#cannot imagine getting excited to see someone added a comment with their bookmark only to find them saying your story was ‘icky’

[losersimonriley]

I—??? Do people not realise that authors can see readers very public bookmark comments??? Why are you bookmarking a story if you don’t like it???

[evotter]

jan, march, sept + one of your choice, love. have a great day, u icon

thank u kyra i adore u

january: what was the first fic you posted this year?

the first fic i posted this year TECHNICALLY was the epilogue of a different path. the first standalone was chewbacca (aka my introduction to the jily world once again and i have such a soft spot for it)

march: do you listen to music whilst writing? 

yes! pretty much always; if it’s not music, it’s a TV show.

september: share a comment or review which still warms your heart?

quite literally anything you’ve left on any of my fics BUT there are a few that i hold dear to my heart. i’ll post them under the cut cause they are LONG :’)

ancient: the first fic you ever posted online?

hahahaaaaaaa. it was my own version of rick riordan’s the son of neptune before the actual book was published. it was on ff.net, and the first chapter got 7 reviews, and i felt so good about myself after that lmfao. who knew i’d still be writing 8 years later?

ask me questions!

OKAY so i have 3 top favorites:

from a different path:

okay so i had seen this in someone else’s bookmarks the other day, thought it was an interesting concept—especially since i too love slytherin!percy and strongly subscribe to ofswordsandpens’ headcanons about it—but didn’t give it another thought until i was listening to a video about the cursed child and went: wait, there’s a percabeth hogwarts au that i saw somewhere. and immediately i hunted this down and i’m just in awe? i tore through it. belatedly, i realized that i made a mistake: i didn’t write down my thoughts as i was reading, which is definitely a disservice to you. however, here are a generalized list of things that i loved.

first of all, with hogwarts au’s, there are three main aspects that i look for: plot, characterization, and quality of writing. normally, fics of this size lack one or more of these key factors, but i was astonished to find that the plot is tremendously tight and intriguing (my lip bled from biting it so much because i’ve been stressed to the max), you write these characters with such distinct voices i can easily picture them saying everything—except, of course, now in a little british accent—and your writing flows so well, it feels almost like i’m reading an actual harry potter book, just with percy and co. you also do a masterful job of weaving together aspects of the pjo universe with the established canon of hp.

and there are so many specific things that i love. primarily, the way you write the relationships in this story; not just concerning percabeth (though i will get to that in a minute), but also with each of the interactions between all of the characters. i applaud you for how you handled luke/annabeth and rachel/percy, and the friendship among them all is just incredibly well done. i especially love how well you wrote connor and zoë and just, a lot of characters that i don’t often think about when i think of pjo. grover and percy’s friendship especially is heartbreaking, i just. he’s so protective because he loves his friends and holy fuck i also love how you wrote grover in this. but i just adored how you wrote annabeth/percy—the love between them, both platonic in its early stages and the romantic all throughout, was doubly apparent. i ached when they kissed each other’s cheeks, and i inwardly cheered when she kissed him in the locker room. there was just such a natural progression, to me, of their relationship. and man did i dig it. i’m excited (and maybe a little scared) to see where you take their relationship in the future.

boy, this is getting long. sorry. but some more just little quick things: loved the b99 reference, with both of their competitive natures playing out in a similar way to jake and amy’s. i kind of want to go back and see if i can find any other references that i missed because i was just too engaged in the story to catch them. also, zoë’s death killed me all over again, thanks for that. i like how you’re working the kronos plot in, and i can’t wait to see how the Final Battle plays out. what else? oh! professor hestia? beautiful. eventual maybe professor percy? outstanding. percy kissing the top of annabeth’s head? breathtaking. rachel being a quidditch commentator? earth shattering. (truly i cackled when i saw that.) mrs. o’leary being a cat? incredible. how you incorporated percy’s water powers? stunning.

ooh, this exchange was beautiful and had me cackling it was so in-character:

“None of us are dying.” Connor clarifies. “Not you, not me, not Annie, not the rest of us.”

“I might have to dispute that.” Annabeth says, from Percy’s other side. “Call me ‘Annie’ one more time, Stoll, and I’ll kill you myself.”

Connor only grins at her. “Sorry, love. No more ‘Annie’. Can I call you Beth?”

“No.”

“Anna?”

“No.”

okay, so i just finished chapter nine and i am blown away. sorry for how long this comment was, but a fic of this magnitude truly warrants it. i can’t wait to see what happens next.

i leave you with just two words: “holy shit.”

from a different path: 

god, oh my god, am i the only dumb bitch who didn’t get what the prophecy was??

anyway, i stumbled on this fic last year, patiently waiting for its completion, and now that i’ve rediscovered it, i’m so glad i finished it all in one go! i couldn’t imagine the tension of waiting for the next chapter, especially since the tension is so well-crafted!! i hardly noticed the tonal shift even as the story got darker and darker as it led up to the war, and in that way i was reminded of how extremely similar it felt to reading the hp books for the first time! you nailed percy very well i might say, and the awkward-yet-caring relationship he has with his dad. i daresay you gave connor and zoe more characterization than rick riordan himself, and the percabeth you wrote is perfect to the nth degree. i appreciate that you didnt bother with all the love triangle and unrequited feelings nonsense as well.

but i have to say, even as i cried at sally and paul’s wedding, or at dionysus’ quiet mourning for castor, what really struck with me most was the way you handled silena. for that, i have no words. that was a job extremely well done. thank you so much for blessing us with this fic.

from chewbacca (a comment from u!): 

A girl in a bright yellow hooded raincoat stumbles into the cafe on one of the slowest nights James has ever seen. Her coat is dripping all over the floor he’d just cleaned (but it’s fine) and when he leans over the counter he sees that her boots match the coat.

First of all!!! Thats the best opening line in the world and nobody can convince me otherwise. I want to become a publisher just so that if you ever write a book, I’d be able to publish it. ( like omg, what an honor??? )

She looks like sunshine, standing there with the amount of yellow in her wardrobe. Briefly, James wonders if that’s her favorite color. It’s got to be.

Im going to quote this whole fic but I really love these lines? Like, you have this distinct style of writiting that I aim to acheive and you’re literally such a rolemodel!!! These are my favorite kind of fics to read. Funny story but I was going through a ‘no thanks Jily’ mood (  a horror, i know !! ) but your fics are just,,,,exceptions? You could write about trash and I’d love it and ask for you to sign me up.

 “Say it again, but convincingly this time.”

ooof this dialogue??? let me breathe

This is the longest he’s stood still since he started working. It’s actually a miracle.

and the funniest person award goes to YOU. also, the most talented and cutest but thats neither here nor there.

james taking care of fleamont, switching off the lights gives me just a nice and realistic vibe? its so simple but i love how you added it.

honestly at this point, ive been sucked again by the fanfic. it feels less like a fic and more like a masterpiece that belongs in a museum but anyway.

“James is supposed to be helping.

James is on his phone.”

ugh i love ur mind. im rereading and its so nice and lovely. even if its like 1am and im exhausted, this fic is sustaining me.

“Do it off the clock, would you?”

PEAK HUMOR

have i mentioned how much i love that scene with euphemia? she seems like such a lovely mom. i love ur euphemia the most. and ahh, both of them just rushing to the hospital ? another 100% good scene.

“Euphemia smiles too, but looks at Fleamont rather than at her son. “Yes,” she says. “It really does.””

fic? or shakspeare? HMMM

A girl in a bright yellow hooded raincoat stumbles into the cafe on one of the slowest nights James has ever seen // “Get fucked.”

the fic!! has made a circle!!! i love how it begins and ends along the same lines. I really want to know how??? are you so talented im in love.

i just really love this fic, okay? i love how james is just the kindest, lily is allowed to have feelings, its just so soft and warm. and it makes someone feel loved, want love anyway.

the dynamic between the characters are just so real and great and im astounded, in short.

your sirius is everything. so many fics potray him as a dick??? which is first of all #rude and also, not at all true. you made me love these characters even more so i sincerely hope you never stop writing.

you’re such a beautiful writer and the way you string words together is just poetic and gorgeous and all the other good adjectives you can think of. i read your spiderman x reader too and i was a goner for you. EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS SO GOOD. i read it so long ago but i can vividly remember peter whipping the mask off and she just going wtf stop on the window ledge. what im trying to say is that you leave this lasting impression on people that make them remember random scenes and words / prose long after they’ve read it which is a remarkable feat, i believe.

and im so sorry im not on tumblr rn bc i cannot keep recing this fic but i have told my friends about your writing and they loved it too. you’ve got like a million fans. when i do get back from my hiatus, im going to keep recing your fics and people will cry because their universe will shift thanks to the newfound joy of your presence in their life.

lastly, im more of a dog person and that, more than anything, should tell you how much i love this fic. i love u. and basee on your writing, i want to hug you, be your best friend and make you cookies bc again

WOW

[glitchinthesystemspiderbyte]

[35] Glitch in the System - Chemicals & Circuitry

We didn’t have anything ready for y’all, but then @illegalanger dropped a perfect standalone prompt in our lap which means you get a story and we feel better about ourselves (we’re still working through the rest of them too, they’re just taking a bit more time). Enjoy!

