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agoodfictitle-shadowban · 3 years ago

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The Fate You Fight - Pt. 1

Wanda Maximoff x F!Reader

Word Count: 4.7k

[TFYF Masterlist]

Tags: soulmate AU, telephatic link soulmate, architect!reader, jewish!Wanda, post-MoM, hurt/comfort, no proofreading

Warnings: mention of abuse, description of violence, language

Summary: You never wanted anything to do with your soulmate, but when you find her in an advanced state of distress you had to help. After that, it becomes hard to let her go.

A/n: so, after asking everyone's opinion, i of course decided to do exactly the inverse of what people advised me to do because im a rebel like that. Or at this point im just accepting my fate that im not build to write one shots, one or the other

(Also the shadowban situation for my main fic blog is not resolved, so for now im gonna use that account and either it will become my full time fic account or if the shadowban reverse in like a week i'll go back to the old one.)

Taglist: @red1culous

It is said that the first time you cross paths with your soulmate, you develop the ability to hear their thoughts.

Needless to say, for Wanda, it meant nothing. Since she received her powers, she had always been able to hear everyone's thoughts around her. No matter how much she tried to block people, some would always get to her, loud thoughts, or the ones that were pushed the closest to the surface. And that meant she would likely never be able to find her soulmate, unless her soulmate found her - and that too was unlikely. As an Avenger, she mainly kept to herself. She didn't like to meet new people, or to go outside in crowded areas. In the end, as much as she dreamed of it as a kid, she gave up. She didn't need a soulmate anyway, she was one of the most powerful people to ever exist, and she had her friends. She would be fine without anyone.

As for you, you hated the concept of soulmates. You thought it was an egregious concept that you should follow someone around just because 'fate' (what was even fate? Did that prove the existence of a superior being or was it just a weird evolution of humans DNA? It was unlikely since you heard of humans having aliens soulmates. In the end, this was a debate for philosophers and scientists to settle, and you had no time for that) said you had to. And maybe it was motivated by childhood trauma - your parents were soulmates, but your dad still tried to kill your mom - but it was how you intended to live your life. No matter the thoughts that manifested in your mind, you would stay away from whoever intruded in your brain.

It was with this mindset that you heard a voice that wasn't yours in your head for the first time. You remembered it quite vividly since it happened during a bank robbery in which you were an unfortunate hostage. You usually led a peaceful life, you would wake up in the morning, get ready for college - you were a Columbia architecture student on a full ride scholarship thanks to your stellars marks and rowing prowess - go to your classes, stop at the library to work, then go to training, but today your roommate needed to stop by the bank, so you went with her. And that's when it happened. A loud bang and a hole in the ceiling, and everyone was on the ground in an instant, the people in masks barking orders around.

Next to you one idiot tried to stop the robbers, thinking it was his moment to shine as a licensed handgun owner. He was quickly shot down, blood splattering on you and your friend. You wiped your lips, trying to avoid tasting the iron tasting substance, only to see Anath, your friend, scramble to her knees to try and stop the bleeding. She was a med student, and she was a good one at that.

"Hey! Get back to your knees!" You heard the closest of the thief yell at her, the man's weapon in his belt now.

"I need to stop the bleeding," she said defiantly, her eyes on the dangerous man while she kept pressure on the wound. "Or this guy will die."

"I don't care! Lie down!" He pointed his rifle at her.

"No!" She was stubborn, she always had been.

The next second, it was like everything happened in slow motion when you saw him put his finger on the trigger. It was your turn to be an idiot as you were barely standing up when you dived to tackle him. Bullets flew around the room while you wrestled him. You might not be big on fighting, but you were able to compensate with sheer strength. Rowing sculpted your body years ago and it was easy to overpower someone who was so clearly out of shape. Taking the rifle from his hands, you used the cross to hit him in the head and have him pass out. Now the problem was two of his other friends who had weapons pointed at you.

You closed your eyes. That's not how you wanted your life to end, but you saved Anath, so you were fine with it.

But there was no roaring sound, and instead you heard groans and grunts, and the sound of people being slammed around. So you took a peek, and you saw both men enveloped by red auras being pushed against the ceiling, and then the ground, falling unconscious from the impact while the rest of the Avengers team rolled in with some SHIELD agents. Before you knew it, the situation was resolved and you were sitting at the edge of an ambulance with Anath next to you, both in a shock blanket. The man who was shot had been brought to the hospital while most of the other people stayed behind to give statements to the police or SHIELD, or went back home after giving their contact information. Everyone was safe, but you kept replaying the events in your head, the blood flying around, the fear of almost losing your life, when you heard it for the first time.

You had absolutely no idea what she was saying, the words in a language you couldn't understand.

Oh no, no, absolutely not, you thought to yourself, tensing like never before, even when you were in that bank you felt better. But you didn't really have time to flee before someone was in front of you, wearing a long red coat with a black corset and a skirt, brown hair flowing freely around her very, very pretty face. Her green eyes placated you into place.

"What you did inside… it was very heroic," she said, with the most stunning voice you've ever heard. Was it her? No. No way. First of all, Avenger, second of all, way too pretty, and finally, she had no accent - something that you of course ignored was that Wanda heavily worked with Natasha to get rid of her accent.

You opened your mouth uselessly before words finally fell out of it. "Oh, huh, you know, couldn't let my best friend get shot." She offered you a small laugh, and you wish you could have registered it to play it again and again.

"I understand. But, just so you know, you're safe now." She tilted her head as she gave you a warm smile.

That was an odd statement, so you tilted your head, mimicking her, but arched a teasing eyebrow. "How? Do you intend to follow me around to protect me?"

"What?" She blushed deeply, looking away. "No, of course not!"

Your snort turned into a laugh. "Sorry, I was joking." She was still blushing, but your laugh soon died down. "Hey, huh… thanks. For saving me."

"If that's how you thank me, mocking me like that…" she pouted just a bit, and it was adorable. You wished to see more of it.

"Okay, no more teasing."

She looked a bit longer at you, in an hesitation. Next to you, Anath was drinking the water she had been provided while watching what was happening in front of her with vested interest.

"Well, maybe I'll see you around another time," Wanda settled on. You were disappointed, but you kept it to yourself.

"See you around."

With that, she walked away, and Anath slapped your upper arm.

"Dude!"

"What?" You asked with a frown, rubbing your now pained arm.

"Sparks were flying, you should have asked for her number."

You scoffed at that. As if. "I don't have time to date."

And that was that. Your friend groaned from frustration but didn't insist. She knew of your aversion for soulmates, or at this point, dating in general.

It would be years before you saw Wanda again.

Years went by. The Sokovia Accords happened. Wanda found comfort in Vision. As a Synthesizoid he didn't have a soulmate, and she knew she would never find hers. And if she did? It would be unfair to impose that on that poor person. So she went with him. It was easy, uncomplicated, and she had good times. And then Thanos happened. Vision died. Westview. She became the Scarlet Witch and almost took one more life for herself, to claim a power she needed to protect her kids. They were all that mattered. But in the end, she couldn't. So she tried to destroy herself along the Darkhold. But she failed. She was still alive, she was still suffering, and she didn't know what to do. She became a shell of herself, called back to one of the only places she ever called home. She went back to the United States. To New York.

Years went by. The Sokovia Accords happened. The Blip happened. You stayed behind, already having lost everything else to illness, your mom dead after years of a losing fight - and were lucky enough to still have Anath with you. Your friend wasn't so lucky; she lost her soulmate that day. You moved back together again and for five years you did your best. It was hard. Humanity had lost so many people and the general grief that floated over everywhere in the world was too heavy for those left behind to truly move forward.

But you tried.

God, you tried.

Then everyone came back and so many people were reunited. But the world lost two of their greatest heroes for good, and some more when they decided they couldn't fight anymore.

Anath and her soulmate reunited, but they both stayed with you as they still had to adjust to many things. It was good to hear your best friend laugh so hard again, and you were happy for her, but sometimes when you saw them together you would feel so lonely. You found yourself wondering how it would feel, but it was probably too late for that. You missed your opportunity and clearly, whoever your soulmate was wanted nothing to do with you or they would have manifested themselves the day you heard them for the first time. So you just accepted your lack of fate.

But Fate hadn't given up on you.

Since half of New York's population returned, your architecture firm had a lot of work and you were assigned to an old new project - one that was abandoned when money dried up due to the disappearance of those who commissioned your firm. The building you were working on had been left as it was, people with no homes moving in and out with no one to keep them out, before they were chased recently. It was none of your business, but you still felt bad about it and hoped they found their way back to loved ones or a place to stay, where they would get the help they needed.

You walked the decrepit building with an inspector to gauge the damages and what would need to be replaced or entirely remade before the project could get back on track. Garbage was littered around with moldy mattresses, the smell was terrible and you didn't need the inspector with you to guess there would be a lot of work to be done when you noticed the broken walls and black stains. But as you walked around, the both of you noticed a silhouette laying down on one of the mattresses. At first it was easy to miss it; there were a number of garbage bags and cardboard boxes thrown around.

"Shit! Did one of those parasites die here?" You frowned at the man next to you. "That's bad for us, it will give us more paperwork," he grumbled and you wanted to slap him across the face. He was talking about a person, for god's sake. "We should still call the cops."

As he was talking you came closer to the body and that's when you heard her again. It was barely above a whisper but it was there, somewhere in your head, and it hit you like a truck. How was that even possible?

You turned to the inspector who already had his phone out. "Call an ambulance. She's alive," you ordered him firmly.

He was surprised but he complied and soon enough you were in a hospital room, sitting on a chair in the corner as you looked at the woman hooked on monitors and fluids. Apparently, she was severely dehydrated and malnourished. You could see it in the way her cheeks caved inside, her skin pale and sickly. The end of her fingers were also colored black but the doctors had no idea why.

Of course you had recognized her, but you seemed to be the only one, and considering her state you decided to say you had no idea who she was, and she was entered as Jane Doe in the files. It was probably better that way. If she was leaving in this building slowly wasting away she probably didn't want any of her old friends to find her. Still, you were half of a mind to try and contact them. Get her off your hands. But something kept you from doing it.

You were ripped from your thoughts when Anath entered the room with two sandwiches and she handed you one.

"Can you still hear her?" She asked. Despite not giving away her real identity you informed the staff that she was your soulmate so she could be covered under your medical coverage. It was a neat little bonus you had thanks to your position in your company.

You took the sandwich, looking up to your friend briefly. "From time to time, but it's very faint."

"That's still a good sign." Your eyes fell back on the woman laying in the hospital bed. You felt Anath's hand on your shoulder. "She'll be fine, she just needs some rest."

Your best friend didn't try to address the elephant in the room; she knew of your aversion to soulmates but would never bring the subject up first.

"How long?"

"Hours, a day, maybe longer."

You kept your eyes on her even as you ate. You'd be there when she woke up, you owed her that. After all, she saved your life once upon a time.

You were in the office when Anath sent you a message. It took you twenty minutes to finally open it, and when you did, you swore in front of your boss. He sent you an empathetic smile when you told him what it was about and let you go. He was one of the people who lost his soulmate during the blip, he understood in some way how you felt about yours being in the hospital. You bolted. You were never one to run - you liked to take your time - but you made an exception. When you arrived, Wanda was awake.

"Sorry!" You exclaimed, breath ragged by your run. "I was working when I heard you were awake."

The confusion on her face was obvious, and you cringed. Of course she had no idea who you were. When she saved you, she was just doing her job, and you were probably only one in thousands of people.

"I'm Y/n, I'm the one who brought you here. And…" you came closer so you could whisper. "I know who you are, but thought you'd want to keep your anonymity," you explained.

And Wanda was very grateful for that. She remembered the relief she felt when she realized no one here knew who she was, so when they asked her, explaining they didn't know, she kept the charade up.

"Thank you," she simply said, accent thick to your surprise, voice rocky.

"That's the least I could do." She frowned at that and you looked away. You felt so dumb. You were always so stoic and self-assured, and for whatever reason you just turned into a puppy with her. "A few years ago you stopped a bank robbery and saved me."

A number of things went through her face, but finally recognition settled on her features.

"You're the girl who saved her friend." She would have exclaimed herself if nlt for her way too dry throat.

You grabbed a glass of water that you put in front of her. "Yeah, that's me," you admitted simply.

She took the water and considered you for a few seconds before she finally drank. Apparently she deemed you worthy.

"Why…?"

"Huh?" You put, very eloquently you might add.

"Why… help me?" She looked down in her glass, and your heart broke when you saw all the grief, all the pain, everything that made her say her next words. "I would be better off if I were dead. Everyone would."

You sat at the edge of her bed and ever so gently scooped her face to have her look up at you. "That's not right."

Tears formed in her green eyes in droves. She couldn't hold your gaze, but you were keeping her from looking away.

"You have no idea what I did."

Truly, you didn't. "Why don't you tell me?"

She tensed, grabbed your hand to push it away. You let her do it without any resistance. "I don't deserve to." She looked back down. You had no idea what to do to help her at this point, and if you were honest, there was probably not a lot you could do besides be there for her. So you would do exactly that.

"I don't agree." You followed her gaze down and noticed she was looking at her hands. "What happened to your hands?"

She frowned and never answered. Her silence was enough for you to let it go, so you stood up. She didn't look up but you noticed her eyes following you.

"Leaving?"

You arched an eyebrow and hid a smirk. "Will you miss me?" You teased. But once again you were met with silence. "Don't worry, I'll be right back."

You left the room and headed to the hospital gift shop. Once you arrived, you looked around, grabbing some books at random, a stuffed animal - a bear with get well soon shirt - and some snacks. You don't know what she likes, so you take a few different ones. You ended up with two small brown paper bag with the gift shop's brand printed on it.

When you come back to the room, you see her looking out the window, sadness painted all over her face, so you make sure she hears you come in. You didn't want to intrude on her. She still jumped slightly at your sudden arrival, seemingly surprised to see you again.

"I'm back," you announced pretty uselessly and wondered if she thought you left despite saying you were coming back.

She just looks at you.

Carefully, you took the books out of the bag you were carrying and put them down next to her in a neat pile. You left the snacks in the bag and simply put it next to the books. "I brought you some stuff," you told her as if it wasn't obvious.

Then you hesitated a bit before you took the stuffed bear out.

"Thought you'd like some company when I'm away." You placed it on top of the books. Still no answer. But you hear her questions running in her mind. The whys, and the self-loathing comments. She doesn't seem to have noticed yet that she can hear your thoughts, or maybe she did but doesn't care. The latter makes you ache no matter how much you try to fight it.

You open your mouth, you want to tell her something, the silence around you both suffocating. It made you feel uncomfortable and incredibly inadequate. But before you can really say anything, Anath came in the room after a short knock.

"Hi guys, sorry to interrupt, I'm doing my last round for the day," she explained and grabbed the chart at the end of Wanda's bed. "You seem to be doing fine. We're going to keep you here a few more days to make sure you're on track, then you can go home." She gave you a look at that. You suddenly found the outside fascinating.

"I don't… I don't have money. Or insurance," she said finally, in an attempt to be let go. She knew she wouldn't have the energy to fight her way out. She didn't want to either. She was so tired of everything.

"It's okay, it's covered by Y/n," Anath told as she pointed at you with her chart. The Witch's gaze bore into you and you avoided it. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, miss Doe." She was about to leave the room, she got her upper body back in. "Do we wait for you for dinner tonight, Y/nn?"

You shook your head. "No, I'll probably grab something on my way back."

Finally the doctor left, and once again you were alone with Wanda. You could see in the way she looked at you that she was trying to figure out your motive. You scratched your head and grabbed a book from the pile.

"I'll try this one, I'll tell you if it's any good," you tell her as you go sit in the armchair in the corner of the room. Her eyes stayed on you ten minutes in your reading, until she seemed to lose interest and settled in the bed.

She could hear your thoughts so easily, not all of them, but those she caught were crystal clear, it was uncanny. It was probably because of how weak she was currently, she couldn't put up her mental barriers. Right now she could hear you read, so she listened, your voice calm against the roaring thunder of the tempest raging inside of her. Soon enough, she fell in a deep sleep, and for once, no nightmares plagued her.

A nurse came in to inform you that visiting hours were over, and you got up. Wanda was asleep again after eating, and so you decided to let her rest. You checked your bag and found a pen and paper easily to leave her a note you put in the bear's arms. After that you sneaked out.

Wanda woke up in the night and looked around, panic setting in until she remembered where she was. The hospital. She frowned. Last thing she remembered she had just eaten and you were reading again. She must have fallen asleep. She looked around and noticed how dark it was. You were nowhere to be found, but the note in the bear's arms got her attention. With trembling fingers she read it.

'Hey, I had to leave and didn't want to wake you up. I'll be back tomorrow, in the meantime take care of yourself. For me.

Y/n'

She read the words again and again, especially the two you crossed. For you. A warm feeling sparked in her, under the rubbles of her life. Slowly, with utmost care, she folded the little note and put it in the book you had been reading while you were here. She eyed the bear before she settled in bed, looking away. A few seconds later, she turned around to grab it in her arms and resumed her position. There, she fell asleep again.

You came by the next day, and the one after that, and again. You brought work with you, knowing that even if your boss was understanding you still needed to put some hours in. From time to time you would try to talk with Wanda, but she barely answered, and when she did it was monosyllabic at best. She was looking better, less famished, but still grieving something you knew nothing of. So you didn't push, giving her the time qhe needed, until Anath came around to check on her once more.

"Everything looks great. We're going to send you home tomorrow," she declared.

"Home…?" There was something in her voice and tears started to pool in her eyes. That was bad. You could feel her thoughts spiral.

"You don't have to," you intervene. You stood up to come closer. "You can come to our place."

Anath looked at your, arching both eyebrows. You never discussed that with her, but now that the offer was out there it's not like you could take it back. Especially since it seemed to have shocked her enough for her to calm down slightly.

"Your… place?" She looked confused.

"Yeah, huh, with Anath. We're roommates, and we have a spare bedroom. You could stay there. If you want." You looked at her expectantly. "You don't have to answer now. And if you don't want to, I can arrange for a hotel or something."

She didn't answer and your best friend looked at the two of you. "Okay, I'm gonna go now. Someone will bring the paperwork for your release."

Wanda kept her eyes on you, so many feelings in her eyes. You gave her the time she needed to talk, hearing the questions in her head.

"Why are you doing this for me?" She asked, and it surprised you.

Why were you?

It could have been the soulmate bond, and maybe it was, a little, and it could also just be that you wanted to repay her for saving your life, but the truth was you just wanted to help her. She looked crushed under the weight of lifetimes of pain, and you wished you could take some pain off of her shoulders. Was it that you wanted to get closer to her? Was there an ulterior motive? Honestly you had no idea. You hated it.

"I… I don't know."

"I feel like you do." She looked down at her hands where the tip of her fingers were still black. "Or at least have some idea."

Did she read your mind?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." You frowned slightly. "You don't owe me anything. Not for your life, or because we're…"

Wanda did hear you, and now it made a lot of sense. But it also meant that until you found her almost dead on the floor you wanted nothing to do with her, but the truth was, you wanted to explain how this whole concept made you feel, to tell her that it wasn't what made you act that way, to defend yourself. That you were better than that, but were you?

"I know," you said. "I still want to help. Once you're back on your feet we can go our own way."

So many feelings were burning down your throat, and you hated it all. You hated that you were soulmates, and you hated how it took your choices away, and yes, you played with the idea of it recently because you didn't want to live your life alone, but still. This was different, and you didn't know how to deal with it. Maybe you'd find a way one day, but today wasn't that day.

Wanda seemed to have her own train of thoughts on her side, even if she mainly looked at your inside conflict from the outside. She could only grab some passing thoughts of feelings but refused to look at it closer, and decided to stop the cacophony in your head.

"I'll go with you," she finally answered to your big surprise. That was unexpected.

"Are you sure?" Your question was genuine, you didn't want her to feel forced into staying at your place.

She nodded, and that was that. She didn't say anything else for the evening, even when you left and told her you'd pick her up tomorrow morning.

Once you were gone, she thought about everything. Everything that had happened in her life, especially since she met you, and the longer she thought about it, the angrier and more desperate she became as what ifs hit her. What if she realized it when you met? She wouldn't have gotten with Vision, maybe, and she wouldn't have lost him and then her kids. What if you spoke at the time?

She was mad at herself, but also at you. And the worst was that she actually kind of liked you. Your presence made her feel better. It scared her so much, all this, after what she did, because she couldn't slip again.

All she could do in the end was cry.

#wanda x reader #wanda #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch x reader #scarlet witch #tfyf fic

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vandijkwrites · 3 years ago

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Kitty's Story Moodboarding 101

After making this post where I mentioned how much I use mood boards as a writer with ADHD, I've had several people asking me what they are or how I make them. I use Pinterest for my mood boards and generally it goes in stages for me.

Stage 1: The vibes.

This is where I just start pinning pictures that remind me of the general feel of my story. For my late-19th-century historical fantasy book, it started out with a mix of historical photographs, pretty photography of art and architecture from the time period covered in snow and ice, some screenshots of romance scenes from period dramas, etc.

Stage 2: Pinterest suggestions.

Pinterest is a lovely place that starts suggesting things for you once you get a board going. When I make a Pinterest board early in the writing process, I find these suggestions often inspire ideas to incorporate into my story so I spend some time looking over those and including some.

Stage 3: Face Claims and Characters.

At this point, I start to look for specifics. Instead for just general ladies in 19th-century gowns, I try to find pictures that actually look like my characters. For historical and fantasy books it's trickier, so I usually end up with a few photographs of a face claim in non-period clothing and then a few wide shots of the correct clothing and vibes that at least have the right skin tone and hair color.

Stage 4: Specific Scenes.

Once I know what I'm doing with my story and I'm down to creating actual scenes, I'll often go back to Pinterest and look for specifics. Do my characters meet in a gothic mansion? I'll find some pictures for that which I can use for more specific description. For example, a picture of a cool gothic candelabra that I can describe in the scene. Is there a ballroom scene? I'll try to find a dress that I want my character's outfit to be based one. These are imperative if you are terrible at description like I am and need something to refer back to.

General tips for making Pinterest boards.

If you are new to Pinterest boards, it can be overwhelming so I'll add a couple of my tips on how to start.

1. Look for general aesthetics.

If you know your story takes place in a old-fashioned academy, you start with searching "dark academia aesthetic." If it takes place in a witch's cottage then "cottagecore aesthetic" will get you started.

2. Look for specific things.

Say I searched "cottagecore aesthetic" and found some great stuff, but my main character is specifically an herbalist and most things I've found are of flowers. I can add searched for "drying herbs aesthetic" or "green witch aesthetic" or "spellbook aesthetic [TIP: if you are getting more instructional-type pins like "how to dry your own herbs" instead of pretty pictures, adding the word "aesthetic" to your search will get you there.]

3. Look for other people's boards.

If I'm having trouble or need more ideas, I can search for boards people have already created by searching "cottagecore" or "green witch" in the boards section instead of the pins section. This will often make me realize I forgot things like tarot cards or candles that are super important to the witch aesthetic.

4. Look for board based on other stories.

So my board is going well, but it's missing a little something. I know that my original idea was slightly inspired by Sleeping Beauty, so I can look up "sleeping beauty aesthetic" under pins or boards and maybe find something that fits perfectly. Even if your book isn't a retelling you can do this by finding things that relate to your story. For a fantasy set in winter, you'll find great stuff of Frozen boards. For an urban fantasy set in New York, Shadowhunter boards might have what you need.

5. Look for face claims.

If I already have a face claim in mind, I can just search for pictures of them. If not, I can look for Pinterest boards someone has made of "red haired girl face claims" to find someone. I can also search for "red haired witch aesthetic" to get some pretty pictures of red headed girls mysteriously looking out over the moors. [NOTE: Pinterest is very heavy on white models so it will always default to that unless you add a search term to specify skin tone. It also is VERY general with race and ethnicity, ie giving you every Asian ethnicity if you search for Chinese models. When I'm looking for a face claim for a person of color, I usually look for boards people have already made by searching "Thai face claims" or "Indian models and actors." Often, I also find the most luck searching for a face claim outside of Pinterest and then just looking them up by name of Pinterest.]

If you want to take a look at some of my boards here are a few: Example 1 and Example 2. These are not for specific stories since I have my WIP boards privated, but it gives you an idea of how I do it.

#my text posts #adhd writer #writing with adhd #moodboards #writing tips

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coyote-nebula · 3 years ago

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WIP game

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips. (You can make your own post or reblog this one!) I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? Dnd campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!

@writergeek thx for the tag

All of them? Are you sure?? Okay...

Omitting wips that are published on ao3:

a cryptid's cryptid

dartbird

engine knock

for lost time

genderswap au

home fires

lazarus pit tim

maggie may

reverse robins au

random word blurb challenge

freeze brand

batfold

state of the ward

get up bambi

drop

absentia

broken mold

robin's west

barbed wire

men & coyotes

what to expect

the pine box boy

The Architecture of Wayne Manor

learned behavior

who's raising cassandra cain?

and then of course you've got Tim in a Bottle, The Tamer, and for the man who hears everything

(If you send an ask, pick out two or three of the numbered ones! I'll tell you what the premise is and maybe add a snippet.)

I'm not going to tag twenty eight people, lol, but I will tag @batbirdies @motleyfam @eggmacguffin and @sunflowersandink

#ask game #i have so many wips #some of them possibly perpetual #batfam #did I look in the star trek folder heck no #all batfam all the time it's a new age

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interact-if · 4 years ago

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Day 5 of A/PI Heritage Month featured authors interview! The lovely Parker, everyone!

Parkerlyn, author of The Nameless

A/PI Heritage Month Featured Author

Legend goes when the world was formed, the mortal races, mortalis, were created with the gift of magic. But as time passed their hubris grew, and the sheevra were created to curb their pride.

When it comes to these chaotic and malevolent beings, the lands are full of cautionary tales. Though some would tell you that the stories are just that. To them, names have no power. There are no mysterious deals to fear, and the figure who seduces you into an alley at midnight is certainly no malicious spirit.

Which luckily for you means easy prey.

Author's Ko-fi | Discord

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE INTERVIEW!)

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

The Nameless is a mishmash of fey stories and a... teetering on apocalyptic setting? The world itself is almost completely covered by desert save for four regions and cities that have maintained life around them. The origins of that desert, the Arids, are said to have been from wars thousands of years ago where there was too much magic siphoned from the world, and the cost was desolation.

The reader enters the story as a sheevra (the fey-based race) who's been taught that all this was the mortal race’s doing in their desire for power. And that the sheevra were created to take that energy back from them via deals and names to slowly restore the world's more verdant state.

If you asked the mortalis though, they'd sing a different tune. To them, the sheevra are the remnants of the entity mainly responsible for the state of the Arids, and they're the reason why the world is stuck like it is.

Where does the truth actually fall? Well…

The game itself kicks off when one of the four sheevra clans in the world goes missing, and you're sent to investigate what happened. Though whether or not you really want to find out remains to be seen.

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

I'm definitely buzzing over some of the reveals behind the Arids and other features of the world, and how things are tied together. The puzzle will start getting filled in towards the end of Book 1 and will culminate in the final major choice of the entire story, and I'm really excited to see how people handle it.

I'm also looking forward to exploring more of the backstories of the romances and various characters, and also for more descriptions of magic-tech and how that's integrated into each of the cities (had a BLAST with this in upcoming content). Just in general, excited to continue bringing the world to life!

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

The Nameless was initially sparked by a D&D NPC, Oisein's predecessor who was far more bitter and not quite the sarcastic chaos gremlin they are today.

Specifically from Kobold Press' Courts of the Shadow Fey, this NPC was supposed to be just a one sentence rumor. But (of course) my players decided to pursue that route more in depth. Said character that I made up on the spot then ended up being a regular that I eventually made into a PC for another campaign. And...things sort of spiraled and transformed from there as I created their backstory and fell in love with the characters who would then become the four romances of the game.

There's also a theme I've been wanting to write about for a long time which might lend itself to spoilers, that I was finally able to find a home for in the world of The Nameless. So it's a dash of old and new ideas!

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

There's some indulgent, more obvious ones like the city of Han, which is directly named after the Han River in Korea and is, well, the City of Rivers. There's also small references to Korean folklore within the sheevra that will probably continue to show up, and you better believe Korean inspired food and clothing will make an appearance haha.

But below the surface level, I think a lot of the mannerisms and backstories of the characters may unconsciously be affected by my identity. Until someone asked me about modern ethnicities for the love interests, I didn't realize how much I had tied my mixed culture into these characters. But I'm happy to have that little piece intertwined in their personalities, their values, and their attitudes, as a small nod to my own Korean-American background.

This will probably become more evident in the settings too. There's a lot of mixed inspirations and sources in the architecture, environment, and culture of each city that I'm looking forward to expanding on.

So yeah, it's kind of funny to see that manifest in my writing, but hopefully it helps to build up an interesting and unique environment for readers to immerse themselves in!

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the if community...

For writing in general, this is by far the largest project I've ever taken on, and there was and is a learning curve when adjusting for interactive fiction. But I've enjoyed the freedom and variation I've been able to build into this story with this medium, and think it continues to take shape in ways I never initially planned but love to see!

For the IF community, it's definitely been positive! I kind of just chucked this story out there not expecting much from it and figured it would be hard for anyone else to get into. Honestly I thought that maybe just a few people would see it, but that it would mostly be self indulgent.

But the support from other writers and readers and the questions I've received has just been amazing, and I’m glad I dived deeper into the IF community. Especially when the self-doubt inevitably creeps in and you have those moments of "oof this is terrible". The positive words and encouragement mean so much, and I don't think I'll ever be able to express how much it helps. I'm also really happy to have found an overall inclusive community, and hope I can extend that space into this game!

Also the stories and games out there? Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectac-

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

None at the moment, my focus is mainly on writing The Nameless and continuing to develop features for the Twine version!

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

Don't let yourself get down by comparisons. It's easy to slip into, and I'm definitely guilty of it too! But no one's going to tell your story like you can and the way you want it, so it's up to you to share that with the world!

#if: events #Happy Asian and Pacific Islander month!!#Asian/pacific islander month 2021 #a/pi month #a/pi month 2021 #aapiheritagemonth #aapi month #interactive fiction #authors of color

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magnoliabloomfield · 4 years ago

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Possession 12

Gally wished he never made the suggestion that Nikola be a keeper, he wished he had gotten her as a builder so he could keep an eye on her at all times. He hated it whenever he couldn’t see her, when he didn’t know what she was doing or who she was around, if she was safe. He wanted her around him. It was completely selfish, and he didn’t really mean it. Well, he meant it, but only a little bit, he knew it was better to have her on the council. Besides if she was a builder he definitely would have turned into the very type of possessive keeper he’d been worried about someone else becoming.

He had trouble focusing, sometimes even breathing, especially when he would think about how she said it would suck if he wasn’t around her, the sad pout to her lips. Her little pink lips. He found himself absently sketching her face in the margins of his blueprints instead of doing any real work. He’d always been good at drawing the straight lines and angles of architecture, but she made him discover a talent for portraits as well.

God this was crazy. He’d been the most upset the day she arrived, he’d been the most concerned about how the boys would be acting and here he was, a self fulfilling prophecy. It was like he only felt good when he was around her now. She brought something special to the glade that had been missing until now. She brought light, hope, fun, distraction. All the time they were fighting for basic survival, but she made surviving bearable, she made it worth it.

What was he going to do? He probably wasn’t the only one who thought of her this way, there had to be others just dying to have her around them too, thinking about her as much as he was. Who was she thinking about? After the little things she had said to him and the way she let her feelings show in her eyes only when she talked to him made a part of Gally believe she was thinking of him. However, the thought of being wrong was so painful he dared not let himself fully believe it. And then there was the rule. She’d never belong to him. The only comfort it brought was that she wouldn’t belong to anyone else either.

~~~~~

Gally laid in his cot, sleep evading him in favor of thoughts of Nikola. He couldn’t torture himself by giving in to fantasy, it would only drive him to do something stupid and get one or both of them in trouble. He stared up at his dingy ceiling and suddenly missed the nights back at the beginning when he was sleeping in a hammock in the trees, the sky above him and fresh air all around. His room smelled. He smelled, he usually put on the same clothes day after day all sweaty and rank. It never mattered before, but now he would be mortified if she ever came in here.

What would she be doing in there though? He told his brain to shut up, he wouldn’t follow that line of thought. It prodded him too much and he realized he was not going to get to sleep any time soon, just toss and turn in his smelly room all night. He was going to have everything washed tomorrow even if he had to do it himself.

He launched upright and grabbed his pants as he stood up, putting them on and then his boots. He was going to get out of his room and get fresh air and the sky above him. He stepped out into the midnight blue of the glade, faint snores coming from where the other boys slept. He went off in the opposite direction so he wouldn’t wake anyone up or have to listen to them either.

He found himself at her tower without realizing he’d taken a beeline to it. He would never try to get up there in a million years, that would freak her out for sure. Besides, he’d done much too good a job at making it intruder proof, something he never thought he’d be kicking himself for. But then he noticed her ladder was down. He looked around the glade for her, at first excited at the idea of her being up when he was up, but then he got worried about if someone besides them was up too. What if something happened to her? He’d been awake the whole night, he would have heard a scream… but what if she didn’t get a chance?

His search turned desperate and frantic, he listened for noise, he looked for light, any sign of her. He sprinted to her house and stood at the ladder. He was hesitant to call her name in case he woke someone else up. The ladder could have fallen, she could be up there asleep and have no clue, or she could be up there and not alone. He scrambled up the ladder and took a quick glance, finding she wasn’t there. He went down quickly too. He sprinted to the bathrooms just to find them empty, but there was water around her shower stall. She must have been here, or someone was. He raced to the kitchen next, it was only logical, you either get up to pee or get a drink in the middle of the night, right?

He saw a glow coming from the kitchen as he got closer and part of him felt relieved, but not enough to slow down. He burst in and saw Nikola crouched on the floor with a small laundry tub and her sheets.

“Shuck,” she said softly as she startled, almost falling over.

She stared up at him, relief passing her features when she recognized him. Meanwhile he just stood there panting for a second before bracing himself on his knees, so glad she was ok. He let his head hang for a moment as he composed himself.

“Are you alright?” he asked her as he straightened up and came closer. He noticed a pink tinge to the water and how only part of her sheets were in there, not the whole thing. Then he saw the garments. She started her period.

“I’m fine,” she said, looking down into the water a bit embarrassedly and trying to hide the stained clothes.

“God, I was thinking the worst,” he sighed as he ran a hand over his face before sitting on the ground next to her. She seemed surprised and confused as she glanced between him and what she was doing, wondering why he was coming closer. “Do you need some help?”

“No, Gally, you don’t want to help me with this-“

“I know,” he interrupted her, trying to show her she had nothing to be embarrassed about. “I know what happened and I can help if you want me to.”

She slightly narrowed her eyes at him. “How do you know-“ she started to say before giving up, since it was pretty obvious. “It’s gross, you shouldn’t have to deal with it.”

“Hey, I’m the keeper of the builders, you think I haven’t had to wash blood out of clothes before?”

“It’s not the same,” she muttered glumly, starting to scrub half heartedly again. “It’s embarrassing. I was hoping to get it taken care of before it set, and before anyone could see it, and now of all people you’re here watching me make uterus soup.”

It was a graphic description but he wasn’t repulsed by it, in fact, he burst into laughter.

“Oh god,” he chuckled as he rubbed his eyes. “Well, if you don’t want me to touch your laundry is there something else I can do for you? Do you need something to drink, or eat, or a hot water bottle?”

She looked over at him as if trying to figure out what planet he came from. He saw her eyes travel down before she quickly looked away with a new shade of pink on her cheeks. He realized he had put on boots and pants, but not his shirt. Oops.

“I-I’m fine, you can go back to bed,” she told him.

“Oh, no I’m not going anywhere till you’re done and I make sure you get to your room safe,” He informed her, sounding quite firm about it.

“You don’t-“

“I do.”

“God, you’re stubborn,” she said even as she smirked.

“Yeah, and the faster this gets done, the faster you’ll get rid of me, so you might as well let me help,” he told her.

He didn’t care, he wasn’t squeemish about it. He had seen gore, he had seen and smelled boys crap their pants. It wasn’t pleasant but it wasn’t the end of the world either, not when there was water and soap at the ready. He was with her, and he could do something useful to help her.

“Well, you can stay to walk me back, but you don’t have to touch this-“

His response to that was to reach right in and take the sheet from her, making her mouth fall open in shock.

“I’ll leave your clothes to you and I’ll take care of the sheets,” he delegated to her, focusing on what he was doing.

She didn’t say much, but he didn’t mind. It was late, she was tired and probably had cramps. He was just glad to be beside her and be helpful. They finished quickly working together. They dumped the tub and put fresh water in, letting the sheets soak overnight to deal with in the morning. She took her clothes with her to hang to dry in her room.

“Hang on a sec,” Gally told her before rooting around in Fry’s food.

He triumphantly presented her with a jar of peanut butter. “It’s the closest thing to candy we have around here,” he explained, earning a chuckle from her as she took the jar from him, maybe her eyes flickered over his chest before she looked back up at him.

“Thanks, Gally. For everything,” She said as her tired eyes seemed to sparkle a little. “And I mean everything. You keep doing the most for me ever since I showed up here.”

He felt a bashful blush creep up to his face and didn’t have much he could say to that. He walked her back to her little house, standing at the bottom until she had climbed up and pulled the ladder up behind her, then pulled up the basket with her wet clothes and the peanut butter. She leaned on the railing, bathed in moonlight as she looked down at him.

“I don’t care how big the world outside these walls is, I don’t think there’s anyone else like you in it,” She commented out of the blue before her grin flashed in the darkness. “Goodnight Gally.”

“Goodnight Nikola,” he replied with a small smile of his own, watching until she disappeared inside.

He ran a hand over his hair and cradled the back of his neck with it as he let out a heavy breath. The insomnia was totally worth it.

Unfortunately he had been right about something. They weren’t the only ones awake that night.

Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ready for some angst??? I have it planned in my brain a bit, I'll write it asap. thanks for your comments, likes and reblogs! They motivate me to write more.

@frequentlychangingfandoms @quackquackbi @poulterjonas @crazysheeplyca @pre-google @gladerscake @neilox @thesuitkovian @carp3d1em @cottoncandy-dreamxd @emilyhadenbaker

#gally #gally imagine #gally fanfic #tmr #tmr gally #maze runner #maze runner gally #thirsting over gally's thick ankles #Will Poulter #Will Poulter protection Squad

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androxys · 2 years ago

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Ranking my WIPs based on how likely they are to ever get finished (ft. what they're actually called in my Drive)

Very Likely:

Ghost Dragon: VERY likely. Is actually likely to be a chapter or two longer than I thought, because I just keep writing it.

Firecrackers: I only have one vignette left for this story, but it's the hardest one so far. Still, I don't foresee myself not finishing it.

Hello Baby, Hello World: My love letter to Stephanie Brown, taking the world tour though her life. I can't wait to get to this one.

Ken and Barbie: The sequel to Can't Prove it. I know how it starts, and I know how it ends, and I even know some of the twists and turns in the meantime. I just need to flesh out the middle.

Morality Bug: Jean-Paul Valley vs. the Religion of Crime on a boat. Need I say more?

Oracle Year One: My love letter to Barbara Gordon. I plotted out her first year recovering and becoming Oracle, and am folding in a blend of Earth-One, New Earth, and Infinite Frontier elements.

The Word as Heard: A reworking of Final Crisis to make it less... like that. Now with more New Gods!

Timber Rename: The explicit third part of Couldn't Look Away (Even If I Wanted). Tim and Bernard's first time having sex together. Still trying to work out a good title.

Tim and Dick Puberty Fic: Tim goes to Dick as his "trusted adult" after health class. Dick does not feel like an adult, nor should he be Tim's trusted one. Brother acquisition ensues.

Okay this got long so the less certain WIPs are all under the cut

Maybe Someday:

0 For More Options: I'd like to get back to this one, honestly, but don't know when. This was an OC-centric fic about a guy who works for an emergency assistance fund in Gotham, based on my own experience working in nonprofits.

Cui Bono: A Checkmate story! I'd like to get back into this one, honestly. Sasha and the gang goes up against a meta whose power is to open any lock. I would say I'm probably going to write it someday, I just need more practice drafting political thrillers.

Bodyodyodyody: This title was not final. A Timber date.

Educations from Cinema: Another Timber date fic. Probably won't return to this one either--there was no plot, just them being cute. This one and Body were both very important to the process of learning how to write What Does the Fourth of July Mean to You, to be fair.

JLA Year One: My take on a JLA Year One story, combining some of my favorite elements from the different Years One.

Shaggy Dogs: I don't write Joker stories. I haven't figured out how to do one that seems interesting to me. This was Bruce and Robin!Dick when a woman is killed with all the trademarks of the Joker... but the man himself is in Arkham. As I review it now, I realize how Devil's Advocate it is.

Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes: A DickBabs fic where Barbara goes toe to toe with the City Council. Focused on civilian heroics and the power of local government.

Sweater Weather: Bernard finds out about Tim. Tim takes it badly and flees to the beach. Bernard follows. I can definitely see how working on this primed me for Fourth of July. I may go back if I want to practice more angsty style writing.

Tim's Day Off: I'd like to return here, but I don't know what to make him do. Maybe the plot will be people forcing him to actually take it easy on his day off. Or things keep coming up.

JLA Charity Gala: My Met Gala for the Justice League. I want to write gala shenanigans. I want to write a paragraph long description of a dress. I just don't know when I'll have time.

Graveyard Darlings:

(Cat)Walking Wayne Manor: On the other hand, very unlikely, unless I post just an excerpt. This one was supposed to be my architecture tour of Wayne Manor with a Selina POV, but it kept not working. On the plus side, though, it helped me refine my Manor floorplan.

April is the Cruelest Month: This one needs to go to the graveyard--it was an attempt for me to write 100 words for every day in April, with a Dick POV. I definitely didn't do that, but the idea behind this fic found its way into the DNA for my Oracle Year One WIP

Christmas in June: This fic taught me that I'm not meant for angst fic as a genre. This one was supposed to be about the first dinner party Barbara throws after getting out of the hospital, but Bruce not coming because he's too caught up trying to stop DitF. It just didn't come together, and won't.

Coffee Shop AU: This one was just Steph being a college student. Never going to write more than the one paragraph, but it was good practice for Steph's voice.

Delphi on Rooftops: This was the last conversation Dick and Barbara had before Dick moved to New York and Barbara retired Batgirl. I couldn't make it long enough to feel like it went anywhere, but it may find life as a flashback sequence in another, longer fic.

Mark the Spot: A Red X vs. the Titans fic. I have a specific headcanon of Red X as a sort of mantle passed down thief to thief, because I wanted Dick and Tim to go up against two generations of Red X with their respective generations of Titans. This idea may still come back, but not from this fic.

Red and Redder: See above. Same deal, Red X fic, wasn't working.

Grief: A fic about Tim after Bruce's not-funeral. Would potentially tie into the Lazarus Civil War idea I had, but I didn't get more than a sentence into it.

Water Lilies: Tim and Barbara go swimming, talk about life. Was set just before War Games, but I couldn't get any of it to feel natural.

#chit chat #my writing

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