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aloera · 3 years

Note

The ask prompt is too long to fit into an ask TT_TT but here's the doc for it docs(.)google(.)com/document/d/1yDI7iFRhOJ8ENv_IwZAo3rDSUqj80EiJROS10RzRbj4/edit

the lengths u are going for this,,, much appreciated you're very sweet!!!

prompts + answers under the cut!!

INTRODUCTION

Name: aloera

AO3 account: aloera

Fandoms you write for: bnha

How many stories have you written so far: 19

FANFICTION PROFILE

What's your favorite fandom to write for? hmm,,, used to do pjo and eah (ever after high) and eah was fun as fuck i will say!!! i think bnha is my fav mostly bc i made the most friends in this fandom :D

What's your favorite character/person to write for? bkg and kirishima!! cannot choose do not make me <3

Fic you'd want to improve? probably what we deserve? i rushed the beginning and the confession is a bit stilted imo

Hardest fic you've written? between lion and men -_- bc there is so much canon compliant stuff i've gotta write out before i get to the divergence and its HARD

Easiest fic you've written? come home to me!!! it happened so easily,,, no second guessing no writers block just vibes <33 was lovely i miss it

What would you say is the most "famous" fic you've ever written? also probably come home to me? its got the most interaction

first line of the first fic you've ever written and published. [not including my 2014 ffnet fics] "The bell rings, class starts, and Katsuki and Midoriya are inexplicably absent." from come home to me

Have you ever done a collab with another writer? yes!!!!! on two separate occasions and its so fucking fun i highly recommend trying it out its the best

Do you beta? if asked but honestly im a shit beta lmao

Do you like joining fic fests/exchanges? depends on what i have going on irl but in general yeah!!

FANFICTION PREFERENCES

Fluff or angst? definitely fluff

"OCs" or "Reader" inserts? reader inserts!! have been going ham on them recently

Blurbs or drabbles? blurbs!!

One thing you love about fanfiction i just. i really love slice of life romance?? and most media doesn't give you that bc its dedicated to plot and action and that's valid!! but fanfiction fills in the gap which is really nice

One thing you don't like about fanfiction most of the stuff i don't like is less about actual fanfiction and more about how people behave about it

What is/are your favorite fandom author/authors? IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!! TURN IT UP!!!

bnha: hiuythn, rae_tnub, Moniix, Ata_Lanta, wrunic, chezka, PurplePersnickety, surveycorpsejean, mahadevi, arxaris, deviance, Oceanbreeze7, MikeWritesThings, bonnia, wonhaebunny, dinosuns

voltron: hiuythn, Oceanbreeze7, DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee, arahir, dinosuns,

and honorable mention to loveclouds im not even in the haikyuu fandom i just love their fics So Much

these are just the ones off the top of my head i have so many favourites idc if i'm only supposed 2 have one!! die mad about it!!!

What is your favorite trope? secret relationship + relationship reveal til the day i die babie <3 <3

Least favorite trope? hm,,, probably just like. angst lmao i cannot stand 90% of it

A fanfiction cliché that you can't help but love? coffeeshop aus,,,, so good

Do you have a type when it comes to pairings? the otp where its like. piece of shit + himbo = love. ex. krbk, catradora, jade/beck

Favorite setting/au? hm,,, truly i cannot pick one KGKSJNHKj but i really like college aus!! and modern aus!! and roommate aus!!

Explain the meaning of your favorite line of dialogue you've written as if someone hasn't read it in context. “He doesn’t know,” Katsuki says, softly. “My timer stopped and nothing happened. He’s not mine.”

the line is from what we deserve!! it's a soulmate au where your timer counts down to the moment that you meet your soulmate!! bakugou's timer ends at USJ when he and kirishima attack kurogiri at the same time (impulsive kings <33) but kirishima's timer doesn't end until kamino because that's when he accepts himself as bakugous soulmate!! unfortunately, when bakugous timer has reached 0, he turned to see that kirishima's was still ticking and therefore believes that kirishima isn't his soulmate.

this line just,, idk. it's really sad. bakugou is such an action-driven character? if something doesn't go his way he Makes it go his way. he's got this insanely volatile quirk and he's got impeccable control of it!! but his love for kirishima isn't something that he can change and he's not going to ruin kirishima's chance of finding his own soulmate because he loves him and wants him to be happy. i really wanted to focus on how resigned he is? and how unusual that is for a character like him.

Favorite trope/genre to write? again, secret relationship with relationship reveals <33 fluff in general is my wheelhouse!!!

A trope/genre you haven't written but think would be a fun challenge? idk if this counts?? have been working on some dead dove concepts!! its super different from what i normally write so its a cool challenge

The one trope/concept you'll never touch and why probably cheating/infidelity?? it just looks,,, super difficult to write well and i don't have enough of an interest in it to try it out

Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics? shorter!! low attention span gang <3

Ideal length to read? 5-10k?

Ideal length to write? 4-8k!!

How long was the longest fic you've ever written? control fraek is around 28k i think?

Have you ever written an AU? yeah!! i've done restaurant au's, soulmate au's, pro hero aus, and fantasy aus (general, not the bnha fantasy ending)

What's your favorite AU trope? hm,, probably when two people in authority are in a secret relationship? ceo's/uni professors/etc etc

Have you ever written smut? yeah!! was. difficult tho

What's your comfort genre? (the one you fall on most in writing/reading) fluff,,, hurt/comfort,,, fix-it fics with happy endings <3

If you were to start writing in other fandoms, which would they be? maybe jjk?? the characters are really cool!!!! fr i might go back to my ever after high roots i love the characters and setting so Much its so fun!!! idec if no ones into it anymore!!!!!

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? i've had people say they saw the mention of buff hagakure and recognized it was me so. probably that skdjhnksjd

WRITING STYLE

How would you describe your style? i tend to use shorter sentences and pretty simple words i think? and i gravitate towards lighthearted concepts that allow for ensemble casts and humour!!

Describe your style in three words romcom but fanfic

Favorite words to use when writing? the word reverent!! fuckin love including it!!

Dialogue tags or no dialogue tags? (she said, he said, they said, etc) dialogue tags!!!

Favorite dialogue tag (other than said, if you use them) again idk if this counts but "they said softly" is unmatched

Long sentences vs short vs a mix short <33

What colors would you use to describe your writing? hm,,, depends on the fic i would say?? control fraek is dark green to me?? kinda like a forest at night yk?? scary but there's still life there. sugar cookies is yellow like early morning sunlight, when it rains is yellowy-orange like a caution sign. not gonna list all of them cause theres a lot its just. do u get it? the colours change based on the vibe of the fic.

What song or music genre would you use to describe your writing? think. i am constantly trying to emulate that moment at the end of wasteland baby when hozier goes "im in love/im in love with you."

What kind of metaphors do you rely on? religious metaphors my beloved <33 they're just so pretty!!! i also love comparing stuff to water for some reason?? like that ocean vuong quote thats like "what are you now?/water." it goes hard!!!

What's something you'd say is experimental in your writing at this time? definitely action!! i have,,, no idea how to write it so anything i do is really just me playing around and seeing what works and what doesn't

Do you prefer to write by hand or to type? i've tried both!! personally i prefer typing because it goes way faster but i will say that writing by hand lets me get words down when i'm going through writer's block

What is your preferred place to write (notebook, laptop, cellphone, etc.)? laptop!!

What app/apps do you use to write (word, notepad, etc.)? google docs skjdnkjh its fine on desktop but mobile is,,,,, disgusting

Do you keep a notebook or file/notes page in your phone/device for notes on your writing? ngl i just have everything organized in my drive?? one folder per fandom and then sub folders for ideas+hcs, unfinished wips, and finished fics. multichaps get sub sub folders so i can organize outlines and drafts

Do you listen to music to help you write? yeah!! playlists organized by fic vibe :D

Where do you usually go to write (bedroom, living room, etc.)? mostly in my bedroom??? but moving around to different stops helps too i think!!

How long does it usually take for you to write? again this depends on what i have going on irl, how attached i am to the idea, my mindset at the time, etc!! i am,, the least consistent person skjnhdkjh.

What's your favorite font to use when writing? times new roman my beloved

Other writing habits? sometimes i'll write in the dark?? bad for my eyes but for some reason it gets the words flowing

CONCEPTUALIZATION

How do you conceptualize your ideas? (See specific moments like they're a movie, writing specific lines in your head, don't know until you put the words on paper, etc.) i tend to get inspiration from movies, books, poems, or other fics!!! sometimes one line just makes me go oh,, i want to write something like that,,, and then it helps me create an idea that makes me feel the same way?? i did this with control fraek!!!! i wanted a scenario where bakugou was cold and calculating and i was like hm. to do that he’d have to be focusing on something important. and from there i was able to flesh out the rest of the idea.

Which comes first: the pairing or the plot? with krbk its always always the pairing,, i'll be sitting there like wow <33 i love them <33 what if one of them had amnesia <33 (which, yes, wip!!) otherwise it's usually the plot!! and i slot in characters that i feel make sense

Have you ever used a prompt? yeah!! used a prompt for wlw week 2020 and it was fun as hell

Do you write around the story around a specific scene you want to get to or do you start from a plot idea definitely the first!!!! i almost always write like,,, a super messy scene thats 90% dialogue, keep it in my head, and then write the entire fic around that one moment

Do you find that you include a projection of some part of yourself in the way you write a character? a lot of the time when i write love confessions or love in general i'll have one of the characters think or say that the other person makes their head quiet? and it's because that's what i feel whenever i'm in love?? a quiet mind. i project on characters yeah but i think most of the projection actually goes to the way that i write love

Do you research some of the things you write deeply, partially and kind of wing the rest, or play entirely by ear (in this case, go with whatever base knowledge of the subject you have)? most of the time if i do research it'll be about the setting (ex. the izakaya in to have and to hold) or if i'm having the characters interact with an object that they like. need to know how to use (me, in control fraek: google. hey google. does someone die if they get shot in the foot??? no???? awesome thank u <3)

Have you ever had an idea for a story and forgot about it? lmaoo yeah all the time i'll find like 500-2k words of concepts in my gdocs like i do. not remember this at all

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? probably krbk secret relationship lmao

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out better than expected? yeah!! i fully thought the action in control fraek would be awful but it turned out not bad??? which im happy with

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out worse than you expected? again, what we deserve, i personally think it would have worked out better if i'd paced it slower and drawn out the pining but i. do not feel like going back to fix it so its staying the way that it is. pining is so fucking hard to do AHHHH i get so tired with it!!! im like just date already!!!!

PROCESS

How do you come up with titles? in rare occasions (literally. all my multichaps for some reason) the title comes after writing like .5 words of the first chapter im like YES this is it!!!!! sometimes i write the whole thing and pick out one line that fits (what i did with come home to me) a lot of the time i just. steal from songs or poems that i like

What's your favorite emotion to cause on your readers? i like making people happy!!!! love when people comment saying they're cheered up

What's your favorite emotion to write? lovelovelovelovelovelove

Have you ever cried or felt any emotion while reading something you've written? never cried?? but sometimes i'll rereading my hurt/comfort fics 4. yk. comfort

Do you write in order or whatever comes to you? in order!! unless i have a scene that i Need to write and i'll quickly jot it down so that i don't forget

Usual way you procrastinate while writing? ...doing asks like this, making playlists, discord, watching netflix. what don't i do smh

Do you outline or free write? i am. so shit at outlines. i mostly free write and write lil notes for stuff that i wanna add later

Do you set word goals or scene goals (scenes you want to include)? yes!! like i said i'll write loose notes for scenes that i want to add later!! it gives me something to write towards :D

What do you consider when writing your scenes? what goes into making the atmosphere and mood you want? to set a scene i do two things? the first is like,, the five senses bc that always sets the scene really well and makes it feel Real. i'll visualize stuff in my head like its a movie and write out what i would want to tell the set designer?? if the lights are low, if the space is busy, if it's supposed to exude comfort or not.

for putting forward the character's mood one thing i've found that makes a difference is sentence length!! long sentences are good for making a character seem flustered and nervous or not really in control of their emotions? good for love confessions. short sentences are good for when the character is focused on something or short on time. good for fights!!

