#gonna count this as a wip and wait until i have the other version done to post it properly in the tags. might fix the gold too

[size-two-shrimp]

dumbasses fell in the sand lmaooo

#i was talking to akans about an old fic idea i had (inspired by r+b=g) where these idiots fell in the sand and melted together a bit #its hard to see because im eepy tired but theres gold on either side of the whiplash where their sides got fused together by it #gonna count this as a wip and wait until i have the other version done to post it properly in the tags. might fix the gold too #also! v2 has to share their blood because v1s pores got clogged (someone teach it how to exfoliate) which is why theres wires #and also why v1 looks grainy #my art

[wolfjackle-creates]

Ghost!Robin Part 10

Here's another WIP Wednesday! Hope you enjoy.

Story Summary: Danny was invited to dinner at Wayne Manor to meet Jazz's boyfriend and his family for the first time. He worked hard to make sure no ghost business would interrupt the evening. But when he arrived, all he could focus on was the ghost of the dead Robin that seemed to haunt Jason. Looks like he was breaking his promise.

First, Previous

Word Count: 1.4k

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Alfred let out a put-upon sigh. “You, and you alone”—he gave a look to everyone at the table—“may ask Mr. Danny a single question. All other questions must wait until Mr. Danny has finished his dessert and informs you he is willing to answer more of them.”

“What the fuck does Jazz mean when she says ‘spoilers’?”

Danny sighed and leaned his chair back as he looked up to the ceiling. “Yeah, okay. That’s fair. You deserve an answer to that, dead boyfriend number two.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“I’m finally not the only dead one in the family. Sorry, but I’m gonna revel in that a bit longer.” Danny grinned at him and set his chair back on the ground. “So, spoilers. Well. My grandpa is kinda the Ghost of Time. Responsible for maintaining the time stream to bring about the future that has the best outcome for the most amount of beings. We met a few years back when he was ordered to kill me but became my mentor instead. Since he’s the ghost of time, he sees all futures and doesn’t really exist in the present. Sometimes he refers to things that haven’t happened yet as if they have or brings up events from centuries or millenia ago as if they happened yesterday. Bit headache inducing if I’m honest, but I’ve gotten used to it. Jazz doesn’t like it when I share details about what Gramps has let slip about her future.”

“No I do not. I’d rather live my life as if I have some degree of free will!”

The silence from the Waynes was only disrupted by the increased typing from Tim and Barbara.

“You know what,” said Jason after a beat, “I don’t even know why I’m surprised. Jazz, your brother’s life is insane and I say that as a zombie from a family of vigilantes.”

Danny shook his head and swallowed a bite of ice cream. “You aren’t a zombie. Zombies don’t retain any memories of their lives and they can’t think. Not sure what you are, to be honest. You’re ghostly in some way as evidenced by Robin and his ability to use and eat ectoplasm. Which you also recognized, if by a different name. Though, I will reiterate, ectoplasm shouldn’t bubble or collect in pits in the living realms.”

Jason stared at him for a moment before stabbing his spoon into his own pie. He muttered something under his breath and projected, restraint, hold it in.

Danny sighed. He really shouldn’t drag this out any longer. His remaining desert was gone in a few bites.

“Fine. I’m done. How do we want to do this?”

Jazz cleared her throat, “If I may, I have a suggestion.”

Bruce nodded and gestured for her to continue.

“Look, if we take the time to answer every single question about the Infinite Realms and ghost culture, history, biology, and psychology, we will be here for years. Now, Danny’s partner Tucker is our tech guy. We can have him send over a document tomorrow with much of the information we think would be necessary for you to have. You can review it on your own time line and verify it with Justice League Dark or whomever. And you can formulate a list of questions you need further clarification on. Sound fair?”

Jazz was the best. Danny sent her a wave of love you, thanks, you’re amazing and she squeezed his knee under the table.

Bruce hummed. “And what do you wish to talk of tonight?”

Jazz leaned back slightly and looked at Danny. “Danny? I think this is all you.”

Danny nodded. To the table he said, “Over half of you are in danger from the Guys in White. I suppose I should start with showing you how.” The ecto-trackers he had pulled out earlier still sat ignored on the table. He grabbed his own version and took a position kneeling between Bruce and Barbara. Tim got up to stand behind him. Everyone else also got to their feet and started moving closer.

Danny clicked his tongue. “The screen is too small for all of you to see. Jason, stay seated over there. It’ll be easier to show what’s going on with you if you and Robin aren’t right next to each other. Damian and Cass, you are the next most affected so come over. Everyone else, I’ll show you the exact same things just after.”

Cass gave him a single nod and slid out of her seat. Damian didn’t say anything, but pushed his chair out and stalked over. He stood as far from Tim as he could while still being able to look over Danny’s head at the small screen. Cass took her place between the two.

Whatever, their family drama was not his problem. He turned on the machine. “So this device tracks ectoplasm. My design is the most sophisticated on Earth. Green is free ectoplasm—ectoplasm that isn’t part of a ghost or sentient being. Purple indicates a liminal human. Blue is an unknown ghost. Red is a known, unfriendly ghost. Yellow is a known, friendly ghost. Orange is a halfa like me. The intensity of the color indicates the strength of the being.”

“What is a liminal human?” asked Bruce. “You’ve mentioned them before.”

“I didn’t go over that?” asked Danny as colored shapes began to appear on the screen. A bright orange blob appeared in the middle, himself. He was surrounded by three purple blobs, Cass and Damian were the brightest, Steph the dimmest at the other end of the table. But what really drew his eye was Robin. He was mostly blue, but a wave of blue-organge-purple connected him to Jason who was mostly purple. Both of their main beings had some of all three colors mixed in. Danny had never seen anything like it.

But he couldn’t focus on the strange display right now. Saving the image, he decided to ask Jason later if he could show Frostbite and Tucker to get their insight. “Liminals are humans who have been exposed to ectoplasm in some way. Either through death or long-term, low-level exposure. Overtime, it makes you death-touched and that changes a person. Everyone is different. Jazz has a degree of super strength, a ghostly obsession, and true empathy. Tucker has some technopathy; Sam a green thumb like you wouldn’t believe.” Though, this was Gotham, home to Poison Ivy. “Or, well, maybe you would, living in Gotham.” Danny pointed to the purple blob that represented Bruce. “This indicates you have quite a high level of liminality. Jazz”—he pointed to where she was, her color clearly brighter than any of the Waynes—“is currently the third most liminal person I know of on Earth.” He then pointed to Stephanie, a much dimmer purple haze. “And Steph is only lightly touched.”

Bruce hummed. “So this Ghost Investigation Ward will use a device like this to track any of us who have any sort of ectoplasm in us.”

“Yeah. Only theirs isn’t nearly as good.” Danny looked to his sister. “Jazz, mind passing the GIW device down?”

“Of course.” The GIW ectoplasmic radiation sensor had their signature sleek, white design. It was passed down the line from Jazz until Bruce was able to hand it to Danny.

“Thanks.” Danny took it and turned it on. “So the GIW design looks good, but can’t differentiate between different types of ectoplasm. As of now, they aren’t even aware of liminals.”

This device, when it turned on, showed a black screen with a white bar that went up and down at a steady pace. A loading bar was visible on the bottom labeled “Scanning.”

“As you can see, theirs takes a lot longer to get readings.” It finished loading. “Here we go.” Danny was a large green shape labeled “Phantom.”

Robin was also a green shape, though he was distorted with a tail leading towards Jason. He had no label. The others, excluding Stephanie who wasn’t displayed at all, showed up as a green haze.

“Thanks to my parents, they have good readings on me which is why my name shows up. They aren’t usually too focused on identifying ghosts, though, which is why Jason-Robin doesn’t have a label. I’m a special case. The rest of you are safe from a distance, but that haze means they’d take you in for questioning at the very least.”

“Hn. What is the range on these devices?” asked Bruce.

Danny shrugged. “My stuff? From anywhere. I track through the Infinite Realms, not by Earth. GIW? Jason-Robin, they’ll be able to detect something from probably ten miles out of city limits, but they’d need to be within half a mile to get an accurate location. The Fentons? Mile or so. They get an exact location or nothing.”

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Next

I don't really think I have much to say about this segment. The info dump has started! Thank you Jazz for keeping people on track. Alfred will help her if he feels people start pushing too much.

Tag List Part 1

@addie-lover-of-stories, @justwannabecat, @gin2212, @amercurio, @regonold, @overtherose, @readerzj, @sjrose1216, @echoednonny, @deeterzz, @blu-lilac, @number-one-jew, @rowanaway-fromthisbs, @vythika96, @tired-yet-awaken, @themirrorghost, @emeraldcorpral, @all-mights-asscheeks, @darkhinauniverse, @blep-23, @phandomhyperfixationblog, @larkcoe1, @thegatorsgoose, @job-ross-the-second, @britcision, @lenacraft, @bubblemixer, @androgynouslordofescapism, @purefrickingspite, @leftmiraclechaos, @lizisipancardo, @starlight-sparks, @miraculousandmore, @gildedphoenix, @sometimesthingsfallapart, @letmesayfuxk, @phoenixcatch7, @skulld3mort-1fan, @abaowo, @dhampir-princess, @idkmrpianoman, @sarina-elais, @ballzfrog-blog, @undead-essence, @spookytragedyshark, @flyingpansaurus, @akintoabitch, @marivictal, @8-29pm, @justreadingthefanfics, @happybear135, @kisatamao, @spoopyspoony, @adorablechaos, @sara0055, @screamingtofillthevoid

#dpxdc #danny fenton #jazz fenton #jason todd #anger management #ghost!robin #my writing #i had no idea where to stop this one #the scene just keeps going! #it would not have been nearly this long if my work hours hadn't been weird yesterday #the bats are definitely not happy right now

[naranjapetrificada]

3, 14, 24?

