#tag relevant to the story not everything that appears in story

[randomrangerwhite]

Hey, Dunmeshi Ao3 writers. Especially the Labru/Laichuk/Mithbru writers.

You do know you DON'T have to tag Marcille/Falin in the relationship tags of your fics?

Especially if your story is mostly just center on Laois/Kabru or Laios/Chilchuk or etc. If the girls are just mentioned to be dating or something and not even remotely really part of the story you really don't have to clutter up the Marcille/Falin tags with the fic if it's not about them.

[oflgtfol]

spiderham 2019 was genuienly a really great comic like yeah it was hilarious but it was also pretty neat storytelling especially with the foirth wall breaks like the fourth wall breaks didnt feel stupid or anythjng. they were actually integrated into the plot itself in a really surprisingly neat way that tied the whole comic together and all the meta commentary was both funny and also interesting and spiderham had a character arc and the art was nice etc etc. idk it was just a really well rounded comic which is hard to find

[little-hermit-crab56]

I've been writing for a while so I thought I'd share some writing tips I've learned along the way.

1. Never sacrifice the flow for a quirky line.

That bit of dialogue or flowery paragraph you really like but it kinda disrupts the flow? Scrap it. I know it hurts, but you need to. If you really want to keep it, find somewhere else to put it where it actually fits in.

2. Dialogue is a dance.

Dialogue should go at the pace of an actual conversation, back and forth with little breaks and pauses. Add as little dialogue tags as possible while still making it clear who is speaking. You can also describe what is happening during a pause in the conversation rather than saying they paused, unless the pause is important.

3. Show don't tell is a guideline, not a rule.

Show don't tell is a very useful guideline, but if you're ALWAYS showing it can get exhausting to read. Skip the boring bits and just tell us what happened, then we can get to the good stuff.

4. If it's boring to write, it's probably boring to read.

If you can cut out a whole scene with little consequence to the story, you probably should. As I said before, you don't always have to show us, you can always tell us.

5. Everything needs to have a purpose.

I know there are probably lots of interesting or cute scenes where your characters are just fucking around, but if it doesn't develop character, relations, conflict, or plot, why should we care? Definitely still write them if they make you happy, but if you're gonna add it to your final draft, make sure it matters.

6. You don't need to explain everything all at once.

I know it feels tempting to put all the lore, and all the character's intentions, and reasonings into the first few chapters, but please refrain, you can reserve that for your character and worldbuilding sheets. Instead, take the time to let us get to know the characters, and the world, in the same way we'd get to know a real person. Make your exposition as seamless and natural as possible. It will take practice to know when to reveal information and when to let us wonder, but you'll get there.

7. Write in a way that comes naturally.

I know you probably have an author you wanna write just like, but that is unlikely to happen. Embrace your natural writing style and perfect it, rather than trying to be something you're not. Writing is an art, you need to find your own style and polish it as best you can.

8. Try to make us feel connected by cutting out certain words like "felt".

"Chad felt like a glass of water." Can be replaced with, "Chad was thirsty, so he reached for a glass of water." Both sentences tell us Chad wants a glass of water, but one makes us feel more connected to Chad than the other. Though both sentences have their time and place, you want to make your audience feel as close to their protagonist as possible. Make them feel like they're there, rather than just an onlooker.

9. We don't need to know every physical detail of your character.

I know you probably spent ages creating the perfect characters and you want to give us the perfect image of what they look like, but it can get monotonous and boring, why do we care that your character has brown eyes unless the colour has some sort of significance? Try to list off only the most notable features of your character and put focus only on the relevant details. Sometimes you can even not describe them at all and throw in little bits of information about their appearance for the audience to put together. We read to imagine, not to have a perfect image painted for us when we could be getting to the plot.

10. You're allowed to be vague.

Allow your audience to assume things, with some things you can just be lazy and let your audience's imagination do the work for you. Of course, don't do this with important things, but you can save so much time you might've spent researching an irrelevant topic when you can just be vague about it. You don't have to know everything you're writing about, so long as you know the bits that matter.

11. Writing is a skill that takes practice.

Don't be so hard on yourself if your writing is a bit cringe, we've all been there. The important part is that you research how to get better and keep writing those super cringe chapters. One day you'll reread something from a while ago and realize you're actually not as bad as you thought.

12. Leave your work to rest.

I know you wanna start editing right away, but once you've finished, leave it for at least a month. The longer you leave it the better, but that depends on your attention span. A month to six months is good if you're really impatient but want a good result. If you keep writing in that time your skills will continue to improve, then you'll be editing that draft with fresh eyes and fresh skills.

And if you're a fanfic author, I usually leave my chapters for a week before editing and posting.

Hope this helps anyone struggling, I thought this might be especially relevant now with nanowrimo.

I recently realized how much knowledge I've been accumulating over the years, I definitely have more but this is all I can think of for now.

I'm no writing guru, but if anyone has anything they're struggling with, I can do my best to help you out, so dont hesitate to ask questions.

[fazedlight]

Supergirl the show poses a question: Who is the real Kara?

Kara Zor-El, Kara Danvers, Supergirl. Who's the mask?

In the beginning, Kara doesn't even know. In the aftermath of Krypton's and Kenny's deaths, she did everything she could to appear as normal as possible - there was little room for her own innate traits to shine through when she was being as nondescript and people-pleasing as possible.

But that's not who Kara is.

We get the first glimpse of who Kara really is during Flight 237.

This is not about her being Supergirl or her powers (though both are relevant). Kara has suppressed herself for over a decade. She's not going to make waves - until she has to. Our first real insight into who Kara is now is as a devoted sister. It wasn't until Alex's life was at risk that Kara started breaking out of her shell (and then there was no holding back).

Our protagonist is a mid-20s adult - this isn't a coming-of-age story in the traditional sense. But it is a story of finding oneself and what it takes to get there.

And it starts with defending found family after a lifetime of loss.

So Kara creates the Supergirl persona. I think the cape is a crutch.

People say "a crutch" like it's a bad thing. But crutches are actually pretty fucking useful. They support you when you need it, whether it be short-term or long-term. They help you get around when you otherwise may not be able to.

Kara was deeply traumatized by losing everyone and everything she ever knew, being thrown into a world that overwhelmed her senses and made even her most casual movements into dangerous ones, and was told she needed to suppress everything - who she used to be, what she was going through now - to survive.

To find herself again, maybe she'd need a tool to get past what she had been through! The cape became that tool. She was able to unbury the heritage she had been hiding, she was able to embrace the powers that had burdened her, she was able to find her own bravery (and reactivity, she's got flaws in there too).

Keep in mind, in the scene above, Kara isn't "human for a day". Kara is powerless... just like she spent the first 13 years of her life. Her bravery isn't about her powers or Supergirl; they just help her get started.

That's not where her growth ends.

Kara's instincts for helping people start getting unburied in season 1, and she is excited to tag along someone else's quest to figure out where future threats may lie, or figure out how she can use her powers in service to the DEO.

But it's not until this moment that she realizes that Kara Danvers can be more, too. Lena unintentionally launches Kara's career - a second pathway for Kara's desire to help people, growing into a passion she is going to pursue (even if she gets fired). Her worth is no longer just about her sun-granted powers or being Superman's "younger" cousin.

In season 4, we even see her realization that Kara Danvers can be more powerful than Supergirl, because some fights can't be won by fists. That's a real discovery for herself.

Which I think, looking back, might becoming especially baffling for her... because Kara Danvers was originally an identity imposed on her when she needed to hide.

It's important to note that, while Kara Danvers was originally a facade that Kara gets at thirteen, she doesn't stay a facade - even in the suppression era.

We don't see enough of who Kara is when she's on Earth, left to her own devices. But we see glimpses - we know she likes baking (and we know we shouldn't try what she makes), we know she paints, we know she listens to NSync and Britney Spears. She's a goofball (even when she puts on the cape). Kara Danvers starts as a facade, but becomes a vehicle for Kara to continue developing her personality, now in her new context.

Would she have the same interests on Krypton? Maybe some and not others, maybe some new ones that don't exist on Earth. We're all products of our environments, after all. Her interests as Kara Danvers aren't necessarily fake just because they're different than what she expected.

Though she'll never know who she would've become on Krypton.

Which brings us to Kara Zor-El - the identity that is frozen.

Most people aren't the same person as an adult that they were as a child. Interests, tastes, personality, world outlook, philosophy - all of these shift over time, sometimes dramatically.

Parts of her are going to be deeply rooted in Krypton, and she's going to have ties to a culture that no one else on Earth has. It's not an aspect of herself that she can erase. But it's also not an aspect of herself that was able to develop for the remainder of her childhood and early adulthood.

She, like all of us, was destined to lose pieces of herself. But some of her loss was very sudden, and the pieces she lost probably weren't going to be the same on Krypton. Of course, she has no way to know.

And I think that frustrates her.

I guess my answer to "Who is Kara?" is that the three personalities clash with and harmonize with each other. None of them are truly her. All of them inform who she is.

There's a young Kara Zor-El as her root that was torn from the ground before she could ever grow.

There's a Kara Danvers who formed the bulk of her life - a mask that was given to her, the only vehicle for her personality, who ultimately became someone she could embrace as worthwhile in her own right.

There's a Supergirl who distinctly separates from those around her, but lets her move past her numbness and reclaim her heritage.

And it's that clash that makes her a particularly compelling character.

Maybe that's a cheating answer to the original question.

But there's still a missing piece to the puzzle - because it's not just about Who is Kara? but also about Who does Kara want to be?

I think Supergirl is something that could fade if needed. If Kara lost her powers, she would find a new normal, so long as she was able to pursue her desire to help the world in some capacity.

But the truth of her is somewhere between Kara Danvers and Kara Zor-El. The truth of her is in what Supergirl allowed her to unbury, even if not directly tied to Supergirl herself. But Danvers and Zor-El are burdens, in a way. Lena is one of the few people who sees the person in between, who understands Kara on her own terms. Which is why Kara is terrified of Lena's rejection.

I think it's one of the most telling lines in the show - to be just Kara is to be free of her own baggage, to be able to embrace herself despite the pain in her history. Something I think we all want, that is never entirely possible.

But the pursuit is still a worthwhile one.

[fifteenminutes-if]

Screaming fans. Blinding stage lights. A multitude of camera flashes.

It's all you've ever wanted. It's all you've ever worked for.

So where did you go wrong?

You were always told you had the X factor.

Something indescribable. Something exceptional.

Perhaps you doubted the truth to those words when you took in your rag-tag group of bandmates in your high school music room. But, your first performance together–for a crowd–was electric.

And you've been pursuing that same feeling ever since.

Now, with a recording contract, a debut album, an EP, and a #1 Billboard hit under your belt, your band is gearing up for the biggest album release of the year. With major publicity and curiosity from fans and critics alike, you can feel the potential thrumming beneath your skin. You're on the edge of a precipice. You're going to be a star.

Until the shocking truth hits the tabloids and–eventually–major news outlets.

Your career falls apart before you in a matter of days.

Your manager resigns, the media turns against you, your fans wage war against each other as lines are drawn in the sands of stardom.

You become a pariah.

How will you rebuild your legacy, and what will you sacrifice to reach the top once again?

Fifteen Minutes follows an artist in the music industry who is on the cusp of a meteoric rise in fame until a leaked scandal lands their reputation in the grave. A story about the ugly underbelly of fame, our glaring mortality, and the way love fails to save us from ourselves. Rated 18+ for explicit language, substance use (and abuse), death, sexual content, and mild violence.

Choose the scandal that ruins your character's career!

Customize your superstar's pronouns, gender, name, stage name, appearance, celebrity persona, their engagement with their fanbase, and more.

Make choices that affect public perception, headlines and the media narrative.

Create your character's previous and future discography, including choosing the genre(s) your character commands and their musical influences.

Deal with the aftermath of a career in ruins and decide on its trajectory/how your character rebuilds their tarnished reputation (if they choose to do so at all).

Romance (or befriend) a colourful cast of characters–all with varying degrees of proximity to fame and obscurity.

[THE PUBLICITY STUNT ◦ primary RO] MADDOX, 27, M/F An internationally beloved megastar with a media target on their back. A long trail of broken hearts and sordid deeds follow them, but their talent overshadows their attitude enough for those in the industry to turn the other way. For now. Caustic, jaded, and charismatic enough to get exactly what they want. Fresh out of a public breakup, they're acting out more than ever and the bitter taste of fame in their mouth might just kill them faster than their long list of enemies. RO Routes: FWB PR relationship or PR relationship with feelings involved. (Engaging in a PR relationship with Maddox is a mandatory plot point, but does not prevent MC from engaging in romance with other characters)

[THE INDUSTRY SWEETHEART ◦ primary RO] CARMEN BAILEY, 30, F ◦ she/her The antithesis to MC—a pop star that rose to fame in her teen years and has maintained relevancy well into her late twenties. Carmen Bailey is the golden girl. Gracious, kind, and praised for being family-friendly yet edgy enough to capture both old and young demographics alike, Carmen holds tightly to her image at the cost of everything else in her life. Sometimes, it's difficult to tell whether Carmen herself knows the difference between her image and herself.

[THE RECLUSIVE SOCIALITE ◦ primary RO] MATEO EL AMRANI, 25, M ◦ he/him Born to a wealthy, legendary family within the heart of Hollywood, Mateo shuns the limelight that comes with his heritage at any given opportunity. Unfortunately, the mystery surrounding him keeps the cameras and the public intrigued and hungry. Only close with his oldest brother, Elias, and has a strained relationship with the rest of his family. Often seen as quiet and emotionless by the media, Mateo in reality feels very deeply and desperately wants to know and be known by those he loves. RO Routes: Ex-friends, ex-lovers, or just acquaintances.

[THE JOURNALIST ◦ primary RO] ROBIN FRASER, 32, M/F A shrewd investigative journalist with the ability to destroy a career or launch someone into stardom. Has a history of major exposés and reliable pop culture predictions under their belt. Needless to say, their words hold a whole lot of power. They value truth above all else, no matter how ugly it may be and while they're privy to the manipulations and machinations of the upper echelons, they're not willing to play the game.

[THE EX BAND MEMBER ◦ primary RO] VAL PARK, 24, M/F A whirlwind of a person that has taken Hollywood by storm since their abrupt departure from your life. Ambitious with a cutting tongue, Val is persistent in their chase for fame. Tends to be reckless, hot-headed, and easily provoked with a deep need for independence and creative freedom. While they're not everyone's cup of tea, they've charmed the right people to gain entry into opportunities that you've only dreamed of. RO Routes: Ex-rivals or ex-friends (can opt to have had a crush on Val in the past). Val was in love with MC in both routes.

DEMO TBA

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

[skibidi-mimic-division]

Hello? Anyone out there?

Are we recording..? Ok...good! Hello to any comrades and survivors out there! The resident human from Camera-Unit HQ here! I am reaching out to let others know that a new division has been created for the alliance in the honor of my companions! We are...The Mimic Division! Led by yours truly! Our division is committed to the alliance war effort and we are currently growing a database on the mimic populations that have appeared after the recent fall of humanity.

We are currently gathering information on these amazing species and are discovering new mimics nearly every week! If you want to contribute to our research efforts, feel free to submit your mimic sightings report in our private P.O box with an image attached!

The mimic division is currently overseen by me, the sole "unaltered" human in the alliance! I have three agents from each branch of the alliance that you can also talk to...as well as my three mimic companions and three adopted mimic kids! Feel free to ask my commander Veteran anything as well! We will try to reply as soon as we can on this private encrypted network. Until then, stay safe out there survivors! We will be victorious in the war and we WILL end the toilet tyranny! Stay strong! (Click!)

