#to be honest i'm actually kind of proud that i was motivated enough to finish this

[morelikeravenbore]

🦋 Thanks to the cuties who have tagged me in this, I've loved reading everyone's answers!

How many works do you have on AO3? Uhh *checks* — nine. One long fic and a bunch of oneshots.

What's your total AO3 word count? 88k~ but about 76k~ belong to Villain (so far).

What fandoms do you write for? Hogwarts Legacy is the only fandom I write for, and Sebastian is really the only character I care to write about (HAHA sorry everyone else.)

Top five fics by kudos? I don't really pay attention to stats so:

1. How to Make a Villain

And then whatever the next top four are 🙃

Do you respond to comments? I TRY VERY HARD TO but sometimes it takes me a while (spoons/adhd-brain/burn-out etc). Like any writer, comments give me LIFE, but something I wasn't expecting to struggle with is the feeling that I don't really deserve them. Who knew writing fic would be a lesson in accepting kindness lol

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Welp the only fics I've finished so far are my oneshots, and they all end with orgasms or romance so... 

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Here Comes The Sun: a cute little Sebaura proposal oneshot hehe 💍🌞

Do you get hate on fics? Not openly, lol. I do love it when people get mad about what my characters do though so pls don't hold back from yelling at them if the urge ever strikes you. 🍿🍿🍿

Do you write smut? I dabble every now and then, but to be honest it's not my favourite thing to write. Before writing for HL, I'd never written a sex scene in my life and I wanted to give it a go to challenge myself. Lately though, I haven't really had any smutty motivation. I'm definitely a romantic at heart and I LOVE writing about the playful side of romance: young love, cute banter, silliness, teasing, etc. Also bickering. Nom nom nom gimme all da arguments.

Craziest crossover? You and me bb :lip_bite:

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope! Does this really happen? Like, someone copies and pastes a whole-ass fic and calls it their own? 🧿🧿🧿

Have you ever had a fic translated? I've had requests to translate Villain into Russian, Polish and French, but I'd like to complete the story first.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Does contributing crack fic ideas counts? Because 👀 yeah all the time lol 

All time favorite ship? Uhhh Sebastian and Aurélie HAHA. Otherwise, it's Allie and Noah foreverrrrr. (The movie version though, I've never actually read the book.)

💙 Honourable mentions go to Anne and Gilbert, and Emma and Mr Knightly. Dishonourable mention to Harry and Ginny, eurgh. 

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I only have enough spoons to write one long fic at a time, and I fully intend to finish Villain even if it kills me.

What are your writing strengths? Personally, I think my writers voice sounds distinctly me, which I'm very proud of.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? OOH this is a great question since Aurélie is fluent in French and I don't speak a bloody word. Generally speaking, I prefer to write it like: 'I can't speak a word of French,' she said in French. 

Sometimes I'll use French if the meaning is clear to someone who doesn't speak the language, or if I can give strong enough context clues, ie:

'How nice,' Aurélie said eventually, her accent thick with French indignation. 'I can see you're both very passionnés about Quidditch.'

Sebastian froze, sensing danger.

'Uh — Passionate?'

'Oui. I did not realise you had to undress yourself to discuss tactique.' 

Or if the POV character can accurately guess the meaning, like this:

'You don't have giant spiders in France then, I take it?'

'Non pas du tout!'

He didn't need to know French to translate that as a vehement no. 

But I try to avoid using the actual written language as much as possible because nothing kills immersion faster than trying to read dialogue you can't understand.

Also I frequently annoy my French friends for translations because uhh if I used Google Translate they'd probably guillotine me hehe.

First fandom you wrote in? This one.

Favorite fic you've written? How to Make a Villain is absolutely my greatest writing achievement ever hahaha. But aside from that, I'm really proud of Noctilucent because my goal was to write something suggestive without making it smutty and I was quite pleased with the outcome.

🦋 np tags for my writer babes and anyone else who wants to join in: @galaxiasgreen @lyworth @sloanesallow @sunsetplums @gingerlegacy07

[battlinghurricanes]

I swear to god I'm gonna finish this Laxeel fic I'm working on, and hopefully soon. I'm committed to this one, I need to actually complete a project for my sanity, also I'm cooking with this one tbh. It's very fun to write. I'm posting a couple snippets for motivation.

The premise follows my ideas about Laxus's expulsion from Fairy Tail coinciding with Gajeel's infiltration of Raven Tail

---

It kind of stings in an illogical way, to hear someone take his side after it’s too late. Or at least claim to.

“...Is that what you think?” Laxus reproaches, then continues before Gajeel can respond, “You did the same shit. I heard you when you said of course I would be a monster since I’ve got the master’s blood in me. I- remember that.”

It gives him at least a grain of satisfaction to see Gajeel wince a little. “Ah, true, I’ll give you that one. Sorry. Tacky, in retrospect, and also dumb. I was under the impression you were using the same type of magic he has. I didn’t know then that you’re a dragon slayer.”

Great. “Oh, thanks. Like that’s so much much better.” So he only changed his mind when he found out he and a different kind of magic, one he got in an even more artificial and undeserved way than inheritance. “I’ve got loads to be proud of there.”

A crooked frown tugs on Gajeel’s lips. “Your words, not mine. I’m not gonna pretend I know your whole story, that’s why I said it’s not my place to give my two cents. Take it however you want, all I mean is that I know dragon slayer magic. Adapting to it without a dragon to teach you, enough to wield it that well? That’s no mean feat- and I know no one else could’a done it for you. So yeah, that’s when your own strength hit me. And impressed me.”

A jagged, reedy peel of laughter breaks from Laxus, the sound rolling carelessly as he stretches back against all the tension in his spine, against the urge to tear at his scalp. “Motherfucker. Fuck that. Gh- Fuck that shit.” Lids closing, he lolls his head. “I was tryin’ to prove my strength to everyone and grow outta his shadow, and in the end, the only one who recognized my power as my own was one of the ones who fucking beat me anyway! What a fucking joke.” His throat aches.

---

“Cut the bullshit.” Gajeel blinks and tries to get the two Laxuses swimming across his vision to merge back into one. “You’re following me.”

“Gh... I’m not.” Laxus glares at his assertion and opens his mouth. “-But someone is.”

That makes him stop and hone the full weight of his attention in on him. If he were any worse at this, Gajeel would have let loose a taut breath from the feeling, but he’s good, and he knows that near truths make for excellent lies when he can afford them. With Laxus, he decides he can. “You’re strong, you’re known for it, and now you’re an independent mage. That garners attention.” He can see the unquestioning comprehension reflected in Laxus’s eyes, and he would bet his ass that several legal guilds have already tried scouting him, proving that point.

“Some people have been tailing ya, and I happen to be on a job to bring those same people to heel, get it? Honest, I’ve got no interest in breathing down your neck- you shouldn’t have to deal with anyone doing that. I know it’d drive me mad. But because I’m tracking them, it means I’m also all but tracking you half the time.”

Laxus rumbles quietly, “Who are they?”

“Can’t tell ya. It would compromise the person I’m trying to help if I talk about our agreement,” he fibs lightly, silently thanking the master for finally giving a run down of official contract stipulations and enforcement the other week. “Especially to a non guild member.”

Laxus huffs, the line of his scar skewing over his expression. Gajeel offers, “If they could put you in danger, I promise I’ll tell you anyway,” and it’s not a lie. “But as is, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

With a wary shift of his head, Laxus frowns, then he gestures at Gajeel’s bruised, half-bandaged ribs. “Is that so? Because I would think anyone who can do this to you has already proven themselves as dangerous. I’d rather know who I might end up dealing with.”

Gajeel doesn’t respond for a beat, too shocked by Laxus’s open acknowledgement of his strength. “O-oh.”

