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#i'll try to have a whole thing posted soon with an ao3 link and everything
btsgotjams27 · 1 year
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All Grown Up ~ JJK | Epilogue
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✨ title: all grown up | series ✨ pairing: jungkook x f!reader | ✨ rating: R/18+ ~ minors dni ✨ genre/au: romance, fluff, angst, friends-to-lovers, humor, banter, smut, age gap, best friends little brother ✨ author’s notes: I won’t be updating this series on Tumblr. Please continue this series on AO3 or Wattpad. Links below. This fic is inspired by the k-drama, Something in the Rain. ✨ author’s notes 2: okay, so i do plan on editing the rest of this series! i just don’t know when it’ll be done. ✨ author's notes 3: omfg. i'm finally done editing this fic?? it's literally taken me a whole year bc i've been lazy/busy lmfao. welp, we're finally here! and there will be a small drabble and jin pov i'll be posting soon! ✨ can also read on AO3 or Wattpad
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[ SERIES MASTERLIST ] prev | next ✨ drabble - netflix and...
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✨ epilogue | wc: 1.2k ✨ warnings: illusions to sex, kissing
The day of Yuna and Namjoon’s wedding was pure chaos. A day before, you receive a call about all floral arrangements being delayed because of the hurricane. The truck carrying everything wouldn’t make it in time for the wedding, which meant you and the other bridesmaids were running around with your heads cut off trying to find flowers for the wedding.
“Bora, bring those flowers over to the king's table,” you gestured to the arrangement sitting by the gift table. At this point, you were lucky to get any flowers for the wedding. It didn’t matter if they were cohesive or not.
“The king's table?” Bora clenched her teeth, looking around to figure out what you were referring to.
“The table we’re all sitting at!” you yelled. God, did you have to do everything yourself?
“Oh--right. Got it .” Bora hurried off, not wanting to be scolded by you again.
You told yourself never to agree to be anyone else’s maid of honor. It was just too stressful. If you were to marry in the future, you noted it would just be an elopement.
Looking at your list, there were still a few things that needed to be checked before you could head off to hair and make-up. There were only a few more hours until the wedding started.
“Need any help?” Jungkook asked, sneaking in from behind, wrapping his arms around your waist.
You peered quickly at him before returning to your clipboard. “Yes, please. Here take these and bring them to table seven.”
“You got it, boss,” he said before giving a quick peck on your lips before doing as he was asked.
Your eyes widened, looking around to make sure no one was watching. “Kook! What if someone sees?!”
He smiled and ran off. Were you excited that you and Jungkook were finally together? Yes, but only a few people knew about your relationship. The next big thing was to tackle your mom, but you didn't even want to think about that right now. You’d deal with that later.
You heard your name, and quickly, you turned to see Yuna running to you.
“The flowers are set up on the tables as we speak, and your bouquet is here. I'll put it in your room, and then I'll return after getting ready.” Your eyes scanned the rest of your checklist, ensuring everything went smoothly.
“Thank you. You're a godsend. I don't know what I'd do without you,” Yuna said, pulling you in for a hug.
You straightened and wrapped your arm around hers. “Let's not find out...again,” you chuckled.
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After the hectic morning, you were able to find some time to quiet down and get ready. You slip on the sage green velvety off-the-shoulder bridesmaid dress, the gold drop-down pearl earrings, and the strappy beige Jimmy Choos. You took one last look at yourself in the mirror before grabbing your bouquet filled with eucalyptus, peonies, and blush pink roses.
Stepping out of your door, you found Jungkook leaning against the wall, looking dapper in a three-piece navy suit and hair slicked back, showing off his defined and chiseled jawline. You could kiss that jawline all day if you could. He took one look at you, mouthed a 'wow,'and whistled.
You narrowed your eyes at your hunky man. “Shut up.”
He stepped closer to you and took your hand, spinning you around to get a better look. “Damn, you're sexy,” Jungkook groaned in delight.
“Shhh —”
“You should dress like this more often so I can take everything off.”
“KOOK!”
He laughed and grinned as he tried to bring you in for a kiss. You tried to push him away, but he held on tighter. “I'm not letting go until I get a kiss from you.”
“You're trying to get us caught.”
“Mmhm, I want everyone to know we're together.” He let out a soft giggle as you rolled your eyes.
“Fine. God, you're so bad.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Admit it. You like it.”
“Maybe a little.”
“Ouh, you're kinky.”
“Okay---I'm leaving.” You tried to pull away from him again, but he chuckled and rolled you right back into his arms as he gave you a back hug.
“I'm kidding. I love seeing you like this. Flustered, that is,” he smiled, pressing his lips to your right shoulder, making his way up to your neck, leaving subtle marks behind. You let out a slight whine as he continued.
“I'm going to have to cover up these marks if you keep going.”
