#CoB: Chapter 10

[illdowhatiwantthanks]

The Surprise Masterlist

Find all chapters of The Surprise here. Updated as new chapters are released.

Emily Prentiss x fem!reader Warnings: some chapters are 18+ MINORS DNI (they are marked as such), pregnancy times throughout, other warnings marked chapter by chapter Current total word count: 29k

The Surprise (Part 1)

The Lentil & The Blueberry (Part 2) (18+)

The Kidney Bean & The Grape (Part 3)

The Kumquat (Part 4)

The Fig & The Lime (Part 5)

The Peapod (Part 6)

The Lemon & The Apple (Part 7) (18+)

The Avocado & The Turnip (Part 8)

The Bell Pepper & The Big Tomato (Part 9)

The Banana (Part 10)

The Carrot (Part 11) (18+)

The Spaghetti Squash (Part 12)

The Mango (Part 13)

The Corn Cob (Part 14)

The Rutabaga (Part 15) (18+)

The Scallion (Part 16)

[callsigns-haze]

Pretty like a crime

Chapter 11

Pairing: Agent Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x Singlemom! Agent Y/n 'Cobra' Y/l/n

Summary: Cobra is finally back on the agency and is finally back in the job. With Kai at home she has to jumble being a mother and a agent. She's sent to her first U.C mission but never thought that she would meet a blonde, green eyed Texan...

Warning: Mentions of gun use, ptsd, mentions of death, mentions of shooting, flirting, mentions of abuse, description of dead body, death, blood, undercover work, alcohol use, smut, kissing

Prologue/ Part 1/ Part 2/Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 6/ Part 7/ Part 8/ Part 9/ Part 10

"Jake calm down!" Jake was furious, fuming. If he didn't calm down at this pace he'd turn into a cartoon character with smoke coming from their nose and ears.

Kai was asleep in his room, he insisted on taking Alfie to sleep with him. Kai has fallen in love with that dog. Alfie became his new best friend. You adored it and so did Jake but with the two of them sleeping, the two of you had to tone down.

"How am I meant to calm down, Cobra! He basically threatened you," Jake was pacing up and down the room. You didn't know how to calm him down. You informed Jake about your meet and greet in the hall with Matthew and let's just say it drove your boyfriend mad.

"Jake we have bigger things in mind! There's a bloody killer, swiping us all off and you're here worried about my ex?!?" You were terrified. The whole dagger crew was nearly eliminated. Just you, Bradley, Jake and Javy. Each of the others was knocked down like a pawn in a failed match of chess.

This stops Jake and he walks over to you. He wraps his arms around your waist. His arms delicately rest on your hips as he comes closer, kissing your forehead and reassuring you, "Cobs, I'd fucking die before letting anything happen to you or Kai. You guys saved me and I'll do anything to save you." You nod and pull into his chest.

You were scared, shaking in fear was a way to put it. You didn't know what to do, you were scared for life and your friends were just out six feet underground. You pulled back, and nodded tiredly. He smiled at you, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear before relaying his delicate lips on top of yours. You hum into the kiss before you pull apart.

"Should I clean up?" You wondered, due to the two wine glasses and earlier dinner plates that were still left to be washed. He shook his head, leading you towards your son's bedroom. You stand in front of the frame as he answers. "Go, lay with Kai. I'll clean up and I still have some work. Rest, okay? The two of you are safe."

"And Alfie?"

"And Alfie."

You open the door and step in as Jake heads speeding into the kitchen to reach his phone. Have you ever seen a cartoon character run? You know, like tom, from Tom and jerry. When his legs turn into wheels due to the incredible speed he just took off at? Yep, that was the perfect way to describe Jake.

He rushes over to his phone to quickly send an email. He knew this had to be quick and fast, mixed with a good bribe and paycheck. He looks back over to the door that he sent you into. He knew if you caught him doing this you'd be fuming, absolutely ballistic.

He just emailed Justin to contact Matthew. It was a set up. If Matthew believed that he was going to meet Justin and then magically bumped into Jake's fist nothing bad would happen, right? Just a coincidence. Jake quickly went to his contact list, calling straight to Coyotes number.

'Hello?'

'Javy, meet me at the old factory near the deck in twenty.'

------

After everything that happened, Matthew was out of control at the start. His father was in jail, his brother murder and a lot of more dilemma that nobody cares about or asked for. You simply never thought youd end up in this situation.

You were running through the parking lot. He was on your heels, he was chasing you and wouldn't stop. He was armed as well. You keep running as fast you could until you took the wrong turn. He came out of nowhere. You didn't see him coming. He grabbed your hair and pushed you down. The wind was knocked out of you. The words were taken out of your mouth as you lay flat on the ground and he kneeled against your chest.

"You took everything from me."

Matthew was furious, he held the gun to your head and you were sure he was about to pull the trigger from you more than instantly. He was right, you did just ruin him. But he had taken more from you. His family ruined you, you played their little good girl slave for a while too long.

"You did it first."

------

Jake looked over at the faint body, that was tied to the pole. The man's body, was sat down, legs wide open in a v-shape, arms tied behind his back and neck quite crushed due to choking force. Javy looked over at his friend and didn't know what to say. This was the right thing. Right? I mean it had to be.

"He's not dead properly, he's dying though." Justins voice comes from the darkness as he wears his black gloves with a knive twirling in his fingers. All three men are now standing side by side. They all stare at the still, somehow, alive man tied to the pole. They knew Iif they left it like this, it'd be obvious it was them who did this.

"So you're telling me that thing can still breathe?" Javy asks, point at Matthew's corpse like body as Jake never lifts his gaze of Matthew.

This man was the reason you have lived in fear for years. Each day of your and his marriage was another day of him mistreating you and your future son. He disgusted Jake, how could a man that was kissed by god's blessing, mistreat a woman like you.

"He used to hurt her, you know. After his brother and father, he chose drugs and chugged down with alcohol. He deserved it." Justins words were true, syllable to syllable. But did he deserve it? Nobody deserved to die by their neck getting broken against a pole. Nobody deserved to be strangled by three men on a late nights evening.

But he did hurt you. He tortured you. Used you. He hurt you all your life, in ways nobody knew before. Matthew did deserve it.

"I didn't mean this to happen." Jake was still in a trance. He's killed many men in his days but he has never, never in his full career, felt sorry about it. And now he may, scratch that, he just killed Kai's father and your old husband.

"I know. Look… You two leave. I'll finish the poor bastard off." Javy and Jake just nod and let Justin finish Matthew and take the grown man out of his misery. The two friends walk out. Javy lays his hand upon Jake's back and paths him in reassurance. This wasn't Jake's fault, Matthew threatened you and Jake along with Kai. He was the man who wasted your life.

The sound of something like an atomic drill burst their eardrums. It's like the whole world went numb. Everything went numb.

That's the sound of a machine gun.

Current taglist:

@callsign-magnolia

@shanimallina87

@callsign-dexter

@rosiahills22

@horseslovers2016

@djs8891

@hookslove1592

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@a-beaverhausen

@itsmytimetoodream

[calronhunt]

The like 70 COB videos i can make the moment chapter 10 ends and the biggest spoiler of the comic is revealed. I can't wait

[ladyhindsight]

TW: transphobia

this is that epilogue cob edit

original:

edited:

that is not a term i'm familiarized with. the word itself was translated as the latin american trans identity 'travesti' but it doesn't mean the same thing. so i can't speak on the wrongness of it, but i did notice that it was also used in draco dormiens chapter 4

i wouldn't judge people for terms they used +15 years ago, this is more a matter of recollection of stuff that isn't aknowledged than a matter of pointing fingers imo

Combining these two messages together since they're about the same thing, regarding this post. Here is Clare's post about TID covers that R linked where Clare wrote that:

"There is no real secret hidden meaning about who is on what cover, except that the marketing department didn't want a boy on Clockwork Princess. They may perhaps have been worried that everyone would think Will's dark secret was that he was a transvestite and was always stealing Jessamine's clothes."

Apparently the term belonged to Clare's vocabulary 10+ years ago, and I think that changing it in the newer City of Bones edition was a sensible choice. If Clare/Clare's editor did not know the offensiveness of the word, they probably would've otherwise left it unchanged. To add to stuff like killer and who molests cats, yyyikes.

I think the term 'transvestite' in nowadays is mostly considered antiquated and offensive, also because it was frequently used before (and in the recent years still is?) as a derogatory term and also rather interchangeably with anything regarding gender expression. For instance, people got terms such as transgender and transvestite mixed up or thought they held the same meaning, which they do not.

There are outdated and old fashioned definitions of the word which all add to the negative connotations because of the defamatory use. By definition it means cross-dressing but in my understanding 'cross-dressing' is the preferred term. There's also history with clinical use in psychology and psychiatry that I am not really familiar with.

As to the changes made into newer editions in general, I think is suspicious and sneaky not to acknowledge them. One of the major ones was the City of Bones one where Jace tells Clary that:

"it's only been recently that women have been Shadowhunters along with men. I mean, there have always been women in the Clave—mastering the runes, creating weaponry, teaching the Killing Arts—but only a few were warriors, ones with exceptional abilities. They had to fight to be trained. Maryse was a part of the first generation of Clave women who were trained as a matter of course—and I think she never taught Isabelle how to cook because she was afraid that if she did, Isabelle would be relegated to the kitchen permanently."

Which later on would not make sense as female characters in TID and TLH could not exist as they do today if this was the angle Clare kept in her series. Which was nonsensical to begin with because why would you incapacitate your already small fighting force by not letting half of your people fight?

These are fun to spot, though.

[professional-anti]

Chapter Ten: City of Bones

Things that have happened since the last update: I moved into my new school in a whole different country, became problematic, and read one (1) book. So I’m pretty cultured atm. Let’s do this.

