#many wips all a mess while I scramble to write

[elvenbeard]

I'm still standing- for the wip ask game please!

Aaahhh thanks so much for asking!! :DD

"I'm still standing" is the chapter in with Vince and Jackie meet for the first time :3 It's set in early 2067. I really loved writing it and putting Vince in probably the most dangerous situation he's ever been in his life up until this point, because it would be a formative moment on how he deals with those kinds of threats and shows how he makes his decisions. Also I really enjoyed thinking about the dynamics of the group of Valentinos Jackie was with at the time and sort of teasing that he wouldn't be a full member of them for long anymore at that point. I'll include a few snippets that show all of that with some context :D

At first Vince stumbled into a group of Valentinos who want to take his mothers car, that he "borrowed" and unknowingly parked in their neighborhood. Their leader ("Gold-Jaw") is threatening and slowly approaching him, while the rest of the group watches tensely.

Gold-Jaw was about three yards away. Vincent focused on him, a quick scan of his opulent hardware revealing many ways to mess him up. He took a deep breath, then made his pick. The Valentino screamed and winced when the joints in his artificial knees spasmed, sparks flying as he stumbled to the ground cursing. Vincent took off, running right past him towards the Caliburn. Two more of the Valentinos screeched, their optics bursting, their nervous systems overloaded for just long enough to throw them off. Vincent fumbled in his coat pocket for the keycard, pushed past the first of the blinded Valentinos, then the next. He pulled out the card, the door of the car swinging open, the cozy white interior beckoning him like a safe haven. The next thing he knew was that concrete was just as hard and rough as it looked. He fell onto his side hard, heard the fabric of his coat tear at the shoulder seam. Before he fully realized what had happened a flash of gold struck his face, then again, someone holding him down with their entire weight on his chest, making it hard to even breathe. He scrambled to somehow defend himself, raising his left arm above his face, with his right simultaneously reaching for the keycard he had dropped on impact. It had landed not far away next to the rear wheel of the car. He’d gotten so fucking close… The next hit grazed his nose, and the crunching noise alone almost made him gag, let alone the pain. Another hit made his vision blur, and the world went black for a second or two. The subtitles on his optics interface returned jarred and all over the place, as multiple people were yelling and cursing, most of all the woman with the golden arm he now recognized as the one sitting on his chest. Her claws were curled into a fist, raised and ready to strike again, blood – his blood – dripping from her knuckles. With her organic left hand, she was clutching Vincent’s collar, pushing him down hard. Too dazed to do much else, he simply tried to brace himself. Before the woman’s fist connected with his face a fifth and likely final time, Gold-Jaw appeared above them, snatching her wrist.

Some back and forth between the Valentino's follows, and Vince makes up blatant lies about who he is in an attempt to get out of his dire situation.

Vincent smiled, trying his best to not to force it, hoping that the blood he tasted, that began to fill his mouth, made him look messed up while keeping a calm demeanor, even though he wasn’t really in the most intimidating position, flat on the ground and all… “The NCPD, please!” he laughed, his jaw and ribs hurting, but he breathed through the pain, “That’s a Militech company vehicle. The moment it leaves the predetermined perimeter you’ll have a whole firing squad on your asses.” “Bullshit!” Gold-Jaw spat out, but even through half closed eyes Vincent could see that his confident stance was cracking slightly. Some of the other Valentinos murmured something that his translator didn’t quite pick up on, but Gold-Jaw swung around to them. “Got something to say, say it to my face!” “Aahh, I don’t know, Alejandro,” one of the other guys said, a young sounding voice, “Maybe it’s the truth. Don’t wanna mess with Militech, with everything else that’s going on right now…” “And who exactly asked your fucking opinion, huh?” Gold-Jaw, or Alejandro, apparently, turned back to Vincent. “What a load of horseshit, as if that thing’s a company vehicle!” He gestured towards the car, but Vincent noticed that Claw-Lady no longer had her hands on the steering wheel, one foot still out on the street. “My mother is a high-ranking manager,” he continued to lie through his teeth, “You’re fucked already anyway. When she gets here and sees me like this, Heywood’s going to go up in flames. Don’t make it worse – “ “SHUT UP!” Alejandro screamed and lifted Vincent up by the collar, so rapidly and with such force that he choked. He then promptly tossed him back onto the ground, Vincent landing face first in the dirt in front of the other Valentinos.

The thing is, while Vince's mom is not working for Militech or anything like that, his story is rooted in the truth somewhat, and enough of the Valentinos are eventually intimidated and convince Alejandro to just leave with the car. The young-sounding Valentino that spoke up first is Jackie, as you may have guessed, and Alejandro is not pleased with his challenging one bit, threatening him to not show himself at El Pinche Pollo tonight before leaving with the rest of the gang.

Vincent remained on the ground, actually enjoying the soothing cold of the asphalt against his throbbing face. At least until a raspy voice and scuttling almost made him jump out of his skin. “Hey, you good over there?” Vincent abruptly lifted his head, his left eye still struggling to focus. He propped himself up slowly, still too shaky to really stand, so he just slumped backwards and sat on the ground. “Man, you look like shit,” the young Valentino who had spoken up against Alejandro said. He couldn’t be much older than Vincent himself, had broad shoulders, tan skin, but was still somewhat baby-faced. Thick black hair shaved at the back and sides and worn in a slick ponytail, dressed in a black and orange bomber jacket, black cargo pants and boots, a thick gold chain with an opulent cross around his neck, he was unmistakably a Heywood-native. Although except for a small filter on his nose he was lacking the Valentino’s usual flashy cyberware. There was a gash on his cheek where Alejandro had hit him, and he reached up to check how much it was bleeding. He chuckled. “You’re lucky you caught Alejandro on a good day,” he joked, “I’ve seen him shoot a guy in the knee once because he accidentally drank from his beer.” Vincent wasn’t sure what to make of the guy’s easygoing demeanor, this whole situation really. He was just at a loss for words and what to do next. The Valentino kid got up from the ground with a groan, brushing off the dust from his pants. He was taller than he looked at first. Then he slowly walked towards Vincent, who tried his best not to flinch. “Hey, don’t worry, cabrón, I won’t bite,” he said, holding out his hand as he came to a halt right before Vincent, “Name’s Jackie, Jackie Welles.”

And that's how Vince and Jackie meet in my headcanon xD

#cyberpunk 2077 #jackie welles #cyberpunk v #answered asks #theviridianbunny #my writing #vincent ezaki

[shywhitemoose]

...can I send an ask for the writer AND artist game at the same time? If not, dealer’s choice as to which one you answer! (Also am I the only one whose brain always gets a little scrambled looking at all these emojis and numbers? 🤣)

🤡 and 🦅

5 and 21

Haha sure Soph! And no, you’re not the only one whose brain get scrambled by the emojis and numbers in these games [writer asks and artist asks]. I’ve had to double check about 27 times to make sure I’m answering the right questions for you!

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Oh man my main characters make me laugh at almost every exchange (well, when they’re not making me cry). I doubt anyone else thought it was as funny as I did, but I *still* laugh every time I think of Obi-Wan’s ill-mannered genitalia thoughts from Chapter 15 of A&E: 

He was headed for the floor, but he declined to reach out for assistance because, really, breaking his legs one more time seemed wholly preferable to facing the man he’d just prodded with his ill-mannered genitalia. Gods. Maybe if he were lucky, his head would collide with a bedrail and he’d be knocked unconscious.

I’m also a big fan of their cartoonish, post-handjob scrambling when Mace shows up unannounced at their door. 

 Anakin grabbed a hand towel as the water shut off and gestured with an emphatic jerk of his head toward Obi-Wan’s room, practically shouting through their bond: GO!

Obi-Wan didn’t need to be told twice. Even with his business properly tucked away and a jar of bacta at the ready to justify his lacking attire, disappearing into his bedroom for the time being did seem to be his most sensible course of action. (Come to think of it, he might elect to live out the rest of his years there because Force help him he’d just ejaculated into his former padawan’s hand and quite frankly he would very much like to do it again and surely self-imposed solitary confinement would be preferable to looking another Jedi Councilor in the eye at any point in the near or distant future while such a secret flounced about inside his head now wouldn’t it?) He could still feel the flush on his cheeks and the cool tickle of perspiration evaporating from his skin, and he suspected he looked about as put together as a drenched loth-cat.

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

For most things I have an outline. Like A&E was too complicated and plotty to not have one (i’m not smart enough to keep that all in my head!). But I’m trying something a little different with a more recent wip that has no outline, just going to write each chapter as kind of a stand-alone episode in an au i estabish in the first chapter. We’ll see how it goes? Might be fun to have a little more freedom to play as I go :)

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

Oh gosh, I’d say at least 90% of my digital stuff is anakin/obi-wan/obikin and is intended to ultimately be posted! I’m a traditional artist at heart so all of my physical art is unrelated to fandom and not shared online. That said, being a mom with a full-time job makes that type of art almost not worth it at the moment because when you only have 10-20 minutes at a time to do art, set-up and cleanup make oil painting pretty impractical lol. Digital has really been able to fill that void for me these last couple years!

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

oh gosh, SO MANY! I’m a huge fan of cartoony styles, but I’m terrible at it. And I LOVE more painterly styles of art (02png’s work, for example), but I’m just kind of incapable of it - I try but it just looks like a lazy mess when I do it - I can’t seem to get a good likeness of what i’m going for unless I render more details, haha. 

Thank you so much for the ask! 🤎🤎🤎

#ask game

[felidaefighter]

Schlatt Wins The Election

[cw: mentioned alcohol abuse, implied child abuse, misuse of authority]

A time-stretched AU wherein the SBI & Co are not directly involved in L’Manberg’s founding nor the election-- save for Tubbo, who is Schlatt’s son. This is a piece of character backstory written for a WIP!

"I'm coming with you," Tubbo said, voice shaking, and Tommy answered gruffly and immediately: "Of course you are."

     Wilbur turned off the TV with a loud ka-chUNK, and the three of them sat staring at the black screen in complete silence as it crackled. None of them moved. None of them knew what to say. Of course he'd win on a technicality. Of course. And that meant… something terrible. Something terrible, surely. Suddenly, Wilbur had a resolved, determined expression on his face. He stood up abruptly. "Right. We're leaving."

     "Leaving…?" Tommy attempted to interrupt, but Wilbur bulldozed past, already mid-explanation and wasting no time. "I'll write to Dad, let him know why and where. Pack what's important and what you can carry, and leave what isn't." Tommy looked about to scramble into action as Wilbur got out an envelope and some letter-paper, but Tubbo stood up shell-shocked. He… He was…

     "I'm coming with you," Tubbo said, voice shaking, and Tommy answered gruffly and immediately: "Of course you are." It was never a question to him-- he always got things his way in the end. And honestly, the relief Tubbo had upon hearing Tommy's certain tone was enough to ease his worries for the moment. This was his family. Of course he was going with them. Of course he would be safe with them. Tubbo started going through his drawers as quickly as he could, throwing the non-essentials in a pile and setting the essentials aside to shove into a bag when he was done. The air was tense and horrid, sitting in everyone's lungs like a smog that couldn't be coughed out. It was rolling through the country like a terrible disease and Tubbo feared they'd get the worst of it before they managed to leave.

There was a knock on the door.

     Tubbo and Tommy, in their respective halves of their room, froze. "Hide," Wilbur hissed as quietly as he could. Tommy breathed in, a horrible shakey sound that Tubbo hoped he'd never have to hear again. Who was at the door? Who could it be? There weren't many options and all of them seemed grim. Wilbur went to answer the door as Tubbo cowered in his closet, knowing Tommy had gone as quickly as he could to Wilbur's room to do the same. Knowing, with a sinking pit where his stomach ought to be, that he probably knew who was here and why. Tubbo's hiding-closet was closer to the door, so he could just make out the conversation muffled through the walls… and that familiar, dreaded voice.

"Wiiillllburrr! Hey! How ya doin' pal? I haven't seen you in a while!" 

It was Schlatt's voice, distinct even through layers of wall and only standing in the doorway. Wilbur didn't waste time with formalities; Tubbo was grateful for that. "What do you want." He asked stiffly. There was a pause, likely as Schlatt hemmed and hawed over his roundabout answer.

"Oh? I see you got a suitcase there-- you packin' up? Leavin' the country? After it just got under good management? That's a pity, that's a pity."

"It's none of your business. This is my house. Leave."

"Nah, see, you've got somethin' of mine-- that is to say--"

     Schlatt dropped the faux-familiar tone and it melted into its true, sinister form. "That is to say, Wilbur, you've got my kid. You wouldn't separate a kid from his father now would you? Come on, I've got a brand new big house and he can have an entire room all to himself-- an entire room! He's probably sharing with that brat brother of yours right now right?"

     Schlatt's voice became a sneer, an expression Tubbo was all too familiar with, enough that he could see the look on his face in his mind's eye. "Look, I'm not here to mess around, alright? I want Tubbo. I want my kid. You and--" A fake niceness again, a lie wrapped in gold-- "You and Tommy can leave, I don't give a shit. But Tubbo is my kid. And ah, if you don't hand him over, if he doesn't come with me, I'm gonna have you arrested for kidnapping, because I can do that now."

     The white-knuckled grip Tubbo had on his own face was probably leaving marks, he realized. But he didn't let go. He couldn't. He needed to have his hand over his mouth. He needed to be desperately, terrifyingly quiet. Schlatt could arrest Wilbur. And Tommy. And he probably would. What could Tubbo do? What should he do? Why him?

     Apparently, however, Wilbur was staring down Schlatt and not budging an inch, replying with carefully calculated vitriol. "I'm sorry, man, but even if I wanted to let you take Tubbo-- which I don't, ever, by the fucking way-- he's gone. He already left as soon as he found out you won. Didn't even wait to hear your egomaniac speech. Took his backpack and fucked off into the woods somewhere. I dunno what to tell you, man, Tommy and I are worried sick but there's not much we can do. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to look if the walls were still up, but." It sounded like he ended with a shrug. And Wilbur was a flawless liar. Schlatt had to buy it, right? He had to.

     "That's bullshit and you know it. Now I could send some guards out lookin', waste everybody's time, but you and I both know he's here and I'm going to charge you with so much more than just kidnapping if you even fucking think about lying to me again, Wilbur!" 

     Tubbo expected to feel scared at that, more scared, but the truth was… he felt pissed. In a calm sort of way. How dare Schlatt threaten to hurt his family! How dare he! Tubbo could be brave. Tubbo had to be brave. If his hands were cold and clammy and shook while he opened the closet door, he decided he could pay it no mind. He stepped out into the livingroom, in full view of Schlatt and Wilbur both. "What's going on?" Tubbo asked, sounding little and helpless and lost instead of angry. Best to roll over in these situations, he'd learned.

     Wilbur spun around, wide-eyed in fear-- fear for Tubbo, he realized. "Tubbo--" Wilbur started, desperate, and Schlatt huffed in relief and relaxed a little. "There you are," Schlatt said. "What were you doing, huh? Hiding from me? Cowering away?" He asked. Tubbo couldn't help it; he responded with a bit of a scoff. "I was packing. We figured I'd be living with you after this. I'm allowed to pack my things, aren't I?" Wilbur was looking at Tubbo with an expression he'd really prefer not to dwell on, and Schlatt snorted. But he was calmer and it was obvious and he'd protected Wilbur, protected Tommy, protected his family.

     "Well. You don't need to get snide with me about it. Alright though, whatever, yeah, I guess you should finish packing your things. I don't want to have to be buying you new clothes and shit." 

     Tubbo responded in kind. "Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm gonna go finish packing." He didn't miss the glare Schlatt sent Wilbur as he mentioned he'd go wait outside with a dismissive handwave. As soon as the door was shut, Wilbur ran over and grabbed Tubbo's shoulders in a desperate, protective way.

"Tubbo, what were you thinking? Why did you do that? I could've handled it!" He hissed in a quiet, mournful way.

     Tubbo shook his head. "Nah. Schlatt was dead set on hurting you. This'll be enough of a distraction. He's happier when he gets his way which means he's less angry. Pretty standard behavior for a drunkard like him, honestly. And I couldn't let him hurt you and Tommy. Simple."

     Wilbur stared at Tubbo for a long time, indecipherably but with watery eyes. After a few moments, he sighed, and took his hands off Tubbo's shoulders. "I'll go get Tommy. Don't go anywhere but your room until we've come to talk. Alright?" Tubbo nodded.

     The packing itself was a blur. He remembered setting some things aside though, things important to him but that he'd hand off to Tommy and Wilbur for safekeeping rather than take with him. Among them, his winter coat with patches of L'Manberg and the other places they'd lived-- somehow, he felt Schlatt wouldn't approve.

     Tommy, upon seeing Tubbo, ran up to him and put his hands on his shoulders in a desperate, protective way. "Tubbo, what were you thinking? Why did you do that? Please don't leave." 

Tubbo stared at him, a small smile on his face. "You and Wil really are brothers," He said with a dead laugh. He hugged Tommy tightly. Tommy didn't want to let go.

     "Look, I set aside some things I want to take but can't-- can you hold onto them for safekeeping? I'll come and get them again soon. Thank you for everything you've done for me up until now. It's time I did something in return, y'know? It'll be alright. It'll be okay." Tommy was openly sobbing and Wilbur was sniffling. Wilbur wrapped his arms around the both of them, pulling them into a tight, protective hug.

"We'll be back for you, Tubbo, as soon as we can," Wilbur promised, and Tommy stopped sniffling long enough to nod confidently. "Don't get too settled in with the big lug."

     Tommy picked up the armful of things Tubbo couldn't take to shove in his own bag, and Tubbo took his own, now-significantly-smaller bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you both soon, yeah?" He asked, as a quick rapping on the door sent a spike of adrenaline through them all, knowing Schlatt was getting impatient. 

