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honeypiehotchner · 4 years

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illicit affairs (Spencer Reid one-shot)

This is wayyy overdue! It’s just been sitting in my drafts, waiting for me to edit her, but she’s finally here. This is very loosely based on Taylor Swift’s song of the same title. And it’s 100% me writing out some feelings through fanfiction, so it’s also loosely based on true events. Enjoy!

Summary: You and Spencer have been “dating” without a label for a few months now, until you witness something that has you wondering if it was too good to be true (as always).

Warnings: it’s so dramatic. Angst with a happy ending!

Spencer has no fucking clue what he did.

Well, to be more accurate, Spencer has no idea if he even did anything at all.

One second the two of you were acting as normal as ever, attached at the hip and nothing less, and the next you’re barely able to look at him. You won’t speak to him, you insist you’re fine, and you ask him to leave you alone -- please.

A new case comes and he thinks things will fall back into their rightful place. He expects you to sit with him on the plane, but you choose the farthest seat away from him. He expects you’ll be paired with him when he says he’ll go to the local station to work on victimology, but instead you agree to Morgan’s offer to look at the crime scene.

He’s desperate. He’s a so-called genius, and he’s losing his mind.

“Morgan, help me out here, man,” Spencer pleads, cornering Morgan when he’s getting a coffee. He’s just returned from the crime scene with you, but of course, you’ve ducked away from Spencer.

Derek’s eyebrows raise. Slowly, he turns around, eyeing the desperate genius. “You’re asking for my advice?”

“She won’t talk to me,” Spencer whispers, eyes cutting to you, but only for a second. He doesn’t want you to think he’s creepily staring at you all the time. So far, you haven’t caught him (that he knows of).

“Well, what did you do?” Morgan asks like the answer should be blatantly obvious.

“I don’t know!”

“Alright, let me rephrase that for you,” Morgan’s tone is bordering on teasing, but he can’t help it. The resident genius of the BAU is having trouble talking to a woman. Who knew? “Have you done anything that would lead her to believe you’re not interested in her anymore?”

“What? No!”

“Think, Reid,” Morgan replies, tipping his cup of coffee in the air. “And when you figure it out, apologize.”

He leaves without another word. Morgan joins you and Emily back in the room where the team has set up base. You share a particularly heated look with Morgan, but he shakes his head, letting you know he didn’t betray your confidence. You relax.

Spencer doesn’t know this, but earlier when you were riding with Morgan to the crime scene, you confided in him.

It had been completely accidental. Something about car rides brings out the need to ask for advice. Maybe it’s the fact that there’s the road to focus on, or the case to segway into, you don’t know. But what you do know, is that when you confided in Morgan, he shook his head, and called Spencer a dumbass.

“Hypothetically,” you had begun, and Morgan remembers wondering if you were going to talk about the case, but you didn’t. “If you’ve been talking-- flirting with a guy and going on a few dates over the past few months -- but there’s no label -- but so if you’ve been doing all this and then you suddenly see him outside his apartment hugging another woman -- like arms around her waist kind of deal, face in her neck...what does that mean?”

Morgan had nearly slammed on the brakes. Reid? A two-timer? He never would’ve guessed. The kid could barely get his words out when he first met you, and now he’s playing you?

“Well, hypothetically,” Morgan played into your game. “I’d be suspicious. Personally, I don’t just hug any woman like that if I don’t have other intentions,” he shook his head. What you’re describing is intimate, especially for Reid. “You’re right to think something else is going on.”

“Who said it was about me?”

Morgan looked at you with his usual knowing stare. Sometimes you forget you’re all profilers. You’ve made deals not to profile one another, but you’re sure it still happens. You all have another silence agreement to never voice it aloud, unless needed.

“Fine,” you caved, crossing your arms over your chest. “I don’t know, I just-- I was going to drop off his stupid jacket that he left in my car the night before, and I saw him hugging her right on his doorstep and she kissed his cheek and I just-- I bolted. I don’t know.” You had let out a frustrated sigh. “I thought he was different.”

“If it helps,” Morgan shrugged, “I’ll kick his ass.” He might protect Reid like a mother hen, but he’s not afraid to give him a hard time, either.

“No, no, don’t,” you groaned. “I’m just gonna keep my distance. No sense in putting effort into something that clearly is never going to happen.”

“Oh, come on, don’t talk like that,” Morgan said. You used to talk that way all the time when you first started at the BAU, but it slowly died out the more you hung out with Spencer. Morgan connected the dots, but never told you.

“You know I’ve never been in a relationship?”

This time, Morgan did slam on the brakes.

“What?”

“Never,” you shook your head, motioning for him to keep driving. “Not one. They all fall through. I started thinking something was wrong with me, you know?” Morgan gave you another look, his sad, big brother one this time. “But then Spencer and I started getting closer, he took me on what I thought, I guess, were a couple of dates. I mean, he paid and drove and walked me to my door and all that cute shit. That’s a date, right? I mean, he never kissed me on the lips, but it’s Spencer.” You didn’t even look to see Morgan’s reaction, but he was nodding. “I started to think maybe it was never me, maybe it was the guys--”

“It was the guys,” Morgan argued. “Alright? You’re amazing. Anyone would be lucky to have you. It would be a damn honor. Don’t let that head of yours convince you otherwise.”

You shook your head, the crime scene rapidly approaching. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

You were out of the car and introducing yourself to the police on the scene before Morgan could even blink.

Morgan can only hope Reid had a good reason for having a woman at his door and hugging her, and letting her kiss his cheek. Reid doesn’t give hugs to just anyone, let alone accept a kiss, so whoever it was, obviously she was more than a friend.

The thought of Reid being a player makes Morgan smile. On the one hand, he’s a little bit proud. On the other, he’s pissed. It’s one thing to have one night stands with women who are into that sort of thing, but it’s another to drag someone along -- someone like you, someone who is too good, who deserves better than that.

Morgan had thought about telling you to just talk to Spencer, in hopes that there was a good reason for what you saw, but you’ve made it painfully clear over the past two weeks that you’d rather keep your distance instead.

So, he lets you. He can’t say that he blames you, really. Not after what you told him. He can only hope Spencer will figure this one out before it’s too late.

+++

After the case is closed and you’re back home, you immediately head for the shower. Cases are exhausting enough, but avoiding Spencer made it worse. Going from being attached at the hip to trying to be anywhere except in the same room as him took a toll on you. Not to mention, dodging everyone else’s worried looks. Morgan is the only one you’ve confided in, but that hasn’t stopped Hotch, Emily, JJ, and even Garcia from constantly asking if you’re alright.

Once you’re finished showering and in your pajamas, you head back to the living area. Spencer’s forgotten cardigan lays on the arm of your couch, lonely.

You know you shouldn’t, but you shrug it on anyway. No harm in wearing it. Not like he misses it. He probably has a hundred others.

You head to the kitchen to make yourself some tea, hoping it’ll soothe your nerves and help you drift off to sleep before your mind has the time to make you think of Spencer.

Too late.

Sighing heavily, you place the kettle on the stove. You hum a song while you’re at it, knowing that you’re being endlessly dramatic.

It’s not like you had sex with Spencer. Hell, the most the two of you did was hold hands and you kissed his cheek. He kissed your head once, though you think it was an accident.

Still, there was never a label. Why are you so upset?

Don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby/Look at this idiotic fool that you made me

It’s stupid, really, how hung up you are over this. A few dates don’t exactly mean anything at all. Flirting nowadays can mean nothing, too. You don’t understand any of it.

You cup your cheek gently, foolishly wondering what it would feel like if Spencer’s hand was there instead -- maybe even as he kissed you, but you don’t want to get too carried away. It’s not like anything will ever happen now.

And you know damn well/for you I would ruin myself/a million little times

Maybe you just need more time. This was the first time in a long time that you had let your guard down, let yourself go on dates. So many times it had all gone wrong, so you closed yourself off and focused on your career. You thought since you were stable at the BAU that now it was okay.

You thought Spencer -- Spencer Reid, of all people, you really thought he would’ve been different.

Maybe it’s just your type. Maybe that’s who you attract. The men who don’t want anything serious and never will. They’re stuck in Peter Pan mode. You must be Wendy. It must be a curse.

The kettle boils and you cut the burner off, fixing your tea.

You’re just walking back to the living room when there’s a knock on your door. You freeze, your panicked mind expecting the absolute worst, until you hear Spencer’s voice.

“Y/N?” He calls out. “It’s Spencer-- You probably knew that already.”

You smile into your tea, but you make no move for the door. You want-- no, you ache to let him inside, but you know it’s a bad idea. He’s probably here to ask if you’re alright, and you don’t have the energy to answer him. He’s probably going to go back to his girlfriend after this. You really don’t know that you can handle a face-to-face rejection.

“Y/N, please,” Spencer says again, pleading. He knocks once more, quietly. “I see lights are on, so I’m just going to...assume you can hear me.”

You walk a step closer. You don’t want to let him inside, but maybe you can listen. That won’t be too bad, right?

“Y/N, I’m...I’m sorry.”

Oh, tears. Stupid, stupid tears. You wipe them on the sleeve of his cardigan, glad that they’re at least falling quietly right now.

“I don’t know what I did, but I’m...I’m just sorry and I miss you and it’s killing me that you won’t even look at me. I…” Spencer pauses, and you walk closer, biting on the sleeve to keep from letting out a sob. “I’m sorry, I don’t… Please, just tell me what I did.”

You press your back to the door, sliding down until you hit the floor. You keep your knees against your chest and set the mug of tea down next to you. The noise causes Spencer’s ears to perk up.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

“Yeah, Spencer,” you barely speak loud enough for him to hear. “It’s me.”

“Please, tell me what I did,” he pleads, voice breaking. Is he crying, too? “I don’t know what it was, but I’ll fix it. Or I’ll try-- Please, let me try.”

“Spencer…” You sigh, tears falling down your cheeks with no restraint. “Be honest with me, are you seeing someone else?” You pause, choking on a sob. So many times you’ve had this conversation, the rejection, finding out you weren’t the one they wanted. Too many times. But none of them ever hurt this bad. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“What?” Spencer nearly falls over. Why on earth would you think that? “What are you talking about? Of course not.”

“Don’t lie to me, please,” you groan, pressing your hand to your forehead. This is pathetic. You shouldn’t be showing him how upset you are. And through a door, no less. Can you get any more dramatic?

“What are you talking about?”

“I was at your apartment, Spencer,” you mutter, wiping angrily at your cheeks. “I went to drop off this stupid cardigan of yours and you-- You were hugging a woman outside your door and I saw it and I saw her kiss you--”

You cut yourself off, choking on another sob, and Spencer sighs. He understands now.

“Open the door. Please,” he says.

“Why?” You reply quietly. “If you’re just going to reject me, please, just do it through the door.” The last thing you want is for him to see you like this when he tells you he’s seeing someone else, that he didn’t even know you liked him, and so on.

“I’m not rejecting you,” he says softly. “Please.”

You know it’s a bad idea, but how much worse can things get?

You stand to your feet and open the door, careful of the mug of tea on the floor. Spencer’s heart drops at the sight of you. Tear stains on your cheeks, red eyes, your quivering lip as you try to hold things together, and...his cardigan hanging off your shoulders. Somehow the last tops it all off, sends a strike of pain right to his heart.

You wipe some more tears away with the sleeve, motioning for him to start talking. “Go on.”

“She’s an old friend. We did kiss before, once. But she’s not my girlfriend. She was in town and wanted to stop by to tell me she’s getting married...to her girlfriend of three years.”

You nod slowly. For some reason, that doesn’t even make you feel better. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Spencer asks, hopeful tone and all. “Are we okay?”

“What are we, Spencer?” You ask, eyes still watering. “I can’t keep going on the way we were going, you know? It’s agonizing, I just want to know what’s going on in your head.”

Spencer smiles softly. “I want you to...to be my girlfriend.”

Your ears are deceiving you. They must be. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I thought it was obvious,” he chuckles. “That’s one of the things I talked to her about -- her name’s Jess. She invited me-- us to the wedding. I was gonna ask you to be my girlfriend-- I still want to, I mean, if you’ll have me.”

More tears spring to your eyes and Spencer’s heart jumps, thinking he did something completely wrong.

“What happened? Did I say something?”

“No,” you shake your head. “God.” You wipe at your cheeks before turning and retreating back into your apartment. Spencer has no choice but to follow you.

He spots your mug of tea and places it on the coffee table as he shuts your front door gently with his foot.

“I’m so...stupid,” you mutter, jumping when you see he’s followed you inside. He’s not unwelcome here by any means, you’re just an idiot. A huge idiot.

“You’re not stupid,” he argues. “I wish you would’ve talked to me.”

“Would you believe me if I told you this has happened to me before?” You murmur pathetically, propping your body against the arm of your couch.

Spencer’s heart breaks more. You won’t look at him again.

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, clasping your hands together, fighting the shakes. “I should’ve talked to you, I just-- This has happened before and those times it was… Well, you know.” You finally look up at him, tears falling. “The first time the guy didn’t even try hiding it. The second one did, but not very well because I still found out. The third wasn’t even aware that he was flirting with me, I guess. I don’t know how you can take someone on dates for months and not be aware, but he said he wasn’t.” You pause, looking away again. “I just saw a pattern and I freaked out and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Spencer whispers, even though you still feel like it’s not.

You shake your head.

“Y/N, it is,” he presses on. “I should’ve...talked to you about how I’m feeling, but I was scared. You’re the first girl that’s-- I don’t know, liked me for me, I guess. Dorkiness and all.”

You chuckle, and Spencer nearly grins. He got a laugh. That’s something.

“How about we both make a deal to communicate better?” He offers. You nod, so he keeps going. “I’ll go first. I really want you to be my girlfriend.”

You can’t help but smile now, all dumb and trying to hide it in the sleeve of his cardigan. “I’d really love to be your girlfriend.”

“Yeah?” He asks, almost like he wasn’t even expecting you to agree, but you nod, confirming it for his genius brain.

The kiss the two of you share is a long time coming. It’s gentle and warm, relaxing your muscles and easing the tension you’ve held in them for the past two weeks. Spencer gathers you in his arms, keeping you close, with zero intent of ever letting you go.

+++

When you walk into the BAU the next morning, you are painfully reminded that you are surrounded by the best profilers in the country.

It’s no secret that you and Spencer have been “dating” for a while, but you never showed PDA -- partly because the two of you were fumbling around your true feelings, and partly because you’re not too sure how relationships stand with protocol here.

Apparently, despite coming in fifteen minutes apart from one another, everyone can see right through you both.

Morgan is the first to say something. He catches you when the elevator doors open and you have Spencer’s cardigan hanging over your shoulders. In your defense, Spencer forgot to grab it when he left your house sometime this morning, so you were just trying to return it -- again.

“Late night?” Morgan raised his eyebrows.

Realizing your mistake, your eyes widen. “Shut up.” You step off the elevator and point a threatening finger in his face. “Not a word.”

Morgan’s hands raise in surrender, but he still has that goddamn smile on his face. “Might wanna take off that cardigan, sweetheart. You’re too obvious.”

Angrily, you shrug it off and walk into the bullpen.

Spencer is at his desk, so you shove his cardigan into his chest. “You forgot this.”

Upon seeing that it’s you, Spencer’s lips stretch into a grin. “Thanks.” He pauses, folding the cardigan over his arm. “I was kind of hoping you’d keep it,” he whispers, eyes darting around to be sure no one is listening. “It looks better on you, anyway.”

You bite down hard on the inside of your cheek. “Give it to me tonight, then,” you wink, earning a light blush on Spencer’s cheeks.

Hotch watches this encounter from the railing and smiles. He’s sure neither of you will do anything to warrant him giving you a stern talk about relationships and work, so he won’t mention anything for now.

Instead, he retreats back into his office, glad you’ve finally gotten over yourselves.

Garcia catches on when you come to visit her in her office only to find Spencer already standing there. He’s animatedly talking about Doctor Who, but stops abruptly when he sees you. It doesn’t take a profiler to understand the glances, the smiles, and awkward goodbyes that were shared so you could ask Garcia a question.

Prentiss is just glad the two of you will look at one another again, but the way you keep glancing over her shoulder to see Spencer is more than obvious. It’s so obvious that Prentiss and JJ share a knowing look, but say nothing. They should’ve placed bets.

You and Spencer catch each other’s eyes more than a dozen times every hour, and he follows you to the break room to conveniently get a coffee at the same time as you.

Yeah, you’re not being obvious at all.

Neither of you notice that the team has caught on, so you take your chances when you find yourselves alone in the break room. You can practically hear the conversations the rest of the team is having out in the bullpen, so you let Spencer pull you into his arms, his chin resting on top of your head.

This is a lot for Spencer, and you too, if you’re honest. Hugs are something you never found yourself enjoying, but when you’re tucked into Spencer’s chest, you never want to leave.

You’re both too busy holding one another to hear Hotch’s footsteps as he enters the room. The clearing of his throat is what finally breaks the two of you apart.

“Agent Hotchner,” you blurt, straightening yourself and taking one too many steps away from Reid.

Hotch smirks. You haven’t called him that since your first day. “New case. Looks like a short one. Conference room in five minutes.”

And he leaves as quick as he came, chuckling under his breath.

You and Spencer share a look before dissolving into laughter and fixing your coffee. You don’t try to walk out of the break room separately, knowing that there’s no use.

Especially not when you get cold on your way to the conference room, and Spencer promptly wraps you in his cardigan.

#criminal minds #spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fluff #angst #fluff #angst with a happy ending #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction

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mimik-u · 4 years

Text

“Together Forever” Thoughts:

Connverse FaceTime!!

