#having some many similar ocs and not having enough written down means if I’m not careful I’ll accidentally lump two or three separate ocs

[theshadowrealmitself]

About my last ask

Got two lads I want to know about

"who hasn’t realized yet that their Vulcan coworker is an alien, and keeps summing up their behavior as them being autistic like the oc or it being a religious thing as their coworker is clearly religious (they assume the Teachings of Surak is a religion) "

Because honestly this is my favourite thing ever. Also my brain is so stuck on *oh yeah, vulcans do just look like goth humans don't they?*

And also "Mostly just because I want Vulcans to come into contact with a knitted Sehlat and stop functioning for a second, I don’t want to look at everyone through a human lens but I still think coming across a small plushie that resembles your pet growing up is a universal want "

Because mmm funky ass interactions of "I made this for you?" "What? H o w???"

Idk if I'm explaining my thoughts correctly but my autism has latched onto your ocs

(Real quick, none of my oc’s are named because I’m terrible at naming 😭)

Unfortunately I don’t have too much for the first one, the main thing was just misunderstandings of them like, offering chocolate to their coworker and when they reject it, they assume it’s either a religious thing or they’re allergic to chocolate, so they take great care to not offer it again to not make them uncomfortable (especially if they want chocolate but aren’t allowed to, wouldn’t be nice of them to dangle a treat like that in front of them knowing they can’t accept it)

Their Vulcan coworker just thinks they’re the most accepting Human they’ve ever worked with:

very courteous of their personal space and eating requirements, tries to communicate with them on the same level (mirroring them), i.e., trying to avoid words that imply emotions, they don’t ever make them feel unwanted or like an outsider, but they also don’t ignore that they’re a Vulcan, they’re always inquiring about Surak and acknowledging the differences in how they view things since they’re from a different species (their coworker is actually just acknowledging how coming from different time periods and religions causes them to view things differently)

I got stuck on what would happen after awhile, I was thinking that maybe their other coworkers figure out what’s happening first based on how the Human coworker has phrased some stuff about their Vulcan coworker or Vulcans in general, but I couldn’t think of how I’d want the reveal to go down (other than the Human bouncing back immediately because I can’t stand the thought of the Vulcan coworker having to deal with the fact that the Human actually is freaked out by them being different species or anything like that) so this little au/story/thing is on the back burner for now

And for the second one, oh my god I haven’t thought about those ocs in awhile, they’re connected to a type of ocs I was making for awhile that included “Humans making videos that Vulcans watch for entertainment”:

So the premise was that this Human wakes up in the future (I forget the buildup, really need to write stuff down more often), and they’re trying to adjust to the fact that since the world is post-scarcity they can actually follow their interests, but also since the world has changed so much, they don’t even know how to enter their world of interests anymore (if that makes sense?)

While trying to acclimate to everything, they look into their hobbies to see how much has changed, and find out that knitting (both fortunately and unfortunately) hasn’t changed that much, like there’s way more patterns for Human stuff, i.e., more realistic patterns for earth animals, but patterns for non-Terran stuff? Nonexistent.

The Human starts filling this niche, coming up with patterns for them, and then making long “how to” videos with no cuts (they have no idea how to edit videos, so all their videos are real time how they made the item), and then they post it where it doesn’t really get a lot of Human views, but it starts gathering the attention of other species’ who all start to really enjoy learning this Human hobby

Because the videos are so long, the audio is the Human talking about customs and stuff surrounding knitting (like baby blankets for baby showers, making scarves for crushes in media, the “boyfriend curse”, etc), which leads to other Human customs, and gives everyone who watches it a new view of Humans, while the Human gets an appreciation for these other species that other Humans don’t normally get, as their first introduction to these species is searching up customs and stuff that other Humans don’t even think about as they try to see if there’s anything similar to Human knitting customs

(Like do other species ever gift handmade blankets to each other? if they did what’s everything surrounding them? like do different patterns and different colors have different meanings? can any of these blankets be recreated with knitting? etc)

I’m so upset that I forgot what the setup was with the Vulcan in this scenario, the main things I remember was them seeing the stuffed sehlat for the first time and just freezing, and the other thing was them knowing the Human before ever knowing that they knit and getting a crush on them through the videos after seeing how focused and competent they were while knitting

(I love Vulcans falling for wacky or whatever types of Humans, but I also like them first logically getting a crush on Humans after seeing them serious or competent in a way they never really thought of Humans being like, and then the crush getting worse after seeing them be silly and they don’t understand it)

Edit: I have another oc set that’s similar to this (like I said I have a lot of Human ocs that follow this outline) except: they specifically make miniature realistic figurines, they’re academic rivals with the Vulcan (huge misunderstanding, neutralness sometimes sounds like being an asshole especially when the other person has been having a terrible day and doesn’t know anything about Vulcans and them being neutral, but the misunderstanding eventually led to both of them considering the other one a rival)

And one of their rivalries is over getting this specific study room, the Vulcan thinks it’s the most logical place to study, and the Human uses the room to make their figurine videos and hates the idea of switching to a different room when they’ve become accustomed to this one, so the two keep trying to arrive earlier and earlier than the other one to claim it, even going to the lengths of underhanded methods (the Vulcan swears they didn’t mess with the coding on the door to not let the Human in when they got the key first that one time, but they totally did)

Eventually a professor steps in and forces them to share the study room, which leads to the Vulcan’s new fascination with these tiny figurines and then a fascination with the one who makes them (although tbh that fascination was already building while they were fighting over who gets the room first, the Vulcan just doesn’t want to admit to ever having a crush on such a hot headed Human)

#Star Trek #ask box #Vulcans #Humans #Star Trek ocs #sorry I didn’t reply to this immediately!! #had to get my thoughts in order #having some many similar ocs and not having enough written down means if I’m not careful I’ll accidentally lump two or three separate ocs #into one

[kirbybecomesastarwarrior]

 Kirby becomes a Star Warrior / Sir Uther (OC)

Now I’ve seen Uther used from the Arthurian mythos in other Kirby AU merely defining him as Sir Arthur’s father who he inherited the GSA from. Not many are written as straight up bad guys, that is until today Sir Uther is a villain in the KBASW universe and he’s not Arthur’s dad in this one just mentor in the story (but frankly he shouldn’t be anyone’s dad.) 

I just had to post this before publishing the story cause everyone’s gonna wonder “who’s he when reading?” So yeah this is the face of Uther, when he’s mentioned in the story.

I definitely wrote him as the guy everyone hates and though he maybe gone, his selfishness and pride were what ultimately what brought down the GSA. After his death Arthur vowed to reverse and rewrite the mistakes of Uther’s cruelty; becoming the new leader of the GSA. Arthur was and still afraid of his old mentor, his influenced is what made Arthur hide MK’s wings all the time. Meta thought Arthur was afraid of his demon side when in reality he was afraid of Uther. Uther does and kicks off many of the downfalls and tragedies of the GSA & MK’s crew. Due to his own prejudices towards Meta which come back to haunt him.

This Uther is highly inspired by Merlin (2008) Uther the show’s but if your want to hear more explanation on the character but basically yeah the Uther in that show hates magic and kills many innocent people because of that so just switch that around with Nightmare and his demons and yeah same principals.

Also his character color scheme is actually based off the Queen of Hearts from Alice & Wonderland. A bit of foreshadowing of his temperament as well as his madness. 

And his relationship with Galacta Knight; well let’s just say his ego was knocked down a peg once Galacta was recognized as the strongest warrior in the galaxy by the Ancients. Before Galacta it was Uther and he was the leader of the GSA because of that... with Galacta there he felt his authority was challenged..

He guys I’ve been actually working on this OC for months since I named dropped him in Dec. it’s also my first OC and let me tell you creating an OC is tough, I hope my efforts were worth it and you guys like it.

keep reading the content character explanation below...

Now I’ve seen a lot of people characterize Sir Arthur as a well-meaning person who’s just stuck in their old ways. Sometimes straight-up “good guy” or “leader” who live long enough to see themselves become the villain; similar to the many interpretations depending on which version you see/

Now I don’t mind Uther being interpreted as a good guy or someone in the grey area but I’m just surprised with the lack of villainous Uthers. A constant in Arthurian legend is that Uther has always been a rotten human being. In the original story of Arthur’s conception, Uther wanted to get with the Duke of Cornwall's wife and started a war because of it. (I'm not going to explain any more of the story but yeah you should read the original for the rest of it.) But yeah he straight-kicks up war cause he gets what he wants which ends up being betrayed by his own people.

I wanted to take that type of self-destructive villainy from the original Uther making him as despicable as the original from the story. With a little mix of my own spin on the character with some modern-day villains too. 

When designing his character I knew I wanted to have some foreshadowing and symbolism in his design. I really wanted to make him very intimidating along with the level of regality. I ended up thinking about old-school villains from Disney and I came up with Queen of Hearts which fit his character perfectly. And after I just knew I had to give him a scythe as his weapon no questions asked! He’d definitely say “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD”, before slicing up one of his victims. 

And I got a bit of inspiration from Avatar’s Ozai too similar temperament as well. that’s how I got the idea to have Uther control fire as well as light. Which emerged the idea for his wings. Couldn’t decide whether I wanted to give him dragon wings or bird wings... But when the concept of Phoenix wings came up I knew I could work more story into them than just the dragon wings. 

I also wanted to show the importance of status to him with his armor and cape & mantle; being adored with gold.  His mask has two colors red & black very reminiscent of a checkerboard; conveying his two-facedness. Seeing his soldiers as pawns wanting to be in control of everything. I hope I was able to convey that in his design... He cares so much about his position and hates when his authority is questioned in any way; he makes sure everyone knows who’s in charge. 

When I call Uther an elitist, I mean that he would give very little care to the soldiers who were not as puffballs and would immediately categorize them as lesser beings. During the war when the GSA & the ancients were defining other galaxies' worth: they would prioritize the more advanced civilization and the lesser solar system was the last to be protected. This eventually formed the Star Systems Alliance (or the S.S.A.) which was controlled by the Ancients, the GSA elites, and the upper crusts of the galaxy so yeah corrupt government everybody.

I got this idea in the Wolfwrath episode with Sword & Blade explaining their backstories as he described that the war had turned the galaxy into a wasteland and that they had to become bandits & thieves to survive.

So yeah that’s basically what Uther’s doing... he would use lesser planets as battlegrounds, and make many of the inhabitants helpless. This is how the volunteer army gets started.  The GSA would offer benefits and supplies to those who volunteer to join. However they’d have to live long enough to actually receive these benefits. So yeah he took advantage of lesser planets to get new soldiers and made sure they’d be his battle plan guinea pigs. 

This brings Jecra and Garlude into that mix as well... Jerca who had just lost his partner did not have the means to provide for his baby son (Knuckle Joe). He had his parents but they were too old to work. Heard about the GSA’s offer and signed up; his parents weren’t sure and knew their son would be on the front line. But Jecra brought up the point that it’s either that or they all die by starvation. Sadly they agreed and promised to take care of Joe.

As for Garlude she was noble and had people under her care, the war had been pulling resources away from her people. Her husband (a man she married out of obligation but was friends with) went himself to negotiate for resources with the Ancients & from the S.S Alliance but mysteriously disappeared afterward. So to find out the truth of her husband’s disappearance and to provide for her people (as well as her daughter) joins the volunteer army. 

Eventually, there were so many who volunteered that they needed someone to supervise and train them. Uther didn’t want to waste training these volunteers and use one of his elite soldiers (they were gonna die quickly anyway). Then there was the Meta newly knighted Star Warrior, who he rejected into joining the Holy Knights. The other higher-up knights and ancients didn’t know what to do with him because they didn’t want MK to represent them and they were all looking to Uther for an answer. It was more of a way to stall until he could think of what to properly what to do with him properly. Which was probably the best thing he could have done for MK.

After 4 months of training, Meta Knight wants to join their ranks and become the sole person in charge of the Volunteer Army. Which lowers his status never being able to join the higher-ups. Uther thinks this is a great way to save face and get rid of MK. To him, Meta was finally accepting his fate of dying on the battlefield, but to Meta Knight, he was freeing himself from all of them. 

And with that MK renamed the group Team Halberd... and became the most beloved group of Knights of the GSA. And Uther became pissed he’d give MK and his group the most difficult missions but that made them more famous. Things only started going south for the team after the fall of the Ancients & Yami’s betrayal. Also, Yamikage was not part of Team Halberd he was part of the ninja section of the army which Dragato was in charge of.  (And yes I made the MK ship into angst fuel Halberd the ship being named in honor of his original unit). And Uther starts to go mad and plays a big role in Kirby’s birth... hope you guys stay to find out.

#kirby #Sir Uther #Meta Knight #kirby oc #kirby right back at ya #sir uther #Sir Arthur #Hoshi no Kaabii #kbasw #kirby au #my first oc #fanlore #GSA

[rpbetter]

PTSD or C-PTSD?

Hopefully, you’re not one of the muns out there who has slapped a “PTSD” label on your muse(s) for drama only. You are, instead, treating this topic with respect and the realism that comes with that, not only having it accurately impact your muse when it’s convenient and “fun” for you. Well, that respect and realism includes actually knowing and applying the correct diagnosis and symptoms as well.

In your defense, if you have misdiagnosed your muse, common terminology in media and even among trauma sufferers is often just the blanket-statement of PTSD. Also, as the abbreviations imply, they do have things in common. 

To help, I’m going to break down their differences and similarities, then provide some research links including personal accounts to help you get started.

PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder most often comes from a single traumatic event.

What can be a traumatic event can differ widely, and reasonably so; we’re not all the same person, processing events and emotions the same way, or with the same formative life experiences. What might cause PTSD to develop in one person might be processed by another as a frightening or painful incident, but not one that has left them with PTSD. The symptoms, individual, and incident have to all be taken into account.

That being said, some examples would include:

having a severe accident

being mugged or in a store that is robbed

physical or sexual assault

being involved in a shooting, in any way

death of a loved one

an unexpected explosion or sudden, natural event like a mudslide or tornado

a severe natural or man-made disaster (building collapse, mass flooding)

events outside of oneself like witnessing a violent assault, murder, deadly car accidents, terminal illness or injury

Again, it is important to remember that individuals react in individual ways, and as such, their symptoms can express with some variation. Don’t just mimic the same presentations you’ve seen in media, research a variety of real experiences.

However they manifest, key symptoms of PTSD include:

Re experiencing the event by way of nightmares, flashbacks, and repetitive, intrusive, and intensely upsetting images, thoughts, and sensations. This is the most common symptom of PTSD, in which the person involuntarily and vividly relives the trauma.

Avoidance and emotional numbing, going to extremes to avoid not just potential triggers, but also finding any way possible to push memories of the event out of their minds. When the latter occurs and is extreme, the person is trying to feel nothing at all, seeking a path to emotional numbness. That can include substance use and abuse, self-harming, and other harmful behaviors.

Feeling on edge (”Hyperarousal”) is the ultimate inability to relax, constantly looking for threats, perceiving threats that are not to be found, and being easily startled. Some of the common issues with being locked into this state include difficulty sleeping or even insomnia, severe irritability and irrational seeming aggression, angry or aggressive outbursts, and finding concentration difficult to impossible.

Some other things that might develop with PTSD are:

Other mental health concerns like anxiety, depression, and/or phobias

as said above, harmful behaviors like self-harming and substance abuse

physical symptoms like headaches, stomach and digestive upsets, dizziness, and generalized pain

Like all disorders, PTSD is complex. I, again, implore you to research not only information put out by psychiatric professionals but also the experiences of real people.

C-PTSD

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder occurs when a person experiences repeated, consistent trauma, especially at an early age.

That doesn’t mean that adults cannot and do not develop C-PTSD, they do, and for a variety of reasons; adult sufferers have the same points of origin in the diagnosis as children do. Additionally, it may take years for someone to seek help, feel their symptoms are severe enough to need to, or be able to extricate themselves from the situation in order to receive help of any kind. They may be an adult by the time this happens.

The important thing to remember about C-PTSD is that it isn’t a single traumatic incident, and you are more likely to have this form of PTSD if the trauma occurred early in life, it was inflicted by someone close to you, and/or was inflicted by someone you still see on a regular basis.

Some good examples to give you the idea include:

ongoing domestic violence

child abuse and/or neglect

being raised by a parent with a severe disorder like Narcissistic Personality Disorder

repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse

torture

kidnapping

being a part of a cult

being a victim of human trafficking or slavery

It isn’t “complex” because it is always across the board “more severe.” This isn’t simply “even worse PTSD,” and shouldn’t be treated like that. Its source is more complex, the development and embedded varieties of its impact are, and the ongoing treatment is.

Particularly when C-PTSD occurs in childhood, there are lasting effects on a person’s development. They have developed in an environment that constantly has them highly stressed both physically and psychologically, and in which they learn many ways of coping, lessening or negating harm, and so on, that leave them less than optimally functional and integrated in life outside the situation.

While the person has the symptoms of PTSD, they will additionally exhibit:

difficulty developing and/or maintaining relationships of any sort

intense, consistent feelings of worthlessness, shame, and guilt

problems managing and even understanding their own emotions

suicidal thoughts

dissociation

increased risk-taking behaviors

Those who have had their actual development rerouted to deal with the situations that generate C-PTSD have a higher incidence of physical symptoms, suicide, self-harm, substance abuse, and are at higher risk of repeat victimization.

They might go for some time without realizing that their daily experiences are neither the norm nor something sustainable, or how atypical their traumatic experiences were compared to those around them. It can sometimes take a serious life-event (suicide attempt, drug rehab, losing too many jobs, homelessness, or finding themselves in a genuine, loving relationship) for them to fully recognize something is wrong, and even then, their feelings of worthlessness, ingrained lack of self-confidence, and belief that they don’t deserve any better can prevent them from seeking help outside of themselves.

They may also believe that something is just “wrong” with them, that they are innately messed up, or that they have a different mental illness. And the unwillingness to open up to people, relieve events, etc. can additionally leave them unwilling to seek or continue care when they believe they have a different, underlying problem. Again, choosing to deal with this themselves through self-isolating, self-medicating, and seeking only relationships and jobs that will work within the framework of the disorder as it effects them.

