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eiirisworkshop · 3 years

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The Fanfic Author's Guide to Metatext

(As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

Also available as a PDF here. This thing is 13,000 words. The PDF is recommended.

Intro: What is Metatext?

Metatext is everything we fanfic authors post along with our story that is not the story itself: title, tags, summary, author's notes, even the rating.

It is how we communicate to potential readers what they're signing themselves up for if they choose to read our story, how we let them make informed decisions regarding which fics they want to read, how we get their interest and, frequently, how they find our story in the first place. A lot of metatext acts as a consent mechanism for readers, it's the informed part of informed consent.

Since most of us who write fanfic also read it, we understand how important this is! But, for the most part, no one ever teaches us how to use metatext; we have to pick it up by osmosis. That makes it hard to learn how to use it well, we all suck at it when we first start out, and some of us may go years without learning particular conventions that seem obvious to others in our community. This creates frustration for everybody.

Enter this guide!

This is meant to be a sort of handbook for fic writers, particularly those of us who post on Archive of Our Own, laying out and explaining the established metatext conventions already in use in our community so we (and our readers!) are all on the same page. It will also provide some best-practices tips.

The point is to give all of us the tools to communicate with our audience as clearly and effectively as possible, so the people who want to read a story like ours can find it and recognize it as what they're looking for, those who don't want to read a story like ours can easily tell it's not their cup of tea and avoid it, nobody gets hurt, and everybody has fun—including us!

Now that we know what we're talking about, let's get on with the guide! The following content sections appear in the order one is expected to provide each kind of metatext when posting a fic on Ao3, but first….

Warning!

This is a guide for all authors on Ao3. As such, it mentions subject matter and kinds of fic that you personally might hate or find disgusting, but which are allowed under the Archive's terms of use. There are no graphic descriptions or harsh language in the guide itself, but it does acknowledge the existence of fic you may find distasteful and explains how to approach metatext for such fics.

Some sexual terminology is used in an academic context.

A note from the author:

This guide reflects the conventions of the English-language fanfiction community circa 2021. Conventions may differ in other language communities, and although many of our conventions have been in place for decades (praise be to our Star Trek loving foremothers) fanfiction now exists primarily in the realm of internet fandom where things tend to change rather quickly, so some conventions in this guide may die out while other new conventions, not covered in this guide, arise.

This is not official or in any way produced by the Archive of Our Own (Ao3), and though some actual site rules are mentioned, it is not a rulebook. Primarily, it is a descriptivist take on how the userbase uses metatext to communicate amongst ourselves, provided in the interest of making that communication easier and more transparent for everyone, especially newer users.

Contents

How To Use This Guide Ratings Archive Warnings Fandom Tags Category Relationship Tags Character Tags Additional Tags Titles Summaries Author's Notes Series and Chapters Parting Thoughts

How To Use This Guide

Well, read it. Or have it read to you.

This isn't a glossary, it's a handbook, and it's structured more like an academic paper or report, but there's lots and lots of examples in it!

Many of these examples are titles of real media and the names of characters from published media, or tags quoted directly from Ao3 complete with punctuation and formatting.

Some examples are more generic and use the names Alex, Max, Sam, Chris, Jamie, and Tori for demonstration purposes. In other generic examples, part of an example tag or phrase may be sectioned off with square brackets to show where in that tag or phrase you would put the appropriate information to complete it. This will look something like “Top [Character A]” where you would fill in a character's name.

This guide presumes that you know the basics of how to use Ao3, at least from the perspective of reading fic. If you don't, much of this guide may be difficult to understand and will be much less helpful to you, though not entirely useless.

Ratings

Most fanfic hosting sites provide ratings systems that work a lot like the ratings on movies and videogames.

Ao3's system has four ratings:

General

Teen

Mature

Explicit

These seem like they should be pretty self-explanatory, and the site's own official info pop-up (accessible by clicking the question mark next to the section prompt) gives brief, straightforward descriptions for each of them.

Even so, many writers have found ourselves staring at that dropdown list, thinking about what we've written, and wondering what's the right freaking rating for this? How do I know if it's appropriate for “general audiences” or if it needs to be teen and up? What's the difference between Mature and Explicit?

The best way to figure it out is often to think about your fic in comparison to mainstream media.

General is your average Disney or Dreamworks movie, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon shows, video games like Mario, Kirby, and Pokemon.

There may be romance, but no sexual content or discussion. Scary things might happen and people might get hurt, but violence is non-graphic and usually mild. Adults may be shown drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, and some degree of intoxication may be shown (usually played for laughs and not focused on), but hard drug use is generally not shown or discussed. There is little to no foul language written out and what language there may be is mild, though harsher swears may be implied by narration. There are no explicit F-bombs or slurs.

Teen is more like a Marvel movie, most network television shows (things like The Office, Supernatural, or Grey's Anatomy), video games like Final Fantasy, Five Nights at Freddie's, and The Sims.

There might be some sex and sexual discussion, but nothing explicit is shown—things usually fade to black or are leftimplied. More intense danger, more severe injuries described in greater detail, and a higher level of violence may be present. Substance use may be discussed and intoxication shown, but main characters are unlikely to be shown doing hard drugs. Some swearing and other harsh language may be present, possibly including an F-bomb or two. In longer works, that might mean an F-bomb every few chapters.

Mature is, in American terms, an R-rated movie* like Deadpool, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Exorcist, and Schindler's List; certain shows from premium cable networks or streaming services like Game of Thrones, Shameless, Breaking Bad, and Black Sails; videogames like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and The Witcher.

Sex may be shown and it might be fairly explicit, but it's not as detailed or graphic or as much the focus of the work as it would be if it were porn. Violence, danger, and bodily harm may be significant and fairly graphic. Most drug use is fair game. Swearing and harsh language may be extensive.

Explicit is, well, extremely explicit. This is full on porn, the hardcore horror movies, and snuff films.

Sex is highly detailed and graphic. Violence and injury is highly detailed and graphic. Drug use and its effects may be highly detailed and graphic. Swearing and harsh language may be extreme, including extensive use of violent slurs.

Please note that both Mature and Explicit fics are intended for adult audiences only, but that does not mean a teenaged writer isn't going to produce fics that should be rated M or E. Ratings should reflect the content of the fic, not the age of the author.

Strictly speaking, you don't have to choose any of these ratings; Ao3 has a “Not Rated” option, but for purposes of search results and some other functions, Not Rated fics are treated by the site as Explicit, just in case, which means they end up hidden from a significant portion of potential readers. It really is in your best interest as a writer who presumably wants people to see their stories, to select a rating. It helps readers judge if yours is the kind of story they want right now, too.

Rating a fic is a subjective decision, there is some grey area in between each level. If you're not quite sure where your fic falls, best practice is to go with the more restrictive rating.

*(Equivalent to an Australian M15+ or R18+, Canadian 14A, 18A or 18+, UK 15 or 18, German FSK 16 or FSK 18.)

Warnings

Ao3 uses a set of standard site-wide Archive Warnings to indicate that a work contains subject matter that falls into one or more of a few categories that some readers are likely to want to avoid. Even when posting elsewhere, it's courteous to include warnings of this sort.

These warnings are:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

Just like with the ratings, the site provides an info-pop up that explains what each warning is for. They're really exactly what it says on the tin: detailed descriptions of violence, injury, and gore; the death of a character central to canon or tothe story being told; non-consensual sex i.e. rape; and depictions of underage sex, which the site defines as under the age of 18 for humans—Ao3 doesn't care if your local age of consent or majority is lower than that.

In addition to the four standard warnings above, the warnings section has two other choices:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

These do not mean the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. “No Archive Warnings Apply” means that absolutely nothing in your fic falls into any of the four standard warning categories. “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” means that you the author are opting out of the warning system; your fic could potentially contain things that fall into any and all of the four standard warning categories.

There's nothing wrong with selecting Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings! It may mean that some readers will avoid your fic because they're not sure it's safe for them, and you might need to use more courtesy tags than you otherwise would (we'll talk about courtesy tags later), but that's okay! Opting out of the warning system can be a way to avoid spoilers,* and is also good for when you're just not sure if what you've written deserves one of the Archive warnings. In that case, the best practice is to select either the warning it might deserve or Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, then provide additional information in other tags, the summary, or an initial author's note.

Unless you're opting out of using the warning system, select all the warnings that apply to your fic, if any of them do. So if a sixteen year old main character has consensual sex then gets killed in an accident that you've written out in excruciating detail, that fic gets three out of the four standard warnings: Underage, Major Character Death, and Graphic Depictions Of Violence.

*(Fandom etiquette generally favors thorough tagging and warning over avoiding spoilers. It doesn't ruin the experience of a story to have a general sense of what's going to happen. If it did, we wouldn't all keep reading so many “there was only one bed” fics.)

Fandom Tags

What fandom or fandoms is your fic for? You definitely know what you wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it's obvious what to tag it as.

Sometimes, it is obvious! You watched a movie that isn't based on anything, isn't part of a series, and doesn't have any spinoffs, tie-ins or anything else based on it. You wrote a fic set entirely within the world of this movie. You put this movie as the fandom for your fic. Or maybe you read a book and wrote a fic for it, and there is a movie based on the book, but the movie is really different and you definitely didn't use anything that's only in the movie. You put the book as the fandom for your fic.

All too often, though, it's not that clear.

What if you wrote a fic for something where there's a movie based on a book, but the movie's really different, and you've used both things that are only in the movie and things that are only in the book? In that case you either tag your fic as both the movie and the book, or see if the fandom has an “all media types” tag and use that instead of the separate tags. If the fandom doesn't have an “all media types” tag yet, you can make one! Just type it in.

“All media types” fandom tags are also useful for cases where there are lots of inter-related series, like Star Wars; there are several tellings of the story in different media but they're interchangeable or overlap significantly, like The Witcher; or the fandom has about a zillion different versions so it's very hard, even impossible, to say which ones your fic does and doesn't fit, like Batman. Use your best judgement as to whether you need to include a more specific fandom tag such as “Batman (Movies 1989-1997)” alongside the “all media types” fandom tag, but try to avoid including very many. The point of the “all media types” tag is to let you leave off the specific tags for every version.

In a situation where one piece of media has a spinoff, maybe several spinoffs, and you wrote a fic that includes things from more than one of them, you might want use the central work's “& related fandoms” tag. For example, the “Doctor Who & Related Fandoms” tag gets used for fics that include things from a combination of any era of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And don't worry, from the reader-side of the site the broadest fandom tags are prioritized. The results page for an “all media types” or “& related fandoms” search includes works tagged with the more specific sub-tags for that fandom, the browse-by-fandom pages show the broadest tag for each fandom included, and putting a fandom into the search bar presumes the broadest tag for that fandom. A search for “Star Wars - All Media Types” will pull up work that only has a subtag for that fandom, like “The Mandalorian (TV).” You don't have to put every specific fandom subtag for people to find your fic.

If you wrote a fic for something that's an adaptation of an older work—especially an older work that's been adapted a lot, like Sherlock Holmes or The Three Musketeers—it can be hard to know how you should tag it. The best choice is to put the adaptation as the fandom, for instance “Sherlock (TV),” then, if you're also using aspects of the older source work that aren't in the adaptation, also put a broad fandom tag such as “Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms.” Do not tag it as being fic for the source work—in our Sherlock example that would be tagging it “Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle”—unless you are crossing over the source work and the adaptation. Otherwise, the specific fandom subtag for the source work ends up clogged with fic for the adaptation, which really is a different thing.

By the same token, fic for the source work shouldn't be tagged as being for the adaptation, or the adaptation's subtag will get clogged.

The same principle applies to fandoms that have been rebooted. Don't tag fic for the reboot as being for the original, or fic for the original as being for the reboot. Don't tag a fic as being for both unless the reboot and original are actually interacting. Use an “& related fandoms” tag for the original if your fic for the reboot includes some aspects of the original that weren't carried over but you haven't quite written a crossover between the two. Good examples of these situations can be seen with “Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)” vs. “Star Trek: The Original Series,” and “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)” vs. “She-Ra: Princess Of Power (1985).”

Usually, this kind of mistagging as a related fandom happens when someone writes a fic for something that is or has a reboot, spinoff, or adaptation, but they're only familiar with one of the related pieces of media, and they mistakenly presume the fandoms are the same or interchangeable because they just don't know the difference. It's an honest mistake and it doesn't make you a bad or fake fan to not know, but it can be frustrating for readers who want fic for one thing and find the fandom tag full of fic for something else.

In order to avoid those kinds of issues, best practice is to assume fandoms are not interchangeable no matter how closely related they are, and to default to using a tag pair of the most-specific-possible sub-fandom tag + the broadest possible fandom tag when posting a fic you're not entirely sure about, for instance “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

The Marvel megafandom has its own particular tagging hell going on. Really digging into and trying to make sense of that entire situation would require its own guide, but we can go through some general tips.

There is a general “Marvel” fandom tag and tags for both “The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom” and “The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types.” Most of us who write Marvel fic are working with a cherry picked combination of canons from the MCU, various comics runs, both timelines of X-Men movies, and possibly several decades worth of cartoons. That's what these tags are for.

If your cherry picked Marvel fic is more X-Men than Avengers, go for the “X-Men - All Media Types” tag.

If you are primarily working with MCU canon, use the MCU specific tags rather than “all media types” and add specific tags for individual comics runs—like Earth 616 or the Fraction Hawkeye comics—if you know you're lifting particular details from the comics. If you're just filling in gaps in MCU canon with things that are nebulously “from the comics” don't worry about tagging for that, it's accepted standard practice in the fandom at this point, use a broader tag along with your MCU-specific tag if you want to.

Same general idea for primarily movie-verse X-Men fics. Use the movie-specific tags.

If your fic mostly draws from the comics, use the comics tags. If you're focusing on an individual run, show, or movie series rather than an ensemble or large swath of the megafranchise, tag for that and leave off the broader fandom tags.

Try your best to minimize the number of fandom tags on your Marvel work. Ideally, you can get it down to two or three. Even paring it down as much as you can you might still end up with about five. If you're in the double digits, take another look to see if all the fandom tags you've included are really necessary, or if some of them are redundant or only there to represent characters who are in the fic but that the fic doesn't focus on. Many readers tend to search Marvel fics by character or pairing tags, it's more important that you're thorough there. For the fandom tags it's more important that you're clear.

If you write real person fiction, you need to tag it as an RPF fandom. Fic about actors who are in a show together does not belong on the fandom tag for that show. There are separate RPF fandom tags for most shows and film franchises. Much like the adaptation/source and reboot/original situations discussed earlier, a fic should really only be tagged with both a franchise's RPF tag and its main tag if something happens like the actors—or director or writer!—falling into the fictional world or meeting their characters.

Of course, not all RPF is about actors. Most sports have RPF tags, there are RPF tags for politics from around the world and for various historical settings, the fandom tags for bands are generally presumed to be RPF tags, and there is a general Real Person Fiction tag.

In order to simplify things for readers, it's best practice to use the general Real Person Fiction tag in addition to your fandom-specific tag. You may even want to put “RPF” as a courtesy tag in the Additional Tags section, too. This is because Ao3 isn't currently set up to recognize RPF as the special flavor of fic that it is in the same way that the site recognizes crossovers as special, so it can be very difficult to either seek out or avoid RPF since it's scattered across hundreds of different fandom tags.

On the subject of crossovers—they can make fandom tagging even more daunting. Even for a crossover with lots of fandoms involved, though, you just have to follow the same guidelines as to tag a single-fandom work for each fandom in the crossover. The tricky part is figuring out if what you wrote is really a crossover, or just an AU informed by another fandom—we'll talk about that later.

There are some cases where it's really hard to figure out what fandom something belongs to, like if you wrote a fanfic of someone else's fanfic, theirs is an AU and yours is about their OC, not any of the characters from canon. What do you do?! Well, you do not tag it as being a fanfic for the same thing theirs was. Put the title of their fic (or name of their series) as the fandom for your fic, attributed to their Ao3 handle just like any other fandom is attributed to its author. Explain the situation in either the summary or the initial author's note. Also, ask the author's permission before posting something like this.

What if you wrote a story about your totally original D&D character? The fandom is still D&D, you want the “Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)” tag.

What if there's not a fandom tag on the Archive yet for what you wrote? Not a problem! You can type in a new one if you're the first person to post something for a particular fandom. Do make sure, though, that the fandom isn't just listed by a different name than you expect. Many works that aren't originally in English—including anime—are listed by their original language title or a direct translation first, and sometimes a franchise or series's official name might not be what you personally call it, for instance many people think of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series as The Golden Compass series, so it's best to double check.

What if you wrote an entirely new original story that's not based on anything? Excellent job, that takes a lot of work, but that probably doesn't belong on Ao3! The Archive is primarily meant as a repository for fannish content, but in a few particular circumstances things we'd consider Original Work may be appropriate content for the Archive as well. Double check the Archive's Terms of Service FAQ and gauge if what you wrote falls under the scope of what is allowed. If what you wrote really doesn't fit here, post it somewhere else or try to get it published if you feel like giving it a shot.

Category

What Ao3 means by category is “does this fic focus on sex or romance, and if so what combination of genders are involved in that sex or romance?”

The category options are:

F/F

F/M

Gen

M/M

Multi

Other

The F/F, F/M, and M/M categories are for stories focused on pairings of two women, a woman and a man, and two men, respectively. These refer to sexual and/or romantic pairings.

The Other category is for stories focused on (sexual and/or romantic) pairings where one or both partners are not strictly male or female, such as nonbinary individuals, people from cultures with gender systems that don't match to the Western man-woman system, and nonhuman characters for whom biological sex works differently or is nonexistent, including aliens, robots, and inanimate objects or abstract concepts. There are some problems with treating nonbinary humans, eldritch tentacle monsters, sexless androids, and wayward container ships as all the same category, but it's the system we currently have to work with. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Multi is for stories in which several (sexual and/or romantic) relationships are focused on or which focus on relationships with multiple partners, including cases of polyamory, serial monogamy, strings of hookups with different people, and orgies. A fic will also show as “Multi” if you, the author, have selected more than one category for the fic, even if none of those are the Multi category. Realistically, the Archive needs separate “Multiple Categories” and “Poly” options, but for now we have to work with this system in which the two are combined. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Gen is for stories that do not contain or are not focused on sex or romance. Romance may be present in a gen fic but it's going to be in the background. While rare, there is such a thing as a sexually explicit gen fic—solo masturbation which does not feature fantasizing about another character is explicit gen fic; a doctor character seeing a series of patients with sex-related medical needs following an orgy may qualify if the orgy is not shown and the doctor is being strictly professional—but such fic needs to be rated, otherwise tagged, and explained carefully in the summary and/or author's note.

Much like the warnings section, category is a “select all that apply” situation. Use your best judgement. For a fic about a polyamorous relationship among a group of women, it's entirely appropriate to tag it as both F/F and Multi. A poly fic with a combination of men and women in the relationship could be shown as both M/M and F/M, Multi, or all three. A fic that focuses equally on one brother and his husband and the other brother and his wife should be tagged both M/M and F/M, and could be tagged as Multi but you might decided not to just to be clear that there's no polyamory going on. If you wrote a fic about two characters who are both men in canon, but you wrote one of them as nonbinary, you could tag it M/M, Other, or both depending on what you feel is representative and respectful.

When dealing with trans characters, whether they're trans in canon or you're writing them as such, the category selection should match the character's gender. If there's a character who is a cis woman in canon, but who you're writing as a trans man, you categorize the fic based on his being a man. If there's a character who is a cis man in canon, but whom you're writing as a trans man, he is still a man and the fic should be categorized accordingly. When dealing with nonbinary characters the fic should really be classed as Other though, by convention, fics about characters who are not nonbinary in canon may be classed based on the character's canon gender as well or instead. When dealing with gender swapped characters—i.e. a canonically cis male superhero who you're writing as a cis woman—class the fic using the gender you wrote her with, not the gender he is in canon.

