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the-cat-and-the-birdie · 3 months

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I don't know who needs to hear this, but you should make an OC.

You should make an OC. Specifically a Spider-Sona. Like now. Preferably yesterday. [A MEDIUM-LONG essay about OC's, fanfiction, and how to enrich and better your writing skills in literally every sector. Throughout this essay I reference my two characters Disco-Spider and Inca-Spider as examples of the way OCs can be used.]

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"But no one cares about OCs -"

OKKAYYYY??

IDK about ya'll but fandom is NOT my final destination no siree

I feel like a lot of the time we get so caught up in posting and notes we forget that for many artists and writers on this platform - fanfiction is not the true end goal.

Many of us write and draw fanart for years -

But the fact of the matter is if you want to be an author someday, if you want to be a graphic novelist, an animator, etc, etc - You're going to HAVE to make OCs.

If you want to study English in college or publish books - you're gonna have to write an OC at least once. If not hundreds of times.

If you want to study art - chances are at some point you're gonna have to fill a portfolio with original pieces, including some of OCs.

If you want to do something with your writing, if you want to get better - or make a career out of your art, you HAVE to make OCs at some point.

And this is especially true for fanfiction writers.

You can get very very very good at writing in your specific fandoms, you may have the emotions of the characters on point, and the ability to describe the scenery.

But if you don't know how to create and design a character - if you don't know how to worldbuild, or come up with scenarios without the help of characterai and ChatGPT - you won't be able to write a book.

If you're an artist and you don't know how to draw an original character from scratch, how to match colors, how to draw certain skin tones, certain hair, wheelchairs and mobility aids, how to design a character from looks, to clothing - it's going to be so hard to expand your art outside of fanart. You'll always be beholden to the notes and popularity of your particular fandom.

Do it - even if you've never written or never draw before. Even better.

That's why I CHAMPION Spider-sonas so much. They're basically OCs on easy mode.

Can't write backgrounds yet? Here's a bucket on canon events to pick from? Can't draw faces? Blank mask with eyes.

Hell, if you're really really new about it - just pick a character and make a slightly different variant. Make a Hobie of your own, make a Peter variant. Make a Mary Jane variant. Pick a something you like and turn that into a character.

Can't write? Just fill-in the 'My name is [blank], I was bitten by a [blank]' script that Miles does. Can't draw, just draw out a basic shape of a body and color-out the suit, no fancy pose needed. That still counts!!

Make a self-insert. Make yourself fit into the story, design your suit, write out how you fight crime, how you'd act at the Society, meeting Miguel or Miles.

That's still character design, that's still worldbuilding.

We always hear people say 'Make art for yourself' and yeah that sounds nice - but people also misinterpret it.

Make art for yourself doesn't just mean making art that you personally like.

Making art for yourself also means making art that develops your skills even if no one gives a fuck. It's about making art as practice without the intention of it being 'completed', making OCs that never get used, drawing locations you see or writing a random ass short story then shoving it into your Google Drive forever.

Making art for yourself means making art that invests in yourself.

It means making art that interests you, challenges you, or helps you develop.

And making OC's helps develop your fanfic writing skills.

In may fandoms we begin to fall into these routine 'tropes' between characters and their personalities. This is usually known as the 'fanon' characterization.

Because when you have a set amount of characters and people, there's also a set amount of interactions and relationships between those people.

Writing OCs and having those OCs interact with canon characters allows you to dig deeper into sides of the canon characters we'd never otherwise see.

That's why I wrote Disco-Spider Diane like I do. Often, we see Hobie characterized as the chaotic, rowdy, confident type - which is perfect characterization for him. But in almost all of his interactions - he's the wilder, bolder, extroverted one. I wanted to put him in a situation where for once, he was the calmer one. I wanted to explore more grounded and chill sides of Hobie, one where he's the one grounding the other, and thinking logically - because in canon, we're hinted at a side of Hobie who's way more methodical and slow-paced and willing to stop and wait it out and play it off. And I wanted to see that. I wanted to explore what he'd do if he was faced with someone just as chaotic, who put on a cheeky ironic act - just the same as him.

Because no other characters serve that purpose in canon.

If there are elements of a character or concept you think are interesting but outright ignored by canon and fanon, you can create an OC to explore those parts.

For Disco-Spider: I wanted to explore how someone like a militant Black Panther would handle being Spider-woman, when Spider-people are usually shown as pacifists - what that would look like or how it'd shape her morals based on era, etc. For Inca-Spider: I realized there were so many culture based Spider people like Pavitr and Spider-UK. But none for indigenous communities, and NONE from countries that only existed in other universes. So, I created an indigenous character from Tawanti - a country that's located where Peru would be for us.

You can give a canon character a sibling, to explore how they'd interact with family. Give them a partner that acts totally different than their canon partner, write how that'd change the way they show love.

OC's make your original writing better, AND your fanfiction writing too. They can help you understand canon characters on a deeper level.

And sure, nobody likes your OC. NOW.

But every single character you write about, is someones OC. Every character you write about was once treated that way. Once upon a time, Dean Winchester was just some rando character in the pilot script of a show that hadn't picked up yet. Probably no one gave a fuck until CW picked it up.

The writers had to not only make him and develop him - they had to BELIEVE in him enough to pitch him to a TV show channel to make people care.

That's always the first step. Believing your character's story is worthy enough of being told and presenting it as such.

ESPECIALLY if your OC represents a demographic you don't see represented. Cause yes if there isn't any black women in canon then I'll Thanos this shit and do it myself.

Make OCs.

Write them. Draw them. Even if it's bad. Who the hell cares. Big Mouth is on Netflix with multiple seasons, have you seen that show?? 'Ugly' art is not a crime.

Make piccrews, fill out OCforms or take quiz's as them. Write little blurbs of them hanging with canon characters then post it in the tag.

You don't need a huge Spidersona sheet or a long long fic explaining their backstory. They can just be there.

MAKE OCs.

Make them to explore more in your fanfiction, make them so future you can write that novel or draw or that comic or sell those prints or whatever it is you plan to do.

Make it so your fanfiction AND original writing can grow stronger. It isn't just about notes and content and follows.

Make an OC. Make a Spidersona. Literally you have nothing to lose but your chains.

"Nobody cares-"

Oh they'll care when you pop out with that 6-book publishing deal. They'll care when you're designing big characters for movies. Cause that's how it happens. Watch.

ANYWAYSSSS if you made it this far I hope this inspired you to at least play around with the idea of OCs and Spidersonas in general.

Here's Hobie.

BYE.

If you want to make a sona and are kinda lost on where to start, lemme know!! Because I think they're amazing starting places for those who have never written or drawn before. Or if you have a sona but want to develop them further.

I haven't seen a guide to spidersonas and i wonder if that's something some people might want/need.

Seriously if I can even get one person into writing or drawing I'll be over the goddamn moon.

MAKE OCS PLEASE.

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fontasticcrablettes · 8 months

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not sure if anyone's asked this before, but

a common criticism of Vesperia is that Yuri is never really punished for the vigilantism conflict, but I feel that the fandom's proposed solutions are too extreme or boring without much regard for his established character

have you ever had ideas on how you'd rectify this? whether it be a rewrite of certain parts of Vesperia or fanfic ideas

I've definitely thought about this before. I think the issue is that the game tried to address it with Sodia's attack on him, but due to the change of writers between acts 2 and 3, the payoff for that never really happened.

The set-up is there. Yuri spends act 2 inflicting his justice on those he has determined have escaped justice, and the act concludes with Sodia enforcing her own justice on him. But then act 3 comes, and those ideas are never really brought up again. The closest we get is Yuri calling Sodia out in Capua Torim for not carrying through her resolve and giving up on Flynn despite her earlier dedication to him. This could even be interpreted as "Yuri's vigilantism was fine actually" because the lesson he seemed to take from it was "If you're going to kill people, commit to the bit."

I've had a few ideas about addressing this. Disclaimer that I'm a novelist, not a game writer, so my thoughts are around what would work if this story was a novel and not necessarily considering gameplay needs.

The first consideration is that I don't think the game ever intended to 100% condemn Yuri's actions. Rather, I think they were going for a middle ground between his and Flynn's methods. Neither purely solo vigilantism nor a single man rising through the ranks and taking control of the Knights will save the world. You need a bit of both, and not to go to the extremes of either. So, I think it would be against the spirit of the story if Yuri was resoundingly punished and all of his choices punished and portrayed as wrong.

But... some of them should be. Flynn's side of the justice question was about working within the system, and the flaws of his choices smacked him in the face with Alexei's betrayal and realization that his actions to work within the system had led him to aid a coup. The closest thing Yuri gets to a comeuppance like this is Sodia stabbing him, which doesn't really get adequately addressed.

And after all this preamble ("#Nightfoot is bad at brevity" is a tag for a reason) I can finally get to some of my ideas for things that could have happened in the game to strengthen Yuri's character arc.

1. Repede

I think Repede is under-utilized. Yuri is not a very talkative guy when it comes to his own feelings. He doesn't want to burden his friends with his issues, so if he's going through some inner turmoil about his choices, he won't talk it over with his friends unless they bring it up first.

In a book, this could be easily solved with internal narration delving into his thoughts, but in a visual medium, he has to verbalize these. Repede could have been a perfect solution to this. They already set up Repede being a confidant when he got that title for being the only witness to Ragou's murder, but never did anything with it.

I think it would have fit Yuri's character to open up to Repede - to talk things over with his dog whom he knows will never tell another person and won't talk back - in a way he wouldn't want to with one of his human friends.

2. Alexei and Duke

There's a parallel between Flynn & Alexei and Yuri & Duke that could have been stronger. I've always been fond of the idea of Alexei and Duke being old friends who grew apart and became enemies over their dispute about how to handle the corruption of the empire. It makes them a neat parallel for Yuri and Flynn, and a dark shadow of what they and their friendship could become if they keep drifting away from each other and into more extreme deeds.

3. More Sodia

Having Yuri fall victim to the same sort of vigilantism that he inflicted on others is a great plot beat, but then it never really gets addressed again. Sodia does this huge thing, and then we never see her again until pretty late in act 3.

This kind of ties in to me talking about "Yuri and Sodia forced to work together" fic, but what if this happened in the game? What if there was some scenario where Yuri and Sodia had to go off alone together and actually talk to each other and having some messy shouting matches and acknowledge that they aren't so different?

4. Comeuppance for Yuri

Now an actual proposed scenario to "punish" Yuri for his choices. My idea is that when Yuri leaves his friends behind in Halure near the end of act 2, he makes it all the way to Alexei by himself. Rather than his friends catching up with him in the Quoi Woods, Yuri makes it all the way to Zaphias and confronts Alexei alone at the Sword Stair. There, he promptly gets his ass kicked.

The rest of the party catches up to him before Alexei can finish the job, and at that point it can switch to the whole party fighting Estelle as Alexei leaves, as in the game.

In the Quoi Woods scene, his friends call him out for trying to lone-wolf it and point out to him that he does in fact have good friends who want to help him. By shifting this reunion to the Sword Stair, just after he's almost died and fucked everything up, not only is he forced to learn that he can rely on his friends, but that he should.

5. Replacement for Ragou

It's briefly mentioned that there's a new magistrate in Capua Nor and that he's much better than Ragou and the city is so much better off now. This feels like a wasted opportunity to me.

I propose the group returning to Capua Nor in early act 3 to discover that Ragou has been replaced, but that the new guy is almost as bad. Maybe not "feeds children to monsters for the fun of it" bad, but still corrupt, still oppressive, still another head of the Empire's rotting body.

