#this took so long.... but my magnum opus.... is complete

[occvltss]

obligatory hilson head/heart symbolism fanart im going insane and i want to die

[savior-of-humanity]

Heads up, this is a long post - it's under the readmore!

Also BIG content warning for graphic descriptions of violence/death happening to a child + descriptions of gore + mentions of animal death. (it's only in the first half of the drabble, and since it's short you should be able to easily scroll past it - look for the ". . ." symbols marking the start/end of that section if you want to skip it!!)

AND SPECIAL THANKS TO @kcnhub FOR HELPING ME W/ IDEAS AND DIALOGUE + GIVING ME PERMISSION TO FEATURE AN OC OF HIS!! (For additional clarification; they don't really give a fuck about gender so they go by Halla and/or Hallkel in this.)

also tagging @hymns-across-the-stars and @maykrisms >:3c

--

Cassius awoke from the longest nightmare of his life.

The first instinct that gripped the 6 year-old's mind was to gasp for air, yet his irritated throat instead pulled the boy into a ragged coughing fit. His eyes had yet to adjust to the harsh light, but of what little he could see, he couldn't recognize it anyways. As he slowly sat up, he came to a sudden and frightening realization; he couldn't really remember... anything.

...No, there were some things he could remember; his name was Cassius, he had a pet bunny named Daisy, he lived on Earth with his parents, and... that was it. He couldn't remember where he lived, or who his parents were, or even what they looked like. That, understandably, scared him even further. But Cassius, with what little bravery he still had, pushed aside the fear and tried his hardest to recall anyway.

. . .

. . .

. . .

He remembers it, as clear as day.

They pounce on him faster than he can blink. It was almost just like the night terrors he had for a while, after he stayed up past his bedtime once and caught a glimpse of an old horror movie. But, unlike those nightmares, the dream didn't end right when they were about to get him, because it wasn't a dream at all.

They look him in his terrified eyes, full of unspeakable malice and hunger - and he knows, instantly, that they're going to hurt him, and that there is no running from what is about to happen.

Razor-sharp talons rake across his skin, pulling the flesh back like butcher's hooks until it finally gives and splits open like an over-ripe fruit. They don't hesitate to tear at the exposed fat and muscle, pull him apart piece by piece, blood and guts spilling over tongues and claws.

The smell of gore is strong in the air, so thick that he could almost taste it - but he is barely aware of it. He can't see them unravel him by his entrails. He can't hear them rip his mother asunder somewhere behind him. He doesn't know where Daisy is; he hopes that she's okay.

The only thing he can feel, the only thing he knows in his final moments, is their teeth scraping against his bones as he is torn apart and eaten alive.

. . .

. . .

. . .

A touch on his shoulder pulled the child from the horrific memory, the events forgotten for now. He looked up at the source, eyes wide and brimming with tears, and almost choked on his own breath at what he saw.

Cassius was surrounded by what he could only describe as monsters.

They were creatures reminiscent of angels, dressed in white-gold-red and adorned with big metal halos. Perhaps he could've mistaken them as such, were it not for their inhuman appearances, sharp pointed teeth, and the strange words they spoke that made his head hurt when he tried to understand. All he knew about them was that they reminded him of the nightmares of his dreamless sleep.

Aching for a home he couldn't remember, surrounded by strangers and yet so painstakingly alone, the only thing Cassius could think to do was begin to cry.

--

Cassius Unna Endride wasn't exactly sure what Hallkel was thinking when he suggested that he spar with the Great Slayer.

Hallkel was someone he looked up to, both as a parental figure and as an inspiration; he was the one who had offered to adopt Cassius personally when the Maykrs brought him to live among the Argenta. Since then, he had been raised with a loving and steady hand; as Hallkel was a Night Sentinel, it was also expected of him to raise his son to become a warrior like himself. So far, Cassius had proved to be a promising apprentice.

The day, up until the point of time that was his current predicament, had so far been like any other for the 16 year-old boy; he woke up, cooked and ate with his guardian, cleaned up, and then headed off for the nearby training arena for daily exercise routines. It wasn't uncommon for spectators to watch the trainees and practicing warriors from the sidelines; most were off-duty Sentinels like Hallkel, or the occasional loved one. Sometimes there were Maykrs present - he never liked it when they would watch him spar, for reasons he couldn't really explain.

Cassius was completely surprised to see that the Great Slayer, of all people, stood among the spectators today.

The Slayer, to put it simply, was nothing short of an ancient hero of legend in the flesh; from the stories Hallkel had told Cassius when he was younger, the Great Slayer had once been a mere outsider, a captive taken from the feral wilds. They had expected him to die in battle like any other thrall, but to their surprise he displayed such fearsome yet pinpointed brutality and strength against the demonic hordes, that King Novik accepted him among the ranks of the Night Sentinels. Since then, his fame and renown only grew, eventually earning him the prestige and honor that came with the role of leading armies into battle. Some even considered him to be the greatest among the living War Generals, second only to the King himself.

Even in the training arena, bystander and trainee alike gave the Slayer a wide berth out of respectful fear. Cassius had to admit, he felt rather intimidated by his presence, especially given that the hooded Maykr he only knew as Samur was accompanying the Slayer today. The two looked to be in idle conversation.

So imagine his complete and utter shock as he watched Hallkel, with the total casualness and ease of someone that knew the Great Slayer like they were childhood best friends, walk up to the two and suggest that he spar with Cassius.

The Slayer looked at Samur, looked at him, and then back to Hallkel. To Cassius' ever-growing dismay, the Slayer nodded, and he knew that his fate was sealed.

His despair didn't just come from the fact that he had to prove his skill to the Great Slayer. The Slayer was seldom seen ever in the training arena, let alone sparring with anyone - which naturally meant that the gaze of nearly every person present was locked on him and the boy. As the other man grabbed a pole-arm and tossed another over to Cassius, he glanced over to where Hallkel stood by Samur; his guardian flashed him a grin and a thumbs up.

Initially, the spar started off slow; an intentional act on the Great Slayer's part, to allow Cassius to get used to the pace and to his personal fighting style. As they continued, he would gradually increase the pressure; swinging faster, striking harder, forcing his partner to put more effort into defending himself.

Cassius, to his own surprise, found that keeping up with the Great Slayer wasn't as daunting of a feat as he'd imagined it to be, though it was by no means easy. Many times he was forced to block an incoming blow with his own weapon, and actually landing a hit on the Slayer was incredibly difficult given how consistently and readily he blocked or parried incoming strikes.

Then the Slayer suddenly pushed forward - sparring wasn't just about showing off your skill with a weapon, after all - and Cassius shoved back with all his might. Even with the fact that the Slayer was still holding back somewhat for the sake of a fair fight, the trainee's feet skidded through the sand before they found purchase and allowed Cassius to properly stand his ground. Finally, they had come to a stalemate.

For a moment, they just stood there; pole-arms locked against each other, gazes focused on one another. Cassius found himself oddly entranced by the Slayer's eyes - they were a rich shade green, with flecks of gold that seemed to shift in and out of the light, accompanied by a strange glowing red halo around his pupils. Something about the Slayer's gaze was hauntingly familiar - and he could've sworn he saw a flicker of... some kind of emotion cross the Slayer's face for a brief second.

Cassius wasn't sure how the spar was going to end, exactly, only that he'd gone in assuming that his ass was going to get handed to him one way or another. But to see the Slayer suddenly step back, drop his weapon, and submit to him utterly shocked him beyond words. So much so that he barely acknowledged those watching breaking out into cheers and applause, only snapping back to reality when a firm and celebratory slap to the back from Hallkel pulled him out of his shock.

"I KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YOU, MY BOY! Even the Great Slayer knows of your might! Come here--" and before he could protest, Hallkel had wrapped him up in a bear hug and was spinning him around in joyous laughter. Cassius, naturally, was quick to complain. "Dad, please, there's people watching you're embarrassing meeeeee..." He'd whine, and his guardian would finally oblige and set him back on his feet - but not before immediately tussling his hair.

"Ahahahaaa, let them watch! They know I have good reason to celebrate having such an amazing son!" Hallkel boasted, and Cassius couldn't help but smile. He'd glance back at the Slayer; he seemed to be watching the interaction intently, a fond smirk of his own ghosting his lips, though he couldn't help but notice there was a strange and distant look in the Great Slayer's eyes.

Cassius' focus was quickly averted when he noticed something that made his skin crawl, however. Samur hadn't been the only Maykr present - there were actually quite a few among the spectators, much greater in number than any other time they and Cassius happened to be present.

And every single one of them was looking at him.

--

"My father... is the Great Slayer?"

Cassius Unna Endride Oliwa-Blazkowicz couldn't believe the words that came out of his own mouth. Halla simply nodded, her expression gentle yet solemn.

"Yes, my boy. He told me of what he could remember about you," she explained. "For a long time, he couldn't remember what you looked like, or what your name was, because of how long he has spent in Hell. It was only one day that he seemed to suddenly remember and told me the name he gave you."

It was just so much for him to take in. To think, that he was the child of perhaps the most legendary warrior in Argenta history - and he had never even known. But why?

"What happened to him that caused him to forget me?" Cassius asked. There was a low, rumbling whine of sorts off to his side, and a familiar scaly muzzle nudged into the man's side. He ran a comforting hand over the golden-scaled snout of his companion; an Argenta war-dragon, once the personal steed of the Great Slayer. He didn't know how she'd been separated, but he was glad to have found her - the strength of her flames had saved his life countless times.

"Long ago, you had a previous life," Halla began. "His home was invaded by demons, and you.. died. He was struck with so much fury and grief that he declared war on Hell itself to avenge his family and people. The Maykrs were the ones who brought you back to life - from what I know of the matter, they bargained with Hell in exchange for your soul. I do not know why they did so."

He couldn't help but wonder what price they would've paid, just for him. Or, perhaps, who they sacrificed for him. How many people were slaughtered to sate the endless hunger of the dark realm, as a trade for one measly little soul? A part of him hoped that those questions would remain answered.

"Is he still alive, my father?" He questioned, quickly realizing how stupid the question was after it left his lips - of course his father was alive, he was the Great Slayer! Halla seemed to share the same sentiment, as she nodded, suddenly becoming much more cheerful than before.

"Truthfully? I do not have an answer. But I have faith he lives nonetheless, and I imagine you must feel the same way." She gave him a smile; Cassius always found it remarkable, how she could find the good and light in just about any terrible situation.

"I want to find my father. But... I don't know if I'm ready for it." Given that they were currently trapped in Hell on account of the betrayal of the Deag priests, it was a miracle that he - or anyone, really - had managed to survive for this long against the demons. "I was sure I was going to die until I found Dandelion, and even then- I just.. I'm not ready to face this place like my father can."

Cassius hung his head in shame; he was of the Slayer's blood. He was the son of the greatest demon slayer in Argenta history, and yet he lacked the strength and conviction to follow the same path his father did. He felt weak, both in body and spirit - but he didn't linger on those darker thoughts for very long. His guardian suddenly cupped his face with her hands, gently turning his head up so that he'd look her right in the eyes.

"My boy... there is no shame in admitting weakness. It is alright if you are not ready; in the end, you are still a Night Sentinel and always will be one, through and through. And beyond that? You are our son. I will not let you face this world alone until you feel like you are ready to take that step."

He couldn't stop the tears that began to well up in his crimson eyes, or the trembling smile that crossed his face.

Halla pulled him into an embrace, and for the first time in a long time, Cassius began to cry.