Most of the time, gen fics should not be categorized jointly with anything else because a fic should only be categorized based on the ships it focuses on, and a gen fic should not be focusing on a ship in the first place.*

*(One of the few circumstances in which it might make sense to class a fic as both gen and something else is when writing about Queerplatonic Relationships, but that is a judgement call and depends on the fic.)

Relationship Tags

The thing about relationship tagging that people most frequently misunderstand or just don't know is the difference between “Character A/Character B” and “Character A & Character B.”

Use a “/” for romantic or sexual relationships, such as spouses, people who are dating, hookups, and friends with benefits. Use “&” for platonic or familial relationships, such as friends, siblings, parents with their kids, coworkers, and deeply connected mortal enemies who are not tragically in love.

This is where we get the phrase “slash fic.” Originally, that meant any fic focused on a romantic paring, but since so much of the romantic fic being produced was about pairs of men, “slash fic” came to mean same-sex pairings, especially male same-sex pairings. Back in earlier days of fandom, pre-Ao3 and even pre-internet, there was a convention that when writing out a different-sex pairing, you did so in man/woman order, while same-sex pairings were done top/bottom. Some authors, especially those who have been in the fic community a long time, may still do this, but the convention has not been in consistent, active use for many years, so you don't have to worry about putting the names in the “correct” order. Part of why that died out is we, as a community, have gotten less strict and more nuanced in our understandings of sex and relationships, we're writing non-penetrative sex more than we used to, and we're writing multi-partner relationships and sex more than we used to, so strictly delineating “tops” and “bottoms” has gotten less important and less useful.

The convention currently in use on Ao3 is that the names go in alphabetical order for both “/” and “&” relationships. In most cases, the Archive uses the character's full name instead of a nickname or just a given name, like James "Bucky" Barnes instead of just Bucky or James. We'll talk more about conventions for how to input character names in the Characters section. The Archive will give you suggestions as you type—if one of them fits what you mean but is slightly different from how you were typing it, for instance it's in a different order, please use the tag suggested! Consistency in tags across users helps the site work more smoothly for everybody.

This is really not the place for ship nicknames like Puckleberry, Wolfstar, or Ineffable Wives. Use the characters' names.

Now that you know how to format the relationship tag to say what you mean, you have to figure out what relationships in your fic to tag for.

The answer is you tag the relationships that are important to the story you're telling, the ones you spend time and attention following, building up, and maybe even breaking down. Tagging for a ship is not a promise of a happy ending for that pair; you don't have to limit yourself to tagging only the end-game ships if you're telling a story that's more complicated than “they get together and live happily ever after.” That said, you should generally list the main ship—the one you focus on the most—first on the list, and that will usually be the end-game ship. You should also use Additional Tags, the summary, and author's notes to make it clear to readers if your fic does not end happily for a ship you've tagged. Otherwise readers will assume that a fic tagged as being about a ship will end well for that ship, because that's what usually happens, and they'll end up disappointed and hurt, possibly feeling tricked or lied to, when your fic doesn't end well for that ship

You don't have to, and honestly shouldn't, tag for every single relationship that shows up in your fic at all. A character's brief side fling mentioned in passing, or a relationship between two background characters should not be listed under the Relationship tag section. You can list them in the format “minor Character A/Character C” or “Character C/Character D – mentions of” in the Additional Tags section if you want to, or just tag “Minor or Background Relationship(s)” under either the Relationship tag section or in the Additional Tags section.

There are two main reasons to not tag all those minor relationships. The first is to streamline your tags, which makes them clearer and more readable, and therefore more useful. The second reason is because certain ships are far more common as minor or background relationships than as the focus of a work, so tagging all your non-focus focus ships leads to the tags for these less popular ships getting clogged with stories they appear in, but that are not about them. That is, of course, very frustrating for readers who really want to read stories that focus on these ships.

If your fic contains a major relationship between a canon character and an OC, reader-insert, or self-insert, tag it as such. The archive already has /Original Character, /Reader, /You, and /Me tags for most characters in most fandoms. If such a relationship tag isn't already in use, type it in yourself. There are OC/OC tags, too, some of which specify gender, some of which do not. All the relationship tags that include OCs stack the gender-specific versions of the tags under the nongendered ones. Use these tags as appropriate.

For group relationships, both polycules and multi-person friendships, you “/” or “&” all the names involved in alphabetical order, so Alex/Max/Sam are dating while Chris & Jamie & Tori are best friends. For a poly situation where not everyone is dating each other you should tag it something like “Alex/Max, Alex/Sam” because Alex is dating both Max and Sam, but Max and Sam are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. Use your judgement as to whether you still want to include the Alex/Max/Sam trio tag, and whether you should also use a “Sam & Max” friendship tag.

Generally, romantic “/” type relationships are emphasized over “&” type relationships in fic. It is more important that you tag your “/”s thoroughly and accurately than that you tag your “&”s at all. This is because readers are far more likely to either be looking for or be squicked by particular “/” relationships than they are “&” relationships. You can tag the same pair of characters as both / and & if both their romance and their friendship is important to the story, but a lot of people see this as redundant. If you're writing incest fic, use the / tag for the pair not the & tag and put a courtesy tag for “incest” in the Additional Tags section; this is how readers who do not want to see incestuous relationships avoid that material.

Queerplatonic Relationships, Ambiguous Relationships, Pre-Slash, and “Slash If You Squint” are all frequently listed with both the “/” and “&” forms of the pairing; use your best judgement as to whether one or the other or both is most appropriate for what you've written and clarify the nature of the relationship in your Additional Tags.

Overall, list your “/” tags first, then your “&” tags.

Character Tags

Tagging your characters is a lot like tagging your relationships. Who is your fic about? That's who you put in your character tags.

You don't have to and really should not tag every single background character who shows up for just a moment in the story, for pretty much the same reasons you shouldn't tag background relationships. We don't want to clog less commonly focused on characters' tags with stories they don't feature prominently in.

You do need to tag the characters included in your Relationship tags.

A character study type of fic might only have one character you need to tag for. Romantic one shots frequently only have two. Longfics and fics with big ensemble casts can easily end up with a dozen characters or more who really do deserve to be tagged for.

Put them in order of importance. This doesn't have to be strict hierarchal ranking, you can just arrange them into groups of “main characters,” “major supporting characters,” and “minor supporting characters.” Nobody less than a minor supporting character should be tagged. Even minor supporting characters show up for more than one line.

If everyone in the fic is genuinely at the same level of importance (which does happen, especially with small cast fics), then order doesn't really matter. You can arrange them by order of appearance or alphabetically by name if you want to be particularly neat about it.

Do tag your OCs! Some people love reading about OCs and want to be able to find them; some people can't stand OCs and want to avoid them at all costs; most people are fine with OCs sometimes, but might have to be in the mood for an OC-centric story or only be comfortable with OCs in certain contexts. Regardless, though, Character tags are here to tell readers who the story is about, and that includes new faces. Original Characters are characters and if they're important to the story, they deserve to be tagged for just like canon characters do.

There are tags for “Original Character(s),” “Original Male Character(s),” and “Original Female Character(s).” Use these tags! If you have OCs you're going to be using frequently in different stories, type up a character tag in the form “[OC's Name] – Original Character” and use that in addition to the generic OC tags.

Also tag “Reader,” “You,” or “Me” as a character if you've written a reader- or self-insert.

You can use the “Minor Characters” tag to wrap up everybody, both OC and canon, who doesn't warrant their own character tag. Remember, though, that this tag is also used to refer to minor canon characters who may not have their own official names.

Just like when tagging for relationships, the convention when tagging for characters is to use their full name. The suggestions the Archive gives you as you type will help you use the established way of referring to a given character.

Characters who go by more than one name usually have their two most used names listed together as one tag with the two names separated by a vertical bar like “Andy | Andromache of Scythia.” This also gets used sometimes for characters who have different names in an adaptation than in the source text, or a different name in the English-language localization of a work than in the original language. For character names from both real-world and fictional languages and cultures that put family or surname before the given name—like the real Japanese name Takeuchi Naoko or the made up Bajoran name Kira Nerys—that order is used when tagging, even if you wrote your fic putting the given name first.

Some characters' tags include the fandom they're from in parentheses after their name like “Connor (Detroit: Become Human).” This is mostly characters with ordinary given names like Connor and no canon surname, characters who have the same full name as a character in another fandom, such as Billy Flynn the lawyer from the musical Chicago and Billy Flynn the serial killer played by Tim Curry in Criminal Minds, and characters based on mythological, religious, or historical figures or named for common concepts such as Lucifer, Loki, Amethyst, Death, and Zero that make appearances in multiple fandoms.

Additional Tags

Additional Tags is one of the most complicated, and often the longest, section of metatext we find ourselves providing when we post fic. It's also the one that gives our readers the greatest volume of information.

That, of course, is what makes it so hard for us to do well.

It can help to break down Additional Tags into three main functions of tag: courtesy tags, descriptive tags, and personal tags.

Courtesy tags serve as extensions of the rating and warning systems. They can help clarify the rating, provide more information about the Archive Warnings you've used or chosen not to use, and give additional warnings to tell readers there are things in this fic that may be distasteful, upsetting, or triggering but that the Archive doesn't have a standard warning for.

Descriptive tags give the reader information about who's in this fic, what kind of things happen, what tropes are in play, and what the vibe is, as well as practical information about things like format and tense.

Personal tags tell the readers things about us, the author, our process, our relationship to our fic, and our thoughts at the time of posting.

It doesn't really matter what order you put these tags in, but it is best practice to try to clump them: courtesy tags all together so it's harder for a reader to miss an important one, ship-related info tags together, character-related info tags together, etc.

There are tons and tons of established tags on Ao3, and while it's totally fine, fun, and often necessary to make up your own tags, it's also important to use established tags that fit your fic. For one thing, using established tags makes life easier for the tag wranglers behind the scenes. Using a new tag you just made up that means the same thing as an established tag makes more work for the tag wranglers. We like the tag wranglers, they're all volunteers, and they're largely responsible for the search and sorting features being functional. Be kind to the tag wranglers.

For basically the same reasons, using established tags makes it easier for readers to find your fic. If a reader either searches by a tag or uses filters on another search to “Include” that tag, and you didn't use that tag, your fic will not show up for them even if what you wrote is exactly what they're looking for. Established tags can be searched by exactly the same way as you search by fandom or pairing, your off the cuff tags cannot.

Let's talk about some well-known established tags and common tag types, divvied up by main function.

Courtesy

A lot of courtesy tags are specific warnings like “Dubious Consent,” “Incest,” “Drug Use,” “Extremely Underage,” “Toxic Relationship,” and “Abuse.” Many of these have even more specific versions such as “Recreational Drug Use” and “Nonconsensual Drug Use,” or “Mildly Dubious Consent” and “Extremely Dubious Consent.”

Giving details about what, if any, drugs are used or mentioned, specifying what kinds of violence or bodily harm are discussed or depicted, details about age differences or power-imbalanced relationships between characters who date or have sex, discussion or depictions of suicide, severe or terminal illness, or mental health struggles is useful. It helps give readers a clear sense of what they'll encounter in your fic and decide if they're up for it.

One the most useful courtesy warning tags is “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” which basically means “there are things in this fic which are really screwed up and may be disturbing, read at your own risk, steer clear if you're not sure.” This tag—like all courtesy warnings, really—is a show of good faith, by using it you are being a responsible, and thoughtful member of the fanfic community by giving readers the power and necessary information to make their own informed decisions about what they are and are not comfortable reading.

Saying to “Heed the tags” is quite self-explanatory and, if used, should be the last or second to last tag so it's easy to spot. Remember, though, that “Heed the tags” isn't useful if your tags aren't thorough and clear.

“Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is one of only things that should ever go after “Heed the tags.” If you use this, your additional warnings need to go in the author's note at the very beginning of the fic, not the one at the end of the first chapter. If your additional warnings write up is going to be very long because it's highly detailed, then it can go at the bottom of the chapter with a note at the beginning indicating that the warnings are at the bottom. Some authors give an abbreviated or vague set of warnings in the initial note, then longer, highly detailed, spoilery warnings in the end note. It's best to make it as simple and straightforward as possible for readers to access warnings.

Tagging with “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat,” “Heed the tags,” or “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is not a substitute for thorough and appropriate courtesy tagging. These are extra reminders to readers to look closely at the other warnings you've given.

While most courtesy tags are warnings, some are assurances like “No Lesbians Die” or “It's Not As Bad As It Sounds.” A fic tagged for rape or dub-con may get a tag assuring that the consent issues are not between the characters in the main ship; or a fic with a premise that sounds likely to involve lack of consent but actually doesn't may get a tag that it's “NOT rape/non-con.” A tag like “Animal Death” may be immediately followed by a freeform tag assuring that the animal that dies is not the protagonist's beloved horse.

Descriptive

There are a few general kinds of descriptive tags including character-related, ship-related, temporal, relation-to-canon, trope-related, smut details, and technical specifications.

Many character- and ship-related tags simply expand on the Character and Relationship tags we've already talked about. This is usually the place to specify details about OCs and inserts, such as how a reader-insert is gendered.

When it comes to character-related tags, one of the most common types in use on Ao3 and in fandom at large is the bang-path. This is things like werewolf!Alex, trans!Max, top!Sam, kid!Jamie, and captain!Tori. Basically, a bang-path is a way of specifying a version of a character. We've been using this format for decades; it comes from the very first email systems used by universities in the earliest days of internet before the World Wide Web existed. It's especially useful for quickly and concisely explaining the roles of characters in an AU. Nowadays this is also one of the primary conventions for indicating who's top and who's bottom in a ship if that's information you feel the need to establish. The other current convention for indicating top/bottom is as non-bang-path character-related tags in the form “Top [Character A], Bottom [Character B].”

Other common sorts of character tags are things like “[Character A] Needs a Hug,” “Emotionally Constipated [Character B],” and “[Character C] is a Good Dad.”

Some character-related tags don't refer to a particular character by name, but tell readers something about what kinds of characters are in the fic. Usually, this indicates the minority status of characters and may indicate whether or not that minority status is canon, as in “Nonbinary Character,” “Canon Muslim Character,” “Deaf Character,” and “Canon Disabled Character.”

Down here in the tags is the place to put ship nicknames! This is also where to say things like “They're idiots your honor” or indicate that they're “Idiots in Love,” maybe both since “Idiots in Love” is an established searchable tag but “They're idiots your honor” isn't yet. If your fandom has catchphrases related to your ship, put that here if you want to.

If relevant, specify some things about the nature of relationships in your fic such as “Ambiguous Relationship,” “Queerplatonic Relationships,” “Polyamory,” “Friends With Benefits,” “Teacher-Student Relationship,” and so on. Not all fics need tags like these. Use your best judgement whether your current fic does.

Temporal tags indicate when your fic takes place. That can be things like “Pre-Canon” and “Post-Canon,” “Pre-War,” “Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “1996-1997 NHL season,” “Future Fic,” and so on. These tags may be in reference to temporal landmarks in canon, in the real world, or both depending on what's appropriate.

Some temporal tags do double duty by also being tags about the fic's relationship to canon. The Pre- and Post-Canon tags are like that.

Other relation-to-canon type tags are “Canon Compliant” for fics that fit completely inside the framework of canon without changing or contradicting anything, “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence” for fics that are compliant up to a certain point in canon, then veer off (maybe because you started writing the fic when the show was on season two but now it's at season four and you're not incorporating everything from the newer seasons, maybe a character died and you refuse to acknowledge that, maybe you just want to explore what might have happened if a particular scene had gone differently), and the various other Alternate Universe tags for everything from coffee shop AUs and updates to modern settings, to realities where everyone is a dragon or no one has their canon superpowers.

The established format for these tags is “Alternate Universe – [type],” but a few have irregular names as well, such as “Wingfic” for AUs in which characters who don't ordinarily have wings are written as having wings.

If you have written an AU, please tag clearly what it is! Make things easy on both the readers who are in the mood to read twenty royalty AUs in a row, the readers who are in the middle of finals week and the thought of their favorite characters suffering through exams in a college AU would destroy the last shred of their sanity but would enjoy watching those characters teach high school, and the readers who really just want to stick to the world of canon right now.

Admittedly, it can get a little confusing what AU tag or tags you need to describe what you've written since most of us have never had a fandom elder sit us down and explain what the AU tags mean. One common mix up is tagging things “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” when what's meant is “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence.” The misunderstanding here is usually reading “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” and thinking it means an alternate version of the canon universe that is set at the same time as the canon universe, but is different in some way. That's not how the tag is meant to be used, though.

The Modern Setting AU tag is specifically for fic set now (at approximately the same time period it was written), for media that's canonically set somewhere that is very much not the present of the real world. This can mean things set in the past (like Jane Austen), the future (like Star Trek), or a fantasy world entirely different from our own (like Lord of the Rings or Avatar: the Last Airbender). Fic for a canon that's set more or less “now” doesn't need the Modern Setting AU tag, even if the world of canon is different from our own. If you're removing those differences by putting fantasy or superhero characters in a world without magic or supersoldier serum, you might want the “Alternate Universe - No Powers” tag instead.

Some of the most fun descriptive tags are trope tags. This includes things like “Mutual Pining,” “Bed Sharing” for when your OTP gets to their hotel room to find There Was Only One Bed, “Fake Dating,” “Angst,” Fluff,” “Hurt/Comfort” and all its variants. Readers love tropes at least as much as we love writing them and want to be able to find their favorites. Everyone also has tropes they don't like and would rather avoid. Tagging them allows your fic to be filtered in and out by what major tropes you've used.

Explicit fics, and sometimes fics with less restrictive ratings, that contain sex usually have tags indicating details about the nature of the sexual encounter(s) portrayed and what sex acts are depicted. These are descriptive tags, but they also do double duty as courtesy tags. This is very much a situation in which tags are a consent mechanism; by thoroughly and clearly tagging your smut you are giving readers the chance to knowingly opt in or out of the experience you've written.

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to do basic tagging for sex acts—you know whether what you wrote shows Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, or Non-penetrative Sex. You probably know the names for different kinds of Oral Sex you may have included. You might not know what to call Frottage or Intercrural Sex, though, even if you understand the concept and included the act in your fic. Sometimes there are tags with rectangle-square type relationships (all Blow Jobs are Oral Sex, but not all Oral Sex is a Blow Job) and you're not sure if you should tag for both—you probably should. Sometimes there are tags for overlapping, closely related, or very similar acts or kinks and you're not sure which to tag—that one's more of judgement call; do your best to use the tags that most closely describe what you wrote.

Tag for the kinks at play, if any, so readers can find what they're into and avoid what they're not. Tag for what genitalia characters have if it's nonobvious, including if there's Non-Human Genitalia involved. Tag your A/B/O, your Pon Farr, and your Tentacles, including whether it's Consentacles or Tentacle Rape.

Technical specification tags give information about aspects of the fic other than its narrative content. Most things on Ao3 are prose fiction so that's assumed to be the default, so anything else needs to be specified in tags. That includes Poetry, Podfics, things in Script Format, and Art. If it is a podfic, you should tag with the approximate length in minutes (or hours). If a fic is Illustrated (it has both words and visual art) tag for that.

Tag if your fic is a crossover or fusion. The difference, if you're not sure, is that in a crossover, two (or more) entire worlds from different media meet, whereas in a fusion, some aspects of one world, like the cast of characters, are combined with aspects of another, like the setting or magic system.

