#TUMBLR POSTED IT BEFORE I FINISHED TAGGING HOW DARE YOU

[qqzion]

𝐄𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 ✩჻

pairing: neuvillette x fem!reader

summary: neuvillette does stuff to you in the opera house behind your husbands back

tags: NSFW, cheating, semi-public, very mild angst, oral sex, penetrative sex

wc: 1.8k

a/n: this is my first time posting on tumblr so be kind xx, also i’m sorry if neuvilette went ooc at the end haha

Shutting the door to your humble abode ever so quietly, you step out into the streets of Fontaine. At this time of night, no one dares to emerge from their sleep, the mechanical guards being the only rattle of noise in the air. Holding only your small purse, you make your way towards the Opera house. It’s times like this when you're thankful for its 24-hour service, having been married to an esteemed noble of Fontaine, the guards let you slip by the doors any time of day – or night. 

You pick a seat not too close to the stage but also not too far. The cleaning staff had already made their rounds for the night and it was just you alone in the theater, and of course, the Iudex.

 “Hello Mademoiselle,” he says, sitting in the seat next to you. It’s impossible to ignore the way your body tightens just at his mere voice, the heat that pulses through you as you tighten your legs together. 

“Monsieur Neuvillette…Hello.” 

You both look at each other, eyes glistening from the faint yellow light of the stage, his eyes glancing down as you pull your bottom lip into your mouth in an attempt to hide your nervousness. “What brings you here?” He asks softly, a beat passes between you two every so slowly, prolonged desire building up in the both of you. 

It wasn’t long before your mouths were crashing against each other, lips parting, welcoming each other's tongues. You favored the way he tasted, the way his mouth was naturally wet, and the way his tongue was unreasonably longer than most. Devouring the saltiness of his flavor as your tongues clashed against each other, messy, sloppy, and uncontrolled. 

Being the first to break the kiss, your lips now red from the desire, you exclaim softly, “Monsieur, I don’t know how long I can do this,” he licks your lips without breaking eye contact, “he’s starting to suspect.” 

Your chest heaves up and down, you knew it was wrong to be cheating on your husband with the Iudex but you couldn’t help it. Even while saying those words your arousal was flooding your legs and you couldn’t hide the fact that all you wanted was his mouth on your body. 

“So put an end to his suspicion, leave him.” He kisses your face with every word. Your eyes, nose, cheeks, lips, not a single part of you going untouched by his mouth, sending warm flutters through your body as you struggle to catch your breath. “You know I can give you better, treat you better.” 

He makes his way down your neck, leaving faint bite marks and wet kisses as he goes lower and lower. You grab onto his hair as he kisses your stomach, “Monsieur,” you whine. 

“Allow me to show you.” 

In one swift movement, any clothes you had covering your lower body were swiftly removed, you shriek as he arrives at his knees, your legs hitched on his shoulders as you hold onto the armrest of the chair for support. 

“W-wait, Monsieur…The chairs will get dir-,” his mouth is on you before you can finish speaking. His long tongue travels across your wetness as he relishes in the taste, he grips onto your legs as he devours you. You moan, and shriek, and squeal as you feel yourself succumbing to the pleasure. Without thinking, you grip his white locks, his eyes focused solely on you as you grind his face farther into you. 

You throw your head back as his tongue enters you, his grip becoming stronger as he explores your walls, licking every crevice inside of you and sending your mind reeling. The satisfying ecstasy of being explored thoroughly, drool slipping out of your parted lips as you can’t do anything but fall victim to his terrifying skills. Your lungs battle to swallow air as you feel your core tightening, “Monsieur…Monsieur…” You chant over and over again as if casting some sort of spell. 

You lock eyes with him, your vision becoming hazy as tears glisten over. He pulls his tongue out, making one final lick to your pussy as you squeal out his name, squeezing his head in between your thighs as your legs try to close from your orgasm. He eats you up through every second of it, his tongue never leaving your body as you cum exhaustedly. The intensity of it rolling through you without fail as he gulps down your cum. You send out an embarrassing mixture of swears and chants of his name as your orgasm dies down, not one drop of you being wasted on the theater chair. 

Catching your breath, you watch as he dusts himself off and comes to a standing position. He licks his lips slowly while staring down at you with a certain blue aura emitting from his irises. “Neuvillette…” You whisper out, your legs still shaking from your previous rendezvous. 

“Did that show you?” He says, his voice now deep with desire as he bends down to place a kiss on your lips. You close your eyes and take his face in your palms as you kiss him back. Tasting your desire on him as you pray this moment lasts forever. 

“I’m sorry Neuvillette, I can’t.” You break the kiss and look up at him, ignoring the way his lips thin and jaw tightens. 

He slips off one of his gloves, “It seems my performance wasn’t up to par, allow me to demonstrate a better one.” You give him a confused look before he shows the glove into your mouth, a shriek breaking from your lips as two of his now ungloved fingers dive into your pussy. 

He doesn’t waste a second before fingering you roughly, making sure to grind repeatedly on your sweet spot. You claw onto his forearm as you can already feel another orgasm building, his eyes staring daggers into you as he watches you nearly tip over the edge. Right when you’re about to come, he pulls his fingers out, the stale theater air making you now feel empty and cold. Tears spill out onto your cheeks as you cry out in frustration, grinding your teeth on the glove and looking up at Neuvilette to shoot him a dirty look. 

He smiles and unbuttons his pants, “Shouldn’t I be the one giving you that look?” Before you can shoot him another, he shoves himself deep inside of you, causing you to throw your head back and finally tip over. 

You scream through your orgasm as he continues to pound you into the theater chair, your fingernails gripping onto his forearms that lay resting on the armrests. The glove falls from your mouth as you repeatedly say his name, shutting your eyes as you relish in the pleasure. 

It feels too good to be true. 

He grips your chin and pulls you to his mouth, fucking and kissing you at the same time, never allowing you a second to breathe. Breaking the kiss he states, “Your husband can’t give you this.” You grit your teeth as he speeds up his thrust. 

You're not sure what to think of his words or his actions. His thrust are spiteful, full of desire yet anger, this should make you upset but instead, it has your mind reeling at his jealous sexuality. Neuvilette tightens inside of you as he reaches down to stroke circles onto your clit, sending both of you over the edge in a short matter of time. You pant heavily at the impact of your third orgasm, your legs now feeling gummy as Neuvilette stays nestled inside of you, continuing to pump white strings of come onto your walls. He buries himself into your neck and bites down as his cock slowly comes out. You wince but find your heart beating a bit faster. 

“Neuvillette, I need to go now.” He looks up at you with an unapparent expression in his eyes, you’ve never seen him look this needy. Even in his most dramatic trials yet, he’s always looked so calm and composed. It’s almost as if now if his needs aren’t satiated, he may fall apart. Your chest tightens and you’re not sure what to do, you want to stay more than anything. You don’t want to just fuck him in a theater on random nights and make your way home to an undesirable man laying in your bed, you want to make love to him throughout all of Fontaine. In the salty waters by the shore, in his office scattered with papers, and in his bed when the days come to an end. You want this man as he wants you but it seems impossible to separate yourself from your husband. What will the people think if they see you divorce one of the most critically esteemed nobles in all of Tevyat? What will your husband do when he sees you’ve left him for the Iudex? Neuvillette may be powerful but you are not, you are a wife above all else and you must not tarnish the reputation of others, and yourself. 

You pray Neuvillette will realize this one day but it seems that today is not that day as he kisses your neck and states a simple, “No.” It isn’t long after this when he flips you in the chair and you find yourself bent over it, your arse up in an embarrassing position. Unfortunately, you don’t have much time to react before he’s back inside you. He takes your arms into his hands, using them as support to drill inside you as you can’t do anything but be fucked beyond comprehension. You scream out moans and ‘sorries’ as he hits your spot over and over again without fail. Your walls seem to be made specifically for his dick as you tighten across his veins, not allowing him to slip out. 

He curses under his breath, “Do you do this for him as well? Tighten your cunt out of will?” You shake your head quickly and gasp as he goes deeper inside you. He hums out a good girl while pounding into you deeper, rawer. 

“So pick me Madamoiselle, hmm?” Tears slip out of your eyes again as your moans become incoherent, your breaths becoming short as pleasure takes over your system, is it possible to die from sex? 

You shake your head again, this time slower and he makes a tsk sound behind you. Speeding up his thrust, he fucks you into oblivion, sending you over the edge more times than you can count. It isn’t before the sun breaks through the horizon that he finally stops, leaving you filled with cum and legs that can’t bear to walk. The streets of Fontaine will soon become busy with merchants and it wouldn’t surprise you if your husband was awake now, searching the house for your whereabouts. Part of you should care but you can’t help but feel satisfied from the eternal fucking you guys took part in. 

hope you enjoyed! :)

feel free to send request or feedback >0<

[elainsgirl]

idk what i did for tumblr to do this to me but yikes. i usually only look at specific blogs i like for my acotar content. but today i felt like checking my fyp. and the stuff i saw shocked me.

i saw someone who finished acowar said they hate elain more than feyre and found her insufferable. first of all, you’re implying you don’t like feyre. okay so why read acotar? and three of the books at that? like leave, don’t do this to yourself lmao. second, elain killed the big bad in acowar. nesta and cassian would be history without her. where do you come off? show me where she was insufferable. because i can’t think of one single time she irritated me so i’m really curious to see what she did that bothered them.

another one said they reread acosf without first reading the og trilogy again and they said it’s crazy how you realize how horrible and abusive the IC is without the lingering empathy you have for them when you had just read the first three books… lingering empathy?… bro what??? anyone would seem like they’re being abusive if you take their actions out of context and don’t consider the backstory. but we have context. we have the luxury to know they weren’t being abusive but just trying to help the best way they knew how. and it was legit their last resort. surely their decision wasn’t an easy one to force nesta to the HOW (where she won’t be isolated and alone, the worst thing an addict can be), work in the library (which i thought was nice considering nesta finds comfort in books) and train (helped with her feelings of helplessness by learning how to defend herself). was it executed perfectly? no. but they were desperate and it’s hard to know how to properly deal with someone who is being extremely self-destructive if you haven’t dealt with it before. but it still got nesta to focus on things other than her bitterness and self hatred. it taught her self discipline. it led her to make genuine friends. if they hadn’t stepped in, these people’s favorite character would’ve eventually drank herself to death or gotten herself killed in some other dangerous situation. sorry but it’s the harsh truth. and the person said the IC abused nesta for acting mean and drinking when they also have acted just like her and worse. what? i know they party but i don’t recall them needlessly being cruel to their loved ones. then they said nesta should’ve burned the night court down at the end of acosf. tagged anti ic and anti everyone except azriel. i just know they’re a gwynriel or will become one just by looking at those tags.

i saw these two posts in only 15 seconds of scrolling. howwww are we still dealing with these people incapable of reading critically? why are you reading books where you hate 95% of the main characters? it’s one thing to like nesta and understand her, but these people are acting like she is the only victim and didn’t deserve what the IC “did to” her. if you ask me, i’d say they were too nice to her in the beginning. and it’s not like they didn’t try to include her. she pushed them away. i just know that’s how they are as people. bitter and angry at the world. but unlike nesta who learned to grow, her fanatic fans are stagnant, are usually gwynriels and quite frankly, poison the acotar fandom with their toxic takes

sorry for the long message. i needed to vent lol

This but w me on TikTok- every other video on there is about how horrible and disgusting people the IC are, Feyre’s the worst, Elains a manipulator - Nesta is a victim, Cass doesn’t deserve her etc etc. This is the sole reason I stay away from tiktok. I used to post on there everyday but it became so draining constantly having to see takes that just gave you headaches bcs of how ridiculous they are.

