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zairaalbereo · 4 months

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Fic Writer Interview

I was tagged by @laviejaguardia. Thank you! 💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

89, but 12 of them are art only

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

724,869

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

That’s His Name (Merlin) - 29.981

In the Winter of My Soul (Merlin) - 5.952

Just Have To Save The World (Merlin) - 4.343

Me Casa, Su Casa (X-Men) - 2.427

Most kudos for The Old Guard: Room for Love - 904

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to because I love them, and that’s why sometimes I fall into that trap of “I need to adequately convey how happy this comment made me, I can’t just say ‘thank you’’ and then I leave it for too long. Also sometimes I don’t have the spoons at that moment. But I appreciate every last one of them.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I love angst, but I love a happy ending even more, so in my fic the angst usually gets resolved. A fic that regularly leaves people in tears, though, is At Samhain, but the ending has hope.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

So many happy endings! ☺️ One of the happiest might be my Merlin Age of Sail AU, The Seven Seas , which has a very happy ending after a lot of angst and heartache.

7. Do you write crossovers?

No, not really.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really personal attacks so much, but I have received snide comments, character bashing and absurdly wilful misinterpretations. And always on anon of course.

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

Yes, I do. I’m a proud alumni of multiple Pornathons in the Merlin fandom. When I write kink, it tends to be PWP of the kind that’s about losing control, or pushing the lines of taboos. In my longer or more plotty fic it’s more emotional, focused on the characters’ connection.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I once had someone write a fic that had the exact same plot down to locations and minor details and even almost the same dialogue as one I was posting. Like a (bad) rewrite. It was very weird.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, a few, which I’m ever so grateful for. 💕

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

No. I’m honestly not sure how that would work for me. 😅

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

Joe/Nicky really is the fulfillment of all my shippy hopes and dreams. 😍 Beyond them, maybe Cherik. I like the drama. 😂

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

A Cherik bodyswap fic, set between XMFC and Days of Future Past, while Erik is imprisoned. I love the premise and what I have so far, but it’s been so long that I’ve been in that fandom.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Conveying emotions and believable dialogue

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Transitions and being overly dramatic, which is probably connected lol

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I do enjoy it in sprinkles, if it’s done well. Endearments, curses, stuff that mostly won’t need a translation footnote but grounds a character in a different cultural background.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I wrote stuff before I knew about fanfiction. Before you could find (and easily post) stuff on the internet. But the first fic I wrote and posted was Harry Potter, gen with very, very heavy wolf star undertones 😅

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I don’t really have an unfulfilled craving right now, and I tend to focus on one fandom, and even one ship almost exclusively, but I’m a little surprised at myself for never having written Sterek. 🤔

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

That is so hard to pick, but two favourites are Shalom Malak for XMFC and If You Abide With Me for TOG

Tagging, but obviously only if they want to @falcon-fox-and-coyote @tobebbanburg @pinkninjapj @beepbeepsan @isabellehemlock 💗

#ask game #fanfic #my writing #personal #the old guard #merlin bbc #cherik

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rothjuje · 9 months

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Today is my sister’s yahrzeit. Fifteen years. How?

Alyssa saw some pictures of me and my sister the other day and she asked me who my best friend was and where is she now. I told her it was my sister and then changed the subject quickly. I feel like it would be weird at 6 to know you were named after a kid you’re seeing in pictures. I don’t know. I was around that age when I found out my twin died in utero and it made me incredibly sad for a long time. Plus I don’t want her to have anxiety that her own sister/best friend will die. I am really bad with wanting to protect my kids from any pain or sadness, we still haven’t told them zayde (what they called poppa) died. We need to, Alyssa was just so hysterical when Hef died and he was just a dog she didn’t even like. She wasn’t especially close to her great grandparents, but I think she panics when she hears the word died and I’m just really dreading it.

We spent all weekend trying to get the chicken run up and not making much progress. In TX, we just dug a foot (2ft maybe?) underneath the hardware cloth frame and lined it with boards so nothing could dig under. Here Justin wants it a permanent structure, I’m not sure why. He is cementing 9 posts into the ground and digging the holes (tons of large rocks we had to chisel out) took a whole day alone. We tried to get the posts up yesterday and the math with uneven ground wasn’t mathing. Finalllllly got the posts up from 6-7 pm yesterday. Looks bigger than I thought and I am pleased. Plus watching Justin sweat all weekend and build something for me was pretty romantic/hot. He also made dinner both nights. It was a pretty great weekend actually.

While he was gone I thought about our relationship and why we felt like strangers and yeah part of it his trips, but the other part of it is young kids/not managing evenings/nights well. It feels impossible to sit and eat dinner with the kids, the planning to have all 5 of us sitting and eating at the same time is intensive. Alyssa is easy, but George and Gen are picky in opposite ways and someone always needs something and it’s just a challenge that I hadn’t been prioritizing. And the nights (especially over summer) have been late bedtimes, and all the laundry and cleaning and random tasks and my shower need to get done after the kids go to bed because G&G follow me everywhere/undo everything during the day. Then chicken chores for the 7 still living in the basement and it’s after midnight and Justin goes to bed at 11:30. Now when he gets off work I run around doing chores while he entertains the kids, we scramble to eat together even though not convenient, I shower and get stuff done for an hour, and then we have 10:30-11:30 together. And I’m getting to bed earlier. I don’t like to rush around but I’m not going to get the things done if I don’t so it is what it is.

Poppa’s yahrzeit is 10 days before my sister’s, July won’t be a fun month for us. I find it interesting how close Justin was to his grandparents, but I can see it. They both made it a priority to call and sing to me on my birthday and they called us every anniversary. They were warm, affectionate people. They always made me feel like part of the family, and honestly it was a loss for me too. Poppa was pretty much the only grandpa I knew, and he was always there for us. Not a perfect man by any means, but he was a good grandpa/poppa/zayde. Sigh.

I wasn’t going to garden this year, because after my expensive failure in TX I didn’t want to waste the time/money without a raised, fenced-in setup. But I did end up planting snap peas, strawberries, potatoes, and squash and they have all done fantastic. With zero effort. I did not amend the soil, I did not pick off bugs, no fencing, heck, I didn’t even water them! Just planted them in the rocky soil and off the went. Wow. I’m so excited for next year, I can’t imagine what an actual setup will yield!

