#because one or maybe three get stuck on me and i have to expand

[traumabuddies]

hi i'm very busy but i'm taking a minute to ask for a prompt hmmm maybe "wait right here. don't move" for buddie. please and thank you. i love you <3

anything for you my love<3 spoilers for 6x18.

It takes a few hours for Buck to finally be able—allowed—to take Eddie home.

The drive isn't tense per se, but Eddie is still sour over being injured, which means he's not talking, intent on glaring at the buildings they pass by from the passenger seat.

Three fractured ribs, two bruised ones, and a hell of a bruise on his lower back. In the grand scheme of things and compared to the others, it's not too bad, but that doesn't mean he got away unscathed.

No matter what Eddie says. Well, Buck knows that Eddie knows he's hurt and in pain, but nothing short of a bullet wound will make him admit that. He's come so far when it comes to sharing his emotions, but it still takes a lot for him to ask for help driving or putting a shirt on.

He's still a proud man who doesn't want to be a burden. Buck gets it, he really does, but that doesn't mean that he likes it.

When he pulls up to Eddie's house, it's to a muttered complaint beside him. Buck ignores him, although he quickly rounds the Jeep to open Eddie's door.

"I can open my damn door, Buck," Eddie grumbles.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Can't a guy take his time?"

Buck tries his hardest not to roll his eyes. "No, because I want to get inside and take a shower to really get this dust off of me."

"Then go, I'll join you."

"In the shower?"

Eddie glares at him. "Haha, funny. Just go, man."

"Not a chance. Come on."

With less resistance than expected, he helps Eddie out of the car, and then into the house. Every pained sound that manages to escape Eddie's gritted teeth grates Buck's ears, makes him wish he could wrap Eddie in a blanket or bubble wrap so he doesn't get hurt again.

Well, if he had any say in it, he'd do that to all of his team, but right now, Eddie is the only one who is his problem. Eddie is the only one who's leaning on him as they make it to the living room, the only one Buck has to see simultaneously wince in pain and sigh in relief as he's lowered onto the couch.

"Here you go," Buck says, rubbing Eddie's shoulder, glad when Eddie lets him.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, no worries."

Reaching into his pockets, Buck hands Eddie his phone, as well as the remote on the coffee table. Eddie takes both without a word, face stuck like the grumpy cat Buck likes to compare him with mostly because it get Eddie more annoyed.

He keeps it to himself today, but he feels his chest expand with fondness all the same, especially when Eddie wastes no time texting Chris.

"Okay," Buck says, clapping his hands together. "I'm gonna go shower for real, do you need anything?"

Eddie shrugs. "Just gonna need a blanket and some water, but I'll go get—"

"Nuh-uh, no way," Buck is quick to say, hands once again pushing down Eddie's shoulder when the idiot tries to get up. "I'll do it, wait right here."

"Buck," Eddie sighs, but the fight in him is disappearing already.

"Don't move. I got this."

He does, too, running to grab pillows and blankets from the hallway closet—the same ones he uses when he's sleeping on the couch—and then pulling two water bottles out of the fridge, as well as some snacks just in case.

Eddie watches him through all of it, something soft and slightly disbelieving that makes Buck wish he still had blood covering his face.

"Okay, should be everything," he says, making sure Eddie is comfortably laid back against the pillow and that eveyrthing else is within reach.

"Buck," Eddie says. He rolls his eyes, but he doesn't sound annoyed for the first time today. "Unless your shower takes a whole day, I'm gonna be fine."

"What if I need to take a day long shower?"

"Then you'll have some bills to pay."

"You know, you're so generous with your guests, Eddie, it's a wonder you don't have more of those."

"Oh my god, go away," Eddie says, and it's not really what it sounds like.

Buck takes a step back with a mock salute before heading towards the bathroom, only to stop where the living room meets the hallway. He claps the doorframe, turns to Eddie.

"I'll be right back."

Through the pain, Eddie's smile is genuine. "I know. You always are."

send me prompts!

#911 spoilers #911 #buddie #911 fic #monse #thanks for this one baby i love you<3 #prompts #lex.writing

[shuttershocky]

I got mutuals who love FF16 and I did at least have enough fun to play through the entire game so I'm going to try to not be too harsh on it, but I disagree with the statement that its battle system is great. I would wait for the PC version to release and for someone to make an inevitable "Use all Eikons at once" mod, because otherwise the combat becomes very, very stale halfway through. It makes me wish that they just stuck to Final Fantasy style ARPG combat, because when they went for being an action game they refused to commit to it.

I was having fun with it until halfway through the game where its limitations became very apparent: it was branding itself as the first Final Fantasy to become a full action game, but didn't want to leave behind ARPG's entirely and so they limited the number of Eikons you can have equipped so there's still a measure of making a "build" (equipment is literally just stat go up so there's no build choice there lmao)

This is fucking disastrous because Clive's moveset outside of Eikon abilities never expands ever. He has the DMC foundation (as Square Enix famously hired DMC5's combat designer) of having attack-based parries (you have to clash an attack with the enemy's rather than time a block), enemy step, timed dodges, a ground slam, a taunt button, etc, but it's just the foundation, and it never fucking grows.

You have one, ONE attack string for the entire game: Attack, Magic Burst, Attack, Magic Burst, Attack, Magic Burst, Attack, Magic Burst, and this goes for both on the ground and in the air, meaning the longest attack combo you can make on an enemy you can send flying is A, M, A, M, A, M A, M, Torgal attack, Phoenix Shift (which is just Dante's Trick btw) A, M, A, M, Torgal uppercut+ Enemy Step (because you'll fall before you finish this), A, M, ground slam, maybe another Torgal attack.

That's it. For the entire game. You can charge an attack to give yourself super armor to make parries easier or charge a magic attack (not that you can shoot one off midcombo as you need to be tapping magic to do magic bursts), but otherwise you're not exactly going to be seeing infinite creative possibilities.

Meanwhile the Eikon abilities are limited by three issues: They have cooldowns, there's only two ability slots per EIkon (not counting their base ability / Feat) with a max of 3 eikons equipped, and the strong Eikon abilities are much, much, MUCH stronger than the fun Eikon abilities.

You know who are fun Eikons? Titan and Garuda. Titan has the most satisfying base ability in Titanic Block with incredibly meaty feeling counter hits, while Garuda's the only Eikon that realized FF16 wants to be an action game and has abilities that create actual combos like Gouge and Wicked Wheel rather than one and done spellcasts.

But do you know who you actually need to deal with the significantly bloated HP bars in lategame? Odin (base Odin because of Arm of Darkness' incredible damage and clear, but also Dancing Steel) and Shiva (Cold Snap + Diamond Dust). You've got one Eikon slot left to bring for a favorite (but let's be real it's prooobably Phoenix for Phoenix Shift) and two or one slots left for fun (because you WILL have Gigaflare, Lightning Rod, Diamond Dust, Judgment Bolt and/or Dancing Steel).

"But you never play efficient in DMC" yeah because playing for style over efficiency is built into the system. There's a style meter that hypes up how cool you are, strong enemies can get ragdolled around, and most importantly YOU HAVE SO MANY OPTIONS. Dante has more possible avenues of attack than the human mind can comprehend, Clive has his basic moveset, 6 Eikon abilities, and 3 Eikon Feats maximum, and you have to commit the 6 Eikon abilities to a cooldown in order to use them.

Let's say you customize to look stylish and cool, you go Titan - Garuda - Phoenix and then you start with a Raging Fists counter into Phoenix Shift, basic attack string, Wicked Wheel to take it to the air, air attack string, enemy step, Gouge, ground slam, finish with Windup. Congratulations, 4/6 of your equipped abilities are on cooldown to do that one cool-looking combo, you were attacking one enemy the whole time, and you didn't even deal as much damage as Lightning Rod + Level 5 Arm of Darkness clearing all the trash in the fight while dealing way more damage to the boss, and all that's on cooldown is Lightning Rod.

Do you know what lategame FF16 combat looks like? You rotate through a selection of one and done spells like you're farming a dungeon in Genshin Impact, optimizing your rotation by lining up the cooldowns of your 3 characters (Eikons in FF16's case) to do as much burst damage in a window as possible. As soon as a boss hits 40% Break bar or less, you cast Lightning Rod, then Diamond Dust (Diamond Dust's first half will both destroy 40% of an enemy's Break Bar while the second half does so many hits you hit the maximum bonus Break damage immediately with just combining with Lightning Rod), then Level 5 Arm of Darkness, Dancing Steel, Rift Slip to cancel the animation after the last hit (one of the few extremely cool unique abilities that aren't just big damage nuke), Level 5 Arm of Darkness again which was recharged by Dancing Steel, Gigaflare, and if the boss is really tanky? Judgment Bolt. Feeling Spicy and want even higher Break damage? Have Bahamut equipped and charge a level 5 Megaflare (dodge attacks while charging so it doesn't take forever to charge) and then unleash that BEFORE Lightning Rod + Diamond Dust.

That's how you make the most of a Break in FF16, because doing a regular honest combo on an enemy you've Broken won't do anything substantial due to the game being balanced around how ridiculously powerful the endgame nuke rotation is. As meaty and fun as Titanic Block is, when you see it do 2% of the enemy's max HP as damage even after how crunchy and satisfying the 3 counter hits are, you get discouraged because now you're weighing the opportunity cost of having Titan equipped vs Odin.

You're not supposed to worry about that in an action game! You play inefficiently because you're toying with the enemy on purpose, and then you annihilate them with your ultra nuking moves as you please. You don't choose what moves you bring to a fight! You have ALL of them! The promise of unlimited creativity, fulfilling mastery, and the game hyping you up as the coollest motherfucker on earth implores you to play with your entire moveset, invites you to experiment. What you optimize is how flashy you can look, not how much damage you can inflict because you made moves a semi-limited resource in a character action game for some reason.

"Well putting a cooldown on moves and limiting how many you have is 16 just trying to preserve the RPG identity of Final Fantasy" Where??? 16 abandoned damn near everything! Jill gave her country, her powers, her body, and all her screentime to Clive and Clive can't even give her a potion?! You don't have job classes, your party exists to be sandbags for you, you can't interact with each other in battle, your only resources are potions to heal and stat buffs for just you, your equipment means nothing and you can't even so much as banter with your party members while traveling around because god forbid you start to look friendly with each other.

Nobody praised FF15's combat but the game threw everything and the kitchen sink at you to make you believe Noctis and his boys were a team, just like how a Final Fantasy party should be. You passed resources between each other, you leveled up together, even when you only controlled Noctis you could give orders to Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto, then the Royal Edition was like "hey wait a minute this is a Final Fantasy game" and let you freely swap control between Noctis and the boys in the middle of combat. It wasn't tight and precise but it worked at making you feel like a party, and Final Fantasy as a series IS about being in a party.

FF16's combat system removed all of that, slapped a Final Fantasy skin on top of a Devil May Cry foundation, and then forgot to be a Devil May Cry game anyway. Are you going to do a cool co-op move with Jill like in FF15? No. Are you even going to talk to each other mid combat as your relationship grows? No. She shuts the fuck up and throws attacks separately from you and won't talk to distract you from being a one-man army.

Are you at least going to be able to juggle a bandit in the air for 40 seconds with an array of moves that will have your hands shaking as the game starts hyping you up? Still no, that's not how we do things here in Final Fantasy. You throw someone up in the air and they're dropping after 10 seconds. We don't do that extended combo stuff here.

Lightning Rod. Will o Wisp. Gigaflare. Fuck you.

#it's funny because God of War 4 ditched just as much about old God of War as FF16 did with Final Fantasy and yet i like one but not the othe #Poor Jill got screwed over for a combat system that wouldn't even commit

[messenger-of-stupidity]

Busy Hands

Well... I finally posted one of the GBA fics in my drafts. :D

CW: Grief, cursing, gendered listener 

(Ik. So unusual for me O.O But I need to reintroduce gender into my writing for project reasons)

GBA Masterlist

Summary: Just Faithful struggling through the grieving process and trying to raise a kid.

Faithful’s hands haven’t stopped being busy. Not since that day. Sometimes she still wakes up at night, the smell of the collapsing temple stuck in her nostrils. It takes racing to the bathroom and dry heaving while praying she doesn’t accidentally wake the young girl sleeping in the next room over. Even in those moments her hands are still occupied.

Either with holding back her hair or gripping the toilet bowl as she empties nothing. Eating was difficult those first few weeks. Because despite everything, she lost three people that day. She hadn’t ever really liked her brother, not with the way he constantly let her know she was useless. But the guilt of being glad he was gone had started to dig like a knife into her gut. Devlin had just... left them. Was she silly for believing he would stay? Silly for hoping? 

And then there was... Albus. Thinking about him really did feel like she was being crushed right beside him. Her ribcage locked and it got difficult to even breathe. He told her to continue with her life and not regret. But how could she not? If she had just been faster, or not been so weak maybe she could have found a way to save him. She hadn’t been able to keep her mind from wandering there when she was idle. 

It’s why she had to stay busy. She just... had to. 

Currently, her hands were busy kneading bread. Kerano was running around outside playing some game that her imagination made up and then expanded. Faithful pressed the heel of her palm hard against the dough. They had been inside this safehouse for a little over a couple months if she was counting the passing days correctly. Although with her sleep schedule so tattered and torn she couldn’t rely on that. Plus upon arrival she hadn’t bothered counting the days. 

More often than not she rounded a corner and expected to see Albus leaning against a wall with his patronizing greeting of “Well hey there Faithful.” It took her a while to get used to the silence when Kerano wasn’t in earshot or was staying quiet. At least she didn’t wake up and think she was still on the ship for a few hours.

She grabbed a knife and cut the dough into three equal parts. 

Faithful had once told Albus that she used to bake bread for the children that would run around the temple grounds. It was nothing special and she had tried to downplay it. Albus had let her for a few minutes before telling her that she was a far better person than he was. Devlin had returned from the bridge before she could ask what he had meant. 

She pinched the end of the three strands of dough together before beginning to braid them. 

She was pathetic. She had a child to care for now, and yet she seemed incapable of quieting her thoughts of a dead man. It would have been easier of Devlin had stayed. She thought he would, but he had left her alone. Even after promising Albus that he would care for her. Sure, he helped her get Kerano to a safer place but she couldn’t do this by herself. It was why she had enlisted help in the first gods damn place!

She glared down at the braided dough, jaw clenched and floured hands balled into fists at her side. 

Faithful wasn’t heartless, right? Devlin needed to grieve just as much as she did. Maybe even more so. Her mind still reeled with the secrets of both men that she carried. They might have ended up sharing the secrets to each other after they had all gotten drunk that one night. She doubted Devlin remembered. Albus did and he had told her to forget. A small part of her wondered if she should tell Devlin what Albus had told her. It didn’t matter now anyways? 

Even if she wanted to without a doubt, she couldn’t. She didn’t even know where the Artificer was. The former priestess could feel that kernel of worry start to form under her sternum. Busy. She had to stay busy. She watched as her hands methodically painted the egg wash across the curves and crannies of the braid.

Kerano’s laughter filtered through the open window. The sound had quickly introduced itself as bittersweet. She loved knowing that Kerano was happy and safe from her brother. Truly, she did. But she envied the little girl’s ability to laugh. It made sense of course. Kerano had never had the pleasure of meeting the warrior - he had stopped being known simply as a bastard in her mind - so why would she grieve? Faithful had made sure to explain who Albus was, if only so the young girl would understand why she felt somber. She hadn’t explained what death was, wanting to preserve what innocence she could, so Kerano simply believed that Albus had gone somewhere far away to help fight the evil monsters of the world. 

That was another reason why she needed Devlin here. She needed to have someone to talk to. Someone who understood. But instead she was left in this safe-house with the expectation she’ll have her shit together enough to help raise a child.

I can’t do any worse than Joshua.

It’s a dry thought, and not one that offers comfort in any sense of the word. But it’s true nonetheless. As long as she avoids believing the laughing child to be the god killer and decide to sacrifice the young girl, she’s doing better than Kerano has faced thus far.

Faithful places the bread in the oven and slides down to sit on the floor. If she closes her eyes, she can pretend Albus is right next to her.

“You do know I’m not actually here right, Faithful?” His voice is in her ear. It used to irritate her. Then it flustered her. Now it comforts her. Time does such funny things to perspectives. She nods her head. “Bullshit.” He calls her bluff. Like usual.

“There’s nothing wrong in indulging in a fantasy.” She murmurs quietly, wishing she could convince herself that there isn’t just empty space to her left. Albus always stayed on her left. She didn’t know why and she wished she asked. If only to know more about the warrior who covered up so much truth about himself. 

“’M pretty sure that’s a sin.” He says. Ignorant to the actual seven deadly sins. Or at least just pretending to be. She’s pretty sure it’s the latter now, he was always smarter than he gave himself credit for. Or anyone else gave him credit for, her included. She can feel her face grow hot with shame.

“Only when it becomes gluttony. I’ve resisted this fantasy for a while.” She mumbles. It’s a weak excuse, but she’s weak. She always has been.

“Damn. Faithful’s fantasizing about me. Have I finally corrupted the holy sister?” It’s the expected response. The one that would have had her heatedly denying it and throwing an insult at his face that he would just laugh at. But instead she stays quiet, staring at the glass surface cover of the oven and the bread baking inside. “I’m dead, Faithful. You can’t linger on a bastard like me.” He adds. She shakes her head and grips the skirt of her dress.

“I know you’re dead. I’ll do what I damn well please.” She spits back at him, trying to ignore the burning in her eyes. She wants to cry. She hasn’t actually let herself cry since that day, even as she wakes up on a pillow wet from tears. She’s never felt more isolated. Before, she had a goal. Then she had companions. Even with Kerano here, she feels so empty. “I can’t do this, Albus. I’m useless. I can’t fucking do this.” She whispers into the empty air. She wants to feel his calloused hand on her shoulder, his fingers tipping her chin up to look at him. She wants to hear his voice soften as he comforts her and draws her away from the darker recesses of her mind. “I didn’t pay you yet. You can’t just leave me alone. You promised.” She adds. Her imagination isn’t strong enough to come up with a response from her imaginary warrior. Her champion.

The bread is done.

#good boy audios #gba #gba faithful #gba bastard warrior #gba albus #gba devlin #gba kerano #and i oop-

[no-not-without-you-blog]

Flufftober 2nd: "You told your parents?"

Summary: You and Steve are visiting your family for the holidays with big news. He's terrified of their reaction.

Prompt by: @flufftober Graphics by @firefly-graphics

You and Steve were in the car, trunk loaded with presents, heading up to your parents house for the holiday. If you were an outsider looking in, you would think that it was a perfect idyllic moment. But as you looked over at Steve, you saw the tight grip he had on the steering wheel. You noticed that he wasn’t humming along to the music and his jaw was set firm. You reached over and placed your hand on his arm, he was pulled from his thoughts as he looked over at you. He relaxed that arm and let you pull it over to your lap, placing your hand in his. 

“Steve, it’s going to be okay.”

He sighed a deep sigh. “I know you say that, but you’re not the one that’s going to be on the firing line here.”

“You’re not going to be on the firing line. My mom is already so excited.” At your words, his head snapped over to you.

“You told your parents?” He asked in a panic.

You caressed his hand. “Just about the engagement. I wouldn’t tell them without you.”

“Oh God, this is going to be a disaster. Your mom is going to hate me and your dad and brothers… they’re going to kill me.” He was full on panicking at this point. You couldn’t help but laugh a bit though. 

“I’m pretty sure you can take them, Steven.” He looked over at you and glared at you.

“Oh yeah, because that’s a great first impression. ‘Hi, I’m Steve Rogers. I’m the guy who’s marrying your only daughter and the baby of the family, and, oh yeah, she’s also pregnant. Let me beat you up with my superhuman strength.’ That will go over real well.” 

All you could do was laugh and hold his hand up to kiss it. “Maybe not quite that direct, sweetie.”

He groaned and you could tell that he was actually very nervous about all of this. “Sweetheart, I need you to listen to me. I know you are worried, but I am being 100% serious when I tell you that you have nothing to worry about. They are going to love you.”

He took a deep breath, still finding it hard to believe you but feeling slightly better.

Another hour had passed and you were finally pulling into the snowy driveway. Steve got out and walked around to your side, opening your door and helping you out. You weren’t showing too much yet, but your hips had been in pain, expanding to accommodate your growing womb, and he did all he could to help ease the discomfort.

The front door opened and your mom quickly made her way down the steps of the porch and hurried over to you, wrapping her arms around you. You returned the tight hug with tears in your eyes. It had been around a year since you had seen your family and you forgot just how much you missed them. 

You were all quickly ushered inside and into the living room. Steve set your luggage down and stood tall and proud. Only those closest to him would notice the nervousness just under the surface. Your three older brothers, sisters in law, and nieces and nephews wouldn’t be here until this evening. You had made sure to get here earlier to give Steve a chance to ease into it all. He had never had a big family and what family he once had, had been gone for a long time. 

“Mom, Dad. This is Steve… my fiancé.” He looked down at you when you said it and the look of love in your eyes gave him a boost of confidence. His whole life was right there in front of him and he would do anything for you. Even brave the next few hours of terror. 

He looked back up at your father and stuck his hand out firmly. “Mr. and Mrs. Y/L/N, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” You almost snickered when you heard him using his “Captain America” voice, but you weren’t going to push him right now.

Your mom surged forward, wrapping her arms around Steve. At first he tensed up, not prepared for the sudden embrace, but you could see him visibly melt into the hug. “Please, you’re marrying our daughter. There’s no need to be so formal.” Steve felt such a loving presence from her. Your father, well, he wasn’t cold, but just more reserved, waiting to pass judgment on whether he approved of his little girl's partner.

They ushered you into the living room, you sat beside Steve and held his hand. He was sitting up stick straight. Obviously incredibly nervous. “So,” Your mom started, “When are we going to be planning a wedding?” 

You took a deep breath. “Well, we are probably going to want to have it pretty quickly. Probably this spring.”

“Oh honey, there’s no need to rush. I’m sure you would prefer to take your time. Planning a wedding takes a long time.” 

“Well, we are wanting to have it sooner rather than later. We don’t want to wait.” You said, the nerves of telling your family finally starting to build.

“What’s the rush, sweetie?” You mom continued to push. “I promise you, you won’t want to rush through it all. It’s better to have a good long while to plan everything. I mean when I-”

“I’m pregnant!” You hadn’t meant to yell it out. You mom was just starting to stress you out about pushing the wedding and you couldn’t hold it in any longer. You looked around and Steve was tensed back up, his face giving little away but you knew he was bracing for an onslaught of yelling. You dad looked taken aback and your mom’s eyes were wide. 

“Y-You’re pregnant?” Your mother questioned carefully. All you could muster is to nod your head. After a beat your mom clapped her hands together and let out a squeal of joy. “Oh Sweetie, that is the best news! I am so happy!” She jumped up, pulling you up into a hug. 

“We weren’t going to say anything until this evening but I couldn’t hold it in anymore.” You looked over and gave Steve an apologetic look. He nervously smiled at you, he cleared his throat, feeling like he needed to say something. Your father still seemed wary of him and Steve felt the need to change that.

“I want to assure you both that I love your daughter with everything in me. We had talked about me taking a step back and finally hanging up the shield after we got married. That decision became so much easier now that Y/N’s pregnant. I don’t want to put her or our child at risk and I don’t want to risk not being there for them. I’ve lived my life for others for long enough. It’s time for me to live for her, our child, and for myself.” Your mom seemed totally sold at his words but your father still looked slightly unsure. Your mom picked up on his hesitation. “Y/N, sweetie. Why don’t we go get everyone some dessert to celebrate?” She pulled you towards the kitchen and Steve nodded at you, knowing that he needed to have this talk with your dad. 

As you and your mother left to the kitchen, Steve and your father sat in awkward silence. Steve finally spoke up. “Sir, I just want to reiterate that I love your daughter and want to give her everything in life. I know that the timing of all of this is backwards and I, more than most, appreciate the old fashioned way of doing things. That being said, I wouldn’t change a single thing. I want to marry your daughter and I want to have this baby with her.”

He just nodded his head, letting Steve’s words process. 

“When?”

Steve was confused. “When what, sir?”

“When did you decide to marry my daughter? Was it before or after you found out about the baby? I guess it doesn’t matter much at this point, but it would be nice to know that it was before yo-”

“October 2nd, 2022” Steve interrupted him. “Over a year ago, on our third date. We went to a fall carnival. It was still slightly warm out and she was wearing a white dress and a soft blue cardigan. We had just played a carnival game and she wanted some cotton candy. She smiled up at me and I saw my whole future flash before my eyes. I knew then and there that I wanted her for the rest of my life.”

Steve wasn’t sure how your father was going to react to what he said but was relieved when your dad let a small smile cross his face. “It was my fourth date with her mom. We had gone to the movies and I had chosen something scary, thinking it would help me get close to her. But of course, she had to turn my plans upside down. She laughed the whole movie. Every scary scene was one where she giggled. Turns out, she loves scary movies and always laughs at them. I was sold from then on out.” 

Steve smiled as he told the story, you had the same reaction. “I’m sorry that we sprung all of this on you. We had hoped to tell you tonight along with letting you know that we were thinking about moving back here. If I stay in the city, I feel like I’ll be drug back into the fray. We want to get away from it all and no better place than by family.”

Your dad seemed to light up at that. He had missed his little girl and the prospect of having her closer was a welcome thought. 

“Can I be honest with you, sir?” Steve asked. He nodded yes, prompting Steve to continue. “I’m man enough to admit that I am scared shitless.”

Your dad laughed at that. “I promise you, I don’t bite. Now her brothers? No guarantees.” Steve chuckled lightly at that. 

“No. It’s not that. Although there was and is some definite fear there as well. I don’t know if you know my history, but I didn’t grow up with much family. My father died before I was born and it was just my mom and I for a while. She died when I was just 18 and then it was just me. I didn’t have any father figures growing up. I’m just terrified that I’m going to screw it all up. Y/N and this baby deserve the best of everything and that includes a husband and father. I am just worried that that won’t be me.”

Your dad just walked over to the side table poured himself and Steve a drink, handing the dark amber liquid to Steve. “I’m gonna be honest with you, son. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. It’s mentally, emotionally, and surprisingly physically exhausting at times.” They both laughed at that. “But just expressing that you're worried that you're not going to do it right makes me know that you will. Will you make mistakes? Absolutely. Every parent does. There’s no manual to all this. But you try your best each day and love them with everything you can. That’s all there is to it. Oh and you gotta teach them to whistle. Y/N can’t whistle worth a damn, so that’s on you.” They both laughed heartily at that and they heard you and your mom coming back into the living room. The smile on your face making both mens heart’s ache. Steve’s for how beautiful you looked, hand resting lightly on your barely there belly, and your father as he saw the beautiful woman his little girl had now become. Your dad clapped a hand on Steve’s back. “You’re going to do just fine, son. Besides, anything you need, we’ll be here for you.”

Taglist:

@annasrefuge @chrisevansdaughter 

#flufftober #flufftober2022 #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #marvel #day 2 #captain america #dad!steve rogers #fiance!steve rogers

[warmblanketwhump]

Ok so I saw a prompt saying 'fingers shaking too much to dial caretakers number' and I wanted to expand on that..... maybe they try to type in someone's number (family member or someone physically close but not so emotional e.g neighbour) but accidentally typed the wrong numbers and end up calling someone else without realising.... this could be a cute friends to lovers moment as they talk as if its mum or smth so get all emotional and wallow in sickness only for said friend they called to feel so bad for them they drive over and take care of them..... I'd love to see you write smth like this <3

ooohh okay so this idea is actually perfect for my @sicktember fic 😍😍😍 (which i am WILDLY behind on) this isn’t exactly what the prompt was, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless! 

sicktember day 2: homesick

A stumbles in out of the rain, barely able to keep themselves upright as they head for the reception desk. Three hotels. Three places they’ve tried, all of them full, and if they have to drive any more after this they just know they’ll end up in an accident. They didn’t even see the name of this place—all they saw was a giant deer atop a rotating neon sign and the word “Hotel” with lights so bright that they can’t look at it straight on. 

The bored teenager at the reception desk snaps their gum as they look up at their phone screen, eying A’s bedraggled form. “Name for the reservation?”

“I…I don’t have one....please…do you have anything-“ A hacking cough cuts them off and they choke on their breath as they wheeze into their elbow.

“We’re full up.” Snap. “Should’ve made a reservation—it’s our busy season.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” A’s voice cracks on the words, and they’re desperately willing themselves not to sob in front of this kid. But they’re just so tired, in desperate need of a place to lay their head and sleep off whatever this sudden, awful illness is. “Can you just check?” 

The kid taps away at the computer, raising their eyebrows after a minute or two. “Guess you’re in luck. We’ve got a no-show. So there’s a spot open for you.“

A doesn’t even hear the rest as they slap down a few wrinkled bills, barely listening to the teenager’s instructions about breakfast and checkout times. Somehow their feet carry them the impossible distance up the stairs to their room

It’s a damp, musty old room, bed covered in a plaid comforter, lots of old nature paintings on the wall. It’s cold, too, and A shudders as they flick on the radiator, rubbing the goosebumps away on their arms.

If they were feeling stronger, they’d hop in a hot shower to try and clear their sinuses. But they’re so tired that they only manage to shed their coat and crawl under the covers, clothes and all, clutching the blankets close to their chin.

Objectively, they should be grateful. They’ve got a bed and a roof over their head, and a little place they can rest for the night. But it’s not home. It’s an icy hotel room with thin, scratchy blankets and a too-hard mattress that does nothing to relieve their aching bones. And they’re just so sick…

The tears slip down their nose before they know it. Big, fat tears pouring down their cheeks, soaking the pillow. God, why do they have to be alone for this?

Without thinking, they reach for their phone and try to tap in their roommate’s familiar number with shaky hands. The phone light is so bright against their eyes that they wince and squeeze their eyes shut, willing the stabbing pain to go away as the phone rings once, twice....

“Hello?” 

“B?” A sobs. “B, I’m sorry for calling so late, but I got stuck two hours from home and I don’t feel good, and I just needed to hear a familiar voice—” 

“Um—” 

“And I won’t keep you long but I *sniff* just really don’t want to be alone right now, and I am, and I miss home and I should’ve waited for you to come with me because this sucks—” 

“Who is this?” 

A’s stomach drops. “W-what? B...it’s me...”

“I’m....not B. I’m C.” The caller on the phone nervously clears their throat. 

“Oh....god, I’m so sorry.” A sputters. “I didn’t mean to bother you.” 

“Hey, you’re not—I mean, I know I’m not who you probably wanted to talk to either.” The stranger, C, clears their throat again. “Are you okay?” 

A coughing fit steals away A’s words, and it’s a few moments before they’re able to control their breathing again. “I....I’ll be fine. Seriously, I’m sorry to bother–” 

“You’re not bothering me,” C says quickly. “I mean...you can hang up and talk to whoever you meant to call. But if you...need to talk to someone....well, I’ve always been told I’m a good listener.” 

A readies themselves to hang up, to thank this C for sparing a few minutes in before trying B again. But then it hits them—a fact they’d forgotten in their feverish desperation, and the reason they were alone on this trip in the first place. B’s still out of town on that work trip they’ve been talking about for ages. And even if B is available for a call, the last thing A wants to do is bother them or make them worry just because they’re a little sick and homesick. What could a few minutes talking with a stranger hurt, anyways?

“Well, there’s not much to say,” A begins, clearing their scratchy throat. “Except for the fact that I’m traveling by myself and now I’m....sick. Really sick. And I want to be home, and I’m not.” They cough again for good measure. 

“That...doesn’t sound very good.” 

“Trust me, it’s not.” 

“Do you have anything you can take?” 

“No.” A doesn’t mean to sound pitiful, but it’s just dawned on them that they’ll be stuck in this room for the foreseeable future without any medicine. 

“You sure you’re going to be okay by yourself?” A can hear the note of concern in their new friend’s voice.

“…..I’ll be fine.” A repeats the sentiment again, less sure this time. “Please...can you just talk to me for a bit? Just to keep my mind off...this.” 

C obliges, regaling A with the dinner they had that evening and the show they’re currently watching, narrating what their dog is doing, telling them their plans for the weekend—a trip to a museum and dinner at a restaurant that A knows, which leads them both to the serendipitous discovery that they both live in the same city, and C knows D, a distant acquaintance of B and A. 

After an hour, they realize the sound of C’s voice really has eased them into a calmer state. They’re still sick as hell, but it’s nice to be with someone. 

Unfortunately, they can barely keep their eyes open. “C.....I think you’re about to lose me.”

“Oh shoot—A, you can go to sleep, it’s totally fine. I’m sorry for keeping you up so long—” 

“No...it’s...it’s nice.”

“Look, you don’t have to say yes but...can I call you in the morning? You just said you’re by yourself, and you sound pretty rough, and it’s none of my business but I just want you to know someone’s looking out for you—”

“That...I’d appreciate that.” A swallows the unexpected lump of emotion in their throat, of the kindness of a stranger momentarily blooming in their chest. “Thank you.” 

So they bid the stranger goodnight and hang up, promising that they can check in when they wake up tomorrow morning. And even though they’re feverish and shaky and exhausted and not entirely sure how they’ll make it home, the thought of the stranger’s calm voice anchors them, and they drift off into an uneasy sleep. 

#sicktember 2022 #sickfic whump #wrong number #sickfic #YES i am planning a part two #logistically i need to work out a few things #but i needed to just go ahead and post this lol

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

Stepping Stones: Chapter 4

The first order of business upon their return to the Owl House is names.

Alador, Perry, Harvey, and Gilbert left to assess the state of their houses, but their children remained, and Vee’s siblings were understandably confused when they race out the door calling her a name they’d never heard. An explanation followed on the concept of roman numerals, and while One, Two, and Three weren’t very taken with them— understandably— Four tried on the name Ivy and decided that she liked it. 

One and Three went with homonyms, Wynne and Rhee, respectively; but Two took a while to decide. They went through words for two in Spanish, Italian, French, through all the vaguely plausible names they could think of, before Luz suggested Gemini— meaning “twin”— and it stuck.

With that debate settled, they headed inside, and now Luz and her friends sit at the kitchen table listening to the basilisks exchange stories as Raine cooks dinner under King’s barked orders and Camila, Eda, Lilith, and Hooty sort through the rest of the food. Luz’s chest aches as she watches the faces of Vee’s siblings as Vee talks about Camila, the envy in their eyes rolling a lump into her throat. It isn’t guilt, not anymore— she just wishes she could have opened the portal sooner, could have taken these kids away from Belos years ago and gotten them a home with all the love they could ask for. When the adults come in to eat and Camila catches her eye, Luz realizes she’s thinking the exact same thing. 

“As soon as I was returned to normal, I knew I had to go back for O— Wynne and Gemini,” Rhee says, concluding their story of the last few months. 

“I had the same idea,” Ivy adds. “We met up halfway to the Conformatorium. We figured we’d get the others and then try to find Vee and then… well, we didn’t really have a plan.”

“We still don’t,” Gemini points out. She glances hopefully at Camila. “Unless… we could stay with you?”

Camila opens her mouth and closes it, and the pain in Luz’s heart expands, because she knows that what she wants to say and what she has to are two different things. 

“I’m sorry,” Camila says, shaking her head. “But I just don’t have the means to take care of you all. I could do it for Luz’s friends, for a few months, but I was scraping to get by. I couldn’t give all of you the home you deserve.”

“Well,” Eda says slowly, “maybe I can.”

Vee’s siblings all turn to her. 

She gives them a small grin. “The Owl House isn’t usually this full,” she tells them. “With Luz staying in the Human Realm, it’s going to feel pretty empty. I’d be happy to have some company.”

The silence at the table is as loud as a scream before Amity turns to Camila. “You’re not really still holding her to that.”

“Of course not!” Camila cries. “Mija, please—“

“Wait— you’re going to stay in the Human Realm? Forever?” Willow demands. “Is this still about the Collector?”

“Wait, what about the Collector?” Edric asks.

“Luz is the one who introduced Belos to him,” Amity tells him. “She thought he was just a human at the time.”

Luz draws in a breath, now a little desperate to get a word in edgewise, but Hunter cuts her off with a growl.

“How many times do we have to go over this?” he demands. “Belos would have found the Collector even if you didn’t help him, it was his whole mission!”

“And if you hadn’t come here,” Eda adds, “there would have been no one to learn the Titan’s magic and use it to defeat him—“

“I know,” Luz blurts.

For a second, she’s grateful for the silence, and then her heart starts hammering so hard under everyone’s attention she wonders if she’ll be able to say anything at all. She takes several deep breaths— and feels Amity take her hand.

“When King’s dad asked me to take his powers,” Luz says, looking down, “I almost didn’t. I just thought— what if I mess up again? Who am I to have all this power? But then I thought, well, I can’t change the mistake I made. But I can stop it from getting worse. Hiding myself away… it wouldn’t fix anything. I know that now.”

Amity squeezes her hand, and Luz feels another hand on her shoulder. She looks up to find Lilith smiling at her. 

“You’re a much wiser witch than I was at your age,” she says. “And do you really think you’re the only one here who has to live with a mistake? I helped Belos meet the Collector too, Luz. Before that, I helped him recruit people to the covens. And before that, I cursed my sister to further my own ambitions. I’ve considered more times than I can count just stepping away before I can do any more damage. But that would just be a waste, wouldn’t it?”

“Isolation is tempting,” Eda agrees, glancing at Raine. “But it isn’t the right answer.”

“I know. I know that now.” Luz takes a deep breath and turns to her mom. “Mamá… is it okay for me to keep coming here?”

“Luz.” Camila reaches across the table and gently takes her hands, waiting for Luz to look at her before she speaks. “If you didn’t come back to visit, I would throw you through that portal myself.”

Luz lets out a watery laugh.

“When I asked you to stay with me… I was so scared, Luz. I had no idea where you were and what you were facing, no idea if you’d ever come home. If you wanted to. But this place isn’t… well, okay, it is as dangerous as I imagined. But you’ve flourished here anyway, and you found a family, and friends. I would never take you from that.”

Luz lets go of her hand to wipe her eyes. “Thanks, Mom.” 

Camila sighs. “But, Luz… I still want you with me. I missed you so much while you were away—“

“Me too,” Luz says quickly. “And even though I’ll be visiting the Isles all the time, it’s not the right place for me to stay right now. I still need to finish school. People would wonder if I just disappeared.”

“We-ell,” Vee says slowly. 

“I’m not making you pretend to be me again!”

Vee smiles. “Oh, good. I’m not sure I was up for that.”

Camila puts a hand on her shoulder. “You’re welcome to stay with me too, mija. Six kids I don’t have the resources for, but I’d be happy to take you in.” She looks at Hunter. “You too, Hunter. Three will be a stretch, but I’m sure we can make it work.”

Hunter’s eyes light up, but his face is still. “I’d like that to start, but… I don’t really think I’d fit in for very long. I’ve seen Luz’s homework. It’s incomprehensible. Anyone in her school would spot me as a witch a mile away.”

Luz bites her lip and nods.

“It’s not so hard,” Vee assures him. “I spent most of the summer studying it in case I had to go to school as Luz. I could help you out.”

“Thanks, but… now that I have Flapjack’s power, I’d like to try to learn more magic, if I could.” Hunter glances at Darius. “Do you think I could enroll in Hexside without a guardian?”

Eda laughs out loud. “Kid, you have more guardians than you’ll know what to do with.”

A smile spreads over Hunter’s face as he turns to Camila. “Is it okay if I stay with you until then?”

“Of course!” She crosses the table to hug him, and his eyes well with tears. Seeming to sense it, she holds him tighter for a long moment before ruffling his hair and stepping back, turning to look at Vee.

“What about you, Vee?”

“I’d like to stay with you,” she says immediately. Glancing at her siblings, she adds, “I promise I’ll visit you all the time, but I still feel more at home in the Human Realm. Is that okay?”

“Anything is okay,” Wynne promises, wrapping an arm around her. “As long as you’re happy.”

“We’ll need to figure out what to do with putting you through school,” Camila says thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t have time to homeschool, but you’d need at least a birth certificate to enroll in Gravesfield High…”

Eda waves a hand. “Oh, I can easily arrange that. Would you like some adoption papers while I’m at it?”

Vee and Camila look at each other. Camila smiles. Vee bursts into tears. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Eda says, standing up. “Come on, you two, I’ll need your help to make it look authentic. Wynne, Gemini, Rhee, Ivy— why don’t you four come too? I can give you a tour, and you can pick where you want to sleep.”

Camila and the basilisks follow her out, and Raine, Darius, Lilith, and King start to clean up dinner. Amity tugs on Luz’s hand, and Luz glances at her to find her face serious. “Luz,” she says. “Can we talk?”

A pang of anxiety courses through Luz’s stomach, but she nods. “Of course.”

To her surprise, Willow, Gus, and Hunter all stand as well, and she follows them out of the kitchen, trying to reassure herself with the feeling of Amity’s hand in hers. When they get outside, Amity turns and takes her other hand. 

“Luz,” she says, “we’re worried about you.”

“I promise, I’m not going to stay in the Human Realm—“

“It’s not just that,” Willow interrupts. “We were aware when the Collector was puppeting us, you know. He made us say horrible things, and you believed them.”

“You believed I was going to attack you,” Amity says, “more than you believed I would misquote Azura.”

“You would never misquote Azura.”

“Luz!”

“Okay, okay.” Luz smiles, but it fades quickly. “It’s not that I believed any of you would say any of that, not really. It’s just… I believed I deserved to hear it. I did separate you from your families. I did take you out of your lives. I couldn’t save Flapjack, I didn’t know how to save the people you loved, so it made sense to me that you’d be mad about it.”

“Here’s the thing, Luz.” Amity sits down, lowering Luz with her, and the others follow. “Even if you didn’t know how to save anyone, even if we’d never found a way back home— I would still be glad I met you. My life before you was a disaster. I was horrible, to myself and everyone around me. On purpose. If Willow and Gus can forgive me for that, why would we ever be mad at you for things that weren’t even your fault?”

“If you hadn’t come to the Isles, I would never have gotten Amity back as a friend,” Willow confirms. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the Abomination track. I might never have known how strong I could be.”

“And I would have kept helping Belos— on purpose, not by accident,” Hunter says quietly. “Until he drained my magic on the Day of Unity, or until I figured out what he was doing and became just another failed attempt.” 

There’s a long silence as Luz chokes back her tears, basking in the warmth in her chest after months of frost, until Gus shrugs and says, “without you, I would never have seen a giraffe.”

The moment breaks as they all laugh, crawling together into one knot, and Luz cries openly, the relief too much for her to hold inside. When they finally pull back, Amity wipes away one tear and kisses away the other, then moves to whisper in Luz’s ear.

“I love you.”

Luz gasps as she pulls back, heat sweeping through her face— and then she throws her arms around her, burying her face in her shoulder.

“I love you, too.”

They stay like that for another long moment before a yell comes from inside. “Luz!” Vee calls. “Come see!”

Amity pulls back, cheeks flushed, grinning at Luz as she pulls her to her feet, and the two of them race back through the door with Willow, Gus, and Hunter close behind to find Vee in the living room waving a pile of papers. Luz scurries over and snatches them from her hands, her eyes zeroing in on two words.

Vee Noceda.

Vee Noceda!

“I have a sister, I have a sister!” she sings, grabbing Vee’s hands and twirling her in a circle as Vee laughs and laughs, tears streaming freely down her face, until Camila swoops in and gathers them both into her arms. “My precious daughters, my wonderful daughters,” she murmurs, kissing both their heads. 

Luz looks up from the tangle of their limbs to find Willow nudging a red-faced Amity as Gus laughs; to see the basilisks looking around the room with grins on their faces; to see Eda and her father in close conversation with Hunter, showing him what appears to be a tiny palistrom seed. It’s a perfect picture, and Luz closes her eyes, trying to etch it into her mind. At the beginning of all this, she would have called it her happy ending, but she knows better now.

This is just a very exciting beginning.

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #toh vee #toh hunter #camila noceda #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #king clawthorne #raine whispers #darius daemonne #edric blight #gus porter #willow park #the collector #emperor belos #ray rambles #ray writes #stepping stones

[actualbird]

Hi Zak!! This is a pretty random ask but i was just wondering if you have any tips for starting a fanfic/story? I just keep getting stuck on how to start one (I really love your work/blog 🙏 feeds my tot brain rot fr!!)

hi anon, im glad you like the stuff i make ;w; !!! and ohhh, sure i got tons of tips for that!.....so many that i actually wish i cld get u back here to ask what specifically about starting a story u'd want tips on but for now, i'll go for a general overview :D!!

cuz....to me (i.e. based on my writing process, which i'll be drawing heavily from for these tips), the act of Starting comes in three distinct steps, one after the other:

Idea Generation (what is the story gonna be about and how do i get ideas for that?)

Concept Organization/Outlining (how is the story going to be about this idea and how will i be executing it?)

Creation (GAH, HOW PUT WORDS ON PAGE!?!?!?)

so i'll give general tips for all three!!!

-

Idea Generation Tips

(this is the step that i personally have the least trouble with because my brain makes 5 new ideas every day. it's kinda a curse now because it leads to me having too many wips and concepts and only 1% of them gets to the Creation period jhvjhVJKSHFVHJS BUT ANYHOO, TIPS-)

Check Out Prompt Lists (super fun and easy way to get an idea! theres tons of story and fic prompts out there that you can search up here on tumblr, some of them being lists of lines of dialog or lists of AUs or scenarios. even if you dont follow a prompt exactly, they can be great at kickstarting ur brain into thinking of something related that you Do wanna pursue)

Open/Ask For Prompt Requests (if ur brain doesnt have any ideas, u can ask around and see if anyone ELSE has ideas theyre alright with you writing! my tot fics "reviews for Time's Antiquities, South Stellis | Average Rating: 4.8 Stars" and "but little do we know, the stars welcome him with open arms" were both inspired by anon asks i got!! to those anons who sent those asks, i owe u my life....but yea, maybe other people can give ideas to you! or, again, give Something that can inspire another thing in ur brain to take shape)

Just Ramble With A Friend (SO MANY OF MY FIC IDEAS started because i was just goofing off and playing idea volleyball with fandom buddies in our DMs (shoutout to sam samsspambox, z lukevonhagen, and beck beckthebeetle for being the main culprits of this). like, what started out as a joke conversation eventually makes go "oh no wait i actually wanna see that as a fic" and then boom, Idea Has Been Acquired. but fr, talking with another person makes your brain create things u never thought about before. it's both tons of fun to chat with a buddy as a sounding board, and it yields awesome concepts for stories!)

For Fanfic Specifically, Think About What You Want To See In Canon But Hasn't Happened And You Want It So Bad It's Driving You NUTS (this can be anything from missing scenes you wish were expanded on, scenes you wish went a different way, character relationships you wish you could see more of in canon, go nuts! the fun thing with fanfic is that it's a fertile playground for all the what-ifs, and a lot of my fics' ideas were simply found because i thought "man i know tears of themis is never gonna show me deep found fam moments/artem ptsd consequences after main story 6.2/mariluke, so imma make it myself" JHVSJDHF. ideas are hard to make sometimes, but brains are so good at desiring things. and all those desires? those can also be Ideas for a fic!)

-

Concept Organization/Outlining

(very much skippable if your writing style/personality is more receptive to free-wheeling!! im just the type of writer who always needs an outline to begin something. it helps me structure a raw idea with no shape into something clearer that i can envision a story for)

Outline A Rough Chain Of Events Chronologically (this can be as simple as three bullet points, what happens at the Start of the story, the Middle, and the End. or maybe you can go list down the portions of your fic according to the Freytag's Pyramid Plot Structure: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, etc etc.)

Outline A Rough List Of Stuff You Just Want To Happen In The Fic (if your brain is like mine and isnt too great at chronological thinking, make a list of just all the plot points and events or even dialog exchanges u Want to see in the fic. you can organize it in the order u want later once uve put everything down)

Outline The Themes (moving away from plot, many stories are more focused on feelings or characterization or themes. so make a list of the Concepts you want to tackle. this is something i do for my fics that are more introspective, so i outline shit like "EVENT THAT MAKES LUKE INTERNALIZE SELF-LOATHING followed by EVENT THAT MAKES LUKE'S VIEW BE NOTICED BY ANOTHER CHARACTER")

-

Creation

(the worst part of writing....is the writing JAVFJVSDKHFDJHJ but nah fr this is the part i have the hardest time with, so here are tips that help me kickstart the word engine)

You Dont Have To Start Writing The Fic From The Beginning Of Its Story, Start Writing Wherever (confession: a good 75% of my fics are ones where the first scene i actually wrote down was not the start. instead, i just wrote the scene i was most excited to write. and usually thats somewhere in the middle! i do this cuz it makes my brain happy, and a happy brain is much easier to pull words from than a sad brain. plus, when i see the scene I Like Best already written, it gives me motivation to do the rest of the fic because oh my god i want everybody to sEE THIS ONE DANG SCENE!!! start writing the fic at whatever point you want, in whatever order comes most naturally to you, is my point. you can fill the rest in later, but hey, starting to write where you Want has gotten you Started. now you just gotta finish, and finishing when you already have something down is much easier than starting from 0)

Set Tiny Wordcount Goals. And When I Say Tiny, I MEAN TINY!!! (writing is intimidating but if you set a goal of say, 100 words written for a wip per day, at the end of one week, you'll have 700 words. at the end of two, you'll have 1400 words. at the end of a month, 3000. small goals help since it makes you do Something, and that Something will inevitably compound, no matter what goal uve set. and let urself be proud of the goals uve achieved!!! writer brain gets happy when you tell it it's done a good job at reaching a wordcount goal, and like i said earlier, happy brain is much easier to work with than sad brain)

Give Yourself All The Time You Need (i know this sounds counterproductive but sometimes....the best thing you can do for the part of your brain that wants to start creating....is waiting til it's ready. dont pressure yourself, cuz brain will get sad. dont be too hard on yourself, cuz brain will get sad. start when you want to start in the way that works best with your brain and see where things go, but be patient with yourself. sometims Starting is actually the longest part of writing a story and thats fine. it will happen. trust)

-

thats all the tips ive got! and of course, what will work for me wont always work for other people, so please feel free to take what you think applies to you and discard what doesnt resonate.

i hope some part of this can help! happy writing :D

#asks #anon #.....man i forgot if i had a tag for writing tips. i know ive answered a writing tips asks but i cannot rmr for the life of me the tag..jsd #also yes im testing out changing text color to help break up my blocktext rambling jhvjkVKJ

[v-cain]

"What The Fuck?"

Fandom: Xmen

Pairings: Logan Howlett x gn!teen!reader, mentioned Kurt Wagner x gn!teen!reader

Warnings: Swearing, Falling on your ass.

A/N: crack fic with minor foreshadowing ooh spooky. anyways theres a lil heartfelt moment in there cuz im a loser who likes heartfelt moments. enjoy. (lmk if i missed any warnings)

----

Last night, you got to spend your first night in your own room! This may not seem like huge thing to most, but when you've been sharing with a group of twelve year old boys..you loose your mind a bit.You sit up and stretch with a huge yawn. For once in your life, you've managed to get a peaceful nights sleep, which meant you could probably do something productive with your evening. You go to your dresser and choose a lovely f/c outfit that compliment your scales beautifully, and then walk to your door so you can go downstairs and eat some food. Maybe you would even do today's homework-

THUD

You stumble backwards, nearly falling on your ass. What the fuck? You try and walk forwards once again before you realize the problem: your wings. Sometimes your wings wouldn't fold if you kept them folded for too long, which has never proven to be a problem because you could always squeeze through the doors. This is apparently not the case in your new room. You stare at the door before trying to turn sideways and walk through the door- except your room wasn't big enough to turn fully with your wings expanded.

What the hell do you do? Do you yell for Kurt to get his ass in here and teleport you out? Or do you wait for Logan to realize you're not in class and go looking for you? You stand there for ages before eventually looking out the window. The stars were out tonight, which meant you would be able to convince Logan to skip class and look at the stars instead. If you could get out of your god forsaken room-

----

Logan sighed for what felt like the hundredth time this minute. Y/N was late for class by an hour, which by itself was unusual, but no one has seen Y/N all day- they usually at least try to leave their room during the morning. He gave up on waiting and decided to look for them- first thing first, their bedroom. They could've just overslept and are still tangled in about a million blankets (Logan commented that it looked like a nest, and Y/N's response had been "Fuckin' duh.")

He reached their room and knocked three times, and immediately heard an exasperated "Fucking finally! Open the door!" Clearly confused, Logan opened the door to reveal Y/N standing on their bed with their wings expanded, taking up most of the room. "Kid...what the hell happened?" the teen grinned at him and shrugged, simply responding "I got stuck here for two hours 'cause my wings wouldn't fold. Can you get Kurt to teleport me out?"Logan nodded and took one last glance at them before heading off to the end of the hall where Kurt was.

----

"..So, that's what happened to my wings earlier. It doesn't really hurt, but keeping them folded up all the time does." the teen said nonchalantly. Logan looked at them with a raised eyebrow, "You would think you would have the common sense to stretch them or, you know, fly, but I guess not." You shift uncomfortably and laugh a little " Yeah, I probably should stretch more often." The older man looks at you for a moment but decides to not comment on your wording.

The pair sits in silence for the next while, quietly admiring the stars. You look at Logan momentarily, wondering how different your life would be if you hadn't come to the school. You would probably be deep in a forest, far away from any civilisation. You wouldn't have your amazing friends, any good role models...you would be alone.

Thank fuck you're not.

#xmen #platonic! logan howlett x gn!teen!reader #platonic #gn!reader #teen!reader #logan howlett x gn!teen!reader #xmen teen!reader #xmen gn!reader #xmen gn!teen!reader #toothless!reader

[rainchyna]

𓆩♡𓆪 episode six: IT BEGINS.

HEHE this episode is a major L ngl but look i had to add hunter one way or another he’s so fucking hot oh my god yo smut warning btw LMAO ,, anyways, the y/n fanboy club will only expand from here so get ready yall all the boys and girls wanna kiss y/n

10:31 am, at the hotel.

it was in the air.

what was ‘it’?

chaos.

chaos was in the air.

ever since your promo with The Undertaker last week, it felt like you were sitting on a volcano waiting to erupt.

you were put in several storyline that got cancelled, had three separate gimmick changes pitched, two underdeveloped love angles, twelve - you counted - times you almost turned heel, and you almost got yourself and Shawn suspended for a fight you had backstage.

fun, exciting even, to say the least.

Lita almost got dropped off of Taker’s team because of an injury she got during a house show, Owen had twisted his ankle, and Steve and Bret were now in a feud within the Taker-Y/n angle and Sherri and Luna seemed to be wrestling each other in every house show.

Vince was clearly beginning to lose his sanity bit by bit everyday and it was showing. he fired and rehired six wrestlers and twenty staff members in the same hour, almost completely cancelled you and Taker’s feud and allegedly - has been in talks with some ex WCW guys to sign in them with the WWF, since WCW seemed to be stealing all the top stars he had.

one of the WCW guys that came was Hunter Hearst Helmsley. you’ve always seen him around, but nothing ever stuck. he’s pretty cool, sweet guy, very much talented. you two only began building a friendship after his debut, he was the new comer who was trying to make his way through the company.

several people advised him to get to know you if he wanted to get to the top, after all no one knows how to jump to the top of the mountain like you do. but also, he was advised to befriend Shawn as well.

swell.

poor Hunter, he quickly found himself being the middleman in you and Shawn’s bullshit. he wound up quickly befriending Chyna as well since she was the middleman in your shit as well.

fuck it. new friend group, why not? maybe being friends with Shawn will shut him up.

“’fuck are you looking at?” Shawn asks.

or not.

“did I say a fucking a thing?” you ask.

Chyna groans putting her fork down, “here we go again..” Hunter mutters. all four of you were trying to have breakfast as a friends, a way to get to know Hunter better and to make him feel welcomed. but god forbid Shawn lets you exist in peace.

“quit staring at me” Shawn huffs and you raise your eyebrows, “that’s rich coming from the guy who calls me pretty all the time” you cross your arms. “so what? do you not like compliments?” he asks. “don’t you?” you counter.

“what does that have to do with anything?” he asks, “what if i’m looking at you trying to compliment you?” you snicker.

“then compliment me.” he crosses his arms.

“trash bag hoe.” you smile.

“one meal. can we have one meal in peace?” Chyna says through gritted teeth. “how are you guys always fighting?” Hunter asks.

sweet, innocent, baby Hunter. hasn’t seen a thing yet.

Chyna chuckles, “should’ve seen them when they first met”.

“anyways” you look Shawn up and down before diverting your attention to Hunter, “nitro boy!” you run your hand up his muscular bicep, “what do you bring to the company?”

“well, youth hopefully? a bit sick of Hogan, Warrior and the rest” Hunter answers. “tell me about it” Shawn mutters.

“you’re pretty good, I’ve seen some of your matches” Chyna comments, “thank you!” Hunter smiles.

Hunter was Vince’s ideal type of male wrestler. 6 foot 3 inches tall, muscular as fuck, blond, beautiful and coquettish, hm…

you couldn’t deny, the man was attractive. very attractive.

Hunter on the other hand, was unintentionally giving you the eyes, unintentionally! he didn’t mean to, but you yourself were … oh god, you were something.

you weren’t exactly paying attention to what he was saying, nor were Chyna and Shawn. Chyna was more focused on eating her breakfast that you and Shawn’s bickering stopped her from, and Shawn… well. He was more focused on the look Hunter was giving you.

Shawn has made it very clear, several times, that he wants you - or to at least sleep with you - but here you were giving his friend all your attention. he’s known you for longer! and he’s hotter! what makes Hunter better than him?

the look on Shawn’s face was unmatched. he was jealous and he couldn’t hide it, at all.

“y’all wanna go out later?” Chyna asked without a mouthful, “yeah, why not.” Shawn said forcing a smile. “there’s a club down the block if y’all wanna head there” you suggest. “yeah, that’s sounds nice” Hunter smiles. “I’ll call Scott and Kev, they’ll really like you, Hunt.” Shawn says.

“Chy, you wanna workout?” Shawn asks, and the dark haired girl looks at him like he just asked the impossible. “I can never understand how you eat a big meal then immediately got to the gym. bro, I’m ready to take a nap” Chyna leans back in her seat. “i’ll walk with you there though” she adds.

“y’all coming?” Shawn asks as he and Chyna get up. Hunter shakes his head, “I think we’ll stay here a bit longer..” Hunter looks at you, hand hovering over yours. Chyna gives you a knowing smirk while Shawn clenches his jaw.

alright then.

4:44 pm, the girls’ room.

“where have you been?” Lita asked, you close the door behind you and walk into the flat. “breakfast down in the hotel restaurant” you answer. you sit on the couch opposite the t.v. “why are you laying in the floor?” you ask.

she shrugs, “I don’t know, it’s kinda comfortable” she replied. “but your ankle..?” you begin, “it’s fine, don’t worry about it” Lita waved. “wait…” she sits up. you look at her.

“it’s almost five right now, what are you doing at ‘breakfast’ this late?” Lita asked.

“what do you mean?” you ask.

“dude, they stop serving breakfast at eleven” she explained, “and I know damn well you weren’t down there with Shawn”.

you bite back a smile and Lita instantly gets it.

“oh my god” her eyes lit up, “oh my god it’s Hunter isn’t it” she laughs, “maybe..” you mumble. if Lita could jump and do a backflip she would, she knew it. she’s seen the way Hunter interacts with you, she just knew he had a thing for you.

“what did I say!?” she laughs, you roll your eyes as a small smile forms on your lips. “yeah, yeah, you told me, whatever” you say.

“what’s going on?”, you look towards the room behind you, Chyna was shuffling her way out, rubbing her eyes. “you actually slept?” you ask. she yawns, stretching her arms before flopping besides Lita on the floor. “man, I could barely open my eyes” she groggily says. “what are y’all talking about?” she asks.

“Hunter has a crush on y/n!” Lita excitedly answers, “hey! no he doesn’t!” you say. Chyna chuckles, “pfft, he totally does” she says nudging Lita’s shoulder. “you should’ve seen the way they were looking at each other breakfast” Chyna adds.

“okay but have you seen the guy? he’s so hot” you say, both girls smirk at you and you roll your eyes again. you groan with a smile, “ugh, we’re going out later, i’m taking my chances to be honest” you say.

“damn y’all leaving me here?” Lita sarcastically remarked, “oh I’ll carry you on my back if you want, baby” Chyna laughs, “for real though, you need to have him wrapped around your finger” Lita says. “maybe Shawn will leave you alone” she adds.

you hum, “I mean, his friend likes you, I think that should be enough for him to leave you alone” Chyna explains.

Shawn Michaels? leaving you alone? and you get to have a fine man around your finger?

“sign me up honestly”

“i’m hungry” Lita groaned, “me too” you agree. Chyna stands up and stretches again, “weren’t you in the hotel restaurant just now?” she ask, you nod. “they stopped serving, me and Hunter were just talking” you answer.

“they should be serving lunch by now though” Lita picked up a menu that was sitting by the t.v and examined it. “sushi! what do we think?” she asked.

<<5:20 pm>>

“I underestimated how much there will be” Lita said. there was an entire wooden boat that was at least a metre long filled with sushi placed on the kitchen isle. “what did you expect? the menu said ‘sushi boat’” Chyna said sitting on a stool. “we’ll I didn’t expect this much!” Lita said handing you and Chyna chopsticks.

“let me tell y’all about this shit I heard the other” Lita says as you begin to eat. you sat next to Chyna and looked at Lita. “the other day, me and Owen were talking shit about people” she begins.

“per usual” Chyna laughs, “and apparently the Shawn-Sunny thing is picking up again” she says “HM?” you hum with a mouthful and Chyna’s eyes widen. “I know!” she laughs.

“again?” Chyna asks, “we doin this shit again?” she sounds unimpressed. “the locker room is already in shambles, we don’t need this” you say cocking you head. “I know! and also-”

“oh my god, there’s more!?” Chyna asks, “baby that’s your friend” Lita points at her, “he’s the messy one here” she adds. “also, allegedly, allegedly, Shawn is only doing this because a certain someone keeps rejecting him and he wanted to make her jealous” she explains.

both girls look at you and your head falls to your palm, “he deadass needs to give up, like seriously” you sigh. “asking Shawn to stop being a man whore is like asking the earth to stop spinning, trust me I’ve seen some shit” Chyna says.

“what is it with Sunny too? isn’t she and Candido married?” you ask. “mhm” Lita hums again, “she’s a messy bitch and honestly, bring the drama, Vince needs some controversy right now” you say. “not that type of drama though, what the hell” Chyna says.

you three continue gossiping about things you’ve seen and heard this week but the conversation somehow rolled back to you and Hunter.

“I’m considering seriously having him, or at least having him on the side” you say, “I feel like that’ll cause drama too” Chyna says, “how?” you ask.

“well, you know, Shawn isn’t the only one who kinda really really wants you in the locker room…” she said.

“oou, who else?” Lita excitedly asks, “have y’all seen that guy.. uhm.. Rocky! that one!” Chyna says, “Rocky Maiavia or something like at”

you frown a bit, you’ve heard that name backstage, but you couldn’t remember what he looked like.

“there’s also Al Snow, apparently when you first came he couldn’t stop talking about how hot you were and him and Bret almost go into it” Lita comments. “why am I the last person to find out?” your frown gets deeper, “I though that was common knowledge?” Lita questions.

“babe, there’s so many more. Billy Gun, Matt and Jeff, Brain Pillman…”

as the names kept piling up, you immediately noticed that these were people Shawn got into fights with frequently. it has to be because they liked you. it has to be.

when is it going to click that he’s never making it to the final cut?

9:39 pm, the girls’ room.

you woke up disoriented. you didn’t recall going into a room nor falling asleep. you moved your leg and it hit something stiff, you sit up and look around you. the clock opposite the bed was barely visible. you look at what your leg hit, Chyna’s hip.

you look back at the clock, one hand pointed to the nine and the other to the forty minute mark.

damn it’s nine p.m?

you scratch your shoulder and look over to the other bed, Lita was also laying motionless. you cartoonishly smack your lips and rub your eyes, it took a couple minutes for you open them fully and only then did it click to you.

damn it’s nine p.m!

“oh my fucking god” you muttered.

you’re supposed to go out with Hunter! and Chyna and Shawn too.. but here you both were.

you pat on Chyna’s shoulder, then you begin patting aggressively, now you were violently shaking her. she groaned and sat up.

“what are you doing?” she groggily asks, you quickly cover her mouth and point to Lita who was still asleep.

you both tiptoe outside into the living room, “when did we fall asleep?” Chyna asks flopping onto the couch, you quickly grab her arm and pull her away from the couch. “I don’t remember either, but c’mon, we’re going out with Hunter! … and Shawn! him too..” you squeal.

“uuuggghhh” Chyna slowly falls to the ground, “I’m so tttiiirrreeeddd” she whines, “but I wanna get dddrrruuunnnkkk” she whines again making you laugh.

both of you make your way to the other bedroom and quickly shower as Chyna picks out outfits for both of you.

it wasn’t long before you were drying up and slipping into your outfit, and you must admit. Chyna has an incredible sense of fashion.

your corset top pushed up your breasts and it wouldn’t be that hard for anyone to see your cleavage, you mini skirt was as mini as ever. a mini skirt should be the size of a belt, and that wasn’t exactly how short it was but it was quite short. your heels made your legs look longer and pulled your outfit together.

you looked good, per usual.

you applied your makeup and quickly curled two piece of your hair at the front to frame your face, you put on your earrings and grabbed your red bag, “you ready?” Chyna asks and she fixes her hair, “yup!” you nod.

<<10:43>>

the place was obviously noisy, after all people come here to get drunk. Hunter wasn’t letting you go at all, from the moment you walked in his arms clung to your hips, and compliments seemed to naturally leave his mouth.

Scott and Kevin kept complimenting you too, you were really fucking hot. exactly how Shawn described you to them over the phone, the saw exactly why Shawn wanted you so badly.

something about you was so alluring, you had this attractiveness to you, they were attracted to you. they couldn’t tell if it was your eyes … or lips… whatever it is! Hunter’s hands on you sent a clear message to them, especially to Shawn. Shawn was chatting up some random girl he just happened to see, he wasn’t even pretending to care about what she was saying.

he was staring looking at you, sitting comfortably on Hunter’s lap, giggling and smiling against his chest. he can feel this heavy feeling of … something … he wouldn’t call it jealousy, it was straight up envy.

why him? why Hunter? Shawn wanted you, but you were giving Hunter what he wanted.

you really liked Hunter. he was so sickeningly sweet, very gentlemanly, the compliments never seemed to stop. he was spoiling you a lot too, he brought with him a little Tiffany and Co bag, gifting you a gorgeous necklace. he filled your cups, drink after drink, from the most expensive ones with names that were hard to pronounce to the ones that tasted like a broke student’s frat party.

his lips would’ve dripped of honey with how much sweet words were coming out them.

he pulled you closer to him, his hands kept rubbing over your thighs, and hovering over your neck and waist. the place was dark so no one could see what he was doing, unless they were focused on you which would be weird, but for the most part, his touches went unseen.

“your skirt is really short, angel” he spoke into your ear, something about that sent to you into a fight or flight mode. Scott and Kevin were arguing loudly over and game of cards, you look over at the bar and Shawn was ordering a drink for himself and Chyna who was now sitting in the girls’ place.

“mhm” you hummed, Hunter’s large hand slowly slid up your skirt. “wanna go somewhere private?” he asked, you look around you one more time, no one gives a fuck. so why would you?

you straddle him, turning to face him. wrapping your arms around his neck you kiss him deeply, his arms pull on your waist bringing you closer to him. you unconsciously grind on his thigh. “I’ll take that as a yes” he breathlessly says, the ‘innocent’ kissing goes on for a while before you’re interrupted by Kevin announcing that he’ll go get more drinks.

Hunter pulls you off of him as he stands up, taking your hand in his. he dragged you to the darkest corner of the club, you could see everyone from this angle but no one can see you.

Hunter’s leg pushes yours open you continue making out again. his hands guided your hips to grinding on his thigh, his hand slipped up your skirt again but this time he gripped on your panties. he can easily rip them off, so he did.

“Hunter..” you whimper, your pussy felt uncomfortably hot. the rough fabric of his jeans pushing and pulling against your clit. “you got it baby, c’mon” he encouraged directly in your ear, “so pretty for me”.

you wanted to fuck him, for more than one reason. one them being that your could tell by his voice that he was one to whimper, probably verbally vocal too.

Hunter could feel a wet patch form over his pants, it was such a turn on for him. “you know” he began, ever since your debut match, I kinda developed a crush on you” he confessed, “the way you were so effortlessly throwing Alundra around made me wanna .. uhm h-have you..” he trailed off.

you pull his hand down to your waist again, your other hand climbing up to his cheek gently caressing it. “have me what, Hunter?” you ask. Hunter gulps, nervously he leans is a kisses you again. you push him away from you and push him back against the wall your were once at. his hands immediately fly back to your waist, “answer me” you say.

“I want to you fuck me” he breaths out, “I want you control me and throw me around too, I wanna be yours to play with” he confesses again. you smirk, well this should be fun.

“oh yeah?” you ask, he nods. you look up at him, he’s so pretty. “how bad do you want me?” you ask, Hunter grabs your hand and places it right in front of his clothed boner, you could’ve sworn you felt it throb and twitch at your touch.

“really, really bad” Hunter whimpered.

bingo! you knew he was the type to whimper.

the only time you stop by the little booth you were sat in was to grab your bag, Hunter was eagerly pulling you away from everyone. he was really horny, almost unbearably, and you’ve barely done anything. his mind ran wild with ideas of what you’ll do to him.

Shawn’s eyes found you once more, he watched closely as you and Hunter held hands and walked out of the club, both of you smiling.

he looked down at his drink, wondering what was he doing wrong. “you okay?” Chyna asks, yet Shawn, never answered.

#rainchyna #sour grapes #rainchyna’s sour grapes #wwe x reader #wwe headcanons #wwe fics #wwe fanfic #wwf fanfic #wwf x reader #wwf headcanons #wwe shawn michaels x reader #shawn michaels x reader

[starry-blue-echoes]

Great to see that your ask box is open again! I absolutely love your blog, and the ideas and aus you have are equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking! I've had this theory marinating in my head for a while that I wanna air out. Mista's one of my favourite characters, but one thing that confuses me is how... weird his backstory is compared to the rest of the gang. Not just in how little we see of his past life pre cannon, but the way Sex Pistols are factored in. Although all of the Bucci gang's backstories provide context for their stands abilities (like Abbacchio constantly 'reliving the past' and Bucciarati seeing himself as a tool from an early age) the Sex Pistols seem to boil down to him being stupidly good at shooting people. If anything, it's a lot more similar to Giorno's backstory with Golden experience, where both of their stand's abilities is almost explicitly shown. Strange, because Giorno's a (mostly) natural stand user, and Mista's an artificial one. Right? And here comes the theory/au: that Mista had the potential to develop a natural stand had his life continued normally. But that potential was stunted by the trauma of all the events that led to him joining passione, so when Polpo's arrow manifested his stand, it was different. That's why the Pistols are so weird, so strangely sentient and not quite a hive mind but clearly fractured, because they aren't the stand he should have had. I could expand on this further, but I'll leave it here for now. Sorry for the length!

OOOOOOOOOOOO I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS IDEA

Bro I am sinking my teeth into this I am loving this theory. Mista's Stand always kinda stuck out to because of how the Pistols are both a colony and sentient, two things that are already pretty uncommon in Jojo’s by themselves, let alone together.

I’ve had similar thoughts about the Mista Giorno comparisons too, and the way you’ve worded it has put those thoughts together all nice and neat. After all, what were the fucking chances of Mista not having been shot that night. Three people total were firing at him, all of which were within feet of him when they'd shot, and yet not a single bullet made its mark. And of course there's the way the show frames that luck and the way we see the bullets travel

I remember first watching that scene and waiting for the Pistol's to appear, for even a flash of yellow or a whisper of some voices, and yet they never did

And if I may contribute to the theory a bit more:

what if Mista's "original" ability was the manipulation of bullets (if you want to be specific, maybe even the manipulation of small fast moving objects in general). It's how he was able to get out unscathed and shoot the three attackers easily despite never using a gun before.

Only then because of everything that happened, when he got sentenced to prison, he lost his grip on his unmanifested Stand. He lost hope. He lost his fighting spirit.

But when he gets stabbed by the Arrow, something needs to manifest or else he's going to die. It tries dragging out the Stand he should have had, but because of his mental state the Stand...... fractures

And thus the Sex Pistols are born.

#I absolutely ADORE this theory #jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure #golden wind #vento aureo #jjba part 5 #jjba mista #guido mista #sex pistols #jjba giorno #giorno giovanna #gold experience #sb answers #anon #connecting dots

[blackacre13]

Can you do another part to the rival gang au

Part three is here:

Here’s part four!

“It was a conversation,” Debbie protested.

“Please,” Tammy rolled her eyes. “It was practically a parlay over pancakes. You’re not a pirate, Debbie. You two can sit down for a cup of coffee and strike a compromise. Someone takes uptown, someone takes downtown. Whatever. There’s a way to work it out.”

“We’ve already worked it out,” Debbie shook her head. “The best woman wins. One job. One goal. Whoever gets it, gets New York. Whoever fails, gets the hell out. Maybe after the consolation of some…more lustful activities.”

“God, something tells me that you two are just absolutely meant for each other.”

“Yeah,” Debbie snorted. “What? Enemies to lovers? I have one mistress and one mistress alone, New York City.”

“Does she know you’re here?”

“No.”

“Does she know you’re here?”

“Absolutely not.”

The two women attempted a subtle look around the room before their eyes landed back on each other as they shared a laugh.

“Go ‘head,” Nine grinned, nodding at the booth. “Have a seat. I already got us some waters but didn’t wanna guess on the drink.”

“Thanks,” Tammy smiled, sliding into the diner booth.

“So we both agree this is bullshit, right?”

“Absolutely,” Tammy sighed, running her finger up and down the glass, tracing the condensation. “But that’s Debbie. What she says goes and if she’s decided to have some sort of ridiculous rumble, then who am I go go against that?”

“Her right hand,” Nine smirked. “And a beautiful one at that.”

Tammy’s cheeks flushed at the compliment, suddenly finding the sticker paper holding her utensils together fascinating and Nine’s eye contact all too powerful.

“You only say that because you’re Lou’s.”

“Well to be fair, pops is a lefty. So I guess I’m her left hand man,” Nine chuckled.

“Pops?” Tammy laughed.

“You can blame Con for that one. She started it and it just stuck. Pops loves it. But that’s what gave me the idea. Why would

We try to chase each other out of the city when we could help each other cover more ground?”

“You want us to pair up?” Tammy nodded. “That’s along the lines of what I was trying to convince Debbie about.”

“Look,” Nine sighed. “Lou will never admit it, but she hates being in charge. Don’t get me wrong. She’s damn good at it. But she didn’t even want this. She just wanted out of a bad situation where she wasn’t calling the shots so she started her own thing. She’s solid. Constance is mad good. And I’m the best at what I do. But we been lookin to expand anyway.”

“You’re not adopting us,” Tammy exhaled. “Deb will never go for it. She’s never gonna work for someone else. Thought she was going to murder her own brother when she worked for him. She thrives like this. She just wants her city back.”

“Not saying join our crew. I’m sayin, let’s have a merger. We don’t have a fence, and I hear things about you. And Amita? Shit it would be wild to have someone in the jewel world. We never been able to do anything like that. And in return, you need surveillance. You need people who ride bikes. Fresh blood who can blend different than you can.”

“And Debbie would be in charge?” Tammy frowned. “I’m sure she’d be fine with that but I don’t know how Lou is going to feel with her team usurping her throne behind her back and bringing in a new boss for her. She may not like being in charge, but she doesn’t sound like a follower.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’,” Nine grinned, smacking the table in a way that made Tammy jump. “Sorry. Got excited. Pops doesn’t want the spotlight. She just fell into it. She’s like—I don’t know. A wing man. Someone to bounce ideas off. Just as in charge but not the face. Like criminal chief of staff.”

“Well, Deb’s No chief of staff. She’s President all the way.”

“And that’s why this is perfect. We take our crews and we marry ‘em. Lou and Debbie at the top of the food chain. Take two greats and unite them. One team. One partnership. They do things fifty-fifty.”

“Fifty-fifty,” Tammy nodded. “For real? Lou won’t push for a bigger cut?”

“Fifty-fifty. Promise.”

“I’ll see if she goes for it,” Tammy muttered. “But she’s not gonna like that it’s not her idea.”

“Same with Lou. That’s why we gotta do it secretly.”

“Secretly?” Tammy quirked an eyebrow.

“‘Course,” Nine grinned. “We gotta parent trap ‘em.”

#queue #blackacre13 #lou miller #Debbie ocean #lou miller x debbie ocean #debbie ocean x lou miller #lou x debbie #Debbie x lou #lou and debbie #Debbie and Lou #lou x Deb #Deb x lou #lou and deb #Deb and Lou #heist girlfriends #heist wives #loubbie #ocean’s eight #oceans eight #oceans 8 #ocean’s 8 #o8 fanfic #o8 fanfiction #ocean’s eight fanfic #ocean’s eight fanfiction #ocean’s 8 fanfic #ocean’s 8 fanfiction #rival gang AU #nine ball #Tammy

[power-chords]

@wintercorrybriea2 re: surmounting Writer’s Block and/or Writer’s Traffic Jam, this is a rundown of strategies that work for me personally, and by “work” I mean “ameliorate the problem anywhere from 30-75% about 30-75% of the time,” lmao, but this is literally my cheat sheet for when I get stuck:

Freedraft. (Also known as freewriting.) Implement a regular freedrafting schedule. Even if it’s just 15 minutes at a set time each day. I hate freedrafting because forcing my neurotic self-monitoring editor brain to shut up is impossible. But you have to do it. It is the only way you will get both faster and better at writing. In the month of August I committed to freedrafting for 34 minutes every weekday in a notebook on the train, because that’s the duration of my MNR commute in the morning. And I wound up completing a 16,000-word project I had been working on in a little under three weeks, which for me is a personal record! I write SLOW. The first week sucked but before you know it you’ll be off to the races. Forge the habit. Do whatever you need to do to forge the habit.

If you can’t freedraft, outline. Structure first, details later. Revise your outline, re-write your outline, expand on it or experiment with it, get more granular with it. Get an idea in your head of where you want things to go, and get it down on paper or in a word processor. Even if it’s just: Character needs to get from Room A to Room B over the course of this scene. How might you want them to do that?

If you can’t outline, read. If my creative writing gears are jammed it means I’m probably not reading enough to grease them. This should technically be #1, because the most important thing a writer can do is READ. Read fiction, and read research materials on the subject(s) you’re writing about.

If you can’t read, seek inspiration in other, related mediums, and maybe take some drugs. Seriously. Some of my best story ideas have come while I’m high off my ass, binging movies or making playlists in a similar genre or mood to what I’m writing. Whatever it takes to get you looser and less inhibited creatively. NOTE: make sure you check those ideas for coherence later, when you’re not under the influence. Spitball stoned; scrutinize sober.

Go for a walk and listen to music and daydream. It’s also just good for you and you will be a happier person.

Revisit central dramatic conflicts and character motives. What’s the Problem in the story, or the Problem in the chapter? What do your characters want, and what motivates them to handle the problem in the way that they do? What’s preventing them, both externally and internally, from finding easy resolution?

Revisit character transformations — or lack thereof. How do you want your characters to change over the course of your story? What are the ways that those changes could be interestingly, meaningfully effected? If one of them is not going to change — and sometimes this is even more interesting — what kinds of narrative scenarios would be the kind to make them stubbornly refuse growth, and why?

Revisit themes, symbols, and motifs that have already established themselves in your work. This is really only helpful if you’ve got enough already done that you can observe them. But if you have a general idea of where you want your story to go, and are struggling with the mechanics for getting there, finding those preexisting patterns might illuminate a path forward.

Craft backstories for your characters, and borrow liberally from real-world observation and research. The better you know your characters, the easier it will be to inhabit them, and the easier it will be to write them past the blocks that throw themselves up in your way. I am absolute dog shit at creative invention from scratch, which is part of the reason I write more fanfiction than original work, but drawing abundantly and directly from life is also how some of the most compelling original work gets made. (Cough cough…)

Revisit the source material and “novelize” a scene. This is only applicable to transformative work, but I’m including it since you mentioned you might be doing some forays into worldbuilding. If I’m stuck at a particular juncture in my own fic, I practice writing out an existing scene from the source itself, almost as if I were adapting it for a novel. This way, I can stay inside that universe and practice writing in it without having to do the heavy lifting required by plot. It’s more of a descriptive exercise, and I often find it gets my imagination and motivation going to resume writing the “real” thing.

SORRY, that got long! But with a little luck there’s some small thing of use to you in there!

#words words words

[lovehelm]

Ch5 But Jamil Causes the OB

Chapter 5 was fun, but it didn’t quite feel right to me.  It didn’t follow the pattern of the previous OB being the one to cause the next one.  Jamil got to be one of the three main members over Kalim, but he faded into the shadows when it came to Vil’s overblot.  I wrote an outline of how the chapter could have changed to better fit the pattern (and spotlight jamil, one of my favorite characters better).

It’s a smaller addition I might expand on later, but I think it’d be interesting if Jamil became “Snow White” while Neige was a red herring.

What if chapter 5 continued the pattern of the previous OB causing the next one? What if Vil overblotted because the viewers loved Jamil the most. Not Epel who Vil carefully trained to take down Neige, and certainly not himself. But Jamil who had been forced to be “average” Until now of course. Jamil finally had a chance to shine and ran with it. Maybe the NRC a group DOES win the VDC (or at least looks like they will). Vil finally gets what he wants, but the victory feels empty because no one is looking at him. All eyes are on Jamil. Vil worked so hard but feels positively ugly and hopeless in that moment because even though the team technically won, Vil still feels like he lost. He doesn’t feel like he beat Neige himself and he also feels like he lost to his own team mate.

A small voice in the back of Vil’s head whispers how this is proof that he will never be the hero. That he will never be “the most beautiful”. He’s destined to lose to someone else. To be second place at most and never first.

The voice gets louder and Vil feels ugly. So ugly that instead of celebrating with his team, he turns on Jamil. He does everything he can to verbally tear down Jamil. Vil tells Jamil that he should’ve just stayed in Kalim’s shadow where he belonged.  “What do you even hope to accomplish here? It’s not like winning the VDC will change anything. You’ll always be stuck in your master’s shadow where you belong.” It’s ugly. The music stops and everyone is quiet as it sinks in what Vil just said. Jamil doesn’t appear to be fazed, at least outwardly.

There’s a pause and Vil feels ugly. Everyone is looking at him but not in the way he wanted. Not for the reason he wanted. Jamil smiles. “Maybe the reason you could never win against Neige, and never will, is because everyone can see just how ugly you are on the inside”

Jamil’s words echo Vil’s inner voice that we’d heard before. Vil feels ugly, vulnerable, and hopeless. He snaps and overblots. Maybe Deuce still awakens his unique magic, but he works in tandem with Jamil to use his magic to the fullest. Jamil who knows how to match step 

There’s sort of a pattern where over use of their unique magic plays a part in the OB. maybe instead of leading, Jamil drops because Vil snaps after Jamil speaks. Vil uses a concentrated form of his UM on Jamil. Instead of just being unable to move, Jamil is unconscious.

Jamil becomes the “Snow White” in their story while Neige existed as a red herring

(Jamil is woken up after Vil’s OB is undone. Maybe it’s even undone by Malleus to sort of hint at his UM being sleep related. Or maybe it’s a team effort between Vil and Kalim)

#i also posted this on twitter but wanted to save it in one post #bc i like the idea #twst #twisted wonderland #vil schoenheit #Jamil Viper #pommefiore #scarabia #twst vil #twst jamil

[thewolfwarriors]

15 Years of HTTYD! ANNIVERSARY POST!

tl;dr: Ive been in the fandom since the far off ancient year of 2007 so this is a brief reflection of all that

Posting this today on the Winter Solstice, an important day for the Vikings, seemed fitting. Expand for the full text (there's pictures too!)

In the Winter of 2007, my middle school English teacher took us to our weekly Thursday trip to the library. I'd check out any book with the word 'dragon' in the title. I came across How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell and immediately checked it out. I became so obsessed with the book that I learned the hard way that you can only recheck out a book so many times. Thankfully, my parents had given me some money for Christmas and took me to Books-A-Million after the new year! I think the specific date was Jan 8th.

To my ecstatic delight, there was not one, but THREE BOOKS now! After buying them, we went to Cici's Pizza and I had to convince my parents to let me bring them inside. I promised them I would be careful not to get any pizza on them.

I carried those books around with me daily! They were always with me at school. They got scratches all over the covers but they were my friends so I always had them around. I made so many stories of my own through them.

I have this memory of my dad walking into my room while I was reading How to Speak Dragonese.

"You're reading that again?" he asked.

"Ye...."

"We need to get you some new books." was all he said.

It used to say Mew on the inside of the cover before I decided to put the date down instead. That was my first internet name from my ye olde Neopets days. I named myself and all my characters that because I was so bad with naming.

I came up with Mew (now Mewgull) as my first HTTYD OC! She was the an heir to a large kingdom and she turned into a wolf ( I was obsessed with Wolf's Rain and nu-metal AMVS ok? )Then came along her brothers, the Dreadful Drones and the Wolf Warriors as a whole, my first LGBT+ characters (that I can remember at least) and many many more. Mew became my first mascot for my art and eventually I made my own "fursona" (before I knew what that was) based off her.

Annnnnd of course, tons of fan art, animations and even a Doomfang fursuit head. Most of this stuff was lost to time but some I was able to keep! I'll be uploading what's left of my old artwork here soon! I plan to do some redraws as well! ^_^ Some are already on my ancient sarcophagus of a deviantART account

For memories and funnies: here's my Fishlegs cosplay for "Dress up as your favorite book character day" at school! I don't know if it's embarrassing or endearing but hey, man, it was 2012.

I made the helmet and the necklace myself! I kept the luck lobster claws for a long time but I guess I got rid of them. :( Maybe in the future I'll make another pair! And yes, that's my Horrowcow I'm holding! Thanks mom for takin the picture!

Anyway, if you stuck around this long, I sure do appreciate it. These were all some of the many core memories I had and I love talking about them. I'll probably have many more sentimental ramblings like this in the future (... Sure hope "the Dreadful Drone" doesn't take on a new meaning) and of course, my old art. I'm really happy with how well of a reception my art was got on here so far. Thank you all.

Until next time, Peace.

Signed,

Mr.Hatman aka Mew -Dragonologist, Wolf Rain's AMV lover, System of a Down/KoRn fan, Poke'mon Master, Cosplayer, Irken Invader, the most Random Epicest Artist xDDDD :3

#httyd #httyd fandom #httyd books #how to train your dragon #httyd how to train your dragon #how to train your dragon books #childhood #fishlegs #httyd fishlegs #httyd nostalgia

[blinkaftermidnight]

i would love to hear more about some of the unfinished The Wilds fics

Buckle up. There's a lot of stuff dying in my hard drive. Maybe, when I get the time, I should try to finish some of it up/patch it up/post random snippets (if anyone would be interested?).

So here's the thing, I have my drive separated into two types of fics for The Wilds: there are fics I consider potentially still in play and fics I've scrapped altogether. Two different folders. I'll make you a list under the cut and tell you what I consider each to be. And I'll probably give too much commentary about each.

If you want to know more or get a snippet of any of them, please send follow up asks. I would love to share. Or I'd love to hear what, if I were to pick back up with writing, you'd want to read the most. No guarantees, but I'll think about it.

I posted the snippet for i'll be waiting on you forever from Fatin's POV in another ask. Not very far into that, but I also haven't moved it to the scrapped folder. I think my problem with that kind of fic is it doesn't feel fresh enough - it's hard to make it feel new when we already know where it's headed. I've done it before, but it's hard.

I started a second Star Wars AU that's unrelated to the first where Leah's a Jedi Padawan and Fatin is a senator - literally Anakin and Padme in Attack of the Clones. Didn't get very far but didn't scrap it.

I have one that I'm still hoping to finish that's placeholder titled "Leah loses her mind" rightfully or wrongfully, I don't know. It explores her season two on island hallucinations and how that affects her and the group. It's 6.5k and unfinished, but I'm planning to take a look at it and see what can be done.

There are so many post island fics that are just snippets and doing nothing on my drive. I kept trying to experiment with writing all of the season two POVs post island and that shit is hard. Probably a sign not to expand too far away from Leatin because apparently I can only care so much lmao. But I haven't bothered to scrap them.

There's one where I attempted to write Leachel but that shit was also hard apparently. Really I was trying to write all different pairings and didn't get very far. Not scrapped and I have considered trying again more than once.

I started a no experiment AU where it was just an actual plane crash. I have 5k of that and no memory of writing it. Not scrapped. Not sure if I'd ever finish that.

The season 3 fic outline I mentioned in another ask but didn't link because I was on mobile, so that's here if you missed it. Not scrapped, but unfortunately I think outlining it made me feel like I told the entire story even though I never wrote more than 2-3 chapters. That's the problem with outlining, but only sometimes, because I outlined the exes fic/we're falling apart still we hold together, and that was fine.

I started a road trip AU back in 2021. Wrote 7k. Outlined the entire thing and same problem as above. Got stuck. I think I was trying to force word counts on myself for each chapter and it wasn't working. Not scrapped but very unlikely I'll touch it.

I have one just called "waterfall 5" that has five moments spent at the waterfall, and I almost finished it. I think I still have some hope of finishing it, since it's a quick thing.

I've talked about it before, probably two/three years ago at this point jfc, but I don't remember what I've disclosed about this fic. It's the one I mentioned in another ask about it not feeling right, so I didn't put it out, and it's something like 50k words and had a massive plot hole that I had to try to fix, and I was going to do a whole rewrite and maybe put it out. This one haunts me. There's a chance I'll throw the entire draft out one day without editing or fixing any issues. Or maybe I'll take another stab at it, since it's all there. Truly, this one haunts me. For once, I had a perfect title and nothing to show for it. There's probably snippets of it in asks on my blog somewhere from back when The Wilds wasn't cancelled and I was insane about it.

I scrapped the Grey's Anatomy AU. Just gave up on it.

I wrote 239 words of something vaguely Dotin and scrapped that too.

I have a first draft of the fake dating AU i don't belong to you (but you're wrong) that I scrapped. I took it in an entirely different direction and scrapped 10k of this other thing. I think I salvaged some of it for the posted fic, but it started going the wrong way.

Also have a scrapped draft of the last chapter of the soulmate AU i said i wouldn't let you in. That first draft of that chapter was BAD.

I scrapped 14k of everyone else's perception of what was happening with Leatin on the island. Like Leatin through every other character's eyes, and I don't remember why it didn't work or what I didn't like about it.

I'm not gonna lie, some of this stuff I'm looking at...even I don't know what it is anymore.

I scrapped a document called "untitled" and this is literally all that's in it:

"She sees her on the first day of school, sitting with the kid that supposedly led the FBI to Gretchen. Leah smiles slightly as Fatin crosses the lawn, and the kid – Ian – turns to look where Leah’s looking, and Fatin just tilts her head in acknowledgment and keeps walking. There’s nothing more for her to do."

I don't know what that is.

There's STILL a lot more documents I haven't touched on because I haven't bothered to open them and find out what they are (and my placeholder titles don't tell me much all the time). But I feel like this is a good start lmao.

Sorry for writing a novel, but you did ask. If you want more, let me know and I will make time over the weekend to post some stuff.

#Anonymous #the wilds #leatin #my fic #sorry for the length but you asked lol #and i would love to share more #it might just take me some time to get it out there #i've missed talking about writing even if i haven't been doing a whole lot of writing recently #i hope that'll change

[moonstonehailstorm]

Just get up. Don't sleep again, get up and start the day. Get out of bed and go. It's that easy... But I can't. And I can't be late again. Why is it so hard?

One hour. One hour is enough. More than enough. What took me three hours yesterday to go out of the house? I wasn't even sleepy... Was I? I can't remember. Did I sleep just 5 hours? 4? I know my sleeping habits are awful. It took me three hours to get out of my house. I wish I could call sick...

Is this happening too often? Am I losing or gaining something? I'm aware I can't deal with a lot of stuff right now.

You can do this because you've done it before. You can't escape people and this is what you chose. It's your fault: you chose this. Maybe this time was your biggest mistake. Oh, you know the red flags where there... Oh, are you gonna complain about life decisions again? For how long you've been stuck in the same stupid cycle...?

Maybe that's it. Maybe that's why making art and music is painful. It helps but it's painful. It's a window to another life that won't be, and never was.

Are you really starting this again??? Shut up...

I've been dragging this feeling for two days. Three, maybe. Today, I'm forcing myself to go out.

I must hurry up. I have one hour. One hour is more than enough. Today I have a long day ahead. It's going to be stressful, I know that already. The only thing I have to do is arrive on time. I can do it because I' ve done it before... Then, why is it so hard? It almost feels like being paralyzed.

Three days dragging whatever the hell this is. I'm tired. And I hate this. I want to scream. I'm trying to catch a shadow that's constantly behind me, or maybe it's in front of me, but it's too dark to see it. I'm so desperate to find what's evading me...

Half an hour has passed. Time works strange. It's never in your favor when you need it the most. Three days that feel like an eternity against one hour that can't be stopped at least for a little.

Buckle up, it's gonna be a long day.

Don't complain. Stop complaining and making everyone miserable around you. You're a dark halo of awful energy expanding with every word you spit out. You are here to help others, not to be helped. You're not going to start again, you're in this situation over and over again because you're the worst making decisions. You're going to be prevented from doing what you want to do for the rest of your life, because that's how this works. Never doing what you love, always surviving. Only surviving. You decided this path from day one. Your whole life's been about surviving, and that's all. You are here to help others, so shut up and keep going. You are tiring and annoying. You've been told that being with you is like living with an instructions manual. That's how annoying and complicated you are. No one wants to read the instructions EVER. Everyone hates them for a reason, who wants to find out how something works? You yourself don't even know that. You're trying to find where to turn off this when you well know I'm you as well...

Three days by now. 45 minutes. I just need to get up and get going. Why is it so hard...?