#this seems so incoherent but this is why I don't want to write a fanfic

[rednite-dork]

I'm back from the dead!

I had a rough end of the year - I finally graduated, we adopted a new cat and we moved back to my home town, so I held a small hiatus to gather up my strength lmao. But I saw this OTP meme floating around a few months ago and I wanted to do my own version of Sebastian and my MC!

More yapping about them below vvv

I had this laying on my files for a long while actually, but I was struggling with a song that I would put as a "theme song" - I usually don't practice those w my ships lol - but I heard Hozier's version of Do I Wanna Know a while ago and idk it really gave the vibe I was looking for them 🥰

I basically have two endings for them, one that's "fanon" where I can play sandbox with them and they'll have a happily ever after, and the "canon" ending that'll follow the upcoming games' lore (assuming the next games are direct sequels) - honestly I'm a sucker for the idea of them yearning for each other but unable to be together, and I can just imagine Seb possibly yearning for MC after the HL events and going to the HL sequel, he misses her and their little adventures and he kind of starts to romanticize things in his head and starts to have feelings for her - but him being too late to pursue her 🥲 and I feel like the theme song really captures the vibe of that idea!! can't wait to explore this more lmao

I also did some "graphology" specifically for this OTP meme, cause I like the idea of their personalities and quirks showing up from their handwriting, and here's what I have about them! I dunno if it's accurate or not, but hey, it's something, hope you like it anyways!

[chershare]

Comments

So I've been seeing stuff about commenting lately going around. Reading them and having readers assume that they "bothering" authors or "being weird" about it is blows my mind.

Please bother me??? Be weird??? I am also very weird so please be weird with me about my weird little fanfic???

Where did this "don't interact with the author" thing come from? Where did the "don't talk to other people in comment threads" thing come from?

I routinely go through and reread comments on my fanfic. It reminds me that other people also enjoy the fact that I share my labors of love and occasional silliness. Sometimes it's people yelling at me - or each other - about something I did, but they still interact.

I love repeat commenters! I love seeing the progression of the story through their eyes and words! It's so fun to know that little thing was noticed by at least one person even if it's been years since the original posting or update!

Sometimes I see the Hit counter on Ao3 and notice it jump by a lot, but that I don't get any comments. It's usually on a completed fic that I notice traffic with no interactions. Why don't people comment on completed fic anymore? Why don't people comment at all anymore? I don't care how old it is if you liked it I still wanna know what you thought! I want to know if you liked it! Kudos are great but sometimes people just hit that button automatically and i wanna knoooooow.

Just because it's from years ago doesn't mean I don't remember how much I loved writing it. It doesn't mean I don't still love it. I wrote it for a reason, because I wanted to, the same reason I shared it with you. There's no time limit on love or appreciation, and no one will be mad if you show and communicate your own thoughts.

I would love those thoughts as well. Like, okay, if you thought it was shit just say nothing - and don't put it in your bookmark notes please jesus christ we can read those - and hit the X button. Life is hard enough please don't shit on my labors of love.

Anyway.

Did you like a certain line? Were you angry about a cliffhanger even if you could read the next chapter immediately? Did something confuse you before it was answered later? Was it not answered?

Hell, people don't even seem to Kudos very often anymore. It used to be I'd get a laundry list of Kudos in my email every day. Now I really only get more of them when I update, and only for a few days. (which might be a me problem yikes maybe I'm just not cool in the fandoms anymore (＞﹏＜) ).

Anyway, I love comments and definitely go through and reread them often. Reminding myself of things people liked or found or just felt something about. I reread the incoherent rambling and the quoting of my own sentences back at me. I reread the essays and the screaming. Everything, I reread it.

Sure, I'm really bad at answering comments, but I still read them. I still want to know what you thought, how you feel.

I write for me but I share for you readers. It's just nice to know I'm sharing for a reason.

[sapphicseasapphire]

I apologize in advance but I'm going to ramble incoherently for way too long in this ask.

I just got caught up on a lot of cryptid AU stuff and Sky and Groose's relationship is very interesting to me. At first I was like, "????" but then you explained in the post and now it makes sooo much sense and I actually really really like it. I have DID and his whole situation with two halves of a whole becoming one is so fascinating. (I went through something similar so I'm very interested in this kind of stuff.) I love the birb boi very much and I'm happy he's your fav 'cause he's mine too. :3

(The alt who went through, essentially the same thing as Sky, may or may not let me write fanfic of the two meeting & him helping Sky adjust, would that be okay?) Wild. Can I talk about Wild? I've been dying to talk about Wild. Cryptid Wild touches something in my soul. Just. The silence. The curiosity. The innocence. The tragedy. The wanderer. The watching from afar. The Lost Boy. I just. Ajkhshtrsj. He makes me feel deep and profound things and I adore him for that.

I want to give him a giant hug and just hold him for a while and tell him he's not alone and that it'll be okay but I get the sense that he would NOT vibe with hugs or contact out of the blue. (You can't stop me from hugging Sky though, birb boy's getting tackled off a cliff. HE HAS WINGS IT'S FINE. :D)

... Has Sun ever ridden on Sky's back before? How would Sky feel about that?

I want my favs (Sky & Wild) to interact but idk how close you plan on them being or how much interaction you plan on having between the two of them. I don't even know what kind of dynamic they'd have in your AU if any, they both seem kinda lost in their own heads/situations.

They're kind-of inverses of each other, now that I think about it: Wild's trying to grapple with being someone he can't remember, and Sky's trying to grapple with being TWO "people" he CAN remember! A memory vacuum and memory overload... man now I want to see them talk about that.

How much does Wild think about who he was before? Sky's kinda smacked in the face with it, but Wild seems (fittingly) very distracted by the moment. But is it distraction, avoidance, or both? He still has the soul of Link (... right?), but he no longer remembers what that means. Does he want to? Does he feel overwhelmed even thinking about trying? adkutfkuvluyvlig. Too many Wild thoughts. ♥

Also why doesn't Legend like Wind turning into his water form (I forget what it's called)? He looked freaked out by it and asked him to not do that; why? Did I miss something? /gen, I don't think I've caught up on everything yet.

Anyway thanks for this AU sorry for the novel-length ask I just had a Lot of Thoughts. :)

Bro all I ever do is ramble too long, don’t even worry about it. I love getting asks like this.

LONG ONE, under the cut!

Okay I’ll try to break this up to answer all of your questions and ramble a bit haha!

SKY AND GROOSE! Yeah, there’s a lot of tension there. Sky is… an entirely new person. He has the memories of both Link and Aepon, but he interprets those experiences differently than either of them would. Link and Aepon both had entirely different mindsets, so of course the result of their fusion would be left to interpret things on his own.

Link never cared enough about himself to care about what Groose said to him/did to him. Self sacrificing to a fault and very forgiving. (Kind of by design, too. Hylia needed her Hero to be willing to risk his life for the good of others). Aepon was Link’s other half, his Goddess given protector, and thus he had the traits that Link lacked. He was a strong, proud bird. He cared enough about Link to care what Groose had to say about him. And then he was kidnapped! And Groose just kept hurting Link! And Aepon’s!!! Not!!! Having!!! That!!!

And so Sky was very conflicted about Groose. His Link half wanted to be friends! His Aepon half wanted nothing to do with him! And then Groose… said some very unkind things. I think that Groose is a very defensive person. When he feels hurts or threatened in any way, he lashes out. He had been at a point with Link where they were close! They were friends! They faced the end of the world together! And then suddenly all of that changed and Groose doesn’t understand why. Just. Suddenly Sky started giving him the cold shoulder. And that… hurt. And when Groose is hurt? His first instinct is to punch back.

So Sky was on the fence and Groose started falling back into old habits, just being so so rude. He called Sky a monster, treated him like he was just some thing that had stolen his friend away from him. And if Sky was undecided before, that pushed him right over the edge. Sky is not fond of Groose.

And you’re more than welcome to make any kind of fanart or fanfics! Just so long as you tag me so that I can see them!!

(Sun has not ridden on Sky’s back, but he wouldn’t be opposed! He loves taking people on flights! It’s just that he was only home for three days after Demise and he hasn’t been to his era in so long. Kind of tragic that Sky’s spent more of his existence away from home than he has actually on Skyloft or even in his own era. But in the future! After the Cryptid Adventure is done! Sky will fly with Sun! Now, Sun does still have Aria, but they’ll take turns haha!)

