#working on a new domino lives au fic

[tending-the-hearth]

i love you reunion scenes in movies and books and tv shows i love you fix-it reunion scenes in fanfictions i love you reunion scenes where the entire world falls away from the person realizing the person/people they love most in the entire world is still alive i love you reunion scenes that have little inside jokes mixed in i love you reunion scenes with crushing hugs and sobs of relief i love you reunion scenes with joyful laughter and hugs that lift people off the ground i love you reunion scenes where you can see the person melting into the hug i love you reunion scenes that heal the bad that's happened during the time of absence i love you reunion scenes that show just how much people mean to each other

[outofconcheol]

resonance (scb x f!reader) - teaser

pairing: android!changbin x heiress!reader

genres/aus/rating: romance, angst, smut, arranged marriage, cyberpunk au, 18+

summary: Perfection - an idea that’s been drilled into you from birth. As the sole heir to the empire known as Miroh Labs, you’ve watched technology and tradition collide. However, your family’s latest venture is one that puts your own fate in limbo – ambitiously arranging a marriage to an android of their creation, known as C.H.A.N.G.B.I.N. Grappling with the idea of marrying a machine, you come to realize Changbin is more than a set of intricate codes – the profound depths of his abilities are capable of changing the fabric of society, and you, forever.

warnings (to be updated with final fic): strained parent child relationships (OC's parents are jerks), class differences, failed past relationship mentioned, i think that's it for the teaser.

word count: 1k for the teaser, expected 10-15k for final fic

a/n: surprise! i struggled with coming up for an idea for Changbin's bday fic for the longest time, and of course i finally come up with one when his birthday's way past. I can't make any promises but I'm working hard on this and hoping to get it to you by the end of this week maybe (if work cooperates). Also, thank you to the lovely sarah (@caelesjjk) for the banner. I hope you enjoy!

It’d been years since you’d seen candles - forgotten memories of birthdays past that faded into oblivion. Their warm, nascent glow had flickered much like your own life had, the comfort of past years giving way to the bright, grating pixels of the lights that illuminated New Domino - bright pinks, vivid greens, cool blues and silvers. Lights that greeted you from your window when you went to bed every night, reminding you that no matter how much your life stalled, the city never would, much of it your own family’s doing.

The years before Miroh Labs, your family’s company, took hold of the city,  became difficult to recall — before the towering skyscrapers blocked out the sun, neon lights replacing its rays, technology weaving itself seamlessly into the fabric of your lives, like the patterns on your dress.

Picking at the threads – you wonder if someone had put love and care into intertwining each one, meeting perfectly to create the image of a flower. But the thought quickly dispels — knowing that a specialized machine was behind it, or an android doing the work that was once meant for humans. 

Resonance, your family prided themselves on saying. The ability of an object to match another’s frequency – only it’d progressed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Systems had advanced from being motherboards connected to screens to full blown humanized machines, who not only had to ability to perform human functions, but excel at them when it came to speed, efficiency, and cost. 

The thought of it made you sick to your stomach. As the presumptive heir to Miroh Labs’ empire, you’d seen firsthand how ambition had slowly given way to greed, your family creating and creating and creating, giving no mind to how their projects always seemed to end up in the hands of the city’s elite.

You’d been to the outskirts, the fringes of society failing to catch up with the advancement of the inner city, a ruined wasteland where people struggled to find work to bring home food for their families.

But they had candles, you muse, smiling lightly to yourself, remembering how you’d passed by a home once, devoid of any electricity, a single candle flickering in the window, the family huddled around their only source of light. It had brought them closer in ways that you could only dream of.

Which is why the intimate setting of the dining room shocked you today – lights dim, candleglow every prominent. Except instead of comforting you, it felt strangely eerie, casting shadows on the faces of your parents, seated at the head of the long table, your own chair pulled out at the very opposite end. 

Of course - your parents spared no opportunity to turn even the simplest of dinners into a boardroom meeting. Wincing, you feel the chair screech as you slide it across the cool tile, the sound grating your ears, which have begun to ring, pain throbbing at your temples.

The food is untouched, grave expressions on your parents’ face, and it’s your father who breaks the deafening silence.

“There’s a new project we want you to be a part of—”

“Forget it,” you pick at your plate. “I’m not interested. It’s not like I can contribute anything useful anyway.”

“This one’s different,” your mother’s voice cuts you off, and it’s softer, more gentle than you’ve ever heard it. For a moment, you could believe she actually cared.

Your father’s footsteps reverberate against the tile, walking over to your side of the table. A picture is set in front of you – a man. Dark curly hair, full lips, a strong jaw, the faint hint of muscle underneath his shirt. But it’s his eyes that pierce through the page – stark hazel. Your throat feels tight, closing in on itself.

“New employee?” you ponder, even though you know it’s not the answer.

Hazel eyes were for androids — no human would have eyes so piercing, ones that could glint in the darkest room, or pale in the brightest sun.

“___, meet C.H.A.N.G.B.I.N, Computer Human Advanced Network Growing By Intelligent Nexuses. Our pride and joy.”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes at the words, knowing they’d never applied to you – you with your rebellious streak, your lack of achievements, your failed engagement to a man that was far too good for you. 

Hyunjin’s face flashes in the back of your mind, and you fight to keep your expression from shifting.

“C.H.A.N.G.B.I.N was created for a very specific purpose you see — he’s been built and programmed to be the perfect companion. To provide all the qualities that one would normally seek in a spouse. Although humans are falliable, C.H.A.N.G.B.I.N is not. But we need a beta tester.”

The reality of what your parents are proposing dawns on you, horror creeping up your spine.

“No–,” you begin to protest, but you’re cut off by a wave of your father’s hand. 

“The announcements have already been uploaded to the city-wide servers. Starting tomorrow, news of C.H.A.N.G.B.I.N’s launch will go live, along with your engagement announcement. The wedding will be held in two weeks’ time.”

You look despondently to your mother, hoping the pain in your eyes is enough to dissuade her. Were you really that worthless to your parents that they’d hand you to a hunk of scrap metal, dooming you to loneliness for the rest of your life?

Your mother shakes her head. “___, dear, this is the least you can do for us, and for Miroh Labs. Especially given everything that’s happened.”

They always wielded it against you — the fact that you were hard to love. You hadn’t been enough to persuade Hyunjin to stay, and they’d experienced the fallout from whispers all around New Domino. Now, you were barely human in their eyes, not even equal to, and probably lesser than this machine they’d fabricated, one whose fate had become irrevocably intertwined with yours. And there was nothing you could do to stop it.

a/n pt. 2: if you'd like to be tagged, please let me know! As always, any comments or feedback are much appreciated, but I appreciate you all anyway. Lots of love, Isi <3

[m1d-45]

my take on sagau lore / logistics

summary: sagau lore! includes you the creator, self-awareness, khaenri’ah, celestia, literally everything i could think of

word count: ~4.1k

-> warnings: spoilers for literally everything bar the sumeru archon quests. khaenri’ah lore, kaeya + albedo lore, celestia lore, archon quests, all of it. i ramble and stray off topic and swear while doing so.

-> lowercase intended. forgive the format pls

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie

< masterlist >

ok, so, just off the top of it, let’s address the largest problem with this au, specifically my genre of it:

how can teyvat be real if it’s a game?

great question! the answer is that it’s both.

i haven’t thought this through entirely, only enough that i personally can suspend my disbelief about the fics i read, but the way i see it is that you, the creator, made teyvat a billion (or more idk) years ago. you made the people—or the animals, if you still wanna subscribe to evolution—the lands, the waters and the mountains. everything was carefully pulled and molded by your hands, your influence stretching to how the wind blew.

(that’s because the god who controls it wants your attention so badly but whoooo that’s cultish territory)

anyway. fast-track past the archon war, yeah? after that was sorted, you began to hand out visions, personally at first before assigning celestia to do so. there were simply too many people, and you could not judge them all. it would not be fair.

so you didn’t.

but i’d be lying if the archon war didn’t take a toll on you. you’d been influencing it from the sidelines, carefully making sure as few innocents were harmed as possible, trying to keep the terrain intact. you were technically fighting, but on the side of teyvat itself.

(it loved you for it. every blade of grass and leaf on a stem sung your praises.)

micromanaging like that, across an entire planet, let alone trying to simultaneously set up the constellations you wanted for vision holders… you’re exhausted.

now, you could, in theory, just burrow down into the heart of the earth and rest, but that felt… impersonal, almost. you still wished to look after your world, you just wanted to have a little less responsibility while you did so.

so you left the planet, momentarily, leaving that entire universe behind, and made another. it was, admittedly, not your best work, worse than even the rest planets you tried before teyvat, but you were tired. you half-heartedly scattered some resources, salted the water, and placed the beginnings of life. with a final goodbye to celestia, you allowed your soul to rest in the core of this new planet you called ‘earth.’

now, you weren’t just going to sit there, no. as the people above lived, oblivious to the god resting in the molten core, your subconscious pulled some strings. not enough to influence wars—so many wars, so much cruelty and bloodshed—or any major occurrences, but enough to shift some small details around. these people would start a company. this game would be launched. and when you, your soul, had finally recovered from the ordeal of managing a whole planet, a child would be born.

you knew mortal minds had a hard time conceptualizing the divine, let alone dealing with the knowledge that they were one, so you made the executive decision to remove your memory. call it a product of your pity, but you decided you’d live a human life here before returning to teyvat. the world’s time difference shouldn’t make it that much longer for your lovely followers, only about a year or so, so it would be fine. you set up some dominoes, then allowed yourself to be mortal when they fell.

bad call. turns out you shouldn’t try and fudge space-time when you’re overworked and burnt out. the time dilation ended up being reversed, meaning an average life of 80 years was 4,800 years for your followers.

still, not all was lost! you, human, came into contact with a device, came into contact with advertisements from a company you, god, had a heavy hand in. the world you had loved carefully recreated, admittedly with far less detail and nuance, but what could you expect of the technology at the time?

as you downloaded the game, a final domino fell into place. the traces of divinity in your blood bled into your machine, turning the screen from a screen, and into a portal.

billions of billions of light years away, exiting this universe and entering another, two twins approached your world. they had witnessed you build it all but frowned at your lack of presence. their world, one of many that you had also crafted, still was visited by you from time to time, but this... where had you gone? were your people okay?

they approached, only to be stopped by one of celestia’s guards. boiling red cubes stung the air, lashing at their sides as she—the sustainer, she said—fought. the two drew back, sharing a look, and when they dove-

your light filled the air, time seeming to slow to a crawl. your chosen traveller sucked in a breath, feeling the familiar aura envelop them. even as their twin was swallowed, as their stomach opened into a pit and their heart crumbled, as gravity took hold of their suddenly much weaker form, you were there.

and so your journey in teyvat began once more, this time not as the creator, but as the creation.

that’s the basic lore down. yes, i know ‘basic’ took nearly 1k words on its own, but oh well. anyway, now onto some other details outside of that, such as….

the raiden shogun!

the visions were signs of your favor—not that the comman man knew that, but the gods did—so why would she ever confiscate them? simple; after you had started giving out visions, you had first passed the duty to celestia, and then… left. it’s reasonable, in her mind, that the visions were sapping at your energy, keeping you away even longer. she hoped, in a twisted sort of desire, that she could hasten your return. celestia had tried to stop her, stopping giving out electro visions, but it wasn’t enough. other visions were still in her lands, and she needed to remove them. if only on her isle of eternity, anything harming you would not be allowed.