I really like how this episode’s title plays on the first Stevonnie episode.

Steven glows pink, distressed at just how far Connie’ll go if she’s accepted to Jayhawk. 😭

SAPPHIRE! RUBY!

“Have a nice day with the scouts, beautiful!” 🥺 I’m tender

Ugh, I’m so glad the show has continued with the idea of Garnet occasionally splitting so Ruby and Sapphire can individually pursue their own interests from time to time!

“On my own, I feel lost and stuck... Ruby, what do I want?” 😭😭

EIIEDJDJDJSJ, that Disney sweeping camera spin of Steven declaring that Connie is his future.

NO, RUBY. DON’T SUGGEST THAT HE PROPOSES, HELP. THEY’RE CHILDREN

“Steven, right on time.” JDJDJSSJ

Please, Sapphire. Pls b the voice of reason here. Pls? I’m beggin g

CVVVDFVVVGG, well, she’s being the voice of complicated equations, so that’s something, I guess

“We can write equations in the sand all that, but a wave of chance can just come crashing in and wash it all away.” 😭😭😭 Oh, that’s so pretty. And I’m tender about the way she gently holds his hand.

“Love—it’s unquantifiable. Even with my clairvoyance, I know better than anyone that true love makes the impossible possible.” 😭

NO, SAPPHIRE. NO. DON’T ENCOURAGE THE SIXTEEN-YEAR OLD TO PROPOSE TO THE FOURTEEN-YEAR OLDFNRJDOFOFODODODODODODODIDNS STOP

😭😭😭😭

This episode is going to end with me having secondhand embarrassment, isn’t it

“Steven Quartz Cutiepie Demayo Diamond Universe.” GBBVVDDRTGBBBBGDDR

I can’t watch this happy Steven montage in earnestness because I know this isn’t going to end well oh my go d

Daw, Connie having a picture of Steven pinned above her desk

UGH, THEM HOLDING HANDS ON THE BEACH AT SUNSET!!! PRETTY!

And very evocative of “Alone Together.”

Ugh, the boy even threw a beautiful picnic together 🥺 why can’t you just give her a promise ring or ask her on a fancy date or say that you love her, Steven 😭😭😭😭 why must you p r op ose

I keep pausing this episode omg because I can’t deal with him eventually being crushed

The shot of Connie, kneeling, listening to Steven’s song as the wind rifles through her hair, is chef’s kiss

UGH, this song is so pretty.

He even brought jam and bread bc jam buds 😭😭😭

NO STEVEN DON’T BEND ON ONE KNEE STBOPJHHFDDGHP

OH, GOD HE’S PROPOSING WITH A GLOW BRACELET. THAT’S SO SWEET, BUT ALSO SAVE THIS FOR LIKE FIVE TO TEN YEARS DOWN THE LINE, BUDDY.

“Let’s get married and live as Stevonnie.” I’m going to 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Steven, honey, no

And you know... I think it’s really telling that he throws the Stevonnie proposal in, too. Yes, Steven feels more confident as Stevonnie, but he forgets the fundamental thing about fusion—the very thing Garnet had to learn herself throughout the main series. The components of a fusion have their own individual wants and needs. Connie wants to go to college. Sapphire teaches lectures at Little Homeworld. Ruby leads a scout troop.

But, of course, Steven doesn’t realize this part, because fundamentally, he doesn’t know what he wants, and he’s craving some sort of stability. Or maybe, more accurately, he’s craving someone to lose himself in. He can do that with Connie. He can do that as Stevonnie.

I am in paiin for this poor boy, but Connie is speaking nothing but the truth. 😭

Sapphire, how the actual hell did you not see this outcome 😭😭😭😭😭

“... but I want to be my own person, too.” Yeah.

Connie delicately maneuvers through the picnic items to hug Steven, trying to reassure him that she still cares for him deeply, even though she’s rejecting his proposal now. She’s so good. 😭

“We’ll talk about it later.” No, you won’t, Steven. You’ll repress it deep down inside with all the rest of your feelings until they explode. 😭

STEVEN CREATING A CRATER IN THE GROUND WITH THE FORCE OF HIS FEELINGS. JESUS

Exploding the entire picnic, the detritus scattered around like the aftermath of a hurricane. 😭

Oh, my God, him laying there ‘til night and sitting up to see Garnet there, waiting for him. The silent implication is that she’s been here for a long time, wanting him to take all the time he needs to sit up when he can.

Ugh, and she cleaned up the picnic basket for him. Best mom.

“You can’t trust love advice from those two hopeless romantics.”

“Then why didn’t you stop me?” / “Because there was no future where you didn’t propose to Connie.” I’m just a little confused on this one. Is she talking about today or in Steven’s future overall (like, he would eventually propose to her years down the line)? It was Ruby who planted the seeds of proposal in Steven’s head, right? He was just looking for advice and wasn’t strictly thinking about proposal? Or, is the implication that even if Garnet had tried to stop him, he would have continued on anyway?

At any rate, this advice is really good—you can’t fill the holes in your life with people, even the ones you love, even the ones who love you back.

And I think it’s really good that Garnet acknowledges that she knows there’s a hole in Steven’s life, one she can’t fix either. And so maybe I’m answering my own question. Perhaps Garnet didn’t interfere because she knew that attempting to solve one problem, whether she failed or succeeded, wouldn’t get to the root of what’s really bothering Steven. And that’s why she was there for the aftermath and not the blow.

“I’m doing it anyway.” / Garnet looks down, her voice sad: “I know.” Because she knows, even now, that Steven stuffing his face with cake, isn’t a corrective to all the inner turmoil he has on the inside. And the sadness comes from knowing it, but being unable to do anything about it.

Because Steven ultimately has to be the one to introspect.

God, this episode.

#steven universe #connie maheswaran #ruby #sapphire #garnet #rupphire #connverse #s: future #mimiku

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jobrookekarev · 3 years

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Here are my top writing suggestions or advice that I’ve learned over the years and from the few creative writing classes that I took in college.

Take everything someone says to you about writing with a grain of salt. What works for them, might not work for you.

Don't delete anything! Who knows maybe one day you'll read it again d be inspired again either continue it or write something new.

Which brings us to the next point, write everything down! All those little ideas that run around in your head write them down. If they're still running around in your head a week from when you first got them, then you know that those ideas are worth pursuing.

Have a folder and label it ‘Little Darlings.’ For every paragraph or every line that doesn't quite fit, but you like, instead of deleting it put it in this folder. You can put it in the folder and forget about it, or you can go back to it occasionally. Sometimes it's nice to have a document full of all of those little lines that were absolutely perfect, but just not for the story you wanted to tell.

Don't feel guilty for any of your unfinished work.

Writing is a stylistic choice. Which means that you don't have to follow the rules of proper grammar or formatting.

However, you want to make sure that someone can actually read what you write. When formatting your story you should use the phrase TIP TOP (Time, Place, Topic, Person). When time passes, they moved to a new location, a new topic comes up, or a new person speaks, hit the enter key, and create a new paragraph.

Writing is all about emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Don't be afraid to go on and on about how what a character is feeling, that's what helps your readers connect with the characters.

You don't have to write every day, every week, or even every month, we all have busy schedules and a life outside of our writing. It's important to take a break from your writing, but don't let it stop you from writing altogether. A lot of people will tell you that you should write a least a 100 words a day for an hour or so, but I don’t think that a consistent schedule is constraining so just find that little bit of time that works in your schedule.

Take a break in between writing, editing, and posting. Let your work marinate, who knows maybe you'll add something or change something for the better.

When you get stuck in the middle of wright a scene, but you have an idea for the next scene use brackets and say [Come back to this later] and then, continue with your writing. You can always go back and add more to the fill in the blanks or bridge the scenes.

Also, use these brackets in place of when you have to do research for something like. For instance, if you need to know which bone in the body is in the hand or what kind of sword of mid-century pirate would use just add a bracket titled [Research] keep going. Then come back when your done and add your research

Don't let your research time overtake your writing time. It’s important to be semi-accurate about certain things like what size of shoes a two-year-old would wear. Last week I had to Google this because the kids I work with are 6 and up, but I don't need to know what specific brand is the best for toddlers’ feet. All I needed was shoe size, style, and color. Be specific when necessary otherwise be general about things.

Also when you're researching, it's always best to get first-hand reports. Watch YouTube videos and read interviews or ask someone who has experience or works in the field that you're researching.

If you're staring at a blank page close the page and walk away. Do something that always gets your creativity going, be it a walk, a shower, or a nap, and then come back to it.

Never compare the number of words that you can write in one day to the number of words someone else can.

If you need to force, but keep getting distracted lock yourself out of your technology or set a timer. I used the Cold Turkey writing app, which locks your computer and leaves you with just an open word document. I like to set the number of words to something easy that’s just enough to get the flow going.

And last, but most importantly is that sometimes writing is fun, sometimes it’s a chore, but the moment it starts to be something that you absolutely dread doing. STOP.

Unless it's your job for your homework, and you have to do it. Creative writing is something that you do for yourself, it should never be something that you hate. I do it because I love putting pen to paper writing a story that I want to read, and then sharing it with other people.

I used to work this retail job it was your typical 9 to 5 cashiers, interacting with the public and so many Karen's all day. I was still in college and still working on my degree and it felt like my life wasn't going anywhere. I started writing and posting my work because it gave me a sense of accomplishment. It felt like I was working on something that had a clear finish line. It also helped me express my emotions and deal with the things that we're going on in my life. And on the days when it was too much when all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch tv, that's what I did, because writing was the hobby that I loved but it wasn't my job to do.

Anyway, I hope this helps anyone who needs it. If anyone ever needs writing advice, editing advice, a beta reader, or someone to help them do research, I still have access to a college level research library, (shh, don't tell my former uni. my passcode still works) and I'm always happy to do research.

#writing #editing #fanfiction #young writers #WIP's #writing ideas #writing advice #jolex #avalance #grey's anatomy #grey's anatomy fanfic

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retrievablememories · 4 years

Text

dress it up | taeyong

title: dress it up pairing: taeyong x black!reader genre: fluff? request: “Hello I sent this request a couple weeks ago right when request followed I just wanted to resend since it’s open again ❤️: I was wondering if you could write with something with taeyong and a black oc. I really like taeyong’s sense of style and I feel like he’d be a great brand ambassador. I was thinking something about him and reader meeting at like a fashion show.” word count: 3.6k warnings: some cursing, a lil vulgar language, some alcohol use a/n: i don’t have a clue how the fashion industry works and got most of my research from a cosmopolitan article, but here’s my take on it 🤡 i struggled with how to approach the plot and feel like it might be a little dry? so i apologize if it’s lacking :/

“This year’s fashion show is going to be interesting, I think. I heard a few of those guys from NCT are coming.” Your friend Diana comes over to the couch where you’re sitting and tumbles over the back of it, landing halfway in your lap. You shout as she does, narrowly avoiding spilling your bowl of cereal.

“NCT? Which ones?” You try to crowd closer to her phone to see if it has the answers; she’s been unable to come away from it for the last half-hour. She twists away from you so you won’t be able to see the screen, but it’s a little too late for that. “Ugh, don’t tell me you’re texting that idiot again. I thought you said you were done with him.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She chuckles nervously. “Anyway, it’s not 100% confirmed yet, but some of the reports have mentioned there’s gonna be Taeyong...ain’t he the leader or something like that?”

“I’m sure. Didn’t you know? I think he might be the same one who’s been on Melanie’s radar for a bit...”

“Melanie?” Diana’s head springs up from the couch cushion.

You nudge her and laugh. “Don’t look so shocked, she makes good choices sometimes.”

The other girl shakes her head. “Huh. I highly doubt it. The last few models she scouted were major divas and you know this. Who is going to sit all day and pick all the M&Ms out of trail mix? I don’t get paid enough for this bullshit.”

“Either way, keep looking. Whether you hate her choices or not, we’re still gonna need some fresh faces for this new ad campaign.”

Diana sighs and waves her hand. “I got it.”

“You should probably make sure you find more prospects this time, too. Jasmine was tryna throw shade last time because she had, like, 2 more than you.”

“Oh girl, fuck that. No one cares if you have more prospects if they’re all a bunch of Insta influencers and bored rich kids who bought their way onto the runway.”

You both laugh out loud at that, though Diana’s quickly distracted again when she gets a message.

“Don’t think I’m gonna forget about you and your man troubles, either. You need to leave that clown alone,” you say, pushing her off as you get up to go to the kitchen.

“Whatever! Just let me have my fun, it ain’t nothing serious.”

The day of the show is hectic, though that’s expected. There’s always someone—or a group of someones—running around like a chicken with their head cut off with how much work there is to do, getting people in their right seats and making sure the models are dressed properly.

You, Melanie, and Diana try to stick together for the most part, though Melanie quickly makes Diana weary with her nonstop talking. Jasmine is nowhere to be found, but you know she’s there somewhere. She got the same invite the rest of you did.

“Liza is gonna be pissed if Jasmine doesn’t show up,” Melanie comments. “Can’t get a good story with no editors on the job.”

“Are you not an editor anymore, then?” Diana says, unamused. “We’re here, too. We don’t need that girl to do our own jobs.”

Melanie sighs. “Well, I’m just saying...”

“Calm down,” you tell Diana. “We’ll do fine either way. See, this is what happens when you don’t listen to me; you’ve let this bum dude get you all wound up.”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t start that here, let’s just find our seats.”

The three of you sit a little further back in the crowd with the rest of the editors, bloggers, and whoever else has come to get the scoop. The more famous people—aka, the celebrities and fashion designers—sit near the front for all to see. It’s like watching a bunch of pretty, puffed-up peacocks strut around and mingle together. Some of them clearly want to be noticed even more than the models, though all the attention they get isn’t the favorable kind.

Melanie makes an excited noise next to you, and Diana looks to see what’s reacting to, then perks up herself. “Look, there they are.” Diana nearly has to shout in your ear over the noise, nodding her head in a direction several feet away from your group. Just as she’s said, there is Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, and Yuta walking to their seats.

“Yep, that’s them,” you reply. “Are you gonna go talk to them after the show?”

“Me!? That might be better suited for you guys,” Diana says, looking at you and Melanie nervously. You laugh at her sudden change in demeanor.

“Come on. What’s wrong? They’re just men, and we’ve worked with plenty of attractive clients before.”

“I know, but…” Diana trails off, a skeptical expression written all over her face. “They’re just, uh, way prettier than I expected them to be. It’s a bit shocking.” You snort at that.

“You can’t be serious.”

Melanie rolls her eyes at the indecisiveness. “I will gladly do it if neither of you will.”

“I never said I wouldn’t,” you interject. “Just let me and Melanie handle the kpop idols and you can talk to the Instagram influencers who work your nerves so much.” You laugh, and Diana sighs, crossing her legs.

“Sure, sure.” As you all wait for the show to start, Diana sits up again. “Oh, there’s the bitch.”

You and Melanie both look. She must obviously be referring to Jasmine, who’s sitting with another group of fashion editors nearby and apparently having the time of her life. “As long as she don’t come back around here, I don’t care…” you say, sitting back in your seat.

“Nah, but let me find out she’s kissing a rival company’s ass. That sounds like information the boss could use, if you know what I mean.”

You laugh at that. “Girl. Not this snitching shit.”

“More mess.” Melanie shakes her head.

The show starts soon after, with the surrounding lights dimming a bit and the main spotlights illuminating the runway. There are a few speakers who introduce the show’s concept before the models come out, and then the music begins, loud enough to make your eardrums rattle.

The fashion show itself seems to go on forever, all the models and their outfits blending into one colorful mass of fabric and glitter. You still take notes the whole time, though, as you’ve been taught to do since you took the job. Even if you’re bored with the celebrities, the music, or the show itself, you still have to bring something good back home.

Possibly the most important of the show, there’s always time after it ends—and before the after party begins—for everyone to mingle and network. This is primetime for the editors and bloggers, who do their best to make as many connections and unforgettable first impressions as possible. Even if you don’t get an interview or deal that day, it’s always possible to make yourself memorable enough that they’ll reach out to you later.

You don’t plan on going home empty-handed today, though.

Making your way to the NCT members is not particularly easy, though you didn’t quite expect it to be. Many others are also determined on getting next to them, whether it’s to admire their looks, try their luck, or make an actual business proposition.

Finally, you and Melanie worm your way to the front of the crowd after some other editors have left. You quickly discover that, despite your earlier teasing, your friend was right; they really are much prettier up-close and in-person.

Taeyong, especially, is hard to look away from. Making eye contact with him makes you feel a bit flustered, which you aren’t quite expecting. You quickly get used to seeing celebrities in this line of work, which diminishes the starstruck factor after a while.

He’s the only member not currently talking to someone else, and you snatch that chance before someone else can jump in; you can already see another editor from one of your rival companies making a beeline for him.

“Um, hi! I’m Y/N and this is my coworker Melanie...we’re with InStyle Magazine. It’s great to see you here.”

Taeyong smiles at you warmly and shakes both of your hands. His hand is soft in yours, and his rings are cool against your skin. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Taeyong.”

“Did you enjoy the show today?” you ask. Another thing you’ve learned is that it’s better to make some kind of human connection with someone before asking them for any kind of favor. Unfortunately, not every editor follows that advice.

“Yes, it was amazing. Really exciting.” He raises his eyebrows. “Did you enjoy it, too?”

“Oh of course, it was great! So much fun, thank you for asking.” Melanie nods along to your words. “You’re pretty fashionable yourself,” you say to him, gesturing to his outfit. “But I’m sure you already know that; we’ve seen quite a few of your best looks.”