WILD!!! He does not vibe with hugs. Pretty much ever. Anyone who grabs him, he will immediately take that as being restrained and he will run away. He is a FREE SPIRIT!!! He’d like to keep it that way.

Sky and Wild do interact! Like, a lot! I think there’s this misconception going around that the Cryptids don’t like Wild? Particularly I’ve seen it with Legend haha! But no!! Wild is so loved! The others are annoyed by his constant thievery but to be honest, it’s kind of endearing! When Wild is focused on one of the members of my Chain, he’s SO focused on them. He’s caring, he’s genuinely very sweet. AND he can be bribed with cool rocks and colorful leaves so. Winning.

Sky and Wild have this whole arc surrounding the Master Sword. Sky’s inseparable from the blade but Wild… he knows something’s not right. He wants to see what will happen if he takes it away. (Sky will not let him steal it).

And… okay. So. Wild struggles so much with the whole being Link thing. He is definitely 100% avoiding it. He spends all of his time running away from Flora, but he’s really running away from who he used to be. He has no memory of ever being mortal- his life is completely irrelevant. Link and the Child of the Mountains are separate. WILD WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. He does not want to remember. He does feel overwhelmed.

Still… there are certain things that he cannot run from. And that bothers him SO MUCH.

LEGEND AND WIND!!! What’s Legend’s issue with Wind’s natural form? Please don’t hate me, but Legend is being racist. I have a lot of lore written out about their dynamic and the circumstances that led them to this point. Here’s a post about the War! And here’s a post more specifically about Wind!

But basically, to sum it up. There’s this big war that spans across the timelines between the Mer and Aquili. In Legend’s timeline, the Mer won and he was taught to hate “Sea Monsters.” He was chased from his home by an Aquili scavenger and was never allowed to return, and so he had a very deeply seated hatred AND FEAR of Aquili. In Wind’s timeline, the conflict is still ongoing but it’s not as extreme since Hyrule flooded. He lives on an island of refugees- Mer and Aquili who fled the ocean to find peace. Because of this, the war is distant to him. Something that he’s not connected to. Although… in loosing ties with his people, he’s lost ties with his culture.

I actually have so much more to say about Outset Island in my au! I’m planning on making another big lore post soon where I can go in detail about it!

And I promise that Legend will come to his senses! Soon!

Thanks for sending in this ask! I love rambling about my guys! I hope this helps?

[thatdeadaquarius]

m thinkin abt the “blunt vs flowery” language thing and…… in the year of our lord 2023, i don't even want to imagine how far back we'd have to go in genshins timeline until we see ‘hey shawty' written on a cave wall-

you try to be better about it, sometimes, using only the fanciest words and the most floral of tones, but all you ever succeed in doing is giving zhongli flashbacks to the archon war-

in the same vein: modern humor. would literally make them think "is this some sort of divine joke im too mortal to understand?" except even the archons need to cite sources on why a piece of bread falling over would be funny- maybe you slip sometimes, but you only ever get halfway through like “i’m neurodivergent and a minor” before you realize they don’t know what that means— “what if i had blue hair and pronouns” but they’re just sitting there like… doesn’t everybody have pronouns….? and kaeya has blue hair- are you implying he’s divine? what about chongyun?? xingqiu??????

anyway um. this is me bringing up my unfortunate (but very funny) habit of saying “i’ll boil you like soup” whenever i’m mildly inconvenienced and hoping it triggers Thoughts about the casual/slang threats we make and how they cope

sorry if this reads incoherently it’s 1am for me rn— also i’m debating becoming a regular anon here, are your applications open? 👉👈

SORRY IF I RAN U OFF BY NOT REPLYING QUICKLY!! BUT I’D LOVE TO HAVE LABELLED ANONS! I’ve already added some taken name I could see in my mailbox so check the pinned post and choose whatever isn’t taken! phrase or emoji, etc.! :)

this isnt super long bc ur stuff seemed chill on its own/idk what I could add! So I just focused on one aspect

gif is literally everyone reacting to you trying to speak “flowery” like them lol

ALSO u guys probably dont remember bc I took so long but I’m still writing/going to post that Blunt Lang. AU Fanfic One-Shot! so here’s some quick headcanons ill add on ive got anon!!

No TWs/Content Warnings. SFW.

so this was gonna be chill but-

BESDIES RANDOM SHIT LIKE MEME REFERENCES

THAT WONT MAKE SENSE TO THEM BC INHERENT INTERNET/DIGITAL UNDERSTANDING NEEDED

WHAT IF ALL UR JOKES OR REFERENCES ARE QUITE LITERALLY, ANCIENT??

like anon said about even the archons having to pull out sources/cite your stuff to understand it, like finding really old tablets/scrolls/carved wall words 😭

u giving Zhongli a history lesson/brush up LMAO

If ur annoyed at them u just need to make more jokes, leave em scrambling for their pocket notes LOL

I like to think since you sound the OLDEST

that the ancient shit like Phanes/Four Shades/Seven Sovereigns are the closest in speech

(look theyre all alive and shit for my genshin, goddamit i still gotta tell u guys abt my genshin fill-in lore au)

and they’re closer to the “beginning of history” in teyvat so theyd get more references

theyd literally understand u the best and they like, all in the Abyss or like deep in Teyvat,

so u just casually strolling up to Azdaha’s place instead like

���How’s your day been Azhy?”

“Same as the days many before, my lord. How are thee?”

“Good enough, hey, why don’t I bring some food from my old world by that I’ve made for you to try out? Something new, y’know?”

camera pan left to see Zhongli looking up, then back down as he scribbles notes trying to better understand, Xiao has crossed his arms and is squinting, Ganyu is behind Zhongli and is trying to peek over his shoulder, Cloud Retainer and other adepti have like hidden nearby to overhear lol

♤

FLASHBACKS FOR ZHONGLI-

HE’S OVER HERE LIKE

“Please do not disturb your countenance my Wànsuìyé, the vernacular is pleasant to mine ears and sufficient for speech.”

“I shall, uh, try my best Zhongli, thought I know ye have- wait- thy have? Whatever, accepted it, I shall keep attempting to better match thee!”

HIS FACE-

He’s literally just → 😰😣💀

(flashback to at least 1 really ancient/old god he had to fight for his life against, they were the hardest battle he’s ever faced, and Azhdaha was helping him by that point too, so it wasn’t even like he won alone… rip zhongli got ptsd)

He keeps trying to subtly stop you from practicing it, he also desperately discourages others from helping you 😭

(Zhongli was about to be called Rex Lapis again when Venti was trying to get on his last nerve by constantly encouraging you to speak fancier, but in the incorrect way, at dinner with them one time)

Like that last content with them pretending not to kow each other but 5x the tension and Venti is fooling around even more so than usual lol

THANKS FOR SENDING IN YOUR IDEAS!! I FUCKING LOVE HEARING OTHER PPLS BRAINROTS OVER STUFF!! AND SORRY AGAIN IT TOOK FOREVER!! ITS BEEN A ROUGH YEAR OF UNI FOR ME/IM GRADUATING!! <333 TYSM ANON!!

Safe Travels,

💀 ♒

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonderss / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylazaa / @genshin-impacts-mee / @wholesomey-artistt / @thedevioussmirk

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

I am answering this ask like this to prevent any potential harassment towards anyone

Don't wanna seem aggressive but idk abt the "Malleus has to marry a woman to continue the bloodline" in a fantasy magic setting or even in fanfic. Esp in a Disney game where you can wish on a star for a kid or love each other so much a Bio baby can appear. There's magic bullshittery going on too so you can make one. Also if any if the twst dudes do get a gf I don't get why people can't just pretend she doesn't exist or be poly? Maybe make a dramatic divorce fic?? Idk.

I do agree with you anon, a small minority makes everyone look bad (if I'm understanding this correctly)

Its the number one thing I hate abt the TWST Fandom or fandoms with this sort of premise in general. There's always this weird minority that ends up being the most vocal, especially as younger people are discovering Fandom but that's another story.

Usually the best thing to do to make your fandom experience the best is to block ppl you don't like and ignore stuff you don't like. It's what I do and I've been having a great time. Something something community fridge.

Glad u kinda brought this up cause I have a mini rant of my own that's related as someone who's been in fandom/fanfic for a while ll put under a read more— just noting my experiences and stuff I've noticed. I hope this doesn't come out wrong cause I worded stuff incorrectly.