the tsaritsa!

ok, i admit, i’m not sure how much of what i’m about to say is canon. i watch too much game theory to be 100% sure that this is Actual Lore, but… whatever. so the tsaritsa is collecting all these gnoses, right? the gods’ connection to celestia? just… kinda taking them, collecting these connections, weakening celestia so she can take it down. her reasoning is very similar to ei’s, in that you created celestia and imbued it with some of your power. however, you must have accidentally given too much, wanting them to thrive, and had weakened yourself. so, she figures, by taking down celestia, she can restore you your strength!

but wait, you ask, why not do a vision hunt decree like the shogun? simple! you gave out visions before you involved celestia, so they clearly aren’t the problem. besides, she thinks there’s a lovely poetic quality to taking down celestia with soldiers bearing weapons they awarded.

delusions!

it’s people sabotaging their health to pretend their strength is god-given, not much changes in this au. there’s implications between it and the tsaritsa’s motives for gnosis-hunting—notably if she’s taking down celestia because your strength was drained, why drain the strength of her people—but that’s ~not my problem~

morax?

morax!!! silly boy. anyway, he doesn’t see any problem with stepped down as an archon, if that’s your worry. after all, you yourself left, letting the people run themself, so…. surely he could—should, even—do the same. he feels maybe a bit bad about leaving liyue without anything, but soothes himself knowing they don’t know you’re gone. most mortals don’t, really. but in a similar vein…

venti!

venti feels the same way. if anything, his conviction is even stronger. you left your people—not entirely, admittedly, but still, you did—so he should be able to as well. he knew you had left celestia in your wake, but he had left the knights! and surely, to be overly-controlling was worse, right? you had allowed decarabian to fall, so you must not want dictators(a good thing, as he doesn’t know how he’d handle you going against one of his most core virtues).

celestia!

for the sake of the au, celestia will be kinda proxy rulers of teyvat. i know there’s probably some lore out there suggesting otherwise, likely something in the 3.2-3.3 archon quests, but i haven’t done those and so it can’t be held against me. anyway, you’re tired after the war right? so you decide, as plan A, to create celestia as a council of proxy rulers, to enact your ideals—the heavenly principles—and take care of things. this goes south, because the act of creating celestia drains even more of your strength, and you really hadn’t taken a break since you started creating teyvat so maybe it’s time to pick up plan B off the back burner…

(in celestia’s opinion, burrowing into the earth should have been plan B. taking a nap in a gilded palace should have been plan C. leaving the planet entirely was the nuclear option.)

paimon!

OOOOHHHHH BOYYYYY the emotions i have about this little fairy aidjwrkfkkds

anyway. the way i see it, she’s a manifestation of the remaining divine energy in your body/teyvat. pick your favorite, the end result is the same: she’s attached to your traveller, to you, your device. she can vaguely sense the buttons you have—which is why the tutorial changes across platforms—and loves whenever you open the paimon menu, because she can bask in your light all the more. off camera, her and the traveller gush about you. canon, i said so.

anyway, she’s the one that gives us the ability to time travel so the way i see it, she has to be at least a little divine, or be able to wield power of that strength.

take a shot every time i say strength this fic

i have some feelings about the time mechanic, most notably that it’s likely an alteration of the (very scuffed) time dilation system you implemented, but i’m writing this during school hours and can’t really be bothered with trying to rationalize that. for now, just know that Its a Thing That Exists.

co-op!

if we’re operating under the ideal that your game is the only one self-aware, then how does co-op work?

um… it doesn’t—

ok ok ok uh there’s two interpretations you can go with, of which i don’t have a favorite:

Option 1: when you go to co-op, your (self-aware) characters are transported into the digital world of your companion. they’re confused, because everything seems flat and empty of detail and there’s these weird bars above enemies and HOLY SHIT IS THAT ME???

they eventually gather that this is a false recreation of teyvat, one run by another person. whether or not they can see the chat is up to you. umm regarding farming and stuff: that means tackling the inventory, which… i’ll talk about that later, i swear-

Option 2: when you enter co-op, you leave teyvat. your vessels go back to their places—again, i’ll touch on that later, promise—and your aura leaves. paimon’s the only constant, but that’s mostly because she follows you or the traveller at all times (if you don’t have your traveller on your team… wait a few paragraphs pls). she is fascinated by the digital world, more so of the replicas of your vessels within it. maybe she tells the traveller of it when they have time.

they’re kinda similar, boiling down to whether or not you want your vessels to have a cosmic-horror level freak out at the fact that that’s them. i don’t have a favorite, and usually kinda fluctuate between the two whenever it’s convenient.

the inventory!

the inventory!!! arguably the most convenient system in teyvat, of which my answer is wildly inconvenient.

the basic principle of it is that it’s a pocket dimension, much like the one paimon vanishes into. it’s a very cool pocket dimension, with a menu and filtration systems, but that’s all it is. it preserves the quality of food, it keeps things from burning each other(i. e. mist flower corollas and flaming flower stamens are right next to each other, yet the quality of both never dwindles), and generally keeps things frozen in a sort of stasis. i like to think that vessels with a good sense of detail can pick up on an odd taste/texture to the food if it’s been in there a while, with the effect lessening as the food quality(suspicious → delicious scale) and level (stars) increases, but it really doesnt impact anything all that much.

regarding co-op: this is where things get blurry. if the inventory is a pocket dimension, and co-op is fake…. the best option is to, once more, chalk it up to divinity. whether yours, as you pick them from the digital world, of the remains of your aura in teyvat, when you return.

(another option that doesn’t work as well is thinking of the inventory as a tally, as in there’s a number of items you have and when you access it the number goes down and it summons / creates the item. the number is a representation of the power stored for that specific item- kinda like the omni-ubiquity nets, i guess? anyway, this is kinda pushing things, and though i don’t prefer it, it definitely can be useful to think about in some situations, such as an imposter au where you(reader) can draw energy from the inventory via sacrificing food or supplies. that’s really cool actually wtf-)

KHAENRI’AH HOW COULD I FORGET KHAEN-

so. khaenri’ah.

….i don’t know a lot about the lore of khaenri’ah.

[one wiki check and a lot of deleted ranting later]

khaenri’ah was a godless nation. it didn’t have a god ruling over it, it didn’t have a god influencing or building it, it didn’t have a - oh my god khaenri’ah is the nation of hubristic greed.

sorry i had a revelation mid-sentence there: to clarify, khaenri’ah was built entirely by people. they may (read: did) worship a god, you, but refused to allow you to meddle with their nation. that was their creation. you could have all of teyvat—and they would give you some of their crops to try and satisfy you—but you could not have their nation. they lived underground, away from your holy light and the overbearing gaze of celestia, and in the dark of a cave with only the earth as their witness, they began to learn khemia. they began to learn how to create, how to mimic your power. theirs was more transmutation, less pure creation, but it was so close to it that rhinedottir let it get to her head. she started her program, created durin and [REDACTED]- sorry, subject two (have i mentioned how much i hate he doesn’t have a name? fucked up fr fr). eventually, finally, after many tests and trials and rifthounds, with abyssal magic beginning to stain her hands, she created synthetic life.

the port on its neck sealed into a shimmering star, crystal blue eyes fluttering open, chalk ribs expanding as it took a breath. gold watched with rapt attention, pen falling from her hand.

she’d done it.

high on joy, she kept going, neglecting her new creation, herself, neglecting even basic safety, and eventually, she had toppled the pride of man.

khaenri’ah fell.

this allows for khaenri’ans such as dainslef, albedo, and kaeya to all know of and worship you—important, since kaeya is a character we’re automatically given—while still being bitter and jaded over khaenri’ah. this keeps as much of the lore in-game as intact as possible, with the only big difference being that khaenri’ah dedicated itself to you, but it would not be influenced by you. it was toppled by its own hubris, its desire to be divine without ever worshipping the god that made them too much for mortal men to handle. they don’t hate you, and in fact the fall of their nation has made it clear that they should have respected you more. they don’t blame you for it, as it was their own desire that brought them down, but they are a little more aware of the power of a god.

FAQ!!

i don’t have the traveller on my team, how does that work lore-wise?

excellent question! i…. don’t really know—

the way i see it, this is mostly a problem attached to the concept of ‘parties’ in the first place(again, please put a pin in the idea, we’re almost there). paimon is always with us, but the traveller… since they don’t have ‘a place to be’ as with your other vessels, as you were with them from the start… you could say that they’re always with you. silently watching from the realm of stars just outside of reality, watching you level your characters and give them strength. they wish you could pay more attention to them, but they know that teyvat is your prize creation, the people within it your most beloved. while you had encouraged them and their sibling to traverse your other worlds, it made sense that you’d want to empower these people first. your choices were.. odd, but you seemed happy, mostly, so they were too. ultimately, they are just another of your creations, and they want you to be happy just as the others do.

what happens when the game closes?

this connects to both the party system and the ‘realm of stars’ i mentioned in the traveller’s section. now, the personal belief i subscribe to is that it’s… another pocket dimension sorry—

akcnkwdjdkd ok so you know in the character menu how the background is all hazy and star-like and tinted the color of their element? i think the hydro’s have bubbles floating around but i have just spent too much time in enkanomiya-

anyway, that’s a ✨separate dimension✨. i imagine its like a line, where your characters are arranged like the bar on the side (top if you’re a pc gamer). characters can look over if they wish, though that’s dependent on some other factors (i know this is already long but i’ll elaborate on this later). the poses for weapons, artifacts, etc. are all forced on them, like strings on a puppet—war flashbacks for my scaramouche. they’re tugged into place, and stay like that. your mains are used to you fussing about with their artifacts, and have learned to simply rest into the feeling. why shouldn’t they, after all?

ANYWAY this is getting long. so when you’re in the field, your characters fall away save your party members, who move to the odd starry landscape of the party menu. there’s a large screen, which allows them to see like it’s your screen, almost. there’s a health bar, they can see the energy, and though that’s about it the important bit is that they can still see the character on field and the battle around them. this way they know what to expect, and where to aim, where to brace for an impact because sorry, they have the most hp and you need to tank this hit. when the game closes, you swap team members, etc. they are transported back to where they were prior to being on your team. now, for those you don’t utilize as often, they aren’t fully pulled into the character menu, as this would cause complications, but they are vaguely aware of when you open it. this way they can prepare in the rare case you switch to them for whatever reason.

additionally, when you shut down genshin, the traveller takes your characters’ place. they hold your place, often using the time to catch up with paimon and eat, both talking about their separate perspectives on your battle. paimon from the outside, watching the vessels switch in a shower of gold sparks, and the traveller from the inside, watching them lean on each other when their health was low and swap encouraging phrases during a tough fight. the traveller can’t really move all that much, but they don’t have to stay very still—what’s the chance you’ll notice they’re facing the wrong direction anyway?—which is good since they may have to defend themself against any enemies wandering in. if they’re off your team and unbuilt, it’s a little difficult, but between their status as an outlander and paimon’s influence, it’s not that big of a hassle.

