#90k-100k words

[warcorrespondence]

Art heists! Handcuffs! Bank robberies! Sexy grifting! It must be The Take by distractionpie

fandom: Band of Brothers

pairing: Webgott

Mature, 92,861 words

I'll be honest, it took me a hot sec to get going on this, and this read was actually my second try. The reason for this (that Liebgott is an unreliable narrator) ended up being my very favorite thing about the fic.

When I say unreliable narrator, I don't mean shocktwist nothing happened the way he said it did. I mean he says (and believes he means) one thing, but really he's full of shit. Lieb is just not the most self-aware person in the world, and he lies to himself constantly - and the author does an excellent job of letting the reader in on how he actually feels. So when Lieb irritatedly decides that he absolutely has to do this one con and the only way it can possibly work is if he calls ugh the last person he wants to call, fucking Webster, Jesus Christ - we get to cackle because Sure, Jan.

The cons are clever but not overly complicated - the fic remains believable, like okay, distracting that one guard and doing bleeepity blooop technical talk to the security system, aaaaaaand painting liberated! It works. And there are delightful turns of phrase, including x villainous character "toting Webster around every party, subjecting him to self-congratulatory speeches like Webster was a flesh light for his ego."

Joe slept late the next morning, late enough that as soon as he glanced at the alarm clock he decided to just wait to go out for lunch instead of worrying about breakfast, but first he turned the TV on, flipping through the channels. Whoever had been watching it last had been watching the weather, but like he gave a shit; next were some Spanish soap-opera reruns, but romance languages had never been his strength; the news, usually depressing, but- wait! He turned the volume up just in time to hear the newscaster announce: "Just days after the Los Angeles SeaWorld center won the court case against animal rights campaigners allowing them to continue keeping great white sharks in captivity, their complete collection of sharks, comprising of over a dozen specimens of five different subspecies, has vanished overnight. The criminals have also caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the aquarium premises and now empty tanks-" For a split second, Joe thought, surely not? But then he remembered just who he was dealing with and pulled out his phone. Did I just help you with a SHARK heist????

[emry-stars-art]

i was rereading different parts of the royal au and i got to neil calling andrew "my star" and my mind immediately added north to it and i read it as "my north star" and then i remembered that that's the star people always use to find home. cause andrew is neil's home.

You 🤝 me, thoughts on Abram calling Andrew his star

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

it's 11pm and my father is blasting gimme! gimme! gimme! (a man after midnight) by abba in the other room

[neopuff]

title: trust word count: ~3100 ships: six/holiday summary: Holiday learns more than she bargained for. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50254363

Rex sat on the edge of the examination table in Dr. Holiday’s lab, swinging his legs back and forth. He felt jittery. He felt uncomfortable and kind of bad. He’d had a weird morning already and it was barely even eight o’clock.

Six dropped him off at the lab unceremoniously, grumbling about something and then storming off without any explanation. When he got moody like that, Rex struggled to understand if it was his fault - something he did or said - or if Six just…was like that sometimes. For a fourteen-year-old, it was very confusing. But after so many months of his mentor’s emotional distance, Rex was getting used to it.

“Hey, Doc?”

Holiday turned around to face her patient, reflex hammer in-hand. “Hm?”

Rex pouted slightly and tapped the table noisily. He liked the feeling of moving his legs and tapping away on hard surfaces. It kind of relaxed him. “How well do you know Six?”

She frowned and turned her head slightly, looking confused. “Um…I’m not really sure. Why do you ask?”

“Well…I asked him something earlier and he kind of got mad about it,” Rex admitted with a shrug, tapping away.

“What’d you ask him?” Holiday stepped closer and put a hand over one of his, stopping the tapping.

He continued tapping with his other hand, though. “I just asked if there were people named One or Three or Four or if he was just weird.” Rex moved his hands to his knees and started tapping there instead, figuring Holiday wouldn’t mind since it wasn’t as noisy. “I still think it’s not that weird of a question for a guy named Six.”

She gave him a small smile and chuckled. “I’m sure you didn’t upset him, Rex. He’s just very private.”