Taeyong shrugs as if he’s bashful about it, though his bright smile tells another story. “It’s a way to express myself...I mean, besides music, so it’s nice to go all-out.”

You smile. “It’s a great gift to be able to express yourself however you like. What would you think about exploring that with us at Instyle? I think it’d be a great opportunity to get to know you and your groupmates better, especially with how fashion-forward you all are. Is that something that would interest you?”

“I’m interested, and I’m sure the others would be into it, too. Maybe our managers can work something out?” Taeyong turns to the manager standing beside him and says something in Korean, and the manager appears to think something over for a moment before nodding.

Melanie jumps into the conversation next. “We also have connects with pretty popular brands right now, like Vetements. We can’t guarantee any deals outright, but it never hurts to get in touch. They’ve been looking for some new faces lately, and honestly, you’re a perfect fit in my eyes.” Melanie places her hands over her heart at the last sentence, and you giggle a little. She always knows how to pour the compliments on thick.

Taeyong’s smile is modest as he says, “Thank you.”

You end up swapping contact info—your boss’s number for their manager’s digits—so something can be arranged, and you text Liza immediately to let her know what’s up.

“Again, thank you so much for sparing your time today, you’re so kind,” Melanie gushes. You can practically see the stars sparkling in her eyes through her round glasses as she shakes Taeyong’s hand again, holding his with both of hers. You try not to laugh at this. Despite her history of less-than-stellar picks, she’s not usually one to let the inner fangirl slip, but now even her composure is being tested.

Still, your own insides get a bit mushy when he turns to you again and takes your hand. “Yes, thank you. We really appreciate it.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Taeyong’s eyes seem to linger on yours a little longer than necessary. Or maybe the pounding music has finally rattled your brain loose. Either way, you enjoy the moment for what it is before bidding your goodbyes and walking back through the crowd with Melanie.

You throw your arm around her shoulders, and she leans into you like she’s going to faint. “God. Was that real?!”

“If it wasn’t, please don’t pinch me yet.”

“We’ve already gotten the best of the best, so if you ask me, we deserve a damn drink right now.” Melanie pretends to throw a shot back and you laugh.

“Girl, not so fast. We still have to try to recruit a few more if that deal doesn’t work out. Liza won’t let us hear the end of it otherwise.” You sigh, not feeling very enthusiastic about it either, but decide to steel yourself for a long evening ahead.

The after party that night is packed with people; many are the same ones from the fashion show earlier, though there are also new faces. Diana rejoined you while you were both getting ready at the hotel and managed to wring all the details out of Melanie about your meetup with the group. Even now while sitting in the lounge, she still goes on about it.

“I still can’t believe this shit is really happening.”

“If the boss wants it to happen, then it’s likely gonna happen,” Melanie says.

Diana leans back against her lounge seat, nursing her drink and smiling to herself. “Jasmine is gonna drop dead when she hears about it...hopefully for real.”

You roll your eyes. “Stop worrying about what that girl is doing and just enjoy the party. We didn’t get all dressed up like this to let it go to waste.”

Diana throws her arm across the back of the lounge chair as she scans you up and down. “Yes, let’s talk about you and this little black dress, actually. Whose attention are you looking for tonight, miss girl?”

“Here you go. I just wanted to look nice, I’m not searching for any—”

“Hey, isn’t that Taeyong and Mark?” Melanie points to one of the room’s many entryways, and you and Diana sit up straighter to look. “Diana, don’t be so obvious, you’re practically breaking your neck!”

It definitely is them. You don’t know where the others are, but maybe they decided to split up and go to another one of the after parties in town. You suddenly feel nervous again, though you try to ignore it.

“Oh, they didn’t bring Jaehyun.” Melanie slumps in her seat, and you give her a skeptical look.

“I thought you liked Taeyong!? You were the one giving him goo-goo baby eyes back there.”

“Yeah, but Jaehyun is my favorite. It doesn’t hurt to make a good first impression. Maybe Taeyong will let my future husband know about me and we can finally get married.” You can only shake your head.

Diana looks back at you slyly. “Ah, I see. Is this who you’re looking to impress?”

You scoff. “You say that like I knew they’d be coming here.”

“Hmm, maybe? You never know.”

At one point, Taeyong catches sight of your little group and waves, and you all wave back. You don’t expect him to come over with Mark in tow, though, which makes you sweat a little.

“It’s you again,” Taeyong says, his smile wide, and his eyes flit across your body before coming back to your eyes. “You look nice.”

You’re a little embarrassed at the compliment, and you have to ignore the other two girls giggling like schoolgirls to avoid getting even more nervous. “Ah, thanks, you look nice too…”

Mark introduces himself next, and the other two fawn over how cute and handsome he is. It isn’t long before there’s someone else vying for their attention again, and they leave with an apology; but that is far from being the last time you see them that night.

Though both men weave in and out of the crowd, interacting with numerous people throughout the night, Taeyong seems to continually find his way back to you and your friends—or just you, if the other two are gone somewhere else. He even gets you to dance with him a bit. You enjoy his company, even if he does make you a little nervous. If there’s anything you could compare him to, you might think he’s like the sun itself, with everyone else in the room pulled into his orbit—but willingly.

“Don’t let this one slip,” Diana says in your ear after Taeyong’s pulled away yet again to talk to someone else. You jump from hearing her next to you, still expecting her to be across the room talking with some lifestyle blogger.

“Let...slip? We already told you we talked to him about the magazine—”

“Not that shit. It looks like he’s taken a liking to you. I wouldn’t let that pass me by, if I were you.”

“Put the wine down,” you say, reaching for her glass, but she only sidesteps you.

“Accept a damn compliment! You talk about me and my men issues, but you need to allow yourself to be complimented and cared for, for once.”

“Stop. Somebody can probably hear us, and I don’t even know the man like that.”

“You stop. He’s been buzzing around you all night. Honestly, I don’t know if he just wants pussy or an American romance but girl, I’d say yes.”

“Okay yeah, you’ve had enough.” You try to pluck the glass away again, but she twirls away from you and almost spills her drink in the process. You laugh as some people nearby give you both odd looks. “You were too afraid to even go and talk to them. Me and Melanie did all the work, and now you’re claiming you’d say yes...give me a break!”

“Alright, hold it against me forever if you please. Just don’t mess this up, okay?”

You shake your head. “Fine, if it’ll make you leave me alone.”

The party isn’t even close to winding down yet, but you figure it’s time to get Diana back to the hotel before she has one too many. And Melanie’s started complaining about her feet hurting, which always means she’s officially ready to leave.

There’s a veranda attached to the building where the party is being held, and you go out onto it to get some air after being crammed in with the others for so long. You only intend to stay a few minutes, waiting for Melanie to find Diana so you can leave.

You hear someone else walk onto the veranda, and you don’t initially think much of it. There are already a few people out here lounging on the steps and smoking, so you figure someone else must’ve come for a break too. You’re a little startled, though, when the person leans against the railing near you, and you turn to see its Taeyong.

“Tonight’s been fun,” he says, looking towards you casually. The night breeze rustles his hair a bit, and you know for certain your boss is going to be really pleased with this pick. He’s natural-born model material.

You hum in agreement. “It’s definitely been a long night,” you say, concealing a yawn. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such an exciting time at an after party, though. ”

He grins. “Really? Never?”

You shrug a little. “As much as they dress it up on the outside, not every party is very entertaining. Some of them can be...something else entirely.” You chuckle at some of the ridiculous memories you have.

“Well, I’m glad you had a good time tonight...and that we got to talk some more.” Taeyong’s eyes look remarkably genuine as he says this, and it turns your stomach all weird and fluttery. Maybe you should listen to Diana for once.

Then again, maybe you shouldn’t be fraternizing with someone who’ll likely be working with your company soon?

“I wouldn’t mind seeing you again, either. Outside of business.” He tugs at his lip very slightly with his teeth after he says this. Which might seem like a nonchalant move in any other setting, but here and now, with this mischievousness glittering in his eyes, it’s anything but.

Oh, fuck it.

“Hm. I’ll take you up on that, then.” You find a slip of paper in your purse and write your number down on it, giving it to him afterwards. When you momentarily glance back at the entrance to the building, you catch your friends watching sneakily from afar, flashing you thumbs-ups and grinning wildly. “Enjoy the rest of your night, Taeyong.” You smile.

“I will.” There’s a promise in his voice.

Your friends are all over you as soon as you get back to them, linking their arms with yours and crowding in to hear whatever tea you have.

“You guys, really? We were only out there for a few minutes.”

“It only takes 7 seconds to fall in love,” Melanie chimes in, and Diana laughs out loud.

“If you wanna hear it that bad, Diana’s gonna have to get sober first. I don’t need you posting my business all over Twitter tonight.” The other girl sighs and only tugs you and Melanie along faster so you can all meet up with your Uber driver.

“Fine, girl, but you’re gonna let me pick all your future baby names, okay?”

“Sure, sure.”

77 notes · View notes

merakiui · 4 years

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Wow! An imagines blog for afterlife! First one as far as I can see... I wish you lots of fun with this! I wonder what your favourite characters from the game are? For me it's going to be Sian and Quincy (I first think I was going to hate this little devil brat but here I am XD). If you don't mind you can do relationship hc's with them and characters of your choice if you don't mind. I don't really have anything specific in mind, just something fluffy, sorry for that! Welcome and have a nice day!

(Is it really the first? Whoa! My favorites so far would have to be Ell and Verine! There’s something refreshing about Ell’s optimistic energy, and Verine seems so soft uwu But Sian and Quincy are also growing on me too. Either way, you’ve got good taste~ Please enjoy these hcs and thank you for being the first request, anon! :D)

Relationship HCs (Sian, Quincy, Ell, and Verine)

🎤 Sian 🎤

He refuses to admit to his feelings in the beginning. Why, you may ask? Simple: It’s embarrassing.

So he does what any normal tsundere would do in that sort of situation. He pushes you away by feigning his disinterest.

Naturally, his behavior comes off as rude and abrupt, but you’re able to see past that cold exterior.

Whenever you send a smile his way or compliment him for his good work, he’s quick to deny it. Though the bright blush on his cheeks always contradicts whatever he might say.

Sometimes he thinks you just enjoy messing with him, if only to see him turn red. It’s quite cute, and you can’t help but giggle when he starts to yell.

“It’s not adorable, so stop laughing! And don’t call me cute either!”

Once you’re together, Sian drops his rude act and becomes very affectionate. He still gets shy over small aspects of your relationship, such as holding hands in public or even mustering the courage to kiss you whenever he feels like it.

Kati will definitely tease Sian whenever he talks about his wonderful, loving manager, and Cyrille will provide him with all sorts of scientific facts about the prospect of being in love, how long it exactly lasts, and why relationships are so important in terms of social interaction.

Sian does his best to ignore them, but he always finds himself getting embarrassed. “Stay out of my personal life! I don’t need your help!” Yes, he’s also blushing while he says this.

Underneath that tsundere behavior is a sweet boy who does his best to give you a perfect relationship.

He’ll take you to his favorite places to eat, claiming that you have to try some of the foods he normally gets. In return, you’ll open his horizons to the things you enjoy eating.

Definitely goes to karaoke with you! The two of you sing to your hearts’ content, sharing a few laughs at the impossible-to-hit high notes. Sian manages to surprise you the first time you hear him sing, and when you make a comment he gets extremely flustered.

On days where the weather isn’t the best, the two of you might stay inside to play card games, making small bets every now and then. Most of these bets are about the number of kisses or hugs the other will receive, and when that’s on the line Sian plays exceptionally better.

He’s written songs before, and now that the two of you are in a relationship some of these are about you. You wouldn’t have known about this had you not found a journal detailing different lyrics and song titles.

Waiting for a Sian x [insert utaite name here] collaboration.

When you confronted Sian about it, he became a mess.

Sian’s never let anyone see any of his creative work before, so this was enough to bring him close to tearing up out of pure embarrassment. He feels as though he could just die on the spot.

You understand his reaction, so you’re quick to close the journal, assuring him that you won’t pry further unless he willingly tells you more.

It takes a bit before he’s confident to actually show you and explain his thought process behind certain lyrics, but he trusts you enough and he knows you won’t laugh at him.

You’re his biggest muse when it comes to songwriting. (You’re also his biggest supporter.)

You’ll catch him humming under his breath to certain songs, and he’ll even start to mumble lyrics he’s made up on the spot. You’ll chime in with your own input, and he’ll be quick to write it down if it strikes a chord in his inspiration.

Unfortunately, his memory isn’t the best, so he often forgets things like anniversaries and special dates. He’ll always apologize with his head bowed whenever this happens, but you never seem too bothered. How can you be upset with someone as affectionate and caring as him?

In times of need, he’ll be there to assist you, as he doesn’t want you to stress yourself out. After all, it isn’t fair for his precious lover to carry overwhelming burdens all on their own.

You’ll always find yourself waking up beside the best boyfriend in the world, who will do absolutely anything for you. At the start of the relationship, he tried to do so many things to impress you. He cooked, cleaned, and made sure to always message you when you’re apart. Eventually, you had to tell him to just be himself and to stop taking advice from relationship blogs.

Please give this boy all the love in the world, and he’ll return it tenfold—albeit with a flustered stutter and pink cheeks.

🔥 Quincy 🔥

As the future Lord of the Underworld, Quincy’s quick to let others know of his position as a devil. Bow before him because it’s either his way or the highway.

He has high hopes for you and even higher hopes for himself.

Quincy will be especially impressed if you’re forward and confident in the relationship, but if you’re not that’s fine. It just means he’ll have to take the lead, which is obviously the best course of action, right? His judgement is flawless!

Just know that if anyone messes with his beloved manager, he’ll have no problem putting a curse on the unfortunate soul who decided to bother you. It’s all in good fun, so don’t worry about those silly humans who are now suffering under the weight of a heavy enchantment.

“Looks like my finger slipped. Guess you’ll have to use your puny brain to figure a way out of that. Hmph!” (Based on that cocky smirk, you’d say he’s quite satisfied with his work.)

He may even teach you a few things about the different types of magic, as he wants you to be as good as he is. Oh, but not too good! Quincy prides himself on his skills far too much to let anyone surpass him.

Every now and then, he’ll tease you about anything and everything—no matter how insignificant it is. Maybe you were late to clock in and Nyang Lead Manager scolded you, or perhaps you accidentally forget your lunch. Either way, he’s going to poke fun at those mishaps.

“Ehh? How could you forget when I reminded you earlier? Well, I suppose you can have some of my lunch. ...If you can handle it, that is.”

Spicy food is his life. He probably participates in those challenges at restaurants just to prove that he can absolutely own the competition.

Petition to get Quincy on Hot Ones.

If you’re also a fan of spicy things, it’ll be a contest to see who can handle the most spice. He ends up winning most of the time, but that’s mainly just because he’s a devil who’s used to scorching heat.

If you aren’t, he’ll be pleased to hold the title as someone who can handle extreme foods really well.

Quincy doesn’t like wasting his time on anything small, so there will always be a purpose behind what he does.

Your dates are quite the colorful variety, ranging from spending the day mixing up new elixirs to sharing stories about the Underworld. One day he’d like to show you around if you’re up for it, but the scenery might take some getting used to.

He’ll ensure that you’re never bored by dragging you around to do whatever the two of you deem exciting. When you get to relax from purifying vengeful spirits, you might find yourselves in the human world disguised under the deceptive properties of Humanizer to visit amusement parks, food vendors, and even occult shops.

The relationship is upbeat, and it keeps you on your toes. You’re never going to feel bored again with Quincy around.

Despite his teasing remarks and overflowing pride, Quincy values you a lot, and when it’s just the two of you he’ll be very endearing. It tends to catch you off guard; one minute he’s laughing about messing with Sian and the next he’s moving in to steal a quick kiss.

You’ll have to deal with any reptiles or insects that happen to cross his path, as he can’t stand them. But if you can’t handle them either, then you’ll seek out Jamie. At least he can keep them safe from Kirr and Aitachi. And from your spooked boyfriend, who wants those critters out of his sight.

Quincy will remind you to come to him if you’re ever worried over something. His advice may not be the most ground-breaking, but it’s the thought that counts. He’s willing to spend hours giving you a friendly pep-talk, and you’re bound to come out of your gloom with a fresh perspective.

☀️ Ell ☀️

He’s a ball of energetic sunshine, so be ready for a very fun, joyful relationship!

Ell always puts you first, ensuring your happiness and well-being.

Honesty is key in this relationship, and that’s mainly because he can’t lie due to his constant sneezing.

And that’s okay because he has nothing to lie about anyways! He doesn’t want to hide anything from you; he’d rather you know than try to keep it a secret.

Imagine all of the cute dates! The both of you could go to bakeries and and sweet shops to try all sorts of delicious treats. Ell would be fond of anything sugary, insisting on playfully feeding you while you’re out in public. Or the two of you could visit craft stores so he can get more supplies for his needle felting.

He’s very big on PDA. Expect lots of hand-holding, random hugs, and kisses on the cheek—even around others when you least expect it. He’ll always smile at you, commenting on how charming you look when you blush at his sudden displays of affection.

Though he’ll try his best to tone it down if Nyang Lead Manager says something about it during work hours. He’ll quietly whine and protest as he tries to explain that it’s hard to resist. He just loves you so much! His complaints tend to get cut off once he starts to sneeze, though.

Along with gifting you his needle felting creations, he’ll also play the lyre for you. He’d be so excited to show you all of the beautiful music it can make. Sometimes he’ll play a few soothing melodies if you have trouble falling asleep.

