#this is the most quickest a character ever came to me

[starlightopia]

Not me yolo-ing it and Jamil came home with just THREE single keys

[peterman-spideyparker]

Let There Be Love (Matt Murdock x fem!Reader)

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! I didn't fall off the face of the earth! I've been writing, but, I've really just have had a lack of motivation to post. Enjoy! :)

Summary: When Matt asks you to find your cassette player, you humor him. As he pops in the tape and you begin to dance with one another, you recall the first time that you met your fiancé.

Warnings: Sweet fluff, established couple, flirty banter, kisses talk about marriage/wedding

Other Characters: None

Word Count: 1,252

“It’s evidence,” you say with a little shrug. “You’re an attorney. You can appreciate that, right?”

“It’s hoarding,” Matt chuckles as he walks over to you with a full glass of wine. 

He clinks his own glass to yours. “I keep what’s important,” you explain before you take a sip. 

He kisses your temple as his hand slides down the curve of your body. “Hoarder,” he murmurs.

“This hoarder will take her cassette tape player back into evidence lock up if she needs to—.” He gives you a little puppy dog pout, his eyes sparkling in the neon coming in through the frosted windows. You run your fingers through his hair as you lean forward with a kiss. “You know you love me.”

“Of course I do,” he says with another little kiss to your lips. “Thank you for your expansive evidence lock up, angel.”

“So,” you start, taking a sip of your wine and sitting on the sofa, tucking your feet underneath you. “Why did you need my cassette player?”

“Because we’ve been trying to figure out our first dance song,” he explains as he fiddles with the machine. “I was looking around in my bedside drawer for my backup glasses until I could get my regular ones fixed, and I found this tape. Do you have any idea what it is?”

“Foggy’s Intro to Punjabi tape?”

Matt tosses his head back in laughter. “C’mon, seriously.”

“I can’t say that I do! I mean, in all honesty, too, I think the last time I used a cassette was 2004. 2007, maybe.”

“This tape belonged to my dad. He made it. It had some of his favorites, some songs that he dedicated to my mom. One he thought they’d play at their wedding. I was listening to it one day—I was missing my dad, and I popped it on. Then, a girl with the prettiest voice I’d ever heard came knocking at my door with a bushel of carrots in her hand, asking if I’d seen a rabbit hopping about the residence hall . . .” You watch Matt smile as he gets the tape to play in the spot that he wants. “This was the song that was playing when we first met. This is the song that I’d like to play when I dance with you for the first time as my wife.”

“Now I feel bad about my joke.”

“C’mere.”

“Matt,” you hum sweetly, setting your wine glass down on the coffee table, moving to wrap your arms around his waist. 

“I can never remember the name of the song, I just know the sound. That’s why I needed the cassette player.”

He leans in, giving you a long kiss as you both slowly start to sway in a little circle. “You know where we found that rabbit?” I grin. 

Confusion briefly furrows his brows. “Where?”

“Our study spot. Well, it wasn’t our study spot at the time, but, that’s where Tony Hawk was. Like a sign. Premonition?”

“Wait, wait. The rabbit’s name was Tony Hawk?”

“Yeah,” you chuckle. “I never told you that?”

“No!” he laughs, holding you closer. “I think I’d remember that detail.”

“Well, that’s what happens when a veterinarian student from Carlsbad, California is in charge of naming animals.”

“Well, then, thank God for Tony Hawk.” Matt leans in for a kiss as one of your most cherished memory to mind. 

“C’mon, c’mon,” you sigh as you look around desperately. How you're the one that got wrangled into finding a rabbit, you don’t know. It belongs to your roommates best friend’s boyfriend’s roommate, and yet you're the one carrying the bushel of carrots around your dorm trying to find the quickest bunny around. “Tony! C’mon Tony Hawk, I’ve got all these tasty carrots for you, pal!” Your eyes light up when you notice a door on the left of the hall is open. With any luck, he’s either snuck in there, or they at least noticed a rabbit bounce down the hall. Picking up your pace, you make your way down to the door. 

Gently knocking on the wooden frame, you poke your head in. 

“Hi,” you start, finding just one guy—one gorgeous guy—sitting on his bed with an open book and music gently playing in the background, something smooth and jazzy. “Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, but have you seen a rabbit around?”

He lifts his head up, his beautiful hazel eyes sparkling in the late afternoon light. The kind of bright light that happens just before dusk. His smile is warm and inviting, and your heart races. You feel your cheeks grow hot as you try to keep your cool. Based on his face, this is that hot blind law student you’ve heard all the girls talk about. Unfortunately, you're so focused on keeping your cool, you miss his response.

“Um,” he responds. Oh, hell, his voice is as warm as honey in tea. “Are you alright?”

“S-Sorry,” you stutter. “I’m okay. The bunny is just small, y’know? I’d really just like to get him back to his owner.”

He flashes you a little smirk, his brows bunching together in amusement. “The rabbit isn’t yours?”

“No,” you sigh, letting him in on your annoyance. “Long story. Don’t ask.”

“Okay, I won’t. For now, at least.” You chuckle softly as you dip your head. “I’m Matt, by the way.”

“(Y/N),” you respond. “It was nice to meet you, Matt. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“No, not a bother at all.” The smile pulls back on his face as he pulls his fingers off of the open book in front of him. “I’d offer to help look, but, I have to go to class in a bit.”

“No, you’re totally okay. I appreciate it.”

“Maybe if you’re not still hunting for a rabbit later, we could grab some coffee.”

“I’d like that.”

“Okay,” he says softly.

You smile at one another like idiots for a good few beats before you start to slowly back out of his room. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

You sway with Matt in the living room, looking up at him, your entire world. Your sun, your moon, and your stars. And in a few months, he’ll officially be your husband.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispers.

“Just how that damn rabbit led me to the love of my life,” you say softly. “Do you think we would’ve found one another later in life had it not been for Tony Hawk?”

He just smiles as he leans his face toward yours. “You’re my destiny, angel. One way or another, I was always going to find you. I was always going to fall madly in love with you. I was always going to marry you.”

You feel how tears sting at your lash line. “You’re gonna make me bawl like a baby when we do our vows, huh?” you sniffle.

“Oh,” he says with a sweet pout. “I’m not that cruel. I’m going to write them out for you to read before the ceremony. If you’re gonna cry, what makes you think I’ll be able to get through saying them without crying?” Matt just leans in for a soft kiss, his lips lingering on yours for a long time before he’s satisfied. “I love you so incredibly much,” he whispers. “Thank you for loving me in return.”

You snuggle in on him, resting your ear right over his heart. “Forever and always, Matty.”

Permanent Taglist: @majesticavenger @steampowerednightvaler @themusingsofmany @just-the-hiddles @toozmanykids @dangertoozmanykids101 @clints-worldavengers @theburningbookshop @itwasthereaminuteago @peter1ismybrother @hellskitchens-whore​​ @dpaccione @catnip987​ @blackhawkfanatic

Matt Murdock Taglist: @two-unbeatable-beaters  @loves0phelia

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Pricklywhicket/@messessentialist ! Prickleywhicket has four fics published to AO3 -- All in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by pricklywhicket:

so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey

it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)

start by pulling him out of the fire

"Sadie is so super talented in the way she describes literally everything. She is so good at writing and it's a shame that she's flown under the radar because she's not the quickest at putting things out there." -- Anonymous

Below the cut, Pricklywhicket answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Why do any of us write anything? Because we want the story to exist in the world, and it doesn’t yet, so we gotta hike up our pants and do it ourselves!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Hurt/Comfort. I’m always a sucker for the blorbos taking care of one another, in whatever form that takes. This has always been true, across a truly astronomical number of fandoms I’ve found myself dabbling in over the years.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

…actually, probably hurt/comfort! I just need to get those little dudes some validation and unconditional positive regard, okay?

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I’m sure I won’t be the first one to say this, but: I HAVE TO PICK ONE????? Okay, alright. I can do this. I’m gonna say…Sanctuary by SpicedSage.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve only written canon or canon-adjacent fic so far, so I’m eager to work on something that’s completely AU. I think there’s a unique challenge to keeping characters recognizable as themselves in a world that might not have all the same contexts that made them into that person.

What is your writing process like?

I would love to say it’s super organized and well-planned, but the truth is it’s mostly about routine and responsibility. I set aside time to do it every day, even if I can only tap out a few sentences. I’m not very strict about writing in a straight line - I can stop a scene if it’s giving me trouble, write a note about what I think happens in some [brackets], and move on to something that I have more fully fleshed-out ideas for. Sometimes writing the next scene helps you know more about what needs to happen in the current one. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

I'm sure my betas would say yes 🙃 I tend to write a lot of dialogue - a lot of my revision process is going back through and realizing I have two pages of a conversation with no indication of what’s physically happening in the world around the speakers.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely when I’m finished. Prior to my ‘23 bang fic, I had never written anything chaptered. I knew going in that I could NOT start posting if it wasn’t finished, because I’ve been burned too many times by abandoned works. I didn’t want to do that to people reading my fic, and the best way to avoid it is to finish before you post.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Easily start by pulling him out of the fire. The biggest, most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted - I still kind of can’t believe I wrote 85k.

How did you get the idea for start by pulling him out of the fire?

Like most terrible ideas, it was spawned in a fandom discord chat. We were discussing the tendency of Steddie fics to centralize the party at Steve’s house, because his parents are never there anyway. And then someone mentioned what if the parents came home and found their house occupied, and someone else mentioned Wayne being there, and it just sort of…spiraled out from there.

When writing start by pulling him out of the fire, what was something you didn’t expect?

I had no idea, going in, that I was going to write a comprehensive history of the Wayne and Eddie Munson relationship. I started writing it where I did to give some background on Wayne’s existing distaste for the elder Harrington, and then I just…kept writing. Over the course of a month or two I wrote 20k of WayneAndEddie that I had no idea was in me - it just kept coming.

What inspired it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)?

@wynnyfryd. It was a gift for her birthday. We were talking about our mutual love of Letterkenny, and she mentioned that the episode was her favorite and wouldn’t it be funny if someone wrote… and the rest is history.

What was your favorite part to write from it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)?

I had an unreasonable amount of fun with that one in general. But I think my favorite part was Eddie polling the party about what Steve means to them all. It was fun to sort of put myself in each character’s shoes and think about how they would answer. Plus y’know, any excuse to unironically love on Steve Harrington.

How do/did you feel writing so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey?

I believe my exact words upon deciding to write it were “jingles miserably to a blank google doc.” This was a classic case of saying “god I wish there was a fic where—” and having friends tell me that it was now my responsibility to write it. I’m glad I did, though. I love that story, and it proved to me that I could write sex and publish it and not burst into flames. I also just really, really love summer storms. And Wayne’s use of the singular ‘herpe.’

What was the most difficult part of writing so let's sneak in from the cheap seats honey?

Getting over the fear of publishing something E-rated. It was just something I hadn’t done, and I had a lot of anxiety that people were not going to respond well to it. I made three people individually review the sex scenes before I even asked anyone to beta the full fic. Of course I was worried for nothing, the reception for that fic was super lovely and gave me the confidence boost I needed to attempt start by pulling him out of the fire!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

This is like asking me to pick a favorite child. I’ll say this: most of my favorite lines in start by pulling him out of the fire were taken directly from conversations @wormdebut and I had about the fic. She’s my number one cheerleader and sounding board, and sometimes she’s so goddamn funny that I just have to include it. You have her to thank, for instance, for Steve quite literally dropping his croissant when he first sees Eddie in glasses.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I have a couple of irons in the fire, but nothing I’m ready to share just yet! I’ve been taking a breather from writing (blame baldur’s gate 3, okay) but my WIPs are still very much IP. Stay tuned!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Not that I can think of!

Thank you to our author, Pricklywhicket, and our anonymous nominator! See more of pricklywhicket's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[dumb-hat]

alternate: What would your OC's alternate universe look be? If they're a fantasy character, what's their modern look? If they're sci-fi, what's their fantasy look? What AU would you want to see your OC in, and how would they dress themself? Bonus: Prompt an AU! (Really expecting an Exalted answer here...)

Okay, goddammit. I'll do it. I'll do the damn thing.

So here's the issue, right: I love Exalted. I really, really love Exalted. Some of my best friendships have been made across a table where we played that game. A lot of the ones that weren't made by Exalted were made better by Exalted. Aside from a few breaks here and there, the game's been a big part of my life ever since it came out in 2001. I'm running an Exalted game right now, and I'll be running more soon.

