#depending on if i do the giant 41 chapter or manage to make it into 41 with 42 being the anniversary chapter.

[orcelito]

It's so interesting playing p5r and watching Haru's social link... in discacc, I kinda gloss over most of the social links, bc theyre largely the same as in the game, but with her... I'm gonna have to really pick apart how her friendship with Akira develops lol. Bc of how things have been set up, their friendship will be fundamentally different from how things are in the game... they CAN be friends, I just... need to smooth some things out first...

[ameftowriter]

5738 A.D. 4,1 (UPDATED) (Dr. Stone fanfic)

From here: https://ameftowriter.tumblr.com/post/188742703889/5738-ad-41-dr-stone-fanfic

This is the updated version of the fic above. After watching Episode 22 I had to change this a bit and edited it better to make sure it flowed smoothly. Also I may plan on putting more chapters but I’ll have to see to that later.

Anyway, I love Episode 22 so much and it touched my heart so! I have two more fics incoming that I posted along with this, so that will be incoming soon.

Ao3 | ffnet

Part 1 (This!) | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ???

Gen still has a hard time taking everything in. Was it really the year 5739? The mentalist just couldn’t wrap his head around it. On top of it all, those statues. So many statues.

They were people, turned to stone.

He realized that something terrible has happened and it affected every human being on earth.

He was affected too, considering the position he woke up from. The last thing he remembered was that he had just finished his act. Hearing the cheers and applause from a delighted audience, that's when everything went dark.

And the next thing he knew was a bright light, and faced an open ocean.

He wondered if this was a prank, he’s seen a lot of celebrity prank shows, to be a victim of that disgusted him. He was a mentalist, being subjected to a prank like this defies his very image. He grumbled at the thought of it as he stood up from his position.

That is until he heard a deep commanding voice from the background.

“Welcome to the year 5739 AD”

He felt cold sweat drip off his currently naked body. He turned to recognize the man who broke him out of the dark stone prison. It was Shishio Tsukasa… the strongest primate high schooler.

He heard him say something about making a choice. That him and those statues behind him were selectively chosen for his new world…

Gen looked up and just could not believe what he saw...

He was then given some clothes to wear, made by their resident tailor named Yuzuriha. He didn’t know who she was, but was grateful for her.

It was… clothes he supposes. It was a tunic of sorts that reached up to his knees. Made of animal skin. He wanted to ask for a T-Shirt and Jeans. Then again… if it really was year 5739, and everyone was petrified…

He nearly stumbled on a statue lying around. He gained back his footing and turned to see what tripped him. His eyes widened to see that it was his manager.

Memories of the man flooded his head. When he first started, he would try to use him, booking his shows back to back, expecting him to nearly give up his own education, family life, and his private life for his acts.  He tried to milk so much money from him, Gen was sure it was borderline illegal. But eventually, he found a weakness to the man and he became an easy target for Gen’s manipulation. Sometimes he used him as a guinea pig for any new acts he had thought of. He nearly had him prance around the streets naked once as a form of revenge.

But if it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have become this popular and famous…

He wouldn’t have had the money to…

Tsukasa shattered the manager’s head beneath his feet.

Gen nearly jumped back at the sudden destruction in front of him.

“I apologize for startling you.” Tsukasa spoke up, “I remember this man once, he was your manager yes?”

Gen could only nod.

“He tried to charm me to having you and I do more shows together, he treated us as if were freaks in a carnival. I simply cannot stand adults like that…”

It didn’t take a mentalist to know that every word he spoke dripped of hatred and loathing. Gen looked at the remains of the destroyed statue, and felt his stomach churn.

He hated his manager yes, but…

For someone to just mercilessly destroy that…

They had arrived at the Empire of Might as Tsukasa had called it. Gen could only look at it with awe as he saw various forms of treehouses and caves formed from the mountain. But most of all, he saw that almost every man and even women around him were muscular and looked like they would be able to carry him like he was a feather.

Then Gen met the said tailor, Yuzuriha, and the big oaf that he was pretty sure was her boyfriend, Taiju.

They were friendly and chipper. Gen was surprised to see this. After all it's been about 4000 years and everything around them is gone. For them to act this way.

Well… he wouldn't verbalize it without any sort of evidence. But to him it seemed to be just an act.

He wondered why.

Gen thanked her for the clothes. But wonders if he could ask her for something more… sophisticated. Something that suits his style.

Tsukasa agreed, he saw Gen as a valuable member of the Empire, but he also needed him for a mission.

Yuzuriha agreed to do it without any questions asked.

Gen missed paper and pencil or any kind of writing instruments. But it seemed that the girl understood his directions nonetheless.

Now, he’s curious as to why they're acting this way.

While they waited for his new outfit, Tsukasa then began explaining to him his goals. Goals of creating a new and better world without the adults who tainted it. Gen listened to him intently, and felt himself get pulled into Tsukasa’s ideals. He knew what he meant and fully understood his words and reasonings. After all, he made a living using and exploiting the naivete and idiocy of the adults that ruled the earth. He knew and understood the pain and suffering Tsukasa has mentioned. He had experienced it himself as young as he was. And yet the scene of his manager being crushed underneath Tsukasa’s feet kept playing over and over his head….

Sometimes Gen wondered if that's what kept him from being swayed by Tsukasa's words…

But at this moment he was afraid. Very afraid for his life. He was reborn into this "Stone World" and was spared from a fate worse than death. To even show any resistance to Tsukasa or any of his people would equal his untimely demise.

So he as it was many years ago, put on his mask and showed his agreement to the man's ideals and goals. Even showed support and gave suggestions on who to pick and revive. The mentalist was a master of weaving words into the most believable of sentences, right down to the inflection of his syllables.

Tsukasa was pleased. And that was good enough for him.

That night, Gen just could not sleep. He tossed and turned endlessly as he made the effort to close his eyes and forced his body to sleep. He thought of everything he could remember on how to go to sleep, but that failed him too.

It was strange to him. He remembered during his performance that he was so exhausted that he could collapse the moment he let his body relax. Yet when Tsukasa broke him out of the stone prison that he felt so energized that he could run a marathon and not feel winded. And he certainly still feels that way. He wonders if being asleep for so long had made him catch up to his lost sleep. All nineteen years worth of it.

Well, he did the math and technically he is now 3739 years old…

If there was any kind of sleepiness in him at that moment, Gen had completely lost it.

3720 years…  is a really, really long time…

Yuzuriha finished his new outfit the next day, he was very grateful for her. Especially after hearing the fact that she spent all night with it. Gen felt a bit bad for her, until he heard her voice crack just a little…

Gen did not have supersonic hearing, but as a mentalist, he taught himself to pay attention to people’s subtle noises. He wondered if Yuzuriha was lying to him.

He tried the new outfit on, and it fits him just right. He was definitely impressed with her.

Later, Tsukasa began explaining to him about a certain “miracle fluid” that had broken him out of the petrified state. And that it was located in a special cave. Which was also dubbed, Cave of Miracles.

