#also i should say the first fanfic i ever remember finishing. not reading. i did try twist and shout

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

thinking about how the first fanfic i ever remember reading was this carmilla au where carmilla was a miserable musician with a drug addiction and an abusive mother/manager and laura a little journalist who asked her for an interview and how it compares to my general interpretation of yaz and 13

[mamahersh]

Mamahersh’s Post-MAG-200 Fanfic Recommendation Mega Thread

@a-mag-a-day

In celebration of us finishing The Magnus Archives (even if I admittedly fell off around S2 and have been mostly lurking since then), I have compiled all of my fave post series fics for your enjoyment! I will be grouping them in some big, general categories, which I’ll list above the read more here. Depending on the size of this post, it might start looking a bit like that “Do you like the sky?” post But I can assure you that I have read all of these and can give them my stamp of approval!

If you finished the series and were wishing for your best boys to finally be happy, then boy howdy do I have some fanfiction for you!

Time Travel

Somewhere Else

AUs

Uncategorized JonMartin Fluff

By these categories, we should hopefully cover all the recommendations I have, and I hope you all find some new fics! (or enjoy rereading fics you haven’t enjoyed in awhile)

TIME TRAVEL

where there’s a will, we make a way by bubonickitten

"So, what does happen if an Eye learns to See within itself?

What happens is this: the Archive Beholds the Watcher – and the Watcher blinks first."

________________________

Jon goes back to before the world ended and tries to forge a different path.

Probably my fave time travel fic in this fandom hands down; it is also currently the longest whilst still unfinished. While I try not to recommend unfinished fics that I am uncertain of their return to activity, this is a big exception and personally I love everything about it! It’s got Jon dealing with trauma through the lens of his speaking only in Statements, Martin being saved from his downward spiral into the Lonely way earlier in S4, Georgie actually sticking around, Basira having a better grasp of the situation and being more understanding about it, and everyone generally sticking close to character while managing to buck parts of the narrative. I cannot recommend this fic enough, and I very likely already did back near the start of S5.

Something’s Different About You Lately by thesnadger

Jonathan Sims has been head archivist for just a few months, but he has memories of holding the position for years. He remembers monsters, and darkness, and the end of the world. Somehow, he'll have to keep everyone safe from what's coming. Meanwhile, his assistants can't understand why their prickly jerk of a boss has gone sappy all of a sudden.

So TMA time travel fics that focus on Jon going back tend to come in two varieties. There’s the “Jon’s mind goes back and replaces himself/inhabits his past self’s body” and then there’s the “Jon physically goes back so there’s two Jons”. The first two on this list are of the first variety, and if I remember right this was one of the first I ever read. However, I recommend this one specifically because this has an amazing ending. Like, it might just be me, but many of the endings in these feel relatively unsatisfying because there’s magically a third option where Jon comes out unscathed while saving his S1 archives crew from the Horrors. For whatever reason, it was incredibly satisfying having a fic that didn’t shy away from the options presented in S4 and S5 and I love how they characterize everyone in this one as well.

100 Seconds to Midnight by starspangledbread

Jon and Martin find themselves back in 2011 after attempting to release the fears from their reality. The world is the same one they left behind, but now something has come back with them. They have a chance to destroy the fears once and for all, but it proves harder than expected. Who knew that the best laid plans could be thwarted by nosy co-workers, office romance, the inevitable learning curve of being a time traveler turned grifter, and the refusal to believe in subtlety?

Did someone say Extinction!Jon? This also is a part of a series, though the true sequel to this one is currently unfinished (though it should eventually be completed and only has one chapter to go). An excellent romp, I definitely recommend if you’re looking for something kinda dark, some comedy, a little OOC, and Martin being able to embrace his crime side in the name of saving the world.

Yesterday is Here by CirrusGrey

"Who the hell are you?" Jon could feel his hands shaking. The man laughed, taking a step forward and raising a hand to point at him. "I'm you, from the future!" he said, then swayed, eyes going unfocused, and collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. -------- Post-season-four Jon and Martin time travel back to the season one Archives.

Written by my fave (and most prolific) JMart author, we have a perfect example of the other kind of time travel fix it fic in the form of Jon physically travelling to the past to try and save the world. As expected by someone I am calling my fave JMart author, we’re going to be getting double dose on the JMart. I highly recommend if you’re looking for something that starts a little bittersweet, but then ends in copious amounts of fluff.

Reverb (Series) by Wolftraps

Undoing the apocalypse would have been enough for Jon, if all his people survived. Without them, Jon's only recourse is making it so it never happened in the first place. He's going to do better this time.

Summary from the first fic in the Reverb series, I highly recommend the first two fics in this series for different reasons. “The Reverb in These Holy Halls” is a great time travel fic that takes some really interesting turns by the end and unlike most fics actually has Jon try to keep Tim safe by keeping him out of the Archives pre-S1. However “Gossip” I recommend if you enjoy those fics formatted to look like official communication of some kind. It’s got people outside the Archives trying to figure out what’s wrong with them during the events of the first fic, and while it would be very confusing to read without the first fic, I’d almost say it’s worth it if you aren’t feeling the tags on the first one. Really fun and entertaining, you can’t go wrong with either one.

The Triumph of Galatea (for Acis is transformed) by TheOestofOCs

Statement of Hazel Rutter.

Jon couldn’t stop reading.

The Fears, however, are a bit more powerful than Jonah gave them credit for. Jon opens the door, but the world can’t hold what’s on the other side.

Time falls through, instead. Past becomes present, and the future is undone.

Statement begins.

Another fic I definitely recommended back at episode 160, but is well worth the second recommendation and/or re-read. Time Travel, but what if Jon could control as well as go into the dreams of the assistants/other Eye aligned people instead of just his victims’ dreams? Very good, even if unfinished, though the author seems likely to finish someday. Check out their other work as well, it’s all very good and has my fave Circus themed fic written to date.

a map of what matters most by gruhukens

“Is that a body,” Tim blurts before he can stop himself, rising to his feet. Martin looks, if possible, even more scared.

“He’s alive!” he hisses, almost defensively. “It’s not - it’s not Gertrude again, I didn’t kill him, he just – I don’t know what happened to him, I just found him in the stacks like this.”

“And you dragged him up here?” Tim says, and then registers several things at once – the build, the hair texture; the little round scars peppering a pair of thin hands and an awfully familiar face. “Wait, is that Jon?”

----

Jon stumbles back into an earlier Archive, looking for a way to fix the world. (Or, mom says it's my turn for the obligatory time travel au)

Directly inspired by CirrusGrey’s fic that I recommended earlier, this is another: Jon travels physically into the past fic. This one though is far more bittersweet than “Yesterday is Here”, but still an excellent read and does a great job at fleshing out the relationships between all the characters.

Saving the Universe: For Dummies by GhostChoir

Finding a man bleeding out in the alleyway was not what Elias wanted to do today. And he certainly didn’t mean to befriend him. But things never did go how he expected.

****** A Post-MAG200 Jon meets a 1970s Elias, an Elias from before he was corrupted by Jonah. Together, the two of them learn to cope with grief, drink more tea than any two people should be able to consume, and commiserate over shitty bosses. Oh, and just for the hell of it, they stop an apocalypse along the way.

Now for a change of pace: What if Jon time travels to the time of early Gertrude and Elias pre-Jonafying? A very good fic is what! While it’s been awhile since I read this, I do remember it’s quite good and deserves a chance. Note: this is NOT Jonathan/Elias, so my apologies if you were looking for that, but it is two very lonely men getting to just have a reliable friend in times of trouble.

A Little Game of Cat and Mouse by Paptato

“Jonah Magnus.” The cloudy silhouette snarled as it’s hand clamped tightly around Jonah's ascot. That was indeed his name, but Jonah couldn’t begin to fathom what he did to have it spat out with such hatred.

But nonetheless, Jonah was a gentleman and he would kindly address the angry figure as politely as possible, “Yes, and you are?”

“What?” The form spluttered as it slowly came into focus. Ah, yes. That probably wasn’t the proper response to being held at gunpoint by a random stranger. Must have been the blow to his head.

(Or in which Jonathan Sims goes back in time and tries to pull a Terminator, but fails and Jonah Magnus finds a new mystery to solve.)

This is that Jonah Magnus/Jonathan Sims enemies to lovers fic your friends warn you about in a good way. It’s not done, but I think it’s still being updated very slowly. Even if all I ever read is the currently released 11 chapters, I will consider it my one exception to my dislike of Jonah/Jon. As you can probably guess by the description, it’s a time travel fix it where Jon gets shunted back in time to when Jonah was still very human and still trying to figure out the Fears. The Web keeps Jon from explaining his circumstances or anything to do with Jonah’s future in particular, but this is a good thing and they both get to learn how to be more human in a world that previously was very antagonistic to those goals. It’s got a heavy dose of comedy, plenty of romantic tension, and lots of both surprising and unsurprising cameos. If you enjoy Dracula Daily, you’ll probably enjoy this imho.

Déjà Vu by CirrusGrey

Sasha remembers being unmade. Tim remembers being Unknown. Jon and Martin remember being unwound. All of them think they're the only one. -------- The S1 crew wakes up in the past with memories up till the moment they died.

So, here’s another one that’s got quite the spin on it. As you can see from the description, this one is where S1 crew all get their minds sent back in time to the time right around Jon’s first statement if I remember right. Another CirrusGrey fic, so it heavily leans on JonMartin, but otherwise it’s a wonderful exploration of the four S1 characters and ends on a very hopeful note!

oh my darling, just a moment of your time by IceEckos12

The Institute is visited by a pair of time travelers, and Jon has an important question for Tim.

Have you ever had a oneshot that just kinda guts you unexpectedly? While this might not do this for everyone, this is an amazing oneshot that gets right the point. I love it a lot, because of all of the fics where future and past meet each other, it very rarely if ever is addressed that past Jon was a douche. Or well it is but past Jon doesn’t necessarily have a character moment from it. Here he does, and despite the briefness of the fic, the author does an amazing job of giving Jon and Tim a moment while making an almost critique of the TMA time travel genre. Highly, highly recommend, and it won’t overstay it’s welcome if it doesn’t end up being your thing.

The Severing of Webs by chlodobird

After Jon kills the world, he travels back in time. Once there, he gets ready to change the future, to save his Assistants, and to watch as everyone learns to hate him again.

Unfortunately, the tapes wrap around him like a fly caught in a Web—he can't move. He's trapped reliving the original timeline, stuck acting out his past actions like an actor rehearsing his lines.

Sasha will die. Tim will die. Martin—

(Jon screams inside his mind, and someone hears him. Fate is not as immutable as he fears.)

This one is a brand new one! While basically all of the others on the list have been out/updating for over a year at this point; this lengthy oneshot just released this month. tbh, very excellent, which is why it has made the list. Also, quite the twist on the usual premise, where being sent back into his head is actually a bad thing this time. Ends with a giant pile of fluff, but who would I be if all my time travel recommendations were not also fix-its?

-

Somewhere Else

it will be this, always by bluejayblueskies

Jon coughed again, and blood stained his lips and blood stained Martin’s hands where they pressed against Jon’s back and blood stained the floor beneath them and help, they needed help.

Martin doesn’t remember shouting. He barely remembers the faces that had surrounded them, wide-eyed and terrified, all utterly unfamiliar.

.

Jon and Martin wake up somewhere else. Jon begins a slow path toward physical recovery, and several important, long-put-off conversations are had as they begin to navigate a new world that they hadn’t thought they’d be alive to see.

So, I’m sure you all have gathered that I have qualms with how much disparity there is between canon and fanon Jmart. This fic is painful, but is the most in character depiction of post 200 JMart fallout I have ever read. The ending is very cathartic, and takes a “realistic” approach to what happens to Jon and Martin as they begin to navigate their relationship after they both had betrayed each other so thoroughly in the leadup and culmination of MAG 200. If you don’t want them immediately making up, this is the fic for you. They get there, but by all that is good do they take their sweet time getting there.

Out There, Somewhere by Artyphex

"I'm sorry, you were found alone."

Jon survived the apocalypse and now will go to the end of this new, unfamiliar world to find Martin again.

So I think I’m just getting all the angsty ones out of the way first lol. Another slow burn, this fic is Jon’s recovery in the new reality while he also searches for what happened to Martin. Since I don’t post the tags, I will say this ones does feature “Eventual Happy Ending”, and I do promise that both Jon and Martin made it to the new reality and lived. But Jon and Martin both get to pine and cope for a while before that happy ending tag comes into play. It’s incredibly well done and explores their characters really well. Personally, I kinda enjoyed the Reddit saga because people mistaking Jon’s pleas for Martin as an ARG is very typical internet and 100% I would have bought into that at age 13.

Of course I need a therapist. I need ten therapists, working round the clock building me a bionic coping mechanism. We have the technology. by MartinKBlackwoodESQ

A story set somewhere else.

I’mma be real with you all, if I believed that characters could write and publish their own fanfiction, I would be halfway convinced the name is accurate. All joking aside however, this is a “crack treated seriously” fic but with characterization so on point I can consistently hear the voice actors when I read this. Admittedly, it’s made easier by it being written in transcript formatting, but if you’re looking for a hilarious time where TMA is suddenly is turned into a buddy cop adventure where Jon and Martin go to a universe where the Fears hadn’t been till their arrival, and they have doubles that already exist there who are living fairly normal lives till the TMA Jon and Martin crash land into their reality... Well this fic is one I cannot recommend highly enough. It also has a sequel, and it is also well worth the read, even if it appears to be on a bit of a break in it’s updates.

Worlds like phyllo pastry by neworld

After episode 200 Jon finds himself alone in a world very much like the one he left but fractionally different. It's so similar he finds versions of his former friends existing happily in the world. Unfortunately they have never met him in this universe and have no idea who he is.

