#after i update the other two wips i might just go and finish them one at a time

[depressedstressedlemonzest]

The flaming pineapple in my inner monologue as I go to bed.

[galvanizedfriend]

Klaroline WIP Wednesday

This is my humble contribution to this wip Weds! It's a tiny little snippert from the next chapter of Speed Dating, which has been sitting untouched for way too long. Genuinely hoping this might give me the will to keep going because I am this 🤏 close to the finish line (before editing starts and the finish line gets away from me again but shhhh, we're not going there yet).

--

She doesn't see Elijah again for the next two days. Whatever he's in town for, he either glides around the apartment like a ghost or their schedules are totally at odds. If not for the extravagantly fancy woolen overcoat by the door and what she has quickly learned is a very particular brand of moodiness for Klaus, she would've thought he'd already left.

It's probably for the best, considering the horror of that first meeting, but curiosity is an unscratchable itch. Elijah has intrigued her for years, more so than any of Klaus’ other siblings. Putting a face - well, a little more than a face, really - to the person is a given, but she can't help the desire to dig deeper. It’s in her nature to be nosy. About him, about Klaus, about the whole family. 

Despite the fact she's lived with one and been friends with another for years, the Mikaelsons remain a mystery to her. The more she knows, the more confusing it gets. Nothing about them seems to make much sense, and Caroline hasn't even decided if that's a super-rich, children of the 1% thing, or if the Mikaelsons are especially wacky even among their peers.

After two days, though, she's just about lost hope of bumping into Elijah again. She doubts he'll be staying for much longer, especially with Klaus' cordial show of hospitality. Not that Elijah seemed bothered - being rude to siblings for no apparent reason seems to be one of those things that are normal by Mikaelson standard. It's just how they operate.

She's just back from a shift at the hospital, idly scrolling through her Instagram while she waits for the microwave to deliver her sad leftover dinner. Bitterly, she realizes it has been months since she last updated her feed. Her last photo is with Tyler, for crying out loud. Should she even keep it there? What's the etiquette for when you break up with someone for no earth-shattering reasons, the relationship just fizzling out and running its course? Is it rude to delete all evidence of him from her social media records? Is it expected? Will he be upset? Has he deleted her from his social media? 

In fact, now that she thinks about it... Is Tyler even seeing anyone?

"Huh," she mumbles to herself, fully internalizing in that second how truly messy her life has become that she hasn't even cyber-stalked her ex to know what he's been up to since they broke up. That's a whole new level of rock bottom unlocked, right there.

"Miss Forbes?"

Caroline nearly drops her phone when she looks up to find Elijah standing by the kitchen door. She swears to God the man is unnaturally feline; she didn't even hear him approach.

Unlike in their first encounter, he's now fully clothed and, unsurprisingly, he looks just as good as he did without a stitch on. Maybe better. His suit looks as though it was sewn directly onto his body by an Italian master tailor. The range of that man.

"Hey!" She cringes at her high pitch, standing up straight. 

His smile is affable as he steps further into the kitchen. "Do I interrupt?"

"What? No. I was just scrolling."

Caroline feels suddenly very self-conscious of just how crazy frumpy she must look standing in front of Elijah. The man is a poster boy for wellness and prosperity, while she is... Well. Not.

Suffice to say she's wearing a Timberwolves t-shirt from her long-gone cheerleading days in high school with at least five visible holes on it.

"I've been meaning to apologize for that horrid incident the other day," he starts. Caroline wouldn’t have brought the incident up, assuming he would rather forget it ever happened, but if it causes him any measure of discomfort to have been butt naked in front of a complete stranger, he does not show, which - now that she thinks about, is something else that feels very Mikaelson-esque. They do all seem to be incredibly comfy in their own skins. "Niklaus warned me that you would be home soon, but my despair for a proper shower was stronger than caution. I should've been more careful."

"You don't have to apologize. It's fine. It was nothing." That would've been a good place to stop. A very mature and dignified let's leave it at that and never mention it again. But her stupid mouth just keeps going. "I see naked people all the time at the hospital. It's totally unremarkable." Elijah's eyebrows inch upwards into a mildly curious expression. "I don't mean that you are unremarkable!" she corrects, and then, getting immediately horrified at the implications, adds, "You're not - I mean, you're ok, you're - obviously. Not that I was looking, I wasn’t - I just mean - You know what? I'm just gonna shut up now." She snaps her lips sealed, half-wishing that a hole would open underneath her feet and suck her into the magma of the earth.

[night-market-if]

I was wondering if demo games mean that its not/never will be the full game, cause im a college student n dont want to spend money on what some might consider like “in app purchases” but i love playing these games, so what is a demo? Why do people release them or is it just general knowledge that any game listed as a demo isint and never will be a complete story? I see demo games with update screens where they plan to add content and i get confused if this is a full game just waiting for morec or if i would need to go buy something.

I can't speak for other IF authors because I don't know.

For me, book 1 is released and it is not a demo any longer. It is available for purchase as an entire game right now on both Steam and Itch.io. It will occasionally receive an update to fix bugs or what not. I have two other complete works out as well that are related to book one.

Book 2, however is in a WIP format. So I consider it a demo. I release it as I write it. But it is still in need of some heavy editing and expansion in areas. There may also be breaks in it that will just not get fixed this round. When I'm done, I take the entire game down. Go over it for a few months to polish it and add, and then release it for sale. But the WIP is free. If you want early access to a chapter, you have to join Patreon but I put it out about two weeks later for the public.

Everyone does it differently so it's worth talking to the authors. Most demos are free though and are just in the WIP state. Or they are full demos that are giving you a taste of the real game. I have a free demo on itch.io for book 1. But book 1 is complete and available for purchase after.

But, just as a heads up, most IF's will probably not reach full release status. A lot of people do go into this not realizing the time it might take. Or they go into it and lose drive halfway through. So just be careful. Get to know the community and you will get a sense for which authors will be finishing and which ones won't.

Hope this helps.

[brilla-brilla-estrellita]

An ask game for writers to procrastinate working on you WIP(s)

Whoaaaa thank you for the tags @shrekgogurt, @bookish-bogwitch, @thewholelemon, @cutestkilla, @monbons, @drowninginships, and @blackberrysummerblog! I'm pretty sure that's everyone! I love being tagged in shit.

1. 🦈Tell us the name of your/ one of your WIP(s): So you just like... have names for them? Before you post them?

I will say that for once, a name did come to me, so one of them is tentatively titled Fettuccine and Foreplay, but I might change it because Foreplay is misleading. I'm sorry to say that it is not smutty, and the events are questionably even foreplay. But the alliteration. And Fettuccine and Flirting just doesn't have the same ring to it.

2. 🍄Describe your WIP/one of your WIP(s) in the format of “___ + ___ =___” God, why am I so bad at this?

Nevermore Academy + Penny = offensive assumptions, defensive students, and a magical breakthrough waiting to happen

3. 🌍What tags or warnings will one of your WIP(s) need if you intend to share it? uhhhhhh. I don't usually think about tags until I'm ready to post, so I am not prepared for this question... I can't really think of anything. Which makes me feel like my stories are hella boring.

Update after finishing and rediscovering an old wip: fluff! yay fluff.

4. 🧭An alternative title to one of your WIP(s)? Alternative titles??? So not only do you have titles, you also have extras laying about????

I guess I already talked about it in #1, but Fettuccine and Flirting. I do not like it.