They find Elain insufferable bcs of her constant “crying” & “whining” in acowar where she was useless pining for a man who hated her. Because how dare she right? I mean, its not like the book prior to acowar - she was kidnapped, thrusted into a giant pot first not knowing what was going to happen to her - assualted and changed against her will into a foreign body and then given powers which put her into a camotose state and then she had to deal with the fact she lost everything she wanted, everything that was going to be hers including a marriage to the man she loves, a man who saw her. Nesta isolating herself, going off drinking at inns is a coping mechanism they can defend yet Elain being depressed & suicidal, being quiet and keeping to herself is apparently something they cant find the sympathy or even empathy to understand. Exactly. Do these people not realise how terrible they sound? And the thing is - Elain did SO MUCH in acowar. Stabbed Hybern, located the suriel, kicked HOUNDS of Az with her bare FEET. If any other fmc did such a thing they would be labelled a badass but Elain does not get that recognition. Also you’re literally right. If you hate the MAIN character of the series, why continue reading her books?

The IC are complex, flawed individuals. They make bad decisions but ultimately whatever they do is for the better good. Could they have handled the “rehab” situation better? Absolutely. But its done - it led to Nesta bettering herself and finding genuine friends. It literally ends off on Nesta and the IC being on good terms so exactly why should she burn the entire court to the grounds? Nesta isn’t perfect herself. She isn’t the victim in every single situation. Its done - their relationship will heal and become better. If you’re anti everything aside from one character maybe this series isn’t for you and thats ok. This is what I dont get about most Nesta stans, is they take defending Nesta so far to the point they distort every other character and scenario. Yep…like I say, its not a coincidence most elucien/gwynriel stans hate or the IC or the night court.

THIS. If I hated 90% of the characters in a series, you know what I’d do? Quit the series and leave the fandom. If I hated a direction a series is going in? Again. I’d quit the series instead of making such fanon, elaborate theories and HCs that I know will never happen. I feel like all these “critical” takes and hatred for most of the characters has led to the fandom being so insufferable and not an enjoyable experience to be in. When you look at that *side* which includes gwynriels and eluciens, its like they’ve read an entirely different series and they want such different outcomes compared to what the books have foreshadowed.

[moosemann404]

Learned Unhelpfulness is one (1) year old today (+ contest announcement at the end)

And we have not made it out of the fuck ass mines, shit-

Wow! What a ride so far! I’ve decided to mark the occasion because fuck it! I do what I want! (I could have finished but school said no.)

Let’s look at some stats to see how far we’ve come!

Since starting I have gained:

2,508 hits

150 kudos (wow!)

222 comments (about half are my own replies shhh)

27 public bookmarks

And written over 100k words, 98.5k of which are published! Wowie!!

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

Fanart shout out to:

@underhell69 who knocked my socks off with their short comic on chapter 4

@beanzabear for the little explosion of artwork they drew, and also this little boy kisser ass comic

@shr00mie-rat for a short animatic and beautiful thumbnails

@aerosolsprite for a wonderful little comic based on exile, vilify and a few doodles

And @sciencewife for this lovely fanart from Doug Rattmann appreciation day!

Big thank you to @byrdffv for leaving a bunch of mammoth comments that have inspired me to continue writing even when things got tough

Mega thank you to user starj3lly on ao3, not only the first person to comment and kudos, but also commenting on every chapter thus far! AND making lovely beautiful fanart you can look at here and here!

And the biggest most hugest most AMAZING WONDERFUL THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to @seven-gill. Not only have you been the best beta reader and friend a moose could dream of, but you’re also to blame for the crime of asking politely if we could play portal 2 co-op together. How dare you enable my nonsense, I love you. You are mostly the target audience (sorry everyone else)

What else? Oh yeah, that contest I mentioned up above.

I wanted to do something special, anniversary and all, and I figured since I seem to have so many artists reading, why not an art contest? The rules are simple:

- any scene or image or moment from the current 13 chapters you want to draw, go for it.

- it can be in color or black and white, digital or physical (as long as the picture quality is decent aka I can tell what I’m looking at), there’s NO limit to medium or style or what have you. Shit make it pointillism if you want, who am I to stop you? (I trust you all to be smart cookies and not use AI though)

- MUST be posted to tumblr. I do not have any other social media, and it’s important for the image to have a grabbible url for something later. Mention me in the post or use the tag #lu 1 year contest

- Submissions must be made before March 25th. Winner will be announced March 29th (that Saturday).

The winner will have their work featured in the fic and I’ll link your tumblr in the end authors note (if/when I figure out how, god I’m so old person using technology sometimes). Though I will absolutely reblog everyone’s work because damn you, I know it’s all going to be beautiful.

I’m so extremely nervous about doing this because I know I’m going to disintegrate if I get zero submissions. I will die of embarrassment. You’ll never see me agaaaiinn.

Thank you all for a wonderful year of this thing I created on a whim. It’s been a blast and I look forward to sharing the rest with you when I actually sit down and write the damn thing.

- Moose <3

[roomwithanopenfire]

12345 Tag Game

Thanks @monbons for the tag!! This looks like fun!

Rules: Give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words (feel free to interpret however you would like; if not on AO3, can be on Tumblr or FFNET, etc)!

Most Hits: No Sweeter Drug (than just giving you my love) || (Stranger Things, 60k)

Nancy and Robin had a whirlwind summer romance before their sophomore year, but Nancy left her behind, because Nancy Wheeler doesn’t date girls. But after the Upside Down, Nancy finds herself questioning who she even is. And she has to come to terms with her feelings for one Robin Buckley.

I always forget that this fic has the most hits! I loved writing this fic so much and I made a couple great friends while posting it :) It's kinda funny that this fic has the most hits when it's got like the 3rd most kudos, but I blame that on the Large Fandom curse.

Second Most Kudos: Proof of Life || (Carry On, 83k)

Vampires attacked Watford and Baz was Turned, but this time Natasha Pitch lived. What would Baz’s life be like growing up with his mother? How would Natasha feel about her son’s… condition? And what happens when you throw the Mage’s Heir into the mix?

THIS FIC!! This fic was such a joy and pain to write, but I'm SO proud of it. I took a long, stranger things/NSD shaped break while writing this, but I'm so glad I came back to finish it. The comments on this fic continue to give me LIFE.

Third Most Comments: Do As You're Told || (Carry On, 51k)

Simon accidentally gives Baz a permanent compulsion spell. Baz is pissed at Simon for ruining his life, and Simon just wants to fix it. With the help of Penny can they find a cure to the spell? And will Baz and Simon stay enemies...?

Technically, the fic with the third most comments is NSD but I already talked about that one, so i did the one with the 2nd most comments! This was the first multichapter fic I'd ever written and I remember being BLOWN AWAY by the comments. If you're one of the people who commented on this while i was posting it, you can take credit for my entire fanfic career because it was the comments I got on this that made me want to keep going, hands down.

Fourth Most Bookmarks: Just A Dare || (Carry On, 5k)

Simon Snow is dared to kiss Baz in a game of truth or dare, he's expecting Baz to yell at him or punch him, but what happens when Baz kisses him back?

I always forget that this fic has so many kudos/hits/bookmarks. This was the 2nd fanfic I ever wrote! I wrote this one so fast compared to how long it took me to write my first one and I remember thinking it was kind of terrible when I posted it (my first time writing kissing akadfkl), but it kind of took off! I remember I wrote this one because I had read all the other truth/dare fics in the fandom and wanted more.

Fifth Most Words: What to Bring to An Abandoned Planet || (Carry On, EXACTLY 12,345 words which I didn't even try to do)

Agatha, Baz, and Trixie are a small yet mighty group of space pirates who take down a transporter ship that holds Penelope, Shepard, and Simon on their way to relocating to a new planet. But once Agatha’s mighty ship—the SC Comet—falls way to space debris, the six of them have to learn to work together to survive on an uninhabited planet.

This fic was so much fun to write!! I wrote it for the Snowflake Exchange, and it's definitely not something I would have written all by myself! I kind of forget it had so many words because I wrote it So quickly. (Tbh I thought my dunmeshi smut fic would be fifth most words, but it's the seventh 😔 I'll have to talk about it some other time). This fic is the most AU AU i've ever written, and, like, don't look too closely at the lore please, I was just having fun.

Least Words: Nothing || (Carry On, 548)

You were young. Just a boy. A copy of a boy, but a boy nevertheless. You grew up on scraps of food and the backs of fists. You learned to fight before you learned how to speak. You always knew you'd be abandoned, unwanted. And at eleven years old, you woke up. Woke up alone and hungry.

Second person POV Humdrum fic, anyone? I went crazy during the Carry On Countdown. I was posting fics of any word count. Choosing all the wild ideas in my fic ideas list that I'd never have the time to explore with a long fic. This fic was fun! You should read it! (it won't take you very long at all it's only 500 words loll) As someone who is usually very long winded (see the three fics that are over 50k on this list), it was actually super fun to try my hand at something short!

Some tags:

@sweetronancer @facewithoutheart @run-for-chamo-miles @thewholelemon @best--dress @drowninginships @cutestkilla and anyone else who wants too! I don't want to break out the entire taglist, but please tag me if you end up sharing yours!!

[firealder2005]

Twenty Questions: Writer Edition

tagged by @gingermintpepper!!!!

