#which. if you've read some of my other fics. may be a surprise to you

[mishapen-dear]

Jaiden broke into Cellbit's Fear room while he slept. Now, she makes a guest appearance in all of his favourite nightmares.

NOTE: this is gorier than all of my other fics, thus the immediate read-more instead of the typical blurb. I watched a bad horror movie and got so offended I went out of my way to write horror on purpose. Cannibalism and blood and gore and mildly ooc Dream Jaiden my beloveds

There’s blood in Cellbit’s mouth.

There’s muscle, too. Fat and nerves and viscera. Somewhere, there’s a knife- he made the first cuts with that, used it to peel away the sweat-soaked skin and get to the hot meat underneath- and he could use it now to carve away more of the corpse, but he can’t bring himself to look for it, preferring to rip away at the gaping hole in the body’s side with his hands and broken nails. He’s so hungry. He was so hungry. He can’t remember why. He remembers his empty stomach, the way it precluded the cannibalism with the desperate feeling of its own self-consumption. Then, the knife. Then, the body. Then, the warmth.

He digs his nails in and pulls, hands so slick with blood that every morsel should be slipping through his fingers, but the knife tore so much of the meat that it is - was - child’s play to come away with another handful. The texture is like poorly-ground pork, and the taste is so metallic- but of course it is. He hadn’t learned how to drain and cook it, yet. Hadn’t known it was an option. Every gory mouthful is seasoned with blood, and he licks it from his hands, then scrapes under his fingernails with his teeth just to consume that little bit more. He’s so hungry. It’s so warm. The body is still hot beneath him, fresh and practically steaming in the cold evening air. He feels drunk on it.

Is this how it went…? No, he doesn’t think so. The first time was desperation. He didn’t mind the taste, but he hadn’t loved it, either. It didn’t matter. It was food, and food to a starving boy is like ambrosia to the gods. But now- now he revels in the metallic taste. The chewiness. The satisfaction of a predator sinking teeth-first into the bowels of its prey.

There’s something not-quite-right here. Something foggy. Who is he eating? There is blood in his beard, across his cheeks, sticking his hair in messy strands to his face. This is his first meal, but he was a boy, then- here, now, he is a man. He is starving. He plunges his hands back into the corpse and swallows down mouthful after mouthful of raw flesh and never feels full.

Another pair of hands join him. Or- one hand, which picks delicately at a loose piece of skin. He stills to watch it, heart suddenly hammering in his chest. The details are stark, suddenly. The corpse’s side torn open like by an animal -had his knife done that?- and the blood shines in the moonlight -is it night?- and the pale hand dips the skin into the rest of the gore, carefully scooping up some of the messiest meat onto it like a strange appetizer at a fancy dinner. Cellbit doesn’t breathe. His eyes are pinned to the hand as it lifts, raising the little treat up to the waiting, smiling face of Jaiden. She pops the skin in her mouth, chews thoughtfully, and swallows decisively. He feels cold.

“Not bad,” she says, and reaches down for more.

Cellbit turns away and vomits.

–

He’s speaking to Pac. He has him pressed up against the wall, knife to his throat, and he’s growling in his ear. There’s sweat sticking his hair to the back of his neck, and he can feel Pac’s heart beating rabbit-quick even through the layers of clothes between them. He laughs, low, and keeps laughing when Pac whimpers out- something. Something he’s happy to hear. He licks his own teeth and tastes blood.

He trails the knife upwards, slow, to scrape against Pac’s pulse point. It leaves a thin white line of marked skin, and he’s smiling. Pac’s eyes are blown wide and he stammers something out and in return the knife is pressed down, gently, until Pac shuts up.

“Woah.”

Cellbit’s heart jumps into his throat. He turns his head, just enough, to see Jaiden. She looks strange in prison clothes, but she doesn’t seem to mind them. She holds her hands up when Cellbit meets her gaze.

“Hey, I’m not judging,” she says. “You do you. I’ll just…uh. Go this way. Really quickly,” she adds, like an afterthought, and turns to stride purposefully down the corridor. Her footsteps don’t make any noise.

Pac is still trembling beneath Cellbit’s hands. He looks back to him- but it’s not Pac, except it is, but he can’t see all of him at once- there are details missing until Cellbit thinks to focus on them. No hair across Pac’s face until there is, and Pac is wearing the hoodie instead of his prison uniform, and he says something that Cellbit doesn’t hear and he doesn’t seem to notice Jaiden at all.

“What?” Cellbit croaks out. He pulls away from Pac in confusion, already turning to follow her. “Jaid-”

–

He’s shaking. There’s blood on his hands, and he’s shaking. His eyes are closed and he tries to close them harder. There is no blood in his mouth. This is progress. He has to believe this is progress. He has to believe that he wants progress. His room is dark and his bed is hard and he can’t stop shaking.

She’s there, then, curled up the way he is; she’s his mirror, wrapped around herself overtop of the covers. When he opens his eyes she doesn’t move, gazing at him peacefully. “How many?” she asks. There’s a strange quality to her voice, and he struggles to parse it.

“What?” he croaks. His voice his hoarse from crying.

“How many therapists did you go through?”

He chokes on a sob, and doesn’t answer.

She hasn’t pulled away, but she’s further from him, and he reaches for her but can’t bring himself to touch her. There is still blood on his hands. She doesn’t recoil; she watches him curiously, smiling faintly. There is something wrong. “Wow, dude. You’re really fucked up, aren’t you?”

“I’m a monster.”

He blinks and Jaiden is sitting up, suddenly, legs crossed. She blinks a few times before she furrows her brows at him, squinting at where he’s still curled up on the horrible bed. “And I’m a bird,” she offers, uncertain but trying to help.

Cellbit’s tears break down into laughter. He laughs, and laughs, and she joins him.

–

The plan goes bad. The plan goes bad fast.

The hallway is cold, damp and wet- moldy, and covered in rotting vines. It’s dark. He can’t see. He doesn’t know how he got here, but he knows what happens next.

Like in slow motion, he turns. The bear is there, grinning. The chainsaw is there, whirring. He’s there, too, and he’s already screaming before the saw meets his flesh.

Slow motion. Why is it so slow? He watches his own blood fly through the air, splattering across the walls, the bear, himself. It’s not just blood, though, he knows this. It’s meat. Chunks of his own muscle wet his face and coat his hands. He’s frozen, stuck in place. He can’t feel the pain but he’s so acutely aware of it- and then the whirring stops.

Now is his cue to run.

He takes it, gasping for air as he rips himself off of the saw (and there is more gore, more blood, more scraps of him left to smear across the floor). He almost slips in the blood as he turns, but just barely recovers and instead manages to fall into his sprint. .

Fuck. He can’t run fast enough. Slow motion. He’s moving in slow motion, but the bear isn’t, and the chainsaw starts to whirr again behind him. Where can he run? Forwards. Nowhere to hide, but there is a trail of blood left behind him so he can’t hide anyway.

His limbs are heavy, weighed down by terror. His heart is in his ears. Then there are spikes in the floor, and there is blood on the spikes, and there is a woman bleeding.

Before, he tried to jump over the pit. Now, Cellbit stands in front of it and stares, caught like a deer in headlights.

“Cellbit!” Jaiden cheers, happy to see him. She’s embedded deep into the spike pit, impaled in every limb. There are no less than four spikes driven entirely through her torso, and one that has torn away her ear. Her wings are spread out beneath her, and they bleed. She’s pinned like a bug in a glass case, leaking red onto the floor below her. Cellbit tastes metal in his mouth. “This is so cool. I’ve always wanted to star in a horror movie.”

“This isn’t- this isn’t a movie,” he pants, the english thick on his tongue. He’s so confused. He’s so scared. Where are they? Why is she here? She wasn’t here before, before it was just him and-

“Cucurucho!” Jaiden cheers, with the same joy she’d called Cellbit’s name. His blood runs cold. Jaiden keeps talking. “Long time no see, buddy! I like your chainsaw. And all the red is nice, it’s good to see you trying out a new style. Do you like it?”

“Ha ha ha,” Cucurucho says, too close, behind him. Cellbit doesn’t turn. Is he hyperventilating? He keeps his eyes pinned on Jaiden. She is still smiling, and bleeding, and she leans her head happily against the spike that took her ear.

“Jaiden-” Cellbit chokes out. There is a hand on his back. Soft and round. More of a paw than a hand, really. It pats him, once, in a gesture that in any other situation could have been taken as comforting. Here, he knows, it is mocking.

“Yeah?” Jaiden says.

Cellbit doesn’t get the chance to answer. The paw pushes him, and he falls, and in the blink of an eye he’s impaled. One through his stomach, two through his chest, one scraping his neck and one for each arm and two in his left leg and he is screaming, he is crying, he is dying.

Below him, Jaiden’s blue feathers are stained bright red. She’s talking to Cucurucho, but he can’t hear the words.

–

Roier is dead on the ground. His side is open, sliced cleanly with a knife. Cellbit sits quietly next to him, hands bloodied. Jaiden sits on his other side, holding Roier’s heart in her hands.

“I don’t think you would, for the record,” she says, quietly. She holds Roier’s heart up to his mouth, almost reverent, and he almost drowns on the gush of blood when he bites.

–

There is a worm burning in a fire. There is more burning, too, but he watches the thing he has killed the most closely. He wishes it died. He wishes he had more worms. He wishes he could kill it again.

“Is it always like this?” she asks. Again, her posture mirrors his. Her legs are pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees as she watches the fire.

“No,” he answers numbly. “Sometimes Richarlyson is here. I’m surprised that Bagi isn’t.”

She sucks air in through her teeth, and then there’s the weight of her hand on his arm. They sit like that for a minute, watching the fire. Roberto is almost nothing but ash, now.

Jaiden asks, “If it came down to it- you, Roier, or Cucurucho, who do you think I would choose?”

He puts his chin on his knees and holds himself tighter. “I don’t know.”

“...I don’t think real-me knows that answer, either,” Jaiden admits to him. “But I think you know she loves you… And I think you should wake up now, too. I’m gone.”

He turns to look at her, mouth opening on a question, but she’s gone. The room is gone. It’s dark, and then it’s just- it’s just his Fear room. He’s laying on the ground, curled up in a tight little ball, arms over his head, and his mouth tastes like dust. His joints pop as he uncurls and pushes himself up, the weight of sleep still resting heavy on his bones.

There’s a single blue feather on the ground in front of him. Jaiden is nowhere to be seen.

Cellbit sits there for a long, long moment. Then, he stands up, leaves the Fear room, and goes to find his husband.

He hopes Roier slept better than he did.

#qsmp #qsmp fic #mishapen words #qsmp jaiden animations #qsmp cellbit #blood #gore #cannibalism #some chainsaw Trauma #all that good shit #if I'm missing a tw lemme know but I thinkkk that's all #it's been years since i've written horror On Purpose #which. if you've read some of my other fics. may be a surprise to you #so i have no idea the actual Uh Oh level. so there's your warning uhh #i like it tho feels v spooky month

[dr3c0mix]

Alistair x (platonically) Teen Reader

In the fic he is like oh my god a bride, he walks in and instead of an adult..or a bride-

They find a teen, who literally threw a pebble at him, an angsty teen💀

I’m very happy to read ur fics and usually pair them with teen/child mc because I find it funny because they expect the love of their life

and teen mc standing there :🧍‍♂️

anyways sorry for the long request, luv ur writing, and ur art :D

Yandere! Evil King x Teen! GN! Reader

CW: platonic relationship, Alistair is a bit of a DILF so do with it as you will, Dads are hot you guys!! READER IS A MINOR.

👑 Who is this sassy lost child?

👑 His minions kidnapped you while you were on a carriage ride back to your kingdom.

👑 He was hoping for like a princess or something to marry and take over the kingdom with or whatever so like...what tf he gonna do with you???

👑 Clearly you were too young to be in a situation like this, but theres no way he's giving you back without a reward, so yes he still holds you for ransom.

👑 "Child, I am Alistair, King of-ACk!"

👑 Did...did you throw a pillow at him?!

👑 "How dare yo- AHK! Stop it!" another one..

👑 You refuse to listen to anything he says, you just wanted to go home

👑 You two had a bit of rivalry for a bit. He hated you and you hated him.

👑 He promised not to show any affection or care towards you since in his eyes, your actions didn't deserve it. How can someone be so rude to a king !?

👑 But he starts to notice you don't eat much. He never sees you in the dining hall and has only seen quick moments of you nibbling on some bread or pastries the servants gave you.

👑 He scoffed, so irresponsible! You must eat a proper meal right this second or you'll starve!

👑 You're surprised to see a meal prepared for you during your routine trip to get a snack from the pantry with a note on the plate.

👑 "Next time, ask for a proper meal. I don't want your parents to think I've been starving you. -Alistair P.S. go to bed early."

👑 Huh...

👑 Alistair smiled from the doorway of the dining hall, watching you eat up with a smile on your face. You might have been too scared of him to ask for food so you've been sneaking snacks while he wasn't looking.