So of course I've spent a lot of time figuring out where Evander could fit into all of that. Hell, I've done that across multiple editions, at this point. I'm going to stop myself short of doing an entire Exalted-focused rewrite of his character history, but trust me, that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it.

(Okay, okay... Fine. tl;dr: Replace Limsa Lominsa with Wu-Jian, you should probably replace Ishgard with a Northern satrapy to the Scarlet Empire, but I'm gonna swap it with Whitewall because I love Whitewall, then replace Ul'dah with Chiaroscuro... again, mostly because I love Chiaroscuro. If none of that makes sense, feel free to ask me about it and I will give entirely too much context. I will give so much context that you will hate me.)

Anyway... The quickest question to ask and answer regarding an Exalted AU Evander is "What kind of Exalted is he, anyway?"

Okay, quickest isn't the right word, or we wouldn't be here. But it's the question that people would ask if we were actually talking about it, so it's the question we're going to answer. There's... There's a lot of places to go with this. Depending on which edition you're going with and how you want to slice things up, there's like... anywhere from 5 to 10 different playable kinds of Exalted, and even then, you can break some of those down into like... subgroups and stuff. My point here is... I'm going to exercise some restraint and not go into each one.

I'm going to do three and whittle it down to one.

So, maybe the most obvious option would be to say he's a Solar Exalted. Solars are the chosen of the Unconquered Sun, the King of Heaven, the god of virtue and excellence. His chosen are champions and exemplars among humanity, and their legendary deeds are backed up by ambition and limitless potential. They're just fucking good at stuff. Given how much Evander likes to design and tinker with shit, and how much he loves just knowing stuff, it'd be tempting to go a bit against type and call him a Twilight Caste, the Solars who are chosen to be sages and scholars among their peers... But nah, he's an obvious Night Caste. Night Caste Solars are the shadowy left hand of the Unconquered Sun, acting decisively from the shadows. They're your superspies, superthieves and superassassins... And if we wanted to take the easy route, your SuperEvanders.

The Solar Exalted are my favorites, but I think it might be more fun to imagine him as one of the Dragon-Blooded, whose family lines have been chosen by the Elemental Dragons to wield their elemental gifts. They differ from Celestial Exalted (like the Solars, and another type that we'll get into soon) in that their power is not passed down through reincarnation, but through bloodlines and dynasties. Individually, the average Dragon-Blooded will be less powerful than your average Celestial Exalted (if either could be said to exist), but they're way more numerous. Exalted traditionally recognizes five elements within the setting of Creation: Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Wood. It wouldn't be a stretch to make him out to be an idealistic, innovative Air Aspect, a quick-witted and passionate Fire Aspect, or a hedonistic, thrill-seeking Wood Aspect, but I don't think any of those are a perfect fit. Personally, I think if we're making a Dragon-Blooded Evander, he works best as a Water Aspect: Like water, capable of calm stillness, or relentless, torrential waves; able to adapt to any circumstances, able to find weaknesses in the tiniest gaps.

Solars and Dragon-Blooded are both pretty easy, though. Lets get a little weird. We're not going to go full weird; like, we're not making him a communist war robot hero who will eventually become a city, and we're not making him a weird hero-from-another-world-that-doesn't-exist-because-his-strand-of-destiny-was-cut-from-the-loom-of-fate, heck, we won't even make him a spite-and-fury-powered punk rock prince of Hell. We're only gonna go, like, half-weird in Exalted terms.

We're gonna make him a Sidereal Exalted.

The Sidereal Exalted are chosen by one of the five Maidens of Fate: Mercury (The Maiden of Journeys), Venus (The Maiden of Serenity), Mars (The Maiden of Battles), Jupiter (The Maiden of Secrets) and Saturn (The Maiden of Endings). The Sidereal Exalted operate out of the heavenly city of Yu-Shan, where they work as a part of the Bureau of Destiny, a division within the Celestial Bureaucracy tasked with making sure that the destinies planned by Heaven come to pass to ensure safety and stability for all who dwell within Creation.

It's like the 36th Chamber of Shaolin meets the Adjustment Bureau. It's like Journey to the West meets Office Space.

It's amazing.

And it feels like a weird fit for Evander! As far as FFXIV characters go, he's pretty down-to-earth. He's not a god-killer; hell, he's barely a people killer! He doesn't channel the vast power of Hydaelyn, he doesn't roam other reflections; he's... he's just a little guy, who mostly gets in trouble and cares way too much about stuff while trying to pretend he doesn't. He's defined more by his connections to the people and the world around him (and his desire for those connections) than he is anything else, which is why he's the perfect candidate to be a Chosen of Serenity.

Also, I apparently love making him miserable, which is why he's the absolute perfect candidate for Sidereal Exaltation, because... well, the Sidereals are kinda fucked as far as that whole connection thing goes. The Sidereal Exalted are subject to arcane fate, a curse which dooms them to be forgotten by most, as it conspires to erase memories and records of the Sidereals alike. Sure, other Sidereals, many gods, and the occasional other Exalt (or rare exceptionally tricky mortal) might remember you, but the rank and file? Nah, you'll be forever forgotten. Trying to forge those connections that are oh-so-important to him would be like swimming upstream against the current of inevitable loneliness.

Venus, the Maiden of Serenity, oversees relationships of all kinds... And it's worth pointing out that societies, in this case, are kinda just like really, really big relationships, aren't they? Venus' chosen are entrusted with making sure that things under her eye unfold according to Heaven's will. They struggle to bring joy, peace, prosperity and (of course) serenity to a world drowning in chaos.

...

So, I was originally going to actually fill out a character sheet and out that here, but then I looked and realized that it's almost 4 AM, and, like... I have to work in the morning and then actually run some Exalted in the evening, so... I'm gonna pass on that, actually.

For now.

But, uh, yeah. So, Exalted AU: Evander's a Chosen of Serenity, I guess.

Ask me stuff! oc asks: character design edition

(If anyone ever wants to talk Exalted, omg please please, I'm right here, I'll do it. I love this shit)

[anonymouzee]

AMARANTHINE - Dr. STONE

sum☆: "ᵉˡᵉᵍᵃⁿᵗ! "𝙰𝙼𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙴 (adj.) undying, immortal, eternally beautifulIn which Stanley Snyder, Xeno Houston Wingfield, and (Y/N) Ambrose were trapped in an unexpected stone world that had been petrified 3,700 years before. However, they were 'infiltrated' by some foreign brats all of a sudden.Of course, they don't give up without a fight, do they?

warnings:. all characters are 18+!!! violence. language. FICTION!! don't like it? scroll away!! first ever post on this app. english is not my first language, so ugh.(Dr. Stone x Reader)(Dr. STONE : New America City Arc) MANGA SPOILER

(CHAPTER 5) Z=153: War game

"C'mon, everyone! Let's evaluate the state of this war, okay?!" Magma exclaimed, a cocky grin plastered across his face as he pointed at himself.

"Here we go—it's prettified Magma again," Yo said, tilting his head in amusement. "But the way you're talking is almost too polite. It's freaking me out."

"Shut your freakin' trap or I'll kill you dead." Magma began, his voice trailing off as he said a suitably threatening retort.

"You showed your true colors in five seconds flat! Try committing to the act a little longer!" Yo responded, feigning surprise.

"No way, cuz I'm out to kill that piece of crap they call Dr. Xeno!" Magma declared, his eyes narrowed in determination.

"We came here for corn, right? And Dr. Xeno's the guy with all the corn. So the quickest solution is to kill that guy! Duh!" Magma said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Then, Magma, eager to enlist Yo and his weapons, started cajoling him into joining the plan to take down Xeno before anything else could happen. Mantle joined in, and eventually, Yo agreed. They were about to run off to shoot Xeno when Nikki stopped them.

"What kind of numbskulls think they can face a machine gun head-on?!" Nikki scolded the trio.

"Yeah, well, we got a superweapon of our own!" Magma shouted back, his voice filled with bravado.

"Too bad theirs has about ten billion percent more power. It'd be another story if this enemy was willing to wait around while we built our own gunpowder factory..." Senku said from the back, carrying a basket.

"Right. Let's evaluate the state of this war," Tsukasa agreed.

Meanwhile, the Perseus crew was gathered around a war table, their kingdom of science war leaders discussing their next move. With the stolen aircraft, they decided to convert the Perseus into an aircraft carrier, just in case the Americans decided to come back with planes. They began the crafting process, improving the plane with features like twisted bamboo wheels. Ryusui had a distinct feeling that by remaining stationary, they were unintentionally assisting the enemy.

"Ha ha! Exactly! If they come at us from above, then so be it!" Ryusui said with a confident smile.

'A dogfight! Aircraft versus aircraft!'

'We're turning the Perseus into an aircraft carrier! All hands on deck for this quick construction project!'

"Wow. We're really building a runway on the deck? Will it actually allow us to fly?" Minami asked the duo, Senku and Ryusui.

"Hmph, an ultra-light airplane... only needs 20 meters to take off," Ryusui said to Senku, discussing the carrier project with glint in his eyes.

"And for landings, we'll use wires to stop the plane by force! Just like on real aircraft carriers," Senku concluded.

Meanwhile, on Dr. Xeno's side.

"<No, they cannot escape. Hence the reason why we deployed the spy plane—to discourage them,>" Xeno said.

Suddenly, a gigantic woman walked past Gen while eating meat.

"<Are we gonna hunt 'em down with the plane and beat 'em into submission? Is that it?>" Maya asked.

Xeno answered, "<These poor youths are too clever for their own good. They'll be wary of such tactics and stay rooted to the spot! But no—I have a solution in mind that's more elegant.>" 

"<Keep them pinned down... and eliminate the enemy scientist,>" Xeno finished, a sinister smile playing on his lips as he glanced back at Maya and Gen.

When Gen heard these words leave Xeno's mouth, he looked at Xeno's back, his face flushed with anxiety.

"<According to our new friend, Mr. Gen, there's a single superhuman science-pro among them. As such, to bring this kiddie kingdom of science crumbling down... we need to only eliminate their leader,>" Xeno said. 

"Dr. Taiju...!" Gen thought, his face shooking in panic.

Gen continued to stare at Xeno anxiously, but...

"<Great idea, brilliant-bay, truly. B-b-but can you pull it off?!>" Gen asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Stanley and (Y/n) were leaning against the door, listening intently.

"<We can,>" (Y/n) confirmed without hesitation.

"<How EXACTLY?!>" Gen asked anxiously again.

(Y/n) glared down at Gen, her eyes narrowed with annoyance. She couldn't believe he was questioning their ability to handle the situation. Her disdain was evident as she took a step closer, her heels clicking against the hard pavement.

"<Ha?>" she scoffed, her voice laced with sarcasm. "<Are you underestimating us? Well, don't waste your time doubting us because simply—>" She paused, her expression turning serious.

Gen shook his head vigorously, his eyes wide with fear as he met the woman's intense gaze. "<N-no! Of course not, Miss (Y/n)! I didn't mean to doubt you. I was just—>" He trailed off, unable to find the right words to justify his earlier skepticism.

Stanley turned to answer, interrupting the two bickering.

"<We. Can.>"

"<Mr. Gen! When Stan and (Y/n) claim they can get the job done, there's no need to question it!>" Xeno said, placing a hand on Gen's head, startling him.

Then, Stanley and (Y/n) hurriedly dashed out the door to carry out their mission.

"<Because, they can,>" Xeno finished.

'I'm... terribly sorry... dear Taiju,' Gen thought, offering a silent apology to Taiju in advance.

Meanwhile, on the Perseus crew...

"We could give up on the corn... abandon Gen, Chrome, and Kohaku, and sail out to sea. That would save us," Hyoga suggested to the crew.

Taiju panicked and shouted, "Like we'd ever do that!"

"Of course not. But the enemy doesn't know that, that's my point," Hyoga replied.

"So we can expect them to attack without delay," Tsukasa added.

"Ku ku ku, where are our manners? Let's not make our hosts do all the work, when we can take the fight to them instead," Senku said, amused.

"A small elite unit. In that case, since Dr. Xeno is the source of their science... then our goal is to capture him!" Tsukasa concluded.

"This unit will include..."

"Tsukasa."

"Hyoga."

"Ukyo."

"Suika."

'Neither side can move its base of operations, neither side can flee. It's a science siege that could turn into a...' Gen thought.

"For one side to win..." Senku said with a terrifying smile, mirroring the one on Xeno's face.

"...It's gonna put the other's leader in checkmate."

'...Kingdom of science versus kingdom of science battle! This fight'll be determined with a breakneck attack!'