“Mm…” He continued, not caring in the world if anyone walked by.
You weren't sure if he even heard you. “Koo…” you muttered softly. He pressed deeper into your skin, and your head began falling back into him. You quickly turned around to face him. “You have five minutes. FIVE!”
“I can do that.” He grinned as he opened the door to your room, letting you go in first.
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You quickly straightened your dress and grabbed your shoes, scrambling to get yourself ready again. You ran to Yuna's dressing room and knocked lightly.
“Yuna..?” you muttered before opening the door, peering in to see her sitting in front of the vanity.
“Finally, where have you been?” she asked, putting on a diamond earring.
“Sorry I got held up,” you said, closing the door behind you.
Yuna laughed as she took a look at her best friend. “Uh huh--I can clearly see.” She was pointing to the nipple pasty stuck to the side of your dress.
“OH SHIT –” You quickly grabbed it and tucked it into place. Fucking Jungkook–you told him not to remove the pasty, but he wouldn’t listen. He just had to feel all of you.
“Spare me the details,” Yuna chuckled while matting down her hair.
You nervously chuckled and began walking over to her. She turned to the mirror, taking in one last look before it was time to go. “You look gorgeous. Namjoon is going to cry.”
“He's definitely going to cry.”
You leaned down to hug her from behind. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
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The wedding was beautiful and everything you and Yuna had dreamed about when you were younger. After Yuna and Namjoon's first dance, the MC invited everyone else to join in. You sat there with twinkles in your eyes, watching your best friend so happy. Then you felt a tap on your shoulder. Jungkook stood there with his hand out.
“May I have this dance?”
You gazed at the doe-eyed young man, asking so sweetly. “What about my mom?” you asked, worried about what she would think.
“She'll just think we're being friendly,” Jungkook suggested with a sly smile and puppy dog eyes.
You bit your bottom lip, hesitating to take it. You weren’t just worried about your mother. A slew of people you knew would whisper and gossip about the two of you.
“Come on. I promise I'll behave.”
If there were no one around, you’d dance the night away. You loved the thought of being in his arms–kissing, giggling, touching…
“You better.”
“I don't know if you'll behave, though.”
You lightly hit him in the chest as you stood up. He led you to the dance floor and held you close with one hand on the small of your back, the two of you swaying to the song playing. His honey-brown eyes glistened from the night sky, his smile beaming from ear to ear, revealing the cutest dimple carved within his cheek.
“What..?”
“...I love you,” you softly said as you reached up and pressed your lips against his, forgetting where you were, forgetting all the complexities that came along with your relationship. Nothing else mattered at that moment—just you and him.
✨ previous ~ you deserve everything and more
✨ next ~ drabble - netflix and..
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zarvasace · 1 year
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You disability AU has invaded my brain and I’m very happy about it. I was just thinking about how much I love it, and I love disability representation in general, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next for the AU!!! Also I hope you’re having a good day! <3
I have had a lovely day, thank you! :) Disability rep makes me so happy to see, too. I don't have grand plans for this AU, but maybe I'll come up with something in the future (perhaps once finals are over...) And I always love learning more and talking more! Here's a baby thing that I have not edited.
Relapse
Disability AU, Legend-centric (reminder that he has RRMS here, relapse/remission multiple sclerosis.) They're using the word "episode" here to refer to periods of relapse. About 715 words. Sorry about the long post, I'm on mobile and can't stick a read more in there. AO3 link here.
---
The general shuffling of people awake but not awake enough to talk yet pulled Legend from a dream about being underwater, yet only half able to breathe. He was grateful to end that dream, but less grateful to be woken up. Especially when his vision cleared and he realized why he'd been dreaming something like that. 
Legend groaned, did his best to suck in a deep breath, and pulled his blanket over his head. It felt like something was squeezing his ribs in a tight hug, but wouldn't let up.
"Everything all right, Legend?" Hyrule asked from somewhere outside the blanket, a smile evident in his voice. 
"No," Legend replied, not moving from under the blanket. He consciously expanded his chest to get another deep breath in. 
Hyrule's hand touched Legend's leg, then moved up to his shoulder. "No? What's wrong?" 
It was getting hot under the blanket, so Legend pulled it down around his chin. He shut his eyes tightly against the brightening sky. "Remember what I said, when we met, that my body hates me, and that I hate it?" 
"Vaguely," Hyrule responded, sounding hesitant. 
"Well, the next few days are really going to suck." 
Time spoke up from the other side of the fire. "That's right, Legend, you mentioned episodes, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Legend sighed. "One's gonna hit soon. It'll probably be over by the end of the week, but…" 
Hyrule's hand squeezed his shoulder in sympathy, and Legend patted it to make sure Hyrule knew he appreciated it. 
"What does an episode entail?" Twilight asked, pushing his feet into his boots. "What would you do about it if you were home?" 
