#Brix WIP

[gemmahale]

Started writing something about Dom Soap being a herding dog (if we insist on applying the dog metaphor to him.)

A hand on the small of your back, maybe your hand wrapped in his, at worst his hand on the small of your neck to guide and direct you. He doesn't need to nip at your heels to get you to go where you should.

A nip at your earlobe followed by a growl of "Behave yerself" just barely above the din. A soft kiss along your jawline to apologize; to anyone else it looks like he's telling you a secret, but you know it's a reminder that he is in charge and you'd best listen.

A pinch - maybe the inside of your thigh or arm, or the soft, cushiony part of your hip - when you step outside of pre-determined bounds. A reminder that he's here to protect you, even if you can't detect the threat yourself.

He's subtle in the way he displays dominance. He knows his job is to protect and keep you in line, and he intends to do at least that much. He'll showboat in other areas (and does). But this power exchange between the two of you is his.

....I lost the dog metaphor there a bit. Sorry not sorry. Yes, you'll probably see a lot of this in Museum Muse. Maybe Brix. Bite me. (I'll like it.)

[madstronaut]

WIP WRITES RIGHTS NOW! I SAID WIP WRITES RIGHTS NOW

blahblahmaster rant list link blahblah dont look at me

PSA when you only just discover a moot is a prolific writer you run to read all her writing and comment in excruciating detail cc: @gemmahale

blorbo x named oc fans, this one’s for you (it’s me, im talking about me)

please see below a random and incomprehensive ramblelist of my stream of consciousness as I sampled from gemma's works:

Feylands WIP

I find the content warning tags extremely titillating (also I have not seen such a prolifically well organized tag list AND color coordinated to boot like gemma’s blog???? putting my outlook inbox/work docs/excel sheets to shame!!!) and I don’t even read/like fae stories (yes I never read ACOTAR and I don’t plan to anytime soon, I missed that booktok ship, most likely cos im not on the tikky tokky as the children like to say, i watch the reposts on instagram like a proper mlllenial)

Josephine’s heart pitter-pattered at the compliment, heat climbing up her cheeks as she mumbled a thanks, their eyes locking again. 

🥰🥰🥰NOT THE PITTER PATTER

my inquisitive ass is already like “what’s gary’s real name” and “hearing aid = soap b/c of all the damn bombs he blows up?” “but i headcanon gaz with freckles, maybe it’s gaz? gaz = gary?” “or maybe ghost = gary?” GEMMA GIVE US WIPS I MEAN HINTS PUT ME OUTTA MY MISERY

Call of the Wild WIP

I love the little note gemma included about this being inspired by @deadbranch (shoutout to branchy btw my beloved) - honestly floored at all the beautiful fic/headcanon/drabbles/askfills ive read that are the brainchilds birthed from love for other creators’ brainchildren

also equally floored at how many of writers here are like “this incredibly layered/moving/tender/spicy/nasty fic came to me in a dream”

also SUBVERTED TROPES SUBVERTED TROPES SUBVERTED TROPESSSSS

Kyle cleared his throat, shifting his stance. “She prefers to be called a wolf.”

AHAHAHAHAHAHA GODDDD THIS WAS A ZINGER

“Please!” Kyle called back, face half covered in shaving cream.

i need fanart of this right fucking now let me, i mean shannon, sorry oops but haha..unless? finishing shaving you bby

and FUCKING ROACH IS IN THIS FIC HOLD ME BACK OR YOU *WILL* GET CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE OF ME TEARING APART THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE BECAUSE MY BRIEF HYPERFIXATION ON ROACH IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE FROM THIS SMALL SNIPPET AND IN THIS 500 PG DISSERTATION I WILL-

also THAT PROLOGUE APPETIZER SLAYED ME

“The way I see it, you’re fucked either way. You don’t make it out of here, you’re fucked. You become mine, you’re fucked - but in the good way.”

this + the mention of bulge + damp cheek definitely brought a visceral IRL memory for me (affectionate/horny)

also sidenote: it’s the little things that matter and gemma i see you gurl and salute you - incorporating things like hearing aids, mentioning roach is HoH/using sign language, shannon using a shower cap for her curly hair - 😘👌

Corporal Distraction WIP

holy MOTHER OF FUCK THIS SHORT LITTLE EXCHANGE IS FUCKING HOOOOOOOOOT

The captain moved closer to her, gently lifting her chin up with his finger. “So you’re the bird that’s got my sergeant distracted.”

