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starlightvld · 3 months

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Up in Smoke

(Also on AO3)

The first time Ghost rips the cigarette from Soap's mouth, drops it on the ground, and stomps on it as he passes by, Soap is too stunned to say anything for a full ten seconds. They've only been working together consistently for a couple of missions, and even as his superior officer, the audacity of the action floors him.

By the time his brain restarts, Ghost is long gone.

The second time Ghost steals Soap's cigarette, he bursts out in a string of Scottish curses and tackles Ghost from behind before the wanker can drop it on the ground. An impromptu sparring match ensues, fists and curses flying.

Afterward, he doesn't feel much like a cigarette anymore — not with the split lip, anyway. Besides, the buzzing under his skin that usually drives him to smoke is just... gone.

Price catches wind of the incident, of course, and calls them into his office a few hours later. By that time Soap has calmed down enough to be... maybe not okay with it, but at least able to see the humor.

"What's this about you muppets scuffling by the smoking area?"

"Just a little sparring to blow off steam," Soap says.

"Ghost?"

"Nothin' to worry about, Captain."

"No? I've got one soldier who looks like he just got back from a bar fight, and the other..." He squints at Ghost. "He get a hit in on you, too?"

"Yeah," Ghost replies in that deadpan tone of his. "Coupla black eyes."

It's a joke.

Ghost is telling a joke. And it's objectively not funny. It's not. But Soap bursts into hysterical laughter all the same.

The corners of Ghost's blacked-out eyes crinkle.

Price rubs his temples before dropping his hand on his desk. Soap presses his lips together to contain his laughter.

"Sparring happens in the gym. I'm sure you know the place. It's where we have things like mats and gloves. I catch you two bare-knuckle fighting again, and you will regret it."

And it's enough to sober Soap up. He avoids Ghost as he ducks away to catch dinner.

The third time... well, no. He supposes that's really the fourth time.

Because the actual third time, Soap had come back from a shit mission where everything went wrong. Intel was faulty, exfil was delayed, and people under his command died. It didn't happen as often in SAS as it had in the regulars — the soldiers here were well-trained and hard to kill — but that made it all the worse.

When Ghost tried to pluck the cigarette from his mouth, Soap growled.

"Back the fuck up, Lt. Or Price is gonna be disappointed in both of us."

Ghost paused, and their eyes met. Slowly, Ghost lowered his hand.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Fuck no."

"Thank God."

Soap didn't have it in him to even huff a laugh. He took a long drag and blew the smoke away from Ghost as a peace offering.

To his surprise, Ghost didn't leave. He spun around and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. They stood there together, utterly silent, as Soap let the heat and sting in his lungs soothe the beast inside that wanted to rip the world apart.

When he was done, though, he was surprised to find he didn't want another. Usually after shit missions, he'd stand there and smoke half a pack before his hands would stop shaking.

He finally met Ghost's eyes. The man quirked a barely visible brow.

"S'pose we should take it to the mats this time?"

Ghost pushed off the building and started walking. Soap followed like a lost child looking for a way home.

The fourth time is in Chicago. His hands are shaking not from losing soldiers but from almost losing his own life. The cigarette trembles in his grip as he stands outside the bar, the biting wind turning his fingers and probably his lips blue. He lifts it to his mouth, inhaling deep—

And then it's gone.

The whine that bubbles up from his gut and bursts from his throat is nothing short of humiliating. But God. God. He needs it.

"Not now. Please, Ghost."

"Why?"

Ghost hasn't thrown the cigarette down. Yet. He cocks his head to the side and gives Soap a long look. Soap can only tremble from the cold and a need that goes deeper than a simple hit of nicotine.

"I just... I need it."

The cigarette drops to the ground, but Soap doesn't have time to lament the loss before that same hand is curling around Soap's neck and pulling him into a fucking massive chest. The other arm comes around Soap's shoulders and...

Ghost just stands there, holding him. And Soap can't help melting into the warmth and solidity of the man who saved his life just hours ago. He dares to curl in deeper. To raise his hands and clutch at Ghost's jacket. To let a few, silent tears escape his tight control.

Finally, his muscles relax. Ghost must feel it, because he turns and leads Soap back toward the bar.

"Why do ye even care?" Soap mumbles from his spot tucked into Ghost's side.

"Because those things'll kill ya."

Soap supposes the "I like you alive" is implied at this point.

Soap loses count after Chicago. He gets stretches of days when Ghost is on a solo op or out with one of the other operators when he can smoke in peace. So he does.

At first.

He's been hooked since he was a rebellious teen trying to make his mark on the world. He's tried to quit multiple times, but it never seems to stick. The first bad mission or adrenaline-filled near miss and he's back at whatever smoking spot he can find, puffing away.

He finds himself trying to cut back, though, even when Ghost is away.

Any time Ghost is on base, all bets are off. In addition to darting by and making a grab for it or sneaking up behind him and flicking it out of his hands, Ghost has gotten more creative. Sometimes Soap will pull out a cigarette only to find he's "lost" his lighter. Sometimes the cigarettes themselves go missing — he clutches his chest and mourns all that wasted money whenever a whole pack disappears.

He supposes it's all just going up in smoke anyway, though.

He should be angry. But in truth, it's almost a relief to hand over the reins to Ghost. To let the man help him by annoying the shit out of him until he wants to give up on it entirely.

Which is definitely the point. Ghost has made that perfectly clear.

So, whenever he gets the urge to calm his racing thoughts or overactive mind with a cigarette, he finds Ghost and annoys him instead. They talk, or spar, or simply sit in silence together, doing their own thing. Ghost doesn't often touch him — their moment in Chicago is still the closest Soap's ever gotten to the elusive Ghost — but he also doesn't push Soap away when he slumps into Ghost's side after a hard day or leans over his back when he's sitting at the table in the 141's common area on base.

The urge doesn't go away, of course. And sometimes, when things get really bad, Ghost will just sit or stand with him like he did the third time. Still, he finds himself smoking less and hanging out with Ghost more.

The last time Ghost steals a cigarette from Soap, he simply stands beside Soap and holds out his hand. Soap immediately knows something has gone terribly wrong. Still, he's too invested in the game now to not hand the cigarette over.

He nearly keels over when Ghost pulls up his mask and takes a long, hard drag. Soap watches in fascination as his cheeks hollow, his neck muscles strain, his lips curve around the paper. It's erotic in a way he really shouldn't be thinking about in regards to his emotionally unavailable superior officer, but the knowledge hasn't stopped him yet. Since that day in Chicago — probably before if he's honest — he's only ever wanted to be closer.

Ghost coughs a little and hands the cigarette back.

"Fuck. Just as disgusting as I remember."

"Ye used to smoke, then?"

"Before I joined up, yeah. Hated it, though."

"The smell? Or—"

"Everything. The taste, the smell, the heat..." Ghost trails off, his hand rubbing over his bicep in a strangely specific way. He shakes his head and looks back at Soap. "Not your problem, Johnny. Forget about it."

Soap's hand is darting out, fingers curling into Ghost's jacket, before he's properly thought through the action. Ghost pauses before turning back. They stare in silence for a moment until—

Soap stubs out the half-burned cigarette and drops the butt in the trash. He licks his lips. Glances up at Ghost. The mask is still sitting on his nose, and Soap stares at his lips for longer than he should before pulling the pack out of his pocket and throwing it in the trash, too.