This is not to attack or shame anyone. Don't be weird. Don't harrass anyone. If you don't agree that's fine. Just don't be assholes. This is just my experience as a male insert writer. This is very incoherent and all over the place l'm tired.

l esp notice this in self-ship x readers from my years of running different masc/male reader blogs. No one wins in situations like these. I have seen people ask other people online to not draw/ship their Mc with their fave because they ship their Mc with the same character and all. They get really upset and toxic over it too.

Here's some other stuff I've seen:

WIw/bisexuals/ect are made fun of for wanting fem characters and chances are these fem characters will be torn apart by some of the toxic ones in the Fandom.

People with male yuus are sometimes attacked because "they're not gay!" Or are think Yuus roles more feminine or are accused of misogyny

Female Yuus get in the way of the yaois or have to be a certain way or in the test fandom they have to be boys cause everyone at NRC is a boy.

Most x readers are Female (not afab which is different) so a lot of trans/masc ppl are left out and a lot of fem readers being tagged as x gn or x male

Male x Readers don't take off as well and chances are the author will sorta quit for that reason- it's hard to want to continue writing if no one cares abt it and it can just be in your head

Ive see a lot of F/M writers sometimes feeling like they have to apologize for writing such things.

A good chunk of x readers also end up very y/n in nature with the "weak perfect messy bun" thing and that's totally fine but a lot of the time it's not very x reader. (That being said dont be an asshole to the writer cause its not your cup of tea. Just ignore it. Community fridge.)

I personally try to make sure I make Yuu completely androgynous and give warnings about if Yuu is more muscular, has hair, is tall, ect.

It's also why I tend to write stronger-personalied Yuus or those that are taller/buffer in appearance. This doesn't make me better than people who write y/ns, shyer readers or fem readers but I have been compared and said that I write MCs 'better" when that "better" is just preference. Don't gotta tear the others down you know?

It's why l've been doing mainly gn or masc gn because I notice a lot of fem x readers tend to not include personalities that I personally prefer/imagine with my ocs and all that I see more in male x reader fics and I notice that all sorts of people want more of that

I've even gotten fem readers send asks abt it I the past on this blog abt this too

Not to mention the off aggression of Masc Aligned DNI!! For female writer inserts or Fem Alligned DNI! In very toxic or ignorant ways like Women can't like male x male cause fetishing and all that.

I do agree with your points anon, but I have seen this stuff before. I have received death threats on previous blogs for writing male and trans readers. I have had people tell me that I am misogynistic for not writing fem. This isn't even including AroAce ppl in fandom esp those who actually like smut or romance fic or those who want something besides it.

I also don't think that all women or people in general want their f/o to always be 100% available. (It prob just came off more strongly worded in the post than intended) I don't think that most would truly care aside from a "aw man", and I think that if it truly does distress someone, fandom may not be for them and they may need to take a break from it. I also don't like how us vs them it is. It's not a women issue, it's an immaturity/toxicity issue. It's just a small part of the Fandom that are the loudest and the absolute worst and you should block them and be done.

I like making spaces for masc/trans/gay/disabled readers since we're not often repped in fic, but this doesn't mean I think I'm better or that I hate fem insert writers. I follow many and they're wonderful people that are also safe spaces.

The only people I blame for harassment, are the harrassers. No one else. It's a slippery slope to rope everyone into a specific category just because of a small minority and I'm not interested in that waterside.

Idk if this is making any sense but I hope I got one point across.

[thdorkmagnet]

Forgiveness in Three Phases

So this came out of nowhere not gonna lie. Was actually trying to finish a Turtle Tots story but then @somerandomdudelmao Cass Apocalypse series ended and I ended up using that as the fire under my feet to write this. This isn't a fanfic of that series or anything, just a result of me needing to emotionally work out my feelings through writing, so I felt like I should mention the impact it had on me and this story. Regardless, you should read Cass Apocalypse series anyways because it's amazing and everything I ever wanted in a comic and I can't recommend it highly enough! Seriously read it if you haven't! You won't regret it!

As for this story, it's a little bit of an experiment I wanted to try out. This takes place post- ROTTMNT movie and is basically Leo having a talk with each of his brothers about his sacrifice. It seemed like a typical idea for the fandom to explore so I wanted to try something a little different to make it feel a little more unique.

This story is told non-chronologically. It jumps between three different points in time, the talk with Donnie, the talk with Mikey, and the take with Raph. There are points where it intersects but mostly it jumps freely between. I did my best to make it easy to follow but let me know if anyone struggles.

Anyways that's really it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle belongs to Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, and Nickelodeon. All rights go to them.

“Are you mad at me?” 

“Yes,” Donnie replied instantly, leaning over the machine he was tinkering on, refusing to even look at Leo. 

“No,” Mikey said before his gaze shifted. “Maybe a little.”

Raph sighed, looking so tired and small. “It's more complicated than that, Leo.”

“What you did was stupid, self-sacrificial, and incredibly selfish!” Donnie's teeth were grit together, fingers welding small strips of metal together, causing sparks of light to bounce off his goggles. “What gave you the right to throw your life away like that?! What made you think any of us would be okay with that?!” 

“I'm more sad than mad, really,” Mikey confessed, stirring the broth he was making with shaky hands. His thoughts seemed to be a million miles away, detached from his current self. “I know it was a desperate situation and I know you were just trying to protect us but when that portal closed, I…” Mikey lost his voice, eyes flooding with tears. His gaze finally focused in on his brother. “Why did you have to leave us, Leo?”

“I mean I am mad. I'm furious, Leo! At you, at the Krang, at the whole awful situation we ended up in, all of it!” Raph growled, low and steady, the punching bag he had been mercilessly wailing on a moment before now a crumpled broken heap on the floor. His voice was barely a whisper as he finally added, “But more than that I'm mad at myself.”

“No!” Donnie shouted, cutting off any attempt for Leo to explain himself, slamming a fist so hard on his desk it made the walls rattle. He fully turned to face his brother, goggles still hiding his eyes. “No, I don't want to hear any of your excuses! I don't care that you're the leader! I don't care that you thought there was no other way! I don't care that it was the literal end of the world! I don't care! Nothing you say is ever going to justify me almost losing my twin!” 

“It hurt us! It hurt us all so, so much!” Mikey shouted through his tears, dinner forgotten as he crumpled to his knees. “Raph and Donnie were just so broken. And sad. A-And I just couldn't… I can't-” Mikey threw himself at Leo, clinging to him with all he was worth. He held tight, sobbing and shaking and screaming incoherently as days and weeks of pent-up frustration and sadness bubbled freely to the surface. He held onto Leo so he couldn’t go away again.

Raph looked away, guilt washing over his face like a wave over sand. “I shoulda stopped you. I shoulda done somethin’.” Raph's shoulders slumped, like there was an unseen, oppressive weight pushing him down, threatening to crush him. “I'm the oldest, I'm supposed to keep you guys safe! Not you! It shoulda been me that got sent to the Prison Dimension. Instead, I let you make an impossible decision and it nearly killed you.” 

Donnie finally tugged up his goggles, eyes glassy with falling tears, something small and vulnerable now filling the space between the two brothers. “I thought you died, Leo. For a minute I… I thought you were gone. I mourned you.” There was no anger in his tone anymore. He just sounded sad and broken and so, so tired. He turned back to his invention, whispering. “You made me mourn you, Nardo.”

It took a while before Mikey’s wails sounded like words again. “I can't lose you, Leo! I can't, I can't, I can't! I-I was s-so scared! And the magic hurt so bad! I just wanted to bring you home! Even if it brought Krang back! Even if it killed me! I needed you back!”

Raph plopped on the floor, the weight finally too much for him to stand. Leo sat down too, failing to find the words to say. “I'm sorry, Leo. For not being there for you. And I don't just mean with the Krang, even before that. I thought you just weren't taking anything seriously and showing off like always. I didn't realize how hard it all was for you. I shoulda understood.” He finally met his brother's eye with a tenderness that hadn't been there in so long. “Instead I kept fighting with you and pushing you and pressuring you, instead of just being there and supporting you the way I shoulda been. And maybe if I hadn't said all of that…” Raph let out a deep, soul-crushing sigh. “You wouldn't of sacrificed yourself the way you did.”

