#originally posted on my ao3 back in june last year

[hai-nae]

astral projection thoughts for mcu mk from awhile ago

[hockeylovee12]

Anyone But Him

Prologue-Discontinued Version

Jack Hughes/Original Character

Summary: The day Luke Hughes has been waiting years for finally arrives-Draft Day, little does he know this day will bring a new beginning for more than just him.

WARNINGS: Underage Drinking, mentions of death of a parent

A/N: I'm gonna be so honest I'm not sure if this classifies as a prologue because I couldn't give you the definition of one, but I had already planned out all my chapters when I decided to add this so now it's called a prologue. I have posted previous versions of a story entitled Anyone But Him on this tumblr but I have spent the last few months deciding I want to rewrite it. The previous versions will not be deleted but I will not be continuing them either. Starting from this chapter will be the series I will be writing from. Also I’m aware Luke was drafted in July not June because of Covid but for this story Covid did not happen, but the draft was still switched to a remote version due to something else. This is also posted on AO3 and I hope you enjoy it!

June 20th, 2021, Draft Day

The walls surrounding the spacious living room in Canton, Michigan owned by Ellen and Jim Hughes, appear to vibrate with a mixture of excitement and anticipation as a large crowd of familiar faces gather inside the space, their voices laced with emotion as they eagerly whisper predictions and hopes for the upcoming moment. 

Along the edges of the room, a camera crew stands silently, capturing this important moment. Their lenses remain focused on the nervous faces, surrounding the large television. 

At the center of attention, 17-year-old Luke Hughes sits rigidly on the edge of his seat, his navy blue suit stretching across his broad shoulders and tall frame. 

As he watches the numbers on the television continue to descend, counting down to the next draft pick, his heart relentlessly thumps against his ribcage and his fingers begin to tremble uncontrollably, betraying his conscious efforts at appearing calm. 

To the right of him, his oldest brother Quinn-the one he’s idolized for years-sits his posture impeccable as his fingers move his dark brown hair away from his face. Quinn silently offers a nod, a small gesture of reassurance, in an attempt to ease his youngest brother's nerves. 

On the other side of Luke, his brother Jack, remains calm and collected, his body leaning comfortably against the back of the couch, as he allows a playful grin to curl at the corner of his mouth as if to say “Been there, Done that” 

They’ve been through this before, not in this exact space, but the same anticipation, same nervousness, of waiting to hear your name called, to find out if all the work, all the late-night practices, all the hours you spent watching the same plays over and over again, if all of it was enough to make it to the NHL. 

Quinn had endured this waiting game in 2018, as the Canucks 7th overall pick, and Jack-who had a much shorter waiting period being first overall- felt the same nerves, up until the moment the New Jersey Devils announced his name, and now it’s Luke’s turn. 

The waiting is almost suffocating as the numbers continue winding down. The fourth pick would be chosen soon, a pick held by the Devils. 

Luke turns his head to the space next to Quinn, where the gorgeous girl with light brown hair and a flowy blue dress, is perched on the edge of her seat, her blue eyes glued to the screen with unwavering focus and concentration. His gaze lingers there for a moment longer, his heart fluttering with a feeling he can’t quite name yet. It’s the same girl who knows nearly everything about him, the one who’s shown up to every single one of his games for the past five years, the one who’s spent more nights in his bed than he could count, the one who sees him as as more than just a friend, the one that sees him as a brother. It’s Sadie, his best friend. 

His eyes flutter to the conjoining side of the couch where his mother Ellen and grandmother Penny are seated, their hands clasped tightly together and their eyes beaming with a mixture of pride and anxiety. 

On the other side of Jack, Jim, their father, and his younger brother Marty, share a tense posture from two armchairs, strategically placed next to the couch, their shoulders stiff with anticipation.

The coffee table in front of Luke is adorned with an array of hats each proudly representing a different NHL team. Luke nervously fiddles with his tie, his fingers itching to pick one up, to claim it as his own, to write his own future. But Not yet, Not until his name is called. 

Luke stares at the hats, their colors blurring as his thoughts race. This moment was more than just a personal milestone, this was his whole life, everything he has worked for since he was two years old, everything his family has worked for, his coaches, his teammates, every game, every win, every loss, all of it has led to this moment. His moment.

The final seconds on the screen wind down, and the crowded room falls into a hushed silence, every eye trained on the screen as Tom Fitzgerald, the General Manager for the New Jersey Devils, approaches the podium. 

Luke feels an invisible sting tugging at his spine, pulling him upright, and every muscle in his body begins to coil, prepapering to spring or recoil-whichever fate decides. The pulse in his throat hums, a silent prayer escaping through his clenched teeth, while the rest of the room, a mirror of anticipation, holds its breath. 

“With the fourth overall pick the New Jersey Devils are proud to select…from the USA National Development Program…Luke Hughes”

The words hang in the air suspended for a moment, before reality sets in and the room erupts into chaos, a mixture of cheers and applause filling the room. 

Jack, unable to contain his excitement after learning his baby brother was drafted by his team, practically tackles Luke in a bear hug, his joy contagious, as Quinn wraps both his brothers in a tight hug, congratulating Luke. 

Sadie stands beside him, her own smile beaming with pride and joy “The Devils!” she exclaims with a joyful laugh, as Luke turns to hug her tightly. 

Deafening cheers continue to erupt as Luke’s arms squeeze tightly around each member of his family. 

The TV in the background buzzes with commentary from the draft analysis. Their voices blend together with excitement “...and there you have it folks, Luke Hughes, will be joining his brother Jack in the NHL, what an incredible moment for the Hughes family…”

Luke’s eyes briefly flicker to the screen as one commentator adds, “...and let’s not forget, Luke is already committed to the University of Michigan, like his brother Quinn. What a powerhouse program they’re building there. He’s going to make quite the impact in the NCAA before he takes the ice in the NHL.” 

He turns his eyes back towards Sadie, a mixture of excitement rising inside him, at the reminder, he gets to go to his dream school, with his best friend. He watches Sadie tightly embrace his mom, tears of joy streaming down both their faces, as Jack reaches down to pick up a red hat with the iconic Devils logo, and hands it to Luke, who places it on his head. He made it. 

***

About an hour later the initial excitement and shock had begun to dispute, Luke had finally finished the whirlwind of interviews he found himself in, and he’s able to join the lively party taking place in the backyard courtesy of his parents. 

As he steps outside he’s met with a mixture of chaos and excitement. The nearly 70 people that were previously crowding inside the living room, had all spilled out into the backyard. 

The scent of fresh pizza mingled with the tang of barbecue sauce-an elite combination-accompanied by laughter, chatter and loud music coming from the speakers, fill the outside air. 

Luke maneuvers his way through the crowd of people, exchanging hugs, and fist bumps with friends and family, until he arrives at the barbecue area where a group of his friends are standing. 

He grabs a paper plate from a nearby stack and selects a piece of pepperoni pizza, before standing to the side of the group and listening in, a tap on his shoulder pulls him from his thoughts. 

He turns around to see Sadie standing there with a smile plastered across her face. 

“Congratulations!” Sadie exclaims, pulling him into a tight hug. 

 Luke lets his arms rest around her small waist for a moment longer, the feeling of his heart fluttering returning. 

“Thanks Sades,” Luke replies grinning from ear to ear “I couldn’t have done it without you” 

Sadie playfully rolls her eyes before replying with a smirk “Oh please, you would’ve made it either way” 

Luke shares a similar smirk before countering “Nuh uh I think showing up to my games was crucial to my success. Kinda like having my own personal cheerleader” 

Sadie laughs and narrows her eyes in his direction, delivering a playful threat “Watch it Lukey, You know I’ll push you into pool if I need too” 

The two exchange a look, a look only readable by them as a result of several years of friendship. 

The moment is interrupted by one of their friends Michael, a friend from high school, inviting them into the lively debate over the ultimate question of which pizza topping reigns supreme “Luke, Sadie help us settle this, which is better pepperoni or sausage?” 

“Definitely pepperoni” Luke declares with no hesitation

Michael shakes his head in disagreement, before continuing the conversation “None of you have taste buds!” he claims. 

A wave of laughter washes over the group, when Luke hears a voice call his name “Hey Hughes!”

He turns around to see his close friend Chase effortlessly weaving his way through the crowd to reach him. 

Luke takes a few steps closer to Chase, slightly distancing himself from the group. “Chase, hey man” Luke greets with a casual nod

With a mischievous glint in his eye, Chase leans in closer to Luke and directs his gaze towards Sadie, “Alright spill it,” Chase begins lowering his voice despite the noise around them “Have you talked to Sadie yet?”

Luke Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard, his gaze instinctively seeking out the girl in question, who was now energetically tossing her hands up, defending her love for pineapple on pizza. 

