#I assume the fanfics are awesome as well!

[gejo333]

Jealousy

Miguel x fem! Spider! Reader

Pt. 2

Summary: You spend all your time training the new recruit which makes Miguel jealous. 🤭

Extremely light fluff.

It’s been a while since I did one-shots. But reading so many amazing Miguel fanfics sparked my passion again. I stayed up late finishing it, so I apologize in advance if I made any grammatical mistakes.

Miguel x reader one shots requests are open.

word count: 1.4k

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Miguel began to grow annoyed by how quiet his office at the Spider HQ had become in recent days. Before you came into his life, he liked the silence. But for the past year he has heard your sweet voice echo through these walls. Your laugh, your rants…he enjoyed listening to you.

While he worked, you would usually be near him trying to help in any way you could. You would watch one or two of the screens to help find anomalies to help ease his stress. During your early days here you were lost, which at the time greatly annoyed Miguel. But your persistence on helping him, finally had him cave as he then taught you a few things you could monitor. After that, you became part of his daily life. You always tried to ask him questions about himself, which bothered him at first, but now he cherished the conversations he had with you.

Except, in the past five days you have barely been around. Most likely because you were mentoring the newest recruit, Gwen. You were so excited when Miguel brought Gwen to HQ. Finally someone you can mentor. However, your attention towards the young female spider made another spider jealous.

“I don’t get it. How do you shoot your web like that without looking in that direction?” Gwen huffed in annoyance as for the tenth time she couldn’t do what the older female spider could. You chuckled at her frustration.

“It takes a lot of practice Gwen. It took me months to perfect that skill. I only showed this skill to you this afternoon.” You shot your web out, grabbing a water bottle without even glancing in the direction. You then tossed it to Gwen.

“Let’s take a small break and then we’ll continue your training.”

“Awesome!” Gwen tried again to shoot her web out like you did but she frowned when she heard Pavitr yell in surprise. Her web landed on the side of his face, scaring the poor spider half to death.

“Sorry Pavitr.” Gwen cringed which made you laugh at the scene.

“All good Gwen.” Pavitr chuckled as he removed the web.

“I see your learning from the best Gwen.” Hobie walked over, curious about what the trio was doing.

“Yep! Hopefully I can be as awesome of a spider-woman as her one day.” Gwen smiled. You pulled her into a hug from how adorable she was.

“Aww Gwen! You’re so sweet! But you already are an amazing spider woman.”

“Get use to the hugs Gwen. She’s a hugger.” Hobie chuckled as he saw Gwen slightly surprised by your gesture.

“Hey Y/N?” asked Gwen.

“What’s up?”

“Who taught you all your cool tricks?”

“I’m actually curious as well.” said Pavitr.

“I never told you guys?”

“Nope. But I thought you were just naturally gifted.” said Hobie.

“You’re sweet Hobie, but nope. I was once an amaterr too. I was taught by-” You paused when you saw Lyla appear right next to you. “Speak of the devil.” You mumbled out loud. Your comment earned you a few confused glances from the young group of spiders.

“What does he want now?”

Ever since you started training Gwen this week, Lyla has appeared multiple times a day telling you the same thing. Miguel wanted you back at the office.

When he sent Lyla to do this at the beginning of the week you complied. But you quickly realised he only wanted you back in the office for no particular task. Today it was the fourth time Lyla has graced her presence during Gwen’s training today.

“Same thing. I’m assuming it's the same response?” Lyla sighed.

“Yep.” With that she was gone. You sighed, hoping it was the last time she appeared today.

“Wait, hold up. Miguel O’Hara. Mr. Grump. Trained you?” Pavitr's eyes widened, jaw open.

“He did. And he isn’t a grump all the time. You just have to get to know him a bit better.”

“Oh God, training with him must have been hellish.” Hobie chuckled.

You chuckled remembering the first few weeks of your spider training with Miguel. Hobie wasn’t wrong. Miguel was not the most patient and easy-going instructor. At least for the first couple of months.

“It's ok if you need to go back to the office. He seems like he needs your help.” Said Gwen.

“I don’t need to be at the office. My time is more important here, training you to kick-ass!” You ruffled her hair slightly, which she tried to swat your hand away. Gwen didn't have an older sister. But definitely felt like Y/n was her sister.

“Breaks over! Now let's see how long you can last hanging from your web.”

Gwen began her endurance training as you timed her. Suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder. It was Jess. She looked nervous.

“You alright Jess? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine. I’m just worried about what's going to happen to you. Miguel is looking for you. And he looks more annoyed than he normally is.” Jess chuckled.

“Thanks for the heads up Jess. I’ll handle him later when I’m done. You got this Gwen. Hold on a little-” You gasp as large hands grab you by the waist and throw you over a well-built shoulder.

“Miguel! Put me down!” You bang your fists against his back. You gasp from him pinching your cheek to make you stop.

“Y/n?!” Gwen asked, confused why her mentor was slinged over the boss’ shoulder. Jess stopped her from going after you as she chuckled. That poor spider was going to get it tonight.

“Pay up Hobie. I won the bet.” Pavitr pushed out his arm towards Hobie, asking for the money.

“Now hold on. You both lose. I said he would get her in five days. You said a week, Pavitr.” Jess grinned, to which both disappointed teenagers handed her the winnings.

“What just happened…” said Gwen.

…

Miguel enters his quarters where he finally removes you from his shoulder, setting you down. Your cheeks were red, from the embarrassing journey here. Being carried like that in front of all her colleagues. It was humiliating.

You notice Miguel went into his bedroom, coming out a few minutes later already out of his suit and into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that perfectly shaped him. He handed you a pair of short sweats and tank top that were a part of the few clothes you kept at his place.

After you slipped on what he gave you he gently grabbed your hand as he led you to his bedroom. He got on his side of the bed before you suddenly were grabbed by the waist and laid in between his legs, your back pressing against his chest. Now that you were both settled you finally broke the silence.

“So, what was that all about? Constantly asking Lyla to come fetch me and then carrying me here like a sack of potatoes.”

Miguel knew you were annoyed with him, but this was the first time in a week since he got to see you.

He kept quiet as he left butterfly kisses along your neck. Of course, if you weren’t annoyed at him you would melt into his touch. But he wasn’t going to get away with his actions.

“Miguel.” You groaned as you sat up and turned yourself to face him. “Please answer me.”

“Te extrañé, mi amor. It's been a week since you laid in bed with me. You spent all your time training Gwen.”

Your annoyance with him faded and was replaced with guilt. He had missed you being by his side.

Your breath hitched at the way he sat there in front of you with starved eyes, wanting only one thing. You. You moved back over to him and sat in his lap. You wrapped your arms around his neck as you gave him a loving kiss on the cheek. You chuckled.

“¿Por qué te ríes?” Miguel frowned slightly, eyebrows furrowed. You placed your hand on his cheek which he took and placed gentle kisses on your wrist.

“I think it’s cute that you’re jealous.” You lightly giggle. Your comment made his loving affection briefly stop as he sent you a playful glare.

“I’m not jealous.”

“Baby, you don’t need to lie to me. You totally were.”

Your giggles soon stopped as Miguel flipped you on the bed, now on top of you. You stare wide-eyed up at him as your cheeks were dusted pink.

A grin makes its way to his plush lips. He slowly begins kissing you up from your collarbone to your cheek as he removes your shorts. Now lips right against your ear, he whispers, “You won’t think twice about ignoring me after I’m done pounding myself deep into your pussy until morning.”

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Translations: “Te extrañé, mi amor.” = “ I missed you, my love.”

“¿Por qué te ríes?” = “ Why are you laughing?”

My Spanish is not the best so I needed a bit of google translate to help.

But I hope you enjoyed this light fluff one-shot. There will be plenty more to come!

[unhingedpolycule]

Hello, sorry if my English is not very good or understandable, I stopped practicing it a long time ago, but I hope I can give you my congratulations for that beautiful fanfic you made. I loved it, the way you treated it was spectacular. TID by Nikto, very attached to reality. I say from experience, a good development that Kreuger had, one of the best I have read, an ending that they both deserved made me cry, I felt a lot of emotion when reading each chapter, I was trapped in the story, how wonderful and personally I started reading it leaving from the hospital and he helped me a lot in my days of recovery, congratulations for your great work, I am your fan from Mexico, a cordial hug 🤗.

And just two questions: What do Nikto's alters look like? Do you think you can draw a drawing of each one?

And what would happen if König discovered Krueger?

Strap in, this is gonna be a long one! (As always as when I get to talk about my ideas of IRIWYW!!!) (I know we exchanged some DMs, so I hope you don’t mind me somewhat recycling my answers from there :)

First of all: your english is awesome, don’t fret :) thank you so much for your kind work, IRIWYW really was its own beast and a lot of work and I am so happy that it landed so well and managed to lure so many people into the exciting ship that is NK! I hope your recovery is going well, even if my wishes are a little late because I wanted to make nice drawings for this and put a lot of details into them! I won’t list all my hc for these characters separately, I hope the ideas I scribbled down are easily readable! :) (also featuring Andréy using the one internet meme he picked up on to confuse Krueger, who has no idea what he keeps talking about until he googles it eventually, even if he is the more “online” of the two!)

I think it would be really hard on König . He looked out for “Herzog”, tried to take care of him when he saw him being in what he rightfully assumed to be a toxic relationship and genuinely felt for him. Knowing that he treated his abuser like this would really make him doubt his judgement and what he said to “Herzog”. He would ask himself if this means that some people do not deserve forgiveness and that he shouldn’t assume that they do. In my mind, he wouldn’t voice it for a long time until Ghost basically forces him to do so because he knows that something is up. He is almost ashamed of his perceived failure. And Ghost sits him down and tells him that his compassion is a good trait, not a negative one. That he will always love him for his softness. Yeah, this time someone got it who didn’t deserve it. But wouldn’t it be worse if someone deserved and needed it wouldn’t get it because König couldn’t be arsed? I think he would make peace with being kind to Krueger eventually by telling himself that it sais much more about himself than about Krueger. But it would be hard.

And for how Krueger might react… he wouldn’t directly be ashamed, but he wouldn’t like it either. In his mind, he’s very much a different person now and barely recognises his old behaviours (König wise). If he was to meet König again and König would recognise him, he would be mortified but also apologise in a very genuine way. But he wouldn’t accept punishment from the legal side. He is too used to running and to be exempt from any rules. He would semi accept another beating (not fighting back as harshly as he could). He knows he deserves this, because it’s personal.

Bonus: how would the alters react to König threatening Krueger?

Nikto hates König and I am torn how he would react. For Gregor: he would protect Krueger if Krueger doesn’t do it himself, going as far as to try killing König because he is a mix of furious and jealous. Andréy would be torn between protecting him just as furiously as Gregor does because that’s his lover and letting it happen as long as Krueger doesn’t get hurt too bad because he has been raped himself and would give everything to do this to his tormentors because it fucked him up. (He has no memories of it, but he knows what it did to Gregor and he also knows the full extent of what Krueger did to König.) Lydia would very much let it happen for a bit before pulling them apart and tell König to back off, that he had his revenge and that he is done now. She is pragmatic, but she knows that the system needs Krueger and she really comes to enjoy his company too much to see him killed. And Sonja… damn she would bawl her eyes out and try to seperate them, which König would brush off with ease. It would be so horrifying to hear “Nikto” cry and plead like a child though, hearing him say how much she adores Krueger and that he is a good man, asking why he beats him. Sonja doesn’t know everything and doesn’t understand the implications of what she does know, despite the diary. König would probably stop out of sheer mortification of what sounds like a child in the body of a grown man clinging to him and pleading under tears.

Thank you for this ask, it was so fun to answer! Cordial hug back!!!

[ghostradiodylan]

[s k i l l ]

So, we talk a lot about Quarry headcanons and what could have been on the Brainrot Discord server that Kat made and one of the things I keep thinking about is how they gave (at least some of) the characters these sets of skills that never really impact gameplay, and I think it would be really cool if they did. Like, if there was more variety in who could be sent on which path. Switching Kaitlyn to the Hackett house path with Laura and Ryan to the scrapyard with Dylan being a popular one for fanfic, but also, idk, maybe Dylan won't let Ryan go without him so he ends up on the Hackett house path too? Maybe Abi steps up to go with Kaitlyn to the scrapyard and has to figure out the crane even though it's way out of her skillset, maybe Emma and Jacob can actually come back and link up with the rest of the gang instead of being stuck out in the woods for so long, stuff like that.