Speaking of sleep, he adores cuddling. You’ll probably wake up each morning with him clinging to you, the blanket cast aside.

If you’re fond of taking photos, he’ll let you use the light from his halo to brighten the pictures. It makes for a perfect ring light, and he doesn’t mind others wanting to use it. After all, Licht and Kati like to use it for their SNS, so you should too.

If you’re ever having a bad day, Ell will be there to make it better. He’ll do all sorts of things for you, hearing you out when you vent to him about what’s bothering you and even attempting to make a few tiny miracles happen. Anything for his favorite person in the world!

There are times when he feels down as well, but it’s not for long. You’ll always be there to cheer him up. He’s fortunate that you have the patience to help him put his negative emotions into words, and you’ll even sit through all of the times he sneezes. For that, he’s very grateful.

His heart beats faster and he gets bashful when you praise him, but he’ll always fire back with plenty of genuine compliments so you won’t feel left out. There’s lots of love to go around.

Overall, the relationship is so sweet and enjoyable. Ell makes sure there’s never a dull moment when you’re with him, and he truly believes that the two of you will be together for a long time.

He loves you with all of his angelic heart.

“I wish we could spend more time together, but Nyang Lead Manager is giving us so much work. It’s really not—achoo!”

💊 Verine 💊

At first, Verine wonders if the reason you chose to be near him is because of the desire to protect such a sickly Soul Reaper. It bothers him to no end, as he does his best to stay strong despite always having to take different medicines and vitamins.

Once he realizes that you’re not there to pester him about his health, he’s pleasantly surprised. He’s used to others giving him looks of pity, so when you offer your support he can’t help but feel warm inside.

It actually takes him quite a while to confess; the stress of it all was like attempting to find the correct medicine for a specific ailment.

Still, he manages to push his self-consciousness aside in favor of his heart’s wishes, and it succeeds! Luckily for him, since Verine believed his chances were very slim.

While Mori considers him to be a paper doll, you think the opposite. Your boyfriend may be physically weak, but he’s got a strong will and is incredibly gentle with you.

Even if he acts like the presences of others disturbs him, he’s actually quite happy to be near the Soul Reapers. He’s always interacting with the Reapers in Diluculo, but he finds that your company is by far the best.

Most of your dates consist of staying indoors, since Verine doesn’t like the overwhelming temperatures of the outside world. (Occasionally, he’ll sacrifice his comfort so that you can enjoy the outdoors every now and then.)

However, the two of you still find plenty of things to do while inside. From watching your favorite films to assisting Verine with his medicinal herb garden, a lot of these cozy dates are quite serene.

He loves it when you cook his favorite foods. Any meal prepared by your loving hands is a gift he treasures—so much so that he thoroughly believes it’ll heal his aches and pains. Sometimes he doesn’t know how to return the gesture, so you’ll have to reassure him that you don’t need anything. Just his love is enough, and that makes him smile a bit.

Verine is touch-starved since most of his living life was spent in a hospital bed and the only contact he ever received was from doctors checking his vitals. So he’s always eager to let you hug and kiss him.

He might not be into cuddling at first only because he’s afraid his constant coughing will disrupt the calm atmosphere, but once you explain that that doesn’t bother you he’s willing to give it a try. He ends up liking it more than he thought he would, which results in lazy days where the two of you just nap in each other’s arms.

He’ll always be there for you no matter what, and he checks to make sure you’re healthy. Your physical and mental health is very important to him.

If the the two of you ever get into a disagreement, he may bottle up his true feelings for the sake of pacifying you. In the end, both of you talk through it, and this allows Verine to slowly but surely open up about how he really feels.

Verine might keep a lot of his emotions to himself when around the others, but with you he doesn’t have to.

“Ah, I must’ve fainted again. I really am useless.”

When he gets like that, just tell this sweetheart he’s in no way useless. He’s perfect in your eyes, even with his coughing and eternal illnesses, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

#afterl!fe #after l!fe #afterl!fe sian #afterl!fe quincy #afterl!fe ell #afterl!fe verine #relationship headcanons #afterl!fe x reader #afterl!fe headcanons #afterl!fe hcs #afterl!fe the sacred kaleidoscope #sian #quincy #ell #verine #afterl!fe sian x reader #afterl!fe quincy x reader #afterl!fe verine x reader #afterl!fe ell x reader

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pointy-hat-witch · 3 years

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Title: ‘s fine

Show: One-Punch Man

Pairing: Genos/Saitama

TW: Domestic Abuse, Unhealthy Relationships

You can read it on AO3 if you want to! :)

Saitama was laying on the floor, supporting himself with on arm in which he also held the manga he was reading and scratched his butt with his other hand. It was silent except for the occasional chirp of cicadas in the late summer. Genos had been called to deal with a threat around an hour ago and should be back every minute now. Saitama was waiting for him patiently, hoping Genos wouldn’t forget to go grocery shopping on his way back, so they could eat dinner.

Well, if he wouldn’t be home in another half an hour, he would be on his way to help and then they could buy groceries together.

Just when he was staring out of the window, face blank, he heard the lock of the door being turned. It wasn’t that he felt happiness, but Genos had this effect on him that he didn’t feel not anything anymore. It was a welcomed change, Saitama thought.

He bend his head back, so his head was upside down, waiting for Genos to come into view and threw up his empty hand.

“Yo.”

Genos stood straight, “I’m back, Sensei”, came the formal reply before he put down the plastic bags. Saitama’s face lightened up.

“What’s for dinner?” He had already forgotten where he was in the manga as he put it back into place in the shelf. Oh well, he could always reread it. He yawned, both arms stretched wide above his head until he noticed the lack of reply.

“Oi, Genos”, Saitama said confused. He wasn’t worried or anything but it was unusual that Genos didn’t answer immediately. He got up and walked around the corner into the kitchen to find Genos fumbling with his arm, that spasmed slightly next to him.

“Oh”, Saitama leaned against the doorframe, “you got hurt?”

Genos startled as if he didn’t noticed Saitama coming. His face was cracked at the side as well, his right pupil jumping back and forth.

“Just a minor injury, Sensei”, Genos caught himself, “it will only take a few minutes for me to reconnect the defect junctions. Dinner will be ready right after.”

“Alright”, Saitama huffed, a little relieved. He walked back into the living space, turning on the TV to see a report on the monster Genos had fought. Said cyborg followed into the room with a small pouch of utensils to work on himself. Saitama only glanced at them shortly, not knowing what they were good for anyway.

Genos' back was turned to him as he muttered under his breath, carefully working on the connections in his face with the help of a mirror. Saitama could make out the self-deprecating insults his self-proclaimed disciple threw at himself.

He sighed. Saitama sure wasn’t one to preach about this, putting himself down more often than not, but something about Genos doing it rubbed him in the wrong way. He scooted a little closer before putting one hand on Genos shoulder. He didn’t know what he was about to say, he never knew, but until now it always kind of worked out anyway.

But before Saitama could even open his mouth, Genos' arm jerked again and shot up in a weird angle, hand clenched to a fist, and punched Saitama square in the face with its back.

Time stood still for a minute.

Saitama blinked. It didn’t hurt in the least, he even saw it coming and could’ve dodged or repelled it. But it somehow was so strange to have Genos of all people punch him that he couldn’t react.

Genos jerked around utter shock plastered over his face. “I sincerely apologize, Saitama-sensei. That was an accident. It doesn’t undo my action, however, please forgive me.” His eyes were wide open, staring almost afraid at his master.

“’s all good”, Saitama almost chuckled, “didn’t expect that one.” He patted Genos shoulder as he had intended. “Just take it easy, nothing to fret about.”

Genos worked silently on his repairs, if not a little ashamed. Saitama kept watching the news, scratching his stomach.

The next time Genos came home after a monster attack, he wasn’t injured at all. Saitama was pleased, even a little proud. Did Genos finally learn to take care of himself? Did he take some of his advice he actually meant to heart?

With a small smile on his lips, Saitama walked up to him, hands propped on his hips.

“Yo, Genos, I see you’re all well. How did it go?”

Genos head whipped up from where he took off his shoes and Saitama could have sworn, there was something in Genos’ eyes. Something … he couldn’t place it and before he could even think about it, it was gone.

“All went well, Sensei, thank you. Though, I wasn’t even able to fight as Tatsumaki arrived before me and took care of the monster all by herself.”

“Oh”, Saitama nodded, “well, anyway, you’re all good, that’s good.”

“Yes, sensei.” It sounded a little subdued, but Saitama just shrugged it off and walked back to his futon. “How about lunch?”

“Very well”, Genos answered. And not soon later, Saitama heard Genos rummage through the cupboards to get his utensils.

“Oh, yeah”, he muttered under his breath, thinking about the funny commercial about sponges and he just needed to tell Genos about it. He walked up to the kitchen, standing in the doorframe.

He didn’t really notice Genos’ tense shoulders and slightly stiffer movements. “Oi, Genos, listen to th-“

“I’m sorry, Sensei, could I please cook in silence?”

“Uh”, Saitama was stunned for a moment. Genos had never brushed him off like this. “Yeah, sure. You alright?”

“Of course, Sensei. Please.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Saitama sauntered back slowly, a small pout on his lips. Genos was definitely in a bad mood. And this commercial had been really funny, it definitely would lighten up his mood. He turned back around.

“Just, real quick, Genos. Listen to-“ He saw the metallic fist, saw it almost in slow motion and this time he saw the anger that flickered for a friction of a second over Genos face, before the metal collided with his cheek. Again, it didn’t hurt but just the action alone, Genos’ punching him, him, rendered him motionless.

“I’m- I’m so sorry, Sensei!” Genos pulled his fist back, guilt flashing over his face. “I’m just … really not in a good mood.”

“’s fine.” Saitama blinked, slowly turning back around. What was he going to tell Genos again?

“It didn’t hurt anyway, did it?” Genos asked from the kitchen.

Saitama nodded absentmindedly. “No, it didn’t.”

The door slammed shut when Genos came back from his last HA call. It was only a meeting, S-Class Heroes apparently had to have them at least once a month and Genos repeatedly lamented over how boring they were. Saitama looked up from his cactus he was watering, cocking his head. It put him in a bad mood when Genos was in a bad mood, he rather saw him smiling, rambling about something-something-technical or humming as he cooked.

“Hey, Genos”, Saitama pulled the window close behind him, putting the watering can down. “How did it go? Boring?” His lips twitched as he tried to joke.

“Yes, sensei”, Genos pressed through tight lips. “And unnecessary. They actually want us to waste even more time to organize public events to grow closer to the population of each city.”

“Huh”, Saitama crunched his eyebrows, “well, here in Z City aren’t a lot of people anyway, so it’s one city less, am I right?”

“That’s not really a laughing matter, Sensei”, Genos shot back, clearly irritated.

“Mhm”, Saitama hummed, rocking on his feet back and forth. “Wanna see a movie to relax?”

“No”, Genos was sitting down at the coffee table, already scribbling furiously to clear his mind, “I need to brainstorm an event I can host.”

“Oh!” Saitama’s face brightened, plunging himself down next to his disciple. “I can help with that.”

“Sensei”, Genos shot him a glance, raising an eyebrow, “I know your intent is well but I think this is something I need to accomplish myself.”

“Oh”, Saitama pursed his lips, “yeah, sure.” He leaned back on one hand, looking around a little lost for a moment, then changed his mind and leaned forward again. “But I have this really good id-“

Genos’ hand shoved him back only slightly, but still even a slight shove by the cyborg could be considered hard by normal human standards. Good thing, Saitama wasn’t a normal human by any standards. Still, he let himself fall backwards, staring at the ceiling.

“Sensei!” Genos was over him in an instant, shocked that his shove could have actually do anything to him.

“’s fine”, Saitama waved him away. “Sometimes it’s better to let it out instead of letting it eat you up inside.”

“Y-yes, sensei. I apologize.” Genos bowed deeply until Saitama ruffled his hair.

“Don’t be”, he cocked a small smile, “I said it’s all fine. Feel a little better?”

Genos looked up, eyes still a little sad but he nodded. “Y-yes.”

“See?” Saitama turned on the TV, not moving from his position on the floor and soon he heard Genos writing again.

“… and that’s when the second sponge comes back, sliding down the pan to make a double flip into the water. And this time with boobs? Can you imagine what idiot even had the idea and was paid for it?!” Saitama laughed, head thrown back, clapping his thigh.

Genos was stirring the curry, listening dutifully in silence. He nodded here and there, throwing a glance over his shoulder to indicate that he was listening.

Saitama sighed and as he stood back up from bending over and as he wiped away a laughing tear, he knocked one of the bottles of spices over that were still standing on the counter. The small bottle tumbled down and neither of them could catch it before it landed on the kitchen floor, shattering on impact.

“Aw, man”, Saitama sighed, looking at the mess he made, “I’m getting a br-“

“Can’t you be more careful, sensei?” Genos sighed exasperated. There was no heat in his words, but it was the first time he openly was displeased with Saitama.

“I- uh, yeah, sorry. My bad.” Saitama scratched his cheek, crouching down to pick up the bigger pieces of shards. Genos slapped his hand away, though. Saitama stared at hand that was slapped away and when he looked back again at Genos, he almost anticipated the fist that came flying his way.

For a reason unknown to Saitama, though it still didn’t do any damage whatsoever, he let himself fall backward. His back collided with the floor, his eyes blinking at the ceiling. Déjà vu, he thought for a moment but the next moment Genos was hovering over him and where he expected him to look remorseful, Genos looked at him with disdain.

Neither said a word. And then Genos punched him in the face. His head lulled to one side and with the next punch to the other cheek, his head rolled over to the other side.

“Just get a broom.” Genos sighed after a second, getting up to go back to stir the curry.

“Uh, yeah”, Saitama got back up again. ‘s fine, he thought when he came back from the bathroom with a hand broom to brush away the powder and little glass shards and Genos chattering away about the monster fight he had today.

“Humpf”, Saitama huffed, as he bent over after Genos’ fist struck him into his abdomen. It was kind of strange to make this make believe fight, considering he didn’t feel any pain and Genos knew he didn’t deal any damage. Still, there was something satisfying in pretending someone could throw punches that brought him to his knees.

Saitama held himself up with on arm, about to stand up again but Genos kicked him in his stomach once, twice and then kicked his leg back to make him fall flat on his face. Then he continued to kicked into his side and after a few kicks, Saitama curled up, letting Genos kick him against his arms he had wrapped around his head, against his unguarded stomach.

Genos kneeled down, praying Saitama’s arms away to punch him against his mouth. Saitama imagined his lips split open, blood gushing out and for a moment he thought it actually did happen when he felt liquid on his chin rolling down.

When his eyes sprung open in surprise, he saw Genos eyes welled up with oil that kept falling on his face. With every punch the oil splashed everywhere and Saitama distantly thought about the mess they made.

However, he stretched his arms up, wiping the oily tears away.

“Sens-“, Genos hiccuped and clasped both his hands around Saitama’s throat in an attempt to crush his windpipe. Saitama kept looking up at him, wiping over his cheeks.

“Sensei”, Genos whispered, almost in awe and Saitama cupped his face with both his hands.

“’s fine”, he mumbled, mouth a little dry. Genos leaned down, brushing their foreheads against each other.

“It doesn’t hurt anyway, remember?” Saitama almost chuckled, thinking about all the dents and broken pieces of Genos’ armored body.

“I know”, Genos sighed, nuzzling their noses together. There was a moment of hesitation and then a second later, Genos crossed the last distance between them, brushing their lips together.

The kiss was tender, not forceful, not too deep, just lips brushing against each other. Saitama could feel Genos’ breath on his cheek, feeling his core heating up just a little. He angled his head, straining against Genos’ tight grip on his throat, to deepen the kiss.

After a few lingering seconds, Genos pulled back and looked into Saitama’s eyes. Full of admiration, awe, Saitama was almost overwhelmed with all the feelings Genos regarded him. The only person who had ever looked at him like this.

This was the least he could do for the one person that made him feel something.

Saitama was staring at the ceiling, arms and legs spread away from his body. Lethargy was making his limbs feel like lead and moving was too much of a hassle, so he just didn’t bother. Genos had made him a small breakfast this morning before he had been called away to another HA meeting, promising to make Saitama’s favorite meal when he came back.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, the sun wandered quite some bit at least, when the door handle turned. There where heavy steps on the wooden floor, making Saitama sigh in relief, some of the tightness that made it hard to breathe left his chest.

The footsteps came closer and only when Saitama felt Genos’ thighs next to his hip, he opened his eyes again to look up into Genos angry face.

“You didn’t do anything all morning, did you?”

“Nah”, Saitama sighed, heart racing in heavy anticipation. There was a flash of anger in Genos’ eyes and then cold metal found its way against Saitama’s nose. It screeched, bending slightly as Saitama’s skin and bones didn’t give in.

Genos retracted his fist, pulling his entire arm back to slam his fist against Saitama’s temple. Again and again. And again, for good measure.

Saitama didn’t feel any pain, there was no blood, not even a bruise will form. But his chest felt lighter and when he opened his eyes to look at Genos out of the corner of his eye, seeing how the tension eased out of his shoulders, a small smile formed on his lips.

This is fine.

Genos answered with a small smile on his own, bending down to place a soft kiss on the spot he just assaulted. With a tight grip on Saitama’s throat, turning his head forcefully to face him frontally, their lips slotted together as if meant to be.

Saitama’s fingers switched, the heaviness in his limbs slowly lifting and he felt how he got control over his body again.

‘s fine.