Part Two: Easy is the Descent We have an unstranslated quote from the Aeneid, I guess so CC can show off how smart she is.

Chapter Ten: City of Bones Everybody freaks tf out about the fact that Jocie was Voldemort’s wife. We have an actual, real-life, total gem from Clary:

"That's impossible! My mother would never-she was only ever married to my father! She didn't have an ex-husband!”

Clary….blease…….I’m begging u……..she makes it so easy………

Hodge lists off the other death eaters. I’m not even going to pretend they’re not death eaters. There’s no reason to. Anyway, they all got in trouble after the Uprising™, except the Lightwoods got “clemency” bc they had a baby. Which is ridiculous and makes no sense. Ppl don’t just get lighter sentences bc they have babies. Hodge’s punishment is that he has to stay in this mansion in New York. I thought the Clave would be more into capital punishment, just going off how much they suck, but I guess that would just hinder the story.

Hodge reveals that Voldemort wants the cup bc it can give him an army of Shadowhunters. Isabelle comes in to say that she ordered Chinese, which raises interesting questions. Wouldn’t the ppl delivering just see a decrepit, condemned house? Did she have to order to next door and wait outside?

In the kitchen (where Simon is still staring awkwardly at Isabelle), Isabelle says that she thinks the fact that Voldie is looking for Jocie is “kind of romantic”. You know, that this vile supremacist is hunting down the woman who left him. Super romantic. Then she says the “evil thing” is “sort of hot.” No, really:

"Isabelle," said Hodge patiently, "this is the man who rained down destruction on Idris the like of which it had never seen, who set Shadowhunter against Downworlder and made the streets of the Glass City run with blood." "That's sort of hot," Isabelle argued, "that evil thing.”

At least in Harry Potter, no one thought that Voldemort was hot. In fact, everyone rightly despised him for killing innocents and preaching hatred. Bellatrix Lestrange was physically attractive, and nobody tried to argue that her actions were hot. Because they saw the terror she brought. No one would call her carving “Mudblood” into Hermione’s arm “hot”.

Oh, and even worse, after Isabelle reveals she likes murderous racists, “Simon trie[s] to look menacing”. The whole situation is just so awkward. Hodge tells them that Valentine would use the cup on children (it would kill adults) and discard the children who couldn’t handle it. Isabelle finally gets that Voldemort is bad and that water is wet. Jace is super mad that Voldemort wants to harm muggle children bc Shadowhunters are all about protecting the muggles. Never mind that Jace has shown nothing but disrespect for them the entire book.

Hodge pushed his plate away. "Valentine was insane," he said. "Brilliant, but insane. He cared about nothing but killing demons and Downworlders. Nothing but making the world pure. He would have sacrificed his own son for the cause and could not understand how anyone else would not." "He had a son?" said Alec. "I was speaking figuratively," said Hodge, reaching for his handkerchief. He used it to mop his forehead before returning it to his pocket. His hand, Clary saw, was trembling slightly.

Could Hodge be any more obvious. No, really, I’m asking. Please be more obvious Hodge. All the readers are dumb as goldfish and wouldn’t understand subtly. We need bricks in the face. This is compounded by Hodge telling them that they shouldn’t do anything to stop Voldmort, that the Ministry of Magic will handle it. Hodge is sooo not on Voldemort’s side, you guys. Never!

They decide to go to the Silent Brothers to retrieve Clary’s memories, which they think will help them save Jocie from Valentine. The Silent Brothers are Shadowhunters who destroyed their bodies with runes and now have crazy mental powers. Honestly sounds a little creepy. I’d read a book about their order, tbh. Are they all guys, though? Then I wouldn’t read it. Also, they sound like Dementors.

That night, Clary has a dream that she’s dancing with Simon in the Glass City, and then Simon turns into Jace. The Symbolism is so real. Then Jace wakes her up, holding her wrists. Apparently she tried to hit him in her sleep, but he shouldn’t have grabbed her wrists. I can think of few things more terrifying than waking up to a boy restraining my arms. Apparently, she fell asleep in a hallway the night before and Jace and Hodge let her to a bedroom. Honestly confused how she fell asleep in a hallway, but we have bigger problems to deal with.

Oh. My. God. A silent brother (I’m done with the dumb capitalization. We don’t say a Congresswoman or a Principal or a Citizen) has arrived. And his name is. His name is. BROTHER JEREMIAH.

Clary gets dressed and wishes she could look more like Isabelle. Bc girls have to judge themselves on their appearance even during everday tasks, like getting dressed. They meet BJ in the library, and he’s described like a death eater with a white color scheme, basically:

For a moment she thought he was alone in the room: that Jace had been playing a joke on her. Then she saw a figure move out of the dimness, and she realized that what she had thought was a patch of darker shadow was a man. A tall man in a heavy robe that fell from neck to foot, covering him completely. The hood of the robe was raised, hiding his face. The robe itself was the color of parchment, and the intricate runic designs along the hem and sleeves looked as if they had been inked there in drying blood. The hair rose along Clary's arms and on the back of her neck, prickling almost painfully. "This," said Hodge, "is Brother Jeremiah of the Silent City." The man came toward them, his heavy cloak swirling as he moved, and Clary realized what it was about him that was strange: He made no sound at all as he walked, not the slightest footstep. Even his cloak, which should have rustled, was silent. She would almost have wondered if he were a ghost-but no, she thought as he halted in front of them, there was a strange, sweet smell about him, like incense and blood, the smell of something living.

BJ says that he can’t get Clary’s memories bc there’s some sort of magical ���block” in her head, and that she has to come to the Brotherhood HQ in order to have it removed. BJ leaves on his own, and Clary and Jace go and stand on the corner. Jace is incredibly cruel about Simon. Then a black carriage disguised as a limo pulls up, driven by BJ himself. It’s honestly cool how the carriage moves thru NY traffic and no one nottices. It’s the exact touch of “magic hidden in New York” that I like. Clary and Jace also have a conversation about poetry and music, which reveals the distance between their worlds, that I like, so maybe this carriage is magical.

Oh, here we are. Back on our bullshit. Clary looks at Jace’s ring and thinks that “there would have been something feminine about a boy wearing a ring, but there wasn’t.” Let’s deconstruct, shall we? First of all, men wear rings all the time. Secondly, we get it, Jace is super super masculine, feminity in men is Bad, Jace would never at all be feminine in any way at all bc that’s gross right? Like, I love how Clare has to specify that this ring in no way, shape, or form makes Jace at all feminine. No one would have thought it, and, also, there’s nothing wrong with femininity in anyone.

Jace says that he didn’t tell Hodge the identities of the guys Luke was talking to bc then Hodge would know that Jace wouldn’t take no for an answer re killing Valentine. He gives a pretty realistically traumatized description of his father’s death:

"I was ten," Jace said. She turned to look at him. He was without expression. It always seemed like some color drained out of him when he talked about his father. "We lived in a manor house, out in the country. My father always said it was safer away from people. I heard them coming up the drive and went to tell him. He told me to hide, so I hid. Under the stairs. I saw those men come in. They had others with them. Not men. Forsaken. They overpowered my father and cut his throat. The blood ran across the floor. It soaked my shoes. I didn't move.”

Bare bones, emotionless, disconnected. I approve. Honestly, I like the next part too. Clary shows emotion while attempting to comfort Jace, and Jace tells her that he’s not unhappy bc he has a purpose. It shows a bit about their respective upbringings.

Jace says that demons are worse than everything else (e.g. vampires and warlocks) bc the latter are part human while the former are “interdimensional parasites”. Doesn’t explain why Jace is such a dick to the other Downworlders, though. If I remember correctly, he’s going to be a total asshole to vampires at some party later on. I wouldn’t mind Jace’s disgust as much if it weren’t so confusing. The book contradicts itself so much. It’s demons he doesn’t like, no it’s all Downworlders, he’s all about protecting mundies, but actually, he hates them. It flip-flops back and forth, leaving me with little understanding of Jace’s psyche.

They end up at the Marble Cemetary and take a secret passageway under a statue into BJ and co’s lair.

You know why I think this seems so good to me? I read a little bit more of ACOMAFail last night, and this writing is so much better in comparison.

Anyway, the lair called the Silent City (so many cities), and it’s giant and underground has archways with shadowhunter ashes mixed in. Pretty cool. Clary also has a moment where she tells the brothers they have to wait for her to be ready for them to go inside her head. Showing agency, girl!

The brothers do their thing, and a bunch of memories come into Clary’s mind. Among others, there’s a box with the initials J.C. on it (Jesus Christ?) and a doorway with the name “MAGNUS BANE” over the door. When she comes to, she’s lying on the marble floor and has blood all over her arm. Not sure what she managed to cut herself on. The floor should have bruised her, not cut her. Anything for the Drama, I guess. Jace heals her with a stele. Anyway, the block can’t be removed, and they have to go find Magnus Bane. Clary and Jace leave. The end.

[neverendingtrove]

Shadowhunter Chronicles chronological order with extra content included

Advice: for re-read purposes only.

Warning: Read in this order, there are spoilers for future books and short stories.

P.s. Any order that doesn't make sense, let me know. Sometimes editing messes the order of the bullet-points.

