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ken-dom · 6 months

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I Can Fix Him

Holland March x afab!reader

2.3k words

Summary: Holland is irresistibly pathetic. So of course you still want him after last nights mess. Or, how Holland ended up with ‘You will never be happy :)’ written on his hand and still managed to get some.

Part of a Pathetic Holland triple threat with;

A Night To Remember by @webbo0 and

Drunken Stranger by @hollandstrophyhusband

Author’s notes: we couldn’t help but obsess over why the novelisation of The Nice Guys says that the note on Holland’s hand is written in ‘unfamiliar, feminine’ handwriting, so we came up with a few ideas and wrote them all. It’s been so much fun working with you both 🩷

Warnings/content: NSFW, alcohol, somnophilia, wet dream, blow job, kind of premature ejaculation, fingering mention, sex mention, erectile dysfunction caused by too much alcohol (never thought I’d tag a fic with that) — it’s a whole mess, you get the picture

As you drifted awake, only one eye opened at first. The other was smushed against the back of Holland’s shoulder, your face sticky with sweat against his jacket. Apparently, he was a furnace in his sleep, unbearably hot to the touch, and you supposed the fact that you were both still half dressed did nothing to help that fact.

‘Holland?’ you whispered, peeling yourself off him and pulling your clothes back up to cover your chest whilst attempting to tidy your mussed hair.

A loud snore.

Ah. He was still dead to the world.

You sat up and checked the clock on his bedside. Ten am. You’d massively overslept, but suspected that for him, this was a regular occurrence.

Your eyes wandered over his snoring form and you wondered how he would feel if he knew you were still here this morning, and whether he would even remember you were here last night. Or who you are.

You reached out instinctively, without thinking, retracting your fingers for a moment when a brief glimmer of sense burst into your mind. He startled you with a surprisingly sweet sigh and at that point you just couldn’t help yourself. That thick strand of golden hair stuck to his sweaty forehead was calling, and you reached over to sweep it gently away from his eyes with tender fingertips.

As you brushed back down over his cheek, his lips pulled into a soft smile and he hummed.

Probably dreaming of his wife. Probably? Definitely.

You felt a pang of guilt and jealousy swirling in your gut. You were certain that you’d been a fool to stay after last night’s mess. And it was a mess, there really was no other word for it.

Holland had been too drunk to get his dick hard, called you by his dead wife’s name during a slurred apology for having a limp cock despite his face having been buried against your chest and his hands quite literally squeezing every inch of your body, and then cried for fifteen solid minutes while you consoled him, until he convinced you he was sober enough to eat you out instead. He proceeded to pass out on you with his fingers hooked beneath the elastic of your underwear, drooling sloppily onto your thigh as he snored loudly.

But there really had been something about the way he kissed you, and the way he looked at you before he was too far gone to recognise who you were that made you want to stick around. Something about the way he wanted you, but couldn’t move past the thought of his wife, or the amount of alcohol in his body, enough to do anything about it.

He had turned from fun and charming (and a little stupid) to sad and pathetic so quickly it was jarring, but still, it kind of turned you on? That very specific mixture of clashing traits painting a very sad picture of a very lonely man riddled with guilt. A handsome lonely man riddled with guilt who wanted to fuck you. And so despite the disappointment and disheartenment you’d felt, your ‘I can fix him’ mode kicked in and you found that you just couldn’t walk away.

And Jesus, he really was handsome. That certainly helped. You felt guilt rise in your gut again for thinking he looked hot while he was crying into your shoulder and sobbing some incomprehensible nonsense about his flaccid cock. How could that possibly be sexy? And yet…

You’d had a little moment of anger though, and left a message on his hand when he first passed out. Something for him to find in the morning. Grabbing a pen (engraved with his wife’s initials, you noticed) from the bedside table and carefully writing You will never be happy from the base of his forefinger across the top of his thumb. It was a drunken reaction you regretted now, but boy it felt good to fling that pen across the room with reckless abandon after you’d done it.

You could see your message now; displayed plainly on the huge hand placed beside his face, which was buried in the pillow you’d dragged him onto after he passed out between your legs, and your stomach churned. Even if he’d be pleased to see he hadn’t scared you off with his messy drunken behaviour, your note would surely scare him off. And you wouldn’t blame him.

Feeling uncomfortable with your bout of unkindness, you slipped off the bed to pick up the pen from where you’d thrown it and climbed back up to grab his hand again. He hummed quietly and rolled onto his back with a loud snore.

You added a little :) beneath your earlier message and held his hand up, reading and rereading it, trying to decide if the smiley face softened it at all. Barely. But surely it was better with a smile? Kind of jokey, right? Right.

You gently placed his hand down upon his slowly rising and falling chest and he stirred, fingers grasping for something. So you gently slid your own fingers in between his and he settled immediately.

God, he must have been a needy husband.

It felt nice though, the way his fingers squeezed weakly at yours, and that crooked smile appeared again, more mischievous this time.

Unconsciously, you smiled back. Then you closed your eyes, took a deep breath, slid your hand away from his and tried to climb off his bed again without waking him.

As you turned, your hand accidentally brushed against his trousers and…

Oh shit.

Holland’s cock was straining to stand to attention inside his tight pants. And you’d accidentally dragged your palm right against it. And he whined. Actually whined, high pitched and as needy as you’d imagined him sounding if he’d actually managed to fuck you last night.

‘Oh shit,’ you breathed, out loud this time.

You couldn’t tear your eyes away. Holland was big. Like, really big, and you suddenly felt disappointed again that he had been unable to perform.

As you fought to keep your mind on track, you also noticed the rather prominent patch of precum soaking through the fabric where his tip was tucked beneath the constraints of his belt.

So… he can get hard then? How long has he been hard? He looks so big… god, I want to touch him…

Holland muttered something under his breath then, snapping you out of your hazy thoughts, and bucked his hips, chasing the touch he’d felt from your hand.

‘Please…’ he uttered, whimpering weakly.

Even though you were sure he was dreaming of his wife, and would probably cry like a baby when he woke up, he was still somehow irresistible. In a pathetic sort of way. In an I can fix him sort of way. Fuck.

You were overcome with the need to give him a taste of what he was begging for within his unconscious mind, even if you couldn’t really be the person he wanted it from. Just to let him have his sad, horny wet dream and actually get to finish before harsh reality kicked back in…

‘Fuck it.’

You settled between his spread thighs (So slutty, you thought with delight) and carefully pushed your hand over the hard bulge in his pants, actually feeling his cock twitch against your palm through the fabric.

He cried out at your touch, surprisingly loud and strangled compared to his little whimpers, and still not waking himself up.

You rushed to unbuckle his belt, giving up on trying to be quiet, leaving the metal of the buckle to clink aside as your fingers worked fast over the buttons of his pants. As you pulled them down to his knees you noticed his underwear too was absolutely soaked through with precum.

Wow. Been a while? Or are you usually this messy?

You licked your lips, hungry to taste him, and peeled those boxer shorts down like you were unwrapping a present. The simple anticipation mixed with the scent of his aftershave and natural musk made your heart race.

When his cock had sprung free, slick with his seed and visibly throbbing, you dropped forward, hungrily licking him clean of his sticky mess, humming around him. He squirmed beneath you, the hand you’d laid on his chest now grasping loosely at your hair as the other balled the bedsheets him in a tight fist.

You wrapped your fingers around him, pumping steadily as you lifted your head to get a closer look at him.

His mouth had dropped open, his cheeks were pink, his back was already arching. Your mouth was already filling with generous drops of precum, making your movements all the more slick.

Jesus, Holland, when was the last time you came?

You sunk your whole mouth onto him then, taking as much of his length in as you could, your lips tight as you sucked and swirled your tongue, bobbing your head in time with the fist still eagerly massaging his base.

‘I’m- Jesus!!’ he shrieked, ‘If you keep doing that- I’m gonna- I’m- f-fuck-’

He was fully conscious now, then.

Spurred on by his whimpering pleas, you kept going and it didn’t take long until his writhing hips suddenly stuttered and he spilled his thick, hot seed into your mouth in a never ending rope. It tasted like stale alcohol. You didn’t know that was possible until today, and it certainly wasn’t what you expected, but in honesty you’d take anything you got from him.

A sound just short of a scream ripped from his chest as his climax took hold, and what followed was a whiny string of expletives intermingled with your name.

You almost choked, not least from the force and volume of his release in your mouth, which was still coming thick and fast, shooting down your throat and trickling from your lips, but from the thought that he might have actually been dreaming of you. That he was hard for you.

He had called your name. Not his wife’s, or some random girl from a bar who just about reminded him of her. Yours.

‘Jesus!’ he cried, lower this time, breathier, between desperate panting as you released him from the warmth of your mouth. ‘Jesus… that was… fucking incredible, I’m sorry it was over so fast… I uh… I was feelin’ kinda sensitive, y’know… it’s been a while. I think, anyway.’