5. ⚠️Which WIP you're most likely to finish or update next? Probably the Fettuccine one. It's a one-shot and a good portion done (almost ready for a beta, I think?). I like to write the whole story before I start posting, so the Wednesday x CO crossover is going to take a goooooood while. Idk how many chapters it is yet, I just know it's more than 3.

6. 💾What is your document of your WIP/ a WIP called? (not the stories actual title but what you’ve saved it as) I think my most interesting one is called Sundays With Gran. It's more of a drabble that I might work into a story at some point than it is an actual WIP though. But my actual WIPs have uninteresting names.

7. 🖍Post Any sentence(s) from your WIP.

It’s especially hard to believe in this reality when there’s a glow, a sparkle, a buzz around even the most mundane of sights when Simon is involved.

That's not even from a WIP I've already mentioned. I rediscovered this one while looking at document titles for this post!

8. ♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP. I have one fic, the one from #7, where I originally wanted musings from each of the main 4, which each describing what's happening through focusing on a different sense or set of senses. Like Simon would be taste or touch, Penny would be sound, Baz would be sight, and Shep would be touch or smell. But that felt too restrictive. Senses are still a big part of it, of course, and there may still be strong affinities for one sense over another for each character, but they'll experience with the most appropriate sense for the moment.

9. 🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet? I really want to write more CO x Heartstopper (which we're calling Snowstopper because we're so clever) fics, but I'm making good progress on these other two and I'm afraid I'll lose the momentum if I start on the next Snowstopper idea. So I'll leave that for Kat to start in the meantime.

10. 🤡How many WIPS are you actively working on? At the beginning of this post, 2. As of #7, 3!

11. 🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now? So many! I think I need to rewrite much of what started the Wednesday x CO fic. The entire first two chapters don't feel quite in character for Penny.

And then most of this rediscovered fic, for now called Tiny Dots. (Hey look! A title!) Like I said before, it's character musings, and I'm not sure how to string them together in a way that feels cohesive.

12. ❤️Not a question, just a second Kudos to send.

I feel like I procrastinated on this procrastination game for so long that everyone else has already done it! I'm sorry if you've already been tagged 100 times, and especially if you've already done it and I missed it, buuuuut: @onepintobean @martsonmars @facewithoutheart umm... if you haven't been tagged, but want to be tagged, consider yourself tagged (or tell me and I'll update this post with your tag and no one has to know).

[bearhugsandshrugs]

Bearhugsandshrugs Update – April '24: Discord, beta reader match ups, WIPs, book writing!

Hey all, it's been a while since I shared an update!

TL;DR: Updates on fics, community things, and my life!

Last time I told you about the book proposal I wrote for my agent, and I managed to complete that and submit it! Even better news was that she liked it. So I will refine parts of the story I wrote to incorporate her feedback, and then in a month or so it'll go out to publishing houses in the hopes that someone buys it! Keep your fingers crossed for me so your girl gets published :)

Admin: Discord Server, Community, Pinned Post

In case you missed it: I launched a discord server where we hangout to talk about Gort and writing. Last week we finished the first writing buddy match up, where I paired six writers with a buddy so they can beta each other's fics. It made me super happy that the community came together in that way!

There will also be a super cool event coming soon that @littleplasticrat came up with, I'll share more on that next week when I have more headspace to give this the hype post it deserves. Just teasing a bit: it does involve Gorty and fashion :3

I also published a new lore & theory masterlist for BG3 and I'm working on compiling the drabbles and headcanon lists, too.

WIPs

In March I already told you that I was moving all WIPs to May, maybe even June. Since I'll be traveling in May, I might or might not have time to work on the WIPs.

Worthy Chapter 3: Structure is drafted. ETA hopefully in May

Folie Chapter 7: I scrapped the entire structure. While I'm motivated to write Raph and Haarlep again, I'm not particularly fond of my original idea so I have to redo the last chapter, ETA probably June

Durgetash series (concept linked) and Raphael series (concept linked): on hold for now. Neither of them grabbed my attention long enough for me to do more with it.

There's one fic/art trade I'm going to write for @tatterings and it's likely either going to be Astarion or monster fucking. So keep an eye out for that.

Series

Both MAD and Gorsimp are continuing! I'm sketching out Act 3 for MAD which we're about to enter. Due to life stuff I changed to posting schedule to every two weeks for MAD, while Gorsimp continues to update 1-2x a week (mostly thanks to @bloodlessbhaalbabe's incredible discipline on keeping us on a schedule).

And in more MAD news, I made a playlist for that fic! Give it a listen if you want to cry.

Other stuff

I'm slowly coming back online after a few really bad months of physical and emotional health turmoil. I'm okay for now and I've been taking care of myself, creating some distance from the fandom to protect my peace of mind, and I'll probably continue to take it slow for a while.

Last time I said I'd do another giveaway when I hit 1k followers. Since I've barely been on I haven't made much progress – it's about 50 followers or so away, but this blog isn't really growing right now. Guess I'm getting a much needed break from taking on too many WIPs :D anyway, I just wanted to say it's still on my mind, but I don't particularly feel the need to promote it because it'll happen when it happens.

Something cool to celebrate in the meantime: Folie à Deux hit over 1,000 kudos on AO3! Crazy to me!!! Thank you all so much. I can't believe that many people pressed the kudos button on my unhinged monster fucking fantasies <3 And to give you a peak behind the curtain here are the non-public stats for that fic:

Last but not least: If you do want to show me some love consider tipping me on Ko-fi? I promise for every coffee you buy me I'll share a pic of that beverage on here or the discord!

Hope you all take care of yourselves!

– Em

[ofmermaidstories]

Let me preface this by saying I did check your FAQ but I didn't see this there yet I still find it hard to believe no one has asked you this at least a thousand times so if they did and I just missed it I'm sorry and you can delete this ask but—

You write such beautiful, detailed fics with lots of foreshadowing that often starts from the very beginning of the story. I think you made an author note once about only posting the first chapter of a fic after you've written the whole thing (or maybe that was Andie...?). If so, is the time between updates just you going through and rereading / editing like 100k words?

Basically, I want to ask: what is your fic planning process like? From the moment you get a first idea to posting the last chapter, what does I look like? I think you're a really, really amazing (one of the absolute best if not THE best) author but I cannot fathom how one human being can write such mammoths of fanfiction and stay motivated enough to finish them.

Also you're already planning Halloween stuff ?? You plan things literally half a year in advance?? Are you even human? We don't deserve you. 😭

You called yourself lazy in the webcomic post but I think you must work unbelievably hard to make such high quality stuff and without even getting compensation for it. You're amazing and I'm very thankful to exist in the right timeline and fandom to read your work. :,)

(oh my god this became such a ramble I'm sorry)

Oh Ari. 🥺 Hello.

I update as I write! So that was probably Andie, lmao, who’s definitely the better example to follow when it comes to plotting/completing a fic. 🥺 She’s amazing and if I could fashion myself after any other writer in our niche, it would be Andie hands down!

But okay, let’s get into it. 📝

A little disclaimer, before we start; I did not go to school for any of this lmfao. The most relevant education I have behind me is a extra-circular literature class I had during my last two years of high-school. The only reason the following works for me is because I’ve cobbled it together from years of trial and error. You can read advice and watch youtube videos about the writing habits of famous authors, but you have to tailor everything you hear to suit you and the way you work. The best advice in the world from the highest paid author in the world won’t work if you’re not wired in the same way! You have to take everything about yourself and what you like and what you want into account!