Video Recording Source: Resident Human

Reporting From: Mimic Division Headquarters --

We are the Mimic Division! We specialize in mimic warfare, well-being, and companionship! We started with barely any records of mimics existing and we have only started to grow our database as more mimics are discovered and recorded. We also have a safe haven for allied mimics to nest in a large warehouse at the main camera HQ. The mimics are lead by the resident human and their trusted mimic allies. Buddy, Pal, and Fiend were the progenitors of the mimic division and the packs and allies only continue to grow! Through teamwork, the human and the mimics have decided to coexist and live together. They work together for similar goals in stopping the Skibidis and their senseless massacres against everything that isn't a Skibidi!

With this strengthening alliance, the human and mimics hope to end the Skibidi war together.

Please adhere to these rules when contacting the division! .

Don't send anything overtly sexually inappropriate. This is not a mature blog, so questions like "who would fuck who" will be ignored. However, questions about mimic or human biology are welcome! .

Don't abuse the anon function to spam, harass, or send hate. The ability to send asks as anon is a privilege and it will be revoked if it is abused! .

Keep non-skibidi related content out of the inbox! This is a blog that is set 'in-universe', so they have no knowledge of things beyond their own world (and what I am willing to allow). .

Unless your OC is relevant to the Skibidi universe, do not send "how will ___ react to my OC" and the like. Those will be immediately deleted. Only Skibidi-based original characters are welcome and Mimic OCs are also welcome! .

Characters will only respond to an ask that will mention them. If you want a certain character to respond to you, be sure to mention them! .

The human goes by they/them pronouns and has no name! You are free to draw them how you envision them, as they are supposed to be a stand in for you! However, they are also a character you can talk to if you wish to do so! .

Art, submitted stories, and other medias will be tagged appropriately! For example, if you submit an image of a mimic in the middle of devouring a Skibidi: I will tag it 'gore'! If you don't want to see such things, be sure to have them blacklisted! .

You can ask me questions here too by saying "Hax" or "Cosmica", I will answer to either. I am only one person, so please be patient and don't badger me for an immediate answer. .

Don't specifically request art. I will draw art for asks that I feel deserve a visual representation on my own!

Current known in-universe affiliates!

+ The Filming Industry : Credit to @striderl + Elisa and Hypnos : Credit to @krystalkitdemi (More to Come) -- NOTES: Current timeline position: Pre-Origin's Release Post: Pinned Updated: 5/8/2024

[lephamquynhnhu]

Panacea

Chapter 6: Latent cinders

Dan Feng x Fem!Reader

WARNINGS/ TAGS: The reader has a default name, OOC, mentioned blood, violence. (This is a work of fanfiction, events are not aligned or relevant to the original work)

Word count: 2k2

Summary: He met you on a drizzling day when hydrangea fully bloomed on its field. Amidst the sea of mild pastel petals, Dan Feng never thought the flowery domain that intertwined your fate was the precise thing withered with you. They said he was a dragon, a hero, a sinner, but never a person with love, hatred, sorrow, or joy like everyone else in this world. However, it was a demi-truth. He committed the cardinal sin because of you.

Note: Finally, I am back! My thesis defense went successfully, and I immediately returned to finish this story. Thank you to readers who still follow Panacea.

Do you like...depression?

As if the tragedy found you everywhere like hawks snipped corpses, it bore fangs into your throat til the end when another dire scene unfolded right before your very eyes. They bombarded the Devourers' base to destroy the minimum trace of their shameful project and covered the truth permanently. Although this was a predictable outcome you had already foreseen, it was unbearable to witness everything transformed into cinders. You numbly stood in the world of sorrow and ashes as your feet rooted into the ground, air frosted in your lungs.

When the last survivor of Devourers after Denizen of Abundance III thought of suicide, a weak sound crackled under the ruins, which attracted you rushing toward the source. Ignoring the tingling sensation that burnt your bare hands, you dug through opaque objects and black charcoal until Pumpkin's wet nose touched your scratched fingers. However, precarious happiness quickly dissolved into thin air like bubbles as you realized he was dying. A glass jar fell off his jaw when Pumpkin left some fragile whines to roll the inhibit serum to you. His golden fur got burnt because the flame touge fired half of the dog's body, and a ribcage bone pierced his liver. Beneath the wreckage were Pumpkin's footprints blurring on black soil, which translated that he could have run away but chose to return to retrieve the inhibited serum and got stuck.  

Your veins nearly popped out since you were compressing the sentiment. You did not want Pumpkin to see your tears, so you stayed strong til his last breath. Nevertheless, you could not hold back anymore as he licked your hand, and Pumpkin's soul left the world full of ashes. 

As if things were not even worse, Yaoqing soldiers appeared in the nick of time you were mourning over the last member's death. Your head felt empty, and all energy surged out when they handcuffed you to lead out the crumble base. Upon the shrinking display, crows started hovering around Pumpkin to knock their beaks, and some of the flock found a fine seat to feat. Members of Devourers of Abundance Abominations did not have a proper grave when they died, and neither should you. Perhaps the Yaoqing Authorities would order a butcher to execute you in private with a burial service called vultures or keep you alive to research another biological weapon of the next generation. (More talent and more preeminent.) 

A psychological voice vibrated scatter clauses snapped you out of the nullifying state: "I always dreamt of a field with bloom hydrangea." and "Please live happily from now on." 

Huang Yuan guaranteed not to divert the holy arrow toward Xianzhou, yet he did not assure of unsighted loyalty. With your now completed heart that attained human emotions, Yaoqing's action was the last straw of your tolerance, which led to the decision to become a deserter. 

The raven wings smote into the thick ambiance and soared through dark trees when they heard the wind seething. Their inky feathers took time to levitate over the monochromatic scenery and landed ground soundlessly. 

Before fleeing from your homeland, you implemented a proper burial for Pumpkin and others. Nothing existed besides ruins, crypts, and dried blood on the soil. There was no evidence of struggles. 

Yaoqing publicized your identification and declared your wanted posters across Xianzhou ships, even spreading them to their friendship planets with the crime of murdering six Cloud soldiers and desertating. Nonetheless, you cleverly stowed away on a merchant ship traverse to Talia and fabricated your papers. Thanks to the unstable regime, you could easily steal a certified ID card and then live under a camouflage named Yi Ting for years. When things settled down, and the Yaoqing assumed your death due to the short longevity of Devourers, they revoked wanted orders but deported your existence instead. 

It is hard to be in exile, yet you do not feel regrettable. Living in Zhuming for three years, learning gardening, and studying some botanical effects to suppress your symptoms, you moved to Loufu. 

Since the upheaval on that Spring night, you and Dan Feng have officially been together but in secret. Despite comprehending and being aware of your sins circumstantially, he decided to stay by his guilty lotus. As for you, it is a miracle as you can breathe even surpassing your due date long ago, yet the stone still burdens the High Elder's shoulder when your health goes downward. None of his treatments affect your state, as well as the imitated serum. In contrast, you are well informed about your limited time but accept the upcoming death and enjoy the rest days. 

Tomorrow is the tenth ceremony of winning Denizen of Abundance III, and you want to do the soul-soothing ritual for your comrades. Because you finally let old memories go and are ready to bid them a proper goodbye. At first, the Long Scion hesitates to follow your wish since the windy weather might impact your delicate status, yet opposing his beloved determination, Dan Feng gives in.

"If I sense any abnormal signs, we will return immediately." 

He places the test tube down to gently cup your face, and a familiar influx of ambergris with fresh herb flies from his sleeves; he smells like tranquility as always. A short implied hum drumming through your chest, vibrant the vocal fold as you close your eyes to lean on the comfortable heat that Dan Feng radiates off.

Maroon and scarlet added some citric flavor of lemony yellow that notifies another lustrous Autumn. Luofu's landscape endues its seasonal cloth with the mellow air of juicy grass as you and the Long Scion stroll to the town. Xianzhou natives are busy preparing their last things for the special ceremony, which even causes a more vibrant ambiance than usual days. 

You are excited to explore new aspects of Aurum Alley after days of lying in bed while Imbibitor Lunae trailing behind with a paper fan. A plain texture of ivory hue painted white lotus and writing a stanza poem by ancient letters. The embroidered crane wings seemingly move simultaneously with his actions. You find it bizarre to see him wear other accessories besides his single earring, but Dan Feng looks unexpectedly ronin. 

After the High Elder turns his heels to buy some sweets at a nearby delicacy pavilion, an outstanding story of Xiyan reaches your ears and catches your wandering mind. 

"Devourers of Abundance Abominations was an undead army that had contracted with Yaoshi in return for their pseudo immortality. The mercenary served under different lords in the cosmos and eventually betrayed them. However, their existence abruptly disappeared when those gist monsters fought for the enemy's side in Denizen of Abundance III. Some said the Reignbow Arrow wiped out..."

Enough of hearing a bunch of absurdity, so you cannot help but charge at Xiyan's collar and curse his story. Despite the excavating status, your eyes are bloodshot with murderous intention gleaming in irises, and your long-forgotten muscles progressively grow under the black gloves. Upon that quarrel, the crowd assembles due to human curiosity. 

"You mundane did not know anything about them and dared to mislead other people with your nonsense fairy tale? Devourers did not contract with the Plague Author to exchange for their blessings! They are human, and they are Xianzhou citizens! The Yao..." - This time is your voice trailing off at the forbidden name as a familiar hand stays firm on your shoulder to awaken your sanity. 

"I'm so sorry. My niece seems still under the effects of History Fictionologists and oblivious to the proper history." - The Long Scion quickly intercepts with a made-up reason to explain on behalf of you for causing the ruckus, and his protective arm wraps around you as a habit to prevent the counter gets any further. The ill-intent aura that you are giving off coils inside its cell as you mutter a decent apology quietly and then blend in. 

On the road to the Exalting Sanctum, you savor a sweet skewer Dan Feng handed over with a crestfallen face in muteness. All the joy seemingly disappeared after your encounter with Xiyan, so you two had better keep silent. 

Lining up your long-arm comrades' mementos to send off is another challenging task since touching them again meaning open the old wound. They did not leave any specific tools that belonged to them; if they had, their possessions returned to voidness. Thus, using things that remind you of them is most appropriate. Irene's Polaroid, Huang Yuan's photo, the comms device you last saw Jia Xi, and the promise you could not complete: Zi Wen's proposing ring. The nose bridge starts stingingly burning hot as you brush against the cheap metal. He must put all effort into creating his sacred vow to Irene, yet it is unsent forever.  

Your paper lantern airily ascends aloft and mixes with others, illuminating a solemn beige color that carries away people's sentiments. Watching them flow into a celestial river that flies across the cerulean sky, a glassy teardrop unknowingly rolls down your chin. Imbibitor Lunae pensively follows the glittering stream and holds your hand without diverting his gaze because he knows you do not want him to look at you. 

The sole solace you can seek from outsiders is Dan Feng's firm grip. 

Evening light is dense like a veil of maltose, pouring under the gravel path, and sometimes stones crunching under your shoes. People and inhabitants are getting loose with the new moon vaguely manifests, and the Big Dipper is over their heads. In this hour, the red velvet sun does not just glare upon realms below but also dyes maple trees into a crimson hue, shrouding you in the warm color of late Autumn. While you and Dan Feng stride back to the Faery Forest, an unexpected wind blowing through causes the scenery to quiver, and then maple leaves compete to fall. Unable to resist the poetic spectacle, your doe eyes morph from admiration to excitement as you dart forward to dance in the scarlet drizzle. When twirling around to find the High Elder, you bring along a glittering gold halo that gleams around, and he figures that his world has shrunk to your blissful smile in that momentary. However, strict wrinkles start forming as Dan Feng rushes toward you to aid your balance, indicating your free time is overdue. 

You two then take a break and watch the sunset together at a nearby wooden pavilion. The precedent breeze seems harsher than you thought because the Long Scion's disheveled hair now entangles with a red maple leaf, but he looks unbothered. You tenderly comb the long locks by hand and secretly commend its velvety between your fingers. 

"Feng, will you place a flower on my grave when I die?" - The enthralling activity may cast a spell on you as the sentence jumps out before you realize it. In contrast, a slight reprimand tone in Imbibtor Lunae's stern voice suggests that he is unwilling to engage in that topic, yet it is counter-productive since you want to press it further. An annoying feeling tingles on his visage when hearing that question twice, so Dan Feng leans forward to prevent you from the third chance to repeat. You immediately retreat behind like instinct and place both hands on his chest to stop him. 

"We are in public!" - Your hiss is no louder than a whisper as the astonishment trucked you with his boldness since the High Elder never wishes to attract crowd attention. Even if there is no one around, it is still a modicum possibility that people may catch. Nonetheless, your resistance is futile when Dan Feng's arm hugs behind to pull you closer, and his other hand opens the paper fan to make a flowery triptych, shielding your kiss from outsiders' eyes. The freshness and lightly spicy flavor of cinnamon with mellow sweetness like honey causes you to feel weak, and your heart quivers to the point of ache. 

"I won't let that happen." - You could hear the message loud and clear through his movement. Despite your lifespan getting its due day and there is no way the High Elder is capable of reversing death, you want to believe in his words. He silently puts a square box into your hand and encourages you to open it with a nervous emotion that carefully hides beneath his usual stoic face. 

A pair of earrings made from emeralds and share the same design as his. Their colors are as glassy as Autumn pond, as green as his eyes. Yesterday, Imbibitor Lunae gifted you three stocks of brocade and two meters of peach silk; today is the pledge of love. 

"You really do want to marry me?"

"Yes. Please promise you will watch maple leaves with me next year, the next ten years, and every year." 

The sound of Celest-Gold rings deafening around the restrained milieu, prevailing forthcoming footsteps. Under the dullness and stuffiness of Premilinary jail, Dan Feng finally found a clue to cure your lethal condition. That is the reason why he accepted to testify Primus Immortus. The prisoner is soon to be transferred to the Shakle jail due to the crime of Production of the Elixir of Immortality. 

[ask-jinx-and-alor]

[Jinx would blink their eyes, looking up at what should have been a ceiling. or sky. It was neither. Maybe it was a sky, as it went on as infinitely as the sky can, but it was a shade of gray. No hints of blue. No clouds. No sun. Some invisible light source beat directly down, the only thing preventing the entire landscape from being deep in darkness. They would try to say something, but the mouth below their eyes refused to move. They would put their hand to their mouth, feeling that it was painted on. In the middle of the mouth, they would feel a crack. They'd nudge it open, to realize their mouth was in fact there, but required opening their entire head to use. Where were they and why was this happening?]

{Alor would immediately sit up, whipping their head around, panic setting in instantly. They would look down at their body quickly, to see they did not look how they would imagine they would. Their body was green, with each of their phalanges being colored yellow. They would be too speechless to scream at first. With panic moving quickly through their body, They felt their body change. Gaping mouths and eyes would begin to appear all over them. They would turn over in terror, to see a figure behind them. A mostly humanoid jester, save for some almost cartoony proportions, the jester was lying on the ground, head facing the sky, eyes now carefully watching Alor.}

"My name is Jinx." [They'd whisper, trying not to open their mouth which they knew was likely terrifying to see. And it was.]

"My-" {Alor would falter, allowing the sight of someone else to calm them, and closing the eyes and mouths on their body.} "My name is Alor."

+*.';*+

Welcome to Ask Jinx and Alor, help them navigate wherever the hell they are and send them questions.