As you swallowed what you could of his seed, the rest dripping out onto his already ruined underwear, you dropped down beside him and stroked his red face, watching him gasp for breath.

‘Holland? Are you with me now?’ you soothed, very aware of how vulnerable he might feel right now.

‘Mmh… sure am, baby. What’d I do to deserve a wake up call like that?’ he smirked, eyes closed in sleepy, post-orgasm bliss.

‘Oh, uhm…’

You hesitated, not sure he’d want to hear You were pathetic and sad and it made me want to make you cum.

‘I must’ve really done a number on you last night, huh? Couldn’t get enough of the March magic so you couldn’t resist, is that it? Jesus. Not too spent for another round are you? Fuck, you deserve the world for making me cum like that.’

He blinked his eyes open so he could really appreciate you, but it looked incredibly painful despite the dim lighting, and he squinted in your direction instead.

‘Holland we… didn’t do anything last night,’ you said softly, wincing a little.

‘We didn’t? Well fuck, let me rectify that right now!’

‘No, no, I think you need a rest.’

He settled back down against the pillow, immediately pleased you’d suggested it, because as much as he wanted to taste you, his head had spun when he tried to get up and his body was trembling. It really had been a long time. And even longer since he’d felt someone else’s touch.

‘So,’ you started carefully, ‘you were… dreaming of me?’

He laughed smugly. ‘Sure was.’

He brought a hand up to wipe the fresh sweat from his forehead, catching a glimpse of something on his hand that he swore wasn’t there yesterday.

You winced as his eyes slowly moved over the letters. And then again.

‘What the fuck did I do to you last night?!’

You huffed a gentle laugh. ‘Never mind that now. I guess I changed my mind somewhere between you face planting between my thighs and waking up with you in my arms with the biggest hard on I’ve ever seen.’

Holland looked horrified and you wondered if he was actually remembering any of it. Perhaps that wouldn’t be for the best, though.

‘Hey, how about I run you a bath. It’ll soon wash off in there. Along with uhm… well…’ You gestured to the state of his underwear and his coated, limp cock and he chuckled. He must cum that much usually because you could tell from his laugh that he knew. ‘Plus… maybe I could join you…’

‘Jesus…’ he breathed. And then his eyes shot wide open as a lightbulb pinged on in his eyes, seemingly no longer bothered by the relatively dim light. ‘Hey, would you let me at least fingerfuck you while we’re in there? I can’t have you walking out of here unsatisfied, what would that do to my reputation, huh?’

Reputation? Ha. Yet that familiar heat rushed to your core. Again. He had big hands. Really big, and you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t wanted them between your thighs when he had first started flirting with you last night. Even as you were writing the message on his right hand, your mind had wandered. And again when you added the little smiley face.

‘Hmm. I think I can stretch to that.’ Your lips curled smugly as you slipped off the bed and considered him. ‘Although maybe not with the size of those hands,’ you winked.

#not s f w 💀#holland march smut #holland march x reader #holland march x you #holland march x y/n #holland march #holland march fic #the nice guys #the nice guys 2016 #the nice guys fic #ryan gosling fic #ryan gosling #ryan gosling x reader #ryan gosling x you #ryan gosling x y/n #ryan gosling smut #ken-dom writes

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critter-rarepair-reccs · 3 months

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Welcome to Critter Rarepair Reccs!

Hey y'all! Welcome to Critter Rarepair Reccs, a recommendation list aimed at fics written for ships that are largely under-represented, appreciated, and loved in our fandom! Now, let's address the elephant in the room first; rarepair is a misnomer here, knowingly. Some of the ships eligible to be recc'ed on this list might not be ones you'd consider a rarepair! So, the more proper welcome would be-

Welcome to Critter Underloved Ship Reccs

For brevity's sake, the URL is staying, though.

Now, it goes without saying, but before we get into the details here, let's get one thing clear: this blog is dedicated to spreading love and appreciation to fanworks and their creators. Ship hate of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in a block.

With that said, let's talk about the criteria for an underloved ship and why we're defining it the way we are.

Definition & Explantion

There is one qualifier for a ship to be eligible for this list: less than 100 fics were written for it and posted to Ao3 during 2023.

We landed on this metric for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it casts a very wide net for pairings while still narrowing the field a fair bit. The gulf of works between flagship pairings, endgame pairings, and some of the larger side/non-canon pairings is significant. Secondly, we wanted to take a look at how the fandom is currently, which is why we pivoted away from using the Wildflower System ( @cr-summer-wildflowers ) of excluding any pairing with more than 500 fics total. There are a number of pairings that were extremely popular at one point in time, but these days get far less love and attention. Let's take Widofjord for example. They have almost a thousand fics total and were in the Top 10 relationship tags for Critical Role on Ao3 for a long time. But last year? Only 27 fics were written for them. They have, functionally, become a rarepair.

So, to be fair to ships that exist in that same, nebulous space, we're looking at totals from last year, not lifetime.

For illustration purposes, here are charts (compiled by the wonderful @spottedenchants ) showing how many fics were written for each PC/PC ship last year.

Ineligible Ships

Which ships, then, don't qualify under that definition? It's not a terribly long list. PC endgame relationships, primarily, a handful of non-canon pairings, and some prospective endgame ships. For simplicity's sake, we'll break them down by campaign.

Campaign 1: Perc'ahlia, Vaxleth, Pikelan, Perc'ildan

Campaign 2: Shadowgast, Beauyasha, Fjorester, Widomauk

Campaign 3: Imodna, Dorym, Ashrym

If one of these pairings is secondary or background to a fic, that's alright! But the fic shouldn't focus or center on them. It's also worth noting that polyamorous ships that include one of these pairs are also alright! Shadowidomauk, for example, only had 61 fics written for it last year, so they're in the clear! The same goes for Dashrym, as another example, as they've only ever had 36 fics written for them.

It is also worth noting all accepted submissions must be respectful of character’s canon sexualities; for example, we will not take fics that feature an M/F pairing of a lesbian character, even if said pairing fits the “rarepair” criteria.

The caveat to the above would be queerplatonic fic! There will be an option on the submission form to specify, to avoid confusion due to Ao3’s lack of a designated QPR relationship tag!

So when does the list open for submissions?

Very soon! February 7th, next Wednesday! The opening theme with be Fluff, and that list will be posted a week later, on Valentine’s Day, February 14th! I hope we’ll see you then! 🩷

#recc list rules & info #cr rarepair recc list

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utilitycaster · 6 months

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(Long ask warning)

Hello! I'm jumping on the appreciation train to say thank you so much for all of your meta and analysis! I just found your blog today, and you've already given me so much clarity and context for things I've been noticing in the CR fandom lately.

I quite literally spent my summer living under a rock (in the woods leading spelunking for scouts!) and so was completely out of the loop from early June through September. And while I am not yet caught up (I'm about to start ep. 65), I have been going through the tags and ao3, because I primarily engage with fandom through fic and I don't care about spoilers. And I can't help but notice that everything being written for c3 lately is just... monochromatic. The Hells have such interesting characters and premises. One would think they're ripe for creative and interesting fic. And yet even what little gen fic that I have seen since returning to civilization has largely been boiled down to reiterative mush with vaguely shippy overtones. I can totally see this being indicative of the cresting and waning of the Imodna and Callowmore shipping you've been discussing.

I've gotta ask though, is it really just shipping that is causing this problem? Or is there something else in the source material that you think could be affecting fic in particular?

This is the first time I've been in a fandom with ongoing source material in over a decade. I'm used to watching people beat dead horses in their own little corner, safe in the knowledge that I can block them and it isn't going to affect my experience in the slightest. I guess I'm just having a hard time believing/remembering that shipping can be this incidious.

So a couple of things: first, I was not heavily involved in fandom until Critical Role; I have a decent amount of background knowledge from being on Tumblr and because I do tend to look into/research this kind of thing because it's very interesting to me, but you will probably have better snapshot of what fandom looked like 10 years ago than I do. Second, fanfic has always been a tiny aspect of what I've engaged with and I do find the bulk of it to be dull and samey (which is why it is a tiny aspect), so again, you probably are a better judge of the quality of fanfic elsewhere.

With that said, as part of a much larger discussion of which I only have as mentioned pieces of the puzzle, I do think there's been a shift over the past decade or so of like...people expecting the source material to reflect fanfic-y desires, and resenting it when it does not; people not seeing the point in enjoying non-canon ships; and a broader theme of self-infantilization. This has to a small extent spilled over into published fiction, though thankfully there's plenty that isn't that. It's not just shipping (though that absolutely can be insidious to the point that people have been harassed and doxxed over it); I think it's a general taste for pablum that has been growing within fandom spaces.