Part I—first we take Manhattan

start ur fic lol

First thing’s first; I’m a plotter. I don’t pants. If I pants, I lose interest—I need to have the final vision in front of me, even if it’s just a bullet point. I have to know what I’m working towards. That is crucial to literally everything I do. Every fic you see on AO3, every WIP I’ve mentioned working on or wanting to work on—I have always known two things about them, immediately: the hook that gets us in there, and how they end.

So for fics in particular, the start might look something like—I get an idea (I want Reader and Bakugou to kiss). And then I sit there and I brainstorm to myself (What’s stopping them from kissing? Why does Reader want to kiss someone so rude when there’s so many other nice boys out there? Is Reader particularly kissable?). And then, if I’m lucky, I think of an ending (Reader and Bakugou finally kiss, but he’s the one that initiates it, because he’s always wanted to, because he likes that Reader always wears a yellow coat to work—it’s ugly and it sticks out among the black and tan ones of the crowd but he comes to associate it—and thus Reader—with routine and his mornings going well).

This is often the most fragile time of an idea. That hook (Reader and Bakugou kiss) might fall apart with a bit more prodding (why would they kiss? Reader’s a stranger to him; most of us don’t go around kissing random strangers just because we like their coats). Or maybe the hook sticks (they spend almost years in orbit around each other, a constant near-miss) but the ending doesn’t work (I don’t know how to move Bakugou to a position where he can kiss Reader, where he has the opportunity to). For every idea you see in action, or listed, there’s like three more that died during this stage and are now being cannibalised for spare parts.

Part II—running up that hill (a deal with fic)

work work work

If our idea survives, we then move to the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” stage; which manifests itself in this case as a doc, where I’ll just write any and all ideas I have for this little world so far.

For fanfics, it’ll generally look like—

TITLE

SUMMARY: Bakugou and Reader kiss.

(in which Bakugou first notices you because of your ugly yellow coat)

📝 Reader is allergic to diary products; for ages Bakugou thinks of her as That Cheesy Extra, because of the colour of her coat. She laughs when she eventually learns about this. (“I can’t even eat cheese,” you complain)

📝 Reader stops walking past the coffee shop Bakugou gets his coffee at, one day; moves??? Leaves the city to help a friend out for a few months. Despite himself it throws Bakugou off-kilter, and when he sees someone (not Reader) in a yellow coat during a villian attack, he momentarily loses focus—gets injured???? The news of his injury makes the news, Reader sees it in Bumblah nowhere.

📝 Her coat is donated accidentally by a roommate, in a mix up, for a charity she’s volunteering at; when Reader returns to the city, she has to make do with a new one, a more neutral colour. Bakugou recognises her anyway and that’s when he realises it was never about the coat (!!!!)

Like, this is actually a pretty good approximation of what all my current fics have looked like, at that stage, before I tidied them up and refined them into proper outlines. Because that’s what will happen next, once we have a rough idea of what we want! Things get moved, or removed—tightened. A rough plot outline takes shape! If I get any ideas for a sequel or a spin off that I might want to do, I’ll note them here (Reader’s roommate, Roomie, who’s working at a charity—eventually meets Shinsou, who’s working on a case. She thinks he’s homeless; he doesn’t realise. They carry on like this for a while.)

Once I have a rough outline (rough meaning in bulletpoints), I’ll start on my more in-depth outlines—I do these chapter by chapter! I say this a lot, but they’re basically a really rough version of said chapter. So it might look like:

Reader’s walking to work; it’s cold enough that’s she’s wearing her coat. There’s a new coffee-shop opened on the corner—it’s full, popular, you think it might be because it’s at a crossroads between two different Pro Hero agencies. Reader glances at the window, interested, but then a friend calls out and you hurry along. Bakugou, inside the coffee-shop waiting for Half and Half to get his order, is affronted; your coat is ugly as shit, and he complains loudly about it to Shouto, who mentions something about Baku. having no room to complain about ugly colour choices.

The swap between Reader/You happens a lot because I’m not using my brain properly, at this stage—I’m just shovelling the sand I need into the sandbox. Once I finish my shovelling, I go back and I rewrite it—but better, LMAO. I flesh things out, I throw things away as needed, I add things in. It’s basically really, really intensive handholding and I would not recommend it for anyone who’s already daunted by the idea of plotting; I do it because if I don’t have a chaperone there (aka my outline) then I’m prone to getting distracted. I am basically the fanfic equivalent of the undiagnosed ADHD kid at the back of the class that only gets work done when they’re sat right in front of the teacher (and even then, there’s like a 50% chance it’s not actually work that’s happening but doodles of that weird pointy S thing over and over again).

Once it’s done, though, we have a completed chapter! I then post it and wait like a little crab under some rocks for people to be tricked into being nice to me, and then I dig back in and think nice thoughts about repeating this process to get chapter two. Eventually I will—and viola! Another chapter! We repeat that over and over until we get to the end of our original outline and we have a finished story. 😌📖

Part III—you’re on your own kid

motivation

No one ever likes this part, or what I’m about to say, because at best it sounds like saccharine fodder and at worse it’s out of touch with most people’s experiences in fandom, but—the only way to stay motivated when doing a long-haul fic is that you have to do it for yourself.

People are so kind to me, about the fics I’ve done; it’s part luck and part what I choose to write and part how I write it. And I mean—I share them because I want a little bit of attention, lmao, that’s natural because we’re humans, we all want attention. But here’s the thing, here’s the secret—I take these fics 110% deadly seriously. LOL. That sounds like a joke, but I do! I do that because it’s how I’m built and how I keep myself interested in them—because taking them seriously means I’m more invested in realising the ending I’ve imagined for them since day one.

If other people stopped being so nice about what I was writing, I would be sad—anyone would. 🥺 We all want to be told that we’ve done a good job. But I’ve had the ending for the Deku fic, for example, in my head since it’s predecessor was on-going. That is literal years of knowing how I want Izuku and Scribble’s story to end. If everyone disappeared tonight I would sulk, hardcore, and then I would finish that last chapter anyway. I would finish it because I’ve spent so much time and energy working on that story that not finishing it is a disservice to the world I built around those characters and most importantly to myself. I probably wouldn’t stress as much about it, LOL, if the audience shrunk back down to just me, but I’d still do it. 🥺

I write—and try to finish—these fics because I deserve to see them finished. I want the completed tick, on ao3. I want to look at it and know that I can do it—that I can start something as simple as Bakugou hating on some rando’s yellow coat, and bring it to the finish-line where they finally come together, and see each other, without the yellow coat or through a coffee-shop window.

And this is what I mean by like, tailoring things to suit you—because I know others might be perfectly content to imagine the ending for themselves, without writing it. Or maybe they don’t want to treat fic seriously, because it’s fun escapism. Maybe disappointment that it’s not received like they thought it would be sours the whole experience of fandom for someone—there’s no right or wrong to this. I know I can write for an audience of just me because I’ve done it before. The satisfaction has always come back to the same thing—knowing I finished it, and wrapped that world up as best as I could. You have to pick and choose your poison—and then you have to run with it.

I hope that answers at least some of your questions, Ari. 🥺 Thank-you for such a thoughtful ask; for being so sweet. 🥺 You’re amazing, and I’m the thankful one—I’m glad we’re here, together. 🌷🌾✨📖

[hollyethecurious]

CS WIP Wednesday Challenge - Week 2

Week 2

👵 Your oldest posted WIP (can you even remember what year it was when that one first went up?)

So, when I read this week's challenge... I cringed.

Why, you may ask?