“Yeah, I’ve…talked to her” Luke sheepishly responds. It’s not entirely a lie-he did talk to her about the draft-but that’s not what Chase was asking. 

“You know what I mean, about how you feel?” Chase presses his simple question speaking volumes to the complex feelings that stirred within him. 

Chase was one of the few people that knew how Luke felt about Sadie, beyond their platonic relationship, and he only found out after their senior prom prior, when Luke had planned on taking Sadie, as friends-at least that’s what he told her-but their plans fell short, when another guy asked Sadie, leaving Luke somewhat heartbroken, although he wasn’t quiet sure why. Chase on the other hand, quickly put the pieces together, and has been trying to offer encouragement ever since. 

“No” Luke confesses, tugging at the collar of his shirt, suddenly feeling suffocated by the formality of it. “I haven’t said anything, we’ll both be at Michigan come fall and I just I just don’t wanna mess up a good thing you know” 

Luke was more than happy to use the excuse of Michigan to end this conversation, because it was true, Luke didn’t need to worry about it now, They still have at least two years ahead of them, it was plenty of time for him to figure out his feelings. 

Chase claps him on the shoulder, a gesture heavy with unvoiced understanding “Well I guess you got time, just don’t wait too long for someone else to swoop her up, cus she’s a catch” he says a hint of encouragement and teasing threading through his tone “And hey now that you’re a first-round NHL pick, anythings possible right”

“Right,” Luke repeats, reassured by the simplicity in Chase’s logic. Anything is possible, including finally telling Sadie about the way his heart speeds up whenever she’s around or how he wishes more than anything he could lean over and kiss her. 

But not today. Today is a day for celebration. The other stuff well that can wait.

***

The evening sky continues to paint a canvas of deep blues and purples as laughter mingles with the fading daylight. Luke’s hand is still tingling from the countless handshakes and high fives he’s given through the night, when Jack’s teasing voice cuts through the noise. 

“Hey Moosey, come here” Jack beckons flashing a mischievous grin, well this ought be fun, Luke thinks as he walks closer toward his brother, and now future teammate. 

Quinn appears beside Jack, nodding in agreement, a silent partner in whatever scheme Jack has planned. 

Quinn wraps an arm around Luke’s shoulder and steers him through the crowd towards a more secluded area. 

Once their feet are planted in an area, out of sight from the majority of the guests, Quinn being the only one of the three who could legally drink, reaches behind a plant, and pulls out three bottles of beer, which he had snuck from the drink station a few minutes prior. 

Jack and Luke exchange a look-the kind shared by siblings who knew all too well the tale of bending a few rules. 

“Seriously” Luke raises an eyebrow glancing at Quinn. 

Despite prior accusations, typically coming from their mom or dad, Quinn was not accustomed to sneaking alcohol for his youngest brother, seeing as how Quinn still sees him as the baby of the family.

Jack on the other hand, had no issues, flashing a compelling smile, towards the pretty girl, who works weekends at a nearby liquor store, in exchange for her ‘forgetting’ to check his ID, allowing Jack to successfully buy a bottle or two for his younger brother. 

“Only because it’s your night,” Quinn says, the corners of his mouth twitching with suppressed amusement. 

Jack checks over his shoulder before passing one bottle to Luke “Don’t worry, I’ll take the fall if mom catches us” Jack assures knowing Ellen and Jim would not be too pleased to find Quinn drinking, let alone all three of them, especially considering the legality of it. 

Luke wraps his fingers around the cold bottle, and pops the cap off, a fizzing sound erupting. 

“Consider this like a rite of passage” Jack says his voice low but warm, as he raises his bottle towards the middle of the three brothers, a clicking sound occurring as Luke and Quinn do the same. 

Luke brings the beer to his lips, the taste of bitterness and roasted barley trickling on his taste buds. 

“Thanks guys” Luke murmurs, receiving a nod in response. 

The backyard behind them, echos with music, but in their bubble it’s just the three of them. 

After a few more sips, private words and laughs are exchanged, Luke rejoins the party, weaving through the backyard. 

***

Two hours pass by, and the party begins to slowly disperse. Luke navigates his way through the thinning crowd of people, his mind seeking a moment of solitude as the noise and energy surrounding him starts to blur. 

“Luke! A photo?” 

“Congrats again man!” 

“Can’t wait to see you play” 

The voices bounce around him, well-meaning but overwhelming. Finally he reaches the sliding doors leading to the kitchen, and slips inside to the quiet, deserted space. 

Luke, stands alone, leaning against the cool countertops, closing his eyes as he lets out a measure breath. His only company the hum of the refrigerator and his thoughts. 

The events throughout the night play like a movie inside his head, leading to the return of Chase’s question. Sadie’s image flickers behind his closed eyelids, and a smile tugs at his lips as he imagines the possibility of a future with Sadie, a future where they’re more than just friends. 

The soft padding of footsteps interrupt his thoughts as he opens his eyes to find Sadie, walking towards him, her dress swaying gently as she moves. 

“Hey” She says, her voice a calm achor in the sea of festivities 

“Hey Luke replies, the previous tension in his shoulders easing just a touch “Crazy out there huh” 

“Yeah, you’re family knows how to throw a party” she agrees, her gaze lingering on him with a platonic concern “You holding up ok?” 

“Ya just needed a breather” Luke responds with a smile 

“Me too” Sadie chuckles before leaning against the counter next to him. 

“It looks like things are starting to wind down a bit” Sadie gestures with a nod towards the now less crowded backyard. 

“Yeah” Luke agrees his eyes fixated on her “Want to crash here tonight?” Luke offers the same way he’s done so, many times before

Sadie hesitates, her eyes wandering around the kitchen. Her lips part, ready to speak, “I don’t think I can, I came with my dad” Sadie tells him 

“Gotcha” Luke nods, understanding flashing in his eyes. A figure appears near the entrance of the kitchen. It’s Sadie’s dad, David. 

Sadie and Luke move closer together, Sadie’s arm momentarily brushing against Luke’s as Sadie’s father approaches them. 

“Great party, Luke and congratulations again,” David says, offering a firm handshake, that Luke returns. 

“Thank you for coming Mr. Howe” Luke replies his tone genuine

The three engage in some polite small talk, the conversation light and familiar, as David is a good friend of Luke’s parents. 

“How are things going at the station?” Luke asks 

“They’re going well, although we have had some crazy calls about teenagers getting into some trouble, I hope you two are staying safe?” He replies 

“Of course Dad” Sadie answers 

As the conversation continues, several people make their way through the living room, making their departure from the party. 

“I think we should head home, Sadie” David says glancing between his daughter and her best friend

“Right” Sadie agrees, a small speckle of reluctance shown in her posture. 

“I’ll see you soon Sades” Luke says, his voice tingling with a hint of sadness, as the three make their way towards the entry of the home. 

“Definitely” Sadie promises her smile bittersweet as she follows her dad out the door. 

Luke returns to the kitchen, the house feeling slightly emptier. He stares at the space Sadie, previously occupied, and exhales slowly. He has time. 

***

Sadie enters her house the sound of the closing door, echoing softly behind her. She climbs the stairs, each step deliberate. Finally reaching the top she makes her way to her room, flicking te lights on, and quietly closing the door behind her. 

She begins stripping off the baby blue dress and heels, that have been torturing her feet for the last several hours, and replaces them with a pair of comfy sweatpants, an oversized sweatshirt and her fluffy blue slippers. 

She stands in front of her mirror, removing each piece of jewelry, from the dainty earrings to the statement bracelet with a large S and the multiple rings. The only exception being her gold necklace with a delicate chain and a pendant bearing the words ‘one in a million’ a precious gift from her late mother, that she never takes off. 

She moves towards her desk to put her jewlery away, carefully placing each piece back in their designated spots, when a large white envelope catches her eye. 

It’s addressed to her, from Rutgers University. 

A school she has dreamed of attending since she was a little girl, her mothers school. 

Sadie’s fingers tremble as she reaches down to pick up the envelope. A few weeks ago, she applied on a whim to the school, never thinking she would actually get in. 

She moves to her bed, taking a seat on the edge and taking a deep breath, before tearing open the seal and eagerly pulling the contents out. 

She scans through the words on the paper. “I got in” she whispers 

“I GOT IN!” she repeats her voice raising loud enough to be heard through her closed door

“Sadie?” her dad asks the door still shut

Sadie practically leaps off her bed, the letter clutched tightly to her chest as she opens the door.

“Dad I got in! I got into Rutgers!” She exclaims, practically shoving the papers into her dads face. 

Her dad softly removes the papers from her hand, reading through each word. 

“You got in! Sadie I’m so proud of you” Her dad announces his tone genuine, as he wraps his daughter in a hug. 

