#posting even just snippets in a new fandom is SCARY so this is my way of microdosing that after god knows how long

[dutchs-paisley-vest]

You ever just write something so gas but also so revolting

Is “The deification of Dutch Van der Linde” a tag on ao3??? Hold on. Let me check something.

Okay cool, so can I propose something then-

[welcometololaland]

10 things - 2024/2025 edition

happy new year, everyone! 2024 has been a year of change for me in so many different ways, and i've posted very little fic this year, mostly due to writers' block and time constraints. so, instead of doing the writing round up i thought i'd list 10 things i'm grateful for in 2024 (fandom edition) and 10 things i want to do in 2025 (also, fandom edition). please feel free to make your own if you wish! consider this an open tag 🏷️

2024 - things i'm grateful for (in fandom, in no particular order)

1. my ride or die friends who deal with my self doubt and breakdowns and (being 100% real) paranoia about situations that simply don't exist - @rmd-writes @celeritas2997 , the popcorn squad and others. wouldn't be writing without your support!

2. the writers who have trusted me to beta for them - @heartstringsduet @basilsunrise @rmd-writes i think i'm forgetting some (so sorry if so). michelle, being with you through first aid was such an amazing experience, and i feel so lucky to have seen you develop as a writer!

3. the people who have read my fics and encouraged me including the wip wednesday and seven sentence sunday tags! - i literally would not be anywhere without you. you actually give me life.

4. the friendships i've made on discord with people who just wanna know me for me and share little snippets of their lives - @reyesstrand and @heartstringsduet the little squirrel photos y'all send me are soul soothers for real! @st-elle-ar and @clottedcreamfudge and @lightningboltreader and @birdclowns for the cat pics! @howtosingit for your commentary and spoiler services 💜

5. the grace given to me by @carlos-in-glasses and @actual-sleeping-beauty - you two are so kind and encouraging and tell me all about your knitting projects even when i go missing for weeks on end. thank you for being my friends <3 and i don't even think you guys know you are both my yarn obsessed friends but you ARE.

6. everyone who has trusted me enough to collab with them on projects - the legends on never the same twice, @rmd-writes @strandnreyes. i loved working with you and i hope you had a positive experience! looking forward to more collabs in 2025.

7. the document gremlins, betas and sensitivity readers i've collected this year - @rmd-writes @strandnreyes @lightningboltreader @celeritas2997 @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut ty ty ty ty some of those fics were in danger of being lost forever but we revived them!

8. @she-walked-away for making me laugh with your hilarious posts and olympia2997 who apparently doesn't exist on tumblr but leaves the most unhinged comments of all time on my fics.

9. everyone who has translated my fics or made art or gifs this year! inspired by you and in awe of you! @donghaian @whatsintheboxmh @heartstringsduet @guardian-angle22 i know there are more i'm so sorry if i've not listed you here!!!

10. everyone in the various fandoms i'm in who have created brilliant works in 2024! i am inspired by your work more than you know <3

2025 - things i want to do (in fandom, in no particular order)

1. read more, and read more broadly. expand my horizons a bit. read things that are a touch outside my go-to zones just to test the waters. read stuff by new authors!

2. spend time co-writing because that's actually my favourite thing to do. i have some things in the pipeline with a couple of people which i hope work out!

3. finish. the. damn. fic. (eurotrip). IT'S SO FREAKING CLOSE.

4. spend more time with my 2019-2021 beloveds - alex and henry. write more rwrb fic. engage in the fandom a bit more.

5. finish the ring-in 2.0 within 1 month of the LS finale (weep).

6. take one hand off the wheel with fandom relationships - my therapist tells me i need to stop trying to control how everyone feels about me and instead let people show me the kind of friendship they're interested in maintaining. scary because i think i may lose some people along the way but OH WELL WE BALL.

7. worry less about the engagement! god! i need to stop looking so much! *shakes fist at self*

8. write a little more regularly with less word count expectations.

9. learn how to be okay with smaller comments (from myself). sometimes i feel terrible if i don't write a damn essay but sometimes it stops me from reading which is horrible!

10. be a better fandom contributor than i was in 2024 - i think continuous growth is important and i'm always open to feedback (as long as it's constructive and genuine)! my mission is to always make a positive contribution and to make people feel good about themselves, and if i can even do that for one person in 2025, i think i will achieve this goal.

ty for the 2024 wrapped tags @hippolotamus @rmd-writes @reyesstrand @emsprovisions @nancys-braids @carlos-in-glasses @lemonlyman-dotcom @alrightbuckaroo @strandnreyes @thisbuildinghasfeelings @whatsintheboxmh @heartstringsduet @firenati0n @cha-melodius. you are real ones! consider this a tag back if you would like to do a 2024/2025 10 things edition.

[chickycherrycola]

snippet sunday - fullmetal alchemist edition 🔥

a WIP outside of my main fandom? that's currently 4k words long and i actually have a decent chance at finishing? it's more likely than you think 👀 i recently rewatched fmab and it gave me acute Royai brainrot; hence, the birth of this smutty one-shot. i honestly forgot how much i love this series and how much i ship Roy and Riza 😭snippet preview under a cut cause it's a little spicy!

please please please be nice, it's kinda scary posting work for a new fandom but i'm being so brave about it

He’s surging forward to close the space between them before he can think better of it. He’d wanted to do this properly. Had wanted to draw this out, kiss her and unwrap her from her uniform slowly, had wanted to take his time and enjoy her tonight, but— “Colonel—” she gasps. In one fluid motion, Roy’s hand rips his glove out from between her teeth and his lips claim hers with a desperate kiss. He can’t help the low groan that escapes his throat, or the way he presses her body to his, pinning her firmly between his desk and his hips. When he opens the kiss, she moans delectably into his lips, and he swallows the noise all too eagerly. Riza tastes like she always does— like coffee and breath mints and just a hint of lip balm— but even better than how she tastes is how she feels. How she manages to feel so strong, and yet so soft at the same time— her muscular curves against his bare hands, her petal-soft lips against his. He could trace the shape of her in his sleep; no matter how many times they do this, he’ll never tire of the thrill it gives him to let his hands follow the contours of her toned, well-formed body. He knows every curve, every freckle, every blemish upon her skin, knows the exact placement of each of her scars, beneath the crisp layers of the uniform that presently conceals her so modestly.  He needs it off— stripped from her body and discarded on the floor beneath his desk, and suddenly, his hands can’t seem to move to disrobe her fast enough.

ermmm fma moots if you see this and wanna play the snippet sunday game, please feel free! 😇✨

[comfortlesshurt]

2024 Skyler Wrapped

Little 2024 update because my ass can never get enough statistics! (I enjoy the writing, but I fear my true love is math.)

Anyway, skip this post if it will bother you reading about a year of someone else's achievements! I will totally understand. Literally jerkin' myself off under the cut on this post, my dudes.

This year's new fics (in order of date first posted):

Ratings and TWs can be found at the links. Please check the TWs before reading!

09-Jun-2024: 5 Times Lance Doesn't Matter +1 Time He Finally Does (my first fic after an 18-month break!)

01-Jul-2024: Smiling 'cause you're used to it (a house that's always haunted) (first fic where I truly let myself go wild & write for my own dick & no one else)

03-Jul-2024: Chemicals, chemicals in my brain (where'd you go, where'd you go anyway?) (first time writing the fluffy part & enjoying it)

01-Aug-2024: Nowhere to call home (so I'll pack and run away) (first time completing a writing challenge on time)

10-Sep-2024: What are you wondering? (What do you know?) (I hate this one actually, but I wrote it this year so we'll just give it..... shortest fic I've written in AWHILE)

15-Sep-2024: On it, yes, indeed (on it, watch me bleed) (ugh opposite problem... I loved this one! but there's nothing really standout about it, I guess. just accept that I love it even if it doesn't have a Special Thing)

14-Oct-2024: 5 Times Keith Relies on the Blade +1 Time... (first time creating something to celebrate a fictional character's birthday. also first OCs with more than one line of dialogue, I think)

07-Dec-2024: With talk of love (as I make-pretend) (first work for a gift exchange! whole new scary experience for me!)

22-Dec-2024: Maybe this thing works out (if I'm lying too) (longest thing I have EVER written and shared. the inspiration for this thing is endless, I fear)

Stats I thought were interesting:

I wasn't actually back in fandom until June 3rd, 2024, so all the AO3 stats are based on the difference between my snapshot of that date and my snapshot on December 31st, 2024. Not a huge difference; it's just chopping out all the January through June interaction with my Spider-Man stuff that was already up since the last time I took a stats snapshot before that was 2021.

Published in 2024: 92k words, all VLD!

Written in 2024 but not yet published: 188k words, also all VLD

General new stats in 2024: 128 new work subs (we're so back), 20k new hits, 1.2k new kudos, 94 new comment threads (and i happy screamed at every single one), & 339 new bookmarks (and i crept through every single one with comments or tags attached... like a creep...)

New finished works: 7

New unfinished works: 2

Top artist for title lyrics this year: Those Who Dream at 16 unique titles (1 work title & 15 chapter titles)

Word count range for 2024 published fics: 527 (complete snippet) to 26k (WIP)

Most common additional tags: Keith-centric, POV Keith, Hurt/Comfort (these are surely surprising to you....)