[skellseerwriting]

Dry Hands

James Hook x GN!Reader Oneshot

Word Count: 5.2k

Content & Warnings: Care fic, detailed descriptions of dry, itchy, cramped hands, other then that it is purely fluff and coziness, Hook is so incredibly soft in this, hand massages, some lightheartedness, kissing, getting together, you guys this is my magnum opus I have never put so much effort into a fic before, this whole thing is cozy fluffy care fic between two extremely thin slices of bread

Summary: Your hands were so dry and cramped from working on a paper assignment. Then, a certain pirate shows up and whisks you away to make you feel better

Your hands were in agony.

Hunched over in your library chair, you were pouring sweat and tears into your paper for school. Or rather, knuckles and finger nails.

You’d been at it for hours, scratching away at the parchment with your pen that you constantly feared would run out of ink. Actual sweat ran down your brow once or twice, but you just wiped it away; with your free hand, so as not to stop writing.

The weather had been warm recently, and you had found you needed to begin moisturizing your hands daily. The problem? It was nighttime now, and you had no time to reapply any.

And your hands were suffering for it.

You could see the skin start to go taut and pull apart as it dried out and became flaky. It turned red as the irritation and itching crawled throughout the back of your hands, from the wrist to the finger joints. Touching it revealed a harsh texture and gave flashing feelings of discomfort.

The all encompassing, unpleasant feeling didn’t just stop there, however.

You’d been writing for hours, and your hands were cramping.

The muscles in the palm of your writing hand hurt the most, nearly contracting from holding the pen for so long. You would rarely spare a moment of hand stretches to prevent spasms. Nonetheless, they ached and begged you for a rest; to be able to soak themselves in some nice hot water to sooth and alleviate their torment.

You pushed through it.

Stooping over the table, you continued to write. Your hands pleaded for mercy, but you continued on.

It wasn’t until the peeling skin at your knuckle cracked and began to turn red from blood did you drop your pen and cradle your hand to your chest.

What were you to do? Your hands felt awful.

You felt awful.

Even if you put a stopper on your project until tomorrow, how could you even begin to tend to your languid flesh?

“Hello Darling.” A deep, charming voice said to you.

Hook.

He appeared at your side, instantaneously taking in the sight of your poor, abused hands. His usual flamboyant tone dropped into something small and concerned, full of disbelief.

“What have you done to yourself?”

You shyly offered your limbs up to him, seeing no point in hiding the damage. He took a calloused palm in his own, examining it closely.

“You poor thing…” He mumbled, thumb ghosting over rough skin.

Something about the way he said that got to you, even though you tried not to let it. He sounded so worried and… handsome.

You and James Hook were not together. You two weren’t even friends. You were merely… acquaintances, of a sort.

Hook was a big flirt, that much was known. However, you had your suspicions that his “pretend” romantic advances towards you were more frequent than with others to hold some actual weight to them.

But that was just hopeful thinking.

As you sat there, exhausted, with this endearing man looking all over your poor state, you allowed yourself to daydream a little. Where was the harm?

Standing, Hook continued to analyze your fingers and joints, eyes completely not focused on you.

This wasn’t helping you at all.

You scratched the side of your wrist with the hand currently not in his grasp.

“Stop that.” Hook patronized softly, brow creased and lips pursed.

“It hurts.” You whined, not doing as he told. Sighing, Hook gently grabbed your wrist and brought it to his lips, kissing the area of your attack.

“You need to treat yourself more kindly.” He breathed, causing heat to flush over your face. Fearing your words would come out a blubbering mess, you simply nodded your head.

“Although…” he started sounding more like his usual self. “I suppose I could be the one to treat you kindly…”

What did he mean by that?

Tugging your arm, he tried to get you to stand up.

“Follow me.”

At that point, anything to get away from writing. But you couldn’t just leave your work here.

“No, don’t worry.” Hook assured, motioning you to stop. “I’ll come back and get it later.”

With that beautiful accent, he could tell you to do anything.

Still silent, you followed him out of the library and into the hallway. You had no idea where he was taking you but you didn’t even care. Not just because it pulled you away from your self-inflicted torture, but because the man you fancied was the one leading you.

How badly could this turn out?

He still held your hand, to your surprise. Never once did he let go as you silently traveled through the corridors that weren’t dark when you had previously entered the library.

Finally, you came across a door. It was for this reason he finally released you to grab a key from his pocket; since he only had one set of fingers.

You hadn’t even noticed how much Hook holding your hand made it feel better, because it wasn’t until he let go that a soreness enveloped it again.

Unlocking the door with a click, you both made your way inside. Grabbing your fingers, he guided you around a dimly lit, beautifully decorated dorm room and brought you to a padded, high-backed, sofa chair.

Greeting it like an old friend, you immediately sat down. Reposing your tired limbs on the arm rests, you felt as if you were positively sinking into the chair; its plushness and warmth swathing you.

You sighed in contentment. It was the most comfortable thing you had ever felt, with the cushioning urging you to be further engulfed by its promises of coziness.

Giving your eyes a break, you examined the room with your other senses.

The first thing you noticed was some sort of incense. It smelled fruity, but in a more exotic way. Citrusy. Perhaps with a mixture of lemon? Whatever it was, it was calming and pleasant.

A faint, electronic hum could barely be heard near a wall. Likely, it was a diffuser that enabled that lovely smell to fill the air. Hearing footsteps make their way carefully around the room, you slowly peeked an eye open.

Your eyes quickly grew heavy, but you managed to see a dashing Hook approach a piece of furniture. The next thing you heard was something light with a soft beat.

It was some type of jazzy music, like something you might hear in a relaxing coffee shop. No words, just chill instruments that you could nod your head to. Or would, if you had the energy that the sofa was steadily draining from you.

You gave yourself a deep, happy inhale; enjoying this wonderful environment that Hook provided for you.

Speaking of Hook, he appeared at your feet, taking a seat at the footstool you weren’t using. Scooting it towards you until his knees stopped at your chair -that you were definitely enjoying sitting in too much- he placed a tray over your legs.

The first thing you noticed was the two, large wooden bowls precariously filled with water.

Was that steam coming off of it?

You opened your mouth but Hook shushed you lovingly.

“Let me handle all of it.” He assured you, always maintaining a low, soothing voice. Gently taking your hands one at a time with his own, he placed them in the bowls.

It felt amazing.

The hot liquid enveloped your limbs and instantly began to seep into the aching muscles; melting away the tautness in the tendons like butter over a burning stove. Already your fingers began to feel loose and noodle-y, with the heat healing your hands like some sort of magical tonic.

“This feels so nice.” You murmured; head tilted back in satisfaction. Hook was still right in front of you and he nudged the side of your knee with his own. You felt a tiny jolt at the sudden contact, surprised that he was so eager to touch you and even more surprised at how it made your face feel warm.

“Yes?” You whispered, trying not to disturb your peace.

“Your hands are done soaking.” He told you, already moving to take them out.

“I’m not done yet.” You protested; eyes still closed. You weren’t ready to give it up. Not yet.

“It’s supposed to help rehydrate your skin.” Hook said, ignoring your plea and pulling your fingers out of a bowl. Finally, you looked at him, and almost to your own disbelief, made tired puppy eyes at him with a “Please?”

Hook sighed but didn’t stop, moving onto the other one with a red color dusting his cheeks.

“Just let me take care of you.” He murmured, the sound caressing your ears like honey on a spoon. You were pretty sure you were blushing.

You just hoped the dim lighting was enough to conceal it.

“What else are you gonna do?” You asked him, attempting to wrap your head around the fact that he was going to be “taking care of you”. If someone told you an hour ago that you’d be in James Hook’s dorm that night, with him helping caretake your physical ailments: you would have laughed in their face.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” He mused.

You think I’m pretty?

You almost uttered the question aloud, but held yourself back. He’d said stuff like that before, whenever he flirted with you in the halls.

But this was different.

This was in the privacy of his own room.

Nothing about this was performative.

He was treating you this way of his own accord.

You gasped, feeling something cool touch your left hand.

“Forgive me.” Hook told you as you opened your eyes to discover the source. There was some pale substance on your fingers where you felt the chill. Then, he moved your hand onto his knee.

Laying on the tray was a pump container, holding what you could only conclude to be lotion.

“Are you… moisturizing my hands?” You asked, averting your gaze. His palm felt nice and warm when gently clutching your own.

“Of course.” He said, pressing his thumb over the spout to get some more lotion into his hand before lathering the cream onto your knuckles. “You aren’t better yet.”

“I’m doing just f- ah-“ you stuttered as you felt intense pressure between your fingers.

Was he massaging your hand?

You sat in silence for a moment, feeling your face burn at the sound that just escaped you and surely made its way to his ears. Trying to ignore it, you easily got comfortable again on the sofa. Hook’s own fingers were rubbing the moisturizer into your skin, rehydrating it. Rolling his thumb, he pressed grooves in between your knuckles, shifting the tendons around. As he did so, however, his fingers underneath your palm pushed up; massaging the muscles that made up most of your hand.

Your embarrassment and unsurety quickly melted away once you realized how good he was at it, though you tightly pressed your lips together to ensure you didn’t groan; which wasn’t easy. Every touch eased away the soreness that plagued you. Every jab into the tender flesh made you feel all fuzzy.

Turning the front of your hand to face him -fingers pointed up-, he turned to kneading your palm with his thumb and- Oh, that felt good.

He began at the wrist, pushing inwards as he applied tense pressure, grinding into the pads of skin. Moving to the center of your palm, he glided outwards, easing the cramps into minor inconveniences; molding it like putty.

“Are you alright, Darling?”

You almost jumped at his voice and opened your eyes to look at him. And that’s when you realized:

You’d been making faces.

As he performed his miracles on you, you got so caught up in how pleasant it was that your face started contorting.

Not knowing how to even begin explaining or excusing any of that to Hook, you just nodded your head for him to continue.

He did just that, unpausing his lovely task of massaging your hand and making you wonder if this was all a dream.

Before you knew it, he moved onto your right hand. He chose to start with your cramping palm this time, instantly digging his fingers into it. Your breath caught in your throat like a web, and you did your best to avoid any noise slipping out from you. That didn’t stop the blush you could feel creeping up your neck, but you were going to do your best to avoid making a fool out of yourself.

Oh, gosh, when did he learn to do this? How did he know exactly where to press into, with exactly that much force? He was like a magician and a mind reader all at once, turning you into a warm puddle on his sofa.

You could practically feel the blood flowing through your hand; hot and fast, while he worked his magic. Whenever he stopped for a moment, your lush skin would tingle in a way that made you giddy.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Dearie?” Hook asked upon hearing a content sigh rise from between your lips.

“Yeah…” you murmured softly; eyes lightly closed. “It just feels really nice…”

At that point, you just accepted the fact that you were a helpless, blushing mess in front of him. It didn’t change the fact he was still massaging your hands, and-

You let out a groan as he pressed into a part that was particularly gritty and sore. It just felt so good.

Hearing a little chuckle, you tried to mentally will your face to cool down as you heard a “Does it really feel that nice?”

Lying about it would get you nowhere. Worst case scenario; he’d stop doing it.

“Yeah,” you hummed. “It does…”

If only the scented air could cool off your ears. They felt like they were steaming.

“What about… when I do this?” He said teasingly, and proceeded to push his four fingers into your palm; clamping around your hand. You took in a sharp gasp of air.

“Hook-“

“Easy now.” He soothed, and his voice sounded closer to you then it previously had been. “Let me continue to make you feel good... You deserve it, hm?”

Hearing that made you light headed, so you barely let out a response before slipping back into that fuzzy, pleasurable state.

The nerves underneath your now-moisturized skin buzzed in choirs of ecstasy, happy to have rough fingers make them hum back to life. Butterflies alive in your stomach, you turned your focus back to the calming music that was actively playing. Those things, along with the incense and Hook’s tiny, adorable mumblings, put you wholly at peace; sinking into the cozy sofa and wishing that this would never end.

