#i could not handle juggling more than two wips

[ghost-proofbaby]

should i rewatch criminal minds and give my spencer reid fanfic another go after i finish up twenty four hours?

i just miss him terribly

[katehuntington]

2020, 1st edition Disclaimer: ‘Kate Huntington’s Author & Fanfiction Recommendations’ is a platform for writers, to show appreciation for their work and expand their audience. I do not claim to be the author of these stories, neither do I own them. Read each writer’s warnings carefully, most of them are rated +18. 

Without further ado, here is my list of recommendations.

One shots 

“While You Sleep” - written by @foreverwayward​ Fluff - Dean Winchester - 617 words       A heartwarming little fic about Dean living the domesticated life we all wish he could have. The writer has a very clever way of storytelling and the end might come as a surprise, only adding to the emotion it already brought along.

“Imagine” - written by @pennydrabbles​ Fluff - Dean x Reader - 800 words      ‘Imagine calling Dean after a bad day and saying you miss him,’ says the header of this marvelous little story. It’s soothing, with strong descriptions, yet never over the top. Simplicity isn’t necessarily a bad word. It takes skill to not overy describe a scene and let the tale be told by the personal emotion of the reader. The author is able to do this with such elegance, that you actually feel Dean’s comfort.

“Heartbeats” - written by @there-must-be-a-lock​ Fluff - Dean x Castiel - 930 words      Castiel is fascinated by the human heart, but doesn’t quite understand it, until he becomes human himself. I’ll start by saying that I don’t ship Dean and Cas together, but I do appreciate the people who do. What this little piece of art does is incredible, however, because while I was reading, I found myself rooting for them. The writer does a great job by using the literal human heart as a backbone of this story. Intriguing and very well executed.

“Everything That’s Yet To Come” - written by @fictionalabyss​ Fluff - Dean x Reader - 812 words      Dean experiences what the future beholds, with the people who he wishes could be there. The author took me by the hand through this moving little one shot, which feels like a collection of greatest hits and wishes come true. It offers peace and closure not only for the older Winchester brother, but for the reader as well. Beautiful piece of writing.

“Take A Drunk Girl Home” - written by @amanda-teaches​ Fluff - Dean x Reader - 1869 words      Dean taking care of others; it’s his nature and shows what a kind soul he truly is. The situation sketched here is no exception, and it’s softer than one can imagine. The pace is steady and the balance between fluff and comedy is just right. A lovely read.

“New Beginnings” - written by @our-jensen-ackles-love​ Fluff - Dean x Reader - 1665 words      New Year’s Eve; a new start, a new life and plenty of reason to celebrate. A lovely ‘feel good’ story that makes us forget about the monsters, pain and loss Supernatural is known for. The level of fluff is equivalent to cuddling with puppies.

“When He Cries” - written by @revengingbarnes​ Angst/fluff - Dean x Reader - 1894 words       When the woman who Dean loves falls victim during a case, the hunter has trouble dealing with the aftermath. And, boy... Does that hurt to witness. This is one of the most breathtaking stories I have stumbled on. The realism that is used to describe the gruesome and horrific angst, the emotion that is laced in every word, had me clutching my chest while reading. It’s is a beautiful piece of art.

“Nobody” - written by @soaringeag1e​ Angst - Dean x Reader - 2561 words      This one shot reminds us why we should never stay angry with a loved one and let a fight unresolved, because what if something bad happens and we won’t have the chance to make it right? The writer gives a great sense to that fear and having to watch Dean go through this nightmare is truly heartbreaking. 

“The Demon Inside You” - written by @foreverwayward​ Smut/angst - Demon!Dean x Reader - 4375 words       Curing Dean from the demon that he has become proves to be difficult when he’s so hard to resist. What else is hard to resist, is this beautiful pitch black one shot. I don’t read Demon!Dean fiction often, because it still feels foreign to see the character who I love so much turn into something evil. This however, is so gripping and well written, that the darkness swallows up the beholder. Rough, hot, sad, narcissistic, all these ingredients packed up in one hell of a story.

“Curves And Edges” - written by @kittenofdoomage​ Smut/fluff/angst - Dean x Reader - 4375 words       This equally sweet, sexy, funny and sad story is a big shout out to all women who think they don’t meet the beauty standards and feel like they will never be good enough to get noticed. It is one thing to replace a name with Y/N and call it a reader’s insert; it’s a gift to make every person reading this feels like they are the character in this story. The author handles every woman’s insecurities with grace, making her words both relatable and soothing. Her spot on version of Dean reminds us that we are all beautiful, desired and unique.

“Hold Her Tight” - written by @waywardbaby​ Fluff/smut - Dean x Reader - 2955 words     ‘A story of a deep need to feel someone close to you’, is how the author describes her work. I couldn’t have said it better, because this one shot isn’t about sex; it’s about love making, and there’s a difference. What I also appreciate, is that Y/N takes the time to pamper herself. We all deserve some self care.

“Watch Your F!cking Mouth!” - written by @impala-dreamer​ Smut/comedy - Dean x Reader - 1984 words       Dean falls under a literal curse, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I was wheezing, couldn’t breathe and died laughing. It’s astonishing how the writer can juggle comedy and sex without the two taking each other down. An uplifting read.

“Thank God For Sexual Frustration” - written by @winchester-fantasies​ Smut - Dean x Reader - 4398 words       God had nothing to do with writing this sinful story; we can thank the author for that. When Y/N is on a dry spell that has her frustrated, Dean helps her out in the best way imaginable. Delicious smut served in three courses, because we all know Dean keeps his lady satisfied.

Series:

“Life For Rent” - written by @winchest09​ Smut/angst/fluff - Mobster!Dean x Escort!Reader  - WIP      This amazing series follows an experienced, smart and resilient escort, who is ruled by contracts, money and aliases. When Dean becomes her client, he makes it his mission to understand what this interesting woman is hiding.       Conspiracies, deceat, crime. A strong family bond, blossoming love, oh, not to mention the sex. This series is intriguing beyond imagination and certainly not just another mobster fanfiction. The writing is smart and I could tell from the first paragraph that it’s loaded with hints and foreshadowing, but I couldn’t pick them out. This triggers a curiosity like an itch I can’t quite scratch away until I finish reading this story. And so I wait eagerly and drop everything the second a new chapter comes out.  An absolute must read!

“Findings” - written by @kathaswings​ Angst/smut/fluff - Dean x Reader - finished. Update: Sadly, this series is no longer online      This story starts out with what seems to be a routine demon hunt, until Dean and his brother find a frightened five year old survivor amongst the blood and corpses. Keeping the smart little Mackenzie safe and getting her back to her older sister proves to be difficult, because this case is a whole lot bigger than they anticipated and is likely to change their lives forever.      This is one of my favorite Supernatural series and I revisited it recently. The overall story arc is a mystery I just had to unravel and I couldn’t put it down if I wanted to. The bond between Dean and Mackenzie is so precious. Writing a child isn’t easy. I’ve read plenty of books and seen plenty of films in which the maturity the creators added wasn’t natural, but this author handles Mac’s dialogue amazingly well. What’s also interesting is the jumps from point of view between Dean and Y/N, giving very personal perspectives on the gripping story.

“When You Least Expect It” - written by @coffee-obsessed-writer​ Fluff/angst/smut - Jensen Ackles x Musician!Reader - WIP      This gorgeously written slow burn series kicks off when Jensen visits the idyllic town of Seaside. After a bad breakup he keeps his mind occupied with the organisation of a music festival, hoping to find a musician that fits the vibe he has in mind. He meets a spirited, undiscovered performer, not only her voice catching him by surprise. A friendship blossoms, with potential to grow into something more, but will their past allow the love they feel for each other?      Talking about an epic love story, but it’s so much more than that. The music that plays such an important factor, the setting that is Seaside. The fabulous supporting characters Bri, Rob, Jason and Jared, the wardrobe, not to mention the wonderful little gems and details that this author weaved into the story, showing how much love she has put into it. This is without a shadow of a doubt my favorite RPF I’ve come across.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed the work of the authors above, don’t be afraid to let them know. I’m sure they will appreciate it. Feel free to share!

If you have any suggestions or would like a tag in the future, drop a request in my inbox or send me a message.

Love, Kate

‘Kate Huntington’s Author & Fanfiction Recommendations’ taglist: @adoptdontshoppets​ @fangirlxwritesx67​ @idksupernatural​ @indecisive20something​ @tranquility-or-chaos​ @winchest09​ @wingedcatninja​

[krisrix]

So, I am very greedy and want to ask ALL OF THE QUESTIONS - 3, 8, 11, 13, 18, 30? Whichever of those have not already been asked! Or whichever speak to you most if that's too many. ^^;

Omg, you are so lovely, thank you for all the questions!! 🖤🥰🖤

3. Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

If it’s a “short” fic (comparatively—which means for me, 15k and under), then I write it pretty much start to finish. The second things get more complicated than that, I jump around. I used to jump around less, and now I’m doing it more and more lately... I don’t know what that says about me, 🤔  

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately.

