#the most fun thing about writing these snippets is seeing how much I can create merely via implication and changing pov

[merge-conflict]

fleeting fits of reason: kiss with a fist

also available on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49172029/chapters/133443853

<>

Rogue has never considered herself much of an early riser, but by the time she’s dressed and in the kitchen for breakfast the only people around are the hotel staff finishing up the dishes. One of them is familiar, a middle-aged woman who turns from the sink to nod in greeting before returning to her work. The other, a younger man with curious eyes and an unfamiliar face, watches a little longer but studiously avoids eye contact. A brief query returns a summary of the information Alt has already procured on him– nothing particularly noteworthy. The staff sell information and photos of course, but they rarely catch anything of interest, by design.

“Good morning,” Alt says quietly in her ear.

“Good morning,” Rogue answers, on tired reflex. She picks up the fresh bag of pastries from the counter and removes the bear claw. “Exciting night shift?”

“I reorganized a considerable portion of my archive,” Alt says, the dry delivery making Rogue chuckle. “Did you witness the inciting incident?”

“Just the slammed door.” Rogue takes a bite of the bear claw, making brief eye contact with the younger staff member again, before he flinches and turned away. Not much for him to sell. All of the screamsheets had already reported on her preferred pastries and are back to speculating about her secret and tragically unrequited love for Kerry. A few are now speculating it is actually Kerry’s secret and tragically unrequited love for her. 

“I was unable to pull additional information from White Carbon,” Alt says, smoothly changing the subject. “But I have acquired detailed blueprints of the building for the meeting.”

“Good.” Rogue accepts the data Alt sends her, manipulating the three dimensional map with a gesture of her hand. “Surprised to hear you having trouble.”

“I found some communications complaining about a change in procedures,” Alt says. Her tone rarely changes, but Rogue thinks she can detect some annoyance. “About being ordered not to use digital communications. They were skeptical, but given the lack of further details I’ve been able to pull from their network, I suppose they are complying with this new directive.”

“Interesting,” Rogue says, rubbing at her forehead. “I suppose someone has given them additional information.”

“Most likely.” Alt pauses. “V thought it unlikely that Arasaka would share information freely, but they may be motivated to test our capabilities.”

“Looking for an easy win. Single operation, set location.” Rogue sighs, checking on the staff. They’re just finishing up their cleaning, and both of them avoid her eyes as they collect their equipment and retreat from the kitchen, out into the main living area, past where Johnny still lies dead to the world. The service elevator dings softly, and she waits until the doors slide close before she continues. “I still think it’d be best to break the contract, and call their bluff.”

“It is our best chance to show our strength,” Alt says, firmly. “They are probing us for information, but they also are showing their hand. Kerry’s influence and notoriety is a complication. The internal power struggle following Yorinobu’s fall from grace has had a marked effect on the efficiency of their intelligence departments.”

“So V says.” Rogue finishes the bear claw, wiping the flakes of icing from her mouth and leaning back in her chair. She could use some coffee but the machine in this penthouse requires nothing short of a PHD to operate and her mind is already occupied.

“You don’t trust him?”

“I think he has a giant weak spot, and it’s white and black and red all over.” Rogue pans through the map a little more slowly, starting with the exits. It’s been a long time since she’s worked a job outside of Night City, and much longer since it was something she’d taken care of personally. It’s hard not to think of everything that can go wrong, with such a small team in such a strange town.

“Goro Takemura.”

“Yes, but also–“ Rogue stops, dismissing her interface to find Kerry standing groggily in the doorway to the kitchen. He looks like he’s slept badly, but it’s no worse than usual. Somehow he has an knack for knowing exactly when the staff have departed for the day. “Rough night?”

“What?” He squints at her, his crow’s feet crinkling as he runs a hand through his hair. Somehow the gentle smudge of his eyeliner is endearing. “Do I look that bad?”

“Awful,” she deadpans, coaxing out an impish smile. “Hungover.”

“Not hungover,” Kerry protests, voice low with gravel. He yawns, scratching absently at his stomach as he picks through the bounty of fresh food and fruit on the counter. “Fell asleep early, actually.”

“Hard work, keeping up with a couple of thirty year-olds. That youthful metabolism.”

Kerry makes another face, rummaging in his dressing gown for his pack of cigarettes. “Not the metabolism that’s the problem.” He turns to peer through to where Johnny’s propped up feet are just visible through the doorway, and lingers for a moment before lighting up.

“Long as you’re ready for tonight,” Rogue says.

“And show those fuckers I’m not going to get jerked around any more?” Kerry asks, as he takes his first drag. “Born ready.”

Rogue returns to annotating the updated blueprints with Alt assisting, refining the plan that has been a week in the making. She’d prefer not to rely so heavily on AI assistance, but at least Alt’s access to the building is wired, and they can’t knock her out with the same kind of jammer they used in Night City. There’s no getting around the fact that there are only three of them who can handle a gun. It’s the whole reason they’re meeting to get Kerry a new security team, even though it’s obviously a trap. Until they clear this legal bullshit no decent company will risk pissing off the media conglomerate that owns Kerry’s contract. Alt is right. They need a show of strength, not just to Arasaka but to the idiots who still think they can take advantage of him.

The sound of voices from the other room draws her attention, and she dismisses her interface. Johnny’s feet are gone from the couch, and she can hear him arguing. She considers tuning her hearing to listen in, but while plenty of things have changed in the last fifty years Johnny is still an emotional black hole, and she doesn’t want to get sucked in any further than she already has. It’s enough to hear the tone of their voices: Johnny is self-righteously aggrieved, naturally, but V is calm. Nothing serious.

She’s about to return to her work when there’s the unmistakable smack of a fist hitting skin, and she joins Kerry at the doorway to view the aftermath. Johnny’s back is to her, so she can only see his clenched hand and the shuddering rise and fall of his chest. V has a hand over his mouth, hair still mussed from sleep but eyes sharp as he holds Johnny’s gaze. The silence is deafening, except for Johnny’s breathing. Without turning to look at his audience he propels himself into motion, brushing past V and into the hallway, into her open room before he slams the door shut behind him.

V pulls his hand away from his face, tongue probing his split lip as he considers the blood on his fingers. Then he straightens his shoulders and walks past Kerry and Rogue without even the briefest glance, heading straight for the coffee maker to begin his daily ritual.

“What the hell was that?” Kerry demands.

“What did it look like?” V counters, in icy perfect diction.

“Lovers’ quarrel?” Rogue suggests, exchanging a look with Kerry.

“He locked himself out during the night,” V says, programming the touchscreen with his usual precision. “Then he woke up and made a ruckus, and was upset when I wouldn’t let him in. In defense of his overinflated fucking ego, he’s decided the real reason all of this happened is because I started some argument that I’m now secretly keeping from him because I’m a huge bitch.” He finishes the arcane input sequence on the coffee maker and immediately heads to the fresh fruit, selecting an apple and retrieving the cutting board and a knife.

Kerry watches him with a frown on his face, and despite herself Rogue can’t help but wonder how long this messy peace is going to last. It’s bizarre, seeing the same look echoed from decades ago onto his face. Having to listen to him say it’s complicated, defensively, like it hadn’t been complicated when he’d been fucking Johnny behind her back. And by now, reading people isn’t just instinct, it’s compulsion. Untangling the strings that made people easier to predict. And alright, maybe it is a little long-dormant resentment, wondering if he likes V because V likes Johnny or if he likes V because V is Johnny. Was Johnny. Complicated is one word for it, utterly fucked might be a more honest description.

None of them speak, although V covers a laugh with a cough halfway through the first cut of the knife, which suggests some private remark from Alt. Kerry pulls a handful of ice from the freezer and wraps it in a towel before sidling up next to him to hand it over, stealing a few slices of apple in the process. They settle back into polite conversation, V and Kerry huddled around the same tablet as Alt repeats the information she’d already shared with Rogue.

Johnny enters the kitchen at the same time the coffee maker beeps, and V is tense when he goes to pour two cups of coffee– one for him, and one which he slides to Rogue across the counter before returning to examining the tablet. He tenses more when Johnny presses up next to him, but doesn’t fight when Johnny pulls away his ice pack to kiss his split lip and the bruise growing around it. They nestle against each other as usual, shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip, like a couple of affectionate cats.

“So,” Johnny asks, casual as ever. “What’s the plan?"

[roomwithanopenfire]

Stats Sunday

(no banner today bc my laptop sometimes does this weird thing where it won't let me upload files and i don't feel like restarting it rn)

Hi! Thanks to @brilla-brilla-estrellita for the tag!

April has been a weird month for writing, but sharing my graphs and stuff is always fun for me (and hopefully you) even though I didn't work on like ANY of my preexisiting wips last month. As always, this post is long, expect stats, graphs, and musings under the cut. (No snippets today tho)

I posted zero fics in April which is understandable given that I have been SO busy lately with school and stuff.

Total words written for April: 22725 (this is the most words i've written in any month this year so far....)

Days I met my writing goal (200 words): 11

Days I didn't write or edit anything: 18 (this month has def been the worst month in terms of consistency bahaha)

Day I wrote the most: Apr 18th with 5957 words (this is the highest daily word count of the year, very abnormal for me, i went insane for a couple of days)

Number of Fics worked on: 1 fic plus one scrapped idea (LITERALLY ONLY 1 FIC AND IT'S NOT ANY OF MY WIPS)

Daily Average: 757 words (but this is a lie, most days i wrote 0 words lol. check out my graph)

I feel like this does not showcase enough how insane i felt on the 18th. Check out this quick graph i made of my daily WC for the whole year...

the spike is insaneee. Let's see my not-very-exciting pie graph i've created and see what i've been working on

No familar wips here. not either of the COBBs that I should be finishing (last years and this years 😭), or the COSW fic that I promise i'll finish eventually, but just 1000 words of a scrapped project and like 20k+ worth of a shiny new idea. The document is titled GET OUT OF MY HEAD because I was just going to write the scenes that were stuck in my head, but, like, it's still in my head and is getting more and more complex and complicated, but i haven't been writing it as much the past few days and i miss the writing demon that was inside of me, come back. channel more words through me please. let me write 6k in a day again, i miss you.