I'll link a few posts I've made and a source that, while I cannot vouch for it per se I did read and found enlightening at the end but I think a really indicative example as of late was the fandom response to the show Good Omens (spoilers for Good Omens S2 in the next link if you are by any chance avoiding those). Obviously do not do anything obnoxious to the person who wrote this question, but there are a worrying number of people in fandom spaces who believe this unironically and uncritically: fiction exists to "save us from hurtful reality." And I do understand that the tumultuous politics and world events of the past decade are probably a factor; but I mean, have you looked at literature from the first half of the 20th century (or like. the second half, for that matter)? It is, in my opinion, only going to help put our modern world and issues in better context and honestly make you feel better in the long run if you read, say, The Great Gatsby or The Things They Carried instead of burying your head in lower case song lyrics ... (hurt/comfort, fix-it, happy ending, 6k) and like, to be clear, I have written a small portion of lower case song lyric-titled fics myself but most of them aren't terribly happy, and even so, god I'd be horrified if that was all people were reading.

We've seen it across fandom at large with the polls; I have not watched season 2 of Our Flag Means Death in part because I've realized with horror that this mentality has swept, plague-like, through that fandom; people are acting like having a canon queer ship on a small premium cable show in 2022 is world-changing and unprecedented while also kind of ignoring everything that isn't the central ship (including valid criticisms of how this takes a real-world plantation owner and turns him into a goofy fop, how there's precious few female characters and none in the main cast, and how the actually far more groundbreaking nb character is pushed aside in favor of the core M/M ship). Spoilers for Good Omens again (sorry in advance, Good Omens 2 was a realization point for me how deeply and widely this rot has set in in some places and I have a bunch of sources of people being like "guys stories require conflict and tension to be good" in response to the overwrought moaning that the story wasn't unambiguously happy) but this is another author responding to the "the desired endpoint of all fiction is obviously to have your ship living in a small house together in bliss and anything else is torment" mentality.

In addition to shipping another factor is, I think, people overidentifying with characters and as such being reluctant to actually put them through any sort of hardship, however minor. I recently reblogged a post about the origin of the concept "Mary Sue" and it led me to read a bit about its history, because it was in fact created by women. It was a woman in the Star Trek fandom who was sick of spending money to buy fanzines (pre-common home internet, let alone pre-Ao3) only to find the vast majority of the stories to be this "here is my self-insert who is perfect and beautiful and pure and every other character thinks she is the greatest even if that's entire OOC". It was a frustration with the abandonment of the characterizations in the original work. And that's true today - I have read a popular Imogen and Laudna fluff fic to see what the deal was and it stripped out so much of their premises and characterizations it was unrecognizeable as them but for the hair colors and occasional cringeworthy attempts to replicate Southern US dialect - but what was notable is that those people were at least being honest and writing OCs (though to be fair a lot of them were also young white teen girls and the only woman in TOS was black and that was probably also a factor). Now, you get people who cannot tolerate any analysis of characters that is less than flattering because instead of having an OC, they are identifying so strongly with, for example, Imogen or Ashton, that they cannot separate out the real character or understand this is not an attack on them (or, to be blunt, as someone who sees some of my own worse traits in both those characters, a necessary critique). It's not shipping, but it is that same "fiction should only ever be a soft blanket or a flattering mirror, never a dark mirror and certainly never a door" mentality.

I do place a little blame on fanfiction itself; I think having something that is roughly made to order and tells you exactly what it is up front means people start to think that is the only way, and that's why we have people claiming Chipotle is the height of cuisine while making gagging noises at the authentic Mexican restaurant except for fiction. I think fanfiction can be great; it's fun to write and I have read some great pieces. But a lot of it is mush and formulaic and as that Mary Sue history points out, always has been.

So anyway, to Bells Hells: I think past campaigns also had a lot of dull fanfiction; I think the Nein lent themselves more to poorly written angst than poorly written fluff but yeah a lot of that was really samey and bland in its own way. Fanfiction has always been formulaic to a degree but I think we're starting to see the generation of people who really have read more of that than like, books, and sure there are shitty books, but man there's a LOT of shitty fanfiction, and increasingly, I find that shitty published books are bad because they're too much like fanfiction. [If I get the chance today I have a post I want to write about the ignorance of fantasy tropes in the current fandom which I think is also driving some of this and which I alluded to in my post about shipping; like, I feel the almost automatic but oddly thought-free resistance to gods and fate and the 'right' way to respond to a tragic backstory comes from this ignorance; this also is a case in the D20 fandom when they've dipped into sci fi.] Shipping definitely is a factor, and I think again C3 has an influx of fans primarily here to ship in that "my ship must become canon and must 'win' for some arbitrary definition thereof" which is probably why so much of the fanfic sucks, but again, this is a larger self-infantilizing and entitled mentality that goes beyond mere ships.

Further reading (mostly my own posts but not exclusively)

The fandom echo chamber (also Good Omens spoilers in a broad sense), not by me

Some discussion on queerphobia being inserted only as a tool to assist with specific shipping narratives (I think this ties in again to like. people need obstacles to justify why the characters aren't already in their cottage by the sea but once the characters are together they discard these obstacles even if they are systemic and would still exist, which makes for really bad fanfic bc it's clearly poorly plotted and thought out)

Me on why this campaign isn't good for shipping but a lot of the fandom showed up primarily to ship (might be the post that prompted this ask tbf)

Fandom monocropping (not my post)

My treatise on Imogen and Laudna specifically which honestly, even now that they are canon, still largely holds up re: the fandom and a related one about similarly fluff-centric Change is Evil and the highest order of fiction is Two Blorbos In A House With Zero Problems mentality (not by me but I've been part of that discussion)

#answered #Anonymous #long post

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grayintogreen · 3 months

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OKAY SO. I am (and this is obvious for my followers as opposed to this tag), I am currently running headlong towards the ending of my huge CR longfic, but I have started to develop my next project. Not sure when I'll start posting because if I do it too soon it's going to be hard to keep up with it and YCDHN and I do NOT WANT THAT, so I'm gonna poke at it casually while seeing how much of YCDHN I can write before I come back from my posting hiatus in March. If it looks like I'm making a lot of headway in getting the next three chapters written, we'll see.

SO WHAT IS THIS NEXT PROJECT? Glad you asked.

learn that even death may die is going to be a Hazbin Hotel fic that goes AU after 1x06 (due to that being where I started plotting it). The official summary is as follows:

When Lucifer agrees to seal his powers to set an example of humility to buy more time for the Hotel to work, Adam and the Exorcists scheme with the Vees in order to take the Hazbin Hotel down once and for all. Meanwhile, Alastor has a little secret that he'd like to be through with that would change the face of Hell if anyone knew...

And Husk has caught feelings, which is unrelated to all of the above.

It's a plotty, ensemble piece, featuring Found Family dynamics, Alastor and Lucifer being each others' biggest haters, Husk and Angel in a bodyguard AU for reasons, and the kind of plot you can expect from the idiot who brought you two million words about Cree Deeproots.

Here's an extended preview of the first chapter. Spread the word! Get hype! It's something I'm really excited to work on when I've gotten a lot more progress on my YCDHN backlog.

The last week had been… Harrowing, to say the least. The Extermination had been personal- deeply personal- and while no one at the Hotel had fallen, the line of angelic spears stabbed into the ground outside with demon heads proudly spelling out YOU CAN’T HIDE FOREVER (Vaggie had noted that was such a waste of spears) had made the message clear. This was going to continue and next time they wouldn’t be so lucky.

She didn’t know when the next would come- back to a year or another six months or another week. She had paced, relentlessly, as the Hotel put itself back in order and those who had been injured licked their wounds. Husk, in particular, had survived a scuffle with Adam, himself, and while he didn’t appreciate the warm embrace he got for his bravery, she didn’t know how else to thank him aside from maybe a very expensive bottle of booze at Angel’s suggestion, which he did like and seemed to like even more when she told him it had been Angel’s idea.

That should have been something she lit on! Something that she could really sink her teeth into and do something about! Were Angel and Husk an item? Was there unspoken tension? What would that do for Angel’s suitability to Heaven? Surely, a stable, monogamous relationship could only-

But no. She’d let that thought slide out of her mind with barely more than a hum, never mind a full number about it. Her mind had to be on the Hotel and protecting it. She couldn’t even do a lesson plan in these conditions! Activities had ground to a halt in favor of ‘work together to clean up the corpses.’ She was going to scream or bite or… or something.

Vaggie helped. She always did. The initial shock of learning about her being an angel had passed and while there had been some distance in the month leading up to the Extermination, Vaggie’s dedication to her remained absolute and she had nearly gotten herself killed multiple times to make up for what she felt were her sins in the past.”

”Demons kill each other and that’s different,” she’d said when Charlie told her that no one in the Hotel, save herself, was fully clean of demon blood.”They aren’t killing because they think everyone here deserves to die. It’s different.”

So that was still sort of a whole unresolved thing too, and that was just before her father kicked the door in, ready to throw down because he had one rule when his hand was forced about the Extermination and that was not putting his family in direct harm. Getting him to do more than fume and fuss over it had occupied a lot of time she didn’t actually have, but the end result had led her here… Back to Heaven.