"Cannae have ye thinking I stink, can I?"

"Too late."

But Ghost's throat bobs with a hard swallow. Soap wets his lips, takes a step closer, and uncurls his fingers to slide his hand up Ghost's chest until his fingertips are resting on Ghost's shirt collar.

"I dinnae think it is."

Ghost turns and walks away. Soap closes his eyes and drops his hand, internally cursing his impulsive behavior. The scuffing of boots walking away from him is like nails on a chalk board.

Until they stop, and a gruff voice calls out, "You comin'?"

A slow smile slides across Soap's mouth. "No' yet."

A huff — exasperation? laughter? a bit of both? — before, "Better get movin' then."

And Soap has never been more glad to follow an order.

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carlyraejepsans · 9 days

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Halfway to the sofa, they stopped, making a small sound like a grumble of annoyance. For a second, the red glow in their eye grew faint. "Sleep," they rasped out in a low, halting whisper, "I saved you an ache in the neck." It took him a second to register that the kid wasn't talking to him. Mostly 'cause Frisk didn't speak. To him. Or ever.

Sans wakes up late into the night and sees something he shouldn't have.

#red eyes and hallucinating and sleeping on my keyboard. WAKE UP. new fic droppedd #fixed up that old wip i posted and added a new bit so i put them on ao3 as well do you remember that sans & chara post i made that was like #uhhh i've got 20 bucks.#this is the fic development of that initial idea. or at least it will be. when i get to the point of actually making those two interact #anyway good NIGHT. i am going to die. i mean sleep. die as well probably. haha get it bc i had no beta #ok goodnight. peace!!!!#undertale #sans #frisk #mywriting #underfic #i promise toriel gets more space for her issues later i needed to set up a tinsy bit of helicoptering first. trust the process etc

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eclairfair98 · 5 months

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“Oh, but you see, Kazansky,” the boy looks down at him and smiles. Engulfed by the honey-gold haze of a sharp summer sun, the sweetest, most reckless thing he’s ever seen. “I am dangerous!”

And there’s something about that smile, guilelessly fluttering across his flushed face like a hummingbird taking flight, that digs into Tom’s chest like the gentlest of knives. Cleaves its way between his ribs.

Fills his heart with light.

It’s strange, how quickly it all happens. How startlingly unremarkable it really is. How Tom takes a deep breath, lets the faint wisps of warm vanilla sugar trickle down his too-dry throat, closes his eyes, and just knows: he might’ve entered this quaint house in the middle of nowhere with a firm plan in mind to destroy any chances his father had of securing a betrothal (even if that meant stooping low-enough to make a thirteen-year-old cry) but hurting Pete Mitchell in any shape or form, wouldn’t sit right with his conscience.

Knows that there’s no reason why Mrs Mitchell should be so intent on finding her son a match at such short notice, especially when he’s so young. (Especially when she doesn’t seem like one of those parents that unfortunately, aren’t all that uncommon in the Navy: who think their omega children have little value beyond the connections they can help forge via bonding and marriage.)

Recognizes dire straits when they’re staring him in the face: the thinly-veiled distress in Mrs Mitchell’s dull green eyes; the worn dress shirt that’s almost two sizes too big for Pete — that he was probably supposed to grow into several months ago, but never did; the stale scent of grief and pain that clings to even the most carefully-polished surface of their home.

Finds himself thinking that maybe, it isn’t all that strange. Maybe, he could spend the rest of his life with this boy. Finding out what makes him smile. What makes him laugh. What is his favorite dream to dream.

In the end, it all comes down to this: Sometimes, you meet a person and it feels like you’ve known them your entire life. A quiet sense of belonging settles in your bones, and you realize you’d do anything to keep them happy and secure.

#the unbearable lightness of being #icemav #topgun #omegaverse #as I promised myself (and others)#I will be making a final fully-edited version of this fic #and posting it on ao3 once I’m done #don’t know how long it’ll take me but I’m hoping to get it done by Spring/Summer of next year #this is the first fic I’ve ever written and the more I think about it the clearer it seems to me that it’s probably going to be my last #which is why I want to do my best to leave the best possible version of it on the internet for posterity #to everyone who’s left me asks and DMs and Ao3 comments in the past few months #please know that I’ve read every single kind word you’ve sent my way #and they all mean a lot to me #thank you ❤️ thank you ❤️ thank you #I’m going to try my best to get back to all of you as soon as I can 🤞🏼#hope you’ve all been doing very well #and oh #Happy Holidays! 🌻

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themoonking · 10 months

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when people bring up the racism, homophobia, transphobia, romanticization of domestic abuse / rape / pedophilia / incest, literal actual written porn of literal actual real life flesh and blood children, et cetera et cetera on archive of our own, one of the ao3 stannies’ main defenses is “you can just filter out the tags if you don’t want to see that!” when that defense has no fucking legs to stand on.

ao3 is not an archive, it is barely even a website: a rant <3 (very long)

ignoring the fact that it’s a problem that all of that is permitted on the site in the first place (i guess child porn and racism are fine, and the people who allow it on their platform are fine, as long as i, personally, do not see it), that defense literally means nothing. it’s assuming that every little thing on ao3 is tagged properly and it absolutely is not, and if you think it is you are dumber than rocks. i mean for fuck’s sake, just touching on archive warnings and not tags, “creator chose not to use archive warnings” is literally a valid option for fic authors to use when it should fucking not be.

if someone is a freak who thinks that pedo shit is hot, they might not tag it as “rape” (archive warnings OR tags). i’ve literally seen underage father/son rape porn with no trigger warning tags but “child abuse if you squint”. IF YOU SQUINT. if someone thinks that domestic abuse is actually cool and sexy when attractive people do it, they might not tag it as “abuse”. if someone is a freak who likes incest, but bends over backwards to justify it by only shipping adopted family members, then they tell themselves that they don’t view it as incest, and might not tag it as “incest”. if someone is a racist, a homophobe, a transphobe, et cetera and they wrote bigotry into their fic (or else wrote a deliberate troll fic to trigger people on purpose), do you really think they’re going to tag it as racism / homophobia / transphobia / et cetera? and some people get kicks out of writing purposefully triggering content and either leaving it untagged or mistagging it so that people will read it unsuspectingly.

even for just general content tags, it’s a mess. people just forget to tag things all the time. people deliberately won’t tag the endgame ship of their fic because “it’s a spoiler heehee”. people use the romantic or sexual “x / y” tag instead of the platonic or otherwise “x & y” tag, sometimes by mistake sometimes on purpose. it’s a joked about issue how people will tag characters or ships that appear in their fic for two sentences.

there’s no standardization of tags, which is a pretty obvious problem. what first comes to mind is the “dead dove: do not eat” tag which should just not be a tag at all because it just has no meaning. depending on the individual fic writer using it, it could mean anything from “literally the most sickening and depraved thing you’ve ever read in your life” to “horror w/ gore”. but it applies to other vague tags too - different fic writers will have different ideas of what the tag means.

in addition to that, what is and isn’t made a filterable tag, what tags are made synonymous, et cetera, is entirely up to the whims of the site staff. as an example, if you’re trying to look for fanfiction of a singular animated disney movie, the infinite crossovers with other disney movies will not actually be counted as crossovers (which they are) because they’re classified as the “disney theatrical animated universe” (which isn’t a fucking thing), so you can’t filter them out the “exclude crossovers” way. if you try to filter out the fandom tag “disney theatrical animated universe”, it’ll show up with zero fics because that tag is synonymous with every disney animated film (regardless of if the fic author actually used the tag “disney theatrical animated universe” or not), thus also filtering out the one you actually wanted to find.