What's something you never considered to include in your writing that you can't leave out now? def buff hagakure,,,, once i thought of it i was like. if i don't include this at least once in every single fic how could i look at myself in the mirror!!!!!! how could i face anyone!!!!

How do you start a story? establishing a fact about the character or describing the setting! option a is one single thread of gold, option b is between lion and men

How do you end a story? either by tying it back to the beginning or doing like a funny kind of closing??? option a is sugar cookies, option b is a godless society

How do you get out of writer's block? change something!! move something!! i go from typing to handwriting, moving from my bedroom to my living room, switching wips to work on something else!! i do sprints as well?? give myself like fifteen minutes to write something and sometimes 200 words opens up the way for another 2k. sometimes i'll just delete like 500 words and start fresh

Do you edit? or do you toss your writing out there? i edit!!! i'll go over it myself then send it to one or two betas (bee my beloved <33)

How do you edit? do you use spellcheck, grammar checkers, etc? bee is my grammar checker bc he is So Good with grammar. i use grammarly as well for spellcheck stuff mostly?? sometimes my edit process is just like "am i tired of looking at this!! yes <3" and then i post it

PROGRESS

Do you usually like what you write? yeah!!! i post stuff that makes me happy and that i'm fine with rereading!!! i write stuff for self-indulgence reasons first and foremost and i think my writing reflects that sjhnksj

Have you ever written something you didn't like but posted anyways? nope!! even what we deserve i LIKED even if i see a lot of room 4 improvement!! if i don't like smth it's not getting posted

Do you find yourself rereading your writing often? yeah!! the reason i wrote so much krbk secret relationship is because i loved it but i'd read all that there was so i just,, wrote more,, ngl its kinda nice being in a place where i actually like my writing bc i can write stuff that i want to see and really enjoy it!!

Can you tell us anything about your current WIP? sure!! i'm currently working on when it rains which is a fic where bakugou gets hit by a crying quirk!! i'm gonna be using it to explore So Much of all might's character and his relationships with bakugou and aizawa (and i think some people from his past!!)

Can you give us a sneak peek on your current WIP? “You did something. What the hell did you do?” Kirishima sounds pissed off. It would amuse Katsuki if he wasn’t fighting just to stay standing.

“Nothing he didn’t ask for,” Shinsou replies.

“K’ri… shima,” Katsuki croaks out. “‘S fine. Not him.”

His chest collapses back into the familiar dry heaving after that but Kirishima shuts up. He doesn’t apologize to Shinsou.

Kirishima’s a good friend, stubborn and loyal. He stands by Katsuki’s side like an attack dog, blocking him from the view of anyone ogling at his tears.

The last line you've written Ochako knows more than she'd realized. She knows enough to keep her guard up.

It’s not enough.

Open a wip. what’s the first line?

Katsuki wakes up feeling like absolute fucking shit.

INSIGHT

What's your favorite thing about writing? touched on this before but it's mainly just being able to write the things that i want to see and actually enjoy them!!! actually reread them!!!! i thought "wouldn't it be cool if bkg and kirishima owned a restaurant together" and then i wrote it and i like it enough to reread it!!!! being able to create content for myself makes me. so happy

How do you keep yourself inspired? this is gonna sound narcissistic maybe but honestly i'm just really excited about my ideas and where i'm gonna take them and the idea of "i'm gonna get to That scene" keeps me going through the entire thing. also my friends!!!! i'll talk to them about fics and their reactions keep me hyped up enough to finish!!!!

What is your favorite thing to write? just,, slice of life romance,,, stuff thats silly and makes people laugh!!

What do you think your strengths are in writing? i'm good with dialogue!! i do lil voice acting sessions with myself to make sure everything sounds natural and like it's coming from that character skhjnskj

i'm comfortable with my portrayal of love as well??? i spend a lot of time thinking about what it is exactly that i'm trying to get across and i think it turns out well!!

What are things you wish you could practice more? on one hand i wanna get better at writing angst on the other hand i dislike writing angst. do you see my issue

One way you've improved your writing since you began? characterization!! i think i've gotten better at writing characters that are all Different and bring different things to the table!!! i used to project a lot more and it would compromise the characterization because the character was like 70% me and 30% them? not to say that projection is bad but if you do it too much it just,, doesn't read like the character and from a reader's standpoint the narrative can become less compelling

One aspect of writing you're still working on? writing action!!! i. literally hate writing it but i write for a fandom about superheroes so. Unfortunately i gotta learn.

A piece of writing advice you've learned while writing saw this on another tumblr post but they said sometimes if you're struggling with a scene, the problem is five lines back. i've found that to be true!!!! sometimes u gotta delete a chunk and start a little ways back!! i did this with too busy being yours because i was stuck for Weeks and i deleted like 25% of what i had but it helped me actually finish it :D

A bit of writing advice you can't stand when people shit on show don't tell for being overrated lmao bc when u read their writing you can Tell

Something you wish you knew when you first started writing? ,,,,honestly i kind of wish i could know some of the stuff that i used to when i first started writing?? technically i'm better now but creatively i was must better when i wasn't stressing about whether anyone would like what i was writing. so i guess i wish i knew that i should keep that confidence? i kinda wish that i wasn't as insecure about other people's writing styles because i never used to be!!

Something you've learned in life that you apply in writing there's no point in feeling inferior?? writing one genre isn't better than the other. being in one fandom isn't better than being in another. the kind of language you use or the length of your paragraphs- none of that stuff like. matters. what matters is that you're having fun and happy with what you're creating!!!! enjoy other peoples writing but don't let it make you feel worse about yours :D

#AHH ive wanted to answer these for so long...... bro fr i was so happy when u sent these!!! like wow!! finally got sent one!!!#sorry for how long the responses are idk how to be concise #asks #anon #a(lore)a

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panharmonium · 4 years

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@merlinobsessionist you understand me on a spiritual level

[putting the rest of this under a cut because it just ended up being me grumping at length about fandom trends - which, yes, i am well-aware is a silly endeavour in all cases, but sometimes you just gotta have your little grump regardless, you know, for health reasons. X) and in this particular case the grumping is probably relevant/entertaining only to myself, and you, and one or two other people here, so, tucking it away to spare everyone’s dash :) ]

the other day i was exploring the mostly abandoned wasteland that is the merlin fandom on livejournal (since that’s my original fandom home and obviously i missed out on being involved in that particular niche of lj when merlin was active, so i was feeling nostalgic and kinda curious as to it had looked like) - i stumbled over a merlin fic-finders comm and looked up my boy william just for kicks, and surprisingly, a couple of the old requests sounded like maybe i WAS involved in the merlin fandom on livejournal back then and i just don’t remember it

i think i wrote this in a past life

this is an eleven year-old comment in a mostly defunct fandom community but i felt it in my BONES

oh, my dear commenter from 8 years ago, i WISH XD

it made me laugh, and then it made me grumpy, because obviously there were very few suggestions offered in response to these asks - the fics just don’t exist, not in any numbers.

and like, the thing is, i don’t particularly care about the shipping side of things for the most part; i always lean towards gen and that’s mostly been it, for me; that’s always been my MO in every fandom i’ve ever participated in, but - look. if i have to witness (*checks ao3*) 23,830 (twenty four thousand. twenty four THOUSAND!!!!) instances of merlin getting together with arthur hecking pendragon, over and over and over again, in every AU configuration under the sun, then you had better believe i am ready and willing to plead the case of the only person in the merlin-verse who did not think arthur pendragon deserved merlin’s entire life.

and of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with arthur and merlin as an item, obviously (i mean, i can name a few things about it that don’t appeal to me personally, but that is not the same thing as a value judgment) and everybody should have fun with their own ships, always - but for me, personally, there is just...enough of that out there. i have seen Enough. it’s hard for me to even determine where the rest of the fandom is, under the ever-present spread of merlin/arthur content; a picture of merlin/arthur should literally be next to the dictionary entry for steamroller.

and of course, i knew it would be like this from the beginning, and i know complaining about the ubiquitousness of a particular ship in fandom is utterly silly, in the end, because it’s not like there’s anything wrong with something being ubiquitous - the whole point of fandom is to make what you love, and if that’s what everybody loves, well, hey, that’s just how it is! that’s what people should be making - the stuff they love! that’s what fandom is here for! i only mutter to myself in the bubble of my own blog because the ubiquitousness makes it almost impossible for me to find what *i* love, because i don’t want to read about arthur/merlin in the first place, no matter who else appears in the fic, and also because my fave minor character, while he gets a pretty good amount of fannish screentime for someone who showed up in one episode, also suffers from the curse known as “virtually everything he features in is actually about merlin and arthur getting it on”

like - by the numbers, when you exclude merlin/arthur from will’s character tag, will retains less than 20% of his fics, some of which are already like...you know, he’s dead, or just mentioned, et cetera.

and his poor ship tag...he and merlin have 136 fics in their tag, and at first you wanna look at that and be like - ‘hey, not bad, pal, that’s p. good for a rarepair!’ but in actuality, less than 20 of those fics are actually about him and merlin. like...12% of his own ship tag actually belongs to him, and the rest is him being used as a plot device to get arthur and merlin together.

and i am sure that a lot of other side characters probably suffer from this, too, given the general fic distribution in this fandom, though the only person i’ve looked at for comparison purposes is freya, who is a (mostly) one-ep character like will. she, despite that, doesn’t appear to get hit quite as hard - she seems to keep more of her fic for herself, which is nice (when i exclude merlin/arthur from the freya/merlin search, freya still retains about 65% of her fics, as opposed to will’s sad little 12%). i’m glad for her, though - she of all people does not need to be losing fic to arthur; she has suffered enough.

to put things in perspective, though - merlin and uther have more fics in their ship tag that earnestly focus on the tagged....hnhhmgnhn i can’t say it...relationship than merlin and will do - even filtering out every instance of dubcon/noncon.

(and yes, i did in fact want to die when i had to actually click the merlin/uther tag on ao3 in order to check that factoid, thanks for asking.)

so, that said - i don’t generally read canon-era fic anyway, when i’m actively writing for a fandom, but since the merlin fandom sometimes feels like it consists solely of modern AU’s anyway, all i am trying to say is that it would be nice if i could pick up an AU including a character i enjoy without seeing him constantly reduced to:

merlin’s loser ex

merlin’s abusive ex (w h at)

merlin’s ex who’s kinda sorta tolerable-ish, maybe, if you squint, but just ultimately Not Right for merlin - holding merlin back, or being too overbearing, or too pushy, or Just Not Enough - or being someone who merlin stays with only bc he’s familiar and merlin’s settling for something safe and unrisky and stagnantly unfulfilling

the dude who merlin cheats on to be with arthur

the dude who cheats on merlin, bc the fic needed a reason to break up merlin and will so that white-knight!arthur could swoop in (cue me shouting ‘IN WHAT UNIVERSE DO YOU THINK WILL WOULD EVER - ’)

the dude merlin “makes mistakes with” when things with arthur aren’t going well

the friend-with-benefits who’s apparently chill with a casual arrangement, thus keeping himself conveniently out of the way of the oncoming merlin/arthur train

the friend-with-benefits who’s secretly NOT chill with a casual arrangement and who’s pining for merlin, except we all know that ain’t ever going anywhere because arthur exists, and in the meantime merlin only ever gets together with will to try and forget his problems

the friend-with-no-benefits who’s still pining for merlin (which situation, i might add, would be read completely differently if it were arthur in will’s shoes, because if that were the case then the audience would 100% be rooting for him)

the “best friend” whose only purpose in fic is to provide space for conversations/debriefs about merlin’s relationship/pre-relationship with arthur (like - i’m sorry, but there desperately needs to be some type of bechdel-esque test for will; e.g. do will and merlin have a conversation about something other than arthur pendragon? if yes, u win, u may pass go, collect 20 dollars, congratulations)

the friend whose dislike of arthur always, ALWAYS ends up being framed as a mistake. as will’s stubborn unwillingness to give arthur a chance, until at last will sees the light and succumbs to the irresistible beauty of merlin and arthur’s eternal love. -_- there is vanishingly rare acknowledgement in fic of the fact that in the canon universe, all of the criticisms will makes about merlin and arthur’s relationship are not only accurate, but made in merlin’s best interests (and also, ultimately, proven right, by the end of the show - merlin tanks his whole damn life for a series of empty promises prophesying arthur pendragon’s future potential, and he gets NOTHING for his devotion. merlin is more alone at the end of the show than he was at the beginning, when his only dream was to be loved and accepted by more than the two people who’d comprised his entire life up until that point. and he spends at least half a decade in between the show’s hopeful beginning and its miserable end being told that he’s evil by the very person for whom he is expected to sacrifice his future.