Legend raised his hand to cover his eyes. He was a bit upset that this was happening around the others at all, and a bit upset that he had to be camping when this hit, but he'd have to make the most of it. "If I was at home, I'd stay in bed the whole time. Everything's gonna start hurting, much worse than usual. My vision's starting to go already—it'll come back, but it likes to fade out for a bit sometimes."
"So walking will get harder?" Time said. 
"Try 'almost impossible.'"
"Join the club!" Four called from his spot, awake and reading but squished in place by Sky, who hadn't woken up yet and was unlikely to anytime soon. "But it's not because of pain, so you have my sympathy."
Legend wanted to roll his eyes, but they hurt already. "Thanks." 
Twilight poked the fire with a stick and positioned another few dry logs on top of it. "Well, it isn't as if we have anything pressing to do, right now. Wild said yesterday that we're just a day or two out from Tarrey Town, so we can still probably head there, as fast as we can."
A silence stretched, but Time spoke a moment later. "Warriors says that he thinks Twilight's right, we should aim for town if the episode will last all week. It's safer and more comfortable."
"I don't know if I can get there," Legend admitted. Already, he didn't want to move. Shifting around would cause pain. 
"Maybe Wild would be willing to teleport," Hyrule suggested. "Or someone could carry you. You're not that heavy."
"Am I offended?" Legend wondered aloud. 
"We also don't have to go," Twilight said. "We could just stay here, if that's better for you."
Legend waved a hand and regretted it. He put his arms down and tried to settle and to breathe. His right eye was starting to gray out. Hooray. "No. Town is safer, you're right. And as comfy as the dirt is…"
"Then that's what we'll do," Time decided. "Head out as soon as possible, and get to town. Is there anything else we should know? Anything you'd need?" 
It was nice of him to ask. "This is gonna be a bad one, I think. I wouldn't mind some of that knockout tea. Other than that, no, it's just something I have to ride out."
Twilight snorted. "Wars says he's more than willing to make you some of that tea, for several days in a row if you want."
Legend allowed himself a bit of pain for the satisfaction of raising a finger in Warriors's general direction.
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naralanis · 5 months
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20 Questions
Thanks @silv3reyedstranger for the tag! My meeting can wait, this is more fun lol
How many works do you have on AO3?
44 (my wife's saying it's bad luck, so I guess I better make it 45 soon)
2. What's you total AO3 count?
601,330 which is weirdly way more than I expected but also way less? How dare AO3 not count all the words I've never posted, this is homophobia
3. What fandoms do you write for?
I got my start in the Devil Wears Prada and Harry Potter fandoms, and then the supercorp gifs pulled a bag over my head, tossed me in a van, and made me hyperfixate on a really bad but really gay show, so. I've also written for Xena Warrior Princess and ATLA/ATLOK, but I've never posted for those. There is an errant OUAT SwanQueen one-shot out there, courtesy of some insane people I love.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
In order, they’re Perhaps, For the Better, Perfect, The Date and, surprisingly, The Wrong Way. I didn't expect that last one at all, to be honest.
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
I do appreciate every single one (they’re a writer's main source of nourishment) but I am terrible at responding to each and every one. There will be times where I'll go on comment-replying marathon and then I forget about it for like, a year. My bad! I do love all the comments and I re-read them all the time when I'm feeling kind of shit. They bring so much joy to my heart and occasional (happy) tears to my eyes.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Probably Unshackled, but I'm not sure if that counts because the happy ending came in part two. But for the people who didn't know there was a part two… that was probably the angstiest I've managed! I love angst, but I have to have the happy ending, whether I'm reading or writing it.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Oof, I don't know. I try to have happy endings to most things. I think the one that jumps to mind is i don't know how to dance so slow (to keep up with you). I don't think it's necessarily the happiest ending, it's just this whole fic plays in my head so clearly, almost like it's a movie, and it just gives me the good feels. It's short and sweet, and it makes me happy.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I think if I wrote more I'd get some lol. I used to get some trolls here and there, especially flames back on FanFiction.net. A couple on Perhaps, but the Cissamione peeps were awesome helping me deal with them. Nowadays everything's pretty chill.
9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?
*points at The Adventures of Soft Butch Hermione*
Not to mention all the stuff I don't post. Smut has to be just right to make the cut. Nothing too crazy, but ya know I have to sprinkle some praise kink in there.
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
Nope, and I don't think I ever will. The most I've done is borrow other characters from within the same universe (see Luthor Motor Racing AU), usually as a joke/easter egg. I'm usually not a fan or crossovers (writing or reading), but there are a handful of exceptions here and there.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
HAHA yeah. A couple of times. Usually found on Wattpad, or translated into Portuguese and posted to some Brazilian site without my permission. Side note, why is it always Brazilians. I'M ONE OF YOU, PLS
12. have you ever had a fic translated?