Number of times I used the word 'just' in published & unpublished fics this year: 993 (0.355% of all words I wrote were this word.......)

Other milestones: first time writing someone who was Not My Blorbo and having fun with it, first time writing without it being an escape from something terrible, first shipfic, first time participating in a fandom event where there would be Consequences if I'd backed out, first explicit content posted on my main account, closest I've ever gotten to finishing NaNo* with one single project, first time c*mm*ssioning art for my fics, first time learning you have to censor the word c*mm*ssion to avoid getting scam bots in your tumblr DMs (just a huge milestone year actually)

New word count for this year technically doesn't beat my previous record of 315k in 2021, but 1) I was only employed full-time for 5 months of 2021 so I had way more free time then and 2) I didn't write a single word in 2024 before June 3rd, so 280k in 7 months of 2024 feels like a lot more than 315k in 12 months of 2021.

Also since literally no one IRL cares, some non-writing achievements I'm also proud of for 2024! Going in rough order from earliest in 2024 to latest:

Quit the most abusive job I've ever experienced

And immediately got my first job in my intended career field

Finally coded an AO3 stats tracker after 6 years of having it in the back of my mind

Grew my first ever eggplant (it was very small....)

Paid off my car

First semi-solo business proposal presented with a base price totaling more than all of the bids combined that I supported over 2 years at my last job

Made new friends I love <3

Acquired an unquenchable thirst for vld merch....

Went to my first con

And finally as of today, I'm under 89% of my original mortgage balance & on track to own this thing in half the original loan term! (praying this series of words doesn't wake up the sugar daddy bot again, he LOVES when I discuss my mortgage)

Also, some shoutouts for the year! In order of when we first met:

@zelandiangelo for being one of the few OGs I know still around and always being so nice to talk to and supportive. ;_; In case anyone's forgotten, they're the one who convinced me to write and post my first ever hurt/comfort fic and sucked me right back into fandom after I'd been clean for like... six years at that point.

For the record, there are other OGs and I'm glad to see them around! We're just not as close (but you can change that in 2025 ;) )

@hurtwithabitofcomfort for also being crazy supportive through all the fandoms I've been through. I didn't get to shout 'em out last year since I wasn't active on Tumblr then, but they're the one who kicked off me getting back into writing in 2023. I know I didn't SHARE anything from 2023, but they made me see how much I loved writing again around that time when the rest of my life kinda sucked and I was giving up on everything.

@perpetuallylatetothefandomparty for their incredibly nice comments! Deadass, I probably would've just posted my first one or two fics of this year and disappeared for another year or two if they hadn't been such a constant presence this summer, hyping up all the gen fics I was working on then.

@voltrohgodwhat for being so easy to talk to and being the kind of friend where either of us can like... disappear for a month and still be totally cool with each other. Also for sharing WIPs that still haunt me on a weekly basis because they're so unique and good ;_;

@existwound for being too intimidatingly cool for awhile but STILL hyping me up. If you've liked anything I've posted in the past three months or so, you've probably got Astra to blame for brainstorming it with me, letting me ramble about it, giving me fresh ideas when I'm stuck on something, or hyping it up.

@langst for always yapping to me about Klance and ALSO hyping up my WIPs and letting me ramble about ideas. Also special shoutout to El because she got me back into writing sprints and that is the source of a LOT of this recent word count. There is something so special about getting to stomp people's asses as you write.......

I'm not gonna harass all the writers I like who aren't like... people I talk to regularly, but even though this has been a VERY light reading year for me, there's a whole little list of VLD writers who I read over and over and like... instantly got motivation to write on my own fics afterward. If you've been in any of my 2024 fic rec lists, it's you... you are my motivation....

(Also, I am OLD and don't have my incredible teenage memory anymore, so if you see me add someone to the shoutouts later, no you didn't and I'm SORRY for not remembering in the first place.)

And final thing! Goals for 2025!

500k written in 2025: Just a little above my daily average in 2024 when you account for the 5 months I wasn't writing this year. The goal is to keep up the pace I've had since June 2024, but extend it through the full 12 months of 2025. Might be a bit of a reach but hey, I'll be happy to get anywhere near 500k in a year, so it works!

Start posting In Love and Death by the end of 2025: I'm running SO behind on where I thought I'd be with this project when I started, but there is no excuse for this to not be close enough to finished to start posting by the end of next year. Mark my words.......

Continue posting work I love: I fell out of habitually writing the last time because I was writing based on what I thought other people wanted to read and holy shit, it is so much easier to write what I want to read. So I'm gonna keep doing that in 2025. In 2024 we moved between gen whump, semi-shippy whump, and shippy non-whump, and I enjoyed them all because that was what I felt like writing at the time. I'll slide between them all as I feel like it again in 2025.

Prioritize my mental health online: I've mostly gotten through it fine, but every burst of bad mental health that affected my writing this year was a direct result of continuing to follow people who are just plain assholes and ruining my mood for no good reason when I'm trying to enjoy scrolling my dash. In 2025, I'll be reminding myself more often that no one is talented enough to make up for being a dick, and I will be more brutal with the unfollow and block buttons for anyone who's making my fandom experience worse.

[kimium]

Hey friend! For the writing ask: 1, 7, 8, and 25!

(From this ask HERE)

Thanks for the ask, @m34gs! I am excited to talk about my fics for 2022! I hope you enjoy my answers, friend!!!

1.What's something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out? Would you do it again?

Recently I've been writing snippets, experimenting with ideas that don't quite have a full story, but want to try writing anyways. In my first series of Warming Up (in Snippets) Chapter Ten, The Blue Bottle I experimented and wrote in present tense.

I think it turned out well. I liked the tone and narration Shouichi provided. Somehow, writing in present tense makes me feel more involved in the action as the narrator. I'd absolutely try writing in present tense again!

7. What fic meant the most to you to write?

There are two answers here and I hope no one minds me cheating a little.

The first fic that meant the most for me was my Serial Killer AU SDR2 fic Working Relationship. This fic was a soft redo of an older fic Steal Your Tongue. Any time I revisit ideas I feel a sense of nostalgia in my heart. I remember writing Steal Your Tongue. I remember where I was when I wrote it. To revisit the idea feels like I'm paying homage to an idea. It's a little silly, but in a way it allowed me to see how far I've come as a fanfiction writer.

The second fic that meant the most to me was my first Twisted Wonderland fic, The Small Things that Don't Align. It is always scary to write and post for a new fandom. What are the fans like? What sort of fics do people write about the fandom? Will my ideas stand out? Those thoughts always plague me despite years of writing fanfiction. Of course, I enjoy writing the fic, but my enjoyment is only a percentage of the reason why I write fanfiction. Posting it is a huge part too and I always want that to go over well!

8. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Without a doubt the fic that made me the happiest was my second Twisted Wonderland fic, Comfortable Bed(s). I was so excited to write that fic I wrote majority of it one Saturday afternoon/evening. All the while I was internally Panicking because here I was in my second Twisted Wonderland fic and I was writing Every Main Dorm Member. Still, the sheer joy of writing all the scenarios and ordering which dorm went next was such a delight. I'm very happy with the fic!

25. What's something you want to write in 2023?

In 2023 I want to write:

-More Twisted Wonderland. Yeah, I'm deep into the fandom now and I really enjoy writing for it. In particular I hope to write a Vil/Rook fic, but I always enjoy writing Yuu ft. The dorms.

-A Bleach fic. I've been a fan of Bleach since the first episode dropped all those years ago. I actually attempted to write a Bleach fic in 2015-2016, but I never posted what I wrote. However, now with TYBW arc animated, I might find the right Bleach fic idea.

-A multi-chaptered FE Fates fic. Honestly, the last time was in 2021 with Searching (and Falling) Through Dimensions. I have to do something else. Not sure what yet, but I'd like to try another long term project.

-Speaking of FE Fates, I want to write more Anankos/Trio fics. I want to do this because I'm deep in this silly ship and I need to drag more people down with me.

-Another post SDR2 multi chaptered fic. Listen. The last time I took a deep dive into the cast's psyches over multiple chapters was in 2016. I have different ideas and interpretations. I have a better grasp of the characters. I think 2023 might be the year I write this multi-chaptered fic.

-Lastly, maybe, just maybe if I get permission I can write at least one (1) idea from the vast list of Bar AU ideas. Because we call the AU "our AU" but I've done nothing except bounce ideas and add to that secret USB drive.

[hereisisa]

I will not watch the documentary but my friend @99884321​ did and told me everything I should know about it. All credit goes to her. This post covers the first 3 episodes out of 6.

This documentary is extremely well made (unlike the movie) and shows the blood sweat tears of everyone involved. There are good things, especially about the beautiful animation, and it shows how everyone put so much work and passion into it! It’s actually enjoyable. But they were misguided in their passion. One or 2 wrong ideas throw them completely off base. Jenn takes the final decision so in the end it’s her merit/fault.