Sometimes I have to write in complete silence. Other times I’ll put on a mix of classical stuff/violins or lo-fi. If it’s one of the days where I can handle listening to music with lyrics while I write, then I usually put on one of @basic-banshee​‘s brilliant playlists.

The exception lately is that I hate my COBB a lot, so I made a playlist for it, to try and inspire me. I listen to it constantly, but it has not helped the writing. I’ve never made a playlist before, which I think is very apparent if you look at it:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2c9tIcdLOrBW3oLCn9NrA5?si=yHe07WDnQmm0SUEbAyS9yw

(Gimme Gimme Gimme by Yngwie Malmsteen is on there twice because one version only works on my computer and the other only works on my iPad???)

11. If you could only write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be?

I’m incapable of writing fluff or smut that is angst-free, so I gotta go with angst! (So long as I can give it a happy ending.)

13. Is there a trope you wouldn’t write if it was the last trope on earth?

I’m sure there is, but I’m having trouble thinking of one... I’ve no interest in writing non-con or exploitative violence, if that counts?

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

This is really hard! Let’s go with this bit from the end of Limit Break chapter 1:

Throughout this whole series, but this fic in particular, I had a rough time writing a “realistic” progression of their attempts at vulnerability and intimacy. I wanted something where they really had to work for it—no quick fix. (Which is what this argument is about.) But I also had to juggle giving it a back-and-forth without making it repetitive and boring. Two steps forward, one step back is something I always find myself writing, but I don’t think I’ve become any better at it, haha.

Anyway, for this part, I like all the bed stuff—as in, them addressing how they spent 7+ years sleeping across from each other, arguing through that space, hurting, all screwed up. And they have that yelling-over-the-bed moment in WS, too. But here, they’re in one bed, together. It’s not perfect by any means, but they’re at a place where they can at least address that, and where they’re able to promise each other that they’ll keep tackling it, even if now isn’t the best time. They can go to bed with their arms around each other. Not happy, but it’s something.

I like the baggage bit, too. Baz brought a lot of clothes on that trip. But this isn’t about that.

30. Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

SO MANY... I’ll gab about the WIP that’s second furthest along. The working title is The End Is The Beginning. It’s a post-WS break-up + get back together fic which is primarily third-person POV. The exception being a whole lot of journalling Simon does while they’re broken up. Here’s an angsty preview!

I promise it has a happy ending, 😬 I’m incapable of writing a sad ending. (For now...?)

I screamed about this earlier, but one longfic I really want to write but haven’t begun yet is a bodyswap!!!!!

Thank you again! 

Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing asks

[bigskydreaming]

tremsing82 replied to your post:

Feeling a mood to write some...

I would love for Jason to find out about Bruce’s abuse to Dick. Like Jason is from a abusive household and after he returned as red hood Bruce didn’t hold back but for Jason to find out the abuse Dick received from Bruce outside of the mask would be interesting to read.

This won’t be a prompt I use for this, solely because this is actually a BIG thing with me, and something that pops up a lot in various of the longer projects I work on off and on in my spare time. Mostly in a series of one-shots that are meant as a BFTC fix-it, that pretty much revolves around the idea of Dick and Jason eventually reconciling in the aftermath of Bruce’s perceived death, and bonding over the idea that they’re pretty much the only two people in the world who knew Bruce the way they did - at both his best and his worst. 

How to grieve for someone who at times you both loved and hated, who helped you and who hurt you, who was everything you wanted to be and everything you never wanted to be, all at the same time, at different times, at the strangest times.

So Jason finding out about the things Bruce has done to Dick, like in NTT #55, is of course a central part of that, as is Dick finding out the specifics of what happened between Bruce and Jason in UTRH (because I firmly and forever believe that Dick has zero idea about the batarang to the neck, just like I have trouble seeing any way in which Dick would have known about RHATO #25 before being shot and not had a serious reaction with Bruce). To me, a huge central part of these two brothers’ conflict in specific, is this perception they both have (with valid reasons) that the other has at various points had a relationship with Bruce that they would kill for.....even while being perfectly aware that at other times, their relationship has been nonexistent. 

But these specific actions of Bruce would inevitably be the cold shock of reality to them both, because I firmly believe this is the thing they could never explain away or justify to themselves.....they can reconcile the idea of Bruce hurting them on specific occasions, and not deem it abuse even as intimately acquainted as they are with the realities of abuse given everything they’ve lived, seen, and fought against in others....because they don’t want to accept that Bruce is capable of that, that they’re capable of....’submitting’ to that, so to speak, without leaving him behind...a huge part of them needs to keep him on a pedestal even when they’re furious at him. He played such a large role in shaping their lives in ways that they are grateful for that they have trouble juggling that with this perception of him too.

And due to their own individual self-esteem issues and negative self-perceptions (as well as desperate need for his approval, even when they vehemently deny they need or want it)....they’ve always been largely able to justify to themselves, or explain away his worst treatment of them.....but only so long as they’ve been able to convince themselves it was just them. That Bruce was only this way with them. 

Because one of Dick and Jason’s commonalities is that their self-deprecation is only the equivalent of their willingness to throw themselves under the knife for someone they care about, and that their negative self-perceptions are constantly being reinforced with what they perceive as additional evidence that various others are better than them. Do deserve more than them. Don’t deserve to suffer the things they’ve suffered. So IMO, my take has always been that Dick and Jason deep down love Bruce and the specific image of him they want and at times even need him to be....to such an extent that they can justify or explain away most anything he does to them at his worst....but I don’t believe for a second that either of them could ever do that if confronted with some of Bruce’s worst behavior with the other, or someone else they cared about.

So, the illusion born of their best memories of Bruce and that has so much to do with their inability to call him out on his shit even when faced with the reality of him in their worst memories of him.....can only hold, so long as they’re both one hundred percent convinced that it was just them. No one else. Because they must have deserved it. But that’s not an argument they’d ever make for anyone else, especially not one of their brothers.

But yeah, so this is a topic that as you can see, I’ve thought a lot about, lol, so its definitely something I’ve written about in depth in various WIPs that will at some point see the light of day (I’m posting WIP-phobic these days, due to uh....several years between updates on various published WIPs). Like I said, mostly the BFTC fix-it fic, but it pops up in various other things as well. There though, it has a super large presence because I personally can’t imagine all of that not coming up in their grieving processes for Bruce, because as much as most of us would like to romanticize deceased loved ones at all times, and never think of them without rose-colored glasses on, I can only draw upon my own experiences and its been mine that this isn’t always true, even when you really, truly and deeply love the person in question. Grief is an ugly, messy process, and it dredges up a lot. You’re often confronted with everything you don’t want to remember every bit as much as the stuff you fight to hold on to. 

So I’ve always really wanted to tackle that, as well as the dichotomy of being an abused kid who loves their abuser as much as he hates them, because with parents its just not as simple as pretending that the good emotions don’t exist, or ignoring the memories that truly are positive and had a positive influence on you and who you became, the parts you’re genuinely grateful to them for and wouldn’t want to imagine being without, even if you could. Its not easy to love some people, but its no easier to hate them, and to me, that’s Bruce and his relationship with his two eldest in particular, to like a T. 

Plus, I’ve always really liked the idea of exploring what kind of relationship Dick and Jason could have if these two brothers whose relationship at so many points has been largely at a distance and based off hearsay or imagined beliefs....like, in the aftermath of a tragedy like this, only finally started to really get to know who the other was, as adults, once the illusions they’d both been clinging to about their varying relationships with Bruce was finally stripped away. Also, I really wanted to explore the family dynamics that would result from the two of them specifically, with their contentious relationships with Bruce at some of his worse moments...like, forming a united front to kind of ‘protect’ Cass, Tim and Damian’s perceptions of Bruce, because for the most part at that point in time Bruce was still their hero, for all intents and purposes. Tim hadn’t yet IMO truly been disillusioned with Bruce at that point, Cass certainly hadn’t, and Damian might not have perceived things in the same way the others had, even if he had been fully aware of everything, but Bruce to him at that point was still kind of...a larger than life, mythic kind of figure. 

And I wanted to delve into the idea of Bruce’s two eldest children, who perhaps deep down wished that they had been left with just their cherished childhood memories of him and never had to remember the times that made them feel disillusioned with their father, like....the two of them acting in concert to kinda...protect their younger siblings’ own various cherished views of their dad, like....I just see that as being something very important to them, for reasons they’re not entirely clear on (or perhaps just don’t want to examine too closely).

Plus, of course, Bruce eventually returns as we all know, so.....holy conflicting emotions, Batfam.