I'm just thinking about what their skills might be and how that might impact the game. Also keep in mind that if the character you most need for a task ends up up dead before that task comes along, it's going to be carnage for everyone else, which would up the replay value significantly IMO.

Kaitlyn: Shooting. She's a MUCH better shot than Ryan, if we can believe the Shooting Stars scoreboard (four of the actual children attending the camp score higher than him), but we never see that in the game? What if the aiming mechanism was actually different between different characters? What if there were shots you could make more easily as Kaitlyn, that were harder to pull off as Ryan?

Ryan: Agility. Guy does a lot of running and jumping, what if there were timed segments that were easier to complete as Ryan within the allotted time, or else something consequential happened? Good luck if you ended up plodding along with Jacob instead, now Abi and Nick are both mauled and turning, or something like that.

Dylan: Tech. Dylan's the physics nerd who slays at the crane game. What if you could bring him to the Hackett house and he could figure out the electric circuit puzzle in no time, but that meant someone else had to help Kaitlyn in the scrapyard? Maybe Ryan can still save Jacob without him but he takes too much time and the Hacketts catch you and pick off one of your party.

Jacob: Strength. Jakey's probably the buffest of the dudes, so maybe there are times you need a pair of strong arms or legs and Jacob's the only one who can come through. They also show us him picking locks but he never does that in an impactful situation, so maybe he'd have a lesser talent for that as well.

Abi: Stealth. Okay, so Abi runs and hides? Maybe she's awesome at hiding, then? Maybe she can get through parts of the game undiscovered by the werewolves that other characters can't. Maybe her being short AF means she can fit into hiding spots that you can't cram the leggy bois like Dylan and Nick into.

Emma: Observation. Emma's always watching and analyzing everyone's behavior and documenting things on her phone. Maybe she can find evidence or tarot cards others can't, or put pieces of the mystery together in ways no one else thinks of. Emma's a badass in the game, but it would be cool to see her 'documentarian' side come in handy prior to the credits rolling, too.

Nick: Climbing. I completely made this up because we don't get to see Nick do much besides try to pull his crush, suck face on a dare with Emma, and get mauled, but we do know he takes kids through the ropes course based on his dialogue with Abi, plus he's tall so he's got long arms and legs! Maybe he's the aerial expert. Maybe he can scale fences and get important items down from trees. Maybe he can climb up and free other characters who get stuck in those snare traps. (Obviously this assumes someone else can be the Designated Werewolf Victim, which I also think would improve the game.)

This also assumes Laura and Max keep their current roles, but I'd be up for that to be changeable too. It's not that I necessarily want a higher number of choices available, I just want the choices we can make to actually impact the gameplay and story arc more! Anyway, that's my Quarry ramble for the day (unless I come up with another one). Anyone else have thoughts?

[sunnywalnut]

Finished watching Dead Boy Detectives. Here are my honest thoughts.

-If you're going into it expecting another Good Omens, stop. Our protagonists are all minors. Teenagers. They cuss, they have total dirty mouths and sexual humor, but they are not eternal beings pretending to be middle aged men. They're ghosts. Dead Boys, if you will. Also this might be a stretch, but I'm assuming from the slightly less good CGI that the budget for this series was a LOT less than what it was for GO

-Edwin is kind of a dick in the first episode. But it's okay. Because character growth is swag.

-REALISTIC CHARACTER GROWTH!!! I liked Edwin a LOT more during the second episode BECAUSE of the character growth. And honestly? It's completely natural that bro is more than a little prickly after only being able to trust one guy for an extremely long time. Fair enough my guy. Carry on.

- this show kinda has Nimona vibes. If that makes sense. Witty humor, somewhat sexual dialogue, funny moments during serious times, though geared towards a younger audience. If you like those kinds of things, you will like this, I'm sure of it.

- In the early episodes, the pacing/character relationships feel a little off??? I'm not sure if that was because I was expecting another Good Omens or what. But after 2-3 episodes, the dust quickly settled and we got into the actual storyline. Which was extremely appreciated✨

-these villains are FUCKED up. I'm telling you. They are HORRIFIC. Had me squirming and cringing through their intense scenes. And gosh. That was a TRIP.

-TY TENANT PLAYS THE MAIN GUY EDWIN!!!! And he plays him WELL. I did not realize this going in to the show and thought his face was VERY familiar. Only after I looked it up did I realize why. He's our sassy son of Job. (EDIT: turns out Ty plays the Doom Patrol version. Not the one on Netflix. My bad! They do look pretty similar though, so ykw. Great casting. Also my point still stands. This guy is a pretty fuckin awesome actor. 10/10)

-Cat King is such a wild card holy SHIT.

-Charles is cute as fuck. His backstory HURTS. But also. I love the way his ears look. Like in the pictures that I saw of him they were of when the Cat King impersonated him so I was like oh chill. So he's got pointed ears bc feline but NOPE. He's just like that!! And honestly? Slay. I fuckin love it.

-oh did I mention tragic backstories???? Yeah we got those :D for everyone :D

-Niko is the best and I love her. Also I love how the letters on her desk are written in Japanese. That is a VERY nice touch of character building.

-hot butcher lady with throat tattoo

All in all. A truly delightful series and I genuinely hope it gets another season because I NEED to know what happens next. My little sister LOVED it and the ending had us all staring open mouthed at the TV screen in shock.

This 15yo girl is literally ranting my ear off, having adventures with the Dead Boys in her dreams and chatting with me about it, searching up fanfics and drawing fanart, the whole shabang. And it is DIFFICULT for this girl to get into shows like this. So honestly? This is perfect. Thank you, Neil. For giving us a whole other banger.

That being said. If anybody else has some younger siblings that are around 15-17 and are looking for shows to binge watch together, this is the perfect one. I'm telling you, you will NOT regret it (except maybe emotionally)

Thoroughly recommend.

[chrysalis-the-butterfly]

Hazbin Hotel Shipping Meme

(Credit to SaucyMist on Twitter for the template.)

OTP

Angel Dust and Husk (Huskerdust) - My favourite Hazbin Hotel ship. A blorbo who's been abused finally finding a guy who genuinely cares for him, while both are also learning to overcome their mistakes and be better people? Yes, please!

Charlie and Vaggie (Chaggie) - They're just so cute together! And I enjoy seeing a grumpy cynic paired with a ray of sunshine.

Emily and Lute (Emilute) - They're both angels, but very different kinds. Emily would think she can fix Lute; Lute would think she can make Emily worse. Can Emily persuade Lute to change her mind about sinners through the Power of Love? I'd enjoy seeing her try!

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb (CherriSnake) - A classic enemies-to-lovers pairing that's really grown on me over time.

Lucifer and Lilith (Lucilith) - I'm interested to see more of them and to find out more about Lilith.

Cute

Charlie, Vaggie, Emily and Lute (Charlie's Angels) - Yeah, I want to put all my favourite ladies together and see what happens!

Secretly Ships

Alastor and Vox (StaricMoth) - How did they meet? Does Vox love Alastor, or is it just an obsession? Does Alastor hate Vox, or does he secretly miss him? There's fanfic potential there!

Vaggie and Lute (FallenWings) - I wonder if they dated briefly when Vaggie was still an Exorcist? I wonder if Lute was a little messed up after Vaggie's Fall? I wonder if Lute doubled down on her homophobia as a coping mechanism?

Molly and Cherri Bomb (MollyBomb) - I just think it would be funny if Cherri started dating her best friend's sister! Angel would find it weird at first, but he'd know he can trust Cherri to treat his twin sister right.

Sera and Lucifer (Lucera?) - The Head Seraphim and the King of Hell? What a pairing that would be! I like this ship because it would be interesting to see an alliance between Heaven and Hell, and to make Charlie and Emily stepsisters. That, and the extreme height difference between the towering Sera and the short king Lucifer would be hilarious.

Maybe? Neutral

Vox and Valentino (VoxVal), Vox and Velvette (VoxVel), Valentino and Velvette (ValVel), and Poly Vees - I do like VoxVal as a toxic messed-up villainous power couple. But I honestly find it hard to ship Valentino with anybody. And I don't know if Velvette is compatible romantically with either of those men.

Adam and Lute (Guitarspear) - I can't decide if I prefer Adam and Lute as a couple, Lute as Adam's favourite of his many concubines, or a Burns-and-Smithers thing where Lute is obedient to the point of infatuation and Adam is clueless.

Carmilla and Zestial (ZestMilla) - They're just ... there. I don't love them, I don't hate them.

Friends / Family

Charlie, Lucifer and Lilith (Morningstar Family) - I like imagining what the family was like when Charlie was younger.

Angel Dust and Molly (Spider Twins) - One twin in Hell, the other in Heaven ... ooh, I love that angst potential!

Sera and Emily (Seraphim Angels) - I see them as a caring but overprotective mother and a curious but naïve daughter.

Husk and Niffty (CasinoSweep) - Since they're both tied to Alastor, I think they'd get to know each other pretty well. I like the idea of Husk looking out for Niffty and keeping her in check.

Emily, Sir Pentious and Molly (Emtious, Emolly and MollySnake) - I really hope they're an official trio in Season 2! They'd be awesome! Emily could help Sir Pentious adjust to an afterlife in Heaven, and Molly could get behind Charlie's cause and try to see her brother again (assuming she remembers him...).

Alastor, Mimzy and Rosie (Alzy and RadioRose) - The idea of the aroace icon Alastor building a gaggle of gal pals around him will never not be funny to me.

Charlie and Angel Dust (CharlieDust) - Caring little sister and protective big brother.

Vaggie and Angel Dust (SpiderMoth) - Bossy big sister and bratty little brother.

Emily and Angel Dust (HaloDust) - Adoring little sister and bemused big brother.

Not For Me

Carmilla and Velvette (Velmilla) - I can see why others would ship them, but I don't. They're more like business rivals than lovers to me.

Adam and Lucifer (AdamsApple) - Again, I see the appeal of shipping the First Man with the Devil. But I don't think they'd work out long-term. A tough boastful dude and the softer shortie who keeps stealing his wives? It's a recipe for disaster!

NOTP

Angel Dust and Valentino (Valangel) - I don't think this one needs much explanation. I can't ship Valentino with anyone, let alone Angel.

Adam and Lilith (Adalith) - If he was so misogynistic that she fled the Garden of Eden to get away from him, I can't imagine they're very compatible.

Charlie and Alastor (Charlastor) - I prefer them as a twisted mentor and trusting mentee, not a romantic couple.

Blank version below:

[gamebird]

Murderathin Rec List

Revised for fall of 2024

As compiled by the denizens of the New Tideland MB/G channel! The greatest hits of TMBD's most popular frenemy ship - the fics that got us into it, and the fics we made because of it. "PR" are quotes from us as we talked back and forth about what was awesome about the fic, or from AO3 comments. All works are complete except Enemies, Closer and If Statements.

The Long Emergency by murderbot Words: 56,866 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Trapped on the survey planet when the last emergency beacon fails, Murderbot and the PreservationAux team scramble to survive deadly fauna, cruel weather, scarce resources, and GrayCris's armed hunting parties. In a grueling ordeal spanning two planetary years, Murderbot becomes closer to its humans than it ever thought possible. PR: “the absolute ur-Murderathin fic”, “an absolute stunner”, “that’s the one that got me into the ship”, "This fic is amazing! Murderbot's voice and everyone's characterizations were so on-point, and all of the details of their survival on this planet and the action scenes were so well-fleshed out.", "The first MB/G fic on AO3!"

Recollection by murderbot Words: 30,753 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: SecUnit and Gurathin agree to be married, temporarily, for ease of travel during an assignment. After a violent encounter and a bad wormhole jump, they crash land on a habitable planet and discover their entire ship is suffering from amnesia. Nobody remembers anything from their past. The ship's records are badly scrambled. The planet is too far for anyone to reach safely. When Gurathin and SecUnit find the record that indicates they are married, they build a life together as marital partners, not knowing their union is based on a lie. PR: “I love pain”, “It absolutely broke me”, “still haunts me”, “wonderful”, " I'm so full of bittersweet emotions", "I was this close to crying for a few chapters, and the ending was perfect."

