#anyway this IS five sentences but they're just very long lol

[basilone]

tatiana/speirs, dead but pretty for the ask game?

Ooooh this is delicious, thank you for suggesting this! 😊 I am going to take a little outing away from their main fic right now, as I have an AU that's just perfect for this occasion: rockstar Speirs criticized popstar Tati a little too publicly for her one-size-fits-all sugar-sweet albums, after which she dared him to write her a new song she could sing.

dead but pretty

He thinks she’s going to balk at the lyrics – her horde of screaming fans will undoubtedly dissect every scrap of them, and there are only so many ways you can interpret these – but he’s not even rewarded with the familiar raise of an eyebrow this time.

Petrova’s hand tucks a few stray hairs, escaped from her braids that look like some sort of absurd crown, behind her ears before she picks up her pen and begins to annotate the lyrics – his lyrics, written for her in the vain attempt to get her and her pink-colored circus off his fucking back for all eternity – with nothing more than too-neat cursive and carefully drawn key changes. She’s humming under her breath, wrinkling her nose as she hits the bridge, and then she’s shifting into a voice that’s different from anything of hers that he’s previously heard on the radio.

“– let me keep you a little longer,” comes the slow, velvet-colored whisper, “carve your heart up into a c-a-a-a-age”– and, fuck, the whining pitch she ends on is something that carries its own haunting – “keep you with me, keep you pretty,” she spits, voice contorting on the word as though it harbors more venom than he thought, and then there’s laughter on the next notes, “ain’t that what you say to dead girls like me these days?”

Ron sits, stares, wonders as Petrova – no, Tatiana, she’s Tatiana now that she’s singing something so thoroughly fucked-up as though she’s lived every single moment of being one of those dead-but-pretty almost final girls – looks up from the page and shoots him a dazzling, most radiant smile between a high-pitched “kill me” and a sotto voce “I’ll haunt you until you’re dead”.

[kithtaehyung]

Ryen, you magical human being. 🦄

Teach me your ways. 🤩

I'm serious.

How do you do it!!? How do you write banger after banger? 🤘🏻

*bows down* 🙇🏻‍♀️

Here are a few of my questions. Please ignore if they're too personal. 🥰

How long have you been writing? 🗓️

Are there any books you recommend one should read/study to improve their writing skills? 📚

Any writing communities/website recommendations? 🫂

whoa, thank you so much?? this is very nice of you to say! i can answer the questions, too, though i don't really have an answer for the third one other than searching for writer servers bc i would rec nanowrimo but not anymore!!

but as for writing? i've been writing since.. 2007? oh my god i'm old lol but to be fair, i took a five-years long break from 2014-2019, starting back up again to update my aot fic five years later LMAOOO people were in the comments like "holy shit is this real??" dlkjfskl but anyway.

any books? honestly anything that grabs your attention! fantasy, thriller, sci-fi, whatever genre you vibe with or at least find interesting.

broaden your horizons, read and look up words you don't know or understand, look for writing styles that resonate with you. like for me, i did nottt enjoy passages that had 2840 sentences describing the scenery or food (redwall i love you but i'm looking at you lol) but i enjoy quick/fighting/action scenes, and being challenged as a reader instead of being given everything. just see what works for you!

if you want specific books i myself liked, that would have to be another list hahaha

[atthebell]

Why do you think Roier and Missa are easiest to understand? I found the same thing as someone who's just learning Spanish, and I wasnt sure if it was because I've watched so much Roier content that it influenced my ability to understand him, or if there's a deeper reason due to some regional accent differences being easier for non-native speakers to understand. I'm curious about your thoughts since you have really good insights into linguistics, but ignore this if it's too much for tumblr lol!

neither of them talk super fast, and imo their accents are fairly easy to understand-- for me, missa is easy to understand bc he's from the north and that region has accents i'm more familiar with, and roier's accent is somewhat neutral although obviously still clearly mexican and he uses a lot of slang. i think that also helps-- roier uses a lot of the same vocab, so if you're still learning spanish, you can pick up that slang and then understand quite a bit of what he's saying because he swears literally five times in a single sentence. they both speak pretty clearly and, additionally, i think most non-native spanish speakers, especially U.S. americans, are most familiar with mexican spanish rather than other dialects. so that's why someone like rubius or spreen is harder for nonnative speakers to understand, unless they're more familiar with spanish or argentine dialects specifically.

for me it's hard to parse bc i understand most of what they all say regardless since i've spoken spanish for so long, but i think rivers is just difficult because she speaks very fast. mariana is pretty easily to understand as well, there's just less for me to say about him tbh idr where he's from and i don't really have a hard time understanding him, i just watch him less than anyone else really.

for quackity, his accent is more noticeable, and his spanish is a little weirder, in that he is so bilingual and if you're not familiar with that way of speaking it can be hard to pick up what he's saying sometimes. this is partially why i wish there were a few more latino americans on the server so people get more familiar with that type of bilinguality-- i think quackity is in a unique position that he doesn't full share with other server members (aside from mouse, in that she is also a latino who lives in the states, although from a content perspective she doesn't do the same kind of bilingual split that q does nor does she stream in spanish), and i would be interested to see more of that kind of diasporic latino experience on the server. that's me rambling and doesn't have to do with accents i've just been thinking about it for a while and i think it would be cool. but yeah q phrases things funny sometimes because he's thinking of the english way of saying something or vice versa, and he is by far one of the most fluently bilingual members of the server, so it's an interesting dynamic for people watching him who aren't super familiar with spanish nor the kinds of calques and things that end up happening with bilingual speakers.

anyway back to your actual questions i do also think exposure does tip the scales lol most of us watch more roier than anyone else and esp for people just learning spanish, you're gonna understand him better than anyone else because of that. which is nice in some ways bc you learn a lot of slang but also if you're going to speak spanish in any kind of non-casual setting please do not talk like roier he is a fucking crazy person who swears so much it's actually unreal

[skrunksthatwunk]

HI IT'S SQUISHY fic ask game time:

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

:3

YAHOO HI SQUISHY TY FOR THE ASK >:33

ok uhhhh uh uh

F: i think if i had to choose anything, it'd probably be the cat petting circle scene from and who do you think i'll be (without you)?, because i am. really really bad at juggling more than like 3 characters in a scene and this has FIVE and it's still really fun to read, at least for me. it's dynamic, though admittedly the attention still mostly falls on kuwabara and yusuke (sorry keiko </3 i wish you were more prominent in this one but alas) everyone carries some weight. i'm also not great at understanding (and thus writing) anger, so yusuke's bubbling frustration through the scene is like.. kinda cool to me. (a/n: eikichi is kuwabara's cat lol)

i'm also including another two from this same fic bc i think they're neat as well :)

(i'll put a transcript of the screenshots at the end under the read more)

honestly, i love writing yusuke's dialogue no matter what he's saying, so this fic's got a few moments i'm very fond of, but didn't include. anyway it's the only good thing i've ever written (<- exaggerating, but it's probably my favorite fic i've written, and maybe favorite prose piece)

i also remember enjoying some of the dialogue between sagawa and majima in tough love for loveless things, and i assume i liked a lot of the stuff for i long for you and your expert hands, but i... haven't revisited that one in a long time (idk why but i'm a little afraid to?? i haven't forgotten it though), so i couldn't point to anything specific really ^ ^'

I: hm... i think i overindulge in characters just talking about nothing, at least when it comes to my writing. if i like them, i like hearing them talk about nothing, and it tends to bloat scenes and drag on, i figure. i also tend to gravitate towards really specific intensely described points of imagery that barely come up again and totally break the flow of the scene (oops). in terms of guilty pleasures in reading, uh...? i'm kind of a sucker for werewolf stuff because i got that dog in me. im drawing a blank ig sorry <3 OH i've always been hopelessly fond of whump / hurt/comfort / sickfic STUFF. legit since i was a child. i like it when they're out of it i like it when they're woozy. and anything with dumb hijinks and/or slapstick is good to me. comedy's hard and i like seeing idiots be idiots. and really introspective/inner monologue heavy pieces are mmmmwah for writing and reading

R: oh man. whatever i'm currently reading often ends up influencing my writing in noticeable (to me) ways. one time i was writing smth for my fiction writing class and i typed out a sentence that felt at once like smth dr seuss would write (you'll never guess what unit my children's lit class was on) and a line from lolita (because that's what i was reading at the time). it's a mashup that worked weirdly well. ANYWAY to actually answer the question, the little prince ruined me as a kid, and a lot of the way i express sadness and emptiness is channeling saint-exupery there. currently, arkady martine and andzrej sapkowski have been influencing my scenery descriptions in particular, because that's what i was most recently reading, but earlier this year i remember cormac mccarthy's the road finding its way under my pen a lot. for really flowery stuff (i don't think you see it much in my fics, but it's not Never), i think of alfred tennyson's maud quite often. this is not a conclusive list im just empty brained :P

X: ohhohohohohhh. god help me but i love making all of them suffer. to love something is to vivi/dissect it. currently kuwabara is the one i'm putting through the most though (<- channeling personal issues into this orange guy), but majima and kiryu were always lots of fun to break down >:). perhaps that's the real answer to the guilty pleasure section

[SCREENSHOT 1]:

“Hey, why’s she goin’ to Kurama and you and not me?” Yusuke complained, pouting at Keiko.

Kuwabara piped up. “Maybe it’s ‘cuz they have manners, unlike some of us.”

“Or patience,” Botan offered.

Yusuke stuck out his leg and prodded Kuwabara’s arm. “Yeah, and how’re your manners workin’ out for ya? You still look like someone’s been playin’ tic-tac-toe on your hands or did she become a saint overnight?”

“Shut up, Urameshi.”

Keiko spoke up from her spot on the floor. “Aw, I think she’s just sweet. Right?” She put her chin on her folded arms and gently rubbed at Eikichi’s cheek. With a warm smile, Keiko turned her head into her arms further, squishing her face, openly endeared. “Even if she bites sometimes.”

“Finally, someone gets it,” Kuwabara moaned. “Keiko, tell Urameshi that for me, will ya?”

Yusuke didn’t buy it. “If she was sweet she’d be sweet to me, too.”

“Benevolence is nearly always conditional,” Kurama said, leaning over to rub Eikichi’s ears. “Perhaps she senses your standoffishness and simply chooses not to engage with someone who does not seem to want her.” Kurama’s brilliant green eyes swept back to Yusuke for emphasis. “You two may have that in common.”

“Wh—?!” Yusuke spluttered a bit, before settling on, “Watch it, fox boy.”

“Aw,” Botan giggled, “Yusuke, it’s alright, you know. Some of us just have an animal-like charm. Meow meow!” She hooked her hands like paws.