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banorawhite · 10 days

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1 (for ffvii) and 2 for Genesis! 🖤

ah i’m so sorry this is late!! had a lot of fun answering them though 💞

1 - otp for ffvii?

oh this is hard, i find so many dynamics in ff7 interesting and compelling! i’m going to have to cheat and list a few

aerti - if i HAD to choose a single ship as my favourite i’d probably say them! they absolutely have the best chemistry in the game, though i think what really draws me to them is that they GET each other. they’re open with each other and there’s definitely a spark going on, barely 5 minutes after meeting they’re planning a date. they absolutely were on a date in costa del sol!!

zakkura - where do i begin?? country boys. they’re laughing together in 5 seconds. zack is one of the first people to genuinely care about cloud. cloud invited zack to his house. zack DIED protecting cloud. zack continues haunting cloud long after his death. they just care for each other SO MUCH, they’re both important to the other, they are both so bright around each other. (and that’s ignoring EVERYTHING about these two in the rebirth ending)

ags - i love every variation of these three! (and it just makes watching everything fall apart in crisis core that much worse). the push and pull with sephgen, childhood friendship and intimate understanding with gengeal, quiet but resolute loyalty and supportiveness with sephgeal. they balance each other so well and i’m in love with their dynamic. if i had to choose a favourite duo it would probably be sephgen - there’s tension between them from differing vulnerabilities/insecurity, there’s rivalry, but also passion and it’s clear they really care about the other. paired with the inherent tragedy that comes from canon and there’s so MUCH to dig into with their dynamic that’s highly enjoyable!

strifesodos - ohhhh they make me insane. i LOVE thinking about post canon with these two. you have cloud coming out of his identity crisis and finding his feet again, gen reorientating to a world that’s suddenly unfamiliar to him; they’re both trying to figure out who they are and what they want. there’s also a LOT of history that’s kind-of-shared, kind-of-parallel, and having them dig into that is delicious. there is so much potential. also there’s the fact that gen has only ever met cloud as CLOUD, which is probably refreshing for cloud

i don’t think i can write any more mini essays but i also really like cloti, zerith and clerith - i’m a massive multishipper, and ff7 spoils me when there are so many great dynamics going on!

2 - ot3 for genesis

i feel like i’ve already covered my main ot3 with ags, but i’m also intrigued by gen/cloud/tifa. i haven’t thought too deeply about them yet but their dynamic seems really fun and interesting, there’s a lot of possibility going on there!

#sorry if these got rambly!! telling myself to stick to paragraphs and not go into essays was hard #the dynamics in ff7 bring me so much joy i could dig into them all day #fae speaks #we are ignoring the 5 seconds that cloud and gen met while cloud was mako poisoned DJFJDKFKD

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theunknownofficial · 11 days

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ACCEPTING PROMPTS

Hey all, long time no see. It’s been a while since I updated anything and I feel bad leaving for so long. The reasons for this are:

1) I ran out of time to work on it and when I had time I was doing other things. I just lost my job but was previously working 40+ hours a week and running errands on weekends. I was physically and mentally exhausted.

2) What is motivation anymore? Seriously, I’d sit down to work on my WIPs and end up reading on my phone instead until I had to go to sleep.

3) I’m kinda stuck on how to proceed with The New World Orders. Some people have pointed out that I’ve fallen into the “woah is me,” “problematic main character,” trope and I agree. But I also don’t know how to fix it 😂. I have no idea how to finish writing it. Like I know where I’m going with the story and I have everything planned out (like really planned out. Talking my Tism and Hyper-focused obsessiveness made me create a whole ass family tree with personalities and houses and a bunch of other shit for this gen and the next two gens and going back like 4. I seriously have a tree website with 3,000 people on it all for this story. It’s nuts. I have no intention of going into past generations in this and I won’t be expanding past their kids but the fact that my brain could pull that shit and can’t write the next chapter is scary and fucking annoying at the same time). Where I was going with that tangent is I have the big picture, but it’s the individual chapters that are messing me up.

So, having said that, I am obviously in a bit of a slump. I haven’t written anything in what feels like ages and I need to do something a little smaller scaled to get back into things. I will eventually finish my WIP - I have no idea when but I will do it or be damned 😠 ✊🏻👊🏻. I am taking requests right now for one shots. Here’s the specs if you’re interested;

Couples I’m willing to write:

1) Anyone paired in my WIP or if you go to Chapter 6: Chapter 5 there’s an authors note where I list alternative partners, I’m willing to write those as well.

2) Steve x Bucky (MCU), Nat x Clint (MCU), Peter x Deadpool (MCU)

3) Rey x Kylo (Star Wars), Rose x Hux (Star Wars), Finn x Poe (Star Wars), Padme x Anikan/Darth Vader (Star Wars)

4) Kellin Quinn x Vic Fuentes (Sleeping With Sirens and Pierce the Veil), Alex Gaskarth x Jack Barakat (All Time Low), Hyunjin Hwang x Lee Felix (Stray Kids)

5) Evan Hansen x Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen), Zoe Murphy x Alana Beck (Dear Evan Hansen), Michael Mell x Jeremy Heere (Be More Chill), Phantom x Christine (Phantom of the Opera), Veronica x JD (Heathers)

6) Marinette x Adrien (Miraculous Lady Bug), Sam x Dean (Supernatural), Rapunzel x Jack Frost (Disney / Dreamworks), Hiccup x Merida (Disney / Dreamworks), Carly Shay x Freddie Bensen (ICarly), Percy x Nico (Percy Jackson)

I’m not hard-set on these being the only couples I’ll write but these are 100% something I’ll write. You’re welcome to request additional pairs but I can’t guarantee I’ll know any other pairs or be comfortable writing them if I only know them in passing.

Situations I’m willing to write:

Pretty open to any situation but I won’t write anything with kid smut. I like lots of AU’s (Mafia, Hurt/Comfort, Meet Cute, Song fics, Reunions, Pinning, Omegaverse (my personal favorite at the moment), Harry Potter, I’m even open to angst). I will say I’m not much of a switch fan so I won’t write switch smut and I’m pretty set on who tops and bottoms with some of these couples so I may not accept every smut ask for those two reasons.

Feel free to comment on this or send me a messgae. And please share, if you have friends who may not read Dramione but read any other couples I posted above share with them! I wanna do as many of these as possible. I don’t plan on doing any long prompts, I’m not trying to turn these into more fics, but I really want to get back into writing and I think this may be the way to do it. If I get enough requests I’ll separate the one shots by genre (or universe? Not sure how to fraise that but like all Harry Potter in one and Marvel in a different fic) otherwise I’ll just put them all in a one and differentiate in the chapter titles. I’m really hoping I get some responses for this because my head is empty right now and I need someone to tell me what to write 😂. Thanks all! Love you and hope life is treating you well right now.

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rxin3akamallory · 8 months

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Howdy!

(I am Taiga Aisaka irl lol)

I finally decided to make an intro on this account because it’s inconsistent as hell even though it’s my main one.

But yeah hello!

I’m Mallory (people call me Mal a lot) I’m a goofy ahh autistic 21 year old

She/Her are my preferred pronouns, but I’m okay with They/Them as well if it’s easier for you to use.