Enemies, Closer by Abacura, Gamebird, IHopedTheredBeStars, opalescent_potato, Rosewind2007, theAsh0 Words: 134,190 (WIP) Rating: Teen and Up Summary: When a Combat SecUnit with identical genetics to Murderbot is sent to Preservation Station to commit a massacre, the delicate balance between Murderbot, ART, and Dr. Gurathin shifts, putting all four of them on a collision course. PR: “a wonder and a delight”, “my favorite one”, "Rock-Paper-Scissors dom dynamics in which ART is the secret fourth option, Dynamite", "Can't wait for more!", "A monumental collaboration!"

Boots by opalescent_potato Words: 5,762 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Murderbot learns a little more than it wanted to about Gurathin's mysterious past. PR: “such a great, quiet study in emotional intimacy and shared trauma. Also has an absolutely amazing Oh. Oh no moment.”, "this feels like the realest depiction of poverty trauma I've ever seen in fanfic", "Info dumping as a love language. Learning self care from the most particular human."

No Peace/No Rest by IHopedTheredBeStars Words: 4,363 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Though Dr Gurathin eventually accepts the addition of SecUnit a.k.a. Murderbot to PreservationAux, and even assists in its recovery & rehabilitation after the corporate gunship debacle, he never warms up to it like the others do—at least according to our unreliable narrator, Murderbot itself! Let’s assume Murderbot is right this time. So what’s up with that?? This story takes place (chronologically) after Fugitive Telemetry and just before Network Effect. PR: “an excellent MB&G fic”, "So many fantastic ideas in here", "This is such a great look at grappling with the guilt of having taken a life, and being stripped of that comforting denial that it wasn't a person."

The Last Client by Gamebird Words: 70,290 (series) Rating: Explicit Summary: A series with the premise of 'What if GrayCris had attacked PresAux first instead of DeltFall?' In the first, Last Client Standing, Dr. Gurathin is the only PresAux survivor, with Murderbot protecting him from GrayCris' continuing efforts to eliminate them entirely. In the second, Who Guards the Guardian?, they return to Preservation where they must come to terms with how much they, and events, have changed. PR: “Gah! Gurathin and Sec having to navigate ALL the emotions. I’m… (no better way to say it) ded. I am ded. De d ded." "Man the image of Murderbot dragging itself along with no working legs almost this whole fic and still managing to fight off a good chunk of GrayCris." "So many emotional moments, happy, sad, bittersweet, as they worked through their grief and what they mean to each other."

Gurathin’s Side of the Story by Gamebird Words: 51,849 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: A retelling of The Murderbot Diaries from Gurathin's point of view. PR: “An incredible character study that adds so much depth to Gurathin. The reader falls in love with him every step of the way (and Murderbot does too)”, "There are so many moments where this story just drop-kicks me with how real it is.", "a lovely view into Gurathin‘s CR background, augments, and his soft belly under that armadillo shell."

Faking It For Real by Gamebird Words: 1,571 Rating: Explicit Summary: Murderbot does a bad job of pretending to be Gurathin's ComfortUnit on a mission, until it figures out how to be better at it. PR: “the one where everyone's playing it cool but the feet are paddling madly beneath the surface" "I know this is a cracky premise but it sure is hot!" "the sexy frisking is definitely hot" "HOT DAMN"

Boots by Gnomeskillet Words: 2,797 Rating: General Audiences Summary: "I'm going to fix your boots," he explained, talking to me like I was a small human child that didn't know anything. At least he kept his eyes on the floor while he did it. "They're a mess and if you want them to last longer, then you need to take care of them." PR: “this entire fic got me", "Omg who knew shoe shines could be so full of tension??", "This was sort of in kink no man's land, in between the barbed wire embankments of desire and fulfillment."

It Was Only A Kiss by Gnomeskillet Words: 2,102 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Frustrated and desperate, Murderbot hauls Gurathin into an alleyway and makes out with him in order to avoid Station Security. Hey, it has a 100% success rate in media! PR: “excellent”, “Incredibly sexy and very sweet.”, "Dom Murderbot absolutely wrecking Gurathin while not really knowing what the hell it's doing is my favorite flavor"

Pressing Down On Me, Pressing Down On You by Gnomeskillet Words: 1,061 Rating: Not Rated Summary: I was just thinking about MB pressing down on Gurathin's augments like how ART presses down on MB in the feed, and I like thinking about MB being tsundere about taking care of its least favorite augmented human. It doesn't LIKE Gurathin, he's just less annoying this way. PR: “ahhh yes this one was absolutely one of the ones that made me go OHHHH. It made me so invested in their relationship”, "Poor Gurathin doesn't know what he's getting into, good thing Murderbot is so nice XD", "I love the idea of cuddling in the feed."

Just to Suffer the Pressure by Chyoatas Words: 2,113 Rating: Explicit Summary: He was already out of breath when he let his hand press to his throat. (That hadn’t been in the original plan. This was already too close- too fraught. It was already embarrassing enough (and hotter for it, but he wouldn’t admit it.)) PR: “Okay we were all thinking it. There are not nearly enough fics where Murderbot erotically asphyxiates Gurathin.”, "this is insanely good holy shit", "unhinged screaming I can't form words, this is everything I want it to be"

Murderathin NSFW Zine Comic by Chyoatas Words: 1,069 Rating: Explicit Summary: My NSFW comic from the Murderbot Diaries NSFW Zine! Alternative text description of the comic is embedded in the images. PR: "So hot!", "sweet, naughty, and snarky", "So much thought went into this. The closer I look, the more details pop out at me!"

Purr by Rosewind2007 Words: 3,448 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: I saw a post by someone saying: “Wouldn’t it be nice if humans could just purr, like cats. You could let people know you were happy without talking about your feelings or anything...” And I thought: it’d be nice if Murderbot could purr. So, here you are. PR: “Ah yes, my favorite trope. Murderbot purring when it's happy!”, "MB your friends care about you!", "This was adorable and I loved it"

Sex Pollen by Rosewind2007 Words: 7,240 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Atypical human and para-human courtship behaviors and coitus triggered by xeno-floral microgameteophytes Abstract: Twenty four (24) subjects were exposed to xeno-floral microgameteophytes (XFM). Atypical behaviors were recorded by all but two (2). PR: “the yearning”, “I love watching Murderbot and Gurathin dance around each other in this. Both trying so hard to be normal and just internally yearning to be close to each other. The longing is so palpable!”

Bundling by Rosewind2007 Words: 18,348 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: It was a stupid accident. We’d identified the presence of space debris in this sector, including pieces large enough to deflect the course of a small transport; but my Risk Assessment Module was happily burbling in the low teens (it really needs replacing, but I’m quite fond of its optimism now) and ART had calculated the risk of an actual collision as approximately 1 in 159,753. But of course we were that one. And of course the client I was with would be that one.  PR: "And thereby, Murderbot, SecUnit, discovered it loved itself.", " A wonderful story", "That last line is just so perfect"

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a SecUnit by Rosewind2007 Words: 14,918 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: What it says on the tin. PR: “amazing, showstopping" "oh yess oh yess oh yesss" "Murderbean. Murderbaby. You're killing me ❤️❤️❤️ Ahhhhh the ending to this was so sweet and so perfect, I'm all up in my feelings now"

The Corporate and the Construct by beeayy Words: 87,919 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Bots and constructs have taken over the Corporate Rim. When PreservationAux is captured sneaking into AI-controlled space, someone must stay behind with the sophisticated bot-pilot that remembers a lot less than it thinks it does, and the rogue SecUnit with more anxiety and depression than anyone knows. PR: “my favorite AU”, “fantastic”, “An amazing AU. Great marriage of Fairy Tale elements with Robot Overlords.”, "This fic was such an amazing ride", "I had emotions and cried at the last chapter. Good job!"

I Hate The Way I Don’t Hate You by beeayy Words: 53,345 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Murderbot hates Gurathin, though the reason changes on a daily basis. PR: "I love this whole thing", "These two ridiculous assholes *always* end up meeting in the middle", "I love fake marriage fics  especially when it's enemies to lovers."

Wrinkles by beeayy Words: 1,405 Rating: General Audiences Summary: There is a disavantage to being a rogue SecUnit in the long-term. Gurathin helps Murderbot through it. PR: “'my face is falling off' will stay with me forever" "This is the sweetest! I love depictions of them in an established relationship where they are clearly happy together, but also true to their nature (AKA assholes)." "This is so fricking ardorable!!!!!"

ComfortUnit!Gurathin by beeayy Words: 29,278 (series) Rating: Mature Summary: Gurathin tries to keep a secret from Murderbot while on a mission in the Corporate Rim. Or, "Heartbreaking: Your Least Favorite Co-Worker Is Secretly Hot". PR: “honestly top tier ending lmfaoo, and top tier fic" "I loved this whole damn fic and you nailed the ending." "This story was loads of fun, and the chemistry between them was so effective!"

Maintenance Protocol by Abacura Words: 5,762 Rating: Explicit Summary: I’m worried about SecUnit. This isn’t the first time I’ve caught it making a face that looks like it's in pain. I worry that it isn’t taking care of itself, that without a cubicle, it needs maintenance that it isn’t telling us about. I wish it would tell me. I wish it would let me take care of it. I could take such good care of it. PR: “smoking hot, I wholeheartedly recommend”, "The maintenance was so perfect and then it was done and I figured so was the fic but holy fuck (literally)", "This is the good stuff. This is perfect."

Fuckboy Strategy by The_Onion Words: 6,203 Rating: Not Rated Summary: 'Can you know you don’t like something without trying it?' I'd texted Ratthi. He responded, 'Sure! But trying things out is always a good idea :D' which I am sure he would not have said if he’d known what I was talking about. // Murderbot explores idioms, the ethics of ghosting, and its own sexuality. PR: “Ah yes, my favorite trope. Murderbot being an absolute bull in the china shop of Gurathin’s heart.”, "so good and so funny i am beside myself", "made me laugh out loud"

Construct, Social by kiwisson Words: 1,852 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Late-night human behavior discussions with your favorite deadly weapon. PR: “the vibes are really good”, “Perfect tag is perfect: You Jerks Talk A Lot For People Who Hate Each Other”, “a fascinating example of the first tagged MB&G which shows many themes already emerging!”

Imperfect Reactions by xianvar Words: 1,324 Rating: Teen and Up Summary: It’s a normal evening with friends – easy laughter, Bharadwaj stopping by to chat, Gurathin and Murderbot sniping at each other, Murderbot letting Gurathin tease it… wait, what? PR: “exterior POVs are always SO good”, "there's so many little characterizations in this fic and its really delightful!", "Adorable!"

If Statements by the_moonmoth Words: 36,683 (WIP) Rating: Explicit Summary: Without a cubicle to reset its endocrine system, Murderbot goes into heat. Gurathin would normally be the last person it would turn to for the kind of help it now needs, but he smells so good. PR: “hot, sexy, omegaverse action! Full of luscious art, too!" "Oh my LORD joining the freak train because this is fantastic!" "Aaaaaaaaaah *scream* *squeeeal* asddsgdhfthfj"

Recharge Cycle by SeeMaree Words: 5,023 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Murderbot just needs a quiet, comfortable place to run a recharge cycle. PR: “the one with the slippers" "i love this!!! Asshole friendship my beloved. U write them so good im soft" "I can’t believe you’re making them actually TALK to each other lmfaoooo"

Mixed Signals by firefox49 Words: 6,099 Rating: Mature Summary: While Dr. Gurathin is repairing some of Murderbot’s circuits, Murderbot makes a discovery about itself. PR: “the one that blows my fuse every time" ""Ahh I love how secunit is just like. Sex is a competition and I am going to win it" " I am that "sickos" meme going *yes hahaha YES*"

Plus One by musicofthespheres Words: 14,587 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Murderbot needs Gurathin's help, but he's busy. Turns out he has... other friends? Besides Ratthi and Pin-Lee? That doesn't sound right. Murderbot needs to get to the bottom of this. PR: “Murderbot being indignant about Gurathin having other friends is a fave" "Awwwwr i loved this so much its definitely one of my new favorites!" "Ohhh I just adore this whole thing" "they’re such a great little grumpy team"

[kiisaes]

yes THANK YOU for saying it i hate those specific fanon nicknames as well. my other pet peeve are the terms 'bakusquad' and 'dekusquad' used in fanfic because i feel like those are okay to use in fandom discussion but the actual characters would NOT come up with those names much less use them unironically c'monn

SAMEEE these terms used in fics make my eyes roll fr. and I think the longer I've enjoyed mha the less bakusquad and dekusquad make sense to me anymore, even in fandom discussion

in the early days of mha fandom it was pretty normal to split up deku and bakugou bc 1.) not a super cool awesome amazing relationship at the moment and 2.) both of them were becoming friends with other members of the class (thank you season 2!!!). so if they were befriending different ppl then making two fanon friend groups seemed like the right fandom thing to do.

but fandom has always flanderized relationships pretty badly and mha, imo, is one of the most egregious examples. the loud majority of early fandomgoers were too scared of bkdk being connected in any possible way. they were abusive, toxic, evil, etc.etc.etc. and if you liked them then you fetishized bully/victim relationships. hence, in order to be a Good Fan, you had to separate them.