#One-Punch Man #OPM #SaiGenos #Saitama #Genos #fanfiction

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rfield87 · 4 years

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Writing Advice from Best-Selling Authors: Stephen King

fine

This week’s re-blog is one that was written by Lauren Passell, and is titled: Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers. It was published on March 22, 2013. If you would like to read the blog on the Barnes & Noble website where I found it, I will leave the link below.

(When I was re-writing this blog I found some typo errors and corrected them as I went along. It must be the editor in me.)

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers/

Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers

Stephen King’s books have sold over 350 million copies. Like them or loathe them, you have to admit that’s impressive. King’s manual On Writing reveals that he’s relentlessly dedicated to his craft. He admits that not even The King himself always sticks to his rules - but trying to follow them is a good start. Here are our favorite pieces of advice for aspiring writers:

1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out the things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out.

2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. The timid fellow writes “The meeting will be held at seven o’clock” because that somehow says to him, ‘Put it this way and people will believe you really know.’ Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write ‘The meeting’s at seven.’ There, by God! Don’t you feel better?”

3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverbs is not your friend. Consider the sentence “He closed the door firmly.” It’s by no means a terrible sentence, but ask yourself if ‘firmly’ really has to be there. What about context? What about the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before ‘He closed the door firmly’? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, then isn’t ‘firmly’ an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?”

4, Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.” “While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”

5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story...to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.”

6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.”

7. Read, read, read. “You have tor read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second to least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

9. Turn off the TV. “Most exercise facilities are now equipped with TVs, but TV - while working out or anywhere else - really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs. If you feel you must have the news analyst blowhard on CNN while you exercise, or the stock market blowhards of MSNBC, or the sports blowhards of ESPN, it’s time for you to question how serious you really are about becoming a writer. You must be prepared to do some serious turning inward toward the life of the imagination, and that means, I’m afraid, the Geraldo, Keigh Oberman, and Jay Leno must go. Reading takes time, and the glass teat takes too much of it.”

10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book - even a long one - should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”

11. There are two secrets to success. “When asked for the ‘secret of my success’ (an absurd idea, that, but impossible to get away from), I sometimes say there are two: I stayed physically healthy, and I stayed married. It’s a good answer because it makes the question go away, and because there is an element of truth in it. The combination of a healthy body and a stable relationship with a self-reliant woman who takes zero shit from me or anyone else has made the continuity of my working life possible. And I believe the converse is also true: that my writing and the pleasure I take in it has contributed to the stability of my health and my home life.”

12. Write one word at a time. “A radio talk-show host asked me how I wrote. My reply - ‘One word at a time’ - seemingly left him without a reply. I think he was trying to decide whether or not I was joking. I wasn’t. In the end, it’s always that simple. Whether it’s vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord of the Rings,” the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”

13. Eliminate distraction. “There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall.”

14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what the writer is doing may seem. You can’t aim a book like a cruise missile, in other words. People who decide to make a fortune writing like John Grisham or Tom Clancy produce nothing but pale imitations, by and large, because vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling and plot is light years from the truth as it is understood by the mind and the heart.”

15. Dig. “When, during the course of an interview for The New Yorker, I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in the ground, he said that he didn’t believe me. I replied that was fine, as long as he believed that I believed it. And I do. Stories aren’t souvenir tee-shirts or Game Boys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small; a seashell. Sometimes it’s enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all the gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.”

16. Take a break. “If you’ve never done it before, you’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience. It’s yours, you’ll recognize it as yours, even be able to remember what tune was on the stereo when you wrote certain lines, and yet it will also be like reading the work of someone else, a soul-twin, perhaps. This is the way it should be, the reason you waited. It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings than it is to kill your own.”

17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings).”

18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “If you do need to do research because parts of your story deal with things about which you know little or nothing, remember the word back. That’s where research belongs; as far in the background and the back story as you can get it. You may be entranced with what you’re learning about the flesh-eating bacteria, the sewer system of New York, or the I.Q. potential of collie pups, but your readers are probably going to care a lot more about your characters and your story.”

19. You become a better writer simply by reading and writing. “You don’t need writing classes or seminars any more than you need this or any other book on writing. Faulkner learned his trade while working in the Oxford, Mississippi post office. Other writers have learned the basics while serving in the Navy, working in steel mills or doing time in America’s finer crossbar hotels. I learned the most valuable (and commercial) part of my life’s work while washing motel sheets and restaurant tablecloths at the New Franklin Laundry in Bangor. You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”

20. Writing is about getting happy. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So, drink.”

Which of these rules do you like best?

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wallstagram · 5 years

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june - july fic rec: month(s) in review

hello & welcome back to the june - july edition of fic rec: month(s) in review! we have a L O T to unpack this time, so let’s dive right in! throughout june & july, we have been blessed with the majority of @larryabroad, as well as the bulk of @hlsummerexchange2019, all of @wordplayfics, wanker’s day fic fest, and many more that i’m probably forgetting. summer was a great time to be a fic reader for sure, thank you to every author who contributed!!

**disclaimer: not all of these fics were written in june/july, it is simply when i read them. however, a lot of them were. ***note: as always, if you do take my recommendation and read any of these works, please bookmark, comment, and leave kudos for these authors!! it is so important that we support the creators in our community. as an author, i know a sweet comment will often spur me to keep writing when i’m stuck. but, without further ado, here’s my recs below the cut!

J U N E : :

You Were Made To Be Mine by lovelarry10 (@chloehl10)

Louis Tomlinson takes his 6 year old son Jacob to see Harry Styles in concert. Jacob has been a huge fan of Harry's for as long as he can remember, so it's a dream come true when Harry notices him in the pit. But Jacob isn't all that Harry has his eye on...

Louis is a bit embarrassed when Harry picks on him from the stage, but when he's invited backstage after the show, he wonders what Harry Styles could possibly want with a single dad and his kid from Manchester...

This was such a cute read! At a whopping 580k, there is a LOT to sink your teeth into. Though I started it at the beginning of June, I haven’t even nearly finished yet, but it’s so good that it’s made it onto my rec list!

Get Off and Vote by haztobegood (@haztobegood)

Niall lets out a loud laugh, “Hey, listen to this. You know how elections are Tuesday? It says the Babeland on the edge of campus is giving out free toys to the first 100 people that show their ‘I Voted’ sticker.”

“How patriotic.” Louis laughs. “Maybe I should go.”

Haha! This one was great. At 3k, it’s a perfect quick read for some sexy, patriotic fun.

Surprise Me, Space Boy by jacaranda_bloom (@jacaranda-bloom)

Louis is a solo officer on Space Station Zeta and the isolation can present many challenges, not least of which is that it’s really bloody hard to date. He’s pinning his hopes on that changing with a fellow solo officer, Harry, from a neigbouring station who gives great banter and has a gorgeous smile. Maybe online dating has its benefits after all?

OR The Space Wank Fic.

Oh, this one was so good!!! The thing I love about literally anything Dee writes is that she just thinks completely outside the box. I feel like I never quite know what’s going to happen (in the best way!) and her originality totally made this fic amazing. (7k)

rivers ‘til i reach you by embodied (@crossnecklace)

Louis can’t begin to understand how he’s always this close and still can’t manage to make Harry his. He stands up and gets another beer. AU. Louis studies astronomy; Harry studies Louis. They spend their summers on the water and it shouldn't be complicated (spoiler: it is).

This was such a good read! It’s written in such a way that you’re utterly sucked into the verse so much that you’re a bit sappy when the fic is over. Kinda makes you feel a bit lovedrunk just from reading it. (29k)

Found My Hallelujah by crimsontheory (@ireallysawanangel)

As an engagement gift from his parents, Harry and his fiance receive an all expenses paid cruise trip for two. But one week before they're set to sail, Harry walks in on his fiance cheating on him. Newly single, with the cruise tickets in hand, and his bags already packed, Harry brings along his sister instead. And maybe the cute bartender on the ship might just be the person Harry needs to help him put back together all of his broken pieces.

I have so much to say about this one! I had the absolute honor of beta’ing this 35k work (which im pretty sure i just cheerlead you bc nicole you know grammar isn’t my strong suit...lmfao) and honestly it has become a fic that i love so much! nicole is such a talented writer; everything she writes just brings out so much emotion from her audience, and she has such a great sense of characterization! if you liked this one, check out its sequel, Now I’m Moving Up because it’s great too!!!!

J U L Y : :

Whisk me off my feet by allwaswell16 (@allwaswell16)

When Louis locks himself out of his apartment in just a pair of novelty underwear, he hopes his new neighbor can come to his rescue.

Haha! This one was so cute! What a darling fic! (5k)

The Charles Compass Trilogy by SadaVeniren (@sadaveniren)

Louis Tomlinson is a successful writer who rents a beach house on the Cape to try and finish the final book in his successful Charles Compass trilogy.

So I’m convinced that any rec list I make will not be complete if Sada isn’t on it. Here’s the thing - I fell in love with this story before she was revealed as the author, and honestly I had no clue. She’s got this amazing way of being able to change her style to fit the kind of story she’s trying to tell. This is such a good look at the writing process, highly recommend! (9k)

From The Heart series by jacaranda_bloom (@jacaranda-bloom)

Every Tuesday, Louis spends his day off holed up in his favorite coffee-come-bookshop, writing his little stories as part of the WordPlay challenge while daydreaming about the resident barista, Harry. Each week a new word prompt is revealed and Louis adds to his series of short stories about Henry, the owner of a B&B in the Cotswolds who has curly hair and dimples, Lewis, his long term guest who just happens to be a writer, and Tigger, Henry’s cat.

As Louis and Harry’s friendship develops, could his fantasy world spill out into real life? And how does that reader who leaves the lovely comments with the teacup emoji seem to be able to read Louis’ mind?

Okay, Dee really killed the game this time. Because I was OBSESSED. I mean honestly checking my phone at work to see what the newest installment was. This series is so fulfilling and so so hot to think about as an author! (25k)

blue eyes, black jeans, lighters, candy by delsicle (@emperorstyles)

Harry is in Madrid and Louis had a hard week.

So, the whole dom on tour series is really good, but this is my favorite work of the two. I love basically anything Delaney writes but this was extremely hot! (4k)

Could you love me anyway by SadaVeniren (@sadaveniren)

Dear Mistress Lorin: I’ve been reading your blog for a couple weeks now and was hoping you’d give me some advice for something that happened with me and my boyfriend. I’m really worried that I hurt him.

aka Harry and Louis begin playing ping pong during the X-Factor Tour. It quickly gets out of hand.

Okay. If you know me at all, you know that the way to my heart is either spanking, kink negotiation, or both. This just delivers on it all, and it catches on some main parts of BDSM-for-newbies and kink-gone-wrong that people often pretend never happens. I could gush so much about this, but go ahead and just read it yourself because it’s too good to miss!! (13k)

you are half of me (and I am all for you) by angelichl (@angelichl)

One Direction, an obscure indie rock band, is about to embark on their first cross-country tour, living out of Louis' beloved van named Patricia.

Harry is in love, and Louis is oblivious. Or is he?

Featuring skinny-dipping in Texas waterfalls, getting lost in the desert, stargazing under the New Mexico sky, performing in front of crowds that grow in size each night, and falling in love on the road during the greatest summer of their lives.

Okay WOW. I have so much to say about this one!!! So first off, the biggest thank you to adri for writing this fic for me for HL Summer Exchange!!! Honestly I feel like you spied through all my hopes and dreams and loves (including parenthesis in fic titles??? love it) and squished it all into this fic. it’s just the best fic, and it feels like warm summer air and tracing constellations in the stars and falling in love. if you haven’t read this already, please do!!!! It was so good I teared up when I first read it! (25k)

Heading for Limbo by kingsofeverything (fullonlarrie) (@kingsofeverything)

Childhood best friends who’ve fallen in and out of touch with each other since Louis’ family moved away when they were thirteen, Harry and Louis find their paths crossing again and again. Each time, no matter how many miles apart or how many years it’s been, it’s as if no time has passed. They fall back into their easy friendship, until life intervenes and sends them on their separate ways once more.

When Harry discovers some life-changing things about himself, Louis is there for him, however he needs. But it’s all temporary because Louis has plans that will move his life from New York all the way to L.A. and the distance isn’t the only thing between them.

The pieces of their twice broken hearts are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Okay. Okay. This fic literally is one I will remember for the rest of my life, and i’m not even being dramatic about it! So, I really do enjoy leaving authors detailed comments about their fics, but that just wasn’t enough... I really had to message Lauren this whole essay about how Heading for Limbo helped me deal with a lot of emotions I was feeling in my own personal life, and it helped me fully realize that i’m bisexual. (did i just come out?? yikes) it was nice to see a fic where things weren’t perfect over a long stretch of time. It was amazing to see Harry realize his sexuality later in life, because that was one of my main struggles. this fic is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Literally, Lauren, thanks for changing my whole life!!! (101k)

Tell Me This Is Paradise by QuickedWeen (@becomeawendybird)

Harry Styles has been lucky in love but unlucky in the bedroom with all of her previous boyfriends. When her best friend Niall finds out that she's never had an orgasm, she knows just what Harry needs: Louis Tomlinson. Niall sets Harry up to get sorted out.

Okay, if you’re new around here, this fic was also on one of my previous rec lists, but then Molly had to ruin my life and write another chapter of it. Jesus Christ!!!! I literally could read this fic every single day and die happily. It’s so hot, and the characterization is so good. So, I guess this rec is specifically for chaper 2, but you’ve gotta read chapter 1 also! For the betterment of your life, of course. (9k)

Abstract by Star55 (@star55)

After Zayn draws a naked Harry for her art class, she finds that she can't stop drawing Harry and Louis' naked bodies, usually engaged in some form of sexual activity.

Literally - this was hot as balls. Loved it! (8k)

alright guys, that’s it! if you read all the way to the bottom, you deserve a sticker. i hope you guys enjoy some of my favorite fics i’ve read! don’t forget to go bookmark, comment, and give kudos! and just remember: we are all human. if you read a work, and loved it, and didn’t comment, it’s never too late! give your author some loooooooove. my life has been super busy and i really haven’t been in the place to leave the thought-out comments i like to, so most of these authors can expect comments from me soon. thank you to all the authors listed above, have a nice day everyone! also, feel free to send your favorite fics into my ask - maybe they’ll end up on my next list!!!

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ourneverendingpossibilities · 5 years

Text

I’m Sorry (8/?)

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke Pairing: Aomine Daiki x Reader Rating: K+ (Fluff!) A/N: The newest chapter to this story. I uploaded it back in July on my DA. While I may not post works here, on occasion, I’ve posted there because I’ve found ideas to inspire that are easy. I’ve still been taking breaks from writing, and it’s hard to fit in time for it. But I really hope this chapter makes up for my absence. When you get inspiration, it strikes and you take that opportunity!

_______________________

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, and you were finally glad to have a bit of a break. Between dealing with Haizaki, helping Kise with Perfect Copy, and trying to understand how Aomine had ANY connection to your father, you were worn out mentally. The idea of going to the hot springs with Touou seemed like a good idea, but you chose to stay back, needing to come to terms with your current situation. You were in love with Aomine Daiki. Somehow, despite it seeming like an impossibility, being able to fully admit to having those feelings made things less... stressful. Like you'd been in denial for so long, and you had to accept things would never change. You wanted Aomine to lose, because you wanted to see if he would smile again.. He always enjoyed himself when he played basketball, up until their coaches changed. The mindset of the entire team had taken a hit. Now that everyone has been separated, and their powers have been utilized in other schools, it seems to have eased the tension between the Miracles. Some of them were still strained, mainly with Akashi, but for the most part, everyone got along well. Everyone except Aomine. The conversation you had with Kise a few weeks back resonated through your memory, and you couldn't help but smile softly. ______________________________ Kise stares at you, confusion and curiosity mixed as he hesitantly takes the paper from your fingers. He almost forgets his senpais are around, but he can't find the words to ask them to leave. When he opens the letter, he skims the contents, eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. "I don't understand ____cchi..." he mutters, placing it on the table in mild disgust. "If you were supposed to come to Kaijou, why did you follow Aominecchi instead?" Rubbing your arm lightly, you let out a sigh, trying to calm your nerves, "Ryouta... I couldn't abandon Daiki... Everyone else around us had... But I swore I'd never do it... I couldn't... In the end, he means more to me than everyone else." He leans back in his chair, running a hand through his hair as he absorbs your words.. To think, he could've had you at Kaijou... To be even closer to you than he is now.. Kise is conflicted. "Is it out of pity?" You almost jump, hearing the whisper, but your resolve hardens immediately, eyes narrowing in anger and anguish. "OF COURSE NOT! YOU, of ALL people, should know that Ryouta! I'd never be friends with you guys for the sake of your titles! I never ONCE gave a shit about 'Generation of Miracles'.." your voice lowers, lips slightly trembling as you direct your gaze to the ground, waiting to be swallowed whole. "If anything, I was jealous." Those words made Kise's head snap up, eyes wide and immediately filled with confusion and hurt. "Jealous?? Why would ____cchi be jealous of us?" You couldn't meet his gaze, feeling ashamed and embarrassed for ever admitting such a dirty secret. "Why WOULDN'T I be jealous of you guys?!" your head lifted then, revealing everything to the boys around you, "You get to play the ONE sport I love with everything I have! The one thing I was exceptional at! But you guys overshadowed me, overshadowed the girls' basketball team.. And we lost the funding for it. Teiko only wanted to invest in the BOYS' team... because you six were better than me... better than our team..." You growl lightly, wiping away the stupid tears falling down your cheeks, further aggravating you.. How can you be so weak? "The closest thing I could do after that was be on the team as the 'manager'... And even though I helped Satsuki with scouting and training regimes, it didn't change the animosity I felt towards you guys... For taking the one thing I had away... Girls were jealous that I was close with you guys... But I didn't always feel that way... Some days, I felt like an outcast.. If I didn't have Satsuki and Tetsu, I would've quit the team sooner..." Kise blinked, stunned and almost breathless at your words... "Y...You almost quit.... being our manager?? But... why? What did Kurokocchi do to keep you around?" You smiled sadly, wanting this moment to be over and done with. "He told me that everyone is useful on the court, regardless of the position... He was the only one... Out of the six of you, to notice the way I felt.. How upset I was for no longer being able to play.. But the funniest thing about that... is Daiki was the one who gave him the advice in the first place..." You feel a chair being pressed against your legs, and you look at Kobori, giving him a soft smile as you sit down, gently rubbing your legs. Standing did make you tired, and this whole night had been a whirlwind of emotions.. Lately, you'd been experiencing it, and you just wanted to sleep for the next week... "Anyway, it seems Daiki has been doing more than just giving advice... Considering he somehow knows my dad.. and I wish I knew how they met.." Kise sighs, moving forward to rest a hand on top of your head, gently caressing your hair. "You know ____cchi... you could always ask him.. I don't think Aominecchi would keep that from you... If he went all the way to your house to drop off that letter in the first place." You shake your head, biting your bottom lip anxiously, "I want to... But I don't want to bother him with anything anymore... I don't want him to be burdened by me..." A light tap on the head startled you, and you whimpered slightly, turning your gaze to the hot-headed captain. "It sounds like you're running away ____..." he frowns, causing your eyes to widen slightly, "You have the right to know... And you should ask Aomine what connection he has with your father. It means a lot to you... And I bet... He's waiting for you to ask.. Why else would he give you that letter?" Kise smiles, watching the interaction between you and his captain. If anyone is able to convince you, it's him. Because he knows you'd never talk back to your senpais. Standing up, he lets out a sigh, catching your attention, "___cchi, go talk to Aominecchi... It's the only way you can fix everything. You deserve to know the truth." All you could do in a room full of boys was nod.. Because the reality is, you need to know. __________________