The Bane Chronicles (TBC): What Really Happened in Peru (1791-1962)

TBC: The Runaway Queen (1791)

TBC: Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale (1857)

The Infernal Devices (1878)

On the Bridge - Will & Jem scene

Clockwork Angel

Ch. 2 - deleted scene (alternate Dark House escape)

Ch. 5 (probably) - Tessa’s letter to Nate

Ch. 5 - Burning Bright (Jem & Tessa first meet Jem’s POV)

Ch. 9 - Why Will Hates Ducks

Ch. 12 - Of Loss (Will & Tessa kiss Will’s POV)

Ch. 14 - Jem & Tessa on Blackfriars Bridge scene

Ch. 17 - Nate & Tessa discuss Jessamine

Clockwork Prince

Ch. 9 - An Offering of Moonlight (Jem & Tessa kiss Jem’s POV)

Ch. 17 - deleted scene

After CP ends: The Whole of It (Will tells Jem his secret) (Note: this can be read at the beginning of Ch. 5 in Clockwork Princess as well)

Will's letter to Tessa - inscription on a copy of A Tale of Two Cities

Clockwork Princess (minus the Epilogue)

Ch. 5 - The Whole of It

Ch. 10 - Will’s letter to his parents (audio)

Ch. 22 - rewritten scene (Will in Henry’s room)

Fairy Tale of London (1880) - Will & Tessa wedding

Will & Tessa comic (1885)

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy (TFSA): The Whitechapel Fiend (1888)

The Penultimate Hours (part 1)

A Lightwood Christmas Carol (1889)

Lucie and Ghosts (1897)

Lucie and Cordelia (1897)

Cordelia and Alastair (1898)

The Anniversary Party (1899)

TFSA: Nothing but Shadows (1899)

Fever (1900)

The Penultimate Hours (part 2)

The Devil Tavern (1900)

The City of Bones (1900)

Christopher (1901)

Lucie’s letter to Cordelia

Ghosts of the Shadow Market (GoSM): Cast Long Shadows (1901)

The Penultimare Hours: London, Grosvenor Place (1901)

GoSM: Every Exquisite Thing (1901)

TBC: The Midnight Heir (January 1903)

The Last Hours (1903)

Chain of Gold

Ch. 15 - Whispering Room James’ POV

Letter from Ragnor to Magnus (chapter to be added)

The Letter Game

Chain of Iron

Tbr after Ch. 17: One Must Always Be Careful of Books

Chain of Thorns

TBC: The Rise of Hotel DuMort (1929)

GoSM: Learn About Loss (1936)

GoSM: A Deeper Love (1940)

TBC: Saving Rafael Santiago (1953)

TBC: The Fall of Hotel DuMort (1977)

TFSA: The Evil We Love (1984)

TBC: The Last Stand of the New York Institute (1989)

GoSM: The Wicked Ones (1989)

TBC: The Last Stand of the New York Institute (1993)

GoSM: Son of the Dawn (2000)

The Mortal Instruments (2007)

City of Bones

Original Prologue from Jace's POV

Ch. 1 Awake - Jace's POV of meeting Clary

After Ch. 15 - Magnus' Vow

Ch. 17 - When Midnight Comes

Post CoB - Kissed

TBC: The Course of True Love (And First Dates)

TBC: What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway)

City of Ashes

Ch. 8 - Because It Is Bitter

Ch. 14 - deleted scene

Post CoA: Becoming Sebastian

City of Glass

Original Ch. 1 - A Sudden Departure

Original Ch. 2 - Simon's alternative arrival in Alicante

Ch. 6 - Original scene between Jace and Alec

Ch. 7 - original scene Ragnor Fell house

Ch. 9 - Wayland Manor scene Jace's POV

Ch. 15 - Jace's letter to Clary

Ch. 20 AU - Valentine and Luke's farewell

The Eldest Curses: The Red Scrolls of Magic (2007)

Ch. 1 - A story told in postcards

Malec's first time - alternative

City of Fallen Angels

Ch. 9 - The Art of Falling

City of Lost Souls

Ch. 1 or 2 - Malec deleted scene

Ch. 4 - deleted scenes: Simon & Clary at the Seelie Court + version 2.0

Ch. 7 - deleted/alternative Sizzy scene

Ch. 7 - Rewritten scene Clary and Jace

Ch. 8 - deleted scene Isabelle, Jordan & Simon

Ch. 8 - Clary, Jace and Sebastian deleted scene

Ch. 11 - A Question of Power

Ch. 13 - Dirty Sexy Club Scene

Ch. 14 - Clary & Sebastian deleted scene

Deleted scenes (no clue where they fit): Clary & Jace; Magnus & Jocelyn

Epilogue - Stephen's letter to Jace

TBC: The Voicemail of Magnus Bane

City of Heavenly Fire

Ch. 20 - Dirty Sexy Cave Scene

Ch. 23 - deleted Jonathan scene

Ch. 24 - Magnus' letter to Alec from the notebook with the Bane Chronicles

A Letter from Faeries

Clockwork Princess Epilogue (London, January 2008)

After the Bridge

City of Heavenly Fire Epilogue (May, 2008)

TFSA: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (2008)

TFSA: The Lost Herondale (2008)

TFSA: The Whitechapel Fiend (2008)

TFSA: Nothing but Shadows (2008)

Wedding comic (Jessa) (London, 2009)

TFSA: The Evil We Love (2009)

TFSA: Pale Kings and Princes (2009)

TFSA: Bitter of Tongue (2009)

Deleted Ashdowns scene (non-canon)

TFSA: The Fiery Trial (2009)

TFSA: Born to Endless Night (2010)

TFSA: Angels Twice Descending (2010)

Simon's Graduation get-together (2010)

The Eldest Curses: The Lost Book of the White (2010)

In Dreams Begin (2010)

Stars to Burn

GoSM: The Land I Lost (2012)

The Dark Artifices (2012)

Ch. 2 deleted Cameron scene

Lady Midnight

GoSM: Through Blood, Through Fire (2012) At the same time with Lady Midnight (chapter to be added)

Ch. 4 - Church and Clary deleted scene

Ch. 18 - Unedited Beach Scene

To be added

Lord of Shadows

To be added

Queen of Air and Darkness

To be added

To be continued

[nayswriting]

Introductions

Okay, I think it’s about time I formally introduce myself on this blog.

Hi, my name is Nayru Elric. I’m a fanfic author known for writing canon-compliant and universe alteration character studies on FFN and AO3. I’ve been writing fanfiction for 10 years now, and gone through many personal and literary growths since. Writing has been my main source of creativity and personal outlet in all this time, and during the completion of my most recent long-term fanfic for the Hunter x Hunter fandom, Things I Don’t Understand, I realized I wanted to pursue writing professionally. I gained the confidence and ambition to do so thanks to the support of my readers!

I created this blog to focus on updates for my upcoming fantasy novel titled The Promise of a Shadow (title pending). As you may or may not know, I decided to write my thesis about Princess Mononoke (1997) by Hayao Miyazaki (among other anime), partly because I’m a huge Ghibli buff. However, one Ghibli film that never fails to capture my imagination is the universally considered flop by Miyazaki’s son Goro Miyazaki, Tales from Earthsea (2006).

The pacing of the movie is weird and in many ways it feels like a derivative of Hayao Miyazaki’s works, but the world, environments, and characters are some of my favorite to ever be produced by the studio. One day, I was watching Mononoke after having watched Tales from Earthsea recently, and I realized how similar in appearance the main characters Arren and Ashitaka are in the films. I also realized how opposite their personalities and motivations are.

While both characters are possessed by an evil darkness, Arren is unable to resist the gaping hole inside him and ends up murdering his father, running away from home, and joining the evil wizard Cob in a futile attempt to no longer feel empty and depressed inside. Conversely, Ashitaka is exiled from his home as a result of being cursed by the boar god-demon and displays equanimity even to belligerent figures like Lady Eboshi. I wanted to know... what would happen if these two were to meet?

My mind immediately jumped to fanfiction, of course!

But... then I realized writing this idea as a fanfiction would mean all the work I’d put into it in terms of worldbuilding, character design, and original conflict would be downplayed or disregarded as widely as I desired.

So, I got the brilliant idea to make this story idea my first professional pursuit of original fiction -- and boy, that thought alone has already opened up so many possibilities for what I want this novel to achieve. I’ve written original fiction before, mind you, but it was when I was 10 years old and writing about the unicorns in my backyard, being isekai’d to their land... I got maybe 8 chapters in?

Anyway, that’s the premise of my novel. What would happen if Ashitaka and Arren met? I hope it sounds intriguing. I’ll be posting more information about the main characters and setting in the coming weeks/months, and I look forward to sharing all my ideas, this world, and these characters with you.

[musogato]

Jade's 2021 in Review 🎆

This year I....

I worked on 12 drawings and finished 2:

Nahli Rainbow

Sobek and his Hatchling (au)

I worked on 26 fics and posted 10:

The List

Call Me Friend (but keep me closer) (chapters 1-4)

Ending the Cycle

Want a Quickie

Non-Perilous Activities (chapter 2)

A bird may love a fish Signore but where will they live

And the past will lap at our shores in waves

I also did a bunch of updates for the Daevapedia Wiki, including making a new layout, doing the author-annotated EoG and CoB pages, Book Editions, Merchandise, and worldbuilding/Q&A pages, among some other things.

I also...

Posted 9 bookstagram photos, which I am counting as an accomplishment because prepping these photos was hard. 🥺 (Instagram link)

Read/listened to 74 books and finished 56. 🎉📚 My favorite books/series of these were: The Outlaw Road duology (Sunshield, Floodpath), Gideon the Ninth, Percy Jackson: Heroes of Olympus, Trials of Apollo, Romeo and/or Juliet, A Forgery of Magic (Nocturna/Oculta), and The Magic Fish.

Watched 16 movies/tv shows; my favorites being Schitt's Creek, Move to Heaven, and Knives Out.

And played 18 games; favorites being Metroid Dread, Gris, and Animal Crossing New Horizons. I also started Duolingo, and was a top 1% language learner, but I think that says more about their participation statistics than my XP score.