“Sir?”

“Been trying to figure out what’s got Gaz so twisted up lately. Figured it was a partner, didn’t think it was a Corporal under him.” He didn’t release her chin, now holding it between his thumb and finger. “Has good taste, at least,” he muttered, eyes shifting to the Lieutenant, who only huffed in response.

any premise that fucks with/frustrates/sleep-deprives soap has my heart 🥰

Flowers From My Love WIP

the bit where they discuss the casserole perfectly encapsulates each of the boys imho - price grunting out a response, soap eagerly asking about the food (such youngest of the group/im baby vibes), gaz picking up on the note and name/# left, ghost grumbling and ofc he fucking HAS to bring up manchester- 

and the MOODBOARD!!!! God I fucking love when writers flesh out a bit of their worldbuilding with related art, moodboards, face claims, etc etc etc i WILL lick up every crumb from the floor like a starving doggo- fun fact, one of my first interactions in cod fandom was requesting a moodboard from @the-californicationist (also shoutout to cali my beloved)

and PEPPER THE SERVICE DOG OH MY LORD PLEASE GOD IF THE 141 MEN CAN’T BE REAL LET PEPPSY BE REAL PLEASE GOD IF I HAD TO ASK FOR ONE THING FROM THIS CURSED HELLSITE-

Palace Hallways WIP

my mind blacked out at artificer soap and knight kyle and druid ghost - I also just finished a campaign with my homegroup IRL not too long ago and we’re taking a long break before the next game while our DM preps and this is making me miss playing with them ;-;

Edge Dressing WIP

KATE KATE KATE KATE KATE KATE that’s it that’s the tweet

“She did, did she?” Kate murmured, scratching at Letty’s scalp and smirking as the woman went boneless against her.

yes only natural, i too would also go boneless if laswell was scratching my scalp and giving me a massage mommy? sorry. mommy. sorry? mommy. sorry?

Embroidered Secret WIP

if someone told me a year ago when I wasn’t into regency shows/fics that reading some COD AUs - yes fucking CALL OF DUTY, the military propaganda first person shooter video game - would change my mind - well id be more shocked than if someone flashed some ankle at my victorian pearl clutching ass

also please i love every single trope listed here

141 Studios WIP

“Our sweet soft girl Samantha (plus size rep ftw!) finds her niche quickly as the resident camgirl - creating a new set of films called "Tip of The Tongue", where she (and others) commentate on the scenes being filmed in a behind the scenes way.”

fuck i would read an entire multiseries for this premise alone???

Crew scramble around to clean up the sweat and cum streaked across the couch to reset for another scene.

fun fact - i briefly interned as a PA in college and one of the producers i worked with mentioned offhand that he once rolled up to a set that was cleaning up after a porn shoot and claimed they were rolling away literal barrels of lube 👀

“You the new girl?” His voice was deep, rumbling like stones cascading down a mountain.

NEW GIRL, OLD MAN, BLUE BIRD, CLOWN WITH A BUCKET HAT, I WILL BE ANYTHING FOR YOU PS!SIMON

A Protege’s Trust WIP

The most titillating tag of all..an empty one! lol jk im just messin with ya gemmy but actually yes i don’t see any posts with this tag

Museum Muse WIP

ahem you already know my rabid thoughts on this but noticed this new post re: multiple timelines and tbh do I know what’s going on? absolutely not - do I want to dive into this museum muse multiverse regardless? absolutely yes

Brix WIP

Re: “If it’s a story about learning to be loved again after a series of devastating losses, can that story then end on another loss? (And should the epilogue soften that loss by allowing them some sort of reprieve?)”

YES! i need to be in a certain mood to read angst but GOD WHEN I AM IN THE MOOD DOES IT HIT THE SPOT/FEEL SO CATHARTIC

also re: these comments - “Also, a bit of catharsis for my shitty experience working in the orchard industry.”

