July LU Write-a-Thon: 351,092 Words in One Day!
On July 1, we hosted our second monthly LU Write-a-thon (organized by @not-freyja and @hotcheetohatredwastaken and joined by their new mods @noorahqar, @a-manicured-lawn, and @winterfen). The purpose of this event was to write as many productive words—words that furthered yourself, the LU writing community at large, or your own stories—within 24 hours as humanly possible.
We had a whopping 90+ participants as opposed to our previous 16 - none of us expected such a large turnout, and were suitably unprepared 😅 We’ll definitely be making a lot of changes to accommodate that many people during the next Write-a-Thon, occurring August 1st. Thank you all for your patience!
But, until next month, here’s the awards and titles earned by each participant, as voted upon by the Discord server through an anonymous survey. The mods read through all your hundreds of submissions (thank you guys so much!) and picked either the highest voted title or the funniest custom submission for each person, as we found appropriate. First up is the winner’s circle, then the clubs, and then everybody else in alphabetical order right below this readmore!
The Winner’s Circle (5 Most Wordiest)
20,037 “Writer of All Time” and “Most Likely to Make 1K become 100K” (As can be seen in all its glory in your Aspects AU) @tashacee: You took advantage of Freyja and Cheeto’s beefing about who would be first and snapped up the win right from under their noses. Well played!
20,011 “Writer of Some of the Time” and “Pen and Paper (Scritch... Scratchy?)” @hotcheetohatredwastaken: Missed the mark by juuust a bit, for the second time in a row. Cheeto, you suck. (:3 –Cheeto) (Qar wrote this, for reference!). Also wrote for most of the marathon on pen and paper!
17,491 “Writer of Last Time” (for winning last month and then failing to defend their title) and “The FourShadow-er of all Time” (for the unholy amount of Chekov’s Guns they leave lying around loaded in their docs) @not-freyja: you are the most autistic about Legend. Nerd.
13,203 “Will Make You Cry” and “Captain of the Twilight Angst Tag on Ao3” @somer-writes: Boosting the Twilight economy, and we’re all happy about it. Also the second-funniest person in the server, with the second-most stars!
13,000 “AU Collector” and “Four Enjoyer” @zarvasace: Whether they're heroes with disabilities, space rangers, or vampires, if Mina wrote it, the boys will be written well.
Clubs
Now while everyone’s accomplishments as individuals were nothing to sneeze at, teamwork does in fact make the dream work. A few lovely people made a couple of equally lovely groups, either by their own choice or as assigned by peer review.
Aimed for the Funny Numbers Club
“Literally Satan” @allwayswildchild: with exactly 6666 words, you deserve every bit of this cursed title.
“Lawn Blart Mall Cop” and “Qar's Mom in a Moment of Weakness Apparently (And Then Qar’s Sister in a Moment of Un-Weakness)” @a-manicured-lawn: The latter explains itself. Apparently, the vision of Lawn segwaying around is amusing. [Some people just can’t appreciate the beauty of a white shirt, tie, and glorious moped… ~Lawn]
“The Reincarnated” @defenestration13: Hadn't written in six months but then reappeared to write multiple thousand words. Good job.
“Multimedia Powerhouse” @passerinesoncaffeine: The art, the writing, Raven's got it all! Painting, analyzing music, commenting, whatever you touch it turns to gold.
“Dark Miette” goes to @rebornofstars: An inside joke that I don’t understand. Also thought you should know that you got [insert bee pun].
“The Memer” and “Literally Wind” @savimatteo2810: These are related.
“The Quoter” @whatvioletdoes-blog: For spending the event harvesting quotable quotes for their chat-fic.
(freyja overshot all potential funny numbers, but is a member at heart)
Most Likely to Get Fangirled (Gender Neutral) Over Club
“Literally Hyrule” @across-violet-skies: Also called the Spunky Sidekick and a calming jasmine tea type person. Hopefully your ghost pepper recovery goes well.
“The Snippeter” @imperialkatwala: For sharing so many snippets to us hungry folk. Thank you kindly.
“Friend Shaped” @polynomialpandemic: A friend to all. Also a “Snippeter” - thank you for feeding the masses!
“Four Tormentor” @undertheopensky: For really obvious reasons. Also managed to make Freyja scream for 10 minutes with your mere presence alone!
