#sq snippet

[puckdoll]

tell the crowd of wip 6 ao3 user puckdoll… - xoxo gossip lexi

oh my god the wip that you have. absolutely turned into this huge monster and i SO love you for it. im insane. i may or may not have written a snipp this morning because youve driven me up the wall like a rapid dog.

breeding program sidquinn

some worldbuilding: the nhl runs a breeding program for talented players--the more talented you are, the more you're expected to breed. omegas only can get bred every 5 yrs or so, due to the fact that while pregnant they lose an entire hockey season. alphas, though, are expected to breed every year. pairings are based off of compatibility, and what the league thinks will be beneficial long-term. there's a lot of rules to follow because you dont want anyone getting attached, and for the health of the offspring. so, omegas have to stay with the sire throughout the entire pregnancy, and until the baby is six months old.

quinn's finally expected to breed, and of course, just his luck, he gets paired up with sid for the first one. he's pissy, angry, because not only is he losing an entire year of hockey, but its sid, and sid's a well-known rule follower, follows it down to the fucking bone. he treats everything like a transaction, performing in his own home, and barely acknowledges quinn outside of the required daily scenting once he's pregnant. everything's so clinical, the room quinn stays in smells like every other omega that's stayed here, and quinn wants to hate sid, but--

there's a hallway with photos of each and every one of his kids the yearly update ones that the league sends them. he knows them by name. he knows their birthdays. and quinn--quinn just cant help but feel like there's something more there. something hiding beneath it all.

snippet:

Quinn grunts, face pinching as Sid suddenly comes to a halt, half-inside. “What are you doing?” Sid asks, confusion coating his words.  Quinn glares, fingers bracketing his clit with his fingers. “If you’re insisting on doing it this way, I’m going to at least get an orgasm out of it.” Kicking Sid with his heel, he starts rubbing again, shuddering as pleasure zigzags its way across his body.   Sid grabs his wrist. Quinn growls, flashing his teeth. “You can’t do that,” Sid says, firmly.  “Who says I can’t?”  “I know you’ve read the handbook.”  Quinn’s head thumps against the pillow, can feel himself flexing around Sid’s cock. “Who gives a shit about the handbook? I’m just—look. I’m just masturbating. What’s going to happen?”  Sid licks his lips. Quinn turns away. “Fine. Just—get it over with, then.” 

send me a WIP title and ill tell you about it

[moonofiron]

- Alexander Gode-von Aesch, Foreword to Hölderlin's Hyperion

[mirror-to-the-past]

People weren't kidding, that really was one of the most Xingyun moments ever, lol.

Aside from Xingqiu stammering and blushing at Chongyun's compliments and the absolute anime romcom trope-iness that is Chongyun obliviously asking why Xingqiu's face is red (we win! we win!!), can we also talk about how damning Traveler's teasing was?

"His yang energy seems to be surging, too."

Traveler is clearly very tongue-in-cheek about this, knowing full well Xingqiu doesn't have the same pure-yang disposition as Chongyun, and therefore won't blush because of it. However, given the multiple occasions Hoyo has gone out of their way to utilize Chongyun's condition in the past as a medium for tropey, anime-like responses of embarassment (i.e. Chongyun's pure-yang energy giving him a nosebleed when Xingqiu tried to sing to him in the "If You Were Rex Lapis" stream), it does come across as pointed observation from the Traveler to subtly mess with Xingqiu and Chongyun alike about the ways they willingly and unwillingly fluster each other.

So yeah, very cute. ^_^

Aside from that, can I just say I absolutely love this event and want it to be a cemented feature for the rest of the game's runtime? I'm not seeing enough people talking about it! It's really the perfect solution for the gacha game dilemma of chatacter oversaturation.

I, as much as the next person, wish for all our faves to have the most perfect epic event quest tailor-made for them, with character depth, development and all. However, since:

1. Hoyo is allergic to sustained character development, even in the event of characters getting a really cool, awesome 10/10 event or story quest, and...

2. Characters will likely not get attention unless it is for a promotional thing such as an outfit, banner rerun, or character debut, which exponentially decreases the likelihood of non-new 4 stars getting any attention. (The summer events are pretty much all we can rely on for a random scramble of characters coming into the spotlight after being shelved without it being sales related, haha!)

...I think this is the next best thing!

Giving us little canned, slice-of-life looks into the character's day-to-day, without a grandiose story or threat, is such a wonderful way to see the characters act in low-stake situations that aren't centered around having a hangout that's focused on them acting as a host to the Traveler. Instead, we're checking in on *their* affairs and goals, and even having little snippets into their interactions with other characters outside of just what we may read about their relationships in the Character Story!

I absolutely LOVED the cutscene with Yao Yao and Qiqi where Qiqi mourns the fact that her memory issues will cause her to forget the episodic experience of every lovely memory she has with the people she cherishes, and that she'll be forced to only relive them through her impersonal journal records. When she was talking about forgetting the green of the leaves, the breeze, and the feel of Yao Yao's hand, I felt my heart break a little bit. It's some of the most compelling on-screen discussion of Qiqi's condition since, well, as far back as I can remember!

And they didn't need a big Qiqi-centered SQ or event for it- they pulled it off with nothing more than a handful of small cutscenes that clued us in to the more intimate parts of Qiqi's life.

If we keep this kind of event present in the game, and switch it up between prior regions, I think it'll help so much with keeping the world feel alive, and keeping the players still compelled by their favorites from previous regions without necessarily stealing the spotlight from whatever focal point region is active at the time. I love reminders that our old friends are still up to their own affairs, struggling with new day-to-day problems, and missing us while we're away- but still entrenched in their own goals and relationships (and not like. ceasing to exist when the Traveler is gone, lol).

So anyway, I hope to see the playerbase giving this event some love so it may come back due to popular demand, this time having more Inazuma and Sumeru characters!