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

I can always count on you when there's a fic writers ask game going around!

To literally no one's surprise, the answers got long enough that I want to put them behind a cut:

3. how you feel about your current WIP

Quite good, actually! It's weird having a neutral attitude toward the act of writing after so many years carrying so much baggage around it. Conceptually I'm fairly confident about the world and many of the upcoming story beats, although my confidence falters sometimes thinking about the execution of those things. But I feel like I'm learning a lot, I have smart and supportive beta readers, and the enthusiasm it's been met with is just lovely.

Like I know longfics are tough, and at the rate I'm going it's gonna take me more than a year to finish it (unless something changes pretty radically?), but there's no point in borrowing trouble by worrying too much about that. The most important thing right now for future sustainability is not stressing myself out about finishing it earlier than that. It will be finished when it's finished and in the mean time I just want to keep having fun with it.

14. where do you get your inspiration?

Inspiration is such an interesting topic to me because for me, it's one of those things that's completely passive until it's not. It's kinda like what I said on a different post yesterday about inspiration being like a chemical reaction, but closer to alchemy than modern chemistry. By reading and experiencing life and other stuff you end up with a lot of things in a pot, and sometimes those things will react to each other. Or sometimes you'll accidentally add a volatile catalyst and soon that pot is boiling.

When it comes to more actively seeking inspiration, I regularly think about that thing Don Draper said on Mad Men, about thinking about whatever you need inspiration for a while, deeply, and then not thinking about it at all. I guess that's a more active version of that alchemy metaphor, where you're actively seeking things to throw in the pot. Sometimes that's just what the act of worldbuilding is. And sometimes there's no catalyst beyond lighting a fire under it, but a watched pot never boils.

(The one exception to that is if I'm struggling to like, generate scenes, it can help to go into research mode.)

24. how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

Reading is obvs in heavy rotation, fic or otherwise.

Despite my intense interest in OFMD, I haven't been a big TV watcher for a few years now! Anyone in this fandom already knows how the TV landscape is, and it's been headed this way for a long time. So not a lot of that!

For the past 5+ years though I've gotten quite into video games in a way that I wasn't before. I mean I always played games of one kind or another, usually PC stuff like the Sims, but I didn't Get Into Gaming until later. Because I was "late" to gaming I've been in a bit of a bubble because I've been playing catch-up, so there are so many high-quality, important, and influential games that I've gotten to play in the past several years. I don't know what I'm gonna do once I'm "caught up" and have to wait for new releases like everyone else lol.

Gaming has actually done a lot to inform my thoughts and feelings about storytelling, which I may or may not write about on tumblr eventually. I've also gotten really interested in thinking about game mechanics as narrative mechanics and the overlap between different ways of experiencing story. Environmental storytelling, for example, makes my brain all tingly ☺️

Unsurprisingly some of my favorite games are ones with deep lore, like almost everything put out by Arkane Studios (the Dishonored series, Deathloop, Prey, etc). Bring up pretty much anything about Arkane and I'll talk your ear off. I also really value the Horizon games despite some serious mechanical flaws. And now I'm going to consciously cut myself off abruptly or this paragraph will quickly become my entire day.

#ask games #ask game #asked and answered #fic writing #writing process

[warpedlegacy]

WIP Whenever

Because I’m bad at time. And keeping track of it. And completing things.  Okay so I am making progress on Reprisals Book Two, but the thing keeping more of my attention than I expected was my domestic series for post-Trespasser, While Time Remains. And I just wanted to share this scene with y’all: Cullen finally reuniting with his family (well, just Mia in this scene), and introducing them to his wife. I had to cut it down quite a bit to fit within the post limits of my ff server, so anyone from there, here is the full(er) version! (PS - “Cal” is the name I’ve given the mabari hound he adopts in Halamshiral during Trespasser. Yes, it’s short for Calenhad. Yes, Cullen is very predictably Fereldan.) Thanks for the tag @dreadfutures! I’m gonna wait on more tags since I’m late on this one lol.  South Reach is thoroughly rural Ferelden. Cullen takes in the vast fields, the scattered cottages, the humble mill churning its wheel, and thinks “home”. Despite the fact that this was not where he grew up. Despite the fact that he has never been here before. It all feels so achingly familiar that his heart swells. 

Inquiries in the market square lead them to the right house. It sits on the north side of a field of barley, hemmed in from behind by the coniferous forest and from the west by a run-off from the Drakon River. Very well-situated. Mia must have fought tooth and nail for a spot this choice. Cullen smiles thinking of this, then grimaces, knowing the reception waiting for him is like to be anything but peaceful. 

“They’ll be happy to see you.” Tess rides beside him, steady reassurance in her quiet strength. Subtle highlights in her dark hair catch the sunlight and remind Cullen of coals burned low in the hearth. Her bronze skin glows, but her eyes are dark and piercing as ever as she watches him. 

“Oh, I’m sure they will be,” he allows. “Eventually.” 

“After they finish lecturing you for not writing you mean?” 

“Partly…” Cullen rubs at the back of his neck. He’d been dreading this confession, but now there was no avoiding it. “And also for not telling them we’re coming.” 

Stunned silence follows, and he can’t bring himself to look in Tess’s direction. He doesn’t have to - he feels the growing aggravation about to boil over. 

“You didn’t tell them?” She sounds somehow incredulous and not at all surprised. “Do they even know we’re married?” 

More silence. 

“Cullen!” 

Her disapproval claps electric like one of her spells. He flinches, far too guilty to put up much of a fight. “I know, I should have told them. But with all that was going on there wasn’t time to write before our departure.” 

“What is Mia going to think of me…” 

“Of you?” Now Cullen glances her way, and sees his mistake. The anxiety is writ clear in her face - itself enough of an exception to be worrying - and her hand grips the reins fiercely as she purses her lips into a thin line. “Ah, I wouldn’t worry, love. It’s with me she’ll place the blame, I assure you. You’ve nothing to fear of her wrath.” 

He reaches across the space to grasp her… Right. He’s on her left side, not her right. She notices his hesitation and his heart wrenches as her face withdraws into despondency. His worry for her grows. She’s been like this since Halamshiral, and every effort on his part to assist her is met with stubborn denial and more withdrawal. She’s pulling away from him, and he doesn’t know how to stop it. 

“Tess…” 

“It’s fine.” She releases a harsh puff of air that fogs briefly in the morning chill. “There’s nothing for it now.”

They exchange no more words as they make the final approach to the cottage. It’s a modest log and thatch structure, longer than it is wide, roof rising high to accommodate a second floor. Smoke wafts up from a narrow chimney in the center.  The walls are plastered smooth, a gleaming white beacon amidst the crisp green and gold foliage. Laundry hangs across lines in the garden, which is separated by a low stone wall. 

The word “pristine” occurs to Cullen, and he smiles despite his worry. 

A figure toils in the garden with a hoe, and as they draw near Cullen nearly chokes, thinking he’s seeing his mother. But then she straightens and raises a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, and he realizes it’s Mia. All grown up, unlike his memories of her. 

She’d only been fifteen when they last saw each other. 

She spies their approach and he hears her surprised gasp even from yards away. The hoe falls to the dirt, forgotten, and she hikes up her skirts to vault the garden wall and race toward them. Cal utters a low growl at the sudden approach, but Cullen dismounts to get him quickly to heel. 

“As I live and breathe…” Mia pants and slows her approach, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at a brother she’d thought thoroughly lost to her more times than she cares to count. 

Up close, her resemblance to their mother is even more striking. Wheat-blonde curls fall to her waist, fighting free of the scarf tying them back. Her sleeves are rolled up past the elbows, forearms bearing the strength and tone of long hours toiling under the sun. Her eyes, the same rich, whiskey brown. Her mouth curled up at the corners, a perpetually patient smile always at hand.

“Hello Mia.” Cullen straightens with his own far more awkward smile, releasing Cal to sniff experimentally at this familiar stranger. 

Mia takes it all in at a glance - Cullen’s height, his broad shoulders, his untamed curls so like her own, sideways grin so like their father’s - then her eyes drift toward a figure she recognizes only by description. Dark-eyed, wild-haired, fiercely stoic… and an unmistakable aura of legend. 

The Inquisitor. Theresa Trevelyan. Or, as Cullen has frequently slipped up in his letters, “Tess”. 

She dismounts with practiced grace, and that is when Mia notes the knot tied in her left sleeve, an arm that ends just above the elbow. But she sees the prideful lift of her chin and knows this woman wants no pity. 

“My Lady Inquisitor.” Mia nods and wipes her hands before offering her right to shake in greeting. “What a pleasure to finally meet you.” 

“Likewise.” The Inquisitor takes her hand and dips her head. A surprisingly warm smile lights up her face, and Mia can see what drew Cullen so thoroughly into her orbit. “Though just Theresa will do.” 

Mia nods, accepting this instantly, before turning to Cullen with a much sterner expression. 

“You might’ve told me you were coming! Rosie’s gone to market in town, and Bran won’t be able to make it for at least a fortnight, what with the new baby!” 

Cullen accepts the scolding with good-natured exasperation, wearing an expression Theresa has seen many times whilst reading letters from his elder sister. A true matriarch, she somehow looms before the man despite being half a head shorter. Theresa understands a little better why he was always able to withstand Leliana’s and Josephine’s teasing with such fond patience. 

“I wanted to write, but there wasn’t time,” he tries to get in, but Mia is already verbalising all the new accommodations she will need to prepare. 

