#forgot it was in my drafts and only discovered it now lol!

[erynalasse]

What do you suppose might happen in a world where, instead of Luthien being given the choice of mortality, Beren is given the choice of immortality? How might the world change if these two don't fade into the black?

Oooohoohoo.

My first instinct is to guess, well, not much? It’s canon that Beren and Lúthien just fucked off to a far corner of Ossiriand and took an early retirement. We don’t even know how long they lived during their second lives, just that they had a son, and that they had shorter lives than expected because they were so full of bliss. It feels plausible to read this withdrawal as general disinterest in the larger events of Beleriand. Beren only wandered back into the main narrative to slay the dwarves who killed Thingol.

There are any number of reasons why Beren and Lúthien chose a solitary life after their resurrection. Lúthien choosing not to return to Doriath feels a bit like anger towards Thingol over the quest. Can’t blame her there. In general, Lúthien has to go away from society if she truly wants peace; she’s a princess, and an oddity, and a heroine to boot now. And ultimately, I think she and Beren may have wanted to spend their short second lives together. They lost so much for it; I think they earned it.

If that last consideration is the main reason Beren and Lúthien withdrew, well then! Immortality removes the ticking clock! If you have forever to spend with each other, then you have time to spare. At the very least, I think Beren and Lúthien would not have sat by while Doriath was attacked by the sons of Fëanor. Thingol’s death is the one thing that brought back Beren, so surely both of them would help their son. I think the reason they didn’t in canon is probably because they were already dead.

In fact, with sufficient advance warning, I think the two of them—really Lúthien—could have held off the Fëanorions entirely. The reason why the Fëanorions could invade Doriath at all was because Melian’s Girdle fell. Lúthien inherited a large portion of her mother’s powers; could she have erected something like the Girdle? I think so! And if she could have, I think she would for Dior’s sake.

And if the Girdle or something like it is in place, Doriath doesn’t fall and the sons of Fëanor do not follow the Silmaril to Sirion. It’s unclear if this is actually a good thing, or whether it just means bad things happen in a different way! Because the Oath is a terrible thing and it spares nobody and nothing, and I don’t know what the Fëanorions would have done to appease it if Doriath was unassailable. You could take this in a number of ways.

Another interesting thought: perhaps Beren and Lúthien would have had more children if they’d had the time. Endless possibilities there. New characters, new bloodlines, new storylines!

#my post #asks #valasania the pale #sorry this ask took so long val #forgot it was in my drafts and only discovered it now lol! #tolkien #silmarillion #beren #lúthien #dior #doriath

[saltynsassy31]

Since you’re a Sonamy fan I might as well ask you this.

Why do you personally ship Sonamy? What got you into Sonamy? What’s your favorite moments between the two?

Hope you’re having a wonderful day!

OH GOODNESS I WAS SUPPOSED TO REPLY SOONER BUT I GOT SO BUSY 😭😭😭 between packing and catching my flight at 4am, it was hectic!

This has been sitting in my drafts for so long man fkskaka I am so sorry 😅

But, oh buddy, i don't....I don't know, or, more accurately, probably don't remember XD

I've shipped them for so long, i can't remember when or why I started doing so. But I do have some guesses. And I think the culprit to my obsession would have to be...Sonic Boom!

Growing up, I didn't have a lot of access to Internet stuff aside from YouTube, in my home, the only channel I knew to have access to was Discovery Kids and Gloob. BUT, my grandma did have access to other channels like Disney XD, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network!

Which is where I discovered Sonic Boom 😌 and I'm pretty sure it was where my love for Sonic began. And because that show hammered in Sonamy so much, I guess I just became inclined to like it? I remember an episode talking about fanfiction and I went to look up what "Sonamy" was and stumbled across an artist (who is still active to this day! To my relief) who did a lot of Sonic Boom sonamy and it just became a comfort ship!

No why do I personally ship them is hard to answer. Probably just for comfort? No, no, I think it goes a little deeper than that. One ship from another franchise that I can compare it too is Zelink! (Zelda x Link).

They are the "practically canon straight ship" and sort of the "obvious" pick, which sorts ends up making them the less popular to the fandom? Lol which is also a shame. But there is so much more to them just being the "practically canon straight couple"! There is obviously a lot of thought put into their dynamic and relationship that reflects in the games and other media.

I tend to look at the smaller details and all the hints the creators drops between them!

Which leads to my favourite sonamy moments, which is when Sonic is the one showing the affection, albeit subtle, towards Amy. I don't have one moment, it's all the times he's like that, but one I can pull up right now and the only one I can remember after only 2 hours of sleep is I Prime, when Sonic is describing his friends and when he reaches Amy he just sighs this love strucken sigh and says "Sweet Amy".

Thay practically sent me rolling!

Another one in Prime is when he is talking to the forest guardian Amy I forgot the name, and she asks about his Amy and he describes her and she says "she sounds pretty cool" or something and, again, with that sigh of admiration says "you are" and--

GAH I JUST LOVE THEM TOO MUCH!!!!

I could talk about them all day man, I want to, I want to have more people to talk about them. Even if I'm not well versed in the Sonic franchise just yet, I love them so much I wanna just- talk about them!

#salty rants #sonamy #salty answers

[anonanimal]

ok we watched the barbie movie and i must be ovulating because the emotional levers were successfully pulled and i did cry but i was also mad part of the time.

i'd say i have a few thoughts and questions about the depiction of ruth handler lol but i haven't put it into succinct enough words yet

interesting they'd do the jokes about earring magic ken and growing up skipper and uh whatever pregnant midge was called and do a joke about ruth handler's...tax evasion? did she really do tax evasion? but they didn't touch on bild lilli. maybe they can't

sooo barbie is a god and mattel are her... stewards. lmao? what the fuck is gonna happen in barbieland if god is not in her heaven... whatever. just like in preacher when god goes missing (yes i watched part of the preacher amc series with my mother). i feel like the "barbie is a god, she is every barbie and every barbie is her" would have been the explicit focus of MY barbie movie (what can i say, i love a good story about a god becoming human, it's the christianity i've been steeped in) but they kind of don't do much with it

actually ruth handler = god, barbie = jesus?

ken becomes a ... men's (ken's) rights activist. lmao?

anyone else think the car chase was filmed like a car commercial. like weirdly obviously so? i feel like product placement has come farther than this

they want people to say it's a gay or trans allegory sooooo bad between the birkenstocks and the "you don't get permission, it's something you discover about yourself" they want it sooooo bad ok you win i'm saying it. but i know you wanted me to say it. you won fuck off!!!!!! or maybe i'm reaching because it's easy to read the emotional journey of coming out to yourself in a general coming of age tale. but come on. i'm not that smart so if i'm picking up on someone wanting me to think something, they probably do. the only way this movie could have been gay would have been if the weird barbies led a new society.

so was this their way of saying they're debuting a line of kens with jobs...?

i liked the comedy of 2001 monolith barbie and the barbieland physical comedy stuff. maybe i should have rolled my eyes but i'm easy. rollerblading executives also killed

i liked the little twist that barbie's crisis was precipitated by being played with, not by a maturing child, but her mother. kind of in line with how the movie itself is an ad for the barbie brand for adults. there's quite a few moments that i thought had to be intentional references to the function of the movie itself in the real world, and they all felt weird and bad, like someone screaming "let me out!!!!!" i've forgotten a lot of them now because i'm adding this bit in an edit the next day.

*guy who has only seen south park voice* getting a lot of imaginationland vibes from this

i kind of expected for there to be like a joke about allan being in unrequited love with ken but i now think there probably was in an earlier draft and it didn't mesh with the final product and they had to nix it. or like surely someone floated it at least

you know they tried to save it from being too much about ken by having someone literally say "what about barbie's ending?" and then doing barbie's ending but...it was still kind of more about ken i think. he did a dance number for christ's sake. i almost forgot that barbie got to dance too, but barbie's dance was also mostly about ken wanting her to notice him. "he's just ken" "kenergy" "i am kenough" come on. i think the biggest laugh in the theater was actually the kenough hoodie. biggest laugh for me personally? sasha saying, (and i'm paraphrasing of course bc i'm not bothering to look it up) "are you two shining?"

i got SO close to killing the mood when we walked out by saying "hey lets google mattel factory working conditions right now" but i decided that was too far / probably in poor taste for me to flippantly use in post-movie discussion

the feminism 101 stuff was whatever. it made sense within the setting of the movie since america ferrera as a human had to introduce ideas into barbieland for them to take hold, and ideas just kind of manifest whatever happens in barbieland, but i'm very surprised they didn't do a joke like "gee i wish it was this easy in the real world" like how did they miss that opportunity, it would have worked. or maybe they did and i missed it because i had my hater goggles on

sooo velveteen rabbit?

all in all, as a member of the moviegoing public, i guess i got what i wanted. an experience that left me with something to think and talk about.

p.s. this was, for me personally, an ad for ryan gosling. i didn't find him interesting until now. they really got me there.

p.p.s. obviously any criticism i have of the like existence of the barbie movie is hypocritical because i haven't said it about gundam (yet)

[frankie-the-undead]

Headcannons for you;

Each character has a different favorite type of alcohol;

Will's favorite is either budlight or possibly blue moon. It's the only ones that don't immediately fuck him up

Laughing Jack 's was obvious from the comic I just forgot what it's called surprisingly. He'd always pick that one since it fucks you up the most * with the way the underworld makes it at least* that and whiskey. Will learned not to fight LJ when it comes to drinking nights. If he's getting that certain drink EVERYBODY he's hanging out with will too weather they like it or not

Frankie I feel like would be on the fancy side being rich and all; Prefers either pear or Apple when it comes to champagne but when it's whine? He'd prefer red or white

Now here comes the fun part;

Everybody's * and what I mean in everybody I mean you and I and a certain GC in insta we're both in* favorite god/vengeful spirit dumbass ;

Anthony alcohol of any kind DOES NOT effect him, laughing jack tried to see if it was a joke...Anthony manage to beat him in a drinking game. He actually beaten EVERYBODY but will during the drinking game. Reason he never beaten will was because G.M knew he'd lose so he never bothered until one day..they discover what gets Anthony shit face; * drum roll noises* it's Soda. Yep you read that right soda of any kind is what get Anthony super drunk. This both confused and freaked out will

Anthony after drinking a whole bottle of pepsi; * drunk noises that went from flirty to an emotional mess within two seconds tops*

Will;

With that said let's get back on track;

Anthony's favorite alcohol beverage is both Bud light, Corona and Blue moon all with some beer salt in it. However he'll take what he can get. As long as there's salt in it. Because he's a salty goth boy.

Gonna kms if it keeps deleting my drafts, I've redone this THREE TIMES NOW.

I find it funny I know nothing about alcoholic drinks so, my first assumption is that Will is a lightweight from what you just said.

The drink is Absinthe, the good stuff they bought with Frankie's platinum credit card. I remember having no idea why a platinum credit card meant so much, I was such a dumb kid lol.

