#will this ever make it out of the wip trenches ? who knows

[corviids]

wip of the doomed by the narrative family

#will this ever make it out of the wip trenches ? who knows #asoiaf #lyanna stark #jon snow #rhaegar targaryen

[signiorbenedickofpadua]

Talk about your sense 8au

(For the WIP title tag game, list of titles here.)

More than gladly, my anonymous friend!

So I was rewatching Netflix's Sense8 dubbed in German as part of my effort to get better at it and not forget everything I learned at the course I took, and I was reminded of how compelling the premise of that series is, and then the brainrot, predictably enough, grabbed a hold of me and basically forced me to apply the premise to the characters from the Sandman.

(For anyone who isn't familiar with Sense8, the basic premise is that there people - sensates - who are born with a genetic mutation which allows them to psychically connect to each other and visit each other through (more or less) astral projection. Each of these people go through a "rebirth" at some point in their lives when these abilities are awakened within them and they are immediately connected to a handful of individuals scattered across the globe who happen to have been born (their first, physical birth) at the exact same moment. These people form a "cluster", and within a cluster it's possible to not only visit one another but share emotions and sensations and knowledge such as how to speak French or fight or cook or ski or most anything really. Through eye contact, it's possible to connect with other sensates outside of one's cluster. The ability to utilise connections can be inhibited with medications called "blockers".)

So, naturally, I thought that the Endless siblings should be a cluster of seven. It's a well-established cluster, it's been years since they were reborn and their abilities were "activated" so to speak, and they are famous within the sensate community for...reasons which I will refrain from spoiling here. Suffice it to say that everyone knows there should be seven of them, and seven only.

Except...one day a certain Hob Gadling runs out of the somewhat mysterious medication the doctor at work prescribed him, and he starts getting headaches and then he runs in to a feisty, trench-coat-clad brunette at the pharmacy who accidentally makes eye contact with him and suddenly she's standing right in front of him, telling him to forget they ever connected, while she's also simultaneously hurrying out of the store several yards away? And oh god, if he's hallucinating already he really needs a refill of his meds, except the ghost/hallucination is telling him she's real and that he shouldn't trust doctors???

Thankfully, he runs into her again at the pub and manages to bribe her with whisky to explain what's happening and prove that this not-quite-psychic-power she has is actually real and that he has it too. She seems surprised that he hasn't seen any of his clustermates even after a couple of days of being "reborn", so when Hob accidentally visits a pale, black-haired stranger later that day he's excited to get to know this handsome man who must be in his cluster. Except the man accuses Hob of being a spy for an evil organisation that once held him prisoner and claims that it's impossible for them to be clustermates, but then why do they keep visiting each other and why can Hob hear and smell the ocean the man lives by and how come he can suddenly speak Greek?!

Ah, it's so much fun to play around with weird psychic powers and deep intuitive connections between people who maybe shouldn't allow themselves to act on their attraction to each other and Endless family drama ❤️ It's at 38k words so far and boy oh boy is there more to come. (One-shot fics? I don't know her. Never heard of it. Sounds made up.) You can blame this fic for making sure the other ones on the WIP list will remain there a good while longer, but you can also thank this fic for making me write at all after a bit of a creative slump, so silver lining! I'm really excited about this one. I have no idea if people who aren't already into Sense8 will even choose to read this (though they should, as I've tried to write it soa as to be comprehensible even without prior knowledge), but I do not choose where the inspiration takes me! I guess Calliope just really digs Sense8 at the moment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Snippet under the read more!

“Is there anything else I could help you with today?”

The woman grunted and turned her head to look around the store, as if searching for inspiration. “Suppose I might as well stock up on nicotine pl—” She immediately interrupted herself the moment her gaze fell on Hob, and her eyes widened as they met his.

Realising that it might have been a little rude to listen in on a stranger’s pharmaceutical order just to procrastinate deciding which of the plethora of almost identical painkillers to buy, Hob politely averted his eyes, only to utter a decidedly impolitely loud yelp as he turned his head to find that very same woman suddenly standing right beside him in the pain relief aisle.

Their eyes met again, and she said, “Oh, shite!” and promptly disappeared into thin air.

Head spinning, Hob turned around again in time to see the woman—yes, definitely the same woman with the same brown hair and the same light trench coat that had seen better days—tell the pharmacist, “Never mind,” and turn on her heel to walk towards the exit, looking very much like she was intentionally avoiding looking Hob’s way again.

“The fuck?”, he breathed, then started following her before he could think better of it, raising his voice to call, “Hey, wait!”

She did not slow down or turn her head, and Hob suspected he would have to break into a jog if he was to catch up to her before she left the store. However, he was saved from making a decision on that point by the fact that he suddenly found himself walking right by her side when they should, by all rights, still be in entirely different aisles.

“Wha—” he began, but she interrupted him by abruptly stopping and reaching up to seize him by the front of his shirt.

“Don’t even think about following me!” she hissed with all the intimidation someone at least a head shorter than her opponent could muster—a not inconsiderable amount, considering how the perspective shifted again so that he was once again back in his own aisle, watching one version of the woman reach the door and slipping out of the store while an identical version pressed him up against a shelf of cough syrup.

“I’m…sorry?” was all Hob managed to squeeze out, too baffled to even consider putting his professional experience to use to extricate himself from the woman’s grip. Were hallucinations supposed to be able to touch you?

“You look familiar. Have you been shadowing me while on blockers?”

Now that she said it, Hob realised she looked vaguely familiar too, but the question as to where he might have seen her before felt much less important in that moment than the one at the top of his mind, namely, “What the bloody hell is happening? Blockers— Who are you? How did you do that? Are you…real?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not— You actually don’t know, do you? Aren’t you a bit old to be a newborn?”

“What?”

From the direction of the counter, Hob heard the pharmacist ask, “Sir, are you feeling all right?”

He looked over at her, then down at his assailant, then back again. The pharmacist showed no signs whatsoever of either seeing or hearing anyone other than Hob himself. “I…think I really need to talk to my GP.”

“Do you need me to call someone?” she asked, at the same time as the other woman—hallucination?—said, “Don’t. No doctors. The regular ones will have you institutionalised, and the ones in the know can’t be trusted yet.”

“Trusted—?”

“Look, mate, I’m gonna leave you with this advice: the headaches will pass soon; you’re not crazy; don’t talk to outsiders or doctors; and find someone discreet to get you blockers. They’re good to have at hand, though they’ll be expensive if people will have to resort to synthesising the main component themselves for the foreseeable future. Oh, and never visit me ever again!” This last piece of advice was delivered with a pointed shove that rattled the contents of the shelves at Hob’s back, then the woman disappeared again, as if she’d never been there at all.

“Sir? Do you need someone to escort you home, or to a hospital?”

Hob blinked and closed his gaping mouth. With some effort, he composed himself enough to say, “No, I…I can manage.” He passed a subtly trembling hand over his eyes and cleared his throat. “Just tell me one thing?”

“Of course,” replied the pharmacist, still sporting a concerned frown.

“Is it safe to combine ibuprofen with Anadin Extra, or will that fuck up my stomach?”

#personal #ask games #tag games #wip game #snippets #my writing

[josephseedismyfather]

[WIP] Music (it's not) Monday (anymore)

I was tagged by @simplegenius042, @inafieldofdaisies, and @g0dspeeed for this week's post. Apologies for the delay!

Afflicted.

One big lie One big lie One stupid lie

I'm sorry for the way I treated you I'm stuck in my ways to just run In the opposite way when things get comfortable I'll keep on licking till your flavor is gone

But It's getting more impossible To keep a straight face And be trusted with I love you (one big lie) Yes, I love you

So don't trust my words when I'm in the bed with you I'll bring the message, but the message gets lost Yeah you opened your legs and baby And maybe I promised you Well you didn't notice that my ankles were crossed

But It's getting more impossible To keep a straight face And be trusted with I love you (one big lie)

Can you show me how to treat someone? I don't recall ever learning how 'Cause I keep fuckin' up Yeah cos I keep fuckin' up I keep fuckin' up

Parenesis.