     "Of course." Wilbur said, hugging Tubbo again one last time. "You're our fuckin' family and don't you forget it," Tommy agreed, hugging Tubbo again tightly. They left Tubbo's room and opened the door to see an impatient Schlatt. "Alright, come on, let's go," Schlatt said. Tubbo got one last, good look at them. Did he believe that the universe would be so kind? That he'd see them again soon? Well, not really. But still… Wilbur was confident and Tommy was stubborn and if Phil got back soon he'd be a real force to reckoned with. So maybe it'd be okay after all. They shut the door, and Tubbo went with Schlatt.

#tubbo #schlatt #angst #lmanberg elections #dsmp au #dreamsmp fanfiction #they write #abuse implied #their ages are also a lil different to have schlatt be a dad here hglnsvlsdhglshdg and to line up the fic proper with canon better #it's not really a modern au btw i just couldn't figure out if they had tv in the dreamsmp... ghdslnvlsdhglshg #thank you to pastry for expressing interest btw i 🥺❤❤❤❤❤

[k--havok]

Writer Tag Game

@ceph-the-ghost-writer tagged me for this game (thank you!)

I am an absolute mess when it comes to writing but I will try my best to hopefully make sense and explain in as little words as possible. 

I’ll go ahead and leave this as an open tag since tumblr is giving me pains. If you do this game, please tag me so I can read it! 

One thread that runs through all these questions is that it depends on the WIP

Do you write in order?

Eh, more or less? Not always. Sometimes I have the itching to write a random scene in particular, especially if the inspiration strikes, and I will scramble to write it down. This is especially true if it's a newer idea. But once I turn an idea or a thought into a story I want to write I will try and buckle down and start from the beginning. 

From there, I usually do my best to write in order. Sometimes I skip some scenes while doing so due to writer’s block or not knowing what will happen and wanting to get to the next point before I lose my flow. But these are usually smaller and more transitional sub-plot scenes. 

Do you start with something in particular? 

And here’s a knot in the thread; it depends. It matters on the inspiration and idea. A lot of my story ideas I get from my dreams as I am a very vivid dreamer. Inspiration can come from anywhere, after all. 

I’ll talk a little about my current WIPs (and some hiatus WIPs) as examples. 

Waking into Divinity was a dream I had about a person (it was foggy who they were) had a demon pop out of nowhere and tell them that they were destined to be his soulmate. The person, of course, didn’t believe the demon and the demon had to prove himself.

The idea changed a little bit from that dream, but the basis is still there. Rylie is an average millennial who meets a demon, Casrath, who says he is their soulmate. Romantic comedy and angst ensue. 

Sometimes I like to look at media I hate to get ideas. Sounds counterproductive, I know, but a lot of books I hate, I hate them due to how promising the premise is, and I want to do better. 

For example, Soft Touches, Godless Hands is my own version of an angel sent from Heaven to Earth to try and fight back the growing darkness that has been plaguing the world. I stole the premise from that god-awful book series Halo. 

My version is completely different, but the basic premise is the same. 

Sometimes my fanfiction can grow way out of proportion to the point where it becomes original. I’m not talking just AUs either. The Tales of Ozoarth was originally fanfiction, and I changed it to original fiction after I wrote out all the canon characters in favor of my OCs at one point in the story. Even the locations changed due to this as all the OCs went back to where they originally came from. It had transitioned from being fanfic to being something... not fanfic so I continued on that line of thought.

14 years later? It's a different beast and story altogether. 

How fully formed does your writing come out the first try?

Another thread; it depends. It also matters if it’s a good writing day or a bad writing day. 

I’m gonna go ahead and link my pilot for Osiris’ Trials here (link will take you to AO3, it is an 18+ story) 

This pilot is the first draft. I did minor edits, such as grammar and line editing. But not much else. There are still some rough parts in the story but overall, I doubt much will change when I decide to continue writing this story. I really like what I wrote for the pilot. 

However, sometimes I know I’ll need to go back with heavier editing. Tal’rith (link will take you to AO3, it is also 18+) is a lot more rough I think. There are several missing scenes and scenes that will need to be shortened as its a little too long for what it needs to be I think. However the base idea is there. Again, this story only went through grammar and line editing. 

My writing style tends to fluctuate a little, so some WIPs are easier for me to write than others and will need less work. 

How many drafts do you go through?

Well... it depends. As many as it takes for me to be happy with the story and writing. Usually my drafts need to be edited for the actual content, not the writing, as I change the story and plot. That takes a lot of time. 

And it is something I haven’t successfully been able to manage as I can barely finish first drafts....

Shorter stories, snippets, and one shots usually only get one round of editing. Mainly grammer/line editing. Sometimes I add in scenes or take them away too, however. 

Tell me about your process?

I think if you’ve gotten this far you know it depends. 

My process for longer stories... does not work for me all that much and I am still trying to figure out how to write longer novels. 

I’ve been working on my D&D novella, though, and its going pretty well, so I’ll use it as an example. 

After I get my basic idea/premise (see above, lol) I flesh it out the idea with world building, more characters, etc. After I feel I have a story I can tell with the idea, I start thinking of the different situations and conflicts that can arise in the world.

For Rane and Korzan’s Fantastical Adventures (name pending), it’s set in 5e, so the world building is mainly done for me. Rane is my original character and Korzan is my partner’s. Korzan is also from a different edition of D&D, so first we thought of a way he gets misplaced. 

Magical accident. Easy. Both Rane and Korzan have ties to the Abyss, and the Abyss works in weird ways. 

Rane is a monster hunter in this version of herself. Korzan is misplaced and wants to go back to his world. Rane wants to run away from her past and keep busy and keep her nose clean. 

Lots of wants. But their wants don’t align with what they actually need. I enjoy interpersonal character conflict, so I try and give all my characters a want vs a need. 

Rane and Korzan both know quite a bit about abyssal magic and the abyss. I put a pin in that. 

From here I think of an external conflict that can bring out the internal conflict as well as give the characters a conflict between themselves. 

We went with zombies. Rane and Korzan gets attacked by zombies

Alright, so here is where we get out first conflict. Rane is lawful good and a go-getter. She wants to find the source of the zombies. Korzan does not as it is not his problem. 

Rane wins the first conflict and they find the town getting attacked. 

Okay, now we have a mystery. Time for the next conflict for the characters; the way they want to figure out this mystery. 

From this point, I usually skip the middle of the story and get to the end. I like to figure out where I want to go before filling in the middle. 

So my partner and I both wrote the ending of the story, and from there we work backwards. After we work backwards, we go through the story again chronologically so we know all the pieces fit together and make sense, especially the conflict-resolution, both external and internal. 

This is a shorter/smaller story that will be novella length at most (as long as I don’t overwrite it....) but so far this newer-ish process is working for me, and I may end up fleshing it out and using it in the future for my longer projects. We shall see! 

#about me #writeblr #writer tag game #Lanx Writes #plotting #writing process

[thetruearchmagos]

🤒 and 💣 for the WIP ask game :)

Hey there, thank you kindly for the Ask!

I realise that with my approach to "Storytelling" for my World, I generaly generate new, mostly standalone "WIP" pretty much constantly, all with their own Stuff, but for this, I'll keep to Swift Seas and Whirlwinds, which I've been working on recently. So, uhh, spoilers for that ahead!

🤒 - Is there whump in the wip? What kind?

It's likely a testament to my idiocy and noobishness that I had to look up what "whump" meant as far as writing goes! With that, I'll apologise if my answer is a little off-topic

Well, I'd say there's going to be more emotionally intense, and painful, moments for the perspective characters in the story. Vice Admiral Olivia Oxley, for example, will face the brunt of it when she finds herself most directly thrust into battle, in an incredibly chaotic mess that will leave her reeling and disoriented, and watch as miles away her colleague and close friend, alongside hundreds of fellow sailors, are sent into the depths as she watches, unable to help. The weight of her command, and so honour bound duty, will weigh heavily on her from the moment she receives a message informing her of the almost certain war on the horizon, as she is forced to both save her sailors lives, and be prepared to thrust them into the fire.

And, what about the young, glory hunting Lt. Commander Evren Bayrak? They're career so far, while more of a mixed bag than blazing of glory, has still gone better than many, and in fact they outrank many of their own subordinates. However, they're wise enough to know that no amount of exercises or training will prepare them for the real thing, and as pressures, deadlines, and the looming sense of great things taking place across the 12 World dawns on them, they're scrambling to take stock and keep a tight control over their own world, at all costs. As training rates and performance grades are increased across the board, maintenance cycles advanced to higher levels than ever before, and suspiciously conspirational meetings over their head between superiors with sealed lips, it's obvious to anyone with a brain that something is happening. The only question, is what.

💣 - What/who triggers the climax of the plot?

And that "What" is the break out of the Ngaionui War, between the United Commonwealth and its member state, the Republic of Ngaionui, and the semi-theocratic-turned-military-junta of the Republic Nouvolouis. I think it kind of speaks to my style of story making that it's not really the case that any single individuals knowing, personal actions led to the War. Rather, it was the combination of uncountably many factors coming together at the same instance which led to the first shots being fired by a Nouvoloian warship in the pitch black dawn smashing into a UC lookout post, starting off the shooting war. This scene, I'm sure, is going to be just wonderful to write, and not at all painful to have to think out in requisite details and meaning!

However, any actual people in such a scene won't actually be the "main cast", as far as I can be said to have one. For the scene involving the Mystique and its Task Group, it'll likely be when the Admiral reveals to everyone the nature of the absolute shit show that's about to go down. In addition, I imagine the moment the ships transit out of the Warp and into the theater of operations, possibly under some level of fire, will be rather exciting for everyone involved, not to mention the arguably most climactic scene, when the Mystique launches its aircraft to conduct a strike on the Nouvoloian fleet and flagship, a carrier of its own.

And, uhhh, I think that about wraps up all I can think of saying! Hope it was a good enough read, and if you have any further questions I'll be happy to answer them!

#writeblr #writing #worldbuilding #my wips #my writing #ask game

[zaffrenotes]

Sunday Six - 08.09.20

I was tagged by @loveellamae @ao719 @mrschoicesobsessed to share a sneak peek at what I’ve been writing - if you couldn’t tell, there’s been a lot ( a LOT) of RoD stuff happening for RODAW, so I’m mostly trying to finish up those posts, but I have a lil bit of everything on my plate...

from 31 Days of Summer/RODAW

The neighbor’s dog barking pulled Colt away from sleep, and he tried to muffle the sound by lifting a pillow over his head, only to roll over in frustration because it was too hot to breathe. “I hate that yappy little monster,” he sighed, rolling on his side to see if Jin was awake. He sighed again when he saw that her side of the bed was empty.

He rolled out of bed, picking up a day old t-shirt from a chair, and made his way out to the living room, where he found Jin curled up on the couch. The coffee table was littered with her textbooks, notes, and a vast array of highlighters and pens; she’d even fallen asleep clutching a notebook like a stuffed animal.

Colt made his way to the kitchen, glancing at the clock on the wall; it was only 9AM but it felt like mid-day, thanks to the relentless summer sun outside. He worked quickly to fix two large glasses of iced coffee with the cold brew he made the day before, adding double creamer in Jin’s glass, while his was full of ice and just a splash of creamer.

from 31 Days of Summer/Modern!Blades AU

There was still another week of activities and events scheduled before enduring the chaos of move-in day for the rest of the student body. Being a Saturday, nothing was planned, other than Mal being on duty for Undermount Hall. Since it was an upperclassman building, he was working on his tan on the Concrete Beach – a wide walkway between Undermount and Colaris Halls. He’d just woken up from a catnap, when he noticed a familiar figure on the opposite end of the beach. 

Rin was laid out on a towel next to a redhead, the pair of them on their stomachs as they flipped through a magazine. Mal adjusted his mirrored aviators to watch them, tilting his head back against the lawn chair he was seated in, pretending to doze off once more.

from the Untitled TRR Miniseries I’m already late to post but WILL post I just had to adjust the storyline a bit

Liam had prepared the same pasta dish – one that he quickly learned to perfect, following their wedding – from their date at Ramsford, just before the Beaumont Bash. It was simple but filling, and allowed them both to just enjoy each other’s company. “I’m curious about something you said that night.” 

He looked up to see her running a finger around the rim of her wine glass.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember how you told me you thought you were once serious about a woman before you met me, but it lacked a spark?”

Liam coughed harshly, choking on the bite of pasta he’d just swallowed.

---

That’s all for this week, everything else I’m writing is literally a mess (exists in my head) 😅 whatcha working on @burnsoslow​ @thecordoniandiaries​ @riseandshinelittleblossom​ @lizeboredom​ (is there more to your brotp 🙏🏻)

#six sentence sunday #sunday six #writing sneak peek #too many WIPs not enough time #many wips all a mess while I scramble to write #and look at the Mona thing to HURRY UP AND DRY ALREADY because I need to fix it #long post

[yolkyeomie]

Humanity of the Inhuman | Kim Sunwoo

summary — legends are meant for the wild fantasies of the dream world, but when one myth suddenly comes true, you find yourself tangled within its webs of reality.

word count — 7.2k words

pairing — sunwoo x female!reader (ft. x juyeon in a sense?)

genre — college au, gumiho au

disclaimer — !! light mentions of death, blood, and injury !! this is an wip of fic that I did not have the energy to complete, so it leaves off at a pretty big cliff hanger :( but if enough people enjoy it it I’ll make a part 2 or sumn lol (update: it does in fact have a part 2 now, go enjoy it!)

part I | part II | part III | part IV?

I.

“Nine tailed foxes,” the instructor stated, pointing their finger towards the pictures that were projected upon the board. There were three different depictions of the creature from other cultures posted up together, expressing how each of the cultures viewed the mythical being. Mindlessly you began to draw on the notebook set in front of you, taking in each picture and messing different aspects that you liked together.

“Known as the Kitsune in Japan, the Huli Jing in China, and the Gumiho here,” they continued, switching to the next slide that only displayed more old pictures of the fox, “they are a well known part of our folklore today that even western countries have begun to adopt their own version of this creature into their literature.”

“If it’s so popular, why are we learning about it now,” you mumbled, the lead of your pencil snapping as soon as the words had been spoken into existence. You let out a deep sigh at the inconvenience, letting an angry curse come out of your mouth as you leaned over to grab something new to write with.

Though you stopped mid turn as a black pen was placed into your vision. Curiously you glanced up to catch the smiling sight of Juyeon above you, waving around his pen and urging you to take it from his hand. “We’re learning about the Gumiho because it’s an important part of our folklore, just because it’s well known doesn’t mean you shouldn’t teach it.”

He was an acquaintance, nothing more than that, a “school friend” if that made more sense. You had met him the first day you attended the mythology class after picking up the course for fun, seeing as the only available seat in the room was by him. Having no friends who attended the class at the same time as you, he had offered to become one and you gladly took up his request in order to feel a little less only in the room full of strangers.

It was a little odd to see a class so minor like this be jam packed with students, but you did notice the recent influx of people who were interested in the mythologies of their and others cultures.

Plus, you didn’t do very well on your own and were a little more socially dependent than you’d like to admit, so Juyeon’s willingness to befriend you was greatly appreciated.

“Well, I guess you’re right,” you shrug, gratefully taking the pen out of his hands. “But still, what person doesn’t know the wild tales of the nine tailed foxes? They’re like… everywhere now. If I meet someone who didn’t even have a clue what I was talking about, I’d be surprised.”

“You never know,” Juyeon continued, urging you to take a look at the board. Being presented was the Korean version of the nine tailed fox, a few notes typed beside the art describing the details and depictions of what was generally believed about the fox demon. “Maybe one day you’ll need that information to save yourself from a Gumiho one day?”

You snorted at his words, pointing out one of the bullet points to him and quietly reading them to him. “First of all, this is a mythology class. That means everything we learn here is a myth, not real? Secondly, it clearly says that they seduce men and last time I checked, I’m not a man.”

“Well, I guess you’ve got a point there,” he nodded, laying his head in his hands as he half heartedly listened to the teacher speak. “I guess I’m the one who should be paying more attention to the lecture since I’m the man, but I don’t think a Gumiho would ever find interest in me.”

“Why?” You questioned, a teasing smile appearing on your face and you poked the pin cap into his side. “It’s said that gumihos eat human livers, do you have bad livers or something? Do you have some sort of liver disease that would make you undesirable to a fox?”

“If I say yes will you stop poking me?” He innocently asked.

“I’d know you’re lying if you said yes, you’re rather healthy despite some… odd habits you have,” you clarify, giving the boy a skeptical look before turning back towards the board. You were only acquaintances with Juyeon, but there were times you’d catch him in the hallways of the building or dorms when you were looking for Kevin doing skeptical activities. Most of the time he was just smuggling snacks that his roommate would steal out of the room but man did he look crazy while he did so.

“Hey, those aren’t odd habits, it’s me protecting what I paid for,” Juyeon argued, a pout developing on his face as he tried to explain himself, “if you don’t pay for it, you don’t get a bite of it! That’s the rules and you have to respect the rules.”

You only spared Juyeon a quick glance, your eyes full of skepticism for him. He was a nice guy, a decent person to hang around, but awkwardly catching him in the hallways like a criminal running from a crime scene was all you had to see from him to determine whether or not you wanted to hang around him often. “Y/N, seriously! I'm not some freak I promise, my roommates and I just do this often and—“

“Sure, Juyeon,” you nodded, softly patting his back in only slight comfort. “I completely understand what you mean.”

“Y/N!” He complained a little louder this time, earning some sneaking looks from the rest of your peers. The two of you weren’t the biggest troublemakers but you did have a volume problem more often than you’d like to admit. Though, that was mainly because Juyeon doesn’t understand when to keep his mouth shut. “Come on, Y/N, I know you don’t believe what I’m saying but you gotta! I can even show you what we—“

“I really don’t want to walk into that room,” you decline almost immediately, “something tells me I’ll regret it if I do.”

