#← definitely not stolen from AO3 no why would you think that-

[hauntedhokage]

a little patience

PART 01: Stolen Shirt

WORD COUNT: 1.5K

SUMMARY: “That’s my shirt.” He doesn’t look mad, but definitely interested in the fact that you had access to his stuff, and you know that you needed to set the record straight on where you got it.

This was why you spent the night at your own apartment. Not really, but every little moment adds up, right?

[series masterlist] | {ao3} | [tumblr masterlist] | {ko-fi} | [spotify playlist]

The apartment was quiet. 

Your boyfriend was sleeping peacefully, worn out from a big villain fight followed by rounds of sex, and you were just watching him sleep. You wanted to wake him up, making him give you some good company while you were at his apartment, but instead you just kiss his forehead before getting out of bed to go make some coffee. You had your own work to get done, anyway, and you had your laptop and charger so there was no reason why you couldn’t get your work done. 

His roommate/boyfriend wasn’t home yet, which also contributed to the quiet of the apartment. He was an earlier riser than you were, which was saying something as your schedule had you waking up at around 3 am most mornings. Usually you could hear him grumbling in the morning after you stayed the night, mumbling to himself about work schedules and too many idiots getting themselves into trouble, but you couldn’t hear him so you could only assume that he wasn’t home. 

You didn’t stay over often, only when your boyfriend was nursing some kind of injury from his work as a pro hero or it was a guarantee that his boyfriend would be out all night. Sometimes it felt like his boyfriend didn’t like having you around, so you liked to respect the space that they had together in their apartment and just stay at your apartment. If your boyfriend wanted to stay the night, it was in your space 95% of the time. 

But you didn’t like to leave when your boyfriend was asleep, knowing that he worried about you disappearing in the night due to his known connection to you, so you were going to have to stick around until he woke up and could see that you were leaving of your own accord and not being kidnapped by a criminal. As if a criminal could get into their super secure apartment. 

“Oh, hey,” you hear as you turn into the small kitchen, and you look over your shoulder to see the blonde haphazardly laying on the sofa. Looked to be still in all of his gear, so it had to have been a rougher than usual night on patrol for the number one hero. “Didn’t know you were here.”

“Eiji brought me over after his fight last night, wanted me close or something like that.” You go back to looking at the coffee pot, grateful that the men kept your coffee in plain sight. The way they organized their cabinets still didn’t make sense after almost a year of dating Eijirou, it was easier for them and you to keep the stuff that you liked either just on the countertop (like your coffee and tea of choice) or in the front of the cabinets so you would see them immediately. 

“He said something about that. Sleep good?”

“Uh, yeah. Coffee?”

“Coffee is good, thanks.” 

You nod, moving about the space to have two mugs ready when it brewed. Bakugou took his coffee black, half a teaspoon of sugar put into the mug before the coffee was poured so the sugar would dissolve faster. It was easy to remember and just as easy to prepare, so it wasn’t long before you’re handing the mug over to the blonde hero who was now sitting up on the couch. 

“That’s my shirt.” He doesn’t look mad, but definitely interested in the fact that you had access to his stuff, and you know that you needed to set the record straight on where you got it. You didn’t want him thinking you were going through his stuff or anything like that, that would be so disrespectful. You literally just picked it up, and you hoped he would understand that. 

“Sorry, it was on Eiji’s floor so I assumed it was his. I’ll, uh, I’ll wash it before I leave today.” You’re leaving before he could really say anything else, knowing that Bakugou was notorious among the people who knew him for his temper and not wanting to experience his volatility over a tshirt. You don’t see the confused look on his face at how quickly you left, nor do you hear the disappointed sigh that leaves the blonde after the bedroom door shuts behind you. Your concern was removing yourself from the situation before it became a situation. 

The fabric is shed as soon as the door is closed, and you’re going back through your boyfriend’s dresser to find a shirt that you knew was his and not belonging to his boyfriend. 

“I liked that one on you baby,” Eijirou mumbles, propping himself up on his elbows as he watches you. “Why’d you take it off like it burned you?”

“It’s Bakugou’s, not yours.”

“What’s his is mine, and what’s mine is yours.”

“Did he also agree to that?” It’s a question you ask often, which has Eijirou sighing as he drops back into the bed. This dynamic was unique, and you never wanted to overstep or make Bakugou feel like you were trying to push him out - and you noticed that he did the same for you despite not seeming to like you much. But still, you couldn’t just wear his stuff without his explicit permission, and Eijirou had to understand that as the connecting piece of the puzzle. 

Sure, actually talking to Bakugou more and trying to develop some kind of friendship or commonality aside from who you both were dating would help, but he didn’t seem at all interested in getting to know you better so you opted to let him have space. A few of their old classmates had told you that Bakugou was a lot like an angry stray cat; you had to let him come to you and not come on too strong when he did, otherwise he’d back off immediately - which was weird initially but after being around him more it definitely made sense. He liked his space and set his boundaries, you weren’t trying to invade either.  

“Actually, since you’re up, I’m gonna head out. I’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m sure Bakugou wants some alone time with you since you stayed with me a lot last week.”

“At least stay and finish your coffee, baby. I’ll take you home after.” He sees how conflicted you are, but smiles when you pick up your coffee mug despite still standing naked in his bedroom. “I’ll find you a shirt that is mine, since I know that’ll make you feel better.”

“Thank you.”

It’s after he comes home from dropping you off that Eijirou seeks out his boyfriend. The blonde is laying in his bed, book on field tactics in hand but those amber eyes are watching the redhead as he approaches slowly before flopping onto the mattress. 

“I’ve been asked to unnecessarily apologize again for the shirt mishap this morning.”

“Wasn’t really a mishap, but okay,” Katsuki mumbles, going back to his book only to grunt when Eijirou takes it away.

“You’re not actually mad about it, are you?”

“Stupid thing to be mad about. She picked up a shirt from your floor, thinking it was yours. I didn’t think it was a big deal and if I knew she’d freak out I wouldn’t have said anything at all, since it’s a shirt.”

There’s a pause, the two men looking at each other before Eijirou gives the book back with a sigh. 

“Why doesn’t she like me?”

“She doesn’t not like you. She just doesn’t know how to talk to you, since you don’t really talk to her.” The explanation has the blonde nodding, setting his book to the side to allow Eijirou to cuddle closer. “She knows there’s mutual respect, and doesn’t think that you don’t like her. But, she’s afraid of overstepping a boundary with you and doesn’t want you feeling like she’s trying to push you out, so she keeps her distance when I let her.”

“Do I need to say sorry for anything?”

“No, but I think you should try to get to know her better, it’ll help you both.” The suggestion makes Katsuki grunt again, a more thoughtful grunt than the annoyed one from earlier. There was a valid point there, Eijirou’s girlfriend would only feel more comfortable with him if he talked to her more than just greetings in passing and updates on injuries whenever they occurred. Things like shirts picked off the floor wouldn’t feel so big to her if she just…knew him better. A concept. “You guys have a lot in common, and I think you’d be good friends if not more.”

Katsuki elects to ignore the “more” aspect of the statement and only nods, knowing that if the dynamic was going to stay healthy then there needed to be healthy communication between all three parties. She deserved better than to walk on eggshells around him, and he really didn’t want to make this more difficult for them all than it already was, but he wasn’t good at people.

That’s what he got for dating a people-person.

[onebizarrekai]

Fic Author Interview

I've been tagged by @unmaskedcardinal! been a while since I talked about any of this stuff, particularly as a very inconsistent fic poster haha

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

the visible number linked to my account is currently 60, no idea if this is counting the bizarre saga from my archive account or not. technically I've posted more, but they aren't part of that number.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

567,314.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

ibvs season 1 & season 2 are (thankfully) the top two on my account, considering they're… well. ibvs.

number 3 is formal humiliation, a utmv fic back in 2019 where I wrote 3 oneshots all with different pairs surrounding the same idea. it's uh, it's something.

4 is behave, a saiouma despair disease fic I wrote sort of ironically in 2020. I did not realize this weird oneshot would be the thing that jumpstarted my kage obsession.

5, for some reason, is glow, a ds fic I wrote in 2019. I do not know why this is the ds fic with the most kudos. I am just really glad that it's not one of the ones I wrote in 2018.

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

lately I have been trying to respond to more comments, if they're on a recent enough story and I can think of a way to answer.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

most of the fics I've written right now have been Random Spot In Time fics with no articulate ending, but game over is pretty edgy. I think. I've written a similarly edgy ending but it's in an anonymous fic. it occurs to me that edgy doesn't necessarily mean angst, but it can.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

somehow everyone lived happily ever after in the bizarre saga, no f'ing idea how they managed that

7. Do you write crossovers?

I have. I have as comedies. I tend to take a bunch of guys and put them in a new setting that they definitely shouldn't be in. poopenster high is an example of this, but none of that has ever touched the internet and I haven't touched it in like 2 years.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

oh my god like. maybe once? maybe? I don't even think it counted as hate. I think like several years ago some rando complained that season 2 of ibvs was trying too hard to be funny. I barely remember what it actually said, I just remember it being annoying.

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

when I was in my v3 phase I wrote some, I think "feelings with smut" describes most of it decently. the nature of the kcu meant it was like, almost all trippy.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I dunno. I hope not. I think I've had people repost stuff without permission.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

probably?? when I was a teen I had people say they wanted to translate my utmv fics, I don't know which ones actually followed through anymore.

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

(sigh) yes.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

oh god, I think I honestly just phase around stuff. I don't think I've ever permanently latched onto a pair, it's just that I've had fandoms and I have pairs that I've ended up liking in them and they just sort of stay that way even if stop paying attention to the fandom. I like most ships that happens to fit into my favorite criteria (that being protagonist/morally ambiguous deuteragonist or antagonist). if you asked me what my favorite series is, it would be an easier question. it's zelda. but I don't really have any permanent favorite ships in zelda.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

this is a scary question because I have a number of major wips that I want to get back into once I get back into writing and I refuse to accept that they may not get finished. I don't know. moose hill? for a little while I wanted to see if I could come up with a whole side story, but it is extremely unlikely that will happen. maybe a better example is a continuation of shuichi and kage's blackout adventure, which is pretty low on the priority list for if my brain every gets infected by danganronpa again.