With her father.

Outside the golden gates, he stood ramrod straight, fingers clenched so tightly around the head of his cane she was certain his fingers would grip right to the core. She glanced at his shaking hands and laid her own over them. “Dad, it’s okay.”

“I haven’t been back to Heaven in… Oooh.” He whistled. “Awhile. It’s…” He tugged his collar. “Not actually full of great memories, y’know, sweetie?” He leaned over to whisper. “Maybe we should just go back down and work on this on a lower level. I know some phenomenal wards. You think that dusty radio guy has moves? Your dad has better moves. I invented some of those runes he uses. My wards- pristine.”

She wrinkled her nose and pulled him closer to the front desk. “Daaaad, come on. It’ll be fine. I think things will actually work out this time if you’re here.”

“Really? ‘Cause I feel like they’re gonna go much worse.” As if to prove it, the second the pair strode towards the desk, St. Peter nearly flung the guestbook to reach for something underneath the desk. Charlie had to lunge to stop his hand from hitting a button with a very familiar runic symbol on it- fuck, they had a Lucifer button.

“Wait wait wait! He’s not- we’re not here to cause any trouble. We just need to talk to Sera- or Emily. Actually, I’d rather talk to Emily, if it’s… all the same.” She shot him a winning smile.

Behind her, Lucifer was making what could only be described as a ‘stink face.’ “This is going greeeeat. Are you sure about this, Charlie? It’s not too late to go back.”

“Dad!”

“Charlie!” A winged shape suddenly burst free of the Gates and wrapped tight arms around her middle. Unable to resist, Charlie wrapped her arms around the gray-clad form as well and spun her around. “Emily!”

“Oh my Heavens, Charlie, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Emily pulled away to grip Charlie’s hands so tightly that it was a pleasant kind of crushing. Like a weighted blanket. She leaned forward to whisper, “I’ve been doing all I can. There are angels who truly believe this isn’t right. Sera has told me to give it up, that doubting leads to Falling, because-“

Both girls looked askance at Lucifer, fiddling with the head of his cane awkwardly, that vapid look he got when he was overwhelmed making it clear that he’d stopped paying attention.

Charlie, for the first time daring to doubt, whispered back in a nervous high-pitched lilt, “Iiiis it bad that I brought him here?”

“No! I… I don’t think.” Emily frowned. “I should warn Sera, of course.” She stepped back and approached Lucifer, who flinched like he was about to be scolded- oh dad how badly did the angels hurt you. “Greetings, Morningstar,” she said, bowing a bit. “It is an honor to meet you. I was only a fledgling when you Fell.”

“For the record, I didn’t Fall. I was pushed.” Lucifer, seeing Emily’s own flinch, immediately softened and underneath all the anxiety, Charlie caught a glimpse of the angel her father had been once as he ducked his head and accepted her greeting graciously and with the genteel quality of true nobility. “Thank you for being courteous about this. Tell the High Seraph that we won’t take up any of her time. We… have a deal to renegotiate. It seems Adam’s legions have forgotten what we agreed long ago.”

Emily bobbed her head with a grin and slipped through a portal, leaving St. Peter to anxiously open the Gates without his usual aplomb. Charlie strolled through and Lucifer, feeling somewhat more confident after seeing how Emily treated him, tapped the poor angel’s desk with his cane. “Keep up the good work, Pete.”

The promenade was still full of people dancing about in a joyous display of virtue and peace, but now looking at it, all she saw were people who had somehow gotten lucky. She tried to find a commonality in any of them, something that she could take back and use to prove her point, but there didn’t seem to be a single thing these people had that hers didn’t… besides, you know, the fixation on sin and murder. And, honestly, some of them might have that too, hidden under the surface. Look at Adam.

“Heyyyy, Short Stack! How’s it goin’?”

Speak of the fucking prick.

Every fiber of Charlie’s body reached for Hellfire and only her father’s iron-tight grip on her shoulder kept her from exploding in a rush of demonic energy. Her horns appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye and she focused on deep, healing breaths as Adam, the walking canker sore, swaggered up to them on the promenade.

“They’ll let anyone in here these days, huh?” Adam planted his hands on his hips and grinned. Behind him, Lute bristled.

“Funny. I was gonna say the same thing about you. Hah!” Lucifer barked. All that anxiety he’d worn outside had been cast aside like an old coat- something about Adam had struck the same nerve that Alastor had only in a different key. A beat, and then: “No seriously, how did you get in here? I was there, remember. You also ate the apple. It was a, uh, whole thing, actually.”

“Yeah, but I did it second.” He reached into his ear with his pinky to dislodge a bit of wax and flicked it across the golden streets. “That counts for something.”

Still lingering on the angels’ wishy-washy answer about how precisely one gets into Heaven and with the proof that there wasn’t some actual code to follow right before her eyes, Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and fought the urge to scowl. Scowling gives you lines that make your smiles less effective. Everyone knew that.

“How’s the wifey, by the by, Lucy? Still smokin’?” Adam slammed a hand into a fist. “Oh wait. I forgot. You two are hella divorced, amirite?”

“We are not divorced.” Lucifer began to panic, whipping to Charlie like he expected her to believe any of that shit. There was something in his eyes that spoke volumes about the truth of what was going on with him and Lilith that she would have to unpack later- she hadn’t asked before. It was too painful to bring up. “We- we’re on a break. Yeah, a break. Just a break.” He swallowed, leaned on his cane, and adjusted his stance. “Which is more than I can say for you and yours. How is Eve, by the way? Oh waaaait! She’s in Hell. With me. Just like your first wife. Hah. Man, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say one of us knows how to treat a woman.” Another pause. He leaned into Adam’s space and whispered. “It’s me.”

Adam’s ghoulish face screwed up in disgust. “Yeah, okay, pal, you just drink your ‘respect women’-” are the air quotes necessary? really?, “- juice. You can use it to gargle after you lick my balls.”

“Adam,” Sera’s voice said, coarsely, snapping him to attention with a mumbled aw fuck mom’s home.

She hovered as glorious as ever with her six wings, towering over Lucifer as she landed between him and Adam, shunting him out of her space and into Lute’s. Charlie and Emily both shot him sour looks and held hands in solidarity as they watched the fallen Morningstar engage with the High Seraph for the first time in millenniums.

The seconds ticked on in agonizing awkward silence. Lucifer’s throat bobbed. “High Seraph.”

“Morningstar,” Sera murmured, politely, her shoulders tense. Another long moment of silence followed- clearly she was waiting for Lucifer to explain himself. Charlie’s palms started to sweat, but not Emily’s. Angels apparently didn’t sweat. Her grip alone, however, spoke to her anxiety matching Charlie’s.

Lucifer’s jaw trembled and he finally, finally yanked himself together again. “Maybe we can talk about this somewhere more private? The street is… Open.”

Indeed, they were starting to attract attention. People might not recognize Lucifer on sight these days, but that apple and snake motif was sort of painfully obvious when you thought about it for a moment. Sera gave a nod and circled her fingers in the air to open another portal. “Certainly. Come into my office.”

Adam started to follow and Lucifer thrust his cane to stop him. “No, no. Not you. Seraphs only.”

Adam snarled and lowered the staff. “Your piece of hellsnatch daughter ain’t a seraph, Little Man.”

Charlie saw her father’s eyes light up with a fire she only saw when he had to be in a room with Alastor. “What did you say about my daughter?”

“Dad.”

“You want me to say it louder? Or do you want me to moan it, Daddy?” Adam leered.

“That’s enough!” Emily snapped before Sera could, her small form crowding into Adam’s space, all of her angelic eyes open and glowering daggers at the lesser angel. He shrank back. “There will be no more disrespect in this room. Adam, this concerns you, so you will be allowed entry, but please keep your mouth shut.”

Charlie felt her heart squish as Emily brushed off her dress and then strolled through the portal, nose primly in the air. Sera, lips pressed together, only gave a sober nod and followed.

“How come he-“ Adam snarled, but Lute gripped his arm and pushed him into the portal.

“Pick your battles, sir.”

“I wanna pick this one,” he whined as he vanished into the Seraph’s study. Lucifer and Charlie lingered for a moment- one with hope in her heart and the other rapidly descending into the pit of despair after just seconds of glorious, if not damning and futile, wrath. She reached for his hand.

“C’mon, dad. You got this.”

The soft smile melted her heart even more than Emily’s protection had. He stood on his toes to pull her into an embrace and give her a kiss on the head- more to comfort himself than her, she was sure, but she didn’t mind. He hopped through the portal and she followed into an austerely decorated space. Painfully minimalist. Ooh this was not a side of Heaven she liked at all. There wasn’t even art on the walls. Just gray slate with a huge plate-glass window behind the bare desk. Not a single knickknack to distract from its function.