This forces Yuri to confront the idea that while he solved the immediate problem of Ragou not being punished, he didn't actually create any sort of system change. His methods alone are not the solution to justice because picking off the worst of the worst does nothing to change the system that produces and enables those people. While Flynn's focus on changing the system abandons people who suffer while he slowly reforms things, Yuri's focus will never create lasting change and just leads to him playing whack-a-mole with whatever pieces of garbage the corrupt system spits out next.

They need each other, and neither their methods are the solution in isolation. They can't do it alone. In the very last scene of the game, Duke tells Yuri that he's strong, and he replies, "That's because I'm not alone." That's the main message Yuri learns over the course of the game! Yuri goes from a lone wolf to someone who supports the help of his friends and that he's stronger when he's backed up by bonds of friendship. Showing Yuri that simply killing Ragou on his own was not enough, that he needs the cooperation of his friends all working on the same problem from different angles, strengthens that message.

6. Same Choice, Different Decision

This is one of my favourite literary tropes and such a simple way to demonstrate character growth and change.

With either some or all of the proposed changes above, let's end the game with Yuri having the chance to go after Duke alone. He has an opening to break off from the others, but this time, he doesn't. He takes everything he's learned about the necessity to work together and the importance of relying on others chooses not to be a lone vigilante this time. He proves that he has internalized the idea that he is strong because he's not alone.

7. Dark Enforcer

This sidequest could (should?) have been incorporated into the main plot. There's no reason for a storyline that directly parallels the main protagonists' journey and confronts him with the possible downfalls of his approach to be an easily missable sidequest.

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So, there are some of my ideas! I've thought a lot about this over the years and tried to cut this down to just my plot changes that would directly address Yuri's vigilantism arc.

I think Yuri is often unduly criticized for having "no growth," because I think that just isn't true, but I do think the game flubbed the development of it. He's clearly changed his mind about being a lone vigilante by the end, but when did he emotionally process this? The pieces are there, they just aren't utilized to their full extent.

These are also all ideas about changes to the game itself, but I think most of them would also work as the basis of a fic, either canon divergent, post-game, in squeezing some scenes in.

#Anonymous #tales of vesperia #yuri lowell #nightfoot overthinks things

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eustasskidagenda · 8 months

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Hi hi! I was wondering if you could write some fluff for Ace with a male reader that is struggling coming off his ADHD meds and sleeping properly. Or something simpler like Ace being with the reader while the reader works on their personal projects and keeping him on task, reader still has ADHD. More details could be that the reader is apart of the Whitebeard crew. I don’t mind what form you write it in, how long you want to write it is up to you. I did not know how to word this correctly and I am extremely sorry if it is completely unclear or entirely wrong requesting format. English might be my first language but that does not mean I can make sense of English's extensive grammar that is utterly flawed and quite irritating.

Thank so much for taking time out of your life to take people’s requests and write them instead of just ignoring us. Fanfic writers like yourself are what makes the world go round, mostly, have to give at least the tiniest bit of credit to the governments. Also have a great night/day/afternoon/evening!!!

Hi hi dear, of course, I'm always willing to write some fluff, especially with a cutie like Ace. :D And don't worry, it was totally clear and you did the request correctly. Hope the result will match your expectations, thank you so much for requesting. ☆

☆Ace helping his s/o struggling with ADHD

CW : m!reader, reader has ADHD, fluff, using of DF in some fluff way

WC : around 700

Ace definitely knows how to take care of others. He is both a commandant and a big brother, and he takes his position very seriously. He used to keep an eye on Luffy during his childhood. So he’s always watching for you, even from afar, to make sure you're alright. Ace has no problem with your ADHD since he has to deal with Luffy anyway. Even if his brother doesn't have ADHD, some things you may do may sound familiar to him.

He would be unsure at first. He doesn't know a lot about ADHD and is stressed about bothering you with possibly uncomfortable questions. Ace is likely overthinking and afraid of being annoying, because he always thinks he's not worthy of being loved. He would seek Marco's aid in learning the fundamentals by reading books on the subject. He wants to do his best.

He will ask you for the specifics. With a flushed and embarrassed expression. Let him know if it's alright and if he's not bothering you.

Reminding you to take your medication would quickly become a part of his own routine. And, even if he's not around, he would make sure to leave a cute note with some random drawing, like a Stickman and some… hearts, but it doesn't look like hearts. Although he doesn't know how to draw, it's nonetheless cute.

If you struggle to go to bed early because of hyperfocus and overthinking, he would just say something like "I'm going to bed. You come with me?" He doesn't want to constantly remind you about your ADHD because you're more than that. So he wouldn't bring the subject up all the time.

You're treating him like a normal guy and not like "the son of someone" so he would do the same to you.

Depending on whether you struggle with physical touch or not, he would or just lay close to you, trying to soothe your potential overthinking with random jokes and sweet nothings. Or just using his DF to make you count the fire sheep. What a cutie. And if you don't struggle with physical touch, then prepare yourself for a lot of cuddles. He would use his DF to gently run his hot palms over your skin, making sure you're comfortable again.

And if you really struggle to sleep, then he doesn't mind chatting and learning more about your hyper fixations. Ace likes that kind of stuff, and honestly, he's just so happy that you're actually just… talking to him.

Imagine his cute laughter every time you say something funny.

He might fall asleep randomly while you're talking due to his narcoleptic tendencies. But overall, he likes long-night conversations because, as you know, often the night conversations are the most intimate, the ones where two people bond closely.

When you need to focus on your work, again it depends. If you're in a hyperfixation mood, honestly, he would just look at you and randomly smile because he thinks you're adorable when you're that serious. He won't bother you since you're in your own world. But if you're hyper-focused for hours, then he would come from time to time to remind you to stay hydrated or to eat something.

"Y/N, look, I've made some grilled fish" while placing the plate in front of you.

During your night work, Ace would leave a small candle on your desk that he would light himself as a small reminder of him. He's always with you this way. "I want a goodnight kiss" with a cute pout before leaving you alone.

If you're having trouble with your tasks, he'll remind you not to procrastinate too much. Because he knows that it would just stress you more and more as the deadline approaches.

He would help you take some breaks from time to time. "Okay y/n, that's enough work, let's visit this island together"

Once you come back to work, he doesn't interfere much. Just helps you here and there as best as he can. He doesn't want to distract you. "Get outta there, you goddamn pineapple, he's working" when Marco randomly comes to talk to Ace.

And, once you are finally done with all your duties, he would proudly lend you his hat with the warmest smile ever. "I knew you could do it. That's my sweet boy, always so brave."

Ace is so wholesome, help.

#one piece headcanons #one piece x reader #one piece requests #portgas d ace #portgas ace x reader #portgas ace x you #portgas d ace x reader #portgas d ace x you #portgas d ace x y/n #ace x reader #ace x y/n #ace x you

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favvn · 3 months

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Something that I've been processing since Errand of Mercy is that line of Kirk's about being used to the idea of dying. I take it to refer to his experiences on Tarsus IV rather than a willingness to die for Starfleet/some loyalty-to-the-death type deal. Like, he saw a leader make themselves into a dictator in a time of famine and suffering, and said dictator used "personal eugenics" on the people he was meant to aid. Kirk himself was selected to die. Regardless of if Kirk was a young child or teenager when it happened, that event has shaped him (and I can not believe no other writers for the show used it explicitly to develop his character, so now I get to feel like the Pepe Silva It's Always Sunny meme always. It's fine. It's cool. It's fun, even. Thank god for fanfic writers).

But in the episode before Errand of Mercy, The Devil in the Dark, Kirk says that--as individuals--Spock and himself are expendable. The implication is the chain-of-command based on Kirk's rank as Captain and Spock's rank as First Officer. Should Kirk die, Spock assumes command and etc. If both are killed together, there's a larger ripple effect in the chain and more issues to get positions filled, so Spock and Kirk together as a pair are not expendable. (To say nothing of the larger risk of endangering two lives vs one and Kirk takes calculated risks.)

I point this out because in Operation: Annihilate, Kirk doesn't give a single care about the chain-of-command and who is expendable once Spock is made host to one of the creatures.

(As an aside: yes, I know the usual considerations. Inconsistent writing on the show's part. Nobody would want to work under Kirk if he didn't care deeply for the safety of his crew. Etc.)

Nowhere in Operation: Annihilate does anyone suggest a replacement first officer (despite idk the weirdly vivid memory that it was a conversation Spock and Kirk had in the episode? Did I write my own fanfic while watching the episode and give myself a case of the Mandela effect? I have tried rewatching it and reading transcripts, and I am getting no such scene and I am feeling truly insane, oh my brainworms have gotten worse) after Spock is made a host to the creatures. McCoy comes close in wanting Spock to stay in Sickbay rather than go out to collect a sample, and McCoy also reminds Kirk that Spock is "the best first officer in the fleet" before they put him under enough light to rival the sun and fry his optic nerves, leaving him (temporarily) blind.

(As another aside, while it is one big facepalm that these 3 geniuses in their respective fields failed to conduct their experiment properly--Nurse Chapel, you are due for a promotion!--dare I say that it is still a compelling and entertaining drama? The time-crunch scenario of if Spock can't withhold the pain and insanity anymore, of if Kirk's nephew wakes up, and of when the creatures will successfully leave the planet to infect a new one, so they will gamble and risk Spock's eyesight rather than enact a plan that would kill 1 million people.)

It's just. Interesting to me. Almost as if Kirk believes that so long as he and Spock are together, regardless of what may injure them, they can do anything.

#star trek tos #spirk #errand of mercy #the conscience of the king #the devil in the dark #operation: annihilate #incurable spirk brainworms as always #but like. compelling the way these two just do what they do #ntm the vague parallel between spock ready to kill the horta to save jim vs jim prying the creature off of spock without hesitation #these two have their own beliefs they operate by but they toss them aside the second the other one is in danger hmmm 🤔#trek meta

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toracainz · 3 months

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You are Steven's coworker. He is always sweet, respectful and you know for a fact that he couldn't hurt a fly. What is your reaction when he comes in one day, having a black eye, several band aids covering his face, trying to hide the small cuts, and his knuckles are also bruised?

(Marc or Jake took the body the night before and they were in a fight)

I debated so long about making this a fic for the response lol but I can’t get my thoughts straight right now so I’m just going to word vomit how I would probably react 😅

I might turn it into a fic later lol

If I was just standing there at work fiddling with the museum trinkets and Steven walked up looking absolutely wrecked I would immediately go into detective mode asking him a million questions…probably starting with “Oh my God, Steven! Are you okay? What happened?”

He’s absolutely deflect and come up with some entirely u believable excuse. Probably something “I had a fight with the ground and the ground won.” Or something like that, incredibly vague and not at all explaining how this absolutely sweet angle of a man could get in the condition he’s now in. Steven, understanbly, wouldn’t be going around telling people about his “condition”, but I would hope we would get close enough that he might consider sharing that.

Anyway, I would absolutely dote on him the rest of our shift. Checking up on him, offering to get him things (a drink, pain meds, lunch), offer to help with anything, asking if he needed help with his bandages. But I would absolutely want to know who hurt him. Not that all 5’3” of me who’s never been in a fight (and doesn’t want to) could do anything if I did know who did it. I would just want to let him know he had someone on his side. That whatever was going on he had a friend and support if he needed it.

Idk if this is what you were wanting for an answer, if it’s not I’m sorry 😅 I’ll get a fic together of this little scenario eventually. I’m not used to getting asks like this 😅

Thank you for sending me one 🥰 I feel like a real fanfic writer when I get asks about characters and scenarios 🥰

#moon knight #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #marvel #moon knight fanfiction #moon knight ramblings #i have no idea what im doing

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ya-boi-haru · 6 months

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*makes fanfic reading alluring noises* pspspsps my brain went brrr again...

I'm calling this AU: "The Perfect Family"

~~~

Morningstar Kingdom was a beautiful and peaceful place to live, it was almost as if it were designed to be an untouchable safe haven from the war and the royal family were well respected and loved by the people as they ruled with kindness and compassion even after the loss of their Queen.

At open events, the family were seen laughing and mingling with the people, hearing out their concerns and offering their aid where they could.

But they couldn't see behind the closed doors..

How the King - Fable - would be merciless with attacks on the other kingdoms, the extra measures he'd take to keep his kingdom safe, the amount of blood that had spilled because of him alone or the way he treated his children - his youngest specifically- unfairly.

How the eldest - Icarus - took up a special interest interest their chemistry teachings and not always for good reasons. How during events Icarus would pull pranks on their brother - Rae - which was usually at his expense and after events they'd argue and bicker about the others behaviour.

How Rae learned to love reading alone because it was the only times he'd find peaceful moments, how he'd sneak off with his personal bodyguard or flirt with the Royal Libraian. How he learned to be really good with make up to help cover the birth mark on his face or was used to contacts to help them appear monochrome.

Or the fact that Rae thinks their mother isn't gone, but being held somewhere far away and worse, Fable may have had something to do with it.

After another night of therapeutic reading - he needed it after being yelled at all night - Rae decided he was finally going to learn the truth.

His bodyguard - Aax - insisted on coming, joking that what he lacks in height he makes up for in strength and it was his job to protect him

Rae also begged the Libraian - Caspian - to come with, saying he had travelled the lands before and would need his skill set. Though Rae left out the part where he genuinely wanted him to be there with him. He wanted to take what good things he had and leave.

So that's what they did. The three started off on their adventure to learn the truth and maybe even save Isla Morningstar.

Their first stop: SoulFire Kingdom, in the lands of the Nether.

~~~

Again I'm not much of a writer and I hope this made sense, maybe I'll make another post of this later? Still fleshing it iut tbh But yee, hop you like!

#inspired by dollhouse - mealnie martinez #fable smp #fable smp fanfiction #ghaae

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mlmxreader · 10 months

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Safe As Houses | Bane x gn!reader

Anonymous asked: "I'm sorry, you want me to what?" "Be my fake boyfriend" with Bane.

I saw that you liked Bane and wanted to write for him. And I think this prompt with him would be funny so have fun with it. Also I love your work and I’m amazed that ever story you write is a piece of art in there own right.

summary: you have a question for Bane, but he’s also got questions for you.

tws: mentions of violence, swearing

support your fanfic writers by reblogging what you read & enjoy

Bane paced the floor, not entirely sure what he was supposed to say to such an indecent proposal; tapping his mask with his index finger as he tried to think about it and to work his head around it.

He was a smart man, there was no doubt about it, nobody could ever call that into question - but it wasn’t exactly a decent question that you had asked him. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to answer, and whether or not it would be for the best if he told you how he actually felt; he stopped, leaning against the counter as he folded his arms across his chest and glared at you.

“I’m sorry, you want me to what?”

“Be my fake boyfriend,” you explained, “it’s only for a couple of nights, but there’s this regular we have at work, and they’re always really handsy with me - so I thought, well… you’re a big, handsome, scary looking guy… maybe if they saw me with you acting like a couple, they’d back off.”

Bane nodded slowly, not really fully convinced as he hummed. “Why don’t I just go see them? Privately?”

“I appreciate the fact that you didn’t say murder outright,” you started, “but, that’d be wrong. This is just some idiot who can’t take a hint. Please… give me a hand?”

Bane clenched his jaw, glaring at you as he sighed and shook his head. “No.”

“Oh…” you frowned as you nodded slowly. “Alright, well, uh… thank you anyway, Bane…”

“It isn’t that,” he shook his head. “It really isn’t. I just… for one, I would prefer to see this person myself, and to… talk to them. Privately. But I wouldn’t want to lie to you, either.”

You leaned against the counter opposite, tilting your head to the side as you cocked your brow. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t give you aid because you work with Doctor Quinn,” he explained, “even if I do respect her enough to call her an ally… it isn’t that. I aid you because I have great interest in you. I help because I’m fond of you.”

You licked your lips, swallowing thickly, your voice going quiet. “Crane will kick your ass… he’d be pissed to find that out.”

“Then Crane can take it up with me,” Bane hissed, boxing you in against the counter and his body, his breath hot from his mask as heat started to rise through your body as he placed his arms on the counter either side of you. “You’ve been under my protection for a long while now, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t entirely kept you safe.”

“Wait,” you put your hands on his chest, staring into his eyes as you furrowed your brows. “What?”

“I didn’t want to see you hurt, or caught by the Bat,” he explained, “so I ensured that you were always protected. Never invasively, I made sure of that.”

“You’ve been protecting me?” You asked softly. “Is that why Harley didn’t want to come partying with me?”

Bane nodded. “I should have told you, I’m sorry, I-”

He froze when you kissed his mask, smack in the middle. It was just a soft peck, a sign of gratitude if anything, but it made him freeze as his eyes went wide. He stared at you, but before he could think to ask you, he gently pressed his mask to your lips again. You smiled, and his chest felt funny.

“What was that for?”

You shrugged, running your hands up his chest and letting them rest on his shoulders. “Protecting me. And, for the record? I’m fond of you, too… Harley kept telling me to tell you but… she doesn’t know you like I do - you wouldn’t…”

“You would be surprised, my lark,” he hummed. “I’m sorry I can’t help you this time.”

You shook your head, a soft whimper coming from the back of your throat as you licked your lips and decided to risk it all. “Well, you don’t have to be my fake boyfriend.”

“Pardon?”

“You could be, y’know,” you laughed nervously, rubbing the back of your neck and trying to ignore the sweat dripping down your back. “My real boyfriend, instead - no pretending or anything.”

Bane thought about it for a moment, about to start pacing again when he looked at your mouth; he couldn’t resist, gently nudging your lips with his mask before he pulled away and sighed, shaking his head.

“I would have to make sure you’re constantly protected, if that’s the case.”

“Or,” you started, “you could always just… be with me whenever you have five minutes and keep me safe yourself - for safety reasons! Obviously. Not so we can, y’know, kiss and cuddle and shit.”

Slowly, he nodded. “Alright. Consider it down, my lark.”

“Why’d you call me that?” You asked with a chuckle.

“Larks will bravely sing and fly in places where there’s no life,” he explained, “just as poppies will grow in the same places… you are my lark.”

“Alright, then,” you grinned, laughing softly. “I thought it was just some stupid thing but… I like that.”

“Good,” Bane hummed. If you could have seen his mouth beyond that metal mask, you could tell by his eyes alone that he was grinning. “I have to go and talk to a man for a while - but I’ll come back by the time you need to leave for work. I’ll walk you there, and after your shift, I’ll walk you home.”

“Thank you,” you whispered, nodding. “Really, Bane.”

“If we’re to be partners,” he started softly, “then I best start taking better care of you, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” you whispered, clearing your throat. “If you want to, that is.”

“I do,” Bane admitted. “But first, I need to have a conversation - will you be alright?”

You nodded, daring to gently plant a kiss to his mask again. He didn’t freeze, only hummed before he nudged your mouth with his mask and pulled away to leave.

#mlem writes #bane x reader #bane x you #bane imagine #bane fanfiction #bane fanfic #bane dc #dc bane #the dark knight rises #the dark knight trilogy #the dark knight #tdk #tdkr #tom hardy x you #tom hardy x reader #tom hardy imagine #Tom Hardy

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blooming-violets · 3 months

Note

Sorry this is gonna be a bit of a rant since it’s something I’ve had strong feelings about since joining the AG/TASM fanfic part of the internet, and you’ve provided me a great opportunity to talk about it.

As a trans person, I am BEGGING fanfic writers to stop writing Marauders stuff. I’ve seen so many people defend it with “separate art from the artist” but like it or not they are still supporting JKR. Separating art from the artist only really works when the artist can’t profit from it. She has done SO MUCH harm to trans people and particularly trans youth in the UK and it’s so fucking disheartening and gives me such an ick when I see TASM writers also write for Marauders because it truly comes across as “I love and support the trans community except when it comes to this because I like it.”.

Even if you ignore the transphobia and holocaust denial (YES IM SERIOUS, she’s denied parts of the holocaust at LEAST twice and she literally did it a second time the other day), the original writing is so fucking problematic. Things just off the top of my head being;

The goblins being stereotypes of Jewish people

The fucking racism with characters like Cho Chang and Kingsley Shacklebolt

The last Fantastic Beasts movie’s plot literally being trying to make WW2 and the holocaust happen

This point needs to be taken with a grain of salt since this was some bullshit Joanne said after the books came out, but werewolves in the universe being meant to represent people with aids. Which is so fucking awful considering one of the two werewolves was attacked by the other as a CHILD

The most ironic part of this is that if Andrew is truly the person he presents himself as, he would probably fucking despise being associated with HP, even if it is just a fancast. But yeah all this to say fuck JKR, fuck Marauders fans but also thank you so much Katie for that last anon answer because I genuinely don’t see that enough in this corner of the internet.

Even Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter himself, has spoken out against her and continues to loudly support the LGBTQ+ communities. When your own beloved Harry doesn't even want to stand by your side, you should know you fucked up. Sadly, she does not, and instead leans harder into her bigotry and hatred.

I've always been someone who is very loud and opinionated when I see things that I disagree with, which I know can rub some people the wrong way, but fuck it. I don't like to whisper about my issues on the sidelines, I like to confront the problem head on by being very clear about where I stand and how I feel. I'm not gonna sit around and let someone align me with JKR just because I'm writing a stupid werewolf and Peter Parker fic that exactly 5 people are reading lol. It's not even a popular fic like get out of my asks jfc. Esp when I can tell this person has not read a single sentence of my story and is completely basing their judgements on my header image of AG's face next to a wolf gif.

In this past week I have seen both a Steven Harrington werewolf au and a Daredevil werewolf au cross my dash. Do we think they're getting called out for supporting HP?? No. Because their actors weren't "fan casted" as something years ago. Fan casts don't even mean anything! There was never a movie about them. AG was never casted or played this role. It's literally nothing but a bunch of fans agreeing that they like his look for a fictional character.

Anyway, I'm also ranting back at you haha. You can rant to me anytime. I love a good rant and I agree with you 100%.

Werewolves were not created by JKR. Andrew Garfield has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Don't make make snap judgments about a person's character based on a picture you saw. Support your trans community. Don't be dick.

And, if they actually read my werewolf au, they would see that it's literally about learning to overcome your own hatred and biases of people different from you and learning to love those you were taught to hate. Crazy concept, I know! 🙄😉

#asks

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ingo-ingoing-ingone · 2 years

Text

Submas Fic Rec

Part 1! This is for @waywardstation :)

I’m just going to be giving names and authors, no links. One, because I want this to show in the tags, and two bc all my fanfic links save for a few are on my phone lol. I read most of these as they were coming out, you lucky ducks get to binge em. :P

Type: Happy ending Shipping: None Length: Variable Status: Complete (almost all of them) AUs: Light on the AUs

Thrown Home Again by FluentInFangirl12 - Ingo arrives back in Unova and must readjust, while having sustained several injuries in Hisui that left him disabled. Multichapter, complete, verrry sweet. One of the first submas fics I read!

After All These Travels by SilverheartSP - Basically an A-Z story about how Ingo and Emmet still manage to mirror each other despite the separation. Slow burn to a happy end (that, much like my fic, almost didn’t happen according to the author lol). REALLY GOOD short little snippets.

The Hand by Grimtrack - This one is a LITTLE dark but also funny in chapter 2? Anyways, Ingo arrives in Hisui... but the portal also dropped off a mysterious severed hand with him. Almost like someone had tried to grab him before the portal closed. I find the concept really interesting! Really interesting writing too.

The Hashtag Train Twins Collection by Magical_Awesome_Kid - MY FAVORITE series (yeah this one is three fics not just one!) about the Nimbasa Trio and their shenanigans on social media. Truly funny, I laugh out loud when I read this. One of my favorite fics of ALL TIME. Covers the Hisui separation but manages to make it lighthearted, and of course there is a reunion. Sibling shenanigans abound!!

Intermittent Retention by NeoAsh - Ingo remembers everything. But only while in spacetime distortions... But he makes it home regardless of this. Really neat concept I am really glad this author explored.

recollection, retrospection, recognition by ApatheticRobots - (hiiiiiii Salem lol) Ohhh this one is so GOOD. I beta’d it, my friend is a verrry gifted writer! Ingo falls to Hisui and forgets nothing. A lot changes, but a lot also stays the same... Truly magnificent characterization, I love it so very much.

Standard Operating Procedures by layren and pointvee - Oh man. This is my favorite fic. It is LONG and hurts to read. It hit me VERY close to home but somehow also in a good way? It’s fucking BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. And the ending is absolutely superb. But it is heavy. It remains heavy for quite some time. Anyways, Emmet pretends to be Ingo, and that Emmet is missing. He tried at first to play both parts in some form of normalcy, but, caught acting as Ingo, he lies. As that all comes crashing down SPECTACULARLY, there is the thread of “much changes, but much remains the same.” Cried. Cried so many times reading it. But it does hurt until it stops hurting, so yeah some caution advised.

The Sound of Silence by FluentInFangirl12 - Ingo returns to Unova and his brother thinks he needs to get his hearing aids fixed. Short and very sweet!!

You Don’t Have to Do That by FluentInFangirl12 - Ingo’s back, but he’s acting different than Emmet knows him to act. Emmet explains that he no longer has to mask in public. He can just be himself without worrying, and figure out what foods he likes again. More readjustment to modern times!

Null Point Exception by twixtthelines - In Hisui, though he didn’t remember why, Ingo always did his point and call pose. Always felt off though. Then, eventually, it feels right again. Really good 5 + 1 fic!

Another Detour by Grimtrack - Just realized this author wrote two of my favorite shortfics exploring really interesting ideas, HUH! Ingo returns... And learns that his brother pushed himself to the breaking point and passed away in his absence. The heartbreak does NOT last long (this is a two-shot) because Ingo IMMEDIATELY goes “oh absoLUTELY not” and fucks with time and gets his brother back. Another favorite of mine, it hurts then heals. Can’t explain why, I just. Love it.

Through Fire and Fury, You Will Come Home by ToriiStorii - Has one of the coolest titles lmaoooo. Emmet gets eeby deebied instead of Ingo! And ends up Braviary’s Warden! And then. Ingo shows up to get his brother back. Contains so many shenanigans lol. Longer fic!

coming home by KaitoKitsune - A series of 2 oneshots that explore both twins’ perspectives on a reunion!

familiarity by clockworkcheetah - Another Ingo readjusts to his old life. Can you tell I have a type. Characterizations are lovely here, author really captures how off-kilter it must make one feel.

Arrival at a Familiar Station and The Journey Home by agonyaster - Two views of a reunion, with Akari in tow :) Love the scene the author set with these two!!

Gloves by WhisperingImagination - Another one that is funny! Ingo and Emmet have to come to terms with exactly... how popular they are when a video goes viral. Based on some wonderful fanart, contains aroace Subway Masters and Elesa being a great friend. FUNNY AS HELL I LAUGHED SO HARD.

A Touch of Love by Bluegamergirl11 - Series of drabbles about the subway boys, Akari, Elesa, and Sneasler and how they show affection to one another. HUGS.

Why do you do that? by AquaMarina924 - Akari looking out for her Uncle Ingo <3 He tries to be more expressive so people can read him better, but Akari insists that he does not need to

Null and Void (Your Smile Shines Like the Stars) by PhantomBagels - Based on the famous reunion comic by @/pigdemonart, Ingo has a confusing as fuck time before his brother literally crash lands on him

Five Times Ingo Roasted Documentaries + One Time Someone Else Did by BloomingMiracle (Luna264) - Much like in our world, historical documentaries can be a load of shit. Ingo and Akari/Dawn find this out by watching some. Oh, so inaccurate lol

I HOPE YOU ENJOY AT LEAST SOME OF THESE AAAA all of them are 100% read by me and contain no shipping of brothers. I can guarantee that much lol

So I don’t consider ‘not canon compliant’ to be an AU really. Especially considering a) we have no goddamn clue what Emmet is up to, and b) we have no GODDAMN REUNION >:( SO. Most of these are just explorations into what could be.

Also yes, YES I know a ton of these are reunion fics. I really, really have a type, and I hope you guys don’t mind! XD Also I did not put my own fics on there. Pester me about those separately if you want!

#submas #submas angst #pla era #reunion #submas fic recs #this took an hour and a half #i have so many submas tags open guys #so many #here's the 20 happiest ones though!!!#reunions *rolls around in fic pile*

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overlydramaticinephile · 2 years

Text

There's an us now.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader (no physical descriptions, BUT reader is Robin’s best friend which is major plot point)

Summary: Steve and Y/N deal with the aftermath of their relationship becoming public. (PART 2/finale of There’s an us now.)

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: Robin seems like a jerk it pained me to write her like this but y'know fiction...i love my queen Robin :( um also i guess angst and fluff <3 Some curse words. (English is NOT my first language)

A/N: Hi! omg i really wasnt expecting all the love in There's an us now pt 1 like my heart can't take it which made this even harder to write because i'm nervous it's not good enough! but oh well, i'm not a pro writer i try my best as a fanfic lover to write what i would like to see but again, don't know how well it translates. Anyway yeah, hope you guys enjoy pt.2 which is also inspired of course by Dawson's Creek.

READ PART 1 HERE

Steve was about to enter Robin's house determined on telling her and not backing down like earlier. But behind him running, was Y/N trying to catch him before he did.

"Hey." Y/N grabbed his wrist and pulled this worried expression. She seemed upset too.

"Hey. Hey, Y/N/N, what's wrong?" said Steve while he hugged her trying to calm her breathing.

“Look, Steve…we can’t do this okay?"

"Can’t do what?" Steve questioned nervously.

"I have to be the one to tell her, okay? I mean, things are really complicated between me and Robin, and it has nothing to do with you, it's just…look it has to come from me or else it is going to ruin everything." she said with the most anxious tone Steve had ever seen Y/N carry.

"Okay, okay, that's okay. Just calm down Y/N/N, it's alright. We'll do whatever you want to do okay?" he hugged her again.

Steve decided to keep talking and see if that would calm her a little. "I mean, you wanna know God's honest truths? I've been in the process of chickening out the whole way over here." he said chuckling lightly.

That only made Y/N overthink even more. "Maybe is a sign, Steve."

"A sign of what?"

Y/N didn't know if she should continue honestly but she thought Steve deserved the truth.

"It's just that for so long, she's been everything to me Steve, I mean this girl has been my family when I hadn't had one, and she's the one person in my life who I can always depend on and this, this is gonna kill her."

Steve then sighed, realizing something. “You never had any intention of telling her, did ya?" he then smiled. "You didn't come here tonight to tell her; you came here to stop me from doing-"

Y/N quickly cut him off, shaking her head. "No, I tried to tell her, I went up there and I tried-"

"Of course, you did but, let me guess, you failed right?"

After that Robin came out of the house. It seemed they weren't as discrete and quiet as they thought.

"I thought I heard something out here." she deadpanned.

To say Steve and Y/N weren't expecting that would be an understatement. Y/N thought she had at least a few more minutes to figure this out, you know, what she was going to say to her and all that jazz. But then again, when was Y/N that lucky? she felt frozen, overwhelmed even.

“Robin…uh…we were just-” Y/N couldn't find the right words without spilling out the truth.

“You were arguing, obviously, what about?”

Steve looked at Y/N and noticed how she was spiraling so why not rip the band-aid off already.

After sighing and trying to look confident looking in her eyes he said. “Us Robin. We were arguing about us. Me and Y/N there's an us here now. And I'm sorry Rob we've been wanting to tell you.”

“You didn't tell me.” Robin's tone was one they had never heard before. It was certain and emotionless like she was hiding her true feelings on the situation, holding back really.

That's when Y/N thought about it, how Robin didn't seem shocked at all but more betrayed. “You know, don't you?”

“Yeah, I know. So, were you planning on telling me or was this going to be a secret fling? You could hear the venom coming out of her words. She was truly hurt, and her sweet mechanism changed to a bitter one that almost never came out, not even in life-or-death matters.

“It's not like that.” said Y/N trying to keep strong for Steve and herself.

“Then how was it? because Nancy was a little short on the details.”

“What? she thought I knew. I mean, I must be pretty fucking stupid not to know, right? that the two people I trusted most in the world were lying to me. So, are you bored, confused, or just malicious?” Yeah…the hurtful words just kept coming out, her bottled emotions could not be contained any longer.

“She told you?!” that's when Y/N snapped.

That wasn't the answer she expected. She thought maybe Robin had seen them when they thought they have been sneaky enough but…Nancy, that was a surprise.

Now it was Steve's turn to snap, he was confused at Robin's mean approach. “Hey! look, I started this thing, okay? if you're gonna get angry at someone get angry at me, it's not-”

“I don't think you're in any position to talk about what's fair. You were my best friend.” she said with hurt in her eyes.

“I still am.” Steve felt a sting in his chest, like if someone had just ripped something in him.

“Finding it a little hard to process right now.”

“It's the truth, Robin.” Steve was truly trying to convince her that this wouldn't change anything between any of them.

“So, I guess it's safe to assume that friendship doesn't come above sex and your list of personal priorities-”

“This has nothing to do with sex.” he interrupted. He wasn't surprised she went there I mean, that was a main topic of conversation in Steve's personal life.

“So, what, are you in love? is that what this is?” Robin mocked. She thought it was funny somehow. Her best friends who loathed each other in love.

That's when Steve looked at Y/N with hopeful eyes. He was in love, he has been for a while now but how could he ever tell her, it scared him more than anything. More than any Demogorgon, or any Russian invasion, getting his heart broken again after Nancy, as dramatic as it might sound, he didn't know how he would fix himself again if that was the case.

“Don't- don't look at her. Don't look at her. You know Steve? I feel sorry for you because when this is over you've really gonna need your friends and you're not gonna have any.”

Of course, deep down Robin didn't mean that, she knew Steve was there for all of them for good. They were all a family after everything they been through but in that moment the “backstabbing” was stronger than that family bond.

That's when Robin went back inside not been able to look at them any longer without saying more things she would regret later. Steve stood frozen, overthinking everything that had happened in the last minute and a half. Y/N in the other hand, rushed behind Robin to continue the conversation and hopefully make her understand.

“I didn't intend for this to happen Robin.” cried Y/N.

“What you intended does not provide me any solace. What- do you love him? do you just want to sleep with him? Robin was giving this desperate voice like trying to process everything and understand it at the same time.

“No, how could you even say that?” Y/N felt sad, that her best friend would think so low of her.

“Then why-why, because you kept on saying that you want to find yourself and is-is this what you've been looking for this whole time? Is Steve what you've been looking for?

“No!” Y/N was also started to get frustrated; she didn't know how to explain what was going on between Steve and her. It was new but at the same time it felt so familiar and…right.

“Then, explain it to me, explain it to me how two people who can barely stand to be in the same room with each other, end up outside my window arguing about the future of their relationship?”

“I can't, okay? I can't explain it okay? It happened. Everything is so complicated-”

Robin couldn't help but interrupt Y/N because it still made no sense to her.

“If things are complicated is because you made them that way. Okay? and you think that whatever that's wrong when you were with someone else suddenly magically gets better now that you're with him?”

“I don't know Robin. I don't know, okay?! I just…I just know that I need him.”

At this point Y/N was crying. She didn't want to lose her best friend and she knew this would affect their friendship forever so…she had to make a desperate decision that would change everything…again.

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

After that awful argument with Robin Y/N went to find Steve. There were some things they had to figure out and it most likely would end in heartbreak. Who would be the heartbreaker though?

Steve was sitting in the biggest rock in Lover's lake when he saw her. The most beautiful girl he had ever seen, the one girl that drove him crazy, the girl that 3 hours ago would be making him the happiest man alive, now, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen that will possibly break his heart. So, when Y/N sat next to him he couldn't help but feel sad.

“Ever have one of those days you wish you could live all over again?” said Y/N with a defeated smile.

Steve didn't feel like answering but did anyway. “Yeah. You?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what would you have done differently?” Steve took this as an opportunity to know more about where she was standing when it came to their relationship.

Y/N sighed. “I don't know. Everything? Nothing at all. We would still end up right back here. And I don't think I know what here is.”

“Here is right where we started.” said Steve now copying Y/N's defeated smile.

“Steve…”

“It's over isn’t it?” he didn't want to hear it but the small talk was killing him.

“It has to be.” said Y/N. And just then, she could have sworn she heard his and her own heart break.

Steve just nodded like he saw it coming. “Maybe you should be the first one to go this time.”

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

While Y/N was doing her regular babysitting for Mrs. Henderson, Dustin appeared with this idiotic grin which just confused her.

“Just thought that you might want to know that uh…unbeknownst to you a particular attitudinally challenged fellow babysitter is preparing to leave Hawkins for the summer. Seems he's going to drive himself down to the city for the next three months.”

After Steve's heartbreak, Dustin couldn't help but feel bad for him not only for how badly things ended but because he didn't have his back, he didn't support him and his relationship and now he was truly sorry and trying to get them back together.

“When does he leave?” said Y/N being curious since it's the first time she's hearing about this but at the same time playing it cool. Like if it wasn't affecting the shit out of her.

“In a couple of days. I just thought you might like to know about it before it was too late for you to uh…say or do something.” Dustin was using that tone that meant he was giving some sort of hint.

“Thanks.” that's all Y/N brought herself to answer.

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

After her babysitting hours Y/N decided to look for Steve and set the record straight. That's when she finally saw him leave a coffee shop with a chocolate bar in hand.

She quickly jumped and started walking next to him. “This is your solution?” Yeah, she was feeling very straight forward.

“What are you talking about?” said Steve. He on the other hand wasn't in the mood for any type of conversation with her, even though he could hear her talk forever, right now it just felt too soon to be interacting with each other.

“You're leaving.” she deadpanned.

“Uh-huh.”

“Just when things get tough, you're gonna pack up and leave?” Y/N was frustrated for so many reasons, she didn´t want him to leave yet she also didn´t want to feel like this.

“Well, that’s the general idea, yeah.”

“Oh, real mature Steve.”

Steve was having enough of this conversation like if breaking his heart wasn't enough. This conversation seemed very hypocritical of her but at the same time he missed her. He missed her voice, the way she walked when she was mad. Those beautiful Y/E/C eyes that in his opinion could cure disease, yet he couldn't help but snap back at her.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Sit around all summer and watch from afar as you and some other guy attempt to resuscitate your ailing relationships? No thanks.”

Y/N scoffed with offense. “I expected you to at least say goodbye.”

That made Steve slightly chuckle. “Oh yeah, the goodbye scene, played that one over a thousand times in my head. I come to you heart in hand and announce my plans, you look at me pain in the eyes but then of course the Y/L/N sarcasm kicks in and I leave never getting what I came for.”

“And what is that, Steve?”

“You never asked me to stay. Ever.”

Y/N eyes widen, how could she do that? “That's not my decision.”

“Yes, it is. It always has been. You may be too afraid to make it but let's be honest with each other here, the decision to be together or not to be together has always been yours.”

“And that’s exactly what you got. You're going to get three more months of it.”

That made Y/N shake her head because even though she knew it was somehow true, she didn't want to admit it.

“All I asked for was time.”

“You know, I may be undecided Steve but at least I’m not running away. You can dress it up any way you want still comes down to the same thing. Giving up.”

“Yeah, you.”

Well, now that made Steve lose it with some chuckles, I mean, was she being serious? Has she met herself?

“I'm giving up?”

“Me? Really? You don't want to think about it just a little bit Y/N/N?”

“Me neither, but it's the ending we got isn't it?”

For what felt like the first time in her life according to Steve, Y/N got the hint.

“You know, believe it or not Steve this is not the ending that I asked for-”

“Yeah. I guess it is.” And with that Y/N walked away asking herself what she thought she was going to solve or why, it was clearly still rocky territory but deep down she knew that it was all because she still needed Steve and wanted him, therefor letting him go like that felt final.

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

After Y/N last encounter with Steve she decided to take a walk, truth be told she wasn't a “I'm taking a walk” type of person but this time it felt different, and she hope it would clear her mind. After 20 minutes of undying spiraling, Y/N unconsciously ended up at Robin's house. So, she knocked on the door and was greeted graciously by her parents which just made her nostalgic.

When Y/N found Robin, she thought that if they were gonna mend their friendship and try to get things back to normal that she should be completely honest with her. So, they sat down, and Y/N just started blabbing everything that she was feeling.

“Rob…” she exhaled. “The thing is, your house is my house and there hasn't been a single significant event I've experienced that you haven't experienced with me, and I was so afraid of losing that but, if that wasn't the choice, and if I thought that there was chance that you would forgive me, I may have chosen differently. And you deserve to know that.”

That left Robin speechless. Has she been over-reacting? I mean, obviously, but was it justified? was the real question Robin was trying to answer now. She started remembering little comments and conversations with Steve, the way he talked about Y/N, she should have noticed that even though Y/N was still going on dates when they became friends, it was different for Steve. She found it odd when he stopped asking out every girl that showed at Family Video, but she thought it was because he was still somehow in a Nance trance. But no…it was Y/N all along and she should have said something before she was just in denial because what if it ended poorly like every other relationship either of them had been in? She wouldn't be able to live with that but…this wasn't about her. Ever since she asked Steve to help Y/N, it stopped been her business. Which now, there was only one thing she could do to make this right again.

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

Robin was at the top of valedictorian choices for the next and last school year and for that they made her make a speech, an inspiring and relatable speech. And just by hearing it out loud Y/N couldn't help but cry. It left her speechless.

“Your speech was beautiful.”

“Thanks.” said Robin with nerves in her voice.

“What you said…did you mean it?”

“Every word. Which is why you should turn around and go to Steve.”

“What?” Y/N didn't know if she heard that correctly, I mean she couldn't have…could she?

“Last year you had the opportunity to go to New York and you stayed because of me.”

“Robin that wasn't your fault.”

“It was my fault because I should have made you go. But I was selfish, and I didn't want you to go I wanted you to stay here with me. And I refuse to make that mistake again.”

“Well Robin I mean what if it's my choice? I mean what if I want to stay?” somehow Y/N was still trying to convince herself that this was what she wanted. But Robin finally saw clearly, even when Y/N didn't.

“Y/N come on. Even I can see it. Steve is this year's New York and this time you must go. You must see for yourself all right, I can stand here and tell you that it's a colossal mistake, I mean it's not gonna make a difference, words, and speeches sound great, but they don't add up to anything, all that matters right now is what you want.”

“I don't even know what I want Robin.”

“Yes, you do. You want him. You love him, the only difference is that he loves you the same way back and you deserve that. Okay, and I'm not gonna be the one who stands in the way of you getting there.”

Y/N started crying she didn't know what this meant for them, what this would mean for Robin and Steve too.

“But Robin, I want us all to still be friends and I want to know that you don´t hate us.”

“They are just words Y/N. Just words. Because after this your gonna turn around and walk away, aren't you?”

“I have to otherwise I'll never know.”

“Then go, Y/N.”

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

After Y/N went home and changed she went by Steve's house hoping she would still find him. Hoping it wasn't too late to make things right.

“Steve! Steve!” she was running around like a crazy person but what else could she do, she was desperate.

Steve appeared in the driveway confused. “You want something Y/N/N?”

His presence made Y/N smile, knowing that maybe she would be able to fix this. “I want to talk to you.”

But Steve wasn't really having it. “No no, bit late for this now. I'm leaving, you can't stop me.”

“No, that’s not why I’m here.”

“So why are you here? To say goodbye again, maybe you wanted to rub it in a little bit huh?”

Y/N could only shake her head. “Look I don’t want to stop you Steve, and I don’t want to stop Robin, and I don’t want to be stopped not by either of you, not by anyone. See, I mean that’s what this whole year has been about we've been trying to stop each other from moving on and growing up but not you, I mean you're different and you've challenged me every step of the way and you've been there every step of the way.”

Well as nice as that sounded Steve was getting impatient with her beating around the bush. “Y/N/N, departure time is in t minus 30 seconds so if there's a point, I suggest you get to it.”

“I think I’m in love with you.” she breathed out.

That made Steve take interest again but wasn't quite there yet. “You think or you know?”

“I know. I've known since the moment that you kissed me and maybe even before that and as scary as it is I don’t want to deny it anymore Steve. I don’t want to run from it, and I don’t want to let it run from me.”

Steve turned to her and started smiling back at her. “So…what are we going to do here Y/N/N?”

“I wanna come with you.”

“You what? are you crazy?” Steve appreciated the declaration but that just sounded way too spontaneous even for Y/N.

“I want to stop standing still, I want to move forward, I want to come with you.”

“What about the kids? they need you.”

“Not as much as I need you, Steve.”

Steve couldn't help but grin and finally grab Y/N to kiss her after what felt…too long. It was at this moment that they knew they were here to last, and their love was worth fighting for.

THE END.

FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APPRECIATED <3

taglist: @dualvoidslay @darklingbrekksov @lexiecamposv @mess-in-side @xsammijoanneex @anuncalledbridge @arminsgfloll

#steve harrington #steve stranger things #steve harrington x reader #fanfic #stranger things #stranger things x reader #joe keery #joe keery imagine #joe keery x reader #steve harrington imagine

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autumnslance · 8 months

Text

LynMars FFXIV Write 2023 Master Post

This year's challenge completed! Congrats to everyone who wrote anything at all this month, even if just one prompt! Thanks again to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for 7 years of this!

Previous Years Master Posts: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

Anything wolcred ship-related is marked by an asterisk* as usual. Commentary and stats for anyone interested below the Read More.

01. Envoy: ARR; Aeryn makes her Grand Company choice. 02. Bark: Dark has the wrong pie thief suspect. 03. Free Day! 04. Off the Hook: EW; Lucia & Maxima explore their new HQ. 05. Barbarous: HW; Aeryn's frustrated by the land of her birth. 06. Ring: EW; keepsakes & memories of Aeryn's mother. 07. Noisome: Dark & Iyna contend with ubiquitous seasonal flavors. 08. Shed: EW; Aeryn answers Zenos at the edge of everything. 09. Fair: EW; Azem's brother tries to ensure the future has his aid. 10. Free Day! 11. Once Bitten Twice Shy: ShB Bozja; unwarranted concerns. 12. Dowdy: Backstory; Aeryn's always had Opinions about fashion. 13. Check: Iyna discovers C'oretta's personal business. 14. Clear*: ShB; semi-poetic sweetness of coming together. 15. Portentous: Backstory. Zaine speaks to Tanzel about a decision. 16. Jerk: EW; Aeryn meets an old friend as the Final Days loom. 17. Free Day! 18. Fish Out of Water: Shb: G'raha gets used to his new life. 19. Weal: EW; Vrtra sees to his people and their home. 20. Hamper: In a possible future, Iyna answers academic questions. 21. Grave: Legacy; Zaine Striker returns to his childhood home. 22. Fulsome: C'oretta sorts through her parents' old promos. 23. Suit: ARR; what the Scions wore that most fateful night. 24: Free Day! 25. Call it a Day: Pre-ARR; Iron Summer contemplating his daughter. 26. Last: EW; a final conversation between ancients. 27. Sole*: Post-ShB; Thancred vs the perils of Aeryn's flip-tastic jobs. 28. Blunt: Post-ShB; working with Gaius, like it or not. 29. Contravention: EW; "In from the Cold" violates laws of nature. 30. Amity: EW; Varshahn & Aeryn discuss Thavnair & Garlemald.

Only 2 short shippy prompts all month! All 4 modern girls got a couple spotlights, various family cameos and backstories, a future prompt as is tradition, Zaine had a few posts, a few NPC-only scenes, a LOT of Endwalker, and even Ancient Icarus got a story, tying into 2021's "Destruct" prompt and how/why the siblings' souls have been connected through time and reincarnations.

A few of these are alternate takes on scenes I've touched on before, but it's interesting what a new prompt at a different time can get one to say, how we change as writers in what we focus on and how we say it.

This comes in roughly 300 words shorter than last year, at 18,493. The week of the 18-22 I had off work for my birthday, and that had the most 1k+ prompts, with a word count nearly double the other 3 full weeks. While the longer prompts are good, I'm really happy with how so many of the short ones turned out!

I was again trying to be realistic about my time, energy, not pushing free write days...and also working on an original writing project on the side, so I actually did do more writing over the month, just not FFXIV related!

(Also why some of my responses were in just under the wire...)

But this was a good break and exercise from that other writing, and let me try a few new things.

And comparing to earlier years--especially 2017 and 2018 when I was getting back onto the writing horse and feeling out my OCs--I feel like my growth as a writer, especially to be more succinct yet still evocative when needed, is evident. I've gotten a lot of practice in over time, and this challenge is one of the things that helped me get to where I can write an original story on top of my fanfic!

Breakdowns for funsies: Longest: 21 Grave; 1,652 words Shortest: 14 Clear; 106 words

Between 100-500 words: 1 Envoy; 2 Bark; 4 Off the Hook; 5 Barbarous; 7 Noisome; 8 Shed; 14 Clear; 15 Portentous; 26 Last; 27 Sole. Between 500-1000 words: 6 Ring; 11 Once Bitten, Twice Shy; 13 Check; 16 Jerk; 18 Fish Out of Water; 22 Fulsome; 23 Suit; 25 Call it a Day; 28 Blunt; 29 Contravention; 30 Amity. 1000+ words: 9 Fair; 12 Dowdy; 19 Weal; 20 Hamper; 21 Grave.

I didn't look at the totals until the end; I only checked some of the shorter ones during the challenge to see if they hit my personal "500+ words" cut off for adding a Read More to the posts.

"Grave" honestly could have been a lot shorter; I started the plot too early, and much as I like Zaine making one last visit to his childhood Nana, for the purposes of the challenge, I could have just focused on going to the lichyard to save myself time and energy, and wrote about the visit on my own another time. On the other hand, it's done now!

Not sure which is a favorite; there's a lot I like.

As usual, these will be revised at...some point (some more than others, probably) and added to Ao3, in my various series and threads.

#final fantasy xiv #ffxivwrite2023 #Lyn Writing #Aeryn Striker #Dark Autumn #Iyna Cauld #C'oretta Khell #Zaine Striker #Scions of the Seventh Dawn #A Realm Reborn #Heavensward #Stormblood #Shadowbringers #Endwalker

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saltynsassy31 · 2 months

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Regarding that Silvaze post. I, of course, can't speak for anyone else, but I can say why I personally fell in love with Silvaze. It's strange, I swear this is like the third time now I've written a response like this to someone asking why people ship Silver and Blaze. I don't want to spend too much time on this, I often get carried away with stuff like this. Ultimately, it comes down to three points:

1. Dynamic - Goofy cringefail boyfriend x stern emotionally-reserved kickass girlfriend, is a fun dynamic. Not to mention I'm a sucker for 'guy who worships his partner like a goddess' archetypes. Lots of fluff potential. That's the fun part, then there's always the angst.

2. Backstory - It's like a damn Greek tragedy! Two people who, in a dark future, only had each other, no home, friends, or hope, just each other. They grow so close that one decides to sacrifice herself for the other. History is reset, memories are erased. Blaze is reborn as a royal in a paradise dimension. Silver is left to relive his life in the apocalypse, only this time all alone. Separated by time and space, memories erased, their life together never existed. And yet! They manage to meet again! And through a strange feeling of deja vu they remember one another! Through muscle memory alone they act in sync without the need for words. AHHHH Like come on, that's writing gold! And that brings us to the final point:

3. Potiental - I would go so far as to call Silvaze a crackship or rare pair, because content for them can be a drought sometimes. It really comes in waves, rather than a constant stream. And canon seems to like to keep them apart which I suppose is poetic in a way, or if they do meet the writers don't really seem interested in their relationship. I think you can count on your hand the number of times they've actually had conversations with each other. Which is a shame. But what often makes me daydream about them, what made me fall in love them is the potential! What if they rediscovered the memories of their previous life? Would Silver be consumed by shame of letting Blaze go when she sacrificed herself for him? Would Blaze feel guilty about leaving her friend behind in a nightmare world while she got to live in a paradise with all the riches and luxuries she could ever ask for? What if we explore their early years in the 06timeline, how they met? Would they be overprotective of each other? Would Blaze offer to shelter Silver in her kingdom to make sure he doesn't have to return and live in his devastated future? What if we explored the whole time travel thing, how it works, can Silver do it on his own? How would they aid each other in their quests? Silver protecting the Sol Kingdom, Blaze returning to the future in hopes of fixing it. There's literally so much you can do with them, they're so interesting!

But those are just my thoughts. Hope this isn't too long. Bye.

Oh dude, don't even WORRY about that, I love long posts! Despite taking forever to reply to them XD

These are some pretty interesting points but that second point....WHAT THE HELL!?! FR!?!

Wait oh my god, I think that has been the biggest revelation to me I'm stumped huh????? Oh god i really have to look deeper into them now wtf

And they have lacking content? That's so unfair! Ugh man, now I wanna try to contribute, I really love them and finding out more about them has only solidified that 😭😭

It's like I can never win with my ships here lmao, I thought I'd be safe with sonamy, only for sonamy to have less than a thousand (completed) fanfics on ao3 with sonado at almost 3k 😭😭 (nothing against sonadow btw, just surprised sonamy doesn't have more)

But I'll try my best do do Sonamy and Silvaze right! I don't have the talent of writing to do nothing with it!

Thank you so much for this small, in depth explanation, I'm really shocked about their past part, this is pretty interesting shit lmao

#salty rants #salty answers

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checkoutmybookshelf · 10 months

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Welcome to the Third Polin Fic!

Hello friends, and welcome to the third and final instalment of my three-part Polin Fic 'Verse fanfic. It'll be posted chapter by chapter on Fridays, here and on AO3. New to the Polin Fic 'Verse? You can find the first two parts of this series here.

This fic is relatively safe for work, but I will post any content warning above the break in these posts as they come up. This chapter does not come with any content warnings, so feel free to reenter my Polinverse and see what Colin and Penelope are up to!

Penelope gasped in delight as Colin lifted her above his head and spun her, sending droplets of the Aegean Sea flying in an ever-widening circle about them. Each droplet sparkled red-orange in the sunset, embodying the ultimate marriage of water and fire. Between the scent of salt, silky texture of air against bare skin interrupted by the patter of warm water droplets, and rush of air through her loose curls, Penelope could have been flying through heaven. And yet as she fell and was crushed to Colin’s chest in a bear hug, both giggling helplessly, she listened to his heart beat in his chest and knew that should paradise call her then and there, she should rather be exactly where she was.

Tangling her fingers in Colin’s dark curls—the heat and the span since they had last seen a barber had it curling nearly as much as hers did—she pulled him down and herself up into a kiss that he matched with his own heat and passion. As the near-imperceptible change in the ambience of the world that accompanies the shift from day to night swept over them, Colin moved Penelope against him, shifting her up as he strode purposefully from the shallows toward their shared travel pavilion.

Sunrise found them sprawled across each other, as skin-to-skin as it was possible to be around their respective travel desks, pens in hand. For Colin, this was a longstanding pattern when he traveled; he had no particular project in mind, simply enjoying the act of writing. Penelope, on the other hand, had yet to stop the flood of words from the gates that had opened after her cousin’s execution. Her writing began as a simple exercise to draw poison from a wound, but as she and Colin had traveled, she had begun to frame several larger projects—at least one of which was exactly the sort of thing she had been expressly forbidden from writing in England by Her Majesty, Queen Charlotte. She had not mentioned that particular project to Colin yet.

As if from her thoughts to his ears, Colin set his quill down, stretched, and turned to her, lazily setting a hand on her hip.

“What about Venice next?” he asked.

There is something in the Venetian air, Penelope decided as she watched Colin mount the high front of the gondola and balance somewhat precariously without the aid of the tall prow that extended to nearly the height of his head. Colin had always had a playful side that she could coax out, but since they had arrived in Venice, it was as though he was courting her all over again. There was no shortage of small sweets left under her pillow or in her writing desk, stunning flower arrangements delivered to her almost daily, and surprise outings to every bookshop Colin knew of or had been told about in the city—they had already shipped a box of books home to lighten their travel load, but Colin still was more than happy for her to choose any and all books that struck her fancy.

Their evenings were a swirl of balls and events with Colin’s network of travel-writer acquaintances. Venice had a penchant for masquerade balls, and one of Colin’s gifts to her had been a stunning, delicately painted antique mask that fit well with her favorite airy, gauzy seafoam green party dress. It could not be described as anything less than delicately feminine, but with a sense of something catlike around the eyes that gave it, as Colin said, a slightly harder, more alluring edge that suited what was Whistledown in her. That night, they had danced every dance together and still found energy for more pleasurable activities in the privacy of the suite of rooms they had taken.

Given all that activity, Penelope had little idea when Colin had found the time to learn the Italian song he burst into for her. She gave him the grin this little stunt deserved, not the polite smile that propriety dictated. It was lovely not to be trapped by the rules that governed debutantes. Her breath caught in her throat and her belly fluttered as he threw a roguish wink at her before taking hold of the prow and leaning dangerously out over the water—still singing—to snag a rose from the garlands adorning a passing gondola. Then he stepped down into the bottom of the boat and went to one knee to offer it to her. She reached for the rose, only for Colin to grin and stand suddenly, tucking it behind her ear as his final note faded away and his eyes captured and held hers. Before she could drown in them, applause sounded from all around, along with shouts of “molto bene,” “meraviglioso,” and “bellissimo.” She blushed, still a wallflower at heart—but she did not look away as Colin handed her out of the gondola and looped her arm through his as they promenaded—quickly—toward their suite.

As Penelope put more words in her journals that evening—relishing the feeling of pouring out thoughts and feelings in a shape that pleased her—Colin was managing his correspondence. He leaned back in his chair—practically sprawling out of it, really—and waited until she put down her quill to clear his throat.

“I’ve had a letter from Lumley, of all people,” said Colin. “He’s written to say that he will shortly be in Rome to acquire some book or other and connect with a poet’s circle. He’s invited us to join them. What do you think?”

The idea of sharing in-progress work with other writers was strangely uncomfortable, if Penelope was being honest with herself. For so long, Whistledown had been hers and hers alone. Had she shared an unfinished, unpublished draft, she would have been in deep trouble. Even now that she and Colin shared a love of writing, she still did not share early drafts with him. She would—and happily did—read anything and everything of his that he asked her to cast an eye over, at any stage of the process, but she had yet to share anything that she wouldn’t have put into print with him. She knew she was unusual; literary circles in London and among the ton were common, and it was a dull week when someone’s manuscript or poor attempt at poetry wasn’t informally circulating to praise, ridicule, or confusion. There were even ladies’ circles that were permitted to flourish despite creative writing being a somewhat frowned upon accomplishment for a debutante. Had she wanted to, Penelope could have connected with one of those groups in her first season. Writing wouldn’t have been such a private activity for her, but Lady Whistledown would never have existed, either.

On top of that, Penelope was enjoying time with Colin without the distractions of other people. An outbreak of cholera on the continent had caused their honeymoon plans to dramatically change, and while Aubrey Hall was lovely, the family and the crown had barely managed a week before interrupting it. This trip was the first time she and Colin had truly been able to enjoy each other’s company without obligations, missions, or interruptions, and she did not want to give that up.

“The trip would be easy, from here,” Colin added, sounding uncertain. “And we need not devote all of our time to this poet circle. There is plenty for just the pair of us to explore in Rome.”

Penelope had spent just a little too long thinking, and Colin had just a little too much experience reading her. She did not wish to deprive Colin of the opportunity to meet with other writers; his first book, titled An Englishman in Italy and based on his travel journals prior to their marriage, was due to be released later in the year, with An Englishman in Cyprus and An Englishman in Scotland to follow six months and a year after. His writing career could only benefit from exposure to a broad, international circle. And if she chose to be selfish for a moment, her writing career might also find new life abroad. The series of short essays she was working on—and privately thought of collectively as Lady Whistledown’s Grand Tour—might find an audience away from English eyes. Colin was also right; they could balance their time between the poet’s circle and each other as they chose. It would be enough for her.

“I suppose we had best pack,” she said with a smile.

Lumley had taken a house for his time in Rome, and it was more than large enough to admit the thirty or forty poets currently milling about the room holding glasses of wine and alternating between pontificating loudly, arguing fiercely, and making up enthusiastically. There were a few people in chairs around the perimeter of the room with travel desks on their laps, writing furiously, but they seemed disconnected from the larger gathering. Not the same way that Penelope used to disconnect herself from society at balls, to observe and listen, but rather as though they could have been anywhere in the world and their pens would still be scratching away on paper. Writing as a man dying of thirst in a desert drank water; greedily, to save their lives.

Penelope knew the feeling; remembered it from writing the first issue of Whistledown she intended to publish, and from the night Felix was executed. Loathe to interrupt, Penelope had pulled her eyes away to allow them to write in peace, but turned back when the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Turning back–not noticing that she pulled Colin to a halt as she did–Penelope locked eyes with a young woman. Her dark hair was pulled back from her exceedingly pale face, and her dark eyes were inquisitive and carefully evaluative. Penelope thought she saw something sad deep within them, but couldn’t be sure when a small smile crossed the other woman’s face, and she inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. Returning the acknowledgement, Penelope jumped when Lumley’s voice boomed out behind her, jovial and just a touch overly loud.

“Bridgerton, Mrs. Bridgerton, welcome! So good to see you.” Lumley clapped Colin on the shoulder and bowed informally to Penelope.

“And you, Lumley. Our thanks for the invitation,” replied Colin.

“Come, Bridgerton, you shall never imagine who has just arrived–I must introduce you to Wordsworth and Coleridge. Mrs. Bridgerton, I suspect you will thoroughly enjoy meeting Mr. De Quincey; he is of a journalistic bent similar to your own.”

For a wild moment, Penelope seriously considered correcting Lumley, arguing that Whistledown had hardly been a journalistic pursuit. However, Colin’s simultaneously scandalized and delighted “You have the Lake Poets here, Lumley?” broke her line of thought. She simply walked with them to be introduced to a somewhat timid, rather flighty gentleman by the name of Thomas De Quincey. Colin was pulled quickly away to meet publishers and other poets by Wordsworth and Coleridge–both of whom were overeager to offer career advice to Colin but barely looked twice at Penelope. She and De Quincey were nearly three-quarters of an hour deep into a discussion about the purpose of journalism–of all sorts, as De Quincey was adamant that even scandal sheets had a function in society, despite Penelope demurring that they were hardly of import–when both doors into the room slammed open with shouts of “Shelley!” and “Byron!”

It was as though twin whirlwinds had entered the room as the two men moved through it. The ambient volume in the room increased from a somewhat raucous party to the track on race day. Fights withered as quickly as they blossomed and friendly shoulder claps and furious slaps were exchanged–with Byron in particular laughing uproariously after receiving a slap from a young lady De Quincey identified to Penelope as Claire Clairmont, who was in the process of ending an affair with the poet. Then De Quincey pulled a flask from his jacket and took a deep swig.

“Laudanum,” he explained. “I have terrible facial twinges. If you would excuse me, Mrs. Bridgerton.” He was already beginning to look sleepy as he wandered toward a chaise in a distant corner of the room, leaving Penelope quite alone in the uproar. Despite his height, Penelope could not see Colin in the room; instead, she caught a glimpse of a very quiet moment between Percy Shelley and the dark-haired, dark-eyed woman who had caught her gaze earlier. Shelley lifted the woman’s hand to his lips in a lingering kiss, as she stared at him as though to drink in his essence. As he finally released the hand and bowed deeply before throwing himself back into the fray, Penelope was slipping through the crowd towards the other woman. Her eyes were very far away as Penelope sat next to her, quietly, so as not to disturb the moment as she waited for the room to calm down.

The room remained raucous and wild as Penelope scanned it, but she also kept half an eye on the woman beside her, so when her eyes reentered the room, Penelope was sure she wouldn’t unduly startle her.

“Your young man has quite a bit of energy,” she said, with half an inner smile for Lady Danbury–the line was a classical one of hers for opening conversations. “I hope this isn’t too forward; I am Penelope Bridgerton.”

“He is hardly my young man,” murmured the other woman. “If we are all simply stardust, then he is a piece of me and has been since the formation of the cosmos, despite Harriet. And no, not forward at all. Miss Mary Godwin. Mary.”

“Then I must be Penelope.” The ladies briefly clasped hands.

“Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, the weaver, and the match for the cunning Ithacan. I imagine then, that you are not simply an editor and copyist for your husband, as so many writer’s wives are doomed to be? You are yourself a writer?”

“As are you, I see,” Penelope said.

“I shall be. I plan to write about our travels this summer–mine, Percy’s, Claire’s, and Byron’s, that is.”

“I shall have to introduce you to Mr. Bridgerton. He was a great traveler before our marriage–well, he still is, truly, that is why we are here–and his first book will be published later this year. I’m sure he would be willing to discuss travel writing with you.”

“I should enjoy that,” said Mary. “But you still have not told me what you write, Penelope. You are, I think, a prose writer like myself.”

“Whatever gave you that impression?”

Mary laughed outright at Penelope’s evasive question, and set her lap desk on an empty chair next to her to turn her full attention on her conversational partner. “My dear Penelope, even were I to ignore the deeply practical nature of the skills of your namesake, I would have known from how smoothly and succinctly you engaged in conversation with me. That was nearly the strategy of a matchmaking mama wrapped up in such a way as to elicit answers without you having ever asked a direct question. Were I sure to avoid offense, I should have accused you of being a journalist outright. Come now, what paper do you write for?”

The sinking feeling in her stomach startled Penelope. She had not come to this gathering with the intention of keeping her identity as Lady Whistledown a secret. Although she had never made any sort of announcement or public acknowledgement, after her disastrous outing by Lord Andrews, Penelope had simply allowed Lady Whistledown to exist in the public consciousness with rumors of her own name attached. She had made no comment, and the speculation had become a comfortable, low-level fact of ton life, almost an inside joke for young ladies and young gentlemen who courted scandal. “Best beware, or Lady Whistledown will come out of retirement to write about you,” the saying went, and the inevitable reply was “Mrs. Bridgerton has other matters to attend to.” Certainly she had thought she might find other writers here, and perhaps a new writing identity altogether.

And yet. Penelope was still writing as Lady Whistledown and she could not claim a career as a writer without acknowledging Whistledown. She had no reason for embarrassment; she was proud of every issue she had produced. And yet, she had lived with the excitement, danger, and finally the consequences of Whistledown with no public acknowledgement. Now that the moment had come where she either had to embrace or forever put aside Lady Whistledown, Penelope found herself physically remembering the fear of being discovered. Her hand was at her abdomen, over her scar tissue. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her heart was beating up her throat into her mouth.

“I have said something wrong,” said Mary.

“No, no; please forgive me,” said Penelope, taking a deep breath and getting herself under control, despite feeling unshed tears in her eyes. “I have simply had something of a fraught experience with writing.”

“Writing is a cruel mistress. You needn’t say more if you don’t wish.”

“I am not ashamed of it,” said Penelope, as certain of that statement as she was in her love for Colin. “You shall understand when I explain…I am the author of Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers. I am Lady Whistledown.” Penelope knew that cliff divers existed, and that they often spoke of the thrill of the irrevocable decision to jump only truly enveloping them once their feet had left terra firma. Her feet had truly left the earth, and her public admission and embracing of her identity as Lady Whistledown was both a thrill and a terror. She wouldn’t have taken the words back for anything. Burying Lady Whistledown to appease the queen had been a mistake; she had been coming to realize that as she and Colin traveled and she wrote again, but this moment solidified it for her, and she felt she could revel in reviving the lady writer.

“Oh is that why you were ensconced with De Quincey for so long?” exclaimed Mary.

“I did not tell him, actually,” said Penelope, abashed. “As I said, my career has been somewhat fraught. I have not claimed her publicly before now.”

“No, of course; we heard rumors that Lady Whistledown had been unmasked even in the country and on the continent, but nothing was ever confirmed.” Mary seemed to consider something for a moment, then stood. “Percy! Byron! You absolutely must come meet my new acquaintance, the Lady Whistledown!” Mary’s voice could not, in all fairness, be described as a bellow, but every head in the room turned to them, and Colin had materialized by Penelope’s side before the final syllable of “Whistledown” had escaped Mary’s lips.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Colin’s sotto voce question was very nearly lost on Penelope as she locked eyes with a nondescript man across the room. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about him, except that Penelope had seen him before, at the Old Bailey. He was one of the Queen’s agents. The gentleman caught her eye and tilted his head in acknowledgement to her in the split second before Bryon’s voice boomed through the room.

“In the smokey grey inconsolable world, Lady Whistledown was a pocket of spice, giving color and sensation to an otherwise bland season,” declared the poet as he charged toward Penelope and Mary. Stopping almost unnaturally smoothly on a sixpence before the ladies, Byron offered an elaborate, perfectly balanced leg before politely kissing the back of Penelope’s gloved hand. In contrast, Shelley skidded to a halt before them, nearly fell over trying to bow, and nodded politely in Penelope’s general direction before proceeding to gaze at Mary as though she were a constellation on a clear night.

“Titian beauty and a wit to match,” said Byron, giving Penelope a slow, deliberate once-over. “Lady Whistledown, you simply must explain yourself. You are no John Keats to be writing your own elegy—whyever have you stopped writing? We have seen no new issues in over a year!”

“You flatter me, my lord,” demurred Penelope. “But surely you cannot miss Whistledown so; you have not been to London in quite some time, I should think.”

“While I may be banished to the continent, I find your column to be something of a guilty pleasure of the heart. There is little in the world that equals the pernicious pettiness of ton, and it is in many ways both scourge and balm for a weary soul wandering far from home.”

“He does not even like England,” muttered Mary. “He finished saying just last night that should we bury him there, we would be consigned to Tartarus.”

“You’re likelier to survive that than a bacchanal with him,” Colin replied quietly, earning a grin from Mary and a dirty look from Shelley.

“Lord Byron,” said Penelope, just a hair louder than was necessary. “May I introduce my husband, Mr. Colin Bridgerton? He has a book coming out—”

“My dear Lady Whistledown,” interrupted Byron, reaching out to reverently wrap the loose curls around Penelope’s face around his fingers. “If the Titian charm of your curls did not distract me from the fact that you have not written in over a year, then the sad truth that your heart belonged to another before I had the chance to know it myself surely will not. Come, my lady--” he released her hair and dropped to his knees before her, one of Penelope’s hands held over his heart. “Offer a gentleman some solace, a single shining star in an inconsolable night of existence. When shall Whistledown publish again?”

It occurred to Penelope then that the entire room was focused on their little corner. It wasn’t unusual for Colin to rather loom over other men, given him height and the unconscious confidence with which each and every Bridgerton carried themselves, and she had felt his stance behind her change to a tightly-wound loom the instant Byron’s fingers had twined into her hair. She imagined that his face maintained a polite veneer, but that he would not hesitate to call out the poet for laying hands on her. And yet the moment Byron had dropped dramatically to the floor, Colin’s loom had taken on something of a farcical feel.

Acutely aware of a roomful of eyes on her, Penelope flicked a rapid glace to the queen’s man in the corner. He was leaned against the wall, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. Waiting.

“I shall be forced to disappoint you, my lord,” she said. “Lady Whistledown is truly no more.”

“By God, say it’s not so!” Byron exclaimed, releasing Penelope to put a fist to his forehead. The small crowd listened to Byron lament for a few sentences, but slowly the room filled with conversation again, underpinned with the ongoing exhortations of the poet on the floor. The queen’s agent made a beeline for the sideboard and began to fix himself a plate of crudites.

“He does enjoy a spectacle,” said Mary. “Come, Penelope, tell me about what you’ve been writing instead.” Penelope relaxed as she heard Colin and Shelley begin a discussion of travel writing and relative merits of prose and verse. Drawing her travel writing desk into her lap, she opened the box. An internal strap had apparently come loose as she and Colin had walked to Lumley’s, and loose pens and a journal thudded to the floor before she could catch them.

Colin’s head whipped around at the thud, and he bent to collect the fallen items, but Byron beat him to the journal, which had fallen spine up, pages splayed.

Penelope did not breathe as time dilated. It took Byron an eternity to delicately slide his fingers under the book, handling it almost as reverently as he had her hair. Rather than allowing the pages to fall closed, his fingers held the leaves open and flipped the journal to reveal the smooth, pale pages to the room. His free hand gently caressed the curves of the blank pages, smoothing folds and crinkles on his way to the upper corner. Penelope shuddered as he turned the page and revealed her handwriting, sprawling across verso and recto, dashed down in a frantic attempt for her hand to keep pace with her mind. His short, sharp inhale wouldn’t have been noticeable except that Penelope’s entire world had shrunk to the poet and his hands on her journal.

Byron’s eyes met hers for a split second, and he raised an eyebrow, the suggestion of a rakish smile playing about his lips as he ran two fingers from spine to upper corner and turned another page, the book’s spine cradled firmly in his palm. He spent a moment dragging a single finger down the page as he skimmed it, then flipped through the pages; the sound of the pages against his fingers sent a shiver down Penelope’s spine.

He stopped mid-flip, a long finger interrupting the pages before tapping twice a single short line at the top and reading aloud:

Dearest Gentle Readers,

They say that travelers take the air in many ports of call, and that each has something unique to offer. Having taken the air in several Mediterranean cities now, I can confidently say that there is indeed something unique in the Venetian air. Mystery, romance, and art abound, offending the rules of propriety at every turn and delighting in the freedom from London’s oppressive airs. For who may lace the stays of propriety somewhat more loosely than others during ton parties in London seasons—a certain Traveling Bridgerton comes to mind here—joy and art explode into public spaces and declarations. Indeed, one wonders how one could ever return to London, the ton, and the court and find oneself able to breathe.

Colin Bridgerton had no such difficulties with aspiration as he serenaded Mrs. Bridgerton from the prow of a gondola this afternoon—a far cry from the screeching strings and off-key caterwauling of last season’s Smythe-Smith/Holroyd musicale. It seems strange that English propriety would decry the former and applaud—no matter how disingenuously—the latter. One must applaud the free-spiritedness of the Venetian people as well as their leaders, who must have sufficient confidence in their rule to permit such freedom and joy. Oh, that all rulers could share such confidence and care for their people.

Finally halting with a broad grin on his face, heedless of Penelope’s consternation, Byron closed the journal with a snap and offered it to its owner with an exaggeratedly elegant leg and a vaguely predatory grin worthy of a pirate of the last century. Shelley clapped Colin on the shoulder, with a sotto voce “Such an obliging wife you have, Bridgerton,” as Penelope snatched her journal from Byron’s hands amidst polite applause, a few calls of “hear, hear,” and some general shouts of agreement with the sentiments.

“It would seem, Lady Whistledown,” said Byron, voice artificially smooth, “that you have been holding out on us. This is not a new issue of Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers; this is a book.”

“Pen…” Colin’s voice was hoarse, her name slipping from his lips on an exhale more than consciously spoken.

“You must excuse Mr. Bridgerton and I, for a moment,” said Penelope, and all but dragged Colin behind her toward a quiet, empty room. Behind her, Penelope heard Byron bellow, “Lumley! You must tell me how you came to be acquainted with Lady Whistledown!”

#polin #polin fic #the polin fic #polin fanfiction #polin fanfic #bridgerton #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington #penelope bridgerton #colin bridgerton and penelope feathertington #colin x penelope

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daydreamtofiction · 1 year

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Hello! Firstly, I wanted to say just how much I adore your writing style. There's just something ever so beautiful about the way it flows. And speaking of flow... I wondered if had any tips for making a story flow better, I've so many ideas but I just can't seem to figure out how to put them all together in a coherent way. Thank you!

Firstly, thank you so much.

This is such a good question but it’s one I’m having a really hard time coming up with practical advice for! I’ll try my best, but I’m sorry in advance if this isn’t helpful.

As always, I like to start with the disclaimer that I’m 29, I’ve been writing since I was a child, went to university at 18 for an undergrad in creative writing and got my masters in creative writing at 23. I’ve also had another 6 years since graduating in which I’ve been incredibly privileged to be mentored and supported by some amazing people and organisations in the literary space. So I’ve got a lot of years worth of practice and development under my belt. I’m not saying anyone needs degrees or training or anything to become a good writer, because you don’t, I’m just trying to emphasise how time is truly the best aid for anyone looking to hone their craft. And there’s never a set formula you can follow when it comes to improving your writing.

Funnily enough, I enjoy creating fics so much on this platform because it allows me to be a little more lax with my writing. Some things I’ve published under this alias would never fly with an editor and would probably be torn apart in developmental feedback. I don’t edit and redraft as much as I do with my irl work, I’m not as economical with my words and I try not to overthink things too much. So first and foremost, I’d say go easy on yourself. You write your fics for you, and you write them for free! Fanfic readers, on a whole, consume works that range drastically in author skill level. And for the most part, they will still enjoy and appreciate a fic despite its flaws.

That being said, let me try and actually answer your question lol.

When you say ‘flow’, I’m not sure if you mean the narrative or the actual writing itself. So I’ll give separate advice for both.

The narrative

Some good ways to make a narrative flow better is to think about pace, character and storyline.

Think about a TV show, I’ll use Fleabag season 2 as an example since it’s fresh in my mind from my priest fic. The basic premise is Fleabag meets a priest, fancies him, they hook up, but in the end he chooses God. If that’s all the story was, the show would be an episode long. What makes it so much more compelling is all the little ‘side quests’ she takes, the exploration of herself and other relationships, the time they take to allow that tension to build, little scenes that have no bearing on the main plot but add meat onto the bones of the story.

This helps control the pace; makes it feel more substantial and gives the readers time to bond with your characters and become invested in the story. It also stops you and your readers becoming fatigued by the main plot. Think about your day; you got up, went to school/work/wherever, came home and went to bed. But that wasn’t the extent of your day. You also might have noticed some new freckles while washing your face that morning, had an interesting interaction with a shopkeeper while buying your lunch, you might have found yourself dwelling on something that happened years ago which affected your mood, it might have rained when you weren’t expecting it to. All those little things are what make the journey from A to B truly flow.

So don’t be scared to divert from the main storyline with extra scenes, or create secondary plots that run alongside the main narrative. Not only will it help with the pace, but it will also force you to create more well-rounded characters. A well-rounded character is another great way to make a story flow, because they feel more real and less like a device.

Having lots of ideas and no idea how to make them flow is a problem I think many writers have. My advice for that is to not attempt to squeeze everything into one story just because you’re overwhelmed with a plethora of ideas. I know it can be hard when you’ve thought of a great plot point or scene but you just can’t make it fit, or you can’t figure out where in the story all of your ideas should go. That’s why it’s good to create a rough outline of your story in advance (either mentally or written out), piece together where all of these ideas might go before you start to write your story.

You can keep a note of your ideas in a separate folder/journal/document, that way you won’t feel as compelled to fit everything in one fic, because you’ll have this great selection of ideas you didn’t use that can be utilised in other projects.

If you’re still struggling to make your ideas flow into one coherent narrative, then it could be a sign that the story you’re wanting to write isn’t a fully developed concept yet. It might be worth taking some time to read other books/fics you like, watch tv/films and take note of how they’re structured, even daydreaming about your ideas can be useful, as the more you play them out, the more you may begin to notice how your mind naturally puts them together.

The writing itself

Read 👏 your 👏 work 👏 aloud 👏. It’s easier to detect issues in the flow of your writing when you speak it out loud - if you trip over your sentences, then you can almost guarantee a reader will. Pay attention to where you naturally take pause, that’s usually indicative of a comma being required or a sentence running on too long.

Be mindful of your story reading like ‘and then they did this, then they did that, then they went here’. Not everyone writes in a flowery way, but it should still have texture, some light and shade. Similarly, make sure you’re not repeating yourself. Nothing interrupts the flow of a paragraph like seeing the same words or descriptions over and over again.

Also, I know I said I’m less economical with language here than I am in my real life work. But I still advise trying to lessen unnecessary words/sentences. Give readers credit that they can fill in blanks themselves. Do you need to tell them the character is holding the phone in their left hand specifically, or can you just say they’re holding their phone? Do you really need to describe a characters appearance top to bottom, or can you just pick out a few defining features? Do they need to be described at all? Could you take a sentence like ‘I walked over to the table and picked up the camera, then I turned around and took a picture of the flowers in the vase.’ And turn it into ‘I took the camera off the table and snapped a picture of the flowers.’ It’s only a small difference, but in terms of flow, the key is making it require as little effort as possible to absorb.

I also just realised you could be asking about dialogue, which is its own challenge entirely. But I did give this advice to another person asking how to make dialogue sound more natural.

I really hope this helps! Sorry I went on a bit lmao.

#writing advice #writing advice with daydreamtofiction

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