I’m biromantic/asexual

I’m not in college but I’ve been working for nearly a year now! It takes up half of my time but I’m still free decently often.

I like to draw, write, make OCs and self inserts, play video games, sing and listen to music. I sometimes post my art and characters occasionally but not often on here. (I should tho)

This is my main tumblr where I used to post strictly Finding Nemo related posts but my fixation had faded out since 2021 (I still love the movie and it’s sequel but it hasn’t been my main interest anymore)

Here are my other tumblrs if they’re interesting enough to take a look at.

Second tumblr: @rxin3srandomthoughts

Meme tumblr: @rxin3smemes

Aesthetic tumblr (kinda defunct now): @rxin3saesthetics

Stim tumblr (the one I use most often besides my main): @rxin3stims

I have a large DNI list on my stim tumblr, but I’ll put a general one here too. It’s also in my bio:

DNI if:

A nsfw/k!nk blog

Racist

Homophobic

Transphobic

Ablelist

And a personal one, if you romanticize serial k!ll3rs or sh00t3rs. Big on the latter because of personal trauma and because that monster has been romanticized here before and on other platforms on the internet and I find it not only disturbing and horrifying but also disrespectful to the victims, their families, and the survivors.

If you fit under any of this criteria, you will immediately be blocked.

A lot of my content is OC related, so here is a list of ‘em!!

Self Inserts (1)

Self Inserts (2)

Self Inserts (3)

Moodboards: 1, 2, 3

Self Insertmas 2023: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22, Day 23

Self Insert Birthday Countdown 2024: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22, Day 23, Day 24

I also have a lot of special interests and fixations! Here’s a “small” list of a majority of them to get to know me:

Non film/tv:

Tennessee (Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge specifically!) Literally my comfort place. I love when I get to visit sm!!)

OneRepublic (My favorite band!)

Littlest Pet Shop

Bunnies!

Film:

Wreck-It Ralph (only the first film)

Frozen (mainly only the first film)

Big Hero 6 (also the manga and the tv series)

Encanto

Finding Nemo/Finding Dory

Cars (1-3)

Onward

Guardians of the Galaxy (and the tv series and the 2021 game)

(Current fixation! Rocket is my bf fr /hj)

Jurassic Park/Jurassic World

The Florida Project

Madagascar (1-3)

Rise of the Guardians

Ice Age (1-4)

Rio (mainly the first film)

Sing (mainly Sing 2 only)

The Mario Movie (2023)

Vivo

The Muppets (specifically modern, 2011-2015)

TV:

The Fairly Oddparents (Seasons 1-5)

The Powerpuff Girls (1998 only)

The Office (US only)

My Little Pony (I haven’t finished it Friendship is Magic, I mainly fixate on the 2017 movie and the 2021 film from Gen 5)

Bluey

Fish Hooks

Green Eggs & Ham (Netflix)

Smiling Friends

Thomas and Friends (before CGI era)

The Peanuts (I didn’t know where to put it so it’s here lmao)

Video Games:

Animal Crossing (Mainly New Leaf and New Horizons)

Mario Kart (Mainly 7 and 8)

Mario Party (Mainly Superstars and Island Tour)

Animal Jam

Detroit: Become Human (My favorite!)

Cuphead (I never finished the show but I should)

BlazBlue (Mainly Chronophantasma and Crosstag Battle. And the anime Alter Memory)

Arcana Heart (Mainly 3 Love Max!!!)

Five Nights at Freddy’s (I don’t think it counts because I never played the actual games but I’ve watched so many play throughs)

Anime:

Studio Ghibli in general (I’ve not seen every film though)

Cardcaptor Sakura

Tokyo Mew Mew (I need to watch the reboot!)

Lucky Star

Toradora (my favorite!)

Madoka Magica (I need to finish Record! And I can’t wait for the next movie!)

Smile Precure (watched it because Glitter Force sucked)

Himouto! Umaru-Chan

The Quintessential Quintuplets

Rent-A Girlfriend

BNA: Brand New Animal

Fruits Basket

My Love Story

Ouran Highschool Hostclub

Love Chunibyo and Other Delusions

True Tears

Wotakoi: Love is hard for Otaku

Maid Sama

(There’s more but this is all I got in in my head rn)

Ask Answers!!

★

Well that’s pretty much it!

I hope you like my account where I occasionally post actual stuff and mainly reblog things from my interests lol

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quitefair · 20 days

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Fanfiction Writer Questions!

Was tagged by the very lovely @optiwashere some time ago, and I've only just had the chance to sit down and take a crack at this!

Not gonna tag anybody, but if you read this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

(Also this is talking about a lot of fics that I've written but not published because well... that's just how it's been lmao...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13 at the moment. I’ve deleted a few things that I’m not entirely proud of/works that I’m planning on rewriting and improving upon.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

26,031 (my WIP folder has almost 100k words, if we want any comparison)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly Dragon Age! Although AO3 is misleading… I’ve only got 7 fics on there for Dragon Age. But these don’t include the ones I’ve deleted and also the literal hundreds of WIP documents in my writing folder. It’s become quite a problem. I’ve also been writing for Baldur’s Gate 3 a bit more recently, but those fics are on hold because of lack of time/motivation/the fact I’ve not finished the game yet and want to do my research and understand characterisation and plot better.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. a lesson in grief (T-rated, Vi/Caitlyn from Arcane) 2. slip away (G-rated Gen-fic from Hades 2020) 3. Names (G-rated Fenris/Female Hawke from Dragon Age) 4. Anxious Grief (T-rated, Cassandra Pentaghast/Male Cadash from Dragon Age) 5. Fear and Forgiveness (G-rated, Dorian Pavus/Male Adaar from Dragon Age)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! Every single comment I get is like fuel to my brain so I love and appreciate each one!

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

I think I did toy around with a fic where I left Hawke in the Fade. The process of getting into Fenris’ headspace during that was way too painful for me to continue.

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

Most of my fics tend towards happy endings, even if they pack a lot of angst in the body of em. Of the ones I’ve got published, I’d say Names.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven’t, but then again I post so rarely and sporadically so people forget I even exist huhu.

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

… Yes… (and that’s all im gonna say)

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

I’ve not written crossovers per se, I’m more of an AU kinda guy. Though there’s definitely an ancient story I wrote back when I was like 13 that had like, every single bit of media I’d ever loved merged into one, and the excuse was that I’d just read His Dark Materials and wanted my own universe where everything I loved existed at once. COMPLETELY self-indulgent shit.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know…

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! At least not that I know of.

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

Again no… I’ve not done a lot of stuff huhu!