This one’s unfinished, but personally it’s well worth the read as is. Not sure how I feel about the most recent chapter, but the story up till that point is a really fun spin on “Jon and Martin get shunted to a new reality” where Jon learns how to feed in a way that doesn’t cause problems facilitated by the new reality, and re-meets all the people who he lost till this point and has a very silly antagonistic relationship with his alternate self. While fic might be more of a guilty pleasure, it still is written in such a way that I would rank it high enough for this disorganized list.

Death Is The Easy Way Out by traveller19

After having killed Jonah Magnus and ended the Change, Jon and Martin should finally be able to rest. Rest, however, proves impossible when Jon falls ill. What's more, he begins having vivid dreams of their dead friends - Tim, trapped in the destroyed Archives, and Sasha, trapped outside of them. As Jon's condition quickly worsens and the line between dream and reality begins to blur, love is all he and Martin have to hold on to, because hope is a dangerous thing.

Did someone say sickfic??? But for real, this fic has an amazing balance between an A plot and a B plot, and keeps both at the right level of tension throughout. While this is a sickfic heavy one, it also features Tim and Sasha as ghosts trying desperately not to be. There’s also a lovely sequel and plenty of fluff by the end, but this is a rough ride. ALSO, if you or a loved one had covid / any respiratory illness that caused them to be hospitalized with pneumonia and it could be trigging to read incredibly on the nose descriptions of that experience, this fic is not for you. Or very cathartic. :/

Castaways by CirrusGrey

Welcome to the Castaway Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a safe and secure landing to those lost souls banished from their home worlds by the influence of Fear.

If you wanted saccharine JMart in a new reality where they get therapy and meet old friends from different realities, this series of (mostly) one shots is for you! As you’ve probably come to expect when I suggest CirrusGrey, the writing is fantastic, the ship dynamics are exemplary, and the character are on point. There is so much to say about this series, but mostly, if you want Jon and Martin healing and then settling together and becoming the stereotypical married couple, then this is it. It’s not done, but it is wrapping up, and I hope you all if you haven’t seen this yet enjoy it as much as I do. And for those long time readers who have been reading it longer than I’ve been in the fandom, here’s your friendly reminder that it exists.

Do Before I Die by SupposedToBeWriting

Somewhere Else, Jon can't seem to shake the strange apathy that now plagues his life. Everything reminds Martin of the end of the world. For a change of pace, he and Martin rent a campervan and go on a road trip. Their mission? To fulfill the 'bucket list' Martin made when he was eighteen and lonely. Jon's looking forward to the beach.

Jon and Martin go on a Road Trip accross Britain. It’s just a wholesome and hurt/comfort as it describes. An excellent romp, and the character studies are wonderful. The Planetarium still sticks with me.

ours is a distant shore (series) by pantsoflobster

“If they ever found out about us, we could make things really complicated for them," Jon said. Martin gave a thoughtful hum and then a loaded pause before he said, “Or simpler.” “What?” “We could, you know…” Martin then made mischievous eyes at him in lieu of expanding. “What?” Jon said, thoroughly lost. “Wouldn’t it be a bit fun to sort of... nudge them in the right direction?”

Months after they arrive Somewhere Else, Jon sees himself in the shop.

Summary is from the first fic in the series, this is a fun little romp for those who hated Martin’s defeatism over his and Jon’s relationship in MAG199 and want to see what would happen if instead he accidentally kick started an alternate version and his and Jon’s relationship Somewhere Else. It’s all very silly, tho the last fic does lean more into the hurt/comfort tag than the previous two. Over all though, if you’re looking for a little crack, a lot of fluff, and Jon and Martin being silly this is a good time.

Written in the Stars Will Have to Do by GentlemanCrow

“Yeah well, god knows why, but he thinks you hung the moon, so you might try treating him at the very least like a human being once in a while.”

It was such a small thing. Small words for a small feeling cloaked in a chintzy veneer of idiomatic dismissal. A trembling little bird cupped in his scarred and battered hands and smothered. Or so he thought. Sometimes trembling little birds turn out to be phoenixes, and those who looked to someone else to hang the comfort of a wise, silvery moon in the sky already have the hammer and the picture wire at the ready.

As far as Jon was concerned, the moon only rose on their Somewhere Else because Martin deigned to pull the strings every night, not him.

This is another one of those JMart Somewhere Else fics masquerading as a Safehouse fic that made me want to cry. It’s just, so wonderful, and once again we have themes of healing, but this time through getting a hobby and sharing it with your significant other. The writing is lovely and really gives off the stuffy academic musings I would expect being in Jon’s head (which we are for the duration of this fic) but adds a layer that I didn’t realized I needed till I read it.

On Errantry by ZaliaChimera

Somewhere Else, Jon and Martin discover that their new home has a very special sort of guardian, and Jon seeks judgement from an unexpected source.

They do say that cats purring can heal...

A cute one shot that deals with Jon’s lingering guilt from S5; this is a wonderful tale from Somewhere Else featuring a giant Cat, Martin being supportive, and Jon trying to reconcile his second chance. Very sweet and fluffy, guaranteed!

Lost, Unfound, But Not Forgotten by Elynn

They didn’t find bodies. Or anything pointing to where they may have gone. In the center of the rubble, what Georgie assumed to have once been the top of the tower, was a puddle of dried, crusted blood, and the outline of bodies in the dust and scorch marks. And she knew that wherever the Fears had gone, Jon and Martin had gone with them. The last victims, snuffed and dragged away with them. --- In the weeks after the Eye-pocolypse, Georgie Barker begins the painful process of mourning her best friend.

So, I know I’m very focused on Jon, but I have one fic of Georgie here that’s 10/10. Post 200, Georgie and Melanie eventually goes to clean out Daisy’s cabin of Jon and Martin’s things for Basira (or something like that) and Georgie finds a journal of Jon’s that he kept whilst there. It’s just as bittersweet as you’d imagine, but it’s fantastically cathartic to read and in our MAG 200 feels, this is a good one for closure.

Not Quite Somewhere Else by hawkfurze

Or you can find it on Tumblr HERE

A special entry to finish out this section, I have a long running comic from Tumblr user @hawkfurze who made a TMA x Infinity Train crossover. While I had not watched the show previously (only seen the trailer/pilot from back before it got picked up by CN), the comic is still easy to understand and explains the Infinity Train parts in such a way as to not need any prior knowledge. I highly recommend this comic for anyone who wants a visual treat delving into the relationship and psyches of Jon and Martin as they try to escape into the next reality.

-

AUs

Two Graves by SupposedToBeWriting

Jon sends the fears far from Earth and flees London, leaving the others to assume the worst. He settles in a small village and opts to live there quietly until he dies, a self-imposed penance. This plan is foiled when the first former Avatar shows up - and Jon realizes that every domain-keeper in the apocalypse still has some faint connection to him.

After a year of being a shoulder to cry on for confused and distraught former Avatars, Jon leads a moderately happy life. He has a flourishing garden, a cat, and some company. All of that comes crashing around his ears (or his head) when a familiar face shows up to his cabin, demanding answers.

This fic is in my top 5 fics of TMA fandom. No contest. It has some of the best healing from MAG 200 for Jon and Martin and tbh the world I’ve seen. It’s got that incredible hurt/comfort and the ending makes me cry tears of joy every time I read it. If you read any JMart fic on this list, please read this one if you can only read one. While I was tempted to put this in a different category, this seemed like the best place to put it.

What Comes After by Mornrandir

More than a year after the apocalypse, the world is starting to move on. Georgie, Melanie, and Basira have learned to move on and get back to living their lives. Then Martin reappears- without Jon- and they have to learn to begin again.

A series based around the initial above description, each entry in the series follows the healing of first Martin, then Jon, then both of them together. While I am a Jon-centric woman, if you are of a more Martin-centric leaning, this first fic in the series should scratch that itch. The final entry is very sweet, and the second definitely has a unique reason as to why Jon shows up so late to the after-Fears party.

The Watcher’s Cows by lenioia

He still remembers the first cup of tea Martin brought him. That’s where it began, not with the dog incident. A sweet and strong blend, reasons for appearance unknown, how could it taste so good, also unknown. Jon stares at what will be the last cup between them. His miserable parting gift. Where it’ll end.

Alt Mag 200, or in a slightly kinder universe which differs by exactly one cup of tea, Martin is the one who switches plan last minute, and Jon’s last half-backed scheme, for once, works.

An AU splitting off MAG 199/200, where Jon’s plan actually happens, but instead of it being quite so bleak he finds a new path with the help of Martin. I know the original ending of the series is probably the most hopeful one realistically, but we all enjoy our fixits here, so this is a really sappy “by the power of love” Jon and Martin save the universe and still get to live in it AU. Highly highly recommend, and it finished within the last 8 months, so it’s “on the newer side” as it were. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot, and if you’ve read it and it’s been awhile now’s a good time to read it again.

The Eyespot Chronicles (series) by SupposedToBeWriting

To Martin Blackwood's surprise, he wakes up in the ruins of the Magnus Institute. He thought he would be dead. The world is back to normal, the Entities are gone, and everyone realizes that it's finally over. The only sticking point is that Jon isn't exactly the Jon that went into the apocalypse. Never one to give up, Martin is determined to make a life for himself and his boyfriend. Even if he is a giant moth.

Summary taken from the first in the series, this trilogy of fics covers Jon and Martin’s attempts at healing in a world that remembers what happened. The first fic focuses entirely on Martin’s struggles, the second on Jon’s, and the 3rd (as you might guess) focuses on them both. The series is excellent, and if you’ve got the fortitude for canon-typical emotional constipation after having just experienced MAG-200 it’s well worth the read.

Another Guest for Mr. Spider by Dribbledscribbles

Jon isn't eating his statements like he should.

Mr. Spider doesn't like it.

Written in transcript format, this AU considers the idea of what if the Web was more hands on it it’s approach to getting Jon to Become more monstrous; or at least not starve himself out. Incredible read, you need an AO3 account though. But I have never been that spooked by a Statement or encounter before I read this fic. If you DO NOT like spiders on you or in your mouth and you don’t like reading about it either, potentially hold off on this fic, or at least skip from where Mr. Spider says “Open your mouth. Do not move.” to when he says “Wash it down with this. Now.” But yeah if you didn’t get enough spider trauma from canon, this fic gives it in spades! (And if you want Mr. Spider getting his comeuppance, you get that too ;) )

Illicio by ThatOneGirlBehindYou

As the new Archivist debates between life and death, the Eye ponders on what to offer him in order to avoid an encore of the unfortunate situation with his predecessor.

-----

Gerard Keay opens his eyes at what feels like fuck-ass in the morning, inside a room with far too little space and far too much dust.

A long form AU of what if Gerry Keay was brought back by the Eye to convince Jon to stay on team Monster if you will. Goes all the way through MAG-200, has some great twists and turns, and manages to turn into an “Everyone Lives AU” as well. While it is currently updating, it’s updating every week on Saturday till it finishes, and she only has 2 chapters left. If you’ve managed to never read this, now is certainly the time for it! It is Jon/Gerry/Martin, so if that’s not your exact cup of tea I’d still say give it a shot.

we should ride this wave to shore by ClarionGlass

“archives research & statement envestigation” Timothy Stoker renamed the group “drinks drinks drinks” Timothy Stoker changed Sasha James’s nickname to saucy sash Timothy Stoker changed Martin Blackwood’s nickname to martini kart Timothy Stoker changed his nickname to stonked stonked: so how bout it lads saucy sash: oh god. A TMA group chat fic where the worst problems they have to deal with start with "h" and end with "angovers"

Right, I don’t tend to read chat fics, I’m going to be honest with you all. I have two exceptions and this is one of them. It goes interesting places, the characters are not completely OOC, if it they are at least it’s consistent OOC and not in a grating way. But in all seriousness, I recommend this because of how it ties in with MAG 160 and 200; as well as how the sequel deals with canon S5. The sequel isn’t finished and is slow to update, but I am still recommending at the very least the first one. It’s a good romp and I highly recommend.

Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues, Soul-Stealing Bosses, and the End of the World at Work by shinyopals

I've recently been unexpectedly promoted to lead a department in my organisation, wrote the anonymous emailer.

As there was no one working here when I arrived, my manager, who is head of the organisation, had promised me the choice of my own assistants. However, without warning, he simply presented me with an additional assistant. This new assistant’s first act on his first day was to let a dog into the office. It took several hours to catch and clean up after this dog and it has only been downhill from there. I admit I'm not entirely sure what to do with this assistant now I'm stuck with him. I'm hoping you have some advice?

Kind regards, New Manager

Abigail Bailey runs a successful management advice blog. One frequent contributor is from a workplace with some... issues.

While this isn’t quite an AU and is basically canon compliant, I’m putting it here because it’s a “what if Jon was an avid seeker of advice on a management advice blog?” AU. It’s beautifully formatted, and features very in character interactions. If you are a sucker for the TMA trope: how do normal people react to the weirdness at the Institute, then this is a great fic for you. I know it’s probably one of the most popular things to have hit the Jonathan Sims tag on AO3 in recent months, but this is just me reminding you all it exists and well worth the re-read.

JMart Fluff

Author CirrusGrey

Literally anything by them. I think I probably recommend them every time I talk about JMart, but I think on AO3 they are both the most prolific and one of the best writers for the tag. Pick almost any fic they’ve written for TMA and it’s probably JMart. There’s too many fics of their’s to recommend, so I’ll just link you straight to their profile and you can go swimming from there lol.

Jon’s Moving Castle by IceEckos12

Martin Blackwood may not have a perfect life, but he does have a good one. That is, until a series of magical encounters leave him with an unfortunate curse. Out of other options, he goes to the wizard who lives in the moving castle for aid.

Life never goes how he intends it to, though.

Basically Howl’s Moving Castle, but with a TMA spin. You don’t need to have seen the movie to understand what’s going on, and honestly while it sticks fairly close to the movie, it doesn’t stick so close that it feels constrained by it in places where it wouldn’t make sense in the AU they’ve set up. It’s a very sweet JMart fic with a satisfying conclusion.

The 101 Kidnappings of Jonathan Sims (and Other Inconveniences) by beetlejoos

Martin Blackwood never applies for a job at the Magnus Institute. The universe seems determined that he meets Jonathan Sims anyway. But is it Fate, or something more sinister, that keeps bringing the two of them together?