And this fic is not even for a fandom i've written for before, this is uncharted territory. i'm sure that just by glancing at my blog you can guess which new fandom this is for loll. we'll see how far i get on this wip. i've been writing scenes out of order as they come to me, but now i'm losing some steam so i have to decide if i actually want to put the work into making this something. And I think I do. Despite orginally writting it to get it out of my head, it is still very much in there. Taking up space.

And some life update news, the month of April has been pretty good to me. I got a year older, finally figured out my summer job, and i am getting an A in all my classes (at least, most likely. I still have one final left that I could bomb, but it's open-note so i'm not too worried). I have one week left at school, and then I'm home for the summer. (Which I have a whole ton of mixed feelings about. I love being home, but I also feel so much more me when I'm at school. But I'm excited to be making money again omggg.) also just yesterday the girl i have a crush on asked me out so eeeeee. very exciting

tags and hellos

@alexalexinii @aristocratic-otter @argumentativeantitheticalg @artsyunderstudy @arthurkko

@blackberrysummerblog @best--dress @bookishbroadwayandblind @bookish-bogwitch @the-beard-of-edward-teach

@cccloudsss @confused-bi-queer @cutestkilla @drowninginships @facewithoutheart

@emeryhall @fiend-for-culture @hushed-chorus @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife

@theimpossibledemon @jyae23 @larkral @lovelyladzzzz @lovelettersto-mars

@m1ndwinder @monbons @nausikaaa @noblecorgi @orange-peony

@prettygoododds @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @run-for-chamo-miles @rbkzz

@shrekgogurt @simonscones @skeedelvee @supercutedinosaurs @sweetronancer

@talentpiper11 @thewholelemon @valeffelees @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe 

please let me know if you'd rather not be tagged in just stats with no writing. or if you'd rather not be tagged at all. no hard feelings if you'd rather not get the notif <3

[macabr3-barbi3]

Dream a Little Dream (of Me)- Chapter 5

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Even more fun new abilities, like making Alastor have a real conversation!

I'm sorry, I know it's been forever- I have a terrible habit of getting caught up at chapter 5 on all of my fics for some reason 🤣 the new banner was created by my beloved @fraugwinska who is this fic's #1 hype woman (ily 💕)

I've hit a point in this story where I think I'm going to start implementing a few more plot elements- I love writing the smut but I have some fun ideas for actual story; they can only do so much before something else is needed to keep it going, so going forward there will be a bit less of a focus on the sexual aspects of the reader's relationship with Alastor and more on some emotional parts and world-building. I hope that's not too disappointing, and that you all will stick along for the ride with us <3

For weeks following your fleeing of his bedroom, Alastor is in an absolutely foul mood.

The night after your argument, your silent lounging on your bed- in your own bedroom once again, sleep deprived and irritated, unwilling again to interact with anyone else’s dreams- is disturbed by a shuddering of the hotel and loud, clattering thumps coming from down the hall. You stumble bleary-eyed into the hallway with everyone else, Charlie identifying the disturbance as coming from Alastor’s room and knocking gently on the door.

When he opens it he looks distraught, eyes wide, smile strained, his hair looking like he’s been running his hands through it constantly, tugging at it. “What is it,” he asks the Princess, and to Charlie’s credit she doesn’t shrink back from him when she asks if he’s okay, tells him that he’s disturbing everyone’s sleep.

He locks eyes with you where you stand a few feet away, still hovering halfway into your own room. “Perfectly fine,” he tells Charlie, but his eyes don’t leave your face. “Merely a… nightmare, I suppose. More of a disappointing dream than anything else, really.”

You duck back into your room with a slam of the door, chest heaving with your anger and frustration and not listening to whatever else he had to say to Charlie. What right did he have to say that you were a disappointment? You didn’t even know what he wanted from you, let alone what you had done wrong- what, not wanting to kill people? You were no saint, having ended up in Hell in the first place, but you had morals still, lines you wouldn’t cross. Regardless of anything that had happened between you thus far, any yearning or feelings that might have resulted from it, you wouldn’t change who you were as a person for him. You came to the hotel seeking redemption, for fuck’s sake- how could he think that he could ask that of you?

You start booking other hotel rooms with the money you’re earning as the Resident Events Coordinator- honestly, Charlie probably pays you way too much, but it's helping you in the meantime so you aren’t going to complain- and you’ll camp out for a few days at a time and practice your abilities in the dreams of others. It’s fun for a while, to innocently mess with people by creating clones and turning things upside down. You find that once you’ve been inside someone’s dreams you can almost tune into their thoughts like a radio broadcast now- a little concentration and you get fleeting snippets of consciousness from them; grocery lists, work tasks, gossip. It’s nothing like it had been with Alastor, like you were deep-diving into his brain, seeing his memories through his eyes. He might have been right about your connection to him being what allowed such a thinking to happen, since you showed no signs of being able to do such a thing with anyone else.

Charlie notices how often you’re away from the Hotel, because she’s doing everything in her power to keep you there aside from having Vaggie physically restrain you. She keeps proposing new activities for you to coordinate, from a night at the club to an outing at LuLu World, and most recently she had you planning a trip to her father’s mansion for some fancy dinner and tour- Lucifer himself wouldn’t be interacting with them beyond the actual meal, he was just opening the space to them so they could all see where Charlie had grown up, another lesson in ‘empathy’ that Charlie hoped would help them make progress.

So you spent the evening making sure that everyone was corralled into the correct locations and not slipping off where they shouldn’t be. Angel had already tried to convince Husk to raid the wine cellar with him, Niffty was lamenting that she wasn’t allowed into the King’s personal quarters to clean, and Charlie was growing more and more frustrated that rooms she wanted to show the group had been filled with rubber ducks. Alastor keeps his distance from you, occasionally fading into the shadows to go do his own thing- you hope Charlie and Lucifer don’t hold it against you that you have no ability to control that man. 

Dinner calms everyone down, wine and delicious food putting everyone in a better mood while Lucifer dazzled them with magic and stories about Charlie as a child. You laugh along with everyone but you can feel Alastor’s eyes on you the entire meal, and when you finally steal a glance at him he’s looking away.

Typical.

You help Vaggie herd everyone into their rooms- their own rooms, to Angel’s disappointment at not being able to share with Husk- and leave Alastor to Charlie so she can berate him about not making an effort to get along with her dad, snippy barbs flying across the table at each other between stories. You tell the girls that you’ll stay up a bit later to make sure no one does any ill-advised exploring in the night, and bid them a goodnight as you head off to clean up from dinner. Lucifer seemed to have used his magic to take care of most of the food mess, but he’s nowhere to be seen when you return to the dining room so you take your time in stacking plates and organizing the dishes so that whatever staff he might have has an easier time of taking care of it all.

Just after midnight finds you seated on the couch in Lucifer’s library, your eyes surprisingly not bleary with a need for sleep despite not having truly rested in days. Everyone else is asleep- you focus your powers for a moment and can’t pinpoint anything coming from the others, other than an unpleasant staticky noise that comes from Alastor’s room. The fireplace crackles pleasantly a few feet away from you, the comforting smell of old books surrounding you and making things feel… calmer than they have as of late, with Alastor stomping around the hotel like some angry beast and refusing to interact with you at all. He was always making this expression towards you, like he wants to say something, or wants you to say something, and it was wearing away at your resolve.

You didn’t want to have this distance between you. Even beyond the more intimate moments that you had shared, Alastor had always been good company; he was helping you learn more about your powers, even if it was only to sate his curiosity; outside of his bedroom he was friendly and fun, and would probably rather die again than admit that he enjoyed the company of the others as well. Throughout of the course of this… thing between you, something had changed on your side. You think about the night he tore his stitches, the words you had whispered before realizing he had passed out above you.

“I would be yours. Forever. For as long as you want.”

The words still sit uncomfortably true in your ribcage, make the rift between the two of you feel even wider. Maybe it would be easier if he knew- if you could take his avoidance of you as an answer. You wanted to find him, try to have a proper conversation about boundaries when it came to your power- have a proper conversation about your feelings, and-

A throat clears in the doorway of the library, and when you turn Alastor himself stands in the doorway. “I hope I’m not intruding,” he says stiffly without stepping into the room, and you wave a hand at him to indicate that he can join you. He stands at the other end of the room still, closer to the fire, and won’t meet your eyes. “I heard you telling Charlotte that you would keep an eye on everyone tonight- but I know you haven’t slept. I’m happy to take up the watch if you would like me to place a temporary pocket dimension in your room, or transport you back to the hotel for the night.”

You want to drop it- ignore the fight that still hovers frustratingly between the two of you when Alastor is offering an out. His way of apologizing, perhaps, but your thoughts from earlier are still there. You needed to actually talk about it, or the pair of you would just keep coming back to the same issue.

“It depends. Does accepting your offer mean that we wouldn’t be talking about how you casually mentioned having me kill people for you? Because in that case, no thank you.” You watch the fire instead of him, how the flames twist and dance with one another as he stiffens at your words.

“I… regret how that evening transpired,” he says at last, ignoring your sigh as he comes closer to the couch. “I’ve thought on the matter and I recognize how such a request-”

“A request that you made seem like a command,” you remind him, “with that shit you pulled with the leash.”