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

It’s the one and only. The girls that live rent free in my head. The girls that deserve everything. (It’s Josephine Montilyet/my Inquisitor from Dragon Age Inquisition)

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

It’s the Dragon Age Inquisition rewrite I’ve been complaining about for the longest time. It’s become the pet project I keep poking at whenever I have the energy to. All my Tashak/Josephine fics are set within this, and honestly at this point, instead of making one large fic, I might as well just post the disjointed chapters separately even if they don’t make sense. I’ve got WIPs in the folder from 2016. It’s out of control.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I’d like to think I’m good at descriptive writing, at drawing the reader into the scene and pulling them along with the story.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I’m so bad at dialogue it’s not even funny. Also, my writing can tend towards too much rambling – I guess that’s just because it’s the way my brain works.

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

The only other language I’m fluent in is Malay, and I really can’t imagine myself writing in that unless in very specific circumstances.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Dang, I think it was probably for BIONICLE. Way back when I was like, in secondary school.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Published? Names. There’s stuff in there I still feel jealous of, even today. Unpublished – a bunch of stuff for Aforementioned Dragon Age Rewrite. I should really post stuff from there at some point LMAO…

#meera talks #my writing #WAHOO ive been in a good mood and sorting out my writing folders...... its been getting me excited to publish stuff again #whether or not if happens.... we'll see!

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caelwynn · 2 months

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Yeah, so sorry for spamming with my word vomit about my different cohorts of Choices. This is the last post on it.

*and the crowd sighed with relief*

Anyways, here are more random thoughts on Gen 5 (under 18) from this post here. Let's see what I can crank out before pizza arrives and I zone out for the night.

—Alright, I know this has to have bugged somebody, so let’s get this out of the way. Why is Maru only 17-18 in Choices? Two reasons: 1) Maru has always read as the youngest of the bachelors/bachelorettes in Stardew Valley to me, particularly with the way both Demetrius and Dr. Harvey treat her, and 2) at the beginning of Choices, there would be no valleyfolk between the ages of 13-17. Ariah and Oliver are both 15-16, but I have the Amethynes on a world tour, and Oliver doesn’t move to the valley until winter.

—This brings me to a side note: in the world of Choices, the bus is treated more like a charter than regular public transit. The valley contracts with Pam to drive the kids to school and back, and others can book her to take groups to special events. However, the summer before the fic begins, the bus breaks down, and no one has both the funds and the desire to fix it. Maru ends up doing her final year via virtual learning, as it allows her more time to do side projects/work at the clinic.

More under the cut:

—I put Trinnie and Keahi into that awkward preteen phase. Just enough older than Ellie/Jas/Vinny to be starting to deal with crushes.

—Eloise is actually closer to Trinnie and Keahi in age, but she prefers hanging out with Jas and Vincent.

—Yuuma is the youngest in Choices, but due to his need to take care of Shiro, often acts even older than Trinnie or Keahi.

—Lavril doesn’t appear in Choices, but I have her on the list anyways. Regardless of her actual age, the way she acts and is perceived is as a young girl, probably 6-7 years old.

—Why are there no babies? Mostly, it’s because Gen 3 is neglecting to procreate due to… *gestures towards the world at large* Were Tristan and Mona still around, we’d probably have at least one younger sibling for Jas. Also, due to the sorry state of Stardew Valley’s infrastructure and school system, I think families with young children who might have moved there to serve as a doctor, open a store/business, pursue graduate work, etc. instead look elsewhere. The only people willing to move into the valley and take on those jobs are ones who only really have themselves to worry about, hence why people like Harvey, Elliott, Leah, Philip, Aideen, or Flor move to the valley.

—Why haven’t I assigned ages to those kiddos or a rough dozen other characters from East Scarp or Castle Village? Mostly because I haven’t had a need to consider it just yet.

Now to go gorge myself on pizza and finally sleep for a bit.

#stardew valley #sdv #stardew headcanon #stardew choices #stardew valley expanded #ridgeside village #east scarp

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sinelanguage · 4 months

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5 and/or 16 for the fanfic ask meme?

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

haha, finishing the next chapter of my Robin+Sanji role swap-- unfortunately i'm in a bit of a 'the outline is great but Words Are Hard' time with it, i think i'll probably skip around to the fight scene to get back into it. but for a snippet!

“You’re late with your report, you moron,” Sanji continues on. “Mr. 0 isn’t going to be pleased if you haven’t found those shitheads yet.”

She can’t say anything. The transponder snail receiver shakes in her hand. She should just hang up now.

“Hello-o? Mr. 3? Your report? Look, I don’t have all day here. Just tell me if you’ve dealt with them yet,” Sanji talks over the phone the same way someone would talk to a misbehaving dog. “Though he still wants Nico Robin alive, so if you’ve fucked that one up–”

He’s incredibly annoying, and something about keeping only her alive sets her off. “I’m not Mr. 3,” Robin says before she can stop herself.

16. Do you have that one fanfic that you wrote a ton for, ages ago, but never posted? Will this be the year, come hell or high water, that it WILL get finished and posted?

nah actually! if I get past 5-6k I normally sunk-cost myself into finishing. i'm like, way more likely to abandon outlines. the longest stuff I have is for voltron (which I will NOT be returning to)

for outlines tho: I have been kicking around the following, some for a long time, might be fun to try and finish at Least one of them:

Pokemon, gen. Silver temporarily takes over the Viridian City gym, and meets/battles Lillie post-SM

Sanji/Zoro, time loop in a haunted foggy lighthouse

Yujin Mikotoba/Herlock Sholmes, as old exes that Miss Each Other Deeply and get back together during a case

#ask game #fivedayslater #took a second I dug through my gdrive to see if I had anything long and unpublished

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warrioreowynofrohan · 5 months

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If given the chance, I would love to ask all the questions because there is honestly so much I wanted to ask of you and I love your metas. But um 5, 10, 17, 27, 29, if it's alright? ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

Yay! thank you! fun!

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why?

I was nervous about the reactions to chapter 6 of Ashes because people can be so bad about Elwing - I’ve seen some fics with positive portrayals of her get comments bashing her - but happily everyone was good about it!

The other one I was nervous about is one that I was so nervous about I didn’t post it under my own AO3 handle (also becase it falls under quesion 26, something you wouldn’t want your family to see; not that family or any other non-fandom people who I know IRL know the name of my AO3, but currently it’s at the level where if someone did find it it would be embarrassing but not catastrophically mortifying). You absolutely don’t need to look at it if it’s not your thing - it’s basically Daeron/Maglor smut that I posted anonymously.