You really hoped things wouldn’t just go back to normal tomorrow after this was over. You needed him. You needed to feel his hands on yours and have his pretty voice whisper sweet nothings to you as you just soaked it all in like the squishy sponge that you were. You-

Hook stopped.

He let go of your hand.

You opened your eyes.

“How do you feel?” He asked you, gazing at you full of wonder and sweet concern in those rich, dark eyes of his.

“You- you’re done?” You asked, voice high. It was over? The tingly-ness in your hands prickled again, and it took everything to not just shove them back into his own. His brow furrowed and those perfect lips parted once again.

“I- yes I’m done, sweetheart. Do you still ache somewhere?”

You were so tempted to lie.

“No- I just…” You were too embarrassed to finish your sentence. What could you say without sounding like a helpless romantic.

“Oh…” He said carefully, bringing a thumb up and swiping it against your blushing cheek. “You want more…”

You averted your gaze at that, too flustered at all of it to respond. He gently brought your chin back to face him, and your heart practically skipped a beat.

“Is that it?” He asked sweetly. Dark hair framing his face, there was not a single drop of regret or reprehension in those deep, deep eyes. You realized your breathing was uneven as you pondered your answer, still feeling hot and lightheaded at every single touch and look from him that turned you into human jelly.

“Yes.” You whispered, the sound barely coming out of your lips and curling around his ears like vapor.

“What more do you want?” His thumb returned to brushing your cheek. The skin there sparked and tingled at the contact. The fingers under your throat made the area feel tight. Your eyelids felt so heavy looking at him.

“I want you.” You told him, with your tongue loose and heavy from the physical change your body felt like it had been going through this past who-knows-how-long.

Hook’s face flickered. His hand dropped from your cheek. Worry shot through you. However, it was quickly dispersed as he went back to holding your fingers; lifting them up.

Slow enough to drive you insane, he strategically and impulsively kissed your knuckles with the softest press of his lips. Electricity jolted up your arm and spine, stirring the butterflies into a storm. A small noise escaped you as Hook looked at you through his dark eyelashes; still facing your hand.

“And what is it exactly that you want of me?” He asked, breathing slowly onto your fingers before deeply inhaling their scent.

“I-“ you stuttered, suddenly getting a bit of cold feet. What if you messed this up? You’d never forgive yourself if you did and he rejected you. “I wanted to repay you?” You phrased it more like a question; trying to test the waters.

He set your hand down again, then painfully took his time as he brought his fingers back to your jaw.

“You can repay me with a kiss.” He mused in a slow, flirtatious way. Your brain just about short circuited.

Everything in your mind cut dead.

Blank.

His eyes were right in front of yours now, and they made no effort in hiding what they wanted. His eyelids wavered, looking almost sleepy as they looked up to spare you a glance, spilling to you all the secrets of his desires.

“That seems awfully cheap.” You whispered, still frozen in place; a bit unsure of what to do. So, you tried going the route of flirting like him. “Maybe you’d like to help me discover a better price?”

Hook let out a genuine smile. Then, with the utmost care and attention, he leaned into you and softly placed his lips against yours.

Your whole body stiffened up.

And yet, your chin tipped up so easily at the slightest tilt of his finger as he graced you with another kiss on your lower lip.

Swooning and easing up a bit, you sighed as he gave you a few more across your mouth and trailed partway onto the skin next to it; giving everything he touched a light, prickling sensation. Then, at the same snail pace, Hook pulled back.

Leaning forward in an attempt to keep your lips connected as long as possible, they inevitably pulled apart. You gasped once the contact ended, as if having reality hit you like a truck.

Hook searched your close face for answers as unsurety took hold of all his features.

“Sorry…” he whispered, sparing your lips a glance before returning back to your eyes. “Was that too presumptuous?“

Your stomach tingled in delight as his words caressed your ears. He was so worried about you being comfortable about it all. How could you not fall for someone so handsome and caring? Let alone not enjoy his undivided love and affection.

Getting thoroughly distracted by the lips that you just had the wonderful pleasure of feeling against your own, you struggled to find your voice to work; opting to gaze at him so pleadingly that he couldn’t mistake the look for anything else.

Awe filled his eyes as you carefully brought your hand to his cheek, and in the same beat he brought his fingers into the back of your hair. His breath blew out of his parted mouth and grazed the skin of your lower face softly. It felt like a warm, dizzy dream as you held each other in such a close and heavy distance.

He pulled you closer to him and your noses bumped slightly, before he reconnected your lips once again; moving them gently against yours. Then, they turned a little less precise. A little more wanting.

Hook brought the curve of his hook to the underside of your chin and repeatedly stroked it down your throat. Shivering at the cold touch of the metal that so heavily contrasted with the rest of the warmth he was gracing you with, you felt the need to keep both of your hands preoccupied too.

In a moment of ingenuity as you leaned forward to move yourself away from the chair, you brought your hand in between his collarbones. Tangling your fingers into the chain necklaces that were warmed by the body heat of his own chest, you brushed at the skin underneath. Hook took a slight intake of air and shuddered, before promptly pushing you back into the cushion of the sofa in a deep kiss.

You gripped the metal and used it to pull him closer; not expecting the outcome of that.

Letting go of your scalp, he snaked his arm around your waist. Somehow managing to get his left hand underneath you without scratching you, he lifted you up and amply turned around. Thrown off guard, you desperately clung onto him as he plopped down right in your seat with an oomf.

You giggled; now comfortably sitting sideways on his legs with your knees bent over the armrest; Hook to your left and now seemingly shorter. He kept his hand around your side while his left hook draped itself over your lower thigh.

“You’re strong…” you breathed airily, a tad lightheaded.

Hook let out an adorable little chuckle as he tilted his forehead forward and touched yours.

“The easier it makes to steal things.” He said intently.

“Like my heart?” You quipped lightly, though there was only truth behind it. You didn’t wait to receive an answer before teasing his chest and the jewelry there with your fingertips while giving him a chaste kiss.

After that, Hook’s eyes took precious hold of your countenance; taking a moment to gaze at your features. Then, he closed the distance again.

A few moments passed, and you two parted, smiling into each other’s faces.

“I can only hope I’ve managed to steal the heart of a fine treasure like you.” He whispered in earnest. His brow was creased as he looked barely upwards at you. While he spoke, he traced his hook on your leg, making little patterns that made you shiver. “For those treasures are always the hardest to obtain, because it is up to them to be taken.”

Sighing happily, you played with the back of his hair in your left hand; wrapping the strands around your fingers and sifting through them.

Hook seemed to nearly melt at that, and his hand tightened its grip on your waist- pulling you impossibly closer.

“Well,” you began, nuzzling your face in his neck. “you don’t have to worry about that; You’ve already succeeded.”

You heard a tiny gasp escape him, so you leaned back to look at him. He was absolutely star struck with his jaw gone slack.

Trying not to seem too amused, you pushed his chin gently back up. Quickly, he let go of your waist to take hold of your fingers and press them against his lips.

“You’re stunning.” He whispered in awe.

You grew faint at the sight of him, with him looking at you with such love in his eyes; like you were the only thing in the world he wanted to see right then. He took a deep inhale and exhale as he rubbed your knuckles, which reminded you bashfully of how he had done that mere minutes ago. And yet, he still stayed focused on you; lost in your eyes.

Face feeling warm, you averted your gaze, instead deciding to focus on the curved piece of metal that was now gliding sideways along your leg with delicate care.

“Don’t look away from me Darling.” Hook murmured, pulling your view back to those dark brown pools of warmth.

Letting go of your hand, he brushed his fingers against your cheek, and a tingling feeling burst across the skin. Lips parted, he glanced up and down multiple times, slowly leaning in. Hook looked so lovely as he kissed you again; drawn out and yearning against your lips. He was a slow, magnetic pull that you couldn’t help but sink into. You felt safe, cared for, and loved.

He dragged his thumb over your bottom lip, putting your faces as close as they could without actually touching. When he looked up at you, his eyes wavered back and forth, and you could count the eyelashes adorning them.

“Will you be mine?” He asked, barely above a breath; as if anything louder would break the silence and the spell you two were under. “Will you let yourself be mine?”

Your face burned with heat, and you could only hope it wasn’t visible. Disbelief filled you and told you this was all a dream or some figment of your imagination.

But this was reality.

You’d be a fool to turn down the person who wanted you just as much as you wanted him.

Slowly blinking, you nodded your head.

“Yes.” You told him, wrapping your arms around his neck. Then, you whispered against his lips with lidded eyes. “But only if you can be mine as well.”

Hook chuckled, and your heart fluttered.

“Of course Darling.” He looked so happy to say that.

“You’re not going to flirt with other people though, are you?” You said, and the insecurity slipped through. You had no doubt how much he cared for you, but a tiny part still recognized that he had a playboy up until now.

“I know I’m a bit of a flirt,” he said softly with a tiny smirk. “but I’ll try to contain myself; I promise.”

You drew your mouth impossibly close to his.

“I guess I’ll just have to make sure I’m enough so that you don’t flirt with anyone else.”

Hook’s eyebrows creased and he cautiously placed his hand on your hair.

“No, no, you’re enough. You’ve always been enough. Don’t think otherwise I beg of you.”

“But…” you fidgeted with the back of his hair, looking down. “How can I believe that if flirting with just me isn’t enough?”

Hook tilted your chin back up to look at him and saw your visible pout. His eyes looked slightly glassy as he spoke.

“I won’t flirt with anyone else.” He affirmed, promising you. “You’re all I’ll ever need.”

Then, he kissed you for the umpteenth time that night, and it was just as magical as the last.

He kissed, and kissed, and kissed you; trying to infuse his statement into his actions. His lips were soft and tender and felt absolutely perfect against yours. You wanted to imprint this memory in your mind forever.

Although, with Hook as your boyfriend, you could actually relive this moment again and again; every day.

The kiss could have dragged on and on, if it weren’t for the fact that you yawned against Hook’s mouth. He paused, before placing another kiss once you were finished.

“Let’s get you off to bed now, ay?” He said, and you realized your eyelids were getting heavy.

Nodding slightly, you went to stand up, and the tiredness that you should have been feeling seemed to wash over you all at once. So instead, you slumped back into his embrace.

Your body felt so heavy as the exhaustion of the night slammed into you like a hammer. Sliding your arms around his torso, you nuzzled your face in the crook of his shoulder.

“Fivemoreminutes?…” you pleaded with your words slurring together and getting muffled in his shirt. His hands moved to your back and rubbed the area comfortingly.

“It’s late, Darling.” He whispered into your ear, and you responded with a hmm. “Let me walk you to your dorm.”

The last thing you wanted to do was leave his warm embrace, but you knew that he was (unfortunately) correct.

Pulling yourself off of his lap, your legs went unbalanced as you tried to stand with your feet on the solid floor. Hook’s hand went to your waist to steady you, and you subconsciously leaned into his touch.

“Let’s get going.” He nudged you.

And so, you were off down the dark, long hallways to your own dorm. The thought of getting to collapse in your mattress became a desirable fantasy. You leaned into Hook as he led the way; still holding his right hand against your side.

Gently grasping that part of him with your own fingers, your eyes would waver open a bit before closing again.

You were practically sleep walking as your feet barely kept up.

“Almost there, Love.” He encouraged, rubbing up and down your waist with his palm. You hummed in acknowledgement.

Finally, you were there; right in front of your door.

Peeling away from Hook at an agonizingly slow pace, you turned around.

You weren’t ready to say goodbye.

Your heart yearned for him.

Hook seemed to understand what you were thinking, because he told you that you would see him tomorrow.

