#half these tags apply to the story on general but not this snippet

[faenemy]

A pristine suit-

An elegant operatic mask-

Months of planning-

Wasted.

All because a certain someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut. Alas, attempting to scam your business associates is never exactly a good idea, especially when the existing agreement between the two parties is… fragile, to put it gently. Everett had always preached that the only way to run this world, their world, was through connections, the more relations to power, the more people in their pockets, the better. Their dear cohorts, however, seemed to disagree with this sentiment. Otherwise, they doubted they would be here now.

Everett could barely stand to imagine those two, from them proposing this stupid sham of a deal in the first place to ratting them out the second they had a chance, to-

Gunshots echoed through the halls, interrupting their train of thought, being significantly too close for Everett’s comfort. Not a second after, the villain Arcane appeared behind, disheveled and quaking with fury. His eyes shone white as he aimed, then fired, at Everett. Screaming as a bullet embedded itself into their leg, Everrett whipped around toward their attacker. If this was the game Arcane wanted to play, then he should have chosen a different opponent. The room lit up in an electric flash, lights sparking and shattering, before falling into complete darkness. With an arc of their hands, waves of power were sent across the room, scorching all they touched. A violent shriek could be heard in the darkness, but Everett had no time to check if their target had survived, and, grabbing the nearest wall for support, they ran.

It was times like these that they were most grateful to have always memorized the layout of the building, in which an exchange would take place before they had even stepped foot inside. With the help of small surges of energy to light their way, they managed to find their way into a corridor with one flickering, neon exit sign straight ahead. Hobbling over to the door and propping themselves against a wall, Everett reached down to examine their leg. In the dim red glow, red could barely make out the lodged bullet, however, they could regrettably still feel it. They tore at their suit, ripping off a chunk to use as a bandage, hoping to stall the blood loss slightly.

Grunting, they pushed the emergency door open, hit suddenly with the cold night air. A million stars twinkled overhead, but they were not the only thing staring down at them from above. For there stood their now ex-comrade, Forge, a smug grin plastered across his half-covered face, not but three floors over where Everett exited. With no time to lose, Everett raced down the stairs, Forge hot on their heels. The man threw himself over the railing, hoisting himself up onto the floor below.

“How are you feeling tonight, friend?” called the villain, spitting out the last word as though it was fire to the tongue.

“I- What were you thinking, Forge? Never mind, don’t bother answering that, I don’t want to hear your bullshit reasoning.”

“I was thinking about how you don’t seem to help me nearly as much as you hinder.”

With that declaration, Forge aimed a burning punch at them. The wall behind them cracked, melting rapidly at the point of contact. Everett knew that making any physical exposure to Forge would leave them howling and hoping for some damn Neosporin. Another adrenaline-filled day, another flashy fight, another disastrous show. But they could avoid all the pain Forge brought with ease, if only they could stick their performance’s final landing.

Pushing themselves off the fire escape's railing with as much force as they could muster, Everett took one last look at their friend, and the moment their feet left the metal, electrified the entire steel staircase. A look of horror flashed through Forge’s eyes before they were overcome by agony. Everett had heard plenty of screaming and crying in their time, with much being caused by their own hand, but nothing could have prepared them to listen to those of their once closest friend.

A whimper of pain escaped their lips as they landed roughly on the ground below. Everett attempted to rise to their feet but found themselves crumbling under their own weight. If their leg hadn’t been messed up before, then it was safe to say it was now. The impromptu bandage was a bloody mess, Everetts's side ached from where they had hit the ground. Each breath was a struggle as they were left gasping for air. They weren’t safe here, in a hotel parking lot, their now enemy mere feet away. Groaning, they tried to pull themselves away from the wreckage that they had left behind. Their vision swam with stars as every inch of their body cried out in anguish.

Crack

Their back collided harshly with the brick wall behind them, as they were pulled up by the collar and thrown. Their attacker stood, fists raised, prepared to finish what Arcane had started. They say people fight the hardest when backed into a corner, and with adrenaline flowing furiously through their veins, Everett hoped the saying was true. Maneuvering past the first blow, but falling victim to the second, they felt their mask fly off their face, losing what small but valuable protection it had given. When the third hit came, Everett reached up to intercept it, aiming a well-timed kick to their opponent’s gut. Thrashing they were dragged to the ground by their assailant. Their opponent was larger, and more experienced in physical combat, and it showed as Everett found themselves taking a brutal fist to the face, followed by a knee to the gut.

They attempted to end this fight, to throw thunder from their fingertips just to find- nothing. There on their wrist, a suppressor cuff. It had been latched on during the scuffle without them noticing.

Oh God no

Everett felt the blood rushing down their face, they heard the suffering screams, yet they could barely recognize them as their own. They weren’t ready to die, not yet. This wasn't part of the plan. This wasn't in the script.

The brunette braced themselves for pain, pain that would never come. Instead, they felt their assailant's weight lifted from their chest, as they were pulled off the ground and into steady arms. Muffled words were spoken above them, but the sounds meant nothing to Everett, only the warmth and care with which their savior cradled them. Fingers ghosted over the wound on their leg, while Everett couldn’t help but flinch at the pain it sparked.

Shouts echoed, nothing but white noise that fell upon Everett’s uncaring ears as the gentle arms holding them slipped away. They tried to grasp them, to beg their angel to stay, but their body had long fallen into a state of resistance. Though their vision blurred and their head spun violently, Everett opened their eyes to see a blonde woman, hair streaked with vibrant pink, standing defensively in front of them. A white swan-like mask hid her face from view, a stark contrast to the black of her suit. She was a hero then.

Their hero.

Whatever fool had tried to approach the pair was floored in seconds, caught in an unseen web, unknowing of their entrance into the spider’s lair. With a flick of her wrist, their hero tightened the individual’s unseen restraints, circling them before latching a pair of suppressor cuffs onto them. Everett found themselves searching through fuzzy memories for any recollection of a hero with similar abilities or appearance. In their hazy state, all that they could turn up were blanks.

They were pulled out of their musings as raised voices accompanied by thundering footsteps approached.

“Stay here. I’ll take care of this, alright?” the blonde turned her back to them, stepping toward the sound.

Everett stared as the woman lifted herself into the air, suspending herself pointedly overhead, observing as she made an odd motion with her hands. As a man rounded the corner, most likely trying to track Everett down, they were a wanted criminal after all, their hero lunged. She swung downward, the man’s skull collided with the concrete with a horrid sound. A bullet whizzed by her as she flipped back up and into the air. It was less like Everett was watching a clash and closer to them viewing an orchestrated performance. Each maneuver was made in elegant swings and every attack was delivered in graceful leaps. The star themself paled in the glory of the woman before them.

“Are you alright? I mean- You didn’t get hurt any further, right?” the blonde questioned.

The question flew right past Everett, for the woman's mask had been torn slightly in the fight, allowing them a glimpse of soft auburn eyes.

"I.. your"

Though their words failed them, Everett’s vague gesturing toward the hero's face seemed to get their point across.

"Oh, uh thank you, I didn't even notice that."

Through the gap in her mask, Everett swore that their hero's cheeks took on a rosy hue. She bent down, taking their injured leg into her hands and carefully examining it. The hero reached up to her ear, Everett hearing a soft click before she began to speak.

“Primo- yes, I’m alright. There’s a civilian, a staff member?” she shot Everett a questioning look as she spoke. They nodded quickly in reply, having forgotten that they had lost their mask in the fray. Their hero probably assumed they were some poor hotel employee caught up in a villainous team-up gone wrong. A witness who had almost been eliminated for simply being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. They doubted that any hero would treat them with such kindness if they were aware of Everett’s actual profession.

“-needing serious medical attention- Out where the fire escape should lead to, in the parking lot… I have a few wrapped up down here. Yep, I’ll be with you soon.”

Another click sounded, and their hero turned toward them to speak.

“Alright, there’s a healer on their way right now, they’ll be here in a moment, I promise. Just hold on a little longer, ok?”

Though Everett’s head was swimming, they gave their hero a small smile, nodding. Their gesture was seemingly returned by the hero, though the lower half of her face was covered, Everett could swear they felt it. Focusing on the cold brick digging into their skin from behind, they attempted to ground themselves, for they weren’t safe yet. Would the heroes try and move them to a medical facility? They couldn’t risk their identity being exposed, after all. Currently, Everett appeared to be nothing more than a civilian, but if that defense fell, they would be left injured and vulnerable. But none of that would matter if Everett died beforehand, so here they sat, waiting to be saved by the enemy.

Their hero seemed to catch on to Everett’s distress, for out came rambles of fairytales they hadn’t heard since childhood. They wondered if she had used this to calm children down before or if it was what she defaulted to when someone was stressed. Everett couldn’t deny that it was a good distraction from the pain, a hero sitting side by side with a villain, energetically recollecting the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, hands gesturing rapidly in emotion. Telling the villain of a miller’s daughter and an impish man who spun straw into gold. As their hero began to speak of the woman’s second night in the king’s captivity, she cut her story short.

Looking up, they watched as their hero waved someone, they presumed the healer she had spoken of, over. Crouching down, the two exchanged a few words before their hero gave a quick two-finger salute, departing. With a flick of her wrist, the woman leaped into her own unseen web, climbing up and to the entrance of the top floor.

Everett watched as she disappeared from their sight, feeling the healer’s powers spread through their side. The pain spiked and then subsided as their body swiftly rehabilitated itself. Questions flew from the hero’s mouth the second that Everett seemed in a proper condition to answer them. Who do you work for? Why were you attacked? What and who did you see? Why are you wearing a power suppressor? Playing the part of the fool, Everett allowed themselves to burst into tears, crying about how they just wanted to go home, how they didn’t mean to enter the wrong room- how they had been shot at and hit, thrown out the fire escape- Obviously their sob story worked as the healer hastily tried to comfort them, they weren’t nearly as good at it as their hero, and after prying away the suppressor, promised to deliver them to an area in which they would be safe, or at least away from the fighting.

Though the healer remained concerned, Everett could tell they were needed elsewhere, and with little convincing, managed to be left alone just outside the hotel's gates. As the hero turned to leave, Everett heard their communicator click softly, before calling a name, Puppeteer. Like being doused with an ice-cold bucket of water, they were awoken from their stupor. Puppeteer was a recently debuted hero, being on the field as a hero, not as a sidekick for only a few months. Her power? Strings of fate. The ability to create and manipulate linear structures, strings, if you would, being visible to her and her alone.

That was their hero.

With a sigh and no hope of getting a proper ride tonight, they begrudgingly walked to the nearest bus stop. Nothing like being chaffered to a high-end hotel, dressed to impress, and leaving at the end of the night a mess, in multiple ways. At least something good came from the night. Puppeteer, they tried the name out on their tongue, just to find it less than satisfactory. How they wished to speak to their hero freely, to learn who she was under the mask, to call her by her name, and not a title that some higher-up had chosen.

But for now, she was just that, Puppeteer, and they were just another civilian she had saved. Oh, how they hoped to change that fact. How they would.

What have I done AHhhhhhh constructive criticism is welcome but please be gentle cause I'm fragile, thanks for reading and have a lovely day/night

#hero x villain #writing #my writing #tw gun violence #tw electrocution #tw violence #tw attempted murder #dark #dark romance #snippet #half these tags apply to the story on general but not this snippet #i listened to misery business while writing this #poorly written violence #possessive villain

[chaos-and-sparkles]

Fic Commissions?

*puts on hat*

STARR'S FIC COMMISSIONS?!

So yeah, after some nudging from my friends and bc I could really use the funds, I'm officially opening writing commissions!

For context, I go by Chaos_and_Sparkles on ao3, and you can find my fics here :D

How to Commission:

You can reach out to me for a commission by DMing me on Tumblr or via Discord (@star_rynight)!

We can discuss more about the details, and I can give an expected timeline.

Mention the word count range, fandom, ship, the prompt/idea you want, and the ao3 tags that would apply so I can get a feel of the story.

Since I'm juggling college, it can sometimes vary and may be up for discussion, but generally I will take up to two weeks to write the first 1k words, and a week per 1k words after that. I will however take twice as long for NSFW fics as I do for SFW fics (I'm asexual and sometimes sex-repulsed, so believe me when I say this is for the quality of the writing more than anything else).

I'll give regular updates, and snippets if you like, of the fic's progress

You'll have to pay half the amount upfront, and then I'll start working on the fic! Currently I only accept PayPal.

Once the fic is done, it'll be posted to my ao3, as a gift fic to you. If you want the fic sent privately and not posted, DM for further discussion.

Prices:

$10 USD per 500 words for SFW

$12 USD per 500 words for NSFW

Fandoms and Fav Ships:

Spider-Verse (chaipunk and chaipunksong, occasional ghostflower and spiderdads)

Hamilton (jamilton and lams)

Good Omens (ineffable husbands, qpr ineffable husbands)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (glimbow and glitra)

Marvel (depends on my mood, I do enjoy some frostiron tho)

Sherlock (ACD canon and Sherlock and Co. specifically) (johnlock, qpr johnlock)

Encanto (no ships)

ATLA (all ships welcome)

JJK (Anime) (sukuita, itafushi, nobamaki and satosugu)

Assorted Disney Movies

Assorted DreamWorks Movies

TSoA

Greek Mythology and Lore (patrochilles, persades, anything with odysseus)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (percabeth, solangelo)

These are just my favourite ships, ofc, I'm still up for writing others!

So... yeah! :D

#fic commissions #fanfic commissions #fic commiss #spiderman atsv #hamilton #atla #good omens #spop #sherlock & co #acd canon #encanto #jjk #tsoa #marvel #pjo #greek mythology #ao3 writer #sherlock holmes

[cellsshapedlikestars]

Since I’m already out here being obnoxious and posting a ton today, might as well go all in, right? So for those of you who voted for the mob AU to be updated... sorry! But I am working on it (and have been basically since I posted the first part lol), so here’s a little snippet for anyone interested.

**Be warned, it’s darker than the first part, because it’s from Jon’s POV and unlike Sansa, he wasn’t sheltered from the actual mob stuff. All tags/warnings from the original story apply here. Specific to this part: references to murder/violence.

.

“You're in trouble,” Dany taunts, a sing-song lilt to her voice.

“When am I not?” he asks. It takes all his willpower to keep his voice even and neutral. A lifetime of willpower. A lifetime of lessons beaten into him. His blood is still up from the encounter with Ramsay and everything in him screams for violence, but that's nothing new, and he's learned to contain his rage.

“So dramatic,” Dany snorts, but an unlit cigarette appears between her thin fingers and she offers it out to him. When he takes it, a lighter appears. Where she was keeping it with no sleeves, he has no idea.

It's cold out, but as usual, Dany's wearing less than she should. She runs hot, she always says. Blood of the dragon, and all. He does, too. Barely feels the cold half the time. He never says this, though. He's not allowed to have the dragon in him, not for real.

“How bad is it?” he asks after he's lit up and takes his first drag. The nicotine relaxes him, takes some of the edge off. He flexes his other fist and feels his busted knuckles split and start to bleed again. He hasn't even gotten a chance to bandage them properly.

“Well, you know daddy,” she says, taking a drag of her own cigarette with a lift of one perfectly sculpted brow. “He's ready to have you drawn and quartered.”

More like shot in the head and then weighted down with cinder blocks and thrown into the ocean, and that's if Aerys is feeling generous. If he isn't? Well, Jon's heard whispers about the ones Aerys has doused in gasoline and set on fire. Jon would rather have the clean shot to the head.

“What's new?” is what he says instead. He knows the only thing that's kept him alive all these years is his father's residual love for Jon's mother. Well, his father calls it love. Jon's not so sure.

Dany frowns, then, and says, “I was expecting you to tell me it wasn't actually true.” When he doesn't answer, her frown deepens. “Jon,” she says, voice tight with disbelief, “tell me you didn't go fucking around in Northern business.”