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

I answered the above question first because my mind came up with a lot of followup on the smut fic - first with something that would be quite long, very serious and angsty, and, if not gen, largely gen-focused in its emphases, about what it would look like if Maglor did turn himself in and was put on trial by Gil-galad. It’s less a standard trial - given that the facts of what he did are not in question - and more a Truth-and-Reconciliation-esque scenario providing an opportunity for his victims to be heard and deal with their trauma, as well as involving Gil-galad (who, while recognizing that in impartial terms it was good for Maglor to do this, would much rather not have had the situation dropped n his lap) dealing with the thorny question of what to do with him. The relationship betwen Maglor and Elrond is also fraugt (more like the one in Raised by Wolves than the one in Ashes).

Then, following that fic, additional ideas that are basically more Daemags D/s smut and continuing relationship over the long term, with a few ideas for events during the second-age wars with Sauron.

All of this was just my brain running wild - I haven’t written a single word of it and don’t plan to.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

I have done almost no research for my fics 😂! I am very lazy about any worldbuilding based on real-world stuff. I think the only time I ever did was some cursory checks on Wikipedia about Mongolian culture and archery for Traitor.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

Scene cut from the first chapter of Ashes (after Elrond asks the Valar for Maglor to be allowed to return) because the accompanying conversation wasn’t coming together for me.

Elrond’s next conversation on the subject of his petition was a good deal less pleasant. He returned to his home from a walk one day to find two people who were not quite soldiers, but made a good impression of it, wearing something that was not quite armor, but very much like it. They bowed as minimally as possible and said, “The king would like to speak with you.”

“Ah. I take it I am being invited to speak with my grandfather? [I’m headcanoning that elves omit all the ‘greats-’ in relationships due to the large number of them, given immortality - or, more likely, have specific words of various degrees of ancestry/relationship. Anyway, it’s Thingol.]

“ ‘Invited’ would be one word for it.”

“Summoned?”

“That would be nearer the mark. ”

Please feel free to ask anything else that interests you!

#asks #fanfic #tolkien #the silmarillion

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cosmic28dreams · 11 months

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is authenticity overrated?

In Vinland Saga, the main antagonist, Askeladd said an insightful line that caused Thorfinn to second guess the revenge path he was persevering with for years on end. After yet another duel, Askeladd said:

“Everyone is a slave to something.”

Hey guys, I haven’t posted anything in two weeks. I have a lot of topics in mind, but just didn’t have the energy to write anything. These past few days I’ve also been thinking to myself, should I even write? What if what I write is nothing new, and it makes it uninteresting? I guess that’s what encouraged me to come back from my short hiatus with this essay.

——————————————————————————

To be authentic, in a social context, is to be free of any expectations that other people might have on for your life. It is to achieve the highest form of freedom that only you desire, which separates you from the majority, making you interesting and inspirational.

However, does authenticity really matter today, when everyone is racing to be relatable? Influence topics such as micro labels on TikTok may suggest that you are authentic, but it actually does the opposite. To be truly authentic in this day and age means to escape every single advertisement and propaganda (ew, strong word) that is constantly shoved on our faces.

On trains, every 2 tweets you scroll, literally every single TikTok video ever, unsolicited Instagram ads in between stories, and.. 3 ads before a YouTube video now? Are you kidding me? In fact, you might see an ad after you scroll by this post. We live in an era where influence from others is so ingrained within our culture, it’s impossible to truly reach your highest form of freedom.

And I think that’s okay. Well, sort of.

According to existentialist philosophers, we are all born with a fundamental freedom. That we are, at our core, allowed to do anything and everything we wanted to. However, the reward of being completely free comes with the risk of being constantly lost. Which sounds quite exhausting, which is why we are creatures of routine. Routines hold us down when life is shaking us. Routines prevents us from going mad. Routine exist not for it to cage you, but to free you. Free you from decision making, free you from the pressure of taking the best course action, free you from constantly being in your head. Routine creates space and time for you to just, be.

While routine is good, it also scares people as a routine too mundane will feel suffocating and dull. Every day you spend sticking to your routine is another day you are trapped in your own circumstances, supressing your human desire to be somewhat free. The space created by a routine that is supposedly there to assist your desire to be free, is now feeling a bit counterintuitive. It’s seen as mere gaps in between activities, rather than time for you to be your own authentic self.

Authenticity is supposed to make you unique. Yet how will you ever be unique if you are stuck with a 9 to 5 and hit the gym everyday and only see the same three people for the next decade? Having spared only a few hours to ‘do your thing’.

Well, does it really matter? In the constant battle to not be boring, we tend to chase an authenticity that might not even exist anymore in this age of constant oversharing, and the awfully close proximity capitalism have in normal people’s lives, going as far as hiring employees who are so Gen Z and influencing other so Gen Z people to buy their so not Gen Z products.

So does being less authentic makes you less unique? I don’t think so. Uniqueness is when you might know something the next person don’t, yet there are still some things that you might have in common. Maybe you and your friend in book club both read Percy Jackson last week. But on Fridays she’d be crocheting like crazy while blasting Mitski and you’d be going to a gig 4 hours away from home. And that makes you both unique.

To be completely authentic means disregarding yourself as a member of society and refusing to have anything in common with the rest, which can make it harder for you to integrate into a community. And if we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, is that we need to be in a healthy one. Your uniqueness will always be retained in the midst of this being relatable era because there will always be a mix match of niche things that other people might not share with you! Worrying about being authentic can be quite tiresome, and you are not expected to do that.

In conclusion, since I’m such a fawkin Libra, I would say that being your authentic self is neither good or bad. It should be pursued in moderation. It might take a bit more time but that’s okay, do it while you’re sane. People who are totally different from you most of the time aren’t any better. They’re just that — totally different from you. And if you wanna be like them, well go ahead. It does not make you any less of a person than they are either. I’m sure they’re inspired by someone as well. Because that is the beauty of humanity after all.

Thanks for reading!

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References and post inspo

1. philosophy and film: “don’t look up” and the fear of authenticity & sincerity by oliSUNvia (https://youtu.be/khqTXJPX3CA)

2. Episode 167. When Burnout Gets Out of Control by The Self Love Fix Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Ca6SCpCySfu9NwvDTdLPN?si=YbJiodniQX-6-snrpqtRoQ)

3. Atomic Habits by James Clear

youtube

#routine #philosphy #writing #authentic living #authentic self #youre doing great #im so sleepy #goodnight #Spotify #Youtube

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yusuke-of-valla · 2 years

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Tagged by @nexttrickanvils!

Write the titles/names of your WIPs (writing, art, etc.) and have people ask about the ones they're interested in!

Answer with a sneak peek, or just talk about it!

*digs through wip list*

Okkk some of these are more ideas I’m excited for than actual wips but I’ve got:

Yusuke’s lesbian senpai (Persona 5 fic I’ve been sitting on for like. Ever. Mostly OC centric but Yusuke is there)

Yusuke inherits his mom’s illness but it’s fine don’t worry about it! (persona 5, might need to revisit but actually accounting for Strikers?)