Sera slid into the seat behind the desk, while Emily stood at attention next to her, hands clasped in front of her, eyes still fixed on Adam, daring him to speak. He skulked in the background, intentionally toying with the boring book-laden shelves- also free of knickknacks and personal touches- by running his fingers on the spines or pulling them out and pretending to read them before tossing them at Lute to put back with a bored eyeroll.

Conjured chairs were produced for Lucifer and Charlie, which they took, gladly. With everyone who was going to settle having done so, Sera sighed.

“Let’s talk, Lucifer. What brings you back to Heaven? You were told to never come back.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfic #hazbin hotel lucifer #charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin hotel emily #hazbin hotel sera #my writing #learn that even death may die

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aeor-is-for-reccing · 1 year

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Fic Recs: Old Favorites!

This week, we have a recurring theme - older favorites! Look below the cut to see 15 recs for fics published before the finale (or thereabouts). As always, if you like them, try to give comments and kudos - especially on older works, they tend to get ignored!

To Love Something Small by Jakia (9662,Teen) Warnings: None

Essek's point of view during the campaign, and an imagined afterwards

Reccer says: I love how they capture Essek's initial arrogance but also allow for some growth and depth in change

and who could make this heart their home? by eldritch_beau (7042,Teen) Warnings: None

The night after the peace talks, Essek gets drunk. Caleb visits him.

Reccer says: It's very tender and allows for Caleb's anger along with Essek's guilt.

That Carnivorous Dark by Cers (88169,Mature) Warnings: Angst, grief, bioweaponry, torture

After returning to Rosohna from Rumblecusp, the Mighty Nein discover that Essek has been kidnapped and brought to the Vergesson Sanatorium

Reccer says: Good angsty fic with an emotionally devastating sequel. There's a great exploration of emotions and trauma, while staying in character. Also, as a bonus, this is by the same author as "The Fullness of Time" so if you liked that work you'll probably like this one too :)

Return to the Earth by LadyOrpheus (2920,Teen) Warnings: Main Character Death

From the fic: Centuries after the adventures of the Mighty Nein a pair of old friends meet, remember, and contemplate. Essek returns to the Grove after a long and full life to visit old friends.

Reccer says: This is one of the first CR fics I read, and I remember sobbing my way through it in the most cathartic ways. It's heavy, but beautiful in the weight of emotion that it weaves through and the sense of care and love.

Lacuna by Sangreal (94811,Explicit) Warnings: Creator Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings - check the tags and author's note for more details

An alternate take on Essek being found out for his crimes, and the aftermath of what happens next.

Reccer says: This one is full of interesting circumstances, where it asks the question of if a part of your memories that make you /you/ are removed, who would you be if you could choose? It's fascinating, full of character moments and detailed prose.

impossible magic by royalgreen (allyoop) (2112,Mature) Warnings: Torture, Whump, Angst, Blood and Injury

Essek is captured by an enemy that does not underestimate him. His magic is now completely blocked and all hope is gone. And yet.....someone hears him. Someone comes.

Reccer says: The mystery and worldbuilding is so excellent. Written during the hiatus, before we knew Essek was in Eiselcross, great alternate take on what could have been.

hopeful hearts by royalgreen (allyoop) (3108,Teen) Warnings: No archive warnings apply

Misfortune has led to Essek needing to hide with the Nein in Caleb's tower, but it is a beautiful place to be hidden within. Essek receives a tour of the tower....as well as something else magical he hadn't quite expected.

Reccer says: The pining and softness is so good. A warm cozy blanket of a fic.

the delicate thing you prize so much by mousecookie (13375,Teen) Warnings: None

Essek escapes the stress and isolation of his life with lucid dreaming, until the Mighty Nein (and Caleb especially) disrupt all his patterns and Essek's waking and sleeping world both spiral out of his control.

Reccer says: A portrait of loneliness with a nice ending, and the dream descriptions are cool.

rational animals by the_littlest_goblin (11963,Mature) Warnings: None

A post-canon fic spawned from Liam's infamous 'they could be spymasters' -- a version of post-campaign life of Essek and Caleb working as spymasters and spending quality time with each other around it.

Reccer says: It's fun, witty, the banter is great as is the way the different dynamics have been built. I reread this one frequently. It's an interesting view on if Caleb ended up in the archmage position and the CA was wiped out in a different way.

by his hands by wytch-lyghts (flight_on_broken_wings) (4182,Explicit) Warnings: None

A darker moment at the Vurmas Outpost where Essek teaches Caleb Dark Star.

Reccer says: This is full of the wizards leaning into their darker sides and the temptations that it offers. Incredible tension throughout as Essek tests Caleb's concentration in a hands-on way.

Tundra by KmacKatie (4791,Explicit) Warnings: none

Caleb and Essek are caught in a blizzard and have to find some way to keep warm

Reccer says: Nothing

My Life and Its Work in Exchange For Yours by Alipopsie (3234,Teen) Warnings: Major Character Death (temporary)

The Mighty Nein TPK and Essek spends years trying to get them back.

Reccer says: Nothing

proof by contradiction by Chrome (19620,Teen) Warnings: Psychic violence (not depicted but discussed)

Essek is captured by the Cerberus Assembly, Beau asked Dairon to help get him out.

Reccer says: It is beautifully written and super interesting, especially from Dairon's point of view

Unbinding by hanap (20605,Teen) Warnings: None

Incredible coming of age fic featuring Essek, pre- and post-M9.

Reccer says: So much great Dynasty lore in this fic, especially around the tradition of wearing braids!

It used to be if you don't like it you could leave by thought (24252,Teen) Warnings: none!

In which the humans do a politics, the Xhorhasians learn about potato's, and everyone decides five hundred years of living in disguise and on the run isn't actually a great life plan, Essek.

Reccer says: I love the homeliness of Essek and Yasha's lives as Rexxentrum housewives and the wizards' dumb pining. This is a very comforting read!

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. And hey! Don't forget to leave comments and kudos for the lovely authors! Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week’s theme is: Over 100,000 words!

#critical role #campaign 2 #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #Shadowgast #cr fic recs #critrole fic recs

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swaps55 · 1 year

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WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant. Thank you!!

Tagging @crescentbunny, @cr-noble-writes, @pigeontheoneandonly, @urrone if you feel so inclined!

This is from Mezzo, the next fic in Opus:

“Talk,” Shepard says. “Or I put a bullet in your skull.”

Jacob draws in another breath, willing it not to hurt, buying precious seconds to think. How the hell do you tell someone they’ve come back from the dead?

“I’m not your enemy,” Jacob repeats. “We brought you here to save your life.”

“From what,” Shepard says, like spitting a nail.

Jacob’s eyes dart across Shepard’s face and the scar marring his cheek like a pane of fractured glass. Miranda had wondered how much he’d remember when they woke him up. Fuck. Fuck.

“The Normandy was destroyed in an encounter with an unknown vessel over Alchera two years ago,” he croaks.

Something in Shepard’s eyes flickers. It isn’t natural.

“You were killed,” Jacob hurries on. “You were recovered and brought here to Project Lazarus. Our job was to bring you back.”

“Bullshit,” Shepard hisses, grip tightening ever so slightly. Jacob swallows.

“You got spaced,” Jacob tells him, figuring the cold, hard truth is the best and maybe only option he has. “Exposed to hard vacuum. Your body got hauled out of orbit around Alchera. We’ve been putting you back together ever since. And now the station is under attack and we have to get you out of here so it wasn’t for nothing!”

Silence. For the first time, Shepard looks at him rather than through him, like a predator locking in on its prey.

“Where’s my crew,” he says, voice quiet. The deadly kind of quiet that precedes a storm.

“Survivors were rescued by an Alliance ship,” Jacob says, fighting back the desperation creeping in around the edges. Miranda had written a speech to catch him up to the present. Sell him on Cerberus. Win his trust. There had been a plan.

“Casualties,” Shepard barks. It’s the second question out of his mouth that isn’t a question at all. It’s a threat. And Jacob hesitates one beat too long. “Tell me or I pull this trigger.”

#snippet #i am really enjoying disoriented and angry sam #jacob is not

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cryoculus · 1 year

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— reparations (masterlist) ⟢

running a business in hanamizaka was one thing—but doing so in the turf of the arataki gang was something else entirely. although, as long as you paid rent on time, they assured that you wouldn't run into any trouble.

...that's until the boss crashed his motorcycle into your shop, inviting all sorts of trouble along the way.

★ FEATURING; arataki itto x gn!reader

★ WORD COUNT; 74k and counting

★ STATUS; ongoing

★ TAGS; modern au, flower shop au, slow burn, idiots to lovers, tooth-rotting fluff, mutual pining, no smut, sfw

★ NOTES; this is the fic that i started before we even got itto as a playable character, and the same one i have Yet to finish two years since his release lmfao i hope you enjoy what i have so far!