Because my oldest posted WIP is one I've pretty much given up on. In fact, I have two unfinished WIPS that, at the moment, I have pretty much written off and have resigned myself to the probability of never finishing. I completely lost steam on them and have zero intentions of trying to muster up any inspiration for them when I have other stories I am actively passionate about.

You have no idea how much it pains me to say that, but that's the truth of the matter and I'm really sorry to disappoint any of you who were hoping I might get back to them during this challenge.

That said... I do have one unfinished, posted fic that I am actively working on and that I focused my efforts towards updating this past week.

Pan Says...

I am thrilled to report that the next chapter is finished and is currently being looked over by my betas. As soon as they've gone over it, I will share it with all of you.

I also wanted to share that in addition to Pan Says... I've been hard at work on my CS Grimm AU for the @cssns, and added roughly 11k words on it this week! I can't wait to share it with y'all!

I want to thank @captainswanwipwednesdays once again for putting this challenge together, and appreciate all the love, support, and patience y'all have shown us struggling authors.

Enjoy this snippet from Part Nine of Pan Says... and be on the look out for the full chapter, which will be posting soon!

“I don’t know who you are, or what sort of game you’re playing at, but this isn’t funny!” Emma glanced at the monitor overhead, the timer quickly counting down the minutes she had left to try and convince David that she was really Emma, that she was alive, and in need of his help. “David Robert Nolan, shut the fuck up and listen to me!” she yelled over the receiver. “What did you just call me?” “I called you by your full government name,” she said. “David Robert, after your father, Nolan. Or would you prefer I call you Charming like Mary Margaret does?” “How do you know--” “Because it’s me, David! It’s Emma! I’m alive and I need your help!” “Emma?” he questioned over the line, the hope she knew he wasn’t sure he should dare to feel leaking into his tone. “Is it really you? How? Where are you? Where have you been? Who did they pull out of the--” “Just listen, okay?” she interrupted as the time rapidly dwindled. “I don’t know who that woman was or how he faked my death, but I was abducted three weeks ago by someone who calls himself Pan. I was taken from outside the police station after dropping off a skip. I was tasered. I’m here with a man named Captain Killian Jones. He has a brother named Liam, who also was led to believe that Killian was missing for reasons other than kidnapping. I need you to find him. He’ll be trying to get a hold of you, because Killian just called him, too, and let him know what’s been going on.” She flicked her gaze to Killian, still looking shell-shocked from the emotionally charged conversation he’d had with his brother. He’d wanted to stay by her side whilst she made her call, but she’d told him to go sit and take a moment. They’d be there for one another later. It was why they’d chosen to wait and make these calls before turning in for the night. So they could just lay in bed and hold each other in the aftermath. “What has been going on?” David demanded, bringing Emma’s focus back to her brother. “Why would this Pan person take you? What has he… are you alright? Has he hurt you? Did you escape, is that why you’re calling now? Do I need to come get--” “No, we haven’t escaped. We… we sort of… earned a reward. Look. It’s too much to explain right now. I’m going to give you some specs of the place we’re being held in. Write them down so you can give them to the police.” Emma waited as David searched for a pen and paper, her heart thudding wildly in her chest as the timer continued to draw closer to zero.

My ao3 | ff.net | buy me a coffee | add to tag list | Curious? Come Ask Me!

[burning-academia-if]

I decided on doing monthly updates for BA, so I'll be doing a brief overview of November's progress! I'll also add an 'around the blog' section because some notable things happened/were posted! I doubt this part will be monthly, but if I have a busy month here, I'll add it since I know it's easy to miss some things!

Progress Report:

Updated the demo back in the start of November with general fixes.

Finished the (very rough) first draft of Chapter 1! Current word count is just over 23k, but I'm going back to edit and add scenes/flavor text.

Added scenes/notes to the general outline.

Finished Chapter 2's detailed outline.

Decided to officially add in the poly routes! (remind me to update the main post with them at some point lmfaO). These routes include: Beck/Rook for Dawn and Day paths, Rook/??? for Night path, and Rhea and Zoe for Dawn and Dusk paths! Beck/Rook and Rook/??? are triads ie all 3 of you have romantic feelings for each other. Rhea and Zoe is a V ie they both have romantic feelings for you but not each other (although they'll have a close friendship).

Around the blog:

Painted and posted all the RO portraits!

1k follower bonus stories: Rook's and ???'s

Favorite ask/answer: Some facts about MC's family and Orpheus/Eurydice

General:

With all that out of the way, progress may slow a bit and I might be a little more scarce because I finally got a job! I can't say when Chapter 1 is going to be out, but it should be no later then January (I also made a chaotic decision to do two game jams in December because why not?). This is mostly because I want to finish setting up all the stat pages and have them ready for the next update as well! I'm guessing after edits Chapter 1 will total anywhere between 25k to 30k words. With all that being said, have a very wip preview of chapter 1:

[Text version]

'...You...are..."

You grimace, eyes blinking once. Then twice. You've never slept walked before in your life, but now you find yourself with one hand bracing against the sink counter in the bathroom. Your other hand hovers, palm out, gaze latched onto it by an unknown force.

"What…?" You stumble back, eyebrows furrowing as you take a look around you. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Christmas and New Year's Eve 2023 Pt 1: New Bookmarks and WiPs

Happy holidays everyone! Let's get into the holiday spirit with some new Christmas fics I've recently added to my Bookmarks and MFL lists! LOTS of stories, so this list is split up into two lists! PLEASE check out the lists below for past bookmarks and MFLs! If you have a WORK IN PROGRESS that you'd like added to this list, PLEASE add them in the replies/reblogs and I'll add them to subsequent posts of this list!

The second list posting shortly is my MFL list, so if you have a finished fic you'd like me to add to the lists, please add them to the next post!

Thank you so much!! <3 Merry Christmas!!

[PART TWO]

See also:

Christmas Fics (Dec. 2017)

Christmas: Oblivious That One or The Other is In a Relationship

Christmas 2019 Part 1 (All Bookmarks XMas and New Years)

Christmas 2019 Part 2 (Marked for Later)

G / T / K+ Rated Christmas Fics (Dec. 2018) (Updated Dec 2021)

Community Recs: Christmas 2020 (Updated Dec 2021)

Christmas Trees / Decorating

Christmas-Time Love Confessions

New Year’s Fics (Jan 2023)

Christmas 2023 Pt 2: Marked for Later

BOOKMARKS

Santa Knows by Itsallfine (T, 1,719 w., 1 Ch. || Christmas Party, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Fluff, Matchmaking, POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – Sherlock and John both get exactly what they want from the Yard's secret Santa exchange. Pure holiday fluff.

The Way to Start the New Year by glass_rose_paperweight (G, 4,251 w., 1 Ch. || New Year's Eve, Fluff, Pining John) – On New Year's Eve, Sherlock drags John to America for a case, much to John's frustration. However, a mistake in booking looks like it might lead to an even worse New Year's Even than John originally thought ... or, maybe it's just what the boys need.

This Year by DiscordantWords (T, 6,283 w., 2 Ch. || TEH Divergence / No Mary, New Year’s Eve, John’s A Mess, Jealous John, Awkward Conversations, Trapped in a Closet, Estranged After Return, John POV, Semi-Reunion, Angry John, First Kiss, Reconciliation, Clueless Sherlock, Happy Ending) – Last year, Sherlock Holmes showed up at the Landmark with a fake moustache and a bad French accent and threw John's entire life into disarray with two words: "Not dead." This year, there are more surprises in store.