so what, exactly, makes will so wrong to be wary? who among us wouldn’t be angry if we saw somebody we loved being forced to sacrifice themselves on an unforgiving altar like this?

i don’t know the answer. i’m not sure what it is that earns will his spot on the “destined to be shafted for arthur pendragon” list. i don’t know if it’s an unconscious backlash to will’s refusal to hop on the arthur/merlin train, or if it’s just a superficial understanding/lack of genuine interest in his character, which, in that case, sure, i’ll give people that one, in all fairness; not everyone has spent a year picking his character apart (though i still don’t think it justifies tossing him in there just because the fic needs a random insert who can be positioned as inferior to arthur’s gloriousness). either way, the end result is that we usually end up seeing a will who has very little in common with his source material, or who needs to ultimately step aside to make way for arthur - arthur, who never displays the same level of care toward merlin in canon that merlin shows toward him, and who actively oppresses merlin’s people for the entire duration of their relationship.

like...it’s all just fic, obviously, and we can make characters as OOC as we want; have fun; go wild. but at the same time, it’s impossible for me not to balk at how arthur in some of this fic is just - utterly unrecognizable. in comparison with fic!will, arthur is the most Solicitous, Gentle, Understanding, Deeply Concerned, Invested-In-Merlin’s-Welfare-and-Inner-Thoughts creature you ever did see, and I’m just over here like - it is not like that! it is NOT LIKE THAT! IT HAS LITERALLY NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT. arthur pendragon in fic sometimes interacts with merlin like - he tilts his head and listens like a therapist and affirms absolutely everything merlin says and tells him ‘gosh, i understand. tell me more. how can i help you’ - he goes about his day thinking about merlin and putting merlin first and i just - i literally have never seen this person before in my life. who is this man? who is this unbelievably attentive paragon of caring? i’ve never met him before.

the entire running problem with merlin and arthur’s friendship in canon is that arthur, while he absolutely does care about merlin, tends to take merlin for granted. merlin is just another feature of arthur’s landscape, until something dramatic happens and arthur has a little scare and saves merlin’s life, and then things go back to the way they were. arthur doesn’t See merlin the way he should, not in the ordinary moments. merlin goes home and spends his evenings thinking about arthur’s life; he ties himself in knots trying to help arthur develop as a person and to keep arthur safe and happy, but arthur just goes home and eats supper with his wife. arthur does not go home and spend his nights agonizing over how he can improve merlin’s life. he never once thinks, ‘my purpose on this earth is to serve and support my friend merlin.’ he never feels like he’s supposed to be half of some two-sided coin. i know people like to give arthur this quality in their fic - and that’s totally fine, of course, it’s fic, have as much fun as you want - but in canon, that is just not something arthur pendragon does. it’s not who he is shown to be.

and yet almost every time when i go to explore fandom, i find that the person who does put merlin first in canon is perpetually elbowed aside for this extremely generous interpretation of everyone’s favorite prince.

and i just...i always try to find the good bits in everything, and i am sometimes willing to overlook a ship i don’t personally enjoy if there’s something else about the piece that i think is great, but there’s only so many times i can read the sentence “merlin had never felt like this with anyone, not even will” in fics where merlin and will are supposed to have been dating or even married/engaged, or “will was merlin’s best friend, but he just didn’t understand” (not like arthur, of course, who merlin literally just met a week ago), or “will was great, but there was only so much of him merlin could stand in one sitting/will was great, but he was best enjoyed in small doses.” there’s only so many times i can read a hundred different variations of that before i start to get real grumpy. and that’s not even touching the fics where will’s portrayed less favorably than that, even.

so, you know. i feel grumbly about it sometimes, how this particular character is trapped in a perpetual net of always being less-than, when one of the nicest parts of fandom for me is that every character/ship can have an infinitude of possibilities, even the ones i personally think are unbelievably bizarre (which category merlin and will do not even fall into, like - it’s not an incredible leap. merlin/mordred is a leap, okay; mordred is like seventeen years old! leon/morgana is a leap - how on earth did that become so popular??? - but will and merlin? that’s not a leap.)

what is it about will that makes him so tempting to trample over? will’s only sin in canon was to look at arthur pendragon and pronounce himself utterly unimpressed. his only crime was to tell merlin ‘this dude isn’t good for you,’ about which fact he was CORRECT, by the way - he is the first person who ever chooses to care about merlin, the first person merlin ever chooses to trust, the first friend who loves real!merlin without needing to be coaxed and convinced and taught that it’s okay. he is the only one who ever tells merlin ‘you deserve better than this mess,’ the only one for whom merlin has always been priority number one and in whose eyes arthur isn’t even on the map. merlin’s friendship with will (and lancelot, afterwards) is the healthiest one merlin ever gets to experience, and i wish more fannish material acknowledged it as such, as opposed to using will to set up merlin and arthur’s epic romance.

all of this, i suppose, is just a very long way of saying that now that i am no longer avoiding spoilers and have actually started testing the waters of the wider fandom, i have come to the obstinate, utterly inflexible conclusion that will deserves his own collection of happy endings, and i don’t care if i have to write them myself. i’ve already got the gen angle covered. and even though i’ve never written ship!fic in my life, the fact of the matter is that spite can be a hell of a motivator, and i will bite the bullet and learn how to do it if i have to. if people can really be out here tagging their merlin/uther fics as “schmoop” (YES. REALLY.) then by GOD, i swear, there are no excuses - this fandom can accommodate literally anything; there’s no reason it can’t accommodate stories where will wins. let this kid have his good ending. arthur pendragon can fall in love with merlin 23,830 times despite his and merlin’s ship flying in the face of canon, and that means will deserves his own tiny handful of stories to be actually about him, without his and merlin’s relationship being used solely as a stepping stone on the way to merlin and arthur’s 23,831st triumph.

i am just saying - if uther pendragon can fall in love with merlin and have it tagged as ‘fluff,’ then for the love of all that is good, we can give will his moment. let will enjoy the respect he should have earned from us when he died saving both merlin and arthur’s lives. let will be a person in his own right, instead of a plot device sacrificed to the (in)glorious altar of merthur. let will have an inner life of his own. let will have a best friend who doesn’t treat him like an accessory to The Greatest Love Story Ever Told. let will himself live out The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, for once. let will get his guy. i may tend to focus on friendship in my own work, but there are a lot of universes out there, and when it comes to someone who has always been so alone, and so singularly focused on merlin’s wellbeing, i’m not entirely sure if friendship even feels anything different to “in love” for will at all, in at least some of these places.

let will have his happy tags. he’s been on his own for so much of his life - let him have his simple ‘friendship’, his ‘platonic love,’ his ‘found family.’ let him have his lovestruck ‘pining,’ ‘friends-to-lovers,’ ‘angst with a happy ending,’ too, and let him keep those tags for himself. let characters who aren’t arthur pendragon have their love stories.

i may not care much for shipping, and i would rather read gen any day of the week, but let me tell you right now, i would rather write will and merlin settling down in a haze of domestic bliss 23,830 times before i would ever want to watch merlin ditch him yet again for a dude who never matched merlin’s level of caring and investment in the canon ‘verse.

#the once and future slowburn #no kings no masters #fandom #thank you for coming to the extended version of my ted talk #ultimately i know it's silly to be so invested #in something this small #and i constantly struggle with feeling...bizarrely self-conscious about like - even writing things like this because #it's so inconsequential and then i feel silly for being so interested #and using so many words for such a little thing #you know like when you're young and you get embarrassed about being so passionate about some niche interest #i feel like someone is looking at me and being like 'BOY THAT GIRL IS STUPID'#(why you ask???)#(i don't know; it's ridiculous!)#but then there's like another voice in my head yelling 'THAT IS LITERALLY WHAT FANDOM IS FOR'#'fanatic domain'#you're SUPPOSED to be fanatically obsessed about something; that is literally the point #people devote whole blogs to their tiny niche interests and their favorite pairings and they post incessantly about one thing #and i never think that's weird #that's just fandom #so i just have to like - chill out about myself lol #i am allowed to make innumerable posts about something only i care about #and i am allowed to be as passionate about tiny niche things as i want #that is literally the purpose of fandom and i just have to keep reminding myself of that #i have no trouble remembering it when it comes to other people's interests #but i always get self-conscious about my own #ANYWAY I'M WORKING ON IT #but in the meantime i'm having fun #which is the entire point of being a fan so #all is well #:D

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wazzupmrstark · 5 years

Text

In The Dark || Tom Holland x Reader

a/n: this came from three things- my drive home from university (yay spring break), hozier’s new album, and those pictures of tom in That Jacket. also this is lowkey a love letter to my first car, miss u bud. I didn’t include a destination because they can be going anywhere you want :)

Summary: a road trip with your boyfriend doesn’t exactly go as planned

Warnings: swearing, okay there’s like one (1) mention of a blowjob, just a whole bunch of f l u f f

Word Count: 1.4k

Masterlist

“I see them, Tom!” you said with as much composure as you could muster. You knew he was only warning you about the car braking in front of you to be helpful, but his backseat driving was getting a little on your nerves after three hours in the car together.

He didn’t drive much himself, so every time he tried to offer advice you were more than a little hesitant to take it. To be fair, your squinting at the dark road in front of you was enough to make anyone nervous, but it wasn’t your fault you were in the middle of nowhere and your car’s headlights were so dim.

A road trip had seemed like such a good idea a few hours ago when the sun was setting beautifully behind the trees and you were both listening to Wasteland, Baby! for the first time. Now three loops through the album later your muscles were beginning to ache and your eyes started feeling strained and your attitude was less than chipper.

“Sorry, love,” he apologized with a grin, taking your right hand and kissing your knuckles. He held your hand on his lap and you began to relax as he rubbed circles on it with his thumb. “Just trying to help.”

You sighed. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just tense.”

“We can take a break if you want,” he offered.

“No, we’ve only got like an hour left,” you insisted, rolling your neck. “I’ll be fine.”

He nodded and relaxed further in his seat, keeping your hand in his. He shuffled the music on his phone and turned up the volume when it landed on some 80s pop hit and you turned your attention back to the cars in front of you.

It was so hard to focus on the road and not on him. Not when the light from his phone highlighted the tiny freckles on his face, and his hair was so curly and dark from winter and he was wearing that soft sherpa denim jacket that you were set on stealing. It was unfair, really.

You zoned out as traffic thinned around you and the warmth from Tom’s hand spread through your fingers and up your arm, not even noticing the first few times your headlights flickered until they went out for a prolonged few seconds before sputtering back on.

Tom sat up. “Love,”

“I see it,” you said, without frustration this time. You narrowed your eyes at the road even more and watched as the shadows on the road slipped into complete inkiness in rhythm with the flickering of your headlights.

“Should we pull over?” Tom asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know, there isn’t anything but road for miles.” Then, without further warning your headlights went out. And they didn’t come back on. You kept waiting, slowing on the freeway until you were going thirty under, willing them to come back on, but they’d given out for good this time.

“Come on, y/n, this is dangerous, just pull over,” Tom said again, squeezing your hand.

You sighed bitterly and pulled onto the shoulder of the road by a fence overlooking a field.

“This is fucking fantastic,” you complained, feeling tears well up in your eyes. You were so tired, you just wanted to curl up in bed and go to sleep, but you still had at least fifty miles to go before you’d even get to, and who knew how long you’d be out here.

“It’ll be alright,” he said soothingly. “We should call, um, what is it you guys have over here?”

“Triple A,” you groaned and pulled out your phone.

“Want me to do it?” Tom asked, knowing how much you hated making phone calls.

“You’d do that?”

“Of course,” he said and winked at you. “Anything for you.”