A shower happens.

-

“Dammit.”

Widowmaker looked up from her cross-legged position on Sombra’s bed, briefly detaching herself from the book she was reading to glance across the room at where the hacker stood before the mirror in her attached bathroom suite, attempting to shave her head.

“Problem, cherie?” she asked, slipping a bookmark between the sheets of paper to mark her spot. Long legs unfolding, she slipped off the mattress to join Sombra in the bathroom.

“Just didn’t think too hard about basic style maintenance when I got these installed,” she grumbled, setting the electric razor down and running a hand over the bare spot she accidentally clipped too close to her skull. “Years later and this is still the hardest thing I have to do.”

“Not as simple as hacking into complex corporate mainframes, I’m certain,” Widowmaker mused, reaching up to touch the newly soft fuzz at the back of Sombra’s neck. “Would you like help?” “You want to shave my head?”

Widowmaker smiled, somehow managing to look both endearing and patronizing at the same time. Of all her expressions, the unintentional haughtiness with which the sniper showed amusement was by far Sombra’s favorite. “It is better than listening to you curse for an hour.”

“I try and use a variety of colorful words to keep it interesting,” Sombra said, grinning, and handing over the electric razor. “Good luck. Don’t make it worse.”

“Not to worry. You have set a low bar for me.”

Sombra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, letting Widowmaker get to work.

“Sit,” the sniper said, pulling over one of the many large chairs in Sombra’s room. “It will be easier for me.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sombra replied, flopping into the big red chair. Widow positioned herself behind her, and Sombra watched the sniper carefully assessing the damage she’d wrought upon her own head. She ran her fingers gently over the growing hair along her part where there was always an irritating, haphazard ridge of spiky hair that grew in whichever direction it chose. Usually Sombra got to it before it grew out long enough to be noticeable, but she’d been lazy lately and it was more than ready to be tamed.

The buzzing of the electric razor pulled her attention back from fixating on the state of her hair, and she winced unnecessarily as Widow pressed it against her scalp.

“Did I hurt you?” she sniper asked, pulling back slightly and tilting her head.

“No, I just always hate the feeling of vibrating metal against my skull,” Sombra replied. It was a fleeting discomfort, but one she experienced every time regardless.

Widowmaker nodded, gently placing it back against her scalp and drawing the blade down in a straight line. “I imagine it would be unpleasant.” She brought the razor flush against one of the curved cybernetics, taking care not to rattle the metal against it. Pulling back, she switched the machine off for a moment to run a finger along the shining pink metal. “I would imagine this was not pleasant, either?” she asked.

“Not really,” Sombra said, shrugging. “Not unless you’re into having drill bits crammed into your skull.”

Widowmaker nodded, resuming her work. She persisted in silence for a minute or two, assessing Sombra’s head with an intensity she usually reserved for the movement patterns of those she intended on killing. “How was it done?” she asked after a while.

“How was what done?” “These,” she pointed at her cybernetics. “How were they installed?” Frowning in thought, she moved the razor down to the back of the hacker’s head. “I have never endured cybernetics. How did it feel?”

Sombra laughed lightly, remembering the day she decided to have the work done. It had seemed an almost casual decision at the time, considering she’d felt like she’d had no option but to have them done. “Like hell, really. It felt terrible. Heads weren’t made to be fucked with like that.”

Widowmaker chuckled knowingly. “That is a sentiment with which I can agree.” “Oof, sorry spider.”

Widowmaker gently smacked the back of her head. “It is fine. I am curious.”

Sombra sat for a moment as Widowmaker brushed the wretched small hairs she’d shorn free away from the back of her neck. They always got everywhere despite her efforts at preventing or brushing them away. She rarely made the effort anymore, but she appreciated Widowmaker’s attempts. Only a shower would eradicate them at this point, and even that was debatable.