“It's less of a love story and more of a healing story. It's also a bit of a middle finger to the orchard that nearly hospitalized me. 🙃 (It's healing not only for the characters lol.)”

i find these types of fics are some of the best ive read when the writers have IRL experiences bleed into their writing - just has a certain je ne sais quoi about em

also i could be knee deep in sewage sludge and if i sensed soap within a 1 mile radius i would throw myself at him, brb busy handforging a trophy for annabeth for having enough willpower to continue working while JOHN SOAP MACATAVISH WHINES ABOUT WANTING TO COP A FEEL

Squeamish Stitches WIP

✨GLITz!!!! ✨fucking love this name

“God, I’d die here a happy man,” he grumbles into your thigh as you adjust your balance. 

His hands wrap around your calves, grunting as the treads dig into his shoulders. “No, between your legs.”

Ghost interrupts. “Keep it tactical, Sergeants.”

THE FUCKING BANTER? GHOST COCKBLOCKING GAZ? FUCKIGN SCREAMINNG

Useful Girl WIP

you had me at “we gonna get nast-ay kink-ay” and also got strong “secretary” with maggie gyllenhaal + james spader vibes 

also i had to look up ‘brown bottle flu’ as i’ve never heard that term before! ✨i learn somethng new with fanfic daily✨

She felt the breeze as the door opened behind her, the whiff of cigar smoke and cologne causing her to shift in her seat and sit up straighter.

if you’ve ever smelled/heard someone before you saw them it is *quite* the experience

“It's the prickle of the mountain's oncoming storm. It's the flapping of the flag in the howling wind. It's the explosion of lightning hitting a tree, splitting it open, part charred and part living - two states diametrically opposed to each other. It's the sigh of relief when the clouds finally part and the rain pours out. It's the breath of fresh air when the storm dissipates and everything is left clean.

It's yearning so hard for something that it leaves one fundamentally changed when they achieve it.

...I really ought to make moodboards for this fic. 😅”

this was an incredible fucking paragraph to read, fucking poetry right here, also incredibly erotic? though that might just be leftover brainworms in my head from watching shogun and a scene where one of the main charas describes an orgasm as “clouds parting after rain” 

Highland Tartans WIP

She reached her hand into his wool, petting him. “He comes from a good line and all, he’s just young.”

MacTavish laughed, sliding his hands to rest on his waist. “Aye, young and dumb. I know the type.” 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

PLEASE GOD GEMMA

I CANNOT CHOOSE FAVORITES BUT SPARE A THOUGHT FOR MY FREE TIME AND WORK HOURS WHEN YOU POST MORE OF THESE AND AT LEAST SPREAD THEM OUT SO I CAN KEEP MY JOB AND PAY MY BILLS INSTEAD OF GORGING ON YOUR WRITING

anyway to sum up i am fully convinced the multiverse lives inside of gemma’s brain because goddamn i am convinced once day some god-tier epic space opera multiseries is gonna spring out fully formed like athena from the gemmamind (yes I compared you to zeus, a mythical god, deal with it)

[ask-a-robot-superstar]

have some clueless janitor content from an animatic im working on for school, ft. Brix E. Zem, the janitor at Sycamore Theatre.

he may or may not have a small celebrity crush on our resident robot superstar, but you’d need to ask him that yourself ;]

[cel-estria]

Hello!

I'm Celestria and I haven't used Tumblr in a hot minute so I just made a new one.

I'm a bisexual femme presenting person using they/them pronouns. I love frogs, witchcraft, nature, anime and horror podcasts.

I'm using this space to help gain inspiration for a book series I'm trying to write which includes queer characters, fae and my favourite romance tropes!

About my WIP:

Main character is Ashryn (she/her)

My villian is Brix (they/them)

• Adult Fantasy setting

• Planning on making a trilogy

• Main characters who are LGBT+. Literally they are all a flavour of queer. It's great.

• Heavily tied into Fae

• Based loosely on a TTRPG Character/class

• Found family tropes

• Frogs

My book tags are:

#my book stuff #Ashryn vibes #Brix vibes

I'm also just here to reblog things that have nothing to do with my book such as some goofy memes and a ton of podcast shit. I'm sorry.