A surge of accomplishment floods through her body, mixed with a pang of sadness. She had always dreamed of going to this college, but now all she could think about was how much her mom would have loved to see this moment. 

“Sades?” Her dad asks his voice ringing with parental concern 

“Ya sorry” She replies, shaking her head slightly

“How about I make us ice cream sundaes to celebrate?” Her dad suggests a beloved tradition made up by the two a few years back. 

“Ya that sounds good, I’ll be there in a second” Sadie says watching as her dad walks out of her room. 

Sadie takes a seat on her bed, unable to shake the feeling that something else is missing. Sadie's gaze falls to the photos displayed on her nightstand. The one of her mom and the one of Luke and her side by side. staring at her nightstand, the picture of her mom.

That’s when it hits her-Luke thinks they’re going to Michigan together.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to send me any comments or feedback! Updates will be rather slow because I have a lot of school work but the first chapter should be coming soon.

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

4 years, 40 facts about me loving napo... let's go 🏃🏻‍♀️

...or as @leonscape called it, 40 "Mopoleon" facts?! (picrew link)

the date of our "anniversary", June 19th, is one day after the date of the battle of Waterloo 💀

both our given names are of Italian origin

we're both leo zodiac signs

our birthdays are 8 days apart, in the same month

he's my first otome route ever played

i've only played his route once, in July 2019

i've never seen his dramatic ending

my first impression of him on a teaser tweet of ikevamp EN was that he looks like an asshole, and I didn't like his looks either...

my falling for him was utterly illogical as despite these thoughts I put him on my phone wallpaper a few days later (still before the release of ikevamp EN)

as of right now ao3 says he appears in 59 of my posted works: the total number of fics I have published with him is higher as a few of those are stand-alones in a multichapter fic (napoleon bday prompts 2019 +9, yumeweek 2020 +5, mini requests +4, headcanons +11 ) ...he appears in about 1/3 of all my fics!

we share a hobby of reading biographies! the official ikevamp character sheets state it as his hobby

our height difference is 18 cm

the @xxsycamore blog exists solely because of him, as well as my passion for writing - I started this blog because I wanted to express my love in some kind of creative way, as previously (and for the longest time) I thought my medium would be art instead of writing

despite that, my first ever posted fic is not with him but with Arthur!

I've always loved languages but he had influence over my choice of learning especially french in uni. It's hell but I don't regret it at all

I have a playlist with sleepy-themed songs for him 🥺

birds are my favorite animals (any kind) and he has a pet eagle!!

our mbti personality types are a so-called perfect match! infp + enfj

I don't like black-haired, blue-eyed men because of him, it was my type before him too! (not many such ikemens around but I have a handful of faves like that from other media)

as the fictional napoleon bonaparte is light years away from the historical figure, I thought I wouldn't be interested in learning about him - until I ended up reading multiple books on him, the thickest of which 680 pages... while I don't mix the two in my head, the napoleonic era history (+ russian empire history) is still pretty cool to know imo!

there's hardly any writer around here who hasn't received a napoleon request from me at least once... I'm so sorry...

it is implied in the game that napo has kissed boys (they were taking turns waking him up and they all know of his habit......) which gives me enough reason to headcanon him as bi....like me 🥺

I really suck at completing the bday creation challenges I host for him, as last year I did 0 prompts and the year before that 2....but in 2019 I did 10!

I love making bday gifts. I love birthdays. I don't have the exact number but last year a lot of characters received a bday fic from me but not napo 💀 partly because I was shadowbanned back then!

the only real tradition I have when it comes to his bday is to make homemade crepes since it's his favorite food! but my favorite part is eating them...

I still haven't watched the movie "Napoleon & Me"...

I don't have much napo merch, but I do have the Naplushieon doll which is plenty

I was still in highschool (11th grade) when I fell for him 🥺🥺🥺 it feels like ages ago

I love the song written for the ikevamp stage play and sung by his voice actor Nobunaga Shimazaki, "Lucida", so much you can even find it and play it on my blog... recently some kind soul uploaded the whole version on youtube (I've been waiting for so long....) and I haven't been the same since

my dream napo merch is the clothes hanger with his neck and face so that I can hang my silly little sundresses on him (I'm going to make it on my own actually, just watch)

after having so many random fic ideas for him that will never see the light of day, I accepted the facts at last and now I feel so much better and more chill

I'm currently working on fanart series where I try to post one tablet-drawn art of him every month... I have trouble keeping them simple as desired sometimes but I'm having lots of fun while learning (I still consider myself fairly new to drawing with my tablet)

once I wrote a death anniversary fic for napo!

the best napo song i've discovered so far is Wings by Su!YoON!

I don't know. anything. about his sequel. i just know the cgs. not that is hard to avoid spoilers LMAO

my most favorite napo cg is the 5th bday one (where they're in a field of roses) (it was on my phone's background for a very long time)

my most favorite napo card...that's a trick question but I think the one that is on the left banner in my blog (desktop view)

yes, yes I do want to go to Corsica one day what about it. I have a lot of other dream trip destinations too!

yes, I do love Napoleon cake (It's a russian recipe) (it was my bday cake in 2020)... but so do I love a whole lot of other cakes...!

Fact number 40 is that I love Napoleon a normal amount 😇 nono listen!! I do talk a lot about him, and here I tried compilating facts that are not too cheesy: believe it or not there are days I don't think about him, ok! I never pressure myself to get all the event bonus stories, or to always have a fic ready for him... in a world where im a worrywart about anything and everything, he's my safe place? my chill place? And if I begin to think about the gigantic mass of things surrounding him that are exactly aligning with what I love, with what comforts me, with what traits im looking for in a person, i'm going to get dizzy. So let's end this here with me saying, ily so much Napoleon 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 im such a nunuche sometimes but im your nunuche ‼️‼️

[therentyoupay]

Hi, I was just wondering if technical difficulties is abandoned?

I hope you’re doing well!

*drops in after 5 years and 4 months with a technical difficulties chapter update*

*disappears*

cover art made by @angel-gidget ♡

03/08/23. HELLO, HELLO, HELLO, ALL, LONG LONG LONG TIME, NO SEE. ♡ Can you believe it? When I first published this story (first to tumblr, then to ao3), I had just moved to Japan! When I posted ch. 7, I was still living in Japan, and would stay there for another 7ish months... and in the 5 years and 4 months since posting the last chapter, I have moved to three different cities in the United States and started a Ph.D. program. (I am currently halfway through my PhD program!!!!!) What a wild ride. Also, we lived through the pandemic?! And I bought a house! Over the summer! The market was vicious.

So, then how did I get the inspiration/time/energy/motivation to write Ch. 8, you ask? Marvelous question. I lied down in bed last night to go to sleep "early" and ended up reading an utterly hilarious play-by-play commentary on Bad Books, Good Times of a popular fantasy novel series—and I'm not quite sure what it was about "poorly written books explained by hilariously clever book lovers" but I suddenly had a craving for fanfiction, so I opened up my Books app on my phone, and my eyes fell upon a sudden recommendation for my downloaded copy of technical difficulties. And I thought, "Am I suddenly and weirdly in the mood to jot down some notes to start Ch. 7 right now? By golly, I think I am."

4.5 hours later, I'd written the whole damn thing from scratch on my phone in my Notes app. (Messily! Half-assed! But I wrote all of it down!) I then spent another 6.5 hours today filling in the gaps and "editing." This chapter (and the one that will follow it) has been in my head for more than half a decade, but I just haven't had the space to get it out until now!!

I think one of the most beautiful parts of getting a PhD is how completely it blows your perfectionism tendencies utterly to bits, and one of the really interesting byproducts that has come up in my acdemic writing is just how quickly I can crank out decent-enough writing (skill-building!!). In my case, I think so much of it has to do with just being able to word vomit fairly well while not trying to fix anything until the whole damn thing is basically done. So, I applied that knowledge here! Behold!