Finally, I also made a Redbubble Shop account and it actually sold some items, omg. (the most popular being the Pokémon stickers, and mugs)

Here's to 2022 and hopefully being able to getting more things done. And good health and etc. ☀️

[dragon-fics]

HA: Ch. 3  The Meeting

Chapter summary: Heather is called by Zubeia to bring Aaravos to a meeting. While waiting to be invited up to her chamber, Heather catches up with an old acquaintance.

Prologue, Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3 , Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6 , Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10, Pt. 11, Pt. 12, Pt. 13, Pt. 14, Pt. 15

Note: The idea of the ‘primal steed’ is based on Aaravos’ mount in S3E6

Heather walked out of her en-suite bathroom, plaiting her hair as the first few rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon. She looked over at the caterpillar as it sat on her bed.

“Morning, Sparkles,” she greeted, running her hands over her clean Dragonguard uniform.

The caterpillar eyed her for a moment before coming closer to her. “What is happening today?” Aaravos asked.

Heather raised a brow. “I’m sure Zubeia has a meeting with King Ezran of Katolis today,” she said, turning to the mirror on her wall as she put on her horn cuffs and earrings. “To talk to him about travelling to the Human Kingdoms—probably to release you from the mirror and to form a treaty between the royalty of each kingdom.” She turned to the caterpillar once she was ready.

“But for now we have to get to the Spire so she can talk to you about my, uh... training,” She held out her arms. “C’mon up.”

The caterpillar climbed up onto her arms and sat on her shoulder, wrapping some of its body around her torso to steady itself.

“Strangle me and I’ll kill you,” Heather threatened, looking the caterpillar in the eye.

“I would never,” Aaravos falsely gasped, sounding offended.

Heather smiled to herself before grabbing her bowblade and leaving her dorm.

As she turned the key in the door to lock it, she heard someone else leave their room down the hall. She turned to see who it was.

Her heart sank when she saw the firm-built, broad-shoulders, dirty blond hair and hunter-green facial scales and scaled wings of her father. He glanced at her, clenched his jaw, and walked away from his apartment door—one of the few in the barracks.

Heather watched silently as he walked away, forcing back her sorrow.

“You seem sad that he has not paid attention to you,” Aaravos started. “Who is he?”

Heather swallowed the lump in her throat. “That’s... That’s Scorchmark, he’s the Secretary of Defense.”

“So he’s your superior?” The caterpillar looked at Heather to him. “Why are you so... dejected?”

“He... He’s my father... adopted father.” The caterpillar looked back at her, wanting more of an explanation. “He’s disowned me since... my accident.”

“You’ve been all alone since then? With Khonsu abandoning you and your father doing the same... You really don’t have many people in your life, do you?”

Heather whipped her head around to glare at the caterpillar. “Are you going to teach me how to make friends as well as the arcana?” She asked cynically.

The caterpillar seemed to frown at her. “I have a feeling you have a very troubled past... or maybe just a cruel past. Either way, I see much darkness in your mind.”

“Get. Out. Of my. Head,” Heather seethed, flashing her sharp, white canines.

“I’m not in your head, you’re just terrible at hiding your emotions... also what do you think I did while the caterpillar was asleep.”

*-*-*-*

Heather looked down at her right blade, gently shaking it in her hand. She could feel the steel inside the handle move around loosely. She wasn’t too sure about how she had broken the blade, all she knew was that it was damaged and the blade would soon be useless to her, along with its bow form.

She sighed, looking up at the Storm Spire as the sun shone on her back and the caterpillar on her shoulder.

“Can you get it repaired?” Aaravos asked, noticing the jingling in the handle.

“I think so, I just need to travel to my least favourite place in Xadia to get it done.”

“Is that where the artisan lives?”

Heather sighed sadly and nodded. “Yeah.” She paused. “It’s not that I dislike him, I just dislike the other people who live in the village... all of them.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Moonshadow Elves,” she seethed.

“Then what about Khonsu?”

“Khonsu is—was different. He saw me as a living being, not something strange to make fun of. But now... I don’t know how he sees me.”

“To others you were ‘something strange to make fun of’?” Aaravos questioned.

“More than that; my life was a living nightmare for seven years.”

“Heather? Is that you?” Called a voice with an unmistakable Moonshadow elf accent.

Rayla, Heather thought with a sigh. Aaravos heard the thought, already putting the pieces together.

Heather drew in a quiet breath and put on her best fake smile.

“Rayla? Its great to see you again,” she lied, turning to face her. She was disappointed to see that she was still shorter than her, even if Rayla was older than her.

Rayla seemed to be genuinely glad to see her, which both surprised and angered Heather. “Gosh, how long as it been? About... Three?  four years?”

Heather nodded, still holding her smile. “Yeah about that.” And they’ve been the best four years of my life, she wanted to add.

The caterpillar slowly turned its head to face Rayla, chattering its beak at her; Aaravos had heard her thoughts.

Rayla took a step back. “Why do you have that?” She asked, her discomfort clear in her tone and expression.

Heather glanced at the caterpillar with a calm expression. “Oh, him? He’s under my protection for the time being.” She shrugged. Rayla’s expression worsened.

“Riiight,” she glanced aside. “Oh, here are Callum and Ezran.”

Heather turned to where Rayla was looking. Moving towards them were three humans; a tall, pale-skinned blond one donned in armour; a shorter brunet one; and an even shorter dark-skinned one carrying a yellow and turquoise glow toad.

Heather had seen them all briefly before; the shortest was King Ezran of Katolis; the older one was Prince Callum, a human who knew the sky arcanum; and Soren one of Katolis’ top soldiers—according to Janai.

As they for close Heather bowed to King Ezran. “It’s an honour to meet you, Your Majesty.”

King Ezran raised his hand to contradict her when he saw something come closer behind her. “Is that... a unicorn?” He tilted his head to the side. “Callum! Look!”

They all turned to where Ezran was pointing. Trotting towards them was a white unicorn with a tall spiralling horn, a long mane, a narrow tail with a poof of hair at the end, and feathering on its lower legs.

Heather smiled. “Oh, that’s Réalta—my primal steed.”

“Primal steed?” Questioned Prince Callum.

The unicorn nickered as it walked up to Heather. She smiled at him and stroked his face. At her touch, his coat changed to black and red—almost resembling burning coals—his mane, tail, horn, and cannons burst into flames; fire licking at his neck, lower legs, yellow horn and at the end of his narrow tail. His build also changed from being a slender unicorn, to a bulkier cob horse build. To add to his fiery form was a set of giant black and red feathered wings.

Réalta pushed against his partner’s hand, happy to see her again. He looked at the caterpillar on Heather’s shoulders with a glowing yellow eye, touching minds with it.

For now, his is not a threat, but I will need your help watching him until Phil is reborn again. Heather said to him.

As you wish, partner-of-mind-and-soul, said Réalta. His voice was youthful, but not as young sounding as Heather’s.

“He’s beautiful!” Ezran breathed, stepping closer.

He’s also not a threat, none of them are, Heather said to Réalta. She stepped aside and Réalta lowered his head to Ezran.

Heather smiled. “He says he is honoured to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“I know,” Ezran chimed. “I heard him.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty. I was unaware you had such an ability.”

Ezran smiled at her. “May I?” He asked Heather, raising his hand to stroke Réalta.

Heather looked to Réalta. “If he permits.”

Ezran looked to Réalta, who pressed his nose against Ezran’s hand.

“How can he be a primal steed and a unicorn?” Callum asked. “If you don’t mind me asking,” he added as Heather turned to him.

She crossed her arms against her sash. “When dark magic first became... popular, unicorns were hunted to near extinction. Some bound themselves to elves and to take on a form that represented the elf’s arcanum or arcana. With this bond, they not only got a new form, but they could communicate with each other telepathically within a certain distance.” She looked at Réalta. “So, as you can see, my arcana are sun and sky.”

“That’s incredible. How did you two become bound?” Callum asked, getting a closer look at Réalta.

“It was about...” Heather placed her hand to her chin, thinking. “Seven or so years ago, when I was out hunting by myself, when I came across a herd of unicorns. I guess Réalta just saw himself in me or wanted to bring out the best in me—I was a pretty lonely child. He was a foal at the time—and was very cute.”

Réalta lifted his head and snorted. I was not!

Heather’s lips lifted into a smirk. “Were too.”

“You never told me about him!” Rayla accused dramatically. “And we shared a room for all those years and you never told me about this handsome steed of yours?” She walked closer to Réalta. “Some sister you are,” she said in a false accusing tone. Réalta raised his head and backed away from her slowly.

“What is it?” She asked him. Réalta stood still and tall, looking down at Rayla fiercely. Rayla turned to Heather for an answer. But before she could get one, a call came from above.

“Scorchmarkdaughter!” Called a voice from above. Heather flinched at the name but whipped her head up to look at the source of the voice, as did her animal familiars. It was a Sunfire elf soldier from Lux Aurea. “Queen Zubeia wishes to speak with you!”

[theshadowhooligans]

tsc books rated by will herondale content

COB: 0/10 not a single mention of will or even herondales except for the disaster that was book one jace wayland/morgenstern/whatever who had no idea where his sass and good looks came from, will would be crying in heaven rn

COA: 0.5/10 again disappointing, no one knows or cares about my bb will but there is a slither of herondale content (imogen) but she only gets .5 recognition because she’s technically not a true herondale

COG: 4/10 finally, we have some proper will herondale recognition even though he’s not mentioned by name!!  “There’s an old family legend about it, that one of the first Herondales to become a Shadowhunter was visited by an angel in a dream. The angel touched him on the shoulder, and when he woke up, he had a mark like that” — jace finally learns who he is and we get all this herondale nostalgia but it only deserves 5/10 because dumbass jace “lightwood not herondale” doesn’t want to acknowledge his 10/10 ancestor

COFA: 7/10 JEM AND JACE INTERACT cofa gets 7/10 purely for that reason :::::: “Would that I had been here, Zachariah said, his voice unexpectedly gentle, when you were growing up. I would have seen the truth in your face, Jace Lightwood, and known who you were.” other bb jem reminiscing about his parabatai, and we finally get a will mention:  “Remember London? The parties at de Quincey’s? Remember Will Herondale? I know you do. That boy of yours, that Lightwood. They even look alike.” alec’s 🔥🔥🔥 looks are finally acknowledged as being inherited from the one and only WILL & CECILY (badass og warrior queen)  HERONDALE

COLS: 5/10 not as good as cofa but we do get some will herondale action in the form of brother zachariah and maryse talking abt jace  “He’s a herondale, they’re survivors-  “He’s a Lightwood, not a Herondale  brought down by the fact that NO ONE seems to care that jace is 100% herondale

COHF: 9/10 finally will is mentioned to jace & we have newly resurrected/ revived jem carstairs gushing about his beautiful, reckless and incredible parabatai

CA: 8.5/10 WILL IS FINALLY HERE BABY - here we witness the rise of our fav and og angsty, beautiful, witty, loving-tessa&jem-so-much-it-literally-starts-to-kill-him herondale. fav parts: meeting tessa, protective 10000% parabatai bros & super warrior, but only gets 8.5 because of my poor bb not being able to express his undying love because of his stupid fake curse + the balcony scene tearing my heart out

CP1: 1000/10 finally will gets his redemption arc (for tessa anyway i always knew he was great). here we see his relationship with magnus grow & jem and him as the best parabatai EVERRR. also, witness the saddest chapter in the entirety of tsc - the bitter root -  “Then, if you love him,” he said quietly, “please, Tessa, don’t tell him what I just told you. Don’t tell him that I love you.”

CP2: 100000000000000/10 CRYING/DYING - I HAVE NEVER RECOVERED FROM THIS BOOK AND I NEVER WILL - featuring not only the most heartbreaking separation in the whole tsc series (will & jem not being able to spend their entire lives together) but my love living a full and happy life surrounded by his family and his beautiful amazing wife and then DYING i will never get over this fight me

“Marry me,” he said. “Marry me, Tess. Marry me and be called Tessa Herondale. Or be Tessa Gray, or be whatever you wish to call yourself, but marry me and stay with me and never leave me, for I cannot bear another day of my life to go by that does not have you in it.”

TLH: 10/10 can’t wait for THE will herondale being a hilarious/hot/heartbreaking/literallyperfect dad & uncle TM +  all the times he summons jem to deal with his kid’s bullshit

TDA: 5/10 slightly disappointing, should have more will references other than being mentioned as a ‘boring family story’ by jace excuse me but credit the og & best herondale  and occasionally appearing in old photos or mentioned as tessa’s husband  (props to emma for saying he was gorgeous in LOS) but that scene with julian and magnus in QOAAD where magnus reminisces about helping will was enough to bring the whole series up

[bonnie-barstow-of-flag]

The Not So Lonesome Knight Part 17:

Parts 1 X, 2 X , 3 X , 4 X, 5 X , 6 X , 7 X, 8 X, 9 X 10 X, 11 X , 12 X, 13 X ,14 X, 15 X  16 X 

The two FLAG agents aren’t given much of an opportunity to react. Michael finds himself making an agonizing split-second decision. Does he race across the room to retrieve his gun in the off-chance that he could neutralize a few of the uninvited interlopers or does he pull Bonnie as far from the looming danger as possible?

Adrenaline and instinct kick in simultaneously. His protective hands urge Bonnie out of bed and towards the bathroom. Internally, he prays that his body can fashion enough of a shield until he could barricade her behind the door. It is not a full-blown plan but it was the best he could formulate under the circumstances.

Bonnie blindly ambles in Michael’s wake, having been partially paralyzed by the cold terror swirling through her entire circulatory system. Her trembling fingers curl tightly around his hand as she cowers in his shadow. “Think these are the same guys who broke into our last room and then stole my clothes?”

“I don’t know, Bons, but I’m pretty sure we’re about to find out. I’m thinkin’ there is a very high likelihood these goons are one and the same.” Michael replies stiffly, through his tightly clenched teeth. An air of control attempts to filter through the panic in his azure orbs.

Reflecting on the earlier incident when she had been scared enough to look, Bonnie makes a terrible realization. “There is no back way out of this room. Is there?”

He could feel the heavy pang of his heart against the insides of his rib-cage. “No.” He grumbles, despising the very sound of his own reply. That was a problem Michael hoped he wouldn’t have to manufacture an answer for. However, now that Bonnie mentioned it, it sent his mind reeling. His lips purse firmly together. While he didn’t mind putting himself in precarious positions, he never wanted to do so with Bonnie. Tonight, it would seem that he’d have no choice. They were trapped! Offering Bonnie a shred of hope, Michael adds, “but we’re going to be fine. We have the upper hand. We have Kitt. Remember?”

How could she have ever forgotten about Kitt? There was hope after all!!!

While they move, Michael pulls the com-link close to his mouth. “Kitt? Where are ya, Buddy? We’re gonna need ya.” He beckons, the tension in his chord laying thicker than peanut butter. He continued edging himself in front of Bonnie as the Colombians close in upon them like a pack of ravenous wolves.

Instead of receiving the typical answer, the line of communication fizzles into an unexpected and eerie static. Not even the swishing of Kitt’s continual moving scanners offers a response.

Bonnie designed all of Kitt’s functions far better than airlines did black-boxes!! Kitt doesn’t just unexpectedly fail!!!

Before the horror could fully register a rough, heavily accented voice, barks for them to cease their retreat with the promise of firing upon them should they fail to comply.

Their movements towards the bathroom halts in response. Bonnie’s uncertain gaze flashes up to read Michael’s reaction to the threats.

Michael finds himself weighing the options. While conceding to the enemy was never a reasonable nor wonderful solution, he can’t risk further endangering Bonnie’s life or any of the other innocent motel patrons. They are heavily outnumbered two to eleven, outgunned, and surrounded. From his experience as a cop, Knight quickly assesses that any attempts to put up a fight would be futile and could potentially end in bloodshed. Especially, if he couldn’t rely on immediate assistance from Kitt. After a moment’s deliberation, Michael decides to make a proposition. “I’ll tell ya what. I’ll come with you willingly if ya promise to leave her behind and that you won’t harm her.”

Bemused, the hardened Colombian enforcer’s brow rose an inch. His harsh lips upturn just enough to emit a laugh before giving a gruff reply, “No.” Taking steps towards Michael and Bonnie he adds, “you see, we no negotiate with you. He wants you both, we give him you both.” The stony cold expression never wavered even as he snaps his fingers to command his host of foot-soldiers. Within seconds, Bonnie and Michael are surrounded by seven of the eleven men. That left four guards, two on each side of the door.

Obviously, making a deal with the goons wasn’t on the tables. Michael’s shoulders slump in defeat. Pulling his nose into a scrunch and delivering a snarl, Knight retorts, “just who is this leader anyways?” He pauses before sarcastically spitting, “the king of the Looney-bin?”

The head enforcer’s eyes narrow.

Michael’s wisecrack draws a brief hint of a smile to Bonnie’s face. If she wasn’t so scared, she might have allowed herself to laugh freely. Somehow she believed that any display of amusement would not be well-received. Especially, when she and Michael both have the barrels of high-powered guns nuzzled uncomfortably into their backs.

“Senior Orlando Calderone and his mistress send their greetings.” The enforcer’s gravelly voice finally conveys.

The two FLAG agents find their countenances exuding maximum confusion. The name revealed certainly didn’t ring a bell. Who was he? Who the hell was his mistress? What did they want? To the best of their combined knowledge, the Foundation never delved into the illicit activities of anyone owning that name. However, the mistress could be any woman at all, even Grace Stevens. In a way, it felt as though, they were still getting nowhere fast.

Although, the last name Calderone did give off a faint spark of recognition somewhere in the shadowy recesses of Michael Long’s mind. But the memories that belonged to Knight’s previous identity were buried, heavily dusted over and mangled in the cob-webs of time. He says nothing to that effect, worried that any minuscule sliver of remembrance might result in the placement of a bullet in his head or heart. Or worse, in Bonnie’s.

Bonnie, having found herself with a distinct distaste for the enigmas known as Calderone and his mistress, vehemently retorts, “yeah. Well, you can tell them just where to shove those greetings!”

Unaffected by the woman’s pointed words, the enforcer instructs his soldiers to do a pat-down on both the agents.

“I’ll save you the trouble, my guns over there,” Michael remarks. He just wants to get this over with as fast and painlessly as possible. One of the goons immediately confiscates the weapon. Much to Knight’s annoyance, hands still inspect every inch of him.

Bonnie lets out a low growl at the invasive manhandling as one goon took a little longer on her than he should have. Before she could insist that he take his hands off of her, Michael strenuously interjected on her behalf. “Come on, Man! You and I both know she hasn’t got a weapon under there. Leave her alone.” He shrugs off the hands that were on him and threatens to grab the no-good pervert with the intention of flinging him across the room. It is clear that the Colombian had provoked his ire.

“It’s okay, Michael. He’s done.” Bonnie shoots the Colombian foot-soldier a glance that practically dares him to defy her. There is something familiar about him. She has seen him before and somewhat recently too! But where? Her eyes squint as she attempts to recollect where. At the first convenience, she might ask Michael if he knows. That is, if they survived the miserable ordeal long enough. 

((this is the first time I’m publishing a chapter without the following being written already. But I figure I’ve made everyone wait long enough.))