A miracle fluid that undid the petrification? He couldn't believe that it was even possible. That peaked his interest, not that he would show it.

As Tsukasa brought him to a cave and along a few other muscular men with him. It seemed that he wanted to show respect to nature's bounty and sorts. It was something that lost his interest, and it fell into deaf ears. Thanks to that distraction though, Gen had tripped over a giant root, but he quickly gained footing and held himself against a tree near the cave. He brushed his fingers against a tree without realizing it.

He felt something odd.

He knew tree bark was rough and could hurt depending on the tree, but even so, this sensation felt weird to him. To him it was like… like… Something was engraved into the tree.

He moved his hand away and saw a carving into the tree he held on.

A.D. 5738 4, 1

“Fifty-seven, thirty-eight… Four, One…” Gen read the engraving. “5738, 4, 1…”

It was like everything he had known right now had changed.

His thoughts came back to when Tsukasa told him the current year. He wondered so many things that day, that even today he was still trying to take it all in. He wondered how… how would Tsukasa be able to determine the current year. From what he saw of the strongest primate high schooler, he was more than just a muscleheaded idiot. He had strength, he had skill, he had smarts.

But even so that did not give him a proper answer as to how and why he knew the current date.

Does Tsukasa even know this engraving?!

Was it even really the year 5739?

But this engraving shows it. 5738… It’s been a year since the engraving was written in the tree. April 1st… How did the writer knew of the exact date even…

“5738… April 1st…” Gen repeated himself, “H-How…. How did… How could someone…?”

“No…” Gen gathered his thoughts, “Someone… someone must have carved this after breaking out… They had to. But… How would… would they know the exact date…”

“Is it even possible…?!”

He read again the crude kanji and the numbers written on the tree. It was clearly there. It wasn't some sort of hallucination… It was actually written there…

The mentalist's heart swelled with hope.

“This… this is…” Gen shuddered in excitement at the realization of someone like that ever existed, and broke out first, and to do this, “This is too antastic-fay! Whoever did this… Must be…”

Then his thoughts were interrupted by Tsukasa calling him to the cave.

Gen quickly dashed inside. To see Tsukasa standing in front of a pile of… bat guano. Gen’s nose scrunched up at the awful smell and saw yellow liquid dripping down from the cave’s ceiling, to a clay bowl.

He quickly deduced it as a so called “miracle fluid” that Tsukasa had mentioned. But when he read Tsukasa’s expression and listened to his voice, he felt there was more… than just that fluid…

That night, he couldn’t stop thinking about that engraving.

5738 A.D. April 1.

He wondered who could even do that. In that darkness. For almost 4000 years, calculated the year, month and date. The exact date?! He wondered why would the person even bother to calculate. When normally you'd think of surviving first.

He thought of possibilities. He knew you can tell how old a tree is by cutting it and counting the number of rings… But that would have been a gigantic tree. He considered the number of natural disasters that could have destroyed it way before the next millenia… So he scratched out that idea. He thought maybe some sort of machine that could tell the time had survived, but he hasn’t seen a sign of any kind of civilization, let alone a machine that could tell the time. His thoughts wandered of any kind of sci-fi theory he’s seen. But just like before, he saw nothing…

Nothing from the year 2019.

Gen curled up onto his sheets. It has hit him again, the realization that there was nothing left from the year he knew. No buildings, no cars… no cola even…

He felt the sudden urge for a bottle.

As he realized he couldn’t sleep once again, he stepped outside of his living quarters and saw the stars in the sky. It was numerous, more than he could ever count.

Count…

That's when he thought of something… a completely ar-fetched-fay possibility...

Yes, there was no machine or anything that could tell the time, but the fact remained that time still moved forward, no matter what…

It was something insane. Something that no human being should be able to do, but it was possible…

He had heard rumours of a kid who counted the exact seconds within a month, and he had counted it exactly.

“To count the passing seconds…” Gen thought to himself, “To do that during all that time in the darkness…”

Many feelings he suddenly felt for this mystery counter. Excitement, pity, delight, fear... In order to do that, he would have had to remain conscious all that time… Gen eventually felt nothing and his mind went completely blank after a while. When Tsukasa revived him, he thought everything before was just a dream… a long 3720 year dream…

Gen gritted his teeth, he was nervous, he was scared, he was so lost in this new world, but to even think that there was a person like that, a human being that could do such a thing...

He had to find them… he had to find the person who could have done this feat… He had to know. He had to know this person. He had to pick him apart and understand his own way of thinking. He had to analyze everything about him. He had to know how and why would he do such a ridiculous yet logical thing.

He hadn't felt this eager in knowing a person he hasn't even met.

The rest of that night spent thinking about this person. He smiled at the thought of someone else being this unique.

It was like… to him it was like getting excited over a book he had heard only good reviews about.

Yes, he was skeptical, but the thought of someone like this.

It got him excited.

The next day, the third day, Tsukasa called for him after his meal.

He was called to be given a mission…

“Those dusty old fossils who used to be in power…” Tsukasa began as he led Gen to a path in the forest, it was a bit further from the Empire, “Are even less necessary in this natural world of stone…”

Gen didn’t hear a hint of hesitation from those words. In fact to him Tsukasa spoke of his ideals in such great confidence and conviction, that the mentalist felt a bit swayed by those. Especially when he said…

“But I see a massive amount of potential in you… Gen.”

Gen felt himself snap out of that trance. He knew Tsukasa had a lot of natural charisma, but even he as a master of minds, felt like he was grabbed instantly and quickly, as if he got there by himself. He cursed himself mentally, as he remembered how Tsukasa crushed the statue of his manager, again. And all of the other pieces of statues he has seen scattered everywhere, crushed with his bare hands or by his men.

“There’s something I need you for…” Gen’s attention was grabbed again as Tsukasa cleared some branches to reveal a treehouse, made by… concrete? He wondered. “And your skills as a mentalist will be invaluable…”

Gen saw on the side a few empty jars, crude makeshift spears… he was surprised that even the ladder that leads up to the treehouse was still sturdy. To him it looked like it was all abandoned.

But that wasn't where they went, rather, Tsukasa led him to a hut near the tree house. It had a worn out sign that said, “Laboratory”.

Tsukasa led him inside and the mentalist saw broken clay pots everywhere. He watched his step, as he moved in closer to see more and more broken pieces scattered everywhere. To him it was an obvious sign that whoever lived here scrambled to take everything and left. To the untrained eye that is.

Gen saw this was too intentional. It was too much of a mess for him. He thought maybe a scuffle, but that would have caused those shelves to fall apart. To him, it is as if the previous occupants just intentionally took those jars and smashed them.

“Follow them for me.” Tsukasa gave him his mission, as it also confirms Gen's deductions. “And get inside of their minds… Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but I want you to track down this man Senku and tell me if he’s dead or hiding out somewhere…”

Senku…

That is the name of the person he was tasked to look for.

‘Senku…’ Gen thought to himself. He tried to think of anyone he knew by that name, none came to mind.

So he asked, “Who is Senku?”

“He, was the first of us to revive…” Tsukasa replied.

