#there was a different version of this drabble but the draft got deleted so this is the new version lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thiscrimsonsoul · 1 year

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How much time do you spend thinking about a reply before you sit down to type?

Are you proficient in any language outside of your native tongue? do you write characters that speak multiple languages?

Do you proofread / edit as you write or do you just wing it and save editing for last?

When roleplaying, do you pace yourself when answering replies or do you like to write for them as soon as you can?

Do you reply to threads you have the most inspiration for first or do you work on them in the order in which you received them?

What is your average length / word count regarding roleplay replies? does the length of your partner’s replies matter or is important to you?

What is your limit for how many active threads you can handle at one time?

Are you more comfortable writing in private or public spaces? Why or why not?

Do you have a routine that helps you prepare to work on your writing?

Between mobile or desktop version, which do you prefer regarding writing drabbles or roleplay replies?

When it comes to replies do you trim your posts? Does it bother you when others don’t trim their own replies? Is trimming not a problem at all?

Have you ever had a roleplay partner who helped you to improve something about your own writing quality?

If a reply isn’t coming easily do you draft it for later, delete and start over, chat with your writing partner for help, or something else?

Are there any writing elements that you sometimes find difficult? Monologues, character engagement, setting, progression, dialogue, other?

What subjects / genres do you find yourself becoming the most passionate about when you’re writing?

Does fatigue affect your ability to write or do you always have energy for the grind?

Are there any genres that you will not write or avoid writing?

Are there any writing habits others may have that you find frustrating or exhausting?

Are you comfortable asking your writing partner to correct something in their reply if they got a detail incorrect?

When working on replies or drabbles, do you prefer a desktop keyboard, a laptop, typing on mobile, or other accessibility methods?

{out of paprikash} OMG you sent almost the entire meme! O_O Alrighty then, here we go! XD Below the cut for length...

How much time do you spend thinking about a reply before you sit down to type?

It realy depends on what muse I'm writing, what the thread is about, and what's going on at the time in the thread. If it's something very simple like fluff and it's a muse that comes to be very easily, then I won't need much time to think at all, especially if the replies I'm writing are on the shorter side. But if I'm writing a very complex muse (e.g. Vision, Vincent, sometimes Tony), it's a long and detailed thread, and I'm writing about political intrigue or intricate technology or anything super complex, then yeah I'll sit on it for a while to kindof mull over what I want to write. It's the difference between replying as soon as I get it (whenever that blog is scheduled again), and maybe letting it sit for a week or two while I ponder things.

Are you proficient in any language outside of your native tongue? do you write characters that speak multiple languages?

I have a basic proficiency in German and Japanese. I studied German in high school and college and Japanese in just college. But unfortunately I don't write any muses who speak those languages, haha. As far as languages I have written in... I created my own fictional language for an original race I made when writing one of my novels, but I never used it on this site, just in original writing and for D&D purposes. I sometimes will try to incorporate some Arabic for Ardeth or Spanish for Carlos, but I don't overdo it because I know nothing about those languages and I don't trust G.oogle T.ranslate, so I don't want to make mistakes and risk offending anyone. Funnily enough, the muse I've written in a different language for the most is Leeloo using her fictional Divinian language, haha. I have a Divinian lexicon that I downloaded which is the same that they actually used for the movie as developed by the director, and I've read the director's notes on how the grammar functions in the language. It's... interesting to navigate, but once you kindof figure out how the grammar and everything works, you can kindof function in it well enough to make it seem at least halfway legit. And since it's fictional, I won't offend anyone if I make a mistake haha.

Do you proofread / edit as you write or do you just wing it and save editing for last?

Yes? Haha. I edit as I go, rereading sentences and paragraphs when I finish them, and then once I finish the entire reply, I'll read through it again. That's just how I roll because that's how I used to edit when I wrote my books, so I just got into that kind of frequent editing habit. It's a wonder, then, with all this editing, that I have so many freaking typos in my replies. XD

When roleplaying, do you pace yourself when answering replies or do you like to write for them as soon as you can?

It really depends on the muse and how much free time I have. Generally speaking I try to get to things that are time sensitive first, like asks I was just sent, things to do with holidays or certain events, or things that maybe just won't be relevant or doable if I wait a long time to reply to them. After that, I try to bounce around and do a little bit for as many people as I can so that everyone gets a turn. This... doesn't always work on some blogs (like Wanda's, unfortunately) where I have so may writing partners that I can't get to everybody every week. Other than that, I'll just reply to whatever the muse wants to do at the time. Very rarely I will reply a bunch of times to the same thread in a night, and that's only when the muse is so strong for that thread that I need to gush-write and indulge myself, heh.

Do you reply to threads you have the most inspiration for first or do you work on them in the order in which you received them?

Oh... I actually kindof also answered this one in the question just before this. XD

What is your average length / word count regarding roleplay replies? does the length of your partner’s replies matter or is important to you?

It varies with partner and thread, honestly. I prefer writing very long and detailed threads, but not everyone does. And lately time has not always allowed for me to write the lengths I would prefer. Sometimes if I see that I'm writing a lot and my partner consistently writes very little in return, I'll scale back so that I don't overwhelm them. But generally speaking... my length will tend to mirror that of my partners' replies, only because I try to address everything that they say in their reply unless it's not needed or it's reached a natural conclusion. So my muse will react to all gestures, words, and actions of yours... if they ask questions, my muse will always answer or at least react... or if anything happens I will try to have my muse react but then also add to it to advance the story. So the more you write, the more my muse has to react to, and the more I'll write back. =)

What is your limit for how many active threads you can handle at one time?

Definitely not as many as I have right now, haha. I'm one of these people that tends to just accumulate threads and keep making new ones, and the old ones just kindof get phased out. I work best with partners that can deal with replies after weeks or months on some threads, or ones who, if they wanted to continue something old, have no problem just skipping time and making a new thread. I just end to kindof work in the present because I don't have a lot of free time and I'm on meds that makes my memory a little wonky, so sometimes I genuinely forget about older threads. I realize this isn't the best way to run rp blogs, and it has kindof gotten out of hand, but I've found several very understanding rp partners who are perfectly okay with just rolling with my chaotic disarray, haha, and somehow we still manage to have fun, which is the overall point of this hobby anyway, right? XD

Are you more comfortable writing in private or public spaces? Why or why not?

Private spaces. Because when I write, I like... leave this world, hahaha. Seriously, like... I get so inside the world, the story, my character's head, etc. that I will say their dialog out loud to make sure it sounds like something they'd say, or I'll smile or chuckle as I'm writing if something funny is going on, or I'll cry if I get really into the emotion of what I'm writing. So....... to do that in public spaces would be really embarrassing. Also I would not be very aware of my surroundings, like to watch my purse or my own safety or whatever else is going on, because I get that absorbed when I write. So yeah, private writing is better for me.

Do you have a routine that helps you prepare to work on your writing?

Not one that I stick to, no. Usually I just decide okay, time to write, and I sit down, open the site, and start working. Sometimes if I need muse, or if I have a ton of muse and want to really soak in it, I'll put on one of my muse's movies or a movie with their FC in it, or I'll listen to music from their movies/shows. The music has to stop once I start writing though, because I tend to focus on music if it's on and I won't be able to concentrate on writing otherwise. But the movies I can leave on in the background while I write. Writing with background noise is better for me than silence.

Between mobile or desktop version, which do you prefer regarding writing drabbles or roleplay replies?

I prefer desktop, because I have a lot of problems with my eyesight, and staring at tiny little letters on a phone for hours tends to give me headaches. Also, mobile is so buggy and weird, not that the desktop version isn't, but I find it easier, quicker, and less obnoxious to deal with the setup and issues of the desktop version than the mobile version, personally.

When it comes to replies do you trim your posts? Does it bother you when others don’t trim their own replies? Is trimming not a problem at all?

I do... because I have several rp partners for whom not trimming posts is a major pet peeve and they really hate it, so for their sake, I do. Also I mean... with some of the replies I write, they really do become unwieldy at long lengths, so yeah I try to remember to trim if possible. Personally, I don't really care, long posts don't bother me at all, but as a courtesy to others who really dislike long posts or long chains of replies, I trim. =)

Have you ever had a roleplay partner who helped you to improve something about your own writing quality?

To be honest, I've been writing for about 25 years, so I've got my own style pretty well set. However, I will say that I have amazing writing partners that are always pushing me to keep up my level of vocabulary, description, sentence variation, balances between expos and dialog, things like that. Their writing is very good, therefore it pushes me to stay on their same level so that we both have a high quality writing experience, and for that I'm thankful because I don't write original writing anymore. I had some losses in my life all within the span of about eight months back in 2016-2017, and it really negatively affected me mentally and creatively. before that I would write 600-1000+ page epic fantasy novels and couldn't imagine a day going by without writing for one of my WIPs. But after that rough patch in my life, I just... weirdly lost the ability to do that. Even not only just writing novels, but short stories, fanfiction, everything just kindof stopped. I'm very sad about it, but it is what it is. RP is the only writing I do now, and... I've always identified as a writer. It's been a huge part of my life and I can't imagine not doing it at all. So for the past 6 years when I haven't been able to write original works anymore, I've been very thankful for and grateful to many of my rp writing partners for really pushing me to remain a writer and to keep up that level of creativity and productivity. So... thank you. I love you all. <3

If a reply isn’t coming easily do you draft it for later, delete and start over, chat with your writing partner for help, or something else?