Right, this mostly crack treated seriously. It’s got hurt/comfort, but it’s fairly light hearted throughout. As one could guess by the title and description, Jon is repeatedly kidnapped and brought to wherever Martin is living/working at the time. While it’s not done yet, and not on a schedule, the chapters that are out thus far are well worth the read. That and there’s some cute fan art for it that’s linked to in the end notes. But I recommend this because it’s got that vibe of S1 Jon meets S1 Martin outside of the Institute and romance (eventually) happens. Very fun read if you haven’t read it yet.

i think we’re alone now + alone-verse (series) by milliganopen

Just a couple of guys breaking into a basement. What could go wrong?

Getting trapped in your apartment with your boss, that's what.

Season 1 re-imagined if Jon and Martin had been trapped by Jane Prentiss together.

Initially I recommended this back when we had hit MAG039/022 because it was a great AU to Martin’s Statement where Jon also gets trapped in Martin’s apartment during Martin’s no good very bad 2 weeks of worm siege. HOWEVER, the author has since continued this series and is slowly working their way through canon one season/fic at a time. They’re currently on S3, and I am definitely keeping an eye on it for whenever the next update happens. If you haven’t had the time to check it out, it’s got some very good JMart moments, and their relationship manages to move faster than a glacier.

Fate, or Something by HermaeusMora

"You can't be serious." Jonathan Sims raises his eyes at last to properly look at Georgie, expecting her to laugh and make some quip about finally getting him to put the damn book down, at least.

"Well, I am," she shoots back.

He sets his book aside and turns fully towards her, betrayal clear on his face. "A blind date, really?"

Jon makes the frankly terrible decision to go on a blind date with one Martin Blackwood. Fate ensues. AU where Jon and Georgie are still friends, Georgie likes finding dates for her friends, Martin doesn't work at the institute, and everyone is just a bit happier while canon spooky stuff goes on in the background. Takes place juuust barely pre-canon in the beginning but catches up quickly. Inspired as usual by the wonderful conversations with my friend RavenXavier/somuchbetterthanthat.

A fun AU that challenges the idea that Jon and Martin are incompatible a la MAG199. Excellently done and well worth the time to check it out.

Diary by luftballoons99

Not for the first time since they ran away together, a camera reel of all the things they don't know about one another whirs behind Martin's eyes, and he can't help but look at all the sprawling magnetic tape and wonder if they’re going to wind up a romance or a tragedy.

or: Office parties, garage bands, and the joy of being known.

A bit of a bittersweet mostly fluff oneshot focused on Jon and Martin having a night in at the Safehouse and talking about good things from their pasts. (Warning, the sequel is rated E(xplicit) for a reason, so I am only recommending Diary. Both are stand alone however.)

Weaving My Heartstrings by arms_full_of_hyacinths

At least he was someone. Someone who could deal with the spiders. That was probably the source of the nerves unspooling like magnetic tape to fill Jon’s stomach with buzzing static butterflies.

Yes, Martin was much bigger than a spider. He was probably the kind of person who cupped them in his hands and talked to them as he walked them out into the garden, which shouldn’t be giving Jon a burst of warm feeling at all, since his preferred method of spider disposal was simply to squash them on sight.

Martin likes Jon almost as much as Jon hates spiders. When a statement from an institute employee sends them spiraling into the center of a complicated web, they'll need to rely on each other if they want to make it out alive.

Bit of an odd suggestion to close us out, but this one is a fun almost episodic plot about an original Statement and the shenanigans Jon and Martin get into trying to research it. It’s very good, features some very on point S1 Jon and Martin along with a bit of a fast forward on their relationship throughout.

And with that, I’ve probably overstayed my welcome lol. I hope you found something new to read! If not, I at least hope that you had fun rereading some old faves. This has taken me a day or two to compile and format, so I hope you all enjoy in whatever capacity that ends up being! Happy end of A Mag A Day, and it was a joy walking alongside you all. Congrats to A MAG A Day blog owners on all your hard work for the last ~210 days and with this post I wish you all a very fond farewell.

[maximwtf]

“Sticking your hand where it doesn’t belong?”

Art by: ggracee (Tumblr) (pls yall go check them out, their art is the coolest !!)

Elias Bouchard x Reader

words: 1400

google docs pages: 3

Warnings: A burn, I think Elias should be a warning too, he’s kinda mean but that’s why I like him :"D

opening: You crawl back to the institute after trying to get a follow up on a statement, and ending up with a pretty bad burn on your hand. Hopefully it’s late enough so Elias shouldn’t be in his office so you could patch yourself up…

AN// Any pronouns for reader! I’m quite certain I’ve read almost every Elias fanfic out there and I’m getting desperate, so I’m writing some myself. (Also, any requests for Tim and I’ll be at it at the speed of light)

    “Sticking your hand where it doesn’t belong?”

Maybe you had miscalculated something or perhaps preparing for getting the follow up would have been a good idea, but pondering those topics was no use anymore. The damage was done and all you could do was try and fix it. 

Whoever it was that you had met, had most definitely not been the same person from one of the statements that had been assigned to you. If you could even call the thing that had burnt your hand a ‘person’.

It was hard to keep your thoughts away from the sheering pain that was coming from your right hand. Your left hand shook as it fiddled with the keys before finding the right one for the institute door. It was rather late, so you assumed no one should have been working anymore. At least no one from the archives, and that was enough to ease your mind. 

You knew the closest first aid kit must have been in Elias’ office, remembering when you had been an assistant to him, your office hadn’t had one. Not that you had the original keys to his office anymore either, after being transferred to the archives. But you had gotten a spare made before that, which you had ‘forgotten’ to return. Whoops? But also because you never came across a time when you would have needed them, before now of course. 

You climbed the stairs to his office, finding it hard to look for the old pair of keys from the bottom of your bag but there they were. Your shaky left hand reached to unlock the door in front of you, a sigh of relief escaping at the sound of it clicking open. With a gentle push the room behind the door opened up and even with a quick look inside you could spot someone. Elias Bouchard sitting at his desk, leaning on the familiar wooden table ever so slightly. “Ah, Y/n. A surprise to see you here so late?” His voice rang out, the expression on his face almost impossible to read. He was talking as if he had known you’d be coming. 

You didn’t say anything at first, not even sure as to what to do. Run off? It honestly almost felt like you couldn’t, and even if you did…how could you bring yourself back to work the next day? “Elias.” You nodded politely as if to greet him, every muscle in your body trying to hide how uncomfortable you were. “Do you have a- uh-” You stammered with the words, feeling awkward as it was but the knowledge that he had basically watched you break into his office was making the feeling worse. “A first aid kit? Yes.” He finished the sentence for you, raising his eyebrow slightly at your expression. You didn’t even know why you felt so surprised that he seemed to know what you were looking for, surely he had just seen the state of your hand… “I- yes, that. Could I have it?” You asked, taking a careful step into the room. “Could I have the key you used to break into my office with?” He asked, seemingly calm but still so hard to read. Elias stood up and with his back turned to you, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and kneeled down a little to pick up the kit from a drawer. You bit your inner lip, placing the keys on the table. The silence in the room made the sound of the keys hitting the table feel like it was echoing. “Y-yes. Of course.” You could have just gone home and all of this could have been avoided, you thought to yourself while watching him turn back to you. “What happened?” He asked, but his voice seemed to be filled with something other than any real concern or interest. You wish you had an answer to his question, but even you weren’t sure as to what had happened. All it took was one handshake and it had felt like the blood inside of you had been boiling. “Not sure if I’m being honest. I’m going to talk to Jon about it tomorrow.” You sighed, struggling to open the red bag Elias had placed in front of you but managing to do so in the end. “Sticking your hand where it doesn’t belong?” Elias’ voice asked, but it sounded almost mocking. As if he was making fun of you for getting injured? Either way, you didn’t say anything of it, not that you even could. The burning pain from your hand was keeping your full attention on it.

Elias’ presence was always intense, but it felt even more so now. Now, that he was watching you pull out a bluish bag from the kit, snapping it against the table and watching the motion cause the chemicals inside form into ‘ice’. He didn’t say anything, not until you started to struggle placing the bag on top of the burn properly. A sharp sigh left him and you could have sworn he rolled his eyes at you. “Let me.” He said and almost instinctively you let go of the bag and allowed him to do it for you. While Elias’ other hand was holding the bag in place, his free hand took a cotton pad and a bandage from the kit. You had thought about doing that yourself later on, but doubted you could have done it with one hand so you had already dropped the idea. Was he doing it for you? Without him even giving you a look, he began to open the bandage. “I’ll be fine without it- I mean, I can do that at home. I was just looking for an ice pack or something.” But even this comment didn’t seem to bring his gaze upon you, he kept his focus on the bandage. “From the state of your hand, I highly doubt you’ll make it home without injuring it further.” He sighed again, but to your surprise he didn’t seem too bothered. As much as him not looking bothered said anything about his true state of mind. 

Elias took the bag from your hand, making you miss the cooling effect it had given you, easing the pain. He leaned on the table a little while pulling you closer by the wrist, making you stumble. But you let him, no use in telling him no either. At least that’s what you told yourself was the reason for allowing him to do so. You felt almost dumbfounded, maybe from the exhaustion the day had caused but also because on top of all that, the last thing you had expected was having Elias, Elias Bouchard, your boss treat a burn on your hand. 

He placed the cotton pad on the spots he had deemed as the worst, and wrapped the bandage around it all, covering it to keep it safe. “There. Perhaps next time, do a little more research on the people you meet, hm?” He said, tone still oddly calm. You had questions burning at the back of your mind, but the hand still hurt enough to keep you from asking any of them. “I-  yes. Thank you.” You stuttered out before picking up your bag again. “I’ll…see you tomorrow.” You added, not quite sure what to say. Why was he so calm about all this?

No, none of that mattered now. The intense feeling around him had grown even worse from the start of this interaction, and you wanted away from it. “Good night, Y/n.” Elias’ voice rang from his office and down the first steps of the staircase as you descended away from him. 

AN//I’m sorry if this sucks, I’m studying for my matriculation exams and wrote this in a hurry :”D

[dolls-self-ships]

Two Birds One Storm

heyyyy this is my first fic in a while also it’s not finished yet this is only part one so it’s a quick read if you’re interested! <3 inspired by this prompt by otp-fanfic-ideas

“Oh my, would you look at that?”

Mac raised her head with a slight curious hum in her throat at the sound of her voice, she looked over to see her .. em.. friend, sitting by the window of her hut, which was being rapidly spotted with heavy raindrops, making an aggressive tap.. tap tap.. tap.. tap tap sound on the glass.

Mac felt startled, she could have sworn she calculated this weeks weather to a T, and all accounts showed nothing but sunshine, but sometimes Mother Nature had a way of being particularly unpredictable. Either that or she had miscalculated, but Mac would rather believe the first thing than the second one.

“Why, it’s just raining cats and dogs” Daphne tsked, still observing the grey sky and the cloudy mist that now covered the island.

“Oh aye” Mac agreed as she joined Daphne at the window, looking up to study the clouds herself. “And that great big one looks like a cumulonimbus. An et looks like there’s more rolling in fast as et is.”

Daphne looked at her, a little confused at first but trying her best to remember what kind of cloud that was. She had been getting used to Mac’s way of putting things into very technical terms, on top of her thick Scottish accent- of which both she found endlessly charming- and she would hate to make Mac repeat herself, as she often had to.

After a couple seconds, Daphne was almost certain she remembered. “That means uh.. thunder right?”

Mac smiled at her, and nodded in approval. She gave a little "mhm!" as in 'that's correct!'.

"I must say hen, you're catchin' on faster than Mr. Rhodes ever did. Yer a fast learner!" Mac praised her with an approving grin and a wink. Daphne felt a small sense of pride swell inside of her when Mac said that, partially because she liked the feeling of being better than Rocky at something, but also because she liked that Mac felt understood by her.

“Maybe because we spend so much time together" she giggled.

Mac felt a little bit of a rush from that, a warmth filled her cheeks as she nodded. "Aye, that too." She looked back out the window,

After a few moments of staring out into the rain, it slowly began to dawn on Daphne that her hut was all the way on the other side of town, and getting there would be like hell in just the rain alone, let along when the storm starts picking up. She gently cleared her throat and stammered "W-well, I-I should probably start headin' out now"

Mac was shocked, what on earth was she saying? She couldn't go out in this weather. "What? Now? I donnae think that's such a good idea, lass."

Daphne sighed "If I don't get goin' now I'm not gonna make it home" she said, shaking her head, "and I would hate to be a bother to you"

The rain started to pick up more, followed by a loud crash that startled the two. Both their heads turned quickly back to the window, and their eyes slowly travled upwards to see clusters of rain clouds, more and more packing in as if they all had a personal vendetta against this one specific chicken-housing island. They could see tiny flashes of light coming from between the cracks of plush looking grey forms in the sky, but it wasn't sunshine like one would hope, the flashes were erratic and white, the lightning had already begun to start up.

"Hen, I cannae let you go out in that, ye could ge'y knocked over by de wind, lost in all de fog, shrivel up like a wee raisin from all the rain, catch hypothermia-"

Daphne watched as Mac counted on her fingers all the possibilities she could face if she went outside at this time, in an effort to get her to stop, she placed her wings overtop of hers.

"Alright, alright, I get it, I just.." She paused, shifting in her seat and taking a breath “I just don’t wanna impose, that’s all”

Mac shook her head. “Even if that was, hen, there’s no wey that wee half-built bit wuld keep you warm enough in this.”

Daphne hummed, looking back outside as she saw the first bolt of lightening hit the water around the island. She wasn’t able to get out a response in time as Mac has already gotten up from her seat.

“Sit tight while I put de kettle on.”

As Mac left to the kitchen to get started, Daphne watched her with guilty eyes. She didn't know what it was, but everytime she was being waited on by someone, it always felt off. Wrong somehow. She hated making people go out of their way for her, she didn't like the feeling that she was causing trouble or making someone get up, even when it was a simple of a task as brewing tea. So, she quickly got up from her seat.