Yeah! To Russian, French and Mandarin (with permission) and Portuguese (without), at least as far as I know. I'm totally cool with translations, just like. Ask me first, give me the credit for the original work, and send me a link! I love to see translations of my stuff, especially if it's in a language I can speak.
13. have you ever cowritten a fic before?
@shadowdianne and I had some incredible back-and-forth a few years back, but it never really went anywhere (although I maintain our ideas were FIRE). It was a frankly amazing take on Narcissa as a character, with some sprinkle of a Narlily friendship and Cissamione endgame. We both had other stuff going on, so it never really developed further, but I still have the docs with all of our ideas and frankly hilarious commentary.
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
Don't make me pick just one, I can't.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
At this point, all of them I think? Brain's just not braining that way.
16. What are your writing strengths?
It used to be world-building and environment descriptions, but to be honest I haven't flexed those writing muscles in ages. I think I can tell a lot with not much real-estate. I also think my readers/fellow writers would be better at answering this one lol
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
The writing part.
Jokes aside, it's actually stringing a plot together. I write by vibes.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I technically speak four languages, but I always worry whether whatever foreign language dialogue I insert sounds genuine enough to sound like a native speaker, so I always ask for a second (and a third and fourth) opinion anyway.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Harry Potter, on a little known (to Americans) social media platform known as Orkut, and then on FFNet. Then I deleted all traces of that and had a fresh start with Devil Wears Prada.
20. Favorite fic you've ever written?
It's like asking me about my favourite child. Right now it's while all of the lines are blurring, which is a WIP but I just have. SO MUCH. To add to it. AND  I DON'T HAVE THE TIME OR BRAIN CAPACITY but I. Love that plot in my brain. Maybe one day.
I won't tag anyone this time around, but writer peeps, feel free to take it and run with it!
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scoutdoesstuff · 2 years
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Here's the opening chunk of something I've been working on for a good long while now. I've signed myself up for a frankly stupid amount of adulting in the next month or so, so I can't promise when I'll have a real, big kid chapter to post to AO3, but it should be sooner rather than later. I'm liking what I've got so far though, so I thought I'd go ahead and post a little bit.
I don't have much in the way of a tags list (outside of @casenergies pspspsp), but I may be posting chunks of this off and on before I post it to AO3 proper so let me know if you'd like to be added.
Dean drives by the house six times before he gives in and buys it.
He finds it on one of his many drives around Lebanon on days where Jack decides his body should be that of a baby. Jack doesn’t sleep on those days, just wails and wails and wails. The only thing that’ll quiet him long enough to keep Dean from having a breakdown is when Dean straps him into the backset of the Impala and just drives and drives for hours.
Cas is six weeks gone, burned and buried, when Dean finally buys the house.
He pays $50,000 for her, but it was probably too much by at least half. The house could only politely be described as ramshackle. In reality, it’s a shithole. The porch is caved in, the roof went out about a decade ago, the kitchen has vines growing through it, and Dean’s fairly certain he’s going to have to rebuild the stairs from scratch.
But it’s his.
And so is the little field out in the back, with a bubbly creek bisecting it. It hasn’t been cared for in years, maybe since Dean’s been alive, but it’s beautiful. Brush grass surrounds the creek, covering at least half an acre with warm yellows and greens. Flowers dot the grass around both the front and the back of the house, remnants of what was once probably a beautiful garden. It’s a serene little haven surrounded by poplar trees in the middle of the flat, flat lands of Kansas.
It’s where Dean spreads the ashes of the love of his life, alone, weeping like a child.
He’ll have to fess up to Sam eventually about what he’s done, what he’s bought, and what he’s signed himself up to do, but for now Dean sits quietly among the tall grass and the flowers. It is the perfect spot for Cas, Dean thinks, quiet, perfect for thoughtful contemplation of the mysteries of the universe, with just enough natural beauty to quietly soak in what Cas used to call the divine. He’d always say it a soft undertone, like he was sharing a secret with Dean, even years after he’d rebelled from heaven, like there was a wrong way to worship God’s creation.
Cas would’ve loved to have watched the sun rise and set from the spot where Dean decides to place his ashes, nestled between the creek and one of the taller, prouder trees circling the property. Dean’s sure of it. He would’ve stood there stock still and just absorbed the wonders of the universe with a soft smile on his face. Eventually, Dean would’ve gotten sick of him just standing there at random hours of the day and built the stubborn weirdo a bench.
Dean has to work to breathe through the tears while he opens the makeshift urn he’d placed Cas in all those weeks ago at the cabin. He’s never not had Cas come back from some impossible death, but this time feels different. It feels final in a way that Dean just can’t shake, no matter how hard he tries.
In a weird way, Cas’ death feels like Kelly’s, like they died so that the kid could live.