“But I’m going to miss you.” You said.

Fingers still interlocked with his, he pulled your hand up and slowly spun you around on the wooden flooring before pulling you in for one last kiss.

“Then dream of me.” He uttered into your lips.

You took hold of his hook and held him close to you.

“Thank you for taking care of me.” You implored, eyes closed and noses touching.

“Of course.” Hook said before lifting your hands to kiss your knuckles again with enough care to make you melt. “Let me know if your dry hands are ever suffering again. I’ll be right there to help you.”

Swooning at the physical attention, you tried not to rest your weight against him; reminding yourself that this wouldn’t be the last of it. You would get to see him tomorrow.

Head already filling with daydreams of the next day, you didn’t resist as your new lover pulled away from you. And with him out of your touch, your world seemed to shrink.

“Goodnight Darling.” He said softly, eyes filled with adoration as he forced himself to walk away.

“Goodnight Hook.” You whispered back, knowing that your eyes must have looked just the same.

The words “I love you” rested on the tip of your tongue, but you decided to withhold the phrase, instead choosing to watch the one who held all your affection drift away around a dim hallway corner and into the night.

Sighing deeply with your gaze fixating on the spot where he had last been, you turned around, and entered your dorm room.

You couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Taglist: For James Hook

@lesbpotmurdocklokistan @little-teacupss @mushroomdemon9 @leoisbabygirl

@brokenmilkcrates @eretsupremacy89 @1-queenofpotatoes-1

[goldenbloodytears]

Do u think Danny would be okay with having his SO be his partner in crime. I feel like it really depends but I think he would be open to it as long as like he was still the one calling the shots you get me? Been thinking about this one all day 😭

An ask in my ask box! Oh boy! Thanks Anon :) So this is actually a concept I've been toying with for a while in relation to the magnum opus fanfic I've had brewing in my head for five years. Gonna put a read more since this got long thanks to my rambling; warning for brief mention of partner murder.

Edit: changed some wording for clarity.

I don't think he would react well to an SO knowing his secret in a regular situation unless he was dead certain this person isn't going to betray him. So, obviously, becoming his partner in crime is going to involve blackmail. If his SO accidentally or purposefully kills somebody? Does some other crime or horrible thing they don't want revealed? That's going to be used. I think there's also just the inherent threat of personal harm... But I don't see him doing that unless pushed into the situation--I think if something did result in the death of the SO he would be sad about it... like very angry sad. Look what you made me do kinda. Like somebody just took a toy away from him. I don't really subscribe to yandere style headcanons for him personally, but I definitely think he is possessive.

Anyways back to my point... I think Danny would enjoy having somebody know. I think it must be lonely and a little isolating the way he lives... and humans are social creatures.

I think when it comes to his SO acting as a partner in crime, doing murders... my personal headcanon on the matter is he's... rather into it? I don't think he would go out of his way to influence somebody into murder/violence (what is he? his old man? lol) but I think there's a kind of... appreciation for a display of strength like that. Even if it was an accident. He's gonna clean the blood of them and it's the most sensual experience he's ever had--his head is gonna SPIN! I actually think he would be completely caught by surprise, like discovering a kink you didn't know you had (I mean that's exactly what it is, let's be real) He's been formed into this person to be okay with violence and it's not something he really gets to share/experience with people. He's not a veteran so he can't share "war stories" of his experiences, the closest he would get to this kind of thing for the average person is maybe hunting... but there's a keen difference in hunting a human than, say, a deer? I think having an SO as a partner in crime would be... like toxic good for him... I'm assuming the SO is a willing partner in crime. I can see him really enjoying somebody gassing up his ego (totally tempted to make a Harley/Joker comparison here). HOWEVER, I do think he would be an absolute pain in the ass about his works, his stories... I don't see him sharing Ghost Face with somebody, so it would be convincing him to either change gears to something else, or putting up with that.

One change I could see happening is having the SO, if they have writing chops or come from a journalism background, taking over the paper-writing/reporting aspect. The original background in-game (not the tome) mentions that some of the articles he's kept were not written by him, so as much as I feel like this is still an imperative part of his modus operandi, it's clear he still takes a nice fat dopamine hit for the sake of his ego from other people writing about him too... and therefore I could see him being flexible with it, because if the SO is his partner in crime, he can still influence what they write--he just doesn't have to work double shifts anymore LOL

Is it too cracked up to make a joke about Danny and his partner-in-crime SO getting a house in some random town and posing as a totally normal man and his spouse by day but then murdering people by night? IDK you decide. I'm kinda just picturing that one song by the Mountain Goats.

[nrdmssgs]

How to not motivate your favorite author to write

So recently this happened to a very dear friend of mine. And then this happened. I'm not tagging her deliberately, to not drag her name into any shitshow. I love her dearly and will fight with tooth and claw for this person.

I will be referring to my personal experience not because I want to make this 'a story about precious me', but because I can guarantee, that overall pattern of creative process will go along with these examples, and I don't want to torture others with interviews on their particular creative process examples.

I want to address that anon and talk a bit about how creative processes work. I am not a writer, but I have two art degrees, so I just happen to know a thing or two about creativity and its ways in human brains.

How creative process differs from creative outcome

Imagine a situation: you roam around your favorite network and find this one cool author, that seems to create something especially for you. I like their characters, their storyline, their ways with the language and overall scenery. You and them seems like a match made in heavens. There is only one 'but': you crave more.

You find your perfect fic, you read every chapter and end on a painful cliffhanger, poor you? But what if I tell you, that to complete this chapter, your favorite author had to process a ton of information, their own suggestions, 'what ifs', questions around every single detail, different dialogue and action options? What you see is a perfectly cut ice cube, but it took a freaking iceberg to make it. By the way, the same goes for illustrations. Remember this short comix?

Well, it took a day to create it, and actually drawing it took only 4 hours. Another 8 hours were spent on concept. Here are just 2 pages of my ideas, and I have like 8 pages of this.

And sometimes authors don't even write down their draft thoughts, but it doesn't mean, these thoughts doesn't exist. We are thinking about our stories while going for groceries, driving a car, doing laundry, taking shower and so on.

So if you read something, that is one-page long - it doesn't mean, that your favorite author spent an average 'fill one page with text' time interval to create it. You are reading an outcome, while the author went through the entire creative process!

How creating one thing may help you to create another thing

Sometimes you need to practice, just to get to know a new character/situation.

I had such difficulties, writing Nikto, that I wrote this and this just to bring this marvelous character to the latest part of my ongoing series. Yes, it took me a month to figure out this character, but it was worth it. So please, bear with an author, that makes little attempts, before going back to their magnum opus. Sketches and renders can and will help them evaluate the story, that you`ve fallen in love with in the first place!

Sometimes you need a break.

If you thought, reading some angst was not easy - just know, that writing it was also not easy. Sometimes authors speak on deeply personal topics, sometimes they express their negative emotions through hard and draining scenes and stories.

And before you say 'oh, but the author knew in advance what is yet to happen' - let me remind you, that the author relieves everything, their characters go through.

Creating something completely knew helps author to gain powers, to take a step further, to breathe and calm down.

Sometimes you just feel like shit.

You wake up, revisit, what you wrote yesterday, and you hate it. And you hate yourself for setting the bar so low. And a very right thing to do at this moment is to get yourself distracted by something completely new. Or even to force yourself to not go back to creating for a bit, so that your 'creativity muscles' get some rest.

So please don't be disappointed by your favorite creator for paying attention to other media/fandom/story/character. It may be their way (long and complicated) to go back to that very work, you liked so much.

What doesn't motivate authors

Punching them with 'hey, stop whatever you're doing and go back to that thing, I LIKED'. This will only make your fave creator freeze in a cycle of self-hate, diffidence, art blocks.

Comparison of their works. "Your Ghost fics are top, so stop writing about Gaz and turn into a full time Ghost praiser". Again, this won't motivate your fave to change their writing habits or preferences, this will make them fill guilty every single time they create something against your preferences. That 10-30-50 sketches with Gaz will eventually help them go back and write something for Ghost!

[mollyrolls]

@guitarstringed-scars asked me about my art. so im gonna talk about my art.

sneak peaks before i RAMBLEEEEE. also hand reveal i guess.

sculpture is my absolute fav medium and my specialty, so i don't have a ton of like paintings or drawings but im taking some painting classes this year so hopefully ill get better at that.

i started doing basic level ceramics in high school, made some mid boxes and jewelry trays and then i realized, oh fuck this is really fun. lets go a little crazy.

i made this little pitcher, which in retrospect isn't all that exciting but i was just so excited about it. because i realized i could do this and be successful at it if i tried? idk this was the start of it for me so ill love this little pot forever.

the big project for this class was to make a bust (a stupidly ambitious project for a bunch of high schoolers but alr) and i went innnn. i made an Athena bust that i was so so proud of and still am. don't talk abt the lips or nose that's a sore spot. BUT I FUCKING FORGOT TO CUT A HOLE IN THE NECK SO IT EXPLODED IN THE KILN. worst day of my life.

then i made this coffee mug to cope bc i love snoopy. i loved him before he was cool do not fucking touch me when it comes to snoopy

uhhh then i took a year off LOL

went to college, signed up for sculpture bc i missed doing ceramics but i came to find out WE DIDNT HAVE A KILN. i was so mad but i stuck around in the class bc the prof was funny. thank god i did!!

our first project was to make an object completely out of cardboard, so i made a little wood clamp. i love her, shes so fun. the spring is fully functional too!!! like it moves up and down. and the covers come off too. i spent overtime on this for no reason but things started clicking with this one.

then we were supposed to do something with light, so i made a paper mache jellyfish. my life fucking sucked at this point in time so im not the proudest of it but i still think its cool so

and then. my magnum opus. MY CROWN JEWEL. THE BEST THING IVE EVER MADE IN MY LIFE.

i went so stupid on this project its crazy. i made a plaster mold of my hand and then cut a line through it so i could slide a page of a book through it, and then i spent A WEEK AND A HALF DOING MATH so that i could make the pendulum for it. the counter weight is a stack of all the most influential books in my life, and the one being read is my fav book of all time, the secret diary of hendrik groen. AND IT FUCKING MOVESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love this project so much. its what made me decide to fully go into the studio arts minor. and just to flex bc i love it so much, the dean of the school of arts has it permanently displayed in their office HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

thank you for listening to be yell for this long. i love sculpture so much. find something you love and just go ham on it your life gets so much better

[caitybellfics]

Weekend WIP Game

Thank you, @whimsymanaged, for the tag, I am sorry it's taken me so long to do this ha ha!

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

1. WIP List:

Do I include Drabble series I haven't quite completed? Do I include unposted fics? Original works I write on the side?

Damn, this is hard!

I'm just going to start and see where this takes me...

Here we go:

Chapter Fics Currently Being Posted:

Petals (Dramione, Fae AU, Fated Mates) - Petals just kind of ... happened. It was meant to be a quick five-chapter fic, but the chapters kept getting longer and longer and all of a sudden I have a 90,000+ fic on my hands. Definitely the longest chapters I've written for a book/fic. I tend to like to keep chapters no more than 7k long, but Petal's average is something like 18k. I have no explanation other than it felt right.

Sacred Blood (Dramione, Mafia AU, Alchemy instead of magic) - I absolutely love Mafia Romance, and so it was natural for me to be inspired to write a DHr Mafia fic. This story took a back seat while I got Petals out of my system, unfortunately, it's been a hard year and Petals has taken an age to finish. But I can't wait to get back to my murder bbies.

Wings ... and Other Romantic Things (Charmione, Second Chance Love, Mystery) - A little romcom-esque romp. Hermione is forced to work with Charlie (an ex-fling during the war) when local Veelas are being attacked. Charlie and Hermione must solve the crime and catch the attacker, all while past feelings come back in full force.