Leo crashed into Donnie’s back, burying his head into his torn shell, arms encircling his twin protectively. 

He squeezed Mikey back, letting his own tears fall.

He reached out a hand, placing it over Raph’s own, finally meeting his big brother's eye.

“I'm sorry.”

“Your right, there is no excuse,” Leo admitted, words muffled as he buried himself a little further into the soft leather. “I never should’ve left you like that. I shouldn’t have hurt you or made you… think I was dead.” He choked back a sob, holding his twin just a little tighter. “I didn’t want to make that decision, I wanted to stay with you and Raph and Mikey and eat pizza and watch Jupitor Jim and argue about who’s the best at video games.” He couldn’t hold the sobs back anymore, crying into his twin’s shell, feeling the floodgates of his heart open, drowning him alive. But Donnie was here and there was safety in his presence, so he could keep on breathing. “I didn’t want to die and leave you alone.”

“I’m so sorry, Mikey,” Leo said gently, hands rubbing circles into his baby brother’s shell. “I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I scared you. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry.” He kept mumbling soothing words, listening as Mikey’s breathing started to even out and the tears turned into small sniffles and chirps. Still, Leo didn’t release his brother, he just held him close, pouring all the love, comfort, and affection he had to give into their embrace. He felt Mikey return it back tenfold, soaking through his shell and warming him from the inside out. “I’m here now. I’m here. And I’m never leaving you again. I promise. We’re safe Mikey. You’re safe. It’s all over. I’m home.” 

Leo nearly chuckled when Raph gave him a confused look. “What? Why are you so surprised? I thought that’s what you wanted to hear? I mean if anyone here has a lot to apologize for it’s me, not you.” His playful tone turned serious again, giving his big bro an apologetic smile. “Look, I know I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with lately, so I don't really blame you for any of what happened, before or after the end of the world. And you shouldn’t either. Not for a single thing.” 

Donnie suddenly swerved in his chair and pulled Leo tightly to his chest. Leo was so shocked he just sat there frozen for a moment. “I’m not mad at you because of what happened to me, Nardo. I’m mad because of what happened to you. Because you thought your life was worth less than ours and you let yourself get hurt because of it. You nearly died because of it. And because you care so little about yourself, I thought it would help you avoid repeating obvious mistakes to see our perspective as well.” Donnie let out a small breath, resting his chin on Leo’s head, hands gently brushing over his shell. “Though perhaps I went about it the wrong way. Emotions aren’t my strong suit.” 

Leo let out a wet chuckle, pulling away so he could wipe away the stray tears. “Same here. And sorry again… for everything.”

After what felt like a lifetime, Mikey spoke, voice choked and raw but still surprisingly strong. “Okay, I-I think I feel a bit better now.” He broke the hug, staring up at his big brother with misty eyes. “I needed that, I think.”

“We both did,” Leo agreed, kissing him on the top of the head.

Raph didn’t seem convinced, looking down at their hands instead of his brother. “I still shoulda stopped you from going into the Prison Dimension. You got so hurt.”

“Hey, that was my choice to make,” Leo said firmly, giving his brother an intense stare until he met his eye again. “And I don’t regret it. Just like how I know you don’t regret-” The words almost didn’t come and he had to swallow hard to get them out. “-jumping in front of me to save my life. It’s what leaders do.” He squeezed Raph’s hand as tightly as he could. “It’s what brothers do.” 

“Yes, well, just don’t forget we care about you, dummy. Or we’ll be having this conversation again.” There was affection in Donnie’s tone, carefully reaching up to adjust Leo’s mask. However, the smile vanished a second later, hand gripping the mask tails and pulling hard. “And if you ever pull a stupid stunt like that again, I'll have both your legs surgically removed!” 

“And you mean it,” Mikey asked in a soft, anxious tone. “You won’t do that again. Promise?” 

Raph let out a long, pained breath, the tension seeming to leave his body a little, the creases in his brow fading. “Yeah, I guess it is. Just… promise me next time you won’t do it alone. Brothers help each other, too, y’know.” 

Leo nodded, smiling. “I promise.”

Donnie nodded back, accepting the answer, turning back to his invention but allowing Leo to linger.

Mikey beamed brightly, moving back to the stove to try and salvage the burnt broth.

Raph gave his brother a toothy grin, opening his arms up for a hug. Leo melted into it. 

“Soooo, do you forgive me?” 

Donnie hummed in thought. “While I am still notably mad at you, I suppose I can accept your apology. You are lucky you are insufferably endearing.” 

“Yeah I do,” Mikey said with such honesty and conviction it made Leo tear up again. 

“Of course I do, Leo,” Raph rumbled, holding his brother close to his chest. He nuzzled the top of his head. “I already did.” 

Leo hesitated, fearful of what he had to say next. 

“Do you still love me?”

He held his breath, terror more powerful than the Krang or the Prison Dimension pounding against his chest. 

Three brothers stared back and smiled. 

“Always.”

[twilightguardian]

Well well. Looks like Lil is still up to her incoherent screaming. Let's take a look, shall we?

I gotta wonder what she means by 'absolutely nothing'. Like by definition 'absolutely nothing' would mean that there has been nothing going on. At all. The equivalent of sitting at a desk, not even twiddling your pencil between your fingers because twiddling would be something.

Episode 2 continues on from episode 1 with what Ruby bought at the festival, revealing them to be friendship bracelets for WBY, establishing how happy she is that not only her team, but her friends are back.

Qrow is still drunk, and unlike in the show, it's becoming actually debilitating for those around him, with Jaune and Ruby having to carry him to the station.

Blake says goodbye to her parents, Sun and Ilia just like in canon. (But I guess since Lilith thinks that's absolutely nothing, we can count that as nothing of worth to canon, either.)

There's also brief mention about the White Fang going to help Vale's recovery.

First episode we saw Roman and Neo pickpocketing people at the festival, and that got paid off when they got into first class on the train.

Mercury and Emerald have a discussion about Cinder and their differing views on her and parenthood.

Cardin and Russell replace Dee and Dudley both as characters we care about and filling in some exposition about the status in Vale.

Brief comedic scene where Yang tells Neptune the truth about 'Jane', because why keep friends in the dark about such things.

That's 8 'nothings' that have happened in the episode. So if you want to break it down into the most important things, we can say establishing RWBY as rekindling their bond, Cardin and Russel's cameo, Emercury's discussion and Qrow's drunkenness as being the core elements.

Ooof. You've never actually read fanfiction, have you, Lilith? You should join the Tundra discord server and join us for bad fanfiction night. Because all this tells me is that you don't know what incompetence is.

Actually, I have no idea if you even read. That's not an insult, that's just a general statement of fact. I've never seen any mention of books on your blogs, and I don't know you as a person.

Why would Cardin's return make you want to watch Fixing RWBY unless you had the expectation that Cardin, who you think only abuses women for some reason, would abuse a woman. Is abusing women something you like to see? People generally avoid things they don't like, you know. That's pretty dang weird.

Emphasizing again that Cardin isn't an abuser of women, specifically. He was a general bully in canon and a rather toothless one at that. He more went after Jaune in canon. Raymond gave him some teeth and his ass was still humbled for it. Now he knows better. When was the last time we've seen Cardin 'abuse' a woman?

Casually insulting all fanfic writers while trying to shit on one guy you have a hateboner for. Nice. You know there's not a single thing you said here that also can't also apply to your average fanfic author. Authors that may like a male character for whatever reason and may want to focus on that male character. Fanfic authors in general create derivative works that aren't 'their own' and many take from each other based on common fanfic tropes, themes and scenarios. The point of Fixing RWBY is to keep as close to the original as possible while also not being afraid to cut unnecessary fat and rearrange things. There isn't a single thing done to Fixing RWBY that one could say impacts the story in any substantially detrimental way. Oscar not being around doesn't matter because Ozpin still has a host. Expanding Menagerie's arc still resulted in Blake meeting up with everyone at the school.

lol

And she wonders why I have no faith in her ability to write when she doesn't seem to understand the concept of foreshadowing and Chekhov's Gun. No, he didn't do the Apathy Arc in V4. It was establishing when the backstory that Maria read in that book took place.

Also prove that the Apathy Arc is going to be 'all about Roman Torchwick' because you're just pulling that out of your ass with no basis other than you want it to be that way. You know, criticism comes after something you disagree with happens, not before.