- Jenn wanted to call “Show Yourself” “I’m home”, she wanted to change the whole songs to Elsa finding her "home" in the glacier, but the Lopezes were opposed because it was too similar to “Let it Go”, where Elsa’s home becomes the ice castle, so they convinced her to tie it to the lullaby, so this is how the voice became Iduna’s voice. The focus of “Show Yourself” is on the voice showing itself, and helping Elsa transform into her new self and find her power, BUT the glacier = home idea still stands. It’s simply not the focus of the song. In fact...: - there’s a whole segment about how the blue colors of the glacier reminded them of Elsa and how this is her home now tho. So even if they didn’t change the lyrics of SY into something more specifical, the idea behind it stays the same:

Jenn says the glacier would make Elsa feel like coming home. Her ice connecting with ice that was thousands of years old. Ice that was of nature fully It would speak to her and be an emotional experience. Elsa’s home is the glacier, she lives there. When Chris Buck said it time ago I wondered if he really meant it, now I know they do. This is what they had in mind.

At least a part of the fandom can stop saying she lives in the forest and she has another family now. She is alone, in a glacier.

- This is an image of Elsa seeing her future self. To me she looks like a ghost...

This is what they wanted of Elsa, a supernatural spirit with nothing human who lives alone in a glacier with nothing but memories.

She traded the company of her sister’ for her dead mother’ voice. Tell me about mommy issues! lol

- “See the sky” was a Northuldra/Mathias song they cut. All they said about “See the Sky” was that it was supposed to put pressure on Elsa to sacrifice herself for these 2 groups of people (Arendelle soldiers and Northuldra) but it didn't land the way they wanted it to during a screening so they cut it. Also Anna wasn’t part of the story, she was there at the end of the song but the focus was “Elsa is here to save the Northuldra and the arendellian soldiers”, so that’s another reason for them to cut it.

They had questions about how “See the Sky” contributed to the tone of the movie and played some snippets of the song. Something about how words and weapons do no good and Elsa was the answer to the riddle they searched for but she's just one person, and Anna was excluded. So they cut it.

- Yet Anna is completely excluded from the Elsa-Iduna story.

They said that’s what they wanted: Show Yourself is about Elsa and Iduna. Anna is out.

- A nice elsanna comment from Rachel Wood, she said these 2 girls have overcome the worst that life has to offer because they have each other. She should have said they HAD, since they wanted to turn Elsa in a ghost who lives in a glacier.

- Anna’s song: KB did not talk about codependency at all , just moving one step at the time. She talked about her depression and anxiety and how this works for Anna, and Chris Buck’ son.

So far the documentary is good, and everyone one who worked on it did technically a good job....but those 1-2 wrong ideas fucked up the whole thing for me, @99884321​ (and others).

My idea is that it’s obvious they didn’t understand Elsa and why people love her. (most) people loved her cause she was relatable, a shy and awkward queen who overcame her insecurities to rule her people and took control of her magic.

Instead they made her even less relatable. :(

The main idea, IMO, was: let’s get her out of the way cause Anna has to be Queen. Elsa will be perfectly at home in a scary glacier with nothing but memories, right? It’s blue like her dress! yay! While all her world was Anna. Anna was her home and should still be.

I feel like they wanted one sister as human, queen, alive, and the other as spirit, ghost, magical being. And I really really really hate it.

So congrats on the hard work, but jesus christ WHY??? WHY???

@99884321​ let’s rant about part 2 once you’re done watching it all, ok? :D And thank you so much for the recap!

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with MaybeAmanda

MaybeAmanda has been a longtime participant in X-files fandom. She has 29 stories at Gossamer, the earliest being archived there in 1998 and the latest in 2012. I've recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including "Malus Genus" and "Snow in Alabama." Big thanks to MaybeAmanda for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

It does, in a way.  The feedback I get nowadays is either of the "I read this like 20 years ago and I just read it again" variety or the "I was too young back in the day but I have been watching the show in reruns/on XYZ streaming service/on the full-series of DVDs I got for $3 from the thrift store and I was THRILLED to discover fanfiction was being written even in the Dark Ages!" So it's a bit of a surprise, but it's a pleasant one. I answer every mail/comment because my mama raised me right!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

It was great. It was fun. It was educational. It was a godsend. Even with the occasional bouts of back-stabbing and flame-throwing, it was mainly a welcoming, inclusive place to be. I made so many online friends who have turned into meat-friends (do they still call them that? Probably not).  During the first run of the show I had small children and we had relocated for my husband's job.  I had very little social life, but the fandom gave me a chance to meet and connect with people who liked what I liked. Then I discovered online fanfic, and it was even better!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

ATXC I think.  A lot of email lists - 5 or 6 or 7 or so over the years. Gossamer, of course, Ephemeral when that came into being.  Haven discussion boards. My own websites.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

More than anything?  I am a fangirl.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I have always been partial to sci-fi and speculative fiction, but it rarely makes it to the screen - large or small - without being trite, clichéd, or just plain bad. It's easy to forget that The X-Files was groundbreaking - smart, scary, funny, insightful, intriguing, complex plots, on-going mythology. It looked great. It sounded great. David Duchovny was pleasant to look at, too, and damn! Gillian Anderson is/was one hell of an actress.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I found XF fanfic - somehow - probably by accident, or by way of a recommendation - and it blew my mind.  I had written fanfic (of a sort) with my friends in highschool, so I was familiar with the beast, but to find what amounted to excellent story after excellent story for free within (relatively) easy reach (because dial-up, right?) written by people who, for the most part, were thrilled you read their story and were happy to talk to you about it, about writing in general, about your shared obsession - that was amazing. As I am sitting here typing this I am feeling that thrill again - discovering Karen Rasch, Madeliene Partous, Paula Graves [Lilydale note: AKA Anne Haynes], Sheryl Martin and all the other early BNFs was, well, the only word is exciting. I felt like I was a member of a secret society and that I was sitting at the popular kids lunch table, all at once. (Don't forget, in the early days, shippers were considered delusional outliers - seriously!)

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Good?   It's not as lively a place as it once was, but I haven't renounced my citizenship or anything. If I get a rec, I check it out. I know there are those who like to pretend they never had anything to do with the fandom, but why? I am still a proud XPhile.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Angel (a teeny tiny bit) while XF was still running, but those fans were - I don't know the word.  Hardcore does not begin to do it justice. I wrote two short pieces at a friend's request then backed away slowly. Sherlock (a bit) - it is/was very LJ centred and that made it hard to find things. A lot of it moved to tumblr which made it harder, then to twitter, which - no.  I was involved in one of the less fashionable facets of the Sherlock fandom, so I was really a fringe-dweller there, too. It seemed clique-ier than XF, and they all seemed so young, and they all knew EVERYTHING about everything, and every damned thing was political, and, and, and... GET OFF MY LAWN!

But maybe I am remembering the XF fandom wrong. ;)

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Like, all fiction? Mulder and Scully for sure. Arthur Dent. Sherlock Holmes in most of his incarnations. Spock. Winnie the Pooh. Why do I like them?  They speak to me, I guess.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I haven't watched an episode in probably two years (back when it was on regular tv).  Yeah, I think about them surprisingly often.  Story ideas, weirdly.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic?

I finished re-reading The Iolokus Series a couple of weeks back, so yes.  It's excellent comfort reading.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Lots! But as far as authors go, I hate playing favourites. I will miss someone I shouldn't and feel like crap.  The Iolokus Series by MustangSally and Rivka T. is probably my all-time favourite fic because it's so very well-written, and so very fucked-up. Kipler's Strangers and the Strange Dead is also terrifically well-written and clever. For complex, interesting case files, you can’t beat syntax6 - pick any of them.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Oh geez. Seriously? I wrote a lot of collaborations and I love them - and my co-authors - all!  Stuff I wrote on my own: Anniversary Waltz (first XF fic I wrote so it's sentimental.) Or Blue Patches. Or Epiphany. Or The Gifts of the Magi (On a Kaiser Roll). Or 221XF.  Gonna stop now.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story?

Every time I thought I wouldn't, I did. I would never say never.

Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Nothing finished ever went un-posted. All the unfinished stuff remains unfinished.

Do you still write fic now?

Haven't for a while, but it's not as if I have said "I SHALL NEVER WRITE FANFIC AGAIN!" I just have nothing in the works at this moment.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

With fic, it's usually from canon - some question unanswered, some road unexplored, some "what if?" that needs iffing.  With "original" fiction, damned if I know.  A snippet of overheard conversation, an interesting photo, something a random story generator spit out at me.  Sometimes things just click.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Okay so...many years ago I was on a (smallish) fic list with a friend.  There was a challenge posted - a bad fic challenge. We knew we could write some truly bad fic if we really tried.  One of the rules of the challenge was to post under an assumed name so no one would know who they were voting for. Well, my friend and I wrote something truly, painfully horrid and we were very proud of its ghastliness, so were brainstorming possible pseudonyms. She hated everything but had no real suggestions of her own.  I knew that she was a bit of a Trekkie (like me) and I said - What about Amanda Greyson and Joanna McCoy?  And she said  - What?? Huh?? Why?? And I said - Spock's mother and McCoy's daughter and she replied, "Maybe Amanda is Spock's mother but on Star Trek there is not a Joanna." By this point, I was SO DONE, and I became MaybeAmanda and she became NotJoanna. Really.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

It took years for me to admit it, but yeah, they know.  They didn't entirely get it.  The reactions I most often got were:

"Ew! You write stuff without being forced?? Ew!!"

or:

"Is it smut? I bet it's just smut. You write smut, don't you? Pure filth, right? I can't believe you are wasting your time writing pornography! That's disgusting! You sicken me! Um, can I read some of it?"

