#file that under things that i would probably have written when i was 12

[tennessoui]

actually starting a fic with the words "Hi, my name is Anakin Skywalker!" is something that is so cursed and maybe the worst writing choice i've ever made but it actually works for the fic lol and also i find it funny enough to keep it

#kit to kit #file that under things that i would probably have written when i was 12 #also how 8 year old me began all my diary entries lmao

[musashi]

I’d LOVE to talk about it!!!! There is NOTHING like holding a physical copy of a fanfic you love in your hands, whether it is yours or someone else’s. Though I do recommend you get a physical copy of your own work first and foremost, it really cements the fact that you wrote a whole ass novel, or a collection of short stories. The first few fics I ordered were ones I wrote myself and I still go out into my living room to pull them off the bookshelf and just hold them, sometimes.

There are a lot of websites that exist where you can print books without publishing them. The website I use to print fic is Lulu. There are other websites but this one is my fave. Some people have probably written beautiful guides on book binding but I would rather just have a service do it for me.  i thought it might be fun to make a whole ass tutorial on my process, if anyone is interested? Because I really think this should be something more people do, I am telling you it'll change your LIFE. Wanna re-read that old fave in your bookmarks? Cut down on screentime! go GRAB IT OFF YOUR SHELF and settle in all cozy :3

SO: HERE IS A WHOLE ASS TUTORIAL ON HOW TO ORDER PRINT BOOKS OF YOUR FAVE FICS.

I use google docs. There are probably ways to do this in other word processing software but google docs is my friend. So this is how I do it. Google is also your best friend when figuring out how to make these adjustments in other word processors fghdg.

So you kinda want to set up the skeleton of your physical fic first. You wanna make a blank document, go to file > page setup and change the paper size to A5. This’ll put it in peak book format! Hurray. You’ll notice things are a bit cramped here but don’t worry, the margins are supposed to be like that. I like single spacing with the typical indent (.50) so thats what I do. I know some people prefer double spacing, so if that’s your jam do it! Just keep in mind it’ll make your book a lot thicker, it really depends on how you want to condense things. Font size is also a factor here. Personally, I LOVE to condense–12 point times new roman font and single spacing is my jam, heres what that looks like:

But again, depending on how long of a story/collection you want to make, you can space things out too. 

Make a nice title page! Mine are pretty simple, just the title and the username. Sometimes I’ll put the fandom name like ‘a [fandom] fanfiction’ but for the most part thats just for PDFs i share of my own fic. When it comes to my own fic I also like to put little dedications at the beginning for flair. Again, that’s just for me.

this is from my sicktember anthology, which is just all my sicktember fics in a neat little book. here's Down's:

this is my favourite part of printing my own books. i like to get sappy with it.

Add page numbers! This is something you can do automatically in most word processors. You can put em anywhere, I always put mine as footers ‘cause I really just like my fic to feel like a real book. This is under 'insert' in gdocs.

If you’re doing an anthology collection or a lot of fics in one book, a table of contents is good to have! If you apply a heading effect to each story/chapter in google docs, you can automatically insert a table of contents. I usually have to play around with mine a little (and edit it after, pin in that for later) but it’s a good thing to have. But in order to make a table of contents you have to actually have the fic in the doc, so let me teach you how to do that.

Congrats @pictureswithboxes, you are hereby my guinea pig. Because your fic is a good length and it’s the first one that isn’t my own that I’ve turned into a physical copy. Everyone please watch as I turn Turnabout Substitution into a book.

There are many ways and many formats you can download an AO3 fic in. Personally I prefer the HTML format–don’t ask me why, it’s just the best one I’ve seen for keeping things easy to edit and intact. If you work better in PDF or EPUB feel free to download those, but it’s my tutorial so you get HTML.

I drop the HTML file into docs. When you open it, you get this nonsense:

'cause that's a whole ass webpage, obviously. so open it AGAIN, this time using this button up top:

And that gives us… well, a lot more nonsense–it drops all the tags in, authors notes, whatever. You’re welcome to keep author’s notes if you like, personally I do without them (i love to read them digitally! I just keep them out of my physical copies) and everything is in 11 pt times font. The first thing I do is highlight the body of the fic and ONLY the body of the fic. I do this chapter by chapter.

Once I have chapter 1 highlighted, i change the font to my preferred size and typeface–in this case, 12 point times new roman. And then, with the body of the chapter still highlighted, i fix the margins/indent–left to 0, first line to .50, and right to 6.50. Then, with all of that highlighted, I paste it into my ‘book’ doc and all the indents/font choices carry over. Easy peasy.

I go ahead and make a chapter header. I think when doing a proper manuscript a chapter is supposed to start at the mid-point of the page, but i usually have the title at the top and the body text starting halfway down.

(my doc is in grey to avoid eye strain. if you do this, make sure it's white when you save it xD)

After a chapter–or any time you want to move onto the next section–use a page break! These are under the ‘insert’ tab. They will automatically jump you to the next page, and they will be necessary, for many reasons, but also because!!!

A new chapter should always start on the right page. In order to keep this correct, I take note of if my right pages are evens or odds in page number. Your first page will always be on the right. If you add a table of contents, it should also start on the right–so add a couple page breaks between the two to make a fully blank filler page. In my experience, because page 1 is always right, this usually means your right page will always be an odd number, but for some reason I'm having some weird mandela effect where i swear it wound up evens one time. huh. never hurts to double check! and triple check.

I ignore this all while I’m pasting the chapters in, but then at the end I go through all of them using google docs’ outline feature. Which is honestly NECESSARY for something like this, if you aren't already using it:

(anything marked as a heading will show up here! or you can highlight something, right click, and add it to outline manually. It's great!)

If my right page is odd-numbered, i check each of them one by one to make sure they all start on odd pages. I add an additional page break in the chapter before if they’re not, to make a filler page. it might feel weird to have all these blank pages in your doc but trust me you will appreciate them when you are actually holding the book.

As I am doing this, I also scroll up to the end of the previous chapters to look for orphans/widows. These are single lines that wind up on their own on the page and look kind of awkward and personally irritate me. Most word processors also have a feature to get rid of these, in google docs you just have to highlight the whole paragraph the line is in (or the paragraph before it, if it’s dialogue or a single line on its own) and apply a heading to it. You can highlight it and click ‘update heading to match’ to do this without changing the font. Good as new! It’ll show up on your outline on the side, but you can delete it by hitting the x beside the lines.

Another thing I do with the body text is i scroll through the whole doc and look for line breaks. AO3 has built-in ones you can insert, and you’re welcome to keep those if they are in a fic you like. Personally i prefer the look of a space to separate, though, so I actually edit them out and replace them with 3 line breaks. Literally just hit the enter key 3 times.

TS here is a case fic, told in the style of the ace attorney vn, which means each chapter has a few locations and timestamps displayed. I do 3 blank line breaks before these, and two after. Because it’s what looks nicest to me. You can play around with aesthetics and see what you like.

Once everything looks good, I scroll back up to update the table of contents if I have it. Google docs has a feature where you can ‘refresh’ it, but… I do not recommend this, because if you formatted your table (which you most likely did, it looks kinda terrible on its own) this will reset the formatting, and that will more than likely space out things or add unnecessary things (like those widows and orphans you marked before) which will add to your page count which means your TOC will be wrong ANYWAYS. So what’s the alternative?

Open your doc in two tabs. Same doc, two tabs. In one tab, stay on your TOC. In the other, click through your outline and input the new page numbers yourself. A little painstaking, but less prone to error. Easy peesy! Here's a bit of my finished TOC for my sicktember book:

Like all things, you can play with fonts and margins.

Your book is READY TO GO. Save it as a PDF, you can do this by hitting the print button in docs and most other word processors. Then instead of choosing a printer hit ‘save as PDF.’ Scuttle on over to Lulu and make an account. Yes it is worth it. Fic!

Lulu is awesome because it has lots of customization options. If you wanna get fancy with it, you could insert images into your PDF and get a colour book! But I just order print books, basic black and white. Once you name and upload your PDF, you can choose EVERYTHING. What kind of paper you want. If you want hardcover or paperback. The world is your oyster. Lulu will then give you a template for your cover, fitted to the dimensions of your fic book based on page number and what options you choose. They technically have a guide that lays this all out for you, but I find it incredibly confusing, so here is the streamlined wendy version:

There are a lot of options for how to make this cover. You can use an image editor, like photoshop, or you can draw fanart, or you can simply go into MSpaint and add some shitty little text to a solid colour if you don’t feel like anything fancy. A lot of people also use canva, which has tons of templates and assets you can throw together. I use canva so much i actually paid for a pro subscription lmao fsdghfgh but I also use photoshop a good deal. I made DTE’s covers in photoshop:

And Down’s cover in canva:

When I’m doing canva covers, I always just save the PDF, pop the template into photoshop, and then paste the images over it and rearrange them to my liking. I think Lulu also has an in-site canva editor but I don’t like learning new software. Photoshop is easy gfhfhg.

WHEN YOU ARE SAVING YOUR COVER. LISTEN TO ME. LISTEN THIS IS IMPORTANT ESP IF YOU NEVER TOOK GRAPHIC DESIGN OR HAVEN’T PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED ANYTHING. When you are saving your cover. SWITCH YOUR COLOUR PROFILE TO CMYK!!! Do not save it as RGB! RGB is good for digital graphics, but if you EVER print something you need to switch it to CMYK. I FORGOT TO DO THIS SOMEHOW when I printed my first two fic books, so their covers look a little washed out. When you do this in your photo editing software, they will look washed out there too–this is normal. They will print SO much better. Just trust me. 

Make sure you save your cover as a PDF and pop it onto Lulu! It’ll show you a preview of your book and cover which you can go by page by page to look for mistakes or anything you may want to change. In this preview the cover will ALWAYS look like a shitty, jpeggy mess. IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THAT IRL. I was so concerned fghfg but they print fine the preview just sucks.

wow so cool. this is for Down's hardcover which has a lot of margin. the closest summation of what your book will be like is to turn everything here off but the folds:

so cool. thats my book.

And you’re good to go! Enjoy your fic!!! PHYSICAL FIC IN YOUR HANDS!!! I got to experience the most magical thing recently: my friend bought a copy of Down, and then SHIPPED IT TO MY HOUSE, and i got to SIGN IT. I got to SIGN a copy of a BOOK I WROTE. They loved it that much. And I had the PDFs. PDFs I need to update, because I didn’t know half the shit I just wrote here when I made them. BUT I GOT TO SIGN MY FIC!!! SOMEONE LIKED IT ENOUGH TO BUY IT, AND THEN SEND IT TO ME, TO SIGN!!!

All the money here goes to printing costs, if that wasn’t obv. Paperbacks on Lulu can be under ten bucks depending on how thick they are, and hardcovers are usually under 25. It’s insane to me how cheap it is to print fanfic, and once you try, you WILL be addicted.

I tried to make this tutorial easy to follow, i hope it was! If anyone has any questions about the process, I am always happy to answer. Or, um, if you just want me to do all this formatting FOR you… I might be open to doing it for free. Mutuals get first dibs but I genuinely LOVE formatting docs for printing. I can’t help you with covers (i flounder even making them for stories I love) but I’ll always format a fic or several fics for you. Just HMU ghfghgf

#fic printing #fic printing tutorial #wendy rambles

[queenlua]

amusing bits from Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet so far:

* "What sparked [Luther's] anger, so he later reminisced, was the preaching of a Dominican friar, Johannes Tetzel, in the nearby town of Jüterborg, who went so far as to claim that his indulgences were so efficacious that even if a person had raped the Virgin Mary they would be assured complete remission from Purgatory." used car salesman-ass strategy lol

* "...the wealth of material that has survived on Luther is so great that we probably know more about his inner life than about that of any other sixteenth-century individual... His collected works, the famous Weimar Edition, extend to 120 volumes, including 11 volumes of letters and 6 volumes of his dinner-table conversations"

holy FUCK. truly a poaster before his time. like would the median tumblr blog fill 120 volumes jeez

* "In the early years of the Reformation, for example, [Luther] talked constantly of invidia, or envy, attributing it to his opponents—though it is hardly likely that they would have envied a penniless, powerless monk, while he, on the other hand, had every reason to be preoccupied with those he envied." lmao. mean girl who goes "they're just jealous" every time ppl hate on him

* "Extraordinarily, in an age when letters were routinely passed from person to person, were forged or intercepted, and when every chancellery filed drafts, Luther kept no copies. This gave his correspondents huge power, because they alone had records of what he had written, but Luther was relaxed about this, joking that he could always deny his own 'hand,' a remark that reveals his remarkable confidence."

i will have to look into this later but this is lowkey fascinating??? it hadn't occurred to me the 16th century world would've, like. written out copies of every damn thing. to support audit trails and such. just because the overhead of producing all those damn copies seems really high. suggests fun possibilities for intrigue and mailfraud shenanigans lol

* "It was popularly believed that when of the counts [in the town where Luther grew up] commissioned an altarpiece for the chapel depicting the Crucifixion, he had the thief on Christ's right painted as his most hated co-ruler

LMAOOOooo. also reminds me of the funny story that the tobacco magnate who funded the creation of Duke University Chapel asked that the stained glass depict the 12 desciples smoking cigarettes, and the dude had to be talked out of it... though i can't find any reference to the story on the internet, sadly. did the duke chapel tour guide MAKE UP LIES to me

* Luther grew up in a family that owned a mine & it's sort of hilarious how bad all these 1500s miners were at economics. they're like. running whole mining operations but with only the haziest idea of, like. where capital comes from. how to not resource trap your way into fuckedness. etc. i dunk on economists a lot but y'know there are some concepts here that actually were p worth formalizing

* our dude Luther was a fucking DRAMA QUEEN let me tell you:

"[Luther] joined the Augustinian order in Erfurt on July 17, 1505 [...] Luther sent his academic gown and ring home to Mansfeld, telling his parents he had drawn a line under this part of his life. He sold some of the fine legal textbooks his father had bought him and donated others to the monastery. Then he invited all his student comrades to a lavish meal, with music and entertainment. At the height of the party, he told his shocked companions of his decision to become a monk, announcing melodramatically, 'Today you see me and never again!' He then left for the monastery, accompanied by his sobbing companions." bet those dudes never forgot that party

* though Martin Luther's dad sure could match him for drama queen-ness (and apparently never stopped resenting Luther becoming a monk instead of a lawyer):

"At the ensuing feast to celebrate [Luther's first mass a priest], for which Luther's father, always the man for the grand gesture, had given the sum of twenty guilders, the breach was still evident. Luther asked whether his father now accepted his decision, and in front of everyone at the table, Hans Luder replied, 'Remember the fourth commandment, to obey father and mother.' 'What if it was an evil spirit' behind [the storm that convinced Martin to become a monk]? he asked. It was a very serious charge, made at a point where Luther had just acted as Christ's representative on earth for the first time."