Jon drops the half finished cigarette on the gravel of the drive and doesn't even bother snuffing it out. It'll burn down on it's own. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it'll end up setting the whole estate on fire. Aerys would like that.

“Guess I shouldn't delay the inevitable,” he says, and makes for the entrance.

“Are you serious,” Dany hisses, catching up with him, though her legs are much shorter. “Jon,” she grabs his arm, and he sees the worry there now. Or, as much worry as anyone in this family can have for someone else.

He doesn't answer, just pulls from her grip and continues inside, because he doesn't know how to answer. Yes, he fucked around in Northern business. No, it had nothing to do with Northern business, but he can't think about that now. Won't think about that now.

He's spent years forcing himself not to think about her.

#jonsa

[nosferatu-del-fanart]

Fanfic: ...And they were roommates

Category: F/F No Warnings Apply Tags: AU Roommates/Housemates, Slice of Life, Romance,Fluff, Snippets

Chapter 1

It was a reading night the first time Mikaela Reid took notice of Carmina Mora. While she re-read her story nervously and prepared herself for the eleventh time, someone walked onto the stage and introduced themselves. A soft voice that contained a certain quiet confidence distracted Mikaela from her notebook and she looked up. A young woman with dark hair to the shoulders, slightly taller than her, stood reading her poetry. The serious demeanor, combined with a smooth voice gave he melancholic poetry a very intense feeling. Leaving her notebook to the side, Mikaela listened attentively, admiring the stage presence of this person.

=====

Mikaela stood by the white door of the place that could become her next apartment if things went well. She forced herself to breathe out slowly and rang the bell. During her search for a new place to live after college, one of her friends from the cafe contacted her with Carmina, who was currently looking for a roommate. She was distantly aware of Carmina as the poet from that reading night with the dark eyes. While Mikaela reminisced, the door clicked and the same intense dark eyes she remembered were now peeking at hear at a personal distance. -"Hi, it's Mikaela, we spoke on the phone and we were going to meet today to see about the roommate thing" -She stopped herself before she started nervously rambling. Carmina seemed to study her for a moment and then opened the door -"Hello. Yes. Come inside.". They walked into the living room, a small but comfortable space with two sofas, and sat down. Carmina sat down on the biggest, a two-person sofa, while Mikaela took the smaller one. -"Since we already discussed on the phone and our friend gave good reference of you, we could talk about the rules, you can check out the space and you can take the sheet for the trial-period conditions so you can give it a think before signing"- Carmina said in an even voice. Mikaela was a bit surprised at the straightforwardness, but she found it strangely refreshing, not having to engage in small talk before diving into the topic of the visit. -"Yeah, it sounds good". Carmina proceeded to explain the general rules of the building and the communal space. She then gave Mikaela a tour of the apartment. One bathroom, two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and the washing room. The bedroom had enough space for Mikaela's basic needs, a place to write and sleep, with a nice view of the local park. She could only take a peek at Carmina's room, as the door was half-closed: Posters and art adorned a good portion of the walls, painted a muted blue. After the tour, Mikaela took the trial-period contract and both women parted ways politely. In the trip back to her current apartment she thought about what she had seen of the place and her possible new-roommate. She prided herself in having a solid intuition about people, and Carmina's vibe piqued her interest. Despite the mysteriousness and the reserved way she handled herself, their mutual friend spoke highly of her responsibility and easy-going nature.

=====

Mikaela didn't think too hard about it, and two weeks later she stood outside Carmina's with a few boxes and a couple of friends who volunteered to help her move. They ordered takeout food and hung out for a few hours, leaving the two new roommates to adjust to the first night. Carmina went to her bedroom, and then returned, approaching Mikaela. She extended her hand and deposited a key on the other girl's hand. -"This one is yours."- She said, her eyes softened slightly and her mouth curving almost unnoticeable in a gentle smile. -"Welcome". Mikaela took the key and responded with a bright smile.

=====

Mikaela decided that Carmina had been a cat in a past life. She had lost count of how many times she had gotten spooked when hanging in a room by herself and then suddenly hearing her roommate's voice behind her. She moved with a slow deliberate elegance, very similar to the way she handles herself on a stage. Though she could swear she has seen her smirk after nearly giving her a heart attack. ===== One of the first things Carmina learned from her new roommate was that her inclination for storytelling wasn't only limited to horror story readings. Several times since they started living together, she had found herself listening for long segments of time to Mikaela telling a detailed account of her day. Her animated expressions and variations in her voice tone added color to details that Carmina would usually find irrelevant. Sometimes, she has found herself looking forward to getting out of her room after a painting session just to listen to her roommate’s rambling.

=====

Mikaela was watching a bad horror movie in the couch when Carmina exited the kitchen to go towards her room and the stopped for a second to watch the absurd scene that had come up on TV. Curiosity won over and a question to Mikaela, followed by a quip that made her laugh turned into a spontaneous 3-hour Bad Horror Movie Friday Marathon. Between the movies and their commentary, it was the first time she had heard Carmina laugh until losing her breath.

=====

Carmina stood in the middle of her room, frowning at a half-painted canvas. Something was missing on the painting, but whe couldn’t figure it out. The shapes were right, but the usual palette she worked with wasn’t doing it. A soft knock on the door interrupted her and she went to the door. -“Um, can write in your room for a little while? There is an annoying amount of noise outside my room and yours is pretty well isolated. I promise I won’t make a lot of noise. Heh, I’m barely even writing anything at the moment.” She considered it for a few seconds and let Mikaela inside. -”You can use the desk.”-Then she went back to pacing and scowling at the canvas. Ten minutes later she heard Mikaela ask her –“Are you blocked too?”- -”...Yes.”- Carmina answered. And then she had a sudden impulse to elaborate. -”It’s the color combination. It should be working, but it’s incomplete. Flat.”- Mikaela nodded and asked her more questions, trying to understand the concepts while Carmina explained the best she could. -“So it’s a bit like flavors? I remember this one time a coworker added a lot of clashing things to their coffee and it somehow worked, miraculously. Who even puts a candy cane as a decoration on it… - An Eureka moment hit Carmina. She ran to her paints and combined a small amount of brigh, eye-catching colors and started adding dots and lines to parts of the painting. She then took a couple of steps back and smiled, now knowing what to add next. She turned back to Mikaela and put her palms on her cheeks, shaking her roomate’s head with joy. -”You are a genius!”.- While Carmina vigorously returned to painting, Mikaela tried to write and ignore the ghost of Carmina’s warm hands on her face.

=====

Mikaela had been looking strangely tense and out-of-it lately, Carmina observed. She tried not to pry into her business, but she couldn’t deny the curiosity was there. It was one particular night, where they were both sitting in the couch watching one of their bad movies that Carmina stared at Mikaela, who was making comments, as she usually did, but her tone wasn’t right and her heart didn’t seem to be into it. Carmina scooted closer to her and kept looking straight at her. Mikaela noticed and stopped talking, then looked back, questioning. She looked conflicted, between holding back and wanting to put something out. Carmina tentatively reached out to Mikaela’s hand and touched it, nodding. Her face scrunched up, eyes watering and a sob escaped. Some seconds later, Carmina found herself embracing her friend’s head and rubbing her back while she mumbled and cried onto her shoulder. The next few days she started looking a little less weighted down, even if she wasn’t back to the usual Mikaela.

=====

One of those days where Mikaela worked in Carmina’s room, she looked up from her document and observed her friend put up the last touches in her new painting. It was a small one that she knew wasn’t a commission. It drew her eyes and it simply spoke to her in a way. Like it was drawing her in, evoking a feeling she could not name. She was so absorbed that she didn’t notice Carmina finish and get close to her. Suddenly she felt something poke her in the cheek. Carmina stood next to her with a brush in her hand. She stared, appearing to contemplate something for a few seconds, then said -”You can keep it”.- -Huh? - answered Mikaela distractedly. -”I can see you like it quite a lot. So I’m giving it to you.” - -”Really?! Er- I mean, thank you!” - Mikaela smiled, excitedly spouting ideas of where she was going to hang it. She then turned to Carmina, who gave her characteristic Mona Lisa smile with a small eyebrow raise. She had seen this smile loads of times before, but this time a strange twinge hit her chest when looking at her friend’s amused face. She attributed it to the excitement of her new decoration.

=====

On Mikaela’s suggestion, she and Carmina had gone out to get ice cream and hang out in the park. Carmina had noticed her friend’s mood improving in the last few weeks. The impromptu walk was a good sign. They sat on a bench and enjoyed their dessert, while Mikaela chattered away and the other listened, as was usual. At some moment the setting sun reflected on bouncy red hair. Carmina had noticed her roomate’s hair normally was a sign of her mood. Today it was free, without a hat, which made it more notable, between the current light, the slight wind, and how well it combined with the falling leaves on the trees. Her blue eyes also looked more brilliant than usual as her face expressions moved animatedly. Suddenly Carmina noticed she had stopped breathing and her heart had skipped a couple of beats when the cold melted ice cream dripped down her fingers. She is just a bit absent-minded today, she thought, that’s got to be it.

=====

If Mikaela’s outfits looked a lot more colorful and carefully-chosen lately, and Carmina’s paintings and poetry were oddly brighter and more passionate, none of their friends commented on it out loud. But they did exchange stares...And maybe started a betting pool.

=====

On one of their work sessions, Mikaela and Carmina tiredly dropped themselves on the latter’s bed in opposite directions, with their heads at the same level. They remained quiet, just enjoying the softness of the bed and looking at the ceiling as they rested. They turned to look at each other at the same time. Being so close, Carmina really took notice of the freckles all over Mikaela’s face. The warm blue eyes and delicate red eyebrows. At the same time Mikaela took in the contrast of the other’s light and soft skin to her dark eyes and hair, observing details on the brown eyes that were not usually not noticeable from a distance, as well as the sharp cheekbones. As if waking up sharply from a trance they averted their eyes and went back to looking at the ceiling. Avoiding acknowledgement of whatever had just occurred. =====

Mikaela and Carmina walked back home arm-in-arm in the dimming sunlight, as the street lamps started waking up. Their closeness was expected due to the current cold weather and being near each other saves body warmth. Their breath was visible in the cold air as they quietly made their way home. A rushing delivery-person in called out to them as the bike swerved near them due to a few unfortunate cracks in the pavement. Both women avoided the cyclist trying to regain their balance by pushing themselves against the nearest wall. Accident avoided, they laughed and turned to look at each other. The near-collision had made them get even closer. Carmina’s back touched the wall, while Mikaela had tried to rebalance herself and her hands rested on the other’s shoulders. The sudden awareness of their position had them freeze for a moment. Carmina noticed Mikaela’s lip balm, which she used to protect herself against the cold air, made her pink mouth stand out against the pale skin, the lightly-disappeared freckles and the redness of her cheeks. Her eyes shined in the white glow of the streetlights. Visible breaths slowly coming out of parted lips. Some of Carmina’s hair had fallen over her face, her eyes wide from the recent surprise. Mikaela’s attention was divided between those details, and she followed the impulse to move Carmina’s hair out of her face and tuck it behind the ear. The stood like this for some time,and then their faces started moving nearer. Mikaela’s hand moved towards Carmina’s neck as the other’s hands surrounded her waist. They closed their eyes and lips met tentatively. They both sighed at the pleasant warmth of their combined breaths, the light smacking sounds and the heat radiating from the closeness of their embrace. After a little time, they separated and stayed hugging, leaning on each other’s forehead for a while, smiling wide.

#dead by daylight #carmina mora #mikaela reid #witchcrow #dead by daylight art #dead by daylight fanfic #and they were rommates #chapter

[wipbigbang]

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Transformers: Prime

#92

Title: To Seek Wisdom Pairing/Characters Arcee, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Primus Rating: General Warnings/Tags: No Warnings Apply Summary Arcee had always hoped that after the war Cybertron would rebuild a better society than they'd had before. But all too soon her world begins to slide back into functionalism. It needs a leader, a strong, charismatic leader who doesn't believe in that path. Optimus is gone, but that doesn't mean she's out of options. It just doesn't mean they're very *good* options.

A SNIPPET:

Arcee hung around the edges of the outposts, doing her best to be unnoticeable, listening to the rumours and finally heard some that were useful: stories of a mine that was supposedly haunted by the ghost of a large mech. A spiky large mech, specifically.

Bingo.

Arcee, ah, borrowed some energon from a couple of inattentive bar patrons and headed out to the mine from the rumour. She didn't approach it directly, finding a good vantage point in a half-collapsed building whose purpose she didn't know that overlooked the mine's main entrance. Maybe she needed Megatron – and she couldn't believe she was thinking that, let alone everything else – but she wasn't going to just waltz into wherever he was lurking and say 'hey.' Arcee hadn't made it this far by not doing her reconnaissance right and she wasn't going to stop now. It took several joors of waiting, but at last, near sunset, she saw him.

Megatron still had the extras Unicron had added to his exostructure, but it didn't look like he'd been trying to maintain them. In fact, some of them looked like he'd tried to bash them off or wear them down somehow, maybe by rubbing them against the rock. Megatron had never kept his finish up to the same degree as, say, Starscream (and definitely not Knock Out, though that was kind of a high bar), but he looked more scratched-up than usual. She was pretty sure she picked out a few dents, too, and that was new. Paint scratches were one thing, but she'd never seen Megatron dented except during the aftermath of a fight.

Megatron stood in the mouth of the mine for a breem or so and was he…watching the sunset? He could have been looking to see if anyone were approaching but this was kind of a weird time to do it. Sure seemed like it, though, especially since once the sun was below the horizon, he turned and walked back inside.

Well. That was different.

Arcee didn't follow Megatron into the mine. Not yet. Approaching him was dangerous enough when he wasn't busy being an interstellar warlord; it wouldn't be any safer when he was a hermit guarding his privacy. Going in during the day probably wasn't a great idea either, but it was better than going in at night, that was for sure. She'd have light if she had to make a run for it. Tomorrow she could make her approach. Leaving and coming back might draw attention so she should probably just…stay here. She looked around but no one had been considerate enough to leave a functioning recharge bed here. Recharging in alt it was. It wasn't the worst place, or the worst way Arcee had ever bunked down for the night, but it definitely wasn't the best either. She just hoped this wasn't going to be the last place she ever recharged.

Arcee spent a good part of the next morning doing recon around the mine and, very carefully, just inside the entrance. There weren't any traps or surveillance devices set, which she found odd, but then again, it wasn't like Megatron had had time to pack. Anything that might've been usable would've been looted from the remains of the mining camp long ago, so it wasn't like he could've adapted anything either. Even Decepticon engineering needed something to work with, after all. After she'd checked the area she holed up in the abandoned building that had been her hotel room the night before to wait. It was sunset when the ex-warlord again made his appearance, and Arcee mentally braced herself before stepping forward.

"Megatron!"

#transformers #transformers prime #arcee #megatron #optimus prime #jazz #primus #signal boost #looking for an artist #fanart #fan art #fanartist

[streetlightsky]

*tries to physically restrain myself from asking literally all of them* 1, 3, 8, 10, 18, 19, 22 <3

ohhh, this post got long, whoops. but literally this is why i rejoined tumblr again. thanks for the ask, lovely! 💖

fic ask game

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what's it about, how's progress, what do you love most about it?

i have two (~and a half) wips lined up. the one i intend to finish and post next is a 5+1 fic. sebchal, of course; set in the normal racing world with a twist! finished the first section and am almost done with the second. i'm currently in my post fic writing hiatus, though, so progress has been halted a bit. what i love most about it, though, is writing a trope i always wanted to but never got the chance to really flesh out with any past fandoms/ships. even better, i get to write this trope literally six different ways with the 5+1 format, so i'm excited to get these unique but similar ideas out there. no spoilers, sorry!

the other wip is a longish au i started last year, but it needs a lot of work and might be a series, so i've put it on the back burner. but i love the idea of this one--again, writing another trope i've never gotten to publish before. i guess you could say my favorite part of writing these is shoving sebchal into different situations/scenarios/aus to see if their original dynamic will sink or swim and then building an entire fic around those that pass that mental test of mine.