+*.';*+

READ BEFORE SENDING QUESTIONS

try sending asks relevant to the story /nf

You can interact with them a little, but not in ways that largely affect the story. (I.E. *gives them godly powers* *sends them home* etc)

this is not a blog to roleplay with you, we're telling a story /nm

I have every right not to answer your ask, or wait to answer it until it would affect the story in a way that makes sense

Your welcome to send asks directly to me, Jynx, the moderator/artist/writer/everything of this blog

+*.';*+

#BEGGINING OF THE STORY To find the beginning of the story at any timem or click the 1 in Episodes in order (should be below this)

#Jinx and Alor's story to find all posts relating and being in character for the story

#fanart tag for pieces of fanart

#ooc should be self explanatory but yeah that's the out-of-character posts or posts that are not canon to the story

+*.';*+

Episodes in order: (red episodes are not canon)

1 2 3 4 5 5.5 6

[formula1bby]

Fortune Favors the Brave Ch. 1

Carlos Sainz x driver!fem!oc

wc: 8216

SLOW BURN MULTIPART STORY, begins in 2019 but we will be jumping around slightly just bc I will not survive writing out every season until the current one XD Later on in the story there will be references to an oc for a different story that I will also be releasing a teaser for within the next couple of weeks but as of right now she is not relevant to Aaliyah's story.

Warnings: descriptions of a panic/anxiety attack, obnoxious reporters, lots of swearing XD

A/N: welp, it's finally here! After almost a year of me talking about this I actually finished editing chapter 1! Let me know what you guys think and if you want to be included in the tag list for this!

Formula One is a dream for many drivers, yet so few of them actually get to achieve that dream. It’s such a cruel fate that these drivers face but for those that are able to turn their dreams into reality, it’s everything. One such lucky driver was 18 year old Aaliyah Thompson. She had the fortunate opportunity to be a full time driver for Toro Rosso in 2017, straight out of winning the Formula Renault 2.0 Litre championship in 2016. She quickly showed her merit and earned eight points at her first Grand Prix (in a less than adequate car), proving those that doubted her wrong. Although, some say that Aaliyah making it into Formula One was just as cruel a fate as never achieving that dream. Being the first female driver to actually start a grand prix since Lella Lombardi in 1976 as well as the youngest driver to have ever entered a grand prix, being only 16 years old in her first season, meant people held her to a very different set of standards. Any mistake meant that her seat would be questioned immediately and the media, who were always breathing down her neck like wolves, would get that misstep they’d been waiting for and pounce.

Aaliyah would be lying if she ever said she regretted her decision to sign with Toro Rosso. Sure, it was hard and the competition she faced in F1 was much more difficult than Formula Renault, but this was her dream and she’d be damned if she let anyone or anything dampen that for her.

Walking through the parking lot, Aaliyah groaned at the horde of media surrounding the entrance to the paddock. Maggie, her PR manager and best friend, lightly smacked Aaliyah’s arm to remind her cameras were everywhere, including the Netflix camera that was going to be following them for the whole weekend.

“Play nice, please,” Maggie said. “You don’t have to answer any questions yet since your first media appearance isn’t until noon, but at least look like you’re happy to see people.”

“I know, I know,” Aaliyah agreed, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. “I’m just not ready for everyone to ask about it.”

Maggie looked sympathetically at the 18 year old as they walked into the paddock for the first race of the 2019 season. They scanned their badges and, as expected, people immediately started asking Aaliyah about her crash and shoving microphones in her face.

“Are you nervous to drive in another grand prix after your crash in Mexico last year?” one reporter tried to ask Aaliyah.

“She’s not answering any questions right now,” Maggie explained, pushing the reporter away. “She has a scheduled media appearance at noon, you can talk to her then.”

Aaliyah could feel her throat tightening as people still tried to shout questions at her and blocked their path to the AlphaTauri hospitality. Maggie tried to explain loudly to them that they weren’t taking any questions right now, but the reporters either didn’t hear her or didn’t care. Aaliyah felt her breathing shorten as she began to hyperventilate. She looked calm to the cameras but anyone that knew her could tell she was anything but. Aaliyah tapped Maggie’s bicep three times, a signal the two had come up with that would let Maggie know they needed to get out of whatever situation asap. Maggie noticed it and immediately grabbed Aaliyah’s arm and pulled her through the swarm of reporters, no regard for who she bumped into.

Once they were out of the swarm, Maggie fell back in step beside Aaliyah so she could check on her.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly. Aaliyah shook her head in response, trying to hold back tears until they got to hospitality. “Do you want to stop walking?” Another head shake. “Alright, let’s get you to hospitality then.”

Aaliyah nodded and the two sped walked to hospitality and were greeted by cool air conditioning as they finally got away from all of the prying cameras, telling the Netflix camera to give them space. Some of the AlphaTauri workers tried to greet Aaliyah but were instantly silenced by the look Maggie gave them. She pulled Aaliyah into her driver’s room and set her down on the couch.

Aaliyah’s face was blank as she tried to focus on her breathing. Hot tears were falling down her face when she couldn’t calm down. She could faintly hear someone talking to her but couldn’t make out any of the words. Her vision was blurring and she started grabbing at her head and pulling at her hair, wanting this panic attack to stop. She felt her hands being gently pulled away from her head and soothing circles being rubbed into her palms. One of her hands was placed on the person’s, Aaliyah supposed it was Maggie’s, chest so that she could feel her breathing and replicate it. Aaliyah did her best to take slow, deep breaths and found herself calming down.

“Liyah?” she heard Maggie say. “If you can hear me, know that you’re safe. We’re in your driver room and there are no cameras and no media in here. It’s just me and you.”

Aaliyah nodded, letting Maggie know that she could hear her. Closing her eyes, Aaliyah continued to focus on her breathing and Maggie’s soothing voice. It felt like an eternity before Aaliyah opened her eyes and saw Maggie, crouched in front of her, holding her hands to ground her.

“Thank you,” Aaliyah shakily said. “I d-d-don’t kn-know what ha-hap-happened.”

There was that damn stutter again. Aaliyah didn’t miss it but knew that she got like this when she was shaken up. Just another unseen side effect of her concussion from last season.

“It’s alright, Liyah,” Maggie assured, sitting down next to the girl and rubbing circles on her back. “I should have gotten you out of there sooner, that one is on me.”

“You couldn’t have stopped it,” she said, taking time to think about what she was saying to stop her stutter. “Unfortunately the media just fucking sucks.”

Maggie laughed as Aaliyah continued to calm down from her panic attack. The two friends talked about anything not related to racing or the media until Noah, Aaliyah’s trainer, knocked on the door lightly. Maggie got up and opened the door to let the British man into the room, the Netflix cameras following him.

“How’s my favorite driver doing?” he asked as he set his bag on the massage table.

“Had a panic attack already so I’m doing peachy,” she said with a laugh and a cheeky smile.

Noah looked over to Maggie to see her response to this and Maggie just smiled and shrugged her shoulders, just glad to see Aaliyah back to herself. Maggie bid Noah and Aaliyah goodbye after reminding the two to not let Aaliyah be late to the media conference with both of them telling her they would be there on time.

“Alright,” Noah said, pulling a resistance band out of his bag for Aaliyah to use. “Why don’t you go ahead and put your hair up however you’re gonna have it for the track walk later before we get started.”

Aaliyah nodded and started putting her hair in braids while chatting with Noah.

“Shit,” Aaliyah said as she got to the end of the first braid. “I don’t have any hair ties.”

Noah was immediately handing her one he kept on his wrist at all times for her. It was something he learned very quickly after becoming her trainer, that she always lost hair ties and never found them again so he had to always have one or two on him. Aaliyah and Noah talked some more about the schedule for the day as Aaliyah finished her other braid, accepting the other hair tie from Noah.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m ready,” Aaliyah responded. “I’m still nervous but if I don’t get back to it now and start strong, I might never be back to normal.”

“Makes sense,” Noah said, handing Aaliyah the resistance band. “I’m proud of you, though.”

Aaliyah smiled at Noah, who was more of a friend than just a trainer to her. She started doing exercises with the resistance band as she talked some more with Noah. He told her about how his fiancee, Bridget, was doing and showed her pictures of their son. Aaliyah checked her phone to see that her boyfriend had texted her. Smiling, she opened the message app and responded to his good luck message, ending it with an “I love you”.

“That Jake you’re messaging?” Noah asked the teen.

“Yeah,” she said, putting her phone away. “He couldn’t come to this weekend’s race. Said he had a shoot he and his team were doing and couldn’t change the date.”

Noah nodded, understanding that since Jake was a content creator he also had an incredibly busy schedule. That being said, he was a little annoyed because he knew Jake had promised Aaliyah he would be there for her first race of the season. Noah always looked out for Aaliyah, seeing her as his kid sister since he was almost 10 years older than her. When she had started dating Jake right after Abu Dhabi the previous year, he was hesitant to accept him but quickly realized how happy he made Aaliyah. That made him okay in Noah’s book.

“Do you want to go say hi to the other drivers?” Noah asked as he packed his bag back up.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Aaliyah agreed, putting her hat and sunglasses on.

The two left the driver room and walked around the paddock, a Netflix camera following them the whole time. Aaliyah saw Daniel from a mile away, walking with Kevin, and ran up to him, jumping onto his back. He stumbled a bit before holding onto her legs to keep her from falling off, both of them laughing wildly.

“Hey, kiddo!” he greeted. “How you going?”

“Doing alright,” she responded, sliding off of Daniel’s back and giving him a proper hug. “Bit of a rough morning but I’m sure it’ll get better.”

“Media pestering you?”

“Yeah.”

“Do I need to fight anyone?”

“Not yet.”

Aaliyah greeted Kevin with a hug as well, always having a soft spot for the older man. The three chatted as they walked to the media area. They were grouped together for the press conference, which Aaliyah was very excited about. Checo completed the group for the press conference and they chatted as they waited for their cue to go sit down. Checo noticed that Aaliyah’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes but told himself he would talk to her later so that he didn’t take her focus away from the task at hand. He was glad that he was in her group for the press conference, feeling like he had a duty to help protect her from the media.

“Checo?” Aaliyah asked, speaking Spanish. “You alright?”

“Just a bit nervous for the first race of the season, mija,” he said, not wanting her to know he was worried about her. “You know how it is: the media is gonna throw a lot at us today.”

Aaliyah’s face screwed up in disgust, knowing all too well the types of questions she’d be asked today. Maggie had prepped her as best as she could but everyone knew that it would still be rough on her.

“Yeah, fuck them.”

Checo let out a loud laugh, drawing Daniel and Kevin out of their conversation to look at the two with confusion and amusement. Their PR managers quickly shushed them, knowing that if they were too loud everyone inside the press room could hear them. A few minutes later, the previous group cleared out of the press room and the group of four entered. They took their seats, Aaliyah sitting between Checo and Kevin, and put their mics on, giggling to each other about a snarky comment Aaliyah had made directly before they all walked in.

“Welcome,” a reporter said after they’d all settled down. “How are you guys?” A mix of ‘good’ and ‘excited’ were said in response. “I have a question for all of you: how are you feeling going into this race, it being the first one of the season?”

“I’ll start,” Daniel said with a laugh. “I’m excited. You know, we have a good car this year and I’m looking forward to making some pretty epic moments with the team.”

“Yeah,” Kevin agreed, going down the line. “I think it’ll be a good season. The car felt good during testing and I’m sure there will be a learning curve for it, but I’m optimistic this year.”

“I’m excited,” Aaliyah said with a grin. “It’s gonna be a great season and I’m super stoked to be teamed up with Alex this year. He seems like a great driver and I’m counting on a lot of fun battles on track.”

“It will be a very interesting season,” Checo said. “I’m looking forward to this race and I hope to earn some good points this weekend.”

The next five minutes were filled with questions for the four drivers. Aaliyah was both relieved and surprised that there had been no questions about her Mexico crash. Her relief was short-lived, however, when a particularly invasive reporter asked a question.

“I have a question for Aaliyah,” he started. “How are you feeling starting a new season so soon after your crash in Mexico? Don’t you think it’s too early for your mental state to handle the stress? Have you questioned your place and ability in this sport since your crash and the comments that everyone made about you?”

Checo was about to speak up to defend Aaliyah when she lightly touched his leg with a finger under the table, telling him it was okay.

“I don’t know, because that was definitely more than one question,” Aaliyah started, pointing out his lack of press conference etiquette. “How do you feel about trying to make someone relive trauma for your story?”

“So you’re not gonna give me an answer?” the reporter asked.

“Hell no,” Aaliyah responded with an incredulous chuckle. “If you can’t be respectful when you interview someone that recently went through something incredibly traumatic then you don’t deserve answers to your questions.”

“I’m just trying to get answers to questions we’re all wondering.”

“Stay wondering then.”

Checo gave Aaliyah a look, silently asking if she was okay. She subtly nodded back, taking a deep breath as the next reporter asked a question. Kevin kept looking over at Aaliyah throughout the rest of the media conference, making sure she was fine.

“We have time for one last question,” the facilitator told everyone.

“My question is for Aaliyah,” a female reporter spoke up. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about your crash and how you’re feeling, it was obviously traumatic for you, but I was just wondering if you would be willing to tell us a bit about how you got back on your feet afterwards. It was truly inspirational seeing you come back to the track as soon as possible last season and I would love for you to share with us what motivated you in your quick recovery.”

Aaliyah smiled softly at the woman. Finally, someone that treats me like a person. She thought.

“I appreciate you asking that in such a respectful way,” Aaliyah started, giving a pointed glare to the reporter that had been so rude to her before. “Yeah, honestly it has been a super long healing process for me. Physically, I was completely healed before Abu Dhabi. Mentally,” a pause. “Mentally I’m still healing. Like I’ve said, and been very open about, it was incredibly traumatic. Thankfully I’ve had an awesome support system with my friends, family, my team, and my boyfriend. It’s really because of them that I was able to get back in the car so soon after my crash. Plus, I’ve always said that part of the reason I’m here is to show girls that they can do whatever they want and that nothing can keep them down for long. So long answer short: I had lots of support from friends and family and wanted to make sure I’m a good role model for other girls and women.”

“Thank you,” the reporter responded. “I wish you all the best as you continue to recover.”

Aaliyah nodded in thanks as the facilitator ended the press conference. The four drivers took their mics off and walked out of the room, meeting their PR managers outside. Maggie gave Aaliyah a hug, sorry she couldn’t stop the first reporter from asking about her crash.

“Liyah,” Kevin started, getting the young driver’s attention. “You okay?”

“Honestly,” Aaliyah said, side-hugging Maggie. “Not really. But I’ll get over it. It’s not too different from any other season where reporters don’t respect me.”

“That’s not something you should get used to,” Kevin noted.

“I know,” she said, resting her head against Maggie’s shoulder. The blonde wrapped an arm around her friend for comfort. “But if I don’t get used to it, I’ll continue to be affected by it. And I’m sick of crying after every press conference and interview.”

The three drivers looked at her with a tinge of pity. Even though they knew that media duties were always rough for the 18 year old, they were unaware of the extent of the toll it took on her. Maggie glanced at her watch and pulled Aaliyah away from the uncomfortable situation by saying that she had to do her track walk soon and needed to meet up with her team. Aaliyah gave them all a hug in parting and said she’d talk to them later that evening.

“I’m gonna get that reporter fired,” Maggie said, referring to the rude reporter. Aaliyah laughed as Maggie continued her incredibly unprofessional rant. “Seriously! Who does he think he is? Talking to you like that. I’ll shave my head before I let anyone disrespect you like that.”

Aaliyah laughed loudly as the two friends walked back to the AlphaTauri hospitality. The two made it back and Alex was sitting in the lounge area, eating some of the snacks available to them. Aaliyah smiled as she parted ways with Maggie, who was likely off to plan something for Aaliyah to do, to sit down across from her rookie teammate.

“Hey, Alex!” she greeted as she sat down. “How are you?”