Yusuke and Morgana have babysitting duty (Persona 5, the gang gets De-aged except Yusuke and Morgana. This is actually the cute one)

Insatiable Pale Color but worse because Madarame hears “Art child in need of a father figure/mentor that doesn’t suck” and is like “anyone gonna emotionally manipulate her?” And then doesn’t wait for a reply (Project SEKAI/Persona crossover. I have to finish 25ji’s story but everything I know about Ena and Insatiable Pale Color makes me think she and Yusuke would probably hate each other at first and I’m very excited)

Shez loses an arm but it’s fiiiiiiine (academy era Three Hopes fic because I still haven’t beaten the game I’M SORRY)

Boss and Amame have a totally chill chat post the Amame and Gen ending when, you know, the world ended (AITSF: Nirvana Intiative fic)

Special surprise for Zenkichi’s birthday!

And I’m gonna tag @ravenoftheskyes and anyone who wants to do it

#tag games #altos wips #me: huh I don’t have that many Yusuke related things in the works atm #also me: most of these involve Yusuke somehow

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thispit-thelame · 10 months

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Pokemon White Nuzlocke: The First of Many Attempts

Episode 1: Housekeeping Welcome folks to my first journey through Unova. I’ve been a huge fan of pokemon ever since I was given a copy of Sapphire as a birthday gift at the tender age of 4. Despite that however, I’ve never actually played a generation 5 game. A bunch of different things are at fault for that but they’re certainly not relevant to this playthrough. All you need to know is that this is indeed a BLIND Nuzlocke and as such the methodology of attempting a nuzlocke is very different than normal. In addition since I do all of my nuzlockes as a “hardcore” run (level caps, set mode, no items in battle) I am anticipating far more than just 1 (one) attempt. Its going to be both incredibly fun and incredibly hellish I imagine, and I hope you all stick around to see me wade through a bog of my own design With all that out of the way lets go over the rules for this run

Only one encounter per route/area

If a pokemon faints its permaboxed

No items in battle (held items are okay)

Set mode only

Level caps are active (no leveling past the next gym leader’s ace)

Species Clause is active (reroll encounters until a non-currently-owned pokemon is found)

Pokemondb is the only resource allowed

Rule 7 technically makes this “not blind” but the series has always had a few pokes that have byzantine ways to evolve and I’d rather not have to choose between two stage 1 pokemon in my party where one is close to evolving and the other needs to have a certain item (i.e sneasel/any stone evolution) or a certain move (i.e pangoro/mamoswine). That being said pokemondb is a great resource for blind playthroughs since it doesn’t really have any information on any part of a game besides the things that pertain to the pokemon themselves.

That being said lets talk about what I do know. Since gen 5 was such a phenomenon in the pokemon community I know a bits and bobs via cultural osmosis, but nothing that will give me a forewarning until it is already upon me. I know a bit of the overarching story, and I know of a few pokemon certain bosses have like the Excadrill that Clay has, and N’s Zoroark and legendary, but my knowledge of everyone’s teams is still pretty much zilch, and I am certain to get ambushed by a rival/story beat more than once. The only thing I did look up on purpose beforehand were level caps, but I did it in such a way that I don’t remember anything about the bosses’ teams at all so lol.

Finally lets talk about how I’m going to record these; I’m not going to lie. I haven’t used tumblr in a long long time, and I’m used to twitter where it was easy to essentially post a real time update as to how things were going. With the different formatting and my unwillingness to clog the Nuzlocke tag with constant updates, I think I am going to separate posts by gyms. Therefore my entire playthrough will be covered by roughly 10 posts, one for each leg of gym to gym, the E4, and the final confrontation with N/Ghetsis. I may make an extra post or two if we are subjected to some pretty unfortunate events or if there’s an extended story segment a la Lysander or Emerald’s final confrontations with Aqua, but who knows? We’ll play it by ear.

And with the housekeeping out of the way, let the Nuzlocke begin!

#nuzlocke #Thispit's nuzlockes #attempt one #pokemon white

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walk-through-walls-cheatsdv · 2 years

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10 Best Pokemon Unbound Cheats Of

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 You can even get a few cool things by doing so. Forgot password? Account Name. Password Forgot password? Keep me signed in. Community members will not see the footer advertisement. Seen December 31st, Yo, I need some help, I'm trying to enter the great desert and the game black screens. Same thing happens when I enter the day care. Respond Ignore User Report. Age Originally Posted by ski bum [ Original Post ]. Seen 2 Weeks Ago. Any word on if the gen 8 sprites will be added to the data? Even if Skeli doesn't want to rework the routes, allowing us to trade from Radical Red or BFD would be a decent alternative. Seen March 14th, Hey I completed this hack and I absolutely loved it. The map is gorgeous and the city and town design is also pretty good. I just felt it could be little more darker than it is now. You could throw in some blood Instead of burning during character deaths. Also the story was pretty simple and there is a slight drag in it. Please consider this constructive criticism. Overall, its a pretty good game and I haven't found a single bug or glitch in my entire play through. Very few hacks achieve this. Thank you for giving us Unbound! Is there really no way to gain access to the Pokemon Stunky until late game if you don't have the right rng to get him as an egg early game? Cause I really want one but dont know where to look to access one. Is there any way to obtain stunky other than the egg in Bellin town? Please help! Seen January 29th, I can only get the Battle tower demo to play and the full game comes up as a patch. Originally Posted by Mrlvlup [ Original Post ]. Seen January 2nd, Anyone know if there is a Cinder Volcano raid den? Riddhwimaan Mukherjee. Seen October 9th, Originally Posted by alexthegreat [ Original Post ]. Really enjoying the hack so far, just wanted to pop in to report a bug! Currently in Antisis City, just completed the socks mission and was heading back through a pipe when I realised I could just shortcut back with an escape rope. I did, just to find my sprite is now permanently stuck in the crawling sprite animations. Returning to the pipe instead replaces the spriteset with another character's one - spoilering in case Spoiler :. Seen March 12th, I want to battle the creator of the game and the other guys inside the house at Dahara city but they act like we already battled and they say comeback tommorow but i havent even battle with them. Does anyone know what to do to battle them? I have won the league And after saving mother from the tuins of void is there anything else to do postgame that includes battles. Seen June 13th, I think that gym 2's forced stealth section is badly designed. It's hard to make practically pixel perfect inputs to get into the 1 tile crevices if you're using auto-run and no, I don't think turning it off is going to be helpful. This game looks promising, so maybe I'll use a walk-through-walls code, but I shouldn't have to use a code to get past an unfair and required part of the game. Seen October 6th, Downloaded Unbound yesterday and was having a lot of fun with the game, then I got stuck. Theres 2 trainers on route 5 that are protecting an item. I made it past without battling them, but when leaving they initiated a battle with me and now theyre blocking the exit. Ive tried a noclip cheat, Ive tried exiting and reentering, Ive tried completely closing and reopening my emulator but they wont move. Need help. Dr Dovel. Seen March 22nd, Any info on when next update is? Have very much enjoyed this and still am, keep up the great work! Seen November 27th, Having a bit of trouble with the Treasure Hunter mission, does anyone know where item 2 is? I have found the other 10 items but keep missing this last one. Thanks for the help! The shiny rate have been changed? Because, I catch a shiny zubat in the first cave of the game. Now it is a beautiful crobat at level 70 and I love him. Seen November 12th, Originally Posted by d [ Original Post ]. Oh, then I guess I'm not finishing this then. Any game that makes you savestate scum is a hard pass in my book. Guess I'll watch a Let's Play. Thanks for the heads up. Seen January 5th, Originally Posted by Dieppa3 [ Original Post ].