Additionally, many sufferers of both C-PTSD and PTSD experience the same sense of societal shaming surrounding mental illness. They may struggle with denial, and refuse to seek assistance due to the stigma and all it entails.

Shared aspects of PTSD and C-PTSD

They’re both, obviously, severe, life-altering trauma experiences and resultant disorders. They both easily make the sufferer feel like the trauma and disorder is impossible or undesirable for others to deal with, that they are not worthy of being in close relationships, among many other similarities in experience living with either disorder regardless of widely varying traumas.

They share psychological and physical impacts, and there is a lot of overlap.

The core symptoms of PTSD are shared with C-PTSD:

relieving the trauma(s)

avoiding and emotional numbing

hyperarousal

The shared physical symptoms can include:

headaches

nausea, stomach ache, and digestive upsets

difficulty sleeping and insomnia

sweating, clamminess

chest pain and difficulty breathing

manifestations of low-grade to severe pain

dizziness

Shared behaviors can include:

difficulty concentrating to outright dissociating

self-harm

substance abuse

being hyper-vigilant, easily startled

may seem to be over-reactive to/in situations that others are perceiving as normal or not that big of a deal due to lower perception of personal emotions and lower emotional regulation

including explosive anger or defensiveness

development of anxiety and depression disorders, the symptoms thereof

Again, both PTSD and C-PTSD are serious disorders caused by trauma, and they both need to be treated with respect and accuracy when written into a character - be that an OC or a canon character. It is unfortunate, but these symptoms and the realities of life with either disorder are often portrayed badly in wider media, and the RPC often imitates what it sees.

PTSD and C-PTSD, like the incidents of trauma that created them (rape, child abuse, domestic violence, miscarriage, etc.), are not a plot-point, other point of interest, or a character trait, let alone a “character flaw.” They’re not something you only bring up for attention, to get your muse out of a bad spot, or to add dramatics when you’re bored in a thread. Neither are they something you need to attach to your muse simply to give them A Label. These are, I cannot stress this enough, serious topics, and they deserve to be treated that way.

You can do that by defining which variety of PTSD your muse may actually have, then adding research of both the disorder and how it impacts a variety of real people. Making your muse more realistic and being dedicated to sticking with it.

Below are some links to get you started on research! Please note, the real stories, as well as some information, may be graphic or triggering. Read responsibly.

C-PTSD

Out of the Storm - Personal Stories of C-PTSD 

-Contains real stories from those with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Their experiences have a huge range; bullying, childhood neglect and abuse, and sexual abuse and assault.

 I Have Post-Traumatic Stress and Didn’t Know It - and You Might, Too

-Personal story of living, unknowingly, with C-PTSD. An especially great read for writers who have muses who hold a lot of responsibility in their daily lives, who may not realize their experiences are C-PTSD related, etc. Contains discussion of parental emotional abuse, mental illness and childhood trauma, and rape.

What is C-PTSD?

-Excellent resource for detailed breakdowns of C-PTSD giving without a clinical, impersonal tone. The definitions of the disorder itself, symptoms and how it manifests and impacts daily life, and much more. A highly recommended source, and one with further resources on-site.

 11 “Habits” of People Living with C-PTSD

-Short breakdown of C-PTSD, followed by snippets of specific experiences in the words of those living with the disorder, a relatively short article.

PTSD

Rebecca’s Story: Living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

-Personal story of a woman living with PTSD from, in short, being stalked by a co-worker. It’s an excellent article, particularly for how mental illnesses sufferers are treated and portrayed, and how that adds another layer of difficulty to their lives. Obviously, this may be triggering to those who have been stalked, and includes mentions of graphic threats.

My experience of PTSD

-A personal story of medical trauma resulting in PTSD. Many of the PTSD stories you’ll find are from women and involve sexual trauma or harassment, in trying to find a variety of stories, I’ve found this one. By this point, you should be noticing many similarities in these stories, regardless of specific trauma.

Leaving the Battlefield: Soldier Shares Story of PTSD

-So many muses experience PTSD through battle-related incidents, and those depictions are not always accurate in media. This is a personal story about one soldier’s experiences. His perception of PTSD, denial, and shame at having the disorder is something that echoes throughout the previous accounts. So do the similarities of daily struggles to maintain to regular life. Before anyone wants to get Tumblr Nasty about it: there isn’t any “war propaganda” present in this story, the location of it is irrelevant to what you’re supposed to be learning here. It’s literally this man’s experience, don’t.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 

-Breakdown of symptoms and causes from Mayo Clinic, so obviously, this is more clinical-minded. Particularly useful for its lists of things like “symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood” and increased risk-factor for other disorders.

I hope this helps you to assess and write more accurately your muses with C-PTSD or PTSD, and to consider these things more fully when having your muse experience a traumatic event in your plots.

-------

Please, remember when you are reading these accounts, and anywhere you might encounter PTSD sufferers; these are REAL PEOPLE. Treat them and their stories with respect. You’ll note that, unlike other posts on this blog, I didn’t advise you to approach the source. Many trauma sufferers won’t be comfortable sharing their experiences for the sake of your creative hobby. You may, at your respectful discretion, discuss this with close friends you know to be impacted by PTSD, just keep in mind that respect, discretion, and only bringing the topic up when they are comfortable with it, with specific questions, is necessary here. These are not fictional characters! Do not write someone’s real experiences into your character, thread, etc. verbatim, that’s...fucked up. Thanks in advance for being responsible, respectful adults, from a real life PTSD sufferer. -Vespertine

#rp help #rp advice #muse development #character development #writing advice #muses with ptsd #muses with cptsd #cptsd and ptsd post #muse inspiration #diverse muses #neurodiverse characters #rp better

[highviewsmoved]

✽ overhaul x oc (NSFW) ✽ with the promise of a cure, a young woman uses the contents of her grandfather's will to her own advantage.

CAUTION WARNINGS: stockholm syndrome, references to illness, mental instability, emotional manipulation, unresolved sexual tension, voluntary imprisonment, voyeurism, obsession, dubious morality, masturbation. 

“A gentle hand upon a flower, causes it to bloom with love, you see. It takes a caress similar to that of a partner. It’s been a part of our family for generations, this ability.” He uses his hands to cup the sunken plant before him, slowly examining it as it blossoms upward to a renewed state.

The child blinks up at the older man, his eyes wrinkled with a faraway smile.

“But grandmother says I have a curse.”

The older man frowns, eyes downcast. “It may be, but to me, it is a gift.”

The child continues in a monotone that no one should possess at such an age. “All the flowers I touch, they come out of me, grandpa.”

The grandfather doesn’t know how else to respond, but goes and provides aid to the flowers dying from heat, the shade of brown passing over to a healthy green.

“It is a blessing, child,” he reaffirms. He is certain as the flowers that bloom from his hand that his granddaughter is special. “Always count them for yourself.”

Her grandmother lays bedridden. A restless thing that looks so close to the doors of death. Ume feels the tears spill from her eyes. It is a foreign thing to cry with meaning behind it, but it’s what she feels.

“Ume, my flower. Yuzuki left you something you must know. The Hassaikai, our business partner, can take you in. They can heal you.”

She sniffles, wiping her eyes. “Grandfather always told me it was a gift,” she coughs into her hand, an azealia appearing on her lap. Her grandmother coughs, but for a different reason.

“You’re ill, find them, show them this,” her hand is skeletal, like the gnarled twigs of a tree in winter. She nods, taking her hands. “I will, I’ll find them,” she promises.

Her grandmother heaves a shaky breath, passing quietly while the heart monitor keens a high sound, leaving her alone with the paper in hand.

Ume thinks of another time of when her grandparents were just with her moments before, still alive. Still there.

The hospital staff come bursting through, calling out to her and moving her away from the sight. She watches as they cover her grandmother’s face, they push her to the outside of the room.

Ume opens the letter, the will being precariously typed, the calligraphy neat and organized. Something her grandfather was always meticulous about.

It is written on this piece that she is property of the Boss from the Hassaikai. The newly appointed young lord of the organization.

When she returns home, doing a simple search through the calculated books her grandfather left behind. She sees the face of the older Shie Hassaikai and a photo of a young man she’s met and seen before.

A slow smile forms across her face.

Her finger tracing lines against the image of the younger man.

She finds them easily. Ume had to pull some strings. The company her family has owned had ties with the Hassaikai for many years. They developed pharmaceuticals together for people with quirks. They lobbied with one another.

It was all to keep themselves afloat.

And now she’s here. She feels an ebbing of excitement when she’s welcomed into their headquarters.

Ume sits across from the leader of the Shie Hassaikai. The young man was adorned with a plague mask. It’s a signature look for them. The massive paper is being read by the other henchman, a man by the name of Kurono.

“It reads here you are a part of the will that was granted by your grandfather, Yuzuki. The boss knew him for quite some time. And you’re fine with this?” Kurono is skeptical. He is clearly unsure of what sort of play is happening here.

She sits up a bit taller, attempting to seem much more presentable. She must play her part in this as best she can. “I am.”

The man, Chisaki Kai, one she has seen come across her family’s estate many times before. The one from the photo in her grandfather’s files. A young man who seemed quite lost when she saw him. Now looks much more hostile and methodical. He tilts his head curiously.

Mimic below makes a curious noise in the back of his throat. “You don’t think that’s a little off, miss?”

Ume smiles amiably, causing the men around him to shift uncomfortably. Her gaze was pinned on the leader. “I understand my duties entirely well, and I have been raised to meet them. Our families have had a partnership for decades. It’s to continue the union as we see it.”

Overhaul’s gloved hands she notices start rubbing against each other, she glances quickly at the motion but removes her gaze before he can notice. When she meets his eyes they’re locked on hers in a challenge. A heated fire in them, he surely must’ve seen.

“What do you gain from this, Miura? What's your endgame if you were to be kept by the Hassaikai? Is it a business alliance you wish to continue?”

Ume hearing his voice is all she wanted and she exhales shakily, heart giddily pounding. “I’m sick,” she says in a false, weepy tone. “I want to be cured and you have the capabilities to help me.”

Overhaul tenses considerably. Kurono passes a nervous glance towards his boss. Overhaul looks terse, Kurono can sense his hands twitching to rid this woman before him like an infection.

“What’re you ill with?”

Ume’s eyes glitter, the rumble coming from deep in her stomach, rising to unfurl out of her mouth. A flower upon the table. It was a shade of vibrant purple, shaped similar to that of a star with the center protruding yellow. Kurono makes a disgusted noise and Mimic reels back.

Overhaul feels his nostrils flaring at the flora before him. The belladonna, the nightshade resting against the wood of the coffee table. Ume in tears coughs into her mouth.

Disgusting, he thinks. A sickness waiting to flourish if he does not cut it out.

Ume is in a room of white. An area so pristine that she feels she will blacken it with her sight. She lays herself down on the bed as instructed and allows the men to enter with the needle. They say it’s supposed to be a prep, to see if this can really work to nullify the quirk enough to not be a bother for her any longer.

“We’ll remove the illness from you entirely, Miura,” the voice comes from the intercom belonging to Overhaul. She wants to laugh happily, she’s content with how simple it was to get herself here. They were so easily swayed. The tears leak from her eyes.

“Please," she begs. "I no longer wish to be this way.”

“Begin,” comes the buzz from the intercom and one of the men comes close towards her with the needle. The liquid is an odd shade and she forces herself to relax, the lower half of her body shaking.

When she can sense the press of the sharpened needle against her thigh she wants to pull away but she stares straight into the camera in the corner of the room, her eyes never leaving the tiny blinking dot. She knows he’s watching. He is alone and she is here with him.

“We’ll be recording you for updates on the serum we’ve injected. It’s still something roughly in the works, but there’s no reversal for it which you should already have known about—” The man before her continues to drone on about the nullifier and Ume frowns.

She feels disconnected, she’s been in this room for the last seventy-two hours and is beginning to feel restless, her mind drifting to someplace else. In her thoughts she sees Overhaul, with his face against her hand, her lips grazing his temples. She purses her lips and continues to nod as if she’s understanding. She hasn’t listened to a word.

The man coughs. “Well, we’ll leave you to yourself.”

Ume stands up quickly, reaching out. “Please, wait a moment,” her voice light and sweet.

The doctor of some sort seems rather nervous to be in her proximity, his body language on high alert. Ume notices this, thinking of how this room is on heightened surveillance.

She poses herself to be the perfect angel, a young woman in fear of the unknown. “I don’t want to be alone,” her gaze underneath the fluorescence like a sharpened jewel. The man’s entirely stumped, uncertain of what to do or say.

The blinking from the camera seems to analyze every inch of the interaction. She moves closer, her eyes watering with a pleading look. “I’m here alone and I don’t have anyone else, will you let them know that?”

The man swallows heavily, feeling the blood rush to his head, she has a mind-numbing effect on him. “Ah, yes,” he clears his throat rather loudly. “I’ll let the boss know, of course. Pardon me.”

He exits the room quickly, terrified Overhaul may have seen the odd display between them. Entirely unaware the young woman was smiling the moment he turned his back.

Overhaul sits up quickly, moving out of the observation room with a purpose. He feels overwhelmed by the sudden scene he witnessed. Ume was too vulnerable. No longer is the young woman with a horrific ailment, but now someone without it. It was gone and it could not harm her anymore.

She was as clean as that room she was in. She was a sight to behold and he watched her every waking moment bewitched by her. Seeing her with one of his men, alone and so close. It drove him to leave, it’s what’s making him go to her room to ensure the man did not linger or stay.

“Overhaul,” Kurono comes to his side, matching his quick strides. “What’s happening?” The boss doesn’t respond. Overhaul only waves him off dismissively.

Kurono stops, leaving through a different part of the headquarters, not wanting to bother him any longer. A part of him knowing full well where he’s going

Overhaul reaches her area of the base and stops outside the door. He could easily go in and see what’s happening. She’ll be there, in her room with her own personal belongings, and see her. He’s been watching her.

His first memory of Ume was back when she came to the old Hasaikai office, where the boss was in talks with Yuzuki. She was a dainty thing, with a twinkling gaze and an amicable aura about her. She seemed serene, something he was not during his early years. He remembers glancing at her, words not spoken between them, but her gaze held his. It never once left his, as if she could see right through him into the core of his head.

The memory dissipates immediately when he hears a gentle moan, he wavers. An odd feeling washes over him. Why is he here exactly? He is the one in charge and so he thrusts open the door, and he sees an image that will be seared into his memory.

Ume on her back, her hand in between her legs that are spread apart for him to see. He stands there, locked into place with the door closing with a puff of air and she looks up to see him, her hands hiding as she sits up, looking ashamed.

Her cheeks heated and a look of worry flashes across her. Overhaul hasn’t moved.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, her eyes watering and he feels a rapid emotion overcome him.

“You—” he can’t seem to get the words out. It was like he completely lost his purpose for being there in the first place.

His mind was screaming in itself.

Ume lifts herself away from the bed, her skirt covering the legs he saw moments before. She drifts to him like a phantom.

“I’m still not well, my display must’ve concerned you,” she tells him. She is now only a few feet away. Overhaul attempts to rein in his muddled thoughts.

“Clearly,” he spits. He wants to flee, he wants to tear her apart and then rebuild her back again.

Ume was a striking beauty, the mole beneath her lips. Her eyes were a shade of pink, her hair the color of mulberries. She was such a captivating individual that he seems to understand why he feels such a magnetism towards her.

It must’ve been the number of times when she has held his gaze evenly. So at odds with what he expected her to be.

Ume snares him with a hook. “You’re just as twisted,” he feels an odd anger bubble up in him at her.

“What do you know? You’re here on account of your family selling you like a business offering.”

Ume’s eyes flash. “I am here on my own volition with what was provided.”

Overhaul doubts her, she can’t be serious.

She steps closer, her lips a beautiful shape. She reminds him of a spider creating a web. “You’re a sick man yourself. You come into the room of a woman who has no way to defend herself from someone like you.”

“You’re a witch,” he hisses. He feels an emptiness in his core with this talk. He can’t understand what this is.

Ume is unsettling, he realizes. She’s not what he thought she was. “I’m not a danger to you, Kai.” The way she says his name so tenderly, like a woman in love disturbs him more than anything.

She’s suffocating. She’s a boa constrictor wrapping herself around him ready to squeeze.

The effect she has on him is vexing. “I’ve always watched you,” she tells him like a shared secret between lovers. He shakes his head. “Just like you have been watching me.”

He turns on his heel and leaves, shutting the door. Overhaul feels his pulse rising with each step he takes. The way she looks at him, the way she has him in her hands.

Overhaul feels a genuine moment of horror.

What is she?

He returns with an ultimatum. She could finally be released, with the exception of constant surveillance on her. She could return to her old life of doing what she was before.

Overhaul does not want to push her away but his mind keeps thinking of seeing her in that specific position from that day. He wants to get rid of it. He needs her gone.

“I’m still unwell,” she tells him. She watches him warily, but something in her is telling him it's a ruse.

“You’re still sick?” He asks, his hand moving to hover across her face. Overhaul feigns his own concern for her. Ume’s eyes drift downwards. Her day-to-day was a cycle. An endless myriad of nothingness except her own thoughts to please herself with. She’s been in this room for days on end and after their last moment together, she was hoping she had finally gotten through to him. Finally, the object of her attention returned. She has him all to herself.

Ume shifts closer. Overhaul looking down at her, and he does not side step or moves away. “I’m here to get better, aren’t I?”

He tilts his head curiously to her advancing. “And you are? We’ve already given you the antidote.  Don’t you want to leave here?” Ume smiles, eyes bright. She looks similar to a specific painting he’s seen in a galleria. The piece being a ghostly woman standing across the moors in a European isle.

“But you’re here. You keep me company.” He came here on a whim hoping this offer would be one that she would comply with.

Overhaul may have underestimated her, she's like a siren calling him softly from the sea, coaxing him to shore. Her words simply hold that much power.  

His lips feel dry beneath his mask and he swallows. Her gown is loose, revealing her skin below and a part of him feels he could move to coast his hand across. To be able to hear her breathing hitch, close to his ears. To be able to see that display of her legs opening. He ceases the thoughts. She’s at his mercy. He has control.