There you sat, in your backyard, on a swing couch your mother had bought while on vacation. The cushions were comfortable, and you were feeling very tired from having to deal with a lot. However, as much as sleep sounds like the best thing to do, you made yourself stay awake, because the visitor you were expecting was to arrive soon. The sound of footsteps echoed across the cement, and you halted your movements, feet digging into the grass as a way to balance yourself. You could feel his warmth before he reached your place, a tall shadow shading you from the sun. You weren't sure what face you were making, but you turned your attention to meet his deep blue eyes. "Thanks for coming... Daiki..." His eyebrows furrowed, a hand buried in his pocket. He was a bit surprised you'd called him, unsure if he had ruined things. But when he heard the tone in your voice, he knew you had questions.. And it was his turn to come clean. "Took you long enough..." he mutters, moving to sit in the spot beside you. At first he keeps his eyes on the fence, the frown growing deeper as time passed. When he had enough of the silence, he turns his gaze towards you, almost startled at the soft look in your beautiful hues.. "I'm sorry..." you whisper, a bit sheepish, "I was unsure how you'd respond... Now that you're here... I don't know what to ask..." He sighs softly, leaning back in his spot as the couch lightly sways in the breeze. "You could start from the beginning..." You bite your lip, fingers curled in your lap as you look at him, almost desperate, "H...How did you know my dad?" He turns his full attention to you, debating whether to grab your hand or just lay them in his lap. He lets them lay in his lap instead, gathering the courage to admit to everything. "We met on the day he died."

_____________________ "Y... You're.... Aomine-kun...?" The raspy voice caught Aomine's attention, his eyes widening at the scene. There, with a stab wound bigger he'd seen, was a middle-aged man, struggling to walk. Without thinking, he ran to him, stripping off his jacket and wrapping him in it, trying to urge him to sit down. "It... It's not safe for you to be walking around! Please wait here, I'll go grab ___!" "No! Don't!" The scream startled him, freezing him in place as he stared down at the man. Taking in his appearance, he recognized his eyes from a photo you showed him on one of your dates... His blood ran cold... ".... You're _____'s dad..." A weak smile curls on his lips, as he tries to nod, but only coughs up phlegm and a bit of blood... His time was running out, he had to get this to the boy quickly.. "A....Aomine-kun... P...Please... t...take this..." He's stunned to see three letters... One written for him, one addressed to your mother... and the last was addressed to you.. "D..Don't read it until you're alone... J...Just please... t....take good care.... of..... ____...." By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late.. And despite doing everything he could for him, your father died.. leaving behind three letters.

______________________ "I stayed with him until the doctor told me to go home... At that point, I had no idea what to do... I couldn't find it in myself to tell you... But I remember seeing Haizaki in the distance..."

That sickening grin, the way he licked his finger as though he'd gotten revenge... Anger began to boil in his blood, and he wanted nothing more than to find him and beat him dead. "Dai-chan...." Your voice brings him back, and he turns his head towards you, startled at the feel of your fingers on his cheeks, wiping away a few tears that escaped their confines.. He's left stunned, breathless at the look in your eyes... There was no trace of anger, only a deep understanding and sadness... It broke his heart.

Without thinking, he pulls you into his arms, burying his face in your hair as he held you close.. His mind and heart were racing, and everything he wants to say is jumbled, incoherent.. He was a mess and the only thing soothing him was knowing you were right here... Against his chest... "I'm sorry.... ____... I wanted to tell you sooner... I just... I couldn't figure out how... I felt so ashamed... I couldn't save him.. I couldn't do anything but let Haizaki get away.." Your body is trembling, but not just from your own emotions. It was from this broken man in front of you... Who had been there the day your father died.. Who was able to meet him... before his untimely demise.. All you could do was hold him, adjusting your position so you were in his lap, burying your face in his shoulder. "D....Dai-chan...." you whisper, moving a hand to cup his cheek, wiping the few tears shedding from his beautiful blue hues. "It's okay...." you smile gently. Seeing him broken, raw and full of emotions has you caught up in a hurricane of emotions. It's hard to hold on, but seeing him shedding tears, being open and completely vulnerable with you, it has you falling in love with him all over again. "Listen, we will make him pay..." you mumble, keeping his attention focused completely on you. "It's not your fault... With everything that happened..." you stop, trying to collect your thoughts. "It hurts... But I'm happy you told me... Because I can fully heal and move on.." You find all strength has left your body, and you slump against him, burying your face in his neck. You allow yourself to be vulnerable with him, to be open and sob into his warmth embrace. You can't push him away, and his warmth seems to be the only thing keeping you together. You should be telling yourself this is wrong; that you need to let go of him because you're not with him anymore. But your heart... It tells you to keep him in your grasp, to hold him tightly until your fingers bruise. He is your safe haven, the one place you can be yourself. "_____... I'm so sorry..." he whispers, a hand gently massaging the back of your head. Without thinking, he presses a soft kiss to your temple, eyes closing as he contemplates his next words.. "_____.... I..." A soft snore reaches his ears, and he suddenly stops. Turning his head, he looks down, seeing your peaceful expression, as you sleep in his arms. He feels his eyes soften considerably, unsure how to proceed.. He thinks this is a sign to leave things as they are for now, because he doesn't want to screw up twice.. So he carefully adjusts himself, so he's laying on his side, you tucked between the rest and his arms. He figures this is the time to leave, to let you rest, but he feels a hand tug on his waist, causing him to halt. "D....Don't go... Dai-chan..." His heart melts at the soft plea, and he feels the light breeze pick up. Adjusting his position to shield you, he leans down once more, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead, letting his lips linger longer than necessary. And just like all those times in middle school, he lets himself drift to sleep, making sure he has you in his arms, never letting go.

#knb imagines #knb scenarios #i'm sorry #aomine daiki #reader insert #hurt/comfort

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smallhatlogan · 5 years

Text

Why Nonbinary Borderlands Fans are Mad About Zer0′s Pronouns, In a Timeline

2012

Zer0 was introduced in Borderlands 2 as a character meant to be absurdly mysterious in almost every way. Zer0 is apparently not their real name, they seem not to be human (but it’s unclear if they’re an alien, robot, or something else entirely), no one knows where they came from, etc. Still, in Borderlands 2, they defaulted to he/him, and was assumed male. It’s worth noting that Borderlands 2 also featured Bloodwing, Mordecai’s pet alien bird. In the original Borderlands Bloodwing was referred to as he/him, but switched between games to she/her. This is explained outside the game by Burch, who says that Bloodwing’s species changes gender halfway through life.

2013

Gearbox released the Diamond Plate Loot Chest. In it was the “Pandoran Gazette” an in-universe newspaper. It included an “Ask Doctor Tannis” advice column, the last question being:

Dear Doctor Tannis,

I have heard you are acquainted with the vault hunter known as "Zer0". I have been meaning to ask - that's not really his true name, is it? Hell, maybe Zer0 isn't even a "he". Do you have any details on this mysterious figure?

- Curious in Old Haven

Dear Curious,

I am indeed acquainted with the towering stack of leather and poorly-written poetry that so many refer to as "Zer0". As you have correctly noted, "Zer0" is not the Vault Hunter's true name. Zer0's actual name and gender are (CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)

Page 9 was not included. To my knowledge, this was where it was first seeded that Zer0 may not be male.

November 2, 2014

In a panel titled “Playing as a female character panel - Does it Matter” during PAX Australia, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford discussed Zer0’s gender:

“The other things that’s interesting to me is sometimes when there’s characters that don’t have a gender or have an ambiguous gender I’ll choose them...In Borderlands 2 we left Zer0’s identity very ambiguous. What gender is he?” *crowd laughs* “We need better pronouns, don’t we? Don’t we need better pronouns?” (Timestamp)

“What’s the gender of Zer0?….That says more about me than it does say about Zer0, the fact that I use the pronoun he when I describe Zer0. In fact, um, we purposely have left Zer0’s gender ambiguous. There’s a lot of folks at Gearbox that like to think that maybe Zer0’s of a particular species that doesn’t have gender- That is more androgynous.” (Timestamp)

(Timeline continues under cut)

November 25th, 2014

The first episode of Tales From the Borderlands was released. Anthony Burch answered this question on his Ask.fm:

To my memory, tumblr blew up with excited nonbinary fans. Prior to seeing screenshots of this, I really didn’t have interest in Borderlands. The idea of a cool nonbinary character who used they/them pronouns, admist a virtual desert of representation, made me play through the entire series as fast as I could so I could catch up in time to see these pronouns in action. For a long time afterwards I’ve seen other nonbinary people expressing the same sudden interest in the series after learning this about Zer0. Because, yeah, it was a pretty big deal.

2015:

Zer0 appeared again in episode 5 of Tales, released almost a year later after the first. Their voice had changed to one that sounds more ambiguous in terms of gender, but Zer0 was still being referred to as “he/him”. Anthony Burch was one of the writers on this episode. Afterward, he answered this on his ask.fm:

Since he claimed it was honestly a mistake, nonbinary fans held out hope. There were posts going around tumblr clarifying that yes, Zer0 was still nonbinary, and still was meant to use they/them pronouns. It was just a mistake made by a thoughtless cisgender man. Of course, then some presumably-cisgender fan goes to Burch, and validates him, because clearly a character can’t just up and CHANGE pronouns! It’s not like anyone ever does that in real life!

It’s not a fair point. It’s a dumb point from someone who has no stakes in this. (Another thing worth noting is it has only been other characters who referred to Zer0 as he/him. Zer0 has never made a point of standing up for their own pronouns.) After this Burch just kind of gives up on the whole idea.

This statement about characters being “progressive enough not to misgender someone” is weird, because the characters, even the sympathetic ones, in Borderlands have often blatantly failed to be progressive. The original Borderlands has the worst of it, it’s your basic 2009 edgelord shit. There’s blatant misogyny, not to mention the extremely homophobic joke surrounding Mr. Shank (and within that the transphobic joke about his girlfriend being a man in a wig). Burch only started writing for the game in Borderlands 2, however. It’s a huge step up, but there’s still a lot of bigotry. Captain Scarlett makes a “no fatties” joke. Mr Torgue fat-shames Ellie. Mr Torgue uses the R-slur. Multiple characters slut-shame Moxxi. Incest jokes surrounding Scooter, who also is implied to be a huge creep towards women. Heck, there’s the entirety of Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt DLC is a racist, colonialist mess. Its antagonist is implied to be gay, one of two gay male characters introduced thus far, and he’s a pathetic, creepy stalker. This is the game series where there are two common enemy types whose names are straight up ableist. So citing characters as being “too progressive” rings hollow with this context. Besides, trans people are often misgendered, even by people who’d otherwise be considered progressive. Burch left Gearbox the same year, so he’s not entirely to blame for what anything afterwards. He just set a pretty bad precedent.

2019:

Gearbox did seem to take the “make a new nonbinary character” thing to heart. They give us Fl4k, again a nonhuman character, who uses they/them pronouns. And okay, I love Fl4k, but like most nonbinary people I’m tired of all nonbinary characters being robots, aliens, or otherwise non-human in appearance (a trope that yes, Zer0 falls into as well). Still, Fl4k is cute and having a nonbinary playable character who uses they/them pronouns is cool! I definitely plan to play as them. Many nonbinary fans were suspicious though, it seemed likely that Fl4k might be meant to appease us and they could keep on using he/him for Zer0. We were proven right when they released the gameplay preview on May 1st. We hear Zer0 called “he”. None of us are surprised, but it still hurts, we felt like we’d been baited with Zer0. Besides, why can only one character at a time be nonbinary? Why can a bird change pronouns but not a person? Why was a writer allowed to go out and promise this if it wasn’t going to be followed through on (yes, he didn’t use the word “promise” but telling a marginalized group something like that isn’t something you can just “forget” without people feeling betrayed)?

And that’s where we’re at, as of me writing this. I feel like there are some comments I’m bound to get on this, so I’ll answer them here: Why are you making such a big deal about this?

Me typing a few paragraphs isn’t making a big deal. But I feel misled and baited. After a few years of no clarification after Burch promising us they/them Zer0, a lot of people hung on to hope. A lot of people became big fans of Zer0 because they’re a fun, badass, nonbinary character. Their design is really, really rad! And heck, they were (at least for a time) the most popular playable character in Borderlands 2. Telling everyone, in-game, “actually Zer0 was never really a he, they’ve been a ‘they’ this whole time” would have been HUGE. Like how Blizzard made Overwatch’s poster girl, Tracer, canonically a lesbian, and then revealed their badass gruff guy (who fills the roll of your basic FPS protagonist), Soldier 76, to be a gay man. They/them are still not widely accepted pronouns. For us who use them, it’s difficult to convince people not to default to something gendered. Especially when we fail to appear completely androgynous. I’ve been told Zer0 can’t possibly be nonbinary because they have a deep voice and “masculine” body shape. But real nonbinary people come in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of voices!

What about Fl4k?

As I said, I’m very happy about Fl4k. They fall into some problematic tropes even more than Zer0 (as Fl4k is verified beyond a doubt to be a robot, and has an “acceptable” androgynous shape to them). I don’t know their voice yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if it also fell into the category of “acceptably androgynous”. Fl4k is new and already “they/them”. Zer0 is an established character who already has a lot of fans among a bunch of different groups of people. There’s definite value in demonstrating a character can switch pronouns, since pretty much every nonbinary person who uses they/them haven’t used those pronouns their entire life. Besides, there can and should be more than one nonbinary character. Fl4k being nonbinary but not Zer0 kind of feels like Gearbox expects us to shut up and be happy with what we’re given.

What about nonbinary people who use he/him pronouns? Can’t Zer0 be that?

Those people are real and valid. However, we’re talking about real people versus a fictional character. I admit I’d feel better if it was stated, in-game, “Yeah, Zer0 is nonbinary and uses he/him”. But even then, it’s REALLY EASY for cisgender people to ignore that information and write Zer0 off as male (And knowing gearbox, they’d put it somewhere easily missed. I’ve surprised so many straight people who’d played through Borderlands 2 with the fact that Sir Hammerlock is gay, simply because it was only verified in a side quest). And you know, we were promised they/them, so like, not doing that kind of sucks. Also I think it’s really important to normalize they/them.

So what are we supposed to do about this? What do you expect to change, anyways?

Honestly? I don’t expect Gearbox to fix this so late. In all likelihood, that’s way too much dialogue to re-record. But I still think it’s worth making our voices heard. We shouldn’t silently put up with this kind of thing. Other people will pull the same shit, being either unsympathetic or unaware of the harm they do. And heck, it’s unlikely, but maybe Gearbox will at least acknowledge their wrongdoing.

Also, it’s maybe worthwhile to ignore canon, and keep referring to Zer0 as “they/them”, or if this whole thing is news to you, it’s not too late to start. It would mean a lot to nonbinary fans, and make a point about how Zer0 is regarded.

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #zer0 the assassin #misgendering #tftbl #anthony burch #zer0 #nonbinary #transgender #representation

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hegglespeggles · 4 years

Text

How to write an essay you could not care less about in 10 steps

Hello. I have an essay to write.

I am also, (unfortunately) the kind of lazy, apathetic burnout who will only do my FUCKING work if I get really worked up. Usually that ends up meaning all of my papers are spite-fuelled tirades but my profs seem to like them so fine. I hope you find this particular raging tirade useful.