[niterose]

thank you so much for tagging me in the wip challenge!! 💞 i wish i could participate but unfortunately my wips aren't even wips, they're iip (ideas in progress) 😭😭 i have 7 pages of ideas and havent written a word for any... executive dysfunction is kicking my ass.

but i was reading through your wips and it was so difficult to choose one because they all look so interesting! but i was intrigued by "patience is a virtue" and "dark side of the moon" 🫶

u can choose whichever you want to share a snippet (or maybe both if you'd like!) 💖💖

Aw, that's okay!! Sometimes the ideas need to percolate a bit more before they make it onto the page! I look forward to hearing about them when you get to the point where you're ready to share 😊 And honestly, even some of the ones I shared are hardly more than semi-coherent thoughts😅

reingkings got to Dark Side of the Moon before you, but luckily that just means you get to see the answer for that one as well!

Now, for Patience is a Virtue- eh it's another crack fic idea!

This one really tests both In-ho and Gi-hun's sanity. Basically, it's my version of a Gi-hun knows In-ho's identity before entering the games fic. Except it's just them being really shady and passive aggressive at each other to the bafflement of all the other characters. They can't decide if these two guys hate each or just need to "work out some frustration" if you know what I mean.

This idea really came from my utter annoyance at all of In-ho's little manipulative side comments he makes in season 2, and I wanted to give Gi-hun the opportunity to make him suffer just as much.

Luckily this is one that has some written, so I can do a snippet! This might look a little familiar because I share like two lines of it a while ago but now it's revamped ✨

916 days. Gi-hun has spent 916 days dedicating every waking moment to bringing down the games, and it’s all about to go up in flames because of Hwang. Fucking. In-ho. “Some people chose umbrella?” Player 001 scoffs, his eyes lit with amusement. Gi-hun’s eye twitches. Jun-ho’s brother is single-handedly the most insufferable person that Gi-hun has ever had the misfortune of meeting. “916 days,” he mumbles to himself like a mantra. “Those unlucky bastards must have bitten the dust.” Gi-hun’s hands fist in the polyester of his track pants. He is going to kill Hwang In-ho before they even make it to the second game. No, he can be patient. Even in his own mind, the words are starting to sound a little desperate. Fine. Gi-hun looks up and stares him dead in the eye. “I picked umbrella.” In-ho’s eyes widen at Gi-hun’s admission, but the man recovers quickly. His gaze fills with concern, which Gi-hun admits would look sincere if he didn’t know any better. “Oh, you must have been so terrified.” The fake sympathy is grating, but then his expression turns thoughtful. And Gi-hun knows without a doubt that he’s not going to like the next words out of his mouth. “There’s no guarantee the shapes will be the same, but if the game is dalgona, then you must have some special techniques you can share.” He pauses and his lips quirk up ever so slightly. “Especially if you survived something as difficult as umbrella.” “Oh that’s true, how did you manage that?” Gi-hun jumps at Jung-bae’s voice. He’s a little embarrassed to admit that he’d completely forgotten there were other people present. “Uh,” he mumbles out the answer, heat rising to his cheeks. “I’m sorry, 456. I didn’t quite catch that.” Gi-hun sends the man a withering glare. “I licked it.” The Frontman has no excuse to look so delighted by Gi-hun’s answer. “Yah, that’s embarrassing.” He chuckles, the laughter is echoed in the players standing around him, but Gi-hun only smiles. “Not as embarrassing as being one of the sickos who got off on watching me.”

*916 is an relatively arbitrary number because the SQ timeline is confusing don't look at it too closely 👀

[shih-coulda-had-it]

sorahiko and his shigaraki adoptees!au snippet, mostly fluff and domesticity despite the horrors. sorahiko has still not named the boys. wc: ~1.1k.

//

Sorahiko glanced over at the stationery aisle, largely untouched, even though the school year had definitely restarted. Economic downturns and inexplicable powers hadn’t permanently disrupted that aspect of society. He considered the bags of groceries, sighed, and shoved a few notebooks and packages of pre-sharpened pencils wherever there was room. He also swiped a manual sharpener; he suspected Chibi-AFO would be prone to snapping the lead.

When he got back to the studio, he was surprised to see the boys flipping through the large children’s anthology of fairy tales instead of, say, destroying the premises or having fled the location. Even the wireless camping light was intact. Maybe Chibi-AFO had finally gotten it in his head that Sorahiko was a guaranteed source of luxuries.

Or, he reflected as he kicked the door shut and jostled the lock in place, Chibi-AFO finally realized that Sorahiko could track a pair of preschoolers even on a rainy, miserable night.

“You’re back!” the smaller boy cheered.

Automatically, Sorahiko said, “I’m home,” and his heart winced. Chibi-AFO glared at him, as per usual, but they both got to their feet and toddled to him at the door. He knelt down to their level and let them dig through the groceries while he loosened his boots’ laces.

“Safe?” the smaller boy asked. He linked his tiny spindly fingers around the handle of the half-gallon of bottled water; Sorahiko swiftly moved that aside. Chibi-AFO was industriously sifting through the dry goods to find the snacks, and had apparently ignored the stationery. 

“Eh,” Sorahiko answered. The apartment complex he’d stashed himself and the boys in was largely abandoned—condemned, really—which meant that the surrounding area was antsy and looking to uproot communities to find safer enclaves. Sorahiko had left the convenience store a hefty payment for the stolen goods, but he couldn’t kid himself. A neighborhood being haunted by a thief who could break in and out of businesses without a trace would eventually try to drum up a Meta X squad.

“No blood,” said Chibi-AFO dismissively. “Tou-san’s fine.”

“It’s Torino.”

He collected everything too heavy for stick-thin limbs to carry and navigated around the children to the kitchen. It didn’t take long to shelve them away, though; Sorahiko left the dry goods at the genkan and retrieved the notebooks, pencils, and precocious brats. Ignoring the shrieks (one indignant, one delighted), Sorahiko set them at the low coffee table and sat, crosslegged.

The boys took it as an invitation to climb onto his lap, perching one to a leg. They still hardly weighed anything, and they paid attention like starving baby chicks.

“What’s that?” the smaller boy asked, pawing for the pencil blister pack Sorahiko had just tore open. Sorahiko tucked it to the side and withdrew a pencil for himself. “What’s this?”