He takes a deep breath, the flames flickering green behind him as he tried to keep his composure. “Yes, I can see now how that would have upset you. Regardless- I recognize how such a request was inappropriate, even if we did have a tentative agreement in regards to my limits with your powers. I understand that it is a boundary for you, and I will do my best not to test that again.”

You finally turn to look at him, and he looks… properly abashed. But there was no way he would have come up with that on his own, not with the glee that had been evident in his features when he brought up the idea. “Did Charlie help you with that?” You ask, and he scowls- which is less scary than he probably hopes it is, and is more a confirmation than anything else.

“I may have sought her expertise in handling interpersonal conflict,” he says, his stiff posture finally loosening up as he joins you on the couch. “Apologies do not come easily to me- not sincere ones, anyway. I don’t-” He clenches his fist and turns away from you, dark shadows crawling across the floor in arcs away from him. “I don’t know how to have something in my grasp without possessing it entirely. We have a deal but it’s not one that grants me the liberties that I would prefer in regards to your powers and your actions.” 

You take a deep breath and scoot closer to him. “I appreciate you being honest with me,” you offer, and he grimaces like the idea is distasteful. “Listen, I’m sure you think having feelings makes you weaker or something but really, it’s important to talk about these things. And to apologize… which I accept. But if we want to keep, you know, experimenting with my powers and whatever else, I think we need to have specific guidelines of what we expect of each other that isn’t crossing any boundaries for either of us. What, exactly, do you want?”

Alastor seems to struggle with himself for a moment, clenching his hands and refusing to meet your eyes. “I… I’m not quite sure what I want,” he says, like the words of ignorance pain him. “I’ve despised having to keep my distance from you since our disagreement. To see you laughing with the others and turning away from me with that look on your face was unpleasant to say the least. I don’t want that space between us again- if you’re amenable to the idea I think I would like to have you back in my bedroom, once I have repaired the bayou dimension.”

“You want to be closer then- physically.” You hop cushions, sitting right beside him and placing a hand on his knee. “That’s fine, we can do that- you’ll have to tell me what happened to the bayou sometime, though.” He nods stiffly, hesitating a moment before he places his hand over yours on his knee. “Anything else?”

“In regards to your powers, I would still like to experiment if you will allow me.” Alastor lifts your hand from his knee and presses a soft kiss to the back of it. “I understand that hurting others is a limit you will not cross-”

“I won’t hurt you either, if that was your idea of trying to get around that.”

He frowns. “Too clever for your own good- I suppose that is part of the reason that I tolerate you. Very well- I will not ask you to cause physical harm to anybody, period. I also still would like to ask that I am the only one who knows of your abilities for the time being.”

“Done. I do have a condition of my own.” You turn to face him fully, and pull his hand to your heart. “I don’t want this to be a proper deal- no soul binding or anything like that. I would want the rope from our wager removed.” He stiffens at that, but he doesn’t jerk away from you like you expected so you continue. “We have to be able to trust each other if we want any sort of relationship to work, whether it be for experimentation or something more. We should be able to follow each other’s requests and boundaries without needing it sealed with a chain- that doesn’t give us any room to adapt or change as my powers grow and situations shift.”  

His jaw clenches, and he doesn’t look at you for a long moment, instead keeping his eyes trained on the flames before he finally nods- you bite your lip to keep from grinning or doing something stupid, like shouting in excitement. “I hope you realize what you are asking of me,” he says finally. “I don’t generally keep people close to me that I cannot control or own in some way or another. It keeps me detached from needing people, or caring about their approval. But I do believe I want those things from you, which is why I am agreeing to these terms. Please understand that this is… new territory for me.”

You lace your fingers through his. “It is for me, too. But that’s where the trust comes in- I have to trust that you’ll respect my boundaries without the compulsion of a deal, and you trust that I’m here with you because I want to be- whether you just want to continue experimenting with my powers or… anything else.”

Alastor’s red eyes glance at you from his peripheral. “Anything else, you say? I take it to mean that you also wish for things to return as they were between us in an intimate manner?” Your face flushes but you nod, and to your relief he smiles softly and reaches across the scant distance between you to touch your shoulder. “I would like that as well,” he says, and cups your cheek in one hand, leaning in so your foreheads rest against one another. His breath ghosts across your lips, and you realize with startling clarity that this would be the first time you’ve kissed him outside of dreams; the first one in reality, a milestone to mark the resolvement of your disagreement. You embrace it, leaning in and letting your lips meet, a gentle pressure before your mouth opens with a gasp when he trails his free hand up your thigh to caress the skin under your shorts with his thumb. “So soft,” he murmurs into the kiss, almost absently, and then he’s pulling you to him, maneuvering so you sit sideways in his lap. He lets his fingers creep a bit further under the hem of your shorts. “May I?”

“Please,” you whine, and he grants you mercy by snapping your clothing out of existence so he can make unhindered contact with your skin. His fingers move slowly, tracing through the wetness along the folds of your entrance before he parts them and slips a digit inside. The short weeks that have passed since the last time you were with him feel like a lifetime, but he still knows the intricacies of your body like a well loved instrument; a second finger follows, and pressure against the spot inside you that makes you see stars. “Fuck, Alastor…”

He steals the rest of your words with his mouth, his tongue snaking in to tangle with yours, drinking down the sounds you make like ambrosia. Another finger, and you twist in Alastor’s hold to grind yourself down against them, to angle your hips to guide him more effectively where you want him to go. “Someone is eager, hm?” He pulls back to whisper in your ear, hand finally leaving your face to come around your back, pulling you as close as he can to his body while still working his fingers inside you. His thumb comes into play, brushing with perfect pressure on your clit, dipping into the wetness that coats his fingers so the slide of it is slick and perfect. Tension builds inside you, muscles shaking as you ride Alastor’s hand towards a sloppy orgasm. He brings his mouth to your chest, sharp teeth nipping at the sensitive skin there before sucking gently, still making eye contact when you glance down at him through the haze of pleasure that threatens to overwhelm you. “Go on, darling,” he says softly, laving his tongue over the marks he’s sucked into your skin, fingers thrusting more insistently as everything in you coils tighter than a spring. “Cum for me, go on-”

You cry out his name as it takes you over, the electric flash of ecstasy that consumes you from the pit of your stomach to the tips of your fingers as Alastor works you through it. You can feel your heartbeat in your eyes from the force of it, a soft throbbing that you know Alastor is experiencing where his digits are still inside the grip of your internal walls. Everything is tingly and fuzzy afterward, as your pulse returns to normal and your breathing slows, aware now of the soft kisses that Alastor is pressing into your collarbone.

He removed his fingers from you, bringing them up to his mouth to drag his tongue up and down the length of them while you blush. And despite the pleasure he’s already given you, you want more- you grind your hips down to convey the sentiment, the mess of your orgasm still evident and soaking through the front of his trousers where you can feel the hard ridge of his cock. He hisses at the friction, twisting a hand up into your hair while the other grips your hip and pulls you down harder. “You tempt me, my dear,” he says, “but someone is coming.”

“I don’t hear anything,” you mutter, continuing to rock your hips in little circles. Even with how sensitive you are, the pressure against your clit feels damningly good, too good to stop or heed his warning. “And if someone comes in, I’ll handle it.”

Alastor laughs out loud. “Oh, you’ll handle it, will you? By all means then, have at it.” He gestures vaguely towards his pelvis, unaware of the trick that you’ve been holding up your sleeve in your recent solo experimentations. You would never get a better opportunity to surprise him, you think, as you rip the belt from his pants and help him shimmy them off, his thick erection beading with fluid at the tip when it’s freed.

You lean back against the couch cushions, pulling him down with you and using a gentle hand to guide him to your entrance. You let out a soft whimper as he pushes into you, breath punching out of you with a gasp when he sinks to the hilt in one swift thrust. You tangle a hand into his hair, gripping the base of one of his antlers and grinning when his hips jerk against you at the action. His eyes are half-lidded and soft as he stares down at you, seeming to have to focus on slowing down when he pulls out and slowly presses back in. “You’re so lovely,” he whispers, and your pulse leaps into your throat when he leans down to press a kiss to your forehead.

Your mind is flooded with images when he makes contact, emotions that ride through your veins along with the physical pleasure you’re feeling- evidently he’s been watching you the last few weeks, following you when you left the hotel to make sure you weren’t in any danger, sending his shadow to watch you sleep. You can feel the bitterness in your pulse as he watches you interact with the others, only to turn away when you notice him. The vague sadness that night that he had destroyed his room, his bayou, because how could he remain there when there were traces of you everywhere? 

You break the connection with a gasp, using your grip on his antler to pull him back to your mouth as he continues to fuck into you at a steady pace. He groans into your mouth, his fingers digging into your skin hard enough to leave bruises, marks that you can come back to when the need was to great, more tangible proof that this was real, that he wanted you outside your abilities. “Alastor, please,” you beg, letting the fingers not currently brushing the base of his horns to trail down his spine, tracing the vertebrae beneath your touch as he shivers. He shifts his legs, brings himself closer to you, the angle changing and pushing the tip of his cock exactly where you need it. 

The door to the library creaks open, and you both freeze.

“Hello?” There’s a hint of pain as Lucifer’s voice echoes in the room, where Alastor has tightened his grip enough to break skin with his claws. His other hand untangles itself from your hair to press against your mouth, silencing your heavy breathing. “Who’s in here?”