“It was weird, really. Uncomfortable more than anything. The physical implantation was done with so much local anaesthetic that I didn’t really feel much, but I felt like I should be feeling a lot, so it was almost the same thing.” She shrugged her left shoulder, Widow’s hand on her right as she reached around her for a hair tie to restrain the longer hair cascading down the other side of her head. “Phantom pain, you know? It’s like your body knows something’s being done to it, and it hates it, so it reminds you that you’re fucking with it even if you can’t feel it by the usual means.”

“Oui,” Widow murmured in response. “I understand this.”

“The weirdest part, though?” Sombra said, regarding her reflection in the mirror. The sniper wasn’t doing too poorly. “Afterwards.”

“Afterwards?”

“Yeah, like once the implants had been completed and the nervewire had snaked its way through the tiny holes the cyberneticist drilled into my skull.”

At this, Widow paused, holding the razor above Sombra’s head. “Drilled holes?”

“Sí, araña. Wire’s got to get in there to complete the neural interface somehow.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” The sniper shook her head. “I dislike the imagery.”

Sombra laughed. “Yeah, fair. Nervewire’s terrible. It’s just a pile of weird, thin silver tendrils until you get it near organic material. Then it moves and wriggles and reaches of its own volition. Like it’s alive,” she shivered involuntarily at the memory. “I mean I’d do it again, but at least I’d know going in that it was going to get weird.”

“I did not realize such a thing was required.”

“It’s needed to bridge the gap between meat and machine. My cyberneticist called it ‘ubermensch ribbon.’ I think she thought she was being funny.” She leaned away slightly as Widow pushed against her head. “It replicates nerve endings and pathways, getting into muscle striations and other areas to complete delicate connections. Feels like someone’s pushing ice water with shards of glass floating in it through your veins, though. If you feel like being really grossed out, you can even watch it winding around under your skin.”

Sombra looked up at Widowmaker pulling a particularly discomfited face, and cut her description short.

“After that?” Widow asked, resuming her attentions under the right side of Sombra’s head. The undercut was trickier, but no one had steadier hands than the sniper.

“After that, cielito, I was fucked up,” she laughed. “It was like every emotion was turned on in my head and I had no way of reacting to it. I’d go from angry to sad to really, really excited in the span of a minute.”

“Ah, yes,” Widowmaker nodded. “I empathize.”

“Shut up.” The spider grinned.

“It was like grasping at smoke, you know? You could see it - it was there - but the moment you tried to hold onto it, it was gone. Sometimes I would just stare into space mid-thought and forget entirely what I had been doing.” Sombra held still as Widowmaker brought the razor around to the side of her head. She always hated the way it buzzed against her ear. “Plus I could feel the nervewire creating new pathways in real time.”

“The brain cannot feel,” Widow commented, raising an eyebrow.

“It wasn’t painful so much as just this creeping knowledge that it was happening. The same disembodied discomfort as when I had it installed. It felt like it should hurt, but it didn’t.”

Sombra shook her head as Widowmaker unleashed her tied back hair, watching the purple ombre fall back into place. “It was even stranger watching as things turned on. First my hard light screen, then wireless connectivity. It took a week for my arm cybernetics to sync with my cerebral ones, but as soon as it did it was like someone turned on all the lights at once: blinding at first, but then I could see absolutely everything.”

Widowmaker ran a brush through Sombra’s hair as she scrunched her curls back into shape, adding a bit of water to form them better. “I suppose I did not realize they were so connected to you.”

Sombra raised her eyebrows suggestively. “I can look up anything without lifting a finger. Direct hardline to the brain means I can think my searches into existence.”

“I can’t imagine that ever goes wrong.”

Sombra winced. “There have been some times.”

Widowmaker stepped back from Sombra’s chair. “I believe I am done,” she said, tilting her head to assess her work. “Does it look all right?”

Sombra stood up and leaned closer to the mirror, running a hand between her cybernetics. “Perfecto. Thank you, that was much easier than doing it myself.” Standing on her toes, she kissed Widow’s cheek. “Now I’ve got to shower all this fuzz off before it drives me nuts.”

“Do you need help with that, too?” Widowmaker asked so nonchalantly that Sombra nearly dismissed it out of hand.

She grinned back at her. “Oh, absolutely.”

*Read from the beginning or check out our intro post! All stories tagged under #glitchfic. Table of contents located here.