👑 Of course he wasn't doing it because he cared about you, he just didn't want royalty like you to resort to such pathetic means to eat!

👑 Why are you still sad? Perhaps he should get you some things to keep your attention..

👑 He asks (threateningly may I add) about your hobbies or interests.

👑 The next morning your cell (which has been upgraded to a lovely room in the castle because he didn't want you to be filthy and gross in a dungeon) was filled with anything he could find that he thought you'd enjoy.

👑 Don't think he wants you to be happy! He's just tired of seeing you sulk everywhere!

👑 He denies everything, but you swear you could see a tiny smile on his face when you hugged him happily.

👑 You start being a little more open to him, showing him anything you've made or done with pride and he'd receive it gratefully, but he won't show it of course.

👑 "I made you this friendship bracelet!"

👑 "I've seen better jewelry."

👑 "Oh I'll take it back then I guess.."

👑 "No, it's mine now, back off."

👑 Drawings and the like that he said would be thrown out as soon as you left would be seen framed in his room

👑 It would be a..waste of good canvas..

👑 And of course he buys a few books of your choice for you to read, he'd be damned if your brain turns to mush.

👑 Bro bro he'd be the type to let you swing around while holding onto his bicep.

👑 If you ever have any problems, or come to him in a bad mood, he'd have no idea how to help other than to sit down and listen to your troubles.

👑 He's not the most physical when it comes to affection, but you bet your ass he's gonna do everything he can to cheer you up.

👑 At this point he's rewriting his demands for the ransom. Either your kingdom lets him sign some adoption papers or he's starting a war.

#yandere #yandere x gn reader #male yandere #yandere oc #oc yandere #yandere male #yandere x reader #yandere x male reader #tw yandere #x reader #x gn reader #gn reader #yandere x you #yandere x darling #king x reader #yandere king #evil king #platonic #platonic reader

[dreamauri]

‧˚⊹ 𝗱𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 ଓ :: 𝗠𝗩𝟭 ‧₊˚⤾

— you are reading: part two !!

╭╯ pairing . . . max verstappen x fem! driver! reader ) ┊ summary . . . you're unstoppable, a machine. and people dont like winners ) ┊ genre . . . angst/fluff ) ╰╮ warning . . . X )

( fic masterlist | general masterlist ) ( requests ) ( taglist )

RACE DAY Sunday May 8 2023 — Circuit de Monaco, Monaco

The crowds of cameras and team members cleared a path for you to the edge of the pool. You held the first place trophy in your hand tightly as you began running. Once you were close enough, you did a flip, spinning into the pool. You hugged your trophy as you fell into the pool head first.

Quickly resurfacing, you covered your face with your elbow to hide your face while you took the mask off to replace it. A spare was handed to you by Jj. A few other mechanics and team members jumped in. Together they lifted you up on their shoulders.

"Seventeen!" Everyone chanted together. You raised your trophy high as the cameras took photos. "Thank you so much everyone!" You shouted happily as you got out of the pool, sharing a hug with your team principle. "Lets go out after this, one seven." Some one suggested patting your back.

"I shouldn't. I don't really drink." You explained hesitantly when you were finally walking back to the garage to prepare for the duties ahead. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"I really should—" "—Seventeen." a voice caught you off, turning to the Dutch boy, he patted your back firmly. "Great driving out there." "Thank you, Max. You did—" "Max you should join us!" You pursed your lips at the situation you were finding yourself squeezed into.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Max woke up the next day with a groan, how he had gotten back in his bed was a mystery to him. With a glass of water and a pill sitting on his night stand, there was diffidently someone who brought him back. What he didn't expect was that person to still be there, making breakfast.

After swallowing the pills, Max was greeted the smelling a delicious aroma. Following it the the kitchen, his eyes find a woman working over the stove, one that he didn't remember from the other night. "Oh, you're up earlier than I expected." Turning to face him, Max makes eye contact with a familiar face that he couldn't quite put a finger on.

". . . It's me." You broke the silence after a few moments. "Who?" Max stuttered confused. "Seventeen." You clarified shaking your head. "Surprise I guess." You shrugged plating the vegie omelette. "Finally seeing the face that you've been competing against for most of your childhood."

"Yeah . . . —Wait how'd you get in here?" "You begged me to take you home and cook for you the next morning. So, your wish has been fulfilled." You pushed the plate towards him before turning off the stove. "Thank you." He replied hesitantly sitting and starting to eat quietly.

'What else can she do?' he thought, taking another bite ( which meant he liked it ). "Do you need anything— oh hello." You reached down petting the cat that rubbed against your ancle. "Max, do you need anything else or?" "No, I'm good." He said with a mouth full. "Alright, I will be going now before Aussie drives Mkayla nuts."

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

MEDIA DAY Thursday June 16 2023 — Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada

"Wait what are we doing? I wasn't told anything." Max asked you as he sat on the table opposite side to you. "We are- what's it called again. My English isn't that good." You muttered looking at the persons behind the camera trying to remember.

"It's umm . . . We have to try and guess the flavours of the Redbulls." You explained as someone placed a tray with see through plastic cups in 2 rows. "Oh easy." Max nodded, leaning forward looking at his row of the energy drinks.

"I don't drink red bull that often so I'm probably going to lose. I know Max is a- umm, wow where is my English? 'Txt'?" [Alcoholic but to energy drinks, what do you call that? Energy drink addiction? How do you say that in English].

"Oh, really? Huh-" You broke out in small laughter seeing your teammate eager to down the shots presented to him. "Oh God." You cursed after taking a sip from the first cup. "That's enough sugar to last me a year." Max laughed at you, watching you scrunch your face.

"This is . . ." Max raised his hand impatiently knowing the answer. "Max seems to know. Why don't you tell us?" "June berry." He answered without hesitation. Point after point you let max score more even though you recognized a few flavours.

He of course let you take a guess first, but you never gave an answer. "Um . . . The blue on-" "-RAHH!"

A scream made its way out of your mouth as you suddenly felt someone grab your shoulders firmly from behind. Leaning your forehead on the table embarrassed, you listened as the crew members and your teammate laughed their asses of, along with the unmistakable laugh of the honey badger from behind you.

"I'm so sorry, Sent-" You quickly cut him off by smacking his chest, an embarrassed smile reaching your eyes. "Asshole." You chuckled standing up and greeting Daniel with a hug which he gladly returned. "Oh I love her hugs, they're like gold and heaven mixed into one." Daniel smiled patting your back gently.

"Hey fancy Maxie." Daniel greeted sharing some sort of secret handshake with the blond. "I'll let you guys get back to what you were doing, sorry guys." Daniel apologized to the people behind the camera before waving goodbye.

You and Max sat back in your seats for a hot 5 seconds before you both erupted in laughter. Trying to miserably form sentences during your wheezing session. "How loud-" *wheeze* "how loud was it?"

"Joel from the garage texted me asking if Max killed someone." A crew member answered earning a few more silent laughs from you and the Dutch, both if you falling out of your seats, failing to catch your breath.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"I'll introduce us both and you can explain what we're doing." You decided, Max giving you a quick nod in agreement. "Hello Redbull addicts and non Redbull addicts." You greeted once you were given the go, already earning a laugh from your Teammate. "This is Seventeen." You pointed at Max. "She's very pretty and you all should love her. And I'm Max Verstappen, a Dutch boy with DRS issues and bad haircuts."

You weren't even half way through and Max had dropped, slipping on the ice you two were balancing on. "Oof, that must hurt . . . Well that is a DNF for seventeen. The first one in her career, let's hope she's ok."

Since finishing media tasks, marketing decided why not do some Canadian stuff when in Canada. The result was you and Max running after each other on ice, skating like idiots. There wasn't really a goal or a challenge. Just you two having fun and getting closer.

"Max is pretty isn't he?" Max joked, playing along with the switched roles. You, in the background, flexed your muscles pretending to be Max. "I have a lot muscle." You tried to imitate, making Max hold his stomach as he held on to the railings.

Soon after, you found yourself holding Max from his ankle while he laid on the floor, dragging him along as you glided on the ice. "HOW DO YOU- HOW DO YOU STO-" "OW!" Max complained once you toppled over him after hitting into the wall.

The next thing you tried to do was wrestle with him, trying to tackle or pin each other down. To the camera it looked funny, two kids throwing hands and pulling at each other as they tried to stay stable on their knees.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Introduce yourself, please."

I go by Seventeen when it comes to racing, I'm 22 years old. I drive for Oracle RedBull Racing. And unlike other drivers, I'm the best because I know I'm the best. There is no argument there. I am unbeatable and my results prove it.

"Can you tell us the story about the story of your number?"

I chose the number seventeen because it's very significant to me, it's the age of which I made my karting debut as 'seventeen', and the number as is a lucky charm for me and my family. It's also the number of former F1 racer Khadija El-Gamazi who is a big role model for me. And as for the one, it's there to foreshadow my future championship titles.

"What inspired you to take up racing and become a professional driver?"

I happen to be of a descent of a long blood line of racers, dating back to the first f1 grand Prix, le mans, rallying, drifting, and much more. I wasn't really into the sport as much as the rest of my family. At 4 one of my family members were tinkering with a kart and told me to give it a test drive. I didn't want to get off. The biggest inspiration for me to stay in the car was Marwa El-Gamazi, f1 test driver.

"How do you manage to maintain anonymity and balance your personal life while being a public figure?"

I just do it.

"What is the significance behind your chosen mask, and does it hold any personal meaning to you?"

There is no significance to my mask whatsoever. I just don't want you to see my face for my private reasons. I also don't want to be asked to take selfies while I'm buying groceries.

"How do you handle the pressures and expectations that come with being in the spotlight and racing at such a high level?"

I have a dog.

"Can you share any memorable moments or victories that have been particularly meaningful to you in your career?"

Uhhh . . . Let's see . . . So far they're all just- they're just wins you know? Yes I love winning, but they're all just stepping stones. The only truly memorable ones will be the championship deciders in which I'll be at the top.

"What advice would you give to young girls who dream of becoming professional race car drivers?"

Don't let people give you ****. It's all about self belief, trust, and hard work. You can do anything if you truly believe you can do anything.

"What are your goals and aspirations for the future, both in racing and beyond?"

I want to break all the records that I can.

"Thay must've been boring to watch." You apologized to your PR manager as you walked out of the room Netflix had taken over.

"What happens if they portray me as a villain? I was pretty blunt back there." "Relax we go you coverd." She nodded you with a confident smile. "We got time for a break. You wanna see what's the hype with Tim Hortons? I'll drive!"

"You're a lifesaver Mkayla." You smiled hooking your elbow with hers as you exited the paddock.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

RACE DAY Thursday June 18 2023 — Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada

You laughed as you chased Christian on the stage, spraying him with champagne. Max came from the other side trapping the team principle between you both as you showered him with the expensive alcohol.

Your laughs filled the air as you pulled Max, Christian, and surprisingly Lando on the top pedestal, side hugging each other. "Redbull gives you?" You asked the crowd. "Wings!" The shouted the answer as the photo was taken.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

RACE DAY Sunday July 9 2023 — Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom

Lap 39 :: When you pushed against the brakes, but you felt something snap. Your foot pushing all the way through with no resistance fighting back, sending panic up your spine as you continued to travel at 250 kilometers per hour, pressing the pedal over and over with no avail. "BREAKS! I HAVE NO BREAKS!" You panicked over the radio as you did your best to not crash out on the turn.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" You sweared repeatedly, voice increasing in volume as you did your best to not crash out.

"Sonething is wrong. Is Seventeen okay? She's not breaking on the turns- like at all." Max informed into the radio as he trailed behind you from a safe distance. "She has no breaks. Make sure to keep the lead after she retires, Lando is 2.53 seconds behind."

Oh no.

"But she's never lost a race." He argued, feeling himself frown. 'We can force her to retire' he remembered making his heart sink. "Okay . . . keep me updated on her." "Copy."

Lap 42 :: Your hands were shaking and your face was wet. It wasn't raining, nor was it cold. You felt like you couldn't breathe as you bit and chewed on your nail, watching as the marshals assessed the scene.

"And that is a red flag and a safety car for sector 2." "Let's replay the crash there, and-" "Ooooh." "That must hurt." "Big dissapointed for Seventeen." "This marks the end of her overall 78 plus win streak and her formula one 9 win streak."

Your soul felt empty as you walked into the garage, Mkayla rubbing your back as she walked by your side. "Hey, you did amazing. No one could manage a car without breaks as long and as skilfully as you did. I'm proud of you."

'I'm proud of you.' The words echoed in your ear and it felt wrong. "But I lost." You countered, wrapping your arms around yourself, as she slowly undid the helmet strap and pulled it off.

"There's a whole lot more to racing than winning." She nodded with a smile, pulling your balaclava off handing you the black mask. You put it on without objection as she took a claw clip from her bag putting your hair up in a nice elegant bun.