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suncaptor · 2 years

Note

don't know if you've done this already, but do you have a list of sam-centric fic recs?

I do not myself! I think @godtrials has some really great fic recs!

here are some though that I personally have enjoy! these should be destiel free, but some of the writers have also written destiel/are multi-shippers

Note some of these may be explicit, triggering, and dark! please check the tags and act accordingly! I don’t know your age, so I’m assuming you’re an adult and I would not recommend any of these rated E (and often M) to you if you are a minor!

@fromcenotaphy also has some amazing Sam fics too <3. I love this fic Purify (T) about what angel blood does to Sam. I’d had very similar ideas and am VERY interested in Sam drinking Cas’s blood, but this fic is gen 4x21 and more focused on Sam&Dean and I just. ADORE it. They also have this 11x23 coda (NR), this season 11 oneshot (GA) based around Sam finding Castiel when he is under the attack dog spell, or here (GA) him making Cas comfortable, and this absolutely iconic fic (T) regarding Sam and Magda Peterson.

the blood in your mouth (i wish it was mine) (M) by hellsrelectantheir is a preseries fic with a sambrady focus and it is astounding. the author is also very amazing ( @theboykingscrown ), and I’d recommend checking out their other writing too! They also have gen and sastiel fics and the like. I should add because I adore this fic in which Sam has a panic attack and Lucifer calms him down.

Sunlight (Sapphire Ruby Red Blood) (E) is a samjess fic where Sam drinks Jessica’s blood and an exploration into their intimate relationship.

Nothing’s Safe (M) is a fic where in order to save Sam in the born again identity, Cas must possess him. Razor Edge of Terror (M) is a sastiel fic based in season 7 from Cas’s perspective, but it does also reference Sam’s cage trauma.

it’s not that i think i’m good, i know i’m evil (T) by redskyatmorning is a my bloody valentine coda I couldn’t stop thinking about for days. absolutely astounding. I’ve also enjoyed several of their other works.

also if you’re wanting darker lucifer inspired fic than lesbianbookworm, @lifbitch , and this rec list have some, and azazelsocks has some very dark fics as well. I haven’t read all because I also got to be wary of some triggers, but some are quite astounding and if you’re into dark fic I recommend!

Definition (T) is a really sweet oneshot sastiel fic, and while domesticadventures has a lot of destiel they do have some good Sam fics too that you can find!

the easy way out and the hardest part (T) is a season 5 Sam fic where he tries to back in time to kill himself before the seals were broken in order to not start the apocalypse since killing himself now won’t do anything.

then I also enjoy The Fight Was Fixed (M) which is just a voicemail follow up in post s4 just cause it’s very angsty and I really would love any gen voicemail fics always <3.

Forgiveness is Sweet (GA) references the voicemail too as Sam tries to depart to Jack wisdom of how to handle Dean being angry at you and seeing you like a monster.

And Five Times Dean Doesn't Kill Sam and One Time Sam Begs Him to (Again) (T) is a longer exploration in s5 of Sam’s headspace referencing back to the voicemail too!

@arsonsamruby or peterspajamas is a wonderful talented writer, and she also has some amazing Sam fics. Some you might enjoy are contact deleted (T), fled the heart (T), and halfway through and going nowhere (samjess) (T).

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impulsive-astrophile · 3 years

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Heaven and Hell Were Words to Me

MSR | Gen | ~1.8k words

Post-“Monday”, Mulder and Scully try to heal from trauma they can’t really remember.

Tagging @today-in-fic.

Read it on ao3, or below the cut!

It starts on Tuesday.

Scully comes into the office to find Mulder already there - as had been usual until after Dreamland - looking as tired as she feels.

Despite having gotten 8 hours of sleep, Scully had woken that morning feeling exhausted. Fragments of nightmares she can’t quite remember left her stomach churning enough that she didn’t even have breakfast.

Seeing Mulder instantly calms her a little. Touching him is even better. Her hands stop shaking for the first time in hours when she finds a reason to cross the room and touch his shoulder to ask where a file is. But whenever he’s out of sight, a pit drops back into her stomach like a stone, her limbs becoming heavy with dread.

He’s gone for 5 minutes that afternoon to use that bathroom, and her hands start to shake again.

He’s gone for 30 minutes the next day to pick up lunch, and she can barely type, noting reluctantly that her resting heart rate climbs to almost double her regular resting rate and into tachycardia - hovering around 130.

It’s ridiculous, she tells herself. They’re both fully functional, independent adults who can operate without the other.

But Mulder seems reluctant to be away from her, as well; on Thursday, he proposes she go with him to get lunch (which he never does because she hates it - she gets line-rage, and he doesn’t mind picking it up for them), and she jumps at the opportunity. His hand is rooted to the small of her back the entire way there, and hers to his arm the whole way back.

When they get back, they definitely don’t clear off half of his desk and bring her chair over so they can eat right next to each other; no, they sit on opposite sides of the room at their respective desks like normal people.

But if, say, they both just so happen to regularly need to use the bathroom at the same time, coincidentally meaning they end up spending less time apart, then that’s definitely just a coincidence.

‘Intimacy through codependency’, Dana Scully’s ass.

So, when Scully asks Mulder to come with her after work on Friday, it’s for completely practical reasons.

“Mulder? Are you okay? Your neck is red because you’ve been rubbing it so much.” Scully’s voice startles Mulder out of continuing that same motion.

“What? Yeah.” He smiles sheepishly, resting the offending hand on the desk. “I guess I’m just getting old, Scully. Sleeping on the couch this week has really done a number on my neck.”

Scully nods sympathetically. “Why haven’t you bought a new mattress yet?”

“They’re still redoing some of the floor in my room,” Mulder says.

Scully frowns. “You told me they finished that on Wednesday.”