“I know what you’re doing,” he murmurs, more to himself. His mind has become a frenzy. A demented voice in his brain begging him to lay his hand upon her. One touch won’t hurt, it won’t. It would be quick, a simple thing.

Ume drifts from side to side, her hand reaching above to move a piece of his hair. Her fingers dance across his forehead. He grits his teeth, his gloved hands twitching. His mind suddenly gearing up for a tirade. It’s filthy. It’s disgusting. It feels wonderful.

“Then leave here,” she whispers. “Don’t come back.”

“You’re a vixen. You’re sick,” Overhaul emphasizes. This time he means it, but he can’t help but let himself be entranced. She’s maddening. Enticing, his mind supplies.

Ume laughs, she’s infuriatingly beautiful. “And yet you come, again and again. For me.”

Overhaul retreats, her eyes twinkling with mirth. He leaves her there, walking quickly away, his steps echoing down the halls as he moves around the labyrinth. “Overhaul, where are you going?” Kurono asks in shock, he’s never seen his boss move in such a hurry.

“To my private quarters.”

He shuts the door to his room, locking it, hurriedly taking off his jacket stripping himself of the ailment. His thoughts cause images to be projected into his mind. Seeing himself close to Ume, pressing his lips close to her breasts, and his hands placed where hers was between her thighs.

He feels tight all over, collapsing onto the ground in a mess. His breathing is all over the place as he removes his mask from the heat of it all.

Ume was dangerous.

His hands moving on their own as if she was puppeteering them herself. He imagines her there with him. She could be, his mind adds. That filthy part of himself could go in there and take her. Keep her with him all the while. It’s what she would want. It’s what he wants.

Overhaul unzips his pants, his hands grabbing his cock, feeling the girth against his palm. He imagines her there, she’s so real against him. She is stunning as her mouth presses against his dick.

Fuck.

He begins moving, pumping to get to a fast release. The image of Ume licking his shaft, her fingers dancing across his body. Her touch is absolutely vile, but it causes his heart to pound.

He fondles himself more, beginning to feel his body clench around him. This is sickening, he thinks. It’s not right. Ume is still there, the image of her never left.

Overhaul could’ve taken her into his room. Having done everything his filthy mind was displaying out for him, his pleasure exceeded all logical thoughts.

The idea of her as his alone. “Come for me again and again.” He hears her voice so close to his ear, the way she said his name. Kai. Fuck.

He’s so close.

Her pussy would be pressing against his shaft, she would be so wet, so tight. Her moans would be sensual when she continues to take him how she wants. The way it would spasm against his dick. He grabs his balls roughly at the thought.

Overhaul comes with a grunt, a desperate sound freeing itself. He shivers at the sensation of his own cum warm against his body.

A harsh breath rakes through him and he stumbles his way into the bathroom. He starts the water, the steam rising above when he takes a step in. Overhaul hisses, the water scalding against his skin.

He thought with this he could exorcise the thoughts of her, but knowing that she could be doing this too. Ume’s own fingers deep inside of her, imagining himself was something he never experienced before.

A pleasure all their own.

Ume imagines what she would do if Kai would come and stay with her. If he would be willing to let her touch him, to touch her. His large, gloved hands caressing her thighs, reaching up to grab her breasts.

She begins trailing her own fingers down to her thighs, reaching the clit, the gentle motions budding into herself.

The thoughts of Overhaul down on his knees for her, what a simple touch could do. She moans, her fingers working with a quickened pace to reach her own orgasm. A fast one to rid herself of her desire. She needed to continue her control. She was the one above him. He couldn’t kill her even if he tried.

He kept her here offering whatever possible to release her, but her devotion to him and her own cause kept her to stay in this room so he could return.

Ume puts him through a hideous pattern and it pushes her to the edge. The tightening of her abdomen is ready for her to cum and she does. She arches her back, the sensation of her quivering pussy overwhelming.

The arousal of her knowing that he’s in his room, touching himself despite his abhorrence to it. She licks her juices off of her fingers, her breath heavy as she watches the familiar red dot of the camera.

Ume’s awakened by the opening of the door, and one of the many men announcing she’s allowed free reign to wander their base. That her status was cleared, that the nullifier accomplished its effect and healed her.

She was now free.

It was another offer she realizes, to really get her to leave this place. But she’s having so much fun here, in her own little space. She wishes to be a blight.

A stain that is so deep that it leaves Overhaul a crumbling, cumming mess every time he leaves her room.

He doesn’t touch her, there is no tenderness. Just her words and his own, and a continuous cycle of touching themselves at moments she hopes are timed at the same.

She smiles at the men, a coy thing that holds so much, but does not provide them with what exactly she’s thinking.

Ume’s not done here. She’ll see this through in its entirety.

“I won’t be going,” she sits against the wall, her hair so long that she toys with one of the strands. “I want to be here.”

They seem a bit nervous about her response. Not exactly sure what the procedure for a willing asset is.

“You can leave now,” Ume says. “I won’t be asked again.” They can hear the threat in her tone, her eyes narrowing as the men shuffle out in fear of incurring her terrifying attitude.

Overhaul returns with a quickened haste. Not even bothering to knock on her door and she grins.

“You’re a wretched thing, aren’t you,” he states. His finger pointed at her. She stares at the appendage; wishing to take it deep against her throat.

“I am, but aren’t you?” She’s challenging him. Miura Ume is a shogi piece on the board. The way she calculates his every mood, her eyes gauging him. She could eat him alive. It’s nauseating.

“I could kill you,” he’s trying to convince himself it’s the only rational thing to do. She sits up, the chemise sliding down her shoulder exposing her supple skin. He yearns, a sick part of him wants to see her exposed for him.

He wants to touch her just once.

No! His mind screams. She’s foul. She’s stunning.

Ume moves her hands to hold his, he begins to tremble. He wishes he could grapple with his failing control. To get back at her. She purses her mouth against the tip of his gloved finger, tongue brushing against the leather. When she bites down she never looks away from his sight.

He makes a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. Ume releases her hold on him and licks her lips. The pink of her tongue swipes the redness of her mouth. Overhaul is a mess of a man. What kind of the leader of this organization is he, that he is seduced by a single woman.

Ume lowers herself onto her knees, a wicked gleam in her eyes. She’s close to the crotch of his pants and he wants to run. So he can rid himself of these thoughts she’s causing.

“You won’t break your favorite toy,” her silky voice slithers in his ears. Her fingers feather across his thighs.  Ume’s own hands wishing to dig into him.

The light sensation causes shockwaves across his flesh. Overhaul is enraptured. What else could she possibly attempt to do. He replays the image of her mouth around his finger. A dark rumbling in his gut jolts him away, and she smiles. It breaks him away from the reverie of this siren below him.

He stands above her, he could press all five fingers deep into her neck, ceasing her diabolical wishes. “You’re heinous,” he grits out. A realization blooming in his mind that he’s lost this power play. He was already in her clutches the moment he saw her.

She owns him. Every touch, every single way he jerks himself off, the orgasms he has. It’s all for her.

He’s mortified. He feels the room is like a cage. He’s the canary in the cat’s mouth.

Ume pouts. “I could make you feel so good,” she says this as if it’s the only thing he needs.

Overhaul wants to throttle her. He wants to hike up her gown and shove his cock so far deep into her that it makes her hold onto him.

This is dangerous, his mind says. You need to clean yourself.

“You’re a plague,” he spits. “You’re just a wretched thing who wants too much.”

She laughs as if he said the funniest thing in the world. “I am, but you enjoy this just as much as I do.” Ume sits up no longer on her knees. He still towers above her.

Overhaul could end it right now. He just has to touch her. Let her rot against the floor. He’s torn, he fears she’ll reanimate on her own. His own personal karma.

“You want me on my knees for you, telling you the dirtiest things imaginable.” Her eyes were that of a feline.

She backs him against one of the corners of the room. Overhaul slides down against the wall.

He wants this to end.

Ume lowers herself to his level, her lips grazing his ear. “You want me to fuck you senseless.”

Overhaul grunts. “I don’t—“ he can’t get the words out. He’s completely losing himself. He can touch her. He can. He can’t.

Ume’s tongue prods against his neck and he nearly groans. The way it slides up to his chin. He would let her take a bite out of him. It’s what he wants.

He feels his cock hardening against his trousers.

She leans a bit away, getting a good look at him in this state. That longing look in his eye. The lust in his crotch. He’s only wearing his medical mask and she wants to tear it off of him.

“You’re spineless,” she mocks. “You can’t even help yourself or your boss.”

He snarls. “What do you know,” he fires back. “You come here like a leech wanting a cure.”

“I know more than you do,” she tells him.

“Your teasing routine ends here,” he stands. The way she moves away from him pushes him to continue backing her against her own bed.

“Is this what you want? Do you want me to fuck you senseless? Or do you just want my finger in your cunt?” Overhaul feels a recharge in his power. He could finally see her resolve falter.

“I do,” Ume flushes, looking away from him. A gentle admittance. “I want all of it.”

The room is silent, save for the labored breaths from Overhaul and the quiet words from Ume echoing.

They look at each other for a long moment.

Overhaul makes the move first. He presses his lips harshly against her mouth.

She makes a noise but tries to remove the mask he’s kissing her through.

He rips it off and his hands lift her gown as she lays back against the bed.

Her legs wrapping themselves around his waist pulling him to her. Her touch causes him to groan. Overhaul feels his head swimming. She’s delicious. The way her lips form around his, her tongue gliding against his own.

He refuses to lay his hand on her, that part of him with his clear disdain for touch still scratching in his mind. It tells him to stop. To cease.

She’s a drug. Her moans are intoxicating. Her lips drag against his cheek and she suckles his neck.

“I want you,” she presses into him, reaching to unbuckle his pants. Ume grabs his cock through the fabric. No, she’s filthy.

“Fuck,” he exhales. She’s pliant against him.

“Touch me, Kai,” she moans, her legs tight around him. His hips are close to hers. His hands are still balled into tight fists.

“Just one finger,” she prods. “Make me cum.”

He snarls. Overhaul bites her shoulder and she yelps. “I’m not touching you.”

She laughs against his lips. “Your loss.”

They continue like this, lost in the sensation of each other's lips. His hips thrust into hers and she groans a needy sound.

She unbuckles his pants, freeing his cock. He feels dizzy. Ume guides him towards her wet entrance.

“Fuck me,” she moans. Overhaul gnashes his teeth together, his balled-up fists feeling like an anchor.

He’s imagined this so many times. This exact image, her voice right at his ear.

“Please, Kai,” her voice calls again.

Overhaul grunts, thrusting into her. Ume’s cries were delightful. “Oh, Kai.”

He doesn’t move for a moment, and she hugs him tightly to herself, caging him in her arms.

She looks elated, something he hasn’t seen in her expressions. Her controlled, manipulative faces have only been used against him. At this moment she looks genuinely content.

His fists begin to uncurl. Just one touch to wipe the way her tendrils are covering a bit of her face.

A loud knock stops them from going any further, startling them both.

“Overhaul!” A panicked voice comes. “There’s a plan of attack from the heroes.”

Overhaul and Ume look at each other for a long moment. “Put your clothes on.”

He pulls out of her. The feeling of it winding them both up. He would let his men take care of it. He could finish here, before going out there to fight. No. He stumbles away from her. He doesn’t have time to clean himself and he shudders.

Ume is unnervingly complacent through it. Once he readjusts himself, setting his mask on.

She’s back to being fully clothed, her eyes blankly staring ahead.

“I’ll be back,” he says. His head dips, to get her to look at him. Her bright eyes stare into his. “I’ll finish this.”

Ume releases a laugh. “You won’t.”

Overhaul stands at his full height, eyes narrowing. “I will,” he promises.

He shuts the door leaving her alone.

Ume's trademark grin returning.

She walks back to her bed, curling into herself as she waits.

It’s been hours and there’s a breach in her room.

A team of heroes enters and there's a multitude of voices.

“Someone’s in here!”

“It’s a woman! We need a medic!”

They come in a cluster, checking her, and Ume’s tears come falling forth. Her character this time is a hysterical woman who was wrongly experimented on.

“We’ll get you out of here, miss. What’s your name?”

She is inconsolable as she gives them a name, a fallacious one. “Yumi, my name is Yumi. Please, I want to go home.”

The heroes escort her out with a blanket over her shoulders. She looks around the base and it is destroyed. The walls are crumbling. Nothing looks the way it did when she first arrived.

Ume tries to hide her grin. A beautiful downfall that Kai went through, she thinks.

So pretty.

The trip to Tartarus was a vicious one. The seawater lapped against the tides of the boat. The young charge, in connection with the Hero Commission, shields himself from the onslaught of the rain.

“Fujita! We’re almost to the island.”

Agent Fujita, one of Ume’s many disguises only clad in a suit and raincoat, nods affirmatively. “Good.”

The man calls for the steering of the boat to the dock, the entire vessel moving onwards and the agent does not budge. She stays with the breeze against her face, whipping her face as the boat’s sound alerts the officers on Tartarus of an arrival.

The ship is stopped against the steel dock as they rein in the anchor, wrapping the sails against each other as the young escort jogs to her.

“We’ve arrived. Please go this way to the base.”

Ume follows down the ramps. The clanking of the steel-toed boots beneath her into a rhythm.

“Private Personnel coming through please.”

“Identification is needed for passing into Tartarus.”

“I have it,” Ume says, her fingers handing over the passes and a note from the Hero Commission granting the access.

“Agents Gentaro and Fujita?” The man in the dark outfit is splashed by the nearby tide. “Dammit, alright. That’s fine. If they know you’re here. We’ll send them word you’ve arrived.”

Gentaro steps forward. “We won’t be here long, it’s a quick interview with one of the prisoners.”

“It’ll be a fast one,” Ume adds.

One of the other guards snickers. “As long as you both don’t try to break these monsters out.”

Ume smiles a familiar grin that halts the guard's laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

The massive gates open forward walking into the long corridors of Tartarus.

“This place is bright,” Gentaro hisses. Ume doesn’t react, only blinking in response.

“The criminal you’re about to meet is infamous, you know? He’s pretty vile, kept a woman and a child, using them for test subjects.”

Ume’s new voice has a low tone. “I’ve seen quite a bit in my heyday, Gentaro.”

He snorts. “Alright, alright. Gotcha, well, I’ll tell the guards you’re ready to see him.”

The room they entered was accessed only through a fingerprint scanner, which Gentaro uses. Ume walks in, standing across a reinforced glass, waiting for them to bring him in.

Ume feels her heart rate pick up. It’s been months on end since the disbandment of the Hassakai, since their separation.

Ume was taken in with the heroes, saved by them. Or so they think. But Ume returns as Agent Fujita now.

She hid her identity, easily enough with a modifying bullet she received from the underground which gave her a new quirk.

It was the ability to change the face, so one does not recognize her immediately as the woman who was captured. Ume had many ties, connections her grandfather left behind; she was able to put them to good use. She used them all to give her this gift before her.

To be able to see him again.

Chisaki Kai enters, completely wrapped in a straight jacket, pushed forth on some sort of mechanism that was strapping him in.

“Agent Fujita, Prisoner 23554 is here. Chisaki Kai, Overhaul, reporting in.” The bleeping over the intercom disperses and she is granted some privacy when the guards leave. They had nothing to worry about since Overhaul could not wield his quirk nor did they know that Ume didn’t even have one.

She smiles.

He looks pathetic, still facing downward, refusing to look up. His hair is overgrown. He has tired eyes, stubble coming in and she wishes to grab his face and rub her lips against the roughness of his chin.

“Kai,” she calls softly. Her voice is the sound of honey dripping from the corners; like it was seeping through the glass. He shifts, raising his head slowly. When he comes to, his eyes widen in shock. “You,” he swallows roughly. His throat feels dry.

She coos, walking closer to the glass, her hands resting on the counter. “Kai, my destroyed, beloved,” she grins all white teeth and red lips. Overhaul quakes, feeling overcome with the oddest emotion. Is he excited? Is he terrified? It’s a rush of cold pouring through his veins. He feels the familiar ache of the loss of his arms, wishing to thrash in his restraints, but the poisonous woman is here and she still speaks.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Ume says in that deceptive tone of hers. It sounds as if she were in awe, but her eyes. Her gaze is so dark that he imagines himself devoured by her.

The reversal of the situation. The way he had her for months on end, trapped in his own area. He should’ve had the upper hand to take back his own control of her relying on him and the odd web of seduction they found themselves in.

Before he was free, he could’ve left her to her own devices. He should’ve killed her when he had the chance, but she stands before him on the other side of the glass. This time, she is where he once was. Now she could continue to see him, the vicious cycle continuing. He wants to yell, scream out to the guards. The rush of blood goes to two places, his head and to his dick.

“You’re here,” he says. She laughs lightly, nodding. Ume was a wretched woman for this. A parasite burrowing her way into his flesh, never coming out. He wants to heave. Her constant advances were intoxicating, they cursed his life. He loathes his own weakness for not denying her. He couldn’t have. He was so close. He aches for her.

She tsks, her fingernail scraping against the glass. The sound high pitched and torturous to his ears. He gasps, not knowing how to make her stop.

Ume presses her lips too close against the mirror, the shape of her lipstick leaves a mark there. He clenches his teeth tightly together so he doesn’t groan.

She leans back, admiring her handiwork. Him on the other side, just how she always wanted to see him. Overhaul, the methodical, locked away in a small room just as she was. He was her likeness.

Ume’s voice points out the obvious, but he can’t bear to think of it, he doesn’t want to hear it.

“Kai,” she says, observing him as if she’s viewing a virus through the lens of a microscope. His head hits against the steel of the odd-standing chair that he’s restrained in. “You look ill.”

The contamination has already made its home in him. In her. He can’t escape it. He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he’s wheeled away back to his cell. Once the resounding click of the door encloses him in. He can feel her still there with him, the moaning in his ear returning and the tears are hot against his face.

Your loss, her voice returning from that time. Replaying itself over and over.

#overhaul x reader #chisaki kai x reader #bnha imagines

[autumnslance]

Character Meme: Haurchefant! (If Haurchefant has been done already, Foulques!)