On the side I try to stream sort of regularly at www.twitch.tv/cel_estria

And on Twitter I'm @cel_estria

Looking for more blogs to follow so please if you're into the same things as I am, interact so I can follow!

[pandoramusicbox]

A work in progress or loosely sketch or wip map of some valleys in the south east of the julner mountains. The three valleys of brixe, sheer wood and the great valley of Avalon. Along with the small flower valley of iral.

There is also a drawing of a Saxon ghoul, also known as a mountain ghoul, they live in the Saxon mountain range.

Ghouls are relatives of vampires and such, the Saxon ghouls have the worst reputations of all the ghouls.

The valley of Avalon is still a fairy strong hold for fairies in the region.

This valley is still mainly a work in progress

[fallingforfandoms]

Would you ever write a fic for a pairing that didn't include Lena? 👀 (yes I'm mean)

Write? Yes. Publish? Probably not :D I've got a couple of drafts from old Marvel/Sherlock/House of Cards/The Walking Dead days still looming on my computer. But they're probably never gonna see the light of day because I've kinda grown out of these fandoms. And when it comes to Tatort ... well. There's a pretty raw WIP for Janneke & Brix hanging around because of this scene:

But I don't know if that's ever gonna make its way on ao3 because that niche is even smaller than my Ludwigshafen one, so ..... yeah, no, I think, my branding is gonna stick with me for a while :D

[crazybunchwriting]

Name Meaning Tag

Special thanks to @pluttskutt for tagging me!

Rules: Search and post the meaning of your OCs’ names (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! Bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

So, these are OCs from my wip The Crazy Bunch. I used Behind The Name to find the meanings of these names. (Also if you like name meanings, considering following my sideblog @character-names-galore where I post name meanings, origins, and usages. I even post gender neutral names!)

Sam: short for Samantha, which means “flower”

Haley: Means “hay clearing” lol

Rocky: short for Racquel (variant of Rachel) meaning “ewe” (as in, female sheep)

Bruce: From a Scottish surname, probably originally referring to the town of Brix in France. *shrugs* 

Bryn: Means “hill, mound”

Emma: Means “whole” or “universal”

Lizzie: short for Elizabeth, means  "my God is an oath"

Alice: Means “noble”

Cameron: Means “crooked nose” lollll (this character does not have a crooked nose btw lol)

Jack: Means “man” I mean....spot on I guess??

Greg: short for Gregory, meaning “watchful/alert”

Zach: short for Zachary, meaning “Yahweh remembers”

Welp that’s most of my OCs for this wip. They’re not very exciting I know, but I didn’t choose the names for these characters by meaning.

Tagging: @arixabala, @lunartyphoon, @writings-of-a-narwhal, and @radders-writes

[mazojo]

Sooo my vacations are almost over and I just got around to drawing on my tablet some of my mc’s //rip, its kind of a banner thingy so I am still working on it, idk any thoughts are appreciated ~~

[keirangoldenwatch]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Part one! Cause I'm gonna do an art one of these as well.

Exerpt from the next (WIP) chapter of Surprisingly Good Judge of Character: Peace, Mistakes, and Princesses. Enjoy!

Tivvea turned away from the ship just as Rezhek came close enough for her silhouette to become detailed. The smile on her face was blindingly bright, more so than Rezhek had ever seen it. Not literally brighter, of course--although her eyes did appear to be lighter than they’d been before. That could have been a trick of Rezhek’s imagination.

Rezhek chuckled quietly. “Well. I’m glad you have her back.”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. Get over here.” With a few quick steps Tivvea had closed the distance between herself, Rezhek, and Aric, and tried to catch Rezhek in another one of her hugs. Rezhek squirmed away from it with little effort. Tivvea let out a delighted laugh. “I’m trying to thank you, you brixing awkward seccer! Seriously,” she clapped her hands on Rezhek’s shoulders, “If it weren’t for you guys, I don’t know if I’d have seen the Kaas Mistake ever again. I mean, I probably could have done this alone,” she released Rezhek and shrugged, smugness momentarily overtaking her expression, “And done it quicker, and easier, without all the military drama added to the pile. But it would have been way, way less fun without you here to tease.”