I don't mind if you think that the first two episodes are slow. That's perfectly fine as valid criticism as not everyone is going to feel the same. Doesn't make it bad, it just means that's your preference. But that doesn't mean you get to pull shit out of your ass like you're fucking Jillian Epperly.

I don't understand this criticism. Are you saying that because Adam has a bike that Yang doesn't have her bike? Or that Yang owning a bike gets diminished because Adam has one because only one person is allowed to own a bike at a time?

Hey @iamafanofcartoons, hello, we haven't formally met yet. I've actually been very interested in talking to you at some point, and I'm sure this might wreck that a bit. But permit me to ask you what this even means lol

When has Raymond ever said that CardinxVelvet is going to for sure be canon in FRWBY? Because like... there's a difference between shipping a ship and then making that ship canon in the story you're working on. And really, obsession? How is Raymond obsessed with men who harass women? Because so far the one who talks the most about Shiloh is you.

And I wouldn't even say that either Shiloh or Shay D. 'harassed' Yang. The dude was drunk and tried to flirt. She wasn't interested and while touching her could have been assault, she was the one that touched him first to hit him instead of moving out of the way and verbally telling him off. Harassment actually deals with continued intimidation and threats. Yang was never threatened by Shay/Shiloh in either version. Yang was not a victim of harassment. So I would appreciate it if you would not infantilize Yang by saying such an innocuous altercation was harassment as it really makes out real harassment out to be not that bad if that's the comparison.

Yeah. I can't wait to see him prove you wrong because you're saying this with no proof.

[vvvrrroooomm]

Home Sweet Home

Summary:

After multiple fights and struggles (especially with taking care of the Bard King and his stupid college) Roman, Youngblood and Noise head back to Reston.

Notes:

~ If you have any hurt or fluff prompts for Roman of Reston/Roman Sanders - because I project onto them - feel free to submit them to me! I'm a multishipper for a handful of things so you can send that stuff to me. Just no NSFW I'm a minor.

~ Sorry this took so long to get this out, I've had the idea and its been sitting half finished for a week and a half but stuff got really stressful and I felt like my writing and art skills were absolutley terrible and I didn't want to touch any of my fanfic our half finished art pieces in fear of ruining them. Anyways, be ready for some smack-you-in-the-face, hardcore angst because I need a way to get my pent up emotions out so the Romeo and Juliet style fic is going to hurt a LOT more than any of you could ever guess.

But thanks for your response on my posts, and I really am so grateful you all enjoy my fics even if I can't finish them sometimes. Whether its due to brain dropping fandoms and picking up new ones and shaking them aggressively to get as much serotonin as possible or I just don't feel like writing, you all seem to keep reading. So thank you so much, and enjoy some fluff from my favorite OT3.

Roman brushes his hand through the wheat, occasionally rubbing at the gauze pads on his cheek and sholder, as gold light settles over his shoulders and creates elongated shadows of he, Noise and Youngblood. He takes long strides through the straight-shot path, excitedly explaining to Noise how delightful Reston is and how sure he is about how the people will love him.

"The food is great, the people are great and you're great!" He explains, "It all balances out."

"Roman, you really need to cut it out with the compliments." Noise insists, waving his hand at him, but that doesn't stop him.

"How could I stop, you really are great, you're both great!"  Roman walks backwards, and gestures to Noise and Youngblood who are both blushing and have been for the last twenty minutes. Roman has been going on and on about how excited he is to return home, excitedly but also nervously rambling about telling the stories they have all gained from the adventure. He isn't exactly sure how to explain some of the gorey or darker details that are extremely important to include, but not the most comfortable to explain in the story. He also isn't sure how to explain that hes dating two people at once. Roman mindlessly rambles, slowly becoming incoherent.

"How-" Youngblood wavers, "how about we save the story for tomorrow? When we get to Reston, it's gonna be late. We'll try to mellow out the darker stuff, and when we're all ready we'll take about our relationship?"

"That sounds good," Roman affirms, "sorry, I'm just trying to map everything out in my head."

"You're okay, we both understand why you're nervous." Noise assures, "Just keep telling me about Reston. Do you have anymore stories?"

"No, not really," Roman says, "my childhood wasn't that exciting."

"Really? You barely told us five stories." Noise asks.

"Sure I have more, but those were the good ones." Roman explains, "The rest are boring."

"They can't be that boring." Noise gives a chuckle under his breath, not being able to imagine someone as rambunctious and unaware as Roman having an uneventful childhood.

"They are." Roman assures, "I didn't really have any friends, and my dad and aunt patty were usually busy so I spent most days in my room or out helping villagers."

"Does everyone in your village know you?" Noise asks, sarcastically.

"Yeah, actually." Roman says, completely missing Noises' sarcasm, "There aren't a lot of us, and my dad and Aunt Patty are the town protectors, so of course they know me." He explains, "I would go around helping everyone and keeping them company to avoid being bored out of my mind. Playing in the yard gets boring after a while."

"Thats why you started doing art, right?" Youngblood asks.

"Yeah, but with no real inspiration, I would wander around town and draw inspiration from that." Roman says, "Go look at the other kids playing, Burgundy making bread, Dorian would tell me stories, Samuel was really good at pointing out locations he thought I would enjoy drawing."

"You never joined the other kids?" Noise asks.

"Tried, we just didn't click." Roman gestures his hand around and they bounce together we he finishes his sentence.

Noise decides that maybe there's more to that story that Roman doesn't really dig into. Which is not good for him in the slightest, but right now hes blissful and happy. He supposes that's a conversion for another day.

Roman continues to ramble about Reston and such as he guides them down the path, even though there isn't much guiding to be done. Soon enough, the tall wooden sign labelling the town comes into view and Roman excitedly rushes forward, leaving Youngblood and Noise in the dust. The two of them pick up the pace to keep close, but don't bother running. All of their feet hurt and they ran out of water an hour ago.

Roman easily makes it to the front of town before the two of them and rocks back and forth on his heels as he waits for them. The southern edge of Reston is relatively empty, especially during the evening, besides Fast Timmy, Mel and Hendersons' wrecked barn that seems to be fixed back up. Roman keeps taking in breaths to smell the familiar scent of Burgundy Reds Breads and is just vibrating with excitement. He is painstakingly talking to Noise about last minute stuff about Reston before hes nearly knocked off his feet by a blue lightning whirl that seemingly comes out of nowhere.

"Oh- my goodness!" Noise reaches out to catch him, but Roman quickly steadies himself with his arms stretched out. He looks down, and sees exactly what he expects. Fast Timmy has wrapped himself around Romans' legs and doesn't seem like he intends on letting go.

Youngbloods face drops slightly, but is aware that they left on okay-ish terms with Fast Timmy and his gang.

"Hey buddy." Roman says, patting his newsboy cap.

"You were gone for far too long." Fast Timmy hastens to remark, looking up at Roman.

"Yes, yes." Roman scoffs, "Say, where are the other two?"

"They're probably catching up." Fast Timmy says before catching sight of Noise, who is awkwardly lingering behind Youngblood.

"Who's that?" He asks, letting go of Roman to edge closer.

"That is my new friend Noise," Roman explains, "I met them while me and Youngblood were out adventuring."

"Cool." Fast Timmy edges closer to Noise as Mel and Henderson come barreling around the barn, both smacking into Roman and Youngblood.

"Hello, Henderson!" Roman says, apparently not ready for the second of many rounds of excited hugging. Mel seems unusually chipper and immediately asks Youngblood, the only one she knows is magical, about any potions or magic they learned about on their trip.

"I got a potion set," She says, "I'm just curious." Her face is twisted into a mischievous grin which definitely means they, most likely, already have something planned with Mels' newfound power.

Henderson is also asking a load of questions regarding their journey, and so is Fast Timmy who is surprisingly interested in Noise with his horns and batton and clothes.

"I promise I'll answer all your questions when I can," Roman assures, crouched so he can be on the same level as Henderson, "but for now I'm looking for my dad. You got any idea where he is?"

"He's probably near the center of town if hes not at your house." Henderson says, "Can we walk with you guys? Can I walk with you guys?"

"I don't see why not?" Roman ruffles Henderson's hair before he stands up and motions to Youngblood and Noise that they should keep walking. They do so, and Mel and Fast Timmy tag along and continue to ask boat-loads of questions.