If the team of paranormal investigators from one show get in contact with the cast of aliens from another show, that's a crossover and you need to have all the media you're drawing from up in the Fandom tags. If you've given the cast of Hamlet physical manifestations of their souls in the form of animal companions like the daemons from His Dark Materials but nothing else from His Dark Materials shows up, that's a fusion, the Fandom tag should be “Hamlet - Shakespeare,” and you need the “Alternate Universe - Daemons” tag. If you've given the members of a boy band elemental magic powers like in Avatar: the Last Airbender, that can be more of a judgement call depending how much from Avatar you've incorporated into your story. If absolutely no characters or specific settings from Avatar show up, it's probably a fusion. Either way, if the boyband exists in real life, it needs to be tagged as RPF.

Tag if your fic is a Reader-Insert or Self-Insert.

You might want to tag for whether your fic is written with POV First, Second, or Third Person, and if it's Past Tense or Present Tense (or Future Tense, though that's extremely uncommon). For POV First Person fics that are not self-inserts, or POV Third Person fics that are written in third person limited, you may want to tag which character's POV is being shown. Almost all POV Second Person fics are reader-insert, so if you've written one that isn't, you should tag for who the “you” is.

A fic is “POV Outsider” if the character through whom the story is being conveyed is outside the situation or not familiar with the characters and context a reader would generally know from canon. The waitress who doesn't know the guy who just sat down in her diner is a monster hunter, and the guy stuck in spaceport because some hotshot captain accidentally locked down the entire space station, are both potential narrators for POV Outsider stories.

Other technical specifications can be tags for things like OCtober and Kinktober or fic bingo games. Tagging something as a Ficlet, One Shot, or Drabble is a technical specification (we're not going to argue right now over what counts as a drabble). Tagging for genre, like Horror or Fantasy, is too.

It's also good to tag accessibility considerations like “Sreenreader Friendly,” but make sure your fic definitely meets the needs of a given kind of accessibility before tagging it.

Personal

Even among personal tags there are established tags! Things like “I'm Sorry,” “The Author Regrets Nothing,” “The Author Regrets Everything,” and “I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping” are common ones. Tags about us and our relationship to the fic, such as “My First Work In This Fandom,” “Author is Not Religious,” and “Trans Porn By A Trans Author,” can help readers gauge what to expect from our fic. Of course, you are not at all obligated to disclose any personal information for any reason when posting your fic.

The “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag is common, but probably overused. Tagging is hard; very few of us have a natural feel for it even with lots of practice. It's not a completely useless tag because it can indicate to readers that you've probably missed some things you should have tagged for, so they should be extra careful; but it can also turn into a crutch, an excuse to not try, and therefore a sign to readers they can't trust your tagging job. Just do your best, and leave off the self depreciation. If you're really concerned about the quality of your tagging, consider putting in an author's note asking readers to let you know if there are any tags you should add.

You might want to let readers know your fic is “Not Beta Read” or, if you're feeling a little cheekier than that, say “No Beta We Die Like Men” or its many fandom-specific variants like the “No Beta We Die Like Robins” frequently found among Batman fics and “No beta we die like Sunset Curve” among Julie and The Phantoms fic. Don't worry, the Archive recognizes all of these as meaning “Not Beta Read.”

The Archive can be inconsistent about whether it stacks specific variants of Additional Tags under the broadest version of the tag like it does with Fandom tags, so best practice is usually to use both. You can double check by trying to search by a variant tag (or clicking on someone else's use of the variant); if the results page says the broader or more common form of the tag, those stack.

There's no such thing as the right number of tags. Some people prefer more tags and more detail, while other people prefer fewer more streamlined tags, and different fics have different things that need to be tagged for. There is, however, such a thing as too many tags. A tagblock that takes up the entire screen, or more, can be unreadable, at which point they are no longer useful. Focus on the main points and don't try to tag for absolutely everything. Use the “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” strategy if your courtesy tags are what's getting out of hand.

Tag for as much as you feel is necessary for readers to find your fic and understand what they're getting into if they decide to open it up.

A little bit of redundancy in tags is not a sin. In fact, slight redundancy is usually preferable to vagueness. Clear communication in tags is a cardinal virtue. Remember that tags serve a purpose, they're primarily a tool for sorting and filtering, and (unlike on some other sites like tumblr) they work, so it's best to keep them informative and try to limit rambling in the tags. Ramble at length in your author's notes instead!

Titles

Picking a title can be one of the most daunting and frustrating parts of posting a fic. Sometimes we just know what to call our fics and it's a beautiful moment. Other times we stare at that little input box for what feels like an eternity.

The good news is there's really no wrong way to select a title. Titles can be long or short, poetic or straight to the point. Song lyrics, idioms, quotes from literature or from the fic itself can be good ways to go.

Single words or phrases with meanings that are representative of the fic can be great. A lot of times these are well known terms or are easy enough to figure out like Midnight or Morning Glow, but if you find yourself using something that not a lot of people know what it means, like Chiaroscuro (an art style that uses heavy shadow and strong contrast between light and dark), Kintsukuroi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold), or Clusivity (the grammatical term for differences in who is or isn't included in a group pronoun), you should define the term in either a subtitle, i.e. “Chiaroscuro: A Study In Contrast,” or at the beginning of the summary.

As a courtesy to other writers, especially in small fandoms, you may want to check to make sure there's not already another fic with the same title in the same fandom, but this is not required. In large fandoms, there's no point in even trying. After all, there are only so many puns to be made about the full moon and only so many verses to Hallelujah.

It may be common practice on other platforms to include information such as fandom or ship in the title of a fic, but on Ao3 nothing that is specified by tags belongs in the title unless your title happens to be the same as a tag because, for instance, you've straightforwardly titled your character study of Dean Winchester “Dean Winchester Character Study” and also responsibly tagged it as such.

Summaries

Yes, you really do need to put something down for the summary. It might only need to be a single sentence, but give the readers something to go off of.

The summary is there to serve two purposes: one, to catch the interest of potential readers, give them a taste of what's inside, and make them want to know more; and two, to give you a space to provide information or make comments that don't really fit in the tags but that you want readers to see before they open the fic.

We've already talked some about that second function. When you put an explanation of the title or clarification about tags in the summary, that's the purpose it's serving. You can also put notes to “Heed the tags” or instruct readers that there are additional warnings in the author's note here in the summary, rather than doing so in the tags.

The first function, the actual summarizing, can be very hard for some of us. It's basically the movie trailer for your fic, butwhat are you even supposed to say?

There are two main strategies as to how to approach this: the blurb, and the excerpt. Blurbs are like the synopses you at least used to see on the backs of published books, or the “Storyline” section on an IMDb page. Writing one is a matter of telling your readers who does what, under what circumstances.

Depending on the fic, one sentence can capture the whole thing: “Sam and Alex have sex on a train.” “Tori tries to rob a bank.” “If anybody had mentioned Max's new house was haunted, Jamie wouldn't have agreed to help with the move.”

Sometimes a blurb can be a question! “What happens when you lock a nuclear engineer in a closet with a sewing kit, a tennis ball, and half a bottle of Sprite?”

Of course, plenty of blurbs are more than one sentence. Their length can vary pretty significantly depending on the type and length of fic you're working with and how much detail you're trying to convey, but it shouldn't get to be more than a few short paragraphs. You're not retelling the entire fic here.

An excerpt is a portion of the fic copied out to serve as the summary. This, too, can vary in length from a line or two to several paragraphs, but shouldn't get too long. It should not be an entire scene unless that scene happens to be uncommonly short. It's important to select a portion of the fic that both indicates the who, what, and under what circumstances of the fic and is representative of the overall tone. Excerpts that are nothing but dialogue with no indication of who's talking are almost never a good choice. Portions that are sexually explicit or extremely violent are never ever a good choice—if it deserves content warnings, it belongs inside the fic, not on the results page.

Counterintuitively, some of the best excerpts won't even look like an excerpt to the reader if they don't contain dialogue. They seem like particularly literary blurbs until the reader reaches that part in the fic and realizes they recognize a section of narration.

Some of us have very strong preferences as to whether we write blurbs or use excerpts for our summaries. Some readers have very strong preferences as to which they find useful. Ultimately, there's no accounting for taste, but there are things we can do to limit the frustration for readers who prefer summaries of the opposite kind than we prefer to write, without increasing our own frustration or work load very much. Part of that is understanding what readers dislike about each type so we know what to mitigate.

Blurbs can seem dry, academic, and overly simplified. They don't automatically give the reader a sense of your writing style the way an excerpt does. They can also seem redundant, like they're just rehashing information already given in the tags, so the reader feels like they're being denied any more information without opening the fic.

Excerpts can seem lazy, like you, the author, don't care enough to bother writing a blurb, or pushy like you're telling the reader “just read the fic; I'm not going to give you the information you need to decide if you want to read or not, I'm shoving it in front of you and you just have to read it.” That effect gets worse if your tags aren't very informative or clear about what the plot is, if the excerpt is obviously just the first few lines or paragraphs of the fic, if the except is particularly long, or, worst of all, if all three are true at once.

A lot of the potential problems with blurbs can be minimized by having fun writing them! Make it punchy, give it some character, treat it like part of the story, not just a book report. A fic for a serialized show or podcast, for instance, could have a blurb written in the style of the show's “previously on” or the podcast's intro. Make sure the blurb gives the reader something they can't just get from the tags—like the personality of your writing, important context or characterization, or a sense of the shape of the story—but don't try to skimp on the tags to do it!

Really, the only way to minimize the potential problems with excerpts is to be very mindful in selecting them. Make sure the portion you've chosen conveys the who, what, and under what circumstances and isn't too long. You know the story; what seems clear and obvious from the excerpt to you might not be apparent to someone who doesn't already know what happens, so you might need to ask a friend to double check you.

The absolute best way to provide a summary that works for everybody is to combine both methods. It really isn't that hard to stick a brief excerpt before your blurb, or tack a couple lines of blurb after your excerpt, but it can make a world of difference for how useful and inviting your summary is to a particular reader. The convention for summaries that use both is excerpt first, then blurb.

If you're struggling to figure out a summary, or have been in the habit of not providing one, try not to stress over it. Anything is better than nothing. As long as you've written something for a summary, you've given the reader a little more to help them make their decision. What really isn't helpful, though, is saying “I'm bad at summaries” in your summary. It's a lot like the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag in that it's unnecessarily self depreciating, frequently comes across as an excuse not to try, and sometimes really is just an excuse. Unlike the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag, which has the tiny saving grace of warning readers you've probably missed something, saying you're bad at summaries has no utility at all, and may drive away a reader who thought your summary was quite good, but is uncomfortable with the negative attitude reflected by that statement. Summaries are hard. It's okay if you don't like your summary, but it's important for it to be there, and it's important to be kind to yourself about it. You're trying, that's what matters.

Author's Notes

Author's notes are the one place where we, the writers, directly address and initiate contact with our readers. We may also talk to them in the comments section, but that's different because they initiate that interaction while we reply, and comments are mostly one-on-one while in author's notes we're addressing everyone who ever reads our fic.

The very first note on a fic should contain any information, such as warnings or explanations, that a reader needs to see before they get to the body of the story, as well as anything like thanks to your beta, birthday wishes to a character, or general hellos and announcements you want readers to see before they get to the body of the story. On multi-chapter fics, notes at the beginning of chapters serve the same function for that chapter as the initial note on the fic does for the whole story, so you can do things like warn for Self-Harm on the two chapters out of thirty where it comes up, let everyone know your update schedule will be changing, or wish your readers a merry Christmas, if they celebrate it, on the chapter you posted on December 23rd but is set in mid-March.

Notes at the end of a fic or chapter are for things that don't need to be said or are not useful to a reader until after they've read the preceding content, such as translations for that handful of dialogue that's in Vulcan or Portuguese, or any parting greetings or announcements you want to give, like a thanks for reading or a reminder school is starting back so you won't be able to write as much. End notes are the best place to plug your social media to readers if you're inclined to do so, but remember that cannot include payment platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi.

As previously mentioned, warnings can go in end notes but that really should only be done when the warnings are particularly long, such that the length might cause a problem for readers who are already confident in their comfort level and would just want to scroll past the warning description. In that case, the additional warnings need to go in the note at the end of the first chapter, rather than at the end of the fic, if it's a multi-chapter fic; and you need to include an initial note telling readers that warnings/explanations of tags are at the bottom so they know to follow where the Archive tells them to see the end of the chapter/work for “more notes.”

When posting a new work, where the Preface section gives you the option to add notes “at the beginning” or “at the end” or both, if you check both boxes, it means notes at the beginning and end of the entire fic, not the beginning and end of the first chapter. For single-chapter fics this difference doesn't really matter, but for multi-chapter fics it matters a lot. In order to add notes to the beginning or end of the first chapter of a multi-chapter fic you have to first go through the entire process to post the new fic, then go in to Edit, Edit Chapter, and add the notes there.

Series and Chapters

Dealing with Series and Chapters is actually two different issues, but they're closely related and cause some of us mixups, especially when we're new to the site and its systems, so we're going to cover them together.

Series on Ao3 are for collecting up different stories that you've written that are associated with each other in some way. Chapters are for dividing up one story into parts, usually for pacing and to give yourself and your readers a chance to take breaks and breathe, rather than trying to get through the entire thing in a single marathon sitting (not that we won't still do that voluntarily, but it's nice to have rest points built in if we need them).

If your story would be one book if it was officially published, then it should be posted as a single fic—with multiple chapters if it's long or has more than one distinct part, like separate vignettes that all go together. If you later write a sequel to that fic, post it as a new fic and put them together in a series. It's exactly like chapters in a book and books in a series. Another way to think of this structure is like a TV show: different fics in the series are like different seasons of the show, with individual chapters being like episodes.

If you have several fics that all take place in the same AU but really aren't the same story those should go together as a series. If you wrote a story about a superhero team re-cast as school teachers, then wrote another story about different characters in the same school, that's this situation.

Series are also the best way to handle things like prompt games, bingos, or Kinktober, or collect up one shots and drabbles especially if your various fills, entries, and drabbles are for more than one fandom. If you put everything for a prompt game or bingo, or all your drabbles, together as one fic with a different chapter for each story, what ends up happening is that fic gets recognized by the Archive as a crossover when it isn't, so it gets excluded from the results pages for everyone who told the filters to Exclude Crossovers even though one of the stories you wrote is exactly what they're looking for; and that fic ends up with tons and tons of wildly varying and self-contradictory tags because it's actually carrying the tags for several entirely different, possibly unrelated stories, which also means it ends up getting excluded from results pages because, for instance, one out of your thirty-one Kinktober entries is about someone's NoTP.

Dividing these kinds of things up into multiple fic in a series makes it so much easier for readers to find what of your work they actually want to read.

If you've previously posted such things as a single fic, don't worry, it's a really common misunderstanding and there is absolutely nothing stopping you from reposting them separately. You may see traffic on them go up if you do!

Parting Thoughts

Metatext is ultimately all about communication, and in this context effective communication is a matter of responsibility and balance.

Ao3 is our archive. It's designed for us, the writers, to have the freedom to write and share whatever stories we want without having to worry that we'll wake up one day and find our writing has been deleted overnight without warning. That has happened too many times to so many in our community as other fanfic sites have died, been shut down, or caved to threats of legal action. Ao3 is dedicated to defending our legal right to create and share our stories. Part of the deal is that, in exchange for that freedom and protection, we take up the responsibility to communicate to readers what we're writing and who it's appropriate for.

We are each other's readers, and readers who don't write are still part of our community. We have a responsibility as members of this community to be respectful of others in our shared spaces. Ao3 is a shared space. The best way we have to show each other respect is to give one another the information needed to decide if a given fic is something we want to engage with or not, and then, in turn, to not engage with fic that isn't our cup of tea. As long as our fellow writer has been clear about what their fic is, they've done their part of the job. If we decided to look at the fic despite the information given and didn't like what we found, then that's on us.

Because metatext is how we put that vital information about our fics out in the community, it's important that our metatext is clear and easy to parse. The key to that is balance. Striking the balance between putting enough tags to give a complete picture and not putting too many tags that become an unreadable wall; the balance between the urge to be thorough and tag every character and the need to be restrained so those looking for fics actually about a certain character can find them; the balance between using established tags for clarity and ease and making up our own tags for specificity and fun.

Do your best, act in good faith, remember you're communicating with other people behind those usernames and kudos, and, most importantly, have fun with your writing!

#THE GUIDE #metatext #fandom meta #fandom etiquette #Eiiri made this

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potter-imagines · 3 years

Text

Getting Drunk With Fred Weasley

Prompt: getting drunk w/ your boyfriend Fred would include + mini blurbs

Warning: drinking, swearing, and some suggestive wording

Word Count: 2.2k

Notes: n/a

Parties are not an uncommon event in the Gryffindor common room

Alcohol and drink mixtures of all sorts are being poured left and right every weekend

Most weekend you have a drink or two while catching up with your friends after a busy week of school

Other weekends you choose the path of getting plastered alongside your boyfriend off smuggled liquor and bottle of beer

On these night in particular,

Fred does not let you out of his sight

At all

Unless of course Lee challenges him to a beer pong match then he’ll carefully usher you over the couch where he can keep an eye on you while he’s playing

Has to pause the match like 20 times to chase after you and lead you over to his side “Y/n! You know you can’t out drink Seamus- he’s Irish! C’mon, come watch me kick George and Lee’s ass. They’re so bad it takes two of them to even manage a winning shot yet somehow they still suck!”

Loves it when you cheer him on

Is constantly glancing over to reassure himself you haven’t run off again

Your distraction is heightened in this state

So he feels the need to be your second set of eyes

Which had come in handy many a times

Like when Ron dared you to touch the burning fire while he was wasted on dragon barrel brandy

“Don’t be a pussy, Y/n. Swipe your hand real fast and you won’t even feel a thing-” “Y/n, pull your hand away from that fire, love. Ron, what the fuck? Are you trying to set my girlfriend up in flames? Angel, Ron is an idiot, you know that, don’t do anything he says again.” “Hey!”

And the time when you all were playing strip poker and Fred quite literally threw himself on top of your body to cover your chest when George teased you to take your bra off and your hands reached back for the clasps

(( he bitched at George for five minutes straight for that suggestion ))

Fred knew you were not one to back down from a challenge, especially when drunk and not considering the consequences or regret that would follow

So he always made sure you never embarrassed yourself too much or did anything you’d be wanting to take back come morning

During any Gryffindor party, Fred is the life of it

When he’s not preoccupied fawning over you, he’s hopping around with George seeking out trouble

The man throws back liquor like its water

Claims he knows his limits, but he really doesn’t

He is a touchy drunk

Hands brushing through your hair as you chat on the couch

Arms wrapped around your shoulder as you laugh along with your friends

Fingers laced in yours whenever you’re near

He craves your touch even more so when the liquor taints his veins

Let’s be real, Fred is not exactly the type of boyfriend to try to get you to stop drinking

He still makes sure you’re safe and not over drinking but,

Most of the times,

He’s the one pouring the shots for you

And mixing the drinks

But he always knows when to stop, and when you’ve had enough to drink

He tries to mentally keep note of how many drinks you've had but loses track once he reaches about five on his own end

Sometimes he’ll silently swap out your glass of whiskey for a glass of pumpkin juice

It’s obvious to Fred that he made the right choice when he watched as you sipped gleefully on the juice, not making a single comment on the dramatic change in taste

In these moments he begins to prepare himself for a night of babysitting you

And he’s so sweet in helping you on the nights when you go an inch- or ten- overboard

Carries you up to your bed and helps you change out of your clothes and into new ones for bed

He gets you wipes to take of your makeup, if you’re wearing any, and he’ll sit you between his legs on your bed while he brushes through your hair

After you’re properly ready for bed, Fred makes sure to set a glass of water on your nightstand incase you get thirsty and a bag of crackers if you get hungry

Stays the night without question when you ask

Other times he stays regardless of if you do or don’t

Your roommates don’t mind seeing as he takes care of you meaning they don’t have to

He’ll lay on his back and usher you over to place you head on his chest

His fingertips will soothingly trail up and down you back, lulling you into a deep sleep with the rhythmic motion

Tries his best to make sure you fall asleep first

Drunk Fred really has no control over his sleep habits and has a tendency to pass out from sudden exhaustion at any moment

One second him and George are fucking around with partygoers, supply them with different products of theirs, and causing pure chaos

The next second Fred was snoozing away while he laid on the couch with his head in your lap

Then he was back up an going again

Like a toddler on a sugar high

He’s such a giggly drunk

Kisses to the tip of your nose

Always smiling over at you and complimenting you

“Have I told you how breathtaking you look tonight?” “Only ten times, but I’m okay with elven.” “Let’s make it twelve, you looks absolutely stunning- so pretty, and all mine.”