“Right, and I’m saying Eikichi’s not so charming. I mean, she’s been ignoring you, too, Botan, whaddyou think?”

“Oh, she’s just lovely! Simply adorable,” Botan cooed.

“Heheh, looks like you’re outnumbered, Urameshi!”

[SCREENSHOT 2]:

Rocking his chair back lazily, Yusuke noticed Kuwabara’s scratch-laced hands and whistled. “Damn, Kuwabara. It’s kinda beating you up, huh? That cat o’ yours. You look like you just fought me, only smaller.”

“For the last time, Urameshi, Eikichi’s a she! Quit it with the it crap or I’ll knock you into next Sunday brunch.” He jabbed his chopsticks at Yusuke pointedly. “And I don’t think you could get any smaller.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. She’s beating the shit outta you. But what’s with that? I thought kittens were s’posed to be all cute n’ cuddly.” Yusuke swirled his drink thoughtfully before taking a swig.

“You’ve never had a kitten, have you, Urameshi?” Kuwabara deadpanned. He had the right to do that now that he was a cat-rearing expert, as if he hadn't learned it very recently himself.

“No. ’M not really crazy about animals. Neither's my mom.” Under his breath, Yusuke added, “Knowing her, that’s probably for the best.”

“Wh—? How?!” 

Yusuke shrugged.

Kuwabara huffed. “Ugh, she’s teething right now, okay? And I haven’t got her a scratching post yet. She’ll grow out of it, you’ll see.”

“Whatever you say, man. Just try not to lose any limbs waiting for her to get manners, arright? Don’t wanna make our fights even more one-sided. That’d just be sad.”

“Yeah, right, Urameshi.” Kuwabara puffed out his chest. “Eikichi could take two o’ my limbs and I’d still wipe the street with ya.”

“Hey, try beating me with four limbs first, tough guy.”

The conversation devolved into threats and bickering from there, culminating in little more than wrinkled uniforms and mussed hair-dos, and one final exchange.

“You haven’t even met her, Urameshi, so how could you know what she’s like?”

“‘Cuz you’re carryin’ the proof right there, stupid! Look, don’t take it so personal. I just don’t feel like spending all day roughhousing with someone that far beneath my weight class, even if she is the precious little angel you say she is."

[SCREENSHOT 3]:

Yusuke lounged on the floor, Eikichi sitting on his chest and staring down at him.

“What’re you starin’ at, Stinkass?”

Kuwabara scoffed loudly, fluffing out the pillow Yusuke would use.

Yusuke smirked at him. “Oh, I’m sorry, your highness, I left my manners at home.” He cleared his throat. “What are you staring at, Her Royal Majesty the Queen Stinkass?”

“Man, why'dya only pick mean pet names to give ‘er?” It came out a bit harsher than he meant.

“What?” Yusuke began to sit up, but stopped when he remembered Eikichi’s place on him. He dropped back down and shut his eyes lazily. “These aren’t pet names, they’re, like, insults. That I don’t mean.”

“So ‘Stinkass’ is your idea of an affectionate nickname?”

“Gee, you don’t have to make it sound so damn girly. I’m just callin’ her that ‘cause I like her.”

“Ooh~ so you like her, huh?” Kuwabara sat up on his knees and—once Eikichi got the hint and clambered off—smacked Yusuke’s face with his pillow, holding it over his face. “Whatever happened to not bein’ mushy, tough guy?”

Yusuke wrenched the pillow from his grip and lazily swung it at him, not bothering to get up. “Hey, you told me she doesn’t judge about that sorta thing, right? And I’m learnin’ there’s benefits to bein’ mushy, like kicking ass better.” He shifted to crack his back, then sighed, relaxing into the floor. “I’m just sticking to my way, and sometimes that means calling her Kuwabara’s Favorite Little Shitblaster or whatever.”

[beansterpie]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thanks for tagging me @marley-manson! <3

I would tag people but it's late and my brain is tired so literally, PLEASE just adopt this tag meme if you see it and read the whole thing. You have my full permission to say I tagged you, even if we've never spoken lol. Go for it, be audacious.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

43,487!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Well the posted fic is a Berserk fic, but I have various other wips that I pick away at when I'm bored. Among them include Eyeshield 21, MDZS, RotE, Harry Potter (technically?). Those are the most recent ones anyway.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Chain of Dissent, she's my favorite fic <3 (she's my only fic)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yeah I try to! Though I'll admit uhhhh I haven't updated it in... fucking? two years? god, and so I've been bad about responding to the more recent comments because I feel guilty for not updating in so long :') Really gotta get back to it.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

None, because I haven't finished a fic yet lol

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

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far! I've gotten a couple of comments that come across as unintentionally mildly rude, but definitely nothing that constitutes as hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Well not so far in CoD, but, ahem, I have written smut in one of my wips lol. Deeply self indulgent but I guess character driven? It's mildly nasty and desperate <3

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't actually written a crossover (yet. well, recently) but they are a bit of a passion of mine lmao. I love ridiculous crossovers, and I'm talking about "a magical portal opens up and throws characters from fandom A into the world (& characters) of fandom B" type shit. I don't need the ways in which the characters interact to make sense, I just want them to be thrown together and see where it goes from there. Fish out of water shenanigans! Characters questioning their own motivations and idea of life by seeing a world entirely different from theirs!! Just like, fun shit! I also absolutely don't need for the two fandoms to be similar lol. I have a somewhat detailed Berserk/Eyeshield 21 crossover living rent free in my head so clearly anything goes.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Lol no.

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

Nope!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I'll probably have to say GriffGuts, because it's a ship that's gripped me by the neck for the past 7 years or something, where my interest in it hasn't really waned.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Uhhhh, idk? I mean I am DETERMINED to finish CoD, so that's out. And the wips I write in my spare time are just like, things I do for fun where I don't put any pressure on myself over it. I'm not planning on posting them anywhere, and I'm not generally planning on 'finishing' them either. I mean if I do finish one, I might post it, but again, they're low key things that I'm not taking too seriously.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hm. I honestly don't consider myself a very strong writer, at least in terms of things like prose and sentence structure, grammar, that sort of thing. I think I'm pretty decent at figuring out the direction that I want the story to go, and all the individual steps that need to happen to get to that point in a way that feels organic (at least, imo.) And I like to think I'm pretty good at characterization-- having the characters behaving and reacting in ways that feel like could concievably happen in canon is generally what I'm going for.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Yeah prose, lol. I mean, I don't actually dislike my more.... utilitarian writing style, mainly because I generally prefer reading more direct writing (unless the lyrical writing is really really good), but I do think I could inject some more illustrative details and metaphors into my writing overall. @marley-manson is SO good at coming up with perfect metaphors to describe a situation or feeling, all while perfectly recreating the character's voice, and I really admire that about her writing!

I also want to get better with having characters like, doing things while they're talking. I find a lot of the conversations I write happen between characters just kind of standing around, which obviously is fine but I'd like to construct scenes with a bit more specificity in the future.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Wait so like, say in a fic that is otherwise written in English, having a line of dialogue written in Spanish when a character is speaking it? I... don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other I guess lol. I mean ideally the line(s) written in the other language are correct lol, and not just badly google translated or something.

Though you know, now that I think about it, I feel like it would work best between languages that use the same alphabet (which does end up narrowing the possible languages down quite a lot) because that way the reader can still sound out the dialogue even if the don't understand the language, which could emulate what the pov character is experiencing. Whereas if it was a fic written in English, and then had a line written in, say, Japanese, the reader wouldn't even be able to sound it out so it's kind of a brick wall. (Unless there's footnotes, but that tends to be a little more clunky in fic than in a published book with pages).

If the readers are supposed to understand the dialogue written in another language, like two characters suddenly start speaking in said other language and we're meant to keep up with the conversation, then I feel like it's just easier to translate their words in whatever language the fic is written in otherwise.

But yeah idk, I think with intent and good execution, anything can work, but it could also be done in a way that's more annoying than anything.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think. It was neopets LMFAO. I remember writing a fic when I was like 10 about Hannah (the adventurer) and Jacques (from the maraqua plot comic) as a romantic couple because I was annoyed at the time that there were multiple fics about Hannah and Garin (or whatever his name was, also from the maraqua plot) getting together even though I thought Garin was BORING and they were just shipped together because they were both usuls (which are overrated imho), even though Jacque was obviously better.

... I may have had a crush on Jacques.

But the first fic that I think I posted anywhere was for Xiaolin Showdown lmfao, probably also when I was 10 or 11 or something. I wrote like four separate fics for that show.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Yeah it's CoD lol. It's the longest thing I've written so far, and I'm overall still very proud of it. I'd probably go back and change some things in the first chapter because it reads a little clunky and like, abrupt to me now, but I'm not doing that until I finish the fic. Allowing myself to go back and edit stuff before I've even finished the story seems like a road to ruin lol.

[saturn-sends-hugs]

🍊🍏🍐🍇 for the fruit emoji ask! Feel free to answer whatever is most interesting to you 😊

hihihi thanks for the ask! answers under the cut cause this could get long lol

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

FIVES!!! For the fact that he's pretty much the most important person in Echo's life (or at least was) (sorry bskjdsfk), I really don't write for him often enough. He's usually either just in a memory or a dream where he's warped by Echo's perception. I have a WIP that will let me tap into his character a little more (and even explore how he would interact with the Bad Batch) and I'm very excited to get working on it!! I just.... need to have Slow Down finished first lol.

🍏 Is there something you overuse, whether it’s a certain phrase, trope, or piece of punctuation?

Em dashes. And maybe italics. And like single sentence "revelation" paragraphs or whatever for dramatic effect lol. (and outside of fic writing I use "lol" too much like gIRL but it's just my default "don't take this too seriously" thing and I almost used it again right there) (I blame my best friend) (literally never used it before her and now I can never go back aghhhhhh)

I definitely use the trope of like "oh fuck, they're hurt" a lot, but personally I will never get tired of that so it doesn't count as overusing. totally.

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

Characters not giving two shits about a traumatizing event or something. Like, they'll have the characters witness the literal death of their established best friend and then WALK AWAY. And they NEVER MENTION IT AGAIN RAHHHHHKJDGJBSGD im totally over the citadel arc as we can all tell. and tech's death. and that scene where Rex mentions Fives and they just kEEP WALKING WTFFFF

Anyway yeah, that's basically the reason I got into writing fanfic. I didn't like the lack of detail or time spent focusing on different events and I wanted to give the characters some time to actually work through things.

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Crosshair putting his hand on Echo's shoulder after previously having gotten punched in the face for saying "I would've left him for dead" like GIRLLLLLLL be so fucking fr rn. And like I'll never write a fic based solely on that scene, but that moment and what it means has seeped into every single fic I write with the two of them because they just work together so well its insane.

And other than that, most times it's scenes that don't happen that I end up writing about. For example, Echo learning about Fives' death or the time between TCW and TBB where Echo bonds w/ the batch and we just??? don't get to see it???? yeah so I'll never stop writing abt all that I think

Anyway, sorry this was kinda long but thanks so much for the ask!!!

[devondespresso]

WIP Ask Game

tagged by the lovely @itsthestrangestthings and with perfect timing too! I've just finished the outline for the next arc and need to get words down

Rules

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

(per usual I only have my one wip, so I'll be listing scenes from my Steve Henderson AU instead of different files. I'm also listing them with the short details i remember them by because they dont really have names lol)

Scenes

The Old Office (where's dustin's dad?)

Before Bed (we try and fail to talk about important things)

Family Dinner (with a side of overthinking)

Nightmare, but worse (for the love of god just talk about things)

Breakdown in the club(house) (as in the little play fort in dustins backyard)

Snippet

(and tags below)

Most of my work in the last 7 days has been trying to figure out what has been feeling off in some of my scenes i already jotted down, then putting together the outline for my next arc, so im being pretty loose with "words in the past 7 days" Chucks of this snippet were the most I've rewritten recently, but I'm definitely sharing more than just the rewritten parts because i can (Steve and Hopper has been one of my favorite dynamics to explore, especially within the context of the hospital and Hop's background)

___

But then a nurse came in, asking if his parents had been notified of his admission. She offered to call if they hadn’t yet, but Hopper promised he would take care of it.

He stood by the wall waiting for someone to pick up on the other line while Steve sat on the side of the bed and El curled up in a guest chair nearby.  Hop stood there listening to several minutes of dialing sounds and voicemail over and over with no sign of stopping.

“If they won't pick up after 5 minutes they're not going to pick up after 10."

Hop glared over.

"Thank you, Harrington, very helpful." he grumbled but still gave up and set the phone back.

“Just tell the nurse they know and don’t worry about it.” he offered, laying back down.

“Yeah and just leave ‘em in the dark about their kid in the damn hospital.” 

“I’ll call them later.”

Hopper huffed from the other side of the room. Steve tried not to focus on it, but after too long of a silence, especially after the building frustration, he had to look over.

Hop stood silent, leaned back against the wall. A mixture of thinking and working through his frustrations.

An unnerving amount of thinking for Hop, and his expressions were harder to read than most, having his own more subtle tells Steve hadn't known him long enough to recognize.

He looked over at Steve, gathering clues or something. Steve shot a face back, asking for an explanation.

He thought for a moment, then crossed his arms and walked over to him.

“Why don’t you want anyone here?”

Steve scooted back, sat up and crossed his arms back.

“Because it’s not that big of a deal-”

“That's a load of bull.”

Steve rolled his eyes, projecting annoyance to say This is not going to go anywhere.

“I’ve already dealt with a concussion on my own before and, surprise, it was fine.”

“That’s not it.” he said slow and cold: the tone he used to shut down that argument with Mike. “Tell me why.”

“I told you!” he said, pushing down more nerves to throw that tone back at him.

"No, you haven't."

"Well, what do you want me to say!"

“The truth, Harrington!” he yelled.

Steve froze in place, holding the scowl in place, keeping his eyes glued to Hopper to hide his reaction. Hopper caught himself, sighing and looking away in a self-directed disappointment. Only after the break in tension did Steve look away, staring at the wall.

Calm down, it was an accident. He didn’t mean to.

“I just want to know the truth, kid.” he backed up a good few feet, leaning back against the wall and looking at him firmly, “Because I can’t think of anyone who’d want to be completely alone in a hospital. Let alone a kid.”

He’s not like that, he’s trying not to be. He’s stopped.

His throat was tight and he could feel tears invading his eyes.

Not here, not here, not here

“You trying to prove something?” Hop guessed, taking his silence for stubbornness. He can work with that.

Steve threw a glare at him, getting up and going to the room’s bathroom, putting a lot of effort into appearing completely steady despite the dizziness. Hopper followed.

“Kid, I'm just trying to help.” He said, putting a hand on the door to keep him from opening it.

He’s not gonna drop it. Not trusting his voice to hold, Steve ripped out his wallet and shoved over a business card. Hop took it with his free hand, confusion distracting him enough to let Steve yank the door open and slip inside.

“Harringt-”

He slammed the door right behind him with a loud thud that made his breath catch. He quickly locked it, then held his breath a moment and closed his eyes. Then he breathed out slowly, quietly, and flicked the light on. Waited to hear Hopper’s footsteps leading away from the door back towards the phone before opening his eyes again.

Finally

___

Tags

@stobinesque @fag4dykestobin @museumgiftshoperaser @sharpbutsoft @spicysix @blushweddinggowns @marvel-ous-m @alexcharmsyou

(no pressure ofc 💕💕)

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

Higurashi When They Cry - Watanagashi Chapter 11

New year, new schedule. I realized "posting daily until doing so is unsustainable and then taking very long breaks" isn't actually faster than the slow and steady approach. Turtles were right all along, though I'm not sure how many of them were. That's why from now on my new schedule is going to be Two Posts A Week. Yes. Yes yes.

Speaking of the weak, Keiichi and Rena. They're sleepy. Mion, meanwhile, isn't even present. Keiichi thinks Mion might not exist.

At school, everyone is taking the disappearance of some Toddlers very seriously. How strange. Unfortunately, for school to be normal, Mion would have to exist. It all sucks for everyone.

Keiichi and Rena try to have a Lunch Arc, but they flub it because of the writer's strike, so I'm not even going to dignify it with a detailed analysis.

Rena decides to shift gears and give Keiichi secondhand Women Exposition instead. Keiichi thinks the exposition sounds wrong and bad, and Rena agrees, so they decide to solidify the Watanagashi arc of Higurashi as one all about people using the wrong sinks out of an inflated sense of superiority.

the second half of this sentence is not what the first half of this sentence led me to expect

Rena reveals that the Toddlers had been in the middle of a culinary project which they left half-unfinished.

Dumb Fuck!

Seeing Rena activate Detective Mode is awesome though. She really IS like one of those young girls who can read the blue text. Now we just need Keiichi to kick his "guy whose text is often blue" quotient up a notch.

Rena says that Toddler 01 is so inferior to Toddler 02 that she even sucks more at garbage cans. Fascinating.

Wow! I'm learning so much from reading Higurashi!

Also wow, I just noticed, she is really killer at reading the blue text. Um, no pun intended I guess.

Rena reveals the final ace up her sleeve: The Toddlers didn't have any soy sauce.

i wish i lived in hinamizawa, i could get so much free soy sauce

and bread pudding, maybe

Rena does her Sherlock Holmesian monologue where she says it was all the malicious work of a soy sauce saboteur. "Who was the saboteur?" asks Keiichi. "lol idk anyways acab" says Rena, and leaves.

Keiichi also leaves, and he and Rena go to the same place, and it's a cop place. More specifically it's the location Ooishi happens to be in, which is Keiichi's house he sleeps at every day. Keiichi decides to plant some death flags and then make Rena leave.

what a fucking nightmare person

Ooishi reveals that the mayor had hemorrhoids. Wow, that reminds me of my favorite meme song!

Keiichi makes a deduction and then gets immediate amnesia. Classic Keiichi.

Keiichi is confused about where Shion's awesome mayor incident fits into the mayor's busy schedule. He's really confused and possibly about to explode.

Ooishi asks what the big deal was with the temple, and Keiichi is like "Um, literally nothing?" and then curses his own bad habit of revealing information. Yes, the bad habit which he has: revealing information.

Hmm I don't like that Ooishi keeps saying things like "Everyone who went in is being sacrificed, y'know?" and "I had no choice but to ask you, Keiichi, since you went in there, y'know?" Is there going to be a dramatic Shion death reveal?

Oh. The answer was yes, five seconds after I asked. By which I guess I just mean "Ah, Keiichi finally noticed."

Oh, the NEXT day? Like RIGHT after?

Ah, I guess all Keiichi's intimate phone conversations must not have happened then. That. Seems true. Yes.

Oh, that's an awesome trick. He could use that to acquire more piss.

Lol

Anyway I don't have the slightest inkling what's going on. THIS is the arc that's supposed to be easier to figure out than the Rena one? How messed up were the events of the Rena one, then?!

Keiichi screams so hard the scene transitions, and now he's waiting for the obligatory Shion section of this chapter.

Ah yes, the extremely real ladder incident.

Anyway, the obligatory Shion section of this chapter occurs.

Shion immediately learns that Keiichi is home alone.

Classic Keiichi.

Keiichi wants to ask Shion if the Toddlers are okay, but he gets scared that what she says will make him scared, so he asks Shion if the mayor is okay and she says "No," and he gets scared.

String music??? Is playing??? What is this, Umineko?

me when i'm listening to someone sobbing

You should probably have doubts my dude

These twerps really are two peas in a pod huh. That's scary.

Shion is scared of Keiichi again. Keiichi tells her to tell him a longer mayor story so he gets less confused and doesn't explode in the future.

Ah but Shion doesn't live in Hinamizawa. Are Shion and Mion Parent Trapping REALLY REALLY HARD with ultra commitment to the bit? That'd be extremely abnormal.

Unfortunately, Keiichi relatable moments. Um, minus the part where he's having a phone conversation with a crying person. That's categorically not a thing I do, for several reasons. Um, anyways.

Shion enters Comedy Mode and brings the obligatory Shion section of this chapter to a close.

Meanwhile, in Side Story Land...

Isn't that the backstory of that trans girl from that fighting game? I dunno, I don't play games from genres that SUCK.

Allegedly, Mion has a tattoo covering her entire back. Bah, modern media, always with the female characters whose backs are covered in tattoos. One day in the name of gender equality I'll do that to a male character. ...Actually, that might already exist and be called Yakuza. I dunno, I don't play games from series that SUCK.

It would be really fucked up if Ooishi was just completely lying his ass off about Shion having been gone for days, but actually she was just chillin' the entire time. I don't think that's what's happening but it would be fucked up. Ooishi's mahjong buddies seem to be his devout followers also, unless that's part of the rules. I dunno, I don't play games that SUCK.

[fangtastic-vampyra]

Reaaally hate how it seems I have to be "watched" by people from the system the whole rest of my life.

It's MKULTRA MILBAS targeted individual stuff. You know the people that they go after?

Those that would stick their neck out for somebody else.