Complicate this world you wrapped for me I'm acquainted with your suffering

And all your weight It falls on me, it brings me down And all your weight It falls on me, it falls on me

Hold me up to all whom you've deceived Promises you break you still believe

Untitled(shared) Johnny WIP.

So slide over here and give me a moment Your moves are so raw, I've got to let you know I've got to let you know You're one of my kind

I need you tonight 'Cause I'm not sleepin' There's somethin' about you, girl That makes me sweat

So how do you feel? I'm lonely What do you think? Can't think at all What you gonna do? Gonna live my life How do you feel? I'm lonely What do you think? Can't think at all What you gonna do? Gonna live my life

So slide over here and give me a moment Your moves are so raw, I've got to let you know I've got to let you know So slide over here and give me a moment I've got to let you know, I've got to let you know You're one of my kind

Tagging, with apologies for doubles and no pressure:

@wrathfulrook, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @trench-rot, @ladyoriza, @cassietrn

@redreart, @hotmessteaparty, @voidbuggg, @insanityofvaas, @malefiquinn

@strangefable, @noodlecupcakes, @chazz-anova, @aristomal, @ocdemon-747

@evilvvithin, @carlosoliveiraa, @la-grosse-patate, @omen-speaker, @grimmylover7

and anybody else who wants to share. Tag me! 😘

Opt-in/out of tag list here.

#music monday #harley x jacob #evangeline x joseph #austin x john #far cry 5 wip #wip playlist #music tag games #spotify #tagged 🖤 #Spotify

[humanpurposes]

Thanks @targaryenrealnessdarling and @emilykaldwen for tagging me <3

1. How many works do you have on ao3(or masterlist)? 16 on AO3, but I also have two Christmas oneshots that aren't on there, so 18 I guess.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 269,227

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly House of the Dragon, occasionally the Ewanverse.

4. Top five fics by kudos Karma is a God, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Come So Close That I Might See, Hysteria, Sour Switchblade.

5. Do you respond to comments? Usually! I like responding to comments, but sometimes it slips my mind.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? My Tom Bennett mini series, Just For a Moment 🥲

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Mine All Mine, my Michael Gavey oneshot.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I wouldn't say it's "hate" but I've gotten some weird comments from people who hate Aemond, but like... you're reading an Aemond fic, what did you expect?

9. Do you write smut? If it ain't got smut it wasn't me (tearing my hair out every time I write it).

10. Craziest crossover? Still not over my vision of Aemond as Dream of the Endless.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I wouldn't say outright stolen. If I had a nickel for every time someone who went out of their way to distance themselves from me then ended up writing something quite similar to one of my fics, I'd have two nickels.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? @targaryenrealnessdarling @bottlesandbarricades 😐

14. All time favorite ship? All time?? I have loads idk, I'll always love Zutara. In HotD, Alysmond.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I was thinking about From Eden, my Osferth series recently. I feel like I should get back to that... eventually.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, character, I think I'm quite good at descriptions. And plot too, I think I have a good idea of the "big picture".

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Starting too many series and then taking months to update them. Overwhelming myself with specifics of a chapter plan. Putting off writing because I know it's not going to be perfect first try.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? Yeah it's fun to have the odd bit of High Valyrian in my fics, but I worry about the translations and I'm not qualified enough to include more than a few lines.

19. First fandom you wrote in? That I published, HotD

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Noooo don't make me choose between my children- Karma is a God. Me and her been through the trenches together <3

No pressure tags: @randomdragonfires @inthedayswhenlandswerefew @the-heartlines @theoneeyedprince @barbieaemond @marthawrites and anyone else who wants to do it!

#tag games

[vampireninjabunnies-blog]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @socially-awkward-skeleton @inafieldofdaisies @josephseedismyfather @direwombat @kyber-infinitygems @g0dspeeed @wrathfulrook

Tagging @blindmagdalena @trench-rot @river-ward @poisonedtruth @voidika @aceghosts @v0idbuggy @strangefable and anyone else who would like to share. Something different this time. Not FC5 related. Thought I'd give another fic/ship/OC some attention.

On A Whim

He wasn't sure why he did it. He'd heard her scream echoing in the night as he flew above the city and had swooped down to her rescue on a whim. It didn't make sense. There were no cameras, no one would ever know he'd done it. Saved this tiny delicate woman from being assaulted in a dark alley.

Of course the lack of cameras meant no one would ever know he'd killed her attackers either. Which was probably for the best. Landing softly on the balcony he made his way into his penthouse.

Glancing at himself in the mirror as he walked past, trying to ignore the mocking look of derision on the face he saw reflected back. Both his face and not at the same time. Taunting him, questioning why he'd bothered to save her.

It's not like she was even all that pretty. Sure she was pretty enough, her skin a nice coppery tone, but her face was a little round, her hair a mousy dull brown. Too small and skinny, no real curves. Certainly nowhere near as pretty as Maeve. So why couldn't he get her out of his head.

What the hell was wrong with her anyway. She'd watched him laser her attackers basically in half and nothing. Not one ounce of fear from her toward him. Caution yes but not fear. The way someone might respond to a large dog they don't know.

He ran his fingers through his short blonde strands, plopped down on the couch. His mind still fixating on her, on the way her emerald gaze never left his, even when they glowed crimson as he briefly considered killing her too. No one to tell anyone that he'd behaved in a way that would reflect poorly on Vought. No one to potentially add fuel to Butcher's fire.

Her heart had been racing when he first swooped down, but it had slowed. Completely calm as she stared at him. Before finally smiling at him. Thanking him. No adoration or fear. Just a simple thank you. That she might've given to anyone who interfered. Like he was just...a person. It was frustrating and confusing to think about.

This was ridiculous! Who cares if she wasn't afraid? Or why he bothered? He was Homelander. He could whatever the fuck he wanted. Whether it made sense or not. And it was stupid to dwell on it, even if the incident had been...odd. He refused to dwell on it. He had more important things to think about. He was not going to fixate on this woman. This completely average, ordinary woman. Even if she did have really pretty eyes.

Whispering softly to himself.

"She really did have pretty eyes."

#oc: lori allen #homelander #homelander x oc #something different for wip Wednesday #wip wednesday #lorixhomelander #no ship name yet #untitled fic

[direwombat]

tagged by @inafieldofdaisies and @socially-awkward-skeleton to share some wip

Tagging: @adelaidedrubman @detectivelokis , @sstewyhosseini, @strafethesesinners , @strangefable , @fourlittleseedlings  , @purplehairsecretlair  , @schoute  , @gaeadene  , @g0dspeeed  , @sukoshimikan  , @poetikat  , @josephslittledeputy  , @madparadoxum  , @euryalex, @clonesupport , @ivymarquis , @nightwingshero  , @deputyash  , @harmonyowl  , @aceghosts  , @inquisitors-grave , @trench-rot , @river-ward , @confidentandgood , @vampireninjabunnies-blog, @voidika, @jacobsneed, @cassietrn, @neverthesameneveranother and anyone else who i maybe missed and who has something to share (but no pressure <3)

so sorry for all the abo fic recently, i know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but here's a non-smutty bit of syb being forced to run the trials despite her...condition...

Sybille awakens in the Red Place, standing outside of the Veterans Center. The same song as before — one she’d always found sweet and romantic (and maybe still does) — warbles hauntingly all around her. It echoes and bounces off the brick edifice, making her bones thrum and pulse quicken. The air is already tinged sweet and metallic with blood. 