Q. How many works do you have on AO3?

oh boy. 166, soon to be 167. a few of those are analysis/essays, but they're in the minority lololol

Q. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

By Kudos, eh?

Burning Thistles (1,397)

When the Heavens Collide (955)

The Bonds Forged Between Us (955)

A Stepmother's Word (774)

Bloody Memories (758)

Q. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for The Trials of Apollo! My 100th fic in the fandom will hopefully be out tomorrow <3 Besides ToA, I also have written for Warriors, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Greek Mythology, and EPIC: The Musical! I have plans to add The Hunger Games to that list at some point, but I am making myself complete my current wip list lololol

Q. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I adore getting commenters but ever since leaving high school where I could respond right away and entering college (where I stare at a computer most of the time) and then my job (also spent with a computer) I. Just. Don't have the energy for it sometimes D:

but when I DO I try to respond to as many as possible <3333

Q. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The angstiest ending...oh boy uh...probably i'm a bad liar (with a savior complex). i have a knack for writing Copollo in the angstiest way possible it's a habit *throws hands up in surrender* that or Legends Never Die simply because it's just pure Torture :)

as for unwritten. ...ToA Hunger Games AU part 2 Eclipsed is gonna be rough

Q. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

my first reaction was 'do i even have one' and the answer is YES YOU DO ALDER

anyway i'm up so high (may never come down) is THE silly fluffy crack fic i needed to write <333

Q. Do you get hate on fics?

On my solo fics? Nope! On BT? Yep. because people don't read the fucking tags. or the description. or the beginning notes. or the beginning notes of the chapter where we warn the reader. or the pinned post on the fic's tumblr blog.

i have also experienced hate on a couple of my meta posts on ao3, because god forbid people have an opinion ig

Q. Do you write smut?

i do in my mind

Q. Do you write crossovers?

Not usually! Really my only actual crossover fic would be my Buzzfeed Unsolved AU for ToA.

Q. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I haven't come across any reports of my fics being reposted elsewhere, but fucking ai has apparently gotten its grubby dirty plugs on my fics before grumble grumble

Q. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! My first ever fanfics (Warriors, time-travel au) are still currently being translated into Russian! I wish the translator the best because uh there's a LOT of fic to cover XD

Q. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

YES I HAVE LOLLING HIIIIIIII INSERT BURNING THISTLES HERE :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

anyway yes, my irl friend Lolling and I have been collabing on BT since our Sophomore year of high school! It's still ongoing because Adulting has slowed us down, but I'm hoping to get going on the next chapter soon! (wanna get one more chapter of my current fic done fingers crossed!)

Q. What's your all-time favourite ship?

how dare.

per fandom? here they are:

Hunger Games: Haydove is love Haydove is life

Star Wars: Dinluke was my 2020 obsession and COVID coping mechanism

Warriors: FireSand/GrayFireSand/MillieGrayFireSand, i also find onesided OneFire super funny especially onesided divorce from Onestar's end lmaooooo

BT verse? DarkCherry/Berries

Pirates of the Caribbean: Sparbossa i dig the divorce and want to keep smashing them together and giggle

ToA: COPOLLO. *ahem* pardon the outburst. i am obviously quite sane about them.

Greek Mythology is OBVIOUSLY Hyapollo but I also smash walls over Holylight aka Apollo X Cassandra

Q. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

sooooo a long time ago i actually plotted out my own Star Wars sequel trilogy fix-it series, and i was sooo excited to write it buuuut -glances furtively at my ToA obsession- things happened and the Fix is no longer in the system sooooo one day MAYBE i'll get back into it but for now it's on haitus.

Q. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I mind-meld with the characters Very well and can get into their heads quite easily. Lolling once said to me that I write drama and action sequences well, so there's that too! :D As for what I think, I should mention that I think my creativity is probably a very strong strength, simply because of how often and well I incorporate mythology into my ToA fics and the ToA canon as a whole. I'm able to bend over backwards and wriggle things around to form a new idea over an existing one, take it, and run.

Q. What are your writing weaknesses?

fluff. anything fluff. whenever i start writing fluff that voice in my head starts going CRIIIINGE and i have to tell it to shut up. also sometimes I don't think I've put Enough into my descriptions, or into the story in general, but I guess that's what makes fanfics good because you can come back and edit whenever!

Q. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Something i get way too invested in lmao and then proceed to ramble about my research in the end notes about

Q. First fandom you wrote fic for?

Ever? Percy Jackson and I'll never speak of the fic ever. Going to my grave it was sooo cringe i deleted it. never again.

That I stuck with? Warriors.

Q. Favorite fic you've ever written?

ughhhh i can't pick just one. BT is obviously Lolling and I's brain baby and from my ToA fics, probably my Hunger Games AU so far, but I ALSO have a few other multifics in store that I've been wanting to get too, PLUS I have sooo many oneshots that i loved writing...there's too many.

my favorite potc fic is probably i'm wondering how i was so easily erased it was my first one and honestly i think it's still my best potc fic haha

i also rlly liked my Divine Intervention fic for EPIC: The Musical

Tagging: @alollinglaughingcat @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @please-help-this-little-lesbian

[evaskjew]

I'm trying something for fandom artists/writers

Well, as I don't have anyone to tag (I'm really the least sociable person in the world and I'm too scared to talk to people in the fandom 😂), it's up to those who see this post to participate or not (if it turns out that it's not going to take at all, but never mind!)

Well, as my thing is drawing, I'll go with that (but you can adapt it to writing for those who write, or anything else for that matter!)

Last drawing:

Favourite drawing:

Well, I'm cheating, I'm putting two in because I can't choose 😖 On the one hand it's my best pastel drawing (to say it's also my second realistic portrait in colour) and on the other the painting I did with my grandmother and it's also the first time I've done anything other than a portrait in realistic drawing with a background and so on.

Hated drawing:

Right, then. Here again it's hard to put just one. I'm VERY hard on myself and I hate almost all my drawings 🥲 But really, if I have to choose, there are three that I really can't see any more because I find them so horrible.

Future project(s):

Following the poll, I'm going to start working on a new portrait of Garreth.

Next up, why not draw Ominis again (I've taken several in-game screenshots of him that I'd like to do to work on the backgrounds) and I'd also like to draw characters I haven't drawn yet, like Natsai or Amit.

And maybe one day, when I'm bored because I can't find any more images to use as models, I might draw some MCs from in-game screenshots.

And apart from drawing, I'd like to finish writing my OS by the end of the year 😂

Favourite artist:

There are far too many talented people in fandom ❤️

But without hesitation I'd say @tamayula-hl! Long before I dared to post my drawings online, I admired her work so much and even today I jump on every notification as soon as she posts! I know I'll never reach her level but her work is a source of inspiration and motivation (even more so now that I've switched to watercolour and I'm still trying to figure out how to work with colours, the way she works with colour is so incredible 🥰)

And I can't thank her enough for her post showing all the possible angles for Ominis' and Sebastian's hairs, it was so helpful 🙏🏻

And I admire @choccy-milky too! These are the two fandom artists I've been following since I started on Tumblr a little over a year ago 😄

One or few points on which I would like to improve:

First of all, I've managed to stop transferring the outlines of my drawings. Yes, it's a bit cheating to transfer, I know. But if I don't do it, the proportions are going to be catastrophic and that's going to piss me off (long live my perfectionism) and I'm going to stop and stubborn as I am coupled with my lack of self-confidence, I'm never going to want to draw again. So for the time being, we're going to keep tracing 😅 We'll see what happens in time.

But most of all, I'd like to stop depending on images I find on Pinterest or Tumblr and just reproduce them as drawings. I'm incapable of doing anything other than faithfully reproducing an image 😢 It annoys me, because I'd also like to post lots of drawings of my MC Evangeline interacting with other characters 😞 And the worst thing is the difference in my drawing level when I do something that doesn't depend on a reference image! (the proof: my drawings of Evangeline and this drawing of Ominis)

I took it upon myself while writing this post and forced myself to do a drawing of Evangeline in 20 minutes without a model (I just traced a neutral pose from a drawing dummy to have my base and improvised from my watercolour of Evangeline for her outfit).

You be the judge:

The end of her leg and her shoe is a disaster 😭

Well, that's that. I don't know how it's going to turn out and whether any artists/writers are going to take part, but it was a fun post to make!

[coraniaid]

Tagged by @jannacalendar.

Rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

Fic with the most hits (and also most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, ...) is Coexist, my Season 3 Buffy AU. Jenny Calendar survived Season 2, but not everyone did. Angel never got his soul back before Buffy sent him to hell. Now Buffy has a new Watcher, and she's brought another Slayer with her to Sunnydale.

I started writing this in late 2020 and posted the first chapter in February 2021. I wouldn't be finished for twenty-six months, twenty-seven chapters and about a quarter of a million words. It's easily the most popular thing I've ever written (just checking now, it doesn't just have the most hits of any fic I've published, it has the most hits of any Teen- or General-rated Fuffy fic published on AO3, which is wild), and I think it's probably the best, too. Will I ever write a sequel? Well, one day, maybe ...

Fic with the second most kudos is another Buffy AU, Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard. Faith wakes up from her coma in the middle of Season 4, but she's forgotten everything that happened since before Allan Finch died.

I wrote this as part of a gift exchange at the end of 2023, and I think it's best read alongside @bodytoflame-ao3's trying to drown in the fountain of youth. Without meaning to, or really coordinating in any way, we ended up writing a pair of stories that explore some very similar ideas (we both even named our respective fics after songs about water).

Fic with the third most comments is Residuum, my long dormant -- I guess it's probably fair to say 'abandoned' at this point -- Mass Effect AU. How would the galaxy be different if, shortly after humanity finding the Charon mass relay and settling their first interstellar colonies, Earth had been cut off from the rest of galactic civilization?

I originally started posting this on fanfiction.net in 2018. It was the first fanfiction I'd ever written (as an adult, anyway), and in hindsight I was ludicrously optimistic about just how much I'd be able to write (I managed 19 chapters of a planned 67). I think I learned a lot by trying to write it but I just wasn't able to keep up the energy I needed and in hindsight I suspect I never would have been. (If anybody ever wants to message me and ask about it, I'd be more than happy to talk about where the story was going to go: I had a huge amount of notes and timelines and ideas and half-written chapter fragments and the plot was going to eventually bring together ideas and concepts from all three games of the original trilogy.)

Fic with the fourth most bookmarks is another Buffy one: Mixed Signals. Fuffy, again, to nobody's surprise.

This was originally written as a prompt-fill on Tumblr (the prompt was "I've got you"). I couldn't work out which season of the show I wanted to set it in, so I went with ... all of them?