“Oh hey, Liyah!” he said around a mouthful of crisps. “I’m doing alright, less nervous today than I thought I would be, but I’m sure I’ll make up for it tomorrow.”

Aaliyah laughed a bit at his response. It was odd, she was the younger one on the team but was the more experienced driver. Alex looked up to her to follow her lead. Not literally of course, Aaliyah was much too short for that to be a possibility.

“It’s honestly not that bad once you’re in the car,” Aaliyah assured, sitting back on the couch and crossing her legs. “Yes, the cars are different from other Formula series’ but it’s racing just like you’ve done your whole life. You’ll do grand, I’m sure.”

“I appreciate that, thank you,” Alex said honestly. “How was your press conference, by the way?”

“Long answer or short answer?” Aaliyah asked, rolling her eyes.

“We’ve got time.”

Aaliyah laughed at Alex’s response before telling him about the press conference, going into great detail (per his request) about the rude reporter she had called out. Alex was just as appalled as Maggie and was ready to get up and punch the reporter for his treatment of Aaliyah.

“He really said that to you?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” she responded. “I was kind of expecting questions about it, but definitely nothing like that. It kind of shook me up a bit.”

“Understandable.” A pause. “I’m gonna fight him.”

“I think you’ll have to get in line,” Aaliyah joked. “Checo, Dan, and Maggie have first dibs. Maggie said something about getting him fired and shaving her head before she let someone talk to me like that.” Alex laughed at this, easily seeing the fiery blonde saying that. “It was all very unprofessional but sweet nonetheless so I’m not gonna snitch on her.”

Maggie, of course, chose that moment to walk back into the lounge area. Aaliyah laughed at the timing as her PR manager raised an eyebrow at her and went to stand behind Aaliyah on the couch. She rested her hands on her shoulders, gripping them lightly, before speaking.

“What’s this I hear about you snitching on me?” she asked.

“No, I said I wasn’t snitching on you,” Aaliyah clarified with a chuckle.

Maggie released Aaliyah from her grasp before immediately jumping back to business. Alex laughed at the interaction between the two, clearly seeing how close they were. Maggie finished telling Aaliyah her schedule for the rest of the day and stayed to chat for a few minutes longer.

“How long have you guys known each other?” Alex asked.

“I think we met my second to last year of karting?” Aaliyah asked Maggie to clarify.

“Yeah,” Maggie agreed. “It was one of the races where you beat my brother. He was not happy about it but I remember thinking I wanted to be friends with you.”

“And now she won’t leave me alone,” she joked to Alex.

Maggie smacked Aaliyah on the back of the head, rolling her eyes. Aaliyah let out an undignified noise at the contact and rubbed the back of her head where it had been hit, protesting that she recently had a concussion. Alex let out a loud laugh at the two’s interaction. Maggie gave Aaliyah a light tap on top of her head and said goodbye, saying she was leaving to get lunch for her and Aaliyah.

“Were you nervous before your first race weekend in F1?” Alex quietly asked the younger girl once Maggie had left.

Aaliyah smiled at Alex softly. She knew the nerves and the media were likely getting to him much more than he had been letting on.

“I was terrified,” Aaliyah said with a chuckle. “I was paired up with a more experienced and older driver, I was driving for the junior team of a team that had recently been champions for four consecutive years, and I was gonna be surrounded by a bunch of guys I didn’t know. Obviously my experience is different from yours, but if I ended up doing well, you’ll do just fine. You’re more experienced than I was when I joined.”

“Thanks, Liyah,” he said sincerely.

“Of course, Alex,” she responded.

“Is Jake going to be here at all this weekend?” Alex asked as he shoved more crisps into his mouth.

“No,” Aaliyah said, tired smile on her face. “He said he had a shoot he was doing for a big video and they couldn’t change the shoot date so close to it.”

“Didn’t you say he promised he’d be here for your first race of the season?”

“I did say that, yes. Apparently money is more important than supporting me and attending our first race weekend as a couple.”

“That’s messed up.”

Aaliyah nodded, clearly annoyed by her boyfriend’s decisions. As Alex looked at her, his eyebrows scrunched together in annoyance. He had met Jake a few times during pre-season events and each time made him wonder what on earth Aaliyah saw in him. She was so much more mature, successful, and overall pleasant to be around than the guy she chose to date. They seemed happy, so Alex didn’t say anything. He really wanted to though. Aaliyah already felt like his sister and even though he knew she didn’t need him to protect her, he felt like he had an obligation to look out for her.

At that moment, Aaliyah’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that Max was calling her. Sighing, she put the phone to her ear.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“How come you think I need something every time I call you? Can’t I just want to talk to my best friend?” the Dutch man asked.

“You can but you never do,” Aaliyah responded with a laugh.

“I’m coming over and we’re talking about it.”

The smile fell off of Aaliyah’s face after hearing that. She knew Max knew her better than almost everyone, besides her family and Lance, and he knew how much she was really affected by the media that day.

“Okay.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

Aaliyah sighed and ended the call. Alex looked at her, worried.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Max being an annoyingly good best friend,” she responded.

That was an unexpected twist for Alex, but he decided to leave whatever the two friends were going to talk about between them. Aaliyah and Alex made small talk in the lounge area until Max barged into the AlphaTauri hospitality and made eye contact with Aaliyah. Alex laughed as Aaliyah hung her head and followed Max to her driver’s room as he scolded her for not telling him what happened in the press conference and how he had to find out from Daniel. He closed the door to her room and crossed his arms as he looked at her. She took her hat off and set it down as she turned to look at Max, more accurately to avoid his gaze by looking anywhere but him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“I was going to tell you,” Aaliyah started. “I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Aaliyah,” he sighed.

“I know! Okay?! I know!” she snapped. “You told me to tell you if something like this happened and you told me to not be snarky. But I couldn’t help it! He was being an ass!”

Max waited for Aaliyah to calm down from her outburst, knowing she needed it and wouldn’t do this in front of anyone else aside from Lance, Checo, and maybe Pierre. Aaliyah looked at him and Max saw how vulnerable she really felt. He said her name softly and pulled her into a tight hug. She let her tears fall, completely overwhelmed by the day already. Max held his friend until he knew she was okay and she started pulling away. He watched as she wiped her face free of tears and turned to look in the mirror in her driver room to wipe away any mascara that had smudged.

“You feel better now?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, grabbing her water bottle and taking a sip. “Thanks for always being there for me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Max said, giving the younger girl another hug. “You’re stuck with me.”

“There’s worse people to be stuck with,” she joked. “Can you even imagine if I was stuck with Robert?”

Max laughed out loud at this. It’s not that either of them disliked Kubica, but he definitely would not be at the top of Aaliyah’s list of people she’d go to when she needed someone. The two friends waited in Aaliyah’s driver room until she was completely composed and no longer looked like she had just been crying. Aaliyah led Max to the front door of the hospitality and gave him a hug before sending him on his merry way. Turning back around, Alex was scrolling on social media on the couch and gave Aaliyah a smile as she walked back over to the sitting area. She followed his lead and pulled out her phone to scroll through various media feeds, eventually settling on watching videos on YouTube.

At some point Maggie and Alex’s PR manager brought food back for lunch and the four of them ate together in the lounge area. When they were done, they cleaned up and Aaliyah went to her driver room to grab her hat and came back out to see her team ready to go to the track for their track walk. Aaliyah put her hat on and grabbed a water bottle from Maggie’s hand. Putting on her sunglasses, Aaliyah told her team she was ready and they all bid their goodbyes to those present in the hospitality and made their way to the track.

Walking through the paddock was rough. Aaliyah was the hot topic of the season start despite the season’s three rookies, the dramatic end of her Mexico Grand Prix the prior season not losing any of its headlining ability yet, causing reporters to flock to her in the hopes they could glean a bit of that popularity for themselves. Aaliyah did her best to ignore the media as her team formed a sort of barricade around her to protect her from prying eyes and loud, invasive questions. When they finally got to the track, her team allowed Aaliyah to walk onto it first to escape the reporters. They quickly followed her lead and began their track walk.

Aaliyah couldn’t help but let her mind wander a bit on the track. She always ended up making her team do multiple laps on track so that she could get a good feel for it, something that the media had lovingly dubbed “fortune telling” (the term going hand-in-hand with the nickname “Miss Fortune” that they had also given her) since she almost always had a more accurate reading of the track than her competitors.

“What do you think, Liyah?” Jacques asked his driver, his British accent a familiar voice to her ears.

Aaliyah was snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at her race engineer with wide eyes. She smiled sheepishly and Jacques laughed, knowing she didn’t have a clue what they had been talking about.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

“It’s alright,” Jacques said with a smile. “I was asking what you thought about this turn and how you think you’ll be able to go with it?”

Aaliyah stood still and examined the entrance, apex, and exit of the turn with careful eyes. It was a sight to see, the girl becoming incredibly serious very quickly, a sight that her team tried to never take for granted. They enjoyed watching her process, especially because she always gave them great insight about the practicalities of the track and how she could realistically drive it. Crouching down, Aaliyah placed a hand on the track lightly. She wasn’t a superstitious person, but she was a little stitious. She didn’t think the track could literally talk to her, but she could almost feel how the track felt on those days. It didn’t make sense to any of the other drivers or the engineers, some of them regularly teasing her for it, but ultimately they accepted that her readings were pretty accurate more often than not. Aaliyah studied the track with scrutiny, hoping to glean any information that she could from it.

“How does it feel?” Jacques asked the girl.

“Not sure yet,” Aaliyah responded. “Not bad, not good, just… nothing right now. May need to do a few more laps before I can really tell.”

Jacques nodded, accepting her answer. She would always tell him what the track felt like to her so that he could change strategies accordingly. Her strategists also made sure to take her readings into account, knowing all too well what could happen if they didn’t. On good weekends, Aaliyah described the track as warm, not like warm weather, more like the fuzzy feeling you get when surrounded by the people you love. An inviting feeling, for sure. Those were the weekends that everyone could expect her to do extraordinarily well and she normally delivered the expected or better results. Naturally, those were Aaliyah’s favorites. Some weekends, the track didn’t feel warm, but it also didn’t feel like the cold that filled her when the track felt bad. Those weekends were a toss-up about what would happen. When the track felt bad, it was a cold that washed over Aaliyah as if she was in primary school and about to give a speech. It made her nervous, but she wasn’t filled with dread. Those races, more often than not, she didn’t deliver the results that were expected of her.

The worst of the feelings, Aaliyah had only experienced a handful of times in her entire racing career, but it was an unforgettable feeling. It was the cold dread that didn’t just wash over her, it poured down on her continually the entire weekend. Imagine standing on the edge of an unstable cliff with no safety gear ensuring your safe return home and certain doom if you were to fall. That was the worst feeling Aaliyah had ever experienced. She felt it at Mexico the year prior and back in Formula Renault once or twice. Every time, she had a bad crash and didn’t finish the race.

Aaliyah was jumpscared out of her reverie by Daniel Ricciardo biking past her with a loud “Whooop!” Placing a hand on her chest to calm down, Aaliyah flipped Daniel off as he sped away. He glanced back at the girl and his grin somehow got bigger as he laughed loudly at her reaction.

“I hope you fall!” Aaliyah yelled after him, not really meaning it. “Aussies, am I right?”

Her team laughed with the British girl before getting on with the rest of the track walk. They walked around the track twice so that they could get better bearings on the track conditions. Deciding they got all the information they needed, Aaliyah’s team told her they were going to head back to the garage to come up with a plan for practice and to let them know when she got a better read on the track herself. Noah stayed behind with her to chat as the rest of their team left.

“You get a good reading yet?” Noah asked his friend.

“It’s weird,” Aaliyah started, looking at Noah. “For a second there I thought it felt pretty good but now? Now I just feel nothing. Not good or bad.”

“We’ll let the strategy guys know then,” he said with a smile. “I’m always amazed by your readings, have I ever told you that?”

“You’ve mentioned it once or twice,” she responded with a chuckle. “I could stand to hear it more often. Too many people say it’s weird.”

“Fuck them, then,” Noah grimaced. “It’s incredible because you’re almost always more accurate than the others.”

“You’re too good to me, Noah,” Aaliyah said with a smile.

“Nah,” he disagreed, pulling the girl into his side in a hug. “I’m not good enough to you. Even if you’re a dumbass sometimes.”

“There it is,” she laughed, knowing he could never be sentimental for too long.

The two laughed as they made their way off the track and into the garage to greet the engineers. Aaliyah said hello to both sides of the AlphaTauri garage before heading back to the hospitality to do some of the social media duties Maggie had told her about prior to the track walk. She waved to some fans and took pictures with some people that were in the paddock before finally reaching the refuge that was the hospitality.

Noah let her walk in first to escape the mass of people and cameras that were trying to follow her. Alex was no longer in the sitting area of the hospitality but Maggie was there to greet Aaliyah and Noah. The three went to Aaliyah’s driver room to get Aaliyah ready for the social media videos. Aaliyah sat down on the couch and took off her hat and sunglasses, setting them on a small table next to her.

“Drink water,” Maggie told Aaliyah, handing her a water bottle. “You look pale.”

“Thanks, mum,” Aaliyah said with a light smirk.

She didn’t actually argue with Maggie and drank the water given to her. Noah and Aaliyah chatted as Maggie finalized a few things on her phone and let in one of the team photographers to take some natural pictures to start off the weekend. Maggie finally finished whatever it was she had been doing and turned to Aaliyah.

“Okay, Liyah,” she started. “You have one more social media video to make showing off your helmet for the year and then you’ll be free for the rest of the day.”

“Free as in I get to leave or free as in I have to stay in case something comes up?” she asked with a cheeky smile.

“Free as in you get to leave, brat,” Maggie said, lightly smacking Aaliyah’s head with her folder. “Your helmet is in the bag on the table. Also make sure you bring a new sharpie tomorrow, you’ll have to sign some things before and after practice.”

Aaliyah nodded as she got up and grabbed her helmet for the 2019 season. It was her favorite helmet that she’d had so far, with swirling reds and yellows adorning the majority of the surface area. Her six-year-old brother, Leo, had helped her design it with input from their ten-year-old brother, Hunter. She sat back down on the couch and held the helmet in her hands to show it off to the camera that was about to be recording her. Maggie gave her a thumbs up, telling her it had started and Aaliyah began talking.

“Hello, everyone, Liyah here!” Aaliyah started with a grin. “I hope you’re all as excited as me for the start of the new season and I wanted to share with you guys my helmet for the 2019 season.” She lifted it up higher to better show the camera what it looked like. “It was actually designed by my two younger brothers and refined by my sister and myself. My youngest brother really clung to the Red Bull colors of yellow and red and did some sweeping waves for the beach town we grew up in in England and my other brother included a paw print of the family dog that he somehow coerced her to cooperate for.” She turned the helmet so the visor was facing her and pointed out the paw print with the dog’s name underneath to the camera. “This helmet doesn’t have some huge symbolism or anything, it’s mostly a testament to my family and how much they mean to me. It’s really a way for me to stay close to them while I’m on track, which is something I started last year after Mexico when I put a picture of them in my helmet.” She let the helmet go lower in frame as she finished the video off. “Anyways, thank you guys for your support and I can’t wait to see you all this season! Liyah out.”

She gave a two finger salute and Maggie ended the recording.

“Nicely done, Liyah,” she said, turning the camera off to put it away. “Alright, I want to head back to the hotel so that I can edit this and get it up right away on your channels and send it to Mike for the AlphaTauri channels. Once you’re packed up, we’ll head out, okay?”