You know. Yes. So. I have to do a Stinkin' re-assessment sometime next week, ish, Im like "Im in for a life sentence. Schizophrenia gets worse when you get older. Very few people "get better" [or whatever they think] whatever that means, not understanding why I keep having to do a reassessment." I mean, I really hate Drs, of all kinds, I can take care of my Fecking self, and I want them to Bugger off in general. It was creepy asf. What is so hard to understand, stop thinking shit in my head, voices, v2k, and then, making me feel like shit with uh military, weapons? thennn tormenting me in my sleep. LIEK IF I FELT BETTER, I WOULD BE BETTER. a poisoned, drug, prescription or otherwise, filled body, with emo. pain, and trauma, and not enough healthy meals, and shit, prolly aint going to be around very long. plus parasites and what have you. I CAN BE A SCREET DR. JKKK. Just a herbal supplement recommender. :] {been studying those since I was 16, got a lot of time behind me on that particular interest, yah, thats why got me all into trouble, rebelling against norms, well if Punch Line really is my ..mm.. hear voices saying dont go out with her buut...what could i get out of it? it will probably, if i dont try, end up like harley and me, im fubar.. F.U.B.A.R.} And that? Was Mr and Mrs Smith.

And she mentions the Govt program medicaid enforces it every 6 months. I'm like nooooo. Even though I know it's fake, and thats fake, I have too much rage, to not be on meds, but I don't think they're quite ready to let me only be on one anti-"psychotic" umm Vraylar and Seroquel, are my two, and we lol we -- are doing great.

Yes Im a plural, also. DID... MPD.

Anyway-- I think I "actually am" schizophrenic.. Not just a Fake illness.. But Idk maybe it's just damage from previous incarnations. Some lady read my palms and said I was reincarnated. Neat.

Meanwhile, I've gotten into some sick sort of reminescensing/revenge thing. Prolly the first male "plague rat" -- Waheyyy. Emilie Autumn fan. They want them young, to study, and observe, if ya know what Im saying. AND. They dont like to let folks go. Once they have ya. Since these bastards, think they are some type of Woman Inspector. I dont want Pig Ass Hybrids for my kids anyway, fuck off. I am no longer young, and a Cantankerous ass bitch, and One day, THOSE Fuckers, are going to compensate me, for all my TBC, and everything else. TBC/Thought Broad Casting.

WTF..!! THEY CRASHED MY BROWSER, I HAD TYPED LIKE FIVE MORE PARA. Yes. they got access to my puter. UGH!!

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT.. AND....GAWDDAMN.

Note to self/other authors, authoresses: WRITE IN WORDPAD.

Or something similiar.. There use to be one that had a black background. White makes me feel like I got a lined loose leaf paper with no.2 in a uncomfy plastic chair. YES. UNCREATIVE. Like. In a fecking institution.

Uhm what had I said... Mum also said people get sacrificed to the devil a bunch more than most think. She's kinda uh weird. yes. Used to be into goth, and horror, and metal, when she was Younger, and witch craft, lord knows umm, now shes just, Blonde hair, blue eyes. And everything else, normal, she wants to be Barbie. IDEK, this Family wsa NOT ready. She was just another Handler, my dumb ass thought fighting, was the answer. I want to SUE the pants off MKULTRA ( and associations/etc, off them.) If you know what I mean. Abuse. Trauma. Mum says it happens to boys just as much. OHHH WELL. IDK about that. Shes just another brainwashed handler. Tho.. pretty insightful if you can actually get her to say anything. Lol we're munsters, I got out the sun synchronization, or something ugh.

Im just nursing a wound. Not caring about anything else, but trying to stop the pain. I dont uh see any point in living this way? My head is aching like someones been smashing rocks against my skull for the past hour. "Okay ill stop" Like they harass and make fun of me as AFAB UNDESIRABLE. Fat and whatever, though they did it um. And call me a he/she, they did that to. And I just uh, want to punch something in the face that something is God, Idk, until it stops moving. yes. then i can be god. >.> IDK, like whyyyy me.

Why all of this. WHYYYY.

He says we are all equal, he says his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, he says the enemies are not flesh and blood, but spirits. Yes. SAYS humans are more close to him than angels, says this and that, that we have power as humans over the animals, and the demons. idk. somethings not adding up. i think he's a f*cking rapist. celebrating the black majick curses he places onto children. a pervert, a predator. yes. i try. to calculate what is going on here, i hadnt known what i know now, i rebuke the thoughts i had as a child, the gnashing of teeth, in hell, and that, i dont want to end up there. AND? I think he's a bully. There's always been a man.. sigh.. tiresome.. voice over my shoulder harassing me.

WHAT I WANT: To be the Court leader of the Neutral guise. Or herd or pack or whatever. *LOL.*

What should my name be? Circe.

brendan used the word "blessed" in association with the amount of food we have. Im used to high quality meals, this is like, yuck, sort of. I wish I could remember shit, I want to give up. There are no plans, Im jsut saying "i want to" im tired of hurting, im tired of suffering, tired of aloneness, tired of rejection, maybe showing vulnerability will help? Why are men attacking me? Idk, i think they are scared of me.. Tbh. I will get my one desire, to be my true self. And theres nothing they can do about it." If " they try to mess it up, I have my ways.

{Wow, have the inkling of intimacy / u might be a d00d, on ur page, I MEAN, AMAB, and got scammers messaging me "hot photos" and shit lololol. Im too lazy to remove. if they're not a native English speaker, some of the messages are pretty funny...}

[kitkatwinchester]

OUR PACK IS THE BEST!! <3

I literally love everything about this.

They're all so clever and so smart and so cute and just have such good teamwork and I LOVE OUR MCCALL PACK! <3 <3

Okay, for starters, that whole little planning and set-up of the lake house plan was so clever and so cute. This is a small thing, but at the start of their little talk, Stiles's immediate defense of Malia ripping up the basement, and that cute little supportive smile he gives her, was just so wholesome and I love them. And then Lydia saying she's "done with high school boys" (which, valid, frankly, given her relationship history), and then turning to Kira and Kira's immediate awkwardness like...

And then KIRA OMG. She's gorgeous, obviously, and she played the foxy fox beautifully, but it was also so unBELIEVABLY Kira to trip and fall down the stairs. Good thing Liam's a hormonal teenage werewolf or that definitely could've backfired. But luckily, it still worked!

And then the intervention at the lake house (("Think of it like an intervention, Liam. You have a problem." "And we're the only ones that can help." Sciles finishing each other's sentences ANYWAYS.), and everyone going through what they are and then there's Stiles.

"Uh, for a little while I was possessed by an evil spirit. It was very evil." "What are you now?" "Better?"

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!! XD XD <3 <3 (Though, as a very quick aside, anger issues and werewolf-ing do not mix, so THAT'S disconcerting...)

And then, after all of that, I really appreciate how quickly they all reacted, and how well they all worked together, when they hit emergency mode. Scott and Kira immediately grabbing Liam to get him to the boathouse (Scira! <3), Malia immediately calling for Stiles and him being super quick to grab her and get her to the basement (Stalia! <3), and then that fun little interaction between Stiles and Lydia (Stydia! <3 Stalia can be adorable and I can still have my OTP, okay? XD)...

"Lydia, who throws the best parties in Beacon Hills?" "What? Me, obviously!" "Okay. Then throw a party."

And I bet that's exactly what she's gonna do, because she rocks.

I mean it's just...

THEY ALL WORK SO WELL TOGETHER AND THEY'VE ALL GOTTEN SO GOOD AT THIS AND THEY ALL HAVE EACH OTHER'S BACKS AND THEY'RE JUST SUCH A GOOD TEAM AND IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS BUT I LOVE THEM OKAY?!

MCCALL PACK ALL DAY LONG!! <3 <3 <3

In other news, really not loving that we have an assassin to deal with, but I am loving the Derek and Noah team-ups and dynamics, because that's all kinds of fun since Sciles is a LITTLE busy to be helping with that whole situation at the moment.

Anyways!

MCCALL PACK ALL DAY EVERY DAY!! <3 <3

(100% not from this season (I can tell by Dylan and Shelley’s haircuts lol), but it's all five of them and I love them, so... <3 <3 <3 <3)

[bonesandthebees]

Strings of Fate Ch8!!

Oh yes, Wilbur is at the shrine! A very confused boy. Poor guy also has a headache from that fall Tommy took. Ouch.

And he remembers dying! No that's horrible. Well, I guess kind of not. It was described as just a thing that happened. I'm sure he's shocked but he doesn't seem too broken up about it.

Now when he sees L'Manberg though...that hurts. Imagine waking up one day and finding that your home and everything you hold dear is gone:(

Bee! I love the change in POVs as they find each other. I could feel the urgency. The sun setting lower and lower as they try to follow each other's voices. And when they do find each other they are still in the wrong bodies. But then it switches and ahshsjh

So smooooth Bee

And they're just so happy to finally see each other. It's crazy to think that they have never actually interacted outside of time-and-space-texting. I'm so happy! We've waited so long for this moment and it's here! So worth itt:)))

You know I never actually thought about Mitsuha getting her ribbon back the day after she gave it to Taki. I guess it's because Taki had it for most of the movie anyway, so it just felt longer? I don't know. But yeah that is weird to think about. It must feel odd for Wilbur to get his cord back all faded from three years with Tommy.

Tommy is actually pretty cool. He managed to forge a plan to get a pretty good chunk of people out of the valley. I'm not sure how many people will end up dying from the comet but yknow. They did everything they could.

Poor Tommy didn't get anything written on his palm:( I know that if Wilbur wrote his name it would probably just disappear like the messages on Tommy's phone. That's why Tommy wrote what he did instead of his name. Hopefully, it'll be enough for Wilbur to at least recognize him when they do meet again:')

I am curious though. Did Wilbur just not feel the length of what Tommy was writing on his palm? Like Tommy is a five-letter word. Tommy wrote two whole sentences and then some lol

I will never get over how well you depict emotions in your writing. You are so good at it!! When I read your fics I'm either smiling like an idiot, trying to hide frowns, or trying to ignore the burning in my eyes how are you so good at it???

oof im gonna go read the epilogue now. thank you for these two treasures bones<3

-🧭

lol yeah tommy slammed his head into the ground when he fell and wilbur has to deal with the headache. poor guy he's going through so much

oh wilbur was 100% in shock about the whole remembering that he died thing. if he actually had more than a few hours to process it he would've had much more of a breakdown. in a way the loss of memories was definitely beneficial in that sense

i'm so glad you felt the urgency!! i wanted it to feel really confusing and also a bit hopeful as they try to find each other, and then right as the sunset really sets in that's when the window between time opens up :)

finally. after so long they're finally face to face talking to each other but they only have a few minutes bc ofc things can't be that nice

yeah i know!! i didn't think about it when watching the movie either, but when I was writing that bit I realized "huh the ribbon would've been worn down from taki wearing it as a bracelet for like 2-3 years even though mitsuha only lost it the day before for her time. that must've been weird"

while not everyone in the town ended up being saved, the majority of people actually did get out in time thanks to the plan. though it wasn't even really tommy who planned most of it. as soon as techno came in he and niki both took over everything, tommy just came up with the initial idea lol

wilbur literally just was not paying attention when tommy was writing on his hand. he was looking out at the sunset and thinking about stuff so he just didn't register how long it took tommy to write out his 'name' lol

aaa thank you i'm so glad the emotions came through!! tbh I was really struggling with that in this fic so it makes me really happy to hear the emotions still transferred over to the readers

[psychelis-new]

hii i wanna know 12,20,21,48!!