I know he likes whiskey, but I'm sure it's not the only thing he'd drink, don't know about champagne but maybe. As for wine, I'd assume so, but that's just me. Half of me assumed Frankie would also like strong stuff, but he's probably more on the neutral side, smoking and drinking or reading with a glass of his drink of choice.

But what makes Anthony drunk on soda? Is it the fructose corn syrup? The carbon dioxide and water forced into the soda at high pressure? The caffeine? I need to know-

#frankie the undead #frankie creeps #will grossman #william grossman #laughing jack #anthony #will x anthony #anthony x will #the creeps #the creeps comic #ant anthony #thanks for the ask!

[realwaldojeffers]

cool! i've heard of these bands of course but never actually listened to them, but i do like lou reed and david bowie! they were one of the first artists i got familiar with when i got into classic rock, actually. how did you discover them?

oh i feel you about the wrapped thing - i listened to my top artist for like 9000 mins too 😭

and i understand the thing about writing so well 😭 i feel like it's the only way for me to tell my stories but it's so hard for me. i've been stuck on a story for honestly a ridiculous amount of time now. what is most difficult about writing for you? are there any tips that help you write?

and i draw too! what are your favorite things to draw and your favorite art materials? i mostly just use pencil, i'd really like to learn coloring but i give up every time lmao

-❄️

Hayyyyy srry for taking forever to and you my secret Santa! I have been too caught up with my uni final that I forgot to send my response! Lol I’m still alive btw, exam fortunately did not kill me and now I’m a free man enjoying my winter holiday

For your first question, I think I discovered Bowie back in 2015 from my English teacher. At the time I was starting to take an interest in rock music, so he sent me a digital copy of Bowie record. I didn’t remember which one but I guessed it prob was Aladdin Sane cause I remember being a shithead I think the song is so bad from being an angsty 13 yo who didn’t listen to anything but hardcore and Metal (yes I was annoying lol) So, I pretty much lost the copy and still regret it.

But I started to get seriously into Bowie around last year and he has been my obsession since then. For Lou and VU, it’s probably a bit of Bowie influence cause I was digging deep into Bowie career and his interest so ofc I found Transformers album and things just went dow from there….. Once you got in, you can’t find the way out hahah

For the writing question, I think one of my struggles is I cannot order my words and writing structure very well which is a bummer being a media studies and linguistic major 🫠 Also English is not my first language even tho I’m pretty much living as a bilingual nowadays. Coming from an Asian background, Western grammatical structure can be a pain. But smth that helps me with my writing is planners. I just have to do an outline and a draft every time I write.

Mostly I do fan arts! I’m also a big fan of Scifi and British comedy so I have another art acc dedicated to those *nudge nudge* I often do my art digitally nowadays but I still love water color and painting on frame.

Thank you so much for your questions and interaction! I’m so excited to heard more from you!

-🌞Tawan (that’s my name btw)

#secret rocker santa 2022

[a-lil-perspective]

70 Encouragements/Tips For The Writer:

A/N: Rules don’t exist. These are real and personal and stem from a deteriorating, exhausted Writer who is here to tell you (and herself) that you are amazing and keep going. I hope you find some encouragement within.

Your mental health comes first and foremost.

Indulge and embrace your creative writing pieces when they come (and when they don’t). Especially when they don’t.

Suffering from Writer’s Block or fluctuating hyperfixation? Me too. So is your favorite author. Welcome to the Writer’s Block Party (all my uwus if you see the pun).

Did you spend five hours on this one segment, forget the last time you ate, develop chapped lips, dry eyes, and a stiff back (time to get up and move), bang your head on the wall, laugh, cry, fidget, take your ADHD meds, deviate to watch YouTube, have an epiphany, curse in frustration and wonder why the hell you do this to yourself? Congratulations, you’re a Writer.

Embrace all the not-so-glamorous sides of writing, and accept the fact they’re going to happen time over again.

When you say “just one more line” and it’s 2:00 AM, I’ll be here to remind you to “go to sleep” (because I’m also depriving myself lol).

Actually, sleeping helps your mind feel refreshed, and it’s good for your health. If you’re struggling with a particular segment, one of the best things you can do is just put a cap on it for the time being, put in a placeholder, and get some shut eye. I know you don’t want to. But you will feel so much better and have more clarity and energy to continue when you wake. Trust me.

More often than not, those words you “just didn’t write down fast enough and now forgot” end up revealing themselves to you later in a much more profound way. Give the words time to get ready. They’re just spiffing up before coming to visit. :)

Be proud of yourself and your prose. Writing is an amazing part of who you are.

That trope has been written 1000 times before? Make it 1001.

You’ve already written this scenario? Write it again.

You’ve just written a single sentence. Now sit back for moment and think: you just wrote something brand new, never before seen. Nobody out there will ever write that sentence or formulate those thoughts the exact same way. You are a unique, mind-blowing, awe-inspiring human being.

Bask in the excitement that comes with a completed piece. Reflect on what you learned throughout and celebrate the little victories.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, but also understand that you might not always get it, and that is OK.

Please re-read your work. Be gentle with yourself. You had to write that very first piece to get to where you are now. Love the process.

Your personal writing success is not based off of kudos or likes or reblogs.

There is no right or wrong way to write.

There is no such thing as “good” writing.

Improvement is becoming of everyone so get comfy, strap in. The journey of a Writer is a lifelong one. Here’s to many more works ahead.

Don’t mourn the words you did or didn’t write. Celebrate the ones you will.

One day, you’ll read a piece that will blow you away—and it will be yours.

There is nothing “shameful” about reblogging your own writing works.

I promise you’ll find your “wow” piece—either in something you’ve already written, or something yet to come.

Baby. Please don’t write out of spite. You’re better than that.

You are just as valid/deserving as the next Writer. And you do belong.

If you feel sad/unworthy when sharing your works or interacting with others’, get to the root of why. Writing should be fun, rewarding, and relaxing. Not shameful, embarrassing, or a chore.

Writing (fanfiction, specifically) is labeled as “transformative works”. Self-explanatory, right? However, if you notice the transformative part begin to have a personal effect on you—a negative one—it’s time to take a step back.

Right now, I can name a single quality you possess: diligence. How do I know? Because you’re a Writer, and the two go hand-in-hand.

Got that single scene in your head but you haven’t completed or even began all the chapters preceding? Bruh. Jot that down right now. You don’t need 20k words beforehand.

Embrace your writing mood swings. The stray, sweet and condensed blurbie. The ideal, bridging drabble. The solid, substantial oneshot. The hefty, elaborate 10k word chapter. Appreciate everything in-between, and that you are capable of all of it.

Nobody remembers that extra word or typo or stray speech mark back all the way back in chapter 3. Tell the little monster in your head to go to hell.

You’re not a weirdo for making facial expressions and mulling through your dialogue aloud. You. Are. A. Writer.

It’s OK if the Readers can’t always see exactly what you envisioned in your head, or the full extent of the picture you painted. We all see colors differently.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with your writing.

In fact, challenge yourself to dabble into a new plot/trope/concept every day, even if only for a few minutes. You may discover you love writing it.

There’s no rush to finish/begin any written work. If you take your time, you will make your mark. You’re not falling behind or running late. Slow down and wait for it. :)

Three cheers for hiatus.

Listen to your body and mind, know your limits and when it’s time to take a break.

Actually take a break. :)

If you feel like you’re falling stagnant in creativity, looking to/revisiting other forms of creative media can help encourage the flow.

Ask for encouragement, and be at peace with asking.

Take shelter in fellow writers. Uplift each other always.

You are/will be someone’s favorite author. :)

You don’t have anything to prove. You have something to share.

Someone is thinking about your work right now.

Someone started a series because they drew inspiration from you.

Personal writing style can reflect a lot on the state of one’s mental health. Try to always be attentive to that of your own.

Self-validation must be cultivated early on or nothing will ever work.

Freestyle every once in a while. Write a snippet, timed, and go—without editing. Write the first thing that comes to mind and go from there. Do it all the way through the set time. When it stops, you’ll find yourself unable to. 3,800 words here we come. :)

Not everything needs an outline. :)

It is completely normal to write your story out of order.

Create guidelines for yourself. If they aren’t working, toss ‘em.

Word vomiting can help you feel better (it’s just how it sounds). By clearing all those jumbled thoughts and scattered concepts, you achieve a clearer objective. Try it sometime.

A rough draft is supposed to be rough.

Sometimes the words come to you quicker than others. Be patient. That is merely the construct of a Writer’s mind. You’re a beautiful enigma.

A sentence written is a story progressing.

Writing is an endurance sport. You must pace yourself and exercise it daily.

You are still a Writer even when the words aren’t on the actual page.

You’re not obligated to a writing/posting schedule.

As you progress in your journey and gain more awareness, don’t sacrifice your style. Those beginning works are what define you. Hold onto them and don’t ever let them go.

You’re the only one cringing—

Remember that sometimes words are elusive and you don’t always have control over them, and that is OK. Sometimes they write themselves. Sometimes your characters come to life and break out into dance across your page. Dance with them. You can wrangle them back when the music stops. :)

There is nothing condemning or embarrassing about asking for a beta. Allow someone to help carry the load.

Allow people to cheer you on—even if they don’t read your work.

It’s OK if your writing style isn’t someone else’s preference.

Be your biggest cheerleader. Sometimes you are all you have.

You don’t need anyone’s approval except your own.

You love that trope/concept/story you just wrote? That’s all that matters. The end.

You will never write good. You will write you. And that is good.

Above all else: remember to write for you.🤍

#writers #fanfiction writers #writing encouragement #writer appreciation #writer support #writer struggles #writing motivation #writers tips #for writers #omg am I struggling. #hope these help you beautiful people #my writing #it’s a lil thing

[e07o]

Hey! I wanted to know what you think is a good example of a design that also has a function (so not just a work of art that exists only for aesthetics). So random lol but doing a poll for a paper im writing & love your posts/eye for things

Hi/thank you! first of all sorry, your paper was probably due weeks ago.. i started answering this and got carried away and then forgot about it sitting in my drafts. Anyways I'm really sorry for this incredibly annoying opinion I'm about to give you: art that discovers or informs or evokes empathy is functional, just not in the same way that a plate or bowl is functional. off the top of my head "Girl I'd Drink Your Bathwater" by Ayana Evans, "I Can't Help Myself" by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Mire Lee's moving sculptures, Ben Laposky's Oscillations, or Kehind Wiley's paintings. photography is a great example too, so many projects are comprehensive documentations and inventories of information that might otherwise be lost forever if not for an artist deciding it had value.

Anyways to give you an actual answer i like that so many cultures are like. Let’s make dessert… shaped like a fish.