Fic with the fifth most words is The Choice. Back to Mass Effect for this one. Two different takes on the end of the second game, as two different Shepards lead their crews on a last desperate assault on the Collector Base.

I think this was the first fanfiction I ever actually finished? A bit of a Sliding Doors style experiment on my part: one Shepard's story is told in the present tense and the other is simultaneously told in the past tense, and the two versions of her are dimly but not quite aware of one another (in the way one is always aware of choices we didn't make and lives we might have had as a result). Rereading it now for the first time in -- well, years, I assume -- I think it holds up okay.

Fic with the fewest words is the only real work in progress on this list: Take Me Somewhere Nice, another Buffy Season 3 AU, this time a Kendra & Faith story. To paraphrase the AO3 summary: "Kendra never dared to ask her Watcher what would happen when she died but, deep down, she'd hoped the world would be kind. That when whatever was going to happen had happened, when she'd fought her last fight, she'd open her eyes somewhere better.  But the world isn't kind. After Kendra died, she found herself in Boston."

Stalling quite a bit on this one at the moment -- only chapter published so far is from September -- but I'm excited to try to get back to it this month. I've talked on this blog previously about some Kendra headcanons and plot concepts, and I'm keen to actually try to explore some of them a little bit. (Think this should end up being about a dozen chapters long when completed, give or take.)

Tagging: @bodytoflame-ao3, @explosionshark, @juanabaloo, @finalgirl1984, @quillbard and anybody else who wants to try this.

[chocochipbiscuit]

20 Questions for Writers!

I was tagged by both @carnalapples and @foibles-fables (and possibly others, I...have been neglecting my Tumblr tags for a bit haha) and am excited to respond!

How many works do you have on ao3?

191!

A lot of the early works were because I was following a kink meme and basically challenged myself to fill a prompt every week. I didn't always manage it, but I still wrote a lot of fics that way!

Life and priorities have shifted since then, but it was a fun challenge to get me more comfortable writing.

What’s your total ao3 word count?

983,653 (soon to be over a million once I post the Fallout Necro AU!)

What are your top five fics by kudos?

I genuinely have no idea, I block those stats. :)

What fandoms do you write for?

I feel a bit slow when it comes to fandoms; I prefer digesting the canon before I write my own fics for it. So I rarely write for newer fandoms. I've also lost a lot of the mono-fandom focus I had in the past, though I both anticipate/fear when that will change once I have time to really delve into a favorite game once more.

That said: I've written for a lot of different fandoms, mostly video games. Fallout remains an evergreen interest of mine, and I regularly offer Dragon Age in fandom exchanges because I know it's an easy match and I love writing F/F for it!

My current predictions for this year are more Fallout, Resident Evil, and (hopefully) book fandoms like The Locked Tomb or The Burning Kingdoms. But I have surprised myself before!

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely!!! Comments and community are one of the main reasons I share fic. The only times I haven't responded to comments are when it was just rude or fishing. (in which case I usually delete it)

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't generally like writing angsty endings, so 'bittersweet' is probably the closest we're going to get!

That said, (if you love me) let me go (Ada/Leon, Resident Evil) is probably the closest I've got! Even though the canon itself says they will meet again.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I generally write a lot of happy endings, or at least try for a 'happy for now'!

I think what makes a happy ending stick with me is if it feels earned; if I get both the emotional highs and lows of a fic, some struggle before the happy ending.

A Most Edible Thistle (Josephine/Vivienne, Dragon Age) definitely has a big silly rom-com finish, so there's that!

I also have a huge soft spot for never gonna say I'm sorry (Amara/Tyreen, Borderlands) because the happy finish isn't just a declaration of love, it's a declaration that Tyreen actually gets to be a badass hero (completing the heel-face turn) without having to die. (And also maybe a little acknowledgment that her self-destructive tendencies are fundamentally selfish!)

Do you get hate on fics?

Not on AO3. I've had trolls post stuff like "ew het" or "X isn't gay" on now-defunct kink memes, but it was more pathetic than anything else.

I've had hate for being a bi woman who dares to write F/M in addition to F/F and M/M (and thus only writing F/F to 'trick' lesbians into reading my icky icky bisexual 'proghet fic') but that hate was directed towards my Tumblr inbox rather than AO3.

And not hate, but more like 'weird hill to die on, but I'm glad you're dead,' I used to get guest comments on an old fic who would only post 'tag your trans fic'/'tag your trans characters' or some other variation on that, and I just deleted and refused to engage because...I mean, what?

(I'll tag lots of things, but I generally don't tag for identity unless it's relevant to the fic. Same way that I don't use 'characters of color' or 'white characters' for a tag, or distinguish that a F/F ship is bi for bi vs bi/lesbian, though I may include author notes as relevant.)

Do you write smut?

Hell yeah! I started writing fanfic JUST to write smut! :D

Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I've written a few AUs and fusions, but generally don't find cross-overs interesting.

That said, I don't count games or stories set within the same canon as crossovers. (Ex: Dragon Age Origins vs Dragon Age 2.)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not within fandom, but scraped to sites that charge people for the stories. I've reported them when I've found them.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! what we don't talk about was translated into Russian. I remain delighted that someone thought this was worth the effort.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I am idiosyncratic in my tastes and a bit of a control freak until I get the finished story out! So no!

(I don't even know how that would work...like, alternating chapters with a co-author? Alternating character POV? Could be a fun experiment but also not something I've ever done before!)

What’s your all time favourite ship?

I HAVE TOO MANY.

F!LW/Fawkes was literally the ship that got me into fandom.

Leliana/Morrigan is my original one for Dragon Age.

Danse/Hancock is a current favorite (and honestly rather unexpected because usually I'm all about F/F, but brimming with 1001+ smut ideas for this ship???? UNEXPECTED)

Jack/Miranda remains my favorite Mass Effect ship.

....this is a terrible non-answer and I apologize!

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Every WIP that I want to finish, I know I eventually will. If I don't finish it, it's because I don't want to.

(It might be slowly but I know I'll finish it. I have faith in myself!)

The two current WIPs (...if you can even call them that, they're in outline form rather than a first draft or WIP, but I've been told that my outlines are so thorough they count as first drafts, or at least half-drafts) that I want to write but know will take me extra time are:

Keene/Preston fic: Keene's led the Jacobstown refugees across the Wasteland after the Legion destroyed their home, and has ended up in the Commonwealth as the last survivor. Angry and traumatized, he recovers in Sanctuary and struggles with what it means to finally trust someone new. I have a pretty solid sequence of events, I think, but still figuring out the details on the final scene. (As in: I know WHAT I want to happen, I need to figure out HOW it happens.) Also features Marcy Long as Keene's unexpected (figurative) auntie and Keene/Preston managing the incredibly difficult feat of fucking while pining because they get stuck in a sex pollen vault.

Exit Wounds: working title for a fic where after the Minutemen and Railroad ally to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel, Maxson ends up going ghoul. He tries joining a settlement and is recognized by Danse, then forced to confront the difference between forgiveness and second chances. It's emotionally messy in a lot of ways, and feels even messier with the current political climate. It currently gives me the same sort of queasy catharsis that writing The Poison Girl of Vault 101 did, but Poison Girl was a much shorter fic and still took 3 years before I felt comfortable posting it. So. Make of that what you will. (Also, Maxson and Strong DEFINITELY fuck. It's not sappy romantic 'aw look they're boyfriends now!' but they DO fuck!)

...I feel like it's very telling that even with my brain-weirds around Fallout (even though I love it, I can only take fanart and fanfic of it in very small doses) my most recurrent longfic ideas are generally related to the Wasteland.

What are your writing strengths?

Sensory detail, sensuality, and character voice.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue and physical blocking.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

How I choose to write the language depends on the POV and voice I'm in. For example, if I'm writing a character speaking Cantonese, whether I write it as:

"Happy new year!" she said in Cantonese.

"Happy new year!" she said in Cantonese.

"新年快乐!" she said.

"Gong hay fat choy!" she said.

all imply different things about who I assume the audience to be and the POV character's relationship to the language. (And fair note, I'm an ABC whose own Cantonese is minimal.)

Generally speaking, I prefer not to use italics or capitalization to emphasize that something is in another language, as it feels a bit too 'othering' for me. If I wouldn't write that I ordered tiramisu at a restaurant, I also wouldn't write that I ordered nasi lemak at a restaurant. (as in, I wouldn't randomly italicize them.)

I'm also generally less than enchanted by stories that try to impress how 'realistic' and 'thorough' the made-up language of their elves (or orcs, or whatever) is. I enjoyed Tolkien for the characters and interesting worldbuilding, not because he had an Elvish dictionary.

(Is that snarky enough? :P)

First fandom you wrote for?

Fallout!!! There was insufficient mutie smut, so I had to write my own!

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

The snarky (if true!) answer is that my current WIP is always my favorite, which means the Fallout Necro AU! But you guys aren't able to read that yet until I post it. :P

That said: I tend to prefer the longer fics for this because they represent a greater emotional investment on my part and they rank more highly in my favorites. :)

....so because I've already been cheating, I'm giving you THREE! Because I feel these three in particular represent the depth and breadth of my interests!

A Most Edible Thistle: my first official romcom of a fic!

never gonna say I'm sorry: enemies to lovers and the kinds of choices we make when looking for redemption!!!

breath (and all the ways of holding): the fic that, in my heart, still represents my most conscious 'leveling up' of what it means to write a longer fic.

...incidentally, they're all F/F, and two of the three contain explicit smut as part of the character study. Which also feels very 'me.'

Now! I tag @anneapocalypse, @themorikelife, @razrogue, @potatoesandsunshine, and @bittylildragon if you are so inclined to play!!!!

[bethanydelleman]

Thanks for the tag @firawren & @glassslippers-n-cowboyboots

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 45

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 208,023. And that's a bit surprising because a bunch of my longer fics are only on AHA or my website.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Jane Austen, all novels, Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives & Daughters), and Anne Bronte (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). I have also technically written Oscar Wilde and My Happy Marriage, but those were very transformative.

I also have written some fics based on Kdramas, mostly for Alchemy of Souls.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Ride to Netherfield - Jane breaks her leg on the way to Netherfield and must stay for a month. Short one-shot (6k) and the first Pride & Prejudice variation I wrote.

Of Every Elizabeth - short and sweet Pride & Prejudice fluff, Darcy has nicknames for the plethora of Elizabeth's he's met over the course of his life (it was a super common name at the time)

Carry Me! - three vignettes of Jang Uk and Cho Yeong from Alchemy of Souls after they are married

The Fourth Bennet Sister - long fic (30k words), Pride & Prejudice variation where Kitty Bennet becomes aware that she is in a novel. She desperately tries to protect her sisters from harm.

All's Fair in Love and War - short Pride & Prejudice variation. Mrs. Bennet has weaponized compromise, men live in constant fear of being forced to marry.

5. Do you respond to comments? Yep. Every time.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Umm.... I'm not good at writing angst. I don't like characters to suffer for too long.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them?

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yes, because I dared to write Mr. Darcy marrying Anne Elliot. People get more angry about that for some reason than Elizabeth Bennet marrying Captain Wentworth in the same fic. Someone even told me Darcy would rather "throw himself off of Pemberley" rather than marry anyone other than Elizabeth. (Fic is called One Week Late)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have written smut a few times, it's pretty vanilla because I am pretty vanilla. I was reading Victorian erotica when I wrote my longest one, A Little Before Their Marriage (Jane & Bingley fic).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I constantly write crossovers, my first published novel is a massive crossover, Prideful & Persuaded. One of my fun shorts is Fall on the Sword, where every canonically single woman in Austen's novels decides if they want to try for the recently divorced Mr. Rushworth.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, though someone did translate one of my meta posts from Tumblr. That was cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, The Marriage Contest with Branch Cloudsky and two with Amelia Marie Logan, Poor Caroline and Inferior Connections. All Pride & Prejudice fics, all funny. (You need an AO3 account for that one, the other two are on my personal website)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship? Catherine Morland & Henry Tilney. They are the only Austen couple I cannot bear to break up.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am writing a queer retelling of Emma called "Different Ways of Being in Love", where Jane Fairfax and Emma were lovers as teenagers, Jane is bi, Emma is a lesbian, and Mr. Knightley is ace, but I got stuck on the middle part. Someday hopefully!

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm told I write some pretty hilarious farces. I am told I do characterization well, which is my main goal when writing fan fiction. I try to stick as close to canon as possible.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I don't write enough filler or develop things well enough. I like writing action.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I would possibly try my hand at French, but probably never. I also have a lot of trouble reading accented speech (looking at you Wuthering Heights), so I'd probably never write it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I am fairly certain I started writing a fix-it fic for Nineteen Eighty-Four after I read it in high school. Not sure I would be able to locate it but it did exist. The first since I started writing again was a sequel to Pride & Prejudice.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Probably Unfairly Caught (my other published work) or The Fourth Bennet Sister. I NEEDED to write a Mansfield Park fic because I hate the ending, so it fixed my dissatisfied feelings. My goal is to edit The Fourth Bennet Sister and get it published sometime this year.

@wurzelbertzwerg, @kehlana-wolhamonao3 and @bad-at-names-and-faces

[newpathwrites]

WIP Wednesday! Trying something new! Let’s hope I don’t regret this… 😬

Thank you @handspunyarns for the tag last week.

This is going to be a little different. I’ve been wanting to dip my toes into some original writing. As a teen, I was always outlining and starting novels and series and then never following through due to imposter syndrome. And then life happened, and I let it go until Din and trauma processing inspired me to try my hand at fanfic and attempt to revive my long lost writing skills (that’s a work in progress 😂).

A lot of trauma is coming back to the surface as my divorce becomes more contentious and all these old memories are being drudged back up. I’ll be honest, I had this brief thought that I’d like to write out everything he did and post it on Facebook for the world to see… but that’s not my MO, and furthermore, I can recognize the role of mental illness in his behavior. So instead, I’m going to write my experience for myself and share it here on Tumblr and AO3 as an original work.

Warnings for this snippet: references to verbal and emotional abuse, mentions of death of a family member, alcohol. Please heed warnings if this is a triggering topic for you!

————————————————————

Christmas was your favorite holiday.

It wasn’t the presents. It wasn’t the lights, music, food, or festivity - though you enjoyed those, too.

No.

-

It was the warmth of a loving family.

-

It was a lively Yankee swap, with as many classy gifts as goofy ones.

It was your conservative aunt arguing politics with your die-hard liberal and self-proclaimed ‘fabulous’ grandmother while they cut and served the turkey, the entire exchange ending as always with an agreement to disagree and a hug.

It was crowding into the living room to watch a movie while the little ones fell asleep in their older cousins’ laps.

It was adult siblings who lived too far from each other staying up into the late night hours reminiscing about a shared past life.

-

The holidays radiated contentment and comfort. You looked forward to it all year round.

-

Until you didn’t.

-

You married a man, had children, pursued your professional education.

And then he changed. Or rather, he revealed his true nature.

-

Holidays became a twisted game - one you would never win.

-

He didn’t get enough food… Wasn’t paid enough attention… Didn’t garner sufficient adoration from your relatives…

And it was all your fault.

He didn’t get the gift he wanted in the Yankee swap.

How could you let that happen?

How dare that family friend he dislikes be invited? You could and should have prevented that from happening.

Don’t you care about him?

-

Your family got together one last time for Christmas at your grandmothers’ time shared condo - a celebration of her illustrious life, lost to cancer the year before.

You begged him not to go, not to tarnish your grandmother’s memory with his self-centered toxicity.

He promised to behave, swore he would never do that to you.

-

The entire weekend was a nightmare.

He sulked.

And in between sulking and drinking, he yelled at you in the unit next door, intoxicated and upset about anything and everything.

Again, it was all your fault. And nothing you could do would ever be enough to fix it.

You were perpetually on the verge of tears.

-

Family members kept asking where he was, why he wasn’t joining for dinner. You had no rational answers.

Only your mother understood implicitly what was going on, and even she didn’t know the whole truth.

-

What was the truth?

————————————————————

To be continued…

No clue when or if this thing will be finished. Not sure anyone will care to read it or if I’ll even want them to… 🫣

Low pressure tags to post a snippet of a WIP if you’re so inclined: @court-jobi @sytortuga @the-kittylorian-writes @grogusmum

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

One More Step Out of the Pit: Chapter 17/26

Summary: It had been Tommy and Tubbo for practically forever. They clawed their way out of hell together. They discovered their superpowers together. They started working for the Superhero Guild together before even coming of age. Tommy probably owed Tubbo his life ten times over. So, when the three supervillains he’d been assigned to bring in managed to take Tubbo hostage, well, there was really only one thing to do.

He knew, of course, he was signing himself up for torture and death by offering that trade, but that was okay.

It’d have to be okay.

AO3 Link (See AO3 for Warnings.)

(This story is finished and has been posted on AO3 for a while, but I’m posting it on Tumblr so it’s somewhere else too. The author notes will all be kept as well. If you are following the blog and don’t want to see these posts, block the tag #backlog.)

There was a reason Tommy did not trust medication. Whatever stupid pills Wilbur had tried to make and Technoblade had made Tommy take after the late lunch/early supper had done nothing but make his head all fuzzy. It was evil, horrible torture. They made him sleepy! He’d already slept enough for the day, thank you very much, but he ended up dozing for the rest of the evening. And for what? They didn’t do anything at all!

Okay, maybe his wound didn’t hurt as much, but what did that matter if he was 60-100% asleep the whole time he wasn’t hurting? It was truly terrible and lame, and how dare they?

From what he could remember through his grogginess, he had expressed his discontent repeatedly with very compelling arguments, but none of them had appreciated his reasoning, and he’d mostly been shoved back into bed and told to watch the movie or go to sleep.

Eventually, they’d decided it was bedtime even though Tommy argued he was a big man who did not have a bedtime and stop patronizing him, Wilbur. He’d cleaned up and changed into yet another white shirt and grey pants before crashing back into bed and falling asleep almost instantly because of the stupid pills.

He woke some hours later with the lights dimmed and the tv shut off. He instinctually jumped at the honestly creepy as all fuck person sitting on the edge of his bed but calmed when he remembered what he was. Apparently, they’d decided that since he already knew about Ghostbur, they may as well all get a full night’s sleep, because the ghost was the only one here.

“Hi, Tommy,” he said when he noticed he was awake.

“Hi,” Tommy said, grumpily. He was still groggy, and the soft bed and low lights didn’t help. “Wilbur drugged me,” he pouted.

“I know,” he replied, sounding more amused than sympathetic.

“He’s a bitch,” Tommy declared. The cow plushie had been settled next to him at some point and he curled his body around it now.

“Do you feel any better?”

“Yes,” he grumbled, “but now I’m tired.”

“Well, why don’t you go back to sleep?” he suggested.

“Don’t wanna.”

“Ah,” he said with a head tilt. “What do you want to do then?”

“I want to do crime,” Tommy answered, “and text women.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a superhero?” His smile made his forehead all wrinkly, and Tommy wondered how that worked since he wasn’t really in a body right now.

“I want to do crime against supervillains, so it’s okay.”

Ghostbur grinned. “And what crimes would you be committing?”

“Stealing mostly. I’ve always been good at stealing, but I had to stop when I got hired by the Superhero Guild. I’m going to break into your kitchen and take a bite out of every type of food you have except for the weird bread, and then I want the sweater Wilbur was wearing today, because it was very soft.”

“Aw! You liked my sweater,” he cooed.

“Soft,” Tommy mumbled as an answer. He laid his head down with a yawn. “And you’re never getting it back.”

He floated forward a bit and cold non-pressure descended on Tommy’s nose. Tommy wrinkled it. “You can have whatever you like,” Ghostbur promised, “in the morning.”

“You’ll be gone in the morning,” Tommy pointed out.

“Not really,” Ghostbur replied. Tommy didn’t have the energy to argue the point. He blinked once and suddenly Phil was there, him and Ghostbur talking in hushed tones.

Tommy listened to them talking idly without tracking a lot of it. Something cold brushed his forehead and he peaked open his eyes to see Ghostbur hovering over him with a smile.

“Will no,” Phil said, his voice a bit louder than it had been before. “You have to let those fade at some point.”

“Never,” was the response.

Tommy gave a confused hum, peering up at him.

“It’s nothing,” Ghostbur promised. He reached out and the cool non-pressure stroked across his brow.

“Will,” Phil said, exasperated.

Ghostbur quirked a smile. “See you later, Tommy!”

Tommy looked over at Phil once Ghostbur blinked out of existence. “Wha?” he asked.

“You may have a bit more blue on your face this morning, Mate,” Phil explained.

Tommy’s hand immediately touched his own eyebrow where Ghostbur had touched him a moment before. His mind caught up with what must have happened. “That bastard!”