(sorry this one’s real long but this is the concept i spent the most time developing. i have a very very long albedo fic where this mechanic is center stage so i have a lot of junk stored in my mind abt it)

what about friendship levels?

friendship levels!!! in-game they’re a metric of how long/much a character is with you, and it’s the same in sagau. the higher a character’s friendship, the more of your aura they emit by proxy, since they’re… in the absolute kindest way possible, you know how shoes have to be broken in -? yeah—

the harsh tugs of your device commanding them to move softens into a gentle guide, but they’re so in-tune with your playstyle that they go ahead of the strings, attacking slightly quicker. a high-friendship team has synergy like no other, the characters swapping just before you actually press the button to do so, their elemental reactions booming brighter, skills and bursts doing that much more damage just because they know what their doing by heart. they’re certain they could replicate it even without you, though they’d never dare, and your main sometimes finds themself repeating your usual rotation in their head to help them. swap, skill, swap, skill, burst, they mutter, their fingers tapping along where the buttons would be as they try to puzzle something out. swap, skill, swap, passive, swap, the familiar routine providing comfort.

how does the concept of being “self-aware” work?

lovely question.

…

it doesn’t.

jsksskdjd i feel like a software developer— ANYWAY-

google defines self-aware as “having conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings”, which isn’t (inherently) the case. in relation to video games, it’s usually something along the lines of “this game is aware it’s a game” which doesn’t work since, as we’ve established, teyvat isn’t a game.

in this case, being self-aware means recognizing that you are operating through a device. it means knowing that you are not controlling them directly, that you instead use a proxy. it means, for characters like albedo, recognizing the sticky binds of code that limit his movements, it means registering that you are still far, far away, and that you only feel this close because of your device. it means, for some such as, say, diluc, there wasn’t a reason why kaeya was a vessel before him. it means knowing that their god is still lost, and knowing that they have to ensure you come back safely.

and that’s about it! discarding some icky topics such as the semantics of an isekai (which boils down to tapping into the divinity stored in your device so it doesn’t really matter much either way) and the abyss (which i don’t know enough about lore-wise, sorry) that’s everything i keep in mind when i write my genshin impact self-aware works!

if you have any further questions, feel free to either reply or send in an ask, or check out my masterlist if you want to see these concepts in practice.

have a good one!

[fandom-friday]

Happy Fandom Fri-yay!

I come bearing the gift of a new fic:

Brother, my Brother by @iiidunno /nonbifandomqueen on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43422618/chapters/109159881

I know you’re a sucker (like me!) for a good Fives-Lives AU, so you are gonna love this!

No spoilers here, but The Bad Batch takes a bounty-hunting job, and it turns out to be someone they were NOT expecting.

It’s a whump-filled examination of Echo’s PTSD and history, although the rest of the batch have their moments to shine too. Very creative and a great read.

Looking forward to the next chapter and more emotional damage. ❤️

You are SO right, I'm always down for a good Fives Lives AU, and this one promises to be ANGSTY and PAINFUL (we all know what we're signing up for when it comes to the Domino Twins). GIVE US THE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE! Thanks so much for the rec!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[resuri-art]

Hi! I'm new to the yugioh fandom and have been asking around, do you have any fic recs you could share with us? I always love hearing what other people recommend ❤️

Hello anon, and welcome to the ygo fandom! 💖 I hope you're having a great time here. (We are a little weird but we are nice I promise.)

I have a lot of recs, it depends of what you're searching for, but I'll make a little selection:

Canon verse fics:

The last puzzle by @tenderwulf

11 years after the Ceremonial Duel, Atem and Bakura inexplicably find themselves back in Domino. When they meet their previous hosts, they realize how much things have changed: Yuugi, the now world-renowned King of Games, is going through a marriage crisis, Ryou is struggling to balance studies, work, and his brittle mental health, and Malik... well, Malik is living his best life—and his own yami is nowhere to be seen. They soon realize they all have to work together in order to solve the mystery of the yamis' return: some to make sure that they stay, and some to make sure that they don't.

- Philosophy of a knife by @crush3dmary

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Ryou learns this the hard way when he becomes the vessel for Zorc's power. A canon rewrite where Bakura wins.

The HoURGLASS serie by @worldendercharles

Two character studies of Marik Ishtar and his darker half, meant to parallel each other and explore the cross-contamination between them.

Chained to you by @saijspellhart

Taking place after the events of Season Zero, all the shadow games happened but Yugi never found out he was possessed by the spirit of the puzzle. Now he's an adult, living on his own, and he starts to notice strange and spooky things happening around his apartment. When he sees his own shadow moving Yugi begins to suspect his new place is haunted. But is this shadow spirit malicious or... kinda sweet? Yami does a bunch of stupidly sweet domestic shit for Yugi to help take care of him. Expect romance, fluff, self-care, and Puzzleshipping shenanigans.

Our Scars remind Us that the Past was Real by @sesshy380

Imagine waking up, and everyone is trying to convince you that the things you 'remember’ never happened, and that those 'memories’ exist only in YOUR head. The Thief King doesn’t have to imagine…because that’s exactly what happened. -or- The Thief King get’s a second chance at life.

Yami Bakura’s Got A Crush by @justapalspal

Yami Bakura’s got a crush, and it ends up being Bakura Ryou’s problem. Diva’s even more so.

AU fics:

To Balance the Scales by @sadistikitteh

Fleeing from being killed by his uncle's knights, Atem is saved by Bakura; the mate of the naga he'd helped years before. After healing from wounds and bonding with the couple, Atem's love and desire to help the creatures grows stronger.

Swan Lake by @kitsunefaux

A twist of fate leaves Bakura under the care of the fae Ryou, who thinks he would be so much cuter as a swan. What can you do against a creature who holds your choices in their hands? Who can you be in the belly of the beast?

The Kill Shot serie by @apathetic-theme-song

A modern/magic assassin AU. Two unstoppable forces collide as Bakura, one of the best assassins in the world, finds himself a target of an up-and-coming rival named Qadir in a plot to destroy them both. In teaming up to get revenge, they find that they make much better partners than enemies in more ways than one.

If you're into smut (and of age to read it of course), I would heavily recommend the whole work of Fat-Butch-Dyke (@fat-butch-dyke) and Sitabethel (@sitabethel). Fair warning with Sita: they do the best character developments. You think you will go for a fun pwp but be prepared to be a crying mess at some point.

Also Rochelle Echidna (@rochelle-echidna), Ninjam117 (@ninjam117), RelaySoul (@pandabaozi) and DisposableVillain works are to check too. <3 (I couldn't decide for a fic to recommend more than another.)

There are a lot more I'm probably forgetting but I think that will give you some reading material. Also I recommend to look at the other works of all the authors I mentionned, they are great. ♥

[loverboy-havocboy]

i need to know about allit au comet pls i'm begging

AAAAAAHHHHH OMG OK HERE WE GO

so the characters in aliit au are from tcw but it's a modern au and clones don't exist so a lot of them have become oc's basically? gregor is the closest to source material and comet is probably the farthest (but i mean.. he barely exists in source material so?)

anyway. comet is 23 at the beginning of the main fic in the series. he's ftm (5 years on t & like? probably 3 or 4 years post top surgery), he's got long curly hair and a bunch of tattoos, all of them done by boost (he's a tattoo artist 💅). he lives in a tiny apartment in keldabe (which we made basically mandalorian new york city) with boost and sinker, who are his lifelong best friends (with lots and lots of benefits).

his favorite color is blue, he can’t be trusted in the kitchen, prefers tea (specifically earl grey lattes) over coffee (which he drinks with copius amounts of cream and sugar), rides his bike or takes public transportation or has boost drive him (is he a bad driver? did he never learn how? he hasn't told me yet), he knows sign language, he has a nose stud and a navel piercing and multiple on each ear (done by sinker).

his legal name is tawera, which is a maori name meaning morning star. he chose that, after going by comet for a long time, when he was adopted by sinker's parents in high school.

he works part-time as a barista and the rest of his money he gets from selling his paintings or doing commissions. his favorite artist and inspiration is van gogh. he has a little painting studio in a back room of boost's tattoo shop.

on his 18th birthday boost and sinker took him to their favorite gay club 69's, which is run by veteran throuple fives, echo, and thorn (the dominos). he learns that night that thorn is also trans and is promptly taken under his wing. thorn took one look at him and his genetic need for a foundling went brrrr.

the main fic starts when he meets gregor at 69's one night and they're both kind of instantly lovestruck. they fool around in the club and then gregor takes him on a little walking date for food after

the rest of the fic up to this point (30 chapters, 150k and going strong) is the development of relationships between gregor, comet, boost, and sinker <33

if you (or anyone) have any questions,, this was very fun

[starrylothcat]

First of all, thank you to all my followers and mutuals. If you follow me for my writing or my unhinged reblogging, I appreciate all of you from the bottom of my heart! Sorry it took me a minute to put this together! This was a fun event to run, and big hugs to everyone who sent in their shout-outs. Please check out everything on this list, there's a lot of wonderful content from even more wonderful creators! (Linking and formatting on Tumblr is wonky so if I made any mistakes or links don't work, please let me know!) Masterlist under the cut!

⭐Fanfiction⭐

Glitch’s Masterlist - OC Masterlist by @techs-stitches

Masterlist of OC Glitch x Tech

In More Ways Than One (NSFW) The Bad Batch x F Reader by @madameminor

A night out with the Batch almost turns into a bar brawl, until your quick thinking sets up the perfect cover. Then your squad starts thinking it doesn't have to stay a cover. Sharing is caring, after all.

Fireworks - Hound x F Reader by @imarvelatthestars

Reader meets Hound after her massiff makes a run for it. Will romance blossom?

Dance With Me - Echo x Reader by @kaminocasey

You're cleaning the ship, listening to music, and Echo gets an idea.

Dominoes AO3 Link - by @meridiansdominoes

Domino squad wakes up to find themselves back on Kamino, hours from taking their final test... except they remember passing the final test, and they each remember dying afterwards, too.

Ghosts of Coruscan AO3 Link by numphet on AO3

Padmé Amidala, a former senator of the fallen Republic, barely survived the childbirth. After her recovery, she suffered from partial memory loss and was led to believe that the Emperor's mysterious enforcer, Darth Vader, killed her husband on Mustafar. Eight years later, she has joined the aspiring Rebel Alliance and volunteered to take part in a high-risk operation, only to be captured and thrown into an Imperial prison. To hide her true identity and protect her children from the Empire's wrath, she is forced to use a little too predictable alias.

Doc’s Febuwhump Series - The Bad Batch x OC by @staycalmandhugaclone

Fem Medic OC fic series with all the Batchers

Nightsky (NSFW) Echo x F Reader x Rex by @rain-on-kamino

Just back from a mission, The Bad Batch is unexpectedly visited by Rex. So you just have to wait a little longer to lay down with your love Echo. Or? Maybe this is the opportunity to try something new. Especially since the handsome captain obviously has a crush on you, too.

In Need (NSFW) Hunter x Jedi F Reader by @wanderer-six

While travelling with the Bad Batch, you find yourself overwhelmed by a certain need. Unable to deal with it, you try to wait it out in hopes it will pass. But you come to find that your arousal has been unintentionally torturing your poor sergeant.

Positions (NSFW) Cody x F Reader x Rex by @kaminocasey

Rex invites Cody out to 79s, only because they have bigger plans for you tonight.

Water and Rock (NSFW) Obi Wan x F Reader by @split-spectrum

When your former master Obi Wan joins you on a mission, it's clear things aren't the same as they once were. The trials you face together may break your bond, or turn it into something else entirely.