* Luther was in one of the more hardcore monkish orders, and said order had a pretty rigorous schedule of prayers that involved waking up in the middle of the night... but apparently you could just pay other monks to pray for you if you just Didn't Feel Like Doing It one day? lmao. and in particular Luther did the strategy of "i'll just get them done ALL IN ONE DAY" instead of, like, doing them throughout the week (going without food or sleep, working that day & night to get them done)

* our dude could definitely be a poor lil meow meow / woobie if fandom got their hands on him. this boy is constantly having literal panic attacks about WHAT IF I MISINTERPRETED THIS PART OF SCRIPTURE AND NOW WE'RE ALL GOING TO HELL, when he's in Rome one of the things that bothers him the most (besides the famous indulgence thing) is the fact that they SPEEDRAN masses over there and he's like "oh no though, i spend SO MUCH time on the masses i run, i'm so afraid of doing it without true feeling... who are these speedrunning fucks with no respect goddamn," his confessor gets tired of him because he'll spend UP TO SIX HOURS AT CONFESSION agonizing over shit that doesn't matter... (this is part of the reason he went into academia, actually, his confessor was like "boy you have got way too much anxiety for the purely monastic life, go get a degree or something i stg")

* i do kinda love it when theologians get sexy with it:

"[Staupitz] wrote of different 'stages' of union of the soul, the first being that of 'young maids in faith,' the second that of the 'concubine,' the third, the 'queens': 'They are naked and copulate with the naked one. They taste that outside Christ there is nothing sweet and they enjoy [his] continuous sweetness. For the naked Christ cannot deny himself to those naked,' while in the fourth stage, which Mary alone experienced, Jesus 'sleeps naked with her naked and he shows other signs of such love.'"

#lua reads martin luther renegade and prophet

[stargaterevival]

20 questions for writers! Thanks @sga-owns-my-soul @frostysfrenzy

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

5 works

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

116,241, mostly between the two novels.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, MCU Avengers Steve Rogers, (unpublished: Saving Hope, Daredevil, Supernatural).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The there are only 5 on Ao3 so far 😅

You and Me (Stargate SG-1, Daniel Jackson x gn reader, 🔞)

What was Lost (Marvel, Steve Rogers x OFC 🔞)

Fetish (Captain America, Steve x Peggy)

Worlds Colliding (Stargate SG-1, Sam x Martouf)

Capturing Samantha (Stargate SG-1, Sam x Martouf)

5. Do you respond to comments?

YESSS!! I live for comments, and reblogs, all the interactions!!!

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

You and me is the angstiest in general. It gets very emotionally dark.

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

What was Lost has the happiest ending so far... but it may be overtaken by You and Me, we'll have to wait and see 😉

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I was once told my mystery was too mysterious 🤣

9. Do you write smut?

Sort of, I write romance 😘 so it's bound to happen 😏

Okay, yes. Yes, I do.

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

Not yet, never say never.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

We all have, everyone who's been on Ao3 for a while. Don't steal my shit 🤬 I'm pretty mad about chatGPT scraping everyone's works. Disgusting bunch of thieves!!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! I think most writing loses its essence in translation.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes! It was so much fun!!!

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

Probably Daniel/Sha're, or Daniel/Vala (Stargate) but also partial to Steve/Nat (MCU), and Matt/Elektra (Daredevil). But X reader fics are the most fun you can have 💘

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

I have a dirty Daredevil X reader languishing in my wips. Might get around to it when I watch the new season.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character voices and attentions to detail. People usually comment on those things. I'm also good at bringing the Drama™️. There may be some screaming, crying and throwing up 😂

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Keeping it short and sweet, my slow burns really are slow burns. I have to pay specific attention to pacing and linking scenes well. I do way too much Research™️ .

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

I would if I had a native language speaker to proof read it for me.

As a reader I find it annoying if I have to keep moving back to the chapter notes to check translations. It interrupts the flow.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The X-files but I was a kid, does that count? Supernatural is probably more relevant.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Honestly, I love my two novels, I'm pretty attached to them 🥰 they've been such a journey, personally and in terms of developing my writing skills.

tagging @i-am-morrigans-apprentice @jgem87 @darsynia @figsandfandoms @rightbrainboredom @riverageleis @sarcasticsciencefictionwriter @cuillere @courtforshort15 and anyone else who's interested!

-- Ellie 💗 (@ellie--eille)

questions under the cut

20 questions for writers!

Thanks @

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

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

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

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut?

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

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

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

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

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

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

#tag games #writing #stargate fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #daniel jackson #steve rogers #samantha carter #sam carter x martouf lantash #romance fiction

[amplifyme]

20 Fanfic Questions

Thanks to @randomfoggytiger for tagging me again. This was fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

72. But not all of them are mine. I've been transcribing and posting some fics under a pseud, from Beauty and the Beast 4th Season hardcopy zines written by folks who've since passed on, just so that part of the fandom's history doesn't get lost.

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

1,133,574, but half of those are fics posted under my pseud. Nan Dibble was a writing fiend when it came to her Acquainted With the Night series. 💕

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files, Beauty and the Beast 1987, A Song of Ice and Fire.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Huh, interesting. They’re all ASOIAF/SanSan fics. In descending order: These Scars We Wear, The Calling, Beggar’s Banquet, Blessed Be (The Third Night) and Pas de Deux.

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

Yes, as often as I can. I feel bad if I don’t. If you can take the time to leave a comment, I can take the time to thank you for it.

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

Probably Pass You By and Incomplete, both in TXF ‘verse.

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

I have a few. The Possibility of Being, LifeSongs and Upsidaisium (BATB 1987) and These Scars We Wear and The Calling (ASOIAF). Both these ‘verses seem to lend themselves to happier endings than TXF.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope.

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

I used to. I got bored with it. And when it started to feel as though it were expected of me, I lost interest. I still write steamy stuff, just not explicitly anymore. I'd rather you use your imagination instead of mine. 😉

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

Nope.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yeah. Someone plagiarized one of my TXF fics back in the day and reposted it for The Nanny fandom. Who knew?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Several, mostly the ASOIAF fics.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes, once. I collaborated with Alanna Baker on a TXF fic called Doors.

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

Can’t narrow it down to one and you can’t make me. But the Big 3 are Mulder and Scully, Vincent and Diana, Sandor and Sansa. I do love me some big, tortured and damaged men in romantic relationships with stubborn redheaded women. What can I say? It's my kink.

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

The case file I started for TXF many, many moons ago. Sticks and Stones. It’s dead in the water.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is the big one. I think my pacing is pretty good, and I have a feel for knowing what POV should be used when and where – and how to stick to that (I can't tolerate wandering POVs). I think I'm good at showing body language and tone in a way that's in-character and doesn't hit you over the head. Is it a strength to know when and how to ignore “common” writing rules? If so, I think I’m pretty good at that, too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to overthink things, which leads to too much exposition. I try to cut out as much of that as I can when doing final edits. The danger there lies in cutting too much, though. It’s a fine line I’m still learning to navigate. I generally suck at plotting anything unless the muse steps in and demands to take over. Now that I think about it, most of the very favorites of my fics are long and plot heavy, which makes no sense. I’m also not so great at beginnings, but my middles and ends are usually shiny. Is it a weakness to be The World's Slowest Writer? (On second thought, I think GRRM would beat me at that.) But yeah, takes me forever to get anything done. So that, as well.

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

I have, but I do it sparingly. I added a few short sentences in Italian for The Possibility of Being. Thank you Google.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Beauty and the Beast. 1990-ish or so. I've been at this for a while.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Nope. Can’t do it. That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. I love them all, for various reasons particular to each one.

#20 fanfic questions #about me #txf #beauty and the beast 1987 #asoiaf #msr #vincent and diana #sansan

[xenon-demon]

cruel and unusual to make me pick between when you come back, it's gravity (kas!steve au) and boathouse wall slam 2: roleplay boogaloo so i simply shan't please tell me about both.

[also don't worry i also didn't make my wip wednesday word count bc apparently grieving makes it hard to function. or something. (but also sometimes life just Happens. it's fandom, no one's paying us for this shit 💜)]

Read you're amazing and I appreciate you so much <3 You are more than welcome to ask me about as many things as you'd like!!

[also thank you very much for the kind words & reminder not to take fandom shit so seriously it becomes stressful itself 💙 I hope you're doing a bit better now (since it's been a hot second since you sent this ask), life really does just fucking suck sometimes, huh?]

Paging @sidekick-hero who also asked me about boathouse wall slam; seeing as both of you asked about the same two fics, I'll use this ask to talk about boathouse wall slam and the other one to talk about gravity!

boathouse wall slam 2: roleplay boogaloo

Okay first of all this DOES actually have a title - strange love (won’t you give it to me?) - but I love the placeholder meme title way too much to change the file name. There's also about 2.5k words written in this document, but many of those words are Horny and thus I do not feel comfortable sharing them lmao

Also my "can't shut the fuck up" disease struck again SO this is going under a cut (which is also probably not a bad thing considering I'm talking about sex lmao)

AS THE MEME TITLE IMPLIES this is about Steve having Many Thoughts about Eddie shoving him up against the wall of Reefer Rick’s boathouse, to the point where he eventually caves and asks Eddie (his boyfriend of ~2 months, after about that much time again of fooling around together as friends) if he’d be willing to re-enact that moment with him. But this time they won’t have an audience. Because it's a sex roleplay. The surface level concept for this fic is just a smutty pwp revolving around re-enacting The Wall Slam™, because neither Steve nor the audience were being normal about that when it happened. The roleplay set-up was going to be something like Eddie just chilling and smoking out in the boathouse undisturbed (because Reefer Rick skipped town after Vecna was defeated, so the place is now unoccupied), Steve "accidentally" stumbling across him, Eddie thinking "oho the popular jock is here to beat me up, I'd better make the first move before he can" and throwing Steve up against a wall only to find Steve Really Likes Being Manhandled, and he's suggesting they maybe have a little fun with each other instead? (This part would not require much acting from Steve.) The roleplay aspect of it is basically them reaching back for their high school personas and acting as if they'd gotten into this situation with each other whilst still in school, before they became friends and certainly before they had any history together.

The original version I started (and got 2.5k words into before realising I wouldn't feel comfy posting it anywhere lol) was written... around this time last year? Like 10-12 months ago? And so it was very much coloured by the prevailing Fandom Opinions & Content™ at the time, aka this was a sub!bottom!Steve and dom!top!Eddie affair (with that being the Prevailing Pattern of their relationship thus far in the fic). I wasn't writing them as having an Official Established Dynamic™, I was just writing it as Steve having an inherent tendency to be submissive/give up control to Eddie during sex. Steve's nerves around asking Eddie about this particular fantasy are just due to Steve being nervous to ask for what he wants; he's not worried at all about asking Eddie to be a bit rough/dominant with him because really, They Do That Anyway.

While I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with approaching this concept (or Steddie!) like that, and I'll still read pretty much any flavour of Steddie (ultimately I think they're switches/vers, and also I don't care that much about who's in what position as long as they're in character), the way I view them & their dynamic has definitely changed since I came up with this concept. THEREFORE, here is how I would approach it if I were to write this as a oneshot now:

They're still newly dating at the start of the fic (only a month or two in), except the prevailing pattern of the relationship so far is service top/soft dom!Steve & bottom/ever so slightly sub!Eddie. This is mainly because a) that's what they're used to from previous partners, and b) Steve's got some Issues around giving up control in bed/feeling like he's not doing enough to please his partner (aka "I must prove my worth sexually or else they'll lose interest in me").

Steve has, however, been plagued with visions of Eddie throwing him around the boathouse like he was a small twig, and he is very quickly losing his sanity about it. Eddie could absolutely manhandle Steve the way Steve manhandles Eddie, if he wanted to. If Steve let him.

After a couple months of dating Eddie, Eddie can tell something's up, so he asks about it. Steve cracks like an egg the moment Eddie asks, confessing he keeps thinking about The Wall Slam. Eddie - who has already sniffed out Steve's issues around being Enough and Worthy for his partner - asks if he'd like them to recreate that moment. Steve agrees (while blushing so red he looks like a tomato).