So he’s burying Cas the right way, is the point, in a way that’ll let him see Cas in a flower or a blade of grass ten years from now, somewhere Cas would’ve loved, with a house that Dean can rebuild for Cas’ child. Because Dean can do many things, but raise a baby in bunker will never be one of them.
He hopes Sam can understand. More than that, he hopes Sam is willing to come with Dean and Jack to this place. This isn’t something that Dean thinks he can handle on his own. No, that’s not true. He could if he had to. He’s done worse with less, but he doesn’t want to. He’s tired of being alone, tired of burying people. He wants a soft place to land, something that really feels like home. It’s something he wants for himself, and for Sam, but it’s also something he needs to give Jack.
The kid’s already lost a mother and a father, and he’s not even existed for six months. Dean spends a moment wondering if angels — nephilim — grow up like people do or if they just spring fully formed and ready to function like Athena from Zeus’ head. It’s another thing that Dean can’t help with, can’t understand, and he somehow misses Cas more in that moment. He wishes Cas could’ve stayed not dead for himself, yeah, he’s not unselfish, but he wishes Jack could’ve had a dad that knew what he was going through, understood what it meant to be … whatever Jack was.
Eventually the tears come to a stop, more out of genuine dehydration than any kind of closure, but Dean’s got things to do, so with a blotchy face, Dean rewraps Cas’ urn in the remnants of Kelly Kline’s tablecloth and heads back to the Impala. He’s got some music to face, both with his brother and with the nephilim that’s decided he’s six today.
(Days where Jack is six are some of the most fun Dean’s had in years. They make cookies and watch silly TV shows and Dean teaches Jack how to do finger paint art like when Sammy was still in grade school.)
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zephyr-thedragon · 3 years
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guys-
guys I did it
I wrote the TLC pirate au (and by wrote I mean the first chapter shjfjggh) AH I'm really excited, okok here we go
for people who are confused this was the original post I made that blew up just a little bit:
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and I REALLY committed to that so ANYWAYSSSS, I don't have a name for this series yet, I was thinking like "Chasing Kings and Crowns" or smthn but if you have any ideas please let me knowwww
Here's the wattpad link, I'm still trying to get ao3 sorted out but I'll add it once it's done :))
This is also my first real fic so I'm not gonna have a set schedule cause that just seems anxiety inducing and I don't want to put much pressure on myself.
Andddd I think that's it for authors notes so.....enjoy!
(First Chapter: 2.3k words, we get a lot of backstory about Cinder and her and Thorne have a friendly convo when neither of them are able to sleep, Thorne has a treasure map that might change the course of their story)
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Cinder couldn’t sleep, the waves were rocking the boat too much and her bunk seemed more uncomfortable than usual. It had been almost a year since she joined the Rampion Crew and she still wasn’t used to the way the ship rocked so violently at night it would make her sick.
But by crew she meant just her and Thorne, on this vast ship in this vast sea, stealing things for a living. It was an interesting life, sometimes it was fun, other times it was lonely, but either way it was always extremely suffocating. Physically and mentally- seriously why were her quarters so cramped?
She had these thoughts often, wondering what would have happened if she didn’t join Thorne and imagining how everything would have played out if she didn’t board his ship that day, but she always came back to the same conclusion- she would’ve been arrested, trialed for her crimes against the Eastern Kingdom and most likely sentenced to death. Living on a pirate ship hopping around the coast and performing weekly heists was definitely better than being beheaded.
Plus, she was helping people. People like her, who lost their limbs in a battle or ship raid or in the ongoing war, some people were born without certain limbs, and they all deserved to be treated and cared for the same way any human would.
That’s how this all started.
She’d lost her hand and her leg in a ship raid when she was just a toddler. She doesn’t remember it, or any of her childhood from before. She was told that her parents had died in the raid and the doctor on board had saved her and escaped to shore. All she remembers is waking up from a coma, and being sent to live with her adoptive family in the Eastern Kingdom.
They were a kind and loving family, until her sister had died.
Peony, dear sweet Peony. She didn’t deserve to go so soon. She had caught the plague, and it eventually spread to her stepfather, who’d gotten sick and died not two weeks after her sister.
Her stepmother spiraled into madness. She became broken, a shell of woman who was once filled with joy, She became cruel and abusive. She made Cinder her own personal servant, ordering her around like a pet. Her other sister Pearl was no help, she became just as cruel as her mother.
So Cinder ran away, and that’s when she began stealing things.
At first she only took what she needed, but then she found other people like her who also needed help. So she started stealing for them too.
It had gone on like that for years, until the authorities found out about her little operation and she was forced to run.
She became a fugitive, the most wanted in her entire city. But she kept stealing things, to help the people she cared about. But then one day, she came home to find that her base had been raided. The police had found her. So she kept running, and running and running until there was no more land left to run on. That was the day she joined Thorne.