Hunter x F Reader by @freesia-writes with bonus spicy Hunter fanart by @verndusk and a smutty part 2 by @spicy-clones. Phew! Clone Matchmaking AU Masterlist by @tcwmatchmakingau

The Clone Wars have ended, and with their legal status secured, the clone troopers look to the future, to the things they never thought they would be able to have. Homes. Families. Love. But without the support systems and social structures available to natborns, many troopers have difficulty finding meaningful connections. Enter Right to Love Matchmaking Service: a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping clone troopers find the loves of their lives.

Sharp Edges (NSFW) Crosshair x Reader by @spicy-clones & @lightwise

What started off as self-indulgent Crosshair smut has evolved into a fully-developed fic, with plot, character development, twists and turns, angst, yearning, and plenty of delicious *spice*. ;)

⭐Artwork⭐

Wrecker and Reader Cuddles (plus Lula!) by @madbunnyarts

Bo Katan Comic by @projectorthus for @bokatanweek

Celebrating Anakin's Birthday by @stealingpotatoes

They Call Themselves...The Bad Batch by @shyranno

Alpha 17 and Captain Rex by @cobaltbeam

Sexy Tech Fanart by @raevulsix

Crosshair Back on The Marauder by @zaana

Awesome Graphics by @idontgetanysleep

Fixing TBB S2 Finale by @lightspringrain

[millenniumringg]

Was tagged by my beloveds @justapalspal. and @yuusaris to do the "share a few paragraphs from your WIP" tag game :3 I've been kind of radio silent on my fics lately so here's my chance to prove I've been working on stuff LMAO

If you wanna do this, DO IT!! I don't know who to tag off the top of my head cuz tired... but DO THIS IF U WANT!!! YEAH YOU!!!!

So, here are some bits from some of my WIPs :-) there may be spoilers for some fics like Ghostbusters and Clean Sneak, but nothing too detailed ;)

From Ghostbusters! A Yugioh AU

(From the unfortunately delayed final chapter (im so sorry its gonna come i swear) where Ryou and Yugi are desperately trying to figure out how to solve the current Ghost Dilemma that is rapidly consuming Domino)

Ryou held the phone out between himself and Yugi. They waited, holding their breath in hopes they might actually get someone to answer the phone.

“Kaiba Corp, how can I assist you?”

Ryou and Yugi stared at each other. They weren’t really expecting an answer.

“Um,” Yugi quickly spoke up, “Yes, um, is Seto Kaiba available?”

“I’m sorry sir. Mister Kaiba is very busy. I can take a—”

“Busy with what?” Ryou challenged. “Listen lady, I don’t know if you’ve been outside, but it’s like night of the living dead out there. Get Kaiba on the phone and tell him it’s the Ghostbusters.”

“The Ghostbusters? I… I’m not sure if he—”

Yugi groaned. “Please just get him on the phone. He needs our help and we need his. It’s an emergency!”

The woman on the other line made a distressed hum. She seemed nervous, but Ryou and Yugi knew there was no time to lose.

Eventually, the woman sighed. “Please hold.”

When the line went quiet, Ryou grinned at Yugi.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe that actually worked.”

Yugi nodded, but his excitement quickly faded. “That was the easy part, though.”

From The Clean Sneak

(Continuing from the train capture gone awry, Yugi, Atem, Mai, and Isis must come up with a plan to get Amir away from Ryou)

“I promised to look out for my brothers, Mai.”

“Isis…” Mai hummed with uncertainty, for she recognized that determined look in Isis’ eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I’m saving Amir from himself.” Isis pushed her rifle into Mai’s hands before reaching behind herself to pull out a revolver. The handle was wooden with beautiful, delicate pearl designs embedded into it. She opened up the cylinder, counting the bullets inside.

“Three shots Mai,” She continued, but Mai wasn’t convinced.

“Three shots and what? You’ll shoot him and drag him off the train?! Isis, you’re not thinking straight. We have to—”

“We have to save Ryou. I’m saving my brother. My family.” Isis opened up the sleeper car door, her revolver in hand. “I’m just going to talk to him.”

“Talk to him?!” All three of the others in the train car exclaimed, looking at Isis in shock.

“Sweetie, I don’t think he wants to talk anymore. I think you need to think this over a little more—”

From an untitled Heartshipping ficlet

(I'm currently working on something for @ninjam117 's birthday... so here's a snippet of that >:) )

Thinking about it made Yugi blush. He put his head in his hands, angry at himself for having such… tainted thoughts about a stranger. About an alluring young man. A pale, green-eyed, white-haired angel. 

Yugi groaned to himself. He was hopeless. The man wasn’t coming. It was well past midnight. Probably 2am. He should get some rest already. He was sure the young man had better places to be anyway. 

With a heavy sigh, Yugi straightened up. He tilted his head toward the moon in the distance, gazing at it and the stars momentarily before forcing himself to turn away. 

With his head low, Yugi quietly shut the balcony French doors. He shut all the curtains, then crawled into bed, not even bothering to take his party garments off. 

The sheer curtains over the French doors did little to hide the moonlight. It bothered Yugi, for the light was so pale and magical. A perfect night to experience something… new. Something fantastic.

Yugi’s eyelids grew heavy. His blinking slowed as he stared at the edge of his bed, at the elegant night sky. 

It was quiet. Peaceful. 

Eventually, Yugi shut his eyes, sleep having taken him over.

From Cornered 2 title pending maybe

(Yes I'm making a sequel, yes I'm insane. First snippet is from chapter 1)

It didn’t take long at all for the two to peel their clothes off. They’d done it countless times before. It was almost as routine to shower together as it was to work out together.

The water was running. Malik and Ryou were kissing, holding each other almost unbearably close.

“We’re going to be late,” Malik murmured between kisses, but Ryou was relentless. He held onto Malik’s head and kissed him over and over again. Eventually, Malik had to pull himself free to laugh.

Ryou groaned. He leaned his head into the crook of Malik’s neck, his arms wrapped around his lover’s body.

“Fine.” But Ryou didn’t move. He closed his eyes, reveling in the peace that came with being close to Malik.

Malik hugged Ryou back. They stood under the running water for a while, content to remain in the embrace for as long as possible.

“I love you,” Ryou whispered, not wanting to ruin the peace by speaking too loud.

Malik smiled. He held Ryou tighter and kissed Ryou’s head.

“I love you, too.”

Ryou pulled away. He looked at Malik, thankful his face was already red from the run so Malik couldn’t see how much he was blushing. He felt over Malik’s shoulders, trailing his hands down along his chest and to his sides.

“Do you want me to wash your hair?” Malik asked. Ryou closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and nodded.

Ryou turned around and let Malik do his wonders. His hands were so gentle. So warm and kind and never malicious.

“Is this okay?” He would ask frequently and Ryou would reply, “Yes. Perfect.”

“I think you might be due for a trim soon,” Malik commented. “Your hair is getting longer.”

Ryou hummed. “Yeah. Probably.”

Malik gently tilted Ryou’s head back to rinse the soap out. Then, of course, as always, Ryou did the same for Malik. 

“Do you remember when we first did this?” Ryou asked, keeping his eyes fixated on the lathering task. “And we cried.”

Malik let out a thoughtful hum. “Of course I do.”

Ryou smiled a little. The memory was bittersweet, but felt more sweet as time went on.

“...Is everything okay?” Malik asked, hesitance in his tone.

“Everything is just fine,” Ryou replied, tilting Malik’s head back to rinse the soap. He hummed happily.

From Cornered 2... But some time later in the fic

(Another taste of what's inevitably to come in Cornered 2 but THATS IT no more sippies ... maybe)

Ryou forced his legs to back away. He forced his eyes to tear away, but nothing seemed to help. The gym spun around him. Voices that weren’t there were on a loop, getting louder and louder. 

He hurried to the locker room, bumping into one or two people along the way. His shoulders were tense, his hands balled up tight.

Unfortunately, the locker room did not provide the solace Ryou, for some reason, thought it would. 

Stiffly, Ryou sat down on the bench, holding his head in his hands. 

He wanted this to stop. He wanted the voices to stop. He wanted the panic to stop. 

But thinking such things only made it worse. It wasn’t going to stop. It was never going to stop. These things already happened to him. Ryou couldn’t go back in time and fix it. He couldn’t go back and… and…

You’re never going to forget me, you know.

“I know,” Ryou said aloud, answering the voice in his head. 

Every time you sleep, you’ll dream of me.

“I know,” Ryou said louder. 

Every time you close your eyes—

“I SEE YOU!” Ryou shouted abruptly, rising to his feet. 

“I see you every day! I hear you every day! Shut up! Be quiet! Just be fucking quiet!”

Ryou wanted to punch the lockers. He wanted to throw all of his things and roll on the floor and sob, but the only thing he could bring himself to do was stand in the middle of the locker room and yell.

No…

No. 

“Fuck you,” Ryou said aloud again, smashing his hand into his locker before pulling it open aggressively. “I’m in control. I’m in control. I AM IN CONTROL!”

“Are you..?”

Ryou nearly screamed. He jumped, not expecting Jounouchi’s voice to be so close. 

Oh god. Ryou had forgotten he was in public. The locker room wasn’t empty. Dozens of eyes were staring at him. 

Ryou thought he might throw up.

“Hey, Touzoku, it’s okay—”

Ryou shoved Jounouchi’s hands away. He didn’t know why, though. He could really use the comfort. 

…The only comfort he wanted, though, was the only comfort he couldn’t have.

“I-I…” Ryou swallowed. He searched for words that weren’t angry or rude or frantic, but it was hard. “I’m leaving. I need to go.”

Jounouchi frowned. He stepped away as Ryou chaotically shoved things in his gym bag and walked out of the locker room.

“Where are you going? Let me drive you.”

“I can drive myself,” Ryou said through gritted teeth, though he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be mean to Jounouchi at all, but right now that was all he could give him.

“Please, Touzoku,” Jounouchi urged, following Ryou outside. “Something is wrong. You’re not—”

“Of course something is wrong!” Ryou practically screeched, whirling around to glare at Jounouchi. “Something has been wrong with me for four fucking years, Katsuya! I can’t get away from a man in prison and my fucking fiancee is in a fucking coma!”

Ryou was out of breath. People in the gym were gathered by the front door, watching the commotion. 

“Touzoku…”

“Jounouchi,” Ryou breathed. “I..” He put a hand up in the air, shaking his head. “I can’t. I need to see Malik. That’s all I want to do right now.”

[tua-masked-author]

🧜‍♀️ 🎭 Get Ready For Masked Mermay 🎭 🧜‍♀️

[I.D. A GIF in the shape of a domino mask shaped cut out, with moving footage of the Hargreeves siblings inside. By @circumstellars End ID]

We are so excited to be hosting Masked Mermay! Here are the eagerly-awaited details:

🧜‍♀️ What is TUA Masked Mermay?

TUA Masked Mermay is an Umbrella Academy fandom event that allows you to embrace your creative muse and test your investigative prowess! In the first phase, authors and (introduced in this round!!) artist post their TUA works to an anonymous AO3 collection. Afterwards, we'll release a list of participating authors and the guessers will put on their detective hats to try to match the fics to their authors and art to the artists-- with coveted bragging rights at stake for the best detective!

🧜‍♀️ When is the event?

Masked Mermay will take place from Monday, May 1st through Friday, May 26th.