Other Friend Groups
“Sad Wet Cat Club” @cinis0 and @lunaopus, you two seem to have nominated one another, so you get this club all to yourselves! However, I would love to know what the talk of forgetting that the Queen died was about…. (Qar has requested to be an honorary member of this club)
@awildsilver and @four-eyed-nerd, you two get to come together as “Four-Eyed-Nerd’s Rat” and “AWildSilver’s Cat,” which is I think our favorite group of all in this month’s running. I do have some additional questions for you two, however, about a mention of the bee movie as an original work (allowed as long as it’s not copy pasted and also hilarious) for you Wild and the title “Honey I shrunk the Links” for you, Four.
The Community Support Team
“The Commentator of All Time” @1-renegade: To directly quote, “Ain't NOBODY give better feedback and comments than lawlessland.”
“Will Make You Cry” @artsyanonymity: Anonymity is the sweetest and kindest commenter in existence! SHE. WILL. MAKE. YOU. CRy. Writes the nicest comments and they make me (and apparently several others) cry
“The Encouragement Itself” @cat-at-a-writing-desk: For encouraging others to reach their goals. We appreciate you!
“Drill Sergeant” @gintrinsic-writing: Made Qar get 5k and scared everyone else into writing. (You did it! I got 5k! The fear (with funny intonation) dragged me over the finish line -Qar)
“Drawer of A Thousand Words” @la-sera: Ruler of the Legend and Hyrule brotherhood, inspirer of writers, and the spreader of so much love with your art this Fan Joy July with the art you spent the marathon working on. Can’t wait to see it all as the month goes on.
“The Reader of all Time” @life-in-winter: Or as you all probably know her, passerine44, the writer of the best ao3 comments of all time. Thea, you walk into a digital room and every writer there makes heart eyes at you. Cannot wait to read the writing you’ve been working on (and leave a comment) to return the favor.
“The Respondent of All Time” @silvrash-797: Silvrash had over four months of unanswered ao3 comments that she caught up with, congrats!
“Lives up to the Screen Name” @sunny-porridge: To quote: “Sunny is 100% a ray of sunshine and anyone who says otherwise can FIGHT ME” and I think we all agree.
“The Wildest Supporter.” @twilightangel83: Supported people and sent a lot of Wild emojis, so much so that we started picturing you as Wild!
“Poet” and “Master of the Shrimp Check” @winterfen: Writes good poetry, and also made sure that everyone was appropriately fed, hydrated, and rested for this event.
Transfer Students
“I don’t work here, Lady” goes to bArk who neither has a tumblr nor writes for this fandom, but showed up and had fun anyways. Thanks for joining us!
“He Who Finished His Book” goes to jr_for_potus44 (not on Tumblr). Congrats!
“Split Screen” goes to @straight-outta-hobbiton for writing two fics on two screens at the same time, neither of which were LU. Frightening.
The Silent Ones
@pelicanpig, @mmelete, @wayfayrr, @raeofsky, @summaryscar @sunkissedkales: You guys came, you wrote, you did not elaborate. How mysterious your aura is (positive, deeply positive.)
"The Almost Silent One" @the-au-collector: Talked before and after, but not during the event. Probably too busy writing, or busy in general - good job either way!
Everybody else!
“Frequent Flier (WPM)” @anime-obsessed: For participating in so many sprints. Also earned “vocaloid enjoyer.”
“Keyboard Warrior” @august-the-friend: You fought autocorrect and lost 3-0, but it was a valiant fight nonetheless. You did great.
“Artist turned Writer” @aurora-boreas-borealis: Took a break from streaming to write—a huge shout out for all your hard work and your help with colors! (~the actual pigments, not the Links ~Lawn)
“Literally Sun” @beesandhoney1219: Warmer than sunlight, sweeter than sugar, and absolutely obsessed with Sky’s girlfriend.
“Most Likely to Include Raccoons in their Fic” @bittirsweeteer: They Who Has Given Legend Espresso (thank you for your service).
“Last Minute Vidow” @deleetrix: Something that should always be encouraged. Thank you for feeding us.
“Stargiver” @emberlylion: For starring in a lot of posts, especially cat pics. Thank you for your service.
Move over Time, @estelian-01 “Will Fight Majora and Win” and then go back to studying.
“Studious Student Who (has not) Studied” @gerudoevernight: Self nominated for “Studious Student who Studied” for hitting their goal while in school. The mod team disagreed with the accuracy of that title and affectionately chose this one instead. Good job hitting your goal!
“The Outliner” @gia-d: Accidentally wrote a first draft. Also think it should be noted that everyone is convinced you either could kill a god or that you carry one around in your pocket.
“Onomatopoeia Outrage” @haloburns: Who debated the word “ow” so hard they inflicted it on the people around them.