A small chuckle left Juyeon’s mouth at your harsh words, finally taking the response as an end to the conversation. It seemed as though the two of you had stopped just in time though, as a deep sigh left your instructor’s lips. The entire class turned their head towards him in confusion, unsure on what sort of gloom had possessed their mythology teacher.

“I think… I’ll end class early today,” he declared, turning off the board that had projected the day’s lesson. In a flash, your reference for your very own nine tailed fox disappeared in front of your eyes as the instructor continued to speak. “The rain just… throws me off the mood for today.”

Instinctively you turned your head toward the window and lo and behold, the rain was pouring down outdoors. Many students groaned at the sudden change in forecast, not having brought umbrellas to shield them from such weather since the day had called from sunny skies. “Ah… that’s gonna suck going home,” you tell yourself, noting how even you hadn’t brought an umbrella.

“Excuse me!” A student called out, drawing attention to the front of the class where they had seated themselves. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you superstitious? Usually rain is considered a good thing especially on wedding days. It’s supposed to be a good omen for the future of their marriage.”

“Superstitious?” He hummed in response, thinking to himself for a few moments before answering. “Well, in a sense? Not for the reasons you think I am though.”

“Does it have something to do with gumihos?” You couldn’t help but ask, curiosity getting the best of you as you blurted out in front of everyone. The class turned back to look at you expectantly, exchanging confused and bewildered glances with each other. Even Juyeon looked at you as though you were beginning to lose your mind. You don’t really blame them, rain didn’t really have anything to do with gumihos after all.

However, your teacher smiled at you. His eyes crinkled at their sides and his wrinkles from age becoming more prominent as his smile continuously grew larger as he thought about his answer again. “Something my grandparents used to tell me when I was younger,” he began, each student getting left on the edge of their seats as he turned back towards the rainfall, “that when it rained, it meant a gumiho had entered the premise.”

II.

“You don’t actually believe him, do you?” Juyeon asked, holding the borrowed umbrella over your heads. The boy had offered to walk you home in the disastrous, knowing you lived off campus instead of in the dorms. The dorms were a lot closer to the apartment you had rented out, so the two of you had scrambled over to his room first in order to grab an umbrella and begin the trek to your home.

He was only walking you towards the closest bus stop to the campus, not wanting to intrude on your privacy any further than he already was. Juyeon was just your acquaintance from mythology after all, he was just a little too nice to let you go out into the rain and get soaking wet.

“What, about the whole rain and gumiho thing?” You responded, remembering your teacher's statement he had ended the class with. You shrugged after a moment to yourself, “honestly, not really. I mean, come on, gumihos being related to the rain? It doesn’t even make that much sense the more you think about it.”

“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, “but don’t you think it’s a little weird how he seemed to believe it? Whole heartedly too, he ended the whole class over some superstition his grandparents told him!”

“It’s probably an old saying in his family or something,” you ultimately decide, nodding your head to yourself as you come to a conclusion. “Lots of people have things like heirlooms and stories that get passed down from generation to generation, maybe that’s what that was. Maybe his family is really big on nine tailed foxes and rain.”

He shook his head in disagreement, stopping in place and nearly causing you to get soaked by the downpour. “I don’t think so, why would they pass down a saying like that when gumihos aren’t real?”

“How do you know that they aren’t real?” You challenged him.

“Because if they were real, then we wouldn’t be learning about it in a mythology class and calling it folklore,” Juyeon stretched his arm out so that the umbrella was covering the both of you as he kept talking, “Humans are like… cockroaches. We force ourselves into the lives of other beings, I think we would have done something about gumihos by now don’t you think?”

You grinned at him as you rocked back and forth on your feet absentmindedly, nugging his shoulder soft as you teased, “wow, I know the lesson wasn’t long today but did you already forget that we were taught? Once a fox has lived for a thousand years, it becomes a gumiho and can shapeshift! How will you know your face to face with a fearsome nine tailed fox when they look exactly like any normal stranger on the street?”

You didn’t even give the boy a chance to speak as you stood in front of him, your back getting pelted with the rain droplets as you continued to jeer, “anyone could be a gumiho. I could be a gumiho, your roommate could be a gumiho, our teacher could be a gumiho, even you could be a gumiho and we’d never know a thing!”

“I think you're forgetting something,” Juyeon countered, pulling out his phone from his pocket and waving it in your face. “Humans have technology, we’ll just develop more technology to find them if we need to.”

“Gosh, you’re no fun,” you pout.

“And your bus stop is right there,” he pointed behind you, taking note of the metal structure built on the side of the road.

You struggle to decide whether or not you want to steal his umbrella as payback for being the way he was but ultimately ditched the idea. “Fine, I’ll see next week then? That is, if you don’t get eaten by a gumiho that is.” You teased.

You watched as annoyance contorted on his face, wanting to find a reason to be mad at you but unable to keep the grin off his face. “I’m not going to be eaten by a gumiho, Y/N. Did we not just have the conversation that they aren’t real?”

“Gumihos seduce men to absorb their energy!” You argued once more. “You’re a physically fit guy whose kept his livers healthy and you’ve got the looks to draw attention to you, you’re the perfect meal for a nine tailed fox to catch!”

“Go home, Y/N,” he urged, pushing you out from under his umbrella. You whined at his audacity and quickly covered your head with your hands in an attempt to shield yourself from the rain. The boy only laughed at your reaction before waving you off, giving you a small farewell as you rushed over towards the bus stop.

When you glanced back to find him again, Juyeon was gone, turned around the corner with his umbrella in tow and forcing you to sit and wait for the bus stop to come if you didn’t want to be soaked by the time you got home.

“Sheesh he could have waited until the bus actually came,” you complained, sitting back on the bench with a somewhat annoyed frown donning your face once again. Juyeon always seemed like he was in a hurry at times, whether he was sneaking around the dorms on your campus or rushing through the hallways to get to his next destination, he always had somewhere to be. There were times where he’d completely ignore your existence in and outside of your mythology class because of his need for action, too busy with his daily life to even spare you a glance.

You wondered where he so urgently needed to go at times, but ultimately knew that was none of your business. The two of you were nothing but classmates, school friends who helped each other out every so often whenever you got the chance. You had no right to dig into Juyeon’s business, so you never tried to cross the line the two of you set up for each other. You don’t really know if you wanted to cross it in the first place.

Besides, he never even said hello to whenever he was in a rush! Why bother trying to discover something where he has to completely ignore your existence to do it? That wasn’t exactly your type of information and gossip you wanted to gather and indulge in.

You sat at the bus stop for around three or four minutes, unwillingly listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the bus stop glass. Like your superstitious instructor, you weren’t very fond of the rain but not for the same reasons. The weather would always ruin plans you had been looking forward to for weeks and the days that came after it always felt humid and musty, you didn’t enjoy the aftermath of rain like other people did.

Don’t even get you started on the days where a thunderstorm would roll over the city, those were the worst days of your life.

You snap out of your daze for a moment, however, completely forgetting your hatred for the raining weather at the sound of barking floating through the air. You tried to ignore it at first, comfortably leaning against the side of the structure and scrolling across your phone to distract yourself, but you couldn’t help it. The more you tried to pretend like the sound didn’t exist the louder it seemed to become, which was a lot seeing as the downpour was a little louder than normal.

Begrudgingly, you stood up out of your seat and shoved your phone deep into your pockets. “Is the universe trying to tell me something today?” You mumbled, covering your head with your hands and stepping out into the rain. You peered across the street where the barking was coming, checking the side of the road for any oncoming cars before rushing to the other side.

The closer you got to the other sidewalk, the louder and more distinct the barking became, resembling more of a young dog than a fully grown one. The barks were more closely related to squeaky toes than anything if you had to be honest; light, annoying, and young. But there was no one else on the street beside you, and your morals were telling you to involve yourself instead of run away.

“Puppy...or puppies?” You called, not exactly having a name to call out for the animals. You don’t even know if they could hear you over the rainfall, but it was worth a shot. If they didn’t come running to you soon you were going to run right back to the bus stop for shelter and go home. You didn’t want to fall ill from standing out in the rain for too long and you didn’t want to miss your bus stop either. “Come here, boy! Or girl…? Whatever you are, come here! I’ll get you some place warm and out of the rain.”

There was no response, which was to be expected. They were animals, not humans, so they couldn’t exactly reply back even if they really wanted to. The barking was still echoing across the area but there was no sign of the animal making all the commotion, not to mention the fact that the rain was beginning to fall harder with each passing second. You might have to give up early if you didn’t want to get caught in a potential thunderstorm, it hurt your heart but you had to take care of yourself as well.

“Ah, I better hurry up before I miss the bus home… walking is going to be a pain if I do,” you mumble to yourself, turning to sprint across the street.

Though you stopped yourself from moving when you heard the sound of bells echoing against your ears, ringing loud and clear within your head as if it was right in front of you. You cautiously look around you for the source of the bells, the jingling rippling out to the rest of the world like a droplet of water falling into a lake. The bells chimed again in your head, yet this time pulling in a certain direction and urging you to continue on that way.

Glancing between the bus stop and the direction you were being pulled toward, you followed the jingling of the bells. Everything in your body was telling you that chasing after the ringing was a bad idea but nevertheless you pushed forward. The dog barking had completely gone silent and the loudest thing in the area was no longer the rain, but the bells in your ears.

You scurried across the sidewalk like a cat, trying your best to stay dry in the unfortunate weather but ultimately failing as you began to feel your clothes stick to your skin. “Ah, there’s no way I’m not going to be sick after this.” You mumbled, turning the corner to peer down an alleyway where the bell chiming was the strongest.

“I’m wet and cold and I’ve been out here for way too— oh my god!” A scream fell out your mouth as you tumbled to the ground petrified by the sight before you. Slumped up against the wall was a boy, barely clinging onto his life as he took slow ragged breaths to keep himself stable. On his arms was the familiar crimson red creeping down his forehead and splattering to the ground, creating a mixture of water and blood pooling underneath him.

Did you just find the end results of a bloody fight? In the middle of the city and close to your college’s campus no less?

“Excuse me, are you alright?” You called out to him, mentally smacking yourself for asking such a question. Clearly the boy wasn’t okay, he was bleeding out in the middle of the rain!

Despite the stupidity of the question, he slowly turned his head toward you. A majority of his face was covered by his hair being plastered against his head thanks to the rain so you couldn’t exactly see if he was looking directly at you, but the mere fact that he was responsive was enough for you.

You hurry over to him as fast as you could, though careful not to slip and fall on the slippery ground, before crouching down next to him. “Can you move at all? It’s not good to sit out here in the rain and waste away, you need to go to a hospital or something—“

“No,” he declined, forcing himself to sit up against the wall and make an attempt to stand up. The boy struggled to himself up right, leaning against the wall for support and the severity of his wounds being put on display. It didn’t look like he got into a fight, per se, more like he had been attacked by an animal. He had large gashes that covered his body and his clothes were tattered and stained with the red hue they leaked down his arm. He needed any sort of medical attention, right away or he might actually bleed out in the middle of the alleyway.

“Can you not see that you’re hurt?” You hissed, grabbing a hold of his wrist and tugging him down to your height. The boy grimaced at your toughness as you rolled up his sleeve, catching sight of an ugly yet fresh scar that needed to be addressed immediately. “You need to go to a hospital, or you’ll die out here in the rain.”

“No,” he challenged you, his face somewhat akin to an animal’s snarl as he tried to snatch his arm away from you. In that instance you heard the soft of the bells that had led you down the alleyway, much louder than they had been before and nearly drowning at the words that the boy had spoken. It sounded like… the ringing was coming directly from him. “I can’t go there, I won’t go there. They won’t be able to help anyway.”

“Are you an idiot?” You couldn’t help but ask, almost scoffing at his persistence to stay away from medically trained professionals. His lips formed into a pout, appalled by the fact that you had the audacity to call him an idiot. “I’m trying to help you man. It’s raining, you’re bleeding out, and I’ve probably missed my ride to go home. Please don't take my kindness for granted and let me help you.”

III.

You laid down in the middle of your bed, staring at your ceiling as you struggled to recall the events from the day before. It’s not like you to forget things easily or anything, in fact you had a rather decent memory when it came to remembering events that had taken place beforehand. You didn’t have a photographic memory, you just had a habit of remembering little details that have happened throughout your day.

But right now? You couldn’t remember a single thing that had happened yesterday.

Most of what you could remember was leaving your mythology early because your teacher had ended the class early. He didn’t like the rain and it had shifted his mood and everyone was grateful for the extra time off. Juyeon had generously offered to walk you to your bus stop with his umbrella so that you could get home without getting rained on and…. that’s where it ends. You can’t recall anything that happened after that. You don’t even remember ever walking into your house the more that you think about it.

“Alright, this is weird,” you declare, forcing yourself to sit up off of the bed. At least you had no classes to attend, you don’t know how you could pay attention to anything you were being taught if you had to deal with your sudden memory loss. “Why can’t I remember anything? Why does it feel like what u forgot was something really important too…?”

Just when you felt as though you were on the verge of pulling your hair out, your phone began to ring. It was a lot louder than you originally set the volume on and was practically screaming at you to pick it up instead of ignoring it like normal. Frustrated, you snatched the device from underneath the sheets and answered the call with a much more aggressive “hello?” than you had meant to start with.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Juyeon’s voice registered through the speaker.

Juyeon. Why was Juyeon calling you right now? The two of you don’t usually call each other unless it was something class related because you weren’t close enough to each other to hold conversations like that. So the mere fact that he had called you out of the blue like this was…. weird to say the least. “Of course,” you replied, giving your voice a lighter tone than when you had answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You called me a couple of times yesterday but I didn’t answer because I was busy,” he clarified, giving you a little peek as to what had happened the day before.

You called Juyeon first, why would you do that? You didn’t even call him once, but multiple times given the way he had worded his sentence. You’re not even close to Juyeon, why would you even dare to call him several times yesterday? If you were in trouble you should have just called Kevin like normal! “Are you saying you don’t remember?”

“Yes, actually, I don’t remember anything that happened yesterday.” Maybe you had gone to go get a drink or something before coming home and that’s why your thoughts from yesterday were blurry. But you’re not the type of person to drink that much, at least not alone you wouldn’t. “Listen, Juyeon, I’m sorry about all of this. I didn’t mean to call you, I was just… out of it or something. I don’t know I just can’t remember right now.”

“It’s fine, Y/N, don’t worry I’m just glad you’re alright. I got worried something might have happened to you but hearing you now makes me relieved.” You smiled at his words, letting his caring words for you twirl around in your head like ribbons. Juyeon was just too nice to you, honestly, but he was probably like this with everyone he knew. It made sense if he was, he was kind to almost everyone he met.

Before you could answer, the jingling of bells echoing through your ears, distracting you from any other words that might have come out of the boy’s mouth. You glanced around the room for shunting that could have made the noise, but you don't exactly have anything that could chime like the whimsical clicking of a wind chime. “Do you hear that?” You asked him, cutting off the boy mid sentence as you stood up.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” he answered, “what am I supposed to be hearing? All I hear is you.”

In a flash all of the memories from the day before flooding back to you. The barking, the bell ringing, and the injured boy who refused to go to the hospital to treat his wounds. It all came back to you now, but why had it gone away in the first place. “I’ll… I’ll call you back, Juyeon.”

“Y/N? Y/N, what's wrong? Is something—“ you hung up before he could finish his sentence, cautiously following the ever growing sounds of the bells you had heard earlier. The closer you got to your door, the louder the chiming became, probably signifying the fact that you were going in the right direction.The last time you had followed the bells, they led you straight to the wounded boy. So if your hunch was right, it was most likely leading you straight back to him.

You carefully opened the door to your room, peering through the crack in the door frame to see what was going on. It was eerily silent and for the most the entirety of your apartment showed no signs of inhabiting a second person. “That’s odd…,” you noted, fully stepping out of your room to look around the room for the boy from yesterday. It seemed as though he hadn’t even lived in your house for an hour. “I don’t think he ever left… and I still can hear those bells so he can’t be far.”

Goosebumps ran down your spine as a cold wind blew through your living room. Something was off, you’ve never felt uneasy in your own home before. You had picked this apartment to live in because it felt comfortable and warm like home, but the only thing you were getting from it now was the feeling of being watched. As if a pair of eyes were carefully taking in your every move to determine how you’d react next.

“I know, you’re here,” you stated, rolling your eyes as you began to turn around. “You couldn’t have left in the middle of the night, you were bleeding out and collapsed as soon as you—“

You stopped mid sentence when you stopped the boy in the hallway to your bathroom, frazzled and confused by his surroundings yet still keeping a close eye on you. Now that he wasn’t soaking wet and bleeding (thanks to your amateur bandaging skills) you couldn’t help but notice how much more innocent without the dramatic effect of everything that had happened yesterday. “You really are still here, nice to see you didn’t die while I was asleep.”

“Where am I?” He demanded, not as aggressive as he was the day before but still in a rather rude tone you weren’t expecting from him. “How did I get here and… who are you?”

You slumped onto the small couch of your living room, glancing around the room for a moment before turning back to him with a cheeky smile on your face. “Heaven. You died in your sleep and now you’re in heaven. In the goddess that's going to accompany you through the afterlife.”

“Lies, you just said I didn’t die while I was sleeping,” he quickly pointed out, catching your lie as soon as it came out your mouth.

“Woah, despite all those injuries and passing out in the way here you still have a working brain, that’s good to know,” you tease him, watching as the boy rolled his eyes at your tiny jabs. “I’m Y/N but i guess you can just call me your savior really. Oh, and this is my house. You slept on the couch last night and I appreciate the fact that there is no blood on my cushions. Thanks.”