[heartfluttered]

interview with the writer ♡♡♡

thank you so much for tagging me, @forget-me-maybe !! i don't have any mutuals who haven't been tagged yet... OTL so i'm assigning this to anyone who wants to do it!!

when did you start writing?

i wrote a couple of one shot fics on fanfiction.net and an artemis fowl fic that i only ever got to the third chapter of at age 11! i dropped fic writing for drawing digital fanart for the next 7 years, but BG3 got me so emotionally engrossed (and so horny OTL) that i started writing again, and i made new mutuals and actually talked to them!! ૮₍ˆ꜆ . ̫ .₎ა♡

are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

i like reading fairy tales a lot! wouldn't want to write my own, though— i'd worry too much about the specifics ( ඉ_ඉ )

is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

i don't get compared to them, but i'm really engrossed with the way 'prime' by caoilinn hughes is written. it's unlike anything i've ever read, and took me 4 rereads to start understanding the actual details. i don't want to copy the writing style persay, but i would love to make something that gives someone the same unease that this short story gave me!!

can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

before i moved into my college dorm, i wrote at my desk in my bedroom! the dorm's chair is too short for me and my elbows rest on the desk uncomfortably... these days i write on my bed. .. (｡× ̫×) only time can tell if its effective...

what's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

i typically start with with a canon character that i want to write about! say, rolan BG3. from there, i think: what kind of character would bring out the most interesting dynamic in their relationship? and then i make that character! from there on, i think about scenarios between the two characters, how they talk to each other, how they mesh (or don't) etc!

in the apprentice's affections, said character is 'the reader', sure, but she has a personality of her own, and i wrote her the way i did because i thought she would bring out a cute/interesting side of rolan, and vice versa! TLDR: i make ocs >:3

are there any recurring themes in your writing? do they surprise you?

haven't written enough to see recurring themes! i have the one fic that i'm determined to finish before i start publishing others, because i'm worried i'll never finish my current... here's said fic!

what is your reason for writing?

i wanted to be a fic writer! that's.. literally it!! it sounds kind of shallow, but i was curious, and genuinely just wanted to see what i would do with fandom popular tropes like '5+1', 'hanahaki disease', 'red string of fate' etc ( . ̫.)

i've only written and published one fic thus far, but i literally have a bingo list that upon completion, i could choose to . stop writing fic entirely if i wanted to LMAO ig i'll see if writing fic is something i actually like!

is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

oh, i love all my comments so far; everyone's been so lovely!! i find that comments that delve into what the reader liked specifically / excitement & anticipation over what comes next especially motivates me, though!

how do you want to be thought about by your readers?

i'm not sure! friendly and genuine, i suppose! i use a lot of kaomojis that look cute in my authors notes because i want to give off a friendlier vibe, and i hope it doesn't come off as shallow / insincere / faking it... i just like cute things ♡♡♡

what do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

don't want to seem like i'm fishing for reassurance, but i genuinely don't think i have any? at least, not yet! there's much for me to learn as a writer since i'm a beginner.. that said, i intend on doing my best to actually build writing strengths i can be proud of!! ೕ(•̀ᴗ•́)

how do you feel about your own writing?

highly insecure, if i'm being honest! i spend a lot of time mulling over chapters and going 'is this good? this reads like garbage! i wish there was a more interesting way for me to describe this. i wish i knew how to ____' etc, etc...

again, i hope to hone my skills until i'm comfortable saying 'i'm an okay writer!!' and actually believe it when i say it, the same way i'm comfortable saying "i'm an okay illustrator!" i'll do my best *⋆˚꒰ˊૢᵕˋૢෆ꒱

[chickenwaffles17]

the MINTerview (an interview with Knuckles the Echidna)

Q: Hey Knux, how are you?

A: I am good, possum.

Q: You know why you're here, right?

A: You want to ask me questions and write down my answers on some sort of form.

Q: Yup, that's basically it. I've got some questions here that are fairly generic and some that are more specific, feel free to, you know, not answer anything you're not comfortable with answering.

A: I have no need for these warnings. I am prepared for anything.

Q: Someone's motivated! Wanna introduce yourself?

A: I am Knuckles. I am a proud echidna warrior, trained since birth in all forms of combat.

Q: Ooh. What's your favourite colour and why?

A: Green. It is the colour of nature, and the- THE MASTER EMERALD!

Q: Whoa, Jesus Knuckles, sit down! U- sorry-

A: I have neglected my duty as guardian to protect the Master Emerald! I have failed my tribe...

Q: Uh- Oh geez- do you need to go handle that right now? We can cut this interview short, if you want- Oh, bye.

the MINTerview (an interview with Rouge the Bat)

Q: Thanks for filling in, Rouge.

A: No problem, Hun.

Q: We had some, uh... Family issues come up with the last interviewee, so I'm just gonna ask you some questions, is that okay?

A: Of course.

Q: Anything you don't want to answer, you don't have to. Um, what's your name? For the interview.

A: Rouge the Bat, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire and lover of precious things.

Q: *laughing* I remember that introduction. Sorry, uh- what's your favourite colour and why?

A: Green, or maybe magenta. I look the best in the latter, but emeralds are extremely pretty.

Q: True that. What's your favourite food and why?

A: Pomegranates. They look like little geodes when you crack them open, don't they?

Q: I never thought about it like that, they do! I need to try one again, but they're so hard to get here.

A: Next time I find one I'll bring it back for you and I to share.

Q: Thanks, Rouge. Who do you consider your friends?

A: You, of course, Shadow. Hm...

Q: Maybe we can make that "allies?"

A: I'm afraid that doesn't expand the options, Mint.

Q: Um, well where were you born? If you can remember, of course.

A: I'd tell you if I could. I'm sorry, this interview might not be as interesting, as the others, Hun.

Q: That's... Well, it doesn't matter. How did you obtain your abilities?

A: Oh, you mean my athleticism, sneakiness, and beauty? That's all my doing. Training and experience do lend a hand, though. You trying to learn how to improve yourself, Mint?

Q: Um... Sort of? I figured it'd be a bit easier to earn my place on the team if I could actually lend a hand. What was your first impression of me?

A: I thought you were cute, in a rookie kind of way, but ultimately you were in the way of my- You're wearing the necklace!

Q: Gee, took you long enough to notice! I've only been wearing it every day!

A: Oh, Mint, you sentimental sweetheart.

Q: *laughing* Well, what do you regard as your nicest memory?

A: Hm. I was younger, definitely. I was flying around somewhere and saw something shiny in the corner of my eye. Naturally, I flew down to investigate.

Q: What was it? A gem?

A: No, it was a spoon.

Q: Oh. That's your nicest memory?

A: If you let me finish, you'd have heard the part where I found a rug not too far away from it, picnic basket and all. And the people holding the picnic were evidently loaded. They must've gone for a swim or something in a nearby lake, because they'd left all their clothes and their jewellery behind for little old me!

Q: And you took them?

A: Of course I did. I might still have those diamond earrings somewhere, but I doubt it. That's it.

Q: Nice! Would you describe yourself as introverted or extroverted? Why's that?

A: Hm. I'm not too fond of most people, to be honest. But, I do enjoy a good gathering every now and then. What would you say that is?

Q: Um... That might be omniverted?

A: What's the difference?

Q: Ambivert is introverted AND extroverted and being omniverted might be introverted OR extroverted? I don't really know. Uh, what's the best thing someone could compliment you on?

A: My physique, my jewels, my talents. I'm fairly easy to please, if I say so.

Q: Mm. Is a hot dog a sandwich?

A: What?

Q: *laughing* is a hot dog a sandwich?

A: No.

Q: Oh yeah, why?

A: ...I don't know.

Q: Well, thank you Rouge, you're the best!

A: Thank you, Mint. This was nice.

[yuusaris]

Look At Me

Heyy, I was gunna do a sequel to Nice Face at some point and never finished it. Here y’all go, have the draft. Not finished, tho, sorry. Maybe someday.

-=-

Washington rips the helmet off and props it onto the ledge nearby. His head is light and his heart's aflutter and the sweat's stinging his eyes, the hairgel's broken down again and if he's going to start breathing properly again, he'd prefer fresh, unfiltered air.

Deeply in.  He rubs at his sweaty cheeks, streaked wet from the close confines of the helmet and redder than usual thanks to....whatever the hell that was back there.

Slowly out. He wipes his eyes clean of sweat with the heels of his gloves, and he feels grains of dirt brush against the corners of his eyes. The canyon looks still but the blood rushing through him keeps him sitting and looking at the ground. In and out, as calmly as possible.

Well that.....hadn't been a problem until now.

What the hell happened there?

It was a simple thing, just the one compliment in a fit of....whatever the hell that was and the next thing he knows Tucker believes it. Really takes it in and...processes it and....thanks him for shit, he's doing it again.

It's going to be fine, he reminds himself. It was a compliment. Tucker appreciated it. Maybe Tucker's motivated by it. That's all. That's a good thing. That's what it was for.

Still... it was nice to hear a thank you. A nice thank you, an earnest one. But he'd never heard Tucker so... quiet? Before? And... not just quiet but... but...

He... actually doesn't really know what. But thinking about it is getting his heart going again and his head's starting to reel and it all needs to stop.

I'm over-thinking this. Washington tells himself with an exhale. I've been feeling more and more uneasy the longer we stay here. It's been harder and harder to get things done lately. Protocol's been broken more and more the longer the teams have to settle in and think nothing is wrong.

Which is worrisome in it's own way. Everyone else is treating this like a relocation as well as a crash-landing and here's Washington monitoring supplies and fixing the tower and training troops on his own.

He's starting to look paranoid. He's starting to feel paranoid. So one brief lapse in paranoia for one brief moment of... gratitude on Tucker's end... and pride, that wasn't just Washington, right, Tucker felt proud? Glad? He sounded glad.