As Senku selected Tsukasa, Hyoga, Ukyo, and Suika to venture forth, Stanley and (Y/n) were also making their way through the dense forest, their weapons drawn and ready to confront any threats that might arise. The crisp autumn air was filled with the sounds of rustling leaves and the occasional snap of a twig underfoot, creating a sense of both tranquility and unease.

[wellbelesbian]

WIP Wednesday and AO3 Wrapped Tag

hello all! thanks for the tags @ic3-que3n @bookish-bogwitch @thewholelemon @ileadacharmedlife and @forabeatofadrum! it's technically thursday by now, but time is fake, so here's a bit of a wip i'm working on.

i honestly have no iea if i'll ever finish and post this fic, but i wanted to at least make a start on getting this idea out of my head and onto a page. it's a smut fic, though don't worry, this snippet is completely SFW, because as usual when i sit down to write porn with minimal plot, the next thing i know i've churned out five pages of set-up.

By the time I leave the bathroom, Baz is already on the other side of the room, by the bar, speaking to Katy in a clearly apologetic manner. As she pats him on the arm, he glances my way and flashes me the quickest of conspiratorial smiles.

Which abruptly falls as the father of the bride tips back in his seat and spills red wine all over his expensive cream shirt. Everyone falls silent for a moment, and then Katy groans.

“Oh my god, dad!” She pulls the man back to his feet as he drunkenly chuckles. “I’m so sorry.” She says to Baz, whose face is rapidly flickering between all the stages of grief, before folding backover and catching on anger. If looks could kill, we’d have a red wedding on our hands.

He turns on his heel and walks out without a word, which is probably the best I could ask for, given the circumstances.

(the character of Katy is an OC, i just used the first name that came to mind tbh)

but enough of that, what's AO3 Wrapped, you ask? well, as you probably know, spotify wrapped has arrived! i posted mine earlier, and while looking through the tag i saw this post and loved the template, so i decided to change it ever so slightly to be for this year's ao3 stats!

here's the result! are my chapter titles too long, or does this just not have much space? whatever the case, i had to shorten them. but yeah, the categories are the POVs i wrote the most, my fics with the highest hits, my total word count, and the fandom i wrote the most for this year.

i thought i'd share it here and tag some friends, in case anyone else wants to do it! even if you're not tagged, fel free to do this! you don't need to stick to the same categories and if you're an artist, maybe put your favourite piece as the picture! (i just used my ao3 pfp, my goat Dottie)

tags: @j-nipper-95 @artsyunderstudy @prettygoododds @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @imagineacoolusername @confused-bi-queer @bazzybelle @theearlgreymage @aristocratic-otter @larkral @hushed-chorus @martsonmars @ivelovedhimthroughworse @blackberrysummerblog @fatalfangirl @ebbpettier @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @cutestkilla @youarenevertooold @alleycat0306 @alexalexinii @shemakesmeforget @shrekgogurt and @carryonsimoncarryonbaz

[strawberryscorner]

Forgotten Sins Chapter 1

Tags: Amnesia, Stockholm Syndrome, Drug Use (Bliss), Religious Cults, Fluff and Angst, Car Accidents, Family Member Death, Manipulation, Emotional Manipulation

Note: Hey, I just wanted to let you all know some things before reading this story, This is a reader-insert and it is written in the second person but she has/you have amnesia from the events in the first chapter so when asked your name, you can't respond with the "Y/N" answer so you'll get the name Dawn.

Also, I'm not from America so if British words slip in, forgive me because the character/you are meant to be American since it's Far Cry 5.

Other than that, have fun! (also, let me know if I missed something in the tags at any point of the story!)

Series Masterlist

Almost as soon as your dad drives past the Welcome to Hope County sign, the radio started playing a song about letting the water wash away your sins.

"What is this garbage?" he asked, going to turn the radio off but your mom smacked his hand away.

"It's what you need with that gambling addiction of yours," she said, returning to her phone, "no signal." She put the phone down and looked out the window.

"It's pretty cute here," you said, looking out your window.

"Pretty cute?" your dad asks. "There's nothing here!"

You roll your eyes and keep focusing on what's outside your window. Your dad always was a bit grumpy on these road trips, yet it was always him who insisted on taking them, good for family bonding. Now that you were an adult and had moved out long ago and your brother was going off to college, it was time for another road trip. While your dad and mom argued about the quickest way to your destination that your parents kept secret to add to the fun, you started humming along to the radio.

"Where even are we?" your mom asked.

"Holland Valley, well, just left it according to this sign," your dad said.

You see a shirtless man with the words greed and wrath tattooed on his torso running from a group of people, they're all shooting at each other.

"Is that real?" your brother asked, hearing the gunshots.

"Look away!" your dad yells at us as the shirtless man fell to the ground. You turn to look out the window on your brother's side but there were people with guns running towards the car, most likely to fight the people on the other side of your vehicle.

"Oh God, what is that?" your mother asked, pointing at a man with a beard and a red shirt that had been cut into a vest held up what looked like a rocket launcher, though you couldn't be too sure, you'd only ever seen them in video games. You see a rocket heading towards the car, no one has time to get out before it hits.

__________________

You wake up, one hand handcuffed to the railing of the bed you're laying on. The other hand goes up to touch your pounding head, only resulting in more pain so you quickly remove your hand. There isn't much in the room with you, just the bed you're laying on, a table and a chair.

"Ah good, you're finally awake," a man with long brown hair and a bushy beard said, pulling the chair closer to the bed before sitting down.

"Awake?" your throat was painfully dry and your voice came out weak, almost as a raspy whisper.

"You've been out for a while, a few weeks," he said, "weren't too sure you'd make it, no one else did."

"Made what? Who else?"

"What's your name?" he asked.

You thought about it for a while but couldn't remember, "I don't know," you answer honestly.

"Guess the accident messed with your brain more than we thought," he mumbled, "how about we call you Dawn?"

You don't know what to say, that's probably not close to whatever your name was but you couldn't remember so arguing against it seemed pointless. Eventually, you just nod your head, accepting your new name.

"Well, Dawn, you and what we assume to be your family were in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "You see, we got somewhat of a war going on here, a cult leader who calls himself The Father is trying to take over Hope County. Save us from what he calls The Collapse that he knows will happen because God told him. My people were captured by fucking Peggies - his followers. Now is the part that affects you, you and your family got in the crossfire between my people and the Peggies, well, they had a rocket launcher, fired it at you. We pulled you out of the car, but your family all died, your mom was already dead in the car, and your dad and brother died here later. I'm sorry."

You tried to remember it but you couldn't, you couldn't even remember your family, their names, faces, voices nothing.

"Why don't I remember?" you ask.

"You hit your head pretty hard, you might remember at some point but you may also never get your memory back," he shrugged.

"What's your name?" you ask.

"I'm Eli."

He stood up and took out a small key, "Am I right in assuming you won't be a danger?"

You nodded. While you had no memory to be sure, you didn't feel dangerous. He unlocked the handcuff.

"You can stay in here for a while, Hurk is right outside this door. Hurk get in here," a man with a beard and a red shirt walked in, he seemed familiar but you couldn't remember why.

"Do I know you?" you asked.

"No," Eli answered for the man, "but Hurk here will help you if you want to walk around."

With that, both men leave you alone in the room. 

You stayed in bed for a while, thinking about everything Eli had told you, trying to remember anything from any point in your life but you couldn't. You were thankful you seemed to remember your language and how to talk. Now, you needed to see if you were strong enough to be able to walk. Don't fall flat on your face, you thought to yourself before sitting in the bed, your feet touching the ground. You closed your eyes and held your hands out in front of you as you slowly stood up, when you did instantly fall, you slowly opened your eyes. You take a deep breath before attempting to take your first step, it was wobbly, and you fall forward but you're able to catch yourself on the chair Eli was sitting on earlier. You thought about calling for Hurk to help you walk but you wanted to do it on your own, your legs just needed to wake up, Eli did say you were out for a few weeks, naturally, your legs would be weak like your voice was. After a few seconds, you dare try again, letting go of the chair and pushing it a bit in front of you so you can use it to catch yourself again if needed. Which you did.

"Shit," you say to yourself, but it comes out more of a whisper. "Hurk?" you call out as loud as you can but it doesn't come out very loud and he doesn't come in so it's safe to assume he couldn't hear you. Well, I can still stand, you thought before getting up from the chair and throwing it at the door.

"Dude, are you okay?" Hurk said, throwing the door open, holding a gun, "whoa, sorry about calling you dude, I don't want to assume nothin' but I call everyone dude so I don't mean no disrespect or nothin'-"

"I can't walk," you interrupt him, not really caring to hear more of this odd apology when you just want to walk.

"What do you mean you can't walk?" he asks. You take a step forward and fall, he catches you and helps you back to your feet.

You make it outside with Hurk's help, he's pointing to everyone who walks by, telling you their names, what they usually do around here and how fun they are to talk to on a scale of "better to talk to Monkey King than them to actually a good listener, they're fine"  as you drink a glass of water.

"Where are we?" you ask.

"We're in Whitetail Mountains," he answers.

"Where are my family?" he looks to his feet when you ask that, "I know they're dead. Eli told me. But what happened to their bodies?"

"I'm not really sure," he scratched the back of his head, going quiet. You hadn't known him long at all but hadn't known him to do that.

"Well, what about the Pennys?"

"Pennys?" he looks confused for a while.

"The cult?"

Hurk laughs, "you mean Peggies."

"Yeah, Peggies."

"They're followers of the big guy, not Monkey King, the other big guy. You know, I almost joined 'em. They had guns, food, fine ass women, why wouldn't you join?" he paused, looking at you and when you didn't say anything, he continued. "Well, I didn't join because o' all these rules you have to follow, no partyin', no fornicatin' - that means fuckin', didn't sound so fun after that so I went home."

He was going to keep talking until a radio started making noise. He excused himself and took a few steps away.

"You want to know about the cult, sweetheart?" an older lady in jeans and a pink blouse asked.

"Yes," you said.

"I'm Adelaide, you are?"

"I'm Dawn," you said, remembering Eli's name for you.

"Well, Dawn, the cult has pretty much taken over Hope County, brainwashed everyone into believing the world is going to end and only Joseph Seed can save their souls. They take you in, make you confess your sins through torture then continue to torture you either by forcing you to make that Bliss shit until you lose your damn mind or by training you to be a soldier, ain't been many survivors to tell us how it goes but we can assume it's not pleasant."

"And people join willingly?" you ask, thinking back to what Hurk said.

"They do, some completely willingly, either with or without the knowledge of what the cult does, or some join willingly but after some tough persuasion.

And some join because they're idiots like my boy," she moves her head towards Hurk.

"You're Hurk's mother?"

"I am," she smiled.

"Come with me, we got a job," he said, interrupting our conversation.

"Me?" you asked, seeing him looking at you instead of his mother.

"Yeah, don't worry, it's not a big job, just collectin' some meat then droppin' it off," he got in a truck.

"Collecting meat? From where?"

"We're going huntin', you been huntin' before?"

"I don't know."

"I can teach you."

On the way to where he wanted to hunt, he spoke about his relationship with his father, it didn't sound like a very good one. It made you wonder what yours was like, maybe you'd remember one day. Instead, you smiled and hummed when it was appropriate. He didn't give you much time to speak.

"Here we are," he said, stopping the car and handing you a gun. "There's a lot of Caribou here?"

"Caribou?"

"You'll know it when you see it, they're hard to miss."

"Why are we hunting this thing?" you ask.

"For food, we gotta eat, don't we?" he laughed as you nodded.

You walk behind Hurk, he was telling you about the parts of the gun and how to shoot it. You had a hard time following what he was saying but he assured you it would come easy when you had to actually take the shot. You walked for a while without seeing anything more than trees but eventually, Hurk stopped you.

"There, see it?" he points towards a big animal with horns.

"That's a Caribou?" he nodded. "We're meant to kill that?" he nodded again. He really was crazy.

"Won't it attack us? With those horns?"

"What? Nah, 'course not. They ain't predators, they'll just run away."

You nodded, watching as he raised his gun. Part of you wanted to stop him from shooting the animal but he was right before, you do have to eat and you saw quite a lot of people to feed at the bunker. He shot the animal, but it didn't die.

"Shit, I missed," the animal ran off and Hurk chased it, not knowing what else to do, you ran after Hurk. Eventually, the Caribou slowed down near a lake. Hurk managed to kill it there.

"You stay here, I'll go get the truck." You turned your back to the animal, not wanting to see the corpse. The lake and trees were beautiful so you focused on them until you heard tires. You expected to see Hurk but were surprised to see three men with tattoos that said Wrath, Lust and Pride on each of them.