You sniffed as you wiped your waterfall tears. 10 years of straight wins going down the drain felt like a a shovel in your heart. With each second that passed, it felt emptier and emptier with a hole growing deeper and darker. The only thing you could do now was watch as Max and Norris fought for the Lead, Hamilton comfortable in P3.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Hey." The Dutch winner sat to your side in the back of your garage. You were hugging your knees, watching as the Mechanics cheered and danced around, celebrating yet another team win. "Congrats." You told him, the waterfall in your eyes hadn't stopped since you had gotten out of the car and Max was worried you'd get dehydrated.

"Champaign?" He offered holding the bottle up. "I don't drink, thank you." You shook your head, politely declining. "Really? . . . But you went out with us that day in Monaco." "Yeah, 'no' wasn't really an option at the time. I don't think you remember, but I was your designated driver." You jogged up his head shrugging. "Right. Right . . ."

"I'm sorry . . . About your streak. I know it ment a lot to you." He didn't know why he was apologizing, he won. "Eh. It wasn't your fault." You dismissed. "Now stop hanging out with the mother of depression and go have fun. You deserve it." You nudged his shoulder with a weak smile.

"Are you su-" "Go." You chuckled pushing his shoulder. Max nodded, patting your bicep gently before getting up. "Winner buys dinner." He told you before leaving.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Is that fish?" You looked at his sandwich with a look of disapproval. "Tsk tsk." "What? It's just a sandwich." He defended himself, voice muffled from the fries in his mouth.

"Fish sandwich. Which is even worse than fish." You shook your head in dissapointment, opening your take out box. "This is real food." You pointed at the shawarma starting to eat.

"What's that?" "It's heaven in a box." "Let me try." "Can I have some of the Pepsi in return?" "Deal." You shook hands with him, making the exchange.

The two of you were sitting atop the hood of a rented car, eating silently. Max had bought dinner, him eating McDonald's, and you Lazeez. The two of you had made a small trip to Niagara falls, watching the waterfall as you ate in silence.

"How fast do you think the water travels?" "Faster than Ferrari that's for sure." He commented making you break a small laugh. He sat in silence watching you eat, the small lights coming from the distant post lights and the moon light illuminated your face.

Max felt in debt to you. After all, what had happened today, was his fault. "Stay on her tail." His dad suggested before the race. He didn't think much of it before. Only when his dad congratulated him after the race had he discovered what had happened.

He felt like he sabotaged you, even though his father was the one to. And Max felt too guilty, to tell you, to not make it up to you somehow. He was starting to like you, and he did not want you to go down like that.

"We have a week off till Hungary. Any plans?" "Think I'm gonna go for a family visit. You?" "Not sure really. I just know I'm going to Monaco."

". . . Do you want to come with me? The weather is nice around this time of year." "Where are we going?"

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"You're French?" "I'm not French." You quickly shook your head as you walked through the airport. Max had to conceal his identity, because that would get a lot less attention than both Seventeen and Max Verstappen showing up.

"How do you take your coff- actually never mind. Stay here." You pointed at the chair, setting your suitcase next to his. "Do not get up. Don't take your eyes off the bags." You lectured.

"I'm not 5." He defended, making you chuckle as you pushed the brand-less cap further down his face. "Shh." You hushed before walking to the vending machine.

He listened to you none the less, keeping both bags in his hands while you did what you did. "Cheers." You held out the Redbull can for him once you returned. "Thanks."

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Kart a7mar meen! Roo7 el3ab be3eed!" Your cousin shouted from the living room. "I need a translator!" Max shouted afterwards. Leila and Max were playing fifa, and you were in the kitchen preparing breakfast whilst whispering prayers to keep you patient.

Leila and Max were a chaotic duo that should have not been brought together. With a shared love for football and similar temper, along with the language barrier for the cherry on top, they were driving you nuts.

"I can't even shout to both at them at the same time." You complained to the puppy chewing on a ball while resting between your feet. "Lulu, kefaya l3b. Hati Max we ta3ali. [Enough gaming, lulu. Come here and bring Max. "I heard my name?"

"Putain d'enfer." [fucking hell] you heard the girl cuss as she pulled the blond along from his wrist. "Langue." [Language] You scolded, smacking her wrist that tried to steal from your plate.

You pushed the plate filled with pancakes towards her, making her gasp in excitement. You pushed the veggie and egg plate towards Max, who looked between his plate and Leila's in jealousy.

He tried to steal one of hers, only for his hand to be pushed away as she started eating. "Leila. Meteb2eesh bakhila, ediloh wa7da." [Leila, don't be selfish. Give him one] You scolded her as you pulled a stool for yourself to sit on.

The 8 year old looked at Max warily before holding up a pancake for him. The Dutch tried to take it, only for it to be pulled away from his grasp. "Hey." He huffed folding his arms. "She wants to feed you." You explained. "It's a cultural thing. If you're gonna eat out of our plate, we're gonna hand feed you."

"Oh . . ." Max hesitantly leaned down, opening his mouth. Leila gently fed him, keeping her free hand under his mouth to catch any crumbs. You couldn't help but snap a photo quietly, a small smile spreading on your face.

Max and Leila had quickly become best of friends somehow. While walking through the streets of Paris, the Dutch driver carried your cousin on his shoulders, sharing a crep with her.

Looking through shirts, because you were buying a whole new closet for Max because he didn't know how to dress, Leila pointed at different things for the blond.

Max didn't hesitate to pick the ones she chose, even holding up things for her to compare between. Needless to say, you used your camera a lot today, you were surly going to have an album dedicated just for them.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wednesday June 19 2023

"Go right, go right!" Max shouted gesturing with his arms dramatically as he watched Leila play. Leila had begged you to bring Max along to watch her football match after school, and you could tell she was trying to impress him.

You sat on the grass watching as Max gained the attention of other parents and audience with the foreign language. "Goal!" He cheered, sharing a high five with the girl once she came over giggling happily. "Don't DNF now." He joked gently nudging her back to the field.

"She's good." He told you smiling as he watched the game. "I mean, she likes Mo. Salah. He's a big role model for her, I wouldn't be surprised if she pulls off one of his victory dances.

"Cover number 6!" He called getting back in the game. You chuckled smiling to yourself. A ring pulled you out of your concentration. Picking up your phone and moving away from the shouting Dutch man, you answered. "Salut . . . Oui, C'est Y/N . . . Oh— . . . Je— oui oui. Merci."

'Y/N? I've heard that before. Where?' Max thought turning to you. "What's wrong?" "I have to go down to the hospital. You stay here with Leila. Take the train home, she knows how." You pulled out your wallet, pulling out 50 euros, stuffing them in his back pocket. "Buy her an Oreo McFlurry from the McDonald's to the right of the trainstation."

You pulled his arm up, pulling a pen from your pocket as you scribbled your number down quickly on his skin. "Call me when you get home. Make sure Leila takes a shower, and don't let her close the door in case she slips so you can help her. Understood?" You were spitting information and more guidelines which overwhelmed your teammate.

"Don't. Don't mess up." You pointed at him before running off. "Okay . . ." He replied to no one confused.

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Salut?" "Hey, it's me." "Hey Max." You greeted over the phone. He could hear you sigh in relief, making his heart itch worridly. "I did everything you told me." "Good good. Thank you, Max. I owe you big time." "It's alright, I had fun."

He smiled to himself, watching as Leila came over with hair brush and a hair tie. "I- ok." He mumbled shuffling backwards so she can sit between his legs. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" "It's, it's nothing you have to worry shouted it's ok." "Well it's definitely worrying you. And we're friends are we not? You can tell me."

Max pressed the phone between his ear and shoulder, beginging to brush Leila's hair gently. 'Friends.' You though breathing in. "Mar— my uncle." You corrected yourself knowing Leila was listening. "Got into cardiac arrest and he's in a comatose at the moment."

You felt your eyes tear up as you confessed, your breaths becoming short as you held sobs in. "I'm scared and I don't know what to do." "Do you want me to come?" "No, no." "OK. What do you need me to do." He paused with the brushing, listening to you intently.

". . . I want you to go to Hungary tomorrow like we planned. With Leila and Aussie. My PR manager can take Aussie off of you. And if you could keep an eye on Leila for just two days. Just two days. Thursday and Friday. I swear I'll make it up to you—" "—Hey. You don't owe me anything." He affirmed, starting to brand Leila's hair. ". . . Thank you, Max. Really."

To say that Max's feeling for you were resurfacing was no lie. You had invited him to your house and had given him a nice week off where he could meet the real Seventeen.

The feelings were stronger no doubt.

17: where's my silverstone win?

jos: alexa play 'it's a wrap' by Mariah Carey

( taglist ↳ @lorarri - @benedikwonn - @mycenterfold - @iamahallucinanionnn - @lizzieolseniskinda - @chelseyyouraverageluigi - @michellekstyles - @ironmaiden1313 - @azxulaa - @mistrose23 - @lazybot - @hockeyboysarehot - @iloveyou3000morgan - @livster

#‧˚⊹🪴 ଓ :: 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 ‧₊˚⤾ #f1 #formula 1 #formula racing #f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 x you #max #max verstappen #mv1 #mv33 #max verstappen imagine #max verstappen x reader #max x reader #max x you #max verstappen f1 #max verstappen x you #max verstappen fluff #max verstappen fanfic #mv1 x reader #mv33 x reader #mv1 fic #mv33 fic #f1 fic #f1 imagine #f1 fluff #f1 fics #formula one x you #formula one x reader #formula one x y/n

[littlemissaddict]

Just a little idea that popped into my head while I was trying to sleep. And while I love reading reader x single dad! fics as someone who doesn't want kids I just feel it's not something I've come across in fics yet (it probably has been done and if you have any recs please send them my way)

Also this drifted away from my original idea and I'm too lazy to correct it so please enjoy whatever this has turned into.

"And then Ella" Steve was replaying the story animatedly across the table from her. They were on a first date, after having bumped into him at the grocery store last week where he had surprised her by asking her out.

"Sorry you've lost me, who's Ella" she asks, interrupting him but it was hard to follow the story when she had no idea who she was. She had figured she was another friend or something as it was the first time her name had been mentioned all night where as she'd heard all about the kids he used to babysit, his best friend Robin and the metalhead who had been adopted into the group but Ella was new.

Steve's face fell and she worried her question had upset him, had he already talked about her tonight and she'd missed it so now it had come across as she hadn't been listening. Oh god, it had been going so well and now she'd messed it up with one simple question.

"Have I not told you? I could've sworn I told you?" He asked, there was no accusations in his tone. Instead, he sounded more confused. She shook her head in answer to his questions and he sighed, "I could've, it's the first thing I tell people, how could I have not mentioned her" he was muttering more to himself than her.

She offered him what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she reached across the table to rest her hand over the top of his where at some point he'd clenched his napkin in his fist. He looked up at her touch, "it's okay you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" she reassured him. It may have been a first date but he didn't have to tell her his whole life story in one go, she hoped there'd be a few more where they could learn more about each other.

"No, she's someone I like to be up front about, I need to know before I get involved with anyone so they don't freak out and leave when they do eventually find out and then I'm left picking up the pieces" he explains and her heart bleeds for him, thinking about Steve thinking everything is going well only to be left picking the pieces of his heart up after they leave but she also can't help the anxious feeling building inside of her.

"Ella's my daughter"

Her face falls as soon as the words slip past his lips, a reaction she's quick to cover but not quick enough as Steve sees.

"I know it's a lot to take in especially when we're just getting to know each other that's why I like to make it known straight off the bat but tonight, I don't know I guess I just got so caught up in the excitement of being here with you that I forgot and that sounds terrible that I'm admitting to forgetting my own daughter but it's been a while since I've actually been excited for a date and well you've made me feel like a teenager again which I guess is why" he rambles, his eyes closing as he rubs his fingers against his temples before he looks back at her. "Please say something, even if it's just to tell me I'm an idiot" he all but pleads.

"Steve" she whispers. Her mind is going at a million miles a minute as she processes his confession and her own feelings. "I don't know, I really wasn't expecting to be discussing kids on a first date" she admits, "but since we're being up front then I can't lie but kids have never really been in my plans for the future and I know your not asking anything from me right now but I've enjoyed myself tonight and I really want to see where this goes but," she pauses glancing at Steve and she can tell that he's expecting her to tell him that she doesn't want to be with someone who already has a kid and the acceptance of it is written all over his face which is heartbreaking because he deserves love she's just not sure if she's the one.

"If this did progress, if we did get together I just don't know if I'd fit your expectations or even hers" she admits, already feeling like she'd be a disappointment to the both of them when she couldn’t fill the mother roll that she thought he was expected her to fill. "I just don't want it to get to the point where we realise that maybe it won't work and then we're left as you say picking up the pieces" she finishes with a sniffle, god please don't let her cry.

And Steve, wonderful Steve, leans even further across the table, his large palm cupping her cheek as a small smile graces his lips. "I have no expectations, this would be new for both of us as its only ever been me and her for the longest time, all I need to know is if you'd be willing to try, take things slow until we figure out us and then when you're ready then we introduce Ella, we could just even say your a friend if that makes you more comfortable" he tries and she melts under his touch, his gaze.