Wonderful, Etcetera. by VictoryCandescence (T, 16,955 w., 3 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Alternate Timelines, Brotherhood, Homophobia, Suicidal Ideations, Mentions of Drug Use, Friendship, Different TRF, Sherlock’s Past, Victor Trevor is Past Boyfriend, Depression, Hallucination?, Love Confessions, Christmas, First Kiss) – Sherlock thinks everyone would be better off if he had never existed, including and especially himself. When he finds himself in a world in which his wish has been granted, he begins to think perhaps even he could be wrong – but it takes an unlikely chaperone to make him not only observe, but understand.

Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all. 

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Bakers with Benefits by Raina_at (E, 88,130 w., 14 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Strangers to Lovers, Switchlock, Friends with Benefits, Mentions of Alcoholism / Past Drug Use, Banter, Flirting, Fluff, Light Angst, Semi-Public Sex, Past Sherlock/Victor, Mutual Pining, POV Sherlock, Obsessive Sherlock, John’s Bum) – Sherlock Holmes has a successful YouTube baking channel, but what he really wants is his own bakery. When an old friend sends him a call for the very first Great British Bake Off, he seizes the opportunity to finally win a sponsor for his bakery. Here's the plan: Win Bake Off, get the bakery, don't fall in love with the handsome Army doctor at the neighbouring station. Easy.

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships) by ShirleyCarlton (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) –Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Christmas with You by hey_there_buddy (NR, 3,258+ w., 11/? Ch. || WiP || Christmas, Marriage Proposal, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Established Relationship, Waltzing, Morning Kisses) – Sherlock wants to propose John and he came up with his own idea.

From the First Time That I Saw You by BookGirlWithLove (E, 6,813+ w., 4/16 Ch. || WiP || Actor John AU || Christmas, Meet Cute) – Sherlock Holmes very rarely paid any attention to popular culture. He didn’t listen to the radio or watch telly. He seldom watched films. Unless that film had a certain actor in it. A certain actor who, while he might not be on everyone’s favourite list, was most certainly on Sherlock’s. In fact, he was the only celebrity to ever give Sherlock pause, which said a lot. That actor was John Watson. Who was currently standing in Sherlock’s sitting room, awkwardly holding two bottles of wine.

Christmas in Honeycutt by helloliriels (T, 25,768+ w., 12/16 Ch. || WIP || Christmas in Connecticut AU / WWII AU || Kidnapping, Spies / Secret Agents, Codes & Ciphers, Past Relationships, Developing Relationship, Fake Marriage, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending) – John's publisher asks if his family could entertain a war hero at their idyllic estate in Somerset for Christmas. Only ... John doesn't have a wife ... or a daughter. Or an estate. He has a bedsit. In London. And some wounds of his own to recover from ... but he can't tell his publisher that or he'll get fired … What's a writer to do? Cracking Codes. Super Spies. Sherlock in Disguise. A wild Christmas romance set in the countryside! Just what the doctor ordered! Part 6 of the Liriels Chaptered Fics series

The Prince of Hearts by prettysailorsoldier (M, 46,206+ w., 12/? Ch. || Modern Royalty AU || WiP || Matchmaker Sherlock, Prince John, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Sexual Tension, Mutual Pining, Christmas, Fluff) – Sherlock Holmes is making big waves in London as the head of a thriving matchmaking firm, his unconventional approach earning him the title 'The Chemist'. To Sherlock, love is in the data, a collection of variables plugged into equations to calculate the perfect match, but, when the royal family of the small country of Galerre hires him to find a spouse for the crown prince, he will find that some matters of the heart are not so easily solved.

Since First I Saw Your Face by Stavia_Scott_Grayson (M, 398,966+ w., 19/22 Ch. || WiP || ACD Canon / 1884 Victorian AU || Friends to Lovers, Pining, UST/URT, POV Sherlock, Christmas, Developing Relationship, Turkish Baths, Victorian Attitudes, Sussex Holiday, Cocaine, Holmes’ Childhood, Cold Cases, References to Canon) – During the Great Hiatus, Holmes, studying in Tibet, reflects on his first meeting with Dr John Watson.

[poupeesdecirque]

Posting by Queue, or: why I need some distance from my crafts

It has been some time since my last hobby meta blog entry, it had different reasons and one is that I need distance. Like, yes I of course enjoy crafting and sometimes I am like a little child that runs everywhere to show off things.

But it got ... less intense. And I learned I do better when I keep projects or at least details to myself to sit on them for longer. That the first euphoria is purely mine and not to be shared.

Like for my photos I have a buffer of several weeks now. Yes, I know past-me would have kind of hated that. But I learned I do better when I have a time buffer. I do take photos weekly but sometimes they don't feel special enough to get the weekly photo feature?

Friday & yesterday I went out for photos and while I like the ones from yesterday way more than the ones from friday I am not sure if the set from yesterday will get the feature or not as it's only a hand full of photos giving me that certain spark.

Other than that I am a very emotional artist, I sometimes really fuck up my art and hate it at the moment I worked on it, but then, sometimes, after a few days or weeks I can look at it and just wonder about what was my problem the day I made it.

Another thing is that I, myself, enjoy my art. The process of it. And I like to see my blog updating, sometimes I forget what post will go online and then I check the blog and think "ah yes, this was that thing!", and it reminds me why I made the blog overall, to show myself I had progress and that every tiny step counts.

Which leads to another reason why I hold back in regards of posting. Yes, I do share some snippets in my stories over on insta but not always and not all. I sit on over 300 drawings from the last two years alone nobody ever will see, I enjoyed drawing but it's nothing for the public eye. I will maybe go back and redraw some and share the redraws then, who knows?

But wait, there is actually more reasons.

The biggest or main reason is ... i sometimes go really wild on projects. In January I finished so many dolls it was insane, I worked on Cosplays and other crafts in an incredible speed, I have literally no idea where I found the time but I somehow did and doll parts arriving every week did the rest.

I keep the blog running with partially 2 month old stuff but .... to be honest I don't have doll stuff aside photos to do anymore. All I can do is wait for bodies to be shipped (or dolls even) and arrive. There has been no movement since January. Aside Iza getting the shipping notice for our Split, might take a while until its at her place and I can't really start on the Akuma until I got the body (which I at least have finally ordered this month) as colors need to be matched and mods to be made.

I am truly itchy to do something else than sewing all the time, I do enjoy cosplay but you know how much I like sewing (hint: not at all). So to remind myself of the fun I had in the past weeks I have mixed my blog to bless me with some progress I had which was maybe not sewing all the time. And well, the Cosplays have deadlines and I do get some ideas aside purely sewing while doing them, so that keeps me going for now.

Yes, I could start redoing dolls like Alastor or Erwin. But you know what? IT'S ALMOST ALL SEWING. Urgh.

Aside that real life is pretty good at eating me up and I just want to enjoy crafting. Right now drawing feels like stress relief but I hate the results and just scan the pieces and put them away to never look at them again, I have a bunch of posts queued up without any captions, a wip entry of a current project only has two photos but I lack the spoons to actually get them done. But since those posts are so far back it's fine (yes I know drafts are a thing).

In general I enjoy having my art to myself to get used to it before I put it out into the wild as I just recently got reminded I do bad with direct comparisons still and it hits some triggerpoints from the past and makes everything harder, I don't need that.

I literally have no idea if this blog makes sense even, lol. I just am tired of sewing and stopped working on my current project around lunch time and have drawn so much today and I walked way too much the whole week my friends urged me to stay the ef home and at least try to relax. But I'm restless as my body is too stressed (I know it all I'm a certified relaxation trainer so eh), so, have an over the place blog entry.

