idea (hello imposter syndrome you bitch) and I was very very anxious publishing the chapter where he kisses her and the chapter with their first fade to black sex scene...and almost no one has ever had anything to say about them, so my guess is they went just fine where they ended up in the fic. And then they ended up in bed another two times so I got over that lol.

Thank you for the ask @zeldaelmo