Blood that stains her shirt and smears across her skin, dripping to the ground along with her slick. In her hand is a pistol, and all around her lay the dead bodies of those who fell at her hand. 

Last time, this was where her trials ended. But apparently she isn’t done just yet. There’s one more person she needs to find. 

“Come back to me, sweetheart,” he says, his voice rumbling like thunder from the sky, beckoning her home. “Your Alpha’s waiting.”

She lurches forwards, drawn inside by an invisible string. Her Alpha’s in there. He’s calling to her. A bone aching emptiness guts her to her core, a bone aching emptiness that will only be filled when she’s finally wrapped in his arms and his knot is inside her. 

Her trials aren’t done. There’s one last leg to go. 

And at the end of it she’ll have proven herself. Proven herself to be a strong Omega. One worthy of being mated by a strong Alpha. 

She enters the building, its hallways twist and wind in a labyrinthine manner. Floating staircases and impossible spaces where the paths should intersect with one another, but they never do. Faceless figures lunge at her, and each time they do, she puts them down with brutal efficiency. Two bullets to the head and they drop like flies. 

“Good. Cull the herd.”

But as she climbs flight after flight of stairs, everything gets darker. Jacob’s scent thickens and her surroundings begin to distort. The reds get deeper and the shadows stretch ominously, turning into an inky void that she toes around lest she fall straight into them. The halls stretch out in front of her, and no matter how fast she runs, she just feels like she’s trapped in the same spot. 

She runs, twisting and turning, calling for Jacob until her lungs go raw. But she gets no answer. Tears prick at her eyes but she blinks them away. No. She’s better than that. Stronger than that. This is a test. A challenge. She needs to prove how badly she needs him and only him.

The realization hits her at the exact same moment a pair of arms grapples her from behind. They’re large and strong, but they’re utterly wrong. They squeeze her tight, a deep growl rumbling in the chest pressed up against her back. She snarls in response, kicking and throwing her head back, trying to break free. The back of her skull makes contact with her attacker’s nose and they release her as they stumble back. She whips around and fires two shots. 

Earl Whitehorse — the most mild-tempered Alpha she’s ever met — falls to the ground. 

“Good,” Jacob says. “Again.”

She opens her mouth to scream, but before she can, she’s hit with another wave of Alpha scent. It’s wholly unfamiliar; she can’t identify who it belongs to, but as she stumbles away from the corpse of her boss, she catches movement out of the corner of her eye. Another figure emerges from around the corner, and just like before, she lifts her pistol and fires. 

This time, she doesn’t look to see who she’s killed.

“Excellent. Keep going.”

She guns down Alpha after Alpha as she frantically runs through the moving halls of the Veterans Center. Her heart races in her chest, ducking for cover and picking up ammo where she finds it. 

Joey. Burke. Tammy. Tracey. And more she doesn’t know but recognizes from around the county. They all charge towards her, their arms open wide to pin her down and claim her. And one by one, she puts each of them down. 

They can’t have her. She doesn’t want them. The only one she does want is the one she can’t quite seem to find.

“Almost there, honey. You can do it.”

#wip wednesday #wip: the abo fic #aiming to get this done by the weekend so i can stop bothering y'all with it #and get back to nonsmut fic #sorry yall

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I have been tagged by @timetravelbypen, yayyyy!! :D

1. How many works do you have on AO3?:

53

2. What's your total AO3 word count?:

1,521,662

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Sailor Moon, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Prodigy, And one Harry Potter story, the xover.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Parent Trap (301)

Sailor Moon H: Order of the Phoenix (283)

Sailor Moon H: Half-Blood Prince (217)

Out of Reach (currently taken down) (150)

Eden's Deception (149)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to respond to comments. I especially love when people have questions or want hints about what comes next.

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

HAHAHAHAHA oh boy. Um... you... you want me to choose just one? hmmm... Alright so honestly I think while Afterimage and What Even is Three Minutes did numbers on the J/C crowd, nothing tops the cliffhangers at the end of Sailor Moon H: Half-Blood Prince in terms of how much angst they induced in readers. The double whammy: (1) the youngest senshi getting turned into a horcrux and taken hostage by Bellatrix Lestrange and (2) Morgana Avery, the OC whom I had carefully crafted to be a character you loved burning up her boyfriend's shop with dark magic and then casting the Dark Mark in order to infiltrate the death eaters as an undercover spy... My betas and I were taking bets on whether I'd get readers coming after me with pitch forks for that one.

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

There's a few contenders but I don't think any happiness quite compares to Captain Kathryn Janeway in The Captain's Secret Santa, getting a puppy for Christmas.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

A smattering of memorable flames which I try to save to reflect back on when I need a good laugh.

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

*opens trench coat* Smut you say? Well gosh golly gee. What in the blazes could that be? SMUT. Funny word. Hmmm. I'm not sure I know anything about that.

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

I have written exactly two. Sailor Delta is on hold for the moment because the other one Sailor Moon H has one story to go. And i think if there were an award for craziest crossover I would submit that one and have a good chance to be in the running. It would win on craziest word count and probably on shenanigans too. And then it had the nerve to give itself a real plot. I started that as a crack fic and it got a mind of its own. And I am still writing it 8 years later XD.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I had all of my unlocked works on AO3 gobbled up by the initial crawl that Open AI used to build Chat GPT and that SUCKED. Not because it's been reproduced wholesale but because they'll use my hard work to make millions of dollars and all of the writers who were included in that dataset are both uncredited and uncompensated. I don't think I've ever had a fic stolen by another human. But if you do see what looks like my fic anywhere fishy, kindly let me know!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No one has but I would be open to it!

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

I've co-written a few!

One for a challenge with @magdalenejaneway,

one with Dawn47 when I was there as a Shakespeare assist.

memorable live-writing adventures with @trekflower. (one of my favorite people to write sexy fic with.)

And the longest one, which I am still so impressed we finished (and still one of my favorite things to reread) was the big Threshold AU Season 7 with @jellybeansarecool

I've talked about cowriting with @theredheadedcaptain but we both agreed that given our penchant for massively long fics that combining both of those tendencies was a very dangerously large project to contemplate XD

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

J/C is very near and dear to my heart but so is the Outer Senshi OT3 and I could never choose between them.

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

I am determined to finish all of my WIPs. Yes even SMH. Yes I know its been going on for 8 years. I am SLOW, okay. SLOW. Not lost. I know precisely how I want that thing to go.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't like tooting my own horn but okay... I feel confident in my ability to plot a long fic and see it through. In my ability to write something that brings you to your knees with emotion. And I do a damn good villain speech.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Time management. Word Count management. Oneshots.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Depends if it's there to be understood in context or there to stand out as not understood. I'd write dialogue in another language if it was there to be understood. I'd gloss over it if the intention was that the character and reader shouldnt understand it. I also wouldnt do it for whole lines of dialogue unless it was for a very good reason. Would prefer to throw in only the untranslateable words or to use greetings/honorifics and other smaller phrasal cues to indicate which language is being spoken.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

W.I.T.C.H. in 2009-2010

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Two:

I fell in love with writing The Universe to Mend this year and I've already re-read it once since finishing it in October. It brought me so much joy. It was such a fun challenge. and I think it was some of the best character work I've ever done.

While I wince when I re-read some of the typos, Pax Lunae was still the first ever story that I felt proud of and that remains true today. It was a challenge to dive into the lore of Sailor Moon and create something that could be canon. It was also the first fic I could hold up and say "Hey! I wrote something the length of a novel. I could write a novel" And I like to reread it to remember that feeling. Someday I'll have a chance to clean up some of the spelling too..

Alrighty let's see. I want to tag @theredheadedcaptain @divinemissem13 @jellybeansarecool and @curator-on-ao3 if they'd like to take a crack at it. and anyone else who follows me and wants to - go for it!.