"What are you doing here, sinner?" One of the men asked, pulling his gun out but keeping it by his side.

"Nothing," you said, backing away, "hunting."

The men laugh at you but stop once you hear more tires, before anyone can react Hurk drives over the two men in front of you. One of the men flew over the truck while the other one is trapped underneath. The third man makes it back to his car and drove away. The man under the truck was probably already dead or at least it seemed that way since he wasn't moving or making any sound. The man who flew over the truck tries to get back up but is shot by Hurk.

"Alright, let's get that thing on the back and head off," Hurk said, lifting the animal. All you can do is watch. He just killed a man; sure he had a gun but you didn't expect Hurk to be so okay with killing two people. Even if he did kill the animal, that was different, that was to eat, this was for nothing? 

"Why did you kill them?" you ask.

"Well, they're Peggies," he said, getting back into the truck after loading the corpse onto it. They're Peggies, that's the only reason. Based on what you had been told, it was Joseph that was bad, the Peggies were just brainwashed but apart from that, you hadn't heard much. What Hurk did seemed worse than just not partying or training. Adelaide did mention torture as well but if Hurk could kill a man so easily, maybe they weren't telling the whole truth or maybe they just weren't any better than the Peggies?

"You gettin' in or what?" Hurk called from the driver's seat. You didn't want to but felt you had no choice; you didn't want to be left out here.

"Where are we going?"

"Chad Wolanski, he's a cool guy but can't understand him for shit though," he said. He speeds there, explaining he doesn't want to bump into any more Peggies.

"We're here!" Hurk calls out, getting out of the truck and you hear a man grumbling. Hurk lifts the Caribou out of the truck, sort of dragging it around the house. "Hey Chad, got a new member with me."

Chad mumbles something that sounds like hello.

"Hello, I'm Dawn," it felt slightly less strange to call yourself Dawn this time.

Chad and Hurk started talking while helping each other with the meat. You weren't sure how Hurk understood what Chad was saying, only one word per sentence was said loud and semi-clear enough to make out and the rest was mumbled and jumbled together. You kept yourself preoccupied with looking at the scenery. The radio was on and started playing a song about letting the water wash away your sins, it felt familiar and you easily hummed along. It made Chad mumble something angrily to Hurk.

"I don't know, I never had the radio on," Hurk answered, also raising his voice at Chad.

"Hey," Hurk called for you, "how you know that song?" 

"I don't know, it just sounds familiar somehow," you answered, unsure what the problem was, neither man said anything, just mumbled something to themselves. 

"Let's head back," Hurk said, saying goodbye to Chad.

Hurk was awfully quiet while driving, you reached for the radio, tired of the silence and not knowing how to fill it. Before you could turn it on a car drove in front of yours, making Hurk have to hit the brakes.

"Whoa, shit," he said, "are you okay?" 

"I'm fine, you?" 

"Yeah," he took his belt off and picked up his gun, "fucking Peggies. Come on."

You got out of the car with him. You stayed crouching behind your open door, Hurk moving forward. It was going well for him until, "Hurk, behind you!" You yelled but he didn't react on time, a Peggie from behind him hit him on the back of his head with their gun, knocking him out. You notice it's the Peggie who escaped after Hurk ran his friends over.

"Are you going to come with us willing, sinner, or are we going to have to make you?" the one from earlier asked you.

"I'll go," you said, standing with your hands up, scared of what they'd do if you didn't go willingly since two of them had their guns pointed toward you.

"Good choice," he said, his friends putting their guns down.

[101flavoursofweird]

Title: The Puzzle-Solver’s Wife

Spoilers: For the LMJ anime and for PL4

Description: Five times Marina couldn’t solve a puzzle on her own… and one time she succeeded.

Set: Before and during the LMJ anime. References are made to Steam Bison— the setting for Professor Layton and The New World of Steam— but this is just vague speculation as we don’t even have a release date for the game yet.

Warnings: Character gets lost in a city… Light reference to a university party with drinking and insinuations made by from Marina’s friends about her taking a boy home— nothing actually happens… The rest of events are seen during LMJ— including characters being taken hostage and imprisoned.

Note: This is a little late for @layton-npc-appreciation-week, but there we go

Marina had never been very good at solving puzzles.

She didn’t dislike puzzles— Far from it!— but she wasn’t all that familiar with them, having grown up in the quiet fishing village of Finnerton.

Her parents hadn’t given her puzzles while she was growing up, and her friends were the same with their families.

Everyone Marina knew seemed able to deal with their own problems— if they had any at all in their uneventful little town.

Maybe puzzles weren’t as commonplace in their part of the world… or maybe Marina just didn’t know where to look for them.

How would she even identify a puzzle? What set them apart from riddles, codes and quiz questions?

Did Marina’s homework count? Did her dad’s daily word search in the Finnerton Digest count? Did her mom’s studies as a marine geologist count?

Could you even find puzzles at the bottom of the ocean? In nature? Or did puzzles have to be presented by people?

Marina couldn’t remember anyone ever offering her a puzzle in her hometown…

The earliest, most striking memory she had of encountering puzzles for the first time was in Steam Bison.

When she was in eighth-grade, her class had visited the technologically-advanced city on a field trip.

Much to Marina’s (and her teacher’s) relief, they had spent the day following a tour guide, who had solved any puzzles they came across and steered the class away from the ‘unsavoury’ parts of Steam Bison.

The guide had only left them at the very end of the tour when they were apparently one street away from the bus station.

Marina had stopped in the restroom with her friends (It was a long journey back home and she was notusing the toilet on the bus!), but when she emerged, Marina found herself alone.

At first, Marina thought her friends were hiding from her. Huffing, she looked up and down the hazy cobbled street, waiting for them to leap out and shout, “BOO!”

A steam-powered vehicle with two metal legs clanked past her.

Marina waited a minute. Then another. And another….

Marina’s knees started to shake. 

Where were her friends? All of her classmates? Her teacher?

They wouldn’t just leave without her, would they? Her teacher would have done a headcount… but what if they had missed Marina? 

What if they had already headed off to the bus station?

The guide had said it was just one street away, right? But which street? What was the quickest way to get there? What if Marina took a wrong turn, or ran into a dark alley, or— or—?

Eyes darting all over the place now, Marina tried to find someone— anyone— who looked trustworthy enough to ask for help.

There was a scruffy salesperson waving flyers about… Two men in black business suits… Or a young woman grappling with a golden horse— a robot horse…

Marina inched towards the woman. “E excuse me—?”

“What?” The woman turned to Marina with a scowl. Her dark curls were poking out from beneath a black riding helmet. She kept a strong hold on the horse’s reins.

“P-Please can you help me?” Marina squeaked. She lowered her voice, wary of their neighbours, as she revealed, “I’m lost—“

“I would, but I’m kinda busy here,” the rider grunted. The horse huffed. “Peta’s reins are all tangled…”

Assuming that ‘Peta’ was the horse, Marina said, “M-maybe I can help, then you can help me…?” (Marina was good with animals… Well— aquatic animals to be specific!)

“Knock yourself out, kid!” The rider gestured from Marina to Peta.

Marina edged closer to Peta and inspected his reins; they were indeed all tangled up, like a bunch of wires. That couldn’t be very comfortable— even for a robotic horse.

“Hmm…” Marina tried adjusting the part connected to Peta’s long nose (The bridle, wasn’t it?) but Peta didn’t appreciate that. The horse snorted, steam escaping from its nostrils

“S-Sorry,” Marina stammered. She kept trying to unknot the reins.

Where was she even supposed to start? The bus would be departing soon— without Marina, at this rate!

In her impatience, she ended up pulling too hard…

Peta released a metallic-sounding whinny. Marina gasped, letting go of the reins. She watched, petrified, as Peta reared back on its hind legs.

The rider exclaimed, “Watch out—“ but just as the horse’s heavy hooves came slamming down, someone hauled Marina away.

Shuddering, Marina looked back at her saviour; a boy about her age, with light brown hair, a smart blue blazer and a flat blue cap.

“Are you okay?” he asked urgently. He had an English accent. His hand was still gripping Marina’s shoulder…

“Miss?” he tried again, frowning at Marina with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes!” Marina breathed, though she did feel a little light-headed.

The boy nodded and let her go. He turned to Peta the horse and its rider, who had since calmed Peta down.

“What about you two?” the boy checked with them.

“We’re good,” the woman said. She aimed a glower at Marina. “No thanks to you.”

“I�� I was just trying to help…” Marina struggled to explain as the boy glanced at her again. “…With the reins…” She trailed off, feeling very red in the face.

“I see,” the boy said. He pointed to Peta. “Can I…?”

“Sure!” the rider said, with a lot more enthusiasm than she’d had for Marina.

The boy crept towards Peta with a quiet greeting and studied the reins. Marina gaped at him, impressed.

Murmuring reassures, the boy managed to unravel reins in a single moment. “Puzzle solved!” he said.

The rider beamed at him. “Thanks, Detective Luke! We’ll be on our way now…” She clicked her tongue.

“Wait!” Marina protested as the rider pulled Peta down the street. “You said you could help me…!”

The rider didn’t spare her a glance. Marina sighed.

“Do you need help?” The boy— ‘Detective Luke’— was still there, right next to Marina. (He hadn’t abandoned her like everyone else…)

Marina couldn’t hold back a few tears. “Y-yes, please!” she blubbered. “I need to get to the bus stationbefore— before my class leaves!”

“Luckily, I know a shortcut,” Detective Luke assured her.

He strode through the street with Marina in tow.

The salesperson Marina had been reluctant to approach earlier waved at them, and Detective Luke waved in return.

Either Detective Luke must have lived around here, or he had a very good sense of direction! Even the tour guide hadn’t passed through Steam Bison with so much aplomb…

“…Here.” Detective Luke stopped in front of a gray building.

Marina blinked. She looked at Luke, who was smiling at her, and back at the brick wall.

Marina frowned. Was he trying to trick her? Had she been wrong to trust him?

“I thought you were taking me to the bus station?”

“I am! We just need to solve this puzzle…” Luke started pressing the bricks of the wall in a specific pattern.

“I don’t understand,” Marina muttered. She didn’t have time for puzzles— the bus would be leaving soon! “H-how do you even know there’s a puzzle here?”

“I’ve come this way before, but the combination has changed since— aha!” Luke selected one last brick, which retracted into the wall.

Marina gasped as the wall split in half like the doors of an elevator, revealing an alleyway.

With a satisfied smile, Luke said, “This way…” 

He offered her his hand. Marina took it (The alley was kind of creepy!) and he led her through.

Marina instantly recognised the street on the other side. There was the bus station— and Marina’s class lined up out front!

“We made it,” Marina breathed. She beamed at Detective Luke. “Thank— thank you so much! I… I’d still be lost without you!”

“No problem!” Detective Luke tipped his cap to her. “A gentleman should always help a lady in need, especially…” He had been about to say something else— something Marina hoped to hear— but he shut his mouth and simply smiled.

He had a nice smile, and he was smart, and courteous, and kind. Marina had never met a boy like him before…

Marina was struck by a wild urge in that moment, but before she could see it through, she heard shouts behind her.

“Hey, Marina!”

“Where’ve you been?”

“Marinaaaa! Hurry up!”

“That’s— my friends,” Marina said bashfully. They were beckoning her towards the bus station.

She looked back at Luke. “I have to go now, but… thanks again, Detective Luke.” 

“Take care, Miss Marina.” Luke squeezed her hand, before he let her go.

As she ran towards her class, Marina kept glancing back at Luke. When she reached her friends’ sides, she waved to Luke until he’d retreated through the secret alleyway.

Marina’s friends had a thousand questions for her as they boarded the bus.

“Where did you go, Marina?”

“Who was that boy? Did he take you on a date somewhere?”

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Luke,” Marina sighed. She gazed wistfully out the bus window as they drove away from Steam Bison. “Detective Luke.”

-

From then on, Marina decided she would dedicate her life to solving puzzles…

Though, it was difficult when no one else in Finnerton was invested in puzzles— not even her parents!

If other people wouldn’t give her puzzles, and Marina wasn’t any good at finding puzzles, how could she practice?

She made enquiries at her local library and learned there was something called a ‘Puzzle Index’— a book filled with puzzles!

The librarian ordered one in for her and it arrived after a month.

At home, Marina spent hours pouring through the Puzzle Index. Her parents thought she was studying. It certainly felt like it!