Today, I would like to educate the 4 of you that will actually see this on a fine art I have perfected over the years. Writing a paper, about which, you do not give a single, solitary, crumb of a fuck about. This is (you may have guessed) and excellent way for me to procrastinate doing a paper that *I* do not give a single solitary crumb of a fuck about. For best results, I recommend doing this NIGHT-BEFORE-PANIC like, a week in advance so you can fix all the NONSENSE that your more reasonable brain will undoubtedly find. But if it’s the night before and you are shit outta luck, this will get ‘er done. And with practice, you can even pull good grades outta these bitches.

Dissociating? I gotchu. Woke up the day of the deadline to feel like absolute utter garbage? Search no more friends.

FAILING GRADES ARE BETTER THAN ZEROS JUST FUCKIN DOOOOOO ITTTT

1. Go get the prompt.

I fucking mean it. Even if you are like 1000% sure you know what the prompt is asking, go to the FUCKING assignment, and copy that shit into your word document. Got the assignment on paper? TYPE THAT SHIT UP MOTHERFUCKER.

(Do you see what I fucking have to deal with)

Boom?

BOOM.

Congratulations, you now have a document, and whats more, there are WORDS in it!! You aren’t starting from scratch anymore kiddo. Fringe benefit, you always know EXACTLY what the assignment wants because its fucking Staring You Down. Not saying you have to do exactly as it says, mama didn’t raise no BITCH and I aint scared of fuckin CALLING PROFS OUT but if you wanna break the rules you gotta know what they are first

(Disclaimer: I have also been kicked out of class on numerous occasions for fighting with the prof and had full classes where the lecture WAS me arguing so maybe take my opinions of conformity with a grain of salt.)

2. Math THE FIRST

I know, this is an essay and not a fucking calculus test. But some of this shit is USEFUL OKAY

Take the paper in question. How long does it have to be? Mine is 5 pages. A page is generally accepted to be 250 words (double spaced because we FUCKING LOVE OURSELVES) so 5 x 250 = 1250 wds. That’s the goal. That’s the pinnacle. That’s your new holy grail.

Time to split this bitch up

3. Yarrrrrr, CONTENT

And finally, we get to the part that is the reason why you are being an absolute bitch baby about this essay (maybe. I might be projecting. Your life is your life and im sure youre doing your best.) I Hate this part, but now with our magic number we don’t need to pull 5 pages out of the ether.

This part really requires you to know your vibe. Is this something that you have a lot of little opinions (read: evidence) about or like, only 2 or 3 big bois? Look deep into your soul and figure out which is the easiest for you to shit out, a rant or a list. a great way to do this is to WRITE ANYTHING YOU GOT OUT

Here you can see I’ve put all of the thoughts I have about the question into a list, slapped some standard “opening” and “closing” shit around it so I can FUCKING FIND IT AGAIN and given it a good hard look. Whats the common thread in all of my opinions? That the prompt is fucking stupid and makes no sense is asking 2 different questions. Congratulations: you found your thesis. This essay, like many of my essays, bears the thesis “this is a weird question to be asking” (which falls under my broader category of “bitches aint shit” essays.)

Congratulations you have the bare bones of your skeleton.

4. MATH THE SECOND

The magic number returns. All hail our glorious leader. 1250 right?

So heres how I break this down. Break off a small chunk at the beginning. For this essay im gonna split off the 250. Split that baby in half. Congratulations, now you have a word count on your opening and closing. Personally, I know I like a lil extra space at the end to get all ranty, so Imma split this puppy up 100 for my opening and 150 for the closing. WARNING: You will think that you will be able to write enough in your opening and closing to take up lots of space. You will feel the urge to give them both the same amount of words that you give your points. This is misguided and foolish. Not only will you 1) not be able to do it but 2) even if you did, that’s like getting a sandwich which is all bread. No one wants that. Don’t be that dude. Fight the urge.

RIGHT SO. We’re still left on the other 1000 words.

If you have an idea that like, is bigger than the others, go ahead and give that puppy more of the word count than the others, fractions are your friend here and you wanna think about how much of your final product each of these babies will be. If you, like me, are an utter buffoon with no clue what youre doing, open your calculator up. Divide the remaining word count by the number of points you have. Congratulations. Youre doing the essaying.

If this is enough to get you started, GREAT! See you at step seven. BEFORE YOU GO I would like to give you this tip

5. CITE YOUR INFORMATION AS YOU ADD IT IN.

It doesn’t need to be a full citation, just literally a footnote with something that will help you remember where its from and for the love of god WHAT PAGE IT IS ON. The you of 3 hours from now will thank you.

6. Filling in the skeleton

I don’t know about you, but I cant exactly riff off of a single sentence. Like, I know what the VIBE of my point is, but like, I cant pull it out of a hat. The name of the game here is whittling down your arguments into thinner and thinner chunks that are easier and easier to bullshit. This is how you avoid that “burning building found in flames during Brooklyn fire” bullshit that memes. You don’t wanna meme. You wanna pass. So, figure out what the things you are gonna say and in each bit, keep track of how many words you are gonna write. EITHER

a) You put how many words you think you can write on any point beside the point as you go and just keep developing points and shuffling word counts around until it matches the total for that section

b) You evenly breakup the word count between all the points and keep breaking them down until you look at a subject and a word count and go “yeah that’s doable. I can do that.”

I prefer the second so LEGGO.

Ta-Da!

7. Write ‘er up

Ahhh glad to see we’re all back together again. Try-hards who can ACTUALLY bullshit papers, glad to see you’ve rejoined us! This is the part where you take all that shit you’ve broken up into nice little chunks and you turn it into something worth reading. You can do it. I believe in you. Try and keep your citations in place.

I like to do this as a question answer thingy, like an exam, so halfway through writing mine is gonna look like this

The handy part about the numbers is that it gives you a frame of reference for how your bullshit is going. Realized you had a lot more to say here than you thought? Dope! Less bullshit somewhere else, take it out of a weaker point. This point didn’t give as much as you thought it would? Split the difference elsewhere! This way you have checkpoints and you can see how your essay is going

And then you can go ahead and delete your skeleton work. Its time. Its served you well. For extra drama, whisper menacing nothings to it as you send it into the darkness. Personal favourites include “no one will mourn you,” “your fate belongs to me,” and “so this is what you have come to”

8. Citations

Theres like a million ways out there to find out how to do your citations and its gonna depend on what kind of a paper you are writing. I use Chicago most of the time, including here. My advice? Use a site like, bib.me or something to do your bibliography, and then plaster that in the bottom of your document. Use that as the building blocks to do your footnotes. Let Purdue Owl be your guide. Purdue Owl Style Guide Is A Mighty Friend Indeed.

Also your welcome for that, “putting the page numbers in as you put the info in” shit. That took me alarmingly long to figure out. It’s a wonder theyre giving me a degree.

9. Proofread that shit, ya bougie bitch.

If you wanna be time effective, getting a friend to proofread while you do your citations is a great way to go. If you have a few days, put your paper away and come back to it. If you are out of friends and time then https://www.paperrater.com/ is your last hope.

10. Slap a title page on that shit and GET IT SUBMITTED

No joke, I have been using the same template for a coverpage all through highschool and my undergrad. There is only one title page and every time I write an essay I take the title page from the last paper I wrote. There is no beginning. Only title page. Title? Topic of paper: point of paper. For example, If I had to title this screed I’d call it Essay Writing: An exploration of mediocrity. slap the date and your name and the course and instructor on there and BAM. YA DONE.

Anyway submit that shit an go to bed youre done goodnight

EPILOGUE

I’ve gotten this essay back, and when I wrote it, I was barely a human being. Barely capable of human speech let alone a coherent argument. I would forget the end of the sentence by the time I typed out the beginning. But I still for a 70%! is it the best mark I’ve ever gotten? no! but it is a hell of a lot better than the 0% I would have gotten if i hadnt done this. I get it. And i hope this helps.

#mine #my stuff #studyblr #essaywriting #musicblr #game of thrones #study motivation #study #academic

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queen-of-the-vampires · 5 years

Text

break on me

characters: elena gilbert x reader

word count: 1,320

warnings: angst, fluff at the end

summary: elena is the only person who has been a steady constant in your life, and you love her so much

beta: she wants to remain anonymous

squares filled: break on me by keith urban

author’s note: this is for my own song bingo and if you have any requests, please send them in!

feedback the glue that holds my writing together

tags at the bottom

It wasn’t enough that you haven’t found love or a job you like. It wasn’t enough that everyone in your life seemed to drift from you. Out of all this madness, one person has stuck by you when you needed them. Elena Gilbert was your best friend, and she earned that title when you met her on the first day of high school.

You two hit it off, talking like you had been best friends for a while. From the start, you could tell she would be the one to stick by you in anything. She helped you when you needed advice on dating and crushes, and when you needed to escape your family because the drama would be so intense that you could feel yourself get physically sick from it. In turn, you helped her deal with her vampire issues and overprotective friends, the Salvatores. They wouldn’t let her make a decision for herself, and she loved that you let her do that. There is nothing that you two hadn’t been through together. Without her, you didn’t know where you would have ended up.

She knew of your problems with your family, your so-called friends, the problems you had at the job you hated, and even with your bad luck with love. She’s stayed up with you on countless nights, talking with you and trying to make you laugh even though you had been crying seconds before. Her friendship is something you cherished, and you didn’t know what you did in your life to ever deserve it.

There’ll be days your heart don’t wanna beat You pray more than you breathe And you just wanna fall to pieces And nights, those 2 AM calls Where dreams become walls And you just need a break Break on me

Elena was sound asleep when she heard someone knocking on her door. She was a light sleeper thanks to her vampire side, which is why she woke up at the first knock. The time was 2 AM, so no one should be at her door anyway. The fact that someone is put her on alert, and she rushed over to the door before opening it. When she opened it, she was on full alert.

“Y/N, is everything okay?” she asked with wide eyes. Standing there in only your pajamas and fuzzy slippers, clutching a pillow to your chest, you sighed sadly before looking at her in the eyes.

“No,” you sniffled. Your eyes were red from crying on your say over here, and your voice cracked when you spoke.

“Did you walk to my house in the middle of the night?” she asked surprisingly.

“Yeah, I guess,” you muttered. Her house was exactly six blocks from yours. Elena let out a sigh in relief when she saw no injuries on your body, but she knew you had some on your mind. She led you into her house, and while she got some hot chocolate ready, you took a seat on the couch. Elena hated seeing you this way because she developed a crush on you over the years. Being the only person who knew you the best, she could confidently say she was in love with you. She knew you didn’t feel the same since you always asked for advice on dates, which is why she never pursued anything.

That night, she became your rock as you let out how your sister betrayed you once again. She was always there for you, letting you break in front of her because you knew she would always be there to pick up the pieces and try to put you back together again.

Shatter like glass Come apart in my hands Take as long as it takes, girl Break on me Put your head on my chest Let me help you forget When your heart needs to break Just break on me

Last time, it was your sister, but this time it was your boss who hated you. You were over at Elena’s again since you decided to take off work in the middle of the day. She had the day off from her busy life, which you appreciated. Your job was hard, and you wanted to quit, but you needed the money so fucking bad. You’ve been there the longest, and you hoped a promotion was coming your way to reward you and all of your hard work.

Your boss constantly berates you, and all you could do is just tolerate it because if you stood up for yourself, he would fire your ass in an instant. Elena was there for you, letting you cuddle into her side as you cried into her chest. Her heart broke at the sight, but she kept her mouth shut since she knew you just needed a friend instead of advice.

There’ll be times when someone you know Becomes someone you knew But you’d do anything to change it And words you wanna take back But you know you can’t When the page just won’t turn And it still hurts Break on me

“I thought she was my friend. God! I can’t even get this right!” you yelled at Elena even though she did nothing wrong.

“She didn’t deserve you” is something Elena would have told you, but she was fed up with how you were being treated. “No, you know what? We’re not doing this tonight. No more crying.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what we’re going to do tonight? You’re going to a sleepover, we’re going to get into comfy pajamas, we’re going to turn on Netflix, and we’re going to watch some comedy movies because it is too damn depressing in here,” she declared as she got up from the couch. Giggling, you watched her move around the living room as she got it ready for your supposed sleepover.

“There, right there,” she said, pointing at your face.

“What?” you asked with a small smile.

“Your smile. Keep it there. You look gorgeous with it on,” she winked before going into her bedroom for two sets of pajamas. You’ve been over so often that some of your things and clothes were already in her care. Did she really just wink at you?

You’ve been blaming the world for all your problems, always finding something new to complain about when you didn’t need to. You had a home, an income coming in and a beautiful best friend who’s been there for you longer than you could remember. Why would you go on dates when you had the woman you loved right beside you? It may have taken you this long to realize it, but you were in love with her. Maybe she didn’t feel the same, but even if she did, you couldn’t tell her. She was the one person you couldn’t lose.

Elena came back with two sets of pajamas and handed you yours. Grabbing them with a smile, you headed to the bathroom to change. When you came back, Netflix was on, the wine was on the table, and popcorn was in bowls on the couch. Taking a seat next to her, she pulled you into her body as she laid down so that you were on top of her. She was a tiny person, but she radiated heat despite being a vampire. She was so comfortable that you could fall asleep on her anytime.

“Thank you, Elena, for everything,” you whispered as the movie played.

“You’re my best friend. I’d do anything for you.”

“I know. I love you,” you confessed. She smiled as she raked her hands through your hair. She didn’t respond with words, instead, pulled you tighter against her body. Maybe one day, she would confess her feelings to you because you were an amazing woman who deserved the world.

Oh, when you need somebody When you need somebody right now You’re where I’ll be Break on me

wanna be tagged? add yourself to this document! if your tag doesn’t work, find out why!

@choosemyname @sotmperrie @akshi8278 @honeybums-blog @miraclesoflove

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chaosbrewing · 5 years

Text

your fault

okay, brief message before you read on:

I wrote this at like three in the morning. It’s horribly ooc, doesn’t quite fit the time period, absconds from the storyline, and some of it is incoherent, but I want to start posting more of my work. With that in mind, I’ve totally fallen in love with The Glass Scientists/ @glass-scientists y’all need to read it bc you just need to. anyways here’s my really bad writing.

“ENOUGH!”

Those of the lodgers that were not already at the balcony darted to its edge in order to better observe the conflict that was unfolding. Even Frankenstein had descended from the attic to watch, albeit with a disapproving look on her face.

“Is that Hyde?” Rachel blinked, rushing to the edge.

“I dunno,” Jasper replied, quickly following her. “It sounded like…”

“...Dr. Jekyll?”

The man in question was standing in the middle of the atrium, panting. His normally perfectly quaffed brown hair was frizzy and standing on end. His eyes, which Rachel realized for the first time were not a saturated shade of brown but of deep red, were bloodshot and red.

“I have had it up to HERE with this!” Jekyll hissed. Gone was the collected gentleman, continuously charming his way out of sticky situations; in his place was a firecracker, a ticking time bomb, a lit fuse.

“Ever since the Society was founded, it has been my job to keep you all safe. I’m the one keeping a roof over your head. I’m the one who deals with every problem that arises!”

“Henry, you forget yourself,” Lanyon growled. As always, he was the picture of a perfect gentleman in his deep indigo suit, cool and collected.

“No, Lanyon, I am perfectly capable of voicing my feelings,” Henry replied coldly.

“You lot don’t want to do an exhibition, do you? Well fine! But I don’t have any more money to keep this place running, and Lanyon’s father refuses to fund us any longer!”

Every expression in the room was unreadable, but for the doctor’s. His chest was rising and falling at an alarming rate; beneath his freckles, his normally pale face had gone bright red.

“We. Have. No. More. Money. I am up to my EARS in bills! Without an exhibition, without gaining patrons, you’ll all be back out on the streets in a week’s time. And what do I get for what I do?”

Jasper swallowed hard, staring at Dr. Jekyll.

“I GET SPAT ON. I GET CALLED A SLUT BY MY CHILDHOOD IDOL, THE ONE SCIENTIST WHO PROMPTED MY ENTRY INTO THE FIELD ITSELF!” Henry screamed. “AND YOU LOT—YOU HATE ME! YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO SAY IT OUT LOUD, I KNOW IT!”

“You lied to me about Hyde!” Rachel called out boldly, hands on her hips. “You’ve penned us all in! You don’t care about science, you just want a profit!”

Henry’s glare turned cold.

“So that’s it, then, isn’t it?” he chuckled bitterly. “You lot hate me. I can’t say I haven’t suspected it all along.”

“You want Hyde? You’ll get Hyde. And I won’t be coming back.”

From the inner pocket of his red vest, he pulled a vial filled with gleaming green liquid. The potion seemed to have an aura of evil about it; everyone recoiled slightly.

Henry popped the cap from the vial and drained it.

“HENRY!” Lanyon screamed, rushing toward him.

As his friend was held back by the others, Jekyll collapsed to the floor and began to convulse. The vial shattered next to him; Henry was clutching at his head in evident agony. The room watched in quiet horror as the man before them twitched and contorted.

“Ahahahaha….Ahahaha….AHAHAHAHA!”

Cackling filled the silence, vile and cruel and ever-so-familiar. Jekyll had stopped twitching. The man began to sit up; there was green liquid leaking from his eyes and mouth. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, prompting Rachel to gasp.

“His...His clothing’s changed,” Jasper blinked. “And his hair? What’s that on about?”

“I’m baaaaaack,” Hyde smirked evilly, glaring at the lodgers with a pair of bright green eyes.

A collective gasp issued forth. Lanyon looked horrified.

“Mr. Hyde!” Rachel cried, aghast.

“Hello, Rachel,” Hyde replied, sneering.

“But—But Dr. Jekyll was—how are you—what are you?!” Jasper yelled.