Phil did not seem insulted on his child’s behalf. Instead, he just chuckled. “He can be that sometimes, yeah.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “How’d you sleep?”

Tommy crossed his arms. “Well, you all drugged me, so I slept really ‘well.’”

“It was Tylenol PM, Mate.”

“You’re all wrongins.”

Phil patted him on the knee. “You needed sleep to recover anyway.”

“Wrongins,” Tommy hissed out. The hand on his knee squeezed lightly and Tommy was unsure if it was a warning or just a thing Phil does. He decided to back off the complaining just to be safe. “So, what’re the plans for today, Big Man.”

“You’ll be spending most of the morning with me,” he said. “Techno’s cooking breakfast already and Wilbur’s waking up now, obviously. I can bring you down some books or you can watch more movies if you’d like.”

“Movies would be cool,” Tommy said. “Might be too tired to read.” He winced when he realized his excuse ended up being him complaining again, but Phil didn’t react, and Tommy relaxed again after a moment.

“Fair enough,” Phil answered simply. “Now or do you want to sleep more?”

Tommy thought about it for a moment. “Now?”

Phil nodded, and removed his hand to turn on the television and fetch the remote. Tommy spent a bit of time today actually exploring how Netflix worked, since he’d never gotten a chance to use the app before his kidnapping. He quickly figured out that each member of the household had their own subaccounts, that Tommy could easily get into any of their accounts by simply selecting the one he wanted with the remote, and that he could add movies and television shows to their watch lists with the click of a button. He was going to use these facts for evil. In fact, he did not start any movie or television show at all. Instead, he just added selections such as Veggietales, Boss Baby, and every movie that came up when he searched ‘ghost’ to Wilbur’s watch list. He eventually figured out how to reorder said watch list and gleefully intermixed his additions into the ones that had already been on the list. He was pretty sure Phil knew what he was doing, but he hadn’t said to stop.

He’d just added a fifth Scooby Doo movie when the door beeped. Tommy quickly pressed the back button as Wilbur entered the room.

“That was fast,” Phil commented with a raised eyebrow.

“I can get ready fast,” Wilbur replied. He sounded a bit testy.

“You really can’t, Will.”

Wilbur pursed his lips. “Techno finished your breakfast. I’m here to check the child’s stitches.”

“I’m not a child!” Tommy gasped in offence.

Wilbur and Phil both ignored him, Phil rising from his chair. “I’ll be back in a bit,” he said. He’d patted Tommy’s shoulder and moved on to give Wilbur the same treatment as he wandered off towards the door before Tommy even had a chance to tense up.

Wilbur turned to face Tommy once he was gone. “Good morning, child.”

“Shut up!” Tommy hissed with a scowl. “You stained me again, you bastard.” He pointed to his face. Wilbur studied the newest blue mark above Tommy’s eye for a moment. His hand reached forward, and he brushed his fingers across it, the touch an echo of the one that had created the mark but contrastingly warm and solid. Annoyingly, he did not seem embarrassed about it as he’d been the day before nor did he seem at all repentant. Tommy frowned at him and slapped the hand away.

Wilbur just smiled like an asshole and reached to shove at both of his shoulders saying, “Morning check-up time.”

Tommy grumbled but consented to it despite the fact that Wilbur’s insistence on checking the stitches and rebandaging the incision was starting to feel more like fussing than necessary medical care. Though, to be fair, the wound was taking a frustrating amount of time to heal. Usually, he’d be peeling off the bandages and literally hopping back into normal activities against doctor (and Tubbo) advisement by now, but he was still rather achy again now that the drugs were wearing off.

“You probably could do without the dressings at this point, but we’ll leave it for now,” Wilbur told him once he was finished with his fretting. “Also…” he trailed off, reaching back into the bag he’d brought the bandages in. “I was physically unable to not bring this to you.” He plopped a piece of folded fabric down in his lap and Tommy did his best not to gasp in excitement when he realized what it was. Ghostbur was the best person ever even if he did mark up Tommy’s face before leaving.

He pulled the sweater Wilbur had worn the day before over his head with no hesitation. It was already oversized on Wilbur who was taller than him by a few inches, so he ended up basically drowning in it, but that just made it better.

“Mine forever now, Bitch!” he exclaimed, hugging himself. It was so soft.

Wilbur gave him one of his funny looks and then arms were wrapping around Tommy and the sweater. Tommy was distracted enough by his glee at having acquired a sweater that he just hummed, content for about three seconds.

Then he realized what was happening. “Wait! No!” he said, starting to struggle. “Get off! You’re clingier than Tubbo!”

Wilbur did not relent, hugging him closer and pressing his face into Tommy’s hair. “No, I need a moment.”

“Why?” Tommy whined.

“Ghostbur has given me a migraine this morning,” Wilbur said as though that explained his behavior.

“So, you’ve decided to make that my problem?” Tommy groused. He was like a fucking boa constrictor.

“Yes,” he said, “because it’s all your fault.”

“How’s it my fault?” Tommy asked.

“It’s about you.”

“What?” Tommy asked. “Did Ghostbur decide to mentally punch your nose in because you’re a prick?”

Wilbur paused. “Something like that.”

“Well, good. You deserve the migraine,” Tommy grumbled.

“Okay,” Wilbur hummed. He still did not let go. Tommy realized he’d forgotten to keep struggling a while ago, but instead of starting back up again, he just let his head come down to rest on his stupid shoulder.

His hair was slightly damp where it brushed against Tommy’s forehead and he smelled like toothpaste. He wasn’t wearing a sweater today, but a long-sleeved thin shirt that Tommy could see him wearing as part of his supervillain costume. Maybe he even had. The prick was probably the only hero or villain ever who didn’t just wear the same outfit every time but would instead switch it up with different colored shirts and pants. He even had a couple of different pairs of shoes. The only constant was his mask and the coat he threw over his getup.

“How long am I to be your prisoner?” Tommy asked, and then paused. “Well, more of a prisoner than I already am.”

“Hush,” Wilbur said. A hand weaved its way into Tommy’s hair.

“Don’t tell me to ‘hush,’” Tommy grumbled even as the way his fingernails scratched gently at his skull was really nice.

“Or what?” Wilbur asked, sounding amused.

“I’ll start stabbing shit,” Tommy claimed.

“Oh, yes,” he said mock seriously, “of course.”

“Don’t mock me.”

“Don’t mock me.” Wilbur returned, and to Tommy’s surprise it came out in Tommy’s voice.

“I didn’t know your powers included mocking abilities!” Tommy said with a gasp. “That’s so cool… I mean… lame. You’re lame. Your power is slightly less lame than you are overall, but still very lame.”

Wilbur squeezed him softly with the arm not in his hair. “Fuck off.”

“I’d like to do nothing more, asshole,” Tommy grumbled into his shoulder.

The door beeped then, and Tommy immediately tried to jerk away, but once again managed to get nowhere. “Save me, Blade,” he whined when he saw who had arrived. “He’s being a clinging dick.”

Technoblade looked over them with uncaring eyes. “You put on one of his sweaters?” he tsked. “There is no helping you.”

“It’s my sweater now!” Tommy insisted. “I’m never giving it back.”

He hummed, not in the least bit sympathetic to Tommy’s current plight. “I brought you breakfast,” he informed him. “I didn’t know what you liked in omelets, so I just did a cheese mixture. There’s also hash browns.”

Tommy looked him over and noticed that he was definitely in his supervillain costume sans the mask and cape, and his hair was no longer down and poofy, but braided neatly. Tommy was reminded abruptly why he was so fucking intimidating, plate full of breakfast in his hands or no.

Still, Tommy pushed past any leeriness evoked by him wearing ¾ of his villain getup. “Please, Techno,” he begged, shoving at Wilbur’s cheek. “I thought you were against torture.”

“I’m not getting anywhere near him when he’s like that,” Technoblade said. He set Tommy’s plate on the nightstand, not that Tommy could reach it right now. “Better you than me.”

“Betrayal!”

Technoblade just shrugged and took a seat a good distance away from the bed (the coward). Tommy scowled at him, but he ignored that in favor of scrolling through something on his phone. Tommy sighed and put his head back down on Wilbur’s shoulder again. This was not fair. He wanted his omelet.

Thankfully, his salvation came in the form of the door beeping once again.

“Phil, help me, please,” Tommy said. “He won’t release me to eat breakfast.”

“Let him eat, Will,” Phil said firmly. Wilbur leaned back to pout at him, and Phil raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you and Techno have something you should be doing today anyway?”

He sighed. “Yeah,” he relented, finally freeing Tommy from his evil clutches and scooting off the bed. He reached back and ruffled Tommy’s hair. “We’ll be back later, Gremlin. Got some errands.”

“Please, take your time,” Tommy said sweetly.

Wilbur rolled his eyes as Technoblade got to his feet. “Any driving conditions I need to know about before we leave?” Wilbur asked as he and Techno left.

“Just a few trees down near the city,” Techno answered a moment before the door closed behind them.

Phil was already handing over his breakfast by the time Tommy turned his attention back to him. “You are the only valid man ever,” Tommy told him as he took the plate. He took a bite of the omelet. …Okay, so Technoblade had his uses too, he decided as he chewed. Wilbur could perish.

He ate about half of the omelet and most of the hash browns before he slowed. He glanced up at Phil as he set the plate aside. “So,” he said. “Where’d they go?”

“Errands,” Phil echoed Wilbur’s statement with a serene smile.

Tommy narrowed his eyes at him. “They’re doing crime, aren’t they?”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Maybe just a bit,” he replied.

Tommy frowned. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It was one thing to sit around watching movies with them all. It was another thing to know they were out being supervillains while he was locked in their lair. Would someone else be sent to stop them? Would people get hurt? Would it be Tommy’s fault for trading himself for Tubbo? Especially if they weren’t going to hurt Tubbo in the first place? He shook off the potential guilt for now. “Rude of you guys to make evil villain plots while I’m your prisoner. Aren’t you supposed to be focusing all of your attention on me?”

“Well,” he said, a sort of soft amusement on his face for some reason. “We had to take advantage of our nemesis being unable to interfere with our ‘plots.’ You’ve proven yourself to be quite the obstacle.” He did not seem angry. He actually said ‘nemesis’ almost like someone might say a term of endearment, but this was still dangerous territory.

Tommy decided to proceed with a reckless lack of caution anyway. “That sounds like me,” he said cheekily. “The obstacle.”

Phil smiled softly. “You’re quite good,” he said. It was weird, because this was an enemy who was complementing him, but it still made something bubble happily in his chest.