“Yeah, sure, but…I mean, don’t you wanna know, too?” Rex lightly chewed at the inside of his cheek. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know anything about him.”

Holiday looked sympathetic, stuck in the same boat as him. She and Rex spent more time with Six than anyone else they worked with, but where he came from or why he had the skills he did were mysteries to the both of them. “Of course I’d like to know, but it’s important to respect his privacy. I’m sure Six will share what he feels like you need to know.”

Rex pouted again and threw his hands up in the air. “Boo! That’s so lame. Sometimes it feels like I’m not allowed to be curious about anything here!”

“You know what I’m curious about?” she asked with a smile. “Why you lost control of your Boogie Pack in the Zoo today. What’s going on?”

He calmed down and stared at her, suddenly embarrassed. “Um…well. I don’t know.” Rex stared down at his hands and twitched his fingers one at a time. “I guess it was ‘cause of Six being mad at me.”

Holiday paused, frowning. She knew that Six’s attitude had a significant impact on Rex’s behavior and emotions, though Six really didn’t like it when she tried to lecture him about it. But his dismissal of Rex’s feelings could hurt them both if they didn’t do something about it. “Can you tell me exactly how you felt?”

Rex didn’t look up at her. “Yeah, um…he got all weird and told me to stop asking annoying questions. And then my head felt hot and my chest started to hurt and then I fell.”

She was writing down what he said, but really, Holiday already knew. Rex had had the same experience four other times in the past two months, all because of Six scolding him or dismissing him in one way or another. They were getting to the point where she would have to have to harangue him about it.

“I appreciate you telling me, Rex,” she said softly, putting a hand on his arm. “I’ll talk to Six, okay?”

He shrugged awkwardly. “You don’t have to do that, Doc. He’s just being Six, right?”

“...right,” she answered quietly. “Just being Six.”

X

Holiday scrolled through the fifteenth page of data on her newest EVO specimen, trying to see if anything stood out as unique from the last three she’d analyzed. She’d already fed the data through her computer, but in an act of paranoia, she still felt like it was important to scan over everything with her own two eyes. Computers could make mistakes, after all.

But so could very tired human beings. And she was already feeling the weight of the day - Rex continued to have a bad time after their initial conversation, especially when it turned out that Six had gone MIA and no one could get a hold of them. White Knight assured everyone (with a frustrated frown on his face) that this was just something Six did sometimes, but Holiday still felt very annoyed.

It was one thing to make Rex feel bad, but then disappearing right afterwards made it a lot worse. She had every plan to pull the man aside for a discussion as soon as he came back, but according to Knight, that could very well be a few days. She’d be too distracted by other work by then, Holiday was sure of that.

Just as she leaned back in her chair, trying to decide whether to get some coffee or finally head to her room - the door to Holiday’s lab suddenly opened and familiar footsteps entered the room.

She turned around and found herself staring directly at the man on her mind, who glanced at her briefly before continuing towards the drawer across from her examination table. He didn’t say anything and was holding his shoulder uncomfortably.

“Six?”

He didn’t respond, opening another drawer and then another one.

Annoyed, Holiday stood up and walked to the other side of the table. As she got closer, she took note of the red stain seeping out from under his hand. “What are you looking for?”

Still not answering, he pulled a small roll of bandages out of the drawer and closed it, immediately starting to leave the room.

“Hey!” She reached out and grabbed his arm, hooking her fingers around his elbow. “What’s going on?” Though the lights in the lab were low, Holiday could see that aside from the blood under his hand, his suit was sporting several dark stains and tears. He looked like he’d been through a particularly difficult fight.

Six stopped in place, not pulling away from her. He took a few moments before turning his head and facing her directly. “I’m fine.”

She stood her ground. “You don’t look fine.”

He pulled his arm out of her grasp and held up the roll of bandages. “I was trying not to bother you, Doctor. Just needed these.”

Holiday stared at him, frowning deeply. This wasn’t an unusual tete-a-tete for them, but he seemed even more closed-off from her than usual. After months and months of working together, she was starting to recognize signs that he was upset. “It’ll bother me more if you don’t let me help you.”

A pause, then a barely audible sigh, and Six relented. Either he let her win or there’d be an unnecessary argument and it wasn’t worth the effort. He walked over to the examination table and took off his jacket and shirt, tossing them down without much care. The room wasn’t as bright as usual with the Petting Zoo’s lights off, but there was enough light to see his shirt was completely ruined.

She’d noticed the blood stain already, but Holiday’s eyes were immediately drawn to the bruises all over Six’s torso. He had strangely-shaped bruises on his back and his sides, and tight, thin bruises twisting around his wrists and up his arms. Then there were three small stab wounds near his shoulder, where the blood was coming from.

“Where have you been all day?” she asked quietly, gently pushing him so he’d sit down (carefully avoiding his new bruises).

“Out.”

Holiday pouted and lightly chewed the inside of her cheek, annoyed at his response. “Right. It’s private, I get it.”

He didn’t respond verbally, taking a shaky breath when her hand accidentally brushed against one of the arm bruises. “I just need the bleeding to stop. I’m fine otherwise.”

“You are definitely not,” she said sternly, cleaning the wounds quickly. There was a minute of silence while she bandaged the area - first putting down a square gauze pad, then wrapping that with more gauze and the roll of bandages. She was very tempted to yell at him, but knew it was pointless. There was no point in bringing up what had happened with Rex that morning, not when he was in this state. And whatever had happened while he was out was his own business and he wouldn’t want to talk about it either, especially not with her.

There was a little bit of bitterness in her thoughts - in her very tired mind, she felt frustrated at how much he knew about her compared to how much she knew about him. Obviously their situations were drastically different, but it didn’t feel good. Made her feel like an afterthought.

With barely a thought connected to the words coming out of her mouth, simply the memory of her conversation with Rex earlier in the day, she muttered, “I hope these injuries aren’t from Three, Four, and Five.”

It was said before she realized it, and Holiday closed her eyes in regretful awkwardness as she felt Six glaring at her like she’d grown a second head. She hadn’t meant to say anything about that out loud - he’d know she was thinking about his life and trying to figure him out. Obviously she was interested in him, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

She glanced up at him to see that Six had turned his gaze away from her and had an unreadable expression as he looked towards the door.

“I…sorry. I was just kidding,” she said quietly, patting down the last of the bandages. “Didn’t mean to pry.”

Six put his bloody shirt back on, stood up, took one step towards the door, then stopped. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stayed completely silent and still for a few moments before suddenly turning around and glaring down at Holiday.

She stared back up, surprised.

“Do you understand the kind of person I am, Dr. Holiday?” he said quietly, but aggressively. “Do you know why I’m called Six?”

“I, um…” Holiday felt nervous, suddenly, and couldn’t keep her eyes on his face. She hadn’t expected him to get so serious.

He took a purposefully intimidating step forward. “I’m a killer. Trained from a young age to trade human lives for cash.”

She didn’t respond, and he took that as an initiative to keep going.

“I didn’t discriminate, Doctor. I killed anyone that I was paid to kill.” He spoke to her like he was lecturing a child - everything came across as a strange combination of explanation and warning. “All that mattered to me was the dollar amount given.”

Holiday decided, in that moment, to stand her ground. She stood up straighter and stared directly at his face, though everything he was saying made her very uncomfortable. She didn’t deny that she suspected as much - but it was still just…strange. For the closest thing she had to a friend to be a trained assassin felt like something out of a bad movie.

“They call me Six because I’m the sixth deadliest man in the world,” he said sternly, taking another step. He was wearing his usual sour frown, but it was paired with a twinge of upset. He didn’t want to reveal all of this to Holiday. He didn’t want her to have more reason to be scared of him.

Instead of being scared, however, she took a step towards him. She was holding her arms in front of herself, but otherwise looked like she wanted to reach out. “...did something happen today?”

He exhaled through his nose, wishing she’d yelled at him or run away or anything other than show concern. Six couldn’t look at her eyes for another second and glared down at the white floor. “I’ve taken 348 lives. Human lives. That doesn’t even begin to touch the number that One or Dos has taken.”

Holiday’s frown grew more pronounced and she held herself tighter. He didn’t even seem like he’d heard her.

“I’m not even including the EVOs I’ve killed - who knows how many of those were human,” he continued, almost rambling. His gaze wandered around the room, never coming back to the woman in front of him.

As she noticed him trying to avoid looking at her, Holiday started to reach out one hand - not sure what she was even doing. Her hand hovered in front of him for a brief moment before she pulled it back, feeling weird. “Why are you telling me this?” she asked quietly.

He couldn’t find a reason to ignore that question and finally looked back at her face. The amount of concern she had for him was agitating - she was so good and kind and it made Six feel almost nauseous thinking that she cared about him as much as she did. Their companionship was supposed to be one of convenience - working together to save humanity. They couldn’t really be friends. And they certainly couldn’t be more. Not when she was so good and he was so…

“You should be more aware of the type of people you work with,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

The way that she tried to joke with him and reach out to him and get to know him better…Six wished she understood that he wasn’t safe to be around for long. And the more distance he put between them, the safer and happier she’d ultimately be.

Holiday gave him an incredulous expression - she was confused and understandably agitated by him. She somehow knew that he wasn’t intending to offend her, but the suggestion that she was so naive that she didn’t know she was surrounded by killers was insulting. She knew the world she was in, and even if she never wanted to be a part of it - she was in. She was a part of it.

Still. She could tell he was going through something and chose not to yell at him - instead she reached out her arm again and gently grabbed his hand - avoiding his wrist where she remembered seeing dark bruises twisting around his skin. “I trust you, Six. You know that, right?”

He stared down at her, eyebrows furrowed together.

“You can trust me, too,” she added, giving him a small, sad smile.

Six wanted her to be safe. He wanted her to live a long, happy life, with a normal human Beverly and Rex, and a big family. He wanted her to be surrounded by people that loved and respected her. And he didn’t want her to get stuck just because they’d grown close. He didn’t want her to give up on anything she wanted just because she wanted it with him.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Six knew that Holiday could never have a truly normal life, not with her level of scientific fame and certainly not while there were still EVOs and nanites in the world. She’d always be in danger somewhere, whether he was with her or not.

The logic didn’t stop his heart from aching when she spoke. Of course he could trust her. She was Holiday.

“...I do trust you,” he said softly, wishing he could say the same about himself.

She squeezed his hand in an effort to comfort him. “I’m really sorry about whatever you went through today. It looks like it hurt.”

He held her hand back, simply on a reflex, then loosened his grip in an attempt to pull away. But he didn’t really want to pull away. He liked the feeling of her hand around his. “I’m fine.”

“Okay,” she responded, finally moving her hand away. “Just…be careful, alright? We need you here.”

Six stared at her and felt a violent ache spread throughout his chest. With all his thoughts jumbled together - everything about wanting to stay away from her and keep her safe and how she was good and he was bad and there was no way they could ever be friends if there wasn’t a world to save - one last thought focused itself in his mind. The thought that, maybe, if Holiday felt like he was worth being close to, then maybe there was no reason to fight it. Maybe his growing feelings for her were some indication that he was capable of more than he thought. Maybe the strange relationships he’d forged with Rex and Holiday were proof that he wasn’t just a killing machine loyal to one master.

Maybe.

He gave her a curt nod and grabbed his suit jacket before finally exiting the lab. He clearly needed to get some sleep.

Holiday stood there in her lab - alone and uncomfortable and awkward. She glanced at the exam table next to her and saw little drops of Six’s blood. She quickly grabbed a rag to clean it up and hoped that the repetitive motion would temporarily distract her from what just happened.

What had just happened, exactly? She learned a lot more about Six than she ever expected to.

She learned a lot more about Six than she ever really wanted to, if she was being honest with herself.

It was a very stressful situation she’d found herself in. Despite the information she’d just learned, Holiday still found herself drawn to him in ways she’d never felt before about anyone. She knew that the man he was today mattered more than the man he was before, but…it was still a lot. He’d killed so many people. But at Providence, he saved so many lives every day. They all did.