He nodded his head in understanding, though it seemed like the movements weren't actually correlating to what his mind was thinking. “Wait, you’re my… savior? No that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why not?” You questioned, “I saw you bleeding out in an alleyway yesterday and I tried to take you to hospital but you kept refusing to go, so I just… took you home. I address your wounds and everything and just hoped that when I woke up there wouldn’t be a corpse in my living room. Luckily, as we see now, there isn’t. I saved your life.”

“No!” He yelled, rolling up his tattered clothes to find messily wrapped bandages all over his body. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you were dying?” You blurted, confused to the boy’s sudden panic. “What would you rather have bled out in public for all to see?”

“Yes, actually, that would have been the better option of the two.” How ungrateful was this boy? You saved his life and all he has to say is that he wished you didn’t? Maybe you should have strayed away from your morals for a second because all that had gotten you so far was a boy with no manners. “I don’t think you realize what you’ve done.”

“I have realized what I’ve done,” you responded, “I’ve saved your life because I’m a good person. Why are we arguing about this, there are no downsides to getting your lives saved. Wait, are you embarrassed because you got attacked by some feral cat and nearly died? Not gonna lie, I’d be embarrassed about something like that too.”

“I wasn’t… attacked by a cat,” he explained, a scoff threatening to spill out of his mouth at your bizarre accusation. “I don’t think a cat could make those types of scars.”

“If it wasn’t a cat…” you began, thinking aloud as you tried to member the wounds that covered the boy’s body. The more you pictured them in your head. The more you realize those weren’t… cat scars. They still seemed as though they were animal scars but a cat didn’t make that big a gash on a person’s body. You should have known, you’ve gone to cat cafes enough to have learned the hard way. “Then what…?”

“Gumihos,” the boy replied, tearing off the bandages you had wrapped around him the night before. You winced as you watched your handwork tumble to the ground, but were more concerned over the fact that the gashes on his arm were healed almost completely overnight. “I was attacked by gumihos.”

“Nine tailed foxes?” You blurted, more for yourself than the boy. Seeing you bewilderment made a smile begin to etch across his lips, childish yet mischievous as you tried to break down what you had learned in your head. “But… those are just folklore, they aren’t real. If they were, one would have been caught by humans at this point.

“Why? Don’t you know that a gumiho can shapeshift? They live among humans as if they were any other mortal in order to get what they want in life,” the boy explained, reminding you of the words you had thrown at Juyeon for making the same excuse. “You really think that they’d let a human catch sight of their existence and get away with it?”

“Okay then answer me this,” you ask, sitting up attentive to the stranger you had brought into your home. “If gumihos are real… then why did one attack you and leave you out to die? Don’t they usually kill humans for their livers and hearts? You should have been devoured by now.”

A hearty laugh left the boy’s mouth, much stronger and louder than the small giggle from earlier. His smile couldn’t stop growing on his face as he blinked his eyes at you, the dark browns of his iris swapping out to a bold amber yellow color. His pupils slowly began to dilate into the familiar small slits of a cat’s as your own eyes widened in pure fright. The boy you had saved had now become your greatest mistake. “What makes you think I’m human?”

IV.

“Juyeon!” You hissed at the boy, urging him to come to you once you had finally caught sight of him. He was walking with a group of his friends, people who hadn’t mingled with and didn’t know whether or not you wanted to in the first place. When the boy had turned his head to you, the entirety of his friend group did as well, displaying their bright and eager smiles as they waved their hands in greeting. Awkwardly you greeted them back, unsure of what to do next as they also whispered and muttered to themselves as they let Juyeon break from their group.

Hopefully it was something nice and not anything that could hurt your feelings. They were still grinning and jeering with each other despite whatever comments they were making, so maybe it was a conversation of their approval. Or at least… you hoped it was, you couldn’t really tell the difference. You acted like you had a tough shell but in reality you were way too soft when it came to a stranger’s perspective of you.

“What’s up Y/N?” He greeted, a fond smile plastered across his face as he stood in front of you with his hands shoved in his pockets. “It’s a rare sight to see you interact with me when we don’t have a class together. It must be serious.”

“Well…” you trailed off, unsure of how to explain to him. “I guess it’s serious? But nothing too serious… I need some advice really, that’s all.”

“Advise?” Juyeon questioned, intrigued by the topic you had brought him. “Wow… of all the people could have chosen, you need my advice! I can’t help but say I’m honored. But what happened to your other friend… Kevin was his name, right? He would come to walk you home after class sometimes, why aren’t you asking him?”

You grimace at the thought of the boy before quickly waving the thought away. “Kevin will just think I’m crazy and make fun of me. Plus, I think you’re probably most equipped to help me out here since we take mythology together and all.”

“Ah… still keeping this as a school oriented friendship right?” He teased, getting a small laugh to leave your mouth. “Alright, what is it? What mythological help do you need this time? I’m all ears.”

You hesitated for a moment, unsure on how to word your sentences without sounding insane. The whole reason you had gone to Juyeon instead of Chanhee was because he would understand you a little better than your friend could. “Gumihos… you know how we’re learning about them currently, right? Is there something that people should know about them in order to protect themselves from one?”

Juyeon raised a brow at your question, staying silent as he thought to himself. “Gumihos? I thought you didn’t want to learn about gumihos because it was pop culture and everyone knows about them?”

“Well, what can I say!” You exclaimed, hoping to cover up your nervousness as much as possible. “I decided to take up a personal essay of sorts on those nine tailed foxes. I got intrigued a few days ago about them and I wanted to get as much information as I could about them, but we don’t go back to our mythology class until I… really can’t wait to get started.”

In reality, you actually had that gumiho boy holed up in your apartment still. In fear of the boy actually attempting to devour your liver you had locked him up in your bathroom and placed a talisman on the door so that he couldn’t escape. You had absolutely no clue on how to deal with a gumiho and you had only recently started your lesson on the fox spirits a few days ago. So needless to say, you wanted to be prepared for whatever might come next while housing him.

“That’s fair,” Juyeon agreed, taking your lie like candy and smiling brightly back at you. “I mean, the concept of nine tailed foxes are pretty cool, so I can’t blame you for looking into them a little further than everyone else.”

“So?” You asked, eagerly awaiting his answer, “Do you have any information I should know?”

“Well… there's this one thing I’ve been told before by my grandparents,” he explained, trying his best to recall past memories that had no use up until now. “Yeah, they would use old myths as stories to tell me before bed when I was a kid. They told me that no matter what fork a gumiho comes in, never let them kiss you.”

“Kiss?” You blurted out, shocked that that was the one thing he decided to share. “What’s kissing got to do with fox spirits?”

“It’s how they take your energy,” Juyeon told you, putting his pointer fingers together as if mimicking a kiss between two people. “When a gumiho kisses you, they absorb your energy. The more energy they absorb the weaker you become until you eventually die! Kinda scary, right? Not only do they feed off of human livers, but our mere life essence.”

“What type of bedtime story is that,” you mumbled, skeptically glancing over Juyeon. If that was the type of stories he was being told as a child, how was he not a little messed up in the head? If you were him, you would be absolutely terrified of everything even approaching you. Who knew when someone would randomly come up and kiss you? Your first and last kiss would be from a fox trying to steal your life away!

“I was very easy to tease as a child,” he shrugged, his smile turning sheepish as he softly scratched the back of his neck. “My grandparents loved telling me stories like that because I was an emotional little kid, ease to scare and quick to try and stuff like that.”

“That makes a little more sense,” you nodded, “no sane person would tell that as a bedtime story, it’s always got to be told to a child that’s easily scared.”

“Yeah, yeah, say what you want. If they hadn’t told them those stories of gumihos, I probably wouldn’t be taking mythology now,” Juyeon explained, glancing back toward the direction your shared class was. “And if I didn’t take mythology, you wouldn’t have any friends in that class.”

You shrug in response, he was right. If Juyeon had decided that he didn’t want to take the mythology course you probably wouldn’t have ever met him in the first place. So that was one good thing that had come out of his grandparents scaring him into the folklore of nine tailed foxes. “If you don’t mind me asking by the way,” the boy continued, switching topics while he still had your attention. “Whatever happened that day? You said you’d call me back but you never did. I can’t lie, I was a little worried for you again.”

“Ah, that,” you stall, struggling to make up a lie off the time of your head. You felt bad for lying to Juyeon more than you already were, you heard what he said! He’s worried about you and you didn’t want to put any more of load onto his back with your supernatural problems. “Well, I think I’ve got spirits in my house. I’ve been hearing weird noises sometimes and I thought you could hear it too, that’s why I asked.”

“Funny how things like this happen to a mythology student, huh? I wonder what kind of spirit has skipped their way into your house then.” Juyeon laughed, shaking his head at the ironic situation you had got yourself in, “well if you ever find yourself needing a home away from home, my dorm room is always open? We’d have to clean up a little bit before you arrive and sneak you in but anything to get away from spirits, right?”

#kpop imagines #kpop #kpop au #kpop scenarios #the boyz x reader #the boyz sunwoo #sunwoo x reader #kim sunwoo #sunwoo imagines #tbz sunwoo #sunwoo au #tbz au #juyeon x reader #lee juyeon #juyeon imagines #the boyz juyeon #juyeon au

[oloreaa]

fic writer review

Tagged by: @justrunamok love ya baby❤

Tagging: @corvueros @reluctant-mandalore @moskaisley @pettyprocrastination @mitchi-c @obirain @mandolovian @marvel-and-mischief

1. how many works do you have on tumblr?

I think including each chapter of Vencuyanir it'll be around 50 something? Too many to keep track of and some I deleted again💀

2. what are your top five fics by notes?

Pick up lines, Cherry, Cold Fingers, Daisy Chains, Body Warmth

3. what's your total tumblr word count?

I don't wanna know😭😭 over 270k including Ven

4. do you respond to comments, and why or why not?

I used to!! But I didn't post much anymore and I regularly lost followers because of comment reblogs so I stopped reblogging it after a while. I do my best to respond to comments on ao3 and let the readers know that I've seen their comments! It's also because I'm very forgetful and think that I already replied that it happens that I don't respond for weeks dgsjskdkff

5. what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I think Cherry? But Ven is gonna have a happy ending as well🥰

6. what's the fic you've written with the saddest ending?

Daisy Chains, no lie haha, I intended to write a follow up happy ending for it but inspiration left me, so have a sad end for once

7. do you write crossovers?

Not yet (?) but I really love to read them, especially when mashing up different universes. Maybe it's just my current interest now but I think having Mandos in the The Last of Us universe might be rad as hell since the armour and the jetpacks would help with fighting the Infected or the cordyceps fungus spreading over the galaxy far far away hehe

8. have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah, and it stings still whenever I scroll past it

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I currently don't publish them!! Most of them are Ven and it's very soft and filthy🥰

10. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of it, there were similar concepts every now and then but that's common enough and I don't mind these

11. have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone translated Daisy Chains into Spanish! It's on Wattpad somewhere and I'm super honoured by it!

12. what's your all-time favourite ship?

Din Djarin and a well deserved nap. Otherwise Gu Xiang and Cao Weining from Word of Honor because they made me physically sob and cry for hours and that had not happened in all my times of fandom

13. what's a wip you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

The one Pirates of the Caribbean fic that I started years ago and the concept still slaps, some of the ideas were actually good enough for Disney aka I recognised some bits of storytelling and plot setup in the final movie that had also been used for the fic; but it was not the same haha just some very similar concepts

14. what are your writing strengths?

I like to think that it's in the relationship between the characters and bantering dialogue!! My style is more simple and not as poetic so I try to see it as a kind of screenplay that just meanders around with no big symbolism etc, it's just little moments stacked on top of each other

15. what are you writing weaknesses?

Transition between scenes and an inability to get certain things onto paper even though I know how it should look like😭 also since I'm writing on the spot most of the times many things happen without my input and it becomes a scrambled mess that is very hard to navigate

16. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It really depends on how the translations are provided. If you use italics to indicate another language or pepper in single words that have been translated in the beginning (aka the reader would know the context and how it should be used), that would be fine with me. If there is just long phrases inserted there with no translation whatsoever, I dislike it. Of course it's cool for those who do speak the language to recognise some of the points, but a lot of nuance gets lost if you simply put it in a way the majority would not understand. Providing authenticity is a good thing, especially when the fic is set in another country, for example, but I think it should still be accessible for the majority of the readers (who speak English, most of the time)

17. what was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was actually Lord of the Rings haha and the story was extremely bad💀

18. what's your favourite fic you've written?

Vencuyanir!! It's my baby and I'm so proud of how far I've come even when it's a bit wonky and cliche at times, but that's how I know how to improve. I really love the characters and the pace and knowing that I can take my time with the slow burn and make it realistic🥺

#thank u for tagging me!! #also if you wanna do this as well just go ahead dhdhdjd #ask games #rea rambles

[siarven]

NaNoWriMo 2019 Update #1

Helloooooo, I’ve decided that maybe I should be writing one of these. XD (Also have I mentioned how annoying some of the things and especially the BUGS on this new website are?? ಥ_ಥ) Also also, if I didn’t react to a thing I got tagged in, I’m very sorry, I’m getting only 1/3 of my notifications these days T_T 

Anyways! The first day I wrote 2k for Hope Beyond (I will put up a new short story soon! :3 I have finished one, and the other’s getting there! :D) 

Aaaand I spent the rest of most of the first four days figuring out the middle part and ending of my outline (regarding Elinor’s and Kiyera’s plotline, specifically) You can’t imagine how glad I am, to finally know that I know how Eli ties into this whole mess ahhhhhhhhHHHH So those words are all outline and mostly me rambling to myself about how I will fix things, idk, I counted them because they were words and it’s nanowrimo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So the actual wordcount of Good Proper Words™ for the third draft of As Dreams Collide is currently at ~13K :) 

I also re-discovered the horribly effective existence of the Cold Turkey Writer program, which is how I managed to somehow write more than 8k yesterday. XD It doesn’t let you leave until you’ve written your words :’)) 

✿ Progress

WIP: As Dreams Collide, 3rd Draft (intro post | nanowrimo)

Day 01 - written 6,030 | total 6,030 Day 02 - written 2,007 | total 8,037 Day 03 - written 3,314 | total 11,351 Day 04 - written 4,649 | total 16,000 Day 05 - written 4,167 | total 20,176 Day 06 - written 8,421 | total 28,588

✿ Excerpt

In which Ava has a nightmare while they’re in the hospital, waiting for news on Ben. Idk if I will keep it (for pacing reasons) but I like how it turned out >:3 (She dreams of the day a few weeks past when she and Ben went climbing part of one of the trees in the Sanctuary Grove) The happy memory turns nightmare, though. Trigger warning for blood and some gore, or sth? :’D That part and the tag list are below the cut, the stuff above is just cute :3)

/ᐠ｡‸｡ᐟ\ .｡.:*♡

“Did you see the fuzzydragons?”, Ben asks me excitedly. 

I nod, grinning. “They were so pretty! We really have to find a book about dragons, I want to learn all their names! There are so many different kinds…” He laughs. “I will have to look for one. Maybe in the library?” Then he stops, and just smiles. 

“We did it!” 

And together we look around the trees, enjoying the rustling and singing of all the animals around us. 

There’s a small flock of sparrow-like featherdragons flying towards us, and I watch them come closer. They seem loaded down by something and after a moment I realize that they’re carrying a bunch of (most likely stolen) fruit, crowing in delight to one another as they almost crash-land on one of the branches close to me and Ben.

“Look, Ben!”, I say, laughing, and turn toward him when he doesn’t react.

I guess I should’ve realized that something was off. After all, he hasn’t said anything in a few minutes. That never happens. 

His face is deathly pale, and there’s fear in his eyes, but also an anger so terrible that he’s almost unrecognizable. His eyes change colour as I watch, becoming lighter and starting to glow until they’re amber like Asim Eyes, but completely solid, with the black and white parts entirely gone. 

He turns these horrible eyes on me, and blood starts coming out of his nose, and then from his eyes, too. It’s as if something invisible is scratching at his face, leaving deep claw-marks. He’s shivering, the fingers clenching around the branch white and bloodless. 

Something rams its claws into his forehead and pulls all the way and through his eye down to the jaw, leaving a ravaged bloody mess behind. I scream, trying to fight my impulse to run, then I force myself to take a deep breath and scramble toward Ben to help, don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look—

Ben smiles. His teeth are red with blood and too long, too sharp. Even if his remaining eye is no longer his, I know that he’s in pain, that he’s afraid, and that he’s furious. At me. Does he hate me? 

“Ben?”, I croak. 

“Are you scared?” he taunts. I shiver, shrinking back from him but there’s no-where to go. So much blood, and I can’t even look at his face, his eye—the same eye—

The same eye… as what? For a moment I feel strange, the world off-kilter and wrong. From the corner of my eyes there’s a ghost-like shape, black with glowing red eyes. It leers at me, exposing too many teeth, but when I look directly at it, it’s gone. When the world settles back, Ben is lunging for me, fingers like claws. 

I scream.

~~

@warmbones @wilde-writing @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad @authordai @madmoonink  @lynnafred @prismalicht @sincerestaffect @romenna @zekethegm @hypnocutiegypsy @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot @els-writes @randooooooooooom @asttralhell @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword @jellybeanwriter @kittensartswriting @purpleshadows1989​  @raiswanson​ @ettawritesnstudies​​ @writingwordsanddrawingpictures​

#nanowrimo 2019 #nanowrimo #nanowrimo update #heyyy i thought maybe I should make an update post #I spent so much time stuck in cold turkey writer xD #it's very mean but very effective #can both recommend... but also NOT #:'D #hope you like the excerpt #or at least the cute part :3 #it has SMOL DRAGONS #I love my smol dragons #poor ava #her night terrors are going to be Worse in this draft :') #because now she'll see That Face everytime she thinks of ben #and every time she closes her eyes #whoops #the injuries he gets in her nightmare don't match up with those he actually has #but half of his face is bandaged soooo her imagination did a Thing

[awrenthatwrites]

10 Questions Tag!

I was tagged by @ettawritesnstudies! Thank you so much for tagging me!