Our AO3 collection is live! The official posting period is May 1st through May 12th. You may submit your fic or art to [the Masked Mermay Collection] at any time from now up to (and including) May 12th, although works submitted early won't be visible until the 1st of May.

After entries close on May 12th, check the tumblr for a list of participants (to be posted shortly after submissions close) and your guessing ballot.

Put on your detective hats! You will be able to submit your guesses up to May 26th.

All secrets will be revealed on Sunday, May 28th, after a few days to let us crunch the numbers! We'll unveil each of the fics' authors and artworks' artists, as well as crown the best guesser!

🧜‍♀️ Reminders

Anyone is welcome to take part - you can write, draw, guess, or all three!

We welcome all writers and artists! You do not need to have written or drawn anything for the Umbrella Academy before (or for any other fandom) to join in. We love seeing returning participants as well!

All entries must be gen - no romantic or sexual focus - and cannot be rated E. This allows guessers to enjoy a wider variety of entries and complete more of their ballot.

Masked Mermay, as you can guess, is Mermay themed! Mermaid aus, being-attacked-by-mermaid aus, finding-mermaids-on-the-beach aus; wherever your heart takes you! That said, the theme is optional and not required - feel free to craft any situation (keeping it gen!) that you'd like.

The total submissions cap per participant is 2 fics and 2 artworks. You can post just two fics, just two pieces or art, two of each, one of each, or just one- any combination you'd like! Just keep it under the cap.

Since artists are a new addition to the event, we go over the rules, guidelines, and details most pertinent to them in more detail [over here]. Artists please take a look! It provides a closer look at rules relevant to you all, and also some assistance for getting y'all acquainted with the event!

The word limit for fic entries is as follows: Only one entry may be under 500 words (we had some devilishly difficult drabbles in previous rounds!), and the maximum wordcount per fic is 10,000 within the posting period. You may continue to update your fic after the event is complete to be as long as you'd like; this rule is in place to allow guessers to be able to read all the fics!

Need some inspiration? Have a spare plot bunny? You can view community submitted prompts [here] and submit your own with [this form].

If you're new to our masquerades and want to submit something, keep an eye out on our tumblr for our guides! We have another post that goes over the rules for artists in more detail [here], and a guide for creating an AO3 account [here]. We will also make guides to posting fic and art to AO3 closer to the event! (Edit: Here it is!)

(Got a question we didn't cover? Drop us an ask!)

🎭 Enjoy the Masquerade! 🎭

[lola-andheruniverse]

For your Caryl FanFiction. Best WIP - A Better Man by 27dayz on FanFiction. Daryl loses Carol to a Walker Bite at the Prison and is transported back to the Quarry. He gets to fall in love with Carol and save Sophia and more. It is so good. Out in The Cold by Haitus80 on FanFiction. Daryl helps a stranded motorist whose husband left her on the side of the road in the cold . They become friends and then more. Check Engine Lights by Mizdiz on Ao3 and on 9 Lives with the same name. High School friends and sweethearts and life goes on ( sequels too). Love these works and others might too.

Hi, @southerncountrygirl! Thanks again for taking your time to recommend great AU fanfics through my little project. A Better Man by 27days has already been recommended here. If you missed my review, go check it out, it's an amazing fic! Out in the Cold, written by Haitus 80, is posted on FF.net. Summary: On one of the coldest nights on record Daryl Dixon stops for a stranded motorist. She's leery, of course, but finally agrees to let him give her a lift home. That one kind gesture on his part, and one act of rebellion on hers, starts the domino affect that changes them both. (Caryl AU no ZA) Unapologetic fluff ensues. You have been warned. Rated for sexual situations.

Rating: M / Mature Word count: 111.129 (43 chapters) Published: March 7, 2016 - COMPLETE

This is a very sweet and precious story where Daryl helps Carol to get a new life, away from Ed's abuse, by providing her shelter, friendship and emotional support. Things progress quite quickly but it doesn't feel rushed because it's clear from the beginning that they are the best thing that has ever happened in each other's lives. As pointed out in the summary, very fluff indeed. Shout out to Glenn and Tara being that type of best friends who love to gossip (I smiled every time I read a scene with them) and Merle being...well, Merle.

Check Engine Lights, written by carol_is_daryls_favorite_meal / mizdiz aka @waynedunlaptheorgandonor is posted both on 9Lives and AO3. Summary: Daryl and Carol have graduated high school, are living together, and are deeply in love. Everything is perfect and there is no conflict or drama and they are living the ideal fairy tale life. Lmao, just kidding. Life's a roller coaster and they're flying on the tracks with no safety bar. Turns out you can't control the future; all you can do is live it. Rating: M / Mature Word count: 272.529 (33 chapters) Published: February 24, 2019 - COMPLETE Very important warning: this fic is the third part of a five-part series called Scrap Metal. So if you're new to this work, please read 'Jumper Cables' and then 'Team Groupchat: An Interlude' first.

I don't know what I love the most about Diz's works: her dry humour, her talent on managing to maintain our characters' exact traits in completely different scenarios or the way she surprises us with that kind of fluffy that gives a reader cavities. Check Engine Lights is no exception. Be ready to laugh your head off but also cry with the sweetness of not only Carol and Daryl growing up and building a life together but also with TF being the best friends someone can possibly want.

Great fics for loving carylers' hearts. I hope you guys enjoy today's recs by southerncountrygirl. Please don't forget to give feedback to these authors who have given so much of their time and love to our little fandom. Caryl on, babes, caryl on!

[kowarth]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tag @technicallywrite .I've had to try and work out statistics for this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

56 at present. They represent my writing from 2019. Previous to that my work was on tumblr or livejournal or not even on the internet!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

141,077 according the stats page

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who, Annika, The Omega Factor, Good Omens but i'm happy to take a shot at just about anything. Even wrote a western AU for dr who at one point. My Star Trek Universe fiction hasn't made it to A03 yet

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Official stats are a little thrown as I am a credited Co Writer on a massive genius Mpreg Good Omens AU originated by @wildphoenixofthe80s and that has a third more kudos than my nearest solo work.

they are :

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26569630">Come Live With Me, Angel</a> -a sequel to the first tv season.

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/20654522">Love a Genius</a> - a UNIT New Series ft. River Song

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24170080">Make It With You</a> - an alternative alternative to Good Omens in Lockdown

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/52038229">Old Friends</a> - really this is @turnthefreaking-frogsgay I just provided Wilf's voice

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873886">Out of the Wardrobe</a> - One of my earliest fics, an anthology based on clothing through the history of Dr Who

5. Do you respond to comments?

Almost always! Some fics wouldnt exist at all without them. My current UNIT Vampire AU is being deliberately shaped by reader responses, although some of those have come from Discord rather than direct comments.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

In my opinion it would be the remastered "A Domino of Headstones" which, needs nust, concludes with Sarah Jane's death.

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

I really don't know on that front. I like to think <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594739">"The Littlest Thing Holds Up The World (and the sun is just her smile)"</a>

Which can be read as a standalone but is something of a rollercoaster.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

If I do no one has told me so. I don't think i have the sort of profile where many people care.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, although its all very mild if it gets posted ;)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes, my Sisters of the Unexplained series crosses UNIT with both PRoBe and The Omega Factor.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Into English maybe ;) no, as i said, i'm not high enough profile for that

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've been credited as such. I'm a concept guy, with a good handle on character voices and scenarios and so i've helped out friends who have been gracious enough to credit me.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

The TARDIS. oh, you mean.. uhm.. not sure i can narrow it down. Probabaly Osgate

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Five more Conferences with Kate Stewart and one without.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Beligerence? Concepts and voices I think, thats what i'm often asked about anyway.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

self doubt and brevity.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've used google translate a few times if i don't know someone who speaks it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever at all was a Blakes 7 / Five Doctors crossover where Avon was snatched from the final seconds of 'Blake' and dropped into the death zone. it was illustrated too and absolutely awful but I was 8.

First thing that turned up online would have been tie in fiction to my local Star Trek RPG group USS Basilisk.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

In all honesty once I have purged the plot from my system they vanish from my memory. I occasionally get kudos from long posted fics and surprise myself by going to read what the fuss was about!

If anyone want to say thier faves in the notes, knock yourselves out!

I think I'm supposed to tag some other writers now? I expect anyone I tag will have already done this quiz but at the least i should include ny erstwhile co-authours @wildphoenixofthe80s and @turnthefreaking-frogsgay as they are proper writings who write things.

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Fai's Fic Ramble: The GorseTale AU (bare basics)

Ever since roughly... 2017 I think, there been a single Undertale fanfic I've been tapping away at and though it's nowhere near done or even organised enough for me to think about posting chapter 1 on A03, I recently posted a spinoff fic related to it called Eight Coloured Picture about the deaths of all the fallen humans and how some monsters each time were effected by their passing, and well.

I wanna ramble about the main story that fic comes from for a bit!

So.

Working Title: 'Gorse, Blackthorn and Buttercups' I also call it GorseTale in my head for short since Gaijin Goombah's rather fun video on why Undertale's Golden Flowers are most likely Gorse was a HUGE inspiration for the fic back when I started out (it's er changed quiet a bit since then but I'm keeping the flower vibes because Chara likes them and I did way too much research into both practical and symbolic uses for plants in the Underground for this fic not to use at least some of it at some point XD).

Core premise: Story is a Slice of Life/Drama AU set around Frisk being born in the Underground and taken in by Toriel right around the time of 'Undertale canon' (for Undertale Yellow fans, roughly a year or so after Clover's death), and through a series of domino effects stemming from that, various monsters of the Underground are confronted with the flaws of both themselves and their kingdom, and as a result start putting in effort to try fixing things so the little human child they've become so attached to can actually live their life to the fullest without fear of being murdered just for being born a non monster.

Aka: Toriel and Sans experience the joys and terror of co-parenting a child who only survives past the age of 3 because they have phenomenal cosmic power. Papyrus discovers the Royal Guard is NOT in fact something he wants to join (and accidentally becomes politically active in an effort to right by his new nibbling). Undyne takes some time to really rethink her career path and motives. Alphys somehow manages to turn former mistakes into miracles (oh and cures death maybe). Mettaton learns to take time off and share the spotlight, and finally King Asgore gets a surprising amount of hope in encouraging peaceful rebellion against his own accidental dictatorship.

Main cast: Rotates a bit since every major monster (and Flowey) matters in this and who's most in focus depends on the exact arc but Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Chara and Frisk are the ones who I have the most planned scenes for since well, they're where the 'domino effect' starts.

Ships: Fic is pretty gen for the most part but leaning Undyne/Alphys, Papyrus/Mettaton (who knew all Paps needed to become popular was to openly try convincing monster kind that killing all the humans is wrong in front of a very specific underground star XD), and some very very very slowburn Sans/Toriel (is teased throughout the story because Sans IS Frisk's other parent Sans just means 'Dad' in Frisk speak and I find various Monsters' "Wait Sans has a kid- Wait Sans is married?!" reactions hilarious (Paps giving 'context' to why he suddenly has a nibbling to Undyne especially) but actual, real Soriel doesn't happen until near the very end because Toriel is Not Ok, Sans leans AroAce/Demi and both agree that while the odd kiss, hug or 'real talk' is fine neither up for anything more than that right now. Also Toriel has yet to get a formal divorce and er, she can't even think of him for much of the fic without wanting to set him on fire so... Yeah). Also considering Mad Mewmew/Asgore (because funny but also oddly sweet), and Mettaton trying to get over a crush on Alphys at the start (due to Mettaton's Winter Alarmclock dialogue reframing all of Mettaton's actions in canon in a whole newlight for me), but for the most part romance really isn't a focus.