You watched Tom dial the number and put the phone up to his ear and listened in as he started talking to the guy on the other end like he’d known him his entire life. You always forgot how charismatic and charming Tom could be when he wanted, not that he wasn’t with you, it was just different.

“Yeah, it’s both headlights,” he said and waited for the other guy’s response. “Where are we?” he asked.

“In between exits 435 and 439.”

Tom repeated what you’d just said to the guy on the phone. “Okay, great. Thanks. See you then.” He turned back to you with a grimace. “He said they’ll be out here in about two hours.”

“Two hours?” you repeated, instantly tearing up again.

“Yeah, I guess wherever they’re located is pretty far, but they’re on their way. He also said since both lights are out it’s probably a battery problem and we should turn off the car.”

You put your head in your hands and tried to take deep breaths. “We were so close.”

“We’ll still get to the Airbnb by tonight, we can just text the owners about what’s happening. I’m sure they’ll understand.” Tom, always the rational one, said soothingly.

“I know, you’re right. This just fucking sucks!” You put your car in park and turned off the ignition.

“It does,” he agreed softly.

It was eerily silent now that the engine was off and music wasn’t playing. Instead, you could hear crickets chirping in the distance and Tom’s steady breathing beside you.

You figured you might as well take advantage of the break, however inconvenient, so you opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel to stretch your legs.

“Y/n, where are you going?” Tom called after you in concern. “This is a good place to get murdered.”

“This is a good place to dump a body,” you corrected him, which didn’t erase the worry on his face at all. If anything, it only increased it. “Don’t worry, I’m not going far.”

You stretched your arms and legs each for a few seconds before jumping up on the hood of your car, sticking your tongue out at Tom through the windshield, making him laugh. He wasn’t far behind you once he saw what you were doing and hopped up on the hood next to you.

The car shook under his weight as he slid next to you, sliding and arm underneath your head as you leaned back against the windshield together. And it was nice for a second before you remembered you still had about an hour and fifty-three minutes before you could go anywhere.

“Fuck me,” you cursed under your breath and banged a fist on the hood of your car in frustration.

“Hey, be nice to Edison,” Tom protested and you laughed at him calling your car by name. “I’m serious! He doesn’t deserve that!”

“He stranded us in the middle of nowhere!”

“Don’t people always say it’s the journey, not the destination?”

“Does it count as part of the journey if you’re not moving?” you asked.

“God you’re so bitter about everything, you’re lucky I love you.”

“I guess I am lucky.” You shrugged and rested your head on Tom’s shoulder.

“This is the part where you say you love me back.”

“Right, that too,” you said with a smirk and kissed him chastely on the lips.

With no light from civilization to pollute the atmosphere, the stars above you shone at their full capacity. You raised your free arm and started to point out constellations to Tom. You were mostly making them up, but he listened anyway, and laughed when you traced one you called ‘Orion’s Strap’ and again when you tried to convince him the group of stars to the left were actually a constellation of a cat.

After that you passed the time by listening to more music from his phone. He sang Almost (Sweet Music), your favorite from Hozier’s new album, word for word softly in your ear, and if you weren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere where traffic could pass at any moment, you would have blown him right then and there. You played with each other’s hair idly and Tom told you about the strange dreams he had last night. Stubbornly, you found yourself not wanting Triple A to show up just yet. You sighed deeply, regretting how bitter you had been earlier.

Tom turned his head towards you at the sound. “You okay, love?”

“Yeah,” you smiled at him, positive you looked as goofy and lovestruck as ever. “I’m okay.” I’m more than okay.

Tom just smiled back, taking your hand back in his like it had been earlier, before all of this, kissing your knuckles again like he had. You rested your other hand on the hood of your car, admitting to yourself that yeah, this was part of the journey. And yeah, it wasn’t too bad. Thanks Edison.

yooo that was sappy as fuck who am I, but uh lmk what you thought I always appreciate feedback

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#tom holland #tom holland oneshot #oneshot #tom holland x reader #x reader #tom holland fanfic #ton holland x y/n #tom #tommy #mcu cast fanfic #mcu fanfic #in the dark

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semicolonthefifth · 4 years

Text

CROSS ch.3 - Sleepwalk

Many villages lined the Black Road, but much are alike in both design and reason for why they exist. Centuries of colonization, and Aurora is still untapped of what it could offer. Humanity has barely scratched a percentage of the planet, on account of both the world’s vicious sand storms and unforgiving climate. In addition, the natives practically own the mountains, and aren’t at all welcoming of humans digging too deep into their homes. Yet to this day people continue to stake their claims, coming to Aurora to find whatever section of rock or dirt that’ll hopefully grant them riches - ranging from lost Old Earth salvage, Deltan artifacts, or rich metals. When the dream dies, they settle down and try to make their fortune in another way: by settling a town.

When you travel the Road, you’ll find plenty of towns - some thriving, others dying, and many others to be completely abandoned. Often times these towns are a farm of sorts, others act as mines, and the rest offer some sort of service to travelers. You’ll have places built around a cookery, a goods store, churches, or - most commonly - a bar. When you’re living on a place like Aurora, you’ll always need a place to relax and have yourself a drink.

Jason had gotten a bad rep in a lot of the better spots along the Road. When you’ve got a habit of hunting your bounty into the one place everyone takes restage at, you tend to cause a fight or two. It doesn’t help that there’s sort of an unwritten law, that a bar is the most neutral spot you can find. So naturally, Jason had to drive for a long stretch of the road after dumping Sid’s body, all to find one bar to rest himself in. The one bar he could find a good change of getting a break was further south, in a town east off the Black Road and nearer towards Moresatta than Calberi:

A quiet little place called “Blondie”.

Population: about 48 people. Mostly men, with some women, children, and a few elderly.

It was a mining town that then turned into a wet stop for any traveling drunkard looking to stretch their legs before making the long trek for the city at the South end. From what Jason could remember off hearsay, it used to be quite the popular spot before a more easily reachable settlement was made, and the mines hit an impassable blockage that essentially killed the mining work there. It was named by its founder, for reasons that weren’t explained - save for the rare comment about an ‘inspiration’ of sorts. Besides the bar, a barber, and an alright tortilla shop, there wasn’t much else to get out of the place.

Jason met some regulars to the spot in his travelers, and they all described the bar’s selection of ales to be alright. There wasn’t anything better for miles on end - Jason couldn’t care less for quality at this point.

It took another 20 or so minutes before he would see the town coming over a hill, with a few lights twinkling to signal that any life was there. The wide swerve off the Road was rough, but after driving through some bumpy terrain he slowly came to what he assumed was the saloon. With the night still dark, and his moon dour, Jason didn’t pay much attention to the layout of the town - very few lights were set up in the town, and all Jason could care to pay mind to was where bar stood.

He slowly walked out the car and towards the large structure that acted as the town’s north-most landmark, and from a quick glance of the many lights and the muffled sound of music, he knew this was the bar. Jason made his way for the backdoor, and from the moment he steps in… he feels an all too familiar pain in his head.

Then he remembered.

Blondie was a town that greatly enjoyed the age of the Wild West from the Old Earth, from calling its bar a saloon to the style structure they built, along with all the stuff they hung on the walls of this very establishment. The place was at once a bar and a place of worship of the old. You saw posters that worshiped the heroes back in those days: legends like Wyatt Earp; Billy the Kid; and even good ol’ Harmonica. There were replica bull skulls, a set of guitars and tapestry. A table at a far off corner had a neatly made model of what those western towns looked like back in the day - all too similar to how Blondie is built, now that Jason thought about it. There were even the guns hanging around the place. Fake, of course -bought replicas from an artist, most likely.

Jason looked at it all. He observed the place, and wished even more he was elsewhere.

A music player was nestled by the hallway leading from the main bar floor to the back where Jason had entered. He have a look to see what was playing: an instrumental little thing called “Sleepwalk”. Santo & Johnny. Jason felt in a similar mood.

Then. “Jason?” He heard.

“Jason!” He heard again. “Jason, is that you?” Shouted a patron within the bar. Glancing from where he stood, Jason looked down the hall and saw a friend of his: a man by the name of Frankie Houser, seated next to a guy utterly new to this place.

Frankie was a tall, lean twig of a man at 6 feet in height. Atop his head was a set of red curls that looked like a broccoli had sprouted from his dome. His teeth angled forward whenever he spoke, and the apple in his neck stuck out for all to see. Though he made it all work with what Jason could best describe as the most honest and happiest of smiles. He wore a set of layered leggings that seemed to weigh him down, along with suspenders that hung over his gray-colored wife-beater. His boots were long and brown, almost turning red from the sand. Frankie kept a side-arm, a typical handgun, hanging off a holster to his side that kept him safe for his travels.

Beside him (on Frankie’s left) was another fellow, a curious one from appearance alone. A short, young-looking man that sat proper, unlike Frankie’s more laid back position. He was the cleanest thing in this entire bar, with a nice dark blue-colored suit that was one size too big on him - all over a light blue dress shirt with an obnoxiously green tie. He had dark brown skin, and short layer of black hair on his head, with none over his face. No dirt covered him, and no weapon was visible. Nothing except a backpack held tightly against his chest, only let go briefly so he may wave at Jason. A strange thing to see out here in some bar, Jason thought.

Making his way over, Jason took a seat beside Frankie’s right - all the while giving both men a handshake along the way. Frankie was firm and energetic, meanwhile the kid was weak-wristed but polite. Jason winced on the former more so the latter. With Jason seated, he looked to a bartender that had been waiting nearby - a grizzled, old looking man who gave a little nod to the new patron.

Jason placed his order: a glass of mildly sweet Deltan Ale, a straw, and a plate of ice.

Frankie turned to Jason, “Nice to see you, man. How’s like treatin’ ya?” He asked, with as much kindness and genuine interest. It was about the nicest thing thrown at Jason’s way today.

“Well”. Jason tsked, “Ain’t exactly going my way.”

“That about the truth for all of us, ain’t it?” Frankie responds. “Seems like nothing ever goes our way. Still, I’m sure you’ll find some good coming over yours. Just need to keep ya’ chin up.” He takes a pause to sip from his own drink - a glass of water, one for him and a similar for the friend beside him. It was then that he coughed a bit. All of a sudden a thought entered his mind and he swallows up his water before resuming his talk with Jason.

“Oh, almost forgot - rude of me. Jason, allow me to introduce to a new man here in the wastes. Kid’s name is Charlie. Charlie Wills. Landed onto Aurora, straight from Tyrell.”

Jason chuckled harshly, “Seriously? Tyrell? THE city, Tyrell?”

Charlie nodded before speaking gently. “That I am.”

With more a chuckling escaping from him, Jason then asked further of the young man, “What the heck are ya doing out here in the Black Road? Shouldn’t you be heading on over to Moresatta or something?”

With a slight hesitancy, Charlie’s response was interrupted by Frankie’s own explanation, “Actually, he’s taking the scenic route. We’ve been passing by every site we can find along the way. The kid’s loving all the villages we’ve come to visit so far - along with all the many delicacies they come to offer. Quarter of the trip’s spent trying out foods, I tell ya! Had in me now more than I have the past week!.” He lets out a long breathy laugh at that, bringing Charlie a clear look of embarrassment.

“Hilarious.” Jason comments, a tad positively at first but becomes more serious when he speaks to Charlie. “Hey, kid? Try not to waste too much time on the Black Road though. Drivers like Frankie here can’t be spending all night on the Road.”

“He’s alright, Jason!” Frankie exclaims, once more interrupting whatever reply Charlie was about to make. Frankie then continues, “He’s paying for my troubles, for starters. Plus, I’m having the time of my life. I get some moments to stretch my legs more than I would a straight drive anyhow.”

Charlie finally gets a word in, explaining that, “I’m doing my best not to take advantage of Mr. Hosier. Forgive me if I can’t help myself to stop so much, but you have a wonderful place here. Tyrell’s lovely, but Aurora certainly captures my interest far more by a great margin. Mr. Hosier here has been a great driver since he picked me up from Calberi, and all the sights I’ve seen have already made the expenses worth it. I must say, you have a beautiful world here, sir.”

“Yeah, well so is a lady with experience.” Jason remarked with a lazy grin. “Pretty to look at, but mess with her and she’s already got a knife aimed for your throat.”