Hey, thank you for the interest :)

12. Who are five (or more) people you want to hug right now?  Hmmm five or more? Uh... My overwhelmed inner child thinks that's a lot of people to hug but they're not tbh, we're just closing off a bit as anytime we feel too much. Right now I'd just need one hug from one person but anyway, it's nobody that lives nearby so yeah, I can hug myself in the meantime. I need to hug myself atm, actually. Little Lys, come on here.

20. What/who do you miss?  I am a nostalgic person most of the times, so I could make a very long list of the things I miss. Even the stupidest things. This doesn't mean I don't know I'm heading towards future and not my past (I believe we only miss people/emotions from the past, but they also were part of the life of who we were back then so... that's not always good or reasonable to do as we grow and change continuosly). I will mention my dog though. I miss him a lot.

21. How was your day today?  Long and kinda tiring but also I got a delivery I was waiting for so yeaaah

48. Who’s someone you can trust with your life?  Atm in the 3d? Idk... I am healing trust issues and I'm not sure I can trust that much any human I'm constantly in touch with atm, for a reason or another. But I trust my crow-friend haha :D (this sound sad omg LOL but he just started cawing as I typed the first sentence so I guess he wanted to be taken into consideration -birds are special to me, my blackbird confirms it too).

edit: actually there's probably my physio who I can trust that much or almost

Have a lovely day/night <3

[whenwordsmakesense]

For the first sentence + 5 sentence ask: "Um, would you like to, uh," clears throat, "go out on a date with me?" ... "Took you long enough to spit it out." Okay, technically it's two sentences but they come together 😂

Lol, I'll do 2 + 5 sentences then xD

Okay so that didn't happen. But I'm very happy with how this turned out!! I hope you are too.

Call Me a Saint (but all i wanna be called is yours)

[AO3 Link]

"Um, would you like to, uh," Derek clears his throat, "go out on a date with me?"

Stiles stares at the Big, Bad Alpha Werewolf for an uncomfortably long time. His mouth twitches in amusement.

"Stiles?"

"You're a dumbass," Stiles tells Derek fondly, and pulls him in until their noses are touching. Derek doesn't protest the movement, too busy trying to calm his unnecessary nerves. "It took you long enough to spit it out, and you think I'll reject your advances?"

"Advance. Singular." Derek's eyebrows do that thing where they come together in a v, as if making a visible defense against any rebuttal Stiles might throw his way.

Well.

Stiles rubs his and Derek's noses together. "You brought me chocolates last week," he feels himself grin wide as a beautiful blush colors Derek's bearded cheeks, "Last week, Derek. It was Valentine's Day."

Stiles tightens his hold on the Alpha. No, not Alpha—Derek. Just Derek Hale, a man who deserves everything nice, on his own terms.

Stiles pulls Derek in closer, but he keeps his stance loose enough that Derek can refuse to be pulled closer. Derek doesn't.

"I may be an idiot at times," Derek huffs at that, and Stiles pinches Derek on the hips, "At times, not always. Anyways, what I am saying is: I've seen you, Derek. Even when you think no one is looking at you, I have seen you. I care about you," he adds, thinking twice about his choice of words. His love for Derek might be a never-ending rainbow of happiness, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has to say it all even before their first date. "And I know you care about me."

The way Derek looks at him in this moment, all defenses lowered down, his blue-grey-green eyes sparkling with a warmth Stiles has only seen in them the first time Derek held his nephew, is something that would remain in Stiles' memories until he himself is lost to time. And maybe, even, beyond that.

Cora is teaching Camden how to draw, now, and Isaac claims that their son will be an artist when he grows up. Maybe Stiles could commission Camden into making a drawing for him...

"Stiles? Where did you go?"

"Oh, nothing," Stiles just wants to pull Derek closer, even if they're as close as two people can be without forgoing clothes. He smiles, big and bright, but the way his jaw is starting to hurt he thinks he never stopped doing that in the first place. "I was just thinking about the future. Our future..."

Derek chuckles, low and breathy, and his warm breath falls onto Stiles' neck. "You didn't actually answer my question,"

"Oh? And how do you think I should answer it then?"

Derek's hands, which were resting on his back until now, slide down to his hips, and Stiles arches into the touch.

He hasn't gone on a date for years, okay? Don't judge him.

Derek seems to be thinking along the same lines as him, because he says, "You haven't gone on a date in two years. More than that,"

"I didn't date anyone in college."

Derek's voice is filled with awe and a softness that touches Stiles' heart as he figures out, "Stiles. You waited for me. You have been waiting for me for five years,"

"For a while there I didn't know what—or who, exactly, I was waiting for but. Yes. Yes I have. And I don't regret it, okay? I don't."

Derek seems like he's lost for words, so Stiles takes pity on him and leans in close again.

"If I kiss you, would you consider that an answer?"

Derek just nods. It's kind of cute how he's so flustered. Fuck it, it's adorable.

The kiss is chaste, just a literal lip on lip action, but it's theirs and it's perfect.

Derek's voice is breathy and filled with joy as he slowly walks away from Stiles. "Pick you up at seven? Tomorrow. Be ready?"

"Yeah, see you."

Derek grins, his bunny teeth on display, and Stiles doesn't look away until Derek sits in his car and drives away.

When he's sure Derek has safely reached back home, Stiles texts him:

you're a dumbass

Derek's reply comes shortly after, during which time Stiles presumes he must have been washing his hands and legs. It's a habit he's instilled in every single one of the pack, which is honestly a good thing, both so that the humans don't get sick and the houses don't get dirty.

Maybe. But I'm your dumbass.

Stiles seriously needs to stop smiling, or otherwise his face will be stuck like this.

i can't stop smiling, if my face gets stuck like this and yours is already stuck as a scowl, we'd be such an iconic couple!!!

Derek sends back a pic of him scowling. Stiles laughs so hard he falls off his couch. When he catches his breath, he has one more message waiting for him.

If I'm your dumbass, then you're my dumbass too.

Stiles sends back a heart and a kissy face.

His day turned out to be better than he'd thought it would be, and he can't wait for his date with the love of his life.

[jiminrings]

Okay I just wanna say that I really love your writing!!! Hope you and chimmy are doing well! Can I request a drabble with merman tae and y/n's a human and they're childhood besties and tae likes her but she's a dumb little bean. I just realised how many 'ands' are in that sentence. If you don't like it then...ahem know that I still love you!!! 💖💖💖

pearl of mine

pairing: taehyung x y/n

wordcount: 5k

glimpse: merman!tae is the reason why tourists can’t find any more shells and pearls in the shore, y/n owns more beach houses than deduction skills, and concierge!yoongi’s the hero :D // gif from pinterest

notes: are u kidding me baby i love it AND you!!!! chimmy barks his regards <3

“hmm? where’s barnacle boy?”

alright there goes your peace and quiet

it’s very nice to know that where yoongi is, translates to meaning that all your peaceful thoughts automatically aren’t there

if he’s not manning the concierge, it means he’s there keeping you company!!

annoying you

your ten minutes of bliss of just having your calves dipped into the water is interrupted now but it’s ok!!

after all, yoongi’s ur right-hand man anyways!! he’s the one who keeps track of everything and you’re so close to convicing your dad to put him in the family will too

you can’t manage your family business all by yourself!! how exactly are you gonna manage fIVE of the hotels that your parents have put under your care by yourself

five of the seventeen hotels that your family owns..,.,.,

（；＿；）

your dad gives you tOO much trust and he believes in you like actually a lot

a lot more than you could ever trust yourself tbh

he doesn’t want you to take charge only when he retires or dies!! you’re his little dove and he wants you to be as immersed in your family’s group of companies

it’s generous but of course it’s hectic

which is why you’re spearheading the handling of the actual main hotel he’s put under you!!

and the rest of the less major ones, you’ve had to go through a long and tedious process for so you could find an actual trustable manager and supervisor that wouldn’t commit embezzlement and-

yoongi’s about to scare you again by nudging your lower back with his foot, but you’re ahead of him when you nip his ankle with your nails

“... it’s mermaid man.”

he scoffs out a laugh because what was supposed to be a teasing nudge for your friend that’s clearly nOT human, turned to your joke instead of his

he doesn’t need to look at his watch to know what time it was by then bc he’s practically memorized the skies and the tide at this point

every 5:20 in the afternoon, you and taehyung would meet here!!

you come outside at exactly 4:50 to give yourself some leeway into preparing whatever you’d be giving him or rather, pestering yoongi what you think you should give him for that afternoon

it doesn’t necessarily have to be grand! on most days you just make him waffles without the crusty edges (he likes it the most when it’s so hot that it was still soft and jiggly) and the filling would be whatever food he hasn’t tried yet

.... basically.......... almost everything

but now it’s 5:23 and he could tell with how the water didn’t settle to the wooden platform as well as it did when it was 5:20

yoongi could actually TELL the difference because he’s seen you do this for the four years he’s been working here

the hotel had three wings — the shore wing, the balcony-sturdy-treehouse-type of wing, and the cabana wing

you bounce all around the place because naturally, you aRE the boss here, but afternoons really were just reserved for the cabana wing

where there’s a staff cabana by one of the wooden paths that lead to it, and one specifically reserved for you and probably yoongi now lmao bc he wouldn’t take a nap anywhere else

it’s you just sitting by the deck of your cabana that houses your too-expensive waffle maker, and a cozy blanket then deck pillows outside where you lay when taehyung’s there perched by the wood

you easily have three plates always, and yoongi just goes a lil bit soft that you let him intrude your routine with the merman

but today, all that highLy seems unlikely

“he’s totally not coming,” he exaggerates all in one breath, not having the decency to wait bc he’s stuffing his cheeks full with waffles

everything’s a hit or miss with mermaid man anyways and yoongi would rather nOT try his adventures of waffles with buttered rice in between no thank u

so that’s why he’s sticking with his trusty s’mores waffle!!! :D

put chocolate spread in between while it’s STILL in the pan, then tiny little marshmallows with crushed graham crackers and 10/10 u will see heaven

he gets crumbs on your sundress and you barely even grimace because you’re used to yoongi and all his yoongi-ness at this point

“yes he is! we’ve been doing this everyday without fail for like, twelve years already.”

you know what.,.,., maybe even longer than twelve years

this one’s marked on your calendar you can just SNIFF it

what you distinctly remember is your dad picking you up from school then suddenly deciding that he’ll teach you the ropes

you knew what everything was coming to because suddenly, you’d take your daily after-school snacks at the hotel

and then your weekends were slowly merging into memorizing names and amenities

... and then sitting by your dad’s chair with a juicebox when he had meetings

then before you even realize, you’re managing five hotels under your name and a particularly large one mainly

it was when you’ve had a suckish day at school because you cannot seem to just gET the multiplication table of 7 and your dad’s chasing after you again so you could get to see the fire escape plans as “fun little puzzles!!”

ya know what maybe you should go outside

it didn’t exactly click into your young mind that holy shit your family’s LOADED

all you knew was that people greeted you left and right even if you didn’t know them and you’d always be offered stuff you didn’t even ask for :D

all you cared about was skipping by the cabanas but holding by the rope on the side bc what if you fell lmao

yet what did fall to the water beside you was your bracelet!!!