She barely stops to breathe even as she leads them and their mounts toward the cottage. There is a lean-to stable in the back where a plow horse is already housed, nibbling on fresh hay. A cat naps in the pile nearby, taking advantage of a patch of sunlight. 

When Cullen lets slip about the elopement, Mia launches into a fresh tirade. 

“But I told you I planned to propose!” he protests, receiving a gentle swat upside the head for the audacity. 

“Yes, but I foolishly assumed maybe you’d be holding off on the wedding until your family could be there!” Mia huffs.

“It’s not entirely his fault,” Theresa jumps in, looking fully guilty herself. “Circumstances were a bit… urgent. We didn’t want to wait.” 

That gives Mia pause, and she has to remind herself of how chaotic - and dangerous - their lives are compared to hers. At last, she lets herself smile, beaming from ear to ear as she reaches out and finally hugs her brother. 

“Welcome home, Cullen,” she says. 

He nearly crushes her as he returns the embrace. “It’s good to finally be back.” 

“And you, come here.” 

She draws Theresa in as well, but this embrace is more awkward as she seems not to know what to do with half an arm. New injury, must be. Mia makes her hug all the fiercer to make up for it. 

“My sister,” she declares, and plants a kiss on her cheek for good measure. “Welcome to the family.” 

Unexpectedly, tears well up in Theresa’s eyes and she cannot help the happy sob that escapes. It’s too much, this feeling of unquestioned acceptance. She’s never had this before - not so soon, so easily. She catches the glint of understanding in Cullen’s eyes before the tears make it impossible to see, and she reaches up to wipe them away. 

“Oh, you just let it all out my dear.” Mia looks from one to the other, belatedly realising how exhausted they both look, before nodding to herself. “You two finish stabling the horses. I’ll get your bed ready. There’ll be tea and stew waiting for you when you’re done.” 

And in a flurry of motion she’s gone, leaving Theresa to fall into Cullen’s waiting embrace until the shudders stop. 

#wip whenever #theresa trevelyan #dai #fanfic #cullen rutherford #domestic fluff #while time remains

[rigelmejo]

December Goals Update

Time to round up the stuff I got done! This one is a big update, despite both accomplishments and this january’s goals being quite straightforward this time. ^-^)/

I already know - I ended up focusing on one very specific goal, and made significant progress JUST in that. And... if I do what I am PLANNING for January... then hopefully I’ll make more progress. But lol, we’ll see. We know how much I suck at sticking to my plans >o>

Things accomplished:

Chinese novel chapters read in December: 20 (Tian Ya Ke - 19, aka read about 24% of the novel this past month! This was the big goal I ended up focusing on - I want to finish reading through my first full novel this year! I did a majority of those chapters in the last 2 weeks, so if I get motivated again, I might really reach this goal. We’ll see. I REALLY do want to break the milestone of getting through one complete novel soon, and it being a priest one would be icing on the cake. Reading method - intensively, using Pleco Reader, looking up all unknown words. I picked up a significant amount of words so far, but it’s still a big challenge lol).

Chapters I studied with Listening-Reading Method: 8 (Most of these were Tian Ya Ke, and dmbj 2. I ended up getting really into reading though, and skipping this step later on as it slowed down my reading time. This January, I would like to do l-r method MORE, because I’ve finally got Guardian all prepped to do that novel with it. I’d love to do l-r method all the way through the novel guardian... I hope I manage it... avenuex did a beautiful audiobook for it, and I’d love to work through it. The only demotivating factor? l-r method takes a big time dedication - 5-10 minutes to read a chapter in english, 20 minutes to listen to the chapter while looking at the english text, 20 minutes to listen to the chapter while looking at the chinese text... so around 50 minutes to do a single chapter. And guardian has 106+ chapters ToT. That said, imagine how improved my listening skills would be after roughly 88* hours of listening to chinese I can mostly comprehend? Considering just a handful hours of l-r method has already bumped my listening skills up noticeably to me. In addition to Guardian, I would very much like to do l-r method with Silent Reading as an excuse to re-read the novel and listen to the audiobook - which is around 66 free chapters available at least. I figure l-r method with priest novels, in combo with reading priest novels like Tian Ya Ke, will help with picking up vocabulary in reading and listening a bit. Plus, I plan to do l-r method in the order: listen to english, then listen to chinese, which tends to help me pick up more reading comprehension better than the reverse order.)

Chinese audio listened to: 14 (a surprisingly large number? I don’t remember doing this much lol? I think some of this is me listening to dmbj audios, and some was other chinese things, and a tiny bit was restarting the spoonful chinese audio. Again, I think listening more has been helping out a lot)

shows watched in only chinese: roughly 2 (I watched a bit of a few eps of border town prodigal, some tlt3 raws, some short vids, half of anti fraud league ep 1, half of some spy show, basically i was not in a focused mood lol)

Personal goals met:

finally got my stomach to stop hurting! i guess it wanted less carbs. also debloated 10 lbs so i guess its happier lol. still not sure what else it wants from me.

started writing a personal story, period piece with pirates and bisexual messes and i’m quite excited tbh. So now this story, and Nanase, are active original wips

handled doctor stuff wooh! 

read more of my cpstd book and made more comprehensive plans on what to do when i get emotional flashbacks - and i think the prep work has been really helpful so far, i’m hopeful my lowered stress now is a part of that lol

formatted 2 books! WOOH! in process of formatting 2 more, and learning how the fuck to do a parallel text - anyone know how??? I’m having a nightmare, I’d love to do left page english right page chinese, but all I’m finding are how to use columns to do dual texts beside each other on the same page. Which is much more cramped to read... but I suppose I can live with it if it’s the only option I have.

Goals for January will be pretty straightforward to be honest. I am in a very reading-focused mood. (I mean we’ll see how long that lasts, ToT since my attention jumps randomly, but I’ve got everything Prepped to lean heavy into reading for my studying for the foreseeable future). I plan to focus on reading as my main study method, to cover listening and reading and picking up vocabulary/hanzi. Optionally, I might listen to chinese audio in the background to further help with listening/vocabulary (like Chinese Spoonfed Audio, or audiobooks), or I might watch a show in chinese (whether I do this completely depends on if I feel like it). 

Later on in the year, if reading is getting easier - then long term, I think I’ll want to go back to Alan Hoenig’s Chinese Characters book and read through it for a solid foundation to fill in gaps, read my chinese grammar books for same reason, use my pronunciation app... and then dive into both language exchange apps and tutors more firmly for actual writing and speaking and interacting with others. Basically, long term, I’d like to work on filling in my gaps and correcting any mistakes I haven’t figured out, then work on production more which will be significantly weaker skills by then. But in the immediate, I want to just focus on what I enjoy - reading - and use it to pick up as many words as possible. 

Goals for January:

Continue reading Tian Ya Ke. Work on reading through my first complete novel in chinese. Continue counting chapters read, as I might look at a few novels - but sincerely, I WANT to focus on one book so Tian Ya Ke is the GOAL. I will be quite happy if I can get the book to 50% read by the end of this month, but we’ll see... and quite honestly I’ll be floored if I get to 100% within the month - but if it gets easier as I pick up more words, anything’s possible. Ideally, I would like to l-r method a few chapters. I do think it speeds up my reading speed because it makes me keep up with the narration, and it also helps me cement new words into my memory better. I remember words better when I hear them. However like - chapters tend to take me 40 minutes to read, and l-r method takes usually 15-20 minutes because of how dense priest’s chapters are. So... l-r method chapters take 1 hour a piece... if I get into a reading mood, I’ll ultimately probably just primarily focus on the reading.

Secondary goal, not as important, I will start this if desired but it might wait until February+. Listen-Read Method Guardian, until I’ve gotten through the entire novel. I finally have all the translations gathered up, I’ve got my chinese copy of the novel, and avenuex’s audiobook. I have everything ready to simply start. However, as mentioned, this is a time heavy activity. I do think it will be very helpful for improving my listening skills, and to a degree also - helping retain my reading skills, push my reading speed up a little, and maybe help me pick up some new words. I think it will be a very compatible activity with goal 1, or a nice follow up activity to goal 1. Also it is the DREAM, as that novel is what pushed me to start learning chinese initially... so I am very excited to read through it. Ideally, I start this activity AFTER Tian Ya Ke, and I do a full readthrough of the chapters like: read in english, audio with english, audio with chinese, read intensively in chinese. Basically, I would love to include a full intensive read through of Zhen Hun at the same time I’m l-r method’ing it. However that will be Even more time sapping, so that’s not necessarily gonna happen unless my reading speed for priest novels is a little better after Tian Ya Ke. I need to get through the chapters read in chinese in closer to 20 minutes instead of the current 40 minutes it takes me. 

Optional. Listen to chinese when I can - in the background like Chinese Spoonfed, audio books, audio dramas, and by watching shows in only chinese. If I have time, and I feel like doing these, I will. It’s easy to add doing this to my day, so when I remember to do them, they’re helpful. 

Main Goal for January - continue reading Tian Ya Ke. <3

Once that’s completed, next main goal - Listen-Read Method with Guardian. 

See? Really extremely straightforward goal for January. Simply keep reading! I think the more I read, the easier it will get, the faster it will get, and the quicker I’ll be able to get through a LOT of the novels I want to check out. So... I have to start doing it, if I intend to get better.