3. What is that one scene that you've always wanted to write but can't be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

THERE'S A LOT. a lot of scenes that just exist in my head without the benefit of an actual storyline; a lot of ideas from my 'fics i'll never write' tag that come to me in that moment but probably won't be much more; outtakes from my posted works or even former ideas that i thought i would write but were abandoned; etc.

there's a slightly nsfw scene for a sebchal model!au that i will never write where seb is doing an obligatory photoshoot for a team sponsor and model!charles just happens to crash it, and after, model!charles drives seb to his italian villa or whatever and they get to third base outside on a balcony, 😉.

then, there were two extended epilogues to roots on the rooftop that i ended up abandoning. the first was going to be sebchal house hunting in monaco for a new place together, and they tour some swanky new place, and the bathroom lights are on the floor again, but there's a rooftop, and seb kind of just shrugs when charles asks if he likes it because it doesn't matter to him as long as they're together. and then the second one would be them together in switzerland. i had this written:

He had followed Seb to Switzerland like an idiot. But it was okay. It was quiet and hilly and a two-hour flight away from his mother and brothers, but there was Seb, and that was what made it home.

basically a reiteration of the first epilogue in a different locale and the reverse of the rest of the fic, which essentially takes place in monaco aside from the racing. (also a reverse of postcards as that one took place in switzerland and then the very last epilogue was in monaco.)

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

mostly, yes. i am picky with what i write because i have to be able to envision the ship's dynamic in that situation in order for me to even consider it, and that generally applies to what i like to read. that being said, there are some aus i can enjoy if done right--coffee shop au, apocalypse au, others i can't think of right now--but am unlikely to write because i have no talent in that department. there's a fanfic trope tier list i saw online; i might do it and post for fun.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

long and full of editing. some kind of outline will crop up anywhere between 0-75% of the writing being done. but really, it's just constant editing--editing the current section while i'm writing it; editing the former sections when i need to remember what was set up and the tone; editing after the whole fic has been written; editing right before i hit post on ao3. a lot of random research too throughout the process. i don't know, this is not very descriptive, but i could probably write an entire post on the process and use like one of my recent fics as an example.

18. Do any of your stories have alternate versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterizations?) Tell us about them.

i intended for miss you (most at christmas time), nothing else that i will need (this christmas), and in my heart (is a christmas tree farm) to be exactly that: three alternate versions of one story, which was charles' anxiety of losing seb after the 2020 season. it wasn't done very well, but that was the original inspiration. i think this question might serve better for my current wips, but i don't want to give anything away... but yes. the answer is definitely yes, 😜.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favorite verb, something you describe 'too often,' trope you can't get enough of?

i feel like in my recent works, you can almost always find any variation of "But that was okay." i don't know why, but i like it, and it usually works well for the tone. (it's literally in that snippet i posted above, LOL.) i also really like to describe heartbeats and utilize that rhythm to try and heighten the emotion in a scene of particular significance.

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

uh... how old are we talking? there are a handful of works that are 5+ years old posted on ao3 that i'm not interested in reading again because i feel rather embarrassed about the writing and actual story. but there are some gems over the past few years that i reread every once in a long while and think, 'yeah, this was great, brings me right back into the feels.'

#replies #leqclerc #on writing #on fanfic #on reading #fics i'll never write #fic analysis #yeah that's a tag now

[enduringsea]

( rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the kind of music they listen to! put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people! no skipping! ) / tagged by @yellowcrumpet​ ╭( ･ㅂ･)و )))

Thanks for the tag! I LOVE these things-- I don’t rlly have a playlist either though, just a mess of music files on a device I haven’t updated so I’ll be checking my YouTube history too lol. There’s a uhhh.... pattern to be found, mainly relating to Code Vein or other OCs.... which isn’t surprising ._. ;; I made it a separate post bc I knew this was going to get long and rambly with lyric snippets and crying about fictional characters, sorry :D

1. Repeat Until Death - Novo Amor don’t go / you’re half of me now / but i’m hardly stood proud / i said it, almost oh i’ve been low / but damn it i bet it don’t show / it was heaven a moment ago oh i can’t seem to let myself leave you / but i can’t breathe anymore This one gives me Loubeth vibes ok, partially bad end route ;-; While Elizabeth is a very strong person, her friends are the most prominent reason she tries to do anything at all & isn’t living day-to-day in a monotonous grind to survive without a solid purpose other than ‘help random ppl bc it’s the right thing to do’. If she loses them, it’d ruin her & hammers into her head how everything she’s ever done has been a failure. She suffered a major betrayal by her boss before the Collapse, she was unable to fully participate in proj. queen despite her incredible test results, she failed to defeat Cruz and take her blood during Operation Queenslayer, and if she fails to protect the people she’s finally found meaning with? She’d break down completely & destroy herself to save them. She’s always had some level of abandonment issues, and without her family around it’s so much worse, even if it isn’t the most obvious because she’s generally seen as very well put together-- I really can’t express how much it would hurt her to lose Louis, Yakumo, and the others. She’s just not one to show just how bad it can truly get for her mentally and emotionally-- she’s resilient as hell, she’s been through hell repeatedly and survived it all, so it’s easy for others to assume she’s fine all things considered. It makes her feel weak and ashamed of herself if she shows any level of vulnerability, so she doesn’t; she swallows it down and is afraid of disappointing those who look up to her as a fighter and friend-- of course, no one at Home Base would blame her for being vulnerable, they all have their moments, Bethy just sets herself to such a high standard it’s difficult for her to talk about her own suffering in spite of how well-versed she is in getting her thoughts and feelings across otherwise. Louis is the one most keen to how deeply she’s hurting, but he doesn’t understand just how deeply until she finally does fall apart. The final swell of the song and its desperate lyrics really relays the pain they both feel-- Louis too would not fare well if something happened to Elizabeth, because he blames himself she was even involved in Operation Queenslayer for a long time, I honestly did so bad in explaining coherently, this song just has so much emotion and hurt behind it adklfjdfdff </3

2. Looking Out For You - Joy Again this is a love song for a girl who will never know it’s about her she's beaming that smile / all the while i’m all tripped up on my own throat i guess there is no hope This song reminds me of Elizabeth & my friend’s character Takashi Fujioka, who gets-- vERY...FRIENDZONED, for lack of a better word, by Elizabeth in his story, it’s really summed up best as tragic (;﹏;) Before the Collapse they were hitting it off, then the Collapse happened, they were separated, he lost his sisters, Mido happened, he was experimented on + became a revenant, etc, etc; years have passed since then & she’s gotten her life together as much as one can in a world like Vein, but for Takashi it’s like no time has passed at all. Elizabeth is subtly older in appearance, she’s been working w Lou & Co. for a long time; Loubeth blatantly have a connection, & rather than bringing up his feelings + making it awkward bc he values their friendships, he just kinda. chokes on them & does his best to help out the team. It doesn’t help he can’t even be jealous bc Louis is a really solid friend to him too, IT’S JUST A MESS OF A SITUATION & the death of what could have been if things were different.

3. Closer - Teagan And Sara ( no lengthy explanation for this one thank goodness, I’ve just been watching BoJack Horseman again and I really like some of the songs they add in, I like listening to this one on loop when mindlessly coloring something )

4. Brutal - Olivia Rodrigo  all I did was try my best / this the kind of thanks I get? they say these are the golden years / but I wish I could disappear ego crush is so severe / god, it's brutal out here I have it on a playlist for Elizabeth somewhere, not all of it applies to her but it reflects some of her struggles she has both before & after the collapse. She’s-- always kind of been a mess while under immense pressure + has serious self image issues, this song hits that side of her well. She’s been held to humanly impossible standards by both herself and her family bc frankly? She can reach them, she’s NOT exactly human. She was born into her position as a hunter & intends to keep it for as long as she lives (like revenants, her kind is very much ‘either gets killed or lives 5ever), even if some days she really feels how heavy the burden can be. She didn’t have a normal childhood and she’s fine with it for the most part, but it alienates her from most of her peers-- she never got to date anyone, never had a close group of friends, never went to parties that weren’t formals, etc., while she feels a little childish about it, she does envy ‘normal’ and understands the pressure she’s lived under her entire life has caused damage-- she has been exploited for her abilities, there’s just not much she can do about it but to keep going, rlly.

5. Freaks - Surf Curse  don't kill me / just help me run away from everyone  i need a place to stay / where i can cover up my face don't cry / i am just a freak / i am just a freak UhhhHHH this song really makes me think of Oliver Collins :D;; thank TikTok for showing it to me. It makes me think of how scared he was, of both the world and the revenants who captured him. The song’s use of the word ‘parasites’ really makes me think of Revenants and the BOR parasites XD I’m hoping when I poke my video editor again, I can record some Oliver footage to make a short video to this song. Oliver deserves so much better, I wish you could save him, but that’s what AUs are for, hahah.... The second half of the lyrics make me think of the AU I have where he lives and has to grapple with the guilt of surviving and the things he did to other revenants to get by too.

6. All Eyes On Me - Bo Burnham you say the ocean’s rising / like i give a shit you say the whole world’s ending / honey it already did you’re not gonna slow it / heaven knows you tried got it? good / now get inside I haven’t seen the Netflix special yet but I’ve had this song on repeat since my move started. The lyrics hit too hard & resonate with my existential dread, covid exhaustion, and extreme burnout in my 20s, but bc I have Damage I can also relate it to CV ._. ‘you’re not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried. got it? good now get inside’ makes me think of--;; the bad end route again, and Elizabeth’s desperation to keep her found family together. It’s not like her to completely stop caring about an issue, but in the moment she realizes what’s being taken from her? She doesn’t want to save all of revenant-kind if it means she’s going to wind up alone all over again, her world is effectively over if she’s forced to be alone again. The MC frenzying means the only immediately identifiable hope she had of saving everyone else is gone, so why not just go home? If they’re all doomed, she wants to at least be together for a little while longer, it’s fine if they use her blood to survive & everyone else in the mist is out of luck, it’s soul-crushing bc I’ve never had her in a situation where she’s been this reckless, despondent/hopeless, and thinking irrationally where it’d impact more than herself-- especially when she’s normally goal-oriented, organized, meticulous, so on so forth: she’s not one to act without thinking something through first, but that last breath of light just got sucker-punched out of her. All she wants is home, comfort, and family, and ultimately in the bad end route she does manage to preserve their lives, maintain the mist, and supply blood beads, but her own condition leaves her on the throne-- it’s a mix of the bad, neutral, and true ending rlly ldkfjdf BUT YEAH enough rambling on that :D;; This song’s really good and touches a lot of different thoughts and ideas both in real life and my ocs, kind of embarrassing--;; thank u bo burnham for ruining me with this beautiful song

7. Yellow - Coldplay look at the stars / look how they shine for you / and everything you do your skin / oh yeah, your skin and bones / turn in to something beautiful do you know / for you I'd bleed myself dry Does this song make me think about JackEva? Yes. Yes it does. Star / night sky symbolism? Bam. Sappy lyrics about love and finding the person you’re with absolutely mesmerizing and worth dying for? BAM. If JackEva were capable of using their own blood to save each other, I can see it-- hJNGn they just care about each other so much, Jack cries for her even though they both knew that eventually one of them would succumb to their duty, and if the roles were reversed I can see Eva doing the same, I adore them beyond human language. On my CV RP blog, my Jack’s not shippable bc-- Eva, my friend even have them looking after his nephew (an oc--) at one point. I should seriously drop some headcanons down eventually....

8. Louder Than Thunder - The Devil Wears Prada  are we meant to be empty-handed? / i know i could, i could be better i don't think i deserve it / selflessness, find your way into my heart all stars could be brighter / all hearts could be warmer 

LMFAO throwback to my middle school playlist, I’m old-- I’ve applied this song to a lot of things back in the day, but I really connect it to Loubeth now, especially Louis. Lou & Bethy are both functional idiots who are too hard on themselves & have trouble recognizing their worth beyond what they can do for others. They’re trying to be better-- to make up for what they perceived wrongs they’ve done, but it’s hard, they don’t believe they’re worthy of the love and support the other gives, but they still yearn for that sense of security. After Louis’ memories are returned, he finally understands the guilt he’s felt since he became a revenant and it really skews his self-perception; he blames himself for so many things & Elizabeth, who has always been able to kill when necessary, sets it straight-- “It’s not your fault”, and it takes Louis some time to properly absorb that message. He thinks she’s just trying to comfort him, which she is tbh, but she’s not wrong: “It’s not your fault you couldn’t kill someone. It was never your job to kill anyone.” It’s up to people like her to do those sort of things-- Elizabeth may not have been present when Cruz frenzied, but if she had been? It would have been over before it started, that’s something she has regrets over, even if nothing could have been done since she was already on the field. Actually, she’s actually really quite angry that security failed to monitor Cruz properly and has a few select words for the ones there who could have actually done something before it got out of hand-- civilians and doctors are exempt from her shtlist bc they’re not meant to be killers (so don’t worry Artorias, she’s not ready to bite your head off!), but they had to have some kinda security detail rite o-q??? They’re probably hiding from her wrath-- BUT ANYWAY, she insists she’ll never blame Louis for not being able to do something as serious as killing another person. He was a normal human being who cared about his friend, not a failure, and he couldn’t have been expected to do something that shouldn’t have fallen on his shoulders in the first place. As many times as it takes, she’ll reaffirm that it wasn’t his fault, she’s not angry, he’s always done his best and her opinion of him hasn’t changed. He’s a good person and she loves him through all the hurt, though she doesn’t drop the word ‘love’ for a long time. It just-- takes Louis a while to accept she views him as someone worthy of the love and respect she has for him. It’s kind of ironic she’s so adamant on Louis not blaming himself considering she’s the one privately blaming herself for-- wow there’s too much to unpack, she feels guilty she was even born?? im so broken over these two. I love them and yet they SUFFER... 

9. What I’ve Done - Linkin Park i'll face myself / to cross out what i’ve become erase myself / and let go of what i’ve done today this ends / i'm forgiving what i’ve done

I have Louis Amamiya brainrot and I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks that this song fits him super well & it needs to become an AMV dsjfkldsfd. I’m a near life-long Linkin Park fan and this fits with Lou so well thematically. As much as I’ve gone on about Louis’ guilt, he does steel himself to keep going forward in spite of it and make things right, for everyone. Maybe it wasn’t really his fault, but at the end of the day his inability to kill Cruz in that moment left a disaster in its wake that got a countless number of people killed-- the MC included with Karen and Aurora. He doesn’t want to run away from the truth, doesn’t want to make excuses, he wants to take responsibility for it and he’ll work himself to death if it means things will be better-- it’s both admirable he’s got a strong resolve and VERY concerning with how willing he is to die for the cause, please don’t overdo it, Lou, you’ll break mine and Bethy’s hearts ._.;; It won’t always be easy, there are moments the grief gnaws at him, but in the end he does overcome it (and uh. as in the bad ending, we know he can actually do it this time). I know we can’t see everything, but I would have loved deeper character interactions, especially with Louis with an emphasis on grieving + forgiving himself properly-- but this song really is nice with the whole ‘I’m going to face my mistakes head on, forgive myself, and keep moving forward’. It’s what Louis deserves: self forgiveness and a damn break ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

10. Call of Silence - Hiroyuki Sawano you will know you're reborn tonight / must be rough but i’ll stay by your side even if my body's bleached to the bones / i don't want go through that ever again so cry no more / oh my beloved ngl idk if those are the correct lyrics, buuuuuuut....... im a weenie and am internally weeping abt loubeth after midnight, what else is new lmfao- i’ll at least try to be brief :D I also used to really like Attack on Titan when I was in high school, I dropped the anime years ago because I was waiting for s2 and never got back to it once it started airing again, I thought I’d finish it once the anime was complete since I eventually caught up with the manga, such a good series BUT ANYWAY-- I think it’s a really pretty song and Loubeth fit with the tender lyrics. IT’S LATE, idk what to say about them other than what I’ve said already dsklfjdslf im sorry I really ramble a LOT and I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had the chance to >w>;;

#i do not know how 2 b quiet #long post #personal text #yellowcrumpet

[qserasera]

2k?? Year End Fic Review

my previous year end fic review posts can be found in the tag here (if you’re confused by the year titles i had on there, i usually posted them on the jan 1st of the new year which is why they were like a year ahead)

so yes time for this year’s 20?? post jk it’s for all fics written from 2020 up to Jan 1, 2021, hahahaha

my 2 whole moods this year have basically alternated between this

and this pic

so yes let’s gooo

Total number of completed stories: 10 completed stories

Total word count:  77,387 (70k?? this is like...triple my usual wordcount in a year. what.) Fandoms written in: Persona 5 Royal primarily, the Witcher, and Ebon Light (a cool free visual novel) 

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? excuse me friends and gentle enemies, we’re in a pandemic : /  but a lot more hahaha ha? a lot more  щ(゜ロ゜щ)

What’s your own favorite story of the year?  was pretty satisfied with how irregular resolution turned out, and people seemed to like it!! so just about a win-win on two counts 

Did you take any writing risks this year?  a few?? hmms

wrote a 7k fic for a tiny niche visual novel

Actually jumped into writing p5 fic which i simply had not Done before despite being an akechi goro fan for 3+ years :’’))

wrote a 20k?? completed thing???

posted that one rule 63 girl!protag p5 fic i had always tossed around in my head

wrote (1) nsfw E-for-explicit fic... unbelievable

Do you have any fanfic or ofic goals for the New Year?

more fic, maybe work up the courage to apply for a zine because it looks like a Fun experience

co-writing smth would be fun again, i should get back into that

try to get (1) ofic done, between 2k-5k should be manageable!!