CUE THE ROLEPLAY SMUT. This proceeds pretty much the same as the original version, complete with sub!bottom!Steve & dom!top!Eddie, but this version of Eddie is a much softer dom & this Steve takes a bit longer to really get into the swing of things. After the smut they have a cute little heart-to-heart about how Eddie's not going to leave Steve just because he wants a turn being looked after for once, and that Steve is going to make more of an effort to prioritise his own wants and needs sometimes.

Essentially, were I to write this now, I'd make it a smutfic character study of Steve & how he has issues around being vulnerable and letting Eddie take care of him, instead of him taking care of Eddie all the time. You know how it is, you go to write porn and it ends up growing legs and also a deep emotional core about the relationship between characters and their psychological issues.

Send me an ask about my WIPs!

#steddie #steddie concept #charlie writes things #wip games #boathouse wall slam 2: roleplay boogaloo #you can see why this is a 'does not work without smut' concept lmao #and again just so we're All Clear i do have some thoughts about prevailing fandom trends and how those interplay with mischaracterization #(which happens in nearly every slash fandom and steddie is no exception) #but i don't think there's anything *inherently* wrong/“problematic” about writing characters in a certain position/dynamic #it just might not be my preferred interpretation due to the way those dynamics lend themselves to (what i consider) mischaracterization #also i have vastly different preferences for what i'll read (pretty much anything) vs what i'll write #also gonna tag this as #nsft #because there's a fair whack of sex talk

[shadow-pixelle]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Ta for the tag, @shootingstarpilot!

(These ask games are always so long, so under the cut!)

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

Thirty four! Which is a lot more than I thought I had.

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

475, 955. All hail oneshots.

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

Currently the top one is Star Wars, but I've most recently been writing for DC.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Mission Files, Into the Archives, A Credit To The Order, Lineage Dinner, and Chasing a Beacon. (Three of these are from the same series, lol. Kinda great.)

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

Yesssss. Comments are great. I sometimes take a month or two to reply, because of a combo of 'I like to let them build up and answer them all at once' and 'there's comments to answer and I have no energy to do it'. But I do like replying to things, it's very fun. People screaming about my work is my lifeblood and I like screaming back.

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

Hm. So the obvious answer would be Shattering Point, the Pokemon minific I wrote a few years back. I'm not much of one for angsty endings, though. Angsty beginnings, sure, but most of the time if I write a fic I'm aiming for a happy ending, even if I'm gonna put the characters through it in the meanwhile. Even Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, my other angsty fic, ends at least hopefully if not necessarily happily.

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

Proooobably Second Sun, so far. That one's just comfy and I like it a lot.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

Rarely, but yeah. I've had a few sarcastic/snappy comments about the whole 'oh the Jedi suck', but my personal favourite one was when I got an angry comment on an MCU fic- it was actually my first real nasty comment on AO3, which was cool. It's only not deleted because someone else in the comment jumped in to argue back and the entire comment chain ended up like 40 comments of 'angry screaming versus reasoned debate' which was honestly just funny to read through.

(That part only happened because the entire thing went down while I was asleep and then in class, so I couldn't actually do anything to it.)

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

Nope.

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

I've written a few, yeah. Not sure really what the craziest would be... from posted stuff I guess it's the Worm/Pokemon fic, A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm, which is slightly gravebound atm because I am so tired and so busy. Other than that I've got an in progress Star Wars crossover that I will eventually finish and then reveal the whole crossover of, and a very tiny DC crossover I'm working on.

(This does not count the ideas, of which I have several.)

But yeah I guess Worm/Pokemon is my craziest.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, no. Thankfully.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also a no! This would be cool, though.

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yup! A couple of my really old fics (that have been confined to the basement from Early Writing Cringe) were co-written, and a current project, The Spare, is being written with Kali! It's fun, if a bit slow sometimes because we both have the attention span of cracked out squirrels.

silently ignores that I'm the one causing the delays this time

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

Uuuh. Y'know I don't know if I really have a favourite? I'm pretty down to swap ships really. If I find a fic and like the ship, into the box of model ships it goes.

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

Hey I actually have an answer for this this time! As much as I like to say I want to finish everything I write, the real goal has always been finish everything I post. Just that I tend to post most of what I write.

BUT! There is one fic that I probably won't finish because it's very angsty and depressing, and in the end of things I got maybe half way in and never did pick it up again. It's called Letters to the Abyss, and it's a Star Wars fic that deals with a lot of the later Clone Wars stuff.

So y'know. You can probably guess how that goes, between 'angsty' and 'late Clone Wars era'.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

Personally I don't think I'm good at anything, but apparently I'm good at characters and utterly breaking people's hearts with the characters. So yay that.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I hate writing descriptions. I just really struggle with doing it. Apparently it usually comes out ok, but that's after a lot of work with it. I'm also really bad for keep repeating words in one section and then never using them again.

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

I'm a disaster for this. I like it, so long as it is either a) sparse, b) frequently repeated words, or c) translated shortly after. My personal method is a mix of A and B, I only do a little really and tend to use the same words more. I also make sure to add hovertext translations; I know those only really help if you're reading on computer, but it's still something. If I knew how to do that thing where clicking a word makes it a different word, I'd use that too.

If I'm doing any writing where it's a long stream of dialogue in a different language, then I either go with a) written in English, but in italics to denote that it's a different language (if the PoV understands it), b) a section of 'X and Y spoke for a moment in (language)', or very rarely option c) where I just have the PoV character summarise the conversation in internal dialogue. I don't do that much because I kinda dislike it, so usually it's A or B again.

Literally the only thing I don't like is 'long stream of foreign language that is only translated in the end notes' or similar, and I try and avoid that as much as I can.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Pokemon! Was fun.

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

Hmm. Hard one, because I get emotionally attached to all of my fics. Quick hit list, probably A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm, just for the length, Meanings of Master as a whole for the worldbuilding, and I'm super fond of Ornithology at the moment because it was super fun to mess with.

(I also like Maskless a lot but that's a WIP. I mean technically all but Ornithology is a WIP but y'know. It's an unposted WIP.)

Some if-you-fancy tags for @kalicofox, @clockwayswrites, and @greentrickster! Have fun!

#ask game #my writing #writing #my life be like #it always feels like such bullshit when I open my AO3 page and see how many works I have #it's just like 'eh? when'd that happen' #fun though

[steddiecameraroll]

Thanks @hbyrde36 for the tag, this is a good one! *rubs hands together*

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

23 (so far)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

543,459 (like, what? I only started writing fic on AO3 Aug 22. Rambler apparently)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, Stranger Things - Steve/Eddie

Historically, The Office - Jim/Pam

I also have 1 I wrote for Doctor Who that I posted last year on AO3 that I probably wrote in 2009. - 10 Doctor/Rose

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Artist and The Hair 

Your Silence Gives Me a Migraine 

It Takes a Muscle to Fall In Love

Must Have/Can't Stand Checklist 

My whole existence is flawed (You get me closer to God) 

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

Yes. I honestly don't get that many so totally manageable and I like to acknowledge the time they took to do it.

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

Oof, well I always have a happy ending, but I will say my Glimpse of Us series, is a rough one emotionally for everyone involved for 90% of each fic. Or, you could say my When It's Time (I'll Be There) with a 5-1 near death for Steve where he keeps having flashes of Eddie in the afterlife, the 1 is it's no longer a near death for Steve, but they end up together so that's the happy part.

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

IMO, This Is Supposed to be My Damn Year, because the epliogue goes 30+ years in their future.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, I'm flying pretty low under the radar so I'm more thinking if people don't like it they don't leave a kudos.

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

Yes...it's Steddie so it's all on the table. I've done the sweet romantic, done the rough aggressive, from BJ to 1st person Eddie, haven't touched many kinks or rape/non-con, but I do have a couple WIPs with Steve maybe being a little OOC and cruising/glory hole situation.

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

No

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

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

No, although if you look at half of my fics it would look like it but actually those are both me. Long story, but short version is I couldn't login to one account for 6 months so created a new one and then once I could get in I "merged" together.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, you're not going to get a real answer while I'm still head first in a brainrot of Steddie. 2 years ago you would've gotten a totally different answer but the ships I've had have always helped me process through some shit, and Steddie did that too, so they all hold a special place in my heart for different reasons.

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

There's a bunch in my files but I won't post it, if I'm not going to finish it. I will never leave a WIP up again. I left one open for like 10 years one time, which was insane because at some point during that time period I actually finished it, but I didn't post the last chapter until like last year when I got back into writing fanfic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm not sure. I hope it's authenticity, something that feels realistic, reasonable, could totally happen. This feels like a question I'd have to ask people that read my work.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Run on sentences. Thank god for Grammarly, seriously.

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

I think it's cool if the author can speak that language. Sometimes utilizing tools like Google translate etc loses the authenticity of language and communication from a human connection standpoint. I'm not saying you shouldn't use them just notice how a vibe can be off when used.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Office back on MTT (More Than That) message board and archive. When I'd post my "icons", desktop wallpapers, etc on my Livejournal. My fics are still up actually. I cross posted one on AO3, the one I finally posted the last chapter of but when I go back and read them now I'm like oh man that's a totally different author. And really it was.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I love love love love my Must Have/Can't Stand Checklist. I've read it myself several times. It's a dichotomy for me of what was going on in my personal life vs the warm, fluffy, cuteness I was writing. I used that fic as a distraction, my mom was going through lung cancer diagnoses and then surgery, so during the day I was being the caretaker and working an insane amount of hours stressed out to the max, and at night I was writing two boys being madly in love being silly and happy together. it has a decent number of views (for me) but in the grand scheme of many other writers I read and follow, it's slim numbers. Still means a lot to me that people have also enjoyed this fic.

#tag game #steddie #steddiecameraroll posts #fanfic writer

[caesarclowningaround]

Fanfic Writer 20 Questions!

I was tagged by the lovely @lumiereandcogsworth​!! Thanks dearie!! :D

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 146 and counting!

2. what’s your total ao3 word count? 596,943

3. how many fandoms have you written for and what are they? A lot. Too many to name all of them here.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

The Broken Doll - my Grandmaster/Loki fix-it fic

A Word - a barisi fic

Runts Make Petty Kings - my Loki/Jane Foster epic space adventures fic, which I’m still pretty proud of

Plus One - another barisi fic

Let’s Hope This Goes Swimmingly - and another barisi fic

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not? I try to! Especially lately I’ve been trying to make it a habit to respond. Sometimes I don’t because either I simply don’t know what to say or I see the comment, but don’t have the energy to respond and i promise myself i will later but then i forget LOL

6. what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I’ve written a few really angsty endings in my time, but maaaaaan Violet Skies really has to take the cake. Like, the ending was so angsty, I decided to write two sequels just so the story didn’t end on that note 😂 No other fic has ever compelled me to do that before

7. do you write crossovers? Bitch, that’s all I write 95% of the time these days! XD I’ve only written 2 non-crossover fics in the past year. Yes, i know I have a problem

8. have you ever received hate on a fic? I have, but it’s very rare and frankly only one particular time popped into my head from the past 5 years. There are benefits to writing niche crack crossover fics hardly anybody reads i guess

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind? YEEEEEP idk, go look at the tags on my E-rated fics and find out 😏

10. have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes, one of my older fics was uploaded to a website I had never heard of without my permission and honestly, I have no idea what happened after I filed my complaint

11. have you ever had a fic translated? Yep! My two Star Wars merman fics Horizon and Submerge were translated into Russian with my permission :D

12. have you ever co-written a fic before? Not really. I’ve had detailed discussions about ideas that I later wrote into fic or was written into fic by the person I was talking with, but nothing officially collaborated on

13. what’s your all-time favorite ship? (LA) Jafar/Prince Adam. not to sound like a narcissist, but it’s such a me ship. Cuz I started shipping it under very specific circumstances that I, personally, was going through and provided a very personal, safe space during a time I was still getting over being in a less than kind larger fandom. It’s a culmination of pieces of other fandoms I’ve been in over the years and am still in. I’m very protective of it, but I also get very excited when other people show interest. If you’re interested, please tell me! Please write and draw them! I need more people in this dinghy of a ship XD

14. what’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Probably my Jafar/Adam Absolute Boyfriend/I’m Your Man AU. I started writing it around the time I’m Your Man premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and Dan Stevens was doing a lot of promo for it and naturally it got me thinking about robot boyfriend!Adam which reminded me of that manga I read years ago. I would love to finish this AU someday. There’s a lot of fun ideas I put into it and I like what I wrote so far. But I reached a point with the fic where I didn’t know where I wanted to take it and I’ve been stumped ever since

15. what are your writing strengths? I’ve been told I’m good at writing angst and world building. And smut. Apparently I’m very good at writing smut lol

16. what are your writing weaknesses? Sometimes I’ll word things weirdly because I tend to write as my brain is thinking and y’know sometimes we don’t think in complete sentences or we think in concepts and those concepts don’t translate into a full sentence as easily as you picture it. It’s why I feel like my descriptions can get choppy. Also, I think I use unnecessary conjunctions and sequencers too much

17. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language? I think it’s fine as long as it’s done well and not over-used

18. what was the first fandom you ever wrote for? Pokémon. i was 6 and i wrote self-insert fic. it was very bad but i remember being very proud of myself for using the word “sighed”

19. what’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written? Violet Skies. I put so much into that fic. I got through some pretty dark times with that fic at my back. I don’t know if it’s my best fic, but it’s the one I put the most love into, which is saying a lot because (as sappy as this sounds) I try to write all my fics with love. I try to put my energy into writing characters and ideas that I love, or else what’s the point? write for love