★ HEADER ART CR; onimotimo on twt

✧ one: a man walks into a bar— no, smashes his bike into your shop: what do you do? (5.3k words)

✧ two: what resumé? i'm hiring myself as your number one helper! (5.3k words)

✧ three: knocking on heaven's (read: my employer's) door (5.9k words)

✧ four: revealing someone else’s tragic backstory is NOT cool, okay? (4.4k words)

✧ five: i have a very marketable skill called “jumping to conclusions”

✧ six: do i get a gold star for doing a great job or no?

✧ seven: question: if someone likes you, are you required to like them back?

✧ eight: making plans when you already have plans is a different kind of stupid

✧ nine: it only takes four hours to make or break someone’s day [april 20]

✧ ten: how about we just hug it out like a bunch of bros? [april 20]

✧ eleven: falling in love is the worst experience ever; i give it a 0 out of 10 [april 22]

✧ twelve: signs of maturity: having healthy conversations & going to the grocery store without minding your budget [april 22]

✧ thirteen: the fake dating trope only works in theory, NEVER in practice [april 27]

✧ fourteen: psa: you can only call it a first kiss if all parties consent to it! [april 27]

★ DISCLAIMER; since this was written when some of inazuma's lore + characters weren't released yet, expect some inconsistencies w canon (especially with shinobu's appearance)

★ UPDATE SCHED; every thurs & sat (12 nn gmt+8)

‼️ A NOTICE FROM KAI; chapters that are running behind schedule will be posted sometime around May! Apologies for the delay :(

#genshin impact #genshin #arataki itto x reader #arataki itto smut #arataki itto genshin #arataki itto x you #cryoculus #reparations

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otemporanerys · 3 months

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2023 Year-End Fic Round Up

Got tagged by @cr-noble-writes and @swaps55 - thanks both!

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!): ooof. So according to AO3, I published 118,559 words. I also did a lot of work on the Playing the Long Game rewrite, but as I keep all the chapters in separate word docs, cba to add them up - so maybe add an extra 40k or so there?

Smut scenes written (if applicable): Let's see, there's 4 in the bits of LBEL I published this year, then I did three very smutty oneshots. Call it 7.

New things I tried: Not fic, but I did the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge! It was a lot of fun.

Fic I spent the most time on: Oh absolutely LBEL, but it was definitely worth it! Finished my first novel-length fic 🙌

Fic I spent the least time on: Priceless sprung from my head fully formed like the goddess Athena. I love it so much

Favourite thing I wrote: LBEL, obviously, was a great achievement, but I'm having lots of fun poking away at the childhood friends rewrite

Favourite thing I read: OTHER than my Spec Recs gifts (thank you all so much) and Generational Talent by @misseffect (I think I'd read it all in beta before it was posted 😅) - I really enjoyed Illicit Affairs by @jtownnn and Waiting for Yesterday by @kalliesa

Writing goals for next year: I would like to get to a point where I feel all right posting childhood friends rewrite. Also I'd like to finish the species swap-verse Vakarian parents fic! It would also be great if my witcher motivation came back from the war

Tagging @misseffect @dispatchwithlove @diaphanouso @dwarrowdams and anyone else who wants to play!

#tag meme #fic chat #2023 roundup #fic rec

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waltwhitmansbeard · 5 months

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a my fair lady playlist

a year ago today i posted the first chapter of my fair lady, which was supposed to be a little thing that i just needed to get out of my head after reading @romeoandjulietyouwish's for the love of a princess. 144 chapters and one year of obsession later, what i got is my biggest writing project to date. it was also my first real foray into the cr fandom, which has since become, frankly, the biggest part of my life, and i'm just endlessly grateful to each of you who read and interacted with mfl in any way. i'm so lucky to have gotten to share this with all of you.

so to celebrate, i have assembled a way-too-long playlist inspired by the events of mfl. the songs represent the moments and feelings that most stood out to me (or that i could find an appropriate song for, lol). it was fun trying to remember everything that happened (as of rn the entire fic is 450 pages in google docs so...there's a lot) and piece together the story through song. i've written a little blurb to justify each choice in the cut below, but you can listen to the playlist on spotify here! thanks again for sticking around!

1. "My Fair Lady" - KALEO as the song from which i took all the titles for the series, i couldn't not start off with this one. i can't even hear this song now without thinking of mfl.

2. "Security" - Joss Stone since this is a song about being there for a friend in a time of crisis, i thought it was the perfect choice for the beginning of keyleth and percy's lifelong friendship. percy showed up in zephrah traumatized and barely holding it together, and keyleth was the rock that kept him from collapsing.

3. "Best of Friends" - Pearl Bailey marisha put this one on one of her keyleth playlists to represent keyleth and percy, and she was right! is there any better song for those two growing up as best friends?

4. "Fountain" - Sara Lov keyleth grew up under the shadow of her mother's loss and the pressure of a nation's expectations. someone give this child a BREAK!

5. "Uptown Girl" - Billy Joel oh, you think this is about vax and keyleth? WRONG. percy is an uptown girl and vex is his downtown man coming to shake his world.

6. "Stay Awake" - London Grammar how many nights did keyleth and vax stay up with the moon, learning to love each other? who did they become with no one but the shadows and each other to watch them grow?

7. "goodnight n go" - Ariana Grande this song just gives me such intense vex vibes. she wants so bad to get percy out from under her skin but no dice, he's there to stay.

8. "Foolish Thing" - Darren Criss vax knows that he absolutely cannot be catching feelings for the princess for any number of reasons. but that doesn't stop him from being a dumbfuck in love!

9. "Sacrilege" - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs keyleth knows that she absolutely cannot be catching feelings for her guard for any number of reasons. but that doesn't stop her from being a dumbfuck in love!

10. "You Get Me" - Michelle Branch even though she grew up royalty, keyleth never felt like she fit in in her own world. she was always different, out of place. but vax sees her strange edges and knows the shape they make.

11. "Dreams" - Caroline Glaser keyleth is down bad! she can't sleep without vax there, and vax is more than happy to reassure her that she's it for him.

12. "Take Me to Church" - Hozier this is my pick for some night just seem forever lasting, because if there's one thing vax is gonna do it's worship on his knees at keyleth's altar.

13. "Holy" - King Princess keyleth is busy with a nation and a war but she has time at the end of the day to fuck her man, and that's what really matters.

14. "Into You" - Ariana Grande this one is for the true sluts of the castle, vex and percy. stay horny, you absolute lovesick fools.

15. "River of Tears" - Alessia Cara just absolute depression and forlorn longing from vax and keyleth both when they're forced to be apart. drama queens, the both of them.

16. "The Lightning Strike (Part I: What If This Storm Ends?)" - Snow Patrol remember that time keyleth summoned lightning and used it to strike a bunch of attackers dead? so do i, and so does vax. it was his first time being confronted with the possibilities of the wild power she wields, and it definitely isn't something he was ever going to forget.

17. "Rich Youth" - Hayley Kiyoko keyleth and tiberius were both raised in the shadow of powerful fathers, and they came together to advocate for a future that represents the nations they want to lead.

18. "My Immortal" - Evanescence thank you to @ravendruid for the suggestion! does anything say vaxleth more than melodramatic longing? this song is for all the lingering heartbreak as they tried (and ultimately failed) to stay apart for so long.

19. "I Don't Mind" - Darren Criss one of my favorite pieces of writing from mfl was keyleth's proposal to vax. he's so convinced that she'd be better off without him, and all she wants to do is convince him that he's worth all the trouble waiting them.

20. "Love Story" - Taylor Swift forgive me for adding taylor swift to this list but you gotta admit, it's very appropriate for the vaxleth wedding.

21. "Dancing in the Rain" - Johannes Bornlöf let me be indulgent! this is the song i picked to play while reading the wedding chapter, so ofc it makes the list.

22. "The Deal" - Mitski thank you to @crispysnake for the suggestion! i mean, this is absolutely vax carrying his dead wife's body beneath the castle and striking a deal with the raven queen to bring her back. it's like it's what the song was written for.

23. "Castle" - Halsey just big keyleth charging to the throne room to demand her father release vax energy with this one.

24. "Growing, Growing, Gone" - Theo Katzman korrin was confronted very suddenly with the reality that his little girl wasn't a little girl anymore. she has a whole life ahead of her that is outside of him, and that's hard for a dad to come to terms with.

25. "Kiki (feat. Iron and Wine)" - Rett Madison y'all, the way i SCREAMED when i first heard this song on rett's new album!!! i just imagine vilya trying to reach out to keyleth, to let her know that she's been watching and of course, of course she's proud of her, of course she approves of vax, of course she wants nothing more than for her baby girl to happy.

26. "Wildflowers (Tom Petty Cover)" - Miley Cyrus this song makes me thing of the little cottage on the hill, and of korrin's wish for his daughter to have a place where she feels free. he knows that the castle has never really felt like her home, and so he gives her and her new husband a place they can build a home for themselves.

27. "Bubbly" - Colbie Caillat this song is just the pinnacle of happy love. it's vax and keyleth waking up in their bed, in their house, in their love's arms. it's happiness.

28. "Sunday Morning" - Maroon 5 remember that time vex was like "this was fun but i gotta go home" and percy was like "but what if i was home?" and fluttered his lashes like a harlot? me too.

29. "Family Tree" - Matthew West pending fatherhood is terrifying, especially when your own father is a sack of shit. of course vax would doubt his own ability to be for his child what syldor couldn't be for him and vex.

30. "A Woman's Work" - Kate Bush the definitive anthem for women creating life. keyleth is a goddess for so many reason but especially for making a literal person.

31. "Dear Theodosia" - Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton just DAD feelings up in this bitch! vax is a dad and korrin is a dad and percy (eventually) is a dad! also there's a new nation coming just around the corner! the perfect song!

32. "Brother Run Fast" - KALEO to me, this song represents vax and percy's understanding that the horrors of percy's past are coming for vax's present, and the two of them will stop at nothing to fix what was broken. they are both desperate for forgiveness they do not need, and they are both determined to keep the other on course.

33. "Yours & Mine" - Lucy Dacus imagine telling keyleth of the air ashari to sit at home while her family and friends venture out to save her daughter's life. IMAGINE!

34. "Trials - Demo" - London Grammar what is keyleth and vax's relationship if not an endless gauntlet of trials from which they must continually find their way back to each other?

35. "Delilah" - Florence + the Machine this song is just...everything. it's delilah and sylas. it's cass and the ghosts of the castle she's caged in. it's vilya, crying out for her mother. it's keyleth, coming to kick ass with a daylight spell. it's percy, reclaiming what was his all along.

36. "Show Me the Way" - Styx vax went THRU IT during gocmh, and his turning to the raven queen was a move of absolute desperation. he needed his matron's guidance not only to get his daughter back, but to put the pieces of his life back together.

37. "Glory and Gore" - Lorde what can i say? vox machina fucks shit up.

38. "Work Song" - Hozier percy may die twice but that ain't gonna stop him from simping for vex.

39. "Happiness" - The Fray this song is about happiness, but it has such a melancholic sound to it, which really works for baby vilya's return to zephrah. yes she's home, which is an immense relief, but she's brought home to a tragedy. nothing is simple.

40. "Kingdom of One" - Maren Morris hey vallen: get fucked.

41. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" - Billy Joel this is, to me, the ultimate father-daughter song, and in the context of mfl it makes me think of the unfinished letter keyleth found in her father's room after his death. just a reminder that even after someone dies, their love for those they leave behind never will.

42. "Starts With Goodbye" - Carrie Underwood i don't know what it's like to fundamentally reshape the structure of an entire nation in order to secure a more stable future for your child, but i imagine it feels like this!

43. "Matchstick" - American Royalty thank you to @ravendruid for the suggestion! sometimes self-care is setting the man who murdered your parents and helped kidnap your daughter on fire.

44. "Chords" - The Amazing Devil parents play such a big part in the story of mfl. the absence of keyleth's mother, the fact that her father is also a king, korrin being a father to percy, the twins confronting the father they fled, and of course, vaxleth and perc'ahlia becoming parents themselves. if there's anything they can take away from all of the heartbreak, it's wanting the best for their children, at the cost of everything else.

45. "Everywhere, Everything" - Noah Kahan had to end on some noah kahan in order to keep @crispysnake from gnawing at the bars of their enclosure. again, just the absolute vaxleth melodrama of "wanna love you til we're food for the worms to eat, til our fingers decompose." disgusting. i love them so much.

#my fair lady #critical role #mfl 1yr

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piratespencil · 10 months

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Ashton Greymoore for the character ask meme

First impression: I was obsessed with them from the start tbh. When the first ep of c3 dropped I hadn't started watching cr yet but I had enough cr mutuals that I saw all the new characters and when I saw that two of them were a nb rock guy and their nb robot friend?? I was obsessed. Instant favourites.

Impression now: I was correct lol. Ashton and FCG are still tied for my c3 faves.

Favorite moment: There are sooo many moments but the bit where Ludinus casts feeblemind (or something?) on Kadija, and Ashton comes in and is just... so gentle with her... That bit hit me sooo hard and is still my favourite Ashton moment. I think it's such a good representation of who Ashton is, the way he cares so fiercely for people who've been hurt by the world, and the way you can tell that he understands what it's like when your mind is working against you... ohhhh boy.

Idea for a story: I want to write a Fearne/Ashton/Chetney ot3 fic so bad lol. I think there is soooo much potential with those three.

Unpopular opinion: I actually really like Ashton's character design? I've seen a lot of people redesign Ashton bc they don't like the red clothes with the purple and green skin, or they don't like drawing the crystal hair... But I never found their look to be clashy? I also think it's fun that in a world where people have unnatural hair and skin colours, they won't necessarily be matching their clothes to their hair and skin lol...

(But also I have no problem with people who do redesign them! Redesigns are fun!)

Favorite relationship: Ooh that's tough... Ashton and Orym have sooo much potential and sooo many great scenes together and I can't wait to see how their relationship evolves, platonic or romantic... But also special shoutout to Ashton's relationships with FCG and Chetney and Fearne because I love those ones a lot too.

Favorite headcanon: Literally anything that @masterqwertster has written in their Rockin' It series has been adopted into my genasi biology headcanons... That series is great.

(Feel free to send me more characters for this ask meme!)

#thank you for the ask!! i love ashton sooo much #i tried not to make this too long lol but there is soo much i could say about them #critical role #cr3 #ashton greymoore #ask meme #kk talks about stuff #kk watches cr3

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inevitablestars · 6 months

Text

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @pretentiouswreckingball and @messrsage

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

11 currently

2. whats your total ao3 word count?

328,919 which is kinda insane i did not realize it was that much... and like thinking about how much i have that's unposted is... woah

3. what fandoms do you write for?

just marauders atm

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

you're the only good thing in my life, i regret you all the time, look what you made me do, touch, the stars that bind us

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

most of the time if i remember to

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

arguably i regret you all the time but most of them are angsty endings

7. what is a fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

ummmmm if we're going long fics, bite the hand will have the happiest ending... if one shots are included then probably you're the only good thing in my life or any smutshot

8. do you get hate on fics?

not typically but i have gotten some previously

9. do you write smut? if so what kind?

i do and a variety i have a few smutshots and some smut within fics, nothing crazy

10. do you write crossovers?

i do not and don't think i ever would

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

luckily no!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

no i haven't!

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

yes <3 currently writing a fic with gabby (it'll all work out)

14. whats your all time favorite ship?

wolfstar

15. whats a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

right now it's the stars that bind us, it's been a while since writing it and i have so many things planned for it but no time or motivation and i just don't know if i'll get back to it but if i find love for it again i will try

16. what are your writing strengths?

um. i feel like i'm good at giving depth to the characters and really making them feel real

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i think i have a lot but i'm blanking now... like actually sitting down to write or finding a good balance of dialogue and prose or oh actually Starting a chapter or fic or anything is soooo hard i hate it

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

if it fits! i think it can add a great layer to a fic

19. first fandom you wrote for?

one direction.

20. favorite fic youve written?

currently it's bite the hand my darling baby

no pressure tagging (also sorry if you've already done it or been tagged!): @otrtbs @anouri @cr-amber @grimjobs @nevvaraven

#tag games

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llycaons · 5 months

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rightt i love the cql ending i think it was needed for them to go their separate ways. soo many cql haters bring up the ending as their main point for why it sucks. its as if they forget they reunite at the very end. also ive seen soo many weird fics where they hate on lz for “leaving wy and abandoning him” when thats such bs 😭 there was a fic summary where it was like ‘novel lz sees cql wy traveling alone and they get together’ like huh?? wy doesnt know that man and he loves HIS lz get over it

literally get OVER it lmao wwx didn't literally say 'WHEN I come back I want to hear the name of the song' (meaning he knows its significance and plans to RETURN and confess/hear lwj's confession) and lwj didn't say "I have long since known it' (meaning he's been in love w wwx for many years and knows it/plans to tell him) for wwx to LEAVE his star-crossed beloved of over two decades in order to shack up with some yellow-eyed weirdo who already has his own wwx who's into the same shit as he is? like. we HEAR lwj say wwx's name at the end, SEE wwx turn and smile. not to be rude but did these people watch the finale to the very end? are they stupid? what do they think is about to happen? lwj is going to say "oh it's you. I don't want to see you again, wei ying. being cc is more important to me than you are. I reject you and I will never have sex with you. that's why I came out to this cliff where you're playing the song I wrote for you. bye' and then leave??? lmao. please. PLEASE

plus it was a mutual decision based off of temporarily incompatible needs - lwj didn't abandon him! and if these fans are mad he 'let him go' then all they're saying is they're mad he didn't, what, imprison wwx somewhere he didn't want to be? clearly wwx wanted to travel and couldn't stay at CR, and clearly lwj needed to return to his home and help them all readjust to a shattered lxc and no cc. no it was good they each had time to breathe and they each as individuals needed to deal with things before they could be together

to be completely honest I think I would have liked the finale less if they HADN'T separated. postres, they slowly did become closer and started breaking down the barriers between them, but it was a process with a lot of stops and starts that seemed to stagnate at times. separation was a huge change that felt like it pushed their relationship into something new and resulted in an event so significant it was like they couldn't even show it. it was a really powerful choice!

to be fair if people don't like cql or think it's not gay enough or the censorship worked too well that's their business and I'm not going to lecture anyone into liking something they don't like, that's fine. there are little things about the performances and writing choices that annoy me too. but if the separation was written bc of censorship then they still got back together in the end and if the separation was an independent decision, then it was made to serve the story, which as a whole was a genuine and sincere attempt to convey a gay relationship even while being censored. and I do think it served the story and the characters very well. I know people also dislike cc lwj, which I can't fault them for since it's so far from the 'run away from the cultivation world' finale in the ending, but as someone who never read the book my first time watching, it made perfect sense to me. like....canonically wwx planned on returning and canonically lwj was there to greet him. if that hadn't happened, yeah it would have sucked. I would have been miserable. but it didn't! they got their ending together!