My best story of this year: structure-wise, i really thought closing speed ended up working even better than i thought it would and i was pleased with it; special mention to caliology for getting to finish it by the determined posting date writing-wise, an arrow, a dart, a flare in the dark was also something that a lot of work had been put into for smth that was written in a...month...a little less than?? (maybe it was 4 weeks and a half) My most popular story of this year:  going strictly off hits & kudos, ambiguity aversion takes the top spot (almost 4000 hits??? 500 kudos???? y’all??)...my first p5 shuake fic i had ever written...im slightly teary-eyed ; w ; Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: your local fic writer is supported by the feedback of generous readers like you haha i can’t pick one, so far being in a semi-regularly active fandom is really Wild in how much feedback you sometimes get...it provides that small dose of serotonin that gets me thru the week so thank u

hmms, i suppose i’m not sure how many readers did end up reading catch us on our good side (my one p5 scriptfic format actors’ au), but that was something written mostly for light-hearted fun And was not set in a canon-setting so it’s absolutely understandable Most fun story to write: +the vaguely princess-bride fairytale au wishes wisely expounded was esp enjoyable

+stand and deliver your diamond ring, as it was really just a chance to string together a bunch of Emotionally cinematic moments and less of an exercise in moving through  the entire p5 plot _(:3」∠)_ 

Story with the single sexiest moment: i feel like i should mention an arrow, a dart, a flare in the dark here going by ratings but on the other handd, im going to have to go with this snippet from closing speed (in which goro has practical reasons for thinking about touching akira’s mouth :)))

Goro's glance moves up.

A couple flecks of frost still cling to Akira, collected from their brief walk outside. A few nestle in the dark of his curls.

And another one, there, at the corner of his lips.

Goro's fingers curl into his palms. He shoves his gloved hands deeper into his coat pockets, instead of—instead of—

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: it’s hard to say--both akira AND goro can sometimes be these fiddly puzzleboxes of a character, in which u have a general idea of how the character might act, but when u try to get a handle on who they are they also surprise you when they’re with each other or whether it’s during a canon-setting/post-canon/canon divergence/au. hmm...the perception/usual version of akira that i write tends to fall along the lines of a softer/more restrained version who nevertheless has a lot of Thoughts & Feelings that just kind of bubble out regardless; goro is angry and driven and likes smart banter, but is sometimes just Tired (tm) it feels like if any story got me closest to a character’s mindset, closing speed would be one of my top picks for getting-really-close to akechi goro’s head Hardest story to write: an arrow, a dart, a flare in the dark just Kept getting longer because joker wanted to keep talking...they were really only supposed to go thru 40% plot and 60% making out, kurusu akira pls be quiet akechi goro is Trying to make out with you!!! Biggest Disappointment: none really? Biggest Surprise: people...thought my prose was pretty??? they told me they liked the writing i do for fun?? Incredible  ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ how did i trick you all

special shoutout to the akeshuakes disco, the general supportive and energetic atmosphere has been invaluable to just going with my gut and posting whatever fic i had a half-thought of posting ; w ;

also i got noT ONE BUT TWO podfics on some of my fics from tinier fandoms that i had written for before, i was all !!!! with surprised delight, do go listen to them if you happen to like those fandoms not tagging anyone but would be Delighted to read about other people’s thoughts and processes if you do want to use this meme/year end fic summary format

#memeity meme #long post #year end fic review #words words words

[peacehopeandrats]

Pop Ins

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold Additional Tags: Fluff, A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), Fun, Travel

Summary: Inspired by the January Monthly Rumbelling. The Golds visit a land where only light magic exists and nine year old Gideon has a rather unexpected adventure.

Notes: This is part of an eventual work in my Growing Up series. Inspired by the Monthly Rumbelling prompt “How on earth did you get up there?” The rest of this story will be included when I get to it, but for now, enjoy this little snippet of life with the Golds, in a realm where only light magic exists.

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Gideon watched his Papa spinning at the wheel and tipped his head curiously as the man's movements created a thick yarn. It looked solid and strong, but there wasn't enough of it to be useful for much of anything. He could imagine it being a pull string for an attic door, or maybe a kind of belt, but that was about all.

“Did you put everything into your boxes?” The words were his mother's. They ricocheted through the almost empty house, making the question seem more mysterious than it was. Packing days always stressed her, but this one seemed different somehow. There was a nervous energy in the air that he couldn't quite understand, not to mention the many whispered conversations between the two in the last week, hushed arguments that stopped the minute he set foot in the room.

Of course, his Papa might have something to do with that. He sat spinning while his mother dashed about, frantically checking corners and closets for forgotten stockings or bars of half-used soap that, for some reason, needed to come with them. This had never happened before. It was why Gideon was so curious about the final product.

“Yes, mother,” Gideon called back, eyes fixated on the movements of his Papa's fingers. He felt spellbound, but in a good way, and reveled in the closeness that came from watching his father work.

“There. Finished.” The wheel creaked to a stop and his Papa held out the yarn. “Go on,” he commanded. “Pull.”

Gideon took hold and gave a gentle tug.

“Ah,” his father croaked playfully, swatting at the air between them. “Give it a real pull. Everything you've got.”

Again Gideon pulled, but this time, with all of his might. The yarn gave ever so slightly, then held. He looked down at the thick fibers in his hands and decided it felt more like a tiny rope than yarn. “What is this for, Papa?”

“I'll show you. Come here,” his papa said. “You're meant to wear it.”

So it was a belt, even if it didn't seem to be a useful one. He moved closer, arms raised, and let his father tie the chord around him, testing the knot with a gentle tug. One end had been left longer than the other, so unbalanced that it nearly dragged at his feet. Both he and his Papa studied the end result, but while Gideon found the new item awkward and clumsy, his father seemed to be fairly pleased.

“Yes. That will do nicely.”

At this, his mother appeared, hands on hips, head tipped to the side. “Are you sure it will be long enough?”

Rumple gestured at the floor. “Do you want the boy to trip himself up every time he takes a step?” Rumple chuckled and patted Gideon on the shoulder. “I think this will be just fine.”

Gideon looked from his mother to his papa and back again, blinking in confusion. “So... why do I have to wear this?”

“Your father and I found a special realm,” his mother explained as she sat in a chair beside the spinning wheel. Light from outside pushed through the window and shone on the streak of gray that had grown in her hair. Gideon's eyes flicked away, unwilling to admit the sign of his mother's mortality, and rested instead on the ring she wore. Reading his action as a need for reassurance, she reached out to take his hands in her own. “It's a place of light magic, where darkness has never been seen... that we know of, anyway. We're going to find out if that's true.”

Gideon felt his eyes go wide with hope and he spun so quickly to face his Papa that he lost his balance and had to be steadied by his mother's quick reflexes. “Do you think they can help?”

His Papa's face softened, eyes sparkling with excitement. “We hope so.”

“But...” He looked down at the new belt that had been made for him. “Why do I need this?”

“You'll see,” his Papa told him before kissing the top of his head. He looked at Belle then. “Are we ready?” She nodded and stood, holding out her hand for Gideon to take, even as she draped an arm through Rumple's.

Together the three made their way to the front door of the place they had spent the last year calling home. As always, he and his father were forced to pause while his mother hovered, staring into the living room as if looking for the final, forgotten item to put into one of the boxes or crates.

“I'll come back for it all when we're settled,” his papa told her. He said the same thing whenever they left, but it never seemed to make her ready. She had to be ready on her own. That was what Papa always said, when his mother wasn't around to hear.

Finally, the door was closed and they faced the green space that lead to the road. Rumplestiltskin pulled a bean from his pocket and tossed it forward, causing a ring of sparks to fly out from the ground where it landed. The bright light formed a circle that spun and spat like the sparkling fire toys Gideon loved to watch at night celebrations.

He blinked in surprise. "Papa..."

"Well, that's new," his mother said at the same time.

“They warned me it might be different,” his papa shouted in an uncertain voice as he squinted at the burning edges of the circle they faced. The noise of the whirling portal was like the wind of a horrible storm. “The latest beans come from a new harvest. Some kind of hybrid.”

"Is it safe?" Belle moved closer, put her hand on his papa's shoulder and squeezed. It was supposed to look like every other touch, but Gideon could see the white in her knuckles, showing her worry.

His papa hesitated, then shrugged. “Should be fine,” he told them in a voice that Gideon wanted to believe but couldn't quite. “The giant knows, I should think." He turned and lifted the end of Gideon's new belt, gripping it tightly. "Whatever happens, son, don't take this off. Do you understand?”

Gideon nodded as the three of them stepped into another land.

* * *

The portal let them out in the middle of a cobblestone street. The sun was low and bright in the sky, a sure sign of the morning hour. They had been lucky to arrive in the earliest part of the day. Any later and the roads would have been busy with people. For now, the quiet allowed them to take in their surroundings in peace without being run over on a busy city thoroughfare.

Rumplestiltskin stepped to the curb, bringing his wife and son with him. He looked up and down the rows of buildings, memorizing their location and taking in the culture of the place. It seemed surprisingly modern for a magical realm, though the architecture did bring back memories of old cities in the Enchanted Forest. The various tweaks and accents along the road hinted at an evolved technology. There were bulbs in the street lamps and the hinges and handles on the doors all appeared sleek and contemporary. Europe, he decided finally. Perhaps somewhere in the United Kingdom...

"It's like home," Belle said with awe as she alternately gazed up at the roofs and peered in through windows. “This could be any town in the Enchanted Forest.”

“I was thinking England,” Rumple amended as he took a step forward. “But both make a good match. There was certainly a feel of home in Europe as well.” A tug in his hand reminded him that he was still tethered to Gideon.

“Papa," the boy told him."You can let go now. We made it."

Rumple turned a smile at him."I'm afraid I can't," he said tenderly, hating that he was keeping things from his son. For Gideon's safety, he and Belle had agreed to keep the nature of the local magic a mystery for as long as was possible. Neither of them wanted him lost to the realm forever. "You see, this realm has a very special kind of magic, one that might try and take you away from me. I need to hold on until I am sure you will be safe. All right?”

Confusion and concern crossed Gideon's face, but he nodded his agreement. “All right, Papa. But if more people show up, can we... at least make it look less like you have me on a leash?”

A laugh erupted from Rumple, creating a strange tingle throughout his body, but when his son scowled at him, the sensation stopped. “I'm sorry.” The apology came with a playful scrubbing of the boy's head, causing him to grunt and twist away. “There are people here who wear something similar,” Rumple explained finally. “You'll see.”

“Well, can I at least know what kind of magic I need to be ready for?”

Rumplestiltskin thought about his options. Telling Gideon what to expect might cause him to use the magic unnecessarily, putting him in a situation that the unschooled had difficulty getting out of. Not telling him would, of course prevent Gideon from purposefully using the magic, but might cause a panic if he were to stumble across it by accident. He weighed this thinking with the fact that he had made a promise to Belle and sighed heavily under the weight of it all.

Standing ahead of them, Belle unknowingly put an end to the debate. "Where do we start?" She looked back at them with such love and excitement in her eyes that Rumple began to feel the flutter of pure joy rise inside of him.

He cleared his throat to center himself and nodded down the street."That looks like an inn a few buildings down. We can get a room and then explore a bit after we have eaten.”

Belle beamed and hurried back to take his arm, kissing his cheek once she reached him.

Gideon rolled his eyes playfully as they walked on, though one hand was rubbing idly at his belly. After a few strides he made a face, wrinkling his nose and scrunching his eyes tight. "I don't think... I don't think I feel well. My stomach is... different.”

"That's the magic here,"Belle told him. "I feel it too. It's a little bit like butterflies or bubbles floating around all inside of me."

“Try not to think on it too much,” Rumple told them, trying to hold the rope tightly without giving away his worries. "Everyone in this realm has magic. They are born with it and grow up with it. They are so used to the feel of it that the price of the magic doesn't bother them. The truth of this place is not that everyone here has magic, but that the magic here has everyone."

"It sounds dangerous," Gideon said with a swallow.

"Only if I let go." Rumple insisted as they reached the inn.

At this,Gideon took his hand and squeezed hard. Rumple squeezed back in reassurance as they went inside.

* * *

The lobby that greeted them was tiled in dark stone and had rich, wooden accents in the cream colored walls. While the decor certainly implied that the inn was older, the structure itself had been modernized. Electric bulbs hung from the ceiling, shining their warm glow on a room that had a “restored” quality about it. The historic stone exterior had easily hidden the updated beauty of the building's interior, Belle thought, as they were approached by a woman with a friendly greeting and a bright grin.

“Welcome,” she said with a bubbly cheer that was almost infectious. “Can I help--?”

The moment Rumple turned to greet her, the woman froze, her eyes narrowing to slits. “We haven't had your kind here before,” she said sternly. “It isn't that you aren't welcome, you understand, but I couldn't claim to know your needs or be able to fill them.”

Belle saw her husband's chest expand slowly and then contract as he let out a long, slow breath, and caught Gideon doing much the same. Though Rumple's smile never wavered, the boy's turned to a frown. She knew the slight hurt both the father and the son who took such pride in the man he called Papa. Eight years of traveling to places that never heard of the Dark Curse made these kinds of introductions a part of their distant past and now here they were, suddenly reliving everything in one conversation.

“I understand that this is a realm of light magic,” Rumple answered warmly. “And I did expect to stand out like a red rose on a bush of white flowers, but I can promise you I have no use for the magic I was cursed with. My wife, my son, and I are on a quest of sorts, to rid me of the darkness so that I can continue sharing a life with them as it was meant to be lived.” He sighed and adjusted his stance, gesturing out into the lobby and back to the street. “We had hoped that coming here, we might find a way to at least lighten the burden, even if we couldn't find a cure.”

“My husband has not cast even the simplest spell in over nine years,” Belle insisted as she pressed closer to his side. “He gave up magic when our son was born.” It was a simplification of their history, but they never explained Gideon's full history to anyone, even in a realm that would understand it.