"Wait" She followed after her,  Mac turned over her shoulder from where she stood, already at the counter with the kettle going, which had already begun to make its low steaming sound, a high pitched, barely audible 'phhhwwwwtttt' sound. Daphne came up beside her and plucked two tea bags from the little display Mac had placed on the kitchen top. Peppermint- Mac's favourite. "I'll get these for ya"

Mac smiled, holding out her hand to grab the two little bags. "Thanks hen" she said, reaching for them a bit further than she intended, and accidentally brushing her hand over Daphne fingertips.

phhhwwttt

Mac jolted, a gasp hitched in her throat. Her teeth clenched as she flinched her hand away, feeling that familiar warmth in her cheeks again. Her eyes flickered between her recoiled hand and Daphne’s face, hoping that she could read her expression just enough to predict what was going through her mind at that moment.

Ppppphhhwhwwttttt

Daphne wasn't all that suave either, she didn’t say a word, but her eyes spoke volumes. They wouldn't leave the spot on her hand that Mac accidentally touched, it was like she could still feel a ghost of what the sensation was like to have her feathertips brush hers. It was still warm. Still comfortable.

PPPPPHHHHWWWTTTTTTT

Her eyes darted back up to the maroon combed hen, who then turned away from her shyly and said in an awkward tone and held out her hand, palm up, instead for Daphne to place the bags in.

"Ah... sorry"

It was up until then that Daphne had completely forgotten about the tea.

“It’s alright…”

click

The water was ready.

[earlgreytea68]

Hi! I’m a big fan of your writing, basically everything you put out there, fanfics, tumblr posts long and short, everything. Any topic you choose to discuss you manage to present very well, and get me interested every single time. If it is about a tv program I’ve never watched, or a theme park I’ve never been in - it’s captivating, it’s clever, it’s just GOOD writing! Are you subscribed to any newsletters? It’s quite a popular thing now, and a lot of time a real journalists are writing them. But unfortunately, very often this pieces are written pretty badly, like for example, they over edit and break the fourth wall at the same time, try to seem so deep, and profound, but at the same sentence drop some edgy joke and address me directly, as if we’re chatting and are buddies or something… like.. idk. And I know we all are very grateful for the Kerrang p2 interview, but did you see that sentence “the bassist grins at one point”? It’s like the worst #badfanfic cliche you can ever imagine. And it’s a big well known magazine, wtf??? What’s next? “The long haired man”, the “older boy”?? I’m sorry for the rant, but sometimes it just seems, that the best written articles about this band and others too, I’ve read on this website. Do you remember all those great things people wrote in retrospect about the tour this past year? A lot of very talented people are here. I’m really glad I’m subscribed to some of them.

Okay, first of all, thank you so much for the lovely compliment and I appreciate it, thank you, I'm so glad you enjoy listening to me babble. :-)

Second of all, though, I totally agree with you that I routinely read on Tumblr excellently written pieces that I do not read in professional publications, and it is infuriating to me. For some reason, "professional writing" is just so often...not good. Is it the editing? Is it, like, some kind of marketing data saying this is the tone everything should have? IS IT AI???? Like, for real, what is it??? But it is so frustrating to me.

I don't subscribe to any newsletters, I confess, but I have been trying to read more books, and I know I've talked about this before, but I keep reading highly recommended books and I'm just like, ....these are all terrible????? I read better fanfiction on literally a daily basis????? What is happening????? I just finished a queer romance and if anything should have been like a fic to read, you would have thought it would be that, but I was so distracted by how inconsistent the characters and even the story was, like, I was just like, This was professionally written and edited and this is what we ended up with?????

Anyway, I agree with you, everyone on here writes excellent Fall Out Boy analyses and reflections, thanks so much for them, I'm sure Pete Wentz also enjoys them.

[maladaptive-jcb]

Chapter 1: Icebreaker

Jamie x female!reader fanfic

(fluff, safe for under 18)

Summary: Reader is an independent artist who lives on her own in a small town and meets Jamie, a musician, in an art studio where their budding relationship formed through shared interests of different forms of art.

Warning: There will be talks about trauma and PTSD from domestic abuse and dissociative episodes throughout the story.

A quiet groan. I can hear it from two seats away from where I’m sitting. It’s almost been a month since I started this painting class where I saw it opened two blocks away from my apartment a month ago. I thought it was a perfect way to ignite my old artistic passion again. Lucky for me, it's a budget studio class, which means I don't have to break my savings just to fill up some of my free time. I work at a local bookstore and currently renting a small apartment. I'm doing good, but not amazing while living as an independent girl in this town.

I hear another sigh coming from him. Jamie first came into class around the second week I started here. I remember it was a slow day in class. I was wondering if I should even be here in the first place until I heard footsteps coming in. The way he walked in with his tussled blonde hair and iridescent eyes captured my attention immediately. Ever since then, he never missed a class. I decided to stick around after all.

“Jamie…Jamie… What did I say?” Mr. Hayes, our art teacher stops behind him as Jamie is struggling with his work. “Always check the proportions. Sorry,” he says in a low tone voice. Subtle English accent. Disgruntled look is forming on his face as he tries fixing his painting with more acrylic. Mr. Hayes pats on his back with approval and goes along to check his other students.

He's not really the worst in class. I’ve seen his work, he did a lot of good paintings except that he hates small details and proportional work.

Should I help him more? I mean, we barely talk in class aside from the occasional “Hey,” from time to time. In fact, he barely talks to anyone in here.

He shoots up a look to me.

Shit.

I didn’t realize that I’ve been staring at him for a while.

“Y/n, you’re doing great just don’t forget to clean up your finishing touches this time,” Mr. Hayes distracted my train of thoughts. “I will. Thank you, Mr. Hayes,” I give him a quick nod. I've had such a great experience so far with Mr. Hayes. He'll find a way to make one-on-one teaching lessons feel so personal to you. He's also very patient with all of us considering most of his students came in with zero prior art knowledge. I think that’s why Jamie has improved so much in just a short period of time.

____

The morning is still early when the class ended and I'm now on a hunt for some caffeine to keep my day going. The café is just a five minutes walk down the road. It's called the Aroma Mocha. Since it's an hour away until my shift starts at the bookstore, I decide to have a brisk walk under the cool weather, taking it all in.

As I walk in, there are already five people in line ahead of me at the counter. I wait in line as I soak in the café’s inviting atmosphere. I see a few people inside with their quiet talks to each other. Another middle aged woman reading her book while sipping on a hot coffee. A dark haired teenage girl in the slightly hidden corner with headphones on while sipping on her cold drink in hand. I can't tell what it is but it makes me crave for an iced latte. In another corner, there's a tired college student staring straight into his laptop screen with the fast click-clacking sound of his hands on the keyboard. Just the right amount of calm and busy here, topped off with the aroma of freshly grinded up coffee beans filling up the air. It’s just such a nice morning to start. I've been observing everyone that I haven't noticed anyone getting in line behind me until…

“Y/n, right?”

I turn around and met with a tall lanky figure, silver rings on his fingers, blonde hair framing his cheekbones perfectly in the dim lights of the café.

“Oh yes. And you’re Jamie!”

He smiles. “Yep. Fancy meeting you outside the class.”

“I hope that’s not a bad thing.”

“Not at all. Pleased, really,” his eyes twinkles.

I don’t see the disgruntled, contorted face he always makes when painting in frustrations. He seems… sweet.

“Next!” The barista calls out to me.

“One iced latte, please…” I turn to Jamie. “…and whatever he’s having.”

“Coffee. Black,” he leans forward to respond. His subtle breath warm on my neck. “Thank you."

“You’re welcome,” I return his smile.

I’ve wanted to approach him so many times in class and chickened out. Crazy to think that this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had.

Our drinks were done at the counter after a few minutes. I grab both and hands his coffee. He takes it, fingers brush against mine.

“I’ll see you again, soon?”

“Yeah. See you again, y/n.”

He smiles and raises the cup of coffee thanking me again. I nod and quickly turns my face towards the floor hiding the warmth that's rising to my cheeks. With one last wave, I walk towards the door to leave.

“Wait!”

A surge of relief going through my body. Somehow I was hoping it wouldn't just end there.

“Do you have time to sit with me?” he asks.

I hold my wrist up and check the time on my watch. My shift is not starting until 40 minutes anyways. How long can it be to sit and talk with Jamie?

“If that’s okay,” a little hint of pleading in his voice.

“Yes, of course."

____

We sit across each other at a table near the big window. His long legs brush against mine from time to time. Now that I'm actually closer to him than before, I can see his blue eyes sparkling even brighter under the sunlight streaming through the window pane. He's a little quiet at first. His fingers knotted with each other around his warm cup of coffee. It's almost as if he's wondering what to talk about. Eventually, he tries to ask me more about myself. Trying to set aside the sudden surprise of actually sitting with a new person on my day, I let myself cool down and let the conversations flow on their own. His eyes wide, yet soft as he looks at me attentively every time I tell him little things about myself. I just thought it was just out of politeness but I notice that he's actually listening to me when he chuckles and nods along to my stories. It's like every word that came out of my mouth hung around the air and he's just absorbing them all in.

"You know it's very interesting to finally hear all about the teacher's favourite in class," a teasing tone in his voice.

“Oh, stop. But you know, I've wanted to talk to you in class for a while as well."

“Is that why you’ve been staring at me?” he smirks and takes a sip of his coffee.

My heart does a somersault. He noticed that?

“Oh… I uh,” my cheeks starting to feel a little warm.

He winks.

“So what brings you to the class anyway,” my attempt at changing the subject.

“Oh, umm…” Jamie purses his lips as if he's thinking about the question itself.

"I wanted to try something new in this town. I just moved here and happened to walk by the studio and… well here I am."

“I see. I’m guessing you came all the way here from…”

“London. Yes. The accent, I know,” he laughs. Hand brushing through his beautiful locks.

“I just needed a change. What about you?”

“Oh I’ve lived here for a while. Two years now. Trying to prove to my parents that I can be independent, you know?” I tell him, quickly brushing the question off.

He nods. “You’re working?”

“Yeah. Do you know Bookworm Shack? It’s a block away from here. In fact, I should be getting into my shift in like 15 minutes now.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it. Come on, I’ll drive you,” drinking the last bit of his coffee before he gets up.

I didn’t have time to process it. I haven’t sat in a car alone with a man for so long. Not since-

“You’re coming?” his head tilts towards me and scanning my eyes, hoping for a hint of agreement to his plan.

“I guess, there's no harm in that. Thank you."

“The least I could do for that coffee,” he gives a friendly punch to my upper arm and grinning ear to ear. Every bit of his face lights up when he does it. It feels nice to see him in a more cheerful mood than usual.

I'm not one to know much about cars. Truthfully, all cars look the same to me. If anyone would name a model of a car, no image would pop in my head at all. However, I am able to tell when a car is luxurious and expensive. Jamie's car is exactly that. At least better than the one I drove back in my hometown. It was an old car that my dad gave me after he finally saved up enough for a new one for his own. It was a little beat up but I loved it just the same. It didn't have the leg rooms as I have right now sitting in Jamie's car though. I know it wasn't the best car but it took me where I needed to and it was comfortable enough for me. Looking up at Jamie from the passenger's seat makes me feel a little shy. What do you do when someone told you to make yourself comfortable? Do they actually mean it or do they just want to be polite? Maybe I'll just play it safe and tuck my feet together and not mess with anything in here.

"Relax. The leather seat is not gonna bite you," he snickers after noticing me shifting carefully in my seat.

"Yeah, but you might," quickly giving him the same retort energy.

"Wow. Hurtful. Although, you'll never know. Hope you already got your rabid shot."

His face stays on the road but his eyes peering sideways towards me while smirking at his own joke. A giggle start escaping from my mouth and he finally lets out a big heartful laugh I've ever heard from him.

I feel myself being a lot more relaxed in my seat after that. We continue our conversations along the ride but it was cut short when Jamie pulls over in front of the bookstore. A little disappointment in my heart when I realized that I have to say goodbye to him now.

As I’m getting out of the car, he asks, “What time your shift ends?”

“6 pm. Why?” I respond back through the passenger’s seat window.

“Sounds like a good time for dinner. I’ll pick you up,” he winks again and drives away.

“Wait, I-“ Oh there’s no use. He’s gone.