:((

a red, single-threaded, string bracelet from your wrist that must’ve gotten loose

it’s something you’ve never took off and the sheer panic in your mind was tOO HIGH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

even before you could call out to your dad though, or any of the staff that would literally drop everything to help you, something just shifts in the water

it’s too quick for you to even decipher and the multiplication table of 7 would’ve been easier to figure out

the moment you crouch by the end of the deck was when you see it aGAIN

there’s this incredibly pretty boy that emerges from the water, only his shoulders up to his head peeking out

he most certainly didn’t look... from around here tho

your attention’s immediately fixated on your bracelet, the one on his mouth as he only tilts his head when you do the same, an eager squeal breaking him out

hold on

wait a second

you’ve seen this in the tv sometimes!!! they were uh creatures that liked being by themselves in the sea

lol which is basically every sea creature

but the narrator said something about them looking like humans???

AND BESIDES

you overhear your dad talking about them sometimes

AND THEN IT HITS

THE HANDSOME FACE!! THE SHINY PRETTY-

up and age???

opened etch????

how do u spell that again

THE TAIL!!! THE PRETTY TAIL LOOKING LIKE THING!!!

“o-oh!! you’re-...”

“t-taehyung...?”

the boy who looks like your age replies, looking unsure of himself yet didn’t want to disappoint you either

you meant merman but it’s okay!!

your hands retrieve the bracelet from his mouth, a little giggle at the complexity of the situation

he was completely sold at that

this was his first human!!! his first actual human interaction and it wasn’t really bad as what his brothers painted out to be

you and taehyung took off from then and ya know what,,, maybe you even start purposefully dropping things in the water if you feel a little impatient that he hasn’t peeked his head yet

and yes yes that’s a completely iRRESPONSIBLE thing and your dad stopped you before you could possibly throw out a whole backpack into the water

which was weird for him to look at because there’s absolutely no one he could see in the water

it was a routine that not one of you ever skipped on once!!

even if you were sick and tae thinks that it’s the most pathetic thing because he doesn’t EVER get sick??? sue him for having a cold because he’s in the water 24/7 yea

even if one was late and wouldn’t be able to see the other, there would be an item placed by the deck as proof that they were indeed there!!

tae sometimes leaves a random conch shell or even seaweed in the shape of a heart when he’s swamped with his arrangements

even if there’s a storm, which taehyung absolutely loves because the water’s all cold!!! and it gives him a fun little ride when the waves are all wonky

you leave out a lunchbox that’s snug in a fixed mailbox (you forced yoongi to attach it) by the side of the deck poles and that would count as your attendance

“yes he is! we’ve been doing this everyday without fail for like, twelve years already.”

you are totally UNBELIEVABLE

yoongi snorts, almost choking on his waffles with how hard he did it

“and you’re twelve years dumb.”

ok now you take offense

huh???

“what’s that supposed to mean?”

you can’t be any more clueless, can you??

as if on cue, there’s the familar flop and splash that you nudge yoongi to be in his best behavior

taehyung makes his afternoon appearance by outlandishly doing his trick in the air, undoubtedly giving you a splash you’re used to by now

he literally does not care at the thought of anyone possible seeing him

besides, they physically can’t anyway because there’s a spell cast onto the area, allowing nobody to see them besides you

... and yoongi ://

he’s rather grand with his gestures and his words and even before taehyung knew the common lingo on ground, you could tell he was a little more stubborn with his strong expressions

after all, taehyung’s a prince at sea but at land.,.,.,.

<3 well <3

“i’m here!”

taehyung bEAMS radiantly, making you crouch and hold out your hands, him putting his face out immediately for you to squish

“oh, oh! i got you something, y/n!”

he seems to remember out of the blue in the middle of chewing his waffles, yoongi having to suppress another sigh

the prettiest pearl necklace :-)

“tae i already told you that-...”

you’re about to start berating him again with the gifts because what seemed to be so ordinary for him is very fAR from yours

you pout and tae only pushes the necklce to you further, not taking no for answer when he had to squint his eyes extra hard to look for the pearls this morning

to be honest you have sO much jewelry from taehyung

the common theme of it was of course they’re something you could get at sEA

and whenever people ask you about them, u have no idea how to tell where you got them

today’s pearl necklace was a little different — something more dainty and smaller and wraps around your neck like a choker would, a little more suited for everyday wear

“thank you!!!”

you smooch taehyung on the cheek extra quick and it takes every fiber in his tail to stop squealing

yoongi watches you two be disgustingly sweet and PLATONIC yet again, and he could only zero in on the pearl necklace around your neck

that is the fifth time this week

that is the fifth set of pearls you’ve gotten this week

normally you’d get a pearl every now and then and the often minuature sand sculptures

but this week changes the wHOLE ball game

“do you want a pearl ring?”

taehyung wiggles his eyebrows, boxy smile on full display and he looks breathtaking in the golden hours that you immediately poke his cheek

yoongi’s eyes widen because that’s literally-

you don’t seem to find the weight on his question because you only let out a non-commital sound and whisk him away on another conversation about his day

he’s long since dropped out of yours and taehyung’s conversation, going back to the concierge because his presence is required

and he still can’t shake off how CLUELESS you are

it’s when the night gets a little more chilly and you could see taehyung go beneath the water more often, taking it as a sign that he’s going back and his brothers are looking for him

“night-night, tae.”

you offer the top of his head a kiss, rushing back to the cabana to put on your coat and right on time, you miss the way taehyung’s eyes are bigger than a goldfish’s

(@_@)

oh my god

oh my fucking god

taehyung really hATES you

he hates you so much!!!!

SO SO MUCH

he resigns back into the water and he doesn’t even move at all

just defeatedly sits on the seabed and his aura effectively puts off everything around him

his heart’s beyond heavy and his eyes sting and he never wants to resurface ever again

he’s trying not to get upset too much because his emotions have the capacity of changing the tide and it would literally resonate through the seas if he gets even more sad

taehyung’s trying to rEPRESS everything back in but it’s no use :((

“hey, hey, calm down. what’s wrong?”

his brother immediately swims to his side at the first slight tremor he felt, having only little trouble in locating him

“i-i asked y/n if she wanted a pearl-...” tae stutters and he has to physically hold his chest to not sOB at your name, an insurmountable feeling of dread at his chest 

yeah, you! namjoon knows you

in fact all his brothers know you and you’ve met each other multiple times, but not as often as you and tae did

they don’t need to see you everyday to know that taehyung is head over tails in LOVE with you

the mention of you and their brother’s gifts in the same sentence isn’t anything new

“okay? but you give her pearls all the time? and-”

“... ring.”

oh

OH

pearl ring

“yeah? and what did she say?”

joon himself tries to quell the distress he feels because taehyung’s emotions are morE than potent to affect to everyone, most especially his brothers

he sees the others swimming to them from afar, worried frowns already on their faces and namjoon doesn’t want to panic even more

“nothing!! she said nOTHING!!!!”

jungkook tilts his head, cheeks puffed out as he tries to diffuse the situation

“but tae, it could mean-...”

“nothing. y/n absolutely wants nothing to do with me!”

taehyung half-huffs and half-sobs, immediately swimming past them that leaves them confused and with a headache

this was definitely going to be a problem

it already is

today has got to be the slowest day ever

the water is so still and timid

oh my god it literally just looks like tap water in a bathtub that’s untouched

you’ve noticed in the first thing in the morning

was it nORMAL to have the water so still???? practically no waves at all??? not even ripples????

you must be losing your mind right

you dragged yoongi from the concierge desk all the way outside

he squints his eyes because the water.... is definitely not supposed to be this way....

“huh. now that’s just odd.”

some of your patrons don’t seem to mind at all because that just means they could go take their pictures without waves putting their phones at risk

but nO

most especially the swimmers n the surfers and even the lifeguard are all ????

everyone’s collectively looking at the water

yoongi takes a twig and just pokes at it to go do ATLEAST something, but even the ripples it produces are mundane

the water is too still and it makes you miss the one who makes it all better

you spend the better part of your whole day in your sundress and hanging around the cabana, yoongi scrunching his nose up at the fact that he seemed to be more active than the actual hotelier here today

“taehyung doesn’t go up for another seven hours, y’know?”

he finds you sitting by the edge of the deck, feet vigorously splashing around the water without any resistance at all that it feels so unnerving

“yea i know that... just wanted to hang out with him.”

you murmur out the last part, making yoongs do a double-take at his boss who was never this soft-spoken

“and that’s what you’ve been doing ever since childhood? sit by the edge then hang out?”

he wants to push a couple of buttons to get you out of your phase of the day today, but he only gets some insistent nodding and nothing more

“that’s so mundane. that’s literally a decade-long routine!!”