If it's not coming to me easily, I might write a part of it or draft some notes about what I might want to do with it, and try again another day. If I'm really suck or I have a question, I will chat with my writing partner. But usually I can figure it out on my own, I just might need some sleep or to ponder things over music for a while.

Are there any writing elements that you sometimes find difficult? Monologues, character engagement, setting, progression, dialogue, other?

Yes, action scenes and fighting/battle scenes. I just..... I'm more of a visual person than a words person. I know. You're like buuuut you're a writer, haha. What I mean is... I tend to think visually and be inspired visually, so when I write, I'm picturing what's going on in my head. How the muses are standing, sitting, moving, gesturing, acting, etc. And sometimes I struggle with action or fight scenes because it comes out choppy or like I'm listing things instead of the writing just flowing. And then he did this, and then he moved here, and then he struck here, heh. It just... I haven't mastered the art of making combat and action sound anything other than a list of movements, and that sucks. Also.... s.mut. I just. Omg I'm so terrible at it. It comes out sounding like a bad adult film, like... hahaha, seriously, I'm just not good at making it sound classy, romantic, and creative instead of silly, crass, or again, just a play-by-play of movements instead of telling a story.

What subjects / genres do you find yourself becoming the most passionate about when you’re writing?

I really get into psychological things. My muse growing as a person, dealing with trauma, overcoming their own mental drawbacks, triggers, and traumas, etc. I find psychology fascinating, and so I tend to gravitate towards muses that have a lot of mental health issues, obstacles, or special circumstances, because I love to take them through constructive, healing, coping, therapeutic, or personal growth journeys. It's one of the most interesting things for me to write. I also really enjoy sandbox writing, which I don't get to do a lot of on this site because of how rp typically works. It's usually one on one with muses, or maybe a guest muse here and there, maybe two and two, but I really love writing a sandbox. What I mean is... you put your muse into my world with all my characters and I write everything and make a world for your character to get immersed in. Whether it's my own fictional world or a canon world from a movie or show, I love write multiple muses in that world to give you and your muse a "sandbox" feeling, kindof like when you play an RPG and your character can go anywhere and do anything and wherever they go there will be things for them to do and people for them to talk to. So it feels very open and expansive for the other person. I've done sandbox rps with my own fictional worlds with some of the muses on my multimuse blog, with the world of FFXII on Basch/Ashelia's blog, and with the world of Silent Hill, putting a muse of mine in there and you put yours in there and I write the town of SH around them. I ran a SH sandbox rp with Luther once and it was pretty cool. I'm a SH superfan and I get very into the creatures and the mythos of everything, so that's really fun for me. But a lot of this hasn't been recent, and unfortunately it didn't get very far.

Does fatigue affect your ability to write or do you always have energy for the grind?

Fatigue, my mood, anxiety, eyesight issues, etc. all affect my ability to write. And work and family drama drains me a lot too and can totally sap me of creativity. Years ago I used to have energy to write all the time, but not as much anymore.

Are there any genres that you will not write or avoid writing?

Not really? Other than anything that glorifies things I don't care for or that gets really inappropriate or uncomfortable in some way. I've shut down some anons on my other blogs who have asked questions about my muses that were really just not appropriate at all, and I refused to answer those questions. Other than that, as far as whole genres and things, I'm pretty much up for anything.

Are there any writing habits others may have that you find frustrating or exhausting?

I tend to gravitate away from people who overly punctuate and format their writing. You know, where every word is spaced out, bold, italics, bigger, smaller, colored, etc. and I just... can't make sense of it. It really distracts away from the writing and the story, and I prefer to avoid that. Having said that, if my partner really wants to do that and I like their writing and the stories we're creating, I'll deal with it.

Are you comfortable asking your writing partner to correct something in their reply if they got a detail incorrect?

Honestly, I usually just roll with it, heh. I'll change what I was going to do or retcon what I said to match so I don't embarrass them or because it's really not a big deal at all. If it is something that would really matter or that changes the story or affects my muse greatly, then yes, I will ask them to just confirm which way they wanted it or what it was supposed to be so that I know going forward.

When working on replies or drabbles, do you prefer a desktop keyboard, a laptop, typing on mobile, or other accessibility methods?

I don't have a desktop computer right now, I only have a laptop, and then my phone. Between those two, I vastly prefer my laptop keyboard. I'm old school, haha, so I grew up typing on a full-size keyboard. The laptops I get are fairly large because I need a lot of power and a bigger screen for work analyses and gaming, so the keyboard is full size. That's just what I'm used to and I'm a really fast typer, so that works for me. I get fat finger syndrome on my phone honestly, haha, and I spent more time fixing typos than actually writing if I try to use my phone for replies.

#{ out of paprikash } ᵒᵒᶜ #about the mun #silence writes

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smolla-than-a-bug · 3 years

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you’re definitely flirting with me

—jason todd x villain!reader

second and final part to are you flirting with me. can be read as a stand-alone tho

navi | bat boys m.list | are you flirting with me

content — language, blood, mentions of harassment, mildly suggestive (use of the word ‘daddy’ but ironically)

notes — i know that its literally been years and that i formerly posted a part two to are you flirting with me, but looking back, i didn't like how it turned out. i did find a fun drabble in my drafts with villain!reader as well, so i decided to rewrite it and use it as a continuation. i actually deleted the old parts personally, i prefer this version of the end!

"I'm in."

"Hot. You should be able to see–"

"Nothing?"

Silence.

"Is this your way of telling me you're visually impaired?"

"I will scoop your eyes out in your sleep."

"Please use an ice cream scooper. My eyeballs would fit so well, it would be so satisfying–"

"Harper."

"Okay, okay. What do you mean nothing?"

"By nothing I mean nothing, ball sack. The warehouse is fucking empty."

Frantic rustling of papers and violent knocking of objects could be heard on Roy's end of the line. Jason sighed, going to pinch the bridge of his nose before realizing he had a helmet on.

The whole situation was throwing him off his rhythm — that much was evident. The intel they had collected on the gang of criminals seemed too obvious, too predictable. Jason had his suspicions, but Roy was quick to shut him down. 'Dude, trust me,' he said. Famous last words.

A crackle of static sounded in his earpiece. Roy's voice urgent and choppy before completely dying out. Jason could only attempt to call out to his partner in the hopes of a full response, but his efforts brought no avail. That's another thing that went wrong today.

"Hey, sexy."

What in the fuck.

"Your ass looks great from this angle. The party you're looking for is in a bar on the other side of the city, by the way."

You couldn't actually see him, but he doesn't need to know that. It's just your thing to mess with him, and by the sounds of him cussing you out for hacking into his means of communication, it was working. It was amusing. He kept you entertained.

That was all you had to say to him for now though, so you bid him goodbye. The roaring of his motorcycle over his colorful language directed at you was the last thing you heard before you cut off and allowed his partner to get back on the line.

"Jaybird? You there?"

"Ah, you're back. I'm never trusting you with getting intel again."

"Whatever. Anyway, was that...?"

"Yeah. Y/v/n."

"Hm. I don't know what she's on, but you have no ass like–"

"And yet I have more ass than you, so shut the fuck up, paddle board."

“That... That was a bit harsh, bro.”

Soft gushes of wind blew against your masked face. You shut your eyes, feeling the breeze and relishing in your little moment of peace. Lazily pacing, you hummed a random tune.

Your mischief and cunningness is something your alias was known for. Most often, it's a convenient trait to be able to slip around with ease and get the job done in a snap, but sometimes you get bored. It can be such a drag when nobody tries a confrontation with you. That's why you're so fond of the Red Hood. It's a shame that it's been a while since you've seen him around, so imagine your delight when you feel a familiar presence behind you.

You took a seat at the edge of the building. To anyone, you would've looked like you were having your main character moment, peacefully looking over the city if not for the small pile of bodies rotting away not too far from you. The dried blood on your attire and your fingers no longer irked you in the slightest. It's something you've gotten used to, which lead to your habit of picking the blood under your nails. Red gets annoyed when you do this — all the more reason to entertain your habit in front of him.

You let your legs dangle over the edge without a care. You didn't bother to greet the vigilante, who currently had a gun aimed at your back. Sigh.

“Oh, I do hate the sight of blood.”

“Well then, maybe — just maybe — you shouldn’t kill for a living.”

That got you to turn your head to face him. You cock an eyebrow — doesn’t he kill for a living too? Sure, his victims are usually criminals and thugs while yours are people you’re paid to target, usually business owners and the occasional politician, but you digress. Details. The point is, he kills people too.

A few seconds of staring and prolonging the tension passed, and Jason weighed his options before eventually putting down his gun. He then opted to join you on the ledge.

“So,” he started, “what’s your favorite color?”

Funny.