Unrelated notes:

I’ve gotten really into Drakengard 3 lately. Which by extension, means really into Nier Automata again, Nier (Nier Replicant remaster is releasing and I am getting the version with the scriptbooks and am intensely excited), and Drakengard. Yoko Taro’s wild concepts and fascinating characterizations and way of telling stories has sucked me in again. And I am reminded how very much eventually learning to read Japanese IS still a long term goal of mine. I’m back to playing like 3 games right now I could so easily be practicing my japanese with... if I remembered any japanese ToT. It’s like at the edges of my brain... I remember the hiragana and katakana after a minute or two... the kanji I’ve completely forgotten, but since I know a lot of the meanings from chinese now, I can often parse out the meaning of sentences in manga I’ve got... I can’t remember the particles off the top of my head or when I listen, but when I read their meaning clicks again fast... I know that when I go back, its just a matter of a crash course and then diving in again. And wow am I eager. But I know myself, and japanese is gonna take a WHILE. And chinese is currently taking a LOT of dedication, I don’t even really have time to work on my french reading lol. So I would really prefer to get at least another year in chinese before even trying to start studying japanese again. (And realistically 2-3 more years of chinese, because I genuinely think a solid basis in speaking skills/basic listening skills, and generally Competent webnovel reading skills I want before I stop actively studying chinese... because by that time I’ll want to keep reading/listening to chinese for pleasure, chatting when needed, and if I stop studying before that point I know I personally will just end up needing to relearn some big chunks. I also think if I try to go back to japanese before that point, I will have major issues confusing the two when reading. My japanese was upper-beginner when I quit, and when I started chinese I sped past that point in chinese to the point pretty quickly chinese blocked out what japanese i knew and it made japanese reading easier but only to a point. My chinese I’d put at ‘beginner’ still?? But compared to my japanese its significantly farther - in chinese I can currently read manhua without a dictionary and get enough to translate most of it myself, and read simpler novels and get most of it, and read more complex novels and get the gist main idea even if its a slog. 

With japanese? Ahahahahahah! I was able to read the very simplest of manga and only get the very bare main idea gist, could NOT even comprehend any novel, and could play a video game on MEMORY of what i knew the context was, only picking out quite basic words. However, even though my chinese has gotten a fair bit further... I want it even further before I stop actively studying it so much. I want it to the point its where my french reading level was at about 2.5 years into french (or honestly, a bit Better than my french was tbh). I want my chinese to be to the point, where I recognize enough hanzi that I can guess the meaning of some new words, that I can look up most new words with with pinyin because i at Least know the pinyin for most hanzi i see, and where in most not-too-difficult webnovels i read, I know enough of the words, that i can comfortably follow the gist of the main plot without too much strain even if i miss details. so at that point, I’ll still likely want to build up my vocabulary more - so that i can learn to translate, and so that i can pick up details easier, and read faster. But I’ll at least be at a point where i can easily maintain the skills i have and improve them a bit naturally by just continuing to read. I mean... realistically even, I should try to keep studying chinese a lot at that point... I really, really want to be able to read chinese novels. But that’s probably the minimum at which I’d feel quite comfortable focusing on another language intensively.

With japanese, I already have a study plan too! A study plan I know works for me! It’ll be so simple! Parts 1-4 would be structured study, parts marked + would be options to move onto, and parts marked * would be activities that could be done concurrently. 

The japanese study plan, whatever year I finally can get to it:

Listen to Japanese Audio Lessons (japaneseaudiolessons.com). I did this before, and it helped my listening comprehension/vocabulary pick up so much.

Read Learn to Read in Japanese Vol I, II, III (by the same people). I loved these books back when I started them, the best mnemonics that I’d found for myself to pick up the kanji - easiest way for me to pick them up without brute forcing it.

(concurrently with above) go through Nukemarines LLJ memrise decks. Literally, just CRAM through those. I did that at the 2+ year mark for japanese, and that was REALLY when I was finally able to start reading and trying video games, so it clearly was what worked for me.

Read my book Read Japanese. Haven’t tried this yet, but it looks like a good place to progress, This would be done after step 1+2, either concurrently with Nukemarine or after Nukemarine depending on how much is done. Just cram Through this book since it’s got a lot of basics in the beginning. Its in the same structure as my DeFrancis Chinese Readers and very well suited to my learning style.

Read my Tuttle Read Japanese book. More difficult, goes into like 2000 kanji, a ton of vocab, and most people who read this said afterward reading regular japanese material was quite doable.

+If my Nukemarine deck is completed - move onto one of my japanese decks with more words, or Clozemaster Japanese sentences.

+If my japanese audio lessons are completed - move onto one of my other japanese audio collections like the japanese pimsleur that was condensed, or that website with a ton of condensed audio of episodes (https://www.paliss.com/). Or youtube channels like Game Gengo (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT12i1gB38HG1olutL08nID8gaGWHZS4v). 

+at the point Nukemarine’s deck is done, Listening-Reading method with japanese novels is an option. 

+at the point I’m done with all Read Japanese books, may read through some other japanese textbooks I have, starting with: Japanese Particles and Common Sentence Structures, Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Guide. 

*Find a japanese reader equivalent to Pleco (check subreddit r/learnjapanese, r/refold, r/massimmersionapproach). Start reading whatever japanese novels I want. Which knowing me, will probably be light novels, maybe some visual novels, and video game related materials. *Ideally this step would be done last, but knowing me, it’ll be done whenever i feel like starting - could be attempted as early as midway through the Nukemarine decks.

*Listen to japanese - so many options here, realistically it would be me playing video games in japanese, watching jdramas, watching/listening to spinoff material of stories I like like the YorHa stage plays etc. Can be attempted as early as midway through Nukemarine decks.

*reading manga could be anywhere in this list, although I don’t do it much anymore. But I was just getting to being able to try this last time I was studying japanese, so I could start up again whenever. Only negative, I would say, is I think my improvement suffered back then because I was too scared to try reading actual novels. So novels are prioritized as reading material. It would be nice to help translate some mangas though - so there’s an option.

*maybe try translating some japanese things i have interest in, at a late point.

I think maybe, the biggest thing studying chinese has taught me about how i learn languages, is that I improve faster when challenged. I learn better when challenged. I tried to read Chinese novels from the first few months (not well, but i tried lol), I watched chinese dramas from day one, and I tried to watch chinese shows only in chinese from month 5 onward. From month 5 onward I started trying to talk/write with people (knowing maybe 400 words at first, quickly bumping up to 1000 words in a month cause of just needing it, so it definitely helped me). And when I started listening to audio more, my listening skill noticeably improved within a few months. As a result, my chinese in a little over a year is taking much less time to improve then I projected it was going to (I figured the progress I’ve made so far, was going to take 3-4 years). Whereas with japanese, I didn’t try to start reading or playing video games or listening a lot until 2 years into studying... and I also didn’t make any noticeable improvement until then. So going into any language study moving forward, I’ll do more to challenge myself earlier. Since clearly its helpful to me.

#december progress #december goals #japanese #japanese study plan #study plan #u can really tell japanese has been on my mind lately lol #chinese study plan #to be honest though i feel really happy with my chinese right now #i have been working for a YEAR to get to this point in chinese #to where i can primarily make my studying be reading. and i'm definitely here. #i can just keep reading and listening for a few months for chinese. i dont really need to work on varying it anymore #since my vocab foundation is decent now. #in a while like i said - long term - i'd like to do a readthrough of my textbooks #to catch onto errors i make and to iron out any points i still am not clear on #and really HAMMER in knowledge of basics #and then i want to focus a lot of my study on producing the language/communicating #i am hoping by that point my reading skills will be fast enough i'll be able to just read for pleasure #in some down time. and listen to audio dramas in downtime. to retain #what gains i've made there. #but production i'm happy to put off for a while so this plan seems good to me.

[zerendiipity]

Ling Chao - filled with you and i

i’m sorry that it’s been a long time since i posted something !! first i had midterms, then i had a big writers block. i’ve been trying to write different things to get out of my writers block so i have a few wips. i hope i can finish them as well as i did with this one!! tbh, i thought i wouldn’t like it as much but i think i do !! i hope you enjoy it too!!

word count: +1.8k (1.843)

—”I’m still hungry so I’m gonna go get something else, I’ll be right back!” —Ling Chao said as he got up from his seat to go buy something to eat, but you stopped him before he could leave.

—”Wait! Buy something for me too? Maybe something sweet.” —He nodded and you handed him some money. Then, he left towards the cafeteria.

You two had a little more than an hour free before your next class, so on days like this both of you would sit under one of the big trees decorating your campus, resting your backs on the trunk of one of the biggest ones that faced the big garden that some of the botany biology majors and others took care of. Spring was already around the corner so the different plants growing and the flowers blossoming were great inspirations but also could be great models for art majors like you two.

After finishing the quick sketch you had been doing, you smiled proudly at the result. Definitely, practice had its rewards and you were definitely seeing them on the realism of the flowers you had drawn and the person you drew holding them. Suddenly curiosity took the best of you and you glanced over at the sketchbook Ling Chao had left behind before he went to the cafeteria with the silent promise that you’d take care of it while he was away, although he’d only take around five minutes if there wasn’t a lot of people there.

He had closed it before leaving, so although you were really curious, you debated over if you should take a sneak peek at what’s inside. Most artists didn’t like people looking through their sketchbooks without permission. Some didn’t like people looking at them while they used them. Both you and Ling Chao fit into both categories, but even nowadays, as close as you two were, you never looked at what each other was drawing.

And for that same reason, maybe he would get a little mad if you looked at it, right? You decided that you wouldn’t even look through everything, but instead go to the page he had been using. It would only take a second, so he probably wouldn’t even know. Once he returned and went back to what he was doing, you could simply compensate the guilt of seeing his art without his permission with looking over his drawing and, trying your best to sound like you totally hadn’t seen it before, say ‘oh! that looks really nice!’ and that’s it. Nothing wrong about that.

You opened the sketchbook around the last few pages instead of the first ones, because as you had planned you weren’t going to look at any of his finished works or sketches without permission, you would try to find the last page he had been using right away.

And when you did… You were shocked, to say the least.

Instead of the same flowers you had been drawing, or any of the plants filling the beautiful garden in front of you, what you found were a few sketches of someone who for some reason looked a little bit like you. Okay, maybe you were pretty sure it was you, especially thanks to the unfinished sketch of a girl who casually wore your same clothes and had the same hairstyle and was seen drawing on a notebook from a side profile view.

There was nothing wrong with him drawing you. Probably, to other people it could be pretty creepy to have someone staring at you, although a little bit less awkward when you know it’s because they’re trying to draw you, and even less when you know the person doing so. You didn’t exactly feel that awkwardness. He had been doing the same thing as you; looking at something in real life to try and portray it in a drawing and learn from it.

But you felt… Perhaps something similar to embarrassment. No matter how close the two of you had grown to be, you felt a little bit shy, and also a little self-conscious.

‘I didn’t really put much care into my hair this morning. I didn’t wear make-up. And we just ate- If I had something on my face, he would have told me, right?’ You kept asking yourself useless questions like that while putting the sketchbook closer to your face, looking for anything bad on you that he could have seen and then replicated on the drawing. But there was nothing. There was nothing bad about it. Realizing that made you feel a little bit shier.

Your phone vibrated and you put the notebook away from your face, grabbing your phone and reading the notification displayed on the screen.

“(1) new message from didi 🌻: “i’m sorry i took so long, there was a lot of people !! i’m going back now”

As soon as you finished that, you quickly but carefully closed his sketchbook and left it where it was. You even spent an extra 5 seconds making sure it was placed in the exact same position it was when he left. And then, you used the remaining time to go back to your previous pose and stare at your drawing like you had never stopped doing so, adding some finishing touches to it. About two minutes later, he came back.

He gave you your food and you two went back to what you were doing before. Or did you? You were actually just wondering if Ling Chao was still drawing you, and if he would ever show you what he did. If he kept it as a secret, since you had found out, you wondered if you would feel a little anxious wondering why wouldn’t he tell you about it. When Ling Chao was done with his drawing, you stopped drawing too and closed your sketchbook to talk for a while. Your break felt short spending time with him and soon you were going back to your classes. The next one you had now was art history.

Although you didn’t hate the class, you were feeling pretty bored and felt like doing something more practical. You felt tempted to stop using your notebook to take notes of whatever the teacher was saying, which you weren’t even paying attention to as much as you tried to stay in focus, and just take out your sketchbook. You looked to your right where a few seats away, Ling Chao was sitting and submerged in whatever he was drawing in his notebook. You two probably felt the same way at that moment.

You repeated that thought in your head. Does he really feel the same way as you did?

Hoping that he did and that his feelings would be hidden behind his drawings of you, you looked at him for a few more seconds before you looked down to your notebook and started sketching that picture of him.

You kept raising your head every few seconds to take a look at him, at the pose he was in. His upper body slightly leaning forward to see what he was drawing better and from a closer perspective. You took a look at his face, trying to portray the focused expression he had. His eyes never left the piece he was working on, and his lips were tightly pressed together.

Every once in a while you’d have a hard time. Overall, the drawing was going well, but you’d stress over trying to get some parts to look as similar to reality as possible. You didn’t really care about it being completely realistic, you just wanted it to resemble him. If anyone saw it, they should be able to know who the person in the drawing was. And although you probably would feel embarrassed and wouldn’t want anyone to find out you drew Ling Chao, your heart’s beating sped up a little, shaken over the sudden feeling of wanting him to see it and to be able to also see the feelings behind the illustration.

So focused on your work, the last time you were going to raise your head to compare the sketch to the real-life version of it, you realized Ling Chao wasn’t sitting there anymore. In fact, most people weren’t sitting anymore and some had even left the classroom already. You looked back at his now empty desk. He had even had time to pick up his stuff, so exactly how long ago had the class ended?

Then, something inside you made you look over your shoulder, and when instead of the profile view of him you had been staring at while drawing you found your eyes meeting directly with his, everything around you seemed to stop. Time stopped, every single movement stopped, every sound or noise stopped, probably your breathing or your heart beating stopped. God, it even felt like the rotation of the Earth itself stopped.

Even without looking away from you, you knew he had seen it. Even before answering the last question he threw and letting him have his way, you knew he had most likely already seen enough to figure out everything about those sentiments you had tried so hard to put onto the paper.

—”(Y/N)... Can I see your sketchbook?” —

But it made you feel powerless to still not be able to tell what his feelings were. It felt like your vision was slightly blinded, like there were things that you couldn’t see, and he had an advantage over you because now he would be able to see everything. That kind of thing… You didn’t want that.

You released the breath that you had been holding in, and then took another deep breath.

—”Only if you’d let me see yours too.” —

You got up from your seat, taking your sketchbook in your hands and closing it, waiting for him to take out his from his backpack before both of you exchanged them. You shared a final look before finally opening the first page.

Spending almost the same amount of time looking at each page, you turned the first page. After stopping to look at the next one, both of you turned one more page. It went on until you got to the last page he had filled. It was the same one you had seen previously, but a new sketch had been added.

This time, you didn’t even think about it twice. The person he had portrayed… You naturally acknowledged that it was you.

After turning that page and finding that the following ones were blank, you closed the sketchbook. Soon enough, he did the same thing with yours. You two looked up again and although your eyes met the same way as before, the vision was different.

It was like you could see even better than before. It was like you could see anything, including the feelings the both of you held.

The feelings behind the sketchbook filled with drawings of him, and the feelings of the one filled with drawings of you.

#idol producer #oner #idol producer scenarios #oner scenarios #ling chao #didi #idol producer imagines #oner imagines

[kidgezine]

Check-in #2 is Next Monday!

Some of y’all have already turned in your sketches or drafts (and a few finished works) but for the rest of us be sure to email your work to [email protected] by 11:59 pm EST on Monday October 15th. Just like last time, putting your work in the WIP channel of the Discord server is great but it does not count as turning them in so be sure to email them. Here’s some details to help out:

Artists

Sketches for Individual Pages: This is where you need to make sure your image is the right size and all set up for printing. We made a template with an illustrated tutorial to help you with that. Just check out this post and follow the instructions there. The image in Step 3 is a sketch. It’s a bit of a rough sketch but a good example of the minimum expectations for what your sketch should be. It’s ok if you’re already past the sketch stage. Just watch the gif at the end of that post for a quick animation of how to make sure your image is ok for printing. If you need help with that jump into the Discord server and ask umbraja to give you a hand.

Sketches for Journal Images: These are going to be framed to look like old school Polaroids so the print specs aren’t as exacting with journal images as they are with full page pieces - no need to worry about the bleed. They do need to fit into the frames though. Polaroids have about a 3x3 inch picture area so your journal sketches need to be square. We'd rather you draw at a minimum of 6x6 inches (1800x1800 pixels) so you can get better detail but they will end up printed 3x3 so not too much detail.

Thumbnails for Collaborations: Many of y’all turned in thumbnails for collabs last month but they’re not actually due until this one. You can turn in more if you like or go ahead and send sketches. Be sure to send your writer thumbnails and sketches (preferably before you send them to us) so they can give you feedback too. Please let us know if your writer has not been working with you on the collaborations so we can pester them about it. Thumbnails for collaborations should follow the same guidelines as Individual pieces but with a bit more room for creativity. Collaborations do NOT have to follow the 6x9 page size rule. Because there is text to work with in the layout you can make your Collaboration image(s) any shape you want and we will use the fic’s text to fill in the extra space. You can even do organic shaped edges and full spread layouts. We’ll do a tutorial on this later so don’t be afraid of doing fancy things. We’re here to help y’all get it done.

Writers

Drafts for Individual Works: Page count is tight for the printed zine so we made y’all a writing template that you can copy/paste your fic into and get a feel of how many pages you’re using. Just check out this post and follow the instructions there. Don’t panic if you’re over the page count. We’ll work with you to trim it down. If we can’t trim it then we’ll select an excerpt for the printed zine and will put the rest of the pages in the digital copy. We would like to have some complete works in the printed zine though so not everyone can have an excerpt. As for the drafts, these do not need to be polished works but they do need to be complete from beginning to end. They can be super rough with no consideration for grammar or style so long as there is enough detail for us to get a feel of where the fic is going. You can have long sections of dialog with no description (I actually find this to be the best way to draft dialog) or summaries of conversations to be fleshed out later so long as we get the gist of what’s going on. It’s ok if you’ve got notes on things you haven’t figured out yet. You can even put questions in your draft if you want specific feedback such as “I’m not sure if this is physically possible, do you know?” and we will respond when you get your feedback. It’s also Ok if your draft deviates wildly from your outline. We understand how narratives can evolve. Your final story should resemble your draft though so be sure you’ve pinned down where this thing is going to end up.

Drafts for Collaborations: It is very important that you get your drafts as well as any notes, comments, descriptions, or other resources to your artist(s) as soon as possible. The draft itself should follow the same guidelines as an individual work but you also have to communicate with your artist(s) to make sure they have what they need to get their part done. Your artist(s) should be showing you thumbnails by now. Please give them feedback. If your artist doesn’t send you something by Oct 15th let us know.

Journal Entries: We’re going to wait until we get sketches for these cuz we had so many different versions we’re not sure which thumbnails are getting finished. There are a whole lot of really great images so we’re super excited and can’t wait to show you guys so y’all can pick which ones to write for.

Betas

We’ve gotten all the betas paired up so go to your Check-in page and see which fic(s) you got. Each fic should have a Beta Level listed. Most of the writers only want feedback on a nearly finished work (that’ll be November/December) but some wanted feedback on each stage and a few want to work directly with their beta. You’re expected to give your writer(s) this level of feedback so if they only want a single read then you don’t have to do anything till later. Feel free to hang out in the Discord and help any writers that ask for it though. If your writer wants feedback on each stage then you’ll need to read over what they’ve got and send an email to [email protected] with your feedback by November 1st so we can add it to their Check-in page. Don’t contact your writer directly unless their beta level says they want to work directly with their beta. 

There should be a link below each fic’s summary that will take you to that writer’s submission folder. If your writer does not have a link below their fic that means they have not turned anything in. Right now we mostly only have outlines so you should probably wait until after the draft deadline to give feedback. Feel free to read the outlines though. Some of the writers have given us Google Docs with comment permissions turned on so you might be able to leave comments in the doc itself. Please still email us a copy of your comments so we can keep our information up to date and know not to pester you about doing your feedback.

A Note on Missing Deadlines

Holidays are coming up and we’ve got Inktober then NaNoWriMo to keep y’all busy so we understand the next few deadlines could be a crunch. That’s why we have so many of them. It’s Ok if you miss a few of the deadlines - except the last one, that’s absolutely final. Just be sure to contact us (in the Discord or send us an email) to let us know that you’ll be late and when we can expect you to have your work turned in. This way we don’t worry about you (we worry cuz we care). If there’s some special circumstance we can even work out an alternative schedule and any other assistance you may need to help get your work done. All you gotta do is ask.

That said, it is not fair to everyone else if you miss too many deadlines. Thankfully we only had a few people miss the first deadline and one of them has set up an alternative schedule. So long as the rest of y’all get your work in before the next deadline (which most of you have) you’ll be ok. If you miss another deadline without turning in last month’s work though, we will start to have problems.

The deadlines create a process that is designed to give y’all some structure and help you do your best work while letting us make sure that work is right for the zine. If you don’t follow the process you might end up doing work that has to be redone because it doesn’t fit the zine. No one wants that. So, please, follow the process and turn your work in on time (or at least close to it). If you don’t follow the process we may not accept your work into the zine.

Feedback on Progress

Y’all should have gotten an email with a link to our Check-in page which has all the information we’ve got on you and what work you’ve turned in so far. There should be feedback on your first check-in there and we’ll be adding feedback for every other check-in right under that as we get it in. Let us know if your feedback is missing or any other issues with the information and we’ll get it fixed. Also let us know if you did not get that email so we can send you the link. 

We won’t be sending a notification email for the next round of feedback but we will have it posted to the Check-in page no later than November 1st so just give it a look then to see our comments. If you want feedback sooner than that just put ‘Feedback Please’ in the subject line of the email when you turn your work in so we know to look at yours first. We’ll respond to your request email to let you know when to check the page for your feedback. 

 It’s up to you if you want to wait for feedback before continuing your work but you might have to make some adjustments if you get too far ahead. We won’t force you to do what our feedback says (unless it’s about following the zine’s requirements) but we will give suggestions for development. The decision is ultimately yours if you want to follow that or not. So long as your idea fits the requirements we’re not gonna be picky.

#kidgezine #kidge zine #update

[bellarkefanfiction]

Baby, we're an artistic coincidence

written by: josefine / @selflessbellamy

prompt: "You keep requesting the book I need so I can’t have it the whole time and we leave each other passive aggressive notes in the margins" for anonymous 

word count: 2564

If Athena had lived today, her black dress would be set aflame by the ravaging war behind her, there would be a chess piece tattooed across her collarbone: the knight, symbolizing strategic warfare. No doubt she would have a bruised face with a cut lip but her pace would carry her proudly through the battlefield. At least, this is how Clarke Griffin captures her in a modern format, drawing all of the curves and lines that make up a goddess.

She’s been reading The Iliad for reference. Despite her interest in mythology she’s never actually read that classic before, but now that it’s vital for her studies, she has to. If only the asshole that keeps reserving the book from the library would just let her have it for more than a week at a time.

Annoyed, she’d walked into the library that morning, sipping on her hot chocolate. The first unsuspecting librarian she encountered was the target of her frustration (but not even that could possibly cloud how cute he was).

“Isn’t it possible for me to have this book for longer? I really need it for my studies.”

“I’m sorry. It’s the rules. The other person claimed that he needed it to write a novel, but I don’t know. He looked like a college student to me.” At that, the librarian had smirked, just a tiny pull at the corner of his mouth, but that was enough to send her away, since she wasn’t keen on getting distracted by anything — at least not until her project was finished.

For hours, she sits by one of the tables in the library, struggling to finish the portrait of Athena before she has to turn the book over, which she does. However, she still has three art pieces to go: Artemis, Nyx, and Nike. Feeling exhaustion seep into her bones, Clarke makes an impulsive decision that she knows she’ll most likely regret, but before she has the time to, she opens the book and scribbles a short message in the margin of the first place.

Now, are you really writing a book or is it a bullshit excuse?

I need this book, otherwise I’m gonna fail my course.

Hope it’s a damn good WIP.

Then she closes it again before handing it over to the cute librarian, and they exchange smiles. Somehow, it places guilt in her heart, sort of like she’s disappointed him in a way by writing in the book… Whatever, she doesn’t even know this man.

***

A week later, the book is hers again, which leads her to the library. By now, her drawing of Athena has been filled in with gorgeous watercolors, and she’s surprisingly proud of it. Since her dad died last year, her inspiration has come and gone like a tidal wave, which is more than frustrating when your future depends on the work that you create.

Grinning slightly this time, the librarian hands her The Iliad, and suddenly a question emerges from Clarke’s lips without permission. “Sorry, but would it be weird if I’d like to know your name? We see each other so often by now, it just… feels a bit strange—“

“Not at all. My name’s Bellamy.”

She smiles. “I’m Clarke.”

When she opens to book, ready to start her drawing of Artemis, a mysterious blue Post-It has been placed in the margin of the first page, directly below where she wrote her passive aggressive message a week ago. Now, that’s been erased.

On the Post-It, the other Iliad-reader has written:

DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S WRONG TO WRITE IN BOOKS, PRINCESS?

SHAME ON YOU ;)

(AND YES, I AM IN FACT WRITING A BOOK)

Block letters? Who writes in block letters like that? Well, when they’re not yelling at someone on social media, that is. Needless to say, it’s uncommon. Thought #2: What the hell is that winking smiley face supposed to mean? As everyone knows, the use of it can be interpreted in a million different ways, so… is this guy a creep? Is he just trying to be sassy, what’s going on?

Before her mind loses to all of the unanswered questions, Clarke stops her train of thought, reminding herself that she has some very important work to do, and she has no intention of letting anything prevent her from it.

It takes a few minutes for the full image of a modern Artemis to take shape in her imagination, but when it does, Clarke wastes no time. Keeping a strict focus as a young huntress starts to appear on the piece of paper, she hardly notices someone brush past her. Later, she finds out that it’s Bellamy, because he reveals it once she’s about to leave.

“I hope you don’t mind me trying to sneak a peek at your drawings. They’re really good… Are you doing a project?”

At those words, Clarke lights up, spinning around on her heel so that she can walk back towards him. “Yes. It’s a series of art pieces that depict some Greek goddesses in modern time,” as soon as she’s said that, Bellamy’s eyebrows shoot up, exposing his interest and surprise.

“Which ones are you doing?”

“Oh, you like Greek mythology?”

He chuckles at her question, running a hand through his curly, dark hair: it’s attractively messy, and for a moment she’s more than tempted to move it out of his eyes. Nevertheless, she catches herself at the last minute, placing her hand on the counter.

“I’ve read The Iliad myself a couple of times,” he admits at last, grinning.

Curious, she meets his dark brown eyes for a second before her gaze unconsciously drifts to the dusting of freckles across his cheeks. He would be difficult to draw, she notes: the lines of his face vary in hardness, and there seems to be no shortage of beautiful features that she would hardly be able to do any justice, like the small crinkles around his eyes. Before she becomes too carried away, Clarke starts to tell him more about her project. “I’m doing five different ones. Athena, Artemis, Nyx, Nike, and Aphrodite… I’ve only done two by now, and the project is due in two weeks. This is why I keep returning for the book.”  

Bellamy hesitates for almost an entire minute, then says, carefully, “Wouldn’t it save you some time if you bought a copy?”

Worrying her lips, Clarke explains, “I’ve looked, but they’re all newer versions and somehow restored. I wanted my references to be as traditional and unrestored as possible just so that the pieces could have some authenticity.”

If his facial expression is anything to go by, Bellamy didn’t expect that reply at all. When he finally speaks, the only words that emerge are of understanding, “Yeah, okay. I see that…”

Shrugging, Clarke heads for the door again, saying, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I need to buy a copy. Thank you. See you tomorrow.“

But she’s barely taken two steps towards the door before Bellamy stops her in her tracks, “Clarke, wait! I— Maybe I can talk to the other reservation-holder and ask if he would mind letting you have the book for the next couple of weeks?”

Turning her head, she manages to smile at him. “No, I wouldn’t want you to go through that trouble for my sake. Have a nice evening—“

“But…”

She can tell that he’s holding something important back and he’s pulling himself together in order to say it, yet meanwhile, amid the silence, Clarke’s eyes dart to a small stack of blue Post-it’s at the left end of the counter. It doesn’t take her long to put two and two together, and while there’s still a possibility that she’s wrong, she decides to jump the gun. “… So you’re writing a book. Is it in block-letters?”