15. What are your writing strengths?

the jokes are very important. I put my heart and soul into them. I hope that people can see my vision when I tell them.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

actually doing the writing getting from point A to point B. I come up with this whole outline and realize there's 2000 words of empty space that needs to happen. and it's like dull shit, too. just plain old events. like look at them, it's the lunching hours again. because lunch is a thing that happens every day. is it redundant to have lunch too many times? it can't possibly! it's the only time they can talk to each other! do I need to pan the camera again because this 3 sentence exchange has dragged on for too long? help

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

makes sense to me. or like, depends on the context. if the POV is a character who can speak the language, the reader should probably get to know what they're saying (think like, subtitled sections of a movie), unless it's really easy to decipher. but if the POV can't understand it, the reader shouldn't necessarily know. it gets more complicated if it takes place in a setting where they should logically be speaking a language that is not english for example. like, if they're in a country where they are not speaking english but the fic is in english. it wouldn't really make sense to insert interjections in their home language because they're not speaking english in the first place. I guess it all depends on what you're trying to convey.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

sonic. does it count. I started writing once I was old enough to type. but I think the first story I ever put online was zelda.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

on occasion I entertain the idea of writing for corpse party, but that's probably not going to happen.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I'm going to not include that one anonymous fic and my pile of unfinished longfic wips that I've been proud of in past years is way too big so… maybe game over?? it's complicated. I have a ton of comedy pieces that I love but they're just… not completed!!

[ feel free to fill this out yourself if you're a fic writer! ]

[zenaidamacrouras1]

Ten questions for writers

The lovely @somanywords tagged me and I'm all in my bullshit as I finish a long fic so it's the perfect time for this.

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

23

Why is it shouting? I didn't mean to make that big but whatever. 23.

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

Word Count: 764,847

And what I would like to say, is that I started writing in the summer of 2022, so pretty much exactly two years ago, and deleted one longfic when I decided I hated it, so my point is, that is an average of more than 1,000 words a day published, and I have a shit ton of unpublished stuff.

Is my math possibly close on this? Holy shit, I talk a lot, and don't worry, I do have an actual diagnosis for my mental health problems, not that it helps all that much, but hahahahaha, doing great.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Captain America, though a lot of Marvel sneaks in around the edges.

Wandavision, Hawkeye (more the show and comics than the Avenger's movies version of Clint) and Black Widow in particular. I am interested in writing diverse stories which has me pulling from the more recent content for women, queer folks, and people of color to include. I do see the irony of hyper-fixating on two white males for literally years and nearly a million words and then complaining about lack of diversity. Let's talk about it.

4. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I do, meticulously and with great joy. BUT.

When I first started writing I had no idea what to do with comments. They made me happy and thrilled, but also very stressed about social etiquette. I would rarely reply. At one point I saw an anon asking on Tumblr if the author was mad at them for commenting because they commented on every chapter of a work in progress without hearing anything back. I honestly had never thought about it from that perspective, so I starting replying, and it got easier with practice. I have gotten into my own groove and I enjoy it now.

I think if it stresses authors out, no pressure. It actually does take up a chunk of time, especially on my more popular fics or if a chapter is particularly exciting/has a cliff hanger, etc. I really enjoy doing it, so I don't mind at all, and if it ever feels like a TASK I don't pressure myself to reply, because I find if I wait a few days it brings me joy again.

5. have you ever had a fic stolen?

No (?)

6. have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I have collaborated with artists through Bangs though which is super neat!

7. what’s your all-time favourite ship?

Look the obvious answer is Stucky.

I think one of my first pairings was Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker, but in that pairing I was a stand in for Luke Skywalker and Mara was too cool for both of us but also imprinted on my developing brain.

Mara Jade (for those who don't know) is a formerly brainwashed lady spy superhero in the 1990s era Star Wars books with sexy red hair. I suspect the author had read some Black Widow but have not confirmed this. I had not seen any Marvel comics at that time and was very on board with Mara Jade. (Not literally, sadly.)

As far as writing though, it's Stucky that I keep thinking up stories that I have a compulsive need to write down. I think of lots of stories for other pairings but they don't eat my brain like Stucky.

8. what are your writing strengths?

I am stubborn as fuck.

9. what are your writing weaknesses?

Excess (see above).

10. first fandom you wrote for?

On ao3 it was Winter Soldier+Widow (since orphaned, it was bad).

In my head as a teen it was definitely MeLuke Skywalker/Mara Jade. Very extensive mental storylines between us them.

----

No pressure tags for anyone who sees this and wants to play! And also @dharmasharks @voylitscope and @fsbc-librarian and @late-to-the-party-81 and @metalbvcky and @aimmyarrowshigh and everyone else I am trying to get over my social anxiety around tagging please don't stab me.

[pharaohbean]

thank you everyone for the mafutoya food, much obliged, def cheered me up (my ask box is still open to more…..)

in return, my own mafutoya hcs/fic ideas/just general spouting:

composer buddies. i will die on this hill. theyre an online duo like 25ji and they make music together and their groups have NO idea (bonus points if someone(s) from their group also follow them). i will die on this hill. its hilarious.

on that note, mafuyu taught toya a bit of how to compose— i would imagine she helped him refine how to put emotions into song (since she did that quite well as we know)

^ also, they’re study buddies. def both practice their english on one another, but since madus an honors kids and toyas just Smart they work well together. mafu also helps come up with ways to help toya tutor akian bc she already does that with rando classmates

more canon divergencey, but their parents know each other (not in the same fashion as the aoyagi-tenma friendship…. asahinas more just keeping up terms to look good bc. aoyagis.) so the kids knew each other. they weren’t super close but they’d recognize one another

mafuyu running away at the end of mafu4 definitely gave toya food for thought on his own running away (that he would come back to tackle in toya4 sorry bud)

toyas the extroverted of the two technically. sure, mafu’s mask is even more extroverted, but generally toyas the upbeat one between them.

they like to just take the train around tokyo for the sights. they did it less as toya prepared for rad blast, but mafuyu def took him on a celebratory train ride at some point in congrats

mafuyu does not like most of vbs’ music (since akian wrote the music until roughly toya3, and even then i think they still did the brunt). mafuyu does like toya’s songs, tho

^ followup, toya follows 25ji. hes 50/50 most of the time (partially tastes partially instruments sometimes) but he supports them by leaving ridiculously long comments breaking everything down. hes become a well-known member of the 25ji fandom, accidentally.

more serious hc: toya does not, in any shape or form, “save” mafu. if they knew each other earlier, however, he definitely kept her from going over the edge. i can talk a LOT about this but thats a whole other rabbit trail.

mafuyu gets plushies from toya from the arcade. its usually rabbits, although the occasional cat or bird makes its way into the pile. there is an ever-growing pile of fluff in the corner of mafu’s room at kana’s. honami does Not Know what to do with it.

if they had a sekai together, it would be mafuyu’s fragment sekai but with like. the equivalent of a starbucks stuck in it. like the starbucks at a target or barnes&noble or whatever. mikuluka are their only vs, although they might get a len or kaito later on.

toya goes to miya to pick up kohane when an cant, but honestly goes to talk to mafu mostly. i mean hes there for kohane but sometimes koha has committee and so toya will just,,, talk with mafuyu. the rest of the school is VERY confused as to why this random kamikou guy is talking with asahina mafuyu, and then saki barrels him over one day screaming “OTOUTO!!!” at the top of her lungs and theyre like “oh hes a tenma okay”

this goes without saying but mafu doesnt mask around toya. she did for a bit, but toya saw through it bc it was annoyingly similar to akito’s own. toya Does Not like the mask. in any situation. he willingly chooses to extrovert most of the time than let mafu mask. its partially for his own sanity.

mafu teaches him to cook, and toya reteaches her tastes (partially stolen from that one akitoyamafu fic on ao3 love you)

mizuki constantly tells stories about them to the other, and they always listen with rapt attention. mizu thinks its cute in a way, and is also happy to have their full attention for once (not like toya wouldnt but)

toyamafu have no fashion sense. they just kinda throw something together thats vaguely coherent. akito was forced to band with mizuki to get them to actually match their clothes right.

mafuyu is more athletic than toya (not a high bar tbh) but toyas much more limber and flexible

[twistedwonderlandimaginesblog]

(Saw someone do this and decided it seemed fun~

link to my ao3 here)

How many works do you have on AO3?

85.

What's your total AO3 word count?

915,568 words~

 What fandoms do you write for?

Currently it’s for Helios Rising Heroes, Hypnosis Mic, Obey Me, Paradox Live, and Twisted Wonderland!

I’ve previously written for A3!, Ace Attorney, Ace of Diamond, Borderlands, Bungou Stray Dogs, Free!, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Fire Force, Gorillaz, Hero Academia, Kuroko no Basuke, Magi, Naruto, Red Dead Redemption, Run with the Wind, RWBY, Shokugeki no Souma, Stardew Valley, Tokyo Ghoul

Top five fics by kudos?

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes [Twisted Wonderland] – 6,298

We’d Be a Hit Together [Haikyuu!!] – 6,211

Super Powered Love [My Hero Academia] – 5,436

A Devil’s Bride [Obey Me!] – 3,583

I Need Love [Hypnosis Mic] – 1,928

Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I always read and appreciate comments made on my posts, on AO3 and Tumblr, I always check to see if someone has tagged it with commentary <3

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

To be fair I hurt Malleus with the whole ‘you’re likely someone with a shorter lifespan’ idea constantly, but The Brightest Star was definitely a sadder one from my KNB days.

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

Most of them because I truly hate unhappy endings. You can probably tell just from how I write that I try to put a positive spin on things, but I am trying to just let the angst happen or leave things off with ambiguity rather than specifying that a character only seems to feel a certain way when they’re actually feeling something else entirely.

Do you get hate on fics?

Occasionally. I remember getting this angry message about me being a feminist because I made the reader like dom Hanamiya from KNB and they were MAAAAD about it lmao I also remember being on fanfic dot net and getting argued with and I just sent the brady bunch theme song over and over until they stopped messaging me back

Do you write smut?