Of course he's glad, you complimented him. He corrects himself, though something about that doesn't soothe his heartbeat entirely....actually, just kind of makes it worse.

But he has a few minutes to calm down, and longer if Tucker's consistent pattern of slacking off will pull through today. Whatever Tucker’s feeling, Washington doesn’t actually need to be there for it. Tucker’s a big boy; he can be happy on his own.

And…as far away from Washington as physically allowed in a small, boxed canyon. At least until Washingtons’ own pulse decides to take a break. Just a small break, not a permanent one, enough of a break so the rapid-fire thudding heartbeats and dizzying blood-pumping can stop, thanks.  And the sooner he stops thinking about the earnestness to Tucker's voice - the quiet pride and honest gladness - then the sooner all of those symptoms stop.

I'm tired. He thinks, exhaling one last time. I'm nervous. I'm over-complicating a moment where someone isn't complaining or mouthing off and takes an earnest compliment to heart. Be grateful that Tucker is taking this with stride. Maybe he's starting to get it.

His breathing is almost normal again. And his pulse is slowing and he feels his cheeks calm down and soon, everything’s not so dizzyingly light anymore.

His dirty gloves run through his hair, a vain attempt to keep it back when he donning the helmet once more. A few strands fall in front of his face, but really, he'll live.

For now, it's time to actually set up the course he designed. If Tucker's in such a  good enough mood, maybe they can get through it without a hassle.

---

He was wrong, it was nothing but a hassle. From the start of the course to the end and all the sass and disrespect Tucker could summon despite pure exhaustion. From the quip before the course about Washington taking so long to the grunt about him being inhuman. All very Tucker, all expected.

Though, what he doesn't expect is the look on Tucker's face when Washington returns to lead him to the course. His helmet has been removed during his time away and wide brown eyes are glancing him over.

"Tucker?"

He looks over to Washington again at that, "Ready?", and takes a second to glance him over again. Washington thinks he catches the odd end of an odd smile. But with how fast he turns to lead Tucker away, and with the sun glaring down as harshly as it is, it's probably his imagination.

---

---

If Tucker’s got one thing going for him, it’s that he’s never confusing. He’s blunt. He’s honest enough for someone who can’t manage to talk about his emotions very well (Not that Washington is one to talk). He’s straight with his words, simple and clear and it’s… it’s reassuring at least, charming at best. Depending on what level his nerves decided to act up to today. Said nerves have settled on a relaxing six out of ten for the moment, meaning Tucker’s ‘charm’ (An attention-pulling air to the soldier that regularly balances between ‘annoying but bearable’ and ‘annoying, just plain annoying, so fucking annoying god damnit go do some push-ups’ on a regular basis) is more potent than usual. Washington takes a glance out the corner of his eye, under his visor, because technically he’s working on the Com Tower while Tucker does his push-ups, occasionally ‘breaking’ to ‘breathe’ - which wouldn’t be in quotes if Tucker didn’t waste said breath with sassing back. “Hundred.” Tucker breathes out, almost on cue, and hits the ground, flopping onto his back. “That was fifty, Private, I counted.” Washington says from the top of the tower. “Don’t bullshit me.” “Don’t you have a job? Aren’t you working?” Tucker growls tiredly from the dirt. “Focus on saving our lives, you fuck.” “Focus on your job and I’ll focus on mine.” “Jesus Christ…” Tucker groans out and grumbles for a few seconds. Eventually, he rolls back onto his front to start again. He really has accomplished… more than Washington honestly thought he’d actually do. Tucker’s still decidedly against the idea of doing any kind of training, sure, he’s going to have a different build than Washington. It doesn’t change that whatever training Tucker’s done (By force or extra force) has certainly brought him up to speed. Part of why Washington’s nerves aren’t as on-the-ball as usual – there’s still a lot to do, but Tucker’s been a comfort so far. He really hadn’t had to do much to begin with. Tucker has a durable body-type, sturdy and stocky, despite still keeping a sort of softness to it all. Sure he’s smaller than most military personnel, especially those in the canyon right now, but the Tucker’s years in the alien desert gave him an edge that most of the SIM troopers (And Freelancers) missed out on from years of rank-and-file.  Washington’s everything comes from basic and beyond. He’s ‘standard issue’. It’s not a bad thing, or shameful, it’s fine, it’s enough. But there are plenty of marines who look like Washington and only a handful that look like Tucker. He glances again. He’s short and his waist and legs are thicker than either of Washingtons’. What Tucker lacks in form or fashion he makes up for in durability and grounding. Tucker’s not moving unless he wants to; Washington found that out the hard way. He doesn’t have the detail that Washington has, but he’s still strong and the muscle he has is trained at least, and firm from consistent use (that knowledge was acquired in ways much less romantic or perverted than it sounds, it’s okay that he touched Tucker, it was only his arm and waist and it was for training, he reminds himself). Okay yes, there was softness to his belly, but it’s not that big of a deal if the rest of him is fine. To be honest, Washington thinks the soft, subtle sag is… charming. Actually charming, not like Tuckers usual definition of ‘charming’. A little too charming.  Scratch almost, he’s been looking at Tucker for… a lot longer than intended. That’s the marker for too charming, isn’t it? When you’ve stopped focusing on work to stare and think about how nice they look? Definitely too charming. “Hundred!” Tucker says loudly before dropping again. “A legit hundred too!” he takes a deep breath. “Before you start chewing my dick off about that.” And now he’s reverted back to ‘charming’. “Unless you were ‘counting’ then too.” “I was,” He lied. “Good job, Private. Take a minute to breathe.” “A minute?” “And then we’ll start squats. A hundred of them.” “What’s with you and a hundred of stuff?” Tucker gasps as he pushes onto his back. “A hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, a hundred flexes of my sweet ass in your face-” “I’m going to assume that means squats.” “It means you watching me squat like you watched me do push-ups.” Washington swallows, grateful for the armor. “Even in my armor you can’t keep your eyes off me, huh?” He can hear the shitty, ear-to-ear grin in Tucker’s joke. “I mean, go right ahead, I like that shit, just lemmie know if the angle’s right for you.” End this. Now. Somehow. “You know what?” Washington starts. “You’re right; giving you a hundred every time is a bad pattern isn’t it?” He doesn’t need of an answer. “Let’s add another fifty.” “Aahhh, it’s fine,” Tucker starts with a nervous trill in his voice. “I can live with you ogling me for only a hundred.” “No, no, no. You have a point.” Washington jumps off the side, considering work wasn’t getting done anyway. Besides, he might as well keep a closer eye out for slacking off. That’s easier to do without the imminent reminder of a possible slow death malfunctioning right in front of him. “If I keep giving you a hundred it’ll become too easy to complain about.” “Very fuckin’ funny.”  “I’m serious, actually. Repetition without variation in the training will eventually cause the muscles to stagnate and bottom out. Think of this as a testament to all your hard work.” “I’m gunna come clean here and say I didn’t really finish those push-ups…”  “Don’t worry about those. Besides, you’ll need the energy for your hundred and fifty squats.” Tucker groans. “Your minute is up.” He says, holding out a hand for Tucker. Tucker looks at Washington for a beat, sitting up now and resting on his hands. He shifts to lean on the other hand, extends one and grabs Washington’s hand and let’s himself get- No. No, let’s Washington pull and pulls in return so Tucker stands and Washington finds himself very close to Tucker and leaning down with Tucker’s mouthpiece right next to Washington’s earpiece… “I mean it.” Tucker squeezes his hand. When did his voice get that low? “I like it when you look at me.” That…. Washington feels like his brain just scrambled for a second, he hopes to God that it was from malfunctioning neural implants and he’ll wake up in the base and not in this situation. And then, even lower still, “I want you to look at me.”  ….Oh shit. Ohhh no. Nooo, no, no, no, no. “You…” He swallows. “Aren’t funny.” Washington says because it’s the only thing he can think to say…. Or think at all. “Good,” Tucker’s grinning again, Washington can hear it, he can feel it. “I wasn’t joking.”  Washington should say something because this is getting uncomfortable and exciting all at once and frankly, he’s not trained to respond to this situation.  Buuuut, considering the most educated noise that came out of his mouth when he tried to speak was an amalgamation of vowels and mouth-shapes that resembled words the same way watery oatmeal does…. that might not be happening anytime soon. “Holy shit, Wash.” He chuckles like an evil asshole. “I didn’t even do anything yet.” Yet. “…Y’know what?” Tucker says. “Take a minute to breathe.” He cracks the shittiest, appealing smile. “You’re all worked up.”

[creoterative]

I don't cry fast, but that made me emotional. Just got home from work, first thing I read was this and it made me so happy.

Ehem, well, now that I'm functioning again, I can actually get to my PC and form proper sentences.

