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#I usually just tag for archival purposes and not so others can find things please help/I apologize?

voids-ideas · 6 months

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Hi, this is my main blog. Where I throw (reblog) almost anything I see

Below the "read more" you can find a lot of information that may or may not be important

Here I just want to say:

Hi again, please do not insult anyone in my posts or where I can see it, or in general, idk. Respect everyone, It's not that hard

Warnings

One of the things I must warn you is that I am often on the phone and just give fast reblog, so many things are not usually tagged.

I think it's worth mentioning that I occasionally reblog things that are sexual content or +18 in general… in my defense, I'm over 18.

I hope it doesn't happen, but I do occasionally enter debates. I apologize but it's a guilty pleasure. I know they serve no purpose, but I like to argue with people

Interactions

I love any interaction that happens on any of my accounts, reblogs, messages, likes, asks, if you do any of those things I probably screamed with excitement when I saw it

In the case of asks and messages, there is the possibility that I am slow to respond, I tend to panic in social interactions

Also I recently remembered that I've always liked to give advice, I don't know if I'm too good at it, but if at some point you want to try asking an internet random stranger…. you have my permission to talk to me, as long as I feel comfortable giving advice on the subject, I will give you some advice or idk

Blogs (Why the fuck is there no yellow I wanted to make the damn flag)

Good omens obsession here, good omens obsession there: @im-the-j-in-anthony-j-crowley

Helluva boss and Hazbin hotel over here: @mrfancytalkcreepyvoice

If you don't know anything about aftg I really ask you to find out about the trigger warning first, but this is my aftg blog: @neiljostenmakesmyday

Blog where I sometimes share things about disability: @all-the-things-i

And this is my main blog. I define it as: Chaos

Fandoms

Things you may (or may not) see on this blog:

Good omens

Our flag means death

Interview with the vampire

Percy Jackson

Grishaverse

House MD

She-ra and the princesses of power

All for the game

The hunger games

Willow

Heartstopper

Heartbreak High

Hannibal

Prodigal son

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Marvel

Star wars

Nimona

The magnus archives

Doctor who

Dead boy detectives

The sandman

TAGS

I am God awful at tagging things even though I have been using Tumblr for at least 5 years now. I am especially forgetful when it comes to character or ship tags. This is an attempt at changing that.

#rambling for when I talk about... Nothing.

Feel free to request ship or character tags (as I usually forget them) in my ask inbox. My ship tag format usually goes #x/y.

I usually do not tag suggestive content (I just don't think about it, this blog is already 18+). I will tag explicit adult stuff with #nsft.

Content warning tags will use a single word, like #gore. This is to avoid typing gore cw instead of cw gore (for example) in case someone doesn't have that former tag iteration blocked.

I usually do not phobia tag (I might sometimes tag specific living beings like #bugs or #spiders. It is for archive navigation purposes but perhaps you could find it useful to hide them).

Feel free to request CW tags in my ask inbox.

MY TAGS

#myart for my visual art : from sketches to fully rendered, anything goes. I describe my rendered art for the visually impaired, and/or comprehensive visual clarity for an easier analysis. I usually do not describe sketches especially if posting a bunch of them.

#my writing for any kind of writing I put out. I don't write lots of polished stuff though. It's mostly summaries, script drafts and ideas I use to communicate with myself first, and then other people. It's hardly literature imo.

My individual OC tags go "#charactername tag" for easy navigation purposes.

"#Fist of the Comet" additional tag for Ta'rath post BG3 campaign

"#underdark siblings" for Joufos/Oulmat/Zilkon, their other family members and Oulmat's patron.

#TCOD for TCOD (until name changes).

I will add more tags here once relevant. Thank you.

#about me

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angeloparker · 1 year

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Random AO3 Points

I've noted the fandom is really still getting used to AO3 from what I can tell so I wanted to point out some things new users may not know and that I've picked up on from years on the site under various usernames and from interacting a lot with other writers/readers from other fandoms. For readers and writers.

For Readers

You can only give kudos to a fic once. So if you've given one on the first chapter of a story, you won't be able to do it again per chapter. Consider comments as a way to give feedback.

Collections are largely meant for events like challenges (big bangs, exchanges, etc), not for collecting your favorite stories. An unrevealed collection's purpose is usually to keep works concealed only until the challenge is over. If an author permits you to put a story in a collection and you mark it unrevealed for any variety of reasons, you wind up hiding that work from the rest of AO3 until the author either removes it or you reveal the collection again.

Instead of using collections use Bookmarks! It's a great way to find your favorite fics and you can make notes in them -- like memorable plot points, how you feel about it, or even a mention of where you left off reading. Please note, there are private bookmarks and public bookmarks. If you use a public bookmark, the author (and site) can see what you wrote about the story.

The archive is precisely that: an archive. Not a social media site. Why is this important? Because if you are looking for a fic or fic recs or to request a fic, you should not be doing it on AO3. Yes, in certain fandoms you'll come across "stories" that are someone looking to make requests, take requests, or looking for a story. The majority of AO3 users will report these and while it might take a while because their support team is made of volunteers, just don't do it.

Download your favorite stories. At any given moment an author could leave AO3 for any reason. You can download from AO3 in a multitude of formats, including PDF and various epubs to read on your devices. However, if an author deletes their work and you have it saved you cannot repost it and should only share it privately and even then do so in a way that is respectful of the creator's wishes if they had any.

For Writers

First of all: Engagement takes a while on the website, don't get discouraged.

Your kudos refresh in real time, your hits refresh every 30 minutes, so if you see your hits are 5 and your kudos are 6, it isn't a bug -- something isn't wrong. The system is catching up. Similarly, hits are measured within windows of time by visitor, so if some reads all 10 chapters of your completed fic, it will count as 1 hit and not 10.

Similarly to above, do not use a post to take requests. The archive is limited to fannish/transformative work. Use your Tumblr or Twitter to take requests or eventually it will get reported.

Placeholders similarly are not for AO3. An influx of Wattpad users have lead to people describing their story idea in a few sentences and posting it without any story written -- maybe to gain interest or maybe misunderstanding and thinking there is an algorithm they need to tap into for their fic to be found. Both are bad practice and will be reported and removed if there is nothing fannish/transformative in them.

There are mixed feelings when it comes to one-shot "books" -- or rather, one story where each chapter is a one-shot. In general, AO3 readers who have used the site for a long time will prefer them grouped by some kind of common theme -- such as the main pairing. When searching on the site, people like to look for certain things and filter them out -- so having a 50 chapter story of 50 individual one-shots with 50 different couples and individual tags is a nightmare and many users will skip past them since they can't discern what they're getting. Plus, you'll limit yourself in terms of hit count because of the aforementioned reason about hits refreshing.

A series is generally a better place to group things together, because people can still search out and filter out tags and things they do not want from your works page. I advise to only do a series if there is still a common theme. I have done them for things like requests and drabbles but only because I was uploading them all at once when I made my transition. In hindsight, I probably would have just made them separate one-shots but do like that anyone who made a request can go to those two series at once.

You cannot link to your Ko-fi, Patreon, or anything else that solicits for money for your work. You can, however, link to your social media site like Tumblr and if your Ko-fi/Patreon link is posted there, that's fine.

Utilize work skins for fun, visual and interactive elements. Tutorials do exist on AO3 and also Tumblr for the coding as AO3's CSS capabilities are limited.

Do not put in your author's notes, tags, or summary that if you don't get comments, you won't update.

Avoid being too self-deprecating with your summary and tags. I know tongue and cheek we're sometimes like "I suck at summaries" or "I don't know what to tag this" but it is better to make an effort and attract a reader than not give them enough to go on.

Tag appropriately. Especially for potentially triggering topics. For other things, ask yourself "is there enough of X in this story where if someone were looking for a story about it, they would be satisfied. If it's a consistent theme, tag it. If it's one character who appears for half a scene in a 20 chapter WIP, you can skip it.

Archive warnings: Use them. If you are writing about something that might be triggering to others but want to avoid warning for it to avoid spoiling your plot, you can choose the "Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings" and any reader should know that they could be getting into something. I personally like to just provide warnings because I would rather let people know and avoid them getting invested/turning them off. But the "choose not to warn" exists for a reason and you are within your rights to use it.

"Dead Dove: Do Not Eat" is not a catchall for any triggering topic. It's origins are from a television show and it was originally meant to essentially mean "does what it says on the tin, so don't be surprised with what you get." In other words, if you work includes non-con, graphic smut, various kinks, or elements that are an "acquired taste" you should not use the dead dove tag in lieu of those tags to describe a dark!fic. You should use it in combination with the appropriate tags as a way of saying "This really is what I say it is, so get involved at your own risk."

I'm sure I'll think of other things and come back and add to this eventually. If you, an AO3 user, disagrees with what I've said here, as I mentioned this is from my experience and a lot of time spent on subreddits and talking to other authors both in and out of the fandom. So feel free to make your own recommendations in your own post so newer users can get their own feel for how the archive functions for multiple people and craft their own experience while still being in line with the AO3 TOS.

#panda talkie post

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dove-tears · 2 years

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about time I make a pinned post lmao

Howdy, hi, hello, to all who may be newcomers or followers for awhile now, welcome to my absolute disaster of a blog, nothing about this place is consistent and for that I'm sorry. </3

I mostly like reblogging art and silly posts, so expect such things for the most part.

Aliases I go by:

Dove, Mattie

Pronouns, age, all that fun stuff:

she/her/they, minor (that is language for "don't be a weirdo, please"), autism/ADHD riddled as fuck B)

Disclaimers:

although I try my best to keep this blog a safe SFW space I tend to forget to tag stuff so please don't be afraid to reach out to me if you'd like anything filtered!

aside from the usual criteria, I'm not really one to be makin a whole DNI list, just don't be an ass or weirdo to me or others and we're all good. Though be warned if I feel something sketch abt you I may block you.

Tags:

#my artwork - where you'll find all my art

#insp - stuff that fuels my artistic endeavors, and maybe it can for you too :)

#text post/#headcanons - where I may infodump about my blorbos idk I don't use any other tag very often djfhdkjfh

Current hyperfixations/interests:

(Do note these change very frequently)

The Binding of Isaac

DragonVale

My Singing Monsters

Warrior Cats

Wings of Fire

Other blogs/places you can follow:

Littlest Pet Shop

Monster High

Rain World

(This space is a WIP so be on the lookout for more to come!)

-I plan to make an art sideblog eventually I'm just a lazyass djfkkfkglg

-@ask-the-wubbox is currently left up for archival purposes, don't know when I'm gonna return to it or if I ever am going to, asks are turned off.

-My Twitter, even though it's been months since I've touched it

-My Reddit (cringe I know)

-uhhhhhhh insert future soon to be Carrd here lmao

Kinlist:

you may have my mental illness for getting this far, as a treat.

#pinned post #long post

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sunriseclan-dali · 1 year

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About SunriseClan

Welcome to the clan. This is a blog and archive for my own cats using the game Clangen (with assistance from Catgen, a tool used to customize cats) which of course is based on the Warriors book series. The pixel art is not my own and originates from the game and original artist. However, if I find the motivation, I may draw my own art of the cats from time to time. Similarly, the prompts and events were not thought up by me, and though I can push things in a certain direction, all the credit for creativity goes to Clangen. This blog will primarily consist of in-depth documentation on my clan, the relationships within it, and their stories. At times the events and interactions in Clangen can be a little vague, and I'll usually leave it vague so that the details can be filled in by our personal interpretations and headcanons.

To be clear, the name "SunriseClan" is not unique, so feel free to use it for your own clan if you like. This is why I add my name to the blog to distinguish from other clans that might have the same name, currently or in the future.

The rest of this post will go over the details of how I run my clan and the content you'll find in this blog...

The Basics: Clan Content, Rules, and Warnings

The game itself has a content warning for "mild descriptions of gore, violence, and animal abuse" so please be aware that if you choose to engage with Clangen content, you may encounter these themes. Death and tragedy in general is a common occurrence in the Warriors books as well as Clangen.

The game includes gay, trans, nonbinary, and polyamorous cats, and I encourage this, thus I will not tolerate any discrimination. I don't care about any potential excuses or reasons you have to reject this— if you have complaints, keep them far away. That said, as I go along I will be using whichever pronouns the character used at the time, so if one changes their gender identity, the gender displayed at the top of their pages will be edited, but I won't go back to change the pronouns used in old events.

For romance settings, I have disabled romance between former apprentices and their mentors, as well as romance between related cats. I will also try my best to restrict romance to cats who are relatively close in age, or at least situations where the older cat didn't know the younger cat when they were a kit.

How My Blog & My Clan Works

For every season (3 moons), I'll post an update of all the events as they happen. Additionally, each cat will have their own posts solely detailing their own story and their interactions with other cats, which will regularly be edited as the story continues. The easiest way to find these is through tags.

I currently have asks open. If anybody happens to be interested in Sunriseclan, you can ask questions either to me, or even to my cats! There can be aspects of an ask-blog here if anybody wants that, where I can draw my cats answering the questions you have for them.

To be completely up-front, I am not hesitant to tamper with my clan for story purposes. I won't let bias effect who lives or dies, but if a cat has great potential and their story seems to be leading somewhere, I'm not going to let them die by freak accident on a random patrol unless that could lead to something interesting. That would be like if Tigerclaw died in book two by sudden fox attack before he did anything significant, it's just bad writing. I will also do this for aesthetic purposes— I promise not to tamper with this too much, but for example if a huge handful of the clan has the same pose or the same pattern just with minor colour changes (as tends to happen), I'm going to use Catgen to modify them a little for the sake of interesting character design.

I will follow some select rules from the books, such as the rule that only warriors who have mentored an apprentice are eligible to become deputy. However I will generally be pretty loose with things and I imagine the cats will be too. For example, I don't think my clan will generally put up a fuss about warriors mentoring their own kits. These rules are pretty inconsistent within the books themselves anyway.

And that's all I have to say. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy your time in SunriseClan.

#clangen #sunriseclan-dali

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hhtdl · 2 years

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im not exactly new here i just forgot to redownload this app two years ago BUT im here to cause and enjoy chaos

•

Kai or Artemis whatever helps you remember, pick a nickname if you want, he/they but i am genderfluid so dont assume im a guy i just dont like to hear she/her on me. demi-pan is the way i roll just thought yall should know that

im legal is all you have to really know, and no i cant drive i was never taught and im scared to, but i do drink cheers

im a kpop fan. mostly seventeen, monsta x, enhypen, and exo are the groups im most interested in to which seventeen is my ultimate ive been with them since they debuted and i love all 13 of them to death, doesnt mean i dont listen to others though

i play games like tears of themis(level 80), genshin impact(ar 55), twisted wonderland(rank 61), minecraft(this is where i build twst dorms and all those jazzy things)

i also kinda draw but only when id like to put an imagery from my head onto something realistic, i have a tablet and all and i try to use it but i end up not.... i still use it though its not sitting there i promise

I post my writing on AO3 but its kinda hard when i got the insecurity that everyone will hate it even though many people have read my first published work and enjoyed it even my close friends, but I will post more on there too as well as on here when i remember to. its mostly fictional characters but my friends would like to see me write kpop related fics if that ever happens i dont know

twitter is where youll see a lot of my kpop side as well as my gaming interest and my will to become a voice actor because i follow so many of them, feel free to tag me and send me stuff but i rarely open the app unless i really have to

I also have a discord so if you would wish to friend me or invite me to servers feel free to ask, same with instagram dont be shy i dont bite I'm just not really social youll find me reading and liking the things you sent without getting a reply but thats normal dont freak out but also feel free to bother the crap out of me if you really wish to i find the notifications distracting from my daily, boring, full of crap life

—

i do have preferences though, just because i write nsfw doesnt mean i myself do it or am into it so dont come up here with that, i can enjoy fan art but dont try to give me full on conversation unless its for educational purposes AND I MEAN ACTUAL EDUCATION.

feel free to send me music recs but no promises on me actually listening to them its a rare thing that i do because i usually only listen to my on repeat songs but please dont hesitate sometimes i get tired of my own taste

on that note, thank you for your time reading i hope whoever comes across this has a better day than i usually do and that you come visit every once in a while it would be nice to hear a hi if you do but you aint gotta, but i hope you enjoy my future content uh idk what else to say other than see ya

#hhtdl <3

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biggest-gaudiest-patronuses · 3 years

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welcome new followers! here's some info to get started

this blog posts a lot! for filtering purposes, here are my COMMON TAGS:

#gaudy quotes, posts that include my more outlandish remarks

#gaudy fanart (bc for some reason my amazing artist followers sometimes use their impressive talents to draw my silly little internet persona)

#long post (usually humorous but require some scrolling)

#not a shitpost for posts that don't have a punchline (but you may find interesting or helpful)

#clown tw or #another good clown post, most of which are not good posts :)

#another good vampire post (most of which actually are good posts)

#ocean tw and #whale tw (the ocean makes me anxious and i am generous enough to spread that anxiety around)

#actuallyautistic, bc I'm autistic and sometimes I post about that. similarly, #mental health for posts about self-care, ADHD, depression, anxiety, etc.

#serious post (for posts that include more serious topics)

#tw [topic] for common trigger warnings, such as 'tw insect' or 'tw body horror' or 'tw trauma'. I use a lot of these, feel free to make requests! I try to be consistent, but please remind me if I forget something.

#harassment tw (I occasionally post about my experiences with being the target of an online smear campaign, and my thoughts on harassment culture)

#not OSHA compliant for images you probably don't want showing up on your screen at work or school. rarely necessary, but useful for filtering things like baboon butts etc.

#sexual humor most of my jokes are clean, but a few of them use bawdy humor. please filter appropriately!

And here is some GENERAL INFO:

Hi! You can call me Gaudy or Gaud (pronounced 'god,' which is a complete coincidence I am not responsible for, these things just seem to happen to me). I'm they/them.

this blog has a huge archive of shitposts, bizarre facts & random positivity, enjoy! There are almost 45 thousand original posts & articles here, if you are looking for the mental & emotional equivalent of being swallowed by quicksand and simultaneously engulfed by a rock slide <3

here are some old favorites to get you started: The Dollar Post, The Nickel Post, Twitter vs Tumblr, Boy’s Night, Make This Creepy, and some various random others etcetera, no wait here have some more!!! wait i lied here’s more

I also do some creative humor/horror writing, including: Clown Meat Deli Dream, the April Fool’s Saga of the Door, and Don’t Touch the Pink Stuff

yes I am responsible for the Grinch x Tony the Tiger Fanfic

please point out any typos!

(Here’s where my name comes from btw. at this point I can't really afford to change it, or it wouldn't still be a harry potter reference.)

I love reading your comments, feel free to interact on anything I post! (just be respectful to others and use common sense about netiquette)

i’m disabled & unemployed, so my online content is my main source of income, and I spend full-time hours on it. to keep this blog free of ads & sponsors, I rely on reader support. there is never any obligation to donate! but please be aware that some of my posts will include paypal or ko-fi links, which I will try to keep unintrusive. i am just trying to make a very modest living doing something i love and value; this is my detailed response to criticism over 'demanding money to tell jokes'

if you enjoy & want to support my content, $2+ monthly ko-fi support makes the biggest difference, since that is steady income I can depend on even during slow periods or illness. I also rely on your comments, reblogs, feedback, and suggestions!

i hope this blog will brighten your day! my goal is to make you laugh while helping you discover things you don’t know, about the world and possibly yourself. i hope you will enjoy your time here, and learn more facts than you could ever possibly want to know about blue whales!

#let me know what tags I forgot and I'll add them to the list

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eiirisworkshop · 3 years

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The Fanfic Author's Guide to Metatext

(As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

Also available as a PDF here. This thing is 13,000 words. The PDF is recommended.

Intro: What is Metatext?

Metatext is everything we fanfic authors post along with our story that is not the story itself: title, tags, summary, author's notes, even the rating.

It is how we communicate to potential readers what they're signing themselves up for if they choose to read our story, how we let them make informed decisions regarding which fics they want to read, how we get their interest and, frequently, how they find our story in the first place. A lot of metatext acts as a consent mechanism for readers, it's the informed part of informed consent.

Since most of us who write fanfic also read it, we understand how important this is! But, for the most part, no one ever teaches us how to use metatext; we have to pick it up by osmosis. That makes it hard to learn how to use it well, we all suck at it when we first start out, and some of us may go years without learning particular conventions that seem obvious to others in our community. This creates frustration for everybody.

Enter this guide!

This is meant to be a sort of handbook for fic writers, particularly those of us who post on Archive of Our Own, laying out and explaining the established metatext conventions already in use in our community so we (and our readers!) are all on the same page. It will also provide some best-practices tips.

The point is to give all of us the tools to communicate with our audience as clearly and effectively as possible, so the people who want to read a story like ours can find it and recognize it as what they're looking for, those who don't want to read a story like ours can easily tell it's not their cup of tea and avoid it, nobody gets hurt, and everybody has fun—including us!

Now that we know what we're talking about, let's get on with the guide! The following content sections appear in the order one is expected to provide each kind of metatext when posting a fic on Ao3, but first….

Warning!

This is a guide for all authors on Ao3. As such, it mentions subject matter and kinds of fic that you personally might hate or find disgusting, but which are allowed under the Archive's terms of use. There are no graphic descriptions or harsh language in the guide itself, but it does acknowledge the existence of fic you may find distasteful and explains how to approach metatext for such fics.

Some sexual terminology is used in an academic context.

A note from the author:

This guide reflects the conventions of the English-language fanfiction community circa 2021. Conventions may differ in other language communities, and although many of our conventions have been in place for decades (praise be to our Star Trek loving foremothers) fanfiction now exists primarily in the realm of internet fandom where things tend to change rather quickly, so some conventions in this guide may die out while other new conventions, not covered in this guide, arise.

This is not official or in any way produced by the Archive of Our Own (Ao3), and though some actual site rules are mentioned, it is not a rulebook. Primarily, it is a descriptivist take on how the userbase uses metatext to communicate amongst ourselves, provided in the interest of making that communication easier and more transparent for everyone, especially newer users.

Contents

How To Use This Guide Ratings Archive Warnings Fandom Tags Category Relationship Tags Character Tags Additional Tags Titles Summaries Author's Notes Series and Chapters Parting Thoughts

How To Use This Guide

Well, read it. Or have it read to you.

This isn't a glossary, it's a handbook, and it's structured more like an academic paper or report, but there's lots and lots of examples in it!

Many of these examples are titles of real media and the names of characters from published media, or tags quoted directly from Ao3 complete with punctuation and formatting.

Some examples are more generic and use the names Alex, Max, Sam, Chris, Jamie, and Tori for demonstration purposes. In other generic examples, part of an example tag or phrase may be sectioned off with square brackets to show where in that tag or phrase you would put the appropriate information to complete it. This will look something like “Top [Character A]” where you would fill in a character's name.

This guide presumes that you know the basics of how to use Ao3, at least from the perspective of reading fic. If you don't, much of this guide may be difficult to understand and will be much less helpful to you, though not entirely useless.

Ratings

Most fanfic hosting sites provide ratings systems that work a lot like the ratings on movies and videogames.

Ao3's system has four ratings:

General

Teen

Mature

Explicit

These seem like they should be pretty self-explanatory, and the site's own official info pop-up (accessible by clicking the question mark next to the section prompt) gives brief, straightforward descriptions for each of them.

Even so, many writers have found ourselves staring at that dropdown list, thinking about what we've written, and wondering what's the right freaking rating for this? How do I know if it's appropriate for “general audiences” or if it needs to be teen and up? What's the difference between Mature and Explicit?

The best way to figure it out is often to think about your fic in comparison to mainstream media.

General is your average Disney or Dreamworks movie, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon shows, video games like Mario, Kirby, and Pokemon.

There may be romance, but no sexual content or discussion. Scary things might happen and people might get hurt, but violence is non-graphic and usually mild. Adults may be shown drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, and some degree of intoxication may be shown (usually played for laughs and not focused on), but hard drug use is generally not shown or discussed. There is little to no foul language written out and what language there may be is mild, though harsher swears may be implied by narration. There are no explicit F-bombs or slurs.

Teen is more like a Marvel movie, most network television shows (things like The Office, Supernatural, or Grey's Anatomy), video games like Final Fantasy, Five Nights at Freddie's, and The Sims.

There might be some sex and sexual discussion, but nothing explicit is shown—things usually fade to black or are leftimplied. More intense danger, more severe injuries described in greater detail, and a higher level of violence may be present. Substance use may be discussed and intoxication shown, but main characters are unlikely to be shown doing hard drugs. Some swearing and other harsh language may be present, possibly including an F-bomb or two. In longer works, that might mean an F-bomb every few chapters.

Mature is, in American terms, an R-rated movie* like Deadpool, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Exorcist, and Schindler's List; certain shows from premium cable networks or streaming services like Game of Thrones, Shameless, Breaking Bad, and Black Sails; videogames like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and The Witcher.

Sex may be shown and it might be fairly explicit, but it's not as detailed or graphic or as much the focus of the work as it would be if it were porn. Violence, danger, and bodily harm may be significant and fairly graphic. Most drug use is fair game. Swearing and harsh language may be extensive.

Explicit is, well, extremely explicit. This is full on porn, the hardcore horror movies, and snuff films.

Sex is highly detailed and graphic. Violence and injury is highly detailed and graphic. Drug use and its effects may be highly detailed and graphic. Swearing and harsh language may be extreme, including extensive use of violent slurs.

Please note that both Mature and Explicit fics are intended for adult audiences only, but that does not mean a teenaged writer isn't going to produce fics that should be rated M or E. Ratings should reflect the content of the fic, not the age of the author.

Strictly speaking, you don't have to choose any of these ratings; Ao3 has a “Not Rated” option, but for purposes of search results and some other functions, Not Rated fics are treated by the site as Explicit, just in case, which means they end up hidden from a significant portion of potential readers. It really is in your best interest as a writer who presumably wants people to see their stories, to select a rating. It helps readers judge if yours is the kind of story they want right now, too.

Rating a fic is a subjective decision, there is some grey area in between each level. If you're not quite sure where your fic falls, best practice is to go with the more restrictive rating.

*(Equivalent to an Australian M15+ or R18+, Canadian 14A, 18A or 18+, UK 15 or 18, German FSK 16 or FSK 18.)

Warnings

Ao3 uses a set of standard site-wide Archive Warnings to indicate that a work contains subject matter that falls into one or more of a few categories that some readers are likely to want to avoid. Even when posting elsewhere, it's courteous to include warnings of this sort.

These warnings are:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

Just like with the ratings, the site provides an info-pop up that explains what each warning is for. They're really exactly what it says on the tin: detailed descriptions of violence, injury, and gore; the death of a character central to canon or tothe story being told; non-consensual sex i.e. rape; and depictions of underage sex, which the site defines as under the age of 18 for humans—Ao3 doesn't care if your local age of consent or majority is lower than that.

In addition to the four standard warnings above, the warnings section has two other choices:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

These do not mean the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. “No Archive Warnings Apply” means that absolutely nothing in your fic falls into any of the four standard warning categories. “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” means that you the author are opting out of the warning system; your fic could potentially contain things that fall into any and all of the four standard warning categories.

There's nothing wrong with selecting Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings! It may mean that some readers will avoid your fic because they're not sure it's safe for them, and you might need to use more courtesy tags than you otherwise would (we'll talk about courtesy tags later), but that's okay! Opting out of the warning system can be a way to avoid spoilers,* and is also good for when you're just not sure if what you've written deserves one of the Archive warnings. In that case, the best practice is to select either the warning it might deserve or Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, then provide additional information in other tags, the summary, or an initial author's note.

Unless you're opting out of using the warning system, select all the warnings that apply to your fic, if any of them do. So if a sixteen year old main character has consensual sex then gets killed in an accident that you've written out in excruciating detail, that fic gets three out of the four standard warnings: Underage, Major Character Death, and Graphic Depictions Of Violence.

*(Fandom etiquette generally favors thorough tagging and warning over avoiding spoilers. It doesn't ruin the experience of a story to have a general sense of what's going to happen. If it did, we wouldn't all keep reading so many “there was only one bed” fics.)

Fandom Tags

What fandom or fandoms is your fic for? You definitely know what you wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it's obvious what to tag it as.

Sometimes, it is obvious! You watched a movie that isn't based on anything, isn't part of a series, and doesn't have any spinoffs, tie-ins or anything else based on it. You wrote a fic set entirely within the world of this movie. You put this movie as the fandom for your fic. Or maybe you read a book and wrote a fic for it, and there is a movie based on the book, but the movie is really different and you definitely didn't use anything that's only in the movie. You put the book as the fandom for your fic.

All too often, though, it's not that clear.

What if you wrote a fic for something where there's a movie based on a book, but the movie's really different, and you've used both things that are only in the movie and things that are only in the book? In that case you either tag your fic as both the movie and the book, or see if the fandom has an “all media types” tag and use that instead of the separate tags. If the fandom doesn't have an “all media types” tag yet, you can make one! Just type it in.

“All media types” fandom tags are also useful for cases where there are lots of inter-related series, like Star Wars; there are several tellings of the story in different media but they're interchangeable or overlap significantly, like The Witcher; or the fandom has about a zillion different versions so it's very hard, even impossible, to say which ones your fic does and doesn't fit, like Batman. Use your best judgement as to whether you need to include a more specific fandom tag such as “Batman (Movies 1989-1997)” alongside the “all media types” fandom tag, but try to avoid including very many. The point of the “all media types” tag is to let you leave off the specific tags for every version.

In a situation where one piece of media has a spinoff, maybe several spinoffs, and you wrote a fic that includes things from more than one of them, you might want use the central work's “& related fandoms” tag. For example, the “Doctor Who & Related Fandoms” tag gets used for fics that include things from a combination of any era of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And don't worry, from the reader-side of the site the broadest fandom tags are prioritized. The results page for an “all media types” or “& related fandoms” search includes works tagged with the more specific sub-tags for that fandom, the browse-by-fandom pages show the broadest tag for each fandom included, and putting a fandom into the search bar presumes the broadest tag for that fandom. A search for “Star Wars - All Media Types” will pull up work that only has a subtag for that fandom, like “The Mandalorian (TV).” You don't have to put every specific fandom subtag for people to find your fic.

If you wrote a fic for something that's an adaptation of an older work—especially an older work that's been adapted a lot, like Sherlock Holmes or The Three Musketeers—it can be hard to know how you should tag it. The best choice is to put the adaptation as the fandom, for instance “Sherlock (TV),” then, if you're also using aspects of the older source work that aren't in the adaptation, also put a broad fandom tag such as “Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms.” Do not tag it as being fic for the source work—in our Sherlock example that would be tagging it “Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle”—unless you are crossing over the source work and the adaptation. Otherwise, the specific fandom subtag for the source work ends up clogged with fic for the adaptation, which really is a different thing.

By the same token, fic for the source work shouldn't be tagged as being for the adaptation, or the adaptation's subtag will get clogged.

The same principle applies to fandoms that have been rebooted. Don't tag fic for the reboot as being for the original, or fic for the original as being for the reboot. Don't tag a fic as being for both unless the reboot and original are actually interacting. Use an “& related fandoms” tag for the original if your fic for the reboot includes some aspects of the original that weren't carried over but you haven't quite written a crossover between the two. Good examples of these situations can be seen with “Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)” vs. “Star Trek: The Original Series,” and “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)” vs. “She-Ra: Princess Of Power (1985).”

Usually, this kind of mistagging as a related fandom happens when someone writes a fic for something that is or has a reboot, spinoff, or adaptation, but they're only familiar with one of the related pieces of media, and they mistakenly presume the fandoms are the same or interchangeable because they just don't know the difference. It's an honest mistake and it doesn't make you a bad or fake fan to not know, but it can be frustrating for readers who want fic for one thing and find the fandom tag full of fic for something else.

In order to avoid those kinds of issues, best practice is to assume fandoms are not interchangeable no matter how closely related they are, and to default to using a tag pair of the most-specific-possible sub-fandom tag + the broadest possible fandom tag when posting a fic you're not entirely sure about, for instance “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

The Marvel megafandom has its own particular tagging hell going on. Really digging into and trying to make sense of that entire situation would require its own guide, but we can go through some general tips.

There is a general “Marvel” fandom tag and tags for both “The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom” and “The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types.” Most of us who write Marvel fic are working with a cherry picked combination of canons from the MCU, various comics runs, both timelines of X-Men movies, and possibly several decades worth of cartoons. That's what these tags are for.

If your cherry picked Marvel fic is more X-Men than Avengers, go for the “X-Men - All Media Types” tag.

If you are primarily working with MCU canon, use the MCU specific tags rather than “all media types” and add specific tags for individual comics runs—like Earth 616 or the Fraction Hawkeye comics—if you know you're lifting particular details from the comics. If you're just filling in gaps in MCU canon with things that are nebulously “from the comics” don't worry about tagging for that, it's accepted standard practice in the fandom at this point, use a broader tag along with your MCU-specific tag if you want to.

Same general idea for primarily movie-verse X-Men fics. Use the movie-specific tags.

If your fic mostly draws from the comics, use the comics tags. If you're focusing on an individual run, show, or movie series rather than an ensemble or large swath of the megafranchise, tag for that and leave off the broader fandom tags.

Try your best to minimize the number of fandom tags on your Marvel work. Ideally, you can get it down to two or three. Even paring it down as much as you can you might still end up with about five. If you're in the double digits, take another look to see if all the fandom tags you've included are really necessary, or if some of them are redundant or only there to represent characters who are in the fic but that the fic doesn't focus on. Many readers tend to search Marvel fics by character or pairing tags, it's more important that you're thorough there. For the fandom tags it's more important that you're clear.

If you write real person fiction, you need to tag it as an RPF fandom. Fic about actors who are in a show together does not belong on the fandom tag for that show. There are separate RPF fandom tags for most shows and film franchises. Much like the adaptation/source and reboot/original situations discussed earlier, a fic should really only be tagged with both a franchise's RPF tag and its main tag if something happens like the actors—or director or writer!—falling into the fictional world or meeting their characters.

Of course, not all RPF is about actors. Most sports have RPF tags, there are RPF tags for politics from around the world and for various historical settings, the fandom tags for bands are generally presumed to be RPF tags, and there is a general Real Person Fiction tag.

In order to simplify things for readers, it's best practice to use the general Real Person Fiction tag in addition to your fandom-specific tag. You may even want to put “RPF” as a courtesy tag in the Additional Tags section, too. This is because Ao3 isn't currently set up to recognize RPF as the special flavor of fic that it is in the same way that the site recognizes crossovers as special, so it can be very difficult to either seek out or avoid RPF since it's scattered across hundreds of different fandom tags.

On the subject of crossovers—they can make fandom tagging even more daunting. Even for a crossover with lots of fandoms involved, though, you just have to follow the same guidelines as to tag a single-fandom work for each fandom in the crossover. The tricky part is figuring out if what you wrote is really a crossover, or just an AU informed by another fandom—we'll talk about that later.

There are some cases where it's really hard to figure out what fandom something belongs to, like if you wrote a fanfic of someone else's fanfic, theirs is an AU and yours is about their OC, not any of the characters from canon. What do you do?! Well, you do not tag it as being a fanfic for the same thing theirs was. Put the title of their fic (or name of their series) as the fandom for your fic, attributed to their Ao3 handle just like any other fandom is attributed to its author. Explain the situation in either the summary or the initial author's note. Also, ask the author's permission before posting something like this.

What if you wrote a story about your totally original D&D character? The fandom is still D&D, you want the “Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)” tag.

What if there's not a fandom tag on the Archive yet for what you wrote? Not a problem! You can type in a new one if you're the first person to post something for a particular fandom. Do make sure, though, that the fandom isn't just listed by a different name than you expect. Many works that aren't originally in English—including anime—are listed by their original language title or a direct translation first, and sometimes a franchise or series's official name might not be what you personally call it, for instance many people think of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series as The Golden Compass series, so it's best to double check.

What if you wrote an entirely new original story that's not based on anything? Excellent job, that takes a lot of work, but that probably doesn't belong on Ao3! The Archive is primarily meant as a repository for fannish content, but in a few particular circumstances things we'd consider Original Work may be appropriate content for the Archive as well. Double check the Archive's Terms of Service FAQ and gauge if what you wrote falls under the scope of what is allowed. If what you wrote really doesn't fit here, post it somewhere else or try to get it published if you feel like giving it a shot.

Category

What Ao3 means by category is “does this fic focus on sex or romance, and if so what combination of genders are involved in that sex or romance?”

The category options are:

F/F

F/M

Gen

M/M

Multi

Other

The F/F, F/M, and M/M categories are for stories focused on pairings of two women, a woman and a man, and two men, respectively. These refer to sexual and/or romantic pairings.

The Other category is for stories focused on (sexual and/or romantic) pairings where one or both partners are not strictly male or female, such as nonbinary individuals, people from cultures with gender systems that don't match to the Western man-woman system, and nonhuman characters for whom biological sex works differently or is nonexistent, including aliens, robots, and inanimate objects or abstract concepts. There are some problems with treating nonbinary humans, eldritch tentacle monsters, sexless androids, and wayward container ships as all the same category, but it's the system we currently have to work with. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Multi is for stories in which several (sexual and/or romantic) relationships are focused on or which focus on relationships with multiple partners, including cases of polyamory, serial monogamy, strings of hookups with different people, and orgies. A fic will also show as “Multi” if you, the author, have selected more than one category for the fic, even if none of those are the Multi category. Realistically, the Archive needs separate “Multiple Categories” and “Poly” options, but for now we have to work with this system in which the two are combined. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Gen is for stories that do not contain or are not focused on sex or romance. Romance may be present in a gen fic but it's going to be in the background. While rare, there is such a thing as a sexually explicit gen fic—solo masturbation which does not feature fantasizing about another character is explicit gen fic; a doctor character seeing a series of patients with sex-related medical needs following an orgy may qualify if the orgy is not shown and the doctor is being strictly professional—but such fic needs to be rated, otherwise tagged, and explained carefully in the summary and/or author's note.

Much like the warnings section, category is a “select all that apply” situation. Use your best judgement. For a fic about a polyamorous relationship among a group of women, it's entirely appropriate to tag it as both F/F and Multi. A poly fic with a combination of men and women in the relationship could be shown as both M/M and F/M, Multi, or all three. A fic that focuses equally on one brother and his husband and the other brother and his wife should be tagged both M/M and F/M, and could be tagged as Multi but you might decided not to just to be clear that there's no polyamory going on. If you wrote a fic about two characters who are both men in canon, but you wrote one of them as nonbinary, you could tag it M/M, Other, or both depending on what you feel is representative and respectful.

When dealing with trans characters, whether they're trans in canon or you're writing them as such, the category selection should match the character's gender. If there's a character who is a cis woman in canon, but who you're writing as a trans man, you categorize the fic based on his being a man. If there's a character who is a cis man in canon, but whom you're writing as a trans man, he is still a man and the fic should be categorized accordingly. When dealing with nonbinary characters the fic should really be classed as Other though, by convention, fics about characters who are not nonbinary in canon may be classed based on the character's canon gender as well or instead. When dealing with gender swapped characters—i.e. a canonically cis male superhero who you're writing as a cis woman—class the fic using the gender you wrote her with, not the gender he is in canon.

Most of the time, gen fics should not be categorized jointly with anything else because a fic should only be categorized based on the ships it focuses on, and a gen fic should not be focusing on a ship in the first place.*

*(One of the few circumstances in which it might make sense to class a fic as both gen and something else is when writing about Queerplatonic Relationships, but that is a judgement call and depends on the fic.)

Relationship Tags

The thing about relationship tagging that people most frequently misunderstand or just don't know is the difference between “Character A/Character B” and “Character A & Character B.”

Use a “/” for romantic or sexual relationships, such as spouses, people who are dating, hookups, and friends with benefits. Use “&” for platonic or familial relationships, such as friends, siblings, parents with their kids, coworkers, and deeply connected mortal enemies who are not tragically in love.

This is where we get the phrase “slash fic.” Originally, that meant any fic focused on a romantic paring, but since so much of the romantic fic being produced was about pairs of men, “slash fic” came to mean same-sex pairings, especially male same-sex pairings. Back in earlier days of fandom, pre-Ao3 and even pre-internet, there was a convention that when writing out a different-sex pairing, you did so in man/woman order, while same-sex pairings were done top/bottom. Some authors, especially those who have been in the fic community a long time, may still do this, but the convention has not been in consistent, active use for many years, so you don't have to worry about putting the names in the “correct” order. Part of why that died out is we, as a community, have gotten less strict and more nuanced in our understandings of sex and relationships, we're writing non-penetrative sex more than we used to, and we're writing multi-partner relationships and sex more than we used to, so strictly delineating “tops” and “bottoms” has gotten less important and less useful.

The convention currently in use on Ao3 is that the names go in alphabetical order for both “/” and “&” relationships. In most cases, the Archive uses the character's full name instead of a nickname or just a given name, like James "Bucky" Barnes instead of just Bucky or James. We'll talk more about conventions for how to input character names in the Characters section. The Archive will give you suggestions as you type—if one of them fits what you mean but is slightly different from how you were typing it, for instance it's in a different order, please use the tag suggested! Consistency in tags across users helps the site work more smoothly for everybody.

This is really not the place for ship nicknames like Puckleberry, Wolfstar, or Ineffable Wives. Use the characters' names.

Now that you know how to format the relationship tag to say what you mean, you have to figure out what relationships in your fic to tag for.

The answer is you tag the relationships that are important to the story you're telling, the ones you spend time and attention following, building up, and maybe even breaking down. Tagging for a ship is not a promise of a happy ending for that pair; you don't have to limit yourself to tagging only the end-game ships if you're telling a story that's more complicated than “they get together and live happily ever after.” That said, you should generally list the main ship—the one you focus on the most—first on the list, and that will usually be the end-game ship. You should also use Additional Tags, the summary, and author's notes to make it clear to readers if your fic does not end happily for a ship you've tagged. Otherwise readers will assume that a fic tagged as being about a ship will end well for that ship, because that's what usually happens, and they'll end up disappointed and hurt, possibly feeling tricked or lied to, when your fic doesn't end well for that ship

You don't have to, and honestly shouldn't, tag for every single relationship that shows up in your fic at all. A character's brief side fling mentioned in passing, or a relationship between two background characters should not be listed under the Relationship tag section. You can list them in the format “minor Character A/Character C” or “Character C/Character D – mentions of” in the Additional Tags section if you want to, or just tag “Minor or Background Relationship(s)” under either the Relationship tag section or in the Additional Tags section.

There are two main reasons to not tag all those minor relationships. The first is to streamline your tags, which makes them clearer and more readable, and therefore more useful. The second reason is because certain ships are far more common as minor or background relationships than as the focus of a work, so tagging all your non-focus focus ships leads to the tags for these less popular ships getting clogged with stories they appear in, but that are not about them. That is, of course, very frustrating for readers who really want to read stories that focus on these ships.

If your fic contains a major relationship between a canon character and an OC, reader-insert, or self-insert, tag it as such. The archive already has /Original Character, /Reader, /You, and /Me tags for most characters in most fandoms. If such a relationship tag isn't already in use, type it in yourself. There are OC/OC tags, too, some of which specify gender, some of which do not. All the relationship tags that include OCs stack the gender-specific versions of the tags under the nongendered ones. Use these tags as appropriate.

For group relationships, both polycules and multi-person friendships, you “/” or “&” all the names involved in alphabetical order, so Alex/Max/Sam are dating while Chris & Jamie & Tori are best friends. For a poly situation where not everyone is dating each other you should tag it something like “Alex/Max, Alex/Sam” because Alex is dating both Max and Sam, but Max and Sam are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. Use your judgement as to whether you still want to include the Alex/Max/Sam trio tag, and whether you should also use a “Sam & Max” friendship tag.

Generally, romantic “/” type relationships are emphasized over “&” type relationships in fic. It is more important that you tag your “/”s thoroughly and accurately than that you tag your “&”s at all. This is because readers are far more likely to either be looking for or be squicked by particular “/” relationships than they are “&” relationships. You can tag the same pair of characters as both / and & if both their romance and their friendship is important to the story, but a lot of people see this as redundant. If you're writing incest fic, use the / tag for the pair not the & tag and put a courtesy tag for “incest” in the Additional Tags section; this is how readers who do not want to see incestuous relationships avoid that material.

Queerplatonic Relationships, Ambiguous Relationships, Pre-Slash, and “Slash If You Squint” are all frequently listed with both the “/” and “&” forms of the pairing; use your best judgement as to whether one or the other or both is most appropriate for what you've written and clarify the nature of the relationship in your Additional Tags.

Overall, list your “/” tags first, then your “&” tags.

Character Tags

Tagging your characters is a lot like tagging your relationships. Who is your fic about? That's who you put in your character tags.

You don't have to and really should not tag every single background character who shows up for just a moment in the story, for pretty much the same reasons you shouldn't tag background relationships. We don't want to clog less commonly focused on characters' tags with stories they don't feature prominently in.

You do need to tag the characters included in your Relationship tags.

A character study type of fic might only have one character you need to tag for. Romantic one shots frequently only have two. Longfics and fics with big ensemble casts can easily end up with a dozen characters or more who really do deserve to be tagged for.

Put them in order of importance. This doesn't have to be strict hierarchal ranking, you can just arrange them into groups of “main characters,” “major supporting characters,” and “minor supporting characters.” Nobody less than a minor supporting character should be tagged. Even minor supporting characters show up for more than one line.

If everyone in the fic is genuinely at the same level of importance (which does happen, especially with small cast fics), then order doesn't really matter. You can arrange them by order of appearance or alphabetically by name if you want to be particularly neat about it.

Do tag your OCs! Some people love reading about OCs and want to be able to find them; some people can't stand OCs and want to avoid them at all costs; most people are fine with OCs sometimes, but might have to be in the mood for an OC-centric story or only be comfortable with OCs in certain contexts. Regardless, though, Character tags are here to tell readers who the story is about, and that includes new faces. Original Characters are characters and if they're important to the story, they deserve to be tagged for just like canon characters do.

There are tags for “Original Character(s),” “Original Male Character(s),” and “Original Female Character(s).” Use these tags! If you have OCs you're going to be using frequently in different stories, type up a character tag in the form “[OC's Name] – Original Character” and use that in addition to the generic OC tags.

Also tag “Reader,” “You,” or “Me” as a character if you've written a reader- or self-insert.

You can use the “Minor Characters” tag to wrap up everybody, both OC and canon, who doesn't warrant their own character tag. Remember, though, that this tag is also used to refer to minor canon characters who may not have their own official names.

Just like when tagging for relationships, the convention when tagging for characters is to use their full name. The suggestions the Archive gives you as you type will help you use the established way of referring to a given character.

Characters who go by more than one name usually have their two most used names listed together as one tag with the two names separated by a vertical bar like “Andy | Andromache of Scythia.” This also gets used sometimes for characters who have different names in an adaptation than in the source text, or a different name in the English-language localization of a work than in the original language. For character names from both real-world and fictional languages and cultures that put family or surname before the given name—like the real Japanese name Takeuchi Naoko or the made up Bajoran name Kira Nerys—that order is used when tagging, even if you wrote your fic putting the given name first.

Some characters' tags include the fandom they're from in parentheses after their name like “Connor (Detroit: Become Human).” This is mostly characters with ordinary given names like Connor and no canon surname, characters who have the same full name as a character in another fandom, such as Billy Flynn the lawyer from the musical Chicago and Billy Flynn the serial killer played by Tim Curry in Criminal Minds, and characters based on mythological, religious, or historical figures or named for common concepts such as Lucifer, Loki, Amethyst, Death, and Zero that make appearances in multiple fandoms.

Additional Tags

Additional Tags is one of the most complicated, and often the longest, section of metatext we find ourselves providing when we post fic. It's also the one that gives our readers the greatest volume of information.

That, of course, is what makes it so hard for us to do well.

It can help to break down Additional Tags into three main functions of tag: courtesy tags, descriptive tags, and personal tags.

Courtesy tags serve as extensions of the rating and warning systems. They can help clarify the rating, provide more information about the Archive Warnings you've used or chosen not to use, and give additional warnings to tell readers there are things in this fic that may be distasteful, upsetting, or triggering but that the Archive doesn't have a standard warning for.

Descriptive tags give the reader information about who's in this fic, what kind of things happen, what tropes are in play, and what the vibe is, as well as practical information about things like format and tense.

Personal tags tell the readers things about us, the author, our process, our relationship to our fic, and our thoughts at the time of posting.

It doesn't really matter what order you put these tags in, but it is best practice to try to clump them: courtesy tags all together so it's harder for a reader to miss an important one, ship-related info tags together, character-related info tags together, etc.

There are tons and tons of established tags on Ao3, and while it's totally fine, fun, and often necessary to make up your own tags, it's also important to use established tags that fit your fic. For one thing, using established tags makes life easier for the tag wranglers behind the scenes. Using a new tag you just made up that means the same thing as an established tag makes more work for the tag wranglers. We like the tag wranglers, they're all volunteers, and they're largely responsible for the search and sorting features being functional. Be kind to the tag wranglers.

For basically the same reasons, using established tags makes it easier for readers to find your fic. If a reader either searches by a tag or uses filters on another search to “Include” that tag, and you didn't use that tag, your fic will not show up for them even if what you wrote is exactly what they're looking for. Established tags can be searched by exactly the same way as you search by fandom or pairing, your off the cuff tags cannot.

Let's talk about some well-known established tags and common tag types, divvied up by main function.

Courtesy

A lot of courtesy tags are specific warnings like “Dubious Consent,” “Incest,” “Drug Use,” “Extremely Underage,” “Toxic Relationship,” and “Abuse.” Many of these have even more specific versions such as “Recreational Drug Use” and “Nonconsensual Drug Use,” or “Mildly Dubious Consent” and “Extremely Dubious Consent.”

Giving details about what, if any, drugs are used or mentioned, specifying what kinds of violence or bodily harm are discussed or depicted, details about age differences or power-imbalanced relationships between characters who date or have sex, discussion or depictions of suicide, severe or terminal illness, or mental health struggles is useful. It helps give readers a clear sense of what they'll encounter in your fic and decide if they're up for it.

One the most useful courtesy warning tags is “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” which basically means “there are things in this fic which are really screwed up and may be disturbing, read at your own risk, steer clear if you're not sure.” This tag—like all courtesy warnings, really—is a show of good faith, by using it you are being a responsible, and thoughtful member of the fanfic community by giving readers the power and necessary information to make their own informed decisions about what they are and are not comfortable reading.

Saying to “Heed the tags” is quite self-explanatory and, if used, should be the last or second to last tag so it's easy to spot. Remember, though, that “Heed the tags” isn't useful if your tags aren't thorough and clear.

“Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is one of only things that should ever go after “Heed the tags.” If you use this, your additional warnings need to go in the author's note at the very beginning of the fic, not the one at the end of the first chapter. If your additional warnings write up is going to be very long because it's highly detailed, then it can go at the bottom of the chapter with a note at the beginning indicating that the warnings are at the bottom. Some authors give an abbreviated or vague set of warnings in the initial note, then longer, highly detailed, spoilery warnings in the end note. It's best to make it as simple and straightforward as possible for readers to access warnings.

Tagging with “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat,” “Heed the tags,” or “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is not a substitute for thorough and appropriate courtesy tagging. These are extra reminders to readers to look closely at the other warnings you've given.

While most courtesy tags are warnings, some are assurances like “No Lesbians Die” or “It's Not As Bad As It Sounds.” A fic tagged for rape or dub-con may get a tag assuring that the consent issues are not between the characters in the main ship; or a fic with a premise that sounds likely to involve lack of consent but actually doesn't may get a tag that it's “NOT rape/non-con.” A tag like “Animal Death” may be immediately followed by a freeform tag assuring that the animal that dies is not the protagonist's beloved horse.

Descriptive

There are a few general kinds of descriptive tags including character-related, ship-related, temporal, relation-to-canon, trope-related, smut details, and technical specifications.

Many character- and ship-related tags simply expand on the Character and Relationship tags we've already talked about. This is usually the place to specify details about OCs and inserts, such as how a reader-insert is gendered.

When it comes to character-related tags, one of the most common types in use on Ao3 and in fandom at large is the bang-path. This is things like werewolf!Alex, trans!Max, top!Sam, kid!Jamie, and captain!Tori. Basically, a bang-path is a way of specifying a version of a character. We've been using this format for decades; it comes from the very first email systems used by universities in the earliest days of internet before the World Wide Web existed. It's especially useful for quickly and concisely explaining the roles of characters in an AU. Nowadays this is also one of the primary conventions for indicating who's top and who's bottom in a ship if that's information you feel the need to establish. The other current convention for indicating top/bottom is as non-bang-path character-related tags in the form “Top [Character A], Bottom [Character B].”

Other common sorts of character tags are things like “[Character A] Needs a Hug,” “Emotionally Constipated [Character B],” and “[Character C] is a Good Dad.”

Some character-related tags don't refer to a particular character by name, but tell readers something about what kinds of characters are in the fic. Usually, this indicates the minority status of characters and may indicate whether or not that minority status is canon, as in “Nonbinary Character,” “Canon Muslim Character,” “Deaf Character,” and “Canon Disabled Character.”

Down here in the tags is the place to put ship nicknames! This is also where to say things like “They're idiots your honor” or indicate that they're “Idiots in Love,” maybe both since “Idiots in Love” is an established searchable tag but “They're idiots your honor” isn't yet. If your fandom has catchphrases related to your ship, put that here if you want to.

If relevant, specify some things about the nature of relationships in your fic such as “Ambiguous Relationship,” “Queerplatonic Relationships,” “Polyamory,” “Friends With Benefits,” “Teacher-Student Relationship,” and so on. Not all fics need tags like these. Use your best judgement whether your current fic does.

Temporal tags indicate when your fic takes place. That can be things like “Pre-Canon” and “Post-Canon,” “Pre-War,” “Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “1996-1997 NHL season,” “Future Fic,” and so on. These tags may be in reference to temporal landmarks in canon, in the real world, or both depending on what's appropriate.

Some temporal tags do double duty by also being tags about the fic's relationship to canon. The Pre- and Post-Canon tags are like that.

Other relation-to-canon type tags are “Canon Compliant” for fics that fit completely inside the framework of canon without changing or contradicting anything, “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence” for fics that are compliant up to a certain point in canon, then veer off (maybe because you started writing the fic when the show was on season two but now it's at season four and you're not incorporating everything from the newer seasons, maybe a character died and you refuse to acknowledge that, maybe you just want to explore what might have happened if a particular scene had gone differently), and the various other Alternate Universe tags for everything from coffee shop AUs and updates to modern settings, to realities where everyone is a dragon or no one has their canon superpowers.

The established format for these tags is “Alternate Universe – [type],” but a few have irregular names as well, such as “Wingfic” for AUs in which characters who don't ordinarily have wings are written as having wings.

If you have written an AU, please tag clearly what it is! Make things easy on both the readers who are in the mood to read twenty royalty AUs in a row, the readers who are in the middle of finals week and the thought of their favorite characters suffering through exams in a college AU would destroy the last shred of their sanity but would enjoy watching those characters teach high school, and the readers who really just want to stick to the world of canon right now.

Admittedly, it can get a little confusing what AU tag or tags you need to describe what you've written since most of us have never had a fandom elder sit us down and explain what the AU tags mean. One common mix up is tagging things “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” when what's meant is “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence.” The misunderstanding here is usually reading “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” and thinking it means an alternate version of the canon universe that is set at the same time as the canon universe, but is different in some way. That's not how the tag is meant to be used, though.

The Modern Setting AU tag is specifically for fic set now (at approximately the same time period it was written), for media that's canonically set somewhere that is very much not the present of the real world. This can mean things set in the past (like Jane Austen), the future (like Star Trek), or a fantasy world entirely different from our own (like Lord of the Rings or Avatar: the Last Airbender). Fic for a canon that's set more or less “now” doesn't need the Modern Setting AU tag, even if the world of canon is different from our own. If you're removing those differences by putting fantasy or superhero characters in a world without magic or supersoldier serum, you might want the “Alternate Universe - No Powers” tag instead.

Some of the most fun descriptive tags are trope tags. This includes things like “Mutual Pining,” “Bed Sharing” for when your OTP gets to their hotel room to find There Was Only One Bed, “Fake Dating,” “Angst,” Fluff,” “Hurt/Comfort” and all its variants. Readers love tropes at least as much as we love writing them and want to be able to find their favorites. Everyone also has tropes they don't like and would rather avoid. Tagging them allows your fic to be filtered in and out by what major tropes you've used.

Explicit fics, and sometimes fics with less restrictive ratings, that contain sex usually have tags indicating details about the nature of the sexual encounter(s) portrayed and what sex acts are depicted. These are descriptive tags, but they also do double duty as courtesy tags. This is very much a situation in which tags are a consent mechanism; by thoroughly and clearly tagging your smut you are giving readers the chance to knowingly opt in or out of the experience you've written.

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to do basic tagging for sex acts—you know whether what you wrote shows Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, or Non-penetrative Sex. You probably know the names for different kinds of Oral Sex you may have included. You might not know what to call Frottage or Intercrural Sex, though, even if you understand the concept and included the act in your fic. Sometimes there are tags with rectangle-square type relationships (all Blow Jobs are Oral Sex, but not all Oral Sex is a Blow Job) and you're not sure if you should tag for both—you probably should. Sometimes there are tags for overlapping, closely related, or very similar acts or kinks and you're not sure which to tag—that one's more of judgement call; do your best to use the tags that most closely describe what you wrote.

Tag for the kinks at play, if any, so readers can find what they're into and avoid what they're not. Tag for what genitalia characters have if it's nonobvious, including if there's Non-Human Genitalia involved. Tag your A/B/O, your Pon Farr, and your Tentacles, including whether it's Consentacles or Tentacle Rape.

Technical specification tags give information about aspects of the fic other than its narrative content. Most things on Ao3 are prose fiction so that's assumed to be the default, so anything else needs to be specified in tags. That includes Poetry, Podfics, things in Script Format, and Art. If it is a podfic, you should tag with the approximate length in minutes (or hours). If a fic is Illustrated (it has both words and visual art) tag for that.

Tag if your fic is a crossover or fusion. The difference, if you're not sure, is that in a crossover, two (or more) entire worlds from different media meet, whereas in a fusion, some aspects of one world, like the cast of characters, are combined with aspects of another, like the setting or magic system.

If the team of paranormal investigators from one show get in contact with the cast of aliens from another show, that's a crossover and you need to have all the media you're drawing from up in the Fandom tags. If you've given the cast of Hamlet physical manifestations of their souls in the form of animal companions like the daemons from His Dark Materials but nothing else from His Dark Materials shows up, that's a fusion, the Fandom tag should be “Hamlet - Shakespeare,” and you need the “Alternate Universe - Daemons” tag. If you've given the members of a boy band elemental magic powers like in Avatar: the Last Airbender, that can be more of a judgement call depending how much from Avatar you've incorporated into your story. If absolutely no characters or specific settings from Avatar show up, it's probably a fusion. Either way, if the boyband exists in real life, it needs to be tagged as RPF.

Tag if your fic is a Reader-Insert or Self-Insert.

You might want to tag for whether your fic is written with POV First, Second, or Third Person, and if it's Past Tense or Present Tense (or Future Tense, though that's extremely uncommon). For POV First Person fics that are not self-inserts, or POV Third Person fics that are written in third person limited, you may want to tag which character's POV is being shown. Almost all POV Second Person fics are reader-insert, so if you've written one that isn't, you should tag for who the “you” is.

A fic is “POV Outsider” if the character through whom the story is being conveyed is outside the situation or not familiar with the characters and context a reader would generally know from canon. The waitress who doesn't know the guy who just sat down in her diner is a monster hunter, and the guy stuck in spaceport because some hotshot captain accidentally locked down the entire space station, are both potential narrators for POV Outsider stories.

Other technical specifications can be tags for things like OCtober and Kinktober or fic bingo games. Tagging something as a Ficlet, One Shot, or Drabble is a technical specification (we're not going to argue right now over what counts as a drabble). Tagging for genre, like Horror or Fantasy, is too.

It's also good to tag accessibility considerations like “Sreenreader Friendly,” but make sure your fic definitely meets the needs of a given kind of accessibility before tagging it.

Personal

Even among personal tags there are established tags! Things like “I'm Sorry,” “The Author Regrets Nothing,” “The Author Regrets Everything,” and “I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping” are common ones. Tags about us and our relationship to the fic, such as “My First Work In This Fandom,” “Author is Not Religious,” and “Trans Porn By A Trans Author,” can help readers gauge what to expect from our fic. Of course, you are not at all obligated to disclose any personal information for any reason when posting your fic.

The “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag is common, but probably overused. Tagging is hard; very few of us have a natural feel for it even with lots of practice. It's not a completely useless tag because it can indicate to readers that you've probably missed some things you should have tagged for, so they should be extra careful; but it can also turn into a crutch, an excuse to not try, and therefore a sign to readers they can't trust your tagging job. Just do your best, and leave off the self depreciation. If you're really concerned about the quality of your tagging, consider putting in an author's note asking readers to let you know if there are any tags you should add.

You might want to let readers know your fic is “Not Beta Read” or, if you're feeling a little cheekier than that, say “No Beta We Die Like Men” or its many fandom-specific variants like the “No Beta We Die Like Robins” frequently found among Batman fics and “No beta we die like Sunset Curve” among Julie and The Phantoms fic. Don't worry, the Archive recognizes all of these as meaning “Not Beta Read.”

The Archive can be inconsistent about whether it stacks specific variants of Additional Tags under the broadest version of the tag like it does with Fandom tags, so best practice is usually to use both. You can double check by trying to search by a variant tag (or clicking on someone else's use of the variant); if the results page says the broader or more common form of the tag, those stack.

There's no such thing as the right number of tags. Some people prefer more tags and more detail, while other people prefer fewer more streamlined tags, and different fics have different things that need to be tagged for. There is, however, such a thing as too many tags. A tagblock that takes up the entire screen, or more, can be unreadable, at which point they are no longer useful. Focus on the main points and don't try to tag for absolutely everything. Use the “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” strategy if your courtesy tags are what's getting out of hand.

Tag for as much as you feel is necessary for readers to find your fic and understand what they're getting into if they decide to open it up.

A little bit of redundancy in tags is not a sin. In fact, slight redundancy is usually preferable to vagueness. Clear communication in tags is a cardinal virtue. Remember that tags serve a purpose, they're primarily a tool for sorting and filtering, and (unlike on some other sites like tumblr) they work, so it's best to keep them informative and try to limit rambling in the tags. Ramble at length in your author's notes instead!

Titles

Picking a title can be one of the most daunting and frustrating parts of posting a fic. Sometimes we just know what to call our fics and it's a beautiful moment. Other times we stare at that little input box for what feels like an eternity.

The good news is there's really no wrong way to select a title. Titles can be long or short, poetic or straight to the point. Song lyrics, idioms, quotes from literature or from the fic itself can be good ways to go.

Single words or phrases with meanings that are representative of the fic can be great. A lot of times these are well known terms or are easy enough to figure out like Midnight or Morning Glow, but if you find yourself using something that not a lot of people know what it means, like Chiaroscuro (an art style that uses heavy shadow and strong contrast between light and dark), Kintsukuroi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold), or Clusivity (the grammatical term for differences in who is or isn't included in a group pronoun), you should define the term in either a subtitle, i.e. “Chiaroscuro: A Study In Contrast,” or at the beginning of the summary.

As a courtesy to other writers, especially in small fandoms, you may want to check to make sure there's not already another fic with the same title in the same fandom, but this is not required. In large fandoms, there's no point in even trying. After all, there are only so many puns to be made about the full moon and only so many verses to Hallelujah.

It may be common practice on other platforms to include information such as fandom or ship in the title of a fic, but on Ao3 nothing that is specified by tags belongs in the title unless your title happens to be the same as a tag because, for instance, you've straightforwardly titled your character study of Dean Winchester “Dean Winchester Character Study” and also responsibly tagged it as such.

Summaries

Yes, you really do need to put something down for the summary. It might only need to be a single sentence, but give the readers something to go off of.

The summary is there to serve two purposes: one, to catch the interest of potential readers, give them a taste of what's inside, and make them want to know more; and two, to give you a space to provide information or make comments that don't really fit in the tags but that you want readers to see before they open the fic.

We've already talked some about that second function. When you put an explanation of the title or clarification about tags in the summary, that's the purpose it's serving. You can also put notes to “Heed the tags” or instruct readers that there are additional warnings in the author's note here in the summary, rather than doing so in the tags.

The first function, the actual summarizing, can be very hard for some of us. It's basically the movie trailer for your fic, butwhat are you even supposed to say?

There are two main strategies as to how to approach this: the blurb, and the excerpt. Blurbs are like the synopses you at least used to see on the backs of published books, or the “Storyline” section on an IMDb page. Writing one is a matter of telling your readers who does what, under what circumstances.

Depending on the fic, one sentence can capture the whole thing: “Sam and Alex have sex on a train.” “Tori tries to rob a bank.” “If anybody had mentioned Max's new house was haunted, Jamie wouldn't have agreed to help with the move.”

Sometimes a blurb can be a question! “What happens when you lock a nuclear engineer in a closet with a sewing kit, a tennis ball, and half a bottle of Sprite?”

Of course, plenty of blurbs are more than one sentence. Their length can vary pretty significantly depending on the type and length of fic you're working with and how much detail you're trying to convey, but it shouldn't get to be more than a few short paragraphs. You're not retelling the entire fic here.

An excerpt is a portion of the fic copied out to serve as the summary. This, too, can vary in length from a line or two to several paragraphs, but shouldn't get too long. It should not be an entire scene unless that scene happens to be uncommonly short. It's important to select a portion of the fic that both indicates the who, what, and under what circumstances of the fic and is representative of the overall tone. Excerpts that are nothing but dialogue with no indication of who's talking are almost never a good choice. Portions that are sexually explicit or extremely violent are never ever a good choice—if it deserves content warnings, it belongs inside the fic, not on the results page.

Counterintuitively, some of the best excerpts won't even look like an excerpt to the reader if they don't contain dialogue. They seem like particularly literary blurbs until the reader reaches that part in the fic and realizes they recognize a section of narration.

Some of us have very strong preferences as to whether we write blurbs or use excerpts for our summaries. Some readers have very strong preferences as to which they find useful. Ultimately, there's no accounting for taste, but there are things we can do to limit the frustration for readers who prefer summaries of the opposite kind than we prefer to write, without increasing our own frustration or work load very much. Part of that is understanding what readers dislike about each type so we know what to mitigate.

Blurbs can seem dry, academic, and overly simplified. They don't automatically give the reader a sense of your writing style the way an excerpt does. They can also seem redundant, like they're just rehashing information already given in the tags, so the reader feels like they're being denied any more information without opening the fic.

Excerpts can seem lazy, like you, the author, don't care enough to bother writing a blurb, or pushy like you're telling the reader “just read the fic; I'm not going to give you the information you need to decide if you want to read or not, I'm shoving it in front of you and you just have to read it.” That effect gets worse if your tags aren't very informative or clear about what the plot is, if the excerpt is obviously just the first few lines or paragraphs of the fic, if the except is particularly long, or, worst of all, if all three are true at once.

A lot of the potential problems with blurbs can be minimized by having fun writing them! Make it punchy, give it some character, treat it like part of the story, not just a book report. A fic for a serialized show or podcast, for instance, could have a blurb written in the style of the show's “previously on” or the podcast's intro. Make sure the blurb gives the reader something they can't just get from the tags—like the personality of your writing, important context or characterization, or a sense of the shape of the story—but don't try to skimp on the tags to do it!

Really, the only way to minimize the potential problems with excerpts is to be very mindful in selecting them. Make sure the portion you've chosen conveys the who, what, and under what circumstances and isn't too long. You know the story; what seems clear and obvious from the excerpt to you might not be apparent to someone who doesn't already know what happens, so you might need to ask a friend to double check you.

The absolute best way to provide a summary that works for everybody is to combine both methods. It really isn't that hard to stick a brief excerpt before your blurb, or tack a couple lines of blurb after your excerpt, but it can make a world of difference for how useful and inviting your summary is to a particular reader. The convention for summaries that use both is excerpt first, then blurb.

If you're struggling to figure out a summary, or have been in the habit of not providing one, try not to stress over it. Anything is better than nothing. As long as you've written something for a summary, you've given the reader a little more to help them make their decision. What really isn't helpful, though, is saying “I'm bad at summaries” in your summary. It's a lot like the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag in that it's unnecessarily self depreciating, frequently comes across as an excuse not to try, and sometimes really is just an excuse. Unlike the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag, which has the tiny saving grace of warning readers you've probably missed something, saying you're bad at summaries has no utility at all, and may drive away a reader who thought your summary was quite good, but is uncomfortable with the negative attitude reflected by that statement. Summaries are hard. It's okay if you don't like your summary, but it's important for it to be there, and it's important to be kind to yourself about it. You're trying, that's what matters.

Author's Notes

Author's notes are the one place where we, the writers, directly address and initiate contact with our readers. We may also talk to them in the comments section, but that's different because they initiate that interaction while we reply, and comments are mostly one-on-one while in author's notes we're addressing everyone who ever reads our fic.

The very first note on a fic should contain any information, such as warnings or explanations, that a reader needs to see before they get to the body of the story, as well as anything like thanks to your beta, birthday wishes to a character, or general hellos and announcements you want readers to see before they get to the body of the story. On multi-chapter fics, notes at the beginning of chapters serve the same function for that chapter as the initial note on the fic does for the whole story, so you can do things like warn for Self-Harm on the two chapters out of thirty where it comes up, let everyone know your update schedule will be changing, or wish your readers a merry Christmas, if they celebrate it, on the chapter you posted on December 23rd but is set in mid-March.

Notes at the end of a fic or chapter are for things that don't need to be said or are not useful to a reader until after they've read the preceding content, such as translations for that handful of dialogue that's in Vulcan or Portuguese, or any parting greetings or announcements you want to give, like a thanks for reading or a reminder school is starting back so you won't be able to write as much. End notes are the best place to plug your social media to readers if you're inclined to do so, but remember that cannot include payment platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi.

As previously mentioned, warnings can go in end notes but that really should only be done when the warnings are particularly long, such that the length might cause a problem for readers who are already confident in their comfort level and would just want to scroll past the warning description. In that case, the additional warnings need to go in the note at the end of the first chapter, rather than at the end of the fic, if it's a multi-chapter fic; and you need to include an initial note telling readers that warnings/explanations of tags are at the bottom so they know to follow where the Archive tells them to see the end of the chapter/work for “more notes.”

When posting a new work, where the Preface section gives you the option to add notes “at the beginning” or “at the end” or both, if you check both boxes, it means notes at the beginning and end of the entire fic, not the beginning and end of the first chapter. For single-chapter fics this difference doesn't really matter, but for multi-chapter fics it matters a lot. In order to add notes to the beginning or end of the first chapter of a multi-chapter fic you have to first go through the entire process to post the new fic, then go in to Edit, Edit Chapter, and add the notes there.

Series and Chapters

Dealing with Series and Chapters is actually two different issues, but they're closely related and cause some of us mixups, especially when we're new to the site and its systems, so we're going to cover them together.

Series on Ao3 are for collecting up different stories that you've written that are associated with each other in some way. Chapters are for dividing up one story into parts, usually for pacing and to give yourself and your readers a chance to take breaks and breathe, rather than trying to get through the entire thing in a single marathon sitting (not that we won't still do that voluntarily, but it's nice to have rest points built in if we need them).

If your story would be one book if it was officially published, then it should be posted as a single fic—with multiple chapters if it's long or has more than one distinct part, like separate vignettes that all go together. If you later write a sequel to that fic, post it as a new fic and put them together in a series. It's exactly like chapters in a book and books in a series. Another way to think of this structure is like a TV show: different fics in the series are like different seasons of the show, with individual chapters being like episodes.

If you have several fics that all take place in the same AU but really aren't the same story those should go together as a series. If you wrote a story about a superhero team re-cast as school teachers, then wrote another story about different characters in the same school, that's this situation.

Series are also the best way to handle things like prompt games, bingos, or Kinktober, or collect up one shots and drabbles especially if your various fills, entries, and drabbles are for more than one fandom. If you put everything for a prompt game or bingo, or all your drabbles, together as one fic with a different chapter for each story, what ends up happening is that fic gets recognized by the Archive as a crossover when it isn't, so it gets excluded from the results pages for everyone who told the filters to Exclude Crossovers even though one of the stories you wrote is exactly what they're looking for; and that fic ends up with tons and tons of wildly varying and self-contradictory tags because it's actually carrying the tags for several entirely different, possibly unrelated stories, which also means it ends up getting excluded from results pages because, for instance, one out of your thirty-one Kinktober entries is about someone's NoTP.

Dividing these kinds of things up into multiple fic in a series makes it so much easier for readers to find what of your work they actually want to read.

If you've previously posted such things as a single fic, don't worry, it's a really common misunderstanding and there is absolutely nothing stopping you from reposting them separately. You may see traffic on them go up if you do!

Parting Thoughts

Metatext is ultimately all about communication, and in this context effective communication is a matter of responsibility and balance.

Ao3 is our archive. It's designed for us, the writers, to have the freedom to write and share whatever stories we want without having to worry that we'll wake up one day and find our writing has been deleted overnight without warning. That has happened too many times to so many in our community as other fanfic sites have died, been shut down, or caved to threats of legal action. Ao3 is dedicated to defending our legal right to create and share our stories. Part of the deal is that, in exchange for that freedom and protection, we take up the responsibility to communicate to readers what we're writing and who it's appropriate for.

We are each other's readers, and readers who don't write are still part of our community. We have a responsibility as members of this community to be respectful of others in our shared spaces. Ao3 is a shared space. The best way we have to show each other respect is to give one another the information needed to decide if a given fic is something we want to engage with or not, and then, in turn, to not engage with fic that isn't our cup of tea. As long as our fellow writer has been clear about what their fic is, they've done their part of the job. If we decided to look at the fic despite the information given and didn't like what we found, then that's on us.

Because metatext is how we put that vital information about our fics out in the community, it's important that our metatext is clear and easy to parse. The key to that is balance. Striking the balance between putting enough tags to give a complete picture and not putting too many tags that become an unreadable wall; the balance between the urge to be thorough and tag every character and the need to be restrained so those looking for fics actually about a certain character can find them; the balance between using established tags for clarity and ease and making up our own tags for specificity and fun.

Do your best, act in good faith, remember you're communicating with other people behind those usernames and kudos, and, most importantly, have fun with your writing!

#THE GUIDE #metatext #fandom meta #fandom etiquette #Eiiri made this

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eirian-houpe · 3 years

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Hydrangea

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Maurice | Moe French Additional Tags: Memories, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, A Monthly Rumbelling August 2021 Series: Part 5 of The Language of Flowers

Summary: Belle is still in hospital after her accident out by the woods. Rumple catches her bookmark just as it is about to slip onto the bed, and together they reminisce about the first time he gave her flowers.

Read on AO3

Hydrangea

Gold sat in the hospital chair, beside the bed in which Belle was still confined. He didn’t want her there, didn’t trust the care she was getting to be what she needed. Now that they’d tended her wounds and given her the blood she needed to replace what was lost, he wanted her home, where he could care for her properly.

It bothered him, too, the way Jefferson had suddenly almost run from the room, on the gods knew what errand. One kindled by the coltsfoot flower that Belle had found on the library doorstep… was it only that morning? It felt like a thousand years ago.

He didn’t speak. He hadn’t for some time. Belle had been reading, and had fallen asleep with her book in her hands, and he didn’t want to disturb her. Only when it seemed the bookmark she held loosely in one hand, and the book that rested on the top of the covers, began to slip, did he reach out and take them gently from her, placing the book face down and open on the tray table beside the bed, while he stared at the bookmark, running his fingers over the pink, heart-shaped flowers that had been pressed and mounted onto the light blue card of the home made bookmark.

“Hydrangea.” Belle’s voice was soft, a little hoarse, and heavy with sleep.

“Sweetheart,” Gold answered, “you should be resting.”

She shook her head, just a little, and persisted, “They were the first flowers you ever gave me. Do you remember?”

Gold closed his eyes, letting his mind slip back into a past, a recent past but one which also felt as though it was hundreds of years ago.

“It wasn’t long after you arrived,” he said - knowing that wasn’t entirely the truth, but knowing also that Belle was still unaware of their previous life, or who they truly were to one another. “You were standing on the street outside of the library with the key in your hand.”

“The library key,” she agreed. “I remember. You wore a red tie. It stood out so much. I thought it was very bold.”

Gold chuckled. “Bold?” he questioned.

“Yes,” Belle said, and blushed. “Dark and broodingly handsome, and this huge statement that I just couldn’t ignore.” She looked down at her fingernails, and played with them until Gold reached out and gently took her hands in his. “I wanted to talk to you, but somehow I couldn’t.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” he reassured her. “In the end we got talking.”

“Thanks to the flowers, and the little game you always played.” She looked up, smiling fondly at him, her blush still not faded. “Do you remember what you said, when you brought them…?”

It was a warm enough day that he could fore go the heavy overcoat, in favor of the fine woolen suit when he made his rounds of the town. There were a few stragglers from whom he still needed to collect rent, and that was his first order of business. Then he’d spotted her from the corner of his eye.

He’d seen her before, though usually she looked distressed. Today, however, she seemed the embodiment of excitement. She stood in front of the library doors, clearly holding the key in her hand, bouncing on her toes as though she couldn’t contain herself. It made him smile.

Few things, and even fewer people brought a smile to his face, and he decided then and there that he would get to know this woman; petite, brown hair half pinned up, half falling around her face, and even across the distance he could see the brightness in the blue of her eyes.

Beautiful he said to himself, then crossed the street, and walked on his way.

Game of Thorns was a reasonable walk but it gave him time to think, to come up with a strategy. He was - self confessed - a bit of a coward when it came to women, thanks to Milah he supposed, but for him to think a woman as beautiful as the new librarian might even give him the time of day…?

It was then it hit him. Miss French was the florist’s daughter. Had her beauty so affected him that he could forget a simple fact like that?

“What do you want, Gold?” Mo French, as hospitable as ever, spat the words the moment he set foot inside the shop. No wonder his business was barely solvent if he treated all his potential customers that way. Of course, to be fair, the indebted proprietor most likely thought he was there to collect the rent money owed, rather than to purchase flowers, as was his intention, but it didn’t hurt to ruffle a few feathers every now and then. “I told you I’d bring you the rent by close of business today and—”

“Mister French,” he cut the man off, keeping his voice calm, almost convivial. He held up a hand to forestall any other comment by the boorish, irritating imbecile. “I’m sure you’re a man of your word. No, my purpose is not harassment - though I would be quite within my rights to do so - however, I’m here on business of another kind.”

“Oh?” French’s brows knitted in confusion.

“Flowers,” Gold said, and gestured around them. “And when one wishes for flowers, where else would one go except to a florists?”

“Well, in that case…” The man’s attitude changed as though someone had flipped a switch - not that Gold believed it any more than he believed that Mo French would give him the rent before five that evening, but - for now - he was willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt. “What can I do for you, Mister Gold.”

Gold looked around at the many options he had. Roses were a little too forward, in his opinion, and the lilies that caught his eye were somewhat too somber.

“I’m looking for something to bring a little brightness into what I’m sure is a space that needs it. Nothing too ostentatious, but something that would… break the ice between strangers,” he said.

French thought for a while, looking around at his stock, and asked, “Bouquet, or… perhaps something in a vase?”

“That would be lovely,” Gold answered. “Could you make an arrangement with those?” He pointed toward a bucket in which a number of blooms rested; tight balls of flowers, with heart shaped petals, in various colors. “The pink, if you please.”

And so it was, that several moments later, Gold left Game of Thorns with a classic shaped vase in which an arrangements of hydrangeas, green leaves, and the white of baby’s breath had been made.

Belle rubbed the itching tip of her nose with the back of her dirty hands, and blew the hair out of her face as she straightened up from dusting the circulation desk of the library. Already the room was a hundred times better than before just from having removed the paper from the windows, but now her hands were covered in news print, and the dust was making her want to sneeze and rub her eyes. She had visions of herself ending up looking like some kind of koala.

She chuckled to herself just as the door opened, and a vase of flowers came in, followed by the determined tread of Mister Gold. Besides the flowers, the thing she most noticed was the bold red of his tie, which stood out against the immaculate darkness of his suit as though some kind of beacon.

She’d heard her father speak of the fearsome Mister Gold many times, and usually in some of the most derogatory tones that she’d ever heard him use, but seeing Gold, standing there in the doorway of the library, looking awkward behind the shield of flowers, she didn’t find him at all fearsome, much less objectionable.

“Mister Gold,” she greeted him with a smile. “I’m afraid I’m not quite ready to open the library just yet. It still needs a little attention.”

“Oh, no rush, Miss French,” he answered, taking an almost hesitant step further into the library, “I just thought…” She watched his throat bob as he swallowed, and then finished sheepishly, “Well, these are for you. I thought they might… help to brighten up the place.”

She came around the circulation desk as he offered the vase, and took it from him. “That’s very kind of you,” she said, and she felt herself lighten as she realized she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given her flowers. “Very thoughtful.”

“My pleasure,” he told her, and returned her smile. “And please,” he added, “If there’s any way I can help you with anything you might need to reopen the library, my shop is just across the way.” She glanced in the direction he indicated, though she already knew the location of his shop - everyone did - but somehow, the offer made her feel… warm inside; special.

…Belle smiled, remembering the moment as Rumple described it, and described how he felt. The warmth of it helped to make her feel lighter, happier than anyone lying in a hospital bed had any business feeling.

“For the first time in as long as I could remember, I just didn’t know what to do with myself,” he confessed, taking her hand in his once more.

“But you did know, Rumple,” she corrected him softly. All of the pressed flowers you hid inside the books you borrowed…” she trailed off a small frown crossing her face.

“Sweetheart?” he prompted. “Are you all right? Do you need me to get someo—”

“Did you ever read any of those books?” she asked, her tone teasing. “Or were they just an excuse to keep… coming into the library?”

“Some,” he said. “One or two.” He crumpled under the weight of her teasing scrutiny. “All right, barely any. I always meant to… and I started one or two, but then…”

“Then…?”

“Well… I had to get you to notice me… to fall in love with me somehow,” he said, and she knew that behind his teasing, there was a large degree of truth.

“You thought I hadn’t noticed you?” she frowned again. “Every week for years you gave me a pressed flower, hidden in a book… you truly made love a mystery to uncover, with each and every one of those gifts. How could I not notice you, when I cherished and still cherish you so much?”

“Oh, Belle,” he answered, moving to perch on the side of the hospital bed so that he could lean down to kiss her softly.

“I love you, Rumple,” she said.

“And I love you too.”

#rumbelle #memories #hurt/comfort #Emotional Hurt/Comfort #a monthly rumbelling august 2021 #a monthly rumbelling

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moonsofmars-writes · 4 years

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What means to be Hordak

Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra) Characters: Hordak (She-Ra), Horde Prime (She-Ra), Entrapta (mentioned), Catra (mentioned) Tags: Canon Compliant, Episode: s05e03 Corridors, Memory Loss, Angst, hurt hordak, Hurt No Comfort, Hordak thinks Entrapta is dead, Hordak-centric (She-Ra), Hordak remembers (briefly)

Summary: My take on what happened to Hordak after Catra called him by his name in episode 3 of season 5. Or, a (supposedly) nameless clone is forced to deal with a past he should have forgotten. It doesn’t go well.

Notes: this was supposed to be for day 3 of Entrapdak Month but I’m late! Anyway, enjoy some Hordak suffering - at least we know he is alright now!

Clones don’t seek loneliness nor need a place where to stop and just think. The only thing they should care and worry about is how to be useful to Horde Prime, the saviour of the universe. Yet this clone - a simple clone, like all the others, with his white and black garment and bright green eyes -, this common, nameless clone is hasting down the corridors of the Velvet Glove without orders or purpose, going … he doesn’t even know where he is going. He just knows that his mind is foaming like a stormy sea -

Where did he see a stormy sea? He shouldn’t remember yet it’s there, right in front of his eyes, the waves breaking against the boat’s hull, and he is standing and watching as the fire burns everything, tinging the water red as blood.

Salineas.

How does he remember? Why now? He shouldn’t, those memories shouldn’t be there, they are forbiddenforbiddenforbidden-

The clone clenches his jaw and fists and speeds up, glancing behind his shoulder to make sure he is alone. This is not supposed to happen. He is nothing but a servant of the great Horde Prime, and yet …

She gave him a name. Little Sister - Catra, no, Force Captain Catra - gave him a name. A name that he would just want to forget - it is wrong to have a name - but that he can’t cast out of his mind. It’s now marked on his brain with fire and echos in his head like a distant call.

Hordak.

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He gasps and stumbles, reaching for the nearest wall to find support, then crawls into a near recess, head in his hands, nails scratching his skin. He is not Hordak. He is a clone, a faithful servant of Horde Prime - his brother, his God. He doesn’t want to be Hordak, because being Hordak means -

Hot blood spilling from his mouth and arms as he crawls out of a destroyed ship. A look is enough to crush his hope - it will never be able to fly again. In the meanwhile, his body screams, worse than usual, worse than ever.

The clone swallows hard. His heart pumps fast and he feels like he is not getting enough air. Being Hordak means solitude and desperation. It means looking up at the sky and seeing no stars. It means to spend every hour working on a project destined to fail, again and again. He doesn’t want to remember that loneliness, he doesn’t want to remember what happened when he thought that loneliness could end.

“Who do you think let the Princesses in?” Little sister - Catra - howls a laugh, then looks at him with burning eyes, “Did you really think she was on our side?”

A tiny whine rises from the clone’s throat, and he has to cover his mouth with his hands and bite his palm not to cry. Being Hordak means betrayal, too.

He knows enough, so he shuts his eyes close and tries to push them back, the memories that now are coming for him like an army of enemies. He doesn’t want to see them. Deep inside his chest, he knows there is worse. Worse than betrayal, worse than solitude, worse … no, no, no! He shakes his head, but the memories don’t stop coming and now he is breathing heavily, panic clenching his chest because he doesn’t want to remember -

Her.

Her name escapes his mind now, her figure a blur of purple, but her image fills his mind and so does her voice, her laugh, the little sounds she made when she was excited. The clone punches the wall in frustration and grits his teeth - he can’t remember her, he can’t, because she …

Sheshesheshesheshe -

The clone struggle, and grabs his ears and claws his face, and tries so hard to stop his mind, to stop to think, to-

A green figure walking around him, a smirk on their face.

“Of course, as you know, she wasn’t there”, they said.

“I figured out the truth”, they said.

“You and Catra sent Entrapta to Beast Island”.

NonononoNO - he can’t remember this, he can’t remember her - Entraptaentraptaentrapta - because she … she …

She is dead.

He left her to die.

…

He has collapsed on the floor. There he lies, too weak to stand up, too weak even to move. Tears fall from his eyes and stain his cheek. Clones are not supposed to cry, but he is not a simple clone, not anymore. Right now, he is Hordak again. And being Hordak means, more than anything, suffering.

He doesn’t know how long he stays like this before his brother finds him - not a long time, certainly, because Horde Prime sees all, and Horde Prime knows all. He can feel the other watching him for a few moments before he makes the effort to look up.

“Please,” he begs when he notices the green pupil in the other’s eyes, “please, take them away. Please …”

“Ah, little brother,” the clone - Prime - kneels beside him, shaking his head, “how much pain will you bring upon yourself before letting go of those memories?”

“I didn’t - I don’t want them,” he sobs, “please, please, I don’t want to remember anymore.”

Prime’s hands grab his face, his claws pressing against his skin enough to sting but not to cut. He examines him with his lips pressed in a line, then, he smiles, and his smile is gentle and compassionate. “I see that you search for freedom, little brother. And how could I deny help to the ones who ask for it? Go and get yourself presentable,” he orders, standing up, “then find our little sister and bring her to me. Soon, you will be reborn anew.”

In the blink of an eye, he has gone, and the clone - no, Hordak is left alone. His head aches and exhaustion weighs upon his body, yet he hurries to get up and follow his God’s orders. It will all be over soon. His pain, his desperation, all the agony that those memories bring to his heart. Soon, he will be free again, no different from any other clone. Soon, Hordak will be gone, and with him, the pain.

#she ra #hordak #entrapdak month #entrapdak #entrapta #horde prime #she ra fanfic #spop #Mars-writes #angst #me: I like this character!#also me: let's make them suffer!

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splendidlyimperfect · 4 years

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When Gray wakes up one night with a voice in his head, the last thing he expects is to suddenly be sharing a body with a demon. Natsu is nothing like Gray expected, though. He's surprisingly charming, and more concerned about getting Gray to eat vegetables than he is with taking over the world. Since Gray can't push him away like he does with everyone else, he begrudgingly accepts Natsu's place in his life - for now. But when Natsu ends up needing Gray's help, what started out as an inconvenience turns into a road trip - and a friendship - that changes Gray's life.

written for @fuckyeahgratsu gratsu weekend 2021 event

day 2; prompt: secret/confession

Chapters: 1 | 2 Fandom: Fairy Tail Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster Characters: Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Lyon Vastia, Mard Geer Tartarus Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Humor, Adventure, Demonic Possession, but the good kind, demon Natsu, References to Depression, Depressed Gray, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Sort Of, Road Trips, Falling In Love, Natsu's not an evil demon, he really just wants to take care of Gray, Gray sucks at feelings

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Lyon didn’t answer Gray’s first text, or his third, or his tenth. Eventually Gray gave up, shoving his phone in his pocket and grabbing his shoes.

“Where are we going?” Natsu, who had been quiet during the texting, reappeared next to Gray’s reflection in the hallway mirror. “Are we finally getting something to eat? I know you’re not hungry, but I am.” Gray could tell Natsu still didn’t believe him about not wanting to eat, but his first cup of coffee hadn’t kicked in yet and he was too tired to argue.

“Fine, we can get food.” He shrugged on his jacket and locked the door behind them, then started down the road toward Main Street. “What do you want?”

“What’s the best thing you’ve ever had for breakfast?”

Continue reading on AO3

Gray considered the question as they made their way past the morning crowd. A cool spring wind carried cherry blossoms down from the trees and dusted them in pink and white across the street. The sun was thin but warm, and Gray felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax.

“Uh, probably cinnamon buns? There’s a good place down the street. I haven’t been in a while, though.”

“You haven’t been anywhere in a while,” Natsu agreed.

“Stop going through my memories,” Gray hissed. He pushed the button for the crosswalk and caught the eye of the woman standing beside him. She was giving him a strange look and it took him a second to remember that she couldn’t see Natsu.

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Natsu insisted as Gray shoved his hands in his pockets and hurried across the street, away from the woman’s puzzled gaze. “I haven’t done this in a long time. It’s weird.”

“You’ve possessed people before?” Gray kept his voice low.

“Yeah.”

“…why? When?”

“Uh… what year is it?”

Gray raised his eyebrow. “2021.”

Natsu was quiet for a second – all Gray could hear was a low muttering that sounded suspiciously like someone counting on their fingers. Eventually Natsu said, “About two hundred years ago? I can’t remember exactly.”

Gray stopped talking as he stepped into the café, trying to ignore Natsu’s excited exclamations while he studied the pastry shelf.

“Ooh, what’s the pink one? Is that cake? Can we have cake for breakfast? And more coffee. What’s a latte? You should get a banana or something too. You don’t eat a lot of fruit.”

“That’s none of your business,” Gray grumbled under his breath, but he grabbed an apple from next to the till and added it to the cinnamon bun and coffee he purchased.

Natsu made a contented sound as Gray sat down at one of the tables outside the café and took a bite of the cinnamon bun. A pleased aura radiated from him, somewhere in the back of Gray’s mind.

“Can you taste it?” Gray asked. He’d pulled out his headphones and put an earbud in one ear, hoping that it looked like he was talking on the phone rather than to an imaginary friend.

“Sort of.” Natsu hummed appreciatively when Gray took another bite. “I know it’s good and that I like it, but it’s kind of… blurry.”

“Blurry?”

Natsu sighed. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like there’s a… a filter on things, between you and me. So, when you touch or eat something, I feel it, it’s just… blurry.”

“Huh.” Gray finished the cinnamon bun and the apple in silence, giving his brain time to process everything as he watched the world go on around him. There was a part of him that kept wanting to panic, but nothing about the situation felt dangerous. In fact, it was kind of nice to have some company. And he did feel better after eating.

“See?” Natsu sounded pleased with himself. “I knew you were hungry,”

“Shut up,” Gray said half-heartedly. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching him talk to Natsu, then said, “You don’t seem very evil. For a demon, I mean.”

“I’m not evil!” Natsu said indignantly. “That’s why I haven’t possessed anyone in so long. Usually, people – warlocks, whatever – summon demons for shitty reasons, like they wanna hurt people. Or get revenge, or whatever. I don’t do that.”

“You can just refuse to show up when you’re summoned?”

“It depends. If someone calls on me specifically with my true name, I can’t say no. But if it’s just a generic, ‘I need a demon to strike down my enemies, blah, blah, blah,’ someone else can take it. There’s lots of other demons and I’m nobody special.”

Gray frowned, poking at the crumbs on his plate. “So…why are you here now? And why me? If Lyon summoned you, why aren’ t you possessing him?”

“He did the spell wrong,” Natsu explained. “Like I said, he’s a shitty warlock.”

“Not the only thing he’s shitty at,” Gray said, rolling his eyes. “Why’d he try to summon you, anyway?”

“Something about his ex.”

“Figures.” Gray took another sip of his coffee. “Did he know your real name, then?”

“Nope.”

“Then…you decided to possess me on purpose?” He caught a glimpse of their reflection in the window of the café and could see Natsu’s embarrassed expression.

“Yeah. Sort of. I guess.”

“Why?”

Natsu didn’t answer right away. An uncomfortable sensation started to spread down the back of Gray’s neck, and he couldn’t tell if it was coming from Natsu or himself. He shifted in his chair, fighting the sudden urge to go home and go back to bed.

“You’re not tired,” Natsu said. “Why do you want to sleep?”

Gray’s chest tightened and he shook his head, staring down at his half-empty coffee cup. “I don’t,” he insisted. “I just…” He felt a gentle tug at the back of his mind.

“Is it ‘cause you’re sad again?”

“I’m not.” Gray ground his teeth, then interrupted Natsu’s next question. “Stop poking around in my head and tell me why you’re in there.”

“I need to find my body,” Natsu said reluctantly.

Gray frowned. “You have your own body? Here?”

Natsu’s reflection nodded. “Well, not here here, I’m not sure where it is right now. But someone else has my body and I want it back.”

“How did that happen?”

The version of Natsu in the café window reflection settled down in the seat across from Gray and rested his chin on his hands. Even though Gray couldn’t see Natsu, the invisible gaze made Gray feel naked.

“I was really sick when I was a kid,” Natsu said after a moment. “Like, really sick. All the physickers said I was gonna die, and my brother didn’t wanna believe it. He was always trying to save me. Nothing worked, so he started messing around with dark magic.”

“With demons.”

Natsu nodded. “He thought he could do some sort of exchange – his soul for my life – so he summoned this demon, Mard Geer, who agreed to make a deal with him. Zeref was so excited that it worked that he didn’t word the deal carefully enough. Mard Geer agreed to fix my body for a soul.”

“Let me guess. He took your body and tossed your soul into Hell.”

Natsu scowled at the table. “Yep. Technically he didn’t lie – he fixed the problem. My body isn’t sick anymore, it’s just not mine.”

Natsu’s anger crept through Gray’s mind, winding threads of bitterness around his own ache of exhaustion and sadness. He let out a quiet gasp at the sensation, leaning forward with his head in his hands as the feelings washed over him. For some reason it made him want to cry.

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

Gray felt the tingling sensation start to creep up his arm again and he sat up quickly, pulling his hand to his chest and clenching his fist.

“Stop doing that.” He tried to keep his voice down, but the flood of emotions overwhelmed his common sense.

“I didn’t mean to—”

“I don’t care.” He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and stood up quickly, nearly knocking over his chair. “Please, I…” He kept his eyes down, cheeks burning as he avoided the stares he knew he was getting. Leaving his half-empty coffee behind, he stormed away from the café and down the street.

“I’m sorry.” Natsu’s voice was soft in his head, and the angry sensation from before was quickly replaced by regret.

“It’s my body,” Gray whispered as he ducked around a crowd of people. “You can’t just… you can’t.”

Natsu didn’t say anything for a second, then very quietly said, “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Stop going through my fucking memories!” Gray ignored the stares he got as he darted across the street, ignoring the blaring of car horns. He knew exactly what Natsu was seeing – images of someone he tried hard to forget, someone who never took no for an answer.

“I’m sorry,” Natsu said again. “I’m not trying to, I promise, I don’t know how to… to turn it off.”

Gray didn’t reply, just kept walking as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Natsu was quiet – the only indicator that he was still there was the undercurrent of shame and sorrow. Eventually Gray’s breathing started to even out, and by the time they reached the intersection before the park, the sensation of wanting to cry was gone.

“I’m—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gray interrupted, cutting off what he assumed was going to be another apology. He jabbed the crosswalk button, hard, then tried his best to turn his mind back to the conversation from before. “So,” he said. “We just need to find your body, exorcise a demon, and somehow get you back inside it.”

A wave of surprise washed over Gray’s mind. “You’ll help me?” Natsu sounded genuinely shocked. “For real?”

“That’s why you possessed me, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.” A bus passed in front of them, and Gray could see Natsu in the window reflection, standing next to him with a small smile on his face. “I wasn’t sure you’d actually help, though. Nobody ever has.”

Gray felt a hot flush rush to his cheeks, and he wasn’t quite sure why. “Well, I don’t want you in my brain forever,” he said quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets as they crossed the street. “I have to do something about it. I’m just… not sure how.”

“We’d, um, need a locating spell,” Natsu said. “To find my body. I’m pretty sure it’s close-ish, I dunno how to do that kind of magic, though.”

“Me either,” Gray said. He looked up at the building that now loomed in front of them – the college dorm. “But Lyon does.”

#fairy tail #gratsu #gratsuweekend2021 #gray fullbuster #natsu dragneel #fairy tail fanfiction #ft fanfic #update #new chapter #my fic #highway to hell

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moveslikebucky · 4 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Crowley Has Anxiety (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Penis (Good Omens), Crowley Has a Penis (Good Omens), Established Relationship Summary:

Crowley overthinks things, Aziraphale is there to ground him back to reality.

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Hello friends! Expect to see more fic posts from me I’m about to queue up a bunch of them! Life has been a bit uhhhh life-ish and I haven’t been crossposting to Tumblr and Twitter like I would like to, so I'm gonna queue up some fic posts!

This fic is for my dear friend @cassieoh, who drew some frankly stunning art of Crowley and Aziraphale having a bit of a romp in the plant room. Look for the art coming soon in the Bottoms Up! Zine, but for now, have some words! This one is a short one, but it is NSFW so mind the tags.

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Crowley grimaces. His coffee is bitter, not enough sugar. Made it wrong, wasn’t paying attention. Too many thoughts swimming around in his head for that. He’s not all here, not present in the moment. Not like he should be.

Things have been good lately, simple and easy. Maybe a little too easy. Crowley is always wary of danger, always circling. His serpentine nature has him peeking out from the grass, always on the watch for the hawks above.

His shoulders tense, his pulse quickens. He gulps down some more of the bitter swill, letting it burn down his throat, stick to his tongue. It brewed too long as well, going stale and stagnant as he stared at the French press, dissociating and unfocused..

His fingers start to shake, the cup in his hand does, too. His weight shifts from one foot to the other. His robe suddenly feels sweaty and scratchy and entirely too uncomfortable.

Below him, on the street, water traffic drifts by on the Thames, the streets bustle with life and activity. It shouldn’t be here, none of this should be here. It could all be gone in an instant. Colors shift and deepen as his eyes are swallowed by yellow. Any minute now, everything will be gone, they’ll come back for their war and everything—

Soft fingers alight on the back of his neck, gently gathering and brushing his long hair to one side. Soft lips press ‘I love you’ onto his shoulder between breaths. Two strong and angelic arms wrap around him, grounding him back down to this building, to this flat, to this room.

Crowley breathes.

“Shhh, darling,” Aziraphale coos in his ear, “I’ve got you, love.”

“Angel,” he sighs in relief, feels his pulse slow. His breath evens out, matching Aziraphale’s. Aziraphale does this on purpose, sets the pace and leads by example. Crowley would follow him everywhere, he follows him in this too.

“What do you need, Crowley,” Aziraphale whispers as his hands ghost the planes of Crowley’s stomach, settle on his hip bones, strong and sure. “What can I do to help?”

“Just need you, angel.” Crowley sets his coffee aside and slides his hands down Aziraphale’s arms, twining their fingers together. They stay like this for a few moments, Aziraphale tracing his thumbs along Crowley’s hands, whispering words of affection into his ear. Calming him back into himself, back to their world and this reality.

Aziraphale kisses along the nape of his neck, up into his hairline, pushes the robe a little further down Crowley’s shoulder. He shivers when the cool air touches his skin, lets go of himself, lets Aziraphale take control.

“I won’t be going into the bookshop today, I think,” Aziraphale says as he pushes the robe the rest of the way off Crowley’s shoulders. “I think there are much more pressing matters to attend to here.”

He lets go of Aziraphale’s hands, lets the robe pool on the ground at his feet. Revels in the soft touch of his lover’s hands roaming over his body. Dancing along his ribcage, tweaking at his nipples; a firm yet gentle touch roaming his arms. Crowley turns his head, capturing Aziraphale’s lips with his own, moaning at the feel of this blessed angel worshipping his body like this.

Aziraphale cups his cheek with one hand, deepening the kiss. It’s a weird angle but Crowley doesn’t care, content to take communion from his angel’s lips. Affection freely given, reminding him that this is their home, that this is their life. They get to have this, together, for as long as they live.

“Shall I, darling?” Aziraphale asks, an already slick finger teasing along the cleft of Crowley’s arse, “Would you like that?”

“Yes, please,” Crowley isn’t too proud to beg, not anymore. He leans against the glass, cool under his hands as Aziraphale gently opens him up. He takes his time, slow and languid. Crowley keens and grinds back onto his fingers, trying to speed him up. Aziraphale is relentless, settles his unoccupied hand on Crowley’s hip and holds him steady as he curls his fingers. As Crowley cries out against the glass, fogging it with his breath.

Below them, London bustles. People go about their daily lives, paying no mind to the two of them. They’re too high up to be seen, in any case. Aziraphale leans over, trailing kisses down Crowley’s spine, covering his hand where it rests on the glass. Aziraphale’s fingers fit perfectly between his own, small pinpricks of sunlight lighting through the small gaps in between.

“Are you ready for me, dearheart?” Aziraphale asks, answered with repeated yes’s falling from Crowley’s lips, crashing down to the concrete. Crowley leans against the window, taking in the sky, the buildings, even the thrice-damned river. It’s all here, this world, their world, their home — and they get to keep living in it.

There’s a rustle of fabric behind him, the clang of suspenders hitting the floor. Aziraphale’s hands ghost over the curve of his ass once again, coming to rest between his legs, gripping him tightly. “Do hold on tight, darling.”

In one swift motion, Aziraphale has Crowley up in the air, legs spread wide and grip solid on his thighs. Crowley yelps as he throws an arm around Aziraphale’s neck, hanging on for dear life.

“Angel, what the fuck are you—!”

His questions are silenced when Aziraphale lowers him down slowly, impaling him on his cock. Crowley hisses with pleasure as he takes Aziraphale in all the way to the hilt. Crowley grips Aziraphale’s hair as he moans, adrift on the sensation of being filled so completely.

“How’s that, darling?” Aziraphale asks, nuzzling his face against Crowley’s chest. Bastard shouldn’t be able to be adorable right now, Crowley thinks. Not when he has him in this state, using his angelic strength like this.

“Yes - Ah!- amazing, fuck ,” Crowley gasps out as Aziraphale starts to move. His feet scrabble for some purchase, finding their landing on the edges of a couple of the stone planter pots.

“You’ll have to do a bit of the work, Crowley,” Aziraphale says, breath hot against Crowley’s skin, “My hands are a bit occupied.”

Crowley nods, taking himself in hand, leveraging himself against the plant pots. He matches tempo with Aziraphale; slow strokes along his length timed with Aziraphale’s careful thrusts. The push and the pull of it making his toes curl into the soil, arches pressing into the stone.

It feels like flying, light weightlessness. Being suspended here, depending on Aziraphale to hold him up, to keep him safe. There’s a distinct pleasure in it that’s different for the uncertainty. For the knowledge that one wrong move and he’ll be splayed out on the cement.

He closes his eyes, biting his lip as Aziraphale hits just the right spot. He moans loud enough that the plants start to shudder and shake; though out of fear or what, who’s to say? The combination is enough to undo him, and soon enough he’s spilling over his own hand, strings of it trailing down to the floor, landing on the robe.

It’s not long before Aziraphale’s movements become erratic, before his breathing stutters. Crowley braces his legs tighter against the planters, grinds down onto Aziraphale’s cock with meaning, grips his hair tighter. “Let go, angel, I’ve got you.”

Two more thrusts and Aziraphale is spilling into him, holding him steady despite the way his arms shake. Crowley’s feet are cramping, his arm is sore, and he doesn’t care. They’re here, after the end of the world, in this flat in Mayfair with each other.

Aziraphale sets him down slowly, helping him find his feet again. A wave of the angel’s hand and the mess is gone, an afterthought at best. Crowley is pliant in the afterglow, always is. Being seen to by Aziraphale, loved wholeheartedly by Aziraphale, calms his usually racing existence. Aziraphale maneuvers him carefully, helping him back into his robe. He kisses Crowley’s forehead, a long and soft press of lips. Crowley leans into it, like a sunflower chasing the sunlight he chases the warmth and comfort of his Angel.

“How are we feeling now, darling?”

“Much better,” Crowley says as Aziraphale kisses him again, gentle but insistent. They both have traumas of their own to work through; thoughts and anxieties that keep them awake, keep them looking for danger around the nearest corners. It will take time, but together, they’re healing. Aziraphale kisses Crowley on the nose, earning him a grimace and a stuck out tongue, before turning to his own clothes.

“Nope, not today, angel, you said you weren’t opening the shop.” Crowley steps closer, taking Aziraphale’s hands in his and kissing him deeply, peppering kisses across his face when they break. “More pressing matters, I think it was?” Crowley asks as he pulls Aziraphale in close, settling the angel’s arms around his waist.

“I believe I did say something like that.” Aziraphale noses under Crowley’s chin, trails kisses down the line of it, renewing his arousal mere moments after the wave had crested.

“Hmm, I have silk sheets and some bad ideas.”

“That does sound like something that requires my attention.” Aziraphale says, smiling against Crowley’s skin, “Surely it’s part of my duty to prevent that.”

“Mmhmm, definitely, might throw in a wile or two, just to keep it interesting.” Crowley takes his hand, leading him out of the plant room and towards the bedroom. The bookshop can have Aziraphale tomorrow, today is a day for them, and they still have so much time to make up for.

#link #my fic #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #nsft #mind the tags

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unto-myself-together · 4 years

Text

From Dusk to Dawn, ch 2 (ESO fanfic)

Content warnings for this specific chapter: references to sex. Brief descriptions of violence. Occasional light cursing (i.e. damn, ass. It’s very infrequent though)

Author notes (a lot of notes, sorry!!):

Previous chapters: Chapter 1

Author notes (skip to the squiggly lines--> ~~~~~~ if you want to jump straight into the story)

You can also read the story on my Archive of Our Own Account here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23343163/chapters/64680022#workskin

Lots of notes here (and I apologize for that. But this chapter had a lot of stuff going on. There are a couple of explanations for anyone who is interested/confused by something that went on in this chapter.):

Hey everyone. I really really hope you all have been doing much better during these troubled times than I have. I have an anxiety disorder (as well as a couple of other things and chronic medical conditions) and let’s just say that this does not exactly mix well with a worldwide pandemic. Let me just say that if it wasn’t for ESO and my ESO guildies, I don’t know where I’d be.

I love your comments. All of them. I have been coming back just to read them again and again, and when I get the chance I want to respond to each and every one of them. You all are so beautiful; thank you… And thank you to the person who left that extremely lovely message in my ask box on Tumblr! I’m not sure how to let you know, how to respond in a way that you will see (are you still around?), but if you can see this: I love you and I loved, loved, loved your message!

I missed writing. A lot. But I have so tired lately that I was having difficulties writing this next chapter. I finally got it out and I wanted to share it with all of you. This one is a bit more lighthearted than the last (we’re going to go on a rollercoaster here, with lighthearted chapters intermixed with not-so lighthearted chapters). I also changed the tags a bit.

Ravenwatch and sexuality: It’s actually canon that House Ravenwatch has “naked parties”. I kid you not. Gwendis has dialogue during the quest where you crown the new King/Queen of Rivenspire; if you meet her upstairs in Shornhelm’s castle, she’ll say something like:“If this were a Ravenwatch party, none of these people would be wearing clothes”. Please note that this is a “missable conversation”;if you do not catch Gwendis before completing the crowning quest, you will never get to see her say it again.

Even if ZOS later decides to erase these lines, they can’t erase them from history because I have recordings of it :D In all honesty? I actually appreciated this little side note;I think it adds more complexity to their characters. Given their rules about consent regarding blood giving, their parties are probably fully consensual too.And there really isn’t anything wrong about adults having consensual parties. Besides, vampires have always been a little associated with sex and sexuality, so I don’t think it’s really that surprising.

Kalin’s comment is a reference to their parties. But he purposely worded it in a way that he knew Elyssa wouldn’t understand: with a reference to a Dunmer tavern-brothel. No, Ophelia doesn’t actually participate in their parties (having grown up in this place, I think it would be awkward for all people involved); instead she usually goes to visit relatives and comes back to help with the clean-up. That’s not gonna stop Kalin from teasing her anyways. Speaking of Kalin, I really think he didn’t need to be half-naked and lounging on their dining room table during their mealtime. Just saying: I feel like we were interrupting a little more than just “mealtime”.

Now, whether or not Verandis and his "children" have relations with each other when they keep referring to each other by familial names ("father", "sister") is a different story; the idea makes me uncomfortable. But I'm fairly certain Kalin (who is not "a family member") and mortal guests can get some action with the vampires.

In regards to the mortal servants: I’m sorry, ZOS. I don’t care how much magic is pumping through Tamriel’s veins; you will never convince me that two servants (Kalin and Estelle) can feed a household of five vampires once a night every night (even more than five vampires if you save the two people during the Rivenspire quests). Even with magical “produce more blood” potions, I felt the need to add at least two more mortals to the household…I hope readers don’t mind…

It did get me thinking: how does Verandis find these people? I doubt he just puts up an ad onto the Shornhelm bulletin board. Can you imagine? “Help wanted. Must have lots of blood and no aversion to pointy objects in your neck” (I’m kidding). Melina Cassel’s comments in her hireling mails implies that Verandis doesn’t force the servants to give blood as a part of their contract (she makes mention that Estelle giving blood goes “beyond the call of duty”). But there probably is a preference for those who aren’t averse to parting with a bit of their life force every now and then. In Kalin’s case, I’m like 99% convinced his half naked Dunmer self does it because he thinks it’s hot.

I actually had a mock up done of the Castle Ravenwatch basement/lower floor on the PTS using Daggerfall Overlook. I’m not sure if anyone would be interested enough in it for me to post a pic of it though. (yes, I know. I saw the Ravenwatch Prologue and I don’t care)

I really hope ZOS comes up with a house crest for House Ravenwatch soon; otherwise I will have to make my own…

I know it may not seem like it from this chapter, but I actually have fallen madly in love with Fennorian. But it doesn’t technically appear during the Rivenspire questline, and I actually want Elyssa’s first time meeting him to be during her visit to Western Skyrim and doing something like the Bound in Blood quest.

The goat: It’s more of an inside joke I have with myself. When I was going through the Rivenspire questline for the first time, I noticed that there’s a goat that appears behind Ravenwatch Castle. At first, I thought it coincided the appearance and disappearance of Kalin. So I made a joke to myself that Kalin IS the goat. (Later I found out the goat’s appearance has nothing to do with whether or not Kalin the NPC is around. Still, I thought it would be funny to poke at that idea in the fic).

I have a problem with the Stormhaven storyline and this idea that you have to have this specific potion made with the Dream Shard just to avoid dreams. For the purposes of this story, I’m going to re-write that part so that the Dream Shard created potion is only to prevent Vaermina’s magic from interfering with your dreams specifically, and that there are likely plenty of other alchemy potions (sleep potions) that could prevent dreams (but not necessarily prevent Vaermina or her followers from affecting your sleep or giving you nightmares anyways). I just wanted to make that distinction.

While I wouldn’t doubt Vaermina might torment the Vestige in their sleep as a payback, I doubt the Daedric Prince would care enough to do it constantly (just the feeling that I got when I finished the Stormhaven questline was that Vaermina wasn’t too perturbed by being thwarted. Her “imprisoning” the Vestige in her realm was half-hearted as well; you could easily leave. Like she had much bigger fish to fry than you).

In regards to House Ravenwatch and sexuality again: I wanted to state more bluntly that No, I do not think the vampiric family members have sex with each other because they keep referring to each other as "brother" and "sister" (and to Verandis as "father") in canon. Yes, I know they're probably not ACTUALLY related to each other, but still. Instead, I think they have rampant naked parties with fully willing fully adult mortal participants. Let's be honest: there's got to be at least as many mortals in Tamriel who think vampires are hot as there are people in our world that think vampires are hot...Also. You know. Kalin. Half naked. On the table. Just saying.

PLEASE NOTE: Elyssa Arboretum is NOT the actual name of my character. I changed her last name for this story because...well....I'm a little shy. If you ever meet someone in game that has a name similar but not exact, it MIGHT be me. I usually like being on my own, as social situations can cause me great stress (especially if they're strangers). I am so sorry, and I greatly appreciate your understanding...

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She was staring at a wall.

….

…….

To be fair, it was a very nice wall.

…

….

….Although it did take her more than a moment’s time to realize she was staring at it sideways.

…

…And even longer to realize that she was staring at it sideways because she was lying down.

Groaning out of partial frustration, Elyssa heaved herself into a sitting position.

A soft bed and warm blankets were there to greet her, and they were inviting enough that she was sorely tempted to just go back to sleep.

But the longer she sat there, the faster the memories of the previous days nagged at her:

High Rock.

Blood fiends.

A plot to conquer the entirety of Rivenspire by a grieving and spiteful Breton noble.

The usual.

….

……She had to know what time it was.

Covers flung wide, she jumped out of bed. Or tripped, rather; a creak in her back found her eagerness a bit disagreeable. And it took a bit rubbing out her muscles to get her poor back to stand up straight.

But she hurried to make her way downstairs, whether her sore back liked it or not, when she heard the echoes of a conversation.

Gwendis and Melina were both there in the main hall. Gwendis was literally lounging on top of her coffin, her arm lazily hanging over her eyes as if she meant to sleep like that.

Melina was at the table, toying with an array of colorful runestones.

“Good morning, Elyssa,” Melina cheerfully greeted her as she approached.

“Morning, Melina. Morning Gwendis.”

Gwendis only gave a grunt in response.

Elyssa took a spot next to Melina, watching her as she carefully examined one rune at a time before placing them into different, colorful piles.

“Did you sleep well?” Melina asked, frowning and squinting closer to her own hand when she noticed the rune she held had its surface defaced.

“Better than well. I think this was the best sleep I’ve had since…it’s got to have been weeks...I feel fantastic…”

Melina chuckled a little. “Well if you get such wonderful sleep in our home, perhaps you should stay with us then! At least, for a while. We get so few guests; I find it a little exciting to have someone new with us. And, provided you’re still interested, I’d love the opportunity to show you a few basic enchanting techniques. You know…when all this…ah, bloodfiend business is over.”

Elyssa perked up with a grin. “I think I’d really like that. And maybe you could take a look at that book I got, the one I told you about? It really doesn’t make a lick of sense to me, and it would be great if someone could translate it into something more ‘beginner level’.”

“Oh of course, dear. I’ll certainly give it a try when we’re all a little less pre-occupied…”

“Wake me up when the world’s ending,” Gwendis moaned, still lounging on her perch.

“Is she all right?” Elyssa asked, leaning towards Melina.

“Oh she’s fine. Just cranky after scouting out half of Rivenspire for Adusa. She’ll be better after she gets some rest….”

Melina’s eyes narrowed at Gwendis. “She’d feel even better if she actually bothered to go inside her coffin instead of sleeping on the hard stone lid...”

“That requires getting up…” Gwendis complained.

Melina gave a sigh, then went back to her rune sorting.

But Elyssa continued to stare at Gwendis, lost in thought.

“Do vampires dream?” She asked, absentmindedly.

“Of course we do,” Melina replied. “My favorite dreams involve handsome men, coming to sweep me off my feet and take me far away to their extravagant and elaborate castle where we watch the stars and raise our nineteen adopted children together…”

“Which, for Melina, is nineteen too many,” Gwendis chimed in with a chuckle.

“Oh hush you. If you’re too tired to lift a coffin lid than you’re too tired to make fun of my fantasies.”

“Do you really want nineteen children?” Elyssa asked.

“Well…” She started with a bit of a grimace, “Maybe not quite THAT many….But I do want at least a child or two. I adore children, they can be so sweet sometimes…”

She stared with melancholy as she traced the face of a beautiful rune.

“Never making assumptions….never judging you…” She continued, solemnly.

“Breaking all the furniture in the house,” Gwendis remarked with a more lighthearted air.

“I suppose they can also be quite destructive too,” Melina gave out a little laugh. “But what about you, Elyssa? Have you ever thought about children?”

Elyssa made a face. “I think my horse is enough of a handful…”

She straightened up in a panic when she remembered her horse.

“Wait, my horse! I put her around back in that shed place like Ophelia told me to, but I forgot to ask: was that really okay? What if the bloodfiends got to her? Should I go check on her?”

Melina patted her hand reassuringly just as she stood.

“Don’t fret there, dear. The bloodfiends tend to lean away from anything that doesn’t smell like food, and our scent is all over these grounds. It wards the little monsters away from our beautiful castle.”

Elyssa sat back down out of relief.

“Besides,” Melina added, “Our beloved little goat would have been eaten a long time ago if it were otherwise.”

“That goat!” Elyssa groaned. “I mean, speaking of kids and destruction: your goat wouldn’t stop headbutting me as I was trying to take off my horse’s tack, and I was very nearly tempted to kick him straight into your lake. How do you get him to stop?”

“Elyssa!” Melina chastised with a cluck. “That’s no way to treat Kalin.”

“Yes but—“ Elyssa cut off as those words wormed their way into her head. “Wha….”

She turned to Melina, face contorted in a mixture of utter confusion with a touch of horror. “What? But I thought Kalin was the name of your…”

“Our resident Weregoat, yes.”

“Your resident… what?”

“Were. Goat.” Melina said with precise articulation.

Elyssa stared at her as if she’d grown an extra head. “You’re pulling my leg.”

“Me?” Melina asked, offended and with her hand firmly at her heart. “Why I’d never!”

That did nothing to convince Elyssa.

“Gwendis…” Elyssa sighed, turning to the lounging vampire. “Is there such thing as Weregoats?“

Gwendis lazily lifted her arm to give her a side eye. “I mean, I think you should really focus on apologizing to Kalin for thinking about throwing him into the lake…Ya got some priorities you need to sort here…”

Elyssa flushed in embarrassment. She’d never heard of a weregoat before. But then, she’d never heard of friendly vampires until just yesterday. And someone did tell her once that werebears were an actual thing…

“All…All right…” Elyssa said, slowly. Not quite fully prepared to believe. “Then when do weregoats transform?”

“Why, none other than the evening of every second Morndas of the month. Which, I believe, was yesterday. Is that not correct, Gwendis?”

“Yeee-ep.” Gwendis replied, lazily letting the word hang in the air.

“Okay,” Elyssa said, a little less confident in herself. “But why a goat, of all things?”

“Please,” Melina said, “Do I look like Hircine? For all we know, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt punishes those who scorn him with this…awful curse. Such poor people might be used as fodder in the Prince’s hunting games. All the more reason why he needs to stay, safe and sound, with us.”

Elyssa gave Melina a critical eye. The vampire had been a bit overdramatic in the way she’d said “awful curse”, but otherwise it seemed she was serious.

Gwendis, likewise, seemed fairly serious too, even as she kept lounging on her coffin lid.

Elyssa sighed, defeated.

“I guess I really should apologize to Kalin for getting irritated with him…”

“If you still don’t believe us, you can check out his tail,” Gwendis chipped in, “Ask if he’ll drop his pants and show you his hindquarters.”

Elyssa flushed red, and was about to reply that she would not, under any circumstances, ask to see the Dunmer’s posterior.

But a strangled noise brought her attention back to Melina, and her eyes narrowed in as the lady vampire struggled to keep a straight face.

“You…” Elyssa accused. “You both are pulling my leg after all!”

Melina released the laughter she had apparently been holding in, and Gwendis was happy to chuckle alongside her.

“Come on, Mel,” Gwendis accused, “We had something here.”

The other’s laughter died down to a grin.

“Oh but Gwendis, I think you went a little too far with that one. If she honestly asked Kalin to bare himself…you know how he gets…He’d probably acquiesce.”

“But that was the best part about it.” Gwendis grinned back.

“Well I don’t think it’s very nice,” Elyssa grumbled.

“Come on.” Gwendis said “We’re just teasing ya a bit. A little hazing just to check if you’re good with our House and all.”

“Besides,” Melina added. “It was positively adorable that you were willing to believe in weregoats.”

“Yeah. I’m just so gullible aren’t I?” Elyssa replied bitterly, remembering what the Count had told her last night about being a little too trusting of people.

“Come now, dear.” Melina said, patting her hand. “We’re sorry. Truly. And how about I put my money where my mouth is and give you extra runestones for your next shipment as a little apology gift?”

“I guess…” She replied, trying to refrain from any signs that free stuff had indeed perked up her mood just slightly.

She found out she didn’t need to put much effort into that; the Count himself emerged from his study to interrupt.

“Good morning, Elyssa. May I have a word with you?” The statement was short, sweet, and a bit curt. Although that could have just been his High Elven accent.

“Do something naughty while we were gone, did ya?” Gwendis grinned at her just as Elyssa got up to join him.

“Wha—No! Of course not!”

Gwendis’ chuckle seemed to almost follow her as she joined Verandis by the bookshelves. This time, he forewent a book in favor of leaning against the shelves, his arms crossed while he regarded her carefully.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Like a rock.” She stretched out her back a little with a wince. “I even woke up feeling a little like a rock.”

“Probably because you spent the better part of the night sleeping on my floor. If I hadn’t decided to venture upstairs to dabble with a little more alchemy, you’d have woken up there too. Why didn’t you drink the potion while you were in bed?”

“I did!” Elyssa cheerfully replied, holding a finger up, “But then I thought it would be a good idea to fetch a little more wine to wash it down.”

His eyebrows rose as he gave her a pointed look

“I mean,” Elyssa continued, her hands dropping to her side again, “At the time it seemed like a good idea. Obviously it’s not such a good idea after the fact.”

The Count stared at her critically for a good while before he closed his eyes with a sigh. When he re-opened them, he was back to contemplative again.

“You’re lucky you suffered no serious injuries; you could have easily gained yourself a concussion. It seems the Divines do more than simply gift you powerful light magic: it appears they’re also the only things that are keeping you alive.”

“Hey!”

“Which brings me to the reason I called you here. I took the liberty of making a full batch of sleeping draught for you. The bottles are on a tray upstairs labeled with their purpose and your name.”

“Really?” Elyssa’s face lit up; the potential to actually get decent sleep was literally being handed to her. “Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. This stuff is fantastic; I didn’t dream at all after drinking it.”

“Which is something I need to warn you of. As you’ve discovered for yourself, the draught places you in a very deep sleep. Too deep to dream…and most certainly too deep to be easily roused. If someone were to grab you or hurt you, you will likely not awaken. Make sure to never take a dose unless you are absolutely certain of your safety.”

She was much less enthusiastic about this caveat; inn rooms were expensive, and camping was often inevitable for a lot of places.

“So…I probably shouldn’t drink any if it’s just me and my sleeping roll out in the open...”

“I would severely recommend against that. Instead, if you absolutely cannot sleep and cannot find a safe haven, take a quarter dosage. It will not rid you of your dreams, but it will help keep you from a restless night without sacrificing your ability to respond to potential threats.”

She gave him a wry smile. “Aaaaand let me guess; I’ll have to come back to you every time I run out, won’t I? Should I start looking for a house in Rivenspire?”

He waved the questions away. “No need. I’ve written down the recipe for you. Even if you do not feel comfortable brewing it yourself, you need only take the instructions to any community’s resident alchemist. It’s straightforward enough that any one of them should be able to provide it for you.”

She nodded and mimicked his stance to recline against the bookshelves, albeit from the opposite end. Silence hung in the air, and he was still regarding her carefully.

“…That’s not all you called me here for. Is it?” Elyssa finally spoke up.

“No, it’s not.” Verandis sighed. She could tell from his very tone he was contemplating his words carefully. “Elyssa…have you considered spending time in Wayrest for a while? There’s a flower festival that happens every year around this time, I believe. I can only vouch for what I’ve seen from afar, but it’s does seem a rather popular event…”

She stared at him incredulously. “We’re in the middle of a situation where bloodfiends and vampires are trying to take over the entire province…”

“Indeed. And we have more than enough people here to handle it.”

She winced back as if he had struck her. ‘We don’t need you’ was the unspoken implication.

“Oh? Am I a burden to you now?” She spat back bitterly.

“Child—“

“So what that I’m young? That I have nightmares, and that you found out about them. Now I’m suddenly too pathetic to be of any use to you, is that right?”

“Listen to me—“

“No, you listen to me! What was all that stuff you told me last night? How it was okay to have weaknesses? I’m grateful you gave me potions to help with my sleep, but I’m not worthless just because I need them! And you!”

She pointed an accusing finger at him.

“You have no right to order me out of Rivenspire like this! You aren’t my parent. You aren’t my Emperor. You’re not even the King of Rivenspire.”

She could tell, from the way his face perceptively changed, that the last statement hit a mark. But she was too angry to care.

“No. I’m going to stay right here. I’m going to help defeat Baron Montclair. I’m gonna fight a whole bunch of bloodfiends to reach him…” She stared him down, fists clenched at her side, “And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

He stared back at her, calmly watching for an indication that she was finished.

“Elyssa…” When he finally spoke, it was soft, slow, and soothing. “I do not believe I ever said you were worthless or pathetic.”

“And yet you’re ordering me to go off prancing at a flower festival.”

“I’m not ordering you to do anything, child. I’m merely making a suggestion. A suggestion based on what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me…You need a moment to relax and recover. One cannot keep shouldering so many burdens without cracking underneath their pressures.”

“But I’m also needed here. Back at Shornhelm, you said I had powerful light magic. Better than most.” She reminded him. “And that I could be a great help in all this, since we’re fighting people whose very skin cracks under the light…”

“And, to an extent, I stand by those words. Light magic is notoriously tricky to learn compared to the other elements, and yet it seems to come to you as easily as breathing does. This is unheard of, particularly for someone at your age. There are those who would even go so far as to call you a prodigy, myself included.”

The unexpected praise took a little of the edge off her rage.

“But you’re still inexperienced, and it’s painfully obvious you have not had any formal training in combat; your footwork is sloppy and you leave far too many openings for your opponent to take advantage of. This might not be particularly risky when dealing with mindl0ess bloodfiends, creatures which have very little ability to strategize. But the full-fledged vampires in Montclair’s army won’t hesitate to use that against you. Furthermore, why aren’t you using a staff?”

She straightened up with pride. “Swords are cool.”

He paused as if this was not the answer he was expecting.

“A staff would make a tremendous improvement on your magicka flow.” He continued on with the same tone of voice. He had, apparently, elected to ignore her statement. “You might even see an additional threefold improvement in the manifestation of your abilities.”

“But it would leave me wide open. Greatswords help me guard against blows…”

“And so can staves…”

He walked over to retrieve his own firestaff that had been waiting in the corner for him. Holding it out for her to look at, he gestured to its components.

“A typical battlestaff is made with combat in mind, and part of that involves the possibility that you will need to block a blow if your opponent finds a way to come within reach. You can see here how my own weapon has its wood reinforced with a layer of metal. Furthermore, are the multiple runes embedded into its spine…”

His finger traced over the weapon. As if in response to its owner’s command, several symbols glowed across the length of it, brightly shining for a brief moment before settling back to normal.

“These, too, are designed with its protection in mind. And with the mind of maintaining consistent magicka flow. A staff that can no longer provide a steady resonation with its owner’s power is not only useless, but dangerous. Such a weapon risks a catastrophic explosion if the user was not careful; thus, the important of the runes. And as for its bladed tip…”

He gestured to the very top of the staff, in which the blade has been sharpened to fine edge.

“It is not unusual for many staff artisans to include a bladed tip in their work. It does nothing to impair the staff’s traditional function and offers the advantage to utilize it as a make-shift spear, should the need require it.”

He set the staff aside back in its designated corner.

“Staves may not be as….” He gave her an indulgent smile “…flashy as some other weapons, but they are nonetheless perfectly viable, and adaptable to changing situations on the battlefield.”

Elyssa grumbled, unimpressed. “First you order me out of the region, now you’re ordering me to change my weapon—“

“Just another suggestion, Elyssa. A suggestion,” The Count interrupted with wry smile. He went to return to his books once again.

“As you say, Father.” She mockingly shot back. She waited for a moment to see if he’d react to that, if only just a little bit. But her frustration grew a tad when it was clear he was utterly unfazed by the title, continuing on in his books without so much as a raised eyebrow.

She grumbled again, and turned to leave the library.

“And please do not forget to eat before you leave, my daughter.” He called after her.

She froze in the doorway, and took a moment to glance back at him; her face full of surprise.

His reading was as focused as it always was, but he did pause to look up when he noticed her watching.

“Something wrong?” He asked, and the very end of his mouth seemed to twist ever so slightly in a smile that almost looked….devious.

“N-no…” She replied shakily, the surprise lining her face beginning to tinge just slightly with mortification.

She thought the damned vampire elf would be too serious to give much of a reaction, let alone throw her comment back in her face.

“Then by all means: do try to make me proud out there.” He turned the page and returned to his books, still with that damnable little smile.

“I---“ Elyssa closed her mouth almost as soon as she’d opened it, before she said anything she might later come to regret, and decided it was far better to just turn around and walk away.

She could hear Gwendis’ muffled, gentle laughter beside her as she passed the coffins, and it only made her more determined to try and keep the red from her face from showing; it was likely most of the vampiric members of the household had overheard.

Melina, too, seemed to struggle with her own smile as Elyssa passed her.

“Oh,” Melina said. “I believe Ophelia made some honey bread this morning, if that pleases you, dear sister.”

“Shut up.” Elyssa muttered back, and made haste for the guest room before either of them could comment further.

She ignored the tray of alchemy bottles that had been set aside for her on the table, deciding she could figure out the logistics of safely storing them in her pack later. Once safely within the walls of her temporary bedroom, she made a beeline for her gear.

She was quickly getting used to putting it on; the intricacies that went into the chainmail underside and the straps that accompanied the plate outer layer did not seem to trouble her as much as it did weeks ago.

Her feet brought her to stand in front of the mirror, admiring her work. She looked almost like a real soldier.

Honorary member of the Lion Guard, Elyssa Arboretum.

The memory of the guard announcing this while offering the suit of tailored armor played in her head. It was to be expected: in spite of all the things she had (somehow) managed to accomplish, she wasn’t actually a soldier. She had no training in their regiment…nor was she even technically a citizen of High Rock.

‘You’re footwork is sloppy and you leave too many openings’

‘It seems the Divines do more than simply gift you powerful light magic: it appears they’re also the only things that are keeping you alive’

These new words began to rotate in her head, churning into doubts.

Most of her opponents, thus far, had either been werewolves overcome by their animalistic desires, nature corrupting spirits, mindless zombies, or clumsy bandits and disorganized cultist members…None of them had combat styles that could be comparable to word “finesse”. So her usual method of brute forcing her way with powerful spears of light magic before swinging her greatsword around in a haphazard manner had always worked out. Tactics, strategy, and footwork were never things she ever thought about on a regular basis.

Even with Angof the Gravesinger...he almost seemed like the more she fought with him, the more he just…gave up. As if his motivation to defeat her was shriveling away like the very vines he failed to grow. Most of his necromantic abilities didn’t stand a chance against the element of light; she barely even needed to concentrate to sweep the floor clear of his zombies. They faded to dust almost as soon as she touched them with even the dimmest glow of her power. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that she had plenty of help at her side at the time…

….

...What if she’d just been lucky so far in her opponents?

That all of her “deeds” were nothing more than the culmination of her brute forcing her own “prodigy-like” magic and having the “Gods’ luck” on her side?

…..

….Was she actually making a difference?

She struck a pose in the mirror, hoping to look impressive decked out in her armor…but her rounded cheeks and short stature did nothing to wipe away the traditional, youthful appearance of a Breton.

Why couldn’t she have inherited at least a little of her Imperial father’s more chiseled features?

She stuck her tongue out at herself, and was greeted with an even more childish sight as a result. Fully frustrated, she grabbed her pack and stuck a few of her things in it.

She frowned at the alchemy bottles; it was times like these that she wished she had a bigger protective bottle case in her pack. She was grateful that he made her so much, but there was just a few too many to fit.

And she was hungry.

…She huffed, and decided she’d have to figure out the problem of the bottles later.

As she made her way downstairs, she caught sight of Gwendis and Melina chatting at the dining table; Gwendis finally appeared to have made it off her coffin. Elyssa was almost tempted to throw a teasing comment at her for that.

Further downstairs was the basement level.

She’d been told it was always kept locked, mostly so that the household (both vampire and servant) could have a place of privacy away from any visiting guests. The main kitchen was down there, however, and so she found herself knocking at the basement door.

“Why good morning to you, Elyssa!” The cheerful face of an older, gray haired Imperial woman greeted her.

“Good morning, Ophelia. Melina told me you have some honey bread all made up?”

“I do. I do indeed; my lady must have smelled it from the hall. Come in, sweetie, and I’ll cut you a few slices.”

The basement of Ravenwatch castle was, perhaps, even more homely than its main hall. Reminiscent of the guest suite, there were no gargoyle statues or eclectic furnishings (save for the two coffins in the center of the room, one of which had to be Melina’s). A roaring fireplace lit up the place brighter than the other rooms, perhaps for the benefit of the servants as they had their own separate room nearby.

Workstations filled with alchemy ingredients and enchanting components lined the walls. A mysterious door to an even deeper cellar was in the far corner (she was told it was strictly forbidden to anyone not of the House; and that only made her slightly more curious about it). Finally, there was a full kitchen to the side; much nicer than the kitchenette of the upstairs guest suite.

Ophelia wasn’t the only servant awake; the others were out and about as well.

The Breton, Estelle, was by the fire, working on some sort of sewing. She was the only one Elyssa hadn’t formally met; they told her she was of a skittish disposition, particularly around strangers. From what was mentioned, the Count had found and rescued her from bandits who had badly abused her. Until she got used to a new person, it was advised for that individual to leave her alone unless absolutely necessary.

Anise, a Bosmer, was at the nearby dining table, a table that was a much smaller twin to the grander one of the main hall. She….definitely looked like she was still asleep, her small head propped up by her arms at the table. Narcolepsy was something Ophelia had mentioned; apparently Anise had trouble finding someone to hire her in a ‘traditional’ job because of her condition. But the household wasn’t perturbed by the idea of narcolepsy, and had hired her practically on the spot the moment she revealed she was perfectly comfortable with the idea of serving vampires.

Ophelia herself was busy cutting an impressively large portion of an equally impressively large loaf of sweet smelling bread. Elyssa recalled that when she had previously asked what the Imperial thought about living here, the older woman had merely scoffed. For Ophelia, it was just tradition; her family had served House Ravenwatch for a handful of generations. She had literally grown up in the castle. So, naturally, she was quite fine with it all.

Kalin, one of the ones Elyssa had spoken to the most (but ironically knew the least about), was lounging about at the wall near the kitchen, eyeing her carefully. The only information she had on the Dunmer was that he was the oldest and longest serving of all the mortals who stayed there.

“So our guest yet lives…” He said, that slow sardonic drawl of his hanging in the air. “Do tell; how does it feel knowing you survived a night in a vampire’s stronghold?”

“Got better sleep here than in most inn rooms.” She responded, grinning. “You all seem to get along really well with each other.”

He laughed. “Indeed….we’re quite….close with each other…”

“Kalin,” Ophelia warned.

“Some of us ….closer…than others.”

“Kalin.”

“You might even say it’s a regular Ebony Flask around here--”

Ophelia banged her knife down flat with a loud clunk, staring him down with a none-too pleased grimace.

“What’s an Ebony Flask?” Elyssa asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Now you see? She’s only going to start asking more questions…” Ophelia said.

“What…Is it something bad?”

“Not at all…” Kalin continued, an exceptionally wolfish grin lining his face. “Ophelia is only upset because sometimes even she—“

“That’s it!” Ophelia pointed her knife at him from afar. “You. Out of my kitchen!”

“My work here is done…” Kalin stated in monotone, impish grin still on his lips as he strolled out the basement doors.

He held it open for Gwendis, who had found her way downstairs.

“Gwendis!” Elyssa approached her “Kalin said it’s like a regular Ebony Flask around here; what does that mean?”

Whatever emotion Gwendis’ face had before vanished as she stared off into the distance with pursed lips. She took a deep breath through her nose…

….Then turned and walked right back through the basement doors again.

“Wha-Gwendis?!”

“Never you mind that, sweetie.” Ophelia interjected with an almost strangled voice. “Why don’t you come and have some breakfast? I made you some eggs and bacon too; I think you could use the protein, going out to fight as you do. Might even put a little meat on those bones.”

Melina was next to come through the doors, clutching her satchel of runes and yawning all the while. And Elyssa immediately abandoned her breakfast plate to jump on the opportunity.

“Melina! Kalin talked about an ‘Ebony Flask’. What does he mean by that?”

Melina paused mid yawn, a curious expression forming on her face.

“Oh Elyssa…” She sighed. “I’m afraid I’m much too tired to have this conversation. We can have this talk after I’ve taken my rest…”

“My lady, I must protest!” Ophelia exclaimed.

Melina gained a rather mischievous smile at Ophelia’s outburst. “Very well. We can have this talk after I’ve taken my rest AND after Ophelia has gone to bed.”

“My lady, please.”

Elyssa grinned as Melina gave her a little wink. Seeing that, Ophelia’s protestations started to die down into more of a sputter.

“Herding cats around here…” Elyssa could hear Ophelia mutter under her breath as the older woman re-doubled her cleaning efforts. “Some days, I swear…”

But Elyssa was far more interested in what Melina was doing: heading towards one of the stone coffins in the main area of the room.

Melina caught sight of her following close behind.

“Curious, are we?” She asked with a slightly amused smile.

“I just want to see what’s in it.” Elyssa beamed back at her.

“What might you think is in it?” Melina cocked her head slightly.

“I…” Elyssa tried to think of all the vampire stories she knew. Which wasn’t very helpful. She knew they supposedly slept in coffins, but she never really heard any stories about what they slept with. “…Jewels?”

The lady vampire laughed. “I’m not a dragon!”

The coffin lid scraped across its base as she moved it, revealing a cushioned lining, a small horde of pillows and a patterned blanket. Though the outside was drab stone, the inside looked…rather homey. For a coffin.

“Not quite what you were hoping for?” Melina asked, as it seemed she noticed her dismay.

“I don’t know.” Elyssa frowned. “Why not just sleep in a bed then?”

The vampire bit at her lower lip in contemplation.

“Well…I can’t speak for the others…But in my case…” She shifted uncomfortably. “I--the first days of my new life were spent constantly under threat from the sun, even when I tried to sleep….especially when I tried to sleep. I developed a bit of a phobia for it. And after a while, I just started to feel…more at ease in places that were dark and enclosed.”

She fondly traced the edges of the lid. “Sleeping in a box of some sort is the easiest way to accomplish that. But they don’t usually make human shaped cargo boxes...And asking for one would likely raise too many questions…But coffins…”

The vampire waved towards her open resting place.

“...Coffins are requested all the time. Even coffins ordered to your exact specifications; no one ever bats an eye over measurements…It’s a convenience, really.”

“So…you could sleep in a bed if you wanted to?”

“The bed itself certainly wouldn’t kill us. But….our reactions aren’t always fast when we’re groggy and it’s the middle of the day, so if someone were to open the drapes on any of us while we lay exposed and slumbering…”

“But all of the windows here are glazed over; I could open all the drapes in the castle and the sun still wouldn’t touch you…And I mean…there can’t be that many people who would do something that horrible to you in the first place…”

“That’s very sweet of you to say, Elyssa.” Melina smiled kindly. “It isn’t true, and I think you know that, but it’s very sweet of you to say nonetheless. There are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t hesitate…so…Just…think of the coffin in the same way you’d think of a stuffed toy that a child would cling to; it brings me comfort and assurance to know the sun can’t touch me so long as I’m inside.”

“I’m guessing you’re going to sleep now?” Elyssa watched as Melina kicked off her shoes and settled down among the bright interior of her coffin.

“Mmmm…Indeed. I just simply can’t keep my eyes open any longer…” She sighed happily as she nuzzled one of her pillows. “Won’t you be a dear and close my lid for me?”

“Wait…” Elyssa gestured to the coffin opposite of hers. “Before I do, I wanted to ask: there’s five coffins total, but I thought there was only four of you…”

“Oh…that one would belong to my dear, sweet brother…” Melina lazily said, already with half lidded eyes. “You won’t likely meet him; he’s gone and locked himself in the cellar. Out of abundance of caution, mostly. He’s been having difficulties these days, and…oh, well, he’s such a sweetheart; he’d do anything to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone…”

“I see….” Elyssa said, suddenly solemn as she stared out towards the cellar hatch. “I hope he feels better.”

“Indeed, as do I. I so hate to think of him stuck down there, but it was his choice and my Lord approved…”

She let out another yawn. “Ah…oh, excuse me. I’m so sorry, Elyssa. But I must really bid you a good day; I cannot possibly stay awake a moment longer. Please promise you’ll stay safe. I’ve already become a bit fond of you, and I would hate it terribly if you were injured….”

“I’ll promise I’ll try not to die. Have a good night…erm…I mean day. Have a good day, Melina.”

Melina gave her one last, sweet smile as Elyssa pushed close the lid.

…It was a lot heavier than anticipated.

She had to shove her shoulder against it just to get it shut. The clunk of the stone finding the indentation on its base was louder than she’d thought it would be and caused her to jump.

Giving one last look towards the cellar hatch, as if expecting another vampire to appear any moment, Elyssa went back to the table. Eggs, bacon, and honey bread were shoveled down as fast as she could manage.

~~~

She walked out of the basement a little too full; Ophelia had insisted on giving her a second helping of eggs and bacon, and had even tried for a third. Given the sort of conversations that had accompanied breakfast, Elyssa had a nagging feeling that the older woman had been desperately trying to distract her from Ebony Flasks. And, of course, that did nothing but make her more curious.

Chances were, Ophelia would manage to talk Melina out of explaining it later.

So instead of heading towards the front door with her pack, she made a quick beeline for Gwendis, who had gone back to lounging atop her coffin.

“Psst….Gwendis? Gwendis, what’s an Ebony Flask?” She gave the vampire a few pokes in the arm that was covering her eyes. The skin was oddly cold compared to a mortal’s.

…And the vampire didn’t budge.

“I know you know. You had that look on your face when I asked about it before, so don’t think you can pretend otherwise.”

And the vampire still didn’t budge.

“Aww come on. You can’t be asleep already. And even if you were, there’s a tasty mortal inches from your face nudging you with her fingers. If that doesn’t wake up a vampire, I don’t know what would. So what’s an Ebony Flask? Is it a type of skooma? Do you all get together to use skooma? I won’t judge; I promise.”

She could see Gwendis’ lips twitching against her pale face, but otherwise she continued to remain still.

Elyssa huffed. “Fine. Be that way. I give up. Have a good nigh—day. Day! Ugh. Whatever.”

She passed by Verandis’ study on her way out. He was still in there, working away at his books, as usual. Elyssa was partly tempted to go in and ask him about Ebony Flasks and what that had to do with House Ravenwatch.

But she was still too irritated at him to even make the attempt, and that pushed all other thoughts away; so much so that she simply headed outside without so much as a ‘goodbye’ to him.

The bright sun greeted her as soon as she pushed open the heavy oak doors. She stopped to stretch out as she basked in the warmth.

“Hey don’t forget…” Gwendis’ voice came echoing through the halls behind her, proving that she hadn’t been asleep after all, “…Watch out for the weregoats out there.”

Elyssa’s irritation was matched only by the intensity of how hard she slammed their front door shut.

“I hate you all.” She muttered under her breath. Not that she completely meant it.

But her irritation only grew further as she noticed a bloodfiend at the edge of town, happily gorging itself on a dead citizen.

…

……It was like breathing; such an apt description that Verandis had given her earlier that it became hard for her to think of it otherwise.

Warmth filled the tips of her fingers, a growing sensation that shifted through her palm like a liquid.

Coalescing. Expanding. An extension of her arm, of her will. She often found she only needed to hold the image of a spear in her mind for it to form. And with two steps taken, her momentum helped to send the whole thing forward, hurling through the air.

What was only mere moments resulted in a motionless bloodfiend, a bright spear of solid-like light skewered into its chest.

Unfortunately, it seemed she attracted some attention; another figure lurking in the shadows manifested itself right next to the dead bloodfiend. She readied herself another spear….

…Only to then dissipate the light in her hands when she realized the second figure had cat ears.

And she winced when a rather irate Adusa-daro came towards her.

“H-Hi…Adusa….” She nervously greeted.

“Adusa would appreciate…” The Khajiit began with a glower. “…If the young one would please stop throwing such powerful holy magic so close to this one’s fur…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I just didn’t see you there when you’re dressed in all black like that!”

“Yes yes; this is exactly the sort of thing Adusa is worried about…” Adusa grumbled, but she didn’t actually seem too upset at her.

Then again, it was difficult to tell; the Khajiit’s black and flowing cloak was surely thick enough to ensure no sunlight ever peaked through, and most definitely dark enough to obscure any body language. It looked to be made of the same fine material as the one she’d seen Verandis wear the other day, and she was sure that, like Verandis’, it held a dark grey outline of their house crest on the back as well.

…Although Verandis’ cloak didn’t exactly have cat ear protrusions on the hood; that would have been a definite improvement. (She made a mental note to herself to tell him to get some cat ears on his cloak. Since he was so eager to give her ‘suggestions’ before, he surely wouldn’t mind receiving ‘suggestions’ in return.).

Elyssa frowned as she attempted to figure out where among the bloodfiends the vampire had been lurking. She only found more bloodfiends.

Which only made her frown more because…well….bloodfiends.

“How can you stand all this going on right outside your doorstep? With these poor people like….like this…?”

She vigorously gestured towards a few of the creatures shambling close by.

“Patience, young one. Tell this one; what is the most important thing we must focus on?”

“Killing Montclair?”

“Yes, good. And what else?”

Elyssa strained herself to think: what else was there besides killing Montclair and dispatching bloodfiends?

“….Er…Killing Montclair…a second time…?”

Adusa groaned. “The living, Elyssa. Living people are important, yes? We must kill Montclair and make sure any living survivors are safe. These are the two most important of all things that we must do.”

She could hear the khajiit grunt in disgust as she waved towards the bloodfiends.

“These….creatures. They can wait until later…The dead will always be here later…The living? Not so much.”

“Sorry; I guess I just took it for granted that we’d help the survivors. I mean…why wouldn’t we? But these bloodfiends here…they do still bother you…right?” Elyssa asked in a quiet voice.

Adusa was in the process of taking down fabric around the face area, which suggested that the cloak, like typical Breton hoods, had a built in face mask.

“We may not have always spoken much to the people here…” Adusa said. Pain on her face as cat-like eyes scanned over the town. “But the ones of Crestshade…they were good people. They do not deserve such a fate. It is….very, very difficult to watch. These townsfolk deserve to be put to rest, and not wander like filthy beasts.”

“Is there a chance that Montclair would use these ones for his army?”

The khajiit shook her head.

“Look at them, young one. They are baking in the sun, and they do not even realize it hurts…Montclair would not win this war on the backs of freshly burnt carcasses falling to pieces. No, the bloodfiends sent here were clearly only meant to coax the people out of their homes and scattered on the winds. To turn to the curse any of those who could not make it out…less people he would have to cow to his would-be rule…”

Adusa’s fangs protruded as she softly snarled, her ears hunched back. “…This one also thinks he may have been trying to mock us a little as well…Send bloodfiends to attack the town while we all were away as an insult to all of our efforts…”

Elyssa remained silent.

She didn’t know how to respond except to look out again amongst the bloodfiends stumbling across the ground…

Their bodies did seem like they were coming apart at the seams; many of them had sun wounds that burrowed straight through their skin, creating gaping holes that only hindered their movements more.

“We must rest and work and focus on the two most important things, Elyssa. Never forget the priorities. And speaking of which: Adusa is glad to have caught you before you left. She has need of you. You will help, yes?”

“What needs to be done?”

“Adusa has been scouting to see how far Montclair’s army has taken its curse, how far it has spread. They have taken over a small town called Moira’s Hope in the south. This one could smell the blood of the living there...but there are also many, many bloodfiends as well. She will need help to cut a path through…and perhaps help with the survivors as well; they are more likely to trust a fellow mortal than Adusa, and there may be need to get them out quickly…”

“Right! I’m with you; I just need to go and get Justice ready…”

“Justice?” Adusa followed Elyssa around back to their stables.

“My horse.”

“…Is that not…How does one say? ‘A little on the nose’?”

“Oh I didn’t name her that. That was the name she came with. If you can believe it, I got her for free from this cranky old Imperial man.” Elyssa’s face screwed up as she recalled the memory. “All eight of his horses were white Imperial thoroughbreds, and ALL of them were named Justice….”

Adusa looked at her with incredulity. “…Did he not have trouble telling them apart?”

“He was so angry; I was afraid to ask too many questions.” She flashed Adusa a nervous smile.

“Very generous, a whole horse….”

“I don’t think he could afford to take care of them all after he’d been displaced from the war. And I think he was also looking to help other citizens of Cyrodiil, because he only offered her to me when he found out I was a fellow refugee…”

Her comment cut short and her muscles tensed up when she came face to face…with him.

He was hanging out, casually, by the awning of the stables, right next to Justice.

He lifted his head to watch her as she approached.

Her arch-nemesis.

The bane of her existence.

The damned goat.

Her blue eyes narrowed in on him; her stance braced for impact.

He stared back, creepy little sideways pupils watching her as if to size her up.

She took a few sidesteps to the right, maintaining eye contact.

He mirrored her maneuver, his soft bleating filled with obvious faux innocence.

She stopped.

He stopped.

The irritating fiend was playing hardball.

Slowly, she inched her way towards her horse, eyes dead center on her foe in anticipation of the slightest mo—

“What...” Adusa’s voice intervened, “…In the name of the blessed moons are you doing?”

“Your goat is pure ev—“

Only a moment; Elyssa had only looked away from her dreaded foe for a moment, and the beast, sensing weakness, lowered its horned head to charge. Just barely was she able to escape the horror of it all by scrambling up the stable post with a yelp.

Adusa stood where she was, her arms crossed, and surveyed the scene with eyes aglow with amusement.

“Hibiscus must like you. She does not usually react in such a manner with anyone else…”

“You call this liking?” Elyssa grimaced as she clung to the stable post and tried to shoo the goat away by waving one foot while trying to balance on the other. “Look at the eyes, Adusa! Those are the eyes of a bloodthirsty creature who has killed before…and will kill again!”

“Speaking as one who knows bloodthirsty creatures, Adusa can assure that Hibby is both safe and does not consume blood,” Adusa began to make her way back around the castle. “This one will see you at Moira’s Hope, then.”

“Wha-you’re leaving me??!” Hibiscus the goat was already making the attempt to scale up the stable walls just to get to her enemy.

“Adusa has every confidence you can handle little Hibby. If not, Hibby’s treat bag is at the right of yourself. Feed her no more than three whole apples; a fat Hibby would make Anise very concerned.”

And with a wave over her shoulder, the hooded Adusa was gone.

Elyssa turned to her adversary.

“So….You’re a girl goat, huh? That’s quite a coincidence. I happen to be a girl human. We have so much in common; please stop trying to kill me.”

The horizontal goat pupils didn’t seem to falter, and she idly wondered if goats were carnivorous.

Her fingers strained as she tried to reach the treat bag, but she only ended up in an awkward, stretched out position with her torso still at the post and the weight of her upper half held up by her reaching fingers. She looked at her horse, who was calmly grazing at a pile of hay.

“A little help?” She asked, not actually expecting her horse to respond.

Sure enough, the horse stared back at her, unfazed and ignorant of her situation, before dipping its head to take in another mouthful of hay.

“First Adusa, now you; the double betrayal hurts just a little bit.” She said, purposefully overdramatic. If only to make herself feel better about the whole situation.

The goat seemed to be getting impatient, as it begun to ram its horned head against the sides of the stable. As if to try and knock her down.

“I have to wonder if you really are trying to kill me…” Elyssa winced as she made a solid lunge for an apple peeking out of the leather bag. Another effortful motion and an apple was tossed as far away as she could manage.

It was a gift from the Gods that Hibby’s priorities involved eating first and everything else second; Elyssa was finally free to drop down. Not necessarily in an elegant way, given her strained position; she ended up with a face full of hay, with her horse making the move to try and lick it off her face.

Straightened up with hay brushed off, she moved to get her horse’s tack on as quick as she possibly could before the demonic goat got back. Part of which required giving a jealous Justice an apple of her own to get her to cooperate.

Her weapons and pack at the ready, she hoisted herself up atop her steed; just in time to watch a distraught Hibby cower from Justice’s mightier hooves. Up high on a horse, she felt a bit more like a knight, regardless of whatever her image in the mirror had shown her before.

Ready to take on the world itself.

A click of the tongue and a flick of the reins, and she was well on her way.

Racing past the bloodfiends as the sun shone in the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Author note: Bold of you to assume Verandis wouldn’t adopt your rebellious mortal ass, Elyssa.

#verandis ravenwatch #the elder scrolls online #eso #gwendis #adusa #my fanfiction

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bluebloodstained · 4 years

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Mun Info

name: Moe Loogham

age: 21

birthday: September 25th

pronouns: She/Her

faceclaim: Deadpool, Rose Quartz, or Loki

rp experience: 8+ Years

discord: Available to Mutuals on Request!

HELLO!

I'm Moe! It's great to meet you. After taking a very long break from the tumblr rpc, I've decided to dive back in, because why the hell not.

I'm from New York, I have two beautiful guinea pigs named Sage and Rosemary and I'm a witch, that's just about everything you gotta know. I recently graduated from college, and still trying to figure out where I wanna be in the world, so this is my little corner of the internet where I come to unwind and scream about my favorite roboy.

My Rules have been broken up into sections. I will try to keep each section as brief as possible while still informing you of everything you need to know about how I like to run things.

Blog Etiquette + Following

This blog is

PRIVATE, SELECTIVE, and MUTUAL'S ONLY and 21+.

I do not follow for a follow, and I do not follow back unless I am interested in threadding with you. If I follow your blog, it means I have read your rules and bio at the very least! I do not send in passwords, but if you have a post that you would like to direct followers to when they've read your rules, I will like it.

If we are not mutuals, you are still free to interact through asks and ask memes. i reserve the right to delete/ignore asks from mutuals and non-mutuals alike! this is mostly out of precaution, and would only be done in cases that violate privacy or cause discomfort.

I will only thread with other Roleplay/Ask blogs. Sideblogs are fine, but if your main blog is a personal, please let me know and tell me your sideblog url! If you RP off of your personal, I will not follow/thread with you. This is mainly to keep my dash organized. That being said, I will not unfollow someone just because they post OOC a lot. I know I have a tendency to do the same sometimes.

I am not okay with nonmutuals reblogging my content. Feel free to like them, but reblogging anything will result in a soft block. Repeated offenses will result in your blog being blocked. I'm not here to be your aesthetic/graphic archive.

The same applies to ask memes. Do not use me as your meme resource. ALWAYS reblog from the source.

Just as a general note, sometimes I will have periods of low activity. I try to be active at the VERY LEAST once a week, and sometimes I'll be able to crank out like 10 replies in one day. But real life always comes first, for me AND any of my rp partners. RPing is a hobby for me, and I don't let it stress me out. Of course, if it's been a week or two since I've replied, there's a very good chance that I've just forgotten to respond. If that happens, do not be afraid to poke me about it.

If I ever want to drop a thread, I'll let you know, and I'll very much appreciate if you do the same, but it's absolutely not required. I don't mind at all, if anything I'll usually ASK if you want to drop it and if you do, that's completely fine. The other option I have for threading is ARCHIVING, for when we have a thread that we want to put down for now, but maybe pick up again later. If you'd rather Archive a thread instead of drop it, just tell me. :)

Also!

All Icons on this blog are made/screenshotted by me or RK800ISALIVE, and my post banners were made by DENICDLIFE Please do not take them or use them!!

Shipping + Exclusivity

this entire section is very important. please read it carefully, and feel free to ask me if you don't understand something.

This isn't my first rodeo. I love shipping. I am perfectly open to shipping. HOWEVER, that is not the sole purpose of this blog. Regardless of canon, fanon, personal preference or otherwise, unless we have spoken previously about it, Connor will not be automatically shipped with your muse. This blog is OCxCanon friendly, and canon ships are fine too. But for ANY case, I ship chemistry If your muse doesn't click with mine, that's totally fine. But please don't try to force a ship on me, and do not follow me if shipping is the only thing you're looking for out of our threads.

On that note: Original Characters. They're great, I love hearing about them and seeing their depth and complexity. But if your OC has little to no history, or if their sole purpose is to flirt with Connor, please do not ask to interact.

I've had so many experiences in the past with OCs whose existence is based around wanting to bang my muse and it really grates on me. It's nothing personal, I know writing only gets better with practice, but if you come to me asking to be a detective who works with Connor and that's all the information you have, I really ask that you go find another Connor to interact with.

I will only ship with your muse after discussing it out of character. IC flirting is the only exception to this, but do not get angry if Connor does not respond the way you want him to.

I don't want to have to put that there, but it's happened to me too many times before and it's an uncomfortable situation for everyone involved. Please don't do it.

This blog is NOT Exclusive, but I do practice Maining with other muses. What that means is if we have previously discussed it, and have had enough interaction, my muse will refer to yours in conversation or in terms of relationship depending on circumstance.

Once I have created mains, they will be posted in the Navigation tab. Occasionally I may post a mains call, which invites anyone interested to discuss becoming a main with Connor.

Mains have top priority for threads.

TRIGGERS + NSFW

I am 21+ years old, and NSFW can and will happen on this blog, however I will always keep anything that contains NSFW under a "read more" cut for the sake of any followers who are not comfortable with seeing NSFW content.

I am comfortable with most NSFW topics. I absolutely WILL NOT write about pedophelia or incest, and definitely WILL NOT rp sexual situations with minors or people who I have not shared consent with. This is for my safety as well as those who I interact with. I'm trying to get into grad school, not jail.

I will try to tag triggers accordingly as they appear. Triggering content that MAY appear on this blog include:

Abuse

Child/Character Death

Disease

Drugs/Drug Use

Alcohol

Execution/Murder

Gore

Nudity

Self-Harm

Suicide/Mental Health Issues

Verbal/Physical Violence

Torture

Important: mun and muse are mutually exclusive. I am not Connor. Connor is not me. Actions performed in threads do not reflect me or my personal beliefs, unless otherwise explicitly stated by me.

If you've made it this far, I would really appreciate if you could like this post, just to let me know you've read and understand all my rules. If you are not comfortable doing so, that's fine! It's really just to help me know people cared enough to go through the whole list. :) It's not at all an obligation, but it would be really awesome.

Despite the fact I am comfortable with NSFW, I prefer to be comfortable with the other mun as a person before agreeing to write these topics with you. I am not obligated to write NSFW with anyone.

Last Updated: 8/19/2020

#patch notes {ooc}#;; mobile rules

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braincoins · 5 years

Link

The former Kuron is still trying to sort out a lot of things: how to get the Altean Diaspora's machines to work, how to separate himself from Takashi Shirogane, and, most of all, how to deal with the fact that he's falling in love with Romelle.

Fandom: VLD Rating: Teen and up Ships: Ryoumelle Tags: Fluff, Happy Birthday Breezy!, AU, obviously, ‘cause pretty much all my stuff is Fuck Canon nowadays

Author’s Notes:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @breezycheezyart!! You wanted Ryoumelle Fluff, and I am MORE than happy to deliver!! (And thank you, mckinlily for the beta!!)

First of all, anyone reading this should be thinking of Breezy's awesome Romelle, not the VLD one:

(reposted with permission, please visit The Original Post to leave comments on the awesome art!)

She doesn't usually run around in that lovely formalwear above, but it gives you a good idea of what she looks like (and all her adorable freckles...).

Secondly, this is set in my V:LotD universe (same one as "Yours and Mine", and, in fact, this takes place after that fic). Things to know:

Oriande is a very hard to find planet, one you have to both believe exists and know how to look for in order to find. But anyone who finds Oriande can set foot on it. HOWEVER, the Temple of the Goddess of the Universe won't let just anyone in. It very definitely kept Lotor out, which pissed him off to no end.

Allura and the other Paladins went into the Temple of the Goddess to get Shiro a new arm since the Galra one was actively corrupting him. (Basically just like in "Components.") They discovered that the temple changes every time you walk into it, depending on your purpose (and what the Goddess wants).

The Altean Diaspora - the survivors from Altea's destruction - settled on Oriande 10,000 years ago and have since established a small but thriving colony. Lotor found them when he found Oriande and convinced them he was here to help, did his experiments on them, etc. as in VLD. They have since kicked that moldy eggplant to the curb, thanks in no small part to Romelle, who is the youngest member of the ruling Council, and, of course, Volton and Princess Allura.

This version of Kuron attacked the team when confronted with the real Shiro's return; they managed to subdue him and brought him to the colony on Oriande for help in "deprogramming" him. This effort was successful, eventually. Shiro gave him the name "Ryou Shirogane," and refers to him as the younger twin. Ryou, for his part, has stayed with the Alteans, where he is happy to be useful, even if he feels like he doesn't really fit in and he still struggles with the fact that he was created for evil.

Ryou's hand is still the one he got from Haggar (compared to Shiro's new Altean one).

I think that covers everything, but if you're confused about things, let me know in the comments! ^_^

(4,544 Words - on Ao3)

Teaser below cut:

He’d kept those feelings to himself successfully for months on end, but then, one night at the Lost Princess public house, Romelle had asked him, over a plate of roast wrestrel, “How’s it going with Dynart?”

And he’d spilled it all out, all his frustrations over not-really-merged techs and the headaches of it and how he wished he could do something more about it, but he wasn’t even a decent engineer yet, let alone a Sacred Altean. And when he realized he’d just spewed all of that out over what was supposed to be a nice dinner together, he cleared his throat and apologized.

Romelle just laughed and patted his hand. “You don’t have to be sorry!”

“I didn’t mean to… we were supposed to be enjoying the evening together, and I…” He liked evenings with Romelle best. She’d been the first to accept him, to believe in him, and for all her outer softness, she had a spine of steel. She didn’t back down, didn’t give up, and her smile was contagious. To him, anyway. So the thought that he had ruined a good dinner with her pained him.

But she was smiling, and so he had to smile, too. Just a little. Her voice was gentle as she said, “Sounds like you had to vent that to someone. I’m honored you consider me enough of a friend to vent to me about it.”

Enough of a friend. Sure, he’d go with that.

“I feel like I can tell you anything,” he admitted quietly.

Her smile widened and a little blush sprung up in her cheeks. This was another problem he’d been dealing with: she was adorable, sweet, kind, sometimes flirty, and he had trouble unsticking his eyes from her (especially the cute freckles all over her… and her chest… and the freckles on her chest) sometimes. He had memories of… of Being With someone else, but they weren’t his. And he didn’t know how to go about saying to her, I want to make my own memories with you.

But she was on the Council, and he knew that he was some strange object of pity to most of the colony. He didn’t fit in, and she could do a lot better than the Black Paladin’s redeemed monster clone. He was happy just to spend time with her, to have her smile infect him and her spirit lift him up.

“Thank you,” she said, patting his hand again before pulling it back to resume eating. “But you’re not wrong about how a Sacred Altean would be a big help.”

“Winter’s coming,” he replied, pushing the remnants of his food around on his plate. “The colony’s heating systems aren’t going to be able to handle the load without an occasional boost or an overall upgrade. And as good as it is to be rid of Lotor, he was the one bringing us replacement parts. We could probably ask the Princess and the Paladins, but there’s no guarantee they can find us the parts we’d need if that happened.

“We figured out a work-around for now, but one bad storm could overload it and fry the whole thing. And we just don’t have the parts to replace it all.”

She nodded. “Dynart’s reported on that to us.”

“I just want to fix it, to make it better, but I can’t.” He set his spork down and sighed. “I don’t like feeling useless.”

“No one does. But it’s not just you. I can’t fix this situation either.”

He thought for a long moment. “What would the Alteans of old have done in this situation?”

“Not been in it in the first place?” she said wryly. “But it’s not a bad question. Probably… probably have gone and asked the Goddess what to do.”

“Well, why can’t we do that? There’s that temple.”

“That no one can get into.”

“Princess Allura got into it,” he reminded her.

“She’s Sacred.”

“And the paladins.”

“Prophecy.”

“We could at least try?” he asked. “Unless you just don’t want to take that long a walk with me?”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling again. “You know that’s not true. I love spending time with you.”

Oh, so that’s what it feels like when your heart ‘skips a beat’. He cleared his throat.

#Socks writes Voltron fanfic #Ryoumelle #Happy Birthday to a great friend and truly amazing artist #a die-hard Shallura fan #and just all-around wonderful person

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