20. who do you tag? Only if you want to <3 @pigsinablanketfort @zebsfloppyears @thatpratdragonlady @xavantina @loflight501 aaaand anybody else who wants to do it can consider themselves tagged!! :D

#all about me

[mac-3-impact]

They target 🎯 you for money cheat¡Π βi9 ᎢᎥᎷᎬ…the check is verification of the fraud! According Lie if you cash out that check, you accept their scam legally. Lawsuits will fly like crazy when people realize they were swindled by a class action lawsuit in Florida that affects people in california plus across the USA by these ✌🏽snakes:-) Travelers ☂️(red color) casualty insurance company + Charter Oak Fire insurance company. My suspicions grew when I read they took out a policy on their action under written by Lloyd’s of London. Why would two insurance companies need to take out an insurance policy on a class action lawsuit they were fighting? Then I found their names on page ten of the fourteen page policy and realized my Workers Compensation insurance company was involved. Then I noticed the name of the other company after all the 🔥 in California too. We lost our house in the Carr Fire 🔥, the ☝️st one of the series of fires over the last few years. They are trying to get out of the payoff coming from all those relocated and I know Travelers insurance is a cheating company cuz of 20 years suffering their abuse trying to stop my meds, forcing me to change doctors, plus how they tine things. When we tried to settle for my back accident, they stalled us for 3 months (lost the paperwork twice? Huh?) then I foujd out when we finally settled that they forced the court action into the next year which COST ME OVER $60,000 in settlement fees! I could have bought a house and had a better life! But that was t all — they have continued to screw me over and over again. Withheld meds to force me to change doctors; stopped meds requiring out-of-court deals over and over, screwing my life and adding pain so many times over this last 20+ years. My injury was 9/12/2000 so I have plenty of experience to draw from on how scandalous Travelers is so I kept reading and investigating, but their worst mistake was in their robit 🤖 answering machine— the dates are proof this is a setup!!! The postcard was mailed so it would arrive a full week after the date you had to file to be exempt from the lawsuit! You can’t go back in time, so they are scamming the entire USA Chronic Pain Sufferers (disabled) plus probably all the California Fire victims cuz otherwise, why would a fire insurance company even be a part of this class action lawsuit. We need this money bad but I cannot take a chance this scam money will stop coverage. I have been trying to settle and get off work comp completely for over ten years and they will Not settle. It used to be they had to pay you settlement money and it was up to $100,000 when we tried to settle, but this company has forced me to stay on work comp all this extra time so they would not have to pay, PLUS they lumped all chronic pain sufferers in with friggin druggies (you know, the bad guy freaks who steal to feed their addictions! I am so mad about that!) and all this BEGAN the actions of Propaganda against Americans! Sorry for spouting off so much, but my life and retirement has been screwed by these jerks —> B-ill Gates & Dr Anthony Fauci who planed this epidemic using the AIDS epidemic as a test run. IT IS ALL DOCUMENTED. Bill Gates has no formal medical training and both those guys OWN PATENTS for the VIRUS & VAXSIN KILLING THE WORLD IN GENOCIDE! By the way, each time you donate to B.L.M. you donate to support BOTH THESE VILLAINS!!! I posted video proving BLM money funded the communist takeover back in 2020, but they have fought to censor us constantly and none of you have payed attention? That’s hard to believe, but seems that way…or at least that’s what GoDaddy sends on my website (which I have been locked out of cuz THEY added 2 step verification on my website, not me). So Mac3impact.com isn’t seen.

[mycrofts-gunbrella]

Caring is the Greatest Advantage- Mycroft Holmes x Reader (Part 11)

A/N- Okay so this is just a short 2k fill in chapter! It’s kinda cute and kinda sad but it was too long to add to the last chapter, and it doesn’t fit in with the theme of the next chapter (though it sets it up quite nicely!). The next chapter is likely going to be a bit angsty but I promise it’ll have a rewarding ending to it! I hope to have it written and up sooner rather than later but, until then, enjoy this little piece.

Word Count- 2028

The ten minute drive from Baker Street to the Natural History Museum went by in a flash- most of it being spent by Mycroft giving you a mental tour of the building's various rooms and the 'most appropriate route to take'. Though it did also take a minute or two for you to convince him to not get everybody kicked out for a private visit, no matter how many people were there.. Admittedly, you hadn't been to the museum for 6 years or so now- after living so long in London it feels less of a luxury being only round the corner from it- but walking through the doors made you feel like a child again. Entry to the museum was free, but that didn't mean you didn't see Mycroft swiftly pushing a few notes into the donation bin at the front before guiding you forwards. Glancing up, you eyed the blue whale skeleton that hung from the ceiling and frowned. Mycroft caught your look and spoke up.

"Ah yes, Hope has been a relatively recent addition to the museum. She was found dead on an Irish beach back in 1891. It's a rather beautiful marvel to gaze upon, though, large as she is, she doesn't quite fill the hole in my heart that was left after my beloved Dippy was removed." Your eyes scanned the skeleton of the large mammal once more before looking back at Mycroft. "I did try to convince the board to keep the diplodocus somewhere but all attempts were futile. There's only so much force you can put into such a topic without exposing yourself as-"

"As a man who loves dinosaur bones more than he loves people?" Mycroft shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed.

"The very thing." Lifting your arm, you rested your hand at the crook of Mycroft's elbow to encourage him to move on.

"When we get home and have dinner we can raise a toast in Dippy's honour.. but for now, my mind's been taken over by that huge statue of Darwin." And the pair of you headed off, your hand very much staying place at Mycroft's arm as you wandered through the rooms- Mycroft more than willing to reel off facts about every deceased animal of history and, more often than not, even impressing the workers with his spiel of facts. Though you were very much enjoying wandering aimlessly through the room of human evolution, you most definitely noticed the pull from the man beside you as he was eager to reach his beloved dino-pals. As you turned the corner into the slightly darkened dinosaur room, you tripped over your feet slightly as you felt Mycroft stop in his tracks, his eyes wide and taking everything in. He looked as happy as a boy at Christmas and, quite frankly, it was adorable. You nudged him slightly when he still didn't move. "You okay?"

"Sorry, it just seems as though, no matter how many times I come here, it always feels like the first." He had shaken his head as though to bring his thoughts back to focus before taking a few steps into the gallery and leading you over to the skeletal remains of a Baryonyx. "The name Baryonyx roughly translates to 'Heavy Claw' from the Ancient Greek's 'Barys' meaning heavy and 'onyx' being claw or talon." He spoke, his voice smooth and relaxed as his fingers brushed over the board that announced the name of the creature within the glass. "It was also an excellent swimmer which it would use to its advantage while hunting." You listened to his every word as he spoke, grinning as he excitedly told you how many teeth it had and it's preferred techniques for capturing food before he moved you onto the next one.

"Oh these beauties have always been my favourite." You almost whispered, taking in the sight of the huge triceratops skull. You barely noticed Mycroft's hand shift from his pocket until you felt the heat of his palm against the small of your back, fingers squeezing slightly by your hip as he spoke.

"Mine too. Sherlock used to say they were boring and that we might as well have gone to the zoo to look at rhinos. He ended up spending 5 months trying to prove that the rhinos were descendants from the triceratops and then avoided me for 3 weeks when he realised there was no connection at all."

"That sounds about right. Though I can't imagine Sherlock enjoying it here very much anyway.." Mycroft began to guide you to a small bench just off the side to sit down, still giving you the view of the beautiful dinosaur bones.

"He didn't. When we were much younger he would kick off until Mummy and Father would tell us it's time to go and I had to go with them.. Then as we got a little older and Sherlock properly found his legs, he would simply run from the doors round to the science museum. Of course mummy and father had to follow him as he was so young, but one time I decided to stay here. They didn't realise I hadn't followed them until it was time to go home 5 hours later." Mycroft spoke quietly.

"Found his legs? That's at, what, four? Five? How young were you?"

"I was 9 the first time, I think." Now, Mycroft, you don't just 'think'; you know. Your hand moved to rest above his own on his knee, brushing your thumb fondly over his knuckles. "But it isn't all bad. Some of my best days as a child were spent here, and a lot of the staff were very kind and would teach me extra facts that weren't displayed. There was one gentleman who even gave me his own copies of some books that they had here. I'd wander the whole museum in time but I always found myself back here on this bench just.. watching. This room felt more like home than my very house sometimes. It was the room where I could escape the real world and find peace. Eventually Mummy, Father and Sherlock stopped bothering with the visits because Sherlock found the science museum boring after he'd prove them wrong on something each time, but I'd still pop back in on occasion without them.. Coming to think about it, I've never actually brought anybody here with me at all." You squeezed at his fingers and settled back into the bench.

"Well I am incredibly glad that I found out about your little interest, and I feel even more honoured that you let me come here with you." You beamed. And it was the truth. Evidently, this little museum meant much more to Mycroft than you could have ever imagined and it warmed your heart to know that he trusted you to see him nerd out over some bones.

"Eventually I used this very building as the scaffolding to build my mind palace. My files on Sherlock, very appropriately, are nestled in the human biology room. But most people's information is either stored in the entrance, where Dippy remains over Hope, might I add, or in a few of the rooms I find less interesting.." You didn't have to ask to know he was referencing 'that room with all the bloody rocks'. "I love most of the galleries too much to taint them with information on people that aren't important. The likes of Gregory and Doctor Watson now reside in Hintze Hall as the years have passed." His eyes remained focused in front of him, unblinking, as though he was wandering the very halls at that moment.

"And where.. where are my files?" You had to ask, really. Since he was on the subject anyway. "If you've put them in the marine reptiles room when you know I'm terrified of the ocean I shall never forgive you." Mycroft's hand flipped beneath yours so the pads of your fingers brushed before he blinked and looked over to you, a small smile on his face.

"Here." Oh. Well that's.. something. You shifted to give him a quick kiss on his cheek, knowing he wasn't overly fond of PDA and tugged him to stand.

"And on that note, I think we should go and grab some lunch before you make me cry in front of the dinosaurs."

---

After lunch, you both spent a few more hours walking from room to room (and of course circling round to the dinosaur gallery again) before you decided to call it a day at 4pm. Before departing, you headed towards the toilets that happened to be beside the little gift shop and you had a browse while Mycroft was occupied. Grinning, you picked up a deep blue plush triceratops and stroked a finger across its back. It was just small enough that, after purchasing, you could hide the little guy in the loose fabric of the sweatshirt you wore, acting innocent as you waited back outside near the wall. After going to the bathroom yourself, the pair of you headed outside where a car was waiting for you. Sliding in the back seat, you couldn't contain your little gift anymore.

"Surprise!" You laughed, producing the small toy from under your clothes and into the hands of the man beside you. He studied it briefly before beginning to laugh himself as he reached into his inner pocket and handed you the matching dinosaur, though purple in colour. "God, we're such children aren't we?" You noted as you swapped plushie companions, each of you brushing a finger on its nose as though it were a small pet. "I daren't think what your colleagues would say if they knew you were now the proud owner of a baby triceratops teddy that's.." You glanced at the tag. "..Suitable for children aged 12 months plus!"

"Probably nothing as bad as if they realised said triceratops was going to take proud placement on my desk at home." He beamed. "Thank you, this really does mean a great deal to me." You knew he wasn't just talking about the toy that rolled around his long fingers and you shifted to rest your head lightly on his shoulder.

"We can come back any time. I, for one, know I'll never get bored of looking through the galleries.. Or I'll never get bored of watching you light up as we walk through said galleries. Either or works, really." He hummed in response, his emotions slightly overwhelmed from the day and its revelations into his past. "Plus there were about 10 other little dinos in the shop and I've always been one to want a full collection.. so, if we pace ourselves, that's at least 10 more trips."

"13.. Although that could be tripled if we take the colour variations into account."

"Oh, of course! Can't half-arse a collection or it's just pointless."

"I concur."

"That's settled then. Almost 40 more trips to finish off our collection.. And thennnn we can move onto the figurines." Mycroft let out a laugh beside you and tilted to rest his head atop yours for the remainder of the journey home.

---

The evening between you was shared over a meal (where, as promised, a small toast was made to the memory of Sir Dippy) before Mycroft sat to finish the papers for Greg. Eventually you collapsed into bed at a relatively reasonable time, groaning at the throbbing in your legs from the day's adventure before finally slipping into rest.

---

The next day passed relatively quickly. The morning was spent visiting Greg in his office to drop off the papers before the pair of you took a small stroll through the streets of London. Eventually, Mycroft and yourself even got a text message from Sherlock giving a (albeit half-arsed) apology for his behaviour the day before and the rest of the day was spent in bliss. That was until exactly 17 minutes after you got back home when Mycroft's mobile began to ring. He swallowed deeply, showing you the caller ID of the person he had been dreading to speak to post-Eurus and answering.

"Ah, yes.. Hello, Mummy."

#mycroft holmes #mycroft holmes x reader #mycroft holmes x you #mycroft holmes fanfic #reader insert #bbc mycroft #bbc mycroft x reader #bbc mycroft x you #mycroft x reader smut #mycroft holmes x reader smut #bbc sherlock #bbc sherlock holmes #sherlock fanfic #sherlock fanfiction #mycroft fanfiction #mycroft fanfic #john watson #greg lestrade #lestrade #gregory lestrade #jim moriarty #james moriarty #moriarty

[imonthinice]

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 2/?

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: Y/N - your name, A/N - any name (your best friend’s name)

Warnings: Swearing, no beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

Welcome Back! I have, once again, written more of Jason Todd because he’s a fucking teddy bear and I love him.