“it’s a routine i don’t mind!!”

and that’s true

it’s a routine you want to do with the rest of your life because it now feels like the equivalent of showering basically

you feel so incomplete without it and satisfaction doesn’t settle on your bones until you do it with taehyung :D

“surely, there must be sOME reason for taehyung to not get bored from doing the same thing with you, right?”

alright one more nudge

you’re considerably more perky now that’s for sure

but that doesn’t mean any less clueless unfortunately

“must be the food!!”

oh my god,,,,,, u are so dumb

he leaves you alone and you don’t even question it because you’re too busy waiting for taehyung

you expect the tide to change when it’s already noon but really, nothing happens still

5:20 passes and he still isn’t there

it’s time for dinner and yoongi has to fetch you aLL the way from the other side of the wings he needed to supervised because you’re spending all your time waiting

you were supposed to have dinner with staff tonight but you don’t even think twice in telling him to go eat without you, giving the company card more than eagerly

“don’t you think it’s time to go home?”

yoongi pipes up when they’ve finished dinner and you’re still there

he feels so sorry for you :((

“w-what if he shows up last minute?”

there’s still hope in your voice and he doesn’t want to taint it as much as people

“hey. they need sleep too. you should go get some for yourself too, okay? now just leave a cookie or something,” he has to pry you off the deck himself, not wanting to feel any more sorry for you because you’re starting to tremble with how chilly the air is

taehyung doesn’t resurface the next day

or the next

and the day after that

taehyung doesn’t show up the entire week.

you’re worried OUT of your mind and you’re tempted to just take your dad’s yacht and sail across the water to try and look for him

or oR maybe you should get one of the divers to try and look for him!!!! but no that wouldn’t work, would it??

how about you go and look for tae yourself???

yoongi’s been busy with the hotel bc the actual hotelier of it (read: you) is too busy MOPING

you’ve ditched your sundresses and waited in hoodies and sweatpants you could roll up in the morning and roll down at night to wait for him

most people don’t even recognize you as the owner and they just walk rIGHT past you when they see you in the hallways

you’ve also been stress-making waffles that you reek of the batter and butter, the staff now having an abundance of experimental ones that you’ve made

you’re definitely not okay

“uh y/n you really rEALLY need to go to sleep.,.,”

yoongi gapes at you when he visits you at the cabana, clearing his schedule out to go watch over you and bc your dad won’t sit still with how unkempt you’ve been

he gestures to the hammock you’ve always begged him to put up, but his handiwork’s wASTED because you don’t even spend more than five seconds looking at it

you should be screaming with glee by now :((

how in the world could he possibly distract you from crushing sadness and worry

he’s been brainstorming the past week and his head’s even more hollow than the decorative coconuts in the gift shop

... wait a minute

hey this has got to be his most stupid idea but the one with the most promising results!!!!!

11/10 risky but it’s the cLOSEST he could get!!

“hey do you wanna do something stupid??”

your eyes glance at him immediately because it’s the first question he’s ever asked you besides if you’re okay or when was the last time you slept or when do you intend on picking yourself up

yoongi fishes for his tablet and whips up a video immediately, only taking minutes for him to explain and seconds for you to agree

it’s what made you end up this way

it’s the reason in your swimsuit with your legs all the way inside a duvet cover and the corners of it knotted tightly on your waist

you don’t know how yoongi’s managed to convince you to race him in swimming with your whole lower body inside a king-sized dUVET cover from one of the cabanas whose guests are arriving in an hour, but here you are lmao

“first one to the furthest cabana wins, alright?”

he practically yelps in explaining in an effort to hype you up and a hundred dollars dOES seem to make him excited himself 

you’re buzzing for the first time in the week and it’s the panicked shoves you try to give each other before starting that kicks you off in an eager mood 

“GO!”

you immediately dive in and you don’t expect the heaviness of your makeshift tail behind you, momentarily cussing yourself because wHY on earth did you get the high-quality ones smh ://

oh my god this is so fucking stupid and oddly enough, you’re ENJOYING it

you can’t exactly paddle your legs fluidly like the times when they aren’t wrapped in a duvet, and the distance of the last cabana seems so tiring now that u think about it

yoongi’s already ahead and you don’t get HOW has he managed to come that far???

also not to mention that the gap between the two of you is large and now you’re just struggling to even move

also doesn’t help oNE bit with how good of a handyman yoongi also is because that is one secure knot you got there sir

it’s only dawning in you that you’re NOT well-versed in swimming!!

not even close to an expert!!! all you know are the basics

but the basics seem hard to even apply when you’re dragging a king-sized duvet cover by your legs

you’d expect more skills from someone whose family owns water-centric properties bUT NO <3

you’re flailing almost to the bottom and your eyes sting then your limbs feel heavy

you’re not necessarily drowning either, it just feels so difficult to swim back up

you’re about to try again and boost yourself up by pushing from the floor but then suddenly you’re being HAULED BACK UP

you have no chance to even try and get away because you know that the hand around your waist aren’t yoongi’s

“are you out of your goddamn mind???”

you instinctively take a big gulp of air when you come up the surface, legs fluttering now that you have some type of support to keep you up

“why would you do this?? who did this??”

the deep voice only registers in you seconds later that it’s taehyung who’s in front of you and holding you up, staring you down intensely

your puzzlement only frustrates him even more, going back down while keeping his hands on your waist before he untangles the duvet cover by your legs rather quickly and powerfully

he emerges back up and he’s looking at you with sO much stress that you wanna dive back down

“y-yoo-...”

you don’t even manage to finish speaking before taehyung snaps his gaze away from you and really yELLS

“YOONGI!!!”

as if he didn’t manage to startle you enough, he looks back at you and pats at you all over out of instinct, wanting to know if you’re hurt by any means

you’re more shocked but it’s over the fact that you’re finally seeing him again

this isn’t the first time you’ve swam with taehyung but this IS the first time in this context

you’ve never been this close to him either and you’re out of breath just by looking at him

he doesn’t seem to share the sentiment though because he looks like he’s gonna pull his hair out in both relief and frustration

“oh my god! i fucking thought that my soulmate would die in a — i-in a bedsheet!”

you are so ridiculous that it actually makes his heart clench

he intentionally didn’t come to see you for a week because he was so hurt over your rejection

he did see you from a distance and he also has a particular someone to watch over you, but he never imagined that you’d be doing THIS

his heart just minutes ago was beating against his ribcage because his soulmate was in danger!!! he physically and literally cannot drown but that’s what it felt like

“i’m your soulmate?”

your breathless gasp explains it all

:O

oh so...

oh my god how could you have nOT known this all along???

HOW COULD YOU BE SO OBLIVIOUS

taehyung probably acted this way and most especially that way when he ignored you!!!

you vaguely remember yoongi telling you that pearls PROBABLY mean a lot to taehyung even if the tone he’s used on you is beyond certain

the pearl ring was meant for courting!!!

that explains why yoongi gasped and looked at you inrcredulously!!!!

no he’s been courting you ALL this time

you are so..... insuffeable

“i’m so sorry!!” 

you’ve crammed in twelve years of experience into two minutes of critical thinking, throwing your arms around taehyung and burying your face into his neck

he grunts a bit at that but he’s not complaining at all

“you mUST hate me,” you frown and the need to cry overpowers you, taehyung sensing it again which is why he immediately strokes your nape in comfort

“i could never.”

the waves come back and even if they’re present, the water was calming

you’re too entranced with tae and your realizations to even notice that the water felt so much better compared to when it was dead still

it’s when you hear a familiar set of giggles that you sNAP your head in anger

yOONGI????

yoongi’s much more near you now, floating and floating until you make the move to look down and see not a duvet cover, but rather a tangerine-colored tail by him

all you’ve been doing this day is squeaking

tae, although still a lil bit mad at yoongi because he’s endangered you, smiles at his informant who’s helped make him last through the week

“half-merman!! i’m sorry if i didn’t tell you sooner, y/n. but since tae’s full, that’s the reason he could only come on land once a month! and since i’m half, i could only come underwater once a month!!”

he grins at his explanation he’s been trying to piece together for the last couple of months

ok maybe years

it probably explained to why it’s no accident that he’s clicked with you instantly and he trusts you with his whole life!! you were truly a gentle human that’s an all-rounder

also explains to why yoongi wasn’t all THAT shocked when you brought him out one day on his first year of working and pleaded taehyung to rise up with only even his eyes blinking up at him

no wonder tae warmed up to yoongi quick even if he did say he had distrust with majority of humans!!

how could you not doubt for one second that it’s the reason why he’s always been really good at swimming too and holding his breath

yoongi chose his day of the month to be today because you were so down in the dumps, and aLSO for the reasoning that he missed the boys so that’s why he’s going down there in a heartbeat

taehyung pinches at your thigh, a bright grin on your face when you come face to face with him after waving yoongi goodbye

“are you gonna make me wait another twelve years more?”

he pecks your cheek and it doesn’t feel platonic anymore, a giddy smile in realization that you’ve finally come to your senses

“would you mind?”

://

the teasing lilt in your voice doesn’t seem to go anywhere anytime soon hee-hee

“maybe a little but-“

“no more waiting.”

you kiss taehyung and almost launch yourself at him, savoring the taste of him on your tongue that he has to grip your thighs around his waist a little tighter

yeah ur a little slow but ur spirits are high!! you’re on the right direction!!

you’re definitely worth waiting for

and panicking over

and courting

and loving

:)

[earlgreytea68]

Hi! Super random but I absolutely love your fic - Schrodinger and time-travel Pete makes me just *clenches fists* but I actually finally read your about page and we’re super similar! I’m also a lawyer (no longer really practicing because I….hate it).

Can I ask - have you always been into writing? Or how’d you get into it? What’s your process like?

Ha! I no longer practice law, either, I also hated it!

I have always been into writing. I have written stories in my head as long as I can remember having conscious thought. I first got access to a typewriter as a six-year-old and started writing then and I've never stopped. I always wanted to be a writer, that was my first career choice all through childhood.

I actually started out writing original fiction -- I wrote, oh, gosh, over a dozen standard-issue romance novels by the time I graduated from law school, that I have never done anything with and just sit on my hard drive. (Every once in a while I read them over, and they're not terrible and some parts I really like, but I think I write much better stuff now.)

In my late 20s, I had made friends with people on Television Without Pity (shout-out!!) who were into fic (which I'd read for years) and coaxed me into writing fic, and then I never looked back. Writing original stuff is so lonely, whereas writing fic let me actually share the people in my head with other people and hope that they loved them, too. And often they did! And they would write comments! And we would talk about writing! Sometimes we even wrote together! And it was all just super-fun! But I honestly consider myself even today to be writing original stories disguised as fic, I'm tricking all of you lol.

My process! I usually start with an extremely basic idea. For instance, here's an idea for a fic that I really want to write someday: Pete accidentally becomes a BNF in his own fandom. Only nobody knows, of course, who he is.

So, once I have an idea, I usually kind of let it marinate. I have a long list of ideas that I keep in a Trello board, and if I ever finish a fic without having a clear idea for what I want to do next, I go and poke around on the Trello board. Usually I know what I'm writing once I hear the first line in my head. If I have the first sentence, then I can get to the second.