and do not get me fucking started on the “all media types tags”, which also just shouldn’t be a thing because it makes it fucking impossible to find the specific fics you’re looking for. some people use it in place of tagging a specific canon / adaptation when their fic very clearly draws from one specific canon / adaptation, and you can’t filter it out because it’s synonymous with every fandom tag under its umbrella.

as an example of the issues of both the “all media types” tag and mistagging in general: as a fan of the witcher books, it used to be a fucking ordeal to find fanfiction specifically for the books (post netflix show release). some show fans would, for whatever reason, tag their fics with the book fandom tag in addition to (or even in place of!!) the show fandom tag when their fics were unquestionably show-specific, meaning i could not simply search only in the book fandom tag. i could not simply filter out the show tag, because some show fans would, for whatever reason, tag as fucking “all media types”, when their fics were unquestionably show-specific. and alas, i could not filter out “all media types” and the show tag, so that i see only those fics which have been deliberately and exclusively tagged as the book, not only because as mentioned some show fans would tag their show fics with only the book tag, but also because the fucking all media types tag filters out the book tag as well, leaving me with zero fucking fics REGARDLESS of if the author actually used the “all media types” tag. now, thankfully, i’ve thankfully seen this issue in this specific fandom lessen, but it still occurs in other fandoms and i guarantee that it didn’t lessen in the witcher fandom because of any fixing of the site on the part of ao3 staff.

another common defense of ao3 freaks is that it’s an “archive”, and therefore can’t get rid of anything anyone posts, and disregarding the fact that that is not how archives fucking work, they don’t just allow anything and also ao3 DOES get rid of fics... when they say that they don’t like proshippers, apparently, archives have... you know... archivists. they have someone or a team of someones making sure that everything in the archive is *properly fucking categorized*. they have someone or multiple someones making sure that everything they recieve (1) belongs there and (2) is properly labeled and organized. same for libraries. meaning that if ao3 really were an archive and not a sub par fanfiction website, they’d have something like that in place. something as simple as a report button for fics with a review team that will see if something’s been mis- or untagged. they’d have some kind of standardization of tags (especially the warning / trigger tags) and have proper tagging enforced in some way. and then they could also do something like stop being spineless racists, queerphobes, and pedos have the barest minimum of content guidelines saying that you can’t post fucking hate speech.

if something is mistagged or untagged, the most you can do is leave a comment politely asking that the author fix the issue, and then hope and pray that they do that. and if that person thinks [insert form of abuse] is hot, or if they’re just straight up a bigot that wrote bigotry into their fics to be bigoted, or they’re a troll that gets kick out of deliberately traumatizing people by tricking them into reading their mis/untagged fics, they might not! AND if you see a major tagging issue on an orphaned work, or a work that has an inactive author / hasn’t been updated in forever, good fucking luck getting even a negative response.

you can’t permanently block tags (i mean even tumblr.hell has that), meaning that if you would like to search for fic without coming across something troubling, triggering, or just something you don’t like, you have to either (1) do a work around by having a bookmarked link for every fandom you’re in or every character you like with all of your tags already blocked, (2) download browser extensions that do the work for ao3 because they can’t be bothered themselves, or (3) input every individual tag every time you search ao3 and don’t forget that all of those options only fucking work at all when everything is tagged properly, and we’ve already established its not. you also can’t actually block people (you can only prevent them from commenting) meaning that if there’s a specific person you’d like to stay away from your fics or a specific fic author that you don’t like and would like to stop seeing their fics clogging up the tag, you’re out of luck (though for the latter you could insert “-[username]” into the “search within results” box, but then uh oh we’re right back around to having to input that every time or have a bookmark)

their archive warning system is shit. first of all it’s functionally useless because, as mentioned, “creator chose not to use archive warnings” is an option. what’s the fucking point of special required archive warnings if you’re going to allow people to opt out anyway. second of all, aside from “chose not to use warnings” and “no warnings apply”, the only warnings are “major character death”, “graphic depictions of violence”, “rape/non-con”, and “underage”. disregarding the fact that they shouldn’t be allowing porn of underage characters in the first place (but i’m talking to a brick wall on that issue) and that “non-con” (and “dub-con”) as terminology needs to die, it’s just fucking rape lets not use weasel words... this is a paltry list of possible warnings. there’s no official warnings for depictions of: domestic abuse, animal abuse, depictions of racism / homophobia / transphobia / et cetera, suicide, self harm, et cetera et cetera. and we return to the issue of standardization of tags. in your required archive warnings at very least, there should be a standardization of what these mean, but ao3′s own faq is just like “ehh... you decide. we’ll leave it up to you”. what qualifies as graphic depictions of violence? two people may write the same level of violence, but qualify “graphic” differently, and make different decisions regarding their warnings. and we also return to the issue of: if a freak doesn’t see something that is clearly rape as rape, they might not tag it as such.

this website gets a disgustingly large amount of money every year that it doesn’t fucking do anything with. it’s been over a decade and they’re still in fucking beta. features that would actually be useful, like an actual block system, don’t exist. they technically have a report system for abuse and harassment and such, but apparently what they qualify as abuse and harassment is fickle. ao3 defenders seem to be very proud of the legal work they do for fandom / fanfic authors, but they set aside a very small amount of the money they get every year for legal advocacy, and they actually use even less of that, because it’s not the early 2000s “anne rice hates fanfiction” era anymore - you aren’t going to get fucking sued for writing fanfiction in the first place. based on their own self-reported yearly cost of upkeep, they literally already have enough money to run the site as they are now for the next twenty years.

once again: ao3 is not an archive. it is not a library. it is barely a even a website.

#specifically a website run by freaks #who care more about ppl's 'fannish experience' than they do ppl of color abuse survivors and the real children ppl write p!rn of #anyway here's the rant i promised in the coming days since that one post #also i know people will come at me and say that dddne DOES have a meaning its a signal that the reader knows what theyre getting into #so cant be upset if it upsets them #or something along those lines #but (1) we've already well established that the reader very likely doesn't know what they're getting into #because a lot of the shit on ao3 is untagged or mistagged #and a lot of stuff with the dddne tag specifically isnt properly tagged because authors use dddne as a catch all #and just put that down instead of actually properly tagging their work #and as mentioned the authors that use it that way use it for literally anything that might make something uncomfortable #from the sickest shit there is to a little bit of gore #and you can say that those authors (who use it without also tagging what exactly they're talking about) are using the tag incorrectly #but oopsie! that then circles back around to (2) if someone is using a tag incorrectly there's no way to deal with that #other than a comment and a prayer #i speak #anti ao3 #anti archive of our own #fandom nonsense #my monologues

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ghl-osty · 4 months

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fanfiction

i’d like to talk about fanfiction real quick because there are some issues really frequently that can make or break a story. and they’re avoidable!! and it makes me so sad when i’m trying to read a good fanfic and there’s so many errors that i have to stop.

NAMES

so this is one i see surprisingly often… please make sure you know how to spell a character’s name when writing a fanfiction. it’s usually something small like damian vs. damien or lucas vs. lukas but to me it’s so distracting and disappointing when there’s a beautifully written story with a character’s name spelled wrong.