“Sweetheart, if you thought you’d be able to keep me entertained with small talk... I think I’d rather you shot me.”

You stood up from your spot on the ledge and leaned over the rooftop to examine your altitude. You grin to yourself.

“What are you doing?”

You don’t answer. You want to see something. Instead you turn your body to face Jason and mockingly salute him before leaping off the building, though not before you heard him call out your alias’ name and yell a panicked ‘Wait!’

Immediately after you, Jason followed. You chuckled when you saw him get closer. You enjoyed fooling him around almost as much as you enjoyed fooling around with him.

With no time to waste, he pulled out his grappling hook, yanked your body by the waist, and zipped to the rooftop of the nearest building — one different from the last one you were on.

Jason‘s heaving chest radiated distress.

“You’re fucking insane! You could have died!”

You stood in front of him, arms crossed and your stance relaxed. Nobody would’ve suspected that you literally jumped off a building just a few seconds ago. Aw, you pout, he cares about me.

“Would’ve made your job easier. You know, you heroes are supposed to get rid of the bad guys.”There’s humor in your eyes. Jason knows you’re enjoying this. He hates how much you enjoy this. “So, why’d you save me?”

“Why’d you help me with my mission last time?”

He’s deflecting. Cute.

“Hey, I asked you a question first.” You know he won’t budge til you give him an answer. He’s probably been asking himself that question since it happened. You mentally pout, aww he thinks of me. Sigh. Okay, fine.

“The gang you were after just so happened to have given me a job a little while ago.” You recall some of the gang members attempting to grope you. Some unpleasant memories you’d rather live without. “Pissed me off. Now your turn.”

Why’d you save me?

A pause. He shifted to look to the side. Oh, this is interesting.

“You could have died.” Ah, this again.

“Well, you’ve died,” you remind him. “Not that it really stuck.”

He says your name — your real name. You wonder when he discovered your identity, but then again, you’re not all that surprised. It’s him after all.

He can see your growing smile the longer he refuses to answer your question. He knows you’re already thinking of something, and still opts to ignore your question, allowing you to further indulge in your thoughts. He dreads you enlightening him; he knows it’s coming. Jason could not fathom how one woman could frustrate him so much.

“You like me.” There it is, he thinks. There’s your stupid smirk and your dumb air of arrogance.

“Come on, just admit it, hot shot. You can’t live without me.” Okay, maybe that one’s a bit of a stretch (just a bit), but you stand by it nonetheless.

You grin wide as you approach him. Leaning slightly forward to grab Jason by the collar and pull him down to meet your eyes, you repeat yourself.

“You like me.” Stated with more emphasis, like a significant fact that you try to drill into your head when studying for an exam.

“I’ll shoot you.”

“Please, daddy.”

tags — @iwriteaboutstuff @comicsgirlimagines @httpfandxms

#bat family #batfam #imagine #jason todd #jason todd x reader #bat boys #red hood imagine #the red hood #red hood #red hood x reader #roy harper #arsenal #reader insert #dc comics

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zontiky · 4 years

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okay so i tried to save this ask as a draft and it got deleted because tumblr is just such a functional website like that <3 but the prompt was “the hargreeves as ghosts in the apocalypse with five” or something like that i’m going to scream

this is SUPER long so i’m putting it under the cut hfkjsd

pre-five: the hargreeves siblings are dead. wait i feel a drabble coming on ooh

The Hargreeves siblings are dead.

Ben isn’t very aware of this at first. He’s been dead since 2006 -- he’s quite used to it, by now. What he is aware of, first, is light. Blinding white light. And Vanya, in the middle of it. He doesn’t close his eyes because he can’t feel pain, but if he could he thinks she would have made him blind. There’s light, and heat, and power, and then he closes his eyes anyway because the ceiling is collapsing around him and it’s instinctual.

When he opens them again he sees ash. Ash -- and Klaus.

He’s gotten used to Klaus, too. Klaus has a memorable sort of face; even if he didn’t, Ben has seen it every single day for almost twenty years. He doesn’t know if it’s actually been twenty years, for him. He doesn’t know how time moves for ghosts. Klaus has assured him it moves the same as it does for the living. Ben isn’t sure Klaus, stoned out of his mind, bleeding sluggishly from his arm, knew what he was talking about.

Anyway.

Klaus.

He’s wearing the coat he’s been flaunting around for the past week. His shirt is see-through, with little stars on it, like a pale imitation of the sky. Ben remembers his pants had laces on them, he’s sure they did not a minute ago, before the brightness that threatened to wipe out his very soul -- his soul is all he has left, really. His gaze drifts down anyway, to check.

Yes. Klaus’ pants have laces up the sides.

“No,” Ben says. Klaus is laying in a heap on the ground, his fingers curled like his tendons have been cut.

His lips feel numb because they always feel numb. Because Ben can’t feel at all. He takes a step. “No,” he says again, louder, surer. “No!”

Klaus looks up at him. His makeup is smudged, like it tends to be. His lips are bitten raw, like they tend to be. His hair is a mess, like it tends to be, and like it will be, always, because Klaus isn’t breathing.

Klaus is lying in a heap on the ground. Klaus is standing above his own body. Klaus is reaching for Ben like he’s hoping to touch him for the first time in years. Just when Klaus’ cold, dead, fingers brush his face, a voice from behind says, so quietly, dripping with disbelief: “Ben?”

Ben shuts his eyes and wishes desperately he could cry.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, for the first time in so, so long, but he also doesn’t feel it at all. He feels-but-doesn’t-feel someone turn him around, until they are saying, “Ben? Ben!” and he has no choice but to open his eyes and face the music.

Diego is gripping his shoulders like he is a dying man and Ben is the answer. Behind him, Luther and Allison watch them, stunned silent. Allison’s hands are pressed to her mouth. She looks like she wants to cry.

And Vanya. Little Vanya, painted white. Her head is hung as her shoulders shake with the weight of the destruction she has so inevitably caused. (Ben would say he always knew she was destined for great things -- but he can’t, because he didn’t.) (Nobody ever said great things had to be good.)

The Hargreeves siblings are dead. Their bodies are strewn across what is left of their childhood home, smouldering and burning, and Ben is very aware of that fact.

righto anyway. so they have an emotional reunion but its also kind of bitter? id have to actually write this for it to make sense so lets skip it for now lol

five shows up

he cannot see them obviously bc theyre all ghosts

god if i did write this it would be such a monster of a fic and would take me like 2 years to finish i already know fhkjdsk

somehow ?? they manage to influence the world around them maybe? idk maybe now that klaus is dead hes sober

or maybe hes high for all eternity?

for the purposes of this au lets say he died sober or in the late stages of withdrawal, and bc ghosts cant feel pain in action hes sober

so EVENTUALLY they figure out how to corporealize bc klaus is like blam wham ghost powers

asdlfk that sounds so stupid im sorry

he would say that tho imho,,, it sounds like something hed say,,,

if i DID write this it would be alternating povs also,,,

ok so out of all of them klaus and ben have the most experience homeless

and while being stuck in an apocalypse is not at all the same thing as being homeless it does help to have some knowledge

five doesnt eat the twinkie!! good for him

dammit okay. theres 2 options we can take here. in the comics five couldnt get back bc he fucked up his math and spent 15 years doing the wrong thing, but if u apply that here, with 6 other ppl checking his work this could be avoided and they end up skipping the whole assassin shtick and just hopping straight back to 2019, ready to prevent the apocalypse

OR five still gets hired for the commission but the sibs are tagging along

i think bc five isnt completely alone in this au unfortunately dolores doesnt exist :((

for each other the 2 paths tho theres also options?? bc they (ghosts) can go back in time and inhabit their past selves bodies? OR they could just,,, cease to exist

IM JUST NOW REALIZING HOW MANY PATHS THIS COULD TAKE,, AAH FUCK

okay gonna split this into parts. this is gonna be so long brace yourselves.

1) they go back in time because math checking and the ghosts swap out for their past selves

after multiple years of being stuck in an apocalypse together i think they would learn to get along with each other. like at least a little bit

which would make it easier for them to prevent the apocalypse

bc theyd:

trust each other more

already know abt the apocalypse and not have to wait for five to grace them all with his knowledge

are working as a team from the very beginning

have open lines of communication

yeah uh. so there

vanya is also already aware of her powers so the whole harold goading her into turning against her family and snapping to wipe out all life on earth thing? yeah that doesnt happen

oh and harold wouldn’t know how to do that in the first place because klaus wouldn’t throw out reggie’s journal! this solves so many problems wtf

there’s still commission issues bc they (and by they i mean five) are on the commission’s radar

so there’s still dope fight scenes sdlkfd pinky promise

okay idk. they stop the apocalypse and everything is okay the end hfkjd

2) they fix the math but only five can go back and the ghosts cease to exist

this is just sad! it would be sad okay! im sad! lets move on

subset of the past one: ben CAN go back with five because he was already dead and time travel affects them differently or something idk

aaaaaa

five & ben dynamic duo would be dope as shit BUT five would not be able to see him... so they use klaus as a middleman fjsdsfd

is there 2 bens? is one ben deleted in favor of the time-traveling ben? i dont know! i dont know my brain is melting

either way shit is happening yall!! obviously klaus is clued in, directly or indirectly it doesnt matter but he is on board the ‘don’t let the entire world end in flames’ train

3) they join the commission and then when five goes back in time they all go back

this is fun because now five is a highly trained assassin who is also lowkey a complete marshmallow for his siblings and once again TEAMWORK WOO

basically the first path but now five has a gun fhsdjk

4) they join the commission but five has to leave them behind and they cease to exist

five with a gun but hes sad now

i didnt go into how much losing his siblings would suck in the prev path but like. it would suck so much. he’s already lost them once if you think about it when he time traveled the first time and yeah he found the adult ghost versions but,, its different

and now suddenly hes stuck with these strange adult versions of the people he knows and he KNOWS them but also he doesnt? at all? they dont have all the years of shared experiences together? and theyre all grown up from the first ‘set’ of siblings he had which for five was like 40+ years ago??