#asks #bro if wwx and lwj had not reunited I would have been heartbroken. I would have despised the finale too. but they DID!!!

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zombolouge · 6 months

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twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by the incomparable and enchanting @icescrabblerjerky , and you caught me while I'm already comparing writing stats for other things so this fits in well with that task ;)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 19 baybeee

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 2,319,545. I am. Verbose.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Legend of Zelda, Ace Attorney, Mystic Messenger, and then I wrote the novelization of the song 6969 by Ninja Sex Party and a Caduceus character study for CR.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Indefensible (Ace Attorney) has 1,234 (HA!)

As Bright as the Stars (Mystic Messenger) has 1111 (ALSO HA)

Tearing Down the Heavens (Dragon Age: Inquisition) has 730

Hundred Years in the Making (LoZ: Breath of the Wild) has 627

We Are Ferelden (Dragon Age: Origins) has 271

Genuinely really surprised none of the Mass Effect fics are in this category, I'm so proud of those XD

5. Do you respond to comments? Absolutely always, whenever possible. lol I will also ramble at anyone that asks me questions.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably The Traveler, which I warn you from the very start has a sad ending. It's Dragon Age fic retelling the stories Solas tells of his time dreaming in the Fade, with the trappings of a Doctor Who theme in which he travels through the fade with a series of companions.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh I think probably We Are Ferelden comes closes to a happy ending? Eventually I will give my DA series an actual happy ending though. Most of them end either bittersweet in some way or as a sort of non-ending ending because I know the story continues.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've gotten a wee bit of hate on the Zelda fic, Hundred Years in the Making, but it was fairly mild. I don't really respond to it much though because it's hard for a stranger to say something that will actually hurt my fee fees XD

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh yeah, sure. Most my fics contain smut of some kind. I don't really write smut without plot, though, it's gotta be a natural part of the narrative or I just lose interest.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have not. I just haven't thought of one that caught my attention enough to want to write it down.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of. I have had some lines and suggestions used, but usually that's with credit. lol now I HAVE had jokes and things I've said stolen but that's a bit different.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope! I'd prob be open to it but I'd deffo want credited as the OG author.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! I think it's been orphaned now though lol

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? I CAN'T CHOOSE THIS. But prob Shakarian.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I will finish all my WIPs, how dare you doubt me. (The Traveler would have been my choice for this but I FINISHED IT NOW MOTHERFUCKER)

16. What are your writing strengths? Words....go many. Big words. lmao honestly I don't ever really know. I think I'm good at characterization.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Brevity.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I do it sometimes, but usually make an author's note that it's done with shitty translation software so it will not be Authentic. (if I were putting it in a novel I'd prob pay to have someone look it over, but fic is free and thus my resources put into it are limited lol)

19. First fandom you wrote for? I'm gonna assume the AU crossover I wrote for Pokemon/Dragonriders of Pern/Zelda/Narnia when I was 9 does not count. lol it was Dragon Age tho

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? My Mass Effect series, I think. I love different things about all my fics, usually because I was doing different things in all of them, but A Name for the Stars trilogy is something that I'm most proud of. Almost every scene in that serves a plot purpose and I wove a LOT of different things together to create one cohesive thing, and I think if you can get through all of it, it has the biggest bang for the buck. Also I burned that realllll slow XD

I will tag @jusbeinkt and @kesla and @literarypeachtea and @tinkeringteacup (do it if you feel like it, no pressure here frens lol)

#zombolouge writes #tag games #fanfiction #fic #dragon age #mass effect #etc etc

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virtie333 · 6 months

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20 fanfic questions

Thank you, so much @otterandterrier for the tag!!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

97. Though I plan to start posting #98 on Monday!

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

813,847 (!!!!!!!!!)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars (sequel trilogy mostly, but some original trilogy), The X-Files, and currently working on my first Moon Knight fic.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinetic (Damerey) - 245 Flight 814 (The X-Files) - 161 Eyes In the Night (The X-Files) - 160 My Best Friend's Weddings (Damerey) - 144 Let's Get This Show on the Road (The x-Files) - 127

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

Absolutely! I love kudos, but I live for comments. I don't always know what to say (other than 'thank you' and 'i wish i could hug you'), but I will always do my best to show them my gratitude.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well, I always write happy endings... unless I'm writing a series and I know I can drag it out a bit. Which means my angstiest ending was probably Let's Face the Music and Dance. I knew I was going to continue it, so I purposefully left it as a cliffhanger.

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

Almost all my fics have happy, sappy, fluffy endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I have had one person complain about me calling my AUs 'Star Wars' because I could 'put any character in the story,' and I did get couple of complaints from Reylo fans because I tagged Rey/Ben (past relationship) on a Damerey story. This, of course, made me laugh. I can't even tell you how many times Reylo stories turn up in the Damerey tag. But, I've always been polite (if firm) in my responses.

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

I do. Back in my X-Files days, I had one reader call it 'classy smut.' I feel my style has changed a bit, but I hope it's still 'classy'! LOL It's mostly 'vanilla,' and will always be full of emotion, but I'm always willing to test my boundaries.

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

Nope. I've never felt the urge.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I was once told that one of my X-Files fics was stolen years ago, but I could never find any evidence.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have. I know I was asked for my permission on an X-File fic years ago, but I can't remember which fic or what language. Same with a Damerey fic more recently. I remember which fic, and I'm pretty sure I remember who asked, but I can't find it, so either it was deleted or my memory is faulty.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Way back in the day, myself and a few other crazy X-File writers did a 'round robin' fic that got waaaaay out of control. We never finished it, and I have no clue if it's still hanging out on the Internet somewhere. BTW, I'm still friends with a couple of those writers; one of them was with my on my 50th birthday in Disneyland earlier this year!

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

It's got to be Rey and Poe, the ship that never was. I still believe we were robbed. I adore them so much, however Mulder and Scully will always be special to me, too.

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

I will always finish my stories. If I don't, then you know something horrible happened to me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't really know. I have been told that I am the 'queen of angst' and I've also been told that I write believable and realistic dialog.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can't stay on a consistent schedule. Part of this is due to my physical and mental health, I'm sure, but for every chapter I write, I've tried writing it ten times unsuccessfully first. Something (migraine, exhaustion, anxiety, stress, work) always gets in my way.

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

I tend to make Poe Latino in my AUs, since Oscar Isaac is, but my Spanish sucks. I try to use as much as I can to give credit to him and his heritage, but not enough to embarrass myself. If I wasn't so busy trying to write these stories I might get down to actually learning the language!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Wrote for? Star Wars. Han and Leia. I also wrote for Jack and Jennifer from Days of our Lives. Alas, none of these stories were ever read by anyone else (unless my mom snuck a peek). The X-Files was my first 'published' fandom.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is so hard! I actually really love them all. I don't understand writers who can write something and then try and forget about it. I think I put too much of myself in my stories. El Halcón will always have a special place, as it was my first Damerey AU. Kinetic is also pretty special, not only because it's my 'greatest hit,' but because it was the story that helped me through my suicidal era. My first X-File fic, The Letter, and my first Damerey fic, Rising, are both very close to my heart. Other faves include The Secret, Naboo, I See You, No Molestar (my first and still best drabble), The Back Corner (smut!), Tempest, Blind Faith, and She Makes Him Laugh. I'll stop there!

Tagging a few writer friends, if you want to do it! @randomfoggytiger, @my-secret-shame, @soft-girl-musings, @campingwiththecharmings, @the-little-ewok, @writefightandflightclub, @sperastella, and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it (it's after 1 in the morning, and I should be in bed!)

#tagged #writing #fanfiction #20 fanfic questions #the x files #mulder x scully #star wars #damerey #han x leia

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