“I…” he said looking down at his lap. He cleared his throat. “Course I am. I’m a big man hero.”

Phil gave him a look that seemed to see way more than Tommy wanted him to. “Of course,” he said quietly. “I’ve been very impressed by you.”

“I mean,” Tommy said. “I never exactly won. I just didn’t lose.”

“It was three against one and we’re not exactly low-level villains. I was a level 9 hero at one point and that’s just me. Stopping us from getting everything we wanted and managing to get away every time is incredibly impressive.”

Tommy… didn’t know what to say to that. He’d mostly been told the opposite every time he’d returned from fighting them. It was… nice. Phil seemed to notice his inability to speak, and his hand came out to touch his shoulder with a smile. Tommy couldn’t figure out why Phil touching him like that still made him freeze when Wilbur had tried to smother him earlier and he’d been nothing but annoyed.

“So…” Tommy said, trying to ignore the touch. “What exactly are they up to?”

Phil gave him a skeptical look.

“What? It’s not like I can do anything about it. I’m just curious.”

Phil seemed to mull it over. “They’re just going to go after another suppression orb,” he admitted.

Tommy cocked his head at him. “A suppression orb? Is that the thing I snatched out from under you the other day?” Tommy asked.

“They didn’t tell you what it was?” Phil asked. “I’d think they’d want to tell you what you’ve been defending.” Yet, before Tommy could respond, he continued, his tone strangely darker suddenly. “Or maybe not.”

Tommy shook his head. “No, they didn’t tell me.” He bit his lip. Now this might be pushing it… “What do you guys want it for?”

It took Phil a moment to answer, and Tommy started to get a little nervous, but he didn’t get mad and the hand touching Tommy was still gentle. “It’s part of an enchantment we’re working on making,” he said. “It has some other ingredients necessary to make it work, but the suppression orb’s the rarest one.”

“An enchantment?”

Phil hummed. “You know how power neutralizing cuffs work?” Phil asked.

Tommy glanced at the one on his wrist. “Uh… not really?”

“Well, they’re enchanted,” Phil said. “The dust from a suppression orb is one of the main ingredients, actually.”

“Suppression orbs take away powers, then?”

“Not in their raw form, no. They only weaken powers slightly when activated, but they have a much larger range than things like power neutralizers. The Guild probably thinks we’re trying to set up an anti-power weapon or something.”

Tommy tilted his head at the phrasing. “But you’re not?” he asked.

“No,” Phil replied. He studied Tommy intently for a few tense moments. Tommy found himself holding his breath even though he had no idea what Phil was looking for. “We’re actually using it to get around the Netherrealm barrier.”

Tommy’s brain misfired at that. That was not at all even close to what he’d expected Phil to say. “You… I… The hell you’d want to go down there for?”

“Well,” Phil said. “It’s less about us wanting to get in and more about wanting to get people out.”

“You want to get people out?” Tommy asked, honestly dumbfounded.

“Well. One person for now. That’s as much as we could figure out how to do with one suppression orb, and they’re not exactly easy to come by, but eventually the goal would be to get everyone out if not take down the barrier entirely.”

“You… but why?”

“Why?” Phil mused. “I guess because we think it’s wrong. It shouldn’t have existed in the first place, let alone still exist today, but no one is going to do anything about it. No one ever even wants to talk about it.”

Oh, Tommy knew. He knew that. No one on the surface cared and if it got brought up, most people just kind of awkwardly changed the subject. No one ever wanted to talk about it, but now Phil was. Tommy wanted to say something too, but he couldn’t get any words to dislodge from his throat. He didn’t know what he would have said anyway.

“It’s been over a century since the barrier was made, and it was a horrible prison idea to begin with,” Phil continued. “They just left everyone there and forgot about them. Don’t get me wrong, the people put there had done bad things, but none of them are even alive at this point. The original supervillains are all dead. It’s just their children or more likely their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The people down there don’t deserve to be down there. Or maybe some of them do, but who knows if they would have if they hadn’t been down there in the first place. Obviously, I haven’t been there myself, but from what I’ve heard it’s all just a circle of violence that can never peter out because it’s all trapped in together. It needs to end. Even if most of them end up being monsters, they can’t stay down there. Even if most of them end up being monsters, I know there has to be at least one person who doesn’t deserve it. We, the three of us, have decided that we can’t stand by anymore. We can’t just leave everyone down there. So, that’s what the suppression orb is for.”

And that… that was a lot. That was way, way too much actually. It felt like someone had shoved a fire resistance potion down his throat and then forced him to drink lava.

Phil blinked at him in surprise after a few moments, his expression flickering between confused and concerned. His hand moved to touch Tommy’s cheek. “You’re crying,” he said, carefully wiping a bit of wetness away.

“M’not,” Tommy said. “I don’t cry.”

Phil’s nose wrinkled up a bit probably because… yeah… yeah… fuck.

Tommy wasn’t even sure why to be honest because… because logically he knew Phil’s motivations probably went beyond the purely altruistic reasoning he’d just given. The Pit was full of untapped powers and people who would be unwaveringly loyal to someone who freed them from that hell, so it could easily be part of some bigger plot and yet…

And yet, all his brain could pull up was ‘Me. He would have helped me.’ Phil didn’t even know. He’d clearly been trying to convince Tommy that it was the right thing to free them as though he’d disagree, because a lot of people would disagree. So many people would. Yet, without knowing, Phil had just said that at the most basic level possible he cared about the pain and fear not just of the people currently in the Pit now, but also of Tommy’s childhood. Phil was saying it was wrong. He thought Tommy didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve to pay for the crimes of some parents he didn’t even know. And they were not even their crimes, but the crimes of someone 3, maybe even 4 generations removed from him. No one had ever said anything like that before to Tommy.

Phil had just said he wanted to save the group of roaming teenagers who took it upon themselves to make a make-shift nomadic orphanage despite not knowing what the fuck they were doing with babies but saying even if they killed them through negligence or stupidity, it was better than not trying at all. And they had been stupid and negligent, but Tommy was fucking alive to tell the tale.

He wanted to save people like the man who’d taken it upon himself to dress up like the superheroes of old and fight against the relentless tides of evil that walked through the streets. Tommy’d watched him get gutted on the street for the effort, but he’d still made the effort.

He wanted to save the blind old grocery store owner that despite all of the horrible fighting and violence no one ever touched because at some point he’d fed every person in The Pit when they needed it the most and some of them had grown up cruel and deranged, but they never forgot.

He wanted to save the magic seller that had given two 10-year-olds red stone tattoos so they could always know if the other was hurt even though they didn’t have nearly enough to give her for it.

And he wanted to save the murderers and the sadists and the people that bet on how fast a child would die in a ring for fun.

He would have wanted to save Tommy and Tubbo if they hadn’t already saved themselves.

How the fuck was Tommy supposed to deal with that?

The answer was apparently that he fucking couldn’t.

He distantly felt himself being shifted around by arms that had at some point gotten under him. “Here, hush,” Phil’s voice said as he was settled into a lap. Something wrapped around him until his was cocooned between it and Phil’s chest. Feathers. Right: his wings. A soft cloth: a handkerchief or maybe just Phil’s shirt sleeve rubbed carefully across Tommy’s cheeks to clean up the mess there. “It’s okay,” Phil said, and now that Tommy was calming down, he could hear a hint of confusion in his voice still. How the hell was he going to explain this reaction? He almost laughed but was pretty sure Phil would think he was legit insane if he did so at this point, so he settled for shoving the thought away for future Tommy to deal with. He turned his face into Phil’s chest to hide from the inquisitive glint in his eyes and Phil let him for now.

Phil squeezed him a bit tighter against his chest, but it couldn’t possibly be a warning or a threat with the way his wings wrapped protectively over him, and his chin settled on top of his head. Tommy felt himself relaxing into the careful hold despite the way his chest still seized with sobs.

“You’ll be okay,” Phil promised, and it felt like it was maybe not a lie.

Author Note:

Phil: I care about human beings at a fundamental level. This includes human beings like you.

Tommy: Poggers. *has a mental breakdown*

There is fanart for this chapter here!

[deliriumsdelight7]

For the lets get real asks: 💘🎀🍭 (any or all of them please!)

Thank you for the asks, my friend!

💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?

Mmm… not particularly. There’s a few I wouldn’t say no to orphaning because I’ve just thoroughly moved on and have no intention of finishing them (only like three from when I first started posting fic in 2021). I do have @phoenixwrites pestering me (affectionate) to adapt “Lonely Soul, Ocean Soul” to be published. Which I suppose would involve giving it a title that isn’t Nightwish lyrics.

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

RUDE. How dare you make me be nice to myself.

Uhhhhhhmmmmmmmnnnnnnggggggg I think I do a good job of conveying intimacy and vulnerability into smut.

🍭why did you start writing?

I could answer this a half dozen different ways, depending on when we say I “started” writing. Most recently, picture it: Sicily, 1922 2020, COVID lockdown. I had just discovered Once Upon a Time - specifically the Belle/Rumpelstiltskin ship. I’d devoured all the fic on ff.n before remembering that I’d heard of some fanfic website called Archive of Our Own. I started working my way through fic, and I saw one that was always updating but I was too afraid to start because the tags intimidated me: “Golden Cuffs” by @kelyon . When the fic was nearly finished, I started reading and commenting. She encouraged me to join Tumblr, and also to try writing fic. I had a fic in mind (an unwritten one I may never get to where Belle was a victim of revenge porn from Gaston), when I saw a gifset of Robert Carlyle playing guitar. This led me to an indie movie called California Solo, and the biggest fucking loser character I’ve ever had the pleasure of fishing out of a hot dumpster: Lachlan MacAldonich. The movie ended on such an unsatisfying note that I HAD to continue it in fic. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[theheightofdishonor]

That page of hinata looking back at a Kageyama that gave him the first toss ever before falling out of fever and exhaustion. Your tags were interesting could u pls break it down?? Is it a full circle of view from the top narrative or Kageyama being the first setter to give him a toss so a silent thank you?

Ngl I write so much about haikyuu and tumblr's search is so bad that I wasn't able to pinpoint the post you're talking about but i'm pretty sure it's about these panel from ch 364 during the kamomedai match. (if it's not, feel free to send another ask and i'll do my best to reply)

In a way it is a full circle moment, both for their partnership but also for Karasuno and where the two of them stand within the team? Hmm, i'l try to explain this.