I'll do both! Starting with Our Pal:

Give me a character and I’ll break them down:

HAURCHEFANT

How I feel about this character:

The truest of friends, bestest of bros, and someone who truly saw and believed in the WoL. Perhaps a bit of hero worship, but it came from a genuine place.

I didn't make much note of him at first--my very first run of Central Coerthas in ARR was frustration at Ishgardian nonsense and the experience point gap that existed at the time; I was having a rough go of things. Haurchefant doesn't even figure into any cutscene moments at that point. The patches and HW itself very quickly fixed that and made him a figure to pay attention to, when he was so genuinely pleased to see the WoL and help them out again.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Warrior of Light. All of us.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

His friendship with Francel is so important to everything that makes him who he is by the time we meet him.

His interactions with his family are fascinating to think about and we only get glimpses.

I love the idea Haurchefant, Estinien, and Aymeric are all friends even before the WoL gets involved; the trio all have various things in common, and two of them at least are personable enough to make it work (and drag Estinien along while he tries to pretend to not enjoy himself).

My unpopular opinion about this character:

He's much more than hot cocoa and unrelenting cheer.

His death was one of the few well-written and presented and timed ones. The narrative elements work, much as it hurts--it's a good reason why it hurts still, actually, in a different way than other characters with clumsier demises we still get angry about.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

More interactions with the family and Francel in HW. More seeing some of his rougher side, his anger, how he deals with it to fuel his kindness and compassion.

---

FOULQUES

How I feel about this character:

A tragedy showing some of the ugliest sides of Gridania; all the city-states have their flaws but oh boy...

He deserved a second chance, and was denied it. He'd internalized the wrong lessons about strength and courage, fundamentally misunderstanding them in his search for understanding and meaning, only frustrating himself further.

He could have been better helped, but while Ywain meant well, his own blindspots in how the city-state's bigotry shaped Foulques and his situation kept the guildmaster from really knowing how to, and led to things escalating.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

I really don't have any, though I've seen good OC/Foulques ships out there, rare though they are.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

His rivalry and almost-friendship with the WoL came close; we tried to help.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Given the story they present for Gridania, Foulques' tragic tale is a mirror to the Archer story, where we deal with the bigotry from another angle. Foulques is the result of what nearly happens to Leih and Silvairre, had their stories turned out a touch differently at various points. Given the presentation of Gridania, both guild stories are needed to paint the picture of how ingrained the awful view points are, to where even good people like Ywain and Luciane are stymied by the way it's shaped them.

OTOH I'm tired of fantasy stories making clumsy attempts at giving us transparent allegories for real world bigotry when the writers have similar blindspots as the characters, and often feel like they "have to" add it to stories to be "realistic" because people can't imagine a world without the same kinds of prejudices we deal with in reality--and that some people may really want or need to escape it, not see a coat of paint tossed over what some outside perspective thinks their lived experiences look like. Especially when it's as heavy-handed as it is in early Gridania.

There are other ways to create conflict that don't involve making the traditionally darker skinned groups purposefully oppressed second class citizens--and then ignoring that aspect of the story for a decade because you've made the leaders we regularly interact with entirely oblivious to and ignorant of it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

That we had been able to help him and Ywain reach an understanding--it felt like communication was passing each other, not connecting--and actually helped him, not have him, out of so many other class NPCs, die; even villains like Doesmaga don't get the treatment Foulques did!

That if he does have to be the class NPC that dies, it's a better one than getting freaked out and falling off a cliff. Or that we could have learned later that he didn't die after all, that someone found him, nursed him back to health, showed him genuine kindness, and then he coulda shown up in the HW or StB DRG quests to help us out, a changed man.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Lyn Prompts #Haurchefant Greystone #Foulques of the Mist

[stomach-rental]

I see that you mostly draw fanart, do you have any original characters?

Yes! I mostly have drawn fanart because Will and Louis are my personal favorite comfort characters and I hyperfixated deeply on them for like three years, but. I do have many OCs. I just don't post about them often since they're usually not related to vore at all, but, I have a few OCs worth mentioning (not counting the very cute jerboa oc I bought recently)--

1. Miki + Cebo, from my unwritten Rivet series!

I'm not gonna post art about them right now because all art with them can be found under the #rivet or under their names on this blog, but. They're very fun! My first ever real vore ocs, based off of south american folklore near the amazon river involving river monsters. I did a lot of research into the location and the backstory put into both of the characters involved with this, but the story itself is largely undeveloped and therefore is sort of on the back burner. I just don't have a lot of energy to put into developing them hardcore yet.

2. The Sisterhood, my paracosm series that is over FOURTEEN YEARS in the making!

It involves alien shapeshifters that typically look Very Similar to normal earth cats, witchcraft, and dismantling oppressive government systems. It's very intricate and currently has four and a half books planned, but I have currently only ever written one chapter for the series as a whole because writing is very hard for me and I get overwhelmed easily. I do have extensive character lists, winding backstories and a LOT of old art I can post of them, though. They've even been featured in a few vore posts here, though usually involving side characters as the main character is fairly young and I don't feel comfortable putting her in a position to be vored unless it is PURELY for protection purposes. I will talk about TSH for hours and I will not stop ever, you can ask me anything and everything and I will answer. I can also give you the link to the first chapter of the series, though it's short and I am too nervous to start writing the second chapter right now.

I would just list off all of the OCs from this that I would be willing to talk about, but that might warrant it's own post. There's a lot of them.

3. D&D OCs! I have a couple of them that I have never once talked about here because the campaign that they're in died down and I invested myself in them RIGHT before I got into Getting in Deep, so I never got the chance to do anything vore wise for them. But. If I ever get the chance to or have inspiration from anything I might try to throw in some fun D&D stuff when I've got time.

4. Seeeeeecret vore OCs! I'm not talking about them yet because they're still in development, but they have something to do with that endosoma thing I mentioned earlier.

I do have other OCs, but, there's not many that I actively participate with at this moment so I don't even know if I remember most of them enough to talk about them. Oh, and, I also draw myself / my fursona doing a lot of silly stuff with vore from time to time, so I guess that KIND OF counts as ocs??? I mean. Look at them.

#asks #faq #drawns #but seriously do ask me questions about these ocs if you want me to post about them more often #because for the most part I do not do many vore ocs but I WILL talk your ears off about the sisterhood #I will talk so much about it #also yes I know I have other asks I am just waiting to do drawings for them #because right now it is 3am and I am too tired to do it now

[bookofmirth]

So uhh, if you've seen the livestreams you'll know how much sjm loves az and how exited she is to write his story. Now, I see many fans saying he's toxic, and though I don't share that opinion, I accept that we all see things differently, but I wanted to say that I don't think sjm is going to make him the bad guy, not a chance. I read a lot of paranormal romance (sjm too) and the guys are usually like this, you know, "horny 24/7 and want to kill all competition", is the trope kinda sexist? Sure but I find it hot and so does sjm, and though this might be an unpopular opinion, i think az is the least possesive of the three brothers, like, if elain told him she wants lucien az would back off, actually he waited like a whole year/two unil elain came to him.

So my point is, sjm is not pulling a tamlin 2.0.

Also, and this is biased, the "elriel is toxic" argument isn't that strong, bc the things most non elriel shippers find toxic are things sjm finds sexy.

I'm rambling, sorry, whatever, I just wanted to put that out there but I 100% believe we all can and should have fun shipping whatever we want-

I just hope sjm works magic and that somehow we're all satisfied with the next couple which I highly doubt hahaha a girl can dream

I agree with some of this stuff, but not all of it. Lemme explain. 

I know sjm loves Az, just like she loves Nesta, Eris, Lucien, and Rhysand, etc. They are her characters. Why wouldn’t she? I’m not sure what that has to do with ships or books or anything. She said that Eris is her favorite Autumn Court character, right? And he’s clearly been an asshole. I have OCs, and they all exist for a reason. It’s not about loving them or not.

Elain didn’t come to Azriel, they ran into one another. 

She'd waited until everyone was asleep before venturing back down, where she'd leave her gift amongst his other, opened presents, subtle and unnoticed.  

And the argument about Az, I’m not going to use the word “toxic” (never have, in fact) because people are throwing it around a lot lately to basically mean “bad” without any underlying understanding of what that looks like in a relationship, romantic or otherwise. 

However, I’d like to point out that when I analyze Azriel’s character and what a potential relationship would look like with Elain, I am not arguing that that’s why it wouldn’t be canon. I am explaining why I, personally, do not ship it. Those are different things. 

I do agree with you that sjm has written a relationship similar to what I have predicted Az and Elain would be like - feylin. She’s written this before, so I don’t understand how some people fail to see the similarities. Did Tamlin love Feyre? Hell yeah he did. And there was a lot of sexual tension and then straight up sexy times between them. He’s still mourning her two years later.

But was Tamlin in a place where he could have a healthy, supportive relationship with her? Nope. They imploded big time, despite loving one another. That’s what I’m arguing. Other people may frame their analyses differently, but I’m saying that Az is full of rage and jealousy and he just isn’t currently in a place to have a lasting romantic relationship. Jumping into a romantic relationship with someone who requires so much emotional labor, who needs to be constantly reassured that they are good enough, that their touch isn’t “tainting” their lover, etc. it’s exhausting and will ruin a relationship. Take it from someone who knows this personally. (And honestly, this still puts me on the fence about gwynriel. I literally only ship them because it’s what she wants, I don’t actually care about Az in this equation because of this whole paragraph.)

I also think that both characters (Tamlin and Azriel) deserve love. Everyone does. It doesn’t have to be romantic love, though? Which is why I also said in this post from March 12th that I don’t think Azriel will become Tamlin 2.0, which means I also agree with what you said in that regard. Here are the relevant bits of what I wrote:

Tamlin is basically a cautionary tale for Azriel and I don’t see how people can have read this series and not see that. Not see that sjm wrote Azriel in a very specific way in that extra.

Will Az get to the same lonely, dark place that Tamlin has ended up? I doubt it. He has a much better support system than Tamlin, for one. He also is being set up to have an HEA, for another. There isn’t a war on, no Amarantha holding everyone hostage. Their histories and personalities, the people they are surrounded by are different - the way they deal with their emotions and trauma is not.

I think a lot of the disagreements right now are coming from 1) just having different interpretations, and then 2) seeing that other people have those different interpretations and trying to justify why ours are more “right”, even though that’s almost impossible to do. Also I think that we are reading arguments and forgetting where they come from, so groups are getting mushed all together as if they are a hive mind and so then I get stuff like this saying “Azriel won’t turn into Tamlin” and then I have to be like “yah I know I literally said that before”. (No shade on you anon, it’s happened a bunch but this example is right here.)

It’s like saying I prefer feta and the fandom trying to explain to me why brie is better. idgaf, I just like feta. So yes anon, let’s all just have fun! I don’t mind genuine discussion and differences. What would be the point of me posting and everyone just saying “same” all the time? 

#acosf #acotar #anti e*riel #antielriel #azriel #tamlin #ask #anon

[malfoymanortings]

silver tongue //part one

SUMMARY: charlie weasley was never the type to fall in love. his main focus has always been dragons. by the time he realizes he’s in love, it may be too late.

PAIRINGS: charlie weasley X fem!OC

i have one more part planned for this story. it’s yet another one that just begged to be written. hopefully you all enjoy it!

“weasley!” luminita stormed over to the red haired boy, who looked up at her with a panic stricken gaze. “would you like to tell me why maria just informed everyone that you were taking an indefinite hiatus?”

charlie weasley gave a reassuring pat to the month old dragon he had been tending to, before crossing the few feet left between him and lumi. she roughly shoved his shoulders, her mouth twisted in a furious glare.

“lumi, if you’ll just listen to me-“

“listen to what?! what reason could you possibly give me that makes it okay that you’re leaving us!”

her chest was heaving, and although she stood a head shorter then the tall muscular boy before her, she stood rather intimidating in front of him. he held up his hands in surrender, backing down in a similar way they had to do with angry dragons.

“i have a reason, if you would just let me explain... come to mine after work, alright?”

luminita nodded firmly, turning on her heel and storming back off towards her section of dragons. charlie watched her for a moment, a smile breaking across his face. his heart swelled in adoration for the romanian firecracker that he had gotten the pleasure of knowing during his years as dragon training.

a shot of fire just barely missed his head. charlie turned to see his dragon staring at his with its wide ember eyes, nodding its head towards its breakfast.

“okay, okay,” charlie grabbed the bucket, walking back over towards the baby horntail. “say no more.”

luminita and charlie had met while training at the romanian academy for dragon tamers. she was immediately drawn to the stocky redhead, who was so thoroughly covered in freckles that he appeared tan. he had been drawn to the honey haired girl with a loud voice that reminded him of home. she was a boisterous and adventurous student, and he was an ambitious and knowledgeable one.

they had quickly found they were the perfect pair when studying dragons, and that translated to their work on the field. they along with a handful of others had quickly rose to the top of the romanian dragon tamers, and when the others gave charlie a hard time for being british, luminita was the first one to defend him. they always had each other’s back.

which was why his sudden call for hiatus stung her so badly. he hadn’t ever mentioned to her that he was going to be leaving, not even a hint. charlie weasley was a man of dragons, nothing more in his life brought him more to joy. luminita was well aware of that. so it made no sense as to why he was suddenly giving it all up. it infuriated her.

charlie had left his door unlocked after work, and was sitting in his sparse living room when luminita walked in. she had changed out of her work clothing, she now wore a flattering pair of jeans and a artfully torn sweater that exposed bits of her shoulder, chest, and torso. her hair was stilled pulled back in a messy bun.

he admired her beauty in silence. he suspected she harbored feelings for him, but he wasn’t sure he felt the same about her. besides, who had time for dating when there were so many dragons to be discovered? their work work was far too hands on to ever even entertain the idea of a relationship.

his other teammates always made fun of him for that. billius, a man ten years older than charlie who he counted as his second closest friend next to luminita, gave him a hard time about his values. ‘if a beauty like luminita were interested in me, i think i may abandon the dragons altogether if she asked me. but lumi would never ask that of you or want you to. why don’t you give it a try?’

charlie always had the same answer. ‘the dragons need my full attention.’

luminita had never explicitly expressed her interest in him either. it was through the way he was the first she sought out after a particularly rough rendezvous rescuing dragons from the black market, the way she always brought a lunch for him because he never bothered, the way she smiled at him like he was only person in the world, that gave her affections away.

“well?” luminita strode into the room, sitting on the edge of his worn thrifted couch. “what on earth is making you give up the dragons?”

charlie stood, rubbing a hand across his face. he began pacing in front of the fireplace, the flames glinting across the silver scars that covered his arms from his numerous burns. to his chagrin, luminita somehow never managed to get burned by the dragons. it was something he always gave her shit for.

“you obviously know my family is in britain.”

“no shit.”

“well, you know voldemort is growing his army again.”

luminita nodded solemnly. charlie had confided in her many times of his fears that his family would be hurt while he was in romania. but that had never prompted him to leave before. did that mean he was leaving now?

“my family is part of an organization to take down his army of death eaters. i’ve been asked to recruit foreign members, and that means i’ll be on voldemort’s hit list when word gets back to him.”

“so you’re leaving?”

“no, i’m staying in romania to recruit members for the order my family is part of. but i need to go into hiding, because i’ll be targeted by death eaters.”

luminita was quiet. when she spoke again, her voice was tense and firm.

“i guess you have your first recruitment then. where do i sign?”

charlie supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. luminita was a fighter. it was part of why he was so drawn to her. but the thought of luminita getting hurt flashed across his mind, the thought horrifying him. he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if she got hurt or worse, killed, because he recruited her for the order. in his mind, her death or injury would be his fault.

“luminita, do you understand what you’ll be doing? voldemort is dangerous, he’s awful, and being part of the order puts a target on your back for him and his ruthless followers.”

“charlie, have i ever told you what happened to my parents?”

charlie paused. he had been expecting her to fight back and maybe accuse him of not thinking she was strong enough, but he hadn’t expected her voice to be small and her face to look worn. she had never mentioned her parents before either, and he never thought to bring it up. he shook his head.

“my parents were very prominent political figures. they wanted our aurors to help in the fight against voldemort, and they were beginning to gather a group of willing participants. voldemort caught wind, and had them killed.”

she said the words as though she had recited them a thousand times, mechanical. yet it was the first charlie had ever heard her speak of them.

“i’m sorry.”

luminita waved off his condolences. “point is, i know the risk. i know how things can go. but i’m a damn good dueler, and a damn good fighter. voldemort needs to be dead.”

charlie nodded solemnly. the thought of her hurt or dead scared him, but he had known luminita long enough that he knew she wouldn’t stand aside once she was given the chance to fight. his girl was a fighter.

“well, there isn’t anything you need to sign,” charlie teased, stopping in front of her and looking down into her pale green eyes. “you’re in.”

luminita stared back at him, her expression softening as their eyes locked. charlie looked away, turning to continue his pacing in front of the fireplace. luminita watched him from her perch on the arm of his couch, her head tilted to the side.

“you’re worried about your family.” she said it as a statement, watching his movements.

charlie nodded. “course. i’m worried for them, and now that you’re in... i’m worried for you.”

luminita snorted, standing up and shaking her head. “thought you knew me better, weasley. i can hold my own.”

“doesn’t mean i like the thought of you fighting.”

“well, look at it this way. even if i do die, the dragons will always be there.”

the words were bitter as they burned from her mouth, and charlie felt the sting as they fell out.

“that’s really not fair-“

“so when will you be back at work?”

she had her arms crossed, a look of forced nonchalance on her face. she eyed him casually, occasionally glancing down at his calloused fingers that were tapping against the back of his armchair.

“whenever the war is over, i reckon. for now i’m staying here in romania, but if the order calls then i’ll leave. i’ll always come back though. this is home.”

she shook her head, laughing humorlessly. “you could never leave the dragons.”

“i don’t think you would ever ask me to.”

she looked up at him again, her eyes dark. “you’re right. i wouldn’t.”

charlie felt something twist in his chest then, at the way her words sounded as they came from her pretty mouth in a sad declaration. he opened his mouth, his face apologetic, but she again waved him off.

“i have an early shift tomorrow,” she gave him a playful look, the solemn mood forgotten. “some of us still have to risk their pretty skin to the flames.”

charlie laughed, glad the mood was back to normal. “you’ve never even been burned! you still have your pretty skin!”

“so you think i have pretty skin?” she flashed a grin, raising her eyebrows.

“the prettiest.”

she laughed, shaking her head. she moved to the door, charlie following close behind. as she placed her hand on the door, she paused, her fingers gripping the worn handle tightly.

“i’m going to miss seeing you at work everyday.”

“we’ll still see each other.”

she laughed again, sadly. “it’s not the same. see you later, weasley.”

she left then, the door shutting behind her with a resounding click.

the following months passed by rather quickly. luminita helped recruit with him, as she had a fair amount of connections he didn’t. she also began helping him duel, to his surprise she was an excellent dueler. her steps were fluid and unpredictable, much like a dragon. charlie learned a lot from her. before long, a year had passed.

they had gathered a fair amount of allies. luminita had been a great asset to charlie and the order, with the previous connections her parents had left behind, she was able to get many behind them quite quickly. yet as voldemort’s reign waged on, things became dangerous even in romania.

voldemort had managed to get the alliance of most of the vampires, and all but a handful of werewolves. they were brutal and ruthless, and attacked their members who were more outspoken. as charlie was kept in hiding, luminita became a prime target for them.

charlie worried every day for her. but at least, she always came back.

the war raged on. in romania, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in britain. it was only so rough for the outspoken order members because they were outnumbered by the covens of vampires and packs of werewolves. months passed by, and soon bill and fleur’s wedding at the burrow was approaching.

charlie and billius were discussing plans for the allies while charlie would be in britain. he planned to be gone for only a week, possibly less depending on how things were while he was there. he would be traveling alone, and luminita and billius were going to watch over things here.

“lumi is tough as nails, charlie,” billius shook his head, a laugh slipping out as charlie voiced his worries on being gone. “if you’re so worried about her and care so much, why haven’t you just asked her ass out yet?”

charlie rolled his eyes, rolling his sleeves up as he leaned back in his chair. “it’s not like that. not sure if you’re aware, but some people actually care about others just because they’re good people.”

“sounds like pussy shit to me.”

charlie gave him a look as the other man took a drink of firewhiskey, a smirk on the mans grubby face.

the door to charlie’s shack slammed open. luminita limped through, stumbling and tripping onto the wood floor. her torso, or maybe her back, was soaked and her hands were slick with blood.

charlie rose quickly before she had the chance to ask for help. he scooped her up gently, wincing when she moaned in pain.

“lay her on the table,” billius instructed, sweeping everything off the circle table with a wave of his wand. “i’ll get the kit.”

every member carried a magical first aid knapsack with them. one of their allies, maria, was an excellent healer. she had hand picked the best supplies to have on hand.

“lumi,” charlie laid her down gently, taking her face in his hands. “what happened, where are you hurt?”

“my back,” her eyes twisted shut in pain, tears leaked down her face. “werewolf. a pack, got me before i could apparate.”

a string of curses came from her mouth, and her body contorted in pain.

charlie ran through the date in his head. the full moon was still a week and a half away, so she wouldn’t be turned. but the wounds... they weren’t going to heal. he cursed loudly, grabbing the kit from billius.

“okay lumi, i’m gonna have to put you on your stomach,” charlie told her firmly, nodding to billius. the other man went on the other side of luminita, ready to help. “on the count of three. one, two... three.”

the two men flipped her over as quickly and gently as possible, but a scream still tore from

luminita’s throat. each scream was like a stab into charlie’s chest.

the men removed her shirt, displaying her bare back. it had a thick, silver scar from the middle of her back reaching just over her shoulders. it made charlie pause for a moment. that was a burn from a dragon. he hadn’t ever known she was burned, it was something she had always been praised for.

he forced himself to look away. the werewolf injuries were more important than an older burn scar.

eight deep scars ran from her sides to the middle of her back, four on each side. they met in the middle, raking down the rest of her spine. a shallow bite mark was just below her right shoulder blade.

he grabbed his wand, muttering a spell that wiped the blood away. it still spilled from the wounds, but it made it easier to see where to put the powdered silver and dittany.

together, charlie and billius applied the mixture, sealing the wounds and stopping the bleeding. they were still red and angry raised lines, but they were no longer bleeding. that was all they could do.

“alright, lumi, we’re going to lift you up, alright?” charlie informed her, before nodding to billius. together, they flipped her back over, and helped her sit on the table.

she had a few shallow scratches on her arms and her face, although those appeared to be just from branches or brambles. she was pale, much too pale, and charlie quickly dug for a blood replenishing potion.

“i have one, don’t worry,” luminita waved her arm weakly, pulling one quickly from the depths of her satchel. “takes like utter shit.”

“we’ll give you some firewhiskey to wash it down.” billius said, waving his wand to clean up her smeared blood from around the shack.

luminita swallowed the potion quickly, her face screwing up in disgust. “holy fuck, that’s awful.”

“you’re feeling better.” charlie said quietly, a rush of relief running through his body.

she nodded, taking a glass of firewhiskey from billius. she knocked it down in one gulp, grimacing from the taste. her hands were still covered in blood.

“let me run you a bath.” charlie murmured, deep in thought.

he didn’t wait for a response, instead, he left the room to his small bathroom. he ran the water just below room temp, knowing the werewolf injuries would be hot and uncomfortable in warm water. luminita wasn’t going to be happy, she preferred boiling hot water.

when he entered the room again, she was still sitting on the round table; her eyes shut with her mouth screwed down in a grimace, her hands clenching the sides of the wood. billius had cleaned up and put the kit away, his cloak was put on and he nodded to charlie.

“i’ll be by wednesday, same time.”

charlie nodded to him, and the man left, leaving the two alone.

“do you want me to help you to the bath?” charlie asked, walking over to luminita.

she shook her head, gritting her teeth and she got down from the table. he figured she would say no. she was too proud.

after making sure she was safely in the bathroom, charlie went to his room and got her clean clothes; a pair of his plaid pajama pants and his old holyhead harpies tee shirt. he set them outside the bathroom, along with a towel, and told luminita through the door that they were there.

he then busied himself with making tea, her favorite lavender and chamomile. he also heated up cozonac, a romanian sweet bread. he knew it was one of her comfort foods.

everything was set at the table by the time she came out of the bathroom. charlie was waiting at the table, sitting in his chair with a pensive look on his face.

she snorted, sitting in the chair gingerly. if charlie hadn’t known her so well, the spasm of pain that crossed her face could have been mistaken for annoyance.

“any reason you look like you’re trying to figure out a new species of dragons?”

his eyes flitted to her face, taking in her thinner appearance, the scratches from tonight, the slight bruising on her jaw. she looked so tired, so ragged.

“i want you to come with me to my brothers wedding,” he told her firmly, his expression set. “i need a plus one, anyways.”

she opened her mouth, and charlie knew she was going to argue. he raised a hand, cutting her off with a shake of his head.

“i really don’t want to take no for an answer. i need a date, and you need a break. billius and maria can handle romania for a week. we’re going. that’s final.”

luminita was silent for a moment, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her head. she gave him a smile.

“a date, huh?”

“is that the only thing you heard?”

she shrugged, tearing off a piece of her cozonac. “it certainly was the most interesting.”

he smiled, shaking his head. they ate in silence, the sound of their tea cups clicking against the table and the crackling of the fire the only sound in the small shack.

“how did you get burned?” charlie asked suddenly, nodding towards her. “i saw it when we fixed the scratches.”

“you didn’t fix them,” she muttered, her mouth once again screwed down in a grimace. “there isn’t any fixing them.”

charlie was quiet. he wasn’t sure what he could say.

“when i first was interested in dragons, i was a reckless stupid sixteen year old,” she began, her eyes taking on a faraway look as she recalled her story. “and i wanted to bond with a dragon. i figured if i could do that, i would be guaranteed a spot in the academy. but i didn’t have the training, and i wanted it done right then instead of waiting and gaining its trust. i nearly died... but i didn’t. all i was left with is that horrible scar. and now i just have more.”

“scars add character,” charlie assured her, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. “i have plenty, but it just makes me look badass, right?”

“not really, no” she responded, although with the lift of her lips he knew she was joking. “my first though when i see you isn’t, ‘oh wow, what a badass’, it’s normally, ‘oh fuck, what does he need me to do now?’”

charlie laughed, running his thumb over her knuckles. “well, it’s a good thing we’re going to take a vacation, huh?”

“you really want me to meet your family?”

“of course i do. you’re basically my family.”

she nodded slowly, and drained the rest of her tea. charlie gathered their plates, placing them in the sink. he turned back to her, realizing he would have to sleep on the couch.

“erm, you can have my bed,” charlie told her, motioning towards his room. “i’ll take the couch.”

“nonsense,” she shook her head, nodding towards the room. “we can share your bed. i’m not kicking you out of your bed and i don’t think my back could handle the couch.”

charlie shook his head. “we aren’t going to sleep together-“

“no shit. all we’re doing is sharing a bed. big deal. what, are you a ten year old? it’s just a damn bed and we’re friends.”

“it wouldn’t be right-“

“oh what, too much of a pansy to share a bed with a girl?”

charlie narrowed his eyes. he knew logically that she said that only so he would be forced to agree, but he found he didn’t care to fight her on it. “fine. let’s go.”

they lay on opposite sides of the bed, with a pillow in between the two. he could hear her breathing, more ragged than usual. he was attuned to her usual noises. it made him on edge to hear a difference.

“charlie?”

“yeah?”

“i really care for you. i just don’t know how much longer i can wait for you.”

as he thought of a reply, the sounds of her snoring filled the room. he figured she was probably near sleep when she said the words, and she didn’t mean it.

he had to believe that.

two

#harry potter #charlie weasley #weasley #dragons #dragon tamer #charlie weasley x oc #charlie #george weasley #fred weasley #hp #hp x reader #harry potter series #hogwarts #bill weasley #ron weasley #charlie weasley imagine #charlie weasley one shot #romania

[sixtyfourk]

Fic Questionnaire

Tagged by @dazais-guardian-angel! Thank you so much, Dana! This is ridiculously long, so I’m putting it under a read-more, but first, I’m tagging @shocotate, @gemstoneslesbian, @theo-sev, @101flavoursofweird, @asa-liz, @teaofdestiny, and @ms-enmystic if any of you would like to do this as well! If anyone else would like to, please feel free, I mean it! I only tagged people that I know have an Ao3/write fics, but if you would like to, please go for it.

How many works do you have on AO3? 41

What's your total AO3 word count? 152999

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

Professor Layton, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Lord of the Rings are the ones I’ve written the most for. I’ve also written a few stories for Rune Factory, Ace Attorney, Astro Boy, Ouran High School Host Club, Marvel, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

The Open Jar, Golden Child, Ambivalence, The Duality of Homunculi, and Responsibilities. They’re all FMA stories; I’m kind of sad that none of the PL stories are on top, since I think I improved a lot since writing the FMA ones, but it all comes down to fandom size, I think.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? 

These days, I always do, even if it’s just a short “Thanks so much for reading, I’m so glad you liked it!” I’m just really grateful that somebody would take the time to read the story and bother to say something. It takes a lot of energy to leave a comment sometimes, even a short one, and saying thank you for that is the least that I can do. I had pretty bad depression about two and a half years ago and took a big social media break for about six months; I didn’t respond to any comments during that time. I feel pretty bad about it now, and sometimes I think about responding, but it was so long ago that I feel awkward replying now.

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

Maybe that OHSHC fic “Funeral” I wrote years ago where Tamaki gets… shot and dies??? Why did I write that…??? I intended to write a follow-up where he didn’t actually die and recovers, but I never did, so the fic seems to end with him dying. That’s one of the cringe fics that I kind of want to delete now :’) Second-closest (and one that I actually like/don’t find too cringey) is my recent Clora fic “Almost Lost,” which ends with a lot of crying, but it isn’t a tragedy and their crisis is averted.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? 

Not exactly. I did get a couple of comments with criticisms on FF.net years ago, but nothing horrible. Sometimes people vaguepost about how Clora is Bad after I post something, haha, but that’s pretty much the extent of it thankfully... I’d probably cry if I actually got a hate comment adsjhkdsaf... :’) 

Do you write smut? If so what kind? 

Asdfhjkadfasdlfaf no. I get so embarrassed even writing about kissing. I’d someday like to write something that actually deserves the T rating that I give to a lot of my ship fics, but I don’t think that I could write anything higher-rated than that, and it’ll probably take me a long time to work up to that.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

I don’t think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated? 

No, not to my knowledge. If someone wanted to, though, that would be neat!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

A long time ago, my friend and I wrote a very silly LOTR fic where we would alternate writing chapters, with no planning whatsoever. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from her in years; I wish we could have finished the fic, even if it was garbage adskjhdsf… I miss her. More recently, my friend and I have been co-writing (or at least brainstorming) a Clora story (costarring a cherished OC) set twenty years after UF. Even if the fic takes forever to actually come together, we’ve come up with so many great ideas and it’s been loads of fun.

What's your all time favorite ship? 

Clora’s definitely my all-time favourite. There have been a few others that are really special to me, but honestly, Clora has everything I want in a ship. They have so much potential for fluff and angst, and they can get SO much character development together. (and I really relate to/adore both characters sdjkhsadf…) The ship does get hate and that does discourage me at times, but they feel really rewarding to write about; I feel like I’m solving a puzzle whenever I get one step closer to having them get a happy ending together. Nobody had written about them since like… 2016 until I started last year, so I’m really glad that a few other people who also liked the ship have something to read again now.

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

Some of my old FMA WIPs… I’m not really into FMA or the characters/ship I used to write for anymore, and I kind of feel like I won’t ever get that kind of passion for the series again, although I still have some good memories of it. Every so often, though, I get a really nice comment on one of them and wish that I could finish them for those peoples’ sake. 

What are your writing strengths? 

Once I’ve found what emotion I’m going for, I think that I’m fairly good at keeping it consistent throughout a whole fic. I think that I’m also okay at being sympathetic to most characters, even ones that I don’t really like; it feels awful when somebody spitefully writes about my favourite characters, and I don’t want anyone to feel that way when reading my stuff. I think that I’m good at writing about… longing or yearning too, haha… not so good at writing established relationship stuff adshjksfd but I’m getting better.

What are your writing weaknesses? 

So much… The biggest thing is getting myself to write at all. I just get so easily overwhelmed, distracted, or discouraged and give up. It takes me forever to write just a oneshot, let alone multichapter stories. I’m also quite bad at planning ahead… I plan major moments in a story, but often, the in-between bits are surprises to me. I do enjoy how my characters kind of take me on a ride and surprise me, but sometimes I find myself written into a corner. I also overexplain. So many of my chapters wind up so long because I feel like I have to explain every little detail. 

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

I’ve never done much of that when writing about real-life languages, but I used to throw in the random Sindarin word in my LotR fics, such as calling someone’s father “Ada,” since that was common in LotR fics back then. If I was to do it now, though, I’d probably only include dialogue in another language if it was immediately translated to English afterwards, like someone explaining what a sentence meant, but I wouldn’t throw in random words unless it was a character’s normal habit to mix languages.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for? 

The Lorax, but it was super cringe, and I deleted the fic… Funnily enough, it wasn’t even about the onceler, it was about my OC dad for him.

My official first fandom in my mind is Lord of the Rings/Tolkien in general. I was a very awkward and excitable teenager, new to the internet, and met a lot of kids on FF.net who were as awkward as me by commenting on their very silly fics/writing very silly fics similar to theirs to try to impress them. I had so much fun and made a lot of friends that way, although I’ve lost touch with almost all of them, sadly… I really miss them. The fics are all on my FF.net profile still, but I don’t recommend most of them aJSDKsdf… Those were the days before I was an angst addict and everything I wrote was ridiculous. Most things I wrote before 2019 aren’t very good to me... 

What's your favorite fic you've ever written? 

Right now, probably Bright Saffron Dreams… I put so much love and energy into that one, and it has so many tropes that I like in it. If I’d been brave enough to make it slightly more overtly romantic, it would have been exactly what I wanted in a Clora fic, haha...

#my fanfiction #tag games #I'm so sorry if I missed tagging anybody that would like to #please go for it if I missed you!

[kniferottt]

Since requests are coming in slow, I got a little request for you since you havent written with her for a bit. Think we could get some headcannons of stuff Nyx would do if you were dating them or headcannons in general- well I guess they would be headcannons- even though it's your oc- it'd help introduce her more since I adore her :3

Shiiiii- silver skdbsj okay so I've only briefly mentioned my oc Nyx but not by much so I'll do dating Headcanons giving a bit of an introduction

❦

Dating Headcanons

Nyx is one of the many overlords in hell but she is one of the only select few females, because of it she makes sure to really keep to herself but she hasn't lost what made her.. human, though she makes sure to keep it hidden within public eye

when in love with someone she isn't exactly subtle as she'll flirt constantly though it can come off as normal since with her personality of being naturally sensual (yet she's rather sadistic her intentions may not be entirely pure..)

She prides herself in her charisma and ability to gain whatever she pleases so she does have a bit of a god complex

the god complex totally isn't there to hide her issues

She'll tone it down if she notices you're not the type to enjoy someone like that

She'll give you little gifts whether it be handcrafted or bought she always tend to make sure it's sincere taking into thought what the person is like

She has sketchbooks upon sketchbooks full of drawings of you but that is something she keeps to herself unless asked to see

She practices brujería, her powers are derived from it so you may not know but she'll place protective spells and such over you in certain circumstances if she's not able to keep a watchful eye on them

She'll constantly cleanse you while chastising you for either being reckless or being around bad people but will take into count if she sees how great the urge of someone wanting to harm you is

She creates poppets of you and herself for her to keep the one of you and you keep hers. Its an intimiate little thing please care for the doll as if you were holding her.

Having never exactly been in a proper relationship she may come on a little to strong or to forward, if it makes them uncomfortable she'll quickly back off and look over where she went wrong

Please for the love that is unholy be gentle with her over it, her emotions play immensely into how she reacts and if it's a poor reaction her powers go a bit haywire and it's likely she'll end up harming herself or you

She'll constantly ask to cook for you, or simply bring you meals out of fucking nowhere. It's as if she senses when you're craving something or simply hungry

"what do you mean you're full? You're practically malnourished have some more!"