That was the day her whole life changed.
She was about to lay back down and try to go back to bed when she heard footsteps start above her, in the captain’s cabin. There wasn’t much luck in falling back asleep anyway, so she let curiosity take the lead and headed down the hall and up the stairs.
* * *
As much as she despised the rocking waves for making her sick, you had to admit they were beautiful. Especially at night, when the moonlight reflected on them creating a string of light that seemed to travel across the entire ocean. On a calm night, it was almost magical. You could imagine a siren singing, calling you to the shore from hundreds of miles away, and almost believe it was real.
Tonight was not one of those nights.
A wave crashed against the boat and splattered on her cheek as she emerged from the trapdoor. She struggled to get her bearings but managed to steady herself enough so she could use her hook to grab onto the mainmast and stand up straight.
A light was on in the captain’s cabin and she could hear Thorne pacing around the table. She quickly shuffled over to the door and let herself in before another wave crashed onto the deck.
She closed the door behind her and turned around to see Thorne hunched over the table inspecting a large piece of paper.
The captain’s quarters were very regal, with a long desk in the middle of the room with large windows spanning the entire back wall. There was a golden candelabra lit on the corner of the table, with a few other lanterns spread out across the room.
“What did we say about knocking?” Thorne asked, without looking up.
“That during a storm it was unnecessary?”
This time, he did look up. “It’s not storming.”
She rounded the table to see what he was looking at. “With how high the waves are it very well could be.” She inspected the paper that was sprawled across the table. It was a treasure map. “What’s this?”
“Eh. It’s nothing.” He started folding up the map, but she slammed her hook down on the table to stop him. Something in the corner of the map had caught her eye. A name, or a title perhaps.
“Darwin Grim? Isn’t that that old children’s tale you’re obsessed with?”
He yanked the map out from under her hook. “It is not a children’s tale and no I’m not obsessed with it.” He folded it back up and went to stash it in the top drawer of his desk in the corner of the room . “It’s a legend my parents used to tell me about, the treasure of Darwin Grim. He used to be the leader of a pirate fleet up North and supposedly he stole some of the crown jewels and stashed them on some remote island near the coast.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “But you have a map?”
He stopped and stared at her for a good four seconds before answering. “I do.”
“So where is this mystery island?” She turned around and pushed herself up onto the table so she was sitting on the edge.
“Blackburn Island.” His eyes bored into her from where he was standing over by his desk. “The treasure is on Blackburn Island.”
Now both her eyebrows had risen. “Oh.” He turned around and started shuffling through papers on his desk. “I guess we won’t be chasing this mysterious, legendary treasure anytime soon then.”
“Says who?” He said, still occupied with organizing his papers.
She gawked at him. “You don’t seriously expect us to go to Blackburn Island just to search for some treasure that might not even be real.”
“Who knows.” He finished sorting out the papers on his desk and walked back over to table and leaned against it next to her. “We might get bored.”
She chuckled. “Hopefully not bored enough.” She couldn’t imagine going to Blackburn Island, that place was like hell on earth. Their queen- Queen Levana, was a complete psychopath.
She was rumored to have killed both her sister, the late Queen Channary, and her niece. It was said that she ordered a group of raiders to attack their ship while they were on a voyage to the Eastern Kingdom. Though some people had speculated that her niece, Princess Selene Blackburn, had survived the raid and was brought back to the Eastern Kingdom. To be raised to take back her throne and overthrow her tyrant of an aunt.
She didn’t put much stock into the rumors, but she supposed the people of Blackburn Island would take anyone to be their ruler over Levana. If you lived there or were even born there, there was no way of getting out. You were trapped.
“Where did you get the map anyway?” She asked.
“During the heist today, it’s why I chose the location but I didn’t think telling you would make a difference.”
“Ah. So that’s why you were more persistent than usual. I was starting to get suspicious.”
He glanced at her “Suspicious about what?”
“That you were actually starting to take your job seriously.”
He snapped his head away and made a clicking sound with his tongue, feigning offense. “You have no faith in me.”
She chuckled again. “Can you blame me?”
“A little bit, yeah.” He tried his best to sound serious but you could tell by the way his voice wobbled that he was on the brink of laughter.
The room went quiet for a moment as the lighthearted mood died out. She liked laughing with Thorne, she liked their bickering and their teasing and their friendship that she knew would never fade despite all of their differences. She complains a lot about being stuck on a pirate ship in the middle of the sea. But she knew she wasn’t really stuck. Just like she also knew that she was glad it was Thorne who she ended up meeting. That it was his ship she ended up boarding all those months ago. Her smile softened.
“We still have a mission you know, we can’t go off course.”
“I know.” He answered with a sigh.
“But I promise you, one day, we’ll be able to go and search for all the treasure we want. And go on dangerous expeditions and travel across the entire world.”