‘First? Don’t tell me…’

“He used his knowledge of science to create a formula to undo the petrification.” he continued as Gen took in this invaluable information, “That’s how he revived me…”

Gen couldn’t hide his surprise anymore.

‘This Senku person… revived Tsukasa? He created a formula to undo the petrification?’ The pieces started to fall into place...

“This man…” Tsukasa continued as Gen felt the man’s voice grew bitter, “His only desire is to revive everyone, no matter who they were…”

‘What? He… what? He wants to revive… everyone…?!'

“He’ll bring back the same people who ruined our world.... And they’ll make weapons…” Gen felt every word laced with pure hatred, as he still tried to take in everything.

“He was the most intelligent man alive, and that’s why I killed him myself…”

He saw Tsukasa’s eyes narrowed as he finished his sentence.

'He killed him…' Gen held back even his own expressions, 'He killed this Senku…'

When he first met Tsukasa in this new world, he was kind, considerate, gentle to everyone in the Empire and even to the animals. He would ensure that every part of every animal killed was put to use, even the organs. For Gen to hear him say that. For Tsukasa to kill another human being… he got even more scared of him.

Gen started to doubt himself. He wondered if there really was someone who could take down the Strongest Primate High Schooler. To kill the "smartest" man alive, as he called this Senku.

But even so, the fact that Tsukasa had to send him, a mentalist… to make sure that Senku is alive.

There was no doubt. Senku is alive.

He finally understood what he had to do.

Gen enjoyed it. He enjoyed experimenting and toying with the human mind and the limitless possibilities of the human psyche. He mostly used it for his own benefit and gain, but that's what the world, the previous world, taught him. To him adults were easy picking, even more so than teenagers and children. He knew as one grows older, the ideals and beliefs, and biases a person has learned will stick longer and thus harder to change or remove. Gen knew of this and exploited it to his heart's content. So it was child's play for him to figure out what had occured in this laboratory.

He asked Tsukasa if he could stay a bit more to inspect the area. The man let him, and asked if he knew the way back.

Gen knew the way back.

When he realized that he was finally alone, he quickly observed the area. He looked at the pieces of the broken jars, the stains on the floor and at the walls, he saw the various broken tools nearby. He then rushed into the tree house and saw the same mess as the lab. Gen saw this as a laughable way to make it look like they got scared and escaped.

Smartest man alive? More like the world's worst crook if he had ever seen one.

He remembered Tsukasa’s expressions, the hatred in his words and the shakiness of it. That was also obvious. Tsukasa was scared. Very scared. He only knew of Tsukasa as a fearless man who would stare down other fighters bigger and stronger than he was, and took them down easily. For someone to induce such paranoia and fear in him...

He has to know. He has to know who this Senku person is.

He just has to!

After gathering what he can from the area, he went back to the Empire. He gave Tsukasa what he could deduce from it, and said that he and his companions that he too figured this out from the tracks, that they probably dashed at around southeast to where the Empire was.

Tsukasa was impressed by him. He mentioned that the two companions were Taiju and Yuzuriha.

Gen faked a shock, well to everyone it looked like a real shock. He knew some of the bigger and heavier footsteps belonged to a heavyweight like Taiju, and smaller, lighter footsteps belonged to a woman, Yuzuriha fits that description.

Tsukasa explained to him that they returned after he had subsequently killed Senku and buried him in that direction. Gen was right it was southeast to where they were, Hakone (or it would have used to be considering the lack of any buildings).

He also mentioned that they were Senku's best friends.

That's what stood out the most.

Gen wondered to himself as to why they were kept under surveillance. Now it made sense, Tsukasa was worried that they might turn on him eventually. Even with the power difference, there was an instilled fear that Senku would come back for them and have a scientific weapon that could be used to defeat him.

That's what the mentalist deduced at least.

So Taiju and Yuzuriha were… no are Senku's friends. He filed that important tidbit for later.

Tsukasa had given him information that was more valuable than even he thought.

He was also told of a blond haired, blue eyed girl that seemed to have no knowledge of science and had a very primitive way of thinking. He was (truly this time) shocked to hear that there is a possibility of a village of primitives in that area, and that Senku might have made contact with them if that was the case. So now he had a destination in mind.

Hakone. Around a two day walk from where they were now. Gen didn't particularly like the idea of walking so far and so long, but his desire to meet this Senku was what pushed him further.

Before he left, he asked Yuzuriha for some extra materials and a cutting tool. Part of him wanted to tell them that he was going to see Senku, just to gauge their reactions. He knew if they didn't react to what he expected it, then it was truly confirmed that Senku is alive.

But he held his tongue on that. He didn't want to risk then getting caught on this mess.

Gen himself haven't really decided on if this Senku really is the person he was looking for. If he was the mystery counter. All he knew was that, he was a threat to Tsukasa's ideal world.

The smartest man alive vs the strongest man alive.

A typical brain vs brawn...

His journey was long and painful, especially since he didn’t wear any shoes. Along the way he picked up many nightshade flowers and stored them into various hidden sacks underneath his clothes. He even found many berries and even some small animals he could use to make fake blood bags for his own protection, just in case everything went downhill for him. He knew when to expect the worst. After all, he made a living from expecting the worst in people and exploiting it.

His journey took way longer than two days. He was exhausted, yes, but every step further was one step closer to meeting this Senku. He thought it was worth it.

From what he knew about the positions of his shadows, he had deduced it was around noon. He walked further and further through the forest, and that's when he heard something, music. He heard music playing nearby, he walked closer to the source, and saw it, clear as day. A village, built on two small peninsulas connected by a bridge.

It was the primitive village that Tsukasa told him about. There were primitives living in this area.

And in front of it was…

Well to his surprise. It was a ramen stand.

Gen approached the stand closer then was quickly given a bowl of said ramen by a child wearing a melon mask over her head. He thought it was kind of cute.

He felt a pang of hunger as he took a whiff of the bowl on his hands. It was a crude version of ramen that he knew, but well, he supposed it was still ramen. So he took a bite.

Gen nearly gagged from the taste.

He remained very quiet despite the complete awfulness the dish had. He couldn’t even call this ramen. He heard this was foxtail millet ramen.

Once again he nearly gagged at the thought of foxtail. Foxtail, was what the noodles were made out of. He could feel the grainy texture and the bitter aftertaste of the ramen.

It was ositive-pay awful!

But he heard nothing but praises for this dish. Gen peered to see other people wearing similar clothes like the one the melon girl wore. It looked like they were almost inhaling the ramen. It was a complete consensus that it was the best thing they've ever had.

That's one other thing that hits Gen.

He sighs and misses something way more than ramen right now.

One of them quickly asked for seconds and Gen sighed and realized with the stereotypical glutton man. He supposed that in any kind of era there's always a glutton.

Then his attention quickly changed when he saw the man at the stand itself, putting the ramen together.