Drabble Series In Progress:

Think Of Me (Dramione, Pierced C*ck Draco, Curious Hermione) - I have literally one more chapter to this raunchy, crack fic. I swear I will get to it soon!

Games (Dramione, Panville, Bluna, Theo/Padma, Cho/Dean, Ginny/Harry, Ginny/Seamus, Magical Sex Toys) - I get this one requested to finish a lot (you filthy heathens). I have five more pairings to do!

Ferrets and Fun (Dramione, Ferret Animagus Draco, Fluff/Humor) - I adore Ferret!Draco. Truly. There is no real plot in this drabble series. Just whatever inspires me. I should write another installment of his shenanigans soon ...

Lucius Malfoy and the Eternal Struggle of Being Him (Dramione, Lucius POV) - Same as above, no real plot, just dramatic Daddy Lucius watching his son be in love with Hermione. He's not bad in these, just extra!

Fics I am Currently Writing But Have Not Posted:

Magic Finds A Way (Dramione, Jurassic Park AU) - This fic is an absolute delight. I am actually really proud of it and all the parallels I've made to the original JP book and the films. But it will probably be a while before I post it :(. It's gotta be almost completed before I start to post and it's got to be absolutely perfect to me.

Demagogue (Second Gen, OG MCs but descendants of Dramione, Hinny, and Voldy) - This is my Magnum Opus. And like Magic Finds A Way, will not be posted until I feel it is perfect. But it's a twisty one, with lots of action, mystery, and pining romance. I can't wait to start posting about it.

The Perfect Alpha (Dramione, A/B/O) - I go feral for A/B/O, so while I'm surprised I haven't written more of it (only one little drabble), I am also not surprised. This fic is a lofty one, and my ambition for it has caused it to be put on the back burner. :(

Sad Eyes: The Expansion Series (Dramione, Theo/Padma, Blaise/Luna, Panville) I have three spin-off short chapter fics based in the world of my Sad Eyes fic. All feature a different pairing, tackling different types of trauma and how they heal after the war.

Curses of the Sand (Panville, Adventure through Egypt) - I started writing this fic for a Panville fest but fell behind due to school. I love the story and setting and pairing, so I will definitely be posting it at some point!

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

Petals at 92,642.

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

Demagogue. POSSIBLY Magic Finds A Way.

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

Too difficult a question. I love all my fics for different reasons and it really depends on my current mood and place in life that decides what I want to work on. I'm going through a rough time right now, so I would have to say Petals because Hermione is also currently struggling and it's nice to not feel alone in that regard.

But, I daydream about Demagogue and the Sad Eyes Expansions the most, I would say.

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Magic Finds A Way. I am worried no one will care about it since it isn't the typical Dramione fic. It's science that has been twisted by magic and dinosaurs ha ha. And if it "flops" I would be devastated because I have literally worked so hard on the parallels between it and the OG materials and media.

I guess the same could be said about Demagogue. It's my baby, my most precious creation, and if no one reads it because it's second-gen and OG characters, with the main pairings fandom likes just being sided characters ... I would probably leave fandom lol, I'm being dramatic but also not really. I am not sure how I would take it if no one gave it a chance.

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

Oh, well, read my answer to the question above!

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

Magic Finds A Way. I have two betas that have read the OG Jurassic Park, and also have a fandom friend helping me with the French Draco speaks.

I have the same betas for every chapter fic I write. They both encourage and rip apart my writing to help me flesh out every single aspect of my stories.

Drabbles? You get what you get 🤣 from me.

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

I don't really get writer's block. I know exactly what I want to happen in all of my story ideas, but I do have periods of time where I am physically unable to write whether that be irl drama, my health, or a busy work schedule that leaves me exhausted.

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

Demagogue! Yes! So, In this fic, The Cursed Child does not exist and my MC is named Hallow and she is the abandoned daughter of Voldemort, adopted by Harry and Ginny after the war.

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

Well, that depends on what you like 😉

Creature fucking, particularly wing kink? Read Petals.

You into egregious smut? Read my Games series.

Sharp suits, hand kinks, and men who would literaly murder anyone who touches you---that does it for you? Sacred Blood is your jam.

When I finally post my A/B/O, I am sure it will take the cake for spice.

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

Oh my gosh, Sad Eyes. Hand's down.

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?

Demagogue. But, for a fic I am currently posting/have posted? Sad Eyes.

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

Magic Finds A Way - Isla Nublar (dinosaur island, like come on!)

Curses of the Sand - Egypt

Petals - Faerie Realm

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Magic Finds A Way

Demagogue

Petals

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

I've kind of already said why, but Demagogue and Magic Finds A Way.

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

Yes ha ha.

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?

They all have different complexities and characterizations of the characters we all know and love. I try to change things up with every fic!

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?

Lucius Malfoy and the Eternal Struggle of Being Him cracks me up. I love Lucius. And though Sad Eyes is about healing trauma and all that, I think there are some pretty funny moments and quips in that fic.

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

Lucius Malfoy and the Eternal Struggle of Being Him, Lucius' POV.

My Sad Eyes Expansion fics as well as my Games series are both diving into pairings I have never done before nor see often or at all!

Petals has POV parts from Narcissa's and it's a really cool way to create an even bigger picture in the aspect of court politics within the fae realm. It makes the stakes seem greater than just Draco and Hermione being mates, etc.

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

I have a song for every scene of anything I write. Most of everything I come up with is inspired by music. If you ever ask me what song helped me write a scene/fic/drabble, I will definitely have one to share.

Tagging: Look, I have too many WIPs to tag, so I am not even going to try. I also think this challenge has already made the rounds since I am so behind on doing it. So I don't want to bother anyone by accidentally double-tagging them!

[evelili]

Okay I’ve been reading more of your magnum opus fic (one chapter. help they keep destroying me emotionally) and I have highlighted a solid THIRTY SEVEN lines from the fic so far so I thought I should write a like. halfway(?) through comment for you so they don’t get too long! I’m really enjoying your characterization of everyone and the pacing is fantastic. The focus on the trials of the main six is amazing and really allows you to build all of their characters individually then together. Like for applejacks chapter it was focused on her but then now with this flashback in pinkie pie’s chapter it gives a lot of context for her and rainbow’s relationship and how they’ve grown which I love!!

-

I’m pretty sure this textbook is older than me. A quick peek at the publication page under the cover confirmed her theory. It’s even older than Shining!

-

Okay this was the first line I ever highlighted and it’s just because I was so… idk i really love how you show this dynamic between twilight and her family and how they all rely on each other. I’m very curious about twilights nightmare prophecy dream and if we’ll ever see Shining Armor or Cadence again and maybe how they’ll react to the events of the story!

-

“Hope I didn’t bother you much.”

Shoot shoot shoot, say something, Sparkle! You’re being weird again! “No, you weren’t bothering me.” Yes! Good! “No one really talks to me, so I guess it was kind of nice.” No!

-

This scene was SUPER funny I really like how you’re able to write these quick, witty exchanges that feel like the characters from the show with a more mature feel to it

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Twilight hated being pitied. Being such a pitiful person.

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I really like this line here. You’ve mastered this style of like… having twilight think something then INSTANTLY switching what it means cause with the first sentence I’d imagine it was her disliking others and how they act when they pity her but the second sentence IMMEDIATELY recontextualizes it into her hating HERSELF. It’s brilliant

-

It felt like Sunset—strong and steady and warm.

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I really love how you wrote Sunset and Twilight during the first act their friendship feels so easy and so difficult as well just because twilight doesn’t know how to deal with someone new that she hasn’t perfectly learned how to avoid from knowing them since grade school, like she doesn’t know her and it makes all of their interactions feel like they’re trying SO HARD to learn who the other is and it just feels like such a genuinely high school experience I love how you write this

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The ice was back, though not as blatant as before. It hid between Celestia’s words, biting at her consonants and the breaths she took between.

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This description took my breath away. You really have this way with words of describing characteristics and mannerisms in ways that manages to completely blindside me and it just makes reading your story so exhilarating. I never know what’s coming and I adore it for that!

I’m gonna cut this one off here cause it’s already fairly long and I am NOT sending a 5000 word ask on tumblr so I’ll probably send more later but holy shit I need to mention this. The way you end all the chapters of the story by focusing on how twilights outlook on science and magic and friendship is shifting slowly with every experience is amazing and it makes me feel so happy and excited everytime I get to the end of the chapter!!

Also you mentioned a 30k epilogue in my last ask and uh. oh my god. I’m very excited for that!! AND ANOTHER THING. Your art is absolutely STUNNING. I love reading a chapter and then looking at the art. The art for the applejack chapter is so amazing, the composition just blows me away and I love how you choose to do this black and white, almost sort of painting-esque look to all of them. AND I JUST SAW THE ONE FOR FLUTTERSHYS OH MY GOD. Twilights head coming out of its mouth… fluttershy with the stake… AND THE PINKIE PIE ONE? (Sorry I downloaded the fic so none of the images carried over so you’re getting my live “WHAT THE FUCKKKKK” reaction to all of these) THE BALLOONS??? COVERING TWILIGHT?? BECAUSE SHES ASHAMED AND HIDING HER PAIN BEHIND A SMILE? AND DOESNT WANT ANYONE TO FIND OUT?? AND PINKIE PIE WITH A SINGLE BALLOON WITHOUT A SMILE AND HER EYES HIDDEN AUGHHHHHH

Love this!!!

hi yes hello i think ive finally collected myself enough to figure out how to respond to this!! first of all: thank u so much again for ur indepth thoughts!!! like holy shit it rlly makes me so happy to get comments like this u will not believe ldksfjlksdfkff

focusing specifically on the ice line w celestia u highlighted, that's actually one of the ones im most proud of in the entire fic! it was rlly fun to work w some alliteration nd i think the flow/rhythm of it turned out rlly nice, and im glad that you liked it too :D

honestly, to me writing is pretty much the same as drawing, just instead of like colours and shit u gotta think of the shapes of letters and sounds of words and the rhythm of sentences blending together yknow? and if i had any advice to give, instead of "colour picking" like in art, i like to "word pick" or "concept pick" instead, basically take a phrase or idea from a previous sentence / para and reuse it in another context (like another part of the canvas almost). it's a bit of an abstract way to think but it works for my brain so maybe it can work for u too, or anyone else reading this xd

and im so glad u like the art!! i didn't realize that downloading the epub from fimfic removes the art, which i guess means anyone who read c12 + the epilogue in epub rather than on the site missed out on some key stuff dkfjsdlfjdkf not to mention all the chapter cards, oopsie. maybe ill update the authors note or smth if i remember too (she said, like a liar who definitely wont)

actually, i went with the bw style bc a) colour theory sucks but also b) it works well for printing physical copies lol. ik some other ponyfics have done physical runs, so maybe if i ever get time ill learn how to put all that together (and that way ppl definitely dont miss out on the art xd)

i guess to end it off, the point u made abt shining, it was rlly important to me to show his nd twilight's dynamic as smth supportive! im an older sibling (not by much tho), so i tried to write from the perspective of what an imaginary older brother might be like for me. since i imagine shining a lot older than twi (if she's ~17, i imagine he's mid-twenties), maybe he's a bit of an uncle-like figure / trusted adult too, rather than just an older brother. but im not rlly sure! have a doodle regardless, and i hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

[numbknee]

Enough of the suffering thru the asks abt all the other cartman ships, what abt your brain rot? 🥺 what *are* your thoughts on kyman?? Go ham dude

ooooh dear... where to begin with the kyman brainrot....... I guess I’ll start at the beginning. VERY LONG POST under the cut. this is basically my kyman meta magnum opus lmao

I’ve talked about this ad nauseam before, but I really, REALLY didn’t want to get into south park. I had only ever watched like 2 full episodes before 2021 and I simply did not understand the appeal. I just thought the draw to the show was the shock factors: gross-out humor, children swearing and committing violence, and blatant bigotry played for laughs. I didn’t understand how it could be so popular other than “well I guess there are lots of horrible people out there who like this horrible show.” 

I grew up in a very WASP-y town and had peers in elementary/middle school who learned about the existence of antisemitism and other bigotries through south park. because kids are stupid and don’t understand satire, many of them took it at face value and were able to have shittons of words added to their vocabulary to put people down and insult them. it was horrible tbh. and I hated the show for that, even as a young kid. I personally wasn’t perfect by any means but even as a snot-nosed, extremely sheltered little white girl I knew that you just shouldn’t do that shit. our school system in particular lauded the “golden rule” constantly (we had to do a school-specific pledge after the pledge of allegiance every day... yeah I know, very american) and I was like “cmon, you guys can’t even follow that ONE RULE to be a semi-decent human being?? really??”

anyway at the end of 2021, my younger brother asked me to watch the post-covid specials with him and he was very excited about it. I was immediately hesitant, especially because in recent years he has become alarmingly incel-y and took a hard turn to the right while I became a leftist. I reluctantly agreed to sit through it to try to understand him more because, even though his political ideology sucks ass, he’s still my brother and I do love him. 

so I watched the specials, and I came out the other side of it shell-shocked with how surprisingly good the writing was. THIS stupid show, the show that all this time I thought was bottom-of-the-barrel comedy, was... GOOD??? particularly regarding CARTMAN?? 

the only things I knew about cartman going into it were the following: he’s fat, he says the name “kyle” weird, and he’s a horrible antisemite. and they made him grow up to be a freaking RABBI. it completely caught me off guard and *gasp* actually made me laugh???? what???? 

there were plenty of other things I loved about the post-covid specials, like my depressed ass relating WAAAY too hard with stan, the extremely on-the-nose satire of the state of advertisement/capitalism with the stupid “denny’s applebee’s max” restaurant chain gag and all the old people being shoved into a giant prison retirement home once they aren’t productive anymore, kenny getting sick of the gang’s bullshit and writing “FUCK THESE HOES” on a beloved childhood photo, butters become a snake-oil salesman for NFTs, kyle being told to “think like a kid” and like 2 seconds later realizing they need to look up kenny’s ass. I could go on but you get the point. 

I liked it way more than I thought I ever would. and obviously, I often find south park funny for different reasons than my brother does because matt & trey are very good at toeing the line of appealing to both sides of the american political spectrum, but it’s become a point of bonding between us in the year since I started watching the show and I’m grateful for that. 

of course, since i’m terminally on tumblr and ao3, I also started to dive into the fandom of south park. I had heard about the whole creek thing years ago and waved it off as a stupid gag but then I realized wait, holy shit, there’s actually a GIGANTIC shipping culture around south park??? at first I got into style because of the interesting concept of post-covid kyle and stan reconnecting after decades apart and not being the same people they used to be but trying to make it work anyway (I even wrote a fic about it ahahaa...) 

but after a while I got tired of the ship because as I watched the rest of the show, I realized their relationship just wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. like they’re best friends but... why? because they’ve known each other forever? they both like video games? they make fun of cartman together? the fact they’re “super-best-friends” is kind of taken for granted by the show and the audience, but imo matt and trey never really explore the intricacies of their relationship very much. y’all can disagree with me on this but idk, all I know is that I got bored with style as a ship after like 2 months.

while scrolling through ao3 and tumblr, I ran across kyman fics/fanart for the first time back in february or so. at first I was appalled because... why the everloving fuck would you ship the blatant antisemite with the jewish kid??? really???? isn’t style a much better choice??? but sheer curiosity got the better of me, so I did what I always do when I’m curious about a ship: select for fics with kyle broflovski/eric cartman, sort by kudos, and read the first result (or in this case the second because the first had creek as the main ship). y’all know which fic that is if you’ve even slightly gotten into kyman. it was interesting, but I personally didn’t see them as the actual characters from the show in that fic. they were fandom versions of kyle and cartman, with their personalities changed enough to fit the standard mlm shipping dynamic that’s popular in fandom spaces (particularly regarding dom/sub aspects). I’ve seen it happen in plenty of other fandoms so I wasn’t surprised, but I still couldn’t see how it could possibly work if one were to use their canon character depictions. 

all the while I was making my way through episodes of the show cuz it’s long af, and over time I became more and more intrigued with kyle and cartman’s relationship. cartman quickly became my favorite character in the show because of how fucking complex and layered his personality is (see my tags on this post), and though kyle despises cartman in countless ways, he still is the only one who consistently tries to find goodness in him, tries to make him change for the better, saves him when no one else will, and remains his friend despite everything. it’s a remarkably complex dynamic.

little hints of kyman started creeping up on me: cartman being frequently queer-coded as a closeted gay kid. kyle getting extremely jealous of cartman and heidi’s relationship. both of them on separate occasions saving the other from death or injury without wanting any credit for it or lording it over each other. “we've been through a lot together, and... maybe that alone doesn't make us friends, but it makes us something” 

needless to say, I started to get it. and then I encountered the straw that broke the camel’s back: “know your enemy” by elsen on ao3. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve read that fic probably over a dozen times. it was shockingly well-written and so in-tune with the style and tone of the show that I was like “is this person spirit-channelling trey parker or something wtf???” and all of a sudden, I could see how, in a different universe, kyman could actually be an endgame ship. 

what sold me on it the most was how in-character it seemed for cartman to be a repressed, denial-ridden sub, especially regarding his desired relationship with kyle. there’s plenty of canon evidence that cartman has a secret crush on kyle (see this vid by johnny 2 cellos), but there’s no way that kyle could reciprocate those feelings, right?? imo kyle would probably rather die than enter a romantic relationship with cartman where he had to submit to him all the time, but if cartman would want kyle to be dominant over him??? where kyle has control and is able to curb cartman’s problematic behavior as he sees fit??? that opens up a whole other door of possibilities.

I think what kyle wants more than anything else in the world regarding cartman is for the goodness he sees deep down inside him to come to the surface, and for kyle to be the one to guide him (or force him when necessary) to becoming a better person through love and patience and inherent understanding of his fucked up little head??? I can definitely see kyle wanting that (especially since I see kyle as a repressed, denial-ridden sadist/dom lmao; see this post for my thoughts on that). 

it was all downhill from there. I found tons of other cool kyman shippers on tumblr and twitter whose writing and fanart helped suck me in even more and I’ve been stuck in kyman hell ever since. special shoutout to the asker for her kyman analysis posts that inspired this fic I wrote! love u boo <3

ANYWAY that’s how I became a whore for kyman lolololol ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ have a nice day everybody

[third-generation-female-warrior]

WIP tag game from @twinsunstars!

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

(Full disclaimer, without even counting, I already know I have more WIPs than taggable people, so we'll just ignore that last part.)

____

A Tale of Two Imperials, Chapter 3 - Captured by the Nightbrothers, Omega must rely on Cal Kestis/The Second Brother to find her before it is too late...

Breathe - A one-shot in which Lyana comes into realize just how important Omega is to her (pre-epilogue)

Cavalry - When Omega joins the Rebel Alliance to serve as a pilot, she expected dogfights, espionage, and a long fight against the dark grip of the Empire. She didn't expect a reunion with a certain General to turn into something introspective about what the war takes and what it leaves behind. In the perfect world, this is my 50K magnum opus that examines a very rich relationship between Hera and Omega as they grapple with feelings and whether or not they have a place in their worlds that are filled with things like trauma, duty, war.

Coveted Honor, More than Two - Padawan Omega continues to improve in the Order, but her Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, grows concern with the fact that she struggles to connect with her fellow padawans. In an effort to break her out of her shell, the Council assigns her and Obi-Wan to a mission with Jedi Master Jaro Tapal and his padawan, Cal, Kestis, to set up an outpost on Bracca.

Coveted Honor, The Light - The origin story of how Omega was found by the Jedi on Kamino.

Daughter of the Creed - When a mission for the Rebellion leaves Omega stranded on a backwater skuzzhole of a planet, she must maintain her undercover identity as a Mandalorian bounty hunter to the convert that took her in, when she stumbles across a small but impact Imperial operation on Nevarro that connects to a difficult time in her past.

Hold On - What if CX-02 captured Omega on Teth? It's a race for the Batch to find her before the shadow clone has the chance to make it back to his ship, but who he is under the helmet might change everything (spoilers: he's still not Tech).

Secrets of the Buried - Chapter 12 - Hell, where do I even start with this one? The climax of this fic, there.

Tales from Marauder Lane - New Slang - A cute little one shot that explores what it means to be a Mandalorian in the Republic States, but it's actually a DinxOmega chapter that I've been trying to write for @happydragon.

Tales from Marauder Lane - War Games - Lyana learns why no one should ever go paintballing with four teenage Mandalorians, starring Mox, Stak, and Deke!

To Take a Risk - When what was supposed to be a simple mission for the Rebellion lands Omega in the path and at the whims of a smooth-talking gambler, she must play his game in order to complete the mission, and try not to get swept up by his charms in the meantime, because he does flirt with her in the middle of a shootout. Starring, Lando Calrissian!

___

Oh god, I don't even know who to tag here... do what you want with this post.

[froizetta]

20 Questions for fic writers!

Tagged by @ginbenci! Thank you! :)

How many works do you have on AO3?

12! All since last August

What’s your total A03 word count? 134,798

What fandoms do you write for?

So far just DCU, but I like a lot of things! I will branch out one day, when the brainrot loosens its grip.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Padam Padam - superbat, E (7.5k)

Batman's heartbeat keeps speeding up whenever Clark is around. For instance: when Clark greets him, half-naked, on a Gotham rooftop. Or when he uses his superstrength to save a busload of schoolchildren. Or sometimes even just when he smiles. Clearly the poor man is terrified of him.

By far my most popular fic! Probably because it found it's way to tiktok (this still feels wild to me). Despite the fact that borderline crack and I wrote it in about 3 days, it has twice the number of kudos as the fic below in this list. Or perhaps it's because I took the idea from a tumblr post rather than coming up with it myself? Hmmmmm.

2. An Honest Conversation - superbat, E (60k)

“So Bruce’s longtime best friend had suddenly decided to start eye-fucking him at random. So what? Bruce was used to being the object of this kind of attention. It didn’t bother him. It was—should have been fine. The issue was that it was Clark, and Bruce had enough trouble remaining rational about him at the best of times.” or Bruce and Clark go from friends to lovers the long, long, long way round. Featuring a number of revelations, a well-meaning but nosy son (Dick) and, most prominently, two adult men being completely and utterly useless.

My first fic, and the closest one I have right now to a magnum opus! It started off as a silly oneshot and then got surprisingly angsty towards the end (although no less silly tbh, that's apparently just my whole vibe as a writer).

3. Hiding In Plain Sight - superbat, T (3.5k)

Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet, is clearly just Superman wearing glasses. For some reason, no-one but Bruce can see that. There is a distinct possibility that Bruce has lost his mind.

Written for Bruce Wayne Week 2023, as are the rest on this list! Written because...well. He totally is just wearing glasses. I'll happily suspend my disbelief, but I'm still not letting it go, damn it.

4. Holding Onto A Hero - superbat, T (2.5k)

Clark squinted sleep-tired eyes and frowned. “B? Everything okay?” And then Bruce shivered. In a fraction of a second he was beside the bed, and in another he was settling a knee onto the mattress and wrapping his arms around Clark’s waist, cowled face pressed into Clark’s chest. “So,” Clark said conversationally. “I’m gonna go ahead and take that as a no.”

The prompt was cuddle pollen, and it really is just a short-n-sweet, soft, cuddly, getting together fic. Also, I got to insert a little vague allusion to neuroscience, which is always nice (although oxytocin doesn't actually work like that, the effect is sex-specific and increasing it can actually promote aggression in some- okay, okay, I'll shut up).

5. More Fun Than Counting Sheep - superbat, E (5.5k)

When Bruce can't sleep, Clark proposes an unconventional solution. (The solution is sex.)

The prompt I took was sleep-deprived Bruce. Nothing about that suggested it should be smut, and yet here we are. I wrote this because I thought it would be funny to have Clark try to seduce Bruce into sleeping (and for it to work), and honestly? I stand by that.

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm none of them really. Maybe A Stitch In Spacetime (Gen, 4.5k - in which Batman meets a version of himself whose parents never died so he became a surgeon like his dad). But only because the ending is more hopeful than actively happy. Batman has still lost Jason, but he's finally trying to heal; Doctor Bruce still wants kids he doesn't have, but maybe after this that will change. (Also, unrelated but I'm really proud of the title for this one lol. I love a pun, what can I say.)

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, they're most all happy, but probably An Honest Conversation? Just because the finale was INCREDIBLY sappy, and there was a lot bullshit preceding it that they had to get through, which certainly made the ending cathartic to write!

Do you get hate on your fic?

Not yet! Apart from a couple of slightly iffy comments, everyone has been lovely. But then, I'm not writing anything particularly controversial lol. Hopefully the trend continues outside of genfic and superbat.

Do you write smut?

Yes, a lot lol, nearly half of my fics are E-rated. Look, if I write a romance in which the pairing solves some kind of relationship issue and grow closer as a result, some part of my brain is always gonna be thinking, "Hm. What if they banged about it?" Also, I love a sex comedy, so there's that too.

Do you write crossovers?

No. I don't think I'm into any fandoms right now that I would WANT to cross over tbh. I've read my fair share, though!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, but I'd theoretically be open to it! I think it would be tricky in practise though, unless you an your co-writer are really on the same wavelength. Even writers I really like don't necessarily write in the same style as me, so that could create difficulties.

What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

I mean. Superbat right now for sure. I'm usually a multishipper, but for whatever reason they have a death grip on me. I'm still basically an omnivore though!

What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmm, this feels like a very defeatist question since I do plan to finish everything I start. Probably the fic I started writing for a friend's birthday based on a premise we discussed nearly a decade ago. It's a wholesome romance between two of the sidest side characters in Haikyuu!! (Tanaka Saeko and Tsukiyama Akiteru, for the curious; they do interact, but barely), because my friend was there with her Charlie Kelly conspiracy board saying, "They're both in uni! They're in the same prefecture! They knew each other in high school! They're both older siblings of main characters on the same team, so they can go watch the matches together! There's so much to work with!!!" This has apparently been her lowkey white whale ever since, but she's never managed to write it, so I offered to have a go. Tragically, them being SUCH side characters means I have to all but invent a personality for one of them, which makes figuring out their dynamic a lot harder lol. But I still want to finish it one day, for her sake!

What’s your writing strengths?

Comedy I think, specifically deriving humour from awkward situations (that I have made up) - and often it's the quiet chuckle kind rather than the knee-slapping kind. But YMMV on whether anything I write is actually funny! I can only hope :')

What’s your writing weakness?

Well, I have lots of things I don't feel good enough to write (e.g. long, dramatic epics that I can't fill with jokes), but I mostly haven't wanted to try so I wouldn't say that's a weakness per se. And I have plenty of little things I feel like I need to work on, but none are an easy-to-identify kryptonite-style Weakness. Probably flow and pacing, as it's something I'm very particular about (especially for comedy, where imo it needs to be correct for it to work) but it doesn't always come naturally to me. I do a lot of rounds of editing trying to tweak things so they flow right. Hopefully that will come easier with experience! I'd be fascinated to know what other people thought my weakness was, though; it's often hard to judge yourself, since you're the audience you're writing for.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

In what sense? As in, for example, writing a French-speaking character in French in an otherwise English-language fic? I think that's appropriate when the POV character doesn't speak French, but perhaps can be avoided if they do, as then the average reader is understanding as much as the POV character is.

As to whether I personally would do it, I only really speak one non-English language at a decent level, and even then it's hard to convey nuance in any language you're not fully fluent in. So only sparsely, only if necessary, probably only if I could get a native speaker to check it.

First fandom you wrote for?

I think it was Free!, the anime about the swimmer boys. Back when I was a teenager in school, probably ~16, I anonymously posted a gen crackfic on the LJ kink meme based on an experience I had with some schoolfriends, where a few of us tried to give a less birds-and-the-bees version of The Talk to a sadly uneducated member of the group during a camping trip. (Our school did actually give proper sex education, with the putting expired condoms on dildos and everything, but didn't go into the specifics of, say, doggy style). ANYWAY, that was the only thing I'd ever posted until this year, but apparently my proclivity for writing sex-related comedy has remained unchanged lol.

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Man I don't know. I just did a similar tag thingy that asked this, and I wasn't sure then, and it feels boring to put the same answer twice? So I'll pick another that's my favourite for a different reason: Master of All Trades (Bruce & Hal, T, 4.5k). I think of all my fics, it has the highest ratio of good to not-that-deep, if that makes sense? Writing Hal's POV was incredibly fun, and I think it turned out really well! And it's definitely one of the few I can reread without cringing lol (reading your own writing after posting it is just embarrassing somehow).

Tagging: I nominate @burins and @unbreakabledawn, but literally 0 pressure at all!

[evelhak]

The ship bingo is very interesting... I would love to see KagaKuro done by the KagaKuro expert pretty please 🩵

The KagaKuro expert... My ego is very well fed.

It wasn't literally love at first sight... It was "koi no yokan" the feeling upon meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them. If they had been able to listen to themselves carefully enough in the beginning, they would have known it, but they weren't, and in some paradoxical way that's what made their love possible, because they would have been too scared to know each other if the idea had been in their heads.

Bestest most OTP of my life second to nothing under or beyond the stars. No other pairing has punched me to the gut with the way they complement, not complete each other, to this extent, the way their story embodies the "I want to be with you even when I don't need to be with you" in other words, I've read so many love stories that never develop beyond co-dependency and their story explores what's beyond that and how much more a relationship can be when you need each other less. Or how much more love consists of looking together in the same direction than staring at each other. (Not that they don't do the latter as well, especially literally.) I have not exhausted my thoughts on them in over a decade, they are the deepest well to me.

The fandom hasn't ruined it as a whole, the fandom is mostly amazing and inspires me like nothing else I love you fandom. But because I get times I'm so desperate for new KagaKuro content I have sometimes read things I knew were not for me in any capacity and it took a lot of effort to erase the atrocities I saw from my mind. 🎶 "I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn't known before... Isn't it nice to know a lot... And a little bit not".

Can we just call it canon... I literally sometimes forget that it's not canon and am surprised at the realisation that maybe the author doesn't see them together. A crazy thought. For real, I'm aware my reality is not other people's reality but I like mine very much. And you can too! I dare you! (That was said so gently and not at all demandingly.)

Yeah forget about three page essay it's a 900 000 word fic and my favourite joke with my translator friend right now is what will happen first... I hit million words or they finally have sex.

I... do want to smash them together like barbies. It took a long time to get to that mindset, but now that they're almost out of high school in my head, I'm going to challenge myself to writing sex eventually. It just seems like a natural progression.

Romeo and Juliet not really (and I have no clue what the rest of that even means) but there are definitely family members opposing their relationship, and some balconies, in various forms so I was just trying to get a bingo. (In vain.)

I want what they have in the sense that I never would have believed I would want my story centered around their relationship to become so huge for me that I would want it to be my magnum opus, my footprint in the world. But. Here we are. I don't so much want what they have as I want them to just keep doing whatever they do in my head because it gives me life.

Facebook status is complicated because it wasn't easy for them to tell their friends and family about their relationship. There were a lot of obstacles in the way before they ended up in a comfortable place.

I'm high just writing this.

[blueskieswastaken]

Hiiiii if you dont mind I would LOVE to hear more of your pearlina moms propaganda its so good thank u. ps your off the hook magnum opus series is AMAZING

!!!!!!!!!! hang on let me think up some REALLY GOOD HEADCANONS just for you anon im so sorry it took me so long to notice this ask and also answer it,,,  (it has only been a few hours)

just like with all my moms posts (tm) this got super long it’s going under the cut. have a good meal anon

pearl and marina kept the fact that they were going to have a baby very much under wraps. tabloids spread rumors, but they just got shut down by off the hook personally. like, an article titled “off the hook spotted buying maternity wear- are they gaining another member?” gets posted on twitter or something and pearl reteweets it and she says “no, it’s for family.” or something 

of course, the article was right. it was just a secret. until they very much couldn’t hide the twins anymore… when they were five years old and had to be enrolled in school. don’t ask me how they did it.

i think it would be super sweet if everything was planned out from the start, so that’s how i write my pearlina moms. 

pearl and marina talked for a very long time about having a baby. it took three years to decide on yes and another two to get everything ready and for marina to get over her nerves… 

but everything turned out okay! :] 

when the twins are still super small, pearl likes to carry them in her sweatshirt pockets or her purse, cause they fit in there and it’s nice and comfy for good naps. if you think of her octo expansion outfit and look at her sweater she’s got a pocket there, that’s where she puts them. like a momma kangaroo! 

even when they’re teenagers pearlie still has them go swim form and crawl into her pockets when they get sleepy in public. 

even before haruko and marley were born, their moms sang to them. pearl used to press herself up to marina and sing into the light, super softly, just to make sure her babies got sleep too. it very quickly became their lullaby, not to mention it accidentally got marina to sleep too, oops…

pearl thought it was super super cute. she has videos. 

to marina holding and/or cuddling the twins is like a weighted blanket for her. it’s absolutely one of the most comforting things she’s ever experienced. she stims by scratching their backs, super gentle, and she’s very lucky that it makes both of them just melt and hug her and purr. they can’t reach their backs to scratch them, so marina doing it makes them very happy. 

octolings like to play-fight and wrestle i think, so especially when they’re little marina fake-fights her twins with just her hands to keep from hurting them and to teach them to play. once haruko bit her and marley got very upset when she pretended to die…

pearl did a lot of googling throughout the whole thing. like, take the amount that popped into your head when i said “a lot of googling”, and maybe quadruple it. and then take that amount and triple it. that’s about how much googling she did. she wanted to take the absolute best care of her wife she could, so she decided she was going to learn everything she could- good places to take her, comfortable clothing options, the bestest softest blankets to get, homemade ice cream recipes. marina would have felt a little bad, but pearl didn’t let her. 

haruko and marley are pretty much the spitting image of both their moms, so much so that once their aunt callie managed to genuinely mistake both of them for their moms at a glance more than once! they have never let her live this down <3

marina used to cradle the twins in her tentacles when she had her hands full. she owns a baby sling, she just never decided to use it. pearl gets more use out of it than she does. 

one of the first things pearl says to marley when she meets him and is no longer completely shellshocked by him existing is “why didn’t you let us see you, little guy? were you too shy to say hello?” 

(his response: rolling over and going to sleep.) 

i could say so many more but im getting carried away. 

[dredshirtroberts]

yeah i think crochet is my hubris hobby in that it feeds my hubris to do other things that might be beyond my capabilities but like.