I do! Not the biggest fan of it honestly because I never feel like it’s half as sexy as the things I read other people write, but I do get in moods and with certain characters they just need to be manhandled a lil, you know?

Craziest crossover?

I have never written a crossover in my LIFE

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Awhile back I did but I was told about it and the story was quickly taken down, I think it was on Wattpad or something like that.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! I’ve gotten a handful of requests for my more popular ones to get translated, I don’t mind at all!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I mean I’m co-writing a book with the other admin on this blog, so does that count?

All time favorite ship?

Me and all my lil husbands.

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

I was writing this Criminal Minds fanfic that I had all plotted out, dramatic quotes at the beginning of episodes already picked, but I don’t think I’ll ever bother focusing on it.

What are your writing strengths?

I would say characterization is my strength! The characters are the best parts of fanfics after all and I always try to do research on the characters I write; if they’re ones I don’t know as well I’ll scan the wiki and read extra stories with them in it just to get a better handle on them! It’s why when there’s characters that haven’t been around long enough or don’t have a lot of content translated for them that I don’t like writing for them because I need at least something to go off of, I don’t want to have to make up their personality myself

What are your writing weaknesses?

Details. Which is a horrible thing to say as a writer, but I do feel like my writing lacks details here and there. Like with dialogue, I’ve been trying to write more in-between actions while the characters are talking since most people aren’t just standing still, especially if a character was doing something before another person entered the room. Descriptions of the world around the characters

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I don’t like using google translate but I do have characters I love who speak other languages. Those heinous Hetalia days where you’d randomly put a word into the middle of an otherwise english sentence… they haunt me. But what I try to do with Citron from A3 is write some of his dialogue in parentheses to show he��s speaking in a language that the reader might not understand, and I feel like that works a little better for someone who doesn’t speak anything but english to do for the sake of not butchering another language.

First fandom you wrote in?

I truly wish I knew. I know I wrote for Naruto back in the day, and The Outsiders was one of the first full length fics I did. But that was back on Quizilla which has since turned to dust. I was also on Lunaescence for a while, whose creators have also turned to dust apparently. What a world

Favourite fic you've written?

It’s hard to pic just one when most of my fics are like, stand-alone short little things. But I think one I’m very fond of (which was written for the other admin so it explains why I put so much effort into it) was Snowy Mountain Getaway, which was a FE3H Dimitri/Reader College AU fic.

[electrikworm]

A peaceful moment

Relationships: Omega & Wrecker & Tech

Content Warnings: Chronic Pain, Past Child Abuse (vaguely mentioned)

Summary:

After getting the Marauder back and leaving Ipsidon, Wrecker's abnormally quiet. At first, Omega thinks he's upset about the argument he and Tech had, but she soon discovers the uncomfortable truth about the side effects Wrecker's enhancements have.

Word count: 2,140

Read on Ao3

Since they'd gotten the Marauder back and left Ipsidon, Wrecker hasn't moved from his spot on the lowest sleeping rack. As soon as they'd boarded the ship, he took off his armor and laid down facing the wall. He's got one of those thin blankets distributed to clone troopers pulled up high. Omega can only just see the top of his head from where she's peeking out behind the curtain separating what's been designated as her room from the rest of the ship.

Wrecker likes to sleep. Definitely more than Tech or Hunter do. Sometimes it seems like they don't sleep at all. This isn't normal though, he's barely said a word to anyone, hasn't reacted to anyone walking past either. Omega tried walking past him a few times just to check.

Wrecker doesn't look like he's sleeping anyway. He's too still, and when he does move, he moves too coordinated to be asleep. His breathing hasn't evened out either.

Why is he just laying there? Is something wrong? Something has to be wrong...

Is he mad at Tech?

After the Havoc Marauder got stolen, the two of them were fighting a lot, maybe that's why Wrecker's not talking to anyone. Omega climbs down from her room and walks up to Wrecker for the seventh time since they took off. Like the six times before, he doesn't react.

“Wrecker?” Omega asks, carefully placing a hand on Wreckers shoulder. The twitch in response to the touch is so subtle, Omega can barely feel it through the blanket.

“Hmm?” He sounds unfocused, tired. From where she's standing now, Omega can just about tell that the one of his eyes she can see is closed. Maybe he really was sleeping?

“Are you mad at Tech?” Omega asks. Wrecker doesn't say anything for a moment, then he laughs. It's not nearly as loud as it usually is.

“M'not mad at Tech. Jus' tired.” The way his voice slurs, he really does sound tired.

“Okay.” Omega says, not ready to drop this yet. She can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Wrecker doesn't seem very talkative, so Omega expands her investigation to the cockpit, where she knows she'll find Tech and Hunter.

As the door to the room slides open, it seems she's interrupted a passive conversation the two were having. Tech's sitting in the pilots chair, eyes trained on the datapad in his hands, Hunter was looking out into hyperspace, but turns to look at Omega when he notices her presence. He smiles slightly.

“Do you need something?” he asks.

“Tech, are you mad at Wrecker?” That makes Tech look up from his work.

“I'm not mad at him.” he states matter-of-factly. Hunter glances at Tech, then back at Omega.

“We were all frustrated by an unfortunate situation. I'm sure there are no lasting hard feelings.” Hunter says. Tech nods courtly in agreement.

“I was simply pointing out that the Marauder being stolen was Wreckers fault, as he was the sole person on watch.” Tech adds before Omega can process the new information. She isn't the slightest bit closer to figuring out what's wrong with Wrecker.

“Then why's Wrecker just been lying there since we took off?” Omega asks, pointing through the doorway leading to the rest of the ship. Hunters eyebrows draw together at that.

“The whole time?” He sounds concerned. Omega nods.

“His chronic pain is most likely flaring up.” says Tech.

“Chronic pain?” Omega asks. Of course she knows what that is, but she had never considered it in Wrecker's context. Nala Se had never mentioned it, neither had Wrecker.

“Yes, an unfortunate side effect of his enhancements.” Tech says, then sighs. “I should have predicted that it would rear it's ugly head. Wrecker put a lot of strain on his body during our involuntarily extended stay on Ipsidon.”

Omega cringes at the memory of the last day. No wonder Wrecker's having a rough time.

“I will check on him.” Tech says, stretching as he stands up. He glances at Hunter before continuing. “Your presence is likely to be beneficial, Omega. It would be appreciated if you accompanied me.”

Omega nods. She planned to go along anyway.

Wrecker's exactly were she left him, still laying on his side, motionless. Omega leans over him, trying to see his face.

“Wrecker?” His eyes open sluggishly, exhaustion marring his expression. He still smiles when he sees Omega.

“Need somethin'?” he says.

Omega shakes her head at the same time Tech huffs and shakes his head. “The one that needs something is you. How many times do we have to remind you to say something if you're experiencing issues?”

“I'm not experiencing issues. 'm fine.”

“You are not.” Tech states. “Will you let me look at your back?”

Wrecker sighs. “Fine.” Good. Omega almost thought they were going to argue again.

Tech stops Wrecker from sitting up by placing a hand on his shoulder. “I can work like this just fine.” Omega watches closely as Tech removes the blanket from Wrecker's upper body and starts pushing up the top half of his under-shirt.

Omega grimaces when she sees the deep bruises littering the exposed skin. Most of them look to be from the creatures he was run over by. Tech runs his hand along Wrecker's spine carefully, expression pinched in concentration. Wrecker inhales sharply, flinching away from the touch.

“Apologies.” Tech withdraws his hand. Wrecker lifts his arm gingerly to wave Tech off. The way he's moving is worrying Omega. “Are you bothered by the bruises or-”

Wrecker interrupts Tech. “The bruises are fine, s'just my back that's the problem.”

“I thought as much.” Tech says, readjusting his goggles. “Omega, could you get the medkit for me?”

Omega sprints off, familiar with where the box is stored now. Her brothers, and occasionally her, seem to need it a lot. They've told her that they always got injured a lot, but Omega isn't entirely sure they're not just saying that to make her feel better. If Omega wasn't with them, her brothers would be hiding somewhere remote like the Lawquane family is. Tech thanks Omega when she returns with the medkit.

He takes something out of the medkit Omega's not seen them use before. It's a type of patch, similar in size to a bacta patch, but the packaging is different.

“That's not part of standard medkits.” Omega says.

“Astute observation.” Tech says as he applies the patch to Wrecker's upper back. Wrecker flinches again when Tech smooths it down, but seems to relax a little after. “They are heat patches, and were never distributed to soldiers. Upon learning that heat decreases the pain Wrecker experiences regularly, we made sure to have some on hand at all times.”

“How do they work?” Omega asks, leaning to look at the one stuck to Wrecker's back. Tech's already unpacking a second, placing that one of the lower part of Wrecker's back.

“When activated, an exothermic chemical reaction is triggered within the patch.” Tech takes a moment to study Omega's face, likely trying to tell if she'd understood what he said. She does, so she smiles at her brother.

“Okay.” Omega says, moving to crouch near Wrecker's head again.

“I will be giving you a dose of painkillers Wrecker. Consider this your warning.” Tech says, producing a hypo from the medkit.

“No.” Wrecker says firmly, voice surprisingly clear. He's covering his neck with his hand. Omega still hasn't figured out what Wrecker's issue with needles is. She's not sure she wants to know.

“Cease being difficult, kih'vod.” Tech sighs. “You are aware the neck isn't the only area medication is administered, right?”

Wrecker lets out a frustrated groan. “I don't need it Tech. 'm fine.”

“The way you have been acting since we left Ipsidon begs to differ.”

“We haven't got a lot of medical supplies left, and they're not cheap. No point using more than necessary.”

Tech shakes his head. “I deem it necessary. And after that mission, I say you deserve it.” When Wrecker just grumbles, Tech gives Omega a look.

“Please Wrecker.” Omega says, making him turn his head to look at her better. “I don't like seeing you hurt.”

Wrecker's expression has a sadness to it as he pauses to think. He sighs as he lets his hand drop away from his neck. “Fine.”

Tech smiles at Omega as he disinfects an area on Wrecker's neck. Wrecker's visibly shaking as he anticipates the needle piercing his skin. Tech warns Wrecker again before pressing the hypo to his neck.