“We’re so glad to be of service,” Aric growled, looking down at Tivvea his his trademark scowl.

Tivvea snickered, hands flying up defensively. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding! Don’t shoot me just because I’ve got my ship back! Our deal isn’t over yet!”

Rezhek’s annoyed glower faded back into a contemplative frown. “That person on your ship...”

Tivvea nodded as she lowered her hands to rest on her hips. Her smile cooled. “Haven’t checked yet. But he doesn’t know you can see him, so he might be waiting for me to get on to ambush me.” She paused and turned to look back up at the ship. “If it even is Skavak. Can you tell, now that we’re closer?”

For a moment, Rezhek focused her attention on the light she’d spotted from afar. Whoever it was was standing in the cargo bay. It was hard to tell from how they were positioned, but something about their shape wasn’t right. Skavak was broader than that, and taller. This light was too slender. Rezhek’s lips pursed together. “The shape is wrong. Whoever that is, it isn’t Skavak. Looks too slim.”

“Well, great.” Tivvea pouted. “I don’t get to shoot the kriffer on top of robbing him. So much for that.” Her attention returned to Rezhek and Aric. “Mind coming along to check it out, anyway? If it’s another one of his girlfriends, she might still try to kill me. Just going off of past experiences.”

Corso approached from behind Tivvea, having concluded whatever he and Fabizan had been discussing. He’d caught onto the last few sentences from the look of worry on his face. “Even still, you’d try to have her arrested, right, Captain?”

Tivvea sighed and gave him a roll of her wrist. “Yes, Corso, I’m not going to kill a lady when I can have her ass dragged off instead. But,” she raised a finger, “I reserve the right to punch her out, too, if she tries to shoot me.”

Corso frowned a little deeper at that but nodded. “Fine. Come on, then. Fabizan unlocked her while we were talking.”

Rezhek took all of two steps after Tivvea and Corso began to move before she stopped, something Tivvea had said only now catching up with her.

“Wait. What did you say the ship’s name was?”

Tivvea turned around to look at her with a wide, shit-eating smile. “The Kaas Mistake! What? I hadn’t told you that already?” She giggled at the dumbfounded looks she got in return. “I’m an exiled Sith, what else was I going to go with?? I mean, I almost went with Korribanned, but my mom gave me such a look for that--kind of like what you’re giving me right now. I thought it was funny!”

Aric sighed and rolled his eyes. Rezhek deeply wished she had eyes to roll, too. Corso just grinned at Tivvea before they kept walking towards the ramp that led into the Kaas Mistake.

[gemmahale]

Writers confident challenge! list your 5 writings you love the most! Reread them and tell yourself you are a gem to this world! and if you want, send this to the writers you like let them know how awesome they are! 💌

Feel free to answer whenever you can! I know you’ve been stressing!

It can be either WIPs or actual published fics!

Tats, I adore this question. I'm going to be that person and say "I love them all!" But I have a few I am giving a little extra love to right now.

The Price of Pegging. The only complete work I have published. A love letter to myself and my gender identity, wrapped up in some steamy hot smut. 😄

Everything else is WIPs, surprising no one who knows me. 😉 These are in no specific order.

Corporal Distraction - I love this premise. I love a "forbidden" romance and the consequences that come with it. I love that it's got a twist to it. I love the aesthetics and tweaks I've given both canon and OC characters while keeping to their original source material.

Brix - The first CoD fanfic I started. Inspired by @the-californicationist's "Gunslinger" (AO3) and Thing's "How Many Days I'll Bleed" (AO3) stories. I consider these two authors to be two dear close friends of mine as well. Also, a bit of catharsis for my shitty experience working in the orchard industry.

Museum Muse - Puppy play. Kink Dynamics. Fat OC. Art as a means of learning to be loved. Just...ooey gooey cuteness. (Needs serious re-working, but I adore the premise.)

Fruit Cocktails - I adore the idea of different species of bats being vampires. It's a fun premise and one I want to explore further. I just need to improve at my murder mystery skills. The layers of nuance and worldbuilding I have here are delicious.