Things to set it apart from every other 'Frisk grows up in the Underground' fanfic:

A LOT of worldbuilding focus on stuff how monsters get food and materials.

Toriel teaching everyone how Monster society was before the War vs now (aka lots of cultural trauma themes here).

More emphasis on how little Monster society these days really knows about things they really should given their Kingdom's plans.

Sans 'timeline trauma' getting tossed out the window for joining Toriel in 'worried parent' stress (hard to be upset about LOADS when they're specifically stopping a toddler you love from getting murdered).

Papyrus accidentally making everything better just because for the sake of his nibblet he can't back down.

FLOWER SYMBOLISM AND DISCUSSING THE UNDERGROUND'S VERY IMPORTANT PLANT LIFE!

Undyne having a character growth arc triggered by Papyrus.

Mettaton having a character growth arc triggered by Papyrus (and a passing mention of Napstablook).

Alphys not being fired post Amalgamite reveal making her realize she has in fact actually kinda created the cure for death (by 'Falling Down') or at the very least is only maybe three steps away from that and actually works on that alongside a bunch of other stuff with other scientists because working alone sucked.

Lots of focus on the humans who fell before Frisk because their lives mattered! and also the Blue Soul was Kris because damn if I don't feel the need to really hammer in Toriel's trauma caused by Asgore here

NarraChara and Napstablook being ghost buddies =D they suck at it but Chara will take literally anyone who can hear them for company and Napstablook feels bad about that

Snowdin being secretly a hub of human sympathisers! (None of them knew they weren't the only ones).

MONSTER RADIO and ANIME/WESTERNS ON TV!

Tems and the Riverperson mattering while still being true to their very weird selves!!!

Asgore learning that he DOES in fact have a lot of influence and that maybe, juuust maybe, that his screw ups were worse for his Kingdom than he already thought (don't worry Asgore fans, despite my having to write a lot of Asgore grr due to Toriel being a major character, saving him and showing how much he loves his people is a major goal of mine &lt;3). He still f%cked up majorly though XD

Frisk dealing with, well, the stress of growing up in a place that says their death would make everyone (except their immediate loved ones) happy and constantly having to live in hiding/disguise...

Flowey being a murderous little shit but also not having reset power and both Frisk and Chara in his life again.

Undertale Yellow and Deltarune characters! Who probably won't be in focus a lot but they've helped me out a ton for fleshing the out my setting so I will 100% be giving them at least a little screen time to make up for that (like Amalgamate Kanako playing with Frisk, and Martlet and Noelle being VERY interesting in Papyrus's 'Lets not kill the humans' movement for reasons our main characters will eventually learn &lt;3).

Oh and a huge amount of 'Unseen in game' areas I made for the Underground which include:

SnowDen: a 'town' of Dog and Rabbit made tunnels underneath the ENTIRE Snowdin region (connects to every dog sentry post, the 'Toby Fox secret area' and the 'very efficiently laid out' travel tunnels seen in canon Undertale). Generally requires those living there to get through given how winding and confusing the tunnels can get (all guideposts are puzzles made with scent markers...).

TooHot: basically a 'lethal lava land' housing district for fire monsters below general Hotland. Predates the Wat and is too hot for most non fire monsters to go anywhere near (the current name was given by Asgore though).

Cliffstop: a 'thin' vertical crevice monsters in New Home unearthed a while back that goes from from all the way to the very top of Mt Ebott down to the dark of the Abyss below (locals there call the top of the area Clifftop and the lowest safe for travel Cliffdrop). Gets a fair bit of sun and has flying room so it's popular with plant and flying monsters but the cliffs are very unstable so the bottom is covered in rope nets to prevent accidents. Most puzzles about the place are moving rope bridges, loading up vertical conveyer belts with the correct weights and 'light and mirror' puzzles.

Riverfolk Waterway and True Tem Village: settlements hidden deep within Waterfall's 'unreachable in canon' winding waterways. The former is a small inlet where 'Riverfolk' monsters like the Riverperson have a small collection of boathouses they dock at, and the later is exactly what is sounds like, with the 'Temmie Village' we see in canon being merely a Temmie trading outpost. Can accessed only by Riverperson boat or the Temmie's secret tunnels and is home to all sorts of cool things like the Temmie 'Colleg' and 'DEEP HISTORY mUSEEum'~ XD

WebbInn 'the Spider district': Mostly a giant communal spider web hanging Hotland's ceiling but also connected to a tunnel that goes up near Mt Ebbot's peak (the spiders have been digging upwards in hopes of getting a 'sunspot' they can use to advertise their 'sweet little town' to tourists). Has a... Very distinctive culture compared to the rest of the Underground and the 'puzzles' there tend towards being 'social' in nature (aka fey logic games where how you speak and act gets you directed every which way).

Starlite Strip: A little connecting area right underneath the path/cliff Monster Kid and Frisk see the castle while travelling through Waterfall in Undertale Canon. Not a big settlement on its own but something of a trading hub for monsters from New Home and the surrounding areas in Waterfall to buy and sell goods (also has a LOT of Royal Guard presence which is why absolutely no one in Undertale recommends it to the very human Frisk). Very sparkly but in a gentle 'crystals, glowing water and fire flies' kinda way.

And... Yeah. Wanna post a full script of what I've got planned so far but this post is already massive so will do that in a bit.

Will say though that the general ending plan for this fic arguably goes full fix fic with:

12-14 year old Frisk comes out as human publicly and goes through the entire Underground arguing their case (something the Underground has been publicly debating for the last 10 years or so thanks to a very motivated Papyrus and a wanting more ratings + genuinely interested Mettaton).

Undyne attempts to kill them but well, she's only going all out because she and Paps had a deal about this (he vowed that he'd defend any innocent human from her killing them so she could still go all out at her job) and Frisk knows that.

Mettaton gets to do THE biggest and most historically important interview in the Underground's history.

Asgore declares that the Underground will try out this whole 'everyone in the kingdom votes' thing on both the upcoming war and how they will treat humans living here because he wants to make sure he's doing what his people want (Mettaton asks what Asgore will vote but Asgore, finally realizing his own influence, refuses to say).

Asgore and Frisk spend a nice, if slightly nervously time together drinking tea and talking about the future while the votes are being counted. (Toriel and others may join them but mostly this is Asgore getting to know... the last of Toriel's adopted children she told him about the others when she asked for a divorce).

Monsters choose wisely because for all this fic is 'Monsters are flawed too!' they are good people and I want to make that clear <3

Cue Frisk publically trying to help break the barrier while being very alive...

Flowey pulling a 'God of Hyper Death' except well, he, Frisk and Chara maaay have discussed a bit of this beforehand (Flowey did want the souls and this would get him them), so er, the fight might be a touch more mixed with genuine anger and playfulness. Note: Still working out the exacts.

The human SOULs get brought back to life as monsters while Flowey gets a SOUL of his own and Chara gets enough magical matter to be visible to people other than Frisk (it required less waste of the accumulated magic, the soul of an additional human another girl falling into the Ruins was what got Frisk deciding to come out actually, the kids using a bunch of Alphys' furthered research on the interplay between Determination, matter and Dust, and breaking down the dead humans' bodies for enough 'compatible matter' to work with, and the destruction and repurposing of the Barrier but hey! Back to life! Or arguably Chara's case an upgrade to proper ghost-hood). Oh and the Amalgamates that want it are safely separated but not sure if that's a 'before no' thing or a 'here in this big finale' thing~ XD

And yeah. That's all of my 'extra happy ending just because I can' stuff the entire fic eventually builds towards. Will post all my planned scenes/'domino effect planning' some other time but for now I'm done.

If you liked any ideas in this feel free to use them please (I'm a slow ass writer and I write what I want to see more of in the world XD) and er, hope this was a fun ramble to read <3

[themculibrary]

Fics With Titles That Start With D Masterlist 2

part one

darkness will be rewritten (ao3) - princessironspider natasha/tony N/R, 104k

Summary: Peter is Tony’s biological child.

Natasha Romanoff has been married to Tony Stark secretly for years.

What would the movies be like if this were the case?

dear mr. fantasy (ao3) - iron_spider T, 46k

Summary: (ENDGAME SPOILERS. BUT I'M CHANGING THINGS.)

Tony worries his brain is misfiring, transporting him across time and space in one final insane journey. He swallows hard, and he hears those garbled voices again. He can’t make out words, or tone, or who the hell is talking, but somebody definitely is, and it sounds strangely like they’re underwater. Or he is.

He grits his teeth and turns around, and before he can even begin to trudge over towards Peter’s room, he’s stopped in his tracks.

By a door. In the middle. Of the living room. Straight up and down like a monolith, just beside the glass coffee table.

Tony chews on his lower lip and stares at it. “Well that’s new,” he says, still rooted to the spot.

delicate (ao3) - light_loves_the_dark natasha/tony T, 21k

Summary: Natasha was the one to get Tony out of Siberia. Something so small leads to something very big.

Desert Rose (ao3) - Golden_Asp bucky/tony E, 8k

Summary: Deputy Tony Stark has been chasing the nameless thief across the country for two years. He has a collection of hand carved wooden flowers that the man left for him in banks that he robbed. Outside a small Nevada boomtown, he finally catches up to his thief and Tony decides he’s never going back to New York.

Destiny May Keep You Warm (ao3) - MarshmallowNerd bucky/wanda T, 9k

Summary: While helping Steve's team of rogue Avengers, Bucky finds himself stranded on a cold mountainside once again. This time, though, he has his favorite witch with him to keep him warm.

Devotion (ao3) - MarshmallowNerd bucky/wanda T, 11k

Summary: In a world where fate connects soulmates by sending possessions lost by one to be found by the other, Bucky finds his through a personal loss.

Diagnosis Daddy (ao3) - ttfan111robstar1 bruce/natasha M, 7k

Summary: Bruce Banner was having a totally normal day at work- Until his wife brought his son into the ER.

Dimensional Dominoes (ao3) - flawedamythyst clint/bucky, steve/tony T, 81k

Summary: Clint’s shoulders slumped. "Hi, I think I’m from another dimension. Here’s a tip: if the Fantastic Four ever offer you a beer, just say no."

Three different Clints from three different worlds. How hard can it be to get them each back to the right one, whilst also dealing with AIM, Hydra and the Mad Thinker?

Disaster, Stand Behind Me (ao3) - Naferty tony/t'challa G, 3k

Summary: Soulmate AU: Anon said, "I dunno, just more Steve and co. realizing how badly they messed up and trying to repair relations."

Roger's team hurt Tony once, T'Challa, Rhodey and Pepper weren't going to let it happen again.

Dodgy Chinese in LA (ao3) - orphan_account clint/tony T, 7k

Summary: Tony adopts all the things, builds them nests, and acts like a mature adult for once. Ceiling!Clint admires him from afar… or just the vents, which aren't all that far, really.