His hair stood out the most, literally. Even at the year 2019, he would have easily stood out. He wondered if it's dyed or if he used any hair products. Almost every bit of his hair stood upwards defying gravity. To Gen he looked like a walking giant leek or bok choy. Then when he turned sideways, that's when Gen finally saw his face. He looked sweaty and tired, but his face is full of eagerness and pride, that admittingly seemed contagious. The most noticeable features were the two jagged scars that lined and bent up from his forehead down to this eye line and just below the eyelid. The Mentalist instinctively touched his own scar.

He remembered the explanation Tsukasa gave him. That these scars are just a side effect of the depetrification process.

Gen remembered the day when he saw his reflection at the river and saw the scar running underneath his left eyelid, where it turned to shape his mouth then went straight down his chain and his neck. To him this was a reminder that he was petrified and awakened. Which meant, this man was…

“Are you the man who made this incredible food?” He heard a young girl approach the man with such eagerness and obvious intent of flirting, “the one called, Senku?”

Senku…

This green haired, prideful, obviously exhausted guy...

Is Senku?

Gen tried hard to cover his laughter. This was the man that Tsukasa, the strongest primate high school, was scared about? He looked physically weak. Everything about him was so lanky and skinny. It completed the giant walking vegetable set. Big green leaves and a nimble easily breakable stem.

He was….

'This was the man who wrote that date on the tree isn't it?'

He saw a familiar equation written on Senku’s outfit.

E=mc2

'Yeah… definitely the science nerd around here.' Gen chuckled internally, 'Who the hell writes that on their own clothes?!'

When the girl asked Senku what kind of girls he liked Senku simply answered this:

"A kind that would pump a ton of oxygen into my furnace"

Gen groaned internally at that answer

'And he's uninterested at romance. Like he's some sort of a Shonen protagonist…'

Gen managed to breathe and calmed himself in order to prevent getting noticed by the villagers. Senku had made the ramen for them. It was errible-tay. He could barely call this food.

'So this is what Tsukasa was talking about.' Gen just placed everything together in his head, 'This Senku is a scientist, through and through. He made the depetrification formula, he made this ramen, he has that silly equation on his clothes, he even has a furnace! I see why Tsukasa-chan fears him… but…'

Gen had to make sure. He wasn't going to just mingle with him and the primitives.

The blond villager girl whom Gen deduced as quite strong, and possibly the girl that Tsukasa ran into before, even expressed her displeasure at that answer. He wondered if she had some feelings for this Senku person.

The Mentalist admits that Senku is quite handsome. It was a shame to him that he isn't interested in romance. He would have loved to have gotten closer to him. But he supposed that he still has a job to do.

Well to everyone in the Empire of Might it was his job.

To Gen….

It was some assurance.

If this Senku is what he thought he was, that this Senku is the man that striked fear into Tsukasa's heart.

This handsome, nerdy, passionate man…

Might be the counter he was looking for.

Better strike while the iron's hot….

"Ah… this ramen is making me wickedly thirsty…" Gen admitted to himself, out loud for everyone else to hear. "A cola, would be great…"

And with that, Gen had Senku's undivided attention.

The Mentalist then went to work, fully analyzing this Senku to his heart's content.

Little that he knew what would happen later that within the past 3700+ years of his life, would change for the better.

'This is worth it…'

[arse-blathanna]

The Bones of a God - 41/50

Chapter 41: Finding Warmth

[Ao3] [FFN] [Fic Tag]

Fic Summary: Once upon a time, monsters roamed the entire world, so plentiful that they needed countless numbers to fight them off. 13 years ago, that changed. Grimm died off suddenly and stopped proliferating. Now the few Creatures of Grimm that are left are too large and powerful to be taken down in “the old ways.”

That doesn’t make them any less of a threat.

The real problem comes when people decide it’s for the best that they start picking sides in a war starting anew.

Word Count: 4,706

Chapter Summary: Qrow, James, and Glynda piece together a puzzle. Cinder and Emerald get more comfortable with their target.

Author’s Notes: Thank you for reading!

There were a lot of things about his life that Qrow didn’t like all that much. There were even more things that he didn’t like at all, and some things which made him regret having ever been born. A lot of things had made him regret much less.

Blake had come to him to talk to him about Raven two days before. Since the two of them had properly discussed the issue, Qrow didn’t know what he was supposed to do with himself. Sure, he had seen Raven recently and the two of them had made some sort of progress together, but not by much. Raven was still a missing piece as far as protecting Vale went, as wrong as it was.

There was a reason that Qrow had gone to report the matter of Raven making an appearance after the fact to Ozpin. There was a reason that he’d spent more and more of his time at the bar when he didn’t necessarily need to.

[Read it on Ao3] [Read it on FFN]

He sat in Junior’s bar, having tucked himself away in a back corner with a drink in his hand and absolutely zero desire to get involved in what was going on with anything else. If he sat there in a corner, the odds that anyone would come to bother him were low. He wanted to be alone with his drink, at least until his company showed up. Being around Raven always left him feeling terrible.

And when he felt like that, there was always alcohol.

Where there was alcohol, it was easy to gather friends.

Qrow blocked out the world around him as much as he could and looked over at the bar’s entrance when people came in. He saw Ironwood come in, with Glynda in tow and just raised a hand enough to catch one or both of their attention. It was only a moment before Ironwood was leading the way over to him.

James slid into the booth directly across from Qrow, Glynda sliding in at his side but also carefully putting some space between the two of them.

“Hey, Jimmy.” Qrow greeted him. “Glynda.”

“Qrow.” Glynda replied, making herself more comfortable. She eyed his drink warily, so Qrow just took a moment to down what was left of it. “Why did you want for the two of us to come down here?”

“I just wanted to talk.” Qrow grumbled. He knew that he could have gone ahead and had this meeting in front of Ozpin, but for some reason it felt inappropriate. What he did know didn’t give them all that much to work with when it came to whatever it was that Raven was trying to do. “About some things.”

“Qrow-” James said, letting out a sound that was almost a resigned sigh. “You know that if this important, it shouldn’t be done in the back of a bar-”

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to remember that, Jimmy.” Qrow growled at James. “Did it occur to either of you that I might be dealing with something that might be a little more personal than either of you are giving me credit for? Maybe something that’s not 100% for work?”

James and Glynda looked at each other, their eyes meeting and gaze holding for a little too long and yeah, that was something that managed to leave Qrow feeling a bit more than just annoyed by the situation. “You know that we don’t mean any trouble, Qrow.” Glynda said, her voice dropping in volume and her almost sounding calm about it all. “We just want to be sure that-”

“I know how to do my job,” Qrow mumbled, frowning at the realization that his drink was empty. He’d have to try and get ahold of Junior to make sure that he could get a second. “I’m just worried about some of the things going on up at the academy.”

Qrow cut himself off, realizing that he hadn’t exactly found the best way to explain what he was doing there or what he needed. “I’ve been worrying about Ruby and Yang a lot.”

“I don’t see why.” Glynda said, sitting up straight with her head held high. “Both of them perform exceptionally well in their classes. They’re wonderful students.”

“It’s not that.” Qrow said with a grimace. “I’ve been worrying about those other kids as well. Their teammates.”

“All four do well in their classes.” Glynda said, her voice quiet like she was sharing a secret. “And when they’ve been going out into the field, it has always been under your watch or Bart’s on one occasion.”

James hesitated for a moment, something reading on his face that made it very clear that he didn’t know what he was supposed to say. Whatever it was, he didn’t let it last for too long and charged ahead.

“All four of those girls are rather capable. I have looked in on some of Miss Schnee’s training sessions. We all know that Blake Belladonna is capable, and both Ruby and Yang are exceptionally well ranked for their year.” James said, his voice rigid as ever. “And I… understand, worrying about people involved in this life. We’ve all lost too many people, and we’ve all seen people lose too many people.”

“And-” Qrow started, but was cut off just as quickly as he tried to involve himself again.

“And it isn’t unreasonable to worry. But with the exception of their running off for the sake of their teammate, none of them have been in any real danger.” James said, rather pointedly letting his volume drop so low that his voice was barely above a whisper. “So what is this really about?”

“One of the other girls-” Qrow paused. “Blake. She came to me the other day asking to talk about some of the things that happened out in the woods. Tracked me down outside of the city gates late the other night.”

James’ eyes seemed to widen, and Glynda also seemed surprised by the revelation.

Qrow looked on as the two of them exchanged a look and he noticed that that seemed to have made them both nervous, in their own ways. Glynda let out a breath that seemed to have been held and pushed her blonde bangs back from her face, while James’ right hand seemed to ball into a fist, at least slightly.

“What did she want to talk to you about?” Glynda asked, keeping her voice relatively quiet. “For a student to have snuck out like that-”

“Yeah, I know.” Qrow mumbled. He’s going to need another drink if they’re going to have this conversation. The best thing for any of them would have been to just go ahead and order a round, but that depended at least slight on whether or not James would want to drink that night. “She wanted to talk to me about something that she had a run in with out there.”

“Grimm?” James asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He didn’t look at Qrow, instead choosing to look over his shoulder to check that nobody else was there. “Or something else?”

“Bandits.” Qrow said, and he watched the way that Glynda and James both sat back a little bit over the revelation. “Specifically, Branwen tribe bandits.”

There was silence at their table, despite the fact that there were people in the bar, and there was music playing over the loudspeakers.

At least Qrow could be confident that he had both James and Glynda’s attention on this little matter. “Specifically, she had a run in with my sister. Apparently not all that much happened. I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about a raid, but-”

“But that’s still rather… alarming news.” Glynda said, her voice softer than it had been in a long time. Qrow sometimes forgot that she was real and human, and that she genuinely cared for the people around her. He figured that being away from the academies helped out at least a little bit on that front. “Did anything happen with her?”

“No.” Qrow mumbled. “Apparently they talked a bit and Raven tried to make sure Blake made it back to school. Asked a few weird questions.”

James reached for his scroll, already swiping to a map of Vale so that he could make some plans. Qrow wouldn’t have been surprised to know that James needed to check in on some of his own men. Specialists were sure to be creeping around the forest at that point.

He swallowed hard, and Qrow leaned in so that he could get a better view of what James was doing. The general rolled his eyes and expanded his Scroll to its biggest size before lying it down on the table between the three of them. On the map, there were small symbols, which Qrow realized were upside down letters on it. Definitely people that had been sent to patrol.

The giant grimm’s location had been marked, and in red was the spawning pool that they had located. Leave it to James to be comprehensive about every single detail if he got the chance to be.

The prick.

“Qrow-” James said, his voice still low in volume. “Do you think that you could pinpoint where that tribe is staying?” He turned the scroll so that Qrow could look at it directly now, and Qrow frowned because looking at a landscape from overhead as a bird and looking at one from a map somehow managed to be completely different.

But, if there was anything that Qrow could take some comfort in it was that James hadn’t mentioned the tribe as his tribe. It was a sign of sorts that James understood that it was complicated, and that was about all that Qrow could hope for from the general. Especially when the guy’s position meant that he should look at bandits a bit more harshly than he did.

“I can try.” He grumbled. “But you need to realize that they don’t exactly like to stay in the same place all the time.”

“We understand that.” Glynda sighed. “But we’re going to need to know whatever we can if it will help.”

“Yeah,” Qrow grumbled as he resisted a rather serious urge to roll his eyes. It wasn’t like Glynda or James were trying to smother him, and it was true that they needed all of the information that they could get. He just didn’t want to be talked to like he had no idea what was going on. But he looked down at the map on the scroll, blinking and taking in all of the information that had been brought in.

He started at the city of Vale and began to trace his trail outwards, farther and farther until he reached a place deep in the forest by the river. He remembered it perfectly, and took the moment to mark it on the map before passing it back to James. “I can’t promise that’s up to date. At all. Bandits don’t exactly like staying in one place.”

“I understand.” James replied, taking a glance at the location and raising an eyebrow. Whatever was going on in his head, Qrow didn’t exactly know, but James probably knew something that he didn’t. “We’ll do what we can with this.”

There was quiet. Qrow took a deep breath once the scroll was tucked back away and raised a hand so that he could wave Junior over to where he was. Junior stood by the bar, his head high. He saw Qrow and nodded, murmuring something to one of his employees before walking over to join them. Qrow watched him check a pocket on his vest for something, and smirked.

Junior got there and leaned in towards the table. “What is it?” he asked, like he was expecting for them to be there for the usual reason that anyone went to him or needed to talk to him.

“Some drinks would be nice.” Qrow said with a shrug. “You know what I want. These two-” James and Glynda looked at each other before James spoke up and rambled off a drink order and Glynda simply asked for a glass of wine.

“Got it.” Junior said, having scribbled it all down before tucking his little notepad back away. He looked among the three of them suspiciously. “Was there anything else?”

Qrow hesitated, because he couldn’t be sure that anything that they were dealing with was something which Junior could help with. But he thought of something that he could go ahead and say, so Qrow charged ahead. “I wanted to thank you for telling that kid where to find me.”

“It’s no problem.” Junior said, his voice suspiciously calm. “She came in looking for you and I didn’t want to turn her away. But you might want to keep an eye on her. She’s been in a few times now.”

And that, more than anything else, was the sign that they needed to start paying attention. Qrow blinked and shifted in his seat, leaning over towards Junior while Glynda and James did the same. Having ensure that they were safe to talk, Junior continued.

“When she came in she and I got to talking. She was asking questions about the White Fang, but I don’t-” He paused, head picking up to look over at the door and make sure that they weren’t being listened in on. “I don’t know the full story. But it sounds like she might know something.”

“That’s… impossible.” Glynda said, her voice soft as she looked among the rest of them. “She’s registered to Beacon Academy as being a human, unless-”

“It wouldn’t have been the first time that someone had lied on their registration forms.” James spoke up, his voice soft and almost consoling. “But if she hasn’t given anyone any reason to worry, then it may be for the best to let her continue with her studies.”

Qrow paused, mulling the words over in his head as certain events from the last mission he’d lead RWBY on clicked into place, in different places than they had before. Blake had heard something out in the forest, but she had gotten defensive when she’d been asked about it.

It made sense, even if Qrow didn’t know all of the details.

They sat in silence, all mulling it over. Qrow sighed and looked up at Junior. “If she comes in again, call me. Especially if she’s looking for information on that.”

“Understood.” Junior answered before hurrying off to make their drinks.

Once they were alone, Glynda spoke, barely above a whisper.

“She registered under the name Belladonna. I’d considered it a coincidence because it isn’t as though people don’t share names, but-”

James seemed hesitant. “We need to talk to Ozpin about this.”

“Yeah, probably.” Qrow muttered, and he really wasn’t happy about it at all. “But if we’re going to tell Ozpin anything, we need to talk to the kid first.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Glynda asked, sounding a bit unsure. “If the girl came here and is trying to live under cover, then going to her and showing that it isn’t working may not work. It could have the effect of making her feel like she needs to run.”

“Yeah,” Qrow mumbled. He ended up raking a hand through his hair, a little too roughly. It hurt a little bit, too much of a tug at the roots of his hair. “But we can’t just go and tell Ozpin that this is happening with the kid not knowing.”

James hesitated, thinking hard on something clearly. He took in a deep breath. “It’s possible that the best thing that we could do is attempt to reach out to the Chieftain in Menagerie.” He said, but he didn’t exactly sound happy about it. Of course, if he were the leader of any sort of kingdom and suddenly had the general of Atlas knocking on his door, Qrow wouldn’t have been happy either. “But that may be a step which needs to be taken later.”

“Not until I’ve talked to the kid.” Qrow reasserted to the group. “I think that I’m the one at Beacon that she trusts the most, so it’s probably for the best that I’m the one to go there.”

“Right.” Glynda said quietly. “Please, Qrow- Don’t blow this.”

Qrow felt something in him which wanted to react to that or get defensive. When it came to others, and to people that knew about his semblance, he could never trust that he wasn’t going to find himself getting thrown out for it. He didn’t know ehther that was what Glynda was trying to do, but he still felt that thing that told him that he needed to bolt.

“I’m not going to try.” Qrow growled back at her.

Junior approached their table again, his tray carrying a few glasses. He began to serve the drinks, and once they were all calm, it was time to get started.

He made sure to get everything on the table, and then just as quick as he’d arrived, Junior was gone.

Qrow picked up his drink and took a sip of his drink. “I don’t like how any of this is going.”

James drank from his own, looking far away. Like he almost didn’t know how to be there anymore. “Neither do I.”

Glynda nodded wordlessly.

Cinder had been alerted to Emerald dropping her semblance with the feeling of a tap on her arm when the three of them had stopped to camp for the night. It wasn't like being with Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian. There was something about being around people that were actually kind that was... interesting.

Which almost made it harder for her to focus on the job that they had ahead of them.

Amber was fixing a fire, and Cinder watched as she poked at it. If she'd wanted to, she could have gone ahead and tried to just light it herself. But if they were meant to keep their abilities in the dark from Amber, that wasn't such a good idea.

"Hey-" Amber said, her eyes bright and soft. "You two are going to be okay, right?"

"We should be." Cinder answered. "Thank you for helping us."

"It's really no problem." Amber said, smiling and standing up once she was sure that the fire was going right. She stretched and took a walk over towards her horse, removing a few things from its saddlebag. She gave the animal a gentle pat on the shoulder before approaching the fire again. "I do really want to make sure that you can find your teammates before we get to Haven."

"And we appreciate it." Cinder said calmly. "I don't know that we could have gotten that far without your help."

"Well, I'm happy to help." Amber said once she had the fire going and food cooking for the three of them to share. "You two should really be more careful in the future though. Student teams shouldn't be getting into so much trouble out in the field. Or straying so far from the academies."

"We didn't look for it." Emerald said with a shrug, like that explained everything.

"I believe you." Amber sighed, and she looked a little bit exhausted by the mention of it. "When it comes to bandits, there really isn't much of anything that you can do. You hope that you're strong enough to beat them and if you aren't, you hope it doesn't get worse. They don’t exactly play by any rules, you know?"

"Right." Cinder said, glancing over at Emerald. The two of them were going to need to come up with some sort of cover story if they were going to make all of this work out. There wasn't much that either of them could do alone though. And Emerald couldn't be expected to carry the whole operation with her semblance.

The problem was that without a good way to contact the others, there was only so much that the two of them would be able to do. When Watts, Tyrian, or Hazel came for them, it was going to be an ordeal in itself.

Because Cinder couldn't expect that they weren't going to be left in a situation where they weren't caught by surprise.

But now that things were going well, Amber dropped into a seat across from the two of them, looking mostly happy and glad to have company for a night.

"So," Amber started, stretching out and making herself a bit more comfortable in her spot. "You two are students at the academy?"

"We are." Cinder says, thinking fast back to her own time at Haven. It hadn't been long, but she had been there more than long enough for her to have been assigned to a team. "We're half of team CLER." She explained, borrowing a name from one of the upperclassman teams at the academy. "We lost sight of our teammates Raleigh and Lorelei during the attack."

"Oh." Amber said, frowning. "That's terrible."

"Thanks." Cinder sighed. "I just don't know if we'll find them alive."

"Neither do I." Emerald said, hunching forward a bit in the spot where she was sitting. "Going back alone would be..."

"Bad." Cinder finished for her.

"Well, I guess it's good that I found you then." Amber sighed.

"What about you?" Emerald asked, blinking. "I mean, did you go to the academy?"

Amber sat up straight, eyes widening in some surprise. "Oh-" She started, swallowing. "I did. I mean, I went to Beacon Academy, but when I graduated I decided to come back out to Mistral. Home is where the heart is and all of that."

"Right." Cinder said.

"Yeah." Amber said, expression suddenly soft. "I like it out here.”

To be honest, Cinder was at least a little bit curious about Amber. There was a lot about her that she just didn't know, and while she was interested-

It wasn't wise for her to get too involved, Cinder decided. If she was going to be involved in Amber's eventual death, then the last thing that she needed to do was get attached at all. But she also knew that she was going to need to be able to play along at least a bit.

"I grew up here in Mistral." Cinder said, keeping her voice down. "I've lived here my entire life."

"I have too." Emerald said, blinking and looking over at Cinder with something akin to surprise on her face. "It's... nice. I guess."

"Yeah, well-" Amber said, blinking and stirring a pot that she'd laid out on her fire. "My mother was from here originally, but she'd gone to Beacon for her own reasons. After she and my father got married they moved back to Mistral and raised me in the kingdom."

It was a topic so uninteresting that Cinder almost wished she was back with Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel. None of them would have rambled on about their families.

"So you're just a huntress then?" Cinder asked, looking up at Amber. "Shouldn't you be travelling with a team?"

Amber's face screwed up a little bit, her expression far away for just a moment before she shrugged her shoulders and allowed herself to move forward in the discussion. "I haven't had much of a need for a team in a while. There isn't usually much of a threat aside from bandits out here. Usually I just spend time making sure that people get from town to town safely. It’s not very interesting, but I like it."

"Like you're doing for us now." Emerald said, in a certain tone of definite feigned cheerfulness. "So this shouldn't be any trouble."

"No," Amber laughed. "Not really. I've been doing this for long enough that I think that I can handle myself just fine."

Cinder looked over at Emerald, looking for some sort of cue from her partner that the two of them could use. She didn't quite know what they were doing, especially when they couldn't contact the people that were following after them. Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian had to be making plans or something. They had to be keeping an eye out for them in whatever way was possible.

"We'll get back to Haven." Amber said, still smiling widely. "You have my word."

"Thank you." Emerald sighed. She curled up a little bit beside Cinder, while Cinder just made herself as comfortable as she could manage. "I think right now we're both just tired though."

"I can't blame you." Amber sighed. "You two should rest once we eat."

"What about you?" Cinder asked, cocking her head to the side and looking for something from the woman. Amber blinked and looked back down at the food that she was cooking before speaking up again.

Amber reached for the three small bowls that she'd gotten out of her saddlebags when she'd last gone over to her horse. Cinder watched as she began to spoon food into each of them, just cooked and rehydrated rations that would be enough to carry the three of them over for a day or two.

"I figured that you two were going to need to rest, and if there are bandits out here, someone will need to keep watch." Amber explained, like there was nothing wrong. Like she was completely clueless as to what was going on.

It was a sign that things couldn't have gone any better for them.

"I can keep watch." Cinder offered, locking her eyes with Amber. "It's the least that I could do if we're going to be travelling with you."

"Are you sure?" Amber asked, offering Cinder the first of the bowls. "You know that if you're hurt-"

"I know." Cinder sighed. "But I think that I'm going to be fine."

"Right." Amber shrugged. "If you insist, then I won't fight you on it."

"Thank you," Cinder said, just as she began to finally eat her meal. It wasn't anything special, and it was truly some of the blandest cooking that she'd ever tasted. At least when Hazel did things with their trail rations, he tried to do something with them. Although, he'd probably been cooking them for most his life at that point.

But Cinder ate the meal anyways, and when the time came for all of them to rest she went off to keep watch. There was a good spot for her by one of the trees near their camp, and Cinder decided to place herself for the time being.

Amber went to bed, and Cinder feigned it, if the way that she was there nearly an hour after she had gone to bed at Cinder's side was any indication.

"What do you think, ma'am?" Emerald asked, her voice quiet and her looking back towards the camp nervously. "Are we sure that-"

"I don't know." Cinder replied, her voice quiet. She couldn't risk accidentally waking Amber up, since this was probably going to be their only good chance to make strategy plans for some time. "Have you heard anything from Hazel or Watts?"

"I... was going to ask you that." Emerald admitted, sounding sad. "Since you've been working with them longer."

"Right." Cinder said. She knew that she still had her scroll in her bag, but hadn't gotten a chance to check it. Not when she and Emerald had been needing to play along as though they'd both been injured. "I'll see whether or not we have before morning."

"And... what about this lie that we're keeping up?" Emerald asked, and she looked just as nervous as Cinder felt. They both knew that there was something was wrong, and there was no way that they could dodge it. Not as things were. "Because if you need me to-"

"We'll travel with her for a bit." Cinder instructed, blinking back at the camp. "In two days, we'll make it seem as though we've found our teammates."

"And?"

"And hopefully while you create the illusion, Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel will be able to attack."

"Right." Emerald said, her voice quiet and face sunk. "I don't like any of this."

Cinder was silent for a long time, a thousand thoughts and feelings flitting through her all at once.

"I know."

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: TRAVELLERS LOST

To kick off our AMAs, @sleepdeprivedfemale stopped in to answer some questions about her Resbang, TRAVELLERS LOST. Here’s some of what went down!

Q: To start us off, how about you tell us what inspired this AU? Why Sunless Sea, why now?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Probably a silly reason, but I had a lot of free time this summer and I spent a lot of time playing Sunless Sea. I got sucked in by the lore and mystery. And then when lore parts such as the Judgements and the Dawn Machine's capability to control people came up, my mind basically went, 'hey wouldn't it be cool if SE characters took part?'

Q: Generic question, but since this was your first Resbang how did the experience treat you? Did you feel like you grew as a writer?

SleepDeprivedFemale: hahaha, well I somehow managed to write 100k in a few months so I guess something went either right or terribly wrong. But I did like having a deadline which pushed me to actually write instead of 'meh, I'll do it tomorrow.'

Q: What was writing 100k in a few months like?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Like a fever dream. There were a couple of days where I wrote 5k and my brain was mush.

Q: What's your writing process like? How do u Churn out the words?

SleepDeprivedFemale: I just do? Like usually, I generally plot out roughly what's going on in the chapter, and then I roughly write out dialogue and basic descriptions, then slowly go back and fill the parts in. Exceptions were made in places heavy in description like Black Star's visit to Frostfound.

Q: Neat! Sounds like you have a good system in place.

SleepDeprivedFemale: Haha yeah, it's a process that kinda grew organically.

Q: I wish I wrote like that, give me your advice!

SleepDeprivedFemale: I mean, it helps when I don't exactly know where a chapter is going. Like, write out a dialogue and have a solid plot down, and then add the 'fluff.' Of course that doesn't always work out and there were chapters (like the climax), where I had the plot in mind and just wrote the entire thing in one go.

Q: How do you keep track if you write non-linearly?

SleepDeprivedFemale: It depends on the day usually. If I don't have a lot of time, I focus more on getting the dialogue out and only in small stretches of the chapter. If I have more time, I sit down and fill in the gaps, going by scene or chapter (I usually aim to finish a chapter in a sitting so I don't lose my train of thought). And for the chapters I've finished, I just put on a giant (FINISHED) tag on them.

Q: What was the hardest part to write? Was there anything special about it that made you determined to write it despite the difficulty?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Haha my dude, chapter 41. (Aka the chapter where the gang is forced to drink red honey and painfully relieve their memories). Red Honey was among the most horrifying concepts in Sunless Sea, and I hoped I'd [do] it justice. There's also the part where I had to write the Drowned Man cause [it’s] so vague and there's a lot of things that are still a mystery.

Q: What's your fave part you wrote?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Aaaa there were a couple of scenes I liked for different reasons. Kim and Jackie's subplot was fun to write cause of their relationship dynamic (aka Jackie liking Kim but not being able to say it, vs Kim's issues of trust). For sheer comedic value, Kid accidentally flashing the entirety of an island was another one. In general, I try to make it so there's something I like in every scene I write, and not necessarily like in a literal sense, but something I want to write about. I also loved writing the stuff with the abnormal formatting -THESUNTHESUNTHESUNTHESUN-, chapter summaries and generally the 4th wall breaking stuff.

Q: Did you make yourself a playlist as you wrote, or are there songs that remind you of certain scenes/arcs?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Yes, I used a couple of compilation to get in the mood, hold on. This one was all purpose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tquugHbliK8&index=3&list=PL5NETqX6IwDY6QTCRBhh5PqQ2sfcRD0yc

For scarier scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on-xvGdFTIU&index=1&list=PL5NETqX6IwDY6QTCRBhh5PqQ2sfcRD0yc ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IryFtcBJeZE&index=5&list=PL5NETqX6IwDY6QTCRBhh5PqQ2sfcRD0yc  And https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5o0cIQvrA&index=6&list=PL5NETqX6IwDY6QTCRBhh5PqQ2sfcRD0yc for all-purpose creepy Victorian vibes. And this for the climax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEC0gZvMVAI aka KILL THE SUN)

Q: Did you notice your style grow or mature over the course of writing this? Anything you finally felt 'click?'

SleepDeprivedFemale: Honestly, I am not sure. I think there's an improvement when it comes to writing more fluid descriptions, but overall, my prose still is on the wordy and sometimes unnecessarily complicated side. Plus, I still hate prepositions.

Q: Any plans for a next project, or are you taking a well-earned break for now?

SleepDeprivedFemale: So far my plan is to continue my ongoing stories, cause I got two of them, one is an AU that has already spiralled out of my control in size (150k+) and the other is a crossover that takes a long time to plot. But so far, I've taken a break for Christmas and may not write much this year due to uni stuff.

Q: Was there anything that you wished you could have added if you had more time/energy?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Oh yeess. First of all, I wanted to bulk up some of the shorter chapters (such as their visit to Pigmote Isle). I also wanted to add a visit to Abbey Rock where there are fighter nun, but there wasn't enough time. And in general, I wish I had more time to double-check spelling etc.

Q: Did you work with any betas or bounce ideas off of anyone besides your artists? How was it working with them?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Ba-sing-saying [@ba-sing-saying] helped beta parts of the fic (unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go over the entire thing). He also helped me with the contents of a couple of chapters where it felt like I went overboard. My beta and artist didn't really know about Sunless Sea, so though I couldn't bounce ideas of them I could see if my writing made sense from an outsider's POV (which I hope it did :P).

Q: How was it working with your artists?

SleepDeprivedFemale: It went well! Never done this before, so I don't really have a benchmark for how much communicating we were supposed to do, so we talked a bit and I liked the result.

Q: Any desire on Resbanging again sometime?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Yes, definitely. Actually finishing a long fic felt so cathartic, and I have a lot of WIPs that are sort-of-abandoned, so I want to see if I can use the deadlines to make myself actually finish them.

Q: Did you have a particular character you liked to write the most?

SleepDeprivedFemale: Kid. I will always write Kid, he's my boi. I also loved writing Liz, Black Star and Kim, but this story also helped me get more experience in writing characters I don't usually write, such as Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, Patty and the rest of the secondary cast. Kid and his dad are your friendly neighbor eldritch abominations.

Thanks again to SleepDeprivedFemale for coming to hang! Keep your eye out for more AMA transcripts, coming soon!

[itsnotsammy]

Heyyyy you. Guess what? All? Of? Them?

fanfic author ask meme (a.k.a. cait will kill me one day)

placing this under read more because you guys are already tired of giant texts about me answering questions *glares at cait*

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today? I’ve written my very first fanfic like 15 years ago. It was some Harry Potter crap and I’m just glad that thing is gone for good. But honestly, I’ve reread some of my old fanfics and IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE

2. What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come? I guess it’s Burial at Sea and Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel (and How to Break Them), both a Supernatural/Bioshock crossover. I’m stuck on chapter 3 so far and ugh I’m a terrible person.

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic? Oohh, that’s a hard one. In this very moment, I’m very fond of my messiah!Sam verse and I can’t wait to write more about it.

4. In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? It’s A Hundred Words, a RoTG fanfic I used to update on Fanfiction.net. On Tumblr, I’m not sure because I didn’t post any complete fanfic yet.

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that? A Hundred Words. It’s adorable and I wish I had the muse to finish it.

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that? Every single fanfic I’ve written 10 years ago.

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? Burial at Sea, because SPN/Bioshock, dude.

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? Wow. I guess it’s Nightingale's Eyes but this one is a distant dream.

9. Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material? Not really.

10. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it? Hey, Dragon Age fandom. I see you.

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting? I don’t think so? I’ve written a lot tbh, I don’t remember exactly everything but nah, I’m cool. I mean, it’s a big world and I’ve even seen this situation happening in books.

12. Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why? *looks at 28736287 unfinished fanfics* I wonder why...

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today? Writing style, I guess. I change it a lot but I’m never satisfied.

14. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today? Back when I started, I wasn’t very fond of the whole alternative universe idea. *laughs at the irony*

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular? Nah.

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention? Hell yea. What can I say, I’m a slut for attention sometimes.

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic? Anything I post on Tumblr tbh *chuckles*

18. What’s your most underrated fic? Don’t know, don’t really care. It’s been ages since I last checked AO3 & Fanfiction.net to be sure, because I don’t bother.

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick? Do not trespass. Incestuous sex ahead.

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down? YES. YES. YES. I’m always glad to rewrite a fanfic because it looks 10000 times better than the original and jfc, I wonder why people read the classic one.

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs? Of course.

22. Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed? Y E S.

23. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten? My A Hundred Words has lots of wonderful reviews and it makes me feel terrible for abandoning the fanfic. People in RoTG fandom are so nice!

24. What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it? I don’t think I’ve gotten one? I really can’t remember lol

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review? I...dunno. Seriously. I’m terrible at this.

26. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised? Everything. As I said, I love getting attention.

27. If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick? Supernatural/Bioshock because yea. This crap is my life force and I’m not even ashamed.

28. if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick? Supernatural.

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy? *shrugs* not really sure about this one, sorry.

30. Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one? It depends on my muse. And my time. And,,, a lot of things. Heh.

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right? What’s up Dean? Doing good today?

32. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying? Sam Fucking Winchester.

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up? Hey Sammy, don’t even try to hide. Dad loves you.

34. Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way? I never expected A Hundred Words to be so loved, tbh.

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to? *squints at Sam/Atlas* Hm. I think so. Not what I planned but goddammit these characters! They do what they want, I swear.

36. Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic? Nope. What for? I can barely write things about the ships I support!

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic? Nah. Don’t think so.

38. Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why? *pushes underage non-con away* what? Me, never. Why would I do it?

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership? No.

40. Do you feel like you put out enough content? Nevah.

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site? I’ve been focused on Fanfiction.net for a long time and it’s still my favorite.

42. How many views has your most popular fic gotten? 66,810.

43. Your least popular? 150.

44. Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received? Obviously, hah.

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself? Sadistic asshole.

46. Do you consider yourself a diverse author? Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of fanfics through lots of fandoms and countless AUs waiting to be written one day.

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? Hahahahaha, no thank you.

48. Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too? Nope nope.

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it? Nope.

50. Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive? Yea, it opened some doors and windows and made me realize how much I love writing, even if I’m not good enough nor creative enough. It just makes me feel good and... special, I guess.