[gemmahale]

twenty questions for fic writers!

tagged by @391780 (Love you bunches, Early!)

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

One. The Price of Pegging

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

3,825

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (mostly reboot but I sprinkle in canon from the originals when I feel like it - mostly Roach) Pedro Pascal Characters, but most of those are on pause at this point.

4. top five fics by kudos

I only have the one. 😅 It gets both first and last place.

5. do you respond to comments?

I do my best to! Sometimes I get overwhelmed and forget because I'm human and will respond much later.

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

Probably Brix or Flowers from My Love will have the angstiest ending.

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

Call of the Wild I think will be the happiest.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I haven't really gotten any sort of hate of any sort. (knock on wood it stays this way.) Probably because I have one piece fully published lol. I think I make up more hate for myself than actually exists.

9. do you write smut?

Yes. I have multiple universes written explicitly for smutty reasons that plot.

10. craziest crossover:

...I haven't done a crossover. 😅 Yet.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet, but I'm open to discussing it!

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

Yes-ish? @eilidh-eternal and I are playing around in our own little world together, @pfhwrittes and I have a little world and a few fics they're my key brain worm detangler, and I'm always open to batting around ideas.

14. all time favorite ship?

I'm actually really struggling with this one - ask me later.

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

I intend to finish all of them, eventually. I don't like doubting myself.

16. what are your writing strengths?

I'm really good at sassy character dialogue.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

I feel I struggle with pacing and deciding when to make people move and how to do it. I've also noticed my sentences tend to be very repetitive in terms of rhythm/structure.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Depends on how it's used and if translation is provided. It bothers me somewhat with Spanish since I'm semi-fluent (I'm rusty, but I was fluent for a number of years) and things are wrong. I try to either keep a definition next to the other language or use Early's strike-through method (which I think is really nifty).

19. first fandom you wrote in?

Hogan's Heroes. No you probably will never see it.

20. favorite fic you've written?

Feylands. Hands down. Followed swiftly by The Contract.

No pressure tags to friends: @gnpwdrnwhiskey, @swordsandholly, @sentientcave, @femalefemur, @maggiemayhemnj 💚💚

[gemmahale]

Thinking along the line of safehouse fics and the inherent endings they have (that link references Brix specifically), I think Flowers from my Love might have a similar bittersweet ending.

I’m really just thought barfing. I’m absolutely open for hashing this out in DM’s or in comments or whatever.

Spoilers for fics (mine and other authors) below the cut. You have been warned. Don’t come for me because I spoiled it for you.

(I’m on mobile, apologies for not linking to your fics, authors I’m about to mention! 😘)

@the-californicationist’s Gunslinger ends with Price retiring with Charon. An apt ending for the two that had such a long slow-burn, thrown into chaos and forced to reconcile their actions against the big-bad.

Things’ How Many Days I Bleed is yet unfinished and I haven’t asked if they’ve decided how it ends yet. (I don’t want to know.)

Both were tremendously influential toward my development of Brix. Both are also Price X Reader/OFC in a 2nd POV. Brix is Soap X OFC.

It feels cruel to make Soap cut his career short to be with an American. He’s late 20’s, has a decade of service under his belt, and has hit the peak of his service on an elite task force. Even if he falls in love with orchards/winery life, I struggle with him just abruptly saying “nah, I’m out” - especially if Makarov’s still at large. (His death does not happen, but everything else in MWIII does.)

Maybe the best outcome for the is a long-distance relationship. But Annabeth lost her fiancé in her early 20’s, and her father 6 months before the story starts. I don’t think she’d be up for that sort of…abandonment? Intermittent visits?

So that makes me rethink the romance aspect of the story. Maybe it’s more about letting others in an supporting you than romance love. I don’t know. I’ll have to see where those two go, I suppose. But I think it ends with a letter of some sort. (It’s still going to hurt, even if it’s a bittersweet hurt.)

@syoddeye’s For the Record has two endings, both of which absolutely nailed the vibes of the relationship between Animale and Price. One an ending of “we cannot be together after everything” and one of “we are going to try after much healing has happened.”

FTR inspired Flowers. Hands down. No question. I will fully credit Sy in that, because they deserve it.