The couch you were seated on was high-backed- he wouldn’t be able to see you from the door, but if he entered the room, came around the front, you would be fucked in a far less pleasurable way than you currently were. Alastor’s nostrils flare above you as he hears the soft clacking of the King’s boots as he takes a couple steps in, apparently not able to help himself from bucking his hips forward, his teeth bared in a snarl when he feels your muffled groan against his palm.

More light blooms in the room from the wall sconces- you had been sitting in here with just the fire, and the glare of more lighting makes you squint your eyes, Alastor silhouetted beautifully above you. “I know someone is in here,” Lucifer demands, and you take a deep breath against Alastor’s hand and snap your fingers. “You were all told to-”

“Why, good evening, your Majesty!” 

You almost wish you had manifested in Hell like the CEO of that tech company, with some sort of electronics built into your head so you could record the look on Alastor’s face at hearing his own voice respond to Lucifer. Your eyebrows are creased, trying to focus on the figment you’ve conjured to keep the King’s attention away from the couch. 

“Oh, it’s just you,” Lucifer says, and you can hear the hint of disdain in his voice- you wonder, not for the first time, what the issue was between these two- some conflict that had started before you were at the Hotel that no one felt necessary to fill you in on. “I thought you were told to keep to your own quarters past eleven.”

You make the thing twirl it’s cane, snapping it back to the ground and inspecting it’s fingernails. “Yes, well, I had some business to attend to. And might I add, sire, you are also out past your imposed bedtime.” 

Maybe it was something about using your powers to sass the king of Hell with some false puppet, but Alastor seemed to react well to it- his eyes dark, teeth bared, he plants a foot on the floor to brace himself so the couch doesn’t shift and thrusts into you hard, his hand pressing harder against your mouth when you whine at the feeling of his cock dragging against your walls. There’s wonder in his expression, something akin to adoration; this was what he wanted from you, you realized, displays of power, shows of your abilities that he could see and benefit from, that showed that he could trust you. 

Lucifer scoffs across the room. “This is my house, if you’ve forgotten,” he retorts. “I can go where I please. And I heard you talking to someone!” Rapid footsteps, like he’s coming further into the room, and even as it makes Alastor buck his hips wildly against you, you don’t think he really wants to be caught in such a compromising situation.

You make the figure step forward- if you really concentrate you can almost see through its eyes, a vague image behind your eyelids of Lucifer standing before it with his arms crossed where you’ve blocked him, his gaze frustrated. “I was talking to myself,” you make it say. “I must have intelligent conversation on occasion, you know, and with everyone else in bed and only you left awake, I had to make do.”

Alastor grins above you, pleased with the tone and the words of this replica you’ve created of him; refusing to use his likeness to submit or offer pleasantries to get him out of the room; you were doubling down like Alastor himself would. You can hear the inaccuracies- you’re sure Alastor can, too- but Lucifer appears none the wiser as Alastor begins to fuck you in earnest, the couch thankfully staying still and not squeaking or moving as he holds his hand over your mouth harder and leans down to nibble at your collar.

“Of all the disrespectful-”

“Careful now, your Majesty,” it says, and you make shadows appear to crawl across the floor towards him, tendrils approaching the couch as well. When Alastor notices them he groans into your skin, and through the copy’s eyes you see Lucifer snap his head in the direction of the sound. “You wouldn’t want Charlie to catch us in a disagreement, would you?” And thank whatever beings heard prayers down here, Lucifer deflates- you had made a gamble with that, assuming that Charlie had spoken with her father about getting along with her hotelier, but knowing the princess the way that you did you figured there was no way that she would allow them to be at each other’s throats like they were. You let the false shadows sink back, and have your illusion give him a cheeky little wave. “There’s a good King. Now, may I get back to my business?” With the last word, Alastor stills, waiting for a confirmation or denial, possibly preparing to phase the two of you out of the room if Lucifer came further into the room-

“Do whatever you want,” Lucifer grumbles, “Charlie and that little coordinator need to keep a closer fucking eye on you, but I can’t be bothered.”

“I’ll be sure to mention that to our event planner,” you make it say, and Alastor makes another soft noise into your throat against where your pulse beats steadily, replicated in the rhythmic clenching of your walls around his still hard length. The interruption doesn’t seem to have doused your arousal, nor Alastor’s- the possibility of being caught like this makes your blood boil in the most pleasant way, Alastor’s cock still filling you perfectly even as he’s stopped actually fucking you for the time being. “I’ll bid you a good night, sire; I still have matters that need tending to, free of distractions.” You see Lucifer cast a middle finger back at the image of Alastor as it speaks, and then mercifully he’s storming out, a swirling golden portal opening for him to step through and then closing with a loud crack.

In time with the noise of the portal slamming closed, Alastor pulls his hips back and snaps them forward again- his hand is removed from your mouth with your gasp, and he moves it to your hip to pull you more forcefully into his thrusts. “You,” he growls against your jawline, “are perfect.” He kisses you, licking into your mouth and stealing the air from your lungs as it’s punched from you with every rock of his pelvis. “The audacity to pull such a stunt- the control you maintained over the illusion was breathtaking, I don’t- fuck,” he concludes eloquently, fingers coming between your bodies to rub at your clit again as he races towards completion. It reignites the fire in your abdomen, heat flashing through your body like a strike of lightning that burns across your skin, making you cling to him tighter. He looks down at you with dark, unfathomable eyes while he fucks you, his pace growing uneven and broken as he approaches his end. “Please, darling,” he whispers against your lips, “cum for me, I need-”

The plea is what breaks you, every muscle in your body tensing and releasing as the orgasm slams into you like a car into a brick wall- messy, sudden, destructive. You don’t leave your own mind this time, your consciousness firmly rooted in reality as you watch Alastor lose his composure, his eyes fluttering closed with a gasp of your name while he spills into the slick heat of your cunt, his hips still rocking as if he means to fuck his release as far into you as he can. You shiver with the aftershocks, Alastor still maintaining a gentle swiping across your clit, and you can feel the way your walls twitch around the length of his cock while he stays buried in you to the hilt.

“No mind traveling today, I see,” he asks quietly, another kiss pressed softly to your forehead, and while no mental images come forth you can feel what he’s feeling now; the lingering ache of pleasure, the pride he still feels at your show of your new ability, an overall sense of happiness that you wouldn’t expect to be able to bring Alastor. He had put aside his discomfort to have an honest, responsible conversation with you to fix what you had both thought might be irreparably broken, and you were thankful.

You hum against his throat. “I’m content where I am,” you tell him, and the vibration of his laughter on your lips is perfection.

From the previous tags list: @aconstructofamind @littlebluefishtail @spottypug @bishiglomper @ivebeenthearchersstuff @minamilinaqueen

if any of you would like to be removed for any reason, please let me know! <3

[crowbar-and-a-dream]

If I said something about this already, sorry, I forgor.

Thinking about comment culture and specifically people that get upset when authors don't want reveiws.

AO3 and other fanfic sites aren't Goodreads. When you leave a review on a fic, the author gets a notification. And it sucks ass to get reviews because they aren't engagement. With something like goodreads, the author's not notified and is able to choose whether or not they will engage. Because the reviews are in a customer space.

With comments on fanfic...that's in the author's space. Yes, we can choose to not respond to a comment(I don't tend to respond to 'I liked this' comments, but I do appreciate them), but that doesn't change the fact that when we open a comment email, we see the entire comment. And for some of us, getting reveiws feels like being commodified. Like it's not enough to just be having fun. You have to meet some minimum requirement as if you're being paid to create something you get nothing tangible for. And it sucks.

I get excited to get comments because I always get the rush of 'did this person pick up on something I dropped hints for?' Like one person commented on Lieu being excited that they called it when one of my OCs involved was revealed as having DID. Or people catching literary and movie references I sneak in. I live for hearing theories and observations about what's going on in the story. Or even getting short conversations.

Reviews don't invite conversation. They don't invite engagement on either end. And, frankly, most people don't write helpful reviews or critiques. I've experienced firsthand how much it suuuuucks when you have someone lay into you in the guise of a critique with my art(Long story short: Person didn't like me. And kept getting on me about color choices. Turns out I'm more than likely colorblind). So, I generally do not want reviews because I don't want to relive the multiple years of being bullied for what was ultimately a nonissue.

And frankly, if you don't like a fic, you can literally just not read it. And if you like it, maybe instead of leaving an actual review, just point out a few things that you really liked or made you feel something. You don't have to give out snippets of advice and artists often improve even without a critique. You might see the author's writing improve over time. And if not? Well, fanfic's made for fun. Let it exist as a form of expression instead of something to consume.

Also, like, keysmashes bring me much joy. Sometimes that's just as good as some engagement comment.

[strawberrysodaslut]

i genuinely want everyone who reads my work to watch shelby/shubble’s streams detailing the abuse she went through because i think it is so important to see how this abuse starts and how kink/bdsm type behaviour can be improperly used in an abusive way.

with fanfiction especially smut, we see bdsm and kink written for entertainment from many people who likely do not engage in these things irl. because normally these are one shots just involving the actual sex itself, there’s not a lot of discussion on what a safe word is, how it is used, discussing boundaries prior and the actual safety and security around the relationships we write.

while you should NEVER look at fanfics as educational about engaging in sex or relationships, some people still do. this is one of the reasons so many people do not want minors on their accounts reading about these themes without a discussion of the boundaries set prior. using these short snippets written for entertainment as a full education on these types of relationships can lead to dangerous situations like Shelby’s where a safe word was improperly created and then repeatedly abused throughout the relationship.

this is why i appreciate @carolmunson so much because she is clear on what things are and aren’t okay and writes examples of non-aspirational and even abusive relationships with clarity and honesty.

i get that most of us write/read about these topics for fun, but there is a level of responsibility we as writers have to hold when it comes to portraying these relationships and it’s important that all of us know that ANYTHING is only okay if both you and your partner/s is enjoying it. you do not have to endure pain if you do not like it.

thank you for coming to my ted talk. feel free to let me know if i could be clearer on some parts/need correction <3

[beevean]

Please don't ever apologize for your rants! I find them so complete; often having links for other posts where you go deep in a subject. It's so cool! I kind of wish I had a blog like that. You articulate your thoughts very well and in a very cohesive way. I'm actually interested in the possible fic that writes Lenore as an actual character who is held accountable for her actions! I'll surely take a look if you ever post it here <3

goddd i honestly kind of love fandom spaces and creating because of that. The fun discussions and points being made, recreation of something that might have more potential if used or though as x and not y. It's amazing, really.

Be proud of your hard work! I'm trying to be more proud of mine (which is usually a bunch of oc x canon loose scenes in my head), and I know it's difficult. I hope you have an amazing day/night, remember to stay hydrated, and I'm happy to see you ramble!

— 🌻 sunflower anon! (if possible) <33

(🌻 is totally cool! And it's a cute moniker :3)

Yeah, it's because I fear to go in circles, and I'm like "okay, I already talked about this, don't make me rant again". Thankfully I had the big brain idea of tagging Lenore/Lenector posts with their special tags for easier finding. Sadly, I haven't done the same for other characters/concepts lmao.

In all seriousness I'm relieved that you also read the post I link! I fear that, since they're sometimes too many, most skip them and so the point is less clear. I have this problem called "inability to shut up once the sleeper agent in my brain is activated" lmao. But I do try to write clear essays, even if long and full of sources. Thank you for saying that I do <3

As for the fic I started, it all began with me obsessing over some scenes enough that I started thinking on how to rewrite them. And, well, dialogue is easy. Writing everything around it is not lol, especially when it's more of a "rebuilding a character" project. Plus, I obviously want to focus on other projects - I am trying to kick Brain into writing a Hector/Julia fic which I would obviously be more invested in lmao. But sometimes, the brainworms wriggle in a different direction 😔 and well, sadly, it's fun. It's fun to turn Lenore into my own OC while valorizing the good ideas the canon story had, it's a good way to write without expectations and so reduce my perfectionism levels which freeze me like a deer in the headlights with projects I care more about lol; but most importantly, it's fun because I like to put my money where my mouth is. It's one thing to bitch and complain, and another to turn spite into positive motivation, which is IMO the best thing you can do with it.

Can definitely confirm that I can't be thankful enough to have found this corner on Tumblr, where the climate encourages you to think and analyze and gush and create :> my mutuals are the most supportive people <3

I posted some snippets here and there, if you're curious! I found 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 :3 haven't gotten to the "being held accountable for her actions" part yet, but I did recently rewrite in my drafts the dialogue to make Hector point out that you know, she lied to him for no reason and he's still hurt over it. Sadly he doesn't get much edge into the conversation because Lenore is a bastard and knows how to dodge responsibility and prey on his emotional vulnerabilities (I don't really want him to turn him into my mouthpiece for intellectual honesty), but even a small act of rebellion counts in his situation. I just want that. Not even a whole spine, one hint of a vertebra lol

Good luck with your OC/canon stuff! Remember to not be ashamed of it, and create with passion and love! And I will try to be more proud of my work too! Thank you again for popping into my inbox and having this in-depth conversation, you made my day <3

[wyked-ao3]

writer questionnaire

Tagged by @ink-flavored here and @the-letterbox-archives & @mundanemoongirl & @nczaversnick & @thecomfywriter

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I post story's on ao3. But snippets and stuff here and a few months a little before April?

What led you to create it?

I saw a few other ao3 people had Tumblr and I joined...got confused then came back to try again a few days before the boop war and I ended up staying after the boop war due to making a few friends

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

The support, getting to see others hard work. Making friends along the way and of course the OC's that we all fall in love with.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

I love talking about books, wips and fanfictions or just your characters or world building. I admit sometimes I don't know what to reply so if I'm silent I'm probably thinking about a reply or you managed to hit a time slot I'm busy or sleeping but I will reply eventually... 0_o

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

My mutuals stories, I love to follow them as they are written and get insight into the characters. Chances are you will have at least one oc i will fangirl over and I'm going to apologize now lol

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

The Pirate king of deaths redemption which will be book one of the pirate's cursed god series. I'm thinking it will have 4 stories and 2-3 mini stories

How long have you been working on them?

The idea since I was about seventeen

The plot I'm still figuring out

The characters some are old and some are new...infact two new ones arrived to the story yesterday ken will not be getting a major role he's just a background character.

World building since I was 19

Actually writing started about a month ago in seriousness and little snippets a month before that

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

Tbh I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking but it's happening so let's roll with it

But I have always had a fascination with lore and supernatural beings and I was in a pirate phase do that might have something to do with it

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Way to often..when I'm not writing I'm usually plotting out the next few scenes and consequences to it

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

No one offline knows I write, but if I was asked the question by one of y'all.

I'd say mostly fanfiction but I'm starting a queer fantasy pirate story...just don't ask me about their cursed god yet as he is staying silent. I figure book to or three he will start talking or I may have to break out the threats again 0_o

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

Whatever the characters tell me to write and then I get to have the fun of tagging it 0_o (side note to myself I need to find a place I can find genres and stuff with a base description )

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Daimhín,Oisìn, Jade,Galen, Briath, Morana, Heather, Coinín, Mal, Adoh, Taz, Amon, Oscar , Rob, Queen Kia, Queen Coral, princess Anne, Hill, Eric, Nimue, Death, Nyx, Davey jones, Nereza, Kieran pirate queen Eris, ken, pirate king cutthroat, and a ton of others who are not coming to mind right now

Who’s the most unhinged?

Amon, Briath and Morana are fighting for the title

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Oisìn at the moment, but I have a feeling Jade and Briath will both be easier to write when I get to them

Do you ever cringe at them?

Yes especially when writing certain things, yes I want to include them but some things just don't come naturally to me

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

🤣 they write themselves mostly while arguing with me so it's a blast sometimes and change things frequently well most if that can be blamed on Amon

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

No preferred method I will interact with them all although sometimes I don't get notifications on tags for some reason

I will talk about my wips or OC's or we can talk about your wips and OC's ...or mutual interest or anything you want to info dump on.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

I like most genres so I usually just scope for vibes and see what their wip is about or a published/posted work. I'm not picky so I follow quite a few writers lol

What makes you decide against following?

I try to avoid politics I don't mind a few post but if it's all politics I tend to back away or if I see them bullying or harassing people or threatening animals.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Sometime but I usually like to scope people out first as I have stated in the past, I'm shy so sometimes I have to work through that first.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

Yes to list a few

Ari from a starwars fanfiction by @lillybaaaka

Val and Kaz by @jev-urisk

Ashley by @gioiaalbanoart

almost all of @the-golden-comet s OC's

Royston is my favorite oc of @fortunatetragedy s story and that's not going to change easily.

And several others I'll stop listing now or we will be here all day and I do mean that literally.

Np tag @jev-urisk @the-golden-comet @thatuselesshuman @gioiaalbanoart @fortunatetragedy @aintgonnatakethis @lillybaaaka @evilwriter-originals @stars-forever

[mymiraclebox]

Hello :)

This is going to be more of a comment than a question but I felt like I couldn't articulate what I wanted to say in a comment because of the word limit.

I wanted to post this because at some point in the next few weeks there is going to be 1 year since I discovered your account.

I have no idea how to express this so I'm just gonna say it. Your story has become my canon. I'm not kidding. I've been practically obsessed with this account and the book "Crimson & Noir" ever since I found out about them, which isn't a long time but it's honest work :)

Your fanfics are the reason why I have a Tumblr account in the first place, and in the first 2 days after finding it, I went through years of posts up until 2020/2021. I ended up creating 2 google docs where I would copy - paste answers that I believed would be important for the story so I could go back and find them easier. I've never done that before with any other one.

Later on, I ended up creating another google Doc with all the Kwamis bios so I could go through them easier (because I could search any word I wanted). In these bios, I also added the Miracle Boxes each kwami is in, from all 3 generations (colour coded too).

You would usually post around 4/5 am for me, so I couldn't see them until morning. There would be times when I would dread going to class, and seeing the notification that you posted actually made me happy. Your posts have literally turned into my own personal Lucky Charm. 😀

The thing is that I only ever had an obsession like this one years ago so I started to wander what exactly is that attracted me to the stories and I realized that it's because you managed to put into words exactly what I wanted from the show. Like to a T. What I love the most is the way you portray the Kwamis. These little cuties are the main reason why I started watching the show in the first place but I believe that the way they were portrayed (as clueless kids) was pretty underwhelming considering the were supposed to be this powerful beings, some older than time.

From what you have said in the past, the structure this series (My Miracle Box) is going to have is so smart. Like to have multiple little plots with an overarching bigger one that you can find snippets of in all the stories is something that I and many readers I watch really appreciate and praise.

The story "Crimson & Noir" is the first and only book I ever annotated. Does my annotating suck? Yes. But I am still so happy to have done it. :) During breaks if I am stressed or tired I would whip out this story and just read some random parts. I am truly happy that I found your account.

I can imagine that there are some people that ask you when are you gonna update the story or start a new one. I'm not gonna sit here and claim that I didn't think these things too, but I trust you and the vision you have for them (how 🧀).

What I'm trying to say is take your time and write something you are proud of, even if it takes months or years to get an update. I will patiently (not really, but I will try) wait for them :)

This ask has really made my week! ❤ Thank you so much for the kind words, it really does mean a lot!!

This blog really started out as a place to throw out random ocs and headcanons, I'm glad that you've enjoyed what it's become. :D I have had a lot of fun creating stories in this fandom, and it means a lot to hear you've loved it as well. I hope you enjoy what's to come, and thank you again for this sweet message, it was heartwarming to read!! ❤ 💕 ❤

[hexenmond]

The Witch Door fan fiction: Chapter 10 is up on AO3

Good morning everybody from my new living room! 😃 I am freshly moved and in the process of sorting out my life, but new living quarters sure make a gigantic difference. I posted chapter 10 on Friday already, but didn’t have the time to make a post. So now I finally got to creating a series, and this is the official celebration post to say that

🎉 part 1 “Exactly as you are” is finished! 🎉

And as soon as I am sorted out here, I intend to work on the rest of the series (4 or 5 more parts) at least every Tuesday night – thanks be to my writing club! – until it’s done. Plus part 2 is going to be SO much fun 🤩

And since I actually haven’t posted a snippet from chapter 10 yet like I thought, here you go:

After breakfast Jousia washes up their coffee cups, and they pack their suitcases to be ready for when Ryouta comes to pick them up. They make their way out to the beach again, their bellies full, to just sit in the white sand looking at the waves breaking on the shore. The island is peaceful and calm, with the breeze rustling the bushes and the sun warming their backs.

“You know, I’ve been wondering for a while,” says Jesse. “How did you actually learn about sensory overload? You said you didn’t know what was happening yourself.”

Jousia scratches his chin. “I got lucky. After that happened, I went to see a good friend of mine, and she just about explained my whole life to me. I was so glad to know her that day. Without her I might never have understood what was up.”

Jesse smiles at him. “That’s really, really good. That you have a friend you can talk to about something like that.” He looks out at the horizon, and doesn’t say anything for a while.

“Yes, it is.” For a moment Jousia thinks about Tzofi, and he feels deeply grateful for her friendship. “This probably sounds silly to you, but I don’t think I could have talked to anybody else about – well, about you and about how I felt, or how didn’t know how I felt.”

“No, I don’t think that’s silly at all.” Jesse’s profile is silhouetted against the blue sky, his face unmoving. “I don’t really tell people about you either. Apart from the superficial stuff.”

“What do you mean?”

Jesse sighs. “Well, just about everyone who knows me even a little bit knows that there is a special person in my life, and that this isn’t a very straightforward relationship. So I can whine and mope at people and they’ll be generally understanding, you know? But that’s about it.” He glances at Jousia.

“My assistent Alex knows that if this one person turns up for whatever reason, I’m putting everything on hold, period. Like, when you knocked on my door after the sensory overload? I had already told them that any planned meetings might get postponed at a moment’s notice, so I only had to send them a quick text.” He turns his gaze to the sea again. “But that’s already more than I tell most people.”

Oh. “But you do have a close friend as well? Somebody you can talk to about things that bother you, or that you can’t figure out on your own?”

Jesse sighs again, and wraps his arms around his legs. “I do… there’s one exception. One person who gets to hear absolutely everything. Um.” He looks at Jousia, embarrassed. “I feel like I should have asked you before I told her so much about you… but I actually knew her before we were even talking. So I had already whined to her at length about having a hopeless crush on this other witch, and after the show in Turku…” He buries his face in his arms.

“Why, what do you tell her?” Jousia is quite curious now.

“Oh my god…” Jesse hides his face in his hands. “You really want to know?” He peeks at Jousia through his fingers, hesitating. Finally he puts his arms around his legs again and looks out at the sea, away from Jousia, his cheeks red. “Oh well… I tell her that there’s this beautiful man who has no concept of his own gorgeousness, not even when somebody explains it directly to his face. That he’s the coolest, smartest, and kindest person I know.

“I tell her that we’re friends, that we’re going out for coffee, that I can’t wait to see him again. After Ryouta’s party,” he hides his face in his hands again, “oh god after Ryouta’s party she had to endure about three hours of AFET HE KISSED ME HE FREAKING KISSED ME I NEARLY DIED, until I was able to calm down again…” Jesse glances at Jousia, who sits next to him, listening attentively.

“And after our dream meeting, the night after the show in Turku, she never got to hear the end of that either. Afet, I said to her, Afet he’s so cool, he visited me in my dream and freaking left his card and then I woke up with his card in my hand and he’s so cooooool I wish I could do that, and then we actually went out for brunch together—”

Jousia interrupts him. “What, wait. You mean you can’t? Why didn’t you ask me, I’ll show you how to do that!”

“You would?!”

“Jesse, I have an apprentice. Of course I’ll show you.”

His friend’s face is incredulous. “…You have an apprentice?!”

“Well yes. Somebody needs to look after new witches, right? I quite like doing that.”

Jesse looks at him, speechless, his expression oddly guarded.

“This friend of yours… is she a witch?”

“…Yes. Yes she is. Still new to it though.”

Jousia’s eyes bore into Jesse’s, who promptly turns his face away. “How new? And who is teaching her?”

“Well, I do of course, as best I can.” Jesse is still avoiding Jousia’s gaze.

“And is she a spirits witch as well?”

“No. No, she is not.” Now Jesse’s voice is down to a broken whisper. “We don’t really know much about her powers yet…”

Jousia takes a deep breath, his eyes blazing. “Okay. Let me see if I understand the situation correctly. You know a new witch, with unrecognised powers different from your own, and you try to teach her things. Yes?”

“Yes.”

“And does she know any other witches apart from you? Anyone at all?”

“…No.”

Jousia explodes. “Why the fuck not, Jesse! Witches need other witches! You can’t just – keep her to yourself like that, and hope that it’ll just work out somehow, even though you obviously don’t know what you’re doing!” He sees Jesse flinch, hard, and immediately regrets his outburst.

Find the series on AO3

[verflares]

hey!!!! i LOVE your totk fic and adore the way you write and was genuinely curious as to what your writing process is like?? i’m still trying to get to grips with writing but im stuck in the endless loop of editing while i write so i end up never finishing anything 😭😭

hello!! first of all, thank you so much! i get so ^_^ whenever someone tells me they enjoy my work, words can't express how much i appreciate it now, as to answer your question, i would say.... chaotic LMAO. it's a little difficult to put it into words, especially to describe it because like... how You do things feels natural, right? but umm... i usually have an idea of what i Want to happen in the chapter planned out before i start writing, so i'll divide it into chunks. i'll usually put a little synopsis of the scene in each to help both guide my direction and remind me of what i'm doing as i write. as someone who actually also prefers to edit as i write, i feel it's been a good method in making sure i don't get overwhelmed! especially if i'm having a slow or bad writing day. as for getting out of editing loops, my usual go-to is to just... leave it and move on. i'll do this either by putting a little comment next to it (something like, a very loose reminder or even an idea of how i want the paragraph or interaction to play out), or jumping ahead to a different part of the chapter entirely and chipping away at that instead. here's a little example (from a snippet of the next chapter i'm still working on lol):

by the time i come back to what was giving me trouble, i usually realise it's fine the way i left it, or writing ahead has given me some new ideas of how to pad it out properly! i feel what's most important and encouraging for me, personally, is Progress - and that can be non-linear, too! as long as i've chipped away at the chapter in some form or other, i feel happy.

this is what i mean by chaotic, because it's a bit... all over the place LOL. i also don't do first drafts for example 💀 (but this is also because editing as you go makes it mostly non-essential imo) but i dunno! everyone's creative process is different, and if you find yourself struggling with something, it may just be good to either step back or just chip away at something else for awhile! you may be surprised at what your brain will come up with in the meantime

finally, if i could offer one more piece of writing advice, it's Reading. read, read, read! whether it be fanfiction or published works, nothing - and i mean nothing - will help you more than reading. exposure to other people's styles, their prose, will genuinely help you so much in your approach to your own work, and even ideas for what you're struggling with! and i obviously don't mean plagiarism or anything like that either of course. i just mean that considering what you Enjoyed about that creator's work will help you develop your own, and in the process, creating your unique style and process. it's the same for art and music - the creative process, especially if you're still getting used to a hobby, is filled with evolution and finding out what you enjoy about it. try things out! see what works for you! have fun with it, and remember that you are creating for Yourself most of all. (reggie fils amie voice) because if its not fun, why bother

[blissents]

Devlog #1

Hi hi! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I don't really post often, but I told myself that starting in 2024, I wanted to share what I've been working on! I'm a solo game dev who has been developing a game called Visionaries. It's a romance visual novel that explores grief and loss.

༺✧ STORY ✧༻

"Visionaries": Special individuals with the ability to look into the past. There are a select handful of Visionaries who can also see into the future.

"What happens after we die?" The age-old question with no definitive answer. Many have constructed their own complex theories and stories to try and explain this mystery.

~~~~~

Explore the world of Visionaries as you wake up in an unfamiliar room, unable to speak and move. You're faced with unusual people (who tend to bicker any opportunity they get) only to later discover that they are your assigned Visionaries. These Visionaries have only one task; they intend on looking into your memories.

What is the purpose of Visionaries existing, and why do they insist on looking into your mind?

If you want to read more about the progress I've made on Visionaries, please continue reading below the cut! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

༺✧ ART ✧༻

Most of my time has been spent working on the art! (I can't feel my hand) My main focus is to finish drawing all of the character sprites as well as finish rendering the backgrounds. I've already come up with all the designs and expressions for the characters, they just need to be rendered :,)

I still need to create their little character info sheets (I have no idea what the word is, haha), where you'll learn their names, ages, and all of that fun stuff ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Below are some of the sprites :-)

The first two are fully rendered, while the other three need to be finished :,)

As for backgrounds, I have 1 that is fully rendered and 3 that still need to be finished! I'll only be sharing 3/4 today since I'm unsure if I'll be including the one background in the demo.

To be honest, I struggled quite a bit when drawing the backgrounds D: There were a lot of things I envisioned, but unfortunately, I didn't know how to fully portray them. I had some trial and error while coming up with the original designs. That being said, I'm glad I was able to come up with something I felt satisfied with! I'm planning for the rest of the backgrounds to follow the red/brown colored theme as seen in the first photo ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Of course, there will be more backgrounds than the ones I'm currently showing! I already have some ideas/drafts for those, but they might change depending on the way the story plays out.

༺✧ WRITING ✧༻

So far, I've planned for the demo to have a little less than 9k words. I'm unsure if I'll keep it at 9k words, or if I'll expand it some more so that there will be more content in the demo :-) We'll see!

As for the overall game, there will be at least 2 routes. There will also be 2 romanceable options (one being he/him, the other being she/they). I'm still figuring out how I want to script all of this, so these aspects may change in the future!

The game will also have options where you can choose your pronouns and name!

Here's a small snippet of the script!

I wanted to show the dynamic between two of the characters :-)

༺✧ OTHER ✧༻

Besides writing and coding, I've been coming up with some ideas for the GUI! I don't have any current drafts of that to share, but I'll hopefully include them in a future devlog ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I also have plans on creating the cover art for the game, cgs, more backgrounds, and possibly some promotional art (rip my hand, there's so much I need to draw (╥_╥))

I was thinking about composing the music for the game, but I realized I know absolutely nothing about music and wouldn't even know where to start if I had tried :,) So instead, I've compiled a list of some soundtracks and sound effects I might use! Hopefully, I can share that in the future once I've narrowed down which soundtracks I know I'll be using.

༺✧ CONCLUSION ✧༻

My overall goal is to release the demo sometime during this year! Because I'm doing everything myself (art, script, writing, etc.), it might take me a bit longer to get everything done. My apologies for that! (╥_╥)

Besides that, I really just want to start creating and sharing more of my art. Getting over the mental hurdle of being afraid to show my work is honestly pretty terrifying for me. I normally only share the things I create with close friends, but I think it's time to get over this fear of mine! ᕦ(ò_ó)ᕤ

I was able to make significant progress within these past few weeks since I'm currently on my winter break. Classes start back up soon, though, and I'm going to be internship-hunting as well as planning on a big move. I'm still going to try my best to juggle everything so that I can make even more progress on the game! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

At the end of the day, all of this is a fun little project I've always wanted to do. As a little kid, I absolutely loved playing VNs (and I still do!). Creating my own game felt like an unreachable goal, but with enough effort, I think it's something obtainable ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I really just want to create something that others can enjoy!

As a side note, I have some plans to create a little blog (not even sure if it's considered a blog, haha) about the games I've played/want to play! That will be coming very soon!

Thank you to anyone who read this far! You have my eternal gratitude <3

~ bliss ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

[if-confessions]

I've been in the IF fandom for almost two years now, and I don't think I've ever found a fandom I've liked as much. I like the community here, the stories, creativity, how diverse the games are compared to other media I see.

I like reading IF, but more than that I'd really to create an IF game myself. I've been creating stories since childhood and I've always wanted to tell them to other people. However, I was never able to find a suitable medium for doing so. Creating video games is a passion that met reality and died too fast, writing traditional books makes me incredibly anxious, and comic and visual novels require way too much drawing when I'm a concept artist at best. And IF... IF seems to be exactly what I was always searching for. But here's a twist.

I'm not a writer. I'm really not. The amount of writing that I've done that wasn't for my studies is... not a lot. Which makes me extremely self-conscious of my writing, and I'm a very anxious person to start with (and English not being my native language doesn't help). I just don't know where to start, I've never even written fanfiction. And then if I end up actually writing something and posting it for people to see, I'm afraid of what they'll say, of me not being good enough, or of people being uninterested in anything I create. It's dreadful really. And I know that this feeling is possibly shared by so many other people, but I just don't know what to do about it.

I had wanted to post this earlier, but Tumblr ate my essay again...

Welcome, Anon, to the wonders of IF! Have a seat, and a cookie, and enjoy the ride! It's quite the experience, you'll see...

Totes understand your worries. With so many good projects out there, it's easy to not feel... adequate (in writing or proficiency); and with many in the community having opinions, to be unsure whether to publish said work.

But here's the thing: many of us in the IF community (especially as hobbyist) have not studied writing (for a while or at all)* or are writers either, and quite a few of us are ESL (hi, hello!)**. So you are in very good company!! *sidenote: some of us consider ourselves game dev/creators before writers too. **Dear... you wrote an essay of an ask with no mistake (that I could find) - I would not have guessed you were not a native speaker, if you hadn't said it before.

To relieve those anxious feelings, here are some advice, from one ball of anxiety to another one:

You don't have to publish anything you don't want to have public. If you prefer to write for yourself and yourself only, it's more than fine. Having fun is what matters.

There are ways to "hide" your project from searches (on itch or tumblr) to have a bit more privacy, as well as disabling replies/comments/ratings...

Setting boundaries from the beginning with people interacting with your projects (whether it is in asks, or doing beta/feedback rounds/etc...) can also be quite helpful (even if some people don't follow them...).

Join writing groups and share snippets/ask for feedback. It's helpful to get some boosts of confidence and get pointers on how to improve.

Have beta/playtest rounds for longer feedback needs (like when you are ready to upload/update a demo, to catch bugs or typos and stuff).

Joining game jams with small projects can help with testing ideas/stories/gameplay, and get comments/feedback from people.

Anyway, we all start somewhere, and very often (most always) that somewhere is not good at all. But that's ok :) There's always room and time for improvement and change (until you're finally happy with it). The beauty of online games is that you can always tweak it and fix it when something doesn't feel right. Nothing is ever set in stone!

Good luck :)

[andromedaexists]

Writeblr Positivity Tag

I was tagged by the amazing @betweenthetimeandsound! Thank you!

What motivates you to write?

My friends! Every single person who has told me that they want to see Call Me Icarus come to life motivates me. Every time I get a message from Feral or Crypt or Nats or Creme or anyone that tells me that they love the characters I create and the stories I tell motivates me to keep writing.

A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not, maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them):

ooooh there's a few pieces that I'm really proud of. If I had to choose just one there's this specific line in Incorrect Eyes that really does not make sense out of context, but I feel like I did a damn good job of portraying panic and anxiety in it (i bolded it so it will stand out):

My phone was always going off, messages from teammates, friends, family that I just couldn’t answer. Didn’t know how to answer. “Are you okay?” I didn’t know, I couldn’t feel anything other than numbness and fear. “Where have you been?” Hiding. Hiding and working and sinking further into the pit of despair and paranoia. “Your friends are wondering where you are.” I wondered that too, where was I? What was I doing? What were these words around me? Why were there eyes everywhere? I didn’t know what to do, I felt like I lost my mind. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe without being watched. I needed to escape and I did not know how.

Which OC makes you smile every time you think/ talk about them and what are they like?

Icarus! I grin so big when I talk about him!! He is a rat bastard and I have so so so much fun torturing him!

Like, I literally light up when I get to infodump about him to people, he is a special interest of mine at this point. He is an emotionally constipated piece of shit that refuses to get over his dual god and inferiority complexes and he is my everything

What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

I really enjoy putting things together. Like, you just finished all your plotting and writing and light revisions, time to run over it one time from front to back and put everything together. That's what I like the most

What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

hhhhhhh that's a question. I'm actually feeling pretty shit about my writing right now, but if I had to choose I think I'm pretty darn good at descriptions. Like, I can absolutely get you put into a room down to the smell of that room and the dingy off-white stain in the corner lol

What is something in the writeblr community that is most enjoyable?

I really enjoy the people. Like, the tag games come and go, the questions are more off than on, but the people? We are always here and always sharing parts of ourselves and out writing. Everytime @cream-and-tea's snippets of Pallas cross my dash I get giddy, I love seeing @isherwoodj's work (especially when Doc is involved) too! I just love the community and the friends I've made, if that makes sense

A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Scrivener for sure, like being able to organize my WIP exactly how I want it to be organized and not have to deal with a huge ass document is amazing! I also love that I can very easy rearrange the order of things and have multiple drafts open without having to have multiple instances of a program open!

I also heavily rely on speech to text, I have a bad habit of small typos that most programs wont catch (i.e. my instead of me, by instead of be type stuff) The only way I've found to reliably catch these is through speech to text since my eyes will just jump right over them!

A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

I really love incorporating mythology into my worldbuilding. It doesn't matter what my WIP is, it will have mythological significance. It's obvious to see in CMI, but it really shines in Desecrate. A lot of things in that WIP have heavy mythological significance (such as the characters names, Christian "Kit" Amadeus Michaels and Adonai)

What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Take care of yourself, there cannot be a book written by you without you.

Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters:

ooohhhh there's so many!!

Let's start with the Shit Show: @lockejhaven @365runesoftheamalgamations @ghost-town-story @crypticcodexcreations @smol-feralgremlin @inkspellangel and @authoralexharvey!

There's also @cream-and-tea @isherwoodj @flowerprose @howlingbreeze @cljordan-imperium and writingpotato (who left us, RIP we love you) here on tumblr!

And some new mentions that I found on twitter who have shown a lot of love for me so far: Clanky, Doom (who is here @doom-inique-writes hi doom!), Kaye (also here, hi @marsadler!!!), Tyler, Em, Gabe, and @wickedwitchwritesstuff!!!

There are so many more, but I love each and every one of you so so much and only have so much room to write people here <3

As far as tagging to do this, I think I've tagged enough people lmaooo, anyone who wants to answer these questions is more than free to!!

[muekyn]

aot oc show and tell: day one

this is a summary of my self insert for @shingekinomyfeelings's aot show and tell event! :> sorry it took me so long hehe ^_^' but i hope you like learning about my self insert !

Day 1: Basic Introductions

Name: summer !

Gender: haha idk rn tbh. female pronouns are fine though

Age in setting: 23

Bold all of the following that apply to your OC!

Context: Canon Setting (though not as often) | Modern AU | Other AU

What niche does your OC serve for you? Self-insert | Completely original character | Self-shipping | Roleplaying | Writing fics | Creating art | Only the scenarios and adventures that I imagine inside my head and share with no one! get fucked I ain't creating shit | Something else

A Bit More

If your character is in the AOT canon setting, what's their allegiance? Survey Corps, Military Police, Marleyan, Warriors, etc?

in a modern setting i imagine being part of the survey corps, though very very reluctantly. my chances of survival would admittedly be low though lol. i'd probably get caught in my own gear or trip off the roof when trying to grapple onto something xP

If your character is from an AU, what's their occupation?

just like me... unemployed and living life as best as they can haha

Do you ship your character with a canon character? If so, who?

yes!!! they're dating eren!

Do you have any cute art or picrews of them together? Let's see one.

i have too many drawings and picrews to count lol. so here's one drawing/animation thing i just uploaded today :>

Character Creation

How long have you actively been developing your OC?

about a year now! i started drawing them around sometime in nov/oct so one year is coming up ^_^

Is there any significance behind your OCs name?

nope, not really! :P i didnt put any thought into the name tbh lol xD

If your OCs appearance is based on yours, do they have any different features?

id say their hair is more orange and pointy than mine. but for the most part everything i draw about them is similar to myself :3

Is there anything you want to try doing with your OC that you haven't yet? (ex RPing, art, fics, etc)

i've been wanting to start drawing comics with them! little snippets of stuff, not a full length comic book hehe. and so far ive been starting to do that, so i'm excited to share the art i've been working on ! :D

ty so much for the chance to talk about my self insert! this was very fun and i'm looking forward to the next event :D

[tarklesbehindthescenes]

Self-Rec Tag Game

@heliopauseentertainments tagged me, so here we go

Rules: Share five of your works (art, writing, etc.). Then tag five people to share the things they made.

1. Something you absolutely adore.

2. Something that was challenging to create.

3. Something that makes you laugh (or smile).

4. Something that suprised you (in how it turned, in how much people liked it, etc.)

5. Something you want other people to see.

1. This is one of my lesser read fics since it’s written for Robots in Disguise 2001, but I love how I set up Railspike in “Team Gossip Train”. His friendship with an elderly lady is precious, and I never actually intended for this to go anywhere. It was supposed to be some heartwarming fluff. But I’ve been getting motivation to write a fic that shows their friendship off a little more and I fully intend to follow up on that. I think it’ll be two chapters, and I’ve written a good chunk of chapter one. No idea when that’ll come out. But now you can look forward to it!

2. The most challenging series I’ve ever written has to be “Megatron’s Elite Trine”. I make no secret of the fact that I have not read IDW as a whole. I’ve seen whatever snippets and info dumps that cross my dash. I know about whatever “The Basics” talks about on Youtube. I’ve had lengthy discussions with my husband, who has read it extensively. But I myself am not completely and totally familiar with it like I am with other continuities. That and I had never written for a polyamorous relationship before. So this was new territory.

But seeing people are enjoying these fics provides me with a good amount of confidence. The characters and their interactions are becoming easier to figure out and write with each passing fic and I am enjoying myself. So overall, I’m satisfied with the results.

3. “Come Fishing” never fails to make me grin. I love Roddy and Ultra Magnus so much, and I really wanted to convey just how much fun their friendship is. It’s easy to write a stoic character who doesn’t laugh or smile, but that’s not who G1 Magnus is. He smiles and he enjoys a bit of fun, but his sense of responsibility usually has him by the reins. Roddy is that friend that makes it his mission to make sure Magnus gets a break now and again so he doesn’t work himself to death. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious and Magnus cherishes it, despite the fact that Roddy can be a bit overzealous at times. 

4. Honestly, I am very surprised by how much traction “Decepticon Snippets” has gotten. It started out as fun little things to make the Decepticons seem less black and white, because as much as I adore G1, I like to venture away from the simple “they’re the bad guys and we’re the good guys” attitude. They’re all cybertronian. I wanted to have an excuse to dive into the Decepticons and flesh out their characters. And I’ve got a handful of rarepairs in there for my own pleasure. And then it developed a bit of a plot. And apparently a lot of people like it??

I planned on adding some OCs in there, but then decided it would make for better writing if I just made that story its own thing. I plan on making Astrotrain and Dead End an item once I get the motivation to continue it. But yeah, I’m always shocked whenever I get a notification showing that another person has added a Kudos to it. Because I’m still getting them, despite having not updated that one in ages.

5. I would absolutely love for “The Rise of Rodimus Prime” series to get more traction. It’s a passion project that my husband and I are both super excited to finish. This series is set in G1 and follows Rodimus and a trine of seekers around the galaxy, the initial trine being Redwing, Hotlink, and the conehead Sandstorm. As they go, Rodimus is trying to keep the seekers safe from the bounty that Galvatron put on their heads, while also uncovering a big mastermind plot with each encounter his group has against various antagonists.

The group gains more members over time and develops familial bonds with each other. The multiverse is also torn in some places, so there are more than a handful of bots that come from other continuities, such like: Robots in Disguise 2001, Shattered Glass, and IDW. This series will also be tied in to the third installment of “Maximo’s Legacy” when I eventually finish the second installment.

We also have a fic dedicated to showing how Hotlink’s character started out to show why we went the direction we did with him and provide some more insight on the mystery that Redwing is.

This is a very ambitious project and I cannot gush about this story or the characters enough. I know that I hardly ever post about them, but boy do I want to hold entire conversations with people about this!

Anyone I tag, feel free to ignore if you don’t want to participate: @rubski02, @tanglecolors, @tsubasa10126-unwinds, anyone else interested can tag themselves

[birlwrites]

🎢, 🍦,💖,🤗,😬, 💔, 🤲?

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

oh, definitely career goals: tyrant - it's unhinged from chapter 1 and only gets more so

🍦 What’s the sweetest fic you’ve created so far?

i was torn so i picked 2 afslghjksdf - the first one is sun and shadow, aka the pjo au, and the second is the point of creation, which is a check please fic with lardo/ransom in which lardo is a composer and ransom is a poet and they make art for each other and it's very soft

💖 What made you start writing?

hmm i don't think there was ever a set Moment - i've always been coming up with stories, and i'm p sure my parents have some picture books/graphic novels/comics/idk what to call them drawn by yours truly at age <5. i started actually like, typing stories in a word processor in about 4th grade because my best friend was writing a story and i wanted to copy her

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

3 things: first of all, try not to jump straight into posting your stuff somewhere like ao3. get a feel for what you like writing and what makes you happy before you start introducing things like 'how many people kudosed my fic today' - there is SO MUCH fic out there, and it can be very hard to build an audience/find your people, especially when you're just starting out. there's no reason to demoralize yourself right away. build up your sense of what YOU like before you start worrying about whether other people like it. (sharing your writing with your friends is different - they're your friends, not faceless internet people ashfkjhsf)

second of all, it's important to make sure that you're actually enjoying the process. writing fanfic should be fun - if it feels like a chore or an obligation, it might be time to step back and see if you've accidentally turned it into a job instead of something you do solely because you enjoy it

third of all, writing a complete fic beginning to end is a skill in and of itself. don't expect yourself to just sit down and bang out a multichap fic with flawless pacing and an amazing ending. that's something that requires practice. the best way to practice is to finish what you start. you don't have to finish absolutely everything - as i said, this should be fun - but just be aware that if you want to complete your fics in a satisfying way, you need to practice writing complete stories. one-shots are a great way to start!

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

ohhhh man

honestly, the entire concept makes me wince, but tbh probably lachrimae. i feel like that's the one most likely to inspire the 'why aren't you writing original stories, you should be writing original stories' reaction

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

i have a few, all regulus angst - we've got implode--, survived by, and happy birthday, which i wrote when i was ~15 and, if i do say so myself, KILLED IT.

implode-- is about sirius rescuing a mostly-dead regulus from the cave, survived by is about sirius finding death eater regulus after evan's death (there's a theme LMAO - that's a fic i wouldn't be able to write these days, i'm too attached to evan now), and happy birthday is canon-compliant snapshots of regulus's life from age 11 to age 18

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

ABSOLUTELY. HERE'S LACHRIMAE

-

Voldemort says, "Do you consider yourself a fighter, Regulus?"

It could pass for conversational—silk floating on water. He hisses the tiniest bit on Regulus, a tiny whistle of air after precisely pronounced syllables like an ice cube against the back of Regulus's neck. Regulus's mask gleams at his side, awkward and useless in his hand—he can't put it on, but he can't put it away, and so there it stays, a glimmering ghost in the sun.

What sort of answer does Voldemort want? He doesn't want Regulus to fight, he wants to keep his Seer safe, but there has to be a reason he's asking, a reason he called Regulus in the first place.

Regulus doesn't consider himself a fighter. He's... flexible. He bends, goes around instead of through. Fire and brimstone have always been more Bellatrix's thing, and Voldemort must know that.

"You," Voldemort says, "have a habit of responding to my questions with silence."

Great.

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