[alitheamateur]

The Grind-Chapter 1

Don’t forget to check out the Prologue, dolls. And feel free to ask if you’d like a tag for future chapters.

He had a jaw that couldn’t have been more defined if it were chiseled directly from a slab of frigid marble. His eyes were the most striking, indefinite color I had ever seen, lined with sweeping, full lashes. They smoldered into a look that I couldn’t place as seductive, or choleric, which made him all the more appealing to my curious disposition. I was sure I had never seen the man in my shop before. Oh no, no, no. I’d remember him. Those were lips you just forget about. Thankfully, he didn’t feel my eyes burning a ragged hole through his anatomy, nor catch sight of the lustful trickle of drool I know without a doubt was dabbling down my chin.

His cheeks were a blush shade, & his knuckles covered in scuffed, jagged tape. He moved his body with demanding supremacy, yet his feet glided so gracefully, & rhythmic. To be such a strong, uncannily masculine man, he seemed so elegantly poised. Carrying the knowledge I did concerning the world of athletics, I knew he had to be a fighter, but I couldn’t put my finger on it his chosen poison. Boxer? Wrestler? Cage, perhaps?

Immersed in trying to crack the case of the mysterious man, I felt myself snap back into reality hearing Andrew call out an order.

“Black coffee for Colton.”

His husky figure walked to the end of the counter nearest me to retrieve his steaming cup. He turned around surveying the quiet shop, seeking an empty seat. My eyes darted in sync with his to the single, empty chair at the white tabletop next to mine.

“Anybody joining ya’?” His crass, local-boy accent flicked the internal switch of intrigue deep in my insides. The cob-webs of my abandoned womanhood had awoken from an extended slumber, and yelped and groveled for more of his sultry lilt.

“Uh, no. No, you can help yourself.” I tried to be coy about shifting my stray hat hair, ensuring I didn’t look too much of a wretched mess.

“I’m uh, I’m Colton” he leaned his large, calloused hand to me. Almost instantly retreating it noticing the sticky tape across his knuckles. He unwrapped his tan fingers & tried again with pouty, shy smile. “Sorry ‘bout that. What can I say. Gym rat.”

I reached in his direction, locking eye contact upon introduction. “I knew it.” A faint whisper escaped my mouth without permission.

“What was ‘at?” He slurped hesitantly at the dark roast in his cup.

In my own mind, I slapped myself for letting my stupid thoughts escape out loud so foolishly.

“I um, I noticed the tape when you came in. I knew you had to be some sort of fighter.” I went with my first gut instinct. “Boxer?”

He chuckled, “Nah, too civilized for me. I prefer the octagon over the ring. MMA, actually.” My interest was instantly peaked, but I didn’t want to pry. So instead, I nodded in understanding & looked back down to my own cooling mug.

“I’m Liv, by the way..” I turned up one corner of my chapped lips, and meekly announced.

Each of us sat minding our own business for the next several, slightly awkward minutes, before I heard him shift to scoot the seat on the wood floors, then raise to a stand. Our eyes met as he nodded a wordless ‘have a nice day’ in my direction, signaling he was departing to begin whatever it was a fighter did at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I smiled, sincerely wishing he’d sit in the stillness of the draining crowd of the café next to me for just a bit longer. He neared the exit, but his steps forward froze before he reached the door, turning back to where I quietly pined for his company.

“You mentioned ya’ knew I was a fighter. What gave me away, if ya’ don’t mind me askin’,” he began slowly lightening his stern face.

“Well, most of us normal folk don’t walk into coffee shops before lunch looking like they may light the place on fire.” I joked with him. “But, truthfully? I’m a sports columnist for the Pitt Pilot, and anything in the world of sports has kind of always been a love of mine, so the taped hands gave you away, actually.”  

“The Pilot, huh? I’m training for a fight comin’ up in a few weeks. Danny Mendez. Biggest one of my career considering I’m gonna beat the asshole and take his belt. I bet your big bosses at the Pitt would be real impresses if you had some insider info on the biggest cage fight of the year. You interested?”

He was right. My boss Ryan couldn’t deny a huge spread if I had coverage like this. The bigger the story, the faster the promotion. Plus, the quality time with my newest handsome acquaintance would be a considerably added bonus.

Biting away in thought at the inside of my cheek, I tugged the hat over my sandy tussled locks, waved a kiss to Andrew, & followed Colton out into the Pittsburgh brisk, morning air.

“Heads up, I don’t usually trust the word of every strange man I meet on the street, ya’ know. This place is fully of psychopathic creeps from what I hear.” I wanted to make it sure fire clear he knew I wasn’t some naive child who took the word of every stranger she had known all of 1 hour.

“Well, if we happen t’ come across a strange man who seems remotely creepy, or the least bit psycho, it’ll be a good thing ya’ have me then, right?”

He was right. We couldn’t have made it down the side walk much more than 10 minutes, & yet somehow, I already felt safe in the midst of his broad presence.

The small talk along the way was slim to none, before he finally pulled his bear-like hand from the front pocket of a hoodie, to point up ahead towards a tall chain-link fence. This was an area I had yet to venture into, so I wasn’t familiar with anything in sight. He approached the gate & reached into his charcoal trackpants pocket for a single key.

“I always do my workouts in the morning at the gym. Couple of grappling sessions with my buddy, then an hour or so hittin’ the bag. But, I do a little outside training as part of my workout, too.”

We entered the squealing gate, Colton locking us in behind. A junkyard? My eyes took in countless torn apart cars, and piles of crushed metal. Rusted, beaten hoods, and dismembered motorcycles lined the fences, and we walked side-by-side down the beaten path. He ushered me over to a stack of large tires, and I scurried to keep up with his much longer strides. The worn, black rubber belonging once to something with the stature of a tractor like I’d seen back home in Indiana, sat in the sunken pocket of some snowy ground.

“Mick, the owner lets me come in after hours & get some extra work in. He’s an old friend o’ my pops.” My eyes trailed as he approached the tire, pulling off the shabby hoodie covering his well-built, disciplined form. The faded black T-shirt underneath fit him so impeccably, as if it were painted directly onto his skin like the ink of his assortment sundry tattoos. He squatted with a deep breath & reached his chiseled arms under the monstrous weight. Staining veins, and flexed muscles pumped down his triceps, and into the bend of his wrist, then a deep grunt escaped him as he flipped it over, with what appeared ease. The wind whipping around must’ve been reaching negative temps, but somehow the steaming warmth from my core rose to the surface, and I was as warm as an August afternoon. I was captivated in the man’s trance. Watching intently as he repeated flipping the tire, dust from the gravel ground clouding around him like a supernatural mist. When he finally came to a halt, bending to rest his rough palms on his knees, I could hear his rugged breaths from where I stood.

“Mind if I take a shot?” I tried to keep my mouth in s straight line when he cocked an eyebrow at my question.

“By all means, be my guest.” Colton held his hands up, sincerely offering me a try at the rubber mountain.

I let out a near snort of hilarity, “I think I’m doing an excellent job of standing here, & looking pretty. Thanks for the vote of confidence though.”  I rolled my eyes with extreme sarcasm, shooting a thumbs up.

“You’ve definitely got that second part covered, I’ll give ya’ that.” He spoke.

[kazemari]

Queenscrown's construction

This is the story of how I came to the concept to the Targaryen castle of Queenscrown from my Game of Thrones AU, the Court of Bastards.

Summary: Stannis takes Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen from her mother’s dying arms and raises her as his ward. The New King Robert Baratheon, first of his name, decides that her fate is to wed with shame, making her family line continue in disgrace by pairing her to his friend’s bastard, Jon Snow, despite Eddard Stark’s initial refusal.

If you haven’t read it but is interested, maybe check this out after reading at least the second chapter. If you haven’t read it and is not interested, please ignore this. If you have read it, then welcome to ramblings on my AU.

(I had to use a LOT of images from a lot of different sources. I will link them for you all, and put the owner’s name if I can find them.)

Okay, so, to ‘build’ the stronghold, first I had to have an idea of what the original, canon-verse area would be like. There were the TV show’s concept and many of artists who captured their version of Queenscrown based, mainly, on the books’ description of it.

This is Queenscrown by Michael Komarck, being approached by Bran and his company after escaping from Winterfell.

As you can see, the tower is on the lake, on a tiny piece of land, which made my life so much more difficult because; How the hell am I to make a castle there?! But I liked the difficulty and the area surrounding it was nice and would better fit the story. You can see the forest and the mountains, which are so IMPORTANT for the Plot, in the background.

In CoB, at its first draft, the tower was destructed and in that tiny piece of land was planted the godswood, which resides at the centre of the castle. From there on, I tried to build the castle and its surroundings AKA the greenhouses, the barracks, Queen’s Town, the defending walls, etc, etc.

The first draft did not include all of these things as I focused only on the castle itself seen from above. Now, keep in mind that this is only the first version of the Queenscrown I pictured and is not the final castle I envision.

Now, you look at this messy drawing and may not understand. Yeah, I got you. So I’ll translate it for you.

The godswood itself is at the centre of the castle and its land was the initial tower that formed the previous Queenscrown, the small island is filled with winter roses and a weirwood. It’s really small and around it, there is water, almost like a moat, that comes from small channels that run through the keep. These channels are made of metal, which is heated by fire in various points in the castle, and the hot metal warms the water and thus the keep. To access the godswood there are small stairs that go down from the inner castle balconies to it. There are various balconies viewing the godswood (8).