SCREAMS

i have losing my mind disease (self-diagnosed)

subset: five has to leave them behind but they still exist because the commission is out-of-time kind of? idk but they’re still floating around somewhere and come back to impact the plot later or something

yeah idk. literally just wrote them down bc i didnt want them to die^2 hfkjwehd

subset: they still exist but instead of being just Somewhere they’re specifically at the assassination of JFK onwards because thats where five left them and they either go on ghosting and make an appearance in s2 OR they cease because them-wise they havent died yet but that doesnt make sense because ghosts can time travel so nevermind

i dont have the brain energy left to explore this one aaaa

okay jesus christ i think that’s all

I DON’T KNOW. i don’t know. i might write some more of this because honestly it is a very fine flavor of angst + hurt/comfort <3

#didnt proofread this at all 💀 fhsdfks #tua #the umbrella academy #pls dont let this flop i spent like an hour on it hfjksd #aus #team zero #ben hargreeves #wip #I GUESS #misc #ghosting au

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captain-of-the-historicfuture · 3 years

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~hello~ !! For the meta asks!: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 25 :))

Hello!! Thank you for sending these; I was really excited to see that ask game and I was hoping somebody would send some in. It still took me a while to actually answer them though, and for that I apologise. But without further ado! Some meta answers (under the cut because they ended up being fairly long, whoops):

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

I thought of a few examples, but they could basically be grouped together under a common theme: whumpy/angsty scenes that were self-indulgent as all heck. The whole self-indulgent aspect often required the characters to be just the teeniest, tiniest bit OOC and/or necessitated rather unrealistic plot circumstances. So it was simply easier to keep such scenes as maladaptive daydreams, rather than trying to think of explanations for the character/plot issues…or exposing myself to judgement for them LOL.

Receiving permission to write/share one such scene anyway is an opportunity I can’t let slip by though. It might be because I’m writing this while running on zero (0) hours of sleep—let’s hear it for insomnia, y’all!—but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of my newer ideas under this category. However, I did recall a one-shot I had started writing a couple of months ago that sort of counts? “Sort of” because I could actually be arsed to write it since I was, ya know, writing it. Only got about six hundred words down though.

…should I share those six hundred words…?

………nahhh. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

But here’s the gist of it: Coulson and May (because of course it’s Philinda) were married for quite some time before the Attack on New York. But then Coulson DiedTM and then got ResurrectedTM. But gasp of horror, he had to lose his memories of his romantic relationship with May because reasons. (I actually did have some ideas for those reasons but sshhhh this is about me yeeting context and setup.)

The first half of S1 still happens as normal (except MayWard doesn’t happen because??? Vows) and it’s now post-E20 “Nothing Personal”. The morning after (or a morning soon after, whatever) the T.A.H.I.T.I. reveal! May’s mom—who doesn’t know about GH.325 and whom May fed a cover story about Coulson divorcing her or something equally as oof, IDK—shows up at the hotel and starts ripping into Coulson for breaking her daughter’s heart, then dragging her back into the field with her ex-husband (him), then accusing her of terrible things and forcing her away again.

Poor guy’s confused as heck, and so is the team, and soon enough so is Lian. The only one who understands what’s going on is May, and she’s freaking dying off to the side like why is this happening to me and eventually everybody’s like! Explain??? (Was thinking about including something from Coulson like, “Are you still keeping things from me?” Just for that extra smidge of angst, yay!)

So yeah then May gives a, like, two-sentence debriefing that elicits more questions than answers. Coulson decides to take May aside and they have a heart-to-heart. Lots of feelings and angst and hurt/comfort and at some point plenty of kissing too. Just! May hiding her feelings for Coulson’s sake but really magnified, plus some actual apologies and consideration of the grief May’s been through on Coulson’s part.

And uhh yeah that’s basically it I dunno hdsjncjshd. I warned y’all it’s OOC, plot-bendy, and very self-indulgent!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I don’t think I could name a single character for this. I get different things out of taking on different voices, you know? I guess recently I’ve found myself gravitating towards more taciturn and introspective points of view, like JQ from my original novel Rosewood or M. Yisbon from my…other original novel Temple.

Generally, however, I like tackling stories from an outsider’s perspective. That’s why I so rarely write my more “substantial” (serious? demanding? for lack of better words?) projects from the PoV of my “preferred” character. This usually means writing from their love interest’s perspective, but not always. With shorter fanfic, using a more removed/unconventional/niche PoV can be really fun. Like, I once wrote a canon compliant ficlet purely(-ish) about Philinda from Tony Stark’s perspective. That isn’t always sustainable with stories that demand more character development or closer character studies, however, which is why it’s a good thing I like writing drabbles!

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

My word counts tend to run long, but I usually only write one-shots for fanfic. If I’m even inspired with a novella- or novel-length story idea for a fandom, you already know I’m in deep with them. And if I actually find the motivation to plan and execute that idea? Dangg. That’s only ever happened…twice, maybe thrice, and I’m in a lot of fandoms.

At times, I wish I could go for more of a middle ground ’cause, like, you know what I love to see? An AO3 dashboard with several completed novellas for my ship/character of choice. I mean yes, I hecking love >90k fics, but sometimes I’m in the mood for quick reads…and what am I supposed to do when I burn through all the drabbles and 2k one-shots? (Besides despair and/or reread my faves desperately.) Novellas are basically always safe for me LOL, and I’d hope to be able to give as much as I take.

Ultimately though, I think I’m okay with where I am with regards to that. I wish I could write more in general, but I’d be okay with “writing more” just meaning “writing more one-shots”, ya know? More than okay, really. I have mad respect for fic writers who have, like, a hundred or more one-shots under their belt for this one ship. The fandom ecosystem would be incomplete without them (as well as every other type of writer, but sshhh that’s the type of writer I’m closest to being right now).

I’m definitely a plotter, and I definitely prefer it that way. It’s cool having such a detailed record of my process. I like feeling like a frazzled genius on the brink of a major discovery with all of my different outlines and colour coding and many drafts and various websites.

12. Do you want your writing to be famous?

Not exactly. It might be cool if my original works were recognisable in the world, but I don’t think I’d want to be recognisable. As for fanfic, I’d low-key enjoy gaining a place in that fandom’s community as a fic writer. Like someone who gave and got fic gifts from fic writer friends, who participated in challenges and GCs, who received writing prompts on Tumblr, whose name was known for doing a certain trope/genre a bunch of times… Ya know what I mean?

Unlikely to happen when I’m so hecking hesitant to publicly (i.e., outside of AO3) claim credit for my writing, but fjnskfsjhfjs. A writer can dream, right?

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Of those three, tags are the easiest for me, for I have a reliable system for figuring out those.

Next easiest would probably be titles. For fanfiction, I like to use titles that are a quote from the source material. You should have seen all of my old Hamilton fanfic… I was really proud of some of those titles. And I don’t mean, like, whole lines—usually only two to five words. It’s a unique type of wordplay that I just love dabbling in.

And lastly, summaries. Sometimes inspiration strikes me and a snappy and intriguing synopsis just jumps out—one that I’m quietly pleased with—but most of the time I’ll spend way too long trying to think of such a synopsis and eventually just go with whatever I’d come up with so far. And live with my quiet dissatisfaction for the rest of time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (Plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations...?) Tell us about them!

Typically, no. If I have deleted scenes, I save and publish them separately, but that’s about it. I sometimes think of AUs for my own work and might talk about them in my author’s notes—might even talk about writing them—but I never really do anything with them.

Although…

It’s not uncommon for me to decide a plotline isn’t working for a certain story or to think of an interesting but undoable arc for a certain character, but what I’ll do is make a whole new story for those ideas. Once I’m done developing the original idea and the branched-off one, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell they grew from the same roots. Does that count?

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as (film, webcomic, animated series, etc.)?

That depends on the story. I’ve actually written stories in other mediums—movie screenplay, musical stageplay, poetry, TV show scripts, play scripts, roleplay—but the novel does tend to be my comfort zone. Sometimes, if I have an idea that I think could work, or would even work better, as another medium, I’ll label it as such in my folder of ideas and decide not to write it as a novel.

Most of the time, my non-book projects are collaborations. I’m working with five different people on six different story ideas: two webcomics, one stage musical, one anime, and two animated TV shows. Little concrete progress has been made in any of those, mind you, but they’re still fun to discuss!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Absolutely. But I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old, so we would hope so, huh?

I wouldn’t say my writing’s changed completely, though maybe that’s just my insider’s perspective.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Oh gosh, I can’t believe you’d make me choose. Writing is just such a wonderful experience for me; I love just about everything to do with it. Admittedly, not all the time, but. Since that barely qualifies as an answer, however, I’ll give you this—

The endings. Not only that intense feeling of rightness when you wrap up that last sentence, but also the moments before. The adrenaline of knowing you’re almost there but you gotta push just a bit more to actually get there. And also the part right after—the real wrap-up, honestly: the revision and the editing. Heavens, I love revising and editing my work.

Which is not to say I don’t like writing it out for the first time, too—there’s nothing quite like seeing your cursor scroll to the next page, like going from a blank expanse to a Oh man, how many more lines are even going to fit on this page?, like watching that page counter tick up another number. However, there’s something cathartic about finally ironing out those problems I had to force myself to stop worrying about earlier because “just finish the first draft dangit”.

I guess that’s not really the end of the writing process, but whatever. Close enough (as fic writers are wont to say).

Another thank-you for these asks, and feel free to come back with more at any time! ;P

Send in fun meta asks for your friendly neighbourhood writer!

#thou canst not then be false to any man #ask game #invictusmaneo #to write and read comes by nature

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illwork4anime · 4 years

Note

18 please!

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Yes! So I will use my WIP Done with Love

ORIGINS

ORIGINALLY THIS STORY WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE ShikaSaku.

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONLY ITASAKU. LOOK HOW FAR WE HAVE FALLEN BECAUSE I FELL HARD FOR SHIKA.

Literally never considered the pairing until this.

This story started with the Itasaku oneshot that is the prologue. Then I wrote a drabble that was just the hospital scene, but a little different. It had Kurenais daughter coming in wounded. Sakura saves her and goes to the waitingroom to find Shika a mess. It's the end of her shift so she takes him out for a drink. The end.

Then I decided, no I want to write a proper story. So I combined them, with Shikamaru only there because of his big brain AND THATS IT. NOTHING ELSE. So I added...They talk. Shika owes her one bigtime. Asuma would have haunted him forever if she died. So, Sakura says - I know how you are going to help me out. Help me train and I am going to get Sasuke back all on my own. Work with me on a strategy. The start of the chapter was a flash forward to an event I can tell because its a spoiler! Basically, Sakura is captured and trying to escape. This helped add some suspense to the exposition and make a boring capture time more interesting by breaking it up.

BUT then I decided to redo it completely. Because I fell in love with shikasaku as a later pairing.

Also - all those Kakashi moments - ACCIDENTAL. I wrote that healing scene in the library on a whim and now here we are. Originally, just supposed to be Shika and Itachi.

DELETED/REFACTORED SCENE

One additional diversion was the scene in the art gallery. That originally didn’t have the genjutsu at all. It was an argument outside in a part. But I wanted to make it relevant to her training, so I put it in the gallery. In the alternate scene, it started because Sakura confronted Shikamaru about how he had kissed Ino before and wanted to know what kind of kiss it was. Here it is in DRAFT FORM:

“Oh, Sai!” Ino’s voice shatters through the moment. Ino bounds up behind Sai, throwing her arms around him in greeting.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding from me.” She says sweetly.

“Beautiful, I was not hiding, I assure you.” He says, face looking phonier than before. Why did Ino get a nice nickname, while Sakura got stuck with Hag? Ino beams at him for it.

“I missed you, silly. Let’s go to the movies Friday, so you can make it up to me.” Ino says sweetly.

Sai turns to Sakura, “What do you think, Sakura? Shall we go?”

Ino glares at her, as if she’s invited herself while Sakura puts her hands up in surrender.

“Um, actually Sai, I have training with Shikamaru on Friday night. I won’t be able to go.” Sakura lies.

“Is that what you’re calling it,” Ino grumbles under her breath.

“Apologies, Ino. We will have to try another time.” He says to her.

“She won’t mind if we go without her,” She says sweetly, then grinds out in a threatening tone, “Right, Sakura?”

“Right.” Sakura squeaks.

“According to my reading, the Hag is socially obligated to agree in this situation, though her true feelings could be to the contrary. It would be perceived as a slight to go without her.” Sai responds, looking rather proud at his insight.

Sakura cringes as Ino’s intensified glare.

“Then why don’t you just bring Shikamaru along, Sakura.” Ino offers, “Then we can have a double date.”

Again, the way Ino says it give Sakura no room to disagree, but she does anyway.

“I’m not going on a double date.” She says firmly.

“Forehead, let’s just talk for a second over there.” Ino says, grabbing her arm too tightly and dragging her out of hearing distance.

“Don’t ruin this for me, Sakura. I’m super close to sealing the deal on Sai and I’m not about to give that up because you made some phony sisterhood pact to yourself to swear off men forever.” She whispers furiously.

“It’s not about my completely legitimate pact. I have way bigger things to worry about right now than going on a fake date.” Sakura hisses back. Danzo’s disappointed expression rises up in her memory, along with his gentle reminder of her deadline. She shakes her head, “And don’t kid yourself, Ino. Sai has no idea you’re even interested in him.”

“Then you understand why I need this!” Ino argues back.

“Even if I wanted to, I’d never get Shikamaru to agree to this.” Sakura says, trying a different angle.

“Ha!” Ino lets out a shrill laugh, “That’s what you’re worried about.”

Sakura glares, “Yes. The last place he’d want to spend a Friday night is fourth-wheeling a date with you and Sai.” She’s not sure that’s strictly true, but is hoping his lazy, reclusive track record works to her advantage.

“Fourth-wheeling isn’t a thing, and you know it.” Ino disagrees, “And he’d go if you asked him. He’d show up in civilian clothes with his hair down if you asked him to.”

“Yeah, right.” Sakura scoffs, but blushes at the image that pops in her head of him running a hand through his loose hair. She shakes her head and says with more bite than she means to, “It doesn’t matter who asks. The answer will be no.”

“Then you’d better convince him.” She says, jabbing a finger in Sakura’s shoulder. “You still owe me from the time I pretended to be your lover to get that stalker fan boy to stop bothering you.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you do to that!” Sakura protests.

“See, I did it out of the goodness of my heart, so now’s your chance to repay me, because that’s what girlfriends do.” She smiles with a shrug and turns back to Sai to answer without waiting for Sakura to respond.

“Sai, she’s in!” She giggles, skipping back over to him, “See you Friday, Forehead!”

_____

Even though he said it wouldn’t, Shikamaru’s waiting for her outside the theater out of uniform that Friday. His black pants look pretty much the same, but his well-toned arms are on full display in a mesh tee-shirt and a long green vest that brushes his thighs. It probably has the Nara clan symbol on the back.

“Look at you, Muscles,” She teases him, glancing pointedly at his exposed arms. He lets out an annoyed huff, but his cheeks go pink, “I thought you weren’t wearing your civilian clothes tonight.”

“It would have been more troublesome to stick out that to just change,” He sulks. She can’t keep the smile off her face.

“Ino and Sai here yet?” She looks around but doesn’t see them.

“Not yet.” He’s still blushing and looks to the side when he says, “You look nice too.”

She lets out a surprised, “Oh, thanks,” looking down at the outfit she found in the back of her closet. It had been hard to find something that was fancy enough to say ‘date’ for Ino but casual enough to say ‘friends’ for Shikamaru. The simple cream tank top, with a more generous neckline than she was used to, tucked into a plain red skirt did the trick.

“Forehead, Shikamaru!” Ino calls, jogging up with her arm looped through Sai’s.

“Here we go,” Shikamaru mumbles, pushing off the wall he’s leaning against.

“Hey, none of that attitude,” She scolds. If she was taking a night off, it was going to be worth it, dammit, “We are here to have fun. Even if it kills us,”

“It just might,” he breaths out as Ino bounds up to them.

“You actually showed up. I honestly didn’t think you would,” Ino says with an obnoxious laugh. She eyes Ino’s crop top and short purple skirt and suddenly feels like her neckline isn’t so racy after all. Sai’s outfit is just as bad, also in a black crop top with low riding pants.

“Why am I the only one not wearing a crop top?” Sakura says pulling at the bottom half of her shirt.

“Hey,” Shikamaru says sharply, gesturing to his shirt, “This is not a crop top.”

“Might has well be,” She jokes, poking his abs through a hole in the mesh.

“Stop that,” he complains, grabbing onto her hand.

“This is going to be so fun!” Ino says, looping her arm through Sakura’s and dragging them inside. Shikamaru doesn’t let go of her hand until Ino pushes him and Sai into the line for tickets.

“Why can’t you just get your own stuff, Ino?” Shikamaru grumbles. “What a drag.”

“You’d know why if you ever bothered to go on dates, Shikamaru.” She answers, sticking her tongue out at him. He flushes pink and glances shyly at Sakura.

“Beautiful is right. Traditionally men are the ones to pay for date activities,” Sai says, no doubt trying to be helpful.

“She’s totally taking advantage of you, man,” Shikamaru says, shaking his head and turning to walk up to the counter.

“I don’t understand,” Sai says, following behind him. “A date is still an equal exchange. Don’t men usually receive payment in the form of sexual favors at the end of the night?”

Sakura hears Shikamaru let out a strangled groan. He grabs Sai by the back of the head and starts whispering something urgently to him.

She can’t help but laugh at Shikamaru’s reaction.

“Isn’t he the cutest?” Ino gushes. “He’s like a lost little puppy.”

“He’s something.” Is all Sakura can think to answer.

Ino’s eyes turn mischievous and swing to Sakura. “So you got Shikamaru to come. Who was right again?”

Of course, Ino wanted to get in her I-told-you-so about it being relatively easy to get Shikamaru to come.

She tries to make it sound more trouble than it was. “Yeah, well you don’t know what I had to promise to get him to come here, Ino-pig.”

“Oh my, Forehead!” Ino lets out a scandalized giggle. Sakura’s face heats, realizing Ino took it sexually. “On the contrary, I want to know every saucy detail.”

“It’s nothing like that!” Sakura says, but Ino is unphased.

“Just as long as it’s nothing naughty in the theater. It’s all fun and games until you’re halfway through a hand job and a worker shines a flashlight on you with your hand down some guy’s pants in front of a theater full of judgy middle-aged women who clearly don’t understand the concept of spontaneous romance.”

“That’s so specific,” Sakura says suspiciously. “Please tell me that didn’t actually happen to you.”

“Yes, well,” Ino waves of her comment, “Learn from my mistakes Sakura. But more importantly, don’t mentally scar me by getting freaky with my teammate while I’m 2 seats down.”

“I should say the same to you!” Sakura says, blushing further, but Ino doesn’t make any promises.

Shikamaru and Sai return. Shikamaru looks more disgruntled than ever.

“That was the most troublesome conversation I’ve ever had.” He grumbles under his breath to her, low enough for Sai and Ino to miss. But as Ino passes, he says, “You owe me two times now for that.”

Sakura flushes. Although Sakura knows he means 2 weekends, Ino doesn’t. She wiggles her eyebrows and Sakura wants to sink into the floor from embarrassment.

He hands her a ticket with ‘Illusion of Silence’ written on the front, and she asks, “What are we seeing? A horror movie?”

“It was that or a sappy romcom. Just remember I chose the lesser of two evils.” He says and takes her hand again, leading her to the theater. It feels a little strange to be holding hands, but she doesn’t say anything. The trailers haven’t started yet, so they have no trouble finding their seats. The theater is mostly empty anyway, probably not a good sign for the movie quality.

She sits down between Shikamaru and Sai.

“Sakura, how is what you pass off as sketching going?” Sai asks.

Pass off. She suppresses the urge to smack him across the head. That kind of thing was frowned upon in these types of establishments.

“Terrible. I think Kurenai-sensei gave up on me.”

Kurenai had barely kept from laughing at Sakura when she’d shown her sketch book. It was pitiful, and while there had been a small improvement in Sakura’s visual genjutsu, Kurenai had decided to move on to a different topic. She still had to keep up the activity, but just not as her main focus.

Now they were working on non-visual genjutsu. Sakura found this a lot easier for some reason. Inducing pain, sounds, tastes, smells, all of that was just chemicals moving around the body. She understood those. She’d dealt with those before.

While she’d been extremely glad for the change in topic, she couldn’t manage to look forward to her lessons anymore. It was hard not to look at Kurenai differently after learning about her secret affair with Kakashi. It was a difficult feeling to explain, but every time she remembered it, her chest grew heavy, like something had reached inside her chest and squeezed a fist around her heart. She grits her teeth just thinking about it.

“I told you giving up was the best option,” Sai says sweetly, “No reason to waste your time improving a hopeless skill.”

“Shut up, Sai. A student is only as good as their teacher and you were absolutely no help.” She grumbles.

“Hey, don’t blame Sai because you can only draw stick figures. Some people just aren’t born to be artists like he was,” Ino defends, sending a starry eyed look at Sai and resting a hand to Sai’s arm. Then she pulls him into a conversation about what his ‘artistic genius’ has be working on lately.

“Is it really going that bad?” Shikamaru asks referring to her genjutsu training. His eyebrows are drawn in with concern.

“I don’t know.” She grumbles. She doesn’t want to admit it, but from Kurenai’s reactions, she felt it was going that badly. She wasn’t improving as fast as she should be. It seemed like something on a fundamental level just wasn’t clicking. “I try to do what Kurenai is instructing, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. We are so different that sometimes its hard to understand what she wants from me. Plus, it doesn’t help that genjutsu is so subjective.”

“Why don’t we work on it together next week. It might help to get a fresh perspective.”

“Really? That would be amazing,” She says with a smile.

“Of course.” He takes her hand again, rubbing a thumb across the back.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Shikamaru.” She says, squeezing his hand back.

“Let’s not find out,” he jokes, try to be nonchalant but he’s beaming from the comment.

Sakura lets out a yawn, “Let’s not.”

“You’re not going to fall asleep on me, are you?” He teases.

“No, I’m fine.” Sakura lies. She’d had practice with Team Guy this morning at 6am but had stayed up until 2am doing research. Physically, she was running out of steam fast. As the lights dim, she finds it harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

Shikamaru shakes her awake. Sometime during the opening credits, she fell asleep on his shoulder.

“Oh, sorry,” She says, groggily. Then whispers, “What did I miss?”

“Everything,” he answers with a smirk.

“What?” She hisses, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

He shrugs, “You needed the rest. The point was to relax tonight, right?”

“I guess,” she grumbles.

“The movie sucked anyway,” he says standing.

“That was so scary!” Ino gushes to Sai. “I’m so glad you were here with me, Sai. I felt much safer.”

“It was not really that scary, Beautiful. No reason to be afraid of pictures.” He says confused. Ino huffs.

As they leave, Ino insists on a walk in the park across the street, but within minutes, she’s slipped off with Sai. The suggestive wink tells Sakura everything she needs to know about her plans.

Even just being friends with her, this was uncomfortable. Shikamaru actually was interested at some point. She wondered what he thought of all this.

“How is this not extremely weird for you?” Sakura asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Well didn’t you and Ino date a while back?” She explains and Shikamaru looks at her like she’s grown a second head.

“Tsh, no. Definitely not.”

“Well, you liked her though, right?”

He’s pouting, and reluctantly says, “Years ago, maybe. It wasn’t a big deal though.”

“But you guys kissed.” She counters. That seemed like a pretty big deal to her.

He stiffens and goes bright red, “Can Ino not keep her mouth shut about anything?”

“See, it is weird,” she says. But he doubles down.

“No, it’s not.” He disagrees crossing his arms, “That barely counts.”

But now she’s picturing the worst. A grating feeling rises in her chest at the thought of Shikamaru and Ino kissing and she has a strange compulsion to ask just what counts as barely counting.

“Barely counts how?” She says. She’s not able to look him in the eyes, so she trains her gaze on an ice cream cart across the park.

“I dunno, it just does.” He shrugs.

“Because it wasn’t good?” She offers. She hopes it wasn’t good.

“No, it was good,” He says defensively.

“That’s not what she said…” Sakura says skeptically, peaking at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Whatever,” Shikamaru grumbles. He’s scowling, “I can kiss just fine. She’s just trying to cover up that she’s the one who initiated the whole thing in the first place.”

“She did?” This surprises her and somehow it makes a difference.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Shikamaru states, picking up his pace. She strides right along undeterred.

“Well did you, like, want to kiss her?”

“I guess. Why does it matter?”

“Because!” She can’t seem to put the why into words. It’s just a queasy feeling turning her stomach. Even though it’s not the full truth, she offers the explanation, “You made out with your teammate, that’s a big deal.”

He stops short and turns to fully face her.

“It isn’t a big deal and we didn’t make out, okay.” He clarifies.

“Then what was it?”

“Just a kiss, Sakura”

“Well yeah, but was it a long, passionate kind -,”

“So troublesome,” he grumbles into the sky.

“Or just a quick -,”

She’s cut off by a warm pressure on her lips and her mind goes blank. As soon as she realizes what’s happening, it’s over.

Shikamaru pulls back a few inches, hands still cupping her face and searches her expression for her reaction. He kissed her.

“That’s all it was.” He murmurs, eyes dark and voice low. Her breath catches in her throat, the queasy feeling in her stomach grows magnitudes greater.

“Obviously I’d do things a little differently now,” He murmurs and his eyes flash, daring her to ask just how.

She should say something, but she couldn’t even if she wanted to. Her mind has snagged on the previous moment. The only additional thing she can seem to process is the warmth of his hands on her cheeks and his calming scent of pine and earth. She’s completely rooted in place by the heat in his chocolate brown eyes. It stokes something inside her. Maybe it is curiosity because she wonders what she would feel if just leans forward those few inches.

They bounce between her eyes and her lips, battling between waiting for her reaction and what she can only think to describe as desire. It only takes a few more moments for the latter to win.

He leans forward to capture her lips again, lingering longer this time. Its careful or rather experimental, testing her for a response she can’t seem to give. Again, he pulls back, studying her face. Again, from the moment his lips touched hers, her mind is just wiped blank, unable or unwilling to process it. Whatever he finds in her expression is enough.

His hand slides to the back of her neck and he kisses her again, deeper. Her eyes slide shut without conscious thought. She feels his other hand ghost down her side, stopping at her waist and pulling her closer. Her hands go to his chest to brace herself.

The pressure has him pulling back, checking over her face. He’s looking to see if she’s asked him to stop, she realizes, and a gentle warmth settles in her stomach. This time, his lips brush softly against hers, begging her to return the pressure and its so sweet, so unsure, that she reacts without thinking, relaxing into him. He pulls her closer, tension she hadn’t noticed draining from him and sighs against her mouth.

Finally, her thoughts are coming back to her, returning each slow, tender press of his lips against hers. The queasiness in her stomach settles into a gentle warmth and she relaxes into him. This is nice, she decides. It’s comfortable. Not great, not terrible.

It different than she’s ever felt before. Her heart isn’t beating out of her chest, she’s doesn’t feel butterflies in her stomach and she isn’t so caught up that needing air is secondary to feeling him against her.

Fine. Just fine.

Suddenly she thinks, shouldn’t it be better than just fine? Shouldn’t she be lit up inside, butterflies in her stomach, reluctant to separate even for air? The warmth in her freezes over.

“Stop,” She gasps, pressing against his chest. He steps back, and the distance seems to return more of her mind to her. The ball of ice in her stomach grows colder.

What was she doing? This was Shikamaru. Her closest friend, and she needed him like she needed air. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t get wrapped up in romance again and have everything between them fall apart. Because it would fall apart. That’s what love did to people or at least to her.

“That was a mistake” She finally decides. It was a mistake and they could forget about it and move on like it never happened. But Shikamaru’s face falls. He looks scared, she thinks.

“Don’t say that,” he begs, but she just shakes her head wrapping her arms around herself.

“I can’t do this,” Then looks into his eyes which are breaking in front of her.

“You don’t have feelings for me,” he tries.

But that’s not right. She felt something for him. He was so important to her and she’d be lying if she hadn’t found him attractive, but it didn’t quite feel like love. At least not how she’d loved Sasuke.

Even if it did, she didn’t want that anymore. Love only led to heartbreak and loss and she couldn’t lose him. Shikamaru was her only refuge in her storm of a life and she didn’t know how she’d stay afloat without him.

Words are pouring from her mouth, and she’s not even sure they make sense, but she can’t stop them.

“I-I don’t know how I feel. I just – I can’t lose you and if we do that, eventually we’ll screw everything up and I’ll lose you. I just can’t, Shikamaru. I can’t. I need you.”

Hope shines in his eyes. It’s a rejection, but not for the reason he feared. “You won’t lose me.”

“I will.” She insists. Now she’s the one that’s scared. She torn between needing the comfort of his embrace and wanting to keep him at arm’s length. She settles with taking a step closer and grabbing the opening of his vest. “You’re the most important person in my life. I don’t want anything to change between us.”

How can she explain it to him? How can she make him understand?

“Nothing will,” He whispers, hand coming to her face again. But she can see the gears turning in his head. He’s looking at her like a shogi piece now, something to outmaneuver, outthink to the outcome he wants. Anger flares up in her.

He strokes a thumb against her face, eyes settling again on her mouth.

“Don’t,” She snaps, turning her face from his palm. She needed to leave. They just needed some time apart and he’d realize he was just caught up in the moment or something at they’d put this behind them.

“I can’t. I just need a minute.” She says disengaging from him and striding off.

“Wait, Sakura!” he calls, but she doesn’t. He swears under his breath.

She needed to put some distance between them, she needed to time to think, but she if she left alone, he’d just follow her. Ino and Sai approach then, Ino clinging to Sai’s arm. She doesn’t want to talk with Ino, doesn’t want her judgy questions, so she strides up to her next best option.

“Sai, we’re getting ice cream,” She says, dragging him toward the stand across the part.

“Sounds enjoyable,” He says with a smile, not at all minding the interruption.

Ino on the other hand lets out an annoyed, “Hey!” but doesn’t fight her past that. Sakura and Sai are out of earshot before she has a chance.

Ino crosses her arms, icily looking Shikamaru up and down.

“You are really screwing this up, aren’t you?” Ino says with a smirk.

Shikamaru scoffs going red and snaps, “Like you’re doing any better.”

To which Ino lets out an indignant “Hmph!”

Sakura stops in front of the ice cream cart and gets them both a chocolate cone. Eating her feelings sounded wonderful right now.

“Shall we make some small talk now?” Sai asks with a smile. She groans.

“You don’t ask to make small talk, Sai. You just do it.” She explains, taking a lick of her chocolate ice cream. Its cold and sweet, but in a different way than Shikamaru had tasted.

Shit. Stop. That wasn’t allowed.

“Okay, so what are you doing after this?” He asks and it sounds like a pick-up line he probably read from a book on interacting with females. She rolls her eyes. Still, she’s thankful for the distraction and reminds herself this is still better than Ino.

“I’ll probably go back to the archives tonight and finish reading a few documents” She answers, talking another taste of her ice cream. Sai steps in front of her and she stops short.

“Did you not find the message I hid for you?” He says looking worried.

“What message?” She asks, confused.

“The one on the picture I gave you.” He says with a frown. Right, the picture of his brother. Is he talking about the numbers and symbol he signed in the corner? “You should go straight home tonight, Sakura.”

“Why would I do that?” she asks, growing annoyed that he won’t just get to the point.

“I cannot divulge that information.” He says robotically. She freezes.

“What did you just say?” she asks him to repeat.

“I cannot divulge that information.” He repeats and his eyes look urgent. It’s the phrase he uses when he’s close to triggering his seal. The message was about Danzo.

“Sai, what’s the message? What do you mean?” She grabs in shirt and pulls him to her, but he can’t answer.

“I cannot divulge -,”

“I get it!” She snaps at him. She has to ask it differently and her mind is racing a mile a minute over the possibilities.

“You said I shouldn’t go to the archives, right?” She tries, going back over his words.

“Yes, you should just stay home tonight.” He repeats.

“So, the message has something to do with the archives?”

“I cannot divulge -,” he begins.

“So, I’m right? You can’t tell me because I’m right.” She deduces quickly. “The message is about the archives. Is it a clue? Can I find it in the archives?”

“I cannot divulge that information.” He says, but this time seems to fight against it. “Don’t go there, Hag. You shouldn’t -,”

“Stop calling me Hag!” She bites out, unable to sensor herself, “I don’t care what I should or shouldn’t do. I’m going.” She releases his shirt and starts down the road.

“Wait!” He grabs her arm, “Listen, you shouldn’t -,”

“Was it important? Your message?” She interrupts.

“Yes,” he says, “but -,”

“Then I’m going to find it!” She says pulling her arm from his grasp and shoving her ice cream cone into it instead. She’s determined and sprints down the path. Sai had finally given her a clue about Danzo, and she’s not going to let this piece of information slip away.

“It’s not safe!” he calls, but she’s already disappeared into the night.

Reading this, I feel like this was better...hahaha oh well.

#ask #thanks for the ask!#dwl #done with love

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btssavedmylifeblr · 5 years

Note

I had a dream last night where Commander Namjoon did watch the tape and he got a little 🥵 by it. I know it’ll never be canon to Void, and you’ve already got so much stuff you’re working on, but how do you think he would have reacted? Would you ever be interested in writing a lil drabble about it? Void 5 btw was fantastic!

Okay... so I have three different previous versions of this scene that all involved him watching the tape. But none of them felt right, so I removed them and started over until we got the version that’s in Void 5. But you can see what it might have looked like. They are all first or second drafts though, so they aren’t very detailed. And they don’t all make sense in context anymore because a lot of the chapter changed around them

Version 1

Namjoon walks over to his computer where the video is still open, lewdly starring at you.

The idea that he was just watching it in here both embarasses and arouses you.

“You sure about this?”

“Absolutely.”

The video starts playing. Video-you always seems sexier when on of your crew members is watching.

“So you really aren’t fucking Yoongi?”

“No.”

“Poor bastard. How he could resist touching you…” Namjoon says, then looks over, wondering if he has taken it too far.

“Could you?” you ask, enjoying seeing your commander lose some of his carefully crafted control.

“I’m not sure.”

“Though if we’re keeping no secrets, he did come on me after the video finished.”

“Fuck…” he adjusts his pants again, erection becoming obvious.

He gets to the part of the video where you admit that you want to blow him and pauses.

“You want to suck my dick?”

You nod.

“You’re not just saying that for the video?”

“No, I want to so badly, commander.”

“This is a bad idea,” he sighs. “I’m your commanding officer.”

Can’t let it go when you’re this close.

“And you’re such a good commander. You’re such a good leader. You take such good care of your crew. You would take of me wouldn’t you? Help me with this problem I’m having?”

“What problem is that?”

“That I haven’t touched a cock in two years.” You are walking over to him all seductively.

“Fuck…”

“Can I see it?”

He nods. He is only so strong.

You blow him.

It is amazing to touch a dick again. You just want to lavish it with attention.

He comes pretty quickly. You stand up proud of yourself. He pulls you down into his lap.

He tries to kiss you, but you refuse.

“It’s just hormones commander. Just sexual release. Not emotional attachment. He nods.

“Well, I can reciprocate right?” Sneaks hand up between your legs. “My god you’re so wet. That really turned you on.”

He gets you off with his fingers. It feels so amazing to have something inside you again. Two fingers plus thumb on clit and he kisses your neck and chest.

It feels amazing.

“I think I have a way to solve our morale problem.” You say. “Call a group meeting for tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Version 2

Things have mostly gone back to normal, maybe there’s some lingering flirtation with Jimin and Yoongi, when the Commander asks to speak with you alone. Namjoon calls you to the bridge.

“I need to ask you something.” “What is the nature of your relationship with Engineer Min?”

You panic. What is your relationship? He’s seen you naked and you almost fucked him but didn’t? He helped you film some porn but now you’ve deleted it?

“He’s my crew member.” That was true.

“And he has been entirely professional with you?” Well, no, he most certainly had not. But you were as much at fault with that as he was. Where was this coming from? Does he no something.

“It’s hard to be perfectly professional all the time.”

Namjoon frowns and nods. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“Um, recently it has come to my attention that there might be a sexual relationship between you two.”

Who brought it to his attention? Can he just sense the pheromones radiating off you? Is the tension between you that noticeable? You doubted Yoongi would have said anything.

“Why do you think there’s something between us?”

Breathes out.

“Something had been brought to my attention.” Oh no. It can’t be can it? How would he have gotten it?

Oh no. Oh no.

“A video. Of you. And Yoongi.” Panic panic panic. “In a sexually compromising position.” Had he watched it? He must? Shame is making the world collapse around you. Do they all know now? Do they know all your filthy secrets?

“Breathe breathe,” He approaches you to be comforting. “Look, I just need to know if its consensual.”

“Consensual?”

“That he’s not pressuring you or harrassing you into something you don’t want to be doing.”

You begin crying. You thought he was going to punish or chastise you, but he just wants to make sure you’re okay.

You hate that you are crying in front of your commander. What a stupid girlish thing to be doing.

“I’m so sorry” you sob. He gathers you into his arms.

“Why are you sorry?” He is so warm and solid.

“I behaved totally unprofessionally. I fucked up the whole mission.”

“You have not fucked up the whole mission.”

“It gets so lonely here.”

He wipes away your tears. “I get it. I get lonely too.”

“You do?”

“I’m sure we all do.”

“No one else is running around making porn though.”

“Maybe we just don’t have an interested audience. Who’d want to see that?”

You would, but you don’t say that.

“There’s actually nothing in the official rules that prohibits crew members from being sexually intimate.”

“There isn’t?”

“I mean, we’re all consenting adults with no other humans for millions of miles. The ICSE isn’t stupid. The relationship just has be disclosed to your commanding officer.”

“So everyone can have sex but you?” He is surprised at this line of questioning.

“Well, uh, I guess I would have to disclose it to my commander back on Earth. But, it seems unlikely that I will be be doing that.”

Does he not know how much you want him? “Did you watch the whole video?”

“What?” Wide-eyed. “I mean, I had to make sure you weren’t being coerced.”

“So you watched the whole thing?”

“It was corrupted. Tae only got bits and pieces.”

“So you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“You don’t think it would mess up the group dynamics? Cause jealousy?”

“You’re a grown woman. It’s not my job to police who you have sex with. If you want to be in a relationship with Yoongi, that is none of my business. We’re all grown men. We can deal.”

“I don’t want to be in a relationship with Yoongi. I just want to fuck him.”

Namjoon is shocked. “Oh, well, okay. That’s fine too. We can restrain ourselves.”

“I want to fuck you too.”

“You do?”

“God yes.”

He kisses you.

“Fuck, wait. I do actually have to report this if we’re going to do this.”

“What do you have to tell them?”

“Just that we’ve entered into a consensual sexual relationship.” His hair is all mussed from where you ran your hands through it. “There’s some paperwork you’d have to sign.”

You think of Jimin and Yoongi. “Would we have to be exclusive?”

“No, not if you didn’t want to.”

“Would you want me to?”

“That’s not my call.”

“Would you have to tell them about any other crew members?” You cant have it reported back to Earth that you are skanking it up out here.

“You would still have to sign paperwork. But I could keep that paperwork internally.”

You smile and nod. “So, where’s the paperwork?”

“Umm, I have to request it.”

“Wait, so does that mean we can’t…”

“Yeah?” but he seems really unsure about that.

“Fuck.”

He laughs.

“What if we didn’t take our clothes off?”

Dry humping, with a slow removal of clothes. Leads to fingering and oral sex.

“So now what?”

“Get me some paperwork.”

Version 3

“Hello officer,” he says. “Please come in.”

You come in, nervous.

“Take a seat.” He commands. It’s the only chair. It feels like an interrogation as he leans against the wall of his office. You sit down.

“What is the nature of your relationship with Flight Engineer Min Yoongi?”

“Why do you ask?” You aren’t sure how to play this right now.

“I just need you to answer the question, officer.”

God, your commander was terrifying sometimes. His fingers were clasped in front of his face. Face impassive.

“We are colleagues,” you answer. It is the truth, just with some facts omitted.

Namjoon raises a disbelieving eyebrow. “And what is your relationship with Mission Specialist Park?”

Oh god. He’s watched it. He not only knows that it exists but he’s seen it. He heard you admit to wanting to fuck the whole crew.

“The same.” You bite your lip in shame. You will not cry. “We are colleagues.”

“Has any member of this crew threatened you?”

“No.” It’s an unexpected question.

“Has any member of this crew coerced you?”

“No.”

“Bribed you?”

“No.”

“Asked you to do anything you didn’t want to do?”

“No.”

Namjoon sighs. “Okay, then. That’s a relief.”

“A relief?”

“Yes, I needed to make sure everything was consentual.”

“That’s it?”

“Well, I could lecture you about how our scientific equipment shouldn’t be used for making porn if you like. But I think you already know that.”

“Yes, sir.” God, its so embarssing.

“You’re sure nothing coercive happened? I will be speaking to Engineer Min later. If he’s harrassing you, you can tell me.”

You are worried about Yoongi. It was your fault he was in this mess in the first place.

“”No, it was my idea actually. I asked Yoongi to help me.”

“Your idea?” Your commander laughs. “Well that’s unexpected.”

“I’m so sorry commander. I tried to delete it. I never meant for anyone to see it.”

“Why would you film it then? You weren’t intending it for Jimin? What exactly is the specialist’s role in all this?”

“Jimin didn’t know about it.” God, you have no explanation.

Namjoon takes pity on you.

“Look, it’s okay. If you want to be having sex with Yoongi or Jimin or whatever, that’s fine.”

“It is?”

“I mean, you need to immediately stop using government equipment to do so. But yeah. You’re all grown adults with sexual needs. It gets lonely up here. It makes sense that you would feel attraction. As long as everything’s consentual…

“But the ICSE?”

“-is not in charge of our personal lives.”

“You don’t think it would cause problems with the crew? Jealousy?”

“We are all grown men. We can deal with it. You and Yoongi get extra bathroom duty for two weeks for misuse of equipment. Jungkook get one week of extra air filter work for not reporting their discovery to me immediately. Taehyung and Jimin get a month of extra night shifts for fighting.

“Oh.” It seems so anticlimatic.

“Look, what I can’t have is secrets. I need to know everything happening on my ship. If you are in a relationship with any of the crew I need to know. Everyone needs to know. I can’t have crew members brawling over secret elicit videos. It has to be out in the open. That’s for your protection as well as everyone else’s.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So are you in a relationship with Yoongi?”

“No.”

“Do you want to be?”

“Um, no not really.” Pause. “I just want to fuck him.”

Namjoon snorts.

“Well,” he laughs. “That’s okay too. Again, as long as everyone’s up front about it.”

“Everyone?”

“The whole crew needs to have the same information.”

You laugh. “That will make for an interesting group meeting. Hello crew of the Minos, just wanted to let you know that I would like to have sex with all of you.”

“Wait what?” Namjoon is surprised. “All of us?”

Shit. Did he not know that?

“Didn’t you watch the video?”

“I did, I mean, only the beginning. I turned it off once I figured out what it was.”

“What about having no secrets?”

“Well, um, it was getting difficult to remain objective.” He grabs his crotch to adjust himself and your mouth beings watering. He had just handed a starving person a ticket to the buffet and he was looking like a whole meal.

“I think you should watch the rest of the video. If you want to, commander.”

He swallows. “Now?”

“No secrets right?”

#there's a peak at what my rough drafts look like #this scene gave me such a hard time #void #Anonymous

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