“The Scholar” @irenkaferalkitty: For her extensive collection of well-researched data, presented in charts, documents and yes, excel sheets. We appreciate you.
“Most Improved” @labyrinthdancer: Their writing has improved a lot since they started posting! also they write really dark twilight & the chain fics. Being a new writer is scary, but they kept at it and are doing so well!
“Writer of Most Cursed Victorian Child” aka their take on Ravio, is @lele5429 with their first ever fic, which is as gorgeous in words as your art is in ink.
“The Hype Man (gender neutral)/Moral Support” @lemoncatssss: For all the encouragement that you gave others. Also the cat photos. Especially the cat photos.
“The accidental friend acquirer” @lennsart: For somehow befriending literally every single person you talk to.
“Severe Case of Clacking” @lerikwrites: You know why. Pennies in a washing machine my friend.
“Hyrule Hurter” goes to @linkiscool333: We all have the blorbo we love to put in the blender, but no one blends Rulie like you do.
“Marcus Actually Writes!?” @marcusdoodlesalot: For a second month in a row, some of us are still befuddled that Marcus is actually a writer, and not just an artist. Hard to believe that someone can have that much talent in both fields.
“Soup Soup Soup Soup Soup (Soup Soup Soup Soup Soup)” @marsnoodlesoup: I... do not know what this means. Congrats, it seems you’re soup.
“The Veteran” @musical-chan: For sharing stories of the early days of fandom. Back in my day but the most positive way possible
“Artist Turned Writer” @mysticstars105: Came out and wrote a whopping 400 words, which is so many words especially when you’re new. Gold Star!
“Art Fight Pre-Gaming” @nebulapaws: For their talk of Art Fight. Hope you have fun participating this month!
“Resident Audiophile” @needfantasticstories: Not just for writing with speech-to-text all day, but for your constant enthusiastic screaming about Epic the musical.
“Most likely to fight God and Win” and “The Modderrrrrr” @noorahqar: Who is actually Sky. Not with the sleepy part though. She actually wrote so much about Sky that he stole all her sleepy. Number one on the starboard, with the proud title of MVM (Most Valuable Mod) for sticking the landing as midnight hit. Also the one with “The Most Sigmas to Grindset” whatever… whatever that means. (Please help what does that mean?)
“Picture Perfect Exhaustion” @nyastri: Their PFP (Four Doubled Over, hands on knees) combined with the announcement they'd reached their writing goal at the end of the marathon really just sold the picture for me. Well done.
“The Sleepy One” @ocha-blue: who justifiably went to bed as soon as they finished. (Hope you're recovered by now.)
“First Time Fic Writer” @peepthatbish: for breaking into the fic scene and boosting morale for our mod team, especially Lawn. We appreciate you!
“Slow And Steady (WPM)” @pokegeek151: Who was chugging away all day long.
“Doomed by the Narrative” @ra-archives: Google docs acting up, cat sitting on lap, and yet you persisted. Good job.
“My Little Friend Who I Love (This Is Qar Btw) (This Is Part Of The Title)” and “Wordsmith” @rosehipandroots: This is a direct copy paste from your submissions, Rose. Hope you enjoy it. But your amazing descriptions really make you a wordsmith.
“The SkyBoy Enjoyer of All Time” @sapphicseasapphire: for your lovely art and writing of the boy!
“Task Succeeded Successfully” @screaming-but-i-have-four-swords: was an artist turned writer that tried to write words, and did! Good job.
“Artist Turned… More Artist” @seaotter-17: We were told you write descriptions like a poet, but in this event, you were most recognizable by your drawings of Nina the cat. Thank you for sharing.
The “Person with a Passion for Pudding” (which is definitely an inside joke I do not understand, so I hope it makes you laugh) @somanyfanficssolittletime: Thanks for participating!
“The Fic Reccer of all Time” @staring-at-a-blank-page: For recommending so many fics, their own and others, up to read. Thank you!
“The Drabbler” @tenderleavesbob: For their lovely drabbles, of which they wrote around 10k of. The title is appropriate - it seems your drabbles have taken Tumblr (and the participants in this survey) by storm!
“100% Bunny Accurate Fiction” @toyouhellohowareyou: writer of the most rabbit-fact-checked fics of all time by our own Bunny Lord [Beloved Pet and Bunny Boy (Legend) Himself]
“The Podficcer of All Time” @unexpectedstormy: For podfic making, promoting, and educating. And if that wasn’t enough fae is also our very own “Dragon Tamer” who spent the event working on their HTTYD WIP!
“The Dashshunder” @vivalaplutothedachshund: For sharing your lovely menace of a dog Pluto with us all. We also appreciate you both in the chats and in our rampage to give PolynomialPandemic 109 hugs.
“Mod Emotional Support. We love you” @wanderlustmagician: You know what you did, and Cheeto’s firstborn deservedly belongs to you.
“Word Weaver” and “Fanfiction Foul---was writing at work instead of working” @weavingstarlight: Your words sparkle as bright as you do, glitter jar.
“Literally First (also shared cat pics)” @witchdoctor39 : Even Hylia can’t hold a candle to how much you love that poor poor man!
Thank all of you for participating, we appreciate each and every one of you so so so much! Please note that we had 90+ participants, and as such, there is probably guaranteed to be some mistakes on the list above. If you find any typos or pronoun goofs or anyone that was put on the list twice or missing or under the wrong name or put under the wrong name or any error that comes with having different discord and tumblr names or if you were left off the list in error or if you want to request a different name than the one you received or you want to be put into or removed from one club or another or anything else that could have gone wrong—please feel free to contact @hotcheetohatredwastaken or @not-freyja with your concerns here on tumblr!
Again, a big thank you to everyone for coming to the event from all of us on the mod team! Can’t wait to see you guys next month! And stay tuned---there will be another post with more information about the next event within the next couple of weeks!
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Tenacity
Done as a discord prompt, Tegan and Ortega have an impromptu sparring session that goes...poorly. Sidestep era days, pre face reveal. 1,051 words.
The training mat is supposed to soften the blow and while it's better than concrete, it still hurts when Ortega’s throw lands you flat on your back. Maybe you shouldn't complain, it wasn’t hard enough to activate your pain gate and it would have been far more embarrassing if he caught you. You have an audience after all. Steel and Anathema watch from the sidelines, having paused their own workouts to watch your impromptu sparring session with Ortega.
He had been the one who suggested it, with a cocky smile and a challenge that was impossible to say no to. You're starting to figure him out, how he likes to bait people, throw them off guard. A guard you put up once more after picking yourself up off the mat, ignoring his outstretched hand. You won’t let him coddle you, not with witnesses.
You watch his feet as he moves hoping they’ll telegraph his next move since the static hum of his mind reveals nothing. It's inconvenient, like fighting with a blindfold. Maybe you should have asked him to fight with one hand tied behind his back. But this is something you need to prove to yourself. That you're strong enough, good enough to run with the Rangers.
You should have been watching his hands. His left hook catches you by surprise, cracking against your cheek bone and you know it will bruise because you feel your pain gate kick in, slowly muddling the sharp sting of the blow. It's a sensation you’re becoming increasinging used to. At least your mask hides the damage. As well as your expression.
Ortega winces in sympathy. “Oof, I really thought you would have sidestepped that one.” A wink is all he offers by way of apology. Not that you would have accepted one. No one has ever apologized to you in your life, no reason the Marshal should, just because he’s friendly.
Friendly when he's not trying to kick your ass in front of his coworkers. Focus. You need to get past that reach. No way you can slug it out with how much taller he is and there's nothing near you besides empty space that you could use to your advantage. Part of you wonders if Steel and Anathema are keeping their distance out of concern for stray lightning bolts. It's been known to happen.
No, you’ve got to get him off his feet, on the ground. If you can get him into a lock you might be able to get him to tap out.
You duck low under his raised guard and lock your arms around his torso. With your pain gate active you barely feel the body blow he gives you and you sacrifice your footing for the aid of gravity, sweeping your leg behind his dominant one, using your momentum to bring him off balance. He doesn’t fall like you wanted him to, rolling to diffuse the impact, but you’re still locked together. And what's worse, he's on top. But while your arms are pinned, so are his. He has the audacity to smile at you and you're sure it's not just your imagination that reads the suggestion in it.
Ok. Time to fight dirty, your enemies would. You crack your forehead into his nose as hard as you can, your pain gate saving you from the worst of it, not so much for Ortega.
He swears in Spanish but the surprise blow is enough of a distraction to roll him off of you. Not that he lets you get to your feet.
He’s fast but then again you knew that. He grapples you down again. Longer reach, heavier body, what were you thinking? It's not long before he has you pinned, face down, one arm trapped beneath you, the other locked behind your back. You struggle despite it but your kicks find no purchase.
“Tap out!” The Marshal voice. Looks like he's not playing anymore.
Drops of something wet and coppery smelling hit your mask. Blood? Did you break his nose? You’ll call that a victory even if your arm beneath you is shaking with the effort to get him off you. You push with every bit of your strength, trying not to think about how you’ll feel once your pain gate resets.
“I said tap out!” The pressure increases on the arm he has a hold of. You don’t feel the pain but there's a tightness in your shoulder that worries you. He could break your arm.
Easily.
“Fuck you!” It’s all you can think of to say as you feel your eyes sting. What made you think you could take on Charge of all people? He’s been in the hero game for years, there's a reason he was made the Marshal. And you? A runaway little cuckoo who was never made for combat. Small. Weak. Everything your blue-skinned siblings said you were. You squeeze your eyes shut hard, half to push back the tears, half to muster the very last ounce of strength you have.
You feel your bodies lift ever so slightly and then…
“Enough!” Suddenly all the pressure is gone as Steel drags the Marshal off of you and you quickly scramble to your feet. Anathema stands in front of you, close but not touching you as Steel stands in front of Ortega, barriers between you two.
There's a strange look in Ortega’s eyes as blood flows freely from his nose, you’re not sure if you approached him now if he would hit you or hug you.
“You should have yielded…” His voice is softer than it had been before, unsure, not a tone you’re used to hearing from him.
“I think we're done for today.” Steel says with a finality you can feel. Even if he’s an asshole, he’s at least good at keeping a cool head. He offers the Marshal a towel and suddenly the sight of his blood makes you nauseous. You need to get out of here.
“Whatever.” Is all you offer by way of goodbye, turning on your heel to storm out of the training room.
“Sidestep, wait! We can-” Anathema’s voice calls out to you but you’re already out the door. You walk as fast as you can, it takes all your willpower not to run.
Nobody stops you.
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My understanding of the story of Wuwa as of 1.0:
Long ago, a cataclysm (the first Lament) devastated the world. A new form of energy (Remnant energy) caused many dangerous phenomena (Waveworm phenomena: Tacet fields, Etheric Sea, Retroact Rain), created monsters (Tacet Discords = TDs), and gave special powers to some of the population (Resonators). Since then, civilization has rebuilt, but many dangers still persist.
Within an unknown transdimensional space, a mysterious girl seemingly inserts some kind of power into you and sends you down into the world.
You awaken as an amnesiac who was found by a trio of girls (Yangyang, Chixia, Baizhi). Soon after, you display a strange power to absorb the remains of monsters into your body, while a voice in your head says it is hungry.
A message from the local leader (the Magistrate) is broadcast across the area almost perfectly matching your arrival, and when she talks about a special guest she has been anticipating for a long time, you think she might mean you. However, when you try to meet her, you are told she has been urgently called away on a vital task and she will see you in three days.
When you finally meet her, she reveals that she knew of your arrival due to a prophecy from the city's guardian dragon (the Sentinel, superscript Oracle Engine, Jue). However, the Sentinel is currently missing. You work with her to capture a high ranking member (Overseer) of an apocalyptic cult (the Fractsidus), Scar. He reveals that their group is aiming to bring about an apocalypse (another Lament) by hastening the reawakening of a powerful TD (Threnodian) nearby. They believe the world will be cleansed by the Lament, and they are the chosen few who understand the truth.
At the same time, it is revealed that Jue may have departed willingly and that it has had a vision of the Magistrate, Jinhsi, fighting against it to determine the future of the city (Jinzhou).
Jinhsi gives you two leads: the mysterious organization Black Shores and another prophecy from Jue, showing you together with the General of the local militia (Midnight Rangers), Jiyan.
You are able to meet and exchange information with two members of Black Shores (Aalto and Encore), after you cooperate to investigate the location of a failed experiment by the splinter cell of a research organization (Court of Savantae), with involvement from Fractsidus. The lingering visions of the researchers include the mysterious girl who sent you down to the world, calling her a future being hailing their past.
The Black Shores organization works to track Remnant energy across the world in order to predict the next Lament, making them your allies. Aalto reveals that this is not the first time you have "reawakened" and, the previous time, you woke up at Black Shores.
As you finish the investigation, the readings of Remnant energy go haywire as the Threnodian's awakening unexpectedly hastens and its negative influence begins to spread. You rush to the front line to meet the General, Jiyan.
Working together with Jiyan and many others, you enter the massive statue that serves as the cocoon of the Threnodian of war, Ovathrax, and defeat the powerful TDs it sends against you. When you are almost killed by its last attack, an unknown creature appears from within your Tacet Mark and swallows the Threnodian's power. With the battle no longer in its favor, the Threnodian disappears.
With this, peace returns to Jinzhou, if only temporarily.
......And that's it, though I left out a lot of details, especially about individual characters.
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