He laughed, genuinely. But didn’t say anything.
They both stared at the window at the back of the room, mesmerized by the way the water danced with the ship. The way the glass was swathed in the dark blue waves for a moment until the water slid back down the side of the boat and into the deep. Sparing a moment where you could see for miles across the vast ocean, and glimpses of the moon as the ship swayed back and forth in and out of its view.
A moment of silence between comrades. Of mutual content between two people who, against all odds, found each other at the most unpredictable of times. Two friends who don’t have the peace of mind to cherish a moment such as this, but do anyway because it’s moments like these that make all the long days at sea worthwhile.
Thorne sighed, and turned to face her. He wasn’t at the brink of laughter anymore but a small smile still lingered on his features. “You need to sleep. We have to visit the professor tomorrow.”
“I know…sleep always seems to evade me when I really need it.” She hopped off of the table and turned to face him. “But I shall try.” She said, with the determination of someone about to set off on an important quest.
His smile widened. “Hear, hear milady. See to it that you do not trip and fall on the stairs on your way out, and that you knock next time you feel like coming up here to bother me.”
They were both still grinning as she walked around the table back over to the door. “Goodnight Thorne.”
“Goodnight Cinder.” He called after her as she slipped out onto the deck. Salty air swarming her senses. And ducked down through the trapdoor, back into the damp and musty crew quarters.
She wasn’t sure if chatting with Thorne would make sleeping any easier. But she hoped the promise of a new day would, new opportunities. Tomorrow they were going to see Professor Erland, to find out the value of their latest treasures. But that wasn’t the only reason she liked going to meet the professor.
It was because he lived in this fabulous library. With shelves upon shelves of the finest literature the Eastern Kingdom had to offer. And it was also right next to the palace, which was a stunning sight of its own. Despite the cruel king who inhabited it.
Cinder loved to read, ever since her stepfather had taught her as a child. He always made sure to provide her a decent education even though they couldn’t afford to send her to school like her sisters. Once her stepfather, Linh Garan died, her stepmother, had completely neglected Cinder and her education. So Cinder had to start teaching herself.
Professor Erland was always extremely kind to her when they went. He always let her borrow a couple books of her choice, and she was always immensely grateful for his generosity.
He had known her even before she became a fugitive. Her stepfather and the professor used to be good friends. She was never allowed to actually go to the library but Garan always brought back a couple of books for her. She recalled one time when he came to their house, Garan and the professor had to talk about something business related. But he was kind to her then too, telling her that she was always welcome in his library.
When she ran away, he was one of the first people she went to. He had since been her strongest ally.
She heard the creak of floorboards above her as Thorne climbed into his bunk and decided that it was finally time to settle down into hers for the night. She wrapped herself up in the itchy blanket and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before closing her eyes.
Tomorrow would be a good day.
She let herself be excited.
In this moment, she was okay.
In this moment, she was content.
She let the feeling engulf her as her consciousness, slipped silently into the land of dreams.
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OMGGGG if you reached the end of that HI, HELLO, TYSM FOR COMING, AND READING, AND I HOPE YOU COME BACK.
k anyways here's the taglist (I'm tagging all of my mutuals):
@gingerale2017 @winterrhayle @starry-tea-party @butterfly-danna @f-r-o-p @im-just-your-problem @a-salting-the-world @cerenoya @novannna @miss-casually-cruel @cindersassasin @cinderswrench @cindersnightmare @sexy-dumpster-fire @razzmooncake
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theintentioncraft · 3 years
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To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.
RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.
I've been tagged by @lordbelacqua (thank you Dea! <3) to talk about Backlead aka: that one Masriel fic I wrote where I got massively carried away...
Rambling/essay under the cut - fair warning, it's a long one!
Okay so first of all just a little disclaimer that Backlead did not follow my usual writing process - the idea was 110% borne out of self-indulgence and it was also both my first foray into HDM fanfic and my return to fanfic as a whole after a long hiatus from writing, so for me this was really a chance to just get back into the swing of things. Everything from Heavenly Guard through to Swansong and all of my current WIPs follow a more structured process and I'm happy to discuss any of them in a separate post!
PLANNING: I tend to find with my fics that I either have a nice little timeline of events planned out pre-writing or I have a very specific event in my head and I just take that and see how things unravel from there and Backlead was 100% the latter.
All I had in my head initially was the ballroom dance scene and so a lot of my admittedly-minimal planning was around the technicalities of that particular section, as well as some of the more general details e.g Marisa's outfit, the setting of the ball, etc. Planning the dance was the most fun part because it was a chance for me to put a lot of my dance knowledge to good use and think up something that fits the back-and-forth way in which Marisa and Asriel frequently navigate their encounters. In a way though I'm actually very glad that a lot of this fic Just Happened instead of being planned out, sometimes it's nice to just run away with an idea!