Frankie stifles a chuckle, but Jason continues - again, seriously. “Listen, kid, do yourself a favor- go back home. Aside from the two cities, there ain’t nothing to see here on Aurora. It’s a wasteland, empty except for a bunch of folks killing each other all the damn time, and a lot of gangs playing dress up while proving to see who can shoot each other more.”

“Well I’m sorry to say, but t-that’s precisely why I came.” Charlie nervously shoots back, proceeding to open up his backpack and dig right in. “I’ve got - if you let me a moment - some things I wanted to see here that you don’t get in other worlds. All we ever hear about Aurora are the gangs, he natives, and the various wars. So much history bottled up in this one planet, it’s all so interesting yet nothing I’ve read at home really do it justice. Tyrell barely gets anything, and oftentimes what we do get is questionable in its legitimacy. I had to come here, to confirm it myself that it’s all true.”

He keeps on digging, prompting Jason and Frankie to side-eye each other with looks that equally find entertainment at Charlie’s naivety. They don’t say anything, however they’re somewhat intrigued by what the young man’s looking for. Eventually, Charlie produces a thick black binder. He opens it up, revealing a colorful collection of prints and photographs - to which the two natives of the planet take a gander.

Charlie flips past the first couple of pages to show off a small selection of printed replicas of old war-time posters - from the era of conflicts happening on Aurora. They depicted humans in UROE infantry gear, either lining up in inspirational formations or firing their rifles at sword-wielding giants. He turned a page, briefly pausing to let them examine each photo before continuing on to the next. The next set featured prints of a different tone: humans, holding their hands up in union with the giants, set against amber colored mountains. Additionally there were prints which shows 5 humans and one giant, all working at a construction site with words emphasizing “union” and “working to the future”. From how each print looked, it seemed that the original posters were painted before being copied for mass distribution - with a warm, inviting feeling that nostalgia-lovers would love to get their hands on.

Eventually Charlie did some commentary as he showed off the prints - a bit of confidence making its way up the surface. “Check it out. War propaganda from around the Great Aurora War, nearly a millennium ago. Back then we didn’t know whether to trust the natives or to present them as enemies, so marketing sorta changed in those years. All of it made from a printing company in Aurora, who only got a brief clue of what Deltans looked like from news and word-of-mouth.”

He turned another page, commenting further, “Then see here: prints of the continued war with the Kronian Empire.” The young man, smiling at the two men looking down at his book, turns the page to showcase further pieces in his collection. He pointed to various prints, all of them depicting red-eyed figures, either in pale white face or under black gas-masks. There was one print in particular he directed to the most, where it featured a looming, red-eyed gas-mask wearing creature leering deviously over a group of human colonists. It displayed the text: “OUR HOMES ARE IN DANGER”

Page after page he turned, with Charlie showing off more of his historical collection. Jason was honestly interested at this point, especially when he noticed that none of it remotely mentioned the Old Earth. There were so many detailed, organized prints of Aurora history - even stuff he never heard about.

Charlie’s commentary drew Jason away from his initial cynicism - made all the better as Charlie came out of his shell and was eager to share history with a couple of locals. Though it also helped that, by the time he was listening, Jason’s plate of ice and drink had arrived. The kid kept on talking, being so open and smooth in his vocals, with all the nervousness having gone away.

He’d say this like, “This is a photo of several Deltan natives making the first trek down the Black Road; you may notice how some look uncomfortable with the surface at first.”

Or, “A print showcasing the opening of Moresatta. I managed to get this printed straight off the archives back home - it was so exciting.” He was quite captivating when was in the zone.

Frankie, out of them all, was the most absorbed into it. In between his listenings and close examinations, he’d make the passing comment of “been there” and “seen that”. Every now and then he’d even correct Charlie on something, like how the Deltans rarely fought each other in colonized lands - prompting Charlie to grab a napkin and write the info down with a pen kept in his pocket. Of course there was a disappointment in Charlie: it scratched off the goal of seeing two Deltans fighting, as he heard from the stories.

By the 30th page however, it got too personal for Jason. As they closed halfway upon the hour, Charlie began turning the pages towards more recent history - and Jason felt less enthused.

Every page was a painful memory for Jason, and especially the world.

The mass incarceration site built in off the Road to house countless numbers of UROE prisoners, only to lead into a jailbreak many years back. With it brought the near endless supply of raiders and bandits that roam the Black Road, causing so much trouble from that catastrophe.

The crackdown by the UROE, which began with arming various militia groups to fight back the raider scourge. All that did was lead to even more violence along the Road.

The deadly raid on the Black Road hospital up North, leading to dozens dead. Nobody had a chance there.

Everything that came in before or during his childhood, and yet still messing up his life to this day.

Then the photo that Jason hoped wouldn’t come… finally arrived.

Charlie turns the page, explaining at first, “Of course there were many people we saw fighting the raiders in the vids that aired in Tyrell. They were probably the most popular ones when you consider the views they got. It was a group of these cowboys, dressed up like in the Wild West - calling themselves the Crimson Crosses. See, I even got a photo of two such members right--”

He stopped right there, almost completely. Charlie took notice first of Frankie’s slight cringe, before then directing his sight at Jason.

Charlie had seen this photo about a dozen times, but a new detail emerged then. The photo showed two young men, both wearing a set of wild-west inspired outfits over their tall, powerful frames. The garments consisted of brown vests; long-sleeve collared shirts, dull dark pants, and a dark overcoat covering much of it. Atop their heads were similarly sized wide-brim hats, and around their necks a bandanna. As well, both men shared the exact same style of hair, and exact appearance of face. Between them was an overweight, gruff-looking bandit tied up with a lasso, with both men posing triumphantly beside him.

Below the photo, on a sticker Charlie used to caption his photos, it read, “The Cross Twins, Frederick and Jason, capture the Butcher of Red Peaks.”

Jason hesitantly grabs the photo - his mind felt like it was screaming ‘no’, but a part of him felt like he needed to see it. He brought it closer and looked down at the picture, and at that moment all the color and life in his face drained completely - and in its place, a flood of bad memories once walled up behind years of alcohol.

Meanwhile Charlie looked towards the stranger, studying his face in relation to the photograph. There he was: Jason Cross of the Crimson Crosses - older, stronger…

And now he’s downing an entire glass of ale.

#KRONOS #CROSS #my writing #eyeofsemicolon #the5thsemicolon #semicolonthefifth #story #western #science fiction

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pooklet · 6 years

Text

unaesthetic asks (anon edition)

i usually use a psd for asks to make them look nice and transparent and number them but tbh it’s just keeping me from answering asks quickly, having to shift layers around and stuff. so this is me literally cutting and pasting the text of some asks into a text post instead, sry.

if i did not answer yr thing here i lost/never got the ask, need a separate post to answer it (community lot anon), or worked myself into an anxious lather when i did not have an immediate response at the ready and fled into the woods to hide inside an old damp log and mutate slowly into a creature composed entirely of moss.

1) hey friend i think i can actually help with this one! slig did my poor lover for momma lisa, and has a few of my other skins linked to different body meshes in this tag here. @asimplevampire also did rehash for androgyny. those are the two i know off the top of my head but if anyone else knows any others pls reply to this post!

i don’t personally make showerproof skintones for body meshes because i a) am lazy and b) don’t usually take pics of my sims in the shower or naked in general so the occasional floating head just gives me a lil chortle when it does happen.

2) yis, it is the second to last one in this post by @magpieplayssims with a bunch of face masks piled on.

3) i use a personal edit of gunmod’s 3.1 A camera which alters the, like, central pivot axis so i can swing the camera underground into any basements i might be using. as a result, whenever i load the lot, it starts me off zoomed inside the floor, you just gotta zoom out with the scroll wheel to get above ground and it works normally from there. i haven’t figured out how to mitigate this while still being able to access underground rooms. which is why my edit never got its own post, but i did share it here.

4) nah, not really. i mean i have an outdated one at the back of my catalogue but my face is boring to me cuz i see it every day n stuff & i’m less and less interested in making human features now that custom sliders have let me go absolutely mad with power.

5) ye sorry i put that on my to-do list and promptly forgot about it cuz my brain seems to think that putting something on a list means it’s done forever now!!!! but now it’s actually done and i’m fixing the other links too.

6) yr phone is a craven liar and i will not stand for this libel. earlier today i was genuinely bewildered by a discussion about channing tatum cuz i thought his name was tatum channing. i sat there for minutes, convinced that there were two guys in hollywood one named channing tatum and the other named tatum channing and wondering if that ever got confusing for them.

7) u would be surprised, friend! my memory is a lawless wasteland but i do not end up chatting back and forth w/ many ppl b/c i am a seething pit of social anxiety. if we talked, like, more than twice, i probs remember u!

8) omg i was about to be like “nah i never made nosemasks for those” but that is a fucking lie of the highest caliber, i totally did make one (1) set and then forgot entirely about it. i will post them with the next batch of bodyshop content which should be Shortly (and if i don’t just yell @ me and i’ll just lazily put them on sfs and link them in a reply).

also thank u anon i am glad u like my content! :D

9) omg thank u so much anon that is so sweet of u to say!! truly i don’t feel like i have accomplished a whole lot beyond managing to snag @resurrection-failed but that is definitely the Best thing i could accomplish so i am 100% fine w/ that

10) oh ts4. i want to play it real bad but i have discovered that playing games that are still being updated and could break at any moment due to a new patch or ep gives me hives. esp when it’s sims games b/c those are held together exclusively w/ wishes and prayers as it is. they’re like the bottom panel of an expanding brain meme on spaghetti coding. at least when the game is Done there nothing else for EA to break (... right?). plus i only have base+pets and no money to throw at the other expansions so i could maybe download 1/10th of the cc available out there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but i am excited to be late af to the party. lemme tell u. thank u for saying such nice things, anon!! i hope u have a good day also. like, lots of ‘em.

11) hey anon! it’s built into tumblr’s text editor. u type the text first, highlight it, and click on the fourth button that looks like a slouchy figure 8 to insert yr link. i’m not sure if it’s the same on mobile, tho, cuz the tumblr mobile app is self-elected torture.

12) i do not right now but i can make one. idk if it would interest you but i am also doing a big ol’ blend of the hq eyes and wifezaya’s favorite ephemera mist eyes and will make a default version of those too when they are done.

13) nah i am still using my v3 texture for straight hairs and for waves or natural hair i just use nouk’s originals. i’m old-fashioned and boring. if u need help w/ making yr own, tho, i would suggest checking out @furbyq’s tutorial here!

14) hey friend! i did have plans to do that, in that vague way where i have plans to do many things but most of the time end up taking a five-hour nap under a cat instead or watchin game grumps. luckily, @digitalangels is a doll and did it for me so consider this my official endorsement. i am pooklet and i approve this action.

15) hey anon. when did i call it that?? i think usually i just call it marriage or equal marriage if i need to specify (or gay marriage if i’m feelin Spicy cuz nonbinary-for-nonbinary is pretty gay). if i did say same-sex it was probs w/ implied air-quotes since that was the term du jour when we got married, which was 3+ years before the supreme court mandate, when it was only legal in some places and everyone was still ‘‘‘‘debating’’’’ the ‘‘‘‘issue’’’’ of queers gettin all married.

16) i been gatherin’ links for u anon but lemme look around a lil more. i will either give this its own post or add it as its own section in the resource post that is like .... five years overdue. meanwhile if anyone reading this has anything they either know is made for dark skin or works well universally or knows of a list like this that already exists, i would appreciate links!

17) I KNOW THAT’S YOU, AZAYA

#anonymous #pooklet replies #wcif #pazooka #pooklet irl #sims 2 #ts2 #also if u got cakebread wcifs plssss ask me on dreamwidth #in the post in question #with a link to the picture

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tisfan · 6 years

Note

Holiday Prompt 75 with WinterIron! Happy Holidays! ❤️

A/n – this story takesplace in the Communal Kitchen AU https://archiveofourown.org/series/554317 after Fertile Ground but before Proposal of Doom. If you have notread this series, what you need to know is that the Winter Soldier was involvedin some genetic experiments (after Hydra recovered the supersoldier serum fromHoward Stark in the 1990’s) that resulted in three children for Bucky: adaughter Rikki (19yrs old) and two sons, Jaime (9) and Sasha (1) who fled Hydraand came to the Tower, where Tony and Bucky have been together for… about ayear at this point. This is their first Christmas together as a family. (In Endof Tomorrow, Rikki makes references back to this Christmas)

“What the hell is this?” On the plus side, Rikki dragged him outfrom under the fallen wall before she started complaining.