(1) The curtain walls built around the castle were in the water but not directly connected to the castle. Only one point connected land, castle and walls; the gatehouse(5), which, in this first draft, I made it so there was a drawbridge on the end of the bridge that connected the castle to land, and the bridge and the castle itself was very above the water level of the lake. After passing the bridge and approaching the gatehouse and passing the portcullis (that metal door that closes and opens vertically) you entered the castle itself. Unlike most of the castles we’ve seen, there is no actual courtyard, but I plan un further updating it so that there is a courtyard.

(4) A piece of land on water level (1) is used as a training yard and overlooked by (6) the Great Hall of the keep (if you wanna go overboard, the ‘Throne Room’), the area is also used for the family’s leisure. The Great Hall is on the highest level other than the towers(2), solars(7) and the main keep(3), taking the entirety of the upper level of the East Wing and having a glass ceiling. (Though, now that I think of it, it should be further away from the main keep. So, let’s just switch it to the West Wing ok? Ok.)

The main keep(3) is the noble family’s chambers and the highest tower of the castle. At its top, there is a terrace filled with roses. It is connected to the lady and the lord’s chambers. All five towers within the castle are solars, but the two closest to the Main Keep belongs to the lord and lady of Queenscrown each.

There you have it, the first draft of the castle! Moving on to the second draft, I pictured the castle and its surrounds, because I came to the conclusion that no town could survive without protection. Ned gave The  Targaryens the gift with the hope of populating it despite the wildlings’ attacks, and so the people needed protection too. From this idea, I created the second draft.

Unorganized and making little sense, the main idea behind this was to give QC districts, which were divided by kingdoms. That created seclusion though, and prejudice would rise quickly as people wouldn’t mingle as much. The streets were also inefficient, the urban planning abysmal and the crops too small to sustain such a huge place. Water was also not distributed well and if people do not have water and food, they will not procreate.

There was also the matter of the castle itself;

It still had remnants of the first draft, centralising the godswood and being in the water, with a more round shape. The difference was that the walls were pushed into the castle itself, opening the lake for the people and city pollution. Again, the water planning here is not good.

For the third draft, I focused first on the city planning itself.

Though on a smaller scale, this urban plan was much better. In the west, surrounding the Sept, there was the initial settling of the workers, giving history to its built. The Inner Walls protected the lake and the idea seemed to grow. It was still not a full map though, and the castle was incognito.

For the last draft, I used digital means, simplifying lines and concepts and also dividing them by colour. In this particular image, I made sure to map out the path Dany takes when she first arrives.

This took a few months to complete and fit well with my plans. The three first greenbelts are for farmlands not under the direct ownership of the castle, followed by the palace districts, the two purple rings. The three red rings are apartments, bakeries, homes; the city itself. The two inner greenbelts are the crops and greenhouses of the castle. The innermost greenbelt has three empty areas so the sovereigns can put whatever they please into them. Why they are there, you guys will soon know.

Keep in mind that most of this is empty, and the most populated areas are the Western ones, where oldtown is and the sponsored builds were put in the palace districts.

Finally, I moved on to making the castle;

The gatehouse (0), with the stables, entering into an ample courtyard. The first guard tower (2) connects to the gatehouse and keeps watch over the movements of the courtyard, also acting as an armoury, and the second guard tower (4) helps to isolate the guest wing, which extends to the second guard tower, passing (5) and (6). The courtyard leads into the main body of the castle (5), which has kitchens, music rooms, library, entertaining rooms and such. It has two stories, the first one leads to the gardens and last three towers (9, 10 and 11). The second story leads into the Great Hall (6), which has a glass roof. The great hall has passages to the guard and offices towers (4 and 8, respectively), with an open passageway (7) connecting the two and passing over the gardens. Surrounding the main keep (10), where the family wing resides, is the servant tower and another tower, with armoury and guards, leading into the small land and boathouse (12). [11th tower hasn’t much use, but is heavily guarded because of its easy access to the guest wing.]

For a side view of what I picture it, I drew this, looking to the side of the guest wing.

You may see that there are open corridors to the water for the guest wing and that the bridge and gatehouse are higher than the water level. IThat happened because of the visual influences I had, and also because I wanted to take as little space as possible, but also have a something worthy of the name castle. So I used height instead of width. there is also no boathouse, but the focus is to picture the style of the castle itself. It is not as detailed as I would’ve liked, but it shows enough for now.

As we move into the visuals, I will now show you my inspirations for the overall aesthetic of the place.

Now, when thinking about the surroundings, I mix Komark’s art with a little bit of this area in Washington, called Snow Lake (at least, Google says it is Snow Lake. I can’t be sure). It’s a beautiful area, and I think it could match nicely with the surroundings of the Queenscrown I picture.

Also, I found a link with a bunch of pictures from different places on this one website, and oh my, does it inspire me. Like, look at this! I don’t even know if it’s editing or something like it, but look! It even has a small piece of land right in the middle! 

Every one of them, I swear, fits perfectly with the Gift of my mind. So beautiful to see, but mortally cold to survive.

Okay, my darlings, now to my concept, or at least the bare minimum I wished, at first, for the castle itself.

At first, I tried to decide on what kind of style I could use, keeping in mind that I wanted something like the castles we saw in Essos. But then a BIG problem was born. How the hell a castle built for summer would sustain its residents in the far North when the winter came and the cold was stronger? Magic? Artistic license? Hell yeah. But I’m too bothered to simply kick the bucket and accept that a castle clearly built for warm temperatures could be useful in the far North.

So I went on an extended journey, searching for a castle that resided in cold lands, but if it was there and was even close to what I wanted than surely it was possible for it to be built on the Gift. And I did find it!

I present you, the remains of the Château de la Mothe Chandeniers! It is frightening how close my first draft was to this old stronghold. It was burned down in 1932, but, as you can see, it snows heavily in these lands. And if there was a castle with such big windows and delicate structure in cold lands such as these, then surely I can have my Queenscrown, right? I mean, come on! It has a balcony open to the lake!

And guys, when you see it from above it is so similar to what I first drew! It blows my mind, like, am I psych or something?

It is even built in a lake! An artificial lake, I reckon, but still!

And there are photos in the snow, in the sun, in the spring or summer...So glad I found this pearl. Imagine this place in Autumn!

Yet, I was not satisfied with it. I needed something else! I already had my delicate architecture with this French stronghold but I needed something realistic, and something really fancy to help with the deccór. I researched the North and it came to my knowledge that it was mainly based on Scottland, so it was there that I went looking for that part that was missing.

While searching for that missing link, I found something that, ugh, just made me scream in delight. You see, the thing that this beautiful Chateau doesn’t have that medieval castles must have are DEFENSE WALLS! War is constant in this world and we need focking walls! But this is right in the middle of a lake! Not a simple task to build walls, I think to myself while browsing through Google and Pinterest, searching for ‘lake castles’. Or ‘fantasy castles’. Until I found this:

The Old Castle by e-designer is not a lake castle but definitely a fantasy castle. Awesome as fuck, isn’t it? But not even a bit practical and definitively not a response to my problems. How the fuck is it possible to even build some shit even RESEMBLING this castle in ten fucking years? But yes, my muse screams, this is what you’ve been searching for! This castle was what inspired me for the second draft of the Crown Castle, with its defensive walls so close to the castle itself.

So yeah, I squint my eyes, stare at it for, like, ten minutes and nod decisively in a ‘we’ll make this work’ agreement to myself. The inner walls, the first defences of the castle itself, as well as the towers, are inspired by this beautiful art.

Also, the bridge!

That bridge right there is what I want for Queenscrown. It’s so majestic. Again, I’m making things difficult for me and for you guys to believe, but just...roll with me okay?

Now, impmon101 commented about something really cool that made me change the style of the guard towers and colour scheme of Queenscrown.

Now, the first two links are these images, which were from the short history videos regarding Old Valyria:

Now, in Queenscrown there is a lot of towers. Towers are somewhat easier to build, and having a system of guard towers surrounding and into the city is not the worst of ideas. And for the last image, which is Valyria illustrated by Ted Nasmith, if you change the lava for heated water, it wouldn’t be that far from Queenscrown if we actually change the colour schemes.

As for actual colour palettes, I go for a black on white vibe for the outdoors. The structures would be primarily made of white stone -- marble, lime-stone and whatever else -- with the detailing in black stone.

This is The Rector´s Palace, Dubrovnik, Croatia (by dleiva). You see how with some adjustments to the lighting and shadows, the detailing turns black? Mainly on the arched ceiling, you see the black lining on the white stones. Also on the pillars, the whiter stone with the dark shadowing. Now, most of this detailing is purely black on the outside. All of the dome ceilings are black gleaming stones, as well as the stone pathways, with all the lampposts being made of a clear metal that shines white in the light. It’s that monochrome feeling for the main things like the streets, outer and inner walls and the castle itself.

Sacré-Coeur, as shown in SoloSophie’s A QUICK GUIDE TO MONTMARTRE. The Parisian basilica you see is the right shade of white I imagined, with the right amount of detail we see also in The Old Castle by e-designer -- which is our main base for the castle’s outer appearance and size -- and the tower dommes have a similar texture I wish for, like the scales of a dragon or the dommes of Valyrian; the only necessary would be the pitch black material used, as well as the black detailing on the white walls of the castle.

For a concept which includes both the castle and the area surrounding it, I really like the Arendelle castle from Frozen. 

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/0/05/Frozen-disneyscreencaps.com-10903.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140909224228

But alas, it is by the seaside, which is not Queenscrown’s case. Our castle is built in the water, not in some little piece of land. Beyond the lake, there is even a small circle of walls separating the water from the city itself, which is described as a grid circular system. 

For the last draft of the castle, which ended up being a distant shot for the round model I first went with, I took great inspiration in the Neuschwanstein Castle, in Germany.

So, what do you guys think? Can you picture Queenscrown, have you got any ideas that could fit better? Let me know!

[destielstuffandthings]

Chapter 12, Admitting Is The First Step

The Impala comes to a stop in the parking lot of another rundown motel. Dean puts it in park and shuts off the engine. “I’m getting too old for this.” he grunts, rubbing his shoulder. “I told you I had it. But no-o-o, you had to be the hero.” Sam says, staring out his window. “What the hell’s up with you lately, man? You’ve been acting like a bitch towards me for weeks now.” Sam huffs through his nose. He’s not wrong. Sam can barely look his brother in the eyes after the library. “Well?” Dean presses. “Nothin’ man, I don’t know. I think I’m just tired. I haven’t been sleeping lately and--that’s all. Sorry.” he says opening Baby’s door and climbs out. He walks up the the motels front door and goes inside to pay for a room. 

The duffel bag lands on the floor with a thud as Sam sits on his creaky bed. He rests his head in his hands and rubs his eyes. The part about not sleeping wasn’t a lie. He tosses and turns most nights. He feels..dirty. It’s been more than a year since he’s been with someone and he couldn’t control his urges when he heard the two of them going at it.

“Well, tonight was a bust.” Dean says flopping on his bed. “No one has any idea where Gabriel is and I got my ass kicked for nothing” They’ve recently been looking for him, hoping he knows where the angel tablet is. Somehow that damn angel knows everything but rarely gives it up. Some time passes. Dean, laying there silently as Sam ticks away on his laptop. “You hungry? I’m hungry. I’ll go find us some grub.” He sits up and groans again, clutching his shoulder. “Too fricken old--” he mutters as he grabs his keys and exits the room.

Tossing his brother a small bag, “Eat.” Dean says pointing at the plastic bag. “Dean, c’mon. You know I don’t eat these.” he narrows his eyes, moving the bag away from him. “I don’t care. The restaurant didn’t have your ‘cob salad’ or ‘vitamin water’ so I had to make due.” he snarls while making air quotations. Sam huffs and opens the bag. “Great. Uh, Yoohoo, a sausage bagel, and licorice? What the hell? When have you ever seen me eat anything like this?” he scowls. “I’unno,” Dean says with his mouth full of pie, “like..when you were 10?”

“I’ll have it.” a voice rings out from the bathroom. The brothers drop everything and grab their weapons. “COME OUT!” Sam yells, squaring his shoulders with the door. “E-e-e-asy ladies, no need to get your panties in a twist” the voice says, turning the doorknob. Their guns cock in unison, the metal clicks bouncing off the poorly painted motel walls. The door swings open. “I love me some licorice.” Gabriel says with a huge grin. 

Guns away and tensions eased, Gabriel sits on the end of Sams bed happily tearing into the bag Dean bought for Sam. “So, boys, I heard you were lookin’ for me.” he says opening the red plastic bag and greedily devouring a licorice straw. “Yeah, we have. For a week or so, now. Where have you been?” Sam asks. “Hiding, where else?” he scoffs. “From who?” Dean barks. “Uhm, if you haven’t noticed,” Gabriel flings a piece of candy around in a circle, “it’s hell out there for angels. Literally. Everyone’s on our tail, demanding to know where the tablet is. Which, by the way, I have no idea .” he points at Dean, answering his question before he’s asked. 

“Well, shit.” Dean sighs. “I really wish I knew that before I got thrown across a dirty shipping container. Why do all these meet ups have to be in shady places? Why not Hooters for once?” Dean continues blathering for a while until he says “I’m gonna hit the shower.” The door swings closed and the water turns on. 

“Hooters?” Gabriel asks in confusion. “I thought he Cassy were, ya know, knockin’ boots.” he says, clicking his heels together. “Uh, yeah. They are..” Sam says quietly. “For a little while now.” Gabriel narrows his eyes at Sam. “So he still have a thing for the ladies or--” “Old habits die hard, I’m assuming.” Sam says exasperatedly, rubbing his face hard in his hands. Gabriel turns to look at Sam closely. “What’s up with you? Someone piss in your kale flakes this morning?” he says half jokingly. “Really, though. I can tell something’s going on. Tell old Gabey all about it.” patting Sams thigh comfortingly. Sam jumps at the contact and stands up quickly. “Sam. Seriously. C’mon, what is it?” he asks sternly. “I don’t know man. I really don’t. I’m so glad Cas is back, and I’m happy for Dean but-- I don’t know. I can’t--” he sits on the other bed across from Gabriel and sighs. “I think I’m jealous.”

He runs his hand over his mouth and down his throat. “The other day...I heard them. In the library. I didn’t mean to, I was heading in there to put some things away and--” “Who-o-o-a, baby!” Gabe yells. “Shhh!!” Sam hisses. “Shut up or I’m not saying another word!” he points a long, stern finger at the angel. Gabriel holds two fingers up to his mouth, motioning like a zipper across his lips. Sam sighs heavily. “They were, y’know..and instead of walking away and giving them their privacy, I stayed outside..and listened.” he hung his head in absolute shame. He wondered why his words were flying out so easily to Gabriel. He shakes his head and looks up at the angel who has a giant grin across his face. “Say something.” Sam pleads. Gabriel fakes unzipping his lips. “Wow.” he mouths silently, over exaggerating the “O”. “My, my, Sammy you dirty little thing” he says wiggling his hips on the bed. “I know..I know it’s so bad. But I’m so alone.” he almost sobs. Gabriel frowns and stands up, taking a small step towards Sam. ”Hey, hey, it’s alright, man.” he says cheerfully. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not the worst thing in the world. Literally. You have no idea the things I’ve done.” he murmurs, sitting down next to Sam. Sam looks up into the angels far off eyes. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this. You’re one easy guy to talk to.” he chuckles. “It’s fine, Sammy boy. But for what it’s worth, I’d just keep it to myself. No need to tell big bro and feathers about your peeping-tom moment. It happens to the best of us. Plus, it might make living in that bunker a who-o-o-le lot more tense.” he says patting Sam on the back. He doesn’t jump out of his skin this time. Instead, he leans back into it just a fraction. Gabriel smiles at him and playfully pushes his fist against Sams chin. “Buck up, buddy.” He swears he felt Gabriels thumb linger for a split second.

[ladyhindsight]

Dramatic. Why is he anyone’s responsibility?

[crollalanzaa]

Eliza on twitter asked me to answer every question for Cake or Break, so here we are. Eliza writes amazing fic on A03 under the name nein.

2. Which scene was your favorite to write in Cake or Break?

Uhm, so many. But the one I remember having great fun with was in the first chapter when Suga and Daichi literally collided with each other and the icing sugar went all over them. Also the scene in Chapter two when Suga’s yelling from the bathroom because he’s done his back in and Hajime is too starstruck by Daichi to listen. Or … OHHH, there’s the burritos in moritos whole bad pun rhyming scenario in Yaku’s bar between Daichi and Hajime. I really enjoyed writing it but was so worried it was lame. It was lame, that was kind of the point, and everyone seemed to get that and I got a lot of comments laughing at the chapter.

3. Which part of Cake or Break was hardest to write?

Either the scene when we find out the backstory to Suga’s accident, because I was desperately trying to stop it being melodramatic, or when Ikejiri appeared because it kept going off into a direction I didn’t want.

4. If you could change anything in Cake or Break, what would it be?

I would possibly have cut the Kageyama sub-plot, because that did make it spiral. However, it does fit the story and it helped cement the relationships with all of them, so … I’m not sure I’d have done much that was different.

5. Did you make an outline for Cake or Break? Did you stick to it?

Uhm, not really. When it got to the point where I realised it wasn;t going to be complete in five chapters, I did try to stick to a plan, but it spiralled again. I tend to have a list of things I know have to happen, and they get added to.

6. Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in Cake or Break?

This is hard because all the work is on an old laptop and I don’t have access to it right now. I did cut a scene where Daichi and Suga met Ikejiri and his fiancée. And there was supposed to be another sex scene, but it didn’t fit what was happening so I cut that. In one scene, Asahi was going to appear as a photographer working for the team, but it was such a small cameo that it felt like I was only adding him because he’s a name. (I feel guilty for not writing him, but if I ever get around to writing the sequel, then I promise you, Asahi is one of the main characters).  I added the first few paragraphs just before I started posting, so the description of the café, etc, were some of the last things I wrote.

7. Who was your favorite character to write in Cake or Break? 

Actually, it was Hajime… I think. There was a lot of satisfaction in writing someone who was SHOUTY for a lot of the story, but also such a wonderful person. I liked writing him interacting with both Suga and Daichi, as well as with Oikawa. Ahhh, I miss writing CoB!

8. Which came first, the title or the fic?

The fic. Title usually comes about five minutes before I post, but in this case I had it in my mind once I’d finished the first chapter.

9. Which idea came to you first in Cake or Break?

Daichi watching the café and seeing Suga laying out the tables in the sunshine. That was closely followed by them both getting covered in icing sugar.

10. What are some facts readers may not know about Cake or Break?

 The original idea for this was a Great British Bake-Off AU, where Oikawa and Kageyama were in competition. Oikawa baked the best mille-feuille, but Kags was better with sponge (or something). Suga was going to be a judge. (I reused this Bake-off idea in The Showstopper, which is a prequel)

But CoB really started life as me sending AndyZambie a daisuga headcanon about Suga owning a bakery and Daichi not really liking cakes but going in every day to buy a cake because he had a crush on Suga. Shrimpy, who was a cuddly shrimp that Daichi won at a fairground, was given a back story by the wonderful Megan (museicalitea)  

Cake or Break was immortalised in a certain fic called ‘The Fanboy’s Guide to Flaming Fanfiction’ which is one of the funniest fics I’ve read in my life.

 THANK YOUUUUU!

 asky meme thing