The boy can’t help it, you make him feel weightless with happiness sober and the feeling only intensifies when he’s been drinking

There are nights when Fred can’t seem to taste the scorching burn of the liquor anymore after about six shots and it these nights where George and yourself are left dragging him up the stairs

George will beg you to stay the night because he can’t handle Fred’s drunken rambling about how much he misses you

And you agree because, how could you say no to Fred’s adorable puppy dog eyes and grabby hands longing for you to cuddle with him

If you two are both drunk, you’ll stay up talking- or rather whispering- under his comforter

He’ll stumble over his words and jumps from topic to topic in the blink of an eye

Uncontrollable giggles as he whispers- or rather stutters- out the most confusing jokes you’ve ever heard

“Angel, angel…” “Yes, Freddie?” “What happens when a toad’s car breaks down?” “I dunno…” “It gets froged!” “I’m sorry, come again? Isn’t it meant to be the frog’s car that breaks down and it gets ‘toad’...not ‘froged’?”

But he’s out like a light before you can get an explanation

He breathes like darth vader when he’s in his drunken slumber

Yet its somehow comforting in an odd way

Like it reminds you that he’s there holding you

And also that he’s still alive, which is surprising at times with the amount of drinks he consumes in one night

If you think Fred acts reckless sober, he thinks he’s invincible when he’s drunk which is even worse

He’ll agree to almost anything

If Ron were to tell him he bet Fred wouldn’t jump from the Astrology Tower all the way down to the courtyard? Fred would do it just in spite of him

The only time this attitude of his had gotten him into trouble was when Fred, George and Lee came up with the grand idea to go down the boy’s dormitory staircase on mattresses

Fred, being the brilliant man he is, decided to go first

You had been gossiping away in the common room to Hermione about a new Muggle actor the two of you had seen in a film when you heard the loud crashing, followed by the voice you loved so much groaning in agony

By the time you reached the opening to the stairwell, George and Lee were aiding Fred down the stone steps, carefully avoiding his ankle which had been twisted in an inhuman position

Madam Pomfrey surprisingly kept hum about Fred’s intoxication and instead scolded him for hours on end about his reckless, mindless choice to try to slide down, winding, steep, stone steps

Once news reached the professors the nest morning, McGoagall dismissed 40 points from Gryffindor for the incident

Using your mattress to surf down the twirling stairwell has since been prohibited

On a separate occasion Fred had accident lit the edge of the curtain on fire

You can always tell when he’s reached that level by the volume in his tone

It tends to get deeper the more intoxicated he becomes

And his words slowly slur together into a string of blabber

Mostly compliments, sweet words, and sometimes suggestive ones as well

Fred gets a bit more… forward when he’s got that liquid courage soaring through him

His hands will start to roam slowly from around your waist to your lower back, then resting on your bum

He gets turned on watching you play beer pong for some reason

Especially when you win

Maybe it’s the view he’s graced with when you bend to bounce the pin pong ball

Or the feistiness that arises when the match gets hot

It’s more than enticing for him

Fred can feel his frame get stiffer everytime you bend across the table to retrieve the cup and chug the beer from it

When the round has ceased and you’re declared champion yet again, Fred steps forward to pull you in for a hug

As he gives you a kiss on the cheek, he whispers,

“Good girl! Now if you beat George again I’ll give you a special surprise later tonight, angel.”

Which makes your knees weak like jell-o as your frame pushes into his for support

It doesn’t help that you can feel just how excited he is through the denim of his jeans

Fred dips his head to plant a trail of wet, teasing kisses along the skin of your warm neck until George was groaning and pleading for you to start the match

You practically shook for the entirety of the game, still managing to sink almost every shot into a cup forcing George to drink for the majority of it

He ended up tapping out once you nailed the seventh cup in a row and kept your winning streak alive due to his need to find a trash can immediately

You stopped there to join Fred by his side as he smiled to you, clearly pleased that you won

“Looks like someone is getting rewarded tonight.”

His arm draped around your shoulder as you leaned into his side, your cheeks flaring from the mass of bodies but mostly from Fred’s suggestive promise

He only forced you to suffer through the party for another ten minutes or so before pouring one last shot for the both of you, then nearly pushing you up the winding stairs to his dorm

Lets just say he certainly fulfilled on his promise- more than once that night

Loves it when you sit in his lap when you’re on the couch together

Whispers dirty secrets into your ear

Drunk Fred leaves hickies under the clothes

He’s not the type to care who’s around, he’ll try to slide his hand up your skirt in front of nearly anyone when he’s inebriated

“Fred- you’re brother is sitting right there, stop it!” “Shhhh, angel. He’s not even watching, right George?” “Right, Fred.” “See?”

To which you glare dangerous at him as you place his hand back in his lap, but Fred continues to smirk in amusement

It’s like you’re a preschool teacher constantly having to tell a child to keep their hands to themselves, Fred just refuses to listen

Fred doesn’t necessarily get jealous of other guys

He trusts you and he’s confident enough in your relationship not to feel threatened by other guys

However he is possessive af over you when he’s been drinking

In a sweet way tho

Literally wants all your time and attention when he’s drunk

If you don’t feel like dancing, he’ll ask you to come watch him dance

When you say you need to use the bathroom, he’ll ask a million times if you want him to come with

If George places a bet against Fred in a game of cards, Fred will drag you over to sit next to him as Seamus shuffles the deck and prepares the table

He’ll show you his cards and tell you to pick one

Even though he knows you’re completely unaware of the rules to the game, he loves the smile of excitement that appears on your face when he lets you

And in the rare times that you do say no, he works his magic with those big doe eyes and pouty lip until you say yes

It brings him comfort when you’re by his side

Your nights end the same each day, wrapped in his arms listening to the relaxing thump of his heart as the two of you doze off, both silently dreading the awaiting hangover than would surely greet you first thing in the morning, but you wouldn’t want it any other way

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natromanxoff · 2 years

Text

Record Collector - August, 1987

Credits to Silvia C and Queencuttings.com

ROBERT McGRATH LOOKS AT THE SOLO RECORDINGS OF MERCURY, TAYLOR, DEACON AND MAY

The sharp rise in the number of Queen solo projects during the 1980s continues to add to the uncertainty surrounding the future of one of the world's top acts. While all four members have released solo recordings in one form or another, it is the continuing success of their charismatic vocalist, Freddie Mercury, that seems most likely to threaten the band's existence.

In this feature, we shall examine the solo output of each member in turn, paying particular attention to collectable editions like picture discs and promos, highlighting rare tracks, and looking at one or two choice items of ephemera. But there are a couple of pre-Queen recordings, involving band members, which are attracting vast sums of money on the collectors' market, and it is to these that we turn first.

Smile

While a student at Imperial College, London, guitarist Brian May formed Smile around 1967, along with an old friend, Tim Staffell (bass), and fellow student, Roger Meddows-Taylor (drums). The band's one and only original release was a US-only single, coupling "Earth" and "Step On Me", issued on Mercury in 1969. Interviewed in the mid-Seventies, Staffell alleged that none of the group had actually set eyes upon a copy, so it isn't surprising that the record is highly prized among Queen collectors, changing hands for £40. Beware of red vinyl copies because these are bootlegs and shouldn't sell for anywhere near that price.

Fans were delighted when an import mini-LP, "Gettin' Smile", appeared on the market around 1983. Of Japanese origin, this included both sides of the single, recorded at Trident Studios, plus the four tracks laid down with producer Fritz Fryer. One of these, "Doing All Right", later appeared on the "Queen" debut LP. "Gettin' Smile" itself has become something of a collector's item and now fetches as much as £18.

By the summer of 1969, the single had bombed and Smile were dropped by the Mercury label. Staffell drifted away with ambitions of a solo career, while Taylor and May went on to form Queen.

Larry Lurex

As a prelude to the release of the debut "Queen" album, the band decided to issue a spoof single under the pseudonym of 'Larry Lurex'. Although an obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to the glam idols of the day like Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust, the songs they chose to record were surprisingly conservative. The decidedly un-teenybop A-side, a cover of the Ronettes/Beach Boys hit, "I Can Hear Music", was backed by a Goffin and […]

[Photo caption: Freddie Mercury has been by far the most successful solo member of Queen, thanks to the release of commercial singles like "The Great Pretender", and some startling promotional videos.]

[…] King song, "Goin' Back".

Recorded at Trident after sessions for the LP had been completed, there has always been speculation concerning the musicians involved. Once thought to have been an early vehicle for Mercury to camp it up, it now seems likely that all four members, plus the inevitable 'friends', played on it. Collectors pay £30 for UK copies, slightly less for the US equivalent. But don't be fooled by promo copies. They are almost as common.

Freddie Mercury

While not the first band member to strike out alone, Freddie Mercury has had by far the most success to date. It must be said, however, that this owes as much to the rise of the promo video as it does to his distinctive voice. Although Queen remain very much a team effort, amongst the general public, it is undoubtedly Mercury who instantly personifies all their classic hits.

His first solo outing was "Love Kills", which gave him a Top 10 hit in autumn 1984. Recorded for Giorgio Moroder's revamped soundtrack for Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", its success gave Mercury added confidence as a solo performer, even if artistically the project was a failure.

The soundtrack album is still easy to find, but the single has been deleted and the 12" version and a picture disc edition now fetch £4 and £5 respectively. US 7" and 12" promos are worth slightly more in their picture covers, but perhaps the choicest item is a one-sided acetate, recently seen offered for a staggering £95!

Freddie's one and only solo album, "Mr Bad Guy", was released by CBS in April 1985, and has since been made available on CD. Co-producing and writing all his own songs, he included a mixture of ballads and dance floor material, which was not always to the liking of Queen die-hards. One track, "Foolin' Around", had already appeared on the soundtrack for "Teachers", while on another, "There Must Be More To Life Than This", he sings of "people fighting for their human rights", an obvious reference to his embarrassment at Queen's two-week stint in Sun City the previous year. Overall, the record was a blending of the macho bravado and the maudlin, couched in Freddie's inimitable style.

Success

Over the next seven months, no less than four singles were lifted from the album, though none could emulate the success of the first, "I Was Born To Love You", which just missed out on a Top 10 placing. Like the follow-up, "Made In Heaven", it boasted a non-LP cut on the B-side. "Made In Heaven" also came out as a shaped picture disc, and while this is collectable, uncut copies are rarer and sell for as much as £15. All four singles also came out in 12" form featuring extended remixes, one of which, "Living On My Own", had a limited edition gatefold sleeve.

Freddie's next project was recording for the soundtrack album of Dave Clark's "Time" musical. Contributing three tracks to the LP, his version of the title track failed to set the charts alight when issued as a single. However, he followed that with his biggest hit yet earlier this year, by taking his version of the old Platters' song, "The Great Pretender", into the Top 5. In addition to the usual 7" and 12" formats, there was a radio-shaped picture disc edition, complete with plinth, and this already sells for £5. A video release of the single fetches £8, while a limited number of 10" promos are worth nearer £10. The promotional campaign for "The Great Pretender" spawned several other collectable items, most notably an 18" high Freddie-figure counterstand, which changes hands for around £5.

Perhaps the most appropriate of Mercury's solo releases was the video EP released last summer, consisting of promo films for four of his hits, including "Living On My Own", banned by TV. This particular promo depicted wild scenes at Freddie's 39th birthday celebrations, filmed in Munich in October 1985, where he was joined by 300 friends, all feasting on caviar and champagne.

Freddie Mercury rarely guests on other artists' work, though one notable exception was his appearance on Billy Squier's "Love Is The Hero" 12", where he can be heard at the start of the song.

Roger Taylor

Apart from Mercury, only drummer Roger Taylor has taken more than a passing interest in solo recordings. In fact, it was Taylor who first broke from the group formation to record a one-off single, "I Wanna Testify"/ Turn On The TV", back in 1977. This record, long-since deleted, has become a highly-prized item among Queen fans and though it has been seen on sale for as much as £12, its true value is nearer £9.

Whereas Freddie still retains much of Queen's pomp and pageantry on his solo recordings, Taylor has developed a more traditional back-to-basics rock'n'roll style. However, his first LP, "Fun In Space", received a universal thumbs-down from the music press, when released in 1981. Despite this, the loyal body of Queen fans ensured that the record still reached the Top 20. Recorded in Switzerland in six weeks, "Fun In Space" provided Taylor with two singles, "Future Management" and "My Country", and like the album, these are now deleted and both fetch around £4 on the market today.

After a three-year gap, Roger braved the wrath of the critics and released a second LP, "Strange Frontier". This boasted two covers, Dylan's "Masters Of War" and Springsteen's "Racing In The Streets", as well as two songwriting collaborations, "Killing Time" with Freddie and "It's An Illusion" with Status Quo's Rick Parfitt. Of the two singles lifted from the album, the 12" of "Strange Frontier" is of most interest to collectors due to the inclusion of a bonus track, "Two Sharp Pencils", which is unavailable elsewhere.

Again in marked contrast to Mercury, Taylor has ploughed himself into other artists' work. One early venture was writing, co-producing and performing on Hilary's "How Come You're So Dumb"/"Rich Kid" single (Mainly Modern STP 2) in 1980. This is now fairly rare and is worth £6. Other notable appearances include guesting on Gary Numan's "Dance", backing vocals on Kansas' "Vinyl Confessions" LP, drums on Roger Daltrey's tribute to Keith Moon, "Under A Raging Moon" and on Carny Todorow's "Bursting At The Seams" single, which he co-produced with David Richards. Other co-productions with Richards include Feargal Sharkey's "Loving You", Jimmy Nail's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and Sideway Look's "Bullet Proof Heart". In most cases, he can be heard playing on these productions.

Brian May

While Brian May's solo output has been restricted to just one mini-LP and a spin-off single, he has, like Taylor, involved himself in several other projects, and obviously prefers this to strict solo work.

In fact, his thirty-minute mini-album, "Star Fleet", was more a group effort, instigated by May, than a solo record. On 21/22 April 1983, he rallied together a few friends for recording sessions at the Record Plant, Los Angeles. These musicians included guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Fred Mandel (keyboards), Phil Chen (bass) and REO Speedwagon drummer, Alan Gratzer. When the results of […]

[Photo caption: Guitarist Brian May has released just one solo album, accompanied by a number of musician friends. The "Star Fleet Project" album contained a lengthy jam session, a tribute to Eric Clapton."]

[…] this "supersession' appeared in November, May explained in the sleeve notes that this was "not a Queen album. Not a solo Brian May album. It is a record of a unique event." But the three lengthy tracks on which the virtuosos traded licks set the critics yawning. Even May was on the defensive when he talked about "Bluesbreaker", a lengthy jam dedicated to Eric Clapton, which took up all of side two: "It seemed very indulgent putting out a long jam, but having listened to it, I think it's worthwhile... it's rock blues with all the mistakes left in." In actual fact, "Bluesbreaker" was the album's saving grace.

The single was an edited version of the title track — an adaptation of a theme tune for a TV sci-fi series, introduced to Brian by his son, Jimmy — and was the most developed track on the record. The LPs third cut, "Let Me Out", was an old song of May's. Collectors pay up to £15 for 12" US promos of the single on Capitol and an American interview picture disc sells for roughly the same.

Brian has contributed to a number of extremely varied projects which range from an early guest appearance on Lonnie Donegan's 1977 comeback LP, "Puttin' On The Style", to jamming on stage with Def Leppard. He plays guitar on Jeffrey Osborne's "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right" single, and on "A Shift In The Wind" on Chris Thompson's "Radio Voice" LP. He has even moved into production for Heavy Pettin's debut album, "Letting Loose".

John Deacon

Although the Queen bassist was reported having begun work on a solo LP back in 1985, only a one-off single with the Immortals has since materialised. In fact, like his role in the band, Deacon has kept the lowest profile in terms of extra-mural musical aspirations.

The Immortals' single, "No Turning Back" was originally released on the "Biggles" soundtrack LP. However, collectors undoubtedly go for the 12" version of the single, which also contains two further mixes of the song. Issued in May 1986, copies should not prove too difficult to trace.

Among John's few forays into session work have been appearances on Roger Taylor's "Strange Frontier" LP, where he turns up on "It's An Illusion", and on a 1983 single by Man Friday and Jive Junior called "Picking Up Sounds". In February 1986, he apparently recorded a song with Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown, but like the solo LP, this too has yet to see the light of day.

Guest Appearances

In addition to these individual projects, there have been a number of joint guest appearances. All bar Deacon played on "You Nearly Did Me In", from lan Hunter's 1976 album, "All American Alien Boy" (CBS 81310). In the same year, Mercury produced Eddie Howell's "Man From Manhattan" (Warner Bros K 16701), and, along with Brian May, plays on it too. This is now worth about £10.

Freddie and Roger Taylor turn up as backing vocalists on the title track of Billy Squier's "Emotions In Motion" LP, while May and Deacon helped out on Elton John's 1985 album, "Ice On Fire".

While Queen have not been exactly the most prolific recording outfit of the 1980s, these ongoing solo projects have provided fans with a variety of recordings to add to their collection as well as an endless task in keeping up with the latest guest appearances. Even though doubts about Queen's future remain, it is a fact of life that all major recording groups find it necessary, sooner or later, to pursue solo projects. As well as providing an outlet for material which has no place in the group context, it enables members to bring freshness to the band when they regroup. Due for another album in 1988, there is no doubt that Queen will bounce back sounding refreshed and ready to rock.

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queencuttings.com #queen scans #record mirror august 1987

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slashingdisneypasta · 3 years

Text

Ram Sweeney x Reader || Headcanons

Topic: Dating HC's

Notes:

*Sigh*... I write regularly write for creeps like Freddy Krueger and Offenderman... and am one of the few tumblrs that write for Sheriff Hoyt romantically... and yet Kurt and Ram are my real guilty pleasure characters.

Anyway I hope someone other then me wanted this XDD I'm gonna do a Kurt one too.

Warnings: Some NSFW but not explicit.

Your song: The Way I Loved You (Taylor Swift)

He respects my space and never makes me wait

And he calls exactly when he says he will

He's close to my mother, talks business with my father

He's charming and endearing and I'm comfortable

...

But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain

And it's 2:00 a.m. and I'm cursing your name

So in love that you act insane

And that's the way I loved you

Breakin' down and coming undone

It's a roller coaster kinda rush

And I never knew I could feel that much

And that's the way I loved you

You two as a TV/Movie/Book couple: Bianca Piper and Wesley Rush (The DUFF)

Having the kind of relationship that no one else understands at all. Like, you have nothing in commen except commen history and your feelings for each other (Which are, on the other hand, totally clear to everyone) but when you're together you're always laughing and being affectionate.

Being in an on and off relationship throughout middle school and highschool- but never and I repeat; Never, is anyone permitted to mess with you at all. Because Ram always considers you his, even when you arent together.

So yeah, you always have 2 (Ram, and Kurt) large football star bodyguards at your disposal.

Being very playful together.

SOOOOoooooo much PDA. Including: Making out in the hallways and at school events like football games (You dont care who sees), sitting in his lap or at least squished close to his side at lunch, him throwing you over his shoulder to carry you places, him giving you piggy back rides, him picking you up and twirling you around, him just standing behind you with his arms around your waist and his chin rested on your shoulder when he's bored (With everything but you), his arm being over your shoulders as you walk together, you wiping peanut butter on his nose to get a rise out of him and then running away so he'll chase you, you peppering his face with kisses to make him laugh, etc.