"I'm terrible with kids" she adds, giving him one last out to change his mind but he just chuckles.

"They're a learning curve, trust me but she's a good kid" he promises with a nod that somehow has her feeling at ease. Kids may have not been in her plan for the future but maybe one wouldn't be so bad.

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington oneshot #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things

[moeitsu]

♡The Tie Which Linked My Soul To Thee♡

(Arthur Morgan x OC) Masterlist

Hey cowboys!

Below is where you'll find all the chapters to my Red Dead Redemption fanfic, I will keep it updated as I continue to post more chapters. But in the meantime, I wanted to make things a little more organized and easier for you to navigate.

Whether you just started reading, or if you've been keeping up with the story since the beginning. I want to thank you! This started as a little side project to keep me busy during my down time at work, but it's turned into something I'm really passionate and proud of! So thank you for all the support <3

!!Please be aware this fic is explicit. As it contains blood/violence, as well as other adult themes!!

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

->-> Ao3 

->-> Wattpad

Summary: Kate McCanon, a young widow from the north, meets outlaw Arthur Morgan. When the two cross paths she discovers a complex man wrestling with his own sense of right and wrong. As their unlikely bond deepens, Kate becomes determined to guide Arthur towards a brighter path, even as tensions rise within his gang led by the enigmatic Dutch van der Linde. With danger lurking at every turn, Kate must navigate treacherous territory to protect those she holds dear, all while finding love in the most unexpected of places.

Story Tags: Widowed, Original Character(s), High-Honor!Arthur Morgan, Arthur Morgan Does Not Have Tuberculosis, Arthur Morgan Deserves Happiness, Chubby!Arthur Morgan, Canon Divergence, Mutual Pining, Slow Build, Eventual Smut, Eventual Sex, Eventual Romance, Emotional Sex, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Touch-Starved, Sexual Tension, Friends to Lovers, Child Loss, Infant Death, Trauma, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Torture, Blood and Violence, Survivor Guilt, Aftermath of Torture, Caretaking, Injury Recovery, Period-Typical Racism, Anxiety, Self-Hatred, Night Terrors, Emotional Constipation, Self-Doubt, Men Crying, Bathing/Washing, Sweet/Hot, Romantic Angst, Romantic Fluff

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

Ch 1 - The Years Creep Slowly By Kate becomes entangled in a heist with two strangers, Hosea and Arthur, forging an unexpected bond amidst their criminal endeavor. Ch 2 - The Snow Is On The Grass Again A fisher of men and A strange encounter. Ch 3 - The Suns Low Down The Sky Welcome to Horseshoe Overlook Ch 4 - The Frost Gleams Where The Flowers Have Been It's time to collect a debt. Ch 5 - My Heart Beats On As Warmly Now A well deserved hunt with Charles, met with an unexpected surprise back at camp... Ch 6 - As When The Summer Days Were Nigh The battle begins, and the past is revealed. Ch 7 - The Sun Can Never Dip So Low Kate is not immune to the dangers of the land. No matter how much she loved it, the land will never love her back. Ch 8 - Or Down Affections Cloudless Sky A blissful sunny day after a long hard night. Ch 9 - A Hundred Months Have Passed Kate and Arthur share a tender moment in the quiet of the night. Ch 10 - Since Last I Held That Hand In Mine The Course of True Love and other Revelations Ch 11 - And Felt The Pulse Beat Fast Arthur and Hosea share meaningful conversation after a night of advertising some moonshine. Meanwhile Kate finds herself involved in a dubious mission with John and the boys. She patches up Arthur as the day ends with an air of unspoken desire. Ch 12 - Though Mine Beat Faster Far Than Thine - Part 1 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God in a world that is ugly with violence and hate. Ch 13 - Though Mine Beat Faster Far Than Thine - Part 2 Arthur’s life is ebbing out like the tide. Kate must work quickly and diligently to reverse the cruel hands of fate. She is aided by the help of an unexpected ally. Ch 14 - A Hundred Months ‘Twas Flowery May As Kate navigates Arthur’s recovery, she discovers that true strength lies within her trusted companions, finding relief in their unwavering support during the trials of his healing journey.

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━ If you're interested in reading about my OC, I linked the Kate McCanon Lore here :) As well as her Face and Voice Claim here <3 About me!

#arthur morgan #rdr2 #arthur morgan x original female character #red dead redemption 2 #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #red dead fandom #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption community #arthur morgan x reader #hurt/comfort #angst #angst with a happy ending #fluff #eventual smut #eventual romance #masterlist #fanfiction #x reader #oc x canon #archive of our own #original character #writers on tumblr #smut #arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan smut #arthur x reader #masterpost #ao3fic #ao3 link

[ahhhsami]

What writing tips would you give to beginner writers?

These are some general things I wished I had known when I started writing. Keep in mind that everyone is different, so these tips may not be as useful to you as it may be to someone else.

Tropes exist for a reason. If you have an idea, but see that there's already a fic with similar ideas, that's okay. Don't be discouraged. Tropes are loved because people want to read them and reread them. Plus your take will always be different from others because we all have different perspectives, writing styles, and ideas.

Write for the hell of it. If you have an idea, just write. It's okay if it's not good. It's okay if you never go back to it. The more you write, even if it's not to be shared, is good experience and can help you grow as a writer. Keep in mind though, that the more you post, the more feedback you receive which can help you improve greatly. It's always good to get constructive criticism from others. It's also okay to not be interested in constructive criticism. You'll still improve just by writing more.

Write for yourself. This might sound cliché, but it's true. Write what you want to and what you enjoy. Even if it's niche, that's okay since there will still be people interested in it. Interests are not exclusive and you may even be surprised that what you think is niche, might not be at all!

Schedules work for some and don't work for others. If you're a person that knows deadlines work for you and it won't hinder your creativity, then set a schedule for yourself. Set goals of writing a specific amount of words. Set dates when you'll post new chapters. BUT, it's also okay if schedules don't work for you. They personally don't work for me at all. Writing and sharing, especially when it comes to fanfiction is FREE. So don't feel obligated to get a chapter out by this time or that time. Creativity comes and goes, things in life happen, there's so many factors to posting, so don't feel pressured to do as others. Do what suits you! Some people can post every week, some can post every few months, some people need years and that's perfectly okay.

Don't base your success on hits/comments/kudos/etc. Some of the best stories I have ever read on AO3 have had low hits/comments/kudos. There are so many hidden gems out there. But do keep in mind that when you start writing and posting, these things may naturally be lower at the beginning. Over time, as you post more, people can become familiar with your style and what you write. On top of that, this feeds back to just writing. Writing more will improve your skills, which then will draw in more readers and also get them to stay or look at your other works.

Don't be scared to share and self-promote. When you start, it can be daunting to share what you've created. But we all had to start somewhere and if you asked me if I liked my first stories, it would be a hard no. What matters when I do look back at them, is that I see improvement. And as long as you keep working and enjoying the process, then improvement will definitely happen. Finally, when it comes to self-promoting, do it! Sometimes the only time I see a new story that I end up loving is because someone has promoted their own work. They're proud of it and I love to find new things that people were passionate about. I will also shamelessly recommend my own stories if needed. Just don't spam people 😂

Pantser, Plotter, or Plantser. These are three different ways of describing your writing style. Pantsers are more fluid and free with the way they write. Plotters lean toward more strict planning, relying on outlines and following a specific plan. Plantsers are a combination of the two. Try different styles and gradually you'll find what works best for you. I started out as a wildly free, honestly chaotic, Pantser but am very much a Plantser now. Writing styles can change over time, but just know that being comfortable with the style you're using is what's important.

Hopefully some of these things are helpful. They're somewhat vague and not all of them are strictly related to writing, but they are all things that I believe are important to know. These are also some things that can even be helpful to people who aren't new to writing. These are all things that I still follow and practice to this day too.

PS: I like to keep my asks/dms open for people looking for a second eye on their writing. If anyone is interested in having me read anything and share feedback, you're welcome to send me a message. My availability varies due to work, so you may not hear back from me right away though.

#reply #anon #writing #fanfiction #fanfic #writing tips #if you're looking for more specific tips I can share in that way as well

[bettsfic]

i can't stay quiet about this anymore. for weeks now i've thought, noo i won't write about knights of the zodiac on my blog. nobody cares. BUT it is the weirdest fucking movie i've ever seen and i need to tell you about it.

knights of the zodiac is an american made live action adaptation of the anime/manga saint seiya. before this film, i'd never even heard of it, but that doesn't matter, because i watched an interview with mackenyu (who plays seiya) who said that the director told him not to bother watching the anime or reading the manga, because he wanted this movie to be its own thing. you know, which is always a great way to bring in your core audience.

with that said, i'm viewing this film entirely on its own merit, with no context of the source material. so saint seiya fans may not want to read this.

the movie came out this past may. i was excited about it for no other reason than mackenyu starring in an american action movie. i'm honestly a little surprised people weren't more jazzed about that. there aren't a lot of japanese actors starring in big budget american action movies.

other cast members include sean bean (who, spoiler alert, dies), famke janssen, and mark dacascos. in case you don't recognize those names, they are, respectively, boromir/ned stark, jean grey from x-men, and the iron chef. if nothing else, i think it's worth watching for the utterly bizarre casting.

the premise, sort of: mackenyu, who appears to be contractually obligated to play angsty younger brother characters (i think this is the 7th thing i've seen him in where he is an angsty younger brother), has an older sister who is missing. he's a poor orphan boy who gets by on winning cage fights. or something. so boromir finds him and tells him he's destined to be athena's bodyguard, and he gets on board with this alarmingly fast, but not after antagonizing athena (who is not yet athena) and throwing out some snarky one-liners. he trains in the middle of nowhere with a masked lady who repeatedly kicks his ass, and he never changes clothes the entire time. there's other stuff too but it's secondary to the absolute batshittery of this movie.

i saw it on premiere night, which was also the premiere night of the new guardians of the galaxy movie. again, A+ move by the promotional team. so there i was on a saturday at 7pm. prime movie going time. and my best friend and i were the only ones in the theater.

although i had no real expectations for this movie beyond Mackenyu Hits Things And Is Sad, i believed one of two things would happen: it would be as terrible as it sounded, or it would actually be phenomenal. but no, it was neither bad, nor good, but a secret third thing: it scratched a deep and rabid part of my id.

and by that i mean, it appeared to be a very high budget love letter to glaringly submissive men.

here's my letterboxd review that i wrote in the brief hypomanic episode succeeding my initial viewing:

okay so first and most importantly, this scene made me actually scream:

it's a joke line, sure, but 1) he definitely means it, and 2) he immediately calls her "princess," which if you've ever read my fic, you'll know that that's a one-hit KO for me.

(putting this under a cut because it's already long)

you see how athena is framed above seiya? that is one of approximately 1000 shots where this occurs. to every male character. at one point, mackenyu perches gingerly on the back of athena's motorcycle. in fact the only male character who attempts to be dominant aggressive and toxically masculine becomes the punching bag of the film.

in the beginning, seiya is in a cage match where people are getting angry at him for "dancing," which means he doesn't fight so much as avoids getting hit and looks pretty doing it. a solid third of the movie involves a very large lady beating the crap out of him. the premise of the film is getting him to devote his entire life to a goddess and obey protect her at all costs.

i'm probably the only one who watched this movie and was like, hmm is this kink coded? am i insane for seeing this? usually when i think of kink coding i think of quentin tarantino's foot fetish, these long gaudy shots of women's feet hanging out of car windows. it's in the imagery and shot composition and power dynamics.

here, the imagery is a lot of kneeling men, the shot compositions repeatedly place the men lower than the women, and the power dynamics are simply that the women have all the power, and the men have a little, as a treat. jean grey is a straight-up femdom, leather and all.

by the end of the climax, seiya is naked, having been stripped of his (magical and very powerful) armor as pre-athena becomes athena and uh, blasts his clothes off in the process. there's probably something to be said there about, you know, literally stripping him of his power.

i think what i find particularly remarkable about this is that the repeated feminization of the male lead is treated as a good thing. a self-actualizing thing. it's the process through which he accepts himself and his destiny. that's the reason i say it's a love letter--i've known a lot of submissive men and many of them really struggle to accept that part of themselves. i had a friend once who was so ashamed of himself--not just that he was submissive, but that submission was an integral part of his identity--that he had a breakdown in my car over it. so i think it's nice seeing a vaguely positive portrayal of finding oneself through (textually) devotion and (subtextually) submission.

god help me, seiya spends the entire film being irritating and bratty. this movie is my personal kryptonite.

don't get me wrong, it's a terrible movie. the writing is awful, the direction is awful, and if it gets a second film, i'll be shocked. it received a 1.9 (out of 5) on letterboxd and a 4.4 (out of 10) on imdb.

but i've also always been a lover of the star wars prequels (and oh boy there's a lot to be said there about submissive men) and so my patience for bad writing is infinite in the face of interesting things happening on a character level. in a world of disneyfied stock plots and bloated marvel franchises, i appreciate when a movie tries to do something different, even if it doesn't do it very well.

anyway, i can't in good conscience recommend it, but i for one plan to watch it at least a hundred more times.