[chevvy-yates]

WIP WEDNESDAY WHENEVER

got tagged by @kdval thank you!

tagging: @gloryride, @elvenbeard, @pinkyjulien, @kittenchrissy, @dreamskug, @wraithsoutlaws, @imaginarycyberpunk2023, @alphanight-vp, @morganlefaye79, @peaches-n-screem, @wanderingaldecaldo, @genocidalfetus, @jaymber, @humberg, @therealnightcity, @streetkid-named-desire, @sammysilverdyne, @aggravateddurian, and @breezypunk as always, no pressure – also feel free to ignore.

—

GENERAL:

My gaming laptop is still on vacation sleeping since mid November '23 so I have still nothing new except the last remaining vp I want to post but hesitate for own reasons to click the 'post' button. It's a never ending fight I have to do with myself here …

Each weekend I tell myself I will update, but I do not 'feel' it – it's complicated. Guess something needs to happen that requires me to update first. Nontheless, I did not sit around doing nothing. Used the time for writing, thinking, graphic design and selecting songs.

I managed to post Ryder's two favorite radio stations last weekend:

I'll link the post here again in case you missed it and have interest to listen to it. A like/follow is appreciated, a.k.a. Ryder dankt! 🖤

I know not many like this genre he (and I) listens to but maybe at least the Technoise FM finds a way into someone's music heart. Music is very deeply connected to especially my boy Ryder but all of the boys as well (each their own style) and will show up even in the big story to support the written scenery/moments.

Speaking of the big story:

—

FANFICTION:

The story has a name now and will simply go by:

Cyberpunk 2078 – Pandemonium

I'm close to finish chapter 01: The Golden Demon of Kabuki of our (@nervouswizardcycle's and me) story. It needs a few vp pics to be redone and me to make a few adjustments and prepare the first post. Hopefully I get it done by the end of January.

QUESTION:

I don't know how many people might be interested in reading it but if you are, please leave me a comment in this post or send me a DM or contact me on Discord so I take note of it and will tag you once I start releasing chapters. It won't be weekly, neither monthly. I'm slow in writing and editing plus I do not do it alone as this story is still at first a role play between @nervouswizardcycle and me, I convert into better reading flow afterwards which takes a lot of time. So you won't receive notifications that often. But in this way you hopefully won't miss out on it when I post them.

HOW DOES IT LOOK?/WHERE CAN I READ IT?

I will not make a long text post here, neither put it on ao3 or any other fanfic site. Gonna make a picture post instead that adds maybe a little teaser text and then link it to an uploaded pdf that will be stored on my personal google drive. You can read it online or download and read whenever you like/find time! :3

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

For those who do not know: It is set after the events of Cyberpunk 2077 and starts in January 2078. Arki, the main character, recovered from the game events (so he's V). All that happened in 2077 only set the ball for his story rolling so he's on his way to find out about his missing past. My boys who work together as a merc team (Vijay, Ryder, Hizumi in the beginning; Jay and Thyjs join later), happen to help Arki on his journey, he becomes a part of the team as well and together they find out things they never could have imagined and everything is connected. It might have the one or other flashback with Johnny in it as well as Arki used to be deeply connected with him and my boys two might get some. None of my boys is a V - even though Vijay goes with the name 'V' – and none of them knows the official npcs Arki has met except for: Jackie, Misty and Vic. They've heard (and maybe seen) of some famous names tho (e.g. Rogue, Kerry). It can happen we integrate a few other ocs that belong to friends/mutuals of us – either by just mentioning them, or they even might get their own appearance if managable to integrate – this is stil a tbd, tho and I will reach out and ask first ofc! I can definitely say @gloryride's Vanessa and Enzo will be mentioned/appear. Vanessa is part of V's and Ry's friend circle and their local fixer. She's also Ryder's neighbor in the Glen. Enzo is Jay's bf, so their names will definitely fall for sure. But as said I'll reach out and ask first if allowed and nothing is set in stone yet either as we are still at the start but have rough ideas that could be integrated.

BUT I ALREADY KNOW CHAPTER ONE AND TWO?!

There might be a few of you who remember the first versions of them, as about 1 1/2 years or so ago I posted them here as simple text posts but it was way shorter, less detailed. We've gone over some parts and it's definitely worth a new read now!

—

FURTHER PLANS/IDEAS?

too many to count, my list is neverending. I have not forgotten of my vp ideas but they are put on hold for a bit bc the story needs to be rolled out first or it will never happen.

I definitely want to redo the past looks of Ryder and Vijay (they will stay like they are, just a few details changed on them and their outfits) and add the ones of Jay and Thyjs as well.

And I want to focus on Jay's tattoos as they will change into the Japanese themed one done by Kala but I need to edit them a bit (thankfully it is allowed) with Glory's help so it fits to Jay. And hopefully we can solve the layer problem so his glowing tattoo still glows bc it is essential for the story xD

Alright, I'm done :)

[rallamajoop]

I love your Wintersberg smut fics 😭😭😭 Do you have any more fic drafts/ ideas that are bouncing around in your brain? I'd love to hear... Ethan getting his smart mouth shut up for once and getting fucked stupid is my favorite trope.

Aha, I take it you enjoyed Atypical Side-Effects? Does Medical Log count too? Either way, now I'm very amused that the last ask I got like this one was from someone who was into Ethan bantering his way through sex ‒ I mean, nice to know I'm appealing to multiple markets here! XD

I did post a list of stuff I had in the works back in September, but a lot of those have been checked off and posted since then, so maybe we're due for an update. There's not as much wintersberg on the current list as there was, but we'll see where it goes.

So, fic I have actually made progress on in the last month or two:

The second chapter of Atypical Side-Effects I've been promising everyone is with my beta now, though I cannot tell you there's much smut in this one, and it's currently second in the queue behind...

That post-RE7 Mithan fic where Mia actually gets to come clean that I mentioned in my last WIP post, which has somehow grown into a veritable monster (how tf did this thing break 15k I do not know), and is responsible for stalling progress on most everything else around it while it ate writing time. But it is at last (hopefully) done, and my beta is trying to sort out if it's ready to be unleashed on the world now.

As mentioned in a comment or two, I've also been working on a sequel to my Yuletide Lost Boys fic Pater Unfamilias. It's about halfway done now, I think?

In other misc fandom news, I've still got a couple of semi-cast-off bits of Deus Ex fic that came out of my Spare Parts anthology not-quite-finished (and which I've been promising myself I will totally get back to and finish sometime after that big one above was done). Whether they end up getting added to that story or whether I wind up posting them as their own things remains to be decided.

But back in Resi-land, I may have mentioned in that last post that I had part of a continuation of That One Where Heisenberg Follows Him Home, and that's one I'm still picking away at between other projects. Eventual Ethan/Mia/Heisenberg, just for a little variety, but it's got its teeth in me and definitely wants to go somewhere.

So overall, possibly not quite as much wintersberg as you might have hoped? Though I may have kind of promised someone there was still more of that one Beauty and the Beast wintersberg AU still very much in my plans. And one or two other things from that older list are still in the 'may get back to' pile too.