So the panel on the left is the first time Kageyama's ever set for Hinata, back in ch 4 when they're practicing for the 3 on 3 match. And at the time, Kageyama was refusing to set for Hinata because well, Hinata sucks and Kageyama won't set for people who are unnecessary to win. But they're still together, practicing recieves at like 5:30 in the morning because they don't really have a choice but to work together and then this happens

And Kageyama- who has been frustrated this entire time because no one else around him understand, who struggles with being the only one who is always going for every ball with the same desperate desire- is inexplicably moved by this, by Hinata putting in this much effort and hurting himself for a ball that ultimately doesn't matter much at the end of a long practice when he's getting tossed to by a guy who doesn't even respect him. So finally, after like 3 chapters of refusing to set for Hinata, Kageyama finally does. And it's significant that he's doing it here when when Hinata's exhausted and just completed a decent receive and for once, not actually asking for or expecting a set (it's a bit of a challenge too: i'm finally giving you this but when you're in a terrible condition, do you still want it?; it's a bit of a plea: won't you show me again? that you'll try for volleyball, that you won't give up no matter how tired, no matter how hard?)

Back to the present moment, it's in some ways the same thing but upgraded, a measure of how far they've come that Hinata can make an excellent receive and Kageyama looks at him and says, nope not enough come here now and finish it, won't you? and Hinata does!! Because he will always rise to the occasion, always drag himself back up if it means he can spike and all of these are facts that are firmly entrenched in both of them now

Back then Kageyama could barely dare to hope that someone would ever be able to match him and now he knows Hinata will and look at the way he fucking revels in the knowledge of all that.

But there is something else that's changed too. Namely that it's not just the two of them anymore.

It's not just Hinata now that can rise to Kageyama's expectations, it's all of Karasuno. It would be soo easy for any of them to not jump at the end of the 6th set of the day after back to back matches but they do. All of them jump, all of them are here now, caring just as much about volleyball and putting in just as much effort and the team as a whole is in sync, they're all united in this desire and it's a measure of how far they've all come together too.

And with the look at the end,

I think it's one part that they just completed something really cool and with each other so they're like reveling in the moment together but also one part that Kageyama sees Hinata fall and he realizes what's happening before everyone else does because he already suspected Hinata's sick and because he's got this uncanny knack for reading Hinata.

I think that covered everything about my thoughts on that panel. I hope this was what you were looking for, if it's not , feel free to send another ask clarifying like I said before. Also this ask gave me a much appreciated excuse to reread the Komamedai ask so thanks for that, anon.

[toas-tea]

20 questions for fic writers

Hello. It's your girl and local toaster oven.

I was tagged by @fandomsbyladymelodrama uhh this is like the first post I've made on tumblr since forever so pls forgive.

How many works do you have on AO3? 18

What's your total AO3 word count? 106,955

What fandoms do you write for? A lot of GoT (Game of Thrones), A few for Arcane, and just recently FF7 (Final Fantasy 7).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? imperfect, paradox, pragma, dunamis, x bombs x bullets.

Do you respond to comments?

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't think there is any. They all have a happy/hopeful ending because I know nothing else.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them, lul.

Do you get hate on fics? The only hate I received was recently and it's not even real hate. It was just a bot-generated guest comment. I was disappointed and my day was ruined. How dare no one hate me.

Do you write smut? No because there are so many other folks who write it better than I ever could so I just mooch off of them like I'm at a five-star restaurant (thank you for the food, besties)

Do you write crossovers? No.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? PFFFFFFFF-

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have no idea if that one fic I wrote based off of @salzrand's art with the guitar counts.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Jorleesi (GoT) got me back into fanfic writing so I'ma have to go with them. Tsengru (FF7) is def a close second.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I plead the fifth.

What are your writing strengths? Memes.

What are your writing weaknesses? Writing.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? *Angry Valyrian noises*

First fandom you wrote for? If we wanna go way way back to my 14 year-old tween self, KHR (Katekyo Hitman Reborn).

Favorite fic you've written? Gotta be Paradox. Thanks to the lovely and talented writers behind GoT, I was at my lowest point post 8x03 like many others. The trauma motivated me start typing away for the first time in over a decade since my last fic on FF.net. Personally, I don't think it's my greatest piece, but it's definitely one that came from the deepest pit of my soul and jumpstarted everything for me on AO3.

[keldae]

For the fic asks:

Every….third question!

LET'S GOOOOO =D

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

You want me to pick ONE?? Maaaan... I think I gotta go with this scene from the Soulmate AU we're co-writing! ;)

A second later, cold fire bit into Devi’s neck. She hissed as she felt Astarion close his lips over her skin, eagerly drinking in the blood that trickled out of her veins. Her heart raced in her chest as she fought the urge to squirm. How much blood did he need from her again? How long was she supposed to let him feed off of her? She set her hands on Astarion’s cold chest, ready to push him off. She felt cold, and her limbs had started to tingle. Shit, had he already taken too much of her blood? Abruptly, she felt a pull in her chest, coupled with the sudden, sharp sense of something being wrong. Before she could move, she felt alarm that wasn’t her own, followed swiftly by protective wrath. “Ignis!”

6. least popular fic this year

Probably A Very Fine Line, which was also the only SWTOR fic I got out this year. I guess all my AO3 followers nowadays are following me for BG3 content and not SWTOR, or maybe I just didn't tag this one well! But easily the lowest hit count I've had for fics written this year.

9. longest wip of the year

The modern!AU we're working on, hands-down! We're over 70K words between the two of us and STILL early-ish in the story!

12. favorite character to write about this year

Going off canon characters only, EASILY Gale. ;) Out of all my BG3 fics (60!), he's not tagged as a main character in like... THREE of them.

The rest of the questions under the cut!

15. something you learned this year

"Found Family" is my favourite trope (which I think I knew before anyway, I just never actually said it?), and I'm a more versatile writer than I know! Some writers focus primarily on one or two genres (which makes them masters of their craft!), I tend to bounce between everything that's not horror-related. ;) Angst? Domestic fluff? Smut? I probably have a fic for that!

18. current number of wips

... A lot. >.> The Soulmate AU and the modern AU are at the top of the list, but if I pull up my Google Docs with my assorted one-shot starts...

*counts on fingers*

... 16, I think? And that's just the ones I've started writing, not the assorted prompts in my inbox that I've pasted into a doc so I remember what the prompt is, LOL.

21. most memorable comment/review

All hail @kitoanthony for almost literally making me cry with her beautiful, thoughtful comments on almost every BG3 story I post! Her first one on the second chapter/epilogue of Abduction came the day after I got dumped over Discord, and it completely MADE MY WEEK. <3

24. favorite fic you read this year

HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE.

Okay so I don't think I can find it again, but there was a Gale/Tav smutfic I found here on Tumblr that involved some professor/student roleplay (listen, I have a kink dammit) and it has lived in my head rent-free ever since I read it. I wish I could remember the author!

27. favorite fanfic author of the year

That's like asking me to pick a favourite child! D: I have loved every author I've read from this year, for all the different reasons - sometimes I want shameless smut, and sometimes I want fluff!

30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

To nobody's surprise, BG3. ;) But a special shout-out to the DATV fic writers who are doing their damn best to get me on the Lucanis romance train! (First I need to get the damn game... which means I should probably finish DA2 and DAI first...)

[ohmyoverland]

Fic Writer Questions

Thanks for the tag @anything-thats-rock-and-roll :D

1. How many fics do you have on AO3? 26

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 25, 570

3. What fandoms do you write for? Except for a few one-offs and my 3 Anne With An E fics, I write Lockwood & Co. 💚⚔

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

After Chameleon, an unbetad Miraculous Ladybug salt fic written before the actual episode had come out. It accidentally blew up asldkfjhjkl

On My Mind, a Detroit: Become Human rk1k ficlet where Connor can read minds.

All the Words I Don't Have, pure grade A Locklyle fluff

are we out of touch, are we out of time? AWAE Season 3 speculative fic that is actually an expanded version of a tumblr post I wrote after the penultimate episode of the series premiered.

wavering, my cot3 pining + character study fic. I'm really proud of it and I promise chapter 3 is coming eventually lmao

5. Do you respond to comments? I don't 😭 I want to but I never know what to say and before I know it, the comment is 2 years old oops. I reread comments all the time ❤

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That's tough to say for sure but I think every lessons forms a new scar ending with an off-screen character death is probably the most angst I've ended with so far.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? That would have to be All the Words I Don't Have again. Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. And Lockwood writes some really bad poetry.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do sometimes, and it's not published yet.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Another Change of Plans is the most tumblr WIP I have lol. It dares to start asking the question, "What if the Old Guard adopted Adam Young, the antichrist from Good Omens?"

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Sort of? There was one collab fic I wrote a scene for but it never got finished. Someday I might post my part, because ngl I'm pretty proud of the Skull/Lucy banter in it.

13. What’s your all time favorite ship? How could I ever choose??? By bookmark stats, it would be Marinette and Adrien from Miraculous Ladybug. But cot3 (Lockwood & Co) and Superbat (DC) are up there too.

14. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? A better question is what isn't a WIP I'll never finish??? I have dozens 😭 Though one that stands out is an old Frozen fic I outlined in I think 2018(?). The premise is a canon divergence where Anna's death is faked when they're children and she's raised in the village instead of in the castle. There are two full acts that are just set up for a The Prince And Me/Princess Diaries-esque rom-com between suddenly-a-princess Anna and just-a-normal-guy Kristoff.

The outline on its own is about 8k words, and frankly I've considered editing and posting the outline itself before because it's detailed enough. This fic is actually a drabble I wrote to take place within my AU, but it reads canon compliant enough of its own so I posted it.

15. What are your writing strengths? Ideas. I am always getting new plot bunnies, always getting excited about the next great idea, always thinking about new aspects of these worlds and characters I want to explore.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue and volume. That's why I write so many descriptive, very short fics XD

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'd only do it in a language I've studied for a couple years, and even then I would want a native speaker to read over it for me. But it hasn't come up yet?

I do really like Superbat or Star Trek fics where the author sparingly includes Kryptonian / Klingon / Vulcan with a translation at the end.

18. First fandom you wrote for? My Little Pony, or maybe Percy Jackson?? I'm too scared to check my old accounts to see which came first, if I ever even posted the fics I remember writing then at all.

19. Favorite fic you’ve written? building glass castles for sure!!! I love the atmosphere in it, and the monologue from Skull. That monologue came to me in the middle of the night once, so I had to type it up immediately and build the fic around it later.

No pressure tags @sabetha @synestheticwanderings @abumperprize @lenacarstairspotterstewart @woahpip @flythesail @shizuoi