Aaliyah nodded and got up to pack her stuff up. It was a quick process since most of it was still in her bag. Putting her helmet away and zipping up her bag, Aaliyah was ready and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Noah and Maggie both stood up and the three walked out together, saying goodbye to those that were in the common area of the hospitality. They walked out to the carpark, completely ignoring any reporters that were being obnoxious and yelling questions at Aaliyah. She did, however, stop for photos with some fans and signed some things when asked. They finally made it out to the carpark and Maggie and Aaliyah said goodbye to Noah, knowing they probably wouldn’t see him again before the next morning.

“You cool if I drive?” Aaliyah asked Maggie, knowing that sometimes Maggie couldn’t handle someone else driving her.

“I appreciate the concern,” Maggie said. “But I never mind you driving me. Noah on the other hand…”

Maggie trailed off and the two girls laughed as they put their bags in the boot of the car and got in. It was a relatively short drive back to the hotel and the music that Maggie played made it seem that much shorter. Once they got to the hotel and parked, they grabbed their bags out of the car and walked in together. Their rooms were on the same floor so they accompanied each other in the elevator and separated to go down the hallways that held their respective rooms.

“Thank god,” Aaliyah said quietly as she unlocked her hotel room and walked inside.

She immediately dumped her bag on the chair in the living room and went straight back to the bedroom so that she could get ready for either a bath or shower, she hadn’t decided which one she wanted yet. She had taken off her shoes and belt and was about to take off her shirt when there was a knock at her door. Quietly groaning, Aaliyah walked to her front door. Looking through the peephole, she saw Carlos standing at her door.

The two were pretty good friends, having been teammates during Aaliyah’s rookie season with Toro Rosso, and often checked up with each other at least once every race weekend. There were some exceptions of course, but generally they would make a point to see each other outside of the paddock every race weekend.

Aaliyah sighed a bit and opened the door to her friend.

“Do you do this often, Sainz?” she asked teasingly.

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

“Knock on women’s hotel doors immediately after they get back,” Aaliyah chuckled.

Carlos’ eyes widened a bit, worried he was intruding now, and he started to turn to leave while talking.

“Sorry,” he started. “I didn’t realize you had only just got back from the circuit. I can leave you for the night?”

Aaliyah laughed and grabbed his arm, stopping him from actually leaving.

“I’m kidding, Carlos,” she said in Spanish. “You are more than welcome to keep me company for a while tonight.”

Carlos smiled as Aaliyah gestured for him to go into her hotel room. He walked in and gawked at the size.

“Your room is this big?” he asked incredulously. “Mine looks like a closet compared.”

“It’s the Red Bull money,” Aaliyah laughed as the door closed behind her. “That and the brand new sponsor.”

Carlos let out a hum of agreement as Aaliyah went to her bedroom and grabbed clothes to change into, announcing to her friend that she would be out shortly. She closed the door of the bedroom and quickly changed into more comfortable clothes and tossed one of Jake’s hoodies over her shirt, the piece of clothing dwarfing her given the height difference between her and her boyfriend. Aaliyah pulled her hair out of the braids and into a ponytail before walking back out to Carlos.

“Is that Jake’s?” Carlos asked.

“Yeah,” Aaliyah said in Spanish. “He gave it to me before I left for Australia.”

“Didn’t he say at dinner last month that he would join you this weekend?” he asked, confused as to why she was alone for the race weekend.

“He did,” she responded, clearly upset by the fact that he wasn’t there as she plopped onto the couch and set her feet in his lap at the other end. “But he said that they had a video shoot that they couldn’t change the date for and apparently it’s a huge one.”

“But still,” Carlos started, his face screwing up in distaste for Jake’s actions. “That’s not right to cancel on you like that, especially since it would be your first race after announcing your relationship.” Aaliyah nodded with a tired smile but Carlos wasn’t done with his rant yet. “Not to mention all of the times that you didn’t go to parties and events because you were going to one of his video shoots. He needs to do the same for you.”

“You’re preaching to the choir right now, Carlos,” Aaliyah said with a dry laugh. “But there’s nothing I can do about it right now and I want to have that conversation when neither of us have some big event happening.”

Carlos hummed in agreement with Aaliyah’s plan and the two fell into a comfortable silence. They sat like that, Aaliyah’s feet still in Carlos’ lap and his arm resting on her calves, for a few minutes before Aaliyah started to reach for the remote to turn the tv on. As she grabbed it, Carlos began to speak again.

“If I’m being honest,” he started, making Aaliyah pause her action. “This wasn’t just a social call.” She looked at him, confused, as she set the remote back down. “I heard what happened today at your press conference. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Aaliyah shook her head as she let it rest against the back of the couch.

“Is everyone talking about that or something?” she asked, switching back to English and clearly annoyed by the interaction being the gossip of the day. “Who did you even hear about it from?”

“Well,” Carlos started, hesitating to say how he heard of it. With a pointed look from Aaliyah his resolve crumbled and he spoke. “I heard it from Lando who said he heard it from George who said he heard it from Alex.”

“Of course it was the rookies,” Aaliyah said.

There was more silence before Carlos broke the silence. He knew that he shouldn’t have brought it up but he also knew that he needed to talk to Aaliyah about it.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Liyah,” he said. “I know how that kind of stuff affects you. We were teammates after all.”

“I know, Carlos,” Aaliyah said, smiling softly at him. “I do appreciate it, despite what it sounds like.” There was a pause as Aaliyah thought about her response. “I’m doing as well as I can,” she settled on. “It sucks for sure, but I’m alright. I held it together and got through the rest of the conference, which is what matters.”

“What matters is you and your mental health,” Carlos interjected, upset that she was so nonchalant about it. “You say you’re fine, but you don’t even know how bad it’s affecting you. You accept it as an inevitable event that you’ll be disrespected and that shouldn’t be the case.”

Carlos was getting so heated about this that he switched back to Spanish to get his point across. At his comment, Aaliyah stood up and looked down at Carlos.

“Do you really think I wouldn’t stop it if I could?!” she exclaimed. “I would love it if I didn’t have to deal with this every single day of my fucking life. Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of power because nobody fucking respects me! Of course I shouldn’t accept it as inevitable, but until others also stand up for me it will be! It will always be something I have to deal with just because of my gender and choice of profession. I know that, I accept that. You need to get over your self righteous self and accept it too if you’re not going to try to help make a change.” Aaliyah was out of breath at the end of the rant but she wasn’t done yet. “I understand that you don’t get it, but if you really want things to change, you have to actually be a part of it instead of just telling me how things should be.”

Carlos was left in a stunned silence. He hadn’t expected Aaliyah to react in that way when he brought it up and he wholly regretted asking her about it in that moment. He was about to say something when Aaliyah cut him off.

“I think you need to leave, Carlos,” she said, not in a cold way, just a frustrated one. “It’s been a long day for both of us. We should get some rest before practice tomorrow.”

Carlos got up and left in a flurry of hushed “I’m sorry”. Aaliyah sighed as the door clicked behind him and plopped back down on the couch. It didn’t help that she had already had to deal with Max about the press conference that day as well as the slight twinge of betrayal from finding out Alex was one of the ones that spread the gossip. It wasn’t like she expected for nobody to learn about it, it was televised after all. She had just hoped that it wouldn’t be the source of paddock gossip, she’d already been the center of that too many times.

Aaliyah got up, realizing she still hadn’t showered, and walked to the bathroom to clean off from the day. The Australian sun and heat didn’t do her many favors, leaving her a sweating mess after the day at the track. She showered off, finally being able to relax from the stressful day she had. Setting an alarm, Aaliyah got into bed, hoping to get some rest before getting into the car the following morning.

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A/N: If you made it all the way down here, thank you for reading! I appreciate you! Let me know what you thought of this chapter and let me know if you would like to be put on the taglist! This is a story I have been thinking about and writing for a hot minute now so it seems kinda weird to be sharing this story with everyone else now XD Anywho, I hope you enjoyed <3 See you all later!

Cazza out (^▽^)

[bestworstcase]

have you heard of and/or do you have a take on the gun theory?

unfortunately.

ok. my introduction to the g.u.n. theory occurred when somebody tagged the the narnia post ‘rwby gun theory’ and i went “the hell is that” and promptly found out.

that was two years ago jesus christ

since then it has occupied the dragon’s hoard of spurious fandom bullshit i keep in my brain to provide enrichment for my flock of scathing little carrion bird thoughts. i haven’t talked about it here because i do actually make an effort to be civil.

so.

the g.u.n. theory is underpinned by a fundamental misunderstanding of symbolism and allusion. both misunderstandings arise from the same analytical error, which is the presupposition that the text is written in code. it is, so to speak, a cryptographic reading.

before getting into the weeds i will say this: as a writer, i find this cryptographic approach genuinely a little offensive in, like, an “if you even look at my writing i will beat you to death and then eat you alive” knee-jerk fuck you kind of way. and that’s because this:

a theory that there is a second, completely different interpretation of RWBY from the apparent and generally accepted one […] that RWBY contains many, many more allusions than the creators let on. [they] are intentionally hiding these allusions […] by layering them, so that something that alludes to one thing on the surface also alludes to something else on a level beneath that, resulting in the audience easily seeing the top-level allusion but missing the lower level allusion- or allusions- unless they are paying very very close attention. [ src. ]

is fucking insulting. it is anti-storytelling. the point of a story is to tell a story, not to obfuscate itself by encoding the secret ‘real’ story in the proverbial fucking blue curtains. storytelling is communicative. storytellers WANT you to understand the story, the telling, that is the whole entire fucking point. symbolism is not a secret code. it’s a flag. it’s a trail-marker. it’s a tool for guiding attention and helping the audience connect the dots.

sometimes it’s accidental because writers make subconscious connections or just repeat a motif a lot for aesthetic reasons. (<- my thing is birds. if you’ve ever read bitter snow and wondered why everything is birds it’s because i just think that birds) sometimes it’s on purpose and sometimes it is On Purpose. but it is never, ever there to tell a secret hidden story that is not the story the story appears to be. stories say what they mean and mean what they say.

yes even allegories, fables, satire, et cetera. subtext is not “”hidden meaning“” it’s just narrative information conveyed implicitly. theme is not “”hidden meaning“” it’s the abstract ideas realized through the narrative. these are things the audience is supposed to pick up on, even if they lack the analytical skill to identify and articulate precisely how or why and even if they don’t consciously recognize it. storytellers want you to get it.

ok? ok.

takes off the writer hat.

the g.u.n. theory—like all cryptographic readings—begs the question. it’s a “method of further appreciating, understanding and even predicting the events of [RWBY]” by examining the story “as a confluence of dozens of familiar fantasy and fictional narratives and influences” because the story is actually something “completely different” from what it appears to be. the g.u.n. theory purports to excavate the deeper real story from the obfuscating “surface” story, which is an obviously insane thing to do unless you first accept the premise that the actual text—the things the characters do and say on the screen—is not what the story is.

the g.u.n. theory requires that “what happens in star wars?” is more relevant to interpreting rwby than “what happens in rwby?”

that is ludicrous. it is facile. it’s nonsense.

it would be nonsense even if the g.u.n. theory limited itself to genuine allusions (like ‘the marvelous land of oz’), because while rwby is retelling marvelous land pretty fucking overtly, you do in fact have to read marvelous land in context with a) what happens in rwby and b) specifically how rwby leverages marvelous land to construct its own story, which means you also need to read it in context with the other core allusions (maiden-in-tower tales, the little prince, cinderella) and the way the rwby narrative fits the pieces together. if that sounds complicated yes, but also no, because rwby is really very straightforward about it.

but the g.u.n. theory is the brainchild of people who think the core allusions are [checks notes] lord of the rings, star wars, avatar: the last airbender, fullmetal alchemist, and sailor moon. that the atlas arc is based on the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe (on this see The Narnia Post). that salem’s primary character allusions are the wicked witch of the west, sauron, cinderella’s evil stepmother, emperor palpatine, two presumably villainous fullmetal alchemist characters, and inexplicably maleficent?—but notably NOT rapunzel / persinette / petrosinella despite her being, yanno, explicitly the girl in the tower.

looks into the camera like i’m on the office.

what is happening here—this becomes obvious the instant g.u.n. theorists construct an argument for an allusion—is a conflation of common tropes and archetypes with narratively meaningful allusion. thus, “winter is jadis because she enters in a fancy airship, wields a sword and a smaller sword that kind of looks like a wand, there’s a stone lion-head fountain in this one scene, she’s short-tempered, and she’s from the frozen polar kingdom that oppresses the animal people” which is, um, stupid.

i am like five fucking thousand words deep in comparative analysis of salem and job arguing that rwby is a jobian narrative and i will still asterisk the book of job to hell and back as probably not a deliberate allusion because the comparison relies so much on subtext and i am waiting (very! patiently!) for salem to start talking before i’ll commit to arguing for intention. there are people who are convinced winter is jadis because her main gauche vaguely resembles a wand and she’s from the polar kingdom and, like, presents as an archetypal Ice Lady.

i just—

snarls. see the narnia post.

the point is that the g.u.n. theory’s analytical framework is both explicitly countertextual (the text is not the story) and interested in aesthetics and archetypal similarity almost to the exclusion of everything else.

joseph campbell would be proud.

that interest in aesthetics, combined with the g.u.n. theory’s cryptographic approach to analysis, is why prognostication guided by the g.u.n. theory turned out wrong with stunning regularity, and also why there are g.u.n. theory posts out there that make nonsense claims like “x symbol and y symbol have the same meaning and are interchangeable because they resemble each other and are connected to the same character” (<- snarls in ‘the broken moon = the burning rose’).

i’m glad V8 put it in the ground because if i had seen g.u.n. theorists babbling nonsense about alice in wonderland during V9 i would have been unkind

[epicnightm]

About me...

Well,this is like a guide for all of you, lets start!!!

So,Hi!!! i´m epicnightm, but call me Epic, i´m an UTMV and YW fanatic who likes to draw their characters and sometimes make songs for them

I´m a minor, watch your words

Guys, i´m from Spain, do not expect me to speak english perfectly pls

Do not ask me anything when my requests are closed,when they are open, it will say [REQUESTS OPEN], remember that i am a minor

My brother: @recoepic (he speaks spanish mostly) (EDIT: he now will speak english)

My DTIYS 1

I WILL DRAW:

My OCs

Your OCs (pls send a picture of them)

Other Characters

literally everything that isn´t in the "i won´t draw" section

I WON´T DRAW:

-NSFW

-Commisions (by the moment)

I DON´T KNOW IF I WILL DRAW IT OR NOT

Ships, because it depends of the ship

Characters from other fandoms, because it depends of the character

there are some characters that i don´t like, if i don´t like the character, i won´t draw it

Remember that those are requests, i can make an sketch, full body colored, or even not draw it, just remember that those aren´t commisions and that i just draw them for fun

MY OCs:

I´ve got a few OCs, at the moment they are just Fireflame, Peace, Bruhtastic, Bastard, Deep Purple, Hope, Sigizhe, Aalto, Saudara, Sensēshonaru, Hell, Wave, Andromeda, Snow-Sun-Flower-Leaf, Katie, Ski, Sakura, Efraín, Inferno, Edge, Weird, Static, Saffire, Broken, Sufriment, Relentless, Booyah, Lava, (and more characters that i just have a basic idea), I haven´t published anything about them at the moment, when I do, I´ll update this

If you want to use my characters for your comics, animations, etc, you can use them if you give the proper credit and link back to my tumblr account, also pls tag me so i can see your work!!

Feel free to ask me anything about them or even ask them!! just check if my requests are open or not pls

ABOUT NIGHTVERSE...

Well, NightVerse is an animated series of mine based on utmv, the fact is at this moment i´m still learning how to animate, but it´s difficult.

If you have seen me before, you should know i asked some people to use their characters (spoilers haha)(i won´t say them,good luck finding them!).

I really can´t tell you very much about it because those are spoilers bruh, but i can say it is something a bit weird, i´ll make a whole post talking about that

(P.S. If you want your character to appear in that series maybe he/she can appear in the background of some scenes, but that character will not be relevant to the story, if you want that character to appear that way, tell me via asks!!)

Well, that´s all you should know for now, see ya bruh!!

Last update: 28 may 2024

[fucked-up-mover-shaker]

BOOK 10: ELYSIAN SIGN UPS

ALRIGHT! I HAVE ENOUGH INTEREST, IT IS TIME!

First off, the outline of everything we will be using in our creation of book 10, or Elysian (Endgame is a great name, but Marvel), as I call it.

Next, everything I'm using in Elysian.

I am also tagging everyone who has helped me come up with ideas, as well as edited, since we share one braincell, and have a lot of similar things.

Sorry for cut it's LONG

@moonlarked

Marellinh

Council gets overthrown

Sophie gets to kill Mr Forkle

Alvar dies in Fitz’s arms

Sophie starts an human outreach program

Jensi remains Talentless and helps other Talentless

Exillium gets to be relevant

Tiertice adopt Tam and Linh and Rayni

Fedex

Ruy appears and does something idk

Trix joins up with the gang

@the-great-gullon-incident

Biana, Stina, and Dex team up

Biana has a sword

Sophie teaches the rest of the keeper gang about lgbtq+ people

Crazy fights

Gethen and Ruy show up to do stuff

They/them Elysian

All the mysteries are finally revealed

@stopstealingtomatoes

Lady Gisela to die

Amy to have a bigger role

Lord Cassius to either formally apologize to Keefe or else shove a stick in it

T h e r a p y

Ships to finally sail

@amandayetagain

Elysian’s big naturals

frognate rings

explicit language

vertina pagetime

more void lore

Sophie strikes out on her own and forms her own group

we learn about Keefe’s human friends

Details on some of the parents top secret missions (mentioned in their unlocked files)

Embarrassing middle name for keefe

foot power

Sophie channels someone’s heart/skull, or uses telekinesis on someone’s neck (it’s them or her friends. And she’s already lost enough.)

Biana and Sophie commit arson again (Neverseen)

@you-have-been-frizzled

JENSI PAGE TIME

the triplets

Kesline

Elwin officially adopting Keefe

Biana kills somebody (can we just bring Vespra back so she can kill her)

Tam gets hurt and Linh goes batshit

Bronte with curly hair

Sophie eats sweet and sour chicken to everyone’s horror

MORE ARSON

Alina redemption arc (literally wouldn’t suggest this but Ciara is the one running it and they’re part of the Alina deserves redemption club)

Dex losing an arm (his name means right handed it’s ironic oaky!)

Tiergan punches Quan song when he tries to say something to the twins

Sandor and Giselle scenes

KESLER AND GRADY BROMANCE I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THEM

Juline and Edaline being sisters

Keefe and Grady bonding

Alvar isn’t dead and gets redemption

Caprice is relevant other than just being the crazy lady

@official-kenralie-fanbase

Sophie loses it during a battle to fulfill the whole "the moonlark could tear this whole place down" thing

Sandor finally has to dance in sparkly pants

Someone punches Alden

Or Cassius

Or both. At the same time.

More of Grady's mesmerizing please and thank you

Gradaline moments

Sophie's dad reveal (maybe do a poll on who people think that should be? I'm hoping for Fintan)

Oralie actually fights in a battle

Someone finds out about Oralie and there's a bunch of drama with all the people

@ever-blaze

more jensi, dex and rayni

jensi not manifesting an ability yet playing more roles in the story (eg. fighting the neverseen with a weapon or something)

keefe and fitz friendship moments/actually being best friends again

MORE OF THE TRIPLETS !!!

more backstories? tinkers maybe?

blur or wraith or tinkers identities

the return of the amazing amy foster

keefe’s human friends (hoping at least one is a celebrity) and human world adventures

------

Next, breaking this up. Anyone can join, I just need people to help organize this, and the plan is we sort it up by character/group, and eventually break it down into chapters, ordered by what would make sense in a basic plot structure. Then we will start figuring out technical things such as who is writing what.

Simply send me an ask or message if you're interested in helping me organize this!

And, if you have any and all suggestions, feel free to tell me!

REBLOGS >>>>>> LIKES

[oneknightstand-if]

On a scale of least to most slowburn, where do all of the ROs lie? Can you tag this question with #slowburn, please?

Everything is Proceeding As Normal

Merlin : They're an incubus. You can have sex with them in Chapter 3! Although it'll take quite a bit more than that to establish a stable long-term romantic relationship with them, a lot of difficulties (of the 'squishy human hooking up with a near immortal ancient shapeshifting demon' sort) will need to be dealt with when you're already in the relationship.

Gwen : Not the type to let a little thing like the apocalypse and a real life game of Among Us distract from the real important things in life... like romance!

Cassandra : You know normally she's the type to just go for it when she sees something (or someone) that she likes, but the entire apocalyptic Among Us game would incline her to be even more cautious than normal. Well, at least compared to Gwen.

But What About My Subplot?!

Broderick : He and Lorelei are just full of suspicion during this part of the story and aren't inclined to trust you, which kind of makes a romance rather hard. (And then they both get smacked in the face with their relevant subplots).

Lorelei : Same as Broderick, but even worse. Definitely 'issues' to deal with here and her regaining her Camelot memories won't be helping there.

Adrian : Adrian has... issues. If he didn't, he and crush!MC would've hooked up years ago. So that's going to need to be dealt with before you can properly enter a long-term relationship with him. So he'll be consigned to lewd handholding in the dark for most of OKS like in the first chapter.

Uh...

404 Error Not Found : Yeah... that's going to have to be dealt with. Power of love, right?

Percy Doing His Thing

Percy : Besides Merlin, Percy is pretty much the only other RO who's sexuality will have any potential effect on the narrative. He's a demisexual with a high trigger point, so... it'll take awhile. He's really touchy-feely (especially with people he likes/trusts) so you can get very cuddly with him from the start, but anyone looking for anything spicier will have a while to wait. (You know you're on the right track when Percy starts mistaking Merlin for you.)

Not Actually in the Modern Age Yet

These romances are consideriner 'minor' in One Knight Stand because these RO's are literally sealed away and not present in the modern age yet.

Vivian : Sealed away at the edge of the Veil, so you'll be seeing her in the 'flesh' sooner than Arthur. You can totally have sex with her in one of the Camelot flashback scenes, however. (But that's not your current incarnation, so isn't helping the current relationship very much.)

Arthur : Not appearing until you finally successfully complete the Greater Circle. Unlike Vivian, probably won't be having any available sex scenes until after you've regained your Camelot memories at the end of the book. So have a heaping helping of flirting and UST instead?

*Note: One of these is a lie, because they're actually trying to kill you. (Well, 404 is definitely trying to kill you, but they can move on from that? Probably?)

[kaybreezy3000]

The Anti Hero's Pitfall of Arrogance

Five Hargreeves / Female OC

What happens when you disarm an exceptionally arrogant person, one that is a self-absorbed, teleporting, teenaged superhero? The answer is not great things.

Get ready for Five like you've never seen him before... (Chapter One and Two Post)

- This AU starts off when the Hargreeves are 16 and but is based off the show. It's going to give you a look inside Five's mind at that time of his life and not all of it is good, but I promise it's not all bad. I always make sure to give our boy his day to shine.

Warnings and Tags: sexually explicit content, flashbacks, teen bad behavior, survival horror, bad decisions, regret, POV Five, aggression issues, suffering, humor and angst and fluff, redemption, sweet Five and mean Five in same story, Dolores is a factor, hurt Number Five, Five makes fun and dirty check lists in this one, Young Five is really something, Starts as him in his teens then the rest he is 21, Plot twists and many tags left off to avoid spoiling the story, shocker ending

-this first post will be 2 chapters, the story is 44,600 words, 7 chapters total, posts will be every 5-6 days till done.

⚠️-this has some sexually explicit parts but also a real story and not really about all that stuff as much as the rest. If you want to avoid that particular type of explicit material, click my AO3 link at the end of this post and read the version on there instead. It has warnings for start and stop points to read the story without the mature content.

Chapter One: Fateful Days

I was always anxious after our missions, but not because of what we had just done. It was because I knew that we’d be thrown in front of the cameras, expected to perform another kind of show for the public. As we sat in our line of chairs waiting for reporters to call on us, instead of making my nerves easily seen, I carefully controlled my facial expressions and tried to hide my bouncing knees by discreetly pressing them down under my sweaty palms.

My answers to their questions always came out smoothly, not even the slightest waver in my voice. Years of practice learning to hide any sign of fear paid off in those moments. I was a perfectionist in all things, but in gaining fans, I failed because I know that I came off as the most arrogant and aloof of any of my siblings, but it was better than looking weak.

Number Five Hargreeves was not the most likable of the superpowered members of the infamous Umbrella Academy, but I pretended not to care about that and so many other things.

Our life at the academy was extremely private and exceptionally challenging, but it was while placed in the spotlight that I struggled the most. Those were the times I found it hardest to hide how young and inexperienced I really was when it came to anything that really mattered in the real world.  

My indifference towards everyone was part of a façade, but also not. My behavior at home wasn’t much different than my public persona. I always knew the answers; I was always better than everyone at everything. This kind of thing, the missions, being the heroes, it was what we were made for; or that’s at least what dad always said. And I was damn sure going to be the best at it, and everyone was going to see that, including my family.

Not all of us had so much pride when it came to our powers or public appearance. Some of my siblings felt the exact opposite about all this, but me being me, I didn’t see anyone else’s suffering as relevant when it came to my flawed view of the big scheme of things.

I should have.

Constantly edging out my family because of my dickhead aspiration to best them was just as prevalent when we were all sixteen as it was when we were very young. Only then, I no longer would bat an eye over their private tears and their personal sorrows. Before that, sometimes I would make myself available to them. I would every so often try to comfort Klaus by reading to him to drown out the ghosts as he tried to fall asleep, or I would sit with Vanya just so she didn’t feel so alone. Ben and I often shared the same interests academically and he was the only one I considered anywhere near my equal in all things intellectual. But by the time we hit our teens, even he and I rarely spoke unless necessary.

At only thirteen years old, the cutthroat mantra we were brought up on was backfiring. Instead of being the team dad wanted, we were pulling away from each other.

As my own way of dealing with all the mental manipulations and general bullshit of our home life, the older I got, the colder and more closed off I became. I wasn’t the only one doing this. We all lacked when it came to handling anything emotional, but I was the biggest offender.

That was probably why, that fateful day, I wouldn’t let anyone else snag the fan letter that was tossed out over the loud line of spectators. I had to win.

It happened while we were doing our final photo shots for the press on the stairs of the courthouse. With my eyes gazing out at our admirers through my mask, I saw the girl that threw it, and next to me, I knew Luther and Diego did too. The girl was the type that caught everyone’s eye.

Even someone as self-absorbed as me could see that she was very attractive.

Based on what I could tell, she was the same age or near it. Based on her clothing, I quickly determined that she attended one of the city's prestigious private schools that was focused on the arts. It was one that was specifically for those that were musicians or dancers and destined to make their careers in that area. The dark blazer and matching pleated skirt weren’t that much different to ours, but the crest near her lapel showed that she wasn’t just an obsessed fan trying to dress like us, though the crowd was full of those too.

She was different. She was special; we all knew it. Her long strawberry blonde hair was slung over her shoulder in a tight braid, and when her big blue eyes met mine, she smiled in the most curious way.

My self-assured smirk faltered in an instant.

Being I was neither tall or strong, or funny or even charmingly ridiculous like Klaus, none of the fangirls or guys usually paid me any attention. Her looking at me in a flirtatious sort of way was entirely new territory for me and I didn’t know how to react to it.

The small white envelope with red lip prints pressed along its seal perfectly matched the girl’s lips that threw it. My plan to piss off my brothers in any way possible was still in place when it landed at my impeccably polished dress shoes. I stomped on it, then bent over and snatched it up before either could pry it out from under my foot.

If I remember correctly, Luther said nothing, but he did roll his eyes at me before he went back to waving at everyone like he was a princess on a float at Disney World-not that I had ever seen one of those, but I had seen pictures.

Diego elbowed me in the ribs as discreetly as possible, then angrily complained, “Stop trying to steal the show. You did enough of that in there with your cocky little stapler stunt and all your flashy-flashy teleporting crap. You are such an asshole, Five. That was meant for me!”

I would have nailed him back, but my death glare would have to do, because dad was watching our immature exchange, a scowl making his usual displeased face even more unpleasant.

It was not that I craved the attention of our female fans the same way that they did. No, that wasn’t it. For me, it was all about the satisfaction to beat them at anything and everything. What I did inside the bank to one of the would-be robbers was merely me doing my job. Fuck Diego and his stupid knifes. If he doesn’t like that I’m better at taking people out with nothing but office supplies than that’s his problem not mine.

I clenched the letter, determinedly keeping it from their greedy hands because I knew all too well that my brothers weren't much better than a pack of wild dogs fighting over a bone when it came to attention and if I let my guard down, the letter would be gone. Pivoting to my left to block Diego's next attempt at getting the letter, I also did my best to search for the girl who threw it, but to my disappointment, she was gone.

Looking back on it now, as I stare down at my feet trudging along with the worn heels of my boots scraping across the broken and burning hot pavement, I wish for nothing more than the chance to go back to that day, or even to the next day, so I could do just about everything differently. I wish that I would have not shut my family out in thinking I was doing something good for myself.

I wish I hadn't done what I did to that girl.

I wish I had the guts to walk away from all of that like she said I should do.

I walked away alright, just not the way she meant.

Now, all I want is to get back to fix this.

Now, my whole focus is surviving long enough to find a way home, which also reminds me that I wish I hadn’t stepped on that shard of glass that sliced through the side of my boot, causing a deep gash in my right foot.

The dried blood from three days ago is crusted to the torn leather, and the color of it reminds me of her lips and that deep crimson red on that letter.

I can almost feel them. They were the first and last real lips I ever...

Anyway ...  Now is not the time to dwell on all that. I will always wonder who she really was and why she did what she did. But, right now, it’s looking like I’ll never know the answers to those questions.

Right now, things aren’t looking too hot.

Actually, they are, that’s the problem.

It’s very fucking hot.

The unforgiving sun is burning my back through my clothes, but I can’t take them off because they are the only thing protecting my skin from the sun’s scorching rays. Wandering in the heat of mid-day this time of year is not the best idea, but when we woke this morning, we had to go. If we hadn’t, we would have been sitting ducks, waiting the entire day out in the open, frying on the pavement, and that wasn’t smart either.

My breaths are becoming shallower despite my physical struggle to keep pulling Dolores and our meager belongings behind me in my cart. The strap around my waist that’s attached to the wagon is digging into the protruding bones at my hips. I can feel my skin rubbing clean off me because it’s already chafed from days of endless walking. I keep tripping more and more over the last hour or so, and I’m finding that my eyes keep closing for minutes at a time.

I stopped sweating a long time ago.

I am out of water.

I am not stupid. I know this isn’t good, and neither is the fact that I can’t feel my right foot anymore, but I refuse to stop to rewrap it or to stop and eat the contents of one of my unlabeled, beaten and bent canned goods. I rationed what we have with us, and I can’t eat for another ten hours.

Being dehydrated is nothing new and even turning back now, it’s still two days’ time to the last place that may or may not still have drinkable water.

As for my foot…

I will be okay. It will heal.

I will find water. That’s the biggest problem at the moment. I just wasn’t planning on this oppressive heat or that there would be no rain in the last two weeks. As I lay with Dolores last night, staring up at the stars, we could hear thunder to the west, coming from the direction we’ve been heading, but again the rain never came to us. Everything is drying up. The earth is cracking, and the roads are buckling in the heat wave that’s making it feel like we are in a furnace even at night.

For the last two days there has been nothing but windswept open areas. We haven’t found shelter because there’s nothing other than collapsed structures that at one time had been someone’s home, but now are nothing more than scattered rubble.

It’s like something blew everything around here clear off their foundations. There have been no abandoned cars along the crumbling road.

Seeing the very decomposed or skeletal remains of the passengers as I trudge by them would be a welcome site at this point.

As far as I can see, there’s nothing but minimal indications of long ago burnt vegetation. That may mean this had been cleared farmland. This being a rural area could explain why there is nothing out here, but it could also mean that I am nearing something horrible.

I am leaning on something horrible because this looks like another planet. One that looks like it never had the ability to maintain life.

I clearly went the wrong way. I like to pretend I’m smart, but that’s just one of my many issues. I lie to myself all the time and I always have.

Smart people don’t propel themselves blindly, teleporting forward twelve years in time to escape a life that can never be escaped, only to go so far that they end up at the end of the world, too pathetically weak to function and with no fucking clue how to get themselves back.

Yup. Stupid.

Maybe I am getting better with this whole lying to myself thing if I am openly admitting that.

“What do you think, Dolores, am I getting better owning up to my vast supply of shortcomings?” My voice comes out hardly a whisper on my cracked lips. I don’t even turn to look at her. I don’t have the energy.

‘I think we are in trouble. We need to turn around before it’s too late.’

Dolores ignores my ill-timed attempt at humor. She sounds scared, and she is right about turning around.

She never lies.

This was not where I meant to end up in a world where I’m the last living creature among the other few scurrying insects, and not to wherever the hell I am at, which is maybe still somewhere in bumfuck Pennsylvania.

Arrogance as my perpetual guide, and despite her warning, I keep on walking, dragging her along.

Depending on how you look at our codependent situation, she has to follow me. I like to pretend it’s willingly, but even as convoluted as I can make things in my brain, even I know the truth about that , but like usual, I am good at ignoring the truth. No wonder Dolores didn’t find that funny.

No wonder she is scared.

Since day one, Dolores has been unwavering in her vow to stay by my side, and to be whatever I need her to be. But now, as her partner and her only friend, and because we share much more than a platonic love at this point, it’s not fair of me to cause her so much distress. As I slowly pull her along, I can feel her worried eyes looking at my back and I hate that in doing this to myself, I’m doing it to her too.

“I’ll go just a little further, up over this next high ridge.” My torn fingers slipping out from under my waist strap, I point to what I mean, which isn’t more than another quarter mile.

My arm flops at my side after only having lifted it for the briefest moment. I don’t even bother to push down on the handles again or to slip it back under the strap before lurching along again.

“If I don’t see anything promising at that point, then I’ll turn back,” I reassure as my eyes scan the horizon ahead and the heat ripples off the ground cause the image in front of me to blur.

I know I took a wrong turn somewhere days ago, but that’s just it, in the apocalypse, every turn is wrong. It’s only by luck that I ever find anything helpful, like food, or any other supplies that might keep me alive. Even looking in obvious places, like in ruins of what was once a grocery store, or a pharmacy, can turn up next to nothing. It all depends on how damaged the area is. As we are finding, since we left the city and moved away from the devastated coastline, destruction seems to be everywhere, but this area is the worst I have ever seen.

It figures that when I finally venture out beyond the usual 100-mile radius I’ve been scavenging for the last five years that I’d go in the one direction that led me to this.

Road signs are sometimes still there, sometimes not, and even with maps for navigating it is hard, and that’s because almost nothing looks the same.  'Welcome to this town' signs are a huge help, but they are also a cruel reminder of the amount of life lost in each empty civilization I come across. Many signs are simply gone like everything else.

One big empty world, and to make things worse, now I think I’m lost in the wasteland.

I am in the middle of nowhere of Nowheresville and I don’t know what else to do besides keep walking.

I’ll certainly die if I stop.

“I know you’re scared, sweetheart. I will be okay; I promise I won’t leave you.” This time, my attempt to make Dolores feel better about my deteriorating condition is only in my head, and this time my reply isn’t just to her.

My mind is only half here on this desolate stretch of nothing. At least I’m aware of it, so that must mean I’m not fully hallucinating, which is great news. I do that frequently, and it’s for various reasons, like accidental high level food poisoning, fevers, being offensively drunk, general craziness, you name it.

When I say that I’m not leaving them, I mean my siblings too.

I never stop seeing the faces of the people I love but regarded with so much indifference.

Their blank and bloodied expressions, some crushed almost beyond recognition, some charred almost black, they all stare up at me from the remains of our burning home as I scramble to dig them free.

I never stop trying to tell them that I’m sorry, but they never reply.

They can’t because they are all dead and so is everyone else.

I’ll admit, I am not just dehydrated. I have an infection from that damn gash. The antibiotic I’m taking must not be good anymore.

The worms spill out of Allison’s broken skull as I pull her along to bury her with the rest of my family, but even that doesn’t make sense. They weren’t rotting when I found them. The rot came later.

Somehow even though it’s been years since this smell filled the air, I am hit with surges of smokey burning flesh, the scent coating my tongue, making my stomach instantaneously roar with sickening nausea but also ravenous hunger.

Nearly falling this time, I trip causing my injured foot to twist in an unnatural way. As I try to swallow my body’s attempts at forcing a dry heave, it’s with no saliva to help it along and the desert in my throat nearly chokes me. I cough on the upthrust of bile, the pitiful sounds of my gags are as weak as I feel.

I painfully stumble over my own feet, but manage to stay upright, swaying as I force my eyes off the quivering ground. I try focusing them instead on an area of broken road a few feet in front of me. One foot in front of the other, I keep moving, eyes ahead this time so I don’t fall over another large crack in the road.

My mind screams at me. ‘They aren’t here. You buried them years ago! Focus or you are never going to make it. You have to make it back; that’s all that matters.’

Dizzy, and confused, I try to remember again why Dolores and I are here. My plan was to search outside the city for anything to make our life easier. Something like a more forgiving weather pattern for example. Surviving the first several years in a suffocating nuclear winter and then the actual winters after that with only a handmade shelter and a sea of broken concrete around me has been working, but there must be places that were left in better, more livable conditions.

I can’t get physically strong enough to get back if I am starving all the time. I can’t get back if I freeze in the next few months when winter hits us again. I can run my numbers and figures, calculating the ways I can get back to them from anywhere. Being a few blocks from my childhood home, so close to the red waters of the toxic ocean while living in the ruins of the city library isn’t getting me any closer to them.

Dolores and I have been walking for forty-six days, seven hours, and thirty-six minutes, and my plan had been going fairly well until a week ago. Getting us away from the densely populated coast proved an okay move until I found myself in a very rural area, lost, and in the middle of a major weather change that I had no way of predicting.

After hardly surviving our last brutal winter, I thought there was nothing worse than the bitter cold, but right now, with my body literally cooking and no way to get out of the heat, I am finding that it may have been a major miscalculation to come so far into the unknown.

The valuable liquid remaining in my body is abandoning me in sheets of sweat again and that is just another not good sign.

Neither is the unexpected view of what appears to be a gigantic hole in the Earth. It covers the landscape as far and wide as my eyes can see. As I slowly make my way towards it, the road ends. There’s no more blacktop. It’s just dirt.

I can just make out the edge of the crater. The bottom of the abyss is empty as the rest of my world.

Just one massive hell.

“Dol-or-es… I messed-up ag-ah-in. Um-so- I shoo-d ha..ve listen-”

Just before the ground slants at an impossible angle, an angle that looks like it’s coming way too close to my face, that’s the thought that I can’t articulate that takes me away into the darkness.

I should have listened to her, only I don’t mean Dolores.

Chapter Two: Rain

After that weird exchange with that girl on the street, an unfamiliar excitement filled me. I wanted to read the note, but I couldn’t because we were still supposed to be smiling for the cameras. Then after our final group picture for the press, we were loaded into our waiting cars.

Klaus flopped himself down on the back seat next to me, causing me to have to move in the middle, which I knew was coming.

Not a second later, Diego took the remaining space to my right, glaring at me resentfully. “I mean it, man. That hot chick wasn’t trying to throw that letter to you. Just give it over. Why do you even want it? It’s not like you like girls or anyone else for that matter.”

I stared straight forward, my lips smugly pulled to the side. “I think that girl most certainly intended for me to get her little love letter and just like always, you are jealous of me.”

“Fivey you like girls, don’t you?” The way Klaus asked it and looked at me, it’s like he really thought that’s what this was about.

It wasn't.

Diego snorted out an obnoxious laugh as he pushed his knees into the back of Luther’s seat in front of him, while also taking up even more of my room in the middle.

“Five, doesn’t feel anything for anyone and if he did happen to swing the direction of the ladies, he wouldn’t have a clue what to do with one, especially not a total fox like that. Did you see those legs in that outfit, dude?”

Luther piped in his two cents worth next. “I did.” He turned back with his big muscular arm on the console so he could face us. “And Five, yeah, really? Diego’s surprisingly right for a change. What’s the deal with that letter? You could care less about our fangirls or guys, not that I’m saying it matters if you like guys or girls or whatever,” he blabbered.

Klaus laughed, interrupting Luther’s attempt to belittle me or support me or whatever that was supposed to be. “Oh...buddy, I saw them too, and though I don’t usually get a boner over the more delicate of the stems dancing around in this garden of life, I’ll admit, that girl was something, and I’d make an exception to stick it in her any day.”

At this point, I noticed our hired driver looking back at me through the rearview mirror with a look of disgust in his eyes. I supposed that this was not what he was expecting from the world's infamous superheroes. Turns out, the joke was on him and everyone else because we were way more immature and even more emotionally stunted than your average teens.

“Dude, stop kidding yourself. You’d fuck anything with legs.”

“True,” Klaus agreed to which Luther mumbled something apologetically to the driver.

Fuck me, I wished I was in the other car even though that meant I’d be with dad. My jaw twitched as I tried to ignore all the idiocy. The car pulled out, and rather than acknowledge the two morons or answer Klaus’s question, I looked out, hoping to see the girl again.

My hand wrapped tighter around the letter in my pocket, my smile returning as I thought about how she looked at me, and how mad they all were about it.

After sitting for a debriefing with The Monocle, one that was filled with ridicule even though we completed the bank mission successfully, we all sat for our usual mostly silent dinner, and then finally after hours of waiting to be alone, we were released and allowed to go to our rooms for the night.

I didn’t hesitate. In a flash, I was in my bedroom located in the third-floor attic space. Rushing out of my portal, moving a few steps to my desk, I pulled the chain on my lamp, filling the small room with warm yellow light.

My shaky fingers carefully worked open the letter as I sat down in front of my piles of notes and books. The kiss imprint was placed over the seal, but I did my best not to ruin it.

For as little as I thought or cared about girls, right then, you’d hardly believe it. I felt so unlike myself. My heart was racing as I unfolded the piece of paper inside.

Reading the first line, my heart felt like it stopped altogether.

Holy shit. She did write it for me. I was just being a jerk about all that, but…

What in the…

What is that supposed to mean?

My mind raced with the implications of the words, ‘I promise I will make it worth your while.’

I flipped the envelope, looking down at the red kiss she left me.

Did she like me? Like, like, like me?

I felt stupid even thinking about that question, but I couldn’t help it. It was like I was pissing brain cells and turning into Diego.

Our fans were known to pick favorites and collect our little plastic figurines and buy our posters, but I never thought I was one of those coveted idols, or that I was anything like my brothers when it came to irrelevant things like girls and who they ‘liked.’

The idea of this girl having pictures of me in her dorm room made my face feel hot.

She couldn’t get me out of her head…

Meticulously showering every part of my body and fighting for room in our shared sink area to finish my nightly routine didn’t help calm me down. Lying in bed trying to forget the letter and the girl was getting me nothing but more antsy.

It’s not like I never thought about girls. Diego was wrong about that. I was a teenager with rampant hormones running through me that caused intense feelings that occasionally couldn't be denied. When that was the case, I quickly took care of matters and moved on, nothing more.

I knew it was normal bodily function for someone my age to be stimulated with the simplest of things and end up with a hard on, or to experience the wonders of morning wood or mid-night wood accompanied by arousing dreams that seemingly come out of nowhere. I wasn't embarrassed by my need to pleasure myself. Like everything else, I approached it practically and efficiently, taking things into my own hands (or literally into my own hand as it were), and then after letting go of some of my millions of thoughts and a little bodily fluid I didn’t need, I was free of all that again.

Not everyone in this household was as discreet about their masturbation sessions. I had walked in on Klaus too many times to count while he was in the showers going at it. He may be a lot of things, completely uninhibited being one of them, but at least he cared enough to know that I was attracted to women not men. The shower thing with him and I and my blasé reaction to him jerking himself in there very frequently while I was in there too was probably part of that, but clearly my other siblings weren’t sure which way I ‘swung’ as they put it.

I couldn’t really blame them for their jokes. I never joined Klaus when he snuck out to meet our groupies for whatever they did together, but I had heard him and Diego going on and on about their various supposed exploits that they each have made when it came to those types of things that were intimate in nature. As much as I hated to admit it, if I had tried to talk to them about it, I am not sure what I would have said. They were right, I didn’t know anything about girls other than the basics that we learned in anatomy and physiology. And I was not intimate about anything unless you counted getting smacked in the face or getting choked out as intimate.

I hated not knowing things.

Fuck Diego and his teasing, and screw Luther and his perfect ‘I’m better looking than you’ thing he was born with. The more I lay there, the more I felt like I had to go meet the girl. I was curious what it was all about, but to be fully honest, I wanted to go because I thought that I knew what this was about and simply meeting me wasn't all she wanted.

This was my first chance to be around a girl alone that wasn’t one of my sisters. Who knew what could happen. Maybe something good?

At eleven fifty-five. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had looked at my window about a million times thinking about those red lips and that picture perfect smile. Just the letter afforded me major bragging rights but meeting her and the rest of it that could happen, yeah.

I had to go or I'd drive myself crazy wondering what I'd missed. 

Springing from my bed, inelegantly tripping over my own feet while on my way to my wardrobe, I tore off my cotton sleep pants and t-shirt.

Flinging the doors open revealed what I knew all too well. I had nothing other than academy uniforms to call my own. With a cursed fuck it, I mechanically dressed as I always do, my practiced hands neatly pushing up the knot on my tie before pulling my vest down over the top of my stupid shorts. Knee socks and shined black shoes on, I was the picture of… Well… Myself, I guess.

Looking in the mirror, I threaded my fingers through my hair making sure it was lying flipped to the side like I preferred.

Glancing at my clock showed that I had exactly four minutes.

Blinking myself down to the street was nothing. If I really wanted to, I could blink blocks away or even further, but to do that, first I would need to know the coordinates of where I’m trying to land, or I would at least need to be able to see it or have been there before. I had never been to the corner of 25th and Park, but I knew approximately where it was, and if I wanted to get there in time, teleporting was the only way.

That was not super brilliant if I was shooting for blending in since I was dressed in my well-known Umbrella Academy uniform and I was going to have to use my power, but I had no other option. That blunder alone proved how little I was ready for the real world and how different I was to normal people.

By that late hour, the streets were thankfully mostly free of pedestrians near the Academy, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case closer to downtown.

Making sure to land out of sight, I blinked a block at a time, heading towards my destination. Each spatial jump left me feeling energized, with not even a hint of fatigue. Dad would be proud of me for that if not for the fact that I'd just snuck out of his house.

It took me nine blinks to get there, but even then, I wasn’t unsteady when my feet hit the pavement of the alley a block down from where the girl was supposed to be waiting for me.

It’s then that I noticed a storm was coming. The faint flashes of light followed by the sound of rumbling thunder were letting me know that our little rendezvous couldn't be outside unless it was very short.

Again, the reality of her waiting for me hit home. All of a sudden, I was not so sure of myself. I had no idea who she was or what this was really about. Even if this resulted in me finally having some experience with the opposite sex, this wasn't a good enough reason to do this. It’s not like I’d brag to my dumbass brothers about it if something did happen with the girl. I also could just lie and pretend I met up with her. I was no storyteller but I was sure I could come up with something that would make my brothers just a little less full of themselves when it came to me and my lack of knowledge as it pertained to girls.

What I was doing was so stupid and I knew it, but I couldn't help myself.

Glancing down the street, I didn't see her, but I did see other people. This area wasn't nearly as upscale as the block and surrounding properties of the upper east side where I lived. Here, there were cheap bars and clubs on each block, and the homeless were front and center nearly everywhere you looked.

Why would she ask me to meet her here?

As a man with a grizzly beard and a cart pushed past me from down the alley, he asked me for some change. I told him I didn't have any money, which was sadly true.

As he cussed me out and moved on, I found that I was really starting to regret my hasty decision to come, but that's when I saw her. I didn’t know how I missed her at first. It might have been because she was sitting on the sidewalk with her back against the darkened window of the corner store.

With a black baseball cap pulled down low as she played the guitar sitting in her lap, I just thought she was one of the many street people sitting out panhandling.

Ignoring the next guy asking me for change and the strange looks of a couple that staggered past me, I stepped out of the shadowed side street to get a better look at the red haired girl. 

Sure enough, it was her. I could see that long braid, same as before, slung over her shoulder. She was dressed totally differently, not that I expected her to be wearing that short schoolgirl skirt, but I also didn’t imagine faded cargo pants, combat boots, and the baggy sweatshirt.

I could just make out the sound of strings being strum and the faintest sound of a female voice as I watched her.

Curiously, I felt drawn to her despite my new reservations. That was until a man stopped and dropped a few bills into the guitar case at her feet. She looked up, her smile of thanks as bright and warm as the one she'd given me earlier that day.

I stopped advancing, and my jaw dropped.

Tucked in tightly at her side was a duffle bag. The same kind that all the people out there seemed to have on them.

It dawned on me that she was homeless.

Why else would she be out here that time of night playing for money? I had so many questions, only one being, why wouldn’t her parents care where she was?

I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I back pedaled. Due to my inattention, my back ran right into a guy that looked like he could stomp me into the ground if he wasn’t so drunk, or if I couldn’t just as easily drop him in less than a second flat thanks to Reginald and his constant training. 

I was in a daze as he shoved me aside and yelled, "Get the fuck out of the way kid!”

As I staggered, I heard her soft voice.

“Five?”

My neck snapped back her way.

Oh shit.

Righting myself, I stopped mid step in my retreat, but even as she stared at me, like a coward, I blinked away.

This time when I landed, it was with much less grace. I fell out of my portal, back on my ass, catching myself before my head slammed into the air conditioning unit behind me. Panting from shock and the jump to the rooftop across the street, I edged myself to the ledge of the building to look down at her.

She was standing there with her guitar in hand, motionless as she looked at the spot I had been standing in.

She raised a hand, rubbing her cheek as she frowned.

I felt like a first-class piece of shit.

I didn’t even talk to her but I thought I was more than willing to do other things with her that did not involve talking. Who does that? What was wrong with me?

I felt disgusted but I quickly swallowed it down. 

Even sitting there knowing what I just did looked bad for so many reasons, I remained frozen as I watched her slowly turn around and begin to pack up her things. She crouched, taking the bills and change out of the case, stuffing her loot in the front pocket of her hoodie. Then, snapping closed the hard leather case, she didn’t so much as look back in the direction I had been before she took off down the street.

The first of the raindrops were beginning to hit the ground, pelting my hair and my shoulders. Instinctually, I pulled my academy jacket tighter around my middle even though it wasn't that cold.

The area we were in was nowhere near that private school whose uniform she was wearing, and she wasn't heading in the direction of where there was any housing that I was aware of.

I followed her.

I needed to know if I was right. A part of me, one that I didn’t want to admit was there but very much drove me in everything, needed to prove that she was not someone I should be associating with. I knew that sounded bad, but it was the truth I had been raised to believe. People like me didn’t talk with people like her.

Making sure to stay back so she couldn't see me, I went after her. She led me a few blocks away to an even more dilapidated and industrial looking area of the city that was not far from the docks. That was where I saw her enter what looked like an abandoned building. I knew it was not in use because it was boarded up. The only reason the girl got inside was because she knew that one of the boards was only being held on by one nail so she could swing it aside and disappear in the darkness.

I was right.

Why I didn’t stop there, I still don’t know.

Waiting just a few minutes to make sure she didn’t come back out, I entered the building the same way she did. It was nearly pitch black inside at first. My eyes had not adjusted to the dark because the boards were blocking most of the streetlights from shining inside the entire ground floor. When I could see, all around me was garbage and what looked like old moldy couch cushions and things that people must have used at one time or another while they squatted in there. But other than the obvious drug paraphernalia that showed at one time others had been using the place, the floor was quiet, and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

I knew she came in, and I didn’t see her come out, so I kept on looking. It wasn’t until I reached the top floor, by way of taking the stairs and blinking myself along when things didn’t look safe, that I heard her and the sound of water trickling as it made its way in through hidden parts of the building. Even with that and the sound of the hard rain falling on the roof, I could tell that she was singing again.

She had a very nice voice.

This floor of the building was like the others, only it wasn’t as dirty and it looked like no one ever ventured this far inside. From what I'd seen, the building should be and probably was condemned, and nobody should be there, but yet she was.

Unable to drop it even though I knew I was right; curiosity drove me closer to the sound of her voice softly echoing through the large mostly open floor.

The closer I got to her, the more I could hear the rain. It sounded like it was pouring down, splashing against something.

As I crept closer, my shoes ever so quiet on the gritty floor, I saw what appeared to be a small office enclosure off to the side of what was probably at one time a busy workspace full of factory workers.

Peering inside the glass windows, I could see her bag and her guitar case, but she was not there. I moved around the barrier into what appeared to be her makeshift home. I noticed mats laid out on the floor, made up like a bed and the blankets wrapped in plastic to keep them semi-clean. There were personal items, dozens of candles, and small stacks of books, the titles I couldn’t make out in the darkness.

It was bizarre, all of it was but her voice felt like it drew me to her. The beauty of the vaguely familiar French lyrics, ones of love, happiness and the beauty of life, rather than sadness and being utterly alone in a dirty warehouse in the murky darkness, were creating a strange sort of paradox of contradictions. 

♫ Quand il me prend dans ses bras (Hold me close and hold me fast)

Qu'il me parle tout bas (The magic spell you cast)

Je vois la vie en rose (To see life in pink...) ♫

I knew that I could escape again in less than a second, and I knew that she was just around the other wall of windows. I could see her now, but it was clear that she couldn’t see me.

Her body was outlined by the ever-present city lights coming in from outside.

It looked like she was…

I couldn’t tell.

Brave or stupid, I came closer, moving around the farther side of the office enclosure.

Like a statue frozen in place, my eyes felt glued to the scene before me.

The rain was cascading down from a hole in the ceiling, one that wasn’t much bigger than a few feet but had clearly been there long enough to cause the roof to bend down near it due to rot.

The girl named Phoebe, was under the sparkling spray and she was completely naked.

Her arms were up over her head, drawing her hair back from her face as she angled it up, reveling in the chilly stream as bubbles slipped over the mounds of her breasts, down her flat stomach, and between her legs where they chose a path down either of her milky white legs.

I could smell the faint scent of the soap she held in her hand, the feminine rosy scent of it a stark contrast to the musty building around us.

Her calf muscles balled up as she rose on her toes as if she might just fly away. She looked like some kind of otherworldly angel that was above all the decay around her.

Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t open them as her hands slid down her body, rubbing the sudsy bar slowly over her chest with one hand while the other slid down between her legs.

I was in a trance as I watched this, fully aware that the sight was causing things to stir in me in places they shouldn’t, but I was unable to stop myself from looking. I didn’t even realize I had made an embarrassingly throaty sound until her eyes flew open, their piercing aim falling directly on me.

After the initial shock of seeing that she was being ogled by a perverted voyeur, those lupine eyes narrowed and that seductive looking smile of hers thankfully appeared.

“Five! You came back!”

She actually looked happy about that fact, and not at all bothered that I was still staring at her.

When I said nothing, the girl reached up to her towel that was hanging on nail sticking out of a pillar, not even fully wrapping it around her as she rushed my way.

“I thought you changed your mind. I am so happy you didn't," she chirped.

Now that she was standing right in front of me, dripping wet, with those eyes peering up at me and her towel dangling in front of her, I could see something else going on in her expression, but I didn't understand it. I just couldn’t put a finger on it. But she did put a finger on me. 

I watched it happen as if in slow motion. She reached out and touched my arm, gently pulling me with her back towards the crude area where she slept.

"Come on," she whispered, and her touch and the sound of her voice sent waves of heat over my already burning skin. 

Even if I had wanted to blink away from her at that point, my body wouldn’t let me. 

Link to chapters Three and Four

Poor Five, so broken...

Thanks for joining me for another one of my Five-centric stories. The next post is coming soon but if you can't wait, click below.

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[acacia-may]

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I got tagged by @library-child in 20 questions for fic writers (thanks for the tag, friend), and I had way too much to say about this topic so I've made it its own post (I'll post answers to the other questions as soon as I can).

Fun fact about me, I majored in Languages at university and have written a few stories with dialogue in multiple languages, so I might be a little biased here, but I think it can be good depending on how it's used and in what context. Writing a multilingual character can be a great way of creating a dynamic, well-rounded character and really pay homage to who they are and their cultural identity.

At the same time, I think that it can be difficult to write a multilingual character in a way that is realistic but also doesn't confuse a reader that doesn't speak all of the languages that appear in the story. It can be difficult to balance how much of another language you can put into your dialogue without losing your reader or without the story suddenly feeling like a language lesson. (Unless of course, that's a major plot point of the story like in my very silly and tongue-and-cheek fic "Everything I Need To Know About Love I Learned From Latin" which actually centered around a Latin grammar lesson).

I think my big feelings on this topic really hinge on how much language swapping there is and the context.

More thoughts under the cut.

In my Horrible Histories: The Movie fanfictions which I mentioned, for instance, Atti speaks both in English and Latin, but it is relevant to the story because the main plot points of these stories often surround breakdowns in communication due to Atti being multilingual and Orla not being able to speak Latin well (or depending on the point in the timeline, much at all). One of the fics is actually called "Lost In Translation" for this reason, and I'd like to talk about it a little bit as an example here.

For those who are unfamiliar with the very funny but very niche Horrible Histories film, it is the story of the unlikely friendship between a brainy but a bit awkward Roman soldier named Atti and a badass Celtic princess named Orla during the Boudican Revolt during the Roman invasion of Britain. There is a really interesting moment in the movie in which Atti sings a song about Orla (and his feelings for her) in the front of the Roman army and they all start crying before cutting him off for being "too soppy." The refrain he sings in English is "I miss you," but in Latin (which is of course, the language he would have actually been singing in given the historical context), this phrase is "Te Desidero" which can also be translated as "I desire you" or "I love you" so the Roman Army is basically hearing him express his undying love for her when Atti is really just intending to sing about them being friends (He loves her too, of course, but that's a different story). In "Lost In Translation," Atti discovers that his army buddies completely misinterpreted his song when, in the future, his daughter learns the song and translates the refrain to "I love you" rather than "I miss you." Here is a short excerpt:

“But Marcus said some of the words are “Te Desidero’”—Camilla’s brow furrowed—"that means ‘I love you’, right?” “Well yes…technically…it can mean…” He stopped. “But a better translation is probably…”  Atti’s voice trailed in an awkward chuckle. Deciding it was best not to explain to his young daughter the nuanced differences between love and desire, he cleared his throat and changed tactics. “Well…it can actually…really mean a lot of things…like…um…‘I miss you’, for instance. And, you know, I think that’s what he meant—just from the context…of the story…They’re friends, of course, but he barely knows the girl—he isn’t ready to profess his love or anything yet….”  “But Marcus said that he really, really, really loved the princess and everybody in the army knew and that’s why they all cried…” “Or…” Atti gestured with his hands. “Here’s a thought that I am sure the soldier never considered at the time but would probably make all of that crying make a lot more sense to him now—um…maybe his entire legion completely misunderstood what he was saying…and he  meant ‘I miss you’ the whole time but everybody else thought that he was singing about…romantic love…”

Clarifying all of this made for (what I hope) is a fun story, and since Atti being multilingual is one of the big plot points of the story, there is a lot of dialogue in Latin in that work.

On the other hand, in other projects I've worked on in which introducing additional languages just serves to flesh out a character or provide background or context to them or their family, I will be much more sparing in my use of code-switching (or switching languages in dialogue). It's also my personal preference to avoid having characters hold entire conversations in languages that are not the main language of the fic (i.e. I wouldn't interrupt a fic that is written in German to have the characters suddenly start conversing in English).

In general (except in the rare occasions in which the story is centered around the use of multiple languages), I personally prefer to save language swapping in stories for the things that are important, meaningful, or special since switching to another language will draw emphasis to that piece of dialogue. I also like including language swaps in small but deeply personal things like terms of endearment (i.e. a character who speaks both Latin and English might use the Latin "Principissa" instead of the English "Princess" as a term of endearment) or family titles (i.e. a character who speaks both Spanish and English might use the Spanish "Abuelito" or "Papá [Character's Name]" rather than the English "Grandpa"). I think that really adds to the story and the characters that are being written about.

A few other thoughts...

I think it is very difficult to write dialogue in a language you are not personally fluent or proficient in. I tend to do all my own translations freehand, and most of the multilingual characters I've written about speak English and Latin (which are my strongest languages). I have written dialogue for other languages (I've actually written an entire fanfiction in German, but I've never posted it anywhere and probably never will 😅), but I have not felt nearly as confident about that as I do not feel as proficient in them personally. I think something important I always try to keep in mind is that different vocabulary words can have different connotations so even if on paper what you're writing supposedly means one thing, it might have different, unintended implications to someone who is fluent in that language and grew up speaking it and/or uses it in everyday life versus learning it in a classroom. For this reason, if I am not entirely confident with my own translations, I will double check with someone who is fluent in that language, if possible. For instance, one of my current projects includes a bilingual character who speaks English and Spanish, and my cousin who is fluent in Spanish has been incredibly helpful: double checking what I write and confirming that I am in fact saying what I want to say, with the implications I want it to have.

Additionally, I think it's important to keep in mind that if you are going to include multiple languages in a story there will be a lot of readers who won't be able to translate what you write on their own and will feed it into an online translator like Google Translate so I always double check how Google Translate would translate my dialogue and make sure it's at least close enough to what it's supposed to be (since Google Translate is rather notoriously inaccurate). I also sometimes will put a glossary in the notes for really important things or will try to have the characters explain enough about what they're saying in the context of the story so the reader isn't left confused or out of the loop.

Overall writing fanfiction is just for fun, and if you feel comfortable including multiple languages in a work, go for it! It can definitely add something to both your story and your characters, but I would just caution prudence and moderation and suggest trying to be mindful of your target audience and making sure that they will be able to get the most out of what you are writing.

Thanks for reading my ramblings! Cheers!! 💖