But if you’re asking about ideas that haven’t necessarily made the draft stage, well, I could always list you a few…

I have forever been toying with the idea of a post-canon Heisenberg-lives idea, where he ends up working for Chris’ outfit as a medical examiner who specialises in cutting apart whatever horrific BOWs have been brought back for study, and also in terrifying any hapless intern who so much as wanders into his lab. I mean, he’d be perfect for the job: plenty experienced in studying bioweapons, utterly un-squeamish about cutting up dead things, and as a bonus, completely qualified to defend himself whenever some ambitious specimen decides to get up again unexpectedly. Speaking of which, mundane AUs where Heisenberg’s some kind of medical examiner should really be more of a thing too (sure, mechanic works too, but is it really gross enough for him?)

Speaking of Heisenberg-lives possibilities, the idea of a universe where he survives (unbeknownst to our heroes) thanks to having bought a ‘life insurance policy’ from the Duke which involves him being resurrected via mould trickery is another one I’ve had forever. Did actually mention it in my last in-progress post (it’s the fairy tale idea titled simply ‘Koschei’), but haven’t really made any progress on it since.

Alternately, in a hypothetical Ethan-lives-Heisenberg-doesn’t AU, the idea of a Heisenberg who continues to haunt Ethan as a mould-ghost ala virtual-Eveline has to rank pretty high on the “has no-one does this? Because someone should totally do this”-scale. No really concrete ideas for this one though, so consider it very much free to a good home.

In more recent ideas, someone pointed out to me a little while ago the possibility that Heisenberg might be able to feel it when Ethan touches anything metal (which sure does cast Ethan’s own arsenal in an interesting light!) Don’t know if I’ll ever actually get around to doing something with this one, but I’ve definitely given this one some thought.

On a related note, look, I still say the idea of Heisenberg deciding to make Ethan appreciate his genius by trapping him in a massive soldat-orgy is one I want someone else to write for me, but I’ve definitely now spent enough time explaining it to certain people that I can’t deny having given it some real thought.

In other free-to-a-good-home ideas, has anyone ever written a decent little Eveline-wins-AU horror story, with Mia and Ethan stuck playing ‘families’ with her, and only conditionally conscious of what’s really going on? Because there just is not enough real horror or fic willing to treat Eveline as the horrific little monster she canonically is around this place.

And just for something completely different, some kind of surreal Mia/Zoe thing set during RE7, with Mia constantly shifting between different levels of awareness of what’s going on, how much she can remember, and what she thinks her relationship to Eveline really is preferably with some at least R-rated Mia/Zoe smut is another of those ideas I’ve been sitting on forever now.

...and I hope that about answers your question, because that's me about out. *g*

[gaywiththesauce]

Crashed (Hammered, Wasted Even) (RenGiyuu, KNY)

When Giyuu thought of his life, he figured he was lucky.

He thought he was lucky to live under a house with a roof, to go to college, to land a teaching job at a high school, and go to college for his Master's in the summers and loosely in the spring seasons. For the last two years, that's how his life has been. Satisfied, that's how he would describe his life. He got up in the mornings with quick breakfasts, had unremarkable lunches, and ate takeout four days a week for dinner. He liked this life, or at least he convinced himself he did.

"Really? That sounds boring," Shinobu Kocho, one of his students, commented when he mentioned his simple life. She had lockpicked his door after refusing to get it for her on his lunch break. Even having her in here was a risk to his perfect teaching record, but she sat stubbornly in the front row. This is the seventh time she's done this, but classes had only been in session for three weeks.

"That's your opinion," he said calmly, eating out of his premade bento box. He was tired of the tuna flavor. He will buy a different kind tomorrow.

"My opinion is correct! Do you even go out?"

The lunch period was already wrapping up, so he finished what was left, "I shouldn't discuss my personal life with a student, you know." That got a groan out of Shinobu. She had something homemade with her. Curry rice, or what was left of it after she was finished. Shinobu ate faster than him, which gave her ample time to question every damn thing about him.

"C'mon," she stood to throw away her dirty napkins, "I'm not just a student."

Giyuu laughed through his nose. Yes, she was also an employee at the library he visited twice a month. The first time to rent books that won't be finished, and the second time to return them so there wasn't a fee on his card. Oh, and she was in one (1) of his classes this summer. Biology. For some reason, she took a college class as a junior going on to senior. Despite him never asking about it, she explained it anyways. It was something about wanting to be ahead of her classmates and something about her sister he didn't catch. She talked to him the entire course and was his lab partner, so it was ironic when he saw her sitting in one of his afternoon classes. She has insisted that Giyuu is her equal, even going as far as demanding more respect and being treated as an "adult." He had no idea what that meant because his behavior was the same for everyone.

"Fine, I'll drop it, Tomioka-san. I won't pry into your personal life," she said irritatingly.

"That's Tomioka-sensei here, Shinobu-chan," he scolded her. He could bring it up to the principal and have her called in on her manners, but that would be extra paperwork he did not feel like dealing with.

Giyuu threw away the rest of his pathetic lunch. Admittedly, that was one of the worst lunches he's ever bought. He thought for a moment that he might have gotten the wrong brand. He looked at the clock on the wall and looked back at Shinobu. She had been talking to him this entire time, just now realizing he hadn't been listening. "Tomioka-san," she whined, "You are hopeless, you know that?"

Ouch.

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

Hello! It's Saucy here. This is a WIP that I'm working on. I only have chapter one up right now but there's at least 11 that I plan to have in the story, maybe more!

I also plan to post updates here about the fic and other fics so feel free to follow along! And here is the link to the rest of the chapter!

Chapter Two - Three - Four

[danpuff-ao3]

do you know the snarry fic Marriage Stone? i want to read it, but it says "chapters 62/?" !!! do you know if it is completed? i can't bring myself to read anything that is not completed. :'(

whatever help would be great!

Hello! Yes, sadly The Marriage Stone is famously unfinished nearly 16 years after its original posting, and 9ish years after its last update. There are more chapters on ffnet. 77 actual chapters, and 1 author's note from 2016.

The original author, Josephine Darcy, encountered many issues IRL that led to a hiatus, and in that hiatus, others picked up The Marriage Stone to finish themselves. You can find several "continuations" of the fic by different authors on ffnet; I believe I've also happened upon them on AO3, though never sought them out there.

Josephine Darcy was a bit (understandably) dismayed to see so many continuations of the work she loved and had been unable to complete herself. As of now, it is uncertain whether she will ever actually finish it. It's been over 6 years since her author's note. But I am not one to give up hope!

I'd given a few of the continuations a try back in the day, but never quite had the heart to continue on without Josephine Darcy (though I'll admit to skipping to the last chapter of one that was completed!)

Due to the author's mixed feelings about the continuations (she seems to understand why, and harbors no ill-will towards the creators, though she was obviously negatively impacted by them), I cannot myself go read them. But, if you would like the choice for yourself, I will supply you with what links I can.

The Marriage Stone, by Josephine Darcy: original on ffn. 77 chapters + author's note. Nearly 400k words.

Lynne's AU Ending to the Marriage Stone by lynned0101: ffnet. 69 chapters itself; picked up numbering from The Marriage Stone, so between the two there are 146 chapters. Nearly 500k words for the AU alone. For the two together, you're looking at just under 900k words.

My Tribute to Josephine Darcy's The Marriage Stone by Yengirl (plus coauthor/beta Vine Verrine): ffnet. Ongoing, updated as of January 2022. Might be worth keeping an eye on. Features 44 proper chapters plus an author's note from around the time Josephine Darcy came back. They also picked up the numbering from The Marriage Stone and is currently at 122 combined chapters. Word count for this continuation is just under 300k words. Both together would be under 700k words.