Each puzzle had a number of ‘Picarats‘ (points) that indicated its score and level of difficulty. Marina found she struggled even with the lower Picarat puzzles— 10 being the lowest.

Each puzzle also came with four hints, which Marina would usually end up reading.

It wasn’t cheating! A cheater would flick to the back of the book to look up the answers… Not that Marina ever did that!

After a month of studying the Puzzle Index, Marina managed to memorize every puzzle and every answer off by heart. 

She returned the Puzzle Index to the library and asked if they could order the next edition…

For some reason— maybe the librarian forgot or they just couldn’t track down another Puzzle Index— it never came in.

Marina never went to check. She was so busy with school, water polo club, and her social life that it just slipped her mind.

But, somewhere in the back of her mind, she had tucked away that memory of Steam Bison, and the detective boy who had saved her.

When she encountered him again, five years later at university, she recognised him immediately.

His face had lost some of its roundness, his hair was fuller and his eyebrows were a bit bushier, but his eyes were the same— and his smile.

It was poorly-lit and packed with revelling students in the basement, but Marina was struck by the sight of him… of Detective Luke.

Was he even still a detective? What was he doing here— at the same university as Marina?

She took a deep breath, told her new roommates she was going to grab another drink, and waded through the crowd.

Luke had been trading puzzles with a couple of other boys— puzzles seemed to be popular at the university— but he caught Marina’s arm as she stumbled towards him. (He was always saving her…)

“Hey, are you…” He paused, squinting at her. His eyes widened. “You!”

“Me!” She’d only had one drink, but it had given her some much-needed Dutch courage! “Marina!”

“Miss Marina! You were in Steam Bison— on a trip— like, four years ago?”

“It was five!” Marina corrected him. “Why aren’t you still in Steam Bison?”

Even in the dimness, Marina could see how hard Luke cringed. “It’s a… long story…”

“Well, I’m listening!” 

“What?” Luke had to raise his voice as someone turned up the music and the party-goers cheered.

Marina hollered right in his ear, “I’m LISTENING!”

“Ow… I hear you.” Luke lowered his head so that he was level with Marina. “Why don’t we, um, get out of here?”

“Sounds good!”

Determined not to lose Luke, Marina dragged him through the crowd as she returned to her roommates’ sides. When she informed them she was leaving the party with a boy, they waggled their eyebrows at her and told her to have fun.

Marina felt flushed as she made her exit with Luke and she brought him back to her dorm.

Well… That was the plan, but then, Marina couldn’t open the door to her dorm building. She noticed a small wooden block with colorful panels had been stuck to the door.

“Eh? What is this?”

“Looks like a puzzle lock,” Luke observed. “A Sliding Puzzle, to be more specific.”

Marina protested, “But— this wasn’t here earlier!”

No one had warned her she would need to solve puzzles to get back inside!

Oh, no… What if puzzles were a part of every day life, here at university? 

Marina had picked up that Puzzle Index when she was thirteen, but she hadn’t solved another puzzle since then! How would she survive?

Luke held his chin in his hand, trying to hide a smile from Marina. “Maybe a secret Puzzle Societyplaced it here?” he suggested.

“I didn’t sign up for a Puzzle Society!” Panicked, Marina started surveying the building, hoping there was an open window they could climb through. “Sorry— there has to be some other way in…”

“Or, we could just solve the puzzle?” Luke inspected the block, sliding some of the panels around.

“Is it… like that puzzle wall in Steam Bison?” Marina recalled. “The one with the secret alley?”

The memory of Detective Luke holding her hand— guiding her through the darkness—  suddenly rose to the front of her mind. 

She was glad Luke currently had his back to her, so he wouldn’t witness the embarrassment on her face.

“It’s similar, but not the same type of puzzle,” Luke said cryptically. He glanced back at her, grinning. “Do you want to give it a go?”

“Um… I would, but I… I don’t have much experience… solving puzzles,” Marina admitted. He could definitely see her blushing now!

Luke blinked at her like she had just told him she was a mermaid or something.

“I mean, I… I tried a few when I was younger,” Marina stammered. “I got this Puzzle Index after I met— after that trip to Steam Bison, but I didn’t, um, persevere…” 

Marina sighed and hung her head. Now he was going to think she was a pathetic failure…

She looked up with shock when Luke patted her on the shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Luke chuckled. “Nothing to be ashamed of! I was just surprised; where I come from, puzzles were everywhere, and my family— they practically raised me on puzzles.” He jabbed his thumb against his chest. “And, I was Professor Hershel Layton’s apprentice!”

He declared that with so much pride and joy that Marina knew this professor must have been a person of great importance… Unfortunately, Marina had never heard of them.

“Is that someone from Steam Bison?” she wondered.

“No, but he did visit Steam Bison when I was there… The Professor works in London—“ Luke coughed. “I’ll tell you more when we’re inside.”

In his excitement, Luke solved the puzzle on the door himself. Marina sighed with relief as she followed him into the dorm.

She knew she couldn’t just summon Luke whenever she needed help solving a puzzle— as nice as that would be!

Sooner or later she would needed to learn for herself…

But for now, she sat with Luke in the shared common room. He revealed to her all that had happened in Steam Bison when his mentor, Professor Layton, came to visit.

When Luke’s stomach grumbled, midway through the tale, Marina made them some popcorn.

She continued to listen, captivated, as Luke told her about more of his adventures with the Professor…

-

One month in to her marine biology degree and Marina already had a tonne of extra work to do outside of class.

Her roommates— for as affable as they could be—  made it impossible to concentrate in the dormitory while they were playing board games, so Marina spent a lot of time at the library. 

She wasn’t at all surprised to bump into Luke there.

He was very studious, but in a different way to Marina. While he was diligent, he seemed to posses a natural intellect that Marina lacked. (Fitting, for the apprentice of Professor Layton!)

Luke was observant and able to answer questions at the drop of a hat, whereas Marina liked to take her time preparing a response.

Maybe it was just a confidence thing, like Luke had said, but Marina wasn’t sure… “Marina… What’s your surname?”

“Huh?” Marina glanced up from her books on the desk.

“What’s your last name?” Luke rephrased. “I don’t think I ever asked…”

“It’s—“ Marina cut herself off. “Wait— actually, why don’t I give you a puzzle to work it out?”

“Okay!” Luke smirked. “Fire away…”

Marina felt like he’d put her on the spot. “N-not right now! I’ll need time t-to make it up…”

She had never designed her own puzzle before, but it had to be easier than solving puzzles, right?

For inspiration, Marina turned to her old friend: the Puzzle Index. The university library had at least nineeditions!

First, she had to choose a type of puzzle. The sliding puzzle was off her list right away— too much effort to construct.

What about multiple choice, with some clues from Marina? No… that would be too simple for Luke.

Could she use algebra? Or would that be more Math-based than puzzle-based?

It would be fun to do a pictorial puzzle— with little illustrations revealing Marina’s last name— but Marina couldn’t even draw…

A whole week went by— and she still didn’t have a puzzle for Luke!

Marina sighed and leaned back on the common room couch.

Her gaze drifted over to the pile of board games left by her roommates. When she saw a box for a jigsaw puzzle, her eyes widened.

The next day, at the library, Marina presented Luke with a homemade jigsaw puzzle.

Upon completion, it would reveal Marina’s last name.

It wasn’t the most original idea, but Marina had still put a lot of effort into it!

Luke took his time with the puzzle— probably longer than he actually needed— but within ten minutes, he had pieced the jigsaw together, forming a photo of a map— somewhere out on the ocean.

“Where is this?” Luke murmured. 

Marina hummed knowingly. “Would you like a hint?”

Luke nodded— obviously indulging her. Marina gave him some numbers: “1,580 and 43”… and Luke grinned. 

“Are those measurements for the Mariana Trench?”

“Yep!”

“So…” Luke considered it for a moment more, before he pointed at her triumphantly. “Your full name is… Mariana ‘Marina’ Trench!”

“Indeed, it is!” Marina confirmed, laughing sheepishly. (Her mom couldn’t resist the pun!)

Luke laughed with her. “I’ve heard stranger names, believe it or not!” He handed the completed jigsaw puzzle back to Marina. “How many Picarats was that?”

“Oh! I’m not sure… How many do you think it should be?”

“Thirty?” Luke suggested.

Marina scoffed. “It wasn’t that difficult—“

“Twenty-five, then,” Luke settled, holding out his hand to her.

Marina agreed and they shook on it. Luke pretended to put the Picarats in his pocket, much to Marina’s mirth.

She stopped giggling when Luke said, “Now you can figure out my last name!” and he placed his own puzzle on the desk.

It was a page of paper taken from Luke’s journal, with a written passage:

‘There was once a boy who befriended an archaeology professor, and they went on many adventures together.

Regrettably, the boy had to move away, leaving his dearest friend behind.

In his hour of need, the boy knew the professor would come to his aid. For the professor had promised him:

‘Time apart and distance are irrelevant to the bond formed by a true friendship.’

Of course, the Professor answered the boy’s call for help.

No matter how far apart they were, their bond would always endure.’

Panic had seized Marina when Luke sprung the puzzle on her, but as she read this passage— Luke’s story— she smiled softly. “That’s beautiful,” she whispered.

She wondered if the words could apply to her and Luke as well. The pair of them had met in Steam Bison years ago, only to reunite in university.

Marina didn’t really believe on fate, but she was grateful for whatever string of coincidences had brought her back to Luke.

“Thanks,” Luke said, scratching his cheek. “What do you think of the puzzle?”

Marina had almost forgotten about that!

She studied the passage long and hard, searching for Luke’s last name.

After fifteen minutes, she sighed and asked Luke if she could have a hint.

“You might need to look at it another way!”

Turning the paper on its side and upside down didn’t help. Neither did flipping it over…

Next, Marina tried folding the paper into different shapes, wishing she had paid more attention to her step-Grandma’s origami lessons. Still, the answer eluded her.

As Marina smoothed the paper out, Luke offered her a second hint:

“Read the passage in another direction!”

Marina read the entire passage backwards and wrote it down in her notebook, but it was all gibberish.

The third hint Luke gave her was a little more enlightening: 

“Have you tried reading from top to bottom? Don’t overthink it…”

Marina followed his advice and finally, she noticed the first character of each line spelled out Luke’s last name. She circled the letters with her pen. 

“T-R-I-T-O-N…!” Marina exclaimed. “Is your last name ‘Triton’?”

She had spent an hour figuring out the answer, but she still expected Luke to shake his head.

Marina was overjoyed, however, when he beamed at her. 

“That’s it!” he cheered. “Now, you need to strike a puzzle pose!”

“Puzzle pose…?” Uncertainly, Marina pointed at Luke, as he had done to her. “Like this—?”

“Yes— you’re correct!”

Marina was correct! For the first time ever, she had solved a puzzle someone had given her.

“H-how many Picarats was that?” Marina asked.

“Ten,” Luke said, still smiling.

Marina’s ego deflated slightly. “Only ten?”

“It’s very similar to the first puzzle I sent   to Professor Layton,” Luke confessed.

That made Marina feel a bit better. “Really? How fast did the Professor answer it?”

“As soon as he got my letter in the post,” Luke said reverently. “He came rushing to my hometown— Misthallery— to help solve the mystery behind the spectre’s call…”

With that, he launched into the tale of his first adventure with Professor Layton— and the Professor’s Number One Assistant, Emmy Altava.

He and Marina had already been at the library for ages by this point, but Marina was still hanging off the edge of her seat.

She frowned when Luke discussed the odd behaviour of his father— who, Luke assured her, he had since reconciled with. She gasped when Luke described the spectre’s appearances, and how Emmy had fought off a gang of thugs, and the Final Battle.

Luke spoke very fondly of his childhood friend, Arianna— though, he blushed slightly and quickly summed up their farewell.

Marina was going to ask him more about Arianna, but then, Luke quietly told her about Loosha, the giant lake dweller who had been mistaken for the spectre, when she was actually defending Misthallery. 

Marina was entranced— so much that she might have shed a tear when Luke revealed Loosha had died in the Golden Garden… but thanks to her sacrifice, Arianna had survived.

By the time Luke had finished his retelling, it was dark outside and the librarian was shooting them impatient looks from her desk.

Marina sighed. “I’ve never heard— or done— anything so exciting in my whole life…”

Sure, she had been on boat trips and vacations with her family— mainly to visit her grandparents’ lake house up in Canada— but the most exciting thing she had gotten up to was water skiing.

She had turned down offers to go hiking with her dad, grandpa and older cousin because she was too ‘chicken’, as her cousin had put it.