The woman stared at them for an exceptionally long time, her eyes locking with Rumplestiltskin's and peering as if they could drill a hole through them straight to the truth of the matter. When she finally nodded, it was a short, sharp gesture of acceptance. “I believe you,” she said at last. “You do realize you will be met with much the same greeting wherever you travel in this realm?”

Rumple nodded slowly. “I knew what I faced before we left home,” he admitted. “I am willing to wear cuffs that prevent the casting of-”

“Oh, no, no,” the woman snorted, flapping at the air as if warding off complete nonsense. “That certainly won't be necessary. I simply mean to warn you that your welcome will not always come so easily with other members of the community.”

The corners of his mouth twitched up in a weak smile. “I expected that, yes.”

“Well...” She looked at each of them in turn, sizing them up again as her bubbling personality returned. “We only have one room available, but you are welcome to it. It has one bed, and we can bring a cot for the boy.” She talked as she strode across the room to a desk at the corner, then pulled open a drawer and took a key. “My name is Jane and if your travels brought you here, then your visit was most certainly meant to be.”

“Why is that?” The question was Gideon's.

“Because the magic here takes you to where you are most needed. Everyone in this realm is born with this gift and it causes us to flow in and out of peoples' lives like leaves drifting on the wind,” Jane told him, bending forward over the counter to tap the tip of his nose. “One minute you're having tea with your friends, then the next... Woosh! You're off to another realm where you are needed.”

Gideon's eyes blinked. “Without a portal?”

“No portal necessary,” Jane told him. She opened her mouth to say more, but Rumplestiltskin made certain to interrupt her.

“We'll take the room, if you don't mind. It has been a long day and we would prefer to rest before our meal.” He held out his hand expectantly.

“Of course, of course.” The woman plopped the key into his palm with a winning smile. “If you need anything, simply ask.”

“We will,” Belle said as they made their way upstairs.

The room was on the second floor and Rumple handed Gideon the key so that he could do the honors. Eagerly, the boy unlocked the door and opened it a crack to peek inside, then burst into a fit of laughter.

Worried that the magic might claim him in his lighthearted state, Belle put on her best worried expression and added a sterner tone than was necessary to keep him in line. “Gideon! We are out in the hallway.” She shushed him and nudged him to go inside.

“Sorry,” he said as he entered. “I couldn't help it. Miss Jane said the magic would take us where we needed to go and she was right. Papa needed to go here.”

“Why say that?” Rumple's eyes narrowed as he stepped forward, then blinked in surprise at the room they had been given.

Belle grinned at him. “Oh, look, Rumple,” she said, placing a hand on his chest and throwing out her best mocking tones as she tried not to giggle. “It's purple.”

The walls were actually a pink that practically matched his old home, but the four post bed was covered in a rich purple bedding with golden accents, a pattern that was perfectly duplicated in the rest of the room's furniture.

“Very funny,” he grumped as he shut the door behind them.

* * *

In here will go one of their adventures, in which Belle and Gideon meet a shopkeeper who does actually need their help, and who might be able to help them in return. But let's skip that for now so that we can get to the prompt that started this whole work in the first place.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin strolled quickly down the cobblestone street, the heels of his shoes clicking out his nervousness. Belle had insisted that she and Gideon wouldn't go far on their little excursion, yet up to this point he had been inside of every shop within three blocks of the inn and he was continuing to miss them. Each shopkeeper, without exception, had first given him one of the calculating glares that he had become used to in this realm, then pointed him farther down the street, across to the next block, or indicated that the pair had just turned the corner.

There would have to be rules, he decided. The next time they traveled to a realm without cell phones, the three would stick together no matter what.

The sound of shattering glass caught his attention and Rumple spun on his heel to locate the origin of the noise. Across the street from where he stood, he saw an open shop door and from the door came a collection of painfully recognizable giggles.

“Oh no,” he muttered to himself as he sped to the entrance. “No, no, no...”

A week. They had managed to keep the magic from getting to Gideon for a whole week and now, after all of that effort, it seemed as if they had failed.

Dashing in to the shop, Rumplestiltskin took in his surroundings. The items for sale all seemed in perfect condition except for a single vase that had toppled to the stone floor. He stood beside it and rotated in place, checking each corner and shadow of the room. The silence was wrong, not just because he was certain he had heard laughter, but because the hush in the room felt forced.

Without warning, an explosion of laughter erupted from above, the kind of outburst that could only mean someone had been holding their breath in order to contain themselves. Slowly, Rumple tipped his head upward, lifting his gaze to the ceiling, where Belle, Gideon, and a woman who was presumably the shopkeeper, were drifting in the rafters.

He circled below them, staring up in amused disbelief and felt a grin widen on his face as he positioned himself under Belle's skirt. The hotel manager had quietly warned her of the dangers of such garments in this realm, but Belle hadn't listened and now she would be paying the price, though Rumple suspected Belle wouldn't mind paying it to him.

“Not that I'm complaining about the view,” he finally called up to them, a statement which made Belle squeak and fiddle with the fabric tangling around her legs. “But... How on earth did you get up there?”

“We laughed up!” Gideon chortled as he made swimming motions with his arms. “That's what the magic here does, Papa. It's why we felt bubbly all the time. The magic isn't just light magic, it makes you float when you feel light.”

“Yes,” Rumple harrumphed as he shifted position so that he was under Belle again. “Something I warned your mother about repeatedly.” He gave her a wink and a wicked grin.

“Rumple!” Belle shouted at him and kicked a foot in the air as if to shoo him away, but only succeeded in tipping herself to an angle that gifted him an even better view.

The woman beside her helped to set Belle straight, then waved down at the ground below. “Hello,” she said with a winning smile. “I'm Nina Twigley.”

Despite himself, Rumple found his hand raising in the air and returning the wave. “Hello,” he said cordially. “Can I presume you are the one responsible for my family's predicament?”

“Oh yes,” Nina admitted with a giggle. “It's quite my fault. I don't really know what got over me. You see, I'm one of the few in this realm who has trouble with this sort of thing and-”

“It's my fault, Papa,” Gideon told him. The boy was now doing somersaults in the air. “We were talking about Miss Twigley's string being like mine and that she used it to keep herself still so she could work, and then I made a joke. Well, I didn't mean to, but I did. Then she started laughing and floating and when I tried to pull her down, I slipped and then I started laughing and then mother did because I was floating upside down...”

“It's no one's fault,” Belle insisted. “We were just having a good time.”

“Well now that you've had one, I would like my family back, please,” Rumple told her. “I was expecting them for dinner.”

Nina waved her arm as if she were directing traffic. “Come and join us, then,” she told him, in no uncertain terms.

“I can't,” Rumple answered simply.

“Oh.” Nina's face relaxed, her smile disappearing as she lost several inches of lift. “Yes, of course, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean...”

Rumple shook his head, feeling the weight of his darkness more than ever before. He wished he could experience what his wife and son were going through right now. Well, perhaps not the flying part. He hadn't ever wanted that, not even when he was in Neverland, but the drifty feeling of pure light would be nice to feel just once. He also had to admit that there was some appeal to the idea of catching Belle as she drifted by and hiking up her skirts to test his abilities while adrift.

“I'm afraid we have to go,” he said finally.

“Do we have to?” Gideon began to sink to the floor. The motion was at first slow enough that he didn't notice, but once he was halfway, he blinked in surprise. “What's happening?”

“Your heart isn't light any more,” Nina told him. “When you have to be serious or sad or mad... Your heart gets heavy and the magic stops working.”

Rumple caught Gideon's ankle once it was within reach and pulled him down to his side, then took hold of the long belt they had been using and grasped tightly to the end. “All right?”

Gideon nodded. “Yes, Papa. But do we have to go?”

“You do if you want dinner, and I thought you were a growing boy.” The tease sent Gideon to chuckling and drifting again. Rumple smiled and nudged him back to the ground, glad that he still had the power to make his son happy

Once Gideon was settled at his side, Rumple looked up at Belle and held a hand to the sky for her. “Sweetheart,” he whispered, unable to speak words that would possibly hurt her.

“I can't,” Belle told him.

Her words provided the means for the perfect sadness between them and Rumple spoke it tenderly. “Then you will be without us forever.”

Belle dropped like a stone and Rumple rushed to catch her, slipping an arm around her waist and guiding her to the floor with the kind of precision that only years of dancing together could produce. Once she was in his arms, he kissed her, pressing his body against hers.

“I'm sorry, my love,” he whispered. “I had to-”

“I know,” Belle said as she draped her arms over his shoulders and clasped her hands at his neck.

Behind him, Rumple heard the thud that could only signal Nina Twigley's return to the shop's floor. He turned to the woman once she was settled and gave a slight bow. “I'm afraid we must say goodnight, Miss Twigley. I think my son is in need of flying lessons.”

With another giggle, Gideon began to drift, but Rumple kept his hand firmly on the boy's belt. After speaking her own farewell, Belle's fingers wrapped over his and the two of them walked their son back to the inn as if he were a laughing balloon.

#a monthly rumbelling #amr #rumbelle #travel #missing years #family #new realm #a monthly rumbelling january 2020

[gay-spaghetti]

A Much Needed Reunion - FriendlyPack Gifted Heart AU Fanfic

Summary: The traumatic death of Staniel Wheeler has left Jimmy heartbroken—literally and figuratively—and every day is a constant struggle without his best friend. Stan, now a ghostly spirit, follows the lonely drug dealer wherever he goes, desperately wishing to be seen and heard by him.

Rating: Mature (17+) Triggers/Warnings: Strong language, suicide mention, suicidal thoughts, death, attempted rape (The attempted rape is incredibly sfw. It's still a heavy subject though, so I knew I needed to mention it regardless) Chapters: 1/1 (One-shot) Word Count: 4,616 Inspirations: @haepherion , @missfeisty199 , Tags: @stanthewaterman , @friendlypack

Note: This isn’t the entirety of the AU, just a snippet of it. The AU will never be a full fic, although there will be doodles and comics created for it to expand the story. ALSO::: I know the triggers are heavy, but I promise you the ending is happy.

Jimmy Bending collapsed to his hands and knees, a cry of anguish unsteadily spilling from his lips. He wasn’t pushed, nor had he tripped. Rather, the death of his best friend Staniel Wheeler tore at him so severely, that he couldn’t keep the pain in any longer. Stan had only been buried just two days ago, and Jimmy was visiting his grave during a heavy rainfall—one that had made the grassy ground a soppy mess. Stan’s marble tombstone was adorned with all kinds of flowers and surrounded by rock-filled water bottles. The bottles were there in memoriam, the weight of the stones keeping them in place. They would’ve all been filled with water, but everyone knew that Stan wouldn’t have wanted any of it to go to waste.

Jimmy cried his heart out, feeling too vulnerable to weep at the funeral, so he did it here. He crawled to the grave and hugged the drenched tombstone, muttering incoherent apologies and babbling out Stan’s name as if saying it enough times would bring him back. A sudden strike of distant lightning startled him from his sobs, and he wiped his face with his jacket sleeve. “Why, Stan? Why?” Jimmy choked out, desperately asking his deceased friend why this had happened. His cause of death was an overdose on Oxycodone; police and friends alike debated on whether it was suicide, a terrible addiction, or just a fatal mishap. Jimmy didn’t want to believe it was suicide, but the last texts that were found on Stan’s phone were of his ex wife telling him to “fuck off”. That infuriated Jimmy to the bone.

Would Stan really have taken his own life?

The question had reminded Jimmy of his own suicidal thoughts. He couldn’t take this horrendous aching in his heart; he needed Stan. That man was the only person in the whole world that he cared about, and now he was gone forever.

Shakily, Jimmy got to his feet and turned away, walking to his car to drive back to the apartments. His plan was to end his life; he had plenty of drugs he could easily overdose on. When he stepped inside his room though, he looked down at the blue, heart-shaped locket he wore around his neck. He had bought it the day of Stan’s funeral. It was something he could wear every single day to remind him that, within his body, he was, quite literally, carrying Stan’s beating heart. The doctors told him that upon hearing the news of Stan’s death, Jimmy suffered what’s called “Broken Heart Syndrome”. Stan was an organ donor, and his heart just so happened to be compatible with Jimmy’s body.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t kill himself. That would be such a terrible waste of Stan’s heart. How could he dishonor his friend—the man who generously donated his own organs. Jimmy should feel lucky to go on living while Stan was six feet under. He didn’t feel lucky though. He felt like the unluckiest person in the world, and he felt selfish for feeling that way. Why did he have to live on while Stan–

Jimmy shook his head and pressed his palms into his forehead, as if he were trying to shove his depressing thoughts out of his mind. He threw off his jacket and fell into bed, not even caring that he was still soaking wet with rain water. It took an hour and a half, but the lonely man eventually passed out from exhaustion.

—–

Black. All he could see was black—the complete and total lack of any sort of light. He waved his hand in front of his face, seeing absolutely nothing. Where was he? The last thing he could remember was being in his apartment, …had he passed out? If so, why was everything still so dark? Fear quickly gripped him, but it slowly faded away when he could see a blue light doused in faint sparkles slowly getting bigger. The man shut his eyes, and when he opened them, he was standing in his apartment!

Stan took a deep breath of relief and ran a hand through his blonde locks. He then placed his hands at his hips, turning his head and observing his… wait, this isn’t his apartment. The delivery man’s eyes widened when he realized… this is Jimmy’s apartment! What was he doing here? He made his way over to his friend’s bedroom, assuming he was in there. When he opened the door, his assumptions were confirmed at the sight of a very tired-looking drug dealer sleeping in his unkempt bed. Still confused, Stan took a few more steps in the room, tempted to wake Jimmy and ask him how he got there. Unexpectedly, Jimmy stirred and lazily slumped out of bed, standing to his feet.

“Hey Friendly! Sorry to wake you, I just wanted to ask how the diddly darn I got here!” Stan stated with a warm smile “All I can remember is being in my own kitchen, and then–”. Jimmy trudged towards the door, not answering or even looking at Stan “Um… Jimmy?”.

Jimmy got closer, so close in fact that the two men’s bodies would have pressed together if it weren’t for the fact that Jimmy had just walked straight through Stan to close the door. The younger man shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, getting back under the covers and drifting off to sleep pretty quickly.

Stan stood there in utter shock. He slowly looked down at his hands, seeing that they were the color of the sky during the day–a nice baby blue color. He also noticed little sparkles that would twinkle all over his blue body and clothes. The self-proclaimed water man whipped around and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind him. He nearly tripped as he rushed to the bathroom to get to a mirror. When he was there, he didn’t like what he saw: nothing. He had no reflection. He desperately waved his hands in front of the reflective piece of glass on the wall, but nothing changed: he still had no reflection. Stan stumbled back up against the wall and rested his palm on his forehead, trying to remember what had happened to him. He tightly shut his eyes and was finally able to recall the biting text he received from his ex-wife. He then remembered the urge to take all of those oxy pills, thinking that enough of them would fix his broken heart. Cold tears rushed down Stan’s transparent face as he remembered falling to the ground and everything going black.

The realization was terrifying: Stan had died.

—–

For the next two weeks, Stan followed Jimmy wherever he went, which was really just around the apartment. The poor man rarely ever went outside anymore, that being insanely abnormal for him. For the first few days, Stan desperately tried speaking to his friend, even reaching out to him and trying to grab his arm. Nothing worked. Whenever they made contact, Jimmy would shiver as if a gust of frigid snow had pressed against his skin. He even got really angry at the sudden drops in temperature, one day shouting out “GOD DAMMIT, why is it so fucking cold?”. That outburst deeply upset Stan, and for the rest of that day, he just sat alone in the corner of the living room.

Every day was an unbearable struggle for both men. Jimmy had to leave his apartment eventually, and when he did so, Stan stayed close beside him. Walking down the city streets was agonizing for Jimmy; all he could remember was spending time with Stan in the most craziest of situations. Memories of their wild adventures flooded his mind, and he had to wipe his eyes under his sunglasses. Stan, the ghostly figure walking just beside him, felt a painful sting in his chest at the sight of his friend rubbing the tears out of his eyes. He reached out and took Jimmy’s hand, but it was quickly pulled away at the icy feeling. Stan sighed sadly, muttering out a soft “please don’t cry, Jimothy. I’m here… I promise I’m here”. Of course, Jimmy couldn’t hear these words of reassurance, and just continued walking as if he were the only person on the sidewalk.

Later that night, Jimmy entered his bathroom and left the door open, which made Stan assume that he wasn’t going to use it. Even though he lived alone, Jimmy always closed the bathroom door if he was going to shower or use the toilet.

Instead, the friendly drug dealer pulled out a bottle of hair bleach and began applying it to the teal-colored portion of his locks. Stan watched in surprise as he did this “Oh, Jimmy what are you doing?” he said quickly “Your hair’s not stupid, I swear! I was just teasing you before, you don’t have to change it!”. His efforts proved to be futile though, since Jimmy quickly finished bleaching the dyed part of his hair. After letting it dry for a while, he stumbled into bed. Stan would always just sleep on the couch. He knew he didn’t physically need the rest, but what else was he going to do?

Soon enough, Jimmy’s casual attire was completely dedicated to Stan’s memory. He bleached part of his hair blonde, and he constantly wore a little heart locket, a sunflower-shaped pin, and a few star-shaped pins for his hair. Stan felt so honored that his friend did everything to keep his memory alive. Jimmy went as far as delivering water on the days where he felt less shitty than usual. That filled Stan with so much appreciation and love. He wished he could thank Jimmy.

One night, a full two weeks after Stan’s funeral, Jimmy was treading down the street with Stan’s spirit when he suddenly got a text message from someone he didn’t want to see ever again: Alabaster Slim.

“So, Aurora, you thought you could avoid me without consequence, hm?”.

Jimmy’s heart dropped fearfully.

“You’re gonna pay for this, he-bitch”.

Recognizing that he was in danger, Jimmy stumbled back, turned around, and sped away to get to the safety of his apartment. Stan followed, still completely unseen by everyone. Jimmy’s efforts to escape were halted though when he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and yanked into an alleyway. He pushed and shoved at the stranger, noticing there were three of them and angrily telling whoever it was to let go. It didn’t take long for him to realize that these three massive thugs were past sex clients. “Shit, p-please don’t hurt me” Jimmy stammered out as he anxiously reached into his pocket to retrieve his knife, ready to kill all three of these sons of bitches.

Unfortunately, the man that was holding onto his wrist took note of the tricky movement and easily stole the weapon away from him, tossing it aside “Stupid whore, we wont be needing that~” Jimmy shook in terror as the vile man ran his hand up Jimmy’s clothed chest and pressed his palm to the younger one’s throat “now be a good little he-bitch and open that mouth of yours”.

Tears brimmed Jimmy’s eyes, but he stayed strong “I’ll bite your fucking dick off” he warned.

The ugly criminal grumbled in irritation and squeezed Jimmy’s neck “Fine. Have it your way, pretty boy. We’re going to make this harder than it has to be.”

Stan watched in horror as the three men worked to get Jimmy undressed. They pulled his jacket away and ripped off his jeans with a mighty force. They felt up his body and violated him in any way they could, one of them licking and biting the young man’s neck roughly. Jimmy tried fighting back, but the three thugs were way too strong. So, just accepted his fate, and allowed his arms to go limp. Being unable to hold it back anymore, he started weeping quietly.

“Stop bitchin’, you little slut” Barked one of the bastards.

Stan couldn’t take this anymore. The sight of his best friend being tormented like this angered him to his core. So, just before the douchebags could get Jimmy fully naked, Stan rushed over, grabbed one of them, and harshly shoved him to the ground. The thugs stopped in total confusion, looking around for anyone who could’ve done that. The one on the ground got up and clenched his fists “SHOW YOURSELF!” he growled.

This gave Jimmy the chance to run away, so he scrambled out of their hold and tried making a run for it. Sadly, he failed, and the annoyed criminal shoved him to the brick wall and kicked him in the stomach when he fell to the ground. Jimmy cried out, shaking pathetically on the ground like an injured dog. An enraged fire ignited inside of Stan, and he, without hesitation, threw his fist directly into the crook’s face. The vicious man shouted and painfully held his now broken nose “FUCK! FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! AHHHG! FUCK!” he screamed. Stan then attacked the other two, throwing one against the ground and shoving the other against the wall. In a confused panic, the three attackers ran away as fast as they could, terrified of the mysterious force that was defending Jimmy.

Stan was breathing heavily, fury still pulsing through him. He was so mad that he didn’t even realize that he was finally able to physically touch people.

With shaky arms, Jimmy pushed himself up to his feet, completely baffled yet relieved that he was saved. The beaten man wasted no time in throwing his jeans and jacket back on, and hurrying back to his apartment. Stan followed like always, really wishing he could ask his friend if he were okay.

When they got home, Jimmy plopped onto his bed and stressfully pulled at his bright yellow hair. A sudden wave of emotions overwhelmed him, and before he knew it, he was sobbing. Stan just stood in front of him, his own tears falling knowing that he couldn’t hug Jimmy or tell him that everything was going to be okay.

“Stan… oh Sunflower” Jimmy cried, gripping the heart locket and holding it close to his chest “my sweet sunflower…”. He stayed in his bed like this for a good 15 minutes, only calming down when he felt his empty stomach growl hungrily. That’s right… he hadn’t eaten anything at all the day before, and only had a small sandwich for lunch. He should really eat something before hitting the hay.

Stan sauntered into the kitchen with Jimmy, always being just two steps behind him. Wanting to go to bed as soon as possible, Jimmy just threw together a little bowl of cereal and walked over to the counter to eat. As if his bad luck had a sick sense of humor, Jimmy slipped and accidentally let go of the cereal and milk-filled bowl “SHIT!” he sputtered out, steadying himself and preparing for cereal, milk, and glass to shower the kitchen.

Reacting on instinct, Stan grabbed the bowl before it could hit the ground “I got it!” He said, letting out a sigh of relief when he successfully prevented a big mess. It took a few seconds, but Stan soon realized that Jimmy was staring at the floating bowl with wide eyes and a terrified pale face. “Oh, sh-shoot!” The flustered ghost placed the bowl safely onto the counter and hid his hands behind his back, as if he were ashamed of a crime he just committed.

Jimmy took a few steps back, his eyes frantically scanning his surrounding area “Shit. I’m going crazy. SHIT!” he thought to himself worriedly.

“Nice going, Stan. ..You really did it this time” Stan muttered sheepishly, feeling like a pathetic loser. Shockingly though, Jimmy flinched as if…. he could hear him. Stan perked up “Jimmy! ..C-Can you hear me?”.

Jimmy could definitely hear the disembodied voice. He shouted and jolted backwards, his back pressing up against the kitchen wall. Just when he thought he couldn’t lose his marbles any further, a blue shine of light materialized in front of him, and the shape of a six foot human formed. Before he even knew it, Stan appeared in front of him, finally being fully visible. Jimmy nearly forgot to blink. The sight was unbelievable.

“J-Jimothy, can…can you see me?”.

The younger man screamed “N-NO NO NO NO, Th-This isn’t real. You’re not real. You’re dead. You’ve been fucking dead for weeks. ..Sh-Shit shit shit” he began hyperventilating, and Stan was worried he would faint.

“N-No no! Jimmy, I-It’s really me! Stan the water man!”.

Jimmy was still scared and in total disbelief, looking like a cornered animal. Tears raced down his face. Was this his punishment? Seeing his dead friend right after getting sexually assaulted? Was the whole world out to get him?

“Oh, no no no, Jimothy… p-please don’t cry. I promise it’s me. I-I’ve been with you for the past two weeks. I’ve been trying t-to get your attention all this time” Stan stepped closer, and the other man just tried to get away, but there was no where to go. Instead, he sank to the ground and hid his face, basically cowering in the kitchen corner. “Jimmy, …” Stan kneeled in front of him and gently placed his cold, transparent hand onto his friend’s leg as a sign of comfort.

Jimmy uncovered his wet face and looked into Stan’s deep blue eyes “Starshine? I-Is that really you? I-It can’t be…”. The thought of Stan as a ghost crossed his mind, but he still couldn’t believe it. Stan inched closer and held his hand out to his fearful friend. Jimmy gulped silently and slowly rested his hand onto the sparkly sky blue appendage. When they made contact, they could finally feel each other. Jimmy’s bottom lip quivered and his vision became blocked with brimming tears “STAN!” he cried as he threw his arms around the ghost and hugged him tightly, holding onto him for dear life. Jimmy cried and cried and cried, running his hand through the back of Stan’s hair and gripping onto him as if his life depended on it.

Admittedly, Stan was a little startled at this reaction. He expected it, but he had never been held like this, so he was a little overwhelmed. He quickly returned the loving hug and tenderly combed Jimmy’s hair with his frigid fingers “Shhhh, Jimtohy. I’m here… I’m here. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Jimmy didn’t even care how little sense this made; he was just so relieved to hold Stan in his arms again. His friend looked very different, his whole entire body was colored with different shades and tints of blues, and so were his clothes. Tiny little sparkles glimmered around his body, and he was very cold. But this cold was a nice kind of cold. It was cool, and extremely comforting. Jimmy just melted into Stan’s arms, never wanting to be apart again. They stayed like this for a good amount of time, until Jimmy’s gentle crying drifted him off to sleep. Stan pulled away from the hug, still holding the sleeping man close “Oh Jimmy…” he muttered softly “let’s get you to bed”. With that, Stan stood up and carried him to bed, tucking him in and turning off the lights. That night, Jimmy had the best sleep he’s had in weeks.

The next morning, Jimmy woke up feeling actually kind of refreshed for once. As soon as he got out of bed, he remembered seeing Stan’s ghost last night. “Damn, what a wild dream” he thought with a humorless chuckle “At least it was much nicer than my usual ones…” . Having the rare motivation to shower, Jimmy left his room and pulled his shirt off on the way out. He stopped in his tracks though when he saw a sparkling, blue-hued Stan floating just a few feet away from him.

“Jimmy! Good morning!” The spirit said, floating back down to the ground with a welcoming smile. He blushed a deeper blue at the sight of his bare-chested friend, but he just tried to act normal “Did you have a good sleep?”.

Jimmy was so startled that he tripped over himself and fell backwards, landing on his back. He anxiously backed away, still on the ground “Y-You’re—y-you’re- you’re..” he stuttered, in complete shock and disbelief.

“Not again…” Stan thought to himself “Calm down, Jimmy. It’s okay. It really is me, I promise” he stepped forward and lent Jimmy a hand in getting back up .

“This can’t be happening, …Stan, y-you’re… you’re dead.”

Stan nodded “I’m very aware of that, Jimothy” he stated softly “but I’m here” he looked down at himself “I guess… I’m a ghost.” Kind of an awkwardly blunt thing to say, but it’s all he could think of.

“Welp, I’ve officially lost it” Jimmy spoke flatly, placing his palm against his forehead.

“No no, Jimmy! I really am here! What I said last night was true! I’ve been following you around for the past two weeks, unable to talk to you or touch you! But, for some reason, I was finally able to last night.”

Jimmy’s usually tired eyes lit up “W-Were you the one fighting off those fuckin’ rapists last night?” he asked as he put his shirt back on.

Stan slowly nodded.

“Y-You… you really are here” Jimmy stepped closer, and the two carefully embraced in an unsure hug “S-Stan… O-Oh Stan, I missed you so much…” the waterworks started up again, and he squeezed his friend closer.

“I’ve missed you too, Jimmy. I’m so sorry it took this long… I couldn’t stand seeing you cry yourself to sleep every night, b-but I had no choice! I could only touch objects, but I didn’t want to freak you out or anything..”.

“It’s okay, buddy. I’m just so glad you’re here. I-…I can’t describe how badly I missed you” They pulled away from the comforting hug and looked into each other’s eyes “… I, … never realized how much I needed you, Stan. You’re my best friend, a-and the only person who’s ever showed genuine kindness to me”. Stan didn’t say anything, he just let his loving smile do the talking. It worked, because Jimmy returned the wide smile. Stan missed that handsome smile of his so much, it was a rare sight, even back when Stan was alive. “Fuck, I-I can’t believe you’re actually here!” Jimmy suddenly laughed excitedly as he hugged Stan yet again.

Stan giggled and squeezed him close “Who are you and what have you done with Jimmy? I’ve never seen you this happy!”.

“Of course I’m happy!” Jimmy responded cheerfully “Staniel Wheeler is still kickin’, even after death!”.

They let go of each other once again and Stan rubbed the back of his neck “Y-Yeah! …” his smile slowly faded “….y-….yeah”.

It took no time for Jimmy to realize “O-Oh, …r-right. Sorry, I know you’re probably really messed up after all of this. ..Um, … if you… don’t mind me asking, … what happened to you?”. Stan looked at him with a sort of, …sad confusion. “Sorry. I-I meant, just… why did this happen to you? You… overdosed on oxy. You didn’t… do that on purpose, ..did you?”.

Stan shook his head solemnly, relieving Jimmy of his worries that his best friend committed suicide “It was an accident. I just, … took too many I guess.”

“Oh”.

The two stayed silent for a moment, until Stan thought of something “Hey, I um… know you haven’t eaten in a while. How about you grab something to eat while we catch up?”.

Jimmy smiled and nodded “That would be great.”

—

“So you can float, huh?”.

Stan, 3 feet off the ground, giggled at the question “Yeah! Isn’t it so cool?” He levitated back down and sat on the couch next to Jimmy. The druggie finished up his bacon and eggs and took a swig of water “Hey um, ..Jimmy?”.

“Yeah, Fanny pack?”.

“Um.. H-…How many… How many people showed up to my funeral?”.

Jimmy’s eyes widened in horror at such a intense question “O-Oh, …Stan. Tons of people showed. Even some people I didn’t know. You made a lot of friends, Stan” he gave the once blonde, now blue-haired, ghost a friendly smile.

Stan returned the smile, but it was short lived “… M…Maybe this is a dumb question, b-but… Um…were Denise and Roy there?”.

Jimmy’s head slightly lowered, but he took Stan’s hand and looked up at him “I’m sorry, Stan.” Tears brimmed the ghost’s eyes, and he leaned against Jimmy’s shoulder, crying into it quietly. Jimmy wrapped an arm around him “Hey, forget them. They don’t deserve you, Stan. If they can’t see what an amazing person you are, ..u-um, were… well then, to hell with them!”.

Stan sniffled “B-But my baby boy…”.

“Stan. I’m… sure … Roy… loves you very much” he lied, but he knew he had to “but, you know how Denise is. You should focus on the tons of friends that attended your funeral. Kiki was there, Tyrone…, Selene, …Mel, Ziggy, … and I think I even saw Brenda!”.

Stan wiped his eyes “R-Really?”.

“Really.”

“Th-Thank you, Jimmy. That d-does actually make me feel a lot better”.

“No problem, bud. Oh! …uh, … that reminds me. I need to thank you too.”

“Hm? Thank me?”.

Jimmy nodded “Yeah. You’re the reason I’m still here”. Stan looked at him as if he had said that fire was cold. Jimmy noticed the confusion and realized that Stan might not even know his that his heart is in Jimmy’s chest “Well, Stan, when I heard the news of your… Death, I…apparently had a heart attack.”

Stan looked at him in shock “What? Heart attack? B-But, you’re not even 30 yet!”.

Jimmy nodded and rubbed the back of his neck “Mhm. It’s called Broken Heart Syndrome. My heart failed at the… Stress, I guess” he shrugged “I needed a new heart, and… You just so happened to be an organ donor.”

“That’s right…” Stan said softly, remembering when he signed up to die as an organ donor “so… That means… My heart is… In your chest?”.

Jimmy nodded “funny, isn’t it?” He commented with a bittersweet smile as he rested his hand on his chest.

“Oh, I’m so honored! Now I can be sure that my heart went to someone good” Stan wrapped an arm around his friend and pulled him into a nice side hug “so… You had a heart attack… At the news of my death?”.

“Of course I did, Staniel. You’re my best friend. I love ya, man.”

Joyful tears brimmed Stan’s eyes and he grinned gratefully “I love you too, Jimmy!”

The two just enjoyed their hug for a moment, the both of them being so incredibly grateful to have one another again “So.. You’re a ghost, huh?”.

Stan pulled his arm away and looked at his hands “Yeah…”.

“Do you have unfinished business or something?”.

The spirit stayed silent for a few seconds, as if he were lost in a trance “No… No. I think, … I think I’m going to stay with you as a ghost until you die”. Stan’s words were spoken in a strangely flat way, almost like an empty demon had possessed him.

“What?”.

“I don’t know, Jimmy!” His cheerful attitude returned out of the blue “something tells me that that’s just the case. I’m sticking with you until you die. And then, we can both rest in death”.

“That’s…. The creepiest fucking thing you’ve ever said” Jimmy stated, raising and eyebrow and leaning away from his friend.

“Sorry. My gut’s just telling me that’s what’ll happen.”

Jimmy stood up “Well, how about I shower and then we can make some water deliveries! Maybe get into some trouble, I dunno. OOH! We could totally prank some assholes with your ghostly abilities.”

Warmth filled Stan’s, rather metaphorical, heart, and he smiled ear to ear. It was such a relief to see his best friend back to his old self “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Friendly J!”.

#friendlypack #stan the water man #jimmy bending #au #gifted heart #friendly j #my art #fanfic

[burntcopper]

(text below as it’s a premium article, more pictures and such at the link)

Mark Monahan, dance critic

7 MAY 2019 • 7:00AM

It is one of those volatile spring days where the weather can’t make up its mind, and I am in the studios at Three Mills Island, deep in the East End of London, watching rehearsals for Matthew Bourne’s brand-new production of Romeo and Juliet. To judge by the section of Prokofiev’s ever-astonishing score firing from the speakers, we are in the midst of the final, calamitous scene of Act II.

Tybalt staggers on, paralytically drunk. So far, so familiar to anyone who’s seen certain Tybalts in the Royal Ballet’s production – except that he is also clutching a revolver, which he brandishes at the terrified crowd of young onlookers. He then takes Mercutio and Balthasar hostage, forcing them, at gunpoint, to snog each other. As Bourne slyly tells me a little later, “I should say, it doesn’t follow the plot exactly – it is a Romeo and Juliet-type story We have got a couple of surprises up our sleeve…”

How could Bourne possibly not? After all, he is the dance-theatre supremo who, with his company Adventures in Motion Pictures (recast as New Adventures in 2002), has repeatedly put bold new spins on old works, often opening them up to entirely new audiences.

He is most famous for having redefined ballet at a stroke in 1995 by making all the waterfowl in his Swan Lake brazenly bare-chested men. But he also spiced up Carmen with a dash of The Postman Always Rings Twice and set the result in a steamy garage (The Car Man, 2000); transformed an obscure Sixties film, The Servant, into perhaps the other sexiest dance show so far this millennium (Play Without Words, 2002); and risked taking two adored, emphatically cinematic films – Edward Scissorhands and The Red Shoes – and putting them on stage (in 2005 and 2016). It was also Bourne who set Cinderella in Blitz-ravaged London (1997), thoroughly re-cracked The Nutcracker (1992) and sharpened up The Sleeping Beauty with vampires (2012). The fact that this master choreographer-producer and storyteller – already riding high with his superb current revival of Swan Lake – is now tackling the most stirring balletic tale of all makes this the single most eagerly awaited dance show of 2019.  

“I think the key to the success of this company,” he tells me, “is that it brings in people who feel this is not something they’d normally understand, something they’re a bit scared of.”

So, besides the snippet of Act II that I catch, what sort of Romeo and Juliet can we expect when it launches in Leicester next week? The various New Adventures members I chat to prior to Bourne himself maintain an omertà-like silence about it, saying only that it’s set in an unspecified time in the near future, and reminding me that the show’s tag-line is “Imagine a time when love is forbidden …”.

Thankfully, the New Adventures grand vizier himself – remarkably affable and unstuffy in person – is a little more forthcoming. Designed (as usual with this company) by the terrific Lez Brotherston, the show, Bourne says, will be roughly two hours long, in three acts, but with just one interval, with the score rearranged (by Terry Davies) for a 15-strong live band. He also says that his scenario was “very vaguely” inspired by Anna Hope’s 2016 novel The Ballroom. Beyond that, however, Bourne is careful to tantalise rather than reveal, and this spirit of mystery extends to the show itself.

“We haven’t absolutely hit on a definite ‘this is it’ thing,” he says, “We think all these young people are in this institute. I want the audience to ask, ‘Why are they there? Is this to do with mental health? Is this a borstal? Is this a prison, a school? What is it? What’s going on? They’re obviously receiving some sort of medication. What it comes down to is that any excess of feeling is frowned upon and has to be, um…”

Quelled?

“Yes, quelled – good word! So, emotions are kept to a minimum, and they’re all young people who’ve been dumped there, because they’re trouble.”

Tybalt, Bourne explains, is now a corrupt guard. And, although there appears to be no Capulet family in this version, “we still get one set of parents, the Montagues, who bring Romeo there. We see him arrive, and they’re a bit like Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in House of Cards, a political couple probably, and Romeo’s a bit of an embarrassment. He’s a bit like [the US President’s youngest child] Barron Trump, but a little bit older. He seems to have been locked away somewhere, bless him, poor boy.”

Bourne also hints that he, true to form, will not be holding back on the sensual side of things.

“I felt I could capture something that’s not in the ballet if we set it in a different time, something that was a bit more raw, a bit more like young people really are. I mean, when they get together, they go for it. They’re not thrilled by a kiss on the cheek – if they’re kissing, they’re kissing for hours.”

The regularity with which the word “young” comes up as we talk nods to another remarkable aspect of this new production. It marks the largest confluence to date of the two main strands of Bourne’s company: its fully professional performing side, and the charitable arm that aims to inspire young people to try their hand at dance. In practice, this means that a huge and heartening number of young people are involved in every aspect of the production which features two separate casts, each with their own set of star-crossed lovers.

It’s remarkable enough that two of the Juliets – Bryony Wood and Bryony Harrison – are just 19 and 21 respectively, and that one of the Romeos (Harrison Dowzell) is also 19. But many of the performers will be younger still.

A year or so ago, the company did a nationwide call-out for what they call the “local casts”. It whittled the 1,000-odd trainee dancers who applied down to 97, all aged 16-19, who will now be performing with the company. Throughout the 13-venue tour, New Adventures will be divided in half, with each half leapfrogging the other across the country. So, as one (dubbed the Capulets) starts performing in one town, the other (the Montagues) will begin a week’s pre-show rehearsal in the next. And waiting to join the company in every city, with the adrenalin doubtless pumping ferociously, will be six of those already-prepped youngsters. (The exception is the Leicester sextet, already involved in the London rehearsals.)

This, I suggest to the young-cast rehearsal director Paul Smethurst, looks like a project that could benefit British dance full-stop. “We have definitely found the next generation of star dancers,” he says. “And, we’ve found so many of them.”

What’s more, this youth drive extends to every aspect of the production. For example, young associate choreographer Arielle Smith is just 22. When she insists to me that Bourne often tells her, “Do what you want to do!”, and Smethurst, that “Arielle has a real voice and a real vision that she’s bringing to the piece”, I do privately wonder just how much trust the 59-year-old, Tony- and Olivier-garlanded Sir Matthew Bourne, OBE can really be putting in one so young. Then, minutes later – with Bourne coaching the principals across the corridor – there she is, working with dozens of corps members, and “holding” the room with complete command.

Now, these are, of course, gender-fluid times, especially in the eyes of the young. Besides which, Hackney-born Bourne (who these days lives in Islington with his partner, fellow choreographer Arthur Pita) has often toyed around with sexuality in his productions. Was he, I wonder, tempted to make his Romeo and Juliet a gay romance?

“Well,” he says, “I suppose years ago I may have gone with that. But, following on from Lord of the Flies [revived in 2014 with a largely teenage cast], which was all men, I didn’t feel this was the right time to go all male. So I thought, no, this is a chance to work with young people of both sexes.”

That said, Tybalt’s viciously enforced embrace does suggest that Bourne is up to plenty of gender-related mischief here.

“Oh, definitely, yes,” he confirms. “We wanted to have all life is here a little bit, especially with all the young people involved. I give them a bit of freedom with whatever sexuality they choose to be – how their character identified was important. For example, Mercutio’s got a boyfriend in this – that’s Balthasar. And there are a couple of girl characters who identify as gay, with one, Frenchy, who’s in love with Juliet.”

If anyone can get away with all this sort of thing, it is Bourne. His theatrical instincts have seldom let him down over the years (2008’s Dorian Gray the exception that proves the rule), and the brief section I see rehearsed – despite the absence of proper set, lighting, costumes and live music – is genuinely thrilling. What, I ask him, is the secret of his success? How has someone who didn’t even start dance training until he was 22 (at the Laban, in south-east London) made such a colossal mark on the dance world?

He credits his famous obsession with character – with giving every single person on stage a backstory and a purpose – with having collaborated on various non-New Adventures shows with “great directors” such as Trevor Nunn, John Caird, Sam Mendes and Richard Eyre. He also adds, “I think the key to the success is that I’m also quite reverential. I love the ballets, I love the scores, and I don’t want to mess with them too much. I want to honour the composers in a way that I feel is OK. And I want to tell a story to people.”

And want to get the audience involved?

“Yes,” he confirms. “And it just comes completely naturally to me. It’s not something I work at. I’ve never thought, ‘How do you get an audience on-side?’ It’s just completely the way I think about things, and I don’t see the point of it otherwise.”

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet opens on May 13 at the Curve, Leicester, and tours the UK until October. Details and tickets: new-adventures.net

#romeo and juliet #matthew bourne

[ao3feed-jily]

always beside you

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3s0dvSO

by Padfootastic

The story of James and Rani, master and servant in name, but family in heart, in the form of short snippets, spanning a decade and a half.

Words: 3201, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: James Potter, Original House-Elf Character(s), (i did not know that was a tag but now im happy bc rani is a MAIN CHARACTER YO), Sirius Black, Lily Potter (mentioned)

Relationships: James Potter & Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black & James Potter, James Potter/ Lily Evans (mentioned)

Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, (kind of), Hurt/Comfort, Family, basically 2.4k words about james and his house elf bestie, rani is a mf queen, (literally), sirius is in here bc is it rly a james fic w/o his boy, there's sad shit in the end beware, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), its very cute and fluffy i promise

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3s0dvSO

#ao3feed #fanfic #Harry Potter #Jily #James Potter #Lily Evans #Lily Potter #Lily Evans Potter

[ao3feed-klance]

The Best Days Always Come From You

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

by hotarubi_e

Keith is having the worst week, half-starved and jobless, with no idea how he's supposed to make it better. But when he quite literally runs into a decidedly attractive tanned stranger in a rainy backstreet, things seem to start looking up.

One trip to a diner and a life story that sounds like a country song later, and Keith all of a sudden has something to look forward to. And that thing's name is Lance.

---

This is a collection of snippets from Lance and Keith's life together, from meeting all the way through their highs and lows, and everything they encounter in between.

--

P.S. it will be more chapters, I just don't know how to change the thing to 1/?

Words: 5607, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Red Lion (Voltron), (sort of. She's mentioned)

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Sickfic, (does Keith being hungry enough to pass out count?), Comfort, Keith's having the worst week, Lance buys him food and makes it better, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, beginning of their relationship, I'm Bad At Summaries, Artist Keith (Voltron), Paramedic Lance (Voltron)

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

#klance #voltron #voltron legendary defenders #ao3feed

[ao3feed-safeklance]

The Best Days Always Come From You

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

by hotarubi_e

Keith is having the worst week, half-starved and jobless, with no idea how he's supposed to make it better. But when he quite literally runs into a decidedly attractive tanned stranger in a rainy backstreet, things seem to start looking up.

One trip to a diner and a life story that sounds like a country song later, and Keith all of a sudden has something to look forward to. And that thing's name is Lance.

---

This is a collection of snippets from Lance and Keith's life together, from meeting all the way through their highs and lows, and everything they encounter in between.

--

P.S. it will be more chapters, I just don't know how to change the thing to 1/?

Words: 5607, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Red Lion (Voltron), (sort of. She's mentioned)

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Sickfic, (does Keith being hungry enough to pass out count?), Comfort, Keith's having the worst week, Lance buys him food and makes it better, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, beginning of their relationship, I'm Bad At Summaries, Artist Keith (Voltron), Paramedic Lance (Voltron)

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

#ao3feed #fanfic #voltron #klance

[ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender]

The Best Days Always Come From You

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

by hotarubi_e

Keith is having the worst week, half-starved and jobless, with no idea how he's supposed to make it better. But when he quite literally runs into a decidedly attractive tanned stranger in a rainy backstreet, things seem to start looking up.

One trip to a diner and a life story that sounds like a country song later, and Keith all of a sudden has something to look forward to. And that thing's name is Lance.

---

This is a collection of snippets from Lance and Keith's life together, from meeting all the way through their highs and lows, and everything they encounter in between.

--

P.S. it will be more chapters, I just don't know how to change the thing to 1/?

Words: 5607, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Red Lion (Voltron), (sort of. She's mentioned)

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Sickfic, (does Keith being hungry enough to pass out count?), Comfort, Keith's having the worst week, Lance buys him food and makes it better, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, beginning of their relationship, I'm Bad At Summaries

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2nKYOBl

#ao3feed #fanfic #voltron #voltron: legendary defender #ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender

[techscopic]

5 Crucial Concepts for Learning d3.js and How to Understand Them

You may have already heard about d3.js, the dazzling JavaScript library that lets you create beautiful charts and graphics with just a few lines of code. You might have seen some of the fantastic examples of D3 in action, or you may have heard that the New York Times uses it to create its interactive visual stories.

If you’ve ever tried to dip your feet into the world of D3, then you’ll already be familiar with its famously steep learning curve.

You just don’t get to build things right out of the box with D3.

With its confusing method chains, alien syntax, and black-box functions that seem to work by magic, D3 can quickly seem like more hassle than it’s worth. But fear not, because D3 gets substantially easier if you understand just a few key concepts.

I want to take you through a simple tutorial, explaining 5 of the most common areas of confusion that beginners face when starting out with D3.

We’re going to create a dynamic scatter plot, which updates every second between two different sets of data:

Take a moment to appreciate the little details here. Check out how smoothly these dots are sliding across the screen. Look at how they fade gently in and out of view. Behold the calm sway of our axes between their different values.

These are actually some of the easiest features to implement in D3. Once you can get through the initial struggle of figuring out the basic building blocks of the library, adding in this kind of stuff is a piece of cake.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about what D3 actually is.

D3 stands for Data Driven Documents.

The data can be absolutely anything, which is part of what makes D3 so powerful. Most of the time in D3, you’ll want to read in this data from a file, but for this example we’ll just be using two arrays stored as variables:

var data0 = [ { gpa: 3.42, height: 138 }, { gpa: 3.54, height: 153 }, { gpa: 3.14, height: 148 }, { gpa: 2.76, height: 164 }, { gpa: 2.95, height: 162 }, { gpa: 3.36, height: 143 } ] var data1 = [ { gpa: 3.15, height: 157 }, { gpa: 3.12, height: 175 }, { gpa: 3.67, height: 167 }, { gpa: 3.85, height: 149 }, { gpa: 2.32, height: 165 }, { gpa: 3.01, height: 171 }, { gpa: 3.54, height: 168 }, { gpa: 2.89, height: 180 }, { gpa: 3.75, height: 153 } ]

The documents part in D3 refers to the Document Object Model (DOM). D3 is all about moving elements on the page around, based on what the data is saying. Specifically, we’re working with special shape elements called SVGs.

Crucial Concept #1 — Working with SVGs

So here we come to the first challenging concept that every D3 newbie has to deal with. You immediately need to get a good grasp on a special type of markup which you might not have seen before.

Here’s what SVG markup might look like:

<svg width="400" height="60"> <rect x="0" y="0" width="50" height="50" fill="green"></rect> <circle cx="90" cy="25" r="25" fill="red"></circle> <ellipse cx="145" cy="25" rx="15" ry="25" fill="grey"></ellipse> <line x1="185" y1="5" x2="230" y2="40" stroke="blue" stroke-width="5"></line> <text x="260" y="25" font-size="20px" fill="orange">Hello World</text> </svg>

If we place this snippet into an HTML document, then our browser will interpret it like this:

Basically, each of these SVGs has a set of attributes which our browser uses to place these shapes on the screen. A few things to know about SVGs:

There’s a distinction between the SVG canvas (drawn with the

tags) and the SVGs shapes themselves.

There’s a fairly unintuitive coordinate system that you’ll need to understand, since the (0, 0) point of an SVG grid is at the top-left, rather than the bottom-left.

You might come across some pretty weird behavior if you don’t understand what’s going on under the hood.

It can be tempting to gloss over this subject, opting instead to dive head-first into the titillating business of laying down some D3 code right away, but things will seem a lot clearer later on if you know how these shapes are working.

Resources for understanding SVGs…

A guide to SVGs for absolute beginners — Rob Levin

An SVG primer for D3 — Scott Murray

As a first step to building our scatter plot, we’ll want to add a small circle SVG for each item of data that we want to display. We add SVGs in D3 like this:

d3.select("#canvas") .append("circle") .attr("cx", 50) .attr("cy", 50) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey");

Writing d3.select(“#canvas”) here is analogous to writing $(“#canvas”) in jQuery, as it grabs hold of the element with the ID of “canvas”. d3.select goes one step further, adding a few special methods to this selection that we’ll be using later on.

We’re using the d3.append method to add a circle SVG to that element, and we’re setting each of the circle’s attributes with the d3.attr method.

Since we want to add a circle for every item in our array, you might think that we’d want to use a for loop:

for(var i = 0; i < data0.length; i++) { d3.select("#canvas") .append("circle") .attr("cx", data0[i].gpa) .attr("cy", data0[i].height) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey"); }

However, since this is D3, we’ll be doing something slightly more complicated, and slightly more powerful…

Crucial Concept #2 — Data Binding

The next hurdle that every new D3 developer needs to overcome is the D3 data join. D3 has its own special way of binding data to our SVGs.

Here’s how we add a circle for every item in our array with D3:

var circles = d3.select("#canvas").selectAll("circle") .data(data0); circles.enter().append("circle") .attr("cx", function(d, i){ return 25 + (50 * i); }) .attr("cy", function(d, i){ return 25 + (50 * i); }) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey");

For a developer who is just starting off with D3, this can seem confusing. Actually, for many seasoned developers with years of experience in D3, this can still seem confusing…

You would think that calling selectAll(“circle”) on a page devoid of circles would return a selection of nothing. We’re then calling the data() method on this selection of nothing, passing in our array. We have a mysterious call to the enter() method, and then we have a similar setup as before.

This block of code adds a circle for each item in our array, allowing us to set our attributes with anonymous functions. The first argument to these functions gives us access to the item in our data that we’re looking at, and the second argument gives us the item’s index in our array.

Creating a “data join” like this marks the first step to doing something useful with our data, so it’s an important step to understand. This strange syntax can be daunting when you first encounter it, but it’s a handy tool to know how to use.

Resources for understanding data binding in D3:

A beginner’s guide to data binding — SitePoint

Thinking with joins — Mike Bostock

Let’s make a grid with D3.js — Chuck Grimmett

Once we run the code that we’ve written so far, we end up with something that looks like this:

We attached the right number of circles to the screen and spaced them out a little, but what we have so far isn’t particularly helpful. For a scatter plot, the coordinates of these circles should correspond to two different values.

The GPA and height values that we have in our arrays aren’t much use to us at the moment. Our GPA values range from 2.32 to 3.85, and our height values range from 138 to 180. When positioning our circles, we want to work with x-values between 0 and 800 (the width of our SVG), and y-values between 0 and 500 (the height of our SVG).

We’ll need to apply some kind of transformation to our raw data, to convert these values into a format that we can use.

In D3, we do this by using scales.

Crucial Concept #3 — Scales

Here comes our next major challenge to picking up D3.

Scales are confusing to talk about when you’re first getting started. They need to be set with a domain and a range, which can be pretty easy to confuse. The domain represents the interval that our input values will run between, and the range represents the interval that our output values will run between.

A scale is a function in D3 that will take in a value as an input, and spit out a different value as an output. In this example, we’ll need an x-scale that converts a GPA to a pixel value, and a y-scale that converts a person’s height to a pixel value, so that we can use our data to set the attributes of our circles.

Here’s a diagram to show you what our x-scale should be doing:

We need to initialize our domain and range with some minimum and maximum values. We’re saying that a value of 3.54 should translate to a pixel value of 800, and a GPA of 2.76 should translate to a pixel value of 0. So, if we pass in a value of 3.15 to our scale, then the output would be 400, since 3.15 is half way between the min and max of our domain.

In this example, we’re using a linear scale, meaning that values should be scaled proportionally between the two extremes that we’re looking at. However, there are a few different types of scales that you’ll want to get your head around.

If you’re working with data that increases exponentially over time, then you might want to use a logarithmic scale.

If you’re working with date values, then you’ll use a time scale.

If you want to assign colors between different categories, you can use an ordinal scale.

If you’re spacing out rectangles in a bar chart, then you’ll use a band scale.

For each of these scales, the syntax is slightly different, but it’ll still follow the same general format as our linear scale.

Resources for understanding scales in D3…

An introduction to linear scales in D3 — Ben Clikinbeard

A walkthrough of the different types of scales — D3 in depth

The entry for scales in the D3 API reference

So now, we can add in two linear scales to use for our x and y axes.

var x = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([d3.min(data0, function(d){ return d.gpa; }) / 1.05, d3.max(data0, function(d){ return d.gpa; }) * 1.05]) .range([0, 800]); var y = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([d3.min(data0, function(d){ return d.height; }) / 1.05, d3.max(data0, function(d){ return d.height; }) * 1.05]) .range([500, 0]);

Each of our scales will take in a value somewhere between the minimum and maximum of each variable in our data, and spit out a pixel value that we can use for our SVGs. I’m using the d3.min() and d3.max() functions here so that D3 will automatically automatically adjust if our dataset changes. I’m also giving our domains a 5% buffer both ways, so that all of our dots will fit on the screen.

We’re also reversing the range values for our y-scale, since an input of 0 should spit out an output of 500px (the bottom of a cartesian grid in the SVG coordinate system).

Next, we can make a few edits to our code from earlier, so that the values for our circles come from our scales.

var circles = d3.select("#canvas").selectAll("circle") .data(data0); circles.enter() .append("circle") .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) }) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey");

At this point, we have something that looks like a real visualization!

The next step is to add in some axes, so that we can tell what these dots are meant to represent. We can do this by using D3’s axis generator functions, but we’ll soon run into some problems…

Crucial Concept #4 — Margins and Axes

D3’s axis generators work by attaching an axis onto whichever element they’re called on. The problem is that, if we try attaching axes straight onto our SVG canvas, then we’ll end up with something like this:

Our first problem is that the axes are always positioned at the top-left hand corner of the grid. That’s fine for our y-axis in this case, but it’s not okay for our x-axis, which we want to place at the bottom.

Another issue here is that, since our axes are sticking out over the edge of our SVG canvas, our axis tick marks don’t show up for our y-axis.

We can fix this by making use of a few SVG groups — invisible elements for adding structure to our pages.

In D3, we need to get used to the “margin convention” that all of our projects should follow:

The idea is that we want to give ourselves a buffer around the edge of our visualization area, giving us some space for our axes to live. We need to set some width, height, and margin variables at the top of our file, allowing us to simulate this effect:

ar svg = d3.select("#canvas"); var margin = {top: 10, right: 10, bottom: 50, left: 50}; var width = +svg.attr("width") - margin.left - margin.right; var height = +svg.attr("height") - margin.top - margin.bottom; var g = svg.append("g") .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");

We now need to use these width and height variables to set the range for our scales, and we’ll be attaching our circles onto this g variable, which represents our main visualization area.

If we also attach our axes to SVG groups, then we can shift them into the right position using the transform attribute that comes with the group element. Here’s the code we’ll be using to add our axes onto our graph:

// Axes var xAxisCall = d3.axisBottom(x) var xAxis = g.append("g") .attr("class", "x-axis") .attr("transform", "translate(" + 0 + "," + height + ")") .call(xAxisCall); var yAxisCall = d3.axisLeft(y) var yAxis = g.append("g") .attr("class", "y-axis") .call(yAxisCall) // Labels xAxis.append("text") .attr("class", "axis-title") .attr("transform", "translate(" + width + ", 0)") .attr("y", -6) .text("Grade Point Average") yAxis.append("text") .attr("class", "axis-title") .attr("transform", "rotate(-90)") .attr("y", 16) .text("Height / Centimeters");

I’m also adding some text SVGs as labels, which will tell us what each of the axes is showing.

The margin convention can seem a little random for newcomers to D3, and there are a wide range of methods that we can use to edit how our tick marks should look.

Resources for understanding margins and axes in D3…

An walkthrough of our margin convention code — Mike Bostock

A guide to axis generators in D3 — TutorialsTeacher

The D3 API reference entry on axes

Now that we can see what our chart is showing, I want to take it to the next level by adding in an update to our data. To do this, we’ll use the D3 interval method to run some code continuously:

var flag = true; // Run this code every second... d3.interval(function(){ // Flick between our two data arrays data = flag ? data0 : data1; // Update our chart with new data update(data); // Update our flag variable flag = !flag; }, 1000)

Every 1000ms, this function is going to execute an update function, changing the data that we’re using between our two different arrays.

We need to make a few edits to our code to get everything to update like we want it to:

// Scales var x = d3.scaleLinear() .range([0, width]); var y = d3.scaleLinear() .range([height, 0]); // Axes var xAxisCall = d3.axisBottom(x) var xAxis = g.append("g") .attr("class", "x-axis") .attr("transform", "translate(" + 0 + "," + height + ")"); var yAxisCall = d3.axisLeft(y) var yAxis = g.append("g") .attr("class", "y-axis"); // Labels xAxis.append("text") .attr("class", "axis-title") .attr("transform", "translate(" + width + ", 0)") .attr("y", -6) .text("Grade Point Average") yAxis.append("text") .attr("class", "axis-title") .attr("transform", "rotate(-90)") .attr("y", 16) .text("Height / Centimeters"); var flag = true; // Run this code every second... d3.interval(function(){ // Flick between our two data arrays data = flag ? data0 : data1; // Update our chart with new data update(data); // Update our flag variable flag = !flag; }, 1000) // Run for the first time update(data0); function update(data){ // Update our scales x.domain([d3.min(data, function(d){ return d.gpa; }) / 1.05, d3.max(data, function(d){ return d.gpa; }) * 1.05]) y.domain([d3.min(data, function(d){ return d.height; }) / 1.05, d3.max(data, function(d){ return d.height; }) * 1.05]) // Update our axes xAxis.call(xAxisCall); yAxis.call(yAxisCall); // Update our circles var circles = g.selectAll("circle") .data(data); circles.exit().remove() circles .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) }) circles.enter() .append("circle") .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) }) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey"); }

We’re setting our scale domains inside our update function, so that they adjust to the data that we’re working with. We’re then calling our axis generators here too, which will update them accordingly. We then have a confusing block of code, which handles how we want our circles to update.

Crucial Concept #5 — The General Update Pattern

The general update pattern is used in pretty much every visualization that you’ll want to build with D3. It defines the behavior of elements in our data that should enter, update, or exit the screen. As a beginner, all of this code can seem a little overwhelming.

Let’s take a closer look at what each of these lines are doing.

First, we’re binding our new array of data to our D3 selection:

// JOIN new data with old elements. var circles = g.selectAll("circle") .data(data);

Next, this block of code will remove all the dots that no longer exist in our new array of data:

// EXIT old elements not present in new data. circles.exit().remove()

Here, we’re updating the position of all the dots on the screen that still exist in our new data array.

// UPDATE old elements present in new data. circles .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) })

Finally, we’re adding a dot for every item in our new data array that doesn’t have a corresponding circle on the screen.

// ENTER new elements present in new data. circles.enter().append("circle") .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) }) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey");

The tricky thing about understanding the general update pattern is figuring out exactly what selectAll(), enter(), and exit() are doing. D3 works by using a set of “virtual selectors”, which we can use to keep track of which elements need to be updated.

Although you can get away with having only a surface understanding of the update pattern with many charts that you’d want to create, the whole library becomes a lot clearer once you can figure out what each of these selectors are doing.

Resources for understanding the general update pattern in D3…

A walkthrough of the general update pattern — Quinton Louis Aiken

An interactive exploration of the general update pattern — Chris Given

Once we’ve added in our updates, here’s what our chart looks like:

Our visualization is now flicking between the two arrays of data that we want to display. I’m going to add one more final flourish to make our graph look a little neater.

We can add in some beautiful transitions by making use of the superb D3 transition suite. First, we’re defining a transition variable at the top of our update function, which is spreading each of our transitions out over a duration of 750ms.

// Standard transition for our visualization var t = d3.transition().duration(750);

Any attributes that we set before calling the transition method on a D3 selection will be set straight away, and any attributes that we set after this transition method will be applied gradually.

We can add transitions to our axes like this:

// Update our axes xAxis.transition(t).call(xAxisCall); yAxis.transition(t).call(yAxisCall);

And we can add transitions to our circles like this:

// Update our circles var circles = g.selectAll("circle") .data(data); circles.exit().transition(t) .attr("fill-opacity", 0.1) .attr("cy", y(0)) .remove() circles.transition(t) .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) }) circles.enter().append("circle") .attr("cx", function(d){ return x(d.gpa) }) .attr("cy", y(0)) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "grey") .attr("fill-opacity", 0.1) .transition(t) .attr("fill-opacity", 1) .attr("cy", function(d){ return y(d.height) });

We’re transitioning between a fill-opacity of 0 and 1 to make our dots gently fade in and out of existence, and we’re smoothly shifting the updating circles to their new positions.

So there we have it. We now have a beautiful scatter plot which is updating between different sources of data. You can find the finished product of all this code on my GitHub page here.

Although mastering the concepts in this article might seem like a huge step to take just to get started with D3, the code gets easier and easier to understand with practice.

You’ll soon find that the same key concepts underpin every D3 visualization, and that once you know how one visualization works in D3, you can quickly learn to build almost anything that you can imagine.

Check out the examples on bl.ocks.org and blockbuilder.org to see some ready-made implementations of so many interesting projects. Like D3 itself, all of this code is open source, meaning that you can copy any of this code onto your local machine, and use it for your own projects.

An easy way to get started with D3…

If you’re looking for the fastest and easiest way to learn D3, then I teach a course on Udemy which offers a comprehensive introduction to the library. The course includes:

7 hours of quality video content.

A step-by-step introduction to the foundational concepts in D3, covering all of the topics covered in this article and more.

Four awesome class projects to practice the skills that you’re learning with real-world data.

A strong emphasis on data visualization design, helping you to create custom visualizations for your own data.

Walkthroughs of 12 of the most commonly used visualizations, teaching you how to understand and adapt pre-written community code for your own purposes.

An introduction to an object-orientated approach for creating complex web apps, where multiple visualizations on the page are updating at once.

You can get the course at a discounted price of only $20.99 by signing up through this link here.

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