Once Tech's got the painkillers in their brother, he tidies the medkit and makes to leave. “Keep an eye on him.” He says to Omega. She nods in response. She'll keep an eye on him like her life depends on it.

As the pain medication takes hold, Omega can see the lines on Wrecker's face soften. “Should I get Lula?” She asks once she's sure the painkillers have started working right.

Wrecker smiles tiredly. “Yeah, I'd like that a lot.”

When Omega returns, she tucks the stuffed tooka into her brothers arms, carefully pulling the blanket back over his shoulders.

“Thanks 'mega.” Wrecker says. Omega sits on the floor next to him.

“Are you in pain a lot?” Omega asks after a moment of silence.

“It's not that bad, kid.” The way he sounds doesn't make Omega very confident in the words he's saying. “It's always been this way, I'm used to it.”

“That doesn't make it any better...”

Wrecker sighs. “Look Omega, they did a lot of tests, experiments, on us when we were kids. They're the reason I'm strong the way I am today. I'm fine with a bit of pain if it's a side effect of making me a useful part of this squad.” Wrecker puts a hand on Omega's shoulder gently. It can't be comfortable to do so from the angle he's laying at.

“How bad is it?”

“The pain?” Wrecker asks. Omega nods again. “Depends. Some days it's fine, other's it's like this. You don't have to worry about it Omega.”

Omega doesn't say anything for a moment. She grew up knowing bits and pieces of the experiments done on her brothers, even helped with some. She never knew the downsides they had.

“Do the others have problems too?” She's not sure she wants to know, but avoiding the truth doesn't help anyone. Wrecker seems to hesitate for a moment.

“Yeah.” He says sadly. “Different from me. Tech and Hunter get a lot of awful headaches and Crosshair...” Wrecker suddenly goes very quiet. “Crosshair has problems with his eyes.”

Neither of them say anything for a moment.

“Best you just ask them.” Wrecker eventually continues. “They can give you a better answer.”

Omega would like to ask them now, but she won't leave Wrecker alone. She feels like she should say something, but can't think of anything. Instead, she tries to think about What Nala Se told her about her brother's enhancements.

She remembers various operations and experiments mentioned, but not all of them made it out of the planning stage. Nala Se let her watch some of the procedures, but usually only through a pane of transparisteel.

Realization hits Omega as she remembers seeing one of the experiments done on Wrecker. “They injected something into you're back, right?” Omega asks. Wrecker cringes at the mention and nods. “Nala Se never told me what it was...”

“You and me both kid.” Wrecker says with a sigh.

“Is that why you don't like needles?”

Wrecker pulls a face. “It's... one of the reasons.”

“I'm sorry.” Omega puts her hand on Wrecker's.

“What for?”

Omega shrugs. “I guess the experiments. And the side effects of them.”

“Don't be. It's what we were made for.”

“Still doesn't seem right...” Omega wishes her brothers didn't have to suffer just because of the way they were made.

Wrecker's eyes look earnest as he speaks. “Ad'ika, my heads too fuzzy from the stuff Tech gave me to be talking about this. I know things don't always make sense, they didn't make sense to me all the time either. But can we continue the conversation another time?”

Omega's fine with that. She'd like all her brothers involved in that conversation anyway, so they'll have to wait for Echo to be back. “Okay. Can I talk about something else though?”

Wrecker laughs quietly. “I'd love nothing more Omega.”

So Omega start talking, not really sure what she's saying half the time. She talks about the mission, and about things Tech told her that he's definitively already told Wrecker. She talks about anything really, not really sure whether she's doing it to distract Wrecker or herself. Her brother doesn't seem to mind.

At some point, Wrecker appears to fall asleep. Omega keeps talking quietly, hoping that his rest is peaceful.

[yellowocaballero]

Anyway.

How many works do you have on AO3? 54. Hm. I don't remember writing 54 fics. That's weird. But I've been posting since 2017 so when you THINK about it 54 fics over 7 years isn't weird at all.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 2.4 million. What's your point.

What fandoms do you write for? A fuckton. I write both things I'm hyperfixated on and for random shit that comes in my head. I was into TMA for like two years so I have the most TMA fic (16), but most of my fandoms are 3-5 fics maximum. There's also a lot of random-ass fics for random-ass fandoms that just jumped in my head. Artemis Fowl, Beetlejuice, Animorphs...demons that overtook me for two weeks or so and never bothered me again.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Great Gender Heist (Artemis Fowl, no surprise there.), stay out of trouble (Detroit: Become Human, I reliably forget that one exists and I'm still mystefied as to why so many people read it), meek shall inherit (I'm constantly attempting to forget the Be More Chill phase ever happened), someone will remember us (Batman, fic's not great, am still very fond of that au) and dead or alive (DBH, mediocre). Why the hell are the two Detroit: Become Human fics so popular? I hate DBH so much. I was so angry while writing those.

Do you respond to comments? I am absolutely terrible about responding to comments. I am sorry. I do read and appreciate all of them. It's because I always need to give a dialectical so comments take ages to write. If you do want to hear my thoughts on something, my inbox is your best bet for a way too lengthy response.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hope, Etc for certain. I try really hard to write bittersweet at worst endings, and even the sad endings in my fics have hope in them. Hope, Etc definitely ends in a better place than where it began. But it's still very sad. I was thinking about a lot of lost loved ones while writing it. Fishhooks and reel to reel also have downer endings but that is because they are LITERALLY Star Wars.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhh. The ending of Solitaire (and the MLM/WLW hostility series in general) is very sweet. It's meaningful because it demonstrates so much growth from everybody with very little cost. I almost said Go Straight At The Cul De Sac, because it showcases a happier world where horrible historical events were averted, but the ending will always be a little bittersweet because we understand how much Protag sacrificed to create that better world.

Do you get hate on fics? Sometimes people are kind of weird. The worst of it is usually just useless comments, though. I had somebody get pedantic about how briefly mentioning an SUV would be historically inaccurate, and how I should have mentioned a minivan instead - like, did you read that fic and think I was from the suburbs? Do I look like I know what a minivan is? Lol? If I've received any actual more severe stuff I have no idea, since I delete the comment and delete it from my memory. I've never gotten anything too bad. I've been called ablest like three times, which is objectively hilarious.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? If I could write smut I'd be making bank on Kindle Unlimited right now.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Probably the FE3H/BNHA one I'm writing right now that will never see the light of day. Just kidding. I don't actually think I've posted any real crossovers - I DO write them, I just kind of feel like they're cringe so I never post them. I write a lot of cringe shit that never sees the light of day.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not nearly popular enough for that.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Several people have mentioned wanting to do that, but nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not technically. But I do want to give due honors to all of the friends who are SO instrumental in the building of the AUs, stories, characters, etc, that they've had a huge impact on the story itself. I try to recognize them by name in the fics themselves but my stories would look completely different if it wasn't for my friends. Definitely much worse.

What’s your all time favorite ship? I'll differentiate favorite ships and favorite fictional romances. For ships, it's much less about the ship and more about the role in the story. I tend not to pay a lot of attention to that while writing, but sometimes I get lost in my own sauce and I drive myself a bit nuts. I am very fond of Hanyookim, especially in my own ORV story. For romances? My top ten list of fictional romances is as follows: number one: naturally, Sasunaru -

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? If it's up on AO3, it's done (with one or two very small exceptions - The Ending of Han Sooyoung epilogue I'll get to you I PROMISE). There's plenty of unfinished docs on my drive that I'll never finish, but that's because I decided that they weren't worth finishing.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and characterization. That's always been the case. I'm also pretty funny.

What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting. Action. Having stories that are not entirely dialogue. Where things happen and it's more than just people walking around talking. You know. Real stories -

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Always valid. I remember reading one Hispanic author talking about how he doesn't like italicizing the Spanish in his stories because it's otherizing, and I agreed enough with him that I don't tend to italicize other languages either. Sometimes I do. I try to do it purposefully, and to convey something that can only be conveyed through the extra language. I'll also only do it if I can have a friend who speaks that language write it out for me, since gtranslate sucks and I want to ask the friend how such a thing would actually be said and colloquialize it. I like using ASL in fics, and I am just in general begging people to a) write it like any other language, and b) understand that it's different from other languages and can't be written exactly the same. If your Star Wars fanfiction has so much gratuitous Mando'a that I can't understand anything the clones or Mandos are saying I hate you.

First fandom you wrote for? Batman Beyond. Yes, I have a FFN account somewhere. Yes, I was eleven. Yes, it was Batman Beyond.

Favorite fic you’ve written? The best thing I've written is Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge. Favorite is New Wave. That sucker took two years to write (INSANELY long for me) and it is exactly the story I wanted to write. Stephanie's a character I've been writing since I was 15, and the feeling of writing Stephanie and NAILING her for the very first time was so satisfying.

Tagging @usaigi and uh any other writer mutuals you all know who you are.

[sspextkr]

💫stardust - coriolanus/sejanus

the boy was rotten, a recipe for trouble. he knew that. he stained everything he touched, darkened it, corrupted it beyond repair. he stained everything he touched with sin. and yet, sejanus never let go.

💫 trigger warnings/tags: no tw's, just some intimacy :] this is my snowjanus president husband's au where the jabberjay that would've condemned sej died on its way back to the capitol so the two were able to return home and be happy together lolol,,

💫a/n: i don't know what this is. found it in my ao3 drafts, polished it, and here we are!!

Pylades: I’ll take care of you. Orestes: It’s rotten work. Pylades: Not to me. Not if it’s you. -Anne Carson, Euripides

coriolanus snow may have looked like an angel, golden curls framing his face similar to that of a halo, pale plush lips mimicking the heavens clouds, and eyes so deep it's impossible not to get lost in them, but he certainly wasn't one by any means. at least, that's what he thought himself. lucifer was the fairest of them all before he fell.

the boy was rotten, a recipe for trouble. he knew that. he stained everything he touched, darkened it, corrupted it beyond repair. he stained everything he touched with sin.

and yet, sejanus never let go.

it baffled him. why would sejanus want to touch him? after all he had done? after all he planned to do? coriolanus had stolen, lied, killed, and so much more. all for the sake of himself and himself only. he knew he was a bad person, never pitying himself for it though.

yet, sejanus still married him. still kissed him and made love to him. even after having been on the forefront of it all. he would be dead if it weren't for the damn bird dying on it's way back to the capitol. he probably wouldn't have if he knew about that.

sometimes he'd let himself forget. he'd let go each worry in his mind with each kiss that landed against his sternum, blond locks splayed across the pillow beneath him.