#that writing life #elephantwrites #fanfiction #writing

[adelaidedrubman]

wip weekend!

i was tagged today by @inafieldofdaisies and over the week by @unholymilf @wrathfulrook @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat to share a wip! fresh tags out to everyone it’s been a minute for and also to @unholymilf @florbelles @henbased @derelictheretic @ishwaris @confidentandgood @a-far-cry-from-my-main @shallow-gravy @corvosattano @voidika @purplehairsecretlair @jackiesarch @nuclearstorms @trench-rot @deputyash @sukoshimikan aaaand open “brain empty” @

wildfire chapter 18 very slowly in the works. an excerpt of “how to win friends and convince people you’re sane” by jestiny rook. warnings for bliss stuff and run on sentences

She would pace the halls, she would passionately implore there was a reason being locked in Jail made people crazy, she would drag her nails along the coarse and chipped surface of concrete and proclaim she was going to start ripping off the wallpaper to free the women trapped beneath it — then she would laugh and lock eyes with Tracey, note aloud that that had been a reference, and she knew it was acrylic paint caked onto concrete, not wallpaper, because she did still have her senses, but there was an important lesson in that story, nonetheless. 

She would wait for Whitehorse to uselessly poke his head around the corner in a poor mimicry of a patrol, listen to him ask in a weak, under his breath grumble why his rookie hadn’t been given whatever sedatives the Marshal had been, hear Tracey answer that she did get sedatives, it was Burke who was coming out sober — and Jestiny would cut in that was all the more evidence she was fine and should get back out there, and she was long past being ‘his rookie’ and he should mind his own business, unless it was to tell Tracey that she should be let back on duty, at which point he would declare it was, in fact, none of his business. 

She would gripe that Burke’s shitty singing was driving her nuts. She would not mention that his off-key humming would occasionally gain a soft accompanying harmony that wasn’t him. She would warn Tracey of the perils of the strange new faces showing up in the crowd of the Jail’s inhabitants. She would not tell her that sometimes the faces would morph into more familiar shapes, people she recognized but who shouldn’t be there, or even alive. She would complain about her poor sleep. She would not mention the things that waited for her when she woke. 

And, on days like today, she would announce that she was getting back in the action whether Tracey liked it or not. Tracey would protest, and Jessie would insist it would be fine, she would at least not go alone, as a compromise, then fish out a radio and stretch the frayed and worn scraps of her memories to weave into a solid enough tapestry by which to divine which allies it would be reasonable enough to call on what terms. She would not mention that in the back of her mind she clung to a wisp of hope that she would find the chance to part from them and return to the site of Joseph Seed’s statue to finally destroy it for good.

She would certainly not tell Tracey that sometimes when she peered out from the watchtower, the right flicker of light and cloud cover would make the towering image of Joseph Seed appear as solid and unblemished as ever. She would not tell her that she remained convinced she hadn’t destroyed it, or at least hadn’t destroyed enough of it — that there must still be too much rubble still clinging to the scaffolding of the structure, like flesh not fully picked from bone, and if she could just blast the last of it away it would destroy the entire mirage, and that she knew Tracey had only tried to convince her otherwise in the first place to spare her feelings about doing such a mediocre job. 

She would not say any of that, because she still had enough of her mind left to know when something sounded crazy.

#something something stylistic days running together whatever #wip

[saltsanford]

20 questions

tagged by @gaeasun - thank you friend!

How many works do you have on AO3? 36

What’s your total AO3 word count? 880,000

What fandoms do you write for? currently just star wars – can def see myself writing more cobra kai if this next season fucks

What are your top five fics by kudos? put my guns in the ground (2,726) the long road back to good (1,182) enough enough (1,143) let the river in (1,096) sleep and where to find it (758) all rvb except river. nothing will ever top guns in terms of kudos, but river is creeping up there which makes me happy bc my writing has improved a LOT since writing all the others on this list and river is by far the strongest of these five

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? YES almost always, one because I want people to know I appreciate them even if I’m just saying thank you over and over, and two because I’ve met literally all of my closest fandom friends by us acting unhinged in each others’ comments

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the long way down is pretty damn depressing all the way through. i wrote most of that fic with a blanket over my head (idk it made sense at the time, i was trying to Cope)

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? hmmm laughter lines was super fluffy, I love the happy “reveal” at the end of that one

Do you get hate on fics? idk if hate is really the right term, if i write something and put it out there people are free to say what they like about it but. yes lol (not SW to clarify, i mean it's absolutely possible that it's out there but i don't go looking)

Do you write smut? If so what kind? I have in the past, but not currently, and it’s not something I plan to do again but who knows

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? no, and I don’t usually read them either. not my thing

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have had large chunks of my fics flat-out pasted into other fics before which like. come on. they took them down immediately though when i asked

Have you ever had a fic translated? never

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? YES!!! enough enough with my old friend egg <3. It was SO much fun. I have done this privately with others too and it is one of my favorite things. finding people you vibe with creatively is WONDERFUL

What’s your all-time favourite ship? still gotta give it to wash and tucker from rvb

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have a pretty in-depth FMAB WIP (not posted) covering that missing moment after baschool, that has a lot written – but I doubt that’ll ever actually be completed

What are your writing strengths? dialogue. I’ve had several comments saying that if I removed the dialogue tags, they’d still know who was talking and idk if there’s a better compliment than that honestly. also just...actually writing i guess? i have a rock-solid routine that usually allows me to get in 1000 words/6 days a week.

What are your writing weaknesses? like…an actual plot. my fics are really just 300 hurt comfort tropes in a trench coat and I’m fully aware of that

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I don’t speak another language, so the most I’ve done is use the English to Spanish translator for lopez-the-robot’s lines in some rvb fic. it was bad

First fandom you wrote for? lord of the rings! I still have the notebook I carried around everywhere in 8th grade. there’s literally a comment section in the back because I would pass that shit around to all my friends to read

Favorite fic you’ve ever written? okay this might be because it’s my most recent fic but I really love we are a woven strand, find the thread. I love all my OCs, I love the lore I built up for the CMOs, I love how I threaded it all together. It feels like the most original thing I’ve ever written

if you feel like it: @secretlystephaniebrown @comefeedtherainn @calamity-aims @usaonetwothree <3 <3

#answered #i know i don't always respond to things i'm tagged in #sometimes i'm just lazy or busy #but it's fun to play when i'm in the mood so thank you! #my txt

[ventiswampwater]

find the word wip game

rules: search your wip(s) for the words given to you and share a sentence, then assign words for the people you tag

@visceravalentines MEG TYSM FOR THIS TAG this was so SO fckn fun. what an electric concept!! I shared more than a sentence for each bc I'm a fiend

my words were mouth, fall, dirt, teeth, and open!! cracking my knuckles like wooooooooo let's GOOOO

MOUTH;

from sacramentum (midnight mass // father paul hill x reader)

What happened to Mary in that cave? Alone, having stripped herself of all other pleasures—nothing but her thoughts and the one book she’d allowed herself. Wandering the seaside and building crucifixes out of sticks and roots, tied together by some stray fishing line. Had she looked down on his face, whittled crudely out of stone, and wished for steadier hands to carve his likeness? How many times had she woken with the sound of the sea in her ears? Perched by the mouth of the cave, watching the sky turn from gray to blue to gold to black?

Did she ever see ships on the horizon? What did she think of them? Had she ever thought of flagging one down? And what was the punishment she’d given herself for that?

When did you stop feeling hungry? You couldn’t survive on tears alone.

FALL;

from dancing in the moonlight (an american werewolf in london // david kessler & jack goodman x reader)

“We could’ve gotten frostbite.” Jack mutters.

“In the worst case scenario, yes, I suppose.” David replies, helping himself to a bagel.

“We almost got trench foot.”

“We did not!” David exclaims, laughing.