SPELLING

this is a big one, too. when writing, some people don’t always have a spell check or an editor built in to their platform. if that’s you, please triple check your work! and here are a few frequent ones i see-

-shook vs. shock

i shook his hand

i was in shock that she did such a horrible thing

-peaked vs. piqued

-he looked like he peaked in high school

-they piqued my interest

blonde vs blond

-she had blonde hair

-he had blond hair

blonde is a gendered word. i’m not actually sure how it’s used with nonbinary people, let me know!

their, there, and they’re

-it was theirs

-she’s over there

-they were scared, and now they’re not

remember that they’re is a contraction of they are!

quite vs. quiet

she tried to be quiet, not making any noise.

they were quite bored with this whole event.

(thank you to @nathaaaan for the suggestion)

SERIES VS. SERIE

i watched a really good series yesterday

serie isn’t actually a word…

BILINGUAL CHARACTERS

please, please, please do some research if you write a character who speaks another language. even if it’s reading other fanfictions to figure out how your character’s language fits in with the language you’re writing with.

-having a character to say that it’s ’hard to switch back’ is… unrealistic at best. i wouldn’t recommend using it.

-please gender the words correctly! in most of the romance languages, words are gendered. make sure to add that in!

REPETITION

unless you’re going for a gimmick, i’d be careful with repetition. having a character say something more than once, especially in the same sentence, can be annoying and makes the dialogue sound forced.

especially the word antics…. i literally had to put a fic down because ‘antics’ was in every other sentence.

ex: “Lily sighed, annoyed. She was so annoyed!”

(yes this is a real actual example with the character name changed. don’t let this be you.)

FORMATTING

i think this can be overlooked a lot but format is important!!!

-paragraph breaks!! seeing a huge chunk of words with absolutely no breaks is overwhelming. add some space!

-“the punctuation goes inside the quotations.” he said

-i know i’m being a bit of a hypocrite, but capitalization! names, beginning of sentences, and places!! if you don’t capitalize, at least be consistent with it!

“This is how fanfiction, or really any writing, should be formatted.” Eli said with a smile

“And every new sentence should be a paragraph break,” interjected Alex, “Unless you’re going for a certain style. In which case, you do you.”

Eli sighed. “That’s true, Alex. What OP didn’t know was that tumblr has a formatting issue, so that when she posts this, the paragraph breaks won’t show! She hopes she fixed it. But it might not work!”

“We can always imagine the bullet points as paragraph breaks.”

-friendly neighborhood reminder that paragraph breaks happen when introducing a new idea as well!

-bolds and italics are important.

“I told him not to go,” acceptable, a bit dry.

“I told him not to go,” exquisite, flavorful.

and as always. please make sure they’re talking like people. not disney sitcom characters.

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE TENSE

you would not believe how much i see this messed up. and it’s easy to get wrong. remember, you can always look something up if you aren’t sure. but stay consistent with your tenses!

past tense

She walked up to the drab, grey building, trembling. As she pulled the door open, a bell rang, signaling her arrival.

this one’s probably the most used. notice that it’s almost like we’re retelling the story, after it’s already happened (hence past tense)

present tense

She walks up to the drab, grey building, trembling. She pulls the door open, and a bell rings to signal her arrival.

we have to change quite a few words for the same sentence to make sense in present tense.

future tense

She’ll walk up to the drab, grey building, trembling. She’ll pull the door open, and a bell will ring to signal her arrival.

i honestly don’t think i’ve ever seen future tense used in a novel unless it’s used in dialogue. but it’s almost as if you’re speaking hypothetically about an event.

but please make sure you’re consistent with these! don’t use one and then switch to another!!

but all in all just double check your writing, always!!! there are so many good works out there that could be great.,… if you don’t have someone to beta read you can always send it to me or put it in word <3

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mountinez · 1 year

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You did not break me I'm still fighting for peace

Date & Time by Phil Kaye // Rhythms of Rebirth by Christian Bosse // Lisandro Martinez has elevated Manchester United’s defence to a whole new level // Elastic Heart by Sia // Antony of Brazil praises Lisandro Martínez // Don't Forget Who You Are by Miles Kane // Giorgio Chiellini admits he made mistake about Lisandro Martinez // Be Still by The killers

#lisandro martinez #manchester united #licha martinez #licha tag #premier league #elastic heart #this song has everything to do with him #web weaving #well hi guys!#i'm not officially back but i felt the need to post this after seeing his post #he is positive so i'm trying to build something in my mind #i'm not 100% good or in the mood to back to tumblr #i've got y'alls asks and chats and texts and i'll answer each one of you #love y'all so much and didn't want to worry anyone #i'm okayish just sad and unmotivated #thought about deleting this tumblr a million times after his injury but i didn't and i won't #also i'm writing lots of fics and i promise to post something soon on ao3 #i'll be back #i promise!

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tequiilasunriise · 1 year

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Wenclair is great as goth x pastels, sunshine x storm cloud, black cat x golden retriever, sun and moon life and death yin and yang etc etc etc-

BUT!

Have y’all considered how perfectly their vibes encapsulate:

✨ao3 gf x wattpad gf✨

Headcanons below! This got super long sorry not sorry!

Enid is SO a trashy unapologetic wattpad writer who uses text to speech to throw together her surprisingly popular fanfics

Wednesday is a sophisticated ao3 user who secretly enjoys getting constructive criticism of her novels and other short stories that she posts there

Enid is the typa author to reply to EVERY comment with heartfelt messages and plenty of emojis

Wednesday is the typa author to never reply to comments but deep down enjoys the kudos and compliments

Enid is a oneshot funshot queen, meanwhile Wednesday has several multi-chapter works going on at the same time

Enid has a super spontaneous updating schedule where she’ll post when she posts

Wednesday updates her works every Wednesday (on the nose I know) and follows a STRICT schedule, she has never missed an update day not fer anything ever

Enid prolly has a cutesy username like ‘kittygotclaws’ or smth idk I dont go on wattpad

Wednesday goes by ‘DaysEnd’ on ao3 and REALLY it's quite on the nose

Everyone knows of Enid's wattpad acc bc she openly talks about it even on her blog, everytime a fic hits some sorta milestone she flexes it to the whole friend group like some sorta proud soccer mom

Wednesday is SUPER SECRETIVE about her ao3 acc, Thing is the only soul who knows of it bc he helps beta read

DaysEnd being a rising ao3 fan favorite amongst the Nevermore student body omg so true so slay of you Miss Addams (she tells Thing she does not care for such popularity but deep down revels in people actually appreciating her work, unlike some publishers out there)

They really like her strong imagery, plot twists, and her stories are pretty gore-heavy but the narration is quite compelling (seriously, she goes so in depth on random macabre shit like different types of murders, ways to cover up said murders, poisons and upkeep on daggers and all this dark shit etc etc that a popular comment she’ll get is ‘hey not to be rude but whats your search history like because how do you KNOW all this??’)