“...I just haven’t had the time?” He tries, caught. Doesn’t say, it’s not worth buying one if you’re not in it.

She lets him off the hook. “Okay. We’ll go shopping after work today.” You deserve comfort, and I’m going to see that you have it. Then, with a gleam in her eye, “after all, an old man should take better care of his body.”

Mulder shakes his head, solemn. “You’ll know how it feels when you’re my age, Scully.”

Scully scoffs, Mulder smirking to himself before feigning a return to his paperwork. She waits until it seems that he’s actually focused on it, then pulls a paper clip out of a container in front of her and takes aim.

When it hits him square in the forehead, the look on his face is worth the war it starts.

“24/7 MATTRESSES!” offered the kind of vibe you’d expect from stopping at a non-descript fast food joint in the middle of nowhere at 3 AM; lighting just a little too bright, music that seemed familiar yet was impossible to place, and a single employee who seemed to appear out of nowhere from otherwise deserted floorspace.

Still, they offered incredible deals on queen-size mattresses, even offering complimentary pillows and same-day delivery and installation within a mile. And, luckily, Mulder’s apartment was only a few blocks away. So, hairs on the backs of both their necks up the whole time, Scully helped Mulder choose a nice memory foam mattress, then watched his back as he paid, and was at his side as they fast-walked to the exit.

If they’d turned back, they would’ve seen that the employee vanished as soon as the door shut behind them.

By the time they get to Mulder’s apartment just 10 minutes later, they find the mattress neatly set in his bedframe, pillows on top, even though his front door had been locked.

“...remind me to file that place under ‘liminal spaces’, Scully,” Mulder says with an uneasy laugh.

Scully nods absently. Mulder can see the gears working in her head. Eventually, she settles on, “sheets?”

Mulder fetches them from the linen cupboard, and they get to work. Together, they wrestle the fitted sheet onto the bed. Mulder tries to help with tucking the flat sheet, but Scully gets frustrated with his sloppy corners and shoos him away to find pillowcases.

He chuckles when he returns to find the sheet tucked with military corners - he loves how much of a perfectionist she is - but shuts up when he gets a pillow to the face. Tossing Scully the other pillowcase, he makes quick work of his own, then places it on the bed and collapses.

He buries his face into the mattress with an exaggerated moan. “Oh, Scully, this thing is amazing,” he says, muffled by the foam.

Scully drops her pillow next to him with a chuckle, resting a hand on his back lightly. “Should I leave you two alone?”

Mulder heaves a deep sigh, rolling over onto his back and resting his head on a pillow. “She could never feel the same way about me,” he says, tone wistful. “No,” he puts a hand over his heart, looking downtrodden, “I’m afraid it could never be requited.”

“A shame,” Scully agrees, stifling a smile.

Mulder cranes his head up, mouth open to make a joke, but all that comes out is a pained groan. He grabs his neck as his head falls back against the pillow.

“Oh, I forgot about your neck.” Scully’s brow creases as she leans down a bit. “You okay, Mulder?”

Mulder nods, eyes shut tight.

“Well, that’s convincing.”

A few seconds later Mulder peers up at her, smiling but obviously not feeling as good as he wants her to think. Scully makes a decision.

“Mulder, let me give you a massage,” she says. When he opens his mouth to object, she continues, “my mom always used to get terrible pains in her neck from sleeping on the couch on nights where we waited for Dad to come home. I was the only one in the house she trusted to get the knots out.”

Mulder rubs his neck, considering, then nods gingerly. “Thank you,” he says gratefully.

“Any time,” Scully responds, slipping off her shoes. “If you were feeling better, I’d ask you to move. But since you’re not, I’ll come to you.”

She climbs onto the bed, kneeling behind his head.

“I’m going to support your neck with one hand, slip the pillow out from under you with the other, then rest your head flat on the mattress, okay?” She explains.

Mulder hums in agreement, wincing only minimally as she moves him around. Then, she rests her hands on either side of his neck, fingertips touching his clavicles, and begins gently applying sweeping pressure from his neck down to his shoulders.

“I’d normally use massage lotion,” Scully says, teasing, “but I doubt you keep any around the house.”

“Mm-mm,” comes Mulder’s quiet confirmation, mouth quirking with half a smile.

When she’s finished, she notices that Mulder is completely limp in her hands, apparently asleep. She smiles softly, reaching to comb the hair away from his forehead. Letting her fingers brush through his hair, she takes stock of herself.

For the first time this week, she feels steady. And it doesn’t escape her notice that it’s while she’s holding Mulder, either.

She knows she should go now that he’s asleep. But those nightmares... even just the flashes she does remember after a week of having them - cradling him in her arms, desperately trying to keep his life from leaking out from between her fingers, pleading for him - have her reluctant to leave him. To sleep, even for just one night, with him in her arms, where she could know he was safe--

Mulder fidgets in her hands, and she looks down to find him blinking up at her. “Whatever it is, you’re thinking too hard,” he teases sleepily.

“Sorry,” she says, “I was trying not to wake you.”

Scully extricates her hand from his hair delicately, moving to get up, but he grasps her wrist. “Wait. Please stay.” His voice is soft. “That was the first time all week I haven’t had any nightmares.”

Scully frowns. “Nightmares, Mulder? I’m sorry. Old ones or new ones?”

They’re both intimately familiar with each other’s nightmares, and with how to soothe one another after them. Sometimes, part of the soothing process was to talk about them - especially if they were new.

“New, I think. I remember being in pain and hearing you sound worried and scared, but being unable to help when I tried... and then nothing.”

Scully frowns once more, starting to stroke his hair again. “How can I help?”

“Stay?” He requests softly.

“Of course,” Scully says. They’d both held each other after nightmares before.

Scully scoots down the bed, settling herself on a pillow and pulling Mulder to her. Absently, she thinks that she’s glad that they’d stopped by her place before the mattress store so she could change into casual clothes.

Mulder wraps his arms around her back, snuggling his face into the crook of her neck.

They breathe each other in for a while before he speaks again. “You’ve been having nightmares too,” he deduces, sounding like he’s come to a realization, “and that’s why you’ve been tired and just as clingy as me this week.”

Scully sucks in a breath, nodding.

“Old ones or new ones?”

“New,” she confesses. “But this is supposed to be me comforting you, not the other way around.”

“We can do mutual comforting,” Mulder assures her. “How can I help?”

She holds him tighter, feeling the rise and fall of his torso between her arms and the soft huff of his breath across her neck. It’s enough to know he’s safe, alive, and well. She squeezes him briefly. “This is enough.”

#first thing I've written in 2 months #feels good #I hope y'all enjoy!#msr #The X-Files #fic #hurt/comfort #nightmares #cuddling #monday

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