"you're so pretty.. i can't believe you're all mine.." coriolanus' breath hitched when sejanus moved back up over him, kissing him again deeply. the way he licked his way into his mouth so effortlessly was enough to make his heart stop right then and there. 

"i don't deserve it." coriolanus said when they parted for breath, running his hands down his lovers tanned back. "i–"

"don't be silly.. of course you do. you deserve every damn thing you get, coryo." sejanus wouldn't let him finish, already pressing another kiss to his lips. it's not like he could complain.

maybe he didn't deserve it, but he sure needed it. in bed with this man, he got his purity back.. how ironic is that?

sejanus was everything good in the world, everything he wanted to be. it took him some time to wake up, but eventually, he was able to open his eyes and see how much control he did have. how much good he could do. and being married to the president of panem definitely helped with that. the games were abolished, economy stabilized, and famine wasn't as big of an issue as it used to be. panem was finally as great as it used to boast about being.

and sejanus was to thank for all of that.

".. what would i do without you?" the president asked, moving his hands down to sejanus' hips.

".. you don't need me as much as you say you do."

"yes.. i do. i do, sejanus. you're the only thing keeping me from going insane–" he kissed him again, sitting up. "you're the only thing good about this broken world."

"this world isn't broken anymore, coryo.. i wish you'd see that." sejanus kissed the tip of his nose. "we fixed it. you fixed it. we made it a better place.."

"you're the only reason it's not a mess, though.. without you, i don't know what would've happened.."

".. i think we can say that about a lot of things." sejanus took his hand and kissed his fingertips one by one.

"i'm serious, sej. you–" he swallowed thickly. "you saved me."

sejanus tilted his head to the side. ".. what do you mean by that?"

"i mean.. oh, what's the point? i can't put it into words.." the guilt was creeping up his throat like nausea. a happy accident had saved his country from so much heartache.

"well.. i won't force you to say anything you don't want to. or can't, for that matter." sejanus kissed his cheek, then the corner of his mouth. "but for now.. why don't you lay back down for me? i'm not done with you quite yet."

i don't deserve it, coriolanus wanted to say. he let himself fall back anyways. ".. i love you."

".. i love you too. always and forever."

[justapalspal]

10 Questions for Fic Writers

thanks for the tag @quoththemaiden !! tagging @ninjam117 & @millenniumringg too because why not <3 + feel free to snag it @ everyone else if you wanna!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Six! But one of them is a collection of artwork that I don’t particularly count as an ao3 work in my head anymore lmao. So five written works!!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 12,979 words <3

3. What fandoms do you write for? ygo dm bay beee (is bakurae enjoyer a sub-fandom? do we count as our own little sub-fandom lmao)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes!! I love a good comment discussion and love getting to give director’s commentary on my fics about things ppl commented about!! I try to get to every comment eventually <3

5. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of lmfao (aside from ao3 getting mirrored with “pay the app dev” stuff every so often)

6. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Me and my siblings when we were younger co-wrote ridiculous amounts of self-insert fanfiction together. What a lovely time that was

7. What's your all-time favourite ship? tendies owns my heart forever <33 I used to periodically come back to it every few years before coming back to ygo permanently and now it’s like ahhh we’re almost at ten years of consistent bakurae goodness <33

8. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I have strengths in comedy and dialogue because those are pretty fun and easy for me to churn out… but at the same time perhaps like. Minute details could be a strength of mine. I definitely used to think unusual and innovative prose/emotional descriptions were a strength of mine but I’ve kind of let that skill atrophy so I definitely need to work to regain that skill lmao <33

otherwise I do like my plot bunnies (when I’m able to cultivate them) I like to think developing plot bunnies is also a strength of mine!

9. What are your writing weaknesses? Consistency lmaoooo but nah if we’re gonna like talk real weaknesses it might be like… pacing and connecting scenes together! And also not rambling endlessly. Like. Rambling has its place but often I would find in my work I went on just a tad too long in areas and the pacing would suffer minutely for it. With yami b’s got a crush I really strove to be clear and concise, and I think it paid off so far <3

otherwise also like. choosing a point at which to start the action of a story is hard hard hard for me to do haha. that might also count as a weakness!!

10. First fandom you wrote for? oh gosh. It’s gotta be code lyoko because code lyoko was one of the first two if not first fandoms I ever read fanfic for. The other was I am legend (yes the will smith movie) and I never ended up writing for I am legend so. LMAO

first fandom I ever created stories for and didn’t post tho? idk I cannot remember that far back to what me and my sibs first did as kids lmaoo (we did write a lot of self insert for Narnia and Marvel, tho)

[queenofbaws]

as someone who is SO GOOD at forgetting i was tagged in stuff immediately after being tagged in stuff, i thought i'd go ahead and fill this puppy out while it was fresh in my mind ;)c hehehe thanks for the tag @phenanthreneblue!!!!!!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

156 😎 and hopefully no sign of slowing, lol. i've been writing and posting fic since aboooooout 2007 though, so. do with that as you will.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

it's. um. it's. uh. a lot. ahem. it's a lot.

(1,923,174)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

currrrrrrrrently the supermassive universe and dragon age, but i'm slowly adding the remedyverse in there, and silent hill pops up from time to time!!! and in ye olden days, i wrote a LOT for kingdom hearts. i've been CONSIDERING adding horizon to the list too, but...only time will tell, hehehe ;P

4. Top five fics by kudos

the (almost)s; who ya gonna call? not these creeps.; my fav part of summer camp [not clickbait!]; lipstick stains & coffee cups; yes, no, maybe so: circle one and let me know!

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do! i figure if you took the time to read AND let me know how you felt about my work, then by golly, i'm gonna tell you how much YOU made me smile :)c i've met some pretty cool people thanks to the comment section, hehe

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

aw man, probably alone time, right? probably alone time. i'm sure there was some extremely angsty stuff in my kingdom hearts days, but lord help me i am old and i have forgotten a lot of that

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

well, the durellion affair ends with everyone getting to eat as much cheese as they want, so i think that fits the bill!!! 🧀

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nah. i've been crazy lucky that, aside from the occasional (and likely unintentional) insensitive comment, people have always been super kind with my stuff <3 the deviantart days were a slightly different story, but why relive THAT time period, i ask you?????

9. Do you write smut?

nope. i'm not, like, opposed, i just don't think it would be good, and i've yet to write something where i felt it would add anything, so. nah. there are so many other things i can do to earn that m rating ;)

10. Craziest crossover?

for sure did an organization xiii/sweeney todd crossover once, in the long-long ago asldkjflsakdjf recently, though, i guess i'd have to say reading & other fun rituals was a VERY self-indulgent way for me to smash the remedyverse and supermassive universes together!!!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

eh, every time one of those "this site is scraping people's fics!" posts goes around, i end up finding my stuff, but in terms of bumping into an individual nabbing something i've written? not that i'm aware of! (i like to believe anyone reading would recognize the overabundance of adjectives and come tell me, ha!!!)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

i've had people ask, but i've never seen a finished product, so probably not! i tend to write pretty long stuff, though, and i wouldn't wish that kind of work on anyone alsdkjflaskdjfksljfd

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

i have! none that are posted currently, but i've for sure co-written in the past. i'm also slowly but surely co-writing a fun little thing over here with my buds where our (totally cool and DEFINITELY not overpowered) self-inserts have fun being npcs in the federal bureau of control, so...keep your eyes peeled for that, heheheheh

14. All time favourite ship?

right now? varric tethras and f!hawke 🥺 at this point in time, i only have eyes for them

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

sigh. soft reset 😔 it's a big ol' silent hill 2 timeloop fic that i started back in 2015 i think, and as much as i WANT to finish it...i haven't felt the silent hill muse strike in a hot minute. maybe once the remake comes out.

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh, i like to flatter myself that i'm pretty solid when it comes to character voices/interactions 😉 it's why i do so many character studies, honestly - i just *clenches fist* love studying characters!!! i also think my dialogue's fun

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

how much time do you HAVE??? hehehe i feel like i flounder when it comes to straight up-and-down fluffy/shippy stuff, like if the focus of a story is, for example, some sort of romantic gesture, i'm fairly lost. i'm also HORRENDOUS when it comes to keeping things concise, and god help me, every time i have to delete a passage and kill my darlings, i am miserable, so i tend to just...not do that

also? just putting it out there because i do consider it a weakness in regards to writing: sometimes my self-esteem with posting stuff is just. MISERABLE. so i have a tendency to get anxious before, during, and after hitting the post button, just really wallowing in those good, good I'M A FRAUD feelings, lmfao. i'm working on it, though!!! i love writing so much, sometimes the irrational part of my brain just worries i'm not Doing It Right, hahahaha

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

no one's done it better than the thing (1982) and no one ever will

19. First fandom you wrote in?

proooooobably kingdom hearts??? don't quote me on that, though, it very much could've been x-men: evolution asdlkfjsalkjf (those just never saw the light of day)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

c'moooooon. the (almost)s :)

i'm gonna go ahead and tag...hmm... @love-fireflysong @jadedsunshine @unicornaffair @big-ass-magnet @mrs-theirin @theartofdreaming1 @icequeen-07 @chris-hartley and anyone - yes, i mean ANYONE - who wants to talk about their stuff ;) especially YOU!!!

[ejunkiet]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

tagged by the wonderful @autisticempathydaemon (chrissy my beloved <33 also you HAVE to let me know if you start writing for castleaudios >:3)

tagging - you, reading this!! also (no pressure!): @dominimoonbeam @glassbearclock @taelonsamada @romirola @lovelylonerliterature @genginger @ninzied @evilbunnyking @nerdierholler @commander-krios @chroniclesinlacuna @kesla @mordinette @garglyswoof @nagia-pronounced-neijia

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

oh god, 128! but this is an underestimate, because i've anon'd some older fics/fandoms hehehe. i've been 'round ao3 since 2012!