And of course:

"If you are going to write anyway, why don't you get published and become fabulously wealthy?"

which is really two questions, neither of which is easily answerable.

Anyone who tracked my work down (because I told them I wrote, but not my pseudonym) usually said something like, "Hey! You're an okay/passable/decent writer! Why don't you get published and become fabulously wealthy?"

Yeah.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Same old email (maybe_a@rocketmail_dot_com). Gossamer, my site, my LJ and probably some other places.  I can't lie - it's a bit scattered.

(Posted by Lilydale on August 4, 2020)

[ravenclaw-questions-gone-writing]

Trope Snippets

Summary: Sneak peeks into a Maribat fic that I’m working on and may never post. Easily subject to change as I sort through the plot bunnies. Following no particular time line. On my Ao3: TiredFictionGate

Chapter 1 There is me, Zio

“Lila Rossi?” Adrian asked.

Marinette nodded, rubbing her temples in an attempt to relieve her headache. “In the show, she lied for attention. I don’t know much about her. She only showed up in the first season once, but from what I picked up from the fandom, she threatened and bullied canon Marinette in the following seasons. I don’t know how much of that is fanon though. Something about chameleon salt… I think that might have been an episode name.” Marinette bit her lip. “I’m not too certain, really.”

Adrian hummed. “So how big of a threat is she?”

“Apparently she was willing to work with Hawkmoth to get what she wanted, like willingly and not just brainwashed in the heat of negative emotion. I’d say she’s a goon level minor annoyance. If I recall correctly, all she does is lie and throw tantrums when things don’t go her way.”

“Well, we’ve already dealt with Hawkmoth, so what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know.” Marinette frowned, fiddling with her bracelet. “Just a bad feeling, I guess.”

“Like scary magic intuition bad feeling?”

Marinette huffed and rolled her eyes. “Just keep your guard up. Things aren’t canon anymore, if they ever were, but that doesn’t mean things will be peaceful.”

“Things are never peaceful with us.” Adrian muttered as he opened the door to their classroom for them. Marinette hooked their arms together, ready to begin their dating charade.

Their classmates were clustered around two unfamiliar people.

“Oh gods, there’s two of them,” Marinette groaned quietly as she buried her face into Adrian’s arm. No wonder her instincts had been going off all morning, giving her the massive headache she was dealing with right now.

“Hey dudes,” Nino called. “Glad you guys aren't too busy making out to get to class on time.”

“Hey Nino, who are they?” Adrian asked, eyeing the two unknowns behind his bright smile.

“New students,” Alya beamed at them, excited to spread news.

“They’re twins!” Rose chirped.

“Hi, I’m Lila.” the female twin greeted, giving Marinette a politely dismissive look and zeroing in appreciatively on Adrian.

“Fabrizio. Just call me Zio,” the male twin smiled, his eyes sweeping calculatingly over the two reincarnators and lingering on Marinette in a predatory way.

“You expected there to be one Rossi, but you were wrong, there is me, Zio.” Marinette mumbled into Adrian’s ear, trying to ignore her growing headache. Could they be any more obvious?

Adrian choked on air and turned away as he attempted to cover up his laughter as a coughing fit. “Mari!” he hissed, sending her a glare with no heat.

Marinette gave Adrian a cheshire’s grin before turning back to their two new classmates and giving them a customer service smile that was so natural only Adrian could tell the difference. “I’m Marinette and that’s my boyfriend Adrian. It’s nice to meet you two.”

“Sickeningly sweet as always,” Alya cooed teasingly.

“Marinette’s the class president and big sister, if you need anything, just go to her.” Alya explained needlessly.

“Hey, doesn’t Zio mean uncle in Italian?” Adrian asked.

Fabrizio gave a short chuckle. “Yeah, I was something of an older brother for my old class too, kind of like you.” He said, giving Marinette a playful wink. “But they called me uncle because it’s already in my name.”

Marinette gave him a polite nod, customer service smile still on her face. “How interesting! I’m sure you’ll fit in just as well here.”

Thankfully Bustier came in and the class dispersed and went to their seats. Marinette was seated in the back and away from either of the Rossi’s who apparently liked to sit up front.

-

“There’s something off about them,” Adrian commented once they’d made it to their hero hideout that they still didn’t have a name or code for. “They’re magical aura is too strong for people without cores. Or is that a twin thing?”

“Twins with magic have a habit of either cancelling or amplifying each other’s powers. So yes, it’s probably the twin thing. What I thought was interesting is that it doesn’t feel completely human in nature.” Marinette answered, taking notes on the things she’d noticed about the Rossi twins before she forgot them. “An atavism, I’m guessing.”

“Magical creature blood, abilities, and no training.” Adrian nodded. “That’s not a good combination. On the bright side, they’re probably not even aware they have magic and they definitely can’t use it if they haven’t formed a core.”

“A fairly safe assumption but there is a chance they could learn and figure it out on their own.” Marinette tapped her pencil against the pages of her notebook. “We should figure out what they’re descended from to prepare...” She words devolved into mumbling over her notes.

Adrian huffed. “You’re being paranoid. They’re just kids.”

Marinette stopped tapping as she pursed her lips and gave her partner a dirty look.

He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the bookshelves. “Yes, yes. I know. Be prepared for anything. Don’t underestimate someone based on their age, gender, alignment, or anything else.”

“They won’t be kids forever.”

Adrian sighed but despite his misgivings, he gave his own observations. “I’m certain their magic has a connection with the moon but it’s not a moon alignment. It’ll take a while to sort through the possibilities but I’m positive that what they use is metaphysical in nature.”

Fortune telling, illusions, mind reading, mind control, hypnotism, puppeteering… that sort of thing.

“And that Fabrizio kid is the stronger twin.”

Marinette nodded, she’d noticed that too. “At least they’re not descended from Selkies, the magic doesn’t feel quite like that special signature combination feeling. I can’t rule out Sirens though.”

“Thank the gods,” Adrian muttered. Selkies were a pain to make enemies of as their songs could neutralize or strengthen certain kinds of magic. Sirens, while more vicious, were far more manageable.

“I know you’re busy planning how to take them down but don’t you think we should train them or something?” Adrian asked. “Untrained magic users can be pretty dangerous.”

“I'm biased but they seemed to me like the kind of people who would abuse power. Trained magic users willing to abuse their powers, particularly when dealing with mind magics, seem far more dangerous, if you ask me.”

Marinette sighed and leaned back into the couch she sat on. “But I’ll leave it up to you to decide if they should be trained but please learn what kind of people they are before you make that decision. Watch them for two months, at the very least.”

Adrian nodded.

“And ask the Beaumont's, the Li’s and Father for advice.” Marinette ran a hand through her hair. “You should also-”

“Marinette,” Adrian stressed. “I get it, I’ll be careful. Stop worrying.”

“Telling me to stop worrying isn’t going to make me stop.” she hissed. Nevertheless, she forced herself to relax.

This was actually written a while ago, when I wanted an eviler Rossi than Lila.

-

In this fic, Lila's basically a minor inconvenience because reincarnated Marinette used to be and sometimes still is worse than Lila when it comes to manipulations and the like. So I needed someone worse than Lila to be the bad guy and since Adrian is also a reincarnator, it can't be Adrian salt. So I made Fabrizio the magical stalker creep to pick up the slack. He's where I was going to shove all the Adrian salt, but he's since been replaced since I couldn't figure out how to fit him into the timeline. Might save him for another fic.

Sorry the characters are all flat, I was just testing them out.

Chapter 2

[omgdexnursey]

hey again its crisis anon and i'm starting to rly want to try my hand at writing fanfic!! embracing the "fuck it" mentality atm🤪🤙 & i think i have the language aspect of writing down, like i'm good enough at it lol, but i've never written for a fandom before so its kind of daunting :( if its not an inconvenience i'd love to know if u have any tips!!

sorry on the lateness of this reply!! i’ve been thinking about this ask pretty much since i got it.

(this got kinda long oops i hope this is useful)

first and foremost, i would say that when deciding to write fic: write the stories you want to read. that is absolutely essential to fic writing because if you aren’t inspired by a story or it’s not something you’re all that interested in, chances are it’s either a) not gonna be all that great because you weren’t invested in it or b) it’s not gonna get finished because you’ll get bored of it. also, while i do write because i love the community aspect of it and i love people commenting and sharing my stories and talking about them, the core of my writing stems from me wanting to write and getting excited about a story i think is really cool. sometimes i think: am i really going to write this stupid au that no one else cares about and the answer is usually yes because I want to write it and therefore to me, it’s a story worth telling. this also applies if you’re writing a story you feel has already been done a million times - even if it has, it’s never been told by you 

second: be patient with yourself. if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that my tag for posts about writing and its struggles is “writing is hard” and it is! sometimes i start stories, get only a little bit of the way into it and then think of a new story and start writing that instead. it’s totally okay (and not unusual) to bounce around in fics, especially if you’re stuck, because otherwise it’ll start feeling less like a fun hobby and more like a chore to finish. i have fics i started over a year ago, or haven’t worked on in months because i got stuck, and a lot of times i find that after working on something else or just giving my mind time away from it, i’ll think of a scene that i want to add or how to get around where i’m stuck. sometimes i open up a doc that’s been there for months, write one sentence i thought of, and then leave it again. 