As they approach the front of town, there are more buildings and maybe two people. Reston is very accustomed to going to bed early. Though, the two people they do walk past give them a glance at Roman and scurry away. Roman pays no attention to it, but both Youngblood and Noise can't help but feel a very slight sting of anger in the back of their heads at how they seemed almost weary of Roman. They both push away the thought as they focus back on the manogarie of questions the kids are asking them.

"What was it like? Outside of Reston?" Henderson asks.

"Very different." Roman says, "Some places are a lot like Reston, but some are the complete opposite. Stuff I couldn't even imagine."

"Like what?"

"Well, what's the most unbelievable thing you can imagine?" Roman asks.

"Uhm..." Henderson pauses to think, "Someone with... wings." He drawls.

"Seen it." Roman says, feelings like the most knowledgable person in the world for a moment.

"Really?!" Hendersons' face lights up.

"Yep," I promise I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

"You promise?" Henderson asks.

"Promise."

Behind them Noise is slowly answering Fast Timmys' questions, who seems deeply intrigued in Noise and their look.

Roman has begun talking to Youngblood as Henderson and Mel hang around them, and none of them even notice the distant clanking of heavy armour. It's only Noise that notices it, but doesn't get to say anything before Roman is, again, nearly knocked over (yet again out of the blue). Roman freezes for a moment and blinks before chuckling, and clearing his throat to push out the sound of fatigue in his voice. 

"Hey, dad." He says, smiling and hugging the man dressed in scuffed, silver armour back. Somehow, this is the first time he has ever made it to him before Aunt Patty, even though shes merely two seconds behind. She also joins them and Roman breathes out an exasperated laugh, "Aunt Patty you're going to crush me."

"Just one more second, Deary." She says, holding Roman and Ryker as close as humanly possible. Eventually, though, she lets go and Roman regains his breath as Noise and Youngblood attempt to stifle their chuckles. "Sorry, I have to make up for lost time."

"You can make up for lost time soon, Patty." Ryker says, "Let him sit down before you crush him."

"Sorry, sorry, it just feels so good to know you're back." Aunt Patty ruffles Romans' hair before looking back at Youngblood and Noise, "Good to see you too, Youngblood. And Roman, who is this new friend you've brought with you?"

"Oh, that's Noise. He's an old friend of Youngbloods'." Roman explains.

"Oh, how delightful!" Aunt Patty says, promptly walking over to shake Noises' hand, "Very nice to meet you, dear."

"Nice to meet you, too, I have heard much about you and Romans' father." Noise shakes Aunt Pattys' hand, trying to come off as well-going as possible.

While Noise and Youngblood are being bombarded by Aunt Patty, Ryker is cautiously looking Roman over. He stretches his arm out and rubs his thumb over the gauze pad on Romans’ cheek,

”What happened? Are you okay?” Ryker asks, “That’s quite a large bandage, and you’ve got an even bigger one on your shoulder.”

”Just a little fight, between the three of us we handled it quite well.” Roman assures, “It’s just a cut, and the one on my shoulder is just a small burn.”

”Burn? Someone burned you?” Ryker narrows his eyes as his posture striaghtens.

”Yes, but I’m okay.” Roman hastens to say as he pulls his fathers hand away, “Youngblood healed it up for the most part. And, hey, we’ll match.” Roman waves his hand up at the gauze on his cheek.

Ryker chuckles, but the worry lingers on his voice. Roman doesn't even know how he's going to explain the multiple times he almost died and/or bawled his eyes out.

"How'd you find out we were here?" Roman glances around to see if someone is looking on.

"Two villagers caught sight of you and came to us." Ryker explains, "Thankfully, I was a few steps ahead of your Aunt, so I was able to get a good hug in before she blocked you off."

Roman laughs and looks around, rolling back on his heels, taking in the candle-lit street lights and smell of fresh baked bread and a feeling of security and comfort washes over him. Sure, some of the other towns he visited were similar to Reston. Some places were fancier or more advanced. Some places were more exciting and bustling with people. But, nothing,

absolutley nothing

could compare to Reston.

"Feels great to be home." He says.

[rumor-imbris]

Hello, Lady Connor! I want to ask out of unbearable, suffocating curiosity in my heart, even though in the previous post you already said to not mention "that certain comic". Could you please enlighten me about your view on that comic and what you despise about it? I would love to read your detailed thoughts about it even if just once. But if this is too triggering for you, I'm truly sorry for your discomfort and you don't need to answer it.

Hello, dear Anon and welcome ^-^ It's weird you naturally called me Lady Connor, as usually only my little fairy @giuliettaluce does. Well, I guess her magic put a spell on everybody here!!

If you really care to know, I'll answer, but brace yourself, it's going to be very long, almost an essay, because I can be very detailed about that comic being a failure in its every part. There's so much to say. You're right, as I mentioned before, it can trigger me, but I have attentively analized it and I know it makes not a single atom of sense. So nothing can actually bother me that much, don't worry ^_-

First of all, my general consideration of the AC Reflections comic issue #4, (yeah, that thing -.-) is that of a mere attempt to desperately make Bayek's remote vision through Senu's eyes a canon feature. It was created and published in 2017, the same year AC Origins was released and yes, they needed an excuse to make believe Connor's alleged daughter inherited a skill someone (who isn't even their direct ancestor!!) that lived 1700 years ago in ancient Egypt had! OMG, this should be funny enough, but I'll go on. Also, I think it was likely a carelessly arranged way to satisfy those AC3 fans demanding a "happy ending" for unlucky Connor (quite 5 years later, of course).

I'll better go step by step to figure out where to start from, seriously.

1) In the comic, when Otso Berg opens the file related to Connor, the scene is set in "1796: Upstate New York." Now this is chronologically and spacially incoherent and illogical. We see Connor still wears his assassin outfit in it, right? According to AC Initiates (2012) in 1804 Connor invites the Dominican assassin Eseosa at the Davenport homestead to provide him some advices and further training as he's involved in the leading of the Haitian Revolution. That's a really cool character, read about him, if you want!

So, until then Connor is still an assassin, probably the mentor (by now) of the Colonial Brotherhood. He still runs the homestead and he still commands the Aquila, I guess, he's the captain still. I calculated the distance between the homestead and the then upper NY frontier territories is approximately 260 miles (quite far nowadays with cars and planes as well). Then, why the hell should he have a family located in the forest upstate NY? It sounds very unconfortable to run back and forth to reach them and go back to take care of all the Brotherhood matters, doesn't it? Unless he knew about teleportation!!! Also, wow, he lives all alone in a nice massive villa with all the comforts of that time while his children and wife still live in a Native village constantly menaced by settlers wanting to steal their land? Beside the fact that Connor, at least in my point of view, seemed at last very familiar with european way of living by the end of the game, this leads us to the next point.

2) By the time the game and the comic are set (second half of 18th century), most of the East Coast Native tribes were facing the tragic and forced migration to western and northern territories (mostly towards Canada, protected by the British) because of all the consequences of the Revolutionary War (lost territories, failed alliances, settlers advancing and buying their lands and so on). So tells us history, unfortunately. It's a fact. And this is wisely showed to us in the AC3 main game when, after all the Kanien'kehá:ka tribes had left the territory around Connor's village (yes, even those near New York, to be clear) even Connor's own tribe at last migrates west, leaving an empty ghost village. They had remained all along to protect the secret temple, but in the end they as well were forced to leave. So, to me it's highly improbable that in upstate NY, one could still find a tribe and even if so, that Connor would let his family live there and risk their safety everyday.

3) The whole comic plot revolves around the fact that Io:nhiòte has a "special gift"... She inexplicably knows how to read the ground and find animal traces, she also can perform a perfect twisted acrobatic flip in the air and land unharmed to the ground. Do we know why? No, don't ask! xD She simply knows U.U, even if right after the next scene she slips and falls miserably down a cliff xD, but... ok!! Beside that, when Connor is far away to search for some water and is about to be attacked by a wolf hidden in the grass nearby, she sees the whole scene from the eyes of an eagle flying in the sky above her. As I said before, this reminds us of Bayek's (never clearly explained) ability to see through his eagle Senu's eyes and spot dangers and enemies. Now can you tell me why the hell this little girl has super powers and a skill Bayek had? As I said, they are not even directely related, as Bayek is not one of Desmond Miles' ancestor, we know him simply because Layla's new Animus is magical and can inexplicably read fragmented DNA from people who died a thousand years ago (it can also prepair coffee, I think!). So, where did she get that from? Magic? Mysteries of life? Convenient improbable connections for marketing's sake? We'll never know and you should simply accept that and ask no question!

4) From her height, way of speaking/moving/running, I assume Io:nhiòte is at least 8 years old, 8 - 9 minimum. She's the youngest of three siblings, who must be at least two years older than her and than each other (according to a human woman pregnancy timing!). If the comic events are set 12 years after the main game ending (1784, when Connor also starts to train the young ex-slave Patience Gibbs, arriving at the Davenport homestead with Aveline De Grandpré, according to AC IV Black Flag bonus mission with Aveline), so, this means that in that same year Connor must have found hastily the love of his life in a Native village (as if he was easy to open himself with other people after all he's been through), married her, impregnated her and seen her give birth to their first child, all in the same year when (let's not foget! xD) he still is the leader of the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood at the Davenport homestead training novices. Now, this may even be possible humanly speaking, (well, if you force the things a bit and hurry up!) but highly unlikely to happen!! xD

These are the main problems affecting the logic of the comic in my opinion, the points making its foundations crumble apart. Though I'm sure there are many little others to point out, such as Otso Berg "opening" Connor's files... like what? Where did those data come out from? I remember playing AC IV Black Flag and uncovering a file where Abstergo researchers themselves closed access to his memories as there was "nothing appealing to this character anymore"! So, if no more researches were conducted on him since 2013, where did Mr Berg magically or conveniently discovered such data in 2017?

Or... do we want to talk about the cover? It shows Connor in the spirit outfit from the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, which has apparently nothing to do with the comic, since it is set in his present day and he wears his assassin standard robe. Now, I think that can be either a simple marketing choice to make the comic more appealing, as... well, that cover is so cool, let's admit that, or maybe the subtle suggestion that the events told in it are just a parallel Disney-like reality and are not to be considered true at all! xD i don't know, maybe both explanations are right.

I'm sure that the deeper i dig, the more nothing rational I'll find!

If you played the old games, if you know well the franchise and its lore, the true, good, old AC lore, you definitely realize by yourself how that comic is useless and senseless.

This doesn't mean I do not wish an "happy ending" for Connor. But I'd rather accept something coherent with the main game events and AC chronology. Also, it doesn't necessarily needs to be a "happy" ending, as they conveniently created to please complaining fans. I wished for something real... coherent with his personality, acquired life-style and endless sense of duty and values.

Maybe that's what pushed me to write my FanFic novel in the first place, after all... To give him MY OWN cohesive ending, including my love, for love is always needed, I guess.

I'm so sorry if the answer took this long in time and words, but you were warned! ^w^

Though, thank you... Seriously, thank you so much for asking. You made me reflect once more about this matter.

Come visit me again, if you want. Take care

- Rumor Imbris 🦋

P.S. Oh, and if you're interested, this is my "jelousy song", for when things like this trigger my inner witch!! xD

[mewlcakes]

Sweet Heart {Catradora} Chapter 1

Catra knew something was wrong when Adora wouldn't eat her lunch.

It was her favorite; Catra should know. She packed it herself. Chicken nuggets, macaroni, a cosmic brownie and some watermelon slices. It was one of Adora's safe meals.

The group home Adora lived in would only pack her food she wouldn't eat, so she'd go hungry. Until she met Catra.

Catra made sure that Adora was always well-fed, happy, and that no one would mess with Adora. Her Adora.

Usually, Adora would eat happily, one food item at a time in the exact same order just how she liked it.

But today, she was picking at her chicken nuggets and staring down at the table. She wasn't usually good at making eye contact, but today, she was making an effort not to, which made Catra worried.

"What's wrong, Dora?" She asked, using her pet name.

Adora still kept her eyes glued to the lunch table.

"Adora, look at me. Did someone say something to you? You know I'll kick their ass if they did."

"I'm fine..." the blonde girl muttered.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not a baby, Catra. We talked about this." The blue-eyed girl said, finally looking up at her. "I can worry about myself."

Catra winced a bit. She and Adora had this conversation multiple times before. Adora was independent and didn't want Catra hovering over her and protecting her like some tiny animal that couldn't protect itself.

Catra knew Adora was fully capable of taking care of herself. But autistic or not, Adora was Catra's friend. And she'd always fight for her friends. Neurodivergency or not.

When Catra first moved here, Adora was the first person who was nice to her. Before learning about her autism and getting to know her, Catra thought she was...well, weird.

She thought it was weird how she carried around a stuffed unicorn or why she wore sweaters in 90° heat. She couldn't understand why Adora had such a hard time reading facial cues or comprehending figures of speech.

But it only took time. Catra did her own research and got to really know Adora. They'd been friends for years and Catra'd be lying if she said she didn't  have...other feelings for Adora.

But she couldn't ruin their friendship like that...

She gently grabbed Adora's hands over the table. The blonde girl's eyes widened a bit, but she soon melted into her touch.

"You know you can tell me anything..." Catra said softly. "I promise, I won't judge you or treat you like a baby. Just tell me, Bunny."

Adora's lips curled up at the nickname. Bunny. An inside joke between her and Catra only.

"Okay..." she retracted her hands, twiddling her thumbs a bit, her eyes back on the table. She mumbled something incoherently.

"What is it?" Catra leaned forward, pointing her fingers to her ear.

"Octavia took Swift Wind..." Adora whispered into her ear. "And said my forehead was big."

Catra's mismatched eyes widened, steam practically coming out of her ears. For a few seconds, all she could see was red, hot anger.

"I'll get him back." Catra promised.

"Catra, I don't need you to-"

"Adora, you're my best friend. And I owe you one anyway. Remember last week when you helped me study for my geometry test? I aced it! I owe you one."

Adora thought about it, then nodded. "Okay...just don't get in trouble again. I don't like when you have detention. I have no one to talk to when you do."

Catra just smiled and playfully shook her head. "No promises, Dora. But I will get Swift Wind back. And your forehead is big, so what? You make it work. And your hair poof is adorable." She smiled.

Adora couldn't help but smile back. "Okay..."

Then, the blonde girl stood up. Everyday, 2 minutes before the bell rang, she'd hurry to get to class early so she could get her favorite seat by the window. It was like clockwork.

Catra sighed as the girl left. She'd barely even touched her food. Usually, Adora would throw her trash away in the trash can, but today, she was too distracted to remember.

Catra grabbed the Cosmic brownie and wrapped it up in a napkin, just in case Adora got hungry later.

She had to leave lunch early, too.

She had business with Octavia to take care of.

Catra scouted the hallways, eyes darting left and right as she scanned the surface, looking for a certain green-haired girl.

School had just ended, the bell ringing to signify the ending of the day. Students and teachers both piled out of the halls, eager to get back to their homes away from the hellhole known as a learning facility.

Octavia was pretty big, hence the name. She was a wrestler and a damn good one at that. But she didn't intimidate Catra.

Making sure there were no teachers around, Catra grabbed Octavia and shoved her against the locker, using all of her force.

She could see the shock and fear in Octavia's eyes before she realized what was happening.

"What did you do to Adora, you bitch?"

Octavia just smirked and narrowed her eyes, sizing Catra up and down. "I just gave her what she needs; you know, the real world isn't gonna be all sunshine and rainbows, Catra. It's time that your little girlfriend learned that.

"She goes through enough of that at home, Octavia. Why do you have to go out of your way to make her life miserable?"

"Miserable?" She asked. "I'm helping her! The weirdo is too old to be carrying around a damned stuffed animal! She's in high school for fuck's sake!"

This pissed Catra off. Octavia didn't know the story behind the unicorn. She didn't know that it was the only thing her parents had left her behind. She didn't know that it was the only thing that helped Adora sleep at night. It was her comfort animal and helped her happy stim.

But of course Octavia wouldn't know that.

And quite frankly, Catra didn't seem to care about her ignorance.

"And what are you? You're just a big bitch with an ugly dye job and a broken nose!"

"I don't have a broke-"

SLAM!

Catra's fist made direct contact with Octavia's nose before either one of them could even process what had happened.

There was blood all over Catra's shirt. She stared at Octavia's bloody nose and sneered.

"Adora is the one good thing left in my life. And I'll be damned if I let you ruin that." She hissed, grabbing the unicorn plushie and making her way back to her locker.