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

498,649... now this is actually accurate. 300k of that is from 2020 until now. basically the pandemic got me on a writing kick.

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

SO MANY. 19 according to ao3, but right now? baldurs gate & redacted audios >:3 there is another halsin fic in the works...

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

oh god. okay. you'll get some older fics here: 1. got me on my best (bad) behaviour 2. Call me scent o' mental, but I'm crazy about you (teen wolf....) 3. all bark, no bite 4. devils and ghosts (frank castle / karen page!! love this one heh) 5. sweeter than honey (ofc halsin makes it ahaha)

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

YES. there are only a few exceptions, when I've written something that touches close to home / a sensitive topic.

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmm...bittersweet endings were my wheelhouse for a long time. OKAY. let's do this one: too little, too late. caroline forbes and klaus mikaelson, set at the end of the originals. yeah.

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

....nowadays, I mostly write happier endings sadhfjk lets go with: bioluminescence, which follows on from the events of blood moon (@/barbwrites) and takes marco on a roadtrip to see luminescent algae up close and personal. (it's a loveletter to a summer I spent in california during a really difficult period of my life, and this fic means a lot to me <3)

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

I've not gotten hate, but I've definitely had some interesting comments over the years, for a variety of reasons, usually to do with the person's personal views. (one story had the main character smoking pot to calm their anxiety, and someone was not happy with that)

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

YEP. Smut with feelings is my FAVOURITE thing. I prefer sensual descriptions, because it is all about feelings and sensations with me. as an ace writer, I also like kink and monster fuckery heheheh.

10 - Do you write crossovers?

Not at all ahahahaha. Have I ever written a crossover? I don't think so. I love AUs though, and pacific rim AUs are one of my favourite concepts in fandom.

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, and it was teen wolf, and honestly not one of my best. it was a hatchet job, they took random paragraphs and spliced it / wrote around it? someone flagged it to me in a comment, and it was taken down. all in all, a very weird experience.

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but gosh, that'd be cool! <- stealing from lexi, agreed, would be awesome <3

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

YES. It was FUN. It was a series of conversations between an estranged father and son, Colm and Milo Greer, with the incredibly talented @frenchiefitzhere (also tagging you for this meme!!). it's still one of my favourite things: An Honest Man Like Yourself

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

ALL TIME FAVOURITE? How dare you. I love all my ships afjkdsfg Shakarian is pretty high up there. Kastle (karen page/ frank castle). All the werewolves from redacted. <3

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

ahhhh. okay. 'wander. wonder.' my poly longfic. don't hate me, but honestly, I've just not got the space for a longfic at the moment. never say never, but I've caught up with the chapters I had worked up, everything else is a vague outline. <3

16 - What are your writing strengths?

oof. I want to say character. most of the fun for me when writing is getting inside a characters head and figuring out their voice >:3

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

Structuring longer, multi-chaptered stories - basically figuring out the pacing of it. I'm working on an original project, and I love it, but the first series of major edits will be breaking up my alternating POV sections into proper chapter breaks and letting myself linger more in moments instead of pushing forward (habits of a oneshot writer fdsds)

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've been meaning to have my estonian friend critique my estonian, but I'm pretty positive the 'bond' I referred to is actually the money kind, and not the emotional attachment I'd been hoping to refer to hfjdkssfdg. I do as much research as I can, but it's best to run it past someone who speaks the language!

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

hehehehe naruto. yep. I was a naruto kid. first posted online in 2007......

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

WHAT A QUESTION. honestly, I love what I have been writing the last three years. I've really let myself just write what I want to read, and it's been great. i'm going to cheat, and say the original project I'm working on that I won't let anyone see heheheh. <3 it's got werewolves, kink and explicit consent, and spun out a whole verse for me to play with (and a fun MMF sidestory that I also need to finish...)

gods this got LONG. Thank you for making it this far!! <3

[caeli0306]

20 questions for writers tag game!

tagged by @widebrimmedhatsblog and @hockeyspiral23

Total number of AO3 works

Nine!

2. Total AO3 word count

287,489

3. Fandoms I've written for

Empyrean and that's literally it lol

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Violet Sorrengail's Guide to Spinning a Scandal, castles crumbling, Tales from the Airport Bathroom, Did Someone Say Shots?, and Did Someone Say Vacation?

5. Do I respond to comments?

Yes! Sometimes it takes me longer to get to them, especially if I get a lot within a short period of time, but I always respond to comments.

6. What has the angstiest ending?

definitely the present, the past, and you in between. That was the first one shot I ever wrote and I still get comments of people being iike "bro why did you do that???"

7. What has the happiest ending?

All of my fics (except for the one mentioned above) have happy endings if they're done, more or less! If I had to choose one, I think it would be VSGTSAS.

8. Have I received hate?

Yes, once, but honestly in my line of work I get so much online hate that I just find it funny. I wrote a very sarcastic response and moved on. One of the reasons I love this fandom is because its super positive and accepting, so why dwell on the single outlier I've come across?

9. Do I write smut? And what kind?

Yes, and as of now just Riorgail

10. Do I write crossovers?

Unless you count the Top Gun AU I've been working on a crossover, then no. I think trying to mix worlds and characters would get too confusing for me, so doing an AU based on another world is about the extent for me.

11. Have I ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know I have not! Hopefully it stays that way.

12. Have I ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have I ever co written a fic?

I have not! I feel like it would be fun though

14. What is my all time favorite ship?

Riorgail. They are my Roman Empire.

15. A WIP I'll never finish?

So I will always maintain that I will finish everything I start, but if there is any story that I think has a chance of not getting finished, it's Swan Song. I haven't had the inspiration to write it for a while, and my backlog just keeps getting longer. I hope I'll get around to finishing it eventually, but it won't be for a long time.

16. Writing strengths?

I've been told that I write angst well, and that I'm good at writing tension between characters. Personally, I think my ability to research (thank you journalism) and write things as close to realistically as I possibly can is my greatest strength. Not kidding when I say I had a 15 page document of job descriptions for senate office staffers that I got from a friend who works on the Hill back when I was working on VSGTSAS and that bad boy was open the entire time I was writing chapter 4.

17. Writing weaknesses?

I think I struggle to describe movement and action in a way that isn't repetitive, and sometimes my writing sounds a bit robotic (thank you journalism). I also think sometimes my sentences can get a bit convoluted.

18. Do I like foreign language dialogue?

I'm not sure - I don't think I've read any fics with that.

19. First fandom I wrote for?

Empyrean!

20. Favorite fic I've written?

This is like asking me to pick a favorite child. I'm going to include Violet Sorrengail's Guide to Spinning a Scandal and castles crumbling because I love them both and they are both my favorite.

I'm tagging @skyfallscotland, @suebswrites, and @witch-and-her-witcher (unsure if any of you have already been tagged!)

[axolotlsupremacyowo]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks @oceangirl24 for the tag! I love you, bestie!

Now, on to the questions!

❣️How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 86 fics! I write all kinds of things! Case fics, angst, fluff, smut, and all that jazz. I like to think that I have a diverse range of stuff on AO3, which I find I'm really proud of :3

❣️What is your total AO3 word count?

613,383....Yes, I write too much.

❣️What fandoms do you write for?

Most of my fics are Ace Attorney, but I have other fandoms like Stardew Valley! I also write in fandoms that are gifts for friends.

❣️What are your top five fics by kudos?

Say My Name (233 kudoes)

Operation Helios (178 kudoes)

Apollo is a Crazy Cat Attorney™ (166 kudoes)

Ace Attorney: Maya Fey (166 kudoes)

Turnabout Birch Meadows (151 kudoes)

Nice! Most of them are Klapollo XD

❣️Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love responding to comments! I get to ramble, and I want each and every commenter to know that I appreciate them <3. Sometimes I take a long time, so sorry about that!!!! But I'll get to the comment eventualy!!

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

Definitely Things Left Unsaid, that fic is SUPER angsty with a really sad ending. It's non canon Major Character Death, so of course it's angsty lol.

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

I'm...not sure? A lot of my fics end in happy endings. But if I had to pick the happy ending that made me the most emotional, I'd have to choose Blossoming in the Rain.

❣️Do you get hate on your fic?

Surprisingly, no. I've only gotten support for my fics. Which I am VERY much thankful for. To all of my followers, readers, and supporters...thank you SO much for making my fandom experience so lovely <3

❣️Do you write smut?

Definitely lol. I used to be terrified of writing smut...and then I met a certain someone *cough cough* @mikaharuka *cough cough* and now I've written a lot of smut. This is all YOUR FAULT BESTIE.

❣️Do you write crossovers?

Nope lol. I like to keep my fandoms separate.

❣️Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I...don't think so? But if someone has stolen my fics, please be sure to tell me! I'm not exactly keen on the idea of my fics being plagiarized or stolen.

❣️Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, I have no idea. I don't think it has since nobody has approached me before, so to my knowledge it's a no.

❣️Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes!!! I've co written SO many things with my bestiest of besties @tsunderesalty and I love every fic I've co written with him. He's just the greatest and he's an amazing writer. Check him out!

❣️What's your all-time favorite ship?

Hmm! For Ace Attorney, it's a tough choice between Klapollo and Franmaya. For Stardew, my top ship is my farmer and Sebastian (Sebakonnie)

❣️What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My flufftober series. I started it in 2022...and it's currently 2024. I just kinda lost steam for that fic. I am very proud of all the fics I've written for it, though. Maybe I should revisit it...

❣️What are your writing strengths?

Nothing.

Ahem, knowing how my dearest besties would respond to that...I guess my flexibility with writing styles? I talked about this with my friends before, but I have multiple writing styles, five to be specific. I can switch between them pretty easily, and I like to think they're all distinct from each other but still being undeniably me. God, I really don't wanna sound like I'm bragging XD.

❣️What are your writing weaknesses?

NOT KNOWING WHEN TO SHUT THE FUCK UP. I literally cannot shut up for the life of me. It is a curse. My fics would be SO much shorter if I just shut up lol.