^ vintage kashigata (japanese cake mold), gelatin mold, french chocolate molds… there are also these vintage silver articulated fish which had various uses like a snuffbox, sewing kit, dry perfume container

also gyotaku (fish prints, literally) is a cool example bc it started as a way of documenting them but now is both art and also useful for science (link)

#idk if this answers your question but i’m flattered that you asked me :) #ask

[bookofmirth]

Do you have any advice for anyone who has no writing inspiration or just doesn't know what to put in their essay? For some reason, I struggle with starting a paper so much.

- A procrastinating college student lol

Hello!

The best thing I've ever heard is "you can't fix something you haven't written". And all writing needs revision. Nothing comes out perfect, the exact way you intended in your head. But you can't get it close to perfect if it doesn't exist in the first place.

Get used to making a mess and then going back and cleaning it up. If you have to start your paper by typing "ugh this sucks, I don't want to write a research paper about socioeconomic status and food waste aldsfhklahda, I forgot what the purpose of this paper is, when is it due again?", then you know what? You got words on the page. And maybe only a few of those words will actually make it to the final draft, but congratulations! You started your paper!

(Just make sure you go back and clean that up haha)

There's a misconception that writing exists in our heads in some perfect form before it comes out onto the page and that isn't entirely true. Yeah, you might have no idea what to write now, but sometimes that process of discovering what you want to say happens as the words appear - not before. I always had to go back to my thesis statement and intro and rewrite it because the thing I thought I was going to write? Wasn't totally the thing I ended up writing.

I also like to share this with my students: just because you aren't literally putting words on the page, doesn't mean you are procrastinating. There is a lot of work that has to be done before you can start writing, but it's easy to overlook. Reading the assignment sheet, searching for sources, reading and choosing the sources, annotating them for evidence, figuring out your genre, etc. You're doing the work, you just can't see it yet.

okay last thing, and this was something I did as a student too, but I developed the habit of creating a Word doc as I was reading my sources, and then copying/pasting direct quotes, paraphrases, or different thoughts I had as I was reading my sources. Then by the time I was done reading, I had a solid page (at least) of evidence that I could build my paper around. I wouldn't use all of it, of course, but it was a place to start. (Also please cite that shit as you write it out, don't punish yourself by having to go back later because that's the literal worst, trust me.)

#writing advice #academia #ask #anon #I hope this helps!

[books-and-dragons]

pegoryu (pre-established) post-interrogation hurt/comfort fic. has mentions of nightmares, trauma, and implied physical assault. unedited and for that i big apologise in advance

___________

okay!!! so this fic has been sitting in my drafts for months (lol what else is knew i know, shush i’m getting to the point) and i was supposed to post it on ao3 at the same time as i did a couple of others, however never got around to it bc it needed editing and im too lazy for that

likelihood is, i will edit and post to ao3 at some point, but it needs some BIG rennovations and i just can’t be arsed atm

so yeah, apologies for the shoddy writing in advance xoxo

but for now, i wanted to post it on here. today. as a sign of goodwill for the year to come. (ie. i own p5r, still havent played it, need to play it, and hope posting this will kick me into gear)

so, hope you enjoy!! and lmao if not it’ll just get buried as i start to revive this blog so,...win win?

In the first few nights since the interrogation, Ryuji stayed awake, listening to the fragile shudders of Akira’s breath in the night. So sensitive to every breath of air restricted by broken ribs, Ryuji hadn’t needed to look across the room, to gaze at the beaten figure on the bed, to know how his face was contorted in pain- unmasked in sleep.

He refused to so much as close his eyes until Akira’s breathing levelled out, still shuddering and restricted by pain, but deep enough to assure him that Akira was asleep. Only then, Ryuji allowed himself to rest.

Nobody else stayed the night. They lingered until the last train, crowded around the attic bedroom, gaze worriedly resting on Akira until the final second, where they’d leave with the accompanying chime of Leblanc’s door closing. But not Ryuji.

Ryuji, who had refused to leave Akira’s side since the moment he’d returned to their arms, beaten and drugged up, hardly coherent, but so relievingly and perfectly alive.

Akira hadn’t been alone since, Ryuji ensured that much. Torn over so much as going across the road for a bath, he couldn’t leave the other boy alone- something pulled at him to never let that happen, a pit of fear in the bottom of his stomach that pulled at his every nerve.

Maybe it had something to do with the nightmares, the visions of Akira lying broken on cold tile, at the mercilessly unrelenting hands of the police, the images of Akira lying dead, blood pooling from his head, the way the images seemed to haunt him even when awake- but there was no point reading into it. It wasn’t important, especially not now.

What mattered was that when he woke up, breath haggard and skin shining with sweat under the light of outdoor streetlamps, Akira never woke. Wasn’t even perturbed. 

Ryuji tried to be thankful for it, tried not to think about why Akira was suddenly such a deep sleeper. Ignored the puncture wounds on his neck, the bottle of painkillers by his bedside. Akira was resting, and that was enough.

Even if it didn’t make sense that, when morning rose, the dark circles under Akira’s eyes had grown. That he tried to muffle pained yawns behind bandaged hands, and begged for more coffee- even though Takemi had put him on a temporary ban.

Because Ryuji had seen him sleeping, watched the rise and fall of his chest as Ryuji reminded himself that Akira was alive and safe, it was the sight that lulled him back to sleep from a nightmare. So why did Akira always look so tired?

He tried not to let his growing concern show, there was already so much to be worried about, he didn’t want to add another. Especially not when it could be nothing but his own annoying thoughts.

It wasn’t until the next night, after a particularly painful and thorough visit from Takemi earlier that day, that Ryuji started to reconsider.

Blearily opening his eyes to the dark lighting of the attic, Ryuji didn’t need a clock to know it was well into the middle of the night, and that he’d been woken up from his sleep, again.

But it was weird. There was none of the usual constricting fear, the blind panic- he’d hardly even started seeing the figure of a beaten Akira surrounded by shadow, let alone begun imagining the worst. 

About to blame it on the lumpy and painful springs of the couch and try to fall back asleep, Ryuji caught it. Quiet, as if muffled by something, but just loud enough to penetrate through the silence in the attic and reach Ryuji: crying.

No. Not crying.

Sobbing.

Ice burning in his stomach, he carefully lifted the blanket and rose, wary of creaking springs and the sound of rustling fabric, towards the shaking figure on the bed.

His voice was barely above a whisper, carrying clearly and softly through the silence as he carefully extended an arm, not touching, only hovering, “Akira?”

The responding flinch broke Ryuji’s heart all the more, as a head rose from under the covers, bloodshot eyes wide and darting around the room in panic, hair wildly askew. 

Moving as slowly as he dared, Ryuji sat at the side of the bed, “Hey, it’s okay, it’s only me.”

As the mattress shifted under him, Akira froze. Muscles tight and unyielding, back as ramrod straight as his broken ribs would allow, the entire body braced for something Ryuji didn’t even want to think about. His gaze was distant, somewhere far away from Leblanc, from the blond sat right beside him.

It reminded Ryuji of his Ma, in the months after the divorce. Curled up together on the dingy bed, they’d cling to each other so tight even in sleep, waking up in the morning sweaty and sometimes a little uncomfortable, never minding because they woke feeling completely safe. But there were the nights when his Ma’s screams would wake him in the early hours, recoiling and shaking even in her sleep. Ryuji would sit upright and watch over her until sunrise, would try to pull her from the memories he knew haunted her. Haunted them both.

Looking at Akira, the striking familiarity of the situation made him want to hurl.

He didn’t move, no matter how strong the urge was to reach out and console his hurting best friend. Instead, he kept his voice quiet, just audible above the laboured sobs, and waited.

“You’re okay, Akira. You’re safe, I’m not goin’ anywhere, alright? You’ve got me, it’s okay-”

Slowly, the frantic scanning of the room stopped. Staring at the artificial yellow light that bathed Leblanc’s street, following it into the shadows of the attic, where dark figures seemed to fade away. The flash of blond in his vision, perfectly still, aside from the hushed mutterings leaving chapped lips.

Akira focused on that sound. It felt safe.

As Ryuji uttered soft words of reassurance, he watched the tension slowly leave Akira’s body. Shoulders slightly slouched, jaw unclenched, his lip was bleeding- but he could worry about that later. All that mattered was the softening of Akira’s lines, as he slowly came back to Ryuji.

Delicately as he dared, he reached out. Hand brushing against bruised skin, careful not to as much as press on the marred areas. For a moment, there was no response. He waited, watching the panic continue to leave until, slightly trembling, Akira’s hand interlaced with his own.

“Ryuji?” The hazed look in his eyes was clearing, staring at Ryuji with a newly discovered relief, which was quickly overtaken by shame, “Shit- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, just go back to sleep I’m fine-”

“Hey no, no man it’s okay, really-” Feeling Akira begin to pull away, Ryuji let his thumb run over the back of his hand, determinedly meeting Akira’s gaze, “I don’t mind.”

Akira opened his mouth, ready to retort and insist, but found himself silenced by the look in the other boy’s eyes. Ryuji’s hand was warm, and for a moment Akira forgot there were even any injuries there at all, thumb tracing over them with such a delicate touch he hadn’t known the blond to have possessed.

Staring into Ryuji’s eyes, he wondered at how they were always so open and unguarded, never with anything to hide- a true reflection of his best friend, passionate and honest to a fault. It was something Akira had often envied, that ability to always be his true self, to freely display his emotions. 

He almost took that back now, staring back into deep brown eyes. Eyes which so clearly reflected hurt and worry.

The raw concern so honestly displayed to him that, just in this moment, Akira decided he would allow himself to be vulnerable. Just this one time. Knowing that, as they had done for each other so many times before, Ryuji would never judge.

Hesitantly, Akira pulled his hand out of Ryuji’s and, ignoring the concerned look he got in return, allowed his hand to trace higher, around his forearm, pulling him closer with a silent plea.

As always, Ryuji understood.

Carefully reaching out, Ryuji wrapped his arms around Akira, pulling him to his chest. His touch is firm, but cautious of the bruising and bandages decorating Akira’s abdomen. Even then, careful as he was, the occasional shift sent twinges of pain up Akira’s spine. And yet, he found he didn’t mind- not when he was so surrounded by warmth and comfort and the steady beat of Ryuji’s heart just audible through his chest, that for a minute Akira feels like he can just forget-

Somehow, Ryuji shifts so they’re leaning against the back wall, Akira’s head resting high on Ryuji’s chest, ear pressed to his left side. Logically, Ryuji supposed now would be a good time to ask about what just happened, about the dark circles under Akira’s eyes and the fear still lingering when he caught sight of shadows in the room- but there would be other opportunities. When Akira wasn’t so damn exhausted and clinging to Ryuji like he’s the final lifeline holding Akira together. When neither of them would be waking up in the middle of the night, a frenzied mess, and worrying about suspicious strangers in public and carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Yeah, there would be other times to talk. But for now, Ryuji would stay with Akira and listen as his breathing mellowed out into deep breaths, as his grip on the blond weakened and he cuddled closer still, lost to the throes of sleep.

Ryuji will stay with him until the sun rises.

Neither of them were plagued by nightmares for the rest of the night.

#persona 5 #p5 #fic #pegoryu #akira kusuru #ren amamiya #ryuji sakamoto #omg when was the last time i posted under these tags #i miss it #lol im sorry this fic is kinda rubbish but also i wanted to share it somewhere? since who knows when i'll edit it #(also lmao yeah rainbow is big influence and i now own p5r just gotta PLAY IT) #(but it's a slippery slope im scared i'll get hooked immediately? which is a dumb concern i know but IT WORRIES ME A LOT OKAY) #it's been years since i been deep in p5 #like #2 years #but still #much time #((edit: 2 seconds before posting i suddenly remember POSTING ANXIETY EXISTS OLD BUDDY OLD PAL shit it's been a while)) #((what a throwback emotion))

[bigskydreaming]

(Same lightning crashes anon here) thank u for answering my word vomit 😂 one thing I forgot to say in my ridiculous long ask was that I just really love how for once it’s Scott and his pack who know things? Like in the show Scott and his pack were always having to find out information as they had each different crisis (they always seemed at a disadvantage at first I mean), and in fanfic it’s always stiles who somehow knows everything and is just super knowledgeable about everything, or the hales etc 🙃 very petty of me but I love how my fave and his pack are the ones here who know more about the supernatural world, and who have connections with important people, and who know important information about things - Scott is too nice, but part of me is hoping Aiden or malia or someone who cares less would remind certain people that they are not actually the be all and end all of knowledge and should probably get off their high horse before they get shown up.. saw it a bit with aiden and Ethan roasting the whole ‘anything but human sacrifices’ conclusion and it was very satisfying lmao

LOL I honestly love these asks and sorry for not getting to this one sooner. I’ve been sitting on it for awhile because I wanted to respond when I posted the next chapter, which has been my focus like all month, its just because its been literal years I’m trying to make sure when I do post I’m able to get out this whole next chunk of the story out in quick succession, because it makes up kinda its own little arc and I’ll feel better about not having interruptions between it. So I want to get at least up to Chapter 10, which has been written for literal years and is one of my fave bits of the whole story, and its just a couple of the POV sections in between that I’m still toiling away on. Ideally I would love to get up to Chapter 13 and the introduction of Bloody Mary, the queen of the New York vampires as she’s a hoot and a half to write but we’ll see. LOL we’re talking about a good 50K worth of stuff already, it’ll at least double the existing published word count, and I’ve been chafing to post for awhile now.

If curious, the breakdown of the upcoming chapters, done the way I usually style each chapter’s three section summaries:

Chapter 6: Kira confronts Scott at school, Liam encounters the nogitsune, and back in Beacon Hills, another body is discovered. (Kira POV, Liam POV, Allison POV).

Chapter 7: Meredith visits Scott at Otherworld, offering dire warnings in her oh so cryptic fashion, Josh negotiates with the sirens for safe passage for the pack should it come to that, but they demand a favor in return, and in Beacon Hills, a long held secret comes to light and drives a wedge between the twins. (Scott POV, Josh POV, Aiden POV).

Chapter 8: Meredith plays a dangerous game, Theo’s forcibly drafted by a new player on the board and the sirens’ mysterious shipment coming in at the docks has all the old movers and shakers in town on edge and fortifying their places of power. There’s a storm on the rise. (All Theo POV, its a break from the traditional three POV structure and kinda a single long interlude thing).

Chapter 9: Kira continues her investigation as to just who and what Scott really is and what agenda he’s pursuing, Hayden spies on her sister, newly arrived in town, and debates reaching out to her, and back in Beacon Hills, Danny enlists Boyd’s help in preparing some contingencies in case the Hale pack is right to be wary of the twins as the night of the double date approaches. (Kira POV, Hayden POV, Boyd POV).

Chapter 10: The artifact being smuggled in by the sirens on behalf of an unknown third party arrives at the docks while Scott’s pack ensures it gets where its supposed to go, but there are numerous parties with other plans for it - some seeking it for their own designs while others think its best dropped into the bottom of the ocean - and all out chaos erupts on the docks in a many-sided fight for a single prize that ends up missing when all is said and done. (Long chapter, almost 15K, and lots of small subsections from tons of POVs from all different corners of the operation and ensuing fight. Scott POV, Tracy POV, Malia POV, Josh POV, Theo POV, Meredith POV).

And if I do get up to Chapter 13, that would be:

Chapter 11: Meanwhile, back in Beacon Hills, date night arrives while the Hale pack spies unobstrusively from a distance - or at least, that’s the intended idea. But when Julia Baccari is in town, what you see is not always what you get. (Lydia POV, Julia POV, Isaac POV).

Chapter 12: Having fallen into a somewhat comfortable give-and-take routine with Scott, Kira is aware something big is up with Scott and his friends and decides to try a different approach to getting answers, as she sets out to trail Scott after school. Back in Beacon Hills, Ethan tries to figure out just what the hell went wrong at the end of date night and why the Hale pack seems to have suddenly ramped up their wariness towards the twins to DEFCON 1. In New York, Brett has an unexpected encounter with Liam’s new friend Mason, only to be interrupted by an all out alarm from Carrie - someone snatched Scott on his way to work at Otherworld and no one knows where he is or who has him. (Kira POV, Ethan POV, Brett POV).

Chapter 13: Bloody Mary, queen of the city’s vampires, wants to know just who exactly has **** ****’s necklace right now and how worried about that she needs to be, and thinks Scott has the answers. ‘I don’t know’ is not what she’s looking for. Theo’s new employer has made it clear he expects Theo to find it or get it from whoever has it ASAP, which puts him on Scott’s trail and in the unexpected position to play rescuer and curry some favor at the cost of revealing himself.....but another option presents itself when he realizes he’s not the only one shadowing Scott. Back in Beacon Hills, while digging into the how of the nogitsune’s release from the Nemeton, Aiden realizes that the local vet is a druid. (Scott POV, Theo POV, Aiden POV).

Anyway anyway.

As to the subject of your ask......yessssss. That was one of my big aims with this story because its SUCH a pet peeve to me, how often allegedly ‘smarter’ characters on the show are praised for having knowledge that’s wholly situational and has nothing to do with how intelligent the characters are for knowing it? Like.....Stiles knows stuff....that he was literally just shown googling and that’s how he knows it. And Derek knows stuff....because he grew up in a werewolf pack who told him about kitsunes and other supernatural creatures. Etc, etc. And yet so often Scott is labeled dumb for just not knowing stuff that he’s not MEANT to know in the show because on the show he’s meant to fill the role of the everyman kid who was thrust uninformed into a world he had no way to prepare for.....and the show wanted to KEEP him in that fish out of water headspace for a lot of the show, like, it was deliberate? And again, wholly situational?

So that was definitely one of the things I deliberately set out to do differently with this fic, because I was like......this pack has been all over the country, encountered tons of creatures, beings and figures of all types, and are smack in the middle of a supernatural hot spot in New York. They’re gonna know all about the supernatural world and community just by nature of their EXPERIENCES.

And yes, Scott may not be the type to lord greater knowledge or experience over know-it-alls who like to be vague and cryptic to cover up when they don’t actually know as much as they claim to, but as you said, that’s what he has Aiden and Malia for lolololol.

[thewriting-corner]

Over 1,000 followers. Wow. I never thought I’d get here. And because there are so many new people, I wanted to reintroduce myself for those here who have not had the once in a lifetime experience of meeting the Queen of Burnout herself. So yay for that. I suck at segues, I’m sorry.

I’m Lu, an 18 year old girl who has yet to grow up lol. I’m obsessed with superheroes (DC over Marvel, sorry), as you will (hopefully) see with my book some day. I write mostly sci-fi, though I dip my toes into contemporary and fantasy every once in a while. On this account I do writing advice, writing memes and book reviews so prepare to see me scream over fictional characters.

Some more basic info about me: I’m Catholic, from Latin America (I will not say from where) and I speak Spanish, English and German (though I want to learn at least three more).

My favorite books include the Renegades trilogy by Marissa Meyer (BEST read of 2021), The Yellow Note by MJ Padgett and The Black Reckoning by John Stephens. My current reads are basically a juggle between These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, Ledge by Stacie McEwan and The Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster. Ironic as it is considering the genre of most of those books, I’m not a huge fan of fantasy.

And not as important BUT my favorite shows are Alexa & Katie, Brooklyn 9-9, Modern Family and The Flash. Also Supergirl but only up to season 4 because Lex Luthor?? Genius.

Right now I have two WIPs. One is about a 17 year old girl who discovers she can see the future and the other is about a 17 year old who travels through time to escape a man that’s trying to murder her before she murders him in 7 years. The first one is nearly finished with edits (fourth draft) and the second one is a first draft. [I watched a lot of Doctor Who, Jurassic Park and superhero shows (still do) so clearly I get my inspirations from somewhere hehe.]

Also, I LOVE giving writing advice (I mean clearly, I made a whole account for it) but if you ever need help with anything writing related, feel free to DM me. I might not always reply immediately but unless I’m super busy, I reply after a few hours :)

Lastly, I overshare a LOT on my Insta stories, however, I do not feel comfortable sharing personal information such as name, where I’m from and all that. If you find my personal account somehow, unless we’re close friends, please do not follow it. It’s uncomfortable.

I ALMOST FORGOT. I have a slight caffeine addiction. I love coffee. If there is one thing I relate to Lorelai Gilmore is coffee. But don’t be worried if you see that on my Insta stories. I promise I drink max 3 cups per day (excluding the Coca Cola intake oops).

But yeah. That’s me. A sci-fi obsessed teenager with barely any social life and a tendency to burn out. Nice to meet all you and thank you for 1k!

(And if you want to read more about my WIP I have like one or two posts on it)

[youichi-kuramochi]

dearest viv,

how the FUCK do you connect scenes?

i forgot what sign off i was gonna use

started with an r

umm

fuck. whatever

i cant remember if it was regards or respectfully. maybe respectfully?? yeah since i was yelling?? ok

respectfully,

honey ʕ ﹒ ᴥ ﹒ ʔ

ALDFKJGALDFKGDLFJ THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST ASK TO WAKE UP TO THANK YOU FOR THAT OMG

ANYWAY............ do u mean like in general or me personally lmao bc my answer to the second is probably like. totally unhelpful bc I just kinda vibe it most of the time when I’m writing adflkjagdfk at least first drafts. editing is another story (standby. we’ll get there lmao)

[sidebar: OH MY GOD THIS ANSWER GOT SO LONG I’M SO SORRY IF THIS WAS A JOKEY ASK AND I JUST RAMBLED UNNECESSARILY FOR LIKE FOREVER I am just. I am very passionate about writing even though my own process is a Mess aldkfjglkgf anyway I’m putting this under a cut bc uh. this really got away from me]

alright so theoretically??? I think transitions are less important than like. there should be a point each scene is trying to make. it either develops character or plot or relationships or any combination of those, and you need to have enough to make that point and then it can end (though I overelaborate a lot so. idk. I don’t think I follow most of this advice even though I understand it In Theory adlfkgjlkf). similarly, when you string the scenes together, they should to build towards a larger narrative arc. like because character a learned this thing about themself in the previous scene, now they can confront character b about something else. or because of this character establishing moment, we can now have this character do this thing because we, the readers, now have some insight into their motivations/fears/desires/etc. or whatever. I guess this is sort of about transitions lmao but the point is that the larger narrative should connect, not that you need to be super careful always about making the words/physical scenes themselves connect, if that makes sense

imo scenes can start and end abruptly and like as long as the narrative point is made you don’t really miss out on much. I’m terrible at actually doing this which is why my fics all wind up so long but I don’t mind it at all when I’m reading. I think it’s really cool when someone can make a really powerful point with far fewer words than I ever could. idk who told me this maybe a professor or maybe I just read it somewhere but it’s often a good move to drop readers right in the middle of the action like you don’t need that much buildup to it (unless the buildup serves a purpose. maybe your character is hesitating. maybe they’re overthinking.) you might need more buildup/general exposition in the beginning to get us acquainted with the world of the fic, but especially as you go on, exposition only as needed can be a good move. something something kill your darlings, y’know?

actually this last bit I do follow sometimes lmao I often wind up with several pages of just. unused text that I’d written and then decided was extraneous to the point I was trying to make or made a scene drag on or just didn’t click. like for my current ongoing fic, I have entire scenes I’ve cut. I wrote 2k of a high school scene that I ended up only using slivers of for flashbacks. there was a scene when onigiri miya opened at one point. for my bkak big bang fic I literally have over 6k that I took out completely that if I had kept in would’ve given the whole thing a completely different tone that I decided I didn’t like after I’d already written like half the fic. so I scrapped them. I usually save these, not do anything with really but just because deleting text forever is hard lmao so saving the writing somewhere, if not in the fic itself, makes it easier for me to cut

ALL THAT SAID it’s also totally cool to just trust your gut and run with a vague idea. like this kind of writing should be fun and I wouldn’t let worrying about this stuff get in the way of having a good time. and also everyone’s process is different!! everyone’s writing style is different and your writing probably won’t have the same tone or style as writers you admire and that’s okay!! it’s a good thing, even, imo. that’s what’s so cool about writing and honestly a lot of my favorite writers do not write like I do and I love that

and when I said I vibe it w my fics I really honestly do 90% of the time. I usually have a general sense of where I’m going but it’s more enjoyable for me discover things on the way. some people swear by outlines, I fundamentally do not other than like. AT MAX writing a short bullet point list of scenes I want to include as I think of them bc my brain is like a sieve. and usually weeks after starting something, I’ll write a line/paragraph/scene and have an epiphany like oh my god. oh my god I get what this whole piece is trying to say. (this is my favorite part of writing tbh. discovering that moment) and once I have that, it’s much easier to figure out what belongs and what doesn’t when I go back and edit earlier scenes and make sure that everything ties together

and also, finally, (sorry I know I’ve been rambling for a while now I swear this is the last point) I want to note that all of this gets easier and more natural with practice. I’ve been writing for over 10 years, on and off. ao3 says I have 500k+ of published fic, not to mention I probably as much if not more from abandoned wips that will never see the light of day AND a bunch of stuff floating around on livejournal (lol) from the pre-ao3 days, so I have written. a LOT. and over time you sort of hone your intuition about what works for you and what doesn’t and at least for me, now I think a lot less abt the nitty gritty and just go wherever my writing takes me and I’ll usually land in the general vicinity of making sense. I think anyone can get there (or wherever it is you’d like to be if this isn’t your style). the trick is just to keep writing! it’s a skill like everything else ☺️

#my english degree is like girl u know how to structure stories u know what the elements are #u know how ur supposed to use symbolism and motifs and how to construct thematic elements #but then I sit down to write and my brain just goes BRRR PINING IDIOTS and I just kinda go from there #ooooh my god this is so long I'm so sorry I am literally incapable of being concise #do u see how I keep winding up with 20k fics lmao I cannot shut up when I have a point I wanna make #god I hope someone finds this at least remotely useful I really just went full stream of consciousness for *checks* 6 paragraphs wow #do not ask me about writing unless ur prepared for this ig you learn smth new about yourself every day akdjfgldkf #if u actually read all of this I owe u my life lmao #honeyukishiro #text #ask

[prettywordsyouleft]

PWYL’s Year In Review

2020 has been quite the year, huh. Let’s look at what you’ve enjoyed, I’ve enjoyed and all that’s in between.

Top Ten Popular Posts (i used THIS generator)

What A Tease: Seated Position - Mark Tuan suggestive scenario

What A Tease: Symphony - Jaebum smut scenario

Inferior - Jinyoung scenario

Friends to Lovers - Young K scenario

A Good Excuse - Jackson Wang suggestive scenario

Maybe - Jinyoung scenario

Heaven - Jinyoung scenario

Reconciliation - Jaebum series

What A Tease: Unprofessional - Jinyoung suggestive scenario

Band Sessions: Jae - Jae scenario

My thoughts: It doesn’t surprise me to see this list as much as I thought it would. I’m grateful to see some of my favourite scenarios, like Inferior, Friends to Lovers and Maybe on this list. I would have thought there would be some Monsta X in amongst this though, since I wrote for them a lot this year. However, I expected Got7 stories to dominate this list.

My Top Five Series

10 Dates - Suho (EXO)

To Be Continued - Young K (DAY6)

Forsaken - Jinyoung (GOT7)

Reconciliation - Jaebum (GOT7) linked above

Down By The Lake - Daehyun / Yongguk (B.A.P)

My Top Ten Scenarios

Inferior - Jinyoung (GOT7) linked above

Friends to Lovers - Young K (DAY6) linked above

Maybe - Jinyoung (GOT7) linked above

Maker - Y/N x writer 

Bonding Session - Kyungsoo (EXO)

Peach and Pear - Jinyoung (GOT7)

The Writers Guild: BamBam (GOT7)

MonX Hospital: Minhyuk (MONSTA X)

After School Hours - Joshua (SVT)

Christmas Foresight - Changmin (THE BOYZ)

My Top Five Challenging Words stories

Thirteen Moons - Sungjin (DAY6)

Great Lengths - Bang Chan (STRAY KIDS)

Forbidden Apple - Yoongi (BTS)

Enamoured - Minho (SHINee)

Quickfire - Donghun (A.C.E)

Highlights of 2020

Finally finishing my You x Idol drabble game.

Writing some series ideas that I really thought were going to be hard (Forsaken, To Be Continued, 10 Dates) and being satisfied with how they turned out

Doing some groups series, like Band Sessions and MonX Hospital, and creating an entire world.

Collaborations with my writer friends. I honestly love writing with my friends! 

Writing Sungjin as a cop in To Be Continued. He wasn’t even in the original draft notes for the series but became someone so deeply important to the storyline! I feel like each year, Sungjin’s characters keep coming out on top (last year, it was his story Existence in the Spiritual Connection world that came for my soul)

Destined hitting 2k notes and still being the most popular story and series on my blog.

Things I wish had gone differently / things I wasn’t happy about

The gaps in my writing schedule - whilst I needed to take those moments, looking back now, I wish I could have remained more consistent.

The lack of variety - in some areas, I did improve but looking back on everything, it was pretty obvious I stuck to like three groups for most of the year. Of course, this isn’t entirely bad as I discovered deeper connections with some of these characters, but it did mean I didn’t get as much variety as I hoped to. 

The endless hate for Forsaken and Bloodstone - two stories that I was really excited to share. I know I need to let it go, but I really don’t get the big fuss around it all. 

Personal pressure - I was so busy trying to improve as a writer over and over that at times I forgot to enjoy the journey as I travelled along it.

Frightful October - that whole thing was so unfortunate and it still breaks me to think of all the discarded plans @this-song-thats-only-for-you​ and I had, only to not give the segment it’s final hurrah as we hoped to. This was the last year we wanted to do it as we were going to try something new for 2021, so it’s really bittersweet knowing how much of a fail October was. 

2021 Goals

To complete at least ten series

To either write the ideas that have been sitting in my ideas file for sometime, or to let them go... holding onto them for a rainy day so to speak isn’t going to work

Always aiming for variety but also accepting that there are some groups I just naturally have an affinity towards and that’s okay

To try and write more details into my worlds. This way, I’ll be adding more depth and word count - which isn’t a bad thing to be practicing if I wish to attempt writing longer pieces for eventual novel preparation

To collab with some other people than I usually do. I’m not very brave at approaching others but I want to give it a try! (please if you want to collab with me, feel free to message me haha)

I dunno why but it makes most sense to me to put Mayday6 in May, so it’s kind of a goal to make that happen then lol

Figure if I’m going to open another prompt list up for requests or offer sporadic requests - either way, bring in some fresh ideas from my followers at some point

To be uncaring about genres I choose. If I want to write four royal au stories in a row, then so be it (I have a lot of royal and regency au ideas, someone please make me stop dreaming about being a princess or wearing pretty dresses lmfao)

Whilst scheduling to me is important, not pressuring myself to stick to the same format of writing each week/month. I’m not burned out, but I am bored of the same thing time and time again. 

Admittedly, this one is one I can’t not ask of myself - make a pile of writing so I’m ahead again. I like the feeling of having stories to fall back on.. but also allowing newer stories to jump the queue if I’m most excited for them.

Phew! What a year I’ve had! There’s been some amazing moments not captured in this list, and amazing people who I’m forever grateful for. Thank you for supporting me! 

May 2021 bring some really awesome personal writer growth and fun for this writing blog!!

2020 Masterlist 

#pwyl; year in review

[etherealwaifgoddess]

Maybe I Am? - Chpt.2

Characters: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes

Summary: Steve takes a risk and the guys go out on a “date”. Master list HERE

Content Warning: first “date” cuteness, making out 

Word Count: 2.5k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! Today is one of those days where I am eternally grateful for having a “draft” option. Because honestly, ya girl is exhausted. So yay for drafts! Enjoy chapter two. I’m honestly too tired to give ya’ll a better note right now. :-\   XOXO - Ash

Chapter Two

Steeeeve [9:32:08PM]: Hey, it’s Steve.

Bucky Barnes [9:32:47PM]: hi steve

Steeeeve [9:33:15PM]: I had a lot of fun meeting up today.

Bucky Barnes [9:33:39PM]: me 2

Steve huffed staring at Bucky’s second generic response. He was usually so much more lively. Steve took a long sigh and started texting what he needed to get off his chest.

Steeeeve [9:35:21PM]: I’m sorry if I came off as confused or misleading. 

Steeeeve [9:35:26PM]: I didn’t mean to do that. But I am kind of confused right now. 

Steeeeve [9:35:35PM]: I spent so much time liking the idea of you, and you in real life was even more amazing than I could have expected. But I’ve never dated a guy before and I never expected to want to. And now I think I do. 

Steeeeve [9:35:49PM]: I’m sorry. This probably isn’t any less confusing. I’m apparently really bad at this lol. I guess what I’m trying to say is, will you go out on a maybe-date with me? I want to try and see how I feel. I don’t want to string you on, but I want to try.

Bucky stared at the flurry of texts coming into his phone. Damn, serial texter much? He read and re-read Steve texts a few times, chewing nervously his bottom lip, trying to find a response. He wasn’t willing to let his heart get trample on again, not after Brock. But he really liked Steve and if there was a chance Steve might like him too, it was too good to pass up. He had a distinct feeling he was going to regret it, but he tapped out the only honest response he could think of.

Bucky Barnes [9:44:13PM]: i like u 2 steve. i get that ur confused. lets try ur maybe-date and see how it goes? if it goes well cool, if not no hard feelings. k?

Steeeeve [9:45:20PM]: Thank you. Really, thank you for being so great about this. Can we get dinner one night this week? 

Bucky Barnes [9:45:55PM]: im free any nite but tues

Steeeeve [9:46:10PM]: I can do Friday night around 7. There’s a really great Mexican place a few blocks over from the gym if you’re willing to schelp all the way over to Park Slope. 

Bucky Barnes [9:46:31PM]: sounds good. see u then

Bucky sighed, putting his phone away into the pocket of his favorite old hoodie. He had a date. A maybe-date, but for some reason that felt good enough for him at the moment.

xxXxx

Steve discovered the best part of being able to text Bucky wasn’t just that their chatting was no longer limited to when they were both near a computer, but that they now had a full range of emojis, memes, and GIFs at their disposal. He could now send Bucky random funny things he found during the day and he felt a little proud when Bucky would send back a string of laughing emojis, knowing he had brightened the other man’s day a little. He had worried with their maybe-date looming things might be a little awkward but if anything they were going even better. By the time Friday came Steve was genuinely looking forward to their maybe-date. He had even gone out on Wednesday before his shift at the gym to pick up a set of clothes that were distinctly not gym wear. He couldn’t remember the last time he bought a button up shirt but he had to admit the blue and white checked shirt looked nice on him. He was trying not to stress over the maybe-date but he felt this gnawing need to know, definitively, if he was truly interested in Bucky, or just the fantasy of WinterBae. 

Steve raced home Friday to shower and change, hoping he’d left himself enough time to do all that and still make it over to Los Aztecas in time. Taking the time to slick back his hair and do a quick shave, Steve was hustling out the door only to realize he’d forgotten the bottle of wine once he got outside. After a fast double back for the wine he was on his way, making it to the tiny authentic Mexican restaurant with three minutes to spare. He had barely stopped walking when he saw Bucky hopping out of an uber. Steve felt a little flutter at the sight of Bucky and he took it as a good sign. 

Bucky looked amazing in his dark skinny jeans and a silky looking black shirt. A minimalist necklace was around his throat, the simple bar resting just below the wings of his collarbones. Steve noticed Bucky had swapped out the cheery beaded bracelets he’d worn on Sunday for a set of sleek silver and leather ones. He looked like he belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine and Steve felt ridiculous in what Sam had teased was his bible salesman outfit. 

“Heya.” Bucky greeted warmly, extending an arm for a half hug.

“Hey,” Steve echoed, hugging back with his free hand. “Ready for the best Mexican food of your life?” 

“Definitely, let’s go.” 

Steve led Bucky inside the little restaurant, its cozy decor making the place feel intimate instead of cramped. Steve had called ahead for reservations so they were whisked off to a table as soon as he gave the concierge his name. Bucky was looking around fascinated, taking in all the colorful decorations. 

“It’s really something, huh?” Steve prompted with a smile.

Bucky nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it’s beautiful. So much art packed into so little space. Thanks for bringing me here, Steve.” 

“It’s one of my favorite places in the area, mostly for the tacos but also for the art. I got my degree in fine art before I switched gears and went back to get certified in exercise science.” 

“That’s quite a switch.” Bucky laughed.

“Art will always be my first love, but it’s not exactly profitable. And once I got healthier I knew I wanted to help other people do the same. I was really sick as a kid and didn’t hit any major growth spurts until I was almost 21. After that, I worked out a lot getting used to my new body and fell in love with the gym.” 

“Wow. I’m glad you were able to get healthier, and it’s sweet you’re trying to give back to others with that.” 

“Do you go to a gym? I won’t be offended that it’s a competitor, I swear.”  

Bucky barked out a laugh, “No. God, no. I am perfectly happy with not having abs or a totally flat stomach as long as waffles exist.” 

Steve couldn’t help his eyes dropping to Bucky’s stomach which honestly couldn’t have had more than the smallest layer of padding across it. “That’s okay too. Waffles are pretty great.” 

The waitress stopped by to uncork their wine and drop off a basket of fresh tortilla chips and salsa verde. 

“What did you bring?” Bucky asked as he took the glass of white wine Steve had poured him.

“Albariño. A waitress here recommended it a few years ago and now it’s my go to. It’s light and crisp, and kinda citrusy? I’m not a wine snob but it’s damn good and goes really well with tacos. I hope you like white wine, I forgot to ask.” 

“I’ve yet to meet a white wine I didn’t like, so you’re safe.” Bucky sipped the wine and his eyes lit up, “Oh yeah, this is good. I’ll be hunting this down next time I go shopping.” 

“You can get it over at the little wine boutique near the farmers market in Sunset Park. They always have this kind.”

“Nice, I’ll have to check it out. My sister will love this the next time she visits.” 

The conversation flowed as the basket of tortilla chips disappeared, only ebbing when their platters arrived and they tucked into their food. Steve had ordered his usual taco platter while Bucky opted for the taquitos platter, an assortment of slow roasted meats wrapped in thin crispy shells. He let out a groan at his first bite that had Steve’s heart stuttering in his chest. The maybe-date had mostly felt like a friend-date up until that point, though Steve had to admit there was a tiny flutter of like there too. But the noise Bucky made and the expression on his face had Steve thinking anything but friends only thoughts. 

Bucky caught Steve staring at him as he licked a dribble of sauce off his bottom lip. He hadn’t gotten a distinct date-date vibe from Steve but the look on the blonde’s face was priceless. Bucky thought he probably had made a similar one the first time he saw Devon Sawa in Wild America when he was 12. He had never stood a chance of being straight after that. Testing the waters a little bit, Bucky smirked at Steve, making it abundantly clear he’d been caught staring. Steve flushed and Bucky’s smile widened. There might be hope after all.

Steve wasn’t sure if it was the wine or too many tacos but by the time dinner was over he felt glued to his seat. He hated knowing the evening was coming to an end and wanted to do something, anything, to prolong it. The waitress dropped off the sales receipt with a pen and Steve tried to steady his hand as he signed his name. He knew he needed to muster up his courage or he would be saying goodbye to Bucky in mere minutes.

“Thanks again for paying.” Bucky said after draining the last of his wine, “This was really nice.” 

“It was.” Steve agreed, seeing his chance, “You know, I have another bottle of this wine back at my place if you wanna come over for a bit. Maybe you could help me find that movie app you were telling me about for the Fire Stick?”

“Sure, I’m happy to help. I won’t say no to more of that wine either.” Bucky stamped down the hopeful cheering in his chest that Steve was inviting him over. The poor guy probably didn’t mean that anything would happen other than wine and tech help but Bucky could always dream. He would be respectful though, he resolved to himself. He’d never dated a guy who was questioning his sexuality before and Bucky didn’t want to push too far too soon. Bucky figured it was best to let Steve set the pace and just hope his heart didn’t get run over in the process. 

Steve’s apartment was only four blocks from the restaurant, a second floor walk up in an old converted brownstone. It was nicer than Bucky’s little hole in the wall apartment and even had a small second bedroom that Steve had set up as a home office. After giving Bucky a quick tour, he led them to the kitchen to pull another bottle of Albariño out of his cabinet. Passing a stemless glass to Bucky, he poured them both a generous amount of wine which they carried out to the living room so Bucky could show Steve the app he’d mentioned during dinner. A few clicks and a quick download later, Steve had access to a ridiculous amount of free movies. 

“This is so great.” Steve praised, clicking through the different options. “Oh I love this one!”

“Hm?” Bucky looked up from his glass to see Steve hovering over 10 Things I Hate About You. “Oh that one is great. I remember wanting to be Patrick Verona when I grew up after seeing that.” 

Steve gave an amused side eyed look at Bucky. “I think you did a decent job.” he teased, throwing on the movie out of sheer impulse.

Bucky laughed, “You’re sweet. But god knows I’ll never be that smooth.” 

“You’re better off than me. I’ve been told I’m hopeless on more than one occasion.” 

“You hold your own, Rogers.” Bucky assured him, reaching over to take Steve’s hand in his, stroking the pad of his thumb over the ridges of Steve’s knuckles. 

Steve blinked slowly, looking from their joined hands up to Bucky’s face. It felt good, that fluttery feeling stirring in his gut at the contact. He gave Bucky a smile and squeezed his hand gently, making sure his consent was clear.

The movie rolled and they sipped their wine as Patrick did his best to woo Kat. Bucky slowly nudged closer to Steve until he was pressed against his side, his head leaning against Steve’s shoulder. He was warm and comfortable and completely unwilling to move by the time Letters to Cleo played into the credits. 

“I can’t believe it’s after eleven already.” Steve yawned. 

Bucky yawned next, set off by Steve’s. “Same. I had a really good night, Steve.” He looked up curiously, wondering if Steve had found any new revelations on their maybe-date. 

“Me too. This was… really nice. Hey, um, I know this was a maybe-date, but maybe um…”

Bucky shifted so he could sit up taller and face Steve while he fumbled for words.

“I, um, I’d really like to kiss you right now.” Steve blurted out, looking equal parts excited and terrified. 

Bucky’s smile was like the sun. “Okay, yeah.” Bucky reached out to cup Steve’s cheek, going agonizingly slow to give Steve a chance to bolt if he needed it. He leaned up a little and Steve craned his neck down, tentatively meeting Bucky’s lips with his own. 

A soft press, a pause, another soft press, and then the kiss deepened, Bucky’s lips parting to slot Steve’s with his. Steve let out a choked off moan, unable to believe what he was doing and how good it felt. He let a hand rake through Bucky’s hair and it only made him want to feel more of the silky locks. The scent of cedar and teak from his cologne filled Steve’s nose and though it was very distinctly male, Steve couldn’t get enough of it. It was so much more than he could have expected but also not nearly enough. He was breathing raggedly when he finally pulled back, repressing a shudder at the well kissed expression on Bucky’s face. His full bottom lip was shining and red, his eyes heavy lidded and his chest heaving just as much as Steve’s. 

“Whoa.” Steve finally breathed out in amazement.

“Yeah, whoa.” Bucky agreed. “So does this help in sorting out if this was a date-date?”

“I think it was definitely a date-date.” 

“I’m glad. And do you think you’d want to try another date sometime?”

“When are you free next?” Steve chuckled, only half kidding. 

“Easy there, pal.” Bucky warned lightly, patting Steve’s ridiculously broad chest. “We’ll find a day again soon.” 

Steve nodded, knowing Bucky was right for wanting to take things slow. He led Bucky over to the door, giving him one last quick kiss goodbye before the brunette headed out into the early summer night. Steve was still floored by his own reactions to Bucky but it felt so right that he couldn’t agonize over it for long. 

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #stucky #stucky fanfic #stucky fanfiction #idiots in love #confused steve rogers #gay bucky barnes #modern day au #no powers

[drawlfoy]

Faux Diplomacy p.1

pairing: draco x femilvermornymugglebornslytherin(a mouthful i know)!reader

request: no, i’ve just always wanted to write this

warnings: explicit language, mentions of drinking, and most importantly, the reader has a moment where she thinks of inducing vomiting (not for a disorder but for a reason totally unrelated). if you’re sensitive to that then i suggest maybe skipping the part where she describes the slytherin boy dormitories. also, drink “spiking” (not date rape drugs though, just veritaserum)

summary: ilvermorny exchange fic during 6th year. reader is sorted into slytherin along with nearly all of the other exchange students. they realize they may be there for another reason than just for diplomacy when they discover that all of them are muggleborn. slow burn for draco...you’re supposed to hate him in the beginning.

a/n: i drafted this in the very beginning of summer without the intent of showing it to anyone, so this is a pretty large step in my writing journey. feel free to share your thoughts and feedback in the replies, i’m always here to hear them! more requests are coming soon and i’ll try and whip out another original idea once i slough through the requests i have right now. also: the best friend and the reader are going to be very affectionate, and i apologize if that’s not your thing. it’s just how i interact with my friends and i like to insert my favorite people in my stories, even when it isn’t very smooth. also if you’re wondering why i have so many fics based in 6th year it’s because i always found that to be the hottest year for draco lmao

music recs: i listened to a lot of lorde when i wrote this for some reason. i couldn’t tell you why but i did lol

word count: 2,038

“This is ridiculous.”

“What?”

I turned around to look at my roommate and best friend, Bella, who was sitting sprawled out on my bed and repeated the sentiment.

“This is ridiculous. My application status is still ‘review’, and everyone else already got their acceptance letter. Do you think it means they’re trying to find a nice way to reject me?”

Bella rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Jesus Christ Y/N, with your grades and qualifications, they’d be a fool to not let you go. I got in. Hell, even Peter got in!”

Her comment made me crack a smile. Peter was in our year, sure, but a whole idiot. He was probably the lowest ranked person in Y/I/H. His parents were super loaded, though.

“Plus,” Bella added, “Hogwarts doesn’t have much experience with muggle electronics. I hear they switched to electric acceptances for foreign matters for efficiency purposes since they were so sick of losing owls over the Atlantic. They’re a bunch of old geezers that might still be looking for the send button on your acceptance email.”

“Wait.” Y/N froze as she saw something pop up in her inbox from Hogwarts’ administration. “I think they sent me something.”

Suddenly, the hot August air was more stifling than ever. Y/N had an urge to get up and open her window, but she couldn’t leave her laptop. Her eyes were glued to the email.

“You gonna open it, or...” 

“YES! Fine, I’ll do it.” Y/N’s hand clicked on the email and hid her face. Bella’s hands began prying her fingers away from her face. 

“You’ve gotta see it, Y/N. You’ve gotta look!”

Y/N allowed her hands to drop, peering at the screen in front of her. 

No way. No way.

It took her a minute to actually comprehend the words “Congratulations!” on the screen, but once she did, her entire body began vibrating with electricity.

“Oh my GOD!”

“We’re going to Hogwarts together!” Bella shrieked, jumping off Y/N’s bed and grabbing her. The two girls clung to each other while Bella spun them in circles until they fell on the bed with dizziness.

After the Hogwarts acceptance letter, Ilvermorny reached out to the students as well to detail their departure. The 16 students selected--a rather odd number, Y/N thought--were to meet on the Ilvermorny grounds at 6am on September 1st. Dumbledore himself had prepared 4 portkeys for the students and expected them to teleport to Hogwarts using them.

As far as Y/N was concerned, this day couldn’t come soon enough. It was time for her to get away from the loudness of America.

♥♥♥♥ 

The first thing Y/N saw was a very old witch standing in front of her small group of peers. She was wearing a traditional witch hat, something no one ever did back in America.

“Welcome, students.” Y/N was taken aback by just how delicate her voice was. She always forgot how diverse accents were in Europe. “I am Professor McGonagall. We are so pleased to have you joining us for this school year.” 

The elegant old lady fiddled with her eyeglasses before she continued.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears as though there won’t be enough time to sort each and every one of you. We do have a rather large group of first years and would prefer to keep things moving along.” 

Everyone groaned in unison. Who did this lady think she was, taking away their chances at being sorted by the infamous Sorting Hat?

“Thankfully,” she continued, “The head of the Slytherin house, Professor Snape, was gracious enough to take all of you in. It appears as though there are exactly 16 open beds in their dorm, so it works famously. I expect you all to behave yourselves and represent your country well so that we’ll consider taking exchange students next year. We have no qualms with sending students home who don’t follow the rules.”

Everyone nodded, nervously glancing around the group. Y/N couldn’t help but wonder if people were going to be sent home, or if that was simply an empty threat.

“Well, come along then!”

McGonagall ushered the nervous group of witches and wizards across the courtyard and into a giant dining hall, much larger than the one Ilvermorny boasted.

As the students entered, the soft chatter that had filled the room faded away as the Hogwarts students examined the newcomers. Whispers replaced the chatter once they saw a magical display above them unfurl an american flag.

So much for getting away from that obnoxious American stereotype Y/N thought bitterly. What’s next, magical reenactments of the Vietnam War?

“Students,” McGonagall called. “Sit at the Slytherin table.”

A long but well kept fingernail motioned to the long table on the right side, filled with students wearing green.

“Good thing green looks great on both of us!” Bella whispered into Y/N’s ear. She giggled. 

“Yellow and red wash me out. We got lucky.”

Unfortunately for the girls, everyone else had gotten to the table first, leaving only two open seats open. When they saw who was across from them, they began to understand why they were the least desirable seats.

One platinum haired boy and a dark haired girl occupied the seats, both wearing disgusted looks. 

“Hello, I’m-” Y/N’s timid attempt at an introduction was cut short when the dark haired girl cut in.

“We know why you’re here.”

“Excuse me?” Bella looked ready to kill.

“She said,” the blond boy met Y/N’s eyes, “We know why you’re here.”

“Uh...yeah, the weather’s great this time of year.” Y/N tried to push for a laugh, but clearly it wasn’t coming.

“No, you idiot.” The girl raised one eyebrow. “Do you not know?”

“Well, whatever you think you know wasn’t deemed important enough to mention to US, so fuck off,” Bella answered.

“Jesus, Bella, we can at least be nice,” Y/N interjected. “Can you tell us? We probably already know, but sti-”

“No.” The blond boy looked slightly amused at our curiosity. “You’re right. It’s so important that of course you would know. Pansy and I are just playing with you. That’s all you mudbloods are good for, anyways.”

Y/N’s jaw dropped. Blood purity discrimination? That shit was outlawed years ago in the US. If anyone even mentioned the term “muggleborn” in a less than positive light, they were blacklisted. 

“What did you just call us?”

“Perhaps you need to get your ears checked,” the girl shot back. “You heard him.”

Y/N sucked in a breath. She’d woken up at 5 for this. 

“So tell me, Pansy.” Y/N leaned over the table. “Was it an accident? Or were you just born with a pug face?”

The girl turned bright red but maintained her composure. 

“I’m sick of talking to you,” she finally said.

♥♥♥♥

“Oh, bitch, you got her!” Bella was cackling to Y/N in the privacy of her dorm room. “You were like, ‘do tell me’, and the second those words left your lips, I was like, oh no, here it comes...”

They both ugly laughed on the bed together until their sides hurt. 

“Blondie was kind of hot though,” Y/N admitted.

“Kind of. I guess, if you’re into racists.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not.” Y/N chucked a pillow at Bella/s head, just narrowly missing it and instead hitting her suitcase. 

A knock on their door sounded, stopping their shenanigans. Bella crept up to open it and saw Laurel, another girl from their year, with a few other kids.

“The Slytherins are throwing a welcome party for us in the common room,” Lucy informed them. “The nice ones are, at least.”

“There’s nice Slytherins?” Bella asked sarcastically. “Whatever. We’re in. Give us a minute to get dressed.”

Lucy nodded, shutting the door. Y/N could hear their footsteps walk away from their room.

The two rushed to get out of the sad looking sweats they were planning to sleep in, Y/N opting for a skirt and a short sleeved shirt. She’d always been a fan of old-fashioned plaid.

♥♥♥♥

Y/N did not get drunk. It was the unspoken rule between her and Bella: one of them drinks, the other one sips and plays the mom friend. Y/N was always the mom, something she didn’t mind that much, but at the welcome party, she indulged in two cups of firewhiskey. She held her liquor well anyways, and it wasn’t like anyone had to drive. 

A few hours had gone by when a Slytherin girl who introduced herself as Daphne Greengrass stood on a table and yelled, “Everyone, quiet!”

The music quieted a little and the chatter erased itself as the room waited on her words.

“In Slytherin tradition,” the Greengrass girl said, “We’re going to play a game of Truth or Dare. The Firewhiskey has been laced with Veritaserum, so if you’re choosing truth, beware! We’re playing around this table!”

With that, Daphne stepped down and all the Ilvermorny students stood frozen. Y/N couldn’t believe that the Slytherins spiked their drinks. She also couldn’t believe the fact that she accepted drinks from people she didn’t know, violating every bit of party safety rules her father had taught he. He’d be so disappointed.

Against her better judgement, Y/N allowed herself to be pulled to the table by a very intoxicated but very cheerful Bella. She managed a smile--she loved drunk Bella almost more than she loved normal Bella. She’d always heard that people became their true selves when they drank. If that was the case, Bella was the sunniest person to walk the earth.

Unfortunately for Y/N, she was sitting next to Daphne, who announced that the person to the right of her would spin the bottle to see who the question poser would be. That was Y/N.

She sighed, already deciding on asking for a dare. She wasn’t holding back any secrets, but she didn’t want to answer anything with a dumb or embarrassing detail of her life.Y/N spun the bottle, praying for it to land on Bella.

Nope.

When it stopped, she looked up to meet the eyes of the girl she insulted in the Dining Hall: Pansy.

“Well,” she drawled, a smirk forming on her face,”Truth? Or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Hm.”