“This is a notebook,” Sorahiko said, tired beyond belief. Why was he in charge of raising two street kids? Why did he sign up for this? He flipped the thin cardboard cover to reveal lined pages, and because he wasn’t immune to wanting to look cool, Sorahiko twirled the pencil around his fingers. “This is a pencil.”

“Notebook,” the smaller boy echoed. “Pencil. What for?”

Chibi-AFO grasped for a pencil of his own, clearly wanting to copy Sorahiko’s trick. “Gimme.”

“Watch first,” he said, jostling the terror until Chibi-AFO grouchily settled. Sorahiko put the pencil to paper, then hesitated. Reading and writing was pointless for their age. His handwriting, while not as garbage as Shuuzenji’s, wouldn’t be legible to a pair of preschoolers anyway. 

He was also a shitty artist. Grimly, Sorahiko persevered. He drew a misshapen circle for a body, and a smaller circle within it. Two notches for eyes and two more for the nostrils. Small triangles for the ears, rectangles for the legs, and a squiggly line for the tail.

The smaller boy brightened and slapped an enthusiastic hand over the doodle. “Pig!”

Sorahiko said, “Yeah. Good job. Want to draw me one?”

“No,” said Chibi-AFO, but he lunged for Sorahiko’s pencil first, quicker to react than his brother, who cringed back against Sorahiko’s chest. The sour tone struck Sorahiko as something he should deal with, but honestly… He gave the gremlin the pencil, and then picked a new one for the other boy.

“You too,” the other boy insisted. He held the drawing tool like a hammer, but he seemed wary of putting pressure on the paper. Chibi-AFO, on the other hand, had the confidence of a master calligrapher and the ego of his future self. The second pig was… large. “Tou-san, you too!”

“It’s Torino,” Sorahiko grumbled for the thousandth time.

Chibi-AFO’s heavy hand broke the lead, as predicted. “No!” He thrust the pencil backwards, and Sorahiko jerked from the jagged point with a bitten-off curse. “Tou-san, help.”

He’d been cursed with brats. Sorahiko took Chibi-AFO’s offering and reached for the manual sharpener, and since there was hardly any space with the two boys sitting on his legs, he lowered himself to lay flat on the floor and twisted the pencil into the sharpener above his head. The transparent yellow plastic cylinder filled with shavings as he sought to get a blunter point on the lead itself.

“One pig, two pig, three pig, four,” the smaller boy sang, and Chibi-AFO miraculously did not move to shut his brother up. Instead, he twisted round, pointy elbows and knees digging into Sorahiko’s soft spots, and sprawled on top of Sorahiko’s chest.

“Mama said thank you,” Chibi-AFO reported. His sour tone went acrid. “She said to thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Sorahiko managed, dryly.

“You’re welcome!” the smaller boy parroted. “What’s welcome?”

He inspected the pencil and studiously ignored the eerie white eyes pointed at his face. “It’s what you say when people thank you. And people say thank you when someone’s done something for them. Understand?”

“Mm!” There was a whole future of ‘why’ and ‘what does that mean’ ahead of Sorahiko, and he dreaded the entire thing. Weren’t kids supposed to magically pick this shit up? He didn’t remember anybody teaching him manners. 

Then again, Sorahiko mused. Shimura had made it an annual tradition to haul him into the workshops regarding courtesy and PR handling. Apparently, a pro-hero wasn’t ever supposed to express a genuine opinion about shitty regulations and the existence of government red tape.

“Always?” Chibi-AFO probed.

“No,” said Sorahiko. “But it’s polite.” He brushed the white fuzz of Chibi-AFO’s hair with the pencil until Chibi-AFO growled and grabbed it. Pointedly, Sorahiko asked, “What do we say…?”

“Thank you,” the kid said, sulky. 

“Is tou-san drawing?”

“I’m drawing,” Chibi-AFO insisted, and he turned back around with his toothpick limbs, and he practically bristled when he saw whatever his brother had wrought upon the page. “You!! What’s that?”

Sorahiko gazed at the ceiling and prayed for an untapped well of patience to be found. It was somewhere in him. Shimura would have bet on it, and Lucky Number Seven tended to win against the odds. As the children’s bickering grew louder because the smaller boy had become bolder with the safety Sorahiko provided, he heaved himself upright to survey the scene.

[Sorahiko's pig, top left. Chibi-AFO's pig, top right. Yoichi's four little pigs, bottom row plus the small pig top center (mama pig who went to heaven).]

[belovedstill]

send me a wip title and i'll reply with a snippet

(and if i end up writing new words then all the thanks to you for helping me write 🙏)

i was tagged by the wonderful @water-gaw (link to her post), thank you 💕

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have wips.

the wips (i picked the docs that have at least one sentence written and aren't just idea docs):

internSystem.exe has been installed

Stupid System, Stupid Novel

anywhere I want (just not home) | post-abyss lbh wants to go back

anywhere i want (going home) | bingqiu, post-abyss, lbh goes back

catyuan

I refuse to bury you (94. Nasturtium) 'sink cost fallacy'

thus said the peak lord/the failed prophet, #3 all ships ship week, 'Everything is fine and nothing hurts'

almost on time (a promise almost kept), 'almost' is a failure dressed in good intentions | yue qi comes back mere hours late

the new fan | bingqiu | 10 years of svsss

qijiu, qi-ge comes back and burns the qi manor

yqy planted in pidw

angstweek2025 | svsss | "I don't need you anymore"

angstweek2025 | svsss | Secrets/Deceit

angstweek2025 | tgcf | torture + "trust no one"

60 minute sprint 2024.08.15 'competition'

hualian hua cheng pov

yuesong phoenix wuhuan | misvil

yuesong soulmates | misvil

yanshen, sq being nosy

i tag @rosemirmir @carcrash429 @ryuuseini @captainadwen @princeofvelvet @unicorngelato @saecookie @docmerlin @the-midnight-post @theliteraryluggage @museaway @fluffypurpleglitterdemon @acewendino @hadesse1ch @sodomhipped (i've seen you do sth like this a while ago, care for a repeat? 😌) and you, if you want to do this!