❣️Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Oh!!! Actually, so about this! For reference, I'm Filipino, born and raised in the Philippines. I can speak Filipino and Tagalog pretty well, and I can understand Bisaya (Cebuano is its official name, but everyone in the Philippines calls it Bisaya) well, but I can speak it only a little bit. Anyway, I've always wanted to incorporate Filipino and Bisaya into my fics but didn't know how...and then I thought of Filipino Phoenix! Happy to say that I'm planning on writing that soon :3

So yeah, happy to include languages other than English! Especially my native language. Otherwise, for languages I don't know. I use Deepl, it's a very useful tool!

I'm all for using different languages in my fics, and when I get something wrong, I'm quick to correct it!

❣️First fandom you wrote for?

Ace Attorney. I have had Ace Attorney brainrot for SO long.

❣️Favorite fic you've ever written?

.....

.........

.........

YOU'RE MAKING ME CHOOSE OUT OF ALL OF MY BABIES?

Would it be cheating to choose a series? XD

But yeah! My Defense Attorney Maya Fey series contains my favorite fics of all! The top ones of my list being Ace Attorney: Maya Fey and Yours Truly, Franziska von Karma. I just...love these fics so much...I especially love Ace Attorney: Maya Fey. That bitch has been my baby since like...2021?

Now! Who to tag...that would be my besties @mikaharuka, @aislinnstanaka, @udaberriwrites, @kayedium-writes, @justanotherpersonwhowrites, @mikaharuka @fattybattysblog

[shadowsxgwynriel]

@gwynweekofficial Day 5: Friends

Catnapped 🐈‍⬛

Synopsis: When Gwyn’s cat is stolen by her neighbor, she enlists the help of her friends to get him back.

I had this random idea in my head, and hopefully I was able to do it justice 😅

Word count: 1,677

Read on AO3

“Shady! Here boy!” Gwyn waved the can of tuna in the air, hoping to entice the feline. “Aren’t you hungry?” He’d ran out of the door when she’d gone to check the mail, and she had spent the last hour and a half looking for him, but to no avail.

Gwyn had hoped that she would have found him by now. Usually whenever Shady managed to sneak out, she was always able to find him within twenty minutes. Not this time unfortunately.

Feeling a bit anxious, Gwyn headed back to her place to grab some of Shady’s favorite treats. She had to keep looking for him while the sun was still up. Coyotes frequently roamed the area at night and her stomach churned at the thought of something happening to her baby.

She was about to go inside, but movement from the house next door caught her attention. Curiously, Gwyn turned her head—and honestly couldn’t believe her eyes.

Shady was inside her neighbors house, lounging in front of the bay window, his smokey gray coat gleaming in the sunlight.

What the actual fuck? Her neighbor had stolen her cat!

She’d never actually met her thieving neighbor. Whoever it was had moved in about three months ago and kept to themselves. Gwyn had thought maybe they were just antisocial, but now she knew their real motive. The asshole had been watching and waiting on the perfect opportunity to steal her beloved Shady.

Thinking quick, Gwyn pulled out her phone and snapped an incriminating picture of Shady inside the house. Then she sent the photo to the group chat.

Me: My neighbor stole Shady!

Her phone rang immediately.

“Hang on, let me add Nesta to the call,” Emerie said. “Okay, now why exactly do you think that’s Shady?”

“He ran out the door earlier and I couldn’t find him—until now that is.” Gwyn narrowed her eyes at the house harboring her cat. “I can’t believe my own neighbor would do something so evil.”

“But that doesn’t mean it’s Shady. He could have his own cat, Gwynie,” Emerie pointed out, always the reasonable one.

“I mean . . .” Nesta started. “It does look a lot like Shady.”

Gwyn smiled to herself. “See!”

Emerie let out a sigh. “Remember that time in the fourth grade? You thought that Cynthia Reynolds had stolen your lunchbox, but it turned out that she just so happened to have an identical one?”

“That’s irrelevant since happened so long ago.”

This time Nesta was the one to speak. “Well, do you remember two years ago when you thought that Brad Haymitch had stolen your Game of Thrones mug, and—“

“What time is it?” Gwyn wondered.

“Um, four thirty seven,” Emerie answered. “Why?”

“Because that’s the official time that our friendship has ended,” Gwyn told them, deadpanned.

“Sorry, but you’re stuck with us for life,” Nesta declared, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