MUSIC: This gets its own section because this is one of the most important things in my process. Every single fic I write is written to various pieces of music that just help me to put myself in the right headspace for whatever I'm writing at the time - sometimes its just a single piece of music (I wrote Swansong in one hour with just one track from the Unforgotten - a TV show in the UK for those of you not familiar with it - soundtrack on repeat) and sometimes its entire playlists. I do love geeking out about my music choices for fic writing so happy to talk more in a separate post about music for some of my other fics if anyone's curious!
For Backlead I found a couple of playlist-vids from the lovely raviolae on youtube that really worked wonders for my writing. This comes with a disclaimer that I did not necessarily attribute any of these specific songs to either dance scene and I wanted to leave that open for people's imagination - but it's still brilliant vibes for thinking about two once-lovers-now-enemies trying to one-up each other whilst ignoring how much they still find each other attractive.
The two playlist-vids in question are here: you're stuck on the dance floor with your rival and find out they're an annoyingly good dancer and you're dancing with your rival and both of you want to lead
WRITING: First step every time is to figure out who's POV I'm going to cover because that makes a major difference in the way I'm going to write. Characterisation is the big thing for me and there's nothing I love more than to really get inside a character's head and basically think like them, and figure out what makes them tick and how they'll react to the story I'm putting them in. With my initial idea for Backlead being basically about the subtle power dynamics of a ballroom dance, Marisa felt like the natural go-to for this one and I found it much easier in this instance to write in her headspace than in Asriel's.
I wrote this fic in a very out-of-order fashion. The first dance (the slower, waltz-style dance) was the first part I finished, then I did as hinted at above get very carried away and move onto the section in the hallway, then I went right to the start and covered the entire section leading up to that first dance. Then I revisited the hallway scene because I wanted to rework it (the initial version was planned to be more explicit and involved less dialogue - but I wasn't comfortable with writing out the former at that time and the latter got changed by way of me having a sudden burst of dialogue-themed inspiration). The second, more set piece style dance came last in terms of the 'major events' that I wrote purely because I spent a lot of time racking with my dance knowledge to try and make it work in a way that didn't feel forced.
My final major writing stage is to write the 'transitions' between each major part - small pieces where nothing particularly noteworthy happens but it helps the fic to flow from one conversation/event to the next and also sometimes allows me to sneak in a bit of characterisation that I couldn't fit in elsewhere.
Along the way I often leave sentences half-finished with a bracket indicator so I know to go back to it later or I make little notes if I've added something in that needs explaining earlier in the fic, and I make sure to sort those parts out before I jump to the self review/beta reader stage. A couple of examples are below:
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Although sometimes this method does also annoy future me too 😂:
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SELF REVIEW/BETA REVIEW: Whenever I finish a fic, it gets put away for a day or two and I stop thinking about it completely - if I'm using a beta reader (usually @thatlavanderbard but I sometimes enlist help from friends on discord), I'll send them a copy of my draft at this point so they can start going through and leaving comments for me to work on, but the idea is that when I go back to my work a few days later I'm looking at it with semi-fresh eyes and can properly sift through each sentence to make sure things make sense.
When I'm self-reviewing I generally tend to follow this order of operations: spelling/grammar check (via docs') -> flow check (making sure any deliberate time skips/POV changes/etc in my fic flow smoothly from one part to the next) -> address beta reader comments (because they almost always pick up on things I myself would've picked up on anyway) -> general detailed final read through to make sure I'm happy with every single line and it all makes sense.
Backlead didn't get a full beta read because I had hit a point with it where I just wanted it up ASAP and my impatience got the better of me, but the rest of the above self-review stages still happened and I still spent a fair few evenings going through it properly and also running the occasional sentence or two by some helpful discord friends if I didn't like the way it flowed but couldn't quite figure out how to remedy it!
POSTING: First step was to reset my AO3 password because I forgot it yet again whoops
On a more serious note this part is pretty straightforward - once I'm ready to post a new fic I generally just go on autopilot for this part of the process (other than when I get to 'additional tags' and immediately get brain freeze...). As soon as it's up on AO3 I swing by here to make a post about it, then swing by discord to drop the link to friends who may be interested in reading it and then I normally nervously scuttle away from my notifications for a while out of fear that people hate it lmao.
That last part was especially true for Backlead because of it being my first trip into HDM fanfic and I always get extra nervous when posting my first fanfic for a new show/game/etc. Thankfully I got quite a few nice comments both on here and on discord that provided good motivation to stick around and post a few more things!
I always panic when asked to tag people lmao but I'll tag @fortheloveofwii for any part of the Onward, Onward series, @lyracordelia for any chapter in Hiraeth or the fic as a whole, and @glassrunner for this absolutely gorgeous gifset of beautiful game soundtracks. Please don't feel like you have to do this if you don't want to though!
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