I do zero outlining, I hate outlining, it just doesn't work for me. I just write and let the characters do what they will and see where the story ultimately takes me. I do a lot of thinking about stories as I shower or as I'm falling asleep at night, like, thinking about what the next scene is, or the scene after that. And sometimes I leave myself notes at the end of the document, but that's the extent of my outlining.

I try to write at least a little bit every day. Some days I'm tired and give myself a break, or I just run out of time in my life, but I try to write a little bit, even if it's just five minutes. I find that writing a little every day keeps you in the habit and keeps you invested in the story. If I let a story alone for too long, it's really hard for me to remember its mood enough to get back into it. This is also why I'm usually only allowed to work on one story at a time. I know some people jump around between several WIPs, but I've found over the years that if I abandon a story to start something else, I often won't get back to the original story, so I don't let myself do that very often. Only if I'm confident I can get the second story done really quickly and I really will go back to the first story. I also write the story starting with Chapter One and going to the end, I don't jump around, because if I jump to the "good parts," I never go back to write the connecting tissue, and anyway, I never know more than a couple of scenes ahead of where I'm writing, so I can't do anything other than write in order.

I tend to write as much as I can in the time I have to deal with that day, and then the next day, before I start writing, I read over what I wrote the day before, fix any typos, make sure it works. I'm a writer of dialogue, and usually my first draft will be just lines of dialogue. On the read-over in the second day, I'll go through it and add the dialogue tags and any description I think is needed. The read-through is when I decide if there are any places that need beats or a pause for the reader, because I'll add a quick sentence in there to slow the pace of the dialogue at that point.

I try to be pretty far ahead, if not finished with a full draft, by the time I start posting, because I don't like to feel like I'm writing to a deadline. Deadlines don't personally help me stay on writing task, they just make me resentful of what I'm writing. Even though I'm well far ahead or done when I start posting, I always post chapter by chapter, because that allows me to gather feedback that I use to adjust the rest of the story. If people are confused, or if they aren't reacting the way I thought they would, that gives me the opportunity to tweak what's coming next, whereas if I post all at once, I lose out on that ability. (Plus, I personally as a reader really love to follow along with a regularly-posted WIP, so in case other readers out there love that, I figure I'll give them that!)

And thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoy my fic and that my Pete makes you ::clenches fists::, because he does that to me, too!

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reactions to Truth!

Just going to go straight into it because this episode is huge! I really like how at the end of a season and the beginning of another, we see the same scene that leads us out of one and into another. Gabriel fixes the Miraculous and ohhh poor Dusuu thought it was all a dream, being in evil hands. So in a way, the Miraculous being damaged may have been a blessing for her. Dx Too bad it couldn't have been fixed after Marinette got it back :/ But at least Nooroo isn't alone right? Legit only positive I can get from this. ;-; Tikki and her little hats omg it's so cuuuute! I wonder if she makes her little clothes, too awww But the other Kwami's are almost like siblings to Tikki if you think about it. Now Tikki has to share things with them all as they cause chaos all around when she's so used to her quiet life alone with Marinette. Even for a Kwami, that must be hard to adjust to.

Okay so it's almost Prince Ali's birthday that Paris is going to celebrate. Interesting! I'd really like to see him back and a storyline with that. :O Marinette holding something, clearly, that the girls can't see over video chat. Talking to what appears to be herself, reacting to what someone's saying from different sides of her room. Camera flashes going off. And then her phone getting yeeted at her all on a video call with her friends when she's supposed to be alone...considering they're all going to have Kwami's and learn some things later as they become heroes, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they think back to this scene someday! OH WAIT spoiler for the upcoming episode Gang of Secrets!!! Fair warning. What if this episode with the plushies she said she's going to make, is one of if not the reason they go over and are looking around her room? Because she's been acting sus and they want to know what's going on. Especially after what happens later in the episode with Luka. Okay, back to the episode itself. Her friends observation: You're acting way weirder than normal.... IS ADRIEN AT YOUR PLACE?! I mean, fair point. xD But the thing is, whenever Marinette tends to act weirder or say/do things that Alya and the girls don't understand, it's almost always connected to her being Ladybug/Guardian. Even Lila. If she wasn't Ladybug and dealt with her so much as her, she wouldn't know a lot of things that made her not trust Lila to begin with. So Marinette has to overcompensate to try to hide everything or can't explain her thoughts or feelings about certain situations, so Alya always just assumes her behavior has something to do with Adrien. It really sucks but at the same time, what else is she going to think?

These Kwami are a lot of trouble. xD Now she's even more frazzled, so she calls Luka Adrien. More than once. I've done this where I call my siblings the wrong name more of than I'd like so I can't fault her for it. Her mind's probably a mess, poor girl. Dx "I'm sorry it's just that I cheated on you!" BIG OOF. But this gives me Kim Possible vibes when Ron assumed Kim didn't want him anymore and told her he was cheating on her when he meant to say he was cheating to be on the football team so he could be more worthy of her when he thought she wanted to "trade up" her boyfriend. Our poor Marinette! So frazzled she can't remember when her dates are, when they've been rescheduled. She can't remember her patrols with Chat Noir which are really important. She's getting to the point where it's going to be a wonder she can even function. Dx "But Marinette and I are such a big fan of his" wow this sure hits different. The way they kept quizzing each other to finish the sentence with Jagged Stone trivia was pretty cute. Luka having her finish the line with "Kiss me" that she screamed to the entire theater made me choke on my cake. "Well, if that's what you want." Smooth. "I think, yes. I want to." But you know, it gets interrupted by an akuma attack of course because that's just the way things work! :D And wouldn't you know it, it's Mr. Pigeon. AGAIN. Totally worth interrupting the moment lol Ladybug can't pick and choose, however, so here comes the sequence where she's constantly running off and he starts doubting her. Notice the parallel when Marinette started to like Luka after Adrien could never show up to things? Now Marinette's having trouble showing up and Luka's having issues with it. The second Chat Noir started to sneak up on Ladybug, we all knew he was going to get flipped. But it's so adorable and funny at the same time I love it x333 And that whole scene there of Ladynoir. Obviously it's a Lukanette-centered episode but the Ladynoir in this episode! So good! And you know, it's interesting. First time we see Adrien this episode is for FIVE whole seconds! And the way it abruptly cut off as he opened the car door... yeah you know what, Lies is going to be Adrien's POV or something of this same day. It has to be. He has 2 total scenes one of them is 5 seconds and the other one is 2 seconds. Crazy. We got about 7 seconds of Adrien's face today woo! But ugh here's where we get hurt Luka ;-; "A girl, who as always, isn't here." Ouch. The fact that if Marinette said she loved Adrien still, he'd understand and he'd get it is so sweet, and so sad that it's not even because of that, it's because she's Ladybug and the Guardian and she can't say a thing about it to him at all, that he can't accept. It's the one thing he couldn't deal with that's the issue and that really sucks. AND THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE HAD ME GASPING AND HURTING FOR LUKA. IT'S THE MOMENT HIS HEART BROKE

But also really guys, did you notice his eyes are different now? Almost like a blue diamond look or something.

Luka trying to fight it, trying to tell Hawk Moth that the truth needs to be willingly told, not forced. But stupid Hawk Moth's able to get him to hold on anyway and gets akumatized. But not before he told Marinette to run. Which was such an awwww moment. x33 I mean, this is definitely getting a bit close to Chat Blanc territory if you ask me. New transformation music is pretty good! I like it. Also can we just appreciate that instead of trying to track down Marinette to get the truth from her, he's instead asking all her friends and family, pretty much any source besides her? AND ROSE'S RESPONSE "Marinette has no secrets because she's the most honest girl in the world!" She thinks so highly of her and it's just so beautiful. Nobody would blame her for these secrets if they only knew either. But awwwwww I love this scene!! And here's the big reveal! (no not that one) Jagged Stone is Luka and Juleka's father. 😮

Thomas today tweeted that Luka and Juleka are twins. Which would have to be fairly obvious after this reveal. There's no way that Jagged, who says he'd be a lame dad and left because he wasn't cut out for it, would have Luka with Anarka, then stay long enough to also have Juleka. I also totally forgot that in the French version, Jagged has an American accent when he speaks. XDD Just the fact that even WITH his truth powers, he asked his mother TWICE who his father was. Both times she said Jagged Stone. He still didn't believe it until he went to Jagged himself omg. This poor poor boy. Luka: 😱*gasp* Marinette: 😲 *gasp* Adrien: 😮 WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY OMG. LIKE I'M WATCHING A TELENOVELA OR SOMETHING. THEY EVEN ZOOMED IN ON THEIR REACTIONS I CAN'T And then Luka just yeets his dad because he wasn't ever there for him. I honestly did not expect Luka having dad issues to ever be a thing in this show, even though I knew he wasn't around. So like... when everything's worked out with Marinette and Adrien in the end, will Luka and Adrien end up becoming friends and bonding over things, like the whole daddy issues thing...? Are we really supposed to believe she has no feelings for Chat Noir? I mean really, look at this.

"I can't imagine what your daily life must look like" ... is she really actually being the one to bring up something about his secret identity? With that face? 😲

Their flirty banter that at this point I don't even think they realize it is, and those soft looks I just... My top ship is Ladynoir and I was not expecting any significant moments of theirs but I got it anyway. Just watching their scenes, I kept going "See, this is why they're meant for each other." My heart is happy despite all the Luka pain! It's helping me cope with it, okay? "When you're ready, I'll be here for you, Marinette." Awww so they're telling us Lukanette is on hold here. Not a guarantee, but at least on hold. He's an option for her later. So now the Adrienette vs. Lukanette for S4 we heard about awhile back makes sense now. Later on this season, probably when things calm down and she gets the hang of things, she'll be in a better position to be with someone. And by then, Adrien will probably realize and understand his feelings for Marinette. So then she'll be in a position to choose between them. Now we know where Luka gets his ability to turn emotions into great songs. That's adorable! Father-son bonding! Gabriel needs to take notes when a man who was never in his son's life as more than his idol has the ability to try to be there, but Gabriel can't. Ugh our poor Marinette, probably thinking she's going to be alone for a very long time just because of a supervillain. That's so wrong she has to feel like this. If you notice, Hawk Moth's akumatizations help people patch up relationships so much of the time as a weird unexpected result of an akuma attack. And yet, he does nothing but hurt Marinette and at times Adrien, the most when he akumatizes people. He makes me so angry! But I'm too tired for a rant about that. At least the Kwami hugs at the end helped a teeny bit anyway! c: