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trungles · 2 months

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Processing Process, and More Processing

I made this post free and publicly readable on Patreon, but I'm reposting the whole thing right here too because, well, it's a free post, and I don't want to make you click away from your dashboard if you don't need to. But also if you want to support my work, here's the link to the post.

It's a little bit about cartooning, a little bit about drawing, and then it turns into a eulogy for a chicken.

I wrote “process” more than once, and now the word looks funny and is beginning to lose its meaning to me.

This post is about a few things, and it’s a little bit on the sad end of things. Nothing dire! No worries. There’s just a little mention of death, just as a heads up.

Before we get to that, though, I’ve been doing some work and had some thoughts.

I’m often asked about how I draw the noodle hair on my characters, and the answer is typically that I draw each and every line with my hand. But there are considerations of movement and volume that go into it beyond its texturally decorative purposes. I love being able to convey shape and motion with it. It’s less evident, I think, in my illustration work, but I think it’s much more obvious when I do sequential work. In the above image, you can see me working out a sequence of Angelica having a series of thoughts. Her head sort of moves, and her eyes follow. You can see I’d planned out the general shape of the hair and how I’d like it to move.

I wound up moving the drawings a little bit so that the readers eyes will actually follow the character’s eyes as it moves gently rightward on the page. The hair is there to accentuate the movement, like so:

It’s a consideration I employ in all my drawings, but especially when I’m drawing hair and fabric. I don’t use a lot of action lines, so this becomes an important way to give the reader the information that someone is moving through a space. Resistance, gravity, and motion are all things I have to keep in the back of my head when I’m doing these little drawings. I think the planning actually takes more time than the inking, which can happen pretty quickly once I map it all out.

In other news, I’m starting to take my extracurricular artistic development a little more seriously in the silliest way possible.

You wouldn’t know it, but I studied painting college—a medium I switched to after the printmaking professor and head of the Art Department at the time told me I probably shouldn’t be an artist (he gave me a hard candy for my trouble). I recently bought a bunch of little dolls, dressed them up, and am returning to my painting roots. It feels really nice to work in big blobs of color instead of lines. It’s an exercise I came up with in response to a common lament from art students.

One of the more aggravating generational tensions described to me by art school students is when professors describe a student’s portfolio as “too anime” without much explanation. I know what the professor means. They’re trying to get at how referencing your favorite anime or cartoons means that your style becomes a simulacrum, an imperfect copy of a copy, and you never learn to develop your own sense of judgment about where a line or a shape needs to go. And we can tell. It’s a way of working that is perfectly fine for cartooning because cartooning is closer to hand-writing than it is to drawing. I always turn to Charles Schulz’s work for an example. Those figures aren’t literally depicting children—with their little chessboard-pawn proportions and bread-loaf feet—but we read them as endearing children because we’ve come to a consensus between us, the readers, and Charles Schulz, the author, that those shapes mean those things. There are no whiskers or paws in the shape of the word “CAT” but you look at those three letters together, and you know the thing to which it refers. That’s an aspect of cartooning, too. Of course, what elevates it from mere writing is, in part, due to the fact that those little figures do not lose their meaning the more you depict them.

To really draw well, though, you have to do those fundamentals. You have to draw from life. There’s no way around it. It helps you develop a stronger sense of where you like to lay down your lines and shapes, no matter how stylized you like to work. It grows your judgment, and every artist’s best tool is their own well-honed sense of artistic discernment about their own work.

But that doesn’t mean you have to surrender the stuff you like or the things that inspire you to make art! I tell students that if they want to hold fast to their anime style AND hone their fundamentals to develop their eye as an artist, they should buy little figurines and toys of their favorite characters, prop those up against a light source, and draw them as still life objects. Like, yes, do the vases and the figure drawings and all those, I still think those are important. But if this is what you need to keep you interested in drawing from life, having some toys around is a great way to do it! Also, bless those sculptors and toy designers. They’re the best.

I think there’s something to be said about remembering to imagine the physicality of the things we draw, in all its dimensions and in the way it catches the light or casts a shadow. It helps sentimentalize things, too. Makes them feel more real, even emotionally.

Edwina died on Tuesday night, after a few final snuggles, surrounded by her favorite treats. She was about five years old, which is old for a chicken, and she had a very comfortable life. We buried her this morning. She was a good hen, J’s personal favorite.

It really feels like the end of an era. She was the last surviving member of our very first flock. After the other hens died, she really seemed to prefer the company of people over other hens. She is survived by Snooki and Nelly, our two other young birds who get along quite well together, actually.

A baby chick costs between three and five American dollars, typically. An egg-laying hen could be between twenty and fifty bucks, depending on the breed. There are roughly 26 billion chickens living in the world today, about 518 million of them here in the United States. They come pretty cheap. And a part of me was moved to cynicism, entertaining the thought that it might be strange to feel sadly over a little animal that, at most, might be roughly equivalent to the price of a fancy lunch and a coffee.

I watched the 1974 musical version of The Little Prince recently, and I remember it mostly because Bob Fosse was in it and scared the crap out of me as a kid—he played the snake that would take the Little Prince back into the sky when his body gets too heavy to take with him. Gene Wilder plays the Fox whom the Little Prince befriends and tames among a garden of roses. The Fox explains that he is like any other fox in the world, but he is changed—made special and particular to the Little Prince—with time, effort, and patience. So, too, is the Prince’s little flower special to him. Out of all the flowers in the universe, she was the one he watered and protected under a little glass jar. And that’s enough.

I knew my little hen would not live that long. It could be very easy to take a broad view of the life expectancy of a hen and distance myself from it by virtue of its mortality and its commonness. People who raise livestock do it all the time. But I also think it’s wonderful that we should all be capable of loving very small, very brief little things. Edwina is not, to my mind, the rough equivalent of a fancy lunch and a coffee. She was our little hen. For her whole life, she was ours. And I’m so happy she was here.

#cartooning #drawing #patreon #cw death #cw pet death #comics #trungles #artists on tumblr

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seat-safety-switch · 10 months

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Everyone knows me at the dump. I don’t mean this in a bragging sort of way. In fact, I hate this fact. The reason why everyone knows me at the dump is that Mr. Jones, the dump operator, has posted the CCTV footage and blurry cell-phone camera pictures of my face on the break room wall. Even the youngest probie at the dump will look at me, every morning, while they wait for the coffee machine to dispense their mandatory cup of black joy.

You can probably guess why this has happened to me. I love junk, and the dump has a lot of that junk. To me, it is offensive that the dump hoards that junk. They keep it from me, using excuses like “sanitation” and “safety,” but safety is my middle name. If they would just give me a chance, then I would be the best they’ve ever seen. I’d even remove and sort the little lithium-ion vape batteries that haven’t exploded yet, out of gratitude.

Of course, we both know why I’m digging through trash at the dump. I don’t want old Betamax VCRs, or mouldy cardboard boxes heralding products from a bygone era. Well, I do, but I don’t want them more than I want a two-stroke dirt bike, and I’ve seen tons of those over the years get callously tossed into the debris pile by the great unwashed. They’re always getting thrown out for little reasons, like “carb jet plugged,” or “caught on fire,” or “couldn’t get anyone to buy it on Craigslist for septuple the market value so I threw it away out of spite.” I could save these bikes, and to be not allowed to save them is literal torture.

Just like anyone else would in my shoes, I started wearing elaborate disguises to the dump. Sometimes I could loot one, and throw it into the back of my car, and be gone before the dump operators (there weren’t even security guards yet, back then) could catch up to me. I had enough disguises – and enough cars – that I could pull this off for a little while. Then, used cars got really expensive, and the folks in my neighbourhood started using security fasteners to hold on their license plates. I started to escape by tighter and tighter scrapes, until one fateful day.

That bastard Jones figured me out. He came from Chicago, of all places, a city which I’m pretty sure doesn’t even have a dump. And he knew my kind. He set a trap: an agonizingly pristine, 1989 Yamaha XT225. Sure, it was a four-stroke, but it was still love at first sight. It was planted right on top of one of the big piles of disposable diapers, visible even from the highway. Even knowing it was a trap, I made plans for months to grab it.

The joke’s on him, though. I’ve started my own private dump, and I’ve paid the government to start outsourcing dump operations to me. We’re an extremely efficient operation, much more affordable for the taxpayer than the wasteful public dump. How so, you ask? Well, we are much more selective with what waste we accept, and we wrote one helluva contract, which had a bunch of big words that confused the gin-addled politicos that signed it out of desperation to meet their “lower taxes” pledge.

Here’s how it works. We charge the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, and we get first pick of any internal combustion engines that are in the back of the garbage trucks. Everything else goes down the road to the regular dump. We’re making a fortune. If we keep putting out numbers like this, I’m sure there will soon be layoffs over at Jones’ shithole. Hell, maybe I’ll even hire him to manage security around these parts. Can’t have anyone walking off with my good trash.

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undercoverpena · 1 year

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More Helen x Ghost pleaseeeeee

sometimes, I am merciful

Simon Ghost Riley x F!Reader

Word count: 1k

AN: mentions of a wound and dressing it. fluff-ish (probably more than I’d like but it’s been a day and a half and I needed this too). Helen isn’t readers name, read Helen.Simon for more context. take pity on me, I wrote this on my phone (: but hope it’s okay, anon.

+++++++++++

“Helen,” he hisses through gritted teeth.

He clenched his other fist, the bones on the glove cracking under pressure. He’s trying not to stare at you—fearful you’d turn him into fucking stone.

The look on your face is still etched into his eyelids. Eyes flicking from him to his clearly bleeding hand, a mixture of relief and disappointment he’s come back with another scar you’ll obsessively try and heal.

Your grip on his hand tightens, wrenching it closer. “Keep still, Casper.”

He doesn’t hate it. The grip you have on him. Both literally and figuratively. Even if he doesn’t fully understand the ifs, buts and how’s of it all.

But he doesn’t fucking hate your new pet name. The one you’ve clearly thought about over the thirty-six hours he’s been gone.

He’s had it for all of fifteen minutes and already cannot stand it. But he refuses to ask for Boo.

Instead, he puts up with it. Letting you relish in inflicting your own choice of torture.

Because if you’re calling him a friendly ghost, it means you’re still calling him. Still talking.

He’s learnt how painful and torturous your silence is. A punishment he’s not sure he could handle on such limited sleep.

Sighing, he blinks. Purposefully blanking his face, letting his eyes soften and settle.

Then he wills your eyes to meet his.

If you were anyone else, he’d command it. But that doesn’t work on you. Not unless he says it softly, not unless shards of him are breaking off and you take pity on him.

Look at me. Please look at me.

You don’t.

The scent of antiseptic, vanilla and blackberries meets his nose, mixing with the smell of blood, dust and death he’s brought with him.

He prefers your scent. A perfume he struggles to remove from his casual clothing and his bed sheets. Not that he complains. He’d never complain.

If he had his way, the scent would be burned into his skin. It keeps him rooted and reminds him of the truth in all the lies that his brain conjures when insomnia strikes.

Helen. Look at me.

You don’t. You’re too busy using all of your focus as you dress his wound. Your delicate fingers slide the bandage around his palm, silently judging, silently tutting as you work your magic.

He knows you’re pissed—before you start muttering and tutting. You weren’t half as gentle with the needle as usual. Not even muttering an apology when you’d stabbed it a little too hard.

If it weren’t inflicted on him, he’d have egged you on. Rather liking your conniving ways. On him, not so much. Even if he can tell, you’re getting some sick satisfaction from making him wince.

But he needs your eyes.

He’s missed them.

“Sweetheart…”

It comes out stern and quiet, but it forces your chin up. Those big beautiful eyes land on him, and they feel like the sun.

At first, they’re soft, all kindness and love. In one blink, they’ve shifted. Scolding him, attempting to peel back his mask and scorch his face.

Fuck, you’re beautiful.

“A rusty knife? Really, Simon?”

“Better my hand than my neck.”

You clamp your mouth shut, hiding insults and your wicked way with words from him. The fact you do annoys him more than the coward who tried to stab him.

“There’s a choice to choose neither, you know,” you whisper, continuing to bandage his hand, focusing on the bow. “Could come back to me with just bruising and cuts. That’s a choice too.”

You tighten the final part of the bandage more purposefully, him biting back a wince as you look up at him again. The anger softens, sadness replacing it. A look he instead fucking hates, even if he’s the one who put it there.

“I’m never leavin’ you.”

“Oh, I’m aware,” you say, pushing back on the wheels of your chair for more distance, “Because if you considered it, I’d hunt you down. Hell or high water, I’d find you. And, let me make this crystal fucking clear, Simon Riley. I am both.”

He wants to lift his mask.

Show you the prize of his smile.

But he can’t risk it. Not here, not in the middle of your medical room that people barge in and out of.

It doesn’t matter how often the two of you try to steal moments; life has a way of ripping them from your grasp. But it doesn’t stop him from trying.

Instead, he grabs your leg, pulling you, pleasantly surprised you don’t fight him as you wheel between his legs. Your annoyance is painted as clear as day, his fingers releasing your leg before resting on your knee.

“Understood,” he says, drawing a soft circle against your knee. Watching you, watching him. A moment, between all the others, where it’s just the two of you. “Go eat, Helen.”

“I’m fi—“

He squeezes your knee, silencing you. Staring at you to remind you he knows you. Knows that you haven’t eaten two meals a day, never mind three. That he’s had people check on you, ask about you.

That in his own fucking way, he cares, so let him care. Let him take care of you.

You swallow as if realising this. As if the two of you are in the middle of a conversation, you’re both having with your eyes.

He wins.

The only way he knows that is from the sweet little groan you give him as he returns to drawing a circle on your knee.

“Sometimes, Simon. I really can’t stand you.”

“Feelings mutual, Helen.”

You remove your glove, placing your hand gently over his. It’s warm, gentle and yet calloused in its own way.

And he should tell you to leave.

Tell you to get food before you’re left with scraps you’ll complain to him about later. But this is nice. It’s comforting. It’s something he can’t genuinely articulate and is glad you don’t ask him to try.

And then, you hand him his glove. The one stained scarlet and still damp with his blood.

He nods.

You nod.

The two of you send the other a look which has become close to a parting kiss, without you both touching. One that will have to do until he can really kiss you later. Until he can remind every inch of your skin that he came back, that he’s alive. He’ll do so, silently promising too, until you’re chanting his name to the point he realises this isn’t a dream, but reality.

A beautiful, unexplainable reality.

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon 'ghost' riley x reader #simon ghost Riley #simon ‘ghost’ riley #ghost riley x reader #ghost riley x you #simon ghost riley x f!reader #simon ghost riley x you #cod ghost x reader #ghost x reader #ghost riley #Helen x Simon #ghost cod mw2 #cod ghost #ghost x helen #simon x helen

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jadelynlace · 2 months

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"All the Time"⎮ Ink Drinker Deleted Scene⎮Modern Vikings AU [Ivar x F!Reader]

read more of Ink Drinker here.

Author's Note: Yeah, it's the super smutty piece I warned you all about. In hindsight, maybe it's not all that raunchy? I don't know. You can tell me. Also, fun fact! While I wrote this, my captain sat across the table from me, completely oblivious (he figured I was writing my care reports, and I was. Kinda). I literally have the best poker face.

Word Count: Just under 2,000 words (of porn)

Conversation falls around you. In the cool air of the evening you’ve grown comfortable with your legs thrown over Ivar’s thighs, sitting at an angle as his hand hooks around your shoulder. Drowning out the words around you as you scroll on your phone to decompress your social battery, bombarded with videos from Hvitserk as he thinks that’s a successful way to use his energy during his over time shift. And, quite frankly, he’s right.

“But where are people finding the time?” A voice says. “I work a full time job, I go to the gym, and I’m trying to get a full 8 hours of sleep and cook for myself—where do people find the time to date? To even hook up?” The voice continues.

“Ivar and I fuck all the time,” You say, and you don’t even really realize that you said it out loud until Ivar’s hand is over your mouth.

“That’s really all the input you have for the conversation?” Another voice says. You’re quick to lick Ivar’s palm as he lets out an estranged noise, wiping your salvia on your back.

“I’d have more of an input if we were actually having a conversation,” You mutter back.

“Why on earth would you lick my fucking palm?” Ivar says, shooting you a look. You lean into his ear closely before speaking:

“You don’t seem to be too upset when I lick the other things you put near my mouth,”

There’s a low rumble from Ivar’s chest as he registers what you’re saying and you smile.

“What can we use as an excuse to leave?” He whispers to you.

“The fact that I work in the morning?” You try and Ivar just nods at that.

You climb off of him, standing with a stretch and you feel eyes on you.

“Leaving already?” Someone whines.

“Well, as riveting as this conversation is regarding your ability to not adapt to being adult, I do have to work in the morning. So I am going to get those 8 hours of sleep you keep talking about,” You say.

“Well then, why are you leaving, Ivar?”

“Uh, because I don’t want to wake her up in the middle of the night when I come home from the bar?” Ivar answers, as if it’s the most obvious thing.

“You can spend the night with me!” Aiden teases.

“You have one bed,” Ivar tells him.

“Exactly,” Aiden smirks.

“Do you…do you want to spend the night with him?” You tease.

“No, no I do not,”

“Alright, why don’t you kiss him goodbye then,” You add, patting Ivar’s chest and Ivar shakes his head.

Aiden offers him a kiss through the air, and a wave, but Ivar only flips him off, rounding the corner to leave. Not a second passes before Ivar turns back around, looking at Aiden and returning that kiss through the air.

You’re all but tossed onto the bed, a quick display in both Ivar’s strength and his dominance has you landing suddenly against the pillows before her’s climbing over you. Wasting no time as he comes to cover your body with his, mouth seeking yours.

“Oh, so you really weren’t that mad at my comment,” You try, seeing if it’ll fuel his fight. Ivar doesn’t say anything as his mouth travels past the shell of your ear, meeting he nape of your neck and his teeth nip at your flesh. “Because revealing to them that we have “sex all the time” was not necessarily a lie,”

“Stop,” Ivar says suddenly, his blue eyes coming to catch yours. They flash with a quick display of anger, momentarily muting your brain and making you refocus on him. And how he’s in charge right now.

“Stopping,” You peep back.

“Good girl,” Ivar groans, mouth catching yours for a kiss that is all tongue. He would smile to himself at how well he knows you, but his lips are occupied.

The last articles of his clothing are flung across the room as Ivar moves again, pushing his knee to divide your legs as they instinctively part for him. You can feel his hardness against your cunt throbbing, as Ivar’s hands come on each side of your head, pressing his weight through them while you both catch your breath. Hungry eyes trace you, and the wisps of the ends of his hair tickle your chest as his head tips to watch the space where you two are about to be connected.

A low grumbles comes from Ivar’s chest as your hand reaches down, spreading your lips for him to see you. The same hand reaches up, grabbing Ivar’s chin as you pull his mouth towards yours again.

“Are you waiting for something?” You tease him.

Settling his legs over you, Ivar pulls away, shifting his weight as his hand grabs his length, The other rungs through his hair, pushing it from his view before tapping himself against you. Meeting your teasing with his own, the head of his cock finds your bundle of nerves, pressing ever so slightly as he hears you gasp. Your eyes flutter shut, bunching the sheets at your sides as his cock glides through your wetness.

Ivar suddenly stops, a slow string of spit coming from his lips as it lands against your mouth. His fingers collect it, pressing them towards your clit before he takes them down his shaft.

Pushing your hips into him, Ivar responds by slowing his motions, biting his bottom lip as his cock sinks into you, bottoming out until he’s flush against you. A deep moan climbs from his chest while he savors you fluttering around him.

You reach at him, pulling him over you as his arms plant on each side of your head, moving before digging his fingers into your hair while his hips start up. Quickly they take force, slamming into you as the bed rocks against the walls. You hardly have a moment to grasp the sensation of how he feels inside of you, before he gets faster, moaning in your ear.

“Ivar,” You squeak. “Slow—” You grit out. “Slower,” You say and he stops, nuzzling against your head as his hips come to a halt. “Give a woman a chance to breath before you take away my ability to walk,” You mumble to him as you shift your body and Ivar only snickers from somewhere over you.

Pulling back, Ivar lets go of your hair, smoothing it out slightly as he seeks out your lips again, humming into the kiss as your hands dance along his back. His hips roll lazily, your wetness collecting between you two and you offer him a sweet moan.

“There are much better ways to take me if you want to go that fast,” You whisper to him. Ivar feels you push at him before his climbs back to let you move. Watching you crawl onto your stomach he pulls at your hips himself, positioning himself behind you while you nuzzle against the bed. His cock presses into you again, his chest coming over your back as the warmth radiates from him. Jutting the two of you up the bed, Ivar’s hips move as he wraps an arm around your waist, his free hand finding yours.

Ivar’s thrusts are met with you pushing against him, chasing his cock in the brief moments it’s away from you while you hear the moans coming from his mouth. With your thighs shaking under him, you can’t help but moan his name, egging him on.

As he chases his release, Ivar’s mind empties as he moves, your walls quivering around him with his arm attempting to pull you closer, even with no additional space. Through each grunt, each sweet sound you sing to him, Ivar’s muscles tense, the ache in his balls nearing an end before he pulls out of you suddenly. Moving away before he flips you in one quick display of his strength.

Ivar moves again with his orgasm taking over his body. You feel the string of seed against your skin, watching him before you. Abs quivers as he breathes quickly, the final drops dribble from his flushed head, throbbing as it slides down his shaft. Only then is it collected as his fist moves to grab himself, and tap again against your cunt, swirling his essence against your mound.

After a whisper of a moment, his fingers slide through your slit and press into you, curling them right against your sweet spot. Ivar leans over, lips hungrily against yours. As he feels your nails in his back, your teeth sink into his bottom lip while he pumps his fingers.

Your mouth opens to moan and Ivar pushes his forehead against yours.

“Give it to me, Goddess,” Ivar whispers, “Come for me,”

You can only whine in response, breathing deeply as Ivars fingers move, his eyes on yours and you can’t look away. His thumb comes against your clit, pressing in circles and you hum as the pleasure takes over your body. Your lashes flutter, a heat low in your belly as the coil tightens, as Ivar growls for you to open your eyes again.

“Look at me when you come,” Ivar tells you. Your eyes open as a blush covers your cheeks, the band finally snapping as you moan. Sinking your nails into his back before they move, grabbing his hair in an attempt to ground yourself as your orgasm rushes through your body. You grab his face again, pulling it back towards you to regain some control, as your mouth seeks his.

Ivar slows his fingers as his breathing matches yours, lips lazily tackling one another as a satisfied groan comes from him. Moving, Ivar settles back over you, placing his weight carefully to cover you as you latch around him. Your hands take their turns from tracing his spine, to scratching his head as the man deflates above you, nuzzling into your cheek and you can’t help but smile.

Moving again and putting his weight on his elbows, Ivar looks down at you, bumping your nose with his.

“Hi,” He says quietly.

“Hi, handsome,” You say back, a smile on your face.

“You don’t…you don’t even work in the morning,” Ivar finally realizes.

“I know,” You giggle and Ivar huffs, collapsing back over you.

Tags:

@smileysam13579 @dreamtherapy @angelofthenightposts @unbetaedimagines @readsalot73 @queen-sarang @anastasiaskarsgard @andmyannabellee @peachyboneless @heavenly1927 @prettyinpayne @quantumlocked310 @mighty-ragnarssons @alexhandersen-marcoilsoe-fandom @queen-of-upshur @nanahachikyuu @fandomlifeandeverythingelse @fatedwithmbc @hashimily @youbloodymadgenius @love-all-things-writing @theanxietyqueen17b@trip2themoon @tgrrose @synnersaint @kataphine @prepare4trouble @abbiii72 @not-another-viking-fanfic-blog @93xdiagonxalley @ivarisms @nordicshieldmadien @ironynoticony @ivarsgard @cosmicmerbabe @smears-and-spotsb@kaybee87 @t4medicroe @noway4u @southernbe @anakindoesntlikesand @mymindfuckery @noonespecial90 @hypocrtic-trash-baby @tessakate @ivarlover

*please message me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from my tag list. specifications for series/etc. are also welcomed, as well as feedback.*

full masterlist can be found here.

#vikings au #vikings #modern vikings #ivar au #modern vikings au #ivar #modern ivar #vikings fiction #ivar lothbrok #ivar x you #modern ivar x you #ivar x reader #modern ivar x reader #ivar smut #modern ivar smut

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kbrick · 1 year

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Peak Drarry: Celebrating Incredible Writers - lettersbyelise

Peak Drarry is a series of posts celebrating the absolute treasure trove of talented writers in this fandom, and a reminder of how lucky we are to have them here with us. Find last month’s post featuring @aibidil here. This month features a fan-and-personal-favorite, @lettersbyelise.

✨lettersbyelise✨

I was introduced to Elise’s writing when they returned to the fandom in late 2021 after a little haitus. Being fairly new to Drarry at the time, I had not yet heard of Elise, though plenty of other readers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on Elise’s new work. I kept hearing good things, so I figured I’d check it out—and immediately fell in love after reading Burn the Witch. The fic was poignant, exciting, and, above all, full of dreamy, delicious romance. So, why should you read Elise’s fic? Here are a few reasons:

The ungodly levels of UST

Elise’s Harry and Draco are fully in lust from the first, even if they still despise each other. In Unfold Me, Harry hates his roommate Malfoy so much that he can’t stop thinking about him or the smell of his laundry detergent. And then, when Malfoy accidentally includes his own t-shirt in Harry’s clean laundry pile, Harry has had enough. He sleeps with Malfoy’s t-shirt under his pillow (and does other, unspeakable things while sniffing it) as retribution. In Cabin Fever, Harry doesn’t like Malfoy or anything, but he can’t help but notice when a sudden gust of wind “whipped through Malfoy’s burgundy, standard-issue Auror cloak and exposed his shapely posterior for Harry to admire.” Okay, and fine, he’s also noticed the way Malfoy laughs, how he strides “through the Auror department corridors like a young prince perusing his future kingdom” (Harry’s words, not mine), and sometimes runs a hand through his “short, stylish, impossibly blond hair.” But don’t worry! Malfoy’s also lusting over Harry, a fact that he accidentally lets slip when he calls Harry ‘pretty’ out of nowhere (which obviously makes Harry lose his damn mind).

Sometimes Harry and Draco’s lust is very inconvenient, like in Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar, when Draco recalls a time Potter was pressed against him in the lifts and afterward, Draco had to “walk around with a manila folder held in front of his crotch for a good fifteen minutes.” Poor Draco. Sometimes, Harry is so hot that Draco’s body can’t handle it, like in Burn the Witch, when Draco sees Harry for the first time in years and his heart skips a beat. Literally, “[s]kipped a fucking beat, like in a cheap romance novel.”

Thankfully, Harry’s usually in the same boat. He’s cursed with having a sort of sixth sense when it comes to Malfoy. He can “walk into a room and know Malfoy is there before he even sets eyes on him.” (Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar). The back of his neck prickles whenever Malfoy’s around, okay? It’s not his fault. Malfoy only encourages it, doing things like wearing body-con leggings during a play (Upstaged) so that Harry is basically forced to go and see him perform a bagillion times in a row.

Further complicating matters, Elise’s Harry has typically been thinking about Malfoy for a very long time, in very R-rated ways, like in Laws of Gravity, wherein he muses over the fact that Malfoy kneeling in front of him in a cloakroom is “every fantasy Harry has ever blocked coming to life with an incandescent lack of warning.” Oh, generic gay fantasies, you ask? Hardly. We’re talking Malfoy-specific fantasies that involve “the version Harry’s always kept in the back of his mind, all these years—a hungry, debauched version…” Mm hm. This lust has been brewing for ages.

Occasionally, Elise likes to throw in they-almost-go-there-but-stop-themselves moments that make the UST levels fly off the charts altogether. I literally wrote in my notes on Had To Be You, “oh my god! No!! No! Just have sex! Oh my godddd!!!” (look what you’ve reduced me to, Elise). But Harry and Draco did not have sex at that time. Instead, they proceeded to eat dinner together, sporting what I can only imagine were horrendously painful blue balls. Don’t worry, though—it’s worth the wait when it happens.

Because, listen, if you’re sitting there thinking that all this UST buildup must lead to some scorching hot smut, then you are one hundred percent right. I’m not going to spoil these sexy, delicious, smutty scenes for you here by telling you too much about them, but as a preview, here’s Harry narrating in Had to Be You:

Harry’s heart keeps wanting to escape his ribcage, or at least burst it open, it’s beating so loud. He’s never felt anything like this — this anticipation, like the second before a kiss, only drawn up for minutes, for hours, for bloody months, if Harry’s perfectly honest with himself. There hasn’t been anyone else than Draco for months, maybe years...[T]he back of Draco’s hand brushes his, soft and warm and secret, and Harry nearly gasps, because just that tiny touch of Draco’s is the most erotic thing he’s experienced.

A brush of Draco’s hand does that, ladies and gentlemen. So, yeah, the smut is good.

All that sweet, sweet pining

Listen, I’m not going to say that Elise enjoys torturing readers—I can’t see into their mind! But if I had to guess, I’d say maybe they enjoy it a little? Because Harry and Draco pine so hard in Elise’s fic. Oh, sure, they’ll eventually come to experience a life-changing, soul-filling love for the ages, but first they are going to suffer. If you are anything like me, though, you’ll eat it up because it’s beautiful in its own right, and because it makes the payoff so, so sweet. But first, the pain.

Sometimes jealousy is involved, like in Had to Be You. For years, Draco and Harry watch each other date around and absolutely hate it. This results in various degrees of tantrum-throwing. When Harry makes out with Draco’s friend at a music festival, Harry notes that Draco is in a black mood the next day, and that it has “nothing to do with the weather.” Draco stops talking to Harry for a month after that. A month! When Draco sets off on an Italian holiday with a boyfriend, Harry stomps around until he gets a text from Draco that says Draco misses him (yes, Draco’s texting Harry that he misses him while on a holiday with his boyfriend, and no, neither one of them realizes what this means at this point).

Other times, there is no one else in the picture, and yet our dear boys still pine. They yearn for the thing they think they cannot have (even though they definitely, definitely can have it). In Laws of Gravity, Harry is completely obsessed with Malfoy from the start, although he’s sure it won’t work out because Malfoy’s a pickpocket, and also because he’s Malfoy. Harry thinks maybe the feelings will fade? Fat chance, when he readily admits that his life is “bisected into before and after Malfoy’s mind-boggling blowjob.” Harry. Buddy. You’ve divided your entire life (which included a starring role in a war, mind) into pre-blowjob and post-blowjob. I’m pretty sure your feelings are here to stay.

And the reality is, sex is never enough for these two. Nothing short of lifelong love and devotion is ever enough. After Malfoy keeps putting out for Harry in Laws of Gravity, Harry tells him he’s sending mixed signals. Malfoy points out that he’s given Harry not one, but two blowjobs at this point, and he very clearly wants him. Harry argues that it’s “not the same as liking someone.” Because see, Harry and Draco want everything from each other in Elise’s fic. Not just blowjobs, not just friendship, not just casual dating. They want everything.

They’ll make you believe in true love

Which brings me to my final point. Elise’s stories are about the most unabashedly romantic things I’ve ever read. In their first fic on AO3, Had To Be You, Elise notes that it’s inspired by When Harry Met Sally, a film they admit to having watched ‘a hundred’ times. This is not surprising to me. Because if you love When Harry Met Sally, you are someone who loves love, who has a tender center and a soft heart. And after going through Elise’s fics one by one, let me tell you: Elise loves love. Elise loves romance. And this comes through in all their stories, which are, at their core, tender and beautiful depictions of true love.

In Elise’s fic-universe, Harry and Draco were always meant to be, and literally everyone around them knows it. In Had To Be You, Hermione has a heart to heart with Harry in which she makes him acknowledge his feelings for Draco. “I’ve seen how you’ve been practically drooling over Draco for months now,” she says. “And you’ve been obsessed with him…for years. It was the weird thing you had for him in Sixth Year, and now it’s this very intense friendship.” Harry argues with her about the intense friendship, but eventually has to concede the point. In The Generation Who Lived, Neville and Luna scheme to get Harry and Draco alone in their house so that they’ll reconcile (again, because everyone knows they’re meant to be). My favorite fic in this vein is Re: Harry’s Crush, wherein the entire Ministry is emailing back and forth about how obsessed Harry and Draco are with each other. It’s common knowledge. Everyone else can see it, it just sometimes takes Harry and Draco a while to catch on.

But Harry and Draco do know, deep down, even when they don’t admit it at first. It comes out in flashes, like when they have sex for the first time in Had To Be You and Harry notes that “the connection was something [he’d] never felt, not with any of the many lovers he’d had in the past, and it left him feeling raw, exposed and shy, despite the deep pleasure coursing through his veins.” Or in Paper Rings, when Draco reminisces about his Eighth-Year fling with Harry and how he knew, even at the time, that it had been both “inevitable” and that he would never recover from it, emotionally. Or in Laws Of Gravity, when Harry realizes he doesn’t want Malfoy to go, even though he doesn’t know what that means. (It means you love him, Harry!).

One of the things I adore about Elise’s fic is that there is always this fantastic, pivotal moment when things click. It’s the moment when our guarded main characters let their walls fall, let themselves see what everyone else has known for so long. And then this thing—this love—that has felt so impossible suddenly seems easy. There’s a surety that comes flooding in, a recognition that yes, this is the person for me, and yes, they want me too. It’s even said tongue-in-cheek (although we know it’s hilariously real) in Kill, Fuck, Marry when the boys wake up after their first night together. They’d been playing the titular ‘marry, fuck, kill’ the night before, and Draco says, well, you’ve already tried to kill me and you’ve already fucked me, so “[t]he only thing left to do is marry me, I suppose.” Does this scare Harry off? Not at all. “You’ve already got more birthday presents than you deserved Malfoy,” Harry says. “This one will have to wait until next year. If you’re good.” One date and shag, and they’re already joking about getting married. God help us.

But lest you think this is some sort of shallow insta-love, it’s not. Elise, particularly in their long fic, depicts a love of equals, of two men who root for one another and stand up for one another, who have each other’s backs. It’s lovely, the way they see one another so clearly, the way they advocate for one another. Whether it’s Harry in Burn the Witch fighting against a Ministry that’s unfairly targeted Draco, or Draco in Paper Rings advocating for Harry in Harry’s divorce, these are two people who admire and respect each other. It's evident in Harry’s thoughts about how brave Draco is regarding his sexuality in Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar. Or, beautifully, in Draco’s thoughts in Paper Rings, when he contemplates that “Harry had spent so many years not being appreciated for who he was…not being loved.” He wonders how “blind Ginevra Weasley must have been not to see how good [Harry was]…how utterly perfect in every one of his complicated ways.” They know that the other is not actually perfect (after all, they, more than anyone, are familiar with the other’s faults), but they love them just the same. In Fire Meet Gasoline, Draco spells out his shortcomings to Harry—all of them—and Harry just says, “Do you think that frightens me? ‘Cause it doesn’t. I told you already. I want everything you are.”

Incidentally, after that gorgeous bit of dialogue from Fire Meet Gasoline, Harry asks Draco to stay with him. Draco thinks about how he doesn’t do love, but Potter was the exception (sort of like how Harry muses that he’s “Draco-sexual” in Paper Rings). Then he says, “I couldn’t leave you if I tried…I’m afraid you’re stuck with me now, Potter.” Cue the violins. Le sigh.

Ahhh, Drarry in its best and most natural state. Soulmates, each other’s one and only, together forever and ever, amen.

And one of my favorite things about Elise: they will get you there every time, no matter how improbable it seems at the start.

You can count on it.

Recommended For…

Lovers of love. Connoisseurs of quality, emotional smut. Anyone who wants to get swept up in an epic sort of romance, who believes that romantic partners should lift you up and bring out the best in you. People who believe in soulmates. Those who believe (or want to believe) in happily ever after. Here are a few you might want to check out, but honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything Elise has written.

Top 3 Fics Over 25,000 Words (by kudos)

Burn The Witch (E, 96k) - When Harry Potter is sent in to investigate Draco Malfoy’s successful potions company, posing as Draco’s bodyguard, he doesn’t know the case will launch a series of events that will change his life — and Draco’s. A story about choices, scars, Chopin piano pieces, and finding all kinds of love in the most unexpected places.

Had To Be You (E, 59k) - Draco Malfoy is possibly the last person Harry expects to find at the wheel of a Muggle car, on a beautiful summer day on the road to London. This is the story of how Harry runs into Draco once, twice, three times, and how he doesn’t leave their next meeting to chance. A fic inspired by When Harry Met Sally.

Paper Rings (E, 50k) – When Harry’s in need of a divorce lawyer, he has no choice but to turn to the best in the trade. Draco Malfoy’s reputation for discretion is flawless, and his track record for winning cases is close to perfect. But he’s also ruthless, passionate, and as infuriating as ever, and the brief relationship he and Harry had in Eighth Year still feels painfully fresh despite two decades spent apart.

Top 3 Fics Under 25,000 Words (by kudos)

Kill, Fuck, Marry (E, 4k) - Harry and Draco unexpectedly meet again on Draco’s birthday, years after their last encounter.

Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar (E, 2.7k) - Draco Malfoy offers to help his coworkers to improve their seduction techniques, with unexpected consequences.

Re: Harry’s Crush (T, 1.9k) - Ever get that feeling you're being talked about behind your back? Harry doesn't, he's too busy being stupidly, obviously besotted with the guy in the lab downstairs. A fic where the interdepartment betting war at the Ministry gets out of hand, Millicent and Hermione get scheming, Harry Potter ends up wearing black eyeliner, and everybody ends up getting more than they bargained for.

Kbrick’s Picks (in order of obsession)

The Laws of Gravity (E, 31k) - When he runs into Draco Malfoy picking pockets at a charity gala, Harry Potter is forced to face the desires he’s avoided for years — at the risk of shattering the public image he’s so carefully curated since the war.

Fire Meet Gasoline (E, 63k) - When Draco’s anger management issues land him in St Mungo’s, he thinks his Quidditch career is over. But Harry, A&E Healer and notorious workaholic, is faced with a similar predicament. To save their jobs, the two of them decide to fake a relationship. All they have to do is convince their friends and employers… and not fall in love in the process. Simple, right?

#drarry #peak drarry #kbrick recs #lettersbyelise #fic recs

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starsscarmyceiling · 11 months

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Gimme some of that Clone Wars AU pls! Stirring the Sky

Hoooo ohhh man, Abby! The origin story to this one is actually pretty funny…and I know I’ve blathered on to you about my fics…BUT for everyone else…so a few months ago, an anon asked me if I had any sort of fic prompt ideas floating around in my head, which you can find here. And what do I do ofc??? Why, write out 5k worth of prompt ideas because a bitch over here can never stfu. And ONE of those ideas…I honestly got really attached to it and I was like…well oh NO I am going to have to write this, aren’t I?? It’s from the “Canonverse Divergent” section, I thought of this Clone Wars AU, and this is the original prompt I wrote:

“Clone Wars AU where Cal and Jaro are assigned to try and recruit the Nightsisters to try and get the upper hand in the war with Dooku (lol I wouldn’t say exactly a Dark Disciple route but that’s up to you). Merrin is voluntold (the opposite of volunteered) by Mother Talzin to try and become allies with the Jedi (they could have their own shady Nightsister ulterior motive going on as well), and Merrin reluctantly goes with the Jedi. And oooooooOoOooo wow the shenanigans that can ensue from that. (Merrin also has to try really hard not to lose her shit over leaving Dathomir for the first time in her life). I’d imagine a lot of frustrations from both parties. The clones mercilessly make fun of Cal and his Nightsister gf (but they also have to tell him what’s up). He thinks she’s unreasonably obtuse and rude, and she thinks he’s frustratingly smug/arrogant. Merrin could prove to be a definite asset in battle. Cal probably thinks it’s hawt 😳 OH NO SHE’S HOT SEE LOOK HOW WE GOT HERE WE LIKE TO HAVE FUN HERE.

Now suddenly she’s mysterious and complex, and he’s frustrated that he wants to know more. He’s actually the sweetest person she’s ever seen and she’s angry about it. She constantly has to check in with her sisters and it’s getting harder and harder to go behind his back or deny that she maybe might not hate him anymore she maybe even may want to smooch him WOAH who knows. They bond over feeling used in this war. Come on. You got it from here right?”

Soooo, YEAH…I gots a little too overindulgent in my thoughts and started writing THIS…but I am so very excited because it’s just the two of them being endlessly frustrated yet hotted up for each other at all times. All the clones ship it HARD. Merrin starts to grow attached to some of the clones that are very welcoming to her…actually fun fact…if you’ve read my fic “what’s grown between (surgery scars)” when Cal told Merrin about his clone trauma…I literally pulled what he was saying from this WIP…HEH…

ALSO, I honestly just want to live my best life and push forward my personal HC that I have of if Cal were older during order 66 or it never happened, him and Jaro would 100% have Jake and Holt energy from Brooklyn 99 agenda.

And I am so very excited to explore a lot of these themes that I’ve brought into my Merrical writing in a setting like this. Cal contemplating his feelings, his so naturally compassionate and empathetic spirit that wants to take care of everyone else before himself, and then someone like MERRIN steps into his life??? OOF I am gonna have some fun with this and the psychometric Jedi and space witch of it all. GOODNESS I am so excited for it.

AND SO…here is a long ass preview because I honestly didn’t know where to cut it off…Cal is answering a comm from their commander, Zand, on his and Jaro’s ship and well he may have sensed a presence while doing so…😏😏😏

When there was nothing there still, he turned once again to his original direction, but as soon as he did, there was a flash of green light and smoke, and suddenly, there was a figure there before him.

“There is no need to brandish weapons or administer threats Jedi,” she stated with her voice laced in malice, which ironically enough did feel like a bit of a threat.

Cal severely balked at this sudden interaction, “Who are you?”

The woman crossed her arms with still a severe expression on her face, “Does it matter? We are all just—unsettling to you anyway.”

His eyes narrowed as he put the pieces together in his head, “Were you—spying on me?”

Her expression changed to that of incredulity as she raised an eyebrow, “You left the door to your ship open.”

It was a bit shocking, her audacity as he bristled all over again, “Are you seriously blaming me for you trespassing onto my ship and listening in on my private conversation?”

This woman, who Cal only now after processing the last several moments did he start to take in her appearance, did give off such an intense energy in the force. Cal felt her ire, her disdain so much so that it almost made him feel dizzy.

A short breath escaped him as he shut off his lightsaber, and all she did was continue to glare at him. She was short statured with light gray skin and intense brown eyes. Her soft features on her face were adorned with tattoos that lined her forehead, her cheeks. And it was all coming to a head, feeling her emotions, his emotions of frustration, accost, but now he was also flustered, bewildered, and definitely anxious.

He hated to think, though it was sad, but true, that he thought she was astoundingly beautiful.

His mind tried to do a complete turnaround because that was very much besides the point, and he did his best to keep his mental shields up, having no idea what she was capable of as she finally continued to speak.

“Though Mother Talzin invited you here Jedi,” she said again with such derision to her words, “do not hold the false notion that you are in any way welcome.”

Cal almost wanted to laugh at her statement, his own ire stacking up again in his mind, and he actually welcomed it as it was much easier to process in the moment than anything else he was currently grappling with.

An exhale escaped his nostrils harshly as he kept up his glare, “Believe me,” he stated with his own contempt, clipping his lightsaber to his belt again, “I would like to get off this force forsaken planet as soon as possible.”

She tilted her head at him, seeming to descry in her own way, which caused the fringe of her silver blonde hair to slightly cascade into her eyes as they scanned over him. It made him—exceedingly uncomfortable for a multitude of reasons he really couldn’t dwell on at the moment.

“That is at least something we can agree on Jedi,” she uttered in a flatter tone than she had before, but still possessed an air of intolerance.

“I have a name you know. Don’t know how I’d get around the confusion of actually just going by the moniker of Jedi,” he stated in what was a mockery of her sardonic tone of voice.

She stood there still for several moments as she raised an eyebrow at him, which to him translated into some form of her being through with his banthashit.

“Jedi…the Jedi?” The Nightsister questioned with a genuine air of perplexment to her voice.

Honestly, once she said it out loud, Cal really wasn’t sure what he was even trying to accomplish. Was he trying to make a joke? Was he trying to be a smartass? Was he trying to break the tension? If Jaro was asked, he’d probably claim that Cal would try and accomplish all of the above.

“What, are you attempting to be clever or snide?” She asked as she began to take careful steps circumventing him, “Or just insulting? You think you can come to my home and disrespect me in such a way?”

Cal crossed his arms as he scoffed, “You’re the one who snuck onto my ship first, Nightsister.”

If she was going to address him in such a way he’d do it right back. He was feeling that petty.

Though, he very much resented himself when his mind flashed with the title ‘Nightsister, the Nightsister,’ and he had to hold back a stupid smirk.

She was temporarily out of his view, though he still felt her, always felt her as she too laughed humorlessly, “You are extremely full of yourself, aren’t you Jedi?”

The way she said it this time seemed to give off the same amount of snark he was emanating.

Cal waited until she was there in his vision again as he slightly upturned his chin to her.

“I bet you’d like to think so, wouldn’t you? Profile me, put me in a box of whatever your false perceptions of Jedi are,” Cal almost barked at her. Force, he didn’t even remember the last time he’d been so irritated with a person.

“And you are not doing the same to me? Making your own assumptions and insulting something you don’t even understand.”

Another scoff was in his throat, “Yeah, and let’s still not forget how you acquired such information from me.”

Her glare was fierce again as the disparagement was almost palpable on her face now, “I only was scoping out the situation because I have my people’s interest in mind.”

Cal realized he was flexing his arms now as they were still crossed over his chest out of sheer frustration, “You could have just asked me you know; I would have been more than willing to speak with you about any such matters that occur with my order.”

“And how was I to know this? All I have heard about Jedi is that they are liars and selfish thieves!” She exclaimed.

Again. He was taken such aback again at the gull.

“And where in the hell did you hear that? A Separatist the people The Republic is trying to stand against?” He said, but then he already had another retort on his tongue, “And for that matter, we were the ones that were invited here and ever since we arrived, all we have gotten from you is blatant disdain when we hadn’t even done anything!”

“None of us wanted you here!”

“That’s not my problem! Don’t take your misplaced frustration out on me!”

His statement seemed to give her pause, and Cal hadn’t even realized that they’d somehow managed to step closer and closer to one another in this skirmish and were definitely in one another’s personal space.

Kriff, how did I end up here?

Her eyes were narrowed up at him as he still found that anger, but he also cornered something else in them that was not easy to place.

“You should have never come to Dathomir Jedi,” she admonished in a strained tone.

A short sigh fell out of his mouth.

“Cal.”

For the first time, he found actual confusion on her countenance, “What?”

“Cal, my name is Cal Kestis, not Jedi. Again, I don’t go by Jedi the Jedi.”

Honestly, he wasn’t exactly sure why he said it. At this point he recognized they were both being assholes to each other.

Her eyes were all over him again though as she leaned back to cross her arms, “Do you think you are exceedingly hilarious, Cal?”

He didn’t know what it was. The concept of his nomenclature was always simple, straightforward concept in his mind, but there was something in the way that she said it, the timbre of her voice, that drove him insane.

And that sort of insanity seemed to have many faces right now, many of which were irritation.

Still, he crossed his arms all the same, “I am starting up my own comedy tour, actually.”

And never in his life, as he was already trying to convince himself that it wasn’t true, had he ever been so…aroused by the utterance of his own name.

This…he needed to get himself out of this situation now.

Her eyes scanned him again, “I do not find your antics the least bit entertaining.”

“Well, I guess I won’t be reserving the cranky Nightsister a seat, now will I?”

A narrowed gaze in his direction now. And he wasn’t sure how he felt—about being under her scrutiny.

“You are extremely arrogant and insolent,” she declared, her eyes still fierce, “but it is not as if that really matters, Cal.”

He was very much resenting the shiver that was sent down his spine.

SOOO YEH, hope you guys are as excited for this one as I am!!! I literally think these two don't even have the ability to be around one another and NOT be super horni right off the bat for each other haha.

SHENANIGANSSSS

#we like to have fun here #STOOPIDS #fanfic #my fanfic #merrical fanfic #sts #ask #merrical #wip title game

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andiwriteordie · 1 year

Text

hey remember when i wrote a byler percy jackson au and said i had other little snippets i’d share eventually?

no? well, here are the links:

Part One - I Dream About My Best Friend

Part Two - I Have An Audience With the God of Love

anyways, here’s the last one that’s been chilling on my google docs! who knows. i may go back and write some more (because literally there are so many percabeth scenes that i would love to write as byler) whenever i feel like it! or maybe i’ll just word vomit all my headcanons onto a google doc and share that with you if i get bored lol

this is based of the final scene of the titan’s curse, in case you were wondering :)

___

The Gods Throw Us a Party

Mike feels like he’s been punched in the gut.

I do not approve of your friendship with my son, Athena had said, amongst a lot of other things that Mike can’t even begin to wrap his brain around. I do not think it is wise for either of you.

“Hey.” Will nudges him, and Mike flinches slightly, glancing over at his best friend. There’s a small, somewhat shy smile on his face. “You sure you’re okay?”

Not really.

“Y-yeah, of course,” Mike says, forcing a smile. Will just raises a disbelieving eyebrow, and Mike rolls his eyes, nudging his best friend lightly. “I’m fine. Just… got a lot on my mind, I guess.”

“Surprising,” Will says dryly. “And here I thought all you had in your brain was seaweed.”

“Asshole.” Mike nudges him sharply in the ribs, and Will just laughs, throwing his head back and smiling brightly. It’s enough to make Mike’s stomach do a little somersault, which is… definitely weird. “I don’t know how I even missed you.”

There’s a sparkle in Will’s eyes as he turns to Mike and just smiles. “You missed me?” he asks, voice soft.

A familiar sort of warmth fills Mike’s chest, and his stomach does that silly little somersault thing again. “Yeah,” he says softly, and he offers Will a small, shy smile. “‘Course I did.”

Mike doesn’t, of course, mention the fact that he was worried sick about Will—that the entire time Will was gone, he couldn’t stop thinking about him and couldn’t stop wondering if Will was okay and couldn’t stop trying to figure out ways to find Will. But then again, Mike gets the feeling that he doesn’t really need to say those things… After all, it’s Will.

And just like how Mike knows that he would do absolutely anything in the world to make sure that Will is okay and safe, he knows that Will would do the same for him.

I do not approve of your friendship with my son. I do not think it is wise for either of you. Athena’s words echo through Mike’s mind once more, and he forces himself not to think about them. If caring too much about his friends—about Will—is supposed to be a flaw, then… well, then, Mike doesn’t really give a damn. There are only so many things that he’s willing to give up in the world in the name of this stupid saving the world and being the child of the prophecy bullshit, and look… his friends and Will in particular aren’t one of them.

Will just smiles back at him, his cheeks slightly red, and he bumps Mike’s shoulder gently. “Thanks for coming and finding me,” he whispers, as if there’s any world where Mike wouldn’t have searched for Will until he was found. As if there’s any world out there where Mike wouldn’t do everything humanly possible to make sure that Will is safe and home where he belongs with…

…with Mike.

I do not approve of your friendship with my son.

There’s like a hundred different things that Mike wants to say to Will—things that he’s been wanting to say for… for a while now and things that he can’t even fully wrap his mind around. But Athena’s words just keep playing like a broken record on loop in Mike’s mind, and he feels like all of the courage has been sapped out of him.

There are so many different things he knows he should say to Will, and maybe… maybe someday, he will.

“Of course,” Mike responds, and he leans in close to Will, smiling slightly. “I know you’d do the same before me.”

The look on Will’s face softens, and he nods, just standing there close to Mike. The room is still loud and full of energy, but somewhere above the noise, Mike hears the song change once again, going from some upbeat pop song that Dustin would probably like to one that’s a bit softer and slower.

“Hey,” Mike blurts out, before he can lose any more of his courage.

Will blinks, and his brow furrows. “Yeah?”

“I, um… I think I owe you a dance,” Mike says quickly. Heat rises to his cheeks, and fuck, okay, okay, he can do this. It’s just a dance, and it’s just Will. It’s just Will.

(For some reason, Mike has a little flashback to his conversation with Aphrodite, from just a couple days ago, and um… yeah. Yeah, there’s that.)

“It’s just, um… we got cut off at Westover Hall,” Mike adds, stammering over his words. “Before everything happened, you know? So, I… I just thought that maybe we could… I don’t know… um, I guess—”

“Mike,” Will laughs, and Mike stops, closing his mouth and mentally berating himself for how stupid he sounds. Still, there’s a twinkle in Will’s eyes and a smile on his face, and even though Mike knows he sounds like an idiot, Will still takes his hand. “A dance sounds nice.”

(Okay. Okay, great. Okay. He can do this. Mike can do this.)

“Cool,” Mike says, a bit breathlessly, and he smiles back at his best friend.

“Cool,” Will echoes as the two of them make their way out onto the dance floor. Just like before, Mike awkwardly puts his hands around Will’s waist, while Will puts his arms around Mike’s neck, and the two of them sway back and forth in time with the music.

Neither of them say much, which is kind of nice. It feels like this moment is just for the two of them, and though Mike’s heart is pounding inside his chest, he forces himself to just breathe and to focus on this moment… to focus on Will.

Up close, Mike can really get a better look at his best friend. He’s bounced back fairly well—or as well as one can after being held hostage for about a week—but there are still bags under his eyes and a tiredness on his face that Mike’s sure won’t go away for a while. Likewise, there’s a cut on his forehead that’s still healing and a few bruises that are still fading on his face.

Most noticeable, though, is the single gray streak through Will’s brown hair—the one that matches Mike’s own perfectly. Their twin, painful souvenirs from carrying Atlas’s burden.

“We match,” Will murmurs, as if he can somehow read Mike’s mind. He hesitates for a moment, then reaches up and gently touches Mike’s own gray streak.

“Yeah,” Mike whispers back, and he gives Will another small, shy smile. “We do.”

Will just smiles in return, and he lowers his hand from Mike’s hair once more, swaying back and forth gently to the song. Neither one of them says anything else, but Mike doesn’t really think they need to. Somehow, he gets the feeling that both he and Will are on the same page, together in this moment.

And so, as the song continues to play, Mike just lets himself get lost in this moment. He sets aside everything else that’s on his mind—from the prophecy that lingers over his head, to whether Henry is still alive and still out there, to Athena’s warnings to him—and he just focuses on everything about this moment.

The warmth of the lights on his skin, filling Mike with a sense of security and comfort.

The sound of his friends’ laughter—Dustin, over there with some nymphs and Lucas and Max laughing together as they share their own slow dance.

The song, soft and slow and a bit hopeful, that Mike hears, and the words that he tries to commit to his memory: Just like the ocean pairs well with the sand, I go with you…

And everything about Will—from the soft nervousness of his smile, to the warmth radiating from him as he hugs Mike closer, to the sheer sense of familiarity that comes with being around Will, as if he’s just someone who has always been there with Mike and part of his life.

Somewhere, distantly, a thought crosses Mike’s mind, and though his cheeks go warm at just that thought, he doesn’t let himself dwell on it too much.

Right here, right now, this is enough.

#byler #byler au #byler ficlet #byler fic #byler pjo my beloved #i'll come back to you one of these days #because this was so fun #also that song is absolutely the one i headcanon as what percy and annabeth dance to in ttc #as always you know if you want more #i can be peer pressured into it #andi writes not dies

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simgerale · 6 months

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MIRANDA!!!!!!!!

okay, because the post posted between my classes all I could do is make a quick reblog and try not to cry, but now I can really process my thoughts. Fair warning, this is gonna be long. And I do mean LONG.

The fact that she finally let him use her name... He told her to call him Luca SO early on, and now she's finally letting down that wall and allowing him to be familiar with her. (Also the fact that the first time he ever calls her by her name is when he's accepting her marriage proposal... 🥺😭)

Also, the fact that she's already wearing a wedding dress....

Also, BUTTERFLY WEDDING DRESS!!!!!!!!! And it's blue!!!! Blue butterflies have been her symbol since the beginning, and she ends the story dressed like that... PERFECT. And Luca's outfit.... God, I love that outfit so much. I have you to thank for me having it in my game, actually. You sent it along with Kris and now I will never let go of it. Luca looks exceptionally good in it, though. Especially the navy blue. (They're both wearing blue...)

"For us." THAT BROKE ME MIRANDA. "Not for Volais, Not for Eden, for us. Only for us." That is literally the most romantic, amazing, adorable, lovable thing he could have said in that moment. NO WONDER Maggie is in love with him.

The tug on her gloves... For all she sounds confident and secure in the moment, I'm sure Maggie was SO NERVOUS. Imagine proposing to the love of your life, and not only that but it's the first time you've talked to/seen him since you impulsively kissed him when he woke up after nearly dying of poison. And not only THAT, but this proposal could also literally change the world by creating an alliance between Eden and Volais..... Of COURSE she's nervous. I would be terrified in any one of those scenarios, let alone all three at once.

But Luca just is so calm and collected the whole time. And I imagine it's because he's realized his feelings a lot earlier. He already knows -- has known -- that he's in love with Maggie. And he's so confident in that love.

THE HAND KISS. I'm down bad for hand kisses. I can't even explain why, but they are the HEIGHT of romance.

Also the final kiss!!!!!!!!! They finally get to do it right. And I imagine they were there for a long time. 🥺

The fact that you labeled it as "The Beginning". Because hell yeah it is. It's the beginning of their forever after, the beginning of an alliance, the beginning of a real relationship between them, the beginning of an NEW ERA.

Also, please tell me Olette and Sheridan get their happy-ever-after too. I know they do, but I wanna hear it anyways.

I can't wait to hear what happens to my babies after this, but even if I don't ever get to know, this was such a lovely, perfect ending to Regal. THANK YOU for taking me along on this journey for the past two years. (Damn, I can't believe it's been two whole years since I started following you...) Thank you for sharing your story with us. And thank you for being an all-around amazing person. I'm glad I can call you my mutual and my friend. <3

Congratulations are in order, though!! Finishing a story is no easy feat, and you did it!!!! And it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

Okay, I swear I'm done now. One last hug, though.

MORRI 🥹 i’m sitting in the cold on my porch, so I figured I’d type up a response in between trick or treaters (^:

1) EXACTLY

2) I originally planned to show their ceremony as an epilogue but I chose against it, because I wasn’t in the mood to create an elaborate royal wedding lol BUT I assure you…. As soon as they were ready, sheri put them back in Volais and they had a wedding

3) YES! It’s also the same outfit she is wearing for the “teaser” post I created years ago for Regal 😏

4) GLAD THAT IM NOT BAD AT WRITING LOL I read that over and over and wondered if it was good or just corny?? so happy it’s just the right amount of romantic 😌

5) the fact you caught that!!!! the way I wrote it originally, she was just doing lots of stuttering but I was like. That’s not maggie. She would have nervous ticks like pulling at her gloves! Only the trained eye (you heheh and luca) would be able to tell how nervous she was.

6) for him it’s like ??? I just woke up and you guys are all acting weird! Sure he recalls being stabbed but he does NOT remember the pain he was in. Nor the poison’s effects. (He can thank Lady Celeste for that.) so things changed practically overnight for him. He knew they had been getting close, him and Maggie, so this was just the desired outcome for him. He’s loving it.

7) INDEED THE HAND KISS! I agree. When my fiancé kisses my hand randomly it’s like. A grand gesture to me. It’s so sweet. It feels like “oh so you’d DIE for me? Amazing” lol

8) oh man. Probably ten minutes of straight kissing. All the passion they had been holding back for months

9) thank you for noticing that 🥹🥹 it was a special touch of mine. Because you’re ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about everything you said.

+ YES Olette and sheridan will get eloped actually (^: this happens down the line (maybe a year or two later), because Olette wants to explore the world a bit more before doing that. And sheridan is promoted to Very Important Mage who is almost like an ambassador ? She travels between Volais and Eden a lot to promote the healthy transition of magic being allowed in Volais again. Very cool.

THANK YOU FOR THE CONGRATS!!! and THANK YOU FOR BEING APART OF THIS JOURNEY WITH ME!!!! you will get to see some one shots with like, one or two photos! Not sure when those would come out but I have a little more I want to tell (^: for funsies!

Much love morri ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

#ask #morrigan-sims #regal ask #the last regal ask?? :0 perhaps #hope everyone has had a nice warm safe Halloween #even if it’s just staying in #mwah

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futuremrsdrcullen · 2 years

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Hiii me again! Sworry I’m just so obsessed with your Carlisle insert reader series. I found it maybe two weeks ago and I was like wooo this is going to take me a month to read! I finished it in 4 days 🙈 literally stayed up to like 3 in the morning reading, I just couldn’t put it down!!! I know it takes a while to write and I want to thank you for putting your best effort and love into it. Can’t thank you enough cause it’s fantastic, literally the best I’ve EVER read. So thank you again. It deserves way more love. But anyways! I had another blurb idea I thought I’d share. I was thinking of someone basically where the reader just stares at him, admiring his beauty. His hair, his eyes, his skin, just in awe at the beautiful, compassionate, gentle, yet dangerous creature in front or next to her. Eventually he snaps her out of her trance and she says something sweet to him, maybe points out what she loves about him. Just an idea!

❤️

Honestly so glad you love them. It makes me so happy to see just how much people are enjoying the things I'm creating, and the fact that you are enjoying them so much that you are asking for more means more to me than I can put in to words.

When I got this ask I got really excited to write it and I wrote the first draft in like hour. I spent a few more hours editing and trying to figure out what part I'd written that was bugging me. Sent it to my editor who said it was perfect.

So now I'm just going to post it in hopes that it isn't awful lol.

As always I do not own Twilight or its Characters all right go to S.Meyer.

~ Claire <3

Masterlist

Blurb Title: Golden

Word Count: 625

No warning just super heartfelt fluffy. Rot your teeth out fluff. Kinda fade to black smut but not really. But kinda. I do that a lot lol.

~~~

It was the completely mundane things he did that would catch me off guard. I was so used to him; I was used to what he was, and how that affected his movements. But it was the moments when he seemed the most human that always got to me.

When I got out of the shower, I didn't exactly know where he had gone. I followed the only sounds I could hear in the house and eventually found him in the kitchen, handwashing the few dishes Bella and I used the night before. The radio behind him played his favorite station and a soft Jazz song filled the room. I completely froze in my tracks, if he noticed me he didn't look up. He hummed along to the music and I let myself take in the sight of him.

There was light trickling in from the windows and he looked golden, but also just so incredibly human. The light in his hair, in his eyes, even dancing along his skin, was so beautifully golden. Of course I knew the dangers of our closeness but I never even worried about my safety.

Because I knew this is who he really was. He was golden, inside and out.

The first song ended and the next began as I watched him. His eyes floated up to meet mine. It took my breath away. Even now, when our eyes met, it felt like the first time. He softened, like he felt it too; the rush of butterflies, the sparks of electricity between us. A part of my soul leaped out of me to reach the part of his that did the same. It felt right.

"Y/n?..." His voice- soft with concern but also amusement- pulled me out of my daze. "Are you alright, Dove?"

"Oh…yeah. I just got lost in thought." I practically skipped across the room to meet his outstretched hand. It didn't even bother me that it was wet. He kissed my forehead. "You're beautiful." I whispered.

"I think I should be the one saying that to you."

"Yeah yeah, you tell me all the time." I took a second to contemplate my words as he drained the water from the sink. "You're golden… Your hair, your eyes, even the light reflecting off of your skin is golden."

I could see right through his calm chuckles to the confusion that still lingered there. I continued, "It's more than just physical too. You're compassionate and caring and you put our family above anything else. You make me feel more loved than anyone else has. You have all of this power and yet you're still the kindest person I know. I don't know what I did to deserve someone like you. You're just…. Golden." My face flushed when I realized I said all of that out loud.

He grinned at me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pulled me closer to him and kissed me. It made all of the embarrassment from rambling wash away.

He always kissed me like it could be the last kiss we would ever share. And every kiss made me forget the world around me. To me, he was the only thing that mattered and in turn, he made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered to him.

He lifted me with ease and set me on the counter, breaking away from my lips just to place his on my neck. "You deserve to be worshiped. And I plan on showing you how much I love you-" He kissed my neck again. "-need you, by doing just that." He practically breathed the words into my ear and I felt a shiver run over my skin.

Then his lips were on mine again.

Taglist: @jakanddexter67 @a-not-so-poetic-poet @bridge597 @cestlavie03 @gaymazinglula @short-potato

#twilight #carlisle cullen x reader #twilight x reader #carlisle cullen #twilight fanfiction #iaitt #im always in this twilight #blurb

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lyriumsings · 1 year

Note

oh damn I was just wondering if I should ask if you took oc questions and I saw a post about you wanting to talk about them. so. this is your sign: free pass tell me whatever you want about whoever you want. I’d like to know stuff about them (please. thank.)

This ask has literally been sitting here for like a year and I can’t stop thinking about my infamous mc so i’m gonna use this as a sort of preview introduction lol so anon if you’re out there im so sorry lmaooo and i absolutely love asks about my brain blorbos or anything really ngl i’ll probably copy and paste all this information to their Official Art ™️

Name: Octavia “Tavvi” Blackwater

Stage name: Tavvi

Pronouns: they/she

Sexuality: Bisexual

Band name: Beneath the Challenger (BTC). Octavia came up with the name and it’s basically a metaphor for them being super depressed lmao. It comes from the Challenger Deep which is the lowest point on earth beneath the Mariana’s trench.

Vocal Insp: donna missal (pinnacle voice bc for them tbh), The pretty reckless, the haunt

Music Insp: The Pretty Reckless, The Haunt, (for all of these bands i have very specific songs that i plug in as BTC’s lyrics lmao i have a playlist for them that i basically hc as their songs), Bad Omens (Just Pretend is SUCH a seven x mc song and i hc it as BTC’s best song), Mothica (VICES tho), and Honey Revenge! Here’s their playlist it grows everyday lmao

Fandom: Aquanauts. I hc that Maya figured out the bands meaning and picked based on that, Octavia genuinely loves it and finds it cute. And somehow the fact that the name makes sense to what the band name is makes them feel very seen and comforted tbh

Ep: Under the Water

Favorite unreleased single: The Slowest Heart (Which i actually took from Gilded Lily bc that song has heavy Octavia x Seven vibes) They have “the slowest heart” tattooed on there left rib age side boob area lol Although I feel like if she wrote it it’d be closer to the sped up version and a bit angrier mixed with hurt but the lyrics are perfect)

Romance: Seven’s ex. Still has his initials and doesn’t bother to cover it. And they are harboring a very blatant crush on Orion that if they’re being honest about started specifically because Orion seems pretty unattainable and they have no actual expectations of that fantasy becoming a reality (at least at first). Some cute stuff about them and seven tho: I hc fans called them Seven8 cuz Octavia means 8 or i guess Setavia works but Seven8 is so cute to me. And that seven had them in his phone as “8” and Octavia had him as “7 Ducky”

Some backstory:

Octavia is biracial her mom is white and her dad is black (specifically has afro indigenous roots but he was a foster kid so very estranged from these cultures) does not have a good relationship with their parents at all. Their parents didn’t really want kids? Sort of had Octavia because that’s what they were “supposed” to do next after getting married. Octavia is very much just an item checked off a list in a lot of ways regarding them. Very much the type of people who probably shouldn’t have had a kid not because they didn’t provide physically but they’re just emotionally nonexistent and incredibly dismissive lol. So yeah, so she had a very lonely childhood.

They did lots of ballet/contemporary dancing and soft ball which she does still actually enjoy as hobbies presently, but for the most part she’s obsessed with music and making music. They have a bat from highschool that they call “Lucky Lucy” where for two separate games in a row she hit nothing but home runs with it. Now, she takes it to every show and makes everybody touch Lucky Lucy before performing.

Octavia is obsessed with old hollywood glamour and old movies/shows from that era— most specifically Audrey Hempburn. They have several references/quotes from her tattooed on them: “never throw out anyone” is a partial quote from “People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw anyone out.” that they have tattooed directly under their S.D. tattoo which is my favorite lol and another is “i was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.” probably on their opposite forearm from S.D. (There’s more but i gotta map them out.) They can do a transatlantic accent, and did so for many months as a teen to annoy their parents.

Lastly, romantic history: before Seven they had a girlfriend, Maria. Who was pretty much their polar opposite—very straight laced, serious, and structured but also incredibly sweet, polite, absolute wifey material—and honestly while she supported Octavia’s dream on a surface level she thought Octavia needed a more concrete plan for the future. They dated for about half of high school and split amicably when it became clear that Octavia wasn’t going to change/Octavia’s underlying feelings for Seven became a bit too obvious to ignore. They’re still in contact and friendly and Maria is married and has two kids.

Post Seven, Octavia had one serious relationship that was on and off for 8 months about a year after their initial split. It was bad. Incredibly toxic content warning type bad. Dean Clayton was the lead singer of another indie band Violet Vapors and was a general misogynistic piece of shit. It was a they just didn’t see the red flags until they were already in it type situation, bc no one advertises themself as a pos partner obvs. She doesn’t like to talk about it and borderline actively ignores it, but if they ever saw him again they’d probably take their bat to him tbh. Octavia is in a muuuuch better place now (comparatively speaking, which i mean the bar is in hell so do with that what ye will) still does drugs and drinks but it’s not nearly as bad as uhhh this era of their life.

#infamous if #oc: octavia blackwater #ANYWAY YEAH ART COMING SOON HOPEFULLY #god that was a fucking novel #as you can tell they’re on my mind quite a bit #oc info #will probably reblog to my art blog later just so i don’t lose the information #asks #answered #long post #super fucking long post

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alwaysxlarrie · 1 year

Photo

you know it’s an alwaysxlarrie fic when ... + 2022 writing self evaluation

ok so i’m a tiiiiiny bit late to the game, so i’m just combining the two tags lol. thank you to @hellolovers13, @larrysballetslippers, @zannithinks, @lunarheslwt, @brightgolden & @momrryrights for tagging me in the moodboard challenge (that’s what i’m calling it lol). hope everyone enjoys my chaotic moodboard hehe & thank you to @neondiamond, @onlythebravest, @lunarheslwt, @greenblueish, @thedevilinmybrain & @loveislarryislove for tagging me in the self evaluation tag !! here we goooo

for the moodboard we’ve got 2013 larry bc that’s my fav era & how i always imagine them in my fics, football player louis, santa’s sleigh, office space, cute notes on a white board, a clothing rack, new york city & gentle touches. i don’t think i need to say there’s not any specific mood theme going on here for anyone to figure that out LMAO but i did try my best regardless :)

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 9!

2. Word count posted for the year: if i’m counting correctly ..... 93,735 ????

3. Fandoms I wrote for: one direction. i have a fic for the 5sos fandom that i’ve written a few chapters for & was editing it in an ao3 draft but then the page refreshed for some reason & i lost everything & kinda lost steam, so .... maybe it’ll see the light of day next year

4. Pairings: louis/harry, zayn/liam (side pairing), shawn/niall (side pairing)

5. Story with the most…

Kudos: i swear i could give you everything

Bookmarks: also i swear i could give you everything lol

Comments: it’s i swear i could give you everything again LMAO

Hits: gimme everything you got

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): i think i’d say either gimme everything you got or i need something, so tell me something new. gimme everything you got bc i put a lot of my personal experience (give or take) into it & it got such a positive response & that made me super happy. i need something, so tell me something new bc it’s my first ever published fic in general & fic in this fandom.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): oooof. prob my sub harry fic. i enjoyed being apart of the fest & i enjoyed the experience, but writing it was so much harder than i’d anticipated & it felt like my writing got very redundant after a few scenes. i’m glad i stuck it out & that i published it, but yeah i def don’t think i did it the justice i’d wanted to.

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: i’m really enjoying all the reviews/comments i’ve been getting on my cinderella au! it’s my first chaptered fic that i’m posting chapter by chapter, so that’s been really encouraging. but in general, i appreciate all the comments i get. as a small/new writer, i don’t expect to get any comments at all really, so whenever i do, i get excited. there was a comment on my christmas fic santa, won’t you bring me the one i really need? where someone said it was the best christmas fic they’ve ever read :)

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: the sub harry fic lmao. i love service kink harry fics so i was like alright sweet this will be a no brainer & basically, i fucked around & found out. i literally went through like 5 drafts until i finally found a premise that went w the prompt i was using that i felt i could build off of without turning the fic super predictable & dead end. i think if i’d waited to do that type of fic next year & done more research than i’d done for this one, it would’ve gone much better.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: the beginning of my cinderella au -- i’ve been very vocal about the fact that i write only fluff fics to balance out all the angst in our fandom & then i go & write a cinderella fic & make the first two chapters packed w angst LMAO. it’ll turn around soon, but that’s def the biggest one as of yet for me, i think.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: i’m not sure if i have a favorite tbh, but i like this one from i swear i could give you everything: --------------

“So what have you got for us today, Haz?” Louis asked, knocking on the table with his fists, excitement and anticipation both thrumming through his body.

“Well, I was just messing around in the kitchen last night, really,” Harry began, messing with the hem of his shirt and seemingly determined to continue looking at the floor as he made his way towards the fridge a few feet away from the table Louis was now sitting at. “And then I realized I had the ingredients. So. I just figured. Why not, you know?”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows, trying to piece together what Harry was talking about. All he’d done was ask Harry what he’d made. He guessed the ingredients were relevant to the conversation and he did enjoy listening to Harry talk - even if he really was talking some shit - so he decided to humor him.

“Oh yeah, sweetheart?” Louis prompted as he placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on one of his hands.

Harry was apparently too busy rummaging around the fridge to even glance back at him when he responded. Which wasn’t rude, really. Louis just. Wanted to see his eyes, was all.

“Yeah, so like. I thought you might enjoy it. You talk about it a lot, anyway. So I figured, I might as well, if I have the ingredients, you know?”

“Sure, sure. Absolutely. No point in having all the ingredients if you’re not gonna make a good meal out of it.” Louis had completely lost the plot at this point but was still determined to try for Harry.

--------------

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: well let’s start w the fact that i began the year convinced i’d remain a reader & beta forever. so the fact that i’ve published one fic, let alone nine, is pretty big in itself lol. aside from that, i’ve gotten more comfortable writing smut & dialogue. before i wrote fics, i only wrote original stories & never included dialogue, so those were my biggest weaknesses when i first started writing fic & they’re still not my strengths yet, but i’ve definitely gotten better, i’d like to think.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: i def want to get more comfortable writing smut & building sexual tension. i want to write longer fics. i want to finish at least 5-10 of the 20 wips i have lol. i’d love to finish all of them, but 5-10 is a good goal. i want to write some different genres like historical, slow burns, etc.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): i have a few! @loveislarryislove is a big one -- if i need help w a metaphor, making sure a sentence sounds right, incorporating tension building touches, brainstorming, honest feedback, etc, annika is my pea in a pod. also @panye, steph is so lovely & helpful when it comes to brainstorming, talking out what phrasing sounds better, she tells me what needs fixing & how to fix it; basically, she’s the better half of our shared brain cell. @zanniscaramouche is pretty much the reason i feel as comfortable as i do writing smut. she’s patient, she gives examples, she’s kind, she knows just how to change wording around to make a description or dialogue top tier. @justanothershadeofblue, is my sprinting buddy (along with zanni when our schedules align!). having a daily sprinting buddy who cheers you on is delightful, especially when they’re as supportive & willing to get sidetracked in off topic convos w me as zjo!

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: gimme everything you got is based on personal experience in terms of the stigmas that come w female masturbation / women being shamed for exploring their bodies. i work in retail, so while that didn’t inspire it’s like i’m powerful with a little bit of tender, it def helped me know bts info lol. lastly, i’ve recently switched my major from psychology to interior design & my minor from interior design to psychology, so i guess my (new) major showed up in you are my destiny (you are the reason that i still believe). hostile work environment was also inspired by my retail job as well LMAO. there’s more in my wips tbh, but as for my currently published fics, that’s it, i think!

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: just remember that how ‘popular’ or ‘unpopular’ your fic may be / may get isn’t an indicator of your talent. write something bc you want to write it, not bc you think it’ll appeal to people. take breaks -- if you’re stuck on a scene or sentence, get up & do something else for a bit. if you keep rereading the same sentence over & over, it’s only going to keep sounding more & more scrambled. you’ll work much better with a clear head & will be able to see where the mistakes -- if any -- actually are.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: my cinderella au for sure! i started a fic inspired by one of my fav fics staring across the room by the lovely @allwaswell16 & it’s been put to the side for much longer than i’ve wanted. i initially put it to the side to get more practice writing tension building, but def want to finish it next year. i also finally started the sequel to my girl direction fic, so that as well. & the sequel to my christmas fic lmao. i have lots of things i need to finish 😭😭

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: i honestly don’t know anyone who hasn’t done or been tagged in either of these yet, but i’ll tag a few anyway lol @lululawrence @thebreadvansstuff @panye @kingsofeverything @voulezloux @infinitelymint @londonfoginacup @twopoppies @littleroverlouis @tommokat @crinkle-eyed-boo @disgruntledkittenface @kingonafiftymetreroad @daggerandrose @homosociallyyours @ireallysawanangel & anyone else who wants to do these!

#tags and challenges #my fics #my writing #fic q&a #finally did it with one day in the year to spare #not counting tomorrow at least lmao #wooooo

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bisluthq · 6 days

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But I cannot for the LIFE of me understand WHAT THE FUCK was Matty's reasoning throughout all of this????//

Urgh anon I feel you, I really do😭 as maddenning as the whole thing is though I do think that the simple answer is that Matty is a drug addict (per his own words, he has straight up said it) and drug addicts tend to impulsively search for temporary highs in different forms, often without being aware that that's what they're doing. Tbf Matty has also said that he's now clean from the heroin and stuff but Taylor does sing about him buying pills and being stoned so🤷🏻‍♀️ And anyways, even if a drug addict is in recovery they're still bound to have erratic behaviours and/or withdrawal symptoms and I legit think that's a big part of why this man is the mess he is. Like he would be messy anyways but with the drugs he just stands no chance and so he ends up hurting the people around him a lot without meaning to.

I did have a phase there in 2022 where I was very into the 1975 and Matty specifically as in, I wanted to fuck him and yes that is so deeply embarrassing for my life and for my soul I know ☠️☠️ but besties we'd just come out of a global pandemic that'd nearly done me in literally like I really almost ended it all so I wasn't exactly ok and I did a bunch of messy questionable stuff that year and yes had a crush on Matty bc I was fresh out the slammer (as in the pandemic lol). When it was confirmed in May that Taylor was in fact hooking up with him I joked with Nat that she went ahead and fucked him for me💀😭 but that was all before the man outed himself as an avid enjoyer of deranged misogynistic racist porn and before he said the racist ass shit about Ice Spice. No crush of mine has ever been so quickly and effectively extinguished as that one was, the moment I knew about that he was suddenly the most disgusting and unappealing human ever to me🤷🏻‍♀️ ngl kinda wish my irl crush that I've been pining after for years would do something repulsive like that and kill the crush once and for all lol. But yeah when Nat put 2 and 2 together about Question...? there was no question (pun intended lol) between us that the song was about Matty, I'd been listening a lot to 75 songs and yeah he is the certified Sad Boi and she was the certified Good Girl back in Tatty 1.0. I think the ootw sample at the begginning of the song is making a nod to the time period when this happened, not to our boy Harold. Crazy how she was wanting explanations from Matty back then and once again does now 10 years later💀I was listening to the album again while walking home yesterday and Nat you're right I had too much faith in her lol it really does feel like she wrote this album instead of going to therapy 💀😭 it's like if she'd managed to write her way out of 2016. I do think that's ultimately a good thing though bc she carried around the wounds and trauma of 2016 for years but with this it seems like she effectively sucked the poison out of the wounds and is very determined to close the chapter and heal. I still really wish she would just go to therapy though😩 girlie can pay for the best therapist in all of the US if she wants and make them sign the most solid NDA for privacy. I legit wonder if that has been a hold up for her going to therapy, maybe she's terrified of things leaking and feels like she could never truly trust a therapist/inhibit herself enough to be able to say everything she needs to say, and so she ends up thinking that it's not worth it and instead talks to her friends and makes unhinged songs lol

”Crazy how she was wanting explanations from Matty back then and once again does now 10 years later💀” literally tho.

Also ngl I’m very grateful for your (brief but intense) crush on Matty because without it I’d never have figured out Question and then I wouldn’t be out here feeling as vindicated as I am in a post TTPD world.

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chellyfishing · 4 months

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i’m trying to finish one last book before my year-end book post goes up so i’m gonna talk about games and tv first. not too many of either to talk about this year tbh but i apparently still have so many words.

no movies post bc i don’t log my films anywhere and i simply cannot remember what i watched. maybe i should make 2024 the year of using letterboxed. not enough to talk about with new music either. 2024 can also be the year of getting back into music.

games: i actually haven’t played much ffxiv this year. well in the first half i sorta did but i have barely touched it since like. august. except to keep my houses from getting demolished. i did finally finish myths of the realm last week, since they wrote that entire storyline for me specifically. i need the minion so bad yoship help.

in march capcom gave me a birthday prezzie with the release of the resident evil 4 remake which i’d had preordered since last year (the only games i’ll preorder and pay full price for are resis and ffxiv expansions). i don’t need to explain this to you. it’s incredibly good, the best of the extremely good remakes so far i think. i haven’t played the dlc yet but i’m excited to think there is more of this game i still have to play. btw ashley defense squad. i’ll brook no ashley slander in my house.

i can’t remember exactly when but i think it was some time in the summer that i finally, finally finished breath of the wild! i’m so behind the curve on this one, but i did at least get to start tears of the kingdom in the same year as everyone else. umm, i have to admit i remain ambivalent to this approach to zelda. i have to challenge myself to figure out how much of that is because iT’s DiFfErEnT but genuinely i think the things i dislike about it, i would still dislike even if i had nothing to compare it against. i really wish i thought it was the best zelda ever like so many do but i guess i just struggle to find a flow state with either of them which is why it’s taking me so fucking long to finish them lmao. still obviously extremely good and beautiful! like still head and shoulders above most games, easily, a good time overall!! (wish nintendo wasn’t the way that it is.)

i should mention that one day in july i fucked around in catlateral damage while streaming for bella. this is a very basic game, literally you are just a cat’s paw knocking things over, but man when you just need a brain-free giggle? it did its job.

also in july i played the sequel to oxenfree, which is a game that i love. this game didn’t click with me quite as much, i haven’t revisited it since i finished it, but there are probably also other reasons i shan’t get into that aren’t the game’s fault. idk i feel a bit unqualified to give a final verdict without playing it to completion but i guess the fact that i’ve had it for months and not bothered to do that yet is a kind of verdict in itself since with oxenfree i went straight back in till i got that final ending and platinum trophy.

for basically all of autumn i of course played baldur’s gate 3. i’m very sad that my extreme anhedonia has hit before i could play the new epilogue. i tried to load up one of my finished games but i ran into a problem because the only way to back up your saves is in the cloud so you can’t shuffle files around or make copies, only overwrite, and don’t get me STARTED again or i’ll start spitting i’m so SICK of PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT AAAAAHH. anyway it’s a pretty good game. i won’t be surprised or mad if neil wins the bafta but it really really should be samantha please if there’s justice in this world.

tv: season 3 of only murders in the building. umm, idk. it’s not a revolutionary show but it’s comforting, it doesn’t feel stale yet, and there’s just a lot of talent at work here. just fun to watch.

i watched almost all of neon genesis evangelion but couldn’t finish it because i decided to have an (unrelated) emotional breakdown instead. i’ll finish it eventually if for no other reason than i owe it to phil. shinji is baby.

finally got to the first season of our flag means death. just a delight. i love fun pirate adventures and i love the queers. unfortunately watched it right before the second season released and haven’t gotten to that yet.

did watch the second season of good omens though. i think they made the right choice to scale it back because honestly once you’ve averted the apocalypse trying to outdo yourself becomes a fool’s errand. also, jon hamm’s butt what who said that.

that’s it i think. as i said no season 2 of ofmd, not even the new flanagan yet which i had really been looking forward to for a long time. i dunno ya girl is struggling to find any pleasure in life atm.

#thought this post was gonna be short #but then remembered like two more games #and i watched way more tv than i thought #wish i could tell you about the movies but i really cannot. remember.

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always-a-joyful-note · 1 year

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Why I Love Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

*kicks the door open*

So I said yesterday that I’d take a while to recover and I’d be back with a ramble on why I loved ORV in a few days? Well, that was a lie because I’m realizing that I will actually never be over ORV, so I’m bothering everyone who sees this and writing an incoherent ramble now. Beware heavy spoilers.

Where do I begin? Where do I begin to express why I LOVED this 1 million+ word novel with 551 chapters that features the wildest nonsense like octopus monsters and mythological and historical figures/creatures ascended to the status of a god (and proceeds to take our hearts and nearly rend it to shreds before walloping us from behind with more feels)?

Honestly? I think the reason why I personally loved ORV is because it’s just..it’s just a novel that understands this concept and idea of a story as related to the author, reader, and character. It GETS why people write, it gets why people read, it gets fanfic writers and readers, it gets its characters, and it truly just understands and respects the reader as an entity. Where characters and writers often last through ages with its story, the individual readers of that book rarely do - and this novel just...tells the reader how much they matter?

More than that, the LOOP...the time loop and cycle. It’s seriously some of the best time travel shenanigans I have EVER had the pleasure to read/watch/sit through. Because it tells us a story doesn’t really have a set beginning, does it? The writer wrote the story the reader wanted to read, the story that saved his life. The reader read the story because the author wrote it. The character lived the story because of the reader, who affected the character first and impacted the character so much that the latter wanted to MEET the former. And just so on...

And the EFFECT the story has on ALL the characters beyond the writer-reader-character duo? The way ORV makes us come to terms with the fact that we’re all a character, writer, reader, story of our own lives? The way it uses the image of a story to talk about too-big-to-know concepts and why they have such an impact - good and evil, why we must fail to see others succeed, relationships, economics (or so I think?), history, the individual, trauma, the inevitability of being forgotten - and then also turns that back around to show that the story can also be a trap.

Then we have that ending.

Actually, I kind of wonder if the Star Stream is, in essence, a presentation of what happens when you place too much importance in the story rather than the “thing“ or “being” it’s talking about, you know? How Dokja is presented as a commonplace tragedy, how he becomes a great story worthy of lasting, but how his friends just wanted him back...him, the regular, everyday reader who would have probably read the story and been forgotten faster than it. Not his stories but the being behind the stories.

It’s just a careful balance of saying everyone’s story matters, even if it’s forgotten, because it existed, that stories have a way of reaching people hiding behind walls, how they can help one fight against the world...and saying that people are GREATER than their stories nevertheless. (Like, the quote of us all being outer gods to each other messed me up like how did you make octopus monsters Like That, authors???)

That ending where...it’s just....there’s so much IN it. The cycle of sacrifice continuing on, how the Oldest Dream must live on for the story to continue. How Dokja TRIED - really did try - to reconcile the need for him to be sacrificed with the desire to make his friends happy and live with them. And how (again) his friends went through literal hell to get him back again (and how they used his failures to make a brighter future for 1865).

But in the end, what brought him back (if he was brought back, which he was) was a story. A story written by Sooyoung (but really written by everyone) about Dokja to tell him he’s not alone, to reach him (and isn’t it so FITTING that the one to connect the writer and reader was Joonghyuk, the protagonist?), but not to wipe away the past like they tried with the regression. They acknowledged his lonely past and then, through the story, reached out to tell him he wasn’t alone anymore; then, maybe then, they could bring back the Dokja (present) they knew without also erasing the Oldest Dream (past) and the worldines. Because they acknowledged the past and the present and let it exist together.

Finally, the ambiguous open ending was just so...fitting for this novel. Because it in essence both confirms and doesn’t confirm that Dokja came back. I kind of wonder if the ending - where we’re led to just hope (but not be confirmed) that Dokja came back fully back - implies that we became the Oldest Dream that sustains KimCom’s worldline. Just....ARGH, I don’t have enough thoughts on this to explain it well, but yeah...

I could go on and on about the individual arcs, specific quotes, relationships, the bonds formed between everyone (constellations and dokkaebis included). How utterly devastated EVERY sacrifice left me (not just Dokja’s) because it meant something so grand to the tale. AND STARS, WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN WITH HOW MASTERFULLY THE WRITING WAS HANDLED?? (The use of first, third, and even occasional second person? The formatting? The...everything?)

But no...in the end, all I can say is...this is a story the reader wanted to read, the author wanted to write, and the characters wanted to live...right? It’s just a novel about novels that has such love and respect for all readers and writers of different genres and tastes...and it has a love for the characters as entities we as humans can relate to. And I think it just also has a love for people as people as well as it loves the way stories can connect us together.

So yeah. I liked ORV.

#man there was absolutely zero transitional order between these paragraphs...#apologies for the slight spammy way i wrote this XD #and also SO MUCH THANKS to the fandom on here for lurking around my journey you guys are so nice #but yeah...orv messed me up #once again this is me being controlled which doesnt bode well for my sanity #anyway im gonna hunt some orv metas to see all the interepretations and ways it affected people ehehehehe #disclaimer tag here #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #fandom spamdom #note's nonsense #maybe now that i've let another chunk of feelings out i can be a functioning member of society again?

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chaoticfandomthot · 1 year

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The connections between Little Miss Why So and Two Minutes (to me)

! Long Post ahead, I can't figure out how to do the cut thing, my bad !

[Disclaimer : this is just one of my many theories about TAD's songs, I do not claim to think that this is true or right and it is not a very strong analysis. Music is subjective, if you don't like the idea just scroll past, thank you.]

In this theory, Joey's character in Little Miss Why So and Joey's character in Two Minutes are the same person.

It places Two Minutes inside the narrative of Little Miss, towards the end, either right before or right after the breakup. I imagine Two Minutes to be his attempt at coping as he's trying to pull himself back together after he's tried everything.

"It’s like all the wallpaper inside my heart

Is slowly, slowly peeling off

And I’m showing

All the stains and things

They wrote on the wall before"

So as we start, we have Joey's character who is unravelling. He feels like he's being stripped bare and it starts to pull at him and old issues / trauma start to ressurface.

This resonates with Little Miss Why So to me because it's exactly how it feels to try to pull someone out from the depth only to realise you can't, and you've started to sink as well.

At this point there is the question of characterization, in LMWS, Joey's character is desperate, but feels detached (not the right word but you get it) and maybe even resentful, while in Two Minutes he is raw and deeply hurt.

To me this makes sense because LMWS is how Madeleine's character perceives him and she feels like a burden to him, while Two Minutes is his own thoughts and he feels like he tried so hard and for nothing.

"We’ve left all the blinking lights and shouting behind us now and I’ll stare at you,

As you stare, as you stare right back at the sky"

So the first half talks about shouting, which gave me a bit of hesitation because Madeleine's character is silent, and that's the problem in LMWS. Luckily for me, it doesn't say they're both shouting and Joey's character is metaphorically (literally ?) shouting at her to wake up the entire song, so I'll use that.

It also goes to show that he doesn't ask anymore, he's done. He's tried and tried but she just stares at the sky and he can't help but stare at her as she does, maybe hoping she'll glance his way. She doesn't.

This also directly ties in to this verse from LMWS;

"I'll make a hundred paper planes

To decorate our tiny room

I've even learned to cook

Just stop staring at the moon

That's why I put up fairy lights, just to distract you"

The next verse is when we get the chorus.

"Give me two damn minutes and I’ll be fine

Give me two damn minutes and I’ll be fine

These hands are growing cold

They’re running out of things to hold

Give me two damn minutes and I’ll be fine"

I'll ignore the repeated chorus for now to focus on the cold hands imagery.

It feels like a call back to the fact that he can never reach her in LMWS, how he can't feel her warmth because she is also getting so cold. How lonely it makes him.

There's also this from LMWS

"You don't see daylight any more

Something's sucking out your core and it's so boring"

Which gives me the empty cold of depression and makes me think that even if he could reach her, he couldn't hold her without freezing.

"If there was one place I could be right now, I’d be standing there between you and him

And I’ll fight you both, fight you both for the rest of my life long days"

This (to me, for this theory) refers to this verse from LMWS.

"Why won't you let me follow in your footsteps

As you trek into that underground world?

What's that hold that the big dark king of nothing

Has got on you, my girl ?'

At first, he wants to fight the 'big dark king of nothing', he wants her back and is willing to go far for it. Alas, by the time he sings Two Minutes, he's realised that he can't fight one without the other.

Madeleine's character doesn't feel like she can come out of the cave, she's trapped so deeply that to try and tear her away is to fight her as well.

It's a testament to how dedicated he was to fighting off her sadness, even though he never understood it, and how at the end of the day, it turned them against each other.

How Madeleine's character wishes that he understood that she can't just stop, and how he can't accept it.

By fighting the king of nothing, he's hurting her as well.

"But today we ripped it off, we ripped it off, we showed the world that we exist

Never really liked the pattern that much on the wallpaper so anyway"

This one I'm honestly not so sure about, so I'll skip over it slightly and just talk about the recurring wallpaper imagery.

It feels like however much he wishes he could fight them for the rest of his days, he's realising that it is ripping him apart, ripping away his wallpaper.

Now about the 'give me two damn minutes and I'll be fine'. This to me means something different towards the beginning versus towards the end.

At the beginning I interpret it as him asking for more time, 'I'll be fine, I just need two minutes, I'll figure it out, it's okay.'

"I can hear the children calling as though across the bar

I can hear the children calling"

This is when I think he made the decision of leaving. He can hear his own exit, a bit like when you're surfacing in a pool and the sounds get clearer.

"If I’m good will you come back

If I’m good will you come back

To us"

The rest of the song is him wondering if there's any chance left, if there is any other way to bring her back.

The ending of LMWS answers that question.

Why so, why so sad?

Stop asking why I'm sad (If I'm good, will you come back?)

Just know, it's enough to know I'm sad (If I'm good, will you come back?)

Yeah, but why?

Yeah, but why? (For Christ's sake, just say something)

He says, said"

You can hear him ask her, beg her to say something, anything.

Is there still a chance ? Can they fix this ? Can she come back ?

"Wish I'd said

'Cause if I'd said then maybe

You'd still be snuggled here in my bed

Watching Netflix

And now I can't

'Cause you changed the password

When you left"

They can't.

The last 'give me two damn minutes and I'll be fine' is the acceptance. The concession that he can't help her, and that he chooses himself.

Thanks to @dandelight and @podcastenthusiast for the nudge I needed to actually write it down and post it !💕

#aiden originals #long post #little miss why so #two minutes #the amazing devil #tad #tadpole #song analysis #tad meta

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