She would never be brave enough to face villains, creepy towns and impossible puzzles like Luke…

“You…��ventured through Steam Bison,” Luke pointed out. He started to pack his books away as the librarian loudly cleared her throat. 

“I got lost in Steam Bison,” Marina reminded him, shoving her own books in her bag.

From what she had heard from him about Steam Bison, Marina was even more relieved that she had run into Luke back then. She could have ended up on the receiving end of a bullet!

Luke must have noticed how pensive Marina was as they hurried out of the library.

“Not all mysteries have to be as… hair-raising as what happened in Steam Bison,” Luke mollified her. “I’ve solved smaller cases too…”

“Maybe you could give me a call…?” Marina murmured. Realising what she had just suggested, she suddenly dropped her bag. Stooping to pick it up, she stammered, “W-when you next have a smaller case, I mean!”

“Can I…?” Luke knelt beside her and offered her a hand with her bag. 

Blushing, Marina passed him her bag, and they both stood up. 

Luke smiled at her. “That sounds like a great idea.”

-

It had started as a ‘smaller case’; one of Marina’s lecturers, Professor Monroe, had lost his treasured pendant.

Marina and Luke had found the pendant aboard an abandoned decrepit ‘ghost’ ship—

Except, it wasn’t abandoned.

Their feet pounded across the top deck, discordant to the sound of heavy boots and doors slamming open behind them.

“That one!” Marina pointed to the nearest life boat that didn’t appear to be decayed.

She and Luke reached the boat and ripped off its grubby cover.

Before they could release the boat, their pursuer— a figure wearing an iron mask and wielding a silver trident— burst out onto the deck.

“Get the boat ready!” Luke grunted, grabbing an oar.

“Luke, don’t—!” Marina shouted, but Luke had already charged at their assailant.

As Luke’s oar clashed with the trident, Marina looked at one of the davits keeping the life boat aloft.

Marina quailed when she saw the ropes of the pulley system were all knotted— kind of like a puzzle— kind of like that horse’s reins back in Steam Bison…

Her hands, slick with sweat, hovered over the ropes.

She had lived around boats her whole life.

By now, she had been practicing puzzles for months, with Luke’s guidance, but all that experience and knowledge drained out of her mind in the terror of the moment.

Her daze was broken by a strained yell from Luke. “Marina— how’re you doing?”

“I can’t do it—!” Turning, Marina saw that Iron Mask had backed Luke against the side of the deck with their trident. Luke was going to get skewered or pushed overboard!

(Before they’d boarded the ship, he’d seemed so worried, but Marina had insisted—)

Marina stopped thinking.

Seizing the other oar, she rushed at Iron Mask and smacked them on the exposed back of their head. Iron Mask dropped the trident and slumped to the floor.

“Thanks!” Luke exclaimed, skirting around Iron Mask.

He and Marina ran back to the life boat with the oars. Marina kept an eye on Iron Mask as Luke quickly solved the davits puzzle.

“Done!” Luke cried, just as Iron Mask sat up.

“Go-go-GO!” Marina yelled, working on the left ropes while Luke took the right. Together, they lowered the life boat into the sea.

Iron Mask leered at them from the top deck, but didn’t attempt to follow.

Marina let out a shaky laugh. “W-We’re free—!”

“LOOK OUT!” 

Marina saw a flash of silver— coming right at her face—

Luke swung his oar like a baseball bat and knocked the trident into the sea.

“Guess I spoke t-too soon,” Marina gasped.

Taking both oars, Luke rowed them away from the ‘ghost ship’— it might have not contained any ghosts, but someone was haunting it!— until they were safely back at the harbour.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked softly.

Marina shrugged.

“It’s over now,” Luke soothed her, placing the oars in the boat.

“I just— froze up!” Marina grunted. She bunched her fists, nails biting into her palms. She glared into the bottom of the lifeboat. “Why couldn’t I solve that puzzle?”

Really— she was no better than five years ago— back when she was a timid thirteen-year-old…

“Marina, you saved me!” Luke squeezed her shoulder with his hand. Marina raised her head. “It doesn’t matter how— you were brave and we escaped… and we even got the pendant!”

Beaming, he pulled Professor Monroe’s silver pendant out of his pocket with his other hand. “See?”

All Marina could see right now was Luke’s smiling face, filled with elation and (somehow) admiration for her.

Maybe she was braver than she‘d been at thirteen. Maybe she could…

Marina lifted her head a little more, lips parted. Luke’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move away. Taking that as a positive sign, she pressed her mouth against his.

Luke kissed her back— much to her relief.

When they eventually broke apart, Luke was the colour of a lobster.

“Was that… correct?” Marina whispered.

Luke nodded. “Yeah!”

-

Of course Luke’s proposal included a puzzle.

Marina picked up the engagement rings— one silver and one gold— held together with two loops of string.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, with a mock-scowl across their table.

Luke grinned at her. He did look most dashing in his dark blue jacket, brown vest and white shirt, so Marina supposed she could forgive him. (She hoped he liked the light blue dress she had chosen…)

“The evening will proceed as planned if you can solve this puzzle,” Luke informed her.

Humming, Marina tried to move one of the strings around the silver ring, but the ring was too large. 

She attempted the same with the gold ring and the other string… Still, to no avail.

Don’t overthink it! Don’t overthink it…

Luke chimed, “Would you like a hint, dear?”

“Dearest,” Marina huffed playfully. “Would you like to be quiet so I can concentrate?”

Luke shut his mouth, though he looked like he was struggling not to laugh.

Marina held the puzzle right up to her eyes, squinting. There had to be some kind of trick to this… or brute force might work as well!

She tried with all her might to pull the strings apart.

“Oh, come on…!” she grumbled.

“Er, excuse me— are you two ready to order?” A waiter had appeared at their table. He raised an eyebrow at Marina and her personal game of tug of war.

“We’re just in the middle of something,” Luke explained. “I’m sure we won’t be long—“

“Can I have a knife?” Marina gasped. 

The waiter passed her a knife just as Luke protested, “Wait—!”

“Puzzle solved!” Marina cried as she cut through the stings and the rings landed on the table.

“Th-that’s against the rules,” Luke wheezed.

Smirking, Marina pointed the knife at him. “All you said was ‘Remove the rings from the strings!’… You didn’t specify how— Ah! Sorry!” The waiter took the knife from her. 

Luke scooped up the silver ring, left his seat, and got down on one knee in front of Marina, who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Miss Mariana Trench… Will you marry me?”

-

Marina Triton had a lot of time to think while she was trapped at Cranscoll Cathedral.

It had been foolish idea on her part to follow Luke and Professor Layton to Southampton, but she had gone, because…

If Marina wanted to seem conscientious and sympathetic, she’d say it was because she had been frightfully worried about her husband.

While that was true, if she was being totally honest, she would admit that she was envious and she wanted to prove herself to Luke.

After some encouragement from Flora, Marina had set out after Luke and the Professor—

Only to be captured by a cult, dragged to the cathedral, and used as leverage to make Luke and Layton surrender.

The pair of them had been locked inside ‘coffins’, while Marina had been tossed in the crypt for a couple of months…

Not to die, it turned out. The head priest was so merciful that he had eventually decided Marina would join their ‘congregation’. (His name for the cult.)

They started by giving her mundane ‘harmless’ jobs; cleaning, gardening, washing robes…

If she dared put one foot out of line, the priest had made it very clear what would happen to Luke and the Professor. 

Marina could run and contact the police— anyone outside the cult— but while she was away, there could another fatal error in the Relics Room, wherever that was…

The priest might as well have had Marina’s heart crushed in his fist.

So, Marina stayed. She followed orders and she kept her head down, but she was always watching. Watching and learning.

Two years into her imprisonment, she came to terms with the fact that no one was coming to rescue her.

Either Luke’s family and friends had forgotten she existed— or they had deemed it too dangerous to continue with the search.

Fine. Marina made friends on the inside. Her former warden— Josie— was her closest confidant.

Josie, apparently, wanted to use the Relics coffins for herself. She was more than happy to help Marina free Luke and Layton… if, in return, Marina could activate a coffin for Josie.

To do that, Marina would need to learn how to run the coffins safely— expertly, Josie said.

Despite her ‘obedience’ to the cult, Marina wasn’t allowed anywhere near the Relics Room— not even five years into her service.

Josie smuggled her books, blueprints and hastily-written notes from within the organisation.

Whenever Marina found a moment of peace, away from prying eyes, she would read— over and over, until she had every tiny detail memorised.

She couldn’t afford to make a single mistake— not when Luke and the Professors’ lives depended on her.

There would be no hints. No shortcuts… Just a potential window of opportunity that could arrive at any time.

That window was thrown open— eleven years after Marina’s capture— by a young woman who strolled into the cathedral with her friends. Katrielle Layton.

Marina had almost rushed out of her hiding place when Katrielle and her companions were surrounded by cult members— just like Luke and Layton years ago— but then, Katrielle had snapped her fingers and reinforcements had come storming in.

At last, the police had arrested the priest and his lackeys. Josie had shot Marina a look as she was led away with the other cult members.

“I’ll get you out,” Marina had mouthed, but Josie had shaken her head. Josie wanted in. She wanted to use the coffins to ‘escape to the future’… 

But before that, Marina needed to find the coffins.

Thankfully, Katrielle took care of that too! She moved a candlestick on the alter like a lever, uncovering a secret staircase.

“Puzzles are puzzles because they can be solved!” Katrielle announced. Marina blinked.

That was true, wasn’t it? It didn’t matter how long it took to solve a puzzle— or even if you had help— just as long as it got solved in the end!

Marina emerged from her hiding spot when Katrielle and her assistants had disappeared down the stairs.

This was it… This had to be it. Luke and Professor Layton had to be waiting at the bottom of these stairs— in the legendary Relics Room… and soon, they would be free.

Marina would make sure of it. This was her mission— what she had spent the last eleven years of her life working towards. She would solve the puzzle of the coffins… 

Or, if she couldn’t, maybe Katrielle and Co could help her. They would solve it together.

Marina smiled.

[misssleepless12]

A03 Wrapped 2023 Edition

This is technically an ask game but I'm just gonna answer some of these here bc 2023 was a super big year for me in terms of how much I wrote!! And I'm just kinda proud of my silly self hehehe <3

How many works did you publish this year? 14! I wrote for four different fandoms! Blue Lock, Persona 3, PKMN Black and White, and PKMN Scarlet and Violet.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? I've written so many things I'm proud of this year, but I'm gonna have to say riptide ! rnis in Rin's hometown of Kamakura, but I did sooo much research for it and put so much effort into it and then wrote it all in a three weeks in a massive brainrot streak hahah.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? Ohhh god time to embarrass myself again but the Chainsmokers was my top artist of 2023 and I also used so many of their lyrics and songs for inspiration. As evidence above hahaha~

Pairing you wrote the most for this year? In terms of number of fics, it's rnis/rinsagi at 4! But in terms of word count, otkr/tabieita came from the back with the surprise win!

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? The surprise contender that was tabieita hahah

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? Haha, haha.... ha. I'm sitting at five fully started/outlined ones already... oh boy XD

What work was the quickest to write? Gold Star for Effort which took me like four hours djfndkj

What work took you the longest to write? Pull in Case of Bisexual Awakening at five and a half months!

Your favorite character to write this year? Otoya Eita, my beloved womanizing green noodle ninja hahah

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? Bris/ barousagi bug bit me recently so I know that wave of brainrot is coming!

Which work of yours have you reread the most? let's admit, without apology, what we do to each other .... my comfort fic

How many kudos in total did you get this year? 2,096! The most I've ever gotten in a single year and nearly half of what I've gotten altogether!

What do you listen to while writing? I have a bunch of character or ship playlists I made that I like to listen to! I also sometimes just throw rain sounds in the background too pfft.

Favorite work you wrote this year? Once again... Pull in Case of Bisexual Awakening! Literally changed the course of my year both in terms of my real life and my creative one writing that bad boy!

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? He is rawer, nowadays, somewhat like when Sae first rejected him but also not. ‘Somewhat’ because he still aches all the time, ‘not’ because he embraces it. All wound. No boy. No need for anyone to stem his bleeding because Rin’s at his best when he’s bleeding, when he can be obscene, when he can destroy. - from final boys

Biggest surprise while writing this year? That once I figured out a good process for going from idea-outline-actual writing to finished product, I was so impressed with the amount of writing I was actually capable of! I've always been a notoriously slow writer, which led to me not being able to post super often prior to 2023 But I really hammered out a writing process that works for me and I did the best I could with it I think! I hope to improve upon it this year and hopefully get a better handle of keeping my word counts in check too (chronic over-writer here dkjfndjk).