The Yengirl continuation also looks to be on AO3 but with much less available there, so if you were to read it, I'd recommend doing so on ffnet.

It is such a great story and very beloved, at that! I've not often seen fanfics create such a ruckus that fans took such a huge project onto themselves to see it through. (Not that it hasn't happened, just not that I've seen, of course.) It's an old story, but one full of adventure and intrigue and fabulous world building. It is also the reason I fell in love with the Draco/Charlie ship! It is also one of two stories that gave me an aversion to beginning WIPs 😂 This and starcrossed's Nights of Gethsemane series, with its unfinished sequel Release of Sisyphus.

I would tentatively say it's still worth reading, even in its incomplete state, but that might be nostalgia talking. Maybe I think it's worth knowing that part of Snarry history. Maybe it is just that good. I'm a nostalgic lady myself, so I make no promises! But there is at least an existing, complete version if you would like to give it a try.

And wherever Josephine Darcy is, and whatever she is doing, I hope we can all take a moment to wish her well, and hope that these past few years have been much kinder to her. And I do hope that, one day, she will be able to finish this story she put so much time, effort, and love into. But even if she doesn't, I hope she knows how meaningful and impactful this story has been to so many people. 💛

[likes-words-and-shrimp]

Small update on writing projects and other things so I can gather my thoughts and also hopefully feel more organized. Mostly about Symphonia, with small mentions of Adventure Time, Deltarune, Elden Ring and Dragonlance (tell me if you know this book series plz)

Still working on my Lloyd and Mithos fic which I shared a wip of here. It's slow going because it's going to involve some decent amount of dialogue and my brain is too ADHD right now for it. Thank you for those who shared interest in it! I want to finish this god help me.

Want to update my Wolf Bite fic (which is werewolf!Lloyd and Colette as Red Riding Hood) for this Halloween. I've started a chapter to continue the verse and also werewolf Lloyd is too cute. Plz look at this art by @frayed-symphony for my previous chapters that I still go crazy over.

I also want to write something for one of those October prompt events. There's a lot of them! Let me! Choose! One! I just want to make one, preferable spicy.

Speaking of October prompts, I still have this Colette time loop fic made for whumptober last year that I never finished, which was using all 31 prompts. I got over halfway! Then things happened. They always happen. 😔 I want to get to the happy ending already.

Finished Adventure Time with Sky, and now I am obsessed with a mentally-ill lemon guy. Can I write him?? Is there a point to write him?? But I also finished Fionna and Cake and now I have a small idea with the genderswap versions of him and Lumpy Space Princess (new ship). Might try it soon. And yes I will be reblogging a lot of art for this show, let me ride it out.

I am still thinking about that Deltarune Spamton fic I started like two years ago. I did have a plot but again, life happened. I'd need to reread it too. You'd think I had a problem with finishing multichapters!! Haha. 🥲 But I was able to finish my last multichapter fic so I can do it! Just gotta be lucky. I also had another short story idea with him and Jevil, and the main three. Maybe I can get to it when Deltarune finally gets chapter 3 in about five years from now lol.

The Elden Ring zine I was in finally arrived for me! It's cool seeing my fic in print 😭 I'll share later on but it's been fun being on these zine projects lately. My fic was about the Omen brothers because I have a thing for twins apparently.

Not fic but there is a new Dragonlance book by the Weis and Hickman duo?? After nearly a decade?? I saw the ebook for it on sale and immediately picked it up. This series was my gateway into writing so it does feel nostalgic to go back to this world. Only one chapter read so far (with whole new characters this time) but W&H have a knack for being really engaging in their writing. Even for their past stories when I didn't care for a plot, I still tend to finish their books.

Oh yeah, I'm also on bluesky. I use it sometimes maybe.

[sortofanobsession]

WIP Wednesday- Ted Lasso fic

A/N: Because the clips from the new episode got me thinking about the absolute adorable and mischievous duo that would be Jamie Tartt and Phoebe. Brain spiraled from there. But I have an idea for this as part of a larger setting. First go with this group.

Jamie’s head snapped up when the pitch goes quiet. He had stopped to stretch out an annoying knot in his hamstring. The striker wondered why drills had stopped despite no whistle. Not even Roy’s shout of it. He looked up at his teammates, Sam and Jan being the closest. Sam was grinning. Then something collide with his back. He immediately tensed up, until small arms snaked around his neck. Jamie let out the breath he was holding and huffs a laugh. 

“Just gonna run right out an’ tackle me, Phoebs?” Jamie laughs.

“Keeley says you like hugs,” Phoebe says in his ear. 

“Especially, Phoebe shaped ones,” he says with a nod. He reaches around with one arm to anchor her to him as he shifts to stand up. Earning a few curious looks from his teammates. Jamie couldn’t have possibly cared less. When he is on his feet he reaches up with his other arm to keep hers secure around his neck. He spins her around. She laughs. It’s an infectious noise that causes a few of his teammates to chuckle. When he stops Phoebe giggles and says she’s dizzy now. He goes to let her down but her grip only tightens. He can’t help but smile.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone got sick on the pitch,” Sam says. 

“Roy would love that,” Colin says as he and others join them, all of training seemingly unofficially put on hold. 

“Speakin’ of,” Jamie starts. “Where is the grumpy prick?” Jamie asks after scanning the pitch and not seeing the man. Phoebe giggles but before she can chastise him he adds, “Yeah, I know, it’s a bad word, innit? Pay ya next time.” His teammates laugh. He feels her nod more than sees it. 

“Mum said she needed to talk to him and that I could come say hi,” she tells him.

“Well, hi,” Jamie says.   "Hi," Phoebe laughs.

“Say hi to the lads, Phoebs,” Jamie grins.

“Hi lads,” she parrots, earning amused greetings from the now bigger group of player. 

“You here for more than Jamie hugs?” Sam asks. 

“Do you want a hug?” Phoebe asks and the other laugh.  "I did not mean-" Sam starts to say but is cut off by Jamie.

“I’m sure the lads wouldn’t turn one down,” Jamie grins. Phoebe shifts and Jamie lets her down. Sam does indeed accept a hug, a few of the other do too.  

“Oi!” They hear from the side of the pitch. “This is training not a fucking playdate! Put her down and get back to your fucking drills!”  

“Sorry, Uncle Roy,” Phoebe says at the same time the others say “Yes, Coach.” Jamie just huffs, scoops her up and jogs them over and sets Phoebe down on the sideline by her uncle.

“She’s gonna be a heartbreaker that gets legs broken,” Isaac says to the group as they watch the interaction on the sidelines. 

“And that’d be the lucky ones Coach likes,” Colin adds.

“Not just Coach,” Sam mutters.  

“Nah, Tartt would aim for faces,” Isaac says. “Kent would make sure no one’s walking away, but Tartt knows too well how they think. No helpin’ the ones that break her heart.”

“Make the outside match the inside,” Colin nods. “Break her heart and they’ll be lucky if those two break their face.” A few of the players grimace, the others nod in agreement. 

“Fucking get to it or you’re all running laps til I say so!” Roy shouts. 

Jamie shakes his head as he joins them. “Might want to hustle, lads,” Jamie smirks. “As soon as she’s gone, he’ll run ya til you’re the ones sick on the pitch.” 

“Yeah, alright,” Isaac says. “Back to it.” 

They all head back to drills.

Like I said, I have an idea for more. Just wanted to get this part out while I was thinking about it.

Update: this tiny WIP turned into a monster 8k+ fic.

Finished fic here.

Ted Lasso Masterlist