Meanwhile Enid mainly writes fanfics of her fav kpop bands and other OTPs that are often AUs or canon divergent heavy, sometimes she’ll pop off with the most hilarious fanfic that is pure CRACK

That being said, Enid’s works have some pretty damn good dialogue I just know it in my bones that she’s a character driven type of writer

Her emotional introspection is also? Surprisingly good?? Like damn when the feels hit they HIT, Enid is definitely the type to write the fluffest fluff, the angstiest angst, and the most cathartic hurt/comfort you’ll ever read if you make the conscious decision to look past her occasional grammatical errors and other typos

Wednesday’s original works, on the other hand, definitely aren't as much of a heartthrob, they’re probably more plot driven with less space for overly descriptive emotional scenes (both writing styles are valid as hell, mind you)

One day Enid discovers Wednesday’s secret ao3 and lives to tell the tale because deep down Miss Addams is a GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY

In exchange for keeping hush hush, Wednesday has to become Enid’s full-time beta reader for every. Single. Fic.

Wednesday HATES such drivel but agrees to such terms in order to keep her secret safe, much to Thing’s teasing delight over how soft she is for her fellow writer (“For producing such literary muck, she does not even deserve the privilege to tarnish such a title.” “I know what you are, Wednesday.” “What kind of threat is that?”)

I mean that being said, Wednesday gets low key invested in the sapphic otp fanfics Enid seems to have a penchant for writing when the fic isn’t kpop centered, her interest stems from uh nooooo reassooonnn noshutupThingthisdoesntmeananything-

When Enid brings up branching out to writing about OCs like Wednesday does-

Wednesday hates fandom terms like ‘OCs’ btw

-Wednesday encourages Enid to branch out in a very… Wednesdayish way

Like, she’s supportive but you gotta unpeel at least three layers of deflection and deadpanning to get to the real meaning

So yeah!! Enid branches out and starts writing silly little oneshots about various OCs, and if Wednesday notes that all of the stories revolve around gay characters, and if Thing notices how invested Wednesday gets in these silly little sapphics to point where he keeps commenting on it….

Andddd that’s the story of how Enid came back to the dorm with Thing being locked up in the drawer while Wednesday is burying her face in her pillow in what looks like a half-hearted attempt of suffocating herself

Anyways Wednesday’s repressed ass starts to ‘vent’ in her fanfics, if people start noticing DaysEnd incorporating more romance into their works no they don't stfu

It gets to the point where she ‘confesses’ to Enid by having Viper confesses to this new bubbly character that was recently introduced (“These feelings you have plagued me with, you make me sick,” said Viper, “And for my sake, I hope there is no cure.”)

Enid, with a lot I mean a metric fuckton of persuasion from Thing, eventually picks up on this and confesses back

Cue Wednesday beta reading Enid’s latest wattpad work and noticing how it’s about two polar opposite roomates who somehow make it work, and when the cheery one says to the gloomy one, “I also hope there’s no cure for the way I feel about you” it suddenly all clicks for Wednesday

Anyways fanfic gfs who slay together stay together <333

#super fucken long post sorry not sorry #if i wasnt super mega burnout i mightve committed to making this a fully fleshed out fanfic #all well!! maybe sometime in the future we shall see no promises tho #ur honor theyre writer gfs on completely different ends of the spectrum but so supportive of the other's creative endeavors regardless #love that fer them no one else doing it like wenclair #i am personally an ao3 writer who is more enid-adjacent when it comes to my writing #i love love LOVE emotional scenes and character driven works #MAD respect to the multi-chapter overlords tho yall the backbone of our society fr fr #wenclair warriors rise up #wenclair #wednesday addams #enid sinclair

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t00thpasteface · 10 months

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Arcade and King's first meeting~

both of my fics so far ([1], [2]) are meetcutes because i fucking love writing meetcutes, but It Must Be Said: the funniest possible scenario is if arcade was the follower that the king knocked unconscious. i know somebody else wrote that, so i didn't want to cramp their style, but the idea still lives in my head rent-free because it's so fucking FUNNY. it totally nerfs the king's charisma.

other possible first meetings i might try writing:

the courier is dragging arcade and veronica around town for errands and charity work; they meet with king once or twice, and the whole time arcade is like 0_0 staring at the king while awkwardly standing several feet behind the courier

arcade has a genuine issue with something some of the kings were doing (unresolved water pump drama or something else?) and he's like well i'm going to speak to the manager about this. surely he won't charm and woo me!

super top secret independent vegas collusion meeting (either hosted by the courier OR as some established ongoing thing since the ncr moved in) and the king talking about anarchy has arcade immediately hot and bothered. after we're done plotting how to overthrow mr house and fight against the ncr and legion simultaneously do you want to go get coffee or something

the king straight up decides he's going to nail one of the followers to secure that sweet sweet political alliance. arcade immediately figures the scheme out and intervenes like "hey look i don't want you to use my colleagues for your own ends so how about we fake date if that helps your image" and then, well, you know...

#i'm spitballing on these asks bc i wanna save the actual writing for a proper fic to post on ao3 and not squander it here #i promise arcking fic number 3 is NOT going to have a costello song title. i swear i won't do it. well maybe #shebbz shoutz #fallout new vegas #arcade gannon #the king fnv #kingcade #ask

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zukkaoru · 8 months

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🥃 look what we became 🥃

Chuuya freezes. He looks over his shoulder, and Dazai chooses to not know what emotion is shining in his eyes. “You think I care enough to spare you that pain?” “No,” Dazai answers honestly. “In fact, I think you love me enough that you don’t have a choice but to hurt me.”

two months after dazai leaves the mafia, chuuya finds him in bar lupin

🥃 1.8k words || soukoku 🥃 (slightly) edited version of this fic based on an ask game prompt from brooke

#skk #soukoku #dazai osamu #chuuya nakahara #bsd #bungou stray dogs #dachuu #i am going to slowly start making my way through editing the fics i have finished and sitting in my google docs #i promise. i'm gonna do it for real this time.#they're starting to pile up a little too much for my taste #anyway this one was technically already posted but i wanted it up on my ao3 too and it was the shortest one to edit #grace's writing tag

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indigopoptart · 4 months

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hello!

#aha! a familiar friendly face!#how i’ve missed you!!!#also I PROMISE I HAVE STAMPS STUFF. I JUST DONT WANT TO POST IT BC OF THE AO3 ZIONIST SHIT.#i have morals <3 🫶#i think i may reupload everything to here—with doodles!#but hello again!#it is Lovely to see you!#i hope you and your sister are doing alright :3 #indigo speaks #ask indigo

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hiding-under-the-willow · 10 months

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look at my fanfic boy

#atlas.art #artists on tumblr #who killed markiplier #wkm oc #markiplier tv #it feels so weird posting on ao3 for the first time in 2 years I have to keep telling myself it's just for funnsies it's not that serious #anyways read it or whatever lol #do links still stop stuff from showing up in tags? I can't keep track of the bugs on this website at this point #this silly cover drawing took so long I literally gave up on shading it its just been haunting me in the photoshop menu for like a month #it's fucking cool though #for the record I've got like eight chapters written for this already I just have not decided on a posting schedule yet #probably once a week until I catch up with the backlog at that point I make no promises in terms of timely updates lol #anyways I'm gonna stop rambling in the tags because at this point I think I'm just stalling posting this #inheritancefic

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babygirlharrington · 2 years

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Steddie Fic Rec #3

One Last Class - DragonsFlight

Summary: Dustin enlists Steve to help tutor Eddie so he can graduate.

Explicit, WIP. No triggers, as far as I know. Dustin has a scheme and Steve is, as in canon, a shitty tutor.

standing up the dead - heartofwinterfell @nancywheeeler

Summary: Max and Eddie in the astral plane.