#i would love to tag this so i can find it later but i really don't want it to show up in the official tag #so uhh #film meta

[mirasantidotes]

Dance With Me

Summary: You've known Pedro since you were teenagers, and you two have grown up into adulthood together. He's always liked you, but never said anything to you about it until one day, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and finally confesses to you.

Content Warnings: self-doubt, fear of rejection, interrupted make-out sessions, fluff

Word Count: 1.8K

A/N: I think this is going to be the last fic I write about Pedro himself, I don't want to make him uncomfortable if he were to ever read it, so I will only be doing fanfics of his characters, either with them in character or slightly ooc! Also, sorry for any grammar / spelling / or Spanish mistakes I may have missed when proofreading!

All of my posts with an * in the title contains smut or at least mentions of it.

—

You met Pedro when you were both teens, and you hit it off instantly. The two of you had met when you and your parents had moved to NYC; you both had so much in common— you listened to the same music, liked the same shows, and both were active in wanting to make it in the arts; you singing, and him acting. You would sing him songs, and he would practice his lines for you. Your friendship blossomed unlike any other you had before. It was apparent to you throughout your friendship he may have liked you, but after some time, he seemed to have moved on, or so you thought— he just became better at hiding it. Even as teens, he would compliment you every day, and say you were beautiful, as you would say to him back. 

He was so afraid of rejection, he’s never said anything to you about his crush, even after all these years. You two have now lived together for 5 years; both of your careers have become successful, he’s been in several big-hit HBO projects, which you knew he grew up on and meant so much to him. You, a successful singer with a Grammy trophy for album of the year sitting on a shelf in your room. 

As you do once per week, you wake up earlier than the sleeping birds outside to cook him some breakfast in bed; he loved your cooking— he always complimented it, and never disliked anything you made, even if he was picky with what he ate. You couldn’t find your earbuds to listen to music, so you opted to just play your playlist on the radio on the lowest volume. Though, once your favorite song came on, you came a little too excited to dance around your kitchen while cooking and had turned it up just a tad too loud for sleeping Pedro’s comfort. 

While you’re lost in your thoughts, cooking a large breakfast for the two of you and swaying around your kitchen, you don’t even hear Pedro walk up behind you until you feel his hands on your hips, spooking you. You yelp in surprise, “What the hell, Pedro!” you raise your voice through soft chuckles, hitting his chest playfully, as he smiles brightly and his rich laugh escaping his lips at your reaction; he was always good at sneaking up behind you when you didn’t realize it, making your bones jump out of your skin. The sun through the window lightly illuminated his bed hair and scruffy beard— his strong nose casting a shadow on his face; you get lost in his features, before clearing your throat and turning back around to continue cooking, with a small smile on your face. 

A few minutes pass, and you’re still cooking, but causing small shenanigans to get back at Pedro; when he isn’t looking, you grab the whipped cream from your fridge, you ask him to look at you, and spray some of it on his nose, letting your laughs escape your mouth, as he starts smiling. He takes his finger and cleans his nose off with it, before shoving it in your face, getting some on your nose too, before he licks the remaining of it off of his finger and cleans the rest off his nose with a paper towel. Laughter fills your early morning home, the sun beaming through your curtains, to cast rainbow lights into your shared apartment, the smell of bacon, pancakes, and the making of scrambled eggs in the pan below you as you’re back at the stove, trying to focus on cooking through Pedro’s nonsensical actions, trying to make you laugh. How he loved that sound more than anything and would do anything to hear it— and he always knew how, no matter what you were going through, he was able to be the light that would shine through your darkest times. 

As he leans on the kitchen counter next to you, watching you cook, arms crossed. He stares at your face, your features causing him to almost fall into a trance. He opens his mouth to speak, “You look beautiful today, querida (darling),” he murmurs, still looking at your face, shifting his focus from your eyes to your nose, and your soft, rosy lips. Your eyes slightly widen at his words— sure, he compliments you often, but he never calls you nicknames like that, so it took you by a slight surprise. 

“Thank you, querido (darling),” you giggled back at him, sneaking a small smile in his direction before returning your gaze to the eggs below you, continuing to cook. You don’t see it until it’s happening, he steps closer to you, and strings some of your hair behind your ear, so he can see your soft features. You glance up at him, once more— his hand laying softly on your jaw. Once more, he scans your face, for any sign of discomfort. His smokey, kind eyes look into yours, then to your nose and lips, and finally back up to your eyes. A light flush of pink creeps up his neck and into his cheeks, as does yours. He steps closer slightly, still worried he’s going too far— but you don’t move back, and he takes it as an initiation to move even closer.

He leans in and rests his forehead on yours, both of your eyes closed, and just before his lips touch yours, a soft “Can I?” escapes his mouth, and you just slowly nod, granting his permission. And with that, he lifts his hand to your cheek, slightly tangled in your hair— he presses his lips against your own. You kiss him back, tasting the bitterness of his coffee from earlier on his lips. He lifts his other hand to hold your neck, pulling you closer to him. Sparks fly all over your body with the way he touches you. 

Though you didn’t want this moment to end, you pull away abruptly when you smell the scent of burning eggs and light smoke filling your lungs. You two start laughing as he quickly opens up a window to let some of the smoke out the window before turning back around swiftly to start chuckling at your panicked face. You turn off the stove, and once you finish throwing out the now unrecognizable eggs into the trash can and airing out as much of the smoke as you can, you press your back against the counter, crossing your arms, looking at Pedro— “So what was that kiss about?” you say gently, looking into his eyes, the corners of your lips upturning slightly at the thought of it. 

“Are you that oblivious?” he asks, smiling at you while stepping forward a few steps in your direction before finally leaning next to you on the countertop, his eyes never leaving the sight of you as he crosses his arms.

“Possibly, or maybe I just want to hear you say it,” you speak softly, the smile growing on your face before you turn toward him. 

He pauses for a moment, before finally speaking— “I like you, I always have,” he replies quietly, as he looks down at your feet, pinching his lips together, his cheeks glistening a sheer pink in embarrassment. You catch him off guard when he’s lost in thought, you step in front of him, and you reach your hand up to his face and cup his cheek— his light stubble prickling you in your hand, your other hand pressing lightly on his broad chest— the heat rushing to your cheeks as you lean in to kiss him once more; his arms uncrossing, and wrapping around your waist, pulling you closer to his body.

Before you realized it, he was turning you both around and lifting your body, and setting you on the counter, still not breaking the kiss. He pulls away soon after however, and looks you in your eyes before lifting his hands to your cheeks— “This okay?” he whispers, scanning your face with his soft eyes, as he lifts his hands back up to cup your cheeks. You nod, and you glance at his lips and back to his eyes, full of love, as always. You wrap your hands around his neck, pulling him closer to you— his body between your legs that dangle off the edge of the counter. 

Just before your lips touch, foreheads resting against each other once more, you whisper sweetly to him, “I like you too, siempre lo hice (I always have),” both yours and Pedro’s lips are lightly brushing against each other as you feel him smile slightly. He runs his hands down your sides and finally lets them rest on your hips. He leans back in and places another soft kiss on your lips— but before too long into your next kissing session, the two of you feel a fluffy feeling separating the two of you from each other, and you both look down simultaneously after breaking the kiss— you see your cat finally awake from his early morning nap, only to cause another disruption between you and Pedro. 

The sight makes the two of you burst into giggles before Pedro rests his head into the crook of your neck before mumbling a gentle “We keep getting interrupted, huh?” into your ear, sending a slight chill up your spine. 

A light chuckle escapes your swollen lips, “Guess so,” you say before tangling one hand in his salt and peppered hair, the other still wrapped around his neck, hugging him closer to you. Though he doesn’t want to, he pulls back from your gasp and picks up your cat— giving him a few kisses before finally setting him down, causing him to run back, presumably to take a nap once more. He looks back up at you, giving you a small smile before walking back between your legs, with his honey-toned eyes full of kindness,  he cups your jaw sweetly, while brushing a few lost strands of your hair behind your ear once more. He kisses your forehead, making you blush for the millionth time today. 

In one swift motion, he picks you back up off the counter and lays one hand on your waist, and the other reaches for the radio to play your favorite playlist, which had ended hours ago. His hands slide down your body, to reach for your hands. He holds your hands gently in his— he starts dancing slowly to the sound of the music, “Dance with me, mi amor (my love),” he grins at you. You chuckle at his not-so-impressive dance moves, before finally giving in and swaying your hips with his, beginning to slow dance. 

The two of you spend the day listening to the sweet sounds of the radio, sharing kisses once and a while, and dancing throughout your apartment, forgetting about the cold food you cooked earlier that morning.

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x f!reader #pedro pascal x female reader #pedro pascal x reader #fanfic #fanfiction

[redpenship]

Happy New Year! I’d love to know if you have any headcanons about Mobian culture and/or holidays, either based on things you’ve seen in the games/comics/movies etc OR just stuff you’ve made up for fun. :) Maybe this isn’t really your forte but I thought I’d ask haha!

Happy new year!

I actually don't have too many headcanons on Mobian culture itself. However, I do have HCs for their society in general which I guess would feed into the culture idea anyways. I'm just going to put all of it here because why not.

(Heads up: this post is 1.8k words long).

Thesis I: There is no Mobian state.

If you've read my fic Buzzsaw Dilemma, then you'll have already been given a basic run down on how I think this works. Since I like rambling about this kind of stuff, I will explain everything again, but this time with evidence from canon to support my theory!

To begin, it's always best to define what a "state" actually is. I prefer the Max Weber view as a state being an "organization with a monopoly on the legitimate use of force". Let's break down what this actually means with an example:

The state establishes a rule that you can't assault other people. One day, you feel that someone has wronged you and decide to punch them in the face. A police officer nearby notices this and responds by punching you in the face and detaining you. After spending the night in jail, you're charged with felony assault and the police officer is not. Why?

As a random citizen, you do not have a right to the legitimate use of force. You cannot punch people to get what you want with impunity. The police, as official arms of the state to use against domestic populations, do have a monopoly on the use of force. They can shoot people, put them in prison, and basically do whatever they want (within reason, technically, but the state doesn't like challenges to its authority and will always resist holding itself and its officers accountable for perceived illegitimate uses of force) because they're the only ones allowed to do so! Your boss at work can't kidnap you and hold you prisoner for a year because you broke a rule. The state can do that to you because it is seen as a legitimate use of force.

Now that we both know what a state is, I can explain why I don't think one exists on the Mobian islands. I am going to cite a lot of stuff from IDW since it's allegedly canon now and the games tend not to focus too much on day-to-day life on the islands anyways.

Point one: the Restoration. Since aid organizations apparently don't like working on the islands, which I suspect might be due to the Eggman Empire's fixed presence there, the Restoration was forced to step up after the war to fix up the islands. Although it's true that some states just don't give a shit about their populations, I don't think it's wrong to say that post-war clean up would typically be a job for an existing state. The lack of any central authority points to the conclusion that one may just not exist.

Here are some panels from IDW issue #42:

Here, Zavok is surprised about the lack of security at Restoration HQ. Master Zik explains that Mobians don't see a need to prepare for violence because they aren't violent to each other. This is an interesting assertion given Tails' backstory, but I guess his two tails were just that disturbing to the people at home!

The main takeaway here is that the islands don't really have security guards or police officers. I like these panels for that reason only. I'm afraid the reasoning provided by Zik still implies that police/guards would be necessary if there was violence among Mobians, so it's not really that revolutionary of a worldbuilding moment and realigns the comic with statist ideology.

So, let's summarize: the islands don't have a central authority. They don't have any means to enforce a monopoly on the use of force. Does this mean that they don't have a state? In the absence of government, does the Restoration pave the roads?

In my general opinion, yes. There are some instances that could be used to disprove this theory, such as the Everhold Prison seen in Bad Guys, which is seemingly guarded exclusively by dog Mobians:

The existence of a prison implies a functional penal system, which in turn implies that somebody on the islands has a legitimate monopoly on force. On the other hand, it's never explicitly stated that Everhold Prison is hosted on the islands, so for now I can still cope and pretend it never happened. Yippee!

Thesis II: The islands don't use money.

I hosted a poll on this subject a few weeks ago, in which I learned that most people think there's money on the islands. Allow me to argue otherwise!

The most common theory for the origin of money is that it came into existence because bartering for stuff fucking sucks and nobody likes doing it. Nothing has a standardized value, so if the guy in your village responsible for making shoes is a pompous asshole who makes ludicrous demands such as asking for FIVE bushels of wheat in exchange for a pair of shoes, even though you've heard the guy in the next town over only asks for three bushels, then you're shit out of luck and have to fork over all your wheat. Maybe the shoemaker is on a gluten-free diet and refuses to trade with you, so as a wheat farmer who only trades in wheat now you can't even barter for a new pair of shoes! Sucks to be you, buddy.