[sachsoup]

insane how genshintok calls this ship a proship even though they literally aren't... and to add, hyv counters this with the snippet of them fishing together and that whoooooole extra dialogue in sigewinne's sq

[ladylynse]

Secret Trio/Secret Quartet three sentence fics below the cut! For more like this, see my other three sentence fics/crossover three sentence fics, my tumblr fic masterpost, random WIP scenes and snippets, fic ideas, or find me on FFnet and the AO3! Also, take a peek at the fanart and fanfic I’ve been gifted.

If you like my work, you can consider buying me a coffee. (I write thank you snippets–which could be an expansion of a three sentence fic if you like!)

Adrien and Plagg (”watching idols”) Jake and Adrien (”painting” x2) Jake and Randy (“trapped”) Randy, Jake, (Danny, Adrien) (“rat”) Danny, Adrien, Randy, Jake (”Hide”) Adrien, Jake, Danny, Randy (”Jake, who is Rose?”) Jake and Danny (”TUE happened”) Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir (”failed over and over again”) Adrien, Jake, Danny, Randy, Marinette (“redemption/corruption”, ”path of destruction”) Marinette, Jake, Danny, Randy, (Adrien) (”shoulder to cry on”) Adrien, Marinette, Danny, Randy, Jake (”Hello, Ladybug” x2) Danny, Adrien, Jake, (Randy) (”hey, guys, where’s ---?”) Adrien, Randy, Jake, Danny (”I-I can’t hear his heartbeat”) //death alt (more painful) version | follow up Marinette, Danny, (Adrien, Lila, Elliot) (”Lila and Elliot”, “liars”, ”two peas in a pod”) Lila and Elliot (”partners in crime”) Jake, Randy, Danny, Adrien (”power/mind swap”) Randy, Jake, Rose, (Danny, Adrien) (”meeting Rose post Hong Kong Longs”) | related Jake, Randy, (Danny, (Adrien)) (”80 word challenge”) Randy, Adrien, (Danny, Jake) (”ghost king au”, “ghosts vs magical creatures”) Danny, (Randy, First Ninja, (Adrien, Jake)) (”ghost king au”, “Danny helps Randy remain the Ninja”) Randy, (Danny, Jake) (”about being mind-wiped”) Jake, Danny (Randy, ((Adrien)) (”there’s no one left”) Jake, Randy, Adrien, (Danny) (”Danny tells them about Dani”) Randy and Marinette (”Ladybug mistakes one of the SQ for an akuma”) Marinette, Adrien, (Danny, Randy, Jake) (”SQ post ML reveal”) Adrien, Danny, (Randy, Jake, Plagg) (”temporary power swap”) Danny, Adrien, Randy, (Jake) (”identity reveal of Danny Phantom”) Susan, Jake, Jonathan, (Danny, Adrien, Randy) (”parents find out”) Adrien, Danny, (Randy, Jake) (”legacy”) Adrien, Jake, Danny, (Randy, Luka) (”snake”) Danny, (Jake, Randy, Adrien, Jack, Maddie) (”Fentons find out”, “angst with a happy ending”) Randy (”Randy remembers”) Adrien, Jake, Randy, (Danny) (”bee”) Randy, Jake, (Danny, Adrien) (”comic book”) Danny, Jake, (Randy, Adrien, Vlad) (”Uncle Vlad AU”) Danny, Randy, (Adrien, Jake) (”broken sky”)

Adrien, Danny, Randy, (Jake) (”siblings”) Jake and Adrien (”Rotwood”) Ladybug, Adrien, (Danny, Randy, Jake) (”reinforcements”) Randy, (Adrien, Jake, Danny) (”prophetic dream”) Randy, Danny, (Adrien, Jake, Ghostwriter) (”true friendship”) Jake, Plagg, (Adrien, Danny, Jake) (”that was you?”) Randy, Adrien, (Jake, Danny) (”frostbite”) Danny, Randy, Jake, Adrien (”first date help”) Adrien, Randy, (Danny, Jake) (”apocalypse”) Danny, Jake, (Adrien, Gramps, Haley, Fu Dog, Susan, Jonathan) (”escape from NYC) Randy, Adrien, (Danny, Jake) (”Stabby the roomba”) Randy, Adrien, (Danny, Jake) (”love square”) Jazz, (Haley, Howard) (”evil clones”) Adrien and Danny (”discovered”) Adrien, Randy, Danny, (Jake) (”war zone”) Jake, (Adrien, Randy, Danny) (”Miracle Queen”) Debbie, Theresa, (Adrien, Randy) (”cartwheel”) Heidi, Jake, (Howard, Randy, Danny, Adrien) (”busted”) now expanded  FF | AO3 Jake, Randy, (Danny, Adrien) (”nasty sauce”) Bunnyx (”Chat Blanc”) Jacques (”inspiration”) Danny, Plagg, Adrien, (Jake, Randy) (”Box Ghost”) Plagg, Danny, Randy, (Jake, Adrien) (”blood magic”) Gabriel and Desiree (”be careful what you wish for”) Adrien, Jake, Randy, Danny (”what are you?”) Randy, Jake, (Danny, Adrien) (”he treats us well”) Randy, Jake, (Danny, Adrien) (”mermaids”) Jake, (Randy, Danny, Adrien, Gregory) (”arrogance”) Ladybug/Marinette and Adrien (”confessions”) Marty, (Randy, Danny, Adrien, Jake) (”entire world”) Danny, (Randy, Adrien, Jake) (”fire”, “reveal”) Jake, Danny, (Randy, Adrien) (”grenade”) Jake, Danny, (Adrien, Randy) (”mercenary”) Randy, Debbie, (Danny, Adrien, Jake) (”Debbie/Randy”) Adrien, Jake, Danny, Randy (”new year”) Jake, Adrien, (Danny, Randy) (”fallout”) Danny, Adrien, Jake, (Randy) (”stargazing”)

Now on the AO3 Randy, Debbie, Adrien, (Danny, Jake) (”Kangham”, “hide”)

[tomorrowusa]

Russia doesn't exactly have a free press. So the extent of Russian losses in its illegal invasion of Ukraine is not yet fully grasped by the public there. But occasionally they get bits of the truth from friends and relatives who are Putin's cannon fodder at the front.