1. How did you come up with your WIP’s title?

Darkness Reborn has had many titles. Because I have been writing and scrapping drafts for a very long time. It started as Of Fire and Steel, then for a while I called it Dragon’s Blood. 

Well, I needed a title for NaoNoWriMo 2019. 

I knew that I wanted to call it something different, because since the NaNo the year before, I had changed the plot a smidge. Titania’s plotline worked a lot better, and I decided to focus on her for the month of November. 

So I needed a title that was clever (I like clever) and dramatic (I like dramatic) and related to Titania’s plotline. 

Ta Dah! Darkness Reborn. 

2. Do you title your chapters? If so, what’s your favorite?

I do! Kinda. 

Just because I have to over-explain everything I guess, I choose a phrase for each Act of my book and for each character. So Edana’s Act 1 is different than Titania’s, and Titania’s Act 1 & 2 are different. 

ANYWAY

My favorite title, so far, is:

Arc I: all that is gold does not glitter: +cage of cloth and stone+

3. What’s a recent line you really like?

This is the line I like the most that I have written recently. It’s for Edana:

She felt the rough stone under fingertips as if it was a canyon and the cotton pants like the straw mat she slept on as a child. Shadows no longer existed, the corners of her room lit up like noonday, and when she turned to glance at the moon, her eyes shut and she let out a hiss of pain. It was brighter than the sun back home. 

Edana lifted her hands again, squinting through the brightness. The fire under her skin was still growing, collecting, until her entire hands looked like they were on fire.

4. Are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

One of my favorite quotes about writing is by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian

Writing isn't like playing music, where the act itself is rewarding. It's more like gardening, where the work is hard and unpleasant, but the result is beautiful.

5. Do you have an idea for a cover design for your story?

Yes! I made one for NaNo! And I love it! You can see it here!

6. What sort of AU can you imagine your story being?

Do you mean, if there could be one AU that would fit best with my characters what would it be? Or what kind of AU trope is my novel? 

If I could pick one AU that would be fun for my characters, I’d have to say a space epic like Firefly. That would be fun!

And if my novel was going to be an AU trope, it’d probably be the one where all the characters go to a Ren Fest and have a mess of a time!

7. Which OC would be the most angry with you as the writer?

Uhh. For what reason? 

Because I ruin their life? All of them. 

Because they are particularly stubborn and don’t want to do what I tell them? All of them. 

Because they are just generally stubborn? Edana.

8. If you had to tell the story from a different POV, which character would you choose?

I’m telling the story from everyone’s POV already. But if I could, I think I would tell the story from the Dragons’ POV’s. (They know too much. It’s too difficult to write from their POV’s without spoiling everything!)

9. What would be your OC’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

Uhhhhh. (Scrambles to come up with an answer that sounds well thought out.)

I’m only going to do one of my characters because I know her best (cough I don’t know the other ones well enough yet to know their music taste cough)

Titania - something about freedom and flying free. she probably would really like halsey and Lorde. She would definitely listen to Mumford and Sons. 

10. What’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story?

My goal at the end of the story is to have a finished project that I am proud of. I have been babying this story for as long as I can remember. I’m proud of where it is now. I hope that at the end I’ll be proud of what it becomes. 

----

Thank you so much for the tagging! I had a lot of fun with this! Please feel free to keep tagging me and asking me questions about my WIP!

I’m going to ask the same 10 questions to the following people:

@mischiefiswritten @spiritedscribbles @hiddendreamer67 @farrradays

(feel free to not participate if you don’t want!)

#talyawrites #Darkness Reborn #DR #WritingFantasy #fantasy novel #high fantasy #highfantasy #fantasy #tagging #i was tagged

[courtorderedcake]

Having been a beta, I don’t like seeing a writer pass the blame for delays on a story to this community. I would try to turn things around as quickly as possible. Sometimes it was easier than others. Sometimes things needed a lot of rewriting and comments. Sometimes I didn’t hear from a writer in a while and then they wanted something the next day.

I’ve answered this twice with no success, so here’s hoping third times the charm -

This is not me blaming my betas, or anyone, besides myself. I am beyond frustrated with the full extent of my situation - which my betas know - and if you have a wild hair up your ass about it nonny, I’m not going to be sorry for being flippant. 

I’m an independent contractor, I freelance. I started working with a company who has as of this friday, not paid me a sum of close to 5k. 

I’m sick, everything is off, and I’m running scared in an already bad situation regarding my health. All of this is on me. All of my frustration - on me. GDocs is great, but I write huge swaths of words and correct what I see needs correcting via betas, but we can no longer communicate beyond snips of when I have internet. These times are few and far between, as my schedule is erratic until I can pick up a regular gig again, and I’m scrambling to make ends meet. Tomorrow? It looks like this - Wake up, Meds, Wheelchair, Take kid to bus stop with other kid, Take other kid home, Keep other kid entertained (write and art while I can but I mean he’s 4) while husband sleeps, Get picked up by a friend*, Go to the Food pantry*, Try to keep sane, Keep house* (***if I can manage my pain), Husband wakes up, and usually just takes over so I can crash because I’m wiped. I’m going blind and my muscles have gotten weakened to the point of spending the majority of my day wheelchair bound or lying still with a prescription pillow. Yeah nonny. You’re getting my rant here, because it’s all me. 

If I have the energy, we go to a place with Wi-Fi and I use the shit out of it trying to get updates on this battle I’m having re: my paycheck or leave a quick note, update my docs, send as many messages as I can on this hellsite praying tumblr does not eat them, and try to maintain a very unhappy fan base on my other social media. 

I would never blame my betas for anything. They can murder someone at this point and I would be like, “Yeah sure, I’m your Alibye bye birdie.” .They’re fcking angels. Legit. They have dealt with my bullshit, my bullshit writing style, my ‘one word looking like the other because I can’t read’ nonsense, on top of my complete loss of handling the English language. Are commas, supposed to, go after, every few, words, like this? No? Well, brain zappin’ says it should be so. Beta that? It’s misery. 

I sing my betas praises every moment I can. I’m constantly telling them how sorry and thankful I am. They knew this whole situation, as did several other closer friends, and they still (sometimes) say they understand. IF I in anyway upset them I’d be distraught (which I have, and woof, I was devastated). I expect them to equate this to chewing tacks, and ask that they never feel obligated or feel that they can’t hightail it as soon as they can. 

If anyone thought that I was blaming anyone but myself for this whole mess, please come talk to me off anon. Please. I am beyond upset at the thought, and if this goes through instead of my messages, please please please if you’re anyone who I’ve talked to about my WIPs, know that I could never be upset with you or feel anything but gratitude.

#Captain Swan #Anonymous #CS #Fandom #Asks #Answers #courtorderedcake #Beta #Personal #Hallow #Updates #Captain Swan Fandom #Writing #Writblr #My writing #Frustration #fibromyalgia #lupus #spoons

[that-fandom-sucks-tho]

Ben Cardy: The Cardboard Man; The Cardboard Myth; The Cardboard Legend; The Cardboard Wing Man?

A/N: Okay so like again I haven’t wrote in a while and I really should be writing the Young Justice wip but like I saw that video and I’d already had this idea for weeks and it felt like it  was a sign that it needed to be posted cause it fit so perfectly. 

Pairing: Ben Hardy x Reader and Joe Mazzello x sister!Reader

Masterlist

You walked into the kitchen still clearing the sleep from your weary eyes trying to wake up for the eight hour shift that you had ahead of you. What you expected to be staring back at you in your kitchen was a bowl of fruit, maybe a left over bowl, not a pair of green eyes attached to a very handsome face.

“Ahhhhhh!!!” You screamed at the top of your lungs.

A thud and then sudden footsteps alerted you to the fact that your goofus brother had heard your terror and was rushing in to save you.

He slid around the corner with what appeared to be an Adidas tennis shoe clutched in his hands ready to be swung at your assailant.

“Huh, whats it. What’s wrong?” Joe groggily mumbled as he too tried to wipe sleep out of his eyes.

You scoffed, “Well, I’m glad to know that if I was in any actual danger I could count on you to... shoe the attackers?”

Joe looked at the ‘weapon’ in his hand and sheepishly lowered it. “Hey, at least I came. You still didn’t answer me; what’s wrong?”

“What the heck is that?” You pointed at the cardboard man currently sitting at your kitchen counter. Joe looked in the direction and started to laugh.

“Y/N, that’s Ben Cardy.” He stated like it was obvious.

“Yeah, gonna need way more context. Who even is that?”

“Fine. That’s a cardboard cut out of Ben Hardy; who you’ve seen before. I’ve face-timed you tons of times with him. Though he did usually have his Roger gear on. We got it for when he couldn’t do the press tour with us.” You blushed at the mention of Ben Hardy. You had seen him before; you hadn’t realized what he looked like when not having the 70′s getup.

“I’m not used to him looking so....” You trailed off finally taking in a good look at the suited up smoldering man seated at your kitchen counter.

A snap brought you out of your trance. You looked up at Joe who had a smug look on his face.

“So? Y/N do find this cardboard attractive? Should I be worried? Carboardphillia?” He joked and barely dodged the punch to the chest you had aimed in his direction.

“You know what I mean. And why did you feel the need to bring him into our house and most importantly seat him at the counter? The tour is over you can throw this out now.”

Joe gasped in mock horror clutching his chest. He walked over and put his hand over ‘Ben Cardy’s’ ears. “Don’t listen to her I’d never do that to you,” He whispered to the cutout before looking back up at you, “And besides I’ve got so many bit ideas for him I can’t just waste this opportunity.”

You rolled your eyes and walked away to get dressed deciding a stale muffin at work was better than whatever nonsense was happening here.

The next morning, having forgotten about the prior events, caused another shock at the sight in your kitchen. Your heart racing but this time no actual screaming. Sighing you grabbed your favorite cereal and sat down across from ‘Ben Cardy’.

You slurping disturbed the silence as you stared at the printed image on cardboard. It was clearly from some sort of red-carpet something. It was also a high quality image. You could see the seams in his suit, the strands of his silky blonde hair, even the flecks inside his very green eyes.

“No matter how much you eye fuck him his clothes are printed on they’re not going to come off.” Joe smirked as he walked into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

You jerked your eyes away jostling your spoon causing milk to spill on the counter. You glared at your brother.

“I am not ‘eye fucking’ him. Just examining him.” You explained though the strain in your voice was not convincing Joe.

“Sure, and if your examination causes drooling it’s all in the name of science?” He questioned leaning backing stirring the creamer in his coffee.

Your mistake was actually checking to see if you had been drooling.

“Ha! I knew it! You do like him. You know we are friends I can introduce you to him. I think you two would actually really get along.”

“No please don’t do that. That’s so embarrassing. Like ‘Hey date my pathetic sister who needs her older brother to set her up.’” 

“That is not at all how it would go; besides Ben alr-” Her started.

“Plus he’s like your best friend so that would be weird and I’m what, nine years younger than him? He would for sure see me as your baby sister. No way would he like me, so please just don’t.” You pleaded as you walked out to get ready.

Joe smirked noting that your arguments included everything but you not actually  liking Ben. Oh, this was going to be fun. He was already on his phone making a call. 

“Hey mate....”

The next day you drug yourself out of bed to start your morning routine. This time though you had been expecting a pair of eyes to greet you back. You were trying not to look at him in case Joe walked in but out of the corner of your eye you saw a new pop of color.

It was a pink post-it note in the shape of a speech bubble stuck to ‘Ben Cardy’s’ face. Your eyebrows furrowed as you made your way over trying to read the writing.

Ben told me he thinks you’re really pretty.

You laughed and blushed at the note. Clearly Joe was trying to mess with you but it flattered you anyways. Looking around to see if Joe was watching you grabbed the post-it and shoved into your pocket. The small smile still present.

Joe walked in after you left with a triumphant grin on his face. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and answered the very urgent text from a very curious Brit.

For the next week every morning ‘Ben Cardy’ had a new message attached to him. Supposedly from the real Ben but you knew better. Joe was just trying to make you laugh and nothing more. But still...

Day 2

Your laugh makes his heart soar

Day 3

He hung out in Joe’s trailer just hoping you’d face-time

Day 4

He thinks you’re so smart and admires how hard you work in college

Day 5

Says you’re way funnier than Joe but don’t tell him that

Day 6

He can’t stop thinking about you or how you’d feel pressed against him

Day 7

He give anything for a chance with you

By the end of the week you had no idea how you felt. On one hand you had kept all of the notes in hopes that they were true but on the other there was no way that he wrote those or even said them. What did Joe write down these notes at the behest of Ben? There is no way Joe would write the sixth one without throwing up. I mean you were his baby sister. (He had gagged a few times but apparently the whole thing needed to be written or it ‘wouldn’t work’. Plus he promised himself he’d get payback.)

You and Joe had not talked about it. He didn’t bring it up and you were too scared to ask; what if Joe was just messing with you. Ignorance was bliss in this moment.

You were sitting pondering the thoughts swirling in your head when Joe stormed in a giant grin on his face.

“Guess who’s coming to visit for a bit involving the ever beautiful and talkative,” Joe winks at you before continuing, ““Ben Cardy.’“

“Who?” You mumbled still trying to decipher the ‘talkative’ part of his intro.

“Ben Hardy.”

You choked on your popcorn.

“He’s what?!” You exclaimed trying to wipe the remnant of half chewed soggy popcorn off your chin.

“Yeah, he was in town and wanted to meet up and I wanted a sequel to the “Night of Regrets’ video with Cardy but ampped up. So he’ll be here in like an hour.”

“An hour,” You squeaked.

“Yeah and since it’s the weekend and you’re not at work I thought you two could finally officially meet. Plus you could help us shoot.” His eyes twinkled with a mischief that did not sit well with you.

You jumped up leaving your snack for a much more important task.

“Where are you going?”

“To definitely not put on make up and a cute outfit,” You yelled.

The hour crawled by and you were sitting in the living room trying to act casual. You were doing well, except for the near vibration of your legs due to nerves.

“Hey Kid Flash, calm down or you might get stuck in the speed force.” Joe laughed as he sat down next to you. His hand clamped down on your leg making you follow his order.

“First of all, too soon for that reference-”

“It’s been six years!”

You glared. “Second of all I’m not nervous I’m just trying out this new fad exercise.”

He nodded his head in an uh-huh-totally-believe-you way.

A knock on the door stopped you from responding and you swear you stopped breathing. You may have froze as well.

Joe looked and shook his head. “Try to be a normal human, maybe.”

He walked over and opened the door and there he was: Ben Hardy, in the flesh. Which you can say was new for you. His eyes were the same color as the cutout and his hair looked just as silky. Though he now had on a bright smile that made your heart flutter into your throat. While he wasn’t in a suit the soft grey t-shit and blue jeans was just as attractive.

“Hey buddy how have you been? Is America treating you well?” The boys did a bro hug that kinda morphed into a full blown hug.

“Yeah, I’ve been having a great time but I expect this will be the best part of my trip.” Ben laughed before looking over Joe’s shoulder and directly into your eyes.

“Ah, yes Ben this is my little sister Y/N. Y/N this is Ben.”

“Oh, I know who she is.” He took a strong three strides in your direction. You quickly scrambled up to meet him half-way and shake his hand.

You gave a nervous laugh before answering.” Yeah, I guess six plus months of quasi-face-timing counts as meeting.”

He grabbed your hand, eyes never parting from yours and you felt goosebumps crawl up your arm and down your spine causing you to shiver. He held you hand long after the appropriate ‘handshake’ time allotted.

Joe cleared his throat.

“Alright lets get this going and then maybe go out for some food or something?” Joe offered before motioning towards the bedrooms. Grabbing ‘Ben Cardy’ as he walked past.

“Oh Y/N we’re going to use your room if that’s cool. You have white bed sheets and that adds a bit of continuity to this.” Joe dismissively said as he took joy in your panicked expression.

“Um...” You started but it was already too late he had barged into your room.

You gasped as you remembered the pile of post-its you had on your dresser. Yeah, that was a problem.

You rushed in pushing past both men and quickly stuffed the post-its into a drawer. Slamming it shut you turned around noticing the quizzical looks from the blonde and your brother.

“Um, it was- was my bra--” You stammered out before a heated patchy blush crawled up your neck and slapped itself onto your face. Joe’s eyebrows had breached his hairline and Ben let out a tinkle of a laugh and you suddenly felt like the floor needed to open up and swallow you.

“Okay, well anything else or can we start this?” Joe said but didn’t wait for the answer as he ventured further into your room and climbed on your bed.

He flipped back the covers and slid in the cardboard man positioning it so his head was on the pillow. He then shimmied himself under the covers and then waved Ben over. His attention was brought back to the cardboard as the shifting covers moved it out of place.

Ben walked past but not before whispering “Not how I’d expected getting into your bed.”

You choked on a gasp watching as the man who gave it to you smirked and climbed under your covers. His arms were crossed behind his head his biceps flexing (for no obvious reason besides being tantalizing). His shirt sleeve slipped down his arm showing his tattoo. He licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair trying to make it look messier. You made an almost cartoonish gulp at the sight.

The boys ran through the first run with Joe ‘waking up’ before noticing ‘Ben Cardy’. He ad libbed for a bit before turning over to Ben. They ran through a few lines and then the part you helped came in. You were supposed to hold the camera when they flourished the covers over their heads. It was successful but Ben insisted on another take saying he wanted to try again on his part. You were trying to hold in your cackles, so you had no idea what Ben was talking about.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Joe mutters in annoyance.