-proceeds to serve you more than one could physically eat-

Will take care of you if you fall ill or injure yourself without hesitation

Similar to the whole food situation she just knows, don't ask.. she just does and good luck getting her back off as she'll likely accidentally baby you over it

Will adore dancing with you and teaching you, she was raised in a family where it was simply tradition to have little dance Partys every weekend

Bachata, Merengue, Salsa, even Reggaeton and then throw in ballet she took as a child and then likely having learned Swing from Alastor most likely

She will be patient and teach you, she recalls how difficult it was for her when learning so she'll be kind. The look of pride and adoration on her face when you succeed is precious

Will sing when you dance, Will sing to you in general primarily in Spanish finding it to be something more endearing due to her native tongue being referred to as a romantic language

Nyx can and will not hesitate to kill for you if even a single hair on your head is harmed.

She's far to protective and possessive for her own good and if she were to find out anyone had harmed you in any form no one would be able to stop her from going ballistic

If you're in her presence when it happens she'll do her best to keep herself contained but it doesn't help when her physical appearance is affected by her anger to which she'll likely cover your eyes with a hand wanting for you to see how she normally is, not like this.

On days where she's more emotional and her powers are rather unstable she'll likely end up locking herself away from you to keep you safe but as well keep your image of her as she places it untainted

Okay this one is really fucking funny to me but she died a gen-z girl, she died in 2020 so the way she ends up speaking to you is a little off as it almost sounds strange or doesn't make sense (if you're not from her time that is) but if you've spent enough time around her the slang she uses in a loving way just makes sense

Or if you're from her time then you're all good

It's a little strange from how elegant and proper she goes to a gremlin of sorts the next

"I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, though I suppose Im able to spare a minute for you mi amor, proceed."

"i'm finna yeet myself out this window, and commit un alive and take myself out a second time thanks."

Both are said to you in likely the span of 5 fucking minutes or less

All in all Nyx may be an overlord but when in love with you the title means nothing to her, she'll worship the ground you walk on and devote herself to you forgive the obsession she gains over you

Understand that once you're with her if you choose to try and leave her? There's no guarantee you'll make it out the relationship alive that is..

You're her piece of heaven in this hell, she will not give it up without a rather gruesome fight

❦

I hope you guys enjoyed these little headcanons with my oc, if you'd like to know more/see more of her I'm more than happy to do so and thanks again to silver for requesting this sjfhdjs

#hazbin hotel #multi fandom blog #hazbin oc #hazbin original character #multi fandom imagines #x reader blog #hazbin hotel blog #x reader imagines #oc x reader

[gffa]

I was talking with @himboskywalker​ about Tolkien and fandom and fic, because I’m always curious where people’s “area” of the wider Legendarium are at, whether they’re a fan of the Dwarves or the Humans or the Elves or the Valar or what!  (As a surprise to absolutely no one, the Elves are where my heart is at, where I very much love the Noldor, but if you give me a choice I’m going to run over to that Sindar-centric fic every time.) Which got us onto the topic of fic recs, where, yes, I’ve done a LOT of Tolkien fic recs but I tend to read something of a wide variety and this is a list specifically aimed at those who are familiar with the wider Tolkien world, but haven’t really read much fic and want to know where to start! Other Recs First: - If you haven’t gotten further into Tolkien’s work (like say beyond the movies), I’ve done something of a primer here, which includes fic recs and brief explanations and links to videos that help explain some things.  It’s not as hard as it seems to get involved, honest! - Some other fic recs here, as an addition to the above. - My Tolkien blog (which I haven’t been on in awhile, though, I haven’t let it go in my heart yet) has, I’m not kidding, A LOT of fic recs, I did recs regularly for about three years, so it’s almost as massive as my collection of SW recs. If I Could Only Pick Three To Start You With: ✦ And What Happened After by thearrogantemu - This is the fic that took me from enjoying the Silm characters to diving face-first into really loving them, because it wove such an engaging story about the characters sailing to Aman at the end of LOTR, where various characters you wouldn’t think interacting would be as meaningful as they are, but the fic absolutely sells them on it.  Frodo and Feanor having a conversation about language?  Sam and Maglor sharing a boat to the West?  These things are amazing, as this is a fic about healing and what it means to sail into the Undying Lands.  Also, it has a Feanor and Fingolfin reunion that literally put tears in my eyes. ✦ Interrupted Journeys by ellisk - I’m generally not someone who does a lot of rereading of fic just because I have so many new ones to get to, but I’ve read my favorites in this series (parts 3 to 5 are my sweet spot especially) probably four times through now because “Elfling Legolas growing up in Greenwod with a whole cast of characters around him, as the Shadow so very, very slowly creeps towards them” may sound somewhat simple, but the worldbuilding here is off the scale.  The weaving in of how much the First Age and various Elven politics influenced Thranduil’s ruling of a Silvan people is a major theme, but it’s also good parents raising that precious Elfling right and he and his cousins+friends getting into all sorts of mischief, so it’s balanced between humor and drama in the exact amounts I want.  You can skip the first two fics and jump into the third if you like, which is when Legolas is introduced, but I enjoy the whole thing. ✦ Return to Aman OR Quenta Narquelion by bunn - I can’t pick between these two, they’re both incredible.  Return to Aman is basically “Elrond grabs Maglor and drags him to Aman with them” and it breaths such incredible lift into all the characters of Aman, it doesn’t negate the terrible things the Feanorians did, but neither does it negate Elrond’s love for them and his biological family, too.  It’s another fic that’s about healing and forgiveness and it made me glow to read it.  Quenta Narquelion is basically “Feanor refused the call of Mandos after he died and everything started to snowball from there” and it’s an absolutely heartbreaking look at all our Problematic Fave Feanorians and how they were once good people trying to do the best they could, but bit by bit they slipped into the dark.  It’s especially amazing for capturing the complexities of Feanor, as he hovers over his children as a spirit and it really brought me around on his character. The Silmarillion and other First Age Batshit Faves: ✦ The Starlit Sky by Cirth is the fic that really made me get the potential of reading about Maedhros and Maglor raising Elrond and Elros, where it does such a fantastic job of showing that there was genuine affection there, even the midst of all the angst and trauma and pain.  You really get why Elrond could never give up on them, after reading this fic. ✦ In Courts of Living Stone by ncfan - “What if Maeglin never left Nan Elmoth and instead, several decades later, found himself on an errand to Menegroth and developed a relationship with Finduilas instead?” isn’t a fic I expected to capture my heart, but boy did it ever.  Beautiful characterization and beautiful writing, it really captured my imagination, but also gave me ALLLLLL the Maeglin feelings, as well as made me pine that this Finduilas couldn’t have been more common in fandom. ✦ naught but the shores and the sea by ncfan is more of Elrond and Maglor, where it’s an AU that has Elrond finding Maglor after the disastrous attempt to recover the Silmarils and I loved it a lot. ✦ The Crane Wife by Trebia is one that takes an underused character from Tolkien (Lalwen, in this case) and breathes this incredible life into her, gives her personality and joy and sorrow and meaning and, look, any fic that can convince me that Thranduil would marry a Noldo and utterly believe it, you know it’s well-written! The Second Age Is Kind of Quiet in Fandom But I Love It Regardless: ✦ The Art of Long-Distance Grandparenting by Kazaera is a lovely and bittersweet (but mostly lighter in tone) fic about the separation of the Sea between family members and does a wonderful job with Idril’s character, as she tries to stay connected to her grandchildren while being so distant from them and unable to see them, unless they choose to come to Aman.  There’s joy to be found here and it’s a lovely read. ✦ Relativity by French Pony is a lovely look at the final meeting between Elrond and Elros and strikes the right amount of bittersweetness, where it’s awkward and difficult and heartbreaking, but also feels natural and like this was how it was meant to be.  I had many, many Elven Twin feelings during the whole thing.  (I like all their fic, they’re worth checking out their other stuff for, too!) ✦ A Thing or Two About Elrond by Crookneck is a series of fics about Elrond and the various relationships he has--with Celebrian, with his children, with Gil-Galad, etc.--and I remember being really charmed by all of them and how much shit Elrond has seen over the course of his life. The Third Age, Lord of the Rings Version: ✦ Boromir's Return by Osheen Nevoy - This one is sort hard to summarize, but it’s basically “Boromir lives, makes a friend, and slowly changes everything about the LOTR plot”, but it’s so much more than that, where the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the pacing is incredible, it made me fall in love with Boromir as a character all over again, it contains probably the best portrayal of Denethor I’ve ever read in fandom, and I really loved the OC and so on.  It’s utterly engrossing and honestly I cannot recommend it highly enough, even if you’re not usually into this sort of thing. ✦ The River by Indigo Bunting is a fic where Legolas and Sam get separated from the others for a brief time and I love fics that take two characters who don’t interact much, throw them into an intense situation, and sees what happens.  It’s not precisely a light-hearted fic, it’s very intense, but it’ll make you fall in love with the sheer good in both characters and the friendship they develop.  It’s brilliantly written and I cannot recommend it enough. ✦ A Bit of Rope by Aiwendiel is a fic where Gandalf doesn’t fall at Moria and it changes everything--not necessarily for the better.  The slow, creeping sense of things changing, things going just a little bit worse here and there, until you realize how much darker the Fellowship’s journey could have been, was brilliantly done, and one I thought did justice to the idea, it’s not grimdark, there’s still light and hope here, but it makes you feel like, oh, maybe things happened as they did for a reason, even as hard as that seemed sometimes.  Gorgeously plotted and utterly engrossing. The Third Age, Mirkwood Version: ✦ daw the minstrel has an entire series of fics about Legolas growing up in Mirkwood and there’s absolutely a reason why she was one of the most well-known authors in that corner of fandom.  Her ability to create new characters (including two brothers for Legolas) was incredible, I cared so much about the family dynamics and got swept up in the drama (which was in a very loving family, but Legolas was definitely a mischief-seeker) and they’re fantastic.  If you find yourself in something of a stretch with too many OCs and your attention wavers, you can always skip around, they don’t have to be read in order and a lot of the non-canon characters can be skimmed over, imo. ✦ In a Field of Blood and Stone by ScribeofArda is so much better than what The Hobbit movies gave us of the Battle of Five Armies, it does such beautiful justice to the complicated character of Thranduil and Legolas, not sacrificing the warmth there for how difficult these times are and the war they find themselves in the middle of.  This Bard is also really engaging and fun to read--I read pretty much the entire novel’s worth in, like, a day or two because I could not put this one down. ✦ Swordplay and Swimming by cliodna_bright has an incredible meeting where Thranduil comes to visit Rivendell, runs into Elladan and Elrohir, who are young enough that they speak without thinking, and it’s not precisely a humor fic, but I was screaming the entire time because it’s so sharply written and so absolutely delightful, I LOVE IT. ✦ Deep and Crisp and Even by rivlee made me fall in love with how Elves and humans may look very similar, but there’s this sense of otherworldliness to the Elves, as shown through Bard’s eyes when he has a meeting with Thranduil.  Beautifully written and just the right amount of atmospheric. The Fourth Age Where Everything Actually Does Mostly Work Out: ✦ Far Horizons by Bodkin is the Fourth Age fic of my heart, where the various Elves that we came to know in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are all in Aman and decide to build their own realm there.  Which is difficult because Elven Politics even just amongst themselves, much less clashing with all the established politics of the other Elven realms in Aman!  But it’s a light-hearted fic (for the most part) that’s about healing and moving forward, balancing their ties to their history versus that Middle-Earth changed them, and I love it for soothing my soul.  (Thranduil sailed, you can’t tell me otherwise!!!)(Bonus moments of Glorfindel being pretty hilarious.)  I like all of bodkin’s work, but this one has a special place with me. ✦ Age of Healing by trollmela is one where Maedhros and Legolas have a conversation in Aman and it’s about the bittersweetness of healing and how difficult it is, taking two characters who would never have met in canon and weaving something entirely engaging and poignant out of it. Collections That Span The Ages: ✦ This Taste of Shadow by Mira_Jade - This is a collection of dozens of various shorter stories (or sometimes 10k “ficlets”) that you can largely skip around in if you have specific characters you like or you can just start at the beginning and read through.  It contains looks at pretty much everyone, from Maedhros to Galadriel to Thranduil to Elrond to Caranthir to Glorfindel to the Valar, etc.  I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve read in this collection! ✦ Fiondil's Tapestry and Tales from Vairë's Loom by Fiondil are in the same vein and I have really enjoyed everything I’ve read from both of them!  I especially remember that there was one chapter that had a scene between Thranduil and Cirdan and thinking, ahhhh, why has no one ever written that before!? as an example of the neat things it does.  But also lots about Elrond and Glorfindel and the Valar and so on! This probably doesn’t feel like a super extensive list, but those collection series will give you an excellent spanning of Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc., not just the same central characters, but giving time to a lot of lesser focused ones as well.  Like, I feel I’ve read a fair chunk of Elwing fic, but I couldn’t point you to a specific one in my list of recs, which means I’m pretty sure it was in the collections ones or else she got some good scenes in one of the Aman-based fics, so I swear the above is at least a solid place to start for dipping one’s toe into Tolkien fic. AS ALWAYS, OTHER PEOPLE’S RECS ARE WELCOME, god knows I haven’t read anything in the last two years (and will have missed a lot even before that) and so I always need more recs, too!

#tolkien stuff #the silmarillion #fic recs #tolkien fic recs

[lorei-writes]

How To: Comments

A brief guide to commenting under the fics by Lorei.

As some of you may know, I am a court overthinker. I know that human interactions can be scary - and honestly, sometimes so is commenting. However... I wish that anxiety did not stand in way of interactions between readers and the author. So, to cut this introduction short: from me, an anxious writer-overthinker, to you, any person who may need it.

Contents:

Few general truths.

Do’s.

Don’ts. 

All things I will talk about stem from my personal experience and observations. It may vary to some extent between writers, although I did my best to stick to the general trends and to mark where something is more of my personal opinion.

EDIT: As per usual, this is just the general “this will be most likely okay”. If you are doing things differently and it works out for you - great! No need to change that. This was written with people who may be anxious and/or overthinking the matter in particular. I also tried to remove myself from this as much as possible.

Few general truths.

Does my comment even matter?

Yes, it does, especially for longer series. It may be one of the few things pulling the writer through a crisis. 

Your comment notifies the writer that they are indeed seen, that their words reached somebody. If the story resonated with you in any way, letting the writer know that it did may boost their self-confidence, and perhaps even motivate them to keep on writing. 

The writer didn’t reply to my comment. Did I do something wrong?

No! In plenty cases, the writer may not know how to reply, simply as that. They may not have enough time, they may be too tired - just the ordinary, mundane life stuff can cause such a thing too. 

An important thing to remember here is that they still appreciate it, even if they don’t have enough resources to reply to every single person - or even any of them.

How do I know the writer even welcomes comments?

Unless it is specified they do not want comments (or a certain type of comments), assume those are always welcome. 

Do’s

Good will and courage is one thing, but... What could a comment even include?What things are appropriate? Ahhh, no, this is too hard...!

*catches your hand and pulls you back* No, no, no, don’t run, I’ve got you covered! 

First, remember that it is way more likely that what you want to say is okay than for it to be inappropriate. Worst case scenario, the writer will tell you that well, you missed the mark - but! Then you will have the knowledge on what to avoid doing. Your potential to cause plenty good is still way greater than that to cause harm. Not only that! You can apologize! We are humans. We all make errors. Never doing a thing in fear of messing up never leads anywhere. 

So, what things are generally okay*?

If the story made you feel something, say so! For example:  “This made me feel happy!” “I smiled too much because of this story!” “I’m crying, nooo.” “This is so sad!” “My heart has melted.” “This made my day!” “I love it!”

If you can’t find words for your state, emojis work too!  For example:   😭 ❤️ ❤️ 😳 💖 🥺 🥺 🥺 😍 💯✨

Of course, mixing up emojis with text is a great idea! The only thing you may want to be mindful of is that screen-readers do interpret emojis too - so you perhaps want to avoid emoji-[word]-emoji combinations (which overall, applies to the internet in general, btw). 

The story made you think about something? Elaborate! The tricky part here is that yes, you are sharing your thoughts, but you should also tell the writer something nice about their work. The rule of thumb seems to be that it is the story that is in the spotlight, not your experience - or, in other words, you are speaking of the experience in relation to the work, not the work in relation to the experience. For example: “I love your OC, they are so relatable! I don’t think I have ever seen a character which spoke to me so much. I struggle with XYZ too, so I’m feeling for them, I know it’s hard :(” “AAAAAA. The theme of red string reminds me a little of a certain superstition. Some people here think red bows are a good-luck charms. This is wonderful, I love it. 😭💖”

Now, this may seem a little self-centered. Allow me to explain why I insist the story is kept in the spotlight.  Imagine that you’ve spent your time on writing a story, however much of it. Let’s assume it’s about missing a long-deceased pet. Then, you get this comment:

“Nooo, this is so sad, I used to have a dog like that too 😭 His name was Teddy and we were best friends. We’d oftentimes sit together and sometimes I’d throw him a stick. Whenever I would cry, he’d come snuggle up with me, and he wouldn’t leave me until HOURS after I’ve calmed down. I miss him so much, I wish dogs could live forever 😭 “

Now, this makes the situation uncomfortable. You must remember that well, sometimes you may still be almost complete strangers to one another, and this much information puts a great emotional load on the writer. Is it still the writer’s space after such comment, or...? Yeah. It is a bit of a lapse in regards to well, knowing a person.

You are simply thankful and don’t know what to say? Express gratitude!  For example: “Thanks for writing <3 “ “I really needed to read this story.” “Thank you!”

Other things which generally are okay to include:

key smashes (as part of the comment, so that the author knows what you mean) For example:  “I’m wheezing ghesgeskgess” “ghoeigjeshes THANK YOU”

quoting the part of the work you especially liked + adding emoji at the end/commenting something under it

listing the things you enjoyed about the work

Of course, you can do some of those, you can do all of those, you can do just one - whichever suits you!