But you’re absolutely right that Jason does and will have a LOT of thoughts and a lot to say on the subject of NTT #55′s events, both to Dick, to Bruce eventually, his therapist, etc.

Because not only does Jason NOT like the idea of his second father having abused his elder brother at all, to any degree, for any reason.....

You better fucking believe it that IMO, Jason Peter Todd has a fucking LOT to say about their dad using HIM, the child he ‘saved’ from an abusive home, as his EXCUSE to abuse his other child.

"Oh, I’m sorry, you were so fucked up about your previously-abused-kid dying that you thought a good way to handle it would be to abuse your other kid so that maybe when one day he died too, he and I would finally have some things to talk about? Yeah I think the fuck not, Pops!”

Anyway. Like I said. I obviously will not be expanding on that particular topic at this point in time.

Obviously.

Not even a little bit.

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

The Morning Watch

Another quick ficlet sprung from a very specific mental image and to get me out of the headspace that everything I write needs to be a big thing I’ve been agonising over for the past year or something silly like that (giant WIP pile? never heard of her). And also because pearls (and jackets).

Pearl and Pink Pearl, sometime shortly after Change Your Mind. ~1600 words.

---

The Morning Watch

“Here.”

It’s part of her light construct, of course, and not an actual jacket. But with just a bit of focus she can make it solid enough, real enough, heavy and warm enough to match anything she might find in one of Amethyst’s piles. And she knows very well how much comfort can be derived from simple, gentle, enveloping and grounding pressure.

And… well, she hopes the gesture counts, as well. The other pearl’s… Pink Pearl’s shoulders are trembling, and it is just too much, the way her hands grasp at her sides and her arms, the way she is trying to shrink into herself, as if she wants to disappear.

So Pearl makes sure to approach the other pearl from her unmarked side where she can be easily seen, and give ample warning as she shrugs the jacket off her own and drapes it over her shoulders instead. Makes sure to sit at her right, both of their legs dangling off the palm of the Temple’s hand, high above the beach. She also knows to keep from very abrupt movements - perhaps sadly, she isn’t exactly inexperienced in this.

Though, usually… usually it would have been Rose handling this part, with her healing, soothing tears and flowery words full of welcome and promise. Or Bismuth with her easy and warm manner and almost contagious ability to just, as she said, ‘roll’ with most of anything. But, well, this is hardly a usual case. And besides, times change, and Pearl adapts - with no small amount of pride.

“Okay?” Pearl asks, softly, and the other pearl nods, burrowing into the not-fabric as it is carefully wrapped around her. Her hands grasp at the hem and lapels of the jacket now, as the crisp breeze of just before dawn plays with it. It’s just big enough to hide the subtle tremor in those narrow shoulders, even if it doesn’t quite reach fully down her back.

Pearl studies her as she gazes out across the ocean and wonders idly if she even knows what an ocean is. If she’s ever seen one before, on some far off colony visit, before the lapis lazulis got called in to do their work.

She takes in the pale skin with the slightest brush of pink hue, the perfect rolls of rosy hair, and the worried little frown her lips are pursed in. The strange, slightly numb tiredness imprinted around her eye and the webbing of cracks running over the other, marks which the pearl lifts her hand and runs her fingers over every so often, almost as some sort of nervous habit.

No matter what Homeworld may think, they are not the same, and they are most certainly two very different, distinct, absolutely individual persons. But so much of… this feels so familiar, and so much of it like looking in a pink-tinted mirror.

“I’ve never been here before,” that small voice speaks up, so much more like hers than Yellow’s stringent, demanding one, or Blue’s soft whispers. To a discomfiting extent, perhaps.

And of course she hasn’t been to Earth, but Pearl doesn't interrupt, and lets her proceed at her own pace. By the time Pink Diamond got anywhere near her first colony, there was nothing pink about Pink Pearl anymore - in her place, something approaching the ideal pearl, the helpful little doll under perfect control.

Control going even beyond an Order, taking over your limbs, rooting you in place or sending you off to do something without the slightest chance of protest or resistance. So… violating, and especially so after all she’s gone through to win every possible scrap of independence. Pearl has to stop to wonder which is worse, and if something like that should even be compared. Being denied the possible sanctuary of your own mind, your own thoughts, and any awareness at all - or remaining fully conscious of being puppeteered around.

She shudders, and finds herself oddly thankful she doesn’t remember much of their mercifully brief time in White’s head. And then she feels a stab of awful, biting guilt, because Steven and Connie had to face so much on their own in there, and she, their guardian and teacher, failed them both like that…

But then, drawing her back into the moment, a touch. Pink Pearl noticed something off, perhaps - or perhaps she is just drawing comfort from wherever she feels she can find it. Whatever the case, she is pressed against Pearl’s side now, so Pearl takes it a small step further and puts a slow, careful arm around her, reaching over the bright yellow star.

“Is this alright?”

Her response is a nod, and shoulders relaxing the slightest bit under her touch.

They sit immersed in the quiet for a while, until Pink Pearl speaks up again uncertainly. “This is her planet… this is where she…?”

“Yes. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about what happened. About... her. Everything.” The eagerness purely because she can now is only a part of her desire to share this, and with this Gem in particular. This pearl she never got to know, but with whom she seems to share so much.

“And she’s really… gone?”

“Yes,” Pearl confirms slowly again. There is such a finality to it now, to something near-unthinkable that she’s been struggling with for what feels like so long. Even if, in the end, it was merely a blink of an eye in Gem terms. And even if it ended up being so strangely, frighteningly simple. Gone. “Yes, she is.”

“But then… what do I do now?”

Lost, so lost.

Pearl meets her wide, worried eye, strained with the beginnings of tears, and decisively stomps down on the painful sense of familiarity. Instead, she gives her best encouraging smile.

“Well, first, it might help to know that there’s no rush. You don’t have to do anything just now. Taking your time is… perfectly fine. In fact, I recommend it.”

Pink Pearl looks away, frowning, but Pearl presses on, free hand gesturing excitedly.

“You can stay here at the beach house with us for as long as you want. Forever, even! We can certainly make room, or make a room, and Bismuth, oh, that one’s always itching for new projects. But there’s also an entire world out there to get to know, with all sorts of people and Gems in it. And then - if we just get you a ship, which really shouldn’t be much of an issue anymore - an entire universe!”

Pearl stops herself just a bit too late, noticing she’s gotten carried away and has slipped far past overwhelming, and her pink counterpart is drawing back into herself.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says more softly, and sighs, rubbing gentle circles where she’s holding the other pearl’s shoulder. “Listen. What I mean to say is just… I know ‘whatever you want’ seems unfathomable, and, well, impossible. And entirely unhelpful when it feels like you want nothing in the galaxy as much as you want some simple direction. But it’s the truth. We can start off slowly, and find something you like, and work from there.”

Pink Pearl nods, and for a while it seems like that’s the end of the discussion, the rest of it packed away for some other day.

But then: “I liked the juggling,” Pink Pearl pipes up, rather suddenly, sitting up and almost dislodging both Pearl’s arm and the jacket.

“I really did, I wasn’t just saying that to make her happy. I even...” She trails off, and after a moment continues in what could almost be termed a conspiratorial whisper, a shy bit of blush painted across her cheeks. “I tried to learn how to do it myself, while I was alone during council meetings… it was supposed to be a surprise, maybe, but I never got to-- I wasn’t very good at it anyway, it’s so much harder than it looks.”

Pearl blinks for a moment, then latches onto the opening provided by more (and more lively) words than she’s ever heard Pink Pearl speak. “Well, that’s… that’s excellent! There you go, something to start with. A bit unorthodox, perhaps, yes, but an interesting challenge, and one that requires quite a bit of skill and perseverance. We’ll just… make sure you practice outside the house.”

It’s enough to prompt Pink Pearl’s first real smile, small and hesitant though it may be. Pearl feels a grin pull at her own lips and a sense of victory bloom in her chest as they both turn back towards their lovely ocean view.

“It’s very quiet here.”

“It’s a bit early for the humans,” Pearl explains, then reconsiders. “Did you mean that as a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I’m not sure.” Pink Pearl squirms under the jacket a bit, and pulls at it where it starts to slide down off her shoulder. “Good, I think. For now. But I don’t think I’d want it to be quiet forever.”

Pearl hums. “No, I wouldn’t either. As relaxing as it can be, one does appreciate the distraction, eventually.”

The horizon is tinged with the start of morning light, the slightest bit of purple already spilling over and mixing in the sky. The stillness does indeed begin to ebb (though thankfully still free of seagulls), and there, not too far off, a fishing boat returning mars the calm surface of the sea as well.

“You know,” Pearl begins, echoing the earlier slightly surreptitious tone, “if we stay here a little while longer, we’ll get to see something wonderful.”

“Oh?” It’s a very soft sound of genuine curiosity, and Pearl feels an immense need to nurture and encourage every bit of it.

“Oh yes! We can watch the planet’s sun rise over the horizon. It’s quite a sight, and the particularities of the atmosphere add some lovely elements to the visual. Would you like to see?”

A moment of consideration, and pink hands worrying at the lapels of a jacket, then straightening them out.

“Yes. I think I’d like that.”

[underspacegame]

(Note: This is a copy of the Kickstarter story, which you can read in full up above.)

It’s been a little more than two weeks since the Kickstarter concluded, so compared to some of these updates, this one will probably be a bit sparse. A lot of the work right now has been managing people, drafting up work orders, looking over offers, and juggling a lot of plates that we’ve set spinning.

With that in mind, a fair bit of work has been done on the game proper. Most of it has been bugfixing and polishing up the UI, options menu, and doing a lot of station work. The things you see here (minus a few tidbits) will be released in the next demo, patch 1.4, which hopefully will be this month. However, not every devlog with coincide with or preview a patch.

Also: If you haven’t filled out the reward survey yet, be sure to do so! Now onto the PROGRESS.

Option Menu Changes And Fixes

First-time players will find that the options menu will properly set default settings, so no more snow-white UI and weird option choices. We’ve also integrated a better way to handle updates to the UI, whenever new keys or options are added with updates.

On the subject of defaults, every options tab now has an option to restore their defaults. Previously only the keybinds had this button (which also wasn’t working due to a programming error), both fixed now.

Station UI Changes

A common problem I noticed during playthroughs is players on stations would tend to break the menus quite easily, either by walking away from NPCs they were trading with, or warping to a new room, or opening a menu that wouldn’t close the other menus. Basically, there were issues.

Such issues are now gone. The player can’t accidentally screw up menus, and menus can’t open over one-another. This will obviously greatly reduce issues where the player pulls up to a station and finds a dialogue box occluding their view.

Docking and undocking on stations had some issues, especially when players would accidentally die, undock, and find themselves phasing into the station. This was because a lot of autopilot and engine settings weren’t getting reset when the player docked on a station (which now happens, of course).

The dialogue UI and camera on stations has gone through a few changes. It’s moved over and shrunk a bit, giving the NPCs you talk to a bit more breathing room. To help with this, there’s now a dedicated dialogue camera when speaking to NPCs.

We’re still working on hooking up voice files to animated portions, such as this Macrovari’s glowy bits modulating with their speech.

Other UI/Effect Changes

Incorporating feedback from testers and players who played the demo, a few changes have been done to the UI, as well as fixes to things you didn’t notice, but I had and really annoyed me. Tooltips pop up much quicker now, having gone from around two seconds to a quarter of a second. Offscreen indicators (those arrows that tell you where things are) had weird issues where they’d take a second or two to appear. I’m still… not sure why they did this, but as it seemed to be related to them being outright disabled rather than simply hidden, the whole system was changed around. Now, indicators will update much quicker, but will also not show up for enemies that aren’t in range (so no more red arrows when you’ve left some pirates in the dust).

Waypoints had a variety of issues. Well, not exactly issues or bugs, just their current behaviors could be a little confusing. For starters, when a player was traversing a laneline and said laneline would be disrupted, the waypoint wouldn’t update to reflect what ring the player should dock at. It does now, allowing one to more easily pick up on the route they were following.

Speaking of routes and following, setting a path in the navmap menu wouldn’t refresh it properly, requiring the player to open and close the menu to get an idea of where they were supposed to go. This has been rectified. In addition, the player also gets an initial path that points them to the first location they should be heading towards.

As for miscellaneous effects, a few text fields have had their fonts changed for a more uniform look, you can no longer click buttons while the main menu loading screen is up, and there are now some minor new camera effects for when the player is thrusting. Work also began on ship debris: pieces left over after something dies horribly. It can be bashed around and will eventually fade, but otherwise is mostly an effect. That whole system is still a WIP, as it’ll require existing ship models to be taken and broken into tiny tiny pieces and smashed with a hammer before it’ll be fully integrated in-game.

Ship Customization and Trading Hangars

Probably the biggest change in the last few weeks has been a complete overhaul of the trading UI, as well as the proper addition of ship customization. Both of these will of course be included in demo 1.4.

One of the things we’ve wanted to do for some time with both inventory and trading was give the player a better preview of what they’d be buying or equipping, as well as clean up readability and adding various functionality to the whole thing. And now, we did!

The first change is readability, with the tab categories being moved up top, and the entire UI expanded and rearranged to make it easier to navigate and look through. We also added a search bar to the NPC section, though we all know nobody’s ever going to use it. On a more useful note, selecting individual hardpoints will not only filter it to show the valid equipment for that slot, but if an item is already on that point, you’ll be able to quickly compare stats. Items you cannot use (either because you have no valid hardpoints at all, or its ammunition for guns you don’t use), are greyed and shown after any valid items.

On the visual side of things, trading will now bring the player into the trading hangar, a separate room where, when selecting different items, will show a nice preview. Cargo items that are just things like ammo or commodities will be lifted up on a crate, while selecting equipment will give you a preview of it on your ship.

Next up, customization! Most of this tech was in-game already, but lacked a UI, saving options, blah blah blah the whole thing was kind of vestigial and half-baked. This is no longer the case. Now, any shipdealer also has the ability to color and customize your ship. A lot of new tech had to go into this, closely tied with the trading hangar, which also meant creating things a new icon system for both ships and equipment.

You can change the color of your headlights, the ship’s paint, and the color of the engines (a requested feature from a few people). Things like putting on decals will also be coming, though in a later update. We’ll be looking for feedback on what additional features you’d like to see here (color controls or other aspects of said color you’d like to control), as this feature is still WIP and the most subject to change out of all of these things. Once it’s in a more complete state, we’ll be releasing demo 1.4.

We’ve also been working on adding more assets, like remaining greyboxes for battleships, and going back over station models. More on this next update, when we have more to show.

That’s all for this month. Keep an eye on our pages on itch.io and indiedb for 1.4, which will be releasing once the last few changes to ship customization are in (namely: getting it to properly apply and save to ships).

[prowlingthunder]

WIP Meme

So I was tagged by @badwolfgirl01 who clearly doesn’t believe me when I say I have all the projects to do. How do you put nonsense under a cut?

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed Title: Deus ex machina, chapter 3 Notes: The partially-finished Chpt3 has been in my WIP for... a long time. I’ve been squinting at it for a while. Poke it once in a while. Read previous two chapters on Ao3

Eventually he got a few fake IDs that said he was a bit older than he was, which was okay because he looked it, and he started tending bar. The owner had been surprised when Desmond mixed up a drink from barely-there memories, mentioning that it had been many years since the man who'd known how to make a Bloody Templar had retired from the scene. Been kidnapped, you see, and then when he came back he'd done a bit of work and then finally gave his resignation.

He asked Aita. Aita told him, “That was you, before. But I couldn't fit into your life. I tried.”

Fandom: Harry Potter, Saint Seiya Title: A Mother’s Love, chapter 6 Notes: Crossover. Not enough to share here. It’s been stalled for years, since waaay back in my FF.net days. I don’t like to let things die, but it’s hard juggling RL and everything else. There’s been some interest shown in this recently and I’ve also found my old notes, so we’ll see where this goes.

Fandom: Harry Potter, Ronin Warriors Title: Harry Potter and the Light of the Moon, chapter 4 Notes: Crossover. Not enough of the chapter to share. See above reasons for hiatus. Unlike AML, there’s been less interest in this, but I actually like the plot for this a trifle better than AML and my notes are a bit better for this one too. I’ve been poking at it trying to resurrect it from the dead.

Fandom: Mass Effect, Gundam Wing Title: Minor Troubles Notes: Crossover, 2/6 posted on Ao3. The other chapters are slow-going but in existence, though they’re all arguing for Chapter 3 and I’m not yet comfortable sharing the hot mess with ya’ll.

Fandom: YuYu Hakusho, Ronin Warriors Title: Roses in Stained Glass Notes: Crossover, Chapter 2 in progress, Chapter 1 on Ao3. I have to do some more research and designing of the grounds, various people on the area, hammer the plot out a bit more. So far the only thing to share is a teaset, which isn’t enough to spoil you guys with.

Fandom: Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing Title: The Ripple Effect: Desert Rose Notes: Crossover, Part 1 on Ao3. I wont call it a chapter because the next part isn’t a direct continuation of what we’ve got, there doesn’t seem to be a directly-after section for the current posted in my brain. Go figure.

Fandom: Fallout 4 Title: The Devil’s Luck, Chapter 3 Notes: Chapters 1&2 on Ao3. Chapter subject to rewrite, because current writing doesn’t feel quite right.

The inside of the Memory Den was lipstick-red, the color women used to press to letters before they sent them to their sweethearts in the war. It was a shade of red that made his heart ache, just a little. His Nora had started wearing it after they had come home from Alaska, partly to draw attention away from her cheeks, partly to fit in better with the housewives who had surrounded them in Sanctuary Hills. A rather failed attempt to make nice with civilians.

Silas tried to ignore the way McCready watched him. There were a lot of questions in that blue gaze that he wasn't prepared to explain, though he thought he knew what all the questions would be if the younger soldier spoke them out loud.

The memory den? Are you sure? You know what they do in there, right?

He was sure. He had to know for sure if it worked like the rumors said it did. He had to know.

Fandom: Fallout 4 Title: Hell Hath No Fury, Chapter 17 Notes: 1-16 on Ao3. 17 is partially written but not enough to be posted, even with HHNF standards.

Fandom: Fallout 4, Fallout 3 Title: Big Town Blues Notes: Oneshot. Doesn’t yet cover enough of what I want it to cover to be considered even half-complete. Still working! RJ takes Duncan to safety, outside the Commonwealth. The only place that’s safe? Big Town.

“Awe-J and his son--”

“Duncan.”

“Awe-J and Duncan awe hungwy.”

Duncan waved a little over Mac’s shoulder. Tewwy blanched and dropped the nose of his shotgun at once, as if just noticing the child for the first time. “You’ve a child?”

“Startled the fuck out of me too,” MacCready tried, smiling as disarming as he could manage. “Didn’t know I’d made a baby until my wife gave birth to him.”

Tewwy sucked a breath, setting his shotgun down on the table while he moved to pull a pot off the fire. “Billy, you should let mayor know as soon as possible. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your friend and his son get breakfast.”

“Save some fow me!” Biwwy cried gleefully, nearly dancing on his way back out the door. Tewwy shot a hand motion at his retreating back that Mac didn’t know.

“Ignore him. He’s always hyperactive before breakfast. Have a sit, let the little one down?” The offer sounded pretty genuine.

MacCready moved to a crouch and started unstrapping Duncan’s harness from his back. The little boy let out a whoop of delight; partly for being let loose, partly for the truly divine scent coming from Tewwy’s pan. He had to snatch him by the harness before he went and got under Tewwy’s feet. “Ma,” Duncan whined plaintively.

“It’s not ready yet.”

“He sounds hungry,” Tewwy commented. Mac winced.

“We ran out of rations yesterday.” That hurt to admit. Especially to a stranger. But MacCready wasn’t above wheedling and emotional manipulation to get food in Duncan’s belly.

“Oh my.”

Fandom: Fallout 4, Fallout 3 Working Title: Radstorm Notes: Oneshot. I don’t like the way it reads, but I haven’t quite managed a rewrite that I like yet. It’s not... floaty enough? McCready gets radsickness.

It hurt. Everything hurt. His stomach roiled, guts twisting into knots, and rolled, vomiting over the edge of the cot. He could feel his clothing cling to him, wet and sticky like the blanket, but even that had chased through his bones to leave him weak. He flopped back on his back, hip aching, and tried to find air that wasn't going to melt his lungs.

People talked, background noise of the clinic, and he listened to them and couldn't make out the words, but the sounds helped. Something cool pressed against his flesh, against his head and against his chest. Lucy tugged at his shirt. He blinked up at her, dizzy; reached to find her fingers. She brushed his hand away.

Lu-- 'm hot.

Lucy paused for several heartbeats-- too fast, much too fast, he was too hot and he had to cool down. He heard her fiddling with something. The coolness on his head was ice against a fire. He could feel it drip into his hair. "You have a fever. Don't worry. We'll fix it."

Missed you. She looked like she had when he last saw her, all kitted up to go help mungos who didn't deserve it, stained white cloth at her throat to hide an old scar. She didn't respond to him, cut his shirt down the sleeves and pulled it out from beneath him. He realized, distantly, that he wasn't wearing his scarf. She must have taken it already.

Hot, he whined, and Lu ignored him in an effort to keep working.

Fandom: Fallout 4 Title: Line-dried Laundry Notes: Oneshot, Lupercalia fic. Incomplete, needs some touch-ups. No porn, promise. Nora and her brother back during soldier-days.

"Do you know why we're here?"

Nora did, and told him as much. The rest of the men were eyeing each other in confusion.

Major Rye dipped his hand to her, offering the table.

"You're evaluating us, and our brothers, sir. You're feeding your sister a heat suppressant to ensure her heat holds off while you judge the roster as worthy or unworthy."

Hawken furrowed his brow. Opened his mouth to say something, and decided to keep his fool mouth shut.

Major Rye had a pretty face; strong features, brown eyes, tanned skin. The crinkle around his eyes was a smile. "Very good. Officer Nedved and his brother are our escorts. The four of us will be spending the next two days with your squad to ease the transition. If all goes well, we'll retire to a breed room."

Nora didn't know if it was BreedCom policy to take a whole team off duty or not. She doubted it. Especially since they were front-liners, were Army not Recon Marines, they were a pack within a pack but it wasn't so tight that they couldn't handle without a member or two...

There was something else Major Rye and Officer Nedved were here for, and it wasn't just to rope them into a heat-shack.

Fandom: Fallout 4 Working Title: N/A Notes: Demon-summoning AU, the next in Every Word a Promise - Sil at a Summoning.

[Is this one yours?] Puck asks, words a whisper of wind through his hair. It's like a caress. A part of Silas resents him for being here; a part of him is exulted. Puck is a spirit of deceptive magic, a woodland sprite for twisting, winding paths that get lost in the woods, shaded corners and cool spots where the snake will strike if someone steps. But he is trustworthy, if the words are asked correctly. He never makes a bargain he will not keep. He never offers his strength if he will not be entertained-- and the dead bring no entertainment, for Puck.

Puck is all smiles and honeyed words, a willow swaying in the wind, or the aspen, quaking, but strong enough not to come undone.

Silas can't say anything to him without seeming crazy, so he nods; this one mine.

The thing about forest-spirits, they're all trees standing alone. The woods only truly exist when they come together.

Fandom: Fallout 4 Working Title: All The Things I Didn’t Say Notes: Oneshot? Y7 fic, because Sevan needs love too. This is my... second or third rewrite of this, and I’m not sure I like it yet. Y7 contends with his human counterpart.

The few people he'd run into the Commonwealth hadn't batted an eyelash at the thought that he wasn't the true Silas King. They had greeted him as if he had been. They didn't know.

Silas King knew. He knew what he was and what he wasn't, and Y7 might have gotten the drop on him if he had been more careful, perhaps, or if Silas hadn't seemed to have been expecting him, or.. maybe a thousand other things. Maybe if the rouge coursers hadn't been in town. Maybe if he hadn't followed him down into the Vault.

Maybe.

Maybe.

He hadn't been prepared to have to outwit an unaware subject. He hadn't been prepared to have to handle Silas King in a verbal chess-match, when he had been trained to deal with him physically. Father had some sort of upset against him, which Y7 was not privy to, was not prepared to ask, and did not care to know. It wasn't his business who Father did and did not have issues with.

My son sent you, didn't he?

Fandom: Fallout 4 Working Title: N/A Notes: The one death fic for Sil I haven’t bothered to finish yet and may have to re-poke...

Last night's dinner wants to revisit him. Silas swallows it back down fiercely, ribs screaming in pain. Plants both palms on the ground beneath him and shoves, pushing himself up, gets a knee under himself. Fire sears across his chest. Bones grind, broken. The pain threatens to swallow him.

I can't die like this. Not like this. The enemy is still alive; he wont let himself die until he's dealt with them, wont lay down like a dog and let them have their play. He wont, he wont, he wont. Damned raiders.

Calculatedly, not the best plan he'd ever had. But he couldn't just let them take his men. The Minutemen trusted him, they were his subordinates, his command. Maybe them being his soldiers didn't mean the same thing, here in the future, but it meant plenty to Silas. He refused to die before he got them the keys, got them their weapons--

Fandom: Fallout: New Vegas Working Title: [Inside Pandora’s Box] Notes: Oneshot, Lupercalia fic, wolf’s perspective of waking up at Doc Mitchell‘s.

"Easy there, girl. You and your lady are safe now."

There is still pain. Pain in her chest, and Hope remembers a bullet taking her there when she'd lunged at cigarettes. She still wears the muzzle they put on her, but she cannot blame the old man for trying. Even the shamans will tie off a wolf's jaws when they or their sibling are injured. A wolf cannot help to bite, in hopes of warding away more pain.

Her sister's mind is a quiet blanket of nothing in her mind. That worry holds more pain than Hope can ever feel in her own body. She reaches out, careful, prodding at the pack-sense, but the man is not of the People, he is a stranger utterly, and Hope cannot speak to him, cannot ask him, does my sister yet live?

He'd said you and your lady. Hope does not often have much of her namesake, but she hopes.

Fandom: Fallout: New Vegas Working Title: N/A Notes: Pandora walks the Divide and bristles a lot. Will continue it as I replay more of New Vegas.

Couriers knew each other, and the Post knew them. A courier from the Legion could march into any Post in the Mojave and ask to kip down in the middle of NCR space, and not only would they get a bed and a hot meal, but they'd get a night watch too. She'd heard-- knew, in her bones-- that the same was true for couriers from the other side of the war, who had business through the Legion. The penalty for harassing or harming a courier in the Legion was death. There was a reason she had been able to walk through Nipton unscathed.

There was a reason she could walk anywhere. 

The Legion would protect her regardless of her business, and the NCR would protect her as long as her business was their business.

Fandom: Fallout 3 Working Title: Outsider Notes: Oneshot of Jay feeling homesick and a little like an alien outside the vault. 

Jay tries not to be, but he is a bleeding heart and he knows it. Still, he does not give them money. He gives them food, and water, and a change of clothes, and a map. For those who want more, Jay has given enough. For those rest who weep with joy, Jay has given them the world.

And that scares him more than he wishes to admit, because they look up with worship and admiration, or they look on him with curled lips twisted in bitter venom. He does not know these people. He does not understand them, because they are not his people.

His people do not want him.

Fandom: Fallout 3 Title: The G.O.A.T. Notes: Oneshot, going to rewrite because it’s choppy and mostly notes but I do rather love it. What it says on the tin. Likely to contain Jay/Butch porn in the rewrite.

He was given a folder and a passcode to his new quarters, and Officer Mack led him there.

Turns out, Vault 101 had a chapel. Who knew?

(Apparently the Chaplain was supposed to be celibate and chaste, according to the Vault 101 charter-- among other things on the list the Overseer had given him, not all of which sounded like good ideas-- but Jay forgot about that rule the moment the king snake decided to help him move his things and break in the new mattress.)

Fandom: Fallout 3 Working Title: (Best laid plans) Notes: Slowgrow Vault fic between Jay and Butch. We’ll see how long it takes to actually write...

The Doctor would probably kill him in the morning. But damn it, he was so tired of being referred to as Junior, as Little James; at least if he changed his hair, he couldn't look just like him.

He had been thinking about that all week, but all he could think about now was the feeling of Butch's gloved fingers working at his scalp, the echo of nothing a quiet lull. Butch had put a towel over his shoulders, but he'd had to strip down to his waist to lessen the risk of getting it on his vault-suit anyway. Butch had admitted to never dying someone's hair before, when Jay had asked.

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Working Title: N/A Notes: The next fic in Suddenly: An Army. So far it’s mostly hand-written notes and false starts, but it is in progress. Prompto takes Ignis to meet his family.

Fandom: Gundam Wing Working Title: N/A Notes: A clonebaby genderbender AU where it’s Dad and Seven Daughters.

There were three ways to keep a secret that Nate knew.

The first was to keep it totally to yourself. That wasn't going to work for Nate, exactly, since his secret wasn't some intangible thing.

The second was to tell only one other person-- get the secret out of your system-- and then kill them. Two could keep a secret if one of them was dead. This was also not going to work for Nate, though he would happily kill anyone to keep his secret secure.

The third way was tell everyone.

Fandom: Lord of the Rings Working Title: Wolflords Notes: A fire-watch child from Gondor dreams of Elves and their wolves

Giayl had known the fable of elven-wolves. Of course he had. Maybe his family wasn’t scholars-- he and his family had been looking after the watch-fire for generations-- but the black land could be seen in the distance, and on especially calm nights, there was claim the orc-wolves could be heard. Giayl didn’t know he believed that one. He much preferred the stories of of the elves and their wolves, sunshine-gold and moon-bright silver, midnight blue dappled with stars, all long-lived and all elegant and graceful like the elves themselves. Eternal.

Fandom: Lord of the Rings: Online Working Title: Caran Dagra Notes: Imorrael’s mortal son joins the American Military. James finds unexpected friends there.

“It's from my mother,” he offered to their silence, pulling out a just-as-new piece of card parchment.

Aeglirann, son of Imorrael, she wrote in her flowing, looping script. He had been reading Elvish for enough years it was easy to decipher. Not that there was a lot of it. Take this and know you are mine.

He sat the card aside, face up, and ignored the trio as they read it. He peered back into they envelope instead, then tipped it up into his palm.

A piece of ash-wood fell into his fingers. A simple oval slice, about as big as a quarter, with a penny-length shard of blue in the center, gemstone fused to heartwood. A small hole had been punched through the wood, and the whole thing had apparently been coated in clear resin to hold color.

Fandom: Mass Effect Working Title: Star-light, Star-bright Notes: Bobby Shepard and her wolf-queen, Danica, deal with the nonsense that is their life.

But then, it was hard to love anything more than she loved Danica, the sun-gold she-wolf that she was. An Alliance wolf from a strong line, a little temperamental but bred for endurance, strength, command. A bloodline that traced itself beyond the birth of the Alliance, beyond the deaths of the last trolls, beyond, beyond, beyond. Back before time. Before space.

Before the first wolves touched minds with the first wolf-brother. Certainly before wolves ever took to wolf-sisters. But Danica had decided that Bobby was going to be hers before anything else, before the chain of command or the loyalty of a pack. Bobby belonged to Danica, and Danica belonged to Bobby.

And when they did get a pack, when they cycled through training and ended up with a team, they didn't... quite fit in, but Danica would duck her head and Bobby would salute their team leader, and they would make it work.

When the Batarians attacked while on leave, Danica glowed bright as a star in the pack sense, and Bobby glowed with her, and beneath them, around them, people rallied under instruction and discipline of a wolf and Danica and Bobby dug in their heels and decided, no more. No one else.

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Title: Black Cats and Broken Mirrors, Chapter 5 Notes: Chapters 1-4 on Ao3. All the actual words I’ve got for chapter 5 is handwritten and everything else is notes. So I’ve nothing quite to share with you for chapter five, except suffice to say, Felix is unhappy.

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Working Title: Wolfthreat Notes: This is going to need some rework and some more polishing, but overall I do like it and so I’m not anywhere near done yet. Why you gotta be frustrating, Soldier Harris? Lupercalia fic.

“Mister G!”

Giles had the good grace not to have been holding a cup of tea, this time. But his smile was wide and a little tired, and the book in front of him for once had nothing to do with demons or magic or anything like that. Not that Alexander accounted Son of None as a good book, but in a world without the Slayer, any literature at all making it's way whole and accounted for to the Hellmouth was a godsend, and comic books took their time making it around the Wolfmount.

Most places didn't want to deal with them.

Other wolfpacks didn't want to deal with them. A wolfpack living on a Hellmouth had to be considered pretty much gone, and anyone who stayed for more than a rotation wasn't considered fit for duty anywhere else, because everywhere else was tame and Sunnydale broke lesser wills to live.

Alexander had been here since he was born. So had Aurore. Neither of them were going anywhere, and if they had to teach the people coming in, that was okay too.

Fandom: Attack on Titan Working Title: N/A Notes: OCs everywhere! Because I couldn’t ever help myself :3

The girl brightens for reasons John can't fathom, except that she looks way too happy her brother is leaving. “Yes!”

Faolan then looks at him, and smiles again. “I'll keep Adam safe, okay kid? You can count on me for that.” John blinks and then nods, slowly, while Adam huffs and punches Faolan in the arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“I don't need protection; you seem to be forgetting who had better scores!”

“So what? I still kicked your ass in hand-to-hand.”

“Titans are people-shaped, not people-sized!”

John doesn't know what any of it means, but it's not actually that reassuring.

Adam says goodbye to him again before he and Faolan are heading back to the other soldiers. When the bell tolls, the girl, Adolpha, is waving again.

“Come back soon! I'll be waiting!”

John takes the ferry back into Rose and makes his way home, and Adam's right; he doesn't really notice that Adam's not there. Adam hasn't been there for years.

Fandom: Space Pirate: Captain Harlock Working Title: N/A Notes: Logan contends with the difference between love and loyalty, and who is worth either.

The words Mom had said, clear and crisp in his childhood, had been the root of much Logan had done in his life. He had always tried to live by her words; not to never do anything he might regret, but to never regret anything he would do. Never to give his loyalty away to the first bidder-- and Mom had been big on loyalty, true, but the lesson had always struck with him the most, there in her garden.

Loyalty, Mom had said, is not love. Love is different. Love can kill you, if you let it; it can strangle those you care for. It can swallow you, and tear you apart from the inside. Which isn't to say it isn't beautiful or wonderful or precious. Love is... mistletoe. It flowers and blooms, and it only grows bigger with each passing year, so long as it has something to feed off. But mistletoe can kill you, if you eat it.

But loyalty is the most beautiful thing, because love just happens, but loyalty... Loyalty is a choice.

Logan had always loved Nami, he guessed. Like a parasite, they had just grew together. But Nami had married Ezra; Ezra, who had a stable job in the military and was moving up in the world. No one had any doubts he would make it to the top of the command bracket; he might even get a seat on the Gaia Coalition's Counsel. And Logan loved Ezra, the love of two brothers raised together, so close they might have been one person.

But he had been loyal to Ezra, too. He had never taken Nami to bed, even though he loved her. Even though he'd had his chances, every time Ezra was out on deployment. He'd longed every time he saw her that she had picked him instead, but every time he saw Ezra look at her, he just seemed so heartbreakingly happy...

Fandom: Thor Working Title: All the Little Children Notes: Lupercalia fic. Thor deals with the aftermath of Loki’s fall, sheltering his brother’s children from the wrath of their grandfather.

I could have done it.

No, Loki.

Time and time again, their father had charged the both of them with great quests, feats so impossible that they were nothing short of heroic. Feats only the princes of Asgard could accomplish. It was a hard pill to swallow, hearing his own words out of Loki's mouth. Loki, who had never debased himself so far as to say I could have. Loki, who was given impossible tasks, do not let the Giant finish the wall, and Loki who always came through for their father.

Thor failed occasionally. But nothing felt more terrible a failure than watching Loki let go of the All-Father's staff.

He couldn't save his brother.

I couldn't save mother.

The words echoed loudly through his head, sharp and full of piercing pain, his agony put to voice. But he had never called Loki mother. A sharp knocking on his chamber door jerked him from his reverie and he turned his head, blinking at it. He had talked with his father, after the Fall; Thor, listen to me, Loki was a frost giant, you did the right thing. It would not be a servant at the door, for after the conversation he had explicitly told them he would not be bothered. No courtier would risk it, would dare. He was to be alone.

I couldn't save mother. I couldn't-- I tried.

The knock repeated, more urgent.

Fandom: Overwatch Working Title: N/A Notes: McHanzo timetravel shenanigans. Because why not let them timetravel to meet kid!McCree before he’s their McCree...

There was also a frog on the third bench, complaining about the radio station. Jesse was pretending not to hear him talk. There were only two channels this far out in the middle of nowhere, and the only reason Jesse hadn’t picked country was because half of them were nursing injuries and the other half were fatigued to hell and back. New fangled rock and roll wasn’t was good as the classics, but it was still heavy on the drums and guitar riffs.

Mama had sworn by them. Lucio was just going to have to chill.

Fandom: Overwatch Working Title: N/A Notes: McSymmenji fic that’s had several false starts but I think I finally have a good one for. It’s just going to be longer than planned...

Fandom: Overwatch Working Title: N/A Notes: McHanzo Gift-fic, in progress, with a slice of bodyguard and worldbuilding. Probably wont post unless the recipient clears me to, but.

Not that Hanzo isn’t still otherwise. He is. He is the stillest thing Jesse’s ever seen, calm as a frozen pond on a bright-moon’d winter’s night. There’s no wasted movements with the man.

There aren’t many with himself, but Jesse knows when he’s lying and he’s always lying if he says he doesn’t have a flair for the dramatics. Which he does. There is a reason he keeps flash-bangs in his arsenal.

He’s American, after all. Nobody does fireworks like America.

Nobody does Hanamura like Hanzo, either. That’s why they’re here.

Though frankly, Jesse’s getting real sick of Hanamura.

Fandom: Ronin Warriors Working Title: N/A Notes: I’m thinking about a third done, honestly. There’s some more things I want to cover before I post this, even if this section feels complete save for a name.

"Arashinoumi."

Yulie's head snapped his way. "Huh?"

"That's her name. Arashinoumi."

Stormy waters, Mia noted. Like white-water rapids, or seafoam.

"Arashinoumi.." Yulie blinked again, glancing down at her. She sat primly in front of him, dark eyes looking up at him patiently. He stretched his fingers out, careful, aware enough that she wasn't a house pet or a tame dog. "Can I pet her?"

"She's waiting for your name," Torrent gentled. "She says you can pet her after."

Fandom: Ronin Warriors Title: Blood and Ashes Notes: Hariel/Arago Lupercalia fic that’s undergone several rewrites and false starts. Urgh.

“If we should be careful,” Hariel ventured, listening through Inferno’s ears to the fact that Arago had not left. “Then why are we still here?” He knew the answer, but Inferno reaffirming it would secure the knowledge. There were so many reasons.

Because a human and his wolf-brother had slain a dragon and tiger. Because one clanless samurai had slain an emperor. Because there were no properly bonded packs in Suzuran, just Bonded, scattered few and far between. Because this man had killed his blood-brother. Because the pair of them were from beyond the gates; humans from the ancestral home of humans, humans that were short-lived but burning bright. Because Inferno was a bitch, and Hariel was a bitch’s brother. Because it had to be lonely, being a pack of one.

“We want to meet them.” Inferno gave him a wolf-smile and nudged at his elbow with her nose, begging affection. He reached out and rubbed her behind the ear, where she liked it best. “They are young puppies, and they are full of curiosity. All we have to do is wait them out.” Not their tactically best plan, but she was right, and that was what mattered.

Fandom: Ronin Warriors Title: Coal Dust Notes: The next in Ink Stains On Paper, covering Ryo and his role in this world. I’ve had a bunch of false starts on this as I try to find the right way to do it, but I think I’m finally getting close.

Fandom: Ronin Warriors Title: Kagome, Kagome Notes: I need to rewrite part of the first bit, and finish the third and fourth bits. Go figure. Seiji-centric, covering a return to New York, dealing with the events of the OVA.

“Hey man, you ruined my shot!”

“My apologies.” New Yorkers, he thought, moving to the side of the alley; he pressed himself up against the wall, fingers unconsciously finding the ridges between mortar and red clay. It felt rough and filthy against his skin, catching at his clothes and hair like grasping hands, reaching to pull him in and under...

The stranger's camera flashed again and at once Seiji flung himself away from the wall, covered in goose-flesh; sharp amethyst eyes hunted the stained structure for the offending limbs.

There was nothing there to see.

“Hey.. hey man, you okay? You lost or somethin'?”

Fandom: Star Wars Working Title: Supernova Notes: Oneshot. Original Characters, Not A Canon Character In Sight, Eury deals with being a teacher and explaining what the Force is.

“The Force is in everything?”

“Everything,” he confirmed. “They are the stars, and all the space between the stars. The stars make light so we can see them, and the space between stars does not. Sometimes the space between makes stars, and they light up like other stars. And sometimes the stars go dark,” sometimes they explode. Sometimes they turned into planets. But those were things his little girl didn’t need yet. “But they’re still stars.”

“You and mommy are stars?”

“And you.” He leaned down to tap their noses, prompting a sleepy giggle. He hated having to explain it, but better she learn now than later, even if he would just likely end up teaching her again tomorrow. “You are a little star too.”

Fandom: Star Wars Working Title: Monsters in the Dark Notes: Oneshot. Original Characters, Not A Canon Character In Sight

(He remembers: You would condemn an innocent to death? You would cast yourself into the darkest of the dark, the murder of the unborn, and you would do it in the name of the Jedi? You fear the dead so much you do not know to fear the living! I refuse this, I defy it! This is an innocent, and it will live, you will protect it and it will live, Oriole, protection of the innocent is the keystone of Jedi teachings and this one you shall not break!)

(He was a Sith and the same way he would let her fears fester so she would come to him, accept his care, love, and affection, he would break her will to save his child. No matter what he had to do, no matter how Dark it made him.)

(He was a Sith. He did not fear the Dark. He thrived in it. Let any who dared to cross him try and see what monsters it made of men.)

Fandom: Star Wars: The Old Republic Working Title: N/A Notes: Oh. I forgot I had started this. Zabrak bounty hunter appears on the screen!

At least her father was with the Republic. If he'd have been on the other side of the war...

Well. Jeeri could safely say at least that they did more work for the Republic then they did for the Empire. The crews overall moral compass meant that Republic jobs spoke to the morals louder, and there was also that the Republic usually offered better pay, or at least jobs that were more or less straightforward.

Didn't mean that all jobs were Republic. The lab of horrors was a nightmare in her mind, never shaken. Sometimes Empire jobs were honest. Sometimes Empire jobs were things she would have done on her own, the Republic trying to win their war the wrong way. If she got paid for it... well.

Well. At least they didn't get caught. And her conscious was clean.

Fandom: Sword Art Online Title: This Is A Bad Plan, Chapter 4 Notes: I, uh, have notes on Chapter 4, but nothing written otherwise. Fic is a “SAO becomes real and some players read that book but tried it anyway.” Read Chapters 1-3 on Ao3

Fandom: Voltron Working Title: N/A Notes: The Keith-centric sequel to In The Wind (Or Lack Thereof). I’ve had an unfortunate number of false starts with this one, go figure... 

Fandom: Ronin Warrior, Dragon Age Working Title: Dragons Breath Notes: Crossover. I think I’m going to flat-out rewrite this.. Sequel to Sympathy for the Devil

“But if you come with Morrigan and I, who would take care of the mabari?”

Flemeth had wrapped the king in Chasind clothing, which Cailan had kept; a wrapped tunic bound together with a sash, and a loose pair of trousers.  The blue looked good on him-- not bright, but not dark either.  It managed to make him stand out less then his armor, which had probably been the point.  ...not that they did not stand out a good deal anyway, but until they figured out what Loghain had told to Fereldan, it was best they not announce that the king still lived.

A part of Alistair was selfishly glad he was alive.  Another part entirely was horribly frustrated by it.

It could have been worse.  The Darkspawn could have killed him; he wouldn't have even had the chance to give the other a proper funeral.

“Maric could come with us!”

...it was amazing that he had named the beast after their father.

Fandom: Final Fantasy X, Gundam Wing Working Title: Like Shooting Stars Notes: Crossover. Parts of this I like, and parts of this I’ll cut, but the idea is super shiny and I’m definitely running the whole way with this.

Wakka and his newfound, impetuous (but cute) Blitzball player had brought a young woman in from the surf when they had come back to the village. Yuna had saw her out of the corner of her eye during the Summoning, swathed in white, with hair lighter than Yuna's, but not nearly anything as pale as the young Blitzer's chocobo-yellow. She had watched, Yuna thought, leaning against the posts that made up the door of the Lodge, but by the time the Summoning was over and Yuna could look, the lady in white had vanished. Back inside, maybe.

The townspeople had demanded her attention, after. She hadn't been able to disappoint them, even though she had wanted desperately to rest.

She did see her again later, though, around the village fire.

Fandom: YuYu Hakusho, Naruto Working Title: Foxkids Notes: Sequel to More Precious Than Gold

Gaining custody of an orphan wasn't easy in Konoha. Kurama wasn't sure how he had thought it might be-- maybe because it should have been, because it would have been in the youkai. It would have been nothing; just his desire to pick up a child no one else cared for, scruff him and carry him back to the den. Easy.

Apparently in Konoha it required paperwork, and a large amount of it, and no small amount of Kurama's clever lies.

Fandom: Star Trek, Ronin Warriors Working Title: N/A Notes: ...I have no excuses for this that do not include a lot of things I don’t want to tell anybody. Moving on.

"Spread the word that we're not to use the torpedos, either."

That catches Spock completely flat footed. He stares at Seiji, bright-eyed and surprised, and it strikes Seiji as familiarity too. He looked so much like friends he had lost a long time. Maybe it's the shape of his face. He's not sure. It takes a moment for him to bring himself back to some semblance of control. "It is illogical not to use every weapon at our disposal." Which was Vulcanese for Spock asking why, even though he knew perfectly well why it was illogical in this situation. Bomb an enemy home world? Over a single escaped criminal? That would start a war, no questions asked.

Fandom: X-men, Ronin Warriors Working Title: Dragon Teeth Notes: Kenshin becomes a teacher at a certain school. In need of a rewrite.

Fandom: The Hobbit, Ronin Warriors Working Title: N/A Notes: The one where Seiji becomes Bilbo’s live-in house-guest after the Fell Winter and is still there when a specific wizard shows up to cause trouble.

Fandom: Gundam Wing, Invasion America, Final Fantasy X Working Title: Unlikely Notes: Relena, Auron, and Cale survive the first day of the zombie apocalypse. In theory.

“Do you know where we’re going? You seem quite lost for an earth-man…”

Talking. He’d been doing that since he woke up. Auron kind of wished he’d stop or go back to being unconscious. Certainly he’d been easier to carry. “Steenrade,” because he had figured out already that answering questions gained him some measure of quiet during the march. “The capital of the Sanq Kingdom.”

Cale-Oosha nodded. “Is that the capital of the world? I had meant to go there to meet with the king.”

“Queen,” Auron corrected. And the Queen of Sanq had once been Queen of the World, if his ventures in the local political system were correct. But that was nearly an elected position; like the Maesters. From the sound of things, the young woman hadn’t been Queen of the World in a long time.

Fandom: Gundam Wing, Naruto Working Title: N/A Notes: Shikamaru, Temari, and space colonies.

"Welcome to the outside world, Mister and Missus Nara. I see you have both arrived in civilization in one piece." At Missus Nara, Temari grinned. She produced a pair of paper from the fold of her robe and Agent Chang accepted them, breaking the seals pressed upon the first, reading it over, before then doing the same with the second. Dark eyes peered over at them when he was finished. "So you are the two they sent for the Winner job?"

Which sounded like something the Fifth Hokage would name an op, if they still let her name ops. The winner job. On paper it had struck him weird, but on paper they were going to be sent to protect important person, name undisclosed, delivered upon arrival. Now, out of Chang's mouth, it sounded like a person's name. Which... well. Okay then.

Fandom: Gundam Wing, Pacific Rim Working Title: N/A Notes: Unattached to the Hellfire universe. Dunno what I’ll do with this...

Because Catherine hated kaiju, and she hated the rangers that fought them, and she hated the mess it all caused, but No Name had carried the letter with her name on it for the last six months, the one with an attached but out-of-date photograph by at least a year, the one that had told him that she didn't have a firm address, she worked for the circus that was trying to eek out a living in these times, and make people forget the troubles of giant monsters for a little while.

She picked him out of the crowd for knife-throwing, probably to see if he would flinch. They didn't say a word to each other then, but he waited around outside the tent after her acts finished, and the first thing she did was slap him.

And then she burst into tears, and hugged him.

Fandom: Gundam Wing Working Title: N/A Notes: A GW daemon au fic I don’t know what I’ll do with...

Self-conscious, Jesse drew his hands into his sleeves a bit further, leaving the folder open on his desk. The owl whoooed. Jesse blinked. “Pardon?”

The owl's face pinched a bit, and the creature seemed to twist, becoming horribly small. The new recruit recoiled as it turned itself into something closely resembling vampire horror-stories. “Whooo are youuu?” Female tone and pitch, rolling tones that marked the owl's own accent, after a fashion. All daemon had them.

“Err... Agent Jesse.”

“Ahh. Sooo youuu are the newww boy.”

Well. Yes. But he wasn't sure why he needed to tell her that. “And you are?”

“None of youuur business.”

“Zulaykha, be polite.” The bird hmphed, even as the blond caught Jesse's attention once more. Gone was the business suit, replaced by a proper Preventer's uniform, ZERO stitched into the name placeholder.

I also have scraps/notes for:  -- Another part in my Dragon Age Every Warden Ever series called Hounds of Gray. -- Scraps for a Fallout 4 Sil introducing X6 to Sanctuary. -- Notes for a With Bundles of Forget-Me-Nots verse fic, direct sequel to In Memory -- Notes for another part of Differences -- Scraps for an Invasion America fic for Nebrija and Arzu fic, two original characters of mine. -- Scraps for an Invasion America fic for poor Briggs -- The Stan sequel fic to Aitai  -- The Hanzo/Yuuma prequel fic of Aitai -- The sequel piece of Quadrature, covering Seiji’s recovery and where Halo is -- Notes for the eight Invasion America prompts I still owe  -- A short cutesy few hundred words fic for Fallout 3 character Joan  -- Notes for the Ronin Warriors prompts I owe -- The sequels to Le Dragon, Step One, Silence is Golden, Confabulation, Here, There Be Dragons, Can’t Take You Anywhere, Lords of War, Pack and Pups (What’s Mine Is Mine)  -- The mission fic sequel to Tango Sigma -- Notes for the Hellfire series, chiefly a vs Kaiju fic -- Notes for Kaiju Blue/Titan Red, Upon the Apple Lotus, Dogtags, First Words, Instinct, Like Good Soldiers, Dirt  -- Notes and scrap for several fics inside the Teeth and Pawprints universe -- A hypothetical fic for Stars Which Never Were, as well as a potential second chapter to Of Empty Streets and Seasalt

Things I May Never Post:  -- An unfinished pre-Vault Fallout 4 A/B/O fic that feels like it needs an overhaul to be less bad porn and more world-building. -- A couple Fallout 4 fics I was writing with a soul-sister who I am currently going through a rough patch with. -- A Kingdom Hearts fic I started with a soul-brother who is no longer talking to me.

AND IN OTHER NEWS, Things Not Fanfiction:

I have twelve novels in progress, in various stages, but still. Twelve. One of them is mostly finished and will be my July Camp NaNo project. The others are in various stages of disarray and or worldbuilding.