This isn't to say that I'll be writing the final chapter anytime soon—I may be on spring break right now and may have had a stroke of Writing Inspiration in the Wild™ last night, but I'm still finishing my last semester of classes and learning advanced Python and working on my milestone paper for my doctoral program and preparing to present at my next conference in June and preparing my proposal for my dissertation next fall. BUT! The important thing is that I will post the last chapter of this story (and all my other stories)! Eventually!! ;)

No BETA for this chapter because I gotta THROW this out onto the internet and get back to coding, so bear with! I may do minor edits for it in the near or distant future. Also, please note that I have not watched any episodes of Miraculous Ladybug after the finale of Season 1, so this fic is very much a ~time capsule~ from the past. If there is any additional lore that might otherwise apply to the plot of this fic, please know that I don't know about it, and I am keeping myself selectively ignorant on all matters of Miraculous Ladybug season 2 and beyond until after I finish this story the way I originally intended. ♡ Woo!

as for, tumblr, sadly, to be honest, I'm never really online anymore! I'll respond to comments here on ao3 ASAP, though. ♡ LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU. ♡♡♡

[seasonal-writes]

2023 Writing Round-Up

Rules: Share what you wrote this year! It can be works you posted to Ao3, Wattpad, Tumblr, or anywhere else! You can share everything you wrote or just the ones you’re most excited about. my beloved mutual @canarydarity tagged me in this. thank you for the tag, worm! this was really fun :D p.s. almost every fic in here is team rancher. and almost all of it is shipping. so i am not going to make my bias so obvious by labeling them, i will simply make not of the ONE that is not team rancher. i'm mentally unwell about them and the bias has not gone away. so just a fair warning. <3

January

"bruised / cuts" // 1,347 words "small / cuts" // 1,897 words

'jimmy and tango are in love and clumsy, usually resulting in minor injuries. these are their stories.

dUN DUN-' "19% touch starved and 91% in denial" // 2,551 words

'a short fic in which jimmy is touch-starved, and his new soulmate, tango, is the furthest thing from it.' "old heartbeats die hard" // scarian // 1,413 words

'Did you know that listening to someone’s heartbeat can have a calming effect on your own heart and breathing pattern? Grian knows this. And he knows it’s working right now, even if it’s not enough to lull him to sleep quite yet. Though, there is still relief in knowing that one is still thumping away in Scar’s chest. Its pace is still fresh and lively and steady, just how he likes it— even if he’d never say something like that out loud.' "When Fate Finds Golden Rings" (ongoing, originally published in late january) // 65,044 words as of the last current update in mid-july.

'Being a prince comes with many things. Reputation, politics..even war, if one isn't careful.

When the Kingdom of the Overworld's alliance with the Nether grows tense, there is only one way to repair it, and it lies within the hands of two princes—arranged to be married to end a fight that simmers hot between the two planes.

But when Heir-to-the-throne Tango would rather stay at odds than follow through, and the the youngest Prince Jimmy finds no way for a wedding to solve anything, how can they bite back their gripe and fulfill their responsibilities?

How do you fight a destiny that's forged in gold? (or, a Ranchers Royalty AU. Take two.)'

February

"i ain't ever liked sweets (till you sugar-coated my teeth)" // 2,556 words

'a short, fluffy, plotless valentine's day rancher duo one-shot! :D'

March - June

these few months, i worked on personal projects and was in the thick of Golden Rings updates. so, nothing too exciting!

July

"how do you talk to a star?" // 1,285 words 'jimmy is in love with tango. he does not plan on telling him.' also, the last update i did on golden rings. maybe someday i'll get back to it, akfdjs

August - December

more personal projects! i had a few new AUs i never quite debuted that i created and cultivated with friends, wrote a little for them--but they weren't really enough to post, so. and that's all for the year! i appreciate everyone who's stuck around this long, even with my inactivity the past few months. i am hoping that with the new year, there will come new motivation to get back into it. posting all my little stories and ideas have both helped me realize i really am beyond in love with writing, AND i made lots of new friends along the way. :D been a pretty cool time! no pressure tag: @hitheeprithee! let me see your words, boy. thanks for reading, as always. :) <3 till next time.

[romaine2424]

Daily Blog July 2, 2023

So I'm mad at my beta! We were chatting back and forth on Discord originally about my WIP fic I'm writing. Yes, the one were I wrote the first 7 chapters back in 2007 before HPDH was released. Anyway, the fic will have 4 parts, and part 1 is the original. I asked her to beta the older chapters so they would be ready to go. Ummmm, she mentioned the whole premise of the fic, was making her anxious. So I stopped her from doing anymore and said no worries. Betaing should not cause stress. Okay we'll get back to me needing a beta at the end of the blog today.

But this is not why I'm mad at her. No.... she mentioned she's writing for @hd-fan-fair this year and did I take a look at the prompts. I said absolutely not because I always get sucked in. So we chatted some more and she said oh just take a look and tell me which one you would write for if you were participating this year.

You see where this is going don't you... Since my muse is on fire these days. I spotted a prompt and boom, full shorter story popped into my head. The final lines and everything. So, yes, I've joined the fest and I blame my beta! Actually, I love @myaulophobia dearly.

What I'm reading:

Yesterday I said I would be reading the first posted story for @hd-wireless. Um, that will be tonight. Because I was just taking a look at my Tumblr feed when @drarryspecificrecs posted the longest Drarry fics for June. Bam! So I read Tandem (92K) by fast-brother (AO3). Who is also another NEW author. OMG where are they coming from? We are so blessed in Drarry. This story, this story I read until I fell asleep last night and woke up early on this Sunday morning to finish it.

Here's the summary: Harry and Draco meet by accident six years after the war. Harry's an Auror with a drinking problem and Draco's a broke student. Things don't work out well. Six years after that, Draco joins the British Auror Office as a Potioneer.

Here's a little more from me: Draco was sentenced to 15 years probation of No Magic and all vaults and Manor confiscated. Lucius and Narcissa were sentenced to Azkaban. The Ministry was a mess during the trials and the Ministry is still in a mess. Ron is Head Auror (love this!) and Harry is also a mess. Great Auror, but drinks too much, has sex too much, and works to hard to push down those hard to deal with feelings.

The story is written from alternating POV, which is quite nice and helpful in understanding the place where both of them are coming from...not a good place originally. The story starts with the meeting after the first 6 years, which is rough. Then Draco moves on, marries, and makes something of his life as Potioneer in France. However, he has no magic so he's learned to do things for himself instead of relying on others' magic to help him. Draco is hired with insistence of one Ron Weasley to come back and work for the Aurors as their UK DMLE Potioneer. Then sparks start to fly...

This fic has one of the best relationships between Ron and Draco that I've read. Hermione too, but mainly R & D. They all love Harry, but...... And Harry, oh I love this Harry despite his being an arse in so much of it. However, he has his story and his telling of what happened in the Forest is unforgettable. And you, too, will fall back in love with our Harry.

There are so many scenes that are memorable but I'm not going to say anymore. You need to read this fic and give one of our New Drarry authors love.

Tandem on AO3

Rom needs Beta Help!

Let me state up front that I do have an Alpha, the wonderous and amazing @m0srael. What I'm looking for is a strong SPAG beta and if you can spot inconsistencies and/or canon issues, even better. I'm an engineer by trade and cannot tell you the last time I took an English/grammar class. I'm terrible with my commas! As my beta was also my Britpicker... I might need one of those later on.

Here's the link to The Azkaban Letters so you can read all of the pairings and warnings. Yes, it is a Drarry fic but.... The prologue is also available to read. The fic, I think will come in at about 200K. I have 90K written. It's broken down into 4 parts and Part 2 will be the longest.

I'd list more but no need to bore most of you. So if interested take a look at the link and prologue. If that doesn't scare you and are interested, you can DM me here on Tumblr.

Thanks for this personal indulgence!

Rom

[those70scomics]

In honor of Groundhog Day, I’m featuring my fanfic ...

Hyde’s Long Way Home [FFnet / AO3]

Summary: Hyde goes on a self-destructive bender after finding Jackie with a towel-wrapped Kelso. The day after that, he wakes up ... and it's the same day as before. He's doomed to live the same day over and over — unless he can figure out a way to live it right.

Rated: M

---

My Comments: My second fanfic, one I wasn’t going to write. I had planned to write the sequel to Reflections Through the Glass (i.e. Beneath a Shattered Sky) then stop writing fanfiction altogether.

But on a (now-defunct) That ‘70s Show fanfic message board, where I first met Prissy (aka @that70sshowgoldencouple�� / @that90sshowgoldencouple​) over ten years ago, I posted a story challenge that included the germ of the idea for Hyde’s Long Way Home.

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies (and I learned post-2011 that it’s based on a short film that stars Kurtwood Smith called 12:01 PM. Full circle), and I thought how interesting a fanfic might be where Hyde is the one reliving the same day. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. On a plane trip back home, staring out the small window, the story began writing itself. I thought, “No. I can’t [allow myself to] write this. I need to be done with fanfic.”

The next thought I had was, “You have to write this.”

So I did. Or, rather, the story seemingly wrote itself.

The characters chose what they wanted to do, and I copied it down. They often surprised me -- sometimes shocked me -- with their actions, but it felt right story-wise, so I didn’t force them to behave differently. I’ve never had an easier time writing a story, and Hyde’s Long Way Home has only two drafts: the first and a revision.

Insane. Especially for me. (It needs another, but one where most readers won’t notice the changes. I do suggest downloading it for yourself in its current form if the prospect of any changes makes you feel apprehensive. But that revision isn’t going to happen for a long while yet, so you have time.)

My original title for the story was Hyde’s Do-Over. Because Fanfiction.net can’t handle hyphens in its story titles, I came up with a new title -- a much better one, in my opinion.

I posted the first chapter on June 11, 2011. Reflections Through the Glass had garnered one to three comments per chapters (when I first posted it), so I had no expectations about that for Hyde’s Long Way Home (yet).

To my surprise and delight, people were drawn into this story and engaged with it and me about it. The comments were (and still are) a lovely bonus to the enjoyment writing this story gave me. So when I posted Chapter 24: A Dark, Sunless Place, where Hyde has a huge emotional epiphany that ultimately leads to his freedom, I expected the same level of engagement.

Almost crickets. A few people commented (and thank you to them!), but I was both confused and disappointed. This was the chapter, the one I expected a lot of reader reaction for.

Nope. And it taught me not to have expectations about the T7S stories I put out. If people feel inspired enough, or simply want, to write a response in public about what I’ve written, they will. Bonus! But the joy for me is in the writing. Always in the writing.

Over the last eleven-plus years, Hyde’s Long Way Home consistently gets -- gratifyingly -- positive comments. Where the stories are posted (FFnet and AO3), on social media sites like Tumblr, and even on webpages that recommend fanfics. More importantly, the comments are from people who’ve read it for the first time or the fifth. The story has gone beyond any expectation I ever could’ve had for it. It makes people reflect about their own lives, opens them up to feelings they needed to confront, and creates positive change in their lives. What more could a writer wish for their work to do?

My thought on that airplane in 2011, “You have to write this,” was absolutely true. I had to write it for me, but I also I had to write it for others. I’m grateful for the positive impact it’s had and continues to have on people. I want my stories not only to be entertaining but to be healing in some way (even if it’s “just” to provide a mental-emotional space for someone to escape to).

So thank you, Hyde, for being such a strong presence in my skull that all I needed to do was watch and listen to you and write down what I saw and heard. And thank you to everyone who has ever written to me about Hyde’s Long Way Home and shared your thoughts, tears, and joy. Thank you.

[fountainpenguin]

tl;dr For 'Fic Followers:

In the upcoming weeks / months, I'm going to be posting for maybe 3 to 4 fandoms at a time.

If you are subscribed to me on AO3 and would like to avoid emails for fandoms you don't care about, I have a post HERE that tells you exactly which series you can follow to get all the updates for the fandom of your choice :)

===

Updates

I recently discovered you're allowed to put essays/meta on AO3, so I think I'm going to copy the five big species overviews from @riddledeep over to an AO3 document sometime soon.

iirc, they're like 20k words apiece, which isn't allowed with the current Tumblr editor, and I've had those posts flagged a couple times for having my body reference images in them (even though they're blobby bodies that don't depict anything), so I do get nervous about losing them and in the past, I wasn't able to edit without them getting flagged, so it would be nice to have a back-up place for them in case they ever get shut down.

I'll probably make another piece for "7 Billion Years in 15,000 words" just because I feel that also qualifies as essay form and it's a piece I really like, and I could probably add Fae Magic as an essay as well.

I think everything else will stay on the sideblog - The sideblog is mostly character profiles, family trees, maps, and the episode timeline and would not qualify as AO3 legality in my mind - but I think these things would be okay and now you know 👍

These posts will still be on the sideblog, just copied

Right now I'm wrapping up One and a Half Birds- 12 of 15 chapters up, draft complete and they post every Friday. My plan is to post the last 2 chapters of Criminal Experience on Fridays after this (They're fully outlined but not finished yet) since Friday was always its update day.

After that, I think I'll post these FOP essays as a cue to my AO3 followers that Friday is being phased out as an MCYT 'fic day in favor of FOP stuff (with Sunday as the new secondary MCYT 'fic day).

For years, I've balanced on that razor edge of knowing my writing has improved a lot lately and that I'd love to tidy up Origin and Knots so they present the lore better and fit my current writing style (which I think is cleaner), but that's a dangerous road to go down, so I've kept moving forward instead.

That's also why I've tried not to get sucked back into the sideblog, as I just really want to wrap Origin and Knots up. Bit of a wake-up call for me when I realized I think when Dog's Life goes on hiatus in a few weeks, it will have outpaced the wordcount of Knots which I started in 2017, wheeze...

I look at Origin and Knots and see them as things we're only 3/5 or halfway done with and it's scary to me considering how much very important stuff I'm balancing (i.e. upcoming Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda relationship pay-off after a very long slow burn; I wrote their first romantic scenes back in 2016) and I hope I do a good job conveying everything right.

Definitely have to grit my teeth and remind myself that "done is better than perfect," though, as I just am never satisfied with it- I had to scrap a lot of things I was excited for because of new story directions, but I think I've pulled everything back together, and I'll be excited to share what I have coming up.

tl;dr - I do love this lore, and as far as I can tell, these long posts would qualify as meta essays and be legal, and that definitely makes me feel safer considering how many times my 20k-word Anti-Fairy culture post got flagged despite the bodies being blue and green, wheeze...

And I've always wanted to write an essay about Lexiconian vs. Hexagonian culture, so I might do that as well, and I'm almost done with my 60k+-word piece about the lore in my MCYT 'fics, so I'm very excited to share :)

Lastly, while this is not lore or an essay, I'd like to copy some or all of my Total Drama 'fics from FFN to AO3, as I discussed in the beginning of the year. I'm thinking I might start moving them in June for Life of a Loser's 11th anniversary.

This 'fic had shorter chapters than what I have now and will probably be updated every few days (Maybe a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule?), which can lead to many emails. So, if you want to limit emails, check THIS post to find out which series to follow for the content you want :)

Closing Note - I have maybe 2 'fics that already have "Here are the series you can follow if you only want updates for this fandom's content" notes in the end notes.

I think I'm going to do a big sweep of all my stuff and make consistent end notes for all pieces. We shall see!

Anyway, thank you!

[trademarkblue]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thank you @be11atrixthestrange for the tag! ♥️

How many works do you have on AO3?

19 so far

What’s your total AO3 word count?

About 236,000 currently, but a lot of my HP fic was never transferred over from Fanfiction.net. I’ve definitely posted over a million words.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Technically 3 because I wrote 1 Syd/David fic for Legion (FX).

My other 2 are my main obsessions - Harry Potter (Ron/Hermione) and The Handmaid’s Tale (June/Nick).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

DRIVE, Mysterious Bruises, HOME, HAUNTED, Sixteen

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, I try to reply to every one. I sometimes miss things for months (or years, yikes) at a time, but I’ll try to circle back eventually because I’m a little neurotic about it tbh.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

The Last Thing - this was my first June/Nick fic, and it is very short but ends bleak.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Pretty much every fic I write ends happy (The Last Thing is an exception).

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I started a Harry Potter / X-Files crossover where Mulder and Scully end up stranded in Scotland and stumble upon Hogwarts. They then enlist Harry, Ron and Hermione to help with an impending alien invasion, of course… but it quickly became way too complicated (obviously), and I never posted anything from it.

I also would maybe kinda count doing major references to other fandoms or fics as secret crossovers?

I’m working on one for Osblaine that’s a direct reference to my favorite fic of all time, The Furious Winter by CazQ, which is an X-Files fic originally.

And I have another in (very slow) progress for Osblaine called STAY that’s a big ol’ (smuttier) reference to Not As a Last Resort by Arabella, which is an incredible bed sharing fic for Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter... And I’ve just now discovered the fic is not on the original site because the whole site is no longer there. Just go ahead and kill me now...

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh yes indeed - some pretty nasty comments in Harry Potter fandom.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Certainly. Pick a flavor, and I’ll probably try it with Nick and June. 😂

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, so cool! A couple Potter fics of mine were translated on FF.net.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Fuck. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but it has officially happened, and they win. The rest was a runway to this…

Nick Blaine and June Osborne from The Handmaid’s Tale.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Anything from Harry Potter tbh. I hate the wasteland I left, but I had to let it go. Still trying to get over that guilt.

What are your writing strengths?

Speed, but only when I’m on a high about an idea.

What are your writing weaknesses?

ADHD…

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Intrigued but have never done it. I would consult a friend who spoke the language rather than using a translator because, especially for dialogue, I feel you need to be pretty intimately familiar with casual speech patterns that would be very hard to nail without immersing in the culture.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files but under a different pen name that I shall never speak of again 🤗

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

7 Years, 6 Months, 4 Days in HP fandom and probably DRIVE in The Handmaid’s Tale fandom.

Tagging:

Anyone who wants to play!!

[autumnpeaches]

and now i see daylight. | travis hackett x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS: After surviving until dawn six years ago, you’d never imagine having to survive another monstrous event… until now. You’re heading to Hackett’s Quarry this summer to be a counselor with two of your newest friends, only you don’t make it right away to camp like you thought you would.

TW: canon typical violence??

TAGS: multi-chapter fic :), slight slow burn???, strangers to lovers, angst, hurt/comfort, age difference, older man/ younger woman, slight references to until dawn, slight mention of until dawn characters

A/N: hi all!! i've been hyperfixating over the quarry recently and travis lately so!!! i thought this would be a fun write !! it's been a while since i've gotten back into writing and publishing my fics, but i hope you all enjoy !! (also posted on my ao3 account :D)

CHAPTER I  CHAPTER II

PROLOGUE (LINK TO AO3)

08:00 | JUNE 24 — YOUR APARTMENT (context: you’re reminiscing about the past few years as you pack for Hackett’s Quarry)

It has been about six years since you’ve gotten those claw marks on your face.

Six years since you’ve endured the incident at Blackwood Mountain.

Six years since you’ve survived until dawn.

After the incident, everyone went their separate ways. You still kept in touch with all of them, though. Even Josh. Kinda hard not to keep in contact with them when everyone is in a group chat lol

You couldn’t find it in yourself to be angry at Josh. He was never the same after the loss of his sisters. Yes, the prank he pulled was hella messed up, but… as twisted as it was, you understood his reasonings. He was still your friend, and… it was good to know that the rescue team was able to find him in the end.

Currently, you’ve moved to New York to do your studies. Two years have passed since you’ve earned your bachelors.

Originally, you were nervous about the aspect of attending college states away from home. Mainly at the idea of meeting new people. The scars across your face didn’t help to ease that anxiety.

You received a great deal of stares from people, but you grew used to it. Because of your scars, people often left you alone. It didn’t matter much to you because that made it a whole lot easier to focus on your studies.

It wasn’t until your last year did you meet Laura and Max.

If you were to describe Laura, you’d say she’s studious, determined, and independent. It amazed you that she put 100% effort in everything, sometimes going beyond that. She reminded you a bit of Emily; there’s more to her than just her wit and brains. Max, on the other hand, lacks ambition at times and can be a little too reliant on his girlfriend. But… his friendly nature and humor makes up for it..

Both of them became good friends with you, and honestly, you were glad for the company. Although you had an appreciation for spending time alone, you were still susceptible to feelings of loneliness. Especially since all your friends were back home. Sure there were phone calls and video calls, but… it just… didn’t feel the same as being there with them in person.

Despite being older than the two by approximately three years, the three of you kept in touch after your graduation. Considering that you all lived in the same state, it was easy to meet up often.

Recently, Laura suggested the idea of volunteering at a camp for summer in Upstate New York, a place with more rural landscapes. She mentioned it would be a good add on for everyone’s resumes and that the three of you should sign up together.

At first, you were hesitant to accept the idea.

Reason number one: the last time you spent time in a rural place, you almost died.

Reason number two: every summer, you’d be booking a plane ride home to visit your friends and family.

However, after texting the group, they all encouraged you to take the opportunity. It wasn’t like you were never going to see them again.

Little did you know, this summer was going to be the next biggest ride of your life.

[clarislam]

PSA: Archive Of Our Own

For those that don’t know, I post fanfics on Archive Of Our Own (aka Ao3), and I’ve been crosposting fanfics between Ao3 and Fanfiction.net since 2018.

Recently, I discovered that not only is Archive of Our Own allowing AI-generated fics on the site, but Ao3′s own head of the legal department was in support of AI being trained on fanfics published on Archive of Our Own.

I also was not aware until recently that AI has already been used to skim the site back in December 2022, either. Even though Ao3 has stated that they’ll be trying to put measures in place to prevent AI scraping of our own fanfics on the site, I am not comfortable with them also allowing AI-generated fics on the site to begin with. That AI could’ve used anyone’s words or writing style to generate their own fiction, which is essentially plagiarism. 

Effective immediately, I will be restricting all access to fanfics published on Archive Of Our Own to registered users only. 

I really hate to do this, but this is the only way I can think of at least somewhat protecting the fics outside of taking down my fics on Archive Of Our Own closing down my Archive Of Our Own account to avoid data scraping. Any fics that were exclusively posted on Archive Of Our Own will be crossposted to Fanfiction.net during the next one and a half to two months. (Thankfully, those fics posted exclusively on Archive Of Our Own are mainly just the Escape The Night fanfics I posted years ago - all the rest are already crossposted to Fanfiction.net.) 

Given that I’m still finishing up posting chapters my Super Smash Bros/The Last Story crossover fanfic at this time, I will still post the last two chapters on the site for the sake of finishing the fic. However, after that, I will no longer post any new fanfics on Archive Of Our Own starting in June 2023. All fanfics from June 2023 onwards will be exclusively posted on Fanfiction.net until further notice. 

Of course, if a similar situation happens with Fanfiction.net, I will search for alternate platforms or strategies to share the fanfics - or, in the worst-case scenario, I’ll have to stop posting fanfics entirely. 

Thank you for your patience surrounding this situation! I appreciate your support. 

In the meantime, if you’d like to follow more news about my original works (fiction and poetry), and if you’ve enjoyed reading my writing (especially since I’m self-publishing a new book during Summer 2023), feel free to check out my newsletter and also my main site for more info. Thanks!

[mannatea]

His Choice, a Tales of Symphonia ‘fic

Words: 959 words Summary: He’d known all along he would outlive her. Pairing/Character: Zelos/Sheena, mention of others Extra Info: This was originally written and posted June 22, 2008 for my friend Nico. His prompt was “Finality.” The original title of this work was “Curse of a Man.” Rating: T Genre: Romance with some friendship vibes, also sort of a character study piece for a more mature Zelos.

The title is the link to Ao3! Please let me know what you think. :) This was a surprisingly big rewrite again.

Notes below the cut as usual:

When I re-read the original ‘fic last night I honestly felt I’d keep more of the original structure, but once I started rewriting I just...couldn’t.

So my usual rewriting habit is to open the original in one document, open a blank document and place them side by side. I retype everything and edit/leave things out/etc as I go. 

While the original had some good bits in it (the line about Regal’s death and Raine disappearing did hit pretty hard I think) the theme was based more around love being a curse, which...yuck, no thanks.

I think there’s room for “ageless” (or slow-aging) characters to feel bitterness and loneliness regarding love, but I ended up wanting to explore that relationship dynamic without the cynicism. After all, Zelos did, in the end, get to choose what he wanted for himself. He might be a bit of a dunderhead sometimes, but like Raine, Genis, Yuan, Kratos, and any other person in this game with a long life expectancy, he’d be well aware of what he was getting himself into.

I’m not 100% satisfied with the end result, mostly because it’s really hard to hit on the characterization of an older and wiser Zelos who isn’t chasing down voluptuous hunnies all the time, but I think it turned out all right. If he commits himself to something of his own free will he’s not the type to back down from that IMO. And there’s something intriguing about a character like Zelos taking love extremely serious when he does decide he wants it. I wanted to show that in the rewrite above all else—that he loves her and the journey they took to get to where they are, aging and all. (Even though it hurts to see the journey coming to an end, even though it makes him feel helpless.)

Anyway, the year I wrote this was the year my grandmother died. She spent the last months of her life in a nursing home and shared her room with a woman in her 90s named Naomi. Naomi was there for end of life care and was never awake or even fully aware, but every day her 101-year-old husband came to visit her and just sat there holding her hand for hours and hours.

I’m sure that inspired at least part of this story.

And while I didn’t have time to explore it fully in this story I did want to touch on how friend groups start to fall apart when no longer united by a commonality. Since the line about Regal dying and Raine disappearing was in the original, I expanded slightly on that relationship and connected it to Zelos’s current predicament. There’s a tiny implication in there that Regal’s funeral was the last time the group was together and he’s heard almost nothing from anyone since. 

I REALLY wanted to explore the funeral more (Raine losing her struggle with grief, Genis unable to comfort her, the group feeling disjointed, unbalanced, and unfamiliar now) but there wasn’t room for it. I guess you can imagine it for yourself. ;)

I almost titled this “Chosen’s Choice” for the sweet alliteration but worried it read too close to Ladies’ Choice and/or Sophie’s Choice and couldn’t do it. 

[violethowler]

My VLD Meta Masterpost

Last Update: 05/27/2023

I’ve written a lot of Voltron analysis over the last few years but some of them are old enough that it’s getting harder for me to search for them whenever I want to either share them with others or go back and re-read what I wrote myself.

So I decided to put together a masterpost of links collecting every piece of analysis I’ve written about Voltron: Legendary Defender up to this point, both here on my main blog, and my sideblog @fandomoverflow​. This will contain links to both the posts I’ve written myself, as well as posts that I’ve reblogged and added my own commentary to. Some of the observations made in order analysis change as I learned new information or refined by interpretation of existing info, but I’ve left the original essays as is to preserve my thoughts at the time.

I’ll update this list whenever I post a new meta in the future, so for the sake of keeping this post easily organized, the links to my previous metas will be divided based on main topics, and then listed in the order I posted each one. 

Also, I didn’t really understand the importance of preserving fandom history until after Tumblr’s porn ban happened, so unfortunately almost all the meta I posted before Season 8 has been lost because I had a thing about deleting pre-season theories/meta after that season dropped, so anything I wrote before December 14, 2018 unfortunately only exists in people’s reblogs. But if any of my followers have any of my analysis/theories not on this list in their archives as a reblog, please feel free to DM me because I would love to add those to the list if I can find them. 

Every meta I’ve written that I still have a link to can be read under the cut, and the post will be updated when I have more links to add:

Character Analysis: Posts analyzing character arcs, parallels, and backstories based on the details canon gives us, and extrapolating how certain arcs were supposed to end based on the last minute edits to Season 8. 

Lotor Was the Reason for Everything: Analyzing Haggar’s motivations and why she’s so fixated on keeping Lotor under her thumb. (December 25, 2018)

Misdirection and Manipulation: Looking at Haggar’s methods as an antagonist and why she wasn’t directly involved in the invasion of Earth. (archived on AO3 on January 01, 2019)

A Speculative Analysis of Shiro, Haggar, and the Rift: my attempt to piece together what Haggar’s plan for Shiro as the Empire’s “greatest weapon” was based on the information the show gave us about her goals. (February 21, 2019)

My analysis of the parallels Lotor’s story has with Rosiu from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. (February 28, 2019)

The People’s Champion: Figuring out what happened to Shiro during his year in captivity based on the details the show gives us. (March 26, 2019)

Reblogged with further evidence found on rewatch (December 14, 2022)

My contributions to a conversation about the two Dayaks and their relationships with Lotor. (May 2, 2019)

Exiled Brat: Figuring out the details of what Lotor’s banishment looked like when he clearly still had power in the empire even before Season 3. (June 12, 2019)

Reasons Why Lotor Fans Continue to Defend Him: why I and other Lotor fans don’t believe he’s guilty of the things Romelle accuses him of. (July 1, 2019)

This Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game: An explanation of why the Paladins were willing to believe Romelle without question, and why their treatment of Lotor in Season 5 was not the heartless and inhumane torture that I saw many people post-Season 6 making it out to be. (July 2, 2019)

In Control at All Times: a comparison of how the leaders of different teams at various points in the series embody the stated attributes of a Black Paladin. (July 4, 2019)

The Winding Detour: an explanation of Shiro’s character arc over the course of the first 7 seasons. (July 13, 2019)

Highlands Poppy: An in-depth look at what the merging of the two Shiros represents. (August 22, 2020)

My take on the merging of the two Shiros from the perspective of a Kingdom Hearts fan. (September 15, 2020)

False Perception: Why Lance is not Sokka, and what his arc should have been had S8 not suffered from executive meddling. (February 27, 2021)

Inverted Mirror: My thoughts on Shiro and Sendak’s final fight in Season 7 and why Keith being the one to kill Sendak was narratively and thematically fitting (Originally written on tumblr pre-s8, then deleted. Rewritten from scratch on March 29, 2023).

Me, My Self, and I: An analysis of the Operation Kuron storyline, the lore surrounding Clone Shiro’s existence, and what it represents for Shiro’s character arc. (March 30, 2023)

Continuation in response to comments on the original post. (March 31, 2023)

Worldbuilding: Posts where I analyze the world of the series and what the show tells us about things like the structure of the Garrison or how Zarkon justified the Galra Empire’s constant expansion.

My observations/additions to a reblog chain analyzing the implications of modern vs ancient Galra designs. (October 7, 2018)

A new addition regarding how this could explain one of the show’s “Galra Keith” moments. (April 16, 2023)

The Keystone Army and the Cult of Personality: my observations on the Galra empire’s stability in terms of both leadership and infrastructure. (January 5, 2019)

My additions to a post and reblog about potential family relations among the command structure of the Galra Empire, where I speculate what this could mean regarding the two Dayaks in Seasons 6 and 8. (March 2, 2019)

Symbol of Hope: Voltron’s relationship with the Coalition and why the latter fell out of focus after Season 4. (originally written on tumblr pre-S8, then deleted. then remade from scratch and archived on AO3 April 3, 2019)

No News is Good News: Figuring out the timeline of when the Second Colony was shut down. (June 4, 2019)

An Updated Guide to the Timeline of VLD: My notes on the timeline of the show’s events (April 21, 2023

False Analogy: An analysis of why treating the Galra Empire as Space!Fire Nation does not work because the circumstances of how their respective wars began are completely different. (June 14, 2021)

A Guide to the Galaxy Garrison: A detailed breakdown of everything we know about the Garrison and what it tells us about how the organization operates. (June 20, 2021)

FreeVLDS8: Posts aimed at specifically analyzing the evidence of executive meddling in Season 8 (and Season 7) to determine what the original pre-meddled version would likely have looked like (largely inspired by the works of Team Purple Lion)

An explanation of the evidence that Lotor’s survival was cut from Season 8 for someone asking about how he died in a reblog of an AU comic. (March 11, 2019)

Alchemist’s and Paladins: my take on a blank spot in @leakinghate​‘s breakdown of the exec-ordered changes made to Season 8 where we know what was supposed to happen but not how it would’ve happened. (March 29, 2019)

Dea ex Machina: analysis of how the Paladins were supposed to have caught up to Honerva based on visual clues in previous seasons (May 27, 2019).

My summary of the patterns in how the words and behavior of cast/crew members in interviews points toward Season 8 being the disappointment it was because the IP owner forced the crew to change the story to sell toys and set up his ideas for a sequel, in which I get a little salty at the fact that much of the fandom refuses to believe it in favor of scapegoating the showrunners. (July 1st, 2019)

Cutting and Padding: analysis of how the changes to season 7 mentioned in leakinghate’s breakdown affected S7′s pacing (July 4, 2019)

Audience Surrogage: a theory about what role Romelle was supposed to play in Seasons 7-8 (July 6, 2019)

Patchwork Quilt: A sequel to Cutting & Padding where I specifically focus on the obvious visual signs of last-minute story changes in Season 7′s earth arc, and how it would have originally looked. (December 29, 2019)

A VLD Production Timeline: An outline of the show’s production process and when in that process the changes to Season 8 were made. (July 23, 2020)

[nekoannie-chan]

Bring me to life part I

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Kathleen (OFC).

Word count: 1075 words.

Summary: Kathleen tried to arrange her marriage, but realized she was tired of the situation.

Warnings: Mean!Steve, break up.

A/N: This is my entry to @writercole​‘s Millenial Mixtape Challenge with the song #65:

“Bring me to life by Evanescence.”

@saiyanprincessswanie​

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet.

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

Tags: @sinceimetyou​  @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad​ @navybrat817  @angrythingstarlight​ @shield-agent78​ @charmed-asylum​ @pandaxnienke​  @real-fbi​ @smokeandnailz​  @white-wolf1940​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​ @xoxonotme​ @bluemusickid​ @leyannrae​  @harrysthiccthighss​ @marvelatthisone​ @hallecarey1​ @caplanbuckybarnes​

June 2022

 Kathleen looked at the calendar; her birthday was in two days, and their fifth wedding anniversary was the following week; despite having the gift for Steve, she wasn't sure they'd celebrate. It had been many weeks since the last time Steve went to the house, since she saw him, in fact, not even at work they saw each other. She had tried several times to understand his attitudes, but she did not succeed. She also tried to talk to him and it was impossible. Steve simply seemed indifferent to what was happening in his marriage and with his wife.

She looked down at the gift she had bought to celebrate the event. She didn't even know why she had done it; he probably wouldn't arrive. They had only celebrated one anniversary, the first. The rest went unnoticed because of the Snap. Although that was not what hurt her, Steve's indifference. She felt so alone. Very rarely did he get home.

It seemed that the only thing she had now were memories. She saw the photo albums. They looked so happy and in love. What had happened to her husband? Of the last few years, there was no memory; however, Steve was not alone, and everyone continued to adore him, Kath only had Steve and Brock, although the reality was different, she wiped the tears that began to come out with the back of her hand. What happened was difficult for everyone; it ruined the lives of everyone.

2 days later

 Kath woke up, and looked at the other side of the bed, empty like the previous weeks. Maybe he was waiting for her downstairs. She still had hopes that Steve had reflected and changed his mind. When she went down to the kitchen, there was no one there either; another day alone in that house; a few seconds later, the bell rang; it seemed odd, perhaps he had misplaced the keys.

"Steve!" she exclaimed with emotion, opening the door, but her face changed when she saw that it was not him. " Ah... It's you," she said, disappointed to see Brock.

"Am I sorry to disappoint you for not being your husband?" Brock replied with a slightly mocking tone as he raised his eyebrow.

"No, I'm sorry, it's just that... it doesn't matter. What are you doing here?" She asked, stepping aside to let it go.

"It's your birthday. I didn't want you to be alone, so it occurred to me to stop by and give you this." Brock knew something was wrong, even if she didn't tell him.

"We have to go to work. I'm not going to be alone."

"Advance gift. Come on, it has been a long time since we celebrated one of the birthdays."

"Yes... a long time," she said, her voice sounding nostalgic.

"Do I interrupt anything? " Brock asked when he saw the gift on the dining room table.

"No, that's something I bought for my wedding anniversary."

"Kitty, what's wrong? I know you and I know something isn't right."

She grimaced. She didn't know if she should tell her. However, he was right and she was already getting tired of the situation.

"I thought it was Steve instead of you because he hasn't come in a while," she began to say.

"What? I know he's not missing because I saw him yesterday in... "

I haven't even seen it at work. I guess he also forgot my birthday, but I mean that since the Snap came to the house, I've spent all this time alone," Kath confessed.

"Even if you told him about..."

"He's done that ever since," Kath said.

"We should go to the usual coffee shop to celebrate your birthday," Brock proposed.

"Brook, no..."

You can say it or not to Rogers, but if he does not care about your birthday, I do. Apart from that, we have to catch up. I know you have many things to tell me. "

About a week later

 Kath had prepared everything to celebrate with Steve their anniversary. In the end, Brock was the one who gave her the idea when they went to the cafeteria. His friend was right, and she was starting to feel a little better after all that time. She went to the gym of the organization. She wanted to fix the situation. She had let a lot of time pass. Sure enough, as she assumed, her husband was there for training.

"I haven't seen you in a while," she said.

"I've been busy with some things," Steve replied while still hitting the box bag.

"The therapy group?" Kath came over and put her hand on his arm. She wanted to get his attention. Steve turned to see her. " Hey, Stevie, you get home early today, please. I want to be with you for a while like before."

"Okay," he blurted out, and she smiled. "I'll be there at eight o'clock, okay?" It's a promise, doll. "

Kath finished fixing her hair, put on the first necklace that Steve had given her, and put on the dress she knew she loved. Maybe they could make up for the lost time. It was a few minutes before eight. The only thing she needed to do was serve the food and wait for her husband to arrive. She had cooked his favourite dish.

Twenty minutes after eight o'clock and Steve still hadn't arrived, Kath nervously moved her feet. At nine o'clock, he started calling her cell phone. She was hungry, but unfortunately, the call did not come in. She sent a message to Brock asking if Steve had had any emergency missions or if something had happened to him.

Steve was always supposed to keep his promises.

She realized that he would not arrive after ten o'clock. She began to eat between sobs. She couldn't believe it. She still remembered those promises he had made to her. She left the gift on the little table in the hall. Maybe when he arrived, he would see it and apologize.

Her cell phone rang, maybe, maybe...

She didn't answer. Maybe so, he would think that everything had been a success and he wouldn't ask questions, although she didn't feel like talking to someone either.

Tomorrow would be another day. Maybe Steve would go and have a credible excuse. She would believe what he told her. All she wanted was her husband back.

Maybe...

[shadowsong26fic]

In the Rain

Author: shadowsong26

Rating: PG

Fandom: Star Wars

Characters: Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan

Warnings: Nope.

Summary: On a rare trip together, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme get caught in a sudden storm.

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.

Notes: Written for the Year of the OTP event. June prompt: downpour.

I am catching up on the June prompts I didn't get to last month, and then the July ones will be coming not too long after that. I should be back on track and doing things in the correct month for August, lol.

(I am also doing this for BSG and some of my original ‘verses, if you’re interested in checking those out! One ship per canon. The fanfic ones will be posted to AO3 probably a day or two after they’re on tumblr. This fic is also available on AO3 here. Master list of all fills can be found here.)

It had been that rarest of things--an opportunity for the three of them to spend time together, alone, legitimately.

Padme had been specifically requested for a delicate series of negotiations on a neutral planet with a cache of valuable natural resources; that delicacy meant she hadn’t been able to bring security from Naboo, as that might indicate, symbolically, that she was representing her own people rather than the Republic as a whole.

But she was allowed a pair of neutral escorts for the three-day trip across the planetary divide (which had its own attendant rules and traditions); and as Anakin and Obi-Wan happened to be between assignments, it had all fallen into place so neatly.

An entire three days, with Anakin and Padme and no eyes on them.

Obi-Wan hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted something like that until the opportunity had arisen.

Especially since the terrain they were crossing was astoundingly beautiful; almost as beautiful as the two beings at his side. Mountains rising to staggering heights on either side of the narrow valley, capped by sharp white peaks; lush indigo grassland grazed by wild local fauna in varying shades of grey and brown.

Even when, late in the second day, those peaks grew shadowed with approaching stormclouds, it hadn’t dimmed the beauty, or the simple joy of the experience.

They had planned for that, of course; the local authorities had advised them how high into the hills they would need to camp to avoid getting caught in a flash flood if it rained, and, even though it would make them late for their rendezvous on the other side, they broke off early and hiked upward into a darkening sky.

And a good thing, too--the tent was barely up when the clouds opened on them.

Padme yelped and dove inside, Obi-Wan half a step behind her, but Anakin--

He had stopped, laughing, arms wide, head tilted up towards the sky.

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan called. “Come inside!”

“In a minute,” he called back, turning in a slow circle under the rain to face them, grinning. “I just want to feel this first.”

Ah, yes. Some things never really change.

It was…nice, to see him smile like that. To fall back into the simple joys of his youth; the wide-eyed delight of a desert child in the rain.

Padme’s soft sigh beside him indicated that her thoughts were probably along the same lines.

“You could join me, you know,” Anakin called.

“Or you could come in before you freeze,” Padme called back, but she was smiling.

“All right, all right,” he said, and squelched over to the two of them.

Obi-Wan caught a fleeting hint of mischief from him, too fast to realize before Anakin swept the two of them up in a close, tight, and very wet hug.

“Love you,” Anakin murmured, kissing first Obi-Wan’s cheek, then Padme’s.

“Love you, too,” Padme said, before extracting herself. “Now get in the damn tent so we can all dry off. I’ll make hot chocolate.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” he said, laughing. “I’m coming.”

Obi-Wan leaned his head against Anakin’s for just a moment before pulling away too. “The rain will still be beautiful from inside,” he said, softly. “And a good deal more comfortable.”

Anakin flashed a smile, soft and sweet, and followed them into the tent to wait out the storm.

[starboundanon]

I posted 608 times in 2022

That's 61 more posts than 2021!

264 posts created (43%)

344 posts reblogged (57%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@thewriterowl

@starboundanon

@trashikin

@brassknuckled

@tatooineknights

I tagged 574 of my posts in 2022

Only 6% of my posts had no tags

#herbie asks - 221 posts

#luke skywalker - 142 posts

#inspiration - 129 posts

#tw darkfic - 90 posts

#ask game - 73 posts

#darth vader - 54 posts

#tali gets their own tag - 38 posts

#din djarin - 33 posts

#anakin skywalker - 30 posts

#sw - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#either the covid is impeding my ability to access my memory banks or i deadass never knew you wrote daddyson pre-punishment goodness

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

At this point I’m half-expecting Vader to rock up in his murder suit, take one look at Obi-Wan and say something like, “You smell so bad I can actually see you stinking. It’s been ten years, is that when you last had a bath? Good lord I can feel your stench through my armorweave. Reva get me a hose I’m not dueling him like this”

109 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

#4

iams™ your father

Summary: 

Darth Vader, plagued with visions of a boy he doesn't recognize, travels to Tatooine to find answers.

There he meets a 12-year-old stray, the spitting image of a young Anakin Skywalker, except for the features only Padmé and the royal family of Naboo possessed: two pointed ears and a tail, identical to those of a tooka-cat.

Vader refuses to be parted from his son after only just finding him, but Luke is wild, and more than a little feral, and on top of that — he's the last of his kind. Vader knows nothing about fatherhood, and less than nothing about human/tooka hybrid rearing. He's going to need all the help he can get.

Thankfully, the Death Squadron always have their General's back.

read on ao3

123 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

#3

Din likes what he sees.

(original)

138 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#2

did you know I love this man

160 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

1,771 notes - Posted March 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →