#I'm surprised by how fast I was able to write this fanfic

[suckerforcate]

I will forever kiss the ground you're walking on if you'd write a Lucifer x Reader fanfic.

Sit in my Lap

Pairing: Lucifer Morningstar x Reader (the Sandman)

Word Count: 617

Warning: NSFW, 18+, fingering

A/n: this is my first time writing for Lucifer, hope you like it!!<3

Lucifer had been working all day, and honestly, you felt a little neglected by them. They had been gone, as you had woken up, and you hadn't seen them since. So in the evening you decided to search for them, eventually finding them, sitting at the desk, still working.

They immediately sensed your presence in the room, looking up at you, gaze softening. You smiled at them apologetically.

"What is it, little lamb?" You approached them, gently stroking their wing.

"I missed you." You mumbled under your breath, nearly embarrassed at your statement. It had only been a few hours.

With a swift motion of their wings, they pushed you onto their lap. "C'mere, you can sit in my lap until I'm done working." You smirked, not missing your chance to kiss them real fast. You could sense Lucifer smiling into the kiss.

For a while you sat there, head leaned on their shoulder, covered by their wing, just watching them work. Their arm was around your hip the whole time, holding you securely. You didn't mind, that you didn't talk. Just watching them, admiring their beauty was enough for you.

But after some time had passed and Lucifer felt you dose off, they pulled you tighter and stroked your stomach.

"Now, now, don't fall asleep." You felt their hand wander down a little and to your surprised it slipped into your pants. Lucifer didn't look up from their work and acted like nothing was happening.

Meanwhile, your body stiffened, feeling their fingers grace over your core. You hid your face in the crook of their neck, trying to muffle your moans. You knew that if you weren't careful, everyone walking past the room would be able to hear you.

Lucifer had extremely skilled fingers, it was one of the first things you had noticed about them. The way their fingers elegantly worked and moved, made your mind always wander places. The long, thin fingers now running through your folds and thrusting into you without a warning, made you nearly scream. Barely being able to hold it in, letting a whimper escape your mouth. Slowly you lifted your head, your mouth close to their ear. You knew, the effect you had on them. Particularly your sounds and your voice.

"Lucifer, oh-" quietly you whispered and moaned into their ear, feeling them shiver under you. Still they stayed strong, not tearing their eyes off the paper.

Starting to move their fingers a little faster, your gasps and moans also increased in volume. Lucifer chuckled at your failed attempts to hide them.

"Let them out, I don't care if anyone hears you. I'm Lucifer, they won't dare to say something." You didn't need one more word from them, immediately letting the until now held back noises out.

As they used their thumb to rub over your clit, you gently bit their shoulder, eliciting a quiet, breathy moan from them as well. The stimulation was overwhelming, you always wondered how one could be so skilled with their hands. Making you moan in mere minutes, under their touch.

"Ahh, Lucifer- please, I'm close." They applied a little more pressure to your clit, while still pumping their fingers into you. Your breaths got ragged and with a guttural moan and their name on your lips, you stumbled over the edge. Legs twitching and gasping for air.

Gently they pulled out their fingers and took their hand out of your pants, still looking at the paper they licked their fingers and kissed you afterwards. You could taste yourself on their tongue, making you sigh into the kiss.

"Such a good little lamb. Now, when I finished this, we'll continue this in the bedroom."

[creedslove]

I have a request. Im going deaf and use asl. Can you write a fanfic with Joel or Marcus or Frankie or Javi G being married to a deaf woman? Falling in love dating and marrying? Post outbreak? It can be trying at times for me to date. And I love the smut and fluff 😜 thanks

Post outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: Hi honey! I'm so sorry for the delay and I hope things are going alright for you! You are very strong and I'm sorry this isn't better, I don't have experience with this situation so I didn't really want to write something inaccurate ❤️

• when Joel first got into Jackson, he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, he was busy, pissed, exhausted and he didn't know what to think, however, you still caught his attention when he was having a proper meal for the first time in a long time

• and he was impressed by the fact you were so pretty; he couldn't even remember the last time he saw someone as pretty as you, but eventually, he shrugged it off and left town

• but when he returned and decided to stay for good, he would have to adapt himself to living in a sort of normal society, so Tommy helped him through and gave him brief descriptions of each citizen

• and the moment Tommy mentioned you, he immediately felt a connection with you, at least to some level, after all, you were going deaf and he was deaf in one ear

• he didn't remember meeting anyone who could relate to him in that matter over the years so that was interesting

• the next time he spotted you in town, he made up an excuse so he could talk to you and that was the moment he found out you communicated by sign language

• he felt so dumb at that moment because he wanted to introduce himself, tell you he understood your condition and perhaps throw some charm, why not? 😉

• so he was pretty happy to know you had a class in Jackson, only to teach people how to use ASL and he signed up

• much to his own surprise, Joel was actually a fast learner and he became your most dedicated student and it didn't take him long to actually be able to talk to you

• and you both hit off, as he told you some things about his life and you told him about yours

• and soon enough he asked you out though he didn't admit it was a date and rather just a drink between friends, you both knew it was a date

• and you didn't take very long to soften up that old broken heart of his, not after he realized he was in love with you

• he went through his options: ignore the feeling, or he could give himself a break and be happy for once

• he chose the later and you both tied the knot in a beautiful and small ceremony, surrounded by your closest friends

• life was good again for Joel, he had a loving wife to come home to every day and he felt reassured he could taste happiness one more time

____

[canonicallyobserving911]

WIP Wednesday

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Season 7 FANON Speculation: Buddie Multi-Chapter Fanfic - Hiatus Reading: “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Chapters 24 & 25 will be posted soon (two chapters will be posted instead of one).

Buck and Eddie got married and Buck's officially Chris' second dad!

Currently 23 chapters completed: 893.1K Words; Rated: Mature

One chapter will be posted at a time.

{#1 Previous snippet linked here}

{#2 Previous snippet linked here}

____________

I'm excited to finish writing Chapters 24 & 25 because Buck and Eddie are married and the Diaz family is starting the second half of their two-week long European family adventure. For anyone who hasn't read Chapters 22 and 23, here's a brief overview. In Chapter 22, Buck and Eddie got married, Chris was their best man and Eddie successfully surprised Buck with all the things he had planned for him including a three-tier wedding cake. Their honeymoon started that night and they had an important conversation before they consummated their marriage. In Chapter 23, they left Rome the day after their wedding and proceeded to visit 5 other cities for the remainder of their time in Italy. By the end of it, they agreed to continue speaking Italian even after they return to the U.S. because while they were in San Gimignano, they made a decision that could affect the course of their family's lives forever. What was the decision? 👀

They departed Rome at the end of the chapter and they landed in London on Christmas Eve to start the second half of their family adventure. What else are they going to do while they're still in Europe? Will Buck meet his biological father? 🤷🏽‍♀️

___________

Here's a snippet of Eddie on the verge of having a panic attack because of the state he sees Buck in after he enters the room.

_________

Buck keeps reading, he’s still looking down and by the time he makes it to the end, his chest starts feeling funny again like it's felt for the past two days but it’s much stronger this time.  It’s so intense, it causes him to drop the thing he’s holding in his hand.  His vision blurs and he thinks he’s grabbing at his chest because his heart feels weird kind of like it did in March but he’s not sure if he’s imagining it.

He leans forward and tries to reach for the back of the couch but his vision starts to close in and to him it appears he’s standing in a haze of fog as everything in his line of sight starts to get smaller.  He wants to move but he’s too far away from anything that won’t injure him and he’s scared that if he does, he’ll collapse and bump his head on either the credenza or the end of the couch but neither of them is a viable option.

While he tries to make a split-second decision, at that moment, his husband enters the room with a big smile on his face that quickly turns into one of extreme concern when he sees the state Buck’s in.

That sharp pain Eddie felt in his heart at 3:17AM returns but this time it’s so strong it causes his eyes to widen and all the air gets sucked out of his lungs.  He watches as Buck continues to grab at his chest then everything starts happening in slow motion.

With his eyes locked on Buck, he notices his eyes are red rimmed, his cheeks are wet, his skin looks pale and since Eddie’s a trained paramedic, he recognizes the signs of what appears to be a bradycardia event of epic proportions and he knows he needs to act fast or else Buck’s going to hit the floor.

He moves quickly but his legs feel like weights are around his ankles.  He needs to move so he can catch him because now Buck’s swaying on his feet and he sees his knees buckle in real time.  He sticks his arms out like a quarterback does when he’s about to catch the football and he realizes he did it just in the nick of time because now they’re filled with the weight of his husband and he's able to stop him from hitting his head on the edge of the couch.

Eddie has a flashback to March when Buck was hanging from the aerial and he thinks he’s going to lose it.  He screams through labored breaths, “MY LOVE… TALK TO ME.  TELL ME WHERE IT HURTS.  IS IT YOUR HEART?  TALK TO ME PLEASE!”

No response.

Buck’s already unconscious so he gently lays him on the floor, gets on his knees, reaches over from the back of the couch, grabs two throw pillows and puts one underneath his head and the other underneath his ankles to elevate his feet.

After he gets him positioned, he notices Buck’s body is lifeless and it causes him to exhale a half cry and a scream.  “OH MY GOD!  AMORE—MIO!  PLEASE… WAKE UP.  WAKE UP FOR ME MY LO—VE!  TELL ME WHAT’S WRONG!  BUCK PLEASE DO—N’T LEAVE ME… PLEASE!”

No response.

Eddie feels like he’s going to jump out of his skin because he doesn’t know what happened and the last time he saw Buck like this he was hanging from the top of the ladder and his body was dangling in the air.  He was dead for three minutes and seventeen seconds and in his mind he’s not sure how long it’s been because he didn’t start counting when he saw Buck fall because he was too busy catching him.

All his fears about Buck dying again and leaving him flood to the front of his mind like the swirling waters from a category 5 hurricane and as tears roll down his face, he feels like he’s drowning and his lungs are beginning to close and he can tell it’s the start of a panic attack.

What happened that caused Buck to have what Eddie believes to be a bradycardia event? 👀

Is it his heart or something else? 🙃

Is it possible there are long lasting effects from the lightning strike that were missed by the cardiologist? 🤷🏽‍♀️

What's going to happen next? Will Eddie have a panic attack? 👀

___________

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Fic Summary: Months after Buck and Eddie were hit by the same lightning strike; they’re still struggling with the aftermath of it.  But before they make their love confessions, they’ll spend time getting to know themselves as individuals first. Eddie learns to enjoy the simple things in life as he participates in activities on his own and with new friends while Buck learns the rest of the 31-year-old deep dark family secret about his conception and birth. Their journey to forever is still a work in progress but once they finally admit they’re in love with each other, everything that follows their love confessions will be cataclysmic.

__________

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Eddie makes a new friend while Buck receives devastating news regarding the sperm donation he made for Connor and Kameron.

Chapter 2 - Buck does a lot of research to learn more about the abnormalities found in his red blood cells and Eddie starts a new therapy journey that’s all about him and not the traumas he’s experienced.

Chapter 3 - After more than a month, Buck and Eddie finally spend time together outside of work but it doesn’t end well and they part with a lot of uncertainty regarding their places in each other’s lives.

Chapter 4 - Eddie has a few realizations about his life which causes him to consider moving back to El Paso, TX while Buck continues to be reminded of his past which causes him to take an impromptu road trip across America.

Chapter 5 - Both Buck and Eddie have difficult conversations with their parents and Buck finally learns the truth behind the reason why his mother despised him while Eddie finally tells his mother about the way she tries to control him.

Chapter 6 - More than two weeks after Buck pushed Eddie away after suggesting they needed a break; Eddie decides to try again. Eddie’s there for Buck when he’s at his worst just like Buck was there for him when he was at his worst and he won’t let Buck give up.

Chapter 7 - After Buck’s mental breakdown, Eddie has his back the same way Buck had his when he had his own breakdown more than a year ago.  They share several vulnerable and emotionally intimate moments with one another and they begin to realize their small, sweet and caring gestures matter just as much if not more than any grand gesture ever could because these are the foundations of a long-lasting love relationship.

Chapter 8 - Buck, Eddie and Chris all have their own therapists and during their sessions, they reflect on their pasts while they’re in the present so they can prepare for their future together as a family.

Chapter 9 - Buck and Eddie are there for each other when Buck has to testify as a witness during the trial.  But by the end of it, they’ll both realize their individual and shared traumas are going to keep resurfacing until they talk about them, deal with the fact that they’re in love with one another and face the fact that they can’t live without each other.

Chapter 10 - As Buck and Eddie finally begin to confront their past traumas, they realize how much they need each other to fill in the gaps of their memories.  Additionally, the universe screams at them for what appears to be the one hundredth time so Buck can realize he doesn’t have to ‘find it’ because he already ‘made it’ and Eddie’s reminded tomorrow isn’t promised and he doesn’t have to die alone if he doesn’t want to.

Chapter 11 - A “virga” or dry thunderstorm is in the forecast but once the rain starts, the thunderstorm happening outside won’t be able to match the storm brewing inside between Buck and Eddie.  It’s the universe’s final scream and when the tumultuous winds begin to blow, they’ll have one last chance to hold onto everything they’ve built over the last six years or they’ll lose it all forever.

Chapter 12 - Buck and Eddie have always shared a deep physical attraction and an emotional intimacy that’s unmatched but now that they’re in a relationship, they’re learning how to navigate the romantic intimacy they’ve been waiting for six years to explore. The love they have for each other is a once in a lifetime, soulmate, love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time.

Chapter 13 - While navigating the newness of their romantic relationship, Buck and Eddie take advantage of every moment they spend together. As their individual lives, people from their pasts, time constraints and the possibility of losing each other again make attempts to interrupt and interfere with their journey to forever, they love, care for, support and hold onto each other even tighter to withstand it all.

Chapter 14 - Buck and Eddie can see the lights at the end of the tunnels regarding the results of Buck’s Cancer Screening along with everything else they’re dealing with. But are the lights they see exits to the tunnels or are they headlights on different runaway trains that are speeding towards them in an effort to interrupt their forever?

Chapter 15 - Buck and Eddie have known they were exactly who the other one wanted in a partner since they met six years ago when they agreed to have each other’s backs. They’re in a romantic relationship, they’re both preparing to ask the other one to spend forever with them and by the end of the seventh week into their relationship, together they will plan their most important and greatest adventure for their future.

Chapter 16 - As Buck and Eddie begin to prepare for their marriage ceremony that will take place in Rome, Italy in December 2023, they start planning their first international adventure as a romantic couple. Even though Chris is still the only person they’ve told about their relationship, several people who know them have already witnessed the love they share and as the days continue, others will witness it too.

Chapter 17 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to departing Los Angeles for their international adventure, a moment in time will remind them; life is fragile, tomorrow isn’t promised and every second of everyday should be cherished because everything can change in an instant. The result of that realization will cause them to hold onto each other even more.

Chapter 18 - As Buck, Eddie and Chris prepare for family gatherings before and during the Thanksgiving holiday, the “Santa Ana Winds” start to blow and all sorts of expected and unexpected familial drama ensues.

Chapter 19 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to their wedding day, the universe begins to align everything so that some of their parent and children's relationships are strengthened while others come to an abrupt end.

Chapter 20 - With only 14 days remaining until Buck, Eddie and Chris depart Los Angeles, CA traveling to Rome, Italy, for their first family adventure, an early morning conversation about “tying up loose ends” helps Buck and Eddie realize there are still several things left unfinished on their ‘To Do’ lists. The question is will there be enough time to complete all of them?

Chapter 21 - Buck, Eddie and Chris are finalizing their ‘To Do’ Lists, double checking their itineraries and packing their suitcases in preparation for their trip to Europe so they can board their flight that departs Los Angeles, CA on Friday, December 15, 2023 at 3:25PM.

Chapter 22 - While Buck, Eddie and Chris spend the first 8 days of their European family adventure in Italy, their primary reason for going will be fulfilled as well as several others they hadn’t considered or anticipated.

Chapter 23 - As the Diaz Family continues their Italian family adventure, they’ll say, “Ciao” or hello and goodbye to a lot of things almost immediately after they become an official and legal family.

Chapter 24 - Will be posted soon.

Chapter 25 - Will be posted soon.

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Read chapters 1-23 are available on AO3.

Continue reading on AO3

Chapters 24 & 25 will be posted soon.

[morocosmos]

Writer Interview Game

Tagged by @arcaneoddity, tyyyy 💜

When did you start writing?

I noodled at an unfinished story or two when i was a kid (i drew comics a lot more tbh), the first fanfic i wrote was when i was 13 (it is consigned to ff.net, never to be perceived again). i started developing my writing during secondary school, we had to for english class but i genuinely enjoyed those assignments so much that it didn't feel like schoolwork lmao, it was smth of an outlet. i did write a couple of fics for other fandoms between 2016 and mid 2020, but in late 2020 FFXIV revived my desire to create, while @stellarfatalism and @lemoncakedesign's fics inspired me to actually start writing.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I read a much wider variety of smut than what i could be convinced to write. other than that i think they mostly overlap.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

@haillenarte, @rabbitprint and @sezja's fics have stuck with me the most in terms of "god i want to be able to write characters like this"....i've never been compared to another writer before, never even considered it and idk how i'd feel.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I was writing on openoffice at first, but their software has a tendency to crash when you press two keys too fast, for example when you. try to save your work. moved to gdocs to avoid that and so that i could continue working on fic on my phone, but i also use the notes app on there, mainly to get down ideas that i don't want running away or to write more freely. it's easier to be experimental and loose when i'm writing in notes, idk, whereas i prefer sitting at the desk and working on my computer when it's a longer fic or a more """important""" piece.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I've let it happen when it happens, for the most part. i was forcing myself to power through job around the time i really grew into writing, so i needed it to be a space where i wouldn't do it if i didn't want to. my feelings about that are more mixed now, because i'm a slow writer to begin with, and i can't help but wonder if more people would read my stuff if i updated more consistently. but i digress - the only time i've had to bring the muse in myself was for to sail your seas, and that was because there was accountability and a deadline. so i guess my most effective tricks are ADHD hacks and brainworms.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Until recently i didn't approach fic writing with themes in mind, when i get an idea it's usually about throwing a character at something and seeing what happens. that something tends to be another character, sometimes it's more existential like touch starvation. that said, i do have a WIP where i sat down and thought about what i want the themes to be before i know how it's going to pan out, but it's baby's first attempt so i don't have an answer to this question yet, really.

What is your reason for writing?

Processing things i know and exploring things i don't. when i got back into writing in 2020 it was extremely cathartic, i've burnt out on several creative pursuits over the years and having that spark come alive was, and is still very precious to me. i spent two years writing simply because i had ideas and a vice-grip compulsion to write them out. now that that's slowed down, i've started to think more about craft, and how i might try to hone that when i'm lowkey afraid of this stage of learning, and there's no formal institution to kick my ass into it. but in some ways, i think i write because i can't afford not to.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been told by a friend that i'm good at continuity, which is nice considering it lines up with the obsessive approach i take towards trying to tie plot/character threads together lol. personally, i still consider descriptive writing to be my greatest strength. it's what i keep going back to, maybe because it was the first thing i discovered i was good at that wasn't influenced by someone else's decision.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I miss the honeymoon period when i thought my writing was the hottest shit LOL. that tapered off towards the end of 2022, but it's not like i think my writing is bad now, just that over time i became more aware of my shortcomings, and how much knowledge and experience i lack. i did have to fight a little to keep my relationship with writing from souring last year, but in hindsight it was more about frustration that i didn't have the energy to write (work burnout wooo) than a problem with writing itself. after a year plus of stalling and big fic projects i just want to have fun again, be a bit silly.

[iheartgod175]

Fanfic Sneak Peek Theater ACT 2: For the Lovers

Super, SUPER sorry it took me forever to get back to the Fanfic Sneak Peek Theaters. Life happened, lol XD But I’m back ^^

Part two of my Fanfic Sneak Peek Theater is, as it’s titled, for the shippers. Including myself XD All of me OG OTPs get a fic to themselves, and I’m super excited to write them ^^

First up is a fic that’s had an insane grip on my brain: Love Language, which is the sequel to my first Multo/Zeeter fic, Heavenly. This story is a collection of vignettes (some long, some short) of how their relationship progresses, and there’s sweetness, bitterness…and even some spiciness. 😏 This story was going to be a three part fic, but things happened, and well…now y’all are going to get five parts. The good thing is, part one is almost done (I’d like to say I have about 70% of it finished). I just need someone to smack me in the head before I keep adding more stuff. XD

Here’s a sneak peek of the cuteness ^^ (taken from chapter 1’s vignette: Awed):

"Wow, you two look gorgeous!" Wizzy was the first to offer her praises, her eyes gleaming with stars.


"Yeah! You look like movie stars!" Wigg said.


Bonnie giggled. "Thanks, you two." She walked up to Bula, noting how his face was slightly red. "And I hope I'll be able to wow them on the red carpet tonight...with my equally handsome plus one."


Bula swallowed hard. "R-Right." He cleared his throat. "Well, we won't be the only good-looking ones tonight, right Multo?" His smile faded slightly when he saw Multo's face. "Um, Multo?"


If Multo heard him, he gave no indication. He stared at Zeeter, mouth open and eyes wide to where she could see the whites, a small blush on his face. Two words escaped his mouth, said in a hushed tone filled with utter surprise and wonder. "My stars..."


Zeeter's heart raced as he slowly approached her. It was the first time in a long time that she'd ever worn proper formal wear...and this was the first time he'd ever seen her wearing it, which she was acutely aware of. And rather than renting this, she'd outright bought it.


Why, she had no idea.


She met his eyes, her own face flushing under his stare.


She had expected him to compliment her in his unique fashion.


What she did not expect was for him to take her left hand in his right, lift it to his lips, and plant a gentle kiss on her knuckles.


Zeeter squeaked.


Everyone else gasped, with Wizzy and Bonnie taking a keen interest in this, practically pushing Bula aside.


Heat equal to the sun flooded her face as he gently looked up at her. She hadn't been prepared for the lightning bolt that hit her when he did that. Nor was she prepared for the look of utter wonder and adoration that graced his face.


"My dear," he breathed, "you look absolutely radiant tonight."


It wasn't enough that he'd kissed her knuckles and made her brain short-circuit. He just had to call her that, too.


She was sure she resembled a cooked lobster by now.

Next up on the list is a small Whyatt/Red ficlet that I’ve been working on. I’ve titled it “Sweet Victory”. And I totally wasn’t thinking of that song, lol XD

Also, flustered Whyatt is always a treat XD

"Whyatt, that's enough chocolate for four people!" She started.


"I know, but I'm gonna share it!" he said. "Please, Mom? I've gotta have it!"


"You do, huh?" Ever the cautious skeptic, Mrs. Beanstalk gave her son a pointed look. "And just what are you buying this chocolate for?"


At that question, Whyatt looked away shyly. "Um...it's for someone special."


That gave Pig pause. Poppa Pig looked at him with one eyebrow raised, an odd look in his eye.


Compared to her earlier demeanor, Mrs. Beanstalk looked absolutely surprised.


"Someone special?" A glint of joy appeared in his mom's eye, and her lips quirked into a smile. "Is it a girl?"


Whyatt looked up so fast, Pig thought his head would fly loose from his neck. "Wha-NO! No way!" he said, shaking his head emphatically, but then paused. "Well, it is for a girl, but she's just a friend, Mom!"


"Mmhmm."


"No, really! It's nothing like that," he said quickly. "I-I just wanted to get her something really nice for her birthday, and I figured she'd like it..."


"It seems you've got a bit of a crush, Why."


"Wha-no I don't!" Whyatt argued, although his face was certainly arguing otherwise. It was turning as red as the candy he was holding.

My last one is a cute little piece that I’ve been working on since earlier this week, for Walden/Widget. @mooshieblue got me back into the pair ^^ The title of this fic is so light-novel esque it deserves an anime adaptation: The Science of Love (Side Note: It Doesn’t Make Much Sense)

"So, ya got anybody in mind?"


"Hmm..." He scratched his chin in thought. The idea of romance was, and still is, a bit of a mystery to him. In fact, while he could deduct it for others, imagining himself having a crush or some other romantic feelings for someone was unthinkable. He wasn't even sure if he could answer her question.


In fact, he was just about to tell her that...when his mind came up with an answer.


You.


His eyes widened.


I like you a lot more than a friend.


His chest suddenly felt tight at the revelation. Where in world had come from?


I've thought about you so much it's driving me crazy.


"My, my, my..." was all he could say as the revelation came clear to him.


"Helloooo? Earth ta Walden, do ya copy?" The smell of machine oil flitted through his nostrils, courtesy of her waving her hand in front of his face. He blinked, snapping out of his reverie. He looked up to see her green eyes narrowed quizzically at him. "Ya spaced out on me for a second there."


"O-Oh. Sorry about that, Widget. I-I, uh...I guess I put a little too much thought into that question."


"As always." She leaned back against the wall with a small smirk. "But ya think you got an answer?"


His mind betrayed him, and the realization made his face heat up to an absurd degree. Like, "center of the sun" degree.


"...I-I'd rather not say..."

—

If I have any more fluffy romantic stuff, I’ll post them accordingly ^^

But I want to know your thoughts! Which fics are you interested in seeing?

And if anyone leaves any hate, I’ll just use the flames to whip up some more stories for ‘em ^^

[atsucry]

Take a Break

synopsis: Hange is a little too immersed in their study of titans.

Hange Zoë x gn!reader

my only warning is that this might be a little ooc

tags: no smut, fluff

You and Hange have been doing well in your relationship, but lately, they've been cooped up either in their office or in a tent near the captured Titans—Sawney and Bean, as Hange calls them. They loomed over their desk all day, surrounded by scattered papers filled with doodles and writings. You worry that they'll stress themselves to death if they keep going like this—not that you disapprove of their passion or projects, far from it.

Determined to bring Hange back to reality, you march toward the camp with a lamp in hand, your hood pulled over your head. It's already past seven, and they haven't retreated yet—too focused on their research to even remember to do so.

As you approach, there were two massive marquees made especially for the Titans. Their groans rumble from within, they sleep like any other creature. You continue on to find Hange. It’s obvious where they were; a singular tent has light spilling out, and you can hear their fast murmuring from within.

Pulling back the entrance to face them, but their back is turned to you. Their hair tousled, likely from pulling and tugging at it out of frustration—that’s your best guess.

Hange jerks their head toward you, surprised, though their face also holds a sorry look. They turn fully to face you.

"Ah—Hi!—Hey…" Hange starts.

"...I apologize, but…I really can't leave this alone—"

"There’s always tomorrow," you say, knowing that convincing someone like Hange won’t be an easy task. "Come rest for the night."

"Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Plus—" the scientist turned back to their work, "It's not that this research is being forced on me, this is my passion and I choose to spend sleepless nights to understand these creatures." Hange beckons you to have a closer look at their discoveries on paper.

You close the curtain behind you, giving the conversation a bit more privacy.

You step a little closer before speaking out,

"Even the most passionate people let their projects rest. That spark isn't going anywhere, you understand this, yes?"

"Of course I do but—"

"That drive you have will eventually lead to your doom someday. And then who else would be suitable to fill in your role if you did? Let it rest."

They seemed to mull over your words for a bit. Hopefully, this will knock their brain back into place—without all the parts littered around in that skull of theirs. Leaning back into their desk, they prop themselves on their elbows and sigh in defeat. Taking a seat, and massaging the bridge of their nose.

The usually eccentric and intense squad leader stood in front of you, in the calmest state you've seen them in. Maybe not the calmest but the quietest.

"I'm sorry…if I worried you there." your partner spoke up, looking you in the eye as they said this. "But if that's what you want…I can't exactly refuse anything from you either." they said giving a lighthearted chuckle at the end.

"...So, will you?"

"It wouldn't kill me to take a break once in a while! Let's go."

They'd gone back to their energetic persona, pulling up their hood and grabbing the nearby handheld lamp, turning off the previous desk lamp to drown the area in darkness after keeping all of their things in one box.

"Titans really are incredible, aren't they?"

A sigh of relief escapes your mouth, glad that you'd have been able to persuade them into setting everything down.

Before retreating back to the barracks, Hange had to say goodnight to their titans, of course.

"Goodnight, Sawney, bean!"

You gave a warm smile, facing you, hange did the same.

"Titans really are incredible, aren't they?"

Note: Gusy this is my first fanfic im so scared. This is obviously not proofread so...

RAHHGGAHH writing romance feels new to me idk idk how to portray romantic feelings all that well so im jst experimenting for now...

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

Introduction? Introduction.

I figured that now I am getting more connected to some of you here, it's time to be a little less anonymous. I am ready to overshare.

My name is Sanne (she/her), I'm 28 and I am from/live in the Netherlands. I live with my boyfriend, who is from Lithuania, like Arnas, and the same age as him too, which simply amuses me endlessly at this point. We also have pet rats named Salem and Thor (yes, we had a Loki too).

I love movies, series, books and music. Music wise I am a metalhead at heart. I am an occultist and a pagan, and in general I love all things spooky. Our house is 24/7 in Halloween mode basically, and so am I. (If anyone from twitter is here right now who happens to follow me, you will know exactly who I am by this description lmao).

I only found TLK very, very recently. I am usually not a fan of period pieces, but one evening I was bored and this popped up on Netflix and I decided to give it a go. Many factors made me fall in love with the show and I binged it within two weeks, only a few weeks before the movie got released. It became a part of my life real quick.

A little fun fact: I was diagnosed with adhd only last year (fuck my life, right?) so it is easy for me to completely get lost into one thing. However, I know when something is going to stick with me and when something is just a quick hyperfixation.

And TLK? My dudes, it's a keeper.

Because of my adhd it is very hard for me to stay focused on something for a long time without getting distracted. The fact that I was able to binge this show with no interruption is insane to me. I started reading the books shortly after (I am currently reading the 4th book) and as much as I love reading: it is not easy for me either. The amount of half read books I have is something I will never tell. But I swear (on Thor's hammer) this whole series is made for people with adhd, because I have never read books so fast, so easily.

And I know it's impossible to tell, but my fave character is Sihtric. Why? I am not sure, it just happened.

I have never been into fanfics, but I was so eager to read more of him (and other characters) that I found myself searching for fics. But I was a little surprised by how "limited" results popped up, so here I am, doing god's work (just kidding). I am on sick leave for several reasons, and these lil fics give me some purpose during the day and keep me from bad habits, I've noticed, so I am just having fun here. I have no experience writing fics, I only write poetry, so to see nice and loving comments about my fics has been quite overwhelming and heartwarming!

Look at me, oversharing. Is anyone still reading this? Probably not.

Anyway...

I was lucky my bank account less lucky to see that Arnas, Mark, Alexander and Timothy will attend a comic con in Germany next week. I told myself not to go due to the finances, but with some luck (fate, perhaps?) I found out last week that I could make it. Alas, I got my tickets. For now I only have tickets secured for Arnas, but I will get a duo op with Mark and Arnas asap (because: faves).

I would love to meet Alexander and Timothy too, but the entire group op is just too expensive for me, unfortunately. I will travel alone and attend the con on my own and I am literally terrified. I have never been to cons alone (social anxiety has entered the chat) and the chances of getting a sensory overload and a meltdown are huge.

However, the fact that I made the decision to go there is really saying something about what this show, these characters and these people became to mean to me, in such a short period. Destiny really is all, I guess! Anyway, I have rambled for way too long. Sorry.

Feel free to introduce yourself to me!!

[kingcedricthegay]

So I read the first chapter of your Cedric x Reader fanfic and came to share my thoughts.

I will say, I'm not too fond of x Reader, I'm more about reading about characters instead of being one. That being said, I liked that there was an effort to include other characters from stf, and I actually got invested from how the fic was formatted as a genuine stf episode.

I don't want to be too critical of the portrayal of some of the characters, but as a Roland enjoyer, I felt your portrayal of him was quite decent until it came to Cedric. I'm not sure at what point the story is supposed to take place in besides being between Great Auntventure and Day of the Sorcerers, but I feel that Roland being unhappy about Cedric coming along doesn't feel in character. At most points in the show, Roland is shown to not mind Cedric, let alone with Sofia. Cedric's Apprentice was an episode where Sofia literally became Cedric's apprentice so he could help her for a test, and Roland never once objects to her being with Cedric. I think Roland doesn't have as big of a gripe as people think because he's more disappointed at Cedric not being able to do magic than him as a person overall.

That being said, I love how you wrote him as someone who respected Sofia's wishes and let her bring Cedric along to the carnival. That is very much like Roland to see that Sofia likes something and sets aside his biases for his daughter. I can understand headcanoning Roland not liking Cedric as a person, and It's not something I'd agree with, but I absolutely agree with him respecting his children and their wishes.

As for the royal family as a whole, I didn't expect them to take as much of a focus as they did, and it was a pleasant surprise to have the children interact with Y/N. In fact, the format of the fic was so creative, with the royal family being so involved, I found myself being invested more in that than the x Reader parts. That's just me liking things not involving Cedric more because of how focused he is in the fandom. I wanted to talk more about the other aspects of the fic because I think people would find these elements such a treat.

While the royal family isn't THE main focus, I found Amber and Miranda to be a bit weird as characters. The fact I preferred the writing for James over them says something. With Miranda, I felt she wasn't a character like everyone else. The only role she seemed to have was as a mother and nothing else. The way she didn't have as much of a prominence as the others bummed me out. And it's not that she had to have a bigger role, but I felt myself questioning where she was.

My thoughts about Amber are based on my opinion, but the way she was written felt mixed to me. There were parts where she felt like Amber, like her excitement at getting her fortune told, but her being interested in whether she has a spouse?? I don't know, I personally don't think she would be too interested in that, or at least would be more interested in other aspects of her future. Plus the "I AM EASY" part caught me off guard. That part with the part before of Amber eating fast but elegantly did not pair well. It felt like Hildegard core.

These are just my thoughts though. I really enjoyed reading this fanfic despite some parts I didn't jive with. I would recommend it for anyone who likes a storyline with their smoochies with Cedric rjdbhdidjdjdjrj

Thanks for recommending me this fic /g /vpos

I ain’t reading all that I’m happy for you tho or sorry that happened /ref

No but seriously thank you so much for writing all this 😭😭

First of all I always try to make my one shots feel like they could more or less happen in the StF canon, so I’m glad it works!!

Regarding Roland, I know that you love him but I don’t necessarily like him that much. I think he’s okay most of the time, I just hate him for fun lmao (that’s probably why I wrote him as less likable than he actually is)

About the characters overall, this was my first piece of StF fan fiction and when I was writing this I hadn’t finished the show yet (I was maybe at the beginning of season 2) so the characters hadn’t gone through all the development they had to go through yet, and I guess I didn’t have that good of a grasp on their personalities. Now that you point it out, looking back Amber was never boy crazy so I agree that that bit doesn’t make any sense (😭), and yeah I guess Miranda ended up being just… mom.

All in all thanks for the feedback! ❤️❤️

[another-clive-blog]

Here’s to hoping that Dimitri catches up to Clive <3

I'm on a roll with this AU so you get a fanfic I wrote on the train !!! (I love the train <3 Best place to write or listen to music or get stuck for 3 hours)

Some Trigger Warnings : a character experiences molecular unstability in a way similar to a panic attack. I also do refer to the time freeze gun as a regular gun in terms of vocabulary (I don't know much about it) so someone gets shot theoretically ? On that note a character (not saying who) experiences time freeze and it is described from an outside POV -it's pretty terrifying to watch-. As always, someone is spiraling down, a second person is losing faith and a third one is not having a good time

Claire's footsteps echoed on the pristine floor as she ran down another flight of stairs. They couldn't be too far- Dimitri barely had a headstart and Clive was, well, unwell. They should still be around here, they had to be.

The doors in front of her were wide open and so she went in the mirror room- a mirror room, what a stupid idea, she should have known from the start that something was wrong with-

Dimitri.

She almost missed him with how fast she was running, but an unusual speck of light in the darkness of the room caught her attention.

Clive.

"Oh no-" she whispered, far too low for any of them to hear, especially with the buzzing of the time freeze gun.

Dimitri hadn't shot- yet. Clive was backed in a corner, arms spread against the mirrors as if he was hoping to find some sort of secret tunnel. There wasn't any, Dimitri knew that : that was why he didn't bother restraining him, instead pointing the gun at him from a distance. He was going to shoot, he was actually going to deliberately put his associate's life in danger.

Claire wouldn't stand for this.

In a few steps she was behind Dimitri : then, it was just a matter of squatting down and kicking his legs from under him.

Dimitri gasped as he fell backwards and the gun fired : Clive ducked down, narrowly avoiding the freezing ray. The latter reflected on the mirror behind Clive, then another, and another one-

Claire took advantage of Dimitri's fall and surprise to reach for the gun, trying to tear it from his hands : unfortunately, Dimitri had immediately understood what she was aiming for, struggling to keep it out of reach instead.

The mirrors kept reflecting the ray of light, although it seemed to lose intensity with every passing second. Clive remained on the ground : he wasn't so much avoiding the danger as he was simply not feeling able to stand back up again, his whole body feeling more and more distant-

"Why are you keeping me from saving you-" Dimitri wasn't fighting back Claire or restraining her : he was focusing all of his efforts on the time freeze gun in his hands, keeping it out of her reach. It was truly infuriating, for her to make this more difficult than it had to be.

It was infuriating for him to deny her any say in the way she would live her life.

"I don't want to be saved at the cost of more lives," she grunted, her fingers grazing the surface of the gun. Almost there, almost there-

A blood-curdling scream startled her, and she looked back in horror.

Dimitri was quick to react : taking advantage of her inattention, he crawled away and stood up, pointing the gun at the source of the screaming- at Clive.

Clive was curled up on the ground, holding his head in a painful grip. From the way his hands pulled at his hair to the way his whole body was shaking so violently, more than Claire had ever seen coming from him, she guessed that he had to be in tremendous pain : and yet, he was not making any sound anymore. His wide eyes were staring at the ground, as still as his chest because he was struggling to even just breathe, get air in, avoid suffocating-

Claire saw this, and oh that was bad.

She glared at Dimitri in warning : he seemed to get the message, because he lowered his weapon hesitantly.

As she kneeled down next to Clive, Claire had to face the facts : he was glowing even more than before. Although she couldn't understand why that was happening now of all time, she knew that it was causing the state of agony he was in.

She almost put her hand on his shoulder, but stopped herself from doing so. She really shouldn't touch him right now, for all kind of reasons.

"Clive, I'm not sure you can even hear me, but try to focus on my voice, alright ? Breathe in... and out," and with this, she took a deep breath before exhaling audibly.

She wasn't sure how useful that was : it probably wasn't. If she was right and his state was caused by molecular unstability, then he most likely couldn't grasp anything happening in this world right now; but if she was right, it also meant that there was nothing else that she could do for him.

She couldn't help but wonder if what he was experiencing at that moment was similar to what she'd go through. Did he also feel himself go back to the time when it all started ? If that was the case, then he should be feeling things from two weeks ago. Not that far from now, but maybe the similarities made it all the more distressing.

It took some time, but eventually the glowing started to fade back to its previous state : although Claire was disappointed not to see it go away completely, she sighed in relief when Clive started to move again.

Clive slowly let go of his hair to instead put his hands on the ground, trying to keep his balance and support his exhausted body. His breathing was becoming more stable as he looked around, his eyes deliberately avoiding Claire's.

"What happened ?" Claire asked in a low voice, trying to understand.

Clive only shrugged. "I hit my head when that idiot Dimitri shot."

Claire only hummed.

A buzzing sound, again. Claire was starting to hate this gun, and to strongly dislike the one holding it. Dimitri just wouldn't understand, refused to understand that there was nothing left to be done, and she had to take more and more risks to- to do nothing in fact. She could only stop one attempt of his before he'd start working on the next.

And yet she still had to do this, because if she stopped opposing him then Dimitri would be free to do as he pleased.

"Do not shoot," Claire said coldly while placing herself between Clive and Dimitri : the latter understood her strategy very well, looking for a way to take the shot without hurting her. She wasn't hiding all of Clive's body, he could see his arm sticking out, so if he was fast enough-

"Wait," Clive quickly said, and they all looked at him. "We won't achieve anything that way : we're not saving anyone- not serving justice."

"What do you suggest ?" Dimitri asked, sounding skeptical but still giving him a single chance to save himself.

"We should stick to our initial plan and- and finish the time machine," Clive explained. "I can help- I'll do what it takes, but I'm sure we can do it. Just let me work on this, Dimitri, and we'll save everyone."

"Clive ?!" Claire stepped away in anger. "The time machine would cause far more harm than this device ever could ! How can you even suggest that when you know what it feels like ?!" She knew that Clive never took anything seriously, always mocking and taunting, yet this was too far, even as a joke.

She quickly realized, however, that it wasn't a joke. "I could say the same about you !!" Clive answered in much the same tone. "Why are you so mad about me wanting to live ? If you want to die for the greater good, that's your problem !! I am not letting myself get killed just because it's convenient, this world owes me !"

Claire tried to think about something to answer, but she never got to.

Clive suddenly became very pale, and all his anger vanished, replaced by fear. He opened his mouth to protest, beg maybe, before raising his arms in front of his face-

Claire understood too late that she had stepped aside during their confrontation.

Dimitri fired his time freeze gun, and Clive could only close his eyes before getting hit. Claire watched in horror as his whole body slowly came to a stop, still like a statue or a corpse whose soul was not quite gone yet. Even the fear was still vivid, clinging to his face along with that same constant anger : they made a terrifying picture of both his powerlessness and hatred. Or maybe Claire was just imagining this. Maybe there was only fear left. Maybe there wasn't anything at all, because Clive truly believed it to be the end.

The glow finally faded away, and they found themselves in complete darkness.

-_-_-_-

CLIVE ISN'T DEAD HE'S COMING BACK- I love him too much to kill him, especially after everything he went through in this AU

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

8th Anniversary!

And it's still going on! I'm still writing it!!! With every passing year, I am rather glad (and surprised by myself) that I am still writing it and that I still love to write Watchdog of the Queen. At the same time, I cannot help but think/compare how much time has passed vs how much progress I've made with this story so far orz but I keep going, even if slowly, so that's something at least! And thank you so much for (still) reading this fanfic, even if updates are slow. Sorry for that!

No new update today. However, when I started writing WotQ, I was a teen with time/energy and far too many (often dumb) ideas. For many, I wrote the first chapter or the first few chapters and then shelved them, never to see the light of day - until today! If anyone's interested in some old, terrible Cloudia/Undertaker fic starters, they're under the cut. (They are posted as I left them.)

------------------------------------------------------------

The Princess

I am a fan of The Selection series by Kiera Cass. I reread The Heir and The Crown earlier this year and I loved them more than when I initially read them. Obviously, I had to think of a spoof of it. Cloudia having her own Selection, with Cedric (and Milton and Kamden (rip) and some others; this was an AU of WotQ, not just another Cloudia/Undertaker fanfic...) amongst the candidates. The notes file was last edited in 2016; the first chapter below in 2017. Very obviously based on The Heir. Just worse. (Why tf didn't I even change the kingdom's name??? I even made a cover edit, rip)

The kingdom of Illéa had been reigned by born kings for a long time now. No matter if there was a girl born before a boy, the boy would become crown prince upon his birth and thus obtain the privilege to someday become king.

However, sometimes times changed.

The current king, King Simon, was an only child who had married a woman who had given birth to an only child too ‒ me, Princess Cloudia. And despite their efforts, I had always stayed an only child. Therefore, I couldn’t be overruled by a younger brother, and thus it was me who was to be the ruler someday.

Me, Princess Cloudia, the first queen to hold the title on her own.

The fact that after all these years a girl would ascend the throne wasn’t very pleasant for the Royal advisers. After all, such a case had never happened before. But knowing that they couldn’t change this fact even though they badly wanted to, they did their best to convince my father, the King, that I needed intense training ‒ an even more intense training than the one he had received as a young prince. Wanting to support my talents and making it able for me to be the best I would ever be, Father had agreed. And from that day on, I was tormented by the adviser’s ridiculous lessons and teachings.

Fearing that I could fail to be queen, they let me undergo a dreadful training. However, they had never imagined that I would learn so fast and surpass my teachers in a very short time.

I was Princess Cloudia Phantomhive, the genius, the prodigy. No one was as powerful as I was.

***

I was peacefully reading in the small forest in the Palace’s garden when Lisa Greene, my maid, approached me, and for some reason I had the fear that something incredibly bad would happen today.

“Princess Cloudia,” Lisa said after she had curtsied in front of me. “Your parents, the King and the Queen, want to speak to you in private.”

***

When I entered my father’s office, I knew that something was entirely wrong. Still, I sat down at the table and remained calm.

“Cloudia, how are you? We haven’t seen you since breakfast,” King Simon asked. Unlike his daughter and wife, Simon stood beside the window.

“I am fine. Also because you would have never summoned me here just to ask me how I was doing, I guess this is just something for you to avoid the topic you actually want to speak of.” Cloudia leaned back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Don’t beat around the bush, Father, and tell me straightaway why I’m here.”

Simon sighed. “It is your fault, Penny, that she is such a bold girl,” he mumbled to his wife.

“Well, you could have chosen one of the other thirty-four Selected girls, Simon,” Queen Penelope replied with a soft smile on her lips.

Simon walked away from the window and positioned himself behind his wife’s chair, grabbing the backrest. “Thanks, Penny. These were exactly the right words.”

Cloudia frowned. “What are you talking about, Father?”

The King swallowed. He looked uneasy. “Well, Cloudie... as you know, the situation between us and the British Empire has sharpened lately. We are still trying to negotiate with them as best as we can, but if we do not manage to defuse the situation...” He swallowed again. “Our country’s people are feeling uneasy, suspecting that something is wrong. But we cannot allow them to know about our current situation ‒ it would just cause a huge panic all over the country. However, with our people feeling uneasy and suspicious, we cannot properly negotiate with the British Empire, and thus we cannot defuse the situation.”

“I know about our relation with the British Empire,” Cloudia said. “And I know about our people being uneasy, but why did you summoned me here? Just to tell me something I have already known?”

Penelope and Simon exchanged a look.

“Well, Cloudia...” Simon started again, his voice a little bit shaky. “You know how your mother and I met, and you know that holding a Selection for the future sovereign to find their consort is a tradition in this country...”

Cloudia’s eyes widened in the moment she understood why she was here.

No.

“No,” she said aloud. “No, no, no! I am not going to have a Selection! And definitely not because we have to distract our people somehow so that we can calmly negotiate with the British Empire!”

“Cloudie, dear, just listen...”

“No!” Cloudia raised up from her chair. “You cannot do that to me!”

“Sooner or later you would have to hold a Selection anyway,” Penelope stated. “Just because you are going to be the first Royal-born queen of this country does not mean that you can skip this country’s traditions.”

Cloudia clenched her fists. “I know that, Mother. But I am not ready to marry now. I am just sixteen. I cannot do that now.”

“But you do not have to marry straightaway after the end of the Selection, Cloudia. We would wait until you’re older.”

“But I also don’t want to settle on some stranger now! And what if... what if I just don’t find anyone suitable among these boys? Do I have to bound myself to someone I despise to all eternity?”

“There will be thirty-five boys, Cloudia. The Selection has worked so many times now ‒ why shouldn’t it work on you?”

Cloudia crossed her arms in front of her chest again. “Just because you two are basically a fairy tale doesn’t mean that I will find myself in one too.”

“And what about the kings and queens before us? They all fell in love during a Selection.”

“And what if they actually didn’t? What if they had to marry someone just because they were obliged to pick anyone at the end of the Selection, even though they didn’t like any of them? What if all we know about the previous Selections is a lie?”

“Now you are being ridiculous,” Penelope pointed out.

“I am not being ridiculous. I am being rational.”

The Queen leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. “Cloudia. We had planned to hold your Selection after you turned eighteen, but think about our situation... If we don’t distract our people and they find out about our unfortunate situation, we wouldn’t have to deal with problems outside of our borders, but also inside them. It wouldn’t benefit our negotiations.” Her gaze softened. “Please, Cloudie, we wouldn’t hold your Selection so early if we had the option to avoid it. During a Selection, the mood of our country’s people was always at its best ‒ like when you were born or your father and I were married. And we need something now which can lift their mood, Cloudie. There just isn’t something more effective than a Selection.”

Cloudia sighed.

Being a princess, especially one who was also the heir, was sometimes quite annoying.

“Very well... but I will only do it under two conditions: One, I want the Selected to be able to leave on their own accord. Two, if I simply cannot find anyone suitable during my Selection, I want to have the freedom to end it without me becoming engaged to someone.”

Penelope chuckled. “No, we cannot allow your second condition. You would eliminate all of the boys on the very first day if we did.”

“And what if I promise to let the Selection run for at least three to four months?”

Penelope exchanged a look with Simon who had started to look awfully uneasy and had not said anything for a while now. “Very well,” he silently said in the end. “We will do it like you have suggested it. We will announce your Selection during the next Report.”

-------------------------------------------------------

The Amazing Grim Reaper

... A uhm, recap series for between the arcs, with fourth-wall-breaking commentary from Cedric and Cloudia. I wrote three chapters for that and started the fourth and fifth. I thought of "alternate chapter titles" and even made edits of the chapter covers. The recaps were meant to be drawn, I think, and that's what (thankfully!!) doomed them. They were all last edited in 2016, and below is the first chapter. Yikes.

Cloudia: I did not seduce anyone!

Cedric: *laughs* Of course you did, Countess! Shall I remind you what you said to our all-time favourite Lord Parrish? *imitating Cloudia´s voice* “You´re not that bad yourself, Lord. Your footwork is exquisite.”

Cloudia: *scowls at him* I guess that you need better glasses as you have obviously over-read this: “I wasn´t lying ‒ I found his footwork was as exquisite as the appetizers given out at this party.”

Cedric: I don´t understand how this should help you. After all, this sentence only strengthens the fact that you fell head over heels in love with Parrish and tried to seduce him. You are comparing him to food after all! Exquisite food!

Cloudia: I was not done! “I wasn´t lying ‒ I found his footwork was as exquisite as the appetizers given out at this party. Fairly, the man who dared to call himself a cook and prepared these abnormalities should be hanged immediately. I had to speak with the host, Baron Charles Worthington, about this when everything was over.” That´s the whole passage! I compared Parrish´s footwork to terrible food! How can that be evidence that I was in love with him?

Cedric: You´re a strange person, Countess. Perhaps this was the nicest comparison someone like you could think of. Also, Parrish could be a masochist or something in that direction and thus actually like being compared to terrible food.

Cloudia: Why am I even talking to you?

Cedric: *ignores her* Besides, I have more evidence that you were seducing him, Countess! Listen: “However, I have to admit that I haven´t danced for quite a while now, and I´m totally exhausted and heated up due to this instance. May you accompany me outside to get some fresh air?” Am I right in my assumption that you have said these exact words in January 1847, Countess Cloudia Phantomhive?

Cloudia: What exactly is so seducing about these words?

Cedric: Answer my question, defendant!

Cloudia: First, I am not a defendant. Second, now answer mine or you will never get any of Armstrong´s sweets again.

Cedric: That´s just cruel. Also, it´s seducing because you were saying that that you were “heated up” and wanted to go outside with Parrish. Alone.

Cloudia: Have passage like “We walked down the street, and I listened to his boring chatter. He was speaking of his company all the time. But I had to play my role, so I stayed polite, smiled and laughed at the right times, even though I was scowling inside.” or “She met his eyes, while her face showed clear disgust.” become totally irrelevant now?

Cedric: Yes.

Cloudia: ... You´re not supposed to answer it.

Cedric: But I did because “yes” is the one and only correct answer to this question. Besides, you´re forgetting this: “Lord Ronan Parrish was the reason why I had come to this boring, dull party all the way from my comfortable, quiet and orderly mansion in the countryside.” I guess this case is closed now.

Cloudia: ... Parrish was the reason why I went there because I was ordered by the Queen to exterminate him!

Cedric: You mean she ordered you “to find and marry him”? You know how much of a shipper the Queen is. After all, she sent us both to Wales once. Also, I said that this case is closed, Countess. I, Judge Cedric Kristopher Rossdale, name defendant Countess Cloudia Phantomhive to be-

Cloudia: Objection! I stabbed Parrish! I murdered him! If I had been in love with him, why would I have stabbed him?

Cedric: Because you were so disgusted with the thought that someone was able to touch the softest part of your little dark heart that you killed him.

Cloudia: I can see why the other Reapers don´t like you.

Cedric: Once again: I, Judge Cedric Kristopher Rossdale, name defendant Countess Cloudia Phantomhive to be... guilty!

Cloudia: *sigh* Also, I don´t think that you can call Ronan Parrish a “poor man.” He maltreated children and let them die in his factories like they´re nothing.

Cedric: I know but what if even though he hated children, he loved animals and was one of the main donators for a little zoo which has to close now?

Cloudia: I don´t even know if you´re serious or not.

Cedric: He could have been a very nice person apart from this thing. But we will never know because you have erased him from earth!

Cloudia: *rolls her eyes* You´re being ridiculous, Undertaker.

Cedric: I am not! You´re just being insensitive! Ronan Parrish could have been the nicest guy on the entire planet ‒ who just happened to like mistreating children.

Cloudia: You really want to die, don´t you?

Cedric: I mean ‒ what if he had been framed? What if he knew nothing of these kids?

Cloudia: I checked all the evidence to make sure that it was really Parrish who was behind everything ‒ and he was. Now, leave me alone. *turns to the audience* I will break this off before Undertaker can continue behaving like a moron. *Cedric yells something in the back* I apologise for his behaviour. Apparently, his mother dropped him as a baby and thus his brain is a bit damaged. Let´s just hope that the (irresponsible) writer does not let him take over the story again.

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Ciel timeline chapters

This side fic (!) to WotQ had an actual title, but I'm holding on to it for now because maybe, maybe, really very maybe, I will revive this project. Not as extensively as I had planned initially, just something small and short (and this time, I would mean it!!). But that would only be for the far future. Until then, here's the first chapter from 2017. (I only wrote that, a bit of the 2nd, and a few snippets...)

Chapter One: The Gallery of the Dead

“There, Phantoms were trapped in drawings.”

