#how to combat burnout on your fic: make another one

[styxpenz]

silently* adds a third fic to the juggling act

[cicadaknight]

tag game (horizon)

tagged by @artekai 💕🤝💖 thanks, pal!

1. ride or die ship: fashav/kotallo straight to my grave. mythological tragedies, those two, i tell you what.

2. most annoying ship: the boat aloy takes to san francisco. can you imagine, never rowing before in your life and making that trek through choppy currents and storms? insufferable.

3. second favorite ship: aloy/kotallo. the parallels of aloy and kotallo being forced into roles they never wanted, being alone and outcast from their tribes, moving through their grief and rage by learning to trust a new found family? being seen by another for more than their physical prowess but their humanity and creativity? excellent shit.

4. favorite platonic relationship: SYLENS AND BETA AND GAIA. Sylens getting taken down a fucking peg or two by a teenage girl and an infinitely compassionate AI. Beta being able to collaborate with someone (and an AI) who sees well beyond her mistakes and faults. GAIA finding consistent, complex companions who remind her fondly of Lis. Sylens making Beta food and teaching her how to cook. HELP ME.

5. Underrated ship: So many. I really love Aloy/Drakka. The idea of him being such a counter to Aloy’s single-minded focus on saving the world by being an absolute goober. But her seeing that he cares so very deeply about doing the right thing and protecting his people. Alva/Beta is sweet. I dig Erend/Talanah.

6. overrated ship: the odyssey. just kidding, i already made a joke about a boat.

7. one thing i would change in canon: the entire last act? specifically varl’s death, that kotallo doesn’t fly to the grove with aloy, that aloy ends the entire tenakth/regalla conflict via single combat duel, and then fights alone twice more with erik and tilda. RIP all the build up to aloy understanding that she’s not alone and all the people in her life are as competent and complex and have just as much stake in the fate of the world as she does. and beyond that, i deeply regret the way they wrote talanah in hfw. she shoulda had that fourth bunk in the base.

8. something canon did right: don’t get me wrong, i wish fashav hadn’t died at barren light, but i love his back story and everything we find out through his journals. added so much nuance to carja and tenakth cultures and characters in just a handful of paragraphs.

9. a thing i’m proud of creating for the fandom: i’ve been in a perpetual state of burnout for yeeeeeears. this kotallo portrait was the first piece i’ve drawn in ages. i’m also working on a bookbinding project and doing art for Kotallo with amazing folks on Focus on the Heart.

10. a character who is perfect to me: Hekarro. I hope the writers, animators, and actor who made him come to life are very proud of their work.

11. character i relate to most and why: uhhh like every other neurodivergent queer with trauma and parental issues, i gotta go with beta.

12. character(s) i hate most and why: tekkoteh. absolute steaming pile of shit. genuinely every time i think i’ve reached peak hatred for that slime, someone writes a beautiful fic where i find myself despising him more. in my interpretation, there’s no world where he didn’t take advantage of, manipulate, and abuse kotallo after his parents died.

13. something i’ve learned from the fandom: awww this is cheesy, but i learned how to take a chance and post things i make again. most people are so curious and so excited to discuss lore or characters in good faith. oh, recently i did discover i missed MANY post-mission dialogues for side quests on my first few playthroughs.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: i’m guaranteed to get drawn into anything re: kotallo and fashav’s early marshal days, lis character development, aloy/kotallo hurt/comfort (sue me)

15. a song i associate strongly with my otp/favorite character: i made this playlist based off this fic. it’s basicallg my score for fashav and kotallo falling in love during their marshal duties. instants by skúli sverrisson and anything by hermanos gutiérrez sends me into pondering fashav and kotallo’s lives together.

i’m gonna tag @poulticepurse @fogsblue @rowanisawriter @ayaitch @robo-dino-puppy if y’all wanna do this?

[pinkykitten]

I was tagged by @writing-with-melon I hope my answers aren’t complete waste or if time and if so I’m sorry and I love you

Rules: Answer ten 10 questions, ask 10, and tag 10 people

1. What song automatically plays in your head when you look out the window on a long drive? 

i dont really have an answer for this. i think i just automatically think about any song ive been listening to recently or any song that has been stuck in my head. 

2.  Do you have some snacks nearby when you write?

well i live in a two story house so the kitchen is downstairs and im usually lazy busy so since i have a mini fridge upstairs i just usually get water to drink while im writing. its kinda hard to eat and write cuz i loose focus really easily so when i am writing i am writing! i am in the zone! but if i am a little hungry ill usually snack on candy like chocolate kinder joys i love them but they r so expensive or snack on chips but i get like salt on my fingers or i like cheetos so cheetos dust and that just gets everywhere and later my hands and keyboard kinda smell like fart. 3. What do you do to combat creative burnout?

so burnout happens to me a lot so to get inspiration i either read other stories or fanfics which gets my head gears turning or i admire a piece of art or photography or a song. whats so unique and satisfying with writing you can explore and go anywhere with it, hehehe erotic if you know what i mean lol jk there are no barriers with writing just your imagination. there is inspiration any where you go and id advise to never stop writing. even if its a few short sentences or paragraphs about anything even bird poop its still progression and your mind is working and your searching for words like its all good for you bby.  4. Do you use (or like to use) prompts? 

i do ill put the link here. im thinking of changing it though to do something different. 

5. What is your favorite place to write?

lol boring, i know but my room. my room is really bright in the mornings and comfortable and chill and i have a candle of the pandora ride in disney that smells like the ride so its all good and relaxing and super peaceful plus i have a picture of myself the age of like 9 on my desk idk why but it encourages me and makes me focus to make sure i never get that cringy again. 

6. What is a hobby or yous that you usually don’t talk about?

well i like working out HAHAHAHAHA jk that was a joke...get it...cuz i much rather be eatingokillstop. but i really like to draw which i have a art page you can see it if you click here pls look at my failed attempts to be hip and cool with the cool kids and being artsy fartsy. another hobby is i really like to do makeup and nail art, nail art is really tough guys no joke if you do it like you got wizard powers are something. maybe its bc my nails are shorter than pete davidson and ariana grande’s relationship, alright im trying to stop i swear!

7. Do you play an instrument? Which one?

no i wish though. i always wanted to learn to either play the piano or electric guitar cuz H.E.R looks so cool doing it. 

8. How do you feel about your handwriting?

it sucks dont even try me. my sister can barely read it like no wonder nobody wants to steal my signature heck they can’t even read it!

9. Can you tell us of a story that marked your development as a person? As a writer?

ok sit back guys, sniff a nice amount of crack and get ready for the most cringy moment of my life but also a time when i knew i was meant to be *inhale* a fanfic writer. 

so it was elementary school, i think 3rd grade and for my writing assignment we were given a prompt of idk what the heck tbh i think it was like be outside the box and im like ok imma nail this cuz im a weird child and yeah so i got my papers and pencil and i went TO TOWN on this paper. so i wrote two stories. one short story with a picture to go with it and one long story that yeah i buried years ago. so my first story was about a farmer was about that farming life. he had chickens and dairy. so i cant remember if the cheese was spoiled but doesnt matter. anywho these cheese and a chicken were alive like they could talk in the story and i gave them faces, yikes. but the whole story was the farmer was a b*tch and he was trying to eat the chicken and cheese so they hatched a plan to get away from the farmer. they did it successfully and they ran away. yay happy ending my teacher actually liked that one me too and my school mates were thinking what they heck is this girl on i made a story about how me and justin bieber made cookies for Christmas you know. so then my other story i was more proud of this one cuz it was a tone of paper, sorry trees, and this story was about how a female hippo (girl i was all about plus size and thicker girls and no body shaming) and an male ostrich were kidnapped from their own habitats and taken to become circus animals. failed version of Madagascar hey mine was before the circus movie OK THEY STOLE IT FROM MEEEEE. so they get taken and are treated to harsh punishment and the animals can talk and i think its in the point of view of the male ostrich guy thing. they are in the circus and they start to have this relationship happening. love starts blossoming its all good. im happy with this cuz i believed in love at age of 8. they find a way thru a kick butt scene of the animals escaping and the hippo and ostrich are so in love that they run away together and they have half hippo half ostrich babies and i think i named the species  hipstrich or like ostppo idk but i was so proud of this story and when my teacher read it she was worried about me lol i think she thought i might like mate these two animals like secretly idk but she was like it was ok and i was like what this is frickin William Shakespeare writing or like F. Scott Fitzgerald writing. nevertheless it taught me a lesson that nobody else needs to like what im writing the main point and only thing that matters is if your proud of it and you like it and i really did. i will remember that story forever and thats what made me want to be a writer. lol sorry that was a lot. 

10. @emdop I’m going to use this great question: Explain one of your WIPs in the most ridiculous way possible. 

wellllll im working on my peaky blinders oc story its a lot of drugs money killing weapons jewelry rich profanities like its the show but written from my stubby hands so my oc and whatever its great and so excited to show it to you guys. 

MY QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START TUMBLR?

2. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING OF THIS WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

3. WHAT QUALITY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE OUTFIT?

5. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE?

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG IN THE WHOLE WORLD?

7. IF YOU COULD VISIT A PLACE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?

8. WHAT SHOW OR MOVIE UNIVERSE WOULD YOU WANT TO BE IN?

9. WHAT IS THE SCARIEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE?

10. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE IN THIS WORLD THAN ANYTHING ELSE?

im tagging: @thatlittlered, @ardentmuse, @acciosnapes, @lotsoffandomimagines, @collecting-stories, @blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms, @naughtyneganjdm, @lenahellgizibe and two random followers @spiritsent, @sucker-for-my-fandoms

i was tagged by @writing-with-melon again ty btw, ps i felt so much pressure lol jk 😊

Rules: Answer 5 questions, Ask 5 questions, Tag 5 people.

1. What is your favorite book?

fifty shades of grey hahaha naw my favorite book is obv you all know this is series of unfortunate events but i never usually cry period and i never cry for books ever so when i read mrs. tom thumb by melanie benjamin, its the part when her sister minnie dies i cried so hard idk it was just emotional the wording the way she described her pain it was so beautiful written yet so sad and that was just amazing to me cuz im like this book made me feel things and im like wow i would love to write a book one day and make someone feel something whether it be sadness anger happiness annoyance anything they are having an emotion and that is super powerful to do that with just words. pls go check out that book its a good read. also im a fan of the greatest showman so i really enjoyed it. there are many other books tho that i thoroughly enjoy so much. 

2. What piece that you’ve written are you most proud of?

oh my god ive always wanted to be asked this question hands down i am always proud of my platonic gender neutral tony stark fic called in·con·sol·a·ble window to me i wrote it so sad and i was feeling like depressed lol when i saw peter die in infinity war like i didnt know what to do with my life tbh but im so glad that @impetrichorny requested it tysm i just like how its not based on romance or fluff or happiness it is based on when you lose someone the nightmares and sadness you go through and that there is nothing nobody can do about it except just be there for that person so i really like writing angst and something that was out of the box. ive been thinking tho of doing a part two since the fate of all the characters has changed after endgame. who knows tho. 

3. What is the last song that inspired you? 

well for art it would have to good news by mac miller when i did that kobe bryant memorial on my art page. i dont want to give it away though but ill just say some very powerful womens music inspired my oc writing and making. 

4. How do you feel about letting people read what you write?

at first i was scared cuz i thought i wrote like trash which that feeling kinda doesnt go away like some days i feel that way others i feel confident or it depends on the request it just depends but anyways i was always insecure about my writing so when i started writing it was more like lets see how this goes if not ill delete the whole page. im glad to say it went great but in the begging it was hard cuz i kept putting myself down but i learned to accept or just understand that you keep learning with writing you always learn knew things with writing how you can explain something better or you words get more intricate and people see the improvement and you do too thats why i applaud those who dont speak english that english isnt their first language. you are doing a tremendous job and keep practicing cuz you’re gonna make it to the top. ive also learned that some days are not my days and you can take time off when youre not feeling it when you have writers block. just recollect your juices sip some tea go to the beach relax your mind a little and take as long as you need to come back and give it your all. also comments and reblogs and likes a follows those meant so much to me and encouraged me. thats why i cant express it enough how much all those mean to writers, artist, photographers, anybody who is truly trying their hard in this area of social media. its makes a person happy smile and confident in their writing but first train your mind into loving what you make not what others thing. you have to be happy with the outcome that is what truly matters and what makes your writing the best. look at me getting philosophical. 

5. Do you get distracted easily? If yes with what?

yes and with porn haha i get distracted easily like very easily homeschooling was really tough for me. music distracts me, netflix, the urge to watch david dobrik or unus annus or buzzfeed unsolved on youtube, heck my farts distract me. i gotta be like troy bolton i gotta get my HEAD IN THE GAME!

MY QUESTIONS:

1. IF YOU COULD BE NAMED SOMETHING ELSE, WHAT WOULD YOU BE NAMED?

2. WHAT PERSON INSPIRES YOU THE MOST?

3. IF YOU KNEW THE WORLD WAS ENDING TOMORROW WHAT WOULD YOU DO TODAY?

4. WHAT DO YOU OFTEN THINK ABOUT IN THE SHOWER?

5. WHATS YOUR WEIRD COMBINATION FOOD?

im tagging: @thatlittlered​, @ardentmuse​, @acciosnapes​, @lotsoffandomimagines​, @collecting-stories​ AND WHOEVER WANTS TO DO THIS IF YOU FOLLOW ME OR LIKE MY STORIES TAG ME ILL READ YOUR ANSWERS. HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING MWUAH 

[grimeysociety]

Fic: You Only Live Twice

Pairing: Darcy Lewis x Bucky Barnes Rating: E/Explicit “In the space of a couple days, Thanos managed to upend entire continents. One day the world was there and then it was gone.”

Darcy wears combat boots and scrapes on her knees.

There’s a smear of blood on her forehead and Bucky’s not sure if it’s hers or someone else’s.

The way she ignores it and grabs a bottle from behind the bar she jumps over – Bucky has the impression blood, hers or otherwise, is the least thing on her mind.

He keeps shaking. There are sirens everywhere.

The bar they sit at has broken plaster littered all over it.

Bucky doubts anyone around them for a solid couple of miles is even alive.

They don’t even know each other. Steve knew Darcy.

She was Thor’s friend.

Bucky didn’t know anybody, except Shuri and T’Challa.

And Shuri was –

Bucky tastes bile and retches again.

Darcy doesn’t react, instead sipping her glass filled to the brim with amber liquid.

Bucky wishes he could get drunk like she is.

What was she even doing here?

“Where were you?” he murmurs, barely audible.

His voice is hoarse.

“With Jane.”

He lip trembles and she begins to sob for the first time, reality sinking in.

“She’s really gone, isn’t she?”

Bucky fails to say anything worthwhile. Talking still isn’t his strong suit.

He puts a hand on her shoulder but she shrinks back, away like she’s afraid.

In the space of a couple days, Thanos managed to upend entire continents.

One day the world was there and then it was gone.

- Three months later, Darcy gets a call from SHIELD.

They tell her they have a job for her.

She has nothing but cleanup to do. Her home town doesn’t exist anymore.

Her parents’ farm is gone.

She counts the people she knows from before Thanos on her two hands. Everyone since she met at evacuation centres.

There are so many mouths to feed, and so little to offer.

People come crawling from across the Middle East, Europe, South America -

It goes on and on.

Nothing seems to staunch the flow.

She grips the phone a little tighter in her hand, the calm voice on the other end enough to make her scream back they have no idea what really matters.

So fuck Bucky Barnes.

It wasn’t her job to go find him.

Thor collides with her, and she holds him tight, wanting to stay with him forever – but he’s still dealing with Thanos galaxies away.

He tells her he knows where Barnes is and squeezes her shoulder, tears in his eyes.

He wishes he could take her with him, but knows she’ll most likely die.

Luckily for Earth, Thor thinks Thanos has little interest in returning, considering the thoroughness of his last visit.

Darcy knows the meaning of the phrase ‘with a heavy heart’ more than ever.

She calls SHIELD back and packs her knapsack.

Travelling is a nightmare in general so going into the countryside with roads mostly blocked off by the thinner military takes forever.

She takes three days to go West. She has to wait and see the missing posters at every roadblock.

She knows every person whose photo is up is dead.

She knows it in her heavy heart.

Bucky slams the door in her face when she knocks on his trailer door.

She sighs, looking around his living quarters.

She’s pretty sure he’s squatting, but the people who lived here before are most likely dead.

She spends two whole hours sitting on the ground by his front door, picking at bits of grass and listening to the birds.

He bursts out of the trailer and sets off toward the woods, and Darcy is after him, but he doesn’t give her a second look.

He starts collecting firewood.

Darcy had noticed the little pile of charcoal while she waited for Barnes to remerge.

“SHIELD wants you back,” she says, and he snorts.

Darcy feels a sting of annoyance, wondering what makes it okay for him to be like this around her, when she didn’t even know him.

She follows him around the dense trees, picking up her own sticks.

When they get back to the burnout pyre, Barnes starts building a fire, and Darcy stands by while she watches.

He’s wearing a glove over his metal arm.

“Are you hiding?”

Barnes glares at her.

“You are, aren’t you?” she fires, and he looks away. “Do you know how I found you?”

“How did you find me?” he murmurs, and it’s the first thing he’s said the entire time.

“Thor.”

He pauses, jaw ticking.

“You remember Thor?”

He nods, curt.

Darcy’s crying already, and wipes at her face, annoyed.

Bucky starts lighting little pieces and blowing on the kindling.

Soon enough the fire is healthy and glowing by the setting sun.

“I’m staying.”

She says it – doesn’t ask. Barnes just nods, somehow quieter than ever.

She’s the only other person in his whole world right now.

They sit and stare into the fire for hours – or it feels like it, anyway.

Darcy checks her phone a lot, wondering if Barnes even has a generator.

Knowing her luck, he doesn’t and she’ll have no phone until she decides to leave.

Because she’s pretty sure she’s not staying until he decides to leave.

She’s also pretty sure he can barely stand her, because she’s constantly reminding him of that day when he pulled her out of that café before it blew up –

“It’s not your fault.”

She looks at him face on for the first time in about three hours and he frowns, face twisting.

“I’m the reason you’re here,” he grunts.

Here instead of dead with everyone else, he means.

She shuffles closer to him on her knees, sure she’s getting dirt on her skin and she doesn’t know when her next shower is.

She places a hand on his metal arm, feeling the cool, hard outer shell of it beneath the fabric of his jacket.

She’s trying to give him the same kindness he failed to give her back in the bar, when she jumped and he looked mortified.

Darcy still feels bad about that. She knows Barnes’ story from what Steve told her –

Thinking of Steve now made her feel sick.

Barnes swallows, and she’s so aware of him not retreating –

“Darcy.”

He’s never said her name before.

She shivers, and he inches closer.

She eyes him, waiting for him to stop, but he doesn’t.

She remembers, when he first grabbed her in the city and the building blew all around them, and they ducked, his body covering her.

He had to pull her back away from the fires she saw, from the hole that used to be the café.

She looks at Barnes’ – Bucky’s – mouth now.

She brings her hand up to cup his face and kisses him briefly.

She hesitates, wondering if she’s gone too far.

He brings her down for another kiss, deeper this time.

He tastes like smoke – or maybe she’s just been sitting by the fire for too long.

She considers maybe Bucky isn’t too bothered about how she tastes, either, because his tongue swipes over the seam of her lips and she opens for him.

She sighs. She allows herself to show her appreciation.

His hands are everywhere.

She’s wearing a skirt because it’s July and nothing feels good to wear anymore but a skirt is the second best thing to nothing.

His hand in already slipping up and under the hem of her skirt while the other metal one is under her shirt, his fingers splayed across her lower back.

She rides the wave of it, daring to bite a little on his lip.

She pulls back to see his eyes blown and dark, his lips wet and hair mussed.

“Not here,” she says, and he just nods dumbly.

She wants to fuck him but figures being outside by the fire is too much. She won’t come if there’s just the hard ground beneath her ass.

She thinks of the last guy who screwed her back in the city with his black topknot and barista uniform and wonders if he’s dead.

He's probably dead.

She walks away from Bucky back toward his trailer and opens it, looking around.

“There’s a light. There.”

Bucky points to the long cord above her head and she tugs it, and the flickering light reveals a mess only a lonely person could make.

The bed is unmade and the sheets looks anything but fresh, but Darcy knows she’s closer to wet than dry.

She lays down in the cramped space and Bucky settles beside her on the bed, taking off his shoes.

Darcy kicks hers off absently, aware of the heat of him beside her.

“Come here.”

She tugs him back, kissing him hard.

He groans for the first time, and the sound goes right to her cunt.

He shoulders off his jacket and cradles her head in her hands.

It’s close to affectionate and it makes Darcy pull back.

She pulls off her skirt, her shirt and her bra. She shimmies out of her underwear, all business.

Bucky just stares at her.

He turns away a little to take off his shirt and glove.

He pulls off his pants and boxers but Darcy doesn’t see much of his cock.

There’s an awkward pause and Darcy figures it’s because they’re both naked and they’ve barely said a thing.

What was the protocol?

Whoever said this was like riding a bicycle had clearly never heard of shared trauma.

He was the only other person who knew exactly how she felt, because he’d been there with her the entire time, and kept her safe.

Did she hate him a little for protecting her like that?

Maybe.

She looked at the scar tissue that littered his body. His muscles were smooth and hard, so chiselled it was close to being a crime.

That’s sounds like something she would have said another time, when she wasn’t so sad.

When her soul hadn’t been sucked out with the rest of the world.

He knows her so well, and yet she’s sure he doesn’t even know her middle name.

She leans closer to him and encourages him to lay down with her, pulling at his arms and kissing him once more.

He lies on top of her, pressing their skin together and making her forget the city for a second.

She shivers again, and she sees him watching her, looking her body over like other men have.

He still hesitates.

“Darcy.”

“Bucky,” she murmurs back, and she realizes she’s stroking his flesh arm with a finger.

She was affectionate in her old life, and she was always touching people.

She pauses, blinking a few times.

If she cries now, it’s all over.

He reads her well, his hands gliding over her tits and flicking a nipple lightly to distract her.

He takes his pleasure from the look she gives him when he slips two fingers inside her, stretching her pussy as her hips roll.

She bites down on her lip when his thumb grazes her clit.

She hitches her leg over his hip and he gets the message, lining them up.

His look is a question, and she nods, and then looks down as his cock fills her.

She sucks in a breath, and says, unable to help herself, “Holy shit.”

He kisses her again, gentle.

She pulls back again, attempting to sound a little distant, “Just don’t come in me.”

“Okay,” he replies, and then she wraps her arms around him.

They rock together, and Darcy lets a moan slip out because he makes her feel so full and good –

“Oh, fuck,” she whispers.

He slams into her while teasing her clit.

The grind of his pubic bone is intoxicating, and soon she’s gasping, clawing at his back and writhing.

The sweat between them makes her chuckle, and her smile makes him smile a little, too.

Bucky’s smile is small and muted but she stills sees it, and her chest aches.

“Bucky,” she whispers, and then she feels it –

She’s coming, clenching around him and shuddering. It feels slow and hard, like a heavy pulse and she cuts off her breath and then gulps again at the air, sighing.

He actually moans now and then pulls out, coming into his fist as his forehead presses to Darcy’s shoulder.

When he recovers, he presses a kiss to the bare skin of her and moves away. -

They sleep side by side, only touching by accident.

The next morning she wakes to an empty space beside her, but she sees him making coffee and he hands her a mug wordlessly.

She thinks she’ll leave that day alone, but he surprises her, gesturing over at the shape hidden under a tarp beside the trailer.

It turns out to be his bike, and Darcy just stares at him.

“Since when?”

He shrugs. “Since you.”

She decides she needs him.