_____

Chapter 2

Note: Hi! I'm new on here and I'm sharing my writing for the first time on the internet and thought that it'd be nice to start on here. I don't know if this will take off or not but I'm excited for everyone to read it. Do let me know your thoughts and reblog if you like it. If it starts picking up then I will continue posting the next chapter :)

[cordycepsfem]

Pageboy Readthrough, Part Seven

Previously

the entire thing was awful from start to finish

we learned nothing about Canada

but that's not why it was awful

it was awful because EP details several instances of sexual assault, homophobia, and rape

she says briefly that she felt like a weight was lifted when she came out

but it didn't last very long

your reviewer stopped because Chapter Nine opened with sex and she just couldn't take it

Now

Chapter Nine

as previously stated this chapter dumps us immediately into sex

and your reviewer immediately has some questions

okay, so, first - both "my dick" and "my pussy" = got it, sure, whatever

"queerer than ever" when just performing lesbianism = sure, whatever you need to call it, EP

"magnets sucking"?? is this meant to be sexy? has EP ever stuck two magnets together? did they make a sucking sound to her? does she think "magnetism" and "magnets" are correlated? what the fuck is this meant to express?

in conclusion:

and also, I know I said would take up a sword and go off to fight whoever EP told me to, based on her backstory, but now I think she owes me like $50 (CAD is fine) for having to read that and parse it with my own eyes and my own brain

remember, throw "cis white gay" in front of anything and it's cool to denigrate whatever comes after

EP, who do you think built the bars? Why do you think they're all gay bars? Maybe it's because of the gay community there... c'mon, I wanna give you the benefit of the doubt, but... you have to work for it

I am now running a tab a la "Cinema Sins":

also, nobody likes a bragger, EP. I like to write, then eat, then sleep too, but you don't see me bragging about it. It's just... Thursday.

also I'm dying to know who this "Madisyn" individual is because I am dying to know what she was writing at the same time EP was banging (no pun intended) this out. I'm crossing my fingers for fanfic because I would be roundly disappointed with something like "tracking genetic diseases in Victorian England"

EP continues to make friends and influence people:

yes that was a bad joke for me to make on a post about the f-slur and yes I do feel bad for her for this entire scenario but I feel I am owed some levity considering that I just had to consider EP "getting hard" on sweatpants

FSlur Man chases EP to a convenience store

it forces EP to remember a similar time she was homophobically attacked

okay, so, let's talk about this

I want to believe EP 100% on all of this because a) I know how shit the world is and b) I exist as a lesbian in it

but "This is why I need a gun"? are we sure? this smacks of "look at my attacker's right wing politics" to me and I feel so badly that it does but I am, as previously stated, a very specific type of asshole (one who is incredibly jaded, apparently)

I have never been to West Hollywood and I have no idea what kind of mentally ill people live there, so obviously my own sense of "is this true or not?" is fallible

either way, gay-bashing and threatening gay and lesbian individuals is wrong and I feel like that should be stated in case someone reads this and thinks I'm doubting her or I'm somehow on the side of the attacker(?). yes, I know how weird that sounds, but the internet's a weird place.

your reviewer is sighing because I just don't know what to say about this anymore

being attacked is awful and wrong and should not happen

why are these things not reported to the police? why did these men's faces not end up on Twitter, with cries to find them and get them fired, as is asked of so many of us when we see racists or similar bad actors in the wild?

yeah yeah, I know, believe women and don't question why they did what they did, but I know in my heart that if something like this happened to me I would be filming. I would call the police.

also the third season of Umbrella Academy sucked and I'm putting that half on the shoulders spoilers of EP for wanting Vanya to transition (which was fucking unnecessary because trans actors go on and on about not always needing to play trans characters and offensive because we finally had a lesbian on a show! who wasn't killed!) and half on the shoulders of the show who not only bought into her transitioning her character with absolutely no evidence leading up to it ever, which is shit writing, but also because all they did was run around and yell each other's names and then kill off a bunch of characters we didn't even know for just... funsies, I guess

anyway it was shit and the fourth season better have some big balls to fix all of it or I am going to roundly and aggressively review it

ah, hell, I'm going to do that anyway

where were we?

ah, yes, the "we live in a society" portion of the evening

I want to say a lot of things here but all of them are bitchy and I'm trying to let that not be me

I feel as though many people do not see trans men as "real" men because they are not male, and the correlation is not between "anger" and "masculinity," it is between "anger" and males

it is not females who commit the vast majority of violent crimes and express anger so openly in our society with such ease, it's males

it has nothing to do with whether or not those men are masculine or feminine

or whether or not those men identify as men or not

there are plenty of trans women who are violent as fuck

and in fact many of them seem to be making it "their thing"

so long story short:

Get fucking angry, EP. Be angry about what's happened to you, because a lot has happened to you to be angry about. Fight the fuck back in whatever way feels best for you to do so.

As someone who also has a lot to be angry about from childhood, my teenage years, and then in my twenties, as I dealt first with bullies and mean girls and aggressive boys and just absolute assholes, as well as the Catholic Church, but then moved onto being treated poorly by the medical establishment as I tried to navigate being chronically ill in a world not built for it at a time that I was not prepared to fight for my life... I have found ways to let the anger out. It still sits in my chest and it builds and it squashes into a tiny origami box behind my sternum.

I let it out when I refuse to let anyone define me.

I let it out when I go to therapy.

I let it out when I decide what I like, what I want to do, where I want to be, who I want to be.

I let it out when I make decisions about what my life will look like in the future.

I let it out when I am joyful. The people who tried to break me and ruin me didn't, and I am still alive to be incredibly happy.

I let it out when I am around other women. When I am around my sisters. We are still here.

Find your sword, EP. You've got a bunch of us behind you.

(Also you owe me approximately $64.80 CAD for this chapter. I take Venmo.)

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Thanks @feralremains for the tag! I'm just gonna follow your lead for what to post about!

Most recent ship: I would say Hannigram but I actually watched Our Flag Means Death for the first time more recently than Hannibal, so I have to say GentleBeard even though I am currently obsessed with Hannigram.

Most written about ship: Again, I would say Hannigram because I've posted the most about them, but I haven't actually written anything substantial about them (in terms of word count). I did once write a 45,000 word fic for a different fandom, but it was an x reader so I can't count that either really. Given all that, I think the ship I've written the most for is Yona/Hak from Yona of the Dawn. I've written about 9,000 words of fic for the two of them.

Ship that got me into fanart/fanfic: As far as fanfic goes, I started out writing almost exclusively x readers for a bunch of different fandoms. I'm pretty sure the first actual ship I wrote a fanfic for was Destiel. As far as fanart, I don't actually spend a lot of time drawing the same character or ship over and over in most cases, but I do remember that the first ship I ever drew fanart for was Mika/Yuu from Seraph of the End:

It's not a great piece of art but I drew it when I was 15 and my art has improved a lot since then. You can also see (what I think is) my most recent ship art below of Yona/Hak from Yona of the Dawn:

First ship: I mean Avatar: the Last Airbender came out when I was just a little kid, so I can't say I shipped it the same way I understand shipping works now, but I remember watching it and being like "Ew why is Katara with Aang she should be with Zuko."

Last song I listened to: Last song I listened to was Polyphemus from EPIC: The Cyclops Saga. If you haven't heard of the musical EPIC, I would definitely recommend checking it out. It's not entirely released yet though. Only two sagas are out and I think the creator (Jorge Rivera-Herrans) said there's a total of nine sagas.

Last movie I watched: My friends and I have a movie night every Friday, and this past Friday, we watched The Princess Bride and Pride and Prejudice. Also let me tell you, movie nights have greatly changed since the soundboard was introduced to discord. There's nothing like hearing Mr. Darcy say "I love... I love... I love you." followed by a vine boom.

Currently reading: I'm trying to get myself into reading Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I'm 2 chapters in but my brain keeps wanting to gravitate towards the fanfiction world, so I'm actually currently in the middle of rereading the Hannigram fic Ethics and Aesthetics by FragileTeacup on AO3.

Currently consuming: I just finished stress-eating a bunch of chicken nuggets while sitting on the bathroom floor WOOO! My cats came to comfort me and also to try and steal some chicken nuggets.

Currently craving: idk a lot? I want a jamocha shake from Arby's but there's no Arby's near my house. I want to learn how to rollerskate but I'm afraid of breaking my spine again and I was never good at it even as a kid. I want to see my big sister but she and her husband are too busy for us until Christmas (but not for other friends and family).

People I'd love to get to know better, but don't feel pressured to post about yourself if you don't want to:

@stranded-labyrinth @honeygrahambitch @petrowriting @fishing-motif @teacupmotif @doemotif @ghostforwhat @bloody-hands-motif @pikslasrce

[justmybookthots]

City of Ashes

Wow.

I liked this book!

You can see my review of Book 1 here. For some time I really just considered my decision to re-read these old YA books as watching bad reality TV (especially with how awful 'Hush Hush' was) but this book was when I felt the gears in my head shift and I realised I was genuinely enjoying the story.

It took me a while to get started because I was reading other books but ever since I finished 'Suddenly a Murder' (and finished writing a chapter of a fanfic that was keeping me occupied), I told myself I'd refocus on getting this one done. Today I was feeling... not great in the morning, and I used this book as a distraction, thinking I'd probably finish it over the next few days (hopefully).

I finished it in like five hours. 💀

People can complain about this book (rightfully so, it's far from perfect) but it was easy to read and very addictive. I don't remember having had this much enjoyment reading it as a teen; it felt like a tedious haze in my memory. And because I don't remember 80% of this book, almost everything felt brand new to me.

Things I liked:

The Inquisitor. I get she's painted to be a villain but I need to say that I didn't really pay her much attention UNTIL 3/4 INTO THE BOOK WHEN THEY SAID HER SON WAS A HERONDALE AND I WAS LIKE, WAIT. BACK UP. So I went to search up "Herondale" and I FUCKING REALISED THEY INTRODUCED HER AS INQUISITOR HERONDALE AT FHE START AND I MISSED IT. I'm actually really glad I missed it because I'd have known her connection to Jace from the beginning, and now I get to be like OH MY FUCKING GOSH when I realise she's probably his grandmother (?). When you see the antagonism she regarded him with for most of the book and then you realise the connection… and SHE herself realised it… I AM SHOOKETH. Granted, readers are supposed to only connect the dots in the next book, but whatever. I get the epiphany NOW. 

She's honestly such a nuanced and great character. She felt like a mix of Umbridge (minus the pink and the simpering and all that gross shit) and Elias' mother from Ember in the Ashes. She made a massive mistake but you realise where she was coming from at some point. You're not supposed to justify her actions, just understand where her head/heart was at.

I used to really dislike Luke when I read him as a teen and now I'm confused why I did because I really like him? I think he's such a sweet soul and he's Clary's real dad at heart, not Valentine.

OOH! When the Unseelie Court was unveiled, I was so excited because after reading Cruel Prince I have a fresh perspective of fae that I didn't used to have reading this as a teen. I liked the Queen and overall how the fae was written. It's really similar to how I think they should be written (IMO). And it was nice tying that thread up at the end, even if a little sloppily. I really wish Cassandra would write a book with a fae lead but she seems to be good friends with Holly Black and that could be a bit weird? I don't know.

Also I really like Cassandra Clare's prose. I personally felt it was one of the better ones out there (or maybe I just feel this way after reading 'Hush Hush'). Maybe it's just more the style I like, even if some dialogue can be a bit cringe at times. 

The conversation between Maryse and Jace was really moving at the end. And just their relationship in general. I love that she DID love him, and saw him as one of her children from the start. I didn't have the best impression of her when she first appeared, but it's great for my perception to evolve over the course of the story.

Valentine is… interesting. As a teen I thought he was a rather clichéd villain (I mean… he IS), but he fills that established trope quite well. 

Magnus Magnus MAGNUS. Need I say more? He shone in almost every one of his cameos. 

Even Alec, who I find pretty boring, had his moment in this book. He pretended to side with the Inquisitor and then went to find Jace to help get him out of the prison. Granted, Alec still isn't anywhere as interesting as I wished he could be—especially compared to MAGNUS—but he was more decent than I expected. 

Really liked how the Fearless rune came into play!!!!!!!

I liked that scene where Jace and Clary talked outside the shower at his place. Most people probably won't like that scene because of the whole sibling shebang, but I enjoyed it. Jace was pretty upfront about things… though given the ending, I don't expect that to recur in the next book. 

Despite how old this book is, and the occasional girl-on-girl hate that I can't stand, Cassie does a pretty okay job at fleshing out female characters other than Clary. Isabelle is decent, and Maia is an interesting addition (I know she and Simon are getting together but whatever). For its time, this book is mostly all right save for a few problematic liners, and I'll give Cassie props for that. (For now. I'll see for the next book.)

Things I didn't like;

Simon, PLEASE GO AWAY. THE WORST PART IS I KNOW YOU WON'T GO AWAY BECAUSE I REMEMBER YOU BEING IN ALL THE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES. T_T He was the worst part of the story for me and cutting down most of his scenes would have made me so happy. When he showed up "dead" because the vampires attacked him, I was like, why do you give me false hope? When Valentine "killed" him again, I was like, FALSE HOPE NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE? SHAME ON YOU. This ugly ass won't stay dead. 😭 He's a tiny parasite that latches on for fucking dear life—my brother in Christ, what were you even doing in the Unseelie Court? He had no role or business there; it's like bringing a wailing baby on a plane. Cassie has to turn him into a vampire to make him halfway relevant but I just DON'T CARE. He was pretty much Ron Weasley in Harry Potter's body and I hated Ron. He tries to be funny but he isn't funny and he's just jealous and rageful most of the time and, like…

Look, I know this is a lot of Simon talk. But I'm still not done. I'm just adding another bullet point because the paragraph was too long. :') Anyway. You know what Simon says? He says this to Clary when she admits she loved Jace: 

He smiled at her. It was a sad smile with something else underneath. "You know what the worst feeling I can imagine is?" She blinked at him. "No." "Not trusting the person I love more than anything else in the world."

Babe, that was really #deep but just because she didn't like you back doesn't mean you can't trust her??? She's still your friend. She is NOT entitled to like you back and trust isn't contingent on your romantic affections being reciprocated. You are not entitled to having them reciprocated just because you were her best friend for years. That's classic "nice guy" manipulation tactics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So you're saying because she didn't like you back, all those years of friendship are flushed down the drain and no more trust is left? I don't know how much more of this incel I can stomach. 🤮 Every time Clary sobbed in grief for him, I was like: sometimes we just gotta let that pimple pop and let him go, babe.

I gotta move on. Anyway: I didn't even get to see Alec and Magnus get together in the first place. T_T I have to see chapters in Nice Guy Simon's head but I don't get much of Alec or Magnus' POV here? It's not fair!!!!!!! I felt like I was missing a lot of things about them and how they got together in the first place. 

I'm not a huge fan of Clary and Jace being speshul people with speshul powers but eh. It's not a giant gripe but at least Clary doesn't become a combat expert overnight so I'll take that.

I find Jace and Clary's love for each other a little unconvincing but it could be worse, I guess. 

JACE, I know he's technically immature/a child but he really should have watched his mouth more with the Inquisitor. The first time he was sent to prison, I thought he deserved it with how he was mouthing off to her. But then later he showed a lot of self-discipline/sensibility with the Fair Folk so I was a little thrown by the whiplash. Again, it's not a major gripe, but yeah. 