First of all, thank you very much for these kind words, I didn't expect that at all. Not that you are an unkind person, I just didn't expect such a huge reply and with THIS much kindness in it xD

Then I consider myself lucky and am proud of having found that scene again, and I'm glad it managed to fit your image in your head, that is more than enough reward for me. To be honest, the picture on the side was just something I came up with because the wall felt so lifeless, while the left wall had the vent. And then I thought it would be interesting to have that connection to her again, so... that picture got to be there (it was a good learning experience too, I've never drawn glass before xD).

I was hoping to give you a little motivation for this story, haha XDD But I know too well how long it can sometimes take to come up with something you really feel good about, or, well, real life kicks in *looking at my Lambda Core Paul Story, cough*. Just know, there'd be a lot of people who'd be very happy to see another chapter of this story and I'm so glad you said it's not over until you say it's over. No stress of course, again, we all know what it's like and fanfiction is for fun, nothing else ;)

'Course, I even remember when I wrote the first Chapter for The Lambda Core, I seriously looked up your first chapter, counted the words and made sure I'd get at least two thirds of that, because I thought that way I'd get enough information into one chapter xD And with Let's play a Game then, that TWDG story I'm currently trying to finish, it even doubled, because, well... yours doubled at around chapter three or four I think xDDD Not that I wanted to copy anything from you, I still want to find my own writing style, but it was inspiring in the way that I could tell myself "This story is good, you want yours to be good, so just push a little further, just a few more words, try to reach that level".

And of course you can use the picture, it's for you and your story after all ;)

Thank you very much for this, I cannot put into words how much this made my day.

Let's hope we get to see more of Paul in the future, and if not, we'll just continue to make stuff for this purple haired freak xD

"Thank you. I wouldn't have expected your unconditional company at this hour." "I... just needed to think. That's what you're doing anyway." "Like it or not, you are your father's son for certain. I would have claimed such an obvious lie at your age."

So here's my newest drawing, fanart of a Pokémon fanfiction called 'Travels of the Trifecta!' by @shinneth which can be found on AO3 and Fanfiction.net (hope I got everything xD)

As a Teenager, I loved this story and couldn't wait for another chapter. I also tried to measure the amount of words I'd write for my own stories with the help of this fanfiction, so it was helpful all the way xD

One of my favorite scenes is the one where Paul wakes up in the Battle Pyramid and goes to watch the sunrise with his father Brandon. Sadly, he's not officially his father, but I always loved this theory in the anime. It's not even that far off, just look at their eyes and face, even Reggie is similar to Brandon. 

To the right is a picture of Paul's mother, who sadly passed away in the story, but I felt like it would be a little bit more heartwarming, seeing that she's still by his side, another theme the story plays with.

Anyways, hope ya like it and see you soon! Have a nice day!

[the-duke-of-nuts]

The Battle Over Wine

 After 3 months I’ve finally gotten around to finish writing one of the Loceit headcanons/prompts as a oneshot! This is the first fanfic I’ve ever written that’s in actual sentences and not in script form so forgive the MANY grammar mistakes and shitty plot for I am terrible at writing and don’t know how spacing works on Tumblr (*cough* Betas hit me up *cough*) ANYWAYS literally nothing in this makes sense but it’s fanfiction so roll with it. Hope you enjoy I guess!

Prompt/Headcanon by the amazing royalty of Sanders Sides headcanons/prompts @imma-potatoo: Janus and Logan constantly battle over which wine is better (they are both wine moms) Janus says red wine, Logan says white. They can and will get into hour long debates over this

Pairing(s): Loceit, Background Dukexiety

Word Count: 2,400

Warnings: Alcohol, Arguing, Blood mention (Nothing major just comparing the color to wine), Remus being Remus (Let me know if there's anything else)

It was a typical day at the mindscape for the Braincell Gays. They had just finished filming a video with Thomas about helping him with his mental health and his overworking issues. Janus thought both of their inputs and solutions were a success and decided to have some celebratory wine with Logan.

"Today was a success, wouldn't you say darling?" Janus said wrapping his arms around Logan's waist. "I must admit, today was pretty satisfactory, especially since we both helped Thomas with his dilemma and we were both actually listened to for once." Logan replied wrapping his arms around Janus' neck. Janus smiled and pressed a quick soft kiss against Logan's lips to which Logan of course reciprocated. "I say this calls for a celebration." Janus said. "What did you have in mind?" Logan asked, curiously. Janus smirked and summoned two empty wine glasses "I think you know~" "Ah yes, how can I forget your traditional celebratory wine." Logan playfully rolled his eyes. 

"Oh you know you love it".

 "You're correct about that." Logan chuckled.

 Despite both of them having "serious" and "professional" demeanors around the other sides they enjoyed the little moments where they can actually goof off and make each other laugh and smile during their alone time.

 "So, what will it be for the menu for today my love? Will it be the best and most savory of flavors of Roscato red wine, or are we feeling a little fancy and want to celebrate with champagne instead?" Janus asked. "Oh, well I was thinking we should have something far much more adequate like white wine." 

The sound of glass shattering immediately followed after Logan’s response,

 "I beg your pardon?" Janus stared in disbelief trying to process what his lover had just said. Logan, his darling, the light of his life, his beloved, had just disrespectfully claimed that WHITE wine was better than red in his own home! Well, their home and the other sides' home but that's besides the point! This is wine they're talking about here! "Well, I thought I made myself clear but I shall repeat myself, I said that I was thinking we should have something much more adequate than red wine which I suggested white instead." 

Janus took a deep breath in trying to keep his composure

 "Starling?"

"Yes Janus?"

 "You know I love you right?"

 "Of course I do, you show and tell me everyday."

 "Well you're making it reeeeeal hard for me to want to show and tell you right now." 

"Why? Is it because I was simply stating facts that white wine is much more superior than red?" Logan crossed his arms raising an eyebrow. "Those are NOT facts those are lies! Red wine is much more tastier than white wine!" Janus argued. "Yeah, if you have a figurative bitter tooth! Red wine is way too bitter and the sweetness isn't as flavorful as white wine!" Logan argued back. 

"Y'know considering the fact that we have to deal with 4 other nincompoops in this damn house you'd be glad that red wine is stronger than white!"

"Janus, just because red wine contains more ABV than white wine doesn't make it the better beverage!" 

"Oh says who!?"

 "The literal personification of LOGIC and literally anyone who isn't you!"

 "Okay you know what? That's it!" 

Janus has had enough of the ridiculous bickering and decided to take matters into his own hands by summoning himself, his darling nerd, and all of the other sides back in the same exact courtroom him and Patton were in trying to convince Thomas to go to the wedding or callback. 

"We're going to settle this debate once and for all!" Janus dramatically pointed at Logan. "Janus, this is ridiculous! Who exactly are we defending for this to be a courtroom scenario!?" Logan glared at his lover. "Ourselves and the law of wine!" Janus declared. "What the hell does that even mean!?" An annoyed, confused Virgil yelled from the jury box sitting next to Remus and Patton. "Hush Virgil the adults are talking." Janus said not taking his eyes off of Logan.

"We're the same age!" 

"ENOUGH chit chat and questions." Janus made Virgil cover his own mouth growing tired of his complaining and faced Roman "Now, your honor would you kindly read off the charges please?" "Oh, we're doing this again, well alright let's see here uh, The state of Logan Sanders yadda yadda yadda, Janus, prosecuting for the state of Logan Sanders, under oath, information makes that Logan Sanders... Count one: Unlawfully and disrespectfully claimed that one alcoholic beverage was better than the other. Count two: Has terrible taste in drinks but better taste in men. Count three: Being too damn attractive for this world. Count four: Making Janus break two perfectly good wine glasses. Count five: Unlawfully not participate in self care by leaving his books all over the floor whenever he falls asleep while doing heavy research when he's supposed to be taking a break causing Janus to place a bunch of bookmarks in said books and put them away for him." Roman read off the charges Janus summoned him. 

"And how exactly were those last four charges relevent?" Logan asked. "Because they are and you know it! Your honor, continue." Janus said. "Being so charged, Logan Logic Sanders, how do you plead?" "Not guilty." Logan said deadpan. "Count six for being too confident in that answer." Janus coughed out. 

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head, he didn't know who was more dramatic, Roman or his lovable self care wine loving snake.

"To make this quick and effective we're going to skip the other nonsense and get straight to the point by giving our UNBIASED views to each person and have them decide to see if Logan is truly a horrible wine 'expert'." Janus said as he arrived at the front of the courtroom 

"Alright, fair enough. Prosecution, your first witness." 

"I would like to call Remus to the stand!"

Remus appeared in the witness stand and immediately stood up and was about to jump over it and run "I can't go back to jail!" "Sit down Remus you're not going to- Wait what do you mean back?" Janus looked at him after doing a double take. "Nothing! So uh what's the question?" Remus immediately sat back down trying to change the subject. 

"Alright Remus, red or white wine?" 

"That's it?" 

 "That's it." 

"Alright, uhh hmm..." 

Remus thought about it thinking of the possible outcomes that could happen if he chose a certain answer. Janus noticed him struggling to make a choice and had an idea and smirked 

"You know Remus, if you're having a hard time deciding, just putting this out there, red wine looks like you're drinking blood and I think you enjoy that thought VERY much~" Remus gasped and instantly became excited by the thought "OOH! You're right! I could even add bone shaped ice to give it that realistic crunching sound!" "Objection persuading the witness with a biased opinion." Logan said. "Overruled. It's not really persuading since we ALL know my brother actually enjoys anything gruesome like that regardless." "I sure do!" Remus cackled at Roman's statement. 

Logan sighed a little frustrated, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"I think I rest my case your honor." Janus smirked and blew Logan a kiss as he walked back to his table to sit down. Logan blushed and shook his head to quickly snap out of it and walked to the front and cleared his throat as he adjusted his glasses and tie 

“Remus."

 "Nerd."

 "You enjoy pranking and getting on Janus' nerves is that correct?"

 "Yes that is VERY correct." Remus snickered. 

"And you despise when he forces you to partake in proper hygene as well as making you eat actual ingestible foods unlike deodorant and other non edible items?”

"Yeah."

 Remus crossed his arms hating remembering the times Janus would force him to take a bath and purposely safety locking the cleaning supplies cabinets just so he had no other choice BUT to eat regular food. 

"You also are not how they call a 'lightweight'?"

 "Nope!" 

That was a lie. Remus could drink three cups and he'd already become a drunk chaotic mess.

"Okay, so hear me out here." Logan started and Remus leaned forward becoming interested in what he was about to say. "Remus, white wine is clear therefore you can always "pretend" that you're drinking water so Janus doesn't question it for self care reasons nor harass you about it." 

Remus went wide eyed at the realization and wagged his finger at Logan. "You... I like you... Keep talking."

 Logan smirked, he got Remus right where he wanted him and continued. 

"Also if you were to spill it there would be no noticeable stain therefore making it impossible for Janus to become upset."

"Wow, you make some VERY compelling points Four Eyes."

 "Objection! I don't appreciate you persuading my son with your biased statements by using me as examples." Janus interjected. 

"Janus, Remus is not your son!" 

"You're right, my apologies. I don't appreciate you persuading OUR son with your biased statements by using me as examples."

 Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head not wanting to bother arguing with Janus about his logic. 

"I believe I've made my points your honor." Logan walked back to his table. "Alright, can I go now?" Remus asked. "Almost Remus. We just need to know your final answer, then you may leave and sit back down with the other two." Janus answered. "Okay umm on one hand I very much LOVED Jan's point about how red wine looks like you're drinking blood buuuut I would have to go with Nerdy Wolverine on this one and choose white wine because I enjoy pissing Janus off." 

"Yes!" Logan whispered victoriously to himself. 

"Oh you rat son of a bitch of course you would-"

 "Language!" Patton interrupted. 

"English."

 "Spanish! Now you!"

 "German. No! We're not doing a word association game!" Janus yelled frustrated. "Aw, what's the matter my charming smooth scaled serpent? Realizing you're losing against Logic?" Logan smirked. "NO and don't you dare flatter me using snake related petnames when you're looking like that in a suit!"

 Logan smirked at Janus' flustered expression, "Alright, then bring out your next witness then." "I will! Remus, you can leave now." Finally!" A relieved Remus announced as he summoned himself back at the jury box. Janus summoned Roman to the witness stand wanting to get straight to the point. 

"Roman?"

 "Yes Janaconda?"

 "You're the romantic one out of all of us correct?" 

"Oh my god you already know he is just get to the point!" Virgil yelled from the jury box slowly losing his patience even more. "Since you are an expert on the matter, would you mind sharing with the court which wine do you think is more romantic on a date?" "Oh that's easy, obviously red wine." "Interesting, care to elaborate?" Janus smirked and glanced at Logan. "Of course! Imagine having a romantic candle lit dinner under the stars or a picnic date watching the sunset, red wine gives those beautiful moments of being with your beloved partner a general relaxing and romantic atmosphere and it also tastes marvelous with various different foods. I'm actually quite surprised Specs didn't side with red wine considering it's good for digestion." Roman stated. "Wow, you really ARE a romantic expert! I don't think I have any further questions." Janus smirked and walked back to his table. 

Logan went wide eyed there's no way he can convince Roman, his answer was obviously clear but it's worth a shot. 

"Roman, have you ever considered white wine being just as “romantic” as red?" 

"Not really no."

 "Okay, well uh it can because-"

"Logan, I know you're trying here but trust me I know what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, white wine is just as delectable as red but I'm gonna have to side with Janus on this one." Roman interrupted and summoned himself back on the judge chair. Logan sighed and walked back to his table, he knew by the amount of confidence in Roman's answer there was no convincing him. "Fair enough..."

"Alright, Prosecution next witness?" Janus decided to summon Patton in the witness stand next and smiled innocently clasping his own hands together "Patton~" "Uh I know this is probably a really bad time to bring this up now but um I don't really drink wine so I don't really have an opinion..." Patton blushed a little embarrassed. Janus sighed frustrated and put his head down on the podium and summoned Patton back in the jury box "Of course you don't." 

There was only one person left and that person was Virgil, it was 2 out of 2 and his choice would be the one to officially break the tie and put an end to this illogical ridiculous debate trial. 

Janus summoned Virgil in the witness stand " Alright Virgil, what do you think cause I'm sure we all know you don't have an important input." 

"You wanna know what I think!?" 

Virgil was fed up and snapped his fingers causing him and the other sides to appear back at the house and summoned two glasses of wine, one red and the other white. He shoved the glass of red wine in Janus' hand and the white wine in Logan's

 "I think the two of you dorks-" 

"Dorks. Whale penises am I right guys?" Remus interupted snorting. 

"-Should actually ACT like you both have a braincell and never debate about something as stupid as this ever again!" Virgil continued angrily. "Maybe the reason why they both don't have a braincell anymore is because they both fu-" Virgil interrupted his boyfriend from finishing his inappropriate sentence by covering his mouth and dragged him out of the room. Roman and Patton followed them not knowing what else to do. 

The Braincell Gays stood in awkward silence holding their wine glasses realizing their silly little arguement was stupid after all. 

"Truce?" Janus asked raising his wine glass. 

"Truce." Logan smiled and raised his glass as well. 

They both clinked their wine glasses together and drank their wine happily enjoying each other's company and soon made it up to each other by agreeing to have a self care day together the next day.

[manjiroro]

Hii first thing first I want to say congrats for reaching 500 followers 😙💗. Thank you for the milestone event, I'm glad to participate here.

🖤 My top kins are Ran Haitani and Kakucho Hitto from Tokyo Revengers. I'm an ambivert and I sadly admit I'm really a shy girl at first. I give kind gestures to others even though I didn't know them personally. Sometimes I want to act like a baddie or maybe give a little attitude to my close friends because it looks cool?? Don't worry, I'll be like that sometimes for fun and there are no hurt personal reasons. My interests or hobbies will be drawing and sometimes I like dancing, especially when no one is watching. I dislike people who rush me to do things, it just makes me slow the process or lose motivation to finish it. I kinda hate people bragging about something, yes I understand you wanted to be proud of it but sometimes it is too much. One of my favorite traits on the other hand is giving me comfort whenever I needed the most. I tend to be sensitive sometimes that's why I cry easily even in films or short videos. Giving me random gifts is also cute, I didn't need to be expensive tho. Share me your fav food? I'll like that. Found a cute flower? I'll keep it. Giving me random drawings about us? Maybe I'll frame it and put it on the wall.

🖤 There are so many things I would like to do with my s/o. To be honest, I want to have my firsts with them. Don't get this wrong, I mean like cutting classes with him and staying up late playing video games. Maybe cooking our first breakfast together, just simple cooked eggs and noodles make me happy. I'm not really good at cooking so that's why maybe I'll help him with easy parts. For other ideas, I haven't tried cross-dressing with someone. I always wanted to wear men's clothes and I hope my s/o have no problem wearing fem clothes either. Maybe I'll let him wore my clothes then vice versa to him? Honey, I'll never forget taking a picture with him if that happens.

🖤 tokyorev will be my matchup <333

🖤male would be preferable for the gender but it could be also anyy

500 milestone event (closed!!)

hii thank you for joining my event!! ngaww your personality is cutee

i match you with.. MATSUNO CHIFUYU

chifuyu likes you because you’re kind to everyone

but when you give him sassy comments he’ll laugh, he will never take them seriously

he is patient and very humble so no need to worry about him huhu

when you’re crying, he’ll immediately try to make you happy again

he’ll bring you to him and hug you while you cry, rubbing your back to soothe you

when you’re watching sad movies or shows with him, he’ll actually start crying too but he denies it so in actuality when he’s hugging you to comfort you, the both of you are crying in each other’s arms

i feel he’s the type to get you something because it reminded him of you and he thought that you might like it

chifuyu’s the kind to make sure that you’re happy with him and he’ll go out of his way to do so

you’ve never once regretted dating chifuyu, he was loving and caring towards you, and he never failed to make your life exciting. everything you did, he was there, every new experience, he was there too.

right now, you were at chifuyu’s house after school. the both of you were hungry and so chifuyu decided to cook ramen while you assisted. while you ate, you couldn’t help but notice his stare lingering on you.

“yes fuyu?”

“oh- uh- i was just thinking.. that you’d look cute in my clothes..”

chifuyu mumbled shyly. you perked up, excitement visible on your face.

“really?! i’d love to wear your clothes fuyu! i’ve never worn guy clothes before..”

chifuyu smiles at you widely and immediately got up, sprinting to his room. he soon came back with a pile of shirts and sweaters, tall enough to block his vision.

“here pick one or pick all of them, i don’t care, i’m sure you’ll look cute in all of them.”

you chuckled at him before going through the pile, picking out a simple black sweater and trying it on. chifuyu’s heart melts at the sight of you, the sweater slightly too big for you as it drapes over your body, the sleeves covering your hands and fingers.

“oh! i remembered i have my sweater with me! how about you try it on too fuyu, you’ll look cute in it too!”

you suggested, rummaging through your bag and handing him your sweater. he smiles lightly at you and puts it on. you could hardly contain your excitement as the sweater fits perfectly on him. immediately fishing for your phone, you took a picture of him.

“hey! that’s not fair! i’m taking one too!”

he grumbles, taking out his phone and snapping one of you too. needless to say those were your wallpapers for the next few months.

[razberryyum]

TGCF donghua Special Episode Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode & novel!)

Favorite moment:

Of COURSE that amazing ending sequence, which is the mirror of Dianxia's backstory at the end of the first episode, except this time from Hua Cheng's point of view. Speaking of, holy mother of YUM, dear gods, Hua Cheng:

Look at this "hideous" man. I am DROOLING.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know his appearance was supposed to be a secret, that we technically hadn't seen his face yet all this time. I remember we had a super quick glimpse of him in the Banyue pit and I thought that was his reveal, that that'll be all we'll get for now and I was fine with that...that is, until this ending sequence happened and we actually see him in his entirety. My eyes will forever never be the same. What was I even thinking??? The flashes in the pit were absolutely inferior to the real thing. No comparison. He is so gorgeous; I can't WAIT for Xie Lian to meet him next season.

Second favorite moment:

What I love about this scene is first of all it features some of my favorite lines from the novel, "If you don't know what to live for, then just live for me. If you don't know the meaning of life, then take me as the meaning your life." Even though Dianxia was playing it up for dramatic effect, I loved how he crawled towards San Lang and then uttered the lines with such conviction. I LOVED the way the music reached a cresendo during his words--hell, I love the music in this entire episode, this entire show, period. I also love how bittersweet this scene is: here Dianxia is so embarrassed by his own words that he even laughs about them, dismisses them, not know just how much of an effect they had on the person he said them to, how they really did serve to motivate that person to live on, to exist, utterly for him. Not knowing at all that that person he said what he now thinks were silly words to is right in front of him. The irony!

I'm still making my way through the book so I haven't gotten to the part where all is revealed to Xie Lian yet, but I can only imagine how shocking and emotional this particular revelation would be. It'll probably be ten years before we get to see all that in the donghua, if we ever do, but I'm gonna keep on crossing my fingers and hoping.

"I swear, whether in Heaven or or on Earth, you cannot find someone more sincere than me". The subs left out the Heaven or Earth part but it's still such a good line. Love also how San Lang precedes that by trying to reach out to touch Dianxia but is like too afraid to. The donghua really captured his feelings of...I guess I'd call it timid inferiority...so well.

I have a strong suspicion what that ring is (irl, I've seen companies advertising turning ashes into diamonds as a keepsake of your loved ones...never tried it so I don't know if it's the real deal or some kind of scam) and I cannot wait to get to that revelation as well. Putting aside the potential significance of this momento, the fact that Hua Cheng left Dianxia a ring to wear around his neck is already a beautiful gesture on its own.

I already miss seeing how San Lang looks adoringly at Xie Lian. In fact, I think I'm going to miss San Lang for quite a while since next season I think we'll be mostly spending time with Hua Cheng. Not complaining at all since Hua Cheng will no doubt look at Dianxia just as adoringly, but I will miss this cute guy.

Also already missing the cuteness that is Dianxia. I love all his expressions...the way he said "San Lang" just made my heart explode. How can he be this adorable??? Really, bravo to Jiang Guangtao-laoshi, his voice actor, for such an endearing voice performance. I actually started listening to the Qiang Jin Jiu audio drama because I've become a fan. Imagine Xie Lian being super seductive all the time. That's the ear candy I'm enjoying now, even though I only understand like less than half of the plot due to my shoddy Chinese comprehension.

Proud of how San Lang didn't just lose it when Dianxia cradled his face like that. This man really has unbelievable self control.

I loved that they were chatting in bed like an old married couple. I'm sure this is a glimpse into their future married life. 😁

Besides SanLian, I know Banyue was in this episode as well, I still think she's adorable and love her voice, and I'm glad she gets to enjoy a torture-free life now (I am assuming she does).

I'm glad we got this special episode to really close out the season, but I'm still kinda confused as to why we didn't get it at the actual end of the season but rather as an odd stand alone episode like this. Obviously it picked up right where the 11th episode left off, so it would've slotted in perfectly well. I was hoping the reason they held on to it was because they were going to attach a teaser PV for the next season, but alas that wasn't the case. I wonder if they just needed more time to finish the episode. I still don't quite understand how the Chinese donghua industry works: for something seemingly as popular as TGCF, you would think they'd have good enough budget and resources to finish episodes in time and to make more than just 12 episodes. There are other donghua shows I've seen on Bilibili that have blown way past 12 episodes, so I don't understand why they have to stubbornly stick to a dozen only for something like TGCF. Or is it a danmei thing, I wonder. They just don't want to devote the time and resources to danmei shows beyond just 12 episodes? So weird. Again, VERY GRATEFUL we're getting a second season. SINCERELY praying that we get many more seasons after so that eventually they'll finish out the book. God I hope I finish reading before the donghua team finishes putting out the show.

And that brings me to: Current Reading Progress...chapter 160. Look, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just not a fan of the whole jinx demon concept or the Brocade Immortal. I know all mysteries of the week lead back to the gods and their backstory, but as CONCEPTS, I was just NOT into them so I constantly got distracted. I know MXTX-laoshi was under a LOT of pressure from both censorship and just ridiculous deadlines (I was told she had to produce a chapter a day, which is INSANE), so I feel like a douchebag for even thinking anything negative about the book...not to mention I'm only on Book 3 still so maybe all of this will be wrapped up nicely at the end. But for now, yeah, those two as ideas are a bit underwhelming and almost silly (especially the Brocade Immortal) and maybe I don't need the backstory of ALL the gods. Anyway, before anyone yells at me, there's always a chance I might change my mind about all this by the end...which I hope to get to soon. Didn't finish the book in time for this special episode which was my goal, so readjusting the goalpost back a little further...hopefully just a tad...like a few weeks, because I DO want to get to the unrelenting pain soon so that I can get through the suffering and finally to the HuaLian happily ever after ending.

[theshinsun]

brace urself, this is for the writing meta ask: 2, 6, 7, 14, 17, 19, 20 (if you need a direction for this... I always wanted to hear more about Bring Me Roses), 21, 22, and 24 bc i'm nosy and still very into your craft. thank you buddy!!

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

I'm so excited/terrified to finally start my knb college AU. I've been sitting on this idea for almost two years I'm so ready but at the same time I'm so not ready.

The gist is it's every single self-indulgent, chaotic, projection-ridden idea I've ever wanted for these boys all rolled in a big ball of shenanigans and character growth. It's a beautiful mess and I can't wait to make it happen as soon as ANR is done.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

This is gonna come right the fuck out of left field, but I love writing Himuro. I have so much fun writing just... snark, and that boy is the perfect outlet, there's no bottom to that salt mine. I remember getting a similar kick out of writing Tsukishima in the past, I just live for sassy dialogue. It ain't much but it's honest work.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

My style is very present, I think (which is funny bc there was a time I never would have considered writing present tense) focusing on what's happening and how it makes the character feel in the moment. I like to write specific, detailed imagery, but I try to keep it short and relevant to the scene, so I can move along and focus on what's important. I wouldn't call it fast-paced, exactly, but it is pretty to-the-point. And I think, based on the feedback I've received, that people who read my fics might agree with that. I've heard that my writing is very personal and character-driven, and I think that might be a byproduct of the time I spent writing in first person. Now I write almost exclusively third person limited, but I still like to get in the character's head and tell the story from their "point of view", I guess. 

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

It depends almost entirely on how quick I'm able to come up with a pun lol. Sometimes a fic has a title before I've even written the first sentence, sometimes I have to scramble for something, anything in the last few seconds before I publish it. A lot of the time I'll have a working title like "that one really fucked up aokaga oneshot" for pretty much the duration of writing a new fic… and a lot of the time I'll end up using song titles, even though we're past the days of writing songfics. 

17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

I think, to a degree, people get different things from my writing than I intended -- which is good! The way a piece of writing can be interpreted completely differently depending on who's reading it is one of the best things about being a writer tbh. I think people might be surprised, though, how different my fics often turn out from how I set out to make them. These days I've usually got a pretty detailed outline for what's going to happen, but even with all the preparation in the world, sometimes a fic will take a sudden detour I didn't expect, or something I wrote before will take on new meaning and change the direction I meant to go in. This definitely happens more with my longer fics, but there are times even with oneshots where I look back at what I set out to write, and what I ended up writing, and they're completely different.

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

I tend to write a lot of scenes with characters talking while in the car (cars are an intentional motif in ANR, but in something like GWGE there's not actually a lot of narrative purpose to this) I don't know why, maybe because it's a convenient way to have characters talk one-on-one, or maybe it's because I've had a lot of meaningful conversations while riding passenger, couldn't tell you, but it's cropped up more than once in my current fics and will probably feature in some of my upcoming ones (the college AU strikes me as a likely candidate), and I think it's worth taking note of.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

SINCE you mentioned Bring Me Roses, and I never really get to talk about it, pls allow me to go on a lengthy tangent about my most underrated fic of all time. (Like 90% of the reason it's still incomplete almost two years later is because the response when I posted it was so underwhelming, but I still stand by it. Someday I'll finish it, hopefully, if just for myself.) 

I'm so fucking proud of the language in this one. It's not perfect, by any means, but the imagery in my opinion is very strong, and almost every line of dialogue is saying something without really saying it. There are frequent allusions that something happened to Aomine's mother, relatively recently, and that Momoi is worried about him overworking out of grief or guilt, but none of those things are ever actually stated. There's also some pretty heavy implicit flirting between Aomine and Kuroko, even if it's a bit unusual and they're both playing it coy at this stage, the chemistry is there and the interest is mutual. And of course, because it's a florist AU, the flower symbolism… I spent so long researching bouquets, plant husbandry, how to prep and preserve cut flowers, and of course… flower meanings. The main ones that keep getting brought up are dahlias, which have just as many negative connotations as positive ones, including betrayal and instability, but also dignity, creativity and change, and come in a variety of colors shapes and even sizes (Islander or "dinnerplate" dahlias were definitely going to feature in part 2… as well as the connection between them and Aomine's mother). I know a lot of these things might not hit as hard because there's no actual payoff (yet), but still, in terms of "show don't tell" and setting up things to come, I don't think I have a single better example in my fic repertoire, I really went all out with this.

It's a shame I never got to follow through, but I got the impression that there just wasn't a lot of interest, and even if that alone is kind of a dumb reason not to continue, after I worked so hard to pull off what I did, the lack of response really killed my motivation. (I wonder sometimes if it would've been better received if it was an AoKaga fic… actually, I don't need to wonder, I'm sure it would have been, but that's not the story I set out to tell and I'm not going to change it.)

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Oh, I'd love to do some of my fics as comics. I even tried it at one point; GWGE was going to be a comic originally, before I decided a multichapter fic would probably be less exhausting (the first couple pages are still floating around in my art tag somewhere, though this was back in high school so the quality is… heh).

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

Yeah… I reread a lot. Usually while I'm working on a new chapter, I'll go over the ones that lead up to it to make sure I don't repeat the same phrases too much and that the continuity lines up, and I'll also admit to going back and just reading my own fics for fun. Sometimes the only one who's written exactly what I want to see is me. 

How I feel about them depends on the fic… some of my older ones are a mix of nostalgia and cringe tbh, but there are some I still genuinely enjoy revisiting from time to time. 

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Oh hell yeah. For… better and worse, honestly. I feel like I've lost some fluidity and confidence in my writing, and it sometimes turns kind of stilted, so I try to overcompensate which results in pretty jarring changes of tone, but at the same time, I've gotten much better with rhythm and syntax, my grammar skills are always improving, and I'm able to incorporate a lot more intentional meaning and subtext without always stating things outright.

[tagfer]

you should analyze it! i'm curious

urff okay so. I’ll do it. Here’s some overanalysis on how Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s story caused almost all of its major characters to become nothing but jokes compared to their original Sun and Moon characterizations.

With full disclaimers, I actually enjoyed playing Ultra Sun. As far as enjoyment goes, it was probably more fun than Sun and Moon. Story? So much worse.

[Massive USUM spoilers! Of all sorts!]

Also a secondary note: I may have missed a thing or two, so if I have incorrect info, please let me know.

Looker & Anabel (and in a way, Nanu) get their postgame removed. Altogether. None of it happens. Looker shows up early to foreshadow Episode RR, but that’s it. Then postgame, there’s a like, ten line cutscene where Anabel introduces herself as a member of interpol and says she’s going to the Battle Tree, and Looker remarks that she’s not that strong. Yeah, let’s put the dude without any pokemon on guard duty for his boss who also used to run a huge battle facility in another universe.

Compare and contrast to SuMo, where the three of them got an entire story. A very horrifying story, but well written, where it’s explained the consequences of falling through a wormhole turns you into a magnet for extraterrestrial beings who will likely kill you, but not out of malice, and that despite her higher rank than Nanu or Looker, that she’s only being used as bait for those creatures. And it explains Looker and Nanu’s past, showing that Looker was a member of interpol years before the quirky guy we meet in Platinum. And that they had a friend/colleague actually die in front of them, and how they both hold immense guilt for that. Oh and that Anabel is likely from a different universe.

But these characters didn’t have destroyed characterization as much as they don’t get any whatsoever because Looker and Anabel get a mass of maybe 20 lines total, only one of which has anything to do with Episode RR.

I included these first because I’ve previously written plenty about Anabel and Looker, and I absolutely loved their plot, so seeing it absolutely absent is the biggest disappointment of USUM for me.

Lillie loses so much that it’s sad. Let’s be honest, Sun and Moon’s plot is really the story of Lillie. How she can grow from a timid girl afraid of the world to realizing that she has her own strength and can determine her own future.

When you first meet her, she’s afraid of birds. By time the climax happens, she’s traveled to another universe to deliver a Why You Suck speech to her abusive mother (and gets one of the best intense musical numbers in the game!). Early in the game, she idolizes your strength, but over the course of it learns she has her own strength and that just because she isn’t the strongest out there doesn’t mean she can’t overcome her own trials and obstacles. She even has some of the best symbolism in the Pokemon games, ever; discarding her old clothes that signify her mother’s control over her and using ones she picked, saying that she’s now going to take control of her life. And she does.

By the end, it’s emotionally impacting when she takes charge to leave Alola on her own journey.

In USUM, the story has shifted. She’s no longer the main character, you are. Which is classic for a Pokemon game, but compared to the games released a year ago it makes everything hollow. It goes from a story where you’re helping your friend who has family issues that spiral deeply out of control to you being the Chosen One who has to defeat Evil Teams and Lillie is just kind of a companion much like previous “friends”.

Her character arc and foreshadowing plays out perfectly in SuMo where as in USUM it falls flat. In Sun and Moon, the entire reason you visit the Ultra Deep Sea is to finish Lillie’s character arc. During their first confrontation, Lillie (symbolically wearing her first outfit) was not strong enough / did not believe in herself enough to confront Lusamine for everything, but she decides that that’s what she needs to do, and that’s what forces her development and drives the plot. In USUM, she never gets to confront her mother at all. And the plot is driven forward partly by Lillie/Gladion’s want to save Lusamine, but mostly because the Ultra Recon Squad needs more help defeating Necrozma.

This makes all her personal growth so much more shallow. Her motivation is to help you instead of you helping her.

Her becoming a Pokemon trainer in Episode RR isn’t foreshadowed at all either (as far as I know) and rather just comes a surprise when you’re forced into a double battle.

Gladion and Type: Null lose a bunch too. In Sun and Moon, he’s a soft kid who tries to hide his gentleness under a facade of badass edgelord. His escape from Aether Paradise, while obviously inspired by his mistreatment, included saving a Type: Null, because he knew it was in pain. He slowly grows and learns the power of friendship. He even names his Type: Full friend.