(as an add-on: writing is not linear! sometimes i know how i want a fic to end or start or just one event that happens somewhere in the middle and nothing else, and i start by writing the parts that inspired me to write it, then build around it.)

writing is also very fluid. by that i mean there’s so many times i’ve gone into a fic with an idea that is the core of the fic only to get partially or completely through writing it and realize that i want to change it in some way or go in a different direction than when i first started, so don’t be afraid to reshape an idea you originally had.

on a practical level, if you have an idea, write it down somewhere. there have been so many times that i’ll just randomly have an idea pop into my head and i’m like trying to fall asleep or i’m doing something else and i foolishly tell myself that i’ll remember it later so i don’t need to write it down now. (you might be able to guess - i do not remember a lot of them) i have notes on my phone that have just like lines of dialogues or the outline of a scene and some of them don’t really mean anything from the outside (ex. from a note about an artist au i have in progress: “dex wakes up and nursey’s painting - it’s really late”) just something for you to read and remember what you wanted from it.

also, don’t completely delete scenes if you want to take them out of a fic. i have a document titled “random unused ideas” and part of it is just scraps of ideas referenced in the above paragraph, and some of it is scenes i’ve taken out of fics but don’t want to get rid of because they might come in handy in other fics. i just recently decided to take a bunch of the snippets of scenes i had and put them into one fic to be worked on in the future. i also like to make an adjacent doc to put scenes in just in case i want them back in the fic i was writing. so for example, when i was writing “under the summer sun with you” i had a doc titled “fishing trip au extras”, and there was an entire scene i ended up taking out but i had in that doc because i wasn’t sure yet if it was going to make the final cut. (now it’s in my general “random unused ideas”)

finally, if you can, find people to talk to about writing. i get so excited when people want to talk about my stories and my friends here bounce ideas back and forth, which has helped me work around some of the roadblocks i’ve encountered. 

hope this helps and if you do write good luck!!! my inbox + messages are always open and i love talking about writing!! it’s scary and challenging but if you find that you enjoy it, that’s really what matters!

[gallickingun]

You're one of the first blogs I found coming into the fandom and lemme just say your writing is freaking amazing!!! 💕😍 As a new writer going into the fandom, do you have any tips and tricks you wish you would've known when you first started?

Ah, thank you so much! I’m so happy to have been one of your firsts! 💖

Hmmmmmmmmm, let’s see. Honestly, mainly connecting with people! I was scared shitless of @lady-bakuhoe​ until I started talking to her and realized she was a dweeb. But the chances are, your “favorite writer” isn’t nearly as scary, or busy, as you think they are. And most of the writers in this fandom are really kind, and just want to see others succeed! 

Recognize that you aren’t a bother, not a burden. And if someone sees you as such, then it’s likely you didn’t need to bother with them in the first place. Find and cultivate friendships that will encourage you and push you to do better, to always hone your craft and expand your vocabulary! I’m really lucky to know the people I know (looking at you @k-atsukidayo​) and they are ever so graceful in helping me, reminding me that I’m not a total garbage person all the time.

Use the tagging system correctly, and spell their names with the additional letters like it is in the manga/japanese versions. You won’t get nearly as many people to notice your fic if you call him “Bakugo” in the tags. And if you want to write it as Bakugo or Shoto in the fic, then feel free to do so, but make sure you add the ‘u’ in the tags! When people are browsing, those are the tags they go for, i.e. bakugou katsuki x reader and todoroki shouto x reader. Recognize that it’s your FIRST FIVE TAGS that count. So make sure it’s those that you are most impactful with. And also realize that tumblr’s algorithms are garbage and sometimes it doesn’t even matter how you tag it, so take that how you will.

Just. Keep. Writing. And don’t be afraid to try out the “minor” characters, even if you don’t fully understand them. Trust me, no one does. Does anyone know exactly how Kaminari would be with a girlfriend? No! No one really knows how any of these kids would be with a significant other, not truly. Which leads me to my next point-

Don’t worry too much about OOC. We can guess based off of their personality traits that are displayed to us in the show and the manga, but we don’t know every character to their fullest and truest selves, only Horikoshi knows that. Now granted, we know that Bakugou has a temper and Todoroki is a little shit, but we don’t know what kinks they’d have or whether or not they’d be into PDA. Make those guesses for yourself, and write the characters in a way that makes you feel good, feel comfortable. I don’t prefer Bakugou to call the reader a “dumbass” every line, so I don’t have him do that. Instead, I sprinkle it in here and there when I feel he thinks he needs to pretend to be tough. But that’s my own preference and therefore my own decision.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT NOTES. Seriously. Especially with COVID going on, there are so many more silent readers now than before. Just keep writing, regardless of notes, because even if it’s not popular on tumblr, it should be popular to you. And I promise that someone, somewhere, is reading your content, whether or not they’re telling you about it.

If you’re looking for interaction, and you’re of age, I would suggest to add the word “thirst” to your blog description. You can see thirst on Jo’s blog - it’s just short, rambling types of drabbles/blurbs about certain kinks or situations but it gets people interacting and also allows you to do short spurts of writing. That’s not really my thing because I’m a whore for worldbuilding, but there are others (like @kamehamethot​) who do a great job of it! 

I think those are most of my troubles, from what I could remember. I was always too worried that I didn’t know enough about each character, but I said screw it and wrote Moving Target before I’d even watched the show, and the piece did really well. It just goes to show that you don’t have to have read every manga page or listened to every dialogue snippet from the show to write these characters. And don’t be afraid to tag people either! Some blogs may not like it, but others are really just looking for more content! And I love getting tagged in stuff, even if it’s not my cuppa tea. If a blog is uncomfy with you tagging them, chances are they’ll either ignore your posts or reach out to let you know! And don’t take offense to that - each person is in charge of their own experience online, and if they want to adjust their experience by hopping off/on your tag list, it’s your job to respect that. 

Most importantly - don’t react to hate. Just don’t, man. It’s not worth your time and energy. If an ask makes you uncomfortable or you smell that it’s going south, just delete it. What are they going to do to you? It’s tumblr, bruh. 

Oh - AND THAT BRINGS ME TO THE ACTUAL MOST IMPORTANT THING. If you don’t like it, don’t write it. Even if it was a request. If you’re not feeling something, chances are it’s gonna show in your writing. Readers sending in requests will understand if a certain situation doesn’t strike your fancy. I tend to leave my requests in my inbox in the hopes that eventually they’ll excite me, but others just delete them. It’s your blog, your experience, so don’t be afraid to do whatever it is you need to do to make it the best. 

I hope that helped! Please feel free to message me if you need more help! And tag me in anything you write! except deku, that damn nerd.

[loquaciousquark]

a coupla recs

HEY so I’ve been meaning to make this post for a minute, and it just hasn’t happened but TODAY IT DOES. There’s some amazing Fenris/Hawke fic being written RIGHT NOW and while it’s not exactly one of my old big rec posts, I still feel like these people should be getting some props for how good this stuff is.

Fallout From The Fade, by JadeLavellan (@songofsaraneth​ here on tumblr)

Y’all, this fic is one of my favorites in the DA2 fandom. Ever. It is beautiful and extraordinary and excruciating and in many ways like trying to recommend a razor-sharp knife, but every word is so, so worth it. I’ve been following this fic for years and while it’s still definitely in the “all is pain” stage of the story, there’s plenty of moments of hope and relief and even occasionally joy to offset it. More importantly, there’s some glimpses of a possible solution in the latest chapter that have me clutching my hands to my chest just like a kid at Christmas.

It tells the story of a Hawke who’s made it out of the Fade--at a cost that’s slowly killing her post-rescue. Fenris has a major role in the story (in fact, I’d say he’s as vital as Hawke herself), and this piece does a wonderful, painful job of showcasing his loyalty. It’s one of my favorite aspects of Fenris’s personality, and this is basically a masterclass in his characterization through a living nightmare. However, there’s tons of small moments full of romance, lightheartedness, and even laughter that highlight and underline the sheer rock-solid strength of the relationship between these two.

Plus, as an Inquisition-era piece, there are tons of cameos and featured players from all of the Inquisition crew, especially Varric & Dorian. If you want a a fic that will rip your heart out and put it back together again, surrounded impeccable characterization, glorious prose, and a story with high stakes, this is the piece for you. Plus, she just updated with a Brand! New! Chapter! after a long hiatus, which longfic authors know is always scary, so please go give her some love and appreciation on this new amazing chapter!

A Lesson in Drowning, by @theherocomplex

Do you like eldritch horror? Do you like wondering whether or not the main character is slightly mad? Do you like extensive hurt/comfort? Do you like Fenris being a total bamf and also providing unquestioning support throughout the entire process, both before and after certain mysteries are revealed? If so, is this the fic for you!

This is a DA2-era piece that unfolds very, very slowly, and involves a cult (kind of), a couple of seriously insane (and awesome) bad guys, an eldritch horror (see above), a mysteriously ill child, and a secret of Kirkwall’s that may destroy everything within its walls.

Orsino also features heavily in this fic in a way I haven’t seen him used before, and it’s a great exploration of his character both on his own and in relation to Hawke. Hawke herself is spectacular, one of my favorite Hawkes ever, and her relationship with her growing desperation and how she learns to depend on Fenris throughout the impending (possible) madness is a beautiful study on what it means to trust someone.

This is a great, beautiful, thoughtfully written fic that been a labor of love for theherocomplex over many years. It’s still ongoing & she sometimes posts WIP snippets on her tumblr, so it’s very much still actively being worked on. Enjoy, carefully! <3

(has an amazing piano soundtrack by @bettydice​ here!)

The Far Shore, by @aban-asaara​

So this fic is pretty early in its posting schedule (four chapters currently posted), but I can already tell it’s going to be amazing. This is also a completed fic and will eventually have 39 chapters, so she’s posting weekly at the moment as each chapter is ready to go.

This is something aban-asaara has been working on for years, and the labor of love that has gone into it definitely shows. It explores (or will explore) Rivain, as well as the interconnectivity of Isabela, Fenris, and Hawke, and the importance of their relationships to each other. There’s an epilogue of sorts already posted (Song of a Seashell) so we know how it ends, but getting there is promising to be an exciting, tumultuous journey that I can’t wait to see unfold.

The best thing about this is the exploration of a completely different culture; aban-asaara’s prose has always been luxurious and graceful, and the Rivain backdrop gives it a chance to truly shine. The characterization, as always, is pristine, and her Hawke is a charmer.

However, if you can’t wait, aban-asaara has tons of other Fenris/Hawke fic already posted on her AO3, ready to be devoured. The Far Shore also has a piano accompaniment from @bettydice​, here!

I hope this provides some entertaining reading for your Christmas break! <3<3<3

[krisseycrystal]

rated: g

fandom: Steven Universe

prompt: “Protecting Someone You Love” + BisPearl (& Steven)

requested by: @moominquartz

i’ve been on an SU-love-fest i think alskdjflakjsdf trying to write as much as possible for this show that means so much to me now that it’s over i’m so sorry

HERE’S THE OTHER HALF OF THE REQUEST MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND @moominquartz GAVE ME !!! When he first said “write BisPearl” it was a tie between “Protecting Someone You Love” and “Competition” and I already did “Competition,” so now it’s time to finish the duet with “Protecting Someone You Love”

i got really sappy in this but shrug emoji what else is new. ENJOY

- o - o - o -

Instrumental [Read on AO3]

- o - o - o -

The broken stonework of the world bursts into dust and fragments around her. It settles on her tongue and sticks to her throat. Bismuth coughs and hacks to try to get it out, but time is passing strangely and she’s not in full control of her limbs. Reality has been cut and pasted into snippets that reel past too quickly. Consciousness slips in and out of her grasp. Everything seems as flimsy as clouds, which, for the record, is not proper for construction. She’s told the Morganites over and over again: you can’t build a castle on top of sand. Did they listen?

There are birds chirping, twittering, from far away. It tastes like morning. She has always liked the seasonal changes on Earth. Very fitting. 

Ivory keys dance along her shoulders and draw her into a slender chest. Someone is shouting.

Bismuth can’t make out the words. She thinks she wants to reach out to that voice. She thinks she ought to comfort them. She knows them.

“Just hang on!” 

A butterfly has latched onto her hand. It’s funny; she hadn’t even been aware she had a hand until it was held.

Wait. That’s kind of whack. Of course she has hands. How else does she—

“It’s cool,” she tells the butterfly. She lifts her hand to eye level.  “Hey, now. Y’don’t gotta panic. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

“Bismuth? W-what are you���?”

Light bursts into a towering column that swallows them whole. Bismuth’s vision is filled with an alarming clarity, accompanied by the soft popping chime of an activated warp pad, which seems pretty confusing at first, considering that means they’re leaving the place Bismuth thinks they should probably be at.

“Hey,” she tells the butterfly, “The fountain…” 

“Not now, Bismuth.” 

The butterfly lands on her shoulder again as their destination solidifies under their bodies. There’s a breath, another young voice she knows that shouts, “Pearl!” and a rustle of grass.

“Steven! Oh, thank goodness—”

“—It’s okay, Pearl! I got your text! I’m here. Is she—?”

“—yes, she’s a little…”

Bismuth can’t make out what the words that were supposed to follow are. She blinks slowly and the next time she looks, her perfect view of Earth’s blue, blue sky has been eclipsed by pink shoulders and black clouds. 

“Who put that floof there?” she mumbles and reaches up.

A salamander laughs and pushes her hand away before she can move back the black clouds. “Y-yeah, I see what you mean,” the salamander rumbles. He sucks in a sharp breath. “Oh, Bismuth…okay, here we go.” Then, something wet and warm and strange sets itself upon her gem. 

And there’s pink.

And pink.

And pink—

Bismuth gasps upright hard. Her hair flings forward over her face; she shoves it back with a broad hand and winces before she realizes she can’t feel any pain. She’s fine. She feels fine. Her eyes snap to her whole, unblemished gem.

“I—”

“Bismuth!” Pearl’s wobbly voice is her first warning before she’s encircled in thin, white arms. Pearl’s face presses into her shoulder. “Oh thank goodness you’re all right! I was so terrified after…”

“Pearl—” Bismuth’s laugh dries up the instant Pearl pulls back. 

That’s a scary look on her face Bismuth doesn’t think she’s ever seen before.

But Steven, on Bismuth’s other side—hey, she hasn’t seen him in a while; did he get his ears pierced?—winces as if he knows very well what that particular, specific turn of Pearl’s lips mean. “Oh boy,” he murmurs when Pearl opens her mouth.

“Bismuth.”

“P…Pearl?”

“Don’t you dare do that again.”

Clarity is a sharp mirror in Bismuth’s head, replaying the events preceding the wonkiness of the world. Bismuth sets her own mouth in an unhappy slant. 

Steven frets. “Uh, do what again? Guys?”

“I can’t promise you that.”

“Yes! You can! I can take care of myself, Bismuth. I have for millennia.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“When you pull stunts like—like that, you certainly seem to suggest—“ 

“—I was just trying to protect you!”

“And look what it did!” Pearl throws out her hand. “That fusion, whatever she called herself, Charoite? Whatever; she got away! And even worse than that: Rose’s fountain is now in ruins! Gallons of her healing tears, lost! It’s going to take ages for Steven to be able to replenish that, if he even can!”

“Uh, guys?”

Bismuth scowls. “It’s fine, isn’t it? I’ll fix it! It’ll look just as good as it did before. At least that’s something I’m good to have around for, anyway.” 

“What?!”

Pearl’s voice pitches high to a degree Bismuth hasn’t heard in centuries.

Bismuth and Steven’s gazes snap to her. Pearl’s brows are pinched tight on her face, peaking just below her gem. Her pale blues shine under the sunlight peeking through the canopy of leaves high above. She looks hurt and wounded, which is the strangest thing considering that last Bismuth checked, she had done everything she could to ensure that wouldn’t happen.

“Bismuth,” Pearl says and Bismuth has never quite heard her name sound like that before, like someone needed to say it, “this is exactly the problem.”

The sensation of a hand against her cheek is new. Pearl’s touch is gentle. Warm.

Steven’s face softens from worry to something else: something starry-eyed and open-mouthed as he watches them.

“How could you possibly think you matter so little to me?”

“W-what?”

“You honestly think I don’t want you around for more than fixing things? That you’re…”

Bismuth kind of feels like she wants to take back her words, now. Her face is burning, burning, burning. Her stomach has swooped. There’s embarrassment and something giddy rising in her chest all at once. She doesn’t know what to do with it. “Aw, geez, Pearl, nah. I didn’t mean to…”

“Don’t do that again.”

There’s something in the way Pearl’s voice shakes as she repeats her words. Something in the press of her fingers into the edge of Bismuth’s jaw.

Bismuth chuckles, low and quiet. She dips her head. “Pearl, you know I can’t promise you that.”

“No! I don’t know. Why not?”

Aw, stars. Is this the moment? Bismuth would be lying if she tried to say she hadn’t imagined over and over again how she’d confess the big, goopy mess inside her that’s feelings. She could have done big, grand, pre-planned gestures, or small, intimate ones. She always fancied making Pearl something, but could never decide what would be good enough. She never figured the opportune moment would be immediately post-almost making Pearl cry.

But then Pearl looks at her with those big eyes and all that concern and with all that grace in her and Bismuth thinks maybe, well, maybe she’s been thinking too much.

She would just really awfully like to hold her.

“Pearl, I—”

“—aw, just kiss already!”

The tinny voice echoes across the forest clearing, followed by shocked and indignant, “Amethyst!”

Amethyst’s voice cackles loudly from Steven’s phone as he hurriedly jams his thumb over the face of his screen. Just before it clicks off, Amethyst shouts out, “Hah! Hurry, Steve-O! Warp to the temple! Pearl still can’t get into my room; you’ll be safe here!” and Steven’s face is red red red. He stuffs both hands in the pockets of his jacket and shoots to his feet. Quick as he can, he bolts for the warp, shouting, “Sorry!”

The only one perhaps most off-color than all of them is Pearl. She stands, aghast, but by the time she reaches out, the warp pad chimes and a familiar, melodious pillar of light stretches to the sky. 

“Steven! Get back here!”

“For the record: it was Amethyst who video-called m—!” Steven’s voice is cut off before he can finish.

Pearl stares at the place she last saw his red flip flops against the top of the warp pad’s surface.

Bismuth can’t help it. 

She laughs. She laughs and laughs and falls back against the grass, arms spread out in an open invitation to the sky.

Pearl slaps a hand over her face and lets it slowly fall. “Ugh. I’m sorry. Those two can be so insufferable together. They have no concept of personal boundaries whatsoever.”

“Oh, believe me. I know.” Bismuth sits back up once her chuckles have subsided. She props up an elbow on her knee and looks to Pearl with a lazy grin. “I mean, I was just thinkin’: y’know, it’s such a shame Steven probably had to leave his Dondai parked somewhere around here when he came to meet us at this warp pad…it’d be a tragedy if, y’know, somethin’ happened to it while he was hiding…”

Pearl blinks. Slowly, she smiles and presses a hand to her own cheek. “Why, Bismuth! I knew there was a reason I love you.”

And there it is.

And it’s so simple to hear. 

And it’s perhaps the first time Bismuth has ever actually heard the words, which is funny, because after all of her imagining and all of her notions about what this moment would be like: to know that she matters and is cared for reciprocally…she never expected for it to be so unsurprising.

Pearl smiles at her as if she, too, knew exactly what she was saying and wanted it said and had no trouble at all saying it.

It makes Bismuth think maybe, she’s been hearing those words all along, too. Maybe she’s been trying to say them back just as much: throwing herself into harm’s way, trying to protect her, but these are not the ways Pearl wants it said.

“Yeah,” she hums instead. “I love you, too, Pearl.”

[joeys-piano]

Salutations, Old & New Followers

Not sure what happened, but there’s a lot of y’all now. Probably confused about what this blog is actually about because the blog description says one thing. But when you scroll down and see a wall of miscellaneous reblogs dedicated to Pokemon, you’re wondering if this is the right blog for you.

Long story, short: this is a multi-fandom blog.

Every hour and on the hour, this blog will spit out a random post from the queue. The queue is about 4-months long (currently) so who knows what you’ll see~ I have a pseudo-tagging system, meaning that I tag certain things and I don’t tag other things. Which for the newest of y’all, that means Pokemon reblogs don’t get tagged. You’re going to see cute and epic creatures. Y’all will also see cute and epic original and fan art as time goes on.

With that out of the way, let me introduce myself. The name’s Joey. You can refer to me by she/her, he/him, or they/their. It doesn’t matter to me. If a lot of choices make you anxious, you can just refer to me as he/him for simplicity sake. I’ve been a musician for almost 16 years. I’ve been a writer for almost 8. Posted lyrical audios beginning in 2018 I believe, so I guess I’ve been doing some vocal work on the side for nearly 2.

You can find my music on SoundCloud, on here, and even Twitter sometimes. You can find my written work on here, on Twitter, and AO3 of course. Links to those are in my blog description. You’re gonna be okay. Do you need to follow me on Twitter? Not really. I basically do the exact same stuff that I do here. Just less Pokemon and you can find my written snippets and excerpts much more easily there. You’re not missing much if you don’t head to my Twitter. It’s okay.

My favorite animal is the chicken, followed by the tortoise and turtle. You will occasionally see a wall of chicken reblogs. They are tagged. You can blacklist them. You can also blacklist the following tags if you want to keep your dashboard clean: #Joey Speaks, #morning reblog, #afternoon reblog, #evening reblog, #chicken!!!, #tortoise.

That’s all the housekeeping things I have. Overall, I’m a pretty laid back person and I’m blunt/straightforward as Hell. You can message me through asks and DMs. I’m not as scary as I seem, although some mutuals would argue with me on that. I’ve been affectionately described as “prickly goose bastard.”

 Thank you so much for being here, for supporting me, and for reading all of this. Wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and peace out!

[angelofrainfrogs]

tagged by: @dork-empress

Ao3 name: phantomhivemast3r

Fandoms: I've written for over 23 fandoms, but the ones I currently have fics in-progress for are Good Omens, The Bartimaeus Sequence, and Lockwood & Co.

Number of fics: 52 (as of posting this)

Fic you spent the most time on: Uh... the longest fic probably took the longest amount of time, so I'll cheat a little and say that the series I've spent the most amount of time on so far is my Detroit: Become Human Oneshots.

Fic you spent the least time on: Probably If At First You Don't Succeed... I wrote that in like less than 20 minutes.

Longest fic: A now VERY outdated FNAF fic, My New Best Friend is a Murderer.

Shortest fic: A Visit in the Springtime, which is a Bartimaeus Sequence fic.

Most hits: Serendipity, a Good Omens fic where Warlock Dowling reunites with his old caretakers.

Most kudos: Also Serendipity.

Most comment thread: Same as above; Serendipity.

Fave Fic you wrote: There are lots I'd like to put here, but I'd say my current favorite (besides Serendipity) is One Night at the Ritz.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: There are way too many fics that apply, but I'm going to cheat again and pick one that's unfinished and I really want to finish someday, but have currently lost the motivation/train of thought for: MEMORY_CORRUPTED, which is a Detriot: Become Human fic. 

Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea you’re planning: This is a snippet from a Bartimaeus Sequence fic I'm writing; the fic deals with reincarnation, and that's all I'm going to say.

A deep silence filled the study room. The air suddenly felt oppressively hot, and Nathaniel noticed the soles of Bartimaeus' trainers begin to smoke. The magician winced, watching the djinni's face closely, but Bartimaeus was disconcertingly expressionless.

"Um, your feet...," Nathaniel began, but the djinni paid him no mind.

"Elaborate," Bartimaeus said, his golden eyes boring deep into Nathaniel's own.

"I... I was researching downstairs and a boy came up next to me and he looked... Well, it was scary how much he looked like Ptolemy, just a little bit older. He even had those birthmarks on his neck."

I’ll tag... anyone who wants to do this! :D

[klaineharmony]

300x3, 8:02, “Defend”

Good morning! The regular posting schedule for the 300x3 is going well so far! This snippet is, once again, from “We’ll Be There to Defend One Another,” and follows directly on from this piece, this piece, and this piece from yesterday.

I’m going to dedicate this particular snippet to @all-the-lovely-newsies, who loves this story and who cheered me up this morning by being so kind about my work - and when I was having a cranky day about fandom, too. Thank you for being such a lovely person! <3

The way this conversation between Jack and Kath has developed is interesting - parts of it are actually taken from a conversation I wrote for Kath and Davey, and then I decided it fit better here. But in any case, on with the story. :)

As always, I carried over a couple of paragraphs for context. 697 new words.

“I suspected,” Jack nodded. “Sarah would never say it outright; she wouldn’t want me to worry about it, when there’s not a lot I can do. She’s been workin’ in that kind of environment since she was fifteen, Kath; she knows what it takes to keep herself away from the foreman’s attention. It sounds like yesterday was just unlucky. Sarah told me, once, when I asked her how she knew how to punch Morris, that her father taught her some defensive moves to keep her safe - how to throw someone off balance, how to punch them, how to hit them in vulnerable places - enough to get herself away, if she ever needed to. He gave her lessons right before she started working.”

“Mr. Jacobs taught Sarah those things?” Katherine repeated, amazed. 

Jack nodded. “He knew the dangers, and she always has, too. He wasn’t about to let her work without some basic ways to defend herself, and I’m glad she knows as much as she does. But sometimes - sometimes it isn’t enough.”

“I - I just never thought about it, I suppose,” Katherine said, shock still covering her features. “I can’t imagine my father deciding to teach me those things. Men in my father’s circles get away with - liberties, shall we say,” she grimaced, “and occasionally worse, but for most of them it’s just words. They know the social cost of hurting an unmarried woman of their own class - not that they should get away with it with any woman,” she added angrily. “Some of the men hurt their wives, too - I saw enough of the women wearing long gloves or long sleeves out of season, and heard enough talk, to know what they were trying to hide. And the law can’t touch the husbands for it. I suppose the difference is, married men do the damage at home, and foremen go after their women workers. But it’s still the same brutality. Some of the men in the newsroom are bold with me - words again - but I can’t imagine any of them ever trying to -” she broke off and shook her head. “But maybe they would.” 

Kath paused. It made her ill to think about these things - and it should, for heaven’s sake; it should make everyone ill, and furious - but her own privileged existence sometimes blindsided her, and she hated that. She knew men who abused their wives. She knew girls who had been caught in compromising, scary situations, thanks to some suitor’s sense of ownership and entitlement. Girls of her class were chaperoned so heavily that it was relatively rare, but it did happen. But fathers never thought about teaching their girls self-defense - nor mothers, for that matter. The fact that Mr. Jacobs had found it necessary to teach Sarah those skills, however basic, before sending her into a factory workplace, made it so clear how little protection women workers were given. 

“Well, and there are two big differences, Kath,” Jack pointed out quietly. “One is, you have Denton. He’s your friend and your mentor, and he’s got authority over a lot of the junior reporters. I know it probably hurts a little to think that he acts as a shield for you - but he knows that he does, and he’s happy to do it. And two is, there isn’t a reporter in that newsroom who doesn’t know that you’re Pulitzer’s daughter, no matter how messy your relationship with him is.”

“Class and power rear their ugly heads,” Katherine murmured. “And I did know, about Denton - I took him with me to Hell’s Kitchen for a reason, and I know that just by existing, he acts as a protector, a buffer. I’m not a complete fool, and I’m grateful that he does so much for me. But Sarah - until last night, I never thought about what those women must go through, working together and having their immediate boss or some of their male coworkers threatening them. And there are no laws against it, nothing to stop them.”

“No,” Jack sighed. “Nothin’ but what the women themselves can manage to do. And sometimes they can’t do anything.”

“How did you know?” Katherine asked, still carefully. “I can see how you would be able to tell about Sarah, even if she didn’t say anything - but how did you know what happens, more generally?”

Jack smiled grimly. “I spent a lot of time in Medda’s theater when I wasn’t in The Refuge, Ace. Medda has really strict ground rules for her customers, and it’s been better since she became the owner, but she wasn’t always. Under the earlier owners, a lot of the women who worked there got threatened. Or grabbed. Or hit. I used to sit in the dressing rooms and draw, and I’d see them patch each other up, cover up the marks with stage makeup.”

“And the newsies talked,” he added. “The ones who had mothers and sisters who worked in the factories, they would come to get their papes some mornings and want to punch something, ‘cause some factory boss had left bruises. Not that their pas didn’t do the same, sometimes,” he said tiredly, “but when it was the bosses, they couldn’t even try to help.” 

[girl-in-the-library]

Viktor Nikiforov is lonely

It’s time to talk, once again, about Yuri!!! on Ice, because that’s basically all I think about.

We know Viktor is lonely, that’s a fact. But the depth of his loneliness is really hard to grasp, I think.

Some people characterize it as depression. I have, in the past, and I think there’s truth to that as well. But more importantly, I think, is that Viktor feels unanchored in his life, and he’s floating (skating) away.

This is going to get long, so more under the cut.

A lot of people headcanon that, before Yuuri, skating is all Viktor has. And once again, I feel there’s some truth to that. He has Yakov, he has his rinkmates, but we only see Yuri, Georgi, and Mila. Georgi seems too caught up in his own drama (to be fair, we don’t know much about him) and Yuri and Mila are kids. They’re not really friends.

There’s Christophe Giacometti - but I think the fandom overemphasizes their friendship. What I saw, upon my most recent rewatch, was a friend, but more like a “work friend.” Someone to hang out with and get drunk with and maybe even gossip with when they’re together at competitions. But not someone to text or call when he’s lonely. Not someone who he can just talk to about boys. They have fun when they’re together, and that relationship is important to both of them. But they see each other as skaters, competitors, first and foremost. It’s clear that Viktor and Chris haven’t talked since the last time they saw each other when they see each other again at the Cup of China. And sure, they’re both busy with skating and coaching and what have you. But a call between friends is not hard to do, especially in the months after the last skating season, but before Viktor shows up to coach Yuuri. And again, we don’t really know. We don’t know what happened in those months. Maybe they did talk and hang out. But that was not the impression that I got.

Who does that leave Viktor with, then? We don’t know anything about Viktor’s family. We may find out more in Ice Adolescence, or we may not. Viktor has Yakov, who he lived with for a time and trained with (and who is clearly important), and Makkachin. That’s not enough. Viktor has no peers. He is at the top of the world in skating and people love and idolize him, but who does he hang out with? Who does he call at the end of a long day to complain to? Who does he go out for coffee with? Maybe with Georgi, or even Mila - though he seems to only talk to Yuri about skating pre-series. But we don’t know.

Then there’s Yuuri. In spite of him feeling like he was working alone until he met Viktor, there are a lot of people there for him. His family, Minako, Yuuko and Takeshi (even though he clearly hasn’t talked to them since he left Japan), Phichit. He also has acquaintances - like Ketty, who was the one who made him the song back when he was at school and also wrote Yuri on Ice. He said things were awkward between them AFTER he didn’t use her song, but that clearly implies that there was a time where they probably hung out. He also has rinkmates, like the girl who hugged him, and the other rinkmate in the hospital who he was at least close enough to visit there and be anxious about. Even if he wasn’t close with his rinkmates, they seemed to have each other’s backs. But like I said, Viktor has rinkmates too. For Viktor, those are not enough, because that’s all he has, but for Yuuri, they’re smaller pieces of his support system.

I relate to Yuuri a lot, for a lot of reasons, but in this particularly instance, it’s the understanding that even though I HAVE a strong support system, I still feel alone. It’s cutting, it hurts, and it is really, really hard. But that doesn’t mean the support system isn’t there, just because I’m not using it properly. But I think Viktor is in more dire straits. I think, before Yuuri, he has Yakov and Makkachin and skating. And that’s not a support system.

Viktor gets his “L words” - Life and Love, from Yuuri. From the night he entranced him at the Sochi banquet, to skating Stammi Vicino, to coaching, to falling in love, it seems like Viktor has much more joy in his life since Yuuri came into it. Again, it’s hard to tell because Viktor is not the POV character, and we don’t see too much of his background. But even he said that he got those “L words” from Yuuri. He implied there was an emptiness to his life beforehand.

But here’s where things get tricky. Because, based on what we see, everything that Viktor has emotionally is tied up in Yuuri. And, if this were a real life relationship, and not an idealized, fictionalized one, that would be scary. Viktor still has Yakov, and he has a new friendship (ish) with Yuri Plisetsky, and he has Makkachin. But if that wasn’t enough before, it’s still not enough. He has Yuuri, and Yuuri seems to be his everything.

I think, to an extent, Yuuri feels the same way about Viktor. They’re wrapped up in each other to the detriment of their relationships with others. But Yuuri still has his family, he still has Minako, and Yuuko (who he’s reconnected with) and Phichit. And he even said that being with Viktor has made him realize the love and support he already had.

But without Yuuri...Viktor has nothing. That’s dangerous. That’s codependent. And yes, I think they’re both codependent, and if something happened to Viktor, Yuuri would break, but he would survive to eventually put the pieces back together. But if something happened to Yuuri...I don’t know if Viktor would survive. Because if one person is your everything, if you lose that, you have nothing.

And maybe I’m projecting too much. Maybe none of this actually makes any sense. It’s based on a lot of assumptions, a lot of “I thinks” and “I don’t knows.” And honestly? Lots of fictional relationships are like this - this wrapped-up-in-each-other codependency. 

We get 12 episodes with Viktor and Yuuri. 12 episodes to watch them fall in love. And we really don’t get enough to make the determination that I’m making here. Their relationship in canon is good and beautiful and strong. But in the fandom, there’s a lot of things that make me think it’s not healthy. I’ve written them too. This is only something I’ve recently started thinking about because I think about this show too much. It’s not something I necessarily see when I rewatch the show.

Viktor is lonely. We know that. That’s a fact. Maybe that’s all it is. And with canon, maybe that’s all it needs to be.

But I think as a fandom we have to be conscious of how we characterize our boys, to not turn life and love into the be-all-end-all of their lives. Because fiction influences people, and if young readers idealize the general fandom conception of Viktor and Yuuri as so-in-love-nothing-else-matters, they might not recognize that that can be unhealthy in their own, real life relationships.

I don’t know. I love my boys. But I was in a relationship where, as much as I tried to deny it at the time, my partner was my everything. And when he broke up with me, I was unstable for 3.5, 4ish years. I’ve only rebalanced my life in the last two. So yeah, maybe I’m projecting. But I’m ALWAYS projecting on these characters. Maybe I’m over-identifying. Projecting on fictional characters is something everybody does, to an extent.

Canon Viktuuri is good. Canon Viktuuri doesn’t really give an implication of codependency, except in tiny snippets of “maybes” from a life Viktor has that we really know nothing about.

But I’ve seen the codependency in fandom works. I’ve probably written codependency in fandom works, unintentionally. And I think, that’s something we need to work on, as a fandom.

This post got away from me a little bit. At first, I just wanted to talk about how I don’t think Viktor and Chris’s relationship is all that close. But it definitely turned into something else.

Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not saying all fandom works present this codependency, just that I’ve seen enough of them that I’m worried. And as an worrier with a propensity for over-identifying with the yuri on ice characters who I spend more time thinking about than almost anything else in my life, I felt the need to write this out.

Maybe it’s just my obsession with yuri on ice that’s unhealthy. I’ll have to check on that.