I'm going to end the review here. Overall, I'm shocked by how much I liked this book given its poor reviews on GR, but we'll see how the next book fares for me (if I do get to read it… or finish it). I do want to add that the sibling thing doesn't faze me like it does many because I know in retrospect that it isn't true, and just… My brain is too screwed-up, I guess? I need to stop reading so many disturbing thrillers. Or manga.

But let me tell you: it felt REALLY surreal upping the book from the 3 stars I'd given it as a teen to 4. I've almost NEVER done that with an old read before. 

- 24 Nov 2023

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Salut my beloved!

Une petite question pour toi: as-tu une liste de recommandations de snarry fic en français?

(Et aussi: comment dit-on "my beloved" en français? J'aimerais les bons mots utiliser, et je ne pense pas google translate est 100% correct lol)

(Et aussi aussi: oui j'ai pris un cours de français, mais that was several years ago, alors pendant je t'écris le message me tout seul, j'utilise beaucoup google translate!) (If that counts!) (Et seulement je appris le vouvoiement alors j'écris V Formal lol merci de me trouver mignon 🥺)

MON AMOUR MON BIEN-AIMÉ!!! I went and found the fics I used to like back in Ye Olden Days of me reading fic in french <3 sorted by order of which one I remembered first, except my forever faves are at the top of the list because I love favouritism. Most of the links are to FFnet unfortunately, if I found the fic on AO3 I linked to that but french Snarry mostly seemed/seems to be on FFnet.

I'll say it juust in case but some of those I still consider masterpieces and some of those I think weren't very well written in retrospect. That means possible grammar/spelling mistakes and dubious plot/characterisation choices, but it doesn't mean I don't think the fics aren't worth reading ever at all. Sure most of them I cringe at if I reread them but they were important to me. There might be obscure slang or incomprehensible language mistakes though, sorry for that Tomas.

@zeawesomebirdie it posted before I finished the list so here's a tag to make sure you see it haha

• Le Sang des Innocents by Tabourette (280k, 48 chapters)

Le sang, ce liquide carmin qui maintient en vie mais qui peut aussi causer la mort. Une chose si banale mais pourtant chargée de pouvoir. Il nous relit les uns aux autres, nous enchaîne, fait basculer des vies, bouleverse des destins.

-> The summary is incredibly obscure and I love it. It's half a vampire!Severus/blood source!Harry (in french fanfic they're usually called chalices but I don't think there's an equivalent in english) and half a Remus/Draco, which you really get used to actually. It's the one I've been meaning to translate for years. It's absolutely incredible. If you don't like vampires at least give this one a few chapters. The first half is relationship establishing and halfway through the 'real' plot comes bursting in and it's great. Unforgettable, all time fave. AND this one I know doesn't have typos or mistakes.

• Puppy by Mandy Mandala7338 (174k, 15 chapters)

Après la guerre, le Survivant se sent de plus en plus seul et incompris. Sa vie lui échappe, il ne contrôle plus rien, surtout pas ses sentiments. Pourtant, des gens s'inquiètent pour lui et un homme va décider de l'aider. Il fera découvrir à Harry des facettes inconnues de sa vie, ce qui, à sa surprise, va lui plaire plus que prévu. Slash M/M. BDSM

-> Blueprint for who I am as a person and I'm not joking. This fic did 14yo me's BDSM education (I know shhh I know) it helped me with my adolescent feelings and it never left my heart. When I saw the summary for Pacify I went 'hey that sounds like Puppy I should give it a shot!' because yeah the premise is similar, though it isn't executed the same at all. If you are also fascinated by stories about kink written by people who know what they're talking about this is probably the best you'll find in terms of french Snarry. Good grammar as well!

• SAS, Son Altesse Sérénissime by Nanola Meylhann (195k, 28 chapters)

Depuis plusieurs siècles, la famille Rogue règne sur Poudlard, une principauté prospère. Pour le prince, tout va être chamboulé lors de sa montée sur le trône et un secret millénaire va être déterré, mettant en péril les croyances du régent, ses choix et ses décisions.

-> The worldbuilding is kind of insane honestly. Does it make a lot of sense no did I love it yeah. Here Severus is the prince of an imaginary principality and Harry is his ancestral curse-mandated soulmate who had a shit life and starts the fic as a prostitute. The writing is good but Harry doesn't speak very formal french in it so it might be hard to understand in parts.

• La guerre des contrats by Rose_British (70k, 20/?)

Albus a abusé de son pouvoir pour fiancer Harry à Ginny. Il n'avait juste pas prévu l'existence d'un autre contrat…

-> This isn't a "learnt to love your forced spouse" arranged marriage fic, it's a "kick Dumbledore's ass as a power couple" fic. Lots of contracts and legal stuff and grey!powerful!Harry and going to Gringotts, you know how it is. This used to fascinate me. On hiatus but I really hope the author comes back to it if they can!

• Une Histoire de la soumission by Mayunaise (95k, 13 chapters)

"C'est grâce à ce livre que j'ai enfin compris ta relation avec Snape. Tu devrais rester à l'écart de lui. Il est dangereux", dit Hermione. "Mais Snape est mort !", cria Harry. "Justement." Comment Harry, à cause d'un mystérieux grimoire intitulé Une Histoire de la Soumission, développe une obsession folle et désespérée pour feu Severus Snape. 8e année - HPSS - COMPLETE

-> This is a gem this is an anomaly I read it once years ago haven't touched it since and have only vague memories of it but I KNOW I'm right. Its vibes are intense and unforgettable. There's some kind of weird stuff in the flashbacks Harry lives through when he's into the book, fair warning.

• Cloîtré and Les âges sombres by sioban parker (36k & 12 chapters, 38k & 10 chapters)

COMPLETE. En 5e année, Harry réalise avec stupeur que, dans une vie antérieure, il était novice dans une abbaye. Et que Snape était près de lui… UA médiéval et monacal. HPSS !

Suite de Cloîtré. Pour l'inquisition, le maintien de l'ordre social et religieux est l'objectif premier. Malheur à ceux qui s'écartent du rang. HPSS médiéval. COMPLETE

-> I won't lie my memories of those two are extremely vague but the summary sounds dope haha. Also I dowloaded them and I do believe I thought highly of them so yeah? For sure medieval Snarry in an abbey is a choice but I love authors who try weird stuff and Severus does have medieval monk vibes in a way.

• Mardi Gras and Le Carnaval by Archimede (14k, 61k & 4 chapters)

OS. Durant toute la journée, Severus avait dû supporter ses incapables d'élèves ainsi qu'une rébellion de Gryffondor. Aussi, quand Neville l'avait invité à dîner chez lui le soir, il n'aurait jamais cru que la soirée soit aussi mouvementée… ou pas.

Suite de "Mardi Gras". Depuis la soirée de la chandeleur, Severus est sur le qui-vive. Draco et Neville veulent se marier et Harry lui en fait voir de toutes les couleurs. Mais ce n'est pas tout ! Il doit aussi se rendre au carnaval du petit Teddy et subir un repas avec les Weasley… Mais qui a dit que Severus Snape, Serpentard de son état, se laisserait faire ?

-> Vague memories of these but they're fun memories! I love when they do things with other people <3

• La vie d'un calice by kelokelo (235k, 42 chapters)

Harry calice d'un Rogue vampire ? Vous n'y croyez pas ? Et pourtant…

-> Okay this one I had to include because it meant a lot to me and I was obsessed with it but also it's um. Well. It's not very well written. It has grammar mistakes and weird characterisation and some truly deranged turns of phrase and bad plotlines. But it was part of my french Snarry experience and leaving it behind because it's kind of bad would feel mean to me. Probably not good if you're not sure of your grasp of french though. Also you can see the use of the term "calice", chalice again, which, well, I had a vampire phase, what do you want.

• Héritage by emeraldcryst (188k, 23/?)

Un héritage ça plait toujours non? Quand on ne s'appelle pas Harry Potter peut être…

-> I was really into vampires but I also loved creature inheritance fics lol. Another one that's not up to my current standard but that I remember fondly, if very vaguely. It's up to you if you want to read kinda bad Veela Harry :')

• Extermination by Crapounette (105k, 10 chapters)

Dolorès Ombrage a lancé une campagne d'extermination des nuisibles nocturnes. Premières victimes : Remus et Tonks ainsi que le vampire Severus Rogue. Ayant tenté de venger Remus, Harry Potter est jeté à Azkaban où il retrouve le vampire. HP/SS Vamp/calice.

-> ALSO a fic that is kind of not very good in retrospect but that I still love. It aged extremely badly with the way JKR has been behaving because it's a story where Umbridge tries to genocide all the impure creatures like werewolves and vampires and puts them into camps before Harry and Severus save the day. Yeah. Listen when I was 14 this rocked my world! If you're allergic to exaggerated stuff (like Umbridge suddenly having enough power to put people into camps in like 2 months) and uke/seme-like dynamics you probably won't like this one but it's close to my heart. If you want to read the sex scenes (they're not that good but why not) the site she was posting the full versions on went down so eh. There's screencaps saved to the web archive but I don't have the URL. What I do have is homemade epubs with the full text, so you can hit me up if you want those I guess? (anyone btw. You're the only person possibly interested but if someone else wanted to I'd send them the epub as well)

• Joyeux Noël, Professeur !, Bonne Année, Professeur ! and Joyeuses Pâques, Professeur ! also by Crapounette

-> the series is about celebrating holidays but I'm just giving you those because they're also a little not good but at least they're short, I figure that's good if you want to start somewhere.

• Dégrisment by Agathe Laplante (27k, 7 chapters)

Harry Potter se réveille dans une cellule de dégrisement sans aucun souvenir de sa fin de soirée de la veille. Et il aurait, de loin, préféré ne jamais retrouver la mémoire.

-> The plot goes by a little fast but 1) perfumer Severus and 2) I love when people address the consequences of Harry's childhood & adolescence, even if they rush it a little.

• Les Jolis Pitits Dessins by Lychee (18k, 5 chapters)

SLASH SSHP Qui n'a jamais griffoné de dessins cochons sur ses brouillons de devoirs, mmh? Harry n'échappe pas à la règle. Sauf qu'il s'agit d'un devoir de Potions et qu'il rend le brouillon sans s'en rendre compte… Terminé

-> One of my first Snarrys I think! The "pitits" in the title is just a cutesy way of saying petits.

Then I have a few translations that could interest you, since if you have a doubt the english original text is right there. The english texts are all on my reclist that i've been planning for a good year so I don't want to be too detailed in my opinions since that would just be repetition when I finally post it, but I'll still talk about them because I cannot be brief about fanfic I like.

• French translation by Nyfna of Cambiare Podentes: Invocare by JordanGrant (212k, 33/50)

Une nouvelle prophétie fait son apparition, elle promet la mort pour Harry Potter et l'esclavage du monde sorcier, à moins qu'Harry lui-même ne consente à devenir l'esclave sexuel - de façon irrévocable et pour la vie - de Severus Rogue.

(A new prophecy comes to light, one that promises death for Harry Potter and enslavement for the wizarding world, unless Harry himself consents to being sexually enslaved--irrevocably and for life--to Severus Snape.)

-> I think it would be funny if on your path to learning french you used the same fic as me but the languages were swapped. Also the fic is great obviously. Changed my life and such

• French translation by Hesymi of Emancipation by BadGirlgoesworse (151k, 43 chapters)

Qu'est-ce que les gens dépendants sont censés faire lorsque ceux en qui ils avaient mis toute leur confiance les trahissent ? C'est simple, il suffit de trouver un moyen de devenir maître de leur destin.

(What are dependents left to do when betrayed by those they trusted most, but to find a way to become masters in their own right. Set after Department of Mysteries fiasco in Order of the Phoenix.)

-> very uh. Powerful!grey!Harry? Also mostly bottom Severus, if that interests you. The characterisation is Something and there's some bashing but y'know how it is, read it when I was young and I'm fond of it, etc etc. I also find it funny how the french translation has like 20k more words, truly we talk too much.

• Courtiser Harry Potter, french translation by Devil Pops LRDM of The Courtship of Harry Potter by Diana Williams

HPSS Selon une tradition millénaire, un sorcier peut demander la protection d'un mentor plus âgé. Le nouveau professeur de DCFM cherche à séduire Harry Potter, forçant ainsi Severus à entrer en compétition pour conquérir le cœur du jeune homme. /COMPLETE

(Another teacher's interest in Harry Potter forces a reluctant Snape to compete for the young man affections.)

-> Snarry classic, won't get into details, etc etc, it's great honestly. If you like mentor/apprentice vibes this is not exactly that though (because Severus is well-adjusted enough to realise that's a bit weird to have that power over a 17yo. Thank you Severus for having morals)

• Sans Voix & L'ombre de l'autre par Bliblou, translations of Speechless by thesewarmstars and The Shadow of the Other by atypicalsnowman (29k & 9 chapters, 34k & 6 chapters in french)

-> Bliblou seems to have deleted their account at some point, but I have epubs if you're interested? The original fics are dope, if you decide you want to try and read them in french as well hit me up.

And as a bonus for you, here is one singular Tomarrymort I found in the pile, and a Drarry recommendation, juuust in case, because I used to be into Drarry before Snarry swept me off my feet.

• La loi de l'Amour by Rose_British (128k, 33 chapters)

Pour garder son contrôle sur Harry, Dumbledore prévoit de le marier de force et fait instaurer une loi de mariage pour camoufler ses traces. Sauf que tout ne se passe pas comme prévu…

-> Like La guerre des contrats, it's Dumbledore bashing, but this time Harry is with Tom. It's not arranged marriage either because he's already dating Voldemort and then he's arranged-married to Tom Riddle, which is pretty funny. What turned me off the first time is the Severus/Ginny, but I think I might give it another shot honestly.

• Nothing else matters by Rose Malefoy (346k, 39 chapters)

Deux hommes, deux continents. Une vie faite de relations éphémères, sans contrainte et sans engagement, dans laquelle ils n'étaient pas censés se retrouver. Et surtout, ils n'étaient pas censés s'aimer. Si proches peu importe la distance, ça ne pourrait être plus près du cœur, croyons éternellement en ce que nous sommes. Et rien d'autre n'a d'importance . HPDM/DMHP - EXPLICITE.