After the game, he takes over Aether Paradise in order to make sure everything goes right. Which could be seen as unsatisfying but it’s clear he has grown to the point to accept responsibility.

It looks like it was going to be this way in USUM, but it turns out he just gets a Silver complex. He just wants to be the strongest there is. He implies he kidnapped Type: Null not because he wanted to save it, but because he wanted to train it as the Beast Killer it was meant to be, to the point he even points out its concept as a Beast Killer and attempts to follow Lusamine into Ultra Megalopolis.

Even his leaving Alola is just merely a lust for power instead of Lillie’s search for independence. Wicke even comments that Gladion wants to beat trainers like you and Hau. And he does come back for championship title defense matches (a month after you complete the story). That’s it. He didn’t go on a journey, he went on a training mission. His personal growth has really been traded for a Silver complex, of hollow growth but unending lust of power.

Lusamine is a disaster and arguably gets a worse redemption than she did in Sun and Moon despite having a full redemption in USUM.

SuMo Lusamine is by far one of my favorite villains - both in Pokemon and in general. This is cause despite the fact it clearly isn’t, she totally believed what she did was completely justified. She didn’t see herself as a villain at all. And that’s what makes a good villain. She wasn’t just “oh I’m evil, I want to control the world/etc.” Which Pokemon has a lot of.

Her obsession with beauty (and mistreatment of Lillie and Gladion) was the culmination of years of sanity slippage caused by Nihilego and the loss of Mohn. She even more or less forgets the reason she was looking into Nihilego and instead focuses on Nihilego’s beauty. So while it doesn’t justify what she did, we’re at very least given an explanation as to why she is the person she is.

…

In USUM, so much of this changed it’s… unbelievable. Other than the appearance of Nihilego at Aether Paradise, Nihilego plays no role as far as we know. She suffers little sanity slippage other than delusions of grandeur of helping/defeating Necrozma on her own. She also hopes on seeing Mohn.

She’s still obsessed with beauty. She still treats her kids as ornaments. She still uses Guzma. She still experiments on living creatures, freezes living creatures, and creates chimeras. (And Type: Null gets a special note here because her focus was now Necrozma and not Ultra Beasts - but she was still okay with creating a Beast Killer.)

She also gets no real redemption. Despite all that she did, she suffers no consequence. Lillie never gets to really call her out. Nor does Gladion. She seems to repair her relationship with her children near immediately. Nobody comments that she’s got a giant office full of cryogenicly frozen pokemon, and how she openly announces that her goal was to save Alola from Necrozma to keep that collection. She doesn’t get anything. In fact, you, her, Lillie, and Guzma share a laugh at Faba’s expense right in front of one of her pods, with others also plainly visible.

Post Episode RR, talking to her reveals that you made her rethink her views on beauty. Or something. Honestly, it sounds like the kind of lie you’d feed a kid, but it’s more likely bad and forced character development.

In Sun and Moon, she even remarks to Lillie, who had just stood up to her and then saved her despite Lusamine lunging to kill her, “When did you start becoming beautiful?” Which is a perfect line for her character and Lillie, acknowledging Lillie has grown (and completing Lillie’s arc and foreshadowing). Afterwards, Lillie’s speech to you implies she’s got a chance of redemption - while she doesn’t understand what she did wrong, Lillie is attempting to explain to her, and even though you were a constant disruption to her problems she attempted to visit your championship party. With her trip to Bill to hopefully help her problem of (most likely long-term) neurotoxin poisoning and Lillie’s patience, she could eventually come around and realize what she did was wrong and try to make amends for what she’s done.

Instead, in USUM, she seems to be instantly forgiven for everything. Lusamine deserved better than that.

I will always understand why people hate her. I get it. And trust me, I have strong feelings about what she did too. But she’s still my favorite villain and I will be personally suing Game Freak for what they did to her.

Hau gets a BW Cheren complex where one or two lines of dialog from a character make him rethink everything an in the process lose the major part of his personality that made him noteworthy. Cheren lost his goals, and Hau lost his carefreeness. He’s still a sweet kid and everything, and I’m proud that he actually achieved some more goals in USUM than in SuMo, but his (and Hala’s) changes seem so forced, like they were shoehorned in.

At least for Cheren, he got a game two years later showing how he had developed. We’re probably not gonna get that for Hau.

Guzma is one of the only ones that get a bump. But that’s only because his involvement in the story was hardly affected - he was still Lusamine’s faithful servant, even though she had massively changed.

But because change in the story was minimized for him, his inclusion in Episode RR actually helped his character. And afterwards, he says he’s still looking after his crew. So while the growth was minimal, it was there.

Colress is the only other one I can think of who got better, too, but that’s only because he only had like seven lines in Sun and Moon. This time, it’s shown that… well, he hasn’t changed at all, still being but a selfish, hedonistic scientist who will double cross anyone who asks for his help.

And this is more than proven true when he confronts Ghetsis. Although he didn’t try to hide it in B2W2, he full on says he hates Ghetsis. He was only using him for funding and science.

This is not a real shock.

Like I love Colress’ passion but y’know. Everyone who’s asked for his help got it but also got double-crossed. Oh, and now his technology is reaching scary advanced levels.

[MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW.]

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Mohn. If you were hoping for a happy ending for the Aether family, I’m here to tell you you’ll be sorely, viscerally unsatisfied. While in SuMo he got nothing, somehow, they made it worse for USUM.

Because they finally meet him.

And they choose to let him live his life not knowing he has a wife, children, and friends who have all been looking for him for like, a decade.

Despite the plots of both SuMo and USUM being set into action by his disappearance, he gets no resolution. 

He fucking comments on how nice Aether Paradise is! And they decide to not be like “oh hey yeah you kinda were a major part of it.”

[jamesniall]

How long did it take you to write "but first we'll live" and how long do you think it'll take you to write the one you're currently writing right now? I'm curious because I love your writing and I want to get into writing myself so I wanna get an idea :)

gOd “but first we’ll live” was A Struggle, it’s the one i’ve struggled with the most out of all my fics, i started with it almost 2 years ago, but abandoned it like halfway through so it was just sitting there in my drafts for an entire year, so without counting that year i’d say it took me about six months tbh, it was the one that took me the most time, bc it was such a hard fic to write and idk why, maybe bc i was never 100% sure about the ending, and i had all of the boys in every scene to focus on and sometimes i wrote 2k of ot5 interaction and then read it over again and realized it was useless to the plot so i deleted it all again, it was SO HARD to write that one honestly ;-; im proud i finished it, but at the end i think i finished just to have peace of mind rather than bc i actually figured out how i wanted the entire plot to end so im still kind of frustrated about that one.....

im rambling lmao im so sorry!!! it didn’t use to take me that long to write fic tho, the oneshots usually take me a day, maybe a weekend if there’s a proper plot, i wrote some in about 3-4 hours and there were others that took me 3 days, it totally depends on my motivation/inspiration and at what time of the day i write lmao, if i can write in the middle of the night everything flows better for me. tho it’s always different, like, for “everything stays but it still changes” it took me about a month bc i wanted to do proper research about christmas traditions in ireland and i wanted to get it right, so when there’s research to be done it always always takes me more than a week at least.

and about the peter pan narry au im currently working on, well...let’s say it will take me another week at least to finish it, i think (i hope), it’s been going well, i’ve got 2k that i wrote in about 4 hours the night after i watched the movie (bc i have never seen it before), and those 2k have like, the basic scenes i want to write, i still need to read it over and add details to make it flow better, but being completely honest the last time i opened the doc was on the first week of january i think, bc i’ve been having a rough time with life lately, and i start uni tomorrow so i wont work on it again until next weekend, which is when i think i’ll have it proper finished.....i ramble too much im really really sorry omg....to give you a proper answer, this new fic has so far taken me about a week, if you sum up the days i spent on it when i got the prompt, and i hope to work on it this week too before uni gets hectic again, so i’d give it a guess of 2 weeks total for this one! 

when it comes to things like these, when i had to actually watch the movie, or when i have to take days on proper research (like with “let me put you back together), it always takes me longer than a couple hours and it’s mostly bc i feel insecure about whether it is accurate or real enough, i doubt myself way too much and that makes it harder but also makes the feeling after posting them so much better, more worth it, i guess, i love writing, and im sad i dont do it as often as i used to, but it’s something i always enjoy and i hope you do too!!! writing is great, absolutely amazing, even if sometimes it takes longer than you expected, it’s always sooo very worth it at the end, tbh not even just at the end, sometimes you write a lil paragraph that makes u feel proud or you finally figure out the scene you felt was missing. it’s a wonderful process and i LOVE it all