At that, he looks up, noticing the smile on her face, and he immediately seems relieved that she’s not angry with him.

“No, I’m using my 20th century typewriter. That’s why it’s taking so long,” he jokes, making her laugh. That alone is enough to baffle her, since most people haven’t been able to make her laugh in the past months. Her dad passing doesn’t have her in tears anymore, but the traces of the grief sadly still linger, which has made it more difficult for her to enjoy things. “I’m sorry about the Post-It,” he continues sheepishly, pulling her back to reality. “But I can’t bring myself to write in books… Unlike some people.”

“Are you judging me?”

He shakes his head as his smile grows wider. “No, and you can have the book. I’ll just use the old one I have at home,” Wait, if he already had The Iliad at home, why would he need the one from the library so badly? Before she can gather the courage to ask, Bellamy apparently reads her mind, because he explains, “The one I have is an heirloom that’s been passed on through three generations. When my mother died, she left it to me because she knew that I loved it so much, but I’m afraid that it’s falling apart now. The spine is ruined, and the pages can’t handle much more turning—“

Before he can speak any more, the thought that has struck Clarke’s mind eagerly escapes her throat. “You know what? We should share the book… How do you like your coffee, Bellamy? You look like a ‘none of that sugar-and-milk bullshit’ guy to me,” with that, she winks, prompting him to wink back at her, which indicates that she was right.

***

They take the book to the nearest coffee shop. Once they’ve received their orders of caffeine, Bellamy pulls out a notepad from his bag and Clarke places her favorite set of pencils on the table. “I never asked you what your book was about…”

At that, his smile turns crooked as he lets his pen graze the tip of her nose. “Well, I think you’ll like it. It’s about the ancient Greek gods and goddess in our modern world.”

Obviously, she thinks he’s joking at first, because there’s simply no way that they’re working on the exact same idea, but he looks really serious. Sending her a crooked grin, Bellamy seems to be aware of her doubt and decides to pass her his notes as evidence: In block letters, there are incredible details about Athena’s tattoos and outfit choices, about Artemis’ pact with nature, about Aphrodite’s self-love.

“Maybe we can help each other out.”

Chuckling, he replies, “Yeah. If you promise me you’ll never write in a book again.”

So that’s what they do every day for the next two weeks. They meet up in the library or in the coffee shop to share their ideas and keep each other company while they work, even if it’s for hours on end until the stars come out. Quickly, they discover that they have a shared passion for snacking while working, but in order to do that, they’re forced to change the location of their meet-ups. Luckily, the park seems like the perfect spot.

“What did you bring for me?” He teases when she shows up, carrying a plastic Target bag, but she only sticks her tongue out at him.

“Not for you. For us… Skittles, Oreos, Hershey’s and Nerds.”

“You read my mind.”

Sitting on the grass next to Bellamy as rays of sunshine fall onto his face is distracting; it makes his skin resemble growing bronze and his eyes remind her of the forest floor on a summer’s day. Worrying her bottom lip, Clarke asks for his opinion, “Aphrodite… She’s difficult. How do you picture her?”

Clearly thinking hard, Bellamy picks a purple Skittle from the bag, offering her a red one, since it’s her favorite. Then he says, “I picture her having long strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. And she would wear one of those maxi dresses, for sure.”

“White or pink flowing fabric?”

“Pink, definitely.”

As Clarke sketches, she senses Bellamy’s gaze on her, which makes it a little more difficult to focus, and yet a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth at the thought of him being interested in her work. In fact, having someone else care about her project has made her more passionate about it, and she has even gone back to the older sketches to add more details after talking to Bellamy about them.

“You’re extremely talented,” he murmurs, his breath ghosting over the shell of her ear. “The way you capture silhouettes is just… Does it run in the family?”

At his question, Clarke stalls, the pencil hovering over the drawing while she tries to prevent herself from trembling. Judging by the way he places his hand on his shoulder comfortingly, her sadness peeks through her rough exterior despite her efforts to hide it. Swallowing, she croaks, “My dad was an artist. He never got to witness my acceptance at RISD.”

It’s easier to talk to him about it, knowing that his mother’s gone, too. Losing a parent is unimaginable to most people, and the only ones who know just how deep the pain of it cuts, are those that have experienced it.

“I’m sure he would be proud of you.”

That’s it; those words break her shield, make her walls crumble, so that tears are running down her cheeks before she’s even realized it. To no avail, she attempts to catch them all with the back of her hand, but when Bellamy turns around to hug her, she finds that the soft material of his blue Henley absorbs them a lot better.

After a minute, she stops crying and pulls back to let the sunshine dry her cheeks, yet Bellamy’s thumbs do so first. Overwhelmed by his softness, she says, “I want to draw the cover for your book once it’s published.”

“If it is published, you mean,” he smiles sweetly, but she shakes her head.

“No, when it’s published.”

He’s already promised her the honor of being the first person to read the prologue of the novel, which is nearly done, and she’s practically buzzing with excitement at the thought. No matter what, she intends to be his biggest supporter in finishing it, not only because it sounds amazing, but also because he is much kinder than he gives himself credit for.

In fact, it seems very much as if he doesn’t give himself any credit at all…

***

When she receives an A for the art pieces, Clarke desperately wants to give him the credit that he deserves for being an amazing encourager and partner during this project. Knowing that she can’t, however, causes her to find another way to thank him for everything.

He’d given her The Iliad on the last day before she had to turn her project in, assuring her that she needed it more than him at that point, but now she’s ready to return it after having placed a new sticky note on the front cover.

Would you like to go out some time?

- C

When she hands it to him, and he reads it, Bellamy radiates, deciding to act like an adorable dork by writing his response below her message instead of telling her.

Some time like now? I’m off. Coffee? ;)

There’s the winking smiley again, although this time, Clarke’s not at all confused by the meaning of it…

-

#bellarke fanfiction #bffnet #a: selflessbellamy #bffwritingteam #wt: josefine #title: baby we're an artistic coincidence #oneshots #modern au #librarian!bellamy #writer!bellamy #artist!clarke #meet cute #strangers to friends to lovers #fluff #prompts

[pennywaltzy]

The Cacophony Of Life (1/6)

So I am bound and determined to do this fic as at least the last fic I finish this round of WIP Big Bang, if not the second to last (provided I can figure our where I want the fic to go). This fic was originally asked for by @elliedilly and this first part has been up for ages. Hopefully I can find where I have all the info for this fic on my laptop and get to writing part 2 tonight. Enjoy!

The Cacophony Of Life - From birth, every person can hear the music that their soul mate hears, whether it’s music that they’re playing, listening to or singing along to, in their mind. Measures can be taken to lessen the sound, but there are times when the sound is too much, too overwhelming. For years, Sherlock Holmes and Molly Hooper use their connection to each other through the music they both hear to communicate: first to annoy each other as children, then to care for each other as teenagers and young adults, and finally to express the longing that hopefully one day, and one day soon, they’ll meet each other face to face and express the love that’s grown between them throughout the years.

Read Part 1 | Help Me Survive? | Commission Me?

January 1985 Sherlock Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, “Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 "Italian" - I. Allegro vivace” Molly The Chipmunks, “My Sharona”

Sleep. He was sleepy. His tummy was full and he wanted to curl up with Redbeard and go to sleep. Sleep would be so nice. Quite lovely.

His thoughts were kind of squished together, all muddled and everything as he yawned and padded his feet towards his room. His mummy had gotten him the bee pyjamas with the footies, his favorite. And his favorite bear was on the bed, Mr. Snugglesworth. He gave his mummy a grin as she tucked him into bed. Normally Father did it but it was quiz night, and he was smart and that was how he showed it. He wanted to be smart too, like Daddy and Mummy and Mikey and Sherrinford. He wanted to learn everything.

He waited for his mummy to turn on the music. He knew his Mummy thought he’d like soft, soothing music to go to sleep to but he liked this song the best. This song gave him the best pirate dreams, where he was sailing the high seas with Blackbeard and they were looting all the ships and burying all the treasure.

Once the song started he settled in, waiting for his mum to turn off the bedroom light and then shut his eyes. He was almost asleep when he suddenly heard the most grating sound. His eyes flew open. No, no, no. He wanted to sleep. Why couldn’t they let him sleep?

Ooh, my little pretty one, my pretty one When you gonna give me some time, Sharona Ooh, you make my motor run, my motor run Got it coming off o' the line, Sharona

The voices singing the song were high pitched, giving him a headache. They didn’t even sound flas…fals…real. He just wanted it to stop, wanted to drown it out. He threw his covers off, padded to the record player, and then turned the volume knob all the way up until Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s symphony drowned out the noise in his head.

He hated the person he was attached to, the person who could hear the music he listened to, the person who played music to annoy him. Hatedthem. And when they increased the volume of their music, out of meanness, he sank to the floor and sobbed. He hated them. Hated them so much.

Soul mates were stupid.

He didn’t want one. Not ever.

March 1986 Molly Falco, “Rock Me Amadeus” Sherlock Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “O zittre nicht” (as performed by Lucia Popp in 1969)

She was bored. All the stations played all the same music. It was…boring. Boring boring

boring

. She’d rather hoped if she managed to wrest away control from her sister Emily and her brother Colby that there’d magically be something worth listening to.

But at least the stuff on the radio was better than the stuff in her head. Her mum and dad had explained that every person is born with a soul mate, someone destined to be the person they fall madly in love with, and when their soul mate is born they hear all the music they hear. They can hear anything they listen to on the radio, or any music they’re singing, or music they’re playing themselves.