2023 was such a big wild year for my writing and I can only hope I keep up the energy in 2024. It was such a blast and I appreciate everyone who supported me through all the ups and downs!! <3

[fandomscraziness22]

ao3 wrapped asks: 3, 10, 11, 17, 18, 28, and 29!

ya know, i can always count on shelly to send a million of these lol i love you!

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

love came crashing in because it's literally my fav mini trope ever and i had so much fun writing it!!!! (it also is pretty high in kudos/hits but we'll ignore that for a sec) i think i wrote it well and did what i wanted to do with a fun prompt and also got to send @futurearchaeologyprof into squeaks and keysmashes from parts of it lol

10. What work was the quickest to write?

so lift your head, it ain't over yet for sure!!! basically i finished this *incredible* fic called that i had wings & i could fly by @alphacrone and then sat down and banged out a quick scene continuation because i couldn't help myself!

11. What work took you the longest to write?

i don't really know! i feel like most of my fics take similar times to write lol. so i'll go with i keep getting better at slowly getting worse, my harbor crest fic, just because i wanted to get it right!

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

either Lockwood or Caleb Michaels (but also Mark)

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

uhhhhh maybe George? or Lockwood lol, but not really anyone in particular

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

honestly i really do love harbor crest and love came crashing in, but i had a lot of fun dipping my toes into Leverage this year with i know where i belong!

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

ohhh man i have no clue. let me go look. uhhh this is sad (but then again who is surprised) but it's from they don't talk about the freeze and i just love writing caleb in pain ahhhhh

His stupid psychology courses and years of therapy are useless right now. Because he’s in danger, his ex is in danger, his friends are in danger, and all he can do is stand there and watch while his brain dredges up emotions and thoughts from a dark November day four years ago. Because if he moves? If he unleashes the thing that slithers below his skin, the anger and fear and frustration and guilt he’s felt over the last year? If he lets himself hit someone, lets himself remember how good it feels in the moment to see that he can have an impact on someone, how the release is like nothing else he’s experienced? It’s never going to stop. He won’t be able to stop. And Caleb can’t…he just cannot let himself go there.

ao3 wrapped questions!

[bloomed-night-flower]

Gn reader

(THIS ISNT ACTUAL NRC. Just there are actually other gender than boys 😨)

This is Reader x All!

“Have you heard that a new play will be happening?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard. Apparently they already chose one of the love interests of the story!”

“Really who is it?!”

The gossip of the two girls that say near Ace and Deuce interested them very much.

“I heard it’s gonna be Y/N!”

“REALLY!”

Now all of the sudden Ace and Deuce where theater kids. And that didn’t end there. Now apparently many lovely boys and girls wish to play the part of the “Heroic love interest” to get a chance you kiss Y/n.

All of the people who wished for the role were ass.(Apparently to the judges.) Well except for 21 very unique students. Riddle, Trey, Cater, Deuce,Ace, Leona, Ruggie, Jack, Floyd, Jade, Azul, (YOU KNOW WHO ELSE IM NOT WRITING EVERYONE….), Kalim,Jamil, Vil, Epel, Rook, Idia, Malleus, Lilia, Sebek, and Silver.

All boys were perfect love interests for you, but the judges had thought of them as all equal acting skills. (realistically most would be butt cheeks but oh wells man) Some don’t even know how Idia got in here? But the judges had came up with the quickest solution ever. Through out the story the boys will switch out with each other. They would all wear the same outfits and all wear wigs. (Some would wear platform boots to match the height of the supposed character.[short asses😨] ) The play was about 3 hours and 50 minutes, so each boy would get ten minutes with you. And the kiss is around the 3 hours and 30 minutes mark. So now all the boys are slowly calculating who would kiss you,(some calculated slow than other but thats okay) and the boys came to a conclusion you would kiss AZUL! (THE CROWD GASPS 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Now there was only one problem…They all wanna kiss you on the little lips. So now each of them are scheming each others down falls. Isn’t that splendid!

And now finally comes the day of the play. Half of the students in the theater were there to see Y/n and the other half was to watch their personal ships of y/n x [character] sail. I mean we love a balanced fan base. Besides the point, backstage there stood all 21 boys glaring at each intensely, some just smiled and glared. But the boys focused their glares more on Azul. Azul just had a sly smirk while thinking how king triton had given him so much luck. Footsteps were able to be heard and the boys slowly turned their heads to the sound. Their stood you in all your beauty. You wore some medieval clothes that you preferred. Now this made the boys want to sabotage Azul even more, while Azul just wants to faint from your beauty.

Its a few minutes before the play starts, when suddenly a large bang of a door is heard. “WHAT THE HELL!?” Ace’s voiced could be heard in the front and now the guest were worried. In walked in the man himself…..

.

.

.

It was shrek. SHREK RUSHES IN THROUGH THE DORR HE JUSTED SLAMED OPEN AND HE SLOWLY WALKS UP TO YOU. “Y/n L/n, I ask of you a favor. Will you run away with me to my swamp?” Shrek’s eyes stare at you awaiting your answer. WHEN SUDDENLY, ONE OF THE CEILING TILES FALL DOWN. The ceiling tile hits Trey and knocks him out. But who comes down from the ceiling tiles?

.

.

.

Its BARNEY, YES THAT PURPLE DINOSAUR. “STOP Y/N DO NOT ACCEPT HIS PROPOSAL!!!BECAUSE IF YOU RUN AWAY WITH HIM, YOU WILL LEAVE ME YOUR CHILDHOOD FRIEND BEHIND!SO STAY WITH ME INSTEAD Y/N!” Barney now held your hand on one knee. You weren’t able to comprehend wtf just happened. As you were about to say something, a big force punches both Barney and Shrek. And the one who punched them was….A CAT? Oh wait, it was pusheen. Pusheen meows at you to just go back home with your family and pusheen. This time you knew the exact answer, “Okay!” You pick up Pusheen and walk out of the theater. And the boys stood there flabbergasted at what just happened. And in the end no one got to kiss you.

The End

Also happy april fools man, THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL SERIOUS FIC. I made this during 2-3am so yeaaaaa. (I can’t believe my first writing post is for april fools 😔 Also probably add the header blocker thing later)

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/7/2023

soooooo there's another classic Dad Movie character ive adopted bc ive decided he's bisexual

listening

Black Hole Baby by Superorganism. i would put a marker down and say this is the sound of the summer but this came out last summer :/ the very flat (slightly chiptune?) delivery of the lyrics combined with the hyper bouncy...squelchy??? lasers? is extremely fun. this song is neither creepy nor wet but it is viscous bc u are on a spaceship partying as a black hole is Getting You

listen. anything that starts off with subway chimes and the following lyrics is going to be good. these are good song choices in my mind.

I've been eating fruit I've been sleeping well when I can

the bridge in the middle with bits and pieces of radio hosts shouting them out-- i could take it or leave it. i do like how this band namedrops themselves constantly. it's like an oil painting at an estate sale with a huge legible signature at the bottom.

-

reading

i have read about three-quarters of raymond chandler's oeuvre (hardboiled detective/film noir author and screenwriter of note) this week. i cannot in good faith recommend these books because they contain some of the worst excesses of their time, which is good bc this is not a review series.

sometimes, i'm watching or reading something and i decide it would be a good tuesdaypost candidate. i hate the term consume but it's the quickest descriptor here, so bear with me. if i am consuming a work based on the recommendation of a friend, it changes how i consume the work-- i'm on the lookout for the elements they used in their pitch. if i'm consuming a work to write an article or paper (rare these days) i'm stopping halfway through to take notes, i'm rewinding to catch details, i'm delving into interviews, i often fully rewatch or reread. if i'm liveblogging something i am mostly on the lookout for humorous and/or gay bits. if in the middle of something i catch myself thinking "ooh this would be good to talk about for the tuesdaypost" that introduces another like, film or lit crit level to the rest of my time with the work. it's very difficult to turn that part of my brain off.

when i am reading things just for me, none of that is there. i am fully immersed, my disbelief is suspended. i am not thinking about anything else but the story that is being told to me. ive spent a great deal of time with these books this week and it feels weird not to talk about them, but they are something i really enjoyed that was just for me.

i honestly don't know how to unpack my enjoyment of works that (at times) reflect the quite extreme racism of their author-- the one that grabbed me the most, Farewell My Lovely, contained some of the most callous and exceptionally cruel shit i've ever read. it also contained some of the most fascinatingly complex inner workings of an extremely closeted bisexual guy with ptsd i've ever read. i don't know how to talk about these books in an interesting or balanced way.

even if i did know how to unpack these things, the brief and light weekly roundup post on goddamn tumblr dot com (home to no nuance whatsoever) would not be the venue. this is an anti-review, in a way.

-

watching

a fuck of a lot actually bc i'm really trying to crank out this baby blanket and podcasts aren't really doing it. same username on letterboxd if u want to see early drafts of this tuesdaypost section.

i watched many films that came on two vhs tapes when i was little, bc charlton heston was one of my mom's favorite actors. i did not see spartacus when i was little but i did see the entirety of ben hur AND the ten commandments before i was eight. i can't make that make sense either.

anyway i have a soft spot for epics but only when i am actively doing things with my hands. this one has a more interesting making-of story than the actual movie, imo. this one also had oddly christian overtones, for being set in a time where christ and christianity did not yet exist. like many critics of the time, i have no strong feelings about mr douglas' acting. i really, really liked the soundtrack-- a delight to hear the love theme in context after hearing it in a thousand different soundtrack theme compilations!

-

playing

nothing that wasn't a phone game i've already talked about

-

making

five and a half repeats!!! i am aiming for ten repeats plus some sort of i-cord border so this is roughly halfwayish

i took this in broad daylight after a meeting like "if i knit more tonight i'll take another photo" and then i didn't knit any more tonight i read a bad western and halfheartedly liveblogged it

[wonderofasunrise]

20 questions for writers

Thank you for the tag @everybodyknows-everybodydies <3

How many works do you have on AO3? 37 so far in almost four years!

What's your total AO3 word count? 71,414.

What fandoms do you write for? ER and Star Trek, mostly Voyager but also a bit of The Next Generation.

What are your top five fics by kudos? No Matter What Gets Damaged (Star Trek: Voyager, B'Elanna Torres/Seven of Nine) - I wrote this for the 2023 MILFic Exchange, and this is my only multi-chapter fic so far! It's mostly B'Elanna/Seven fluff about how their relationship develops into something more, and I'm quite proud with how it turned out 😁 A Room of Broken Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beverly Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard) - It's set post-"Sub Rosa" - which is one of the show's campiest and most infamous episodes (and a personal favourite of mine) that involves, among others, a Scottish sex ghost for those not in the know - and despite its campiness there's this exchange between Beverly and Picard that really made me go, "AH, THE FEELINGS!" and thus this fic was born! When the Night Turns Over (Star Trek: Voyager, B'Elanna Torres/Seven of Nine) - I wrote this for Star Trek Femslash Week 2023, and it's just a short pre-relationship fic. The idea came on a whim when I was in the shower, and it must've been one of the quickest fics I've written. About a Long Night (ER, Kerry Weaver/Susan Lewis) - My very first ER fic, and naturally it's nothing more than fluffiness with my OTP from the show! In a Sacred Place (ER, Kerry Weaver/Susan Lewis) - I've made it no secret that I'm...not a fan of how Kerry's coming out on the show was handled, so this was my attempt at a fix-it where Kerry made the revelation on her own terms with someone who understands and appreciates her.

Do you respond to comments? Sometimes it takes a while, but I try my best to!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? For Star Trek, probably If All That Dies Will Live Again, which is based on one of Star Trek: Voyager's angstiest episodes. The tags I included alone will show you why 😅 For ER, I would say All There is to Know - another attempt at a fix-it about Kerry's coming out arc, but with an even angstier ending.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of what I write is fluffy, so this is hard to answer 😂

Do you get hate on fics? Thankfully no!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Not really, but I'd love to someday lol

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Just one, and it's a crossover that I'm sure only I am the target audience of haha. It's an ER x Body of Proof crossover called Long Time No See, which is pretty much just my excuse to write something that features characters played by three of my favourite TV ladies - Jeri Ryan, Laura Innes, and Sherry Stringfield lol

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge 👀

Have you ever had a fic translated? Again, not to my knowledge, but I'd love to translate some of my own fics into Indonesian.