“Hey buddy.” Ben softly answered.

“Hi. Uhh,you good?” 

“Yeah, great.” 

“Good. Have you met, um--”

“Yeah, we uh, we met, I was trying really hard to tell this girl I liked her and he delivered some messages for me. So we’re pretty tight.” He was looking at you now and your eyes had widened in shock.

“You wrote those notes for me? Joe wasn’t fucking with me?” You asked in shock.

“Gosh no. Half of them made me want to carve my eyes out.” Joe responded in a mock annoyed tone.

Ben had climbed out of your bed and slowly made his way over to you. 

“No, I meant every one of those.”

“All of them?”

“Especially the sixth one.” 

Joe groaned and threw a pillow at Ben. “Still my baby sister.”

“Oi! Professing my feelings here. If you wouldn’t mind,” Ben yelled before turning back, “If you’d give me a chance I’d love to take you out while I’m still here.”

His nervous expectant eyes stared into yours and a smile broke out onto your face.

“Of course.”

He grinned a breath taking grin and leaned down pulling your face in for a sweet passionate kiss. You looped your hand around your neck twisting your fingers in his hair as he dipped you lower to deepen the kiss.

Suddenly water splashed over you and Ben making you shoot apart sputtering.

Joe stood there with a now empty pail and a triumphant grin.

“That’s payback for making me write six, saying I’m not funny and ‘snogging’,” Joe put up quotes and said the last word in his imitation Ben voice,” my sweet innocent baby sister in front of me. Oh and I heard that earlier comment about the bed.”

“JOE!” You yelled.

“What? I’m protecting your honor; now, you two crazy kids dry off and go have dinner. Be back by ten or the only Ben the world will hear from is the cardboard kind.” His thinly veiled threat sat in the air as he walked out.

“Well we better hurry its already eight.” Ben said looking down at his watch. 

Strands of his hair were plastered to his forehead and hanging over his eyes. You nodded and stepped closer to leaned against him as you pushed the off his face. 

“Yeah, we better hurry.” You whispered as you looked up at him and looped your hands behind his head once again. 

He lowered his head and his lips ghosted against your own. One hand cupped your cheek and the other your waste as he pulled you impossibly closer. Finally you closed the distance and moved your lips together. It was slow and sensual and you melted into it. Your finger pulled at his hair causing a groan to be elicited from the back of his throat. 

“We have more water in this house!”

#joe mazzello #ben hardy #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy x reader #joe mazello x reader #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody movie #ben hardy! roger taylor #ben hardy!roger x reader #Queen #Ben hardy #ben cardy #joe mazzello imagine

[bookenders]

11/11/11 Tag Game: Rounds 24, 25, 26, and 27

Tagged by the wonderful @corsairesque, the lovely @azawrites, the stellar @sunlight-and-starskies, and the incomparable @inexorableblob - thanks!

And @inexorableblob, thank you for letting me rewrite the end of The Great Gatsby. It was very cathartic.

Rules: Answer 11 questions, write 11 questions, tag 11 people!

Bilbo Taggins: @aurumni-writes @quilloftheclouds @aslanwrites @starlitesymphony @writingonesdreams @waterfallwritings @cataclysmic-writer @ren-c-leyn @timefirewrites @minusfractions @ink-flavored - and if you like the questions and aren’t tagged, feel free to answer them! And tag me so I can see! 

My Questions:

How many licks would it take for your OCs to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

What are your favorite smells?

What’s the book you’ve read most recently? What did you think of it? What impressed you? What would you have done differently?

What are your thoughts on mugs?

If your OCs had a comic book series/graphic novel about them, what would it be called? What would be on the cover? What would the art style be?

Can you draw a bear?

Do you do any other kinds of art? Are you ever influenced by other kinds of art? What about other areas like science or mathematics/other disciplines?

Have you read any craft books or writing advice books? If yes, how have the helped or hindered you? Which would you recommend? If no, would you ever consider reading them?

What are your favorite kinds of narratives? What narrative structures do you prefer to write and what do you prefer to read?

What’s your favorite recipe?

What are some signs that make you consider setting a project aside vs continuing with it?

As always, answers under the cut!

@corsairesque‘s Questions:

1. Do you create playlists for your stories or characters?

I do! 

Here’s a detailed post about how I make them.

This is Mel’s from H2H.

This is Gemma’s from H2H.

This is one for the story I recently posted.

And I have one for each WIP on my WIP page! (Mostly, I’m still working on Fish Food’s.)

I actually have folders in Spotify for my characters and stories. Each one gets a playlist.

2. What is your stance on endings that don’t end with some hope?

Sometimes a story needs to have a certain ending to have an emotionally satisfying conclusion. I don’t think hope is absolutely required for an ending. I’ve ended stories without hope because that’s how the story ends. If I wrote it to conclude with an upturn, it would’ve been disloyal to the narrative. Like life, not everything ends happily, or with a positive outlook.

If you want it from a more technical perspective, there are three sorts of endings: positive, negative, and neutral. They can mix and match, but these are the three base ones. I tend toward neutral or positive-neutral endings. The best story I’ve written so far has a negative-leaning neutral ending because it concludes with a loss that does not promise hope. Positive endings are not necessary for a narrative, or for a conclusion. 

Sometimes you need to write a hopeful ending. Sometimes you need to read a hopeful ending. And sometimes you need to read or write something that ends on a down-note. I know I have. 

So, TL;DR, there is no ending hierarchy. It all depends on the reader and the writer, what they need, and what the story demands.

3. What author would you love to hear feedback from on your WIP?

Of literally anyone? Dead or alive? I mean. I’d love to hear what Flannery O’Connor would have to say about my short stories. I try to do a remix-version of her moments of grace in each of them.

4. What is the genre of your WIP(s)?

I mention these on my WIP page!

Most of my short stories are literary and contemporary fiction. My longer projects tend toward low fantasy.

5. How do you come up with new ideas for your WIP(s)?

I don’t have a method or anything for idea generation. My brain works in the background while I’m doing other things, so I’ll be washing dishes, or brushing my teeth, or writing something else, and an idea goes HI HELLO WHAT ABOUT THIS HUH? and I scramble to write it down.

Most of the time, my story ideas come from cool sentences I think of while observing. That sounds super weird and nerdy, but it’s true! When I’m bored or need to occupy my brain or just sorta feel like creating something spontaneous, I’ll look around and figure out how I’d write about a certain thing in the vicinity. 

Some examples of this from my phone notes:

“Laughter echoing through a cave, bouncing off the walls, the gift of hearing it over and over until it fades like gentle waking”

“Cheeks baked pink from the flush of her modesty”

“The last remnants of home, the dirt hidden beneath their fingernails”

“Headlights flicker between the gaps in the barrier like a slipstream of stars”

Ya know, stuff like that.

Sometimes, if I’m stuck while writing and need a thought, I look at the plot and think up complications for my characters to face. That’s how I figured out how to make Lithium 100% more plot relevant. I thought, okay, so she has this role right now, what can I add to make her stand in the way of X plan while also being an asset to Y? And boom, idea generated and problem solved.

6. What do you use to keep all your writing on? (Scrivener, Google Docs, good old pen and paper…)

I use Scrivener for all my main writing. I have a ton of phone memo notes for ideas on the go. I have a notebook full of random stuff for when I’m blocked and need to hand write something.

I also answered this further down!

7. What gave you initial inspiration for your WIP(s)?

H2H: There was a publisher who had a call for shapeshifter stories, and then I missed the deadline so I decided to try for a zine instead, then I got rejected, so I made it into my own thing.

AOPC: I needed to flesh out a piece of my homebrew DnD world, so I started worldbuilding, then it was my turn to turn in a story to be workshopped in my writing class, so I wrote a thing set in the village about the tribe and it all spiraled out from there.

FF: I had an errant thought about the script that hero and villain stories follow and wrote a thing about what would happen if one of them decided to deviate from it and BOOM the plot hit me like a semi truck.

Almost all of my short stories start with a sentence I think sounds really cool, a tone I want to try to capture (ex. the feeling of standing inside an old cathedral), or the ending moment of a character arc (I tend to work backwards).

8. How long have you been working on your WIP(s)?

I’ve been working with Heart to Heart since November 2018. I started thinking about Fish Food like 3 months ago I think? And I got the idea for All Our Painted Colors 3ish years ago, but it started as a short story that I thought about expanding about 8 months ago.

My writing process starts with a long period of thought percolation before I write anything definitive down.

9. What was the first thing you came up with for your WIP(s)?

H2H: The fact that the main character is an apothecary who uses recipes from historical documents to brew things and lives in a small town, and that their love interest changes shapes in some way.

AOPC: That the tribe is a society based around body paint, art, preserving their personal history, and stories. But mostly paint. 

FF: The hero danging over a pit of hungry piranhas and asking the villain a question that throws off the whole “death threat” vibe.

10. Have you considered Hogwarts houses for your characters? If so, what are they?

Answered this for the H2H cast here.

As for the Fish Food cast:

Iron Will - Hufflepuff

Overseer - Ravenclaw

Nightmare - A Hufflepuff who asked to be in Slytherin and the hat said “yeah okay”

Lithium - Gryffindor

Babylon - Slytherin

Sparkplug - Gryffindor

11. What do you find easiest to write? (Description, dialogue, etc.)

Interiority! Free indirect discourse! Unvoiced character brain thoughts! Which I guess means description? 

Writing dialogue sucks old car tires!

@azawrites‘ Questions:

what’s the best part about your writing style? I like how I build up to emotional punches. It’s like walking up a ramp, but in a literary way. And at the top of the ramp you either get a gut punch of feels or an ice cream cone.

do you write on the computer or on paper? I do most of my writing on my laptop because my hands can’t write fast enough to keep up with my brain. My typing is way faster. If I’m having trouble getting an idea down, or the tone of the writing lends itself to being handwritten (idk how to describe this, but sometimes words just gotta be scribbled, ya know?), I’ll hand write it in pen. I don’t use pencils anymore because I wasn’t allowed to in college and it kinda stuck.

what are your favourite books and why? Oh, no, there are too many. So I’ll just say my top book: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien because of how it deals with stories and grief and remembering, the fact that it’s a story cycle (which is very cool), and the way he writes - it’s beautiful and sad and messed up and poignant. I love it.

why did you start writing? I’ve answered this before, but there was never really starting point for me. It’s just something I’ve always done. 

why did you continue writing? Because I had too much fun to stop! I also get creatively constipated, I guess is how I would phrase it, and need to have some sort of narrative outlet or my brain gets really mad at me.

where do you usually write? Pretty much anywhere, but most often at my desk. I think I need a taller chair, though...

can you describe your favourite piece (written by you) in one sentence? Let’s get authory with this one: The teacher hands out the tests, multiple choice this time, but when the stapled packet slides across your desk, there’s something odd about it, something that brings the war to life inside your head, a long-forgotten voice that speaks the souls of the soldiers and tells their stories from the annals of history. Or: A multiple choice test about WWII that tells the story of 4 men from Company B from enlistment to the end of their campaign.

what’s one cliche/trope you overuse, but still like anyway? It’s a trope when it comes to my own writing, actually. Person Sits Alone in the Dark and Contemplates. I love it, I abuse the hell out of it, and I will never stop.

what music do you listen to when working on a WIP? Depends. I have a go-to Writing Flow State song, playlists to help me get in the right head space when writing certain characters, and playlists that help guide the tone of a story. I can never listen to movie or video game scores because the association of song and cinematic moment is too strong for me.

have you ever dreamed of a fictional character? Uh, I have the occasional nightmare about Kokopelli? Does that count? 

what’s one thing that makes you automatically dislike a book? Overly pretentious first person POV prose (and I don’t mean purple. I mean a character who - honestly and without a hint of satire - thinks like a writer from the 1920s who just discovered what “paid by the word” means and believes they’re the wisest human being in the universe and everyone who doesn’t agree with them is the basest of idiots - barf). Gratuitous female violence. The use of the word “loins” outside of an animal context. Everything about The Beginners by Rebecca Wolff. 

@inexorableblob‘s Questions:

Which of your characters could you write as twice their current age? Oh, man, I think writing Iron Will in his forties or fifties would be really cool. It’d certainly give the story a new commentary twist.

Which of your characters could you write as half their current age? (I’m not gonna cheat and say Mel, I promise.) I think writing a 30yo Treena would be very cool. However, writing a 13 or 14yo Lithium who is just learning how to use her super powers would be WILD. 

What big city would your characters do best in?  London?  New York? Tokyo?  Mexico City?  Rio? The Fish Food characters would all do best in New York or London, since they’re very close to Conover. Lithium would prefer Rio, though, and Babylon would lobby for everyone to move to Tokyo.  The H2H characters would do best in Mexico City or London, depending on who decides to take charge and teach everyone the local customs. 

What would your characters do if they were in a small rural community that was attacked by underground worms? This is giving me too many ideas for H2H. Gemma would be a little bit furious, since she hates having to get rid of animals, especially when they’re invasive. If the worms just minded their own gosh dang business then everyone could live in peace.  If we’re talkin’ normal sized worms, like worm-sized worms, then Gemma would develop a pesticide that wouldn’t kill them, but force them to the surface where they would then be stunned by whatever weird solution Mel comes up with. Then the town would have a Worm-Off, where the person who collects the most worms wins free pie for a year, courtesy of Harry’s.  If we’re talkin’ DnD-style Purple Worms, like Beetlejuice worms, then Mel would take over. She’d help organize an evacuation and steal Oz’s gun, just in case. Then she’d do some spoilery things with Gemma assisting.

What is the worst place where you’ve ever wanted to write? Probably while I was taking the math section of the SATs. Kinda inconvenient, brain, thanks for that. Other terrible places: mid job interview, in the middle of an empty street at midnight, anywhere I’m sitting where I have terrible posture, watching a slam poetry event in a very crowded bar, etc.

What’s the most uncomfortable subject you’ve ever written about? I’ve written a little bit about hate crimes and loathed every second. I’ve written a character actively contemplating suicide (he was a WWII soldier) and that was not fun at all. I mean, I also wrote a paper about sexy (somewhat graphic) wlw poetry for my Sexuality class, which a lot of people would be uncomfortable with, but I thought it was a very good collection. Go read Marilyn Hacker’s stuff, it’s good.

If you had to change the ending of any famous novel, which would you pick? The Great Gatsby. We don’t end with the green light, screw the green light.  Gatsby wills all of his possessions and wealth to Nick and Nick becomes the next James Gatz. But this time around, he pines for the man who was killed in the pool just below his balcony while pretending to love Jordan, who finds out and amicably marries him because 1920s. She then uses Nick/Gatsby’s money to purchase an automobile manufacturing company and makes cars in every color but yellow. (Gotta maintain that color symbolism for F. Scott, I guess.) Nick discovers Gatz’ old bootlegging and illegal activities buddies and starts up a criminal empire. He and Jordan become the biggest, queerest, most spiteful and angsty crime bosses in New York. Nick makes it his life’s mission to take down false accusers, vigilante style. The car manufacturing company is what they use to launder money. Daisy divorces Tom because they���re both terrible people. Daisy takes her daughter and moves to California. Jordan sends Daisy’s daughter money secretly, about a hundred dollars a month. The last line is something about how Gatz was always reaching out and chasing green, but because of him, Nick is steeped in dark, bloody red. I would then write a sequel about Nick and Jordan and their crime empire that spans the East Coast. God, I hate this book.

If you had to change your life, what would you change without regret? Start therapy way earlier, 100%. That would have saved me a lot of nonsense.

If the end of the world where scheduled a week from tomorrow, what would you do?  Would you tell anybody? Everybody?  Keep it a secret? Assuming this was legit and the end of the world was actually happening, I’d probably try to tell some big-shot geologist or something, hoping they spread the word. Other than that, since debt won’t be a thing, I’d take the people I love on a killer trip around the world.

What would you do if a wizard offered to cast one spell for you, but your worst enemy got the same spell? Hmmm. I’d ask them to cast the Self-Realization spell, so they would instantly become aware of the effect their actions have on others and know exactly how terrible they’ve been to other people their whole life. Maybe then they can be a better person. My anxiety makes this spell ineffective on me, since it’s already there! Thanks, brain! 

Which would you choose, never eating in the same place, always eating the same meal, always eating with the same people, or never eating with the same people? I’d choose always eating with the same people. I like frequenting restaurants I like and eating different things. I don’t think I could deal with only eating the same thing/off the same menu forever. And I have bad social anxiety, so constantly eating with new people would probably short-circuit my brain eventually.  A good meal in good company is pretty great, though. 

@sunlight-and-starskies‘ Questions:

What is your favorite genre of music? I’ll always be a rock fan at heart. Right now, I really like folk rock and any kind of music that sounds like it has history behind it.

What are your favorite words? Illustrious, shimmer, soliloquy, incarnate, bound, and many more. Also most Yiddish curses.

Describe your ideal vacation. Somewhere cozy where I can explore and chill at my leisure. A week of artsy events in the city. Exploring landscapes in the country.

If you could have any fictional creature for a pet, what would it be? Why? Pegasus! I can ride and they can fly. We’d make an excellent team, and where we’d go, we wouldn’t need roads.

Which fictional universe would you live in if you had to live there for the rest of your life? Logic dictates the Star Trek universe, since I’d probably be an average civilian. Post-scarcity society? Sign me the hell up. My heart, however, is screaming ROHAN.

Favorite childhood toy? Uh... I honestly can’t remember. 

What is your aesthetic? Good smelling old books with doodles and notes in the margins, a pile of unfolded clean clothes on a chair, a stack of handwritten papers perched on the corner of a desk, the smell of breakfast cooking when you wake up, the immediate “woops” shock the moment you trip over something you should’ve moved earlier.