“That’s why I said almost, poindexter.” Jack counters. “One more night of wet socks and my toes would’ve fallen off. One by one—” He flicks his index finger three times, making a popping noise with his lips. “And it would’ve been all your fault. Good luck explaining that to my mother when we get back in the states. Oh, sorry Mrs. Goodman, I had Jack trekking through miles upon miles of soggy moorland and now he’s toeless. Those socks you knit him, forget about it. Maybe give it ‘til next Hanukkah and he’ll regrow his toes—oh, wait…”

“You’re ridiculous.” David shakes his head.

“Oh yeah? I’ll remember that when I’m decomposing next to you. Toes gone. Rotting.” Picking up the tongs, Jack wavers above the platter of croissants. “Sure you’ll find me real funny then, you schmuck.”

DIRT;

from sometime after midnight (house of wax // bojangles sinclair x reader)

The dull blue glow from the keypad barely illuminates the ground, but you can make out the unmistakable sign of cherry red fluid leaking onto the dirt. A steady trickle of it drips from the underside of the car—and it's not stopping anytime soon.

Your transmission is fucked.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” You exclaim.

TEETH;

from serotonin (house of wax // carly jones x reader)

She pictures her tank top, bloody and tattered, stuffed into a plastic bag labeled with EVIDENCE in bold letters. The prosecutor clicks to the next projection slide and there she is, another picture.

“Who are the women in the photographs? Are they still alive? It’s difficult." The detective on the screen grimaces. "We only have remnants of them. We’ve found teeth…clothes. The trophies they kept of these women will hopefully lead us to discovering their identities. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. But they deserve to have their names given back to them.”

“Carly?”

OPEN;

from a handful of bluebonnets (tcm // thomas hewitt x reader)

He’d been young. Young enough to still show his face, but old enough to know that it was the reason people were staring. He didn’t remember much from that day, just open-mouthed stares and the cow at the county fair with big watery eyes. Black, shining irises eclipsing the thin white sclera, framed with long lashes. She was a regal old thing, standing with her neck held high, ears twitching.

He thought he saw her again once, years later.

Her coat was duller, her head dropping. She’d traded her blue ribbons for slippery red blood, splattered along the wall and running down the grate. You use up all your usefulness on pride and this is where you’re bound to end up.

Maybe she’d been the first one. Spoiled with the heartbreak of a life that never came to be.

tagging @possumteeths, @f1nalboys, @pretty-possum, and aaaaaaa I'm blanking on who else might have wips fdjshjhfdsjhsdf

so!! whoever else wants to do this!!! pls consider urself tagged!!

your words are blood, eyes, sleep, skin, & break 👀👀👀

#this is such a cool idea!! luv it #:) #sam speaks #my writing

[haloburns]

in the shadow of your heart for wip wednesday!

The bridge was bustling with activity once Mateo emerged from the depths of the ship. Around him, officers and sailors were shouting jargon he didn’t understand across the bridge. “Rig ship for dive!” “Aye, sir! Rig ship for dive!” Mateo ducked around a couple of sailors running for the opposite end of the bridge, watching in wide-eyed amazement as dials and switches were flipped in unison, more shouts overlapping as the beginnings of the dive began. From his place at the top of the bridge, Special Agent O called down, “Lieutenant, take her down!” “Diving officer, submerge the ship. Make the depth 1-0-8-5-0 meters,” Operative K shouted above the noise. A shiver ran down Mateo’s back. They were headed almost eleven thousand meters down. No humans had ever made it that far before, let alone a crew with a ship this size… Uncharted territory, and he was at the head of it. “Make the depth 1-0-8-5-0 meters,” the diving officer echoed, spinning a dial before jamming the intercom button to demand, “Dive, dive! Five degrees down bubble.” A call for, “Take us down!” went up across the bridge. There was a loud ka-chunk as the submarine was released from its hooks. The bottom of the ship opened with a pneumatic hiss. Then they were free falling. Mateo grabbed onto the railing to keep from toppling off the bridge as the submarine smacked into the water. He stayed at the front of the ship and clung to the railing as they began as their descent, smiling at Jack Fenton merrily waving them off through the orange glass that covered the bridge. Dark water lapped at the edges of the ship, and Mateo forced himself to take a deep breath as his knuckles tightened on the rail. He watched Mr Fenton wave until he disappeared beneath the black. Once they were submerged, large, orange lights clicked on, though they did nothing to penetrate the endless void surrounding them. Mateo couldn’t help but shudder even as a grin spread across his face. He was actually doing it! They were on their way to find the only remaining portal to the Ghost Zone! Giddiness was quickly subdued by the same gently-accented voice coming on over the intercom. “Attention, crew. Tonight's supper will be baked beans. Musical program to follow…” There was a heavy sigh, and then his voice dimmed like he turned away from the mic to call out, “Who wrote this?! Who’s performing?! You can’t just—” The intercom cut out with a round of laughter.

fun fact: i have thalassaphobia, which means doing research for and writing just this itty bitty scene made me want to vomit! they're heading down into marianas trench bc i hate myself

luke is the communications director here, and you KNOW he's smacking dan violently with a rolled up newspaper for throwing the performance on there. it was going to be a drag performance starring emrys, but luke just HAAAAD to ruin it

#ecto writes #ecto fics #ghost light au #in the shadow of your heart #atlantis au #ghost light atlantis au #danny phantom

[allaganexarch]

Oh no these asks are GREAT I want to ask like ten of them ummmmmmmm having Restraint: 3 (vibe check) 4 ( 👀 ) 17 (especially curious abt your editing process?? I am so greedy for your tradecraft secrets) aaaaand 19 (I recently researched….. doormats. that made me feel very sane about my choices please tell me about yours)

GOOD EVENING i have finally returned to what is truly important, my tumblr ask box.

3. how you feel about your current WIP

JNSDKJFSDKNJ NOT THE VIBE CHECK but you know, I had a smol breakthrough like two? nights ago that i have yet to actually follow up on LOL. I had this transition section where i was like i need to impart some Vibes and some Character Arc but i'm literally boring myself rn, and I think I have figured out in a vague sense how to make the transition do a lot more work for me, so that's good!

In general I'm extremely excited about some Major Points of the thing, just currently have to do an inordinate amount of sowing seeds for those major points in a way that's like subtle enough that I'm not hitting the reader over the head but also exists enough that the careful reader will pick up on it you feel?

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

Side note before I even start answering...sometimes I think about how many of my """"""story ideas""""""""""" are just glorified weather metaphors. I am genuinely not sure what happened in my brain to make me like this. What has the weather EVER done to me.

Uhm so anyway since I'm thinking about Stormchaser, definitely a story idea and not just a weather metaphor in a trench coat, why don't I tell you a little bit about my characters because I'm very normal about them.

The first person [main character we are tentatively naming Emily] meets in the city is Nolan, who owns a small bar and restaurant that she won in a messy divorce. She puts on an act of tough-and-wry-and-world-weary, but she's very soft-hearted and has a bit of a savior complex, a bit of that 'i don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else' vibe.

She has taken in Asher and Aislynn, siblings from a prominent and wealthy family who have had a [very mysterious] falling out with their parents and are thus in need of a place to stay. Asher is guarded and protective, while Aislynn is very open and warm. People often perceive her as naive, but Aislynn actively chooses to see the best in others.

Aislynn has magic, which is the source of many of her problems. (This is like kind of a reveal but the foreshadowing is painfully obvious LOL) Back when I was thinking about Stormchaser as a multi-path story, one major decision point was going to be, in a moment where the player character is hurt (not gravely, but still not in great shape), choosing whether to allow Aislynn to use magic to heal her. It would have a huge impact on the MC's relationships with most of the other major characters, since most of them have very strong opinions either about magic or about Aislynn herself. Aislynn is also the reason I ended up wanting to write the story--I had an overarching idea for the plot, but I got soooo attached to her so quickly!

17. talk about your writing and editing process

as we all know my writing process is just getting possessed by some sort of weather-related entity and then not sleeping until well after the sun has risen, so I think that's pretty clear and doesn't raise any sort of questions or concerns.

if no weather entity possession, my strategy has become "just force yourself to write the painful and clunky sentences at the speed of molasses and then look at it again tomorrow" -- because most of the time the next day I can fix what was clunky really easily bc I made space in my brain by getting the ideas down, and sometimes, extra special treat, I reread what I wrote and it's literally not even bad I was just in a mood LOL.

I feel like a very large percentage of my editing is just being extremely insane about word choice. Sometimes I go back and forth on word choice/word order/very very minor sentence structure things literally long after the thing is published and I am trying to tell myself to let it go. But tbh I don't really have a process for this, it's just what jumps out at me when I reread it as being awkward or not quite what I was going for. I'm probably like this because I used to be such an insufferable snob (used to be!!!!) and needlessly chose so many ten dollar words that I think I have a better-than-average sense of when simpler language is better vs. when you need a more complex word to describe the thing. So it sort of depends on the character whether I do a lot of deleting or adding of extra fluff and filler words LOL.

I'm alllll about limited POV and creating a headspace/thought pattern for characters, so I do a lot of thinking about what the specific character knows, how the specific character would express something, or whether she even has the language for what she's experiencing. I really love finding ways of conveying an emotion that the reader will recognize but the character doesn't!!

On a more macro scale I think I do a lot of, like, "this section is boring me. why?" In a story you really don't want anything that's doing nothing, and you definitely don't want a whole section that's not doing much. Sometimes because I try to make my dialogue as natural as possible the conversation starts to kind of wander LOL, and so I have to be like okay hold up what are we talking about what needs to be established here. And then usually jump back a bit and figure out how to lead the conversation in a more pointed direction.

And a lot of the time idk how much transitional stuff to include, so I'll be off on some rambling journey like uhmmmm do I need this??? when do we get to the fun part???? Which, like, not to say the fun part will be easier to write or anything, but a lot of time that feeling of boredom is bc what I'm doing either isn't necessary and can be accomplished in a way that's more fun for me personally OR it's fine it just needs to be pulling a lot more weight in what it's telling the reader. I find I sometimes get caught up in, like, a story beat that would "make sense here" as opposed to a story beat I personally like.

Like, as an example, I've been thinking (for soooo long yes i know) about how to continue the chance you take, and I remember I put in my notes that like a sparring scene would make sense, where you know it's all a metaphor and there's some quippy dialogue or w/e. And ik a lot of people like that kind of scene! And idk, sometimes I do too! But like........I don't want to do that lol! And in fact I think it doesn't actually fit with the vibe of the story, which is so much less about the violence surrounding it and so much more about the quiet moments in between. But I'm literally just thinking this now as I'm typing this. Like I didn't have a good reason for why I didn't want to progress the story that way until literally right now.

Which I guess leads me to another very important editing tool: pacing my kitchen like a crazy person explaining the problem I'm having to myself so I can try to talk through why it's bothering me LOL! as you can see it's extremely efficient and time-sensitive. six to ten business days turnaround for sure.

19. the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

chickens :)

I'm genuinely drawing a blank LOL, I've definitely looked into a few things I can vividly remember (boats/ships and how crews and shifts work for TCYT, horse riding/cart pulling for scorched earth, how animal testing works for uhmmm that one moicy fic, oh and I remember i looked a lot into bird symbolism for the prisoner LOL) but I think mostly what I do is intensely study the source material, and I haven't run into that many situations where I felt like I needed to make sure I knew about something in the actual world and not the fictional one LOL! Wow I'm boring! I want to know about doormats!!!!!

fic writer asks!

#the tumblr post editor has caused me so many newly discovered stages of grief i stg #exciting tag for answered asks #exciting tag for writing things #personal #tumblr editor leave my read more where i put it challenge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #put that thing back where it came from or so help me!!!!!!!!!!

[melon-wing]

15 Dates [Grian/Doc]

Warning: This is a discontinued and mostly unedited story.  If you still wanna read - just for fun - go ahead, but be aware that there most likely won’t be more. I’m just dumping all the WIP I’ll never finish for those interested. [Click here for my non-abandoned stories] ~*~ “He’s just so serious, you know? I bet all he thinks about is science and redstone. There is no place for romance in his life”, Iskall grumbled as he took another drink of his beer. They were just celebrating the opening of Sahara. Most of their friends had come to the party, but after an hour or so Doc had left, taking a slightly buzzed Scar right out of Iskall’s hand to go work at Area 77 with him.

“Every time – I tell you – every time I think I’m getting somewhere with Scar he is there and interrupts us with some important Alien stuff. And no offence, Grian, but the whole hippie thing made it even worse. He is constantly on edge.”

Grian just shrugged and took a small sip of his fruity cocktail. “None taken. I won’t stop the ‘Hippie thing’ though if that is what you want.”

“No, don’t worry. I just…” Iskall made an exasperated sound “It is so frustrating. If it weren’t for Doc I bet me and Scar would already be dating, you know?”

Grian just nodded. Once Iskall got into one of his rants it was better to just listen and not to try and stop him. He needed to get it out of his system and then they would be good for maybe another hour before it started all over again.

“I’m telling you if Doc just got laid, he’d be less of an annoyance. But that is just wishful thinking. I’d bet all my diamonds that he’ll never find a date. Not happening.”

Grian perked up at that. Well that was something new wasn’t it? A calculating grin appeared on his face, eyes sparkling. “All your diamonds?”

Iskall stopped and looked at him, then shrugged. “Oh for the love of it… Sure. Let’s make a bet. I have about a stack of diamond blocks at the moment. If you manage to get Doc into a relationship they are all yours. But I won’t wager my diamonds for nothing. So let’s say… You got a month. If he isn’t dating by then…”

“I don’t even have that many diamonds, not fair”, Grian interrupted and Iskall sighed in annoyance.

“Well… If he doesn’t have a date by then you’ll have to… I don’t know… Collect a bunch of shulker boxes full of sand and gravel for me that are worth about as much?”

Grian hesitated for a second. Getting that much material would be a lot of work. But those diamond blocks sure sounded nice.

“Or do you think you wouldn’t be able to win the bet?”

Well that was it. He wouldn’t back out of it now and Iskall knew that. Damn his competitiveness.

“I’m in. You’ll see. By the end of the month he’ll have a date and hopefully won’t ever bother you again.”

Grian stretched out his hand and Iskall grabbed it, both grinning, both so sure of their victory.

~

Grian was walking around the campfire in deep thought. He had made the bet with the intention of winning, sure, but he had no idea how he’d get Doc a date. That guy spent most of his time in Area 77 and the only other person in there was Scar. And Scar was off limits if he wanted to stay friends with Iskall.

He needed somebody else. Somebody Doc wouldn’t be able to resist. But who? What was even Doc’s type? Did he like girls or guys? Grian knew far too little about him to start any planning. So he had to gather information first. He needed someone who knew Doc. Someone who could answer him all of his questions. Someone…

“Grian, my man. What’s going on? Are you planning to dig a trench around our campfire with your feet?”

Grian stopped and looked up at Ren who was just landing in the Hippie camp, his Elytra folding behind his back. It was like fate wanted him to win the bet.

“REN! You and Doc are friends, aren’t you?”

Ren looked confused at that question, but nodded slowly. “I’m still loyal to the Hippie movement, don’t you worry.”

Grian hurriedly shook his head. He didn’t want Ren to think he was doubting him. “I just… I need to know some things about Doc. It is very important.”

Ren still looked confused, but he sat down next to the campfire and motioned him to go on.

“Has he ever had a date?”

“What?” Ren laughed a little and raised his eyebrows at Grian. “What kind of question is that?”

“I just… I need to know. I can’t tell you why.”

Ren looked at him, searching for something and then finally answered. “Well he had an on and off relationship with someone back in… god Season 4, I think. They ended it on good terms. He hasn’t been since then.”

Grian nodded and took out a small book, starting to take notes. This only seemed to amuse Ren even more.

“Grian, are you…?”

Grian didn’t let him finish his sentence. He had no time for unnecessary questions. He was a man on a mission. “So is he interested in girls or…?”

“Both, I’d say.”

Grian nodded. That made it a little easier. They had only three girls after all. But it also made the choice for a date harder.

“So you think he’d need someone who is a redstoner like him or do you think he’d be happy with a builder who has now clue about redstone as well.”

Grian looked at Ren in deep thought. Maybe the right candidate was right in front of him. Maybe he needed those two to see that there was more than just friendship going on between them.

Ren smirked at the question. “Yeah, sure. He won’t have a problem with that. It would be good for him to get a break from all the technical talking, you know.”

Well that was all he needed to hear. Those two really would make a perfect match. Now he just needed to get them in the same spot at the same time and prepare some romantic mood. Easy, right?

A few days later Grian had finally managed to get them. It had taken quite a lot of trickery. He had sent Ren off to some location, pretending to meet him there. Then he had dropped a hint to Doc that there was some dangerous Hippie activity going on in the same area. He had set up a picnic blanket in the middle of a flower field just outside of Hermitville, filled with snacks and a bottle of wine. He himself was hiding in some trees nearby just to make sure everything went alright.

He saw Ren arrive and look around in confusion. His communicator blinked, when a message came in, asking where the hell he was. He wrote back, apologising that he would run a little late and that Ren could help himself to something to eat.

He sent the message and saw Ren sitting down with a sigh. Now on to phase two. If his calculations were right Doc should arrive about…

The sound of rockets interrupted his thoughts and in a gust of petals Doc landed next to the blanket, looking at Ren in confusion.

“What the hell are you planning here, Hippie?!”

Ren just shrugged and pointed at the food. “Waiting for Grian to show up. No planning. You need to chill a little, Doc. The whole Area 77 thing is taking its toll on you. You are getting paranoid.”

Doc looked at Ren dubious, but after a few seconds of silence he caved in and sat down on the blanket. “Well… I wouldn’t want this to go to waste. Even if it is from a Hippie.” Ren giggled and patted Doc lightly on the back, handing him a glass and filling it with wine.

Grian grinned from his position in the tree. This was really going well. How lucky that he had found the perfect candidate right away. He had never seen Doc smiling like that now that he thought about it. It was nice. It suited him. Grian absentmindedly wondered why he wasn’t smiling more often. He could have gotten a date long ago if he did.

Watching those two wasn’t really as exciting as Grian had anticipated. There was no blushing, not stuttering or hand holding. He had hoped the romantic setting would bring out feelings both of them had buried. It didn’t. They were enjoying the picnic, but of all the things they used the opportunity to talk about some business deals.

And when they parted after an hour with nothing more than a wave as a goodbye Grian mentally scratched Ren’s name off of the list for possible dating candidates. He should have known that before. Those guys had been friends for so long they would have realised their feelings by now if they had any.

Maybe he needed to try to get an opportunity to talk to Doc and get some information that way. He was sneaky enough to get some information and the next date would be a huge success. ~*~ A/N: So this was to be pretty much what the title says. Grian setting up date after date after date for Doc. In doing so he’s getting to know him pretty well and starts slowly falling in love, while being completely in denial. And yet, he’s getting more and more jealous of the dates he sets up. During the last date it seems like Doc might be interested in the other Hermit as well and Grian’s jealousy just explodes and he interrupts the date and confesses. And yeah. That’s about it. Just a cheesy comedy story

#hermitship #hermitshipping #gridoc #hermitcraft #🍉 stories #🍉Discontinued Story Dump

[reiverreturns]

us 🤝 gratuitously talking about our wips instead of actually working on them

i NEED to know about this ac/pacrim nonsense 👀

it's a hard life in the trenches (doing nothing productive whatsoever)

EHEHEHE okay so my nonsense file is basically all @alethiometry's fault and is more or less a dumping ground for assassin's creed PacRim AU stuff that i write odds and sods for when i don't feel like writing anything serious. it's mostly hytham/jacob frye where hytham is an ex-ranger who designs jaeger weaponry and jacob is an active ranger alongside evie. idk i think they'd have SUCH good chemistry and i know in my heart i'm right on that one. i have zero intention of ever making a real publishable story out of the stuff in there but i have lots and lots of little bits! it's very much ignoring quality, just having fun stuff.

anyway for context i've pulled a bit where jacob gets injured before the big mission to close the breach. furious and upset that he'll be sidelined, he ends up running his mouth to the press about how the world governments and their wall building plans are all stupid as hell and hytham sneaks him out into a hong kong hotel to screw some sense into him before marshal aya can find jacob and beat his ass six ways to sunday. i'm also dropping a cut in because it's a chonky bit!

send me a title from my wip list and i'll post a snippet and some thoughts

---

“Where will you go when this is all over?” Hytham asks.

Jacob turns, attention turns sharp, but Hytham isn't looking at him. He’s leaning against the edge of the window, arm resting across the top of the frame, eyes locked on a lonely hulking mass fuzzed in the heavy, sodden mist of the bay. A Jaeger on reconnaissance and repair. Odin’s Sight, if Jacob remembers the assignments. He can’t think of anything more pointless than checking the walls now.

You pilot a Jaeger for long enough, you come to understand that Rangers come in two flavours. The first are the sort who fight for an after. Eivor and Vili, with their dream of a patch of land and animals aplenty in the far flung reaches of Norway. Connor being reunited with his family back home. The second kind of Ranger fights against. ‘After’ isn’t exactly a worry when you're trying to wrestle a Kaiju’s lower mandible from the rest of its jaw. ‘After’ doesn’t mean anything if the chances are you’ll end up going down with your Jaeger. 

Before today Jacob had always considered himself firmly in camp two. Even now, with his Jaeger miles away, he can feel the mechanical click and whirr of the gears in his wrist as he sits up on the bed, pneumatic pressure falling when he adjusts his bad leg. It’s raining and the machinery aches. Evie's running through her tests with Henry. She's worried about him. His mind is hers and hers is his; no start and no end, a complex knot of flesh and metal that cannot be divorced. Jacob's future is a blue-tinged meld of past and present. It does not - can not - exist without Evie or Rook Empire in it.

But that had been then. Hytham turns, sighing, and the realisation hits Jacob like a bullet to the chest.

Jacob might die. He might live to see the whole world fall. He might be crushed beneath a warm body like he was half an hour ago, panting into Hytham's mouth, sweat-slick and needy for more time. But he also might live. There might be an ‘after’ after all.

More silence. Jacob wishes he had Hytham’s comfort in it. Maybe the roar of blood in his ears wouldn’t feel so intrusive.

“I hadn’t thought of it,” Jacob eventually says in a voice that doesn’t sound like his own, hands absently gripping the sheets, mind scrambling and overshot to somewhere far, far away. “I could go back to London, I suppose. Would be nice to go somewhere where I could pretend the world didn’t completely go to shit. But it’s…” He looks at the condensation on the windows, mouth dry. “I don’t think there will be a place for me when I go back.” 

Stupid thing to say. London’s a big fucking city. It still is, despite the attacks and riots and civil unrest that has destabilised its boroughs over the years. Hytham tilts his head thoughtfully.

“There will be no Rangers anymore,” he says, and Jacob nods.

#... i just think they're neat #something about both being/having been rangers whos lives are dramatically changed through injury #idk i thought too long about fleabag when the hot priest says 'it'll pass' when fleabag tells him she loves him #and the ac/pacrim part of my brain went insane #i also have lots of silly eivor and vili talking shit in the jaeger #birna and rollo off in another ocean theatre facetiming them and having competitions about who's the best ranger duo #shaun just regretting his life choices every single day on the comms #i will never shut up about ac/pacrim when you get me going so i'll stop there asjksjksjs

[thistidalwave]

questions for fic writers

wow just noticed @softbrah tagged me in this....how fun! let's go!

How many works do you have on ao3?

120! that's since 2011.

What’s your total ao3 word count?

1,222,928. dear god.

What fandoms do you write for?

currently we deep in the k-pop trenches, collecting lil blorbos with compelling narratives and dynamics to smack together like dolls. specifically i've been writing for Seventeen lately, and previously for TXT and BTS, and because i am me, i write niche inter-band shit and collected a couple soloists to throw in for seasoning.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Addicted (to loving you) (Teen Wolf scott/stiles. no, idk either. please don't read it.)

pictures in frames of kisses on cheeks (checkpls bitty/jack/kent. pure fluff no substance the people love it)

love doesn't come in boxes (checkpls bitty/jack)

something good and right and real (hockey rpf benn/seguin, cowritten with @aperfect20)

drop everything now (hockey rpf bgally/agally, cowritten with @aperfect20. listen. these hockey fics are of their time and now they'll never leave the first page sorted by kudos.)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes, all the time! it takes negligible time and brain power for me, and i like to let people know how much i appreciated hearing their thoughts, even when it was just a thank you and then we're in a lil awkward thanking circle.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ok, i think it just has to be a tie between "only time is ours" and "34 Days", which are check please kent/jack fics about the same pre-canon break-up events, the first from jack's pov and the second from kent's (tho iirc they have different interpretations of events beyond the pov switch, too). they are inherently angsty bc absolutely nothing is good at the end of them.

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

this is so hard to decide, bc i primarily write romcoms and by the end of them if your teeth aren't rotting i did it wrong. i will give a shoutout to "doesn't matter what we do", a bts jimin/j-hope that is all about just Letting Urself Be Soulmates and then grossing out ur bandmates about it.

Do you get hate on fics?

no, thank god.

Do you write smut?

yes i have been known to write filth. sometimes the romcom plot calls for it. i'm horrible at pwp bc i'm always giving it plot, but u kno, sometimes the spirit moves me and i manage it.

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

crossovers of fandoms that have nothing to do with each other actually kind of squick me - i'm talking crossovers where characters who have never and will never meet are there for no reason (think superwholock tbh, tho i was uncharacteristically a lil into that at the time), not fusions or big universes with diff shows or whatever. it's just not for me!

but in terms of things where it's less drastic (crossing over bands in k-pop, for example) i am all over that, bc there's interesting stuff from real life there! my craziest example atm is a baekho/jun fic, and like, it's not that crazy!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, it's always so awesome that someone wants to take the time to do that.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yessssss, my favourite way to create fic.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

this is an extremely insensitive thing to ask a ship whore like me. there are some ships that REALLY set my brain on fire over the years, though. check pls kent/jack drives me insane to this day. harry styles/nick grimshaw was So compelling. 2012 oilers "kid line" (nugent-hopkins/hall/eberle) went off.

often fandom really makes these ships worth it to talk about and inspires me to contribute. i am often very compelled by one character in particular and just ship them with everyone possible so i can examine all their sides.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

hmmmm if i WANT to finish it, i probably will. there are things that i ended up abandoning, though. one of those i'm still kinda sad about was a dylan/mitch/auston sequel to my connor/rystro.

What are your writing strengths?

i write realistic dialogue and i'm great at characterization (shoutout to the mean comment i got circa 2010 telling me to get good at characterization. i did. thanks.) my voice has always been strong, too.

What are your writing weaknesses?

i sometimes slack on depicting the interior emotions of characters. i'm not great with setting or exposition because the brand of fanfic i tend to write isn't a great place to practice those skills. i try to find places to do it, though!

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's the norm in k-pop fandom to drop in localization things like honorifics, and i like it because it can communicate relationships between the characters and so that it's not SO divorced from the context the idols actually live in. this is such a weirdly specific question, idk what else to say about it lmao

First fandom you wrote for?

twilight. bless her.

Favorite fic you’ve written?

choosing between my children? ok. at the moment i'm quite fond of too real to call it magic, a contemporary fantasy au where the main character is stuck in a dream. i felt really good about what i did with the themes and setting of the source material (a mv, so you're only 3mins and a quick google of the main characters' names away from reading this fic!) and the way i developed the relationship. it's underrated af bc it's a niche pairing.

i will tag @aperfect20 since i already tagged her in the text of the post. no pressure tho.

#about me #tag game

[vampireninjabunnies-blog]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @socially-awkward-skeleton @inafieldofdaisies @direwombat

Tagging @voidika @trench-rot @josephseedismyfather @redreart @beautiful-delirium @poisonedtruth @wrath-not-wrat @wrathfulrook @aceghosts @g0dspeeed @strafethesesinners @florbelles @madparadoxum @river-ward @ladyoriza and anyone else who has something to share

Home

The very first scene I ever imagined for this WIP

Pebbles and twigs cut her small feet as she ran through the trees, ignoring the sound of gunfire just ahead of her, ignoring the pleas for caution from Nick and Rorke as they tried to catch up to her. She'd been cautious the whole way here, been nothing but cautious for the last three years. Now she threw caution to the wind. Just a few more feet and the ranch came into view as she finally cleared the treeline.

Home.

She was home. She stopped, looking around, Peggies and civilians fighting all over the property. She heard him before she saw him. Yelling angry commands at the Peggies.

John

She ran toward the sound of his voice, running through the swirling violence. She didn't hear anything else but his voice. Oblivious to the bullets flying past her, to Nick shouting as he grabbed Grace from shooting at her. Confusion gripping both sides of the fight as her small band of rescuers tried to stop the fighting.

Recognition dawning on the faces of several Peggies as she ran past them turning toward the hangar. She screamed his name as loud as she could. Her normally small voices echoing over the noise.

"JOHN!"

Time stood still. The fighting around them finally coming to a halt. Silence hung in the air like a heavy weight as John turned. Anger, confusion, disbelief flashing across his face in quick succession, stumbling backward as she ran to hug him, his gun falling to the ground. For a moment he just stood there in shock before he pushed her away. His eyes closed tight, his hands going up to his head, clawing and tugging at his hair. Muttering desperately, jittery and shaking. Tears rolling down his cheeks.

"No...not again. Go away, go away. You're not here. You're not real."

John fell to his knees, rocking back and forth, shaking his head.

"Please just go away."

The crowd of Peggies and civilians watched in silence, none of them knowing what to do.

She knelt down beside him and gently put hand on his cheek to make him look at her.

"John... hummingbird I'm here. I'm real."

But she couldn't be, he knew it. He saw her too often, in dreams and from the corner of his eye. Too often she has just been a passing vision. A ghost haunting him. He finally opened his eyes and looked at her. In his dreams she'd always looked as she had when she was alive. Smiling sweetly at him, rosey and bright. Never like this. Dirty and too thin. Blood on her torn dress, her eyes tired. He stared into her big brown eyes and saw the same love for him he'd found there. His lip quivered as realization washed over him, and he slowly reached out to touch her face.

"Esther"

His voice barely above a whisper before he pulled her close and hugged her tight.

"You're real. You're alive"

Three years of grief and pain pouring out of them both as he held her. Both of them clinging to each other as they cried tears of joy and relief.

She was alive and she was finally home.

#oc:esther seed #john seed #fic:roses on my barren soul #johnxesther #wip wednesday