Dominance (ao3) - Nat_Nav natasha/tony, happy/pepper E, 10k

Summary: Tony took another sip, drinking in not only his bourbon but the very attractive Miss Rushman as well. “What?” He said and Natalie smiled softly, her eyes not leaving him once. Tony felt something in his chest at that smile, a feeling that he’d never felt before. He then started to turn his head between Pepper and Happy, he then gestured to Happy. “Give her a lesson.” He said and left the ring, leaving Happy to give the seemingly tiny woman a lesson in boxing.

Don't Let Your Life Pass You By (ao3) - Memories_of_the_Shadows tony/sam T, 5k

Summary: Moving on is sometimes the hardest thing you have to do. It helps when you have people you know along the way.

Don’t Look Down (ao3) - NamelesslyNightlock loki/tony M, 256k

Summary: When forced to decide between the lives of Tony Stark and Iron Man, Steve Rogers chose wrong.

Tony is left to deal with the consequences, but it’s not like he’s helpless, and he certainly isn’t alone.

do you ever get the sense, you're watching someone else? (ao3) - inmoonlightigetseasick mj/peter T, 9k

Summary: Michelle has a theory. It’s one of her less researched, more mystical-intuitive ones, but a theory nonetheless. It has something to do with putting together the pieces, something to do with observation.

It’s junior year, but her SATs are the least of her worries. She’s the captain of the decathlon team and her star player is always skipping meetings with covers worse than whatever he uses to hide the scrapes and bruises he comes back with.

Dragging You Down (ao3) - AraniaArt, Kamiki steve/bucky E, 81k

Summary: In a divergence from the canon storyline, Hydra experiments with occult legends of a more demonic bent. When Bucky is captured at Azzano, something more insidious than a knock-off super soldier serum is done to him, but the full effects take some time to completely set in. Bucky struggles with building impulses and an increased libido while trying to keep his interest in Steve from boiling over and ruining Steve’s chance at the life he deserves.

Drawing gold from the dark (come inside) (ao3) - viverella clint/natasha T, 21k

Summary: “Hey,” he says. He puts his most winning smile on his face and says cheerfully, “You here to make a bad decision?”

The corner of her mouth curves upwards in a hint of a smile and she says in a soft voice that makes something jolt under Clint’s skin, “I was hoping to, yeah.”

OR: that AU in which Clint runs a tattoo shop that Natasha stumbles into one day and then keeps coming back to, and Clint gets maybe a little too invested and Kate teases him relentlessly.

Drawing Near To Your Heart (fanfiction.net) - NCISVILLE pepper/tony T, 9k

Summary: Pepper just broke up with her boyfriend and needs a plus one pronto for her brother's wedding. When she enlists the help of her boss, Tony Stark, will they draw closer together like he wants?

drowning, please rescue me (ao3) - mabonwitch pepper/tony, clint/tony M, 11k

Summary: Clint is fucked up after Phil dies. Tony has some ideas about how to help.

Dreams Do Come True (ao3) - captasha007 steve/natasha M, 114k

Summary: “Come in!”

Her heart jumped hearing his voice, making her more nervous, so she slowly opens the door and enters the office.

And God almighty, can she just die?

Because there, standing behind a desk, was Steve Rogers aka the asshole who spilled coffee on her blouse earlier. The guy who she yelled and cussed out.

Yep, kill her right now.

During Business Hours: A Filthy Coffee Shop AU (ao3) - samanthahirr steve/bucky E, 25k

Summary: Unemployed artist Steve takes a job managing the worst coffee shop in Brooklyn, where the floors are greasy, the coffee beans have expired, the espresso machine’s been sabotaged, and the owners might be Russian Mafia. But the job comes with a few perks, like a generous paycheck, reasonable hours, and one super-hot customer whom Steve can’t resist having dirty, filthy, bad-idea sex with in the bathroom.

Steve is pretty sure this job is going to kill him. But what a way to go….

[limetimo]

20 questions for fic writers

saw this on @magswrite's blog and really wanted to do it, just pretend I was tagged please xD

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

37!

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

282,087

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter, but I have a few fics for Marvel too.

4. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

Teenagers Scare The Living Sh*t Out Of Me - The year is 1995. Regulus Black is BACK, 18 or 33, whichever is more convenient for him at the moment, and he's back with VENGENCE.

Regulus Orange Is The New Black Cat - Regulus is Crookshanks AU

I Pledge My Loyalty - Regulus, Lily and Severus AKA the power trio you didn't know you needed

45 Decibels snippets from Crookshanks!Regulus

Love Poison oh I didn't even notice this one got so high on the list. Oh my heart. My baby. Black Brothers angst with a very hopeful ending.

5. Do you respond comments? Why or why not?

Always! Fandom is about the community. I love seeing/chatting with my regulars :D Like hiii bestie!!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Lord's Redemption (Friday 30, October 1981) definitely. Or maybe It would eat you like poison If you knew what I knew, though I nearly forgotten I've written this. Has it really only been 2 years?

7. What is a fic your wrote with the happiest ending?

Uhhh Regulus Didn't Die For This is an overall very happy fic with a very happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

None that I can remember!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I've written some, but none of it made it on Ao3 now that I think about it. The closest thing to smut I've got on my profile is Sinking Slowly (wolfstar exploring nonsexual kink)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest you’ve written?

No but I want to :D

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever has a fic translated?

Yes! One reader asked if they could translate 45Decibels to Chineese, and then they did it. (I've been told by a different chineese reader the translation isn't super smooth but hey. Translating is hard.)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, Dominoes, as a part of a fest, but we both got busy with life and then kinda forgot it existed...?

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I love writing Bartylus. For reading, there's always some absolute masterpiece with Drarry, and I go back to IronWinter periodically.

15. What’s a wip you what to finish but doubt you ever will?

Capymama II, the sequel to Capymama. I have enough written that I can consider it a WIP and not a plot bunny, but I don't really see myself completing it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've got no shame! I killed the cringe in me!

17. What are you writing weaknesses?

I'm not witty or smart enough for my characters. My boy wants to say a funny thing or be a classical musician or an art restorator or discuss cult indoctrination at length and I'm sitting at the keyboard like. "I don't even have vocabulary for this, much less practical knowledge. Send help"

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Always a difficult problem to solve, how to incorporate translation in a way that doesn't make your or the reader's head hurt. I went with special brackets in Teenagers and yes I question that decision on daily basis

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel. Or, Tony Stark if we want to be exact.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

The Unfroggivable Curse holds a very special place in my heart ♥

no pressure tag for @ncoincidences and anyone who wants to do this too ♥

[panda-writes-kpop]

Avengers AU - Hidden File #2 - Villain, Hero, or Neither?

A/N: Hi guys, girls, and non-binary pearls! This fic is based on an idea I originally had for the series, but I scraped it because it was a tad too dark for what I was going for originally. Once again, it's up to you to decide if this is Canon or not. (Also, let me know if you're interested in another part!) 💖

TW: Some spoilers for the main series, this is supposed to take place after the last Canon chapter, Death of loved ones, death of a main character 😶, funerals and burying someone, reader pushes the line of a morally grey character, cussing and lots of it, arguments, negative comments about someone's appearance (please be kind to others), accusations go fucking FLYING, 2yoo angst and they don't like each other (obv not related to their irl relationship, this is for the ✨️ dramatics ✨️), Yoohyeon is mean to the reader (like really mean, once again, this isn't a reflection of her personality), reader is also an asshole, lots of angst ;)

Summary: After the death of your loved ones rocks your world, you take action. That action, as you're quick to discover, sets off a domino effect that changes not only your life, but the lives of those you care about.

♡ Masterlist ♡ 》 》 》 ♤ AU Masterlist ♤

You turn on the TV in your small New York apartment. After everything that has occurred, you feel calm and settled in, as if nothing can hurt you n-

Brrring!

Your cell phone continues to ring, so you sigh and mute the television.

Who can it be now?

"Hey, who's calling so late?" You warmly answer before getting off of the couch.

"Is this Y/N L/N?" A young woman's voice asks.

"Yeah, it is. Is something wrong?"

"I'm an officer with the NYPD. I have it on the records that you were the caretaker of two young children, a boy and a girl, after their parents had unfortunately passed away."

"Did something happen?" You anxiously await an answer, and you hear the officer sniffle slightly.

"The whole family died in the crossfire of some sort of secret operations mission. We're looking into it now, but we want to notify any next of kin or living relatives, and we were wondering if you-"

You choke back a sob as the woman's words finally resonate with you.

"I don't know anyone, I'm sorry." You manage to say before more tears escape your eyes.

"Well, I figured it was worth a call. Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry for your loss." She quickly hangs up the phone as you immediately fall back onto the couch.

There can't be anything good for me in this world! Those kids, they didn't deserve any of this.

~

When the tears reside, anger bubbles up inside you. It's toxic and poisonous, and you're more than willing to let it take over you.

Justice needs to be served in one way or another.

You can't resist grabbing a computer and going to work. Researching is like second nature to you, and before you know it, you find a video of a fatal accident.

You click play, and you watch a familiar woman in a red and yellow suit shoot at some sort of creature in the background. You hear people screaming in the background, and a few seconds is all you can take before you slam the computer shut.

Time to get to work, then.

~

"I must say, I wasn't expecting a call from you so late. Is this about business, or are we being social for once?" Irene raises a teasing eyebrow as you chuckle.

"Social, of course."

"That means that I can break out the good whiskey then." Irene grabs a bottle from the bar in her luxury apartment as you tightly grip the gun that's hidden in your hand.

An eye for an eye, isn't that what they always told you?

"Yeah, the good stuff is the best." You mumble softly as you debate whether or not to pull the trigger.

She isn't completely bad since I've learned to get along with her. Yet again, I've had to broker peace between her and Dami, so maybe that's why?

The thoughts of the kids, your kids, cross your mind, and you silently turn the safety off on your gun.

Irene knows what she did. She hurt those people, and for what, exactly?

"One second, Y/N. I need to grab another glass." She quickly faces you to set a glass and her whiskey of choice down before turning around.

This is it, Y/N. You've turned all of the security cameras off. Take the shot.

You take a shaky breath before raising the gun at Irene's head.

"I think that we should have that drink another time."

TAKE THE GODDAMN SHOT!

"Oh, and when would that b-"

BAM!

~

The only guilty part of you that lies deep inside your core is awakened when Gahyeon sobs again and again after looking at the closed coffin. She continues to hold onto you for dear life as it is lowered into the ground.

You're conflicted on whether you should continue to be sad, or if you should be glad that Irene is a chip that is now forever off of your shoulder. Another look at Gahyeon tells you that the sad, dejected look on your face needs to stay put, even though you want to throw a party and celebrate.

Killing has never felt so good and deserving… why did I ever stop?

"Gahyeon… I-" Siyeon stops a step or two away from the two of you as you watch Yoohyeon and Handong follow behind. "God, I'm so sorry."

"Shit, I mean, I hated the woman…" Yoohyeon crosses her arms and shakes her head. "But death? That's too extreme, even for heroes."

"Nobody deserves to die like that." Handong grumbles to no one at all.

"Like what?" You tilt your head innocently, as if you didn't enjoy watching Irene bleed out on the floor.

"Yo-You didn't know?" Gahyeon softly asks as she looks up at you for a moment before burying her head in your arms again.

Your face heats up, but you shake away the shyness as you continue to comfort her.

"I was at home, asleep. I didn't know what happened until I woke up." You say as Siyeon sighs.

"Well, I guess a hero can never rest, right?" Siyeon shrugs as she readjusts her funeral attire. "We've got to find the people behind this."