She grabbed her jacket and put it on to hide the blood. Not only would it upset Adora, but it would make others suspicious as to why Catra's shirt looked like a crime scene.

Catra hurried to get to the bus; she rode with Adora everyday. The girl was sensitive to all the loud noises and bumps in the road and all of the heartless teenagers that would throw things and tease her.

The bus didn't even go down Catra's neighborhood. In fact, Catra would get off the bus with Adora and walk back to her own house, which was a lot of walking. But she'd do it for Adora. She'd do anything for Adora.

Hurrying onto the bus, she found Adora in their usual seat 9.

She saw the worried expression on Adora's face.

"I thought you were gonna miss the bus." She said softly.

"Me? Nah, wouldn't miss it for the world." Catra laughed, leaning back in the seat and propping her feet up in the seat ahead of her.

Kyle, the kid in front of her groaned a bit, but Catra just smirked. "Deal with it, Kyle."

Then, Catra remembered and reached into her backpack and pulled out the famous Swift Winds plushie, causing Adora's eyes to light up.

"You got him back!" She grinned, hugging Catra tightly.

Catra's eyes widened. It was very, very rare that Adora hugged anyone, even Catra. But on the scarce occasion of it happening, Catra cherished them and hugged her back affectionately.

"Octavia just gave him back?" Adora asked, pulling away.

"Yup." The brunette lied. "I just asked her for him and she said yeah. And she's sorry that she called your forehead big. She was just jealous.

Adora knew that most likely wasn't true, but she smiled and hugged her comfort stuffed animal anyway. "Thank you, Cat."

"No problem, dude." She grinned.

Soon, the bus pulled into the group home Adora lived at, a tiny house in a pretty broken-down neighborhood.

"Here, take this." Catra said, handing Adora the brownie from lunch. "I don't want you going hungry tonight. And get a good night's sleep, okay, Bunny?"

Adora rolled her eyes playfully and smiled. "Okay, Cat. I'll see you tomorrow."

And just like that, Catra watched her Adora walk back into her house.

Sighing softly, Catra prepared to make the long journey on foot to her own home.

A/n: hi!!!! so i saw a post about a headcanon/theory of Adora having autism and as a person who also has autism, I wanted to write a fanfic about it. I know she's a bit out of character, but I really wanted to make a story I can relate to that's a little different. Also, find me on wattpad, my @ is sweet-peachy and I have a oneshot book and this book is there too!!!!

[wykart]

3, 17, 20, 29, 35 for the writer asks if you feel like it!

Thank you! :)

Do you share your fic ideas, or do you keep them to yourself?

I don't share my fic ideas that often, sometimes bits and pieces or the occasional leak on discord.

Do you have a writing routine?

Not really! At least, not in terms of sitting down to write everyday. I'd like to get better at this but honestly sometimes I just cannottt concentrate. In terms of how I approach writing overall, I usual start with a random idea and just smash out some incoherent notes, random ideas, snippets of dialogue. There are usually emojis in there and it's a pain to decipher. Then I usually try to write in sprints and get a lot down, get the ideas going (bc I seem to only have ideas when I'm already writing). Then it's just a lengthy process of knitting sections together, cutting ramblings, trying to make something decipherable. This is why my fics are generally really wordy and I can't keep a plot on track without going off on tangents.

Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

At first I only liked writing canon fics bc I wanted them to able to fit with and enhance the source media, but over time I've gotten more into writing AUs. I would say most of my fics are still canon fics, and the AUs I write are canon divergence, I'm not a fan of actual alternative universe fics in a different world.

What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

I like my descriptive writing, it's always been my strength. People often comment that my descriptions are quite weird/visceral/unsettling which is a vibe I love as a fan of horror and sci-fi. I like to make things feel off, and find that I tend to personify things a lot and use probably too many metaphors. It's all about the vibes!

What’s your favorite fic you’ve posted?

Sheer Poetry! It's a 60k word trippy dream sequence set in the Doctor's mind à la Paul Cornell's brilliant new adventures novel Timewyrm: Revelation. I sort of put all my feelings about Doctor Who into it, including the timeless child arc, and get pretty meta with it all. It was so fun to write, and I got to use as much weird descriptions as my little heart desired. It's set during the final episode of Flux, and the 13th Doctor enters the house... :0 It's not very popular because it's not the sort of thing people tend to look for when they want to read fanfic, but I did get this one lovely essay of a comment at the end which made my entire life.

[wrex-writes]

Hi Wrex! I'm just transitioning from short stories into long form fiction (fanfic), and I keep getting stuck on my draft because I don't feel like it's any good, especially compared with the beautiful stories I see others write. I know I'm supposed to just let go of that, trust that it'll get better with editing, and most importantly, that I will get better with practice. The reason it's difficult is that I'm not sure that's true: I know practice works for art, since it's a physical skill, 1/2

2/2 but with writing it just seems different. Like, what are some concrete ways in which you–or any followers–have been able to improve their writing by practising? A lot of people I see just starting out, often younger than me, are just so good. I’m also more a thinker than a feeler, and maybe to be a good writer, you need to be the latter? Emotion and atmosphere are really hard for me. Anyway, this is like ten questions in one, sorry about that :) Thanks for your inspiring blog!

This is a very good question! First of all, I don’t actually think that’s true about art - I literally just saw a post about the problem with telling young artists to “just practice” without any hint of how to practice. So it’s an issue for both art and writing. Art might have a larger kinesthetic component than writing, but both skills fundamentally involve your perception and judgment, each of which need experience and training to develop.

This more than most is a question I’d like to kick to my followers. But I can tell you two things I’ve done to practice:

1) One thing I do a lot is reread writing I like (pro or fanfic) and try to figure out exactly why I like it. The key here is to stay very technical in my observations and not to get swept up in “well it just makes me feel all these things!” and similar judgments that just make me devalue my own work even more. I try to figure out exactly what they’re doing, word to word. If you’re concerned specifically with emotion, look at a story you like and analyze a paragraph with an eye toward emotion. How does the writer convey the character’s emotions? How often do they even mention emotions? Are they using key emotion-related words? Pick that paragraph apart. Then see if you can extract one little technique they’re using that seems really cool and effective to you and try it out in your own work. Don’t worry if it feels wonky at first. And - this is important - don’t think of that other writer’s technique as “the right way to do it.” Think of it just as a tool you can put in your toolbox. Other writers undoubtedly use different tools, which you’re free to borrow as well.

I mean, look - writing may seem magical, but it’s also highly technical. I have often calmed down my inner freakout of “but they’re all just so much better than I am!” by really breaking things down to a technical level and seeing exactly how my favorite writers are making their gears mesh together.

2) Another thing I do is the exact opposite of this: I freewrite, or as close as I can get. This just means I set a timer for 30 minutes and write literally whatever’s in my brain at the moment. If I’ve got a specific project brewing, I might think about that project and spew out the first things that come to mind, no matter how stupid or irrelevant. Or I’ll ask myself “what do I want for this story?” and crank out an incoherent paragraph of unrestrained wishes and ideas that reads like a six-year-old wrote it. This is actually super hard, because of course my impulse is to judge it all. So sometimes I will do something to distract a part of my attention (music with lyrics usually does the trick) so that my brain just does not have the bandwidth to write and judge what I’m writing at the same time. 

Very often, when I’m done, I’ll just throw this writing away. Or I might save it if it turns out to be useful rough notes for the project. The point is, I wasn’t trying to make it good, so I don’t reread it hoping for it to be good. It’s just an exercise. And the point of the exercise is merely to disinhibit myself as a writer, to gain access to that layer of unpasteurized thoughts, phrases and ideas that I usually filter out when I’m trying to write well. Because frankly, that filter can catch what’s good as well as what’s bad. And the more you filter yourself, the more difficult it is to reach that spontaneous, irrational, interesting part of you that’s purely creative instead of just correct.

It might seem kind of weird that I do both of these exercises: one devoted to removing the filter of judgment, and one oriented, in a way, toward strengthening it. I’m not sure why it works for me, but the two exercises seem to operate in a kind of dialectic. I know that writing is a technical skill, and that one way to acquire good technique is to become aware of techniques and employ them consciously. But I also know that writing has an accidental, unconscious, one might say id-driven aspect to it, and if I spend too much time obsessing over technique, I risk overinhibiting myself. So that’s why I do both, I guess.

Followers, weigh in with whatever you’ve got!