I fell for this belief back in 2019-2020 so I get it but like. it's crazy now. thinking about it. because horikoshi has Never meaningfully separated bkdk. they have always been joined at the hip regardless of how bad their dynamic was at any point in the narrative. in fact, this has been a core reason why bkg hated dk at the start. it's bc they literally could not distance themselves from each other 😭 idk. do you ever just think about how dissonant the popular fandom bible was to the Legitimate Canon Word Of Mouth.

there is no "dekusquad". there is no "bakusquad". it was a fundamental misunderstanding of the story to assume there are. bakugou has always been a part of deku's "squad" he just refused to admit it until recently. (he is also conveniently drawn in a lot of group illustrations with characters that are stereotypically a part of the dekusquad.) likewise some characters in these groups straight up don't interact anymore. anyway as of late mha has been prioritizing the Entire Class Of 1A as a singular entity instead of splitting it up into distinct factions.

I don't think the dekusquad and the bakusquad should be abolished, after all they're just typical fandom creations that get widely adopted because they're digestible and charming. if you like them then you like them! I don't dictate how you digest mha. but if you think bakusquad and dekusquad are still established friend groups that mean anything to the narrative and you navigate fandom discourse with this particular mindset I WILL look at you funny

ANYWAY THANK U ANON U GET MEEE

[nerdieforpedro]

20 Questions of Writers 📑

I was tagged by @frenchiereading @avastrasposts and @maggiemayhemnj (Bless the three of you. You know a dissertation is coming 🤣🤣🤣) 💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 81 works on AO3. There are some that are there and not on Tumblr yet. As to why, some of them are other series I haven’t finished or I’m not sure if I should post them here.

2. What is your total AO3 word count?

As of today: 351,908 words (updated for a new chapter of one of my works)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: Pedro Pascal, Oscar Issac, Garrett Hedlund and might dabble in Call of Duty (maybe)

No longer writing: Marvel

4. Top Five fics by kudos: (some of these were written long ago, when Nerdie was a wee one in fandom)

Sard’ika Sessions (the most in kudos and hits- it tells me ya’ll like Din being a soft dom and using several different tools, maybe at the same time?)

Our Journey Across the Star Ocean (people enjoy the way I write Din maybe?)

The Viper Longs for Foliage (the one fic I have about Oberyn Martell - I don’t feel I write him well but people feel differently I suppose 🤔)

The Best and the Worst Day (AO3 only - Chris Evans fix it was a phase 🫣)

I want him to see me (AO3 only - I had to look up what this was lol Sebastian Stan fic)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I make sure to go through my inbox to reply to anyone who was nice enough to leave me one. ☺️

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

Bold of you to assume I finish fics regularly 👀

Scarlet Stains and their Echoes Such angst with a Backstreet Boys joke thrown in. 😆

7. What is the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

This is a three way tie (cheating because Nerdie is not above it) between Sard’ika Sessions, The Lake Between Us and Parts of you Mr. Morales. Each fic has a different Pedro character - Din, Ezra (I had to give him something happy 😭) and Frankie.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I’ve seen. I totally thought I would and that’s why something stay on AO3 or in the WIP folder but so far I have not. It’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

9. Do you write smut?

I used to. I used to write a lot and enjoyed it. I find now that when I write smut it’s awkward and takes me at least a month to finish a smut scene because despite watching and reading reference materials (porn and other awesome smut fanfic here and on AO3) I don’t have the same mojo when writing it any more. I feel a bit sad about it, but there’s nothing that’s worked. It’s not like I don’t have thots. I just can’t get them in a fic. 😭😭

10. Craziest Crossover?

I haven’t really done many. One m/m fic where Din and Poe crossed blasters (pun fully intended), one sandwich with a female reader, Lucian Flores and Benny Miller, My Tim Rockford series where Dieter is his brother and that’s about it I think 🧐

11. Have you ever have a fic stolen? Not that I know of. So happy I’m in my small weird little box 📦

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? Nope I would be open to it but I dunno how the process would work.

14. All time favorite ship? The Razor Crest, it has room for passengers. 😆

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

Such heart ache 😣 My first series that I started was with Dave York (he was done so dirty dammit!) and it was pretty smut filled. Felt with him and the OFC’s messed up dynamic as well but because of all the smut and how I can’t seem to write smut to save my neck now, it will likely go unfinished. 😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

Honestly, I’m not sure. Maybe just the weird plot ideas I can make and dialogue. That’s about it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing a fic, SMUT, weak comedy (I can’t resist it though), fixating on small details that don’t matter and everything that wasn’t listed as a strength. What is writing really? Can I make the words go together? 😨

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Pretty cool, just make sure you ask a native speaker in that language to look over things before posting. I have found that some of my Spanish is too literal and no native Spanish speaker is actually going to say that. Plus each language always has little nuances you need to take into account.

19. First Fandom you wrote in? Marvel 👀 Look it was a phase dammit! 🫣 Leave me alone. 😭

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Nerdie will cheat again, because this is her post! 😆 I enjoy all my fics. Otherwise, why would I write them? But one stands above the rest. It gives me all the feels, giggles, some funny banter, smut that took a damn month to write and inspired @soft-persephone to tag me in a meme that @boliv-jenta made, Weddings 101 with Dieter.

If there’s one fic that I feel has the majority of my writing (all styles and facets) in it, Weddings 101 would be it. My humor, agnst, attempt at making a villain and sub-plots, slow burn romance with a goat as Dieter’s ride or die. 🤗 That trash panda gave me a lot so I wrote him a wild ass series. 😋

NPT: @tinytinymenace @megamindsecretlair @perotovar @pedroshotwifey @lady-bess

@djarinmuse @alltheglitterandtheroar @inept-the-magnificent @lotusbxtch

@jeewrites @rosecentaur1916 @westside-rot @jessthebaker @trulybetty

@rhoorl @musings-of-a-rose @saturn-rings-writes @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @magpiepills

@secretelephanttattoo @morallyinept @goodwithcheese

[staawberru]

My Childhood Friend Wrote A Gay Omegaverse Fanfic About Me!

hiiiiiii welcome to the first chapter in this series whooo. A couple. things mc homophobic (he will half to get over it) but if you agree with anything he’s saying get out 😛

Chapter one | next chapter | past chapter

—

The bus rides always sucked, if you had no friends it sucked even more. Lucky for you, you don’t have those problems. You have many friends, cool friends. Unfortunately, none of them ride your bus. Well, you have one friend but he’s your weird childhood friend, Jobie You’ve lived right next to him for years, and, sadly, that somehow means he’s attached to you, like a parasite which you would be fine with if he wasn’t gay! You know how that sounds, but you're not homophobic! How can you be homophobic and have a gay friends? That doesn’t make sense. Fortunately, he was too engrossed in his little online comic to notice or talk to you right now. 

      You look out the bus window, it’s going to rain. You already knew it, the sky was cloudy and this morning on the walk to the bus stop you could smell the rain. You love rain, you do, but you have soccer practice later today, and you really can’t miss it. Well, you can, but you’d prefer not to. Missing it would mean taking the bus home, and that would mean talking to Jobie, and that’s one of the worst things ever. All he talks about is his stupid new bl obsession and blah blah blah. Maybe you can convince a real friend to drive you home. God, you just wish you could get away from his rants about his newest fixation. 

      You sigh. You hate the bus, but school is even worse. You don’t have any classes with any of your friends. Well that was a lie, you have one class with Jobie but he definitely doesn’t count. You feel a small pale finger poke your shoulder, you turn your head and glare. How dare he ruin your train of thoughts. You see his pale blue eyes widen just ever so slightly and you soften your [eye color] eyes faintly. As much as you want to tell him that you hate him and his clingy attitude you can’t. Why not? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to get rid of him? Unfortunately he has the hottest sister possible. You can’t let such beauty go.  

    “I was wondering if you wanted to come over…?” He asked quietly. Your eyebrows furrowed. You saw him looking down at his lap, and you assumed he was expecting the worst. 

    You paused. This could be an excuse to see his sister! Wait, she won’t be back until spring break, and that’s next week. You can’t just tell him no, he’ll go complain to his little mommy and then his precious mother will talk to your mom. You need an excuse.

   “Can’t, sorry, I have soccer practice today.” You say. Hopefully that would be a good enough excuse. You see him look up with a frown plastered on his face.

    “It’s going to rain today, didn’t you read the forecast?” His quiet voice seems to ring around the silent bus. Ah, he got you. Ugh, how are you supposed to get out of this one? 

    “Well we can still practice in the gym,” you smile. He doesn’t seem completely convinced but he finally gets off your back, going back to his online book, You look at him you can see the small frown on his face. You hate to make him feel bad, but you just let your smile fade and look back out the window, toward the dreaded school.

——

    As the school day continues you can’t help but feel increasingly worse. It’s unlike you to feel this bad over other people. For example, you didn’t feel bad the time a friend broke an arm, or the time your dad lost his job, but yet you feel bad because you rejected a kid you don’t like. So you’ve decided to go home with him. It doesn't matter if his hot sister isn’t there, he still has an awesome gaming setup.

     As the last period approaches, so does your class with him. This is where you plan to apologize. You hate to admit it, but you’ve been thinking about this all day. What were you going to say? What were you going to do? Finally, you decided to just say sorry, and that you do actually want to come over. 

     Sixth period finally rolled around and you saw him, Jobie. He was looking at his phone like normal, unbothered by your staring. You frown slightly. He probably doesn’t care. It's understandable, but still kind of annoying. Is this what mom thinks when you ignore her? Whatever, you’ll just catch him at the end of class. You look out the window, it seems like the rain is finally starting. It was supposed to start earlier, around ten but here you are. You put your head down and wait for the class to end. 

                                                    ——

Biology class took longer than normal. By the end of the day it had already been long enough, but the added weight of talking to Jobie attached a whole lot of extra Stress. But it was finally the end and finally time to talk to him. You look outside briefly and start making your way to him. You pause. Is this really okay? You blew him off this morning and now you're apologizing. It makes it seem like you're desperate or something.

      Something’s wrong, you know it Jobie always rushed to the bus, tripping on anything and everything, but today he isn’t. He's just sitting, waiting. Maybe he’s waiting for your apology, your forgiveness. Your eyes narrow. It’s weird, but it’s none of your business. All you have to do is apologize.

     “Hey Jobie,” you say, walking the rest of the way up to him. He jumped, your voice scaring him. He turned off his phone and looked up at you, blushing. You were about to say something, but you paused. Not only was he acting weird, but he also seemed guilty. You can see it in the way he tries, desperately, to look away from you. It could be passed off as his normal behavior, but something was wrong with him. 

   “You good?” You ask, leaning over him. His face reddened and he looked down.

    “You’re, um, a little close…” He squeaks, fidgeting with his hand. Oh, you were, you were practically squishing him.

    “Oh, sorry,” you didn’t mean for it to come off so awkwardly, but it did. You back off and stand next to him, forcing him to turn to look at you. 

    “So, uh, how are you?” You decided to take things slow. “Aren’t you going to miss the bus?”

    “Ah no, someone's driving me home. Why?” He looked up at you. 

    “No reason, really,” you shrug. “Better get off to soccer practice if I don’t want coach up my ass.” You mumble the last bit as you walk off. Jobie is the type to report you for something as stupid as cursing. Well, that was a bust. You didn’t get to apologize like you wanted. At least it saves you the embarrassment of saying sorry to him.