Tony put some actual work into not saying the first fifteen thingsthat popped into his brain – which is probably why something resembling thetruth came out, with all its resultant sentimentality. Which he generally triedto avoid around his practically-step-daughter, so the fact that she caught him on a particularlytrying day was just a rotten-cherry on top of his shit sundae.

“It’s going to be a fireplace,” Tony said. He was covered inplaster and bits of sawdust. And his shoulder ached abominably.

Rikki stared at the destruction of one of the interior walls ofthe penthouse. “Can’t say I’m seein’ that,” she said. There were dozens ofglass blocks stacked on one side of the living room. Half the furniture wascoated in fine layer of dust and fake soot, and the other half Tony’d actuallythought to cover with bed sheets before he tore down a non-support wall. “Isthis the sort of thing you get up to when Father’s not around, because it ifis, I can see why he doesn’t leave on missions without you very often.”

“I am not to be trusted with house construction projects,” Tonysnarked. “I know. Can you help me, or are you just going to stand around andcriticize?”

“Pretty sure I can do both,” Rikki said. “The question is, whywould I want to do the first thing?” She’d already pulled out her phone and wastaking pictures of the disaster.

“If you are telling Eleven about this, tell her she can get herass over here and help,” Tony said.

“Ellie has class today,” Rikki said, confirming that theory. Therest of the theory went that Negasonic Teenage Warhead was going to be showingthe destruction photos all over Xavier’s school for gifted smart-asses. Sigh.#starkdisasters was going to be trending again.

“Yeah, okay,” Tony said. “So, give me a hand, Teenage Wasteland?”

“Why are you even doing this?” Rikki asked. She kicked over one ofthe long chunks of plaster that Tony had torn down to make room. The plans werefairly complex, but really, it wouldn’t be that difficult, he just needed alittle bit of elbow grease and some luck. Someone to help him balance thesupport beam. And, of course, for his boyfriend to be gone for a few more days.Bucky got cranky when Tony put himself in harm’s way.

Rikki wasn’t incorrect about Tony getting into trouble while herfather was gone, since Bucky, Nat, Steve, and Sam were all out on mission, outof contact. A fishing mission for a particularly elusive branch of Hydra, whereWinter Soldier was pretending to revert to form and was looking for a way home,and the less Tony thought about that the happier he was going to be, because ifanything – anything at all – happened to Bucky, Tony would tear the worldapart to get him back, and damn the consequences.

“Aside from needing a distraction while your father is gone,” Tonystarted, “I’m mostly doing it for Jaime.”

“You’re tearing up your living space for my brother?” Rikki lookedeven more disbelieving than that. “Why?”

Tony shrugged his shoulders. Which hurt, because when the wallfell, and what had brought Rikki up to invade the penthouse in the first place,it had fallen on Tony’s back, and while he hadn’t been badly hurt, it’d beenscary, and he’d screamed. So sue him, Tony was a little concerned about beingburied alive. In his own penthouse. Which would have been horrificallyembarrassing and he didn’t want the press finding out about it, thanks verymuch.

And not that he would mention it to Rikki, but he had to say, hewas impressed. Her first, gut-instinct reaction, had been to race upstairs,weapons at the ready, to make sure that her father’s boyfriend wasn’t dead.

Probably because she’d promised Bucky that she’d look after himwhile he was gone – Bucky was on a campaign to make the two of them get along,and there were a lot of things that Rikki was, but willing to actually defy herfather wasn’t one of them.

He wondered absently what Rikki would have made of the particleaccelerator he’d made in the Malibu place before the Mandarin blew up hishouse. He could have used her help, at the time. She’d have made a greatsupport structure, the way she was standing there like the world’s mostimmovable combat Barbie.

“He asked me how Santa Claus was going to get into the Tower,since we didn’t have a chimney. So, I thought I’d make one.”

Rikki coughed, startled. “Stark, he’s almost ten years old,” sheblurted. “He was raised by Hydra. He’s trained in assassination,infiltration, and espionage. If he’s telling you he needs a stocking, he’s justtesting you, to see if he gets more gifts. He’s taking advantage of you. Hedoesn’t believe in Santa Claus.”

“Frankly, I don’t give a fuck, Ebenezer,” Tony said. “I do notcare if he’s deliberately lying for the sole purpose of getting more presents– not, frankly, that I think that’s possible. You may have noticed my tendencyto be extravagant. But if that boy has retained enough childlike innocence to somuch as care about Christmas at all… then he’s getting a fucking fireplaceand a goddamn stocking.”

By the time Tony finished his rant, he was panting hard, on theverge of tears. He’d been that kid. The one who desperately, desperately neededto even pretend to believe in something. And if Jaime could manage it, Tonywould tear the world apart to give him something to believe in. “So, are yougoing to help me, or what?”

Rikki scowled and Tony pretended not to notice that her eyes wereoverbright with unshed tears.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” she said.

“Wow, Tony,” Bucky said, staring. “This is amazing.”

Tony had opened up the library to the living room, and thefireplace structure was a two-sided, glass and obsidian mantlepiece where thewall used to be. The whole thing was elevated to about waist high, with a nookunderneath the fire to store pillows for lounging in front of the fire. Likeeverything Tony touched, it had that modern industrial combined with classicbeauty feel to it and added a touch of elegance and warmth to the normallywhite and somewhat lifeless room.

The fire itself was relatively narrow, but long, taking up a goodfifteen feet between the two rooms, giving a reddish glow and heat to both.Along the living room side were hung nine stockings, each name stitched out inblack on the white cotton tops of the stockings. Rikki, Jaime, Sasha, U,Butterfingers, Dum-E, JARVIS, Tony and Bucky.

“Can’t believe you got Rikki t’ help you with this,” Bucky said.

“She only hates me out of habit, now,” Tony said, shrugging. “Giveus a few decades and we might even get up to civil.”

Rikki had come upstairs with her brothers for a little Christmaseve celebration, bringing her girlfriend with her, but the two of them had leftfairly early. Rikki’d been planning a midnight ice-skating and carriage ride inCentral Park for Christmas eve with Ellie for weeks, and Bucky was happy to seethat the romance between the girls was blossoming. It was good, he thought, tosee Rikki happy.

Jaime had bounced around, excitable and vocal in his delight.They’d decorated the smallish tree that Tony put up in the living room withornaments that had – Tony said – come from an antique store, but Bucky wasalmost positive that they’d come from Stark mansion. Probably tucked away in astorage box by Maria Stark, because some of them were obviously hand-crafted,and Bucky recognized Tony’s handwriting scrawled across the back of one, evenif he’d been about seven at the time. That little flourish on the end of his Shadn’t changed in almost four decades.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” Tony said, bouncing up on tiptoe tokiss Bucky’s cheek. Jaime had already ensconced himself in one of the round,plush reading chairs in the library, tucked in with a blanket, a cup of cocoaand a good book, determined that he could wait up for Santa Claus.

“What’s your plan for gettin’ him t’ go downstairs to bed?” Buckywondered.

“Easy enough,” Tony said, clapping his hands together briskly. “Hemight be looking for something to believe in, but he’s not going to ruinChristmas for Sasha by being naughty.”

“Good plan,” Bucky said. He drew his boyfriend in closer andnuzzled his neck. “Because I got other plans f’r that fireplace and it don’tinvolve little peepin’ eyes.”

“Oh?”

“You think I don’t wanna lay you out in front of a fire an’ makelove with you, nice an’ slow?” Bucky purred into Tony’s ear, taking a nip ofthe lobe where Tony was so sensitive. He couldn’t wait to peel Tony out of hisclothes and admire the man’s perfect, olive skin in the tawny firelight.

Tony shivered, leaning his head back to give Bucky better accessto his throat. “Good plan, I like this plan, and I am delighted to be a part ofit.” There was reluctance in every line on his face as he pulled away fromBucky’s embrace to start prodding Jaime out of the penthouse and downstairs tohis own bedroom.

Bucky gave both his sons a hug and a kiss, smiled tolerantly asJaime set up a plate of cookies and glass of milk for Santa Claus, and then,finally…

“Alone at last.”

“Merry Christmas.”

#the-flightoficarus #Holiday Ficlet Asks #Stocking Stuffers #communal kitchen universe #tony x bucky #winteriron #fireplace #tony is not to be trusted #with construction tools

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lgbtfalloutwinterholiday · 6 years

Text

[fic] Veronica Santangelo/Christine Royce

Happy Holidays!

Here is @nomette ‘s submission for @ffferris with Veronica and Christine.

Pairing: Veronica Santangelo/Christine Royce Summary: Veronica & Christine have a happy holiday together, can be set during any time (like past, in-game, or post-game), bonus if you want to throw in other characters also having a good time but no need to feel obligated to do that, & bonus for incorporating trans headcanons. Word Count: 2,542 Rating: Safe for work

It’s the 24th of December, and the Lucky 38 smells of tamales, pine needles and a mysterious mix of fruit that Raul’s been boiling for hours. Veronica and Arcade must have tracked down every package of Dandy Boy Apples in the Commonwealth to make this drink, but she doesn’t mind. It’s the holidays. Arcade’s put up some kind of weird candelabra he calls a menorah, and there’s a pile of presents sitting in the Rec Room and a bunch of lumpy stockings nailed to the walls, courtesy of Lily’s knitting needles. The V on Veronica’s stocking looks kind of like a U, but she’s not going to complain, not when Christine’s stocking is hanging next to hers.

Veronica pauses in the doorway to the rec room and leans against the doorway, enjoying the moment. Cass and Boone are playing pool, Rex is sprawled out on the floor, and the Courier and Christine are hanging spent bullet casings on the Christmas tree. Christine’s hair has just cleared two inches, and it sits in a little fuzzy lump on top of her head. Veronica feels a little kick of delight every time she looks at her. She can’t believe she’s gotten so lucky. Christine didn’t come back from the Sierra Madre the same- she barely talks now, and her hair has only just begun to grow back out, and her scars- but she’s still Christine, and Veronica still loves her, every piece.

“You going to come help?” the Courier asks. She’s a skinny, half-feral little thing who doesn’t talk much and doesn’t like to sleep in the same place more than once. Veronica’s always finding her asleep in random corners of the casino, her little hammock dangling between chairs or casino tables. Veronica doubts she’s seen two decades, but Benny’s bullet knocked half the memories out of her head, so there’s no way to know.

“I carried that thing halfway across the wasteland,” Veronica says. “I think I’ve done my bit.”

“But it’s fun,” the Courier says, puzzled. “Boone’s showing me how to identify the different kind of bullet casings. This is a .38, see?” She holds up a mangled piece of metal, beaming.

“Good job, kid,” Boone says.

“I’m more of a Power Fist kind of girl,” Veronica says, flexing to show off her weapon. The Courier contemplates Veronica, then glances back at the tree.

“We could put it on top,” she says, sounding kind of dubious. Christine makes a muffled snorting sound and bursts into laughter.

“No way,” Veronica says, wrapping a protective hand around her power fist.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Christine manages between giggles. “You have to admit, it would match the tree.” The tree- a scraggly looking young pine Veronica dragged all the way from the mountains near Jacobstown- is covered in bullets casings and caution tape. Several glowing bottles of Nuka-Cola Quantum have been wedged between the branches. The tree looks like it’s ready to come to life and stage an uprising against humankind.

“I don’t know,” Cass says thoughtfully, and smirks around the rim of her glass of whiskey. “I think it would look pretty good with Boone’s beret on top.”

“No,” Boone says.

“It is colorful,” the Courier says thoughtfully.

“No,” says Boone, and Veronica takes advantage of the distraction to slip away.

Arcade and Raul are in the kitchen, along with a alrge pot of what Raul calls “ponche” and an even larger pot of tamales. Rex is sprawled out in front of the oven, keeping an eye on the large chunk of Brahmin which has been roasting since this morning. He catches sight of Veronica and whimpers and wags his tail.