Mid crochet-attack I'm pretty sure i'm capable of crocheting just about anything. At one point I made a whole cardigan that was nearly large enough to be a mini blanket, just because i was like "You know what I bet I can do..." and then i did it and it looked amazing.

I have spent the past like week-ish in a fugue state of crochet, a large portion of which was spent on a bag i did completely from scratch using bits and pieces of techniques from actual patterns, and then me freestyling as i started to feel bored after a number of rows of the same thing

and the bag looks *incredible* - was received very warmly by the birthday person, and frankly i'm more proud of it than i was of the cardigan which up until this point has been my magnum opus (though i lost it in the Great Escape of 2019). I also have just. an absurd amount of the same thread/yarn I used for it so I will by all likelihoods be doing a similar one in the future because it was a fun project to work on.

but now i'm like "Yeah i finished a beautiful bag in a reasonable* amount of time, I'm capable of doing anything at all and definitely will not fail or miss a deadline or give up halfway through because i got bored!" despite all the evidence to the contrary from past experience.

*reasonable meaning in this context "it doesn't feel like it took that long even though the majority of 3 days was spent on it" and thus might not actually be "reasonable"

Like thankfully I am in too much pain to continue on rn because of the aforementioned "have spent the past week crocheting non-stop" so I physically cannot work on anything else right now, but my brain is like "Oh we could definitely keep working on/create a whole new project and still have motivation to work on the christmas presents you wanna do" and like. Nuh-uh no we cannot, I know better.

but the hubris, you see.

[plebeiangoth]

Have some Halloween movies in no particular order

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a great time, if you can find it. It's a love letter to so-bad-it's-good horror movies from the 50's and 60's which were all ambition and no talent e.g. Plan 9 from Outer Space and Manos The Hands of Fate. One of the funniest and most quotable movies I've ever seen!

House is as gorgeous as it is spooky and goofy! If you've not seen it, you're missing out. It's made by a director who made advertisements and a lot of the special effects are what would have been common in Japanese ads at the time.

Martyrs goes on the list for that one asshole who needs something extreme. Not that it's a bad movie, of course. But if you're that asshole and have yet to see it, have fun! If you don't know what I'm talking about, this film is not for the faint of heart and I mean it! Look up "French extremism" if you're curious. Again, if you've not seen it and don't like lots of blood and gore and little left to the imagination, this is absolutely not for you.

Valerie and her Week of Wonders is a gorgeous example of Czech new-wave, about a girl becoming a woman in a village of vampires! Strongly recommend this one if you like House, it's super colorful and whimsical!

Tetsuo the Iron Man is my idea of a more fun kind of extreme film. This is one of those movies I've seen several times and can't seem to remember the story, but suffice to say it's a wild ride about a metal fetishist who becomes sort of a metal monster in a similar fashion to Tetsuo in Akira becoming a giant flesh monster. It's got a very goofy tone and is shockingly wet for a movie about rebar.

The Thing is never not fun. I'm sorry to say I don't know my Carpenter as well as I should, I'm just too stuck on how much I love The thing and may never move forward. Yes I've seen Halloween, just I like The Thing better.

The Devils is a movie you can't watch in your home in a legal capacity, Warner Bros is never releasing this one on home video. Rest assured you can find it. It's a Ken Russell film about a whole convent of nuns (the Mother Superior played by Vanessa Redgrave) are so in lust with this priest, played by Oliver Reed, that they all fein demon possession to evade persecution. The complete version of the movie includes a scene in which all the nuns bang a crucifix. It's one of those movies I say the production team went to "the cool face store", because wow there's a lot of cool looking faces!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, because there will always be virgins

Young Frankenstein was Mel Brooks's only funny movie. Fight me! (men in tights was okay i guess)

Bram Stoker's Dracula. What more need I say?

I can't easily pick any one Jan Svankmajer film, so this is the Svankmajer portion of the list. For the uninitiated, he was a Czech stop-motion animator who made these hyper realistic claymation films, often with a dark context. My favorite feature length films of his are Alice (a telling of Alice in Wonderland), Faust, and Otesanek (his final film and magnum opus, aka Little Otik aka Greedy Guts, based on the fairy tale Otesanek about tree-root baby turned vore-monster). His films aren't necessarily scary, just very unsettling and disturbing.

Hellraiser 2 because I haven't seen it yet and people keep telling me it's the good one, as if the first one wasn't delightfully generous????

The Witches is a movie that upset my very Christian grandmother one time when I was a kid, watching it on TV at her house. I don't think she understood the point that the witches aren't the good guys. I know it's irrelevant, I just thought it was funny. I miss you, Nana.

The Worst Witch. Can someone tell me where to watch this? I never saw it before and I wanna see some tacky Tim Curry schlock

eXistenZ is a movie which I only saw for the first, second, third, and fourth time ever one week last year and I'm ashamed as a Cronenberg fan that it took me so long! Not necessarily his most Halloween-y movie (I'd argue that would be The Fly), it's just a lot of fun.

Think I'll stop there, that's a good sized list.

Add your own recs! What do you watch this time of year?

[saturdaynightghostclub]

I miss theo mason

The Un-Figureoutable Theodore Price

Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s cube under the influence of marijuana? I mean, obviously not, since you would never touch the stuff, but just between us. You know how the thing feels different in your hands, and you sink into the colors like water, and every five minutes feels like an hour of immense concentration, like everything could become nothing if you don’t just figure the damn thing out? It’s kind of the best, right?

Anyway, it’s not entirely unlike the thing you’re feeling right now. Now being the lingering moment before Theodore Price kisses you (under a flickering street lamp, naturally). You think, in the split-second before his lips crash deliciously against yours, that he’s kind of your magnum opus. The thing you’ll spend your entire life feverishly obsessing over, which always manages to elude you in some small way. Maybe he’s not meant to be figured out. It’s sort of amazing how a fully-formed thought can wedge its way into the infinitesimal moments between Point A and Point B; a thought is a thing that defies time and space. Miraculous that you can have so many of them without short-circuiting.

You may or may not have ever tried to solve a Rubik’s cube while stoned, but you have existed in Theo’s liminality long enough to know definitively what it’s like. It’s like the hungry slide of his mouth on yours, the sharp sound of his inhale as he pulls you closer, the fact that he didn’t warn you before he fell in love with you, but took it for granted that you would be able to read between his dense, empirical lines. You’re the girl for him, alright. So you’re not at all surprised when, seconds after slipping one inquisitive finger beneath the thin strap of your sundress, he pulls abruptly away and smiles down at you like a fool.

“You wanna grab a drink or something?” He asks, as if he hasn’t just turned your legs to jelly.

A year ago you might have bitten back, something to the tune of You can’t kiss a girl like that and act like nothing happened, but you’re used to his ebbs and flows by now. “Mhmm,” you murmur, winding your arms around his waist. He quirks an eyebrow like he’s actually surprised, like you’re the one being unpredictable.

“Or we could…” he tries, experimentally.

“Listening,” you say softly, smoothly, in the way you know crosses the signals in that beautiful brain of his.

Flustered, Theo clears his throat. You’re reminded of your first date. “We could head back to mine,” he says, suddenly soft and serious. Something like going home with your boyfriend after a date should be nothing after a year, but (in all things) Theo manages to make every time feel like the first time. The poor boy is all but stunned every time you wake up in his bed.

You can’t help the grin that colors your face. “Yeah?” you say, “And do what?”

“You’re teasing me,” Theo chides gently, nudging you in the ribs with a slightly self-deprecating smile. You nod. “Look, I can’t help it,” he says, “is it so wrong that I should be in complete disbelief? Look at you.”

“Theo,” you sigh, reluctant to accept the compliment at the perceived cost of his self-esteem.

“Okay, okay,” he grins, “you’re right, I’m a stud. Total catch, that’s why I need to clarify that my beautiful girlfriend actually does want to sleep with me.”

You poke him in the ribs and he laughs, sliding his fingers between yours and tugging you gently in the direction of his apartment.

Roughly an hour and a half later, with your cheek pressed against his chest, some tiny, reckless part of you sees fit to ask a question you’ve never actually wanted to know the answer to.

“Have you ever been in love?” you ask, “Before me, I mean.”

Theo exhales slowly, deliberately, and you have all the information you need. The answer is yes, and he’s weighing his options: to lie, tell you that you’re the first girl he’s ever loved, and move on from this crossroads on the basis of dishonesty, or to tell you the truth and risk your baseless, neurotic jealousy. “Yes,” he finally concedes, with the cadence of someone stepping out onto a frozen lake they’re not quite sure will hold their weight.

“What was her name?” You ask, trying hard to keep your voice level. Of course he’s been in love before, he’s a grown man.

“Her name was Ava,” he replies, still treading carefully. Smart boy that he is, he doesn’t volunteer anything but what you’ve asked.

You chance a look into his face. He’s suddenly tense. “What happened?”

“I know what you want me to say,” he sighs, “you want me to tell you that she cheated on me, or she died, or that I realized afterward that I never really loved her. Right?”

You shrug. “Just curious.”

“You’re not curious, you’re morbid,” he says, not unkindly, stroking your hair. “We were together for four years, sixteen to twenty. We were in love, and then one day we weren’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Baby,” Theo sighs, sounding exhausted, “let’s not talk about her, okay?”

“Why not?” You ask, drumming your fingers absently across his chest. He stills your hand with his.

“Because,” he says, bringing your knuckles to his lips, “she doesn’t matter. She’s a lovely person, I wish her the best, but she does not matter. We grew up, we became different people. And eventually I met this pretty undergrad in a class I TA’ed, and my entire world turned upside down. I could never be right for Ava again, even if I wanted to.”

“Okay,” you smile. You believe him.

There’s silence for a moment, and then: “Wait, you’re not going to tell me about all the men you’ve loved, are you?”

You burst into laughter. “All the men I’ve loved?”

“All the men who’ve loved you?”

“Still a short list,” you say, settling back into his side, “but no, I won’t. Not if you don’t want to hear it.”

Theo seems to ponder that for a moment, fingers trailing absently across your skin as he thinks. “Maybe I’m morbid too,” he decides, “lay it on me.”

“The full postmortem?” you ask. You murmur the question into his neck, letting your lips brush his throat. He swallows, then nods, his arm tightening almost imperceptibly around you. “You asked for it.”

“Wait, do I want to hear this?”

“It’s not so bad,” you relent with a kiss on his cheek, “Just the one guy in college, Bradley.”

“Bradley,” Theo murmurs, suddenly deep in thought. You decide you don’t like the sound of your ex-boyfriend’s name on your current boyfriend’s lips, and immediately wish you hadn’t said anything. “I think I remember him. He was older than you, yeah?”

You grin. “Well yeah, but so are you.”

You can feel Theo’s skin flush beneath your fingertips. “Sure,” he says, “but not like–I mean, not in a weird way?” The reality is that he and Bradley are both two years older than you; the difference is that Bradley repeated his sophomore year of college twice, while Theo was a senior the year you first met him.

“Not in a weird way,” you assure him, pulling him down to kiss you.

“Oh god, I’m getting a headache,” he groans, half-smiling against your lips, “You know you’re it for me, baby, so just tell me I’ll be the last person you’ll ever love.”

“Theo Price,” you grin, “you are the last person I will ever love.”

“Thank fucking god,” he replies in an uncharacteristically passionate sigh, dissolving into you once again with kind hands and practiced, liquid motion and eyes you could practically drown in. You’re no closer to figuring him out, only just past wading into the depths of his world. But then, you’re a mystery to him too. He wants a lifetime of searching your mind, wants it more than he can communicate, and the ache in your chest when he looks at you That Way means that you’ll give it to him, no questions asked. Theodore Price is the owner of your vast universe, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.