Teen, WIP. Eddie and Max trauma-bond while they try to get back to REAL Hawkins. Max misses (real) Lucas and Eddie doesn’t realise he misses (real) Steve so much? right where i belong - Macellarius

Summary: “You’re a fucking virgin?” Steve blurts out excitedly. Or, a weekend of firsts with Steve and Eddie, who are navigating life and love in the aftermath. (Or, the Varsity Sweater fic.)

Explicit, Complete. This is part of the author’s series, slowly learning that life is okay, which part I is also very worth reading. You Just Keep Me Hanging On - DiscoSuperFly

Summary: Hobbies have taken over Fireman Steve's life, he's taking a slow path to find his joy, selling his honey and beeswax products at a local Farmers Market he runs into someone from his past and they're pulled into each other's orbit.

Explicit, Complete. Just two farmer’s market boys living out their little farmer’s market dreams. Very fucking cute. If you want to walk out of hell - RedCytosine @redcytosine

Summary: Eddie makes a miraculous escape from the Upside Down, only to find that while he may have returned to the Shire, Mordor is not finished with him yet. Or, Eddie, found family, a slow romance, and how to save the world.

Mature, WIP. This fic has lots of chapters (and hopefully will have lots more!) and is a very interesting twist on the Kas theory. luckiest man in the world - ghosttotheparty @ghosttotheparty

“Jesus. Imagine that. I’m twenty-one, wanted for murder, thought to be dead, never graduated high school. And I still get to be the luckiest man in the world.”

Mature, Complete. TW for PTSD. Healthy communication between two horny and traumatized lads. Skindeep- HolographicBunny

Summary: Steve just wanted to help Robin sit through her first tattoo. He didn't plan for a certain metal head to come stumbling into his life. Not that he is complaining. Okay, maybe he is complaining a little bit because that’s what he does.

Explicit, WIP. Steve is supposed to be Robin’s hand to hold while she gets her first tattoo. Steve ends up being the one needing his hand held by the end of the appointment. cuddles and cat naps - murdertrashbabyrat @murdertrashbabyrat

Summary: Steve is so relieved that he's getting a few hours of nightmare-free rest for once, that he doesn't notice he's neck deep in a sexuality crisis and that it's all Eddie Munson's fault. Thank god Steve has people like Robin to pull his head out of his ass.

Explicit, WIP. Eddie and his adopted kitten tag-team to make sure Steve gets some goddamn sleep. Lifes For The Living - Cherrycolatree @raspberrycolapop

Summary: Eddie Munson survives but ends up in a coma. Steve Harrington visits him everyday and slowly falls in love with someone who’s barely part of the living world anymore.

Explicit, Complete. Steve realizes he’d been in love with Eddie before, during, and now after his coma. Mallrat - ozwrites @babygirlharrington

Summary: Eddie takes Mike, Dustin, and Lucas to the nerd store. On the way back to the lot, they pass The Gap, Zales, Jazzercise, and-

“Jesus Christ, dude is that Steve?!”

Explicit, Complete. Steve in his lil’ Scoops outfit. Yes, another act of shameless self-advocacy for this one before I drop a new fic.

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fortheloveofexy · 10 months

Note

Hey!! I was wondering if once your done writing Into The Deep, could you maybe do 2 updates a week instead of 1?

Hi! So, I'm already considering doing this, and as I only have three chapters left to write, I very well may end up doing so.

That said - please, please don't ask me things like this. If you're familiar with my typical fic update schedules, it's very rare for me to be able to stick to a regular, weekly updates. I am an extremely busy person, and weekly updates are already a huge lift for me to squeeze in.

Into The Deep is very much an anomaly for me in terms of how consistent the updates have been, and achieving that consistency required me plotting out the fic a full year in advance, doing a ton of research, and several months of writing ahead of time before the first chapter was even posted.

I've put in a ton of work into this fic and have a lot more planned for this AU as a whole, so if I decide to stick to just the weekly Sunday updates, please know I am doing so for a very good reason (i.e. the fic is growing, I'm working on spin-offs, I don't have time and/or I just need a break).

#asks #ask crow #i hope this didnt come off as harsh bc thats not how i intended it #and I hope that i do have the time/energy/ability to update more frequently once all the chapters are written #but I dont want to commit to multiple updates per week in case things change as I finish writing the ending #plus there are literally just some nights where I do not have the time to post things on ao3 #i work 40-50 hours a week and attend uni full time yall #plus im involved in like 4 other projects outside of into the deep right now #i'm doing my best but I cannot promise anything

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paimonial-rage · 5 months

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For people that enjoy my bookkeeping!verse series, I am planning on editing and revamping all of my previous chapters and posting it to Ao3. I understand that it's difficult following chaptered works on Tumblr, so hopefully that'll make updates easier to follow. I'll let you all know when it gets uploaded. ;v;b

#personal #it definitely will not all be uploaded at once though #i think quite a few of the chapters need a decent amount of work #i feel that my writing style has changed a decent amount since i started writing on here and like....#the earlier chapters are very choppy in a way i don't like haha #i'm going to do my best to revamp them in a way that doesn't change too much but no promises #i know i reblog my bookkeeping!verse fics when i release them but it's because like.....#a lot of people follow me specifically for that series so i don't want them to miss it #i doubt most people are regularly looking for new fics on tumblr on a daily basis or follow the zhongli x reader tag #the only hard thing i have about the whole posting it to ao3 thing is that idk what to tag them as #not to go into character analysis mode but like zhongli is a very difficult person to figure out romance wise #i can't say for certain if this series will have a clear romantic ending #so idk if i want to tag it as zhongli x reader or zhongli & reader #i don't want to lie to the audience #it's hard orz

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solalunar-eclipse · 8 months

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Sonic Boom - S3E12

Chapter title: Schrödinger's Hedgehog, Part 1

Summary: The final mystery about Shadow begins. Who is he, really? Why has he always stayed distant from others? What is his story?

This four-part special will answer all of those questions and more.

AO3 Link

First | Previous | Next

[Scene opens on the six heroes playing volleyball. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails have formed one team, leaving Amy, Sticks, and Shadow on the other.]

“Knux! Knux! I’m open, let me spike it!” Sonic shouted, leaping into the air. The echidna obligingly passed it to him, helping their team score a point as Sonic smashed it into the sand. Shadow teleported in front of the ball before it could roll into the forest and carried it back, shooting Sonic an absolutely deadly look in the process (whether for scoring a point or for making him go get the ball, it wasn’t entirely clear).

“Come on, guys, we won’t lose to them, will we?” Amy insisted, doing her best to inspire her teammates. Carefully, she served the ball, giving Sticks an opportunity to set it over the net. After a few more minutes of tense play, Tails stumbled in the sand, giving Shadow a perfect opening to spike the ball himself. He smirked, making direct eye contact with Sonic as his palm connected with the volleyball.

Unfortunately for him, the angle of his hand turned out to be just ever so slightly off. He realized this quickly, only seconds before all the others, and his expression shifted into one of mild horror before his hand had even left the ball. It was obvious enough that the moment he landed, everyone else automatically turned towards the water, waiting for the splash of an out-of-bounds shot.

Instead, they all watched, mildly stunned, as it sailed over the horizon.

The moment Shadow landed in the sand, they turned back to him, staring incredulously. He winced. “I guess I hit it harder than I meant to.” he said nervously into the silence.

Suddenly, the entire team exploded in cheers and laughter. “Man, that was awesome!” Sonic cried.

“I just wish I’d gotten it on video.” Tails sighed wistfully.

Sticks walked up to the group, smiling one of her rare genuine smiles. “This’ll be one of those stories we’ll talk about for years, won’t it?”

“You know it!” Knuckles cheered excitedly.

Meanwhile, Shadow just smiled awkwardly and wished with all his might (despite all of the positive attention he was getting) that he hadn’t done it at all.

…

[The same intro sequence plays as last time, but Shadow is slightly less irritated. He still refuses to play along with the others, but is no longer outright angry. If anything, he looks slightly amused by the others and their antics.]

[There is no villain reveal in this episode, however, and so Dr. Eggman is introduced like an ordinary character (since he is one of the main characters of the show, as he himself would inform anyone at the slightest provocation).]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

…

After the abrupt ending to their volleyball game, the team decided to wander around town and see if there was anything else interesting to do. In Shadow’s opinion, the simple fact that the other five existed was entertaining enough to count as ‘interesting’ all on its own, but they didn’t seem to agree.

Approximately two and a half seconds after they stepped across the town’s border, an extraordinarily loud shriek of “My baby!” was heard, and everyone except for Shadow (who hadn’t experienced this enough to get sick of it yet) groaned.

“Not this again!” Sonic complained, even as the entire team headed in the direction of the shout to investigate.

“Does this woman know the first thing about childcare?” Amy sighed. “You’re not supposed to keep your eyes off your child for any extended period of time!”

Once the six made it to the scene, they discovered that this time, the baby in question had somehow managed to clamber up to the top of the highest building in town. They were currently attempting to climb the spire at the very top, but kept on slipping each time.

Sonic sighed. “Can someone else keep the baby from falling today? I’m just not feeling it right now.”

“I got it! I’m great at climbing!” Knuckles said, immediately digging his spikes into the side of the building and hauling himself onto the roof. He was just in time, too, as the baby’s most recent attempt to clamber up the extremely thin spire ended in a near disaster. They completely lost their grip on the metal pole, and began to slide down the roof towards the edge—on the opposite side from Knuckles.

Just as the baby was about to slide over the edge, the echidna dove across the roof, caught the baby in one arm, and then rolled off the side before catching himself on the gutter with his other hand. Gently, he dropped to the ground and handed the baby back to their delighted mother…who immediately wandered off to resume her shopping, not even bothering to give him the praise he deserved.

Thankfully, his friends were there to do that for her.

“Ohmygosh, Knuckles, that was actually so cool!” Tails cried, his eyes wide. “Where’d you learn tricks like that?”

“Oh, you know.” Knuckles said, and then didn’t elaborate.

“No, we don’t, actually.” Sticks replied, giving him a slightly bewildered look.

“I mean, living alone in the wilderness for most of your formational and adolescent years means you learn all kinds of cool survival stuff.” Knuckles explained. “Have you…oh right, you guys have always had houses! I forgot that not everyone is new to this house thing like me.”

“You…forgot?” Amy asked, frowning.

“Yep!” Knuckles smiled cheerfully, clearly unaware that it was abnormal to have spent most of one’s life on this island without a house.

Now that the latest crisis had been averted, the team continued throughout the town in search of something at least as exciting as a baby almost dying.

“Oh, wow!” Tails gasped when they passed the movie theater, running up to the front doors. He pointed at a poster excitedly. “Look at this, guys! I can’t believe the theater is actually getting the new Tommy Thunder movie! It’s coming out next week, and see, it’s called Rise of the Robot Overlords! It’ll be so cool to see someone fighting robots on the big screen just like us!”

Shadow twitched, his legs slowing down automatically. The poster depicted Tommy Thunder (obviously) stabbing one robot through the chest with a massively oversized sword and shooting another robot’s head off with an equally massively oversized gun.

Shadow wrenched his eyes away from the image with great difficulty, staring at the ground instead.

Amy shrugged. “I’m glad you’re excited, but we fight robots every day! What’s so special about these ones? They’re all just there to get destroyed in battle or blown up anyway.”

The striped hedgehog opened his mouth to speak, before shutting it again.

“They’re made with really cool special effects, that’s all!” Tails said, his eyes sparkling. “Plus, I always like to see if I can figure out what’s a model and what’s CG.”

Sticks’s eyes grew so wide it was a surprise that they didn’t take up most of their face. “Wait, hang on, why is nobody talking about the title of the movie?! Rise of the WHAT? They’re not even hiding their plans anymore! Everybody! Find food and shelter while you still can!” they screamed, running around the town at top speed.

[Their shrieking is still faintly audible for most of the rest of the scene.]

Shadow winced again, before doing his best to mask it as something brought on by Sticks screaming.

Knuckles frowned. “I dunno, Tails…your robots are cool, but I don’t trust any of the others. Most of them are either made by Eggman or don’t do what they’re supposed to. Or both!”

Tails folded his arms. “What about FriendBot? Or Q-N-C and MAIA?” he asked, not noticing the way Shadow outright flinched. “They were helpful!”

“Oh, are you guys talking about robots?” Eggman asked, strolling up with his arms full of grocery bags.

“Yeah!” Tails said. “Knuckles thinks that most robots are bad, and Amy thinks they’re boring.”

“Wait, where did you come from?” Amy asked the doctor suspiciously.

“I heard someone talking about robots—which is my specialty, in case you hadn’t noticed—and decided that the conversation would undoubtedly be improved by my input!” Eggman said proudly. “Also, I came from the grocery store. Could you not tell that by the fact that I am currently holding groceries?”

Amy sighed, pinching her brow, and refused to dignify that with a response.

Eggman rolled his eyes, returning to the original conversation. “They’re plenty helpful! All you have to do is keep reminding them that they’re replaceable, or else they’ll start getting all high and mighty about ‘wages’ and stuff like that. I mean, do you remember that time mine went on strike? It was a disaster!”

“They are not replaceable!” Amy cried. “Bea is absolutely unique, and I love her very much!”

“So are you saying that not all robots are boring, then?” Tails replied smugly.

Amy huffed. “Not all of them! I’d never generalize like that. But look at all of the ones in this movie! They’re faceless and boring, like those Sentinel things. Bea has much more personality than this!”

Shadow cringed at the sound of the word ‘Sentinel’. He began carefully moving towards the side of the movie theater, hoping to escape this conversation.

“Hey Shadow!” Sonic called, making him freeze in his tracks. The hero had bought a box of popcorn and was leaning against a wall, watching the others as they argued. “What do you think of robots?”

“I…don’t have much of an opinion on them.” he said, measuring each word carefully. “Lyric’s robots were awful for the most part, but the doctor’s are less so.”

Sonic ate another handful of popcorn before replying. “Fair enough! I just figure, if they’re cool and can help us, then sure, they’re great! But otherwise, I’m happy smashing them. Tails is the one with all the gadgets—I can live with or without ‘em.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense.” Shadow said quietly.

[The camera cuts to show him clenching his fists at his sides, tightly enough that his claws begin to pierce the fabric of his gloves.]

Suddenly, a violent rumble shook the ground, making everyone reel and struggle to keep their balance. Sticks skidded to a stop next to the rest of the group, dropping down to all fours immediately. “Earthquake!” they screeched.

The moment that the first wave had passed, the heroes sprang into action. “Alright!” Sonic cried. “Everyone, get into a doorway or under a table! You’ll be safe there until this thing is over!”

He and Shadow began to rush around the village, helping the people who were stuck outside with nowhere to go. Meanwhile, the others began rapidly to get those closer nearby to safety, switching into ‘hero mode’ with ease.

Except for Eggman, of course. He just leapt into his Eggmobile and flew away to his island (though he did help one or two people before leaving, and immediately swore them to secrecy on pain of death).

Sonic dashed back to the movie theater, tucking himself under the ticket counter with the others just as the second wave began. They all linked hands as quake after quake passed through, riding it out until the very end.

The moment it ended, the hero checked on Tails first, making sure his little brother was okay. “I’m fine, Sonic!” he insisted, waving the hedgehog away fondly. “I was right here with you, wasn’t I?”

“Everyone else alright?” he asked, checking in on the rest of his friends.

“All good here!” Amy replied, smiling at him. “Sticks and Knuckles seem fine to me too. How’s Shadow?”

“Shadow?” Sonic frowned. “Wasn’t he with you?”

“No, the last time I saw him was when he was running around with you.” she insisted.

Suddenly, they all realized the same thing at once. “Then…where is Shadow?” Amy whispered.

Sonic turned pale. “Oh, no…”

[cut to commercials]

[…]

[fade back in]

When the show returned, the entire team was already rushing all over the village, searching for Shadow. Tails was busy scanning for life signs from above, while Sonic sped throughout the streets as quickly as he could, hoping to spot Shadow safe and sound anywhere at all. Amy asked around, searching for clues as to where he’d been seen last, and Sticks and Knuckles took the more direct approach of simply digging through rubble at random in hopes of stumbling upon him.

After several tense minutes, including more than a few futile calls of his rival-turned-friend’s name, Sonic stumbled upon the little pink porcupine who had been a fan of his in times past weeping on the ground.

“Mister?” she sobbed. “Mister, please, get up…”

Sonic felt his body go cold. “Hey there, kiddo.” he said softly, forcing his face into a noticeably false smile. “What happened?”

“That hedgehog, he—he saved me,” she whimpered, “‘cause the big house was gonna fall on me but it fell on him instead!” She began to wail openly, and Sonic hugged her, his body moving on autopilot. He sent an SOS to the rest of the team, calling them to his position.

“Oh my…” Amy whispered, the first to arrive.

Tails and Knuckles held each other quietly as they appeared on the scene, and even Sticks found her usual energy vanishing as she saw what had happened. However, she was also the first to step forward and take charge, since she was (somehow) the most no-nonsense of them all at times.

“We should start by clearing off all of…this.” she said, gesturing at the house covering Shadow.

Immediately, all five of them began to clear away the ruins of the house. At first, the porcupine girl helped a little, but they soon returned her to her mother, not wanting her to see whatever might lie underneath. Sonic dug frantically until Tails pulled him back for a quick hug, which he silently accepted. Sticks worked more methodically, Amy smashed bigger rocks into easier-to-lift chunks, and Knuckles hauled the biggest rocks of all out of the way. Tails mostly showed them where to dig without making the rubble collapse and crumble any further than it already had.

Soon enough, Shadow was exposed, and Knuckles carefully lifted his limp body out of the ruins of the house. Tails leaned over to listen for a moment, before sighing with relief. “I can hear his heartbeat.” he announced, letting the entire team relax for the first time in nearly an hour.

The fox flew with Knuckles as he carried Shadow back to the workshop, while the other three stayed behind to clean up a bit of the mess. It was very clear that they were struggling, though—Sonic couldn’t seem to stop tapping his feet, even when he was working, and Amy clutched her hammer like a lifeline. Sticks figured it made sense. They were two of the most exuberant and friendly people on the team, and they’d been the first ones to befriend Shadow. Of course they’d be the most nervous about him now.

As soon as the three were done fixing up what they could, Sonic dragged them back to the workshop as quickly as he possibly could. He burst through the doors frantically, looking everywhere for a glimpse of Shadow.

“Is he okay?” he asked fearfully, rushing over to Tails.

“I think so.” the fox replied. “I just can’t make sense of these pulse readings!”

“Does he need CPR?” Amy asked. “I’ve taken a couple of certification courses, just in case.”

“It’s not that…his heart’s beating just fine.” Tails explained. “It’s just that—you know how our hearts beat twice per cycle? Like this.” He tapped out a double rhythm on the table. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

“Yeah?” Sonic said. “What’s this have to do with Shadow, pal?”

“His heart isn’t doing that. It sounds more like this.” Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Is that safe?” Knuckles wondered nervously.

“I…I just don’t know.” Tails muttered, disappointed. “It’s like whenever I try to scan him for injuries, something stops my machines from seeing what’s inside him. Like, they say the scan is finished and then a blank image of his insides pops up.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have any organs for you to scan.” Sticks’s eyes darted from side to side suspiciously.

“Sticks, that’s downright impossible!” Tails exclaimed. “There’s no way anyone could live without organs.”

“Maybe no one on this planet.” Sticks whispered. “But aliens could.”

Tails sighed, shook his head, and went back to recalibrating his machines.

Hours passed, and Shadow still didn’t stir. Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic had gone into the house to eat, even though none of them seemed particularly hungry. Tails suspected they just needed a break from worrying about their friend.

Sticks was still standing there, watching the prone hedgehog carefully. “It doesn’t make sense.” they murmured to themselves at one point. “If he was strong enough to break through my defenses, then he should be strong enough to deal with a house…”

Suddenly, while Tails’s back was turned, they crept up to where Shadow was lying. They’d never trusted machines before, and these scanner failures were just proving them right. Whether Shadow was an alien or not, he was still their friend, and they were determined to help however they could.

(Though they thought it would be very exciting if he was an alien.)

Carefully, they held his wrist and took his pulse themself. It did feel strange, but it was very faint and difficult to read through the glove. Despite that, though, Sticks was certain that whatever this was…

…it definitely wasn’t a hedgehog’s heart.

Determined to learn more, they began to carefully slide off his glove, feeling a tiny bit guilty but pressing forward anyway. If Shadow’s survival depended on uncovering his potential secrets, then a single glove couldn’t stand in the way of that.

They closed their eyes as it slid off, before peeking quickly. What they saw made their eyes widen and their fur stand on end.

“Tails?” they said weakly.

“Yeah? What is it, Sticks?”

“You, uh…might wanna come over here for a sec.”

“Did you find something new? Is—”

The moment he noticed what Sticks had seen, he froze.

“Oh, Chaos.” the two-tailed fox breathed, already reaching for his communicator.

[screen fades to black]

[Sticks complains, “Seriously? A cliffhanger now?! The government is trying to silence me! Don’t let them win!”]

[roll credits]

#sonic boom #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #sticks the badger #shadow the hedgehog #sonic boom: ancient secrets #sol's fanfiction #hope you all enjoyed!#i'm going to repeat what i said over on ao3:#the next chapter is mostly done #BUT #i'm trying to build up a bit of a posting buffer so the next chapter may not appear for a couple of weeks #however i can absolutely promise you all that this will not be left on a cliffhanger for a year #i wouldn't do that

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