Have you ever co-written a fic? Yes, with the wonderful writers of the [que]er fic and fandom Discord server that I help run!

What's your all-time favourite ship? B'Elanna Torres/Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager), Kerry Weaver/Susan Lewis (ER), and Beverly Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation) because I refuse to name just one on principle hehe.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of my many, many Star Trek: Voyager AUs that I have planned and written fic notes for lmao

What are your writing strengths? Probably characterisation and plotting.

What are your writing weaknesses? First of all I suck at coming up with titles, and more often than not I just pick up something from a song I happen to be listening at the time of writing. As I'm not a native English speaker, I suppose some of my wording could also come across as awkward.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for fic? Difficult to pull off, but impressive when done well!

First fandom you wrote for? High School Musical 😂 I must've been 14 or 15 at that time.

Favourite fic you've written? OH GOD this is like choosing one of my babies 🥲 For Star Trek, I'd say When Moonlight Meets Sunrise, because I had my reservations about writing their first time since it's something that I believe should be done tastefully considering their back stories, but I like to think I pulled it off. For ER, In a Sacred Place because it's what I would've loved to have seen on the show regarding Kerry's coming out, and as one commenter said I like that I managed to give her a gentle landing.

Tagging @thebiwifeonao3 @sapphicsandscience @cloudsnbones and anyone else who wants to do it!

[platonic-qpr-selfshipping]

fgfjhfhd BROOO I LOVE THE NEW ASK GAME!!! cereal, notes and days for character of your choice, have a nice evening/day love yaaa

HELLO MY BROOOOO im happy you liked it!!!! thank you for the ask, hope you get some nice rest tonight and love ya too!

cereal - how different are your breakfasts? have you ever prepared breakfast for the other? is there something you would never accept for breakfast, even if it came from them? for Belphegor

Chose him because he's just so sleepy during breakfasts I thought it would be fun to write about him for this one jshdsf In week days, having to go to RAD and all, he would get to the table and practically fall asleep on it. We would insist on waking him up so he can eat something, but he's so sleepy he'll eat a bit of whatever you put in front of him as long as he can tolerate it. In my case, depending on the time I have I might get some cookies for my colacao or prepare some toasts, just my usual morning. During the weekends, with no reason to wake up at any certain hour, I will prepare him breakfast from time to time to make sure he doesn't skip the meal, even if he wants to go back to sleep after eating it (and maybe drag me with him to get a morning nap)

notes - whose writing is harder to read? who writes more by hand than digitally? do any of you rely on making lists or using post-its on a daily basis? for Childe

Oh Childe, my dear Childe. If he writes something by hand he might just do it the quickest way possible to continue with whatever he is doing, especially if it's just a note to himself. If he's writing a letter to his family, he'll probably take more time with it because he cares more about its outcome. I think both of us write by hand quite a bit, but I do it more often as he just prefers the part of mission of dealing with enemies instead of papers. I also make lists very often so I bet he brings me post-its to the teapot so I can have them around and use them whenever I need. He might leave me some encourging messages with them, too<3

days - how often do you text each other? who is the most likely to send a random meme without context at 3am? are they more the type to text you a simple "good morning", run up to your house and shout it at your window or somewhere in between? for Luke

I think we would text rather often but it's so casual and like second nature that our chats looks like a never-ending conversation lmao. Sometimes conversations online get interrupted but that's because we meet in person so we continue talking about it but out of the chat, and other times we haven't texted in quite a few hours but he suddenly goes "btw, today I saw..." and there we are exchanging messages once again as if the conversation hadn't really ended before. It's just comfortable and it makes us feel like we are in touch with each other. About the good morning thing, he would be the type to knock on my door with something for breakfast after his morning run, meanwhile I would be stupidly waiting on my balcony, staring at his balcony while I wait for him to come out and see me to play some music and wish him a good day with random posing or something XD

[cloudninetonine]

*awkwardly walks on in, downs coffee thermos down in one go like a shot, leaves note, salutes, passes out for three days* Ello ello, hopefully existence is treating you well and you're having a nice (insert time of day here)!

Honestly thank you very much for listening to me ramble about Lora and Fia/Seraph, I think about those two waaaaay too much, too many theories in the brain xD, and yeah decided to try this off anon thing, let's see how it goes, thank you for your patience!

Corrupted Player with unsettling Ben Drowned situation singing the Song of Healing in reverse my beloved-

I have a vague outline shambling around in the vague approximation of a story if that helps? It came to me in a bout of insomniac frenzy, basically it involves Player getting Isekaied yet again to Lora's Hyrule, meeting Candance and then Lora, an impromptu duet with dance involved (going back and forth between Farewell Wanderlust, The Calling and The Horror and The Wild by The Amazing Devil, one because the songs are amazing, two because I feel Lora's voice and the male singer's fit, and three because I think Player deserves a chance to go absolutely off about their frustrations in musical form if it's very far in during Player's Aid as a treat) because Lora realizes they don't know how to fight there and the quickest way is to basically throw fuel in the dramatic theater kid fire and impromptu duet-fight with them, plus he'll probably have a blast having a singing and dance partner for once so it's a win-win, shenanigans ensue as impromptu Disney Prince mode activates, and then either Candance comes back in with Operetta and start teasing him like "Hylia darn it Lora again?" While it finally hits him what he just did, poor boy is probably very flustered and apologetic the whole time (though it's funny if Player is just like "New favorite Hyrule, can we do it again?", Because that was a main character moment and they could do with some Theather person shenanigans and hijinks, plus they actually fight well here! Rhythm games served them well!) While Operetta/Zelda and Candance start to figuring out their situation, or, for comedic shenanigans, The Chain eventually gets Isekaied there (because let's be honest the mission the Chain is on is basically a mix of Isekai and Time Travel Shenanigans with many extra steps to places they know Dink basically just threw them into the most convoluted road trip ever), accompany Candance and Lora's Zelda back, and basically walks in on the duet and more shenanigans ensue honestly I haven't gotten that far yet insomnia did most of the job, I can either tag you or send it here once it's done, choice is yours *shrugs*. Also, he can likely hear the background music, and if Player can as well shenanigans ensue, I will not elaborate today because Tumblr has this little thing called character limit and I don't want to bother you much with my insane rambles xD.

Some things on Seraph/Fia because why not? It's basically the condensed version:

I absolutely agree that they erased his character, but they also did so to the other champions and Una because he probably tried to aid his Ganon so he wouldn’t be corrupted along with Una, but failed and that brought forth the Calamity and it’s Malice as an unwitting catalyst to it, because you can’t tell me that this man wouldn’t have seen his shield brother slowly being driven insane and would not try and do something about it. My main theory is that him and Una tried to separate Ganon from Demise’s curse, maybe like how Dusk gave up part of her powers to help Midna way back when, but it instead trigged the curse like some sort of freaky kill switch, and when he died it wouldn’t give up during his initial defeat, so instead it corrupted and reanimated his body into what we see now in TOTK, which led to Seraph/Fia and the Zonai likely sacrificing themselves to hold it back after they finally got it and the body pinned down and cornered and Una coming in to finish the job for now (Could be how the Luminous Stones came to be, lots of people think it’s what remains of the Zonai’s souls or magic), there’s evidence Malice has existed for as long as Sky’s Era in Zelda (likely a remnant of Demise’s power from his initial rise to the surface, it’s likely that dark water in the Ancient Cisterns basement that does damage to you like how Malice does, you can also find cursed enemies there and which other era has the highest amount of Malice in the air and a lot of cursed, reanimated enemies? Wild’s.), And it clearly corrupts, reanimates enemies, learns and evolves, it’s very likely that the Blights we fight in BOTW is just the Malice corrupting Sheikah tech due to how animalistic they, Guardians and it’s fellows Calamity Ganon (Boss) and the Divine Beasts act in game (heck the only reason the Beasts likely weren’t as aggressive as they could have been was because the Champions were doing what Flora was and holding it back). But it wouldn’t have had reason to react like that unless something was really wrong with it’s vessel like say, Ganon acting off the usual script, since most of the time Ganon just seems to get more and more mindless as time goes on from Demise’s curse (as we see in Legend’s and Hyrule’s branch and the beast forms in Time and Twilight’s), it wouldn’t have had reason to give up on reincarnation unless something was seriously off. It was Demise’s kill switch, a way of ensuring Hyrule, Hylia’s Reincarnation and the Spirit of the Hero would suffer in case his physical reincarnation couldn’t or wouldn’t do it.

Honestly these videos probably explains it much better:

https://youtu.be/oJwllSGUWvY

https://youtu.be/YUaKoAFs1H8

https://youtu.be/aXPny2cjOLY

I kind of feel like that would make him and Una feel honestly guilty and responsible for it, guilt for failing to help a friend, responsible for the Calamity and honestly seeing what Wild and Calamity went through later (because honestly Calamity’s timeline can only really exist because Wild didn’t succeed at first) would probably feel like a Lynel’s kick in the gut. To probably match the sucker punch Wild and Calamity would give him because “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT WASN’T EVEN THE ACTUAL ORIGINAL GOODS?!”

... Now I kind of want to see them react to this possible theory, just out of morbid curiosity. I feel like the possibility would hit both of them like a truck.

Also probably would have custody battles with Twilight over Wild and Calamity, I will probably elaborate it on another ask plus the possible mythology connections. And the fact Wild's arm got corrupted in the TOTK trailer gave me the awful possibility that Seraph/Fia's situation is a Pure Vessel one.

And that’s that for today, writing this while having a pounding headache and in need of a nap so I’ll finish this up for now. Been having kind of having some awful few weeks lately so I hope you’re doing good and thank you for putting up with all my crazy ramblings and headcanons!

-A Very Awkward Summertime Musician

Hi again Summer!

First off I would fucking love to read the fic if you write it! You can tag me in it if you eventually write it out!

Second, the idea of Seraph/Fia using Wild as a vessel is incredibly disturbing and I am indeed loving the opportunities that come with it! 👍🏼

[ladytauria]

for the get to know your fic writer ask game!! i picked a lot but you are not obligated to answer them all haha

4, 10, 18, 26, 35, 55, 72

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

anywhere & everywhere!

my two most recent fic ideas were each inspired by a line from a fic. the last fic i posted was inspired by a headcanon i have, and for my current wips... two are prompt fills for jaytimweek (one from '22 & then one from '23 xD); one is inspired by a post from unhingedao3tags on twitter; & then the other two are inspired by daydreams i had!

10. Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

so i decided to search the entire folder~ the first one that came up is one i've shared quite a few snippets for lately, so i decided to pick a different one. specifically, my vampire!tim wip, which i started purely because i thought of the following dialogue exchange (& a further conversation that's too long to paste for this) & it made me laugh

“Seriously, babybird, what are you, some kind of vampire?” This time, the pause [in typing] is longer. More deliberate. Tim turns his head until he can see Jason—arm propped up in the back of the computer chair, looking down at him with something like fond exasperation. Normally, this is enough to warm his chest, send his heart skipping a beat, despite how familiar the sight is becoming. This time, though, incredulity swallows the symptoms of his crush. “Uh… yes?” Jason blinks at him. “You’re fucking with me,” he says. “…no?” Tim raises an eyebrow. Jason blinks at him again; honest confusion painted all over his face. Tim ignores the little thrill he gets from being able to see Jason’s emotions unguarded. “You… really didn’t know?”

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

i title my fics as soon as i have a decent idea xD if it was inspired by a song lyric or quote or random phrase, it has a title from the start; sometimes i come up with one during; but i think most of the time i end up titling them after.

if i don't already have a title in mind, i usually end up coming up with one based off of a line or section of the fic~

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

hmm.

probably "you know just what i need" because like... i had the idea one morning as i was waking up, came downstairs, and ended up writing half of it that first day. it took about a week, maybe two after that before i had the second half done, but... idk. it's probably the quickest i've ever written a fic over 2k words XD

35. What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

blanking on an answer for this one, tbh. writing villains is not my strong suit!

55. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

of all the characters i write for, my favorite is either the mermaid from voiceless, or the mc of my original novel~ (also v fond of a couple of the side characters lmao)

of fanfic specifically... i default to jason's pov a lot, but a lot of my favorite lines have come from tim's pov~

72. What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

usually it goes-- blurb the fic, write any scenes that pop out to me during the blurb (or which inspired the fic), and then write the fic beginning to end, inserting any prewritten scenes as they come up.

however, for two of my current wips, i've deviated. one of them, i skipped over the beginning, & only recently added it in xD & then for the other, i wrote the beginning & end before the middle. so... it varies? xD

[ get to know your fic writer ask game ]