“Don’t listen to that faker, we’ve been giving him scraps all day,” Arcade says cheerfully.

“When are you going to give me scraps?” Veronica asks, and imitates Rex’s mournful face. Arcade gestures to the stove.

“There’s unmashed potatoes, refried beans, apple pie, carrot cake, Cass’s jalapeño cornbread, Cass’s go-blind eggnog, and ponche. Knock yourself out.”

“Unmashed potatoes?”

“Well, I haven’t mashed them yet,” Arcade says. “I’ve been busy with the tamales.” He and Raul have made what looks like about a million tamales to Veronica, and they’re only partway through the huge tub of masa. There’s a whole assembly line on the table- masa, leaves, stewed brahmin, chickpeas. Raul looks up from his current tamale and grins.

“You wanna eat, mija? You better work. Those tamales aren’t going to fold themselves.”

“Oh-fine!” Veronica says. It’s this or get robbed of her power fist, she supposes, and she’s always liked mashing potatoes. Halfway through mashing, she feels a warm pair of arms around her waist, and looks back to find Christine, her head leaning against the small of Veronica’s back.

“Hey there,” Veronica says happily. “You come to bust me out of this life of labor?”

“Nope,” Christine says, and stands on her tiptoes to peer over Veronica’s shoulder. She’s so small. Back in the day, Veronica used to pick her up and cart her around the bunker at every possible opportunity.

“Hmmm,” Christine says, and sneaks a bit of potato onto her finger and licks it off. A small smile sneaks onto her face, and Veronica can’t help but blush. She’d mash a hundred potatoes just to see that smile. She leans over and plants a kiss on Christine’s cheek, and Christine flushes and ducks away, smiling.

Neither Raul nor Arcade say anything; Raul is engrossed enough in his tamales that Veronica doubts he’s even noticed, but Arcade gives her a wink. It’s nice to be among friends. Christine settles down next to the Raul at the table and pokes at one of the finished tamales.

“So, how do you make one of these?” she asks Raul.

“Well, you start with the leaf…” Raul begins.

It takes them another two hours to get through all the tamales, and everyone is hungry by the time they sit down at the table and start serving food. Lily has a custom-made seat just for her, an early Christmas present from Raul and Boone to allow her to sit at the table with them. Veronica, Christine and Arcade are on the right side, Boone, Cass and Raul on the left. The Courier sits at the head of the table, food already piled on her plate.

“You want to say grace, mija?” Raul asks the Courier.

“Grace?” she asks, a little line appearing between her eyebrows.

“It’s traditional to thank God before eating a big meal,” Arcade explains.

“Uh, sure,” the Courier says. She clasps her hands together, then begins to speak. “Thank you Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, for growing the crops, and thank you Hermes for my good luck, and thank you Hades for my life. I promise to kill a legionnaire in your name before the New Year, thank you, amen.”

“Fascinating,” Arcade says, and gets elbowed by Christine. The courier is a little weird, but so is Arcade, and he doesn’t have the excuse of being a teenaged ex-slave. “Uh, amen,” he says hastily. Cass looks like she’s trying real hard not to laugh. Boone lifts his glass and grins.

“To killing legionnaires,” he says, and everyone around the table echoes the sentiment. They clink glasses, and everyone digs in. Raul’s punch is fruity and sweet, with a faint hint of sunset sarsaparilla, almost almost worth the trouble it took Christine and Veronica to find twenty boxes of Dandy Boy Apples. There’s a mountain of tamales, some heinously spicy cornbread, moonshine, apple pie, pinto beans stewed with molerat, carrot cake, eggnog, roasted brahmin, gravy, and mashed potatoes.

Back at the Brotherhood, they mostly ate variations on carrots and potato, since they couldn’t get much to grow around the bunker. Fried potato, mashed potato, boiled potato, potato soup, potato salad- every potato and then some. Veronica skips the mashed potato and goes for the cornbread and roasted brahmin, and sees Christine do the same next to her. They grin at each other, and Christine serves Veronica a slice of pie.

“What’s in this?” Arcade asks, shoving a piece into his mouth. “I thought Raul used all the apple in his ponche.”

“Mutfruit,” Cass says matter-of-factly. “Some other stuff too, but I don’t kiss and tell.”

It’s quiet for a while as everyone stuffs their face. At first, the Courier had to be bullied into eating with a fork instead of with her hands, but she came around after Veronica pointed out that if you carry a fork and knife with you, you can also use them as back-up weapons. The Brahmin is spicy and savory, with a crisp outside and a juicy inside, and it vanishes as fast as people can cut pieces free. Everyone has at least one of Raul’s tamales, and Boone has three. The man puts away food like a refrigerator.

Afterwards, when they’re all full enough to burst, one of the securitrons comes in and clears the plates, and Rex finally gets his plate of scraps.

“I feel like the casino is going to collapse under my weight,” Cass says, groaning.

“Could that happen?” the Courier asks. She doesn’t look worried, only curious. Veronica supposes that once you’ve been shot through the head, a little building collapse probably doesn’t sound too bad.

“Probably not,” Arcade says hastily. He starts in on an explanation of how architecture works, but Veronica doesn’t hear any of it, because Christine has reached out under the table and taken her hand. One by one, she laces their fingers together. They used to do this back at the dining table in the hall, but back then it was one part bravado and one part fear. Veronica isn’t scared anymore. It doesn’t matter if anyone sees.

But she doesn’t need to show them. It’s enough that she and Christine know. Christine runs her thumb gently over the edge of Veronica’s hand, and they stay there like that, smiling, together at last. Dinner conversation turns from mutfruit to apples to weird things they’ve eaten, and Cass disgusts them all with tales of some truly dubious liquor. She and Boone are well on their way to being smashed, which bodes poorly for the midnight fireworks they promised the courier.

Only the Courier’s excited demand to get them all to the Christmas Tree for presents dislodges them from the table. Veronica and Christine walk, hand in hand, to the rec room, followed by a slightly staggering Boone and a very staggering Arcade, who got stuck supporting him. The debate about the star has been settled by ED-E nesting on top of the tree like a very strange bird.

Veronica settles onto the couch, and Christine settles onto her lap. Christine is light, a pleasant weight, and she grins when Veronica sneaks a kiss onto the side of her face. The Courier, oblivious to the people watching her, tears into her first present. It’s a framed piece of paper- nothing more than a contract, really. The Courier isn’t very good at reading. She looks at the paper, her lips moving as she tries to sound out the words.

Arcade, ever thoughtful, underlined the relevant part.

“... the undersigned Ca-Can-tra-ta,” the Courier says, frowning. “Cantrata. What does that mean?”

“Veronica and I did some research,” Arcade says. By research, he means that they broke into a privately owned building, but no one needs to know that. The man at the front desk of the Mojave Express deserves it for being so unhelpful, anyway, and it’s not like they stole anything valuable. “We looked up the records from when you were hired, and found what you signed as. It’s your name. Cantrata. I think it comes from Cantare, to sing.”

The courier looks at the paper, then at Arcade.

“My name,” she says, and repeats it. “Cantrata.” A strange look crosses her face. “I used to sing,” she says to herself, then gets up and launches herself at him. Arcade wraps his arms around her and pats her back.

“Hey, I helped,” Veronica says, and Arcade gestures for her to join in the hug. The three of them squish awkwardly together on the couch, and for a moment Veronica is on the verge of having a real Christmas feeling.

“Thank you!” Cantrata says, and wiggles out of the hug. “I got you something too!” Whatever it is, it’s apparently too big to fit under the tree, because Cantrata runs out of the room. There’s a loud clunk, and then she comes back hauling a huge power fist painted entirely in teal and pink.

“It sets off explosives when you punch people,” she says solemnly, and hands it to Veronica.

“Uh,” Veronica says, and picks it up. One side has a yellow warning sign on it. The other side has Veronica’s full name written on it in beautiful pink calligraphy, complete with a little heart dotting the i. There’s little rhinestones around the cuff. The courier must have hired someone to bling it out.

“It’s beautiful,” Veronica says solemnly, and Cantrata grins.

“Open your next present,” she says.

There’s a matching dress.

Veronica’s final haul is a power fist from Cantrata and a dress from Arcade and Cass, a new waist pouch from Boone, a blanket from Raul, a lumpy sweater from Lily, and one more thing. After the festivities have died down, Veronica and Christine go back to their room and shut the door.

Christine’s presents come in two colorful little bags. The first one is light. Veronica lifts it out to find a cute little bra and underwear set. There’s not very much of it.

“You can wear it under your dress,” Christine says, flushing.

The second pair is a set of shoes, likely looted from some vault. They’re a little dusty, but they fit well. Veronica slips her feet into them, and remembers. Back when she and Christine were kids in the bunker, it was a common game to talk about what you’d do when you left. No one ever left, of course, but it was fun to pretend that you would. Some kids wanted to be ranchers, some wanted to be singers, some wanted to be gamblers or rangers or deathclaw tamers. Veronica wanted to be a princess. She wanted to have a pretty dress, and live in a colorful, safe place where they never had to eat potatoes or worry about raiders. She wanted someone to love her, not for what she could do for them, but for who she was.

“A glass slipper, for my princess,” Christine says, smiling.

“I could be in rags, and you’d still make me feel like a queen, Christine,” Veronica says, and crosses the room. Christine’s hands are so small in her own. “But the pretty dress sure helps.”

“You were a princess when we were in a hole in the ground,” Christine whispers. “But you finally made it to your tower. Merry Christmas.”

On the roof, Boone, Cass and Raul are drunkenly shooting off fireworks. The sound rings through the air. Outside the window, sparks rain down over the strip in showers of gold and green, but Veronica only has eyes for Christine. Their lips brush, and for a single perfect moment, the world is exactly as Veronica has always dreamed.

#nomette #ffferris #veronica santangelo #christine royce #fallout #fallout new vegas #submission #fanfiction #long post

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goldbasar · 6 years

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Francel/Haurchefant 01, if it's ok!

001 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

HAURCHEFANT/FRANCEL (this more than just ok

when I started shipping it if I did:fairly early into the 2.0 coerthas arc. it was one of my first big npc/npc ships and I always kept it close 3 it was the first ship I looked up in the fandom to see if I’m the only one seeing it. THE GOOD TIMES ; u;

my thoughts:When I think about haurchefran, I often think about their past. About how they used to be back then vs. how they are now. so my talking refers a lot to their short story “vows unbroken” published on the official sites. IMO(!!) Francel is Haurchefant’s most important relationship as he taught him unconditional loyalty and FIGHTING TO PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES instead of fighting to prove a point/to make people(his family) proud. which is so so so so important given his childhood and who he became in the end. ALSO. childhood friends. it’s my one big and true weakness. the fourth son without any special talents and the bastard kid. my heart. Now I’ll dive into analyzing territory forgive me.Francel always tries his best to do right by everyone…but “mediocre” is pretty much how he’s seen by everyone, even the lorebook points out how Francel doesn’t have any mentionable talents, and the best teachers didn’t help. So…he’s no good on the battlefield, not an outstanding leader or tactician, nor really anything. And still, he refrains from complaining to others, never tries to let it on how self-conscious it makes him. Instead he TRIES and TRIES and TRIES to regain the family honor and help out where he can. ALL these expectations his older brothers should have carried suddenly fall on him and even though he SHOULDERS THEM with so much bravery - despite it being too much - no one, not even his own father really believes in him (he wants to but look at him in the MCH QL) because of how he lacks any noteworthy talents. That’s such a horrible thing?? On the one hand people EXPECT EVERYTHING FROM YOU but at the same time they don’t BELIEVE in you. This is why his friendship to Haurchefant is EVEN more important… bc yes, Francel reaching out and being kind saved Haurchefant and made him a better version of himself, but it goes both ways to an extend. Haurchefant BELIEVES IN FRANCEL and honestly cherishes him so much: Haurchefant risks his life (when saving Francel from the bandits as a teen) and later the whole reputation he worked so hard for (in order to save Francel from being executed by false Inquisitor Guillaume in 2.0)! he murders, attacks, rides into battle - there’s a bit of a berserk button trope that is Francel IN DANGER. Keep in mind that while saving Francel brought Haurchefant fame, admiration and a title, Francel didn’t. Haurchefant is his ONLY FRIEND. (one of the haillenarte knights say this after his death…otl) Haurchefant gave Francel the affirmation that his efforts, that HE is worth risking his life for. and now that he’s dead you just see Francel wandering to his memorial. “It doesn’t get any easier, does it?” you just hear him being unable to find the right words. I- I’m so sad for him because unlike everyone else, he doesn’t move on. he never does after 3.0You can literally feel the void in his heart, his whole character feels so broken now.It really hurts, but I prefer this characterization so much over the general one everyone else Haurchefant was close to has, which, after the unevitable mourning is “In his name we keep on going and continue doing our best, because that’s what he would want”. Haurchefant would want this especially for Francel and Francel KNOWS this but…he can’t, not even for him. and that’s realistic and raw pain AND IT REALLY STANDS OUT, this relationship is painfully overlooked because square decided to drop it in HW…