"People?" You ask again.

"Not one person is able to take out a security system and then kill a target within 15 minutes. That's nearly impossible for a team to coordinate, but if they got lucky enough, it'd work out in their favor." Yoohyeon explains as you nod.

They have no fucking clue!

"Where's Lia and JiU?"

"Lia was out working on a project, remember? We've contacted her, but no one's heard back since." Siyeon says.

"JiU hasn't left her room since the news broke." Handong reports.

"Chaeryeong and SuA are gonna fly out for the remembrance service tomorrow. Haven't heard shit from the Asgardians, but that's typical of them. The only person who I expected something from was that sorceress, and her name was-"

"Dami." Your heart stops as your eyes connect with Dami's. She's standing farther back, and as the people file out of the cemetery, she's still silently standing there in all-black attire.

"Whoa, wait a moment, you know her?" Yoohyeon conceringly asks.

"Yeah, why?" You glance at Yoohyeon as she looks over at Siyeon and Handong.

"You two can go ahead and chase the boogeyman that's hunting superheroes. I'm staying with Y/N."

"Is that what you want?" Siyeon asks, and Yoohyeon nods.

"Yeah, it is."

Handong looks ready to object, but Siyeon places a hand across her body.

"Handong and I will be fine. It's good that you stay here with Y/N. Keep her safe, alright?" Siyeon winks before leading Handong away.

"Gahyeon, honey, you have to let me go one day or another." You try to shake her loose, but Gahyeon won't budge.

"I'm not letting you go. You're the only person I really have left. I'm staying with you, Yoohyeon, and Dami, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Gahyeon-"

"No, this is what I want. End of story." Gahyeon shuts down any sort of argument from you as you wave Dami over.

"I guess it'll be the four of us, huh?" You try to crack a smile as Yoohyeon narrows her eyes at an approaching Dami.

"Yeah, I guess so."

~

The uncomfortable atmosphere that surrounds the four of you grows to a combustible level as you enter Dami's study.

"You know, this place isn't half bad, even though it's a bit messy." Yoohyeon comments as she observes the large piles of books that cover every available surface.

"I prefer the word eccentric." Dami calmly comments before turning to face you and Gahyeon while ignoring Yoohyeon. "Tea?"

"Yes, I'd like some. Gahyeon?" You give the girl in your arms a squeeze, and she nods into your body.

"I'll make three cups, then." Dami quickly turns on her heel and heads up the stairs before Yoohyeon can say a word.

"God, she's pretentious. How can you stand her?" Yoohyeon rolls her eyes as you maneuver yourself and Gahyeon over to a nearby sofa.

Gahyeon finally lets go of you in favor of a teddy bear that was abandoned there by one of the kids.

She loved that teddy bear… and I'm sure that she would be glad that Gahyeon got to enjoy it too.

"You either get used to it, or you melt the icy layer away." You nonchalantly explain as Gahyeon hugs the teddy bear for dear life.

"So you're just numb to her asshole-ry?" Yoohyeon jokes as you try not to snort.

"You know what I meant, Yooh."

"No, I actually don't think that I do, Y/N." She teases as you stand to match her.

"I guess I'll have to show you, then~" You slyly walk over and wrap an arm around her waist as she blushes.

"Yeah, but not now, I have work to do." She slips out of your arms, and you huff.

"Work? You're not doing any work now, are you?"

"I didn't come here for social hour, Y/N." She deadpans as you gasp in surprise.

"You came here to question Dami about a murder that she did not commit?" The anger in your voice is visible, yet Yoohyeon stands her ground.

"You don't know that for sure, Y/N."

"You can't be serious right now, Yoohyeon." You fold your arms across your chest as a weak laugh escapes you. "I can't believe you! Why would you chase a dead end?"

"How do you know that Dami is a dead end? She could be the answer that we are missing! You know that the two of them did not get along, right?"

"Dami is not a killer!" You yell as Yoohyeon yells back.

"How do you know that?!?"

"We dated for three fucking years, Yoohyeon!" You scream before immediately placing a hand over your mouth.

The dejected look that crosses Yoohyeon's face makes you regret ever opening your mouth in the first place.

"...You dated her? Why?" Yoohyeon manages to say in the softest and weakest voice imaginable as you remove your hand from your mouth.

"Because she took me in when no one else wanted me, Yooh."

"What about me? What about us?"

"You were off in another country, fighting a war much greater than the two of us." You gesture between the two of you. "For the record, there was no 'us'. You made that very clear for me."

"Me? What about you? You were always ogling over some other girl. It shouldn't even surprise me that you would like Dami, anyways."

"I'm sorry, are you accusing me of cheating on you when we weren't in a relationship, or are you just that jealous and insecure about yourself?"

"Excuse me?!? If anything, you should be jealous that you don't have someone like me. I mean, look at yourself, Y/N! You're lucky that you pull in anyone at all."

"Oh shit…" Gahyeon mumbles as you give Yoohyeon the harshest stare.

"So you think I'm ugly and disgusting, huh? Am I that much of an abomination to you? Are you ashamed to be seen with me?" You ask with pain in your voice.

"Y/N, wait, that's not what I meant!" Yoohyeon reaches out for you, but you take three steps back before she can get close.

"Fuck off, Yoohyeon." You mutter under your breath before climbing up the stairs.

"Y/N, please-"

You turn around and face Yoohyeon with a deadly look in your eye.

"Do you want to know why I chose Dami over you? This is why, Yoohyeon. She doesn't degrade me every time we get into a fight. Of course, there's nagging and anger from both of us, but it's because we care about each other. You're just throwing hurtful words at me, and for what reason? So you can win an argument? You're pathetic, Yoohyeon."

Yoohyeon scoffs before speaking.

"Your looks aren't the only ugly thing about you, Y/N. Your personality is shit as well."

"I wish we never fucking met." You spit before turning around.

More tears come from your eyes, and you nearly run into Dami, who grabs your arm while balancing a tray of tea mugs and goodies.

"What's wrong, Y/N?"

"Nothing." You say as tears freely flow down your face. "You shouldn't bother asking about me, anyways."

"Y/N-" Dami sets the tray aside before pulling you into her arms. "Darling, I heard the argument from the kitchen. What did she say to you to get you this upset?"

"I-"

Yoohyeon snorts before chuckling to herself.

"You really would choose her over me, aren't you?"

"If you didn't insist on having your way, Yoohyeon, maybe you'd have a shot." Dami shoots back, but you quickly shush her.

"This isn't your fight, Dami."

"Yeah, but your fights are my fights. Let me protect you for once, like I failed to do all of those years ago." Dami insists before pushing you behind her.

You wrap your arms around her middle, and you feel her body heat up as you snuggle into her warmth.

"Know your place, witch." Yoohyeon hisses, and her anger suddenly scares you.

Something's wrong with her, but there's also got to be something wrong with me. I told myself that I enjoyed killing a woman! How can I be considered sane after that?

Dami gently pulls you off of her before slowly descending down the staircase.

"So, you come into my sanctuary, attack someone that I care about, and then expect to play investigator with me and earn my respect? Absolutely not, Yoohyeon. I am not putting up with your childish antics and games-"

"But Y/N, they-"

"I wasn't finished talking, Yoohyeon. Listen carefully because I will only repeat myself once. You shall leave this place immediately, and you will not set foot upon this sacred place until you have regained your former glory and honor. Are we clear?"

"What about Irene? She was murdered-"

"A tragedy, yes, but it doesn't give you the excuse to bully other people into giving you the answers you want to hear. Blame me for her murder all that you wish, but the sands of time will prove my innocence. Good day, Ms. Yoohyeon, and for your sake, I hope our paths never cross again."

You can tell that Yoohyeon wants to say something else, but she bites her tongue and storms out of the sanctuary.

Dami chuckles before climbing back up the stairs. She grabs the tray that she abandoned, along with your hand.

"See, Y/N? I only needed three tea cups after all."

[sesshy380]

I’m very curious about the eldritch au! What’s that all about?

I had actually posted a snippet back in January (when the brainrot was intense) (Link to post)

So the original idea came from my sister sharing a dream she had that made her want to start writing again. It was about an eldritch being that had wandered the Earth for countless millennia, and was lonely. Brain said 'That would make a great Puzzleshipping fic!'.

Going to copy/paste the premise from my docs:

Yami is an Eldritch Prince who has wandered the earth for countless millennia. One day, he stops and looks in on a happy group of friends who are vacationing together in a cabin out in the middle of the woods. He feels the awkward tug of loneliness that he has encountered at random times throughout history. One of them, a spiky-haired young man, accidentally stumbles upon him and isn’t frightened by his ‘otherworldliness’ (Yami has taken the form of a deer at this point, but that ‘other’ is still there about him). Instead, the young man appears intrigued by him. After the young man leaves and goes back to his friends, Yami can’t help but want to see more of him. The young man, Yugi, encounters him a few more times during his vacation weekend, each time not showing fear of the ‘other’. When Yugi and his friends leave, Yami feels compelled to seek out the boy. He longs to feel whatever it was that had begun to stir deep within him each time Yugi was near. He finds Yugi, following him at a distance. He attempts to disguise himself as a human to get closer to Yugi. Ryou, one of Yugi’s friends, senses that something is off with the new friend Yugi has made, and after pouring over his various books on the occult and mythical beings, believes he knows what Yami actually is. The problem is convincing Yugi that Yami is an Eldritch. A few months pass, and strange things begin happening in Domino. Strange sights, a growing number of mysterious disappearances, and Yami knows he is not the one responsible (though he does hunger, but he’s been trying his best to ignore it). Kek and Zorc (Yami Marik and Yami Bakura respectively) appear. They are Reclaimers sent to hunt down and bring Yami back to the Eldritch Plane so that he can take his place as the next Eldritch Lord (the former Lord has joined the Cosmic Void, and so his chosen successor must take his place, aka. Yami). It turns out that the mysterious disappearances of local humans are due to Zorc (Yami Bakura), who has taken the opportunity to feast while he is in the Plane of the Living. The bizarre events are due to Kek (Yami Marik) having fun at the expense of humanity. Neither have been permitted to leave the Eldritch Plane until recently (and only because they were sent on a mission to bring back Yami), but they have deviated from their goal, and are now bringing about Discord and Madness. Strange storms begin occurring as Nature attempts to correct things. Yami’s essence was hidden from Nature. Zorc and Kek’s are only semi-hidden, and acting upon their baser instincts is not helping them. That’s not all. Zorc and Kek have assumed the forms of Ryou and Marik. They need to draw from the lifeforce of the one they’ve ‘copied’. Yami is a Prince, so he is able to negate this while being Yugi’s copy. Zorc and Kek are slowly killing Ryou and Marik by being their copies. Yami must decide: Stay with the one that makes him feel something that he cannot describe and would give anything to hold onto, or take his place as the next Eldritch Lord and never see Yugi again in order to set things right.

I have over 5k poured into the details alone of this idea. I normally don't 'plot' by writing things down, but this was one idea that would not let go until I did. I have a few small scenes (like the one linked...it's actually the longest), breakdowns on the different types of Eldritch seen and how they affect the world around them, how the transformations work, etc.

I will write this in it's entirety one day...it's just being able to put the focus on it that's stopping me atm. I am bound and determined to finish my current longfic before I attempt to take on something of equal magnitude.