She wondered briefly if he felt his work with them was repentance.

Holiday tossed the rag into the sink and sighed. She didn’t know where she stood with Six or where Six stood with her, but she knew one thing for sure: she would not be telling Rex any of what she’d just learned.

[despairforme]

Of course he's the favourite!

[mejomonster]

45,000 words done!!!

[aparticularbandit]

Thanks to all of you and the Banditnanza, I found my writing habit again and wrote over 82k last month, so thank y'all for that.

I'll get into this more, probably, in my Bandit goes over last year's goals and sets new goals for this year post, but like.

My word count for the year was nearly 363k. And I know that sounds like a lot! And that is a lot! And I'm grateful for that much!

....

But my word count in 2022 was over double that, and for every year I've been keeping word count, it's been at least 100k more than that (200k more in 2020, the first year I kept count like this).

I didn't even hit an average of 1k a day this year, and that's...that really says how rough this past year has been for me in terms of writing and everything. Like I just. Wow, I knew it wouldn't be a lot this past year, but that really puts things into perspective.

In terms of stats, this past month is the most I've written in a month in the entire year, and with the exception of March (and those of you who were around in March can guess at why it stands out as different), this past month is double what I've written in every other month for the past year (again, with the exception of March, where I broke 50k).

Some months aren't even a fourth of this month.

Which says a lot about what this past month means for me and how grateful I am that y'all joined me on this thing.

Y'all sent me prompts! Y'all engaged with my stuff! Some of which was not very good! Even when I didn't finish fulfilling the prompts! Even when I didn't actually answer a prompt you sent in!

And look at the month we have to show for it!

So THANK YOU because this wouldn't have been possible without y'all.

I still plan on posting one more thing later today - I've started it and I have plans for it and know roughly what it entails - and then I'll be stopping the daily posting for a while.

But I have something else up my sleeve that might still help in terms of being an encouragement. And since this month has hopefully given me that writing habit back, maybe you'll see more from me more regularly this year.

We'll just have to see what the future holds.

So! Again! Thank you all, and God bless!

(And look out for the thing I plan to post later today! It's actually a 2-for-1 for prompt fulfillment, so if you've been waiting, maybe today's will be it!)

[brick-a-doodle-do]

how come when you put a normal book in front of me i stop reading it after a few pages but i can easily invest myself into the same tommy-has-a-or-acquires-a-secret-and-sbi-finds-out-when-slash-after-they-adopt-him-or-pry-it-out-of-him fic in a slightly different font easily over 200,000 words on average every single time? something’s not adding up here :’D

[herbertwest]

I'm about 100 pages into my edit, and i forgot how much work goes into a full revision of a 320 page novel.

I've done 400 page novel revisions too, but I say that only because i want to brag lol

[ranboo5]

Supporting Loyal + trusting Loyal’s takes + this is rent for trying to revive Loyal’s fic subreddit vs OH MY GOD THAT’S SO MANY WORDS

[apartmentwhereikeepallofmyswords]

Just realized I never introduced myself. I’m Cas they/he (not Castiel from spn, just similar name) im an alter in a system and I run this blog mostly on my own. Sometimes others post too but it’s mainly me

[warcorrespondence]

Review: Born Ready

Born Ready by makeit_takeit / @makeit-takeit (whose complete works I, Nikki / @gorgeousundertow will now be reading, thank you)

fandom: generation kill

pairing: bradnate

explicit, 98199 words

I have literal pages of notes on this fic - that's how much I loved it. It's an unusual approach, but such a wonderful one, and it's helped me understand these two characters (about whom I had already given a great deal of thought) so much more deeply. Like this is basically canon for me now. It's the long road of how they got to be the people they are before OIF, how they (eventually) come together, and how they stay together.

Spoiler I really do feel you should know before going in: Brad and Nate don’t have so much as a conversation until you’re fully one-third of the way in. (The first one they have with actual dialogue tags, Nate is half naked though so DON’T WORRY THIS FIC WILL DELIVER).

This is actually a spoiler - heavy review, so if you’re not into that, leave now, knowing only this: this fic is incredible, read it immediately.

Born Ready genuinely is a character study, of both of them, the deepest I’ve ever encountered. It explores their (very different) paths to uncovering their sexualities which (another spoiler) they do before they meet. This is not a Brad meets Nate or vice versa and discovers whoops! I’m gay! (The guy I lost my virginity to said he lost his “accidentally" like he tripped over something, and I always think of that….anyhoo).

So there’s a lot of sex with people who aren’t each other, for the first 1/3. But it’s all for a reason, as my favorite kind of sex-in-a-fic is (whether it’s exploring a developing relationship, emotional state, stakes, etc). In this case, it’s character study and if you don’t think a BJ can be character study well you just haven’t read makeit-takeit yet. (And again, DON'T WORRY WHEN THEY DO BANG THEY BANG VERY WELL, IT'S EXTREMELY GOOD YES)

It also skips OIF entirely which I’ll confess I was sad about, because with this level of character study I actually wanted to get makeit-takeit's take on every single scene at least some crucial scenes at least the final unreadable look okay??? But the show is treated as canon we already know rather than something the author needs to fill us in on and contextualize…which, fair! And respect!

Even after they take the first steps they take a long time - A LONG TIME - to really make it work. Which, having understood these characters and their individual fears and hesitations so well, felt absolutely true and right. Frustrating? Yes. But right.

But they do make it work, and it's entirely in character and just the right kind of sweetness - because it's earned.

"I'm flattered, Nate." He looks at Nate resolutely. "But I"m not the guy you want, or-or the guy you should have. If you're honest with yourself, I think you know that." It sounds so final, like the Iceman has fucking spoken, and that's that. Nate can't keep the sneer off his face. "Fuck you." Brad's head snaps up. "Are you fucking-" "No, Fuck. You. Fuck you for not believing you're worth anyone's time - my time - just because some shitty people did a shitty thing to you, once. And fuck you for not trusting me to stick with you even when it's hard. Fuck you for treating me like I'm too fucking fragile to be burdened with any of the shit you carry around with you every day. And mostly, Brad? Fuck you for acting like you're doing this to protect me, when you're just trying to protect yourself."

[silverdragonreads]

Chapters: 13/13 Fandom: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom, Sherlock (TV), James Bond (Craig Movies), James Bond (Movies), bondlock - Fandom Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: James Bond/Q, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Characters: Moneypenny (James Bond), Q (Bond - Craig movies), James Moriarty, Raoul Silva | Tiago Rodriguez, Gareth Mallory, Bill Tanner, Mycroft Holmes, Anthea (Sherlock), Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, James Bond (007), Female M (James Bond), Male M (James Bond), Greg Lestrade Additional Tags: Action/Adventure, Suspense, Family Drama, Drama, Violence, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Protectiveness, Romance, Revenge, Minor Character Death, Blood and Injury, Villains, Sexual Content, Banter, Deception, Trust, Explosions, Slow Build, Developing Relationship, Roommates, Q is a Holmes, Secret Intelligence Service | MI6, Q Has a Cat, BAMF Q Summary:

MI6 has been compromised, at least one agent inside suspected of working for the criminal mastermind James Moriarty. Bond's assignment is simple: find the mole and resolve the situation. The only catch is that the mission requires something Bond doesn't have in abundance: computer skills. With all of Q-Branch under suspicion he must turn to outside sources, and Mycroft Holmes thinks he has the perfect solution: his youngest brother.

Or: the unholy merging of Reichenbach Falls and Skyfall, and their respective super-villains.

[druckkugelschreiber]

How did I spend my sunday you ask? I wrote 22k words for a fanfic

[axreliono]

hit 30k i am WINNING at life

[orcelito]

Kinda wanna reread my old Nico rps. Like What If I revisited my biggest interest of age 18? What If I revisited the excessively long text based rps where I really developed my own writing ability?

Sometimes it's just fun to revisit