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Y/N and Jason both returned from that date feeling all giddy about each other, but trying their dammed-est to not let their hopes get too high about the other. However, that was extremely, extremely hard for Jason to do with family like Dick in his life. It’s like coming home to a hopeless romantic of a shipper as a nosey bitch. Lovingly, of course. No one’s like Dick.

“So, Y/N?” Dick asked Jason immediately as he entered the Manor.

“Yeah, what about her?”

“So, many questions: Was that a date? If no, will there be a date? Is there going to be a second date? Do you like her? Do you think we’ll like her? Does she know you’re Bruce Wayne’s son?” Dick rambled at his little brother.

“Okay hold on god damn, yes it was a date, yes there will be a second, yeah I think she’s cool and I like her, slow your roll Circus Boy, I don’t know when she’ll meet you lot, I don’t think she knows who I am, she’s from Metropolis, so I don’t think she knows the Waynes well.” Jason answered Dick with confidence.

“So you like her!” Steph mocked as she entered the hallway, probably heard her brothers talking about Y/N, so she wanted in on it. Somehow she had evaded Jason’s gaze though, so she startled him immensely.

“Jeez, how many of you will scare me today? And yeah, dumbass, I like her. But I’m doing this magical thing called ‘Not getting my god damn hopes up about her since it’s only the first date’ you hopeless romantic fucks.” Jason barked at them.

“Yeah, but you love us.” Dick said.

“That might be true, but your meddling is only going to cause chaos, Dick and Steph.”

“What about my meddling, Jay?” Bruce asked. Once again, he had heard the talking about Jason’s new crush and decided he’d parent the boy on his girl. Jason jumped out of his skin, because, he had once again, not seen Bruce enter the hallway despite his best efforts to not get startled again.

“You, are going to give me a heart attack.”

���Looks like this girl let your guard down.”

“Can we just go on patrol and stop badgering me?” Jason muttered under his breath.

“Nope!” Barbara exclaimed. Clearly, there’s a pattern with Waynes escaping Jason’s attempts to not get startled today, “We’re still going to badger you, Jay,” Barbara finished.

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

When Y/N made her way back to A/N, she couldn’t help but turn her radio as loud as she could and try to take the longer journey back home. Pieces of quiet and tranquility always surprised and drew her in. Like a good book on a Sunday morning before the rest of the bustling city of Gotham or Metropolis awoke itself. If New York never sleeps, she thought, then what the hell do Gotham and Metropolis call themselves. She laughed.

There were a few good things about Gotham, like the people you’d meet on the street at 4am were some of the weirdest but kindest people you’d ever know. It’s like the city radiated off of the energy of the people in it, and in spite of the villains constantly hitting the city with their worst, somehow everyone never let it get to them. It was admirable. Metropolis was the same in that avenue, but it didn’t feel like the cold Gotham streets.

Y/N thought Jason was one of the kinder people she had met in her travels and classes. And she never thought that she’d meet someone she liked this much in her criminal psychology class of all places, but hey, the universe had different pen strokes for her.

She went and parked her car in the driveway of the rental house she and A/N shared. Only the two of them shared it, but if either of them lost their jobs, they’d be looking for another roommate immediately. Pulling out her bag which was full of notes written by Jason, the original notes written by her, and binders upon binders of criminal cases she was looking into at the time, she would get out of her car and begin walking to her door.

Of course, like most people, she would kick off her heels the minute she walked through the doors of the house, to which, A/N paused her music and went to go question Y/N about Jason.

“So, you know how this works, babes, lay it on me, how’s hottie? Is he kind?” A/N pondered.

“He’s so kind, he paid the printing fees for my notes and rewrote all of them, I guess it’s a system for us now. I write the notes in class while he tries to take it all in, we meet up, and he rewrites them all and pays the printing fee.”

“He paid the fee?! At that college?” A/N said, completely shocked.

“Is that shocking?”

“Well, the printing fees are so fucking expensive, hun. Mans must have daddy’s money to do that.”

“Really? Well regardless money doesn’t matter, he’s kind and I can make a name for myself if I graduate at the top of my class.” She said, fully believing this. Smart woman. She knew she could do it.

“I believe in you, do you have homework tonight? I can make dinner for you so you can study.” A/N offered.

“Nah, I’m just going to go file my notes and shower, I’ll come join you and help after.”

“Well, don’t drown.” A/N joked.

“Do you know how much effort that would take?” She laughed as she walked towards her room, once she got there she pulled out her papers and began the slow filing process of them into her desk.

About 2 minutes into this, she got a text:

Hey stranger.

If someone had a heart monitor hooked up to her, they could have bet their last penny on her heart skipping a beat. 

Hey Jason. She sent back.

I had a fun time today with you, do you want to do the same thing tomorrow, I could use your fast writing skills to get by in classes. And I just like talking to you. What do you say?

She thought. Maybe something legit is here, hopefully I’m not just used for notes. She worried about that, since she was just a tad insecure about him. He was pretty. She knew she was a looker, sure. But he was something more.

I would love to go on another budget date with you.

Budget? Actually yeah, I guess it is budget lol. Maybe next time I’ll actually take you out to lunch like I said I would.

I, honestly, completely forgot you said you’d take me to lunch, I was just having fun as we were talking.

Me too. You’re a hoot.

A hoot? That’s a book nerd statement if I’ve ever heard one. She joked. She didn’t actually know if he was a book nerd at this time, but they had been joking the entire time when she was filing her notes. She was no where near done filing her notes, Jason was a distraction from that, it wasn’t that important, she would end up finishing it later. She just liked some semblance of organization so she didn’t have to put it off.

I’ll have you know I’ve probably read more books than you.

Well book nerds are cute.

Eventually the messages from Jason and Y/N started slowing, Y/N assumed he was tired or working so she took her chance to file her notes and start running her shower.

Sorry Y/N, this has been fun but I’m going to get really sparse with replies, I got work to do.

That’s fine! Where do you work, by the way?

And she got into the shower. Halfway through her shower her phone pinged, she assumed Jason was texting back, so when she finished her shower, before she even got her towel on, she decided to answer him:

I work at Wayne Enterprises with my dad. It’s quite fun.  He had said.

Oh! I’ve heard the owner of Wayne Enterprises is a lovely man, have you met him? She asked him back.

And within an instant, he answered.

He’s my dad, so yeah.

You’re the Jason Todd? Heir to the Wayne Manor and Wayne Enterprises? She started thinking back on what A/N had said. Yep, she thought, Daddy’s money indeed. She started to slip into her pajamas, which were literally a mess and not put together, because this is the real world, not every girl has matching sets, when he answered:

I hope that doesn’t change much, Y/N.

Explains the camera I saw but didn’t mention, and that’s about it.

You saw the cameras? Damn it. I tried to shield you, they may have pictured us together, sorry.

Worth it for a lovely date. I’ve seen worse, my mum works with Clark Kent, who I guess you probably know since he’s Bruce’s best friend, and the paparazzi loves to take Clark’s picture.

Oh yeah, Uncle Clark. Yeah, the pap love him. You get used to it. I guess you somewhat know my family lol.

Nah, that’s about all I know. Wasn’t really interested in drama about you lot because it’s just not my business. Probably not a shared ideal with the general public.

She finished getting dressed and went to go cook with A/N, and share the news.

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

“Girl! You were right about daddy’s money oh my god,” Y/N said when she entered the kitchen.

“Go on,” A/N urged.

“You know Jason Todd? Guess what. That’s hottie from Crim Psych 101.”

“Are you serious? That’s insane. You’re probably plastered across the internet right now for that date,” A/N laughed, “are you scared to date a famous man?” She asked.

“No, he’s really sweet and if this gets serious, I can just block out the flashes.”

The two of them laughed and started cooking. A/N was Latina, so, of course, she was in charge to cook most nights. But Y/N made killer desserts and pizza. Tonight was fajitas, so Y/N kind of sat bat and let A/N do her thing. Trying to know more so one day A/N wouldn’t have to do all the work, Y/N went onto the internet and the first thing she saw?

Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire, Jason Todd, out on a DATE with a Mystery Girl?

Like clockwork, Jason answered:

I guess I have a lot to teach you, and I hope you haven’t been on the internet recently.

I have. Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire. She texted back.

Fuck those damn tabloids. He said, she couldn’t help but agree, the paparazzi seem like they’re very invested in stories that aren’t theirs to tell.

Can’t agree with you more. We should put on a show for them tomorrow, actually give them something to write about.

I like your thinking.

You’ve opened up a lot today.

Is it your turn now?

What do you want to know? You asked him before turning to A/N.

“Tabloids talk too much,” you sneered at her.

“Cat should get their tongue and choke on it,” she finished, “did you at least look cute in their pics?” she asked.

“Somehow. Wasn’t even posing,” Y/N finished.

“Well, food’s done, are you still hungry?”

“Always.”

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

Jason turned to his brother, Dick, Nightwing, and said, 

“She knows now.”

“That you’re rich?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess I have to be more wary of her now,” he sighed, “I hope she’s not in it for the Wayne fortune.”

“Doubt she is if she agreed the tabloids can suck it, Red Hood.”

“I pray you’re right.”

He then drew his guns and fired at the ground underneath their laest venture into crime-fighting. This was gonna be one hell of a ride Y/N embarked on, not even knowing what she was getting into.

#jason todd x reader #jason todd #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood x fem!reader #red hood x y/n #red hood x you #batfam #batfamily #batbros #jason todd fluff #red hood fluff #dcu #dc #dceu

[hypnoticwinter]

The Guerrilla and the Video Game

The Far Cry franchise is one of my guilty pleasures. Guilty, because I know deep down that if someone professed to enjoy it, I’d look down my nose at them. If Call of Duty represents a sort of ‘fast food’ approach to multiplayer games, then Far Cry is its counterpart for singeplayer games. Ignoring the fact that Call of Duty has a singleplayer campaign; I don’t play very much CoD, so maybe that’s a contributing factor, but Far Cry games have always felt much more Call of Duty to me than the actual singleplayer campaigns of any Call of Duty I’ve played.

For those of you who aren’t really into video games, Far Cry is a franchise of first-person shooter games where you roleplay as an ‘average joe’ sort of character dropped into an extraordinary circumstance - an island full of pirates, all hunting for you; a version of Tibet with the serial numbers filed off, ruled by a psychopathic despot; a Montana filled to the brim with a Christian fundamentalist cult that believes Judgment Day is right around the corner and have gotten started early; and in the latest game, Far Cry 6, a fictional Latin American nation called ‘Yara’ which seems to be taking most of its cues from Cuba, or maybe what Cuba would be like if Kim Jong Un and his cult of personality were running the show.

Now, realistically, if you’re the average person dropped into these situations, you’re not going to be doing much except dying, or, if you’re lucky, keeping your head down and hoping nobody notices you. But Far Cry always contrives to make you the center of attention, even if the character you’re playing, like in Far Cry 3, is really nobody special. Somehow, you always end up leading the resistance against whatever fascist dictator is running the show, you rack up a bodycount of several thousand by the end of the game, and so on. But it’s a video game, so naturally that’s par for the course. I can overlook that.

One of the central and recurring themes in almost every Far Cry game is the notion of proving oneself, of reaching deep within in a moment of need and finding hidden reserves of inner strength, which, because it’s a videogame, manifest themselves in the ability to carry about 300 kilograms of ammunition, armor, and weapons without getting tired, use those weapons with accuracy better than any crack special forces soldier, and to sustain a huge amount of bodily harm and be totally fine. Every Far Cry game is, essentially, a really crappy bildungsroman, written and directed by Michael Bay.

I bought my copy of Far Cry 6 a few days ago and I’ve been taking stabs at it ever since. Because Far Cry games are all open-world themeparks, they invariably take a very long time to complete. I would estimate that after maybe about 5 or 6 hours of gameplay, I’m probably about 10% of the way through with everything in the game. They’re designed to soak up a great deal of your time, especially if you want to go everywhere and do everything. You can just blitz through the story, of course, and finish it in probably about 12 or 15 hours, but doing that has never made much sense to me. What’s the point in spending the money for a game that has so much stuff in it if you’re just going to ignore half of it?

One of the things I often do when I first start playing a new Far Cry game (i.e., before I have lost my patience with it and start abusing the fast travel system) is to walk everywhere. Cars? Don’t need them. Horses? Way too fast. Sprinting? Get lost. I walk on the side of the road and watch what happens. There are plenty of civilians, driving or walking by, on nameless errands, window-dressing to remind the player that this is supposed to be a living, breathing country with people going about their daily lives. Usually patrols of enemies will go by, to remind you that this living, breathing country is under the control of a cartoonishly despotic regime, which gives you carte blanche to murder these soldiers as they go by. After all, they’re going to shoot at you on sight, so it’s self-defense. And then you’ll see animals - to a far greater degree than you would in real life. Ever seen a grey wolf pop out of the woods and take down a deer a few feet away from an interstate highway, completely unfazed by the cars going by at 60 miles an hour? Play Far Cry 5 and you’ll see it within 10 minutes.

The point, of course, is to keep the player engaged. If Far Cry were realistic, you could walk for twenty minutes down to road, to whatever camp or outpost you’re scheduled to blow up or take over, and see absolutely nothing other than a car or two. Players would get bored, is the assumption, if the game were like that. So instead, during that same twenty-minute walk, you’ll see about three car accidents (completely unintentionally, as Far Cry NPCs are notoriously poor drivers), you’ll have killed a minimum of ten people, and you’ll have killed and skinned a few wolves or a bear or a tiger or something. It’s very engaging, in a turn-your-brain-off, caveman sort of way. It makes you feel a little like the Predator in the eponymous movie, because everything is very clear-cut - you see a civilian? Ignore them. You see an enemy? Kill them immediately. You see an alligator? Kill it and skin it and turn it into a wallet. There’s no just sneaking by and letting bygones be bygones - animals are insanely aggressive, and enemies are bloodthirsty to the point of suicide. 

But Far Cry 6 does something different, something that I found actually surprised me, because in Far Cry 6, as long as you have your weapons holstered, enemies will not attack you, unless you go too close to them or you trespass into their bases. Sure, if you’re walking along the road and they’re going the other way, they’ll stop and they watch you go by, to make sure you’re not thinking of trying anything. They might even yell at you, give you a mean little voiceline to remind you that they’re the bad guys. But if you’re so inclined, you can walk right past them and they will go back to wandering down the same road as you are, going about the same monotony of their digital daily lives.

The first time I saw this behavior in action, I actually stopped and watched this NPC, a woman in a police uniform, carrying a pistol, walk by, until she went down a hill and out of sight. I let a couple more enemies walk by before, when the third passed me, I pulled a u-turn and walked along behind her for a while. Even though I’d gotten fairly close, she didn’t seem to notice me. And then a little prompt showed up in the middle of my screen, inviting me to press the middle mouse button to instantly kill this woman.

So, naturally, I pressed the button, and I watched an animation as my character (a supermodel-gorgeous Latina woman with an athletic build - the default female character) sprinted behind this policewoman and plunged a machete into her back, then pulled it out, grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around before slamming the machete into her neck so hard that I was surprised I hadn’t decapitated her.

And then I turned around and kept walking. I left the body right there, on the side of the road. Far Cry games these days let you see your torso and legs if you look down; when I did, I saw that I was absolutely covered in this woman’s blood. Another policeman walked by, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, and I pulled the same trick and killed him as well. This time I stabbed him hard enough that the point of the machete emerged from his chest.

A few moments later a police car rolled up. I was on the side of the road, having gotten distracted by a horse. I turned around, noticed that the woman in the police car was looking out the window at the body I’d left in the middle of the street. I also noticed that she wasn’t hostile to me at all. So I sprinted up to the car, pressed that middle mouse button when the prompt appeared, and watched as I shoved that machete vertically beneath her chin so hard that the point emerged from her forehead. She had a very shocked expression on her face. Then I threw her out of the car and got in it. I sat there for a moment, trying to put my finger on what I found so disquieting about this whole experience, and then I drove the car down the road a ways, away from the objective, and got out. A man on a horse wandered by; my character said hello to him and he said hello back.

The character you play as in Far Cry 6, whether male or female, has the same backstory - they’re ex-military. But just like in almost every Far Cry before it, Far Cry 6 falls into the same trap of not giving the protagonist a good enough reason to immediately drop everything and side with the Good Guys. At the beginning of the game, your character’s only concern is escaping Yara - how quickly they drop that desire and revel in bloodshed. Is immense brutality for a good cause a good act? It’s a question that can’t be answered.

Latin America as a whole has historically always been fraught with violence and tragedy and deprivation. Petty dictators, cartels, human trafficking, abuse of power on a systemic level. The Dominican Republic under Trujillo, Argentina under Videla. The killing of Oscar Romero, Operation Condor, the list is interminable. In the US, I think people, especially those without a connection to Latin America, consider all this to be in the past. Many of those countries, once ruled by military dictatorships, are now democracies. Does that mean that the Latin America of the 60s and 70s is dead and buried? I don’t know. I don’t know enough to judge. My knowledge is limited to a second-generation Dominican friend I had in high school, and from having read everything Junot Diaz ever wrote. I watched Romero in high school and was struck, however briefly, by the enormity of it, of the fact that the movie is, for the most part, unembellished. The education I got in my history classes about the region was woefully incomplete, but how could it not be? There is too much to learn if you really want to understand.

A while ago, when Battlefield 1 came out, I read an article that raised the question of whether or not the game was disrespectful to the memories of those who fought and died in World War I, whether creating a game about that war was disrespectful. The conclusion that the article came to was that it wasn’t, specifically because the game didn’t pull any punches in presenting the war as it was - at least in the singleplayer campaign. It was a somber and well-balanced presentation of the shocking brutality of World War I, and the article made the claim, which I agree with, that presenting things as they are cannot be disrespectful. Presenting the truth without commentary, for the viewer to draw their own conclusions on, cannot possibly be disrespectful.

My problem, the thing that had been nagging at me ever since I had started playing, is that Far Cry 6 does not present the truth without commentary. The nation the game is set in, Yara, is fictional. The dictator and his goons are overblown and unrealistic in their tyranny. And, although I can’t say how much of this is accurate and how much of this is pastiche, the characters within the game do not seem authentic to me. The women are fiery and irrepressable, and the men are stoic and brutal. They speak heavily-accented English and drop in a Spanish phrase or two every couple of sentences. I knew a bit of Spanish before I started playing, but now I know more - I know the word for pussy, coño (which the game translates instead as ‘asshole’). I even thought I heard a character call another a maricón, although I might have misheard. Everything is presented as a first-worlder might interpret Latin America, as a rosy, violent image of that old nostalgic era of repression and suffering. I don’t like it, even if I get to play as the good guy. Righteous fury doesn’t go very far with me, I don’t have the stomach for it.

I’m not Hispanic, and I don’t have family or friends in Latin America. If I did, I wonder what they would think of this game if they watched twenty minutes or so of gameplay. I wonder if they would be offended. I wonder if what I’m playing is the Panda Express version of Latin American culture, a thorough helping of eye-candy calculated to appeal to the Western audience who consume these games, but with nothing authentic at the core. 

I wonder what I will take away from this game, when I finish it. I’m not disgusted or dismayed enough not to, I suppose; I spent good money on it and, if you remove everything else, and look at the gameplay, it’s fun - and isn’t the point of video games to be fun? But when I boot up Far Cry 6 and I play a couple more missions, I listen to these thick accents speaking English words, written by a man named Navid Khavari, who works for Ubisoft and (as far as I can tell from googling) lives in Canada, and I wonder how much authenticity matters, how much respect for the real lives and real countries this game is hearkening to matters. I wonder about how much I’ve been interrogating my experience with this game, all based off the unplaceable feeling that something is not right, that something is phony. I wonder how many people will do the exact same things I have but won’t notice anything amiss at all.

I wonder too about the number of women I’ve murdered in Far Cry 6 - and I use the word murder not to be melodramatic, but because that’s what it was. In so many of these situations, I didn’t have to shoot them, or stab them. I could have walked by and let them go. But I did it anyway, because it’s a video game and the point of the game is to kill everything that shows up with a red health bar instead of a blue one, preferably without thinking about it too much. But after the tenth or twentieth woman I hacked to death with a machete, I wondered about the fruits of diversity and representation in video games.

I don’t really want to kill women, even if they’re just digital. Maybe this is an odd sort of sexism - what makes it so much better to kill a man? Why are my compassion and misgivings reserved only for one gender? Is it just the novelty of killing so many women? Many video games, even modern ones, skew heavily towards male enemies. Why does it make me so much more uncomfortable to hear a woman cry out in agony as I murder her than it does if it’s a man? It’s already bad enough that I’m alright with murdering men! I don’t want to become alright with murdering women, even if it’s just in a video game. 

Or maybe I need to stop being a coño. That’s the argument, isn’t it? You’re taking this too seriously, it’s just a video game. But how many people will play this video game? How many people who know nothing about Latin America and its troubled, tragic history, will be exposed to this sanitized and window-dressed experience and think, somehow, that there is any grain of truth at the bottom of it? It makes me sad, that’s all. If I care too much, if I’m a coño for caring, then so be it.

What justifies a killing? Every now and then I see headlines about vigilantes being brought to justice, vigilantes who’ve hunted down and murdered pedophiles, or have brought extrajudicial punishment to people who, perhaps, deserved it. Uniformly, these vigilantes are unrepentant; the one unifying thread between all of them is an immense and unyielding sense of conviction. They have, as far as they’re concerned, done the right thing. Even if they must be punished for it, they’ve done the right thing. 

If we’re to take the world of Far Cry 6 seriously, would my character be able to sleep at night? Would my character feel the same conviction? I don’t know. I know I wouldn’t, if it were me, but I am a gentle soul. Far Cry 6 tries to excuse your actions - the dictator, Anton Castillo, is unapologetically despotic and evil, far in excess of anything realistic, and this cruelty runs, apparently, all the way down to his jackbooted thugs. They are callous, they punish and execute for little or no reason, actions pushed in your face as the player so you can swoop in and play the hero and save these helpless Hispanic men and women.

But I don’t buy this. Even in the cruelest of regimes, the people who are just trying to protect and feed their families and have no other way to do so than to sign up with the tyrant will at least break even with the koolaid-drinking True Believers. These overt displays of cruelty are a sort of pageant, pushed in your face so you can see how evil these people are, supposedly, and so you don’t feel bad about murdering them, if you even did in the first place. It’s a video game - why would you feel bad? Why would you think about it? Why would you care?

Why do I care?

I think I care because, after almost twenty years of playing video games, I’m starting to get tired of this. I’m getting tired of broad, blunt strokes used to excuse psychopathic behavior on the part of the player. I’m getting tired of playing Ted Kaczynski simulator, or Ruby Ridge simulator, or Waco simulator. I’m getting tired of cultures and people reduced to window dressing and nothing more. 

There are so many people who argue very vehemently that video games are art, but I think this game, Far Cry 6, is a very good argument for why the vast majority of video games can’t be. It’s because a game like this, sitting firmly on the cutting edge, at least graphically speaking, is enormously expensive to produce. Far Cry 5, the previous installment, had a budget of between $80 and $130 million. How much for Far Cry 6? How many units does it have to sell to make a profit? 

The figures must be enormous, and in order to turn a profit, the game has to be very careful not to offend anybody. Every demographic you alienate is a demographic that won’t buy the game, or at least won’t buy as many copies. This is why the game is so afraid to make a statement other than ‘fascism bad.’ Everybody knows fascism is bad! Everybody is aware at this point, and the people who aren’t are the fascists! You play as the Good Guy in Far Cry 6, a Good Guy who murders police officers and soldiers in cold blood when you could have let them walk by, a Good Guy in the strictest Hollywood action movie sense, who fights for American values despite never having set foot in America in her entire life, despite having plenty of reasons not to particularly like the US and what it stands for.

But, very tellingly, in Ubisoft’s quest not to offend, they have ignored the very demographic the game is about. I don’t think they care. I think that somebody looked at a chart of the market share and shrugged and said that it would cost more money to make it less offensive to this group, and that they don’t play video games anyway, or if they do they don’t play modern games because they can’t afford the hardware, so who cares?

I think that if I were Hispanic, if I were from Latin America, from Cuba or Ecuador or somewhere, and this were what Western media was portraying about my culture, I would care. Hell, I care and I’m none of those things. But the worst thing about Far Cry 6 is that it doesn’t matter if I care or not, and I suspect that it probably doesn’t matter if Latin America cares or not. We are, collectively, beneath Ubisoft’s attention. We don’t matter. And I suspect that Far Cry, and the gaming industry at large, will continue to trample over culture and history in its efforts to appeal more and more effectively to the Western middle-class who play these sorts of games, who buy the season passes and the collector’s editions. How many of them are going to be willing to hold Ubisoft to account? How many of them will even realize that there is something wrong with the way things are portrayed?

One of the weapons you can acquire in the game is a gun that shoots CDs. From just a physics standpoint, it’s ridiculous, of course, and from a military standpoint it’s even worse, but realism has never been Far Cry’s strong suit. One of the features of this weapon is that it plays music as you use it. And what song does it play when you pull the trigger? The Macarena. 

This is what Latin American culture means to Ubisoft. This is what all the stereotypes and window dressing and dancing around real issues that they have done culminates in. They have taken an entire region and reduced it to the Macarena, an easily consumed meme that carries no more nuanced meaning than ‘haha those Hispanics sure are wacky!’

In Far Cry 7, I’m sure, we will still be murdering men and women and running roughshod over whatever ‘legally distinct’ country and culture it’s set in. And it will be okay, because we will play as the Good Guys, those ever-inoffensive Good Guys, those white middle-class male Westerners wearing the skin of Hispanic women, or Asian men, or whatever. And once again, nobody who matters will care.

#writing #criticism #far cry 6 #latin america #women #representation

[raith-way]

Fic Writer Tag Game

My first AO3 fic was posted back in June, of this year, so some of these answers are going to be embarrassing. Most of my AO3 catalogue is oneshots and drabbles, but let’s do this! Thank you @asirensrage for the tag!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

12

What’s your total AO3 word count?

78,540

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

6 – Bandom (My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, Falling In Reverse, Taylor Swift) / Buffy The Vampire Slayer / Fast & Furious / DC Extended Universe (Batman V Superman, Justice League) / (The) Suicide Squad / Marvel (The Avengers)

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Keeping Us Down Is Impossible – The Suicide Squad (2021) / Rick Flag x Reader / Oneshot / Summary: You’re on a mission with a new team, thinking about your original team, only to find out part of that team is here. One thing is clear: You are going to survive this mission, and so is Rick Flag. / Kudos: 42

Things Are Getting A Little Hazy – Buffy The Vampire Slayer / OFC x OMC / WIP / Summary: Grace Blackburn’s great destiny was to give Angel a choice, and his decision sets the future for Sunnydale. With visions of the end and the formation of strange friendships, Grace navigates the new direction her life has taken while trying to convince her new brooding vampire bestie that he can be happy. AU after BTVS Season 3 & ATS doesn’t exist. / Kudos: 5

One Step At A Time – Fast and Furious / Jakob Toretto x OFC / Oneshot / Summary: Everything around them is being destroyed, and all they have is a moment. Just this one moment. / Kudos: 3

Memento Mori – DCEU (Post Justice League) / Bruce Wayne x OFC / WIP / Summary: Ryan Lopez should be six feet under, or at least be reduced to ash along with her former life. Instead she was trapped in the corporate world of Gotham, with nothing but cryptic messages from a grandfather she never knew and a soldier who acted like her butler. Not to mention that there was something very wrong with that Bruce Wayne guy. / Kudos: 2

Mistakes – Suicide Squad / Rick Flag x OFC / Oneshot / Summary: Rev waits at Belle Reve for Rick to return from a meeting, and not just because she wants to see him in his too-tight suit. (But also so she can see the way he looks in his too-tight suit.) / Kudos: 2

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, because I like letting readers know that I read their comments and appreciate that they took the time to leave a comment.

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

That would be a oneshot, Washing Away Reality, in the DC (Batman) fandom.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really? Two of my fics crossover, but they’re both in the same DC Universe so I don’t think that counts.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don’t have any posted, yet, but I do write it. The kind depends on the fic and the character perspective I’m writing in. Sometimes it’s more vague, some scenes focus more on the emotion of the moment, and others are more graphic.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I’m not even sure how to answer that. Out of all the fandoms? I definitely can’t choose. Out of my current fics? My all-time favorite ship is probably Grace Blackburn (OFC) and Eliot Greenwood (OMC), from my BTVS fic Things Are Getting A Little Hazy. Their relationship is practically destined.

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

My band fic, Soundtrack Of The Revolution. It’s planned out, all 400 chapters of it, but I’ve been working on it for a decade. I’m not giving up, but we’ll see if it ever gets completed.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses?

Someone who’s read my stories would have to tell me my strengths, because I have no clue. I just ramble sentences onto a word document and hope that it makes sense. My weaknesses would probably be my descriptions. I overly describe things and occasionally go off on tangents, which causes my chapters to be ridiculously long. I consider that to be a weakness.

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

I try not to do it, because I’m only fluent in English, but I will write dialogue in another language with the help of Google Translate. If I get it too wrong, hopefully someone will correct me. When I can though, I prefer to just mention that the character is speaking in another language without having to actually write the other language because I don’t want to butcher it.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for?

This question hurts my soul. The very first fandom? It would have to be a band fic, probably Avenged Sevenfold, way back in about 2006. Thankfully, all of those fics have been lost to time and will never be read by anyone ever again. Knowing that helps me sleep at night.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

This is such an unfair question, because how do I pick just one? My favorite fic, that I have personally written, isn’t posted under this name so it’ll have to remain a mystery. My favorite fic that I’ve written under this name, has to be Soundtrack Of The Revolution. Yes, it’s a band fic even though those stopped being popular over a decade ago. I also realize the irony of my favorite fic being the fic that I'm not sure if it'll ever be completed. It’s the most self-indulgent fic that I have ever written, and I’ve been working on it off-and-on since 2009. Seeing how it’s changed and what has remained the same over the years is mind-blowing, and I truly love the story and the characters. So, yeah, it’s my favorite.

Tagging: @wordspin-shares @thecharmedburrowspn-files @lokitrasho @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle @darknightfrombeyond @stanshollaand @captainrcgers @jinxsflame @jewelswrites-ish @hiddenqveendom

#fic writer tag game #tagged by siren #thank you!! #i know it's a rambling mess #but it was fun to answer! #also #if i tagged you #you can completely ignore it

[thatmultifandomhoe]

Knitting You a Home - 1

Pairing: Wolf Hybrid Namjoon and Human Reader

Word Count: 2k

Genre/Rating: Hybrid AU - Established Relationship - Angst - Fluff - Smut - PG-13

Overview: Things have changed for you and Namjoon. It’s been a year since the two of you got together, and despite a rocky start, it was impossible to deny the bond and love you shared for each other. But ever since Hoseok had been separated from his Mate, Namjoon has been withdrawing himself from you and doesn’t come home until late at night.

With questions far larger than either of you imagined, you can’t help but wonder if he’s let his past and old fears come back to haunt him. You had shown him that it was possible to have a home and be loved once before, but will you be able to do it again?

Warning: Besides a storm, none. Maybe a few editing mistakes.

Playlist:

Main Master List:

Knitting You a Home Master List:

Mated Love is Never Easy Master List:

Sneak Peak - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - ?

©thatmultifandomhoe Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without permission.

June 2018…

The wind howled while rain pelted your house as the storm refused to let up. You softly groaned, scrunching you nose up as you tugged the warm blankets tightly around your body, burying your face into the pillow. It was a weak attempt at trying to fall back asleep, but it was necessary since you had to be up to open the shop at nine in the morning.

It was silent in your house with the exception of your room, where you had a playlist of instrumental music playing. Absolute silence unnerved you and the music served to help sleep at night when the shadows haunted you as you slept. Tonight however, the soothing notes of the violin did nothing to ease you back into your dreams.

You squeezed your eyes shut as thunder rumbled overhead, wishing once again that you hadn’t woken up during the storm. Living on your own had its perks, but going through storms all alone wasn’t on that list.

Lightning cracked in the midnight sky, lighting up your room briefly just as your phone vibrated against the nightstand. Groaning, you forced yourself to roll over, blinking until you were able to read the numbers glowing from your alarm clock. It was almost four in the morning. Why the hell was someone calling you?

It took a few tries, but after fumbling around you nabbed your phone and successfully swiped the green icon.

“Hello?” Your murmured, huddling back under the blankets.

“Thank God you answered; I need your help.”

Frowning in confusion, you lifted the phone up, squinting as the bright screen came back on. The number wasn’t one you recognized. “Who’s this?” You asked instead.

“It’s Luna,” the voice answered. In the background there was rustling and multiple voices talking over each other. “Listen, I know it’s wicked late, but I’m at the Homeless Center and I have a huge favor.”

You turned the lamp on as you sat up, pulling your knees up to your chest as you tried to listen easier. “Luna? What’s wrong?”

“I’m at the Homeless Center for Hybrids,” Luna answered, raising her voice to be heard over all the noise. “This is probably me asking too much, but I have a hybrid here and with the storm we don’t have much space left. I was thinking and I thought you had a spare bedroom but I couldn’t remember…is there any way you’d be willing to let a hybrid stay with you? It wouldn’t be forever.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” waving your hand as if she was here, you leaned your head back against the headboard. Outside, lightning flashed again making you flinch. “It’s four in the morning Luna.”

There was a bang and at first you thought it was just another clap of thunder, but on Luna’s side you heard whimpering. Her voice was hushed as she reassured someone that it was going to be okay. “I know, but I wouldn’t be calling unless I thought it was important.”

It was insane to be going outside during the storm. Glancing out your window, it was obvious that it wasn’t letting up anytime soon. The best thing to do was to just stay inside where it was safe. That was the sane idea.

“I’m leaving now,” you said instead. Throwing the blankets off, you hurried to your closet to throw on some warm clothes as Luna informed someone, most likely the hybrid, that you were coming.

Time was on the line so you hurried to dress in the jeans and sweater that was thrown over the chair in the bedroom. Despite the lack of information you were given about this hybrid, you nabbed some towels and two umbrellas. In a matter of a few minutes your rain jacket was even thrown on.

“This is absolutely insane,” you muttered, rushing back to your room for the purse that you forgot contained your car keys and everything else. But even as you thought that, you tied the bag that you had stuffed the towels in so they wouldn’t get wet, and after throwing up the hood on the jacket, hurried out to the car.

You didn’t live in the center of town and with the storm still going wild, you were forced to go slower than usual, but it gave you plenty of time to think. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for Luna to call you during the middle of the night, sometimes when it was extremely important you would wake up to her banging on the front door until you answered. Out of everyone she knew, you were the only person who would answer her calls, even if it was at a time like this. When she did give you a heads up though, you were sure to have coffee or tea on the stove by the time she arrived.

It wasn’t unusual for her conversations to turn to her place of work, but this was the first time that she called you to let a hybrid stay at your place. Shaking your head, you increased the speed of the windshield wipers and glanced at the tall pine trees, hoping that the lightning wouldn’t hit any of them. Luna would explain once you got there.

When you entered the Homeless Center for Hybrids, you didn’t see Luna anywhere. Instead, various of Hybrids filled the building as the staff ran around. It didn’t take a genius to realize that this was a result of the storm, which wasn’t unusual and typically everyone was prepared for times like this, but never before had you seen it this wild.

Cots were everywhere in the building, and not just in the large open rooms they typically had set up for Hybrids to sleep in. The waiting room and hallways had cots lined up everywhere with names written on makeshift signs to show that they were taken.

Nobody spared you a second glance as you tried to find the office. Hybrids who were soaking wet with towels draped around the shoulders and dry clothes in their hands were heading to the locker room to change, and staff workers were rushing around with arms laden with various supplies and Hybrids in tow.

“Hey!”

Spinning around, you spotted Luna standing in the middle of the room, a stack of blankets in her arms as she waved to catch your attention. You raised your hand and gave a little wave, watching as she made her way to you, passing out blankets to Hybrids she passed along the way.

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Luna greeted you, a tired smile appearing on her face when she finally reached you.

Nodding, you looked around when the sound of a baby crying filled the room. “So, where’s this hybrid?” You asked, looking at her.

Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and the shoulders of her shirt were wet. Despite how early in the morning it was, Luna was wide awake. “He’s in the office. All the noise and smells were overwhelming him.” Gesturing for her to follow you, she led you through a hallway passing Hybrids who glanced up from making their cots. “That’s why I called you. You live away from the center of town, which is perfect for him, and it’s quiet so he’ll be able to relax.”

“What kind of hybrid is he?”

Luna glanced over shoulder, slowing as you stopped in front of the office. “He’s a wolf Hybrid.” She didn’t give you a chance to answer before softly knocking on the door a second before poking her head in. “Hey there, is it alright if we come in?”

You didn’t hear a reply, but apparently it was okay because Luna was walking into the office, holding the door open for you. The office was small, with only one desk in the corner with a computer on it, a row of file cabinets labeled A-Z, a mini fridge in the other corner, and along the wall to the left of the door was a green couch.

He was sitting on the couch, silently watching as you carefully closed the door behind you.

“Namjoon, I want you to meet my friend. You’re going to be staying with her for a while.” Luna smiled as she introduced you, not minding how quiet Namjoon was.

Softly smiling at Namjoon, you waved as you stood next to Luna. He didn’t say anything else, simply glancing at you before his eyes focused on the bag in your hands. “Oh,” you said, opening it. “I wasn’t sure if you had been caught in the storm or not, so I brought towels.”

When you looked up however, the words died out. Namjoon had raised an eyebrow and looked down at himself, more specifically, his clothes. His jeans had dirt stains on them and his once white sneakers were grey. His white t-shirt was in the same state as his jeans with the addition of a few holes in odd places, and the leather jacket was well worn out. But he was completely dry.

“Namjoon came here a few days ago,” Luna answered. “But with this storm, it’s been so chaotic and loud…”

You nodded in understanding, glancing at Namjoon’s Hybrid ears. They were twitching and flickering back towards the hallways. The door only muffled everyone’s voices. You could only imagine that if it was loud for you, it had to be painful for him.

“Alright,” you breathed out, gaining the attention of Namjoon. “If you want to stay with me at my place, I think we should leave soon. I don’t know how it was here, but the lightning was bad up by my place, and I really don’t want to get halfway home and find a bunch of trees knocked down.”

Luna settled a hand on her hip, smiling at Namjoon like his silence wasn’t unusual. “Like I told you earlier Namjoon, I wouldn’t have suggested staying with her unless I one hundred percent knew you’d be safe. I trust this girl with my life.”

Rolling your eyes at her joke, you ended up grinning anyways. “You’re just saying that because I make you stuff.”

“Don’t you try and steal my thunder here.”

You giggled, but when you looked back at Namjoon, you were startled to see that he was already staring at you. It was a little odd, but you mentally shook it off. He came to the Homeless Center for Hybrids, and from the lack of a collar around his neck, anything could have happened to make him suspicious of humans.

“Namjoon, do you, want to come with me?” You gave him an encouraging smile, hoping that it would help him to feel more comfortable around you. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but you’re more than welcomed to come home with me.”

The spot between his eyebrows crinkled as he frowned, his lips parting for a second before he pressed them together. He looked back at Luna, who gave him an encouraging nod.

“We’re not going to make you do anything you don’t want to,” Luna softly answered. “Here, Hybrids have free will. You, get to make the decisions for yourself Namjoon. Not me. Not my supervisor or boss, and not my crafty friend here. It’s up to you.”

It hurt to hear Luna explain that, but it was common around here. Hybrids came in from all different backgrounds either finding their way here on their own, or were abandoned by owners who no longer cared or loved them. When it was cases like that, the road to moving on and trusting another human took a long time.

With the two of you watching Namjoon, it didn’t go unnoticed when he stood up with a nod. There was a rip in the green fabric of his backpack, but he slipped it on his shoulder and focused on you, waiting for you to lead the way.

Opening the bag, you handed him an umbrella as you zipped up your jacket. “I parked as close as I could, but it’s raining like cats and dogs out there.”

He didn’t say anything, his face remaining neutral and unwavering, but his hands were gentle as he accepted the umbrella. For a brief moment, his eyes softened when his fingers brushed against yours, only to become guarded once you took your hand back.

“Well then,” you said, unaware of how that touch had affected him. “Let’s go home Namjoon.”

#btsbookclub #hyunglinenetwork #wkcnet #btswriterscollective #ultkpop #starryktown #kwritersworldnet #namjoon #bts hybrid #bts hyung line #bts hybrid au #Knitting You A Home #bts #bts namjoon #bts namjoon x reader #bts namjoon fic #bts namjoon fanfic #rm #bts rm #bts rm x reader #hybrid namjoon #wolf hybrid #namjoon wolf hybrid #bts kim namjoon #kim namjoon #namjoon x reader #bangtan sonyeondan #bangtan #bangtan sonyeondan fanfiction #hybrid rm

[silvercrystalwhump]

Little thing based on an idea for Ash

@ashintheairlikesnow owns all of these characters I just an idea one day and decided- Hey I'ma write this. Enjoy

TW: implied noncon, noncon photo taking, general bbu warning, Owen Grant exists

-

Vincent drums his fingers across the wood with nails bitten to near bleeding. A hard drive sits on the table in front of him, almost eating at his eyes by simply existing. It’s red, and the word Memories is written on the side. His eyes bore into the table, wanting the hard drive to combust and leave his life.

“You know I could always see what's on there?”

James, the only person other than his therapist to know about Owen, leans by an open window. The sound of Blue Jays singing outside dances through his words like background music on set. The only reason he had the displeasure of knowing about that migraine-inducing part of his life was that Vincent forgot to watch his liquor intake at an event and vomited out his entire life story to James in one night. Needless to say, he woke up the next morning with a hangover that could kill god and a very concerned James who knew too much.

Vincent shakes his head, “I am fairly certain I know what's on this, I don’t want you seeing that.”

James doesn’t respond, “I have an incinerator at home. You can just get rid of it there.”

“If it’s not I’ll be destroying something I actually like.”

Vincent did not even know why he had him come over. After he saw the handwriting he just went on autopilot. “Could you drive down about five minutes down, there’s this small coffee place that makes pecan pie flavored coffee, can you go get me some?”

“Sure,” James says, “Do you want me to go so you can do this alone and I can come back later or?”

“No, I just need you out of the house for maybe 15 minutes, it’s not like you probably have already figured out what I think is on this hard drive.”

James shrugs, “You want something to eat too?”

“I’m not hungry.”

Vincent hears James’ keys jungle quietly and the door opens. He can hear his footsteps walk down his porch. As he listens to James’ car start, Vincent puts his head in his hands. His finger knit into his hair and closes, threatening to rip the follicles right from his skull. I really don’t want to see this. He exhales as he hears the car pull out of the driveway and his gate slide closed.

Inhale, he closes his eyes and fumbles the hard drive into the laptop. Then, exhaling, he opens his eyes.

USP Pot In-Use. Transfer 486 GB of data onto this device?

Half a terabyte of data just sitting on a hard drive. A hard drive that was in the button of one of Vincent’s bags for months. Vincent starts to chew on the inside of his cheek, hands trembling near the mouse pad.

Yes.

Not enough storage for transfer. Preview file?

Yes.

A handful of files transfer to his laptop. Some files were named with dates, some with pet names, some with actual event titles but all were photos. Vincent closes his eyes and opens one simply labeled Coffee. The actual photo itself is just him sitting in one of his old dressing rooms back when working with Owen. There is a blurry spot in the upper left-hand corner of the photo. This was definitely Owen’s phone. Owen’s phone always had a blurry spot in the upper left-hand corner no matter how much Owen wiped it off.

The photo looks like it was taken at an awkward angle. Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose and mutters, “So he stalked me long before the incident, I stopped working there months before it happened.” The other handful of photos are similar; pictures were taken without Vincent noticing, usually at work. The last one was in his own house, but it was during a party he remembered that he invited Owen to.

Then a video pops up only labeled with a date.

Vincent reaches up and mutes his computer, and slowly presses play on the video. It starts with Owen muttering something before sticking his phone up and peering through a window. The video is of Vincent sleeping, and it lasts for nearly 30 minutes before the phone is dislodged, and the video finishes.

The next set of photos and videos are dated during his time with Owen.

He gets through three before rushing to the bathroom to puke.

-

When James gets back, Vincent has seen enough. He was right. It was Owen’s hard drive, and somehow he got a hold of it. James hands Vincent the coffee and the bag.

“I’m not gonna lie, I kinda forgot what you said about food so I just got you a scone since I was listening to the radio talk about the new federal policy on box boys.”

Vincent took a sip of the coffee and raised an eyebrow at James, “Something changed?”

“The emancipation law, it was signed by the president a week ago and the changes went into effect today,” James says as he sips his own coffee, “If you own a box boy for over a year and they meet a handful of prerequisites you can emancipate them and give them legal citizenship.”

“I honestly thought it would get shot down.”

“Well since the senator that was so against it was voted out this election no one else has objected,” James says, and he pulls up his phone, “Well the owner has to be the one to sign them for emancipation. Senator Grant was her name wasn’t it?”

Vincent takes a bite out of the scone. He swallows both the scone and a thought.

“Does it say anything about private transfer?”

“I think you just have to have their papers. Why?”

Vincent looks down at his food, and an idea pops into his head, “What’s Senator Grant doing now since she’s not in office.”

James shrugs, “Let me see if anyone said anything?” He taps on his phone, the little buzzes echo around the room like flies to trash. James pauses, “I’m pretty sure she’s just at home preparing for the next election why?”

“I think I might need you to help me make a phone call.”

-

Weeks later, Vincent paces, listening to James talk on the phone in the other room. He could not physically hear Owen’s voice through the phone without falling apart.

“That’s my ear,” James says sarcastically, “Do you agree with this or not?”

Silence.

Click.

James knocks on the half-open door, “You alright Vincent?”

“Are you done?” Vincent asks, tighter than a spring.

James nods, “After the screaming he agreed, do you want me to go over with the papers so you don’t have to see them?”

“Please, I’m more than likely already going to have to be on a phone call with his Mother and that's stressful enough.”

Vincent opens the door of his study and steps out, “I need a drink.”

“It's noon Vincent.”

Vincent has one hand on the liquor cabinet and chuckles dryly, “Perfect.”

‘Vincent, no.”

Making dead eye contact with James, he pulls a bottle of sweet tea vodka out of the cabinet and pours himself a glass. James sighs and shakes his head, “I thought Dr. Brycan told you not to drink.”

“He said that I need to wait until at least noon since I used to drink from dawn until dusk unless I had work, it’s 12:01.”

“Didn't you tell me that you’re probably going to get a phone call from the ex-Senator today,” James says, stepping back, “I think you want to wait at least until then so you're sober when you two talk.”

Vincent pauses with the glass halfway to his lips. He sets it down just hard enough to hear it but not hard enough to crack the crystal. Vincent grumbles, “Fine,” and walks back for his study to wait by the phone.

-

“You do know this is blackmail, Vincent,” Mrs. Grant grinds through the phone, “And that is illegal.”

“So is paying off someone to hide criminal charges. He either takes the deal or I take this half terabyte hard drive filled with evidence to court and get the press involved, his decision.”

“How much do you have to pay you,” she says after a moment.”

“No amount of cash will buy me over, he either takes the deal or I contact my manager.”

Silence through the phone. Vincent’s nails dig into his jeans. The woman on the other end of the line can’t see the tears pouring down Vincent’s face. One thing acting taught him was how to keep his voice steady for clarity in a microphone. The only difference here is that the microphone is in a phone rather than on a long stick.

“We’ll think about it,” she finally says.

“You have until Sunday.”

“Fine.”

Click.

Vincent holds the phone up to his ear for a second before dropping it onto the table. His head falls into his hands, and he sobs. His mind, blank yet filed with too many feelings, recoils under its own weight. Tears that had been held back for months spill across contract papers and blot through blank ink. The ink spread like blood across bed sheets.

-

“Are you sure you don’t want me to knock his teeth in?” James asks as he holds the contract and transfers forms in one hand and a Sprite in the other, “Because I will and want to.”

Vincent shakes his head, fingers drumming across the velvet seats of the limousine he almost forgot he had. When did I even buy this was the first thought he had when he dug through contacts. “No, just go inside, get him to fill out the forms, and come back. Then we go home and I gorge myself on M&Ms and fudge ice cream.”

James laughs, “Room numbers on the card right?”

“Yes.”

-

James steps out of the car. The condominium looms over the limousine, and James bites through white-knuckled rage as he steps into the lobby.

Guess who’s standing there waiting for him, Owen Grant, and his mother. James steps up to them, “Grant, correct?”

Owen looks surprised and gives James a quick not-so-subtle scan, “Are you who Vince sent, I thought he was coming?”

“Do I really need to explain why that will never happen?”

Mrs. Grant gives James a glare to rival the sun’s wrath on gingers. The demeanor shifts almost instantly to a more business appeal, “Well allow us to get this paperwork sorted out as painlessly as possible.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

How long does it take to sign papers? James thinks as he watches Owen go through the forms. These are pre-filled out records; he just needs to sign in three spots. Pen scratches against the paper, Owen’s friendly demeanor evaporated when he reached the final form.

“Why this of all things?” he grinds out.

Neither of the two people answers him. Owen finally tosses the form and an orange file in James’ direction. “All of Kauri’s paperwork; if Vince needs anything else, he’ll have to contact WRU directly.”

James scoops the papers off the table, flipping through them; he looks to make sure Owen didn’t deliberately miss any signatures. An extra envelope sits in the orange file. James pulls it free and waves it in Owen’s face.

“What’s this?”

Owen, stupidly, answers, “A goodbye letter since I just filled out a no contact agreement, I want to give my final goodbyes if you will.”

James rips open the envelope and takes out the letter but keeps in anything that may be important.

“That’s for Vincent’s eyes only!” Owen snaps.

“And that hard drive was for your eyes only wasn’t it? I got Vincent’s consent to look through these forms.”

Owen and his mother glare daggers at James as he tosses the letter back onto the table, “Goodbye.”

James can still feel Owen’s teeth grinding gaze on his back as the door closes behind him.

-

Jake answers the door, “Hello Vincent.”

“Is Kauri here?” Vincent asks as his fingers shift around the orange folder.

“Depends,” Jake says, leaning against the door frame, “What do you want?”

Vincent sighs, “I called Natalie yesterday and---”

“Just let him in,” Kauri’s voice echoes from inside the safe house, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Jake pierces his lips and steps out of the way. Vincent steps past him and enters the safe house. Natalie had told him to make things as quick as possible, and if Kauri told him to leave, he would. Vincent agreed. Now he simply hoped that he would be able to get this across without being told to leave.

Kauri steps around the corner, a look of tired anger sits behind his eyes.

“Kauri I’m so---”

“Skip the bullshit, Nat said this would be quick.”

Vincent nods and forces the new wave of guilt back into his stomach, “A few days ago, I was able to… convince Owen to transfer ownership of you to me. I want to ask if I can transfer you to anyone else for your own security, so you are entirely out of Owen’s grabbing range.

Kauri stands there with an expression of absolute disbelief. Then, finally, he opens his mouth to speak before stammering, “I said quick but not one sentence, elaborate.”

“Well, to put it in simply I was going through some of my old stuff from during the incident. I found a hard drive with nearly half a terabyte of… evidence that could be used against Owen,” Vincent says as his shoulder tense at memories he wishes to be buried. “A friend of mine brought up the new box boy emancipation law and after that I got an idea. This friend, who I vomited out my entire life story to black out drunk, was willing to help be the liaison between Owen and me. After a telephone call between Mrs. Grant and I, we got the papers signed and so now I have all of your paperwork under my name.”

“Okay?” Kauri says with disbelief still in his tone in tiny blips, “Then why are you talking to me, just leave me alone and I won’t have to worry about Owen.”

Vincent chews at the inside of his cheek, “Here’s the thing, what I did is, in the eyes of the law, black mail. While he could be charged with the same thing, if he took me to court one of the first assets taken for compensation are box boys. So, you could stay under my name but I don’t trust that he won’t try to get you back by either suing or doing something. My question now is, is there someone who you trust enough for me to transfer your ownership form to.”

Kauri pauses. The gears shift in his head for a moment before he looks past Vincent and back at Jake. The widest shit-eating grin nearly splits Kauri’s face in half. He looks over Vincent’s shoulder and laughs, “Hey Jake, want your own Romantic?”

Vincent looks over his shoulder and sees a very exasperated, tired, and just downright flustered Jake.

“I- um- Kauri- I- please don’t wrd it like that, that makes me sound terrible.”

“And.”

“I- mean in order to keep Owen away from you then yes I will but please don’t,” Jake stampers, “I don’t and won’t own you.”

Kauri pushes past Vincent and boops Jake on the nose, “Congrats you get your own boxie.”

“Kauri, please.”

Vincent clears his throat and interrupts, “While I am used to being third wheel um I know you all want me out of your hair so I have the forms with me and after they are signed I will do the heavy lifting with WRU.”

After a second, Kauri chuckles before walking away. Jake just watches as he leaves, a sigh escaping his lips, “He is never going to let me live that down.”

“If you don’t want to-”

“No no,” Jake says, “I will, he's just teasing. What do I have to sign?”

#owen grant should be castrated #bbu #ash is cruel to the boys #kauri #jake #vincent shield #blackmail #tw: implied noncon #tw: noncon phototaking #whump #box boy #box boy universe