What makes me happy about them:- cute childhood friends with tiny age difference - just pure good and honest kid friendship - double summer vacations between haillenarte+fortemps (this is canon and such good stuff to imagine) with these two breaking away from their camp to spend time together bc only around each other they can 100% be themselves. just imagine them in coerthas with it’s nice green mountains and waterfalls before the Calamity made it a freezing wasteland- MUTUAL PINING, BELIEVING THEY’D RUIN EVERYTHING IF THEY MADE A MOVE—–> I still really dig the headcanon that BOTH OF THEM think their feelings for each other are one-sided. francel feeling like haurchefant’s more out of reach with each passing moon, whereas haurchefant actually tries to be respectful and not act on it like he usually does with his showering of over-the-top-adoration, because Francel is actually pretty damn IMPORTANT to him. and he throws himself into adventurer worship and commander work instead but then there are always those LITTLE hints from both sides that rekindle hopefulness and everything is terribly difficult when you’re in love with your best friend. as a nobleman. in ishgard. - Francel’s bubbling jealousy reg. haurchefant’s adoration of the wol but he tells himself he’s the terrible one for feeling this way.- francel the very sweet, very faithful son + world-open haurchefant who’s eccentric and waaaay too obsessed with physical admiration and appreciation 8>

What makes me sad about them: MENTIONED IN THE “THOUGHTS” SECTION, Francel post!Haurchefant’s death makes me feel awful. the lack of interaction post 2.0 is a crime. I’m glad for the vows unbroken story, at least.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:I don’t read much fanfiction and everything haurche/fran is holy, it’s so rare I cry.

things I look for in fanfic:everything mentioned under the things that make me happy tbh. sometimes I just. want to forget about the tragic stuff. sometimes I still wish it didn’t happen.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: honestly can’t see francel with anyone else seriously, especially AFTER haurchefant’s death, as terrible as that is for him. big surprise, I don’t have any other haurchefant ships either :>

My happily ever after for them:DON’T DO THIS TO ME

who is the big spoon/little spoon:unsurprisingly haurchefant as the big spoon in your usual cuddle scenario because he’s soooooo open about that kind of stuff when given the chance, but it can totally go both ways. francel carefully gettin those arms around his man = good

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:I always think about their child activities. in “vows unbroken”, we have haurchefant and his inpromptu visits to young francel when he felt unloved by his family and them sneaking out together, away from views and society. I love to incorporate that canon into ARR’s-HW’s timeline - them still doing that when time allows it, secretly. Them looking over the city from far away (YOU KNOW THE PLACE), it’s where Francel sees the look in Haurchefant’s eyes “the way he would look at it, with a smile that wasn’t quite, and eyes that held the whole of the world…” - and Francel fell a little more in love with him; with that private, familiar side of him. “I’d give anything to know what he felt in those moments.” me = crying and never giving up on haurche/fran

#LONG POST #this ship is always coming back to me #I'm so emotional about these two rn #I'm sorry I couldnt keep it short #thebookofireine #ship: i'd give anything to know what he felt in those moments

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astrifer0us · 7 years

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5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 19, 21, and 25 for your dnd ocs, Alyona, and the android apocalypse characters. have fun.

OC QUESTIONS | Accepting’

5. Are there any story arcs you would like this character to explore?

Alyona

Meh idkk???

Kita

Please let this asshole realise that it’s okay to let other people take care of you.

Isidore

???

Michaela

I want Michaela to have like a badass warrior woman moment man.

Calvael

I’m not sure. I’d like for him to let go of his mother’smemory sometime, and live for himself.

Chal

Please give Chal a redemption arc in which he realises that,wow, he’s been kind of a bad person. Wow.

Ghilli

Ahh idk. I really loved that she died and came back as aghoul, and I’d love to see what she learns from that, tbh.

Mort

Ehh, no clue yet.

Ren

Well she’s getting into a pretty cool arc now, having todeal with the loss of her love interest and actually grasping for a goal so shecan live on, so yeah, I’m excited about that.

Serafima

Noooo clue yet.

Rorik

I want to corrupt my little wolf boy so bad. Give this boy afiendish warlock pact or something, fuck him up.

Aer

Idk.

Eiridi

idem

Aiki

????? Honestly I’d love for em to realise humans aren’t toobad but. They kind of are.

Wyatt

At some point I want him to get over Traesyc and put itbehind him but rn? Let him grieve let him suffer.

6. What would your character like (or have liked) to do with their life?

Alyona

Kick ass.

Kita

Go… outside….

Isidore

KICK ASS GO TO SPACE REPRESENT THE HUMAN RACE.

Michaela

Find a solution to the android problem, save a lot of people.

Calvael

Live in his nice house on top of a hill and tend to hisgarden. Please. Leave him alone.

Chal

Chal is pretty content where he is now. He has centuries infront of him if he plays his cards right, and he’s intent on making the most ofit.

Ghilli

Ghilli is here to make the world a better place, and take noshit from anyone. A simple life.

Mort

Preferably live out of spite.

Ren

God, that’s a hell of a good question. She doesn’t reallyknow herself, at this point. She doesn’t really have a clear goal or a path setout in front of her.

Serafima

Just let this child explore the world at her own pace,please.

Rorik

LET THIS BOY BE HAPPY!!! I want him to be nice andcomfortable with Morana and explore the world and figure everything out.

Aer

??? idk. Be free as the wind.

Eiridi

She wants to find a new flock at some point, but right now she just wants revenge for the death of her old one.

Aiki

???? sorry lmao

Wyatt

God he’d love to just. Stick with his sis. Go onsilly adventures. Have fun, and not worry so much.

7. Who is your character’s best friend?

Alyona

??? no clue.

Kita

Issy and Michaela. Not that they’d admit it.

Isidore

Kita and Michaela.

Michaela

Kita and Isidore, obviously.

Calvael

Definitely not himself lmao, but??? He doesn’t really. Haveone.

Chal

Temperance and the Conman.

Ghilli

??? who knows. Maybe Ealda at this point.

Mort

???

Ren

Yknow. Barty. Probably.

Serafima

???

Rorik

Morana and Traxae, definitely.

Aer

???

Eiridi

???

Aiki

???

Wyatt

His twin, Scytta. They’ve been best friends since birth.

11. What crime is this character most likely to be convicted of?

Alyona

Murder. Definitely murder.

Kita

Punching someone they shouldn’t have punched.

Isidore

Breaking in.

Michaela

Hacking into her superior’s computer.

Calvael

Trespassing or something minor like that.

Chal

… Slavery. But they’ll have to catch him first. So probablysomething smaller, like, say, influencing a rich person to hand over theirmoney.

Ghilli

Something dumb she did to protect someone else.

Mort

Literally anything. They don’t have great morals.

Ren

mURDER??????

Serafima

Breaking a rule she wasn’t aware existed.

Rorik

Theft, poaching, something like that.

Aer

They’re a wild little gnome living outside of civilisation.Laws are not a thing they’re aware of.

Eiridi

Literally same as above.

Aiki

Breaking eir programming, probably.

Wyatt

…. Ykno. Murder.

14. What is this character’s relationship with religion or the church?

Alyona

Oh no. No, fuck the Overseers. Nope.

Kita

They don’t particularly give a fuck, to put it bluntly.

Isidore

He was raised by a catholic family, but doesn’t really care about any God anymore.

Michaela

No time for religion in a post-apocalyptic wasteland man.

Calvael

Calvael is not religious, though I could see him becomingreligious later on. He’s the type for silent prayer.

Chal

Gods are for losers, just don’t mess with them.

Ghilli

Ghilli is devoted to the creator of dwarves, Moradin.

Mort

The gods have forsaken them. I mean, that’s what they think.

Ren

Ren is a very loyal follower of Zehir, and recently became acleric of him.

Serafima

Ser worships Kord with great enthusiasm.

Rorik

Rorik is not the most pious, but he always sends smallprayers and sometimes offerings to Avandra.

Aer

Aer is not all about gods, but they do recognise theirexistence.

Eiridi

Eiridi has little knowledge of gods, and does not worshipone.

Aiki

Fuck gods.

Wyatt

He’s not very devoted, but does wear a little symbol of hisdeity around his neck. He’s pretty sceptical about gods in general, and doesnot believe they are as benevolent as people make them out to be. He’d ratherplace his trust in things he can see and experience.

21. Do you ship your character with any other characters? (This includes characters from other universes and canons)

Alyona

??? Nope.

Kita

Isidore and Kita would make a good couple if they could stop arguing for like 5 minutes.

Isidore

See above. Doesn’t stop him from flirting with everyone.

Michaela

Michaela had a tiny crush on Kita when she was younger, but she got over it.

Calvael

Not anything concrete, but @celticrune and i Have discussedsome things abt Calvael and Whisper and it was cute.

Chal

Boy oh boy yeah. Chal and @celticrune’s Temperance were mostlikely a thing back in the days and I still ship it HARD. Also, Chal and @kima-ladyofvord‘s the Conman, its great its wonderful 10/10 would ship.

Ghilli

GHILLI AND @celticrune’s TANWEN WOULD BE THE CUTESTGIRLFRIENDS AND I NEED IT.

Mort

N o p e

Ren

I don’t… wanna talk about it….. (but Syardis-debacle aside,Ren and @dunno-audino’s Lynnae would be the best, most dangerous couple ever and itsgr8)

Serafima

Not at the moment.

Rorik

Boy yeah. Rorik and @celticrune’s Morana is like. The OTP.

Aer

Not atm.

Eiridi

Idem.

Aiki

N OPE.

Wyatt

Hahahahaha. Traesyc. :c but apparently him and @celticrune’sKeiji also work very well together so there’s that.

25. What does this character mean to you?

just gonna only do my dnd chars here cuz the rest is all a lil. meh. havent writtene nough abt them yet.

Calvael

Calvael was my first DnD character, but since I didn’t getto play him much, not a lot yet. He’s great anyway.

Chal

SO MUCH U DON’T EVEN KNO. He’s hands down my favourite, justbecause he’s this little, snarky piece of shit, he’s wonderful to write andheadcanon about and just??? I love him????

Ghilli

Ghilli I unfortunately have not played a lot yet, but she isvery fun to play, so there is that. She’s also the perfect mix of adorable anddangerous that I love.

Mort

Tbh not much yet lmao.

Ren

Ren is like. So great. She’s very little like me, but she’smy perfect outlet for my aggression and anger. Also, I love caster classes andshe was my first real caster class I played. She’s amazing and I love her.

Serafima

I haven’t played Ser yet, but she already means a lot tome??? She’s letting me prove that, heck yeah, neurodivergent characters cankick ass like any other! Disabilities don’t have to hinder your progress! Iwanna be like her!!

Rorik

Rorik is my little child. My son. I love him so so much. He’sthe one that really got me into DnD, I’ve been through so much with him, it’shard to describe just how much I care about him.

Aer

Not a lot yet? Though honestly any nonbinary character meansa lot to me just cuz. Well.

Eiridi

Not a lot, but she’s fun to play.

Aiki

Not much.

Wyatt

So much please protect this child from me I hurt him so muchbut he’s!!!! so good!!! To hurt!!!!

#ocs #aiki #alyona #aer #eiridi #ghilli #mort #isidore #michaela #rorik #ren #kita #serafima #calvael #chal #wyatt #jazzhands #celticrune

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