      “Wait!” Jobie calls out “Can I walk you? You looked like you really had something to say.” How does he know that? Can he read minds or something? Now that you think about it, he always knows what’s on your mind. Could he be a mind reader? Or maybe you're just easy to read. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

     “Ah well, it sounds stupid so never mind.” You say, now that you think about it, who is this person driving him home. “So, who’s this friend?”

     “Oh! Um, well, it’s embarrassing to say,” Jobie looks off to the side, fidgeting with his coat seaves. Then he stops walking, takes a breath and looks at you. You almost ran into him, but stopped yourself just before. 

     “Tell me what you were going to say,” Jobie looks you right in the eye. “I want to know.” With how girly he looks, you never expected him to be so threatening. You look him in the eyes. Is he serious? 

[jenrecs]

⊹ hello loves! it’s a new month, and a new reading list! below are all my favorite reads from September 2022. i mostly read JK fics but the list includes other members as well. some of these do contain mature content, so minors dni.

⊹ check out these awesome fics and give the authors some love by reblogging and/or leaving feedback for them! (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)

recs navigation | monthly reading lists

⌜ SEOKJIN ⌟

● tattoo jealousy by @kookscrescent​​

↳ established relationship, idol au, fluff

jin walks in to the dressing room to witness a situation that doesn’t sit well with him.

● stress relief by @archivedkookie​​

↳ established relationship, ceo au, fluff, smut

your husband comes exhausted from his work, and you have an idea of how to relieve his stress…

⌜ YOONGI ⌟

● flowstate by @jktones

↳ comfort friend, fluff

when the world gets too loud, his silence is your favourite sound.

● yoongi learns why selfies are dangerous by @purplewhalewrites​

↳ established relationship, idol au, smut

yoongi said he’d be taking more selfies but you didn’t expect him to actually do it. when you see his latest post you decide he has to pay for his actions.

● lola by @yoon2k​​

↳ smut

even though you're not wearing the space jam shirt and your hair isn't up in two ponytails, yoongi stills notices.

● whine & dine by @baljinciaga​​

↳ established relationship, idol au, fluff, smut

yoongi forgets the date night the two of you had planned due to the stresses of being an idol. you decide to make different dinner plans.

● squirt by @here2bbtstrash​

↳ friends to lovers, smut

when yoongi makes the bold statement that any girl can squirt, you decide to call him on his bluff.

⌜ HOSEOK ⌟

● sensuous by @delugguk​​

↳ smut

⌜ NAMJOON ⌟

● bibliosmia by @svt1117​​

↳ established relationship, witch au, angst

you were an addict when it came to smelling spellbooks, but not for the reason one would expect.

● read to me by @ichorai​​

↳ greek god x nymph au, fluff, angst

with beautiful days, comes the stormy clouds.

● discord discourse by @joheunsaram​​

↳ strangers to (maybe) lovers, idol x fanfic writer au, fluff, angst

kim namjoon likes to spend time in a discord server… dedicated to him. with new friends and a budding crush, will he ever be able to truly be himself without revealing who he is?

⌜ JIMIN ⌟

● all i need by @joonberriess​

↳ established relationship, college au, smut

it’s a lazy afternoon and you’re watching the sun set with your boyfriend who’s between your legs...

● homie hopper till i die! by @h0neypjm​

↳ ft. taehyung, smut

a homie hopper is defined as an individual that ‘hops’ from one person to another, where the people they choose to hook-up with are within the same group of friends.

● fwb with jimin by @btssmutgalore​​

↳ friends to lovers, friend’s sister au, coworker au, smut

how jimin becomes your friend with benefits.

⌜ TAEHYUNG ⌟

● you’re the worst by @here2bbtstrash​

↳ friends to (not) lovers, smut

you decide to turn the tables on your shameless best friend.

● don’t get murdered by @here2bbtstrash​

↳ ft. yoongi, smut

you’re supposed to be on a blind date, but the handsome stranger across the bar keeps distracting you.

● what was hidden by @daechwitatamic​

↳ strangers to friends to lovers, college au, fluff, angst, smut

this is how it all starts: taehyung is flunking western lit. you’re assigned to tutor him. his paper on strindberg’s the ghost sonata could pass or fail him for the semester. as you and taehyung slowly become friends, then more, you learn that there’s a lot more to him than you originally assumed. together, you navigate your own experiences with the play’s themes: one’s “true self” versus one’s “shown self”, darkness behind the facade, and how people can be quite literally haunted - and it has nothing to do with ghosts.

● homie hopper till i die! by @h0neypjm

↳ ft. jimin, smut

a homie hopper is defined as an individual that ‘hops’ from one person to another, where the people they choose to hook-up with are within the same group of friends.

● caramel macchiato by @gukyi​

↳ college au, fluff

you never really paid attention to the talkative kid in your college lecture, but he’s paid attention to you.

● witch’s brew by @httpjeon​​

↳ established relationship, witch au, fluff, smut

after a year of trying to get pregnant, your husband makes a special brew to make sure you get pregnant this time.

● work out for me by @chateautae​

↳ established relationship, smut

interrupting your boyfriend’s workout session was either the best mistake you made, or the worst.. especially for your legs.

⌜ JUNGKOOK ⌟

● home by @taegisms​

↳ established relationship, fluff

● happy birthday loser by @jungk0oksthighs​

↳ idiots to lovers, roommate au, smut

after three years of simping over your roommate, you give him one hell of a birthday celebration.

● kintsukuroi: sweet treat by @jeonjcngkook​

↳ established relationship, fluff, smut

newly married and swept away by how in love they truly are with each other, jungkook shows you just how much he loves you.

● love bites by @jeonjcngkook​

↳ established relationship, vampire au, smut

it’s feeding time for you both but this time rather than venture out alone to eat, you change it up and feed together.

● once upon a show by @gukyi​

↳ idol au, fluff

starring on we got married is cool. starring on we got married with world-class idol jeon jungkook is more intimidating than cool, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

● in the frosty air by @gukyi​

↳ college au, roommate au, fluff, angst

two weeks ago you and your roommate slept together. which would be fine, if you knew you both felt the same about each other. but you don’t. and now it’s christmas, and jungkook is still gorgeous and gentle and wonderful and here, and and you don’t really know what to do about that.

● 21st century love by @gukyi​

↳ enemies to lovers, college au, fluff

you and fellow film student jeon jungkook have been clashing heads all semester in your realistic fiction and 21st century film class, because jungkook thinks that rom-coms are meant to express the beauty of love, and you think that they’re ploys by hollywood to tell people that they can achieve love by engaging in consumerism. but when you’re assigned to create your own stereotypical romantic comedy short film, jungkook takes it upon himself to show you just how attainable love can really be.

● we were. by @gukyi​​

↳ breakup au, angst

not all once upon a time’s have happily ever after’s.

● always by @onlyswan​

↳ fluff, angst

in which jungkook is a fleeting bus ride crush.

● head over skates by @mercurygguk​

↳ established relationship, college au, ice hockey player au, fluff

jungkook doesn’t get jealous but here you are, bringing out new sides of him.

● best i ever had by @here2bbtstrash​

↳ college au, infidelity au, smut

you’ve been planning on breaking up with your boyfriend for a while, and jungkook is here to help.

● if i could lie by @alpacaparkaseok​

↳ exes to lovers, idol au, fluff, angst

“I’ll feel much better if you let me walk you home.”

● pretty boy by @inkedtae​

↳ friends to lovers, secret relationship au, fluff, smut

he’s just a pretty boy, a pretty boy ~ you wanna be his pretty toy.

● of caresses & promises by @ditttiii​

↳ married au, fluff, mild angst, smut

you love your husband and you know that he loves you just as much, if not more. but sometimes, you can’t help but feel like he could do better—better than you.

● when lightning strikes by @kookscrescent​​

↳ established relationship, smut

you are home alone as a storm is going on outside, and a wet jungkook comes home.

● christmas cream(pie) by @smoochkooks​

↳ established relationship, fluff, smut

a day before christmas dinner with your boyfriend’s parents, you discover another alternative way to use the chocolate cream you’re making. jungkook is more than willing to indulge in your little fantasy.

[agirlandherquill]

Written In Smoke - The Travelling Letter

it's been a very busy couple weeks, so to make up for my forgetfulness of making a letter last week i'll be combining the two together this week!

A Glimpse Through Time - little bits about me and what I’ve been up to this week

as the letter's name this week tells you, it's a travelling one, and also the biggest thing to happen in these past couple weeks, so here goes!

i went to bath! it was GORGEOUS and everything i hoped it would be

so, dear reader, i'm assuming you're wondering what i did on my trip, and what did i do? well:

I visited the Jane Austen Centre (it was the hottest day of the year so far, so of course i bought a fan, among a few other bits)

I also visited Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein (timed it so i finished reading frankenstein on the train there which was pretty awesome)

I obviously popped into Waterstones (snagged a copy of the maze runner, since i haven't read it in forever and my kindle copy has since been gifted to a relative)

and if you're interested, here's some of my pics from the trip! (a fair few are on my kodak, so until i fill the film roll and get those developed those ones are under wraps i'm afraid!)

I don't want to spoil the experience for anybody so I'll just show a couple from the jane austen centre:

me, ink, and a quill (very ironically) don't mix, i ended up covered which wasn't a surprise at all, but it was very fun to do (and difficult, and i thought fountain pens could be challenging)

and mary shelley's house of frankenstein:

being the only one in the room at the time was a strange sensation to say the least but when this giant starts BREATHING it's a fright

super cool movie posters

and if anyone else attempts the 'touch if you dare' electrocution bit this is me giving you a heads up - my phone ended up flying out my hand onto the bare wooden floorboards of the house (that shock HURT)

and then some of the things i was lucky enough to see - it really is a beautiful place

needless to say i'm so, so glad that I went on this trip (even if it was terrifyingly exciting to do on my own, when my trains got cancelled and delayed and i nearly got stuck in london for a night (just had to go when the computers crashed globally didn't i? and a heatwave to boot)

now for the rest of this section!

books: of course I had to prep for my trip by reading frankenstein, sense and sensibility, and northanger abbey, and while i've been recovering from 11km of walking (so worth it) i've been reading it happened one summer which is so, so good!

shows/movies: i started rewatching the boys, finished watching the original star wars trilogy and i finished s5 of Dexter, so a bit of a busy couple weeks too

music: this one's a bit tougher since i've been so busy reading/watching things, but here's a few of the tracks i've been listening to this time round: bleachers by haiden henderson, animals by maroon V, and lilith by halsey

Spills From The Ink-Pot - writing, writing, and more writing

where do i start?

the calendar project is going well - this is day 9, and i've made a good start on chapter two

ruin's reprisal, i'm ashamed to say, hasn't been touched this week since i've been so busy, but i'm determined to finish the draft by the end of july (utterly terrifying)

also started dabbling in fanfic again (if such a thing is possible, it's been such a long time that i don't really know) which is a really daunting prospect but i'm looking forward to exploring it and how i write it some more

now, i usually include some snippets here but since all of my writing time has gone into the calendar project this week that's all I've got, so feel free to check out the most recent pages from my master post!

bit of a double whammy to make up for my lateness but here you go! this week's letter is all typed up, compiled and heading your way!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

Tag List! (if you want to be notified when a WIS post comes out, interact with this post :) )

@lead-to-code @catwingsathena @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @thestorywitch @lunaeuphternal

@theaistired @frostedlemonwriter

[sharksandjays]

heyy sorry idk how this works im new but im really curious abt your fav fanfics if you dont mind sharing🫢

hi there! I'm gonna assume you mean ninjago since thats all i post lol. To be perfectly honest I don't read THAT much fanfiction, and my favourites are ones that are pretty much legends for jay fans (because most fanfiction I read is jay fanfiction)

But here are my favourites :)

When You Think You're All Alone by MondotheBombo, a beautiful beautiful beautiful ALL TIME FAV rewrite of Skybound if Ninjago wasn't a coward. Lotsa Jay torture. 100/10

Would You Like To Enter Prime Empire? by Finn_M_Corvex, ANOTHER awesome rewrite but this time of Prime Empire (we really need better Jay focus seasons guys.) It explores the scrapped concept of Jay's bio mom having something to do with the game. A really amazing read and I wait EARGELY for each new chapter release.

Meet Again by northpen. A reincarnation fic set THOUSANDS (hundreds? Im bad at time) of years in the future where Cole and Zane are the only ones left alive...or so they thought until Cole saw someone who looked just like Kai- An amazing read. I was bawling many times. I love the scrunklies.

And last, but certainly not least. the legendary Play To Win by sadisthetic (our lord and saviour). Literally just Jay being tortured its AMAZING. But it has lots of Bruise angst and its REALLY well written.

Hope this is what you wanted!

[sohychocochips]

favorite fan — a triple s sohyun fanfic

image cr: pinterest

synopsis: you've always been a wav, since you can remeber and you've always had a huge crush on your bias, park sohyun, since you can remember

warning: im still a baby wav! so i don't know much about triple s and etc, still learning. but i saw there is only one fic abt sohyun here so i had to step up ♡♡ also, english is not my first language !!!! pls correct me if i type anything wrong !!!! thank youu ♡♡♡

dinamics: triple s idol sohyun x cute fan f!reader

info: so so much fluff and cute interactions + a little suggestive

start reading here:

you think you've never been that cheerful in your life, you're a fan of triple s since their debut and now you're gonna watch their first ever tour! isn't that cool? you lost a bit of your enthusiasm while waiting on the line tho, but you were happy your favorite group had so many fans supporting them. the stadium is full of people and you make sure that you ran enough to get a place close enough to see sohyun live well. you don't say it out loud, you think people are gonna find weird, even your friends, but you are romanticaly obsessed with sohyun. c'mon, who isn't !? but you're not obsessed in a weird way, you just love her so much and wants her to be so happy even if it's not if you. cause she would never choose a silly 18 years old to date, right? you didn't even know if she likes girls and you don't like assuming people's sexualities. while you distract yourself thinking how gorgeous she will be live, the concert starts. the intro was awesome! all 24 girls sing incredibly well live, and dance and rap well and of course are sooooo pretty. you can't take your eyes of sohyun, as always, and you didn't notice, but she noticed you, the only fan that was not recording. you know you're gonna miss the videos later but you want to enjoy the view without caring about camera angles. as you scream for her, she thinks you're just so cute. she also thinks you have such a beautiful smile and pretty makeup with a lot of blush, that makes you even cuter. she loved to know that you exist. the entire concert was amazing, and of course you used all your family's money to go on every single one of the concerts that tour, you're not rich, but your grandparents are, and sometimes the right thing is just taking advantage of that! ypu had so much fun in each one of them, even if they all had the same tracklist. and, can't skip that little fact: in the middle of the tour sohyun started interacting with you, she was always near you and talking to you and even asked for your phone to record a little, you were just soooo happy, the happiest you ever been. months have gone by and you still re watch that video everyday, especially today! after many tries and albums you got it, you're going to a fansign of the queens. it's just so fun talking to them, you just finished your 2 minutes with kotone and xinyu, almost the last members, but the last one was actually sohyun, you move to her space very nervous, you gulp.

"hello" she says, not looking at you yet. "wait, it's you! what's your name, darling?"

"hm, hello. it's y-y/n"

"eyyy, you were not that nervous with other members" she jokes and smiles. oh, that smile, you were hypnotized by it.

she gets your album, signs and draws or writes something else, whathever, her looks and sweetness with you are more important now.

"so, y/n, tell me a lil more about you" she asks flirty while taking your hands and massaging them. you look at her hands in yours and think you need to be brave, you only have this chance to talk to her and cause a good impression

"im 18 years old, i like to dye my hair, also bows and bunnies and cute things in gerenal and of course i love triple s" you're a little awkward, but you hear her saying "cute" in a low volume and laughing.

"it'll be little bunny then" she smirks

"hm?" you're lost in confusion

"you're nickname! think of one for me too!" why is she so flirty with you? you try to forget that, you're probably being too delulu. she must be like that with everybody

"your time is over" the staff says, being a little too harsh with you for sohyun's taste

while leaving, you can hear her saying "don't talk like that to her, she's such a good girl" and that made you so happy you almost screamed, but had to hold it in.

when you got home you remembered the sign, you were there for it! when you open your album on sohyun's page you have a surprise, a little text and a phone number. it says "love, you really like me, right? please send me a text soon! i'll be waiting, i trust in you, i'm sure you'll never share my number with anyone xx xxxx-xxxx"

you won't lie, you cry a little, keep looking at the paper thinking "how the fuck is that real?" and suddently "what if it's not real!?" then you remembered, she was waiting for you. you pick your phone on the maximum speed you can and type sohyun's number. add to contacts, talk to.

"hello!" you say

"hi! who is it?" she says

"it's y/n 🥺🥺 is this the right number 🥺🥺" you felt a little awkward

"little bunnyy" ok, it must be her

"you though on a nickname for me?"

"i like to call you sohy unnie"

"cute ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ"

"as expected from my little bunny"

hers? hers little bunny? you've never been hapier, laying on your bed, kicking your feet, because THE PARK SOHYUN called you her little bunny. you want to be hers so bad.

"yah, don't stop talking to me" she's a little possessive too?? oh my god! when will you two marry?

"im here, don't worry" you never know what to say around her, you get your favorite juice to make everything the most confortable the possible

"i can't be mad at you! cutie!"

"do you happen to want to go on a date with me?" you spill your juice.

PART 2 SOON ! THANKS FOR READING TILL THE END LOVE YOUU ♡♡

[raxistaicho]

Reyna’s not at the end of dealing with Edelgard yet! Edelgard in Thracia, chapter one

So who’s familiar with ReynaAtTheEnd? She (I remember reading Reyna’s a she from some of her mutuals, I’m going to assume that’s accurate, but if not I’ll swiftly correct it) wrote a fanfic called The Savior King, The Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation, a sort of Azure Moon/Verdant Wind fusion fanfic that are all the craze with Dimiclaude shippers, in which they form a polycule with Byleth.

Oh and also Edelgard Takes a Level in Dumbass and Jerkass, and only generally makes appearances when it’s time for her to get her shit kicked in by the heroes.

Well, Reyna decided to try her hand at giving Edelgard a redemption story, and we all know how wonderful it is when Edelgard haters try to “redeem” her. And she did this by thrusting Edelgard into the plot of Thracia 776, so uhh...

But before we go any further:

DO NOT, I REPEAT: DO NOT, under any circumstances, harass Reyna! I don’t wanna hear about people leaving her insulting messages, folks! I mean it!

EMPEROR. IT’S EMPEROR. Edelgard is never called an empress, Reyna!

From the summary:

Edelgard lost everything - her country, her ideals, her life - to Agartha and to the choices she made.

No, she lost them to Reyna’s hatred for her. And also to Byleth, Dimitri, and Claude being the biggest god-mode incarnations of themselves I’ve ever seen and commanding a kickass army including both the Kingdom and Alliance unified against her, alongside basically all the Relics, and even Rhea and the Immovable. Yeah, Reyna wanted Indech to kaiju it up on Edelgard so bad she wrote him out of character and had him fight on Byleth’s side.

Queen of Liberation was also the story where Edelgard, after being beaten, was captured by Thales, subjected to her trauma again, beaten, tortured, turned into an enslaved monster, and subsequently dispatched like an enemy of the week with no fanfare.

Just so everyone’s aware of where Reyna stands.

Upon awakening in another world ruined by war, she despaired and began going through the motions; only for another cult of evil and a very different dragon god to force her hand - and, perhaps, truly turn her into the revolutionary leader she had wished to be. 

No, she was a revolutionary leader. I know Edelgard detractors don’t like it, but,

Her detractors have long tried to twist things do that Edelgard can’t be a revolutionary because she’s someone in power herself, but Rhea and Seteth don’t appear to have gotten the memo on that.

On to the first chapter proper:

So we open with Edelgard suddenly waking up and trying to work things out. Very sadly, at that.

Consciousness came to her one bit at a time. It was cool, wherever she was. The pain was gone – the spire of the Viskm ramming through her is the last fragmented memory that she has. 

Yeah she died when the Wandering Beast slammed her through a Viskam. Reyna has a weird habit of making her fight scenes grizzly affairs like something out of fucking Akame Ga Kill!, but still permitting Claude to get paragraphs-long breaking speeches in the middle of a fight because Claude is just so awesome~

It didn't make sense. She died, hadn't she? The miserable joke of her life, her broken ideals and woeful attempt to change the world had ended when the Wandering Beast did her a kindness and slammed both of them through the floor and impaled her demonic body. Wasn't that enough? Wasn't it enough, Sothis?! 

Sothis may forgive you, but Reyna never will, Edelgard. Bolding mine, btw, we gotta get Edelgard nice and miserable before everything else begins.

Myson had brute forced the procedure that she and her loyal mages had been looking into and the transformation had ripped her apart and reassembled her into a parody, a sick combination of the myths of the Crest of the Beast and those dragons. 

The word “dragon” doesn’t appear to exist in Fodlan. Demonic Beasts are always called Demonic Beasts, and Nabateans are always called Children of the Goddess. The only instance we see of the word “dragon” comes from the name of the Dragon Claw gauntlet weapons.

Edelgard soon realizes she’s alive and has her free will again, but her body’s too weak to move. She wonders at first if this is some punishment from Sothis, but no, it’s punishment from Reyna, Edelgard.

Thales's horror. The instinctive reminder felt like a joke, making her feel sick as soon as it rushed up. No, she had participated in that horror and turned her nose up at those who expressed their qualms about it. Horror had been too useful to reject.

Time for Edelgard to castigate herself, folks :)

Useful! Oh, it had been so useful in the end, it turned her people against her and reduced her to a monster, a pawn sacrificed to buy a little bit of time. 

Reyna wants to make damn sure Edelgard knows she was never in control.

The suffering had fuelled the machine of war, alright

That “alright” is taking me out, I can’t picture Edelgard talking that way.

– consuming all that she'd tried to build. Maximus Varley, Ladislava, Randolph... everything they had done had only made the Alliance and the Kingdom more determined to defeat them. Had only caused her own people harm; burning in wild fires in front of the monastery, 

Ahh, yes, that was one of the instances of Claude’s ~~brilliant scheming~~

So, see, he had Constance bolting the Imperial forces because Claude’s ~~brilliance~~ in Queen of Liberation generally came in the form of having access to knowledge the actual Claude didn’t have or telling people to do things they were already going to do and being given the credit by the narration, such as when Constance hit some “dry grass” and started a fire:

The problem with this?

This is at the tail end of the Winter. I know it’s Always Spring in Three Houses, but this is meant to be happening in Winter, as all the monthly narration cards show lots of snow. Further, Garreg Mach is always shown to be quite lush, indicating they get plenty of rain there. I’m from California, I know what dry grass looks like :p

Oh yeah, and the people with Crests doing awesome shit is a recurring theme of Reyna’s work, thus proving Edelgard right about Fodlan! 

Ironic.

starving in the fields as the spring seeds died without farmers to tend to them,

Because Edelgard Took a Level in Dumbass and levied farmers who needed to tend the fields.

 subjected to kidnapping and experimentation and stripping of their humanity.

Because Edelgard Took a Level in Dumbass and Jerkass and kidnapped rando citizens to turn into Demonic Beasts instead of using prisoners or something.

Hey, I’m not saying the latter would be any more moral, I’m just saying it would be the smarter move, meaning the kind of evil pragmatic Edelgard her detractors believe in would go for it.

Edelgard angsts some more:

She had presumed so much. You would think that an emperor would be immune to fanciful thinking. 

Fight Reyna’s control, Edelgard! D: You’re better than thiiiiiiiiis.

After everything she'd experienced, she had thought that her perspective had changed enough that she was. After seeing the rot in the world, she should have been more clearheaded, not less. After seeing her siblings suffer and die, Justine holding on only to be a prisoner in her own body.

...It should have made her care more about the people who's lives she was responsible for, not less.

She does care, Reyna. Stay mad.

That was why she forced herself to use the Agarthans, threw her whole kingdom into the chance of changing that system for good -

Empire, Reyna, Edelgard’s not in charge of a Kingdom. Dimitri is.

...and became the reason her people suffered instead.

It’s funny how the actual Edelgard comes to terms with this before her war even starts, but because that doesn’t leave room for Edelgard being surprised by her ineptitude and castigating herself we need to just edit that out of her brain so she can feel bad, as Reyna wants her to.

This is true despair, isn't it?

Was this what Dimitri felt after the Tragedy? What Byleth felt, after Kronya and Thales were able to kill her father, because she had given the, them easy access to the monastery?

(weak laughter) Reyna, you really are on the Edelhater best hits collection.

Thales and Kronya would have gotten in even if Edelgard weren’t around, Solon already proved that.

Then, Edelgard starts thinking about Dimitri! Oh boy.

Her step brother. How had she forgotten...? 

...Trauma.

He...had remembered her, hadn't he? That's why he had hovered around her, had acted protective in a way she had found bizarre and patronizing coming from a stranger – because he hadn't been a stranger. 

Edelgard, honey, that didn’t happen. Dimitri in Queen of LIberation doesn’t think about you. It takes until the week after Flayn’s kidnapping - a full half a year around her - before he starts thinking about the time he shared with her. Everything before that? Dry and clinical, no thought for his time with you or any thought about you.

Even after his own pain, he'd remembered her and cared; her pain had taken all those memories away and left her feeling nothing. 

Even when Dimitri isn’t around, we have to be reminded how great he is.

We could have destroyed Agartha together, Edelgard thought in a shining moment of clarity, coming out of a sleeplike moment yet again. Him, I, Byleth. Even Riegan, infuriating as he would have been to deal with, we... together, we could have...

It’s a ~~moment of clarity~~ for her that she could have just talked things out worked with Byleth and Claude like a good girl.

Sad. Sad and pathetic. Why was she only realizing this now? 

Because defeating the Agarthans wasn’t your objective, Edelgard. Overthrowing Fodlan’s oppressive Crest-based aristocracy was.

Edelgard asks Reyna Sothis why things gotta be this way, then,

She doesn't expect a response. Edelgard expected less than nothing, really; the active goddess was with Byleth, after all. 

Oh yeah, Sothis doesn’t fuse with Byleth such that she can’t talk anymore in Queen of Liberation, because it’d be off-brand if she wasn’t around to convey her Nabatean wisdom against Edelgard’s cause, but she DOES grant Byleth her... life force or some shit to give Byleth a powerup.

Look, Reyna wanted Byleth to get her shounen mid-season powerup, and she also wants Sothis around as a mouthpiece for how great the Nabateans are. She gets things both ways and you can suck it!

Why would [Sothis] have any sympathy for her at all? Naming her children monsters and ordering their deaths, 

That thing Edelgard doesn’t do!

allying with the Agarthans who hated her.

I wonder how Reyna feels about Sothis having no problem with Byleth going CF?

It’s implied Sothis reaches out to Edelgard, and she falls into unconsciousness. Edelgard wakes up in what is described to be akin to a peasant house somewhere, then,

“...poor dear.” A woman murmured, her hand brushing along Edelgard's forehead again.

“I just found 'er on the side of the road...” A man – no, a boy. Maybe Ashe's age, his voice heavy with an unfamiliar country lilt. “Couldn't see any sign that anyone was comin' back for her, so I couldn't just leave her there...”

“Must have been running from bandits, or Lifis's pirates.” The woman decided. “Or even the army. She's not old enough to have been in one of the Hunts, do you think?”

OH NO, did Edelgard get saved by Ronan? Did she get saved by Mekkah’s favorite RNG meme unit? Probably-Ronan and his mom talk a bit, Ronan implied Lifis’s goons might’ve sexually assaulted her, but his mom assures him there was no sign of it when she bandaged Edelgard’s wound, then she namedrops Heim and the gods.

Heim? Gods, plural? The people of Fodlan would have prayed to the Goddess and her alone. Oh, Sothis had done something to her all right. Brought her back to life and dumped her in some strange place...?

I’m sure we’re gonna see Edelgard take umbrage with the Jugdral gods, but given they’re distant except in times of great peril she probably wouldn’t really care about them.

“I've just about got the tea ready, Ronan.

Oh no T_T

Imagine getting saved by a low-tier scrub unit whose only notable trait is he might move around and attack a lot or he might do nothing valuable on the turn.

Her body aches faintly, but otherwise the bed she's on – while rough and wollen – is comforting in a strange way. No hard operating table, no too-soft mattress that felt increasingly like an embodiment of hypocrisy.

This is some weird tense jumping, I have to say.

Also we’ve just gone full on, “Yet you participate in society. Curious!”

Edelgard mostly just pretends to be unconscious and wangsts while Ronan and his mom care for her.

Edelgard could count on two (three, three, Dimitri had-) 

Again, Edelgard didn’t remember Dimitri and Dimitri was too busy gushing about Claude to remember her.

people after her sibling's death and her father's crippling 

Crippling? Oh no, does Reyna believe in that nonsense “Ionius tried to give himself the Crest of Flames!” theory that’s supposed to “explain” why he looks so sickly?

who'd given her companionship and kindess. And where had that gotten them? Hubert died because of her 

No, he died as collateral damage to Reyna’s punishment of her.

and she spurned Byleth for the sake of her vision because how could she understand when she was hosting the goddess -

Byleth didn’t care about Edelgard either.

Edelgard gets up, Ronan and his mom mention she’s in in Iz, in Thracia, neither of which Edelgard knows, naturally, then asks her where she’s going:

“You wouldn't,” Ronan reassured her. “We're a small village; I doubt most Thracians could point us out on the map.” Thracians? A people who's name she'd never heard. But what else did she expect after dying? “We're right up on the ocean; most of us are fishers, and nobody important lives for miles. We're on the way to some important places, but you'd be in for a bit of a hike to get to them. Were you headed somewhere specific?”

Edelgard thinks briefly of some things she might tell them, and dumps them all immediately. She didn't have a life to go back to; she was a failed conqueror, a villain in a cautionary tale that would last in Fodlan for all time, a... a pawn of greater evil. She felt so numb when that thought circled her mind. Empty and hopeless.

“Not really.” She said with a slight shake of her head. “I had been captured by cultists, and in my efforts to get away from them, fled for as long as I could in a random direction. I lost any sense of where I was, only that I got away.”

This whole fic is going to be Edelgard lamenting her actions and coming to Jesus, isn’t it.

Also, this is some weird tense.

Also also, Edelgard describing the Agarthans as cultists is kinda contrived so we could bring up the Loptr Cult.

Ronan and his mom immediately assume the Loptyrians targeted her for their Child Hunts, thinking maybe they branched out in age, and I have to wonder how well common people knew the Loptyrians were involved? Obviously they’d know the Grannvale Empire was behind it, but the church? Idk.

Anyways, Ronan’s mom promises Edelgard is safe because,

“We aint got no Belhalla bootlickers or Travant's sycophants in Iz. They won't know you're here and none of us are gonna talk.”

First off, what medieval peasant would know the word “sycophant”? Also, considering both Grannvale and the people of the Manster District hate the Thracians, I seriously doubt Trevant has many fans at all in northern Thracia.

Edelgard asks why they’re helping her, and she’s gobsmacked to learn it’s just because they think it’s the right thing to do, because evidently Edelgard in this universe has never considered doing a kind thing for the sake of it, pleaseignorehersupportstheyruinReyna’spoint.

Edelgard offers to help Ronan and his mother around the house in repayment for their help and we get this,

“Oooh...” The mother's brow furrows, wanting to refuse but unable to resist the offer of an extra pair of hands. “You're a kind girl, Edelgard.” Edelgard nearly chokes on absolutely nothing, thankfully managing to pull up her solemn mask in time. It would be rude to laugh in this woman's face over her misplaced compliment.

After seeing how often butwhatifidothis got mad at how self-loathing Edelgard is in The Emperor and the Goddess, it’s ironic as hell that Reyna is doing the same thing in this fic. Just for wildly different reasons.

Anyways, Ronan and his mom just urge her to rest for now.

The twosome leave the room... allowing Edelgard to bury her face in her hands and tangle her fingers tightly in her hair, and wonder what all of this was supposed to mean. Why hadn't she just been allowed to die? Why did she have to live when her ideals had failed her and her empire? 

Your ideals didn’t fail Adrestia, Edelgard, the deck was just stacked inordinately against you because Reyna had a point to make in the previous fic.

Was this some kind of messed up trial?! 

Ahh, yes, I can totally see Edelgard calling something, “messed up”.

What is voice, Reyna? What is voice?

Then we end the chapter with a whopper:

She gritted her teeth and lifted her head out of her hands. And that's when she noticed that the strands between her fingers are a vibrant heather brown. Not white. Her heart almost stopped in shock. After a second, she reached inside herself and tried to pull power from her unwanted Crest, from the blood of the Goddess.

Nothing. It's gone. The Crest of Serios was still there, dormant and lethargic to her calls, but the Sword of Damocles that had hung above her...is gone.

Edelgard slowly ran her fingers through her hair, restored to its natural colour, and slumped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

 You are no one's pawn now. What will you do?

Edelgard never was anyone’s pawn outside Reyna’s fic.

I’m a bit curious why she left the Crest of Seiros intact. I could guess it’s better because it’s “natural”, or maybe Edelgard needs to turn to Jesus embrace her Nabatean origins, or something. Guess we’ll find out, huh?

Now that’s the end of the chapter, but before I let ya go, there’s the Author’s Notes:

So! ...I woke up today and wrote multiple pages of this after figuring that I disliked Edelgard too much to write it. 

Disliking her didn’t stop you dedicating entire chapters to Edelgard and her laser-guided karma in Queen of Liberation, Reyna.

Clearly I underestimated my desire to 

make her suffer more

write this plot and all the thematic parallels within. Some readers felt that I was too harsh on Edelgard in The Savior King, 

GEE, YA THINK?

Time to show you folks what Reyna thinks is a fair portrayal of Edelgard.

But as a warning, some of this shit gets pretty brutal and if you don’t want to see Edelgard’s in-depth, lovingly-described suffering, scroll down a bit.

That’s one of the Ten Elites calling her a fool. Yeah the Ten Elites are in Queen of Liberation btw, can’t have a Battle Shounen without a recurring miniboss squad!

Ditto.

Also none of the Ten Elites would call Seiros a hero. They didn’t even know why she was fighting them!

Here’s Edelgard getting bricks tossed at her by rioting citizens, and of course all she can do to restore order is scream “I’m your emperor >:(” at them.

With an added helping of the same rioting citizens telling Edelgard how fuckin’ amazing Claude and Dimitri are!

Here’s Edelgard getting a brick dropped on her by the citizens of Enbarr while she’s getting epically pwned by Byleth’s god mode army at Enbarr. Because medieval peasants will just trust that the invading army has their back :)

Here’s Edelgard getting PWNED by Failnaught so bad that metal bits get stuck in her eyes.

~~Bonus round~~ The metal shards get healed permanently into her eye :)

You know whenever I feel like maybe I don’t portray Dimitri or Rhea as fairly as I could in On Black Wings, I can just remind myself I stick to them losing arguments or losing battles they canonically do lose. I don’t fucking torture them physically while I’m at it.

We’re not done yet!

Of course Lysithea has to also pwn the fuck out of Edelgard, dropping an Abraxas bomb on her (who the fuck gets Lysithea to A faith?) and of course she had Thyrsus because this is a Battle Shounen fanfiction and as such the only way to make Lysithea look impressive is to have her use the Relic everyone staples onto her and have her drop TEH BIG MAGICZ.

And of course, even the Agarthans have to get in on saying Edelgard’s a gigantic fuck up and Thales should’ve totally went with Claudlouch vi Yagami-Britannia instead.

...”Just as planned” is a short-lived catch phrase of Claude’s. I told you Queen of Liberation reads like a shounen.

Anyways, we’re not done yet.

Here’s Myson planning to place Edelgard under mind-control once they take her back to Shambhala.

And here’s Edelgard again being subjected to her childhood trauma by being shackled underground once again.

Here’s random Agarthans insulting her as though she’s not around. One of the random Agarthans is named Matt.

MATT.

M A T T.

Oh but of course Thales has only praise for god-mode Claude:

“There were other factors involved, of course. That boy Riegan... Solon had spoken a number of times about inviting him into the truth, yet in the end he found it all by himself. From what I've learned from our spies that were able to get close to him from time to time, he created this Alliance, he planned the attacks and counterattacks...he knew about our partnership with her before he even knew it was her behind the mask; not by yet another act of stupidity on her part, but solely through guile and extrapolating from what little that deserter was able to tell him.”