INTO THE ABYSS ARC

Countryside, England, United Kingdom ‒ October 1889

It was awfully silent when Sieglinde Sullivan woke up. The darkness of the sky, when she glimpsed out of the window by her bed, told her that it was still night and day was not about to come in the next couple of hours.

Sighing, Sieglinde let herself fall back into her bed and hugged her blanket. She closed her eyes, but when sleep would not come, she turned and turned around in her bed, trying to find a position comfortable enough that she would fall asleep again, and ultimately kicking her blanket down. Accepting that she was unable to go back to sleep right now, Sieglinde grabbed her crutches and left her bedroom to take a walk in the spacious Phantomhive Manor.

During the day, the manor was filled with all kinds of noise: explosions coming from the kitchen, screaming, Ciel´s annoyed sighs, the sound of porcelain breaking, crying, Tanaka’s “Ho ho,” the sound of people hysterically running back and forth. During the day, Phantomhive Manor gleamed with life, but right now, the manor seemed to have died. The clattering of Sieglinde’s crutches pierced through this eerie silence.

It was hard to explore Phantomhive Manor during the day as someone would always bother you with something or as something would always come up which would distract you from your actual plans. But now, Sieglinde was able to enter rooms she had never seen before, and walk through corridors she had not known before. And, eventually, she entered one of the oddest rooms of all Phantomhive Manor.

The Gallery was located in the back area of the manor, an area nobody usually entered. But despite no light except the moonlight illuminating the room, Sieglinde was already captivated by the Gallery’s beauty: Chandeliers, more beautiful, more delicate and elegant than the chandeliers in the other rooms, hung from the ceiling. The ground was pitch black but the places which were touched by the light glittered, indicating that there was more to the blackness than initially thought. The faint white patterns on the pale golden walls shimmered silvery in the moonlight – and so did the hair of the boy standing all alone in this room.

Ciel Phantomhive seemed like a ghost in the way he stood unmoving in front of one of the many drawings – surreal and out of place –, and Sieglinde almost believed that she had simply imagined his presence, but when she closed and opened her eyes again, Ciel was still there.

Slowly, Sieglinde moved towards him, the sound of her crutches tearing at her ears. And while she walked, she glimpsed at some of the drawings – all of them bearing the sad, serious faces of people long dead and long forgotten.

When she reached Ciel´s side, she waited for him to move, to turn his face to her and say something, but when Ciel kept staring at the drawing in front of him like he was under a spell, Sieglinde positioned herself right next to him and did so as well.

The drawing showed three people: two men, and one woman. The woman was sitting on a chair which looked so regal that it could almost be called a throne, and the two men stood behind her – one left, one right. Even with this poor light quality, Sieglinde could clearly see the woman’s beauty. Her dark hair, her porcelain skin, her glowing eyes. The woman in the picture shone with confidence and strength, and the smile on her face reminded Sieglinde of one of Ciel’s vicious smiles. She was the centre of the picture, stole all attention from the two men in the background like a queen.

“Who is she?” Sieglinde whispered, not daring to speak louder.

“My grandmother – Cloudia Phantomhive,” Ciel answered after a long pause, and turned away from the drawing. “And now, let us get out of here.”

------------------------------------------------------------

Unrelated to WotQ but Cloudia/Undertaker stories:

Itamae Phantomhive

I was procrastinating from writing a chapter for WotQ (I cannot remember which one it was; I'm sure I was procrastinating from uni stuff too) by thinking of something idiotic (modern sushi shop AU: The Phantomhives run a sushi shop as a "front" to gather information. Their clientele are mainly criminals and shady people, and they don't know they're the Watchdog family. Only Cloudia can't cook for shit, so she just hires Tanaka when he comes to kill her). I wrote two chapters and a bit of the third and then I forced myself to pull the brakes and post the story on AO3. It stayed up for about 24h hours, got no or maybe one hit, and then I deleted it. From 2018.

Chapter One: Itadakimasu

After her father's death, Cloudia Phantomhive inherited the Watchdog duty—and the Phantomhive family's sushi restaurant. Unfortunately, she was only ever trained in the art of killing, not in the art of sushi.

Struggling to run the restaurant, not to accidentally poison her criminal clientele, and be accepted into the (criminal) culinary world, Cloudia finds fortune in the oddest of ways: through an assassination attempt.

The funeral parlour was dark and dusty when Cloudia Phantomhive stepped inside, and she already regretted choosing it just because it was so close to work. She closed the door behind her and turned on the lights – and a few weak lights looking like candles came to life, exposing rows of coffins, numerous skulls, loose bones lying around.

Well done, Cloudia, you have chosen the funeral parlour of a weirdo.

“Is anyone there?” Cloudia said but nobody replied and appeared. Instead, she heard laughter seemingly coming from everywhere, seemingly coming from one of the coffins.

Cloudia took a deep breath, cursing herself for not checking this place first and potentially endangering herself, before she pricked up her ears and knocked against the coffins to find out from which one the laughter was coming from. And when she finally found the right coffin, Cloudia tore it open and found the strangest looking man she had ever seen inside it. He had long grey hair which fell into his eyes, and he wore old-fashioned black clothes, which were too large for him, and a compatible hat.

“You found me!” he said and giggled, stepping out of the coffin and wandering around the room before sitting down on a large desk made of dark wood.

“You have to be the new Countess of Phantomhive,” said the man. “I have already awaited you.”

“Of course,” Cloudia replied. “We had an appointment after all.”

He grinned. “Please take a seat, Countess Phantomhive.”

She frowned. “And where?”

He gesticulated towards the coffins on the ground. “As you have checked them, you should know that they are empty. For now, at least.”

Cloudia sat down, and the man held an opened casket, from which bone-shaped biscuits reached out, out to her. “Do you want some, Countess Phantomhive?”

“No, thanks. And ‘Miss Phantomhive’ or even just ‘Cloudia’ is fine. You don’t have to be so awfully formal. After all, nobody really cares about old noble titles nowadays anyway – don’t you think so, Mr…?”

“Undertaker,” the man said.

“You’re an undertaker and your name is… Undertaker?”

Undertaker smiled. “Indeed.”

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep in the last week, so, please excuse me if I put this too bluntly, but are you shitting on me right now?”

“Of course, not, Countess Phantomhive,” he replied with no sarcasm in his voice. Cloudia wasn’t quite sure how she should feel about it.

Cloudia rubbed her eyes. “Very well, Mr Undertaker…”

“Just ‘Undertaker’ is enough.”

Then just ‘Cloudia’ should be as well. She sighed. “Very well, Undertaker. How are the preparations for my father’s funeral going?” she asked, clutching her hands together in her lap.

“Splendidly,” Undertaker answered, taking a bite off one of his biscuits. “As soon the late Earl is returned by the police, the funeral will be held.”

She took a deep breath. “No complications?”

“No.”

“No further questions?”

“No.”

Cloudia took another deep breath before taking her bag and standing up. “Then – it was nice to finally meet you, Undertaker.”

He put away the casket and tilted his head. “You came here just to ask a few questions you could have asked on the phone as well?”

I just had to go outside. “I just wanted to be here if you needed my help with anything,” Cloudia answered, smiling. “And now, I have to go again. Goodbye, Undertaker.”

***

London, just like every big city she guessed, was a noisy place. And even though it wasn’t her first time in London, Cloudia flinched when she stepped out of the funeral parlour and was met with all that noise. There were so many people, so many things to see – so much life, so much movement –, and Cloudia wondered when, if at all, she would get accustomed it. London was so much different than the little town by Phantomhive Manor where she grew up after all.

Cloudia put on her earphones to shut herself off the world a bit and kept on walking. Her mother, the last Countess of Phantomhive, had died when she had been very young, and instead of letting his daughter live with him at the family’s London townhouse, Cloudia’s father had decided that she was to continue living at Phantomhive Manor with only a few servants to look after her. It wasn’t because her father didn’t love her – it was because he had wanted to keep her away as much as possible from the world he frequented. He had wanted to protect her even if it meant that they could only see each other a couple of times a year. This had been the sacrifice he had made; this had been the sacrifice he had accepted.

And now, he was dead.

When Cloudia arrived, she took off the earphones, threw them into her bag, and counted from ten downwards before she unlocked the restaurant’s door.

The Phantomhives were a special family.

Cloudia didn’t know when it had started but for what seemed like forever, the Phantomhives served the British Crown as Watchdogs. They governed the Underworld – and just like everything neither the Underworld nor the methods to oversee stayed the same.

Cloudia still wondered why the old methods had evolved into this: A sushi restaurant frequented by criminals and run by the very person who would bring them down. A sushi restaurant whose basement was a technological Eldorado.

The restaurant was located in a place known for its criminal activity, and the whole reasoning behind this façade was that nobody ever suspected the quiet cook or the waiter wandering around like a ghost as long as nobody was poisoned. But even then, suspicion didn’t often fall on the waiter or the cook but on the person facing you. After all, it was easier albeit riskier to put the poison into the tea yourself instead of bribing the waiter or exchanging the cook, especially if it was a place whose employees were well-known to the Underworld and the Underworld was well-known to the employees too. And the “Funtom Tetra” was such a place. The criminals frequenting London, or even Great Britain as a whole, knew that the Phantomhives were running this place, knew who was working here. They also knew that the Phantomhives would never do anything to lose their clientele by doing something as foolish as taking a side and engaging in any underground wars or selling information. And they were right, but only partially – the Phantomhives didn’t take the side of a criminal but of the Crown; they didn’t engage in underground wars, they brought them to an end; they didn’t sell information, they only used it to cleverly take them down before presenting the truth to the Queen.

But why, of all things, a sushi restaurant? Cloudia had once asked her father that question, and the only answer he had been able to give had been a shrug.

With a sigh, Cloudia turned on the lights and locked the door behind her, leaning against it and letting her gaze wander through the restaurant. She had loved her father – she still did. She understood why he had let her grow up safe and sound at the manor. But now, he was dead, and the family duty was left to her.

And she had no idea how to run a sushi restaurant.

Ah, isn’t that every girl’s dream?

----------------------------------------------------------------

Monsters of London

Another book series I like is Monsters of Verity. There are monsters in that book called Sunai that "collect" (or, rather, consume) souls after playing a melody, so I decided to replace the Grim Reapers' gardening tools with musical instruments too. I also thought of more monsters and decided to make Cloudia unable to walk, based on the meaning of her name: "lame, crippled." I actually still like this idea and think the prologue isn't that awfully written as the things above, but the fic is binned because I simply have no time. From 2018.

Prologue: Elegy

Countryside, England, United Kingdom – June 1838

Even after all those years, he was amazed how naturally the melody came to him when he hoisted the violin to his shoulder and touched the strings with the bow. He closed his eyes and let himself be fully absorbed by the song, swiftly moving the bow and adjusting his fingers on the strings. When he played, he felt completely calm and at ease. When he played, he felt complete. And every time, the song came to its end, he had to force himself not to start again, but to take down the bow, withdraw the violin from his shoulder, and open his eyes again to see what he had done.

Cedric Rosene had never been a man, had only ever been a monster wearing the face of one. When he played his melody, he could pretend to be what he only seemed to be, but when he opened his eyes, he was always confronted with what he was: A monster which lured souls out of bodies to collect them, to safely store them away before they were ready to go on.

His kind was called Sunai, but over the centuries, they had become better known as Grim Reapers in tales and legends.

Cedric knelt down next to the corpse whose soul had surfaced while he had played his song. Gently, he tapped his bow to the shining soul to collect it and start the Cinematic Record – a voiced-over record of the corpse’s life. When Cedric had collected a soul for the first time, his hands had shaken when he had taken up his violin and started his song. Of course, the melody had taken away his tension and the feeling of nausea, but they had returned the instance he had moved to hold the bow against the dead body. And afterwards, he had been plagued by what he did and what he saw of the person’s record. Back then, Cedric had been haunted at day and at night. Now, his bad thoughts were only woven into his dreams.

After he had finished, Cedric left the room and searched for more corpses to find, for more souls to claim. In the distance, he could hear the melodies of his fellow Reapers who had come with him to this place; even though they were far away, Cedric could still make out every note.

From what he had found out of the Cinematic Records, the lady of the household had fallen ill in the middle of April and had only managed to fight herself back to healthiness a few weeks ago. The sudden and drastic decrease in the mistress’ health had caused great panic and worry for her family and the other household members. Everyone had focused to nurse her out of this horrible state; nobody had even wasted a single thought on the Season which had begun shortly before she had become sick. However, after she had triumphed over the disease and returned to her former self, preparations had been started to move to London for the Season.

The preparations had included to send some servants ahead to their townhouse so that they could ready it for their master’s family. And then, someone had taken the current state of the manor – understaffed, hectic – to their advantage to sneak into it and silently murder everyone inside.

How sad, Cedric had thought after the first Cinematic Record had finished before his eyes. Such tragedy after such happiness.

He found his path through the manor, following the faint hum of souls resting beneath not-beating hearts and collecting each of them. Eventually, Cedric arrived in what seemed to be a salon. It must have been a stunning room, once upon a time, but now, part of the carpet and walls were stained with blood; now, part of the furniture laid knocked-over, sometimes even partially broken, on the ground. Glancing down at the maid’s and butler’s unmoving bodies, Cedric hoisted his violin back to his shoulders and began to play. He took the servants’ souls, but right before he left, he blinked at the wheelchair, sitting lonely but upright in the middle of the room. From what he had found out of the records, the daughter had been born with legs which would never carry her. The wheelchair was hers. When the first had noticed what was going on in the mansion, the butler and the maid had hurried to the salon to find the young lady, but they had only found the wheelchair. They hadn’t been able to search further for her.

Cedric tore his gaze away from the chair and scanned the room. A Sunai’s song made a person’s soul surface and glow, and this effect wasn’t limited to those dead or dying. He stilled when he saw a silver glow shining through the thin gap between the cupboard’s doors. The soul of a dying or dead person was always black, but the souls of the living could have every possible colour.

For a moment, Cedric played with the thought to open the cupboard and lift the girl out and back into the wheelchair. And, perhaps, he would have even done it – helping the girl, revealing himself to her against the rules – if one of his companions hadn’t called for him.

With one last glance at the cupboard, Cedric turned around and left the salon – following the notes hanging in the air to the others.

[jafndaegur]

20 Questions for Writers

My beloved @chierafied tagged me in this so obvi I had to do <3

AO3 username: Jafndaegur

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 24 (most of my works are here on Tumblr ^^")

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 244,262

3. What fandoms do you write for? Sesskag (Inuyasha), Mystic Messenger, Wangxian & various Mo Dao Zu Shi ships, Genshin Impact, Thunderbolt Fantasy, and the Hobbit.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Blood Runs Thicker (The Hobbit) - Kudos: 791

Shatter Me (The Hobbit) - Kudos: 383

The Seventh Wonder (WangXian / MDZS) - Kudos: 347

Of Jade and Claw (ZhongItto / Genshin Impact) - Kudos: 247

Gravitational Fairytale (WangXian / MDZS) - Kudos: 209

5. Do you respond to comments? I really do try to. But I have a Goldfish Brain™, and typically forget that I've read a comment and never respond. 🙈

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? The angstiest ending??? I'm going to say it's tied between Blood Runs Thicker (The Hobbit) since it ends with Bilbo completely abandoning a Dwarven-given identity under the pretense that he was never loved and has to move on - and then a time when I'm without you (WangXian / MDZS), where Lan Wangji must deal with the fact that Wei Wuxian is actually dead and there's nothing he can do but grieve alone.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? My happiest ending for a story is probablyyyy where's my angel (Mystic Messenger) or The Seventh Wonder (WangXian / MDZS). Granted if this was my Tumblr fics, there'd be WAY more fluff to pick from - my favorite being Fragile Duetto (Mystic Messenger).

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really. If I do, any hate is on my old Hobbit fics which were basically abandoned after a serious bout of online bullying back when I was 14. It was a good time lol. I don't really go back to those fics.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Not often, and certainly only on special occasion. Any M-rated smut has never been published, though - and I certainly didn't put any on AO3. Only degenerate papapapapapa stuff here on the hellhole Tumblr platform uwu

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Oh absolutely! I started off fanfiction as a crossover writer on FFnet. My first fic was a very tame How to Train Your Dragon x Rise of the Guardians that got really popular. Since then tho, I think my craziest xover was a Mystic Messenger x Style Savvy crossover? The 2 universes together just make so much sense tho in my head lol.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of rofl I'm neither that good or that wellknown - although I wouldn't be surprised if any of my abandoned stuff got stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Again, not that I've known of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Back in the old days on FFnet, I co-wrote a couple Hobbit stories, and a How to Train Your Dragon x Percy Jackson story. Idk what happened to them, they're in the abyss somewhere.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? All time favorite ship? Objectively WangXian (Wei Wuxian / Lan Wangji). Subjectively? Bagginshield. I just go back to them when I'm depressed - they are a comfort ship for sure.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? As I am retired from fanfic writing, I doubt a lot of my fics will ever actually get finished. But Noise of Rain (Sesskag) is a story I dream of finishing - it's my female rage, villain arc redemption, true anti-hero love child. Maybe one day I'll come back to it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Long ago, I'd say exposition. Now it's definitely transformed into vignette romanticism, and dialogue (this has come from my recent influx of script writing though).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Actually sitting down and writing. It's such a slow process for me and my brain runs too fast sometimes to be able to write something out coherently or the way I want to.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Oh I absolutely adore it! It's a very fantasy trope to have different languages actually written in a story, but I'm HERE for it. I didn't take two years of linguistics to not include bits and pieces in a story.

19. First fandom you wrote for? As I mentioned earlier, it was for How to Train Your Dragon x Rise of the Guardians.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh I ABSOLUTELY have a favorite child. It's not popular (or finished, RIP), but I love it most by far - Shattered Euphony (ReZhong / Genshin Impact). I consider it one of my greatest works, both in original and fanfic writing. One day I will finish it.

Tagging @anon-drabble @reifromrfa (no pressure tho) and anyone else who'd like to join <3

[hideyseek]

5, 9, 12!

crab!! hi hi hi hi hi hiiiii~! ty for quastions :3

from fanfic asks for the new year

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

aha, well. technically the first is mini heist!au but none of it is written that is in the shape of the final thing that i haven't already posted on here so i'm gonna cheat and say uh. wow huh okay then i kind of have no idea. ah! maybe my arthurcobb fic then! cos it sure won't be narrative!fic, lol!

here is a snippet from the current draft which is uhh three and a half years old (by which i mostly mean to say, there are a couple things in here i would write differently now.):

Arthur brings his coffee up to the counter where Dom has already deposited his onion rings and says, “Excuse me, can I purchase a — a temporary phone?” If he doesn't call it a burner maybe he will come off as more the kind of person he actually is. The cashier puts up a finger in question and Arthur nods but behind him Dom says firmly, “Two.”  Arthur turns, surprised. “Why — we don’t need two?” They’re traveling together, after all. Arthur’s not about to leave Dom alone, so it’s not like Dom will need his own phone. It’s not like Dom’s super functional, anyway. The three days he’d spent on Arthur’s couch before they read the news and had to leave town extremely suspiciously, he’d really just spent on the couch. “We don’t need two phones, Dom,” Arthur repeats.  “What if we get separated,” Dom points out. “How would we get in contact with each other again? You should have your own phone, too.” Arthur would rather not think about circumstances that would separate them. Dom says, “Arthur,” and it feels pointed. Something like panic hollows Arthur’s chest. Things are already out of control, apparently. Two days into being on the run and apparently Dom can call these shots but he can’t be on the run by himself.

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January?

ahaha actually, getting this ask made me decide that i'm going to try my absolute best to finish the project i've been calling "mini heist!au" (which ... at this point ... is just an au of heist!au without any heists in it, lmao) this month! i used answering this ask as my bribe for reading through all the existing material and drawing up a revision plan / new fic story structure actually. i'm not sure i'll be able to, i suspect there are 2-4 drafts and i simply do not write that fast (at least one from scratch based on a new outline, possibly a second from scratch, and then a second/third that's just like. content/theme/cadence/character arcs etc revisions. though that might get complex enough to be two drafts). but we'll see! there are still 24 days so at this current moment i am optimistic :3

12. Will you change anything about the way you edit or rewrite this year?

YES I SURE FUCKING WILL. I HAVE BEGUN IT ACTUALLY, mostly i'm continuing to test a thing i tried in december 2023 to see if it still works for projects that aren't the specific situation of the beginning of devotion (so far, yes!) anyway the way that process goes is like this (recipe below):

first, write a terrible draft. some scenes can just be a note of what needs to happen. ideally: expend as little fucking effort on this as possible bc like. almost none of this will stay. just write enough to get the vibes of what you're going for.

second, read through that draft taking notes of what you like or don't like (or, the way i phrase it for myself to make the goal clearer "what feels like it is aligned with my vision for the fic vs what isn't") but most importantly. WHY.

for me doing this second step has 2/2 turned into "here is a rough outline of the story, completely restructured" but also, with no ending (which is fine, i just have to trust that the ending will appear when more of the draft is written).

third, compile those notes on a new draft into a narrative-order outline (linear for me).

fourth, write the new draft.

fifth, try to do step 2 again. but what i found for the beginning of devotion and therefore what i'm to a certain extent expecting, is that i will just have a bunch of Ns/dislikes and then go. ah. because the things i dislike are too granular to require big-picture story structure changes now.

sixth, copy the most recent draft into a new doc. and read through and revise directly on the page. maybe title at some point so that revision stuff is aligned with the mood/tone/content/vibes/whatever of the title. and maybe come up with initial tags and a summary here also to make sure the vibes are all aligned. hopefully the content of the ending will become clear at this point and you'll draft that for the first or second time.

seventh, idk i like to do an out-loud readthrough bc reading cadence is important to me personally. and also i am scared to lose the skill of reading aloud considering i do it about zero times a year other than this.

that's it basically.

[creampuffqueen]

6, 12, 13, 26 and 31

from the fanfic writer questions

6. do you prefer writing shorter, standalone fics or longer, multi-chapter stories?

i've done a decent amount of both, and i enjoy both for different reasons. usually writing shorter standalones are easier to finish for me just because of the length, but i really do love writing multichapter stuff as well! i just have a terrible habit of not finishing multichapters so the stuff i do publish is usually something i'm convinced i will be able to finish

12. are there any cliches or tropes you actively avoid in your fics?

off the top of my head there isn't anything major that i try and avoid, maybe cheating? i'm not a fan of that. i do also hate writing characters who are just pure evil/bad for no reason. i try and write all my characters to be dynamic and multifaceted, so even if they did something wrong in the past there's at least a REASON for it

13. what's the most challenging aspect of writing fanfiction for you?

finishing it.

okay, kidding. sort of. i do struggle with finishing stuff a lot of the times because i'm a very busy person with adhd which is not a super great combo for writing. but if there's like an actual part of the 'writing' that i struggle with, i feel like it's action scenes. i'm a dialogue and scenery lover, so writing fast-paced action scenes can be a challenge for me

26. how do you approach plot twists or surprises in your fics?

okay i LOVE adding twists and surprises haha. most of the time they're planned out ahead of time and i'll lay out little hints throughout the story about the twist. i think the best twists are the ones that take you by surprise in the moment, but looking back you're able to fit the pieces together. like just little side comments or mentions of something that seems unimportant, but after the twist you can be like THATS WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT. i feel so smart laying down my plot twists lol

31. do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints?

depends on the story, i suppose. if the story is focused especially around one character, then i'll leave it single pov. but when i'm able to i enjoy writing from multiple perspectives. it can be a fun break from a character, and can give more insight to things because of that character's experiences and stuff! i think a lot of my multichapter fics tend to be multiple pov

thank you so much for the asks!! i had a lot of fun answering them <3

[recurring-polynya]

Writing Update/Art Update 5/9/2023

Many things happened last week. Not very many of them were drawing. I'll get back to that.

I have finally started posting the big (it's not really big. Medium-big. It just felt big) fanfic that I have working on for most of the year. You can start here if you want to read it, Chapters 1-3 are currently available.

I finished the smut. I had mostly finished it by Friday, but then we had a belated-because-we-were-waiting-for-spring-weather backyard birthday party for my daughter this past weekend, so I had to spend a solid 48 hours in the paralyzing deathgrip of anxiety at the prospect of socializing with people I don't know (the parents of some of my daughter's classmates), so I didn't get much of anything else done, although I did clean my house and buy a bunch of hot dogs.

I only got one doodle done this week, which took me three days, spread out over the anxiety deathgrip, but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I really would like to start on a more serious project this week, but I may get back to them, we'll see how it goes. I do want to thank everyone who sent in prompts, and I'm sorry I haven't gotten to more of them. Turns out I'm real bad at doing quick, fast-turnaround doodles! Is anyone surprised??

After that, like, I said, I finished up the porno. I was hoping to post it yesterday, but it was pretty late at night by the time I finished my editing sweep. Today was a go places posting day and I didn't really want to post two different fanfics in one day, plus I had made kind of a lot of edits, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let it sit a day and then do another sweep before posting. In other words, tomorrow, probably.

This morning, I re-read what I've gotten written so far of Ductwork, which is the working title of the next story in the Heart is a Muscle. It's 7707 words at the moment, and I get hot mad every time I read it because I want there to be more of it, and unfortunately, there is only one way to make that happen. But it's gonna!! I keep telling myself that it was really worthwhile to have taken the time to write go places first, because Ductwork is largely about Rukia and Renji finally digging down into a lot of festering insecurities from that time in their afterlives. I have a couple different approaches to writing these days, and I'm gonna try to do the thing that ended up working for go places, which is 1) try to write something every day, 2) chronological schmonological, write whatever I can possibily come up with, I'll just cram it all together at the end, this was very fun and easy last time and definitely did not take six drafts and a color-coded spreadsheet. Based on past experience, I do not think I am going to be able to power through to completion, so my goal is to add at least 20k words to the thing before I flame out in a blaze of beautiful depression and spend the rest of the summer on something insane, like bringing back the Soul Society Tattoo Artist AU. My overall prediction is that it will be around 60k, but I'm not discounting the possibility that it could be another 100k-er. (it better not go over 120k tho, I will die for real)

Anyway, that was my week! Whew!

[goddesswitchmother]

Ikemen vampire fanfic

Please tell me I don't have to say something at the beginning of all these because I suck at knowing what to say and just want to write 😖

Desperation pt 2

Screaming bad. Screaming very bad. Napoleon broke my door. With his rapier out and a scary expression on his face. Jean right behind him, looking very intimidating. I didn't know Jean could be intimidating. And the next thing I knew, my room became crowded with all these hot men. Why? It's not fair. Why are they so hot? Please, for my sanity, be still my heart. "Ma cherie, are you alright? You're looking quite flushed." And le comte is touching my face so tenderly...I'm not ok so long as you keep doing that. *clears throat* This is embarrassing. "I am so, so, very sorry. I'm losing my mind here. I'm dying of boredom. I didn't mean to disturb everyone. I apologize. Please don't be mad -"my anxious babbling was interrupted by two fingers pressed against my lips. "Please, ma cherie, don't fret. You have done no wrong. I'm afraid I must apologize. How could I overlook providing you something to entertain you during your rest?" Le comte didn't look very sorry, though. Despite his sincere, almost sheepish smile, his eyes were practically overflowing with amusement. "Bad hondje, causing such fuss will only get you muzzled." Theo's interjection had me swinging my head around to glare at him. "Try it, and I will bite you." I growl. Apparently, he either doesn't believe me or he thinks I'm funny. "Don't make me wipe that smirk off your face, you cocky asshole." I add threateningly. My use of profanity had mixed reactions. The one that stood out the most was Arthur's. "Careful, luv. Dear ol' daddy just might spank you." What now? Please do, I mean...I said nothing.

Eventually, everyone left me alone again with promises to come check on me and bring me things to do. Leonardo had disappeared just long enough to grab a few books. He tossed them into my lap before fluffing my pillows and rearranging me. He pulled a chair up to the bed and grabbed said books before putting his socked feet onto my lap. Before I could say anything about it, he handed me a book and began reading. I sighed heavily before admitting defeat. "OH, a book on botany and gardens. How...convenient." I snark. Having nothing better to do, I read. Good thing I'm a bookworm.

Before I knew it, I had finished the book, surprising Leonardo. "Finished already, Cara Mia? That was fast." I shrug. "Yeah, I read." I say feeling dumb again. Then again, he's the one staring at me like a weirdo. I start feeling antsy and look away with my face feeling hot. "Um... you're staring." I mention awkwardly. I hear him clear his throat and mutter something in Italian before apologizing. "How about this one, Cara Mia?" He asks, holding out another, slightly larger book. "Now I know you're picking on me. Really, Leonardo, 'the Pyromaniacs Cookbook'?" I say with a slight smile trading books with him anyways.

Theo, accompanied by Vincent, fetched me for a walk an hour later. Just around the garden. Nothing too strenuous. The brothers spoke to each other like I wasn't there, which I was unusually unbothered by. I usually hate being a third wheel, but at this moment, I truly appreciate being able to observe the beautiful bond they shared. Until I picked up on what they were talking about anyway. Vincent wanted to invite me to paint with him, offering to teach me as something fun to do. "What do you think, Emma?" Vincent asked. "Broer, don't waste your paints sharing with the hondje!" Before I could answer, theo interrupted with the seemingly usual rudeness. "I actually have my own paints, brushes, and a mixed media book. I'm no-" "Please reconsider dating the hondje, she's not good enough for you broer." Theo rudely interrupts again.

[ayotamacheck]

I'm so happy you like Cassandra! I warn you this is messy and kinda long. So possible spoilers for a story not even written?: Basically early on in the story it's discovered, unsurprisingly, that Pufferfish is doing illegal things on the the side so the main gang decides to take matters in their own hands (who is apart of the gang and how is still being worked on, but I know it includes Yuri, Surya, and Scott. Yuri who is understandingly concerned about Cassie farming with a shoulder injury. Surya who becomes best friend #1 and accidental wingman. And Scott who's just here for a good time) As the story goes along Cassie starts having weird dreams and it's revealed that there's some sort of shadow monster thing sleeping deep within the island and Pufferfish is waking it up. So yeah that's a problem.

Then the whole third eye awakening thing happens with the chieftain; Cassie starts doing the bundles and slowly becomes the "vessel" for the Goddess. A domino effect of magical shenanigans happen, the gang becomes "Team Starlet", Ling and the chieftain become team advisors from home base aka the lab. Kira, Wakuu, and a Poyko detective oc I made just for this get involved eventually. And Ben somehow?? Also shoutout to Raj and his coffee and Theo gets the merfolk's support as well.

Lily hacks into Karen's computer at one point. A group chat gets made. Jim probably punches someone. Chaem definitely punches someone. Cassie punches several people. The "final battle" comes along and Cassie legit dies for a second but its okay she gets better. The whole town helps out in their own way even if they realize it or not.... Poor Connor doesn't know what's happening. He's surprised he hasn't had a heart attack yet.

Varying subplots and miscellaneous things involve: Lily going through a sexuality crisis which cultivates in her and Jim having a really sweet moment were she comes out. And then a few days later, Jim nearly goes into shock when he realizes that it's Cassandra of all people Lily likes. Theo's just confused on how Lily ended up dating a jock. Poor Scott gets subjected to an entire combat training montage, thanks to Kira and Cassie, cause they need his archeologist skills in the cavern but he has to be able to defend himself. Also possibly a roommates to lovers situation with him and Charles?? I'm still on the fence. Oh and Cassie keeps quiet about her past for the first half of the story, except to Yuri and Charles cause of health reasons, nobody recognizes her except Chaem vaguely. So when the truth finally comes out everyone's in awe besides Chaem whose just shouting that she knew her from somewhere. And last but not least towards the end (year 4ish?) Cassie's twin brother Jason moves to the island cause of unfigured out reasons.

So yeah that's all I've got so far. I'm so sorry about the length I wanted to ramble more than I thought I did. I really want to write a proper fanfic about it but I have a horrible track record when it comes to stories. Not to mention I don't have a computer to use and I hate using my phone to type stories.... So wish me luck I guess? 😂

YOOO WHAT?? this is literally so cool!!

no joke this reads like it would be the plot of a whole tv show. an AMAZING fic at the very least. all ive got is this summary and im already super invested!! i love the roles you're giving to npcs; the main gang feels like they would be super fun to see interactions between, especially as stuff develops :0 and the portion with lily and jim having a really sweet moment when she comes out is so cute!! wingman surya?? top tier perfect in every way. and the idea of scott getting a whole training montage is so funny i can't 😭😭 (and possible roommate to lovers?? 👀👀 ooh??👀👀)

AND a twin brother at the end too?? amazing??

if you wrote a fic for this id read it so fast!! this is so cool im so invested already 😭 don't apologize about the length at all im loving every word, do not hesitate to send me more if you think it up 👀