Anton Andreev, a Russian soldier from the fifth company of the 1009th regiment, painted a bleak picture of Russia’s offensive in the Ukrainian northern region of Kharkiv. His unit had been decimated, he said, with only 12 out of 100 soldiers still alive as they came under constant Ukrainian fire and drones in Vovchansk, a prime target of Russia’s advances. “They just chop us up. We are sent under machine guns, under drones in daylight, like meat. And commanders just shout ‘forward and forward’,” Andreev said in a video message.

An 88% fatality rate can't be good. We hear a lot about the stalled Russian offensive in the east of Ukraine but not as much about the enormous price they're paying for these small advances.

In the first week of the offensive, Russian troops seized about 99 sq miles of Ukrainian territory – some of its biggest gains in 18 months – raising serious questions about Kyiv’s ability to defend itself. But Ukraine has been largely able to stabilise the front, alleviating immediate fears in the west that Moscow might be able to encircle Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city. “I don’t know if I will get out of this or not, but I need to say this to honour the memory of those who died like meat here because of certain individuals,” Andreev said in the clip, which was first published by the Russian outlet Astra and verified by the Guardian.

It's only through rare and blunt snippets on social media that Russians get a hint of the true human cost of the war.

Russian conscripts get only a week or two of training before being sent to Ukraine; they are obviously intended as dispensable cannon fodder. By comparison, US military personnel get two months of basic training and usually some specialized training thereafter. This is the "mighty" Russian Army which Western tankies and far right Putin apologists tell us that we should greatly fear.

Russia may be big but it is also pathetic.

Putin just conducted a purge of the Defense Ministry and gave a top job to a cousin. Nepotism is a proven way to win a war! /sarcasm

Putin extends defence ministry purge, hands job to a relative

And Putin is now in North Korea, a satellite state which pretty much enslaves its starving population, so that he can pick up weaponry that Russia can't produce on his own.

Vladimir Putin to visit North Korea as he seeks further military support

[hypnotisedfireflies]

I miss Lachie! I specifically miss Tess and Lachie, their family friendship warms my heart every time. Would you perhaps consider giving us a snippet of the two of them? Perhaps a late night conversation while they’re camping out on their way towards Jackson? (I’m desperate to hear anything more about their road trip)

(Also will Lachie make any appearances in IO???)

Hi anon! Thank you for your ask (and giving me the chance to pop back into Driftersverse!)

I don't think Lachie will be appearing in IO. I tend to keep the OCs to their respective universes, DD/SQ, IO, Charro, etc. But who knows??

Hope you like this little ficlet. It's set during the events of TLOU while Ellie and Joel are off Ellieing and Joeling and Tess is making the trip across country with Lachie. This is as they begin to reconnect after the Firefly crew has perished, and Lachie is experiencing the earliest trouble with his lungs that later leads to something worse.

Autumn, 2023 Wisconsin.

In Little Hope, Wisconsin, Lachie did something that he hadn’t done in years.

Dear Mum, Dad and Col.

Lachlan Maynard had penned letters on scraps of paper up and down the USA and posted them in every undamaged mailbox he could find.  He was very careful to address them neatly and correctly.  If everything got back on track – one day, eventually – those letters might make their way home.  Somebody had to empty the mailboxes eventually, right?  And when that happened – if, if that happened – then Lachie wanted that chance of some small piece of him finding his way home, even if he was long-dead and nobody remembered his name anymore.

Some time ago – when exactly, who knew – Lachie had stopped.  The hope that those letters might one day find their way across the ocean had not dwindled (however increasingly unlikely it seemed) but there were fewer things to say.  Sometimes, he didn’t really want his family to know what he’d done.  It was increasingly difficult to explain or justify the confusing nature of the Firefly cause, which sometimes seemed so righteous and other times seemed like a poorly organised terrorist chapter. 

There just wasn’t much he wanted to write home about anymore.

But on this bright, golden autumn day in Little Hope, Lachie felt the urge tickling his fingers once again.  He dug around until he found a pencil.  Lachie sharpened it carefully with his smallest knife and lifted the shavings to his nose.  He breathed them in.  Fresh, new pencils!  His cousin, Shannon, had a box of Derwents that she only used for special occasions.  Nobody else was allowed to use them, but sometimes Lachie liked to lift up the tin lid and have a good, long sniff. 

I am in Wisconsin, he wrote.

“Lachlan.”

He looked up.  He was sitting on the bonnet of the truck to soak up the sunshine.  Tess only called him by his full name when she really wanted his attention.  He looked right and saw her standing against the vibrant backdrop of autumn leaves.  Many were still doggedly clinging to their branches like they could outlast winter.  Lachie could feel its cold, deadly little talons digging deeper into every day.  It made him cough in the mornings.

“Everything okay?”  Lachie pined the paper to his thigh with the side of his hand.  The wind buffeted up a little whirlwind of dry, crackling leaves.

“Your … friend,” she said with as much tact as he could expect, “has a much warmer jacket than mine.  I’m gonna take it.  I just wanted to … tell you before I did it.”

“Oh.”

Lachie glanced at the low ditch on the side of the road where Toni lay.   She’d fallen and suffered a terrible gash to her leg the day before, and had died in the back of the truck during the night.  Catastrophic blood loss.  Lachie used to think Toni was all right, but Toni hadn’t liked Tess, and Toni had made it clear – loudly and often – that Tess would be easier to transport with her vitals preserved in jars.  Dev (before he got himself ripped up by two clickers) told Lachie Toni’s prejudice was rooted in fear, and she was convinced Tess would turn eventually.  Some of the others were, too.   Toni also wanted Tess on reduced rations, and she wanted her restrained at all times. 

Tess gained her full freedom when the numbers of their team dwindled so pitifully that they desperately needed the extra, free hands.  Toni mouthed off only once more after that.  Tess decked her with two hard, savage hits, breaking the other woman’s nose.  The others just looked on – Toni had said some shit, after all.  And Lachie grinned as he gathered up some supplies to treat the injury.  He suddenly felt just that little bit safer.

Tess never had held back.

“I’ll help you,” he suggested.

Lachie jammed the paper in his pocket and pencil behind his ear.  He followed Tess to the ditch and helped skin the thick, fleece-lined jacket down Toni’s arms. 

“You want her boots?”

Tess considered it.  “No, they’re too small for me.”

“Let’s take her jumper too, just in case.”

“Jumper,” Tess repeated, grinning at him.

“You know what I mean.”

“What happened to your accent?”

“It has its moments.”

They completed the grisly task of stripping Toni for the last of her worth and then covered her body with leaves.  The ground wasn’t too hard yet.  They could bury her.  But Lachie didn’t see the point in going to that effort.  They needed to conserve their calories.  And Little Hope was a nice enough place in the world to become bird food.  Toni could do worse.

“Guess that makes you two even for the hard time she gave you.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tess muttered, shedding her own jacket and dressing in Toni’s.  She emptied the pockets of meaningless trinkets, then turned up the collar.  “Thanks for making that easy.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“I know she was your friend so … I’m sorry.”

Lachie squinted as another squall twisted a pile of leaves up into a new dance.  “It doesn’t matter.”

The breeze lifted Tess’s hair.   She had long, silver strands throughout now.  It was still kind of hard for Lachie to believe she was really standing there, really alive.  He’d never had any doubt that she’d made it through the years – if anyone could, it was her – but the fact that their paths had crossed again was a miracle he couldn’t overlook.  It was almost more incredible than her surviving becoming infected, for fuck’s sake.

“We should make camp,” Lachie suggested.  “I reckon we’ve come far enough today.”

Tess was scanning the handful of crumbling old buildings.  This must have been a charming little town, once.  There was next to nothing here, but it had a postcard-selling vibe. 

“You feel up to trying a building or two?”

“Sure.” Lachie shrugged.  “What are we looking for?”

“I want to get you out of the cold, for starters,” Tess said, already pulling out her handgun and checking the load.  “The coughing in the morning’s getting worse.”

“Nah, that’s just – yeah, nah, that’s nothing,” Lachie tried to wave it off.  “That’s just – I had asthma kind of bad when I was a kid and sometimes it acts up a bit, that’s all.”

“Well, the cold can’t be helping.  Let’s find something with a bit more shelter tonight, okay?”

He was kind of stoked that she gave a shit.  Tess had looked out for him when they were in Indy, too.  He was definitely just an afterthought behind Joel and Tommy and Rachel, but the fact that she’d given a damn at all had meant something to him then, and it still did now.  And well – hey.  It was probably just strategy on her part.  Two of them stood a better chance of making it cross country than one alone.  But then she met his gaze and he recognised a softness entirely separate to survival. 

“Okay?” 

Lachie nodded.  “Yeah, okay.”

“Let’s try that one first.”

“You’re the boss.”

Tess, who had already turned away, stiffened.  Lachie looked on ahead.  Had she seen something?  And then Tess snapped the cartridge into place and plowed on ahead to the building.

“Come on, move.”

The town had been abandoned by living, dead and infected for a very, very long time.  The general store had been turned over of absolutely everything of value and there was a single, crumpled human who had perished at some phase of infection.  They were almost skeletal, their body and ragged clothing ruptured by powdery, dry fungal plates. 

At the back of the general store was a room claimed by the sky.  Half the roof was missing.  Tess and Lachie built their fire here, where the smoke could pour up into the air, and the walls around them would provide some warmth against the coming night.  Lachie pulled out two FEDRA-issued dinner ration packs.  The grade was excellent.

“Do you want Butter Chicken or Beef Ragu?”

“Have we got any of the Chicken Italiano left?”

“Nope.”

“Ragu, then.”

They prepared the meal packets in boiling water and ate inside their sleeping bags on two sides of the fire.  Tess had been right.  He felt warmer with the wall against his back, and there was no wind in the old structure, save that which whistled through the cracks.

“You know what really pisses me off about these?”  Tess said, poking around her bag with a fork.

“That they’re better than what ration cards could buy?”

“Yes,” she answered, sounding mildly annoyed that he guessed right. “The shit we used to eat in Boston sometimes, you know?  We knew what they were feeding the soldiers was better than what we got, but this is something else.”

Always we.  We did this, we did that.  Tess couldn’t name Joel, but he was always moving in and out of the conversation. 

“Fireflies didn’t have this stuff most of the time either,” Lachie admitted.  “Think we were eating better than most civilians though, if you were stationed outside the zones, that is.”

“Like you were.”

“Yeah, like I was.  Funny when you think we were only a few miles apart for years.”

Tess didn't respond.

“Anyway,” Lachie continued.  “Fireflies were raiding stuff all the time, but when they got their hands on premium rations like these, they stockpiled them for the big ticket events.”

“Like a cross-country trek?”

“Yeah. Build up the strength, that sort of thing. Speaking of.  We should reach that Firefly supply cache tomorrow, all things going well.”

“White Earth Reservation?”

“Yeah?” Lachie shot her a suspicious glance. “How'd you know that?”

“I've been listening. My ears weren't handcuffed.”

“This is gonna be awkward for awhile, isn't it?”

“Till the day you die, Lachlan.”

He coughed softly and set his meal aside. They'd argued about this many times already:  he'd plead his sorry case and she'd stonily stared him down.

“White Earth Reservation,” he confirmed, pulling out a map.  He held it up to Tess and followed a general route along the top of the country with his finger.  “So we’re … like … hereabouts.  We come up north into Minnesota – avoid Minneapolis, I’ve heard shit from there that’d make your hair curl – and come at the Reservation this way.”

Tess was studying the map with great interest, so he passed it into her custody. “Is anyone stationed there?”

“Supposed to have been deserted for a few years. Unless they sent someone up there from the east, I dunno. Seems unlikely, though. So yeah, nah. We'll scoop in and grab the gear, then go down through the Dakotas.”

“To Salt Lake City?”

Lachie held his breath while he calculated his answer. He sighed and picked up his chicken. That had been the original mission. Evacuate Massachusetts, empty the final Firefly caches cross country and regroup with the dwindling remnants of the cause out west. Deliver the subject - Tess - to Salt Lake City for further study.

There was nothing in that mandate about locating Tommy Miller out in whoop-whoop Wyoming or reuniting the subject with her spiritual husband.

“Maybe after,” Lachie mumbled around a mouthful of rations. “See if that dickhead Tommo’s all right first, maybe.”

“How… how was he last time you saw him?”

“I didn't know there was a problem till he fucked off without saying goodbye. I knew he wasn't happy but … shit, is anybody? You really think he's in trouble?”

“Maybe.”

“This trip was really for Joel, huh? He needed to know what was what.”

“It was for us both,” Tess quietly answered. “I don't know if we ever meant to stay so long.”

“In Boston?”

“We had an apartment,” she continued, eyes on the fire. “Living every day in a fucked up dollhouse for thirteen years.”

“A lifetime.”

“A parody.”

“Why didn't you leave?”

“Go where?”

“I dunno. Tommo said you'd come from some place up in the mountains. South? Could've gone back, tried for it. If anyone could've made it, it was you two.”

Tess shook her head slightly. “Bit past happy endings by then, Lachie.”

“Well,” he finished his meal. “Guess it's a good thing it's now. Hey Tess? Can do shitloads with now.”

“You're still painfully optimistic.”

He laughed a little. Sure. It was easy to have hope in and for other people. The heat was off.

He waited until Tess was asleep before digging out his letter again. He deliberated over the cordial lines and wondered what he could add. So deep in concentration was he that the bottom of the page caught on an ember and smoked. He swore softly and smothered both flame and another coughing fit.

Going to Yellowstone.

He didn't write any more until the following morning. Tess helped him sit up as a more aggressive spate of coughs woke him.

“This is asthma?” She asked, passing a flask of water.

“Woodsmoke doesn't do me any favours,” he managed, rubbing his watery eyes.

Tess didn't seem convinced. She did most of the packing up and loading while Lachie got himself together.

“I'll drive,” Tess announced.

“Yeah, no worries.”

“You ready?”

“Yeah, just give me a sec.”

Lachie looked down at his measly letter. He glanced at Tess, who was circling the truck and checking the tyres.

Catching up with some old mates.

He pushed the letter into a mailbox as Tess turned the ignition over.

[beevean]

73, 78, 90, 91, and 92 - you don't have to answer them all, of course. :P - SQ

73) how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

Yeah, it's like a movie. Which is why I think I'm much better at introspective sections, where I can let the flowery words convey abstact concepts, than scenes where things are actually happening. I love writing dialogue! I very much suck at writing everything that happens around it! I'm always concerned the characters feel like robots and the introspection is awkwardly interwoven! :'D

78) how do you choose where to end a chapter?

I'm not sure? Once the scene is done? Once there's a time break? I rarely if ever write long fics anyway.

I remember when I was writing Grip and it was growing much larger than I had envisioned. I knew that the structure had to be "Hector and Rosaly fall in love - Hector shows signs of PTSD - Hector tells Rosaly about his life in Dracula's castle - the two talk about it", but I was sure I would have been able to lump it all in two chapters, since the first draft was very short. Instead, as you can tell, the fic just naturally followed this breakdown and now every chapter is dedicated to a different "phase" in the story.

90) do you notice your own voice in your writing style?

Very much so. I think my writing style is at this point not only very recognizeable (although I wouldn't know how to describe it), but it even seeps into my common Tumblr posts. I'm not sure it's a good thing lol

91) how has your writing style changed over the years?

... well, see, I don't feel it has changed in these past three years 😅 at least, I don't recognize any change besides my efforts to expand my very limited vocabulary. The most I can say is that, since I took so long to finish Grip, you can kind of sort of tell when my writing style began to bloat to unbearable proportions? lmao. I think this is a question I should ask people who have been reading my works for years 😔

92) first, second, or third person?

I tend to use the classic third person, but all of them! I honestly don't understand why second person seems to be looked down on. I think it's very cool and impactful! Not for every occasion though. I was only able to use it in Three Times, for the impact of the line "you should have died" - I was very surprised when otherwise I was told "even if it's in 2nd person, you can still feel that it's Hector", and I was like, well yeah I sure hope he does? The POV doesn't change how IC the characters have to be? 😂

And The Madness of the Devil Scion (my Isaac WIP of which I shared a few snippets) just fit first person because I want to convey (once I get there...) Isaac ranting to himself in his growing insanity. Third person would not have hit as hard, and second person would not allow me to write those rants where he "talks" to Hector in his mind.

So I guess this is me saying to not be afraid to experiment!

[nobodysdaydreams]

📚

@lotsofsq this snippet is for you:

Nathaniel paced up and down the room.

“I’m sure SQ is fine,” said Nicholas, noticing his brother’s nervousness.

[kurtsvonneslut]

WIP Game

tagged by @luciferfemme !!

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. tag as many people as you have wips. people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

i have a surprisingly small number of wips right now, but here they are:

swanqueen renaissance

college au (sq)

better than the rest - sq oneshot

rizzles au

time travel story

this came to me in a dream

tagging @doomsday-dj @modestflamboyance @jamie-clayton @julieverne @she-is-27-i-checked and @release-the-sheep :)

[mx-loar-tev]

WIP Tag Game

Rules:

post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have wips.

Tagged by: @crime-wives

OK so I gonna sort them by fandom, because there's a lot, and I'm not adding the ones I basically abandoned.

Supergirl | SuperCorp

Here we go again (and again and again)

Kryptahnuio is a love language

The brick that I laid down

Will you mouth still remember the taste of my love

They always come for the wild ones

Supergirl | Sanvers

Snowflakes (-aka- Toni Rodas and the Danvers family: A Christmas story.) (Note, that one is partially posted but I have a case of writer block...)

Useless lesbian(s)

Somewhere I belong

Tiramisu is better than sex/And together we'll cross the river (Working titles)

Consent.

Supergirl | AgentReign/Danvarias

Our souls will last forever

Supergirl | other/no pairing chosen yet

Trans!Alex and trans!Winn brotp

Ouat | swanqueen

The nightblooms (working title)

Houses of Pillows and fires

Cat spy regina

À Name for Christmas

From the start, onwards

Invisible string (tying you to me)

Cat fights (Working title)

I need more not less and never tell me to stop

The good she seek

MCU | AoS

À home where love is there to stay

As life came without warning

Instead of call Gordon at the retreat Skye run from real shield alone

Who need a man to be happy

MCU | Blackhill

Too perfect for my hands to hold

MCU | other

Steve is thawed early - Steginelli

Now... Who should I tag? I don't really tagging people that feels rude. But such is the game so... I'll choose a few names. Feel free to totally ignore this it that's not you cuppa tea,okay?

Well, everyone seeing this can do it too, just say I tagged you.

@withgirl-sq @caskettmyheart @lurkz @queercapwriting @chi-writes @marinawolf @lena-in-a-red-dress @cblgblog @wizardofahz

Also @bluepotati j'ai aucun souvenirs de si tu écris des fics parfois ou non ? Je te tag sans te tagger.

[mvshortcut]

AO3 Tag Game!

Starting a new post because the old one was getting a bit long!! I was tagged by @mahpotatoequeen <3333

How many works do you have on AO3? 21! Mostly oneshots and one long(ish) fic.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 137,409

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? One! Two if you count the book and the show as separate fandoms. But it's always been The Mysterious Benedict Society so far. I'd love to write for other fandoms someday, probably Good Omens, but this is where I feel comfortable with for now, both in terms of knowing the characters/story and the tight-knit fandom :D

Top five fics by kudos:

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Epistolary Bullying Campaign (because of course it is. this was my first crack fic and I wrote it at 1AM when I had an exam the next day. sigh)

5PM Every Evening, On the Dot

46 Fairview St. Apartment 2A, Stonetown

Thank the Stars Above

Time and a Half

Do you respond to comments?

In theory. I love chatting with people about fics - best way to make friends honestly - and I love when authors reply to my comments on their works! In practice I haven't replied in a while, which upsets me but it's more of a time/spoons thing. If I have time and energy I'd rather spend that commenting on one of my friends' fics rather than replying to comments on one of my own fics.

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

I really don't do angsty endings! They're not always happy, but they tend to be bittersweet or open rather than angsty, and even if everything isn't resolved, I usually try to get across that the fic is ending in the middle of a situation and that everything will be okay later (like this snippet). I think the three that come closest are Let Steep Ten Minutes, Keeping Time with Curtain's +1 section, and 46 Fairview St. where it's kind of left open whether SQ will ever go back to visit his father. But again, those don't really feel angsty, just somewhat bittersweet with the hope that things will grow and get better.

Do you write crossovers? I haven't yet, but I'd be open to it! I think it's really challenging to write a good and cohesive crossover and I'm not sure where I'd start.

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

Nope! Perks of being in a small fandom. I imagine it does happen but I know y'all would have my back

Do you write smut?

Definitely not for mbs. I'd be open for other fandoms but it's not really what interests me the most.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! I suppose someone might have fed a fic of mine into an AI writing generator which I'd personally consider a form of stealing, but I haven't heard of that happening. Please don't do that :)

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No! I've thought of trying to translate some of my own for funsies, but I'm definitely not at that level yet! Although the lovely @sophieswundergarten has made a few amazing podfics of both my fics and some other excellent fics in the mbs fandom, which I'd consider translation of a sort!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

For mbs I'm more interested in platonic/familial connections, but I suppose I'd say Milligan/Moocho if I had to pick one? I really don't care if they're romantic or not though, I just like them together in any form that takes. For all-time I suppose I'd say Aziraphale and Crowley, though again I'm really not too picky about the nature of that, romantic or otherwise. Perks of being aroace spectrum baybe

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

Never say never! But I do have a longer Curtain Wins AU buzzing around in my brain where Reynie and Sticky "join" him at the end of Book/Season 1 and then work to bring him down from the inside, without getting caught up in his manipulations. That might end up being comparable to Time and a Half in length, so maybe someday when I have an abundance of free time.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I write some banger first sentences :D especially in crack/funny fics

What are your writing weaknesses?

Too many adverbs! Also I get very easily stuck on exposition/beginning/ending/filler parts. I tend to write down the most tense/exciting moments for the fic and then the writing process stalls for the next three months.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

For a real language, I think it can be a great opportunity to showcase a character's backstory/culture. It can also be immersive for the audience - if a character is in a foreign country where they don't speak the language, including pieces of dialogue in that language can help the audience understand how lost they're feeling (assuming the audience doesn't speak that language either)! If you're using a translation source though it can make for some pretty hilarious errors and mistranslations.

I think made-up languages absolutely fuck but I could never include one in my fic because I'd nerd out creating an entire writing, grammar, and vocab system and forget to write the actual fic.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

take a wild guess

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

absolutely not. top 5:

Time and a Half

46 Fairview St

And Without It One Cannot Start Over

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Epistolary Bullying Campaign

Keeping Time

Tagging: @binnudacademy (consider this a tag for your main, sorry about the shadowban. free molly 2k24) @ragecndybars @bi-demon-ium @trentcrimminallybeautiful (you pick which <3) @oflightningandstars and anyone else that wants to!!

[fandom-queen-13]

MBS Fairytale for that ask game! :)

Fairytales is actually a TMBS series I have on Ao3! I originally started writing them for the TMBS Whodunnit back in 2023 (already more than two years ago, wow), then kept writing more stories for the series.

I paired Kate up with Little Red Riding Hood, Reynie with Jack and the Beanstalk (as well as a companion piece explaining SQ and Madge based off of a traditional Korean folktale), and I’m currently writing more! I’ll even give you a snippet for the one I’m working on right now:

“…she grew up with a gnawing hunger, but couldn’t do anything about it. Her stepsiblings used her as a maid, never calling her by her real name and calling her ‘Pencilla’ due to the soot, dark as graphite, always on her. Every night, she would lay awake and whisper her real name: ‘My name is Priscilla, I hate it but it’s my name, it wouldn’t be as bad if they stopped calling me Pencilla.’”

Thank you so much for the ask!