Tell me a random fact about your current project or you. About me: I have a birthmark that kinda sorta looks like an elephant. About Fish Food: The Coalition knows what happened to Hydrophase. So does Sparkplug.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Night owl, all the way. I like the idea of being a morning person, though. 

What is your favorite food? Pasta! Or any kind of Asian food. 

What is your happiest memory? Oh, geez. Ummm. When I was little, I would curl up in my grandpa’s armchair and eat Burger King breakfast sandwiches on Saturday mornings. 

#about me #writeblr #my process #tag game #11/11/11 tag #11/11/11 tag game #writer tag

[blissedoutphil]

Post-Tour Agenda

I haven’t written a new fic in 4 months?? smh. Had a nice break from my WIPs tlic and jat by writing this fic! Thank you for the prompt @ticktockondabloc :) And the (**) leads to a nsfw link so be careful if you wanna click it!!

3551 words of switch!phan (who’s top/bottom here?? idek both have their moments), sybian (it’s like a fuck machine that you sit on), nipple play, blowjob, fluff

or read on ao3!

The first item on their post-tour agenda: Sleep. They don’t miss much from back home while on tour, but the one thing they can agree on was that they miss their bed dearly. They did have fun sleeping in their tour bus, especially after their crew decorated their bunks for them. The hotels, however, weren’t as fun. And after five months of sleeping in random hotels and tiny bunks, Dan and Phil craved nothing more than their big bed at home, where they could stretch out comfortably and in familiar sheets. And despite being together for almost nine years, five months of sleeping in separate beds was too long; they’d missed being tangled up in each other and falling asleep in each other’s arms.

So that’s exactly what they did first thing when they reached home. They each took a quick shower then hurriedly plopped into bed. Phil hummed happily as he squished his cheek against Dan’s shoulder, he’d missed being engulfed by the warmth of his boyfriend. Dan hooked his leg over Phil’s and they drifted off to a peaceful sleep listening to each other’s heartbeats.

They spent the next few days mostly in bed, sleeping off the jetlag and lazing around. Catching up on all their shows and only getting out of bed when absolutely necessary. There was nothing to stress over, no rush to go anywhere or deadlines to meet. They enjoyed being able to just lay cuddled with each other - something they rarely got to do during tour.

When they finally filled up their quota of sleep and cuddles, it was time to move on to the next item on their post-tour agenda: Sex.

“Remember what we bought before we started tour?” Phil recalled in amusement, looking up from where he was resting on Dan’s chest.

“Oh my god I still can’t believe we did that!”

Phil’s loved feeling Dan’s chest rumble from laughter as much as he loved the sound of his laugh itself.

“Do you wanna...?” Dan trailed off, looking at Phil inquisitively.

“Ready whenever you are babe,” Phil answered, silently hoping that they could try out their new toys right then.

“Alright, so how we gonna do this?” Dan smirked knowingly.

“Don’t pretend you forgot the plan,” Phil poked at Dan’s chest before he sat up, getting excited already.

Almost nine years together and they’re still as competitive as ever, they could still turn every little activity into a game. This game was conjured when they were packing before tour and realising the amount of things they had to bring for being away from home for so many months. It was simple - whoever came first on their newly bought sybians(**) loses and would have to unpack and do the laundry. The winner would get to use the loser in whatever way he pleases to come.

Phil scrambled out of bed and retrieved their new toys, still tucked away in their boxes under the bed. Dan looked on in amusement. Of course he remembered their little plan.

“You better not cheat!!” he warned as he watched Phil set up the two sybians to face each other on the floor.

“Hey I’m a fair player!” Phil said indignantly.

They both quickly undressed, all the while teasing each other about how they’re going to win and the other would have so much work to do.

The sybians were machines that had a dildo that could move at the seat, and a ridge in front of the dildo that would vibrate when turned on. The machines were controlled by remotes. The catch of the game? They’d have each other’s remotes, so they’d be controlling how soon their boyfriend would get to come.

They hastily fingered themselves, not trusting each other to help lest they purposely prod on each other’s prostate. They stopped as soon as they felt ready, not wanting it to get too pleasurable too soon.

“Ready?” Dan asked, hovering above his lubed up dildo.

“Yeah,” Phil nodded eagerly.

After a quick countdown, they both sat down on their sybians, shins flat against the floor.

Dan groaned as he bottomed out on the dildo. His balls rested perfectly on the ridge. He looked over to Phil whose eyes was scrunched shut as he adjusted himself on the toy. He grinned, an idea to catch Phil off guard crossing his mind.

He turned Phil’s machine on at the lowest setting. Phil squealed as he felt the dildo in him start to move slowly. The ridge also started vibrating lowly, stimulating his balls. Phil glared at Dan for starting even though he wasn’t ready yet. He clutched onto Dan’s remote and raised his eyebrows in a challenging way.

Dan merely smirked, prepared to win. He honestly had no idea what Phil was thinking by suggesting this game, he should’ve known by now that Dan was good at controlling his orgasms when he had to.

Phil turned Dan’s machine on, vibrations much higher than his. Dan’s composure broke only for a few seconds before he caught his breath. The vibrations on the ridge spread through his balls, quickly getting him hard.

“Hey I’m playing nice here, building you up and making you feel good. You’re just gonna go straight to the higher settings for me?” Dan questioned.

“It shouldn’t bother you since you think you have such good control, right?” Phil retorted, pressing a button so the dildo inside Dan started moving.

Dan moaned as the dildo started thrusting into him. His cock was already harder than Phil’s, the vibrations on the ridge felt so good on the base of his cock. But he wasn’t going to let Phil off so easily, so he quickly turned up the settings of Phil’s sybian. He watched in amusement as Phil gripped the front of his machine to steady himself as his dildo started thrusting faster.

When Phil regained composure, he fiddled with the remote to turn up the settings on Dan’s machine more. Dan bit his lip to stifle his moan, and Phil looked on in satisfaction as Dan’s cock leaked the first drop of precum.

Dan panted a little. Phil wasn’t going easy on him at all. But honestly, two can play at that. He turned the vibrations of the ridges on Phil’s sybian to maximum, smirking when Phil moaned loud.

The vibrations against Phil’s balls spread through his whole cock, and he started grinding against the machine on impulse. He curled his toes in pleasure, gripping the sides of the machine tightly as he moved his hips.

Dan chuckled, confident that he’d win. Once Phil started grinding his hips involuntarily, there was no way he could control himself.

Phil wasn’t about to lose himself in the pleasure, though. He made sure to match Dan’s vibrations to his, and he stared at Dan full of lust as Dan moaned out loud. He watched Dan’s dick quiver along with the vibrations on the ridge. But Dan was still composed enough to sit still as the dildo fucked him. Phil cursed under his breath, afraid that he was going to lose this game.

“Aww is it getting too much for you, baby?” Dan asked teasingly.

“Shut up,” Phil huffed, feeling his cheeks heat up.

“You look gorgeous grinding down on that thing though, can’t wait to replace your dildo with my dick,” Dan added cheekily.

Phil groaned, he doesn’t know how Dan can sound so hot even when he wasn’t attempting to dirty talk properly. Phil wasn’t good at dirty talk himself, so he had no chance to turn Dan into a flustered mess like Dan was doing to him.

“N-no, it’s gonna be my dick replacing your dildo,” he countered weakly, grabbing the remote and turning Dan’s dildo to the highest setting too.

Dan braced himself on the machine, he knew that if he moved the dildo might hit his prostate and his orgasm would approach sooner. So he stayed as still as he could and gulped as the intense vibrations spread through his crotch. He tried focusing his attention on his boyfriend instead.

“Look at your poor cock leaking precum, bet you wanna come so bad already,” he continued speaking in the low voice he knew Phil couldn’t resist.

“Could say the same for you!” Phil panted when precum dripped down Dan’s cock not long after.

“Aww c’mon, if you come you’ll get my dick and to be honest I think that’s more of a win isn’t it?”

Phil huffed, it did sound tempting but he was absolutely not going to do all the laundry. He pressed a button that made the ridges on Dan’s sybian vibrate in pulses that matched the movement of the dildo. Finally, Dan lost his composure and couldn’t help himself as he started to bounce lightly on his dildo.

Phil would laugh triumphantly if he wasn’t already bouncing desperately on his own dildo. He was so overwhelmed with the combined pleasure from the vibrations on his balls and the dildo fucking him. He angled himself such that the dildo wouldn’t hit his prostate even though he desperately wanted it to. He would not let himself lose like that.

“Please,” Phil uttered under his breath, so quiet but Dan didn’t miss it.

“Hm please what babe? You want it up even higher?” the vibrations on the ridge were already the highest, but the dildo wasn’t. So Dan turned it up all the way til it was thrusting into Phil as fast as the dildo in his own ass was.

Phil moaned brokenly, his hips grinding down onto the dildo as it thrusted right into his prostate.

“Nooo slow down please,” he whined, not caring how desperate he sounded.

“Aw why would I do that when you look like you’re having so much fun,” Dan teased, albeit with a bit of difficulty as he kept breathing heavily between his words.

“Daaan,” Phil moaned out, feeling his orgasm approaching already.

He briefly wondered if unpacking and laundry was that bad. He needed release so badly, why’s he letting that stop him? But then Phil thought about Dan’s smug winner face, and that was certainly enough to bring back his A game. He didn’t care so much about the forfeit, but he did care about his dignity and desire to win.

“Mmm Phil, wish this was your cock I’m riding, don’t you wish it was my cock you’re riding too?” Dan continued, knowing that his words pushed Phil closer to the edge just as much as the machine did.

Phil groaned and lifted his hand to wipe off the sweat on his forehead. He was really tempted to bring his hand to wrap around his dick. It was achingly hard and in desperate need to be touched, but he knew that if he so much as laid a finger on it he would be done for.

Dan was also getting dangerously close to his orgasm with every grind of his hips down onto the machine. He continuously rubbed his full balls against the vibrating ridge, exhaling shakily as the pleasure spread all the way to the tip of his cock. The noises his boyfriend was making weren’t helping him either; he so badly wanted to fuck Phil’s ass, or his mouth. He didn’t even know or care which he wanted to do more. He just needed Phil to come already so he could get himself in him one way or another.

“C’mon Phil, I know you need to come, don’t hold yourself back,” Dan encouraged.

“Why don’t you come first? If you do I’d let you suck me off,” Phil tried to sound hot but he just sounded desperate.

“That sounds tempting,” Dan managed to laugh, “but I’d rather have you on my cock. I know that’s what you want more too, don’t you?”

“Fuck,” Phil swore as the thought of sucking Dan’s cock crossed his mind and aroused him even more.

Dan’s cock was fully hard, standing right against his stomach and smearing precum all over his lower stomach. Phil was a liar if he said he didn’t want it in his mouth.

“If I give you a blowjob then you’re doing the laundry,” Phil tried to negotiate, already on the verge of coming.

“That wasn’t the plan, baby,” Dan just knew Phil would pull some shit like this, but he wasn’t angry. In fact, it somehow made him more fond of Phil.

Phil whined as he smacked his ass down onto the sybian with the force of his thrusts. Heat was pooling in his abdomen, his full balls feeling like they were going to burst any time soon.

Dan watched intently as his boyfriend struggled to keep his composure, watched the way his thighs trembled at the sides of the sybian, the way his head was down and eyes scrunched shut, mouth open as he elicited nonstop strings of moans. Any moment now, he thought.

He really needed Phil to come already before he does; he could feel his own orgasm pooling deep in his groin. With a lot of effort, he managed to slow down the movement of his hips on the sybian, smirking when Phil glared at him. He knew Phil wished he could slow down too, but Phil was too far gone to control himself.

Dan realised there was one thing his sybian was doing that Phil’s wasn’t, and his smirk morphed into a grin. Phil’s glare turned into wide eyes, afraid of whatever it was that Dan just thought of. He bit his lip, accepting his inevitable defeat coming soon.

Dan made a show of pressing the remote; holding it out, pretending to examine it and showing Phil what he was about to press before he did anything. Phil groaned and rolled his eyes, if Dan wanted to win he could just get on with it already!

Finally Dan pressed the button that made the vibrations of the ridge on Phil’s sybian pulse in time to the dildo thrusting into him, exactly how Dan’s sybian was working.

Phil threw his head back, thighs and hands clutching onto the sybian for dear life as he finally came all over the machine and his lower stomach.

“Yes!” Dan squealed the moment Phil ejaculated the first string of come.

Dan quickly got off of the machine, not risking coming. He definitely wanted his reward.

Phil ignored Dan’s cry of victory and enjoyed his orgasm as best as he could, vigorously riding the dildo as he came. He closed his eyes as he wasn’t prepared to face Dan the Sore Winner yet. But at least Dan had the decency to slowly turn the vibrations of his sybian down and to a stop when he was done coming.

He panted as he came down from his high, hands braced on the sybian as he attempted to catch his breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder and forced himself to look up at his boyfriend.

“Aww didn’t that feel good?” Dan cooed at him.

Phil sighed and pouted, “I can’t believe I lost.”

“Ohhh dear, who would’ve thought,” Dan teased, and laughed when Phil scowled at him.

Phil couldn’t be mad at his boyfriend for long even though Dan was still having fun teasing him. Dan looked so silly swaying his hips about while mocking Phil since he was still rock hard, Phil couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Whatever, how do you want me?” Phil asked as he got up from the sybian, wobbling a little.

“Would that frown disappear if I let you decide how you want to get me off?” Dan asked without any hint of being a tease this time.

Phil squinted his eyes, disbelieving that Dan was done gloating at first. But Dan only smiled at him sincerely. Phil bit his lip as his eyes flicked down to Dan’s erection. His ass felt thoroughly fucked by the sybian already, so he decided to give that a rest.

Dan didn’t miss the glint of mischief in Phil’s eyes as Phil pounced on him, sending him tumbling backwards to the floor. Dan’s squeal of surprise was cut off by a kiss so fervent it knocked the breath out of his chest.

He didn’t get a verbal answer to his question, but from the way Phil started to kiss down his jaw and neck, he could guess where it was going. He moaned and wrapped his arms around Phil’s back as Phil started sucking a hickey on his neck.

Another thing Phil had missed doing during the tour was marking his boyfriend up. Now that the tour was over, they wouldn’t have to go outside for a while and he could finally bite down on his boyfriend’s perfect pale neck, could finally relish in the breathy moans Dan would let out when his sensitive skin was caught between Phil’s teeth.

Phil took his time lapping and nipping, leaving sloppy kisses and tasting the saltiness from Dan’s sweat slicked skin. He felt Dan’s cock twitch against his thigh when he breathed over Dan’s nipple and smirked. He might not be good at dirty talk like Dan was, but he didn’t need to be. His mouth can also reduce Dan to a needy mess just like this.

Phil licked over Dan’s nipple and nipped on it, tweaking the other nipple at the same time. Dan whimpered at that and his hand moved to the back of Phil’s head, fingers tangling in his hair to keep him in place there. Phil continued sucking on his nipple and pinching the other for a bit before switching, making sure both nipples received the same attention. He only stopped once both nubs were fully erect and Dan couldn’t stop whining and writhing under him.

“Aww is it getting too much for you, baby?” Phil mimicked Dan’s voice from earlier.

Dan couldn’t even think of a good comeback, he was already desperate to come. So he just replied sincerely, “You’re way better than the sybian.”

“Of course I am,” Phil proclaimed proudly before going to kiss down Dan’s tummy.

He licked his way down Dan’s happy trail, carefully avoiding Dan’s dick that was lying hard on his lower tummy. Dan was breathing heavily as he peered down himself to see what Phil was doing.

Phil gave teasing licks on Dan’s dick, tasting precum on his slit and licking down a protruding vein. He smiled when Dan started moaning his name urgently. He was determined to make Dan as desperate to come as he was on the sybian earlier.

“I know I said I’d let you decide but can my reward not have so much teasing oh my god,” Dan said desperately.

“That’s what you get for being such a sore winner,” Phil answered.

“Am not-ahh,” Dan’s answer was cut off into a moan as Phil swiftly went down on him.

Phil got Dan’s whole dick in his mouth, his lips wrapped tightly around Dan’s base. After Dan recovered from the initial sensation, he sat up a little to be able to look at Phil properly.

Phil let his boyfriend adjust above him, he was satisfied lying on his stomach with Dan’s dick pulsing in his mouth. He propped himself on his elbows and started bobbing his head when Dan fully sat up and had his legs bracketing either side of his body.

“So good, Phil,” Dan moaned, and Phil hummed happily at the praise.

He sucked on Dan harder, and they both knew that Dan wasn’t going to last long. He’d been needing release since he was on the sybian, and Phil’s talented mouth was only helping him chase his orgasm even faster.

Phil fondled Dan’s heavy balls while he licked the underside of Dan’s shaft, his other hand grasping the base of Dan’s dick that wasn’t in his mouth. Dan was gripping onto his hair and moaning loud above him. Phil had missed hearing how loud he could make his boyfriend moan, missed all the beautiful sounds that couldn’t be made at all during tour.

“I’m close, Ph-,” Dan tried warning, his hand in Phil’s hair pushing Phil’s head down on him more.

Phil sucked even harder, and one hand snaked up Dan’s body to twist his nipple. Dan moaned, and another tweak of his nipple finally sent him over the edge.

Phil swallowed around Dan as he came, bobbing his head and not coming off until he couldn’t feel anymore come spurting down the back of his throat.

When he heard Dan exhale a sigh of contentment, he finally pulled off with a pop. Phil sat up and Dan immediately pulled him into a kiss, tasting himself as he licked into Phil’s mouth.

They broke the kiss only when they needed air, and Dan collapsed onto Phil similar to how Phil pounced on him earlier. They laid on the floor tangled in each other as they caught their breaths.

“Third post-tour agenda: you’ve got lots of unpacking and laundry to do,” Dan cheekily said after a while, poking Phil in the ribs.

Phil groaned and shoved at Dan a little, his signature pout returning to his lips.

Dan wouldn’t tell Phil now, but of course he’d help him with the laundry later. Sure he’d won their silly little game, but how could he resist the need to wipe that pout off his boyfriend’s face?

#phan #Smut #phanfic #phansmut #My fic #phan fic #phan smut #post-tour agenda

[settingtrends]

hiiiii friends! your pal is back with some fics she thinks you should 23948514% give a chance!!!

If you give any of these a read (and even if you don't, but you still read on ao3), please remember to leave kudos and comments on fics you read!! They're actions that take .5 seconds and they mean loads to the authors :)

You Holy Fool by chasingxrabbits

Liam is a good kid, on the right path until he finds something wicked making a home in his church. (A slightly religious AU where Liam has a moral dilemma and Louis is falling head over heals for the curly headed sophomore.)

Unfathomable Distances  by chasingxrabbits 

A Skyrim AU where Liam is the reigning prince of Falkreath hold. Zayn is one of the palace guards. When Liam's best friend and Thane to the hold, Louis, contracts a mysterious illness, Liam is left with a choice. Does he leave Falkreath City in search for a cure, and who could (or would) ever accompany him on such a tumultuous journey?

Can't Help Falling in Love With You by eternallyunleashed 

In the 18 years he's been alive Zayn has learnt to deal with the insane amounts of anxiety and stress that life threw his way. It was always easy to stay back and pretend he was invisible. After agreeing to Harry's idea of an internship he realizes all his hopes of maintaining a quiet simple life as he works towards Med-school get tossed out the window. Liam Payne enters his life. Zayn can't put a name to all the whirlwind of emotions that threaten to rip his body apart by just being near Liam, but he is certain of one thing. The mere thought or sight of Liam makes him lose the ability to breathe.

For Liam his goal is pretty simple. Ever since he laid eyes on Zayn, who looks like sin in human form with eyes that threaten to rip a man's heart out, he knew he had to have the boy. He needs him more than he's wanted anything in his entire life. Otherwise his red hot desire for the boy might just take him to his death.

The author also has drabbles that are super cute and fluffy so when the fic gets real angsty (which it does, bud), you can just read the drabbles to ease heartache, ya feel?

Intoxicate Me, Mesmerize Me, Obliterate Me by eternallyunleashed (WIP)

There was a certain heat obtained from rebellion that even the actual throes of heat never sparked. Keeping up an image of perfection; being the good kid, the perfect son to the Mayor and Chief of Police, the city of Lincoln’s sweetheart omega, it was all taxing to Zayn. Walking the thin line of danger was exhilarating. Was it coincidental that this danger happened to be an attraction to a certain alpha who was none other than the leader of the South Side Vipers gang, who seemed to despise him and the part of town he came from? Probably not. But when had anything ever stopped Zayn?

Tangled Up in You by marcel

It turns out Zayn’s flatmate is essentially a disney prince. Zayn wonders how this became his life.

Never Be Alone by sunnysideup (WIP)

Liam and Zayn have been undercover police officers for several years, and they've got out of messes, serious messes, before.

Except that was together, now they're in a mess again but this time they're apart and Zayn has to find a way to save Liam who knows that even as Zayn tries, his own fate is sealed.

Or is it?

Baby all I need is Time by sunnysideup

Liam's just your average, too average, 13 year old who wants something better, but mainly to be 30.

Then it happens, overnight and things are as complicated as you can imagine.

Push by sunnysideup

They're playing in Sheffield during the TMH tour when suddenly OT5 get body-swapped for some reason and it's a scramble to find out who's who before they go onstage....this is what happens...

So Take me To the Paradise in Your Eyes by deniallisstrong (WIP)

hey, what’s up? he tries. No, too simple for being a number he stole off of a textbook.

i think fate meant to bring us together ;) No. That one, on the other hand, is way too much. Shaking his head to clear out all of his other terrible ideas, he tries one last time. hey, i think u forgot to clear out ur old textbook haha. cuz ur number was still in there. my friend said i should text it, so... hi lol

(Or, where Liam finds Zayn’s number in his textbook, and Louis prods him until he texts it. Things go downhill from there) [A Fetus Uni AU]

Snapshots by lazydaisy

Niall, Harry, Louis, Zayn, and Liam are graduating high school and are looking back on the past fondly. Zayn is valedictorian and writes a secret speech that he won't even let his boyfriend Liam read before the big day. Love, friendship, and dreams are heavy in the budding summer air.

Mind over Matter by lazydaisy

Liam accidentally tells his mom that he and Zayn are dating, and she demands a visit. Zayn goes along with it. 

Falling in Love With a Stranger by livingforamiracle

Zayn's having a terrible day, but one beautiful and caring stranger somehow changes it all around, turning it into one of the best days of Zayn's life.

It’s Always Been You by livingforamiracle

An AU where Liam consistently goes on bad dates only to realize that his favorite dates are the ones where he's holed up in his flat with his best friend Zayn.

Longing to Belong (to You) by Pluie13

“Awww, aren't you two domestic?” Louis mocks, while Liam is brutally brought back to reality. Oh, yeah, right, Zayn doesn't like him like that.

A Full Course Meal by LibbyWrites

Liam had been dreaming about having his own restaurant for a few years. Money was always an issue, though, so when he heard the Food Network was recording a few episodes of Chopped in his city, he let his best friend talk him into participating.

Many things could go wrong along the way; from ruthless rivals to impossible ingredients, from unforgiving judges to his own mind getting in the way. He spent long nights fretting about the possibilities and still, he never could have guessed what Chopped really had in store for him.

The Only One Who Takes You Home by ziamruinedmylife

“Maybe we should make this a weekly thing,” Zayn suggests softly, pressing the words into Liam’s hair. “… the lunch or the sex?” Liam isn’t opposed to either. “Both,” Zayn decides, pressing a kiss to Liam’s forehead. “ ‘s that alright with you?” Liam pauses, tapping a finger under his chin, pretending to think deeply before sighing. “I guess I can pencil you into my very busy schedule.” “Thank you for your sacrifice, baby,” Zayn mocks, and Liam laughs. “Anything for you,” and it’s truer than Liam would like to admit. He really would do just about anything for the older man, and it should terrify him, but because Liam is an idiot, he’s not scared at all. Falling is fun, he thinks, that is, until you hit the bottom.

or

the fluffiest stripper AU in which businessman!Zayn and stripper!Liam have a lot of feelings and they both get more than they expected.

you could be my cure by jmcats

The thing is, Zayn is almost overwhelmingly certain that he’s only ever fallen in love four times but he thinks this is the only one that actually counts

(alternately: Nothing about Zayn is traditional, especially not the way he falls in love with Liam, or everything before and after that)

These Faded Stars Along Our Horizons by ch3stpaynes

Zayn isn't used to this; the buzzing feeling that comes along with pinched grins, cherry red lips and eyes like Sunday morning coffee. He's used to smogged out cities, not enough oxygen between each breath and perhaps a few spliffs with the boys when the weather isn't absolutely dreadful.

we are the quiet ones by englandziam

Zayn feels invincible, in the midst of this small town with a couple of best mates and literature students who seem to get him. He misses home but as every day approaches these people feel less like strangers and more like family.

(Or a University AU where Zayn is an English student and Liam is the football captain).

i wanna see you bright by englandziam

Zayn notices the fond smile smearing crinkles round Liam’s eyes when he realises Zayn is wearing his football shirt, his fingers fisting the crimson material pooling at Zayn’s thighs. He wears it a lot, the ‘PAYNE’ written over his back a little comforting when Liam isn’t there, or when they’re out and everyone is cosying up to Liam at the bar, or trying to dance with him. (Not that he needs to worry – because Liam holds his hand the whole time and always interrupts with tiny kisses wandered over his cheek and dipped into his hair).

A short sequel to we are the quiet ones

i could drink a case of you by englandziam

Liam is a firefighter. Zayn is an art journalist, and neither of them do this - (until they do)

This Is What Makes Us Girls by ziammehome

“Liam, have I corrupted you more than I thought?” Zayn teased, sounding impressed from the side of the pool.

Liam shrugged. “Maybe I was was just waiting to be corrupted.”

Tunnel Vision by scottmcniceass

In which Zayn is an award-winning popstar with a knack for getting himself in trouble, and Liam is the bodyguard he didn’t want to hire who has a few problems with staying professional.

Floating On The Water by scottmcniceass

Liam just wants to get through his last summer working at Malik Resort before University without incident. Of course, life is never that easy, and he ends up getting roped into giving the bosses son, Zayn, swimming lessons. That wouldn't be so bad, if Zayn didn't happen to hate him so much.

Can I Keep You by scottmcniceass

Liam is always trying to do what's best for himself and his daughter, but raising a kid on his own at twenty-two, on top of juggling school work and a full-time job, isn't easy. Zayn just wants a chance to show Liam that he's not going to walk out on them. And Liam's daughter, Emma? She just wants to keep Zayn.

Have You Tried Turning It On and Off? by goddess_julie

Zayn works at the Genius Bar at Apple. She's visited by a lad named Louis who claims to be gay but wants to know if she's single. She fixes peoples Apple problems and in the meantime, fixes a problem she didn't even realize she had.

What the Words Means by SoftlyandSwiftly

Zayn's been a little (a lot) in love with Liam for so long now that he doesn't even really think about it anymore. It's just a constant hum in his veins, and he's fine with it he swears, even though Liam has no idea. But then a certain word slips out of his mouth, and well things change. 

honey, you’re familiar by tachycardia

It's December, two years after the end of One Direction, and Zayn moves into Liam's neighbourhood. Secret-dating, post-band fic.

Only you can set my heart on fire by Rosesnfeathers

“And even Liam Payne is on the list man! How funny it would be Payne, playing The Pain!”

Zayn quickly raises his head towards Louis and he feels his own face fall at those words. Knowing that Louis’ would see it, he tries to busy himself by looking at his phone and drinking coffee but, it’s too late. He sees his friend looking at that big poster on their wall, the cover of the first issue of The Pain, and then looking back at Zayn. He does that a few times before finally speaking.

“Oh you didn’t!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Or

Zayn works for Marvel Comics and maybe has the biggest crush on actor Liam Payne. What a surprise it is to him when his comic, blatantly inspired by Liam himself, is going to be on the big screen and Liam is the one chosen to play the main character.

Light a Candle for the Fallen Angel by chocobubblepanda

“Liam?” I ask to the gloom, my voice cracks. There’s no answer. I take a step back while frenetically looking everywhere. I try to reach for my back, but there’s no metallic grip, there’s no sword. Whatever is out there, moves again among the shadows, brief as the blink of an eye, perturbing like a wolf’s howl. I’m terrified. I’m sure by now that it is a demon. It may be Liam and if that’s the case, I fell into his trap like a complete fool.

(Or the one were a mere human named Zayn investigates his father’s death, and when every human and every angel turns their backs to him, the only option left is asking for help among the demoniacal side. And it is here where he encounters a young, mischievous demon named Liam...will he be able to help him? Will both of them act as their natures dictate?...)

Twelve (formerly Hello Twelve, Hello Love) by watyonameisgurl

In which Zayn comes back to him slowly…

When Liam and Zayn were 12, Zayn suddenly went missing in the middle of the night. With no leads, no evidence of a break-in, and no requests for ransom the police eventually concluded that Zayn simply ran away and they closed the case. His family never believed it and neither did Liam.

10 years later Liam gets held hostage during a bank heist only to find that one of the robbers is Zayn. But he doesn’t seem to recognize Liam or even his own name. Liam tries to track Zayn down on his own, hesitant to involve the police who in his experience have proved to be untrustworthy more often than not. But then Liam starts noticing strange things in his apartment. His bedroom door closed halfway when he’s sure he left it all the way open; the tv remote sitting slightly further to the left than where he usually leaves it; a stray hair on the floor, darker and shorter than his own. At first he assumes it’s just the other boys messing with him but the longer it goes on the more he starts to wonder if he might actually be going crazy.

He doesn’t realize until it’s too late that while he’s been busy searching for Zayn all this time, Zayn has already found him.

Taking a Chance (Going the Distance) by transteverogers

Liam loves acting and singing so when he gets casts as the lead in the school's play Hercules, he's excited to say the least. Until he finds out who his love intrests is.

(AKA the one with every cliche of popular!liam and nerdy!zayn with just a dash of high school musical thrown in. With lots of miscomunication and cupboards, too)

Steady to the Shore by transteverogers

Liam's verified on twitter and everything but somehow he's failing english.

(AKA the one where they're both sorta famous and go to the same uni and Zayn tutors him and there's a lot of pinning going on)

Nobody Knows You Baby (The Way I Do) by transteverogers

Zayn and Liam accidentally get nominated for cutest couple at school and Louis makes a bet with them that they won't win.

(AKA the one where everyone was betting and nothing is accidental)

Life by transteverogers

Liam Payne is Donny High's own sport protege and Zayn Malik is the lucky (read: unlucky) journalism student who gets (forced) to interview him

(AKA the one where Liam's sweeter than he looks, Zayn's a little judgmental and miscommunication's a bitch)

Let Me Treasure You by transteverogers

Liam's a douchecanoe and Zayn really doesn't want to like him, but maybe it can work out?

(AKA Liam's a pressured son of Zeus, Zayn's the new Aphrodite kid and Harry knew all of this would happen before it did)

Four Arrows (Led You to Me) by transteverogers

An au where people get tattoos of their soulmates and everyone works in a hotel

(AKA the one where I wanted an excuse to do handy man!Liam and soul mates)

#a homie has been working on this for liiiike months lmao #i added some of the fics i recently read and reread tho :') #i hope you find a fic you like!!! #most of the stuff i read is super fluffy but some of them do have some/a lot of angst #and i was gonna add commentary on what i thought for each fic but i ended up deleting that bc it seemed annoying lmao #but if you read any of these fics and want someone to scream with please come to meeee!!! #i love all of these fics loads #mkay i'll shut up now alkdjfaldfj pl E AS E REMEMBER TO LEAVE FEEDBACK #also i got really sad bc i had to take choices like waves off the list since it was deleted and my heart hurts #bc that fic is forever amazing. such a good fic. g o d #okay fr i'll shut up now this is so long i hope it works and that all the links work toooo idk #b y e #ziam fics

[jedimordsith]

How many WIP's do you currently have and how do you balance all of them? How many are multiple chapter stories and how many are simple ficlets? And where will you publish them all? Also, do you have links to all your fics/ficlets? Sorry if this is a bit much, I just kinda feel a craving for Mara/Luje stuff right now and you are one of the best authors for it.

Aww, thanks for the compliment! *preens*

How many WIP’s do I have right now? *ducks head in embarrassment* Um… a lot? *sigh* Let’s see:

(1)    Gift – obviously, this is my stupidly unwieldly magnum opus that I WILL finish this year, Force help me! (2)    Palimpsest Redemption – this one is near and dear to my heart as well. First three chapters are up at AO3, and the smut for chapter 4 is languishing in my drafts folder (it’s KILLING me not to post it, ugh!). But the rest of what I had planned needs some reworking to (a) line up with canon better and (b) not end up perpetually sprawling like Gift.

(3)    Sweet on You – I’ve got three more one-shots planned for this series. No Cake Required, which involves L/M, a bed, handcuffs, frosting and nothing else. Wedding Cakes, which showed up under #Sunday Six today and Petit Four which will wrap everything up.

(4)    CotJ rewrite – this is solidly mapped out and I throw little bits of love at it when I can, but not much else. 110% hell ship whump fic.

(5)    Halloween Fic - I’m writing a Halloween/horror fic this year! I love the premise and what I’ve written so far, but obvs won’t be posting till October. (And it will probably take me that long to get it right anyway, since it’s not my usual genre.)

(6)    Fake It Till You Make It – tropey fake married fic that exists most in bits and pieces. I don’t think it will be hard/take long to finish once I get to it, but it’s kind of low on the list.

(7)    Thanks for the Memories – dubcon reverse-amnesia fic that I adore but that is also languishing due to lack of time/priority right now. Mara gets poisoned with bioagent that scrambles her head while on an NRI mission and Luke goes in to get her out… except that they can’t get out right away because if they don’t finish the mission oodles of people die. In the meantime, Mara’s messed up head is confusing her dreams of something more between her and Luke with reality and things get… intimate. And then deliciously messy.

Aside from those, I’ve got two “5 times” one-shots half-written in my head that otherwise exist only in note form in my computer. (One of them will probably never get written for real because the final bit – which is of course the one fully realized – feels like stabbing myself in the heart every time I go over it again. Ugh.)  There’s “Friday Nights at the Skywalkers’” which is intended to be a short series of one-shots, but again exists only in note form. And then there’s “The Jedi’s Hand” which is about half angst and half smut and will probably never exist in any form other than drawer fic thanks to giant, gaping plot holes.

Everything will get published on AO3 and will probably show up here on tumblr in bits and pieces as I go along. (You can find everything I’ve already published, including some of the WIPs mentioned above at my AO3 account.)

As for how I balance them, I DON’T. Balance is totally not a part of my life right now, sadly.  : p

That said, I only have one week left before I’m solidly back down to just a single full time job (yay!!) which will go an exceptionally long way towards me getting my act together again! Other than that, I’m an exceptionally non-linear writer. So I work on Gift when I have larger chunks of time because it’s big and complicated and requires that. I work on everything else when I only have smaller chunks of time and as I work out pieces of the plot or find inspiration for the scene. It’s a Chaotic Evil writing style… I don’t recommend it, but it works for me!

(Thanks for the ask!!)