Having a turbulent relationship. Because while, when all is well you two are like peanut butter and jelly and seem like the perfect highschool sweethearts, when you arent it's because Ram has gotten really jealous over something and called you a terrible name (Skank, whore, slut, bitch- any of those) or you understandably got irritated by his bullying and/or being a perverted, sexist asshole and you have huge, blow out fights in the middle of school and by the end of the period the whole student body knows about it.

You give him the silent treatment and the cold shoulder after those (If you didnt break up, that is) and he sends Kurt to give you messages.

When you make up its because he sincerely apologises although he doesn't 100% understand what he did wrong which becomes part of the next fight.

As you've been together so very long, he is basically part of your fucking family. He's so familiar and casual with your parent/s and/or sibling/s. They love him so much that, whether you're with him at the time or not, they allow him into the house and your bedroom with a cup of tea and snacks. (Its the 'American dream' popular-boy / football-star thing.)

So yeah, sometimes when you're mad at him or he wants to get back together (Which generally you want to do, to. You honestly have the same biological timer. Its like, 3 weeks pass by of being broken up and then ding ding ding! You both get the feelings its time to get back together and start sharing grins in the hallway and talking to your friends about eachother) you'll just find him waiting for you in your room when you come home.

Hanging out a looooooot with Kurt. Movie nights at your place, hanging out at the mall together on weekends sneaking out to see them at the football field at night time, etc. When you're sad, they'll both turn up wherever you are to cheer you up, too! Goofballs.

This does not mean there arent times where Ram shoo's Kurt off, though, when you two want some alone time together (*Eyebrow wiggles*) because of course. I'm just saying, you're a close-knit group.

When you are alone together, not much changes from when you're around others honestly XD You're still just as playful and affectionate. You just, you know, also have sex.

When he's down, you rusk your graceful image and climb through his bedroom window to be there with him. You dont fuck, you dont even really kiss. You just climb into bed with him and he'll tuck you under his chin and close his eyes. Legit old married couple. And you two sleep- by morning, he usually feels better and refuses to let you get out of bed with him.

"Five more minutessssss, babe!" He whines, holding you against him and pressing kisses to your head. You know he'll just say that again in 5 minutes time- and over, and over, and over again.

"Oh- no. I've been caught in this trap before Ram. We have school, so we have to get up. Come on!" You push firmly at his stomach (or abs) with your fists; not that that does much as he just just groans or gathers your little wrists in one big fist to stop you (Either way he certainly doesn't even flinch). His eyes are still closed. You sigh.

Now you have two choices, you can either give in and snuggle back into him for the rest of the morning, or threaten to send an attack towards his groin and he'll literally fling himself outta bed. Like "OH LOOK AT THE TIME- Kurt's gonna be waiting for us outside. Lets go!"

There are also mornings that you wake up with him (No sad Ram the night before necessary) and are all too happy to stay there with him. You just adorably nod into his chest, eyes still closed and making the cutest half-asleep morning sound when he asks if you wanna stay here a bit longer and he happily pulls the blanket over both your heads; shielding you both from the real world for a while.

OKAY MOVING ON FROM THAT FLUFFINESS.

You are also the only person who has any sort of control over him and Kurt. Like you can take them down a few pegs with just a look.

You two do date other people when you're broken up but its clear to anyone watching that these are just nice place holders for eachother. Neither of you are ever as happy with others as you are with eachother. You're ridiculously in love, actually.

Ypu were the first one to say I Love You, and he immediately called Kurt for guidance XD

Places you've had sex (Because it is always the full monty with Ram): Both your bedrooms so so so many times, the school bathrooms, his car, Kurts car (Kurt was NOT pleased.), the back of the football field, under the bleachers during a game or pep rally (he was benched for being too violent) + under the bleachers during practise + under the bleachers when the football field is deserted, the back of the school, the faculty parking lot at school, Kurts and Heather Chandler's houses (Parties. Basically a Westerburg High party is not complete without Y/N L/N and Ram Sweeney breaking in someones bed), his parent's car, the woods, cow pasture (a picnic blanket was used), and finally some mall changing rooms.

You leave him messages on his answering machine. He listens to every one of them (Which means something because he doesnt listen to anyone elses, unless he's gotta get through them to get to yours).

Him being SUCH a jealous asshole (With everyone except Kurt).

HIM STANDING UP TO THE HEATHERS FOR YOU.

#PromKingAndQueen

Having Kurt "Smartest guy on the football team," Kelly be your (Occasionally, live in- yes, he has slept over with the two of you on the floor so he could break up fights) couples councellor. Often his advice is 'fuck it out' but he also comes up with oddly wise shit sometimes. Mostly he's just very exasperated though. Like, its obvious you two are gonna end up together- stop bothering me with this shit. Let me get some pussy for myself guys please-

You two getting a bit frisky on movie nights with Kurt and he throws stuff at you. He just starts bringing a pool noodle (That he drew an angry face onto) along with him and hitting y'all with it whenever he feels its necessary. Cuz I mean, on one hand, of course he's happy for his bro Ram that he's getting his dick wet, but on the other- ITS FUCKIN MOVIE NIGHT, PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER FOR T W O S E C O N D S (Oh the irony- it does indeed escape him). He'll park his ass right in the middle of you two if you keep it up.

If he had survived, you and Ram would have broken up after graduation and spent college apart, before bumping into each other again back home as new (Improved. Especially him) people that fit together better now and ended up getting back together for good.

#Ram Sweeney x Reader Headcanons #Ram Sweeney #Ram Sweeney x Reader #Heathers #Kurt and Ram #Kurt Kelly #Headcanons #Heathers Headcanons #Heathers x Reader

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writesowhatnext · 4 years

Text

duolingo, mange ton cœur // fred weasley

Summary: Fred asks the reader (who definitely has a crush) to flirt for him

Request: nope

A/N: I tried to make the French easy to guess if you couldn’t read it or didn’t wanna google lol <3 let me know if you think I should include the translation

Reader: female

Warnings: swearing, making out

You’d been busy trying to scratch down a Transfiguration essay when a darkness came over you. The two shadows appearing over your shoulders, whilst not death-eaters or dementors, brought death with them. The death of any chance you had of finishing this essay.

“Hello, Y/N.” Fred said happily. You sighed a little, ignoring the butterflies in your stomach that seemed to appear whenever he was around… for no reason, of course.

“You speak French, right?” George, by the sound of his voice, was also smiling. You’d hoped you could just ignore them but, despite your best intentions, they had piqued your interest.

“Je peux parler un peu Français, je suppose.” You replied, spinning around on your stool to face the two evil geniuses behind most mayhem at Hogwarts. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them, with their mischievous grins, towering over you. Both of their faces dropped, though, at your words.

“Right.” George said, frowning. “Anyway.”

“We need your help to get some girls from Beauxbatons to go to the Yule Ball with.”

You snorted before raising an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you going with Angelina?” you asked George, crossing your arms.

“I am indeed, dear Y/N. This would purely be to help our little Freddie here.” George replied, staring far too long at you. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“So, what do you say? Can you get a lovely French girl to like me?” Fred grinned.

“Je peux parler Français, je ne peux pas travailler miracles.” You smirked, leaning back against the table. George sent you a dry look whilst Fred barked a laugh.

“Your wit transcends language barriers, Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“Well, what will get me to the ball with a witch that speaks French?”

“Chloroform?” you answered happily, smiling at your own joke. Fred mimicked you, wobbling his head from side to side to mock you. You made a face.

“Please, Y/N?” he asked, pouting. You deflated at his begging, knowing you probably wouldn’t be able to resist such a request from your best friend. Letting him get to you was your first mistake; your second was looking at George. He smiled at you knowingly, like he knew something he shouldn’t and you didn’t. You bit your cheek; you wanted to flirt with Fred, not for him. You huffed.

“You owe me.” You countered; Fred was already grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“Of course, of course.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

When they told you about their new invention, Walkie Talkie Chalk, you began to regret your decision.

“So, let me get this straight,” you held a putty-like substance in your hand. “I put this thing in my ear and I can hear you?”

“And we can hear you.” Fred nodded, watching you push at the device in your hands.

“This doesn’t even look like chalk.” You remarked, squishing it in your fingers.

“It’s not.”

Your deadpan look only served to increase their grins.

“You’re idiots.” You shook your head.

“Yes, Y/N.”

“Your idiots though.”

You huffed, placing the gummy ball in your ear, your expression the perfect picture of disgust. It shifted in your ear, making you flinch.

“You’re vile buggers.” You hissed. George didn’t listen, though. He placed his hands on your shoulders and pushed you towards a group of witches in blue.

“Uh…” you stalled, looking at them. They were very beautiful, that much was obvious, and they were giggling between each other. At that point, you realised you’d vastly overestimated your bilingualism. “Merde.”

“Naughty.” Fred whispered in your ear. It figured that the only French he knew would be cussing. You tried to ignore the feeling that came over you at his words.

“Branleur.” You muttered in response before quickly approaching one of the girls leaving the group.

“Salut!” you said, way too loudly. You cursed your nerves. The girl, pretty with dark hair and bright eyes, turned around, unsure and surprised by your volume. “Ça va?”

She frowned, obviously confused.

“Well done, Y/N.” George chuckled. You clenched your jaw.

“Euh… ça va bien, merci.” She turned to face you then, gripping her books to her chest. “Et toi?”

You raised your eyebrows, surprised she was still talking to you. That was a win, right?

“Bof.”

She laughed and pursed her lips.

“Um, avez-vous une date pour le bal?” A vast overestimate indeed.

“Non, à vrai dire.”

You nodded, frowning. She giggled at your expression and you felt your face heat up.

“Je connais ce garçon – il est stupide mais... il est intelligent... et amusant... et très très beau…”

Fred couldn’t hear the rest of what you said, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team walking past you meant the only sound the Walkie Talkie Chalk picked up was their footfalls. He didn’t need to though, really. He could feel George’s stare on him.

“I don’t think we need a translator for that one.” George said, trying to hide his smile.

“George,” Fred frowned, meeting his twin’s eyes. “Do you think Y/N likes me?”

“No, not at all. She thinks you’re a right prat. I think she fancies you, though.”

Fred didn’t say anything for a moment. He pressed his lips together as a shit-eating grin lifted his cheeks. He leant out of their hiding place, peeking around a staircase to see you and the beautiful French girl. He watched, with a decent amount of glee and amusement, as the girl laughed, her hands on your shoulders. He sniggered when she placed a light kiss to your cheek, your face a picture of embarrassment and shock. He hoped that meant he wouldn’t have to let down a French girl today.

As you turned on your heel to come back to him, he jumped back into his hiding spot, noticing George wasn’t there. Looking around, he found his twin walking down the opposite corridor to you, shooting him a wink. He couldn’t help but smirk.

“Sorry about that.” You said, appearing next to him, leaning against the wall. “I didn’t realise that she thought I was asking her out.”

A chuckle slipped from Fred’s lips.

“Where’s George?” you asked, looking over Fred’s shoulder.

“He’s working out a few bugs in the Walkie Talkie Chalk. The sound cut off just after you said I was beautiful and charming and wonderful.”

You opened your mouth indignantly. You’d been so focused on trying not to look like an idiot, you’d forgotten Fred and George were listening.

“I did not say that.”

Fred stepped around you so your back faced the wall. Your forehead creased.

“You might as well have done.”

“Well, sorry, I’ll try to sell you more realistically next time.”

He just stared at you, smiling widely.

“Why does your face look like that?” you asked, conscious of his proximity. You could hear your heartbeat in your ears.

“I think you fancy me.”

“Pfft…” you did not have a lot of time to formulate an actually helpful response to convince him he was wrong and you knew it would be very obvious, especially to someone that knew you as well as Fred. “No, I don’t.”

“Is that right?” he asked, stepping closer.

You frowned, nodding with your jaw clenching. You cursed yourself for being so obvious, avoiding eye contact.

“I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“So,” he looked at the wall above you for a second and you took the opportunity to look at his face. It made it worse when he turned back to you. “If I asked you to the Yule Ball, you wouldn’t want to go?”

You considered your choices: lie and say no to conserve your pride; say yes, be honest and finally have a chance with Fred, risking that he might be joking; change the subject.

“I thought you wanted to go with a French girl?”

He leant closer to you, so close you could feel his breath on your face. You dared to meet his eyes, lost almost instantly at the intensity.

“I said I wanted to go with a witch that speaks French. I think you fit the bill, don’t you?”

You bit your lip, looking down to his, weighing up your options. He didn’t give you that much of a chance before you were pressed to the wall, his mouth and body on yours. His hands gripped your bum, pinning you to the wall whilst yours clawed up his chest. You were thankful for a free period. You weren’t aware that you couldn’t breathe until he pulled away and the silence was filled with your panting, his mouth wide in a grin.

“You’re serious?” you asked, looking up to him, his hands heavy on your hips. He frowned, looking up and pretending to think for a second.

“Oui.”

Whilst he enjoyed the sound of you laughing at one of his jokes, he enjoyed kissing you a lot, lot more.

#fred weasley #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley x reader #Harry Potter imagine #harry potter #writing #imagine

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malfoymanortings · 4 years

Text

lavender velvet //part five

SUMMARY: she had her fathers eyes, his aristocratic looks, her grandmothers spite, her mothers heart, but the one thing she didn't have was the love of her father that her god brother received. juliet black finally meets her father who has already decided who his child is.

PAIRINGS: to be decided.

hello again! as always, if you would like to be added to the taglist, just let me know! thank you to everyone who gave me feedback last update. it really makes my day. enjoy! xx

“We’ve got to wake them up, it’s nearly time to leave!”

“I can’t imagine Georgie would be too happy if we broke up their little cuddle sesh.”

“Fred!”

“Will the lot of you shut the bloody hell up?” Juliet groaned, lifting her head off George’s chest. At some point in the night, it appeared she had laid her head on his chest, his fingers tangled in her hair, their legs twisted together. The bare skin of her thigh rested against his crotch, and her cheeks flamed as she realized the git had morning wood.

“Turn the volume down,” grumbled George, moving to wrap his arms around Juliet. “‘M sleeping.”

“Georgie,” Juliet sat up, adjusting her shirt. “It’s time to wake up. Freddie and Ron have seen to that.”

“Blimey,” George blinked sleepily, protesting as Juliet took her blanket off of him, climbing out of the bed. “What’ja do that for?”

“Sorry to interrupt the love fest,” Fred grinned at Juliet, glancing over to George. “But mums going to be right pissed if you both aren’t ready within the next twenty minutes.”

“Better get to it then.” Juliet brushed past the two boys, leaving them to go get ready.

As she left the room, she could hear George berating Fred and Ron, who kept teasing him over Juliet having been in his bed. She shook her head, rolling her eyes. What was the big deal? They were best friends, and had been for years. They did this all the time.

Although, he never usually woke up so excited, her mind reminded her.

“You’re being ridiculous.” she quietly reprimanded herself, walking into her room.

Ginny was the only one in there, quickly shoving her items into her trunk. She gave Juliet a grin as she walked in, her eyebrows furrowed.

“You’ll want to hop in the shower now if you plan on it,” she slammed her trunk shut, turning back to face her. “Where did you sleep last night?”

“With George,” Juliet responded casually, ignoring the way her cheeks heated up as she said where she had been. What was wrong with her this morning? “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Aw,” Ginny pouted, a hand on her hip. “My bed’s always open if you ever get lonely.”

“Oh, shut it,” Juliet took a pair of jeans and a sweater, after placing her blanket in her trunk. “More of that, and I’ll tell Dean Thomas you’re switching sides.”

Ginny tossed a pillow at her, which she carefully ducked. She slipped out of the room, laughing as she did. Ginny was shouting something after her, but she ignored it and quickly made her way to the bathroom. She showered fast, and by the time she was done she could hear Molly yelling at none other than the twins.

“What’s gotten into her?” Juliet questioned Hermione and Harry, who were standing outside the bathroom conversing.

Hermione threw her a look, her arms crossed. “Fred and George nearly took out Ginny.”

“Is she alright?” she asked, running her fingers through her damp hair.

Hermione nodded, and Molly yelled up the stairs.

“WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!”

Hermione jumped like she had been scalded, running down the stairs, while Juliet and Harry each departed to their rooms to grab their things. The portrait of her grandmother was now screaming at them, joining in on the headache inducing ruckus.

Juliet grabbed hold of her trunk, dragging it behind her. She made it to the doorway before an anxious squawking came from behind her, and she cursed as she realized she very nearly forgot her new owl.

“Need a little help, love?” George appeared at the top of the stairs, already heading towards her and brandishing his wand.

“If you could be so kind,” Juliet smiled gratefully, letting him levitate her trunk while she took the cage with her owl. “I still haven’t named her yet.”

“If only it were a boy,” George grinned at her as they were walking down the stairs, Harry ahead of them. “You could have named it after me.”

“Right, that would have been my first choice,” Juliet teased, a small smile on her lips. “Georgie junior.”

“Has a lovely ring to it.” responded George, a smile in his voice.

At the bottom of the stairs, Harry was standing next to Mrs. Weasley, who was berating a large black dog who stood next to Harry, it’s tongue sticking out as he looked up at the Gryffindor. Juliet felt her stomach drop as she realized her father was going to be accompanying Harry to the Hogwarts Express, rather than her. George seemed to pick up on her mood, because he reached over and squeezed her hand.

“Juliet,” Remus appeared in the hallway, beaming at her. “George, you too. Fred and Ginny’s waiting for us outside, we’ll be apparating.”

“What about our luggage?” Juliet questioned, feeling slightly better that she would at least have Remus to take her to Hogwarts.

“Mad Eye’s taking care of it,” Remus paused, picking up on her mood rather quickly. “Sirius isn’t even supposed to be leaving Grimmauld Place. He won’t be able to say goodbye to you at the station, it would be too obvious.”

“Right, he’s going to leave for Harry though,” she snapped back, a flash of hurt going through her chest. She wished she hadn’t known that information. “He can’t even be in human form, for a minute, just to say goodbye to his daughter.”

The black dog nudged her leg, staring up at her with apologetic eyes. Juliet rolled her eyes, and stormed out of the room. She didn’t want to get his pity. It was his love she had wanted all those years, and she would be damned if she settled for pity.

Fred and Ginny stood on the front porch, pausing their conversation as she appeared outside.

“Good thing Georgie went up for you,” Fred winked, giving her a side hug as she stepped off the front step of Grimmauld place. “Might’ve had to leave without ya.”

“We would never have done that,” Remus grinned, stepping out next to them. “That would mean I’d be stuck with her the entire summer.”

“God forbid.” Juliet faked disgust, widening her eyes.

The twins and Ginny laughed, and Remus acted offended. He gave her a wink, though, letting her know he got the joke.

“Alright then, Fred and George, take Ginny, go on and apparate there,” Remus motioned them forwards. “Juliet and I will be right behind you.”

The twins nodded, and with a grin and a loud crack, they were gone.

Juliet took Remus’ hand, looking up at him as she did. He smiled down at her, ruffling her hair. “Ready, kiddo?”

She nodded. “I think I’m going to miss you a great deal more this year.”

“I daresay I feel the same,” Remus agreed, clearing his throat. “Christmas isn’t that far away, at least.”

With a loud crack, and an uncomfortable tugging at her navel, they ended up at the back of Kings Cross station, away from any eyes. The twins and Ginny were already there waiting, and with Remus leading the way, they made their way to the front where everyone else from their household was already waiting. Including Moody, who indeed had all of their luggage.

“I suppose you’ll be with Malfoy on the train there,” George said, taking hold of Juliet’s wrist before she went to grab her things. “So I’ll say goodbye now.”