Under a monetary system, a bushel of wheat and a pair of shoes both gain a standardized value. A bushel of wheat is $1, and a pair of shoes is $4. After selling enough wheat that you have $4 in profits, you can walk over to the shoemaker, slap some coins down on the table, and tell him to get to work. Now, you might say, "wait, if you're in a captive market, can't he just charge whatever he wants and you have to deal with it?" The answer to that question is yes, but asking economic theorists to consider greed in their theories is a bit hard since they don't really care about fairness at all and still don't understand what's wrong with kids making carpets in factories since their hands are the perfect size for that sort of thing. All these stupid labour rights activists don't understand comparative advantages and it's sickening!

Here's the problem with an existing Mobian monetary system: it assumes greed! Or, at the very least, assumes that Mobians have normalized the hoarding of commodities for personal gain. I don't believe this is the case at all.

Let's recall Zik's statement to the Zeti: Mobians don't steal from each other because they are kind and compassionate to one another. I would argue that the origins of property/commodity ownership implies large-scale theft, as developing something like an apple orchard requires dispossessing your neighbours of a plot of land and claiming it for yourself. Then you grow a ton of apples on your land--that they once could have used as they pleased before you took over--and tell them that they can't eat any of these apples unless they give you something in exchange. But the apples are right there, bro, they'll complain. You can't eat all of those on your own. You'll tell them to suck it up and eventually they'll bring you items (or money) in exchange for some apples.

This doesn't seem like something we'd see the cute Sonic furries do to each other. Since we're talking about farming, here's a panel from there IDW 2022 annual where all the characters are helping out on some kind of communal farm:

Moving on, let's look at why Sonic hates Eggman so much. Eggman has always served as a representation of industrialization, environmental exploitation and degradation, and individualist greed. If the islands had a monetary system, and the ideals required to develop one in the first place, then a lot of what Eggman is attempting to implement would have already existed! Economic development requires exploitation, both of other people and natural resources. Money is the result of economic development. It just doesn't fit for me.

Thesis III: Equity as a norm.

This is basically the section on culture. Leading up to this section, I've established a rule: Mobians live in a stateless and moneyless society. Here are some cultural norms that might have lead to such a society in modern times.

Ecology as a priority. This is consistent with the environmentalist themes in the series, but also with the way that most Mobians we meet in the series seem to really care about the environment. My personal take is that they simply haven't developed the view that they are above nature, which is something seen in Eggman and other industrialists. In Sonic Prime, we see Thorn Rose react aggressively when she notices that her friends harming plants by taking more than they need from them. This may have been because they violated a strict cultural norm! Although this occurred in an alternate dimension, I like to think about its implications for the main universe, too. Is the cultural pressure to maintain and protect the land they live on enough to suppress industrial development? Maybe!

Conformity as a means of social cohesion. Generally, I think Mobian society demands a lot of personal sacrifice from people. A core tenant of collectivism is that you have to put up with not getting what you want most of the time, and sometimes this even comes at a direct cost to you. Maybe your neighbour stole your favourite toy truck and you can't complain about it or everyone will accuse you of trying to establish private ownership over something stupid. Or, maybe, there hasn't been a lot of rain this year and your communal farms are flopping. Out of desperation one day, you wander into the woods and find some bushes of edible berries that could help you survive better for the next few days. However, since eating while your neighbours starve would violate the ethical values imposed on your by your collectivist society, you must accept only having a few berries instead and sharing the rest with your village. If you're someone like Tails, who stands out because of a physical mutation, then tough luck if your village cares about appearances. Everyone knows your business and you're dependent on them for support. As soon as they decide they don't like you, you're going to suffer severely. Upsides and downsides to everything.

Alternate methods of punishment. A society without a state likely wouldn't have prisons. Building on the concept of conformity, social crimes would be mitigated through social pressure--basically, if you do something wrong, everyone will be mean to you and not like you as much as they did before. Fear of risking the judgment of peers is a very strong deterrent for most crimes, arguably moreso than prison itself.

Everything I've written here is my basic take on Mobian culture and society! In terms of holidays, I'm sure they have stuff relating to harvest times and seasonal changes.

Thanks for the question!! Sorry if this isn't what you wanted at all haha.

#yogacatdeskknit #sonic the hedgehog #redposts #long post

[foodsies4me]

May Malec fic rec!

Thanking @crystalmir for this month's theme which is soulmate AU's! The same rules apply as always, one fic per author, even though all of these authors have other brilliant fics you should be reading and if you want to add your own recs in the comments, tags, or reblogs please feel free to do so! 💜

Also, I have tagged the authors whose Tumblr account I know (aka found on their AO3 profile), but if you'd prefer I not tag you, please tell me! I don't want these to be annoying for the authors.

One-shots:

Magnus, How Long Have You Been Twenty by @Master of Unlocking: A soulmate AU where you don't age past a certain age until you've met your soulmate!

Summary:

Soulmate AU where you age to about 18/21, and then you stay that age until you find your soulmate.

The Space Between by @gingersnapwolves: soulmate AU, the usual Clave being awful as well as some Alec and Magnus being badass. I don't know how often I've read and reread this fic by now.

Summary:

Every warlock has a soulmate. 98% of the time it’s another warlock, but sometimes it’s a mundane, a seelie, or even a Shadowhunter. Until their name appears on the warlock’s chest (and their corresponding soulmate’s), there’s no way to know. Enter Alec Lightwood, who wakes up at fourteen with a warlock’s name on his chest. Horrified at what it means, he keeps it hidden. But five years later, Magnus Bane is captured by a team of Shadowhunters, and it’s only a matter of time before someone sees Alec’s name on his chest.

see me light up from the rooftops by @oh-la-fraise: Short and sweet and fluffy, just the way I like it.

Summary:

“Alec,” Magnus said, his face falling. “Short for Alexander, I assume?” Alec frowned. “Yeah. Why do you look so disappointed? Are you more of an Alexi kind of guy?” Magnus smiled for a second, and Alec cheered with victory internally. “No, I just. . .Oh, it’s so stupid, and not something I should be discussing on a first date. It was an Alexander that broke my heart in Paris.” “Yeesh,” Alec winced. “Well I can promise you, not all of us are complete idiots. Which he would had to have been, to dump you.” Magnus snorted. “That’s the even sadder part—he didn’t dump me. We never even met.”

Before the Day is Done by carmenlire: Ales as a Head of the Institute but also as an author! Magnus as his kind of pen pal, the High Warlock of Brooklyn and his unknowing fan.

Summary:

Alec reads the email twice through before letting out a breath. He feels anticipation thrumming through him at the invitation and it doesn’t vanish no matter how hard he tries to shove it down. He’s looking forward to meeting Magnus in person. While there’s still some anxiety lurking underneath it all, it feels almost inevitable. Truth be told, he’s always felt drawn to the High Warlock. Magnus had been the only downworlder to acknowledge the change in leadership first. He’d been surprising magnanimous in wishing Alec a successful tenure and providing his contact information if he ran into any problems.

Who are you really? by @skylar102 : The scene of Magnus pressing Alec's lost baby blanket to his face as he realizes he finally has a soulmate after 400 lonely years makes me slightly feral.

Summary:

When your soulmate loses something it gets sent to you and vice versa. For almost 400 years Magnus thought he would never have a soulmate until one day a pacifier shows up in his loft.

all these stumbles and falls by @echo-bleu evil on the feels-front like all of Echo's fics, but what else is new. (Love you, Echo <3)

Alec has always kept his male, warlock soulmate a secret. He knows he can never have what he wants. On the eve of his wedding to Lydia, he finds himself on a warlock’s doorstep to finally break the bond, and be free to complete his duty to the Clave and his family. It will all be fine. Except that his soulmate mark is desperately clutching at his chest, shaking like a leaf, and its large golden eyes are pooling with tears. And that said mark looks exactly like a tiny version of the warlock who just answered his knock.

To Touch and Be Touched by TobytheWise: short 500-word ficlet, but still an adorable and enjoyable read nonetheless.

With a black handprint across his cheek, Alec always imagined meeting his soulmate for the first time would be a painful affair. When the day finally comes, Alec is pleasantly surprised.

Multi-chapter fics or series:

Making Memories With Mistletoe by @notcrypticbutcoy is another lovely fic by notcrypticbutcoy. There's a small amount of angst, but it's mostly a feel-good fic for me

Summary:

How was that even possible? How could Magnus’ soulmate be someone who didn’t believe in the concept? The universe had to be playing some kind of cosmic joke on him. *** When a mysterious and very attractive stranger walks into Magnus’ magic shop three weeks before Christmas, he doesn’t expect it to be his soulmate. Nor does he expect his soulmate to deny the entire concept of such a thing. Or: in which Magnus owns a magic shop, Alec doesn’t believe in soulmates, and the universe has a funny way of making things work out.

Machiavellian by @alxndrlightwoods: While a one-shot the fic is part of a series that I love even though it's dark and gory - or maybe just because? Warning (especially for the later parts) for Underage, Gore, and some very enthusiastic and graphic murder aka make sure you read the tags.

Summary:

He can see the thoughts whirling in Magnus’s brain. Magnus had managed to make it four hundred years, patiently waiting and keeping a weather eye on the Lightwood family for the majority of that. And his beautiful, perfect, wonderful soulmate hadn’t even managed to make it three years. They were disgustingly perfect for each other.

The Gift of Choice by @tinylilemrys: Soulmate AU where you can choose whether to accept or reject a soulmate (something I'm personally a huge fan of) and it's just written so well.

Summary:

Neither Alec nor Magnus is particularly thrilled at the discovery of their soul marks. Alec because he knows that the design of it means that his soulmate is a Downworlder, something practically unheard of in Shadowhunter society. For Magnus, the idea of being permanently attached to a joyless demon-killer is hardly a thrill. Given that they can choose if they accept their soulmate or not, the decision seems like a no-brainer. But when Alec finally meets the beautiful, other-worldly Magnus and Magnus meets the gorgeous, self-sacrificing Alec, it becomes clear that the decision might not be as easy as they thought it would.

it doesn't matter (if it's now or then) by @soveryaverageme: Alec knows Magnus is his soulmate. He also knows he isn't Magnus', but he's fine with it. Really.

Alec’s words were branded across his right forearm, spiraling towards his shoulder. The phrase “I’m Magnus, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced?” was stark across his skin, as bold as his own love. They were a comfort and a reminder every time he drew his bow back to fire another arrow. He knew every curve and bend of his words. He could trace them without looking. He had never seen Magnus’ words, but he knew was that they weren’t his.

Through a Glass, Darkly by SolarisRasa: Last but not least on this list, a fic that deserves more love in my opinion. Magnus creating a Veil between the Downworld and the Nephilim is such an interesting concept!

A century ago, Magnus Bane, sick of the struggles between the Downworld and the Clave, created a spell: The Veil. It separated the Downworld from the Nephilim, both sides blind to each other in the world. A red-head with demands, a sharp spike in demons, a new Head of the New York Institute, and...gardening? Draws Magnus toward the Shadowhunters world again. With his city slipping, the Clave bearing down, and the High Warlock's demand for better protection, Alec Lightwood seeks a more equal footing with the Downworld.

#Malec rec list #this list ended up having slightly more recs #but consistency is never a thing with me #so that's okay

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hey, thanks so much again for being an invaluable resource!!

So I’m rewriting my fic from scratch again (OTL) and the plot is going to be rather complex. After some major on-foot travel (with appropriate timeskips), three different types of climax will happen around the same time, all caused by two well-meaning villains and their ‘gangs’ as it were. The 3 main OCs will have 2 canon side characters be a lot of help, each group hopefully with about 50/50 importance.

With this, what are certain factors in general writing I can be more lax about versus those I should tackle more carefully?

(Hopefully I asked this well haha, hopefully not too specific.)

Fan-Fiction: Things to Keep in Mind While Rewriting

1 - What Type of Story You're Writing - Just as with original fiction, there are all different types of fan-fiction stories. As with original fiction, fan-fiction can be character-driven (centered around internal conflict), plot-driven (centered around external conflict), or a combination of both. The story you're describing is likely a combination of character-driven and plot-driven, so you may want to keep Basic Story Structure in mind while re-writing.

2 - Canon Format - While you certainly don't have to follow canon format when structuring your story, it may be worth considering. If the canon source is a TV show, you may want to structure your story like an episode, season arc, or mini-arc within a season. If the canon source is a movie, you may want to structure your story like a movie. And, if the canon source is a book, you may want to structure your story like a novel.

3 - Avoid Over Complication - You have a lot going on in your story... three main characters, two villains with their own gangs, and three separate climaxes. It's not that this can't work, it's just that it's going to take some effort (and maybe a little trial and error) to make it work well. Most stories have only one climax, though sometimes the "dark night of the soul" plot point is thought of as a pre-climax or false climax. But three different climaxes happening at the same time is a lot. The one way this might work is if they're all related/stemming from the same event. Otherwise, you're dividing the reader's attention so much that none of the climaxes can have much impact. You may want to consider combining two of the climaxes into the main climax and use the other one as the pre-climax/dark night of the soul beforehand.

4 - Consider Reader Expectation - If you're going to post this story and care about people reading it, you may want to think about what readers will expect from this story based on things like canon, popular fan-fiction, and stories you've written in the past. While you definitely want to surprise and wow the reader, it's also a good idea to do so while not straying too far from their expectations.

5 - Just Do Your Best - When you ask what factors in general writing you can be more lax about versus those I should tackle more carefully, my best answer is if you want this story to be good, you should tackle all aspects of writing carefully. Things like story structure, plot, character development, description, pacing, balance of dialogue/action/exposition, world building, etc. aren't things you pick and choose. They're all critical pieces of a well-told story. However, it's also important not to overthink any of it, because when you let yourself get too bogged down in worrying about plot, story structure, world building, etc., all it does is hinder your ability to write, which isn't helpful either. So, all can do is be aware of all these things and how they work, then do your best to deliver on them based on your current ability as a writer, the needs of the story, and the expectations of the reader. :)

Have fun with your story!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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#writing tips #writing help #writing advice #wqaadvice

[oonajaeadira]

For the Love of Fic: January 2

I've been doing my best to get caught up on a verrrrrrry long reading list. I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm a super slow reader (both in having the time to read and actual reading speed), and many of my favorite writers are bananas prolific, so it's easy for me to fall behind. My lists for the immediate future will probably be in character groupings, since that helps me organize and sift.

Today you're getting these lovelies in some fic I've been loving!

.

EZRA

Cross My Heart by @brandyllyn This wins for my favorite of the week. How can it not, when it is from my Secret Santa???? Brandy softens our scoundrel but keeps his dangerous edge which I really love and appreciate. This could have been your regular Gift of the Magi fic, but it goes above and beyond. Not only do these lovers do what they can to give each other the world, they get to keep their spoils too. My heart would follow his anywhere. <3

untitled by @brandyllyn So after reading Cross My Heart, I decided to catch up on the remaining Ezra fic of Brandy's I haven't read yet and I was not disappointed, not at all. If Ezra came to me for advice on how to touch a lady, I don't think I'd be able to hold myself together this well...

When They Disentwine by @brandyllyn Holy BALLS this is hot like fire. A little misunderstanding leads to some really delicious punishment--read the warnings. Do I like a little danger in my Ez? Fk yeah I do. Soft and dangerous. This serves.

Hold Fast to Dreams by @brandyllyn Here it is, friends. One of the most beautifully written, soft, wonderful Ezra stories full of books and hope and healing and it's rendered me nearly speechless. I don't know what else to say except DANG.

.

MAX PHILLIPS

Bangathon: Position: Reverse Cowgirl by @prolix-yuy Oh. My gods. I did not expect the soft. And yet. Here it is. And I am clawing for it. The moment he realizes he's actually into her kind of destroyed me. And I love that they're both in the same place...fkn hells. I swoon. This's the good stuff.

Negotiations by @prolix-yuy Another treat from LJ with a softer, yearning Max. Yes, he's got more ego than he should have, but it gets a swift, satisfying kick in the ass when he comes up against you. And do you ever give him a run for his money. A lovely little twist and sweet surprise.

A Rough (Pumpkin) Patch by @blueeyesatnight Can we all acknowledge how satisfying it is to witness Max get pouty when he doesn't get his way? And then twist things around to make his own fun? He may hate hay rides and pumpkin picking, but if you're the only two in the field, there may be more fun to be had....

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You by @chronically-ghosted I too would be tempted to tell Max to feed from me while we did the do. But you know what I am? A soft girl with a weakness for a build up. So imagine my joy when I found out this was a series in progress...one bite/drink/base at a time! And there are feelings? What! This is all my monsterfkr dreams with Max come true.

Polynesian Kiss by @morallyinept Listen. He's Max. He's your boss, and he's a vampire, and you're his PA. And blood donor. And bang buddy. And you just can't make it into work because your cramps are murder. Lucky you, you've just become a dispenser for Max's favorite treat, and he is here to FEAST. I love a man who loves his meal, and goodness does he ever enjoy you. TASTY.

Blood & Tinsel by @morallyinept Read the warnings on this one, because Max has his influence on and you're not submitting to his office booty call of your own free will. But you would if he'd let you. He doesn't know that. Yet. I love how Jett writes his reaction to that little tidbit....she's got this power-hungry jackass down.

.

EDDIE THE VAMPIRE

An Act of Kindness pt. 2 by @missredherring Oh my gosh, Eddie's become a rescue pup! He has nowhere to go and nobody to look after him and he was so young when he turned...he's so confused. I just wanna comfort the boy. It's a good thing Bella's here to look after the little darling. (Guest appearance by one Jack Daniels with mentions of Max Phillips and a Liam easter egg.)

.

WING PIT GUY

2023 Summer Kiss Prompt #3: Daniel (Wing Pit) - Distracting Kiss by @something-tofightfor Rachael's Wing Pit Guy is named Daniel and there's just something about him that's comfortable and goofy and total boyfriend material. (And he can clean a chicken wing bone in one smooth go.) You know that kissing him is gonna taste like sauce, and since he really loves his wings, you know that sauce is gonna be good. And real. And sweet. Just like this fic.

2023 Summer Kiss Prompt #11: Daniel Harper (Wing Pit) - A Kiss After Pain by @something-tofightfor It's finally time for a real first date, but before that, time to meet Daniel's dog. Raider is just a dog, doing dog things and doesn't mean to slip up. But istg if anyone here hurts Raider I will burn this site to the ground. There's a really sweet kiss in here and I am all for it. But I am having trouble deciding if I love Raider or Daniel more right now...

Smutsgiving 2023: Sweet Potato Casserole / Daniel Harper (Wing Pit Pedro) by @something-tofightfor First of all, marshmallow fluff is genius. Second of all, I don't care how sticky it is. I hate sticky and I would still allow supreme level boyfriend coded Daniel to cover me in it.

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TIM ROCKFORD

Rockford & Roan Pt. 5 by @littlemisspascal There's a number of reasons why I'm freaking out about this chapter. It's dark. There's a body. Tim is mystereously cold and Roan is being warned not to be taken advantage by his less than perfect tendancies. Doubt is strewn. Our Very Good Boy Banjo is a little doggie king. And then there's the special guest star, complete with cliffhanger...and I'm in LOVE.

Morning, His Place by @words-are-fireproof A slice of life, an early morning in the kitchen with Tim before he has to leave for work. And yet, in just a short piece, there's so much detail and background given between the characters, just in the little things they say and do, the pictures on the wall, the things Tim forgets. Simple and lovely.

2023 Summer Kiss Prompt #5: Tim Rockford - Jealous Kiss by @something-tofightfor Black Days Tim has a hold on me, and Rachael's given him a lot of groundedness and depth. He's not surprised by much, except when he surprises himself.

Smutsgiving 2023: Apple Pie / Tim Rockford by @something-tofightfor Another Black Days Tim, and this one has him apologizing to his lady for not being home for Thanksgiving by utilizing his desk when she comes to visit him. Yes plz.

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DIETER BRAVO

Star Boy by @ezrasbirdie I'm in love with the Star Boy and his Cool Girl so so much and this installment in the Starstruck Series was no exception. They have so much to navigate together and it can't be the easiest thing to date a movie star. But I'm willing to take the chance if he love love loved me this very much.

Misfire by @qveerthe0ry If it's something I'm fascinated and enamored of, it's a boy that comes untouched. Dunno why that's a kink of mine, maybe I just find it endearing when someone loses control. This one has no romantic or sexual connection to it though, and it's Dieter actually being embarrassed. I am not above smiling while watching that man be flustered and suffer a little.

Bravo, Dieter. by @juletheghoul If you haven't had a taste of Jules' writing (first of all, where have you been), then this is as good a place as any to start. Pretty writing, smooth Dieter, make up sex ahoy, and all the neck nibbles you can't keep your cool over....

Paint Me Like One of Your French Girls by @missredherring While there's some verbal teasing, this is a working relationship, but a good one. I mean, I don't know if I'm in the right crotchspace to let Dieter paint my naked body and be cool about it, but if I was, I would hope it would be as endearing as this.

Dress Me Up and Call Me Pretty by @morallyinept This is one of the hottest things I have ever read. Dieter is an absolute mess, his own worst enemy, and reader is an angel who gives him everything he needs--and discovers she likes it too. The LOVE. The kink. The marathon. The care. Just go. Go now and get your strap on.

Run Over By A Reindeer... by @blueeyesatnight Blue has such a good grip on Dieter and I love his perfect balance of shithead horny actor and genuinely nice horny guy. I laughed out loud at this multiple times too, because Blue's also good at Dieter's dipshit humor. This is definitely one of my favorites this season.

Smutsgiving 2023: Stuffing / Dieter Bravo by @something-tofightfor This is Dieter from Rachael's Locked Down series and I have a real soft spot for these two...and for this particular take on Dieter. He's someone who surprises you constantly, showing a disaster to the world while being actually put together underneath. Stuffing shows up in more ways than one here. As does mention of a raccoon....

2023 Summer Kiss Prompt #10: Dieter Bravo - A Kiss While Baking by @something-tofightfor This one is sweet in every sense of the word. Brownies, kisses, heartfelt feelings, a peek at a possible future... I love Locked Down Dieter so much and it's nice to see him domestic and happy.

Touch Me Touch Me Touch Me by @missredherring It's subby D time! This time with a free use kink and some audio erotica built in! At first I was a little sorry for our needy boy, but man, does he get it in the end....and how.

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#bloodsucking bastards fanfic #max phillips #snl fanfic #wing pit guy #prospect fanfic #ezra #the bubble fanfic #dieter bravo #buffy the vampire slayer fanfic #eddie the vampire

[merakiui]

Hi!!! It's been awhile since I checked your blog I've been so busy omg. few things tho. omg.

1.) HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY IM SO LATE IM SORRY !!! BUT I HOPE IT WAS A BLAST

2.) I can't believe I've been missing catboy jade... this is so sad... I love catboys. tbh I do think most of the twst cast could be split up into (insert animal)boys. catboy Azul perhaps..... he'd be so silly..... what a creature...

3.) TMDG SOON?????? HUH????? I sure haven't been waiting as long as some of your other anons but that's so exciting !!! Oh goodness !!!

Tbh I think the last time I lurked around your blog was around when the twins bday fic came out... which was great by the way!! oh my goodness!! he's such a fucked up critter your jade is So good. I hope you've been well btw !

- :3 anon

Hiii, :3 anon!!!! I'm happy to hear from you again omg!!! I hope you've been happy and healthy!!!!!

1.) AAAAAA THANK YOUUUUUU!!!! >0< it was indeed a blast!!! I was flattered my birthday could be remembered and that so many would take the time to message kind words. :D it was a very pleasant surprise!

2.) Catboy Jade is the most beloved!!! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡) omg,, catboy Azul...... the creature of all time. In my mind he is a pampered, sheltered house cat who lives every day in luxury with his owner. <3 catboy Floyd is a stray; I imagine you rescue him after you find him bleeding out in an alley and from then on he refuses to leave your side. Or maybe it's like the Vocaloid song "ah, it's a wonderful cat life," in which stray cat Floyd falls for you, the pampered, protected house cat of [insert non-catboy twst character here]. :O !!!!!!! Stray catboy Floyd falling for you, but you're Riddle's cat AAAAAA. Every night Riddle's chasing him away because he's a dirty, diseased, flea-ridden cat who has no business with you! >:( but Floyd always persists. He's determined. ^^;;;

3.) YES YES!!!! ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و it's so soon (as soon as the epilogue is written and then edits are made hehe)!!!!!!!! I can't wait to post it!! I know longer fics may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I wanted to write shamelessly and without worry for a word count. If I'm to write Jade romance, it must unfold like a fluffy rom-com film!!!! And if it takes 100+ pages to write The Vision in its entirety, so be it!! <3 anything for my beloved moray!!!

Thank you for reading and enjoying Monops's Reflection!!!! Jade is so scrunkly in that story... the most messed up and depraved. Aaaaa I'm so glad you can enjoy him!!! ( ꈍ◡ꈍ)

#twisted chit chat #:3 anon #and i have indeed been well!!! :D thank you!! <3

[crepesuzette2023]

Your account is honestly such a blessing. I’ve found so many good Mclennon fics because of you it’s actually insane. Now for my ask, what are some good AU Mclennon fics ?

Thank you for asking! I already listed a few AU stories in my overall faves post, e.g., under J/P without the Beatles—but I didn't really focus on fully realized, different-time-different-place-different-everything-AU stories. Here are a few I loved:

in our house we never get bored (@backbenttulips): The Beatles live in a polyamorous marriage à la sedoretu (Ursula LeGuin). Enchanting and enchanted. Soothing.

a great threat (@pauls1967moustache). Yoko is a woman and an artist, and so is Paul. Theirs is the superior battle for John Lennon's apple. A battle for each other, really. I can't overstate how much this works for me. They compete for fame and artistic collaboration, not for anyone's half-hard dick. This feels like the real Paul/Yoko dynamic in many ways.

@saint-mona: You Gave Me the Word. 1958. John is troubled after his mother's death, and befriends Paul, a bookstore owner who shares a past with Julia. Paul and John become friends—and more? Sensual and tender. Younger John & older Paul are good for each other.

snugglesweaters: You Might As Well Arsk: Hilarious, uplifting, and profound epistolary/email modern AU, with excellent (written) supporting turns by Ivan and George. It does take a fucking village.

@dailyhowl: Sleeping Sand, Morning Moon : On the other end of the tonal spectrum, this is a long, dreamy and wintery novella about grieving London playwright Paul and Scottish village eccentric John, and their long, slow way to each other. Set in 1966. Contains a surprising core of Paul & Brian, and very interesting memories of Paul/Ian.

Only a Northern Song (@stonedlennon): 1963, Liverpool: Paul works in a record store (yes, for Mr. Brian), and John is a dock worker and poet. They find each other. A long, long time after reading this, I can still 'hear' the two of them talking to each other.

Thank you @javelinbk for pointing me to and why the sea is boiling hot (madamboogie)—a reincarnation fic set starting in the late 90's. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's interesting and different!

Speaking of: @javelinbk also wrote many great AU's: John and Paul as the two nice men at the flowershop (Double Fantasy), Paul as wealthy business man, and reluctant #1 son, with John as his hot mess driver (The Life of Riley), John and Paul as stepbrothers after Jim gets married to Mimi (Brother Dearest with the follow-up I love even more, because it's melancholy and romantic and complicated, and it has Mike McCartney: Father and Son)—but a recent favorite is Our Version of Events, in which John Lennon is introduced to Beatles fan fiction by May Pang, and has questions for Paul. Set in '71. I love how this one is both an ode to fan fiction and a damn good story (with a non-tropey ending).

I also enjoyed many AU stories by @unchaineddaisychain. For instance: You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (Halloween! Modern AU, Paul is John's boyfriend for the night to stick it to John's ex, very sweet morning after), We are Stardust (Brit Paul and NYer John meet at Woodstock in '69, and it's so fucking romantic), and These Nights (modern AU, slightly jaded rock journalist John unexpectedly spends a night with rising pop star Paul. Cold shower, please!)

#asks #fic recs #au fic recs #mclennon #mclennon fanfiction

[silenzahra]

@silenzahra Do you have any idea how much your comments touched me? When I was winding down, I was so surprised to find more comments in my Ao3 inbox when I was browsing for more SMB stories to read. You NEVER fail to give such detailed feedback by pointing out which details endeared you and giving me such praise and adulation which at times I need to pinch myself how my stories touched you and others who took time and care into read and provide comments…being called one of your favourite writers on Tumblr and Ao3 truly made me tear up and my heart pound with warmth…am I truly worthy of that title? There are surely others waaay better and more skilled than I am?! You are just so sweet and kind, my dear.

I have probably said it over and over again but I feel that it’s appropriate and well deserved: You are a wonderful writer and your writing and research skills truly astound me. I’m still coming back to your musicians and Luigi’s passion for books lore posts and they are some of the best I ever read and give me connection to these boys we adore. Your stories are amazing whether they’re complete or WIP. And the fact you took the time to translate them for us to read, I still can’t get over your dedication.

You may have recalled how I was so physically and mentally exhausted in yesterday’s post. And you and also many others like @keakruiser @itsavee4117 @peaches2217 @pepperycar @sourour-rl have been so kind to me and telling me to take it easy. It really makes me see how valued and loved I am in this community…so thank you to all my dears…

I am feeling a bit better and have managed to actually finish a drawing I wanted to do, play a game, sneak in a long deserved nap and revel in my husband’s and son’s loving affections…

I can’t thank you and our mutuals over and over again for finding my place of belonging here and all of your support and love to my stories and art. May we prosper and continue to love the SMB fandom, my dear.

AW, dear friend, finding this message in my inbox has filled my heart with so much joy! 💖💖💖 As I told you on AO3, you deserve all the praise and support in the world, as your writing style is definitely one of the sweetest, most detailed and touching I've ever read 🥹🥹🥹 You always move me to the core with your words and how you portray the characters' relationships, be it a romantic one or the brotherly bond between Mario and Luigi. So yes, of course you're one of my favorite writers!!! You ARE more than worthy of that title, dear friend 🫂🫂🫂💖💖💖

And oh my God, you're making me blush 😭😭😭 I feel so honored!!! I couldn't be happier to know that you've enjoyed my headcanon posts so much as to continue reading them from time to time, that's seriously one of the highest compliments I've ever received 😭😭😭😭😭 And again, thank you so much for appreciating the fact that I translate my stories so I can share them with you all 🥹🥹🥹 You make me feel so validated!!! 🫂🫂🫂💖💖💖

Also, I have to say I needed to hear that you also love my stories, as I've been feeling a bit insecure about them as of lately. Sometimes I feel like my writing could be much better, as some of my fics end up not getting the feedback that I expected them to 😅 I'm obviously thankful for you and our common friends as you never fail to show me that you love my stories and want to read more of me, and it makes me feel so touched 😭😭😭

But yes, this is something I've been struggling with as of lately, and it's stopped me a bit from trying to write fanfiction again, but I just have so many stories I wanna write! And knowing that you and the others will be there to read them is motivation enough to keep going 🥰🥰🥰 So thank you, dear friend, because you just can't imagine how much your words have helped me 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

I'm so happy to know you're feeling better and doing activities that you enjoy! You can always count on all of us to support you, and we were obviously not exaggerating when we said we loved you first for who you are 🥰🥰🥰 I'm also so happy that you have your husband and your son by your side to show you how important and special you are! Just like the rest of us will never stop doing, dear friend 💖💖💖

And of course! May we prosper and continue to love this amazing and wholesome fandom! I love you soooo much, my dear friend! Thank you again for such a beautiful and loving message 🥹🫂💖 My heart feels so warm right now!!! 💖💖💖

#what a lovely surprise! #you're seriously amazing! #we love you soooo much! 💖 #thank you for this! 💖 #asks #asks answered #vulpixfairy1985 #silenzahra

[itwoodbeprefect]

fic writer 20 questions

i was tagged by @luredin! thank you! <3

i feel like i've done this one (or one very like it) at some point before, but i couldn't find it when i went searching, so maybe i just read through it and composed answers in my head? or my very confused tagging system is understandably failing me.

How many works do you have on AO3?

right now, 242!

What's your total AO3 word count?

587,542.

What fandoms do you write for?

several! these days mainly starsky & hutch, but h50 is still very present too, and i think both stargate atlantis and 911 may also be worth mentioning. beyond that there's a lot of other things for which i'm working on a single fic, or there's a document with multiple of them but i only open it once in a blue moon.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

well. four out of five of these are for a fandom i wouldn't write for anymore today for obvious reasons, and the other one (Tell me I'm perfect) is a Shadowhunters fic:

It's the truth

Tell me I'm perfect (but tell me the truth)

I dare you to dare me

Finders Keepers

That escalated quickly

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i wish i did! i keep trying to get into a healthier habit on that front, because i love comments and i'd like to say thank you and engage with people more, but it's a complicated thing - not in real life, but in my head, unfortunately.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

not an easy question, and it's not because there's too many to pick from! i'll indulge in a little melancholy at times, and maybe even a somewhat things-aren't-perfect ending, but generally there's at the very least a solid spark of hope even if the rest of the fic was sad. i think maybe Sobering (a mash hawk/trap fic) could qualify for actual angst, but even that one i seem to have tagged as "angst? i think?" when i posted it.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

now this, this is where we get tangled up in weighing a hundred fluffy fics against each other to decide happiness rankings! maybe something like Flowers for no reason but you missed me (starsky/hutch) or And I love every inch of you (And then some, and then some) (h50 steve/danny) because both of those are just pure giddy happiness start to finish, which means the happiness has been building for the longest by the time the ending rolls around.

Do you get hate on fics?

thankfully, not really! most of my stuff is deeply inoffensive. there's been a sporadic comment here or there over the years of someone randomly telling me they didn't agree with something i wrote (by which i don't mean people pointing out genuine mistakes - that's very different, and very helpful), but even then i wouldn't necessarily classify that as "hate", just as a very awkward way to respond to reading something that annoys you for whatever reason. what springs to mind is one that started with "i have not seen the episode" and then proceeded to interpret an in context line from a character as my personal beliefs on whether children are capable of evil, so. that kind of thing.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

not officially! but unofficially i've been told that it's fun and really really sweet, so no surprises there.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

not usually, which means that the craziest (and only) one on ao3 is probably the h50/s&h crossover (Said the apple to the orange), which is truly very uncrazy.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i wonder about that sometimes (i feel like after many many years and with the recent bot stuff on top, the answer should maybe be "probably"), but not that i know of!

there was an instance once of someone copying a story title, but they did so in a way that didn't even work. i was writing in dutch at the time, but english titles were Very Cool, so my story was called "ladies, bugs and ladybugs", and the other person took that, translated it to dutch, and used that for their story, which. those words don't match up the same way in the slightest, so it's just a random sequence of things by that point.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! actually, i was probably the first person to translate any of my fic - all of the very, very early stuff posted to ao3 was just an english copy of originally dutch stories - but these days there are also a lot of russian translations (russians seem to be very active in h50 fandom!), some mandarin, some french. one italian, i think. it's very cool!

also, shout out to people who do podfics, too. <3

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

a few attempts were made over the years, but most of that never went very far for one reason or another. none of it is on ao3.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

as of right now, probably starsky/hutch!

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

oh, i'm afraid i could fill, well, lists. one that immediately comes to mind that's technically a little past this category because i know i'll never finish it is a very long h50 project in which i took up about a hundred different little threads from the series and tried to weave them together into a giant fix-it-ish getting together coming out case fic sort of thing, and i still think the plotting work for that one was sound, but i'm just never going to actually get 100k down for a fic like that at this point in my life. (note that this is not a fic that's already up on ao3 in part - i'll finish those, one way or another.)

and oh my, for maybe a better answer: the starsky-watches-cowboy-movies starsky/hutch fic. i want to write that one, i do! and i am, and i do have real hope that i may one day finish it, but it's a fairly ambitious project in multiple ways, so there are some serious obstacles i will need to find some way around.

What are your writing strengths?

i love the patter of writing dialogue! people tell me characters sound believable and like themselves, so that's nice. also, balancing ridiculously fluffy things in such a way that it doesn't tip over into saccharine, and i also think i manage good jokes sometimes. i've been working on descriptions and atmosphere, and that's been fun.

What are your writing weaknesses?

i've completely unlearned how to write long stories! and ironically, i do write a lot of overlong sentences. also, i'll turn to google for absolutely anything, but deep down i'm a pretty impatient writer when research is needed and it doesn't happen to be a subject i'm already interested in, which oftentimes means i'd rather handwave things or scrap the idea entirely, even though i think really well-researched fic is amazing. and on that note, no matter how much american media and internet content i consume, i'm not american and have never been to america, which can be a challenge when writing for almost exclusively american fandoms. (i think i understand beds now, but i'll have to google sinks one of these days.)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

ha! this was a thing that was very, very common for a while in my dutch fic writing community, because more or less all of the fictional properties and/or real life celebrities people were writing about were british or american (maybe with tokio hotel as the one notable exception), so there was A Lot of fic written in dutch with stilted high school english dialogue thrown in. i was never very into that, but hey, if it makes you happy, definitely go for it, and that goes double if it's just a few sentences for flavor! compared to what i used to see, ao3 culture is extremely conservative with these sorts of things.

all of which i say while also still, in the back of my head, considering the possibility of writing a really obnoxious ted lasso fic with 90% dutch dialogue, so. i too might become guilty at some point in the future.

First fandom you wrote for?

twilight! it was nessie/jacob, with i think a love triangle with a vampire thrown in. we all have to start somewhere.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

i recently reread How To Build A Triangle (or accidentally fall headlong into one, or whatever the fuck) and i still think it's really good and fun, plus it's a minor miracle that i got it finished so easily! there's a decent chance i'd name a different fic if you asked me again tomorrow, though.

Tagging

I have no idea who has already done this or been tagged for it, so I'm just going to throw a few names out there (@redgoldblue @actingcamplibrarian @stephmcx @spurious @goneahead), and then give the usual disclaimer that obviously i'm tagging you all with no pressure, and that if anyone sees this and it seems like a fun list of questions, i'm tagging you too! ✨

#tag stuff #*