”Which is exactly why we’re on our way over to your house right now,” Emerie told her.

~~~

Approximately thirty minutes later, they were all sitting in Emerie’s car, with a pair of binoculars pointed at her neighbors house. They’d even changed their clothes for this covert mission.

“So?” Gwyn questioned.

Nesta lowered the binoculars. “That cat looks just like Shady.”

Gwyn nodded enthusiastically. “Right? It’s definitely him.”

Emerie took the binoculars and looked for herself. After a few minutes, she slowly offered them back to Nesta. “And you’re absolutely positive that your neighbor doesn’t have the same cat?”

She shrugged. “I can’t say for sure,” Gwyn admitted. “But how often do two people have identical cats and live next door to each other? It has to be rare, right?”

“So, what’s our plan? Are we going to knock on the door and confront the bastard?” Nesta asked.

She shook her head. “Nobody’s home, so we’ll have to go with plan B.”

Nesta lifted an eyebrow. “How do you know?”

Because, after Gwyn had gotten off of the phone with them, she had knocked on the door before running to hide in a nearby bush, waiting to launch an attack. But when nobody had opened the door, she had formed a new plan. “I knocked and no one answered.”

“What’s plan B?” Emerie asked. “And why does it involve us being dressed like this?”

Like this was referring to the unicorn onesies that they all had on. Gwyn’s was blue, Nesta’s was white, and Emerie’s was purple.

“We needed to match for this mission,” she replied.

“You don’t think that three women dressed up as unicorns, breaking into someone’s house, won’t be suspicious?”

“But who would actually expect three women dressed as unicorns to break into anywhere? If we had worn all black, then we definitely would have looked suspicious.”

Emerie sighed in defeat. “Sadly, I can actually see how your logic makes sense.”

Gwyn smiled, then glanced over at Nesta. “Do we have eyes on the target?”

Nesta pointed the binoculars at the bay window. “Target is still sunbathing in the window.”

“Perfect.” She looked at her friends. “Ready?”

Emerie and Nesta nodded. As a collective, they all raised their hoods over their heads and got out of the car. After casually strolling up the walkway, Emerie and Gwyn stood in front of the door, blocking Nesta from view as she picked the lock.

“How do you know how to do this?” Emerie inquired.

“I don’t,” Nesta admitted, still jiggling the lock. “I watched a few videos on YouTube.”

Gwyn frowned. “They have videos on how to break into someone’s house on YouTube?”

“Technically the video I watched was titled how to break into your own house.” Nesta continued to mess with the lock, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“Wait a minute, why don’t we just try and open the window?” Emerie suggested, walking over to it.

“What? There’s no way that they just left the window unlocked—oh!” Gwyn gasped when it actually opened.

Emerie opened the window enough for Gwyn to reach inside and grab Shady. Her cat meowed as if annoyed that his peace had been disturbed. Gwyn cuddled him close and they all made a dash over to her place.

Emerie went straight to the kitchen. “I think I need a glass of wine.”

Nesta collapsed onto the couch. “I’m going to leave a comment on that video. None of that shit worked at all.”

“Maybe you just did it wrong,” Emerie told her, returning with a glass of white wine.

Nesta stuck up her middle finger.

Gwyn scratched Shady on the head and took a seat. “You’re too trusting,” she scolded her cat. “The next time a stranger tries to take you, I want you to claw their eyes out and meow for help.”

Shady purred and rubbed his head against her neck in response.

Emerie took a sip of wine. “So, now that our felony is over with, have you guys had a chance to read the new Sellyn Drake book?”

Gwyn nodded. “I started the audiobook yesterday.”

“The smut in this book is probably some of his best.”

“I’m still waiting on my special edition to be delivered,” Nesta mumbled.

Gwyn winced in sympathy. “Mine hasn’t arrived either, that’s why I got the audiobook.”

They continued to talk about Sellyn Drake until they were interrupted by a knock on her door.

She got up from the couch and went to answer it.

Gwyn still had Shady in her arms. He was being uncharacteristically cuddly today, not that she minded. Clearly, his catnapping ordeal had terrified the poor guy. She swung the door open and paused.

Standing on her porch was a handsome man with hazel eyes, dark hair, and golden brown skin.

“Uh, hi?” she asked in confusion. Who was this guy?

Instead of answering, his eyes locked on Shady in her arms and narrowed. “I’d like my cat back.”

Gwyn blinked. “Excuse me?”

He sighed. “My name is Azriel, I live next door. My ring camera alerted me to three unicorns stealing my cat, so I’d like him back,” he repeated.

Then it clicked. “Wait a minute, so you’re the thief who stole my cat?”

She heard Emerie and Nesta walk up behind her, no doubt ready to beat the criminal if he so much as tried to take Shady back.

The man—Azriel—scoffed. “I didn’t steal your cat lady. You and your friends stole my cat.”

This time Gwyn was the one to scoff. “Oh, please. This is clearly my cat, Shady.”

“His name is Bat, not Shady, and I’d like him back now.”

Nesta snorted. “Bat the cat?”

Gwyn forced herself to ignore how ridiculous the name was. “You have some nerve you know that? First you steal my cat, and now you’re—“

“Uh, Gwyn?”

She turned to look at Emerie, reluctantly taking her eyes off of the deranged man. “Yes?”

Emerie pursed her lips. “Look in the birdbath.”

Confused, Gwyn looked over the man’s shoulder at her empty birdbath and gasped in shock. There was Shady, just sitting there, watching her make a fool of herself.

Horrified, Gwyn looked down at the cat in her arms and he meowed, almost as if to say, yes, you stole me from my home.

Without a word, Emerie walked outside and collected Shady from the birdbath. And the cat didn’t even have the grace to look shamed for his actions. He wouldn’t be getting any treats for a week.

“Can I have my cat now?” Azriel drawled.

Embarrassed, Gwyn handed over Bat, then quickly slammed the door shut, wanting nothing more than to hide in her house forever.

Slowly, she turned around and faced her friends. Gwyn gave a nervous chuckle. “I swear, we’ll laugh about this one day.”

Emerie rubbed her temples. “I need more wine,” she said, walking back to the kitchen.

“Bring the whole bottle!“ Nesta called. “And the ice cream! We need a girls night after this fiasco.”

Despite the embarrassing situation that had just occurred, Gwyn couldn’t help but smile. She had two of the best friends ever.

[avida-heidia-5]

Thanks muchly for the tag, @kaossbells! That was quite a challenge! I had to think really long and hard about some of these questions. 😮‍💨🥰😘

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

A measly 5. Yeeeeaaaah…I really need to post more stories more often! 😅 I’m more of an artist these days.

Luckily, I got infected by the writing bug this year thanks to my involvement in the F1 Big Bang fanfic event, so I hope that number will increase significantly this year. 🙏🏻

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

18,354. Again, hoping for more.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly F1. I’m planning on writing more fandoms I have an interest in such as Merlin, Good Omens, Our Flag Means Death, and The Legend Of Zelda. Maaaaaybe some Depeche Mode in the near future as well… 🤔

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

1) Miracles Happen at the Right Place at the Right Time (F1)

2) As Drunk As A Finnish Brown Bear (F1)

3) Deep Tenebrosity (Merlin)

4) For The Sake Of Nature (F1)

5) My Soul Begs For Your Return (F1)

Yep, that’s all of them! 😅

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

Yes! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

For comments in general, oftentimes, I read a fic that’s so god tier that I don’t have any or enough words to express myself. If that happens, I always make sure to leave a comment anyway - descriptive or not - that I hope would make an author’s day. 💖

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Deep Tenebrosity. It’s a bit open-ended and left to interpretation though as it’s an alternative scene of an episode of Merlin I wasn’t satisfied with. I’m definitely thinking of including some more angst for future fics though. It’s my favourite kind of ending compared to happy ones. Not that I hate happy endings. I love them, don’t get me wrong, I just love sad and angsty endings more.

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

Miracles Happen. It’s definitely the happiest ending I’ve written so far. The rest of my fics have either normal endings or sad ones.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! So far, at least.

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

It’s not on AO3 (yet!), but I’m working on sneaking some smut into a few chapters of For The Sake Of Nature. 😏 It’s a long way yet though, so don’t get tooo excited. Shan’t spoil… 🤐

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

I’ve never written a crossover before. However, I’m thinking of writing a Depeche Mode/IAMX crossover fic at some point. It’s still in the planning stages, so nothing concrete yet. I need to finish all my other WIPs I have stacked up in my hard drive first before I get too ahead of myself! 😵‍💫💫 You know how it is.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

I would really love to pitch an idea to fanfic websites to put a watermark or a copyright filter on your own fanfics, if it’s even possible. Maybe a certificate of authenticity of some kind? I would happily do that to every single one of my fics to prevent dirty thieves from stealing them. Please, make it happen!!!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

No, as far as I’m aware.

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

No, but I would really love to someday. 🤩

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

If it’s F1 RPF, it’s a toss-up between Simi and Martian. But seeing as we’ve just had Simi day, I’ll go for them. They are just the sweetest pairing. 🥰😘

If it’s any other fandom, that’s a bit harder! I’ll say Blackbonnet from the OFMD fandom for now.

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

For The Sake Of Nature, definitely! It’s a veeeeeeeery slooooooooooooooow process. I’ll get it done eventually! Promise! 😬🙏🏻

16. What are your writing strengths? 

I love being adventurous in my vocab when it comes to writing. I’ve read so many books and consumed so many dictionaries when I was very young, so that might have something to do with it. You learn a lot from reading books. From knowing how to structure a sentence, to how dialogue is written and where they’re appropriate to use, to certain language and behavioural ticks from characters, to describing unique locations and objects. It’s very fascinating and they help massively with my writing.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

The only thing I struggle with is not so much about the writing side of things, but it’s all about time management. As in making a plan of posting fanfics on certain dates and times and never getting around to doing it because of my usually packed schedule.

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

I’m lucky to have friends on Discord and Tumblr who speak in their native tongues to help me out if I ever get stuck. I don’t trust the internet, so I rely on them for language authenticity.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Merlin!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

Urrrrmmm…I don’t really have one! Though having said that, I enjoyed writing dialogue for Kimi in As Drunk As A Finnish Brown Bear! You can write absolutely anything when you’re writing a drunk Finn! Easiest job in the world! 🤣🤣🤣

I tag @miss-malheur, @msmirrorball21, @formulaes5, @hungriestheidi, @wanderingblindly, and anyone who sees this and wants to participate. Please ignore if you’ve already done this or don’t want to do it, that’s completely fine. 😊

[londonhalcyon]

Fic Writer Interview (20 Questions)

This tag game passed by twice, once in January (because apparently this post has been sitting in my drafts that long) and again several months later, so forgive me for not remembering who to tag! These questions seem fun, so if anyone wants to join, feel free to say I tagged you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

20 at the moment, with plenty more WIPs.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

480,895 words and counting.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Not counting TMW bonus content, the top 5 are:

The Mad Witch (758 kudos)

"The Scarlett Cauldron" (77 kudos)

"Fear Itself" (76 kudos)

"The Most Powerful Witch" (72 kudos)

"Piper's Best Worst Day" (57 kudos)

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

I try to! I love engaging with my readers and other members of the fandom. Every comment always makes my whole day. Life gets busy sometimes, so I don't always have the time to respond to every single one, but I definitely see and appreciate all of them!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Usually my fics have fairly hopeful endings, but "3 Years Ago," a pre-canon Murdered: Soul Suspect fic might fit the bill. Sometime in the future, it has the potential to be topped by "Will of the People," a Fallout 4 WIP that revolves around the Diamond City anti-ghoul riots.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

My Secret Santa fics, "It's Not the Fall" and "Flawed Phials," definitely have the fluffiest endings!

7. Do you write crossovers?

Nope!

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I get rude or condescending comments on occasion from people who don't know how to hit the back button and/or are unfamiliar with fandom etiquette, though nothing actively malicious. The one time I received a transphobic/homophobic message in response to TMW it was private (if it was public, I would have deleted it; I don't give a platform to that kind of thing at all), and honestly I hope that person is in a better place now because they really didn't seem okay at the time. I'm fortunate that the vast majority of my readers and mutuals are such wonderfully amazing and kind people.

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

Yes, BUT, before you get too excited, not in The Mad Witch. Smut is by definition graphic, and TMW has a Teen rating that shall remain unchanged.

The smut scenes I've drafted so far (F/F and F/M) are for my Rosemary Reaper series (post-canon Fallout 4 WIP). Those fics will all be rated Mature, so while not overly explicit, they'll definitely be spicier than TMW. Maybe I'll share a snippet sometime if there's any demand for it.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of?? I have long since deleted my Wattpad account, so my fics should only be on AO3. If anyone ever finds one of my fics elsewhere in the wild, please let me know.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not, which is probably for the best. I would like to make some heavy edits to the beginning of TMW when I'm done with it.

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

Not a fic, though I have co-written a short fantasy story with a friend, with him writing for one POV character and me for another. We agreed on major actions and story beats, but we each kept a major secret that we didn't reveal until after we had written our individual parts. It was a lot of fun (though we were both painfully unskilled at the time).

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I don't know if I really have one. I have ships I enjoy and characters I like to pair with OCs, though nothing I feel properly obsessive over. This might be a consequence of primarily writing for video game fandoms. But I do have my default game romances: Merula in HPHM, Piper in Fallout 4, Marcurio in Skyrim, etc. I'm also a sucker for unrequited love interests, like Serana in Skyrim and Aveline in Dragon Age 2. The ANGST.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I never want to say never because I'm currently 83,435 words into the last fic I said I would never write. But there are two fics that I'm almost certain I will never finish, which I'm kind of sad about: my post-canon Murdered: Soul Suspect longfic, A Certain Darkness, and my RWBY OC team longfic, DSRT.

I made it just shy of 200,000 words into A Certain Darkness before I had to drop it. My writing skills ended up surpassing the progress I had made, and by the time I realized how many characters, relationships, and plot points were just straight up bad, I had written myself into a corner. I do love Joy and Angel so much, a medium/ghost duo with way more homoerotic tension than my closeted teenage self ever intended. Maybe one day I'll gut the story, drop the characters into a different setting, and make it something original. One day.

DSRT ran into a similar problem, though fortunately I only ever wrote the first few chapters. I could probably reattempt it if I really wanted, but with the overwhelming number of WIPs I already have, it's hard to imagine finding the time. I do miss my team of teenage idiots: Dustin, Saul, Rosemary, and Talos. It was supposed to have a really tragic ending too, which I don't often get to write.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I often receive compliments on how human I make my characters feel, which is the highest honor anyone could give. I've been told my dialogue frequently flows smoothly too.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Conciseness. Why is this post so long omg.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Do it carefully and with necessity. Maybe a character is bilingual and blends languages, so it's part of their characterization. Maybe a password or spell needs to be said in another language because it's old or pretentious. It can work, but it can also be easy to mess up. I personally avoid writing dialogue in languages I don't have a good grasp of, or I try to consult other people if I do (not Google Translate, which sucks).

There's also the matter of if the POV character even understands the language being spoken. If they don't, then I don't write the language out (unless it's a phrase the character is going to learn later on). In these instances, it makes more sense to write something like, "The man muttered a phrase in a language she didn't recognize," or "She fired off something in Spanish, the words too quick to catch."

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars the Clone Wars, baby! I was like ten or eleven. Never published, but my worldbuilding for that longfic (a saga, more like) was insanely elaborate. Alas, another story for the WIP graveyard.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Eventually, I want to get back to my Skyrim WIP, which includes a main Dragonborn/Marcurio ship. Maybe even with a little Dragonborn/Serana infidelity on the side (which Marcurio absolutely does not deserve, the poor guy).

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I mean, I have to say The Mad Witch, don't I? That fic is where my community is, where every time I post a chapter I have a ton of people who get excited about it with me. It is the story I think about constantly, that I have spent literal years writing and daydreaming about. No matter what I've written before or will write since, this will be the defining fic in my journey as a writer.

That, and I have a special fondness for "Case by Case." I just think it's neat.