Y/N could nearly see the gears in her head turning to find the cruelest dare she could. Finally, her eyes light up and her smirk deepened.

“You know who I don’t see here?” 

“Who?”

“Draco,” she responded. Y/N noticed Daphne grimace next to her. “Go wake him up and get him to come out. Of course, he probably won’t come out. But you have to at least make a valiant effort.”

“Ok.” Y/N gulped. “Where is he?”

“I’m going to assume his room.” The Slytherins surrounding her chuckled. “But if you want specifics: last door on the right of the boy’s dormitories. Zabini will let you in. You can go now.”

Y/N stumbled off with the boy she assumed was Zabini. He opened the door for her, whispering the password under his breath and looking almost sorry for her. “Good luck.”

♥♥♥♥

The dormitories were exponentially cooler than the common room, and Y/N felt herself shiver at the sensation of the air on her bare skin. The stone walls and flooring made her feel as though she was in a dungeon, something she found to be an interesting choice for a house with so many wealthy students.

Y/N slowly crept towards the furthest door on the right, pondering her options. She could, of course, just come back and lie, saying he didn’t answer. Then she remembered the Veritaserum in her drink. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could get herself to throw it up, but her logical mind struck that idea down. The alcohol was already absorbed and she would have to explain to everyone why there was a pool of bile outside the door she was tasked to knock on. 

There was something else that was nagging at her, though, a morbid curiosity regarding what someone like him could be bothering himself with on a Friday night. If he wasn’t partying, was he sleeping? 

It simply didn’t add up.

Y/N knew what she had to do. She raised her hand to knock on the door.

#draco #draco malfoy #draco x reader #harry potter #drarry #dramione #harry x reader #hogwarts #ilvermorny #lucius malfoy #narcissia malfoy #draco imagine #slowburn #Blaise Zabini #pansy parkinson #mcgonagall #dumbledore #fred weasley #george weasley #ron weasley #slytherin #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #voldemort #snape #slughorn #gryffindor #hagrid

[artificialqueens]

Sweet like Sugar (Branjie) - Delia

AN: Hey lovelies! This is my first time writing fic, so please be gentle but also let me know what you think…a little Branjie sugar mommy for your nerves x ps: if you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to hit me up on @thvnderfuckz pps: tw for some, very minor, implied daddy kink

BLH

25/F/New York City

I’m a 25 year old dancer from Toronto, working to start my career. I like fashion, nights out, and travelling. Seeking a partner who is fun, adventurous, and willing to support me in pursuit of my dream.

Brooke Lynn read over her bio for what must have been the seventh time in as many minutes and let out a sigh. Each draft that she’d written had sounded more robotic than the last. It’d been a long time since she had to write anything like this, having deleted Tinder, Bumble, and HER off her phone not long after she left Toronto. Since moving to New York, she’d discovered that she much preferred going out and finding women to hook up with in person. With her long blonde hair, dancer’s physique, and innate flirtiness, it was easy enough to find someone willing to take her home for the night. Easier, at least, than talking to a girl on an app for weeks, only to find out that she was interested in a long term commitment, and having to deal with their messy emotions after Brooke told them that she wasn’t interested. If there was one thing that she did not do, it was relationships.

And now, she was trying to get paid to be in one.

She’d be lying if she said that she never thought she’d be in a position like this. From the time Brooke had told her friends and family that she’d wanted to pursue dance as a full time career, she’d been given the “wouldn’t you rather something more secure” speech more times, and by more people than she could be bothered to count. Even her older sister Katya, who’d chosen to make abstract semi-sacrilegious art her vocation in life, had tried to suggest to her that she do something with a future that was less uncertain. But Brooke knew that she was born to dance, no matter what anyone tried to tell her to the contrary. If anything, their doubt fuelled her drive, and made it all the sweeter when she’d been offered a role in ensemble of the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge! upon her graduation from Ryerson. The moment that she’d stepped off the plane at JFK and stepped into the apartment that she would be sharing with another ensemble member from the show, Scarlet, she felt as though she was living her wildest dreams come true.

In all of her excitement at the time, Brooke forgot that the most wonderful dreams often lead to the harshest wake ups.

Four months into her run, the cast began to notice a dwindling number of fans at the stage door after each performance. Five months into her run, cast and crew alike began whispering about finding new jobs soon. Six months into her run, on a particularly humid Sunday in July, the cast and crew were gathered by the production team before everyone left the theatre and were told that the show would be closing at the beginning of September, after the Labour Day weekend. Brooke immediately started panicking at the prospect of being out of a job in one of the most expensive cities in the world. There was nothing she wanted less than to have to move back home to Toronto with her tail between her legs.

It had been two years since Moulin Rouge! closed, and although Brooke had managed to avoid making the move back home, she hadn’t been able to get a job performing since. She was always too tall, or too technical, or didn’t have enough personality. She’d been able to find a job in the meantime, teaching classes at a dance studio in Tribeca, but the money she made from that was barely enough to cover her necessities. It certainly didn’t cover luxuries such as brunch with your ex-roommate, as Brooke found out after her credit card was declined at her and Scarlet’s bi-weekly date. She barely had time to try and form an apology before she witnessed Scarlet reaching into her purse and placing a crisp one hundred dollar bill on the table, telling the waitress to keep the sixty dollars in change. Her embarrassed expression transformed into one of jaw-dropped shock as the redhead pulled her from the restaurant.

On the walk back to the subway, Scarlet revealed to Brooke that she’d been various “mutually beneficial relationships” with different men since she’d first moved to the city when she was 19, and that it had been her main source of income even while she was performing.

“It’s easy money, plus it’s kind of empowering,” explained Scarlet in her low voice, which still held a hint of the drawl indicative of her Southern upbringing. “It’s like, they have the money but I have all the emotional power. Without me generously donating my time to them, all these men have are their frigid marriages, or soul sucking jobs. A lot of the time the only thing standing between these powerful, rich men and a complete nervous break is me. And if that’s not power, I don’t know what is. So if I have to laugh at a few bad jokes and kiss a couple of CEOs to be able to live the kind of life I want, all while knowing that I could end any of these men at any given moment, then so be it.”

Oddly inspired by her friend’s speech, Brooke downloaded the sugar dating app onto her phone later that day.

And now here she was, sitting in front of her laptop at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night, drinking a bottle of wine and stress reading her three sentence bio for at least the tenth time. Fuck it, she thought, this is as good as it’s gonna get.

After clicking the “submit” button, Brooke was redirected to a page showing all of the potential sugar daddies in her area. As she scrolled through pages upon pages of photos of headless torsos, she became increasingly regretful of her decision to not filter out men immediately.

CEToEs

Disgusting.

KinkyExec

Nope.

DominantDaddy

Absolutely not.

Brooke was a lesbian, and had known that since she was 14. However, Scarlet told her that there were far more sugar daddies than sugar mommies in the New York area, and that a lot of the time the men didn’t necessarily even want sex. But as she clocked the usernames of several of the daddies on the app, it was clear that the redhead had either lied to her or was somehow the most blissfully oblivious girl in the city.

The blonde promptly returned to her settings page and deselected men as an interest. When she returned to the home page, she was delighted to see the profiles of fifty-or-so women pop up. She began scrolling again, hoping that someone would catch her eye.

WorldsMostPunkRockMoms

Meh. The two blonde women in the thumbnail picture were definitely beautiful, but Brooke didn’t know how she felt about getting involved with a couple who had a child.

Detoxicant

The woman in this picture looked like she’d had a lot of plastic surgery. Still, she was hot. Brooke tapped the little heart icon next to the photo and continued scrolling.

Toward the bottom of the page there was one profile that had a little green dot next to the thumbnail. Brooke took a little comfort in the fact that she wasn’t the only one on this app at this time on a weekend night. She clicked on the profile and two pictures filled her screen. The first was a headless torso shot of a woman wearing an oversized Versace t-shirt as a dress. Although her face was out of frame, Brooke could tell that the woman’s hair was a caramel brown, at least at the tips, and went to just below her collarbone. The second image was another faceless picture, but in this one the woman was wearing a spaghetti strapped red dress, showing off her deeply tanned skin and an, in Brooke’s opinion, weirdly specific chest tattoo of a hairless cat atop a red rose. The bio beneath the pictures read:

V 23/F/New York City

no face pics because i gotta stay lowkey. promise i’m not gonna kill you or anything like that, just lookin for a cute girl i can take out and trEat right.

Brooke rolled her eyes at the innuendo and let out a small huff of a laugh. The girl obviously had some sort of sense of humour, which she supposed was important. And it was pretty impressive that someone so young was in a position where they could support someone else financially.

The green dot was still displayed next to V’s username. She was still online. Brooke took a deep breath and clicked the chat icon at the bottom of the screen, typing out a quick, hopefully flirty-but-without-coming-on-too-strong, message.

BLH: I hate to break it to you, but saying ‘I’m not gonna kill you’ sounds exactly like what someone who would kill me would say ;)

Brooke quickly exited out of the app and opened up Instagram to check and see if Katya or her wife had added any new photos of their cats or dog. Before she could even begin typing her sister’s name into the search bar, her phone dinged, letting her know that V had responded.

V: hate to break it to you babe but saying youre looking for a partner sounds like youre tryna open up a lawyers office

Brooke swore under her breathe. She knew she sounded too robotic.

BLH: Oh god, I’m sorry. I’ve never done anything

V: lol relax mami, youre cute with all your worrying

She bit down on her lower lip, half in frustration and half trying to suppress a smile. V was already teasing her about her worrying, and they hadn’t even met yet.

BLH: Aren’t you more of the mommy in this situation though ;)

V: i mean i usually prefer daddy ;)

Brooke felt a quick rush of heat to her center at the word “daddy”. She closed her eyes trying to stave away memories of various nights in the alleyways behind various bars with various women.

BLH: I think I can make that work ;)

V: listen, not to be too upfront but youre gorgeous and id love to take you out sometime if youd want?

V: we could meet and figure out an allowance or something if thats what you want! ive done this once before and it was a really good experience for both of us…i gave her around $8000 a month for rent and stuff but we could figure out something specially for you if you need somethin different

Brooke could’ve sworn she felt her heart stop when she read the word “month”. She’d never been with one single person for more than three nights, much less on a month to month basis. But V seemed nice at least. And if not nice, she was at least experienced at this kind of arrangement, and was apparently quite generous to boot. Eight thousand dollars a month would cover her rent and utilities almost four times over. Eight thousand dollars a month would mean that she wouldn’t have to worry about getting her card declined at brunch. Eight thousand dollars a month meant that she wouldn’t have to pick up every possible shift at the studio, and could spend more time going to auditions.

Eight thousand dollars a month meant that she was definitely not turning V down right off the bat.

BLH: I’d love that. Name the time and place, I’m free when you are.

BLH: Daddy ;)

Brooke Lynn Hayhoe doesn’t do relationships — but for eight thousand dollars a month, she was willing to fake it.

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