And she had a boring soul mate who listened to nothing but the dreary classical music that Mrs. Eshaghicn made her listen to when she’d go over while her mum took her dad to the doctor. She didn’t like that music. She liked fun stuff. Stuff she could dance too. Everyone in her house was sad all the time. Mummy tried to make things less sad, and Daddy did too, but they were sad a lot. And she could tell, just like Emily and Colby could. They could see it.

She was four, but she knew some stuff. After all, people said she was a bright young thing.

Finally she found a song she liked. It wasn’t really a bounce around to song. It was an okay song, she guessed. Her brother said it was one of those songs you could learn something about. Some composer of the classical stuff her soul mate liked so much. She rolled over onto her back on the floor and tapped her foot in time with the beat, listening to the man speak the educational stuff in the song.

1756, Salzburg, January 27, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born 1761, at the age of five Amadeus begins composing 1773, he writes his first piano concerto 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constance Weber 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a free mason 1791, Mozart composes "The Magic Flute" On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies 1985, Austrian rock singer Falco records Rock Me Amadeus!

The song was just about to go back to the more rock part when her soul mate butted in. She reached over for the volume dial, ready to drown him out, when she paused. This song…it wasn’t so bad, she supposed. It was almost pretty. The woman singing had a nice voice.

And then she realized she’d heard it before. Her daddy had it. Well, maybe not this exact version, but he had this song. She got up off the floor and went to his records. He liked music. Had a huge collection of vinyls from years and years and years. When he felt good, he’d let her sit on his lap and they’d go through and listen to things. Or she’d try with her stupid soul mate trying to blast it out of her head.

Finally she saw the record. She looked at who composed the song the woman was singing. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it read, and she smiled a little. Maybe there was something to the classical music after all.

Not that she’d admit it to her stupid head soul mate.

May 1987 Sherlock Antonín Dvořák, “Humoresque No. 7 Opus 101” Molly Whitney Houston, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me”

His soul mate had abominable taste in music.

He was trying to get through his lessons, the soothing sounds of “Humoresque No. 7 Opus 101” playing in the background of the kitchen as he worked. Not his actual school lessons, but the private tutor lessons in chemistry that Mummy and Dad had gotten him because it fascinated him. His actual school lessons bored him to tears, to be quite honest. It was all baby stuff. He’d learned that ages ago, it seemed. He wanted to learn the things Mikey was learning but Mummy said he couldn’t just skip grades. Wasn’t right. Wasn’t proper.

But tutors they could do.

Whoever his soul mate was had been listening to the most wretched music for the last two hours and he’d done every exercise he’d learned since the music had played in his head when he was three years old. His mum and dad had done a good job teaching him about it, getting him to understand when he was old enough, and he was thankful he’d had a few years peace as whoever it was who had parented his soul mate had tried to expose them to soothing music the first few years of their life, because listening to what he or she played had been torture ever since he was six. He craved the classical music that was soothing to all his senses. And whoever his soul mate was just wouldn’t oblige.

He hated them. He hoped he never met them. He hoped something grisly happened to them and they just…went away and he’d get blissful silence in his head. It wasn’t a nice thought but then he wasn’t a nice child sometimes. He tried to be, but it didn’t always work.

He was just about to add the last bit to the chemical solution under his tutor’s watchful eye when he heard a sudden clap and it startled him. He spilled the powder mostly on the desk, earning him a shake of the head and a slight clucking sound from his tutor. His jaw set at that. Damn them,he thought to himself as spoken part of the song ended and the sung lyrics to this wretched song started. He’d heard it before, multiple times in the last few days, and yet it still gave him a start.

Clock strikes upon the hour And the sun begins to fade Still enough time to figure out How to chase my blues away I've done alright up 'til now It's the light of day that shows me how And when the night falls Loneliness calls

Oh, what he wouldn’t give to be able to chase his soul mate away, he thought to himself as he went to get more of the powder, feeling the tips of his ears redden under his tutor’s disapproving gaze. Far far away, to somewhere where they never had access to music again.

Then life would be much more pleasant.

November 1988 Molly Taco, “Puttin’ On The Ritz” Sherlock Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, “Hymn to the Sun”

She scanned the audience to see if they were there. Her dad hadn’t been feeling well. Mum had said they’d try to make it, try to see her performance, but…well, she knew she shouldn’t count on them being there. Dad was having less good days these days and more bad ones. Mum didn’t talk about it, but she knew. Whatever was wrong wasn’t getting any better. It was probably never going to get any better.

But she couldn’t think about that. Tonight was the charity event, the talent show that St. Margaret’s was putting on, and she had to do her bit whether her Mum and Dad were in the audience or not. She’d been working on the routine for weeks now. She knew it had been hard for her parents to afford the dance lessons along with the tuition for her and her brother and sister’s schooling, but she’d been grateful. She loved dancing, especially tap dancing. She was actually quite good at it, and tonight was her night to shine. She had on a special leotard her teacher had loaned her that looked like a tuxedo, complete with bow tie and tails, and she had a top hat and even a cane. She looked just like she could have come off a Broadway show.

“You’re next, Molly,” her teacher said. Molly nodded and then waited in the wings, giving another glance out at the audience. She still couldn’t see her family, but then she couldn’t see all the audience, and the lights were in her eyes. Maybe they were there after all. She’d do them proud. She’d show them the lessons were worth it, show them just how good she was.

Finally it was her turn. She made her way to the center of the stage, her heels clacking on the hard surface. She got in her position and then the music started. She’d picked the long version of the song for her routine, knowing full well she could pull off a nearly five minute long performance. She started to do her routine and it kicked into high gear when the lyrics started.

If you're blue and you don't know Where to go to, why don't you go Where fashion sits Puttin' on the Ritz Different types who wear a day coat Pants with stripes and cutaway coat Perfect fits Puttin' on the Ritz

And then it happened, the moment she’d been dreading. She heard something in her head. Oh no, she thought. Not now. Her soul mate had taken to trying to throw her attention by playing very loud music while she was going through her routine. And sometimes it worked. She tried every trick her parents had taught her to block the music in her head, but something was different. Her soul mate wasn’t listening to it on a record player or a radio. It sounded amplified, as if they were in an auditorium, but also quite close. And then it hit her.

They were actually playing it themselves.

She stood still for a moment in disbelief, forgetting she was in the middle of performing her routine. Thankfully she snapped out of it quickly and she felt she hadn’t made too much of a noticeable mistake. But…this was strange. She hadn’t realized her soul mate could actually play an instrument. How many times had she heard him before without realizing he was playing the song himself? How had she not noticed before?

She finished up her routine and then scurried backstage. Here she was, all proud of her dancing ability, and her soul mate was a bloody violin prodigy. Wonderful. She sat on a box backstage and caved in on herself. Maybe she just wasn’t talented enough after all.

December 1989 Sherlock Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” Molly New Kids On The Block, “Hangin’ Tough”

One of the few things all five members of his family could agree on was the family tradition of watching a ballet performance of The Nutcracker around the holidays. It seemed there was so much more bickering these days, between Mycroft and Sherrinford, between Sherrinford and his parents…he tended to stay out of the family drama but he had the feeling that eventually it would all either explode and be a gigantic mess or implode and leave a hole in the family.

Either way, he wasn’t looking forward to the situation.

He was on the floor with Redbeard waiting for them to leave while his brothers occupied the chairs and sofa around the telly. His soul mate had been surprisingly quiet as he had listened to the music on his battered cassette player, headphones clamped firmly on his ears, so he didn’t have to listen to everyone’s snarling at each other. While this event only happened once a year he listened to the music from it as often as he could. He supposed he’d have to stop soon; he was ten now, and it was time to give up childish pursuits such as a love of ballet. He’d had to start to develop a tough exterior, a thick hide to keep the bullies at school at bay. A “stiff upper lip,” as Mikey called it. And there was the fact he had developed an interest in things of a criminal nature. Not causing crimes, but solving them. There was a suspicious death at a pool in London that intrigued him greatly but he’d be damned if he could get the authorities to pay attention to him and his theories.

But at least for right now, he wanted to concentrate on the music. For one more year he had the excuse of family tradition to enjoy the ballet and the music. Next year…who knew what the next year would bring? For all he knew, his family structure would no longer be the same.

The bit he enjoyed the most, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” started, and he relaxed into Redbeard, resting his head on the dog’s soft fur. He was getting old, he knew that. He hadn’t been a young pup when his parents had gotten him, and he moved more slowly now. Still, they had time together. That was what mattered.

Suddenly there was a jarring sound in his head and he shut his eyes. Of course she would have to start listening to some incessant pop dribble now, he thought, clenching his teeth. He’d surmised his soul mate was a female nearly a year ago, when the music she tended to listen to skewed towards male groups with supposedly handsome male singers. He began to use the techniques to temper down the music in his head to duller levels, not wanting to listen to this particularly odious song again. She’d listened to it nineteen times so far this week and it was only Monday evening.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance Just get on the floor and do the New Kids' dance Don't worry 'bout nothing 'cause it won't take long We're gonna put you in a trance with a funky song, 'cause you gotta be

Hangin' tough Hangin' tough Hangin' tough We're rough

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. If the members of this…this…boy band were what she fantasized about than he had no idea why they were soul mates. He’d never be caught dead being like any of them. Never in a million years. And if she liked inelegant fops like that?

Then he didn’t ever want to meet her.

Once he got it down to a manageable level, a dull murmur in his head, he turned back to his tape player and turned up the volume for good measure. It would be best to ignore her, he supposed. They weren’t right for each other, not matter what their stupid biology had predetermined. Simply not right for each other. One day they’d both realize that.

Mark his words.

#sherlock #sherlolly #sherlock holmes #molly hooper #fanfic #fanfiction #mollock #multipart: the cacophony of life #elliedilly