“I am the product of many years of study by your wonderful friend, Dr. Jekyll,” Edward replied. “Or perhaps friend is not the term? I believe you voiced your hatred of him earlier...how unfortunate…”

“What have you done with him?” Lanyon cried softly. “Bring him back this instant!”

“Oh, it was no choice of mine,” Hyde blinked, giving Lanyon an owlish stare. “You see, Jekyll makes those choices. And it seems you finally pushed him over the edge.”

He ran a hand through his unruly blonde hair, reveling in the attention he was receiving.

“When Henry was nothing more than a lad, science delighted and distracted him from the rest of the world. He devoted hours to his studies—I’d say he accomplished more by age ten than most men by age thirty! But he was constantly craving approval...his mother denied him, his friends called him crazy, even the citizens of the city! So he gave up on the sciences.”

All were captivated as the blonde demon spun his story, pacing about the room in an energetic sort of way. It was almost as if he found the telling of the tale to be an exciting journey.

“Henry came to London, where he found dear Lanyon,” Hyde hummed. “Oh, Lanyon….how he yearned for a friend! And you, you were so much more than a friend to him. He wanted praise. He longed to be accepted. He sought to become a true part of society, and you took him under your wing. You didn’t even notice how in love he was with you,” he cackled.

Lanyon’s tan skin paled to a shade one might have thought impossible for a person of his complexion.

“In—In love?” he stammered.

“Oh, he was head over heels,” Hyde giggled. “He would have done anything for you, Lanyon! Why, in our mind he created a version of the perfect English gentleman—it’s you, Lanyon! You in all your fine glory. Your mannerisms, even your physical appearance! He looked up to you, he adored you, he loved you.”

The simpering smile on Edward’s face turned to a scowl.

“I find you a pest,” he hummed boredly. “An annoying brat. I’ve no clue what he saw in you.”

“But I’ve digressed, haven’t I? The times began to shift—people turned against science, and Henry sought to protect it in the one way he knew would work.”

“By giving it all the titles and airs of a respectful high society organization,” Jasper breathed.

“Excellent, my dear boy!” Hyde crowed.

“Yes, indeed! He formed the society to keep you all safe. To foster the opportunity for you all to grow and use your skills, a chance he never had.”

“But where do you come in?” Rachel asked quietly.

“Ah, see, I come right after the society’s creation,” Edward chuckled sinisterly. “Henry picked up the chemicals in one last burst of creativity. A few exotic powders, a few oils, a few extracts...and a pinch of one rare salt. The first sip was painful. The bloody thing tasted like shit, and then he had to go and collapse from the horrific pain. But he’d truly done it! He’d separated the good from the evil in his soul, and I finally had free rein.”

He tipped his hat in Frankenstein’s direction. “Here’s your proof, m’lady.”

The scientist in question was observing with a cold expression on her face.

“And Henry, once he’d regained control, swore to never tell a soul! I spent each day torturing him, oh yes,” Hyde smirked. “I brought up his worst memories...his deepest fears...he always thought you’d see right through him. He was constantly terrified you’d see him for who he really was, that you’d see him for me, and abandon him! Greedy, pathetic little Jekyll...he constantly hungered for praise. Of course, having lacked it in our childhood, I can’t say I blamed him.”

“What are you saying?” Lanyon whispered.

“You, my dear Mister Lanyon, were to never find out,” Edward hummed. “Oh, the agony of Henry’s dearest companion learning of his wicked alchemy! The profound corruption of his soul!”

He cackled.

“And, bit by bit, your little comments wore him down. Your critiques, both gentle and harsh. Being called a slut, by Auntie Frankenstein over there, was quite a blow, as well. And now...well, your hatred pushed him over the edge,” Hyde shrugged. “He relinquished every last bit of control to me, and I don’t intend to give it back. He could not handle the pain any longer.”

“So he’s gone forever?” Jasper whimpered.

“Don’t snivel, boy!” Hyde growled. “Pathetic, you are—just like he was! Poor, pathetic, anxiety-riddled, unlovable Henry Jekyll, who could never see past his oh-so-obvious flaws and would never make it in this world!”

Lanyon was crying silent tears. They streamed over his cheeks, dripping from the end of his chin and onto the floor.

“Don’t call him unlovable,” he whispered coldly.

“I loved him. Perhaps I did not realize it before, but…”

Every tender moment they’d shared. Every awkward emotional gaze.

“I taught him to dance,” he whispered. “I can still remember how he trembled in my arms...how he blushed and giggled when I bowed to him and kissed him on the hand…”

“He always gave me advice,” Rachel said quietly. “He even let me pull him away from important conversations.”

“He taught me how to present. He cried when I told him I wasn’t giving up like everyone else,” Jasper whispered.

Soon the other lodgers were all nodding and adding their own stories, recalling how much Dr. Jekyll had given of his own time just to preserve theirs.

“I vas...too hasty in my assessment of him,” Frankenstein said quietly. “A most honorable man he vas, it seems.”

An expression of determination crossed Lanyon’s face. He drew a dagger from the inside of his pocket.

“I may have been blind before, but I will not let Henry’s memory be tarnished,” he said firmly. “He did far more for us than I ever thought. And keeping all of that bottled up inside…”

“The perfect recipe for chaos,” Hyde cackled. “Just as I like it!”

“This is for Henry,” Lanyon hissed, shoving Hyde against the wall with enough force to at least bruise his head.

“So, the pretty boy is strong?” Edward smirked.

Lanyon stabbed him in between the ribs; Hyde’s eyes widened as blood began to pour down his front.

“No...no, no, NO!”

His last word was an ungodly screech, echoing painfully around the atrium. Blonde hair darkened into brown; vivid green eyes became harsh red, then a softer shade.

Henry coughed weakly. Blood trickled down his chin from the corner of his mouth. He placed a hand to his bleeding chest, where Lanyon was now applying compressions.

“It’s no use, Lanyon,” he said quietly, before coughing. “It’s no use. And it’s for the best, really. Don’t even bother.”

“I’m not letting you go, Henry Jekyll,” Lanyon said fiercely, tears filling his eyes.

“The world needs more brilliant men like you. Too many of us are stuck up. Trapped in our shells. Unable to see beyond, like you can.”

“Ve need more people to protect our craft, as you have,” Frankenstein nodded.

A weak smile crossed Henry’s face; it was quickly broken by a hacking cough.

“I’ve always...always wanted to be complimented by you,” he whispered. “Thank you…”

“Don’t leave me, Henry!” Lanyon cried. “Please, Henry! Please!”

With one arm under his friend’s head, he cradled him close to his chest. His tears spilled down onto Henry’s face, mingling with the brunette’s own tears.

“I love you, Lanyon,” Henry whispered. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t enough.”

“You’ve always been enough, Henry,” Lanyon shook his head. “You’ve always been more than enough! I was foolish to not see that before. You’re everything to me. Everything! I need you, Henry. You better not leave me!”

He stopped.

“I—I love you! I love you, Henry!”

The room was utterly silent.

Henry had stopped breathing.

“NO!”

A ragged wail tore itself free from Lanyon’s lips as the man caved in on himself. He was still cradling Henry’s body; it took the aid of several lodgers, all of whom had come down to gather around the doctor, to pry the two away from each other.

“No, Henry, please,” Lanyon whispered. He closed his eyes; the tears continued to flow hot against his cheeks.

“I didn’t get to tell you…”

#my writing #tgs #the glass scientists #jekyll and hyde #i tried #alyssa’s writing #robert lanyon #henry jekyll #edward hyde #jasper kaylock #rachel pidgley

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kim-seungmine · 5 years

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excerpt: when it’s past midnight

title: when it’s past midnight

characters: reader x han jisung of stray kids (feat. kim woojin, lee felix, and lee minho of stray kids + shin ryujin of itzy)

genre: if i could add a spinning, glittery gif of “slice-of-life” then i would, romance, radio DJ!AU, let’s appreciate jisung’s talking voice y’all.

word count: -

warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking

synopsis: jisung is lost but he found you--who are hiding and don’t want to be found.

a/n: posting an excerpt once again because i need more motivation to write in the midst of my current schedule. and it’s because im just so impatient at myself and want to share with you.

UPDATE: FULL VER IS UP! Please search my masterlist on my bio bc I can't put links here

Han Jisung fell in love.

It shouldn’t be a problem. It should be a blessing, even, but not when he didn’t know what to do with his life. Not when he was a disappointment, both to himself and the world. Two years ago he wouldn’t even imagine himself saying this, but army was probably better than real life. Being away from the university for two years did cause him to forget literally everything he studied, but when he was there, it was fine. He would meet his friends to talk about it, and his seniors would give them advice. The cycle repeated for his whole service and during that time, he believed everything would be fine.

Now that he was back, it felt different. He felt lost, and his friends who shared the same struggle were now pretending to do better than they actually were. Jisung was lost, but he was also in love. He wasn’t even sure if love was the right word, he just hoped that you would give him a cha—

What the hell are you talking about?

In the middle of all the mess, there was one thing he believed.

Jisung loved you, probably at first sight and although he tried to dismiss it then, now he was sure he loved you. And it all started a minute after midnight.

October 2020

“So you’re not going back? What the hell man, we had a deal!” Woojin deadpanned as Felix let out a dejected sigh. “I thought you would consider coming back,” he said. Jisung shrugged, ready to provide pathetic reasons when he suddenly got an idea.

“Woojin,” he began. “Can I host with your current DJ? They are amazing and I definitely don’t want to replace them. But can you please let me host with them? Just to say goodbye, for old time’s sake.”

Jisung suddenly felt so excited. Why hadn’t he thought about this before? He was completely away by the way you carried the broadcast, by how you conveyed your thoughts, and by the sound of your laugh (but nobody needed to know). He wanted to meet you just this once while saying goodbye to the thing that he probably loved the most.

“I don’t know, Jisung. Y/N has already submitted the script for today’s broadcast last night—”

“Unlike you who submit scripts 2 hours before broadcast.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Felix.”

Woojin raised his hand, effectively shutting Jisung and Felix up. “I planned to add one more show for When It’s Past Midnight because we’ve been getting good reviews, even from the lecturers. In fact, the faculty is willing to give us more budget,” he informed. “I want you and Y/N to host on different days, but if your decision is final—”

“You’ll let me host with them, right?”

“Will anyone let me finish talking?!”

“Sorry.”

Woojin rolled his eyes, not bothering to continue and just went straight to the recording room. “Hey,” he called out. He looked unsure of himself, which was something new because he was that type of leader who always exuded confidence and wisdom. “What is it?” you asked as Jisung pushed him inside.

You frowned upon seeing Jisung, while he tried to remember if he had seen you before. He noticed that you took a glance at the framed photo of Woojin, Felix, and him on the wall before you realized that this was Han Jisung himself . Well, he still looked pretty much the same, except his hair was no longer blond.

“Jisung is back, and he missed the radio so much. Would you mind if he hosts together with you?” Woojin continued, nudging Jisung to introduce himself to you. “But I thought I was his replacement?” you reminded him.

Jisung extended his hand to you, and he was pleasantly surprised with how firm your handshake was. He hated people who gave half-hearted handshakes, although strong handshakes couldn’t guarantee that someone wouldn’t be an asshole.

“I listened to the broadcast last night, and man you’re so good at this! The listeners love you. I wouldn’t want to change that,” he praised. “I just want to co-host with you once—for old time’s sake—and then I’m out. Gotta catch up with all my classes.”

You looked at Woojin who still seemed conflicted. “See, Y/N, I know you’ve prepared everything for tonight and having Jisung here changes everything, but is it okay with you if he’s joining the broadcast today?”

“The original DJ for ‘When It’s Past Midnight’ is here, how can I not let him?” You smiled, patting the empty seat beside you. Jisung sat down immediately, giving Woojin a smug look. “See? Nobody can resist me,” he boasted.

Woojin rolled his eyes. “Y/N’s just being polite. Just finish quickly and go back to studying. Nobody remembers you anyways.”

You passed Jisung your script as Felix knocked on the glass door. “We’re starting in 10, 9, 8, 7...”

The show’s theme song—Woojin composed it himself—played in the background. Jisung wore his headphones, tapping his hands on the table according to the beat. He looked like fish in his natural habitat no matter how much he tried to hide how comfortable he was with all of this.

“When it’s past midnight, your mind runs wild and wonders if there’s someone out there who’s willing to listen to you. That person is me Y/N and today we have a special guest.”

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sqsupernova · 5 years

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Author Post — KizuRai

We sat down with @kizurai to talk about Rain World, their process, and their Supernova adventure!

What inspired your story?

Listen. I was stuck in traffic on my way home from work one day, and it was pouring rain – as it does in Seattle, or anywhere near the northwest – and I thought to myself, “What if- but rain?”

No, but seriously though, I really was stuck in traffic and I wondered what would happen if rain could eat through materials. I would’ve been just stuck there, with nowhere to go and just melted there. Which is, okay, it’s morbid but I mean I wrote a post-apoc, what did you expect?

That and also I took inspiration from this indie game called <i>Rain World</i> (where I got the title if you couldn’t tell) and it… honestly there’s almost zero resemblance but I loved the concept of lizard monsters and the pressure of the rain killing you and having to run shelter to shelter. Like I said, kinda resembles my fic but not really?

Anyway, my fic is not frightening I swear!

How do you form your stories? Do you outline beforehand or write by the seat of your pants? Do you write linearly or out of order?

Outline? hAHA I tried, I honestly did try considering that was one of the requirements for the first draft: to at least have an outline written out (although it's a little more than that, be sure to read the rules lol). So I did write one, but then I threw that right out the window when I started writing because these ridiculous characters just don’t like to stick to script.

What I did do was write a bunch of random blurbs and facts about the world (which I never ended up using) and drew out some concept art and some floor plans, because I'm nothing if not a thorough game developer LOL

I also cannot for the life of me write out of order. If I do I just end up throwing it out even though I like it; I end up not being able to fit it anywhere.

So yes, I write linearly (not by choice) and write at the seat of my non-pants (because I hate wearing pants) and I just sit there, staring at a blank google doc until inspiration hits, or lightning strikes, whichever one comes first, and I just write and force myself to write and I keep writing until the stupid thing is done.

What in your fic are you most proud of?

Um, that it’s done? I’m still surprised I completed something, surprised I even managed 74k of words, like was I possessed?

Serious answer though, I wrote like up to chapter 9 and realized I didn’t add in any relationship stuff and Emma and Regina’s relationship went from 0 to 100 in a chapter. So I had to go back and sprinkle their relationship here and there. I guess that’s probably what I am most proud of, lmao, that I managed to make swanqueen for a swanqueen fic lol

Oh, and also making everyone hate me because of my fic. That is a joy.

Is there anything you'd change now?

Serious talk, which means this part is uninteresting but:

The thing is, we’re always changing, we’re always moving forward in one way or another, our minds are in constant movement. Therefore, whenever I look back on my old stuff I always get caught up in “god, that’s awful, why did I write that?” or “maybe I could’ve done better” and I’m sure I could if I spend the time to do so but why?

It’s done, if I’m really upset about something I should change then I’ll write a new story and do better because we grow with experience and each story writers churn out is like gaining experience points, eventually we’ll level up and maybe gain an extra skill.

The point I’m trying to get at is that, sure, there are plenty things I would love to change – burn the whole thing in a fire if I could (believe me I wanted to a couple of times) – but instead of looking back I’m going to look forward and make something better than the last.

How do you deal with writers' block?

So I follow Emily Andras on twitter and she mentioned something that I took to heart; she said something along the lines of ”writer's block is for amateurs” and I got confused and a little angry at first but let me say, I think I get it. Even though I do get writers block and I’m screaming at my screen hoping for something to happen, I wonder what professional writers do when they’re on a deadline?

I think they power through.

And even if you think what you’re writing is terrible and it might never make it into the final copy, it’s still something, it’s still words on a page and sometimes just writing something might spark something. That’s basically what I did, I kept powering through even though I hated every second of it, but I managed to get it done on time (early actually because I remembered the deadline day wrong, but let’s not talk about that) and it’s done. Period.

Also, deadlines. Those help a lot.

Was this Supernova experience different than your typical writing experience?

As mentioned above I really think the deadlines helped me. I’ve always been kinda the ‘goal-orientated but lazy otherwise’ type so on my own I’m pretty much whatever and I have a billion WIPs but forcing myself to write and do daily sprints really helped. There’s also a bunch of other writers facing the same thing as me so we can all suffer together.

Any advice to other writers who might want to write a longfic, or participate in Supernova next year?

You know what, don’t listen to all the other authors telling you outlines are the key LOL sure, go ahead and write one if that helps you, but really you gotta find the process that works for you. It’s a little bit like education, everyone learns differently, everyone has a different way of doing things.

Oh but, yeah, listen to me on that ‘forcing yourself to write’ thing, you might hate yourself, or you might hate me while doing it – most likely me but whatever – but just get words on a page.

Also, don’t be so anxious about sharing your work. Your fic is not representative of your self-worth. Don’t write because you want validation or have everyone praise you. Write because you enjoy it and get happy if even one person reads your fic and loves it because these things tend to turn out like a popularity contest and a lot of new writers get lost in the crowd (I mean, like 6-8 things will pop out daily so unless you have a following already, people may or may not leave you until a lot later) so

1) Don’t be upset if you don’t receive any comments until a month (or 5) later 2) Be happy you finished something! Look at what you’ve accomplished rather than focus on the extraordinarily high expectations you’ve put on yourself 3) Have fun

That’s it for me on advice. #fluffwriter signing out.

You can read Rain World on AO3, along with KizuRai’s other works! And don’t forget to feed the author!

#swan queen #sqsn spotlights: author post #sqsn spotlights: rain world

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