Juliet laughed, looking up at him to see he had an odd look on his face. “It’s not like this is the last time you’ll ever see me, you nutter. I’m sure we’ll be spending Christmas the same way we did summer hols. Plus, I bet I could fit a few Hogsmeade trips together into my busy schedule.”

George grinned, ducking his head down as his cheeks flushed. “Right, I know.”

Juliet shook her head, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. After a moment, he hugged her back tightly, his head on top of hers, her face against his chest. She felt something again, a fluttering in her tummy, and she found herself a tad breathless when they pulled away, her cheeks hot.

“Be safe this year,” Remus took her in for a hug next, patting her head. “Try and help keep Harry out of trouble.”

“Make sure you take care of the twins if they cause any mischief,” Molly added on, giving her a hug and a conspiratorial grin. “Now that you’ve jurisdiction over them.”

Juliet grinned a true smile. “Right on that, Molly.”

Molly moved onto George, ignoring his protests at their exchange. Juliet grinned again, taking her trunk and her owl off the trolley Moody had gotten. The black dog nudged her leg again with his nose, butting its body against her.

“It would have taken you an extra two minutes at most to say goodbye to me in person, y’know,” Juliet said quietly, looking down at the dog who stared back with doleful eyes. “Think as your daughter, you owed me that much.”

“Onto the train now, hurry!” Molly shouted, shooing everyone towards the gleaming express.

Juliet followed after Fred and George, with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Harry close behind them. Hermione made a comment about Sirius, saying he shouldn’t have come. Juliet agreed with her, and Ron shot back at the both of them.

“Well,” said Fred, clapping his hands together. “Can’t stand around chatting all day, we’ve got business to discuss with Lee. See you later,” and he and George disappeared down the corridor to the right.

Juliet again felt something funny in her tummy as she watched George’s red hair slip into the crowd.

“I better go find Draco,” she announced awkwardly, rolling her eyes when Harry and Ron stiffened. “I’m sure he’s already in the Prefect carriage.”

She bid her goodbyes, giving Ginny and Hermione a hug, a polite smile to Ron and Harry, before heading down towards the Slytherin compartments. She planned on finding Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, to drop her things off, before going to the Prefect meeting.

Of course, they were nothing but predictable. As usual, the compartment at the back of the train was occupied by the Slytherins. They greeted her as she entered, Blaise standing to give her a kiss on the cheek before taking her owl and trunk.

“I see you’ve got yourself a familiar,” Pansy stated rather grouchily, eyeing the Prefect badge pinned to her robes. “As a present for being made Prefect, I assume.”

“Wow, Pans, you did get smarter over break,” Juliet noted, giving the girl a look. “Jealousy isn’t very becoming of you.”

“Since when has Pansy cared about that?” Blaise questioned, sitting back down in his seat.

“You’re late for the meeting y’know,” snapped Pansy, twisting her hair up and pinning it in place, her usual fidget when she was upset. “Draco left five minutes ago.”

“I’d better get going then.” Juliet turned, leaving the Slytherins behind.

The Prefect compartment was near the front of the train, but thankfully she wasn’t the last person to arrive. Hannah Abott and Ernie Macmillian from Hufflepuff appeared at the same time she did, and she entered behind them, spotting Draco’s silver hair right away. He was looking distastefully at Hermione and Ron, the latter of which glared back at him.

Lovely. It was already going smoothly, then.

“What took you so long?” Draco asked scathingly as she sat next to him, glaring at her.

“Hello to you too Draco, hope you had a lovely summer,” Juliet replied sarcastically, crossing her legs. “Not my fault we chose the furthest compartment every year.”

“Mother was disappointed you weren’t at the station before she left,” he muttered under his breath, his glare softening. “You must have nearly missed the train.”

“I’ll make it up to her,” Juliet waved her hand dismissively. “She loves me, I doubt she’s that upset with me.”

“She assumed it wasn’t your fault,” Draco responded carefully, his tone funny enough to make her glance over at him. “I’m sure you had an… interesting summer.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but before she could question him, the meeting began. They went around the room, introducing each other, and everyone received a parchment with their duties written on it.

They would be in charge of the younger students of their house-- leading them to the dormitories, getting them situated in their new environment, giving them directions, and overall being a helpful hand for them. They would also help patrol the train and the corridors at the castle, and help teachers when needed.

Juliet was surprised to find that nearly an hour had passed before the meeting was adjourned. She followed Draco out of the room, noticing rather too late that he had a glint in his eye as he stared at Hermione and Ron.

“Father told me what to expect, he was a Prefect in his year you know,” he told Juliet pompously, arrogance clear in his tone. “He was most displeased to hear that they lowered the standards of who could be a Prefect, however.”

Ron’s ears turned red, and Hermione muttered something to him under her breath, a hand on his arm. Draco smirked, happy to have gotten the effect he wanted. Juliet felt torn, her love for her asshole cousin battling the care she held towards the Weasley’s and Hermione.

Before she could make up a decision in her mind, Ron and Hermione were heading down the hall, presumably towards their compartment, without a backwards glance. Juliet frowned, feeling as though she had done the wrong thing.

“How was your summer, anyways?” Draco asked her as they headed towards their compartment. “Mother kept asking about you. I swear, I nearly hexed myself to death.”

“It was alright,” Juliet replied, shortly, unsure of how much she could say. “I think I’ve had better.”

“What, your father wasn’t as great as you thought he was?” the words came out of Draco’s mouth so casually, yet they hit her like a ton of bricks.

“How do you know?” she hissed under her breath, swatting his arm.

“Hey!” Draco protested, rubbing his arm. “A big black dog arriving with Harry Potter wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous entrance, y’know. Although I was surprised he wasn’t with you. Mother was sure he would have been guarding you, if he showed at all.”

Juliet felt hollow once more. Even Narcissa expected Sirius to love her. “Well, turns out the chosen one is more interesting. More important. Shocker, hm?”

“You can’t be serious,” Draco paused, tugging her arm to stop her. “He cares more about Potter?”

Juliet shrugged, angry that she could feel tears prick her eyes. “S’not a big deal. Fifteen years have gone by just fine without him.”

“Out of everyone, Potter,” snarled Draco, surprisingly Juliet with his intensity. “You’re a thousand times more brilliant than him.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Juliet responded quietly.

“Let’s get to the compartment before the Trolley witch leaves,” Draco said after a moment, pulling her along with him. “I think you could use a butterbeer and perhaps a pumpkin pastry.”

Juliet allowed herself to be tugged along, a smile on her face. Even if her father didn’t care for her, she would always have Draco. The Weasley’s and Remus too, of course, but it was nice to know her blood relatives still cared for her as well. Ignoring Lucius.

Draco made good on his words, getting her an abundance of sweets, refusing to let her pay, to the dismay of Pansy. They settled into their compartments with their friends, discussing their summers and laughing as they ate their snacks.

In that moment, Juliet was happy to be somewhere familiar and safe. Even if Pansy still glared at her from time to time. It was as she said, jealousy was unbecoming of her. It was proven every time her face turned an unflattering shade of maroon each time she caught a glimpse of the Prefect badge sitting proudly on Juliet’s robes.

A grin on her face, Juliet decided, summer aside, this school year was going to be good. It would be worth the near disastrous summer she had endured.

one

taglist: @person1839 @treblebeth @big-galaxy-chaos @spooderham

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zodiyack · 4 years

Text

A Big Brother’s Duty

Requested by @beth-winchester21: Hi please can I request a shelby sister reader imagine where i ask to go to a party with my friends and the boys say know so I sneak out to the party and get drunk and the girls (esme,ada,polly,gina,linda and grace) tell the boys I snuck out and they come and find me but I hide with my boyfriend and they catch us making out and get mad and embarrass me infront of everyone thanks xx

Pairing: Shelby & Gray family + Shelby!reader (No romance)

Warnings: Swearing, smol angst, alcohol mentions, bit o vomit

Note: Unfortunately, I cannot include all the girls for reasons that follow the show. To avoid spoilers for anyone who has yet to watch the show, neither Esme or Grace would be in the same fic as Gina due to deaths and actions throughout the show, so I didn’t include Gina in this. And it might be a bit different from what you wanted, but it was the best I could do. I hope that’s alright! Also the boys embarrassing the reader part of your request is accurate in my opinion, take Finn being left alone with the girls for example 😳😂

Side note, your boyfriend’s name is George because- idk... okay maybe i thought of another equally as amazing british fandom oops

Taglist: @matth1w @redspaceace @simonsbluee, @peakysputain

Masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist

She clung to the bed sheets as tight as she could. Her calculations were a tad...off. To think, she wouldn’t be in this situation had her brothers been even a little more or less accepting of the fact that their “baby sister” was no longer a child. She was eighteen, a year younger than her brother Finn, yet she had less privileges than he did when he was thirteen.

Despite her brothers’, in her opinion, painfully obvious acts of favoritism, she was doing alright. Went on a date with her beloved, got caught by three very unhappy Shelby boys, was invited to a party, was banned from said party by the same pissed brothers- what was there not to love?

She knew as soon as Thomas offered letting his family stay with him and Grace for the night that it was a trap.

Y/n was just getting ready for the party when Polly walked in. She gave her niece words of advice, but Y/n brushed them off without a second thought. “There’s no use in getting ready, Y/n/n, the boys’ll stop you before you can even make it out this room.” She was speaking the truth, and Y/n realized that soon.

Y/n stomped back up the stairs and back into the guest room, where Grace sat. She smiled apologetically at Y/n and told her to forgive her brothers, as they were only being big brothers. The older woman felt bad for Y/n, but understood the protectiveness, as she felt the same feeling over the girl herself; to guide her and keep her from harm and evil. She left, leaving Y/n by herself.

And that’s how she got where she was now.

Dangling from the sheets that belonged to the guest bed, not enough cloth to get her safely to the ground without multiple risks. Noise, harm, potential death, she couldn’t risk it. But she couldn’t quite climb back up the warm fabric, especially not with her now sweaty palms.

“You sure you’re as good with numbers as you say you are?” The voice below her caused her to panic, grip slipping for a second before she clung to the sheet harder.

She looked down, expecting one of her brothers or cousin, but the color returned to her face when she saw someone she was not expecting. “George!”

“Let go, I’ll catch you.” The unsure look on her face washed away after he added, “I promise, Y/n/n.”

George caught her, staying true to his vow, and spun her around before setting her down and kissing her softly. “Shall we be going, milady?”

“Now now, Georgie, there are no needs for formalities. Please, call me Y/n/n.”

“Whatever makes you happy, dearest.” They broke into hushed chortles of laughter, running off of Tommy’s property and in the direction of the party, far from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby.

Unbeknownst to the couple, Ada sat at her window, watching them leave and reporting to Polly, who reported to Thomas. Ada only agreed because similar events happened with Freddie and her.

Sure, Freddie was only chased out of Birmingham, temporarily, but she knew her little sister would’ve been heartbroken if her beloved had been as well. Besides, Freddie and Ada were only sneaking around in his home, not a party with strangers.

Knowing the Shelby name, as she once, and still, was burdened with it, her sister could easily be in danger. It wasn’t likely, but she didn’t want to take the chance. She’d rather be hated by the younger girl than have her be in a grave next to Freddie Thorne’s.

The boys set out, entering the unfamiliar building with determination visible in their eyes. Arthur was the first to speak, making their presence known all while unintentionally causing the party to quiet and still with fear and nervousness.

“Could anybody point us in the direction of Y/n Shelby?” No responses came, everyone still wide eyed due to the presence of the three infamous blinders. “No one? Well, lucky me! I get to pick which one of you bastards tells me where our sister is, alright?”

Some gulps sounded throughout the room. All eyes, if they weren’t before, were now on the brothers.

“You, boy. Have you seen her? About, yay-high,” he held his hand to his sister’s height, “lightweight, not too nice of a drunk? Probably accompanied by a scrawny red-head?”

“Oh! Yeeeeeah, you’re lookin’ for George and uh- Y-Y-Y/n, yeah, she’s uh- in there or something.” One of the younger folks drunkenly fessed up the Shelby sister’s location, earning a sarcastic grin from Arthur and a pat on the back.

“Thanks mate. Enjoy your drink.” The room was still staring. “Well, get on with your lives! Don’t let us stop your partying!” He grunted loudly as his tone changed from calm and kind to agitated.

He received a nod from Tommy, then kicked the door open. Y/n parted from the boy next to her, looking at her brothers with annoyance that slowly shifted to pure horror as she realized just who the people standing at the door-frame were.

“We’ve-only-had-one-drink-I-swear!” Y/n slapped her lover’s chest, his rushed choice of words for the situation clearly not making her feel any better. “Um- I mean.. shit...”

“Yeah, ‘Shit’’s right boy.”

“For fucks sake, could you please for once not murder our dates? Ada and I can never fucking breathe with you controlling our lives! News flash, I’m-” she paused. “I’m...”

John teased his sister, mischievous smile shining brightly. “You’re what? Spit it out, Y/n!”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Before her brothers could react, she hunched over and poured her guts over Tommy’s shoes. “Fuck-”

“Oh you’re gonna get it now, Y/n/n.” John chuckled into his hand, face red like Arthur’s. They both left the room as quick as they could, aware of Tommy’s temper more than what they would call comfortable.

The vomit would have one of two reactions. Either caring brother mode, or it’d set fire to the fuse of the bomb sitting atop Tommy’s rage.

He lifted his younger sister, shooting a glare at George as he did so. Tommy walked with her out of the room. She smiled, maybe his reaction wouldn’t be so bad after all. Looks like Caring-brother-side won!

However, it’s not wise to assume. Thomas shouted for the attention of the people in the home once more. “You see, us Shelby’s, we drink, and we do it well. However, it seems this little Shelby couldn’t keep it together. Not even after one drink.”

The crowed erupted into laughter, growing louder as a frown took place on Y/n’s lips. “That’s not necessary Tommy-”

“Yes, but neither was introducing your insides to my shoes, dear sister. Besides, I’m just doing my duty as your big brother! Perhaps this was too extreme for you. Would sitting at the kiddie table and drinking juice with Karl be more your level?”

More laughter sounded. The flush of embarrassment reddened her face and quickened her heart beat.

“One drink was far too much for her, obviously. What a shame.”

He smirked at his little sister before finally walking outside. “Learned your lesson, or should I go back in there?” he drawled teasingly.

“Please, for the love of all that is holy, take me home already.” Y/n muttered, the uneasiness more obvious in her voice. He didn’t move. “Yes, Thomas, I’ve learned my lesson. Please, just-”

“Alright, but you’re washing these in the morning, alright little sis?”

“Yeah yeah yeah, whatever will get me home faster.”

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chifrany · 3 years

Text

Children of the Entity

Prologue

So much agony. So much pain and death that were moving into centuries. Truly it was a testament to the strength of those still engaging. But the Observer could feel it, their despair, they were losing hope and soon would just become husks. Too bad, he enjoyed a lot of them.

Suddenly though a tinge, an idea put forth by the Entity. Another option, they had enough food, and it hungered for something else. Something new, Observer listened as it explained its idea and was just as intrigued. “Of course, my Entity. I’ll get to creating it right away.” And so he got to building.

The first thing he decided to make in this realm was two buildings. All three stories high with eight rooms on each floor. Much like an apartment complex. The top of the apartment having one large room, just cause he was curious to see how they would divide that. For extra aesthetics he decided that one house will be pink and one blue.

Satisfied with the look of the place, he moved on, making a long rounded building where he put an old style kitchen where they could make a fire and store food they may find, a door that would lead down to the cellar also in place. This room they also added tables and a few couches considering some recreational things but deciding against it. Another idea coming to mind.

With this he started work on the next building. A magnificent, temple looking building where he made alters and a display of the Entity the best they would know him. “If they want more blessings, then they can pray for them.” He explained simply.

After that it was just to create the world, which took the most time, most of the biome was the forest but the Entity was giving him a lot of free reign in this world. So he created a few other biomes as well as slowly starting to drag in animals from the real world. After that he slowed a little with worldbuilding refocusing on the trials as he considered who all he was going to bring in.

An obvious choice was the Survivors supposed leader Dwight. Bringing up the display of the male, he could see him there gently comforting one of the newest survivors. It was still so fascinating that this loser of a man became their leader. But the Observer could sense his wariness, so the next time the fog arrived it would claim him as well.

After looking at him he decided to instead inspect the other four that had been here longest. Meg, Nea, Claudette and the loner Jake. Claudette was the group’s resident healer often teaching other survivors how to heal themselves, while Meg got them running and Jake, well he was a unique case, highly respected by the other survivors but if he noticed he didn’t seem to care. As for Nea, she was a dedicated teammate and one of the most skilled survivors often escaping.

Yes all four were perfect. The fog would claim them next.

They wanted fifty for this to work, it was the number the Entity had given him and the hunt to find the perfect ones had finally started. After those five he then also decided to take Laurie, David and Quentin. Staring at Bill he also decided on the old man, knowing that the Entity could age him down, and decided to grab Ace as well.

After this he was almost getting bored of watching the survivor, so as the fog claimed those ones and had them moved to their newest home. Where they would slowly wake up, at first not knowing why cause the Observer only wanted to explain this once to the whole finished group. No, now he set his sights on the other side of the fence. Killers.

There were many that were starting to lose their spark and will to continue on. No amount of pain and torture cutting through. So he decided those ones were the perfect candidates, first one he went for was the silent Wraith, the fog claiming him as he slept and carrying him away to the new realm. He considered Freddy but that man was restless and frankly annoying and he doubted their goals would be met if he took him.

So instead he went to one of the longest standing killers. Evan Macmillan, aka the Trapper. He seemed angry like always and the Observer couldn’t wait to see what he did in the new realm. So fog moving in it took him as well. The next killers he grabbed was the little teenage ones, the Legion, the isolation seemed to be messing with them. Whatever the Entity did to them making them too bloodthirsty and feral to even be around themselves.

He could feel their loneliness and despair though, especially in the lonely hours between trials. There was that time where they decided just to mix them up as one being but it did not go over well. Panicking them and breaking even more of their hope then was expected. So they were an obvious choice to grab.

There was a few more he considered but he decided to go back to the survivor side, this time taking Adam, Jeff and Kate. After a moment of careful consideration he also decided on Jane and Zarina. The two reporters deserving of it. It seemed that people were starting to notice that other survivors weren’t showing up again. It was amusing to see their confused and alarmed looks. To freak them out even more he decided that the ones in the new realm deserved their old clothes so he just absorbed them up as well. Chuckling at the alarm of the group.

He wondered at this point who would rise up to be the next leader and perhaps wasn’t that surprised when he saw the soldier Jill step up. Ordering for everyone to be calm. This despair and fear was addicting to watch but the Entity was impatient. Wanting him to get on with his choices. Spoil sport. The Entity thought with a sigh. Smirking as he decided Jill and her closest friends were a good choice as well.

So Jill, Chris, Leon and Claire would be the next one the fog claimed. He decided to take another set as well when he looked over and spotted Steve, grabbing him Nancy and Jonathon. With that once more he decided to see what the killers were up to. One he found interesting was Amanda, she explored occasionally, one of the killers that seemed to have no fear about it. Despite having her own realm.

He watched her as she visited Ana, deciding to take the Huntress and also after she visited the Twins and the Spirit. He hesitated on the Spirit but decided to take her. As for Charlotte she was an alright candidate but he wasn’t sure he wanted to include the brother. For obvious reasons, the entities loud voice calling the two one though solved that debate. Charlotte and Victor would be counted as one Entity.

With that he claimed them before deciding he had watched the Pig for long enough and taking her along as well. Again he felt the Entities impatience so sighing he figured he would grab the last of the killers chosen and looking around he decided on: Deathslinger aka Caleb, the young vampire Arius, the brute Kazan, the Hillbilly in the corn, the therapist Eradius, the cult leader Finch, the screaming Nurse Sally, the star Ji-Woon, cannibalistic Lisa who they would attempt to cut through to who she once was. The last one she decided on was Talbot, who they also would allow to return to slightly more normal, not even the Entity could fix the damage that was done to this man.