Don’ts

Okay, we know what is going to be fine. Now, what things to avoid? 

Do not give critique unless the writer clearly asked for it.

Critique must be consensual. Unsolicited advice is not. Sure, your intention may be good, but it leads to backhanded compliments and nobody likes those.

Example of what not to do:

“I enjoyed it, tho it was rater boring at first and it took me several tries to even get to the half of it.  Like, some things were confusing? [Explanation].  Overall, yeah, hard to understand and boring at first, but I liked it.”

Now you may ask - is the writer exempt from feedback?! And the answer is... Yes, honestly, yes. Unless they ask for it, yes. As long as they don’t hurt anybody - yes. Although then I suggest blocking instead of going on a crusade. 

FanFiction isn’t the same as published books. We don’t get paid for it. It is simply an act of sharing what you enjoy with the world, like a sort of perpetuum-mobile. FanFiction propels the reader, the reader comments and thus puts the writer in motion.

Now, you can say that something made you sad. You can say that something made you angry, or that it wasn’t what you were expecting. BUT. Make sure you aren’t demanding the writer changes those things. 

This stretches also to typos, grammar errors, etc. - unless you are absolutely sure the writer asks for this sort of feedback, assume it is unwelcome.

Also, from my personal experience: it happened to me once. I did not know what to reply and went on with my standard apologetic... Ekhem. I regret it. The person who commented knew less about the issue than I did.

EDIT: There is also another reason for this - most often, if a person wants to get feedback, they look for a beta-reader. Beta-reader is a person who reads the work before it is posted. Generally, they point out errors and inaccuracies. However, for it to work well, you need a certain sort of fit, both in how the message is delivered (some people do well with harsher criticism, some need to be more gentle with them), in the writing style, and so on. Another thing when looking for a beta-reader is that, well, you generally look for a person that knows more than you do, or is at a similar level. This isn’t to say that we know more than every single person out there - only that it’s hard to ascertain it at first glance and it’s generally better to talk about it before any critique is delivered. Communication is the key.

Do not ask when the next part will be posted/when your request will be completed unless you are sure the writer is okay with such questions. 

When this happens, many writers feel as if they were being pressured into working harder.

Do not write fleshed out paragraphs of what you think should have happened.

If you have an idea for a story - write it. Again, we write in our free time and do it for fun. This feels like being pressured or told what to do.

What may be more grey in regards to whether it is okay or not is theorising about what happens next. To me, personally, that would be okay, but you may want to ask your writer whether they are okay with this sort of things - for example, by writing a comment with a short theory and then asking whether it’s okay to do so? However, be mindful not to tap into suggesting or putting too much pressure on what must happen.

Do not write “Imagine that... [fleshed out scenario]” type comments.

Those are basically requests hidden as comments.

Do not compare writers to other writers (You are so much better than XYZ/ You wrote trope X so much better than XYZ).

This is pretty self-explanatory. We want to lift each other up, not feel better about ourselves because of putting others down.

Another slippery situation here: some people may mind being compared to published authors. Some may not. It is hard to tell, there is no strict rule here.

Hmm... I think it’s about it? ^^” I hope it was helpful ^^” Overall, if you avoid those major Don’ts, you should be good ^^”

[favoniuscodex]

Hewwo I really love your writing and I want to improve my own to a form similar to yours. If it's okay, can I ask what your writing process is or if you have any writing tips? Sorry if you already answered questions like this. I am not a native speaker by the way, can i also ask about how you built your vocabulary as well? Thank you very much in advance and I hope you're having a great day/night! Drink lots of water and don't forget to eat three meals a day.~

hello, anon! you’re actually the first to ask about something like this and i’m honored you think my writing is good enough for me to give advice on (and honored that you think it’s good enough to take inspiration from!).

i have two different writing methods, which are as follows:

long fics (10k+ words)

i write an outline and have my friends look over it to make sure that the scenes are both impactful and enjoyable, along with being organized. the most important part of writing a long story is making sure the timeline is coherent and that you have proper buildup to the climax of the story.

before i write a scene that contains foreshadowing to a future event, i write down what themes i wish to convey with this scene, along with any future information that will be relevant later in the story. this is helpful because you never write something all at once if it’s this long! you might forget important details, so having notes is always nice.

if i’m hesitant on writing a scene, i’ll talk it out with some of my friends and see if i’m still comfortable with writing it.

one of the biggest things i can recommend is being adaptable! being willing to change your story plans is crucial, because (typically) the first idea you think of isn’t always the best one. in my own experience, i change my ideas a lot as i write something. this is because i will get bored writing otherwise.

this is from my own experience, other writers may disagree, but i NEVER set word count goals for myself. i write when i want to write, otherwise i will get discouraged when i do not meet said goals.

take breaks or you will hit burnout fast!

have a glass of water and set a timer every 15 minutes to relax your eyes from your screen and drink some of it. it gives your mind a chance to soothe itself from the bright lights of a screen and also gives you a short break. and you stay hydrated!

short fics (<10k words)

when i write short fics, i typically don’t have an outline (unless if it’s a series) and i just go with my gut

if i don’t really like where a story’s going and i know it’s short, i finish it anyways because a finished product is better than giving up in my eyes? at least i know what not to do next time!

sorry a lot of these tips don’t pertain to actual writing! they relate more to planning. :( i’ve been writing stories for fun since i was 6 or 7 (i have journals upon journals of my first stories in my basement!) so most of what i do is just... gut instinct at this point? i apologize if that’s not very helpful of me to say. ;.; i don’t think of myself as very talented but like... i wish to say this in case it happens: please don’t compare your writing to mine! i’m sure your writing is lovely in its own right.

now that that’s said, here’s some stuff i can actually help with, which is under the cut because this is getting long:

word choice / vocabulary

first off, the best thing you can do for yourself is read something complex. like... the type of book where you have to pull out your phone and look up what words mean. if you’re not exposing yourself to new words, even if it is annoying to have to pause, you won’t learn new words.

this typically means ditching the fanfics and looking for actual published novels, typically older ones. i love fanfics (i write them lol), but the word choice in fanfics is typically limited to casual conversational language as they are written for fun, not necessarily to challenge the mind.

next, the best thing you can do is use a thesaurus. i personally use thesaurus.com but it’s different for everyone! but this is dangerous. using a thesaurus can be one of the worst things you can do for your writing if you don’t use it properly. you use a thesaurus to get synonyms for words that are commonly used, but may have a lot of other alternatives (i.e. happy, sad, etc.) and NOT super specific words.

ONLY use words listed as synonyms in a thesaurus if you know them and it’s safe to assume your readers likely know them as well! for example, i used the word ‘insouciant’ as a joke in my last fic. however, if i used that seriously, that probably would’ve been bad as it’s a SUPER rare word. nothing will ruin a reader’s experience faster than a story that blatantly uses too many words from a thesaurus and, worst of all, uses them improperly.

let me give an example:

starting text: “she was happy to see that he had returned safely. she could see relief in his eyes that she was safe as well. he smiled happily at her as she ran into his arms.” this is good enough, but it’s rather plain. it’s an easy read, but nothing about it is super engrossing.

good thesaurus example: “she was overjoyed to see that he had returned without harm. she identified relief in his eyes that she had stayed out of harm’s way as well. he smiled enthusiastically at her as she sprinted into his embrace.” it sounds a lot nicer before and definitely more polished, but nothing about this requires someone to whip out their phone in frustration to google a word. the point of typical writing is not to challenge your reader’s intelligence but to entertain them.

bad thesaurus example: “she was jocular to perceive that he had reappeared in an unharmed manner. she prognosticated solace in his blue orbs that she was guarded as well. he smiled jovially at her as she charged into his forelimbs.” this is a bit of an exaggerated example, but this is actually how i feel some authors tend to write. it’s very blatantly using a thesaurus, it uses words incorrectly, and it overcomplicated things to where it feels like the reader has to do a mental exercise to read it.

tl;dr for this section: if you don’t know a word, do not use it. if you are familiar with a word, it’s probably good to use as long as your writing still seems natural. thesauruses are your friend but can be your enemy.

i would like to clarify that i am a native speaker and it’s not necessary to read books forever in order to keep your grammar and word choice up to date. i have not picked up an actual published book within the last 4 years (don’t laugh at me i know this is bad). however, in learning to expand your grammar, reading books is essential.

some miscellaneous writing tips i have include:

you don’t have to take every request that comes within your inbox if you do decide to do tumblr writing. i probably, much to the behest of the people that submit, throw a good chunk of my requests out. write what you’re passionate about and your writing will improve and your followers will be happier.

if someone criticizes your writing, this does not mean they’re trying to criticize you (usually. don’t go on twitter if you want this to remain true). they are providing something most people don’t want to offer: advice. many times you will find yourself surrounded by people who will applaud you for writing nearly anything. this is not good. living in an echo chamber will ensure that your writing never improves. you want to ask people for advice and find those who will give you genuine advice, even if it may hurt to hear.

try to discern what authors you like do with their writing versus authors you don’t like. consciously making these comparisons will allow you to directly apply them to your own writing and help you emulate someone’s style as well.

please don’t write meme references into your work. it will get outdated fast. try to write something you can look back on within a few years and not cringe at. :) this is just my personal opinion lol, someone might disagree.

i do not proofread my writing. it makes me second guess everything. everything on my blog, as you see it, lacks proofreading, aside from inheritance, in which i had a beta reader glance over it. for beginner writers, this is probably shit advice if you’re not used to grammar BUT that’s just how i roll and i wished to share that.

the most important thing i do for my writing is have a good music playlist in the background. NOTHING will make you write better than listening to music that fits the mood of what you’re writing. find a premade youtube playlist or slap together a spotify playlist of songs you think fit the mood and get grooving to it. you’ll find that you’ll write better and you’ll enjoy the process of writing much more with the mental stimulus.

don’t write jokes in which you have to overexplain them. if you have to explain to the reader what the joke is, it won’t be funny. humor is difficult to write, but no jokes involved are better than a bunch of failed ones.

don’t worry about pinpointing fanfic characterization of a specific character perfectly. i get praises for my characterization of diluc and kaeya within inheritance a lot, even though i specifically altered them from canon (??????? this confuses me a lot that i get praised for this but anyways) and haven’t even read the webtoon. as long as it’s within reasonable expectation, you should be fine. zhongli shouldn’t be written as going off the walls crazy with excitement just like venti shouldn’t be written as super serious about frivolous matters. as long as you get the general gist of a character, people will enjoy it.

try to find some writer friends. they don’t necessarily have to be in the fandom, but being able to shoot off ideas with other people is amazing at improving both your plot and your writing overall. (shoutout to @shannara because for as much as i annoy him, he’s always willing to listen to me blab about any story and any idea, even though he doesn’t read reader-inserts nor should he care about my dumb OCs, but he cares about mine because he’s a cool dude)

don’t get discouraged if a fic doesn’t get good reception. in fact, it’s probably better if your first few fics don’t blow up in popularity if you do post them because it’s humbling and you can decide if you’re actually writing because you enjoy it or if you’re just doing it for clout.

i hope this made sense and if you (or any other people reading this!) need any more writing advice, my ask box and DMs are always open. if you ever want me to beta read something, please send a DM and i’ll see if i can as long as it’s like... not super long and i have spare time.

sorry this turned out to be so long but it turns out i had far more to say than i thought! good luck writing and i believe in you!

#long post #mail #advice #i hope this helped? i'm not very good at this sort of thing. #Anonymous

[kaepop-trash]

the miscellaneous are back! please ever since you made doyoung an absolute no in of snakes and lions i've been a mess. i need more of him anything but maybe doyoung and oc getting together or breaking up? i know i shouldn't but i feel so sad for him.

The Miscellaneous never left! My inbox is always open for them. Send any whenever you want, if you’re curious about something about the character. I can’t promise to always be as quick to reply as I was with this, I just happened to have some time and and the moment I read your ask the idea came to me. But irrespective, I will reply to all asks.

I did both getting together and breaking up. I was hoping this both justifies you feeling bad for him but also explains why it was one of the doomed ones. Kim Doyoung truly my king of doomed romances (haha) In case you want a genuinely well-written story that has a lot of similar elements but has Doyoung as the main lead, you should go read @notnctu‘s hogwarts au Push&Pull. It was incredible and I’m still not over it. For now, here’s what you wanted.

--

"No." (Y/N) furrowed her brows.

"No?" Doyoung raised his.

"No." She repeated herself.

Doyoung frowned, caught off-guard by her response. He chewed on the flesh inside his mouth till it was swollen.

He took a struggling breath, trying to keep his voice patient. "I'm asking you out on a date, (Y/N). After we've been sleeping together for three months. And you're saying no?" 

"Precisely." She didn't seem phased.

"Why?" His brows furrowed further, a look only Kim Doyoung could pull off.

"Because." She blinked twice, fluttering her gaze away from his intense stare, "You're clearly infatuated with that Gryffindor girl. You have been since 7th year. Sex is fine. But I'm not going to be anybody's emotional substitute." She stared at the grains of the wooden table before looking out the window, the library overlooking the grounds.

"You aren't a substitute. I used to like Jisoo." He sat down on the chair beside her.

She scoffed, turning to him. "And now, what? You like me? Why because I let you fuck me when she won't?" She scoffed again, a lump forming in her throat despite herself.

"No." He put his hand on her cheek, turning her to face him. "Because we're the same, you and I. Because I thought that you understood that I was falling for you despite me having to say it. Because despite myself, I found myself coming back to you over and over." He blinked.

A bitter smile formed on her lips, "I don't want to be someone a person likes despite their better judgement."

Doyoung groaned, "You're making this so much harder than it needs to be." He frowned again.

"Good." She interjected. "I didn't ask for this." She groaned herself when her vision blurred from tears she tried to blink away.

She hated him. 

She hated him for kissing her that one night three months ago in the library. She hated him for leaving without a word and then coming back the next day for more. She hated him for saying all the right things in her ears while he was deep inside her. But most of all she hated herself for allowing herself to grow feelings for him while knowing better.

"Please." His voice was a soft plea, it made her heart flutter. "Just try it. Go out with me once." He took her cold hands in his clammy ones, the heat spreading through her, "If at any point I do anything to hurt you then put some dreadful potion in a glass and give it to me. Or hex me. But don't just push this away without giving it a try." 

She knew this would be wrong. She knew she should say no. But against her better judgement, she kissed him instead.

_

Doyoung knew that out of all the way to deal with fights, walking away wasn't the best. But he also knew himself, he knew it was better than saying things he did not mean in a moment's anger.

He drew in an irritated breath, frustrated with everything. Everything was impossibly hard with (Y/N). They both felt with equal ferocity but stayed silent about most things. It was one of the similarities they had that had turned into a vice over the years; a long relationship of bitter things left unsaid till it was spat in a fit of rage. 

He looked over the viaduct at the gaping precipice it stood over. Caught off-guard by the sound of shuffling footsteps as they came and stood beside him. He wasn't sure how he missed it.

"Oh hey it is you! I was wondering if I was seeing correctly." A voice he knew too well made him look away from the edge to upturned eyes.

He hadn't seen her in a while, the castle was large enough for that to happen sometimes, but age only made Jisoo more beautiful. He blushed when he realised he was staring at her.

"I haven't seen you ever since I dropped potions for divination. I used to think the castle wasn't that big, but I guess not huh?" She bumped her shoulder with his as she placed her elbows on the balustrade, looking down at where he was looking before. "What are we looking at?" She questioned, eyes focusing on searching whatever he was looking at.

"Nothing." He spoke too soon, his voice too gruff.

She looked up at him, lips parted and eyes wide. Then something seemed to click inside, "Oh. I interrupted some deep thought, didn't I?" She winced.

"No!" He defended, again too quick. He cleared his throat, looking away and trying to level his voice, "Nothing too deep." He dismissed.

She scoffed, “You’re always thinking something deep. You’re the smart one.” Her words stirred something inside Doyoung. 

He cursed himself.

"You look good, Doyoung." Her words made his neck snap to face her. She bit her lip, fluttering her gaze away from his. He noted the pink tint of her cheeks, eyes furrowing in confusion.

What was going on?

Jisoo took a step back from the edge, her form lingering as she turned to him, "It was nice to see you again Doyoung. Really nice. You've really grown into yourself." Her eyes brushed against his shoulders and it was his turn to blush.

"Thank you." The words were spat out, distracted. She gave him one last breathtaking smile before turning and walking into the fog that had settled on the grounds.

_

Doyoung was sure he had forgotten to breathe when he heard his door open. (Y/N) stood at the door, first with a look of devastation in her eyes and then nothing. Her hand gripped the handle so tight that it creaked under the assault.

"(Y/N), baby." He pushed Jisoo off his lap with a swift motion. Getting out of his bed and following her while she walked out of his rooms and to the stairs. Not caring that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"(Y/N)!" He cried out, grabbing her arm desperately. A pain shot through the arm he used to grab her, noticing her wand in the other hand.

“Touch me again and I will honour your promise and hex you. Go back to your room, Doyoung. You are shirtless and have an erection. Don’t embarrass yourself and more importantly, do not embarrass me.” Her eyes welled up but her voice was hollow.

Panic clawed up Doyoung’s throat till it burned worse than his arm, “Darling, please.” He begged, grabbing her shoulder. He flew back from another unspoken spell, hitting the wall beside his door with a loud thud and a vicious crack in his arm. He sat helplessly and heard the echoes of her rushing down the stairs of the tower.

When he walked back into the room, Jisoo was sitting at the edge of his bed. Her shirt still had the buttons of the top half open, her chest exposed.

“You’re hurt.” She looked at her arm, twisted at an excruciating angle.

“Leave.” His voice was frigid.

She ignored his words, “Let me look at your arm.” She got up.

“Get out, Jisoo.” He repeated with more anger. Her steps faltered.

She looked up at him, her eyes fighting between guilt from what happened and the hurt his voice made her feel, “She’s gone, Doyoung.” She felt small as the words left her, “I’m still here.” She took a few steps closer.

“Exactly.” He spat the word at her, “I was wrong. I made a mistake. Now she’s gone.” There was a passing pain in his eyes, one that turned to bitter ice when they met hers, “And you’re still here.” While he felt utterly ashamed at the moment, it was easier to lash out on the person in front of him.

“Doyoung.” Her voice quivered as tears fell from her eyes, “Please.” She looked to the floor.

“You aren’t her, Jisoo. You’re just a beautiful face I was infatuated with my entire childhood. (Y/N) is my other half, you can’t be that.” He turned away from her, searching for his shirt on the floor.

“Then why?” She whispered, “Why did you sleep with me? Why did you do it thrice?” Her voice gained in volume and hatred. Doyoung was glad he wasn’t in front of her when the words made him wince.

He looked up at her and shrugged, “I told you. I wanted to know how it would feel to have what I wanted for so many years. It wasn’t that great.” He tried to keep his eyes bored.

She stared at him in disbelief before biting down her jaw. She looked away and buttoned her shirt back up, “Then I guess you just saved two people from wasting their time on a vile person like you.” She looked up when she was done. He suppressed the effect of the sting her words caused again, giving her nothing in his eyes. She huffed one last time, picking up what she had left of her dignity and left with the head held high.

Doyoung slowly sat down on his bed, putting his head on the palm of one hand, while his broken arm stayed limp beside him. Taking a shaky breath, he let the pain that seared from the fractured bone feel like a well-deserved punishment..

#of snakes and lions #jaehyun #doyoung #nct #miscellaneous #hogwarts!au

[dotsayers]

20 Questions: Writer’s Edition

tagged by the beloved @myrmidryad 

this is a LONG one so here’s a cut to avoid do you love the colour of the sky syndrome

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

101 after a recent purge... no one may know about my Past

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

329004! used to be about 350k but again... purge

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

on ao3 i’ve written for (chronologically) doctor who, skyfall, discworld, les mis, star trek, lord peter wimsey, marvel (various), in the flesh, red vs blue, roosterteeth rpf, check please, hockey rpf, star wars, daredevil, rivers of london, dishonored, emmerdale, dirk gently, holby city, hot fuzz, kj charles, guardian, the covert captain, taskmaster rpf, good omens, ghosts, roswell new mexico, leverage, schitt’s creek, the magicians, 9-1-1, it chapter two, the magnus archives, the old guard, the mandalorian, the ritual, the locked tomb

way back on the pit of voles i wrote for twilight, harry potter, hetalia and xmen first class. and on the newsround chatrooms i wrote exclusively harry potter fic about my oc neville and luna’s daughter

as you can tell i am not prone to staying in one fandom writing wise, i tend to end up with one complete fic and seven abandoned wips concealed deep in my google drive

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

finally see what it means to be living (captain marvel, carol/maria, i really hit the zeitgeist with this one i think i was something like the fifth fic in the ship tag)

do whatever you think (the magnus archives, this series is actually #2-7, then #8 #9 and #11 for me so i’m going to cheat a bit)

standing in a world of my own (daredevil, matt/foggy/karen, another zeitgeist hit! really miss writing for daredevil actually... it’s a perennial fave)

a winding road that stretches towards the truth (iron man, tony/rhodey, i STILL don’t know when this got so many kudos. i swear i looked away when it was at 100 and suddenly it ended up here)

where the long shadows grow (star trek aos, kirk prime/spock prime, thank god some people are checking the prime kirkspock tag is all i’m saying!)

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

i don’t really Do angsty endings... possibly a blanket of stars just because i ended it on something of a cliffhanger and then completely zoned out of rnm for long enough that i forgot where i was going with it. there was definitely the intention of fixing things but then i just... did not do that. and now the show is on s3 and i’m over a season behind! life comes at you fast

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

where the long shadows grow, because it reunited kirk prime and spock prime and they DESERVE TO BE HAPPYYYY. i’m a complete sucker for presumed dead/back from the dead stories, actually, so on a similar theme i have two (TWO) daredevil fics which follow the trope, one about ray coming back post-s2 (might never be normal again) and one about foggy and matt reuniting post-endgame (in the corner, taking up space). this is the only time i will ever acknowledge endgame ever again

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i do write crossovers! in fact i am often roundly mocked by my friends for the increasingly esoteric nature of my crossovers. way back in secondary i wrote a twilight/labyrinth crossover where angela was sarah and jareth’s daughter  because i had a massive crush on a girl who liked both twilight and labyrinth. however, since that has been comprehensively scrubbed from the internet, i think my craziest crossover is probably part three of ‘traced upon the skies’, already an esoteric crossover of rivers of london and hot fuzz, when i added in a crossover with the horror movie ‘the ritual’ just because i wanted rafe spall’s character to be happy 

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

EXTREMELY rarely and only with extreme embarrassment. i will not be any more specific than that

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i used to really struggle with doing this, to the point that i had over 300 comments just. lingering in my inbox unanswered. so i decided to give those up and just commit to answering them from then on, which has been working fairly well for about a year and a half now. i love getting comments but i get overwhelmed really easily and struggle with replying in a way which feels meaningful without getting in my head about it! 

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yes lmao it was for a harry potter fic on ff.net where harry got sorted into hufflepuff instead of gryffindor. it wasn’t a very good fic but i think the fact it was clearly written by an 11 year old should have scared off at least some of the less flattering comments.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don’t... think so? i don’t know how i’d find out to be honest, my vanity googling is rarely very effective

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! as bronze may be much beautified (skyfall, mallory/bond) got translated into chinese, i was extremely pleased. i think it’s mandarin but the ao3 page for the translation doesn’t say and my mandarin is.................. extremely poor

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

also yes! me and jess little-smartass have written a lot together, although only our star trek/les mis series has been published, more’s the pity. we spent a lot of les mis fandom time workshopping aus and we were always extremely correct about all of it, imo

14. What’s your all time favourite ship to write for?

oh god. i think probably kirk/spock, although there’s some recency bias to that since i reread space manhattans recently and was reminded of my love for them. i really like writing jon/martin but i’ve mostly done that from outsider pov which is a bit different to writing shipfic, i think. joe/nicky from tog was also something i really liked writing but i struggle with plotting longer fic with them

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

i recently went through my abandoned fic folder so i actually have a few options for this. the obvious choice would be ‘any of the hockey ones’ but i did delete most of those just for my sanity. more recently i started writing a vaguely smutty pre-the thing mac/fuchs fic for alex @milkdrinker5000 which i really WANT to finish but am struggling with. most obscure answer (even beyond the thing) and most likely to remain unfinished is the insanely in depth post-tog booker/copley fic i had planned out back in about october. i wrote a good 6-7k of that one and then i realised it was going to be, like, difficult, and decided if i was going to put that much work into something it may as well be the novel im meant to be writing

16. What are your writing strengths?

once a friend told me i had an excellent facility for dialogue and ive thought about it every time i write ever since. i love writing dialogue and i think i’m good at knowing what sounds ic and what is right out. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

one of the things i struggled with for a really long time, and honestly still have trouble with, is depicting action in words. once i wrote a hockey fic which featured multiple hockey games and i spent probably four times as much effort editing those to make sense and be interesting that i’ve ever done on a talkier scene.

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

i’ve done it but only when i knew more or less what i was talking about - i did italian at school so i felt confident using it for nicky in something particular and real. i try not to italicise when i drop in words from other languages, which is what i usually do when i’m using a language i haven’t studied in depth (for example, joe’s use of arabic in some of my fic), and to only use words which i’ve heard used by native speakers in that context. i think if you don’t feel confident using another language, generally speaking, you shouldn’t do it. and for god’s sake don’t use google translate for a full sentence

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

harry potter on the newsround chatboards. ariana lovegood-longbottom my sweet child

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this used to be an easy question because hands down the fic i was proudest of on posting it was i’ll be seeing you. i spent a year and a half on research and writing! but these days i do cringe a little at my hockey fic, and i think i’m prouder of some of my shorter works. let’s do a curveball and say layer on layer, down on down, which is my favourite of my rnm fics and the one i like most from a narrative voice perspective. getting michael right was stressful and i’m still proud i got it down for a TIME LOOP FIC, my absolute favourite trope

tagging @little-smartass and @leescoresbies just in case they want to try this

#gin i can't BELIEVE you wrote for xiaolin showdown. iconic #text post tag #tagged in #writing tag

[kulaykape]

Ina Kingsley x MC: Words of Affirmation

A lil mini series idea that I came up with, concerning of the 'five love languages'. Bae doesn't have any fic on here, so imma fix that.

I'm tired of my problematic and bitchy MC, so she's been canceled in favor of my OC, Aliyah Diaz. For the sake of the story, Ali is actually a decent person.

Hope you enjoy!

•••

When Aliyah came around the corner, she could start to hear the murmurs of someone's rage coming from Ina's office. And at first, she considered anyone but the Professor herself. Because why would she? There were maybe two people Ali knew more mellow than Ina, and Ali had only spoken to them while they were on weed.

But as she got closer, Aliyah realized that those murmurs were awfully reminiscent of Ina's low timbre.

"…of factuality?!" Ina practically bellowed. Aliyah stopped in her tracks, and she had a 'sorry, Professor' halfway up her throat before remembering she wasn't the one being yelled at. "…are you- no, I'm not raising my voice," Ina continued, raising her voice.

Aliyah paused outside the door, resting her hand on the surface. She chewed the inside of her cheek pensively and looked down at the takeout bag in her hand. Would the food be considered thoughtful or a nuisance in this very moment?

She decided on trying to her luck. With a quick silent prayer to the big man, Aliyah rapped on the door twice before coming in.

"-for months. Forgive me if this isn't something that I'm willing to sweep under the rug!" Ina exclaimed. Her back was turned to Aliyah as she stared vengefully at her bookcase, fist resting firmly against her hip.

"Uh, Professor?" Aliyah called softly.

Ina turned profile as she paced- or stomped- around. Her lip pouted out in extreme agitation, and her brow furrowed with a vengeance. Aliyah likened her to an angry pitbull puppy. Still, she didn't notice her TA. "I don't see your point at all, practically to the extent that I don't think you so much as read my article," Ina continued to rant.

"Professor," Aliyah called nervously. Maybe she should leave the food on the floor and run…?

Ina's heels clicked on the floor as she stopped, and whirled around on Aliyah. In spite of the good ten feet between them, Aliyah still flinched back because holy shit, she had never seen Ina Kingsley look so livid.

And yet in spite of the horror movie type of fear she'd just inflicted, Ina's eyes still didn't seem to register Aliyah's presence.

"I'm not- would it not be a fair assumption?" Ina demanded, squeezing her hands into fists. She walked around her desk, breezing by Aliyah, and flopped down into an armchair by the coffee table.

"Professor Kingsley," Aliyah called more firmly this time. She didn't know if Ina was shaking her head at her or the poor sap on the other end of the line when she did. Aliyah let out a sigh when she figured it was the latter.

"I- fine then! Call me tomorrow, when you've had time to come to a more intelligent conclusion!" Ina exclaimed, throwing her hands up before ending the call and nearly yeeting her phone across the room.

The Professor let out a sigh as she laid back in the armchair, pinching the bridge of her nose. She started when she heard some shifting behind her and whipped her head over her shoulder.

"Aliyah!" A blush crept up the back of her neck. Judging by the look on the younger woman's face, there was no way she didn't just hear her tirade. "How… how long have you been here?"

Aliyah shot Ina a grin as she moved to sit adjacent to her. "Long enough to catch the end of your reality tv episode," she replied. Ina let out a groan, pushing her palms up against her face. Aliyah dropped the bag on the table and made her way over to Ina with a laugh. "Hey, don't do that," she coaxed, "Lame joke, I'm sorry. Is everything alright?"

"Everything couldn't be further from alright," Ina replied, running her hands through her hair.

Was this a breakdown? Had she had a breakdown since grad school? Should she ask Aliyah what a breakdown should feel like? (I mean, she is a college student)

"I still have several dozen essays to grade, there's a faculty meeting at 6 in the morning tomorrow, and my publisher is being an absolute ass," Ina grumbled.

"Alright, alright, slow down," Aliyah patted Ina's shoulder hesitantly. Was this professional enough? Judging by how Professor Professionalism not so subtly leaned into her hand, it didn't matter. "You've got the best TA on campus, I'll get those essays done," Aliyah said with a grin.

Ina dared look up from the little prison she'd made for her eyes with her hands. "It's not your bur-"

"Not my burden? Yeah, I think I'm getting compensated for it to be my burden, teach," Aliyah retorted swiftly, "And it's only 6:30. If we finish early enough, you won't have to drag your ass tired as hell into that meeting."

The tiniest smile poked at Ina's lips. "You shouldn't use that language around the Professor you're TA'ing for, Miss Diaz," she said.

"I've yet to have been struck down by lightning," Aliyah replied, arms splayed out like Jesus or something . Ina let out a small chuckle before turning her gaze back to the floor. "So what's up with your publisher?" Aliyah asked as she sat back down.

A growl made its way up Ina's throat. She picked up a thin stack of papers from the coffee table, and stared unappreciatively at them. "We were arguing about publishing my next article," she replied as she flipped through the pages.

Aliyah took it gently from her hands and adjusted her glasses before starting to skim through it. "Wait, this is your 'Egoism of the Collegiate Bourgeoise' article!" Aliyah exclaimed. Ina nodded. "But… this is the most solid one you've written this year!" Aliyah threw Ina a confused pout, and Ina couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable.

In spite of her prevailing annoyance, Ina's lips perked up. "I'm glad that you think so. Unfortunately, my publisher doesn't agree," she said, leaning back in her seat as she frowned, "He says it's too biased. What the hell does he mean by bias? It's purely based off of meticulous research!"

Aliyah hummed as she continued to flip through the article. She looked up at Ina, an off handed word of encouragement on the tip of her tongue. It faded when she saw the weight with which Ina's shoulders were sagging.

With a sigh, Aliyah took off her glasses and scooted her chair closer to Ina. Ina shot her an odd side-eye as the chair scraped rather obnoxiously across the floor. Aliyah stared right back, lips pursed and eyes unblinking.

For a long moment the two just stared at each other, until Aliyah suddenly crossed her eyes and Ina burst into laughter. "You're ridiculous," she managed to say, clutching her stomach.

"You're even more ridiculous," Aliyah replied, "Why are you so down? Just because your stupid publisher doesn't approve of the article? We both know you're an awesome writer."

Sobering back up, Ina breathed out a sigh. "I need to have this article published. I've put too many months of work in to just scrap it," Ina said with a groan, "But I feel like I've been slipping. Ever since…" Ina cut herself off.

But Aliyah wasn't an idiot. Ever since you came around, she finished in her head.

Ina cleared her throat, rubbing her hands together. "Not that you need to worry about it. This isn't among the numerous burdens that I throw on top of you," she said, shooting Aliyah a hint of that charming smile.

"I'm not worrying because you're asking me to, I'm worrying because I care," Aliyah replied, "You just don't look confident right now."

Ina's shoulders sagged as her smile weakened. "Wow. Thank you for that, Aliyah."

"You're welcome," Aliyah said simply, "Look, forget what your publisher thinks, you're brilliant. And mind you, I don't compliment people often, because I hate everyone here." Ina shook with silent laughter, and Aliyah did a mental self-high five.

"Current company excluded?" Ina asked.

"Of course," Aliyah said with a nod, "Look, if push comes to shove, we'll just find a new publisher."

"I don't think you understand how difficult that could be," Ina lamented.

"Uh, hello? Are you forgetting that I run an entire blog with my own crap on it?" Aliyah asked, pointing at her head, "I've got connections. And I've already gushed enough about you to my people to be able to convince them to get you a slot in some high-end website."

Ina arched a brow slowly. "'Gushed'?" Beet red creeped up Aliyah's face even as she smiled sheepishly. Ina laughed richly. "I'm flattered."

"You should be. There's a stigma around Belvoire professors that I had to work around to convince them you were great," Aliyah replied.

"I… you never told me any of this," Ina said. Was that why Aliyah was always asking for copies of her latest work? And her incite on every single one of them?

…huh.

"Well think about how it'd sound if I just brought it up out of the blue," Aliyah said with a grin. Hey, teach! Guess what? I've officially kissed your ass both literally and metaphorically! Which Aliyah couldn't say she wasn't proud of, but Ina didn't need to hear that vocalized.

"Fine, point taken," Ina said with a grin, "I appreciate it, Aliyah. Really, I do." Both of their hands twitched, a similar instinct in mind. Alas, Professor Kingsley and her undying loyalty to professionalism always prevailed.

"Remember, you're Professor Ina Kingsley, Belvoire's residential badass educator," Aliyah said, gesticulating in a jazz hands motion.

"I don't think anyone calls me that," Ina replied, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, you're right. They call you other things," Aliyah averted her eyes to the side as Ina groaned inwardly. She was all too aware of her reputation as 'Professor Dreamy'. "But my point still stands. A bunch of people on the internet are always looking forward to reading your work, so what if your publisher disapproves?"

"I suppose you're right," Ina said, nodding. I mean, she wasn't about to brag about those five thousand reads her last article got, but… her publisher could kiss her ass (metaphorically).

"Of course I'm right. So. Confidence boost effectiveness confirmed?" Aliyah asked, leaning forward with a grin.

"Confidence boost effectiveness confirmed," Ina said with a nod. The two of them burst into laughter, like two nerds with extremely poor senses of humor- which they precisely were. "I… thank you for your words of encouragement, Aliyah," Ina said after a short moment.

"Hey, even you need a reminder of how awesome you are every now and then," Aliyah replied, "Don't worry though, I take my TA position very seriously, so I've got you covered."

"I really do need to get you a mug or something," Ina said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I'll hold you to that," Aliyah chuckled, and reached over to squeeze Ina's shoulder.

Ina smiled softly at her, and reached up to squeeze her hand. Slowly, their fingers entwined and the two of them sat in a peaceful quiet.

"I know I might not be able to help you out as much as I want to, but… I'll always have your back," Aliyah smiled sheepishly at her.

She was sure she wasn't the first to make a claim to Ina's side. The Professor probably had loads of much more capable peers that could help her in a pinch…

Ina felt her throat tighten, and she nodded vigorously in replacement of a vocal thank you. She squeezed Aliyah's hand a little tighter, before replying, "I know."

~end~

#ina kingsley #professor kingsley #queen b #ina x mc #ina kingsley x mc