I’ve had it in my mind that Johanna goes through something akin to the Piccadilly mission. Had it written in my notes from day 1. Kyle comes to her rescue, but like FTR - what happens to that trust between them? Is it one built on omissions? I’m not sure.

I also don’t know if Kyle would give up his life on the Task Force for her either. Or if she would give up hers. Johanna isn’t as hurt as Annabeth is (Johanna has Pepper (service dog) and her company and that’s enough. Demi/ace vibes? Idk tbh.)

So maybe she’s made peace with it being a short-term fling. But again - what’s the revelation of Kyle’s job do to their relationship? Does it end with a soft hand squeeze and “my door’s always open to you”? He might retire in 5-ish years and come back to her. Or it’s just a tender memory they both hold close.

It’s much less of a healing fic in comparison to Brix - it’s more about meeting people where they are? I guess? Idk. I had the one scene in the city and the idea of the whole 141 next door and a flower farm and here we are.

Like I said earlier, I’m just musing on these two tonight. I’ve been wanting to write them, but I hadn’t really thought through the endings until now. And that’s what’s been one of my hold-ups I didn’t realize until I started tugging at the strings.

[gemmahale]

Ack I’m so late but I wanna know more about Brix for the wip game!

WIP Ask Game!

I did point out that Brix was one of the first, if not the first WIP I’ve had for CoD in our conversation. I think you brought up a really solid follow up question!

Since this has been one of your longest projects for the fandom how many rewrites do you think you’ve done and are you still set on the same ending you were when you first started the project?

I have a series of scenes in my head that feel like they’re set in stone. They’ve never changed. Fighting with Laswell. Picking Soap up from the airport. His first tornado/hail storm. Harvest season. [Redacted - and it’s not smut 😉]. Snowpocalypse.

The ending though? That one’s gone through an iterative process where I’ve settled on an ending that kind of breaks my heart to think of, but I think it will be satisfactory and right for this story.

I haven’t really done any total rewrites. 😅 It’s just fermented there, like a fine mead. I’ve tacked on notes, refined some details, but because I haven’t really gotten past the first bit (part distracted and part anxiety because of how close this fic is to my heart) there hasn’t been anything to rewrite.

But it’s coming. I’m facing that fear. 💚

[gemmahale]

Does anyone else get scared of a WIP? I’m looking at Brix and it’s got me quaking in my boots (metaphorically).

Part of it has to do with the fact that Brix touches on some really sensitive social topics around veteran care post-military (using knowledge gained from Kallen’s vet peers and his own experiences). I want to do it justice.

The other part? I don’t have an ending in mind. And this one needs some sort of resolution - there is an ending to this story. And I don’t know if it’s a happy one and I’m struggling to face that reality.

If it’s a story about learning to be loved again after a series of devastating losses, can that story then end on another loss? (And should the epilogue soften that loss by allowing them some sort of reprieve?)

[gemmahale]

1 & 7 for the WIP ask game - For whichever projects you want (or roll a dice! Let me know if you want me to roll one for you) -- Charlie SentientCave

WIP Ask Game

WIP: Brix

Charlieeee (@sentientcave)! I asked you to roll a dice, and you rolled 8. From the top of my active and shared WIP list, that's Brix.

Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less.

Soap shows an orchard manager to love and be loved.

7. What are you most proud of?

I think the thing I'm most proud of about this WIP is the detail in it. Working in the orchard was simultaneously the best and worst time in my life, and being able to have so many homages to my past in it is really sentimental to me.

[gemmahale]

for your talk shop tuesday; what’s the last wip you were working on? and what’s your favourite that you’re currently working on?

Hi friend! 💚💜🧡

Talk Shop Tuesday

Per Google Docs, the last WIP I worked on was Brix. I'm at a kind of big reveal scene and it's not hitting how I want. BUT I SHALL PERSIST and edit that fucker later.

My favorite that I'm working on? Hoo boy. Call of the Wild has been calling my name recently. I want to get back to Shannon and Kyle, the lovebugs that they are. They need some drama in their lives.

(Asking me my favorite though is mean, I hope you know. 😉)