-> Now I know I know, that's a huge ass novel to present you with when you didn't even ask for Drarry. No offense if you don't want to touch it, that would be fair, but this fic also is really cool. I'm giving you this one because it's the most memorable of the author's works for me, but she's also written a few OS that aren't as big, so if you want 'shorter' quality works and you're fine with the ship I recommend looking at her profile.

AND THIS CONCLUDES IT! Thanks for asking, this was a blast from the past. I mean look at all these summaries that say don't like don't read.... incredible. The Snarry reclist will hopefully be coming this summer but it's going to be a MONSTER. Absolutely huge. So. Hope there's something readable for you in there, otherwise there should be some good short stuff on FFnet or AO3 (or I can rec you actual books that aren't thousands of words long lol)

[simplysummers]

fanfic ones:

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20

Sevvie out here making me cry with her awesomeness 😭💛. (Your name keeps autocorrecting to Seb/Sebby and I’m like no stop ✨.)

Answer key:

Kurtbas/glee: 3, 5, 7, 9, 19, 20.

Fanfic ovr: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12-19.

I’d also just like to preface this post by saying that everything that is said beneath this paragraph is my opinion. If you like the fandoms, tropes, characters and ships I don’t like, or vice versa, that’s awesome, and I’m really happy you find enjoyment out of something I personally cannot. But I’m also not looking to have my mind changed, I’m just disclosing what I think and that be all. 💛

3) What is your most popular fanfic?

A glance through the hourglass.

Statistically speaking it’s actually my second most popular, and when I finally post the kurtbas fanfic for the Dalton series it’ll probably end up in third, but it’s the one I get the most interactions with outside of AO3, and tbh as much as I still love my historical fiction fics, I’m much prouder of this one. (Despite the fact it’s two chapters long rn-)

4) Do you write original stories as well?

Uhm, not really? But sometimes when I want to show a fic to someone that doesn’t know I write fanfic, I copy the document, switch up the names and a few plot points, and then show that instead, so I guess in a way that’s somewhat original, but not really. I have had ideas for original stories though. (And the Jacky bio doesn’t count.)

5) What fanfic of yours should everyone have read?

I’m not confident enough to claim anyone should have to read any of my fics, but if you’re a kurtbas shipper and you haven’t read the start of AGTTHG, it would mean the world to me if you did- /hj.

6) What is a fandom will you never write for?

Uhm…I don’t really know. I guess H*rry P*tter, but that’s mainly because the fandom freaks me out and the queen of terfs doesn’t deserve anymore exposure unless it’s negative. (It’s also just not really my thing and the only character I remember liking was Sirius, which I think is basic take?)

7) What is a ship you will never write for?

Seblaine. Really really not a fan of Blaine and I thought watching those two interact was like watching wet cardboard disintegrate, says a lot that Blaine didn’t shake off Seb’s attempts or even disclose that he had a boyfriend when they first met, and I also think Sebastian deserves somebody on par with him mentally and emotionally, which Blaine just isn’t. The only reason why I’ll even write Klaine is if it’s in the context of them being together at the start of a kurtbas fic, and then they break up. So overall anything to do with Blaine, but Seblaine especially.

8) Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.net, Wattpad, Tumblr, etc. which platform do you prefer?

I was introduced to fanfic on FF.net at around the age of 10, I would read vaguely on Wattpad from the age of 12-14, and although not through this account, I’ve been on tumblr since 2015/2016, AO3 was actually the last site I discovered and to start with I found it too complicated to navigate, but I think within the last 5 years it’s definitely become my favourite platform when it comes to fanfic.

9) What are your favorite fanfics?

I don’t think I can pick, I have so many, but I’ll link some of my faves off of the top of my head.

It’s Just Toast. - Strawberrystardust (kurtbas, tw ED)

A Change in the Weather. - Cacophonylights (Kurtbas)

Losing Faith. - Chereche (platonic Furt)

Funny How the Heart Can Be Deceiving. - Loredi_english (kurtbas, somewhat anti-Blaine)

Mosaic. - Fangirlingfanatic (tw for like, everything, kurtbas)

Strangers. - Amadeuplove (kurtbas)

You Ever Come Back (I’ll be Waiting). - Nellywrites (Seb’s homelife)

Of Wine and Coffee. - Fanficloverme96 (kurtbas)

I also recommend you read anything from @binch-i-might-be because she’s one of the most talented authors I’ve ever had the luxury of meeting/befriending. (Historical fiction)

10) How do you stay motivated to finish what you've started?

I just try not to pressure myself, and I keep myself updated in the media. If I’m feeling a little downbeat when it comes to Sebastian ideas, I’ll listen to his songs or watch his clips from glee, sometimes I’ll just read fanfic about him or listen to the playlists I have centred around him, I just surround myself with things that feel like ‘Bas. If I’m feeling motivated enough to write something away from my main projects, whether that be kurtbas, childhood Seb (lots of this rn), or even Niff, then I will write whatever I’m feeling. I just let my emotions and mind create, and I have no apologies. Updates will come when they come, and when I’m happy with them, which has helped me wonders.

I used to have a very unhealthy relationship with writing fanfic, to the point where I would bang out a 1500-2500 word chapter within an hour, check it over once, and just throw it up there. This really burnt me out because I stopped writing for fun, and more so for reader satisfaction, and I ended up loathing everything that I wrote because I knew I could do better, but was still so desperate for interaction that I almost didn’t care. Now my chapters are 7000+, carefully edited, sometimes even beta read, and I’m much happier with them, and I’m a lot less concerned with reader statistics, so when I do get wonderful comments or DMs, it makes them feel even more deserved. Now that I’ve found a system that is writer friendly to me, I find that I haven’t lost interest in my projects because I’m actually enjoying what I do, even if updates are separated by months. I’m proud of my work, and I think that makes all the difference.

So to shorten that, my advice would be to consume the media as much as you want, and be kinder to yourself about writing/updating.

11) What's your longest fanfic?

I don’t really have an answer because I’m not too far into the game again where I have a lot of finished works to compare this too, but my chapters are now always 8000 words+, so hopefully soon I’ll have an answer.

12) Do you want to break your readers' heart or make them laugh?

I like to do both. I like to make my readers feel all sorts of things, but I would say I’m more tailored towards angst/Hurt + Comfort. And I’ve actually made @ultravioletmorning--light cry before, which I’ve been told is a tough job.

13) What is your planning process?

I used to have a very strict planning process. I would write a short summary for each chapter and make sure I knew what went where, and then I would write it out of order. Now I just have an overall direction of where I want the fic to go, a few key plot points that need to happen to move the story along, and some key characters listed. I have two new multi-chapter fics in the works, both kurtbastian, which will be fully written, or at least over halfway, before I start publishing them, just to make sure I’m as devoted to them as I am to AGTTHG, but this is new waters for me, so I wouldn’t class it as my current planning process.

14) What have others criticized about your fanfic?

I’m very lucky to have not received much criticism, and if I have it has always been kind and constructive, but I would say the concern I get the most of would be my wordiness. Sometimes I talk a little too much, and this shows through my description. I often struggle to find the balance between ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’, but I am thoroughly working on it.

16) Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics?

Very rarely, but sometimes I’ll see HC’s or sentence starters that I like, and I’ll see what I can work with.

17) Do you use/follow advice from writing blogs posts?

I do have a writing board on Pinterest that I will use mostly for synonyms, but those are posts from all sorts of blogs and creators, so I couldn’t pinpoint exactly who I follow and why.

https://pin.it/4AHUXkh here’s is the link to that board.

18) What is your favorite writing prompt?

19) Dead or overused tropes?

20) Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics?

Absolutely!

Progressive Dynamics. - Historical Fiction.

A Few Firsts of Many. - Historical Fiction.

To Split a Bond in Three. - Historical Fiction.

A Glance Through the Hourglass. - Glee.

Family, and where we find it. - Glee.

I also have a Google doc, over 40k words long, all about Sebastian and what I picture his family to be like. In this doc I cover everything from his parents and how they met, to Sebastian’s childhood and his coming out story, and then to how I envision Kurt and Sebastian reconciling after Kurt graduates. The latter point is in the midsts of being turned into a fanfic, which will belong to the same series as the above fic listed.

[luminouslion]

Ao3 link

Hi, here is the first rewritten chapter of my fanfiction, I hope you all enjoy it! In case you read the old fanfic and in some miracle still remember it feel free to tell me if you preferred that one or this rewritten one!

Warnings: Abuse, mild graphic violence

Word Count: 833

Chapter 1: A Fateful Day

Whatever she expected it definitely wasn’t this. Who even would expect their own father to attack them with a knife?

Right now she is running through the crowded streets of the capital city, ignoring the strange looks of the citizens. She has only one goal on her mind, her brother. He is the only person she wants to see right now, even though she is a little afraid of what he might think of her.

She never told him about the abuse she had suffered these past years. This might have been the first time her father became physical but he had been mentally maltreating her ever since her brother moved out from home. While her mother never actively abused her she also never did anything to stop her husband.

Arriving at her brother's door she hesitates only for a second before knocking. She waits a moment but there is no response.

“Luca, it’s good to see you! If you’re searching for Julius, he isn’t here. He ran off to the magic knights entrance exam this morning.”

Startled by the sudden voice she turns around quickly, “Marx, it’s you!”.

“Of course it’s me, who else di…” he stopped mid-sentence.

She looks down, not being able to look into his eyes. Suddenly she feels a gentle hand on her cheek, slowly tracing the fresh wound, left there by her fathers knife.

“What happened?” Marx asks, “Who did this to you, Luca?”.

There is a never before heard fierceness in his voice that causes Luca to finally look up. Before she can even think of what to say, tears start forming in her eyes.

“Okay, how about we first go to my room and I will try to reach Julius, sounds good?” She can’t do anything but nod at that.

Marx is leading her to his room with a heavy hand on her shoulder and even though she is all too familiar with the way she appreciates the guidance. She sits down on the soft couch and soon there is a cup of hot tea in her shaking hands.

“I couldn’t reach Julius just yet but how about you tell me what happened?” Marx says with such an uncharacteristic warmth in his voice that she can’t resist his request.

So she starts talking. She tells him of the abuse, both physically and mental, she suffered at her father’s hands. She tells him of her mother who only ever watched but never did anything to help her. And she tells him of how she ran here through the crowded streets not sure of where else to go.

After she finishes her story she looks up into Marx’s face and sees a variety of different emotions. They go from sadness over relief to self-doubt. She looks away again but instantly feels a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry you had to go through all of this alone. I’m sorry we didn’t notice anything sooner. And no, don't even try to argue with this, we are the adults and we should have been taking better care of you. But thank you for still trusting us enough to come here, even after we have failed you. I’m so proud of you for pulling through this all and I’m sure Julius will tell you the same.”

Tears start running down her face “you haven’t failed me” she whispers and throws herself into Marx’s arms, burying her face into his chest. He carefully embraces her and that’s how she falls asleep, finally feeling safe again.

———

A loud knock startles her out of her dream or better said memory.

“Luca, are you awake? Julius wants to see you.” Marx’s voice sounds from behind the closed door.

She has been growing a lot closer to Marx after that fateful day a few weeks ago. She has been living in the castle since then and not only do they spend more time together Marx has also grown noticeably softer and more protective towards her. Which is funny if you know how differently he treats her brother.

Speaking of her brother she naturally also grew a lot closer to him even though they already had a strong bond before. He was sitting by the couch when she woke up the next morning, telling her she would be living in the castle from now on. He also tried healing the wound their father’s knife left but Luca stopped him. That day changed her. This scar is proof of this and with that part of who she is now.

“I’m coming!” She answers Marx.

She gets dressed quickly and makes her way towards Julius’s office. Luca enters without knocking and is greeted by her brother’s typical big smile.

“Good morning Luca! I hope you are up for a new mission? You are going to clear a dungeon together with some members of the Black Bulls!”

Not even surprised by the sudden order she answers with a grin “Yeah, sure why not? Sounds like fun!”

[elmaxlys]

002 for utaren and/or 003 for adam?

Ooh thank you hehe 🌹❤

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you: Utaren edition

When I started shipping them:

Back when I first read the manga, when I reached chapters 111 to 113. Man, I was hooked. Their young selves did something irreversible to me lmao, and then Uta hit me with the old tattoo meaning and I was Gone.

It was in 2014, iirc. I started TG when it was over but before :re was published (by the time i was finished, :re was 7 chapters in, very precisely xD i remember bc it's the chapter Nishiki calls Haise Kaneki)

My thoughts:

I've talked about this extensively in the past but yeah their friendship is insanely important to me. The way they go on about "you're my friend" it makes me bonkers. They are the definition of what relationships should be, in my book. Friendship first and foremost and above all, for better or worse. They are The QPP™. Absolutely legendary. First ship to make me so gone. I often say Percabeth was my first OTP but nothing consumed me quite like Utaren did before they did. They're my OTQP? I guess? xD

What makes me happy about them:

Yeah, their friendship. How ride or die they are about each other. Able to rip each other to shreds but will also risk their lives to save the other. How accepting Renji is of Uta's clownship (before it threatens Touka lmao). The unconditional love. The brutality of it.

What makes me sad about them:

"Nec possum tecum uiuere nec sine te". doesn't make me sad per se but ouch anyway. The abandonment Uta felt when Renji left. The intricate knowledge Uta has that he can't be by his side but they can't be apart either - to the point of getting it tattooed. On his fucking neck.

Help.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Making it sexual. I don't read much TG fanfics these days (or at least not new ones. i reread my favs instead) so idk what's the trend regarding them but back then I never liked them smut. Feels unnatural.

Also once I read a fic in which one said "ily" to the other (they were in a relationship already) and the other got up and left and they broke up??? What's up with that. I genuinely don't get why saying ily to your boyfriend would make him leave?? isn't that why you're dating?? Anyway.

Things I look for in fanfic:

4th ward era. "graphic depiction of violence" is always welcome.

My favorite Them Fic

My wishlist:

They're already perfect, thank you.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No one tbh. They're both too aro for that.

My happily ever after for them:

I think what we got in canon is the best that could have been for them. It's a half return to what they used to be..

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you: ADAM edition

How I feel about this character:

I feel too many things in too much quantity. I feel love, I feel grief, I feel protectiveness, I feel something sink in my stomach and something lift me in the sky. He is my most beloved, my husband, the light of my days. He makes me smile, he makes me oh so happy and he's one of the reasons I cry at night. He is everything to me.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

Langa, of course. Kiriko, also and also of course. Both in the EDEN and Adakiri/LoveMantis way and in the EDENMantis way uwu

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

With Tadashi, kink dom/sub relationship, with deep deep devotion on Tadashi's side and slowly recovering trust and friendship.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Depends on unpopular where. If it's in the entire western sk8 fandom, the unpopular opinion would be ADAM is absolutely amazing both character-wise and person-wise. He's the best and he deserves so much love.

If we're talking ADAM fandom, it would be that He Is Not A Slut. He is the very opposite of that.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I wish Cherry would apologize to him. I wish he'd managed to kill Reki. I wish we would know more of his past, especially regarding Kiriko. That's three things. Who cares.

Favorite friendship for this character:

With Tadashi, as kids. With Joe and Cherry, as teens. With Langa (and with Kiriko in my dreams), as adults.

My crossover ship:

With Matsuri (TG). I don't exactly ship it and it wouldn't work anyway because they're both doms but it's fun thinking about them meeting and becoming friends.

---

The Ask Game

[scribbleseas]

Hi!! Hope ur having a nice day/night so far! <3

I honestly just wanted to say how I absolutely love ur work- I CANT EVEN FIND WORDS TO EXPRESS IMY LOVE FOR IT PROPERLY- BUT I'LL TRY MY BESTT-😭😭

At first I was just going thru the black butler fandom tags to find a good fanfic, when I stumbled upon ur work. At first glance it was intimidating to jump into a whole new famfic with multiple chapters, but honestly I'm *SOO* glad I did!

I haven't been caught up with any new chapters since I've last read it but, nonetheless all I can say is that ur work/writing is a whole *experience*🤌✨. And I mean it in every sense. Even tho it's been well over a month or so since I've read it I can still remember the scenes that play out; coupled with your beautiful writing that genuinely makes it seem like I'm transported into ur story ur telling. All the feels, the scenarios are still stuck in my mind when I think back to your work and honestly I don't think I'll ever find anything else which could even come close to replicating what I felt when I read ur work.

I cannot ever find the exact words or thank you enough for how you've been able to help me find an escapism in ur heavenly writing that should really be called an art form. (Srsly I'm not even joking-). And I definitelyy plan to re-read all ur chapters from start to finish during my holidays.

I honestly really reallyyy admire how ur able to articulate things so well with ur words. Once I started reading, I was sucked in and I couldn't stop reading, to the point that I think I just binge read ur chapters in one day. Honestly I might have gotten up the next day just to read what happens next.

So sorry for the long letter of sorts, I guess I just had a lot to say once I started writing and I hope you've been taking care of urself, mental and physical health as well! Sending u all the love and support in whatever u do and wherever u are <33

(P.S. it's my first time ever writing anything to the author and I honestly hope it didn't come off as weird or creepy or anything-)

- .⁺‧₊✧

Hi, .⁺‧₊✧ Anon!!

Let me just say, oh my god!!

I literally almost cried the first time I read this. I can’t believe you would take the time to sit down and write me such a kind message. I’m so touched that I’m struggling to convey how grateful I am, like I can’t believe you like it so much and I’m absolutely over the moon that you do. I really can’t thank you enough for this ask. All of it. Every syllable, letter, and emoji, lol.

I’m also going to be real: you sent this at the perfect time because I’ve been really struggling with motivation to work on the next chapter. I’ve felt both uninspired and overwhelmed as a first-year in college atm. (Especially because it’s midterm season, gross.) This kind of message was exactly what I needed to help me feel like my work is really there for people, and it’s the quality that I work so hard to make it. I feel much more inspired to pick up my fic outline and my chapter 17 Google Doc and actually get to work. I’ve been putting it off because I hate forcing myself to write— it never comes out good.

But this was exactly what I needed to feel refreshed and ready to start tackling the problems/roadblocks that I’ve run into while I (more intricately) plan out the last 2 chapters in this fic. Who knew, it’s actually pretty tough to wrap up a story!

It means so much that this storyline and its characters are resonating with you, too! I love that TIP is a story that youn can think about when you need a little bit of escapism. That’s literally me, like all the time— that’s where a lot of the ideas for this story came from!!

I’m really so choked up over your whole message, before I sat down to write this message, I came back to re-read it easily five times before I thought I could properly write about the happy tap-dance my heart does when I read it. You didn’t come off as weird or creepy at all, just extremely kind and just amazingly supportive. I’m really grateful that my writing has garnered such sweet and amazing people like you to read it and give me such lovely and well thought out feedback. It’s not something I expected, at all, being a novice fic writer with a brand-new Tumblr, and a slowburn Black Butler fic. And it’s certainly nothing I expected when I first thought of this plot like…six years ago! In middle school!

Anyways, I write for all of you, and feedback like this just warms my heart.

Thank you so much for your love, support, and faith in me. I’m so honored <3

- Dan

[gonewiddershins]

1, 9 10 13 15 16 18 23 52 53 55 60 63 71 80 86 107 121 127 134 135 for ur ask meme

wheeeee~

okay so there's are enough of these questions that I'm gonna answer this in parts because otherwise (a) I'll never finish and (b) tumblr WILL end up earing my drafts and I wince just thinking about that. So here we go-

1. a book that is close to your heart

The Beginning by K.A. Applegate. Anyone who's spent some time on my tumblr knows about my obsession with this series. It drilled into my ear and took over all higher life form function way back when I was an impressionable pre-teen. And then after sometime, when I thought I'd found other things to obsess about, I found copies of the final arc and it decided to permanently take up residence in my brain.

The Beginning is the final installment of the Animorphs series, which famously feature kids turning into animals to fight brain stealing alien puppeteers. It's not a climax- it's a extended denouement, because the books have always been about how children people are affected by war as much as as it was about the actual war. Animorphs also ended on a very bittersweet note, something unthinkable to baby me who had never seen a story end this way before. It was a learning experience.

Quote:

"Jake, you can't . . ." She took a deep breath. "You can't equate the victim and the perpetrator."

"So as long as you're playing defense it's not possible to commit a war crime?" I asked. "That's pretty close to just saying that the winner makes the rules because it's the winner who writes the history."

She grabbed my arm and searched for my eyes, forcing me to look at her. "No, Jake, it isn't. There are a lot of close calls in history, lots of wars where the blame is evenly split between the sides. This isn't one of them. Before they came to Earth no human ever attacked a Yeerk. No human ever harmed a Yeerk. This one is clear: We are the victims. They made war on us."

"That's good," I said softly. "All of that is good. We have justification. We're the good guys."

Marco said, "That's right, Big Jake, we are."

I nodded. "That's good for the big picture. See, my problem is a little more personal."

Ax asked.

"Well, Ax-man, you're right, you did call my attention to the possibilities on the Pool ship. And when you did that I guess I should have thought, Well, Jake, it's a harsh, terrible thing to do, but you're justified because, after all, you're the victim here. But that's not what I thought. You know what I thought?"

Cassie released her grip on me. But Marco just took a step up close, right in my face.

"I know what you thought, Jake. You thought Die, you filthy worms. Feel the fear, Yeerks. Feel the pain. Feel the helplessness. You wanted them to suffer and the idea of them suffering and dying made you happy. You were thrilled. You were high."

Cassie winced. She looked away.

I said, "Yeah, Marco. That was about it: word for word."

9. your favourite book of 2020 2022

2022 has been a weird year, reading-wise. My goodreads list is as bare as a chocolate box after two hours in my company, because the site is not good at tracking webtoons and webnovels. Which in turn makes it harder for me to remember what I liked and how much I liked it, because that's 90% of why I use goodreads in the first place. So you know, answering this makes me twitchy, because if I'm not keeping track how would I even know what my favorite is?

BUT. I can tell you which story IMMEDIATELY made me consume other adaptations, scour through all of its Ao3 pages, and go on a re-read almost instantly after the fanfics ran out and it's Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endo. Also, it has an active tumblr fanbase- glory be.

Spy x Family is about a spy, an assassin, and a telepath playing house. It's about found family. It's about two people you really wouldn't peg as parent material at first look being the most adorable parents ever. It's about people calmly accepting (and in most cases not even recognizing) each other's weirdness. It's about the humanity in war-torn places and war-torn people. Also there are a bunch of first graders who are having their own drama and it is somehow vastly entertaining.

Panel: (read right to left)

10. a book that got you through something

deep sigh. Okay, so I have a few mixed feelings about these books today that I didn't have when I first read them, but hear me out here.

Once upon a time, I entered into college as a bright-eyed, hopeful child who was sure she'd have the world within her grasp soon. Fast forward eight months and I was a depressed wreck who spent an hour a day crying and moving slowly but steadily towards suicidal thoughts. Suffice to say, it was not a good time.

In those trying times, books 1 and 2 of the Dresden Files gave me some much-needed laughs. Book 3, Grave Peril, went a step further, making me actually care about the worldbuilding and the character, giving characters actual losses, and getting me emotionally invested in everyone. The rest of the series accompanied me though my hellish time in college, and while it was probably not the best coping mechanism, I'm thankful it was there. Anything to quiet down the screaming in my head a little.

Quote:

“I still can't believe," Michael said, sotto voce, "that you came to the Vampires' Masquerade Ball dressed as a vampire.”

Part 1 of 7 |

[mcrmadness]

Writing asks: 8, 53, 91

Fanfic ask game here.

Thanks!!! :D

8. what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it?

I love it. And I'd say I take it well too. In fact I wish I would get even more of that - I'm always kinda seeking out feedback but it's pretty difficult to find nowadays. Back in the day there were no "Like" buttons nor reading counters and such anywhere, so if you read and liked something, the only way to let the other person know about that was by leaving a comment.

I still kinda miss that time, as I still don't exactly understand what e.g. Kudos on AO3 is for. For me it's similar feature as a heart or thumbs up on social medias etc., and it never really tells why the person left kudos. Did they really like it? Were there things they did not like? Were there things the author could do better? What were the things that caused the reader to click "kudos"? I get a slight dopamine rush from kudos, but it's not that long-lasting as seeing that you've got a new comment, especially if the comment is longer than just a couple of words. Sometimes I keep thinking about a comment for days or weeks, that's how much more valuable they are, and they always make me much more motivated to continue what I'm doing. Way more than what kudos ever can.

Usually if I read something and like it, I always leave comment in one way or another. Either under the story or directly to the author. I started doing this when I was maybe 16-17, and honestly, leaving feedback is also a skill! A skill where you can get better only by practicing it - by leaving feedback. Eventually you will learn to look at the thing (be it fanfiction or any piece of art) from the point of view that helps you build the comment.

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53. when writing, do you have an outline? and do you stick to it?

Outline as in... a plot or some sort of a plan? It depends, but usually I do. I remember I wrote my first ever fanfiction without one, and I just kept writing whatever I wanted and the story ended up being a very messy one, like you'd expect too.

After that I decided to create the story idea before anything else, also because it'd help me to finish the story eventually. Normally my outline is just "all these events in a chronological order", which is also the plot. I think I picked up this habit from my comics history, as as a kid I drew all my comics without a plot and none of them was ever finished, until I was 14 and had an idea that I should create a plot before I start drawing, and I managed to draw my first ever comic that I also finished - and it was only a couple of pages long, in comparison to those never-ending stories that sometimes ran for up to 20 pages (tho, most of then never getting past the first page).

So if I'm writing a longer fic, I often have some sort of an idea I try to stick to so that I'd finish it eventually. With shorter ones it often starts with one (fluffy) scenario and I build everything else around it. Sometimes I connect several scenarios into one story. With the shorter ones it's okay to just write whatever I feel like writing without thinking too much. But it really depends on the idea, as sometimes I get an idea from something and the idea itself already kinda defines the outline for the plot.

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91. how has your writing style changed over the years?

Well, I was ~15 when I wrote my first fanfics and now I'm 31. I don't think I was a bad writer even then, sometimes I still visit my old fanfics and I'm actually amazed by the skills I had back then. I never felt that good of a writer and I was just writing for fun, so it's very interesting to read those now because I definitely was better writer than I thought I was!

Also my first fics I wrote in Finnish and then I switched to English with the die ärzte fanfics when I was 18, and from those times the biggest progress has been: the language. My overall English skills are much much better than they were back in the day, still not perfect, but good enough. There are still it's own challenges at writing in English as I often know exactly what I want to say and I know how to write that in Finnish, but I just can't put it into words in English - or alternatively end up reusing the same words over and over again because I haven't learnt alternatives or can't memorize them.

I'd also say that the most recent change in my writing style is switching away from the standard heteronormative and amatonormative narration. I no longer use sayings like "just friends" or "more than friends" because a romantic relationship is not superior to platonic relationships, nor is it any kind of "next level" from friendships. Maybe for some it might be and good for them I guess, but what is not cool is to think it goes like that for everyone else too. So in my writing it no longer is "physical touch only if they're romantically interested in or involved with each other", but they can be physically as close as they want without having to worry about being "just friends" and that not being okay for "just friends" - because this concept no longer exists in my writing. The only time I might use this is when the characters themselves talk about it because in their world and era it might still be a thing and important for the plot and gives more realism for the story.

I also feel that my writing has "matured", in a way. Like, I know I've never written NSFW in the first place, but my stories were definitely a bit wilder when I was younger. So to say, I have calmed down myself and so have my fics. They're no longer behaving like they'd be living in a chronic honeymoon phase, but there's more of emotional intimacy that doesn't always need physical fluff to work. Or maybe it's again just my own aromanticism getting stronger the older I get, who knows...