The Observer was about to leave the Killers realm and return back to the survivors when he paused, staring at the cloaked figure of Danny. The killer exploring the MacMacmillian Estate before he just seemed to sit down a soft sigh escaping him. Another moment of watching the Male and he decided to bring him along as well.

And with that he returned to the survivors realms, this one he decided just to grab the last they needed, these ones being the surfer Haskell, the architect Felix, the cult girl Elodie, the quiet one Cheryl, the brave cop Cybil, the biker Yui, Yun-Jin who he was sure was going to make it interesting with her counterpart, and finally the gamer Feng. With that settled they all were dragged into the fog.

A few had been living at the little area for a few weeks. The killers mostly avoiding the survivors which was amusing for the Observer to see. Still for the first time in a long time with the fog around him he approached everyone being given the thought to come to the temple. The ones just grabbed simply awakening in said temple. Once everyone was gathered and looking quite confused did the Observer step out into view.

“Greetings Children of the Entity.” He called, the entity seemingly pleased at the name he gave them, “The time of killing and death is over. You have all been chosen to be apart of a new step in the Entities Realm.” Someone went to speak but the fog quickly silenced anyone who dare say anything. “This will now be your new home, for one whole year starting from today, you can live, laugh, rebuild whatever you humans desire.” He assured. “However there is a catch, we want to feel something new in this realm, another powerful emotion, love.” He explained. “If you can feel true pure love by the end of this year, you will be allowed to stay indefinitely in this new world. If you do not, you will simply disappear.” He stated being purposely vague on that point.

“You may also get the Entities favor by praying in this temple. Good luck Children, and enjoy your new world.” With that the fog swallowed the Observer up as he returned to his own area. Observing the immediate aftermath of his announcement with a grin. This truly was going to be an interesting chapter in the Entities Realm.

#danny johnson #dead by daylight #frank morrison #dwight fairfield #jake park #david king

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weasleydream · 4 years

Text

Forever and a day

Hey guys Hope you’ll enjoy and as usual, likes, reblogs and feedbacks are greatly appreciated!

Masterlist

(gif not mine)

The night was like the ones you only see in the middle of summer even though it was Christmas. The deep blue sky, almost dark and dotted with thousands of bright stars, was only lightened by the moon, a fantastic crescent illuminating the garden of the Burrow along with Fred and me. The only thing blurring periodically our sight was the cloud forming in front of our mouths when we breathed, except that, this was a magical vision.

The Burrow, as each and every Christmas, was animated and full of joy and laughter. It was awesome, really, but Fred and I had needed a bit of time alone as we hadn’t had a lot of occasions since his departure from Hogwarts, a few months ago. We had escaped the loud cheers, preferring the peaceful silence of the night, accepting the biting cold as it gave us an excuse for cuddling, losing ourselves in the stars.

A particularly violent shiver shook me, and Fred tightened his grip around my waist.

“We can go back inside, if you want.” he said while rubbing my sides with energy.

“No, I want to stay.”

I looked up again to the stars and noticed a few seconds later that Fred’s gaze hadn’t followed mine.

“What? Do I have something on my nose?”

“Except that adorable red colour, no, you have nothing.”

“Yeah, that’s because I love Rudolf the rednosed reindeer.” I declared before chuckling when Fred frowned.

“Is that another muggleborn reference?” he asked. “Dad never told me about this one.”

“I guess you know him as Patrick the red tailed niffler.”

In front of Fred’s incomprehension and once my laughters had eventually calmed down, I explained who Rudolf the rednosed reindeer was.

“And we wonder why muggles don’t believe in magic,” he mumbled. “If they present it like something that childish…”

I didn’t want to debate on the muggle’s capacity of imagining what magic could be - I knew it could turn into a heated argument - and decided to change the subject.

“If nothing was hanging from my nose, then why were you eyeing me so intensely?”

Fred’s cheeks and ears, who were already red because of the freezing air, darkened and I smirked when he scratched the back of his neck, a recurrent gesture that never failed to show when he was nervous.

“That’s because, well, the moonlight… It makes you look, err- it makes you look cool, I mean- Stop laughing, I just wanted to compliment you!”

Indeed, I was laughing softly, melting on the inside because he was so cute when he was nervous… And Fred was almost never nervous. He was always so self confident, such an adorable and cocky boy, yet when he wanted to express his deepest feelings, he became a stuttering mess. And I loved this side of him, way more than the side that always wanted to dye my hair in green, that was for sure.

“And you did well complimenting me, Freddie. The moonlight suits you too pretty well, love.”

And it truly was, from the freckles on his nose that contrasted with his pale skin to the sparkle in his eyes and including his hair that seemed softer than ever, everything of him which was usually awesome appeared just perfect under the moonlight. No kidding, my boyfriend was the best of all.

Fred chuckled, mumbling something that sounded like “Your compliment was still better than mine” and pulled me closer to him. We were sitting on a bench, far enough from the house to be sure nothing - or no one, and especially not George or Ginny - would disturb us. We were still stargazing, both lost in thoughts deeper than the other could imagine, and not necessarily really happy. When a shooting star crossed the sky, that’s all naturally that my dearest wish crossed my mind, and fear flooded suddenly in my body.

I hope we’re all gonna survive this war.

I immediately felt the urge to be comforted by Fred, like every time I thought of the war inexorably approaching, and like every time, he tightened me a bit more and laid soft kisses on my hair.

“It will be okay love. We’ll be okay.”

“How can you be so sure? Fred, it can happen so fast…”

“Y/N, listen to me.” His tone was firm but it was only to make me calm down, I knew it. “As long as I’ll be there, nothing will happen to you, I promise. And as long as you’ll be there, nothing will happen to me because I just cannot bear the thought of you being alone. Do you understand? I’ll be yours for forever, and you’ll be mine for forever. If you keep that in mind, then we’ll stay together.”

Our foreheads were now pressed against each other, and my hands were cupping his cheeks. Fred’s eyes were burning, a flame I had only seen a few times making them shine brighter than the sun. It was pure love. At the moment, I was so scared, so terrified and yet feeling so stupid for doubting of us that I reacted the only way I knew.

“Forever? It isn’t long enough for me, love.”

“Then let’s say for forever and a day.”

“It doesn’t make that much of a difference, does it?”

“A lot can happen in a day.” he whispered before leaning in and pressing his lips against mine.

And as the fire of our love was slowly consuming us, as the cold air seemed to disappear to be replaced by a warm atmosphere, I was so absorbed in the moment, so focused on his lips and his hands, that it never crossed my mind that Fred had expressed his deepest feelings without stuttering once.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

“Molly, you better tell these delinquents to stop their traffic!”

“That’s not traffic, dear aunt Muriel, that’s business.” said Fred with a smirk before tying an imaginary tie.

Muriel grumbled and threw an imperious glance at Molly, who didn’t do anything but shrugging.

“They don't listen to me, Muriel. I’m sorry.”

This dear old aunt Muriel had accepted to hide her family, the Weasleys being in danger now that everyone knew Ron was with Harry, and Fred had made a scene as he wanted me to hide with them. Muriel had firstly refused, pretending she wouldn’t have the energy to bear one more person.

“Trust me, you’ll never survive with me if she doesn’t come with us.” He had muttered, after what Molly had ordered him to shut up for once and had pleaded my cause.

Muriel hadn’t had any other choice than accepting, and I suspected her to know Fred would have found a way to make me come here anyway. As a revenge, she had decided to be more insufferable than usual, which was an exploit according to George.

“Shut up, it will begin!” suddenly exclaimed Bill, who was here with Fleur for one of the visits that were becoming more and more frequent as the weeks passed.

Everyone gathered around the radio, Muriel complaining that she was busy writing a very important letter - Ginny confessed to me she had read a few sentences, and Muriel was in fact writing to one of the old blabbermouths she had for friends. After several hissing begging her to shut up, we all waited for Lee to begin his emission. We waited, but… Nothing.

“I don’t understand…” muttered Bill. “I thought-”

“Do you think it means something happened to him?” I asked, petrified at the thought that one of my best friends could be hurt because he had always kept bringing us hope.

“No, he’s too smart to be caught.” assured George.

But I caught the worried glance he exchanged with Fred. The silence seemed to last forever, and Bill eventually stopped trying.

“Maybe he just can’t right now,” he said. “I’ll keep trying to catch the signal, we’ll see.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Ginny’s voice was blank, and I turned to see that her face was pale. However, the flame of her determination was burning in her eyes.

“Harry is at Hogwarts, and apparently the fight is for soon.”

Fuck. That was the first thing that came to my mind. As my brain was trying to process what Ginny had said and what it implied, Molly pressed her on with interrogations.

“How do you know that? Ginny, is Ron with him? Is he safe? Ginny!”

Without a word, she handed her mother the false galleon I recognized easily.

“Mum, we’ve got to go to Hogwarts.” said George.

“How?” asked Molly with a quiet voice.

“The Hog’s Head. There’s a tunnel leading to the room of requirements.” replied Ginny.

Molly sighed and murmured she had to warn the order. Fred and George got up in the same movement, and I immediately did the same.

“Y/N, you stay here.”

For a second, I thought it was a joke. A particularly bad one, but a joke. However, I had never seen Fred being so serious. His jaw was clenched and he was frowning, and at the moment his eyes were darker than they had ever been.

“I- what?” I asked in disbelief.

Fred glanced at George before sighing. He grabbed my hand and half dragged me to the room we shared with his twin. He sighed once more and quickly passed a hand in his hair.

“Y/N, I want you to stay here with aunt Muriel.”

“Are you crazy? I won’t stay on the sidelines, Fred. Don’t count on it.”

“Love, please, I just-”

“No!” I yelled. Fred winced. “There’s no way you’re going to fight without me!”

“Love, I just want you to be safe.” He grabbed my hand and lightly kissed my knuckles. “How long will be our forever if something happens to you?”

“Why do you keep thinking I’m the only one who could get hurt? Fred, I know how- how reckless you can be and… And I need to be with you, Fred, I need to be sure you won’t do anything stupid, you understand?”

“And if something happens to me? Y/N, if I die-”

“Don’t say that!” I squealed.

“If I die, who will keep you safe?”

Maybe Fred hadn’t heard me, all absorbed in his thoughts as he was, or maybe he felt the need to get this out of him. I would understand, I was feeling the exact same thing, I wanted to say out loud that maybe I would die too. This way, it would be real, totally real, and I could focus on something else. The way of keeping us alive, for example. But if something had to happen to Fred, if despite all my efforts, his fate was to leave me, then I knew what I would have to do. It was obvious.

“If you die,” I murmured, “then I’ll make sure our forever is still a thing.”

“Don’t say that. Y/N, please, don’t say such a thing. I- I forbid you to… Y/N, if I die- if I don’t make it out alive, promise me- promise me you’ll live. No matter what love, I need to know you’ll carry on.”

“Only if you promise the same.”

And that promise was sealed with the saddest kiss we had ever shared, our tears giving it a salty taste, our hands grabbing the other’s clothes in the same way you grip on the last thing that makes you alive. And it was true; at the moment, Fred was the only thing that helped me stay sane, and I had the firm conviction that our survival depended on each other.

From the moment I had stepped in the room of requirements until the moment everything had gone black around me, from the moment Fred had made me swear to stay next to him until the moment I had lost him between two green flashes of light, from the moment I had stumbled upon Percy to the moment I had run into Fred’s arms, my own body had been controlled by the most primitive survival instinct. A rage I didn’t suspect had taken over me, making me kill enemy after enemy, without ever considering the fact that they were human. One the wrong side, maybe, despicable, for sure, but still human, with maybe children that were waiting for them at home. Not one second did I think of anything else than being enveloped in Fred’s arms after the end of the war, enjoying our victory hopefully without any loss and living our life like we deserved. But I had to get through this, I had promised him I would, and he had promised me too.

I was unable to open my eyes, my body being entirely sore and my head seeming on the verge of the explosion. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move to get rid of this small pebble that was planting itself in my shoulder blade. The blood was rushing behind my ears, and the sound was not without recalling the sound of a river. It was somehow soothing.

And slowly, or as it seemed for me as I didn’t have any way to measure time, the adrenaline in my veins disappeared, letting my heart beat less quickly and I could eventually hear what surrounded me. At first, it only sounded like a buzzing, and some noises gradually distinguished themselves. Steps near my head. Loud voices. Laughters. Cries. And after the hearing, it was my sight that came back to normal.

The light surrounding me was forming a bright halo behind my closed eyelids. When my eyes were finally used to such a brightness, they flickered open. The very first thing I saw was a bunch of vaults above me, some of them half destructed and the sky being visible in some places. The second thing I saw was a glimpse of red hair. A smile immediately stretched my lips before disappearing. It was George, and something was wrong.

“George?” I asked quietly, my throat being so sore that this only world almost made me throw up.

When George looked at me with puffy red eyes, my stomach twisted into a painful knot. It took a lot of energy for me to do something as simple as looking around me, but nowhere did I see the smile I needed. I wanted to ask him where Fred was, if everyone was okay, but I only managed to moan weakly. Much to my horror, tears flooded from George’s eyes and he pulled me against him without an ounce of delicacy. He just tightened me against his chest, clutching desperately on the back of my shirt, loud sobs shaking his shoulders. Without even knowing what had happened - or knowing it but refusing to believe it - I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could, feeling the tears rolling on my cheeks despite myself.

George cried for a long time, and so did I without even being fixed on why we were such a wreck at the moment. When finally he stopped crying, he pushed me back just enough to look at me in the eyes without letting go of my shoulders. And when I looked into these eyes I knew so well and not only because they looked like Fred’s, when I saw the most heart wrenching desperation I could ever see, I slowly understood. And slowly, I felt the same desperation invading my eyes, and an excruciating pain taking over my body, because he had promised. He had promised nothing would happen to him.

George grabbed my hand and without a word, he helped me get up. My legs were too weak to support my own weight, let alone the weight of my pain, and I clung onto him like the lifeline that prevented me from drowning in my sorrow. We walked slowly, one step after the other, and it felt like we were struggling against a powerful courant. When they saw us, George’s siblings - I couldn’t recognize who - stepped backward, none of them saying anything. Another step, and another. Arthur helped Molly get up, and she obliged in a painful sob.

When she got up, I saw Fred’s body.

His clothes were torn and dirty. Blood covered the fabric and his skin. His eyes were closed, and he was still smiling. But he was dead.

My knees gave up on me and I fell on the ground. I grabbed his hand desperately, his skin was as cold as ice and I didn’t recognize its touch, which used to bring me so much comfort because it was always so warm. And the tears were continuously rolling, blinding me whereas I wanted to memorize each detail of his face. Then the sobs arrived, all more painful than the precedent but still pleasant compared to the pain in my heart. George was crying next to me, an arm still around my shoulders, and we stayed like this for a long time.

The night was falling on the castle, yet what remained from the Great Hall was still full of broken souls like George and I. People who weren’t ready to leave the last place they had seen their loved ones. George’s family had come back to the Burrow, preferring to mourn Fred in the intimacy of their house, but we weren’t ready yet. We were still sitting on the ground, in front of an empty place where Fred’s body had been laying before being carried away.

We were staring blankly in front of us, George’s arm around my shoulder and my head resting on his, probably doing the same thing, namely recalling Fred.

“I didn’t say I loved him…” My throat was sore after all the sobs that had shaken my body, yet I needed to say it, because the guilt and the regrets were suffocating me.

“He knew it.” replied George, his voice as weak as mine and oh so broken.

And I couldn’t know it, but George was remembering the last time Fred had rambled about me in front of him. “You have no idea on how much I love her, Georgie.” he had said with a goofy smile. “I would do anything for her… She’s the love of my life, I know it. You know what? When all of this is over, I’ll marry her.”

“He knew it and he loved you too, Y/N.”

“And he loved you too. He was so proud of you, George.”

And we burst into tears, hugging each other with the same strength we wanted to hug Fred with, with the desperation we shared of having lost one of the most important persons in our lives.

We cried because Fred was dead and at the moment, it felt like we would always cry because this loss was too much for us to bear.

“I’ll be yours for forever, and you’ll be mine for forever. If you keep that in mind, then we’ll stay together.”

“Forever? It isn’t long enough for me, love.”

“Then let’s say for forever and a day.”

“It doesn’t make that much of a difference, does it?”

I was so stupid, because now, I would give anything for just one more day with you.

One day to say I love you.

One day to live the forever we deserved.

#Harry Potter #harry potter imagines #harry potter imagine #fred weasley #fred x reader #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley x you #fred weasley x y/n #angst

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thewatsonbeekeepers · 3 years

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Chapter 12: Three Men in a Boat [TFP 2/3]

[This was completely missing from my tumblr, via every search function and everything! So I’ve reuploaded - thanks anon for letting me know!!]

This section of the meta is going to deal with the events at Sherrinford – I’ve broken TFP up into three sections to try and get the most out of it. This isn’t just a read through like the first part of the meta, it has a specific structure, much like Eurus’s trials for the boys, so it’s really important to take this bit in one chapter. My hypothesis is thus – that each episode of s4 has been a different obstacle to be broken through in Sherlock’s mind, and that each of them is represented by one of the different Sherrinford tasks. It’s essentially an illumination of Sherlock’s progress through his mind – but it’s set up by Eurus, who is Sherlock’s mental barrier, so these are going to represent Sherlock’s darkest fears about each of the obstacles. Ready? Let’s go.

We take up the episode at the pirate hijacking, which is quite BAMF, but also illuminates a couple of things that we should bear in mind going into this episode. The first is that the transition from a blown up Baker Street to Sherlock and John hijacking a boat without a scratch on them is absolutely bizarre and leaves SO many questions – it’s dream-jumping of the most obvious kind. The second is that water has played a long role as a metaphor through the show, particularly in the EMP sequence, and it’s climaxing now – we are in the deepest waters of Sherlock’s mind.

Mycroft and John working together in the disguise sequence is metaphorically lovely – in the Oscar Wilde scene of the last part we saw Sherlock’s brain and heart finally coming together, and here for the first time they’re working together to give Sherlock the ability to go and confront Eurus. This is what makes Mycroft’s line so powerful. He says:

Say thank you to Doctor Watson. […] He talked me out of Lady Bracknell – this could have been very different.

Comic throwaway? Maybe. But given what we know about Lady Bracknell from the first part, this also has a more powerful meaning – heart!John finally stopped brain!Mycroft from being an obstructive force in Sherlock’s psyche, and they started working together instead to save him. This could have been very different is far more loaded than it sounds. All this whilst creating an image of Mark Gatiss as a Victorian aunt – wonderful.

When we first meet Eurus proper, her similarity to Sherlock is striking. She plays the violin – this isn’t a Holmes thing, because Mycroft doesn’t – it’s Sherlock’s motif throughout. Her hair is like a feminine Sherlock, her pallor and cheekbones match Cumberbatch. For reference, this is a picture of Sian Brooke and Benedict Cumberbatch together in real life.

I’ve done a section on why I think Eurus is the most repressed part of Sherlock’s psyche, and his traumatic barrier to love and life – I sometimes glibly refer to this as gay trauma, but that’s its essence. The similarity between Brooke and Cumberbatch in this scene is really compelling, looking the same but lit and dressed in opposite colours. Similarity and difference both highlighted. Even nicer, the white of Sherlock’s shirt is the same notable brightness as Eurus’s uniform, but it’s hidden under his jacket – a visual metaphor for her being hidden inside him.

Eurus gives Sherlock a Stradivarius as a gift. This should set alarm bells ringing for anybody who has seen TPLoSH. If you haven’t seen The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, please do so immediately because my God you are missing out, but TLDR – a Russian ballerina offers Holmes a Stradivarius to have sex with her so she can have a brainy child, and he declines because he’s gay. (This is not just my interpretation, this is genuinely what happens, just to be clear.) Eurus giving Sherlock a Stradivarius is a deliberate callback to the film which Mofftiss cite as their biggest inspiration; just like the ballerina tempted Holmes to feign heterosexuality, so does Eurus – and both make clear that it’s not without its rewards, which is unfortunately true for real life as well. This moment in Sherlock’s psyche also recalls the desperate unrequitedness of Holmes’s love for Watson in TPLoSH, a reference to our Sherlock’s deepest fear at the moment – he has realised his importance but not John’s romantic/sexual love for him, as we’ll see. So here, trauma!Eurus isn’t just referencing closetedness, but is actively drawing on a history of character repression with which to torment Sherlock – metafictionality at its finest.

The Stradivarius is specifically associated with closetedness, but violins more generally in the show are used to show expressions of love that can’t be voiced out loud – think of John and Mary’s wedding, or the desperate bowing of ASiB. So Eurus, gay trauma that she is, telling Sherlock that she taught him to play is a moment of distinct pain – she is the reason he can’t speak his love aloud, but instead has to speak in signs.

When Sherlock plays ‘him’, rather than Bach, to Eurus (he has a big Bach thing with Moriarty in s2, take from that what you will because I don’t know!), he’s playing Irene Adler’s theme. As a fandom, we’ve generally agreed on associating Irene’s theme with sexual love, which ties in nicely with Eurus’s question – has Sherlock had sex? It’s unanswered. At the end of ASiB, Irene calls Sherlock the virgin, suggesting that he hasn’t.

My favourite moment in s4 without a doubt is Jim dancing to I Want To Break Free. I know it’s the most boring thing to say, but my two greatest loves are Andrew Scott and Freddie Mercury, so it was like Christmas. Here it is also Christmas, but there are two possible timelines. I hypothesise that this refers to Christmas 2010, but it’s absolutely conceivable that it could be Christmas 2009. If we acknowledge that Sherlock is in a coma in 2014, then five years ago is Christmas 2009; however, given that we’ve jumped to 2015 in dream time, I’m going to make the guess that Jim’s visit to Sherrinford is supposed to take place in 2010. This ties up with the idea that this is when Moriarty first started taking an interest in Sherlock, who had never heard of him before ASiP, particularly as this is all in the EMP.

I firmly believe that Jim represents the fear that John is in danger – I highlight this in the chapter on HLV, where you’ll recall we first encounter Jim in the EMP and he sends Sherlock on his journey through the EMP with the words John Watson is definitely in danger – a pretty big sign. Even without this, though, his biggest threat to Sherlock has always been hurting John, whether in TRF or with the idea of burning the heart out of him with Semtex. It’s not unreasonable then to assume that MP!Jim first getting inside Sherlock’s subconscious to represent this fear happens in 2010, when he first meets John. He slips in and stays there, and he melds with Eurus. We see this in the powerful visual of the two of them dancing in front of the glass as Jim’s image slowly becomes Eurus’s reflection – the fear of John dying embeds itself into the gay trauma that Sherlock has stored up, even without him realising it. This ties in nicely with the choice of I Want to Break Free, which is famous for its use of drag in the music video – Jim melding into Eurus is the dark side of queer genderbending that we hate to see. It’s also a pretty fitting song name for an intensifying of repressed gay trauma, even without the association with queer king Mercury.

[A side note to all of this – there were wonderful TEH metas about trains in tunnels being sexual, which isn’t just a tjlc thing but is a well-established idea in cinema – Moriarty’s consistent train noises here seem like a horrifyingly inverted version of that sexual longing.]

Task 1 – The Six Thatchers

The governor is set up as a mirror for John in this task, which provides some helpful context for the episode as a whole. Heart!John makes this comparison himself, by drawing out the similarity between the situation with the governor’s wife and his with Mary, though in this case the governor does kill himself because of his wife – or so it seems. The suicidal instinct matches with everything we’ve learned about John in s4, but I want to hypothesise, perhaps tenuously, that he’s more connected with Eurus than we might think. We know that Eurus has had control of the governor for quite some time, and one of the things we hear her saying to the governor in the background of the interrogations is that he shouldn’t trust his wife. This is an odd thing to pepper into the background when he’s about to commit suicide for her, and perhaps suggests that he’s more of Eurus’s pawn than he lets on, though I grant this may be spurious.

The idea that he distrusts his wife because of Eurus is important, however, because we’ve already seen John engage with Eurus in various forms, but this seems like an extension of E; Eurus, aka Sherlock’s hidden self, has been making John doubt Mary, even before she shoots Sherlock. John cannot know she’s a spy at this point, so it’s unlikely he’s doubting her goodwill; he’s simply doubting her.

Before we look at how the actual task impacts the governor and how that illustrates what’s really going on in TST, it’s worth pointing out that it is the governor’s engagement with Eurus which prompts the entire shutdown of Sherrinford and forces Sherlock (with brain!Mycroft and heart!John ever at his side, of course) to engage once and for all with Eurus. This points to everything that s4 has been telling us – that Sherlock’s understanding of the relationship between him and John, including his power to save him (we’re going to see the governor play the foil here) is what sends his brain into stay-alive-overdrive. Sherrinford is the peak of this.

Summary of the task, for those who hate TFP: Sherlock is given a gun and told he can pick either John or Mycroft to kill the governor, otherwise the governor’s wife will be killed by Eurus. As I’ve written about in its chapters, TST is about Sherlock trying to get to the bottom of Mary and why she tried to kill him – and, of course, the impact this will have on John. In brief, by displacing the shot onto Mary in his mind, he’s discounting his own importance and instead thinking about what it will mean for John to lose Mary. His greatest fear is that losing Mary will break John, and it isn’t until the end of TLD that he recognises that the return of John’s suicidal ideation isn’t over Mary, but over him. TFP presents the horror version, the version of TST that Sherlock’s trauma wants him to believe but which he has to overcome. In this case, Mycroft and John resolve to keep the governor alive in their passivity, but that passivity – Sherlock’s coma – is not enough to keep the governor from killing himself over Mary. This is the most feared outcome from Mary’s death that Sherlock can think of – his fear of losing John combined with John’s love of Mary, which in TST Sherlock is still taking as read.

Double naming in this show should never be neglected, and in this case we learn shortly before the governor dies that his name is David. Again, the dramatic manner in which we learn this (on the moment of execution) draws our attention to it – we know another David in this show.

Yup – Mary's ex who’s still in love with her from TSoT. So even though Sherlock is experiencing the panic of John killing himself for loss of Mary, his subconscious is still pointing out to him that that’s not what’s happening here. This mirror version of John that he has set up, who is broken by the loss of Mary as Sherlock fears in TST, is actually the other man in Mary’s life – even with Eurus forcing the worst possible scenario onto him, this still can’t quite fit John’s character. And so we move onto the second task.

Task 2 – The Lying Detective

This section of the Sherrinford saga is the three Garridebs, the closest thing that the fandom has ever got to a collective trauma. I do think, however, that it’s fully reclaimable for tjlc and means the same as we always wanted it to; I also think that it’s possibly the most gutting part of Eurus’s metatfictional power play.

If you haven’t read The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, it’s quite short and the most johnlocky of the Holmes canon, so I’d thoroughly recommend. For the purposes of mapping bbc!verse onto acd!verse, however, here’s the incredibly short version. A man called Evans wants to burgle Nathan Garrideb, so he calls himself John Garrideb and writes an advertisement from a man called Alexander Hamilton Garrideb (make of that what you will, hamilstans) declaring that he wants to bequeath his fortune to three Garridebs. “John” gets someone to pretend to be a Howard Garrideb to get Nathan out of the house to meet him – he comes to burgle the house but Holmes and Watson are lying in wait. He shoots Watson, and Holmes thinks Watson is seriously injured and so we have this wonderful section:

“You’re not hurt, Watson? For God’s sake, say you are not hurt!”

It was worth a wound–it was worth many wounds–to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

“It’s nothing, Holmes. It’s a mere scratch.”

He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.

“You are right,” he cried with an immense sigh of relief. “It is quite superficial.” His face set like flint as he glared at our prisoner, who was sitting up with a dazed face. “By the Lord, it is as well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. Now, sir, what have you to say for yourself?”

Mofftiss have referenced this moment as being the greatest in the Holmes canon for them, the moment when we see the depth of Holmes’s affection for Watson, and so it seems odd to waste it on such a tiny moment in TFP. Many fans, myself included, were really upset to see Eurus drop all three Garridebs into the sea, the implication being that tjlc would never be real, and it was that moment that caused many (including me) to walk away. I came back, obviously, but I completely understand why you wouldn’t. However, I want to map one Garridebs story onto the other to show how they might match up.

The Garridebs that Eurus presents us with are not the three Garridebs from the story. In the story, there are three physically present Garridebs – Nathan, John and Howard – although admittedly only Nathan is an actual Garrideb. Alexander was completely invented by John and existed only in a newspaper advertisement. Evans, alias John Garrideb, is the criminal in the Garridebs story; Alexander is an invention.

So – what happens if we substitute John for Alex in bbc!verse, as in canon they are the same person? This is interesting, because double-naming means that John becomes the killer. Whilst it’s true that John Garrideb is known as Killer Evans for his murder of a counterfeiter back in America, in canon he is done for attempted murder – of John Watson, of course. Here we have a situation where a John is set up killing John. This is exacerbated by the victim in bbc!verse being called Evans; Roger Prescott, the counterfeiter, would have been a much more canonical nod to the books, so we can assume that the choice of Evans is therefore significant. It should be noted that Evans and John/Alex Garrideb are the same person in acd!canon - so killing Evans is a representation of suicide. But, in case we weren’t there yet, the reason that Evans took the name ‘John’ is acd!canon is very likely to be because Evan is Welsh for John – so whatever way you look at this situation, you have Sherlock deducing John killing John.

This is, of course, exactly what Sherlock deduces at the end of TLD, far too slow, when we see Eurus shoot John in an exact mirror of the shot from TST – I explained in a previous chapter why this means that John is suicidal without Sherlock. However, much like the passivity of Sherlock, John and Mycroft in the first task, here we see that Sherlock’s act of deduction is good, but can’t actually save anyone; Eurus kills off our Garridebs moment as Sherlock is left to watch, and it’s notable that heart!John is the most distressed about this. Remember, in the first task Eurus left Sherlock with an image of a John who was suicidally devoted to Mary, and although the Garridebs moment is one which metafictionally highlights the relationship between Sherlock and John, she’s still presenting him with a Garridebs moment in which he is fundamentally unable to save John. This is a direct result of the Redbeard trauma that Sherlock has experienced – helplessness is key to that, and this is what Eurus has come to represent in his psyche. But – Eurus isn’t real, Eurus is testing Sherlock, trauma trying to bring him down, and Sherlock’s job in TFP is to break through the walls that his consciousness has set up for him.

The power in Sherlock saying I condemn Alex Garrideb is heartbreaking, then, because it is Sherlock recognising that he is the reason that John is going to die. Eurus is there to make him confront that reality, which she explicitly makes him do. We get the split-second moment where he thinks he’s saved Alex, and then he’s plunged into the sea – but remember, this is Eurus taunting Sherlock, presenting him with worst-possible-scenarios. TFP is set up as a game for a reason – it is a series of hypotheses cast in Sherlock’s mind by his trauma that he has to break through one by one. Remember, although she’s ostensibly trying to hurt Sherlock, Eurus’s ‘extra’ murders in the first two tasks are aimed at hurting John, which wouldn’t make sense if he weren’t the mp version of Sherlock’s heart.

Task 3 – The Final Problem

Pretty much straight after this episode aired, people were pointing out that Molly is a clear John mirror and that pretty much all of the deductions Sherlock makes here could be about John. Again, we’re seeing Sherlock’s emotions being resolved in a heterosexual context – the presence of Eurus means that he’s unable to process them in their real, queer form. However, if we take Molly to be a stand-in for John in this scene, it may tell us what TFP is about – and the scenario that Eurus presents will be the worst one, the thing that is causing Sherlock the most pain.

TLD/the previous task have shown us that John is in imminent danger, so the transition to Molly Hooper’s flat being rigged with bombs is not a difficult one; we must assume this to be the suicidal ideation that we’ve just deduced. The time limit suggests that Sherlock is running out of time to save him (fucking right he fell into a coma SIX YEARS AGO). Putting Molly in a bad mood isn’t really necessary for this scene – they make her seem a lot more depressed than she would necessarily need to be, and they emphasise her aloneness and her ability to push people away, which isn’t something we know Molly to do. These traits are all much more important in the context of a suicidal John – they paint a much clearer picture of someone who is depressed and alone than we really need for this scene, where it’s not relevant to the surface plot.

Sherlock and the audience believe he has won this task, but of course he hasn’t - there were never any explosives rigged up in Molly’s flat, and it was a ruse to destroy his relationship with Molly. This is what he fears then – what if he’s wrong? What if coming back to life because he loves John won’t save him – it will destroy him and their relationship? The problem to be wrestled with is how to save John – according to the symmetry of these tasks, that is the final problem. We know that the scenario Eurus has presented isn’t real, but Sherlock doesn’t; he is being held up by his inability to cope with interpersonal relationships, and to get to the bottom of that we’re going to need to understand what he’s been repressing – part 3 of this meta.

There’s a wonderful shot just as Sherlock is destroying Molly’s coffin which zooms up and out through a ceiling window, all the way above Sherrinford, as though to emphasise not how remote Sherrinford is but just how deep inside it Sherlock is. Given what we know about the height metaphor as well as the water metaphor, this shot is a pretty clear way of telling us – this is as deep inside Sherlock’s mind as we go, this is the nub. But Sherlock smashing up the coffin has another powerful connotation – he's refusing death. In terms of metaphor, he’s refusing John’s death – there will be no small coffin, because he will not let it happen – but the visual of him smashing the coffin also suggests that he is rejecting his own death. The two are, of course, inextricably linked. Our boys’ lives are tied together.

Epilogue: The Hunger Games

I can’t watch this without thinking of The Hunger Games, I just can’t! But regardless of how much Sherlock seems like Katniss in this section, let’s press on. I don’t count this as one of the typical tasks, because this isn’t Eurus presenting a ‘haha I tricked you scenario’ - far from it. This is Sherlock’s way into unlocking his repression. The key takeaway from this scene, as we’ll see is that trauma has hurt Sherlock, and it’s going to try pretty hard here to mutilate him – but it can’t kill him.

We get a great line from Sherlock at the beginning of this, where he tells John that the way Eurus is treating him isn’t torture, it’s vivisection. Because it’s an experiment? Perhaps. But the more logical way to phrase this would be that it isn’t vivisection, it’s torture. Torture is much more emotionally charged than vivisection as a phrase – from a writer’s perspective, this phrasing is strange because it seems to negate rather than intensify the pain our characters are undergoing. Why, then, would vivisection be more important than torture? Well, put simply, vivisection is the act of cutting someone open and seeing what’s inside – and that’s what we’re doing. This isn’t just an analogy for experimenting on people, it’s an analogy for going literally inside somebody. In EMP world, then, these words are well chosen.

Sherlock is offered the choice – John or Mycroft? Heart or brain? We might initially think that this is Eurus pressuring Sherlock into death, but that’s not the case at all – we know from the early series that Sherlock has survived before (although very unhappily) with just one of these two dominating the other. It has taken his EMP journey to unite them into a functioning entity, and Eurus is bent on destroying that, mutilating either his emotional capacity or his reasoning, the two parts that make him human. This is a good sign, as well, that trauma has been acting on Sherlock through the first three series, when his psyche was dominated by brain!Mycroft - Eurus is keen to revert to that state, when trauma had control. It is touching, then, that brain!Mycroft is willing to relinquish that control and leave Sherlock with his heart, perhaps because this new unity allows him to recognise how damaged the Sherlock he created was. We should also note that this diminishing of Sherlock’s heart is compared to his Lady Bracknell, which we know to be his repression of all Sherlock’s romantic/sexual impulses – except this time it’s less convincing, because his brain doesn’t believe it anymore. What is also devastating is heart!John’s lack of self-esteem or knowledge, the sense that he isn’t useful to Sherlock, which of course will be proven wrong.

[if anyone has thoughts on the white rectangle on the floor, do let me know. It’s bugging me!]

Mycroft says that he acknowledges there is a heart somewhere inside of him – again, this is emotionally powerful in the context of the brain/heart wrangling that we’ve seen inside the EMP. Just as Sherlock’s psyche has tried to compartmentalise them all this time and they’re finally working together, now there’s an acknowledgement that the compartmentalisation into personae is maybe inaccurate as well – brain!Mycroft’s pretence to be emotionally detached is not in fact correct, as we’ve been suspecting for a long time.

Brain!Mycroft also states that it’s his fault that this has all happened because he let Eurus converse with Jim. If you spend any time thinking about the Eurus + Jim meeting, like many elements of this show it doesn’t make sense. There isn’t a feasible way this could have been planned, recorded etc in five minutes, and although it’s true that Jim could have come back to shoot the videos under the governor’s supervision, it’s not clear why he’s so important. Unless he takes on the metaphorical significance that we’ve assigned him, letting Jim see Eurus seems pretty unimportant – he is only the garnishing on Eurus’s plan. Instead, Mycroft is at fault for letting John be in danger – not only did Sherlock misdeduce Mary (although we can lay the blame for that at the feet of heart!John - see meta on TST), his reasoning was blinded and so he missed John’s suicidal urges and the danger to his life. Brain!Mycroft holds himself responsible – all of these EMP deductions are way late, comprised of things Sherlock should have noticed when his brain wasn’t letting his heart in.

Five minutes. It took her five minutes to do this to all of us.

The lighting is dramatic, so I can’t properly gauge Ben’s expression at this moment, but his eyes look crinkled in confusion, just like they are at the moments when a sense of unreality starts to set in in TAB. Indeed, these aren’t very appropriate words for when you’re about to kill your brother; it’s like he’s being distracted, like there’s something important that he’s missing. Mofftiss are drawing attention to the sheer impossibility of the situation – and Sherlock’s nearly there. His Katniss Everdeen move, threatening to kill himself, is the recognition that his trauma doesn’t have that power – it can hurt him and deform him by twisting his psyche into unbalance, like it has before and like Eurus is trying to here, but it cannot kill him. We can see that Sherlock has risen above the one-sided dominance that he began the entire show with when Eurus shouts at him that he doesn’t know about Redbeard yet – that’s not going to change his mind today, but it’s a direct throwback to the days when it would have, in ASiP with the cabbie. Character development, folks.

The shot of Sherlock falling backwards into the dark water links to two aspects of the EMP. One is the continued metaphor of water to represent sinking into the depths of his mind. The water is so dark it looks oily – it could be argued that this is the oil that is corrupting the waters of his mind as we finally cut to the repressed memories. I quite like this reading, though I have little other oil imagery to link it to in the show. The other notable point is the slow-motion fall backwards – instead of showing Sherlock, John and Mycroft all falling, we cut to Sherlock falling backwards exactly like he did in HLV when he was shot by Mary. This is a really clear visual callback. Even though we’re going deeper, we’re linking back to the original shooting, back in reality, suggesting that this depth is paradoxically going to lead us back to the start. To go back to the oil imagery, don’t forget that oil floats on water – although it looks like we’re sinking, there’s a real sense that these repressed memories are actually pulling us to the surface of Sherlock’s subconscious, quite unlike the deep zoom out we saw when Sherlock was destroying the coffin.

And that’s it for part 2 of the TFP meta! Part 3/3 will deal with such highlights as John not being able to recognise bones and presumably getting his feet pulled off by chains. Good thing this is just a dream. See you then!

#meta #emp theory #tjlc

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