Here’s Odesse beating Edelgard.

Here’s Odesse beating Edelgard again, and also calling her such lovely gender-charged insults: “Bitch, useless bitch, pig, inbred cretin”.

In German.

Yes, German is used for the Agarthan language in Queen of Liberation.

You see, the Agarthans may all have Greek-originated names, named their tools after Greek figures, and use Cyrillic, a script derived from Greek script, but eh, what’s the difference, when you get right down to it, they’re both from Europe!

This isn’t even the worst case of Reyna carelessly using one language or culture as a replacement for another: she has Japanese serve as the language of the very obviously middle-eastern inspired Almyra.

The fic that’s supposed to be about racism being bad has racist elements in its narrative, how ironic.

Anyways, back to Reyna’s treatment of Edelgard.

Here’s Edelgard realizing she was a foolish foolish girl and being told what by some rando Agarthan kid.

And to top it all off, Thales turns her into the Hegemon Husk and she’s summarily dispatched without much fanfare like a Monster of the Week.

And to finish it up (though there’s plenty more I could share), here’s Edelgard having a Villainous Breakdown because zomgCLAUDHLID!!! beat her:

As I (paraphrased) put it in a comment,

That’s not Edelgard. That’s Dimitri playing the role of Edelgard and constantly breaking character.

Content warning ends here!

and while I still feel her portrayal is grounded largely in canon

You had Edelgard behave like an idiot who derided Dimitri as a worthless madman and scorned Claude for being mixed race. The only semblance of Edelgard’s pre-existing character in the sad caricature you crafted for Queen of Liberation was that she waged war on the church.

But yeah, this creature isn’t Edelgard. At least not the Edelgard from Three Houses. It’s the one Reyna wanted to fight, a foolish would-be tyrant duped into war on behalf of the Agarthans who then folds and fails like all the red emperors to come before her. A fool who has a breakdown and is punished for the things she did so that Reyna could feel oh-so-superior for having bested her.

Edelgard is not the strawman you crafted for your fanfiction, Reyna. She’s a compassionate revolutionary who makes the hard decision nobody else is willing to make. Graceful and strong, capable of out-planning Claude (recall that in the actual Three Houses, the real Claude, who can lose things, admits that Edelgard was fooling everyone) and beating Dimitri in a fight. And in the end, she’s poised and accepting in defeat.

Reyna doesn’t want that Edelgard. Much like most of Edelgard’s detractors, Reyna doesn’t like the Edelgard that actually exists in Three Houses. She wanted the strawman she could beat and feel good about beating, so she crafted this sad creature for her fanfiction and tried to pass it off as the original. And then, for all that she said she felt bad for having put her through torture at the end, she still did it. With loving detail, with determined consistency, and with zero mercy she heaps just about every indignity and torment one can imagine upon this fictional character. And why? 

It’s fairly normal for a villain to undergo some suffering and breakdown once their karma houdini warranty expires, but I’ve never seen such karma run for so consistent a length, nor go so far, as to compare to what Reyna does to Edelgard. She could also have done it to express why she thinks Edelgard will fail in Crimson Flower - which would likely to be actual excuse if asked - except if that’s all she wanted she could have had Thales express how doomed Edelgard was to the heroes instead - as a way to puff himself up, for example. But no, Reyna wants it all expressed to Edelgard’s face, to punish her and put her in her place.

You don’t write torture in the vivid detail Reyna did out of obligation, folks.

This story will be quite different in that regard, as you can probably guess by the premise!

Really? So far it feels like much of the same, only instead of other people calling Edelgard a stupid failure, this time she’s doing it to herself.

I really wanted to like Edelgard. She makes me sad as much as angry because she's so close to being a really good complex character, but the writing really fell down on her parts. 

Might’ve helped if you actually understood anything about her and didn’t try to simplify her into a tyrannical racist who just wanted power.

I guess a part of me really wanted to give her a chance to be that character, and develop into something more.

Oh boy, can’t wait to see what Reyna’s ideal Edelgard is. It sure won’t involve cunning or guile, given her standard method of making a character look smart is to beam knowledge into their heads or provide them an OC to give them information they wouldn’t otherwise have, and she writes her fight scenes like something out of a Battle Shounen.

There will only be minimum references to The Savior King and the events thereof, and they'll be fairly spread out.

Please let that be true.

As a final note, here’s some choice excerpts from the comments:

I feel like I should reiterate that I think that Edelgard had immense potential to be a very complex and very interesting figure

“So I simplified her and made her a stupid villain.”

but that potential got lost in how selfish and self-serving she is in the games proper. 

As I put it in a tweet that surprisingly blew up:

Imagine taking Edelgard, who only wanted a normal life but instead dedicated the entire rest of it in painstaking  service to the people of Fodlan, who honestly believed her path would end with her alone and maybe even hated by all, and saying she's SELFISH. Good god.

Anyways,

Her backstory is very tragic, and with a little tweaking in regards to the Seven's role in it - emphasizing religious zealotry on their part, have the Agarthans step back to let the nobles seem like the instigators - would have made it perfect.

Reyna thinks Edelgard was unjustified to target the church, so that’s another thing she didn’t understand about Three Houses.

Edelgard targeted the church because the church upholds Fodlan’s obsession with Crests, which was the root of her and many others’ suffering.

I will go to my grave insisting that Edelgard could have been a great character. 

She is, stay mad.

I still dislike her portrayal in the games and very much dislike how Three Houses and especially Three Hopes coddle her and refuse to let anyone criticize her meaningfully

That’s because it’s never in doubt that she’s right about Fodlan’s broken status. The only thing that’s ever in question is her methods.

And here we go with the usual “nobody says she’s bad to her face enough times!”

They almost certainly were!; though I think Arvis was a better realized character than Edelgard in the games proper.

I swear, Edelgard haters insisting that Arvis was so great has made me like him less. I mean, in the end he was just a man with a complex over having lost his mother and really just killed Sigurd out of petty romantic jealousy. His big plan to reform the land has few details beyond, “I will be a better king than the past one” and, unlike Edelgard, he was genuinely being used by his dark mage allies. Also, there should be no situation that sees Arvis involved in any of these events as he never goes anywhere near Thracia.

Lastly, from someone who isn’t Reyna:

The bad thing about this (for Edelgard) is that she just literally ended up in fire emblem HELL. I've played every single FE game, and short of Fates: Lunatic Conquest, with no DLC to boost your exp. This world right here, is the absolutely most horrifyingly painful one to survive in.

Thracia is definitely gonna be a hell of a culture shock for her.

Does this person think Edelgard is unfamiliar with suffering?

Uhh, so yeah. That was bad! I’m just going to take this as a prelude to what the entire rest of the fic will be about: Edelgard hating her past actions, regarding herself as a failure and a pawn, and learning to embrace True Justice by basically learning she should have done things the Dimifan Headcanon way by embracing God and giving to the needy without disrupting anyone’s lives too much. We might even get to see some more abuse heading her way if Trevant, Manfroy, Veld, or Raydrik get their hands on her. I’ll consider it a home run if Reyna somehow fucks up Leif while she’s at it, and considering her earnest love for god mode protags that don’t screw up unless it’s dramatic and said screwing up doesn’t take too long to get undone, she probably will.

It’ll be terrible. And we’ll go through all of it :)

[cryptid-crawly]

Advice for Writing Fanfic

Assume your readers know what’s up. People read fanfic because they are, well, fans. Write with the assumption that your readers know the basics of the source material.

Don’t rewrite canon scenes unless you’ve significantly changed them. Whether it’s and AU or canon divergence, reading a play-by-play of the exact same scene as in canon (or one nearly identical with few or cosmetic changes) gets really old really fast. If there’s an important minor change, reference it in an original scene. If nothing changed and it’s canon divergence, your readers will assume it’s the same as canon. Want to rewrite an iconic canon scene in some vastly different AU? Change it up. Identify what elements of the scene are the most important and make something new that keeps the essence of those things.

Do not change your tags after the fact. To elaborate: this *specifically* means that you shouldn’t tag your fic with something only to go “ah-ha! It was a red herring!” and delete the tag later. Don’t do that. (A very dramatic example is tagging the fic as Everyone Lives/No One Dies and then deleting that later so you can have a surprise character death). Yeah, you might change your mind. In that case, let your readers know in the Author’s notes. But don’t do this on purpose.

Don’t worry about spoiling your plot. Have the greatest plot ever? Awesome! But people aren’t reading fanfic for new and original ideas (it’s transformative work for a reason). It’s great to write a complex and compelling story, but remember that first and foremost, people read fanfic to have a comfortable and familiar experience. It really really sucks to read 50k of something only to have a new tag/element thrown in as a surprise twist, when you intentionally try to filter that stuff out.

Write your summary to reflect what tropes/ships/setting your fic will have. This is part of not worrying about spoilers. Again, you may have a fantastic idea, but if you’re too afraid of spoiling it you may leave out too many details in the summary and people won’t be interested. Let your readers know what this story is about! Don’t be afraid to spoil some of the plot—I guarantee you it will make some people excited to “get to that point” in the fic. (For example, if character A secretly being a werewolf is an early plot twist, maybe don’t worry so much about revealing that in the summary?)

Don’t say you suck at summaries in the summary. Just trust me on this one. Write a summary like you’re convincing yourself to read the fic. Slap it on and go.

Stop using greenette, [color]-ette etc. That’s not done in published fiction.

Read published fiction. I don’t care what you read but read some of it occasionally. Otherwise you get used to the way that other fanfic writers write and ily all and am blown away by the creativity people put out into the world but many writers are new and learning and you’ll pick up bad habits. I personally recommend reading literary classics because 8 times out of 10 the writing is legit good. Not always, but it’s easier to guarantee good quality then just picking a random book.

Write for yourself. Yeah, whatever, this is lame advice. But it’s also true. Write what you want to read, otherwise you probably won’t have any fun. Eventually you’ll get to a point where you’re confident in your writing and you can go back and read your stuff and go “I am the funniest motherfucker in the room” and you’ll be right. (Replace “funniest” with whatever genre term applies to you. Like “angstiest”. Ignore that that isn’t a word.)

Comment on other people’s fics with questions. So technically this goes with the read published works one but it applies to both. The point is to develop literary analysis skills. When you read anything, think about it. Vague and unhelpful advice? Hell yeah that is. So if you want some concrete starting places: when you’re reading fic, ask yourself if you agree with how the author characterized your fav. Why did they act that way? Would you have written it that way? And engage with the author! This doesn’t mean point-blank saying “well I would’ve written it like this…” but if you notice a character decision you agree/disagree on or is interesting, simply ask “hey [xyz] scene/moment was interesting, why did you decide [blorbo] would do that?” Understand why authors made the choices they did in their writing. Learn. Grow. Flourish. Take over the world.

Occasionally revisit the source material. Reread or watch it or whatever applies. Dump fanon out of your head and think about the source. Please. I love you all, but please. Thank you.

To anyone who writes fanfic: I love you and thank you for sharing with the world. Hope this helps.

[arwamachine]

ao3 stats game

Thank you for tagging me, @thetimemoves!

Rules: Give us the links to your wonderful words with the most hits, most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, and least words.

Most Hits/Kudos/Comments/Bookmarks: Most hits, kudos, and comments—by a landslide—goes to Indefinite Lines. This is my post s4 mega-fuck-off of a fic that endeavored to take everything we were given in canon and turn it into something beautiful. Epic villains. BAMF!Rosie. Love for days.

To Stand Before the Storm still holds the title for most bookmarks, I assume because sheep. 🐑

Fourth Most Kudos: This is You Might Just as Well Be Blind, a fun-as-hell, fake-relationship-for-a-case, only-one-bed fic I managed to churn out at record speed for a fic exchange that somehow managed to turn out not that bad. Bonus BAMF!Hudders.

Most Words: Once again, Indefinite Lines by a landslide! This fic technically takes place over the course of 4,650 days. There was a lot to say.

Least Words: Excluding the Pridelocked poetry I wrote, that would be Origin of a New Species, the first fic I ever posted! This is a bit of an odd one, told from the perspective of a Sherlock who is so bored that he (metaphorically) devolves into a single-celled organism...until John helps, of course. This fic is a perfect example of why fanfic is so fucking awesome, because nowhere else would I be able to write that bullshit and have anyone else be willing to read it 😆